Show WHAT IS 18 THE MATTER WITH THE EASTERN MAIL EDITOR NEWS on calling at the post office today to day gewere we were informed nothing for you the usual reply of late letters and other mail mall matter over forty days from new york not to hand yet persons just in from bridger and elsewhere assert that large quantities of mail mall matter are strung all along from bridger t here bere mall sacks in big heaps were lying wet and smoking as they came along it seems a dis dig disgrace race to the fame of the noted firm wco who now have the carrying why dont they hire a number of or ox teams and haul in the back mail matter letters papers and all if they need help we will cheerfully donate the use of one yoke of sturdy oxen and could better amford afford that than that our mail matter should be much longer delayed may maya 8 T TWE W E 0 wro from m th the e 3 millennial niata star staf ar MINUTES S OF A DISTRICT FERENCE HELD IN THE ODD FELLOWS HALL birmingham ON SUNDAY 24 1867 0 o Report reported cd by E eldor elder lder joseph grainger Graing cr there were on the stand of the twelve apostles orson pratt and franklin D V riehard richard richards s presidents ef districts abram hatch birmingham james mcgaw norwich archibald N hill southampton lV william illiam gibson nottingham william S warren field presidents of conferences fran leis deis platt piatt Birmig birmingham ham moses thatcher cheltenham george hunter warwick i shire anson V call sheffield richard benso benson n Bedford shire samuel southwick staffordshire E R N russell 1 1 liverpool E frost prost hereford shire shir e gravelin Tr traveling avelin elders E taylor J aldridge and J stewart tt stewart ewart evart loa 10 am singing by an excell excellent hrit brit choir prayer by elder nicholas groesbeek groesbeck elder ahanch A batch hatch in a few introduce intro duc tory remarks congratulated the saints nn nu tho arane great biown blaWn rs palo in meeting in conference with so many of the elders from zion surrounded as they were kibre libre with circumstances of so favorable a nature belder mider francis platt piatt said bala it was a source of pl pleasure easue easte to him to be bd surrounded by bows pods ambassadors engaged as they are i A in IR sowing the seed seeds of eternal truth lai laa the tho I 1 hearts h arts of the the honest hon est he sald said out purt ouy I 1 I 1 meetings ce ings are well attended and a abo ba d in ih 1 gathering asherin is shortly expected chis is q ir feelings e 1 I u g were wane good and he be abou could aspea well weil ell eil of both traveling elders rs an and ranch branch presidents he never wished to labor with beuter better men mena for they were always on ha hand to bear testimony to the world or anything required of them by the servants of god elder george hunter said he thanked god for the privilege of meeting with the saints and servants of goti god in that hall and he desired to bear testimony opy that the saints were a good people str scriv IV in g to live according to the will of god elder S southwick said sald it was with feb fei feelings lings of joy that he meb met with the saints in in that place the people in staffordshire he said are a good people Bt striving riving to live their religion and are longing to emigrate to zion so as to be able to do even better in the future elder A hatch said we had now heard from all the conference presidents composing this district he then read riad the financial and statistical resart ve r of tb the e district for the year ending g eo c which was accepted and may be found in STAR no 10 he ile then called the attention of the saints to the subject how to emigrate and said there was a number of persons in the habit of drinking 0 beer and smoking tobacco suppose one hundred persons in the 1258 composing the district drank one pint of sixpenny each day and smoked two pennyworth of tobacco each week week they would expend the sum of near nearly five hundred pounds a year which sum if wisely used would emigrate a number of persons each year or would go a great way in meeting the expenses of the branches and in blessing the poor the meeting adjourned after dingi singing ng by the choir and benediction by elder william gibson 21 rpm pm apostle orson pratt presented the authorities of the church who were unanimously sustained bythe by the uplifted hands of the congregation he then proceeded proceeded roce eded to say that this being his tast fast last lasi visit to this conference for some time to come he should take the liberty of saying a few words before sitting down he thanked god for the privilege of meeting with the saints for he knew this taisto to be the work of god had it been otherwise he could not have loved it and the saints connected with it as fervently as he has done this knowledge did not belong to him alone but was shared by all that have been baptized into the family and covenant of our heavenly father he said we w e should undoubtedly feel honored to lae b e associated with the kings and queens of the earth how bow much more glorious must it be to be connected with the kingdom of god as a son or daughter of the king of kings he said we all wish to and believe we shall eventual eventually become perfect in the kingdom of go god 1 in heaven what then is our duty seeing that we cannot step from imperfection to perfection at one step we must progress gradually in every thing that is good if we would be perfect in heaven we must learn to be perfect on earth iffe if we expect no strife in heaven we must learn to live without it on the earth and abid if we would be united in heaven we must be so on earth learning to be bd obedient to gods servants here below so as to be entitled to a place among the sanctified of the hosts of heaven elder william gibson said he knew no greater honor than to teach mankind the truths of the gospel to help them to be better and to escape the evils of sin and to draw them to purity and eventually to endless joy in the presence of god he could bear testimony that god is our father the earth our country and mankind our brethren and in this work ho he desired to labor until the prayer of oui our savior be fulfilled and the will of god be done on earth as it is done in heaven heagen he concluded with a few words to the strangers exhorting them to carry out the principles coffree of freedom by thinking and acting for themselves in relation to the gospel elder W B preston said he felt truly thankful for the knowledge he possessed relative to the work of god now preached by the elders he had often wished that he had lived in the days of the ian lan ancient clent apostles and prophets but how he could bear testimony that prophets and apostles 10 lo do live and that we are re associated with them in spreading the glorious truths of the gospel to all the nations rations of the earth he exhorted the saints to be truly thankful and to live llva according to the teach teachings of the servant god cod after singing and benediction b by y apostle F p richards the meeting adjourned until 6 pm 6 pm after singing and prayer byeller by elder eider james tames mcgaw apostle F D richards after referring to his former visits to this conference and to the rapid growth of the church said the servants of god are gol goi going ng into every nation sowing the seeds seed 0 of goodness and purity and notwithstanding this the people lookup look upon us with aversion simple because we are polygamists in this they are laboring under a false notion for was not abraham a polygamist and atthe same time a friend of god and have not good and wise men practiced polygamy yes even prophets patriarchs and lawgivers law givers have done so and that with the direct sanction of the god of israel he said he did not wish to hurt the feelings of any one but he lie could not help referring them to what is called the social evil which is the effect of the system he wished to false faise delicacy aud and and aud inform them that the saints practiced polygamy which would put an end to the practice of those sinful indulgences that man is so prone to and that the saints have surrounded this divine institution with more rigid rules of virtue than had been enforced in times gone past in this and many other countries the seducer leads away the innocent and unsuspecting from the homes of loving parents to those of shame and infamy and the wretch himself remains unpunished while in utah virtue and honor are guarded as something too sacred to b be e tam tampered perd with and the violater violator of female virtue finds a deserving punishment even that of death he then referred to hepworth dixons work wherein he states that not one house of ill repute ia is to be found in in all utah with its population 0 pu lation of over one hundred thousand thousand after referring to king mug henry VIII as the founder of the anglican church he concluded by bearing testimony that the work in which we are engaged is the work of god after which apostle orson pratt sald said thour to our friends this work is a strange astrande work and ana cheu to ourselves it is a wonder and when comp compared ared ardd with other dispensations it is truly a marvellous marcellous marv ellous work when whet god sent moses to gather israel he found them all located in one land and even the distance to the land of promise was only eleven days jour ney if taken in a direct course not so with this latter day work for the servants of god are sent into all the world and they go and make converts in strange lands from thence they take them over three thousand miles across the sea and about three thousand miles over the country this they have been doing for about twenty years and have succeeded in settling a tract of barren country some miles in length with about towns and villages with a population of a hundred thousand souls he itie then prophesied to the strangers that should they live a few years longer they would see the saints return to their former possessions in missouri and the nations and people who fight against zion would pass away as a dream or a night vision and eventually the kingdoms orthis of this world would be given into the hands of the saints for an everlasting possession benediction by elder A hatch large and attentive audiences attended throughout the day an excellent spirit prevailed and all felt it had bad been a day of great blesin blessings to them on monday evening in the same bame hall a vocal and instrumental concert was held which reflected much credit on ou tle the the performers and committee of arrangements and thus ended one of the best religious and social gatherings of the latter day saints sainta in birmingham stockholm sweden feb 6 1867 ELDER PRATT dear brother brothers since my iny last to you of january 1 I have in company with elders carl and neils i visited and held meetings inee tings in each of th the e conferences in the kingdom of sweden As the snow was of so great a depth in most parts of denmark and norway being in places so as to cover the telegraph wires it was concluded that the greatest good would be bel accomplished by our taking this course as brother had intend intended eddo edlo to visit the swedish saints if it I 1 did not accompany him and the road tn in this direction was open for travel besides brother thinks the work in this nation has not had the opportunities for extension and advancement which it has had in denmark and nor way true there were a goodly number of elders appointed to the scandinavian mission but it happened that nearly all of them were danish and therefore not adapted to the peculiar mode b by which the gospel has to be introduced and promulgated in this kingdom in denmark the elders stand forth with holy boldness claiming and maintaining tain ino inc their rights under their constitution to preach and worship according to the dictates of their own consciences not so here in sweden A dissenter has no right in law or by the constitution to worship any hour when the state church which is lutheran shall be holding their service A provision of the law grants to resident dissenters members of other state churches the privilege lege lego of holding meeting on sundays nys provided also aiso that such meetings a are re not intended to make proselytes prose lytes to such dissenting faiths all religious denominations being deemed dissenters except the saints thus you see that in instead stead of having constitutional or legal guarantees or inducements for furthering our work we are entirely on france sufferance suf in our labor of love to this portion of the human family and our elders are liable at any time to be taken up and imprisoned at the instigation odthe of the priests our only safe and certain mode hitherto has been for some bome elder a mechanic to obtain employment in the place where it was designed to introduce the gospel gos 1 and thus while employed at his work worn disseminate the revealed truth among the hands bands until without let or hindrance from the enemy a branch brauch was organized and the fire once kindled sogn bogn won its widening way in this manner mostly haye have the thirty e ight eight branches which compose the four cod con ferencek feren ces in sweden been built up and which besides those who have iwer migrated now number about sixteen hue hui dred members it is not by any means that thai our aws dish brethren lack the pluck to use holds er means but that this appears the ona oni prudent method recently two of 09 elders thinking it too slow a groces for so important a work concluded t 01 call on the minister of a parish offet offe him the truth andia and if possible get liber ty to hold meetings among his hib flock the result was that after staying ovet oyet night with him his reverence tol told them they must leave leave his parish an not come into it again to teach suc sue suell heretical doctrines if they did hi 14 would send them to prison not content with this captious mode ofle of closing losIng up their way they quietly visited in another parish and succeed succeeded cd in wakening an interest to hear bear more and in view of a meeting a gentleman offered his house for preaching whereupon the minister was respectfully inv dinv invited sted to attend demanding to know why they had presumed to such like in his parish without hib his knowledge he received for foi a re reply ay that they did not come to con pon tend with him but to inform him there was to be a meeting and to invite him to attend if he pleased thus getting the truth before a part of his eople people it any took root in their hearts and become impossible of extinction in most places where the gospel can be revealed to the people it finds believers readily j but the law establishing the Luther lutherans Luth erani erans atti attl church in these northern countries have given the priests almost unlimited authority to compel the adoption ol 01 that faith making their mode the only legitimate form of marriage ac indeed in their constraint of religious opinion as well as many of their rites and cere cerel i monies they are but one step removed from their ancient catholic mother for example a brother went we to a lutheran priest to be married but was refused the ceremony because he was a heretic and applied to the president of the mission who advised him to get a writing from the priest stating the fact which he i did when brother married him and gave him a certificate of th the i same since ince inee which aich his neighbors con COD sider h him im an honorably married man 1 thus while the priests are willing to exercise their power to an extent that bastardises bastardi ses or renders illegitimate forty two per cent of the population as ns shown by the statistics of this thia city there there is a an insatiable thirst on the part of the peo i pie le t that hat is growing with the rulers ant ani 60 sovereign dereign also for an extension of hu hn i i man |