A Mother’s Letters to Her Missionary Son. V

A MOTHER'S LETTERS TO HER MISSIONARY SON. EDITED BY SUSA YOUNG GATES. V.— WORK AND STUDY IN THE FIELD. My Dear Son Daniel: — Your letter reached us, and gave us great joy. The girls are writing all the home news to you, so I am going to try and answer some of your questions. You ask first how you are to study the gospel. You say you have looked over the various books your father gave you treating on the gospel, and its various principles, but you don't seem much interested in them. Now, I am rather glad you feel just as you do; for, although one can always get some help from commentaries on the scripture, both ancient and modern, yet commentaries are always of questionable value to the young student. For this reason: You must studv the scriptures, not what is said about them by somebody. The Lord has always provided his people with scripture, that is, with a written record of his dealings with his people; also the prophecies and translations given to his ordained servants. Mormon tells us of the apostasy of the descendants of Zarahemla, and gives as one strong reason that they had no scripture among them. The word of the Lord is a peculiar thing. I might compare it to the look in the eyes of your father's oil painting; no matter what part of the room you go to, the eyes seem to be looking directly at you. It is so with a revelation; no matter in what age a person may live, in what circumstance or condition he may be, the words revealed by the Spirit of the Lord, and written

under his authority, bear a peculiarly applicable meaning for his soul, whoever and whatever he may be. You recall what the Lord said to some high and mighty preachers in the early days of the Church, as recorded in the sixty-seventh section of the Doctrine and Covenants. They had been trying to use eloquent language to confound the youthful and uneducated prophet, ard the Lord rebukes them by telling them to seek for the least of the revelations, and then try to write one like unto it; if they cannot, they are forever after to hold their peace. And they certainly could not. Any one who understands literary style will tell you there is a vast difference in the wording of the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants, and, again, both are unlike the style in which Joseph himself spoke and wrote. Yet all are simple, necessarily, as the medium, Joseph, through which they all are given, was a simple, clear-brained youth, without an involved nature or speech. Read them. You read the Therefore, study the scriptures. Bible and Book of Mormon through in your early boyhood; but that was mostly to please your father and to earn the books which he gave you when you had finished. Now read them both through carefully; then read the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price through in the same way. When you have finished them, begin over again with the Bible, and read them all over again. And again, and again, as long as you live. Never think that the time will come when you can lay them aside. If it does, woe be to you. Orson Pratt, great and lofty thinker and philosopher that he was, was once asked why it was that he seemed so familiar with every passage in the Book of Mormon. He answered in his diffident, modest way, that after inquiring, he found that he had read the book through sixty-seven times more than any one else he had known of. There is a notion prevalent that one need only read those parts of the Bible or other scripture that pertain to any subject one may be studying. Don't be led off by any such idea.If you are to be a full man in Christ Jesus, youmust put on his whole armor. Not a patch nere and a scrap there. I have heard some young returned elder9 who could say little when called upon for a report, unless they switched off onto the first principles of the gospel, which had evidently been their sole thought and talk while

A MOTHER'S LETTERS TO HER MISSIONARY SON. 661 away. And even that could have been forgiven, for it was but natural, only that when called upon a second time, the same little talk on faith or baptism was given, and one could tell it was one of the few sermons prepared and given constantly while away. Avoid all such cut and dried work. Shun form and cant, as you would atrophy and petrification in any form. You will, of course, be set to preach the first principles of the gospel; that is the message of warning you are called to deliver. Christ gave that injunction to his former apostles, just before leaving them after his resurrection, and he repeats this injunction through Joseph Smith. But you need not take anything, anybody, nor any book, except the scriptures themselves, for a guide. Go to the Lord in fasting and prayer. Oh, remember the mighty blessings that we have received in this family through fasting; don't go to the extremes, for extremes are seldom wise. But when you want a special gift or powers, make a special effort. The foundation of the British mission was laid by Heber C. Kimball, and Brigham Young, in mighty fasting and prayer. And in your day the splendid work done in the Southern States by a son of Heber C. Kimball, the effects of which spread to every mission, was done in great seasons of fasting and prayer. In this, however, always be willing to be guided by those who are over you. It is better to be obedient to counsel, than to fast, if there must come a choice. Then, if you desire to study the subject of faith, for instance, look into your own heart, and see what faith means to you. Cast about for your own impressions, your own feelings, and your own conclusions. Do not follow anybody's lead, nor copy anybody's expressions or thoughts. Better a thousand times a poor, stumblingly expressed idea of your own, than the most carefully worded and eloquent plea or argument filched or borrowed from some other speaker or writer. Do be original; not cranky nor peculiar, but be yourself. For this reason, I would prefer that you should not open one of the various books on the study of the gospel which you have, until you have been at your work at least a year. When you have got your own "thinking apparatus" in good running order, you can then safely, and perhaps profitably,

dip into other people's "thinking tanks," as Josh Billings calls them. But go to the Bible itself. Try to put yourself in the place of a person who knows nothing about the truth. Such a one would ask you what you mean by repentance, by faith, and by baptism. What do you mean? President Lorenzo Snow once said that the very best missionaries were those who never thought a moment about themselves, but always about others. Don't allow a thought about yourself, the impression you are making upon others, or the language you are using, to enter your mind. Think of the person you are talking with. Remember that your message of the truth may be the only one he will ever hear. And in the morning of the resurrection, he may confront you, if you failed to warn him, and ask you why you did not deliver the word to him while you had the opportunity. Be earnest, be diligent, and oh, be wise. Be wise! Do not attack those not of our faith, nor denounce their religion. President Young once advised missionaries not to tear down people's houses of religion about their ears, but to build up the true and beautiful one before their eyes, and then invite them to enter, leaving their own tumble-down creeds to go to natural decay. Approach everyone with gentleness. Don't argue. Discussions rarely do any good. Offer your own truths, listen quietly to what objections may be offered, and answer them if you can, but go no further. Study how to approach people. The best, first and last lesson in this art is to try and think of the person and how to interest and please him. Don't tell him he is all wrong, and you are all right, for you have then antagonized him, and you cannot again approach him, perhaps. On the other hand, don't act or feel afraid to say who and what you are, and what is your message. Learn true humility. Humility is not cringing nor slavishness. But it partakes of a sense of unworthiness, and is made up of a realization of our own weakness and our dependence on the Lord. There are other questions to answer, but this must suffice for the present.