--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Clark, Joseph W. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 15 number: 6 published: 1912-04 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Clark, Joseph W., "Newcastle Conference," *Improvement Era* 15, no. 6 (April 1912): 485.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1506unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1506unse start_page: 485 end_page: 485 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1912-04) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1506unse publication_year: 1912 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1912, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Newcastle Conference Newcastle conference. The work is progressing despite the tirades of persecution waged against the elders. He says: "It is my opinion that these tirades help to further rather than to hinder the good work. It also acts as an aid to purge the local organizations by culling out the weak and undesirable members who appear to have accepted the gospel for selfish purposes, and not for the glorious principles themselves, in the plan of salvation —people who may be likened to those in the beautiful parable of the sower: 'They are they that fall upon stony places where they had not much earth, and when the sun came up they were scorched, because they had no root, and they withered away.' I am pleased with the outlook. The elders of this conference are up and doing. The opposition puts most of the elders on their mettle and makes them alert, causing them to fortify themselves against the ever-expected attacks. The persecution also enables us to present the gospel to many people who otherwise would not hear it, since now they come to hear and see us out of curiosity."