| Show STAKE conference CE IS WELL W E LL ATTEND E 0 AND MUCH ENJOYED apostle george albert smith and D H thomas deliver interesting sermons john christensen Christens cn defends stake administration policy the second quarterly conference of the sevier stake for 1923 opened at the first ward chapel last saturday and continued for two days the visiting dignitary was apostle george albert smith former president of the european mission a cultured speaker who knows what to say and how to say it but withal a devoutly religious man carrying with him the impression of a lasting and abiding faith in his religion the stake presidency were present and president R D young presided the auditorium was comfortably filled when tile the meeting opened a condition not always present at the h e first session J M peterson Pete raon of the stake pre was the first speaker ile he expressed the appreciation of the stake presidency in lie he large attendance and reported the stake and auxiliary organizations all in energetic working order referring to the meeting of the high council held friday night in which apostle smith spoke he called attention to the apostles remarks as to the blessing that had come to tile the people in the financial conditions pre president aident peterson being well acquainted quain ted with financial conditions hereabout marvelled marvellee marvel led at this being ca called ailed a blessing after thinking it over he arrived at the conclusion that the financial troubles we had experienced were blessings in disguise as ev evidently the lord had concluded we had been too prosperous and under conditions of that kind people are apt to grow spiritually careless and restless the speaker told of promising agricultural success in this valley this year he paid high tribute to utah and sevier valley tor for its beauty and surroundings he called attention to the M I 1 A slogan for this year we stand for divine guidance through individual and family prayer and made a strong plea for this form of worship which he declared was one of the finest forms of worship and one that would cement the family together and make for better religion reli gios glos conditions in the community he spoke of the power and efficiency fici ency of prayer but did not regard long prayers as either the most devout or most desirable particularly in the opening and closing of of ser continued on page three STAKE CONFERENCE 15 WELL ATTENDED AND ABLE continued from page one vices he closed with the gem A morning prayer by robert lou louis is stevenson Ste apostle smith then spoke he observed from his record that he had bad not visited richfield since june 14 1914 when he had attended conference at that time since then a world war had been fought and won he said and it had been his privilege 1 I to visit the battlefields of france and belgium IN when Ilien he drove into richfield Richlie ld the previous day he was reminded of verdun when lie he saw the old t tabernacle here he thought it should either be removed or covered with ivy kept several thousands of years and made an attraction because of its age as they do in burc europe ipe he told of the pride that is taken in this country in new things while europe boasts of its ancient things applying this to the old scriptures he said we revere these but we also enjoy and appreciate the new things that god is doing he urged that we should not keep looking backward but should also bend our eyes forward and to the future he had made the trip from salt lake by auto and had observed the marvellous marcellous marv ellous changes that had taken place in fields homes trees flowers where in former years was desert sand and sagebrush he paid high tribute to sevier valley as a desirable spot and urged the people to be not lured away from their homes here for less favored places he also paid tribute to the members of the stake presidency and stated that the people are fortunate in having such splendid men as presidency officers A girls chorus under the direction of mrs alra anna callaway sang sweetly and beautifully juart as I 1 am a setting of this favorite old hymn to the music of Ruben steins melody in F 11 daniel H thomas of salt lake was the next and last speaker he told of the beautiful homes churches schoolhouses and surroundings he had seen on his trip from salt lake he then recited the story of joseph jo s eph smiths first vision and the gospel message thus revealed the choir sang two hymns and the choir and congregation opened with come come ye saints 11 saturday afternoon the saturday afternoon meeting had a bigger audience than the morning meeting pres john christensen was called as the first speaker his remarks were vital as they were largely in the nature of a reply to apostle smiths good natured fling at the unsightliness of the dilapidated remains of the tabernacle pres christensen said the stake presidency were as much perturbed over the unsightly pile as anyone but there were vital v ital reasons why the walls were no not razed and chief among these was the financial condition of the stake and the people then too the removal ot of the material ot of the walls at the present tims time before readiness for the erection of the contemplated new tabernacle would entail the handling of 0 the material twice while if ae left ft until needed money would be saved pros pres christensen did not quite understand der stand whether or not apostle smith urged the razing of the old tabernacle but was wag sure it would be an expensive undertaking at present the stake presidency is now carrying an indebtedness between beti een the tabernacle and the seminary of this lamount amount is on the seminary building and 1000 on the ground they had hoped to sell part of the seminary ground to help offset the debt but had been unable to do this several wards still owe their apportionment tion ment of the seminary debt the speaker was desirous of seeing a new tabernacle erected but thought that thae would be unwise until tho the present indebtedness debt edness was wiped out the stake officials understood the financial difficulties of the people and they hesitated about placing the burden of a new tabernacle although it is badly needed uron upon the people at present pres christensen vigorously defended the financial policy of the stake presidency he had been approached by men who demanded to know if the walls of the old building are aund and not a menace why the building guilding huil ding was inas not repaired vears ago he explained that practical men had gone over the edifice and found that it would cost at least and then it would not be a desirable place to hold services much inch had been said by people about the removals of the old building but in this case as in most cases those having most to say always have the least to pay those who grumble most usually do least ho he called attention to the advice of president grant as to conservativeness in buildings and that the church usually paid one third of the cost coat in view of this and the financial difficulties of the people they had delayed the erection of a new tabernacle and he was convinced the presidency la Is right in not adding this burden until I 1 the financial conditions will justify it bishop N J hansen president lazonby of north sevier and pres J E magleby Alag leby of south sevier were the other speakers of the afternoon and all spoke interestingly music numbers were given by the choir the girls chorus under mrs callaway and a solo sung by madge peterson a beautiful plaintive song hold thou my hand sung with sweetness and feeling and an ambitious number trust ye in the lord sung with power and sweetness by mrs nola C nilsson sunday morning ohp conference session on sunday morning had a larger audience ta than I 1 an the preceding ones and the choir was augmented by a good proportion of male voices so that the music numbers made a better contribution to the interest of the gathering reginald brain son of mr and mrs albert E brain and an organist of note from new york added much to the music by his masterly work on the organ augmenting the work of mrs callaway the regular fo for r the choir the numbers presented were the prologue to the vision song of the redeemed and dudley bucks splendid anthem god is s our refuge and in all these the choir displayed a blending attack and shading that set a high mark in choral singing daniel H thomas was the first speaker he complimented the choir and its conductor for or the splendid music and stated that he had been well paid for his visit it if in nothing else in the splendid music lie he had listened to mr thomas has baa had extended experience in music and his commendation was that of a sincere i music lover who knows good anusic when he hears it mr thomas then proceeded to deliver a very interesting discourse on the vitality of religion and religious principles of the latter day saints he illustrated his remarks by the story of six blind men who were called upon to describe the elephant at a circus after being permitted to touch and feel certain parts of the animal and each had an entirely different conception of the animal because of partial knowledge and investigation vesti gation so with religion partial investigation always is mis misleading loading about this theme he wove a convincing argument for full investigation before committing oneself to a judgment that is bound to be wrong during his talk he took a rap at the so called higher criticism as the th 0 most insidious toe foe of religion it saps and undermines while pretending agreement with religious doctrines it says christ existed that lie he was a great teacher he was not the son or god but was a great leader this s higher criticism would not detract degrac t from christs greatness but he li e was just a man and not a god this the speaker characterized as the most dangerous of all count counterfeit erfel t rel religious ivious teaching mrs george albert smith wife of the apostle and one of the officers of the general board tor for tho the Y L INT I 1 A was the next speaker she spoke of the habit of criticism of speakers which all are so apt to indulge in and purged against this criticism which is more or less unjust she suggested that cochi ask himself or herself what am I 1 doing and how much am I 1 contributing to this service and shed she was sure thia would help in overcoming this reprehensible hen sible habit mrs told some interesting experiences of her sojourn in europe mrs daniel H thomas addressed the meeting for a short time adding her testimony to those that preceded her apostle geo A smith spoke next he urged that it is necessary to have things repeated in order that they the may be impressive he also urged that the doctrine and covenants should be read and the words word should hould be bea considered as an individual mea maa sage by the reader he alto urged upon all the individual keeping of the commandments sunday afternoon the chapel was filled to capacity on sunday afternoon there was a noticeable tailing falling off from the sunday afternoon attendance of stake conference when usually all the side rooms are filled to capacity T the e side or class rooms sunday were not occupied due no doubt to the hot weather and people would as a general proposition rather stay away than be crowded into a side room where they can hear but indistinctly and they cannot see the speaker again the choir distinguished itself se 1 f in 11 i selections from the martyrs this being the sunday nearest the anniversary of 0 the murder of oc joseph and hyrum smith the I 1 in n flam matus and the triumphal march from aida were the th other oth r numbers and the renditions were inspiring L elders niels from glenwood dogwood and wallace thompson of richfield returned missionaries the former from australia and the latter kattef from arizona related their experiences in the mission field edith smith daughter of apostle geo A smith told in an interesting way of her experiences in europe she represents the sixth generation of the smith family pres R D young told of 0 australian mission experiences and also experiences he had on his colorado river project visit of last year D H thomas again delivered beautiful thoughts on the birth ufa life and mission of christ apostle smith took a few of 0 the visit ot of president and mrs harding to the southern part of oc the state and of the impression made upon these distinguished visitors by the beautiful scenery but particularly by the pioneers who had made the tha desert assert ot of the to blossom and the children ot of these pioneers who brought flowers to the president of 0 the perfect safety he felt and of his advice to the secret service agents to take time out while he was among such a loyal people as he mormons cormons Mor mons the conference was a distinct success |
