Excerpt from The Year of Jubilee: A Full Report of the Proceedings of the Fiftieth Annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Batter-Day Saints, Held in the Large Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Utah, April 6th, 7th and 8th, A. D. 1880 On the 6th day of April the church will have been organized fifty years, and we might with very good propriety call it a year of jubilee, or rather the close of the year of jubilee. And while we are assembled together, either in our meeting prior to the Conference or afterwards in the Conference, it be comes us, when we reflect upon the kindness and mercy which God has vouch safed to us during the last fifty years, to renew our covenants before him, and feel in our hearts that we are his people and that he is our God. His mercy and salvation will still be extended to us, if we will only obey his laws, keep his commandments, and pursue that course that is proper and acceptable in his sight. I do not wish to make many remarks this morning. I thought I would just rise and introduce some of those principles that naturally tend to bring our minds to reflection. On the fiftieth year, in former times, among the ancients, they had what was termed a year of jubilee. Slaves were liberated. People who were in debt were forgiven their indebtedness - that is, the poor, the needy and the dis tressed. And we are reflecting upon some things pertaining to that matter, which will be presented in due form; and we wish to start, as it were, and feel to determine in our hearts that the Lord is our 'god, the Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Law-giver, and he shall rule over us; and we will try and be his people and observe his laws. And I would ask my brethren and sisters to give us an interest in their faith and prayers, that we shall be enabled to advance such principles as will be calculated to enlighten, to quicken, to refresh and to strengthen us, that we may pursue in after years, with more vigor and deter mination, that path which God has revealed unto us.. Amen. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.