PRESIDENT YOUNG'S RECENT TRIP. 21 Elders John Taylor and George A. | performed several select pieces and Smith followed upon the same impor- anthems, all performing their parts to tant subjects. great perfection. In the afternoon, Elders Charles C. Rich and Lorenzo Snow spoke of the promised inheritances of the Saints being upon this earth, and not, as had been vainly supposed, away off in the unknown regions of space. President Young observed, that the reason the people did not make more and better improvements was, for want of better economy and more of that good common sense of calculation and decision which they ought all to possess; said, all the intelligence now in the minds of men, all the scientific knowledge, together with all the knowledge of the arts, has been revealed by the Almighty, at different periods, for the benefit of mankind, and that he will bless them in using and curse them for abusing the many precious things made known unto them. Elders F. D. Richards and E. T. Benson each made a few remarks, and the meeting was dismissed. The several Quorums of Priesthood were called together in the evening, and President Joseph Young preached to them on the duties of their respective callings. Dr. Ruttan was invited to the stand, and made some remarks expressive of his convictions of the truth of our religion, and of his desire to obey the Gospel. On Thursday we held one long meeting, at which Elders G. A. Smith, George Goddard, James S. Brown, Joseph Young, sen. and C. C. Rich preached, all giving good counsel and imparting much valuable instruction relating to the duties of the people of God, both temporally and spiritually. President B. Young also addressed the assembly on the necessity of living pure and holy lives before the Lord. The singing at Logan was a credit to the brethren and sisters composing the Richmond and Logan choirs, especially the former, which has attained greater proficiency than any body of singers I have heard north or south of Great Salt Lake City. This choir sang and I was pleased to see the enterprize and praiseworthy example set by Elder Benson in fruit culture, he having got a nice orchard of one hundred trees, about eighty of them being choice varieties of cultivated fruit. This, I understand, is the only orchard containing cultivated fruit in Logan, but I hope that many others will soon engage in the laudable enterprize of fruit-raising. Our company returned to Wellsville and held meeting in the evening, at which Elders Lorenzo Snow, John Taylor, George A. Smith, Joseph Young, sen. and myself preached on the science of the Gospel. On Friday, 24th, we resumed our return journey. An escort of ten men accompanied us half way to Box Elder, at which point, agreeably to the previous arrangement of Elders Benson and Snow, they were relieved by a company of brethren from Brigham. On coming into Box Elder county, we saw the flags of our country unfurled to the breeze, emblems of the union of the people. We were again received with marks of kindness, hospitality and brotherly love. A public dinner was given to our party in the Court House. Everything was served up in good style. We drove on again after dinner, and by 5 o'clock found ourselves with the good folks in Ogden. President Farr called a meeting to commence at "early candle-light." The preaching was done by President Joseph Young, Bishops Raleigh and Davis, and Elder George A. Smith. Elder Kilburn pronounced the benediction. Leaving Ogden in good season on Saturday, we made pretty good time to Farmington, where we dined and allowed our horses time to rest, after which we drove to Great Salt Lake City by a quarter past 4 o'clock, when we found ourselves literally covered with dust. An escort accompanied our party from Ogden, changing at Farmington. The less of physical force or menacing language we use the less, to take an expressive word, we scold our children-the more order and quiet we shall commonly We have seen a family where a single word, or a look even, would allay a rising storm. The gentle but firm method is the best security for domestic peace. secure. 22 SYNOPSIS OF A CONFERENCE. SYNOPSIS OF A CONFERENCE HELD IN GLASGOW, ON SATURDAY EVENING AND SUNDAY, THE 13TH AND 14TH DECEMBER, 1862. On Saturday evening a meeting of the Priesthood was convened, for the purpose of hearing the reports of the Branch Presidents respecting the standing of the Saints in their various fields of labour. From the reports given in, it was found that the Saints, with very few exceptions, were doing the best they knew how. On Sunday, the 14th, Conference met at Trongate Hall. The meeting was opened with prayer by District President D. M. Stuart; after which Elder R. Sands, Conference President, expressed his gratitude at being privileged to meet with those assembled, and reported the Saints of the Conference in good standing. He then read a Statistical and Financial Report, which was accepted by an unanimous vote of the assembly. President Stuart next presented the Authorities of the Church, who were, as usual, undividedly supported by all Saints present. President Geo. Q. Cannon then said, Brethren and sisters, it is with great pleasure that I pay you a visit at the present time under such favourable circumstances, and I trust our meeting together this day will be profitable to all of us. I have desired for some time to visit the Saints in Scotland again, and the more so because my last visit was so short. I have always felt that the Work we are engaged in is a momentous one. This feeling I have never been divested of since I entered the Church, and as my knowledge increases it increases with me. To become the people that the Prophets have said we should become, we must seek to understand the character of the Work in which we are engaged; and the Saints are realizing the necessity of this more and more every day. Still, there is one feeling which has crept into the minds of some, and which leads to evil results. When the Gospel was first preached in these lands, some twenty-five years ago, the servants of the Lord were led to speak of the judgments that would follow the rejection of the Gospel, and many looked for the judgments to follow immediately. But, being disappointed in their anticipations, believing, as they did, that a very few years not near so many as has already elapsed, would bring about the grand change and witness the coming of the Lord Jesus, a careless spirit has seized hold of many and has been encouraged, until they have thought that it was enthusiasm which prompted the servants of God to predict such things. Many have come to the conclusion that these events are far off in the distance; they have drifted into unbelief, and are almost as blind to "the signs of the times" as the world around them. I desire to undeceive you on this point, if any of you entertain such a conception, for no idea is more destructive, or more likely to lull you asleep, as it did some of the ancients. Everything that has been predicted by the servants of the Lord shall come to pass. They were inspired to declare that calamities would come upon the people, although the steps between this and the grand consummation are not fully known. The Lord gives us a principle here and a principle there, but not the details; yet I know there are men living that will see Jesus on the earth, though when he will come I do not know. The calling of the servants of God is to warn the people that Jesus is coming, and that God is about to establish his kingdom in righteousness upon the earth. The Saints are praying continually for the will of God to be done on earth as it is done in heaven, and it is to accomplish this that the Lord sends his servants to the people, to bring them to this state of things, to which they must come before the purposes of the Lord are fulfilled. There is a work of perfection to be wrought, such as never happened before upon the earth since the days of Adam, except, perhaps, that in the days of Enoch. Some people suppose that when they get to Zion they are then saved, and have done all that is necessary, but that is only one step in the right direction. Being baptized and having the imposition of hands for the : We extract the following from President B. Young's Journal:"Friday, 12 We held a meeting in Peterboro in the evening, preparatory to the Conference to-morrow. Saturday, 13. Had a good time at Conference all day. The brethren were very glad to see us, and the Lord gave us many good things to say to them. I preached to the Saints and showed the organization and establishment of the kingdom of God upon the earth; that the death of one or a dozen could not destroy the Priesthood, nor hinder the work of the Lord from spreading throughout all nations. Sunday, 14. Held three meetings, ordained 28 Elders. We enjoyed ourselves well, and had an excellent Confe rence." Elders Kimball and Wight went to meeting in Philadelphia, and read the account of the massacre to the Saints, who all felt very sorrowful, and agreed to dress in mourning in token of their love and respect for the martyred Prophets. Elder Kimball recorded, "O Lord, how can we part with our dear brethren ---O Lord, save thy servants the Twelve." The Saints in Boston met in the Franklin Hall: the house was crowded to overflowing, and many could not get into the room. Numbers who had not been in the habit of attending the meetings, came to see what course the Saints would pursue now their leaders were slain. Elder W. Woodruff, being the only one of the Twelve in the city, SMITH. addressed the Saints during the day, and also in the evening. He preached in the forenoon from Rev. 6th chap., 9, in the afternoon 10 and 11 verses; from Rev. 14th chap., 6, 7 and 8 verses, and in the evening on the parable of the fig tree, as recorded by Luke in 21st chap.; and, in connection, read some of the revelations given through the martyred Prophet of our day The Spirit of the Lord rested powerfully upon the speaker and the Saints, and their hearts were comforted. Richards, W. W. Phelps and the Monday, 15. Elders P. P. Pratt, W. Bishops, with many brethren, assembled to organize a company of fishermen to supply the city with fish: twenty-eight volunteered, with eight boats and skiffs. Isaac Higbee was appointed President, John S. Higbee and Peter Shirts Counsellors. The Times and Seasons has the following editorial : "THE MURDER. General Joseph Smith, who was murdered in cool blood, in Carthage Jail, on Thursday, the 27th day of June, was one of the best men that ever lived on the earth. The work he has thus far performed, towards establishing pure religion and preparing the way for the great ga hering of Israel, in the short space of twenty years, since the time when the angel of the Lord made known his mission and gave him power to move the cause of Zion, exceeds anything of the kind on record. 24 HISTORY OF JOSEPH SMITH. and the vengeance of God will haunt the whole gang and their offspring and abettors with a fury like Milton's gates of hell, -grating harsh thunder.' Without learning, without means, and without experience, he has met a learned world, a rich century, a hard-hearted, wicked and adulterous generation, with truth that could not be resisted, facts that In thus descanting upon the glory of could not be disproved, revelations whose General Joseph Smith and the cowardly spirit had so much God in them that the disgrace of his assassins, let his nobleservants of the Lord could not be gain-minded brother Hyrnm have no less said or resisted, but, like the rays of light honour shown him. He lived so far from the sun, they have tinged everything beyond the ordinary walk of man, that they lit upon with a lustre and livery even the tongue of the vilest slanderer which has animated, quickened and could not touch his reputation. adorned. The pages of General Smith's history, though his enemies never ceased to persecute him and hunt for offences against him, are as unsullied as virgin snow; on about fifty prosecutions for supposed criminal offences, he came out of the legal fire, heated like Nebuchadnezzar's furnace, seven times hotter than it was wont to be, without the smell of fire, or a thread of his garments scorched. His foes of the world and enemies of his own household, who have sought occasions against him, in order secretly to deprive him of his life, because his goodness, greatness and glory exceeded theirs, have a poor excuse to offer the world for shedding his innocent blood, and no apology to make to the Judge of all the earth at the day of judgment. They have murdered him because they feared his righteousness. His easy, good-natured way, allowing every one was honest, drew around him hypocrites, wicked and mean men, with the virtuous, and in the hour of trouble or trial, when the wheat was cleansed by water, the light kernels and smut rose upon the top of the water and had to be poured off, that the residue might be clean; or, to be still plainer, when they went through the machine for cleansing the grain, the chaff, light grain and smut, were blown off among the rubbish. False brethren, or to call them by their right name, apostates,' have retarded the work more, and combined more influence to rob him of life, than all Christendom; for they, having mingled in his greatness, knew where and when to take advantage of his weakness. Their triumph, however, is one that disgraces their State and nation, ruins them in time and in eternity. They cannot outgrow it, they cannot outlive it, and they cannot outdie it, from him that winked at it to him that shot the fatal ball, wherever there is moral honesty, humanity, love of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, there the breath of indignation, the whisper of 'those murders,' the story of mobocracy He lived godly and he died godly, and his murderers will yet have to confess that it would have been better for them to have a millstone tied to them, and they cast into the depths of the sea, and remain there while eternity goes and eternity comes, than to have robbed that noble man of heaven of his life. If there be such a thing as the greatest and least crimes among the archieves of the better world, the wilful murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith will be first and worst, without forgiveness in this world or the world to come, for no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.' · The Saviour said, wo unto the world because of offences, but offences must needs come; but wo unto him by whom they come! Prophets have been sent, according to the sacred history, which all enlightened nations use as a guide of morality here, or for a rule to obtain heaven hereafter, to instruct and lead the people according to the pure purposes of God, and yet from Cain down to two or three hundred Americans, Illinoians, Missourians, Christians, even freemen, the lives of mostly all these good men, the servants of God, not omitting his own Son, have been taken from them by those who professed to be the most wise, enlightened, intelligent and religious, (that is nationally) that were on the earth when the hellish deeds were done. But what has the next generation said? Ah! time thou art older and abler to tell the story than they that did the solemn act. No wonder the heathen nations will be God's in the day of his power; they have not killed the Prophets. When General Smith went to Carthage, just as the cavalry met him for the purpose of obtaining the State arms, he said to a friend, I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer's morning: I have a conscience void of offence toward God, and toward all men: I shall die innocent. Now ye great men who boast of great wisdom, what think ye of the Prophet's last prediction? How glorious! How As we have entered upon another year, and but a few weeks will elapse before the emigration season again opens, we feel to offer a few remarks upon the subject of the Gathering to the Saints. Probably there never has been a time in this Mission when the spirit of emigration has rested more mightily upon the Saints than it does at the present. In view of the events which are fast coming to pass, and the distress and perplexity that are likely to fall to the lot of the working classes in this country, there is a very great anxiety manifested by every faithful member of the Church in these lands to gather this coming season. We trust that every effort will be made by the Priesthood, and by the Saints themselves, to accomplish their emigration. The exercise of wisdom and faith will enable a great many to get away, who, if these gifts were neglected, would be compelled to remain probably years in these lands. The encouraging letters which have been received from the Saints who emigrated last year, have exerted an excellent influence in many parts of the Mission. A trip from England to Great Salt Lake Valley is not viewed with that apprehension and fear which would have been excited in view of a journey of such magnitude some years ago. It has now become a well-travelled road. The minds of the Saints have become familiarized with the difficulties incidental to, the journey; and by many it is looked upon more as a pleasure trip, than a long voyage across the ocean and a toilsome march for a large portion of the remainder through a country that is comparatively a wilderness. The courtesy and kindness shown to the emigrating Saints last year, by the Elders who had charge of the emigration, in permitting them to carry various articles of clothing and furniture with which they had supplied themselves, have called forth letters from many of the Saints to their friends in this country, exhorting them to bring all they can of these kind of articles with them. We have seen letters ourself, and have heard of the arrival of others, in which the writers say to their friends, "You need not mind what the Elders say about the amount of luggage which you can or cannot bring with you, for the teams will take all you bring, and you can pay for the carriage when you like after you arrive." They mention boxes, beds, looking-glasses, kettles, and an endless variety of articles which would be useful were they in the Valley. There is no doubt but what those who give such counsel as this, when writing, are actuated |