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Show A Discourse By Apostle A H Lund at the Eecent San Peto Stake Quarterly Conference at Ephraim- Also a W.S A. Speech made at To untaiu Green. , APOSTLE A. H. LUND The following discourse has been delivered de-livered atthe late conference. InKphraim I have listened with much interest to the good instruction that has been given to us this morning, and hope that we will be able to carry them tut in our every day lives. I am gratified to see so many present and that Bro. Cannon Can-non and Apostle Lyman are with us; and I pray that we may all be fed during dur-ing this conference with the bread of life, to the building up of cur spiritual strer.efh. wc should be t'nauklul tor the opportunity of meeting together and for the presence of out leading meu to teach and lead us. When we look back to the years that we were permitted to see their faces, or listen to the sound of their voices when we only hear occasionally from them through an ep'stle, then it maSes us appreciate ap-preciate their presence more than ever. I know that the Lord has blessed you in temporal matters, for I look upon this congregation and I see that tbev are well dressed, I believe you are, at least the most of you are, well fed, and have comlortable homes. This year did not open very favorably. There wai so little snow, that a man could cross the mountain at Christmas time on horseback, a very unusual thing. It is more lavorable now, as the snows of the p?st six-weeks have filled our reservoirs reser-voirs tha mountains with an abundance abun-dance cf water to make good crops. The Lord is nble to bless us. He may try in cicnv vays. but only lor our ou'ri good, and we should acknowledge I'.is hand in all 'iingst I am Rlad wo havs Religion Cltsres S3t.blwad in nost oi tha settlements, to pw 9in ti:H la Sap few who ctooett t a anjii timaaclrea of the op-portaainl? op-portaainl? a chaaaa to lcaro amcra of the waya of tlie Lord. Sosne times it looks at though in the anxiety of gathering meant and property, that we have almost al-most (gorotten the education and train ing of our children. I am reminded of what the Lord requires ot His Saints in this regard by what He says 11. the Doctrine and Covenants: "And again in as much at parents have childien in Zion, or in any of her stakes which are organized.that teach them not to understand under-stand the doctrine of repentance, faith in Christ the son of the living God, and of Baptism and tbe Gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of the hands, at eight years old, the tin be upon tbe beads of the parents. Have wa made ourselvee entirely blameless in this matter? If wc have uot the guilt of this , condemnation will rett upon us. We received the gospel in foreign lands, and were then ready to sacrifice everything for it. leave ajl ome.counuy.kmdred and many left the hope of affluence, lor its sake. , Have we come here to forget one of our most sacred and ' important duties, leaving our children to grow up in ignorance of the principles of the gospel? Many parents think if children attend Sunday meeting they will become acq'Hinted with the principles and doctrn'CSj? h,n this is not suffic ent. This it well eniugh, and it it a duty that we encdutagej our children in attending the Sabbath itieet ir.gs, but the discouises there' delivfcred are often beyond the understandirg of the little ones. In these classes, the princfples will not only be taught With sy.tem, but in a manner to be wihio the scope of their comprehension. At home many are so circumstanced that they cannot give them this needei instruction, in-struction, hence the necessity of hi dng Religion Classea. True wehave our Church Schooband many have gone there and been bepifit-ed bepifit-ed and blessed' " 5 Many are not able to pay, in addition to the tuition, the board and otheri ex-pencet ex-pencet incident to living away Tom borne; Aid these schools for obous reasons cannot be established in all.our settlements, I am in hopes that it fwill ultimately be arranged sa that thejfcan attend the Religion class every da in the week, if only for half an hour. . ike us they need instructions often, ind those on Saturday should be well at-ronized; at-ronized; and it should be the ende; vor of those having it in charge to 11 ike these lessons entertaining and instructive. in-structive. I trust that the enthus sm will not be allowed to wain and die ut, or your efforts grow cold in so imp rt-ant rt-ant a matter. It it not designed iat these c'asses shall be for a day o a year, but that a movement so impor uu should become a permanent thing. ' his subject was first broached to us here in San Pete last conference, and I am j ad to see that you have taken bold of ii so dilligently, When our children are young we f 1 ve a great deal of influence with them, nd we should not neglect to have them ap tized at eight years of age; and also I iat they may have a proper reverence or the ordinance. There are those no assert that you might as well baptizekn infant.as a child at young as eight yeas. But I know from my own experieice and probably many of you do, tha a child of that age can understand tufft:-ent tufft:-ent to make the ceremouy full of man-ing; man-ing; that they can understand wjat faith is, and exercise it. Also the rtatjre of repentance and that tbey are felly becoming members of the Kingdomiof God. An invitation has been cxten&d to those who live near enough to cone to the Temple to have their childpn baptized. They will alwayt rememlcr it with pleasure, and it will fee asoct-ed asoct-ed ia their minde with holy thing. M timet mrt outside- baptieate aia aot kl-ttJtU kl-ttJtU Mi ik eWf ehol kav Mt-f4s erf la father at the piaea to tool oa. Etaaai vi a light ara are made and a gr it deal ot laughter and Wlk indulged 1. Thit it not right; we should appro h our Father in this holy ordinance wb reverent hearts.and this feeling should e thoroughly engrafted in the hearts f our children, They should be impre i-ed i-ed with the fact that this ceremc y makes them real responsible memoi s of the Church. I pray God that te time we spend here may be profitaqy spent, and that His blessing will rat down upon us through thii conferem . Amep. |