1858-08-29-New York Herald-The Mormons

The Mormons

New York Herald, 29 August 1858, p. 3; col A

The Mormons

Mormon Conference at Philadelphia

Great Gathering of the Mormon Priesthood of the Middle States--Tall Preaching--A New Movement in the States--Addresses to the Elders, Etc.

On Saturday and Sunday last the Mormons in Philadelphia had an astonishing "big time" rejoicing in the faith of the Latter Day "apostles," and comforting and cheering each other in "the glorious hope" set before them in the rise of the Mormon kingdom. Brigham Young was unanimously sustained by the faithful in the plentitude of his power and influence as President, prophet, seer and revelator to the Church of the Saints "throughout the whole world." The meeting on Sunday afternoon and evening was held in Mitchell's public hall, corner of Fourth and Vine streets, where the disciples from different parts of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland, assembled in considerable numbers. Among them on the occasion there were no less than two high priests, one seventy, fifty elders, ten priests, six teachers and four deacons. The "High Council," from what was said on Sunday, appears to have met on Saturday evening in private session, and transacted the business for the Saints in the city and for the churches of the Saints for some three or four hundred miles around. From the representation and allusions made to the Saturday evening meeting it was evident that the Mormons have a very expensive and thorough organization in the Middle States, whose centre and "power of strength" is in the quiet city of Brotherly Love.

FIRST SESSION.

The meeting on Sunday afternoon commenced at half past two o'clock. President Reinsimer called the meeting to order, and the congregation sung a Mormon hymn, of which the following are the first and last verses:--

The morning breaks, the shadows flee,

Lo! Zion's standard is unfurl'd!

The dawning of a brighter day

Majestic rises on the world.

• * * * * * *

Angels from heaven and truth from earth (*)

Have met, and both have record borne;

Thus Zion's light is bursting forth,

To bring her ransomed children home.

(*) The book of Mormon, of course.

These and the intervening verses sung, with considerable earnest enthusiasm, the Saints were invited to "engage in prayer," led on by Elder Lyon, President of the New York Conference, who invoked the Spirit to regulate their hearts and instruct them in their duties and obligations to those in authority in Zion (Utah) and elsewhere.

THE SACRAMENT.

After the prayer two elders advanced to the table on which was bread and wine--or water rather, as the Mormons are forbidden to use the fermented of Gentile fabrication. Having broken the bread during the singing of another hymn, they knelt and offered a prayer of consecration; that over, which was very short, the choir broke the solemn silence with the Wesleyan hymn,

Arise, my soul, arise,

Shake off thy guilty fears, &c.

During the passing of the bread and wine to the congregation the President of the Eastern Mission took the platform to address the congregation. He was much pleased, he said, to see the Saints in Pennsylvania, and those from the surrounding States, assembled in conference once more in Philadelphia. When last they had met in that hall dark clouds were hanging thick and heavy over Utah. None expected less than war for some years. Notwithstanding the disparity between the forces of the United States and their resources and those of our brethren, not a heart was apprehensive of danger to Utah. We all felt in the darkest hour that the Lord was with his people, and in spite of the worst feelings and wicked inventions of men to bring about the destruction of the Prophet, we were confident that, take place what might, nothing could succeed against either. The then future to them was unknown, but they were rich in confidence. No society in the world could have occupied the same trying position and presented the same unwavering confidence in the ultimate triumph of their cause. Never a word of doubt was lisped by the Saints, but a deep seated conviction that right would prevail. Such were the sentiments at the commencement of the troubles, and the facts of to-day establish the well grounded faith of the Saints. Peace was restored, and Utah affairs move along now as before. The hostile feeling that a twelve-month ago was very prevalent in the States had subsided, and, more or less, something of a reaction had taken place. The excitement was over, and in their soberness many were, no doubt, satisfied that it was well there was an overruling Providence who sometimes crossed the calculations of men, and hindered them from spreading the ruin and devastation that passing evil influences had planted in their hearts. The settlement of the Utah difficulty, and the recent intelligence from that Territory, together with instructions recently received, had led the speaker to call the Saints together. He wanted to see the men who governed the Saints in the East, and wanted to know them, and wanted every one of them to know him, and to live in his spirit and counsels, as he would endeavor to live in the spirit and counsels of President Brigham Young. It was President Young's place to know the mind and will of the Lord concerning the work of the Latter Days, and to give it that direction the Lord should indicate. It was the speaker's place to seek, after the mind and spirit of Brigham, for the direction of the work in the Eastern States, and that should be his guide. The presidents of conferences and districts and branches would seek after his mind and spirit, and by that govern the Saints committed to their charge, and with the help of the Lord the perfect bond of unity that distinguished the Saints from the Gentiles would be preserved and the interests of the kingdom be advanced. There were a number of presidents present, and he would introduce them to the Saints that they might express their feelings feely on passing events and the work of the Lord. He wished all to feel free and to speak about anything but "hell, fire and brimstone," and to keep from grumbling. He introduced--

President Reinsimer, of Philadelphia, as an American Mormon. He was indifferent to what the people might think of him on account of his profession of faith. He had at one time been connected with Methodism, but had always difficulty to get along with the confused notions which their ministers taught in the name of the Gospel. He praised the name of the Lord for the intelligence which he had acquired since he heard the Mormen elders. He terminated with representing the Saints in Philadelphia "in good standing," and was pleased at being able to say that they had discharged their duties.

President Sewell, the next speaker, was from the Schuylkill mountains. He regarded Brigham Young as the prophet of the Lord; was highly pleased with his course in Utah. He had heard a great deal of talk about what Brigham should say about the army never entering the valley, and yet it had entered. Brigham's language was plain. He had all along declared that if the troops offered to force themselves into the valley they would be destroyed; but it was quite another thing when an arrangement was effected, and the Mormons consented to withdraw their forces from the mountains. Brigham had told Col. Johnston to stay at Bridger, and he stopped. The Colonel boasted of his determination to winter in Salt lake Valley, and no doubt he intended to do so, but the fact that he did not do so was patent to all. What others said, or what was reported that Brigham said, was nothing to him; but if he knoew him to say anything he was prepared to believe its accomplishment. Brigham was the man for the people, and every man whom he should appoint to preside over the Saints was the man who could accomplish the work given him to do. After this exposition of faith, Brother Sewell got very disgusted with the tyrrany and oppression that he witnessed in this land of freedom. He thought that "tyranny was shod with new shoes," and without alluding in any unkindly manner to an illustrious individual by the observation, he thought that the poor, toiling man had many reasons to suppose that the reign of "Ten Cent Jemmy" had in reality come upon them. They were told to sing about the "Good Time Coming," but for his part he was much like the old Englishman, who, while listening to that song with an empty pocket, scratched his left shoulder and naively asked the singer to please name the time. He would like to know the time. He was satisfied that the Gentiles would never have that good time, and concluded that only in Zion, where men could live by doing right, would that good time be realized.

RICH IN FAITH.

Elder Lyon longed for the time when the Saints would be all gathered together and become a nation, keeping the commandments of the Lord, and the recipients of his peculiar favors. He rejoiced from "the bottom of his heart" in Mormonism. It was for some a hard road to travel, but the experience was beyond purchase. No earthly treasure could purchase from him the intelligence he had acquired through his obedience to the revelations of the Latter Day dispensation. It was that intelligence which enabled the Saints to stand firm and unwavering in the dark hour of trial that had been alluded to by a previous speaker. They had no fear, as they knew "dad was at the helmn," and he could pilot the old ship Zion through the shoals and quicksands, and bring her safe to port. So universal was this confidence enjoyed by the Saints that the words of Brigham were sought after as the revelations of Almighty God; as Moses was as God to ancient Israel so was Brigham to Israel now. No man had questioned the Prophet's capacity to direct the Saints, no one had offered to suggest or thought himself capable of directing better; only one feeling pervaded the whole community--in Brigham's leadership there was salvation and triumph. His heart leaped with joy when he learned that his aged mother had left her home in Great Salt Lake City, with her children around her, to wander to the South, or to the mountains, rather than degrade herself or them by association with the crowd that was to pass through their city from Bridger. Everything was prepared for the burning, and it would have made a glorious blaze before high heaven and been the record of the people's faithfulness and confidence in the great cause of the God of Israel, had it been necessary. The father of the faithful was told to offer up his only son Isaac a sacrifice, but when the Lord saw his unshaken confidence, He commanded the arm that held the knife to stay, and with His servant was satisfied. To all Israel in all generations has this implicit confidence and obedience been held up as the standard to which they should approach. No person can stand forever in the kingdom of God in the mountains who did not attain to this standard. What a noble spectacle it was to witness 15,000 men, women and children, vacating comfortable homes that they had reared by increasing toil, and taking the road with what they could carry to go they knew not whither, rather than be forced to association with the hired instruments of their persecutors. With that the Lord was well pleased; and in His overruling providence had operated upon the heart of Governor Cumming to accompany Colonel Thomas L. Kane to the city, where his eyes might behold the devotion of the people to their God, and their patriotism to their country, notwithstanding the calumnies of their enemies to the contrary. The Governor saw it, and appreciated their position and his own, and labored faithfully to calm the troubled spirits of the young men of Israel, who could ill brook the insult that had been offered to Utah, and who would rather have fought for their rights than stoop to injustice. The Governor had acted like a gentleman there, and in his communication to the government at Washington, shown how awfully the nation had been imposed upon by Utah's calumniators. Elder L. continued for some time to speak enthusiastically of the Saints, and terminated with an expression of determination to carry out Brigham Young's instructions while he had life and breath, as he knew him to be the Prophet of the Lord, and his counsellors and the leaders of the people around him to be "the aristocracy of Heaven," who had come down to this lower planet to revolutionize it--"turn it up side down"--as the Prophet Isaiah predicted; and establish thereon the government of God, that His will might be done on earth as in Heaven.

Elder Mortimor was pleased to meet with the Saints, and to listen to the elders who had addressed them. He could represent the Saints under his presidency in good standing. They were a good people who had unlimited confidence in President Young, and would carry out his instructions and those of the president whom he had appointed to direct them.

For a rest and change the choir sung admirably the following

MORMON ANTHEM.

Sound the sweet anthem o'er mountain and plain

Jehovah hath rescued his people again,

His people again.

Shout ye dispersed o'er the plains of Missouri,

The Lord is your helper though madmen may rave,

And hunt you afar from your homes, in their fury,

To herd with the wild beasts, "till want finds your grave."

Praise to Jehovah, the tyrant and sword

Have spent all their ire on the saints of the Lord,

The saints of the Lord, the saints of the Lord.

Aloft from the heavens the cry of their wailing

Brought land fowls in flocks to the place of their rest,

Where the hungry and fainting had food without failing,

In plentiful stores, by Jehovah's behest.

Praise to Jehovah, &c.

Loud rose the hymn of the saints sweetly sounding!

Their enemies heard it, in wrathful amaze,

Yet the heavenly boon unto them was astounding;

They knew not this, for they loved not His ways.

Praise to Jehovah, &c.

Though far in the mist of the moutain and prairie,

Be hushed the lad news of the happier home,

Yet the day star of truth, from the mountains of glory,

Will tell of a kingdom no power shall o'ercome.

Sound the sweet anthem o'er mountain and plain

Jehovah hath rescued his people again,

His people again.

Elder Treseder, representing the Saints in New Jersey, said that he had never felt better in the great work in which they were engaged. His heart leaped with joy when he heard that President Young had not been unmindful of the Saints in the States, and had appointed unto them again a president to lead them and direct them in their labors. He knew him for the last ten or twelve years, and knew that his course had been upward and his experience extensive, and he had every confidence that his presidency in the eastern mission would be a blessing to all the Saints. He stood in need of no recommendation--his labors had spoken for him wherever he had been. Brother Treseder had sons in the Valley of Great Salt Lake City, who had sent him encouraging letters and spoke highly of the prophets and apostles there. Following this up with testimony to the "divinity of the Mormon movement," brother Treseder concluded and a "silver collection" to defray expenses was taken up, which by the by, in the after part of the proceedings, was reported to be "handsome and to the credit of the Saints."

Elder Mainer next took the stand, and gave a pithy exposition of his views of Mormonism in a rather striking German accent. He had embraced the new faith in a despotic country, where the few Saints had been watched closely, and prevented from assembling for worship even in private houses. So guarded were they in their proceedings, that when brother met brother they passed each other as strangers, and had to counsel and consult each other by correspondence. He thanked God that he lived now in America, and understood the great principles of exaltation. The unity of the Saints was the terror of their enemies, but it was the certain path to dominion. Good men should prevail over the wicked, and the principles taught by Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young were the only principles which could united and bind honorable men indissolubly. He rejoiced all the day long in his association with such honorable men and treated with pity the deluded folks who regarded them as imposters, and regarded with contempt their vile calumniators who belched forth their own vileness.

Elder Harrison was an American and an old Mormon. He was glad to see so much of the spirit of God, and such a feeling of unity as was visible to all present. He had none to represent but himself; in doing that he would express his determination to stand by the authorities of the church in Zion and in the East. He would, with the help of the Lord, go ahead in the discharge of whatever duties might at any time be assigned to him. He knew the power of Mormonism and its superiority over the systems of men.

A few remarks from the President and with a stirring appeal to the Saints to live above everything that was mean, to put away evil from their midst, backbiting and slander--if they should ever be troubled with these--he wound up with a motion that the Saints assembled should, there and then, solemnly, and in the presence of God and angels, freely pass by each other's shortcomings, and forgive each other whatever sins they may have committed the one against the other. He thought their Christian friends might consider that motion a novelty, as they, like the old self righteous Pharisees, thought that "none could forgive sins but God." Among other things that they had yet to learn, would be that the less they left to the Lord to forgive, the better it would be for them in the day of reckoning. Whether the Saints had been grievous sinners against each other or not, and longed for forgiveness, or whether the novelty of the motion attracted their attention and gained their interest reporter sayeth not, but this motion had the heartiest responsive "Amen!" from the entire congregation.

With a short prayer the session concluded at half-past five o'clock.

EVENING SESSION.

At seven o'clock precisely the choir struck up--

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,

Is laid for your faith in His excellent word, &c.

An elder prayed, the choir again sung, and this time to a very popular air--not very Sabbathic--"Away, away to the American Feast."