Conference Minutes

Continuation of last April's Conference.

At two o'clock, P. M., Patriarch Hyrum Smith arrived at the stand, and said he wanted to speak something about the Temple. We want 200,000 shingles, as we shall resume the work on the Temple immediately; all who have not paid their tithing, come on and do it. We want provisions, money, boards, planks, and anything that is good; we dont [don't] want any more old guns or watches. I thought some time ago I would get up a small subscription, so that the sisters might do something. In consequence of some misunderstanding, it has not gone on as at first; it is a matter of my own, I do not ask it as a tithing. I give a privilege for any one to pay a cent a week, or fifty cents a year. I want it by next fall to buy nails and glass. It is difficult to get money, I know that a small subscription will bring in more than a large one;-the poor can help in this way. I take the responsibility upon myself, and call again upon the sisters; I call again until I get about $1,000, it only requires 2,000 subscribers. I have sent this subscription to England, and the branches; I am not to be dictated to, by anyone except the prophet and God; I want you to pay in your subscriptions to me, and it shall always be said boldly by me-the sisters bought the glass in that house-and their names shall be written in the book of the law of the Lord. It is not a tax but a freewill offering to procure something which shall ever be a monument of your works. No member of the Female Relief Society got it up; I am the man that did it; they ought not to infringe upon it; I am not a member of the Female Relief Society; I am one of the committee of the Lord's House. I wish to accomplish something; I wish all the saints to have an opportunity to do something; I want the poor to have a chance with the purse of five dollars.-The widow's two mites, were more in the eyes of the Lord, than the purse of the rich; and the poor woman shall have a seat in the house of God, she who pays her two mites as much as the rich; because it is all they have. I wish all to have a place in that house; I intend to stimulate the brethren; I want to get the roof on this season; I want to get the windows in, in the winter, so that we may be able to dedicate the house of the Lord by this time next year, if nothing more than one room; I will call upon the brethren to do something.

I cannot make a comparison between the house of God and anything now in existence. Great things are to grow out of that house; there is a great and mighty power to grow out of it; there is an endowment; knowledge is power, we want knowledge; we have frequently difficulties with persons who profess to be Latter Day Saints; when the sacrament will be administered in the Lord's house, it will do away with a

great deal of difficulty that is now in existence. If we can have a privilege and confess our faults unto God and one another every Sabbath day, it will do away with these, you poor sisters shall have a seat in that house; I will stand on the top of the pulpit and proclaim to all what the sisters have done; when you offer up your sacraments every Sabbath, you will feel well a whole week; you will get a great portion of the Spirit of God, enough to last you a week, and you will increase. We are now deprived of the privilege of giving the necessary instruction,-hence we want a house. All the money shall be laid out for you what you design it; it shant be paid for anything else. I am one of the committee; the committee tell me the quarry is blockaded, it is filled with rock; the stone cutters are wanting work; come on with your teams as soon as conference is over. It is not necessary for me to tell who will come and do it; I will prophesy that you will do it. There is not one in the city but what will do right if they know it; only one or two exceptions and they are not worth notice; God will take care of them, and if he dont [don't] the devil will. I described them once and you will always know them while you see them, they will keep hopping till they hop out of town. Some are tree toads who climb the trees and are continually croaking.-We are now the most noble people on the face of the globe, and we have no occasion to fear tadpoles. We are designated by the all-seeing eye, designated to do good; not to stoop to any low thing. We are apt to suffer prejudice to get into our hearts on hearing reports, we never should allow it; never should pass our judgment until we hear both sides. I will tell a Dutch anecdote: a certain Dutchman had a cause brought before him and heard one side and he gave his decision, 'by sure you have got the case;' and when the other party brought their witnesses, he said again, 'by sure you have got the case too.' If you hear of any one high in authority, that he is rather inclined to apostacy [apostasy], dont [don't] let prejudice arise, but pray for him;-God may feel after him and he may return; never speak reproachfully or disrespectfully, he is in the hand of God, I am one of those peacemakers who take the stand above these little things. It has been intimated we should have investigations this conference, do you think I would trouble this conference with it. If I have difficulty with a man I will go and settle it, let them settle their difficulties; there is not a man who has had a difficulty, who would trouble this congregation about it; we ask no favors, we can settle it ourselves; dont [don't] think any thing about persons who are on the eve of apostasy, God is able to take care of them. Let God judge, do your duty, and let men alone.

I wish to speak about Messrs. Law's steam mill, there has been a great deal of bickering about it. The mill has been a great benefit to the city, no matter how much fault found; it has been the means of building the city, it has brought in thousands who would not have come here; but as they saw that the Mormons had got no horns, they came, and have got good by it. People would rather come in than starve.-The Messrs. Laws have sunk their capital, and done a great deal of good; it is out of character to cast any aspersions on the Messrs. Laws.-When we come to investigate conspiracy, it is that rascal Jackson who presumed upon them; he supposed he could lead them into any manner of iniquity. I do not believe that the Messrs. Laws would do any thing to injure me or any man's life. The men gave in affidavit that Jackson said they would go into it tooth and toe nail; I will not believe they will do it, if Jackson swore upon a stack of Bibles as big as Mount Etna. I make these observations for the purpose of putting down prejudice. If I was as full of the devil as an egg is full of meat, and you undertook to oppress me, you could not drive me, neither if I was full of the Spirit [Spirit] of God. Never undertake to destroy men because they do some evil thing; it is natural for a man to be led and not driven; put down iniquity by good works; many men speak without any contemplation, but when they have a little contemplation it would not have been spoken. We ought to be careful what we say, and take the example of Jesus, cast over the mantle of charity and try to cover their faults. We are made to enlighten, and not to darken one another, save men but not destroy men; do unto others what you would have them do unto you. It is well enough to root out conspiracy, do not fear, but if you are in the right track, having God to guide you, he will save you, for God will save you if he has to destroy the wicked so as by fire.

I want to put down all false influence; all that brother Joseph said, was all right; but it was said by the rascal Jackson. If I thought I should be saved, and any in the congregation be lost, I should not be happy; for this purpose Jesus effected a resurrection; our Savior is competent to save all from death and hell; I can prove it out of the revelations; I would not serve a God that had not all wisdom and all power. The reason why I feel so good is because I have a big soul, there are men with small bodies who have got souls like Enoch; we have gathered out all the big souls from

the ends of the earth; the gospel picks out all the big souls, out of all creation; and we will get all the big souls out of all the nations, and we shall have the largest city in the world; It works just like a God. We will gather out all the big souls out of every nation: as soon as the gospel catches hold of a big soul it brings them right up to Zion. There is a thing called an eye star; the gospel is similar; then will have a people big enough to be saved.-Popery could not write what Enoch preached; he told the people the Spirit of God took him up into a high mountain; showed him the distress of the people; the destruction of the world, and he said his heart swelled wide as eternity; but Popery could not receive any thing as large as that. Every society are just like them; God Almighty has made men's souls according to the society which he lives in, with very few exceptions, and when men came to live with the Mormons, their souls swell as if they were going to stride the planets, as I stride the Republic of America. I can believe that man can go from planet to planet, a man gets so high in the mansions above.

A certain good sister came to my house and she was troubled because she heard so many big things; she thought it weakened her faith. I told her she had too much faith; she believed too much; I will tell you how you will know whether the thing is true or not. When any come to you with a lie, you feel troubled; God will trouble you and will not approbate you in such belief; you had better get some antidote to get rid of it. Humble yourself before God, and ask him for his spirit; and pray to him to judge it for you. It is better not to have so much faith, than to have so much as to believe all the lies. Before this conference eloses [closes] I want to get all the elders together. I shall make a proclamation: I want to take the line and axe [ax], and hew you, and make you as straight as possible; I will make you as straight as a stretched line. Every elder that goes from Nauvoo to preach the gospel, if he preach any thing else we will silence him through the public print; I want all the elders to meet and to understand, and if they teach any thing but the pure truth we will call them home.

(To be continued.)

From the Nauvoo Neighbor.