ADDRESS OF THE GENERAL SUPERINTEN-
DENCY.
To the officers and members of the Young
Men's Mutual Improvement Associa-
tions throughout Zion:
DEAR BRETHREN—While regretting the
existence of circumstances depriving us
of the satisfaction and pleasure of ming-
ling personally with you, in your general
conference gathering, we are delighted
with the privilege of addressing you in
writing.
Our hearts are full of gratitude to our
heavenly Father, and we rejoice exceed-
ingly in the blessings of life and liberty
so abundantly bestowed upon the youth
of Zion. Upon you, dear young breth-
ren, the hope of Israel largely rests. Be
ye, therefore, worthy of your holy call-
ing. Trust in the Lord of Hosts, give
your hearts to God, and fail not in your
mission of Improvement. Be watchful,
prayerful, obedient; for the eyes of
heavenly hosts are upon you. Honor
your parents, that your days may be
many. Venerate those grown gray in
the service of the God of heaven and
earth, and the ordinances of the Gospel
shall be your portion, the salvation of
God your part, and the Holy Priesthood
with the powers thereof your inherit-
ance. A great work is before you.
Thrust in your sickles and reap, for the
harvest is ripe, though laborers are few.
Be not satisfied, rest not content until
every young man professing the name of
Saint in Zion is enrolled in the cause of
Mutual Improvement.
Civilization, so called, with a tide of
evil and corrupting influences is sweep-
ing the land with temptations calculated
to lead the young into paths of vice and
destruction. These must be resisted
and overcome, because at war with peace
and purity. Be ye lovers of men rather
than lovers of pleasure. Using wisely
the gifts and graces with which the Al-
mighty has endowed you, rescue from
the allurements of saloons, beer halls
and other haunts of vice, those whom
God has designed should move on a
higher and purer moral plane.
Human redemption, from the effects
of the fall, is the grandest work in which
God and man can be engaged. Those
who would be successfully employed in
it must secure the testimony of the Holy
Spirit, make virtue the jewel of the soul,
purity of thought the guide of the heart,
and honor, integrity and truth com-
panions of daily life.
Conforming your exercises to the or-
ganizations of the Church, let all your
teachings harmonize therewith; so shall
all your works, under the proper use of
the Priesthood which you bear, be
sanctified to the honor and glory of God.
The general authorities of the Church
and those of the Wards and Stakes
throughout Zion will give you encourage-
ment and help whenever and wherever
needed.
Half-yearly conferences of the various
Young Men's Mutual Improvement As-
sociations may be held in the Stakes
throughout Zion at such times and places
as may be determined by the Stake
Presidency and Superintendency of the
Associations. These conferences may
occupy two days, including one Sunday,
and should be made occasions for re-
ceiving reports and giving mutual in-
structions that will tend to harmonize the
manner of conducting the Associations
and achieving the most satisfactory re-
sults.
A general conference of the Associa-
tions will be held about the first of June,
1888, and annually thereafter, the exact
date and place to be hereafter named by
the General Superintendency. The
Associations should endeavor to con-
tinue their regular weekly meetings
until about the time of the Annual Con-
ference, before taking their summer va-
cation. At the general conference statis-
tical and other necessary reports will be
required and time given for the consid-
eration of the best means and methods of
promoting the education and welfare of
the young men and women of Zion.
The Primary and Sunday School
organizations, Mutual Improvement Asso-
ciations, and Relief Societies have been
instituted for a wise purpose. They are
"helps and governments" calculated in
their nature and design to accomplish
much good among Saints. Each has
a special field of usefulness not occupied
by the others, and no man in this Church,
filled with the Holy Ghost, will lay a
straw in the way of either of them.
Neither will he find occasion for manifes-
tations of petty jealousies, by which to
foster one at the expense of another.
The Sunday Schools have gradually
and almost universally come to occupy
the forenoon of each Sabbath. Have
the interests of God's Church or the
welfare of His people suffered thereby?
Certainly not. What, indeed, is of more
vital importance to us than the proper
religious training of our children? What
the Primary Associations begin, let the
Sunday Schools and Mutual Improve-
ment Associations continue. Each has
its mission and special field, upon which
no servant of God humbly trying to do
his duty will seek to encroach.
THE CONTRIBUTOR, as the organ of
the Mutual Improvement Associations, is
a medium of instruction and enlighten-
ment. How, except by judicious exer-
cises of the faculties shall we develop
the talent with which the Creator may
have endowed us? Few things, if any,
are calculated to strengthen the mind and
give it powers of concentration more than
the frequent use of the pen, in writing
for publication. And what agency is
more potent for good than the press?
THE CONTRIBUTOR, whose articles are
largely furnished by home authors, is a
magazine of which all Israel have reason
to be proud. Its circulation should be
widely extended, and to this end we in-
vite the co-operation of all Saints. The
editor, Brother Junius F. Wells, has been
singularly blessed in his management
of the magazine heretofore. His selec-
tion and arrangement of matter have
been remarkably fortunate, and the Lord
has been with him in his responsible
labors.
But, notwithstanding the degree of ex-
cellence reached, it should be our con-
stant effort to improve, and the young
men and women of talent among us can
do great service in this direction, by fur-
nishing regular contributions to the
magazine. To this desirable end we
very respectfully invite their hearty co-
operation.
Libraries and reading rooms should
be established throughout Zion, and
lectures on various subjects should be
encouraged. Thus may you become
acquainted with the customs, laws and
language of various countries, while
seeking to graduate in the science of all
other sciences—correct theology. In
this connection we would suggest that it
will be well in all the Stakes for the
Associations to take the initiative in es-
tablishing libraries and reading rooms.
This is a labor peculiarly adapted to our
organization and has been enjoined upon
us from the beginning. We deprecate
any disposition on the part of our young
men, especially those who have had
superior opportunities for acquiring an
education, to draw away from the Im-
provement Associations, and to form
among themselves separate societies of
an exclusive nature. Would it not be
better if they would lend their talent and
efforts to make the Improvement Associ-
ations more successful? There is no
worthy object they can desire to attain
that the Improvement Associations do
not contemplate and hope to reach. We,
therefore, ask the co-operation of all such
young men, and trust that it will be gladly
given, as we feel sure the results of a
united endeavor under proper organiza-
tion and direction will be most satisfac-
tory.
In all your struggles in acquiring
knowledge seek wisdom. In all your
efforts to improve seek to know God and
Jesus, whom He hath sent, for in that
knowledge is found life eternal. The
Holy Priesthood that you bear is the key
to unlock that door. See that you do
not misuse it and thereby fail. "Ask
and ye shall receive. Knock and it shall
open." [3 Nephi 27:29]
On returning home from this confer-
ence, we trust that you will carry with
you the Spirit thereof and renewed
determination to labor diligently and
earnestly for improvement in the interest
of purity and holiness. Remembering
always the reason for the hope within
you, make the love of God and of your
fellows the foundation of your work; and
moving forward steadily and prayerfully
and earnestly, you cannot fail in accom-
plishing that which brings peace, happi-
ness and salvation.
Praying that the Lord may bless, pre-
serve, guide and prosper you in all your
works of love, we remain,
Your fellow-laborers in the cause of
Mutual Improvement.
Wilford Woodruff,
Jos. F. Smith,
Moses Thatcher.