Progress of the Church and Work of the Historian's Office

I am sure the testimony borne by our President this morning has touched every heart present, and he has given us the key-word for our acts and conduct of life, namely, to love God and one another, and show it by keeping the Lord's commandments, not neglecting those things that have been required of us. By following these instructions he said we will be blessed, and I bear testimony to this. ¶

Progress of the Church, Spiritually and Temporally

The Church, since last we met, has made much progress. The people in Zion have been blessed this year with bounteous harvests. The Lord has promised that he will remember those who pay their tithes and offerings, and the President has testified to this being fulfilled in temporal blessings that the Saints have received, and still more in the spiritual blessings bestowed upon them. ¶

On our trip south we enjoyed meeting the Saints and witnessing the spirit that they possessed and we were much gratified by seeing the love which they exhibited towards the President of the Church and his party. I believe also, as he said, that it would be good to do more of this visiting. ¶

Temples and Temple Work

I would like to talk a little on the activities of the Church. You know the Presidency have the directing affairs as far as the Church in general is concerned. Temple building is going on. Our two temples, in Hawaii and Canada, are progressing towards completion. It will take some time yet before the Canada temple will be finished, but the Hawaiian temple is approaching its dedication very fast. Temple building is a characteristic of this .dispensation, and this will not be at an end by building these two additional temples. We look forward to the time when the land of Zion will be covered with temples, so that the great work may go on, both for the living and for the dead. I am pleased to state to this congregation that the Saints are alive in this work. Our temple here in Salt Lake City is filled almost to overflowing. They are doing a splendid work in Logan, and in the other temples, showing that the people of God are anxious to go to the temples to receive their blessings. We want to encourage them in this work. We know the faith-promoting influence it has upon the living when they are performing this un- * selfish labor, coming, at great expense to many, to the temple to do work for their forefathers, and hence we commend their efforts in this matter. It :s not that they expect any reward here, but their hearts are turned to their fathers, and they feel repaid for all that they are doing in coming to the temple, by getting spiritually refreshed, and their testimony strengthened. ¶

Building Meeting Houses and Attending Meetings

We are also continuing the work of building meeting houses. When the Lord has blessed the Saints with means, they ought to show, their gratitude in performing the different duties required of them, and one of these is to build houses of worship to God, so that both old and young can go there and receive instructions and blessings, both by hearing those who speak and by renewing their covenants in partaking of the sacrament. ¶

The President enjoined upon us to remember the Sabbath Day. We should all feel that it is our duty to attend meetings in the house of the Lord, to go there and listen to what is said, and with the rest enjoy the Spirit of God, and show this example to our children also, that they may look upon the Sabbath as a holy day that should be spent ¶

in visiting the house of the Lord and in meditation on the things that pertain to godliness. ¶

The Trustee-in-Trust has spent great sums of money to help our brethren to build meeting houses in different parts of Zion, also in the missions. He feels impressed with the necessity of doing this, and we are pleased that the Saints are responding so heartily in the matter of building good houses of worship. ¶

The Church Historian's Office and Record Keeping

I am thankful that we have our new office quarters completed, and we would like you to come and see them. I am especially glad that we have had the Historian's office moved into a fire-proof building from the place where it has been so many years. I have often been anxious about the precious documents, letters and books that we have in the Historian's office. If we should have been unfortunate enough to have had a fire and to lose them we could never have restored the loss, and I am therefore happy now that we have these splendid collections of historical matters pertaining to the Church placed in a safe building. We would like you to visit that department also. ¶

You may not know what we are doing in the Historian's office, and yet a great work has been performed there. Record-keeping was recommended by the Lord from the very beginning. On the 6th .day of April, 1830. a revelation was given in which the Lord commanded -that a record should be kept. We know the importance of records. When Lehi and his family left Jerusalem and through the commandment of the Lord were going to a strange country, he understood by the inspiration of the Lord how necessary it was to have with him the rec- • ords of the laws and prophecies then extant, or at least a copy of them, and Nephi and his brethren were sent back to Jerusalem to obtain them. They found that Laban who had these records in his possession was not willing to give them up. They offered to give him great wealth which they had left in Jerusalem if he would give them the records that he possessed. Laban thirsted after their wealth, but was not willing to give them the records. Nephi at length obtained them and brought them back into the wilderness to Lehi, who was very much pleased.' He knew that if they had not the records of the Lord's hand-dealings in the past it would be much harder for his descendants to continue in the faith and to retain the knowledge of God and what he desired his children to do. Because of the loss of the records afterwards, we find that the people dwindled in darkness, ignorance and unbelief. Now the object of keeping records is that the people may know the commandments of the Lord and what he has done in former ages and in this age as well. ¶

The Church Historians

Oliver Cowdery was the first historian of the Church. Afterwards the Lord, in revelation, appointed John Whitmer as the historian. John Whitmer was one of the eight witnesses of the Book of Mormon. He was very zealous in helping the prophet. In the later days of the translation of the Book of Mormon he acted as scribe, and afterwards he helped the prophet in preparing the revelations to be printed, and he went to Missouri for that purpose. He felt how important the work was that the Lord had commenced, and if he had only kept that spirit with him he would not have met the fate he did, that of being excommunicated from the Church. But love of worldly things took possession of him and he left the Church. But I want to say this to his credit, that though he left the Church and was angry at the brethren, yet he never denied the testimony which he subscribed to when the Book of Mormon was printed. Once when he was in company with a lot of Missourians, enemies of the Church, they brought up the question of the Book of Mormon. He boldly .declared that he knew the contents of that book to be true, for he had seen the plates from which it was translated. And shortly before his death he testified to John C. Whitmer, a nephew of his, that he knew the book to be true. Still he died outside of the Church, but what he had seen he could not deny, and the fear of men did not cause him to waver in his testimony. And we can say the same of all the witnesses of the Book of Mormon. Several of them were not faithful to the end, yet they were always ready to bear testimony to the truth of that to which they had subscribed their names as witnesses. ¶

John Whitmer was released to go to Missouri, in 1835, and we have Oliver Cowdery again as the Church historian, and in a short time afterwards George W. Robinson, John Corrill and Elias Higbee became Church historians. In 1841 Robert B. Thompson was appointed Church historian, and he did faithful work in the office, but his life was cut short. He died ten months after his appointment. Brother James Sloan then took the place of historian, but he was called to go to Scotland, and Willard Richards became the General Recorder of the Church, in 1843 ; and in 1845 he became both the historian and general recorder, and kept this position until his death, in 1854. George A. Smith then became the General Church Historian and General Church Recorder, and ably conducted the affairs of these offices during a longer period of time than any other incumbent up to that time or since. In 1871, owing to his duties as one of the counselors of President Young and the Trustee of the Church, he was released from his position as Historian and Albert Carrington took his place. Three years afterwards Orson Pratt became the Historian, and kept the office until his death in 1881, after which Brother Wilford Woodruff was sustained as Church Historian until 1889, when he was chosen President of the Church. Franklin D. Richards then became the Church Historian and remained in that position until his death, which occurred December 6, 1899. The double office of historian and general Church recorder was first bestowed upon Willard Richards, and the double office has been kept ever since by the one that has been sustained as historian. There have been several brethren sustained as assistant historians in the Church. The first one was ¶

Wilford Woodruff; others were Albert Carrington, Franklin D. Richards, John Jacques, Amos Milton Musser, Charles W. Penrose, Andrew Jenson, Brigham H. Roberts, Orson F. Whitney, Joseph F. Smith, Jr., and A. William Lund. President Joseph F. Smith also devoted much time in the Historian's office and did a splendid work. ¶

The Work of the Historian's Office

Now, as to the work that has been done in the office. We have seven hundred manuscript books that contain a great deal of historical matter that has been collected during these many years. In fact you can find .something for every day in the years that have passed. They are chronologically inserted, in an elastic binding, so when we find more historical material it can be inserted without having to add other volumes, and information can be quickly found when we know about the time the event took place. The indexes of persons and events are very extensive also, enabling us to answer without difficulty inquiries made in regard to Church affairs in the stakes, wards and missions. ¶

Brother Roberts edited the history of the Prophet Joseph Smith, or, as it is called, the History of the Church. It was written by the Prophet, or under his direction, day by day, and Brother Roberts added elucidating notes as well as a very interesting introduction to each volume, setting forth the main things treated of in the volume. I would advise the Latter-day Saints to obtain these books, as they are of great value, and are sold at cost in order to give all an opportunity to obtain them. ¶

Brother Roberts has also written a history of the Church which has been published in an eastern magazine, The Americana, which brings the history nearly up to our time. It has been an immense labor, and I hope that the Church will some time be enabled to publish it so that all can enjoy the contents of this work. ¶

Brother Andrew Jenson has also written a good many things of great value, and is continually giving his mind to the work of collating and collecting data and facts concerning Church history. When he finds a new fact or a new date that he didn't know before, he feels as happy as the placer miner who finds a nugget of gold in the first pan that he washes out, and it is no wonder that Brother Jenson estimates the value of the Historian's office at a million dollars ! It is indeed a valuable collection, which cannot be estimated in dollars and cents. Brother Jenson has charge of the department of recording events of the nineteenth century, and hopes to finish that task. Joseph F. Smith, Jr., has charge of the department recording the events for the twentieth century, and the assistants in each of these departments are busily engaged in collecting, arranging and indexing historical facts. ¶

The history of the missions, of the stakes and of the wards is attended to, and you who want a history printed of your ward or city will not be able to make it complete unless you apply to the Historian's office, and you need not pay out big sums of money, as some have done, ¶

to get histories written of their cities, which after all are not complete and not entirely correct. We are trying to prove every date that we give. I want to .say concerning Jenson's Chronology, a work that has cost immense labor, that we would like to see the Saints buy these books. We have a large supply on hand, that belongs to the Historian's office, and the book should be useful in every family. If it cannot be bought by every family, I think that every association throughout Zion ought to have one for reference. ¶

But I am taking too much time. I want to bear my testimony to the truth of the gospel. I can say yes and amen to the testimonies borne by our President. Joseph Smith was sent of God to establish his work, and the gospel that we believe in is the gospel of salvation. Let no one shake your faith in it, but be steadfast, brethren and sisters, that you may obtain the blessings that the gospel promises. And may God bless you all. Amen. ¶