| 484 had. All were present for the best good of all the people, and had come to attend to the business in hand, full of keen appreciation of the situation, its gravity, and its consequences; as well as cheerfulness and determination. The interest was intense and was maintained to the end of the proceedings.
Some of the business men of the place requested Bro. S. G. Mayo to invite those of the delegates and visitors who might so desire to a ride through the city and its suburbs, directing him to provide the carriages at their expense. Some of the Saints were pleased with this attention, and availed themselves of the opportunity, and were delighted with the country.
The attempt to force the church into the declaration of a formulated creed, failed as heretofore. There was no disposition to build the "iron bedstead" upon which to stretch the devotee. It was equally apparent that the body had little sympathy with any effort to destroy the integrity of the revelations of God to the church. It was considered that to declare upon this point at the demand of one, involved the precedent to declare on another point at the demand of some one else; and if for these, then at the requirement of any who chose to rise up and demand a declaration of dogma, the church would have to yield, the result of which would be to finally eliminate the liberty of individual inquiry, quench the teaching of the word of God, and practically deny the officework of the Spirit in leading into truth. Once involved in the intricacies of such formulated declarations there could be no abiding lines of demarcation drawn where belief might safely rest and dogmatism assume the rule. It was and is far safer to affirm the books of the church, as with one so with the other, than to build a creed.
There was no ambiguity in the declaration of the Presidency in the fall of 1879; nor any mistake in the adoption of their report. The affirmation of the report respecting the ministry was clear in each of the articles where a faith in the books was named; and any one with the clearness of perception to make him a representative of the faith of the church so far as the Bible and New Testament are concerned, need be under no dubiety as to the affirmation concerning either the Book of Mormon or Doctrine and Covenants.-The Saints' Herald, vol. 32, pp. 285, 286.
April 9 the Legislature of Tennessee passed a law forbidding the teaching of polygamy and prescribing penalties therefor. This rendered it more difficult for the missionaries from Utah to propagate their faith in that State.
May 2 a mass-meeting was held in the Tabernacle, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to protest against the course of federal officers in the territory of Utah. A declaration of grievance and protest addressed to the President and people of the United States was adopted and John T. Caine,
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