| Show FIFTY SIXTH ANNUAL conference FOURTH DAY CLOSING SESSION APRIL ath the choir san sang lord when iniquities abound and blasphemy grows bold prayer by apostle jonn john henry smith ere long the vail will rend in twain the king descend with all his train ELDER SEYMOUR B YOUNG was called upon to make a report of the work of reorganizing the seventies which had been in progress for some time past he read react a circular address which had been sent by the first presidents of seventies to io the presidents and members of the quorum of gf seventies it had some general and special instructions instruct iona and contained the treasurers treasur ers erld report for the period intervening between march 1st ast 1885 and feb 1886 it showed the rece receipts is to the general fund to have been aei hijii and the disbursements 1 1016 l 1 4 leaving a balance on hand of j elder young further showed ha hat t I 1 14 4 new quor quorums tims had been organized within the last three years while the others had been more thoroughly tilled up and organized there are now ninety quorums in all during the thelast last year quite a number ot of missionaries had been sent to the nations and more moie I 1 could have been supplied had they been wanted the general authorities of the 4 church as follows were presented by i the clerk and sustained by unanimous vote of the conference john taylor prophet seer beer and nd revelator to and Fres president ident of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints in all the world george georee Q cannon as first and joseph F smith sinith as second counselor in the first presidency wilford woodruff president and wilford woodruff lorenzo snow erastus snow franklin D richards brigham young moses That thatcher caer francis M lyman lydia john henry smith george teasdale Teas clale reber heber J grant and john W taylor members of the quorum of the twelve apostles Apost lea counselors to the twelve apostles john W young and D ff wells patriarch to the church johp john smith first seven presidents of we seventies henry fler herriman riman horace S eldridge jacob gates abram H cannon seymour B young 0 D fjeldsted andyjohn and john morgan wm B preston as presiding bishop with robert T burton as his first and john Q cannon as his second counselor john taylor as trustee in trust for the body of religious worshipers known and recognized as the church of jesus christ chrisc of latter day saints to hold the legal title to its property and contract lor for it counselors to the atu trustee stee in trust the counselors to the president the twelve apostles their Counselor sand bishop wm win B preston wilford woodruff as church historian and general church recorder with F D richards as assistant truman 0 angell general church architect and W H folsom assistant auditing committee wilford woodruff franklin D richards erastus snow and joseph F smi amii it clerk of conference john nicholson church reporters john irvine and george F gibbs the following was read by the clerk and on motion of president A 0 smoot accepted and ordered placed qu on me file J in the tae archives of the church OF THIS THE AUDITING COMMITTEE covering the period from the time named in their last report made october 6 1884 until december 31 1885 we the und undersigner undersigned under signed d auditors appointed at the general 1 conference Coa ference of the church ot of jesus christ of latter day saints to examine and audit the books and the accounts of tile the trustee in trust of the said church after a careful and thorough examination and comparison made by ourselves and by cp competent assistants of the receipts of cash and other property from all sources by the said trustee i in aud and the accounts of the expenditures of the same during the past two years since we made our last report do hereby certify that we have found the accounts strictly correct and of the most satisfactory character we have found that alter after allowing for the amounts paid out the balance is fully accounted for py by cash on hand and inventoried inventories invent oried property we cannot close this our report in justice to the trustee i in trust and for the ahe satisfaction of the latter day saints in conference assembled without saying that we have been much gra gratified titled in our oar examination of the hooks books and accounts with the prudent economical and strict manner in which the funds that have come into the alie hands ol of the trustee in trust have buen been mana managed ed all obligations have been promptly met the business has been placed on a most satisfactory basis debts have been liquidated and the financial condition and standing of the church are most satisfactory this condition of affairs is very cleasant pleasant for us to contemplate as we know now the statement will be to the saints in general conference assembled sem bled we remain your brethren WILFORD WOODRUFF ERATUS SNOW FRANKLIN D RICHARDS auditing committee the following motion by apostle john henry smith was carried unanimously ani that the missionary committee be authorized to continue kneir gaeir labors and supply the various fields as necessity may demand 11 apostle reber J grant moved that the missionaries now in the held field and those who may subsequently bu be called be sustained by our faith prayers and that any of their families who may need assistance be substantially during their absence their homes carried unanimously PRESIDENT A 0 SMOOT of utah stake said he felt gratified at the enjoyable time participated abed la in by those who had attended conference conference the rhe elements had been propitious visitors had been hospitably enter bained so far as he was aware good feelings leelin pa had prevailed this had been the abe largest gathering catheri ng of people that had ever been witnessed in provo it was gratifying that this cit city y had been favored by the will of god and the first presidency of the church with the holding of a general conference here it was to be hoped that it would not be the last gathering of that kind that would convene in the same place probably before another event of that nature transpired the tabernacle would be in a finished condition he thanked for their promptness and efficiency the various committees who hart had been appointed to prepare the building so that it could be used for its present purpose in its unfinished finished uti condition doubtless the people ot of provo have enjoyed enjoyed so good a time that they would b be more than pleased to have the presence of the saints w who had come to together ether from various places remain four days more the speaker dwelt upon the prospects ahead of tile the people of god israel would never be removed out of his place the crusade carried on against the saints would serve to reunite re unite them it would up the way for the preaching of the gospel in places where it had never been heard all should stand firm and they would eventually see gee the salvation of god APOSTLE F D RICHARDS said he had enjoyed the spirit and instructions of the conference the epistle which ably covered a most extensive ground would do good in the hearts of the saints he hoped the people would take pains to scatter it abroad among their frienda friend in these times when many of the leading brethren are not in view all others should d redouble their diligence because 0 of f neglect in some quarters it was not 0 t possible to present reports statistical ca I 1 and otherwise that should have been a feature of the proceedings this applied to the young mens mutual improvement pro associations ladies relief belief societies and other organizations there was a report at hand from the young ladies associations but it was so incomplete that it was not in a condition to be presentable the aul information 0 r If it conveyed was not full a and nd would therefore be misleading applications were made occasionally for information by the publishers of books tile lne reports froni from every ever quarter should be e so exact that it could be imparted without difficulty it was to b be e hoped that such neglect la in this respect t calel lately manifested would never again he exhibited hibi ted toe the work of the lord is steadily gain in g ground in various parts of the world the persecutions that occur have the effect of drawing the attention of thinking chinkin people to the gospel goepel so ake it is wt with the crusade carried on here it is not true thai the 09 of this thiis nation are all against this community it would yet be developed that many people of this country were favorable to the saints and had no desire to see them crushed we had received the same gospel that had been delivered by enoch noah and jesus and the effects were similar in each dispensation although in the end it establishes peace ald good will the result of obedience to its principles it causes disturbances when introduced it arouses the pas opposition of the wicked the speaker drew the attention of his bis hearers to the fact anat already two races of people had been destroyed from the face of the land the jared ites and mephitis Meph Nep ites bites the prophets had bad left it on record that no peaple should be permitted to dwell and flourish upon this continent unless the they should keep the commandments 01 of god so bo soon as the cup of iniquity tylan 0 of f any people in inhabiting ha biting this land d is full fall thy they are destroyed the almighty is raisins raising up a people who will honor his name that they may possess this land in peaceful obedience to his laws referring to the law of conscience the speaker said that conscience was toe ne standard of a mans moral education there were men in utah he said who were engaged in the work of prosecuting rosec tile the latter iatter day saints and key they took delight in following out the convictions of their conscience science i ii a so doing the indian races were conscientious in many abin things s which they did which were looked upon as cruel in the extreme bi by the more highly civilized nations for or instance when anyone of their number met with his bis death by the hand of an enemy it became the conscientious ious duty of the male nearest of kin to the deceased to deal out summary vengeance upon the head of the slayer if if he found dimit not upon the first of his race whom he might chance to meet they believe it right to do this and if they fail to satisfy their conscience in this respect they feel that they are lacking in the performance for mance of a great moral obligation and that they are humiliated in the eyes of their tribe in east bast india we tind find another people whose conscientious convictions lead them in a very different channel of thought and action there ahn a man dies ciles leaving a widow I 1 h her erbon conscience leads her to believe e that she cannot in any other show proof of her ti fidelity delity to her decea deceased sect husband except in voluntarily offering her body to be consumed u upon on the funeral pile of his grave the widow is not taken b by force and burnt as some som e imagine I 1 she offers herself willingly in order to satisfy her religious convictions and in thus ending in her life she according to her standard lr of education offers indubitable proof of her marital fidelity here then we find people in one part of the earth who in order to appease their conscience will deliberately take the life of a fellow creature and in another part where they voluntarily give their own life as a means to answer the same conscientious demand As with the american indian so with tile oriental races the standard of their education morally is their conscience the apostle paul tells us t that hat he even held the garments of the men who participated in the stoning to death of stephen would you not nos suppose that he felt sorrowful after he found the truth that he had had anything to do with the arresting and putting to death christ of consenting in thought or acting in any way whatever in the shedding of innocent blood notwithstanding the inhumanity inhuman inhumanity it oj of the work of persecution I 1 in which chic he took a prominent part he was a jew and believed in jewry and what may be considered s still more extraordinary was the fact of his being a highly educated man having been brought brou t up at the feet of gamaliel and taught in all the learning of the jewish people eople yet he be says after enumerating t g all these things which he had done in all these things have I 1 lived in all good conscience unto this day in arresting true believers in christ and casting them into prison and even in stoning them to death he was merely vindicating the supremacy of the law of moses as it is called asto as to heresy which was a capital crime worthy of death and paul was merely acting the part of a conscientious bigoted man when he was engaged persecuting sec the former day saints now let us suppose that here in this the greatest gr adest of nations are men in authority who do not acknowledge the right sf of god to dictate and control who declare it to be the highest duty autv of the citizen to render obedience to t 6 the law of the land and because such men enforce the law with severity and even with vindictiveness shall we not give them credit tor for their sincerity and their zeal inasmuch as they can say as paul said that in what they do they act conscientiously and may we not hope that till all such men may yet have their eyes opened to behold the enormity of their error a as pauls pants were opened to perceive the manifest wrong that he was inflicting on oil the saints of his day and that the day may yet come when they like him may repent of their sins and be found sorrowful for the part they have taken in the persecution of the latter latte day saints As the conscience of the I 1 indian justifies him under the circumstances alluded to in the killing of a fellow creature and as the conscience of the oriental widow demands the sacrifice of her life over the funeral pile of her deceased husband so does the same wonderful halff aw of conscience pot on only justify but stimulate to tb action in punishing men with wilh imprisonment because forsooth thy cannot conscientiously do as the law interpreted by bv themselves requires them to do namely to put away part of their family who are as dear to teem as such relations can possibly make them then again in the face of these examples illustrating the different traits in mens conscience that difference may be further augmented by referring erring to the leading governing traits that characterize the c conscience 0 n science of ithe latter day saints ar are e fear god and keep his commande com commandments mandl thou love the lord with all thy heart iandthy and thy neighbor as thyself upon which hinges binges all the moral law let us be grateful that we are found worthy to stand upon the higher platform of moral education and let us be willing to suffer inasmuch as by our doing so the lord will sanctify it to the bringing bri neing about of the greater degree of liberty and privileges which must eventual eventually lybe be the lot of tile the saints of god to enjoy the choir kafig sang the anthem je jerusalem Jeru ru salem salom my glorious home adjourned for six months the place to be hereafter designated benediction by patriarch john smith JOHN NICHOLSON clerk of conference |
