--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Unknown collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 27 number: 4 published: 1924-02 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "Unknown, “Yesterday,” *Improvement Era 27, no. 4 (February 1924)*: 335–335." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2704unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2704unse start_page: 335 end_page: 335 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1924-02) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2704unse publication_year: 1924 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1924, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Yesterday YESTERDAY 335 light of love sheds it rays upon the pathway of promise. Today is mine to make it my day, God's day. Toronto, Ont., Canada GOD'S ANSWER By Nephi Jensen, Former President of the Canadian Mission It was Sunday, January 28, 1923. I was in Montreal, assisting the missionaries of that city in holding their regular quarterly confer- ence. In the evening I reached the hall a little early. While I sat alone in quiet meditation, the conference president entered hurriedly and handed me a telegram. I read the message. It was from the mission secretary. It announced that a minister of religion in Chatham, On- tario, had challenged our elders to meet him in public debate Monday night, January 29. The telegram also stated that the challenge had been published in the newspapers of Chatham. In order that the answer might appear in the morning papers, it had to be sent that night. So I immediately set my brain to work formulating a reply. I soon found that it was no easy task to put together just the right set of words. It was necessary to avoid, on the one hand, intimating that we were afraid, and on the other hand, to avoid giving offense by using harsh words. As I formed phrase after phrase, I became more and more conscious of the difficulty of my problem. Almost all my attempts resulted in sentences that bristled with sarcasm. Moreover, I was quite nervous and desired to get the burden off my mind before the evening meeting. The little Sunday school convened before the evening meeting was called to order. I took a seat on the front row, facing the stand. I bowed my head and whispered a prayer, for divine inspiration to guide my fallible mind in preparing our fallible answer. I had no sooner concluded the silent invocation before words commenced to come to my mind without the slightest thought or effort on my part. These words seemed to drop into my mind: "Strife, contention, debate and war, are of the devil. Unity, peace, and love, are of Christ. We follow Christ." I wrote the words on the back of the telegram. The burden immediately left my mind. I was absolutely certain that the answer was God's answer to the brazen challenger of his servants. After the meeting I sent the answer by telegram. It appeared prominently the next morning in the Chatham newspaper. It did real execution. When the minister arose that evening to refer to the matter again he said: 'We do not want to debate. But we would like to meet the 'Mormons' in friendly discussion." Surely the wisdom which is from above is greater than the ingen- uity of man.