If you will now give me your attention strictly, I will lay before you
some items of business for the consideration and action of this
Conference.
I trust that we have come here for the purpose of acceptably
presenting ourselves before the Lord, to transact business for the
building up of His kingdom in this our day, with pure hearts and
fervent desires to magnify the name of our God, that we may be useful
and have power to establish peace and righteousness upon the earth.
Our religion is first and foremost with us, it is of the greatest
importance of all in this generation, for in it is incorporated the
acts and doings of the Saints in the ordinances of the house of God,
to promote His kingdom upon the earth, to sustain ourselves, gather
Israel, redeem Zion, build up Jerusalem, and prepare for the coming of
the Son of Man.
The items of business before this Conference may be considered texts
for the Elders who may speak here to preach upon, though if they wish
to exhort the brethren, to relate a portion of their experience, or
tell a dream or a vision, they have the privilege. But our Conferences
are more particularly for the transactions of business, for the
furtherance of the kingdom of God on the earth.
I will first present the subject of prosecuting our labors and
operations for building the Temple, under our present circumstances
and future prospects. We have deemed it wise and expedient to prepare
for bringing the rock for that building from quite a distance, in
boats, which will be much cheaper than hauling it in wagons, and thus
far facilitate the erection of the Temple.
I will next cite your memories to a mass meeting that was held in the
Tabernacle upwards of a year ago, to take into consideration
the propriety and expediency of establishing an Express and Carrying
Company to operate between here and the States to the east, and
California to the west. That Company has now commenced its business
operations. Three companies have already left this city, and the
particular object in view is to establish places where our brethren
can stop and rest, recruit and refresh themselves until they can
continue their journey and arrive in this valley. Our main object is
to make settlements and raise grain at suitable points and convenient
distances, where we can prepare resting places for the Saints. The
last season's immigration I think has prompted us materially to this
action. If we had had settlements at Deer Creek, La Bonte, below
Laramie, and on the Sweet Water, where people can raise grain, our
last year's belated immigration might have had habitations, food, and
other conveniences for comfortably tarrying through the winter, and
thus saved this community a vast expense. This Express Company will be
laid before this Conference, so that you will have an understanding of
it, that you may act knowingly, and give your faith, influence, and
means to accomplish the object of its organization.
We are calling quite a number to go on missions, and are appointing a
portion of them to visit the Canadas. We have a great many Elders
laboring throughout Europe, but more especially in England, and the
Canadas are mostly settled by the same classes of people. True there
has formerly been much preaching in that region, and many churches
raised up, especially in Upper or Canada West, but many have emigrated
to the States and are now with us, and I do not know of an Elder in
this Church now laboring in either of the Canadas. We wish to send a
company to labor there, and gather out the honest in heart.
I would also propose sending missionaries to the States, if we could
by accident, or by foreknowledge, or by revelation, or by any other
means, select and spare from here the right kind of men; in that case
we would like to send a good many there. My reasons are these; there
are honest people by thousands, and scores of thousands in the States,
those who have never yet heard the sound of the Gospel. There are also
scores of places where branches have been raised up, but the
inhabitants have so changed that they now hardly know what you mean
when you say "Mormon" or "Mormonism," and when you talk
about the
preaching of the everlasting Gospel, it is almost forgotten by the few
that are still remaining in those places. Other people occupy the
place of those who have left, of those who had been preached to, and
children have grown up and taken the place of their parents; others
have moved away, and strangers have moved in. There are honest people
there, and if we could get Elders, to use a western phrase, of "The
right stripe," we could gather multitudes from the United States. For
an example, we sent brother John Taylor to New York with a number of
Elders to preach, labor, and assist him. Some of them tarried in New
York with brother Taylor, visited their families, connections,
friends, &c. for a time, and returned. They did not baptize any; with
them, "There was no call for preaching, no place to sow the seed, or
distribute the good word of God; they could not find any who wanted to
hear them preach or who wished to know anything of the Gospel," while
at the same time others who felt for the interest of the kingdom and
for the people, stepped forth, and labored like men, and found plenty
of chances for preaching. Brother Jeter Clinton was one of the last named class. Brother
Taylor sent him to Philadelphia, and when he got there, those who
professed "Mormonism" were dead, dead, dead; they were withered and
twice plucked up by the roots. Brother Clinton had not been there six
months before the Church numbered a great many more than when he
went there. The old members revived, and they began to baptize and to
have calls from the country, and when he left he could probably have
employed from ten to thirty Elders in his field of labor.
The secret of the difference is this, he felt for the kingdom, and
when he went into his field of labor he did not say, "O, how lonesome
I am, how I wish I had my family here; I really wish I was back in the
valley; my spirits are cast down; how bad I do feel." When such
persons endeavor to preach, their preaching is as dry as an old, dead,
dried up, three years old mullen stalk; there is no more juice in them
than there is in that.
Brother Alexander Robbins is a man of that description, and although
he is naturally a good, kind and feeling man, one that I think much of,
yet when he spoke from this stand at the last fall's Conference, he
was as perfectly void of sap or juice as any one of those dry posts,
and I reproved the spirit he seemed to manifest. He sat quietly down
in New York with brother Taylor, until he became so dried up that he
came home disbelieving in God, heaven, hell, angels, and religion. He
has lost every particle of the knowledge and spirit that he formerly
had.
When brother Clinton and others return, those who have laid aside self
and labored, asking, "What can we do to win the souls of the children
of men?" they are full of life, full of the good Spirit, full of
animation; their countenances are bright and lively, and when you talk
with them or hear them preach, you can glean and gather truth, life
and salvation from their lips, while others are as lifeless as leached
ashes.
If we could spare some one or two hundred Elders like brother Clinton
and others to go to Canada and the United States, we could gather
scores and hundreds of thousands of good people from those regions.
But reflect for a moment upon the difference in the conduct of our
missionaries and the treatment they receive. In Texas some have been
mobbed, and some have had no place to preach in. Brother Benjamin L.
Clapp, who has lately returned from a mission there, could scarcely
find a place to preach in, although others at the same time traveled
and preached there, and many wished to hear them.
For another instance I will refer to my own Quorum. When we had
started the work in England, brothers Heber, George A. and Woodruff
went to London. It cost much faith, care, money, and diligence to
establish the work in that place, and after they had baptized about
thirty persons, they came to Manchester to attend a Conference. As
soon as the Conference was over, brothers Woodruff and George A. went
to London, and brother Kimball and I took a tour through the country,
and held Conferences; and when we arrived in London I preached in the
first meeting we held after our arrival, and how many do you think
there were present to hear me? Thirty had been baptized, but brothers
Kimball, Woodruff, and Geo. A., the man who owned the small room that
we had hired, and, I think, two other persons, comprised the
congregation. I preached as well as I could, though it was pretty hard
work to pump when there was no water in the well. Brother Kimball and
I stayed there eleven days, and when I left, the little meetinghouse
was crowded to overflowing. What was the reason of this?
I have spoken against brother Clapp's course in Texas; it
sprang from a want of knowledge. I have also spoken against the course
taken by brothers Woodruff and George A. in London; it proceeded from
a want of tact and turn in those individuals to know how to win the
people. When we found them in London, brother Woodruff was busily
engaged in writing his history from morning until evening; and, if a
sister called on him, he would say, "How do you do? Take a chair," and
keep on writing and laboring to bring up the history of the Church
and his own.
That was all right and well, in its place; but, if a sister asked a
question, the answer would be, "Yes;" and if she asked another,
"No;"
and that was the sum of the conversation. If a brother came in, it
would be the same. But brother Kimball would say, "Come, my friend,
sit down; do not be in a hurry;" and he would begin and preach the
Gospel in a plain, familiar manner, and make his hearers believe
everything he said, and make them testify to its truth, whether they
believed or not, asking them, "Now, ain't that so?" and they would
say, "Yes." And he would make Scripture as he needed it, out of his
own bible, and ask, "Now, ain't that so?" and the reply would be
"Yes." He would say, "Now, you believe this? You see how plain the
Gospel is? Come along now;" and he would lead them into the waters of
baptism. The people would want to come to see him early in the
morning, and stay with him until noon, and from that until night; and
he would put his arm around their necks, and say, "Come, let us go
down to the water."
Thousands of Elders go upon missions, and conduct themselves like a
man by the name of Glover. He was preaching in Herefordshire, and we
sent him to Bristol, about thirty miles distant, telling him to go
there and start the work. He would get up and preach a splendid
discourse. He went to Bristol, and cried, "Mormonism," or the Gospel,
and no person would listen to him. On the next morning he was back at
Ledbury, and said, "I came out of Bristol, washed my feet against
them, and sealed them all up to damnation." That is the way in which
some of our Elders operate.
I know that when I have traveled with some of the Twelve, and one of
them has asked for breakfast, dinner, supper, or lodging, we have been
refused dozens of times. Now, you may think that I am going to boast a
little; I will brag a little of my own tact and talent. When others
would ask, we would often be refused a morsel of something to eat, and
so we would go from house to house; but when I had the privilege of
asking, I never was turned away—no, not a single time.
Would I go into the house and say to them, "I am a 'Mormon' Elder;
will you feed me?" It was none of their business who I was. But when I
asked, "Will you give me something to eat?" the reply was, invariably,
"Yes." And we would sit, and talk, and sing, and make ourselves
familiar and agreeable; and before our departure, after they had
learned who we were, they would frequently ask, "Will you not stay and
preach for us?" and proffer to gather in the members of their family
and their neighbors; and the feeling would be, "Well, if this is
'Mormonism,' I will feed all the 'Mormon' Elders that
come." Whereas,
if I had said, "I am a 'Mormon' Elder; will you feed me?" the
answer
would often have been, "No: out of my house."
Now, if we could find the "right stripe" that could be spared from
important duties here, we would send a good many Elders to the States.
I will relate another circumstance—one concerning an Elder who went on a mission from Nauvoo; and, if I remember rightly, he went
through Indiana. He lives in this place, and his name is James
Carroll. He went into a neighborhood where there was a Baptist
Society, which had recently built a meetinghouse. They had heard of
the "Mormons," but knew nothing of the doctrine. They wished him to
tarry and preach, and the minister invited him into his pulpit. He
rose, and began to preach "Mormonism," as he called it; and about the
first item that he presented to the people was nearly the last event
that will take place on the earth concerning the Church. Instead of
preaching the restoration and first principles of the Gospel, almost
the first remark that he made was, "You have a pretty meetinghouse,
and good buildings and farms; but do you know that the 'Mormons' are
coming here to possess the whole of them?"
He never heard Joseph Smith, the Twelve, or any of the Elders that
understood the Gospel, teach any such doctrine, but had probably
gathered the idea from reading the Bible. By the time he had got
through with so short a sermon, the congregation was ready to kick him
out of the neighborhood, and he ought to have been kicked out of the
pulpit at the first dash. This does not particularly militate against
the character of that man; but many of the Elders do not seem to
understand how to gain the attention and feelings of the people, and
lead them in the pathway of truth.
We have received letters from the East, stating that "There is no
place for preaching there," whereas I really think that there might be
hundreds of Elders selected here, if we could spare them, who could go
to the States and find as good openings for preaching as there are in
the world; at least I would run the risk of it. Had I the choice
whether to go to the States and gather Saints, or to go where the
Gospel was preached by the ancient Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ,
among the children of the people who have formerly had the Gospel
preached to them, I would engage to go to the States and gather one
hundred Saints to one that could be gathered from among the children
of those who heard Peter, Paul, and others of the ancient Apostles
preach the Gospel.
Reports of the business transactions and condition of the Church and
Perpetual Emigrating Fund Company have been prepared, and will be
read, so that you can understand the true situation of our general
financial affairs. The P. E. Fund is founded upon the principle of
everlasting increase, and if the people do right, or even half right,
our means will increase.
The means arising from the sale of stray cattle, that some like so
well to claim, all go towards swelling the amounts at the disposal of
the P. E. Fund for gathering the poor. Still, when strays are driven
into the general stray pound, you can see men come and swear to this
ox and that cow; and they will bring two or three others to testify to
an animal they claim; and another man will step up and say, "That is
my animal;" and he will also bring three or four witnesses to prove
it; and pretty soon still another comes and claims the same animal;
and so on until there are, perhaps, four or five persons in the pound,
each one with his witnesses, claiming the same animal, and all willing
to swear on a stack of Bibles, as they hope for salvation, that such a
creature is theirs, when they must know that they never saw it before.
Such circumstances transpire every time that stray cattle are driven
in. I want to tell you, so that you cannot fail to understand it,
without you are consummate hypocrites and scoundrels, let stray cattle
alone, unless you actually know them to be yours.
I could name a good many individuals in our own community that
would steal all the cattle that we have, if they knew which were the
ones that we owned. I thought that the reformation had stopped such
proceedings; but as soon as the stray cattle were driven in, a few
miserable sneaks were ready to own them all. Those animals are sold,
and every cent of the means thus raised goes into the P. E. Fund, and
the only ones benefited thereby are the poor Saints in foreign lands.
You must stop intruding upon your neighbors.
If those who are heads of Quorums strictly attended to their duties,
the man that does not live according to his late covenants, who
violates the ordinances and laws of the house of God, would be severed
from his Quorum and cut off from this Church; and if they will not do
this, we will do it from this stand. Men must quit swearing and taking
the name of God in vain; they must refrain from lying, stealing,
cheating, and doing that which they know they ought not to do, or they
must be severed from this Church and kingdom.
I will now present a subject which will be a text for the brethren to
preach upon from this stand, viz., the necessity of building
storehouses in which to preserve our grain. If we have a fruitful season
this coming summer, we shall have a large amount of surplus grain
which we cannot carry out of the country to market: it must tarry
here. And if the people do their duty in this matter, they will
continue to lay up grain for themselves and for this community
throughout this Territory, and for fifty or a hundred times as many
more, until they have enough to last them seven years. You can figure
at that, and learn how much grain you ought to lay up. If we have, as
I believe we shall, a few seasons fruitful in grain, the staple
article that we can cure and preserve, it is our indispensable duty to
safely store it for a time to come. This will be a text for some of
the brethren.
I will say to the missionaries going west to the Sandwich Islands,
California, and Oregon, that we expect to start a herd of cattle from
here as early as they can be driven across the mountains; and if they
will provide their own clothing, bedding, and weapons for defense, we
will furnish them board and transportation to California.
I will now ask the people whether they will do me the favor of giving
me one hundred and twenty-five dollars in money during this
Conference. I will let the brethren and sisters throw in their
dollars, or half or quarter dollars, just as they please, and I want
to do what I please with the amount. And if you will not be satisfied
with giving me $125, you can double the sum, and make it $250; and I
wish to do with it as I please. If I have a mind to give it away
immediately, that is nobody's business.
A few of us contemplate going north this spring. You remember that I
told you at the last fall's Conference that I was going east to help
in our immigration, and you voted I should not go. I did start, and
went over the Big Mountain to East Canyon Creek, but the devil had
ears so ready to hear the prayers of the people and help them, that he
made me so sick that I could not go any further. I do not want any
such influence exercised this spring, for I am going with some of my
brethren to take a pleasure ride, see the country, enjoy ourselves,
and recruit our health; and I wish you to pray for us, give us your
faith, and be willing that we should go. I do not want to be stopped,
as I was last fall.
Now comes another item of business. It so happens that this year the
election of officers for this city falls upon today, as does also the election of the Lieutenant-General of the Nauvoo Legion, which
has been ordered by proclamation by the Governor. Both elections will
be held in the Council House, and we want the brethren to stop there
and give in their votes. For the Lieutenant-General, those from abroad
have as good a right to vote here as if they were at home in Iron
County, Davis, Sanpete, or any other part of our Territory. We have
nominated Daniel H. Wells for the office of Lieutenant-General of the
Nauvoo Legion, the same person who has held that position since our
settlement in Utah. The polls will be kept open until sundown.
I have now briefly presented the items which I have noted down. Other
matters will come before this Conference, such as preaching,
exhortation, &c., &c. I will now give way for others. God bless you.
Amen.