How many are disappointed every year, because they have put their faith in man instead of God? There are many now whose whole faith is placed on some one in the Valley, who has promised to send for them, and no doubt many of them are doomed to disappointment, because, even if all were willing to fulfil their promises, adverse circumstances often thwart the best intentions; then trust less in man, and have faith in God, for the just shall live by faith.

God often takes the most unlikely ways to bless his people, and to prove their faith. We read in 1 Kings (17: 9,) that in the midst of a famine, he sent the Prophet Elijah to a poor widow to be sustained by her; and when the Prophet found her, she was gathering a few sticks to bake her last cake for herself and her son, that they might eat it and then die. The Lord apparently had two objects in view in sending the Prophet to the widow; one to sustain the Prophet, the other to bless the widow. But she had first to prove her faith in God and his servant, ere the blessing came. Elijah said to her, (after she told him that she had only one handful of meal left, just enough for one last cake for her and her son,) "Make thereof a little cake first, and bring it to me, and after make for thee and thy son; for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, the meal shall not waste, nor the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah, and she and he and her house did eat many days."

The wages of the working class in England and other lands, appear often about as inadequate to sustain them long, as did the widow's handful of meal or cruse of oil; and yet these are the people, God, by his servants and Prophets now, has called to gather; but how is it to be done? Have the same faith in God as the widow had. His Prophets have called you now, and told you how to prove your faith in God, and to obtain his blessing, as plainly as ever Elijah told the widow. Cease to trust so much in man; trust in God, and his blessing on your own endeavors to prove your faith in him, and in the word of his servants; and

although God may not multiply your pence in the very same way he did the widow's meal, it will, in the end, come to the same thing-your deliverance.

When you receive your wages, and take the little sum to market, it goes but a little way to purchase all your family would need, especially if something extra has to be got for Sunday; and when you come home with what little you have purchased, your money is all gone, and yet you have not been extravagant; but there is nothing left for your emigration; and thus it has been perhaps for years, and your prospects of ever getting away, grow every year more dark and gloomy.

Suppose you now should try the way the widow had to do: to prove your faith, instead of taking all you have earned to market with you, take a little of the money first, and put it aside to be used for your emigration, and no other purpose, and trust in God to bless the remainder for present use, and help you to add to your little store put in the fund to take you home to Zion. By doing so, you would prove your faith in God, as the widow did, and then if danger comes and your own means fail, rest assured that God will deliver you.

Men and women can prove to God, how much faith they have in him and the word of his servants, by the amount they preserve, according to the wages they receive, and the number to be maintained; and though the amount with some be small in comparison with that of others, yet God will judge you as he did another poor widow, when she cast her farthing into the treasury, not by the sum you give, but by the amount remaining after the sum is given.

The Saints have now more than a year in which to prove their faith in God. How many will prove God, and put their trust in him, and how many will still put their faith and confidence in man, time will tell. The more we prove God, the more we can trust him. All the great and good actions that have been done by man, have been accomplished through this faith. Paul (Heb. 11th chap.) enumerates a few things done in ages past by this faith. Suppose we look at a few done in our own day. If it required faith in Noah

to come out and proclaim the Gospel to the antideluvian world, and warn them to escape from impending judgments, it certainly took as great faith in Joseph Smith to do the same. And if it called for faith in Moses to lead Israel through the wilderness, it required as great faith in Brigham to lead God's people now.

And by the same faith we have been upheld and prospered in our mountain home. The more we have proved our God, the greater is our faith and confidence in him. We have trusted him in poverty and distress, in hunger and nakedness, in hardships and sorrow, by sea and by land, on the mighty ocean, on the railway car, among Gentile mobs, and alone among the Rocky Mountains, surrounded by armies sent for our destruction.

At home with our families, by faith in God and his servants, we have tilled the barren soil, brought the water from the mountains to irrigate the

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land, destroyed the crickets, fought the Indians, endured the famine; and then again left the homes we had made, ready to offer them as a testimony, by fire, to God, that we loved him better than houses or lands; and now we leave those loved ones and come to you, to prove to God our Father, that we love him and his work, better than wife or child, and to tell you to have faith in God; for we have proven him, and found his word and promise as sure and stable as his own eternal throne. And though, when we are far away the destroyer may enter our homes and take our loved ones from us, yet our faith and hope enter within the vail: we even then can smile at death, and say, O death, where is thy victory! those loved ones we will meet again, when thy boasted power is gone forever! then we expect to receive the full reward of our faith, even eternal life with them in the kingdom of God our Father.

It is very evident that in the present day men do not covet earnestly the best gifts; at least, there are a great many who do not scruple to despise some of the greatest blessings ever promised by our Father to his children. We might mention, as an instance, the gift of healing, and ask, at what time did the world ever stand more in need of a power sufficient to arrest the work of the destroyer in his deadly course, than at the present? When, since the creation, has there been a period in which men were more liable to disease, and the many afflictions consequent thereon? Then why, we ask, do men who make profession of Christianity, cheat themselves out of that which, had they "living faith," would prove to suffering mortals a pearl of the greatest price?

"They shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover," were the words of Him who, the religious world

believe, spake as no man ever spoke before. Is it not then strange, that the very persons who make choice of these words, and venerate the very name of Him who gave them utterance, should stand aloof, in the spirit of cold indifferance, when called upon to "do the Father's will?"

Men cherish and hold most sacred the precept and example of the Savior, quote his sayings, and build the fabric of their most profound discourses on the sentiments which he expressed, and yet will stand aghast when told that that same Jesus still has power to save, not only so, but that he still desires to reward the diligence of the faithful, by giving them his choice gifts, as imparted to the Saints in former ages.

Let us for a moment glance at the world in the hour of its necessity. The progress which has been made in almost every science developed in

modern times, puts to shame the numerous sects who flood the earth with what they term Christianity. In the pursuits of men the watchward has been "onward," and the results have been all that the most sanguine could desire. Progress has been visible in everything, and with every one, except with those who have imagined that the knowledge of the "living God" could be bought with human wisdom. God's blessings have been withheld, not because his love for mankind was less, but because man, on his part, had departed from the "true and living way."

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The divines of modern times declare, that such gifts as we have named are "no longer needed,” and are all done away.' Is it really so? or have men in the frenzy of their misapplied zeal, deceived themselves? There is but one answer which can be given, namely. the world have forsaken God. What, then, should be done? By what means can men be freed from the consequences of their disobedience? Thanks be to God, there is a remedy. The Gospel has been revealed; the ordinances and all the other blessings are within the reach of men upon the earth. "The Lord has spoken, and who can disanull." Let those who would receive of Heaven's favors, lay aside their earthly wisdom and imaginary greatness, repent of all their sins, and seek forgiveness through the holy ordinance which God has said shall "wash away their sins." If this course is taken, the happiest results may be expected; the advice of the Apostle will then be estimated at its proper value. They will then seek earnestly the best gifts, and will take delight in observing the injunction given by the Apostle James: "Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing Psalms. Is any sick among you? let him call for the Elders of the Church; and let them pray over him, anointing

one.

him with oil in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick." Let the Gospel, as it has been restored in these last days, be sought after by the sons of men, and a mighty change would soon take place. Under the sweet influence of truth, men's lives would be to them more than a mere existence real blessings would soon take the place of doubt and uncertainty. By the aid of the Holy Spirit, given without measure to the recipients of the principles of truth, the present condition of the religious world could be comprehended in a clear and simple manner. The gifts that we have named, and many others, would follow as a consequence of obedience to the Gospel. "These signs shall follow them that believe," said the Son of God when about to send forth his Apostles to an ungodly world to preach the Gospel. And in the latter-days, the messengers of mercy promise, in the name of the same Master, that the arm of Jehovah is not shortened now that it cannot save, but that "in every nation he that feareth him and worketh righteousness, will be accepted of him." God is truly "no respecter of persons," ," but is willing to save even to the uttermost. The gifts may be enjoyed now as heretofore, and all the graces that adorn and beautify the Christian character, be visible among the children of that kingdom, which will eventually become the "glory and adoration of the whole earth."

Let the honest hearted who believe the Scriptures, search that sacred volume with a prayerful desire to know the truth; if they do so, they will have no difficulty in discerning that the foregoing is in accordance with the Gospel as the ancients taught it, which, having come from Him whose ways are one eternal round," is, as it always has been, fraught with blessings to the sons of men.

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and suggested modes by which the contributions of the Saints to the emigration fund-worked at Liverpool-might be increased, and thus the means for the more speedy emigration of the Saints to Zion he placed at their disposal. The speaker next referred to his approaching visit to Utah, eulogised America, and particularly Utah, urged the Latter-day Saints to make all haste in emigrating, and said that although he had no fault to find with the way in which he had been received in this country, the new country was beyond all doubt far ahead of, and superior to the old.

The mid-day conference was equally well attended, and the principal business was the presentation of the authorities of the church, and the granting of sanction to the district Saints. It had been announced at the morning meeting that a collection-and only one collection-would be taken up at the mid-day meeting, it being expected that £30 would be contributed; and as the most convenient way, we may here mention that at the evening conference the President announced that the collection had been a success. Short addresses were delivered at the mid-day meeting by Messrs. ORSON PRATT, WM. GIBSON, and W. B. PRESTON. The former speaker, a venerable looking man from Utah, dwelt with force on the truthfulness of the work called Mormonism, and invited all strangers to investigate and know for themselves.

This was the work of twenty yearsonly a mere span-and he could well remember, in the month of February, 1848, going out in the first ship (whose passengers were destined for Utah). It was a credit which all gave to their prophet Brigham Young, that he was well posted in all matters concerning the territory and government, and he most zealously guarded and watched over the interests of the society. It made them sorrow to look upon the children of men, because they persisted in turning away from the truth, or scorning it when offered. He could not understand this feeling, unless it was due to the fact that they-the | Mormons-were polygamists, and because of this they were followed with a vindictive feeling, that was not worthy of the time or the people. Did not father Abraham did not the ancient prophets practice it in all righteousness before God? Yes. And now it was practiced by the Latterday Saints, who had surrounded it with more rigid rules of domestic virtue than had been in force in times long gone past. He wished to speak to them, without hurting their feelings, upon this subject, but there was a time coming, if it had not already arrived, when things done in secret would have to undergo the ordeal of being investigated in the broad light of day, and when it would be found necessary to throw off a false delicacy in dealing with a great evil which afflicted all the cities of this and other countries. They found everywhere in the great cities what was called the social evil; and people had talked about that, unable to find a remedy, until now it was looked at passivelythere being as it was thought no real remedy. But there was a perfect cure for it, and the Latter-day Saints were convinced that this was true. After a lengthy and very plain reference to the subject, he asked what had been the testimony of travellers in Utah on the matter? Mr. Hepworth Dixon had advertised the world that a house of ill-repute did not exist in the territory. From 10,000 to 50,000 of the neglected and outcast-once the darlings of fathers and mothers and brothers-were wandering in the great cities of the country; but in Utah they