Our Work: The Fall Conventions

OUR WORK. 789 idea of movement in truth. Truth is not a stagnant reservoir, but a fountain sending forth living streams. Truth is not standing still; there isa movement in it; and it is the Book of Mormon that gives the idea of that grand theory of movement in truth. Things are going forward. There is a constant movement in the sum of existence. Then, there is the doctrine of opposite existence, the philosophy of the existence of evil, a necessary background to truth, without the existence of which, truth cannot be conceived; and Lehi, in his i aspired treatment of it, proves that this eternal antithesis, this existence of the opposites, is of primary importance. Division four deals with the objections to the Book of Mormon, and there we have the Spaudling, Rigdon and other theories. Then we have, in chapter 45, the errors of style; and, moreover, the objections based upon the existence of passages which follow King James' translation of the Bible. We consider the questions that have b^en urged against the geography of the Book of Mormon. We have the difficulties supposed to attend the migration of the Nephites, the existence of the horse in America, and the objections urged against the Book of Mormon on this account; then the pro-Christian era kaowled ge of the gospel; the establishing of the priesthood with others than the tribe of Nephi; as also the difficulty of the three days darkness, the birth of Jesus, the settlement of modern controversies; and the charge is answered about the book having nothing new in it; the idea of modern astronomy in the Book of Mormon is considered, and many other divisions. I hope this faint and imperfect outline will give encouragement to you, and, above all, I trust that you are impressed with the importance of this subject, which is so great that it will fully justify us in struggling with whatsoever of difficulties we have in our way. THE FALL CONVENTIONS. Elder George H. Brimhall, of the General Board, dwelt upon a topic at the June conference, which is very timely now. Let every stake and ward officer read this, aad act at once. Circulars of program and instruction, will follow soon. A convention generally indicates a convening of officars or representatives. It has in it the elements of conference, bacaa^e ^Jfd confer. We confer mainly officially. You kuow there are a great many kinds of coafarensa, bat a contention is an official coaferenca. It is one

of the counsel meetings, officers' meetings, it is an annual stake officers' meeting; more than that, it is an annual stake officers' it is meetina: at which the General Board is represented. Ihave always been deeply impressed with the importance of official conferences. I believe the Lord has been quite plain on that. He was with his apostles \yhen he told them to meet together often; and then, we read in the Old Testament that the sons of God met; and, from the little record we have concerning that meeting, it was something more than a social affair. It seems to have been a place in which to make reports, and if there were reports to be made, why, of course, there had been previous assignments made. I have sometimes thought that men, and young men especially, were almost arrogant in their presumptions to occupy positions of a presiding quorum, — a presiding council over the saints of Zion, in one of her wards or her stakes, — and attempt to carry on that magnificent work without meeting together in counsel, but we are getting away from that; we are growing out of it. We have had treated the indispensability of ward and stake officers' meetings; let us consider the indispensability of these conventions. It affords, as you can readily see, and many of you know, an opportunity to bring together, under an official call, the various department leaders of this great work, and come to an understanding, a sort of unity of Mutual Improvement faith; and then, when a policy is adopted, carry with it the spirit of accepting that policy. You know there is such a thing as helping to adopt a policy, and then going off with a sore shoulder about it, and whispering that you did not like this or that. I heard a professor say, after a faculty meeting, "1 had my say," etc. Now, that is the wrong spirit. We should meet together to counsel and adopt what seems to be the best policy, and then sustain that action. Another man might have had different views, but when he saw that the general feeling was in favor of a certain plan, he would fall in line and accept the decision. Such a man as that is to be trusted; and that should be the spirit of these conventions: to come and get the concensus of opinion, and then follow that policy. Of course, it should be more or less flexible. You can't run even an automobile without a little play to the wheels, and so with Mutual Improvement machinery. There are, brethren, it seems to me, two things to consider; first, we are to have a convention; what is it for? I have referred to that. The next thing would be to consider who is to be there. There are two elements to be in that convention: the called element, and the invited element. The called element are those whose duty it is to be there, just

OUR WORK. 791 as much as a man is to be in his place, rank and file, in the army, and he should not be absent without an excuse; I mean an excuse rendered previously. Now the call-men are the officers of the Mutual Improvement organization, stake, ward, and general officers. Then the invited element: As you remember, it was suggested last year that we should invite the bishops and presidents of stakes, and as many heads of departments of the wards, as we can reach. Now, the attendance of this invited element will very much depend upon the way in which the invitation is extended. You should indulge in a little formality; not simply a meeting on the streets and say: "Well, Bishop, we would like you to come to our convention." I think an invitation of that kind will not have the effect that a more formal invitation would have. If I were president of the ward, I would go to my counselors or send a special communication, in some way: I would be a little formal, and give him to understand that it is a very important occcasion, so that he would be sure to listen. At these meetings there might be something to refer to him. The bishop may be a very valuable man of reference at that gathering. Now the called element: there should be, to my mind, something very emphatic about this. It seems to me that the stake superinlendency should meet, and if the stake is large, the work would need segregating a little, and you would need aids. How would it do to appoint a committee — one, two or three of the Board of Aids — on invitation, to invite these people, and it might be wise to appoint a committee to see that the president and the counselors of all the associations get there, ^ee that they get there. That is your particular work to look after that, and in that committee, I would suggest that a secretary be appointed. He writes the communications; and if I were on that committee, after I had given the various ward organizations their notices, instructing them what to do,I would tell them that we expect them to be there that — is, the president and his counselors, and the secretary of every association, — and from the time they receive this notice, to begin to shape circumstances and control circumstances so that they can be there; let there be some way provided whereby incidents of business may be delegated. Then, in ample time before the convention is to take place, I should write again to the president, and I would ask him: What may we expect from your association at the convention? This is very important. What have you done towards arranging for the convention? I would ask for a reply on that matter, and if I did not get a reply, I would send a member of the committee to see that president and hunt him up, and learn what the difficulty is. I am in favor of trusting men.

I like to trust men, but I like, also, always to provide for a certainty of action. I would carry this a little further, the general secretary will send a circular out to every one of the stake superintendents, and there will be on this, the assignments and suggestions as to what the stake superintendent is to do. Now, I do not know if such things ever occur generally with Mutual Improvement officers or not, but sometimes these circulars are stuck in the pocket of the stake superintendent or secretary, and the matter is left and forgotten; and sometimes there is not a meeting called for this purpose. It seems to me there should be a stake maetiag called to consider nothing but conventions, and I believe it would be a good idea for the general secretary to send another communication, a few weeks, or such a matter, before the convention takes place, and ask every one of you stake superintendents for an outline of what you had done for this convention and ask you what the representative of the General Board may expect when he comes to that convention. Now, knowing that you had to make your response, you would be apt to look after your men and see that they had to render an account to you, that you might know wherein there is difficulty. But here is a president who does not report. What is to be done? Do you say: Well I have done my duty, and if he doesn't report, it is his fault, not mine! But I think a little more than that ought to be done. You. have men who will write complimentary, and say they will be out. These men do not need to be required to report to you, because they will do it without being required to report; but I think before these conventions come off, every man ought to report, or be heard from, in some way. It occurs to me that getting out this matter in a businesslike way and letting it be understood that men are to render an account for this official literature, that is sent out, would be a splendid good thing. I consider it is an injury, it is an injury to a man in every way, to confer responsibility on him, and then not hold him responsible for that position or responsibility. I would suggest, therefore, in a general way that you distribute the work of getting up these conventions, and that you have reports from all the men to whom you distribute the work; that you send out your circulars promptly; and that you call for an account of what disposition has been made of this matter. Then another thing I would like to impress upon the brethren: there is quite a tendency in some fields to be clamoring after something new, or some novelty. While I suppose we ought to do that with children, yet there are certain things in these conventions that must constantly be considered.

9 OUR WORK. 793 How are you going to avoid reconsidering the Manual? How can we avoid reconsidering our various meetings? There is one thing that will be new, and that is the man. We will have a new set of men; a good many officers will be new. You know the elections talce place before that time, for every association must be completely organized before the conventions, and the men you call in are new men; and the old matter, presented to the new men with a new spirit, is the thing we need. There will be some new things, pdrchance, but they will be the outgrowth of the old. I want you to remember we are not in competition with any external affairs.but Mutual Improvement is in competition with itse'.f, and every man ought to be in competition with himself. A man may often keep pace with another fellow and not grow, but if a man is in an organization that is in compsfcition with itself, the race is onward and progressive forever, and that is the kini of compatition we should have. NOTICE TO STAKE SUPERINTENDENTS. The dates for holding the fall M. I. A. Conventions were printed in the July, 1905, Era. Attention is called to the August, 1904, Era where instructions are found for making the preliminary arrangements for the conventions. The instructions for this season, except as to missionaries, and the subjects for treatment at the meetings, are about the same as last year. A circular is being prepared and will soon be in the hands of the officers. In the meantime, let the work go on — the ward organizations be effected, the conventions advertised, and the necessary preliminary meetings of officers he held.