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Show LATTER-DAY SAINTS IN GONFERENGE PRESIDENT GRANT REVIEWS ACTIVITIES AC-TIVITIES OF CHURCH AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF YEAR. Declares That Never Before Since Hia Occupation of Position of Authority Author-ity Had He Felt So Much Occasion Oc-casion to Rejoice Over Progress. Sail Lake City. The ninety-tirst conference of the Church of Jesus ('hrisl of Latter-day Saims opened at 10 o'clock Sunday morning. April 3. in Ihe tabernacle. In bis opening aildress. President Grant reviewed Ihe activities of the church and ihe achievements of the pasl year, declaring ihal never before since his occupancy of t In- position of authority in the church had hi- felt, so much occasion lo rejoice over the progress made by the church. Itemizing some of the steps which he held as indicative of development, lie referred first to the mission work, declaring that this department of the church furnished an unequaled ex-' ample to the rest of the world for devotion to the principles of the gospel. gos-pel. In proportion to the number of missionaries in the field he believed that never in the history of the church had the results been so gratifying. Temple work, Ihe president said, had also shown satisfactory progress, a striking example of which was to be found in the fact that the' fast offerings of-ferings in a single Sunday, set apart toward the erection of a temple in Arizona, had yielded !?ns,00(l. Referring specifically to amounts expended ex-pended in different fields of church work. President Grant said that in the past year $718,407 has been used in educational work, $34(j,203 for tabernacles, taber-nacles, amusement halls and chapels and $."i01,7O0 for missionary work. He estimated the time and labor expended hy the missionaries to be the equivalent equiva-lent of $2,000,000, and declared it a marvel for the world to note that a people who numbered only half a million, all told, should so far devote their time and substance to the cause "hey had espoused. Assistance given to the poor during the year had amounted to $450,000, while $158,713 had been expended in temple work, another illustration of faithfulness in living up to the doctrines of revealed religion in laboring for the salvation of those who had died before receiving the gospel. President Grant paid high tribute to President Anthon H. Lund, who died only a few weeks ago. Charles W. Penrose, first counselor to President Grant, and Anthony W. Ivins, second counselor, recently elevated ele-vated to the position from the quorum of the twelve, were the other speakers speak-ers at the morning session. The addresses ad-dresses of both were largely theological theologi-cal in character, Mr. Penrose dealing with the nature, power and functions of the "Holy Ghost," while Mr, Ivins spoke chiefly of the inspiration of the "Book of Mormon." At the afternoon session, before calling call-ing on any of the general authorities to address the congregation. President Presi-dent Grant said that in his hasie and press of matters to be attended to at the morning session, lie had overlooked one of the most important, Jhe report as to tithing. Without specifying exact figures, the president said that he congratulated the Latter-day Saints upon the payment of a slightly larger sum in tithes during the year just ended than in the previous year. Apostle George F. Richards, president presi-dent of the Salt Lake temple, who followed Mr. Clawson, said that as the keynote of the last conference, "keep the commandments of God," hud proved so successful, he rejoiced that the. keynote of the jn-esent gathering was "continue to keep the commandments." command-ments." Speaking at the semi-annual conference con-ference of the Deseret Sunday School union. Sunday night. President Heber J. Grant declared that : "Any man. woman or child who claims that be. she or any other person per-son on earth, 'except Heber J. Grant, has received a revelation regarding the actions of others than himself and family is either a plain liar or has been deceived by the powers of evil, and to heed the doctrines of such person is a surej'oad lo bell." "There are certain persons among us." President Grant continued, "who are declaring that llieyjiave been instructed in-structed by the Lord to perform plural marriages. There are no plural marriages mar-riages in the church, and any person who al tempts to teach oilier than the prevailing syslem of one wife for one man is-sanctioning the practice of adultery, and any who enter such mar- r'ages are guMty of adultery in the : face of God. Now 1 guess you nrider-! nrider-! siand t lial." I |
