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Show trlnal in nature. He dealt with the necessity of faith, the evidences of divinity di-vinity iu the revelations of Joseph Smith and the efficiency of repentance as a means of grace. President Joseph l". Smith made a most emphatic denial that the church had in any way been responsible for the nomination or elec tion of B. II Roberts as a member of congress fiora Utah. He said that the charge had been made by enemies of the church to blacken its character and to bring odium upon it, and he averred positively that the church was not responsible for the acts of either of the political parties, saying, with some dry humor, as he concluded: 'If we did control them, we would Dot allow this wrangling and bitterness. bitter-ness. We'd have peace in the ranks, and we'd put a stop to all this quarreling." quarrel-ing." Sunday's session. TEMPLE AND TABERNACLE. SAINTS IN SESSION. Nearly l-:very Stake Kepreseuted at the Mil y-niiilh Annual Conference. The sixty-ninth annual conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Latter-day Saints convened at Salt Lake City on Thursday. April 0, "t 10 a. m.. President (u-otge Q. Cannon calling the conference to order. L'lder Seymour B. Young offered the opening prayer. President Lorenzo Snow then addressed address-ed the conference, and the remarks of the venerable president were listened to with great interest. He appeared vigorous and strong for one so old and his address was earnest in the utmost. It gave him great joy, he said, to see so many of the Saints assembled. "Nature is smiling on every side this morninc.'' "and everv one here should feel a thrill of joy at our condition as a church. We want to have a good conference. We will have a good conference con-ference if your faith and prayers are in the work." President Snow blessed the Saints in the name of the Lord and spoke very cheering words to all. Apostle Rudger Clawson followed President Snow, speaking against the power of wealth. Apostle 0. A. Woodruff spoke next, devoting most of his discourse to a sketch of the advance of the church. Nearly every stake was represented at the opening session, and the tabernacle taber-nacle was rilled to overflowing. At the afternoon session Apostle Lund was the first speaker, followed by Apostle Merrill and President George Q. Cannon. Apostle Lund spoke of the good missionaries could accomplish accom-plish at home, as wll as on foreign missions, while Apostle Merrill spoke of the rapid increase in the membership member-ship of the church, and gave some good advice to the youogpeople in regard to avoiding extravagance and saving their earnings. President Cannon said that Mormonism had been a leveler of class distinctions and came as a salvation to the poor the toilers in Europe and America, so long deprived of hope, had heard the gospel. Mormonism had made every man that was worthy, a priest of God. The church had been a benefit to the world at large it had given new ideas of heaven and hell; the light of the Gospel had disposed of the fearf ulness attached to the place of eternal punishment. He spoke of the Mormon idea of eternity and said that a man would preside over his family, large or small, in the hereafter, and the relationships of this world would be a part of heaven, purified and exalted. ex-alted. Pro-creation would be continued and the planets would be peopled. The idea, he said, was materialistic, but nevertheless this would be the chief source of enjoyment in the world to come. FRIDAY'S SESSION. There was an unusually large attendance at-tendance at both sessions Friday, especially espe-cially in the afternoon when there was not room enough to accomodate all who wished to attend. At the morning morn-ing service Elder David H. Cannon of St. George gave the opening prayer, after which President Lorenzo Snow opened the services with a few words, congratulating the church on the auspicious aus-picious opening af the conference. ' Apostle John W. Taylor spoke of the missionary work in the mountain states. He advised parents not to send too much money to their sons who were on missions, as in his experience the best missionaries were those who depended on their own labors for their support, and not on the money sent from home. He took issue with Evangelist Evan-gelist D. L. Moody, who asserts that ordinances such as baptism and lay- At the morning services Franklin D. Richards spoke of the evils of skepticism skepti-cism and agnosticism, pointing out the dangers which lay in such things. Then he turned to the question of marriage and urged all the young men to marry early in life, not to wait until they had saved up their money and had a competence. He impressed upon the people the necessity of the payment of tithing. If everyone were regular in the payment of their tithing, he said, the church would be supported easily, without the frequent appeals for contributions which were now necessary. Apostle Brigham Young followed in a similar vein to Apostle Richards" urging all members of the church to faithfully pay their tithing and to pay it honestly, and truthfully, and ungrudgingly un-grudgingly He announced the importance im-portance of belief in the principle of revelation, reading from the Doctorine and Covenants in support of what he said. President Lorenzo Snow occupied a few moments just at the close of the session. He spoke of the influence of public opinion as a means of restraint from temptation, and the dangers of allowing oneself to yield to temptation, even in small matters. ' At the afternoon service the general authorities of the church were pre. seated by President George Q. Cannon, and all were unanimously sustained. There were no changes in the personnel person-nel of any of the quorums; Individual responsibility was the theme of President George Q. Cannon's address. He said that the Latter-day Saints were not taught to rely upon priests and teachers and apostles,' but each was held responsible for his own acts. President Joseph F. Smith took up the subject of tithing, saying that the church was called upon very frequently fre-quently to pay the expenses of the families of elders who were on missions mis-sions and that the church paid almost all the traveling expenses of all the elders who went out into the missionary mission-ary field. This amounted to a very large sum annually and all of it must come from the people in the form of tithing. He urged honesty in tithing, for he said that even though the bishops might not see through the dishonest return, the Lord would know, and he would mete out justice accordingly. Afterthe hymn, "Our God We Raise to Thee," by the choir and the congregation, congre-gation, President Lorenzo Snow pronounced pro-nounced the benediction and the conference con-ference adjourned for six months. Women in Conference. The semi-annual conference of the National Woman's Relief society met in the Assembly hall Saturday morning morn-ing at 10 o'clock. The president of the society, Mrs. Zina D. H. Young, called the meeting to order. Mrs. Jane S. Richards of Ogden offered prayer, after which the congregation sang, "We Thank Thee O God For a Prophet." Mrs. Emmeline B. Wells, the general secretary of the society, read the minutes min-utes of the last meeting, which were unanimously adopted. Mrs. Bathsheba W. Smith spoke briefly of the worth of the Relief society, so-ciety, saying that it is one of the strongest organization in the church. At the close of Mrs. Smith's remarks Mrs. Wells read a sketch of the life oi the late Mrs. Sarah Kimball, paying a beautiful tribute to her memory. Mrs. Mary Ann Hyde, Dr. Maigaret C. Roberts, Mrs. M. Isabelle Horn and Mrs. Jane S. Richards also delivered short addresses. The afternoon session of the conference confer-ence was occupied in listening to re ports of the representatives of the various var-ious stakes, particularly those most distant from Zion. The stakes represented repre-sented were Alberta, Kansas, St. George, St. Jeseph, Maricopa, Bannock, Ban-nock, Fremont, lxs Angeles branch, San Francisco, Woodruff, Pocatello and Wayne. ing on hands are unnecessary. Jesus taught the necesssty of these ordinances, ordi-nances, he said, and the same things are promised at the present time as when Jesus was on the earth. Apostle Heber J. Grant was the next speaken and during the course of his address he spoke of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, saying say-ing they had nothing upon which to base their claim that their church was the true one. Apostle George Teas-dale Teas-dale spoke of the patriotism of members mem-bers of the Church to the nation, and also criticised the utterances of Evan" gelist Moody in regard to the ordinances ordi-nances of baptism and laying on hands. Apostle John Henry Smith preached an eminently practical sermon at the afternoon session. He spoke of the position which the Mormon church has attained in the world, holding that this had not been gained solely from the spiritual instruction which the gospel taught. ''Our practical application of our faith," he said, "has wrought us a fair share of respect and esteem." Apostle Francis M. Lyman followed in a discourse which was purely doo |