ing to some extent, and grow up with the community in which they make their home, and not settle down and depend upon the precarious chances of obtaining employment in the city, where so many are seeking for employment.

May the Lord bless Israel; may He prosper Zion and all her people; may the way be opened before the poor and the needy, that they may, by their own industry and perseverance, obtain all that is needful for their good. One reason that we are brought so prominently before the world is because we have adhered, in some measure, to the instructions given in the revelations of God through the Prophet Joseph Smith in regard to industry. There should be no idlers in Zion. Even the poor who have to be assisted should be willing to do all in their power to earn their own living. Not one man or wo

man should be content to sit down and be fed, clothed or housed without any exertion on his or her part to compensate for these privileges. All men and women should feel a degree of independence of character that would stimulate them to do something for a living, and not be idle; for it is written that the idler shall not eat the bread of the laborer in Zion, and he shall not have place among us. Therefore, it is necessary that we should be industrious, that we should intelligently apply our labor to something that is productive and conducive to the welfare of the human family. God help us to do this, is my prayer. Amen.

The choir and congregation sang, We thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet. Benediction by Elder George Rey

nolds.

Conference adjourned till 10 a. m. on Sunday.

MORNING SESSION.

Sunday, April 9th, 10 a. m.

The choir and congregation sang,

Do what is right, let the consequence follow;

Battle for freedom in spirit and might,

And with stout hearts, look ye forth till tomorrow;

God will protect you, do what is right.

Opening prayer by Elder Rulon S. Wells.

Singing by the choir:

Softly beams the sacred dawning
Of the great Millennial morn,
And to Saints gives welcome warning
That the day is hasting on.

then them in the way of righteousness. Therefore, I earnestly desire that assistence without which it is impossible to accomplish what is most desirable this morning.

When we contemplate what the Lord is doing in the earth, it is marvelous beyond human comprehension. When we pass in review our personal experiences, we find all along the path of life occasions for the utmost gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His kind and faithful care in preserving us in the way of life till now. When we have seen so many turn to the right and to the left and forsake the cause of God, because of some trivial affair perhaps,

ARDS.

Importance of instruction received-Our Savior's Mission-The life and immortality of menAdvice to young men-New and increasing duties during life-Reference to TithingExhortation to faithfulness, with blessing. Beloved hearers, I arise with a deep sense of the impossibility of any man edifying and instructing such a congregation as this, except he be influenced by the spirit of truth. Certainly, unless he be inspired therewith, he will be unable to feed and nourish the spirits of Mis hearers, and to refresh and streng

casion for deeper gratitude on our part that the good hand of the Lord has assisted, steadied and sustained us until the present. We have received at this conference such a variety of instructions as has seemed calculated to extend over all the periods of human existence, even to our daily economy, the culture of our gardens, our farms and our orchards. The way of life has been dwelt upon; and if we have been careful hearers and have treasured up the things that have been said, certainly to the tractable they will prove very

precious, and to those who fail to be benefited they will meet a great and irretrievable loss. Being surrounded with many cares, with the inconveniences of poverty,sometimes with pinching want, at other times with troubles brought upon ourselves by our indiscretion, we naturally get but part of the benefit which we might receive if we could preserve always that peaceful serenity and that entire composure which belong to those who are the most perfectly devoted to God and His work.

Having had some little experience in the sixty years that I have been in the Church, and hearing the brethren talk as they have during this conference, it has seemed to pick up and bring to review much of what I have experienced.

In large congregations, where the Gospel is preached to strangers, there is a great variety of dispositions present to listen. There are those who receive the words of the Elder and drink them in, because they seem exactly to satisfy the soul, and the whole nature yields accord and acceptance to the things that are taught. Many of us remember when we first

can

are

heard the sound of the Gospel. It came to us with a most grateful and satisfying influence, and we embraced it the first time we heard it. There are those whose hearts and consciences are right before the Lord, who are ready to receive the truth, and the Holy Spirit can move upon such and give them testimonies there and then. Others in the congregation who are more of an agnostic disposition, and do not know whether things are true, or whether they want to believe them or not, there for curiosity, and they cannot accept anything unless it is thoroughly proved from the scriptures. Others again, when anything is proved by the scriptures, are doubtful, skeptical, and of an unbelieving kind-men who have delighted in sin, and their consciences have become seared as with a hot iron, so that they are not sensitive and conscious to the truth. The Spirit cannot work in them, and they are unworthy perhaps of these testimonies. There may be those even who have bloodguiltiness upon them, listening to the words of the teacher. They may be satisfied of their truth, but by their own conduct they have cut themselves

off from accepting or taking in, with any sense of benefit, the glorious words of eternal truth that are being spoken to them, and they pass by them like the wind on the prairie or the barren heath, "and they do not see when good cometh."

The Lord has told us, in one of His revelations, that from the time He gave the Gospel to the human family, so far as they heard its truths and rejected them, they came under condemnation. To reject the truths of the Gospel is a fearful condition. We, who have been led to receive and obey, have the greatest reason in the world to be thankful to Him who has given us the understanding that when we heard the voice of the Good Shepherd we received it, and have tried to follow it, notwithstanding all our staggering infirmities and weaknesses, follies and frailties, and all the allurements of the world that have been around us to draw us away. We have reason today to be exceedingly thankful to the Lord that we are still blessed of Him and preserved in His favor.

The Lord, on one occasion, told Moses what His work was. Moses became inquisitive. That is the way we all do when we are brought into the confidence of those who know more than we do. It is natural for us to want to get further knowledge, if we have the spirit of intelligence, which is a little of the glory of God. We hunger and thirst for knowledge. The Savior said, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled." So we may take courage if we can only keep on and endure to the end. When Moses first enquired of Him, He turned Moses off and told him that the great things which he saw were for His honor and glory. To Him they were all numbered, He said; but to man they were not numbered. Finally, He told Moses that "His work and His glory was to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of men."

From this it would appear that before the earth was created and father Adam given possession, it was understood that death might be brought into the world through sin and transgression, and that there was a provision made for that. The trial came, the sentence of death was passed, and men began to die. Then it seemed as if the great ch

been

was

ject for which the earth had created and man placed upon it frustrated. The object had been for men to come and obtain tabernacles that they might acquire the knowledge, blessing and power of God in the flesh, and that he might be able to exalt and glorify these tabernacles. When death came into the world, the body and spirit were separated, and this great object seemed to be defeated. But God had provided for this The Lamb of God, "slain from before the foundation of the world," came in His appointed time to correct and restore. How often the Savior told the brethren, when they were together, that the whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. The Son of Man came not to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentence. He came to restore that which was lost, He said. Now, that which was lost was the tabernacle that had been consigned to the grave, and He came to bring to pass the resurrection of the body. That seemed to be the summing up of the saying that "His work and His glory was the immortality and eternal life of man"-to restore man, after being lost, to immortality and eternal life. That is what we are after, that through keeping the commandments of God we may be accounted worthy to attain unto that better resurrection, even the first resurrection, to immortality and eternal life, and an abundant entrance into the kingdom of God. The Apostles seemed to understand this. One of them says that life and immortality are brought to light through the Gospel. He seemed to realize that life and immortality were out of sight, except as revealed and made manifest through the Gospel. Thus, the great restoration, is to be brought about.

Looking on down to our own time, we see that we live in the dispensation of the fulness of times, in which the Lord has promised to gather together in one all things which are in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are upon earth. This is according to scripture, and this is what we are working at. As soon as the Gospel was first preached to the people, they felt the spirit of gathering. When the Presidency, from the Kirtland Temple, sent Elders over to the old country and in

ructed them not to teach gathering

particularly at present, why the people got to dreaming about gathering and about Zion. It could not be kept from them. The spirit of the work was upon them. Thus the spirit of gathering comes upon the Saints wherever the Gospel is preached to them, and there arises within them an inclination to want to leave where they have become strangers, to go to people whose faith is like their own, with whom they are acquainted in the Lord and have fellowship together.

In speaking concerning the people at the present time, there is one important feature among us of great concern. That is, there are so many young men and young women who are of marriageable age and who ought to be taking seriously into consideration the importance of uniting themselves together properly, and commencing to build up families and to make homes for themselves, thus becoming persons of value and worth among the Saints in the latter days. If I could speak into the ears of a host of young men, I would say to each one of them, Look around you, my young brother, find a young lady who is waiting for you to come and offer to take her to wife-some faithful girl, who is dutiful and obedient to her parents at home, who has been taught to work and to relieve her mother, and who feels a spirit of ambition and energy to take hold of life. Do not wait till you have got enough money to make a home and to store it with all the comforts of life. You that are studying upon that point, let me cite to you a case that occurred just over the river here a little while ago. A couple had got some land, built a house, had it nicely furnished, cupboards well stocked, a fine cow in the stable, and everything prepared for housekeeping. They went away to get married, and while they were away their home was broken into and devastated, so that when they got back they had no home to go to.

I want to tell you, if you have no home, ask the Lord to bless you and open up your way to make one. Go out and get a piece of land somewhere. There is plenty of land to be got in different places around. Young men, take this matter into your hearts, and consider how you will feel when you are 70 or 80 years of age, if you are blessed

to live that long-and you would feel terrible if you had a witness that you would not. Think how you want to be found when you are that age. You want to see your children and your grandchildren come around you, to bless and comfort you, to eat and drink at your table, and to make you feel that you have a generation planted in the earth. Now, it is going to take some years to do this; but if you will get a good, honest-hearted girl, unite with her and plight your troth at the altar of the Lord, in His holy house, and let Him seal your hearts together, and then go into this labor of life and make a home together, you will begin to be happy.

I remember, as if it were only last week, when I married and hired a room, in which my wife and I began housekeeping. Our wants were but few; our means very limited; but we had enough to eat, to be comfortable and happy with each other. I remember the first time I bowed down to pray by that fireside that I had hired to live by. I tell you I felt nearer like a man than I had ever done before in my life. When I was a single man, traveling around as an Elder, I had either to find friends or to make them; for it is the business of the Elder to make friends if they do not find them ready made. I used to think sometimes that mavbe I was in somebody's way; and when I was ill or afflicted, certainly I was dependent upon somebody's kindness, and I generally found it. But I did not feel that strange way in my own hired house Now, my good young brother, whom I am talking now, you want to become a man among men; you want to become an Elder among the Elders of Israel; you want to have a wife, and a home, where you can have concentrated all the comforts and happiness of mortal life, and where you can have the fulfillment of the promise that where two or three are agreed as touching anything it should be granted to them. I remember how we used to pray that the Lord would grant unto us that we might have children who would be kind and dutiful and obedient, and who would love Him and walk in His ways. The Lord gave us such children, too. That is the way we felt when we called upon the Lord and asked Him for every blessing that we needed. So we worked

to

The

our way along as best we could. Lord helped us and steadied us, until when we had to leave Nauvoo we were able to leave a nice, comfortable brick house, a garden and lot that we had bought and paid for, all fenced and cultivated.

Then again, when the Prophet Joseph was killed, the question was, how shall we finish the temple? I recollect well that Elders were sent out through the Churches to gather means for this purpose. I was sent to Michigan. The thing was, that temple had to be finished or we could not go get our endow. ments and learn the things that had been kept hid from before the foundations of the world. What was to be done? When we got back, the Presidency called us together and told us the thing as it was. I recollect distinctly that one after another came forward and offered everything he possessed to finish that temple, and I was thankful that I could count one among that number. Of course, things are different now to what they were then. But this is what the young man wants. If he has the holy faith of the Gospel, he has within him the elements of a kindred and friends, and be a man among men. A Saint among Saints. Oh! what a blessing it will be to you young when you get to be old, to feel that you have a righteous race around you, who will try to carry out your will and pleasure after you are gone. You must consider, my boy, that your life is not all of today, tomorrow, this year or next year. You are but making a start here to obtain that life and immortality which is revealed in the Gospel, and to stand at the head of a righteous race. Father Abraham lived to be a hundred years old before he got a boy, and see what the Lord has made of him! His name, his seed and his generations are here, and his blood is in you. The promises that were made unto him and to his son Isaac, and then to Jacob, have been renewed upon your fathers and the faithful in these last days. Rise up and take hold of them. They await you.

men

Speaking of my own case, I recollect well how, as we got along there camea time when we needed some consecrated oil. I took a bottle of oil to Presi