The Fruits of Mormonism Are Good

I pray, my brethren and sisters, that the Spirit of the Lord may direct my utterance this afternoon. I have been interested in what has been said in all the sessions of the conference, and in the remarks of our mission presidents this afternoon. It brings to my mind the thought that the fruits of "Mormonism" are good, particularly to those who are laboring in the ministry, devoting their time to the work of the Lord. I have often remarked that no greater blessing" could come to a young man than to be called on a mission to proclaim the truth to the nations of the earth. If he does not do much good to other people, at least he makes a man of himself, and returns full of dignity, grace and testimony of the work of the Lord. ¶

I was traveling in the southern part of the state a few years ago, with a man who was an atheist, a good man, but without faith in the work of the Lord. He formerly belonged to this Church, and had witnessed the grace and the goodness of it; but he had fallen into darkness, and the light within him had become very dark indeed. We were traveling together on the same train, and with us was a young man who had just returned from a mission, who was on the way to his little home settlement. We entered into conversation with him, and found him a splendid sample of youth and manhood, clean, and pure ¶

in his habits. It seemed like his whole soul was full of sunshine and good cheer. He reported to us his missionary experiences, his call, and how gladly he had accepted it, and yet with what fear he went into the world, fearful of his lack of knowledge of the world and of what would happen in his case ; but he had faith, and he went, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the divinity of the mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and that this is the work of the Lord. He bore that testimony with faith and courage, in the face of the opposition of the world. He told us of his ups and downs, of the doors that had been closed in his face, of many evil things that had been said about him and his companions, the work, and the people living in these valleys of the mountains. Further, he related some of the pleasures that he enjoyed in his ministry, when proclaiming these things, and told of the witness he had of the Spirit of the Lord. In common with nearly all of our young men who have been out proclaiming this Gospel, he testified that the most pleasant time in his life was out in his missionary field. My friend was much entertained in the remarks which this young man had to make. He had known of other young men returning from missions, and had witnessed similar development evidenced in them. Quite a concourse of people was at the station to receive this young man, and the tears of joy and happiness witnessed in his behalf, in that settlement, had quite an effect upon my friend. After the train went on, he turned to me and said : ¶

"I don't know what there is about this faith of yours that brings about this wonderful result. I have a bov about the age of the young man who has just left us, and I would be glad to have him go out into the world as a missionary, if he could only come back with the same spirit, energy, life and beauty that this boy manifests on his return, because truly something wonderful has happened in his life. If my boy could go without his having to accept your faith, and get the education that these your missionary boys receive, I would rather have him do it than to have him take the same length of time in the best college in the land." Again he said, "I don't know what there is about your religion that brings this result, and yet I witness the result." ¶

I tried to explain to him what there is in it that brings this result ; but, of course, he would not accept my reasoning, because his darkness was so great, owing to lack of faith in this work. I knew him. He was a man of the world. I rejoiced that the fruits of this missionary work were so manifest. It is one example out of hundreds and thousands of others of our boys who go out to proclaim this everlasting Gospel. The world ought to appreciate this fact! but they cannot understand why it is that the men who are more deeply interested in this work, who devote most of their time to it, should enjoy the spirit of their ministry and work. But the truth is manifest in the good life they lead, and the fruits of the ministry are good to behold. ¶

In the stake where I preside we have a great many young men who go out to proclaim the Gospel, and when they go away I notice the class of young men they are ; and when they return, I witness again the wonderful transformation that has come over them. They are intelligent, clean, sweet, honorable young people, and a credit to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. I would that all of us could be judged by the standard manifest in the return of the elder who has been out proclaiming this everlasting Gospel in the world. We need not be ashamed of them, or of their ministry, or of their work, because they add glory to the cause of God in the earth. ¶

My father, in teaching me, was anxious, of course, that I should do honor and credit to my family name and do what is right and proper, and honorable, and straightforward in life. He desired me to occupy, possibly, some prominent place before my fellow men; but the greatest end to which he felt that any of us could aspire was to be a consistent an honorable, and an upright Latter-day Saint. In this achievement there is scope, he felt, for people to hold up their heads with credit before all men. ¶

I feel, my brethren and sisters, that this missionary labor in the world is a glorious experience for our young people. I have noted what a wonderful influence it has, not only upon him who goes away, but faith is increased in the house1 hold from which he goes. They look forward with wonderful pleasure to the letters they 'receive from their boy, and to the testimony which he bears, the experiences that he has in the world, and the blessings of the Lord that come unto him. A miracle happens in his own life, when he goes out to preach the Gospel; while faith is increased in the hearts of his father and mother, his brothers and his sisters, and they all rejoice in a testimony of this work. Only a few days ago, I had a man call on me. He is a member of the Church. He is a good man of the world, but he "doesn't do much" in the Church, though an honorable and a splendid man. His boy was called on a mission, had faith enough to go and went, and the parents rejoiced as did every one of the household. There was purity, virtue, and the spirit of the Gospel with them, and they rejoiced that a young man from that household was worthy to go out and preach the Gospel. Every once in a while, this father comes to me with a letter that he receives from this boy, and he thinks that his son is one of the most wonderful men in the world, because he has a testimony of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and is living such a good life in the world. It brings joy and happiness to the Latter-day Saints to have young people go out and preach this Gospel. I feel that there ought to be a missionary spirit in the hearts of the people — that where fathers have boys who can go out and offer their services unto the Lord our God to teach His word unto the nations of the earth, they ought to rejoice. No father's hand or voice ought ever to be raised against the going forth of their sons, whenever they have an opportunity to go out and preach .this gospel, because there is no greater joy or happiness can come to your children than to have them obtain acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ, and that the work that we are engaged in is the work of the Lord, our God. We should strengthen this missionary spirit in our midst. ¶

I remember being in one of the cities of the United States, in a long, crowded thoroughfare, when I saw two boys hurrying along with the rest of the crowd, and I picked ¶

them out. I did not know why, particularly, but in looking at them, there was something different about them from the people surrounding, and I made up my mind that they were Latter-day Saint missionaries. I had never seen them before, but I walked up to them, introduced myself, and asked them if they were from Utah, and lo and behold, the answer revealed that they were boys out proclaiming the Gospel. Something about these boys appealed to me, and I believed in my soul that they were Latter-day Saints. The thing that impressed me was that there was a purity about them that was different. There was an ambition, a hope, and something written in their countenances that impressed me as being different from their surroundings. I rejoice that our boys have this purity, and that they can go out into the world conscious that they are clean, and sweet, and pure from the sins of the world. ¶

Now that is the boy who preaches the Gospel in the world ; it ought to be equally true of our boys and girls here at home. We ought to be examples to the whole world, in regard to these things, and this missionary spirit ought to be prevalent here at home. Oh what happiness comes to the boy who goes out as a missionary to preach this gospel ! He will endure the rebuffs and the scoffs of the world bravely, to be a minister "of the Lord Jesus Christ, testifying of this work and the things the Lord has done for this people. I feel that we ought to exercise some of this missionary spirit at home. I believe that our home boys and girls should also enjoy the fruits that come to those who are engaged abroad in the work of the Lord, for there is ampie field for them to act as missionaries here at home. There is not a settlement in our land but what there is need to labor among the people and to teach the Gospel unto them. Right here at home we have abundance of material, and any number of men filled with the spirit of missionary work, and yet we have scores of people who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and many other people who are not members of this Church, who would be glad of an opportunity to hear this Gospel and to whom they could preach. We could do much more of this work right here at home. I have oftentimes thought that there is room for wonderful improvement among our people in the matter of preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ at home, particularly to those people who are weak in the faith, who do not comprehend fully the glory and the goodness of this work. We ought to go out of our way to try to build them up, and bless them, and do good unto them. I wish that our missionaries, when they come home, could do a little more of this work among their companions who have not the same light and understanding that they, have — that they would go out among those who perhaps have made some mistakes in life, and who are not living up to what they should, and try to bring them back to a realization of the truth, and to activity and resolution in their religious life and duties. I have sometimes used this expression to our people ; we go out into the world to preach the Gospel, and we have the doors slammed in our faces, many and many a time, and after awhile we get some of these people to accept our tracts. We labor with them as ¶

we ought to labor with them, and we spend time and means to bring them into the Church, and when we haze done that, we feel that we have done a wonderful work, and we have. We do not ask so much abcut these people, as to their life in -the past, as long as they will repent of their sins and renew themselves in the waters of baptism that they may receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Yet I feel that many missionaries come home and feel that their missionary work is ended, and there is no opportunity to labor further ; but I - say unto you that there are hundreds and thousands right here in the wards and stakes of Zion who need laboring with, and if our missionaries would exercise the same spirit of love and charity and kindness, with them as with people in the world, they would do a wonderful work. One of the difficulties about these matters is this, that we are so apt to see mistakes in the people with whom we are familiar, so much so that we cannot see much virtue in them ; but I believe that if we would work with the Spirit of Christ, right among our own people here at home, that we might garner many precious souls into the work of the Lord. We are so apt to see the mistakes of our neighbors that we cannot imagine there is any good in them, and we make up our minds that they have gone to the bad ; but seldom will one find any one who will not be susceptible to the influence of some good spirit that may work with them. I have had many young men tell me that they have never been labored with in the spirit of kindness, and that their mistakes have been magnified ; what they need is some good man to put his arm around them and try to lead them back into a better way. I feel that in this work there is great room for the returned missionaries to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to their neighbors. All of us who hold the Priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ should exercise it for the building up of the kingdom of God, and the dissemination of His word. I want to tell you that if it were my boy who thus needed to be brought back into the right way, I would be thankful to the man who would go out of his way to exercise that kind of a spirit to build him up, and to make him feel anew the spirit of the Gospel. I believe there is no kind of work in Zion of more importance than that. We ought to exercise charity, and be willing to put forth our efforts for one another, and especially to such as are in need of an awakening. I feel that we ought to do this among the Latter-day Saints at home, and try to magnify the cause of Christ here, so that we may have more of these boys imbued with this spirit, and thus testify to all mankind that the fruits of the Gospel of Jesus Christ are good. God bless you. Amen. ¶