Brethren, it has been proposed to us by certain of the Elders that this congregration has received a call to send out missionaries into the Great West for the purpose of educating the Indians, frontiersmen, and other savages and of spreading the Harvard Gospel unto the uttermost ends of the earth.

Now, of the virtue of this Gospel there is no doubt. From the time of our Covenant with all the mighty we have prospered as has no other sect on the face of the earth. We have grown in wisdom and in virtue, in character and in charity, in science and in health, in darkness and in light, in piety, and indeed in humility from the very date on which these historic foundations were raised up to the sight of mankind. Like manna from heaven, endowments have rained down upon us, giving us to know that our thoughts are upright and our actions upward. Yea, is the wonderworking of providence not proof enough of the fruitfulness of our seed?

But absolute virtue is not the only command written upon the sheepskin Harvardiana-brethren, ye must not hide your light under a bushel. Consider the needs of the simple and sociable savages in the West, the rude frontiersmen doomed to destruction in their shiny Jaguars, the winning young ladies in their sororities and sewing circles-all, all waiting for that saving seed, that saving seed which only we and our apostles can plant.

Now, there be some who object that the beasts and children of the wilderness want not the shining light of Christian wisdom. They contend that it is impossible to convert without the primary agency of grace. It is strongly felt that the savages have not had the preparation and education necessary to achieve grace, and that therefore they will be unable to comprehend or enjoy the abstruse doctrines which we must propound. Those who oppose the spreading of doctrine say that our construction of the Gospel will find the savage inert, with his wick untrimmed, unprepared for the marriage, and generally unannointed. They contend that our doctrine will fall upon barren ground.

But, I say unto you, bretheren, that such men who are daunted by the blindness of lost souls, such men are hypocrites and Pharisees and sophisticates. They know not of the secret workings of Providence; they are men of little faith. If our forefathers had left freedom to the slave, would there ever have been the Great War? If the people of the West, like great stones, stand oblivious of the seed, we must hack at them until they crumble. The first apostles were never deterred by lack of interest; know, friends, the dramatic power of martyrdom at the hands of the savages.

Think on the glory of martyrdom, ye who can propound the doctrine! Think of the glory of saving lost western sheep, of schussing down the divine and grand Colorado slopes in search of the unfound, of exaltation in the sublime expanses of Nature! Think also on the glory of the greater numbers of true preachers which the wonderful spaces of the West will allow us! Ah, the glory of it!

Certain backsliders, would think to dissuade us from our inexorable course by arguing that other sects are already established in the West, doing the Good Work. They say that there are already enough missionaries out there in the wilderness. They speak of the good appearances and glad manifestations of Pomona, of Stanford, of Sewanee, Kenyon, and Black Mountain. But brethren, it is plain that these sects do not have the true light, for Providence has not done well by them and they have fallen by the wayside among tares. If we sent good seed and good sowers out to them, they too would fall by the wayside and bring forth no fruit. Brethren, it is clear that these sects know not the truth and are being punished.

Therefore, we and our seed must have a care not to dwell among them. For, it shall be unto the University of Chicago and the University of California as it was unto Sodom and Gomorrah! Brethren, we must not withold our life-giving power, we must spread it broadcast throughout the wilderness to produce good fruit and choke these western weeds. Only Harvard can save; we must have a care for the cancer of heresy in these black and troubled times. Amen.