Former President of the Eastern States Mission

Former President of the Eastern States Mission ¶

Dear brethren and sisters, I stand before you as a recently-released president of the Eastern States mission. I have been succeeded by President James H. Moyle whom you heard yesterday. I was appointed to succeed President B. H. Roberts who had filled that mission so wonderfully well. I report to you that when I left the mission it was in excellent condition. We have done wonderfully well. In that mission we have baptized about two hundred non-Mormons during each year, in addition to many of the children of the saints. ¶

The Lord has not blessed me with any ability to make great speeches, but I had an excellent corps of young men and young women to do that for me. I just traveled around amongst them and heard of our progress and of the little things of the Gospel I used to talk to them about. I talked to them about the value of prayer, and I am sure that I have never seen greater evidences of improvement in that direction than I did during my time in the Eastern States mission. I talked to them about observing the Sabbath day, and I am confident that among the Latter-day Saints of that mission there was a strict observance of the Lord's Day. I talked to them about keeping the Word of Wisdom, and I want to say to you that in my opinion that word was thoroughly observed in the Eastern States mission. I talked to the missionaries about their loyalty and faithfulness, and it has been a great satisfaction to me to find that the testimony of the Gospel has come to those young missionaries after they have been in the mission a comparatively short time. ¶

I want to say to you fathers and mothers that those missionaries, those boys and those girls, and those older men who came as short term missionaries have done a wonderfully fine work. They thoroughly believed in the Gospel, and they had a testimony of it, after they had been in the mission a very short time. Fortunately most of the young people that came into the mission had been good Sunday School people. They had been good model people, but they knew comparatively little about the Gospel of Christ. Yet, by some miracle the Lord permitted his Spirit to come upon them, and I am sure that in ninety-seven cases, if not more, out of every hundred, within one year they could stand up and preach the Gospel, knowingly. ¶

I talked to them about the law of tithing, and it is observed in the Eastern States mission averagely better than it is in Zion. The Saints in the Eastern States mission are paying a higher percentage of tithing than they are anywhere in the Church in Zion. To me the law of tithing is one of the great things of the Church. It is not a recommendation; it is a command. I find that ninety per cent of what I am permitted to receive is quite sufficient for me. There is not one of you who actually receives only ninety per cent of what he is earning that is not wholly satisfied. That other tenth does not belong to you; it belongs to the Lord. I taught that to the saints there. ¶

We have a number of Germans coming into New York and into Brooklyn, hundreds of them. They constitute more than sixty per cent of the saints in Brooklyn, and about forty per cent of the saints in New York. They have done wonderfully well. Their little tithing comes in each Saturday night. They go and deliver it to their branch president, and he gives them their receipt. I cannot think of a thousand people among the many thousands we have in that mission who are not full tithe-payers. I honor them, and I glory in it. I have found that the Lord has blessed me each year with just a little bit more because I was willing to observe that law. I have told that to the saints, and they believed it. ¶

I am thankful to the First Presidency for calling me on a mission, and I am indeed thankful to the Lord that I was called on a mission. It has given me a greater insight into the work of the missionaries and into the faith of the Latter-day Saints than I could have received in any other way. I am delighted to have been on a mission. I feel sure that the testimony that I have will continue with me during the few years that I shall yet live. I am glad that I have had this opportunity. It will be a heritage to my sons, to know that their father has been on a mission, as they have been on missions, and that we have done our part in furthering the work of the Lord. God grant that the spirit of serving God may always be strong in the hearts of the saints, that there may always be a desire to do the will of the Lord, and they shall be blessed. God grant us this spirit, for Christ's sake. Amen. ¶