A Son of the Soil

Early Sunday morning, two weeks ago, I stood in the grove where Joseph Smith first saw the Father and the Son. I recalled my first visit to that place. Then I was filled with the spirit of happiness, peace and love. At that time I thought it was perhaps because I had pictured in my mind the beginning of that farm when my great-grandfather and his boys (one of them my grandfather) were clearing the land and building their house, using the crude methods of the year 1820. Since my first visit I have been there with members of the Church, and they have expressed the same feeling I had then, which feeling has possessed me on each visit to that place. I have been there with those not of our faith and they have mentioned an unusual feeling of peace. Last Summer a group of Protestant ministers visited the grove, and on leaving, one of them said, speaking of Joseph Smith: "He certainly chose an ideal setting for his vision, if such a thing could be." Another answered, "Yes, there is certainly a peaceful influence here. One could almost imagine such a thing to be possible." ¶

I thank my heavenly Father that in my soul I believe in the testimony of Joseph Smith. I would like to dwell upon that thought, if time would permit, but I am limited and have another thought I wish to leave with you, God being my helper, and I sincerely pray that he will bless me that I may give advice that will have his approval. ¶

I am a son of the soil. I love the farm. I love to dig and plow and plant. I continued in that occupation until called from it by the Church into the position I now occupy. Where in any line of work or endeavor may we find such an opportunity to commune with the living God? Let me call your attention to the fact that from the very beginning there has been a relationship among God, man and the soil, making man dependent upon the soil for his very existence, and upon God for peace and happiness. When God placed man on the earth, he planted a garden eastward in Eden and placed man in it. Through transgression he was driven from that garden and was compelled to eat his bread by the sweat of his face. Father Abraham was led to a land of promise and Israel, his chosen people, established in this land of plenty. Through transgression, they were taken into bondage and finally because of their sufferings and pleadings, God took mercy upon them and led them out of bondage through Moses, unto the promised land, which he said had been prepared for them — a promised land for his chosen people. But when they chose to rely upon the words of men rather than the promise of God, they were required to wander in the wilderness forty years. With the exception of two, all those over twenty years of age were deprived of enjoying the blessings faith would have brought them. ¶

We find in the history of this continent that when the word came to Lehi to preach to the people at Jerusalem and warn them of the destruction of that city, they believed him not and he was driven from their midst. Nephi, through his faith, was promised by the Lord that they should be led to a land of promise, a choice land, yea, a land choice above all other lands. And in this day, a promise has been given to this people that they should be led to a promised land, a land that should be their inheritance forever, provided they were faithful in keeping his commandments, and showed by their works that they were worthy to continue in that inheritance. ¶

The other day we had a statement made to us, giving figures showing the amount it has cost to keep missionaries in the field. I wonder how many have stopped to realize that most of this vast amount of money has been taken from the soil. God has given it to us, for he has given us a choice land, "a land choice above all other lands," for where in all the world can you find a land more productive than that which has been given to us? I sometimes wonder if we fully appreciate this blessing which has come to us. I stood the other day and looked at those great trees around the home erected by Joseph Smith and his sons before 1820, on that farm where the Father and the Son appeared to Joseph Smith and where the angel Moroni appeared on several occasions. They stand there today, as ornaments, as a comfort, for they bring shade and peace around that home, giving the impression that the builders had looked to the future. I wonder how many of us are looking to the future? How many of us are planting trees around our homes, are beautifying our homes? Are we farming, looking into the future, or just farming, impoverishing the soil, feeling that our inheritance is only temporary? There is in the world today a spirit of strife and selfishness and contention, and I am wondering if we are permitting this spirit to come into our midst. We should be living for the future and the hereafter. As a people, we believe in co-operation, not that supposed co-operation that breeds hatred, strife, contention and ill-will, but that co-operation, that brotherly love and good-will, which leads men to reach the outstretched hand to those in need, to those who suffer, to those who hunger, to those who are ill. That is the proper co-operation, and we as Latter-day Saints believe in it and are expected to practice it. As I travel through the land, these thoughts come to my mind. We are establishing in some districts, dairy industries, creameries or cheese factories. Are we producing in abundance in order that we might have funds to continue our missionary work? Or, are we contending with one another? Are we feeling that the other fellow is getting more gain out of our product than he is entitled to? Are we leaving it for a few to carry the burden, increasing the overhead, or have we stopped to consider that the more we produce, the more we get, the more the manufacturer gets, the more the community gets? It is through co-operation and through producing in abundance that we are blessed and not through individual effort, which often breeds a spirit of contention and strife. In many of our sections we have been blessed with canning factories and packing plants, in which the products of our farms may be put into a condition to find market elsewhere. They are a blessing to us, and also a curse, for I am afraid many who have garden plots are depending upon the can for their food, forgetting the home garden. Many fail to plant in the Spring that they may harvest during the Summer to provide their families and those depending upon them with good wholesome food, fresh from the soil. ¶

Let us support the canning factories, let us produce that they may prosper, for when they prosper we are bound to prosper; but let us not forget that there is a means of prospering in our own household and through the opportunities God has given unto us. We find the spirit of contention, not with the majority, but with the few, and unfortunately sometimes we let the disturbing element be the dominating factor. Let us co-operate in our labors, and keep in mind the community interests. We have sugar factories which have been a greater blessing to the farmers of this community than anything else that has come among us. All of these industries come to us to take the products of the farm and turn them into cash, and return that cash to us from an outside source, to provide means for our welfare and for the beautifying of our homes and to aid in the preaching of the gospel. All these are for our benefit and blessing, provided we acknowledge the hand of God and co-operate and work for the good of the community and forget our selfish interests. Selfishness has no place in this Church. We as individuals must, if we hope to succeed, if we hope to prosper, if we hope to have the blessings of God continue with us, look to the welfare of our brethren. ¶

When the pioneers came here, they could see nothing but wilderness, but that wonderful man, President Brigham Young, saw into the future, viewed the choice valleys and their possibilities, saw where water could be stored in the mountains until required and used as needed. God has provided for us abundantly and now we have discovered that he has provided something else for us, for we have the wonders of the world at our very door. People are coming in great numbers to rest in our scenic play grounds. Their impressions of us will be formed through the appearance of our premises and by personal contact with us. Are we prepared to receive them? Are our homes and surroundings inviting and attractive? Are our lives such that when they come into our midst they can see our good works and go away with a feeling of praise and good-will toward us as a people? My brethren and sisters, what a wonderful opportunity has been given to us, what a wonderfully blessed people we are in having been gathered together in the valleys of the mountains, with all these wonders about us, and preserved and protected to this day. And now God is opening the way through which we may preach the gospel to those who are in darkness, without expending our means for that purpose, just by living as he would have us live, by precept and example, and by the appearance of our homes and our farms. Let us realize that God has blessed us abundantly. Let us turn to him in faith. Let us co-operate with one another that his kingdom may be built up in the earth and his people blessed as he has promised they would be blessed in the latter days. ¶

Let me call your attention to two passages of scripture: ¶

"Verily I say unto you who have assembled yourselves together that you may learn my will concerning the redemption of mine afflicted people: Behold, I say unto you, were it not for the transgressions of my people — speaking concerning the Church and not individuals, they might have been redeemed now. But behold, they have not learned to be obedient to the things which I required at their hands, but are full of all manner of evil, and do not impart of their substance as becometh Saints, to the poor and afflicted among them." (D. & C. 105:1-3.) ¶

"Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field." * * * "I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; ¶

"And lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. ¶

"Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it and received instructions. ¶

"Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep; ¶

"So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man." (Prov. 24:27-34.) ¶

God grant that we may receive and appreciate his blessings, I pray in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶