My Brethren And Sisters The History Of...

My brethren and sisters: The history of the Latter-day Saints since the organization of the Church in 1830 is one of the most marvelous stories of all time. The glory of its history is the fact that there has been a divine purpose and ideal to be worked out in this life. ¶

This divine purpose is based on faith in God, intelligence, and foresight. Many visitors from all over the world come to ask about the real meaning of our religion. A few days ago there sat in my office a Mr. Walter Mallin, a representative of one of the surviving newspapers of Western Germany. With two other newspapermen, he had been sent to America to make a study of the government, the education, and the religion of America. He came to Salt Lake City, as this was one of the centers he had been directed to visit, for he knew that we had many German converts. It would be impossible to tell you the many questions he asked, but the most important one to him was how our religion has worked for education. He was told about our ideals of education and religion. ¶

In a recent book entitled Education — America's Magic by Raymond M. ¶

Hughes, President Emeritus, Iowa State College, and William H. Lancelot, Professor of Vocational Education, Iowa State College, we have the latest statement concerning education in America and in the respective states of America. ¶

Speaking of the place of the states of the Union in education, the authors of this book tell us that, "Utah has first place among the states by a wide margin." In speaking of the place of Utah, we find it leads all the states in adult education. ¶

This appears to be due almost wholly to the high value placed on education by the people of Utah, coupled with high efficiency in the expenditure of funds devoted to school purposes. This combination of great effort and high efficiency in the utilization of school funds seems to have operated in a remarkable manner to overcome many handicaps. ¶

The general condition of education in Utah is also made by Professor Ellsworth Huntington of Yale University in his interesting book, entitled Civilization and Climate, when he writes: ¶

The proud position of Utah is presumably the result of Mormonism. The leaders of that faith have had the wisdom to insist on a thorough system of schools, and have obliged the children to attend them. The "Gentiles" have in self-defense been forced to do equally well, and the result has been admirable. Whatever one may think of Mormonism as a religious belief, it must be credited with having accomplished a remarkable work in spreading a moderate degree of education almost universally among the people of Utah. . . . ¶

Furthermore, the German correspondent was told what his compatriot, Count Keyserling, once wrote. The learned philosopher visited America a few years ago, and on his way across the continent, he stopped off in Salt Lake City. As a result of his visit, he wrote in his famous two-volume work these words: ¶

Undoubtedly Joseph Smith and Brigham Young were just as genuine prophets as were Moses, Luther, and Calvin; only they were exceedingly uneducated. ¶

Then he continues: ¶

We Occidentals are not men of understanding, but men of action. The same Mormons whose religious ideas seemed so childish, have achieved a civilization hardly attained by any other people; in barely half a century, they have changed a salt desert into a garden. They are moreover admirable citizens, law-abiding, honest, and progressive. . . . ¶

It is the farsightedness, the quiet and confident patience, the supreme faith in God with which our people have worked. Beginning with the Kirtland Temple, they built, not for present satisfaction, but for some deep and noble purpose for their God. In the Kirtland Temple, the Prophet Joseph Smith showed a great love for education and established Hebrew, Greek, and Latin classes, and attended them himself. In Nauvoo, schools were established and a university founded, all for a great and noble purpose. Their lives were the embodiment of political, civil, and religious faith. Let us consider for a moment just one line of thought, an idealism that remains always among the Mormon people. We speak of schools in Kirtland and later in Nauvoo, activities in educational pursuits that eclipsed all other peoples on the American frontier. ¶

Taking their name from a number of our Lord's disciples, the "Seventies" ¶

of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints form the central council of the missionary activity of the organization. As early as the Nauvoo period of Mormon history, the need for a fine library was keenly felt, for the seventies must then as now be eagerly reading and searching for the truths of the gospel. In Times and Seasons, January 1, 1845, the following item was published: ¶

Among the improvements going forward in this city, none merit [sic] higher praise, than the Seventies' Library. The concern has been commenced on a footing and scale, broad enough to embrace the arts and sciences, every where: so that the Seventies', while traveling over the face of the globe, as the Lord's "Regular Soldiers," can gather all the curious things, both natural and artificial, with all the knowledge, inventions, and wonderful specimens of genius that have been gracing the world for almost six thousand years. . . . (forming) the foundation for the best library in the world! ¶

Nauvoo was destroyed while the Saints were marching to their new home in the far west. But the dreams of the people were never lost, and on July 15, 1851, we read in the Fifth General Epistle of the Church, describing Salt Lake City, the following: ¶

On November 27th, the quorum of Seventies in conference assembled, agreed to erect an extensive rotunda in Great Salt Lake City, to be called the "Seventies' Hall of Science,'" and Joseph Young, their President, was appointed trustee and superintendent of the work. The foundation of the hall is commenced on East Temple and Second South streets. [Now Main and Second South Streets.] . . . The design is highly commendable to the brethren and such a building is much needed in this place. ¶

Truman O. Angell, later named as the architect of the Salt Lake Temple, was commissioned to draw the plans for the building, as shown by the long forgotten drawing recently found. ¶

Had the project been carried out, the structure undoubtedly would have possessed unusual architectural interest, for it had a majesty and beauty all its own, surpassing anything on the frontier in originality and dignity. ¶

Truman Angell's plans show his response to the contemporary Gothic revival, then in its early stages. It was designed to be the repository for the first library brought to Utah in 1851, but owing to the poverty of the people who were just beginning to establish their homes, President Brigham Young prevailed upon his brother Joseph, President of the Seventy, not to build for some years to come. For this reason the edifice was never started. The seventies continued collecting books, however, and they soon had a fine library of the modern and ancient classics. From the time of the organization of the First Quorum of Seventy in Kirtland, their duties were pointed out by the Prophet Joseph Smith, and they came to realize that they were to be the teachers, the missionaries of the Church. Sensitive to the words as found in the 109th section of the Doctrine and Covenants: ¶

. . . Seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom, seek learning even by study and also by faith. (D. & C. ¶

109:7.) They had a deep desire to have a library of religious, historical, and literary works, that would give them the urge for self-development. ¶

The seventies became readers of the finest literature of the world, beginning with the Holy Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the two other Church works. ¶

The people were poor in purse, but they were concerned with certain influences which were given in the writings of great authors. Sublime was their reverence for knowledge which is akin to the love of truth. They knew that a great work of any sort could only be achieved by the power of some ideal. ¶

And it is high ideals in the conduct of life that survive. ¶

There was hardly a family living in remote parts of the territory but what had books, and I think many of you can recall the libraries of the Sabbath schools of the early days. President Joseph Young and his co-laborers in the First Council of the Seventy continued through the years to collect books, and the Mormon people became great readers of literature. Many of you older members of the Church can recall the great teachers that were once in the schools and colleges here. A Princeton University professor in his Life of Mr. justice Sutherland has written reverently of Dr. Karl G. Maeser, and others have given the history far and wide of many of the glorious intellects of this people who lived back in pioneer times. There were writers, too, in the earliest days, and it was William Cullen Bryant who chose one of the poems of Sarah E. ¶

Carmichael to be in his anthology of American verse. Many of the missionaries who went abroad long years before the railroad, carried in their handcarts the works of Shakespeare and the German writer, Goethe. My own father carried with him to England in 1857 the essays of Francis Bacon. Practically in every ward of Utah, a library was established in connection with the Sabbath schools. Fortunately, we have in our possession a catalogue of the Seventies Library, which does not classify the books, but there were writings on religion, languages, government, education, ethics, and the various phases of the sciences. ¶

In addition to the Seventies' Library was the territorial library brought by ox teams to Utah in 1851. It had been purchased in New York City by Dr. ¶

John M. Bernhisel and was a wonderful collection of books. There were the works of Shakespeare, Milton, Bacon, Homer, Juvenal, Lucretius, Virgil, Euripides, Sophocles, Plato, Montaigne, Tacitus, Spenser, Herodotus, Goldsmith, and many others of the great masters of the world's best literature. The library received copies of the New York Herald, New York Evening Post, the Philadelphia Saturday Courier, and the North American Review. Of the scientific works there were Newton's Principia, Herschel's Outlines of Astronomy and Von Humboldt's Cosmos. These books were also well-known to Orson Pratt. The treatises on philosophy included the works of John Stuart Mill, Martin Luther, John Wesley, and Emanuel Swedenborg. ¶

The subject of education was just one phase of the conversation with our German visitor. The most important subject was that of religion and our sacred books : the Holy Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price, which took up many hours of the three days our friend was here. ¶

I called his attention to the scholarly statement made by the famous German scholar, Adolf Harnack, rector of, and professor of church history in, the university, and member of the Royal Prussian Academy, Berlin: ¶

Gentlemen, it is religion, the love of God and neighbour, which gives life a meaning; knowledge cannot do it. Let me, if you please, speak of my own experience, as one who for thirty years has taken an earnest interest in these things. Pure knowledge is a glorious thing, and woe to the man who holds it light or blunts his sense for it! But to the question, Whence, whither, and to what purpose? it gives an answer to-day as little as it did two or three thousand years ago. It does, indeed, instruct us in facts; it detects inconsistencies; it links phenomena; it corrects the deceptions of sense and idea. But where and how the curve of the world and the curve of our own life begin, — that curve of which it shows us only a section, — and whither this curve leads, knowledge does not tell us. ¶

But if with a steady will we affirm the forces and the standards which on the summits of our inner life shine out as our highest good, nay, as our real self; if we are earnest and courageous enough to accept them as the great Reality and direct our lives by them; and if we then look at the course of mankind's history, follow its upward development, and search, in strenuous and patient service, for the communion of minds in it, we shall not faint in weariness and despair, but become certain of God, of the God whom Jesus Christ called his Father, and who is also our Father. ¶

To close our conversation, mention was made of the life and work of George Santayana who was once professor of philosophy at Harvard University and one of the greatest philosophers of our day. We had read the thirteenth chapter of I Nephi in the Book of Mormon and quoted the reference to a man who was called from among the gentiles. ¶

And I looked and beheld a man among the Gentiles, who was separated from the seed of my brethren by the many waters; and I beheld the Spirit of God, that it came down and wrought upon the man; and he went forth upon the many waters, even unto the seed of my brethren, who were in the promised land. ¶

And it came to pass that I beheld the Spirit of God, that it wrought upon other Gentiles; and they went forth out of captivity, upon the many waters. (1 Nephi 13:12-13.) George Santayana once wrote a beautiful poem entitled "Faith" which concerns this first journey of Columbus. ¶

The opening words are: ¶

O world, thou choosest not the better part! It is not wisdom to be only wise, And on the inward vision close the eyes, But it is wisdom to believe the heart. ¶

Columbus found a world, and had no chart, Save one that faith deciphered in the skies; To trust the soul's invincible surmise Was all his science and his only art. ¶

To you, my brother seventies, let me say, "That which thy fathers have bequeathed to thee, earn it anew if thou would possess it." ¶

Be strong and of good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.( Deut. 31:6.) May the Lord bless us all, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶