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Show I CONFERENCE OF 1 MORMON CHURCH If - Apostle Penrose Opposes the Viovrs of Brigham H. Roberts and De-pi De-pi clares the Multitude Is Not Fit to Rule Itself All tho Speakers in Harmony With President of the Church. f: n Tho eighty-third semi-annual con- !M y, feronce of the Church of Josus Christ t)i 1 of Latter-day Snlnta was closed vos- Itorday In Sail Lake, after tho m'era- M i hers had sustained the church offl- S ;' cers and listened to 3Crraons by bov- ; oral leading churchraon. Tho prin- 5J clpal address wbb delivered by Apos- g tlo Charles W. Penrose, second coun- g:; selor, to President Josoph P. Smith, E : who made a reply to th sermon de- ! i Jirorcd josterday fcy Brigham H. Rob- Ii orta, In which Roberts made a plea for personal liberty In political life, I In the tabcrnaclo. President Joseph 1 F. Smith presided -at the morning and nfternoon services. Tho mammoth f auditorium wae overtaxed by the im- meneo assemblages. Tho estimate waB that 12,000 poraons wore in the tnb- i crnaclo at each of the mcatinga, and, r in the afternoon, there must havo pJ; been 20,000 persons In the tabornacle, irf essembly hall and outdoor gathering. I ft. Throughout tho conference hns heon gratlfylngly successful. It was ' a mighty exposition of the wonderful Jt: and olose fellowship which bindu loin; lo-in; gcthor a great peoplo In one faith, 5 one hope aud united worship of one rill supreme being. Especially in tho af-f af-f feernoon did the overwhelming throng II typify tho compact unity of the Mor-ft Mor-ft mon 'people. i; Spoakers at the Tabernacle meet- lngs were Elder Charles W, Penrose, jf of the first preaidoncv; Eldera Orson t F. Whitney, George A. Smith. David f O. McKay, Joseph F. Smith, Jr., and W James E. Talmage of the quorum of K twelve npostloo, and President Josoph jf F. Smith, who closed and dismissed s thq corforence In a brlof addreBB of ff admonition Elder George F. Rlch- I ards is confined to hlB homo on ac- count of illness and President Smith Ii i asked the nalnts to make a petition for hie recovery a special subject of jj : their prayers. K i Two Overflow Meetings 5 One of the overflow meetings was beld In the Assembly hall, In charge &f Elder Anthony W. Ivins of the I mnorum of twelve apostles. Assisting J i him -a. speakers wore President Sam. j' uel O. Bennlon of the Central StateB uaiBslon. Presldont German E. Ells- l worth of tho Northern States mission, f President Charles A. Callls of the A Southern States mission and Elder "jS David H. Cannon of St. Georgo. Music i -was supplied by tho Seventeenth ward g choir. iAn outdoor meeting wa3 held near the bureau of Information. Elder Benjamin Goddard had charge of this Brvice and he was assisted by President Presi-dent Mel vin J. Ballard of tho North-western North-western States mission. Prosldent m, William McLachlan of the Pioneer 7i ; stake. President John L Herrick of i ' the Western States mission and Elder ill Andrew Jcnson, recontly returned J from the Scandinavian mission, over .1 i which he had presided. Tho singing $ ' was by a few selected voices and the H congregation, under direction of Elder JJ : w C Cllve. jjtt" In the labcrnacle serxices there jfit wore splendid nrogramr, of musical (IfS numbers. Including the following-7flj following-7flj Anthem, "Awake, My Soul," by tho -ffl choir, with Miss Margaret Summer-Si! Summer-Si! bays ' and Thomas Ashwovth in the M$ boIo and duet parts: anthem, "Grant : iUr Peace, O Lord," bv the choir, with t' iMIbs Sarah Woodward and James 1 u Montcar in duot: "O. Zion. When I ffi' Think of Thee." by Fred Graham and , ; the chorus: "Christ Is Risen,' by tho 'if!' choir, with Miss Rose Smlthen and j al Carl Samuelson jn duet; male, quar-lIV quar-lIV tet, "O Give Me Back My Prophet (j! Dear," bv James Moutcar, Howard : 'Anderson, Hyrum Christlanson and Hi Walter Lnmoreaux, anthem "The a':i Nations Bow," by the choir, with Miss 'Si Hill In soprano solo f Mornlnp in Tabernacle. H At the morning service In tho Tab-Ik Tab-Ik rnacle Elder David H Cannon gave .t the invocation and Elder SerRO F. Bal- lard pronounced the benediction. In a the afternoon the Invocation was by -U Elder Charles F- Mlddloton, president '5 of the Ogdcn stake, and tie benedlc-T& benedlc-T& tlon was bv Elder Charles W. Nlbley. nreBidlnc bishop of the church. '2' Elder Charles W. Penrose of the S; fimt presidency was the first speaker m at yeaterdav morning's meeting. He i g was followed by Elder Orson F. Whit-o; Whit-o; ' nev of the quorum of twelve apostle, l 2 'who prefaced KIr addrcaB by quoting. ?5 "Once to every man and nation cornea "'S iho moment to decide, In the striro Hg of truth with falsehood, for the good l9 lor evil Bide;" and S; "Wo believe- all that God has ro- 3 ialea, all that He does now reveal, I , and wo believe that ho will yet re-ft re-ft real many great and important things 71 ipertalning to the kingdom of God.' I , Apootles Aro Compared. fl j ' "The Latter-day Sainta," cemtinuofi A - rKldor Whitnoy, "stand committed to 3 n tthcEO principles and trutho, During J J the recent indisposition which con-, con-, 1 fined mo to my home for several dayr v1 1 perused tho Hfo of tho Apostle PnuL ;f ; reading along with It tho epIstleB of fa e St Paul and the Acts of the Apostles. 3 :' J was struck with the general slmilar-fj slmilar-fj . Ity of tho experiences of tbis mighty y apoetlo of Jcaus Christ and those of 110 l another apostlo of Jesus Christ, name- ' ly Joseph Smith. T conld almost ira-yfl ira-yfl J jaglno myself, reading anew the hia-?? hia-?? tory of tho great rropbet of tho lattor , ,dcya In the account of tho experi-J5 experi-J5 i fence? of tho Apoatle Paul. Truo, ithere were sreat dlfforcncos betwoon $ ; itbesc two mon. Joseph Smith was TJ ; never a porsecutor of the church of lit : fGod, nor n persecutor of any man or -4? im; and when ho closed his careor abJ ; (he -is elain by an Irresponsible mob, hitf ' wfallt- tue ApoBtle Paul was tho victim jOf a legal murder. J ' . "Paul was condemned to death by J5 itho Roman emporor, Nero, and was fb fceheaded in the year A. D. G6 at Rome "H ! for tho testimony of Jesus. Joseph i : ISmith and hlo brothor Hyrum wore js? T .shot to death at Carthage. 111., Juno 1 5 ' '27, 184. Paul waa accused of a cap-jfsl cap-jfsl iltal crime of setting fire to tho great "2 : capital of Rome. It was a false. 2 - charge, but under it he was executed. fl ; Joseph Smith was also falsely charg- j ' d with riot and treason nnd was 1 . thrust In prison to await trial, when ijl J; a mob broke In and put him and his 'J , brothor to death. i "What was tho real reason for tne 21 sacrifice of these mon Tho funda-flf'3nental funda-flf'3nental reason was this: that Uioy Jim re Borvnnts of tho living God and - lataa wanted thorn out of tho way iMW they were in the ray of the progress of hb malicious work. Each of those t men was a proclalmer of the gospel, j tho restored gospel, at tho opening of a now dispensation. Yes, Paul preached preach-ed no now gospel, as ho told tho Q-latlans. Q-latlans. Tho gospol that Paul preached preach-ed was the gospal that K'noch, Noah, Abraham and Mobos pi tohed. But tho peoplo would have .one of It; they wero not worthy of t. they had not programed up to the point where they could accept it. Miction of Christ. "What did Christ ask of that ancient an-cient people? Did ho propose to destroy de-stroy that which they had that was good, virtuous and praiseworthy? No. 'Think not that I come to destroy, but to fulfill," Ho said. This waif what tho opening of that dispensation mennt: 'Como up higher.' Chriet came unto His own people, but His own received Him not. Because the great mass of the Jewish people rejected re-jected their Messiah, tho gospel turned turn-ed from them and wont to the Gen-IIIob. Gen-IIIob. The Son of God was crucified and Hie apostiofl wore put to death. The world was unwilling to receive something better than that which it already had. HAnd this Is similar to what occurred occur-red when Josoph Smith opened tho last dispensation. He did not a3k the people to discard anything which they hod that was good and of righteous neus. Joseph aoked the world not to turn Its back upon the Redeemer, not to forget Jesus Christ He came to restoro tho g03pol o truth In this la3t dispensation tho dispensation of tho fullness of tlm?g;. This Js Mor-monlsm's Mor-monlsm's message to mankind. It le a messago, not of war, but of peace; It Is a mettsago not of destruction, destruc-tion, but of conservation. It asks the world to throw away the doctrines of men and tho doctrines of devils and como back to Christ. And this le all that caused the death of Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum. It was not tho destruction of tho Nauvoo Expositor. Expos-itor. It wa6 not bocause ho called out tho Nauvoo legion to protect his uoople from violence. It waa because he was proclaiming tbe gospel, which through him, the Lord had restored in the last dnys, "There has been a rediscovery of God. Hundreds, thousands, tons of thousands are today worshiping the true and the living God. who is no moro like the God of the Christian world than heaven Is like earth or earth like heaven. History Is repeating re-peating itself. Tiio Jews wero expecting ex-pecting a Messiah, and when Ho came they crucified Him and put Him to death, and then wont on eipectlui; Ilim again. The Christian world has alaln the prophets of God In this day, Bftnl as forerunners of the socond coming of the Messiah. Let us hope that no considerable body of the Lat-tcr-Day Saints or of the Christian world, who may meet the Savior face to face when He comes, will ignore ig-nore Him and then go on again expecting ex-pecting Illm to como" Afternoon Seoslon. At the afternoon meeting, tho first speaker was Elder George A. Smith of the quorum of twelve apoBtlos. who spoke very briefly and In part as follows: fol-lows: "1 take to myself the admonition of our beloved president in respect to conditions obtaining In our country at i the present time. In the language of a great prophot of Israel, I would say to i the Latter-Day SaintB, 'Get the spirit I of God in your hearts and keep it." It I will guide us In all truth, it will cause ua to look forward with joy to the coming of the Lord Je6us Christ May the Lord grant us His blessings and may His peaco be In all Isreal God give us tie power that wc may evidence evi-dence our faith and devotion to the cause to which we are committed" Elder Hyrum G. Smith, presiding patriarch of the church, also 6poke brleflv, saying in part. I " Work of the Lord. "I know that this Is tho work of hc Lord and that wo are HSb chosen peoplo peo-plo In these tho last days Where much Is givon, mach Is oxpectod I earnestly earnest-ly pray that tho young people especially especial-ly will take to heart tho teaching of our prophot and the others who have followed him. I hopo tho young people peo-ple will tako the advice of those who aro older and follow not tho examples set boforu us by those who aro not of us, but look to our leaders and accept their counsel. If tho younr people will take heed of this couhbo), they will not go astray, but will be strengthened to meet the responsibilities that the Ird has set upon them and that havo been passed to thorn by their fathers. I pray that we may have strength of mind and body to serve tho Lord and keep Hie commandments. " Elder David O. McKay of tho quorum of twelve apostles delivered a brief but feeling addresB, In whioh he spoke Jn n.irt as follou-a: "Whon Peter was arraigned bofore the Judges, ho bore a Btrong testimony to the peoplo who. a short time before, had participated In the crucifixion of Christ. The people hod warned Poter and John not to preach Christ and Him crucified; but when they saw thorn courageously standing before them they counseled together as to what they should do. They again warm-d Peter and John to cense testifying con -corning Jesus, hut they answered, 'Whethor It is right in tho sight o God to harken unto you more than to God, judgo ye; for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard Thoy Govorn i hemselves. "On several different occasions, the prophet .To6oph Smith was asked by non-members of tho church what was tho sccrot of tho stability of the church In the early days, or how he governed the people. His answer was, 'I teach them correct principles and thoy gor-om gor-om themselves.' "Peoplo today wonder at the growth, tho stability and tho vitality of the church of Christ Recontly a young lady from Kansas City spent a few weeks amongst us, visiting friends. Evidently her mind was prejudiced against this peoplo, but she went aronnd with sorao of her frlendB who wero actively engaged In religion class, primary and Sunday school work. She remarked, 'Well, there must be something some-thing in thb church, or so many Intelligent In-telligent men and women wouldn't bo ongagod in it. I feel almost like Joining Join-ing In tho work myself.' "So you havo met people who, seeing see-ing some such demonstration as this meeting of tho strength of Israel, wonder won-der why It Is that the church manifests mani-fests such vitality aud growth. The secret Is this, that every true Latter-Day Latter-Day Saint possesses Individually the assurance Uiat this 16 the work of God. The same knowledge that gave Poter and John the power to proclaim Christ and Him crucified Is the power possessed by each Individual who is faithful In tho membership of the church of Chrlst'ln this day. Testimony of Peter. " 'Thou art tho Christ, the Son of the living God,' Bald Poter to tho Sa lor. That testimony has been ro-voaled ro-voaled in this day to every sincere man and woman who has conformed to the ordinances of the Gospel and has received the administrations of the church, and tho truth that the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored re-stored through tho prophet Josoph Smith. They stand firmly upon the rock of revelation that s the foundation founda-tion of the church of Christ in the world. ' The Latter-day Saints throughout the world find confirmation of their testimony In the strength that is brought to tehm in continued serv-ico serv-ico of tbe Lord It makes them better bet-ter and truer husbands, faithful and honored wives, more obedient children, chil-dren, the builders of peaceful homes. Obedience to the Gospel brings thoni to truo brotherhood and makos them better citizens. "During tho next two months, our state will b moro or less stirred by political controversy, but let us exorcise exor-cise love, patience and charity Let us not indulge In personalities while wo are urging our political belief. It Is not worth whllo. God pity us all in thip political 6lrifo. 'Words are keener than steel and mightier far for woo or weal. God pity us all Time, all too soon, will humble us all down Into the dust "Let us stand firm In the truth that tho gospel of Christ will redeem and save all mankind." Elder Josoph F. Smith. Jr., of the quorum of the twelve apostles spoke briefly In part aa follows: Tells f Rejoicing. "I rejoice with you in the counsel and instruction that has been Im parted unto ub by thoBo who Btaud at tho head and whoge right it is to toach the ohurch. My heart 1b always al-ways touched when T read or heoy the beautiful hymn that haa Just been sung (O, Give Mo Back My Prophot Dear ) "Wo aro not without leaders tho time will nevor come when the I,ord cannot find 3ome ono, In whom Hb can tniflt and In whom Ho has confidence, con-fidence, to lead and gnido this people. The time will never como when wo shnll not have an inspired leader to te-ich us tho truth. Tho time will nover como when wo cannot have confidence in those who lead U3. Theroforo it behooves ub aB Latter-day Latter-day Saints to put our trust In the leaders of the chnrch; no man who has followed the teaching and advice of tho authorities of this church has ever Kono astray. "Some men have gone into byways and forbidden paths because they havo failed to understand the wise counsels that wero glvon unto them by their loaders in the priesthood. There Ib danger of being cast oat into in-to darkneso when wo vefupe to accept ac-cept tho counsel of tho priesthood In all thlnga." Elder James E. Talmage of tho quorum of twelve anostlcB made an eloquent address that thrilled his auditors au-ditors from its opening to its close. Elder Talmago, at the conclusion of his address, presented tbe names of the general presiding authorities of tho church, and they wero all unanlraoualy 8U3talncd to continue in tholr official positions, there being no changes. Smith Closes Conference. President Joseph F. Smith concluded conclud-ed and dismissed the conference. |