that I never made a sacrifice of a financial nature in my life to help the advancement of God's work, without being abundantly rewarded therefor. Not only materially, but I grew in the knowledge of the Gospel and in the Spirit of God, which is worth more than all the wealth and honors of men. I desire never to allow my heart to wither up, so to speak, but rather to have it grow and expand. I desire to seek first the kingdom of God. I do know and bear witness to you that if do it, all other things for my good will be added unto me. And what I bear witness to pertaining to myself, I bear witness to for all the Latter-day Saints. If you desire the Spirit of God, be honest in keeping the commandments of God. If you desire prosperity, and at the same time the testimony of the Gospel, pay all your obligations to God and you shall have it. If you are not honest with God, you may prosper and you may be blessed with the things of this world, but they will crowd out from your heart the spirit of the Gospel; you will become covetous of your Own means and lose the inspiration of Almighty God. The Savior told us that if we gained the whole world and lost our own souls, it would profit us nothing. We have started out for life eternal, the greatest of all the gifts of God to man, and keeping the commandments of God will bring it to us. May God bless you. Amen. ELDER GEORGE TEASDALE. The Restoration of the Gospel Produced the Gathering-Exhortation Regarding the Law of Tithing -The Latter-day Saints do nothing that should draw out the Enmity of the World upon themKnowledge and Wisdom come by ExperienceThe National Constitution should be Supported. "1. Listen to the voice of Jesus Christ, your Lord, your God, and your Redeemer, whose word is quick and powerful. "2. For, behold, I say unto you, that it mattereth not what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, when ye partake of the sacrament, if it so be that ye do it with an eye single to my glory; remembering unto the Father my body which was laid down for you, and my blood which was shed for the remission of your sins: "3. Wherefore, a commandment I give unto you, that you shall not purchase wine, neither strong drink of your enemies: "4. Wherefore, ye shall partake of none, except it is made new among you; yea, in this my Father's kingdom which shall be built up on the earth. "5. Behold, this is wisdom in me: wherefore, marvel not, for the hour cometh that I will drink of the fruit of the vine with you on the earth, and with Moroni, whom I have sent unto you to reveal the Book of Mormon, containing the fullness of my everlasting gospel, to whom I have committed the keys of the record of the stick of Ephraim; "6. And also with Elias, to whom I have committed the keys of bringing to pass the restoration of all things, spoken by the mouth of all the holy Prophets since the world began, concerning the last days: "7. And also John the son of Zacharias, which Zacharias he (Elias) visited and gave promise that he should have a son, and his name should be John, and he should be filled with the spirit of Elias; "8. Which John I have sent unto you, my servants, Joseph Smith, Jr., and Oliver Cowdery, to ordain you unto this first priesthood which you have received, that you might be called and ordained even as Aaron: **9. And also Elijah, unto whom I have committed the keys of the power of turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers, that the whole earth may not be smitten with a curse: "10. And also with Joseph and Jacob, and Isaac, and Abraham, your fathers, by whom the promises remain; "11. And also with Michael, or Adam, the father of all, the prince of all, the ancient of days. "12. And also with Peter, and James, and John, whom I have sent unto you, by whom I have ordained you and confirmed you to be Apostles, and especial witnesses of my name, and bear the keys of your ministry, and of the same things which I revealed unto them: "13. Unto whom I have committed the keys of my kingdom, and a dispensation of the Gospel for the last time; and for the fullness of times, in the which I will gather together in one all things, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth: "14. And also with all those whom my Father hath given me out of the world: "15. Wherefore, lift up your hearts and rejoice, and gird up your loins, and take upon you my whole armor, that ye may be able to withstand the evil day, having done all ye may be able to stand. "18. And take the helmet or salvation, and the sword of my spirit, which I will pour out upon you, and my word which I reveal unto you, and be agreed as touching all things whatsoever ye ask of me, and be faithful until I come, and ye shall be caught up, that where I am ye shall be also. Amen." with His divine love, and has granted unto us the glorious gifts of faith, hope and charity. We gladly gather together to wait upon the Lord, to hear His word and to understand His counsel. Before coming to this meeting we have been on our knees, pleading with the Almighty that He would pour His spirit and blessing upon His servants who should speak, that they might faithfully deliver His word unto the people. We have had the word of God given unto us, and I bear testimony that this word is true, that we should repent of our robbing the Lord in tithes and offerings and that we should turn unto Him with full purpose of heart, consecrating unto Him one-tenth of everything that the Lord shall give unto us, by which we would be enabled to sanctify the land, so that His statutes might be kept thereon. This is the word of the Lord to us, and it will naturally bring division. There will be those who will hear the word of God and do it, and there will be those who will reject the word of God and count it as a light thing, making any frivolous excuse for despising the ordinances of the house of God. The Lord told His people through Malachi that when they robbed Him in tithes and offerings they were laboring under a curse, and the Lord has told us that if we do not honor this law it shall not be a land of Zion unto Thus said the Lord many years ago. This everlasting Gospel that was restored to the earth through the agency of Moroni, John the Baptist, and Peter, James and John, has brought about this wonderful gathering that we see at this conference. We can congratulate each other that we have this glorious privilege today. The Lord Jesus Christ said: "No man can come unto me, except my Father draw him." How is it that we have accepted the principles of everlasting life? Forty-seven years' experience I have had with this people, and I know most assuredly that the Priesthood of the Son of God has been restored to the earth, and that this work that we are engaged in is the work of the Lord, which Isaiah spoke about when he said that the Lord would commence a marvelous work and a wonder, in which the wisdom of the wise should perish and the understanding of the prudent should be brought to nought. Our Father in Heaven is doing his own work. That I want to say to my beloved brethren and sisters who have gathered together here for the purpose of worshiping the Lord at this conference. God has manifested love unto us. How did these brethren who have spoken obtain the testimony which they have borne at the conference in the power and spirit of God? It is because God has loved them and given unto them his spirit. How is it that these Presidents of Stakes and their counselors, High Councilors and the Bishops and their counselors have this glorious privilege of assembling together at this conference to hear the word of the Lord and to represent their respective fields of labor? It is by the grace of God. By His grace we are saved and have the privilege of a standing in the Church. It is our Father in Heaven who has drawn us into His fold, adopted us into His royal family and given unto us the Holy Priesthood, with the blessings and keys of endless life. He has also given unto us the understanding heart. He has filled us being ushered in, and that the people his us, and our enemies shall prevail against us, but if we love Him and keep His commandments we shall prevail against our enemies. We I do not know that we should have any enemies. I am not aware that we do any harm. We are striving all the time to set a righteous example, teaching the people correct principles. take our lives in our hands and go forth to the nations of the earth with this glad message of great joy to the people, that God hath spoken and that He has restored to the earth His holy Gospel. We promise them that if they will obey the Gospel and live the principles of righteousness they shall have a living testimony and shall know, as we know, that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that Joseph Smith was a true Prophet sent of God, that the dispensation of the fulness of times is are being prepared for everlasting life or for death, for a glorious resurrection or a resurrection of everlasting shame. There are two resurrections, the resurrection of the just and the resurrection of the unjust. How could we expect a part in the resurrection of the just, unless we were just to our God and to each other? Vain theories will never do us any good. Foolish dogmas never saved anybody or anything. We can only be sanctified by the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. The Lord hath said "Look unto me all ye ends of the earth, for beside me there is no Savior." Why do not the inhabitants of the earth look unto him? Why do they not have faith in Him? Because it is not their tradition. "Without faith it is impossible to please God." I was not educated to believe that it was essential that I should enjoy the spirit of revelation myself; that I had the privilege of communion with God my Eternal Father and obtaining light and intelligence from Him; and that if I would sanctify myself before the Lord and keep His commandments I should receive line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little. I ask you, my beloved brethren and sisters, if we do not grow gradually in the knowledge of God? We do not receive it in a day; we must have experience, and therefore I think our persecutions are all right. Jesus Christ said: "It must needs be that offenses come, but wo unto them by whom they come." We have to be educated in this line. If we were not oppressed, misrepresented, lied about and slandered, we never would have sympathy for others in the same condition. My sympathies go out to the patriot and to the lover of liberty who believes in sustaining the constitution that was given of Almighty God. I do not sympathize with the hypocrite. Jesus Christ said: "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees," (hypocrisy) and we might say, beware of the leaven of the Gentiles. Let us be what we seem to be. If we are patriots, let us stand by correct principles, and let this be a land of religious liberty to all mankind. Let it be the land of the free and the home of the brave, truly and literally, and let those that are weak be protected. That was the determination when the Constitution was written. The more I study and understand the Constitution of the United States, the more I revere it. I am something like Bishop Edward Hunter, who said, "Too good, too good, for a bad people." It is a glorious document, and one that we are under obligation to sustain. Every American citizen promises to sustain the Constitution of the United States. Every officer in the country makes that oath and covenant. That is done for the protection of the weak and to prevent religious persecution. It was so in the beginning, and wo unto those who trample upon that Constitution. God bless us in our individual responsibilities. We shall all have to stand before the bar of God and give an account of the deeds done in the body. All men, whether they be princes on their thrones, or beggars in the street, have got to meet the covenants that they have made. The choir here sings sometimes, "Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." That is it. Let us be kind to ourselves; let us fear God and keep his commandments, and when He requires anything at our hands by His grace, let us perform it. Unto this end may God sustain us, for Christ's sake. Amen. The chior sang: "Let the mountains shout for joy." Benediction by Patriarch John Smith. SECOND Saturday, October 7, 10 a.m. Conference was called to order by President George Q. Cannon. The choir and congregation sang the hymn which begins: "We thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet, To guide us in these latter-days; We thank Thee for sending the Gospel, To lighten our minds with its rays." Prayer by Elder Charles W. Penrose. Singing by the choir: "Come, dearest Lord, dwell, descend DAY. 25. "Behold the land of Zion, I, the Lord, holdeth it in mine own hands; 26. "Nevertheless, I the Lord, rendereth unto Ceasar the things which are Caesar's; 27. "Wherefore, I the Lord, willeth that you shuold purchase the lands that you may have the advantage of the world, that you may have claim on the world, that they may not be stirred up unto anger; 28. "For Satan putteth it into their hearts to anger against you, and to the shedding of blood; 29. "Wherefore the land of Zion shall not be obtained but by purchase or by and blood, otherwise there is none inheritance for you. By faith and love, in every heart; Then shall we know and taste and feel The joys that cannot be expressed." PRESIDENT LORENZO SNOW. How the Land of Zion shall be Redeemed-The Law of Consecratiou-The Law of Tithing--Persecutions in the Past and the Cause of Them-Gratifying Effects of Recent Preaching -Not the Business of Saints to Fight their Enemies. Brethren and sisters: I wish, as I always do in coming before an audience of Latter-day Saints, your faith and prayers, that I may say such things as will be a comfort and a blessing. A day or two before this conference, in thinking upon what I might wish to say to the Latter-day Saints, it occurred to me that perhaps I had said about enough in reference to the matter of tithing, and that I would not confine myself to that subject, as I have spoken to the Latter-day Saints in conferences of all the large Stakes and also here in Salt Lake City at a Stake Conference. I felt that it might not be necessary to talk upon this subject, but that it would be proper for two of my brethren, who were with me at St. George and since, to talk upon it once more in their lives, and I have so requested them. Now, I feel it my duty to say something still myself in reference to this most import ant subject of all, under the present condition, that can be laid before the Latter-day Saints. I will read a few verses in the 63rd Section of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, commen ing with the 25th verse: 30. "And if by purchase, behold you are blessed; 31. "And if by blood, as you are forbidden to shed blood, lo, your enemies are upon you, and ye shall be scourged from city to city, and from synagogue to synagogue, and but few shall stand to receive an inheritance." means We learn from these verses that the Lord determined that the Latter-day Saints could secure the land of Zion only by two ways: One by purchase, the other by the shedding of blood. The Lord also determined that possession of that country should not be gained except by the purchase of the land. It should be bought and paid for by the furnished by the Latter-day Saints, whether rich or poor. It should be bought as other people buy land. The Lord would not permit them to take possession of the land by force, or by antagonizing the people's interests. The Lord expressly stated that He had no other object in view than that the Latter-day Saints should obtain it upon the principle of purchase. Even if it took every cent they possessed, they should not secure it by the shedding of men's blood. And if you and I ever get any possession upon the land of Zion, it will be by purchase, not by force. This has been the will of the Lord from the beginning. He has never allowed his people to take possession of any property by force. When the Children of Israel were taken from Egyptian bondage and promised an inheritance in what is called the "land flowing with milk and honey," it was not the design of the Lord that they should get possession of that land by force. Upon the banks of the Red Sea, after they had crossed over by the miraculous interposition of providence, he presented to them the same principles of salvation and exaltation as he has presented to us. But they rejected those principles, and then he told them what should be the results of that rejection. He proposed to make them a nation of kings and priests, and there is only one way to do that, and that is through the everlasting Gospel in all its fullness. He told them that he would send the hornet before them to drive out the people from the land that he proposed to bestow upon them. But, as I have said, they rejected the principles that were presented to them, and therefore the Lord, through their disobedience, was compelled to give them another law. We are told in the 29th verse, which I have read: "Wherefore the land of Zion shall not be obtained (not may not be, or can not be, but shall not be) but by purchase or by blood. otherwise there is none inheritance for you." That which I have read from the 63rd Section has been literally fulfilled. The Lord provided a way whereby they could secure the means to purchase that country, namely by the law of consecration. There was no one man in the Church that could have bought that land; there were no two men, or half a dozen men, or a hundred men that could have bought it. The people as a general thing were poor. There were no rich men that received the Gospel in those early days. But by combination and union they could have secured the means to carry out the purposes of the Almighty in regard to the purchase of that country. They failed because of their love for money. In a revelation after this we are told that they failed to give their names as they were commanded. The Lord sent Elders throughout the States, where there were Latter-day Saints to collect means for this purpose, and the people in Jackson County were required to observe the law of consecration. But they failed to do it, and therefore the lands were not secured. The Lord could have sustained the people against the encroachments of their enemies had they placed themselves in a condition where he would have been justified in doing so. com Lord But inasmuch as they would not ply with His requirements, the could not sustain them against their enemies. So it will be with us, or with any people whom the Lord calls to comply with His requirements and whom He proposes to confer the highest blessings upon, as He has in reference to us. and as He did in reference to the people in Jackson County. There having been a failure in regard to this law of consecration-a failure so serious that it resulted in great misery to the people of God-a few years after that the Lord gave another law for the Saints to observe in place of the law of consecration. It is called the law of tithing. If we look upon this law in its proper light, we will see the importance of it and the danger that will result if we fail to observe it. It would hardly be justice in our Heavenly Father if He were to deal with the Latter-day Saints now in any way different from that in which He dealt with His people in Jackson County. If we find out what resulted from their failure in the law of consecration, we may, I think, very readily and reasonably conclude what will be the result of a failure in reference to this law that has been put before us in place of the law of consecration. I dare say that it seems to some persons who are not in the habit of reflecting much that the Lord is severe under certain circumstances. When we consider what transpired here a few years ago in this beautiful country and the distress that was visited upon the men, women and children, we might think there was some severity about that. The same in reference to what followed a disobedience to this law of consecration in the early days of the Church. The Lord told the Saints who formed that colony in Jackson County what should be the results if they failed to observe the law of consecration. He said: "Ye shall be scourged from city to city and from synagogue to synagogue, and but few shall stand to receive an inheritance." I do not wish to speak very long; I do not expect my voice will allow me; but I want to read an extract showing what followed a disobedience of consecration. And in this connection I want you to distinctly understand that the Lord certainly could have preserved the |