I call to mind a saying of the Lord: "I am bound when ye do what I say, but when ye do not what I say, then ye have no promise." He says to the young people: "He that seeketh me early shall find me, and he shall not be forsaken." The Lord has made great and wonderful promises to this people.

I desire to call your attention to an incident that occurred when I was la boring in the Southern States, in 1884. I went there in 1883. The year 1884 was a time of a sad experience in that mission. It was then that some of our Elders lost their lives by mob violence. It seemed that there was bitterness on all hands. We had but few friends. I was at the office in Chattanooga under Elder Roberts at the time. I picked up a Chattanooga Times one morning, and I was very much delighted to see in print these words, speaking of Elder John Morgan. It said, "To shake his hand was to be his friend." I have never forgotten it. When you shook John Morgan's hand and he looked into your face you always knew that you were his friend. John Morgan understood that principle. Some of our people are becoming careless in the shaking of hands. I have shaken hands with some men, when I would just as soon have put my hand into a bucket of ice water as to shake hands with them. They may have been friendly, but I have no means of telling. Great sermons have been preached in this Church by the simple shaking of hands; and you who have been in holy places; you who have been in the holy temple, know what it means to shake hands.

I witnessed a play in the Theater here, and was very much taken up with it-Julius Caeser-and when I saw the mimic representatives of great Romans walk up and shake hands, I presume every one in that large Theater was impressed with the idea that it meant friendship. But we have been too much carried away with temporal matters. When our Elders come home-we have probably eight hundred who return every year-they ask me what is the matter with the people? They discover it whenever they shake hands with you. When you meet the Elders that come home and shake hands with them, they will hardly let go of your hand, they are so friendly, and you can feel it in

your hearts that they love you. They do it from the bottom of their hearts. You, who have lost children know when a person comes up to you and sympathizes with you on account of your loss, taking you by the hand and looking you in the face, notwithstanding they do not utter a word, you feel that friendship, that sympathy that pierces to the innermost recesses of your hearts. Those who have lost wives, if one who has passed through that terrible experience comes to sympathize with another man who has lost his wife, in shaking his hand there is a feeling of friendship and sympathy that cannot be expressed in words.

Brethren and sisters, we can afford to be sympathetic; we can afford of all people on the earth to be filled with sympathy and compassion. I am not concerned very much about what other religionists do. We have the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it has withstood every test. We have sent out our young Elders without experience, and it is marvelous, it is wonderful, it is one of the great testimonies to me how these young men can meet the men of the world as they do, with so little experience. It is a very strong evidence that we have the truth, that we have the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am not concerned about the Christian Scientists; I have little to say against them. If they do any good that is thei business, but I wish to say that there will be inroads made among this people. I call to mind now a circumstance of a Josephite preacher going into the city of Logan, among the intelligent people there, and going from house to house. It was discovered that our people were unable to meet him. He went to a Bishop's place, and he spoke unkindly to him, and a young Elder who had just returned from the East said: "Father. I am unwilling to stand by and hear that man talk as he is talking, and I will meet him in public debate," and he vanished, and that man did not wish to see him any more. We must be informed. No church can find a more successful way of roads among our by getting them to hand of sympathy, affection in their trials and tribulations. We, who hold the priesthood, Elders

making people

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extend love, and

Seventies, Teachers, and Deacons ought to perform our duties; our hearts are not always as they should be; we do not always exhibit the sympathy, love and affection that we ought. I am sorry to say that some of my acquaintances, some who are near and dear to me, have been won from our Church through love and sympathy.

My brethren and sisters, I have this to say in conclusion: Even if you are in a hurry, stop and shake hands before going on, but do it right; have the spirit of God within you, and when you greet them say, "God bless you." I know a good old sister, who is working for her living; she would not let the Church support her, she is too proud. She is over 70 years old. She said to me that when an Apostle took her by the hand and said "God bless you" it was worth more to her than all the money they could give her. I remember Apostle Erastus Snow, and I will never forget him as long as I live on the earth. He stopped long enough to take me by the hand as a boy, after my father was dead, and said "God bless you." There are others that have done so, and they stand foremost in my mind, and I remember and esteem every one of them. We should learn to love and honor each other. We should have the spirit of God burning within our hearts. You can make more converts in this way than by any other means. God bless you. Amen.

The choir sang:

"Who are these arrayed in white?"

ELDER RULON S. WELLS.

My brethren and sisters: I also rejoice in the spirit of this conference; and I can say that it has been very enjoyable to me. It is the first general conference that I have had the privilege of attending for three years. Since that time it has been my privilege to labor in foreign lands, among strange people; but I rejoice all the more in coming back into the union of the Church, associating with the Saints, and mingling my testimony with those of my brethern to the truth of the work in which we are engaged. I rejoice in the progress of the work of God. I rejoice in the great advancement made by the Latter-ady Saints. While there is plen

ty of room for improvement, yet we discover a great deal of progress being made among those who are really in earnest and are keeping the commandments of God-these are marching on toward the goal we all desire to reach.

What does preaching amount to if it is not put into practice by the Latterday Saints; if we do not profit by the instructions which we receive? Every one who has heard the voices of the prophets of God, the holy apostles, and the instructions they have given during this conference, and has not determined within himself to benefit by them, will receive no good from them. They will simply be as a sounding brass and as a tinkling cymbal, so far as any benefit being derived from them is concerned. But if we will put into practice the principles we have been taught, and if we will yield obedience to the counsels that have been given, and live in accordance with the spirit that has been made manifest in this conference, then we will go onward and progress in the knowledge of God, and will prepare ourselves for the coming of our Savior.

I was particularly impressed with the remarks of the brethren in regard to the treatment that should be extended to those who are converted, and immigrate to Zion. It has been observed by many, and I have also observed it, that numbers of our new converts do not receive the kind reception they should. They come from foreign lands where they have received the Gospel, and the first love of the Gospel is burning within their hearts; they have been filled with a great warmth of love towards our brethren and sisters, and in their far distant homes the spirit of gathering has come upon them and they have

resolved to come to the land of Zion.

They have been filled with a desire to cast their lot with the people of God, that they might learn more of His ways; that they might be taught the will of the Lord and learn to do it bet

ter, and that they might mingle with Latter-day Saints-men and women of God. Those have been their desires. They have sold out their little posses. sions in the foreign lands, have forsaken their native countries, bid adieu to the prospects of their youth, and have severed their communications with them in order that they might

mingle with us. What has been the reception of many that have come up unto the land of Zion? Instead of receiving that hearty and warm shake of the hand that Brother Kimball has been speaking of, they have not in many instances even received one of those cold greetings that have been referred to. They have felt a lack of that warmth of feeling that should be extended to them, and they have thought that love was not abounding in our midst. 1 think it is time the attention of the Latter-day Saints was called to their indifference toward each other-they should learn to be brethren and sisters in very deed. I endorse the remarks of Brother Kimball in regard to this matter. I think when our Saints come here attention should be paid to them. I was pleased to hear the remarks of President Snow when he stated that some one would be appointed to look after these matters. It should be done in every ward in Zion, that when they come they may find that they are cared for. I am aware that a great many of the Latter-day Saints have felt the necessity for this, and I am aware, too, that a great deal is being done; but I feel in my heart that a great deal more could be done to make the reception we extend to our Saints more cheerful and warm. It is not always necessary to extend to them financial aid, but they should be made to feel that they are among their friends, their brethren and sisters. A little kindness, a little consideration, a simple visit, or an invita tion, will often be the means of making them happy. It is the experience of missionaries in the field to find many of those who have come here to Zion, who have become dissatisfied through a lack of this warmth and affection, writing back to their friends concerning it; and in some cases the letters they write are too true. Of course they have happened to amongst those who are abounding in that love and regard they should have for one another. When our Savior was upon the earth He preached upon this subject, as also did His apostles after Him. They ex horted the Saints then to love one onother, to be kind to one another and to be full of consideration one for the other. The first great commandment

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was that "we should love the Lord with all our might, mind, and strength," and the second, like unto it, was that "we should love our neighbor as ourself.' If that love abounds in the hearts of the people, it will make itself manifest among them. We read in the scriptures that "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." We should give expression to the kind feelings that are within us, and should cultivate the spirit of the Gospel towards one another. We should learn to profit by these principes that have been revealed to us, for they are the power of God unto salvation. If we simply accept them with our minds, but do not practice them in our lives, they will not save us. If we will practice them, they will purify our hearts and bring us to a knowledge of God, "whom to know is life eternal."

I bear my testimony unto you my brethren and sisters that I do know that this Gospel is the Gospel of the Lord Jesus, that it has been restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith for the salvation of the human family. 1 know that this is the truth by the revelations of God to me through His Holy Spirit; and I will say to the Latter-day Saints, as was said to the former day Saints by one of the Apostles that "if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we will have fellowship one for another, and the blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse us from al sin." In order to walk in the light, we must enjoy the light of the spirit of God, for that is the light that should lighten our path, and that should lead us onward to our salvation; and we can enjoy that only as we are yielding obedience to the principles of the everlasting Gospel and listening to the counsels of God through His servants, for we are told that "we should live not by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God;" and the words of God are those that are spoken through the inspiration of His Holy Spirit by those whom he has called to administer His word unto the people.

May the Lord bless us with noble and worthy ambitions and with a determination to improve our lives; and let the love of truth burn within us, and also the love of our fellowmen. Let us do