which men were created; they have tabernacles and are in every way personages and intelligent beings. Therefore, that somthing, or that nothing, that imaginary being, that idol that is recognized in the creeds of Christendom in general as a god without body, parts or passions, has nothing to do with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, or with the Son of God that came in the meredian of time, who was cruciefid, died and rose again from the dead, and ascended on high to lead captivity captive and give gifts to men.”—Parley P. Pratt. "The Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and Universalists, although bitterly opposed to each other, can all unite to persecute the poor 'Mormon,' they are all in error together, but they can unite whenever the truth comes along, and use all their combined influences to put it down. They differ on a kind of complimentary principles, but when they speak of the Saints of God there is in the hearts of the whole of them a deep-seated, deadly hatred, and they will do all in their power to put them down."-Geo. A. Smith. "It is true that we are weak, erring creatures, liable at any time to grieve the Spirit of God; but so soon as we discover ourselves in a fault, we should repent of that wrong doing and as far as possible repair or make good the wrong we may have committed. By taking this course we strengthen our character, we advance our own cause, and we fortify ourselves against temptation; and in time we shall have so far overcome as to really astonish ourselves at the progress we have made in self-government and improvement."-Lorenzo Snow. "We believe that God has set His hand in these last days to accomplish His purposes, to gather together His elect from the four winds, even to fulfill the words which He has spoken by all the holy Prophets, to redeem the earth from the power of the curse, and to save the human family from the ruins of the fall, and to place mankind in that position which God designed them to occupy before this world came into existence, or the morning stars sang together for joy."— John Taylor. "Mormonism' does not coerce, but all the time persuades, teaches, enlightens, instructs and invites, by the beauty, excellence, and virtue of those holy principles which God has revealed to us, gradually drawing the people together, cementing their feelings, and bringing them, by common consent, to act upon the principles of truth and righteousness."-Erastus Snow. "Neither hell, nor the devil, nor any of his angels has power over me, or over you, only as we permit them to have. If we permit the devil to have power over us, and we are seduced by him, and we crouch down under his power, then he will have dominion over us."-Heber C. Kimball. "A good man pays his tithing, pays his devotions to God in all sincerity and faith, pays his just debts so far as he is able, is careful about contracting debts, lives well, yet prudently, and generally has something to bestow for charitable purposes.”—Orson Hyde. "One trait I have had in my character from boyhood, and that is, not to believe every story told me to be true."-Jedediah M. Grant. Notice. The JOURNAL is now one dollar a year and all renewals and subscriptions should be sent in on this basis. We have written each of our subscribers personally, telling them of the change in price and giving the reasons therefor; and we urge every one of them to read carefully the contents of the letter they receive for it is an important communication and should not be laid aside unread or its contents forgotten. SOUTH CAROLINA Saints who will attend conference at Columbia on the 15th and 16th of December should go to the City Hotel, 1212 Main St., where Elders will meet them. Facts are God's arguments; we should be careful never to misunderstand or pervert them.-Tryon Edwards. Report of Mission Conferences for Two Weeks Ending November 17, 1906. HENDERSON.-Sister Minnie Allen Henderson, at Fatanna Ala., on Aug. 3. Sister Henderson was a faithful Latter-day Saint. SENINERLY.-Sister Mary Jane Seninerly, at Milligan, Tenn., (no date given). Sister Seninerly was a member of the Church in excellent standing. ELLIS.-Sister Emily R. Ellis of Kentucky (no city given), on October 22nd. Sister Ellis has been a devoted member of the Church since June, 1900. HARDENBROOK.-Sister Helen Hardenbrook at Peoria, Fla., age 81 years. The deceased had been a faithful Latter-day Saint for nine years. PUBLISHED BY THE SOUTHERN STATES MISSION CHATTANOOGA, TENN. PUBLISHED SEMI-MONTHLY BY THE SOUTHERN STATES MISSION Office, 711 Fairview Avenue, Chattanooga, Tenn P. O. Box 417 A SCRAP BOOK OF MORMON LITERATURE Entered as second-class mail matter at Post Office, Chattanooga, Tenn. "Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independently, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the great Jehovah shall say the work is done."— JOSEPH SMITH, THE PROPHET. Vol. IV. DECEMBER 15, 1906 No. 6 Christmas. Once more comes the anniversary of the birth of our self-sacrificing and redeeming Lord and Savior; once more we remember the advent of His beneficent and glorious life into this wicked and unkind world; once again do we recall the scenes surrounding His eventful career from the time the angel of the Lord announced to the shepherds on Judea's plains. the birth of the Savior of the world saying, "I bring you tidings of great joy," until the clouds of heaven above the holy Mount enveloped the resurrected Christ, and the sentinels from the celestial sphere consoled the aching hearts of the lonely disciples thus: "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." And as our minds reflect upon His life's work; His atoning sacrifice; His Gospel of Salvation and the multiplied blessings resultant therefrom to usward, and whose vitalizing principles by obedience thereto, regenerate the heart of man and change his very nature until his body and his soul are compatible with the elements, the influence, and the spirit of the celestial sphere where God and angels dwell; when we remmber these things and know too that every mortal soul whose habitation has been, is or will be upon this earth, is privileged to be blessed and redeemed through this eternal plan according to individual merit and worthiness, our hearts should go out in songs of gratitude and thanksgiving to God and to our Redeemer for their unselfish love for us. Therefore let us celebrate the anniversary of the birth of our Savior by symbolizing the kindness and love of our Father to us, His children, by remembering the poor, the widow and the orphan, and the wives and the families of missionaries, in some thoughtful substantial way, that the hearts of these our brethren and sisters may be made to rejoice and thus the letter and the spirit of the Gospel of Jesus be exemplified by our good deeds to His name's honor and glory. If everyone would do his part to make others comfortable and happy, his joys and pleasures would be augmented an hundred fold. In keeping, therefore, with the spirit of the day, The Journal sends forth these few Christmas thoughts to its readers, together with its good. will, its best wishes, and its choicest blessings. Zion's Camp-Mormon Battalion-Pioneers. A DISCOURSE DELIVERED BY THE LATE PRESIDENT WILLFORD WOODRUFF, AT THE CELEBRATION OF PIONEER DAY, HELD IN THE SALT LAKE TABERNACLE, JULY 24, 1880. I arise to make a few remarks concerning three classes of men who are in this vast assemblage today, viz., the remnants of Zion's Camp, the Mormon Battalion and the Pioneers. The history of either one of these bodies of men would fill a large volume, or it would take an hour's speech to give only a limited outline of the travels and labors of either of them. Yet the circumstances and ceremonies of the day will only permit me to devote about five minutes to each class. First, then, Zion's Camp. In 1833 the Saints of God were driven out of Jackson county, Missouri, by a lawless mob into Clay county. Some were massacred, some whipped with hickory goads, and others were tarred and feathered. Their houses were burned and their property was destroyed, and they were driven, penniless and destitute across the river. The council then in Zion called for volunteers to go to Kirtland, a thousand miles distant, to see the Prophet Joseph for counsel to know what to do. Parley P. Pratt, who with his family, was now destitute of all earthly means of support, and Lyman Wight, with his wife lying beside a log in the woods, with a babe three days old, and without food, raiment or shelter, volunteered to go to visit the Prophet of God. While the driven Saints lay in this pitiable condition, in the night of November 12th and 13th, occurred one of the grandest and most remarkable meteoric displays ever known, consisting of numberless falling or shooting stars all over the visible heavens. When Elders Pratt and Wight arrived in Kirtland they told their tale of woe to the Prophet Joseph, who asked the Lord what he should do. The Lord told him to go to and gather up the strength of the Lord's House, the young men and middle aged men and go up and redeem Zion. See Doc. & Cov., Sec. 103. It was the will of God that they should gather up five hundred men, but they were not to go with less than one hundred. The Saints of the Lord gathered up two hundred and five men, most of whom assembled in Kirtland in the spring of 1834. This was the first time I ever saw the face of the Prophet, or any of those members of Zion's Camp. We were organized into companies of tens, with a captain over each, and the Prophet of God led this company of two hundred and five men of Zion's Camp one thousand miles. I have not time to repeat the history of that journey here today, but the counsel and the word of the Lord, through the Prophet of the Lord, and its fulfillment, with our joys and ours sorrows in connection with those scenes and events, are engraven on our hearts as with an iron pen upon a rock, and the history thereof will live through all time and in eternity. We were followed by spies hundreds of miles to find out the object of our mission. We had some boys in the camp. George A. Smith was among the youngest. When they could get him alone they would question him, thinking that he looked green enough for them to get what they wanted out of him. The following questions were frequently put and answered: "My boy, where are you from?" "From the east." "Where are you going?" "To the west." "What for?" "To see where we can get land cheapest and best." "Who leads the camp?" "Sometimes one, sometimes another." "What name?" "Captain Wallace, Major Bruce, Orson Hyde, James Allred," etc. This was about the information the spies obtained from any of the camp that were questioned. As we were drawing near Clay county, Missouri, the inhabitants of Jackson county became very uneasy, and a ferry boat containing twelve men crossed the Missouri river to Liberty, Clay county, called a meeting of the inhabitants in the State House, and made flaming speeches to stir up the people to go out and destroy the Mormon camp. But the inhabitants of Clay county did not feel disposed to do it. Samuel C. Owen and James Campbell were the leaders of that Jackson county party. Campbell swore that the eagles and turkey buzzards should eat his flesh if he did not fix "Jo Smith" and his army, so that their skins would not hold shucks before two days were passed. These twelve men went to the ferry, and undertook to cross the river after dark. When in the middle of the river the boat sank as if it had been made of lead. Seven of the twelve were drowned. Owen floated down stream about four miles and lodged on an island. Finding that he could not reach the shore with his clothing on, he disrobed himself, left the island about daylight, and finally got ashore in a nude state. In trying to find his way he wandered through a lot of high nettles, and when he reached the road he lay down by the side of a log nearly chilled to death, and in great misery also from the sting of the |