Elder John L. Herrick.

(President Western States Mission.)

A few weeks ago, Prof. Harvey A. Overstreet, of the College of the City of New York, speaking to a convention of ministers of one of the great Christian churches, at Pittsburgh, said substantially as follows:

"The time is ripe for the formulation of a new religion. Much that is peculiar of the period of today is also peculiar of the Alexandrian period, when Christianity had its birth. Today sees great cults arising. There are great social upheavals. It is a great age of ferment. I sometimes think that out of this vast social caldron will come some new thing. It seems we can believe this; that the accredited religions institutionalized as they are, have been failures. We find the attitude towards the church is rather lukewarm. The accredited religions are not the great soul-inspiring, encompassing things they ought to be. The new religion will come out of the midst of those groups which have accepted the scientific, democratic and social point of view."

I wondered, as I read the dispatch accredited to this educator, if he had familiarized himself with all of the religions of the day before making the statement attributed to him, for it would seem that there is one rather widely known creed which might cover the vital features demanded by the gentleman in the new religion he is looking for. That religion I do not hesitate to say is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Let us see how the Church would line up by comparison. The theology of "Mormonism" is in harmony with science, or better stated, the conclusions of some of the greatest scientific minds have been made to harmonize with much that has been set forth as"Mormon" teaching. When that religion was founded there was need, apparently, for some new thing, because there was much lacking in the confessed creeds of the various religions. For instance, most of them professed a belief that God was an incorporeal immaterial Being, without body, parts or passions. They professed also that the world was created, literally created, out of nothing, and likewise that man also was literally created, and that he was predestined to either a glorious salvation or eternal damnation, and that no act of his could change the plan of his life.

With the teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, these impossible ideas were set aside, for he testified that God and Jesus Christ were separate and distinct beings, corporeal beings, that they visited him in vision the most remarkable of modern times, or for all time perhaps of which we have record, when he talked face to face with them, and received instructions regarding the contemplated work to be established in the world for the last time, the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is also a cardinal teaching in "Mormonism" that matter is eternal, and that the object had by the Almighty in forming the world was to bring together the various forces that were already here, and that matter, while altered, could not be destroyed, i. e., annihilated. As respecting man, it is confidently asserted that he was born into the world of mortality through the plan of the Almighty, and that the intelligence of man is also eternal,--is in fact co-eternal with God. Some advanced thoughts as regards astronomy were also made known, which science has since recognized. From the standpoint of democracy in religion we can pass muster surely for a revelation was received in 1830, but three months after the organization of the Church as follows: "And all things shall be done by common consent in the Church by much prayer and faith for all things you shall receive by faith." That rule has obtained and still maintains in the Church. Candidates for the priesthood must be approved by the voice of the people. Stake and ward authorities are presented to be voted upon and this great conference has set its seal of approval by vote upon the General Authorities, and similar action is also taken throughout the stakes at each quarterly conference.

As to the social point of view, We are given credit for having solved most satisfactorily the most important problems, by those who have impartially investigated our conditions. Thomas M. Bicknell, a former president of the National Education Association and prominent educator of New England, writes as follows:

"The 'Mormon' polity, on the side of social order, is recognized as the most thoroughly organized system in the world. Every intelligent man should study it for its recognition of the solution of economic health and social problems. Its details of supervision are exact, thorough-going and efficient.

"Beyond and above all in perfection of system and in the realization of grand results, are the industry, frugality and temperance of the people. The beehive properly symbolizes the spirit and practice of the 'Mormons.' Go where you will, you will find no poverty, while wealth abounds in practical abundance. Homes are full of comforts and luxuries; art, music and literature are the endowments of all. The wealth of the land has attracted the 'Mormons' more than the wealth of the mines, and both are making wealth common and fairly distributed.

"Utah is a rich land of great possibilities. Its richest possession is its 'Mormon' population of honest, pure-minded, sweet-hearted men, women and children who have drawn on Nature's forces for her grateful services and returns. They have, out of the lion's mouth, plucked the honeycomb of sweet content and honest life, and were the Master to walk the streets of Salt Lake City today, would he not say to all critics and detractors of 'Mormonism:' 'Let him that is without sin cast the first stone'?"

We are judged by the world because they know little of the teachings of professed "Mormonism." Only last fall, while making a tour of the South, the Vice-President of the United States, Thomas R. Marshall, was quoted in the dispatches from Phoenix, Arizona, in speaking of Efficiency, as follows:

"We want to be an efficient people, but we want to be also a free people. We cannot be both. The German nation and the 'Mormon' Church are the two greatest organizations in the world, but in each the individual is subservient to the organization. What we want is efficiency, but we also want freedom with it."

I think one might well agree with him in the statement regarding the German nation, and without saying anything derogatory of them as a people it is pretty generally conceded that they have been subservient to the powers that rule them. But we do take issue with him when he undertakes to say that men and women comprising this Church are subservient to men. The strength of the "Mormon" Church lies in the individual testimony of its members, because they know the truth, and yet we honor and respect the priesthood, and the great and good men at the head of the Church. We love them, and cherish them, and would lay down our lives for them, if need be; yet we do not worship them. We worship God and Jesus Christ.

As we view the great mission of the Church, there looms before me this question, how are we individually shaping our lives to advance that great work? Are we ready to go on missions and labor to advance God's purposes in the world? Are we prepared to sacrifice when the times comes to that end? Is our example to the world such as we would have it to be, and since we are said to be one of the greatest organizations in the world today, by those who stand high in the councils of the world, then we ought to be ready to say: I will dedicate my life, or a portion of it, to the end that God's purposes may be magnified in the earth, and that this Church may also be magnified commensurate to the claims we Blake.

I call upon you returned missionaries, men and women, with all the fervor of my soul, as I called upon the missionaries of the Western States last night, in our reunion, to carry with you and keep with you as you return to your homes the spirit of the mission field; seek to be engaged in the work of the Lord, and be ready for any call that is made upon you, and endeavor to carry throughout the Church the spirit that you had in the mission field, for we at home have not all of us that inspiration; many have not the power and influence that you had in the mission field, to keep young men and young women from going astray, as well as to keep yourselves free from sin. We have much to fear, let me tell you, from the powers of the Adversary, for they are at work in Zion as well as abroad in the earth.

As I view sometimes the magnitude of this work and what I humbly hope to do, I recall the lines of a poet, when he said:

"If you could know that half of all I yearn to be to you, dear heart!/Each day that dawns I struggle to be strong and do my part,/Yet when at last the night comes softly down I humbly pray,/'Lord, grant me still to prove my tender love just one more day!'

"Just one more day to strive to rise above small troubles, petty care,/That my cramped soul may break its earth-forged bonds, at last to dare/To face the future and to gladly live with courage new,/Loyal and cheerful facing toward the light for truth and you.

"And yet I feel in spite of all the heights which I can never scale,/In spite of all the many tests in which I daily fail,/That my deep love, more deep and pure and strong than I can ever show,/You somehow, through my failures, doubts and fears, will come to know.

"The dreary clouds can't hide the sun for aye; it glimmers through./The sweet, wet violet, struggling through dead leaves, still shows its blue./And so I trust, though oft I strike love's chord with clumsy hand./You'll feel the melody I tried to play and understand."

May God's blessing be with us to guide and keep us in the way of life and truth, I pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

The choir sang the hymn, "Softly beams the sacred dawning."