BY OSBORNE J. P. WIDTSOE, A. M.
Principal of the Latter-day Saints' High School
Salt Lake City, Utah
AN INTRODUCTION BY JOSEPH F. SMITH, JR.
Of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
1912
TO MY DEAR MOTHER, WHO LED ME TO THE LAND OF THE RESTORATION, THIS BOOKIS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED.
The following chapters on the subject of the Restoration are theoutcome of an invitation to write, during the winter of 1910-11, aseries of lessons for the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Association.Chapters two to nineteen, inclusive, were written for the Associationand were printed, substantially as they appear in this book, inthe Young Woman's Journal. Chapters one, twenty, twenty-one andtwenty-three, were prepared especially for this volume. Chaptertwenty-two appeared as an independent article in the Improvement Erasome years ago.
The brief treatment of the Restoration of the Gospel herewithpresented to the public is not intended to be in any wise a historyof the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is at most astory of the Restoration. It presumes at the outset that somethinghas been restored. It relates how this something was restored. Everymissionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints hasmet these two questions when he has preached abroad the Gospel ofthe Restoration:—What was restored? How was it restored? Thesetwo questions the following chapters attempt to answer in part.They consider the actual restoring of the necessary priesthood andauthorities to officiate for God, in God's stead; they consider theorganizing of the Church, of the quorums of the priesthood, of theauxiliary associations, and of community and family life. Indeed,these chapters are essentially the story of the restoration of divineauthority and correct organization. With these things restored, itbecame necessary to set the world right in its knowledge of God, andin its conception of the duties of man, and his relationship to thekingdom of God. But these questions concern another phase of the storyof the restoration and must be left to a later book.
It is with pleasure that I acknowledge here my grateful appreciationof the encouragement and assistance given me by my friends. TheGeneral Board of the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Associationsand the Guide Committee read the original manuscript. Elders RulonS. Wells and Joseph W. McMurrin, the Journal Committee appointed bythe First Presidency, also read and criticized the original manuscript.Finally, Elders Charles W. Penrose, George F. Richards, and JosephF. Smith, Jr., read, by appointment of the First Presidency, thecomplete manuscript as it was prepared to appear in book form. I wishto thank all these brethren and sisters for their generous assistanceand invaluable suggestions. But while these committees have read themanuscript and have passed favorable judgment upon it, it must beremembered that the author alone is responsible for all errors here tobe found. Finally, I wish publicly to acknowledge my gratitude to mybrother. Dr. John A. Widtsoe, and to my mother, Mrs. Anna K. Widtsoe,for much valuable help; and to my wife for her untiring devotion andzeal in reading and correcting and perfecting. Were it not for theencouragement of these many friends, I should not dare venture to putforth the following chapters in book form.
O. J. P. W.
Salt Lake, Utah. Jan. 21, 1912.