dleg prepared for the burning. Their the covenants are the cords that bind them. I say that every Latter-day Saint who keeps his covenants made in the waters of baptism or elsewhere will be a good citizen and will never infringe upon the rights of any people; but he will take a - course that will exalt the people and that will tend to the maintenance of freedom upon this land. We are interested in this country. This is the land of Zion. This is the land where Adam dwelt. This is the land where he built his altar and offered sacrifice 1 to God. This is the land where the Gospel was first revealed to the children of men. This is the land where the ordinance of baptism was first performed upon this earth. This is the land where the Holy Ghost was first given to man. This is the land that God has always led people to when He wanted to secure Tunto them the best of freedom. He led people from Jerusalem at different times, and he established them upon this land. He gave them Prophets and Apostles and inspired men, and He 'bestowed upon them the inspiration of the Almighty to guide them in all walks of life. institutions of learning. They have built the Temples of God from Cache Valley on the north to St. George on the south. And I know that they have been men of God, every one of them, from the Prophet Joseph Smith down to President Lorenzo Snow. I know that the servants of God have His mind and will; and the Latter-day Saints can have it too. I want to tell you how you can get it. As I started out to say, it is by the daily performance of every duty that devolves upon us. You show me a man who is constantly engaged in prayer and supplication, and I will point to you a man that does not have to be preached to in regard to the subject of tithing; he does not have to be urged to send his children to Sunday school, and to get his boys into the quorums of the Lesser Priesthood. He is so full of the Spirit of the living God that he wants them there all the time. The man who attends to his family prayers and to his secret prayers, the man who pays his tithes and offerings, the man who shows his willingness, when called upon, to carry the Gospel to the nations of the earth or to act in the capacity of a Deacon at home, that is the man who will obtain the mind and the will of the Lord. I have seen not only the hand of the Lord, but the hand of the adversary working its way among the Latter-day Saints. Satan is seeking to divide them and to poison their minds in regard to the authorities of the Church and the leaders in the various Stakes of Zion. Men have said that they must not seek for counsel, and at the same time they have sought counsel from men who possess the spirit of apostasy. They have sought counsel from men who to my personal knowledge have secured their livelihood from the Latter-day Saints and have spent their nights playing cards and talking against the Authorities of this Church, You can seek counsel from that class of men, but if you seek counsel from President Snow or from Apostle Merrill, who presides over the Cache Valley Stake, or from some of the brethren who preside over the Stakes in IdahoI say if you seek counsel from these men as to what would be for the best interests of the people in this inter I feel impressed upon this subject. It seems to me that the Latter-day Saints are not controlled as they ought to be by the Spirit of the Gospel in some of the walks of life. It is the right of every man and woman in this Church to have a testimony of the Holy Spirit as to how to act in all these matters. I have sought the Lord in regard to these things long ago and this is how I feel. Let me remind you that the devil is not dead. The adversary of righteousness is working his leaven among the Latter-day Saints. He is trying to destroy the youth of this people by seducing them from the paths of chastity and virtue; by filling their minds with skepticism, and by establishing in their hearts the idea that there are some things connected with the people of God concerning which the servants of God ought to keep their mouths shut. Now, I know the men that founded this commonwealth and the enterprises of this land. They came here when it was a howling wilderness and laid the foundations of material prosperity in these mountain valleys. They established mountain region, oh, you are going to the wrong kind of men! Now, I want to say that I am going to these men for my counsel. I propose, God being my helper, (I do not say this boastingly, for I feel that I am the weakest among my brethren) to know the mind and will of the Lord on all subjects; and whether in casting a political vote or in lifting my hand to support the Prophet of God, I propose that the chief consideration in my heart shall be, what is the will of the Lord? I want to know His will. Are we the people of God, or are we not? Has God changed? No. Has the everlasting Gospel changed? No, and it never will. It is the same yesterday, today and forever. There are a certain class of pious men among us that I call hypocrites. They are "too good" to do anything that is not considered just right by the world, whether it is right in the sight of God or not. They are after the order of the men who, in the days of Jesus, sought to bring Him into disrepute, and even impeached the honor of His birth, because they did not understand it. They are the kind of men that condemned Rahab, the harlot, because she hid the spies. Why did she hide the spies? Was it to infringe upon the rights of the people of Jericho that she hid them and preserved them from those miserable minions of the law? No, she did it for righteousness sake, to protect innocent men in their liberties. What does the Apostle Paul say about that woman? He said it should be accounted unto her for righteousness. God commanded Abraham to offer up his son Isaac, and yet it had been written, Thou shalt not kill. Abraham withheld not his son. He took him to the altar. He prepared the kindling wood, and proposed to sacrifice his son upon the altar, in obedience to the command of God. He did not know that God would provide a ram in the thicket, or that he would send an angel to say. "Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me." Brethren and sisters, we do not want to be hypocrites, and we do not want to be so cowardly that wo afroid to ask God for His Holy Spirit and for that inspiration which has been sought for by men of this country from the days of George Washington down to the present. There are no people in these United States who have been more patriotic to the institutions of our country than the Latter-day Saints.. Have they ever lifted their hands against the Stars and Stripes? No. Have they ever lifted their voice against the institutions of this country? No. And I wish we had no men that would raise their voice against the administration of our country, but would uphold and sustain it, no matter what might be the politics thereof, and treat the men who are elected to office in our country with that respect which is due to them by virtue of their high position and the trust committed to them by thefranchise of the American people. But the Latter-day Saints have been trueto their country. They have furnished soldiers to fight its battles, some of whoin have laid down their lives in defense of the Stars and Stripes on the soil of Cuba and in the Philippine Islands. Whenever this people have taken issue with any enactment, it has been in a lawful manner. They have tested the constitutionality of laws passed by the Congress of the United States directed against them. When there has been a ruling in the courts of our Territory that has been esteemed unconstitutional, it has been appealed to the highest court in the Territory. When that body has sustained the lower court they have appealed it to the Supreme Court of the United States, but they have never lifted the hand of violence; they have never resorted to mobocracy cr to anything of that kind. When the Supreme Court has given its decision the Saints of God have rendered obedience to that decision. I say that we have made more sacrifices in the interest of respect to our country than any other class of people in it. My advice is to sustain those men who will sustain the enterprises which have been established by sacrifice among the people of God. I want to see men sustained in this country to administer the affairs of the government who will not turn aside the citizens of any State when copressed hv mobocracy by saying "Your cause is just, but we can do nothing for you." I want to see men sustained in this land who will uphold the Constitution of our country, and who will dare defend its citizens in every State and every Territory. I want to encourage you, brethren and sisters, to do your duty, to pay your tithing, and to say your prayers, and to sustain the quorums of the Priesthood. I wish that our Lesser Priesthood quorums would take up such a program as we have in the Mutual Improvement Associations. I wish that all the members of the Priesthood would exalt their quorum and make it the chief consideration in the Church, because God has founded it. He founded the Deacon's quorum, the Teacher's quorum and the Priest's quorum. All these other associations outside of the quorums of the Holy Priesthood are helps in government, and good ones too, and ought to be sustained in their place. If we will seek the mind and will of the Lord on all subjects the Lord will bless us; He will advance us; and the words of the Prophet Lorenzo Snow will be fulfilled in the not far distant future by steps being taken looking to the redemption of Zion and planting the feet of the people of God on that land. Why were they driven from this land? Well, I believe that they were driven from the land of their inheritance because they became like the world. They would not accept the United Order; they would not listen to the counsels of the Prophet of God upon all subjects, which they could have done without interfering with the welfare or interests of any people upon the face of this land. Let us not forget that we are Latter-day Saints. We are not narrow-minded, either. Do not we send the Gospel to the nations of the earth and ask the Elders to preach it without money and without price? Are we not willing to make any sacrifice for their salvation? When they have smitten us on the one cheek, have we ever knocked them down? When they have mobbed our Elders and slain them, have we ever returned the compliment in the same way? No, our course has been one constant chain of devotion to principle and to human liberty upon this land. Let us do our duty, and then some day we will sing this song that I am about to read; and there will be more in it than there is in a great many songs we sing. Some of the songs we sing do not amount to much, because we do not exemplify them in our lives. I have helped to sing "We thank the, O God, for a Prophet," when I knew we hardly meant it, especially if anything outside of religious matters came from the Prophet of God. Lots of times we sing "The Spirit of God like a fire is burning." But after a while we will sing this song which came to my mind when I first arose. "And plagues shall go forth." That reminds me of Brother W. T. Jack and myself in Galveston last spring. shall always remember it, for as we entered that city I said to Brother Jack, "I would like to lift up my voice in this city and say that the judgments of God are coming upon the people." But we only had a few hours there and not much money to hire a hall, so we let it go, and we left upon the train for Houston. I had a feeling of sadness in my heart that I had not lifted my voice in that city and warned the people of the judgments that were coming upon the earth. Brother Jack will remember our conversation. There was an editor there, Mr. Clarence Ousley, who entertained us kindly, and who wrote a column and a half regarding the Latter-day Saints and what he had seen in Salt Lake City. He came here and looked around the city, and though he came with prejudice, he left with a feeling that these were a good people, and he wrote a column and a half in our favor. What occurred to him during the flood at Galveston? He gathered the neighbors into his house, and he and his family and every soul in the house were saved. The judgments of God went all around them, but they were spared. Now we want to warn the nations. I was down in Chicago a year ago with President Kelsch. I had been down in the Southern States and in the Southwestern States also. I am glad that in Chicago and in other cities in our land the Elders are not afraid to stand up and defend every principle of the Gospel. We are living in a land would make the work of God secondary. of liberty. It is a land upon which any political or financial interests which God has decreed to establish and maintain His government forever. I am glad therefore. that these Elders dare to defend the truth, no matter what it is. God bless them. The more the truth is assailed the more of the Holy Ghost they enjoy in defending it. After a while God will rule upon this land. He said that Jesus Christ should be the king of this land and no human king should reign here. It was a foregone conclusion that Maxmillian could not remain Emperor of Mexico, for this is a land of freedom. God laid the foundations of it that He might bring forth His Church and establish His Priesthood upon this land. Therefore, I say do not forget that you are Latter-dav Saints. At the same time we can remember the injunction of Jesus. He said: "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness." If you will follow His counsel you won't forget that, and you can make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness without being unrighteous yourself. I am going to read to you this beautiful song and then sit down. If I have said anything wrong, I am willing to be corrected by President Snow or any of the brethren. I want to learn the truth. I want to be controlled by the truth. I want my heart to be in the work of God. I do not want to have Oct. 6, 10 a. m.-The choir and congregation sang the hymn which begins: Come, let us anew our journey pursue. Prayer by Elder George Reynolds. Singing by the choir: Softly beams the sacred dawning PRESIDENT LORENZO SNOW. I want to say just a few words. What I say may not be necessary to a large portion of this audience, but I want the Latter-day Saints to understand and think of the object of their coming together. It is only once in six months that we have such an oppor "And they shall lift up their voice, and with the voice together sing this new song, saying: "The Lord hath brought again Zion. The Lord hath gathered all things in one; The Lord hath brought down Zion from above. The Lord hath brought up Zion from beneath. "The earth hath travailed and brought And truth is established in her bowels; SECOND DAY. For He stands in the midst of His "Glory, and honor and power and might, Brethren and sisters, respect the Prophet of God, listen to his counsel and do not seek to give him counsel. God bless you. Amen. The choir sang the anthem, "Let the Mountains Shout for Joy." tunity as we have today, and I wish to remind the Latter-day Saints that the advantages we receive today or tomorrow, while gathered here, will be according to the spirit that we exercise individually. The Elders may address you here, and yet no particular advantage is secured unless you have the spirit and exercise the faith that it is our privilege to exercise, that we may be blessed to understand such things as may be spoken. We had a beautiful meeting yesterday, and the Spirit of the Lord was poured out greatly upon the Elders who spoke. We wish the same today, and we would like the Latter-day Saints to forget everything outside of the meeting, and try to exercise faith that the speakers may advance such principles as will be most to our service. plained to him several principles that were not known to the world, and he also explained several chapters of the prophets. Among others, he alluded to the prophecy in Malachi, to the effect that Elijah should be sent to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers and the hearts of the fathers to the children. Who had understood the deep meaning in these words? When the Lord revealed more to Joseph we began to un derstand it, and now we know that that prophecy pertains to salvation for the dead. I suppose that the boy Joseph did not understand the import of the I was much impressed yesterday with prophecy at the time, but the Lord wanted these things brought forth. They were not evolved as the Church grew, but they were principles given before the world was. Hence in these first revelations to the Prophet they are pointed at and indicated, and gradually, as the people were ready for them, they were explained. These principles are not new. They were understood by the prophets of old and by the writers of the New Testament. Paul alludes to the ordinance of baptism for the dead. I have attended several funerals in England, and I have been surprised to hear them repeat the 29th verse of the 15th chapter of I Corinthians: "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead. if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?" Brother Clawson's remarks concerning ELDER ANTHON H. LUND. Temple'work-Baptism for the dead-To be born of water and of the Spirit-Be diligent in the Search for Genealogies-Work of the Genealogical Society-Missionaries should keep records-Religion classes. A Our meetings were enjoyed very much yesterday, and to me they were spiritual feasts. I hope that our meetings today and tomorrow may be like them, that we may enjoy a rich portion of the Holy Spirit. How few understood the meaning of the words in this verse! Paul understood them, and I believe the first-day Saints understood this principle clearly, for Paul uses this as an argument in favor of the resurrection. What would be the use of being baptized for the Idead if the dead rose not? That was his argument. The Saints no doubt practiced the principle in those days, because we find in the Church afterwards that decrees were made against the custom of being baptized for the dead. Some ten hundred years after, up in Russia, when some of their princes were converted to Christianity, they felt impressed to ask for that ordinance to be performed for their forefathers. Whether they had any knowledge from the history of the first-day Saints, or not, I do not know; but such an or |