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Preface

Happy is the man who finds himself doing that in which his heart delights and which harmonizes with his natural ability and desires; but unhappy is he who through force of circumstances, over which he has no control, is compelled through his sojourn in mortality, to do something that is in opposition to his nature and ability. A man who enjoys his work finds life sweet and pleasant and every moment of it gives him joy and satisfaction, while the man who is forced to do things which he dislikes finds life a drudgery indeed.

With this conviction in mind I think that I, after sojourning in mortality ninety years, have a right to express an opinion.

Being of foreign birth, and having to learn a new language, and study the manners and habits of the people inhabiting my adopted country, I was handicapped in various ways early in life, and circumstances compelled me to perform labor that was distasteful to me; but when, finally, through the blessings of God and the exercise of my own will-power, associated with hard work, I “broke the ice” I found that my handicap counted more to my advantage than disadvantage. It qualified me to become a historian with the privilege of recording the actions of a God-fearing people, including many nationalities and races—a people destined to present the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to an unbelieving world.

I did not realize at first why I found myself doing the work, which a kind Providence seemingly had destined me to do, yet that work has filled my soul with joy and satisfaction.

I have become convinced that historians, like poets, are born as such, and that this enables them to make their life’s labor successful.

With this belief I can think of the beginning when God stood in the midst of the intelligences or His spiritual children and found among them many who were noble and good. So, in connection with the creating of an earth on which to place His offspring, God chose these noble spirits as leaders and rulers. Abraham, who in mortality became the Father of the Faithful, was chosen as one of them; Jeremiah also was chosen to be a prophet before he was born, and many others, undoubtedly, were chosen for different positions on the earth. I am impressed with the thought that certain spirits were selected to come down and mingle with these leaders and rulers in mortality as poets and historians to record the work to be done by these great and noble ones.

My dreams and imaginations carry me still further, and I can conceive of the Lord, who saw and understood the workmanship of His hands from beginning to end, knowing beforehand what his sons and daughters would do. He, no doubt, planned the different gospel dispensations which from the beginning have connected the heavens with the earth, and in possession of that knowledge He chose Joseph Smith as an instrument in His hands to restore unto the earth the dispensation of the fulness of times, in which the true plan of salvation should be proclaimed to every nation, kindred, tongue and people. A special message was sent to the House of Israel, which is mixed with the gentiles in different lands and climes and speaking different languages in various parts of the world.