Missionaries Are Happy

It fills a missionary's heart with gratitude and stirs his soul with pride to attend a general conference of the Church. He may labor with ever so much zeal, still the returns are small. His voice is a little one in the world. You can well imagine how it heartens and encourages him to come to a conference like this and see this great body of people ! There is a serene and tranquil influence here ; a sense of peace and security born of a settled faith in God and his beneficence. ¶

I was greatly interested in the report which President McKay read yesterday, a brief and comprehensive report showing the great service of the Church, in a material way, for a single year; also showing the strength of the Church, its growth and its progress. ¶

Since listening to that report my mind has been going over the past. I am not an historian, but I travel over historic ground. I have been to Far West, frequently to Nauvoo and to Kirtland, and have passed over a good deal of territory which has been sanctified by the touch of men and women whose hearts were warmed with a living faith in God. ¶

A hundred years ago, an onlooker, unfamiliar with the spirit and power of Mormonism would have said that this Church could not endure. It seemed to be on the brink of ruin. The winter of 1838-39 was a very dark period. The leaders of the Church were imprisoned. The people were scattered, pillaged, persecuted and pursued. They had no place to go. They could find neither rest nor security. Those were the days that tried men's souls. Many did not have the fortitude to endure, and fell by the wayside. Many were cut off from the Church for good reasons. Among these were two of the three witnesses for the Book of Mormon. ¶

I remember reading that when Brigham Young asked Bishop Partridge to care for the poor, that devoted and loyal man was so worn that he replied, "The poor will have to care for themselves." I only recite this to show that those days were hard even for the strongest. ¶

Out of those hard and bitter experiences, great things were born. Great leaders were brought to the front, men who, under the Almighty have led this people for almost a century. Those were the days when Brigham Young first gave evidence of his leadership and his resourcefulness. It was then that he was trained for the great work which the Almighty had in store for him, for the hard and heroic days of 1845 and 1846 and '47, and all the hard days that made up his great life. ¶

John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, and many others were given the opportunity, not only to prove their loyalty to the Prophet, but to prove their fidelity to the truth. These men were tried in the crucible of affliction. Spurgeon once said : "The great soldiers of the Cross have been gathered from the highlands of adversity." It was true in those early days of our history. Those people were winnowed and sifted by the winds of adversity, until nothing but the wheat was left. ¶

They were the people who went to Nauvoo and with their bare hands built a magnificent city. They were the people who crossed the plains, and settled these valleys, and established their feet in these eternal hills. ¶

You remember that at this time the Governor of Missouri was enforcing his cruel exterminating edict. What became of the men who persecuted the Saints? Their names are forever forgotten, unless they are covered with infamy. And the great state that permitted this persecution atoned for it in blood and tears in the tragic days of the Civil War. Running all through the history of this people is the sustaining evidence that the Almighty has directed their course. People recognize that we have something that no one else has. ¶

President Grant made reference yesterday to the 121st Section of the Doctrine and Covenants, explaining that it was given to the Prophet while he languished in Liberty Jail. I want to say, with him. that I have often thought that that revelation was the greatest declaration ever given concerning the government of men. Compulsion finds no place in the government of God. While Joseph Smith languished in that foul jail in 1839 the Almighty revealed to him the spirit and the genius of a government better than the world has yet seen. ¶

Compulsion cannot in the long run succeed. As Brother Geo. F. Richards has told us this morning, that principle was put on trial before the world was framed, or man appeared upon its surface, and those who espoused that cause, and all who followed them, were cast over the ¶

battlements of heaven and came upon the earth to rob men of their free agency, and to take from them the sacred privileges of personal liberty and freedom of soul. A great revelation ! ¶

My brethren and sisters, a missionary coming home has his soul stirred with two profound urges : First, to prophesy good for this people. That comes from a knowledge of their achievements, from the record which they have made, from the standards which they maintain, and from the ideals which they cherish. We are not better than the people of the world, but the Almighty has been exceedingly kind to us. He has traditionated us in standards and ideals sure to bring us to recognition in the world, if we have the faith to live them. ¶

Now, the other urge : This is born of the zeal which a man develops when he preaches the Gospel in the world, that is to admonish his own people to live their religion. My brethren and sisters, it does not require a prophet to say that if we have the simple faith to live the religion which the Almighty has given to us, we are sure to find a high place in the world. There is nothing miraculous about it. It is a natural result of the religion which we have received. ¶

God bless you, my brethren and sisters. There is nothing that you can do to support the missionary work like living it at home, demonstrating it in your own lives. God bless our President. It is a delight to hear the ring of his voice, its clearness, the precision with which he expresses himself, the benevolent influence which he radiates. This Church has had even seven presidents, but it has never had a better man preside over it than Heber J. Grant. President Grant is a demonstrator. He shows how it should be done. He leads out. I am sure the Almighty loves him and loves you. Peace be with you. ¶

The Northern States is a great mission. The good parents who are here this morning know that all is well with their children. If the missionaries weren't happy and well you would be immediately advised. ¶

I know that Mormonism is true. I have always known it. This is my testimony to you : I never have seen an honest heart, that was warmed with the fire of the Holy Ghost, that hasn't been quickened to nobler and finer things. This is my testimony, and I bear it in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen. ¶