Designed for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-daySaints.
SECOND EDITION.
JUVENILE INSTRUCTOR OFFICE,
Salt Lake City,
1882.
The first book of this, the "FAITH-PROMOTING SERIES"—My FirstMission—which was published some months since, has been so wellreceived by the public that we are encouraged to continue thepublication of works of a similar character.
We herewith give "A STRING OF PEARLS" to our readers, feeling assuredthat they will find the contents of this little work of inestimablevalue.
Probably no people in the world possess so rich and varied anexperience as do the Latter-day Saints, and especially the Elders whohave labored in the ministry in various lands. Contributions from them,giving a relation of their personal experience, are most profitable toyoung people to peruse.
The present age is one of doubt and unbelief. Faith in God, in Hiswillingness to hear and answer prayer, and in the gifts of the gospel,has almost vanished from the earth. As a people we have this to contendwith. Our children, not having had experience themselves, have to becarefully watched, lest they, too, should partake of the leaven ofunbelief. We feel that it is a duty that we owe to them to place withintheir reach the evidences that their fathers and their mothers havereceived of the existence of God, of His willingness to hear and answerprayer, and to bestow His gifts upon those who seek for them in theright way.
God has wrought as marvelously in behalf of the Latter-day Saints as Hedid in former days in behalf of His people.
We hope that this little volume will prove of great value to those whoread it, by inspiring them with faith, and furnishing them a foundationupon which to build and obtain knowledge from the Lord.
We also indulge in the hope that its publication may stir up others—ofwhom there are so many hundreds, and perhaps thousands, in our Churchwho have had valuable experience—to take the time and troublenecessary to commit incidents of this character to paper, that theymay not die with themselves, but that they may live to speak hope andconsolation unto, and to inspire confidence in, those who shall comeafter them.
With an earnest hope, therefore, that the contents of this littlevolume may prove a help to those who may read it, by inspiring themwith faith in the Almighty and His promises, we modestly publish it,and give it the expressive title which it bears. G. Q. C.
October, 1880.
In publishing this, the second edition of the STRING OF PEARLS, itis only necessary to add that the first edition of 5,000 copies isexhausted, and we are induced by the continued demand for the book tore-issue it. It is very gratifying to notice the taste which has beendeveloped during the past few years, among the youth of our community,for such reading matter as the FAITH-PROMOTING SERIES contains. We hopeto see a continued growth in this direction, and that our brethren andsisters of experience will be prompted by it to write for publicationsuch sketches from their lives as will point a moral and convey alesson to the minds of future generations who may peruse the same.
We see no reason why the six volumes of the FAITH-PROMOTING SERIESalready published, as well as those which may follow, should not beregarded in the future as standard works of the Church, and used forhome reading or Sunday school class books when their author