Value of Historical Knowledge

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But after a few weeks of such labor, he became very unsettled in his feelings. Doubt had entered his mind, and, not knowing what else to do, he left his field of labor, returned to the conference house, and with mortification and great distress of mind, explained his condition to the president of the conference and requested to be released. The latter, discerning the cause the trouble, kindly — advised the elder to make another effort to fast and pray and humble himself before the Lord until he should receive a renewed testimony concerning the truth. This advice he accepted, and it had the desired effect; and by the experience of those few weeks, the elder learned a lesson he had failed to learn before during the years of his public ministry at home. While the mission field abroad is a most excellent school for the cultivation of faith, a similar training might be gained here at home. It is not necessary to go abroad to obtain a knowledge of the gospel, and of its truth. An earnest desire for this knowledge is the first and principal requisite to its acquisition. A love for the truth, a hope or wish that the gospel is indeed what it is declared to be by those who know of its divinity, will cause one to investigate it. The incentive to the missionary to study and investigate the gospel is the fact that he is expected to teach it. The same incentive is within reach at home, for there is always demand for teachers of the gospel in our midst, and no one can teach itsatisfactorily and effectively without a knowledge of its truth. The priest or teacher in the ward, or the instructor in the Mutual Improvement Association, or the Sunday School, is not fully qualified for his labors until he has gained such a testimony.

VALUE OF HISTORICAL KNOWLEDGE. BY ELDER BEN. E. RICH, PRESIDENT OF THE SOUTHERN STATES MISSION.

Having briefly discussed the vital essentiality of spiritual cultivation as the paramount phase of missionary training, atten-

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tion is directed to historical training. Let us investigate some of the many opportunities, facilities and advantages thereof. The opportunities for gaining a historical training are within the reach and grasp of all who earnestly strive for their possession. The country is full of choice libraries and free reading rooms, to which our young men may resort, and spend their leisure hours with profit and advantage. Books are very cheap, and the sign written over a book store in Atlanta, Ga., is a good one: "Empty your

pocket books into your head." Only the other day, in passing by a stationery depot, I observed "A Child's History of England," by Charles Dickens, in a neat, substantial cover, marked twenty-five cents; and there were other choice books at the same nominal sum. Never in the history of the human race have books been so cheap, as at the present time, and there is no reasonable excuse why an energetic young man cannot master the contents of many of the best of these. I speak now generally. I believe that the

cheapest are the best, for there is but little demand for the highgrade books, and the stationers are compelled to sell them at a low rate, in order to get rid of them that they may furnish their stock with what we might term fine-flavored, spicy literature. In advocating a careful study of good books, I am not unmindful of the words of Sir Francis Bacon, who has given us this choice counsel:

Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to[be tasted, others to be swallowed, but some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books; less distilled books are, like common distilled waters —flashy things. Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man; and therefore, if a man read little, he had need of a good memory; if he confer little, he had need of present wit; and if he write little, he need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not.

What man is there that would not willingly assist the rising generation in their ambitious enterprise to study words of wisdom

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and become enlightened? I will venture to say, not 'one! Let the young man prove himself worthy to be intrusted with good books, and promptly return the same to the owner when he may have completed his study, and you will, find that he will be able to obtain the literature he is in search of. "Books are the legacy which genius leaves to mankind." They should be handled tenderly, read carefully, and prized as precious jewels. Each book contains history, some devising of ways and means, some scheme or plot, and therefore they should be studied with discretion, bearing in mind the sensible advice given above by the illustrious Francis Bacon. After considering the numerous opportunities and prolific ad-

vantages of book knowledge, of gaining the ideas of eminent men of other days, of learning words of wisdom and instruction written in some choice book within the reach of the hand and compass of the mind, let us briefly particularize the class of reading which we consider most profitable for the successful training of a missionary. While all good books should be perused, as occasion and opportunity may afford, still the elder can, and should, make a distinction in favor of that class which deals more directly with the profane history of the early centuries, the successive changes wrought in the Church by apostasy and rank formalism, the record of the Reformation and the results thereof, together with the present state of affairs in the social, moral, political and religious world. It is not to be supposed that one shall wade through the volumes of Gibbon and Mosheim, and other historians contemporary with them, and exhaust, masticate and digest the countless pages of theological lore inscribed by these learned sages. No !

there are other books, which, while they do not contain in quantity or completeness anything like the writings of the abovenamed historians, still advance sufficient excerpts and comments to enlighten the mind, and help the elder to become an intelligent converser upon the conditions and transformations of the first

centuries. Take, for an example, The Outlines of Ecclesiastical History, or some such book, which contains concise data, plain, honest, reliable facts, without unnecessary elaboration or superficial sentimentalities, and study the same until you can trace,

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century by century, the footprints of apostasy, and note the existing conditions surrounding each stage of demarcation from the simple gospel enunciated by the Lord Jesus, and the utter abandonment of inspired truth, together with the disappearance of apostolic power, and the night of drear darkness which completely enveloped the inhabitants of the earth, save it were for the glimmering lights of the Reformation. The history -of the past confirms the teachings of holy men of God, and convincingly affirms the necessity of a restoration to the simple order of primitive days. Thus the advantage of such a training can be readily seen, as a wonderful helper in the defense of the gospel.LOne must, or rather should, first prove the necessity of a thing, and then go to work and show that the required article is in his possession. First show the necessity of the gospel, then prove that you have it. While such a training could necessarily be conducted to better advantage and profit under the guidance of a tutor, it can also be engaged in by the young man at home, if he can avail himself of the books required. Let him enter into his study with a prayerful heart, and an earnest, determined mind, and he will find the avenues opened for his success, and for the accomplishment of the purpose sought. The young man who enters the missionary field with a general fund of historical information; who can talk interestingly upon the day of Romish power and Papal despotism; who can name the different reformers of the sixteenth century (those valiant souls who dared to brave Rome's far-reaching front, and scorn her brutal opposition,) and who can decipher the history of the past to prove the conditions of the present, will command the respect and esteem of the intelligent, while he will convert the honest in heart. All this, providing always that he constantly relies upon the inspiration of heaveD, is humble, prayerful, faithful and obedient, and does not possess more learning than brains and common sense. The value of such a training should not be under-estimated; indeed, I do not think it can be over-estimated, when we consider that the youthful mind has been first trained in spiritual matters, educated in the nursery of the home, under the wise, judicious care of goodly parents; for, after all, the home is the reservoir of

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the human race, and from it flow the waters that refresh the brave and noble; or, on the other hand, that keep alive the recreant and the dishonorable. Not only is it profitable to investigate the history of the past, but it would be well and advantageous, to be prepared to give an account of how we came into possession of our standard works, — the Bible, Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. The history connected with the first is the most complicated, and, necessarily, involves more study

and research to elucidate the same. One should endeavor to be familiar with the different versions of the Bible, from the Vulgate, put forth in the fourth century, to the revised version published in the nineteenth century. This will tend to give a better understanding of that article of faith which reads, "We believe the Bible to be the word of God, as far as it is translated correctly." It will reveal to the mind the fallibility of the Stick of Judah, in that it will many uninspired commentators have be seen that altered and changed the good word to suit their own petty notions and opinions. Let us not forget that the spiritual precedes the historical, and, therefore, should influence the elder in all his schooling, training and discipline. Both are essential to the success and welfare of a missionary; but if only one can be obtained, then let us forever

cling to the spiritual; but now that the channels are open for us to receive both, let our faith, our efforts, our desires and our ambitions be directed to that end, since "The glory of God is intelligence,"and "No man can be saved in ignorance."