| 727 Conference adjourned until half past six o'clock, P. M.
Met according to adjournment, and after singing, and prayer by Elder Wm. Burton, Elder W. Van Avery delivered a discourse upon the first principles of the gospel, and was followed by Elder Savage and others.
Adjourned until tomorrow morning at half past 10 o'clock, A. M.
Conference met according to appointment; opened by singing, and prayer by the president. Elder Savage spoke on the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.
Adjourned until half past two o'clock PM.
Met according to appointment, opened by the usual solemnities. Elder Wm. Burton delivered a discourse upon the gathering of Israel.
The sacrament was administered.
It was then motioned and seconded, that the minutes of this conference be published in the Times and Seasons, and Prophet.
Conference then adjourned until the last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in January next, at Oakland town, Oakland county, four miles north of Rochester.
LYMAN STODDARD, Pres't.
WM. BURTON, Clerk.
TIMES AND SEASONS.
CITY OF NAUVOO,
DECEMBER 1, 1844.
(->) We have just received a communication from Elder William Smith, the only surviving brother of Joseph, and one of the Quorum of the Twelve. He would have been here some time ago had it not been for the sickness of his wife: he went to the east for the purpose of recruiting her health, which, we are sorry to be informed, is fast failing. He has been laboring for some time among the eastern churches, and purposes returning here as soon as circumstances will permit.
It will be his privilege when he arrives, to be ordained to the office of patriarch to the church, and to occupy the place that his brother Hyrum did, when living; and he will stand in the same relationship to the Twelve, as his brother Hyrum did to the First Presidency, after he was ordained patriarch.
We sincerely sympathise [sympathize] with him in the loss of his brothers, and in the sickness of his family; and although he may find himself lonely and desolate on his return, having lost three brothers since his departure-three of the best men in the world-yet we can assure him that his old friends the Twelve have not forgotten him; he yet lives in their remembrance, and though with him they mourn the loss of departed friends, they will rejoice to shake him again by the hand, and to enjoy his company, and share his counsels in the city of Nauvoo.
Elder Parley P. Pratt has been appointed by the council of the Twelve to go to the city of New York, to take charge of the press in that city, to regulate and counsel the emigration that may come that way from Europe, and to take the presidency of all the eastern churches.
We are sorry to lose Elder Pratt from our midst; we rejoiced in and appreciated his society and council, yet it seemed necessary that some efficient man should take the oversight of the numerous churches that exist in the east.
It is unnecessary for us to say anything about the benefit that he will be of to the Saints and to the world. He is well known as a publisher, editor, and elder, and all that we now announce is that Elder Parley P. Pratt is coming.
"MORMONISM."
If Mormonism succeeds, christianity will receive a mortifying blow. The question, is what ought to be done? The answer is "inform the people." We have looked upon it as a mere delusion, containing the seeds of its own dissolution. But there is order in this fanaticism, there is system in this imposture, and it carries with it an invisible spirit by which the learned and the unlearned are strangely overcome."-Baptist Register.
(->) Yes, Mr. Register, "inform the people:" that is just what ought to be done, and if christianity, as now practised [practiced]by christendom, from the Catholic with his beads, down to a Millerite with his picture of Daniel's vision, does not "receive a mortifying blow," there is no truth in the Bible.
Inform the people, and if Paganism, from juggernaut down to an Indian pow-wow, does not "receive a mortifying blow," then there is no virtue in the priesthood of the Son of God.
Inform the people, and if all nations in their present notions, embracing Jews and Gentiles, and infidels, do not "receive a mortifying blow," then there is no God.
Inform the people, for information is the food of Mormonism, and power the life of it. Bless the discernment of the Register! there is "order and system" in Mormonism, and there is faith, virtue, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity. And again, there is a form of godliness and the acknowledgment
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