| 577 his mission, which was listened to with intense interest; and the conference, by vote, expressed their approbation of the style and spirit of said letter. The president then made remarks on the inclemency of the weather and the uncomfortable situation of the saints with regard to a place of worship, and a place of public entertainment.
The conference was then called upon by the President to elect a general church Clerk in place of R. B. Thompson deceased. Conference made choice of James Sloan. Br. Lyman Wight then called upon the conference to elect a President of the High Priest's quorum, in place of Don Carlos Smith, deceased. Br. George Miller was nominated and duly elected.
Br. B. Young then presented to the notice of the conference, the business commenced at a late special conference, with regard to the appointment of suitable and faithful men to the several important stations of labor in this and other countries.
Br. L. Wight then addressed the conference on the importance of order and uniformity of instruction, and, of a unanimity of effort to spread the work of the kingdom. Pres. Joseph Smith then made some corrections of doctrine in quoting a passage from 1 Cor. 12, 28 showing it to be a principle of order or gradation in rising from one office to another in the Priesthood.
Br. Hyrum Smith made remarks disapprobatory of the course pursued by some Elders, in withstanding the efforts of the presidency to gather the saints, and in enticing them to stop in places not appointed for the gathering; particularly the conduct of Elder Almon Babbitt of Kirtland. Brs. Lyman Wight and Henry Miller having travelled [traveled] in places where Br. A. Babbitt had been in his journeying eastward from his visit to Nauvoo testified that he had in many places taught doctrine contrary to the revelations of God and detrimental to the interest of the church.
Moved, seconded and carried that Elder Ammon Babbitt be disfellowshiped by the conference as an Elder till such time as he shall make satisfaction.
Closed with singing by the choir, Hymn 124-and prayer by Br. Geo. Smith.
Conference adjourned till tomorrow morning, 9, o'clock.
Sunday 3rd, A. M. Conference assembled and was called to order by President Marks, and divine service commenced by the choir singing Hymn 274, and prayer by Br. H. C. Kimball.
President Joseph Smith, by request of some of the Twelve, gave instructions on the doctrine of Baptism for the Dead; which was listened to with intense interest by the large assembly. The speaker presented "Baptism for the Dead" as the only way that men can appear as saviors on mount Zion. The proclamation of the first principles of the gospel was a means of salvation to men individually, and it was the truth, not men that saved them; but men, by actively engaging in rites of salvation substitutionally, became instrumental in bringing multitudes of their kin into the kingdom of God. He explained a difference between an angel and a ministering spirit; the one a resurrected or translated body, with its spirit, ministering to embodied spirits-the other a disembodied spirit, visiting and ministering to disembodied spirits. Jesus Christ became a minestering [ministering] spirit, while his body laying in the sepulchre [sepulcher], to the spirits in prison; to fulfil [fulfill] an important part of his mission, without which he could not have perfected his work or entered into his rest. After his resurrection, he appeared as an angel to his disciples &c. Translated bodies cannot enter into rest until they have undergone a change equivalent to death. Translated bodies are designed for future missions. The angel that appeared to John on the Isle of Patmos was a translated or resurrected body.-Jesus Christ went in body, after his resurrection, to minister to translated and resurrected bodies. There has been a chain of authority and power from Adam down to the present time. The only way to obtain truth and wisdom, is not to ask it from books, but to go to God in prayer and obtain divine teaching. It is no more incredible that God should save the dead, than that he should raise the dead. There is never a time when the spirit is too old to approach God. All are within the reach of pardoning mercy, who have not committed the unpardonable sin, which hath no forgiveness, neither in this world, nor in the world to come. There is a way to release the spirit of the dead; that is, by the power and authority of the Priesthood-by binding and loosing on earth
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