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Show El APOSTLE COWLEY, K ELDER RICHARDS, w Attend Ihc Conference of (lie Pnrowaii IK Stake in Cedar. mm TEMPLE WORK PROMINENT THEME. H President D. II. Cannon's Earnest KJBB Talk on Salvation for the Dead. HH Religion Ctnsycs. BUS Tho . 9'.!rterly confurenco of the BB Iirownfjlako of Zion wus held in IH Cedar City lust Saturday and Sunday, KPL Deo. 10, and 20, 100.1. Tho conference Htt was due to bo held in l'arowan, but by RH request of Apostle Cowly, for whom it KS was more convenient to meet the peo- Rl pie at Cedur than at l'arowan tho place IS of holding was changed. It is proba- flf ble that tho people of l'arowan are gct- IX ' ting usel to this sort of thing as it is Wm not the first time that snch n change lffl has beeu made. Although it is very IB convenient for us yet our sense of jus- Ev tice compels us to feel that it is rather HI) a hardship to tho L'arowan folks. Kr' Thero was present on tho stand at 10 o' B clock. a. in. last Saturday morning in K" thn Cedar tabernacle, l'residont Uriah If T. Jones, Counselors Henry Igh, and John J. G. Webster of the Stake I'resi- l dency, Apostle Cowley and Elder Ezra Mi Richards, nlso Elder William Gardner, K' of the St. Georgo Stake. The attend- W anco at this meeting was very light1 9 and the time was occupied almost 'en?! !v tlrely by the reports of tho bisubps of,- $ ' the various Wards in the stake, most' '. of whom were present, tho only absen- i- tecs being tho bishops of l'urownn and ,.-, Paragoouah, the first of whom cume " -- rrl6 the afternoon meeting on tho same 5L --SS" reported his ward, while thu , ono" f of r,lrllf.,oonuh was represented ' J. forenoon meeting bv hl3 eounse- BSi:5lK"'''1 "'" ."""' ,'vu". ii '?P ' the'heailVTl?0pophTvaj.fairlF good. Good crops had been raised through tho past year. The various ''" auxiliary organizations arc complete and doing goodjjiiecllve work. A " general eomplalut was made that the ward teachers were not so energetic in !: the discharge of their duties as tho ; wcllfaro of the wards required. This was attributed to carelessness nud not ' to lack of faith, or nu unwillingness to work for tho wellfarc of thu church I;- lijbomooftho wards It was reported fy there had been borne improvements along religious lines within the last "? . quarter, while of others no such im- fc. provemeut was mentioned. Tho one r organization that seemed not to be in T a thriving condition in the slake, judg- y ' ing by the reports, was that of tho re- " Hglon classes. Hut little has been done f t in auy of the wards, so it was reported, ' in thin miitipr this winter. In the ' matter of tithing it appeared that there - should be a little more paid In the stake. t " Seyeral of thoso making reports felt that tho requirement that was made of them to judge as to whether parties - paid full tithing or not was the most ',' dlQlcult duty required of them, and one " speaker, who by tho way, was (not u bishop, stated that ho should not make tho attempt to comply with this requirement. At tho close of tho re-' re-' v ports of tho bishops, choirlster Cosslett leader of tho Cedar choir was, consider ably to his surprise, Invited to report L tho blngerB. Ho said there were some &, members of tho choir who were very " faithful In their attendance, and spared no pains to become acquainted with tho , " duties of tholr calling, while thoro wero K , others, he was sorry to bay, who weio I ' ' to upt to allow themselves to be inter- t rupted by parties and father social funo- tioim to thu detriment of their progress in the study of the divine art. , lie be- I lieved that If the parents of those I young people would viblt tho practices I it would encourage them and help him. K Gave an invitation to all who desired to 1 step in and listen to tho choir on thesu - occasions. Apostle Cowley wus evident- I ly not ver,y favorably impressed with I the appearance of the great number of I empty benches which met his eyes from K every direction, hut with the fairness I which is suoh a strong trait of his 1 character, ho did not utter any com- I plaint against tho people who .was U present on account of it, remarking fjj that they certainly wero not to blame M but wero rather entitled to praise for I n? i)i rJ yL . ' m the reason that It was evident that they at least would do that which they considered to bo their duty, unpopular though It might be. This is what we always ought to do. l'resideut Joseph F. Smith is an exemplary man in this respect, re-spect, as well as In nil others. As far as the speaker was aware, thero has never been it more energetic, conscientious worker In the position which ho holds than he. Ho labors from break of day till far into the night in tho Interests of tho kingdom of God, iua.dng frequent visits to the various stakes within the State and far outside its borders, besides be-sides writing frequent articles which aro published in tho "Era," "Juvenile Instructor," and other church works. Tho speaker himself had been bulsly employed the past twelve mouths, haying hay-ing attended In that tunc forty-one stake confnreuccs, a large number ot ward conferences, and two general conferences, and done missionary work in San Diego, Uolso City anU other places. He said ft is possible when Hrothcr Lyman comes home, he (Apostle (Apos-tle Cowley) would not bo down this way for some time, which would no doubt bo ngrecablc news to the saints In this part of the country, as his frequent fre-quent visits within the last two years might possibly have tired them. It is not reasonable that angels should bo expected to visit men frequently and indiscriminately. When these beings visited tho human family It was be-causo be-causo the Almighty had business for them to do, ami no part of thafMmsi-ness thafMmsi-ness was likely to be the strengthening of the faith of the person visited. When the Angel Moroni visited Joseph Smith, Jfwa's on business,' the bringing forth of the plates which contained tho record re-cord of the ancient inhabitants of this continent, being the object ho was sent to accomplish, and he was not scot for the purpose of strengthening tho'aith. of Joseph Smith Tho universal vit-ness vit-ness which bears testimony to all men who live worthy of Ita companionship is the holy spirit. This is that which Is calculated to strengthen and tmstnln -li!iL!u.iif ttU tl,c saints- who seek to SatiirdayKvftcrtloon.yxf, ' Our reporter did not arrive at tills meeting until it was nearly half over. When he arrived Elder Wm. Gard-' ner was concluding his remarks with un apology for the way in which he delivered de-livered them, To lllii9lratchiH idea in relation to the matter, ho said Elder Ezra Kichards when talking placed his views before the people systematically and in order, much as a bklllfull mason builds a wall, while I, said the speaker, "mix the bricks and mortar all together togeth-er in tv heap and throw them on the wall with a shovel." I'llES. DAVID II. CANNON, of the St. George Temple, had been in vlted by Apostlo Cowley to uttend this conference, had left St. Georgo Friday afternoon after the Temple hud closed for the week, and had driven to the tabernacle in this city. Ills work is in the Temple and his mind is on his work, therefore thcTcmple work would bo his theme. There were many people peo-ple eyen among the Latter-day Saints who were not alive to thu Importance of this work. In that sacred edifice vicarious work was continually being done by the living for the dead. Some people did not understand that it was uol the dead alone who were benefited by this work. Modem revelation had taught us that wo could not bo saved without our dead. Owing to tho little attention which had been given to Temple Tem-ple work lately in this part of the state tho flrbt presidency had been seriously considering the adyibubillty of closing the house of tho Lord In St, George, and a letter had been sent to him on the subject. He felt that such a move would be a great calamity to tho peo ple of this Temple district and he was happy to say that ths blow had been averted for tho present, but ho yery much fcured that If the Saints did not show a Uioru lively appreciation of the privilege they enjoyed in liavlng this house of tho Lord among them it would be found nesesBtiry yet to closo the building. The dead aro waiting to bo released from tho powers of oyll, and to become entitled to tho blessings which they euutiot obtain until they havo been ushered Into the church through tho door of baptism. In support sup-port of this statement the speaker related re-lated a number of Instances where tho Saints had been communicated with by I (Continued on Oth page) APOSTLE COWLEY, ELDER RICHARDS. (Continued from first page.) the inhabitants of thu spirit world. ELDKR KZUA RICHARDS Said In view of the Immortal character of our spirits the doctrine of baptism for the dead is a reasonable one, and this Held of labors Is 0110 'in which those who have not tho physical hti'cngth and endurance to go to the nations to preach the gospel, can labor and do as much good as thvy could do in preaching to the children of men in the flesh. The speaker looked upon Temple work as one of the best reme dies that thu gospel ulTordsfor spiritual weakness or stupor. Thought It would bo an excellent plan to call men to labor In the Temples for tho redemption of thu dead hb they are called to go 10 the nations to labor for the salvation of tlie living.'! Ills father's testimony was that though hu had done u great amount of labor in the Temple for the dead, he had never gone thronglv without with-out getting a new idea. If we neglect this work, la it reasonable that our children will do it? Can we reasonably expect them to be moru faithful in these matters than wo are? l'RIESTlIOOI) MBBL'INO At the priesthood meeting in the evening a roll was called containing the names of alt the bishops and pre siding ofllcers of tliu staku. After whleli Apostle Cowley said It is the husiness of thu Stake presidency to prefcide over all the slake. Henry Maekleprang wau ordained an older, James C. Parry was set apart ab second assistant Superintendent of Stake Sunday Schools, and John Berry of Kanarra was set apart as assistant to the Stake Superintency of the Y M. M. I A. President I). N. Cannon addresed the uuusu-illy large body of priesthood on subjects pertaining to Temple work in remarks which embodied much of what had been said on the subject in the meetings which had been held during dur-ing the day. Elder Ezra Richards said he had often of-ten thought that the young people got the priesthood too easily. If they were required to perform some work in the church to show their wortliinets, buch us tilling a mission faithfully, they would appreeiatu the blessing much fmoro than they do.Uefcrreil,tp "Zlon's Camp as' an Instance wherein certain blessings and privileges of tho priesthood priest-hood had followed the faithful discharge dis-charge of duty. The handcart emigration emigra-tion was another illustration of the benefit of trial in strengthen the faith of the Saints, hud never heard of one of that season's emigration that came with the handcarts who had apostatized. Every hardship through which we pass in securing thu blessings of the gospel serves to strengthen our faith, as well as make us appreciate the blessings bless-ings wo receive under the circumstances. circum-stances. Men will make strenuous efforts ef-forts to secure authority to act in tho name of thu governments of tho world, and yet the lowest ollice in the kingdom of Ood is infinitely more honorable than tliu highest ofllce under earthly authority. Al'OSTM-: COWLEY. Said to hold thu holy priesthood is a great thing, but' to properly magnify it is greater; and to fail to use it right' Is a very scricus matter. We do not show'thu al In religious mutters that we ought to do. God does not approve of lukowarinness and if vc do not live more energetic lives in serving tho Lord hu will not let us go unchasteued. We should teach our children tliu gospel, and to do this successfully wo must live ItoursuUcs. Christ was thu great example ex-ample and hu always lived up to tho lawH hu taught. President Cannon's teachings in relation to Temple work uro very fine. (To bo continued.) |