Southern States Mission Report

Former President of the Southern States Mission ¶

It is a very great pleasure to be privileged to meet again with the Saints in General Conference. ¶

I love the Church. I love our leaders. I love the teachings of the Church, and I love the missionaries who labor in the mission field. It has been a great honor to be privileged to labor so many years with them in the Southern States Mission. And I love the Saints because of their wonderful sacrifices for this great work. I think it is an honor to be a member in this Church. I am very grateful for the opportunity that I have had of laboring in the mission field. I think it is one of the greatest privileges in the Church. I have often said that if the Prophet Joseph had given his life for no other thing than the establishment of the great missionary system of this Church, he certainly would not have died in vain. ¶

No one can be associated with the fine young men and women of the Church who go into the mission field, and see how marvelously they grow in faith, in understanding of life, and in good works, in the brief period of a mission, without realizing its worth to the body of the Church. As I have often said, when laboring among those young men and women, if they are not worthy to cry repentance to the world I know not where the Lord could find people worthy of such a task. ¶

Since having returned home, a few months past, to reside again in Zion, or the headquarters of the Church, I feel very grateful for my association with the fine Saints here at home. I am grateful for the wonderful faith and testimony that I find in the midst of the people here. ¶

But there are some things, as indicated by some of the addresses given at this Conference, that are more or less disturbing. While associating with some of my friends recently I was asked whether I was orthodox or liberal. I did not know before that we had two parties in the Church. It caused me to give considerable thought to the question ; ¶

and when I listen to our brethren here bear testimony of the truth of the divine mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the truth of the Book of Mormon, and of the great work of the Savior of the world, I thank God that I am orthodox. ¶

In my business we do a great deal of exchanging, and if I were going to make an exchange I would want to know that I was getting something as good as I was giving. I have thought of the orthodox teachings of this Church, and I have never heard any stories, in print or otherwise, to compare with the story told by the Prophet Joseph Smith, save the story of the Son of Man. ¶

After the silence of ages, without any word from heaven, surely nothing in all the world could be so refreshing, so soul-satisfying as to have some one again come from God and speak to this world, and make again alive to us the reality of the existence of God and of the life to follow. ¶

If there were nothing more in the story told by the Prophet Joseph Smith than the visitation of Moroni, standing before him, a resurrected being, as far as we know, who had once lived upon this earth, to make real to us the fact that we shall live again in bodily form, and know each other, and possess the knowledge and experiences of mortality, I would rather have that knowledge than any philosophies I know of in this world, outside of the orthodox teachings of the Mormon Church. ¶

Recently I heard this statement made: "Is it not rather absurd to think that we have to regard the Word of Wisdom as we have been regarding it?" If I were going to give up my faith in the Word of Wisdom I would want something in exchange for it that is better. ¶

I went into the home, recently, of some friends, to inquire as to their welfare, and found a broken-hearted woman and a broken home. Why ? Because disobedience to the Word of Wisdom had wrecked that home. I once read a statement by a man who said he had seven good reasons why he was opposed to liquor and to saloons. Three were daughters and the other four were sons. He said: "You cannot run a saw-mill without logs, nor a saloon without making drunkards of boys and drunkards' wives of the girls." ¶

If we give up the fundamental teachings of the Church, these orthodox things that we have been taught, — the principle of prayer and faith in God,— what can they offer us in exchange ? Think of when our loved ones are lying sick and at the point of death, if we had to give up the faith we have been taught from our childhood, that we can do as James of old said: "Call the elders of the church, and let them pray over him anointing him with oil, * * * and the prayer of faith shall save the sick." I don't know what men or women can offer us in their modern thought in exchange for such fundamental and comforting teachings. ¶

Now, I mustn't take more of your time. There are many mission presidents. I hope while I am here at home that the Latter-day Saints who know me shall know that I am a fundamentalist ; that I believe in the orthodox teachings of this Church. The Savior once said, quoting from the prophets of old: ¶

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God. ¶

And in the revelations of the Lord to the Prophet Joseph Smith, he said: ¶

My word is sharper than a two-edged sword to the dividing asunder of both bone and marrow. ¶

I never listen to any philosophies of men that cause my soul to respond, but when I listen to President Grant and these leaders, who have spoken here in this Conference, there is something that goes through me like a shock of electricity, and I know that the word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword. ¶

I pray to God that I may be able so to live always that my soul will respond to such teachings, and that I might be a power for good in the midst of the Saints at home, now that my work in the mission field is ended. ¶

God bless you and our leaders and the missionary cause throughout the worlds I pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. ¶