Times and Seasons. Discount D.llv.r.d at II. UnnKrnl Conr.rinca of th. Church, In the Tau.rnacl., Salt Lak Clly, aundny Morning, April 6th, IHUU, by ELDER FRANKLIN D. RICHARDS. tftll'ORTKU BY AKTIIL'R ttlNtKR. After the very precious instruction that w tiav bern listening to from our l-iitt Preidonry in lite Church ami in tlit Priesthood, 1 I eel on being called iion to lprtik, ai though It wa not fol-lowing fol-lowing the iul of rIviiik the bent A the Int ol the ltal, but bring trim c.i I In), I disire to give my letinwny w it !i thereat ol my brethren. And in thii vast ccnrcft itiun, wlnle it is dilti i ult lor u to m.ike all hear, I would i.k the people kindly to be aft quiet n thty can, 10 that c may nio-t ol u hear, and I will try to ,peik so a to beard; and if the Lord (deist to Rive us a KcneruU measure of Hi lluly .Spirit we may otdl be edihed. I have been exceedingly refreshed by the Inttniclious ol yesterday and today, and I realise that it is an instructive, interesting in-teresting and important time in wtmh we live; and i( we can but understand the importance ol the times and the tircurmtancei that surround and altend upon us, no person who possesses the plrit ol ion, can be otherwise than 1 luppy and reioice in the multitude ot the tender mercies ol our tiod which 'I He it bestowing upon His people, It w as said by an ancient wne m m thai "there it a acuson and a time to every purpose under the heaven." There is m time to sjw and a time to reap, a time to plant and a time to gather. There are times when It appears as if all nature na-ture was by the frost oMile not only hidden up, but when the severity is so ' great that it seems as If It must be killed outright, and that vegetation could not ktart in the spring. Then again we see the opposite extreme in the summer, when the beat is so great that human , lleshand blood lainta and subsides be lore it. Now, when we look at the great work cf the Lord in the last das, there is quite a similarity in the course ol God's providences to His people to what there Is in the course ol the wa-tons wa-tons of the revolving year. The work ut the I -old has had lis times ol refreshing re-freshing and sunshine, ol sowing and ol maturing, and reaping the plentiful, ihe bounteous, the glorious harvest, in the temples ol tiod lor instance, as they have been completed and dedicated, and um we have received the blessings of lie.ven therein. While on the other hand there have been times of per ecu lion, alilirtion, sorrow and t)iMrca, until to all outward appearaiue It wuuld nceui as il tiie tree ol hie which tiod bad planted in the earth had been about froxen to death. huch was a lime in Mitiouri, when the I'ropliet ami bis immediate ,aso-nates ,aso-nates weru iu tinsel, together; whrn other brethren by the score were in other prisons, when the voice ol the military ciiictUtii told u we need never expect to see our Prophet agaiu, and we wcrr, with all military Meiiiness in- I formed that we muit locate as other people locate, and never org.inie again in w.ud and stakes, under bistiups and; piesidcnt. The consummation of thai i i aenous event looked tike destruction lor I the Church. We were bviished Irum the state, and it took all that winter I with all the brethren could do to help ! everybody get out from those distress 1 lug conditions and into the Mate ol Mmois. There spring opened. There was found a Jecling ol kiudues, benevolence bene-volence and generosity on the part ol the good people ol the City ol tjuincy and Hie regions round atwul; breihmi came and went, took up luims, worked thrm upon shares, hired out. and did whatever they could to susum hie, get then tuimhcs located, and overcome me adversities ol the previous year. What was the rcMillf As this spring weather evened to them, they got Mtua tiuns ano labor. Jn a little while tne Prophet Joseph cutne along, having been delivered by the almighty power ol tiod, also bis brother Hyruiu, Mint the brethren of the Apuntles. Directly the work of the Lord begun to prokper, brother Joseph purchased a place lor Nauvoo, bought out Com merce, because it was so sitkly that other people could not live there. Nauvoo Nau-voo was built up in the nhort space of seven years, and a temple was built there which coul about a million dollars. That was a glorious summer' work. Our Elder went everywhere preach ng the word, explaining to the people m round them the laiin that we were pctsecuted tor and driven from state to state, telling them what was the cause ot the terrible frosty winter that we had been paihinj; through; and it had its tllecia. Many people were gathered in. Nauvoo became a gluriotis city. People came from New Or leans, from New York and Irom Canada to liud out and hear the word of the prophet Joseph, and to sea what thche people Here doing, because they made the weikin ring from morning till night wiih the saw and hammer, building up that beautilul place Well, be tore the temple was completed com-pleted our Prop Itn hud down his hie, having been led like a lamb to the slaughter. Hut the woik of the Lord went i u Our treaties with our enemies allowed us a certain period to get our wagons together, and another terrible Aiuier set iu upon us. We had the .ouiney over the prairie of Iowa, the period of sickness, the cold ol the w in .lt, the suheruig in Winter Juurtei; and we louiueyed over the piaius ex lied ltrucl in the wilderness the kingdom of God on wheels tor about :wo ycais, till we arrived in this "great Auiericrtn desert1' a country of sane urush, greaau wciod, wolves and Indians vVe got here and winter began to break gain. A little experience soon taught 41 that tha Lord would blast and pro- per us and make the earth fruitful 'or our sakei, alter striving to kru Hit commandments and to do 1 1 is will. Ve had hardly got located here, however, how-ever, just so that we could spend the jjihol uly aud have a good dinner under a bowery, when at the following conh-irm e the Twelve were started oil President Lotno Snow hi Its v, I! MM il Snow to MrnmaiK, John Taylor to l-raiire and ti- rmauy. anil I nnkhrt 1. Kirhardatu Knglan t. I he Eider?, wentnhroad everywhere preaching the (iosprl, and fotiixl people willing to he.ir. What wan ihn m.ttler w ilh this neopte, driven out lion) th nation and I having to become a eo( le to ihrm selves And vet the G trc spread abroad. In Pngland and other I. urp e-m countries, people were adtied to Unchurch Un-church by the ttioiisumls and tern ol ! thou mli in wonderful Mpunty. l iie ! work ol the Lord prospered, and we had another summer tune to u (erlani extent, locating letilrments all over thi couutry ami tun ilutg tour temples. 1 hen behold, another winter set m. You kuow, winter are not always of, the same temper aune We wjrneiimes have a winter that Irtccrs no hard that h.nk on.lht trees becomes loose, and then we have oilier winter tint are mild. Well, we had a winter net in here that was so icvere that nearly all manner ol Lun neM was clo'-e I up i i cept the m.irsiuh, tiie atiorne) s, ihc courts tind the penitcunary ; tuey were ahout ihe only line of pripertu. Imki-nes Imki-nes that H,ii clone line dining that winter of some si lo twclvcx ycai ako. Now, the Lord has ncemcd to c.ai-e these thmgs to work in this way. It seem to be a natural periodic state that w piss througn from time lo trine It hapoetied that during this winter, when we could not In? ahroad preai-hiiig the Gospel (tor you must know our J. Idem went sometimes clear to the ea and back agun and reported that thev could not get a huue to speak in anywhere, not even a congregation out ol door), the supreme court in Washington, Wash-ington, had our leading men's character brought up there and ,canvacd, aud the div isions ol ihose courts were published pub-lished and have gone abroad in the court reports into all the spneies ol legal lore throughout this country and the world; and so we became advertised adver-tised while we wre staying around at home anil away Irom borne taking care ol ourselves a IksI we could, we were making acquaintances through the attorneys at-torneys ant the courts in the higher circles of hie. When this had been going on for some months and yearn, there was a count il held down Last, and our leading ladies were invited to join the National Council ol women, In Washington and they reported the Relief So ieties, to, and those reports were published in the papers and books, which have gone to all the States and I err none of the I nion, aud in a higher circle than merely thoe that are plowing ami towing, the met harms, -c. These mean the Lord employed during the bard period ol our winter. It w.ts not very mu h the "winter ol discontent' alter ad. He made us to become known among the people. '1 hey could take these books and hunt over the detiMom ol Ihe law courts, and they could read the rt ports ol this grand Count d ol Women from all parts ol the world, and quietly learn something about us. Directly there wasa gre.it (all for all the inhabitants ol the earth to come to Chicago and celebrate the World's Columbian Lxponlion. At this Lipol tion there came commissioners from all civilized countries; many of them got a chance to talk with our biethren and sister in Chicago, aud a number of them came to Salt Lake City. VVe give them copied ol our Churcn works and ol ttie History of U'ah, which they earned olf with them to their homes, and they have no doubt been reading over these things So the work ha been going on. Our deir sisters and brethren ol the choir went down and really put the couutry on its mettle iu niutic. Thus we got some of the hoe ana before the people ut (he earth. 'Ihe Presidency went along a)", "tid as has been shown you this . moriimg, the Mayor of Independence Independ-ence welcomed them and accompanied them to the hall where they could exchange ex-change congratulations publicly. These things have been going on until, un-til, 1 want to say to you brethren aud i-.ters, and especially the Lhlers of Israel, springtime seems to be on us agon; and as the earth, after the frost and snows ol winter, is being broken up and pulverized and prepared lor the seed, so calls are coming Irom all part ol the earth for Llder. "Where can wehnd an Elder?" "If you have an I. dtr coming this way, please direct himtoour place." Calls are being made, and the people of the earth are now ready to hear the Go-. pel. I want to tell this Irgion of Seventies that are before Ut the bone aud sinew ol Israel, it you pirate and the multitudes ol the L Ultra' quorums that the time bus come when the iiihjl'ituiiu of the earth want Ihe liospel; want to know what it is that we have been making such a hiss about in Ihe earth, keeping the courts busy aud the penitentiary lull. They want us to send tome LMers along, that they can ask iuestins of them, and that the Gospel may he explained unto them. We have calls lor 1 tier irom tea to sea aud Irom the rivets to the end of the earth. The time has come when we must rioe up and sow go forth and scatter scat-ter the Gospel seeds throughout tae lands. The inhabitants ut the earth are ready to hear it. and it is our duty, and it is made the dutyot the Twelve Apostle, and especially you have made it the duty of the missionary committee, to hunt up hitler and tend them abroad to prtacli the Gospel. We have had a goud deal ol dilh ulty to hnd them as last as they have been wanted. One nusiun in the South called lor one hundred extra r iders. We have a thousand or more in the field; but thcro in wanted a great multitude yet to go everywhere, and wa r teakinir through Israel, almost wiUi I M lighted ciitillrs. to find men of suitable p nt and faith men thai cm go and preach the word of G d lo the nation ol the earth. There never ha been a time when we have been so aide to do it a at the present time. 1 know one y, "I am owing ome'hitig;'' another, "I am a little in debt" Kc. Arrange these thing Irom tui day forth, us il vu knew you had lo go on a mission. 1 hen when you are rendy to go, you will be ready to slav if ymi are not waited. I do not wa n ynu to think it is a ditln ult thing. We do not ask anybody logo on mission until the can go reasonably and consistently with the spirit ol (he GospH, with the faith of their kindred and w,ih the tue-s ih-s of their Imdmiis I 'nd Presidents. In ihe beginning, when I I'rrsidrnl Ycuni?, W oodrull. Snow and I other that are nroitnd nir. wete cilled j upon to go ndpnaih the Gospel, and ; had nothing to go with, we went whether wr could or hot. You do not h.ve to do that today; you are given tone to go consistently and comhrtahIv. Hut I give y u noti e that w want I. lder lo go and preji h tht Gotel; lor now is the time when the desire ol Ihe people is open to rer-ive it. It is the I v'real lending duty ol Israel to pren h tin Gostw) to Ihe n iti- ni of ibr earth, : laid espet i ally upon the Twelve Apostles, with the 1 irst ('residency lo see that it is earned nut. Trunk whit the Lord is doing for u' A little while pgo we were s-l upon ht-n ely hy the government, and il the Lord had riot come to our rescue to tell u we might su-pend operations in some ol lis ordinances, rot only would o.ir public and our private property have hern t-.k.-n aw-.iy from ti. but our lernpli's woutd have been 1ord up. Now the government has come back. and gave u, a while ago. our pcronit properiv, and last week, bv enactment and the signature of the l .xeeutive, they restore to u Ihe real property, except thai which has been Tost aud wasted iu the handling. We haw ova-i'iu to rrioice in this. The worn ui ihe Lord is beginning to truin ph in some ot th se main r. II. uis the hi . t time we have had the ch.inro to hold Ihe general Conlerem r with these Sum and Siriprt over u in the rcl itinn-ditp we sul on to Hum now. Utah is no longer a territory, l-.ked upon with suspi.ion", bill it hai bet onie astute i had almost said a sovereign st.ue. Well, if the states are soveie.gu, then I uppos; Utah is sovereign, too. Ileretulore we have abvavs had lo go under ihe direction and counsel of the ' PreM.lcnt arid Congress ol the United States; but now we have a State or-gamition, or-gamition, and a Goeruor, a native horn G tvernor, who can give letter of commendation to honorable men and ran introduce ihem to governor ol other States and men in hign positions. I hn the Lord is opening the wav, lV which we can carry the Go-pel wherever it should be carried. i think, brethren and sisters, we ought to rise up to the possibilities ami opportunities ol the situation, and spiead the knowledge ol this Gospel. It you have relation out in the world, and vou may have been slow to com-mum. com-mum. ate with Ihem, keep up a kindly, friendly correspondence with them, ti you have been baikward in sending the wor J ol the Lord to your kindred, send them some ol it. Let them be enlightened, enlight-ened, l eed them a little. As Jtngham and Heber used to say, hand them a hltle salt, that they can taslo ol it and see how good it is. And so lei ui go on with the good work of the Lord which He has given to i s lo do, and let us work while it is today. Noil know, in going out in a great field, where some c.t ihe land is high aud some low, that whuh is on the knolls ripens the quickest, while down in the swales it doet.nl gel ripe so quirk. It i Mist so with this great vineyard of the Lord and held ot the world. There are spots and plucen where it is ripe nooner than others. Put we want to be prepared pre-pared aud ready that when the summer Is on we may gather in the harvest. When the springtime comes we want to cast in the seed the wold ot the Lord, that we may by and by, in the autumn, realize a great ingathering, a harvest ol souis, to lull, thai shall increase and ex-lead ex-lead ami multiply, till we will le building build-ing oilier temph-t, other stakes, and multiplying the ward of Israel throughout through-out the land. You must nut think be cause we have become a Sute.and these sisters must not think now they have the Irauchise, that we have got it all aud we can sit clown to enioy it. 1 his is simply the armor that Gud give us. to pick up and buckle on to go to work for another summer's latnir. The winter has gone av'in, and ufier the towing the Lord will bring the harvest as He would have it. We need not wonder or marvel ahout things in the future; we want to be up and doing today. Now, 1 waut to notify you l.lders that in going abroad we wish you, when you get to be presidents of missions, to bring home the very best publuhed historic there are ot those countries that you go to, ao that we can have the history ol the generaiionsof men on the earth in tho Historian's Dll.ce; and we do hope, now that the government hat given us back our sub-dance, that sometime some-time we shall have a Historian's Oihce that will be a. credit to the Church, so that we csti preserve the records properly. prop-erly. 1 wish you to see that there are good complete record instituted ta your conlerences, in your mission. And when you go to those nations where they are led by chiefs, in tubes, a ut New ZeuUnd among the Maoris, (ami among the Lamamte, if they don't get killed oil before their day comes) you get at soma ol those venerable old Maori chiefs, and you will find they are lull of the genealogy and history of their tube and will tnke you back by tradition lor hundreds of years. Gel what they kuow, : and write It lor the benefit of l h unpeople un-people that live around them; (or when they come up to ion or when temple shall he built in their midst, lh-y will hud that the people of Ziou arc gelling 1 up record ol their lathers. We must begin to he Israel in this directum more than we have been before. These are some ol my ideas just now, as 1 tiijuy this run and precious and gloriuus conference that 1 urn sharing with you. We taik About our son and our families. It rraliy make folk Imd turril It- ah over if they see their l.mnhcs not in so gcod a situation us ruu ot their brethren's. Hut we miM just do the best we can, and then the Lord will do the rent lor us, and set angels to help us. It is precious that we can look back lo so great a hither as Abraham. The Lord says, "I-or I know him, that he will command bis children and his household alter bun." And so he did. He instructed them concerning the very lirst commandment, ''Thou shall have uo other gods before me.' While he bad oue sula of iua lanuly. tha Ueaceo. j il.int nt Sarah, that came to he Iwebe IrTiesio enter into the to), pel cove-Haul cove-Haul and Ihe power ol gre.it salvation, there was another ?idr ol his household, the descendrtnt of his other wives, that have gone oil in the line of MdIi-uhmc-darmsm. Hut a ddlerent as thur vie w are from our, they hav maintained that feature which our lather Ahraham taught them, that they should have no other gods before Hun, and with tVm there i but one God, and M h unmed is His prophet; while with o there is but one Gii I, and the Lord .n i hnst is our Savior. If we can e-t.Uivli our children in the right ways o the Lord. I that it what we ought to do. Hut we can look back over some nt the Im si families of Israel, beginning with the Prophet Joseph's f.iimlv nnd i:"ing all along IhL- line, ami where air tu-r Look into the world and at sone of the best preachers among the cl.tl -rent de-tiominati de-tiominati msmen living u; to the be t light they have and some of he it children chil-dren are the mi'g.olcs of their town. Well, if men do the best iney can, there will he help given lo the nvhteotu. 1 1. ink nl G i her Abralia'til The Lord ha i told u that he ha p.is d the angel an-gel and the (tods and gone into his ex aliition. Where are hi r.-neration j where arc these Moslems? Lather Aura-. Aura-. h.un has gone up to where he ha power power with the G U, power I with the Son of God, power with the court of heaven, power with the coun-i coun-i cil of the Liernal. He has a work on hind. In this world he his a multitude, like the sand ot the sea shore, and Hi' y have to come around, in time ot etermtv, to inherit ihe presence and glory ol their lather Ahraham in ihe eternal world, so manv of them as can tc rescued through obnlience to the Go.pel. I hope tne Lord will bless us, and help us n understand un-derstand the times and seasons in which we hve, that we my make the most aud I est ol them, glorify IL name and build up Hit Church. I ne Lord is going to turn Ihe favor of the heMt men on earth towards this people peo-ple a last us wa will let Him. Men already have come here wdh their in I-n I-n ms and oil red their inuiirv to us. I luv sense that we arc apcoplu who are trustworthy, and that pty our debt. I hey sense that we are a staid peopie.and our merchants have paid their debts in the east and maintained as -ood a hnati-cial hnati-cial reputation any people in these whoie Lulled Stale. (Ae can s.iv "these United States" mni' we have got in). Why do Ihey feel ih it way It is because Ihcy see the itvegiitvoi tin pcop.e.that during the late panic the bank di I not close up and b.irt us all lo pieces and rum everything, hut held steady. Ihey sre virtues among this p- o le that make them feel sale tlul il there i a people am where wlire lh-y can invest and do business with safety, they are bete. We have the least number num-ber ol defaulters among us, we have the least bankrupts among us, we have the least ol anything of that kind lh.it is mischievous and bad. We need to cultivate these virtues, not in our merchants mer-chants only, but every man, woman and child oula to be brought up in the culture cul-ture ol these grace aud virtues, sj that we can stanil up and be exullcd above i vrry other people; and lite glory ot God will come upon ion, and they will look to her as the safest and best plat e lor their great treasure storehouses and the establishment ut all that i good. VVe will have men come in here with means to build railroad, and make labor la-bor lor our brethren, and cause them to rejoice, toth.it they can get a little money to pay their debts And their tithing tith-ing with. 1 pray the Uml tobies ut all iu cultivating every grace anil virtue that the Gopel grants u. that we may so live a to be proper exemplar in the Church of our God, -and he worthy of the blessings that heaven ha to bestow upon us. May it be so. Amen.