October 1867
Pratt, Orson. "Temples in Ancient America—The God of Mankind An Impossible God—The Truth in Regard to Him—Man in His Image—Pre-Existence—Why Infants Die—the Redemption By Jesus—Plurality of Gods—The Word of the Lord is Truth." Journal of Discourses. Volume 19. October 7, 1867: pg. 311-321.
Smith, George A. "Condition of the Saints in Great Britain." Journal of Discourses. Volume 12. October 7, 1867: pg. 175-176. Smith, George A. "Education--Phonetics--Storing Up Grain--Home Manufactures." Journal of Discourses. Volume 12. October 9, 1867: pg. 138-145. Snow, Erastus. "Life and Health--Matrimony--Education--Home Productions." Journal of Discourses. Volume 12. October 8, 1867: pg. 176-179. Snow, Lorenzo. "Necessity of Performing the Duties Required of Us and Not Those Required of Others--All Should Become More Spiritually Minded." Journal of Discourses. Volume 12. October 9, 1867: pg. 146-148. The Deseret News. "Thirty-Seventh Semi-Annual Conference." October 9, 1867: pg. 313-315. THIRTY-SEVENTH SEMI-ANNUAL CONFERENCE President Heber C. Kimball President Daniel H. Wells 2 p.m. Elder Orson Hyde President Brigham Young Monday, 7th, 10 a.m. Elder Orson Pratt Temples in Ancient America President Brigham Young 2 p.m. President Brigham Young Elder John Taylor Mission Calls Elder Wilford Woodruff Elder George A. Smith Condition of The Saints in Great Britain Mission Calls Tuesday, 8th, 10 a.m. Elder Ezra T. Benson President Brigham Young Elder Erastus Snow Life and Health—Matrimony—Education—Home Productions President Joseph Young President Brigham Young Mission Calls 2 p.m. Sustaining of the General Authorities Elder George Q. Cannon Elder Charles C. Rich President Brigham Young Wednesday, 9th, 10 a.m. Elder George A. Smith Education—Phonetics—Storing Up Grain—Home Manufactures Elder Hyrum Dayton Elder Lorenzo Snow Necessity of Performing the Duties Required of Us and Not Those Required of Others Request 2 p.m. Elder John Van Cott Elder Joseph F. Smith President Brigham Young Elder George Q. Cannon President Brigham Young |
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THIRTY-SEVENTH SEMI-ANNUAL CONFERENCE
The Thirty-seventh Semi-Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, convened, according to adjournment at last April Conference, on Sunday morning, Oct. 6th, at 10 o'clock, in the New Tabernacle, which was ready for Conference to be held in it, the great exertions made for some time past by those having charge of its erection having been thus far successful. The Tabernacle is 250 feet in length by 150 in width, and is capable of seating a vast concourse of people; a detailed description of it will be more appropriate when it is finished, and dedicated. An hour before the appointed time for Conference commencing, the immense building was crowded in every part, great numbers being unable to obtain admission.
There were present during the meetings,
Presidents Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and Daniel H. Wells, the First Presidency;
Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, Senr., John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith, Ezra T. Benson, Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith, of the Twelve Apostles;
John Smith, Patriarch;
Joseph Young, Senr., Levi W. Hancock, Horace S. Eldredge, Jacob Gates and John Van Cott, of the Presidency of the Seventies;
John Young, Edwin D. Woolley and Samuel W. Richards, the Presidency of the High Priest's Quorum;
Daniel Spencer, George B. Wallace and Joseph W. Young, the Presidency of this Stake of Zion;
Edward Hunter, Leonard W. Hardy and Jesse O. Little the Presidency of the Bishopric;
Elders Brigham Young, Junr., and John W. Young;
and a great number of Bishops, Presidents of settlements and Elders from various parts of the Territory.
At the reporters table were Elders George D. Watt, David W. Evans and Edward L. Sloan, short-hand writers; and Elder T. B. H. Stenhouse.
The singing was in charge of the Tabernacle choir, led by Elder Robert Sands, with the new organ, played by Joseph J. Daynes; a combination of the Springville, Spanish Fork and Payson choirs; and a few singers from Brigham City, Box Elder Co., and Smithfield, Cache Co., led by Elder Fishborne, Captain Croxall's, Captain Eardley's, the Ogden, and the Nephi brass bands made music as occasion offered, at the close of the meetings near to the Tabernacle, and at various times and places through the city during Conference. The new Organ, which was played with the singing of the Tabernacle choir, will be a magnificent and splendidly toned instrument when fully completed. Of its quality of tone and compass satisfactory evidence was obtained during Conference. Its opening music was given through seven hundred mouths; when completed the pipes will number two thousand. Its size will be twenty-three feet wide, thirty feet deep, and forty high.
Before opening Conference President B. Young, in behalf of all the Apostles, and all the brethren and sisters belonging to the Church, returned most sincere thanks to the workmen who had been engaged on the Tabernacle, for their steady perseverance and faithfulness in working on and completing the building so far. He also spoke of the labors of Elder Ridges on the large Organ, and of the difficulties he had labored under in his work.
Conference was called to order, and the following hymn, composed by E. R. Snow for the occasion, was then read by the clerk, and sung by the Tabernacle choir.
Praise, praise, O, praise the Great I AM!
Sing glory, glory to the Lamb!
Let ev'ry heart a tribute bring,
And join to praise our God and King.
O God, who form'd the heav'ns and earth--
Who sends the gushing fountains forth--
Who built the sky and made the sea,
Thou art our God: we bow to Thee.
Thy servants, Lord, assemble here,
To praise and pray—to speak and hear:
O, let Thy Spirit on them rest,
And ev'ry humble soul, be blest.
While we convene from day to day,
Be in our midst, O God, we pray:
And let Thy mighty power be felt,
The dross, to burn—the gold, to melt.
On mountain tops, a beacon stands:
Its light is seen in distant lands;
Like burning lamps, Thy Truth, O God,
And righteousness go forth abroad.
Praise, praise, O, praise the Great I AM!
Sing glory, glory to the Lamb!
Let ev'ry heart a tribute bring,
And join to praise our God and King.
Prayer was then offered by President B. Young;
after which "Soldiers of Christ arise" was sung by the combination of the Springville, Spanish Fork and Payson choirs, led respectively by Elders Frederick Weight of Springville, William Jones of Spanish Fork, and William Clayson of Payson.
The Thirty-seventh Semi-Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, convened, according to adjournment at last April Conference, on Sunday morning, Oct. 6th, at 10 o'clock, in the New Tabernacle, which was ready for Conference to be held in it, the great exertions made for some time past by those having charge of its erection having been thus far successful. The Tabernacle is 250 feet in length by 150 in width, and is capable of seating a vast concourse of people; a detailed description of it will be more appropriate when it is finished, and dedicated. An hour before the appointed time for Conference commencing, the immense building was crowded in every part, great numbers being unable to obtain admission.
There were present during the meetings,
Presidents Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and Daniel H. Wells, the First Presidency;
Orson Hyde, Orson Pratt, Senr., John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith, Ezra T. Benson, Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith, of the Twelve Apostles;
John Smith, Patriarch;
Joseph Young, Senr., Levi W. Hancock, Horace S. Eldredge, Jacob Gates and John Van Cott, of the Presidency of the Seventies;
John Young, Edwin D. Woolley and Samuel W. Richards, the Presidency of the High Priest's Quorum;
Daniel Spencer, George B. Wallace and Joseph W. Young, the Presidency of this Stake of Zion;
Edward Hunter, Leonard W. Hardy and Jesse O. Little the Presidency of the Bishopric;
Elders Brigham Young, Junr., and John W. Young;
and a great number of Bishops, Presidents of settlements and Elders from various parts of the Territory.
At the reporters table were Elders George D. Watt, David W. Evans and Edward L. Sloan, short-hand writers; and Elder T. B. H. Stenhouse.
The singing was in charge of the Tabernacle choir, led by Elder Robert Sands, with the new organ, played by Joseph J. Daynes; a combination of the Springville, Spanish Fork and Payson choirs; and a few singers from Brigham City, Box Elder Co., and Smithfield, Cache Co., led by Elder Fishborne, Captain Croxall's, Captain Eardley's, the Ogden, and the Nephi brass bands made music as occasion offered, at the close of the meetings near to the Tabernacle, and at various times and places through the city during Conference. The new Organ, which was played with the singing of the Tabernacle choir, will be a magnificent and splendidly toned instrument when fully completed. Of its quality of tone and compass satisfactory evidence was obtained during Conference. Its opening music was given through seven hundred mouths; when completed the pipes will number two thousand. Its size will be twenty-three feet wide, thirty feet deep, and forty high.
Before opening Conference President B. Young, in behalf of all the Apostles, and all the brethren and sisters belonging to the Church, returned most sincere thanks to the workmen who had been engaged on the Tabernacle, for their steady perseverance and faithfulness in working on and completing the building so far. He also spoke of the labors of Elder Ridges on the large Organ, and of the difficulties he had labored under in his work.
Conference was called to order, and the following hymn, composed by E. R. Snow for the occasion, was then read by the clerk, and sung by the Tabernacle choir.
Praise, praise, O, praise the Great I AM!
Sing glory, glory to the Lamb!
Let ev'ry heart a tribute bring,
And join to praise our God and King.
O God, who form'd the heav'ns and earth--
Who sends the gushing fountains forth--
Who built the sky and made the sea,
Thou art our God: we bow to Thee.
Thy servants, Lord, assemble here,
To praise and pray—to speak and hear:
O, let Thy Spirit on them rest,
And ev'ry humble soul, be blest.
While we convene from day to day,
Be in our midst, O God, we pray:
And let Thy mighty power be felt,
The dross, to burn—the gold, to melt.
On mountain tops, a beacon stands:
Its light is seen in distant lands;
Like burning lamps, Thy Truth, O God,
And righteousness go forth abroad.
Praise, praise, O, praise the Great I AM!
Sing glory, glory to the Lamb!
Let ev'ry heart a tribute bring,
And join to praise our God and King.
Prayer was then offered by President B. Young;
after which "Soldiers of Christ arise" was sung by the combination of the Springville, Spanish Fork and Payson choirs, led respectively by Elders Frederick Weight of Springville, William Jones of Spanish Fork, and William Clayson of Payson.
President H. C. Kimball
reasoned that the elect of God hear His voice and keep His commandments. To be Saints we must shun evil of every kind, and live in righteousness before the Lord so as to have the Spirit of truth with us continually. Our position in these mountains is the very best we could occupy for accomplishing the purposes of the Lord in the gathering of His people and building up the Kingdom of God. The work is spreading and will continue to grow; there is no fear of its failing or being retarded in its progress; and our duty is to watch and pray lest we should not be progressing with it. He blessed the men who have been engaged in working on the New Tabernacle; blessed Bishop Edward Hunter, his Counselors, the Bishops and their assistants, Pres. Young and those associated with him, and all Israel; and spoke upon the power and principle of blessing. If our eyes could be opened to see things as they are we would see angels with us to-day to bless us, as we can feel the power of God with us to bless us and do us good. The Lord has led His people continually; and President B. Young and himself were as much led by the power of God in coming to these mountains as any men were ever led to accomplish anything by inspiration and the Spirit of God. Here we have grown to be a great people, and the Lord has not forsaken nor forgotten us. We have built this house to worship God; and now our duty is to prepare ourselves for the blessings to be obtained in the Temple by building one, and building it in purity of heart and sincerity of soul, as the Temple of Kirtland was reared in the midst of privation and poverty. When that building was dedicated, it was visited by Peter, James and John and by hundreds of angels, who were seen of many. He again blessed the people, and prayed that the peace of God might be and abide with them; and urged them if any of their families were sick to use mild herbs, let the doctors alone, and call for the elders to anoint them with oil and pray over them.
reasoned that the elect of God hear His voice and keep His commandments. To be Saints we must shun evil of every kind, and live in righteousness before the Lord so as to have the Spirit of truth with us continually. Our position in these mountains is the very best we could occupy for accomplishing the purposes of the Lord in the gathering of His people and building up the Kingdom of God. The work is spreading and will continue to grow; there is no fear of its failing or being retarded in its progress; and our duty is to watch and pray lest we should not be progressing with it. He blessed the men who have been engaged in working on the New Tabernacle; blessed Bishop Edward Hunter, his Counselors, the Bishops and their assistants, Pres. Young and those associated with him, and all Israel; and spoke upon the power and principle of blessing. If our eyes could be opened to see things as they are we would see angels with us to-day to bless us, as we can feel the power of God with us to bless us and do us good. The Lord has led His people continually; and President B. Young and himself were as much led by the power of God in coming to these mountains as any men were ever led to accomplish anything by inspiration and the Spirit of God. Here we have grown to be a great people, and the Lord has not forsaken nor forgotten us. We have built this house to worship God; and now our duty is to prepare ourselves for the blessings to be obtained in the Temple by building one, and building it in purity of heart and sincerity of soul, as the Temple of Kirtland was reared in the midst of privation and poverty. When that building was dedicated, it was visited by Peter, James and John and by hundreds of angels, who were seen of many. He again blessed the people, and prayed that the peace of God might be and abide with them; and urged them if any of their families were sick to use mild herbs, let the doctors alone, and call for the elders to anoint them with oil and pray over them.
Pres. D. H. Wells
said it was with deep feelings of gratitude to the Lord that he arose before so large a congregation of the Saints to speak of the things of the kingdom. The erection of the building in which they were assembled he looked upon as a great achievement worthy of the people of the Saints. We are gathered to these valleys of the mountains to learn to build up the Kingdom of God, and it makes no difference what we are called to do—whether to raise wheat, build factories, raise flax, or any of the products of the earth, if we only understand our calling and are faithful. We have to reclaim the earth and make the place of His feet glorious before Him. The great work of the last days is to gather out the honest-in-heart, establish the Kingdom of God upon the earth, and reclaim the earth from the thraldom of sin and darkness. The Lord has led forth His people in might; He has led his servant Brigham in might and in power; He has planted us in the midst of these mountains, blessed the land for our sakes, and caused it to bring forth for the sustenance of His people. He has turned away the evil designs of our enemies, and frustrated all their wicked plans. The Latter-day Saints are a good people, but there is room for improvement, and it is our work and mission to improve and progress in righteousness.
Singing by the Tabernacle Choir.
Prayer by President D. H. Wells.
said it was with deep feelings of gratitude to the Lord that he arose before so large a congregation of the Saints to speak of the things of the kingdom. The erection of the building in which they were assembled he looked upon as a great achievement worthy of the people of the Saints. We are gathered to these valleys of the mountains to learn to build up the Kingdom of God, and it makes no difference what we are called to do—whether to raise wheat, build factories, raise flax, or any of the products of the earth, if we only understand our calling and are faithful. We have to reclaim the earth and make the place of His feet glorious before Him. The great work of the last days is to gather out the honest-in-heart, establish the Kingdom of God upon the earth, and reclaim the earth from the thraldom of sin and darkness. The Lord has led forth His people in might; He has led his servant Brigham in might and in power; He has planted us in the midst of these mountains, blessed the land for our sakes, and caused it to bring forth for the sustenance of His people. He has turned away the evil designs of our enemies, and frustrated all their wicked plans. The Latter-day Saints are a good people, but there is room for improvement, and it is our work and mission to improve and progress in righteousness.
Singing by the Tabernacle Choir.
Prayer by President D. H. Wells.
2 p.m.
Singing by the combination choir, "Awake, put on the strength," led by Wm. Jones;
prayer by Elder B. Young, Junr.;
singing by Tabernacle choir.
Singing by the combination choir, "Awake, put on the strength," led by Wm. Jones;
prayer by Elder B. Young, Junr.;
singing by Tabernacle choir.
Elder Orson Hyde
said it was the largest congregation he had ever addressed in his life and it seemed to be the largest religious assembly he had ever seen, though he had traveled considerably in the four quarters of the earth, and had an acquaintance with the large religious gatherings of the world. In 1848 a meeting was held at Hyde Park, Pottawatamie County, Iowa, composed of the Twelve Apostles, and at that meeting a power was felt which he had never experienced before; and the Lord spoke from heaven and declared to them that President Brigham Young should be the leader of His people and His mouthpiece to them. This was the second time he had bourne this testimony; and he thought it was a privilege and a duty to bear it before this vast congregation. There are those present who can bear testimony to this who were not in that house, for they declared that the earth shook and trembled around, and they ran out of their houses to see if there was not an earthquake. Since that time these valleys have been settled, and settled under the guidance of him who was appointed to guide the people of God. We are called fanatics; but who can look at this congregation to-day, gathered from the various cities and settlements of this Territory, and intelligently say they are the fruits of fanaticism. The influence which draws them together is not of man, nor of the world, but from the Lord of Hosts. In speaking of the accusation of fanaticism urged against us, he showed that there is a people here who love God, who love one another, and who manifest in their lives the existence of the principles taught in the gospel, and which the world possess only in theory. He encouraged parents who have been bereft of their children by death, assuring them that if faithful they will receive them again, and receive the same ones who have been taken from them. Speaking of the resurrection, and of those who come forth in it, they are laid down corruptible, they rise incorruptible; they are laid down with blood in their veins, they rise with spirit in them. He said that about twenty years ago he had held some views concerning the resurrection which were incorrect and only vain philosophy; but now with more matured views he saw their error, and was sorry for having ever uttered them; and asked the people to forgive him for ever having preached them, quoting the scripture "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things."
Singing, "The Mountain Brave" by Elder Fishburne's choir.
said it was the largest congregation he had ever addressed in his life and it seemed to be the largest religious assembly he had ever seen, though he had traveled considerably in the four quarters of the earth, and had an acquaintance with the large religious gatherings of the world. In 1848 a meeting was held at Hyde Park, Pottawatamie County, Iowa, composed of the Twelve Apostles, and at that meeting a power was felt which he had never experienced before; and the Lord spoke from heaven and declared to them that President Brigham Young should be the leader of His people and His mouthpiece to them. This was the second time he had bourne this testimony; and he thought it was a privilege and a duty to bear it before this vast congregation. There are those present who can bear testimony to this who were not in that house, for they declared that the earth shook and trembled around, and they ran out of their houses to see if there was not an earthquake. Since that time these valleys have been settled, and settled under the guidance of him who was appointed to guide the people of God. We are called fanatics; but who can look at this congregation to-day, gathered from the various cities and settlements of this Territory, and intelligently say they are the fruits of fanaticism. The influence which draws them together is not of man, nor of the world, but from the Lord of Hosts. In speaking of the accusation of fanaticism urged against us, he showed that there is a people here who love God, who love one another, and who manifest in their lives the existence of the principles taught in the gospel, and which the world possess only in theory. He encouraged parents who have been bereft of their children by death, assuring them that if faithful they will receive them again, and receive the same ones who have been taken from them. Speaking of the resurrection, and of those who come forth in it, they are laid down corruptible, they rise incorruptible; they are laid down with blood in their veins, they rise with spirit in them. He said that about twenty years ago he had held some views concerning the resurrection which were incorrect and only vain philosophy; but now with more matured views he saw their error, and was sorry for having ever uttered them; and asked the people to forgive him for ever having preached them, quoting the scripture "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man I put away childish things."
Singing, "The Mountain Brave" by Elder Fishburne's choir.
President B. Young
said that no man can explain the resurrection except he has received the keys of it, as John Wesley could not explain the gospel and build up the Kingdom of God because he had not the priesthood nor the authority and power of God to do so. He said if he were asked did he understand the resurrection, he would say he did not; but he understood as much concerning it as any man living. Every component part of the creature comes forth in the resurrection. The parts that form the organization of man endure forever unless he forfeits his right to them; and he shall possess them when he is resurrected. Jesus is the First-born from the dead; the first fruits from the earth, and as he was raised complete and incorruptible, so will every Saint be who is raised in the resurrection of the just. We differ from the rest of the world in many things, for we have been called out from the world that we may put away sin and evil and cling to righteousness. We differ from all the world in principle and doctrine, for we believe in and practice the gospel; and our views, hopes, desires, wishes and objects—to spread the gospel and gather out the honest-in-heart—are so different from that of other people that we cannot associate with them and assimilate our feelings. With us our religion is, or should be, the great topic of conversation, the great subject of thought. The people have gathered here from the various nations of the earth, not drawn together from the countries where they lived by old sermons and the traditions of the priests, but the power of God which accompanied the gospel taught unto them exercised an influence over them, they were touched in their hearts, and they forsook all to gather to Zion and be one with the Saints of God. We will preach the gospel, gather the honest, build tabernacles and temples; and teach those who will serve God to sustain themselves, and to help build up the Kingdom of God. He instructed the newly arrived immigrants to watch their own hearts, serve the Lord, be prayerful, and be full of love and kindness to one another and to the whole human family. He pointed out the happy state of society resulting from union and harmony among the people; and showed that as we present such a condition of society, and are called deluded, our delusion must be an exceedingly happy and successful one. The manner in which the people have progressed; the degree to which education is fostered and encouraged; and the way in which they have advanced in the science of life, show the wisdom of the policy by which they have been guided. He instructed mothers to teach their children principles of life and to love and be kind to one another.
To understand fully the remarks made and appreciate them, read the discourses when they are published.
Singing by the S. S and P. choirs.
Prayer by Pres. D. H. Wells.
said that no man can explain the resurrection except he has received the keys of it, as John Wesley could not explain the gospel and build up the Kingdom of God because he had not the priesthood nor the authority and power of God to do so. He said if he were asked did he understand the resurrection, he would say he did not; but he understood as much concerning it as any man living. Every component part of the creature comes forth in the resurrection. The parts that form the organization of man endure forever unless he forfeits his right to them; and he shall possess them when he is resurrected. Jesus is the First-born from the dead; the first fruits from the earth, and as he was raised complete and incorruptible, so will every Saint be who is raised in the resurrection of the just. We differ from the rest of the world in many things, for we have been called out from the world that we may put away sin and evil and cling to righteousness. We differ from all the world in principle and doctrine, for we believe in and practice the gospel; and our views, hopes, desires, wishes and objects—to spread the gospel and gather out the honest-in-heart—are so different from that of other people that we cannot associate with them and assimilate our feelings. With us our religion is, or should be, the great topic of conversation, the great subject of thought. The people have gathered here from the various nations of the earth, not drawn together from the countries where they lived by old sermons and the traditions of the priests, but the power of God which accompanied the gospel taught unto them exercised an influence over them, they were touched in their hearts, and they forsook all to gather to Zion and be one with the Saints of God. We will preach the gospel, gather the honest, build tabernacles and temples; and teach those who will serve God to sustain themselves, and to help build up the Kingdom of God. He instructed the newly arrived immigrants to watch their own hearts, serve the Lord, be prayerful, and be full of love and kindness to one another and to the whole human family. He pointed out the happy state of society resulting from union and harmony among the people; and showed that as we present such a condition of society, and are called deluded, our delusion must be an exceedingly happy and successful one. The manner in which the people have progressed; the degree to which education is fostered and encouraged; and the way in which they have advanced in the science of life, show the wisdom of the policy by which they have been guided. He instructed mothers to teach their children principles of life and to love and be kind to one another.
To understand fully the remarks made and appreciate them, read the discourses when they are published.
Singing by the S. S and P. choirs.
Prayer by Pres. D. H. Wells.
Monday, 7th, 10 a.m.
Singing by the Tabernacle choir;
prayer by Elder John Taylor;
singing by the S. S. and P. choirs.
Singing by the Tabernacle choir;
prayer by Elder John Taylor;
singing by the S. S. and P. choirs.
Elder Orson Pratt
referred to the thoughts and suggestions which were brought to his mind by the appearance of the building just erected, and in which he was speaking, as it looked to him when he issued from Parley's Cañon on returning from his last mission. He saw it towering above the surrounding buildings like an artificial mountain, something like those mounds which are found in the Mississippi valley that were raised by the ancient inhabitants of the country; and he thought of the words of Isaiah and Micah, "The mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the tops of the mountains." He quoted from the Book of Mormon and the Bible showing how the Lord had accepted the labors of His people at various times when they have raised buildings to His name; and accepted their services when they sought to sanctify themselves before Him. He had no doubt but the angels of God were in and around this Tabernacle, for the labors of the people in building it to worship God were surely accepted by Him. When the Temple shall be raised to His name, His glory will there be made visibly manifest; and the blessings which we now enjoy and those which await us are preparatory to the still greater blessing of seeing the Lord face to face. He reasoned on the personality of God, quoting the popular opinion in the world that God is without body, parts and passions, and composed of three persons; yet one of those three persons traveled on the earth with a body, parts and passions, was crucified, buried, rose again, and ascended to heaven taking the body, parts and passions with him which he had here upon the earth. God is a personage of tabernacle and as distinct a being and personality as any that can exist; and the Son is the express image of the Father. The speaker reasoned at length on this subject, on the doctrine of pre-existence; and on the power of the redemption and atonement.
Temples in Ancient America—The God of Mankind An Impossible God—The Truth in Regard to Him—Man in His Image—Pre-Existence—Why Infants Die—the Redemption By Jesus—Plurality of Gods—The Word of the Lord is Truth
Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Oct. 7, 1867.
Reported by David W. Evans.
Never having had the opportunity of speaking to so large a congregation as the present, or at least in so large a house as the one which we are now assembled, I do not know whether I shall be able to adapt my voice so as to make the congregation hear me. I know the object of coming to meeting and preaching is to hear and to be edified and instructed more perfectly in the things pertaining to God and to godliness, and in our duties before the Lord. When I look upon this large tabernacle, which has been erected here in these high regions of our globe, I am forcibly reminded of the sayings of two of the ancient prophets, Isaiah and Micah, both of whom have spoken of an event that was to take place in the latter days. I will quote their sayings, for the language of both is almost identical. “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the House of the Lord shall be established in the tops of the mountains.” I have often wondered when I have read this portion of Scripture, what was meant by the mountain of the house of the Lord being erected, or established, in the tops of the mountains. The mountain of the house of the Lord is something, it seems, that God himself would establish in the mountains. When I entered this Territory in August last, on my return from my last mission, I beheld from the mouth of Parley's Canyon the top of this building very prominent. It seemed to rear itself up above the surrounding buildings, and it was easily to be seen. It looked very much like an artificial mountain erected here, or like some of those mounds that we see down on the Missouri River, that were made by the ancient inhabitants of our country, only it is much larger and higher than some of them. Whether this is really what the prophet in ancient days meant, it is not for me to say, I only say that the shape of this building reminds me, or suggests to me what was prophesied anciently; but whether or not it is the fulfillment of that prophecy I do not know.
I will take this opportunity to express my gratitude and feelings of thanksgiving to the Almighty, that he has enabled this people to erect unto him so large a building in which they can assemble to worship his great and holy name. The Lord, in ancient days, when he constructed temples and tabernacles, did honor them by his presence. No doubt on some occasions his presence was made more manifest than on others. Oftentimes we read that the power and the glory of God, as manifested in his tabernacles and temples were so conspicuous that the people could behold them with their natural eyes. I do not say that this was the case under all circumstances, and in all houses that were built unto the name of the Lord. Many temples and houses were built on the American continent by the remnant of the House of Israel, to whom this land was given. It is not recorded whether the Lord manifested himself in all these houses or not; but it is recorded that at the temple which was built in the land Bountiful, in the northern part of South America, the Son of God, himself, did show forth his power and his glory to a certain congregation assembled in and around about the temple. Jesus, after his resurrection from the dead, was sent by his Father from the heavens to the American continent, to a congregation of two thousand and five hundred souls, men, women and children, who where assembled together for the purpose of worshipping God the Father in the name of Jesus. Consequently God did respect this temple built on the American continent, as well as the great temple built by Solomon in the days of old. When Solomon had built the temple, he spread forth his hands to the heavens, and prayed to the Father, in the presence of the congregation of Israel that was assembled, and the spirit of the Lord was poured out in such a wonderful manner that the people, through their faith, beheld the power and the glory of God as they were manifested in that temple. By this the people knew that God respected his own house. So it was in the days of Moses. When they journeyed in the wilderness, God commanded the Children of Israel to build a tabernacle. He gave them a pattern thereof. In that tabernacle the Lord showed forth his power among Israel. It became visible not only on the inside, but on the outside the glory of God was made manifest and rested upon it. By this the Children of Israel knew that God was near unto them. They not only believed, but the testimony manifested before their eyes gave them a knowledge that God was in the midst of their camp; although through their wickedness, unbelief, and darkness of mind God withdrew his immediate presence from the midst of the congregation, and Moses only was permitted to see the Lord and talk to him face to face, yet the display of God's power and glory was so great that the Children of Israel knew that God was near them.
The question may arise, Will there be a time again when the glory of the Lord will be manifestly visible to and his voice heard by his people? I answer, yes. God has promised this in the last days. There is no doubt, as was said yesterday by Brother Kimball, that heavenly messengers hover around the congregation of the Saints here assembled. I have no doubt of this in my own mind, though I have not seen them and you may not have seen them; yet that God who has seen your labors and diligence in building a house to his name, has no doubt sent heavenly messengers to hover around us, to bluff off the powers of darkness, that seek to darken the minds of the people, and to close their hearts against understanding. The time will come when the faith of this people, the pure in heart, will be sufficiently great that when they build a house to the name of the Lord, and do not suffer any unclean thing to enter therein, that the Lord will come and grace it by his presence, as well as by the presence of his angels. That will be the time when the pure in heart, who enter into the house of God, will behold his face. O! what a grand, glorious, happy privilege that will be to the sons and daughters of the Most High, to behold the face of him who created them, the Father of their spirits, who created them before the foundation of the world. How great and glorious a privilege for the sons and daughters of God who are now shut out from his presence! For this cause the people of God are commanded at all times to build a house to his name, that he may reveal those ordinances devised by him for the salvation of the children before the world was laid.
I know there are some people who do not believe God has a face like unto man, or in other words that we are in his image and likeness. There has been a great variety of views among the inhabitants of our globe in regard to the being or beings whom they have worshipped and called God. Some have believed that he was an immaterial being. Some have believed that he had no properties, perfection or qualities in common with any other substance in nature; that he was entirely separated from all material nature. This seems to be the view of the great mass of the Christian world at the present day. Some two hundred millions of the inhabitants of our globe consider that God is something altogether indefinable, incomprehensible, a person, and yet has no parts; consisting of three persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and yet no part of these persons. That is a horrible idea in my mind. My mind is so constructed that, with all my reading and meditation, I never could conceive of a being of that description, and yet it is incorporated in the articles of the Church of England, also in the Methodist discipline, and is in accordance with the views of almost all the Christian world at the present day. “God consists,” say they in their creeds, “of three persons without body, parts or passions.” I do not wish to dwell upon this long; it is so inconsistent, so very absurd, so contrary to all intelligence, reason and revelation that I am willing to throw it by without contemplating it for any length of time. I merely mention it to call to your mind the inconsistencies of the religious world who profess Christianity. One of these persons, called the Son, without body and without parts, was actually crucified, died and was buried in a tomb, and the third day he rose again, and with his body ascended into heaven, when he did not possess a body. If anybody can believe such nonsense, they are perfectly welcome to it, only keep it away from me. I want nothing to do with it. I never expect to worship such a being here on earth or throughout all the future ages of eternity. I have no reverence whatever for such a being, for I do not believe that such a one ever existed, only in the hallucinations of disordered minds.
Perhaps the strangers who are present, if any there be, may be led to inquire what kind of a being do the Latter-day Saints worship? Let me reply according to my understanding. I believe that God—I mean God the Father is a material personal being; that he has a body and a spirit united together; that his spirit within his body is material; that he is a personage just as much as every man in this congregation is a personage; and let me go still further and say that he is a personage of flesh and of bones. Perhaps that may shock the ideas of some of the outsiders and they may think that to get over their immaterial god, without body or parts, we have gone to the other extreme. Well, whether it is to the other extreme or not, I wish to state to you my views, and I think they correspond with the views of the servants of God.
God is a being, then, who has a tabernacle of flesh and bones in which his spirit dwells; and this flesh, bones and spirit are material. Strangers may be anxious to know something more about this personal being whom we call God the Father. We are told that in the beginning man was created in the image of God, and we are also told that Jesus, the Son of God, was the express image of His Father. The doctrine that man, in his form and shape is in the image of God, may be or may seem something new and strange to those who are not acquainted with the principles in this church. But why should not men resemble God is the question, seeing that we are his offspring? Would you expect that sons and daughters of this world would be like a horse or like the fowls of the air or the fish of the sea? Or would you expect them to resemble their parents, and be in their image and likeness? Do we not see in the animal creation—of which the human species is said to be a part—a likeness between the parent and the offspring, certainly we do. If then this law prevails among all animated beings here on the earth, why should we imagine God to be entirely distinct and different from his own sons and daughters? Why not believe that there is a resemblance between them and him. When we look at our fellow man we behold him erect in the form of God. To be sure there may be many deformities among men and women, produced in many instances, perhaps, by wickedness, disease and by accident; but in the general outline there is resemblance among all the human species, and there should be in as much as their Father and God is indeed their Father, as any in this congregation are the literal fathers of their children. We, who compose this congregation, are all one family, and only a very small portion of the family of our Father and God. But when did he beget us? I answer before this world was made; not our flesh and bones, but that being called man that was created in the image and likeness of God and who dwells in his mortal tabernacle. That being is the offspring of God; we were all begotten by him before this world was made. We then dwelt in his presence and could behold his face as sons and fathers here on earth can behold each other. We then partook, in a measure, of his glory, and were acquainted with the glory and power of his kingdom. We were present with him in the grand and magnificent work of creation, and we saw and rejoiced in his handiwork. We sang praises in the presence of our Father and God; before we had tabernacles of flesh and bones. We then assembled ourselves together as we do here on the earth; we then accompanied our Father and God and his Son Jesus Christ, on the grand and glorious mission of the formation of the world we now inhabit. Did we know anything about the object for which this world was created? Yes, we knew that it was created expressly for us, and we sang and rejoiced over it as much as the people of God now rejoice, when they erect a temple or tabernacle to his name. When you erect a tabernacle to the Most High, you expect to enter at times, and be feasted with the words of eternal life, and to partake of the blessings of God. So it was in regard to the creation of this world. We were there and I think all this generation among all nations, kindreds, tongues and people were present on that occasion. Shall I limit it to this generation? No; I believe all the sons and daughters of God who had proved themselves faithful were assembled on that occasion. I do not include in this number the one-third part of the family that fell, but the two-thirds who kept the law of their first estate who were really and truly accounted the sons and daughters of God, the thousands and millions who inhabit this globe besides the generations of the past and all future generations. Think of this and try to conceive in your heart the magnitude of the great army of the sons and daughters of God assembled at the time the foundations of this world were laid.
The Lord put a very curious question to the old patriarch, Job, on a certain occasion. Job had been praising up the works of God, and so far as his narrow mind would permit him, he tried to magnify the greatness of his power; but, by putting a few questions to Job the Lord showed to him that his wisdom and knowledge were but foolishness in the sight of his creator. Said the Lord, ”Where were you, Job, when I laid the foundation of the earth, and the cornerstones thereof? Where were you, Job, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” I do not know that Job understood the pre-existence of man, it might not have been revealed to him; at any rate he left the Lord to answer the question on the subject, knowing that he would give information on the matter that he, Job, could not give. If Job had been a sectarian, how easily he could have answered this question! “Why, Lord,” Job could have said, “I did not exist then, and why do you ask me such a question?” But Job very well understood that there must be something in the pre-existence of man, or the Lord would never have put such a question to him. The very question itself implied the pre-existence of Job at the time the foundations of the earth were laid, and it also implied a knowledge on the part of all the sons of God of the objects of the creations of this world; for if they had had no such knowledge, why should they have joined together in singing the songs of heaven on account of it? Well, then, we have come to the point, namely, that we did exist in the image and likeness of God before the foundations of the world were laid, and this is what is meant when the Lord says to his only begotten Son on the sixth day of creation, “Let us make man in our image and in our likeness, and give him dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowls of the air, the beasts of the earth, and over all the earth to subdue it,” and so forth. So God created man, male and female. He did not tell us all the particulars of the creation—that we were born male and female in the spirit world, and so on, but yet there are many sayings which indicate that such was the fact. For instance, in the books of Moses and in the books of the New Testament we read that God is the Father of all our spirits, that we were begotten sons and daughters unto God. The vision given in 1832 to our Prophet, Joseph Smith, shows this matter more clearly. Besides showing the vast number of worlds that the Lord had created, the voice of the Lord, in that vision, declares that all the inhabitants of all those worlds were begotten sons and daughters unto God. The Book of Mormon bears testimony to the same great doctrine. You who are familiar with that book will recollect reading in the book of Ether how that the brother of Jared fell to the earth with fear when he saw the finger of the Lord, after the veil fell from his natural eyes. And the Lord spoke to him, saying, “Why hast thou fallen?” Then the brother of Jared answered, “I saw the finger of the Lord, and I knew not that the Lord had flesh and bones.” It did resemble flesh and bone, but he, doubtless, thought it was so in reality, whereas it was the body of his Spirit. Then said the Lord, “I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people; I am Jesus Christ; I am the Father and the Son, and the body which thou now beholdest is the body of my spirit. Seest thou not that thou art created after the body of my spirit, and all men,” says Jesus to the brother of Jared, “have I created in the beginning after the image of the body of my spirit.” This, I believe, is the only passage in the Book of Mormon that directly teaches the pre-existence of man.
Well, that body—the body of the Lord—that the brother of Jared saw, was a personal body. It had fingers, a face, eyes, arms, hands, and all the various parts which the human body has, so much so that he thought, it was really flesh and bones, until he was corrected and found that it was the spirit of Jesus, that same spirit, says Jesus, which, in the meridian of time, should come and take a body, and die for the sins of the world. These beings, who, in the beginning, were created after the image of the spirit of Jesus, had a probation; they had law; they had intelligence. It was called their first estate. They were agents there just as much as you and I are here. They could obey the law that was given to them, or they could disobey that law. I have already alluded to a third part of the great family, who did not keep their first estate. What became of them? They were thrust down, and thus came the devil and his angels. Jude says they were reserved in chains of darkness, until the judgment at the great day. That was their doom; their transgressions were so great—sinning against God the Father, whom they could behold, and against the person of his Son, whom they could also see—disobeying the most sacred of all laws—seeking to dethrone the Almighty, and to take the power from that Being who had begotten them, into their own hands. For this they were thrust down, and were called Perdition, and the heavens wept over them. I do not know how faithful the remainder of the spirits were; that is not for me to say. I do not know whether they transgressed any of the laws of God, or not in their first estate. If they did, one thing I do know, and that is, that they understand about Jesus and his atonement; for he was as a Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world, and inasmuch as he suffered in spirit as well as in body, I do not know but his sufferings in spirit would redeem them in their first estate as well as us who sin here in the body. I do not pretend to say that such was the case. Suffice to say, that the plan of redemption was known by them, and suffice it to say again, that they were faithful enough to retain their position in their first estate, and to have the privilege of coming forth in this world, and taking upon themselves tabernacles, or bodies, and having a second estate. We also read that all who come into this world were innocent. That shows that they never had sinned, or if they had, that they had been forgiven and made innocent. Which way it was I do not know. If they had sinned and were all made innocent through the blood of the atonement, and through the sufferings of Jesus in the spirit, as well as in the flesh, that would prepare them to come into this world without having any stain upon them. But if they never transgressed the law, never went beyond its bounds, or limits, they would be sanctified, purified, perfected, saved and be innocent by keeping the law. But let us come down a little further. When we came forth into this world, and took upon ourselves bodies of flesh, they were fallen bodies—subject to pain, sickness, sorrow, mourning, trials, and finally death, or dissolution. This death that came upon the bodies of the children of men, was brought to pass by the transgression of one man and woman, that is, by our first parents; as it is written, “By the transgression of one sin entered the world, and death by sin.” It matters not whether it is the little infant that dandles on the knee that has never sinned, or the youth, the middle-aged or the old, all have to feel this great penalty that has been inflicted upon all the posterity of Adam by reason of his transgression.
Now, there is a question that has often been asked of me by the Latter-day Saints, and by those outside of this Church—“Why is it that infants, who have never sinned, should die? Why should they be subject to death because their father some six thousand years ago sinned and transgressed?” I answer this by asking you a question, Why is it that children, oftentimes to the third, fourth and fifth generation, suffer from lingering diseases here in this life, because their forefathers were licentious, and broke the laws of life and happiness? Why, it is hereditary, is it not? Is it just that they should suffer, because their parents or some of their progenitors have sinned? No, it is hereditary. Why, then, may not all the inhabitants of the world, whether in their infancy or not, inherit death as well as these children who suffer through diseases entailed upon them by their forefathers? Not as a matter of justice particularly, but something that comes upon them in consequence of the fall of man. It is handed down among them. Now, that would be a very unpleasant condition if they were always to remain in that state. They are plunged into slavery, as it were, by one man; hence the Redeemer steps forth and rescues them from that slavery. When I say rescues them, I do not say that he does it at once, before they have had a chance to know the difference between good and evil, between the bitter and the sweet, to contrast between happiness and misery. It is wisdom that they should suffer, even should it be from hereditary disease, that they may gain experience. But I will tell you what he rescues them from, by his atoning blood. He breaks the bands of death and rescues them from the power of the grave, which, but for that, would have held the infant as well as the middle-aged in their power eternally. There is such a thing as a father, through his foolishness, plunging not only himself but all his children into a slavery from which he cannot redeem himself or them, so far as their bodies are concerned; but with Adam's children this was the case with both their bodies and spirits, for the Book of Mormon says that all mankind, through Adam's transgression, became subject not only to a temporal death—the separation of the body and spirit, but also to a spiritual death, eternal in its nature. If there were no atonement—no sufferings and death of our Redeemer—no infinite atonement to rescue men from the grave, their spirits, in consequence of the slavery entailed upon them by their first parents, could not have been rescued from eternal death. Could they have delivered themselves? No. They were in captivity—slavery—and their master, the devil, was there to bind them in that slavery. Could they turn the key of the prison doors and run back again? No! Could they say to the grave, Yield up my body and let me go again into the presence of my Father and God? No; there were potent enemies who had endless power over them had it not been for the atonement.
We are taught in the revelations of God that Jesus suffered the pain of all men. You will find it in the teachings of Jacob, the brother of Nephi, in the Second Book of Nephi. “He suffered the pains of all men, women and children,” says Jacob. What was this great suffering for? That the resurrection might come unto all men, women and children; that Jesus might have power to say to the grave “restore those captives you have taken, behold I have redeemed all whose bodies slumber in the grave. I have power to bring them forth by virtue of the atonement I have made.”
Could man have redeemed himself? Could one man have shed his blood for another, and said to the grave give up your dead? No. Why not? Because all were fallen; all were under the dominion and power of Satan. All were spiritually dead—dead to things pertaining to righteousness. It was universal, eternal death. A being greater than man was required to redeem him, hence Jacob says, in the passage to which I have already referred, in relation to the atonement, “that it must be infinite.” Wherein was the Son of God infinite? In the first place, he was begotten different from you and me. We were begotten by a mortal father, but Jesus was begotten by an Immortal Being, his Father and God. If then his body was begotten by that Being, do you not see that his body in that respect differed from ours? It is true that he inherited the same as we do so far as his mother was concerned, but on the part of the Father he was superior. Hence, being begotten by an Infinite Being, he could do that which no other man could do—redeem from spiritual death and the captivity of Satan. Hence it is said that “through Jesus came life and light into the world.” If it had not been for Jesus, darkness would have reigned eternally over this creation.
Talk about works of righteousness redeeming us without the atonement! Why the thing is preposterous in the highest degree. Why? Because we were spiritually dead, and can a person who is dead work righteousness? Can a person who is dead to everything good, holy, upright and Godlike, who is in captivity to Satan, work righteousness? Could a feast of salvation be prepared for him in that dead state, unless there was some redemption or atonement made to bring life to the world to impart to the human family? Light and life have come upon all men. Jesus is that light and life; He is the light and life of all things; and by reason of that light and life which he has purchased for us by his own blood, you and I have the privilege of working righteousness, which we never would have had without the atonement. We could not have done anything acceptable in the sight of God, without his atoning blood. That is the very foundation of the redemption of the children of men; without it, this would have been a lost and fallen creation, and not one could have been saved.
But let us pass on a little further. You recollect in the former part of my remarks, I was speaking about the personality of God. Now let us come along to the plan of redemption, and see how it is that we are exalted and brought back into the presence of God, and become as it were, gods, then we can form some idea concerning our Father and God. We are instructed, and we believe, that all of us who believe in Jesus Christ, in his sufferings and death, and receive the benefit of his atonement, will, if we remain faithful, be exalted into the presence of that being who is our Father, and that we will be made like unto him, and be crowned with glory, and shall have the privilege of sitting down with the Son upon his throne, as he has overcome, and has sat down with his Father upon his throne, and that we will become one with him, as he is one with the Father. We believe we will be perfected, purified and cleansed in him, and made not only the sons of God, but grow up unto him in all things, that we may become Gods like unto our Father who begat us.
This is consistent with analogy. Analogy shows that sons here upon the earth, grow up and become like their parents. Why then should we set a barrier between the sons of God, who are redeemed through the atonement, and their restoration to the mansions where they formerly dwelt? Why should we erect obstacles, and set a barrier so that we cannot become like him? Analogy would say at once that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Analogy would say that when he shall redeem our bodies from the grave, that he will fashion them after his own glorious body, and clothe them with power and glory, even as He is clothed with glory and power, in the presence of his Father and our Father and God.
But says one, if you adopt that sentiment, then your people believe in a plurality of gods, and we have all been taught in the Christian world that there is but one personal God, or rather three persons in the Trinity—the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Well, these three are called one, are they not? Yes, they are called one. Jesus prays that all his disciples may be made one, as he and the Father are one. If ever that prayer is answered, then, in one sense of the word, there would only be one God, but, in another sense of the word, there would not only be three, but a great many personal beings called gods. Let us for a few moments refer to that glorious saying in the revelations of St. John. In the visions of eternity that were shown to John, he beheld things that were to take place in future generations. Among other things that were shown to him, were the one hundred and forty-four thousand, standing on Mount Zion, who had been redeemed from among men. Who were they? Let us look at the inscription that John says was written on their foreheads. That will tell us that the name of their Father was written there. What was his name? God, translated into the English language. Ahman in the pure language. The Father's name John saw inscribed on the foreheads of the hundred and forty-four thousand who were singing the new song before the Lord. What would you think if you were to have the future opened to you as John had, and could see these men with the word God, inscribed in bright and shining characters upon each of their foreheads? Would you think that God was making fun of them by putting such an inscription there? Would you suppose the inscription was a mere form without any meaning? No: every man permitted to see these things would at once say, “they are gods having been redeemed, and made like their Father.” This is what we believe. Then, when we come to personality, we not only believe in our personal Father, in His Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost, as personages, but we also believe that in the eternity of eternities, in the heaven of heavens there will be innumerable millions of persons who will occupy that exalted station—each one being a personal god, as much so as the God of this creation—the Father of our spirits is.
If time permitted, we might bring up the revelations of heaven, given in these days as well as anciently, in regard to the representations which God has given of Himself, not only representing himself by his person, but also by his attributes. But this is a subject upon which we do not feel to dwell at this time. Suffice it to say, that God has said that he is light and truth; that he is a spirit: that he dwells in tabernacles and temples, and so forth. I do not know, but that in my teachings in years past, where teaching upon these two distinct subjects, I may have left an impression upon the minds of the people that I never intended to convey in reference to the qualities, perfections, glories and attributes of these personages, for attributes always do pertain to substances, you cannot separate one from the other. Attribute cannot exist without substance; everywhere it shows its bearing and relation to substance and person, and if in any of my preaching or teachings I have ever conveyed the impression that attributes could exist separate and apart from substances I never intended to do so. I do not know that I have ever declared any such in my writings. I have said that God is love, and that he is truth because the revelations say so. I have said that he oftentimes represents himself by his attributes. The same as when he says I am in you; but he does not mean that his person, his flesh and bones are in us. When Jesus says I am in the Father, he does not mean that his person is in the Father. What does he mean? He means that the same attributes that dwell in his own person also dwell in the person of the other. I think I have heard this doctrine taught from the commencement, by the authorities of this Church, and I think it is taught, more or less, now, almost every Sabbath day. We are exhorted to develop and perfect those attributes of God that dwell within us in embryo, that we may more and more approximate to that high state of perfection that exists in the Father and the Son.
Attributes belong, in all cases, in this and all other worlds, to personages and substances, and without personages and substances, they cannot exist.
In the “Kingdom of God,” published in October, 1848, I have set forth the personality of the Father and the Son, and the glorious attributes that pertain to each. And again in many of my writings, to which I might refer, and could perhaps give the page, I have taught the same thing, and my views today concerning this matter are just the same as they were then, and then the same as they are now; only I think, by searching more fully, I have progressed and obtained some further light and information more than I had twenty or twenty-five years ago. I do not know, that, in my remarks this morning, concerning the atonement, and the personalities and glorious attributes of God, I have varied in my views from those of the rest of the authorities of the Church. If I have I hope they will correct me and tell me wherein I am wrong, for it is my desire, and ever has been, to go in accordance with the revelations of heaven, to abide in the word of God, and to have that word abide in me.
We are taught that the words of truth have power. The word of God we are commanded to live by. In one of the revelations we are taught and commanded that we shall live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, for says the revelation “the word of God is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is spirit, even the spirit of Jesus Christ, and the spirit gives light to every man that comes into the world, and the spirit directs every man through the world who will hearken to it; and he that hearkens to the voice of the spirit comes to God, even the Father, and he teaches him of the covenant which he has renewed and confirmed upon you for your sakes, and not for your sakes only, but for the sake of the whole world.”
Now, I want to abide in that. If the word of the Lord is truth, and whatever is truth is light, and whatever is light is spirit, I want to embrace it, and hold fast to it. Again, he says, when giving a revelation to the servants of God: “That which you hear is the voice of one crying in the wilderness—in the wilderness, because you cannot see him—my voice, because my voice is Spirit, and my Spirit is truth, and truth abides forever and has no end.” I desire to abide in it forever and ever. Amen.
referred to the thoughts and suggestions which were brought to his mind by the appearance of the building just erected, and in which he was speaking, as it looked to him when he issued from Parley's Cañon on returning from his last mission. He saw it towering above the surrounding buildings like an artificial mountain, something like those mounds which are found in the Mississippi valley that were raised by the ancient inhabitants of the country; and he thought of the words of Isaiah and Micah, "The mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the tops of the mountains." He quoted from the Book of Mormon and the Bible showing how the Lord had accepted the labors of His people at various times when they have raised buildings to His name; and accepted their services when they sought to sanctify themselves before Him. He had no doubt but the angels of God were in and around this Tabernacle, for the labors of the people in building it to worship God were surely accepted by Him. When the Temple shall be raised to His name, His glory will there be made visibly manifest; and the blessings which we now enjoy and those which await us are preparatory to the still greater blessing of seeing the Lord face to face. He reasoned on the personality of God, quoting the popular opinion in the world that God is without body, parts and passions, and composed of three persons; yet one of those three persons traveled on the earth with a body, parts and passions, was crucified, buried, rose again, and ascended to heaven taking the body, parts and passions with him which he had here upon the earth. God is a personage of tabernacle and as distinct a being and personality as any that can exist; and the Son is the express image of the Father. The speaker reasoned at length on this subject, on the doctrine of pre-existence; and on the power of the redemption and atonement.
Temples in Ancient America—The God of Mankind An Impossible God—The Truth in Regard to Him—Man in His Image—Pre-Existence—Why Infants Die—the Redemption By Jesus—Plurality of Gods—The Word of the Lord is Truth
Discourse by Elder Orson Pratt, delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Oct. 7, 1867.
Reported by David W. Evans.
Never having had the opportunity of speaking to so large a congregation as the present, or at least in so large a house as the one which we are now assembled, I do not know whether I shall be able to adapt my voice so as to make the congregation hear me. I know the object of coming to meeting and preaching is to hear and to be edified and instructed more perfectly in the things pertaining to God and to godliness, and in our duties before the Lord. When I look upon this large tabernacle, which has been erected here in these high regions of our globe, I am forcibly reminded of the sayings of two of the ancient prophets, Isaiah and Micah, both of whom have spoken of an event that was to take place in the latter days. I will quote their sayings, for the language of both is almost identical. “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the House of the Lord shall be established in the tops of the mountains.” I have often wondered when I have read this portion of Scripture, what was meant by the mountain of the house of the Lord being erected, or established, in the tops of the mountains. The mountain of the house of the Lord is something, it seems, that God himself would establish in the mountains. When I entered this Territory in August last, on my return from my last mission, I beheld from the mouth of Parley's Canyon the top of this building very prominent. It seemed to rear itself up above the surrounding buildings, and it was easily to be seen. It looked very much like an artificial mountain erected here, or like some of those mounds that we see down on the Missouri River, that were made by the ancient inhabitants of our country, only it is much larger and higher than some of them. Whether this is really what the prophet in ancient days meant, it is not for me to say, I only say that the shape of this building reminds me, or suggests to me what was prophesied anciently; but whether or not it is the fulfillment of that prophecy I do not know.
I will take this opportunity to express my gratitude and feelings of thanksgiving to the Almighty, that he has enabled this people to erect unto him so large a building in which they can assemble to worship his great and holy name. The Lord, in ancient days, when he constructed temples and tabernacles, did honor them by his presence. No doubt on some occasions his presence was made more manifest than on others. Oftentimes we read that the power and the glory of God, as manifested in his tabernacles and temples were so conspicuous that the people could behold them with their natural eyes. I do not say that this was the case under all circumstances, and in all houses that were built unto the name of the Lord. Many temples and houses were built on the American continent by the remnant of the House of Israel, to whom this land was given. It is not recorded whether the Lord manifested himself in all these houses or not; but it is recorded that at the temple which was built in the land Bountiful, in the northern part of South America, the Son of God, himself, did show forth his power and his glory to a certain congregation assembled in and around about the temple. Jesus, after his resurrection from the dead, was sent by his Father from the heavens to the American continent, to a congregation of two thousand and five hundred souls, men, women and children, who where assembled together for the purpose of worshipping God the Father in the name of Jesus. Consequently God did respect this temple built on the American continent, as well as the great temple built by Solomon in the days of old. When Solomon had built the temple, he spread forth his hands to the heavens, and prayed to the Father, in the presence of the congregation of Israel that was assembled, and the spirit of the Lord was poured out in such a wonderful manner that the people, through their faith, beheld the power and the glory of God as they were manifested in that temple. By this the people knew that God respected his own house. So it was in the days of Moses. When they journeyed in the wilderness, God commanded the Children of Israel to build a tabernacle. He gave them a pattern thereof. In that tabernacle the Lord showed forth his power among Israel. It became visible not only on the inside, but on the outside the glory of God was made manifest and rested upon it. By this the Children of Israel knew that God was near unto them. They not only believed, but the testimony manifested before their eyes gave them a knowledge that God was in the midst of their camp; although through their wickedness, unbelief, and darkness of mind God withdrew his immediate presence from the midst of the congregation, and Moses only was permitted to see the Lord and talk to him face to face, yet the display of God's power and glory was so great that the Children of Israel knew that God was near them.
The question may arise, Will there be a time again when the glory of the Lord will be manifestly visible to and his voice heard by his people? I answer, yes. God has promised this in the last days. There is no doubt, as was said yesterday by Brother Kimball, that heavenly messengers hover around the congregation of the Saints here assembled. I have no doubt of this in my own mind, though I have not seen them and you may not have seen them; yet that God who has seen your labors and diligence in building a house to his name, has no doubt sent heavenly messengers to hover around us, to bluff off the powers of darkness, that seek to darken the minds of the people, and to close their hearts against understanding. The time will come when the faith of this people, the pure in heart, will be sufficiently great that when they build a house to the name of the Lord, and do not suffer any unclean thing to enter therein, that the Lord will come and grace it by his presence, as well as by the presence of his angels. That will be the time when the pure in heart, who enter into the house of God, will behold his face. O! what a grand, glorious, happy privilege that will be to the sons and daughters of the Most High, to behold the face of him who created them, the Father of their spirits, who created them before the foundation of the world. How great and glorious a privilege for the sons and daughters of God who are now shut out from his presence! For this cause the people of God are commanded at all times to build a house to his name, that he may reveal those ordinances devised by him for the salvation of the children before the world was laid.
I know there are some people who do not believe God has a face like unto man, or in other words that we are in his image and likeness. There has been a great variety of views among the inhabitants of our globe in regard to the being or beings whom they have worshipped and called God. Some have believed that he was an immaterial being. Some have believed that he had no properties, perfection or qualities in common with any other substance in nature; that he was entirely separated from all material nature. This seems to be the view of the great mass of the Christian world at the present day. Some two hundred millions of the inhabitants of our globe consider that God is something altogether indefinable, incomprehensible, a person, and yet has no parts; consisting of three persons, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and yet no part of these persons. That is a horrible idea in my mind. My mind is so constructed that, with all my reading and meditation, I never could conceive of a being of that description, and yet it is incorporated in the articles of the Church of England, also in the Methodist discipline, and is in accordance with the views of almost all the Christian world at the present day. “God consists,” say they in their creeds, “of three persons without body, parts or passions.” I do not wish to dwell upon this long; it is so inconsistent, so very absurd, so contrary to all intelligence, reason and revelation that I am willing to throw it by without contemplating it for any length of time. I merely mention it to call to your mind the inconsistencies of the religious world who profess Christianity. One of these persons, called the Son, without body and without parts, was actually crucified, died and was buried in a tomb, and the third day he rose again, and with his body ascended into heaven, when he did not possess a body. If anybody can believe such nonsense, they are perfectly welcome to it, only keep it away from me. I want nothing to do with it. I never expect to worship such a being here on earth or throughout all the future ages of eternity. I have no reverence whatever for such a being, for I do not believe that such a one ever existed, only in the hallucinations of disordered minds.
Perhaps the strangers who are present, if any there be, may be led to inquire what kind of a being do the Latter-day Saints worship? Let me reply according to my understanding. I believe that God—I mean God the Father is a material personal being; that he has a body and a spirit united together; that his spirit within his body is material; that he is a personage just as much as every man in this congregation is a personage; and let me go still further and say that he is a personage of flesh and of bones. Perhaps that may shock the ideas of some of the outsiders and they may think that to get over their immaterial god, without body or parts, we have gone to the other extreme. Well, whether it is to the other extreme or not, I wish to state to you my views, and I think they correspond with the views of the servants of God.
God is a being, then, who has a tabernacle of flesh and bones in which his spirit dwells; and this flesh, bones and spirit are material. Strangers may be anxious to know something more about this personal being whom we call God the Father. We are told that in the beginning man was created in the image of God, and we are also told that Jesus, the Son of God, was the express image of His Father. The doctrine that man, in his form and shape is in the image of God, may be or may seem something new and strange to those who are not acquainted with the principles in this church. But why should not men resemble God is the question, seeing that we are his offspring? Would you expect that sons and daughters of this world would be like a horse or like the fowls of the air or the fish of the sea? Or would you expect them to resemble their parents, and be in their image and likeness? Do we not see in the animal creation—of which the human species is said to be a part—a likeness between the parent and the offspring, certainly we do. If then this law prevails among all animated beings here on the earth, why should we imagine God to be entirely distinct and different from his own sons and daughters? Why not believe that there is a resemblance between them and him. When we look at our fellow man we behold him erect in the form of God. To be sure there may be many deformities among men and women, produced in many instances, perhaps, by wickedness, disease and by accident; but in the general outline there is resemblance among all the human species, and there should be in as much as their Father and God is indeed their Father, as any in this congregation are the literal fathers of their children. We, who compose this congregation, are all one family, and only a very small portion of the family of our Father and God. But when did he beget us? I answer before this world was made; not our flesh and bones, but that being called man that was created in the image and likeness of God and who dwells in his mortal tabernacle. That being is the offspring of God; we were all begotten by him before this world was made. We then dwelt in his presence and could behold his face as sons and fathers here on earth can behold each other. We then partook, in a measure, of his glory, and were acquainted with the glory and power of his kingdom. We were present with him in the grand and magnificent work of creation, and we saw and rejoiced in his handiwork. We sang praises in the presence of our Father and God; before we had tabernacles of flesh and bones. We then assembled ourselves together as we do here on the earth; we then accompanied our Father and God and his Son Jesus Christ, on the grand and glorious mission of the formation of the world we now inhabit. Did we know anything about the object for which this world was created? Yes, we knew that it was created expressly for us, and we sang and rejoiced over it as much as the people of God now rejoice, when they erect a temple or tabernacle to his name. When you erect a tabernacle to the Most High, you expect to enter at times, and be feasted with the words of eternal life, and to partake of the blessings of God. So it was in regard to the creation of this world. We were there and I think all this generation among all nations, kindreds, tongues and people were present on that occasion. Shall I limit it to this generation? No; I believe all the sons and daughters of God who had proved themselves faithful were assembled on that occasion. I do not include in this number the one-third part of the family that fell, but the two-thirds who kept the law of their first estate who were really and truly accounted the sons and daughters of God, the thousands and millions who inhabit this globe besides the generations of the past and all future generations. Think of this and try to conceive in your heart the magnitude of the great army of the sons and daughters of God assembled at the time the foundations of this world were laid.
The Lord put a very curious question to the old patriarch, Job, on a certain occasion. Job had been praising up the works of God, and so far as his narrow mind would permit him, he tried to magnify the greatness of his power; but, by putting a few questions to Job the Lord showed to him that his wisdom and knowledge were but foolishness in the sight of his creator. Said the Lord, ”Where were you, Job, when I laid the foundation of the earth, and the cornerstones thereof? Where were you, Job, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” I do not know that Job understood the pre-existence of man, it might not have been revealed to him; at any rate he left the Lord to answer the question on the subject, knowing that he would give information on the matter that he, Job, could not give. If Job had been a sectarian, how easily he could have answered this question! “Why, Lord,” Job could have said, “I did not exist then, and why do you ask me such a question?” But Job very well understood that there must be something in the pre-existence of man, or the Lord would never have put such a question to him. The very question itself implied the pre-existence of Job at the time the foundations of the earth were laid, and it also implied a knowledge on the part of all the sons of God of the objects of the creations of this world; for if they had had no such knowledge, why should they have joined together in singing the songs of heaven on account of it? Well, then, we have come to the point, namely, that we did exist in the image and likeness of God before the foundations of the world were laid, and this is what is meant when the Lord says to his only begotten Son on the sixth day of creation, “Let us make man in our image and in our likeness, and give him dominion over the fish of the sea, over the fowls of the air, the beasts of the earth, and over all the earth to subdue it,” and so forth. So God created man, male and female. He did not tell us all the particulars of the creation—that we were born male and female in the spirit world, and so on, but yet there are many sayings which indicate that such was the fact. For instance, in the books of Moses and in the books of the New Testament we read that God is the Father of all our spirits, that we were begotten sons and daughters unto God. The vision given in 1832 to our Prophet, Joseph Smith, shows this matter more clearly. Besides showing the vast number of worlds that the Lord had created, the voice of the Lord, in that vision, declares that all the inhabitants of all those worlds were begotten sons and daughters unto God. The Book of Mormon bears testimony to the same great doctrine. You who are familiar with that book will recollect reading in the book of Ether how that the brother of Jared fell to the earth with fear when he saw the finger of the Lord, after the veil fell from his natural eyes. And the Lord spoke to him, saying, “Why hast thou fallen?” Then the brother of Jared answered, “I saw the finger of the Lord, and I knew not that the Lord had flesh and bones.” It did resemble flesh and bone, but he, doubtless, thought it was so in reality, whereas it was the body of his Spirit. Then said the Lord, “I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people; I am Jesus Christ; I am the Father and the Son, and the body which thou now beholdest is the body of my spirit. Seest thou not that thou art created after the body of my spirit, and all men,” says Jesus to the brother of Jared, “have I created in the beginning after the image of the body of my spirit.” This, I believe, is the only passage in the Book of Mormon that directly teaches the pre-existence of man.
Well, that body—the body of the Lord—that the brother of Jared saw, was a personal body. It had fingers, a face, eyes, arms, hands, and all the various parts which the human body has, so much so that he thought, it was really flesh and bones, until he was corrected and found that it was the spirit of Jesus, that same spirit, says Jesus, which, in the meridian of time, should come and take a body, and die for the sins of the world. These beings, who, in the beginning, were created after the image of the spirit of Jesus, had a probation; they had law; they had intelligence. It was called their first estate. They were agents there just as much as you and I are here. They could obey the law that was given to them, or they could disobey that law. I have already alluded to a third part of the great family, who did not keep their first estate. What became of them? They were thrust down, and thus came the devil and his angels. Jude says they were reserved in chains of darkness, until the judgment at the great day. That was their doom; their transgressions were so great—sinning against God the Father, whom they could behold, and against the person of his Son, whom they could also see—disobeying the most sacred of all laws—seeking to dethrone the Almighty, and to take the power from that Being who had begotten them, into their own hands. For this they were thrust down, and were called Perdition, and the heavens wept over them. I do not know how faithful the remainder of the spirits were; that is not for me to say. I do not know whether they transgressed any of the laws of God, or not in their first estate. If they did, one thing I do know, and that is, that they understand about Jesus and his atonement; for he was as a Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world, and inasmuch as he suffered in spirit as well as in body, I do not know but his sufferings in spirit would redeem them in their first estate as well as us who sin here in the body. I do not pretend to say that such was the case. Suffice to say, that the plan of redemption was known by them, and suffice it to say again, that they were faithful enough to retain their position in their first estate, and to have the privilege of coming forth in this world, and taking upon themselves tabernacles, or bodies, and having a second estate. We also read that all who come into this world were innocent. That shows that they never had sinned, or if they had, that they had been forgiven and made innocent. Which way it was I do not know. If they had sinned and were all made innocent through the blood of the atonement, and through the sufferings of Jesus in the spirit, as well as in the flesh, that would prepare them to come into this world without having any stain upon them. But if they never transgressed the law, never went beyond its bounds, or limits, they would be sanctified, purified, perfected, saved and be innocent by keeping the law. But let us come down a little further. When we came forth into this world, and took upon ourselves bodies of flesh, they were fallen bodies—subject to pain, sickness, sorrow, mourning, trials, and finally death, or dissolution. This death that came upon the bodies of the children of men, was brought to pass by the transgression of one man and woman, that is, by our first parents; as it is written, “By the transgression of one sin entered the world, and death by sin.” It matters not whether it is the little infant that dandles on the knee that has never sinned, or the youth, the middle-aged or the old, all have to feel this great penalty that has been inflicted upon all the posterity of Adam by reason of his transgression.
Now, there is a question that has often been asked of me by the Latter-day Saints, and by those outside of this Church—“Why is it that infants, who have never sinned, should die? Why should they be subject to death because their father some six thousand years ago sinned and transgressed?” I answer this by asking you a question, Why is it that children, oftentimes to the third, fourth and fifth generation, suffer from lingering diseases here in this life, because their forefathers were licentious, and broke the laws of life and happiness? Why, it is hereditary, is it not? Is it just that they should suffer, because their parents or some of their progenitors have sinned? No, it is hereditary. Why, then, may not all the inhabitants of the world, whether in their infancy or not, inherit death as well as these children who suffer through diseases entailed upon them by their forefathers? Not as a matter of justice particularly, but something that comes upon them in consequence of the fall of man. It is handed down among them. Now, that would be a very unpleasant condition if they were always to remain in that state. They are plunged into slavery, as it were, by one man; hence the Redeemer steps forth and rescues them from that slavery. When I say rescues them, I do not say that he does it at once, before they have had a chance to know the difference between good and evil, between the bitter and the sweet, to contrast between happiness and misery. It is wisdom that they should suffer, even should it be from hereditary disease, that they may gain experience. But I will tell you what he rescues them from, by his atoning blood. He breaks the bands of death and rescues them from the power of the grave, which, but for that, would have held the infant as well as the middle-aged in their power eternally. There is such a thing as a father, through his foolishness, plunging not only himself but all his children into a slavery from which he cannot redeem himself or them, so far as their bodies are concerned; but with Adam's children this was the case with both their bodies and spirits, for the Book of Mormon says that all mankind, through Adam's transgression, became subject not only to a temporal death—the separation of the body and spirit, but also to a spiritual death, eternal in its nature. If there were no atonement—no sufferings and death of our Redeemer—no infinite atonement to rescue men from the grave, their spirits, in consequence of the slavery entailed upon them by their first parents, could not have been rescued from eternal death. Could they have delivered themselves? No. They were in captivity—slavery—and their master, the devil, was there to bind them in that slavery. Could they turn the key of the prison doors and run back again? No! Could they say to the grave, Yield up my body and let me go again into the presence of my Father and God? No; there were potent enemies who had endless power over them had it not been for the atonement.
We are taught in the revelations of God that Jesus suffered the pain of all men. You will find it in the teachings of Jacob, the brother of Nephi, in the Second Book of Nephi. “He suffered the pains of all men, women and children,” says Jacob. What was this great suffering for? That the resurrection might come unto all men, women and children; that Jesus might have power to say to the grave “restore those captives you have taken, behold I have redeemed all whose bodies slumber in the grave. I have power to bring them forth by virtue of the atonement I have made.”
Could man have redeemed himself? Could one man have shed his blood for another, and said to the grave give up your dead? No. Why not? Because all were fallen; all were under the dominion and power of Satan. All were spiritually dead—dead to things pertaining to righteousness. It was universal, eternal death. A being greater than man was required to redeem him, hence Jacob says, in the passage to which I have already referred, in relation to the atonement, “that it must be infinite.” Wherein was the Son of God infinite? In the first place, he was begotten different from you and me. We were begotten by a mortal father, but Jesus was begotten by an Immortal Being, his Father and God. If then his body was begotten by that Being, do you not see that his body in that respect differed from ours? It is true that he inherited the same as we do so far as his mother was concerned, but on the part of the Father he was superior. Hence, being begotten by an Infinite Being, he could do that which no other man could do—redeem from spiritual death and the captivity of Satan. Hence it is said that “through Jesus came life and light into the world.” If it had not been for Jesus, darkness would have reigned eternally over this creation.
Talk about works of righteousness redeeming us without the atonement! Why the thing is preposterous in the highest degree. Why? Because we were spiritually dead, and can a person who is dead work righteousness? Can a person who is dead to everything good, holy, upright and Godlike, who is in captivity to Satan, work righteousness? Could a feast of salvation be prepared for him in that dead state, unless there was some redemption or atonement made to bring life to the world to impart to the human family? Light and life have come upon all men. Jesus is that light and life; He is the light and life of all things; and by reason of that light and life which he has purchased for us by his own blood, you and I have the privilege of working righteousness, which we never would have had without the atonement. We could not have done anything acceptable in the sight of God, without his atoning blood. That is the very foundation of the redemption of the children of men; without it, this would have been a lost and fallen creation, and not one could have been saved.
But let us pass on a little further. You recollect in the former part of my remarks, I was speaking about the personality of God. Now let us come along to the plan of redemption, and see how it is that we are exalted and brought back into the presence of God, and become as it were, gods, then we can form some idea concerning our Father and God. We are instructed, and we believe, that all of us who believe in Jesus Christ, in his sufferings and death, and receive the benefit of his atonement, will, if we remain faithful, be exalted into the presence of that being who is our Father, and that we will be made like unto him, and be crowned with glory, and shall have the privilege of sitting down with the Son upon his throne, as he has overcome, and has sat down with his Father upon his throne, and that we will become one with him, as he is one with the Father. We believe we will be perfected, purified and cleansed in him, and made not only the sons of God, but grow up unto him in all things, that we may become Gods like unto our Father who begat us.
This is consistent with analogy. Analogy shows that sons here upon the earth, grow up and become like their parents. Why then should we set a barrier between the sons of God, who are redeemed through the atonement, and their restoration to the mansions where they formerly dwelt? Why should we erect obstacles, and set a barrier so that we cannot become like him? Analogy would say at once that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Analogy would say that when he shall redeem our bodies from the grave, that he will fashion them after his own glorious body, and clothe them with power and glory, even as He is clothed with glory and power, in the presence of his Father and our Father and God.
But says one, if you adopt that sentiment, then your people believe in a plurality of gods, and we have all been taught in the Christian world that there is but one personal God, or rather three persons in the Trinity—the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Well, these three are called one, are they not? Yes, they are called one. Jesus prays that all his disciples may be made one, as he and the Father are one. If ever that prayer is answered, then, in one sense of the word, there would only be one God, but, in another sense of the word, there would not only be three, but a great many personal beings called gods. Let us for a few moments refer to that glorious saying in the revelations of St. John. In the visions of eternity that were shown to John, he beheld things that were to take place in future generations. Among other things that were shown to him, were the one hundred and forty-four thousand, standing on Mount Zion, who had been redeemed from among men. Who were they? Let us look at the inscription that John says was written on their foreheads. That will tell us that the name of their Father was written there. What was his name? God, translated into the English language. Ahman in the pure language. The Father's name John saw inscribed on the foreheads of the hundred and forty-four thousand who were singing the new song before the Lord. What would you think if you were to have the future opened to you as John had, and could see these men with the word God, inscribed in bright and shining characters upon each of their foreheads? Would you think that God was making fun of them by putting such an inscription there? Would you suppose the inscription was a mere form without any meaning? No: every man permitted to see these things would at once say, “they are gods having been redeemed, and made like their Father.” This is what we believe. Then, when we come to personality, we not only believe in our personal Father, in His Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost, as personages, but we also believe that in the eternity of eternities, in the heaven of heavens there will be innumerable millions of persons who will occupy that exalted station—each one being a personal god, as much so as the God of this creation—the Father of our spirits is.
If time permitted, we might bring up the revelations of heaven, given in these days as well as anciently, in regard to the representations which God has given of Himself, not only representing himself by his person, but also by his attributes. But this is a subject upon which we do not feel to dwell at this time. Suffice it to say, that God has said that he is light and truth; that he is a spirit: that he dwells in tabernacles and temples, and so forth. I do not know, but that in my teachings in years past, where teaching upon these two distinct subjects, I may have left an impression upon the minds of the people that I never intended to convey in reference to the qualities, perfections, glories and attributes of these personages, for attributes always do pertain to substances, you cannot separate one from the other. Attribute cannot exist without substance; everywhere it shows its bearing and relation to substance and person, and if in any of my preaching or teachings I have ever conveyed the impression that attributes could exist separate and apart from substances I never intended to do so. I do not know that I have ever declared any such in my writings. I have said that God is love, and that he is truth because the revelations say so. I have said that he oftentimes represents himself by his attributes. The same as when he says I am in you; but he does not mean that his person, his flesh and bones are in us. When Jesus says I am in the Father, he does not mean that his person is in the Father. What does he mean? He means that the same attributes that dwell in his own person also dwell in the person of the other. I think I have heard this doctrine taught from the commencement, by the authorities of this Church, and I think it is taught, more or less, now, almost every Sabbath day. We are exhorted to develop and perfect those attributes of God that dwell within us in embryo, that we may more and more approximate to that high state of perfection that exists in the Father and the Son.
Attributes belong, in all cases, in this and all other worlds, to personages and substances, and without personages and substances, they cannot exist.
In the “Kingdom of God,” published in October, 1848, I have set forth the personality of the Father and the Son, and the glorious attributes that pertain to each. And again in many of my writings, to which I might refer, and could perhaps give the page, I have taught the same thing, and my views today concerning this matter are just the same as they were then, and then the same as they are now; only I think, by searching more fully, I have progressed and obtained some further light and information more than I had twenty or twenty-five years ago. I do not know, that, in my remarks this morning, concerning the atonement, and the personalities and glorious attributes of God, I have varied in my views from those of the rest of the authorities of the Church. If I have I hope they will correct me and tell me wherein I am wrong, for it is my desire, and ever has been, to go in accordance with the revelations of heaven, to abide in the word of God, and to have that word abide in me.
We are taught that the words of truth have power. The word of God we are commanded to live by. In one of the revelations we are taught and commanded that we shall live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, for says the revelation “the word of God is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is spirit, even the spirit of Jesus Christ, and the spirit gives light to every man that comes into the world, and the spirit directs every man through the world who will hearken to it; and he that hearkens to the voice of the spirit comes to God, even the Father, and he teaches him of the covenant which he has renewed and confirmed upon you for your sakes, and not for your sakes only, but for the sake of the whole world.”
Now, I want to abide in that. If the word of the Lord is truth, and whatever is truth is light, and whatever is light is spirit, I want to embrace it, and hold fast to it. Again, he says, when giving a revelation to the servants of God: “That which you hear is the voice of one crying in the wilderness—in the wilderness, because you cannot see him—my voice, because my voice is Spirit, and my Spirit is truth, and truth abides forever and has no end.” I desire to abide in it forever and ever. Amen.
President B. Young
expressed himself satisfied with the remarks of Elder Pratt on the subjects of the personality of God and the atonement; but said that he objected to anyone saying what the Latter-day Saints believed, for though he himself could tell what they should believe, many of them believe many things which they should not.
Singing by the Tabernacle choir. Prayer by Elder Charles C. Rich.
expressed himself satisfied with the remarks of Elder Pratt on the subjects of the personality of God and the atonement; but said that he objected to anyone saying what the Latter-day Saints believed, for though he himself could tell what they should believe, many of them believe many things which they should not.
Singing by the Tabernacle choir. Prayer by Elder Charles C. Rich.
2 p.m.
Singing by the S. S. and P. choirs.
Prayer by Elder Ezra T. Benson.
Singing by the Tabernacle choir.
Singing by the S. S. and P. choirs.
Prayer by Elder Ezra T. Benson.
Singing by the Tabernacle choir.
Pres. B. Young
said he would give a few texts for the brethren to preach to during Conference. One is, a subscription to sustain the Perpetual Education Fund. Another is to teach our children, and to instruct them in the ways of the Lord; mothers should teach them to pray; the Bible, Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, the revelations of God, and the discourses of the Elders should be read in schools and studied at home. The Deseret Alphabet should be studied, that our young might advance more rapidly in the knowledge of every science. Our young ladies should be taught business, to employ their time usefully in light and profitable labor; not as in many places in the world where many of the women have to do the heaviest kind of labor, while stout, strong men are engaged in the lightest kinds of employment, such as measuring ribbons, waiting in stores, keeping books, &c. Five hundred teams are wanted immediately from some of the neighboring counties to haul three loads of rock each from the mouth of little Cottonwood. A number of young men and middle aged ones are wanted to go south to make farms, raise cattle, and make themselves comfortable homes. He advised the young men to marry before starting; and urged the importance of marriage upon those who do not seem to realize their responsibilities concerning it. He introduced the subject of preserving our natural lives, by studying temperance in food, and seeking to preserve our lives by the kind, and quality of food we eat and the manner in which it is prepared. He urged the people to adopt a wise and rational style of living, that all might be benefited. He requested short sermons, and instructed all the Elders of Israel in their teachings, to teach only that which they understand.
Singing by Elder Fishburne's choir.
said he would give a few texts for the brethren to preach to during Conference. One is, a subscription to sustain the Perpetual Education Fund. Another is to teach our children, and to instruct them in the ways of the Lord; mothers should teach them to pray; the Bible, Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, the revelations of God, and the discourses of the Elders should be read in schools and studied at home. The Deseret Alphabet should be studied, that our young might advance more rapidly in the knowledge of every science. Our young ladies should be taught business, to employ their time usefully in light and profitable labor; not as in many places in the world where many of the women have to do the heaviest kind of labor, while stout, strong men are engaged in the lightest kinds of employment, such as measuring ribbons, waiting in stores, keeping books, &c. Five hundred teams are wanted immediately from some of the neighboring counties to haul three loads of rock each from the mouth of little Cottonwood. A number of young men and middle aged ones are wanted to go south to make farms, raise cattle, and make themselves comfortable homes. He advised the young men to marry before starting; and urged the importance of marriage upon those who do not seem to realize their responsibilities concerning it. He introduced the subject of preserving our natural lives, by studying temperance in food, and seeking to preserve our lives by the kind, and quality of food we eat and the manner in which it is prepared. He urged the people to adopt a wise and rational style of living, that all might be benefited. He requested short sermons, and instructed all the Elders of Israel in their teachings, to teach only that which they understand.
Singing by Elder Fishburne's choir.
Elder John Taylor
touched upon the comprehensiveness of the gospel, showing that our everyday acts are circumscribed by it, and are, or ought to be, a part of our religion. He dwelt upon the difference between savage and civilized man, remarking the distinction made between them by education. We, as a people, are under the direction of the Lord who has told us to seek wisdom from all good books. President Young has given us texts, and in them is the word of the Lord to the people. He urged the people to cultivate and improve their minds, and seek to increase in intelligence and unity; adding that the prosperity of this people is owing to the wisdom which the Lord has made manifest through His servants in guiding them, and in the union which exists among them.
touched upon the comprehensiveness of the gospel, showing that our everyday acts are circumscribed by it, and are, or ought to be, a part of our religion. He dwelt upon the difference between savage and civilized man, remarking the distinction made between them by education. We, as a people, are under the direction of the Lord who has told us to seek wisdom from all good books. President Young has given us texts, and in them is the word of the Lord to the people. He urged the people to cultivate and improve their minds, and seek to increase in intelligence and unity; adding that the prosperity of this people is owing to the wisdom which the Lord has made manifest through His servants in guiding them, and in the union which exists among them.
Elder George Q. Cannon
then read the names of the following missionaries, selected to go and strengthen the southern settlements:
Thurston Simpson, Samuel Riter, Oscar B. Young, E. M. Weiler, Alma Cunningham, George B. Spencer, George W. Grant, Isaac Young, John C. Young, Charles Alley, Oliver Free, George Milam, Miles P. Romney, William Gibson, David Gibson, Geo. D. Watt, Jr., Orson P. Miles, E. H. Harrington, Zabriskie Young, Jn. Whitney, E. G. Woolley, Edwin D. Woolley, Jr., Robert N. Russel, Edwin Frost, Morris Wilkinson, Joseph H. Felt, Moroni Reese, Ashton Nebeker, Guilellmo G. R. San Giovanni, Wilford Woodruff, Jr., Charles Jabez Toone, Clements R. Horsley, John Sharp, Jr., Daniel McRae, Israel Barlow, Jr., Milton H. Davis, Ward E. Pack, Joseph A. Peck, W. J. F. McAllister, Hyrum P. Folson, Chas. Crisman, Jr., Chas. E. Taylor, Willis Darwin Fuller, Revilo Fuller, Edward A. Stevenson, Levi Stewart, Jun., Joseph U. Eldredge, Helaman Pratt, Geo. J. Taylor, Edmund Ellsworth, Jr., David R. Lewis, Robert Watson, Jr., Mathew Lyon, Richard S. Horne, John Wood, ----- Wood, Wm. T. Cromar, John F. Cahoon, Wm. M. Cahoon, Albert Merrill, Jun., Clarence Merrill, Franklin Merrill, Jos. Kesler, Ephraim Scott, Robert Smithies, Emerson D. Shurtleff, Harrison T. Shurtleff, Samuel H. Woolley, Samuel H. Hill, George Stringham, Benjamin J. Stringham, Nathaniel Ashby, Richard H. Ashby, John Reese, Wm. Calder, Jos. Hyde, Albert Dewey, Joseph S. Murdock, Samuel Hamer, John S. Haslam, Joseph E. S. Russell, John G. Clark, Samuel Malin, Charles J. Lambert, John Eardley, Samuel F. Atwood, Manly Barrows, Richard Morris, David Milne, Jos. Asay, Sen., Edwin, Isaac and Joseph Asay, Junr. Henry George, Christopher Hurlbert, ---- McConnel, David O. Rideout, William H. Staker, Andrew Taysum, John Paul, Wm. H. Seegmiller, Adam F. Seegmiller, Aaron Nelson, Peter Beckstrom, Pleasant S. Bradford.
Elder John D. T. McAllister sang "Away, away to the mountain dell."
then read the names of the following missionaries, selected to go and strengthen the southern settlements:
Thurston Simpson, Samuel Riter, Oscar B. Young, E. M. Weiler, Alma Cunningham, George B. Spencer, George W. Grant, Isaac Young, John C. Young, Charles Alley, Oliver Free, George Milam, Miles P. Romney, William Gibson, David Gibson, Geo. D. Watt, Jr., Orson P. Miles, E. H. Harrington, Zabriskie Young, Jn. Whitney, E. G. Woolley, Edwin D. Woolley, Jr., Robert N. Russel, Edwin Frost, Morris Wilkinson, Joseph H. Felt, Moroni Reese, Ashton Nebeker, Guilellmo G. R. San Giovanni, Wilford Woodruff, Jr., Charles Jabez Toone, Clements R. Horsley, John Sharp, Jr., Daniel McRae, Israel Barlow, Jr., Milton H. Davis, Ward E. Pack, Joseph A. Peck, W. J. F. McAllister, Hyrum P. Folson, Chas. Crisman, Jr., Chas. E. Taylor, Willis Darwin Fuller, Revilo Fuller, Edward A. Stevenson, Levi Stewart, Jun., Joseph U. Eldredge, Helaman Pratt, Geo. J. Taylor, Edmund Ellsworth, Jr., David R. Lewis, Robert Watson, Jr., Mathew Lyon, Richard S. Horne, John Wood, ----- Wood, Wm. T. Cromar, John F. Cahoon, Wm. M. Cahoon, Albert Merrill, Jun., Clarence Merrill, Franklin Merrill, Jos. Kesler, Ephraim Scott, Robert Smithies, Emerson D. Shurtleff, Harrison T. Shurtleff, Samuel H. Woolley, Samuel H. Hill, George Stringham, Benjamin J. Stringham, Nathaniel Ashby, Richard H. Ashby, John Reese, Wm. Calder, Jos. Hyde, Albert Dewey, Joseph S. Murdock, Samuel Hamer, John S. Haslam, Joseph E. S. Russell, John G. Clark, Samuel Malin, Charles J. Lambert, John Eardley, Samuel F. Atwood, Manly Barrows, Richard Morris, David Milne, Jos. Asay, Sen., Edwin, Isaac and Joseph Asay, Junr. Henry George, Christopher Hurlbert, ---- McConnel, David O. Rideout, William H. Staker, Andrew Taysum, John Paul, Wm. H. Seegmiller, Adam F. Seegmiller, Aaron Nelson, Peter Beckstrom, Pleasant S. Bradford.
Elder John D. T. McAllister sang "Away, away to the mountain dell."
Elder Wilford Woodruff
spoke of the blessings we have enjoyed through being gathered and said we should do all that is in our power to help those to gather who are still among the nations. He spoke of education, and said he believed education begins when the spirit of life from the Lord enters the tabernacle of flesh, through the faith and obedience, or rebellion of their mothers. The power of example in training children is very great; and both fathers and mothers should seek to set before their children an example worthy of being patterned after. Wives should sustain their husbands and their authority in their families; and all should work together to do the will of God. He urged an exertion to be made on the Temple, that the blessings to be received there by the people might be enjoyed by them. He encouraged the young to marry and fulfil the measure of their creation; advised all to save up wheat; and, while he encouraged industry, he advocated wisdom in eating and working, and the keeping of the Word of Wisdom.
Song, "Fair Lilly of the Vale," by the Spanish Fork Choir.
spoke of the blessings we have enjoyed through being gathered and said we should do all that is in our power to help those to gather who are still among the nations. He spoke of education, and said he believed education begins when the spirit of life from the Lord enters the tabernacle of flesh, through the faith and obedience, or rebellion of their mothers. The power of example in training children is very great; and both fathers and mothers should seek to set before their children an example worthy of being patterned after. Wives should sustain their husbands and their authority in their families; and all should work together to do the will of God. He urged an exertion to be made on the Temple, that the blessings to be received there by the people might be enjoyed by them. He encouraged the young to marry and fulfil the measure of their creation; advised all to save up wheat; and, while he encouraged industry, he advocated wisdom in eating and working, and the keeping of the Word of Wisdom.
Song, "Fair Lilly of the Vale," by the Spanish Fork Choir.
Elder George A. Smith
urged the claims of the poor Saints yet in the nations of the earth, who have contributed freely of their limited means to the sustenance of the elders and the spread of the work; and, after stating that there is nearly a million of dollars owing to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund, he said that those who are in debt to this fund, should make it their first solemn duty to pay their indebtedness to it. He called upon persons who have borrowed means from or made promises to those who are still in the old world, to pay the means they have borrowed, and keep the promises they have made; that the Saints there may be relieved from the bondage, and be enabled to realize that they are remembered by their friends and the Saints in Zion.
urged the claims of the poor Saints yet in the nations of the earth, who have contributed freely of their limited means to the sustenance of the elders and the spread of the work; and, after stating that there is nearly a million of dollars owing to the Perpetual Emigrating Fund, he said that those who are in debt to this fund, should make it their first solemn duty to pay their indebtedness to it. He called upon persons who have borrowed means from or made promises to those who are still in the old world, to pay the means they have borrowed, and keep the promises they have made; that the Saints there may be relieved from the bondage, and be enabled to realize that they are remembered by their friends and the Saints in Zion.
Condition of The Saints in Great Britain
Remarks by Elder George A. Smith, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 7th, 1867.
Reported by David W. Evans.
There are, at the present time, in Great Britain ten or twelve thousand Saints, some of whom have been members of the Church for twenty or twenty-five years. They have contributed of their scanty means to feed the Elders and to help to emigrate their brethren and sisters, and in many cases many of them have gone without their meals and beds to make the Elders comfortable, and now they are without the means to gather with the Saints here in the mountains.
There are a great many brethren, probably some are here today, who, in years past, have been assisted to this country by the Perpetual Emigration Fund, to which fund there is now due from individuals assisted about nine hundred thousand dollars. I wish to call the attention of this class of individuals to the condition of the poor Saints abroad. There are many Saints here who, before gathering home, have said to their brethren and sisters in the old world—“When we get to Zion, if God blesses us, we will remember you and do the best we can to aid you to emigrate.” A great many persons have failed to keep their promise, and their friends back feel that they are forgotten and neglected. In many instances, no doubt, Elders while on missions have promised to assist those who have treated them with kindness and divided their morsel with them. I want to bring these things to the consideration of all our brethren. They should remember that our brethren and sisters in the old countries labor under the disadvantage of the prejudice against Mormonism. Employers and business men, who are under the influence of the priests of the day, are unwilling to extend the same kindness and facilities for labor to the Latter-day Saints that they do to other persons. Besides these disadvantages, many of our brethren there have to work for a shilling, eighteen pence, or two shillings a day, as the case may be, and out of this have to pay house rent, buy fuel, clothing, and every necessary of life for their families, and in some cases, perhaps, they have a sick father or mother to sustain out of their mere pittance, which is barely enough to keep life in their bodies. Our brethren, who have had the benefit of the emigration fund, should remember that their first duty, to God and themselves, is to liquidate these liabilities with the very first means they acquire after their arrival here; and that if they go on accumulating cattle, horses, houses, and lands, and these debts remain unpaid, they are robbing the poor and the needy. This is a matter about which the brethren should not feel neglectful or careless. Those who will come forward and honorably discharge their liabilities to the Perpetual Emigration Fund will be blessed in their substance and in their efforts. And you must remember that while you are doing this you are acquiring experience and gaining information that will make you more successful hereafter.
My desire is that, when the Elders go from this Conference, that they should light a fire in the breast of every person who has liabilities of this kind. Let every man in Israel, whom God has blessed, be alive and awake to this matter, and respond to the call the President has made for contributions to the Perpetual Emigration Fund.
I understand that over there, there are hundreds of sisters who are determined to remain single until they reach Zion, and there are men in our midst, and some of them in debt to the Perpetual Emigration Fund, who are able to send for a dozen or two of these sisters; they ought to bring them to this country and place them where they can marry according to their wishes. May the blessings of heaven be upon us that we may be able to gather all our brethren and sisters from the old world.
I appeal to the sons and daughters of Zion to be awake to this subject. Amen.
Singing "My own home, Deseret," by Elder Fishburne's choir.
Remarks by Elder George A. Smith, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 7th, 1867.
Reported by David W. Evans.
There are, at the present time, in Great Britain ten or twelve thousand Saints, some of whom have been members of the Church for twenty or twenty-five years. They have contributed of their scanty means to feed the Elders and to help to emigrate their brethren and sisters, and in many cases many of them have gone without their meals and beds to make the Elders comfortable, and now they are without the means to gather with the Saints here in the mountains.
There are a great many brethren, probably some are here today, who, in years past, have been assisted to this country by the Perpetual Emigration Fund, to which fund there is now due from individuals assisted about nine hundred thousand dollars. I wish to call the attention of this class of individuals to the condition of the poor Saints abroad. There are many Saints here who, before gathering home, have said to their brethren and sisters in the old world—“When we get to Zion, if God blesses us, we will remember you and do the best we can to aid you to emigrate.” A great many persons have failed to keep their promise, and their friends back feel that they are forgotten and neglected. In many instances, no doubt, Elders while on missions have promised to assist those who have treated them with kindness and divided their morsel with them. I want to bring these things to the consideration of all our brethren. They should remember that our brethren and sisters in the old countries labor under the disadvantage of the prejudice against Mormonism. Employers and business men, who are under the influence of the priests of the day, are unwilling to extend the same kindness and facilities for labor to the Latter-day Saints that they do to other persons. Besides these disadvantages, many of our brethren there have to work for a shilling, eighteen pence, or two shillings a day, as the case may be, and out of this have to pay house rent, buy fuel, clothing, and every necessary of life for their families, and in some cases, perhaps, they have a sick father or mother to sustain out of their mere pittance, which is barely enough to keep life in their bodies. Our brethren, who have had the benefit of the emigration fund, should remember that their first duty, to God and themselves, is to liquidate these liabilities with the very first means they acquire after their arrival here; and that if they go on accumulating cattle, horses, houses, and lands, and these debts remain unpaid, they are robbing the poor and the needy. This is a matter about which the brethren should not feel neglectful or careless. Those who will come forward and honorably discharge their liabilities to the Perpetual Emigration Fund will be blessed in their substance and in their efforts. And you must remember that while you are doing this you are acquiring experience and gaining information that will make you more successful hereafter.
My desire is that, when the Elders go from this Conference, that they should light a fire in the breast of every person who has liabilities of this kind. Let every man in Israel, whom God has blessed, be alive and awake to this matter, and respond to the call the President has made for contributions to the Perpetual Emigration Fund.
I understand that over there, there are hundreds of sisters who are determined to remain single until they reach Zion, and there are men in our midst, and some of them in debt to the Perpetual Emigration Fund, who are able to send for a dozen or two of these sisters; they ought to bring them to this country and place them where they can marry according to their wishes. May the blessings of heaven be upon us that we may be able to gather all our brethren and sisters from the old world.
I appeal to the sons and daughters of Zion to be awake to this subject. Amen.
Singing "My own home, Deseret," by Elder Fishburne's choir.
Elder G. Q. Cannon
then read the four following names of missionaries called to go south:
Scipio A. Kenner; George Tribe; Alfred Randall, Jun., and Smith Thurston.
Singing by the Tabernacle choir.
Prayer by Elder George A. Smith.
then read the four following names of missionaries called to go south:
Scipio A. Kenner; George Tribe; Alfred Randall, Jun., and Smith Thurston.
Singing by the Tabernacle choir.
Prayer by Elder George A. Smith.
Tuesday, 8th, 10 a.m.
Singing by the S. S. and P. choirs.
Prayer by Elder Erastus Snow.
Singing by the Tabernacle choir.
Singing by the S. S. and P. choirs.
Prayer by Elder Erastus Snow.
Singing by the Tabernacle choir.
Elder Ezra T. Benson
treated on the importance of our every-day duties. We believe differently from other people; we believe in and feel that we must obey the revelations of God; and we know that the counsel of God through His servants to us is given for our good, and it will result in blessing to us if we obey it. He referred to the word of the Lord to us, that we should adorn ourselves with the workmanship of our own hands; and asked if the Latter-day Saints were faithfully fulfilling that revelation. He urged the subject upon the people. He said the subject had more weight with him since the recent visit of President Young and company to the northern settlements; and exhorted the people to unite in their exertions for this purpose and see what they can do in the home manufactures in one year from this date.
"The Mountain Brave" was sung by Elder Fishburne's choir.
treated on the importance of our every-day duties. We believe differently from other people; we believe in and feel that we must obey the revelations of God; and we know that the counsel of God through His servants to us is given for our good, and it will result in blessing to us if we obey it. He referred to the word of the Lord to us, that we should adorn ourselves with the workmanship of our own hands; and asked if the Latter-day Saints were faithfully fulfilling that revelation. He urged the subject upon the people. He said the subject had more weight with him since the recent visit of President Young and company to the northern settlements; and exhorted the people to unite in their exertions for this purpose and see what they can do in the home manufactures in one year from this date.
"The Mountain Brave" was sung by Elder Fishburne's choir.
President B. Young
expressed his gratification at the Saints having kept the Word of Wisdom so closely during the past summer; and encouraged them to continue in observing it. It is wisdom for us not to drink liquor, tea and coffee, and to let tobacco alone. If there are any cases where a cup of tea or a little tobacco will do good he would not object to their being taken; but who is to be the judge of when they will do good. He was satisfied that where the least lenity is given, there would be a disposition to treat resolution. Some seem to think that this thing will soon die away, and that the people will return to the use of tea, coffee, tobacco and liquor. He would say that if any of the elders of Israel would treat this counsel lightly, he would promise them that the curse of God would be upon them. It is required of the Latter-day Saints that they keep the Word of Wisdom; and if they trifle with this thing they will be sorry for it.
Elder W. C. Dunbar sang "Oh Zion, dear Zion."
expressed his gratification at the Saints having kept the Word of Wisdom so closely during the past summer; and encouraged them to continue in observing it. It is wisdom for us not to drink liquor, tea and coffee, and to let tobacco alone. If there are any cases where a cup of tea or a little tobacco will do good he would not object to their being taken; but who is to be the judge of when they will do good. He was satisfied that where the least lenity is given, there would be a disposition to treat resolution. Some seem to think that this thing will soon die away, and that the people will return to the use of tea, coffee, tobacco and liquor. He would say that if any of the elders of Israel would treat this counsel lightly, he would promise them that the curse of God would be upon them. It is required of the Latter-day Saints that they keep the Word of Wisdom; and if they trifle with this thing they will be sorry for it.
Elder W. C. Dunbar sang "Oh Zion, dear Zion."
Elder Erastus Snow
said the revelation called the Word of Wisdom had been before the people for over thirty years; and he was satisfied that the words of President Young on the subject were promptings from on High and given by inspiration of God. He urged the Bishops and elders to teach it, and teach it wisely, not to the exclusion of every other principle; but to exercise a healthy influence in its favor. He spoke of marriage, and said that those young men and women who are faithful to their duties, prayerful and diligent in seeking to live according to the gospel, do not need any urging to fulfil this great command; nor will they be found associating with the ungodly. He touched upon education, showing that teachers should not only be qualified, but should have the spirit to teach. In reply to some querists who wanted to know what is the use of the southern mission, he would say, Wait a few years and you will see. We need to develop all the elements of prosperity that are around us or within our reach; and there are abundance of elements in the southern part of this Territory which we can develop to our great advantage. He spoke briefly of the condition of the southern settlements; and expressed his thankfulness at so many young men with small families being called to go there.
said the revelation called the Word of Wisdom had been before the people for over thirty years; and he was satisfied that the words of President Young on the subject were promptings from on High and given by inspiration of God. He urged the Bishops and elders to teach it, and teach it wisely, not to the exclusion of every other principle; but to exercise a healthy influence in its favor. He spoke of marriage, and said that those young men and women who are faithful to their duties, prayerful and diligent in seeking to live according to the gospel, do not need any urging to fulfil this great command; nor will they be found associating with the ungodly. He touched upon education, showing that teachers should not only be qualified, but should have the spirit to teach. In reply to some querists who wanted to know what is the use of the southern mission, he would say, Wait a few years and you will see. We need to develop all the elements of prosperity that are around us or within our reach; and there are abundance of elements in the southern part of this Territory which we can develop to our great advantage. He spoke briefly of the condition of the southern settlements; and expressed his thankfulness at so many young men with small families being called to go there.
Life and Health—Matrimony—Education—Home Productions
Remarks by Elder Erastus Snow, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 8th, 1867.
Reported by David W. Evans.
I am persuaded that the subject last referred to by President Young—the prolongation of life and the preservation of health cannot be overrated. This is one of the subjects relating to our temporal welfare that received the early attention of the Prophet Joseph, and the revelation commonly called the Word of Wisdom has been before the people for over thirty years. I feel assured that a word on this subject kindly spoken by our President is a prompting from on high, and I believe that every true Elder in Israel will bear witness that this is the word of the Lord to us at this time. I exhort every Bishop and presiding Elder in this city as well as throughout the country to lay this matter to heart as one subject requiring their special attention. Not to make it a hobby to the exclusion of everything else, so as to disgust the people, but in the true spirit of the Gospel seek to bring this matter home to the hearts and understandings of the people of their respective wards and settlements. Feel after those who may be stupid and ignorant, who do not come to meeting, and do not receive the spirit of this Conference. Let the Bishops and others in authority endeavor through their teachers and otherwise to search out such individuals, and dig round about them, and prune them that they may perchance bring forth fruit.
In relation to matrimony—one of the texts before the Conference—perhaps there is not so much a lack of disposition on the part of the ladies as there is on the part of the gentlemen. The latter sometimes feel themselves unworthy or unprepared, and in many instances, perhaps, they are so. And if you ask why they are unprepared to assume these responsibilities as husbands and heads of families, it is mostly because they have neglected the word of the Lord which they have heard from this stand. They have not given their hearts to prayer sufficiently; they have not read the scriptures and educated their spirits; they have not drunk in the spirit of the Gospel. Every young man who has been taught by his parents to pray in secret, to mingle with the family in devotion, to attend meeting and receive the counsels of the servants of Lord, has grown in the spirit of the Gospel, and this has given them a disposition which has impelled them, as soon as they arrive at a suitable age, to move forward in the duties and responsibilities that they have been called upon, during this Conference, to assume. And they will meet with a like response everywhere from the opposite sex who are living their religion. If there is any lack of disposition on the part of the ladies it is because they are not living their religion, for the neglect of one duty leads to the neglect of another, and if our young men and women fail to make themselves acquainted with the law of God they are liable to be led away. Young men or women seeking the society of the wicked are soon befogged and led to destruction. If the young men of Israel are not alive to their duties, the young ladies may be left to wander in the society of the ungodly. This happens many times through the neglect of parents to impress on the minds of their daughters the value of the kingdom of heaven and the value and importance of salvation, exaltation and glory. Through the neglect of parents in properly educating their children many of them are now, perhaps, unable to discern between saint and sinner, and they would as soon associate with the wicked and unbelieving as with the righteous. It is a grievous sight to those who have labored twenty-five or thirty years traveling over the world to preach the gospel and to gather the people to see the rising generation without that culture they so much need to develop within them a love of righteousness, truth, and every holy principle. There is as great a field for missionary labor in Utah, as in any part of the world. There is as great a necessity for preaching here at home in our settlements, even in some parts of Great Salt Lake City, as there is in any part of the world. There are those here who neglect the opportunities offered them and they need to be felt after personally.
The subject of education is another of the texts given by our President for the elders of Israel to preach upon. I have already touched on it in a few words. I will say that our school teachers should not only be men qualified to teach the various branches of education, but they should be men possessing the spirit of the gospel, and who, in every look and word, and in all their discipline and intercourse with their pupils are influenced by that spirit. They should govern and control, not by brute force, but by superior intellect, sound judgment and the wisdom that the Gospel teaches that they may win the hearts of their pupils, and so be able to impress their minds with those principles they present before them.
I cannot speak too highly in favor of those good books that have been recommended to our schools—the Bible, Book of Mormon, Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and all other good books; but especially those that contain the history of the dealings of God with his people from the beginning of the world to the present time, as well as the teachings of the prophets and apostles; for the foundation of all true education is the wisdom and knowledge of God. In the absence of these, though we obtain a knowledge of every art and science and acquire what is termed by the world a first class education, we but obtain the froth and lack the foundation on which to rear a proper education.
In relation to the missionaries south, I will say that I have heard some say when referring to this subject, “What is the use of the southern mission? What good can result from our going or sending there?” I will say to all such querying, grumbling, faultfinding, growling spirits, just wait a few years, and we will show you the good of the southern mission. I do not know but time would fail me to bring argument in favor of it, but I will say just wait and by the help of God we will show you.
The subject of home production and becoming a self-sustaining people is another text, and this will probably guide me right back to “Dixie.” I will ask the question, How are we going to become self-sustaining unless we avail ourselves of the elements around us and provide ourselves and families with what we need to eat, drink and wear, and our implements of husbandry and other things of like nature? We need ironware and machine shops. Our sons need teaching in the various mechanical arts. Instead of raising them all to be farmers or mule drivers, we want a goodly portion of machinists, painters, artists, smiths, school teachers, and all other useful professions. We shall also need lawyers. I do not mean dishonest contemptible pettifoggers; but statesmen-lawyers in the true sense of the word who understand the principles of justice and equity, and who make themselves acquainted with those general principles of jurisprudence, that wise statesmen have recognized throughout the civilized world, that they may not only be competent judges in the land, but be able to thwart the wicked efforts of this ungodly set of pettifoggers. The southern country affords us facilities for raising many things that cannot be successfully raised in the north. We have had one four years of internecine war that has almost entirely prevented the raising of cotton—perhaps the most essential of all productions for articles of clothing. Will we as a people be blind to this fact, and now, that the first woe is past, lull ourselves to sleep and forget that there is another coming? Saint George, though the center of our present operation in cotton raising is only on the borders of the cotton district. From three hundred to five hundred acres is the most that we can water from one dam and canal in that district of country, while lower down, the same labor would encircle a field of six or eight thousand acres of better land; but a little handful of people cannot grapple with so great a labor. We have commenced some small settlements on the Muddy. The settlers there were mostly substitutes—Bro. Henry Miller calls them destitutes. Most of them got discouraged and came back, the rest stick and hang like a dog to a root—but they scarcely know what to do. The question is shall we allow this little handful to be worn out, or shall we strengthen their hands, and so keep moving and progressing, and hold what we have and get more.
I like the idea of sending young men down there. It struck me as a decided hit when I heard the names read out yesterday. We can do with a number of young men who have small families or who are about to get them, and I say God bless them, and speed them and their wives on their way and by the help of God we will help them.
Singing by Elder Fishburne's Choir.
Remarks by Elder Erastus Snow, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 8th, 1867.
Reported by David W. Evans.
I am persuaded that the subject last referred to by President Young—the prolongation of life and the preservation of health cannot be overrated. This is one of the subjects relating to our temporal welfare that received the early attention of the Prophet Joseph, and the revelation commonly called the Word of Wisdom has been before the people for over thirty years. I feel assured that a word on this subject kindly spoken by our President is a prompting from on high, and I believe that every true Elder in Israel will bear witness that this is the word of the Lord to us at this time. I exhort every Bishop and presiding Elder in this city as well as throughout the country to lay this matter to heart as one subject requiring their special attention. Not to make it a hobby to the exclusion of everything else, so as to disgust the people, but in the true spirit of the Gospel seek to bring this matter home to the hearts and understandings of the people of their respective wards and settlements. Feel after those who may be stupid and ignorant, who do not come to meeting, and do not receive the spirit of this Conference. Let the Bishops and others in authority endeavor through their teachers and otherwise to search out such individuals, and dig round about them, and prune them that they may perchance bring forth fruit.
In relation to matrimony—one of the texts before the Conference—perhaps there is not so much a lack of disposition on the part of the ladies as there is on the part of the gentlemen. The latter sometimes feel themselves unworthy or unprepared, and in many instances, perhaps, they are so. And if you ask why they are unprepared to assume these responsibilities as husbands and heads of families, it is mostly because they have neglected the word of the Lord which they have heard from this stand. They have not given their hearts to prayer sufficiently; they have not read the scriptures and educated their spirits; they have not drunk in the spirit of the Gospel. Every young man who has been taught by his parents to pray in secret, to mingle with the family in devotion, to attend meeting and receive the counsels of the servants of Lord, has grown in the spirit of the Gospel, and this has given them a disposition which has impelled them, as soon as they arrive at a suitable age, to move forward in the duties and responsibilities that they have been called upon, during this Conference, to assume. And they will meet with a like response everywhere from the opposite sex who are living their religion. If there is any lack of disposition on the part of the ladies it is because they are not living their religion, for the neglect of one duty leads to the neglect of another, and if our young men and women fail to make themselves acquainted with the law of God they are liable to be led away. Young men or women seeking the society of the wicked are soon befogged and led to destruction. If the young men of Israel are not alive to their duties, the young ladies may be left to wander in the society of the ungodly. This happens many times through the neglect of parents to impress on the minds of their daughters the value of the kingdom of heaven and the value and importance of salvation, exaltation and glory. Through the neglect of parents in properly educating their children many of them are now, perhaps, unable to discern between saint and sinner, and they would as soon associate with the wicked and unbelieving as with the righteous. It is a grievous sight to those who have labored twenty-five or thirty years traveling over the world to preach the gospel and to gather the people to see the rising generation without that culture they so much need to develop within them a love of righteousness, truth, and every holy principle. There is as great a field for missionary labor in Utah, as in any part of the world. There is as great a necessity for preaching here at home in our settlements, even in some parts of Great Salt Lake City, as there is in any part of the world. There are those here who neglect the opportunities offered them and they need to be felt after personally.
The subject of education is another of the texts given by our President for the elders of Israel to preach upon. I have already touched on it in a few words. I will say that our school teachers should not only be men qualified to teach the various branches of education, but they should be men possessing the spirit of the gospel, and who, in every look and word, and in all their discipline and intercourse with their pupils are influenced by that spirit. They should govern and control, not by brute force, but by superior intellect, sound judgment and the wisdom that the Gospel teaches that they may win the hearts of their pupils, and so be able to impress their minds with those principles they present before them.
I cannot speak too highly in favor of those good books that have been recommended to our schools—the Bible, Book of Mormon, Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and all other good books; but especially those that contain the history of the dealings of God with his people from the beginning of the world to the present time, as well as the teachings of the prophets and apostles; for the foundation of all true education is the wisdom and knowledge of God. In the absence of these, though we obtain a knowledge of every art and science and acquire what is termed by the world a first class education, we but obtain the froth and lack the foundation on which to rear a proper education.
In relation to the missionaries south, I will say that I have heard some say when referring to this subject, “What is the use of the southern mission? What good can result from our going or sending there?” I will say to all such querying, grumbling, faultfinding, growling spirits, just wait a few years, and we will show you the good of the southern mission. I do not know but time would fail me to bring argument in favor of it, but I will say just wait and by the help of God we will show you.
The subject of home production and becoming a self-sustaining people is another text, and this will probably guide me right back to “Dixie.” I will ask the question, How are we going to become self-sustaining unless we avail ourselves of the elements around us and provide ourselves and families with what we need to eat, drink and wear, and our implements of husbandry and other things of like nature? We need ironware and machine shops. Our sons need teaching in the various mechanical arts. Instead of raising them all to be farmers or mule drivers, we want a goodly portion of machinists, painters, artists, smiths, school teachers, and all other useful professions. We shall also need lawyers. I do not mean dishonest contemptible pettifoggers; but statesmen-lawyers in the true sense of the word who understand the principles of justice and equity, and who make themselves acquainted with those general principles of jurisprudence, that wise statesmen have recognized throughout the civilized world, that they may not only be competent judges in the land, but be able to thwart the wicked efforts of this ungodly set of pettifoggers. The southern country affords us facilities for raising many things that cannot be successfully raised in the north. We have had one four years of internecine war that has almost entirely prevented the raising of cotton—perhaps the most essential of all productions for articles of clothing. Will we as a people be blind to this fact, and now, that the first woe is past, lull ourselves to sleep and forget that there is another coming? Saint George, though the center of our present operation in cotton raising is only on the borders of the cotton district. From three hundred to five hundred acres is the most that we can water from one dam and canal in that district of country, while lower down, the same labor would encircle a field of six or eight thousand acres of better land; but a little handful of people cannot grapple with so great a labor. We have commenced some small settlements on the Muddy. The settlers there were mostly substitutes—Bro. Henry Miller calls them destitutes. Most of them got discouraged and came back, the rest stick and hang like a dog to a root—but they scarcely know what to do. The question is shall we allow this little handful to be worn out, or shall we strengthen their hands, and so keep moving and progressing, and hold what we have and get more.
I like the idea of sending young men down there. It struck me as a decided hit when I heard the names read out yesterday. We can do with a number of young men who have small families or who are about to get them, and I say God bless them, and speed them and their wives on their way and by the help of God we will help them.
Singing by Elder Fishburne's Choir.
Pres. Joseph Young
expressed his gratification at the erection of the New Tabernacle; and followed on the subject of marriage, urging its importance upon the young, and advocating the right of the young ladies to make their own choice and express it, instead of being compelled to wait until they are asked in marriage. He also urged the keeping of the Word of Wisdom.
expressed his gratification at the erection of the New Tabernacle; and followed on the subject of marriage, urging its importance upon the young, and advocating the right of the young ladies to make their own choice and express it, instead of being compelled to wait until they are asked in marriage. He also urged the keeping of the Word of Wisdom.
President B. Young
followed in a few brief remarks on the same subject.
followed in a few brief remarks on the same subject.
Elder G. Q. Cannon
then read the names of the following brethren who have also been called to go to the south:
John Heiner, Walter C. Brown, Joseph H. King, Elijah Fuller, Homer Roberts, Milton O. Turnbow, William H. Streeper, James Fogg, James Hansen, Christian Christiansen, Amasa Mikesell, Richard Carlisle, Edward Pugh, James Hague, Jun., John Gregory, (Draperville,) Mark Burgess, (Farmington,) Warren Hardie, Wm. Miller, Ethan Burrows, Abraham Kimball, Henry P. Houtz, John I. Lamb, W. M. Rydalch, Erastus F. Hall, Thomas G. Lewis, Wm. Heber Clayton, Arthur Vickey, Eglebert Olsen, Duncan Spears, ------ Caspar, Wm. W. Caspar, Wm. Casto, W. D. Park, Wm. J. Spencer, Ludwig Suhrke, Ephraim T. Williams, Daniel Daniels, Abinadi Pratt, Edward Cox, Jun., John S. Gressman, Walter Conrad, Jasper Conrad, James K. Baldwin, James L. Bess, William H. Bess, Wm. Wood, James L. Tibbets, Preston A. Blair, Henry Horsely, Albert Keats, Charles M. Johnson.
The following Elders have also been called to go on preaching missions:
Jesse W. Crosby, Jesse W. Crosby, Jun., Geo. Crosby, John D. Holladay, Wm. C. Smoot, Jesse Murphy, David M. Stewart.
Singing by the S. S. and P. Choirs, "Hail Smiling Morn."
Elder Willes sang an original hymn.
Prayer by Elder Orson Hyde.
then read the names of the following brethren who have also been called to go to the south:
John Heiner, Walter C. Brown, Joseph H. King, Elijah Fuller, Homer Roberts, Milton O. Turnbow, William H. Streeper, James Fogg, James Hansen, Christian Christiansen, Amasa Mikesell, Richard Carlisle, Edward Pugh, James Hague, Jun., John Gregory, (Draperville,) Mark Burgess, (Farmington,) Warren Hardie, Wm. Miller, Ethan Burrows, Abraham Kimball, Henry P. Houtz, John I. Lamb, W. M. Rydalch, Erastus F. Hall, Thomas G. Lewis, Wm. Heber Clayton, Arthur Vickey, Eglebert Olsen, Duncan Spears, ------ Caspar, Wm. W. Caspar, Wm. Casto, W. D. Park, Wm. J. Spencer, Ludwig Suhrke, Ephraim T. Williams, Daniel Daniels, Abinadi Pratt, Edward Cox, Jun., John S. Gressman, Walter Conrad, Jasper Conrad, James K. Baldwin, James L. Bess, William H. Bess, Wm. Wood, James L. Tibbets, Preston A. Blair, Henry Horsely, Albert Keats, Charles M. Johnson.
The following Elders have also been called to go on preaching missions:
Jesse W. Crosby, Jesse W. Crosby, Jun., Geo. Crosby, John D. Holladay, Wm. C. Smoot, Jesse Murphy, David M. Stewart.
Singing by the S. S. and P. Choirs, "Hail Smiling Morn."
Elder Willes sang an original hymn.
Prayer by Elder Orson Hyde.
2 p.m.
Singing by the Tabernacle choir.
Prayer by Elder Lorenzo Snow.
Singing by the Spanish Fork choir.
Singing by the Tabernacle choir.
Prayer by Elder Lorenzo Snow.
Singing by the Spanish Fork choir.
Elder George Q. Cannon then presented the authorities of the Church to the Conference in the following order, who were unanimously sustained by vote:--
Brigham Young, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Heber C. Kimball his first, and Daniel H. Wells his second counselor.
Orson Hyde, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and Orson Pratt, Sen., John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith, Ezra T. Benson, Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith members of said Quorum.
John Smith, Patriarch of the Church.
Daniel Spencer, President of this Stake of Zion, and George B. Wallace and Joseph W. Young his counselors.
William Eddington, John T. Caine, John L. Blythe, Howard O. Spencer, Claudius V. Spencer, John Squires, William H. Folsom, Emanuel M. Murphy, Thomas E. Jeremy, George V. Thatcher, Peter Nebeker and Charles Kimball, members of the High Council.
John Young, President of the High Priests' Quorum, Edwin D. Woolley and Samuel W. Richards, his counselors.
Joseph Young, President of the first seven Presidents of the Seventies, and Levi W. Hancock, Henry Harriman, Albert P. Rockwood, Horace S. Eldridge, Jacob Gates, and John Van Cott members of the first seven Presidents of the Seventies.
Edward Hunter, Presiding Bishop, Leonard W. Hardie and Jesse C. Little, his counselors.
Samuel G. Ladd, President of the Priests' Quorum; William Carmichael and Robert Price, his counselors.
Adam Spiers, President of the Teachers' Quorum; Henry I. Doremus and Martin Lenzi, his counselors.
James Leach, President of the Deacon's Quorum; Warren Hardie and Peter Johnson his Counselors.
Brigham Young, Trustee in Trust of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Daniel H. Wells, Superintendent of Public Works.
Truman O. Angell, Architect for the Church.
Brigham Young, President of the Perpetual Emigration Fund to gather the poor; Heber C. Kimball, Daniel H. Wells and Edward Hunter his assistants for said Fund.
George A. Smith Historian and general Church Recorder, and Wilford Woodruff, his assistant.
A lengthy statement was read by Elder Cannon, showing the reasons why Br. Amasa M. Lyman was removed from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his Apostleship taken from him. The action of the First Presidency and the members of the Twelve in the matter was laid before the Conference and unanimously sustained by vote. Elder Joseph F. Smith was sustained as a member of the Twelve to fill the vacancy.
Brigham Young, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Heber C. Kimball his first, and Daniel H. Wells his second counselor.
Orson Hyde, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and Orson Pratt, Sen., John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith, Ezra T. Benson, Charles C. Rich, Lorenzo Snow, Erastus Snow, Franklin D. Richards, George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith members of said Quorum.
John Smith, Patriarch of the Church.
Daniel Spencer, President of this Stake of Zion, and George B. Wallace and Joseph W. Young his counselors.
William Eddington, John T. Caine, John L. Blythe, Howard O. Spencer, Claudius V. Spencer, John Squires, William H. Folsom, Emanuel M. Murphy, Thomas E. Jeremy, George V. Thatcher, Peter Nebeker and Charles Kimball, members of the High Council.
John Young, President of the High Priests' Quorum, Edwin D. Woolley and Samuel W. Richards, his counselors.
Joseph Young, President of the first seven Presidents of the Seventies, and Levi W. Hancock, Henry Harriman, Albert P. Rockwood, Horace S. Eldridge, Jacob Gates, and John Van Cott members of the first seven Presidents of the Seventies.
Edward Hunter, Presiding Bishop, Leonard W. Hardie and Jesse C. Little, his counselors.
Samuel G. Ladd, President of the Priests' Quorum; William Carmichael and Robert Price, his counselors.
Adam Spiers, President of the Teachers' Quorum; Henry I. Doremus and Martin Lenzi, his counselors.
James Leach, President of the Deacon's Quorum; Warren Hardie and Peter Johnson his Counselors.
Brigham Young, Trustee in Trust of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Daniel H. Wells, Superintendent of Public Works.
Truman O. Angell, Architect for the Church.
Brigham Young, President of the Perpetual Emigration Fund to gather the poor; Heber C. Kimball, Daniel H. Wells and Edward Hunter his assistants for said Fund.
George A. Smith Historian and general Church Recorder, and Wilford Woodruff, his assistant.
A lengthy statement was read by Elder Cannon, showing the reasons why Br. Amasa M. Lyman was removed from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and his Apostleship taken from him. The action of the First Presidency and the members of the Twelve in the matter was laid before the Conference and unanimously sustained by vote. Elder Joseph F. Smith was sustained as a member of the Twelve to fill the vacancy.
Elder G. Q. Cannon
expressed his pleasure at seeing the progress made by the Saints in every direction. He was especially gratified at knowing how closely the Saints were living according to the Word of Wisdom. This was the beginning, which, if followed, will lead to the physical regeneration of our race. It seems to be time we should begin to teach the world something besides theology, something more than that which they are accustomed to call religion,--the principles by which we can live long upon the earth. He reasoned on the great importance of education. If education makes the difference between a refined and cultivated young lady and one of the savage Indians in these mountains, and if the latter could not associate the former on anything like equality; how much need is then for our being educated and improved, refined and cultivated, to associate with angels and holy beings whose society we yet expect to enjoy. He urged abstinence from hot drinks, tea, coffee, tobacco, liquor, and following a course of living that will produce good health, and a sound body for the residence of a sound mind. He advocated the claims of the Perpetual Emigration Fund; and called upon those indebted to it to pay that indebtedness and relieve the hands of President B. Young, the President of the Company. He also urged that the people should pay their tithing, and particularly that the money tithing should be paid by those who have it to pay. An open and liberal heart is prepared to receive the blessings of God; and the Lord will pour His blessings upon such.
Singing by Elder Fishburne's choir.
expressed his pleasure at seeing the progress made by the Saints in every direction. He was especially gratified at knowing how closely the Saints were living according to the Word of Wisdom. This was the beginning, which, if followed, will lead to the physical regeneration of our race. It seems to be time we should begin to teach the world something besides theology, something more than that which they are accustomed to call religion,--the principles by which we can live long upon the earth. He reasoned on the great importance of education. If education makes the difference between a refined and cultivated young lady and one of the savage Indians in these mountains, and if the latter could not associate the former on anything like equality; how much need is then for our being educated and improved, refined and cultivated, to associate with angels and holy beings whose society we yet expect to enjoy. He urged abstinence from hot drinks, tea, coffee, tobacco, liquor, and following a course of living that will produce good health, and a sound body for the residence of a sound mind. He advocated the claims of the Perpetual Emigration Fund; and called upon those indebted to it to pay that indebtedness and relieve the hands of President B. Young, the President of the Company. He also urged that the people should pay their tithing, and particularly that the money tithing should be paid by those who have it to pay. An open and liberal heart is prepared to receive the blessings of God; and the Lord will pour His blessings upon such.
Singing by Elder Fishburne's choir.
Elder Charles C. Rich
called attention to the text given last April Conference, for the Saints to be united; and said he believed there never had been greater exertions made by the Saints than since that time to be united and obey the counsels of the servants of God. When we receive instruction through this channel we look upon it as the word of God to us; and when we hearken unto and live according to the counsels given to us, He pours out His blessings upon us abundantly. Elder Rich spoke on education, showing its importance, and the necessity of our using all diligence to have ourselves and the rising generation properly instructed. He bore testimony that he had never been to a Conference since 1832 but the Lord had made manifest at it, through His servants, His mind and will to the people. He has done it at this Conference; and it is our duty to carry out the instructions we have received.
called attention to the text given last April Conference, for the Saints to be united; and said he believed there never had been greater exertions made by the Saints than since that time to be united and obey the counsels of the servants of God. When we receive instruction through this channel we look upon it as the word of God to us; and when we hearken unto and live according to the counsels given to us, He pours out His blessings upon us abundantly. Elder Rich spoke on education, showing its importance, and the necessity of our using all diligence to have ourselves and the rising generation properly instructed. He bore testimony that he had never been to a Conference since 1832 but the Lord had made manifest at it, through His servants, His mind and will to the people. He has done it at this Conference; and it is our duty to carry out the instructions we have received.
President B. Young
said his feelings would be to continue the Conference day after day teaching the people; but he had no desire to keep them together until their spirits would flag and they would grow weary. People are not able to remember much at a time; and it is by constant instructing that the truth become impressed upon their minds. We are here in these mountains to build up the Kingdom of God; the eyes of the world are upon us; our names are in their mouths for good or for evil; and we have to prove to them that we have the gospel of life and salvation. This gospel must be preached as a witness of the Name of Jesus to all the world before the end comes; and we are to be the exemplars of that gospel, not to pattern after those we have left behind us in the world. This is what the Lord does not want; and if we will do as the Lord requires, we will begin to set an example before the world, that will show them how they may live walking in the ways of the Lord. We must do the will of the Lord instead of following the lusts of the eye. He thanked the people for observing the Word of Wisdom as faithfully as they have; and said it was the will of the Lord that we should observe it. He again thanked the workmen who have been engaged on the Tabernacle. He said the Lord wishes us to learn how to live to be handsome, well preserved and intelligent. Everything that appertains to life and happiness is within the bounds of our religion. He instructed the people in the laws of life, and the means by which existence can be prolonged in happiness; and encouraged the young sisters to study all needful kinds of intelligence to qualify themselves for future positions as housekeepers, wives and mothers. He said he would send to every ward in the Territory and ask the men of wealth how many of the poor Saints yet in the old world they will emigrate next year. He referred again to the call for five hundred teams to haul fifteen hundred loads of rock; and told the manner in which they should be sent to do the work.
A vote being taken by the President, if the Conference should adjourn till next April, or be continued on Wednesday, it was unanimously voted that Conference should meet again the next day.
Singing by the Tabernacle Choir.
Prayer by Elder Wilford Woodruff.
said his feelings would be to continue the Conference day after day teaching the people; but he had no desire to keep them together until their spirits would flag and they would grow weary. People are not able to remember much at a time; and it is by constant instructing that the truth become impressed upon their minds. We are here in these mountains to build up the Kingdom of God; the eyes of the world are upon us; our names are in their mouths for good or for evil; and we have to prove to them that we have the gospel of life and salvation. This gospel must be preached as a witness of the Name of Jesus to all the world before the end comes; and we are to be the exemplars of that gospel, not to pattern after those we have left behind us in the world. This is what the Lord does not want; and if we will do as the Lord requires, we will begin to set an example before the world, that will show them how they may live walking in the ways of the Lord. We must do the will of the Lord instead of following the lusts of the eye. He thanked the people for observing the Word of Wisdom as faithfully as they have; and said it was the will of the Lord that we should observe it. He again thanked the workmen who have been engaged on the Tabernacle. He said the Lord wishes us to learn how to live to be handsome, well preserved and intelligent. Everything that appertains to life and happiness is within the bounds of our religion. He instructed the people in the laws of life, and the means by which existence can be prolonged in happiness; and encouraged the young sisters to study all needful kinds of intelligence to qualify themselves for future positions as housekeepers, wives and mothers. He said he would send to every ward in the Territory and ask the men of wealth how many of the poor Saints yet in the old world they will emigrate next year. He referred again to the call for five hundred teams to haul fifteen hundred loads of rock; and told the manner in which they should be sent to do the work.
A vote being taken by the President, if the Conference should adjourn till next April, or be continued on Wednesday, it was unanimously voted that Conference should meet again the next day.
Singing by the Tabernacle Choir.
Prayer by Elder Wilford Woodruff.
Wednesday, 9th, 10 a.m.
Singing by the S. S. and P. choirs, "Daughter of Zion."
Prayer by Elder W. W. Phelps.
Singing by the Tabernacle choir.
Singing by the S. S. and P. choirs, "Daughter of Zion."
Prayer by Elder W. W. Phelps.
Singing by the Tabernacle choir.
Elder George A. Smith
spoke in favor of aiding the Saints still in the nations to emigrate; and on the importance of the English language being studied by those who are not fully familiar with it, and education being sought after by all, whether old or young. He reprobated the use of intemperate or violent language, and said we should never under any circumstances lay aside our religion. He encouraged the study of the Deseret Alphabet, or phonetics, in our common schools as an ordinary branch of education; and the formation of evening classes for the study of every kind of useful knowledge for males and females, that they may be qualified for future duties. He urged the vast importance of the counsel given years ago to lay up breadstuffs, year by year, until seven years provision is saved and laid by. And advocated the making of our own fashions, our hats, bonnets, and clothing, raising our silk, flax, cotton and other requisites, showing the value of the southern settlements and of the cotton raised there. He also advocated improvement in all things that will enable us to live long on the earth in peace and happiness to serve the Lord and help to accomplish His purposes.
spoke in favor of aiding the Saints still in the nations to emigrate; and on the importance of the English language being studied by those who are not fully familiar with it, and education being sought after by all, whether old or young. He reprobated the use of intemperate or violent language, and said we should never under any circumstances lay aside our religion. He encouraged the study of the Deseret Alphabet, or phonetics, in our common schools as an ordinary branch of education; and the formation of evening classes for the study of every kind of useful knowledge for males and females, that they may be qualified for future duties. He urged the vast importance of the counsel given years ago to lay up breadstuffs, year by year, until seven years provision is saved and laid by. And advocated the making of our own fashions, our hats, bonnets, and clothing, raising our silk, flax, cotton and other requisites, showing the value of the southern settlements and of the cotton raised there. He also advocated improvement in all things that will enable us to live long on the earth in peace and happiness to serve the Lord and help to accomplish His purposes.
Education—Phonetics—Storing Up Grain—Home Manufactures
Remarks by Elder George A. Smith, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 9th, 1867.
Reported by David W. Evans.
We are composed of persons from various nationalities. We speak a number of languages. The languages and dialects of the British empire, the Scandinavian, the French, Dutch, German, Swiss, and Italian are all represented here. It appears that God in His divine wisdom revealed the gospel in the English language, which is the native tongue of the majority of the Saints, probably more than half of them having acquired it in America, and a large portion of the remainder in the old world. It is very desirable that all of our brethren who are not acquainted with the English language should learn it. We do not wish to blot out the original languages that they may have spoken, but we want them all—men and woman, old and young—to learn the English language so perfectly that they will be able to thoroughly understand for themselves the teachings and instructions and the published works of the Church, as well as the laws of the country. And while we preach to all classes—all the boys and girls under ninety—to go to school and educate themselves in the various useful branches, we do not want our brethren who do not speak the English language to think that they are neglected or without the pale of this call. We hope the bishops and teachers will make every reasonable exertion to stir up the minds of the brethren and sisters who do not thoroughly understand English to the importance of this particular item of counsel. We, of course, wish them to stir up everybody on the subject of education, and to encourage, in every possible manner, our day and Sunday schools, for the cause of education should be popular in Israel now, as it was in the days of Joseph; and old and young should go to school together. I recollect a school that I attended in Kirtland under the direction of the prophet Joseph; the oldest scholar in my class was sixty-three years old. We shall have long winter evenings directly, and a good deal of time to spend in self-improvement, and it is our duty to become a cultivated people in all the useful branches of education known among mankind. There is a spirit among some of our young men in different settlements to appear rough and reckless; they indulge in rowdyism and cultivate the savage side of human nature. We ought to use all the influence and power we possess to suppress this, and to stir up in the minds of our young and old the necessity of cultivating simple, plain, innocent, and genteel manners. There is an idea out that a man who has to go to the canyon cannot do it without swearing, or that when he gets to the mouth of the canyon he must throw off his religion and swear all the way up and back again. Any man who entertains such a sentiment should dispense with it at once, for he needs his religion more there than anywhere else. The roads are rough, and there is danger of him being tipped over and breaking his neck, or mashing up his wagon or his team, and he needs the influence of his religion as much under such circumstances as under any others. The Elders of Israel should avoid indulging in rough language under all circumstances. Most men, if they thought there was a probability of them dying by some sudden accident, would begin to think about praying. When a man is more exposed to danger than at any other time I am sure he needs his religion, for if he should have a log roll over him, and be sent into eternity with a big oath in his mouth, he might not be recognized as a Saint on the other side of the veil. Hence I would like our brethren, and would recommend them to dispense with the idea, that on some occasions they can lay their religion to one side. It is said that an old Quaker, on a certain occasion when his family were grossly insulted and abused, felt very much like chastising the offender, but his religion forbade him fighting. He bore it tolerably well for a time, but at last his patience was exhausted, and, pulling off his broad-brimmed hat and his broad-tailed coat, said he—“Lie there religion until I lick this man.” He might just as well have kept his religion on while doing the flogging. He might have felt as an uncle of Joseph Smith—Rev. Mr. Mack—did on a certain occasion. He was a Baptist minister, and was celebrated for his great physical strength. A professional pugilist went to see him once, and told him that hearing he was one of the strongest men in the state he had come to test his strength. The old man was too pious to wrestle or scuffle. The stranger said he would fight him, but Mr. Mack was too religious to fight. The stranger told him he had no ill will towards him, but said he—“I must and will know which is the strongest.” Mr. Mack did his best to put him off, telling him that he was a minister and so forth, but the stranger would not be disappointed, and, as Mr. Mack turned round, he kicked him. The reverend gentleman's religion could not stand this, and he set to and gave the stranger a good thrashing. He went before his congregation and made a confession, which was something like unto this—“I bore all this patiently, notwithstanding my own nature was to try the man's strength, but after he kicked me I took off my coat and flogged him most properly.” I think that kind of a rule might work under some circumstances; but at the same time a man should never lay down his religion, and should never believe that it is necessary to swear, not even in the canyon. I tell you that every vile word we utter and every vile sentiment we entertain is a wrong for which we, someday, will have to atone. When I hear men—young or old—talking intemperately or improperly, I realize that they have that folly to overcome and repent of.
In speaking of the education of our children, I wish to draw the attention of the Saints particularly to the system of phonetics, or the Deseret alphabet, which has been referred to by President Young and some of the brethren. This is calculated to considerably abridge the labor of our foreign brethren in learning to read English. I think that in all our schools phonetics should form one branch of study, and as fast as works of phonotopy can be obtained they should be introduced, for there is no doubt that a general reformation will be effected in our English orthography. It is said that the Lord will restore to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon Him with one consent. While we urge our brethren to acquire the English language, and to make themselves proficient in the useful branches of education, we wish them to remember that the orthography which the English nation has adopted is by no means perfect, for our present mode of spelling might be materially improved. According to the present system, it is a very long and difficult job for a man to learn to spell. I commenced as soon as I was old enough to put three letters together, and I have been at it ever since, and I hardly dare write a letter now without consulting the dictionary to see how some word or other should be spelled. The spelling of the English language is very arbitrary. For several generations it has been undergoing improvements and modifications, and it will, no doubt, go on until English orthography will become so perfect that every letter will have but a single sound, instead of having, as now, in some cases, four or five sounds to the same letter. Now, when a child learns to spell, he learns first to give to the vowel a its long sound, as heard in the word male, supposing that to be its only sound. In another position he gives it the Italian or grave sound—as in the word father, and so on, until he finds it has four or five distinct sounds, and then he has to continually exercise his judgment, or has to depend upon the judgment of some other man, to know which of these sounds to use.
I wish our brethren to give this subject their serious and candid consideration, and do their best to introduce into our schools a system that will greatly abridge the time required to gain the various branches of a good education. No greater or more blessed mission can be given to an Elder in Israel than to teach the true principles of education to the rising generation of this Territory. I would advise our brethren, aside from the ordinary schools, to get up evening reading classes in all our settlements for the instruction of those who cannot attend at other times. The instruction of our wives and daughters is of the utmost importance. The disposition of some to neglect the education of girls is the extreme of folly. If we take pains to have the English language taught correctly to our wives and daughters, they will teach it to their children, and this will lay the foundation for the permanent improvement of the language of the state, of which we form the nucleus. Some of the ablest men in the Territory received the most of their education from their mothers, and it is said that the President of the United States was educated by his wife. I wish to call the attention of the Conference to the text of President Young in relation to storing our wheat. This is a question of vast importance. A few years ago President Young gave counsel to the people of the Territory—most of whom agreed to it—to lay by seven years provisions. We were to have commenced three years ago, and were to have laid up one year's bread over and above the year's supply. The following year we were to add another year's supply, and so have continued until we had our seven years' supply laid up. How faithful the people have been in keeping this counsel I am not prepared to say, but I am afraid that few men in Israel, even among those who have raised breadstuffs and have had the power to control considerable quantities of it, had three years' bread laid aside when the grasshoppers made their descent this season and swept off half the grains, vegetables, and fruit raised in the Territory, and were prepared, if the whole had been swept off, to live for the next three years without laying in more bread. I am aware that some of our brethren thought this counsel extravagant; they considered that it could not be necessary to lay up such a quantity of bread; and some of them, instead of getting out lumber and making good substantial bins for the preservation of their wheat, turned out their means for teams, and freighted their bread to the north, to the east, and to the west; and not only so, but in many instances they gave it away, if they could only get half price for hauling it. Hundreds and thousands of sacks of flour have been hauled away, when it should have been stored up here against a day of want. I feel just as keenly on this matter now as when this counsel was given, and a little more so, for the army of the Lord—the grasshoppers—may have awakened my mind to the importance of the subject.
All nations have to take more or less precaution for their general preservation, and, as they are occasionally visited with years of scarcity, if they failed to do so the consequences might be disastrous. We are situated in the heart of a great desert, surrounded a portion of the year by impassable mountains. We have no railroads, no seaports, no great navigable rivers and canals by which we can bring provisions from abroad; and if there had been ten grasshoppers this year where there was but one every particle of food raised in the Territory would have been consumed; then where would our bread have been? Where could we have gained our subsistence?
In the empire of China provision is made for the general preservation, and one-fifth of the produce of the country is stored in the public granaries against a day of famine. A famine occurred not long since in one of the provinces of China containing thirty-three millions of people—a little more than the whole population of the United States—and they lost their entire crop. China, however, is favored with large navigable rivers, some capable of navigation for over two thousand miles. There are also many canals and seaport towns that are used in the coasting trade; the result is that when this famine came on this province the storehouses were opened, and the grain or rice was carried to its inhabitants, and they were kept from starvation. We are differently situated. We have no public storehouses, neither can we bring sufficient provisions from abroad without it costing more than we are able to pay. A good many of us claim our descent from Joseph, who was sold into Egypt. He was the instrument of the Almighty in saving the Egyptians, through the interpretation of the King's dream of the seven fat and the seven lean kine, and the seven full and the seven blighted ears of corn. He prescribed the means by which the storehouses of Egypt were filled with corn, and when the seven years of famine came the whole people were actually saved from death through the wisdom of Joseph in laying up bread. We expect to be saviors on Mount Zion in the last days. We all exercise faith that God may give to our President wisdom and understanding to foresee the evils with which we may be threatened, and to take measures to avert them. Suppose that he comes forward and tells us how to prepare, and we neglect his counsel, then the watchman is clear, and we are liable to the dangers and difficulties resulting from disobedience. If the King of Egypt had not observed the counsels of Joseph almost the whole people would have been destroyed. As it was, those who did not obey Joseph's counsel were under the necessity of selling all their property, and ultimately themselves, for slaves to the king, in order to obtain that bread which they could have laid up during the seven years of plenty, if they had obeyed Joseph's counsel.
Now, brethren, let us not treat this subject lightly. If we have been neglectful in times past, let us remember that we live in a high altitude, in a country subject to frost and to extreme drouth, that we have several times lost our crops, and that we have twice been reduced to famine or half rations through the crickets or grasshoppers. Let us heed the counsel given about storing up provisions, and, instead of freighting our food away to feed strangers, let us go to work and build good substantial granaries, and fill them with breadstuff, until every man and woman has enough on hand to last for seven years. Terrible destruction awaits the wicked. They will come to us by thousands by-and-by, saying—“Can you not feed us? Can you not do something for us?” It is said by the prophets they shall come bending, and shall say you are the priests of the Lord. What priest could administer greater earthly blessings than food to the hungry, who have fled from a country where the sword, famine, and pestilence were sweeping away their thousands? I look upon the subject of storing grain and other kinds of food as a very religious matter. How could a man who was half starved enjoy his religion? How on the face of the earth could a man enjoy his religion when he had been told by the Lord how to prepare for a day of famine, when, instead of doing so, he had fooled away that which would have sustained him and his family. I wish our brethren to lay this matter to heart, and not rest until they have obeyed this particular item of counsel.
I also advise them to live within their means, and avoid getting into debt. I suppose our nation at the present time owes about three thousand millions of dollars, and the several states owe one thousand five hundred million dollars more, and that the counties, cities, towns, and villages owe as much more, making a total of about six thousand million dollars. All this is the result of folly, corruption, and wickedness of men in authority. I do advise my brethren to avoid getting into debt. “Well,” say you, “how are we going to do it?” A few years ago, during the war, while money was plentiful and almost everybody had greenbacks, the President devised a plan. Said he—“You bishops, go to work and sow rye, and set our sisters and their children to work to make straw hats and bonnets and ornaments for the whole Territory.” What does a nice straw hat cost now? I have bought so few of such things that I am not very well posted as to the prices, but I suppose five or six dollars. What would have been the result if this counsel had been faithfully kept for the last few years? The result would have been a saving of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars that have been paid out of the Territory for straw hats and bonnets and trimmings. “But,” say some, “if we had not bought these things we should not have been in the fashion.” Why bless you, sisters, in my young days, in northern New York, I wore hats made in the neighborhood of lambs' wool. Why not produce them here? Why not manufacture and wear the beaver and other furs collected in our mountains rather than send them to the States to be manufactured, and brought back to be sold to us at exorbitant profits. If ninety-nine out of every hundred of you present were wearing these home made articles at this Conference, she who was not wearing one would have been the only one out of the fashion. Why she would be as odd as Dick's hat band, which was said to go half way round and tuck under. And if the brethren had all worn home made hats, the man wearing any other kind would have been an oddfellow among us. Why not make our own fashions, and keep the money in our pockets to do good with? It is a very simple matter to do, and the hats we can manufacture here are just as pretty and just as comfortable as the imported articles, most of which are made abroad out of materials that can be raised in abundance here! When any of the brethren start in the hat business here we cannot wear them, they are too heavy; we must buy hats that will not last more than a month. Why not go to work and manufacture our own, and have them suitable for either winter or summer? Why not plant the mulberry? President Young imported the seed, and he has on hand a half million of trees for sale. The silkworms are here, and our sisters and children have nimble fingers to handle them, and this is naturally as good a silk producing country as Italy or France. There is nothing on the face of the earth to hinder us, as a people, from making our own ribbons, silk handkerchiefs, and dresses; and it is believed, by those who are acquainted with the business, that we can actually produce silk here at a lower figure than other material for clothing, taking into account the time it will last.
I advise all the brethren to cultivate the mulberry, and raise silk, as well as flax and wool, and let us extend our efforts to the cotton region. There is no mission more important to the welfare and development of Israel than a mission to the cotton region. We have entered into the Church to build up the kingdom of God, and to labor where the master builder says we can labor to the best advantage. In that region we have a climate and a little land suitable for the production of cotton. What could we have done without what has been already raised there? When cotton rose to a dollar and a half a pound in the States, and it would actually pay to raise it in Santa Clara and send it to San Francisco and St. Louis for sale, what could we have done here but for our home grown article? Look at the thousands of pounds that have been grown and manufactured in this Territory. Where could we have got our clothing without the efforts that have been made in this direction by our brethren in Dixie? God bless them for their exertions. Every man who has done what has been required of him on the southern mission is entitled to the eternal gratitude of the Saints and will have the blessing of the Almighty.
In relation to the Word of Wisdom, I wish to impress upon the minds of the brethren the fact referred to by President Young yesterday—that it is perpetual.
When I was in the States I had a conversation with a professor of some pretensions to learning, who declared that, if we carried out the institutions we had commenced here in the mountains, including the Word of Wisdom and our system of marriage, in about seventy years we should produce a race of men who would be able to walk the rest of the human race under foot. This is just what we expect. Do not let us be negligent or careless on these subjects, but pay strict attention and be diligent. And let us inaugurate a system of fashions of our own. I do not care about the shape of our hats and bonnets so long as they are of our own manufacture. I would just as soon a man should wear a bellows hat or a stove pipe as anything else, if it please him; but I say, encourage home manufactures instead of paying ten dollars for a hat made in Paris, or in the United States, with the word “Paris” put in the inside. I do not care whether the ladies wear a bunch of flowers, a cabbage leaf, a squash, or a scoop, or a saucer on their heads, if it pleases them; but let it be made at home. I would recommend the brethren and sisters to establish societies for the promotion of home manufactures. With the money that has been spent and sent off for hats, bonnets, and trimmings since the President counseled the Bishops to raise rye to manufacture them, we could have built woollen and cotton factories in nearly every county in the Territory, with which we could have manufactured our own clothing, besides establishing other branches of business. These things are a great part of our holy religion. I tell you that the judgments of the Almighty are coming upon the earth, and the Saints will barely escape. God has gathered us here to these mountains to prepare for the storm. We were told in a revelation, given more than thirty years ago, to let the beauty of our garments be the workmanship of our own hands, and a great many have tried to carry it out. The old fashioned spinning wheel, hand loom, and cards have been brought into requisition; but the majority prefer to buy everything that is imported. Our young men are afraid to get married because they cannot afford to buy all these trimmings. Say they—“We cannot do it, it is impossible with our limited means.” Young men, when you get married take wives who will be a help to you. You do not want women who can only waste your means. Choose women who can spin, card, and make a mattress or comforter, if necessary, and, if she cannot do it, let her be willing to learn, and be zealous to make herself useful, for the woman who is really ornamental in society is the one who is useful as well. You go to New England, that is where a great many of us came from, regular old down east Yankeedom, and you will find many of the farms occupied by our grandfathers owned by Irishmen, and the girls who descended from that old Puritanic stock are above work now-a-days, and Irish girls are hired to do it. While the American ladies are living on the proceeds of their fathers' estates, and making a great display in following the fashions—they deem it not fashionable to work or even to have children—the boys are marrying Irish girls. If asked why they do this, they will say they are compelled to do it, for they cannot afford to marry a woman and hire another to wait upon her. Our girls ought to adopt a different policy. Every man and woman in the world ought to be useful. No man is too rich to labor. All men and women, according to their health, strength, and ability, ought to labor to sustain themselves, and for the welfare of the community. “The idler shall not eat the bread of the laborer.” This is the law of Heaven. In connection with labor we should also take into consideration our manner of living. It is really probable that in many houses in this Territory full one-third of the provisions brought in for the support of the family is wasted, and what is cooked is not as palatable and healthful as it might be. Every female should study and become acquainted with the best modes of cooking, and introduce it into their families and wards. A great many of our sisters have come from districts of country in Europe where they have had to work in factories, and to follow other branches of business, and consequently have had but little opportunity to learn cookery and other household work; but I have known many of them, after arriving here, become very proficient housekeepers, and all may if they will try.
I feel to impress these sentiments on your minds that we may become a practical people, and learn to provide within ourselves the necessaries of life, that in all things we may be pleasing to the Lord. Let us live in accordance with the laws of life, avoiding excess, all vulgarity and unnecessary levity, and endeavor to conduct ourselves wisely, properly, and genteelly, and use our influence to promote that class of manners that will command respect everywhere. We shall thus lay the foundation of a great, polished, and highly civilized people, setting an example worthy of imitation in all things to all nations.
May God bless us, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Singing by Elder Fishburn's choir.
Remarks by Elder George A. Smith, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 9th, 1867.
Reported by David W. Evans.
We are composed of persons from various nationalities. We speak a number of languages. The languages and dialects of the British empire, the Scandinavian, the French, Dutch, German, Swiss, and Italian are all represented here. It appears that God in His divine wisdom revealed the gospel in the English language, which is the native tongue of the majority of the Saints, probably more than half of them having acquired it in America, and a large portion of the remainder in the old world. It is very desirable that all of our brethren who are not acquainted with the English language should learn it. We do not wish to blot out the original languages that they may have spoken, but we want them all—men and woman, old and young—to learn the English language so perfectly that they will be able to thoroughly understand for themselves the teachings and instructions and the published works of the Church, as well as the laws of the country. And while we preach to all classes—all the boys and girls under ninety—to go to school and educate themselves in the various useful branches, we do not want our brethren who do not speak the English language to think that they are neglected or without the pale of this call. We hope the bishops and teachers will make every reasonable exertion to stir up the minds of the brethren and sisters who do not thoroughly understand English to the importance of this particular item of counsel. We, of course, wish them to stir up everybody on the subject of education, and to encourage, in every possible manner, our day and Sunday schools, for the cause of education should be popular in Israel now, as it was in the days of Joseph; and old and young should go to school together. I recollect a school that I attended in Kirtland under the direction of the prophet Joseph; the oldest scholar in my class was sixty-three years old. We shall have long winter evenings directly, and a good deal of time to spend in self-improvement, and it is our duty to become a cultivated people in all the useful branches of education known among mankind. There is a spirit among some of our young men in different settlements to appear rough and reckless; they indulge in rowdyism and cultivate the savage side of human nature. We ought to use all the influence and power we possess to suppress this, and to stir up in the minds of our young and old the necessity of cultivating simple, plain, innocent, and genteel manners. There is an idea out that a man who has to go to the canyon cannot do it without swearing, or that when he gets to the mouth of the canyon he must throw off his religion and swear all the way up and back again. Any man who entertains such a sentiment should dispense with it at once, for he needs his religion more there than anywhere else. The roads are rough, and there is danger of him being tipped over and breaking his neck, or mashing up his wagon or his team, and he needs the influence of his religion as much under such circumstances as under any others. The Elders of Israel should avoid indulging in rough language under all circumstances. Most men, if they thought there was a probability of them dying by some sudden accident, would begin to think about praying. When a man is more exposed to danger than at any other time I am sure he needs his religion, for if he should have a log roll over him, and be sent into eternity with a big oath in his mouth, he might not be recognized as a Saint on the other side of the veil. Hence I would like our brethren, and would recommend them to dispense with the idea, that on some occasions they can lay their religion to one side. It is said that an old Quaker, on a certain occasion when his family were grossly insulted and abused, felt very much like chastising the offender, but his religion forbade him fighting. He bore it tolerably well for a time, but at last his patience was exhausted, and, pulling off his broad-brimmed hat and his broad-tailed coat, said he—“Lie there religion until I lick this man.” He might just as well have kept his religion on while doing the flogging. He might have felt as an uncle of Joseph Smith—Rev. Mr. Mack—did on a certain occasion. He was a Baptist minister, and was celebrated for his great physical strength. A professional pugilist went to see him once, and told him that hearing he was one of the strongest men in the state he had come to test his strength. The old man was too pious to wrestle or scuffle. The stranger said he would fight him, but Mr. Mack was too religious to fight. The stranger told him he had no ill will towards him, but said he—“I must and will know which is the strongest.” Mr. Mack did his best to put him off, telling him that he was a minister and so forth, but the stranger would not be disappointed, and, as Mr. Mack turned round, he kicked him. The reverend gentleman's religion could not stand this, and he set to and gave the stranger a good thrashing. He went before his congregation and made a confession, which was something like unto this—“I bore all this patiently, notwithstanding my own nature was to try the man's strength, but after he kicked me I took off my coat and flogged him most properly.” I think that kind of a rule might work under some circumstances; but at the same time a man should never lay down his religion, and should never believe that it is necessary to swear, not even in the canyon. I tell you that every vile word we utter and every vile sentiment we entertain is a wrong for which we, someday, will have to atone. When I hear men—young or old—talking intemperately or improperly, I realize that they have that folly to overcome and repent of.
In speaking of the education of our children, I wish to draw the attention of the Saints particularly to the system of phonetics, or the Deseret alphabet, which has been referred to by President Young and some of the brethren. This is calculated to considerably abridge the labor of our foreign brethren in learning to read English. I think that in all our schools phonetics should form one branch of study, and as fast as works of phonotopy can be obtained they should be introduced, for there is no doubt that a general reformation will be effected in our English orthography. It is said that the Lord will restore to the people a pure language, that they may all call upon Him with one consent. While we urge our brethren to acquire the English language, and to make themselves proficient in the useful branches of education, we wish them to remember that the orthography which the English nation has adopted is by no means perfect, for our present mode of spelling might be materially improved. According to the present system, it is a very long and difficult job for a man to learn to spell. I commenced as soon as I was old enough to put three letters together, and I have been at it ever since, and I hardly dare write a letter now without consulting the dictionary to see how some word or other should be spelled. The spelling of the English language is very arbitrary. For several generations it has been undergoing improvements and modifications, and it will, no doubt, go on until English orthography will become so perfect that every letter will have but a single sound, instead of having, as now, in some cases, four or five sounds to the same letter. Now, when a child learns to spell, he learns first to give to the vowel a its long sound, as heard in the word male, supposing that to be its only sound. In another position he gives it the Italian or grave sound—as in the word father, and so on, until he finds it has four or five distinct sounds, and then he has to continually exercise his judgment, or has to depend upon the judgment of some other man, to know which of these sounds to use.
I wish our brethren to give this subject their serious and candid consideration, and do their best to introduce into our schools a system that will greatly abridge the time required to gain the various branches of a good education. No greater or more blessed mission can be given to an Elder in Israel than to teach the true principles of education to the rising generation of this Territory. I would advise our brethren, aside from the ordinary schools, to get up evening reading classes in all our settlements for the instruction of those who cannot attend at other times. The instruction of our wives and daughters is of the utmost importance. The disposition of some to neglect the education of girls is the extreme of folly. If we take pains to have the English language taught correctly to our wives and daughters, they will teach it to their children, and this will lay the foundation for the permanent improvement of the language of the state, of which we form the nucleus. Some of the ablest men in the Territory received the most of their education from their mothers, and it is said that the President of the United States was educated by his wife. I wish to call the attention of the Conference to the text of President Young in relation to storing our wheat. This is a question of vast importance. A few years ago President Young gave counsel to the people of the Territory—most of whom agreed to it—to lay by seven years provisions. We were to have commenced three years ago, and were to have laid up one year's bread over and above the year's supply. The following year we were to add another year's supply, and so have continued until we had our seven years' supply laid up. How faithful the people have been in keeping this counsel I am not prepared to say, but I am afraid that few men in Israel, even among those who have raised breadstuffs and have had the power to control considerable quantities of it, had three years' bread laid aside when the grasshoppers made their descent this season and swept off half the grains, vegetables, and fruit raised in the Territory, and were prepared, if the whole had been swept off, to live for the next three years without laying in more bread. I am aware that some of our brethren thought this counsel extravagant; they considered that it could not be necessary to lay up such a quantity of bread; and some of them, instead of getting out lumber and making good substantial bins for the preservation of their wheat, turned out their means for teams, and freighted their bread to the north, to the east, and to the west; and not only so, but in many instances they gave it away, if they could only get half price for hauling it. Hundreds and thousands of sacks of flour have been hauled away, when it should have been stored up here against a day of want. I feel just as keenly on this matter now as when this counsel was given, and a little more so, for the army of the Lord—the grasshoppers—may have awakened my mind to the importance of the subject.
All nations have to take more or less precaution for their general preservation, and, as they are occasionally visited with years of scarcity, if they failed to do so the consequences might be disastrous. We are situated in the heart of a great desert, surrounded a portion of the year by impassable mountains. We have no railroads, no seaports, no great navigable rivers and canals by which we can bring provisions from abroad; and if there had been ten grasshoppers this year where there was but one every particle of food raised in the Territory would have been consumed; then where would our bread have been? Where could we have gained our subsistence?
In the empire of China provision is made for the general preservation, and one-fifth of the produce of the country is stored in the public granaries against a day of famine. A famine occurred not long since in one of the provinces of China containing thirty-three millions of people—a little more than the whole population of the United States—and they lost their entire crop. China, however, is favored with large navigable rivers, some capable of navigation for over two thousand miles. There are also many canals and seaport towns that are used in the coasting trade; the result is that when this famine came on this province the storehouses were opened, and the grain or rice was carried to its inhabitants, and they were kept from starvation. We are differently situated. We have no public storehouses, neither can we bring sufficient provisions from abroad without it costing more than we are able to pay. A good many of us claim our descent from Joseph, who was sold into Egypt. He was the instrument of the Almighty in saving the Egyptians, through the interpretation of the King's dream of the seven fat and the seven lean kine, and the seven full and the seven blighted ears of corn. He prescribed the means by which the storehouses of Egypt were filled with corn, and when the seven years of famine came the whole people were actually saved from death through the wisdom of Joseph in laying up bread. We expect to be saviors on Mount Zion in the last days. We all exercise faith that God may give to our President wisdom and understanding to foresee the evils with which we may be threatened, and to take measures to avert them. Suppose that he comes forward and tells us how to prepare, and we neglect his counsel, then the watchman is clear, and we are liable to the dangers and difficulties resulting from disobedience. If the King of Egypt had not observed the counsels of Joseph almost the whole people would have been destroyed. As it was, those who did not obey Joseph's counsel were under the necessity of selling all their property, and ultimately themselves, for slaves to the king, in order to obtain that bread which they could have laid up during the seven years of plenty, if they had obeyed Joseph's counsel.
Now, brethren, let us not treat this subject lightly. If we have been neglectful in times past, let us remember that we live in a high altitude, in a country subject to frost and to extreme drouth, that we have several times lost our crops, and that we have twice been reduced to famine or half rations through the crickets or grasshoppers. Let us heed the counsel given about storing up provisions, and, instead of freighting our food away to feed strangers, let us go to work and build good substantial granaries, and fill them with breadstuff, until every man and woman has enough on hand to last for seven years. Terrible destruction awaits the wicked. They will come to us by thousands by-and-by, saying—“Can you not feed us? Can you not do something for us?” It is said by the prophets they shall come bending, and shall say you are the priests of the Lord. What priest could administer greater earthly blessings than food to the hungry, who have fled from a country where the sword, famine, and pestilence were sweeping away their thousands? I look upon the subject of storing grain and other kinds of food as a very religious matter. How could a man who was half starved enjoy his religion? How on the face of the earth could a man enjoy his religion when he had been told by the Lord how to prepare for a day of famine, when, instead of doing so, he had fooled away that which would have sustained him and his family. I wish our brethren to lay this matter to heart, and not rest until they have obeyed this particular item of counsel.
I also advise them to live within their means, and avoid getting into debt. I suppose our nation at the present time owes about three thousand millions of dollars, and the several states owe one thousand five hundred million dollars more, and that the counties, cities, towns, and villages owe as much more, making a total of about six thousand million dollars. All this is the result of folly, corruption, and wickedness of men in authority. I do advise my brethren to avoid getting into debt. “Well,” say you, “how are we going to do it?” A few years ago, during the war, while money was plentiful and almost everybody had greenbacks, the President devised a plan. Said he—“You bishops, go to work and sow rye, and set our sisters and their children to work to make straw hats and bonnets and ornaments for the whole Territory.” What does a nice straw hat cost now? I have bought so few of such things that I am not very well posted as to the prices, but I suppose five or six dollars. What would have been the result if this counsel had been faithfully kept for the last few years? The result would have been a saving of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars that have been paid out of the Territory for straw hats and bonnets and trimmings. “But,” say some, “if we had not bought these things we should not have been in the fashion.” Why bless you, sisters, in my young days, in northern New York, I wore hats made in the neighborhood of lambs' wool. Why not produce them here? Why not manufacture and wear the beaver and other furs collected in our mountains rather than send them to the States to be manufactured, and brought back to be sold to us at exorbitant profits. If ninety-nine out of every hundred of you present were wearing these home made articles at this Conference, she who was not wearing one would have been the only one out of the fashion. Why she would be as odd as Dick's hat band, which was said to go half way round and tuck under. And if the brethren had all worn home made hats, the man wearing any other kind would have been an oddfellow among us. Why not make our own fashions, and keep the money in our pockets to do good with? It is a very simple matter to do, and the hats we can manufacture here are just as pretty and just as comfortable as the imported articles, most of which are made abroad out of materials that can be raised in abundance here! When any of the brethren start in the hat business here we cannot wear them, they are too heavy; we must buy hats that will not last more than a month. Why not go to work and manufacture our own, and have them suitable for either winter or summer? Why not plant the mulberry? President Young imported the seed, and he has on hand a half million of trees for sale. The silkworms are here, and our sisters and children have nimble fingers to handle them, and this is naturally as good a silk producing country as Italy or France. There is nothing on the face of the earth to hinder us, as a people, from making our own ribbons, silk handkerchiefs, and dresses; and it is believed, by those who are acquainted with the business, that we can actually produce silk here at a lower figure than other material for clothing, taking into account the time it will last.
I advise all the brethren to cultivate the mulberry, and raise silk, as well as flax and wool, and let us extend our efforts to the cotton region. There is no mission more important to the welfare and development of Israel than a mission to the cotton region. We have entered into the Church to build up the kingdom of God, and to labor where the master builder says we can labor to the best advantage. In that region we have a climate and a little land suitable for the production of cotton. What could we have done without what has been already raised there? When cotton rose to a dollar and a half a pound in the States, and it would actually pay to raise it in Santa Clara and send it to San Francisco and St. Louis for sale, what could we have done here but for our home grown article? Look at the thousands of pounds that have been grown and manufactured in this Territory. Where could we have got our clothing without the efforts that have been made in this direction by our brethren in Dixie? God bless them for their exertions. Every man who has done what has been required of him on the southern mission is entitled to the eternal gratitude of the Saints and will have the blessing of the Almighty.
In relation to the Word of Wisdom, I wish to impress upon the minds of the brethren the fact referred to by President Young yesterday—that it is perpetual.
When I was in the States I had a conversation with a professor of some pretensions to learning, who declared that, if we carried out the institutions we had commenced here in the mountains, including the Word of Wisdom and our system of marriage, in about seventy years we should produce a race of men who would be able to walk the rest of the human race under foot. This is just what we expect. Do not let us be negligent or careless on these subjects, but pay strict attention and be diligent. And let us inaugurate a system of fashions of our own. I do not care about the shape of our hats and bonnets so long as they are of our own manufacture. I would just as soon a man should wear a bellows hat or a stove pipe as anything else, if it please him; but I say, encourage home manufactures instead of paying ten dollars for a hat made in Paris, or in the United States, with the word “Paris” put in the inside. I do not care whether the ladies wear a bunch of flowers, a cabbage leaf, a squash, or a scoop, or a saucer on their heads, if it pleases them; but let it be made at home. I would recommend the brethren and sisters to establish societies for the promotion of home manufactures. With the money that has been spent and sent off for hats, bonnets, and trimmings since the President counseled the Bishops to raise rye to manufacture them, we could have built woollen and cotton factories in nearly every county in the Territory, with which we could have manufactured our own clothing, besides establishing other branches of business. These things are a great part of our holy religion. I tell you that the judgments of the Almighty are coming upon the earth, and the Saints will barely escape. God has gathered us here to these mountains to prepare for the storm. We were told in a revelation, given more than thirty years ago, to let the beauty of our garments be the workmanship of our own hands, and a great many have tried to carry it out. The old fashioned spinning wheel, hand loom, and cards have been brought into requisition; but the majority prefer to buy everything that is imported. Our young men are afraid to get married because they cannot afford to buy all these trimmings. Say they—“We cannot do it, it is impossible with our limited means.” Young men, when you get married take wives who will be a help to you. You do not want women who can only waste your means. Choose women who can spin, card, and make a mattress or comforter, if necessary, and, if she cannot do it, let her be willing to learn, and be zealous to make herself useful, for the woman who is really ornamental in society is the one who is useful as well. You go to New England, that is where a great many of us came from, regular old down east Yankeedom, and you will find many of the farms occupied by our grandfathers owned by Irishmen, and the girls who descended from that old Puritanic stock are above work now-a-days, and Irish girls are hired to do it. While the American ladies are living on the proceeds of their fathers' estates, and making a great display in following the fashions—they deem it not fashionable to work or even to have children—the boys are marrying Irish girls. If asked why they do this, they will say they are compelled to do it, for they cannot afford to marry a woman and hire another to wait upon her. Our girls ought to adopt a different policy. Every man and woman in the world ought to be useful. No man is too rich to labor. All men and women, according to their health, strength, and ability, ought to labor to sustain themselves, and for the welfare of the community. “The idler shall not eat the bread of the laborer.” This is the law of Heaven. In connection with labor we should also take into consideration our manner of living. It is really probable that in many houses in this Territory full one-third of the provisions brought in for the support of the family is wasted, and what is cooked is not as palatable and healthful as it might be. Every female should study and become acquainted with the best modes of cooking, and introduce it into their families and wards. A great many of our sisters have come from districts of country in Europe where they have had to work in factories, and to follow other branches of business, and consequently have had but little opportunity to learn cookery and other household work; but I have known many of them, after arriving here, become very proficient housekeepers, and all may if they will try.
I feel to impress these sentiments on your minds that we may become a practical people, and learn to provide within ourselves the necessaries of life, that in all things we may be pleasing to the Lord. Let us live in accordance with the laws of life, avoiding excess, all vulgarity and unnecessary levity, and endeavor to conduct ourselves wisely, properly, and genteelly, and use our influence to promote that class of manners that will command respect everywhere. We shall thus lay the foundation of a great, polished, and highly civilized people, setting an example worthy of imitation in all things to all nations.
May God bless us, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Singing by Elder Fishburn's choir.
Elder Hyrum Dayton
bore his testimony to the work, after having been a member of the Church for 35 years, being baptized by the Prophet Joseph Smith in February 1832.
bore his testimony to the work, after having been a member of the Church for 35 years, being baptized by the Prophet Joseph Smith in February 1832.
Elder Lorenzo Snow
spoke of the blessings promised to the early Apostles when they were called to preach the gospel without purse or scrip; and referred to those called to go on missions to the southern settlements, showing that their duty is to fill the mission appointed them in the manner prescribed, that they may enjoy all the promised blessings. He referred to the case of Pharaoh of Egypt, and the interpretation of his dreams by Joseph, pointing out how little grounds the Egyptians had to place confidence in Joseph,--a dream given to a gentile king, and interpreted by a young man, a stranger to them and a slave, who was brought out of prison to give that interpretation; yet, because they would not believe him nor his interpretation, as he went through the land buying their grain during the seven years of plenty, they were left in poverty, and themselves and all they had passed into the possession of the King of Egypt and Joseph for bread. The nations of the earth have been warned for years that judgments and calamities were coming upon them; and they have been promised if they will obey the gospel and bow down before the Lord, He will bestow upon them revelations that will bring certainty to their minds. The speaker rejoiced at the prosperity of Zion and the progress of the people; and encouraged the Saints to cultivate their spirits, that they may grow better, purer, wiser, having more power over themselves, and manifesting more godliness in their lives.
spoke of the blessings promised to the early Apostles when they were called to preach the gospel without purse or scrip; and referred to those called to go on missions to the southern settlements, showing that their duty is to fill the mission appointed them in the manner prescribed, that they may enjoy all the promised blessings. He referred to the case of Pharaoh of Egypt, and the interpretation of his dreams by Joseph, pointing out how little grounds the Egyptians had to place confidence in Joseph,--a dream given to a gentile king, and interpreted by a young man, a stranger to them and a slave, who was brought out of prison to give that interpretation; yet, because they would not believe him nor his interpretation, as he went through the land buying their grain during the seven years of plenty, they were left in poverty, and themselves and all they had passed into the possession of the King of Egypt and Joseph for bread. The nations of the earth have been warned for years that judgments and calamities were coming upon them; and they have been promised if they will obey the gospel and bow down before the Lord, He will bestow upon them revelations that will bring certainty to their minds. The speaker rejoiced at the prosperity of Zion and the progress of the people; and encouraged the Saints to cultivate their spirits, that they may grow better, purer, wiser, having more power over themselves, and manifesting more godliness in their lives.
Necessity of Performing the Duties Required of Us and Not Those Required of Others—All Should Become More Spiritually Minded
Remarks by Elder Lorenzo Snow, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 9th, 1867.
Reported by David W. Evans.
Knowing our religion to be true, we ought to be the most devoted people on the face of the earth to the cause we have embraced. Knowing as we do, or should know, that the gospel we have received promises all our hearts can wish or desire, if we are faithful, we ought to be very faithful, devoted, energetic, and ambitious in carrying out the designs and wishes of the Lord, as He reveals them from time to time through His servants. We ought not to be lukewarm or negligent in attending to our duties, but with all our might, strength and souls we should try to understand the spirit of our calling and nature of the work in which we are engaged. When Jesus was upon the earth he commanded his disciples to go forth and preach the gospel without purse or scrip, taking no thought beforehand as to what they should eat or drink, or wherewithal they should be clothed, but simply go forth and to testify of those things which had been revealed to them. In doing this they secured to themselves the blessings of the Almighty, and success attended all their exertions. They were bound to succeed; no power could cross their path and prevent them reaping the most sanguine success, because they went forth in the strength of the Almighty to perform His will, and it was His business to sustain and support them and to furnish them all the means of success. Through obedience to the commands of the Lord they secured to themselves the blessings of life with the privilege of coming forth in the morning of the first resurrection, and they had the assurance that in their labors no power on earth could successfully oppose them. These were the kind of prospects I should have liked had I been in their position, or in any other position, for to the thoughtful mind the idea of ultimate success in any pursuit is very pleasing. Now, had the Apostles, instead of doing as they were commanded, imagined that by doing something else they could have answered the same purpose, they would not have succeeded so well in their operations, neither would they have possessed that assurance of success which, under all the trials and persecutions to which they were exposed, was, doubtless, to them a source of constant pleasure and satisfaction.
Quite a number of young men have been called to go to the southern portion of our Territory for the purpose of developing the resources thereof and building up Zion. Now, should they imagine that they could be as successful by taking upon themselves a mission similar to that given by Jesus to his disciples, they would find themselves very much mistaken. Had the Apostles or Seventies in the days of Jesus imagined that they could have fulfilled the missions given them by building an ark as Noah did, or building granaries and storing grain as Joseph did, they would have been grandly mistaken.
Joseph, in the land of Egypt, was called upon to perform a certain class of duties, which were made incumbent upon him. He was not called to preach the gospel without purse or scrip, but to build granaries, and to use all his influence with the king, nobles, and people of Egypt to store their grain against a day of famine. I have often thought, in reflecting upon this subject, how little proof they had of the importance of doing what Joseph required of them, when compared with the abundance of proof we possess in relation to the importance of the duties required of us. There was Pharaoh—a Gentile, making no profession of religion—he had a dream which none could interpret save Joseph, a stranger in the land, whom no one knew, who had been bought for money, and who was taken from prison into the presence of the king. No doubt the nobles and the people who heard of the interpretation of the dream believed that Joseph made that for his own benefit, glory, and exaltation, and that the king might think well of him; and when they saw him riding round in pomp and splendor, trying to establish granaries all through the country, they, no doubt, thought he was an impostor, and placed no credence in his predictions. In fact, I think I could hardly have believed it myself had I lived in those days. Many of the people placed such little faith in his words that, failing to lay up their food, when the famine overtook them, to save themselves from starvation they had to sell themselves for slaves to the King. Now, supposing that Joseph had gone to work and built an ark, he would not have been accepted of the Lord, neither could he have saved the people of Egypt nor his father's house. When Noah was commanded to build an ark, supposing he had established granaries, he and his house could not have been saved. So in regard to ourselves, when duties are required at our hands, whether it is to go to the southern part of our Territory, to Europe, to contribute to the Perpetual Emigration Fund, or to build temples, or whatever we may be required to do within the pale of the kingdom of the Almighty, we have to walk in the spirit of these requirements, and perform them, if we would gain power and influence with our God.
I am pleased, indeed, to see the prosperity of Zion. I feel a spirit of solemnity upon me while standing here gazing upon this multitude of Saints. Seeing the difficulties through which we have passed, our present prosperity is astonishing to ourselves and equally so to the world. I feel to thank God for the prosperity of Zion as it presents itself at this time. And when we contemplate our individual position, and see the blessings God has conferred upon us in gathering us from the nations of the earth to the valleys of the mountains, where we are under the guidance of the Priesthood, we should be a contented, joyous, and happy people.
I feel to say a word or two in reference to education. There are very few people who have arrived at the age of fifty and upwards who feel like studying mathematics; they do not feel like attending school and applying their minds to the acquisition of the sciences, but there is a kind of education worthy the best attention of all, and in which all ought to engage—that is the education of the Spirit. As we advance in life we one and all ought to be less passionate, more spiritually minded. The men ought to be more fatherly at home, possessing finer feelings in reference to their wives and children, neighbors and friends, more kindly and godlike. When I go into a family I do admire to see the head of that family administering to it as a man of God, kind and gentle, filled with the Holy Ghost and with the wisdom and understanding of Heaven. Men and women can increase their spiritual knowledge; they can grow better as years multiply upon them. It was so, in a measure, with the old prophets. When they stood on the verge of the grave, ready to give up the ghost and to pass from this life to another, they were full of the power of the Almighty, and could lay their hands on the heads of their children and tell them what would befall them down to the latest ages. The High Priests and Elders of Israel should cultivate this spirit, and live continually that they can have the revelations of the Almighty to guide them, that they may grow wiser and better as age advances.
Nothing can be more foolish than the idea of a man laying off his religion like a cloak or garment. There is no such thing as a man laying off his religion unless he lays off himself. Our religion should be incorporated within ourselves, a part of our being that cannot be laid off. If there can be such a thing as a man laying off his religion, the moment he does so he gets on to ground he knows nothing about, he gives himself over to the powers of darkness; he is not on his own ground; he has no business there. The idea of Elders in Israel swearing, lying, and giving way to intoxication is far beneath them; they ought to be above such things. Let us put from us every evil, and live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Let us lay hold of every duty assigned to us with ambition and energy, that we may have the spirit of our God, the light of truth, and the revelations of Jesus Christ within us continually. God bless the Latter-day Saints. God bless the President, the Priesthood, and all Israel, and may we be successful in winning our way onward in the path of eternal truth and glory; and that, as we advance in life, we may not only have the privilege of gazing upon this beautiful scenery within these walls, but of meeting together in a temple built by the power of the Almighty and the united efforts of His Saints; of building the Center Stake of Zion; and above all, when we have finished our course on the earth, that we may have the privilege of coming forth in the morning of the first resurrection with our bodies glorified and singing the new song. Amen.
Remarks by Elder Lorenzo Snow, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, October 9th, 1867.
Reported by David W. Evans.
Knowing our religion to be true, we ought to be the most devoted people on the face of the earth to the cause we have embraced. Knowing as we do, or should know, that the gospel we have received promises all our hearts can wish or desire, if we are faithful, we ought to be very faithful, devoted, energetic, and ambitious in carrying out the designs and wishes of the Lord, as He reveals them from time to time through His servants. We ought not to be lukewarm or negligent in attending to our duties, but with all our might, strength and souls we should try to understand the spirit of our calling and nature of the work in which we are engaged. When Jesus was upon the earth he commanded his disciples to go forth and preach the gospel without purse or scrip, taking no thought beforehand as to what they should eat or drink, or wherewithal they should be clothed, but simply go forth and to testify of those things which had been revealed to them. In doing this they secured to themselves the blessings of the Almighty, and success attended all their exertions. They were bound to succeed; no power could cross their path and prevent them reaping the most sanguine success, because they went forth in the strength of the Almighty to perform His will, and it was His business to sustain and support them and to furnish them all the means of success. Through obedience to the commands of the Lord they secured to themselves the blessings of life with the privilege of coming forth in the morning of the first resurrection, and they had the assurance that in their labors no power on earth could successfully oppose them. These were the kind of prospects I should have liked had I been in their position, or in any other position, for to the thoughtful mind the idea of ultimate success in any pursuit is very pleasing. Now, had the Apostles, instead of doing as they were commanded, imagined that by doing something else they could have answered the same purpose, they would not have succeeded so well in their operations, neither would they have possessed that assurance of success which, under all the trials and persecutions to which they were exposed, was, doubtless, to them a source of constant pleasure and satisfaction.
Quite a number of young men have been called to go to the southern portion of our Territory for the purpose of developing the resources thereof and building up Zion. Now, should they imagine that they could be as successful by taking upon themselves a mission similar to that given by Jesus to his disciples, they would find themselves very much mistaken. Had the Apostles or Seventies in the days of Jesus imagined that they could have fulfilled the missions given them by building an ark as Noah did, or building granaries and storing grain as Joseph did, they would have been grandly mistaken.
Joseph, in the land of Egypt, was called upon to perform a certain class of duties, which were made incumbent upon him. He was not called to preach the gospel without purse or scrip, but to build granaries, and to use all his influence with the king, nobles, and people of Egypt to store their grain against a day of famine. I have often thought, in reflecting upon this subject, how little proof they had of the importance of doing what Joseph required of them, when compared with the abundance of proof we possess in relation to the importance of the duties required of us. There was Pharaoh—a Gentile, making no profession of religion—he had a dream which none could interpret save Joseph, a stranger in the land, whom no one knew, who had been bought for money, and who was taken from prison into the presence of the king. No doubt the nobles and the people who heard of the interpretation of the dream believed that Joseph made that for his own benefit, glory, and exaltation, and that the king might think well of him; and when they saw him riding round in pomp and splendor, trying to establish granaries all through the country, they, no doubt, thought he was an impostor, and placed no credence in his predictions. In fact, I think I could hardly have believed it myself had I lived in those days. Many of the people placed such little faith in his words that, failing to lay up their food, when the famine overtook them, to save themselves from starvation they had to sell themselves for slaves to the King. Now, supposing that Joseph had gone to work and built an ark, he would not have been accepted of the Lord, neither could he have saved the people of Egypt nor his father's house. When Noah was commanded to build an ark, supposing he had established granaries, he and his house could not have been saved. So in regard to ourselves, when duties are required at our hands, whether it is to go to the southern part of our Territory, to Europe, to contribute to the Perpetual Emigration Fund, or to build temples, or whatever we may be required to do within the pale of the kingdom of the Almighty, we have to walk in the spirit of these requirements, and perform them, if we would gain power and influence with our God.
I am pleased, indeed, to see the prosperity of Zion. I feel a spirit of solemnity upon me while standing here gazing upon this multitude of Saints. Seeing the difficulties through which we have passed, our present prosperity is astonishing to ourselves and equally so to the world. I feel to thank God for the prosperity of Zion as it presents itself at this time. And when we contemplate our individual position, and see the blessings God has conferred upon us in gathering us from the nations of the earth to the valleys of the mountains, where we are under the guidance of the Priesthood, we should be a contented, joyous, and happy people.
I feel to say a word or two in reference to education. There are very few people who have arrived at the age of fifty and upwards who feel like studying mathematics; they do not feel like attending school and applying their minds to the acquisition of the sciences, but there is a kind of education worthy the best attention of all, and in which all ought to engage—that is the education of the Spirit. As we advance in life we one and all ought to be less passionate, more spiritually minded. The men ought to be more fatherly at home, possessing finer feelings in reference to their wives and children, neighbors and friends, more kindly and godlike. When I go into a family I do admire to see the head of that family administering to it as a man of God, kind and gentle, filled with the Holy Ghost and with the wisdom and understanding of Heaven. Men and women can increase their spiritual knowledge; they can grow better as years multiply upon them. It was so, in a measure, with the old prophets. When they stood on the verge of the grave, ready to give up the ghost and to pass from this life to another, they were full of the power of the Almighty, and could lay their hands on the heads of their children and tell them what would befall them down to the latest ages. The High Priests and Elders of Israel should cultivate this spirit, and live continually that they can have the revelations of the Almighty to guide them, that they may grow wiser and better as age advances.
Nothing can be more foolish than the idea of a man laying off his religion like a cloak or garment. There is no such thing as a man laying off his religion unless he lays off himself. Our religion should be incorporated within ourselves, a part of our being that cannot be laid off. If there can be such a thing as a man laying off his religion, the moment he does so he gets on to ground he knows nothing about, he gives himself over to the powers of darkness; he is not on his own ground; he has no business there. The idea of Elders in Israel swearing, lying, and giving way to intoxication is far beneath them; they ought to be above such things. Let us put from us every evil, and live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Let us lay hold of every duty assigned to us with ambition and energy, that we may have the spirit of our God, the light of truth, and the revelations of Jesus Christ within us continually. God bless the Latter-day Saints. God bless the President, the Priesthood, and all Israel, and may we be successful in winning our way onward in the path of eternal truth and glory; and that, as we advance in life, we may not only have the privilege of gazing upon this beautiful scenery within these walls, but of meeting together in a temple built by the power of the Almighty and the united efforts of His Saints; of building the Center Stake of Zion; and above all, when we have finished our course on the earth, that we may have the privilege of coming forth in the morning of the first resurrection with our bodies glorified and singing the new song. Amen.
President B. Young
requested that the doors might be kept shut during the meetings. Though cases might arise where it is necessary for persons to go out, as a rule he wished them to remain in meeting until the services closed.
Singing by the Tabernacle choir.
Prayer by Elder E. L. Sloan.
requested that the doors might be kept shut during the meetings. Though cases might arise where it is necessary for persons to go out, as a rule he wished them to remain in meeting until the services closed.
Singing by the Tabernacle choir.
Prayer by Elder E. L. Sloan.
2 p.m.
Singing by the S. S. and P. choirs.
Prayer by Elder Joseph F. Smith.
Singing by the Tabernacle choir.
Singing by the S. S. and P. choirs.
Prayer by Elder Joseph F. Smith.
Singing by the Tabernacle choir.
Elder John Van Cott
spoke of the progress of the Saints and what they have accomplished during the past twenty years, and inquired what might we not be able to accomplish during the next twenty years with our increased prosperity, union, and power for the performance of anything required; pointing out some of the labors which we have yet to perform, and our ability to do them. He claimed that individuals indebted to the P. E. Fund should pay those liabilities, that others may become the recipients of its benefits; and called upon persons who have borrowed means from friends in the old world, who are now waiting for aid to help them in emigrating, to pay that means.
Elder Charles W. Leah, of Spanish Fork, sang "The Mountain Brave."
spoke of the progress of the Saints and what they have accomplished during the past twenty years, and inquired what might we not be able to accomplish during the next twenty years with our increased prosperity, union, and power for the performance of anything required; pointing out some of the labors which we have yet to perform, and our ability to do them. He claimed that individuals indebted to the P. E. Fund should pay those liabilities, that others may become the recipients of its benefits; and called upon persons who have borrowed means from friends in the old world, who are now waiting for aid to help them in emigrating, to pay that means.
Elder Charles W. Leah, of Spanish Fork, sang "The Mountain Brave."
Elder Joseph F. Smith
reasoned on the necessity of our being faithful, energetic and united in the performance of the duties that devolve upon us; while every individual must perform their individual work, be faithful for themselves, and build upon their own foundation. He spoke on the importance of those not familiar with it studying the English language, being that in which the Lord has chosen to give the revelations of His will in these last days. He urged the Saints to take up the requirements which had been laid before them during the present Conference, and perform them faithfully and whole-souledly, that they may enjoy the blessings which will follow obedience to the counsels given. Our mission is to work righteousness, and bring all things subservient to the will of God.
reasoned on the necessity of our being faithful, energetic and united in the performance of the duties that devolve upon us; while every individual must perform their individual work, be faithful for themselves, and build upon their own foundation. He spoke on the importance of those not familiar with it studying the English language, being that in which the Lord has chosen to give the revelations of His will in these last days. He urged the Saints to take up the requirements which had been laid before them during the present Conference, and perform them faithfully and whole-souledly, that they may enjoy the blessings which will follow obedience to the counsels given. Our mission is to work righteousness, and bring all things subservient to the will of God.
President B. Young
then made the following remarks, which were reported by Elder George D. Watt:--
I will commence my remarks where Bro. Joseph F. Smith left off, with regard to the appearance of the Latter-day Saints. I will, in a few words, give you my views touching us as a people, and our appearance. What is your ideas regarding the appearance of the heavenly hosts? Do you not think that they are the most chaste in their deportment, most beautiful in their appearance, most simple, clean and elegant in their dress and the most courteous and kind in their manners of any beings that you can imagine? You can answer this for yourselves. I have my ideas regarding them. If ever we become Saints of God, fully sanctified and made perfect before Him, I shall expect to see the most healthful and beautiful people that ever lived upon the earth: I shall expect to see a people full of knowledge of the great laws which govern organized life, for health, for adornment and for beauty. We will know how to adorn ourselves in the most comely manner to present ourselves before each other, before those who live godly in Christ Jesus, and before the Lord, and to form fit companions for angels. It would gratify me very much if the people of the Latter-day Saints would begin to use discretion and judgment in this matter more than they have formerly done, and cease to copy after the fashions of this world. A reformation of this kind should begin with the sisters in this Church, and it should be extended to every portion of human life. Our living should be plain and simple, that it may be healthful, giving vigor and long life to us and our generations after us. I have not time now to enlarge upon this exceedingly interesting subject.
I will embrace the present opportunity of expressing myself upon a subject that I think has not been before spoke upon by any of the elders of this Church. We have ordained men to take the place of others who have from time to time left the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; and I have ordained all who have been ordained into the Quorum, since it was first organized, assisted by Br. Kimball and others, but have never named this subject at any of those ordinations except at that of the last man who has been received in the Quorum. If I am wrong in my views, I shall be righted in due time. The subject I refer to is in regard to a man taking the crown of another, by being ordained to his priesthood or calling in any of the quorums of this Church. Now, my idea is this, that there is a crown for each and every one who proves faithful to his covenant to the end. Shall we have two crowns when we are crowned with glory, immortality and eternal lives? My opinion is that each man will have his own crown, the glory and greatness and might of which will be according to his works, or according to that which he merits. If this be true, I do not ordain Brother Joseph F. Smith, to take the crown of Amasa M. Lyman. Joseph F. Smith has been faithful from his childhood, has fulfilled missions to the nations of the earth, traveled and preached in the midst of the Saints, laboring faithfully in the Kingdom of God to save the honest-in-heart, and to perfect himself and others in the grace of God. Is he deserving of a crown? He is; and he will get just such a one as he deserves. This may be said of every other faithful man. If a man forfeits his crown by any act of his own, it is not for me to say what becomes of it, it is in the hands of Him whose right it is to give. I think that Joseph F. Smith is the sixteenth person upon whom I have laid hands and ordained into the Quorum of the Twelve since the first Quorum was formed. Let no person then suppose that Joseph F. Smith has got Amasa M. Lyman's crown; he will not get it, but he will be perfectly satisfied with his own crown which he has faithfully earned. I do not wish to wear Thomas B. Marsh's crown; I want my own. We build our own kingdoms, and obtain, by our faithfulness, our own crowns that will exactly fit us; and the brightness of them, and the greatness of them in glory, will grow or pass away as we are faithful or unfaithful to the priesthood and opportunities which we have had bestowed upon us from the Lord. Let us all be satisfied in striving to be faithful that we may receive the crown laid up for us.
I wish now to say to the Bishops who are present at this Conference, from the north and from the south, when you return home cease not your labors until you get the name of each individual who will engage to bring from Liverpool to the terminus of the Pacific Railroad one or more of the poor Saints. I do not ask them to turn in cows or horses for this purpose; we do not want property, but we want them to say that they will be responsible to bring so many from England. We asked a few brethren in the Conference yesterday, and in a few minutes forty-five of the poor Saints were provided for with passages. We want fifteen thousand thus provided for. We wish a list of the names of brethren, who will thus engage themselves, forwarded to us immediately. How many hearts will be made glad by this movement which we are about to engage in for the deliverance of our poor brethren and sisters in the old countries! Their hearts will be raised in thanksgiving that the day of their deliverance is drawing nigh, when they hear the report of our efforts for their good. When we find our feet established in pleasant places, let us not forget the pit from whence we have been taken, but stretch out a helping hand to assist our relatives and friends who are struggling for deliverance as we have done. Consider this all ye Latter-day Saints. We say to those who will not pay their indebtedness to the P. E. Fund, we shall be glad to have you bring some of the poor Saints of the old countries to the terminus of the railroad the next season; and we will say you have done well, and we will give you credit on your Fund account. Any means you expend for the deliverance of the poor, you will look to them for payment when they come here, but nothing will be refunded to you by the P. E. Fund. You can name the persons you wish to bring out, and then look to them for your pay; and if you look to them for your pay I shall not credit you on the P. E. Fund books for what you may have done for them.
I wish the Bishops of the two counties north, two counties west and two counties south to send on teams to haul rock for the temple. And do not forget to send in your reports from all the settlements how many you can bring out from the old world, as we wish to appoint our agents at different points to negotiate with the shipping and railway companies. By emigrating a large company we can lessen the cost very materially.
Singing by Elder Fishburne's choir.
then made the following remarks, which were reported by Elder George D. Watt:--
I will commence my remarks where Bro. Joseph F. Smith left off, with regard to the appearance of the Latter-day Saints. I will, in a few words, give you my views touching us as a people, and our appearance. What is your ideas regarding the appearance of the heavenly hosts? Do you not think that they are the most chaste in their deportment, most beautiful in their appearance, most simple, clean and elegant in their dress and the most courteous and kind in their manners of any beings that you can imagine? You can answer this for yourselves. I have my ideas regarding them. If ever we become Saints of God, fully sanctified and made perfect before Him, I shall expect to see the most healthful and beautiful people that ever lived upon the earth: I shall expect to see a people full of knowledge of the great laws which govern organized life, for health, for adornment and for beauty. We will know how to adorn ourselves in the most comely manner to present ourselves before each other, before those who live godly in Christ Jesus, and before the Lord, and to form fit companions for angels. It would gratify me very much if the people of the Latter-day Saints would begin to use discretion and judgment in this matter more than they have formerly done, and cease to copy after the fashions of this world. A reformation of this kind should begin with the sisters in this Church, and it should be extended to every portion of human life. Our living should be plain and simple, that it may be healthful, giving vigor and long life to us and our generations after us. I have not time now to enlarge upon this exceedingly interesting subject.
I will embrace the present opportunity of expressing myself upon a subject that I think has not been before spoke upon by any of the elders of this Church. We have ordained men to take the place of others who have from time to time left the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; and I have ordained all who have been ordained into the Quorum, since it was first organized, assisted by Br. Kimball and others, but have never named this subject at any of those ordinations except at that of the last man who has been received in the Quorum. If I am wrong in my views, I shall be righted in due time. The subject I refer to is in regard to a man taking the crown of another, by being ordained to his priesthood or calling in any of the quorums of this Church. Now, my idea is this, that there is a crown for each and every one who proves faithful to his covenant to the end. Shall we have two crowns when we are crowned with glory, immortality and eternal lives? My opinion is that each man will have his own crown, the glory and greatness and might of which will be according to his works, or according to that which he merits. If this be true, I do not ordain Brother Joseph F. Smith, to take the crown of Amasa M. Lyman. Joseph F. Smith has been faithful from his childhood, has fulfilled missions to the nations of the earth, traveled and preached in the midst of the Saints, laboring faithfully in the Kingdom of God to save the honest-in-heart, and to perfect himself and others in the grace of God. Is he deserving of a crown? He is; and he will get just such a one as he deserves. This may be said of every other faithful man. If a man forfeits his crown by any act of his own, it is not for me to say what becomes of it, it is in the hands of Him whose right it is to give. I think that Joseph F. Smith is the sixteenth person upon whom I have laid hands and ordained into the Quorum of the Twelve since the first Quorum was formed. Let no person then suppose that Joseph F. Smith has got Amasa M. Lyman's crown; he will not get it, but he will be perfectly satisfied with his own crown which he has faithfully earned. I do not wish to wear Thomas B. Marsh's crown; I want my own. We build our own kingdoms, and obtain, by our faithfulness, our own crowns that will exactly fit us; and the brightness of them, and the greatness of them in glory, will grow or pass away as we are faithful or unfaithful to the priesthood and opportunities which we have had bestowed upon us from the Lord. Let us all be satisfied in striving to be faithful that we may receive the crown laid up for us.
I wish now to say to the Bishops who are present at this Conference, from the north and from the south, when you return home cease not your labors until you get the name of each individual who will engage to bring from Liverpool to the terminus of the Pacific Railroad one or more of the poor Saints. I do not ask them to turn in cows or horses for this purpose; we do not want property, but we want them to say that they will be responsible to bring so many from England. We asked a few brethren in the Conference yesterday, and in a few minutes forty-five of the poor Saints were provided for with passages. We want fifteen thousand thus provided for. We wish a list of the names of brethren, who will thus engage themselves, forwarded to us immediately. How many hearts will be made glad by this movement which we are about to engage in for the deliverance of our poor brethren and sisters in the old countries! Their hearts will be raised in thanksgiving that the day of their deliverance is drawing nigh, when they hear the report of our efforts for their good. When we find our feet established in pleasant places, let us not forget the pit from whence we have been taken, but stretch out a helping hand to assist our relatives and friends who are struggling for deliverance as we have done. Consider this all ye Latter-day Saints. We say to those who will not pay their indebtedness to the P. E. Fund, we shall be glad to have you bring some of the poor Saints of the old countries to the terminus of the railroad the next season; and we will say you have done well, and we will give you credit on your Fund account. Any means you expend for the deliverance of the poor, you will look to them for payment when they come here, but nothing will be refunded to you by the P. E. Fund. You can name the persons you wish to bring out, and then look to them for your pay; and if you look to them for your pay I shall not credit you on the P. E. Fund books for what you may have done for them.
I wish the Bishops of the two counties north, two counties west and two counties south to send on teams to haul rock for the temple. And do not forget to send in your reports from all the settlements how many you can bring out from the old world, as we wish to appoint our agents at different points to negotiate with the shipping and railway companies. By emigrating a large company we can lessen the cost very materially.
Singing by Elder Fishburne's choir.
Elder George Q. Cannon
read the names of Thomas Romney and George W. Larkin, who have been selected to go to the south. He then spoke on the subject of education, advocating a proper organization among the Sunday Schools of the various wards, which would be highly beneficial for one thing, in selecting Sunday school libraries, so that the schools in the various wards of a city could have libraries of different books, which could be loaned around among the schools, and would be the same as a general library. He spoke of the importance of a Sunday School Union, with a Superintendent for each county, as members of the Union; and sketched briefly a plan of an organization for future consideration.
read the names of Thomas Romney and George W. Larkin, who have been selected to go to the south. He then spoke on the subject of education, advocating a proper organization among the Sunday Schools of the various wards, which would be highly beneficial for one thing, in selecting Sunday school libraries, so that the schools in the various wards of a city could have libraries of different books, which could be loaned around among the schools, and would be the same as a general library. He spoke of the importance of a Sunday School Union, with a Superintendent for each county, as members of the Union; and sketched briefly a plan of an organization for future consideration.
President B. Young
moved that this Conference adjourn until the 6th of next April, at 10 o'clock in the morning, to meet in this Tabernacle; and dismissed the congregation with the following benediction:--
I feel to bless you collectively and individually. I bless my brethren of the Apostles in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and pray the choicest blessings of heaven to rest upon them; and upon the Seventies and the Presidents of the Seventies. I bless them in the name of the Lord Jesus; and I bless the High Priests and the Elders with all the blessings that their hearts can desire in righteousness. I bless the Bishops and the wards over which they preside, and the land that we occupy. And I bless these my sisters and their children. I bless these choirs, those who have sung for us and played for us. I bless you as parents and as children; as brothers and sisters; and as the Church and Kingdom of our God upon the earth. And I bless the house that has so conveniently accommodated us, and all who have taken part in this Conference; with the land of Joseph, which I feel to bless. And our inheritances, and all that pertains to Israel I bless in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
At a meeting of the missionaries, held on Thursday morning, 10th, in the old Tabernacle, the name of Nelson A. Empey was added to the number.
EDWARD L. SLOAN,
Clerk of Conference.
moved that this Conference adjourn until the 6th of next April, at 10 o'clock in the morning, to meet in this Tabernacle; and dismissed the congregation with the following benediction:--
I feel to bless you collectively and individually. I bless my brethren of the Apostles in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and pray the choicest blessings of heaven to rest upon them; and upon the Seventies and the Presidents of the Seventies. I bless them in the name of the Lord Jesus; and I bless the High Priests and the Elders with all the blessings that their hearts can desire in righteousness. I bless the Bishops and the wards over which they preside, and the land that we occupy. And I bless these my sisters and their children. I bless these choirs, those who have sung for us and played for us. I bless you as parents and as children; as brothers and sisters; and as the Church and Kingdom of our God upon the earth. And I bless the house that has so conveniently accommodated us, and all who have taken part in this Conference; with the land of Joseph, which I feel to bless. And our inheritances, and all that pertains to Israel I bless in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
At a meeting of the missionaries, held on Thursday morning, 10th, in the old Tabernacle, the name of Nelson A. Empey was added to the number.
EDWARD L. SLOAN,
Clerk of Conference.