Show instructions id TO missionaries by pres president ident BRIGHAM YOUNG yolo historians office april 25 ligo 1560 7 f REPORTED BY G D WATT I 1 belie belle ye that you air already noly moly understand all that thab tha t is ne cesary for your safe guidance through the tha perils and temptations that await the elders and saints of the last days none can be said sald to have heard the gospe llast sabbath been baptized on monday last ordained on tuesday and on wednesday sent foh forth to preach as were many of the first hirst elders eiders on the contrary I 1 think you have been pretty well schooled but the pe inquiry arises arises in my mind do the elders realize the importance of their mis biens do they realize that thit in their administration they carry with them the keys of life and death not pertaining to this life alone but to chrs in connection with all the life there is it is necessary that you should fully realize this aiji ni your calling as elders in the church of reua reus jesus jebus christ the thousands and tens of thousands of incidents that make up the sum of human lives whether for good or evil depend on a momentary watchfulness ulness and ad care if an elder in preaching the gospel does not feel that he has the power to preach life and salvat salvation ign and to legally the ordinances and that too by the power of god lie he will not nil fill his mission to his own awn credit iier nor to the good of the people and the advancement and honor of the kingdom of god from all I 1 can conread read from all I 1 can gather from the revelations from god to man and from the revelations of the spirit to me no man can successfully preach the gospel and be owned blessed and acknowledged by the heavens unless he preaches by the power of god through direct revelation not but that in a great many instances a man may not be manifestly under the immediate and powerful influences and direction of revelation to dictate him all the time in his meditations and and yet can call advance many good ideas that he has gathered by means of his natural reasoning but to magnify and make horlor honorable able abie the calling of an elder in in this church I 1 I 1 cannot conceive in my understanding any other true principle by which it can be be done only when perfectly controlled by the spirit of the lord when men enjoy the spirit of their missions and realize their calling and standing before the lord and the people it constitutes the happiest portions of their lives if our minds call can reach forth to eternal things can conceive the ahe glory honor and benefit arasin arising from the plan of salv salvation atio atlo n jesus has presed purchased and can grasp the gifts blessings powers privileges light intelligence acx and fullness of the eternities that are to come these god has bestowed upon us to offer to the people if they will receive it they can cap have all the lord has purchased for them if they reject you hey they also reject the son and if they reject the son they reject the father and heaven and heavenly things and seal their own con if it the brethren can reach forth unto these things so as to see and properly understand them they can magnify their calling and this is the only way in which they call can many of you have been in the world and met with opposition and when the scriptures have been honestly adhered to as the standard you have successfully met all that can be brought brou lilt against the plan pian of salvation that is al wll all very well and is pleasing to such as hai hal ilava iiara a philosophical turn of mind their pf af thinking and reasoning call for solutions t appears to them mysterious and problematical and those solutions to be satisfactory to them must accord with certain theories but let one go forth who is careful quotations to lo 10 logically lions cally caily prove all he fie says by numerous quotations quotA from the revelations and let another travel ravel with him who can say by tb the e power of the holy ghast thus saith the lord and tell what the people should believe what they should do how they should live teach them to yield to the principles of salvation aw though on h h be may a hot not 0 t be capable of pro producing ducin b single a single logical k argument though he may tremble lip under a sense of bis bia weakness cleaving to tra tre N lord for strength as such men inen gener all ali will invariably find that the man who tes bies fies by the power of the holy ghost will c connice n 1 nce and gather many more of the honest hon estan epright than will the merely logical reasoner debate and argument have not that baving saying savin bavin effect that has testifying to the truth as the lord reveals it to the elder by the spirit I 1 think you will all agree with me in this at least such is my experience I 1 do not wik wih wish to be understood as throwing a straw in the way ollae elders storing their minds with all the arguments they can gather to urge in defence of their religion nor do I 1 wish to hinder them in the ther pleast last from learning all they can with regard to religions and governments the more knowledge the elders have the better it is well to perfectly understand the religious and governmental theories of the world it is satisfactory yet in preaching the go gospel spean an elder who prides himself in using good s sound bound arguments and logic is not so apt to lean upon the lord for fon his spirit as are those who are not ao so particularly gifted ill in reasoning it is our duty auty so far as we can to gain knowledge ald aid aad information pertaining to human life and the organization of the kingdoms thrones empires and republics of the earth to become well acquainted with their religions laws manners of administration pursuits of life manufactures agriculture arts manners and eil ell customs etc but when weare possessed of all this knowl knowledge edze we need the power of god to teach the truths of the holy gospel I 1 wish you to bear this truth in your memories and put it in afi practice by your own experience you xou know that mormonism it if not true is worse than nothing 6 and if true its value is beyond our computation in your traveling and preach I 1 ing you will meet with kith rith many who will oppose the gospel and by them your names will be cast out as evil pertaining to this I 1 will make but one requirement of you that when you ou are spoken every where against as were lesus jesus and his disciples for the sake of the kingdom for the sake of the people for the sake of our redeemer for the sake of our heavenly father and the heavenly hosts and for your own sakes you so live that there never can truthfully be an evil word spoken against you never through committing evil lay the foundation for a person to torulf truthfully ully speak evil of you if you pursue this course Y you ou will be justified before god jesus angels and your brethren you can then testify to the truth and teach it in all plainness sim simplicity city and honesty and be able to bid de lance fiance to the world in your traveling you will have to trust in the lord I 1 do not know whether you have means sufficient to enable you to go directly to your fields of labor probably some of you have and some have not strive to be full of the holy ghost and the necessary means will come to you often in a way you cannot comprehend and you will be expedited in your and perform your missions and furthermore if you will not drop one thread in the garments of your characters from the time you leave here I 1 lam am not in the least doubtful in my mind I 1 have not a shade of hesitancy in mv my feelings in promising that each of you will accomplish a mission that will please our father in heaven and every good person on the earth and in heaven and live to return to this place have faith to live and do just as you should do and do not imagine that you can go to the right or to the left or do this that or the other wrong with impunity thinking it will be well enough in the end do that alone which you know to be right and which you ought to do when you come to that which you do not know to be right let it alone and trust in the lord and you will live some of our elders have died while on missions I 1 have nothing to say against them for all must die sooner or or later but there is no necessity for laying down our bodies until we are full of years if you only have faith and every moment live according to the faith of the gospel and keep your gaze thoughts and acts heavenward I 1 have no hesitancy in saying that you will live to perform your missions you have received your blessings and I 1 say amen to them and to much more in this my faith resembles father smiths when he was asked by myself and one or two others for a patriarchal blessing ile he said to us sit down handwrite and write every good thing yott can think of in heaven and on earth and I 1 will sign my name to them and they will be your p patriarch a tri trl ial lal blessings t if you only live for the them they shall all c ome come upon you and more mote live for the blessings you desire and vou you will obtain them if you do not buffer suffer selfishness pride or the least alienation from the path of true virtue and holiness to creep into your hearts I 1 when yon reach your fields of labor do the best you can and when the enemy comes along and tells you that you are somebody 11 say a mr devil it is none of your business what wt I 1 have spoken is what the lord gave to me I 1 have presented it to the people and that is all I 1 have to do with iu if you call can not preach as nicely and smoothly as you wish and a feeling rises that you can not preach at all that you had better return home tell satan to get behind you that be has no power to dictate whether you preach a word or not for you yon are in the lords service so live that the spirit of the lord can instruct your minds at all times and you can then defy the devil and all his emissaries if you have nothing from the lorato lord to p present resent to the people peoli e be as willing to be silent e nt as you ou would to preach what might be termed a splendid discourse A short time ago I 1 made a few remarks concerning the elders who have been on mis and I 1 will now say to you do not come from your missions leaving behind you people whom you have oppressed from whom you have begged their money I 1 would work my way there and back again or beg from strangers before I 1 would take one ona dime from the saints unless they of their own free will and accord wished to make me presents and were able to do so without distressing I 1 themselves true I 1 have seen the tim and so have many of my brethren when my heart has ached to se see I 1 e men and women go without food day after day for the sake of feeding me when I 1 could feed myself but any other course would not satisfy them under such circumstances you must humor the people and yield to their feelings but do not go to preach this gospel 0 for tor the purpose of becoming rich if ehg the e lord has anything for you ll 11 he will give it to you and if he has not tell them that you can provide your own living when you reach home if the lord will bies bles bless biess s you you may say we may bless the people until doomsday and still they the will find fault with us can they justly yo do so it if they cannot their fault finding can not harm you some of our missionaries after an absence of two or three years return with their eyes c cast st down their countenances are fallen I 1 wish you to take such a course that you can come home with your heads up keep yourselves clean from the crowns of your heads to the soles of your feet be pure in heart otherwise you will return bowed down in 1 spirit and with a fallen countenance and will feel as though you never could rise again when the quorum of the twelve was first organized joseph said thattie elders of israel and particularly the twelve apostles would receive more temptations be more buffeted and have greater difficulty to escape the evil thrown in their way by females fer fey fe nales malea than by any other means this is one of satans gatans most powerful auxiliaries with which to weaken tile the influence of the ministers of christ and brin bring 7 them down from their high position and calli calling ng into darkness shame and disgrace you will have to guard more strictly against that than against any other evil that may beset you make up your minds not to yield for one moment to the subtle insinuations of the animal propensities of your natures while you u are absent on the lords errands rather YOM buffer suffer u e your heads to be taken from your shoulders than to sacrifice your honor violate your covenants and forfeit the sacred trust re reposed 08 ed in in you when n you arria arrive e in liverpool you will find bros amasa lyman and charles C rich two of the twelve and you will be under their direction and supervision some of you will again visit your parents and friends in your native lands this no doubt will be very agreeable but do not sit down in your ancestral homes with a purpose to stay there but let your missions be first and foremost to preach the gospel of life and salvation to the people and gather them to the place appointed I 1 do not think there was worse said about the savior and his disciples in ancient days than has been eald eaid about the people of utah in modern times take no notice of this but attend to the business about which you have been sent tell this generation the truth and pass along many will tell you that your religion is all error rel reply ly that you will make an exchange with t hem them pf af ten errors for one truth do not con contend teDdor or argue much but pass along peaceably and preach the first the gospel faith in god and in his son jesus christ and teach the people to repent of their sins and be baptized for the remission of them and they shall receive the gift of the holy ghost through the laying on of the hands of the elders it is often the case that some wish to preach about things of which they have little or no knowledge let alone that which you do not know or most assuredly believe to be true docar nies ries which you do not perfectly understand and strive to be honest if you do not understand a doctrine or a portion of scripture when in formation information is asked of you say that the lord has not revealed that to you or that he has not opened your understanding to gra grasp grabp s P it and you do not feel safe ill in giving an inte interpretation rb pre tation 1 1 lie he does may god bless you amen |