| 23 again at the 'Log Tabernacle,' which they erected in a short time, during the severest weather we have had this winter. It is a well-constructed, capacious log house, 60 by 40 feet inside, and will seat 1,000 persons, with a recess or stand 20 by 10 feet for the priesthood and a clerk's bench: it is certainly an ornament to this new country, and shows a little of Mormonism. I told them at the conference that the brethren had built, fenced, and made as many improvements in the short time they had been there (about a year) as they would in Missouri in about ten years; and it is a fact, and they have raised a crop equal to any we used to raise in Illinois.
"At this conference we suggested to the brethren the propriety of organizing the church with a First Presidency and a Patriarch, as hinted at in our General Epistle, and the expediency of such a move at this time was so clearly seen by the brethren, that they hailed it as an action which the state of the work at present demanded, and as a means to liberate the hands of the Quorum of the Twelve, who now feel at liberty to go abroad and herald the truth to the ends of the earth, and build up the kingdom in all the world. Accordingly Brigham Young was nominated to be the First President of the Church, and he nominated Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards to be his two counselors, which nominations were seconded and carried without a dissentient [dissenting]voice. Father John Smith was then nominated to be Patriarch of the whole church, in the same capacity as Father Joseph Smith was, and also Brother Hyrum-seconded and carried unanimously. The Spirit of the Lord at this time rested upon the congregation in a powerful manner, insomuch that the saints' hearts were filled with joy unspeakable; every power of their mind and nerve of their body was awakened and absorbed. A dead stillness reigned in the congregation while the President spoke. He said: 'This is one of the happiest days of my life; it's according as Heber prophesied yesterday, our teachings to-day have been good. I never heard better. Is not the bliss of heaven and the breezes of Zion wafted here? Who feels hatred, malice, or evil? If you come to the door with a bad spirit, it would not come in
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