Northern States Mission Report

I trust that the Lord will give me strength to say the things I should say to you on this occasion. I have been deeply impressed during this conference, and especially with the remarks of our President at the first session. ¶

President Grant, in speaking of some criticisms, made reference to the fact that he acknowledged his own lack of information. When he said this I remembered that two thousand years ago the most learned men among the nation of the Jews went to the court of Pilate, the Roman governor, and there they said of our Savior : "Crucify him ;" and they emphasized it by repeating it three times. They also said : "Let his blood be upon us and upon our children." And I remember that just before this the Lord had asked Peter whom he thought that he, the Son of God, was, and Peter said : "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living- God." Then our Savior told him that that knowledge came direct from God through revelation. Then I thought of the two thousand years since then, when the sequel has proved that the great revelation which Peter had, though he was but a poor fisherman, without the learning of the world — I say time has proved that that knowledge was worth a thousand times more than all the knowledge of the learned. ¶

I have had the privilege of sitting, as a student, at the feet of some of the most learned men in this world. Or at least some who have the reputation of being the most learned. I remember that one of these great educators — the man who translated the Old Testament most recently, and whose translation is said to be the most learned translation of the Bible that we have, — in reviewing the events in the Old Testament this gentleman said that he had recently been to Palestine with the archaeological expedition which his school had sent there. He was speaking of that story in the Bible which tells of the walls of Jericho falling when the army of Israel marched around the city. He said that in the explora- ¶

tions of Jericho they had found that the walls had never fallen ; and in rather a light mood made light of that and other stories in the Bible. ¶

Of course, I do not feel that it is my duty, nor the duty of the Latter-day Saints, nor is it their responsibility, to prove the truth of all the stories in the Bible. Yet, I was impressed greatly only a month or two later when I read that that very expedition from his school, in excavating farther, had found that part of the walls of Jericho had fallen. ¶

Paul spoke of those who were ever learning but never coming to a knowledge of the truth. I respect the scientists, I respect the great men of learning, but I respect more than them those who, like the prophets of God, have obtained that light which comes direct from God, — that which can never be changed, even though another archaeological discovery may be made. ¶

It is the spirit of the Gospel of Christ — the spirit that is manifest by the missionaries in the mission field in their devotion to the great eternal truths which God has revealed, that will save this world from the ills which now encompass us. It is the same spirit which Abraham Lincoln had when, in reference to the laws of our country, he wrote the following words : ¶

Let every American, every lover of liberty, every well wisher to his posterity, swear by the blood of the Revolution never to violate in the least particular the laws of the country, and never to tolerate their violation. Let every man remember that to violate the law is to trample on the blood of his father, and to tear the charter of his own and his children's liberty. Let reverence for the law be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap. Let it he taught in schools, in seminaries, and in colleges ; let it be written in primers, spelling books, and in almanacs ; let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed from legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And, in short, let it become the political religion of the nation, and let the old and young, the rich and poor, the grave and the gay of all sexes and tongues and colors and conditions sacrifice unceasingly upon its altars. ¶

Your sons and daughters in the Northern States Mission are full of this type of devotion which was advocated by our great President Lincoln. Their devotion is to the laws of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that sacred truth that the Lord has given to us as a people. ¶

I bring that message to you, and trust that throughout Zion that same love of truth, in the acting and doing of a thing, may come to all of us, in the name of Jesus, Amen. ¶