Pulpit

The Northern States Mission

Noah S. Pond, President of the Northern States Mission

1930 October General Conference·Third Day Afternoon Session·1930-10-05

I pray in my heart that we may be able to take to our homes in the wards and stakes and in the mission fields the spirit and instruction of this great Conference.

Sister Pond and I are happy in the work in the Northern States Mission. The auxiliary organizations and the Aaronic Priesthood, I believe, are being properly supervised and more than ordinary progress is being made. As a Church and as missionaries representing the Savior in the mission field, we cannot but acknowledge the eternal fitness of these men, times and occurrence of things, just as Columbus was led to discover the new world, although his reward was the return to the old country in chains. Just as John Milton was led to the steps of the palace of Whitehall Chapel three hundred years ago with his plea for "Liberty of the press," although diplomacy drove him into seclusion and exile. A courtier at the court told him that one of two things would happen, he would either be locked up in the castle or lose his head. But the intellectual germ of Milton's "Plea" fell into the hands of Englishmen, Frenchmen, Germans, Scotchmen, Yankees, Turks, Japs and Russians ; and liberty and freedom were born and realized. Galileo, Luther and Washington are further examples of the eternal fitness of men and messages.

Joseph Smith, God's great prophet, came in the right century and to the right nation and country. He could not so successfully have delivered his message in an earlier century or in another country. And these things are marvelous in contemplation, but we see our Father's regulatory and supervisory guidance of time and events for the benefit of his people.

I am happy to testify of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am happy to have the privilege of testifying to the people of the earth. God bless our leaders today and all who follow. May we have that testimony of the Gospel, the richest gift of God, that will ultimately lead us into the kingdom of our Father and bring us eternal life, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Cite this talkNoah S. Pond, "The Northern States Mission," 1930 October General Conference, Third Day Afternoon Session (1930-10-05). Pulpit Vault, 1930-10-noah-s-pond-the-northern-states-mission. Authoritative print text from archive.org.Pulpit Vault, edition of 23 September 2026 (commit 4bdc6ac627).
Elsewhere in the corpus
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  2. 1980The Blessing of a TestimonyN. Eldon Tanner¶ 4
  3. 1918Loyalty to Church and countryDon C. Driggs¶ 4
  4. 1911Truly the Song of the Righteous Is a Prayer Unto the LordWilliam T. Jack¶ 4
  5. 1924RemarksE. Wesley Smith¶ 4

Passages elsewhere in the record that speak where this talk speaks — nearest first, found by comparing paragraph texts. Each opens at the cited paragraph.