Missionary Work and the Growth of the Church

ELDER JOSEPH W. McMURRIN ¶

Of the First Council of Seventy and President of the California Mission ¶

I sincerely pray, my brethren and sisters, that during the brief time I occupy in this conference meeting I may be under the direction of the Spirit of the Lord, for that Spirit can take of the things of God and make them clear to the understanding of us, his children. ¶

I praise the Lord for the precious things that have been presented for our consideration in this great centennial conference that is being held. We should all praise God for the splendid truths that have been brought to our attention. We must all know and feel that our Father in heaven is mindful of his work, his people, and his servants who direct his work. We can feel sure that his work and his will, by the power of the Holy Spirit, are being brought to the attention of those who have entered into covenant with God and have received, in this great dispensation, the glorious Gospel given for the salvation of the children of God. ¶

I have come in contact, during the past few days, with a goodly number of missionaries, particularly missionaries who are laboring with me in the California Mission, and have heard from them many expressions of gratitude for the blessings that have come to them as representatives of the work of God, in the preaching of the Gospel'they have been commissioned to teach. Ofttimes I have heard declarations from them indicating that they have received in a fulness the fulfilment of the promises that were conferred upon them when they were set apart and sent out to be ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ in the preaching of his restored Gospel. Those promises have been marvelously fulfilled. I feel that I too can testify, as my companions frequently testify, that the promises made to me have had complete fulfilment. ¶

A few years ago I was sent to labor in the California Mission. President Heber J. Grant pronounced blessings upon my head that seemed to me to be too great for realization. I had labored for many years in other missions, particularly in the European missions, and entertained the thought that is common to missionaries that the field where I had labored was the greatest field in the world. The European Mission, to me in those days of my young manhood, was the mission of missions, and when there were promises made to me on the eve of my going to California — which at that time seemed to me a very insignificant mission when compared with the great fields where I had formerly operated — I could not believe that there could possibly come blessings that would surpass my former experiences. I feel "to humbly acknowledge and testify before this great congregation that the promises, wonderful as they were, have been fulfilled, yea, more than fulfilled. ¶

It has been my pleasure in the California Mission to be in the companionship of a splendid company of missionaries, young men and young women, who have been anxious to meet the responsibilities resting upon them as representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They have manifested the very greatest consideration and deference for me; they have gladly hearkened to my counsel; they have fully and joyfully held up my hands, and by their attitude have made me feel that I could depend upon their help, and that I had their faith and prayers and confidence. There are in the mission a very large number of local people who are not converts that have been made in the mission, but people who have been in the Church from their birth. We have ten thousand five hundred members enrolled in the California Mission. The majority are men and women who have been born and reared in the Church. They have been anxious to have the same advantages in the way of buildings in which to serve the Lord, that they were accustomed to in other sections of the land where they resided before they took up residence in California. Because of this, there has been a great desire manifest to erect houses of worship throughout the California Mission. It has been my pleasure to see comfortable chapels dot the land from Elko, Nevada, across over the Sierra Nevada Mountains into the Sacramento valley in California; then down through the Sacramento valley, and the San Joaquin valley, to the southern part of the state, at San Diego; and then beyond the California line down through Arizona. Until six hundred and fifty thousand dollars worth of chapels have been erected in the California Mission, in which the people now worship the Lord our God. That surely is a blessing that is far beyond anything that was pronounced upon my head. ¶

Then I have seen five or six thousand people, young and old, yield obedience to the doctrines of the Gospel. They have gone down into the waters of baptism and have entered into covenant with the Lord to serve him and keep his commandments. We read in the revelations of God that if a man gives his lifetime to the preaching of the Gospel and saves but one soul how great will his joy be with that soul in the kingdom of God. I feel again the blessings that have been realized have been greater than the promises that were made, and have found in the California Mission every opportunity for the service of God and every reward that I ever found in the European Mission or elsewhere. I have had, according to the promise sealed upon my head, a marvelous and wonderful experience, and feel in my soul that I know that I have been richly and wonderfully blessed in laboring in the service of God for the spreading of those doctrines that constitute the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That Gospel is today, as it was anciently, ¶

the power of God unto salvation. All this and more has come to me in the California Mission. ¶

After one hundred years of teaching the truth brought back to earth through the ministry of the great prophet of the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, we should all be coming to a realization of the wonderful nature of the work made manifest to men in the age in which we now live. It is strange to those who have received the truth, that all good men cannot see the beauty and necessity of the marvelous work that has come to mankind through the prophet of God, Joseph Smith. ¶

I shall read a few words. I do not know the author, but they are words that have been sent out in the interest of the Mutual Improvement work of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and they fit in, I feel, remarkably well with the service missionaries render in the preaching of the Gospel as it is now being proclaimed. ¶

"In the first century, due to the teachings of Jesus Christ and his apostles, there was a perfect understanding that God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost, were separate, distinct, personages. The Savior was in the express image of his Father, possessing a tangible body of flesh and bones. Jesus taught that his father was greater than he and he was subject to the Father. Paul, in his epistles to the saints, almost invariably bore witness to the distinct and separate personalities of the Father and the Son. In the year 1830 these truths had been lost and the knowledge of God had become a great mystery; the personages of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost in the minds of the people were confused and they declared God to be without bodily form and passions. ¶

"Through the great prophet, who was the instrument in the hands of God in reestablishing the work of God and receiving the visits of the angel who was sent flying through the midst of heaven having the everlasting Gospel to preach to those who dwell upon the earth, the truth as it was comprehended and taught by the inspired apostles of old, was again made known. ¶

"The ancient prophets, as well as the Apostles of old, declared that revelation was to be had by the people of God in all ages. Many of the prophets had predicted wonderful revelations and renewal of covenants between the Lord and his people in the latter days. In the year 1830 all this was'denied, and the world taught that the canon of scriptures was full and closed forever. ¶

"The prophets of old predicted the coming of messengers from the presence of the Lord in the latter days, to visit men and to bestow upon them keys of authority and to instruct them in the ways of the Lord. In the year 1830 it was generally believed that the. time of the appearing of angels from the presence of the Lord was past, and no longer needed. ¶

"The Lord established a Church and in the days of the Apostles it was officered by Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Elders, Bishops, Priests, etc. Paul declared that these officers were necessary to the Church for its perfection. In the year 1830 all this had been changed and there were no Apostles, and no Prophets — no one to speak by divine authority. ¶

"Through the ministry of the great prophet of the latter times, we have been made acquainted with the glorious truth that our Father in heaven is the same yesterday, today and forever, that he changes not, and that his revelation, his direction, is had today among the children of men as it was had anciently. ¶

"In the scriptures man is called upon to repent, and serve the Lord by keeping his commandments. In many churches in 1830 it was taught that through his atonement Jesus Orist had done all for man and man could do nothing for himself towards his salvation. All that was required was that an individual confess Jesus Christ and he would be saved." We have learned in the age in which we live, by the revelations that have been given to the Prophet Joseph Smith, that we cannot take the commission that was given two thousand years ago to the disciples who were sent out to preach the Gospel, and claim that we have authority because of that commission, to teach the precious things of the kingdom of heaven. We preach today not because Jesus the Christ authorized men anciently to preach, but because of revelation and commandment directly to us. He made the declaration: "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit;" and he commanded his disciples to go unto all nations, "Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.1" ¶

If you will read the sixty-eighth section of the book of Doctrine and Covenants you will find that men operate today because the Lord God himself declared that his servants who had been clothed with authority in our own time were to go into all the world preaching the Gospel to every creature, making the promise anew that those who would believe them and be baptized would be saved, and those who would not believe should be damned. The authority has been conferred upon men in the age in which we live. I praise the name of my Maker, that in his loving kindness and providence, I myself, have been clothed with that precious authority, the authority of priesthood, the right to advocate the glorious doctrines that will bring men and women back into the presence of God, the right to administer those sacred and holy ordinances that have always been essential to salvation; they were essential in the meridian of time; essential in the days of our father Adam and through all dispensations. There has never been any other means by which men and women might be made citizens of the kingdom of God, and never will be worlds without end. That authority has been conferred upon mortal men in this age in which we live. I would that I could burn that thought into the minds of men and women who have not given investigation to this glorious Gospel that by the providence of God has been brought back to mankind again; for in our own time authority has again been given to men and the commandment given by divine revelation in this dispensation that we shall go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. We invite men and women who are not of our faith to give attention to this proclamation, this representation that the God of heaven has revealed anew the good old Gospel, the only Gospel that has the power of salvation; and he has made the declaration that all people may know, if they will, by obedience, that his word and his truth have again been revealed, by which lost authority could be brought back to men. There was no other way, as some have been able to discern who have not been members of the Church. ¶

I will read a word or two from a booklet that I picked up long ago in an old cathedral in the old world. The pamphlet is entitled ¶

"Questions and Answers," and I read under the heading, "Why I am a Roman Catholic": ¶

"And again, when Luther, Calvin, Henry VIII, and their followers were starting in their mad career, either the true religion was then in the world, or it was not. If it was, they committed grievous crimes in making new religions to oppose it. If it was not, they were powerless to create it. It takes a Christ, not a Luther, to create a Christianity. On either supposition, therefore, Protestantism is not the true religion of Jesus Christ." ¶

I wish men could comprehend the truth of that declaration. "It takes a Christ, not a Luther to create Christianity." ¶

So says a Roman Catholic. He seemed to recognize the truth — for it is the truth — that if the Gospel of the Son of God had disappeared from the earth, men could not bring it back. It could only be brought back by that Being who is the author of salvation, and in whom all power and authority center. The Catholic priest spoke better than he knew. We testify that the Lord God Almighty sent, as we have heard, at the opening of this dispensation, over a hundred years ago, his Son, our Redeemer, and holy angels; and those angels conferred upon men once more the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ; and by that authority men now minister in the nations of the world. If men are pricked in their hearts and cry out, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" we make answer, "Repent, and be baptized, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." That is the religion of Jesus Christ, also the religion called Mormonism; it is the power of God unto salvation. God help us to understand it, to believe it, to receive it and live it, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. ¶