Eastern States Mission Report

These words from the 128th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants come to me as I rise before you this afternoon: ¶

Now, what do we hear in the gospel which we have received? A voice of gladness ! A voice of mercy from heaven; and a voice of truth out of the earth; glad tidings for the dead; a voice of gladness for the living and the dead; glad tidings of great joy. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of those that bring glad tidings of good things, and that say unto Zion: Behold, thy God reigneth ! As the dews of Carmel, so shall the knowledge of God descend upon them ! ¶

And again, what do we hear? Glad tidings from Cumorah ! lyioroni, an angel from heaven, declaring the fulfilment of the prophets — the book to be revealed. A voice of the Lord in the wilderness of Fayette, Seneca County, declaring the three witnesses to bear record of the book! ¶

The outstanding event during the last six months in the Eastern States Mission was the dedication of the monument on the Hill Cumorah, near Palmyra, New York. Reference was made this morning to this event. The work of the mission has centered, during the summer, largely around that place. Our missionaries visited every home within a radius of twenty miles of the Hill Cumorah. More than seventy thousand people live within that area. ¶

We are deeply grateful to the Lord for the blessings that have been given to us in our mission. We are especially grateful for the fine publicity that was given through the newspapers, magazines, and over the radios concerning the dedication of the monument. Thousands of articles were published. The Hill Cumorah has continued to be a place of interest for many people since the dedication services were held. No day has passed, since the dedication of the monument, that has not seen many people come to that hill. Forty, I think, is the smallest number, and we have had as high as seven hundred and seventy in a day visit the monument and listen to the message of the missionaries who have been stationed in that locality. ¶

I do not know whether you fully appreciate, as we do, the blessings of publicity. The messages of our brethren who visited us were written in detail and printed in literally hundreds of the papers in that mission. ¶

Reference was made to individuals, to the President of the Church, and to many others in the kindliest manner. ¶

I recall at this time some of the quotations that were made regarding our exercises, and with the consent of the brethren I would like to insert in my remarks in the permanent record a few of these brief quotations. ¶

The Evening Journal of Rochester, New York, made this forecast on June IS, 1935: ¶

When Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, led his little band of faithful followers westward from Palmyra 100 years ago, it was because they were driven out by the persecution of other sects in this, vicinity. ¶

But when their descendants, many of them among the nation's wealthiest and most prominent figures, return here next month, they will be received with' open arms. A holiday will be declared in their honor — the key to the city will be theirs. ¶

On July 14 the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle printed a fullpage story which was concluded with these words: ¶

History repeated itself in western New York when this year the story of Mormonism was taken to the people of the section through a projected missionary campaign participated in by 50 young men and women from the church in the West, many of whom were third and fourth generation descendants of the early converts in this state. ¶

At the coming celebration at the site of the monument itself, a homecoming of unique proportions will be enacted. Thousands of adherents to the faith that was cradled in Palmyra a century ago will return to see the marking of one of its prominent places and the memorializing of one of its salient events. ¶

While the early Mormons were driven from New York by misunderstanding neighbors in 1831, their returning descendants are welcomed by friends in the same places. Where the faith was once despised, missionaries find people who want to know of it. ¶

Building a stately memorial in their church's birthplace, the Latterday Saints take up again the threads of a religion which were dropped one hundred years ago. ¶

The monument's dedication was reported in this way by the Courier-Express of Buffalo on July 22: ¶

About 105 years ago Joseph Smith and his little band of followers ' were driven out of their homes in Palmyra and Manchester to wander across the continent before they found peace. ¶

Yesterday approximately 3,000 persons from all parts of the United States and Canada, as staunch in their Mormon faith as the battered band of 1830, returned to Palmyra and Manchester. Prosperous, and zealous for their religion, they came as honored guests of the same communities where founders of their faith were stoned and killed. ¶

The New York Times, on the same date, quoted one of the dedication day speakers thus: ¶

We do not erect this monument to express the wealth of the Church, or the deeds — mighty as they were — that took place from 1820 to 1830 ¶

on this hallowed ground, but to express gratitude for the gospel of Jesus, said Mr. McKay. ¶

It is a monument to the question and the answer of ages; if a man die, shall he live again? We must in testimony of Joseph Smith say that if a man die, he shall live again. ¶

A report written with remarkable sympathy and understanding by Mrs. Thelma G. Bryant of Monroe, Michigan, was carried by the Evening News of that town on July 27: ¶

If the dead can see and know of earthly events, as some people believe they do, then the heart of Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, must have been filled with joy because of the recent events around his boyhood home. Over 5,000 of his followers, and others, gathered at "Cumorah Land" as it is called by the Mormons, for a four day celebration commemorating the restoration of the gospel. Sunday, July 21, on top of Mormon Hill, as the natives there have long called it, or the Hill Cumorah, as the Mormons say, was unveiled and dedicated a beautiful monument, which was set to mark the place where it is claimed the young Prophet Joseph found the golden tablets from which he translated the record known as the Book of Mormon. ¶

Members came from long distances, some from California, Idaho, Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts, and Michigan. A large delegation came from Utah, among them being Heber J. Grant, who is the head of the church over all the world. There were also several apostles and other important leaders of the church. In simple unassuming fashion these men spoke, paying tribute to the man Joseph, the first latter-day prophet. Mr. Grant holds the same place in the church today as Joseph did, and is honored by his people as a prophet, seer, and revelator unto the church. Despite his high place, Mr. Grant as also the other leaders of the church, mingled freely among the people. ¶

The papers quoted much of the wonderful speeches made by President Grant and President McKay at the last session of the conference. President McKay said, as I recall, that the monument connoted at least four things; first, the personality and the reality of our Father in heaven; second, that he has communicated his mind and his will to men in this day; third, that he had given authority to establish his church upon earth; and fourth, that there is no death. President Grant bore a most powerful testimony of the divinity of the Gospel. ¶

A short time ago a man visited the Hill Cumorah, and after listening to the. story of the elders he said: "The test of a man's greatness is measured by ideas original with him. What did Joseph Smith give to the world new in the way of ideas?" ¶

Our elder replied: "At least four come to me now: First, in the face of a doctrine that man is a worm of the dust" — which, by the way, has no place in Mormon philosophy — "he gave to the world the idea of the relationship of man to God. He restated what the Psalmist had said, that the Lord had created man a little lower than the angels. He gave to the world the idea of man's greatness, and not of his littleness, providing he seeks to make himself great. Second, he gave also to the world the idea of man's origin. True, it had been taught before, but it ¶

was new religiously." Preexistence of man, so far as I know, is a doctrine, even to this day, peculiar to the Latter-day Saints. "Third," said our missionary, "he gave to the world the thought that all true religion is based upon the doctrine of free agency; that it is freedom and reason that make us men, in the face of an accepted doctrine of predestination. And fourth, he gave to the world a beautiful and wonderfully new doctrine of the onwardness or eternal progress and growth and development in the life hereafter; that there is no such thing as static, in Mormon theology; that in yonder world we take up the threads of life largely where we leave them off here, and go on to endless growth and development through the countless ages of eternity." ¶

When our missionary had spoken — I have not, of course, used his exact words — when he had finished speaking this man said: "I have been listening and looking for ideas such as you have spoken here today. I want a religion that gives me a revelation concerning the kinship of man to God. I want to believe that I am great if I make myself great. I want to worship a God who deigns to call me his son, and reveals that I am his literal child. But I want that religion to be based upon free agency, with the glorious thought that for every personal act I, myself, am held responsible, when I arrive at the age of accountability." ¶

That is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That is the glorious message. It is founded upon the doctrine of free agency, but always with the thought that we are rewarded and we are advanced as we seek knowledge and gain power and grow toward the good, the infinite and the righteous. This is a glorious message, and how beautiful, how wonderful this glad tiding of great joy ! ¶

The Eastern States missionaries have been happy this summer. They have been thrilled. I wish I could tell you, you parents particularly, of some of the testimonies that have been borne in my hearing by your sons and daughters out there proclaiming the word of God. They rejoiced and were thrilled at the dedication, when we had with us two of the First Presidency, four or five of the Council of the Twelve, one member of the First Council of Seventy, the Presiding Bishop, and others of the general boards and representatives of the various organizations of the Church. ¶

We rejoice in the privilege that is ours of laboring in the land where Mormonism had its birth. With new pride, with new hope, with new thrills we are performing our labors, as best we can. In humility, but with the strength that is born of conviction, we are bearing our testimony that we do know that God lives; that he is a personality and a reality; that he has revealed himself in this day; that he has given authority to organize and build up his Church; that we know that life is real, and that there is no death — life, life eternal, glorious, splendid and wonderful life. ¶

God help us to live it well, I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. ¶