Growth Rates of the LDS Church

I was looking at the membership stats of the church, wondering what the number might be when they announce it in this April's General Conference. The trend would suggest the number's going to be somewhere between 15,350,00-15,400,000. Then I started thinking about the percentages and here's some things I found interesting.

First, the membership number of the church is about double what it was in 1990.

Second, the growth rate of the church has fluxuated over the years. It started with 6 members in 1830 and grew to 17,881 by 1838. But after the collapse of the Kirtland Safety Society and many members of leadership left, including four of the Apostles and all three of the Three Witnesses. The church dropped for a bit but recovered and grew back up.

Another spot where there was actually a decline in church membership was the 1850's, when it went from 68,429 in 1854 to 55,236 in 1857, but that was the last year church membership was lower than the year before.

The rest of the 1800's saw slow growth, when the U.S. government was hounding the church and Wilford Woodruff finally had to give the Manifesto, ending polygamy. Even with some members spinning off from there to start their own polygamous sects, the main LDS church kept increasing its numbers.

The first half of the 20th century saw growth rates anywhere between 1%-5%, but it was when David O. McKay became prophet/president that the church saw at least 3% growth every year. 1961-1963 had over 7% per year. There was a good period in the late 1970's, and the mid to late 1980's were strong periods of growth for the church. 1989 had 8.74% growth, the best single year since Brigham Young's days.

1992-1999 saw growth rates between 2.8% to 3.88%. 1999 was the last year the church had at least 3%. 2000 to present day has been in the 2's. 2013 had 2.03% growth, and when you get down to those decimals, that would make 2013 the slowest year since 1947.

Now 2013 saw an increase of 299,972 members, so could it be the size of the numbers just makes the percentages smaller?

The growth of the church is still outpacing the population of the Earth, but to put it in perspective, 21 out of every 10,000 people on Earth are LDS.

Even if the church is growing at 2% a year, the world population is growing at 1.1% per year and is slowing down, ever so slightly. In fact, somewhere around 2110 is when it's expected for the world to not see an increase in its population, and by then, there'll be over 10.8 billion people on Earth. And LDS church membership, barring some major scandal or Second Coming, should be over 40 million.

Called by Wilford Woodruff

Wilford Woodruff's presidency is marked by reform. Primarily there was the Manifesto, which ended the practice of polygamy, but there were other doctrinal elements he helped clarify. He ended the Law of Adoption and helped better define the ordinances within the temple. He discouraged the act of rebaptism to showed renewed commitment and emphasized the important of the sacrament for covenant renewal.

Called by Wilford Woodruff to be Apostles:
Marriner W. Merrill, Anthon H. Lund,
Abraham H. Cannon, Matthias F. Cowley,
Abraham O. Woodruff

MARRINER W. MERRILL
(September 25, 1832 - February 6, 1906)

Apostle - October 7, 1889

Soon after Albert Carrington was excommunicated, Pres. John Taylor died, and before the First Presidency was reorganized, Erastus Snow died. So once Wilford Woodruff became the next prophet, he called three Apostles. Marriner W. Merrill at age 57 was the oldest of the three.

Merrill was born in New Brunswick, Canada. He joined the LDS church at age 19, and afterwards learned his mother had been baptized several years previous. (His father never joined the church.) Merrill moved to the Salt Lake Valley in 1853. He became very successful in argiculture and real estate.

He practiced polygamy, having 8 wives and 43 children. He'd hide for weeks at a time in the Logan Temple to avoid arrest for unlawful cohabitation. He was President of the Logan Temple when he was called to be an Apostle. While an Apostle, he also served as president of the Cache Valley stake. (Find anyone with the last name of Merrill in northern Utah, and they probably descend from him.) He died from kidney disease at age 73. His son Joseph was later called to be an Apostle.

ANTHON H. LUND
(May 15, 1844 - March 2, 1921)

Apostle - October 7, 1889
Second Counselor - October 17, 1901
First Counselor - April 7, 1910
President of Q12 - November 23, 1918

Lund was born in Denmark, making him one of the rare Apostles born in a non-English country. His parents were unmarried, and he was three when his mother died. His father was in the Danish army and was away for years at a time so Lund was primarily raised by his maternal grandmother. He was baptized into the LDS church on his 12th birthday. he became a branch president at age 16. He migrated with his grandmother to the US when he was 18.

He was called to be mission president of Scandinavia at age 40. When he was called to be an Apostle, he was the only monogamist in the Q12.

He served as European mission president and he organized the Turkish mission. He gave a talk in General Conference in 1899 where he encouraged members - rather than migrate to the Western US - to build up Zions in their own homelands.

After Joseph F. Smith became prophet in 1901, he called Lund to be the First Presidency as 2nd counselor. He became 1st counselor after John R. Winder died.

When Heber J. Grant became prophet, Lund served as 1st Counselor and President of the Q12. It became policy at this time that if the President of the Q12 was in the First Presidency, then next senior Apostle would be called as Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve. Lund died from the effects of an ulcer at the age of 76.

ABRAHAM H. CANNON
(March 12, 1859 - July 19, 1896)

Apostle - October 7, 1889

Son of apostle George Q. Cannon, Abraham was only 30 when he was called to the Q12. (George was serving as 1st Counselor at the time.) Abraham had previously served in the European mission. He and his brother John took over as editors of the Deseret News in 1892, increasing the rivalry between them and the then anti-Mormon Salt Lake Tribune.

He had four wives. He suffered from headaches and had surgeries to help with ear troubles, but he died from inflammation at only 37 years old. His younger brother Sylvester would later become an Apostle.

MATTHIAS F. COWLEY
(August 25, 1858 - June 16, 1940)

Apostle - October 7, 1896
Removed from Q12 - October 28, 1905

Cowley was known to have an excellent memory, and he used that to memorize most of the scriptures, and he'd be able to give detailed sermons on the scriptures.

He was also a curious choice for Apostle, as he continued to marry additional wives after the 1890 Manifesto. He believed it was for political expediency in the US but believed polygamy shoul dstill be fine in other countries. He could not accept Pres. Joseph F. Smith's insistance that polygamy was over everywhere, and he and fellow apostle John W. Taylore resigned from the Q12 in 1905.

As word got back to the First Presidency that Cowley was still presiding over plural marriage ceremonies, they suspended his priesthood in 1911. He had it unsuspended in 1936. His son Matthew was later called to be an Apostle.

ABRAHAM O. WOODRUFF
(November 23, 1872 - June 20, 1904)

Apostle - October 7, 1896

Cowley and Woodruff were called the same day, as Thatcher was dropped from the Q12 and Abraham Cannon died shortly afterwards. Woodruff was only 23 when ordained.

Woodruff was the son of Wilford Woodruff. He married Helen in 1896, and he took a second wife, Eliza, in 1900, ten years after the Manifesto. While he and Helen were visiting the Saints in Mexico, they contracted smallpox. Helen died a couple weeks before he did, at age 31.

Called by Joseph Smith: The Replacement Apostles

I've gone over the First Presidencies and original Twelve Apostles called by Joseph Smith. Now to the rest of the Apostles Smith called to fill the vacancies that would happen in the Quorum.

The Replacements:
John E. Page, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith,
Willard Richards, Lyman Wight, Amasa Lyman

JOHN E. PAGE
(February 25, 1799 - October 14, 1867)

Apostle - 1838
Excommunicated - 1846

Page was baptized in 1833 and was a successful missionary. He was the Matthias of this dispensation, the first replacement Apostle in 1838. He and three others were actually named in the D&C 118 revelation; he and Taylor were ordained first, and the other two (Wilford Woodruff and Willard Richards) were ordained later. When Page was called to join Orson Hyde in a mission to Jerusalem, he backed out. He became more disaffected with the church and when Smith died, he tried to claim that he should be the next leader. That went nowhere, but he was able to stay in the Quorum even while deciding that James J. Strang should be the next leader. Brigham Young finally excommunicated in 1846, but soon afterwards, Page would say he felt Smith and Strang were fallen prophets. He eventually joined the Church of Christ Temple Lot group.

JOHN TAYLOR
(November 1, 1808 - July 25, 1887)

Apostle - 1838
President of Q12 - 1875
Prophet/President - 1880

Taylor thus far is the only Apostle in the LDS Church to have been born outside of the United States and gone on to become prophet. Born in England, he studied to become a Methodist preacher while in his teens, and he and other family members felt impressed to preach the gospel in the New World. His parents and siblings migrated to Canada in 1830, and he joined them in 1832.

He and his wife Leonora met the missionary Parley P. Pratt in 1836. Leonora joined the church first, and John later followed. They moved to Missouri, and Taylor and Page were made Apostles the same day in 1838 (Page would therefore have seniority due to age).

Taylor and fellow Apostle Willard Richards were with Joseph & Hyrum Smith in Carthage Jail on June 27, 1844, when the mob stormed the prison and killed the brothers. Taylor was shot four times but managed to survive.

He became a US citizen in 1849, and he served five terms as Speaker of the House for the Utah territorial legislature.

Taylor was third in seniority when Brigham ruled that seniority reset if an Apostle were removed from the Quorum and then re-added. This instantly made Taylor the president of the Q12. When Brigham Young died in 1877, Taylor led the church as President of the Quorum of the Twelve until he reorganized the First Presidency in 1880.

The Edmonds Act passed in 1882, making polygamy illegal. Taylor had seven wives, and spent years in exile. He died from heart failure at age 78.

WILFORD WOODRUFF
(March 1, 1807 - September 2, 1898)

Apostle - 1839
President of Q12 - 1880
Prophet/President - 1889

Woodruff was baptized in 1833 and immediately became a solid missionary for the young church. he would travel with Joseph & Hyrum Smith, and later did missions throughout Kentucky, Tennessee, Connecticut and Maine.

Upon Smiths' death, he sided with Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve. He was one of the earliest to record that when Young and Sidney Rigdon were giving their case to the congregation on who should lead the church, Young had the look and voice of Joseph Smith.

Woodruff had nine wives, though two left him after a month and two more divorced him. Two more died before the 1890 Manifesto which ended polygamy in the LDS Church, and after 1890 he only lived with his wife Emma while supporting the other two in separate homes. The Manifesto was a political necessity, as the US government was pssing more and more laws against polygamy and trying to confiscate all church property.

GEORGE A. SMITH
(June 26, 1817 - September 1, 1875)

Apostle - 1839
First Counselor - 1868

George was first cousin to Joseph & Hyrum Smith, though he'd never met Joseph until he was baptized. George was the son of John Smith, who'd later be a counselor in Joseph's First Presidency. George was only 21 when Joseph ordained him to be an Apostle.

George and Wilford Woodruff were ordained the same day after Thomas B. March and Orson Hyde had been removed from the Quorum of the Twelve.

Smith was one of the more bombastic Apostles in the 1850's and gave fiery sermons in southern Utah in 1857 which may have been used by the local leadership to help justify the Mountain Meadows Massacre.

Smith was made First Counselor in Brigham's First Presidency after Heber C. Kimball died. Smith himself died at the relatively young age of 58. His grandson George Albert Smith would later become the President of the Church in 1945.

WILLARD RICHARDS
(June 24, 1804 - March 11, 1854)

Apostle - 1840
Second Counselor - 1847

Willard Richards was a cousin to Brigham Young, and he first read the Book of Mormon in 1836. As soon as he was baptized he went on a mission to the Eastern United States and then to England. He was ordained an Apostle in 1840, but there'd been a revelation over a year previous that he should become one. Richards served as a secretary for Joseph Smith, and he was in Carthage Jail with John Taylor the night Joseph & Hyrum were killed. Richards escaped unharmed. He helped get Taylor out to receive medical attention.

He was Second Counselor when Brigham Young reorganized the First President in 1847, and he kept that position until his premature death at age 49 from dropsy.

LYMAN WIGHT
(May 9, 1796 - March 31, 1858)

Apostle - 1841
Excommunicated - 1848

Wight was active throughout the Joseph Smith section of LDS Church history. He was baptized by Oliver Cowdery in 1830. He did a mission in Missouri and later helped the Saints migrate there. It was in his home in 1838 that Smith received the revelation about Adam-ondi-Ahman. Wight was one of the men held prisoner for months with Smith in Liberty Jail.

In 1844, Smith had commissioned Wight to find a place in Texas that could be a possible safe settlement for the Saints. After Smith's death, Wight and his followers established themselves, and he refused repeated requests by Brigham Young to join them in Utah. Young finally excommunicated him. Wight sided with William Smith for a few months before that fell apart, and later he said he felt the mantle of prophet should fall to one of Joseph Smith's sons. Shortly after he died, his followers sided with Joseph Smith III in the newly-formed RLDS church.

AMASA LYMAN

(March 30, 1813 - February 4, 1877)

Apostle - 1842
Counselor - 1842
Excommunicated - 1867

Lyman joined the church in 1832 after meeting Orson Pratt and Lyman E. Johnson, and he became one of the church's best preachers. He spent about half of the next decade on missions.

Smith made him an Apostle in 1842, but he was removed from the Quorum after Orson Pratt was rebaptized and readmitted. Smith then made him a Counselor in the First Presidency, and all indications were he intended to remove Sidney Rigdon and replace him with Lyman. But at the next General Conference, the congregation refused to approve Rigdon being removed.

Smith taught him polygamy in 1844, and he took on extra wives. After Smith's death, he took on a couple of Smith's widows. During the succession crisis, he and John Smith, the other surviving member of the First Presidency, sided with Young's claim over Rigdon's, and reaffirmed Joseph had intended the authority to reside with the Quorum of the Twelve. Lyman was readded to the Quorum after the excommunication of William Smith.

Lyman was one of the more reluctant Apostles to acquiesce when Brigham Young wanted to reorganize the First Presidency. (The biggest opponent was Orson Pratt, but after all agreed, the First Presidency was re-formed.)

Lyman was a colonizer in the west and helped found San Bernadino, CA. He became increasingly uncomfortable with the paranoia of the 1850's, and he was among the first to criticize the fiery rhetoric that helped lead to the Mountain Meadows Massacre. He also wasn't happy with Brigham's increasing control of so many political and economic avenues in Utah. He got in trouble for a 1862 speech he gave in Scotland where he'd argued against the necessity of the Atonement, and it was used as evidence in his ultimate excommunication in 1867. Afterwards, Lyman became more open in his criticism of Young and aided William Godbe in the Godbeite movement to separate church and state in Utah.

Lyman's son Francis later became an Apostle, and in 1909, Amasa Lyman was posthumously restored to the Apostleship.

(I'm still in the middle of reading his biography by E. Leo Lyman).

General Conference Highlights: October 1897

Doing more bouncing around for the General Conference Times before I return to the 1970's. The next oldest one online (as of today) comes from 1897.

OCTOBER 1897

First Presidency
WILFORD WOODRUFF
-George Q. Cannon
-JOSEPH F. SMITH

Quorum of the 12 Apostles
LORENZO SNOW
-Franklin D. Richards
-Brigham Young Jr.
-Francis M. Lyman
-John Henry Smith
-George Teasdale
-HEBER J. GRANT
-John W. Taylor
-Marriner W. Merrill
-Anthon H. Lund
-Matthias F. Cowley
-Abraham O. Woodruff

Between 1880 and 1897, John Taylor had died and Wilford Woodruff became President of the Church in 1889. John Willard Young was still serving as Counselor to the Apostles, and Moses Thatcher was removed from the Quorum after not being sustained in the April 1896 Conference. Albert Carrington had been excommunicated. The other Apostles had since died. Heber J. Grant didn't attend this Conference due to illness.

Pres. WILFORD WOODRUFF - "Opening Remarks"

The hand of the Lord has been with this people and with the Elders of Israel, and will continue to be. The Lord is in earnest, in fulfillment of His promises from the creation of the world down to this day, with regard to His dispensations to man. I hope and trust that while we dwell in the flesh we all may realize and understand this. It is a great blessing to receive the Gospel of Christ, to receive the Holy Priesthood, and to be called to labor in the Priesthood for the salvation of the children of men. This labor is upon us and will remain upon us until the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven, to reward every man according to the deeds done in the body.

WW - "The Written Word"

Whenever the Lord requires any Prophet, Seer, Revelator, to speak, the Spirit of the Lord is with
him to give counsel to the people from time to time as he is moved upon, and such as the people ought to hear. But I want you to understand this one thing; the Holy Priesthood and power of God do not stop there; it does not stop with the Presidency, it does not stop with the Twelve Apostles, it does not stop with our leading men of Israel ; — there is not a man on God's footstool that is sent forth into the world to preach the Gospel but ought to have the Spirit of the Lord upon
him and the revelation of God to him. And by that power these valleys of the mountains have been filled with the inhabitants of the world today; by that power this Tabernacle has been built; by that power have the Elders, from the organization of this Church until today, performed their
work. There is no end to the Holy Ghost and the power of God and the revelations of God to man...

The Bible is all right, the Book of Mormon is all right, the Doctrine and Covenants is all right, and they proclaim the work of God and the word of God in the earth in this day and generation: until the coming of the Son of Man; but the Holy Priesthood is not confined particularly to those books, that is, it did not cease when those books were made. It belongs to every man that goes forth into the world, and these are our principles, and these are our rights, and these are our duties, and
these are our gifts. The Holy Ghost is not confined to any one man, but every one should have it.

WW - "Called to the Apostleship"

I tell you, brethren and sisters, the God of heaven has set His hand to build up Zion, in fulfillment of all the revelations of God to man from the days of Father Adam down to this day. The counsels that have been given here today are just and true, and we ought to observe them. I cannot sin, you cannot sin, we cannot turn from the commandments of God in anywise, but we are the losers by it. Again, I will say to this congregation, God Almighty will afflict these Latter-day Saints if they do not pursue the course they are called upon to pursue. The Lord will build up Zion and carry out His purposes; but we will be chastised unless we listen to the counsels of the servants of God. If these Latter-day Saints turn to the right or the left, on political questions or on other principles, to separate themselves one from another and from the commandments of God, the Lord Almighty will hold them responsible, and they will be chastised for doing it. I know this as well as I know I am alive. I am anxious for the salvation of the Latter-day Saints...

The eyes of the heavens are over us; the eyes of God himself, the eyes of every Prophet and Apostle in the spirit world, are watching you, watching this Priesthood, to see what they are doing and what they are going to do. It is of far more importance than we realize and comprehend. Let us awake to the ordinances of the House of God and do our duty, that we may be justified, for Christ's sake.

WW - "Closing Remarks"

There have been feelings that these men holding high positions — the Twelve Apostles and Presidency — should say nothing about politics. I want to say to you here, the day has come when God Almighty requires at your hands to unite together in your temporal business, and in your politics, so far as it is wisdom. I do not care whether a man is a Republican or a Democrat, in that he is free; but it is your duty to unite in electing good men to govern and control your cities, your local affairs, and I will state that when you do not do this you are losers of the blessings of Almighty God. I want to tell you this upon this occasion. My mouth shall not be closed upon these principles. I know it is the duty of the Latter-day Saints to unite together in your local affairs, the election of your city councils, the election of men to act for you in the affairs of state. Lay aside your extremes in democracy and republicanism, as far as is wise in that matter, and in other than local matters as Latter-day Saints unite together within your party lines and appoint good men. When you do that, God will bless you. You won't all be taxed to death and lose your property, if you will appoint good men and pursue this course.

LORENZO SNOW - "Have They Been Fulfilled"

Jesus, said on a certain occasion, that He would build His Church upon revelation: that is, Peter having received a revelation that Jesus was the Son of God and so saying Jesus replied, "Upon this rock will I build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The system of salvation and exaltation and glory was of such a character that there was this grand feature about it, all persons might receive a perfect knowledge of its divine source.

When we take into consideration the difficulties those have to meet who obey these principles we see the necessity that they should have a perfect knowledge of that which they have received, and thus the Lord bestows upon them the means by which they can contend against the difficulties and the persecutions and secure the blessings connected with these promises...

I was acquainted with Joseph Smith for years. And I know Brother Oliver Cowdery to have been a good man, honorable, honest, and truthful; although years after this, Oliver Cowdery left the Church for a while. He became proud and exalted, and left the Church; but the spirit and the testimony never left him, and after suffering the afflictions of the Lord, he repented and was very glad to come back into the Church, and he got back just in time to go into the other world, and that is just about the whole of it so far as Oliver Cowdery was concerned...

There is no man that knows the truth of this work more than I do. I know it fully; I know it distinctly. I know there is a God just as well as any man knows it, because God has revealed himself to me. I know it positively. I shall never forget the manifestations of the Lord; I never will forget them as long as memory endures. It is in me. There is something to labor for, there is something to sacrifice for...

The wife should never in the presence of her children speak disrespectfully of her husband. If she thinks her husband has done wrong (he might have done), she should never speak of it in the presence of her children. She should take him out of the presence of her children and there tell him of his faults, in a pleasant way, but never in the presence of the children speak disrespectfully of the father. And the father the same. He has no right to speak disrespectfully of his wife in the presence of her children. And I pray God to give the husband and wife the spirit and the understanding to correct themselves in such matters. I know that a great many of the difficulties that now appear, and the disrespect that we find in reference to the Priesthood, among young people, arises from this fact, that there have been difficulties in the home circle.and there has been disrespect expressed in their presence, of the father by the mother, or of the mother by the father.

JOSEPH F. SMITH - "The Law of Tithing"

He will rebuke the devourer, and He will cause that the earth shall be fruitful, that it shall yield in its strength to the husbandman, the tiller of the soil, and to the herder of flocks, He will increase his kine, and will prosper him upon the right hand and upon the left, and he shall have an abundance, because he puts his trust in God; he draws near unto Him, and he is willing to prove Him, to see whether He will not open the windows of heaven and pour out blessings upon him that he shall not have room to contain them. Let every man who has received the Gospel of Jesus Christ receive this saying, and hearken to these words, for all they are worth. Some men may esteem them lightly, and those who do will, without doubt, fail to draw near, they will neglect to prove the Lord, they will not fulfill the commandments that He has given, and they will never know that God tells the truth, and that He is able to fulfill His word and promise unto His people when they are willing to obey and keep His law.

General Conference Highlights: April 1880

Taking a break from the 1970's to bring you this. Checked out this LDS General Conference Report from the library, then I learned it was available online. Under Brigham Young's day, in the Journal of Discourses, the transcribing/recording of talks wasn't quite up to what it had become by 1880. Now Brigham Young had died in 1877, but it wasn't until October 1880 that John Taylor was named the third President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

APRIL 1880

First Presidency
-vacant-

Quorum of the 12 Apostles
JOHN TAYLOR - President
-WILFORD WOODRUFF
-Orson Pratt
-Charles C. Rich
-LORENZO SNOW
-Erastus Snow
-Franklin D. Richards
-George Q. Cannon
-JOSEPH F. SMITH
-Brigham Young Jr.
-Albert Carrington
-Moses Thatcher

Daniel H. Wells and John Willard Young were ordained Apostles and had been Counselors to Brigham Young in the First Presidency, but they were not added to the Quorum upon Young's death. They were considered Counselors to the Apostles until their deaths. Lorenzo Snow was serving a mission and therefore could not attend the Conference.

Before the General Conference commenced on April 6th, they had what they called the Two Days' Meeting, which was held on April 4-5, 1880. They served as preface meetings and addresses before the actual Conference would begin.

Pres. JOHN TAYLOR - "April 4th"

On the 6th day of April the church will have been organized fifty years, and we might with very good propriety call it a year of jubilee, or rather the close of the year of jubilee. And while we are assembled together, either in our meeting prior to the Conference or afterwards in the Conference, it becomes us, when we reflect upon the kindness and mercy which God has vouch-safed to us during the last fifty years, to renew our covenants before him, and feel in our hearts that we are his people and that he is our God. His mercy and salvation will still be extended to us, if we will only obey his laws, keep his commandments, and pursue that course that is proper and acceptable in his sight.

JT - "April 6th"

We as a people believe in paying our tithes and offerings to the Lord — and when I get through I want Brother Hardy to get up and talk on tithing; he is quite a hand to talk on this subject. We believe it is proper for us to pay one-tenth of our increase, or one-tenth of our time, as the case may be, to the Lord regularly. And a great many men do this, and do it very promptly;. but a great many more do not do it, only a very little — about that much sometimes [measuring the end of the finger. Laughter.] I think it will be a tight squeeze for some of them to dig through. I am not talking about this because I care anything about it personally; but because of the interest of those who ought to do it, but do not. There are a great many who have neglected the payment of these things partly through carelessness, partly through poverty and a variety of circumstances, and it begins to feel oppressive to them. Now, we want to break off this yoke too, that is, off those who are worthy; the others we do not care much about — that is unless they turn about and reform
and take another course, live their religion and act as Latter-day Saints...

Now, we are going to come to our sisters. Some people think that the sisters cannot do anything; I will show you what they can do. President Young re-organized the Relief Society — it having been organized by the Prophet Joseph Smith in Nauvoo— and inasmuch as the brethren had been careless and slow to heed the counsel of President Young in relation to storing away wheat, he requested the sisters to do it, and some of we "lords of creation" thought it was a very little thing for our sisters to be engaged in. But we find now they are of some use, and that the "ladies of creation" can do something as well as the "lords." I spoke to Sister Eliza R. Snow, who is the president of the Relief Society, and asked what her feelings would be, and that of her sisters, in relation to the distribution of their wheat, for those who are in need of seed, letting the people have it as a loan, for which the bishops should become responsible and see that it is returned after harvest. She replied that it would meet her entire approbation. The sisters have not had the opportunity to meet yet to get an expression of their minds in relation to it; but I will guarantee that they will do what they are requested to do, for they have already been doing something in that line, as I understand it. Is not that so Brother Hunter ? [Bishop Hunter: "Yes, sir."] Now, we want to show you, what the sisters can do. I will guarantee that they will do it, and that we will have a report from them before we get through. They have 34,761 bushels of wheat. Who of you men can raise that much ? Where's your wheat ? [Laughter.] Now, those 34,761 bushels of wheat will be of considerable importance judiciously managed, and loaned out to some of our poor brethren. It will furnish seed wheat, and after harvest they can return it again. We do not want any more harsh talk about the woman question after this. [A voice: "May they vote now?"] O yes, they may vote now if they choose to; everybody is willing that they should vote now. [Laughter.] That is, they are willing the sisters shall vote on the wheat question. [Renewed laughter.] We may as well call a vote on this question now, our sisters are present whom we will ask to vote. All you sisters who are in favor of carrying out this request, hold up your right hand. [A forest of hands went up.] There they go, you see. [Laughter.] I think that is the most hearty vote yet. I knew they would do it.

JT - "April 7th"

In regard to the work we are engaged in, it is one of very great importance; it is one on which God and angels, apostles, prophets, patriarchs and men of God who have lived in the different ages of the world, have felt interested about; and do to-day. And about these little matters of dollars and cents we do not care so much about them or ought not to ; although we have to attend to all these matters — matters temporal, matters spiritual, things pertaining to time and things pertaining to eternity. It is expected of us that we act wisely, prudently and understandingly in all of our doings...

Jesus said, "Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habitations." Then let us feel after the welfare of our brethren, and we will not dwell much upon one another's weaknesses, for God knows that all of us have enough of them, at least, I feel I have, and I think my brethren feel that they have, and I do not think that many of you are very much better than we are. But I tell you what we desire to do and to see carried out. We wish correct principles to be carried out, and while we are sending the gospel to the nations afar off, we want to see the pure principles of the gospel lived up to at home. We do not want to be influenced by the corruptions that float upon us here. While we respect proper authority and pay proper deference to all honorable men in all positions in our country, we do not want to copy after the devices of this corrupt generation, we want them to keep them to themselves if they admire them. We neither want drunkenness nor whoredom nor infanticide nor foeticide* nor any of the corruptions that abound throughout the world, or of this nation, of which every honorable man ought to and does feel ashamed...

We want among ourselves to learn strictly the principles of honesty, to have and maintain honest dealing one with another and be true to our word, and to let our word be our bond. And never mind so much about litigation. I do not know that I ever sued a man in my life, and I do not think that I ever shall. I am not fond enough of law, or money either, to do it. And God will help us and protect us in our rights, if we will only do right. And then we Latter-day Saints, we elders of Israel
and we sisters of Israel, we ought to be ladies and gentlemen, we ought to treat one another with courtesy and kindness, and true politeness.

(*abortion)

JT - "April 7th, 2nd talk"

Reference was made by one of the speakers to a revelation contained in the Doctrine and Covenants, in which we are given to understand that the priesthood is given unto us, not for our own aggrandizement, nor to advance our own interests, but to build up the Church and Kingdom of God upon the earth, acting upon the principles of justice, equity and righteousness, as you are yourselves willing to be judged — and will be judged, before the Great I AM, when the time comes that we shall have to give an account of our stewardship. We want no favoritism shown to any man, or to any woman, or to any set of men, but in the administration of justice to do it as in the sight of God, with integrity of heart and uprightness; anything different from this cannot receive the approbation of God. And furthermore, this priesthood is not conferred upon men to exercise any degree of unrighteousness or tyranny, or to in any way oppress or injure anybody; but if any man use his priesthood to subserve any such purpose, God will take hold of him, as the Priesthood above him will take hold of him, and he will be removed out of his place except he repent...

Again, in regard to the Relief Societies. They are doing a great deal of good, and I say, God bless the sisters, and let all the congregation say Amen. [The vast congregation said, Amen.] Sisters, continue your labors of love, and continue to propagate good, virtuous and holy principles; teach your daughters, and also your sons, principles of holiness and purity; and seek out the poor and distressed and minister to them, and God will bless you in your labors...

I will speak a little in regard to our government. We complain a good deal about the way we have been treated. Well, we have been treated very scurvily, it is true — everybody will admit that — but we must consider the circumstances : they are not of our faith, they do not believe as we do, they have their ideas, and theories, and notions, and so have other nations as well as this. Well, what shall we do? We will do the very best we can. Do you think you could improve your condition in any other nation or under any other government, or receive any better treatment than you do in this? I tell you no, you could not. We here, at least, have the form and — I was going to say, the guarantee of liberty; that is, the promise of the guarantee. We have the form, but it is like a religion without the power. What shall we do ? Consign everybody to damnation and destruction? No. Who are they? They are God's children. Would he like to see them reform? He would; and he has told us to try to do it. If we had children that had gone astray, would we not
like to see them reform? Yes, we would, and if our children do anything wrong we tell them of it, and we try to reform them. We will therefore continue to go to this nation as we have done, as saviors, with the message of life and salvation, and we will pray for the honest, the upright and virtuous, and those who love righteousness, and those who are willing to accord to men equal rights, and a great many who are not; and we will do them all the good we can. We will sustain the government in its administration, and be true to it, and maintain this position right along. And when division, strife, trouble and contention arise, we will try to still the troubled waters, and act in all honesty as true friends to the government; and when war shall exist among them, and there is no one found to sustain the remnants of liberty that may be left, the Elders of Israel will rally round the standard of freedom and proclaim liberty to all the world. These things will assuredly take place, and when they do our motto will be as it now is, "Peace on earth and good will to men."

WILFORD WOODRUFF - "April 4th"

Fifty years have passed and gone, or nearly so, since the organization of this church and kingdom on the earth. Whatever the feelings of the world may be with regard to the Latter-day Saints, with regard to their lives, their history, their organization, their persecutions, and their drivings until the present day, whether they believe or disbelieve, it matters not to the purposes of God, who stands at the head, even our Heavenly Father. This is the church and kingdom of God; it is the church of Christ; it is the organization of the kingdom of God, that has been spoken of by all the prophets since the world began; it is the Zion of God that Isaiah and Jeremiah and many of the other prophets saw by vision and revelation in their day and generation...

I have sometimes feared in my own mind concerning ourselves, that we are not living as near to the Lord as we ought to do ; we do not always comprehend the responsibilities which we are under to God our Heavenly Father. When I reflect, my brethren and sisters, that the Lord has ordained the establishment of Zion, upon the responsibility that rests upon us in warning the generation in which we live that they may be left without excuse in fulfilment of the revelations contained in this volume (the Book of Mormon) — when I reflect that we are called as the servants of the Lord to perform this work, I feel within my own mind as the Lord has said now nearly fifty years ago, that if we believe the words of the Lord we will labor while it is called to-day. The Lord looks to nobody else, he expects nothing from anybody else, as far as the fulfilling of the revelations in the Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants are concerned ; he looks to no other nation, kindred, tongue, or people henceforth to go and perform this work, but the Saints of the living God. If the Lord has any friends on the earth they are the Saints of God, and if the Saints of God have any friends anywhere, they consist of the God of Israel and the heavenly hosts, and the spirits of just men made perfect...

Sometimes when I look around and contemplate on the past, I at times feel lonesome. I look back to the days of Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, and to the patriarchs, prophets and apostles that lived in that day, and I find that a great share of them are in the spirit world. There are but very few left now who were alive at the organization of this church upon the earth. I believe that Brother Orson Pratt is the only man who dwells in the flesh, who is in the church, who was organized in the first Quorum of the Twelve. Brother Taylor and myself remain of those who were organized in the second organization. But Brother Taylor and myself and Brother Pratt and a good many others will not tarry a great while here. We shall pass on to the other side of the veil, and join those who have gone before, as will many who are in this congregation...

The eyes of the heavenly hosts are over us; the eyes of God himself and his Son Jesus Christ; the eyes of all the prophets and Apostles who have dwelt in the flesh; they are watching our works. I have spent more time lately with those who are in the spirit world, in my night seasons, than in all the rest of my life together. On one occasion I thought in my dream that Presidents Young, Kimball, George A. Smith, and many others, attended one of our Conferences. When Brother Young was asked to preach he said: " No, I have done my preaching, I have done my instructions in the flesh; I have come to hear you talk, I have come to look at you, I have come to watch over you, I wish to see what this people are doing." This has been the answer and these are thoughts I believe in. I believe we are not shut out from God, we are not shut out from our brethren, though the vail is between us. They understand our works, our condition, our position, and I feel a desire myself, what little time I have to spend in the flesh, to make my time useful...

I made my home in Sunset when I was not traveling. The people there are living in the United Order, as also in Brigham City and St. Joseph, and while I was in those settlements I never
heard an oath, I never saw a quarrel, I never saw any man or boy smoke a cigarette, or use an ounce of tobacco, or drink whiskey, or drink a cup of coffee or tea, except what I drank myself. The idea of drinking coffee where nobody else was drinking it was a very poor example, I thought, for an Apostle; I therefore took, instead of coffee, water and milk, and have felt a great deal better. The promise is that those who keep the Word of Wisdom "shall run and not be weary, shall walk and not faint," and I can say I have enjoyed much better health than before.

WW - "April 7th"

"A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the Lord will hasten it in his time." This is the word of the Lord through the Prophet Isaiah. Fifty years has made this little one not only a thousand, but more than one hundred thousand, and I do not think it will take half of fifty years more to make a strong nation: and if it were not for offending the ears of the Christian world, I would quote a word or two from the Prophet Daniel, where he says : "Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out of the mountains without hands, which smote the image upon his feet, that were of iron and clay, and break them to pieces...And the stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth... And it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." I know it becomes offensive sometimes to the Christian world to quote the Bible, therefore I think I will not quote much more of it...

The coming of the Son of Man is near. The signs of heaven and earth have indicated this for many years; that is about where I am today; as an Elder of Israel, as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, I can see no road before me unless I am looking for the judgment of God to be poured out upon the wicked, and the judgments will begin at the House of God, and it will go forth from them to the world...

I know this is the Kingdom of God. I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and he sealed his testimony with his blood. That testimony is in force upon all the world, and it will cost this generation just as much to shed the blood of the Lord's anointed today as it has cost the Jews for shedding the blood of Jesus Christ eighteen hundred years ago. The Jews have been scattered, they have been under the bondage of the Gentiles for all these years, and they have until recently been denied all political rights. But the Lord is about to restore them. This is the Kingdom of God. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The heavenly hosts are preparing themselves to help the fulfilment of the revelations that are recorded in these records.

JOSEPH F. SMITH - "April 4th"

The Lord keeps pleading with us; he has to forbear with us, to extend mercy, kindness and forgiveness day after day. For we are very forgetful, careless, indifferent and thoughtless of our duties. It is only when the Spirit of the Lord is upon us that we can really sense the responsibilities that we are under to God and to each other...

It was said by our Savior, to those who professed to be his disciples, "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven." Now, when I see a Latter-day Saint, or, rather, a person who professes to be a Latter-day Saint, guilty of drunkenness, of profanity, of dishonesty, or cheating his neighbor, or of bearing false witness against his brother, I say in my heart that that man is two-fold more a child of hell than as though he had never been baptized; for "to him thatknoweth how to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin," saith the Apostle James. And verily it is true in relation to those who profess to be Latter-day Saints, who should know to do good, for they have covenanted to do that which is right and forsake that which is evil.

JFS - "April 7th"

As a servant of the Lord I have received a testimony in relation to these things, and in connection with my brethren I am thankful to have the privilege of bearing that testimony, which I do in all solemnity before God and man, and am willing and ready to meet the consequences, If I continue faithful, at the bar of final judgment. And I further testify, that unless the Latter-day Saints will live their religion, keep their covenants with God and their brethren, honor the priesthood which they bear, and try faithfully to bring themselves into subjection to the laws of God, they will be the first to fall beneath the judgments of the Almighty, for his judgments will begin at his own house.' Therefore, those who have made a covenant with the Lord by baptism, and have broken that covenant, who profess to be saints and are not, but are sinners, and covenant-breakers, and partakers of the sins of Babylon, most assuredly will "receive of her plagues," for it is written that the righteous will barely escape. This is my testimony in relation to these matters.