If it were my prerogative to adopt a plan for family prayer, it would be the following:-Call your family or household together every morning and evening, previous to coming to the table, and bow before the Lord to offer up your thanksgiving for his mercies and providential care of you. Let the head of the family dictate; I mean the man, not the woman. If an Elder should happen to be present, the head of the house can call upon him, if he chooses, so to do, and not wait for a stranger to take the lead at such times; by so doing we shall obtain the favor of our heavenly Father, and it will have a tendency of teaching our children to walk in the way they should go, which may God grant for Christ's sake. Amen. BRIGHAM YOUNG." -11.-Elder Kimball and I went to Liverpool, where we met Elders at brother Mitchell's. -15.-Attended a blessing-meeting at brother Domville's. -17.-The Alesto sailed with 54 Saints. With brother R. Hedlock I visited the Saints in Harden; he preached in the evening. night with brother Joseph Ellis. Staid all -20.-Went to Overton, and on Sabbath, 21st, preached in the morning, and in the evening at brother Price's. Had a large congregation. -22.-I preached; congregation attentive. -23.-I walked fifteen miles to Chester, and from thence by rail to Liverpool. -25, 26, and 27.-Brother Richards and myself were detained at the Liverpool Post-office, as witnesses in the case of "The Queen v. Joseph Holloway," for not delivering letters in due season. We were also engaged packing and sending off Books of Mormon to pay those who had loaned us money to carry forward the printing and binding. -31.-Elder Richards and I at tended the Liverpool Conference. (To be continued.) THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS' MILLENNIAL STAR. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1863. THE ERECTION OF THE "HOUSE OF THE LORD." THE Contemplation of "olden time," when Solomon of Israel and Hiram of Tyre were using the wealth, skill and power of their kingdoms to build a house to the name of Jehovah, fills the mind with peculiar feeling. It must have been a scene of singular interest to behold such an army of workmen who were "filled with the spirit of wisdom in all cunning workmanship," laboring in the forests, in the quarries and upon the building. They realized that they were at work upon a structure the like of which had not been erected since the days of Enoch. It was to be the Lord's House, in which the Ark of the Covenant was to rest, and in which the Shekinah was to be the visible evidence of His presence. That house would be hallow, and would bless Israel because of it. There would He accept the sacrifices and offerings of his people; there should the Priest receive knowledge from his mouth; and there would He manifest. unto them his glory. There should the ordinances of their faith be admini stered, and there should the " man of God," clothed upon with Aaron's robe and the sacred breastplate, stand up with Urim and Thummim to inquire of and receive divine responses from God. The history of that building is familiar to the Saints. They have read of the herculean task of its erection, of the ear-rings, finger-rings, nose-jewels, golden-wedges and coin by the bushel which were consecrated by the faith and piety of Israel for the building and adornment of that house of God. They have read of its dedication by Solomon, at which time the glory of God was so powerfully present that the Priests could not stand by the altar to administer. They have also read of the strayings of subsequent generations,-being led astray by the seductive reasonings of the priests of the great Immaterial, Baal, and the consequent defeats in battle, banishments and enslavements; of the defilement of that house with idol worship, and its consequent destruction by the Divine displeasure; of the return from the Babylonish captivity, and the rebuilding of the Temple under Zerubbabel, in the days of Haggai's prophecy ; of the visit to that house of the Son of Man, who found it polluted and rejected it; its subsequent destruction by Vespasian; and the promise that a House shall be built in the last days whose "glory shall be greater than the first," which house the Lord will visit to purify his Priesthood and bless his people, and from which his law will go to the nations to instruct them in his ways that. they may walk in his paths. The spiritualization of the prophecies has had the effect to veil this, and many other Divine utterances concerning the last days, from the notice of Christians. The latter-day promises and glory, though written in all plainness, have been spiritualized away into obscurity and uncertainty to that degree, that they are supposed to end in a Millennium of sects! This obscurity remained unbroken until the angels of God visited Joseph Smith, and opened his mind to the great dispensation of the fulness of times. It was then that the honest-in-heart began to see that something was to be done in the last days, besides sending out missionaries to propagate sectarianism. They began to realize that Zion was to be established by the gathering of the Saints, and a house of the Lord erected. God has given us the reason why the House of the Lord in Nauvoo should be built, and the same reasons hold equally good for the building of the House now being erected in Great Salt Lake City, and other Houses which may hereafter be erected. He says: "And again, verily I say unto you, Let all my Saints come from afar; and send ye swift messengers, yea, chosen messengers, and say unto them; Come ye, with all your gold, and your silver, and your precious stones, and with all your antiquities; and with all who have knowledge of antiquities, that will come, may come, and bring the box-tree, and the fir-tree, and the pine-tree, together with all the precious trees of the earth; and with iron, with copper, and with brass, and with zinc, and with all your precious things of the earth, and build a house to my name, for the Most High to dwell therein; for there is not a place found on the earth that he may come and restore again that which was lost unto you, or which he hath taken away, even the fulness of the Priesthood; for a baptismal font there is not upon the earth, that they, my Saints, may be baptized for those who are dead; for this ordinance belongeth to my house, and cannot be acceptable to me, only in the days of your poverty, wherein ye are not able to build a house unto me. But I command you all-ye my Saints, to build a house unto me; and I grant unto you a sufficient time to build a house unto me, and during this time your baptisms shall be acceptable unto me. * * And again, verily I say unto you, How shall your washings be acceptable unto me, except ye perform them in a house which you have built to my name? For, for this cause I commanded Moses that he should build a Tabernacle, that they should bear it with them in the wilderness, and to build a house in the land of promise, that those ordinances might be revealed which had been hid from before the world was; there fore, verily I say unto you, that your anointings, and your washings, and your baptisms for the dead, and your solemn assemblies, and your memorials for your sacrifices, by the sons of Levi, and for your oracles in your most holy places, wherein you receive conversations, and your statutes and judgments, for the beginning of the revelations and foundation of Zion, and for the glory, honor, and endowment of all her munici. pals, are ordained by the ordinance of my holy house which my people are always commanded to build unto my holy name. And verily I say unto you, Let this house be built unto my name, that I may reveal mine ordinances therein, unto my people; for I deign to reveal unto my Church, things which have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world, things that pertain to the dispensation of the fulness of times." Here, then, are the reasons which God himself assigns for the building of a house to his name. These are accompanied with a standing and continual commandment to the Saints, which they are bound to fulfil when they are situated so that they can; or, says God, I will reject you as a Church with your dead. To fulfil this command the foundation of a Temple has been laid in Zion, and the Saints there are laying to with their mights to build the sacred edifice. While they are so doing, and in consequence drawing down upon them the blessings of Heaven, we, who are in Europe, should also do all in our power to assist in so holy a work. The Saints here should seek to "arise and build." They should seek with all their faith to gather to the land of the Saints, where the labor of their hands may be added to their Tithings and consecrations, to be registered as a memorial of them in that House which shall be reared. Then, when the Temple shall be completed, consecrated and hallowed with the Divine presence, they too may pass its sacred portals and enter in its courts, and receive the ordinances of the New Covenant both for themselves and their dead. If we desire God's special blessings upon our substance, our families, ourselves and the commonwealth of Zion, and if we desire his special blessing to go before us and defend us from every foe, we must seek to keep his commandments in building a House where his presence may rest as in days of old. The law of the Lord is to be revealed in fulness and to go to the nations, and it is a settled fact in prophecy that it must go forth in the last days from the House of the Lord in Zion. President Young's remarks on this subject, published in this number of the Star, should be carefully and thoughtfully read by every Saint. This House that is now being reared is not the only one of the kind which will be needed. We are assured that hundreds of Temples will yet be built, in which the ordinances of life and salvation will be administered. Every Saint is, or ought to be interested in the building and the completion and the dedication of the House of the Lord now in process of erection. In it the sealing ordinances will be performed which cannot be administered in the house that is now being used in Zion for endowment purposes. In this latter some of the first ordinances only of the Priesthood pertaining to the endowment can be administered; the more advanced ordinances will be administered in the Temple when it shall be completed. It will be perceived at once, then, how important it is to the Church of Christ that a Temple should be built. No man or woman who 1 1 ABSTRACT OF CORRESPONDENCE. 811 believes in the message which God has sent forth, and has confidence in the Priesthood, can be indifferent and careless upon this point. If they cannot do anything towards directly strengthening the hands of the servants of God and rendering them physical aid, (and who is there that is so utterly powerless as to be unable to do anything?) they can exert their faith and constantly supplicate the Almighty to uphold and protect his servants, that they may be able to fulfil the commandment of the Lord in rearing his House. Every member of the Church should feel as great an interest in this matter as any of the Authorities in Zion; for the Prophet Brigham, in speaking upon this point, says :— "Some of us are not dependent on the Temple for our endowment blessings, for we have received them under the hands of Joseph the Prophet, and know where to go to bestow the same on others. You may ask me whether the leaders of this Church have received all their endowment blessings. I think we have got all that you can get in your probation, if you live to be the age of Methusalah; and we can give what we possess to others who are worthy. We want to build that Temple as it should be built, that when we present it to the Lord we may not have to cover our faces in shame." A CASE OF HEALING.-President Thomas E. Jeremy has written to us from Merthyr Tydfil, under date of Dec. 4th, and says:- "There has been a very remarkable case of healing here lately. Elder John Griffiths, of Pen-ydarren, a member of the Merthyr Branch, was most awfully injured on the 24th ult., when working underground in pit No. 6, of the Dowlais Iron Mines. A large stone fell on his back, which bruised it in a most pitiful manner. He was taken home on horse-back, and the pain was agonizing and almost unbearable. He sent for the Elders to come and administer to him, and as soon as possible Elders Rosser Lewis and David Hughes were there, and they immediately proceeded to anoint his back in the name of Jesus Christ, according to the pattern given in the 5th chap. of James and the 14th verse. After thus anointing him they laid their hands upon his head, according to the Savior's words recorded in Mark 16th chap., 18th verse. Brother Griffiths was healed instantaneously by the Divine power of our God, and, indeed, it was marvellous in our eyes, and I, for one, feel to magnify the name of the Lord for the abundance of his loving-kindness and tender mercies bestowed by him upon his people. There were persons in the house when the ordinance was administered who were not believers in the Gospel, and even they acknowledged that a miracle had been wrought; but they said that it was by the power of the Adversary that he was healed. How much are the wicked now like they were in the days of Jesus! When they saw him cast out evil spirits, they said it was through Beelzebub, Prince of Devils, that he did such works." ABSTRACT OF CORRESPONDENCE. SOUTH AFRICA.-Elder Henry A. Dixon, writing from Pietermaritzburg, Natal country, on the 29th Sept., says :-"On the 5th of August I left the Saints to labor once more among the Gentiles, and arrived here on the 7th, having walked nearly sixty miles. The Lord has opened my way in a remarkable manner, for a Mr. Blandy received me kindly into his house, and I have remained with him ever since, although many have used their influence to have me turned out, but they cannot succeed. I have been here nearly eight weeks. Soon after my arrival I distributed tracts and endeavored to procure a place to preach in, but I did not succeed, so I posted up twenty-five bills in different places, announcing that I would preach the following Sunday in the marketplace. The first time I had a good and very attentive congregation of about one hundred persons, to whom I spoke upon the first principles. I also posted up several of the prophecies of Joseph concerning the present war in America, in the English and the Dutch languages, also my address, and that any persons desiring information concerning our principles could obtain the same from me. As I cannot obtain a place to preach in, I have to content myself with distributing tracts. Yesterday I had a door banged in my face and a tract burned. I have had several interviews with different persons; one of them has been educated for the ministry, who, with all his college learning, I found to be in the dark with regard to the principles of the Gospel. Darkness seems to reign throughout this land of Ham. I feel we have done our duty faithfully in warning this people. I have been in Natal about seven months, and I have never enjoyed good health for any length of time together. I am in hopes of visiting the 'Old Colony' again before long. South Africa is I feel well in a hard country to labor in, and tries the constitution of men. the Work, and I am doing all I can to roll it onward; though I have had but little success as yet in baptizing, and I realize that we may preach to the people but cannot make Saints of them." CORRESPONDENCE. SOUTH AFRICAN MISSION. Port Elizabeth, Oct. 14, 1863. President Geo. Q. Cannon. Dear Brother, I again communicate a few lines to let you know how matters are moving in this quarter. It is now bordering on two years since our arrival in this colony, and I believe we have labored diligently, as far as we have had power and ability, for the salvation of the people. Nothing would give us greater joy than to spend our time in doing good to mankind, leading them to a place of safety. What are generally termed hardships we care but little about during our peregrinations, if we can but find a few whose hearts are willing to receive the truth and apply it to their lives. On the other hand, we may have, and exercise, great faith for the deliverance of the sons and daughters of men, we may labor for their salvation with the zeal of angels, and except those to whom we are sent open their hearts and appreciate the message of life, our faith and zeal for them will eventually become impaired. This is, to a great extent, our present situation in South Africa. Mattors have been tending to this point for some time past; yet we felt to look at the bright side, hoping that the spirit of investigation and inquiry might increase among the white population of South Africa. True, we have baptized a few, and the prospects looked bright for a season. On our arrival here the old Saints were dried up and at variance with each other; inasmuch as they have been reclaimed, or at least the most of them, and with their children, have been delivered from Babylon, with a few others, and the wicked have been faithfully warned, I consider a good work has been done and we amply rewarded for all our trouble. It seems very hard for those who embrace the Gospel to live so as to retain the spirit of it, there are so many opposing in |