OCR Text |
Show CONFERENCE OF THE WEBER STAKE Two of the largest atteuded con I (erences of Weber slake In years were held at the Tabernacle yefeter i ilay morning aud afternoon when i many Important matters concerning the stake were heard In addition to a j 1 number of splendid addresses The i principal speakers were B. H Roberta : and Hyrum M Smith The rmartfrh report showed the I stake to bo in W) good condition ; and growing rapidl; In membership, j The morning session con . f-ncd al 10 o'clock Those present were Presidents Pres-idents Shun 1 iff. Watson and Middle ton. John L. Herrlck of Denver. B. H ' ! Roberts and Hyrum M. Smith. Salt Lake, of the first coifncll of seventy The choir and . ongr ga'lon song i "We Thank Thoe. 0 tiod. for a Proph I et," conducted hy Director Joseph 1 Baliantvne Opening praer was offered of-fered b Coorge V McCune, president j of the high priests quorum. President Shurtllff snid he war; highly pleased to sec so many pros ent, especially so many of the prlest-i prlest-i hood who were there In numbers He I said he hoped for a season of rejoicing rejoic-ing and believed there would be one during the conference, and that after adjournment If could be said it n1-the n1-the beet ever bold He was thankful to have present Elder Hyrum M. I Smith of the council of twelve and I Elder B H Roberts of the first seven I presidents of seventy, whom he bellev ed would he Inspired to Rive all such advice as they needed. He said n'l stake officers were faking more in icrost in their work than ever. President Wilson made a report of the conditions In the stake. This report was mainly for the visitors rs the local members were familiar with the work It follow 6 In full The Quarterly Report. The presidency and 9take clerk hold weekly meetings and also meet with I members of the auxillarv boards every ! Tuesday night where matters pertaining per-taining to the work of the stage and the organization receive consideration Members of the high council have made 147 visits to the wards meeting with the priesthood quorums and the ward te?chers, and on the fourth Sun day speaking at the sacrament meet-igfls meet-igfls on special subject? The mem hers of the presiding ward teachers' department of the high council have devoted much time and earnest wor) for the purpose of gettln? better results re-sults and more effective ward teach ing. We have 1,839 families in the stake of which an average of 67 per cent hne been visited each month by teachers during the last quartet. There are 2S9 teachers laboring in the wards, 70 per cent of whom have done active work, and v.o feel that a more effk ient grade of work has been done. Two wards have bean some what derelict In teaching and therefore there-fore reduced our percentage, hut special spe-cial efforts have been given these 1 rards ol late by the high council, and we feel that conditions will greatly 'niprove. We are pleased to sa that out of our eleven wards, five have a pi aged oer 80 per cent in ward t-iJChinK and one Ins had 100 per ton: each month We are now U3ing the report books prescribed by the presiding pre-siding bishopric's office, and beli i 0 they are resulting in an improvement oi the work. After considerable Investigation and deliberation on the part of rhe stake presidency high council and bisl we have derided to change the time of our weekly priesthood meetings to Sunday morning at U oelotk. Instead i ') Monday evening, nd we anticipate better results, both In attendance and J interest In the work The change will j lake place on the First Sunday in May Officers Commended. The officers aud members of our stake organisations still continue U 'lo efficient work and use their bi St tndears to make a 3iicre3s of the work assigned to them We feel LO commend them highly for the devo tion they have shown In their labors The bishops and their counselors ha w l tteDded strictly to their duties They are working in perfect harmony wil with the presidency and high council. I aud endeavoring to carry out the in ! Ttrucfions and suggestions gncn them for the spiritual and general welfare of the members of their wards We have In operation a system of records and reports by means of rhich we always know the exact con I I ion of any ward and its organ!, i tions This " oric Ifl supervised by the high council. The records are alwayi accessible at the stake office and can be consulted anv time it is though! necessary. The records show the condition con-dition of all the work in the stake to be gradually improving The class instructors' department 's accomplishing much good A com mittee of the high council Is in c barge of this work and their Instruction is j heing followed with Interest. The ... s instructors from the wards take part in the monthly meetings and manifest pleasure In the work Local Missionaries. Nine months ago we called Rroth ers Man in Dalebout an-' Herman Van P.rook as missionaries among the Ho) 'and people. They have done splen did work In the short time they have been laboring they have baptized 23 souls into the church all of whom came to Jtall as non-Mormons Broth er Joseph II Stimsou. who was in Japan Ja-pan on a mission for more than five .Yearn has been net apart lo do nils slonary work among the Japanese 'people in Ogden We believe thai j good results will come from Brother j oiimson's work. I There are 8.246 persons in the stake and we are pleased to sav that nenrl I all are in good health President Mlddleton. President C. F Middleton was j present and expressed Jov at being able to attend to his duties. lithe li-the Joy that comes to one by 'reason of doing his duty wsa incentive enough to any one to do his bes' "Ve .hould all be very thankful," he said" we are eo near the center stake of ion. as we are able to attend not only the conferences at Salt T,ake, hut are nble to have the visiting authorities ; rrom 'be rentor stake frequently with I OS I have been closely associated I with the church during the whole c.f , mv lone; life, and am sure the saints are more enduring now than thej were in earlier days Many came into the church then who could not with stand the hardBhlpa and left it, but It I le very seldom that we hear now ol any one leaving the church, notwith I standing the trials that many are call ed upon to bear There are not sc man difficulties existing now In thr church among the people ns In early jdakS Then it was necessary for the high council to spend most of Its time in settling grievances, and now a case seldom comes before that, body " The speaker seemed greatly pleased to see younger men doing so much to pake his own dutieR lighter John Watson was especially commended for rellov ing the older ruembera of the stake presidency. President Herrlck. President John L Herrlck of the western states mission spoke briefly He aid he greatly revered those men who hod been in the work so 'ong that they had grown aged in the performance per-formance of their duties He regret -ed the growing tendency towards skepticism, and quoted William Jennings Jen-nings Bryan as s.iying that men who have no regard for religion are much J narrower In their views. He believed that the work of the ehur h Is doing much to antagonize skepticism "Skepticism leads downward to wickedness and destruction, and the plan ol salvation as laid down by the Saior of the world Is the only way I by which men can be saved In righteousness right-eousness " He was proud of the faol that I'tah sends more young people away out of the state to study the arts and sciences than any other State except one "In addition to the large number thus sent away, there are thousands who are In foreign ' lands preaching the gospel The -aims will do well to spend much 1 t'nie in preparing the young men and : women for the important work of : saving others." Hyrum M. Smith Tn beginning his remarks Hyrum M Smith quoted the following ""cme unto me all ye that arc heavj ! laden and 1 will give you rest. Tal my yoke upon you, for I am meek and lowly, and my yoke is easy and uny burden is light " Those who take it upon them to do the work of the Lord, that Is, ac-i ac-i cepl office In the church and dls-I dls-I charge the duties of the office, are) taking upon them the burdens of thej Savior, and bv so doine make the.r, own burdens lighter. They not onl make their own loads easy, but greatly great-ly lessen the burdens of those placed over them to instruct them. The I burdens of the presidency are made easier by reason of the excellent work done bv the various members of the stake organizations Those holding office In the church often feel that their burdens are too heavy but when they go at the task with the intention of doing their best and relying on the spirit of the Lord for assistance the work Is alway s j easy to accomplish. The reason is! the !?bcr Is done largely by the Lord, wbo hears our burdens, and helps us, and we should be free In giving the1 honor and glory to Him " Kvery one was urged to do his full duty He said it Is neglect by the masses that make the burdens of our leaders so heavy, but if each one does his own taeit. then they at the head are re-IIai re-IIai irl Elder Smith deported the fact lhat there seems to be a growing tendency tend-ency to have contempt for religions I authority This is because men who! think they hold religious authority exercise 1 1 i r powers In ungodlj a lioiiF Men should not exercise tin-righteous tin-righteous dominion over their follows. fol-lows. titer the singing of One Sweetly Solemn Thought," by the choir and benediction by Hcber Scowcroft, the morning session of the conference adjourned until L' o'clock in the afternoon. af-ternoon. Afternoon Session. The afternoon session of the con- ' feret.ee began promptly at 2 o'cloeicj The house was filled to overflowing It was necessary to bring chairs to fill all the aisles, and people stood j I in every available space Crowds of anxious people filled the doors and it was impossible to accommodate all who came to get in A prelude on the great organ by the organist, S. T. Whltaker. wib very beautifully rendered and greatly enjoyed solo and chorus. ' See Now the Altar, i was sung by Walter Stevens and the j choir The opening prayer was offered of-fered by H H. Rolapp aud then ;in-! ;in-! other selection was rendered by the I choir Thomas E McKay was present in behalf of the Weber gymnasium com-! com-! mittee and announced thai on May I 2 a grand concert would be given by I j the choir It was announced hy Ileber Scow- croft that Mrs. A A Law of Cali-, Cali-, fornla would occupy the pulpit In I the tabernacle next Sunday and j would speak on the subject of "Pur- j ' i t y . ' All the general officers in th church and the stake officers were j then presented to the people by I Stake Clerk Kverct Neuteboom, and all were unanimously sustained Address by Roberts The main feature of the afternoon I was the sermon by R H Roberts i conceded to be one of the strongest ever heard In the tabernacle. He ex-I I pressed Interest in the conference and praised the work being done in the Stake, the high efficiency of which was plainly shown by the reports given in the morning session. He f said there was no other place in the church which he could call to mind where the efficiency was higher than j that in the three stakes centralized , at Ogden 'The church Is essentially a mis-! mis-! sionary organization." said Elder , Roberts "The Apostle John, when , banished to the Isle of Patmos. had , a vision, in which he saw an angel flving through the midst of heaven having the eerla6ting gospel to give; to them that dwell on earth and crying cry-ing with a loud voice, "Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of! his judgment Is come ' The Latter- i day Saints point to this passage of ' scripture as heing fulfilled In the es- I tablishing of the gospel In the latter days by the Prophet Joseph Smith In this same vision the angel commended com-mended men to preach this gospel to every kindred, nation, tongue and people Since the organization of (the church It has always devoted much energy to the preaching of the gospel, that Is, to the carrying out of : this injunction of the angel The church In fact, has prospered just in : proportion to the zeal and energy It has manifested In this line of work Church in Tight Places In 1830, whn the church was i threatened with dissolution, missions were opened In Great Rritain and many converts were made and ni v. life w as injected into the church by 1 1 reason of it, and the voice of dlB- I solution was silenced Whenever the, church ,ets in tight places It always! gets out by preaching the gospel In the year 1840 and also In the year I 1863 there were other great mission ! ary epochs In the church, and at these limes new life came into the church so strongly that it was impossible under any circumstances to thwart the work." Klder Roberts then read an article from one of the current magazines. I in which the author stated that according ac-cording lo the present beliefs and practices of the churches we are losing los-ing touch with Hod that God Is a being afar off. and that the American peopli are losing their God-sense He' Bald thai the Latter-day Saints could not be included among the other , churches In this regard and that , L Mormonism Kaa some truths which v the world needs. I It Is dlffii uli today to find ati: ism The great Infidel leaders have no successors All men of intelligence I believe in God. The men of science I and the philosophers recognize a po er or force in nature which makes t'or righteousness. I was present at a meeting of the scientific and profes stonal men of the state a short time ago in which those present recognized recogniz-ed that back of all phi nomena there Is a power called God These men and the churches of the world nre at fault, however, In thinking that this Dower has no personal it) II is the bejlef of the aLtter-day Saints t h: t bis power rests tvlthin a personality, j with body parts and passions, in whose image man is created. We ac-cepl ac-cepl ih attributes of God as seen in the teachings and character of Jesus Christ God is a kind loving deity, and not ? scattered, gaseous influence dubbed 'Nature ' God Workng Here 'God did not finish Ills work when ill he had finished the work of creating III the world He has been bus;, ever III i nci and is In his world operating 1 j His creative force is recognized In n.i III ture by the men of s lent 8 They do III not understand or admit what this jfl :tree Is They term if 'Force' or 'Law" III or Influence ' Modern phllosonhers jjj believe in the everywhereness of thlfl ijl power Latter-day aSints believe in jjj the presence and the power, and thev are to he explained by the power of III God as a personal being our Father '' |