Grant Conference Report April 1927

From Karl G. Maeser

Heber J. Grant, Conference Report, April 1927, p.16-17

"We believe in the gift of tongues," and in the interpretation thereof. Karl G. Maeser--than whom no more devoted Latter-day Saint ever lived--told me with his own lips of such an incident as I took a trip with him to Baker City. He said: "Brother Grant, the night that I was baptized I looked up into heaven and said: 'Oh, God, I have found, as I believe, the gospel of thy Son Jesus Christ. I have rendered obedience to it by going down into the waters of baptism. Give to me a manifestation, give to me an absolute witness of the spirit that I have found the truth, and I pledge to you if necessary my life for the advancement of this cause.'"

At that time Brother Franklin D. Richards was president of the European mission, with headquarters at Liverpool. He went over to Germany to be present at the baptism of the first converts to the gospel in that great empire. Walking from the place where he was baptized to his home, a distance of several miles, Brother Maeser expressed a desire to converse upon different principles of the gospel, through an interpreter. That interpreter was Brother William Budge, afterwards president of Bear Lake stake, and finally president of the Logan temple. Brother Maeser, who understood no English, asked questions in German, and Brother Richards, who understood no German, answered them in English; Brother Budge interpreting the questions and answers. After a few questions had been asked and answered through the interpreter, Brother Richards said: "Do not interpret those questions, I understand them;" then Brother Maeser said: "Do not interpret those answers, I understand them." They conversed for miles, the questions in Germam the answers in English; neither man understanding the language of the other. They arrived at the River Elbe and while crossing the bridge they were separated; when they reached the other side Brother Maeser asked another question, and Brother Richards said: "Interpret it, Brother Budge." When the answer came, Brother Maeser said: "Interpret it." His next question was: "How was it, Apostle Richards, that we understood each other, and now we cannot understand?" Brother Richards told him that one of the fruits of the gospel of Jesus Christ was the gift of tongues and the interpretation. Then he said: "God has given to you and to me this night the privilege of partaking of one of the fruits of the gospel by having the interpretation of tongues. Brother Maeser, you have received a witness from God that you have found the truth."

[p.17]Brother Maeser told me: "I trembled like a leaf, and I again raised my eyes to heaven and said: 'Oh, God, I have received the witness that I asked for, and I pledge to you my life, if need be, for this cause.'"

Every Latter-day Saint knows that Karl G. Maeser did give his life; that he labored without ceasing, without any thought of personal advancement, personal honor or credit, but he labored untiringly for the advancement of God's kingdom at home and abroad, as a missionary in his native land, and at the head of our great educational system.