Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1908-04-27
Latter-Day Saints Prove Faith
In Pre-Existence on Firm
Foundation.
PIONEER STAKE CONFERENCE
1nrec Sessions Held at Which Good
Reports Are Given and Inv '-|+~a-
tions offered by Authorities.

tabernacle. President Anthem II. Lund
and the general and stake authorities
were present.
The choir rendered the hymns. Earth
with Her Ten Thousand Flowers. In
vocation was offered by Elder George
L. Burbdge.
Elder Henry S. Tanner was the first
speaker, dwelling at length upon the
subject Of the eternal justice of God.
He narrated a lesson given in the Tai
mud illustrating this principle He
said this lesson to him seems invaluable
and urged his hearers to learn to trust
in God. He said there are some things
rot understood nor can we hope to in
this sphere; and lacking the UNDER
standing, we must not question the
purposes of God. To the average mind
II seems that at the time the Saints
We're driven from their homes in the
east, the Lord had forgotten His people
pie, but looking back upon the history
Of the Church His goodness is mani
fest The conditions they faced, the
hardships they endured in being
thrown, as they were. upon the mercy
of nature. developed their characters
and prepared them for the future. OF
their own strength they could not have
accomplished this; but God was with
them and overruled ALL and He will yet
be with them so long as they are united
and stand together. true to God, to each
other. To humanity and to the govern
ment
The choir sang, 80 my Father"
ELDER o. F. WHITNEY.
Elder Orson H. Whitney addressed
the meeting. His theme was the belief
of the Latter-day Saints in a pre-exist-
ence. Referring to the hymn lust sung
which embodies the belief of the Lat
ter-day Saints, concerning the past, the
present and the future. he said that the
Latter-day Saints were not the first
to teach this doctrine. for ii was taught
by Jesus and His disciples. Through
all the ages good men and women have
believed in the immortality of the soul;
they have believed that we lived before
this life and shall live after II. Quot
ing from Wordsworths 'Intimations of
Immortality" he said that this great
man had to apologize to the bgotry of
his time for the belief expressed in the
beautiful language of his poem.
Mormonism has no such apology to
make. 1t goes beyond what Words
worth declared when he said it was a
doctrine upon which revelation was ST.
lent. MormoniSm declares that the Bible
teaches such n belief in the sayings of
the Son of God and of the prophets of
the gospel as are the principles Of
pentance and baptism. After quoting
the statement of Jesus And now, .
Father. glorify thou me- with thine own
self, with the glory which 1 had with
thee before the world was" (John II, 50.
Elder Whitney took UP the first and
second chapters of Genesis, 10 show
that God created everything first In q
spiritual sense and then in the physI-
cal condition. To establish this state
ment the speaker referred to the state
ment In the fifth verse of the second
chapter where after telling of the COM
plete creation In the first chapter 1t
says land there was not a man to till
the soil"
After discoursing at length upon tina
sublime thought embodied in the prin-
ciple of the pre-existence. he said he
thought il was this knowledge which
robbed the grave of its victory and
death of its sting. In addition to this
knowledge the Latter day Saints be-
leved that this earth in its present
condition was but a school place TO
spend a time OF probation upon and
that only after the earth had been re
newed would 1t become a home for the
saints and children of God
The meeting closed after singing the
anthem God Is Our Refuge" The
benedlction was pronounced by Elder
Angus NJ. Cannon.
EVENING SESSIONS.
The evening session was held in the
stake hall. Very crowded condition
and the lack OF room in the stake hall
for all the saints who came to the
meeting made 1t necessary for the hold
ing of an overflow meeting in the
Seventh ward assembly room. At this
meeting President David Mckenzie,
Alexander Buchanan, Jr., and Louis q.
Hoagland were the speakers. Elder IA.
b. Clawson, Jr., presiding at the over
flow meeting.
The singing at the regular meeting
of the conference was furnished by the
Joint religion classes of the stake. The
opening songs were Master, the TEN
pest Is Raging" and Sweet Hour or
PRAYER" After the classes had re-
peated n memory gem from the Doc
trine and Covenants the Sacrament was
administered under the direction OF
Bishops Heber G. Cutler ana Robert
Sherwood. The general and stake au-
thoritles were presented by Elder
Charles II. Hyde and all were sustain
ed Elder Alan II. Howard was APP
pointed as second counselor to the stake
presidency of the Y, NJ, Nj. l. A. Elder
Joseph j. Cannon, who has acted IN the
capacity of stake superintendent of Re-
ligion classes since their estahlishment
In the stake, WIS honorably released
becaue of the other labors requested OF
him IN stake capacity His counsel ors
were likewise released The stake
superlntendency Of the Religion classes
was reorganized with Elder II, Frank
Soderbcrg as superintendent with FL
ders Robert ii. Hodge and Neph NC
LaChlan as counseors
ELDER A. w, WINS.
Elder Anthony w. WINS addressed tho
meeting. speaking upon the change IN
the circumstances and conditions
which surrOud the Latter-day Saints OF
the present day and those OF the early
days In the valley, He pointed out the
nature of the present day temptations
and urged and cautioned the people TO
steel themselves against every allure,
mont which could cause their falling
away from the truth.
Mabel Cooper sang '"rhe LORD ls Rls-
en-"
Elder Heber j, Grant spoke upon the
jov that comes TO men and women VINO
receive the blessings OF God IN return
for their labors in His cause. REFERRING
70 this present condition OF the people
he ASIA there was never "A day when
Hlun prospered more as a whole man
today. In speaking OF those who ran
away from the Church. he SAID they
are those who are not honest with inc
Lord, BE honest with the Lord aud
He viii be honest TO you and help you
when YOU need it, was the admon-
ition of the speaker He urged the
saints 10 build their lives according 20
the gospel plan for every one rs the
architect OF his own life