| Show interesting conference MEETINGS HELD AT THE JUNCTION CITY OGDEN CITY utah april 18 1886 editor deseret news 9 I 1 feel impressed to give you and your numerous readers a brief acco account antof of two days highly interesting conference meetings just juat held in this city cita to me and huRd hundreds reds of others they were of more than ordinary interest a as such an important period of our history as a peculiar people advocating abing and practicing religious views so peculiar in their character and which are at variance with the dogmas entertained by modern christendom OGDEN CITY is the capital of weber county of course there is nothing very peculiar in this but at the same tin e it is a fact that we are located at an important point as a railroad centre it is the dumping point for hundreds of all classes of persons f from rom the four points of the compass which exposes us to the effects effect of many adverse influences fluen ces which ire are not experienced in many other stakes of this territory besides it is the boast ot of those who are bitterly opposed to us theologically f politically ar and socially that there is by far a larger amount of the liberal element than is to be found in almost any other city in utah it is their further boast that they are making rapid inroads into the mormon community and are making many converts from mormon families to modern civilization iza tion my object at this time is to snow show liow how little the latter day saints here are affected by the doctrines and aad R OF THE CRUSADERS the conference commenced at 10 on saturday morning cresp pres L W shurtliff presiding among the visitors on the stand were apostles F D richards ichards ll john W taylor presidents S B young A miner E R campbell of the Se seventies vendes f from rom salt lake and C C shaw of cache county besides members of the high council bishops and other leading elders every quorum of the priesthood hood was well represented and large attentive audiences were present who evinced more than ordinary interest in the proceedings six of the br brethren ethron from tais stake are in the penitentiary they are incarcerated c car aree rated for the TESTIMONY OF JESUS THIC THE WORD OF GOD their names are amos IMay cok D M stuart cl clis is H greenwell james H nelson H H tracy and W Q G saunders three others have been there but have served their time aal and returned home these are eld elders ers francis A brown moroni brown and job pingree I 1 the reports of the Bishops showed that instead of declining the faith of the people in the principles of the gospel is greatly increasing their confidence in all the authorities of the church is growing to sustain them with all their strength and influence spiritually morally land and materially they are increasing in numbers as well as in labin fainn every organization is growing numerically and otherwise there is not the least aln s ign of any retrograde tro grade movement among the people ot the stake the statistics show that there are in this stake one Apostle 14 patriarchs seventies high priests elders 97 krieski krie priests sti teachers deacons s 74 members making off officers leers a and members there are 1901 families with a total of souls there are 2948 children under 8 years of age since last report there have been 18 marriages 51 male and 40 female children born the deaths were 26 the children blessed durin during that time number 10 have been beed added by baptism aad have been excommunicated munica ted three hund hundred ed and one persons are supported from the funds of thi ohp church now in the light of these figures WHICH ARE ABE ALT ALL FACTS what becomes of the boast of the liberal element of the march of civilization among the mormon people in this county of course they leave no stone wi unturned turned no method untried to induce the old and the young aspeci especially ally the latter to forsake the paths they have chosen to walk in and to exclia exchange truth for error but if truth is str strange auge evon ean stranger r anger than fiction it is also ml mighty gh ty it has prevailed over the billows 10 W of i lies and has riveted upon thi the minds of the latter day saints the truths of mormonism which comprehends ends and embraces an all that is of value to mankind temporally and ete eternally mally so much for matters in general but I 1 have not done yet so please do not hoke choke me off till I 1 get ahr through 0 u h now for the young folks of this stake the male portion ot of whom under the of elder E H anderson are be becoming coming a poi power ner for good in the midst of israel in this country countr m there are in this stake 21 young men mens s improvement associations nineteen of these were reported at the conference the whole number amounts to about 1100 which leaves about young men in the stake not yet enrolled during the last six months they have held re regular ular meetings and 13 extra oi OB s special i meetings beet 01 in all they have read chapters in various church eions delivered livered lectures on numerous interesting and instructive ins subjects acts 58 essai s have been read and 16 important questions have been answered in their association meet meetings ingsby by the members and officers besides which testimonies have been borne to the fact that god has raised up a great prophet by whom he has again established his church upon the earth eart these testimonies be it observed ere not simply f ormal formal utterances but SOLEMN IAN declarations made under the lin liu fluence of the spirit of the living god that same spirit that revealed to peter that jesus was the christ the son of the most high god these young men knew whereof they testified tor for god had revealed the facts to them their testimonies awoke aa echo and response in the hearts of men ana women of maters tara experience in these matters and who knew that the young youn raen men spoke under the influence of tt the e spirit spir it of truth the power of god it is a degree of that spirit spoken of by the prophet joel under which the sons and da of latter dy day israel should prophesy in 11 the institutions of these young men is a LIBRARY containing conta inina seven hundred volumes of useful information which are valued at PW these valuable books ate aie not allowed to merely grace the shelves or cases as so many ornaments but arp are read and studied diligently to the advantage of the students in addition to this they have during the last half year issued twenty nine manuscript JOURNALS JOURNALS edby edited by various members ef the associations so 08 and containing literary historical biographical theological and other articles contributed by the young people these facts do not evince a retrograde movement by the young men of mormonism 1 and what I 1 nave have written of tile the men I 1 can write in a corresponding degree of the yung young women of this stake now I 1 must not omit to make mention of other important institutions viz the primary associations and the sunday schools which are doing excellent work in impressing the youth with their duty to god and to their the ir parents THE SABBATH SCHOOL as a primary institution of learning or instruction cannot be too highly estimated it is the quarry whence are mined the materials with which to erect the grandest the most magnificent moral intellectual and religious structures that that will become giants in strength power and might inthe hands of the almighty for the redemption of fallen hu humanity mity th these es e little ones are being trained up in the way they should go now and I 1 verily believe when they grow old with few and I 1 trust with no exceptions they will not then depart from the ways of the lord god speed peed all these grand and noble institutions together with the relief societies which are doing so much good in administering ministering to the sick the poor and thu the needy the speakers at these meetings were apostle J W taylor elders A miner B R campbell Fresi president Jent S B young and apostle W s D richards their teachings were of a character suited to the times and the circumstances of the people they inculcated the spirit of peace forbear forbearance anee integrity to ta the to their covenants love towards their neighbors forgiveness of all ni men n who fi trespass against them or who persecute or spitefully use them and a willingness to tg leave the results with god goci who alone has the right and the power to AVENGE THE WRONGS OF HIS and who will do it in aae hie time muan valuable instruction was given on many points of doctrine which were elucidated and made clear to the mind and apparent satisfaction of the vast Eaudie ence nce who listened 40 ao the volumes of valuable anfor information matian poured forth by the spirit of inspiration and when THE authorities OF THE CHURCH general and local were present edthe y were sustained in their several post eions and callings by a united vote vota more compact than that of the I 1 so solids south and such ouch as would or ought ia to convince the most skeptical anti mormon Mor naon that the laith and confidence in the inte arrit y of cheit leaders leader S have not declined one iota but on the contrary confidence increases as the people increase in years and become better acquainted with those who preside over their interests apostle taylor the presidency of the stake and others other will swill male a tour of the country hold meetings in the several wards and impart such in as they may be inspired to give WEBER |
