SUMMARY OF NEWS 303 SUMMARY 0 O F NEWS. ENGLAND.-Important and very pointed correspondence has taken place betweeen Earl Russell and Mr. Adams. U.S. Minister, relative to questions arising out of the war now raging in America, which involve the interests of both countries. FRANCE.-The French Government has instructed M. Mercier to ask for explanations from Mr. Seward relative to the fact of Mr. Adams having granted a safe-conduct to a ship carrying arms for the Mexicans. POLAND.-An important engagement took place between the Russians and the insurgents on the 25th ult., near Warka, south of Warsaw. The Russians were defeated with great loss. A sanguinary engagement also took place at Jerzyce, near the Prusso-Polish frontier, which resulted in a body of Russians being driven across the Prussian frontier. The Poles have also met with many serious reverses. AMERICA. A steamer with one regiment and supplies had succeeded in reaching General Foster at Washington, N.C., on the 14th inst. The Confederates, under General Longstreet, reported 30,000 strong, continue to invest Suffolk. They have attempted to get round Suffolk and cut off the Federal communication with Norfolk. It is supposed that, in case of the capture of Suffolk, the Federals would burn Norfolk. Fifty-three Federal gunboats have proceeded up the Coldwater River. Refugees from Vicksburg state that there are sufficient supplies there to last them for two years. Vicksburg is fortified by 225 cannon. At present there are not more than 5,000 troops in the town, but in case of attack reinforcements can be had. The Richmond Whig says a fight took place at Williamsburg, Va., on the 14th. The Confederates, under General Wise, drove in the Federal pickets and occupied the town. The previously noticed address of President Davis states that the ration is now reduced sometimes to one-half the usual quantity in some of the Southern armies. The Governor of New York recommends an amendment to the Constitution giving the Legislature power to pass a law to enable absent soldiers to vote. The New York press generally, with the exception of the World, is assuming a highly belligerent tone towards England. The New York Herald urges President Lincoln to call an extra session of Congress to consider what measures ought to be adopted in case of a collision with England. The New York Times says:-"It is physically certain America will exact atonement for British outrages. The only uncertain thing is the question of time: it may be next month, or next year, or ten years hence, but every dollar destroyed by English privateers must be made good by voluntary payments or reprisals." The Richmond papers of the 16th state that all is quiet at Charleston. The Charleston Mercury says that Fort Sumter, although somewhat pitted, is as strong as ever. No one was killed in it. Two Federal gunboats and three transports have been destroyed in Cumberland River by Wheeler's Confederate cavalry. It is stated that 14 vessels, laden with cotton from Southern ports, arrived at Nassau between the 16th March and 10th April, including the former Isle of Man steamer Douglas. It is reported that Mr. Seward is in favor of surrendering the Peterhoff. The report of the Secretary of the Treasury estimates that the Government (Federal) expenses for the six months ending December, 1863, will exceed $50,000,000 per month, and recommends further taxation. The Richmond Sentinel says that the Federal iron-clad fleet left Charleston harbor for the South on Sunday, the 12th ult. It is said that General Stoneman's force, after making a feint attack at Kelley's Ford, crossed the Rappahannock and pushed on to Culpepper and Gordonsville. This movement is to turn the flank of the Confederates at Fredericksburg. The World says that Mr. Seward's last despatch to Mr. Adams submitted to the British Government the alternative of preventing from leaving port the vessels alleged to be building in England for the Confederate service, or the rupture of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Seven murders were registered in London in the week ending 25th ult. The man who is "nothing if not original," thinks that Macaulay's flowers of rhetoric might aptly be called Ma-caulay flowers. "Rum change this." as the toper said when the New York bar-keeper paid him his balance in dirty postage stamps. The difference between the teetotalers and the liquor dealers is this: the former rejoice to see rum going up, while the latter are in favor of its going down. A Yankee, writing from the West to his father, speaking of its great matrimonial facilities, says,-" Suppose you get the girls some new teeth and send them out." Says Dick to Jack,- Your neighbors say you wrangle with your wife each day.” "Pooh, pooh," said Jack, they only joke. 'Tis now a fortnight since we spoke." Can a manufacturer of doll's eyes be a good Christian? Of course not-he is an eye-dollater. (The author of this atrocity has been to sent to "cell number four,” to remain till called for.) At the late inspection of the troops forming the Plymouth garrison, the Duke of Cambridge, taking umbrage at the manner in which the lieutenant-colonel in command of a battalion of marines handled his men, rode up to him, and in loud and not very mild terms told him, in the hearing of every man on the ground, that he was thoroughly ignorant of his business and that the sooner he took himself off to his barracks the better he would be pleased. DIED: In Southampton, on the 13th of April, Elder Charles Mill, aged 71 years. (Deseret News please copy.) EDITED, PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY GEORGE Q. CANNON, 42, ISLINGTON. LONDON: FOR SALE AT THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS BOOK DEPOT, 30, FLORENCE STREET, ISLINGTON; AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS' MILLENNIAL STAR. Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the Prophets... The Lord God has spoken, who can but prophesy ?"-AMOS. No. 20, Vol. XXV. Saturday, May 16, 1863. Price One Penny. MINUTES OF A CONFERENCE, HELD IN SHEFFIELD, SUNDAY, APRIL 12, 1863. REPORTED BY E. L. SLOAN. (Continued from page 294.) Now, my brethren and sisters, and especially those who have the Priesthood, if we go forth-and even the weakest Saint can do this-if we go forth and bear testimony unto the people with whom we are thrown in contact, in all solemnity, calling upon God to bestow his Holy Spirit upon us, he will sustain us. The Lord will bear testimony with his Spirit to those who give heed to our words, weak though they may be, and our testimonies will be powerful to the convincing of the honest. It is true that it is needful to refer at times to the Scriptures to prove that the principles we teach are the same as those taught by the Saints and servants of God anciently, but there are events taking place now which go to prove in the clearest and most positive manner that God has bestowed upon his servants in these days the Spirit of revelation and prophecy. The world could plead years ago, with a show of reason, that they wanted evidence and signs to prove that we were the people of God. They could ask then, with apparent consistency, for some signs to prove that the Elders were what they professed to be. But there is no longer any necessity for men to come and ask us for the evidences of the divinity of the Work in which we are engaged, for there is spread out before us a vast amount of evidence open to the sight and plain to be understood by every individual who will permit himself to reflect a little. The Elders and Saints can go forth, at the present time, bearing testimony in the name of Jesus with the power and demonstration of the Spirit, and with signs following such as have not been witnessed for generations previously. The Lord said years ago, that after the testimonies of his servants he would send powerful testimonies in the shape of calamities and tribulations, of wrath and indignation, and he is now vindicating his word. He is sustaining the testimonies borne by his servants for so long a period of time to the inhabitants of the earth; and they will not be able to say hereafter they did not know whether what the Latter-day Saints taught was true or not-that they had no evidence in support of it, for they have evidence now given them of such a character that it should awaken within them a spirit to seek after God; it should stir 306 MINUTES OF A CONFERENCE. up reflection within them and prompt them to seek to know for themselves whether what is taught by us be from God or not, seeing it is sustained by such weighty confirmation in the events now transpiring. When the Elders go forth and testify of these things to the people they point out to them the path they should pursue to obtain a knowledge for themselves. That path is plain and the way to walk in it is easy of comprehension, and everybody is capable of travelling in it. When we tell them to pray to the Lord in the name of Jesus, to entreat him to quicken their understandings and enlighten their minds, there is nothing strange or mysterious in their doing so. It does not come in contact with their preconceived ideas and opinions; therefore the inhabitants of the earth will be left without excuse in this thing, for they say they do believe in prayer; and when they are told to go and ask the Lord for the knowledge which we assure them he will bestow, they cannot say it is contrary to their former belief or to the teachings of the Scriptures which they profess to revere. The Lord in ancient times sent forth his servants to bear testimony unto the people in the same manner that he does now. It is the course he has always taken. They had not the Bible in a printed form to refer to as we have, but they had the power and Spirit of God with them. It is true, there were copies of the Scriptures or the writings of the ancient Prophets in their midst, but the knowledge of them was confined to a very few comparatively. There were men who made it their business to study and expound these writings, as there are men now who make the expounding of the Bible their sole business, and these men were unwilling to receive the Gospel because they thought they knew better what was taught in them than those unlearned men who came bearing the message of God. They had access to the ancient writings and were not prepared to receive the testimony of men coming in the name of the Lord and exposing their traditions and errors. So the servants of God went forth, appealing to the Scriptures of course, but it was by their testimony the inhabitants of the earth were warned, and for the rejection of which they The were condemned. They went forth bearing the testimonies which the Lord bestowed upon them, being inspired by his Spirit; but there was nothing extraordinary in their appearance. People now, when they think of a Prophet of God--an inspired man, conceive of some being whose appearance is so striking and remarkable that they would have no difficulty in knowing he was a man empowered by God. They think of him as a being clothed in sackcloth, girt round with a leather girdle, with brilliant and piercing eyes and long, flowing hair, and having a strange, a peculiar look, which would convince the beholder he had walked and talked with God. They imagine, when they read about a Prophet, that there was something in his appearance that would strike people with awe; and, doubtless, people in ancient times had ideas equally as untrue with regard to what a Prophet of God looked like. A careful perusal of the Scriptures will give us to understand that these ideas are erroneous. ancient Prophets of God were like other men; they had like passions and desires; their language was similar; and though they spoke by the Spirit of God, those who had not that Spirit were not disposed to receive their testimony. They could see nothing heavenly, nothing prophetical, according to their ideas, and nothing godlike about them or their testimonies. It was in the power of testimony that these men went forth; and it was by the people receiv ing their testimony that they received a knowledge for themselves from God respecting its truth. How could we know anything about God if we did not take this course? People talk about the Bible, and it is customary to place a great deal of confidence in it. It is believed in and valued by the people because their fathers valued it and impressed upon their minds a necessity in its belief; and, in many places, it is considered one of the greatest insults that could be offered to any people to speak lightly of the Bible. How can we know that it is the Word of God? "O," says one, "I know it to be the Word of God, for my father and mother have told me so, and my teachers have impressed it upon me." If this be all the foundation we have for saying we know the Bible to be true, the Moham MINUTES OF A CONFERENCE. medans might just as consistently say that the Koran is the Word of God, for their fathers and teachers inculcate that belief upon them from infancy to manhood, and they are taught to believe that the Koran is the Word of God. If we have no better foundation for our belief than this, we are on the same level as the Mohammedan, the Hindoo and the Chinaman, who severally believe in the sacred books handed down to them by their fathers; we place the Bible on a level with the spurious writings of men who called themselves prophets of God but were not. can know this book to be the Word of You God by the same means and upon the same principle that you know the testimony of a servant of God to be true. You cannot know a servant of God from a servant of the Devil, and you cannot tell whether this is the Word of God or of the Devil, without knowledge from God; and there is not a man in Christendom or upon the earth to-day who can say that he knows this to be the Word of God and speak truthfully, unless he knows it by revelation from God. If they have not that testimony they are as destitute, so far as knowledge is concerned, as the Hindoo or Chinaman who believes in his mythological deities, or the Mohammedan who believes in Allah and his prophet. I am sure Christendom would scarcely like to be placed on a level with these idolators, yet such is the position in which they place themselves. who sincerely, humbly and honestly Those desire to know God will know that the Elders of Israel are his servants the moment they hear the testimony of the Elders, for the Spirit of God will bear witness to them of its truth; and I am not afraid to say that all the honest in heart among the nations will, sooner or later, obey the Gospel and receive a testimony of the truth. man or woman who is honest and sinThere is no cerely and truly humble before God, but will, sooner or later, receive the testimony of the truth. There is a power in testimony-one that is irresistible to the honest soul; and where there is a man or woman who desires to know the foundation on which their faith is based, they seek unto God for it, and when they hear the truth and the testimony of men who have the 307 principles of salvation to proclaim unto the people, they are ready to receive them, because they take the right course to obtain a knowledge of the truth for themselves. devolves upon us is to warn the people. As I was remarking, the duty that The Lord has said this is not a day of many words but of warning; and the older I get the more I am convinced of this, and of the importance of keeping it before our minds continually. It is our duty to bear testimony wherever we have an opportunity of doing so; can leave them in the hands of God. and if the people choose to reject it, we We can stand justified before our God: the condemnation will rest upon them, and the purposes of God will be answered, because the inhabitants will be warned. upon gular notions The people have a great many sinsay to us, God, why do you not give some striking these points. They If you are the people of evidence, or sign, that we may believe you?" Many signs and much striking evidence have been given them, but they have refused to receive them. Many gifts and blessings have been bestowed upon the Saints; and I have seen a great deal of anxiety, in the past, manifested by some because they had not received such of the gifts of the Gospel as they desired, and they have not been able to understand why they have not received them. There is one thing many of the Saints, and that is, "God's the world has yet to learn, and so have ways are not as man's ways, nor his thoughts as man's thoughts." If the salvation of mankind were left in the hands of the inhabitants of the earth, they would have a very different plan of doing it to that which the Lord has revealed, and one that would signally fail. I would like to have the Saints understand that God's plans are not as ways, and his thoughts are not as our our plans, his ways are not as our thoughts; and measuring his ways by our very imperfect ideas and notions is The very blessing an individual or a a poor way of arriving at the truth. people would seek for might be the very means of bringing condemnation upon him or them. God does not take this way of building up his Work. Jesus did not do it when upon the earth. He |