The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1886-10-08
WHICH WILL BE READ
At the Conference at Coalville
To-day.
TEACHINGS AND COUNSELINGS
A Clear Statement of the Condition o
the Church and People During
the Past Half-Year.
Dear Brethren and Sisters:

| OSQE ID CtitI GO aItN bOtobO'Os
Six months have passed away since
we last had the pleasure OF addressing
YOU through our General Eplstle, ana
we find ourselves face to face with the
! FiftY-siXth Semi Annual Conference
! of the Church in this dispensatlon.
The past six months have been very
fruitful in events in which ali OF US
nave been deeply Interested. Inc
season has been a healthful one; no
| sickness worthy of note has affected
our people unpleasantly. The sum-
mer has been both unusually dry and
hot, and many of the crops have not
Welded as good q return as usual.
Nevertheless our land is still filled with
plenty, and man and beast have sui
ficient to supply their wants. dT
PERSECUTION AND ITS EFFECTS.
| Our enemies during the past half
year have not slackened their &C
tivity In the work of persecution. Ii
there has been any difference, ithas been
pursued with greater VindictiveneSs
and more fragrant disregard OF law and
Justice than at any time previous.
Those who have been compelled to en-
dure the . PENALTIES inflicted upon them
nave submitted, 10 nearly every
Instance, with a cheerful equanimlly
and fortitude that must have won the
! admiration of heaven and OF all Just
men. That which has been accom-
plished furnishes but little cause for
! qualification to those who have BEEN
| engaged in the inhuman task OF perSt-
! cutting people for the practice OF
their religion. There have been but
few persons in all who have been tried
and convicted who have felt sufficient
| lyrf Qh q A n
ment to express willingness to accept
the rulings of the court instead OF the
law of God, as the guide for their con-
| sciences.
The faith of the Latter-day Saints
seems to grow stronger from these Ell
forts to destroy it; and men, women
and children who have been living in the
practice Of the requirements OF their
religion feel more determined than
ever to maintain their integrity and to
do all that the Lord requires at their
ever may be the consequences from a
worldly point of view.
This persecution Is not without its
effects upon those who have made a
pretense of being faithful members Of
the Church. Iniquity is being brought
to light. The wrOngdoer is being made
10 feel, in q most remarkable manner,
that his sin will find him out; and the
evidence that God is pleading with and
awakening the consciences of those
who have been living in sin is
frequently furnished to US. There have
Oeen many violations OF the law OF
God practIced among us which have
been hidden from the public gaze. The
trials through which we are passing
have the effect of causing these evils to
be brought to light. Ii seems as though
the Lord is tearing the covering, not
only from the nations of the earth, but
from the Latter-day Saints; and the
time is not far diStant-in fact, it has
reached US already in part-Whep the
sinner in Zion shall trembie, and fear
shall seize upon the hypocrite.
THE PURIFICATIoN OF ZION.
So far as We can learn there is an in
creased disposition on the part of the
faithful officers of the Church to do all
in their poWerIto cleanse the Wards and
Stakes in their charge from those who
will not conform to the requirements
of the Gospel. Greater StTictnesS is
being shown, and the Saints who have
the love of the truth within them feel
that the time has come TO put away
their follies and their sins far from
them and to conform to a higher
standard of righteousness. The great,
crying sin Of this generation is lasciv
liouSneSS in its various forms. Satan,
knowing how powerful an agency this
is in cOrrupting men and women, and
in driving the Spirit from them, and
bringing them under condemnation
before the Lord, uses it to the greatest
extent possible. It requires an inces-
SAINT warfare to check it's spread and TO
prevent the people of God from be-
coming its victims. No people Who
practice or ceuntenance these sins can
be accepted of the Lord or find favor
in His sight. His anger will fall upon
them unless they thoroughly and heart
lily repent of every such evil. When
we take into consideration the teach
ings we have received upon this sub
ject, the holy covenants into which we
have entered, and the professions
which we make, unchaStity should have
no existence among US. 1t is SORROW
tful to contemplate that Satan finds
those among Us who are willing to
yield to his temptations, and thus
bring misery upon themselves
and all connected with them.
We solemnly call, as we have done so
! often before, upon all the officers OF
the Church to set their faces like flint
! against practices of this character.
| Those who indulge in them must be
dealt with according 10 the laws OF
God, and they must be made to feel
that if they do indulge,in this wicked
ness they cannot have the fellowship
| of the SAINTS nor standing in the
| Church of Christ. If men ana women
would only profit by the experience OF
those who have fallen, they would re-
Sist the ailurementS of sin and walk in
the path of righteousness. The
wages of sin is death" The
misery which it brings upon the
\ guilty, and upon all connected
( with them, furnishes some idea of the
dreadful condition of the wicked who
die in their sins and do not obtain the
| forgiveness of their God. o.! that
men and women could be warmed, ana
that they would turn to the Lord and