President Heber J. Grant’s Seventieth Anniversary

PRESIDENT HEBER J. GRANT'S SEVENTIETH ANNIVERSARY Seventy years will have passed since our beloved leader, President Heber J. Grant, was born in Salt Lake City, November 22, 1856. He was the first native son of Utah chosen to fill a vacancy in the Council of the Twelve. He is also the first native son of the State to act as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Darwin T. Kingsley, president of the New York Life Insur- ance Company, wrote a book some years ago, entitled, [Let Us Have Peace, a choice book of more than four hundred pages of his col- lected magazine articles and other addresses on peace, business, and on conditions that prevailed before, during, and immediately following the World War. This great financier and thoughtful author, in presenting a copy to President Heber J. Grant, wrote on the flyleaf of the book: "To Heber J. Grant, patriot, pioneer and president, with great respect. — D. T. Kingsley." What was stated then concerning President Grant is not over- drawn, and applies with even greater emphasis today. He is a respected patriot, pioneer and president. Life is a battle seemingly no less cruel and deadly, so it has been said, than have been or may be the wars of the nations. He who survives in its battles is among the strong and wise and just. When a man reaches three score and ten years and has stood the fire of the long fight, attaining the summit in victory, vigor of spirit and strength of mind and body, as has President Grant, he is a veteran to be respected. He stands with honor in his position, and that because of his achievement over obstacles; because of his love for the people, his loyalty to God and to his country; because of his victory in moral and religious achievements; his triumph over adverse things, and the undoubted integrity of his character. He has proved ia clean hero in the conflict with evil, both past and present. He has fought an honest, fair fight, through seventy years of struggle. In recent years, by the help and inspiration of the Lord, he has solved in wisdom the complex and pften vexatious problems of his people. He bears the scars of honorable combat. He is true to the faith, and a patriot in the greatest nation on earth. As a native son of these moun- tain fastnesses, he is a born pioneer in this "marvelous work and a wonder" established of the Lord. He is thus the honored and beloved leader of a grateful and happy people, who appreciate him because of his open, free, charitable, sympathetic and lovable qualities. It is said that self-indulgence takes the wheels off character; but in all his career, self-denial for the advancement and blessing of others has been President Grant's practice. His character is untrammeled by

10 IMPROVEMENT ERA anything that could in any way be styled self-indulgence. He shows great tolerance with the views and opinions of others, but is heart-of- oak against sin and evil. No man in the Church has been a greater champion of the Word of Wisdom, clean living and clean morals, both by example and precept, than President Heber J. Grant. He has kept widely apart from iniquity, and in that /way the laurels for his brow have been woven by his people from his own clean life and consuming passion for righteousness. On the event of his seventieth aniversary, his many thousand friends will join the Improvement Era office force in congratulating and upholding our beloved .President, arid wish him many years yet of activity [in his exalted calling. President Grant illustrates the efficacy of faith, the divinity of the great latter-day work of God, and the power of the Priesthood, by repeating apt stories, from time to time, in his sermons, which may be read with profit and interest by all who desire to be built up spiritually in the faith. We select a few examples for this occasion that, in our opinion, are especially characteristic:. The Fruits of the Gospel The first man baptized in the German Empire was Karl G. Maeser, the man who stood at the head of the Church school system, from Canada on the north down to Mexico on the south, and was known as the grand old man of the educational system of the Church. When Karl G. Maeser was baptized, Elder Franklin D. Richards was the president of the European missions. He went from Liverpool, the headquarters of the mission, to be present at the first baptism of the first persons converted to the .gospel in Germany. There were Brother Maeser and his brother-in-law and quite a large crowd of them. The man, through whose instrumentality they were converted, and who spoke German, was Brother William Budge, afterwards president of the Logan Temple. As I was going with Brother Maeser up into Oregon to visit one of the conferences there, he told me about it with his own lips. He said: "Heber, when I came out of the waters of baptism I looked up into heaven, and said, 'O Lord, I have accepted what I believe to be in very deed the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Give me a witness of the divinity of the work; give me a knowledge and a testimony of this work that I have embraced, and I pledge you here this night to give, if necessary, my life for its advancement.' After the others were bap- tized and we were walking back to Dresden [they had come out several miles from Dresden to be baptized], I asked questions of Apos- tle Richards. Brother Budge interpreted them; and when the answer was given, he interpreted it back into German for me. Pretty soon President Richards said, 'Don't interpret those questions, Brother

PRESIDENT GRANT'S SEVENTIETH ANNIVERSARY 11 Budge. I understand them perfectly.' And then immediately after- wards I turned to him and said, 'Don't interpret those answers. I understand them perfectly.' We walked on for several miles," con- tinued Brother Maeser. "I asked questions in German, and President Franklin D. Richards answered them in English. He did not under- stand German. I did not understand English. And, yet, we under- stood each other perfectly. Finally we came to the river Elbe, and as we were crossing a bridge over that river we became separated, and when we reached the other side of the jriver I asked another question, and Brother Richards said, 'Interpret it, Brother Budge; I do not understand it.' And when the answer came, I said, 'Interpret it, Brother Budge; I do not understand it.' The next question was, 'President Richards, why was it that you could understand me, and I could understand you for miles, and now we cannot understand each other at all?' " Eldef Richards told him that one of the fruits of the true gospel of Jesus Christ is [the interpretation of tongues. "You have reached out your hand, figuratively speaking, and plucked the fruit of the gospel of Jesus Christ. God has1 given you a testimony and witness that you have found the truth, and has allowed you to partake of part of the fruits of the true gospel." Brother Maeser said to me, in substance, "Brother Grant, I trembled like a leaf. I looked up into heaven, and said, 'O Lord, you have given me a witness, you have answered my prayer, and again I renew my pledge to give my life, if need be, to this cause.' " . Those of us who knew Karl G. Maeser know that no other human being in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day .Saints has more perfectly given his life to the work of God than he' did. Day in and day out, month in and month out, year in and year out, Karl G. Maeser labored for the Church and the Church alone, with no special thought of himself or his own advancement. He was an honest tithe-payer and an observer of the Word of Wisdom, a man who had the inspiration of the living God with him. The Dead Were Raised Hyrum Grant, my brother, had yellow jaundice which turned to black jaundice. He became as black as my coat. He weighed slightly more than seventy pounds, and was in a most terrible condi- tion. A doctor Van Cott, as I remember it, was waiting on him, and finally announced that my brother was dead. He said, "His pulse has not been beating now for some four or five minutes. He is gone." Hyrum's son and son-in-law laid their hands upon his head and prayed to God that his spirit might return, that he might live to fulfil a promise made to him that he should live to preside over the Davis stake of Zion. When they got through praying, my

12 IMPROVEMENT ERA brother opened his eyes, and said, "What is the matter with you folks? You look scared half to death." He got well and did preside over the Davis stake of Zion, not- withstanding the fact that Apostle Lyman told me, when he bade me good-bye in Liverpool, as he was returning home, that his first official act when he got home would be to install Henry H. Blood as president of the Davis stake of Zion. When Brother Lyman arrived home, he said to President Joseph F. Smith, "I am going up to the Davis stake conference, and I should like to reorganize the presidency. The president has been dead for several years, and Hyrum Grant has been sick now for a year or more. It will be some time before he recovers, and probably never will recover. I think that stake ought to have a president, and I am going to install one." "Who are you going to install?" asked President Smith. "Why, I am going to install Henry H. Blood," was the answer. "No, you are not," ,said President Smith. "Hyrum Grant is going to get well. I blessed him and the Lord gave me a testimony that he would get well. He has earned the position and he is going to have it. If you want to put him in, although he is sick abed, put him jin, but you cannot put anyone else in." Hyrum lived to fulfil the patriarchal blessing given to him. The Prayer of Faith My brother, Hyrum, had charge of a livery stable, and he took an excursion down to Calder's Farm from the Z. C. M. I. shoe factory. This was between thirty and forty years ago. He had a long drag that would carry about forty people. • In the afternoon he noticed that a storm was brewing, and, calling the Z. C. M. I. employees together, he said, "The State road is a turnpike. If it rains, and we get the least bit off the track with this great, long drag, carrying forty peo- ple, we are likely to turn the vehicle over and someone may get hurt or killed." These people voted that if there was any accident they would hold the company blameless. They said they were going to have a good time. A terrible storm came up. It was dark, and on the way home, lo and behold, this vehicle turned over. Several persons were very seriously injured. One girl suffered a number of broken bones, and pneumonia set in. The doctor finally announced that she could live only a day or two at the most. The fact that my brother was driving the team when the acci- dent happened filled his heart with anxiety and remorse. Finally he came to me and said, "Heber, I have been beseeching the Lord to spare that girl's life, and I have had a manifestation that if you and I administer to her she will recover." I said, "It will be ja pleasure to go with you, Hyrum." We went to her home. I walked up to the bed and then called Hyrum to one side and whispered to him and said, "Hyrum, she is dying right now. I do not believe we could bless her before she would be dead. I think that in your anxiety

PRESIDENT GRANT'S SEVENTIETH ANNIVERSARY 13 and excitement you have received the wrong idea." He turned deathly pale, and said, "Heber, I know I am not wrong. I know I have received a manifestation that if we bless her she shall live." I apologized to him and we did bless her. Among other things, I said that her bones should knit, that she should recover and that she should go back and run her machine in the shoe factory. I did not know that she had been running a machine, but I was inspired to make her that promise. I did not know her occupation, except that she was working in the shoe factory. That afternoon I met William H. Rowe, the superintendent of the Z. C. M. I. shoe factory. He said, "Heber, I have just returned from the home of Maria DeGrey (that was the sick girl's name) , and I fear she is dead by now. I was up there about an hour ago and she was dying." I said, "Brother Rowe, go upstairs into your office and write on a piece of paper, 'Maria DeGrey is not dead; Maria DeGrey will not die; Maria DeGrey will get well and go back to the Z. C. M. I. shoe factory and run her machine.' Did she run a machine before she met with this accident?" I asked. "Yes," he answered. "Well, she will be back," I continued. "I know she will come back because I had a manifestation from God while blessing her that that is exactly what should happen." "Well, there's no need of writing it down, Heber," he said. "The doctor told me that my daughter would die before morning. That was before I ever came from London out here to Utah. I sent about three miles across London, to where the elders were staying, for Junius F. Wells and his companion to come and administer to her. The next morning the doctor came and delivered into my hands a certificate stating that my girl was dead. I took him into the parlor and introduced him to the corps (?) that had gotten out of bed and was sitting up, and the doctor nearly dropped in surprise. Now, you don't need to tell me that Maria DeGrey will get well; if you had a manifestation that she is going to come back, she will, because I know we have the power of the living God in our Church, and that the life of my girl who is right here in Salt Lake City with me, and) who is now a married woman, was saved by the healing power of God." Maria DeGrey lived and went back and ran her machine. The Destroyer Rebuked A relative of mine had a daughter who was dying, so the doctor told me, of diphtheria. He said she would die before morning. The father broke down and wept and begged me to pray for the girl. As I was walking home from his office I earnestly prayed to the Lord for the restoration to health of that little girl, that she might not die, and the inspiration came to me, "The power of the Priesthood of the living God is on the earth. The destroyer is just as active as he can be; he delights in taking the lives of people. The power to re-

14 IMPROVEMENT ERA buke the destroyer is here. Get John Henry Smith, and get him quickly, and go to that house and rebuke the destroyer, and the girl shall live." I did not waste any time in getting John Henry Smith. I ran all the way to his house, and when I got Brother Smith our haste did not slacken until we arrived at the sick girl's home. We went upstairs, where we found the father and mother, uncle and aunt, and others of the relatives, expecting her to breathe her last. |We laid hands upon her head. I anointed her with oil and John Henry Smith confirmed the anointing. He promised her she should live and not die. We then went downstairs, and pretty soon the father came down, and said, "My daughter whispered to me after you left the room, and said when that large man [Brother Smith weighed about 250 or 260 pounds, and was a tall, big man] was praying over me, father, I was in intense pain, and it has all left me. I haven't a par- ticle of pain now. I am sick but I am in no pain at all." The next morning I met the doctor. I said, "How about this young lady [calling her by name], did she die last night?" "Why," he replied, "I went to see her this morning and, I declare, the little girl is going to get well. I never was so dumbfounded in all my life. I never saw such a case. I cannot understand it." I did not care to tell him that I could understand it. He was not a member of the Church. I did not care to tell him that I jknew why she was getting well; that the destroyer had been rebuked by the power of the Priesthood, Which is on the earth, and a promise made by John Henry Smith that she should live. I knew I had a testimony that she would live, and she did live. The Priesthood vs. Bullet Wounds In the days of the "underground," when more than a thousand of our people went to the penitentiary for living with their wives whom they had married in good faith, a man by the name of Joseph W. McMurrin was guarding the servants of the Lord. (I think you all know Joseph W. McMurrin. He is president of the California mission, arid has preached in the Salt Lake Tabernacle many times.) The brethren were holding a meeting in the Social Hall. A deputy U. S. marshal came to the back door where Joseph W. McMurrin was standing, and Joseph put his arms around him to keep him from going through that door. The deputy finally got his hand loose and took his pistol and, pressing it against Brother McMurrin's body, fired two bullets clear through his vitals. Those bullets lodged just under the skin in his back. I went with John Henry Smith to Brother McMurrin's home, and saw where the flesh was burned away around those terrible gaping wounds. I saw where the bullets had gone clear through him. 1 heard John Henry Smith say, "By the authority of the Priesthood of

PRESIDENT GRANT'S SEVENTIETH ANNIVERSARY 15 the living God which we hold, and in the name of the Lord, Jesus Christ, we say that you shall be made absolutely whole, and .that there shall be no physical weakness left upon your body because of these terrible wounds that you have received while guarding the servants of the living God." j Joseph W. McMurrin is alive and well7 and has never had any physical weakness because of those terrible wounds. Tell me that sickness is not cured by spiritual power, by the power of God, in the Church of Jesus Christ! I know that it is as well as I know that I live. The Decree Nullified When my wife died, I took my three little girls (ten, twelve, and fourteen years of age, the oldest of the family) to ,visit New York, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, Hartford, Washington and other cities of interest, that they might forget the sorrow of the death of their mother. While in Washington my oldest girl was taken down with diphtheria. In those days, thirty years ago, diphtheria was almost sure death. I have known more than one family in which six, seven, or eight children have died of diphtheria. It was an alarming disease. Very soon thereafter my second daughter came down with it, and they were both sick nigh unto death. Finally I heard the doctor say to the nurse regarding my second daughter, "If you miss giving that child a stimulant every fifteen minutes1 — if you miss just once — she will die. She cannot live a half hour without this stimulant." , I stayed up all night to see that she did not miss giving the stimulant, and the next morning the child was no better. I went into my room and shed some bitter tears at the thought that, in all prob- ability, I should have to take that little girl home in a coffin. Kneel- ing down, I pleaded with the Lord to spare her life, for the very joy I was giving to my girls added to and intensified my own sor- row; and I asked that I be not obliged to have an additional sorrow in taking that little girl, whom I had brought away from home to give her pleasure in order that she might forget the death of her mama, back to her home in a coffin. I begged that that might not come into my life. The testimony of the Spirit came to me: "The power of the Priesthood is here on the earth. Send for the elders and rebuke the power of the destroyer and that girl shall live." Immediately I thanked the Lord for the whisperings of his Spirit, and I shed tears of gratitude and thanksgiving, after shedding tears of bitter anguish. George Q. Cannon was in Washington at the time, and also Bishop Hiram B. Clawson, the father of Elder Rudger Clawson of^the Council of the Twelve. I sent at once for them to come and administer to my child. Brother Clawson anointed her, and Brother Cannon confirmed the anointing. In that confirmation he said some- thing that I have never heard, before or since, in my life. He said, "The adversary, the destroyer, has decreed your death and made public

!6 IMPROVEMENT ERA announcement of his decree, but by the authority of the Priesthood of God, which we hold as his servants, and in the name of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, we rebuke the decree of the destroyer and say, you shall live." As I was leaving the boarding house where I had been with my children, after they had recovered sufficiently to travel, the husband of the woman who kept the boarding house (she was away that day) said* he could not keep from telling me a joke on his wife. He was a clerk in one of the, departments at Washington. He said, "Mr. Grant, had she been here you would never have heard it, but she is not here today and I am going to tell it to you. She believes in spiritualistic mediums and in communication through the mediums, and when our little girls were taken down sick in the. house, she went to a medium, who told her the following story: " 'I see in your home two little girls. I see that the older one of the two little girls is taken sick. I see that she is very sick. I now see that the next little girl is taken sick. I now see that she is very sick. I now see that both of them are sick nigh unto death. I now see the older of the two girls recover. I now see the second little girl die.' " Then she described the journey of that body in a coffin from Washington to Salt Lake City. She described it passing through big cities, one after another, and then stopping in a large city and chang- ing cars. Everybody who has been in Chicago knows that all have to change cars in Chicago. She then described the body leaving Chicago, going through another city of considerable size, then crossing a great river (the Mississippi), always going to the west. He said she described going through some more cities, finally crossing another great river (the Missouri.) She did not mention the Mississippi or the Missouri, however, but said two great rivers. It still traveled to the west hundreds and hundreds of miles. It is somewhat more than two thousand miles to Salt Lake City from Washington. She finally saw it climbing mountains, mountains, mountains, first describing the plains, the level country of Nebraska, then climbing the Rocky Mountains; then saw it go south for a short distance (from Ogden to Salt Lake City.) She then described the Salt Lake Valley, almost completely surrounded with mountains, which is true. She then described a burial ground on the side hills, and ,that is just whert it is. She then saw my little daughter lowered into the grave. I knew then the meaning of the inspiration of the living God to George Q. Cannon when he said, "The adversary has decreed your death, and made public announcement of it, and we rebuke that decree." It was rebuked, and, instead of the little girl being buried as the spiritualistic medium said she would be, because the devil himself has inspired her to do so, by the priesthood of God rebuking the decree of death, she is alive, healthy and strong. She is the mother

PRESIDENT GRANTS SEVENTIETH ANNIVERSARY 17 of seven beautiful children, and, in the providences of God, George Q. Cannon is their great-grandfather. This same girl, when quite young, was promised that she should live to be one of the leaders of her sisters in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and she is now a counselor to the president of all the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Associations, with 50,000 membership. The Fore- Warned Minister to The "Mormons" A young man was educated for the ministry of the Methodist Episcopal church, at Manchester, England, and he was instructed by Dr. Iliff of that denomination as to his course of action. That young man, Benjamin Birchall, came out to Nephi, Utah. He was given a lot of anti- "Mormon" literature, etc., and was told, "Don't you go into the homes of the 'Mormons;' don't you take their Book of Mormon; don't read it; don't read their tracts, but just give them the inattention they deserve." The young man studied what he was told to study, and loaded, figuratively, his double-barreled shotgun with anti- "Mormon" ideas, and the first time he fired it off was at one of the two bishops of the wards in Nephi. The bishop laughed and said, "Who has been stuffing you with lies?" He said, "Those are not lies." The bishop said, "They are, and I happen to know that some of them are myself." He told the young man what he knew, and the latter was astonished. He said, "Bishop, can I come down to your house and spend an evening with you?" "Come right along," answered the bishop. He disobeyed the Reverend Iliff s instructions and went down there, and he spent, not one evening, but many evenings. Finally he said, "Will you kindly loan me your Book of Mormon?" It was loaned to him. "Will you kindly let me have some of your tracts?" And he studied them. Finally he resigned his job of preaching for money for the Methodist Episcopal church, joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and went out pitching hay, I think it was, for a living. Subsequently he was called to go back to his native land on a mission. The first man he called on in Manchester was his former instructor, the minister who had educated him. He was the min- ister's star pupil. The minister was delighted to see him, and they had a very delightful visit for a little while. Finally he said, "How do you get along with those awful 'Mormons' in Utah?" "Oh," said the young man, "I get along pretty well with them. They are not half as bad as I thought they were when I went to Utah. I have become acquainted with them, and, do you know

18 IMPROVEMENT ERA there are a great many of their doctrines that I cannot overturn and explain away, and I would be grateful if you would point out the errors in them." "Why," said the minister, "that will be a pleasure to me. They are almost heathens, those 'Mormons.' They are not Christians at all." And when the young man commenced showing him our doctrines, and when he started to try pointing out the errors, he got into deep water, and soon began to flounder. Finally he doubled up his fist and shook it at the young man and said, "Look here, look here! I be- lieve you have become one of them." "Oh, I have," replied the young man, "but if there is anything wrong in their doctrines, if they are not scriptural, if you can show me they are wrong, I am willing to renounce them." Well, this minister opened the door, and emphatically told the young man to get out before he kicked him out. The Warm Welcome I call to mind reading an article (in the Improvement Era) while I was overi in Japan, telling of a young man who had become con- verted and had been baptized. He had graduated from a university and persuaded the elder who baptized him to gd with him to his home, saying that he had the finest father and mother who ever lived, a choice man and va choice woman, none finer in the world, and he knew they would gladly receive the gospel. It was several hundred miles to his home, and the elder got permission from the conference president to go into another part of Scandinavia. He started with this young man to his home. When they arrived at the railway station, which was several miles from the home, i: was raining hard and there were no vehicles there. The young man having been away for a year or two from his home persuaded the elder, who was about his own size, to walk with him through the rain, despite' the soaking they would get, for he said that as soon as they got home they would have awaiting them some dry clothing, a warm welcome, and a hot meal prepared for them. The young elder said, certainly, he. did not mind getting wet, and that he would put some of the convert's dry clothing on when they arrived at their destination. Upon their arrival they received a warm welcome. The young man introduced the missionary as his friend, and he was fervently received. The mother immediately started to prepare a warm supper, and the boy, being an enthusiastic convert, could not wait to change his clothes before he blurted out to his father, "Father, congratulate me, I have found the gospel; I have found the plan of life and salvation. I have become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." "What!" said the father, "do you mean to tell me that you

PRESIDENT GRANT'S SEVENTIETH ANNIVERSARY 19 have become a 'Mormon'?" "Oh," answered, the young man, "that is a nick name. We believe in the Bible; we also believe in the Book of Mormon. We don't call people 'Bibles' because they believe in the Bible. Why* call us 'Mormons' because we believe in the Book of Mormon?" "Never mind, my son. Are the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the 'Mormon' Church one and the same people?" "Yes," said the boy, "they are." "All right," said the father; walking to the door and opening it. He' continued, "My son, go out into the storm. Never darken that door again as long as you live. Choose tonight between father and mother and all ,that I possess [he was a wealthy man] and this hateful religion called 'Mormonism.' Choose this night. I had set my heart upon you making a record worthy of your name. Never darken our door again unless you denounce this thing called 'Mor- monism'." The mother stopped in her cooking, turned deathly pale. The boy turned to his mother, and reaching out his arms, said, "Oh, mother, do you, too, turn me out} into the cold and storm, and say, 'never darken my door again, never let me lay eyes on you,' as father has said?" She replied, "Your father's word is law in this house." The young man turned to his companion and said, "Come, brother, come!" And they went out into the storm. He came to Utah and devoted his life to the cause. Finally he went back to his native land and proclaimed the restoration of the gospel to the earth — the plan of life and salvation. A Prophecy Fulfilled I was a ruined man financially many years ago. I was some- what more than one hundred thousand dollars worse off than noth- ing, and my family did not have homes to live in. My mother's home was mortgaged. I came home one morning at 1 o'clock. I generally worked until eleven, twelve or 1 o'clock trying to earn enough to pay the interest on my debts, and for four long years I had between twenty-five and thirty thousand dollars of debts on which I did not pay a cent of interest. Thank fortune, they were good friends of mine and never asked me for it. Before one of them died he called his ,family to his bedside and said that if they ever asked me for one dollar of that money he would hold it against them when he met them on the other side. On this particular occasion, when I came home at 1 o'clock in the morning, my wife, who is now dead, was sitting up, and she said, "Heber, you do not use tea, coffee, tobacco or liquor, but you are breaking the Word of Wisdom, because of work- ing the way you do, more than if you used tea and coffee; and I am not sure that you are not breaking it more than if you were to use

20 IMPROVEMENT ERA tobacco. It is a crime the way you are abusing yourself — " She stopped suddenly, and was blessed with the gift of tongues, and as she blessed me (I knew she was blessing me, although I could not under- stand a word of it) I wept for joy. When she got through, she said, "Do you have the interpretation?" I said, "No." We knelt down and prayed for the interpretation, and it was that I should live to cancel every obligation I had; that I should live to have a comfort- able, happy home, paid for and free. Three weeks ago next Tuesday I paid the last obligation that I owed on earth, and I have a very nice home and have somewhat more than five hundred dollars in the bank. I had never been on a mission at that time, but in that same blessing she said, "You shall live to proclaim the gospel in many lands and in many climes." I was subsequently operated on for ap- pendicitis, and the doctor said I had to die. My own family physi- cian asked that I send for my stenographer and tell my last story, for blood poisoning in the third and last stage had set in and I could not possibly live. This was after I had made a bargain with the doctor to tell me whether I should live or die, and if there was one chance in fifty, I would take that one chance and get well; but, if there was no chance at all, for him to tell me so that I could send for my clerk. My wife who blessed me by the gift of tongues, and who afterwards died, visited my wife who is now living, within a few hours after I had made this bargain, and told her that she need not worry, that I was not going to die then, that my mission on the earth was not ye,t ended. When my wife told me of this manifestation, I remembered the promise made years before by the gift of tongues, that I should live to lift up my voice in many lands and in many ,climes, proclaiming the restoration of the gospel. So I knew that promise would be ful- filled; and when the doctor told me I had to die, as soon as he went out of the room, I commenced laughing, and, turning to my wife, said, "Isn't it wonderful that you and I know more than the doctor, and, although blood poisoning in the third stage has set in, that I do not have to die; that I shall live to fulfil that promise made by jthe gift of tongues by my wife, who has told you that my mission is not ended." That operation was performed in 1897. Since then I have lifted up my voice in the Hawaiian Islands, in far-off Japan, in Eng- land, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Holland, France, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, Mexico, from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon, from .the Canadian line clear down to Florida, bearing witness that I know, as I know I live, that God lives; that Jesus is the Christ; that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the true and the living God; that the gospel commonly called "Mormonism" is in very deed the gospel of the Lord, Jesus Christ; with every gift, grace, power and blessing that was enjoyed in the former days.