Show REMARKS ky fly DANIEL 11 II WELLS general coherence bowery ga S L city cuy oct sin sih 1865 1805 REPORTED BY G D WATT it is with joy and satisfaction indescribable to myself that I 1 enjoy the privilege lege brethren and sisters of standing before you at this conference this afternoon it is known to a great majority af pf of you that I 1 have been to europe on a mission I 1 am glad that I 1 have been to that country and that I 1 have been permitted to return to these valleys again a sain gain whether I 1 go away or return is all one to me inasmuch as I 1 am called to act in the church and kingdom of god and where the lord appoints me to act is where I 1 wish to be that is my place and position and it is my delight to be servient subservient Mib Aub unto the call and unto the counsel tounsel of those who hoiu holu hold hoid the authority to dictate in the church and kingdom of god if I 1 know myself that is the place I 1 wish to occupy at all times and on all occasions 0 evasions eca and it gives me great gatis satis satisfaction faction if I 1 can fill that place and perform the mission and duties required of me to perform in that way that shall be pleasing to them and unto my father in heaven for if I 1 please them I 1 shall please lease him and if I 1 please him hira I 1 shall please them I 1 feel grateful for the privilege lege of being a member of the church and kingdom of god and of being willing to do his bidding and abide the counsels of his servants sr I 1 feel happy in this calling and nd to be associated with a people whose e 6 bosoms bosoms beat bea re responsive sp with mine iii ili regard 0 great r at principles of the gospel of salvat salvation loh which has been beell revealed in iii these days for the guidance of the children of men upon the earth that all people may avail themselves of those privileges leges and principles the same as wo have done if the they choose it they have this option within themselves to obey and walk in the ways of life and salvation or to reject them they can do as they please when the principles of salvation are made known unto them they have their agency r and inasmuch as they will adopt them they can enjoy the privileges leges which we now enjoy and they cannot obtain them upon any other othen principle As we have heard this morning 0 every thing that is worth having we can obtain through the principles of tile the gospel and they are for the people of god the whole world we may say have gone a who after other gods and they worship not the godif israel the true god they do noot toot know him nor do they take the pains to know him whom to know is life eternal as we read in the scriptures what can the world tell you about him nothing they do not know him how are we to learn god whom to know now is eternal life we learn to know him through the principles of the gospel he is revealed to man through the authority of the holy priesthood which has been established amon among the children of men through h the revelations of the lord jesus chri christ 1 t to his servants what did we know about him who is our father previous t to receiving this latter iatter day work lid could we tell anything about the relationship that existed between god and his children anything about the object of god in bringing man upon the earth we knew nothing about this nor about the laws which should govern and control him to bring him to exaltation in the presence ot of god in ignorance of these great principles mankind come upon the earth they live and they die they do not know liow how to the purposes of the almighty in their own being belg how to accomplish the object of their creation and the end of their being on theearta the earth they cannot learn the things of god without the spirit of god I 1 have in my own feeble way tried to teach the people concerning the things of god to to teafil teah li them who goll ajol our ouy heavenly Hea renly lenly father is or in other W words the ways of eternal life and the relationship relations hip which exists between god and man to teach them those principles which will their being on the earth while they tarry here and the laws which the almighty has revealed for them to obey I 1 have borne a faithful testimony to the children of men so far as I 1 have had the power while I 1 have been on my mission and have endeavored to do what good I 1 could whenever an opportunity presented itself but I 1 have often times felt as though the people eople did not wish to know the things I 1 had to teach them and that they might as well be left with their idols I 1 have felt that my testimony has rebounded back upon me for they cared not to know the things of god the joseph smith in the last days as an idle dream they do not care ta to investigate it because they think it is a humbug and beneath their notice they treat it with contumely and disrespect they are united almost universally in rejecting it in passing it by while the kingdom of god is actually transpiring upon the earth and before the face and eyes of the whole world and they mark it not they have eyes and cannot see ears cars and cannot hear hearts and cannot comprehend nor understand understand or athey f they do understand will not biot obey the truth but they will reject it but does this conduct make it any less true no my good friends no ive vve we sye read in the good book that strait is the gate and alad narrow is the way which leads to eternal life and few there be which find it if the world wish to be saved in the kingdom of god let them take heed to the words of his servants that are abroad in the earth for they have the authority of the holy priesthood the authority of heaven the angel of god has come and restored the gospel to the eart earth h ili in these last days and we know it and feel able to bear this testimony to all ali the world and it has already gone as it were upon the wings of the morning to all the world let the people reject it if they can afford to do so we know they cannot afford to reject it it is the most expensive thing they ever rejected they had bad better receive it if they knew what would gould be for their best good lyof ty of the holy priesthood is hereupon the earth and all people can avail themselves of it if they think proper to do so k W why wey do not the thew worl orid d da doit dolt at thao however is their aown lown own demiri if we vile 4 arta aria arel faith falth faithful fulland and a acquit it ourselves as men 0 of f i god wd we thereby cipar cipan ourselves of the blood of this tilso generation the ff he communication muni cation has been opened up between the heavens and the earth do you know it latter day saints you do do the world know av it they may if they will take the proper course to put themselves in possession ledge but they do not caie care to know it they are like the blind that are ae lead by those who are blind and they will all fall into the ditch together I 1 have havo felt a pride in speaking to the people people in indifferent different nations and countries 0 of eing telling them that there is a place where good men may gather together where men and women of integrity dwell where the rights of all men are protected that there is a place upon the footstool of god where the rights of mankind can be enjoyed and respected where all men manhave can have the liberty of worshiping god according to the dictates of their conscience that there dwells a people who are for god there the earth has been reclaimed and is being brou brought lit 1 in subjection to the rule of the bo god d of heaven and the predominating feeling is for god I 1 have felt proud in bearing this testimony and pointing my finger to utah whery where good men and women may dwell in peace and where good order and good government pr prevail evall and the people are in subjection thir thip JO heavens rule who is doing this you latter day da saints where else can such a thing be found nowhere Ko where abroad in 16 the world evil influences predominate everywhere but here it is not so not hot but that there is 19 eyll evil here more or less I 1 expect to find it if it were not mingled up with the people of god then the wheat and the tares would not grow together until harvest as the parable of the savior plainly intimate would be the case i and this would supply grave reasons against it being the church and kingdom of god the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net cast into the sea which gathers both good and bad I 1 expect this is tile characteristic of the church of god here but still the predominating influences are for god the great maj majority ori orl of the people are submitting them heavens rule and seeking with all their might to establish the kingdom of god upon the carthand eart lland iland hand liand it is extending abroad lengthening its cords and astren strengthening chenin g its sta stakes I 1 ez it is a great blessing to live jive in such a place flace as this a great blessing to be a citizen of the church and kingdom of god upon the earth and to hail hall from zion the world may treat you sou vou with contempt but let them laugh lio ho wins and who will win if the la imater ter day saints do not the world are in ignorance with regard to the principles that will save mankind they do not know of any ank principles that will save any portion of mankind either here or hereafter they do not know how to save themselves they have a pretty good government in Eng En giandi glandt and iii ili I 1 like ilke e that country pretty well for a great many things you can go there and bear teotimo testimony 1 by and tell the truth and be protected by tile the laws you can that without being exposed to much danger of being mobbed as the latter day saints have been in this ceu country although there is some opposition but the people stand in fear of the administrators of the law because they will administer it even in in protection of the latter day saints it is a nice little island the island of great britain and there awell dwell upon it a great many good warmhearted warm hearted people and I 1 love them there are a great agrest many people there who are trying to know the ways of eternal life ann and they will treat the ministers aisters of salvation with more respect than in many other countries I 1 am glad to be associated with such a people there are many persons who belong to the church in foreign countries who would be glad to be gathered with the people here and there are many who although they do not belong to the church and kingdom of god still feel to realize and know that there is something necessary to b be done they have no confidence inthe in the organized systems of religion of the present day the they can see no consistency in them and suppose that everything in the shape share of reil refi religion gion glon is a humbug mormonism has sprung up in the same age and they condemn it without examination as being like all the rest nothing more than an idle dream talk to them about revelation yes they have false revelations and if they have false revelations and false spirits does it prove that there are no true ones the very reverse ig the fact and they would find true revelation and true spirits if they would only seek geek for them in ther the night right i way we as latti eater da dayi dayl i saints ilour have av nj ause to bo be we we bave have found out the way of eternal life because we have hame had the blessed privilege of hying ili in this day and ago age of the world in which the gospel of salvation has been revealed forthe for the guidance of the children of men that we have been recipients of that knowledge J nov ledge which leads to eternal life and salvation in the presence of god that we have been gathered out from the world that we may not partake of her abominations and of the plagues which are to come upon her that this land has been consecrated and dedicated to god that it has been held for the latter day saints to occupy to plant and build and inhabit and that in consequence of this the land has bas i been made to bring forth for the sustenance of his people who have been gathered out from where the wicked rule and the people mourn those who have embraced the gospel in foreign lands si sigh g h for deliverance and the hope of this deliverance is tile the only ray of light that burns in their souls and that gives them joy although they live with their whole lives oppressed this beam of gladness has found its way into their souls through the principles of the gospel and hence i they are less oppressed in their feelings than many others A hope springs up in their bosoms that the time will come for their deliverance from the tile oppression under which they groan many of you ou have bavo been delivered from those lond bonds sand and from that oppression you may have suffered poverty and sickness and been afflicted in many ways and and perhaps have found things different than what you anticipated in in many respects in this your newly adopted country yet you have been delivered from a land where oppression reigns and have been placed in a land of liberty in a country where you can expand and grow where you can plant your children with a hope that they may rise to importance in the kingdom of god to something beyond what you and your forefathers forefather have been enabled to do in in the land where you have formerly lived that you and your offspring may dwell where virtue peace and industry may meet with their rei ward how is it in many of those old coun tries with the poor and it is with this chass that we havethe most to do for some cause known perhaps best to him I 1 that rules on high hiell it is the poor who embrace the gosp gospel who receive the g gospel os 1 e 1 who receive the message of goo good d t tidings tidia ad ivi iti g gs it ris his is bothem a atheme theme of ot gladness s and n d joy j 0 y more than to any other class of men hundreds and thousands of them are butof out of employment their stores gone and they have no resources but what arise from their daily labor and they are on the borders of starvation the dearth in cotton has thrown thousands of people out of employment upon the coi col cold coid charities of the world how is it here saying nothing about religion here a man can get a little land and in a short time gather around him the necessaries of life upon which he can subsist and let the world wag as i it will his condition is is improved and he may and in fluence flu Elu enee ence how is it there why he may tread in the path in which his fathers trod but can go no further can advance no higher in the scale of exis esis tance if times are good he may subsist and that comfortably I 1 am speaking of the poor classes those that the gospel most generally find to them such bucl a deliverance as the gospel offers is glad tidings of great joy for they can plant themselves where their children can rise above what their fathers father shave bave been this is what many thousands of the latter day saints have accomplished by emigrating from that country to this his and man many more thousands will be benefited in tie the same way vay abis this is only one oneff of the benefits which the gospel confers upon those who obey it t it benefits man whenever it touches h him im temporally and spiritually religiously bously morally and politically it gives him in an understanding of life it teaches him how bow to live and how bow to exalt his being to the standard of heavenly intelligence telli gence how to bring up his children and educate them in a proper manner and how to avail himself of the facilities and advantages which the sciences and arts present to advance the purposes of the almighty in the redemption of the human race teaching him not only how to live in time but inell in all sli eternity giving him knowledge how to stan stand forth like a man of god in the world to his purposes the latter day saints have the most |