President of the California Mission

President of the California Mission ¶

I trust, my brethren and sisters, that during the short time I occupy this position I may be sustained by your faith and sympathy and by the blessing and inspiration of the holy Spirit. I feel that it is a very important thing to stand in this pulpit, and claim the attention of so large a number of people. I am very thankful for the opportunity and feel it is a very great honor. ¶

I am glad to be able to say to this congregation that in the California mission we are still endeavoring, to the best of our ability, to bring to the attention of the people of that mission the wonderful work of the Lord. We continue to bear testimony concerning its restoration and the manner in which it was brought from heaven to earth, and to testify concerning the divine authority which has always been essential for man whenever the Lord has had a message to deliver to the inhabitants of the earth. ¶

We number in missionaries in California about 140, a little more than 40 of this number being lady missionaries, and the remainder being as a rule young men, most of whom were ordained elders in the Church as they received their call to go abroad as representatives of the work of the Lord. ¶

I have been thinking, during this conference, particularly when Elder Orson F. Whitney was talking to the people, of the long ago in my own missionary experience. I went out forty-five years ago in company with Brother Orson F. Whitney and a few other brethren who were called at the general conference to go to Great Britain and to other sections of the European mission. I have a most distinct recollection of reading, in a little journal that I kept while on that mission, words that had been written during the first few days of my missionary labors. I was sent into the county of Ayre in Scotland and my lot was cast with a coal mining community. Of course, the experience that I had at the beginning of my ministry was something altogether strange and new to me. When I was released to return home, as I was packing up, that little journal that I kept accidentally opened before my eyes, and I read a statement to this effect: "Here I am, far from my home and people. God help me-" Those words told the story. I certainly felt that I was a stranger in a strange land. I wondered whether it would be possible for me to continue in that community as a representative of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the period of time that usually falls to the lot of a missionary. In those first few days I did not feel that it would be possible, and yet, thanks be to God and to his marvelous providences, and I trust and believe to the help and light and companionship of the holy Spirit, I was not only enabled to remain in the mission field during the allotted time, but I found during that period that wonderful joy which is spoken of by missionaries who have endeavored in their weak and humble manner to expound the doctrines of the gospel, inviting men and women to an investigation of the message revealed by the Lord our God. I have thought of that period during these conference proceedings. I have had the pleasure of meeting with many missionaries who have labored in California during the past few days ; and I am happy to say that these missionaries with whom I have met have expressed the feeling unanimously, I think, that they would be very happy indeed if opportunity could be given them, and financial conditions were favorable, to return again and take up their missionary work. ¶

It gives me pleasure to report to the fathers and mothers who may be in this congregation that so far as the California mission is concerned, we feel that we have been abundantly blessed of our Father in heaven during the past six months. The missionaries of the mission have had better health during that period than during any similar period of my ministry as president. We have had but very little sickness. We have not had any serious illness among the missionaries, and we feel to praise the name of the Lord our God for his blessings unto us. ¶

It is a satisfaction to be able to report that we are a little stronger in numbers, a little more firmly rooted, throughout the California mission at the present time, than we were six months ago. There are a few more branches in the mission; there are a few more Mutual Improvement organizations ; there are a few more Sunday schools ; there are a few more Relief Societies ; and there are a few more Primary associations in the mission than were there at our last general conference. We feel encouraged in the work that has been entrusted into our hands. I am glad to say that we are a united band of men and women. There is no ill feeling in the ranks of the missionaries ; they are all earnest and active and willing to play their part, ready to respond to any demand that is made upon them to go and come as they may be directed by proper authority, and they are giving the very best that is in them to establish the work of God and to spread the message of truth among the people with whom they are brought in contact. ¶

They are not mighty men. They are not wonderful or strong men, but they are just the kind of men and women spoken of in the holy scriptures, when the inspired apostle made the declaration : "For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called : But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise." We feel that we are thus called. ¶

The missionaries feel that they need the help of Almighty God, and I think it is a good thing to have that feeling, to realize that they have been called to a labor that requires greater qualifications, greater power than men and women are possessed of naturally. The missionaries have that feeling, and yet it is wonderful the labor they perform, the zeal they manifest, the faith they develop as they labor in striving to preach the gospel of the Redeemer of the world. For they do make the discovery that they are in very deed the servants of God, and we try to impress that upon their minds. I believe devoutly in the doctrine that has been advocated during this conference, that is, that the Lord God of heaven has promised that there will be great things follow the testimony of his servants ; that after they have delivered their testimony to the inhabitants of the earth that testimony shall be backed up by the Lord God of heaven, with the vivid lightnings, with the thunders of heaven, with the sea heaving itself beyond its bounds, until all things shall be in commotion, and men's hearts shall fail them with fear because of the things that will come upon the inhabitants of the earth. I believe it, my brethren and sisters, and I try according to my power and ability to impress upon the missionaries that they are in very truth the servants of the Lord our God, and that they have been clothed with authority from on high, that whether men recognize and respect that authority or not, the Lord God is conscious that he has called them to his ministry, and I believe with all my soul that he will magnify them, maintain them in their service, and that he will finally bring to pass all that he has spoken by the mouths of holy prophets in relation to the latter times. ¶

I hope the men of Israel who are before me feel the responsibility that rests upon them in connection with the delivering of the gospel message to the inhabitants of the earth. For if God has spoken the truth, and we know he speaks only the truth, the world is famishing for the truth and power which brings salvation to the inhabitants of the earth. Men who have received this divine authority by the coming of holy angels, who brought back to mortal men the power and authority that had been lost from the inhabitants of the earth, owe something to the children of men. I hope that this call, which has been made again during this conference for men of experience to go abroad in the preaching of the gospel, will meet with a hearty response, that each man will feel that it means me, and not think it is my neighbor, and that all who hold the Priesthood will be anxious to play their part. ¶

I feel that I am under obligation to lift up my voice in proclamation of these principles that have been revealed, for in the mercy and providences of God some man found my own parents, and other members of the McMurrin family, in far-off Scotland, and through their teachings and testimonies and the help of God they were brought to believe the truth and came to this land; and in this land, the land of Zion, I was given birth. I praise God for that. I want to render to my fellowmen in some degree some such service as has been rendered to my own people. I am under obligation to make proclamation of the gospel, and every one of you is under obligation to play your part. ¶

He that is warned shall warn his neighbor, is the commandment of God in the revelations that have been given in our own time. Let us believe the scriptures. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing : for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." ¶

When I look into the faces of my companion mission presidents, I feel that it would be presumptuous on my part to take more of this precious time. I glory in my membership in the Church of Christ. I have proved to my own full satisfaction that it is the Church of Christ. "My doctrine," said the Redeemer, and that was all the Sons of God could say — "my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." ¶

I have tested that promise and doctrine, and I have had made manifest to me that this man who has been spoken of, Joseph Smith, was raised up by the Lord our God to reintroduce among men the doctrines of the everlasting gospel. It has brought joy unspeakable to my soul. In like manner, in fulfilment of the promise made in the closing declaration of the Book of Mormon, I have had made manifest to me, not through my father, not through any president or bishop, or apostle, but by the power of the Holy Ghost, that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, and I hope every man and woman in this congregation has that same knowledge, that same understanding, that it is a true, wonderful, glorious record of the ancient inhabitants of the land. ¶

God help us to stand for the truth, and not to be led away by the whims and doctrines of men that would blind us and rob us of our salvation, I humbly pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶