758 MINUTES OF A CONFERENCE. about the great work of human redemption; said the rebellious and disobedient were not of the seed of Ephraim, for who was the Lord gathering out from the midst of the nations of the earth but the obedient and believing? The author of rebellion was Satan, that adversary of mankind who rebelled in the councils of heaven, drawing aside with him one-third part of its host; and when men rebel, or contend for dignity or position, or are disobedient, it is an infallible sign that they are under his influence, and that their course, if they pursue it, will result in misery and downfall. He also spoke of the government of families, showing the necessity of wives being obedient to their husbands, and then the children would be obedient to them. They were not to think that they were degrading themselves by so doing, for they should strive to be subject to their husbands, as the husbands were obedient to the Priesthood over them; but husbands should not with despotic power rule their wives and families. When President Young said to any of the faithful servants of God that they were called to go on a certain mission, they obeyed without stopping to query or contend about their being called; and so it was with every faithful Saint in the kingdom of God, both now and anciently. If men could exhibit this spirit to their fellow-servants, how willing should wives be to render obedience to their husbands who stood at their head, and how tractable should children be to the wishes of their parents! In the case of Isaac, for instance, how obedient he was to his Father! Abraham said unto him, Come, let us offer sacrifice unto the Lord upon the mount." When they left the young men, the wood was laid upon Isaac to carry. He must have been large enough to have resisted the wishes of his father had he been so disposed, instead of submitting himself to be bound and laid upon the altar as the sacrifice to be offered. Isaac was obedient unto his father Abraham, even as Abraham was obedient unto God, and through the latter's faithfulness and obedience, the Lord would not hide from him that which he was about to do when he overthrew 66 the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, for he knew that he would command his children and his house after him. Again, when Jephthah, through the deliverance of Israel from the oppression of the Ammonites, fulfilled his vow in offering to the Lord the first who came forth from his house to meet him on his return in peace, his only child, his daughter, was the victim of his vow, and her only appeal was, "Father, if thou hast opened thy mouth unto the Lord, do to me according to that which proceeded out of thy mouth," only "let me alone two months that I may go up and down upon the mountains and bewail my virginity," which he did, and "at the end of the two months she returned unto her Father, who did with her according to his vow." He thought that this was a most unwise and rash vow, and only alluded to it to show the obedience manifested, and we might contrast it with the obedience manifested by the children of men in our day. The Gospel, as it was revealed, was producing a change upon the earth, and the day will come when the laws of God will be strictly carried out. A rebellious man could not expect to have an obedient family, for his children would be actuated by the same spirit that influenced him. truly obedient and faithful Saint was as firm as adamant, and would rather die in the track than give up, however he might be tempted to do wrong, or however much he might have to suffer. The We have been talking about being a great people, but to-morrow, while in the field, shop, or elsewhere, perhaps we should forget what we are. We should try and remember, under all circumstances, that we have taken upon us the name of the Lord, and that he has given us an agency and power to arrange and organize society in such a manner as to suit him and be in perfect agreement with all his laws. Mankind, not being led by the influence of the Holy Spirit, have improperly organized themselves; but the time will come when society will be very differently arranged. The founders of all societies, and pioneers of every great work, have had to labor arduously and to use all their energy in accomplishing that which they have HISTORY OF BRIGHAM YOUNG. 759 accomplished. Many of the Saints | position he would pray the Lord to and servants of God, in the organiza- give him dreams, or some other manition of this Work, have, through the festation, to show him the true condifficulties they have had to overcome, dition of the nations and the approachthe persecutions they have had to ing calamities. He predicted that endure, and the heavy responsibility those who practiced impurity would of the work, been brought to a pre- apostatize sooner or later. We were mature grave, and many more will not to forget that the Spirit of God have to lay their bodies down; yet was the principal thing for us to obthe time will surely come when "one tain; exhorted the Saints to pray to shall not build and another inhabit, the Lord to give them his Spirit, that or one plant and another eat the fruit they might be actuated by it all the thereof," but all will realize those time, and be filled with wisdom and blessings for which they have labored. intelligence; it would be felt by those The work in which we are engaged is with whom they associated. This was a labor worthy of our parentage; for the way to feel here, on the Plains, who should be better able to work in and in Zion, and they would never the establishment of God's kingdom, apostatize. He had spoken of the in the bringing to pass of all his things of his own experience, and mighty purposes, and in the banish- which he verily knew; prayed that ment of wickedness with its author they might live according to the laws from off the face of the earth, than God's of God. We should have to obey own children? The earth was destined many principles we knew nothing of for a dwelling-place for the children of now, which would purify and prepare God; it will be purified, celestialized us, before we could go into the preand appropriately inhabited by a faith-sence of God. We should always have ful, obedient and worthy people, and joy if we lived in the enjoyment of who could be more appropriately se- the Spirit of God, for that would make lected than God's own children? Many us feel happy in whatever circumwondered why they had not been deli-stances we were placed; and concluvered from Babylon sooner; but none who were faithful would be left behind -all would get away in time. Many have been able to emigrate, at different times, with money given to them, and some of them got away so easily that they were not prepared when they did go; but the most of those who have gone of late, have gone tired of BabyIon before they started. Others have been lifted up in their prosperity and have apostatized, and have gone to California and other places. Some of these have seen their folly, however, and have been glad to return to Zion. If there were any who were not yet sick of Babylon, if he were in their ded by exhorting the brethren in the Branches to visit amongst the Saints as much as possible, teaching and instructing them in the things of God. He would rather that they dispense with one meeting on the Sunday (morning) than neglect this important duty. The Doxology was then sung, and the Conference was dismissed by Elder Bentley, when the Saints returned to their homes, feeling amply repaid for their journey to Conference, which varied from six to fifty miles, all having spent a pleasant and most profitable time. Reported by STEPHEN HARE." HISTORY OF BRIGHAM (Continued from page 728.) YOUNG. July 6.-I attended a general Con- | Pratt, President; William Clayton, ference of the Church in Britain, in Clerk. the Carpenter's Hall. Elders H. C. Kimball, P. P. Pratt, W. Woodruff, J. Taylor, W. Richards and Geo. A. Smith, were present. Elder P. P. There were represented 41 Branches, comprising 2,513 members, 56 Elders, 126 Priests, 61 Teachers and 13 Deacons. Increase the last three months, 760 HISTORY OF BRIGHAM YOUNG. 842 members, 22 Elders, 74 Priests, 23 Teachers and 5 Deacons. The Apostles present, and 20 Elders, volunteered to devote their time exclusively to the work of the ministry. -7.-1 attended a general Council of the Church officers in the Councilroom of the Star office, Manchester, at which the missionaries were assigned their fields of labor. I addressed the meeting at length, upon the duties and calling of the servants of God. -12.-I preached in the hall in the morning, and brother Woodruff in the evening. We confirmed four. Soon after our Conference brother P. P. Pratt started for America, to bring his family to England, and I took charge of the Millennial Star, and edited the same, assisted by brother W. Richards. I was much confined to the office for several months, proofreading the Hymn Book, conducting and issuing the Millennial Star, Hymn Book and Book of Mormon, giving counsel to the Elders throughout the European Mission, preaching, baptizing and confirming. August 21--I visited the Church at Preston; remained three days, and preached. -23 (Sunday).-Ten were confirmed in the hall, Manchester, and on Sunday, 30th, twenty were confirmed. October 6.-I attended a general Conference held in the Carpenter's Hall, Manchester. Elders H. C. Kimball, O. Pratt, W. Richards, W. Woodruff and Geo. A. Smith, were present. Elder O. Pratt was chosen to preside, and Elder George Walker, clerk. There were represented 3,626 members, 81 Elders, 222 Priests, 74 Teachers and 26 Deacons, showing an increase for the last three months of 1,113 members, 25 Elders, 96 Priests, 15 Teachers and 13 Deacons. A call being made for volunteers to labor in the ministry, 10 High Priests, 13 Elders and 19 Priests gave in their names. A fund was established by the voluntary contributions of the Saints for the support and clothing of laborers in the vineyard, whose circumstances might require it. -7.-I sat in Council with the Twelve and several other officers. In the evening attended a discussion between Elder Alfred Cordon and Mr. John Berry, who attempted to prove the Book of Mormon false, and baptism by immersion not essential to salvation. Elder Cordon replied, pro September 5.-I went from Manchester to Liverpool, accompanied by brother W. Richards, and in the evening organized a company of Saints to sail for the land of Zion. Elder Theo-ving the Book of Mormon true, and dore Turley was appointed to preside, with six Counsellors. -6 (Sunday).-I preached in Liver pool. 8.-The North America sailed with 200 souls. Brother Richards and I accompanied the Saints about fifteen or twenty miles; left them in good spirits, and returned to Manchester on the 10th. Brother John Benbow, who had furnished two hundred and fifty pounds sterling towards printing the Hymn Book and Book of Mormon, relinquished all claim to said money, except such assistance as his friends, who might wish to emigrate to America the next season, might need, leaving the remainder at the disposal of Willard Richards, Wilford Woodruff and baptism by immersion a Gospel ordinance and essential to salvation. There. were about 1,500 people present. -8.-Attended Council with the Twelve, when it was voted unanimously that Elder Richards take charge of the Millennial Star. -11 (Sunday).-I preached in the morning in the Carpenter's Hall. Afternoon, Elders Kimball and Woodruff confirmed nine. We administered the sacrament. I preached in the evening to an attentive congregation of about 1,500. -21.-Went to Preston with brother Kimball. Staid with brother Burrows. -22.-We held a Council in the evening with the brethren, at brother Joseph Fielding's. EDITORIAL. -23.-We visited the Saints in | Preston, and instructed them in their duties. -24.-Visited the Saints in Penwortham, and in the evening we attended Council with the official members of the Church in Preston. -25 (Sunday).—I preached in the morning, partook of the sacrament in the afternoon, and went to Penwortham in the evening, and held meeting at brother Edward Martin's. -26. We went to Preston, and from thence to Longton, and held meetings. The brethren kindly administered to our wants. -27.-We went to Churchtown and preached. 761 -28.-We attended a blessingmeeting in the evening; Peter Mel-> ling, Patriarch, officiated. Four were baptized. -29.-Elder Kimball and I went to Southport, accompanied by Elders Peter Melling, James Whitehead, Robert McBride and wife, and sister Alice Highton. The Patriarch blessed us, and prophecied that there were those present who should not sleep in the grave until they should see the Son of Man come in his glorynamely, brother Kimball and myself. -30.-We went to Liverpool by coach. -31.-We went to Harden. (To be continued.) THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS' MILLENNIAL STAR. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1863. THE POWER AND PROVIDENCE OF GOD.-FAITH IN HIM NEEDED. THE lessons which the Lord Jesus taught to his disciples upon the principles of faith, when he was upon the earth, were entirely new to that generation. They came directly in contact with the worldly wisdom then in vogue, and they struck at the root of all those practices and maxims which were then viewed as the rules by which man should be governed. The nations of the world thought then, as they do now, that "6 every man fared in this life according to the management of the creature," that "every man prospered according to his genius, and that every man conquered according to his strength;" therefore they were in the habit of bestowing great thought upon what they should eat, what they should drink, and wherewithal they should be clothed, imagining that their prosperity in the acquirement of these material substances depended upon their contrivance and the amount of thought they bestowed upon them. But the Savior instructed his Apostles to abandon such thoughts and such a mode of reasoning. He instructed them to take no thought for their life, what they should eat, or what they should drink, or what they should put on, informing them that the life was more than meat and the body than raiment, and that if the fowls of the air, which neither sow, nor reap, nor yet gather into barns, were fed by their heavenly Father, and if the lilies of the field, which neither toil nor spin, "which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven," were clothed by their heavenly Father, more beautifully than even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed, so also would they be fed and clothed by their heavenly Father, if they would not be of little faith, for He knew that they had need of all these things. He further instructed them that the sparrows, comparatively worthless as they were, being sold for a very small trifle, were so much cared for by our heavenly Father that not one of them could fall to the ground unforgotten by Him, and that they (the disciples), who were of more value than many sparrows, had no cause to fear for their lives or to bestow too much thought in caring for them, for the very hairs of their head were all numbered. With teachings such as these did He seek to uproot the vain and miserably contracted philosophy of the world, and to establish faith and confidence in the power of God in the stead thereof within them. Nevertheless, the traditions and the unbelief of their age, and its false philosophy, had become so closely interwoven with their nature, (though, without doubt, they were more free from such influences than any other men of their generation,) that it was a difficult labor for them to emancipate themselves therefrom, and to become so full of that faith, which their Master taught unto them, that they could look upon matters in any other light than that in which the rest of the world viewed them. Their disposition to yield to the influences so prevalent around them, and to measure the Work of God and the labors devolving upon them by the rules and feelings common to the world in which they had been reared, and from which he had chosen them to be his disciples, called forth frequent rebukes from him, and led him to call them on various occasions, "Ye of little faith." They did not unlearn their incorrect traditions and emerge into the full enjoyment of perfect faith all at once; for such unbelief and incorrect notions are difficult to uproot; but they struggled on, and we have reason to believe that, by constant faithfulness, they did obtain a great deliverance from the erroneous ideas which they had at one time entertained, and became fully imbued with that glorious and Godlike faith which the Lord revealed unto them. A want of faith is always the great want of the world in the absence of direct revelation from God. Man, under such circumstances, is disposed to ignore the existence of the Almighty not so much by mere professions as by his belief, his teachings and his works. He does not take into account God's supervision and overruling providence, and he fails to recognize His hand in the various events which take place, and the many changes which are constantly occurring. To the management or mis-management, as the case may be, of the creature all these things are attributed, and the power and the arrangement of the Creator are quietly ignored as though they had no existence. This dreadful scepticism runs through the world, and is found in every strata of society, the rich and the poor, the learned and the unlearned, all partaking of it to a greater or lesser extent. The very air is almost loaded with it, and it is so popular that it crops out in almost every conversation, and exhibits itself in every book which is not written under the influence of the inspiration of the Lord. While in the world, and as the world is at present constituted, it is quite impossible to avoid coming in contact with it. The faith that Jesus taught, when taught now, is sneered at, and declared to be utterly impracticable and altogether unsuited to this "matter-of-fact age." If a man who professes to be a servant of God were to take no more thought now-a-days for his food than the fowls of the air, and no more thought for his clothing than do the lilies of the field, he would be declared by this generation a fool and utterly void of reason and .sense. To meet popular views, such a man must make his arrangements |