Show R ae m MA A it if ills S solder ERASTUS SNOW delivered in the tabernacle sait salt lako lake c city october OctoberS 80 fh 1867 REPORTED BY ny DAVID W EVANS t i ij lam iam I 1 am persuaded that the subject last iset referred to by president young the prolongation of life and the preservation of health can not be over rated this Is one of eket subjects mating relating to gur our temporal welfare elgard that recil received ved ave th e early atte attention antion of the prophet Josep joseph bi and find the revelation called the word of wisdom has ajen before the people for over thirty y years ears earb I 1 feel assured that a word on this subject kindly spoken by our president is a prompting from fromon on high and I 1 believe that every true elder in israel will bear witness that this Is the word of the lord to us at this time I 1 exhort every bishop and pre presiding sidling elder in this city as well as throughout the country to lay jay 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 iii in the true spirit of the gospel seek lo 10 to bring this matter home to the hearts and understandings der standings 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 authora authority ty endeavor through their teachers and otherwise to search out such individuals divi duals and dig alg round about them and prune them that they may perchance bring forth fruit in relation to matrimony one of the texts before the Confere conference hee 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 ien Ter perhaps haps they are so and if you fotr ask why I 1 hy they are unprepared ared to a assume these ese responsibilities as husbands and eads heads ot families it is mostly because they have neglected the word of the lord which they hear from this stand they have not given their hearts to prayer sufficiently they have not read scriptures the and educated their spirits they have not drunk in the spirit of the gospel every young man who has been taught by his parents 0 to o pray in secret to mingle with the family famian in devotion to attend meeting and receive the counsels of the servants of the lord has grown in the spirit of the gospel ami and this has given thema disposition which has impelled them as soon boon 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 relf rell religion gion if there derany lack jack of f di disposition 00 on the part of the ladies it is isi because e 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 fall 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 maybe may be left to wander in the society of the ungodly this happens many times through the neglect of 0 parents to impress on the minds of the ir daughters the value of the kingdom ol 01 heaven and the value and importance of salvation exaltation and glory through gh the neglect of parents in properly educating their children many of them are n aps unable to discern between aint and sinner and they would as soon associate with will the wicked and un believing as with the righteous it is a grievous sight to those who have labored twenty five or of thirty years traveil traveling over the world to preach the gospel an and iiii 1135 to gather the people to see the rising generation without that culture they BO so much need to develop within them a love of righteousness truth and every holy principle there is as great a nield field for missionary labor in utah as in any part of the world there is 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 19 in any part of the world there are those here who neglect the opportunities offered them and they need to be felt after personally so the subject of education is another another of t the he texts given by our president for the he elders of israel to preach upon I 1 have already touched on it in a few words I 1 will say that our school teachers should not only be men qualified led 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 gos el apaches that they may inay win the darts icarus of their pupils andio and so be able to I 1 impress their minds with those principles they present before them 1 I 1 ca can not speak too dav favor 0 r 01 of those 0 d books that have been derided to the the MI Bible bibie ble bie bao Book ornon book of doctrine doceti ne an and covenants ove oye and all nil other good books but especially ally those that contain the history of the de dealings alinga of god with his people from the beginning of the world to the present time as 01 well as the teachings of the prophets and apostles apostle q for the foundation of all I 1 true rue education is the wisdom 1 and knowledge of god inthe in the ab sence senco of these though we 0 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 bouth I 1 will say that I 1 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 1 will say to all such querying grumbling faultfinding fault finding growling spirits just wait a few years and we will show you the good of the southern mission I 1 do not know but time would fail fall met me to bring argument in favor of it but I 1 will say j just u st wait and by the help of god we will show you r I 1 the subject of home product production ion ibn and becoming a self sustaining people is another text and this will probably g guide gulde ilde lide me right back to dixie awill I 1 will alk ask ask the question how are we going to become self sustaining unless we avail ourse ourselves ives of the elements around us and provide ourselves and families with what iye ire need to eat drink and wear and oun our implements of husbandry an and other things of alike a like ilke nature fenced we need iron ware and machine shops our sons pons need teaching leaching the various mechanical arts iris instead of raising them all to lo be farmers or mule drivers we want a goodly portion of machinists painters artists smiths school teachers and all other useful professions we shall bhail also need lawyers ido I 1 do not mean dishonest contemptible pettifoggers pettifog gers but statesmen lawyers in the true sense of the word who understand the principles of justice and equit yand thomake themselves acquainted with those general principles of jurisprudence that wise statesmen b have ave recognised recognized throughout the civilized horldt wor that they may not only be competent judges in the land but be able to thwart the wicked efforts of this ungodly set of petti pettifoggers pettifog roggers gers gerb the southern bouthern country affords ua us facilities fo raising many things that can successfully cess fully 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 wod is past lull ourselves to sleep and forget et that there there is another coming safat barnt george though the centre of our present operations in cotton raising is only on the borders of me 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 encircles a field of six eix or eight thousand acres of better land larid 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 moat most of them got discouraged and came back the rest stick and hang like a dog to a root but they se scarcely Arcely know what to do the question is shall we allow this little handful to be worn out or shall we strengthen their hands I 1 and BO so keep moving and progressing and hold what we have and get more I 1 like the idea of sending young men down there it struck me as a decided hit when I 1 heard the names read out yesterday we can do with a number of young men W who ho have small families or who are about to get them and I 1 bay aay goddiess god bIess blesa them and speed them and their wives on their way and by the help of god we will he help heip p them |