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Show TABERNACLE SERVICES DRAW TWO URGE ' CONGREGATIONS Congregations that filled the tnber-naclo tnber-naclo to overflowing at both sessions were in attendance at the quarterly conference of tho North Weber stake yesterday. President James Wother-spoon Wother-spoon presided and was assisted by his two counsellors, James V. Bluth and Frank W. Stratford. In the .absence of representatives of the general church authorities tho addresses were given by tho members of tho stako presidency, Bishop w. w Rawson of the Eighth ward, Elder James W. Thomas, president of tho stake Young Men's Mutual association, and Mrs. Eliza R. McFarlane, president of the Young5 Ladies' Improvement association. associa-tion. Although the members of tho congregation con-gregation wero keenly disappointed at not being honored with a visit from the presiding authorities of tho church their attendance and addresses always al-ways being greatly appreciated there was nojack of talent among the local people and tho addresses delivered were timely and proved to be of great interest to those present The fact i lh:it at the afternoon session a largo number of people wero forced to stand I throughout the entiro service which lasted two hours, and the fact that they made no sign of leavinp- building build-ing until the service concluded is taken tak-en as an evidence of the ability of tho local authorities of the stake to hold iho attention of the people and the further fact that they have won the confidence of the membership of the stake. At both sessions a musical program was rendered by the tabernacle choir under the d,',i"" of Prof Joseph Ballantyne with Prof. Sam F. Whittak-er Whittak-er at the organ. Tho special selections selec-tions rendered by the local musical organization or-ganization that always gives life and Interest to the services included "Prepare "Pre-pare Ye the Way of the Lord," Walter Stephens and choir; "I'll Go Where You Want Mo To Go, Dear Lord," Nephi Brown and choir; "Grant Us Thy Peace," Mildred Ware and choir; "When I Can Read My Title Clear," Mrs. Agnes Warner, Jed Ballantyne and the choir; "He Shall Feed His Flock," Mildred Ware, Mrs. Myrtle Higley and choir; "0, Rest in tho Lord," Mildred Ware; "Father, For-givo For-givo Them," William S. Wright and the choir. The morning session was opened -with the choir and congregation singing, sing-ing, "Come, Come Ye Saints." Bishop Rawson was the first speaker. He made an appeal for moro young girls to go into trainfng as nurses at the Dec Memorial hospital of which he is the manager. The present building, he said, will soon be enlarged to meet tho growing demands of the institution institu-tion and there will be a great demand for nurses to care for suffering humanity. hu-manity. The speaker said he was thankful that our religion was practical, one of service, and that it was one of preparation. Many people break the laws of nature, ho said, and become sick and it is necessary to have those who will care for us at such times. He told of the training received at the nurses' training homo in connection with the local hospital which he said was superior to that of any college,, and girls who are trained here are ready and prepared to go our and serve mankind in the world. There is great need for the parents and girls to become interested in this great work. Girls who applied for entrance on a course of training must bo members of some church and must produce a recommend from their bishop or pastor. pas-tor. The girls at the home, he said, are under good discipline and influences. influ-ences. They must be in bed each night at 9:30 except when late passes are honored by tho superintendent. There are four training departments at the nurses' training home each under the direction of a supervisor and teacher. The departments arc the operating department, de-partment, the dietecian department, the hypodermic department, and the practical nursing department. When a girl had passed through these four departments de-partments they were in a position to care for the sick In an intelligent manner man-ner and oven if they had no desiro after aft-er they had graduated, the speaker said, they would find their training of great benefit to them in married life as wives and mothers and this fact had been demonstrated in many instances. President Bluth voiced the appreciation appre-ciation of the stake , of the long and faithful services of David W. Evans, the stake clerk. His services, he said, were doubly appreciated at the present pres-ent time owing to the fact that he had been sick for several weeks and it was thus plainly shown how indispons-ible indispons-ible his services are. Elder Evans was at the conference yesterday and this marked his first appearance in public for at least five weeks. President Bluth stated that the stako was now entering its tenth year since it was organized. Ten years ago the stake was comprised of ten wards, which had increased to soventeen I wards and two branches, talcing in the northwest portion! of Ogden City and Weher county and extending into the state of Nevada. The speaker reported report-ed that the tithing had increased 19 per con over thai of the previous year and ho attributed this to the conversion conver-sion of-the people to tho necessity of observing that law rather than to tho increased prosperity of the people during dur-ing the past year. Ward teaching was a subject the speaker handled at great length' and in much earnestness ho appealed to the teachers to sense the responsibility resting upon them and exhorted them to make regular visits and teach the gospel in the homes of the people. The teacher's work should show results, re-sults, ho said, in Increased activity in religious work among tho people and if the results wero not forthcoming there must bo something wrong with the spirit of the work. Tho teacher, ho said, should not performxtheir labors la-bors as a duty but should be williag tp Bring to aas miwh righteousness aEJonfi the i-SaSrien under their care. Vn xasiilng reference to the principal JdL tes.Ing observed by tho members of ' Jhc church he said the principle was to 'be observed for the purpose of bringing bring-ing spiritual strength to thoso who observed ob-served it and necessary food to tho poor Fast offerings, he said, were very low and this was taken as anjn- dicat on that tho law of fasting was given by tho Lord because it is of benefit ben-efit to tho human body and non-observance to tbe law was a detriment to food conservation and to our own health. The speaker made mention of the fact that if the entire population of the Untied States observed the fast law. abstaining from two meals once a month, and estimating the cost of the meals at tho low figure of 5 cents each, this would mean a saving of SIO.000,000 worth of food to the nation each month. The small attendance at tho ward sacrament meetings was deplored by tho speaker who said the attendanco should bo at least 25 per cent instead of only 17 per cent as at present. The reason so many wore absent from this meeting, he said, was because they do not sense the need of being in attendance at-tendance and they are not hungry for the word of the Lord. The small attendance at-tendance at the Sunday morning priesthood priest-hood meetings was also deplored by tho speaker. In conclusion President Bluth said it gave him much pleasure to report that tho people of tho stake had contributed con-tributed ?5SG.30 to the soldiers' wel-' fare fund; $26-17.87 to the Red Cross, and ?-13,5'16,000 in liberty bonds. He stated that we should all labor faithfully faithful-ly because of the joy there is In serv-ico serv-ico and stated that no greater blessings' bless-ings' can come to anyone than to know that this is indeed tho kingdom of God. Mrs. Eliza R. McFarland, superintendent superin-tendent of the nurses' training homo at tho Doe hospital, and also president of the stako of Y. L. M. I. A., said that we should all strive to do as much good as possible in this life but she feared that when the Savior caino thero would be many like the foolish virgins who-would have no oil in their lamps. She. was not discouraged in her labors because she knew that seed faithfully sown would bring forth fruit. The principle of repentance has been declared since the days of Adam she said and would be to the end of the world. ' In speaking of the work of the nurses' training home, she said there was no work for which we were so unprepared so much as motherhood and wifehood. If a girl received training train-ing ,at the home pnd did not take it up as a profession they would find the training beneficial to their husbands and children. The girls are very happy hap-py at the homo she said and very rarely rare-ly took advantage of the late leave of absence because of tho comforts and pleasures afforded nt the home. The speaker told of tho good work being done by tho mutual association in the stako and urged parents to have their children come under its influence. influ-ence. She said that the present great world war was a proof of tho fact that "God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform," because it is teaching the people to be more generously gener-ously disposed toward each other. In a brief address President Woth-erspoon Woth-erspoon said that all that had been said by tho speakers was hinged up and tied up in the words of the song just rendered, "I'll go where you want me to go, dear Lord, I'll be what you want me to be, and I'll do what you want me to do, dear Lord." "That is Mormonism," ho said, but he was afraid we failed to attain to the high standard. In referring to the indifference indif-ference to religious matters by some of the members of the church. President Presi-dent Wotherspoon said, "If some men w'ere as indolent in temporal affairs as they were in spiritual affairs the poor houses would be overcrowded." "Wo Thank Thee, 0 God, for a Prophet," was sung by the choir and congregation at the openifig of the afternoon aft-ernoon session and prayer was offered by Bishop E. A. Olsen of the Fourth ward of the Ogden stake. The general church and stake authorities were presented pre-sented by President Bluth and unanimously unani-mously sustained by the congregation. Elder James M. Thomas, president of the stake Y. M. M. I. A. and a member mem-ber of the stake social committee, was the first speaker. He told of tho good work being accomplished by the organizations. Thero were seventeen organizations in tlje stake, he said, and in referring to ono ward where the organization was not complete ano? to the report of the bishop that it was not possible to find the men to fill the vacant offices he said there was no reason for this condition. We were in the habit, which was a bad one, of seeking help in a certain select ring. There are many people in tho church, he said, who were not 'working because they were never given the opportunity. opportun-ity. He said there was great need for more of the spirit of forgiveness awl that those who may have heen guilty of a fault should have mercy and forgiveness for-giveness extended to them and also the opportunity to render servico in the wards in which they lived. In his report of the work of the social so-cial committee Elder Thomas caused much merriment when he declared that parties that were exclusively for elder people were much more rowdy and were held at a later hour than those arranged for young people and further declared that he has seen many otherwise dignified members of the Ladies' Relief society ragging on the floor at dances. j Afternoon Session. President Stratford was the principle princi-ple speaker at the afternoon service. He said he was plp-ased with tho general gen-eral conditions of the stake as revealed in the reports given at the conference. He thought that the stake was doing remarkably well although conditions were not all that could bo desired. He referred to the fact that the church workers were not paid but gave their services voluntarily because of the love they had for the work and declared declar-ed that the Latter Day Saints render more free service than members of other churches. The fact, he said, is commented upon by many prominent men in the nation who were not of our faith and declared that this was so Wnncn if wn c thn riiirfh nf flnrl. God stands at the head of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day I Saints the speaker declared and he is personally supervising the work. God has delegated his authority to men to carry on the work on earth and the members of the church were indeed thankful to God for a prophet to guide them in the latter days. He testified that it was indeed true that Joseph Smith was called of God to be a prophet and that many heavenly beings be-ings had appeared to him and conferred confer-red to him and conferred upon him the priesthood with all its gifts, keys and blessing necessary to carrying on the great work. The speaker then at some length explained ex-plained fully and in plainness the organization or-ganization of the church and the various va-rious duties of the Tarious quorums of ihe priesthood. Ho showed that tho church was not disorganized when the First Presidency, for any cause became be-came disorganized, but that the authorities au-thorities to preside over the church then fell temporarily on the quorum of the twelvo apostles who had authority to reorganize the first presidency. Ho referred to the ward bishops who were hard working mon who faithfully discharged their many duties and exhorted ex-horted the ward teachers to faithfully dischargo their duties and assist In building up tho kingdom. Speaking of tho social work President Presi-dent Stratford said that the young people conducted themselves better today than they had over dono vX any other time. The elder people who criticise crit-icise the conduct of the young people are generally . misinformed because they failed to" keep abreast of th'e times and were not maintaining constant con-stant interest in. social affairs. Tho concluding address of the conference con-ference was given by President Wotherspoon Woth-erspoon who said that circumstances and conditions among tho Latter Day Saints changed from time to time. The war has taken many of our men and wo must fill their places. This he said could be done becauso of the splendid organization -of tho-church-and many of the so-called backward members would now be given an opportunity to enter into active service in the church. Activity is life, he said, and idleness produces death. Those who find fault of the authorities were generally the idlers. He referred tb the success of the choir as an illustration that constant con-stant effort was necessary to produce success. Concluding President Wotherspoon exhorted the people to think over the many good things they had heard during dur-ing the sessions of tho conference that they might be able to put into practice prac-tice the principles of righteousness and thus be able to perform liffe's mission and be cxhalted in the celes-trial celes-trial kingdom of God. I Benediction was pronounced by Elder El-der Turnqulst. The overcrowded condition of the Tabernacle at the sessions of the conference con-ference caused much comment among those present and it was suggested that either the building was too small and that a new and large building should be erected or that the stako was too large and should be divided and thus make it possible for the people peo-ple to enjoy the services with a degree of comfort, something1 that under present pres-ent conditions is impossible. |
