| Show DISCOURSE delivered at the sixty eighth annual conference in the tabernacle salt lake city utah wednesday morning april eth 1898 by PRESIDENT GEORGE 0 CANNON it is gratifying this morning to see 00 large an assem assemblage blage in this building t the commencement of our conference and it is to be hoped that the iny terest that to is manifested today by those W ho bo are present will be maintained dur saag the conference that through that interest rest we may obtain a goodly decree the spirit of god and may all feel alphen n this conference closes that it has him ten the best conference we ever at ed this is is the usual feeling itch those who attend the conferences experience at each conference itce blessings of god that are re ived appear to be greater than and of this faver ver before course ing to Is produced by the inest at that each one has in attending meetings and in listening to the inactions eions and drinking into the spirit the conference it to is most gratify to all of US ua to see president and to hear his voice As he t sold eaid he scarcely expected a few ya a ago to be able to attend this con nce ince suffering as he did from a very re are attack of cold but he is here 1 l us and it is a cause of great satis sioto and pleasure to all to see him to hear bear his voice even if it is ii only a brief period As aas president woodruff has said the agress 0 of the work is very gratifying te an important period in which we i living A great change has taken ee e in relation to this work and its lying g upon the nations no doubt L greater portion of this congregation I 1 remember the promises that were ae by the servant of god during the il cation tion of the salt lake temple five aia ago predictions were made then jt seemed unlikely to be fulfilled 9 at affairs as men naturally look p it them em but not a word was said acer aming ning the progress of this work at the favor that it would find from it time forward that has not been rally ay iy fulfilled H I 1 have wd said a great change has en place in relation to the work of lord it occupies a different J in many respects to that which ever occupied before it was a ewe e of at consolation to the saints in dark hours that we witnessed some jor twelve years ago to hear the eli predict that a better day was at to dawn upon the people and we should emerge from the trials difficulties and sorrows of those with greater influence and more jer r more respected as a people than ever er had bad been it seemed highly im ble that those predictions would filled because the bitterness en talked toward the latter day saints L their religion was so widespread ae seated but those arl predictions dictions been fulfilled iii aye often been surrounded by circumstances and there have been many times in our history when it seemed as though this work of god would be overthrown and all his purposes brought to naught those who have fought against this work have indulged in those anticipations the measures which they undertook and which they endeavored to carry out had for their object the destruction of this organization and the breaking up of this people they supposed these measures sufficient to accomplish the ends they had in view if they had not felt sure of this they would without doubt have tried other plans that which has sustained the lat ter day saints during their times of trial has been the spirit of prophecy the lord has given to his elders the spirit of prophecy in the midst of the most terrible trials when the people were broken up driven out from their homes and possessions in a state of utter destitution without food without proper clothing without shelter home less wanderers scattered by the ruthless hand of violence in those dark hours the lord gave unto his servants the spirit of prophecy it rested upon them in power and they predicted to the people that a better day would dawn upon them and they would emerge from their trials stronger and better more firmly rooted in the faith which the lord had revealed to them than they were before more than once in the history of the latter day saints have mobs driven them from their homes the places the lord had designated as places of gathering and they were a scattered people broken up and without an abiding place but under the of the almighty through the spirit of prophecy that he gave to his servants and to the people themselves they were drawn together and held by bonds that were invisible to human eyes and though at times they were widely separated they were drawn together to the new gathering place which under the inspiration of the almighty through his servants and in which they themselves also shared they knew to be the place for them once more to assemble how numerous the tem all around them to induce them to desert the cause of god to leave a people who were so persecuted and who had to endure such trials these invisible bonds of which I 1 speak drew them together and prompted them to again attempt to build up cities and temples where they could worship the almighty according to the commandments which he had given unto them it is truly marvelous marve marv elque loua to look back upon the history of the latter day saints to see the power that had been manifested in holding them toge together thet as they have been As I 1 have said those who framed plans against them supposed they could not fall fail in the organization of the church and separating the people in such a way that they would never again be united but the people did gather together again it was waa the power of god that did this it was waa the spirit of prophecy that rested upon the servants of god which encouraged the people which told them that the lord had revealed and established his church on the earth and that there was neither power on earth nor in hell that could destroy it or that could thwart his purposes as predicted by the mouths of his holy prophets As in the past so it has been of late years that same spirit has rested upon the people and there is this grand errand peculiarity connected ath this work it has not been those men alone who have been chosen by the lord to lead who have had haa this spirit they have not prophesied without a witness on the part of the falth faithful ful people themselves that that which they ther said was the truth and from the almighty por for in the hearts of all the latter day saints there has had been a responsive echo to the words of hope cheer and comfort and prophesy that have been given by those upon whom the spirit of prophecy has rested the people have felt the spirit they have been cheered and sustained by it we have seen this so often that that that which the lord has spoken concerning his work will be fulfilled it is astonishing when we reflect upon it what has been done in this respect ct we have seen people driven out from their homes in utter destitution crossing the plains with improvised pro wagons made in the rudest manner out of the greenest material with cows or oxen or ponies or any thing that could be hitched up to draw them a few personal effects thrown into the wagon with a smal amount of tood food many of the men and the women too almost barefooted and the children in the same condition all inspired by one spirit and that the spirit of god there was nothing in their circumstances that could be seen by the natural eye to cheer or to sustain them but they were full of hope buoyant in their feelings traveling with as much confidence arld and certainly as though they knew every eveia step they had to take and that there was a good place ahead of them which they would reach and in the pleasures of which they could pax partake take we have seen this I 1 say and it has been an astonishing illustration of what god can do tor for a people of how he can sustain them and inspire them to do the work that he requires at their hands when the saints were in iowa then a territory traveling through and afterwards ter ter wards at winter quarters the women in many 14 instances stances took their feather beds and sent them down to missouri to sell in order to get a little provision all sorts of expedients were resorted to in order to get a little food there was missouri on the left inviting the people a good land food in plenty a land where they could live with comparative para tive ease but did the saints ewe swerve did they during the dreadful days of winter quarters think they must desert that place many died through exposure and the want of suitable food and go where way they could get some of the comforts woon and conveniences ces of life ware such thoughts in the hearts of the people no no such feeling was manifested if any deserted then they were so few as not to be remembered the people had a mission each man woman and child that was old enough felt that god had entrusted to him and to her a mission and with unswerving integrity with unfaltering courage urage ep they maintained their foothold there until the time when they could start further west it was that same spirit and intensity of devotion that inspired them in coming tc this land and what was it that kept the people here what influence was there operating upon them was there anything inviting in this land to look at it now and to imagine that this was its condition when the brethren and sisters came here in the first place you would say this is an inviting country a delightful place to stop but no such sight as we now witness was beheld by them everything was forbidding it looked as though the people might starve to death and after the crickets came it certainly looked for a while as though they would starve to death did the latter day saints talt erthen alt no they did not what was it that sustained them it was this same spirit of prophecy that I 1 have alluded to the spirit of God which is the spirit of prophecy the elders testified that this was the place which god had chosen and which he had bad appointed as a place of gathering for his saints and they themselves had the same testimony the same spirit A peculiar love sprung up in the hearts of the people for this land even in those days there was something most attractive attra about its mountains and valleys and these clear streams of water that flowed from the mountains ono one thing that added to its chiren chann was it was a land of liberty a land of freedom a land where moba could not come and attack us as ao they had bad done in the past a place where the families of the saints and the leading men among them could go to bed in peace and quietness undisturbed by the fear that they would be attacked during the night this brought a strange and delightful feeling of relief if they only had bread to eat or sufficient to sustain life if they had only water to drink I 1 believe that the great bulk of the people with ith scarcely an exception I 1 may say would have been content to remain here even under those circumstances The idea of having fruit such as we now have and in such abundance was scarcely anticipated it if anticipated at all it was by but very few because the seeds that were sown and the little trees that grew up were frozen down the first two or three years but there was a contented and a happy people here they went to bed with their doors unlocked there was no fear among them they had been relieved from a terrible fear those who came under those circumstances could recall the nights and the hours houis they had spent watching and fearing for a mob to come upon them to drive them out of their homes to burn their houses perhaps to inflict upon them personal violence they remembered too that not one of their leading men could go to sleep in his igo house without having a guard to watch him the relief from that condition of affairs was such as to bring happiness in and of itself but I 1 say again it was the spirit of prophecy that rested upon the elders and upon tbt that sustained them god revealed by his holy spirit the future that awaited the th oertle oe otle the people knew as they diew ew that tat they lived that this work was bound to triumph that it was bound to be successful that those who lei citing to it would be successful with it an A hat t there was S a great and glorious aa awaiting them not only in this life but in the realms of bliss in the life to come it has been that same spirit that has rested down of late years upon the people they have been comforted and sustained by the spirit of god and the predictions of the servants of god it is a wonderful blessing my brethren and sisters it is well tor for us to think of it today as the members of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints think that we are in this happy condition that the heavens are in communication muni cation catton with us because it is from heaven that we receive these blessings that are so delightful and that have such an effect upon us and upon our movements it is a blessed thing to think that the heavens axe are with us in this that we are guided by the revelations of the lord jesus that the gift of prophecy has been restored in our day and has been received and enjoyed by men not a prediction has been uttered concerning this work so far as the work itself is concerned that has not been fulfilled not a hope has been inspired not an encouragement has been given to the latter day saints by the prophets of god that has not up to the present hour been abundantly fulfilled as fax far as we have gone much yet remains to be fulfilled it would be impossible for the human mirld mind to conceive of that which remains but we see the fulfillment of the predictions as we progress day by day they are fulfilled in our sight chenour when our eyes are open to perceive them therefore our hearts ought to be filled with gladness and exceeding thanksgiving to the lord our god that we are in this condition that the lord has not forgotten us that he has not closed his ears against us nor his mouth so that he cannot speak to us that he has not turned his face away awa from us but that he smiles upon us anat at he gives unto us the comforting cheering and enlightening influences of his holy spirit to be with us now we are passing through other trials we have emerged from those that environed us a few years ago A great change as I 1 have said has taken place in public feeling concerning us our elders are treated generally with a great deal of kindness of the thousand elders that axe are now laboring in the united states the report comes from most of them that they are treated with kindness traveling without purse and scrip they are entertained friends are raised up to them doors are opened to them and they are treated kindly and not persecuted to anything like the extent they were a few years ago the same report comes from the five hundred elders who are now engaged in the ministry in europe their testimony agrees with the testimony of the servants of god in the united states this is particularly the case in the german empire there was a time when it was almost at the cost of personal liberty that men preached the gospel there they had to do so in secrecy in places where the police could not punish them because of the nature of their gatherings ings but now this to Is changed religious freedom has dawned in many of these countries and the elders now can preach without being put in jeopardy as they were a few years ago on the islands of the pacific there are some two hundred elders laboring and their labors are am also attended with good results they speak of the manifestation fe of the power and blessings 1 of god in their behalf and of the kind ly feeling that la ig manifested towards them by those with whom they are brought t in contact thus these seventeen hundred elders are laboring now with an efficiency and with a success that Is unparallel in the history of our church at no time has hae this church held an annual conference where there was greater cause for and thanksgiving than |
