Show am behil 01 ANIUAL 60 FREIGE lebe sixty ninth semiannual semi annual con Ifer tence of the church of jesus christ au latter day saints commenced in tabernacle salt lake city at 10 AL ma m on thursday oct 6 1898 dent Ij lorenzo orenzo snow presiding of the general authorities present on ion de ae stand aland there were of the first r lorenzo snow george 3 cannon and joseph F smith of te e quorum of the twelve apostles franklin D richards brigham T toung oung francis M lyman john henry smith george teasdale beber 3 grant john W taylor mar frider aper W merrill anthon H lund matthias F cowley and abraham owen woodruff patriarch john smith of ef the first seven presidents of sev engles seymour B young 13 H lk Baito erts george reynolds and jonathan Q agn G kimball of s the presiding william B preston robert T r burton and john R winder was called to order by george Q cannon abe choir and congregation sang the which begins redeemer of israel dur only delight fa 11 whom for a blessing we call 0 ow ur shadow by day j and our pillar by night aur king our deliverer our all opening prayer by elder john nich elon se hymn which begins as follows um sung by the choir yH 10 Seo stands with hills surrounded on kept by power divine jel X her foes shall be confounded though ugh the world in arms combine zion what a favored lot is thine PRESIDENT LORENZO SNOW upon the object of the people in booming together in conference and their duty in assembling to enter into saini conan union munion with god and to improve ad perfect themselves in the zw of at truth the need of supernatural SUI dence in their peculiar labors and difficulties was spoken of as also the save love which god to is always willing to dada to his children as illustrated in ae toe ministration of jesus after his to the spirits of the ante delav deluvia lans ns the great blessings prom caad laad to the saints were spoken ot of and Aher were urged not to do anything by these blessings would be for betted GEORGE Q CANNON addressed Or essed the conference he sald said the last six months had not been 16 by many conspicuous caffe tes excepting the loss of our be president es dent ident he then spoke of the ion tion of the missionary field id in which saUs satisfactory factory advance t was being made an all the coun in n which the elders were laborthe speaker made reference to gratifying results of greater care g taken in the selection of depre etive ive latter day saints both male female dewal for the work of the min the improvement in ih the circum W cea eb of the saints speaking gener over the situation in ahalt regard ch prevailed a year ago was a ae for thankfulness the necessity ot an an the people being employed re atred due attention and president tk Oan I 1 tion pointed cointe d out methods by the lion of which this could be accomplished ii complis hed A portion of the discourse devote to showing what could be 3 in material matters by t coupled with the exercise of in bual al energy there was an indisposition ishag to appeal for help fattes 69 of difficulty to the church f was wrong it was not ad ln in to respond ii A to the numerous applications tor for financial aid which were constantly being made ELDER MATTHIAS F COWLEY of the council of the apostles was the next speaker he stated that the object of conferences of the church was the strengthening of the people in their faith and their encouragement in the performance of their duties living in strict accordance with their covenants would give to the saints a testimony that they were accepted of god if one was not performing his whole duty and was not chided by the holy ghost he was in a dangerous condition having deadened the spirit within him I 1 elder cowley y referred to a visit of the departed president young to president woodruff and his admonition to him to tell the people to get the spirit of god and keep it this injunction though apparently commonplace to be delivered was a message worthy by a a departed prophet to a living one tor for it was the keynote of the life of every son and daughter of god it was all the more necessary because of the fact that the belief generally prevailed in the earth that this spirit was not to be given to men in this day but the message of the elders promising the bestowal of this spirit fell upon prepared eara eam and found faithful ones ready to accept and enjoy the promise this promise and the n through winch which it was given was designed to bo be perpetual and through perfection of interruption of the line of authority was avol avoided ded men were called as much by the spirit of reve ladon in abhi day of the past as in any whether in the days of moses of the apostles els arany or any other era of 0 the he gospel light in the days of moses many of the people were unprepared to bo receive and obey bibey the higher laws of the gospel and lower commandments temporal in their nature were given them the sanle faith which was manifested by moses was exemplified by tills tas sue euc joshua the lesser priesthood was retained in israel until christ came and restored reo the fullness of the gospel the organization and power of the priesthood were restored to in our day and men had been called to tiong cloais of trust and a nd I responsibility by rev revel aAton eledon as well as in times timea pat referring to tahe principle of faith elder cowley commended the statement of nephi that god gave no commandments mand ments without preparing the way for keeping them by trust in god and prayer to him true education and for all duties of life could be by every man this at would also be sis dated by the faithful performance of all the duties of life not merely their partial performance in an all these matters would result la in a gr greater ealter outpouring of the spirit of testimony upon the people no man who studied studded and kept the laws law of the gomel ever wearied in the wm work k this was one of tine the greatest evidences of the truth of mormonism the choir sang we thank thee 0 god for a prophet benediction benedicta on by patriarch PatrI aTch john smith 4 AFTERNOON SEiS SION 0 the hymn which begins as follows was sung by the choir and congregation now let us rejoice in the day of salvation no longer as strangers on earth need we roam v good tidings are sounding to us and each nation and shortly the hour of redemption will come prayer by elder george C parma son singing all hail the glorious day by prophets long foretold when with harmonious lay the sheep of israels told fold on zions hill his praise proclaim and shout hosanna to his name ELDER ANTHON H LUND of the quorum of apostles was waa the first speaker he said in substance he I ad iad been absent from home at the last conference laboring in the orient where he had interesting experiences experience the saints in the turkish empire had been for a time without a full organization until he and elder hintze were sent there the saints there rejoiced in the gospel and enjoyed its spirit being well grounded in its considering their isolated condition they were also under the disadvantage of not having the church works translated into their language langi age yet the spirit of the lord was leading them into all truth elder lund and his hia companions had the pleasure of baptizing and confirming fir a number and making the organization of branches etc more cam complete even the efforts of the adversaries of the work numbers of different christian churches had resulted in arousing a spirit of inquiry the officers of the Covern government ment were fair to the elders and saints allowing a measurable degree of freedom in religious worship not so much freedom was allowed however to mahometano Mahome tans who were held strictly to the established religion when disturbance was made by the enemies of the truth it was thought wisdom not to appeal to the government and run the risk of arousing the old bitterness between the turks and the christians but the persecution amounted to but little much of the blood of israel was sprinkled among the armenians Armen ians and the fruits of the spirit were manifest very frequently among the saints A gathering place for the saints was waa sought out by the elders on an their visit referring to the prophecy of moses regarding the scattering of israel and the curse pronounced upon the land the speaker stated that the prophecy had been strikingly fulfilled but elder orson hyde had been sent to palestine to dedicate it for the gathering of the jews and since that time a strong sentiment of gathering had arisen among the jews and a desire to become an independent nation and to own the land given to their fathers in one place had settled since 1896 and notwithstanding the opposition of the sultan the zious Zion fatt movement was rapidly advancing it was one of the signs of the times A colony of americans hasmet was met to in jerusalem who had gone there under tinder the impression that christ would bjoin come and they desired to live I 1 bh W when he should come to mount olivet they had all things in V and did much good to the poor they pointed out the fact that jerusalem was being built on cm th lines laid out in hi the prophecy of zechariah charlah Ze though without any previous design before the saints could gather to the place selected it would be necessary tor for their faith to be strengthened preparatory to the establishment of a zion on the eastern continent no power on earth could prevent this RIMER ELDER MARRINER W iMER RIIA of the quorum of the apostles was waa 00 next speaker his hia remarks were ab atto stant lally lY as follows all had an object in view in coming to Confere hice probably a majority present were ware from distant parts we were here tc to be instructed and to listen to the spirit of the lord we were here to be refreshed it was a rood good time t to look over our course of private life and judge of our standing and fellowship with the lord the lord had been good and merciful to the saints we were constrained to acknowledge hla his hand which had been over the people the elements had been tempered and the land blessed and made productive A short time ago dt looked as if this region was a barren waste but a great change had been bean wrought here and there was plenty in the land the lord had also given us charge of his work to organize his people and send the gospel to every kindred of the earth this was our calling and our labor we came together from time to time at the general conferences and we heard from the brethren regarding the spread of this great work and we were ere led to praise the lord for his mercies mer cles we had the most perfect organization on the earth it was such as to be beyond the wisdom of man to formulate we had been advised to seek counsel of each other in the midst of counsel there was wisdom the speaker questioned whether we wae f ully fully appreciated edthe the facilities tor for safety and development within our reach these should receive the closest at attention tenon the bishoprick bishoprics Bish Bleh of the wards should meet often together calling others in to aid them in considering the welfare of their flocks aind become acquainted with the condition of their communities if they were unable to solve all the questions that might arise there were others to whom they could apply and obtain the lindof o nind of the lord on any subject young people ap appalled pIlled to bishops shops for recommends and in some instances those officers were not sufficiently informed regarding the stand ining of those applicants the general authorities met often to consider the well being of the saints as a whole the same concentrated attention would be beneficial in local matters by the officers of the church in the wards and branches god ha haft given us organizations izat ions and the duties relating to all should be faithfully fulfilled when it became necessary to select teachers priests and other lesser officers the subject should be well considered that those best beat adapted for the various classes of ministerial labors might be chosen god had bad entrusted us with the conduct of the sacred work for our dead kindred in the holy temples erected to the name of at the most high the work of the lord was expanding and so were the saints in their views viere there was an increasing desire to obtain genealogical information that the work of redeeming deeming the dead might go forward we wished to be in a position to say to our kindred when we passed beyond the vell veil that we had done clone all we could for them this great duty and responsibility should not be neglected numbers of those who made a beginning in this direction obtained the spirit of that work by increased comprehension and wished to continue it there ought to fco be no strife nor contention among the saints there should be peace unity and a nd friendship in all their relations wath each other either J GOLDEN KIMBALL was the next si speaker Deaker he said that me his only desire was to serve the lord in the mission to which he had been called to preach the gospel continually among the people he was willing under proper direction to travel without purse or scrip to fast and pray and in other ways to emulate the example of his father in politics and business he claimed the right to exercise his privileges and duties u uri ri der def proper conditions but the greatest edaly of all was to serve the lord the joamber of at elders in the various missions was not so go great as it had been yet there was opportunity for qualified men to be sent into the world this was the special duty of the seventies yet there were many of these who had never filled missions to the nations of the earth it was a most unfortunate thing for a man holding the priesthood Prie to be deprived of this privilege it frequently happened that they were deprived on account of being in debt if such men were sent it left a great burder burden on the bishops of wards and presidents of stakes in the support of their families yet this was the manifest duty of the latter datter day saints no matter how much expense and trouble might be involved the speaker prayed that the brethren might be prospered and enable enabled ed to release themselves from the bondage of debt and take up this great labor he also expressed the hope that all terms of contention and disunion might be removed from the midst of the people ELDER GEORGE REYNOLDS followed bearing bear lnig his testimony to the truth of the latter day work wark and to the labors being by tine the saints all things would be brought about according to the will of god and the aaa th prepared for the reign of chrit christ nothing which had been promised of the lord should tall fall though our efforts might deem weak god would uld not permit that hl his kingdom be overthrown those thom to whom god gave thle revelation in all ages were men having weaknesses such as we pons possessed eSsed their weakness rendering them humble and willing to perform their labors we were told to bo be perfect as an yur our father in heaven la is perfect and thus there was opened before na ts the tha path of eternal pro progress greW difficulties dieks being placed tn in the way for um ual to overcome and thus gain strength many things accomplished by the latter day saints not only proved the ow presence of the helping hand of god od but atoo showed abst from the human standpoint miracles had been accomplished this was apparent in the history not only of this region but of the world god had pro prospered espered his people and had made them uniformly well situated in worldly things the bothe promise had also been made that if we kept the commandments mand ments of god we should be more abundantly alesc ble geed ed receiving such material blessings it would be required that we honor the laws of god being faithful in the payment of tithes and offerings in order to relieve the leaders of the church |