12 December 1877
Salt Lake City Fourteenth Ward Relief Society; Fourteenth Ward Meetinghouse, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory
[. . .]
Sr. E. R. Snow said:—
In as much as we are called to very important missions we ough[t] to become very important personages: not that which puffeth up, but that which humbleth.
Father Smith [Joseph Smith, Sr.] used to say, faith is energy. I have studdied upon this much & I find those capable of exercising most faith are most enerjetic & vigorous.
We are the most happy when we are performing the work of the Lord.
When I was baptized into this church I was baptized into the United Order. Everything is connected, the temporal with the spiritual & the temporal.
We leave the weightiest things of the law with the brethren, but we have much to do.
Mothers have most to do in forming the minds of the future men & women.
What manner of women then should mothers be? What should our young ladies be?
They should be educated in everything that will enoble & exalt them; & develop them that they may become noble mothers & faithful workers in the Kingdom of God.
We should be the most happy of all people. What! a Latter day Saint fret & be unhappy! Not so. It will do for those who have not received a fulness of the Gospel.
Christ said I will send to you the comforter. When we have received this we may perhaps style it our sixth sense, [p. 411] for it certainly requires an additional sense to properly appreciate this great blessing. The effects of the spirit are joy, peace, long-suffering & thankfulness.
If we find ourselves possessed of a spirit of unhappiness, we should begin to question it & cast it one side, for we may know it is not the spirit of God.
We must understand that it is not safe to refuse to performe any duty when called upon, for it is a correct principle that the more we try the more we can accomplish.
[. . .]
Sr. Elizabeth [A.] Howard said:—
I thought as this was your Anual Meeting I should be permitted to sit still.
I am very sorry that so few are present. I should have thought this Hall would have been filled. I should think the sisters might turn out at least once a year. (Sr. Snow remarked that probably they had gone fishing) [. . .] [p. 412]