The Go-to-Church Movement

My brethren and sisters, I am pleased to have the privilege of addressing you for a short time, upon the principles of the Gospel which are near and dear to the hearts of all Latter-day Saints. I am not afraid that I cannot occupy the time, but I do tremble when I appear before an audience for fear I might not be an instrument in the hands of God in conveying to them the bread of life. So, I pray that the Spirit of our Father shall be with us here to-day, and shall be with what I shall be led to say to you, that your time may not be spent in vain, and that I will not be abjudged guilty of wasting your time. ¶

There has been reference made to the great "Go-to-Church Movement," that is to be inaugurated in this city on the 26th of April, if I am informed correctly. That movement, like many other great things, was started in Chicago. The first "Go-to-Church" day was February the first, this year. It was estimated that over a million people who were not churchgoing people found themselves inside of some church building on that clay. We were invited with the rest of the churches, by circular letter, to join in the movement to induce people to go to church. We were likewise asked to pay for some advertising in the paper, since the big papers of that city were giving much space to move the people to attend services on that day. We forwarded our check, together with the ad. that we desired run in behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. One month after the movement was over we received a communication from the chairman of the committee reading : ¶

"Dear Sir : In closing up the matter pertaining to the "Go-to-Church Sunday" campaign, I find among the papers your check, which is enclosed herewith. The advertisement which you ordered was not run because the committee voted that it should be excluded on the grounds that your organization was reither Catholic, Protestant nor Jewish." ¶

This committee was made up of representative ministers of eighteen ¶

different churches including Jews, Catholics and Protestants. ¶

If the Latter-day Saints in this city, of this State are treated in a like manner, you will not be permitted to participate in the great movement which has received such hearty support in this conference. Some may say we are Protestants in every sense of the word, protesting against all churches in all the earth. But, I prefer to state it in another way. Instead of protesting against Catholic ami Protestant denominations, or against the Jews, we carry a message of peace, and a proclamation to the world that God our Father has again revealed Himself, and the true character of His Son, to the children of men. We have been commissioned to proclaim that revelation to all the world, not as a protest against the doctrines they are teaching, but in love and peace, even the love that Christ felt for the people who really believed in Him and His true character, when He walked with His disciples. We have been authorized to proclaim the wonderful work that God has established in the earth. I thank God that we do not belong to the Catholic denomination or to any of the denominations who have received their authority if they have at all, from the Catholic Church. I thank God, likewise, that my lot is not cast among the Jews of this day, but that I am favored to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with a testimony that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, and that He has established His Church in the earth for the salvation of all men who will believe in Him and keep His commandments, and prepare themselves to enjoy all that He has promised to the faithful. I was especially impressed with one reference made by President Joseph F. Smith today, in connection with the great work of the Latter-day Saints, and that was, in regard to the salvation for the dead. Latter-day Saints, as you know, believe that not only those who hear and obey the Gospel of Jesus while they live in the earth shall be saved, but all mankind who have ever lived upon the arth, or who now live, or who ever will live upon the earth, shall have an equal chance to hear the name of Christ, to hear the Gospel of Jesus taught, and have a chance to accept or reject the same. Thus the love of Christ is shown more beautifully than ever man has taught it before. His love and His Gospel is proclaimed to all earth's inhabitants, reaching not only the living but the dead, also. Three weeks ago, in the city of Chicago, at least five different churches taught a similar doctrine to their congregations, under the headings of "A Second Chance," or "The Dead shall hear the Voice of God," or "Greater Love of Christ." Thus you can see how the leaven of the Gospel is taking possession of the hearts of the people of the earth. I rejoice in it, and shall rejoice more when they shall look for the true authority to administer in the laws and ordinances of the Gospel, when they shall seek men who have the right to go into the waters of baptism and say in all truth : "Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." That they cannot say today, for they have not been commissioned, they have not been ordained; they have no right to say unto the people that they have been so ordained ; they have no right to ¶

baptize men and women into the Church of Christ, for He has not so designated them. ¶

Latter-day Saints sometimes think that they are doing all there is to be done concerning the salvation of the dead. But when I look around in this great nation of ours, and see how the leaven of the Gospel is working, I am almost lead to proclaim that "the children of the world are wiser in their generation than the children of light," for the people of the world are doing a marvelous work connected with the salvation of the children of our Father. Many have had planted in their hearts the love of God and the love of their fellow men, reaching not only to the living but to the dead. They do not recognize their efforts as a work for the salvation of the dead, but such it is nevertheless. Since the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored, and the Prophet Elijah has come, the hearts of the children have been turned toward their dead relatives. While they have not understood that there shall be baptism for their dead kindred, they feel that they should gather their names and genealogies and record them in books. I sometimes believe that they have done that work better than we have done it, using better books and spending more money for that purpose. ¶

There was not much done, however, of a permanent nature, in this nation, looking to the gathering of genealogies, until after the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple. There were few organizations with this object in view, but one is really surprised to see in the great libraries of the nation the work now being done. I have some items here that I gathered a few weeks ago in visiting one of the greatest genealogical libraries in the world, and I would like to give part of them for the consideration of the Latter-day Saints. I believe that we are interested in this subject more vitally than any other people in the earth ; because we have more light on the subject. We have a better reason for gathering genealogies of the dead than any other people in the world. They gather it for decency sake, as one genealogist put it, while we do it in the spirit of saviors to the dead. They do it from personal pride, and the spirit that a man who cannot trace his genealogy is like a mongrel among stock, who had no pedigree. One librarian told me all decent people now a days know who their parents are, likewise their grandparents, and greatgrandparents, because the world over, respectable people keep sacredly such records, and as soon as possible, publish them in good books for generations yet unborn. ¶

One of the first organizations of that character established in this country, is entitled, "The New England Historical and Genealogical Society," organized in the year 1844, just eight years after the coming of Elijah. They gave this reason for establishing this organization : "There is no work of the kind in the country, and one seems to be much needed, for the period has arrived when an awakened and great interest is felt in this country in the pursuit of genealogical research." With the exception of one or two small or minor organizations having for their object the gathering of genealogies ; the work was limited to this one organization. But following the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple, when Wilford Woodruff said in his dedicatorial prayer that he had turned the last ¶

key turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers in this earth, praying God to hasten the great day of the salvation of the dead, a number of such organizations have been established. I have the names of seven genealogical periodicals that are now published. After 1893, it seems that the great movement began in earnest. I will read a list of the organizations and periodicals that were established immediately after the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple : ¶

"The Newbury Library," in Chicago, one of the largest of its kind in the world, was organized in November, 1893. A large and active organization for genealogical work was inaugurated November 1893, entitled, "The Genealogical Society of New Hampshire." "The Mayflower Descendants," was organized in 1894. The "Virginia Magazine of Historical Biographies," in 1894. "The Colonial Order," in 1894 "The Military Order of Foreign Wars," in 1894. "The National Society of New England," in 1895. "The Colonial Society," in 1895. The "National Society of Children of American Revolution." in 1895. "The American Historical Register," in 1895. "The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania," in 1895. "The Genealogical Society of Syracuse, New York," in 1895. "The Mayflower Descendants Quarterly," in 1898. "Old Northwest Society of Columbia," in 1899. "Medford Historical Record of Massachussets," in 1898. "Devon Record Society," in 1904. "Maryland Historical Magazine," in 1906. "New England Family History," in 1907. and "Massachussets Magazine Quarterly," in 1908. Probably there have never been, in such a short period in the world's history, so many societies organized for gathering together names and genealogies. As I said before, they have some other objects, but the great object'as understood by the Latterday Saints, is that some day the people of the earth may go to the House of the Lord, and, with these records, gathered by the children of the world, at great expense of time and means, perform a work for their dead relatives. When they meet those relatives on the other side, they can say that they had worked to secure the salvation of those who had no chance to hear the word of God in this life. ¶

Truly the Lord has turned the hearts of the children to their parents, and the hearts of our forefathers who are dead have been turned to us. I believe that they are near us, and that they are trying their best to influence us to do that which will open the prison doors, and give them a chance to enter into a broader life and grander work which will prepare us and them for greater happiness in the life to come ; this is the greater love that is moving the living and the dead. ¶

I rejoice in my testimony of the 'Gospel. I thank God for the privilege that I have had in the mission field, of laboring with thousands of your missionary sons and daughters. I know that the mothers and fathers of Zion are the true nobility of the earth. They have noble sons and daughters who are not afraid to proclaim to the world, under inspiration of the Spirit of God, that God lives, and His Son Jesus is the Savior of the world. I would like to say, my brethren and sisters, that we have every reason to hold up our heads and rejoice, because of the testimony that God has given us, because of the revelations of his Son that have come into our hearts, that He is the Savior of the world and Redeemer of mankind, and that the hour is come when the living and the dead shall hear His voice and receive salvation through His wonderful love. ¶

I ask the peace and blessings of heaven to be upon us. May the spirit of this great work, not only for the salvation of the dead, but the salvation of the living, take possession of us. May we be diligent, even as diligent as the world is, in recording the genealogies of our friends and relatives in books, so we shall be able to trace our ancestry in written records away back to the beginning, and find that we all have come from a noble race of sires. May God grant us His peace and favor, and may He prosper Zion, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶