Minutes of a meeting held on the occasion of a visit by Sister E R S Smith and other sisters

[. . .] [p. 236] [. . .]

Sister Eliza R Snow Smith asked what was the reason the sisters occupied the stand and the brethren who held the Priesthood sat by in silence. It was because we have a duty to fulfill and a salvation to workout for ourselves for our brethren cannot save us we have to save ourselves spoke of its being the duty and privilege to wash and anoint the sick and to administer to the sick when [p. 237] necessary It was her desire for the sisters to awake to the necessity of this for their appeared to be more sickness among us now than formerly the reason was that the judgements of the Lord will be poured out upon all nations and that they must first begin at the house of the Lord She had seen more of the power and spirit of the Lord manifested in these washings and anointings than in any other way spoke of our being honest with our children for the child can tell that sits upon our knees and looks up into our faces whether we are telling them the truth or not advised us to implant in the breasts of our children a love of the gospel, of truth, of good moral inclinations and to avoid everything that will lead us astray from these principles or that will tend to evil was proud of being associated with the sisters. Speaking of the Relief Societies the speaker stated that a member who held no official station could be fully as energetic and do fully as much good and sometimes a little more than those who did encouraged us to study and inform our minds on all useful subjects spoke of the sisters being counsellors to their husbands and that their place was by the side of their husbands but that we should not let the troubles of this life absorb all our attention spoke of the elevating nature of Celestial marriage and hoped that none of the sisters made light of that principle spoke of its being a help to us in enabling us to overcome that narrow contractedness and selfishness that is inherent in us as human beings and that she would rather lay down her life than deny that [p. 238] principle referred to the incident of Jephthah’s daughter as recorded in the Bible¹ also of Daniel and the three Hebrew children who were called upon to offer up their lives or renounce the principles they professed felt to bless the sisters and said she had the right to bless us and that the prophet Joseph [Smith] said we did not bless each other enough stated that the organizations of the Relief Societies had resulted in much good among the sisters and that without it she thought we would have been a kind of dead set spoke a few words of an encouraging nature to the children and gave them some very good advice and related an incident in the early life of George Washington illustrating the necessity of our telling the truth at all times advised them to pray to God our Father for the blessings that he had promised us closed by again blessing the sisters and hoping that they would gain their reward in the mansions of the just

[. . .] [p. 239]