President Brigham Young said: Take care of yourselves, be wise, be humble, and you will prosper. I curse all who degrade themselves with corruption and licentiousness, as many have done. Magnify your calling, keep yourselves pure and innocent, and your path shall be clear as the horizon. We have all manner of prejudices to contend with. We thank God for the Gospel, the Book of Mormon, and the Temple, and sing glory to God; and yet there are characters among us who from mere covetousness will squeeze a sixpence two inches long, and we have all their iniquity to bear. We have the honor to be the first fruits of this dispensation, and have to contend with floods of oppression. Go humbly and prayerfully, trusting and believing in God, and what you desire to do you will accomplish. Cease not to ask the Father what you shall do, and He will give you the Spirit. You know not the day of your visitation. What is asked for in the name of Jesus Christ will be granted. J. C. Bennett's power fell like the lightning. God was asked not to let Joe Duncan be governor, and it was so. We asked the Lord to deliver us from Governor Reynolds, of Missouri; and he shot himself, and has {326} gone to hell. As for Squire Warren, of Quincy, it takes two of him to make a shadow. The Lord is cutting off the bitterest branches. Look at the explosion of the big gun on board of the _Princeton_ war-steamer at Washington. God will deliver His faithful Saints. You will be innocent, and do a good work: you will come back, and bring your sheaves with you, rejoicing. Every man has the privilege of practicing godliness and virtue, and of manifesting himself as a servant of the Most High God. Doctor Foster lost his money by gambling, and joined blacklegs. Those men who say there is evil in the Church are evil themselves. This doctrine is the best for any man to practice, and will do him good. Ask of God that you may have wisdom to do all things. If you hear anything of an Elder preaching false doctrine, ask of God in full faith that it may be taken off the minds of the people. A contribution was taken up for President Joseph Smith, $100 was raised, and another $100 loaned. [Sidenote: Comment of President Smith on the Conference.] _Tuesday, April 9th, [Continued]:--_The weather has been beautiful for the conference; and they have been the greatest, best, and most glorious five consecutive days ever enjoyed by this generation. Much good was done. Many spectators were present from Quincy, Alton, Warsaw, Fort Madison, and other towns. When we consider the immense number present, and the good order that was preserved, it speaks much in favor of the morality of the city. In the afternoon I rode out with Emma, Dr. Goforth, and others to the mound. The peach trees look beautiful.