April 6th 1852 The general conference of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
met in the New Tabernacle built on the Temple Block
in the city of the Great Salt Lake on this 6th day of
April
There were present B Young H. C. Kimball &
W Richards &who compose the first Presidency
O Pratt W. Woodruff & G A Smith of the Twelve Apostles
Also the Patriarchs John Smith & Isaac Morley
The president of the stake D Spencer
The Presidents of the several quorums
The Tabernacle was filled to overflowing in an
hour after itthe doors were open & hundreds could not
get into the house
The President took the stand at 10 oclok and said
we adjourned last conference to meet in the tabernacle
today we are here in the New Tabernacle according to Apoint-
ment. The Hymn was read & sung (Lord in the Morning thou
shalt Hear). The diedication prayer was offered by
Willard Richards it was great & good is published in
the Deserett News then two Hyns were sung. The Prsidt
dent I arise to say a few words as we have offered the dedi
cation Prayer upon that subject who could foresee
the way of the Lord as we now fSee it we can now beho-
ld the manifestation of the Lord. He has done what we
could not have expected but we have an experience
that teaches us to trust in the Lord. we should not
undertake to dictate the Lord for his work will go on
we have seen plenty try to dictate the Lord and try to build up
themselves & not this kingdom but they soon fall and the Lord
overthrows them But this work goes on the gospel is preached
& all his work goes on let the wicked do what they please we
have the privile[ge] of worshiping God and Being happy. I wish to
dedicate all I possess unto God & praise him & do all He requires
of me. At the last conference I was sick & not able to be
with you not able to be up I meditated upon the state of the
Church. I see some going to the right some to the left some after
gold and the riches of this life I said I would tell the
Brethren my feelings I said I would go to work &
build a Tabernacle & worship the Lord so that we
would not be driven home by a storm I saw also
that some would say I cannot go for I must take care
of my cattle my farm my fields &c But I said I would
go & worship God as long as I wished If the whole
Earth sunk. Some delight in a fine Horse farm or
House or good things ofin this life But this is nothing to
you it is good in its place. But you cannot pray because
you cannot spend time. Some women cannot spend
time to have prayers you know it is your duty to pray
& dedicate yourselves to God & your family & all you
possess Some feel as though they must go to night to
the canyons. But if you will harken to council you will say
to all the world Stand By I am going to worship the Lord
let the dead Bury the dead and dedicate myself & family &
all I have to the Lord. No matter whather the Lord sets
you about go at it & do it. Their is a great change with
this people we have been sick now are well have been
poor now are rich. Have been distressed & mobed norw
have peace How long will it last as long as this people
do right It has been 22 years since this Church was
organized we should serve the Lord Love the Lord with
all our heartts scease to do wrong or find fault with any
of the Saints if they do wrong chastize them & not
hate them. are the people prepared to make a covenet
to dedicate themselves & their hearts to God from
this hour I feel to urge all the Brethrn & Sisters to
dedicate themselves unto the Lord. If we can
gain the victory & say I will do the work of the Lord in
all things. If He will make his will known I will
perform it Not ownly say but perform it dedicate our
our affections unto the Lord. we may find some that
cannot feel it. they say I want some gold or somthing
to help myself with to get out of difficulty what will
be done in such a case. I will tell you what I would do If
I had got but one cow & she plagued me I would
give her away if you have any thing that is in your way
give it away to the public works Let nothing get between
you & God And I will tell you what to do if any thing
gets between you & God give it to the service of God for
you cannot get through the gate of the Celestiacl city
why are you not as pure as the Church of Enoch because
you are not a mind to be I will make my hands do the will
of God & my heart will go with it. The spirit of envy will
not obey then unite your interest with this kingdom for
this kingdom will stand forever then put your inter
est with it so that you cannot get away then you will
stick to the kingdom but if your purse of gold is in your
pocket & you Apostitize you will go away but if your interest
is in the church & do wrong you may stay untill you get
the spirit of God again & may be saved we must build
up this kingdom first & dont be afraid of starveing for
this kingdom will be an ever lasting Kingdom that will
not be throne down it will stand forever the more the
wicked try to throw it down the more it will stand
if you want it to stand unite your interest with it
in such a manner that you cannot get it away
then you are safe if I was to ask what your opinion
was concerning the Millenuam I should get a
great many opinions but the truth is all will be
in one sens as it is now you will eat, build, &
do all things as now ownly you will be more pure
& united and all will serve the Lord & not the devil
any more let this people possess this spirit & Here
would be the Millenium it would be with any people
that would do that the President then Blessed the people
And asked God to Bless them they then sung an Hym
And Adjourned till 2 oclok
2 oclok PM. The House was crouded to excess
O Pratt of the Twelve Apostles Addresed the Assembly
(aft^er^ singing & prayer) He said I address you but not without
many reflections upon my mind It is no small matter
to address such a sea of faces if the Lord does not
pour out his spirit upon me it will not be but a little
benefit for me to speak yet I do feel a great desire
for the Lord to give me his spirit for your sake
that you may be edifyed I feel anxious to receive
principle & the salvation of the living & dead what has
that to do with the living it has much to do with it
it is a truth revealed from Heaven that we are to be
saviors upon Mount Zion to redeem the living & the dead [Obadiah 1:21]
this is the subject that is given to me I am determined to
trust in God who will give any man their portion in
due season the responsibility of preaching this go[s]pel
to all the world & redeem the dead we must live before
the Lord in such a manner that we can have his appro-
bation what says the Book of Mormon upon this subject
those that assist in building up Zion & shall do it by faith
shall have the blessing of the Lord upon them How will we
do it by listening to the council of the priesthood of the
Church & consecrating ourselves before God to his sevrvice
as we were told by Presidet Young we shall then have
the power of the Holy Ghost & what greater gift can we
have than this for this will teach us all things and if
a faithful man is sent abroad to any Nation to preach the
Gospel & is faithful & follows the spirit of truth He will accom
plish his missin in spite of all Earth & Hell. when
Nephi was sent back to get the plates of Brass & his
brethren would not go the Lord told Nephi that He was stro
nger than 10,000 men to go & He would deliver the plates into
his hands He went & done as the Lord told him & got the plates [1 Nephi 4]
look at this people our enemies told us we must go away to
the west & not stay with them untill we were driven into
the Rocky Mountains but the Hand of the Lord was in it
& the Leaders of this people were as much isnspired to
come to this place as the Nephits wer to get the plates
we can see that the Lord caused us to accomplish
what we could not have done we see today a great mass
of Saints before us we have been sustained by the Hand
of God in all thes things. The Lord hath said I will give
you an inheritance that you shall have in time & eternity
And Israel shall be led by the keys which I have given [Doctrine and Covenants 35:25]
we have been led into a goodly land with our good Houses
& fields of grain & all good things so their is Hardly room
enough to receive it can it be possible that any man
after seeing all the goodness of God up to this time
can have a doubt about this work being true can you
find a people that has got wisdom enough to get a revela-
tion for themselves unless God is with them this people are
willing to do all things as far as they understand the Mormons
are increasing & will incres and their is no power that will
stop the work of the Latter Day Saintts. I rejoiced this
forenoon while looking upon the faces of the saints & to see the spirit of
God upon them & that their union was increasing & that they wished
to hear & learn truth He refered to a certain revelation that said
that Zion should look upward & their tunion be incresed & was
strengthened then Zion should look down from above
refering to the Zion of Enoch And that Zion would come
& the Heavens would shake with gladness & the Earth would
tremble with gladness and they will build up each other [JST, Genesis 9:21-25]
I want to see that day come that we may see the old Jerrus Jentlemnt Adam this people will then look but small
alem
in comparison to what will be at that time. Here are the
Twelve & seventies & thousands who will bring the gospel
to all men and Israel who are numerous will hav to have
the feelings all manifested to them they must be visited
& instructed as we have been they must be gathered
as we have been we cannot be perfect without
them no more than they can be perfect without us [Doctrine and Covenants 128:15]
they all must be gathered from the fore quarters of the
Earth & be instructed together & be prepared for
the coming of the Lord is there not a prospet of
this being done yes their is as much I wish you
could have a view of the state of affairs in England
there was some 40,000 Saints Baptized when I left
and there was not one in 400 but what would give
all they possessed ion Earth to be set down here
many of them would be faithful if they were here
again would not the saints on the western Islands be glad
to come Here they would & they will come you remember
the parable of the vineyard that the servants of the Lord
Had to labour & keep the top & roots equal so that the top
need not be to Heavy for the roots [Jacob 5:65-66] if we can get a
few thousands of the Saints that we can teach & instruct
so that they will become strong in faith & works then when
we nbring in thousand of weacker ones & they get tried
the strong ones can succor them & they become strong also
& the Devil have No power over them & Zion will soon
be esstablished & thousands upon thousand will come from
the Nations to take shelter under the tree of Liberty in the
gospel & kingdom of God from the dire calaminities of
of famine Pestilence & wars which will be poured out upon
the whole Earth there is sumthing els to be done to prepare
this people for coming events Here are many of the remnant
of Joseph that have got to be felt after & redeemed I Believe
the singns of the times indicate that that the time has come when
the work must commence if they are sunk in the lowest depths
of degredation yet they are the chosen seed the Desendants of
Joseph who was sold into Egypt the promises are unto
them they must be redeemed could we be placed [ink blot] [i]n a bettr
condition to commence the work than we Now are we cannot
look what way we will they are all around us And the prom-
ises of God are to be fulfilled then shall we not pray for
them let us exercise faith in their behalf & do all we can
for them. No you not they are to be the main instrumts
that will build up Zion & Her Temples And all the
Gentiles who repent shall assist the remnant of Jacob to
build up Zion & the power of Heaven will come down to Help
them. First we are to introduce the gospel to them & teach
them the principles of the kingdom of God & give them the prie-
sthood. Do you want to see the Zion of God built up & the
Temple of the Lord reared up in this Generation upon the conse-
crated land then pray for the remnets of Joseph & their
redemption for they have to assist in gathering all the House
of Joseph & when they all get together the Heavens can no
longer be stayed but their prayers & faith will prevail
& the Heavens will come down & meet with the Saints then
be ready ye Elders of Israel to go when the Lord calls
upon you by his servants to leave all to go to preach the
gospel to them in their own language & tongue and the
power of God will rest upon you I believe the Lord
will send forth his messengers who are ordained unto this
power to go forth unto the Lamanites & will clothe them with
far greater power than when they were sent unto the
corrupt Gentiles the Lord will not come untill we go to
this people we have a portion of the power of God with us
but not in its fulness as it will be in days to come this
people will have to be tried in all things & proven & whn they
are found faithful & united they will then thrash the
Nations by the power of the spirit of God & they cannot
Help themselves
Orson Spencer then arose & made
a few remarks. Felt to rejoice in the principle that Had
been presented to us they had cheered his heart & the
Hearts of this people I hope we shall improve & be faithful
for these principle are true The Lord says my people shall
be willing in the day of my power that people who have givn
the war hoop & crept through the brush find the spirit of God
& of ther Father Jacob once more running through their
veins & the people who think they are almost extinguished
will find they are still alive & will fulfill all that is
said concerning them But I must say nothing I must
Hush. I will Hush. But will God Hush & be still
No He will stir up the remnants of Joseph in his our
& in his own time The Nations of the Earth are trying to Bond
together they may do so & be prepared for the day of Burning
the child will be taken care of untill He can take care of
Himself we are on the stage of Action & we have our part
to act in this great work and I rejoice that we have a prt
in the work And that it may roll on spedily is my Prayer
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are the people prepared to make a covenat to dedicate themselves & their hearts to God from this hour I feel to urge all the Brethrn & Sisters to dedicate themselves unto the Lord. If we can gain the victory & say I will do the work of the Lord in all things. If He will make his will known I will perform it. Not ownly say but perform it dedicate our our affections unto the Lord.
it is a truth revealed from Heaven that we are to be saviors upon Mount Zion to redeem the living & the dead this is the subject that is given to me I am determined to trust in God who will give any man their portion in due season the responsibility of preaching this go[s]pel to all the world & redeem the dead we must live before the Lord in such a manner that we can have his appro- bation what says the Book of Mormon upon this subject those that assist in building up Zion & shall do it by faith shall have the blessing of the Lord upon them
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