Fourth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Selected, Arranged and Edited by G. Homer Durham
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Text (c) 1991, 1992 by Infobases, Inc.
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Level 1 headings mark the beginning of the four main sections referred to as book 1, book 2, book 3, and book 4.
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JD -- Journal of Discourses
DW -- Deseret Weekly
MS -- The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star
CR -- Conference Reports, annual and semi-annual of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
JH -- Journal History (Mss.) of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church was little more than three years old when Wilford Woodruff, destined to become its fourth president, entered the waters of baptism. Under the voice of the Prophet Joseph Smith he grew in gospel knowledge. When called to the apostleship six years after his baptism, he became intimately acquainted with the stirring events and powerful personalities that made up the early history of the Church. Moreover, he kept careful notes of the utterances of the Prophet and of the teachings that he received in those early days. All this, with his experience in the mission field, was excellent training for the important part he was to play in the restoration of the gospel.
From the beginning he sought to proclaim the new-found truth to others. That was a gospel obligation. Successfully, he filled mission after mission. The large and remarkable results of his proselyting, especially in England, have become a Mormon classic. He is unsurpassed by no missionary of these latter days.
When the Church was driven westward, he was one of the pioneer party. It was from his wagon that Brigham Young, viewing the Salt Lace Valley for the first time, declared, "This Is the Place." Resolutely, he set about with the others to wrest an empire from the desert. Irrigation was perfected, towns and cities were built; and a civilized commonwealth arose upon desert sands. In this achievement Wilford Woodruff took a prominent part.
Ever, however he gave time and devotion to the spiritual necessities of the Church. As a Church historian, he reviewed the progress of the Church and kept a record of the present. When the first temple in the West was dedicated, he was called to be its president. There he laid the foundations for our family genealogies, and systematized temple word. The visions of heaven guided him in his labors. His own day-by-day diary, perhaps the most complete in the Church, is replete with detailed historical and doctrinal accounts.
Withal he was a modest man, who, despite positions and honors, could cultivate his garden and live the simple life. He had a rich spiritual nature. His faith was profound and certain. He walked with the Lord all the days of his life. They who did not understand the power that accompanies true humility stood perplexed before him. The faithful, however, felt the living fire that made his career possible.
In the midst of these activities he preached without let or hindrance the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. He loved to speak of Joseph Smith and bore powerful testimony of his prophetic power. He admonished the Saints to remember that in the Church of Christ revelation is continuous, the very essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The authority of the priesthood was to him the rock upon which the Church rests. He explained the mission of the Saints to prepare for the second coming of the Lord. He reminded the Saints that they must not hesitate to carry the gospel to all the people of the earth, at any cost or sacrifice. Often he looked, as it were, through the veil, and eloquently urged upon the people temple work for the dead as well as for the living. Practical matters also commanded his attention, as he pointed out how the people might win temporal and spiritual salvation. Questions which stir us even today were clearly answered by him. He pointed his discourses with his own remarkable life experiences. They conveyed truth and touched the heart.
Tempestuous times faced the Church when in his old age he was called to the presidency. The nation was arrayed against the Latter-day Saints. His burden was great. But, under the Lord's inspiration, he met every issue fearlessly. He promulgated the manifesto to cease the practice of plural marriage. The confiscated properties of the Church were restored. Utah became a state of the Union. The growth of the Church increased. In the midst of these labors he dedicated the completed Salt Lake Temple amidst the hosanna shouts of the assembled multitude of Saints.
When, at the age of ninety-one years, he passed into the other world, he had seen the desert blossom as a rose under the industry of his people now grown to a multitude, respected in the world. His was a great and rare career.
All this and more are made evident in this volume. The Spirit and teachings of Wilford Woodruff, prophet of God, are found on every page. His life philosophy, which was always the philosophy of the gospel, is there found, and the foundations upon which it rested. The compiler has done an excellent piece of word. President George Albert Smith and members of the Woodruff family have been pleased to commend the effort to bring the essence of President Woodruff's teachings before the people. The book, a worthy and notable addition to our Church literature, comes as a precious gift to the Latter-day Saints.
And now a word about the series of books of which this volume is one.
Continuous revelation, a basic doctrine of the Church, is necessary because all who accept the gospel are engaged in endless development, or progress. The fundamentals of gospel life have been revealed, but their applications to problems raised by men of free agency often require added help from our Heavenly Father. Thus, from time to time, the Church needs and receives new revelation.
Revelation for the guidance of the Church must come through the president of the Church, and through none other. He alone is the prophet, seer, and revelator to the Church. Revelations given to others are for the benefit of the individuals concerned, but have no bearing on the government of the Church. And, unless in spirit they conform to the teachings of the living prophet, they are from an evil source and dangerous to use by the individual.
That gives special significance to the utterances of the men who have stood, or the man who stands at the head of the Church. When they speak under the influence of this prophetic power, they amplify or add to the body of revelation possessed by the Church. They guide us in the maze of contending forces. Each one used or uses past revelation and the new, to meet the needs of the people of his day. The discourses of these men before and after their call to the presidency, should he read and observed as inspired messages for our guidance toward joy on earth and hereafter.
It is in this spirit that the essential doctrine taught by the presidents of the Church has been presented by several authors. It is remarkable to note how each one, by the help of past and present revelation, cleared up the difficulties of their respective times. It is equally remarkable to note that, though each one was obliged to meet different problems, their discourses taught the same fundamental principles of belief and conduct.
This series of books form, with the standard works of the Church, the safest foundation for the faith and practice of the Latter-day Saints. They supply up-to-date answers to the questions that agitate the times in which we live.
It is not claimed for them that they have been accepted by the people, as have the standard Church works; but the presidents of the Church have been sustained by the people of the Church as the presiding prophets, seers, and revelators to the Church. That gives an authority to their utterances to be found nowhere else. This series of compilations should be within reach of all Latter-day Saints. John A. Widtsoe
*Formerly published:
Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, (Joseph Fielding Smith, Editor)
The Discourses of Brigham Young, (John A. Widtsoe, Editor)
The Gospel Kingdom, John Taylor, (G. Homer Durham, Editor)
Gospel Doctrine, Joseph F. Smith, (John A. Widtsoe and others, Editors)
Gospel Standards, Heber J. Grant, (G, Homer Durham, Richard L. Evans, and John A. Widtsoe, Editors)
Highlights in the life of Wilford Woodruff
Foreword
Introduction
BOOK ONE: FOUNDATIONS OF MORMONISM
Chapter 1. THE GODHEAD AND MAN'S FREE AGENCY
Chapter 2. THE GOSPEL: ITS NATURE AND EFFECTS
Chapter 3. THE MISSION OF JOSEPH SMITH
Chapter 4. REVELATION
Chapter 5. THE NATURE OF PRIESTHOOD
Chapter 6. THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE PRIESTHOOD
Chapter 7. PRIESTHOOD AND CHURCH LEADERSHIP
BOOK TWO: THE POSITION AND PRACTICES OF THE CHURCH
Chapter 8. THE WORK OF THE LAST DISPENSATION
Chapter 9. THE MISSION OF THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS
Chapter 10. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CHURCH AND KINGDOM OF GOD
Chapter 11. TEMPLES AND TEMPLE WORK
Chapter 12. THE CHURCH AND TEMPORAL WELFARE
13. CERTAIN CHURCH PRACTICES
14. RELIGION AND CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY
15. CHURCH AND STATE
16. EXPLANATION OF THE MANIFESTO
BOOK THREE: SOME GOSPEL QUESTIONS
17. SOME GOSPEL QUESTIONS
18. THE WARFARE BETWEEN GOOD AND EVIL
19. DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION
20. THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
BOOK FOUR: LIFE'S EXPERIENCES
21. INSIGHTS TO HAPPINESS
22. THOUGHTS FOR YOUTH
23. SOME PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY
24. REMARKABLE MANIFESTATIONS
25. ANECDOTES AND REMINISCENCES
26. INCIDENTS IN THE FOUNDING OF UTAH
APPENDIX -- PRAYER offered at the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple, April 6, 1893, by President Wilford Woodruff
"I believe that no other man who ever walked the face of the earth was a greater converter of souls to the gospel of Jesus Christ." This was President Heber J. Grant's tribute to Wilford Woodruff, miller, pioneer leader, farmer, missionary extraordinary, frontier historian, who, on April 7, 1889, became the fourth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. President Woodruff was baptized a member of the Church on December 31, 1833, near Rushland, Oswego County, New York, in his twenty-sixth year. For the remaining sixty-five years of his life he was identified with the great religious movement called "Mormonism" as an active leader, in New England, the middle south, the Missouri and Illinois frontiers, the American west, and in Europe. He was one of the pioneer band who entered the desert valley of the Great Salt Lake with Brigham Young on July 24, 1847. He lived to build and supervise settlements under the leadership of that great colonizer, and in time to succeed to his position. A great pioneer, he inspired confidence in the field, whether in the canyons felling trees and making housing timbers, or in the legislative assemblies of the Territory of Utah. Equally in the spiritual services and ordinances of the sacred temples of his people, his unusual career marks him for respect as a leader and inspirer of men. That his life mission was crowned with service as President of the Church adds permanent historic significance for his messages.
As a Church historian and prodigious journal-keeper, President Woodruff has left an already well-known published record. Some day, the publication of his entire journal can well be expected to throw needed and unusual light on the events of the nineteenth century. Such, however, has not been the purpose of this work, notwithstanding the historic significance of many pronouncements, as Apostle and as President, which find space herein. Moreover, effort has been made to avoid duplication of the materials in Leaves From My
See Gospel Standards, (1941), page 20. Journal, his biography, and other works heretofore published.
The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff aims to present in codified form exactly what is indicated in the title, excerpts from his extemporaneous discourse, supplemented by extracts from some of the outstanding documents issuing from his hand as President of the Church, notably the manifesto on Church-State relationships of 1889, and the related one of 1896. The well-known "Manifesto" of September, 1890, (on plural marriage) is not printed here for the reason that it has found official place in the Doctrine and Covenants of the Church, is widely known, and is readily accessible to all. The material in the present volume has been selected largely, from the published record of sermons printed in the Journal of Discourses (JD), 1851-1886. Sermons for the period 1886-1898 are represented by selections made from the Deseret Weekly (DW) and the Millennial Star (MS), with some extracts from the Journal History (JH) maintained in the L. D. S. Historian's Office, and the annual Conference Reports (CA), publication of which commenced under President Woodruff's direction in 1897.
As researcher and compiler I have not felt justified in taking liberties with the original printed texts. For example, on page five the pronoun "it" appears several times in a discussion relating to the Holy Ghost. This might easily have been changed to "he" but the present editor has too much respect for history to begin tampering with words and phrases that stand, and have stood, in widely circulated records. No one need "fear" that Wilford Woodruff did not understand the personal nature of the Holy Ghost! He did! And in the texts referred to he is developing a practical interpretation of the mission and influence of that remarkable Being, deemed worthy of inclusion in this book. This example illustrates some of the problems of compilation. But the great message of these discourses will stand every test if, in reading, one will only make the effort to understand the times and circumstances under which they were given. There are living oracles in the Church for today and tomorrow.
G. Homer Durham
"The day has . . . dawned when the light of heaven is to fill the earth; . . . that day in which everything that has been kept from the knowledge of man ever since the foundation of the earth, must be revealed." -- (JD) 24:51, January 27, 1883
"Was Joseph Smith a deceiver? There is a way to test this, and we have tested it to our satisfaction. The great promise made to us when we first heard the preaching of the elders of this Church was, that if we obeyed certain requirements of the gospel, we should receive the Holy Ghost; and this same promise is extended to the world of mankind. . . . If that promise had fallen . . . Utah would doubtless be as barren today as it was when we found it in 1847." -- WILFORD WOODRUFF, JD 23:79-80, March 26, 1882
MAN -- THE IMAGE OF GOD. We know that we are created in the image of God, both male and female; and whoever goes back into the presence of God our Eternal Father, will find that he is a noble man, a noble God, tabernacled in a form similar to ours, for we are created after his own image; they will also learn that he has placed us here that we may pass through a state of probation and experience, the same as he himself did in his day of mortality. -- JD 18:32, June 24, 1875.
GOD, THE ETERNAL. . . . God . . . is our Eternal Father, and the creator of this earth: and He will give it to his children to inherit. -- JD 24:53, January 27, 1883.
GOD IS INCREASING IN KNOWLEDGE. If there was a point where man in his progression could not proceed any further, the very idea would throw a gloom over every intelligent and reflecting mind. God Himself is increasing and progressing in knowledge, power, and dominion, and will do so, worlds without end. It is just so with us. We are in a probation, which is a school of experience. -- JD 6:120, December 6, 1857.
THE MISSION OF CHRIST. The Savior came and tabernacled in the flesh, and entered upon the duties of the priesthood at thirty years of age. After laboring three and a half years he was crucified and put to death in fulfilment of certain predictions concerning him. He laid down his life as a sacrifice for sin, to redeem the world. When men are called upon to repent of their sins, the call has reference to their own individual sins, not to Adam's transgressions. What is called the original sin was atoned for through the death of Christ irrespective of any action on the part of man; also man's individual sin was atoned for by the same sacrifice, but on condition of his obedience to the gospel plan of salvation when proclaimed in his hearing. -- MS 51:658-659 (1889).
THE SAVIOR. I have always looked upon the life of our Savior -- who descended beneath all things that He might rise above all things -- as an example for His followers. And yet it has always, in one sense of the word, seemed strange to me that the Son of God, the First Begotten in the eternal worlds of the Father, and the Only Begotten in the flesh, should have to descend to the earth and pass through what He did -- born in a stable, cradled in a manger, persecuted, afflicted, scorned, a hiss and byword to almost all the world, and especially to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judea. There was apparently nothing that the Savior could do that was acceptable in the eyes of the world; anything and almost everything he did was imputed to an unholy influence. When He cast out devils the people said he did it through the power of Beelzebub, the prince of devils; when he opened the eyes of the blind, the Pharisees and priests of the day told the man to "give God the glory; we know this man is a sinner." And so all his life through, to the day of his death upon the cross! There is something about all this that appears sorrowful; but it seemed necessary for the Savior to descend below all things that he might ascend above all things. So it has been with other men. -- JD 23:327, December 10, 1882.
THE GODHEAD: RELATIONSHIPS. The God of heaven, whom we worship, is represented as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. The Father and Son have tabernacles, and they created man after their own image. But the Holy Ghost is a spirit and a witness and a testimony of the Father and the Son. This Holy Ghost and witness are promised unto all men who will obey the law of the gospel, which God has revealed to the human family. This Holy Ghost rested upon Adam when he blessed his posterity in Adam-ondi-Ahman, three years previous to his death. -- MS 48:802, Epistle to the Saints Abroad, October 26, 1886.
THE HOLY GHOST. We are all dependent upon the Holy Ghost. And what is the Holy Ghost? The testimony of the Father and the Son. It is one of the Godhead -- God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. Will the Holy Ghost deceive any man? It will not. When a man speaks as he is moved upon by the Holy Ghost, it is the spirit of inspiration; it is the word of God; it is the will of God. It cannot lie; it cannot deceive. It leads into all truth and reveals to man the will of his Maker. -- MS 51:786 (1889).
THE GREATEST GIFT. You may have the administration of angels, you may see many miracles; you may see many wonders in the earth; but I claim that the gift of the Holy Ghost is the greatest gift that can be bestowed upon man. -- DW 38:451, March 5, 1889.
You may surround any man or woman with all the wealth and glory that the imagination of man can grasp, and are they satisfied? No. There is still an aching void. On the other hand, show me a beggar upon the streets, who has the Holy Ghost, whose mind is filled with that spirit and power, and I will show you a person who has peace of mind, who possesses true riches, and those enjoyments that no man can obtain from any other source. The servants of God, in every age of the world, have been sustained and nerved up to do their duty by this power; and I will say to the Latter-day Saints, if they will be faithful, and do what they should do, and listen to the counsel given to them, they need not have any fears about anything, for the whole work is in the hands of God, the destinies of nations lie there. It is better for a people to be wise, to get righteousness, to be the friends of God, than to occupy any other positions in life. -- JD 2:199, February 25, 1855.
THE HOLY GHOST DOES NOT DECEIVE. When a man receives the Holy Ghost he has a testimony that cannot deceive him or anybody else. In the days of Moses and Pharaoh the magicians could work as many miracles as Moses, almost; and you may go into our theater here, or any other, and you may see and hear that which will deceive your eyes and ears, and all the senses you have; but get the Holy Ghost and you have a testimony that cannot deceive you. It never deceived any man, and it never will. -- JD 16:38, April 7, 1873.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST AND THE HOLY GHOST ITSELF. It is a very common saying with us, as elders, in our remarks concerning the gifts of the gospel, to speak of confirming the gifts of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. There is no difference with regard to our faith, opinions or views, as a Church, pertaining to this principle; it is only in the manner in which we use our language. There is a difference between the gifts of the Holy Ghost and the Holy Ghost itself. As Brother Penrose said this morning, we repent of our sins, are baptized for the remission of them, and we receive the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost; but the elders, when speaking on this principle, instead of saying so, not infrequently say -- "for the reception of the gifts of the Holy Ghost." Now we have no right, power nor authority to seal the gifts of the Holy Ghost upon anybody, they are the property of the Holy Ghost itself. To explain this I will say, for instance, President Young may go and preach in every ward in this city; yet it is President Young in each ward. When in the Fourteenth Ward he may give a man an apple; in the Thirteenth Ward he may give another person a loaf of bread; in the Tenth Ward he may give a man a dollar in money; in the First Ward he may give a man a horse and carriage. Now they are all different gifts, but he is one and the same man who bestows them. I merely bring up this figure by way of illustration.
We lay hands upon the heads of those who embrace the gospel and we say unto them, "In the name of the lord Jesus Christ receive ye the Holy Ghost." We seal this blessing upon the heads of the children of men, just as Jesus and his apostles and the servants of God have done in every age when preaching the gospel of Christ. But the gifts of the Holy Ghost are his property to bestow as he sees fit. To one is given the spirit of prophecy, to another a tongue, to another the interpretation of tongues, and to another the gift of healing. All these gifts are by the same Spirit, but all are the gifts of the Holy Ghost, to bestow as he sees fit, as the messenger of the Father and the Son to the children of men.
The Holy Ghost, as was justly presented this morning, is different from the common Spirit of God, which we are told lighteth every man that cometh into the world. The Holy Ghost is only given to men through their obedience to the gospel of Christ; and every man who receives that Spirit has a comforter within -- a leader to dictate and guide him. This Spirit reveals, day by day, to every man who has faith, those things which are for his benefit. As Job says, "There is a spirit in man and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding." It is this inspiration of God to his children in every age of the world that is one of the necessary gifts to sustain man and enable him to walk by faith, and to go forth and obey all the dictations and commandments and revelations which God has given to His children to guide and direct them in life. -- JD 13:156-157, December 12, 1869.
THE LORD'S MOTIVE. The Lord Almighty never created a world like this and peopled it for six thousand years, as He has done, without having some motive in view. That motive was, that we might come here and exercise our agency. The probation we are called upon to pass through is intended to elevate us so that we can dwell in the presence of God our Father. And that eternal variety of character which existed in the heavens among the spirits -- from God upon his throne down to Lucifer the son of the morning -- exists here upon the earth. That variety will remain upon the earth in the creations of God, and for what I know, throughout the endless ages of eternity. Men will occupy different glories and positions according to their lives -- according to the law they keep the flesh. -- JD 25:9, January 6, 1884.
FREE AGENCY MEANS RESPONSIBILITY. With regard to the rights of the human family, I wish to say that God has given unto all of his children of this dispensation, as he gave unto all of his children of previous dispensations, individual agency. This agency has always been the heritage of man under the rule and government of God. He possessed it in the heaven of heavens before the world was, and the Lord maintained and defended it there against the aggression of Lucifer and those that took sides with him, to the overthrow of Lucifer and one-third part of the heavenly hosts. By virtue of this agency you and I and all mankind are made responsible beings, responsible for the course we pursue, the lives we live, the deeds we do in the body. -- MS 51:642 (1889).
MAN'S FREE AGENCY: FUNDAMENTAL FEATURE OF THE DIVINE ECONOMY. There is one thing I wish to say to the congregation, and I would say the same to the whole world if I had the power -- it is this: I have heard the Prophet Joseph Smith say on several occasions when speaking on the agency of man, and the liberty and rights of men, that if he were emperor of the earth, having control of the whole human family, he would give every man, woman and child the right to worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience, leaving them to be responsible alone to their Creator for their individual acts. These are my sentiments, and they are the sentiments of this people today, and have been from the beginning of the organization of this Church and I trust will be to the end of time. And this we believe to be a principle emanating from heaven; and while we accord this right to our fellow men, and while we declare it to be a heaven-born right guaranteed unto all American citizens through the Constitution of our country, we claim the exercise of the same right ourselves; and we claim it by the laws of God to man. And whenever any people rise up and attempt to make war upon the rights of men because of their religion, they go beyond their right, they transcend their own powers, whether their power be derived -- either from God or man.
THE MIND MUST BE FREE. You may wish to know why I make these remarks. I will tell you. Because God himself grants this right to every human being upon the earth irrespective of race or color; it is part of the divine economy not to force any man to heaven, not to coerce the mind, but to leave it free to act for itself. He lays before his creature man the everlasting gospel, the principles of life and salvation, and then leaves him to choose for himself or to reject for himself, with the definite understanding that he becomes responsible to him for the results of his acts.
It is upon this principle that we as Latter-day Saints assert our rights and endeavor to enjoy our privileges, -- JD 23:76, March 26, 1883
FREE AGENCY AND THE LAW. The God of heaven, who created this earth and placed his children upon it, gave unto them a law whereby they might be exalted and saved in a kingdom of glory. For there is a law given unto all kingdoms, and all things are governed by law throughout the whole universe, Whatever law anyone keeps, he is preserved by that law, and he receives whatever reward that law guarantee unto him. It is the will of God that all his children should obey the highest law, that they may receive the highest glory that is ordained for all immortal beings. But God has given all his children an agency, to choose what law they will keep. -- MS 48:801, Epistle to the Saints Abroad, October 26, 1886.
CAUSE AND EFFECT. No man or woman in the kingdom of God that does wrong can escape sorrow, It is so in the world; the Lord rewards all men according as their works have been in the body. One reason why the Lord will pour out His judgments upon the nations is the blasphemous spirit of wickedness and corruption that reigns among men. -- JD 2:200, February 25, 1855.
MAN'S UNITY WITH GOD. We are in a great school; and it is a profitable one, in which we are receiving very important lessons from day to day. We are taught to cultivate our minds, to control our thoughts to thoroughly bring our whole being into subjection to the spirit and law of God, that we may learn to be one and act as the heart of one man, that we may carry out the purposes of God upon the earth. -- JD 6:115, December 6, 1857.
The Lord has been working, and this people have been working, and the object of their labor has been and is to establish the gospel of Jesus Christ and to spread truth and righteousness. -- JD 16:36, April 7, 1873.
The same organization and gospel that Christ died for, and the apostles spilled their blood to vindicate, is again established in this generations How did it come? By the ministering of an holy angel from God, out of heaven, who conversed with man, and revealed unto him the darkness that enveloped the world, and unfolded unto him the gross darkness that surrounded the nations, those scenes that should take place in this generation, and would follow each other in quick succession, even unto the coming of the Messiah. -- JD 2: 196, February 25, 1855.
WHY AN ANGEL. Why does it require an angel to bring the gospel from heaven in these last days, when the earth is deluged with gospel, with religion, with different systems and plans of salvation? Because none of them are according to the order or organization that the human family requires if they would be controlled by him. If there had been a true organization of the kingdom of God upon the earth in these last days, there would have been no need of an angel to visit the earth to teach men the first principles of the gospel of Christ, and administer its ordinances to them.
When the apostles of old dwelt upon the earth, the angel that appeared to Saul of Tarsus, and the angel that appeared to Cornelius, did not administer the gospel to them, but instructed them to apply to those men whom Christ had ordained to that authority, and who held the keys, the gifts and graces, and priesthood of the kingdom of God. So it would have been in the last days, if there had been authority, and the true priesthood of God on the earth; there would, in that case, have been no necessity for angel to come with the gospel.
Angels are sent as ministering spirits to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation. -- JD 2: 195, February 25, 1855.
THE CASE FOR MORMONISM. Do we teach anything that is contrary to the gospel as taught in the days of the apostles? We do not. "But," says one, "how do you come by this gospel?" We came by it through the administration of an angel from God. John the Revelator, in speaking of the last days -- the opening of the seals -- the blowing of the trumpet -- and all that should transpire before the second coming of the Son of Man -- said he saw (among other things) "another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come."
When the angel of God delivered this message to Joseph Smith he told him the heavens were full of judgments; that the Lord Almighty had set his hand to establish the kingdom that Daniel saw and prophesied about as recorded in the second chapter of Daniel; and that the gospel had to be preached to all nations under heaven as a witness to them before the end should come, and that, too, in fulfilment of the revelation of God, as given here in the Old and New Testaments. Joseph Smith never attempted to organize this Church until he received a commandment so to do from God. He never attempted to baptize a man until he received the Aaronic priesthood under the hands of John the Baptist (who was beheaded for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus). He never attempted to officiate in any of the ordinances of the gospel until he received the apostleship under the hands of Peter, James, and John. These men appeared to him. They laid their hands upon his head and sealed the apostleship upon him with all the power thereof. And these angels told Joseph Smith to go forth himself and to call upon other men to go forth unto the world and preach the gospel as taught by Jesus Christ and the apostles, and the Lord would back up their testimony; that when they laid hands upon those who had been baptized for the remission of sins, and who had received their testimony, they should receive the Holy Ghost. This was the proclamation to Joseph Smith. -- JD 24:241, July 20, 1883.
GOSPEL LOGIC. Before I ever heard of "Mormonism," when reading the scriptures, I often wondered why it was that we had no prophets, no apostles, no gifts of graces, no healings by the power of God, no visions, no angels, no revelations, no voice of God. I often wondered why these things were not continued among the children of men, why they were not enjoyed by the different churches and denominations of the day, and in my conversation with theologians and divines, I often referred to these things, but they, all told me that such supernatural manifestations were unnecessary in our day and age of the world, that such power was only necessary in a day of darkness, among an ignorant generation of people; they needed prophets to lead them; but we who live in the blaze of gospel light need no such thing; we need no revelation, only that which is in the Bible; we need no visitation of angels now, those things were given to establish the doctrine of Christ, and when it was once established they were no longer needed.
This logic always appeared strange to me. I said then, and I say now, may the Lord give me such periods of darkness as were enjoyed by the apostles and saints of old, in preference to the gospel blaze of modern Christianity. The ancient doctrine and power will unlock the mysteries of heaven and pour forth that gospel light, knowledge, and truth, of which the heavens are full, and which has been poured out in every generation when prophets appeared among the children of men. But the gospel of modern Christendom shuts up the Lord, and stops all communications with Him. I want nothing to do with such a gospel, I would rather prefer the gospel of the dark ages, so called.
I do not wish it to be understood that we are now living in the dark age of the world, but for the last fourteen hundred years, the world has been developed in darkness, in which wickedness has ruled, and the powers of darkness have prevailed among the children of men, and the nations have been bound down by false traditions, and incorrect principles, but the day has now dawned, the dark clouds have now broken up and soon will pass away, and the sun of righteousness will arise in its glory, and show forth the light of heaven; and for that I am thankful, and rejoice, and so do thousands and tens of thousands in this dispensation, who have been touched with the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ which has been revealed in our day, by the administering of holy angels, in all its fulness, beauty, power, and glory. This gospel has caused prophets, elders, and Saints to rejoice. It has nerved up their spirits with fortitude and strength, and borne them against every opposing influence. This has been the case in every dispensation when this light and power have been enjoyed by the children of men. -- JD 2:195-6, February 25, 1855.
THE LORD'S MESSAGE DESPISED. The Lord has never sent a message to the inhabitants of the earth but what it has been despised, in a great measure, by most of them. As it was in the days of Noah and Lot, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. -- JD 13-161, December 12, 1869.
ONE GOSPEL: THE GOSPEL OF TRUTH. Anyone acquainted with the scriptures can clearly understand that there is but one true gospel. There never was but one gospel. Whenever that gospel has been upon the earth it has been the same in every dispensation. The ordinances of the gospel have never been changed from the days of Adam to the present time, and never will be to the end of time. While there were many sects and parties in existence in the early times, Jesus gave his disciples to understand that there was but one gospel. He told them what it was. He declared unto them its ordinances. He commissioned them to preach the gospel to every creature. -- JD 24:239-240, July 20, 1883.
ADAM RECEIVED THE GOSPEL. Adam, our first great progenitor and father, after the fall, received this gospel, and he received the holy priesthood in all its power, and its keys and ordinances. He sealed these blessings upon his song Seth, Enos, Jared, Cainan, Mahaleel, Enoch, and Methusaleh. All these men received this high and holy priesthood. They all professed to give revelation. They all had inspiration and left their record on the earth; and not one of them but what saw and prophesied about the great Zion of God in the latter days. And when we say this of them we say it of every apostle and prophet who ever lived upon the earth. -- JD 16:263-264, October 8, 1873.
It is, in fact, the same gospel that has been taught to man in every age and dispensation, as there is but one gospel, and that gospel is adapted to the wants and conditions of all men. It is the gospel of truth, and truth alone can make us free, free from sin and from the power of the adversary. And this is the gospel which we have received and which we take the liberty of preaching to our fellow men. -- JD 23:77, March 26, 1882.
TRUTH AND THE DESTINIES OF MANKIND. The principles to which I allude -- the principles of the gospel -- are worthy the attention and comprehension of at least the Latter-day Saints, and it would be well for the Christian world to take them into consideration also; for if truth is going to prevail in the earth it certainly will involve the destiny of this whole generation, Jew and Gentile, high and low, rich and poor, Zion and Babylon. It will involve the destiny of the whole world. -- JD 25:6, January 6, 1884.
LET US HAVE TRUTH. If any man has a truth that we have not, we say, "Let us have it." I am willing to exchange all the errors and false notions I have for one truth, and should consider that I had made a good bargain. We are not afraid of light and truth. Our religion embraces every truth in heaven, earth or hell; it embraces all truth, the whole gospel and plan of salvation, and the fulfilment of the whole volume of revelation that God has ever given. -- JD 18:117, September 12, 1875.
We are after light and truth. We are not afraid of the doctrines of the inhabitants of the earth being presented before us or our children. We have truth, we have been called to present it to the world. We have done it. If they have truths that we have not we would like to obtain them. -- JD 16:39, April 6, 1873.
FREEDOM. This gospel makes us free. Was there ever a more free people than the Latter-day Saints are? No, there never was in any age of the world. There is not anything that will give a man joy or consolation, or any blessing temporal or spiritual, but what is within our reach as far as man in a mortal state has a right to receive. -- JD 12:276, July 19, 1868.
WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?
BASIC PRINCIPLES. What is the gospel as taught by Jesus himself? The very first principle was faith in the Messiah; this was the first principle ever taught to man. When Adam, after being driven from the garden of Eden, went to Adam-ondi-Ahman to offer sacrifice, the angel of the Lord asked him why he did so. Adam replied that he did not know, but the Lord had commanded him to do it. He was then told that the blood of bulls and goats, of rams and lambs should be spilt upon the altar as a type of the great and last sacrifice which should be offered up for the sins of the world. The first principle, then, ever taught to Father Adam was faith in the Messiah, who was to come in the meridian of time to lay down his life for the redemption of man. The second principle was repentance. And what is repentance? The forsaking of sin. The man who repents, if he be a swearer, swears no more; or a thief, steals no more; he turns away from all former sins and commits them no more. It is not repentance to say, I repent today, and then steal tomorrow; that is the repentance of the world, which is displeasing in the sight of God. Repentance is the second principle.
BASIC ORDINANCES. I have heard many men say no ordinances are necessary, that belief only in the Lord Jesus Christ is necessary to be saved. I have not learned that myself from any revelation of God to man, either ancient or modern. But on the contrary, faith in Christ, repentance, and baptism for the remission of sins were taught by patriarchs and prophets and by Jesus Christ and His apostles. Baptism for the remission of sins is an ordinance of the gospel. Says one, baptism is not essential to salvation. Jesus not only taught it, but rendered obedience himself to that requirement, not that he was baptized for the remission of sins -- but, as he said, "to fulfil all righteousness," thus in this, as in all other respects giving the example for all who follow. When these principles of the gospel are complied with a man is then a fit subject to receive the Holy Ghost; and this holy gift is bestowed today as it was anciently, by the laying on of hands by men possessing the authority to administer in the ordinances of the gospel. These are the first principles of the gospel which we Latter-day Saints believe in and teach to our fellow men. -- JD 23:127, May 14, 1882.
THE BASIC PRINCIPLES THAT DO NOT CHANGE. One of the peculiar features in the faith of the Latter-day Saints is that we believe there is but one gospel . . . and that it consists of the simple principles taught by the Savior and contained in the New Testament, which principles never deviate one from another. The first was faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; the second was baptism in water by immersion for the remission of sins, and then the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost; and this was the kind of doctrine taught by Christ and his apostles, and this was the doctrine that Joseph Smith preached. -- JD 19:225, September 16, 1877.
Without complying with these requirements, you nor I can never go where God and Christ dwell, worlds without end, for these things have been made known to us by ancient and modern prophets. -- JD 19:362, June 30, 1878.
IMPORTANCE OF THE FIRST PRINCIPLES. The revelations of Jesus Christ teach us that the Savior was born in the flesh; and the Father said that he did not give him a fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace until he had received a fulness, and was called the Son of God because he did not receive a fulness at first. We in like manner should seek with all our souls to grow in grace, light, and truth, that in due time we may receive a fulness. The Lord has a great many principles in store for us; and the greatest principles which he has for us are the most simple and plain. The first principles of the gospel which lead us unto eternal life are the simplest, and yet none are more glorious or important to us. Men may labor to make a great display of talent, learning, and knowledge, either in printing or preaching. They may try to preach the mysteries and to present something strange, great, and wonderful, and they may labor for this with all their might, in the spirit and strength of man without the aid of the Holy Spirit of God, and yet the people are not edified, and their preaching will not give much satisfaction. It is the plainest and the most simple things that edify us the most, if taught by the Spirit of God; and there is nothing more important or beneficial unto us. -- JD 5:50, March 22, 1857.
BAPTISM ONLY THE BEGINNING. Being baptized into this Church is only like learning the alphabet of our mother tongue -- it is the very first step. But having received the first principles of the gospel of Christ, let us go on to perfection. -- JD 12:280-281, July 19, 1868.
NO NONESSENTIALS IN THE GOSPEL. The religious world talk about nonessentials. There are no such things existing in the gospel of the Lord Jesus. He requires us to obey the same laws that he himself obeyed, and which he taught in his day. Why did he go to Jordan to be baptized of John? To fulfill all righteousness. It was a righteous law, it belonged to him, and his example is in force to all the world. No man can enter into the kingdom of God except he is born of the water and of the Spirit. Men may be judged and their bodies lie in the grave until the last resurrection, to come forth and receive of a celestial glory. But no man will receive of the celestial glory except it be through the ordinances of the House of God. -- JD 19:361, June 30, 1878.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is the law of salvation. No man can be saved without it. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth to Jew or Greek, Catholic, Methodist, Baptist, or any other sect or party on the face of the earth. -- JD 258, January 6, 1884.
SALVATION COMES THROUGH GOSPEL ORDINANCES. No man ever did or ever will obtain salvation only through the ordinances of the gospel and through the name of Jesus. There can be no change in the gospel; all men that are saved from Adam to infinitum are saved by the one system of salvation. The Lord may give many laws and many commandments to suit the varied circumstances and conditions of his children throughout the world, such as giving a law of carnal commandment to Israel, but the laws and principles of the gospel do not change. -- JD 10:217, June 12, 1863.
SAVING PRINCIPLES. Virtuous and godly principles the principles of the gospel will, in the end, come off triumphant; and they will sustain and preserve any people who practice them, whether they are popular or not in the estimation of the world. All who embrace the principles of the gospel of Christ will be saved by them. He that abides a law will be preserved by it. Any man who abides the law of the gospel will be saved and receive exaltation and glory by it. -- JD 14:5, January 1, 1871.
SALVATION COMES THROUGH ADHERENCE TO THE GOSPEL. Another subject I wish to say a few words upon: "In Christ all are made alive." Since the day that sin entered into the world men have been held accountable for their own acts, and it has been known upon this earth from the day, at least, that Cain slew his brother Abel. And sin has presented itself in different grades; there are murder, blasphemy, lying, stealing, whoredom, and abominations of many different forms, which have followed man from generation to generation. For there was a power that dwelt upon the earth in the form of thousands and millions of fallen spirits, one third of the hosts of heaven, which had been cast out of heaven with the devil in the great rebellion, who remain in that condition and who do not possess tabernacles, and they make war upon the Saints of God, wherever or whenever they are found upon the earth, and upon all men; they seek to destroy the whole human family, and have done so from the beginning until the present day, and they have not ceased their labors, nor do they intend to while Satan remains unbound. All the children of men who arrive at the years of accountability are guilty of sin, all being inclined to do evil as the sparks are to fly upwards.
"What shall we do to be saved" was the cry of the people who heard the preaching of Peter on the day of Pentecost, and the same may be said to be applicable to all men in every generation. The answer would be, obey the law of the gospel. This is the safe means given for the salvation of the human family. -- JD 23:126, 127, May 14, 1882.
All men are saved by and through the blood of Jesus Christ, through obedience to the gospel. -- JD 23:130, May 14, 1882.
HOW TO OBTAIN FULL SALVATION. If I ever obtain a full salvation it will be by my keeping the laws of God. -- JD 19:362, June 30, 1878.
NO SALVATION IN FALSE DOCTRINE. Now, my friends, it does not pay any man to preach false doctrine or to practice false principles, because there is no salvation in it. It is for salvation that we labor. -- MS 56:659, October 15, 1894.
WE MUST LOVE TRUTH. We would not be worthy of salvation, we would not be worthy of eternal lives in the kingdom of our God, if anything could turn us away from the truth or from the love of it. -- JD 22:233, June 26, 1881.
LET US BE FAITHFUL. Let us be faithful and adorn ourselves with the graces of the gospel. There is nothing gained by doing wrong. Lying, stealing, blaspheming, drunkenness, backbiting, and denying the Lord Jesus Christ bring sorrow and remorse; they debase man who is organized in the image of God; but to do right, to obey the commandments of God, to be charitable and kind, brings joy and peace and the Holy Ghost, and an eventual exaltation in our Father's kingdom. -- JD 8:267, April 22, 1860.
THE UPPERMOST THING. Salvation should be the uppermost thing with us, and you will find if ever we seek to do something else besides carrying out the dictates of the Holy Spirit, we will get into the fog and into darkness and trouble, and we shall be ignorant of the way we are pursuing. -- JD 4:229, February 22, 1857.
WHAT HAPPENS TO ALL OF IT?. We have a great variety of teaching and preaching, and I have sometimes thought that we have more preaching and teaching than any other people on the earth. I expect it is all right. I think we need it The world needs teaching, we ourselves need teaching; but I have thought that the Latter-day Saints have had more of the gospel of Christ proclaimed to them than any other generation that ever lived. -- JD 22:331, October 8, 1881.
SALVATION MEANS PERFORMANCE. I realize that the salvation of this people does not depend upon the great amount of teaching, instruction, or revelation that is given unto them, but their salvation depends more upon their obeying the commandments of God which are given unto them, their becoming a doer of the word, and following the counsel of those who are set to lead them. -- JD 4:190, January 25, 1857.
THE GOSPEL IS FOR THE SALVATION OF THE HUMAN FAMILY. I will say as Paul did, "Woe be unto me if I preach not the gospel." I will say the same for the apostles, the high priests, the seventies, and the elders, so far as they are called to declare the words of life and salvation to this generation; the judgments of God will rest upon us if we do not do it. You may ask why. I answer, because a dispensation of the gospel of Jesus Christ has never been given to man in ancient days or in this age, for any other purpose than for the salvation of the human family. -- JD 22:204, January 8, 1881.
ETERNITY OF THE GOSPEL. If you were to meet with father Adam, with Seth, Moses, Aaron, Christ, or the apostles, they would all teach the same principles that we have been taught; they would not vary one particle. This gospel is everlasting in its nature and unchangeable in its character. It might be urged that the house of Israel had the law of carnal commandments; but that law only acted as a schoolmaster to bring them to Christ because they would not receive a celestial law. They had the priesthood of Aaron for a series of years amongst them; but the old apostles, prophets, and Saints were saved by the gospel, and not by the law of carnal commandments. -- JD 8:265, April 22, 1860.
THE GOSPEL IS INDESTRUCTIBLE. Now, here is one principle that I wish to impress upon the minds of every Saint of God who dwells upon the earth -- and I want our reporters to write it down -- I want to impress it upon the rulers of our nation and upon all the inhabitants of this nation and every other nation, namely, that the love of God, faith, hope, and charity, and the gospel of Jesus Christ, with all the ordinances thereof, with the Holy Priesthood, which has power both in heaven and on the earth, and the principles which have been revealed for the salvation and exaltation of the children of men are principles you cannot annihilate. They are principles that no combination of men can destroy. They are principles that can never die. Prisons cannot confine them; fire cannot burn them; the sea cannot drown them; no storm can wreck them; no gulf can swallow them up; no grave can entomb them, because they are eternal and will endure forever. They are beyond the reach of men to handle or to destroy. You may put men in prison and abuse them; you may burn men at the stake; you may drive men from their homes who advocate these principles; but it is not in the power of the whole world put together to destroy those principles, they are as firm and independent, as far as the agency of man is concerned, as the pillars of heaven or the throne of God. I want the inhabitants of the earth to hear these things and remember them. The inhabitants of the earth have tried for generations to destroy these principles. Yet it matters not what may take place on the earth. Republics may be destroyed, kingdoms overthrown, empires broken up, thrones cast down, the sun may be turned to darkness, the moon to blood, the stars may fall from heaven, and heaven and earth itself may pass away, but not one jot or tittle of these principles will ever be destroyed. I would to God the world could understand this. -- JD 22:342-343, October 23, 1881.
ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE INDESTRUCTIBILITY OF GOSPEL TRUTH. When Jesus Christ came to the Jews he brought the everlasting gospel. He was one of the tribe of Judah himself. He came to his own father's house; he offered them life and salvation; yet he was the most unpopular man in all Judah. The high priests, the Saducees, the sectarians of the day, were the strongest enemies he had on earth. No matter what he did, it was imputed to an evil source. When he cast out devils it was imputed to the power of Beelzebub, the prince of devils. When he opened the eyes of the blind they said: "Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner." This unpopularity followed the Lord Jesus Christ to the cross where he gave up the ghost. Now, the inhabitants of Judah had an idea that if they could only put to death the Messiah, that that would end his mission and work on the earth. Vain hope of that generation as well as this! When they led Jesus to the cross, the very moment that spirit departed from that sorrowful tabernacle, it held the keys of the kingdom of God in all of its strength and power and glory the same as he had done while in the body. And while the body lay in the tomb, Jesus of Nazareth went and preached to the spirits in prison, and when his mission was ended there, his spirit returned again to his tabernacle. Did the Jews kill the principles he taught? No. He burst the bonds of death, he conquered the tomb, and came forth with an immortal body filled with glory and eternal life, holding all the powers and keys he held while in the flesh. Having appeared to some of the holy women and the apostles, he then went and administered to the Nephites upon this continent, and from here he went to the ten tribes of Israel, and delivered to them the gospel, and when they return they will bring the history of the dealings of Jesus of Nazareth with them, while in his immortal body. The same unpopularity followed the twelve apostles. Some of them were sawn asunder, others were beheaded, crucified, etc. But did the Jews destroy the principles they taught? Did they destroy the keys of the kingdom of God? No, verily no. They had no power over these things any more than they had power over the throne of God, or God Himself. -- JD 22:343, October 23, 1881.
APPOINTED TO LAY THE FOUNDATION. The Lord raised up Joseph Smith specially to do the work that he performed. He was ordained and appointed before he was born to come upon the stage of action in this age of God's mercy to man, through the loins of ancient Joseph, who was a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to lay the foundation of this great and glorious dispensation -- a dispensation that will be marked and distinguished in the annals of human history for its grand and mighty, and also its serious and awful events. -- JD 24:51, January 27, 1883.
WAS JOSEPH SMITH A DECEIVER. The question that arises in the minds of persons who pass through our country and see the labors of this people is, are we the dupes of impostors? Was Joseph Smith a deceiver? There is a way to test this, and we have tested it to our satisfaction. The great promise made to us when we first heard the preaching of the elders of this church was, that if we obeyed certain requirements of the gospel, we should receive the Holy Ghost; and this same promise is extended to the world of mankind by our elders who are still proclaiming these glad tidings of great joy. If that promise had fallen, we would not have been here today; and Utah would doubtless be as barren as it was when we found it in 1847. There is no question in our mind, as to the divinity of the work in which we are engaged. The Christian world questions it. This, of course, we cannot help. -- JD 23:79-80, March 26, 1882.
"WE BELIEVE THIS WITH EVERY SENTIMENT OF OUR HEARTS." The Lord has sent forth angels out of heaven. He has delivered the fulness of the gospel to Joseph Smith. He was raised up as a prophet of God, by the power of God, to lay the foundation of this Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on the earth, and to lay the foundation of that kingdom which the prophet Daniel and the other prophets spoke of, and to build up that Zion which Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel said should be built up in the latter days. We believe this with every sentiment of our hearts. -- JD 22:342, October 23, 1881.
FIRST MEETING WITH JOSEPH SMITH. Before I saw Joseph I said I did not care how old he was, or how young he was; I did not care how he looked -- whether his hair was long or short; the man that advanced that revelation was a prophet of God. I knew it for myself. I first met Joseph Smith in the streets of Kirtland. He had on an old hat, and a pistol in his hand. Said he, "Brother Woodruff, I've been out shooting at a mark, and I wanted to see if I could hit anything." And, said he, "Have you any objection to it?"
"Not at all," said I. "There is no law against a man shooting at a mark, that I know of."
He invited me to his house. He had a wolf skin, which he wanted me to help him to tan; he wanted it to sit on while driving his wagon team. Now, many might have said, "You are a pretty prophet; shooting a pistol and tanning a wolf skin." Well, we tanned it, and used it while making a journey of a thousand miles. This was my first acquaintance with the Prophet Joseph. And from that day until the present, with all the apostasies that we have had, and with all the difficulties and afflictions we have been called to pass through, I never saw a moment when I had any doubt with regard to this work. I have had no trial about this. While the people were apostatizing on the right hand and on the left, and while apostles were urging me to turn against the prophet Joseph, it was no temptation to me to doubt this work or to doubt that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God. -- MS 53:627-628. (1891).
ON FIRST HEARING JOSEPH SMITH PREACH. The first time I ever saw Joseph Smith was in April, 1834. I met him in the streets of Kirtland. He invited me to his house. I stopped with him while preparing to go up to Zion in Zion's camp. On Sunday he called a priesthood meeting. They all gathered in a little cabin. There I first heard Joseph Smith speak publicly; also Hyrum Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Parley and Orson Pratt and William E. McLellin. The Prophet called upon the elders to bear testimony of the gospel of Christ and they arose one after another and bore a short testimony. Then Brother Joseph arose and said: "Brethren, I am very much edified and interested in listening to your testimony. But I want to tell you that you know no more concerning the result of this work and what lies before you as the elders of Israel, and before this people, than a parcel of little children."
I expect they were all a little startled by it. He told them this work would fill the whole earth, and that all nations would have to hear the proclamation of the gospel. He further said: "This work will fill the Rocky Mountains with tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints, and there will be joined with them the Lamanites who dwell in those mountains who will receive the gospel of Christ at the mouth of elders of Israel, and they will be united with the Church and the kingdom of God, and bring forth much good."
"I little thought, when I listened to those words, that I should ever live to see the fulfilment of these words of the Prophet.
I little thought that I should ever visit the Rocky Mountains, or ever see the Lamanites of whom he then was speaking. -- MS 54:605 (1892).
PERSONAL TESTIMONY CONCERNING JOSEPH SMITH. I traveled thousands of miles with Joseph Smith. I knew his spirit. Many of the revelations given through him has been fulfilled. I myself wrote the revelation that was given through him concerning the war that would take place in this country between the north and south. That revelation was published to the world for twenty years before the war. It broke out just as predicted, and I refer to it because it is one of the revelations that is fulfilled. -- JD 24:242, July 20, 1883.
A LIFE OF STRUGGLE. When Joseph presented to the Christian world the principles that God had communicated to him, he at once aroused their prejudices; he had to struggle against traditions which they had inherited from their fathers who knew not God nor his ways, traditions which had come down to them through the ages, which were antagonistic to the saving truths of heaven. And hence his life was one continual struggle, meeting with Opposition on every hand, especially front the priests of the day; but he lived through it and rejoiced greatly in his labors until he finished his testimony in the flesh, after laboring Some fourteen years to that end. He had to wade through deep waters; but he never was discouraged or disheartened notwithstanding he had to contend against foes without and foes within, He never lost sight of the majesty of his calling, nor the divinity of this work; but spake and acted in the midst of the people under all circumstances the man that he was -- the prophet of God, the seer and revelator of the last dispensation. He left us under painful circumstances, sealing his testimony with his blood; but his works follow him. The gospel of the kingdom which he preached flourished under the wise administration of God's servants who followed him. -- JD 2452, January 27, 1883.
Joseph Smith had to walk in deep water, he had to row uphill or upstream all the days of his life in order to try and plant the gospel in the midst of the sons of men. A few here and there heard and were disposed to receive that gospel, and the Spirit of God bore record unto them of its truth, and they went before the Lord and asked him if it was true, and the Lord revealed it unto them and they embraced it. From that day until the present this message has gone to the world. I have preached it to millions of my fellow men, so has President Young, and I may say the same of hundreds of the elders of this Church; and I do not believe that ever a man, with his ears open, stopped a moment to listen to the testimony of the servants of God about the truth of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith being a prophet of God, and the restoration of the fulness of the gospel, but what a measure of the Spirit of God has backed up that testimony to him. When men have rejected these testimonies they have done so against light and truth, and herein is where condemnation rests upon this generation -- Light has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. -- JD 16:37, April 7, 1873.
HIS TRIALS AND TROUBLES. When I look at the history of Joseph Smith, I sometimes think that he came as near following the footsteps of the Savior -- (although no more so than His disciples) -- as anyone possibly could. Joseph Smith was called to lay down his life; he sealed his testimony with his blood, and passed through some serious trials and afflictions. In section 122 of the book of Doctrine and Covenants -- the word of the Lord given to the Prophet while in Liberty jail -- the Lord showed him his condition and position. He refers there to the trials and troubles he was called to pass through, and then compares them with what he himself (the Savior) had to endure. He says: "And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers; and the sentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if the billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape, open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my Son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good. The Son of man hath descended below them all; art thou greater than he? Therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee, for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you for ever and ever." The Lord showed him in this revelation that these afflictions were necessary. -- JD 23:327-328, December 10, 1882.
THE LORD PROVED JOSEPH. The Lord told Joseph that he would prove him, whether he would abide in his covenant or not, even unto death. He did prove him; and, although he had the whole world to contend against, and the treachery of false friends to withstand, although his whole life was a scene of trouble and anxiety and care, yet, in all his afflictions, his imprisonments, the mobbings and ill -- treatment he passed through, he was ever true to his God, and true to his friends. -- JD 22:233, June 26, 1881.
JOSEPH SMITH AND THE POWER OF PRAYER. I have heard the prophet Joseph pray when the power of God rested upon him, and all who heard him felt it; and I have seen his prayers answered in a marvelous manner almost immediately. Governor Reynolds on one occasion employed men to try and kidnap Joseph, and they almost accomplished their designs, but Joseph and some Gentile friends, as well as his brethren, through whom he was rescued, and was taken to Nauvoo and released under a writ of habeas corpus. But the governor continued to harass him with writs, and was determined to destroy Joseph. Joseph and the Twelve went before God in prayer, Joseph kneeling before the Lord, offered up prayer, and asked God to deliver him from the power of that man. Among other things he told the Lord that he was innocent before Him, and that his heart was heavy under the persecutions he endured. In about forty-eight hours from that time word reached Joseph that Reynolds had blown his brains out. Before perpetrating the deed he left a note on his desk stating, that as his services were not appreciated by the people of the state, he took that course to end his days. -- JD 24:55, January 27, 1883.
OTHER INSTANCES. There is another instance that occurs to my mind. A certain man took a stand against Joseph, and endeavored to bring persecution on him. Joseph went to his God and laid the matter before Him, asking to be delivered out of the hands and power of that wicked man. Joseph was a prophet, a seer, a revelator. He was acquainted with God; he knew the voice of the Spirit when it spoke to him. After offering up his prayer, the whispering of the still small voice came to him saying, "Wait with patience." The next day that man was taken sick with cholera, and died in a few hours.
See how quickly the Lord answered his prayer offered up while a prisoner in Liberty jail. At that time, Presidents Young and Taylor, and several of the twelve were on their way through Clay County to lay the cornerstones of the temple, in fulfilment of the revelation given in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 118. Joseph had no sooner called upon God than he was liberated; and his prayer answered to the very letter. The voice of the Spirit again spoke to him, speaking peace to his soul, and telling him that his troubles should be of short duration. It was but a few days when he had the pleasure of shaking hands with his brethren, and enjoying the society of his family and friends. -- JD 24:55-6, January 27, 1883.
JOSEPH'S LAST DAYS. Joseph Smith was what he professed to be, a prophet of God, a seer and revelator. He laid the foundation of this church and kingdom, and lived long enough to deliver the keys of the kingdom to the elders of Israel, unto the twelve apostles. He spent the last winter of his life, some three or four months, with the quorum of the twelve, teaching them. It was not merely a few hours ministering to them the ordinances of the gospel; but he spent day after day, week after week and month after month, teaching them and a few others the things of the kingdom of God. -- JD 13:164, December 12, 1869.
THE PROPHET'S DEATH. I used to have peculiar feelings about his death and the way in which his life was taken. I felt that if, with the consent and good feelings of the brethren that waited on him after he crossed the river to leave Nauvoo, Joseph could have had his desire, he would have pioneered the way to the Rocky Mountains But since then I have been fully reconciled to the fact that it was according to the program, that it was required of him, as the head of this dispensation, that he should seal his testimony with his blood, and go hence to the spirit world, holding the keys of this dispensation, to open up the mission that is now being performed by way of preaching the gospel to the "spirits in prison." -- JD 24:54, January 27, 1883.
THE MAINTENANCE OF TRUTH. Those who have been acquainted with the Prophet Joseph, who laid the foundation of this church and kingdom, who was an instrument in the hand of God in bringing to light the gospel in this last dispensation, know well that every feeling of his soul, every sentiment of his mind, and every act of his life, proved that he was determined to maintain the principle of truth, even to the sacrificing of his life. His soul swelled wide as eternity for the welfare of the human family. He began entirely alone, as far as the influences of the children of men were concerned upon the earth, to endeavor to establish a religion and order of things diverse from anything then existing among men, a religion that was unpopular and contrary to the feelings, and views, and traditions of the whole human family. -- JD 2:192, February 25, 1855.
Joseph lived to accomplish the work that was required of him, notwithstanding the persistent and determined opposition that he had to contend against. -- JD 24:56, January 27, 1883.
When Joseph Smith's body was laid in the grave, his spirit, like unto the Son of God, went into the spirit world with the keys of this dispensation to unlock the prison doors. There were fifty thousand millions' of spirits that never saw the face of a prophet, or heard a gospel sermon in their lives, until Joseph Smith preached to them the message of salvation. Those people in the spirit world have got to have equal rights in the gospel dispensation with those on the earth. That is the reason why Jesus went to preach to the spirits in prison. Joseph Smith will hold the keys of this dispensation throughout the countless ages of eternity, as Peter, James, and John will hold theirs. He (Joseph Smith) will come forth in the morning of the first resurrection, and will rise up in judgment against this generation. He sealed his testimony with his blood. That testimony is in force upon all the world from the hour of his death. These are eternal truths. -- JD 22:346, October 23, 1881.
Throughout his discourses President Woodruff uses various statistical figures to represent the magnitude of this and other problems. In Chapter 7, for example, he states (after using such a figure): "Whether these statistics are anything like correct it is not of much importance to discuss. He then goes on to discuss what is important, namely, the magnitude of the problem. The reader should bear this in mind.
SUSTAIN THE CHURCH. When we went upon our first foreign mission Joseph said to us, "No matter what may come upon you, round up your shoulders and bear it, and always sustain and defend the interests of the church and kingdom of God."
When we took our departure his demeanor in parting was something that I had never noticed or experienced before. After crossing the Mississippi River I crawled to the side of a house and lay down upon a side of sole leather, while suffering from the chills and fever. While resting there the Prophet Joseph came along and saw me. He gave me some parting advice in answer to some remarks made, and then told me to get up and go on, and all would be well with me. That is the way I parted with him upon that occasion. From that day to this I have noticed the steady growth and increase of this people. -- JD 24:53, January 27, 1883.
WHY MAN FALL. We all have some responsibility, more or less, resting upon us, whether as regards going on missions or anything else. I remember Brother Joseph Smith visited myself, Brother Taylor, Brother Brigham Young and several other missionaries, when we were about to take our mission to England. We were sick and afflicted, many of us. At the same time we felt to go. The Prophet blessed us, as also our wives and families; and I was reading a day or two ago his instructions from my journal. He taught us some very important principles, some of which I here name. Brother Taylor, myself, George A. Smith, John E. Page, and others had been called to fill the place of those who had fallen away. Brother Joseph laid before us the cause of those men's turning away from the commandments of God. He hoped we would learn wisdom by what we saw with the eye and heard with the ear, and that we would be able to discern the spirits of other men without being compelled to learn by sad experience. He then remarked that any man, any elder in this Church and kingdoms who pursued a course whereby he would ignore or in other words refuse to obey any known law or commandment or duty -- whenever a man did this, neglected any duty God required at his hand in attending meetings, filling missions, or obeying counsel, he laid a foundation to lead him to apostasy and this was the reason those men had fallen. -- JD 21:190, July 3, 1880.
CONCERNING THE DESTINY OF THE CHURCH. When we got together [at Zion's Camp] the Prophet called upon the elders of Israel with him to bear testimony of this work. Those that I have named (Oliver Cowdery, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, the two Pratts, Orson Hyde, and others) spoke, and a good many that I have not named bore their testimonies. When they got through the Prophet said:
"Brethren, I have been very much edified and instructed in your testimonies here tonight, but I want to say to you before the Lord, that you know no more concerning the destinies of this church and kingdom than a babe upon its mother's lap. You don't comprehend it."
I was rather surprised.
He continued:
"It is only a handful of priesthood you see here tonight, but this church will fill North and South America it will fill the world."
Among other things, he said:
"It will fill the Rocky Mountains. There will be tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints who will be gathered to the Rocky Mountains, and there they will open the door for the establishing of the gospel among the Lamanites, who will receive the gospel and their endowments and the blessings of God. This people will go into the Rocky Mountains; they will there build temples to the Most High. They will raise up a posterity there, and the Latter-day Saints who dwell in these mountains will stand in the flesh until the coming of the Son of Man. The Son of Man will come to them while in the Rocky Mountains."
I name these things because I want to bear testimony before God, angels, and men that mine eyes behold the day, and have beheld for the last fifty years of my life, the fulfilment of that prophecy. I never expected to see the Rocky Mountains when I listened to that man's voice, but I have, and do today. I will say here that I shall not live to see it, you may not live to see it; but these thousands of Latter-day Saint children that belong to the Sabbath schools, I believe many of them will stand in the flesh when the Lord Jesus Christ visits the Zion of God here in the mountains of Israel. -- CR :57, April, 1898.
JOSEPH UNDERSTOOD THE INTENTION TO MOVE WEST. In the pioneer journey, coming here, we had to come by faith; we knew nothing about this country, but we intended to come to the mountains. Joseph had organized a company to come here, before his death. He had these things before him, and understood them perfectly. -- JD 13:160, December 12, 1869.
THE PROPHET'S KNOWLEDGE. The Prophet Joseph knew what he was doing; in fact, he knew much more than he dared to tell on account of the prejudice, traditions, and unbelief of the people. -- JD 24:54, January 27, 1883.
Joseph Smith received the ministration of angels, and he by revelation organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and he was taught by those who ministered unto him what to teach to the people, which was the everlasting gospel. -- JD 23:127, May 14, 1882.
THE ANGEL'S MESSAGE. The angel taught Joseph Smith those principles which are necessary for the salvation of the world; and the Lord gave him commandments, and sealed upon him the priesthood, and gave him power to administer the ordinances of the house of the Lord. He told him the gospel was not among men, and that there was not a true organization of his kingdom in the world, that the people had turned away from his true order, changed the ordinances, and broken the everlasting covenant, and inherited lies and things wherein there was no profit. He told him the time had come to lay the foundation for the establishment of the kingdom of God among men for the last time, preparatory to the winding-up scene. Joseph was strengthened by the spirit and power of God and enabled to listen to the teachings of the angel. He told him he should be made an instrument in the hands of the Lord, if he kept his commandments, in doing a good work upon the earth, that his name should be held in honor by the honest in heart, and in dishonor throughout the nations by the wicked. He told him he should be an instrument in laying the foundation of a work that should gather tens of thousands of children of men, in the generation in which he lived, from every nation under heaven, who should hear the sound of it through his instrumentality. He told him the nations were wrapped in wickedness and abomination, and the judgments [of God were about to come] upon them in their fulness; that the angels were holding the vials of his wrath in readiness; but the decree is, that they shall not be poured out until the nations are warned, that they may be left without an excuse. -- JD 2: 196-7, February 25, 1855.
JOSEPH SMITH'S RESPONSE. This man to whom the angel appeared obeyed the gospel, received it in meekness and humility and bowed down before the Lord and worshiped Him, and did the best he could in his illiterate state; he was as it were but a mere plowboy. He laid hold of it with all his heart, though he saw he would have to wage war with sin, and wickedness, and abominations, and the oppositions of the people. He began to trust in the Lord; and what was the consequence? Wherever the words of the gospel which the angel revealed to him were preached among the children of men, it had its effect. The church was at length organized with a few humble men. The learned might laugh at them because of their ignorance, but their words were like daggers to their hearts, and like a two-edged sword, piercing and dividing asunder the very thoughts and intents of the hearts of men. The honest in heart began to receive their testimony, and it continued to spread from town to town, from city to city, from state to state, and from nation to nation, until we see the fruits of it here today in this tabernacle of the Lord in the tops of the mountains. -- JD 2:197, February 25, 1855.
KEYS RECEIVED BY JOSEPH SMITH. He received powers and keys from under the hands of Moses for gathering the house of Israel in the last days; he received under the hands of Elias the keys of sealing the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers; he received under the hands of Peter, James, and John the apostleship, and everything belonging thereto; he received under the hands of Moroni all the keys and powers required of the stick of Joseph in the hands of Ephraim; he received under the hand of John the Baptist the Aaronic Priesthood, with all its keys and powers, and every other key and power belonging to this dispensation, and I am not ashamed to say that he was a prophet of God, and he laid the foundation of the greatest work and dispensation that has ever been established on the earth. -- JD 16:267, October 8, 1873..
REACTION TO THE RESTORATION. This gospel was committed to Joseph Smith, and connected with this gospel was the proclamation, "Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come." This was the position in which Joseph Smith was placed when he was in the flesh; it was the position of those that were connected with him, his brother Hyrum, and others of his father's house, as well as the Twelve Apostles, the seventies, and those early elders of Israel who were called to make the proclamation of this gospel to the world. They were sustained by the power of God They were called and commanded to go forth into the world and preach this gospel to the inhabitants of the earth, without purse or scrip. This is the manner we traveled in early days. The early elders of the Church were called to pass through a great deal. Joseph Smith himself, from the hour that he received the records from the hand of Moroni, and commenced to proclaim the restoration of the gospel, to the day of his death, had to suffer tribulation. The whole world arose against him -- priest and people. What was the matter? Simply that Joseph Smith was like other prophets and apostles. He brought forth a dispensation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which came in contact with the traditions of the people -- traditions which have been handed down from generation to generation. But he was sustained in his work. He knew very well when he undertook to introduce this gospel that it would be unpopular. His brethren knew this also. But being called of God, and a dispensation of the gospel having been committed to his hands and the hands of his brethren, the gospel had to be preached. -- JD 22:205-206, January 9, 1881.
JOSEPH SMITH AS A PROPHET. It has been my faith and belief from the time that I was made acquainted with the gospel that no greater prophet than Joseph Smith ever lived on the face of the earth save Jesus Christ. He was raised up to stand at the head of this great dispensation the greatest of all dispensations God has ever given to man. He remarked on several occasions when conversing with his brethren: "Brethren, you do not know me, you do not know who I am."
As I remarked at our priesthood meeting on Friday evening, I have heard him in my early days while conversing with the brethren, say, "I would to God that I could unbosom my feelings in the house of my friends." Joseph Smith was ordained before he came here, the same as Jeremiah was. -- JD 21:317, October 10, 1880.
HIS FOREORDINATION. I believe that God Almighty reserved a certain class of men to carry on his word. They have been born into the world in this generation. I believe this was the case with Joseph Smith. I believe he was ordained to this work before he tabernacled in the flesh . He was a literal descendant of Joseph who was sold into Egypt, and the Lord called him and ordained him. He gave unto him the keys of the kingdom. He received the record of the stick of Joseph from the hands of Ephraim, to stand with the Bible, the stick of Judah, in the last days as a power to gather the twelve tribes of Israel, before the coming of Shiloh, their king. -- JD 22:206, January 9, 1881.
WHY NOT "GREAT" MEN? With regard to the faithful leaders of this church and kingdom, beginning with Joseph Smith, how many times have I heard men say in my travels -- Why did God choose Joseph Smith, why did he choose that boy to open up this dispensation and lay the foundation of this church? Why didn't he choose some great man, such as Henry Ward Beecher? I have had but one answer in my life to give to such a question, namely, that the Lord Almighty could not do anything with them, he could not humble them. -- JD 21:193, July 3, 1880.
The heavens are full of knowledge, full of instruction, full of revelation and of principle and decree, and I may say of judgment, all to be made use of in their day and time, and we have a right to all the knowledge, all the revelation, all the principles of truth, that we can claim by faith and diligence in serving the Lord and in the performance of our duty. -- JD 23:326, December 10, 1882.
THE TESTIMONY OF THE FATHER AND THE SON. What is revelation? The testimony of the Father and Son. How many of you have had revelation? How many of you have had the Spirit of God whisper unto you -- the still small voice? I would have been in the spirit world a great many years ago if I had not followed the promptings of the still small voice. These were the revelations of Jesus Christ, the strongest testimony a man or a woman can have. I have had many testimonies since I have been connected with this Church and kingdom. I have been blessed at times with certain gifts and graces, certain revelations and ministrations; but with them all I have never found anything that I could place more dependency upon than the still small voice of the Holy Ghost. -- JD 21:195-196, July 3, 1880.
THE INSPIRATION OF THE HOLY GHOST TO MAN. What is revelation? It is the inspiration of the Holy Ghost to man. Joseph Smith said to Brother John Taylor in his day: "Brother Taylor, you watch the impression of the Spirit of God; you watch the whisperings of Spirit to you; you carry them out in your life, and it will become a principle of revelation in you, and you will know and understand this spirit and power." This is the key, the foundation stone of all revelation. Joseph Smith was full of revelation. He could translate anything given to him of God. He could receive revelation without the Urim and Thummim. Many of the principal revelations contained in the Doctrine and Covenants were received without the use of the Urim and Thummim. They were given to him by the inspiration of Almighty God. In my own experience I have endeavored to get acquainted with that Spirit, and to learn its operations. I have many times had that Spirit manifested to me, and if I had not followed its whisperings to me, I should have been in my grave long ago, with many of my companions. -- MS 53:642 (1891).
THE MIND AND WILL OF GOD. The Lord has taught us in a modern revelation contained in this book, the Doctrine and Covenants, that it matters not whether he speaks from heaven by his own voice, or by the ministration of angels, or by the mouth of his servants when they are moved upon by the Holy Ghost, it is all the same the mind and will of God. -- JD 19:223, September 16, 1877.
RECORDED KNOWLEDGE. My mind reverts to the channels of communication from God to man. Here we have the Bible which gives a history and prophecy of the prophets from Adam down. . . . The Lord, through all the destruction that has taken place in the various libraries of the world -- like the great library of Alexandria, for example -- has preserved the record of the Jews, at least we have a portion of it to read. Then, again, we have the Book of Mormon, the stick of Joseph in the hands of Ephraim, giving a history of the ancient inhabitants of this country from the time of their leaving the Tower of Babel to their disappearance from the land, and of the visitation of Christ to them. We have these books from which to obtain knowledge. Then we have the book of Doctrine and Covenants, our testament, which contains the most glorious, godlike, solemn, and eternal truths ever recorded within the lids of a book on the earth. All these records are the words of God to man; and though the heavens and earth pass away, not one jot or tittle will ever fall unfulfilled.
LIVING ORACLES. Then the Lord has other ways of communicating his mind and will. We have the living oracles with us, and have had from the day that Joseph Smith received the ministrations of Moroni, the Nephite, John the Baptist, Peter, James and John, Moses, Elias, Elijah, Jesus Christ -- from that day we have had the living oracles to teach us the word of the Lord. -- JD 22:331, October 8, 1881.
THE SCRIPTURES AS REVELATION. I read these -- the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and I regard them as eternal truths. . . I consider that the Doctrine and Covenants, our testament, contains a code of the most solemn, the most godlike proclamations ever made to the human family. I will refer to the "Vision" alone, as a revelation which gives more light, more truth, and more principle than any revelation contained in any other book we ever read. It makes plain to our understanding our present condition, where we came from, why we are here, and where we are going. Any man may know through that revelation what his part and condition will be. For all men know what laws they keep, and the laws which men keep here will determine their position hereafter; they will be preserved by those laws and receive the blessings which belong to them. -- JD 22:146-147, April 3, 1881.
THE SCRIPTURES AND THE LIVING ORACLES. Now, we may take the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants, and we may read them through, and every other revelation that has been given to us, and they would scarcely be sufficient to guide us twenty-four hours. We have only an outline of our duties written; we are to be guided by the living oracles. The Ten Commandments are very good, and the great and glorious principles pertaining to the redemption of man, the revelations pertaining to events that are past and to the things of the mysterious and unborn future, and there are also many choice and precious things relating to the redemption of man, to the present and future greatness of the Saints; but where can we find one revelation that tells us that we should raise three hundred teams, or twelve hundred yoke of cattle, to bring up the poor from the Missouri river. We have been informed by the revelations of the Lord Jesus Christ that there should be a temple built in Jackson county; but has there been a revelation to tell us how long or how high it should be? No, we have got to be governed by the mind and will of God, and this must be apparent to this people; it shows itself more and more. -- JD 9:324, April 8, 1862.
IT REQUIRES FAITH TO BELIEVE THE REVELATIONS OF GOD. Where is the man, priest, or people, in the whole sectarian world, today, who believes in the literal fulfilment of the revelations of God contained in the Bible? If there is one I should like to see and converse with him. The whole Christian world professes to believe the Bible, and perhaps they do when it is shut. But open the Bible and read the declarations contained therein, concerning the last dispensation of the fulness of times, and where is the man who believes them? You cannot find one, and it requires faith even among the Latter-day Saints to believe the revelations of God, and to prepare themselves for those things which await the world. -- JD 18:111, September 12, 1875.
I always have had faith in the Bible and in the revelations of God since I was a boy like these sitting on these seats, eight or ten years old, when I went to the Presbyterian Sunday School and read about Jesus Christ. I believed then that he was the Savior of the world; I believed that the Old and New Testament was true. I believe it today. -- JD 18:35, June 24, 1875.
DO THIS PEOPLE HAVE REVELATION. The question arises in the minds of the people in our day and generation, does President Woodruff have revelation? Do his counselors have revelation? Do the Twelve Apostles have revelation? Do this people have revelation? . . .
I have sat and listened to every apostle that is before me now bear record during this conference. Did not these apostles speak by the Holy Ghost and the power of God? They did, and their testimony is recorded in the great library of the celestial kingdom of God. They could not edify us without it. I would to God that the inhabitants of the earth would get rid of the idea that revelation ceased when Christ was put to death. It is a false doctrine. Revelation belongs to the salvation of the children of men. -- MS 57:738-739, October 6, 1895.
"WE ARE NOT WITHOUT REVELATION." We talk of revelation. There has been a feeling of wonder many times as to why Brigham Young did not have revelation, why John Taylor did not have revelation, why Wilford Woodruff does not have revelation, why any other apostle does not have revelation. I hold in my hand a book of revelations, enough to lead this Church into the celestial kingdom of God. Anybody who will obey that law will have all the revelation that he can fulfill on earth. We are not without revelation. The heavens are full of it, so is the Holy Priesthood. -- MS 51:547 (1889).
"THERE IS NO END TO . . . THE REVELATIONS OF GOD TO MAN." Whenever the Lord requires any prophet, seer, revelator, apostle, or leading man of the church to speak, the Spirit of the Lord is with him to give counsel to the people from time to time, and he is moved upon, and such the people ought to hear. But I want you to understand this one thing: The Holy Priesthood and power of God do not stop there; it does not stop with the Twelve Apostles, it does not stop with our leading men of Israel -- there is not a man on God's footstool that is sent forth into the world to preach the gospel but ought to have the Spirit of the Lord upon him and the revelation of God to him. . . . There is no end to the Holy Ghost and the power of God and the revelations of God to man. This is our position before the world. Every man should have the Holy Priesthood with him, of some kind or other, when he goes to preach the gospel; he should occupy some position of that kind. The Holy Ghost should be with that man. The Holy Ghost is with that man, revelation is with that man, if he lives his religion and does his duty before God.
. . . The Bible is all right, the Book of Mormon is all right, the Doctrine and Covenants is all right, and they proclaim the work of God and the word of God in the earth in this day and generation until the coming of the Son of Man; but the Holy Priesthood is not confined particularly to those books, that is, it did not cease when those books were made. It belongs to every man that goes forth into the world, and these are our principles, and these are our rights and these are our duties, and these are our gifts. The Holy Ghost is not confined to any one man, but everyone should have it. -- CR 23, October, 1897.
These figures represent the current strength of the various bodies of priesthood in 1880.
PRIESTHOOD AND REVELATION. Many have an idea that it is something very strange for men nowadays to have revelation, and that nobody should have revelation excepting brother [John] Taylor. Here, my brethren and sisters, you are upholding the quorum of the twelve twice a year in general conference, besides doing so at your quarterly conference, as prophets, seers and revelators, and you pray for them twice a day, and perhaps oftener, and should it be anything very strange if they should receive a revelation? How strange, indeed! There are in this church some six thousand seventies, and four thousand high priests, and four thousand elders, who hold the Melchizedek Priesthood, which is after the order of the Son of God, besides many thousands of priests holding the Aaronic Priesthood, and I would like to ask, if it was wrong to desire revelation? What business have we with this priesthood, if we have not power to receive revelation? What is the priesthood given for? If we do not have revelation, it is because we do not live as we should live, because we do not magnify our priesthood as we ought to; if we did we would not be without revelation, none would be barren or unfruitful. We have one man who holds the keys of the kingdom of God upon the earth, and it is his business to give the word of the Lord for the guidance of the Church. But here we have apostles and men of God, holding the Holy Priesthood, acting in behalf of the church in different parts of this Territory, and also in different parts of the earth; and we have men, say, acting as Church agents in Europe, part of whose business it is to charter ships for the transit across the ocean of tens of thousands of the people of God, is it the right of such men to have revelation from the Lord to guide them in their operations? Yes, it is; and no man should undertake to act in positions affecting the interests of Zion, unless he lives so as to be guided and directed by revelations of God. And every man who presides over a temple should live day by day in the revelations of Jesus Christ. And every seventy, and every high priest, and every man bearing the Holy Priesthood should live in that way to get revelation to guide and direct him in his labors. This idea that no man has any right to call upon God and receive revelation is wrong, and it has been wrong whenever it has existed in any age of the world. As was said of old, when a complaint was made concerning certain of the elders prophesying in the camp of Israel, so say I: "I would to God that all were prophets"; because the spirit of prophecy is the testimony of Jesus. -- JD 21:298, August 1, 1880.
A CLARIFYING STATEMENT. Before dismissing this assembly I feel it my duty to say a few words. I addressed the Saints a short time this afternoon upon a certain subject, and that was in bearing my testimony to the keys of the kingdom of God. . . After the meeting I began to reflect, from remarks which I made, that perhaps many of the people might get an entirely wrong idea of my views with regard to the kingdom of God. I referred to the Doctrine and Covenants -- a code of revelations which the Lord gave to Joseph Smith. This book contains some of the most glorious revelation upon doctrine, upon principle, upon government, upon the kingdom of God and the different glories, and upon a great many things which reach into the eternal worlds. My leaving this subject there, perhaps, might lead my friends to suppose that I did not believe in any more revelation. This would be a great mistake. For if we had before us every revelation which God ever gave to man; if we had the Book of Enoch; if we had the untranslated plates before us in the English language; if we had the records of the Revelator St. John which are sealed up, and all other revelations, and they were piled up here a hundred feet high, the church and kingdom of God could not grow, in this or any other age of the world, without the living oracles of God.
The Presidency of the Church is composed of three men -- the President and his counselors; and not only does the President of the Church need revelation daily, in order to pass through the labor, the care and the business that rests upon him, but his counselors need it. Every one of the twelve apostles need it in all their administrations throughout the world; and not only the twelve apostles, but the seventies, the high priests, the bishops, the elders, and all who belong to the Melchizedek or Aaronic Priesthood -- all need it in their administrations in the world. No man can go forth and lift up his voice and declare the gospel of Jesus Christ without revelation. He needs the Holy Priesthood with him every day of his life. I do not wish to be misunderstood in this matter. Every man or woman that has ever entered into the church of God and been baptized for the remission of sins has a right to revelation, a right to the Spirit of God, to assist them in their labors, in their administrations to their children, in counseling their children and those over whom they are called upon to preside. The Holy Ghost is not restricted to men, nor to apostles or prophets; it belongs to every faithful man and woman, and to every child who is old enough to receive the gospel of Christ.
I am very much opposed to false doctrine, either preaching it myself or having anybody else preach it. I, therefore, wish to make this correction if there is any need of it. God never had a church or a people, in any age of the world, that were governed and controlled except by revelation. The living oracles of God were among them -- those who held the keys of the kingdom, and they had to receive revelation to assist them in all their work. The elders of Israel, when they go abroad to the nations of the earth, need the Spirit of God, to tell them to go here, or go there, that they may search out the honest in heart. Let us all understand this, so that we may not be divided in our views and sentiments. -- MS 51:548-549 (1889).
REVELATION FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH COMES THROUGH THE APPOINTED CHANNEL. It is this pre-knowledge which God has given concerning his work . . . which is one of the chief causes of the strength possessed by the Latter-day Saints. It is the principle of revelation from the head of the church to the church itself -- a principle which in its operation is not confined to one man, or to three men, or to twelve men; but is extended to every individual in the Church, in greater or less degree, as each one chooses to avail himself of it. There is an appointed way, however, in which revelation from the Lord for the government of his church is received. There is but one man on the earth, at a time, who holds this power. But every individual member has the privilege of receiving revelation from the Lord for his guidance in his own affairs, and to testify to him concerning the correctness of public teachings and movements.
The great promise which accompanies the preaching of the gospel . . . is that the Holy Spirit will be bestowed upon the sincerely penitent who obey its holy ordinances. . . . In this way the Almighty reveals his purpose to those who obey his commandments, and whose lives are pure and acceptable before him, so that they may be prepared for the events and trials that may lie in their pathway.
If there are any members of the church who do not know by their own experience that this is true, they may be assured that they do not live up to that privilege. -- MS 307-308, April 6, 1888.
INSPIRATION TO THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH. The Lord . . . is just as able to inspire me, or Brother Cannon, or any other man, when the time comes, as he has inspired other men in past ages. I know what the will of God is concerning this people, and if they will take the counsel we give them, all will be well with them. -- DW 38:389, March 3, 1889.
WHERE ARE THE REVELATIONS OF JOSEPH'S SUCCESSORS. Where are the revelations of President Young? Do you find them on record? Only a few; but the Holy Ghost and the revelations of God were with Brigham Young from the day that he received this gospel until the day that he laid down his life and his tabernacle was carried to the grave. There was no necessity particularly for Brigham Young to give written revelation, only in a few instances. So with John Taylor. So with Wilford Woodruff. And so in a great measure probably with all who may follow us, until the coming of the Son of man. But are we without revelation? We are not. We know our duty, and in a measure we know what lies before us. Some of the people have had the idea that the Presidency of this Church and the twelve apostles should have nothing to do with temporal matters. Well, we would be in a bad fix if we did not deal in temporal matters. Joseph Smith stood at the head of this dispensation all the days he dwelt in the flesh. So did Brigham Young. I traveled with Brigham Young at home and abroad, and I never saw a day in my life but what he had the spirit and power of revelation of God with him. This power was with him when he came to this land. I was with him when he laid the foundations of our temples, and when he laid out the city of Salt Lake. He did all these things by the inspiration and Spirit of Almighty God. -- MS 56:642, October 8, 1894.
BRIGHAM'S REVELATION. I know the Lord is with this people. . . . I traveled with Joseph Smith quite a length of time. I traveled with Brigham Young forty years, at home and abroad. I traveled with him to this country (Utah). We came with the pioneers. Brigham Young, though he never wrote many revelations, had the revelations of God with him from the day that he embraced this work till the day of his death. I have often thought of the time when he was asked if he would not go on to California instead of stopping in this barren land. What was his answer? I was with him when he gave that answer. He said, "No, I am going to stay right here. I am going to build a temple here; I am going to build a city here; I am going to build a country here." Has it not been so? Yes, it has. Was it not by revelation? Certainly it was. -- MS 57:741-742, October 6, 1895.
This is one thing I want to say to my friends and to the Saints of God, that without the Holy Ghost, without direct revelation and the inspiration of God continually, Brigham Young could not lead this people twenty-four hours. He could not lead them at all. Joseph could not have done it, neither could any man. This power is in the bosom of Almighty God, and he imparts it to his servants the prophets as they stand in need of it day by day to build up Zion. -- JD 14:33, May 6, 1870.
AUTHORITY AND REVELATION. The law of God is in the mouths of those who are set to lead us. If the Lord should give a revelation through them that would appear contrary to our traditions -- our customs, or reveal new principles -- things which have been hid from the foundation of the world, it should not try the faith of the Saints. The Lord has given revelations according to the capacity of the children of men. -- JD 6:120, December 6, 1857.
THE PRESIDENT OF THE CHURCH MUST BE SUSCEPTIBLE TO THE REVELATIONS OF GOD. The Lord would not permit me to occupy this position one day of my life, unless I was susceptible to the Holy Spirit and to the revelations of God. It is too late in the day for this Church to stand without revelation.
OTHERS NEED THE SAME GIFT IN ORDER TO MAGNIFY THEIR CALLINGS. Not only the President of the Church should possess this gift and give it unto the people, but his counselors and the apostles and all men that bear the Holy Priesthood, if they magnify their callings, should possess that gift for themselves and to assist them in their duties, although they may not be called to give revelations to lead and direct the Church. The spirit of revelation belongs to the priesthood. -- MS 56:324, May 21, 1894.
My faith is that no man, in this or any other generation, is able to teach and edify the inhabitants of the earth without the inspiration of the Spirit of God. -- JD 15:275, January 12, 1873.
AUTHORITY OF THE PROPHET. The quorum of the twelve may exhaust their talent and acquirements in exhibiting principle upon any matter which belongs to the head to reveal, and yet the Prophet has to point out the error and set us right. The whole Church may unite to carry out any point that ought to come through the head, and we could not effect it. It requires Brother Brigham to tell us what is right and what is wrong in many things, because that is his place and calling. There is a perfect channel existing between the Lord and him, through which he obtains wisdom, which is diffused through other channels to the people. That we know. We have got to learn to bring this knowledge into practice. -- JD 6:119, December 6, 1857.
WALKING IN THE LIGHT OF REVELATION. I feel and see the importance of this work, and I see the necessity of our walking up to the line of our duty, that we may live and walk daily in the light of the Lord. I realize that the Presidency of this Church stand between this people and the Lord, for they are the head, and I realize that God reveals to them his will, and therefore we should look unto them for light and for information. The head may be full of light, of inspiration, revelation, and of the mind and will of God, but if those officers who stand next to them, and if we ourselves are asleep in relation to our duties, and are not in a fit state to receive that light, do you not see that the river is dammed up at the head? There is no current or medium through which the light may flow to the limbs and branches of the body. -- JD 4: 190-191, January 25, 1857.
THE WORD OR THE LORD BELONGS TO ALL THE PEOPLE. I have heard some of our brethren remark, "If the twelve apostles have the word of the Lord, we would like to receive it." I want to say a few words with regard to the word of the Lord. They sometimes wonder why President Young does not give them the word of the Lord. I have been acquainted with President Young more than forty years . . . and I never saw a day from that day until the present, but what President Young, even before the twelve apostles were organized, had the word of the Lord for the people; and instead of thinking there is no word of the Lord, my faith is that there is not an elder in Israel who has any business to preach, unless he has the word of the Lord to the people. The twelve apostles should have the word of the Lord to the people; the high priesthood should have the word of the Lord to the people; these four thousand seventies, the messengers of Israel to the nations of the earth, should have the word of the Lord to the people; and every elder of Israel, when he speaks, should have the word of the Lord, and the whole Church and kingdom of God, men and women, should have, each for himself and herself, the testimony of Jesus Christ which is the spirit of prophecy. This should be in the possession of every man and woman in the Church, for their own government and guidance, and this has always been the teaching to us of President Brigham Young. And this is backed up by the revelations which the Lord has given in these last days, as you will find if you read the twenty-second section of the book of Doctrine and Covenants. -- JD 18:125-126, October 8, 1875.
THE CONSTANT NEED FOR REVELATION PARTICULARLY NECESSARY FOR THIS DISPENSATION. Take the whole history of the world down to the present generation, and has there ever been a time when the people of God did not need revelation? I say, nay. Now I would ask this congregation; I would ask all the Jews, the Catholics, the Protestants, I would ask the clergy of all nations: Can this mighty dispensation of which every prophet has spoken, be fulfilled, and can these great events transpire in the earth, without revelation from God? No, most assuredly not. God never gave a greater dispensation than the one in which Joseph Smith was called and ordained of God to organize the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It required revelation. It will require it to the winding-up scene. Zion cannot be built up, nor can the nations of the earth be warned of the great judgments that are at the door without it. -- MS 57:738-739, October 6, 1895.
AN EXAMPLE. How many times have we been called by revelation to go to the right and left, here, there, and the other place, contrary to our expectation?
I will here relate what took place in my own experience. I was in Staffordshire in the year 1840. I was in the town of Stanley and held a meeting in the City Hall. I had a week's appointments out in that town. Before I rose to speak to the people, the Spirit of the Lord said to me, "This is the last meeting you will hold with this people for many days." I told the congregation when I arose what the Spirit of the Lord had manifested to me. They were as much surprised as I was. I did not know what the Lord wanted, but I saw the purpose of God afterwards. The Spirit of the Lord said to me, "Go south." I traveled eighty miles; went into the south of England. As soon as I arrived, I met John Benbow. It was clearly made manifest to me why I had been called thither. I had left a good field, where I was baptizing every night in the week. When I got to this place, I found a people -- some 600 of them -- who had broken off from the Wesleyan Methodists and formed themselves into a sect called the United Brethren. I found that they were praying for light and truth and that they had gone about as far as they could go. I saw that the Lord had sent me to them. I went to work amongst them and ultimately baptized their superintendent, forty preachers and some 600 members; I baptized every member of that denomination, but one. Altogether some 1800 were baptized in that field of labor. I suppose some of those then baptized may be in this congregation today. I name these things to show how we have to be governed and led by the revelations of God day by day. Without this we can do nothing. -- JD 21:315, September 19, 1880.
REQUIRED BY THE MISSIONARY ELDERS. The Lord has told us in some of the revelations which he has given in our day, that all of his messengers or servants, his elders who are sent forth to teach, should speak as they are moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and when they follow this counsel, what they say, the Lord says, is scripture, it is the mind and will of the Lord, it is the word of the Lord, and it is the power of God unto salvation. -- JD 16:263, October 8, 1873.
EVERY MAN AND WOMAN MAY ENJOY PROPHECY. It is the privilege of every man and woman in this kingdom to enjoy the spirit of prophecy, which is the Spirit of God; and to the faithful it reveals such things as are necessary for their comfort and consolation, and to guide them in their daily duties. -- JD 9:324, April 8, 1862.
Oh! Ye Latter-day Saints, you talk about revelation, and wonder if there is any revelation. Why, bless your souls, say nothing about the apostles and elders around me, these mountains contain thousands upon thousands of devoted women, holy women, righteous women, virtuous women, who are filled with the inspiration of Almighty God. Yes, these women have brought forth an army of sons and daughters in these mountains, by the power of God, and these sons and daughters partake of the inspiration of their mothers, as well as of their fathers. . . . Yes, we have revelation. The Church of God could not live twenty-four hours without revelation. -- DW 45:545, October 9, 1892.
"O MY FATHER," A REVELATION TO A WOMAN. With regard to our position before we came here, I will say that we dwelt with the Father and with the Son, as expressed in the hymn, "O My Father," that has been sung here. That hymn is a revelation, though it was given unto us by a woman -- Sister Eliza R. Snow. There are a great many sisters who have the spirit of revelation. There is no reason why they should not be inspired as well as men. -- MS 56:229, April 9, 1894.
AN ACKNOWLEDGED PEOPLE LED BY REVELATION. We cannot find anywhere within the lids of the Bible where the Lord ever had a people he acknowledged, except they were led by immediate revelation. -- JD 2:192, February 25, 1855.
THE POWER OF FAITH IN REVEALING THE WORD OF THE LORD. If this people would rise up and do their duty, when men rise before them in this stand to point out the way of life, the Spirit of the Lord would reveal the things necessary for the people to understand, for the faith of the people would draw them out. All that is required is for the people to arouse themselves, and get the light of God within them. -- JD 4:193, January 25, 1857.
EXERCISE FAITH IN THE REVELATIONS OF GOD. As the ancients had faith; as the world was created by faith; as Noah built an ark and preached the gospel of repentance for one hundred twenty years by faith; as Abraham went out not knowing where he was going by faith; as the ancients performed many mighty works, such as the subduing of cities and kingdoms by faith; therefore I say to the Latter-day Saints, you are required by the God of Israel, your heavenly Father, and by his Son Jesus Christ, by the holy angels, and by every principle of eternal truth, to exercise faith in the revelations of God, for they will be fulfilled as the Lord lives. -- JD 25:10, January 6, 1884.
REVELATION AND DISCERNMENT. There has never been a time when a doctrine has been presented to us by the servants of God that has appeared new or mysterious, but what the Spirit of God has been ready to bear testimony to the truth of the same. When there have been cases of contention to know who was the biggest man, the Spirit of God has always made known who was in the wrong, and this is a great blessing unto us, one of the greatest that ever was given unto the children of men, to be able to discern the right from the wrong in all cases that may come under our observation. -- JD 9:325, April 8, 1862.
TRUTH IS WHAT WE ARE AFTER. Truth is what we are after, and we are not afraid of the doctrines of any man; we are willing to stand by the revelations of God. -- JD 17:194, October 7, 1874.
PRIESTHOOD: LIVING COMMUNICATION. The Holy Priesthood is the channel through which God communicates and deals with man upon the earth; and the heavenly messengers that have visited the earth to communicate with man are men who held and honored the priesthood while in the flesh; and everything that God has caused to be done for the salvation of man, from the coming of man upon the earth to the redemption of the world, has been and will be by virtue of the everlasting priesthood. -- MS 51:657 (1889).
A BRIEF HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE PRIESTHOOD. The highest calling the Lord ever called any human being to, in any age of the world, has been to receive the Holy Priesthood, with its keys and powers, and to be called to go forth to the inhabitants of the earth and teach them the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and to qualify and prepare them for a part in the first resurrection and to go back into the presence of God, their Creator, to dwell in glory worlds without end. The Lord bestowed that blessing, that priesthood and that power in the beginning of creation. Father Adam was called of God and ordained to the fulness of the Melchizedek Priesthood -- ordained to the highest office and gift of God to man on the earth. Adam bestowed that blessing upon seven of his sons -- Seth, Enos, Jared, Canaan, Mahalaleel, Enoch, and Methuselah. They were all ordained high priests by their father Adam, and possessed the privilege and the right to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ and to give it to the human family, so that they mighty qualify and prepare themselves for eternal life. In tracing the history of the dealings of God with men from that day to this, we find the Lord has in various dispensations and times given unto the sons of men that blessing. Israel had it in the beginning, from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob down, and until Moses, who traveled with the children of Israel forty years in the wilderness. They had the gifts and graces of that priesthood bestowed upon them, and they had the privilege of magnifying their callings and preparing themselves for eternal life. But Israel would not accept the Melchizedek Priesthood, and therefore it was taken from them, and the lesser priesthood was conferred upon them while they traveled in the wilderness. It is not necessary for me to spend time in tracing this priesthood through the six thousand years that have past and gone; but it has been manifest in every age and dispensation when God has had prophets and apostles on the earth. Jesus Christ came into the world in the meridian of time. He was the great high priest to Israel. He was the Son of God, the Savior of the world. He chose his apostles, he organized his church. He bestowed upon these apostles all the gifts and graces belonging to the apostleship. In that dispensation it seems that they were called to lay down their lives for the word of God and testimony of Jesus Christ. The Savior himself was put to death. The apostles were all, with one exception, put to death in their day and time, until finally the priesthood was taken home to God, and remained there for a length of time. But my views are that whenever the inhabitants of the earth were prepared for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of the priesthood, it has been bestowed upon them. -- MS 58:305-306, April 5, 1896.
ADAM'S PRIESTHOOD. I find in the history recorded in the Bible, from the days of Adam down through the different dispensations and generations, that prophets have existed on the earth. Adam, himself, was a prophet, and he ordained his sons to the Melchizedek Priesthood; the gospel of Christ was taught to him after the Fall, and he attended to the ordinances of the house of God. He was a high priest, and, as a high priest, held the keys of the kingdom of God. There were many sons who were high priests, having been ordained to this office by their father Adam. Three years before his death he called together Seth, Enos, Jared, Cainan, Mahaleel, Methuselah, and many other of his descendants in the valley of Adam-Ondi-Ahman, and there rose up and blessed them with his great and last patriarchal blessing. This has been given to us by revelation; and these men were prophets and high priests. -- JD 13:319, September 5, 1869.
THE POSITION OF ADAM AND NOAH IN THE PRIESTHOOD. The Prophet Joseph taught us that father Adam was the first man on the earth to whom God gave the keys of the everlasting priesthood. He held the keys of the presidency, and was the first man who did hold them. Noah stood next to him, he being the father of all living in his day, as Adam was in his day. These two men were the first who received the priesthood in the eternal worlds, before the worlds were formed. They were the first who received the everlasting priesthood or presidency on the earth. Father Adam stands at the head, so far as this world is concerned. Of course, Jesus Christ is the Great High Priest of the salvation of the human family. But Adam holds those keys in the world today; he will hold them to the endless ages of eternity. And Noah, and every man who has ever held or will hold the keys of presidency of the kingdom of God, from that day until the scene is wound up, will have to stand before Father Adam and give an account of the keys of that priesthood, as we all will have to give an account unto the Lord, of the principles that we have received when our work is done in the flesh. -- DW 38:389, March 3, 1889.
GREATNESS OF JOSEPH SMITH. I look upon Joseph Smith as the greatest prophet that ever breathed the breath of life, excepting Jesus Christ. Father Adam, as I have said, stands at the head; but Joseph Smith was reserved to lay the foundation of this great kingdom and dispensation of salvation to the whole human family in these last days, to build up Zion, to establish God's kingdom, and to prepare it for the coming of the Son of Man. He held these keys. . . . After him, as has been said, came Brother Brigham. -- DW 38:389, March 3, 1889.
TO ADMINISTER THE ORDINANCES OF THE GOSPEL. What is the priesthood for? It is to administer the ordinances of the gospel, even the gospel of our Father in heaven, the eternal God, the Eloheim of the Jews and the God of the Gentiles, and all he has ever done from the beginning has been performed by and through the power of that priesthood, which is "without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life," and the administration of his servants holding this priesthood is binding, being the savior of life unto life or death unto death. -- JD 19:360, June 30, 1878.
TO DO THE WORKS WHICH GOD HIMSELF HAS PERFORMED. I have ever read with a great deal of interest that revelation given to Joseph Smith in answer to his prayer in Liberty jail. I have ever looked upon that revelation of God to that man, considering the few sentences it includes, as containing as much principle as any revelation God ever gave to man. He gave Joseph to understand that he held the priesthood, which priesthood was after the order of God, after the order of Melchizedek, the same priesthood by which God himself performed all his works in the heavens and in the earth, and any man who bore that priesthood had the same power. That priesthood had communication with the heavens, power to move the heavens, power to perform the work of the heavens, and wherever any man magnified that calling, God gave his angels charge concerning him and his ministrations were of power and force both in this world and the world to come; but let that man use that priesthood for any other purpose than the building up of the kingdom of God, for which purpose it was given, and the heavens withdraw themselves, the power of the priesthood departs, and he is left to walk in darkness and not in light, and this is the key to apostasy of all men whether in this generation or any other. -- JD 21:190-191, July 3, 1880.
Let me say to this congregation that our heavenly Father performs all his works -- the creation of worlds, the redemption of world -- by the power of the eternal priesthood. And no man on earth, from the days of father Adam to the present time, has ever had power to administer in any of the ordinances of life and salvation only by the power of the Holy Priesthood. You will find this to be the case in the whole history of the prophets of God.
"NO MAN TAKETH THIS HONOR UNTO HIMSELF." When Aaron was given the priesthood he was called by revelation. "No man taketh this honor unto himself but he that is called of God as was Aaron." Jesus Christ himself had to be called of God. He was a high priest. He left the priesthood on the earth with his apostles. They officiated in it until they were put to death. It is by that power that we administer in this day and generation. -- JD 24:242-3, July 20, 1883.
PRIESTHOOD -- AN ELEMENT OF DIFFERENCE WITH THE CHRISTIAN WORLD. With regard to priesthood we differ from the Christian world. We believe there is no man in heaven or upon earth that administers in the ordinances of the gospel without the priesthood, and we defy the whole world to point to a single passage of scripture from the time of father Adam down to Jesus Christ, showing that any man had power to administer in any of the ordinances of the gospel without the priesthood. And we say as Paul said, in referring to this delegated power of heaven, that "no man taketh this honor to himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron:" and he was called of God through Moses with whom he communicated. Therefore men cannot legally and authoritatively go forth to preach the gospel until they are sent; and men cannot hear the word and be converted by the same unless they hear it through the mouth of a preacher who is sent, and who has power to administer in the ordinances of the gospel. -- JD 23:78, March 26, 1882.
ALL HAVE POWER. All the organizations of the priesthood have power. The deacon has power, through the priesthood which he holds. So has the teacher. They have power to go before the Lord and have their prayers heard and answered, as well as the prophet, the seer, or the revelator has. It is by this priesthood that the work of God has been accomplished. It is by this priesthood that men have ordinances conferred upon them, that their sins are forgiven, and that they are redeemed. For this purpose has it been revealed and sealed upon our heads. -- MS 52:595-596 (1890).
POWER IS FOR HUMAN GOOD. Let all Israel remember that the eternal and everlasting priesthood is bestowed upon us for the purpose alone of administering in the ordinances of life and salvation, both for the living and the dead, and no man on earth can use that priesthood for any other purpose than for the work of the ministry, the perfecting of the Saints, edifying the body of Christ, establishing the kingdom of heaven, and redeeming Zion. If we attempt to use it for unrighteous purposes, like lightning from heaven, our power, sooner or later, falls, and we fail to accomplish the designs of God. -- MS, 49:546, August, 1887.
ETERNAL NATURE OF BLESSINGS CONFERRED BY THE PRIESTHOOD. When an apostle, or president, bishop, or any man holding the priesthood officiates, he administers by the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ; then that priesthood has effect, and all the blessings that a servant of God bestows upon the children of men will take effect both in this life and in that which is to come. If I have a blessing given to me by the Holy Priesthood, or if I receive a blessing from a patriarch, those gifts and blessings will reach into the other world; and if I am true to my covenants through this life, I can claim every blessing that has been conferred upon me, because that authority by which they were conferred is ordained of God; and it is that by which the sons of the Most High administer unto the children of men and ordinances of life and salvation; and those official acts will have their effect upon those persons beyond the grave as well as in this life. These are the true riches; they are riches that will last to all eternity, and we have power through these blessings, conferred by the gospel, to receive our bodies again, and to preserve our identity in eternity. -- JD 9:162-163, December 1, 1861.
THE SEALING ORDINANCES. There is not a man who has lived since the Church went into the wilderness and the kingdom of God was taken from the earth, until Moroni rent the veil and gave to Joseph Smith the records of the Book of Mormon, and until Peter, James and John sealed upon him the keys of the Holy Priesthood, who can claim a wife in the resurrection. Not one of them has been married for eternity, but only until death. But unto the Latter-day Saints the sealing ordinances have been revealed, and they will have effect after death, and, as I have said, will reunite men and women eternally in the family organization. Herein is why these principles are a part of our religion, and by them husbands and wives, parents and children will be reunited until the links in the chain are reunited back to father Adam. We could not obtain a fulness of celestial glory without this sealing ordinance . . . which is one of the most glorious principles of our religion. -- JD 13:167, December 12, 1869.
PROPER AUTHORITY. There never was a man and never will be a man, in this or any other age of the world, who has power and authority to administer in one of the ordinances of the house of God, unless he is called of God as was Aaron, unless he has the Holy Priesthood and is administered to by those holding that authority. -- JD 16:266, October 8, 1873.
THE KEYS DELIVERED. Every key relating to this dispensation was given to the Prophet Joseph, and they remain with the priesthood today. We have no right to walk in the dark. -- JD 19:135-136, October 13, 1877.
JOSEPH'S FINAL MEETING WITH THE TWELVE. All that President Young or myself, or any member of the quorum need have done in the matter was to have referred to the last instructions at the last meeting we had with the Prophet Joseph before starting on our mission [to the eastern states]. I have alluded to that meeting many times in my life.
The Prophet Joseph, I am now satisfied, had a thorough presentiment that that was the last meeting we would hold together here in the flesh. We had had our endowments; we had had all the blessings sealed upon our heads that were ever given to the apostles or prophets on the face of the earth. On that occasion the Prophet Joseph rose up and said to us: "Brethren, I have desired to live to see this temple built. I shall never live to see it, but you will. I have sealed upon your heads all the keys of the kingdom of God. I have sealed upon you every key, power, principle that the God of heaven has revealed to me. Now, no matter where I may go or what I may do, the kingdom rests upon you."
Now, don't you wonder why we, as apostles, could not have understood that the prophet of God was going to be taken away from us? But we did not understand it. The apostles in the days of Jesus Christ could not understand what the Savior meant when he told them "I am going away; if I do not go away the Comforter will not come." Neither did we understand what Joseph meant. "But," he said, after having done this, "ye apostles of the Lamb of God, my brethren, upon your shoulders this kingdom rests; now you have got to round up your shoulders and bear off the kingdom." And he also made this very strange remark, "If you do not do it you will be damned."
THE KEYS EMBRACED IN THE APOSTLESHIP. I am the last man living who heard that declaration. He told the truth, too; for would not any of the men who have held the keys of the kingdom of God or an apostleship in this Church have been under condemnation, and would not the wrath of God have rested upon them if they had deserted these principles or denied and turned from them and undertaken to serve themselves instead of the work of the Lord which was committed to their hands?
When the Lord gave the keys of the kingdom of God, the keys of the Melchizedek Priesthood, of the apostleship, and sealed them upon the head of Joseph Smith, he sealed them upon his head to stay here upon the earth until the coming of the Son of Man. Well might Brigham Young say, "The keys of the kingdom of God are here." They were with him to the day of his death. They then rested upon the head of another man -- President John Taylor. He held those keys to the hour of his death. They then fell by turn, or in the providence of God, upon Wilford Woodruff.
I say to the Latter-day Saints, the keys of the kingdom of God are here, and they are going to stay here, too, until the coming of the Son of Man. Let all Israel understand that. They may not rest upon my head but a short time, but they will then rest on the head of another apostle, and another after him, and so continue until the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the clouds of heaven to "reward every man according to the deeds done in the body."
THE KEYS ARE EXERCISED BY MEANS OF PRESIDENCY. I want to add another thing because I feel it my duty to say it to the Latter-day Saints. There is a feeling -- it was so in the days of Joseph Smith -- that he was not the man to lead the Church. Even his bosom friends, men with whom he saw the angels of God, Oliver Cowdery and others, considered him a fallen prophet and thought they ought to lead the Church. This history is before you and before the world. The same feeling was manifest in the days of Brigham Young when he was called to hold the keys of the Presidency of the Church. There were other men who thought they should be appointed to that office. But the God of heaven manifested to you, and to me, and to all men, who were in Nauvoo, upon whom the mantle had fallen. Brigham Young took his place, and led the Church and kingdom of God up to the day of his death.
There are men today, there will be men till the coming of the Son of Man, I expect, who feel as though they ought to lead the Church, as though it is not going on right -- that this, that, and the other is wrong. I say to all Israel at this day, I say to the whole world, that the God of Israel, who organized this Church and kingdom, never ordained any President or Presidency to lead it astray. Hear it, ye Israel, no man who has ever breathed the breath of life can hold these keys of the kingdom of God and lead the people astray. -- MS 51:546-547 (1889).
EXERCISING THE POWER OF THE PRIESTHOOD: PRESIDENT WOODRUFF'S BLESSING TO THE OCTOBER CONFERENCE, 1890. (President W. Woodruff stepped forward to the breastwork of the stand and said): Before dismissing this conference I want to say a few words to the Latter-day Saints. The Lord has said, by revelation, to those who hold the keys of the kingdom of God: "Whomsoever thou shalt bless I will bless and whomsoever thou shalt curse I will curse."
I have traveled something like a hundred and seventy-five thousand miles in my day and time, and I have preached the gospel to the nations, to the islands of the sea and to my own country. I have met, in some instances, men who profess to have faith in God and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who have stood up before me and cursed the Prophet of God, Joseph Smith, and blasphemed the name of God. But in the midst of all these things, I have never seen a moment of my life when I felt to curse anybody. I hope I never shall. But I have told these men, under these circumstances, that the curse of God would overtake them; and in no instance, when I have been moved upon to say that, has it ever fallen unfulfilled; for they have been marked cases of the judgments of God overtaking them. But with regard to blessings, I will say, if there was ever an hour in my life that I felt to bless the Latter-day Saints, it is at the present time. My heart is drawn out with love and gratitude to God and my brethren with whom I am surrounded. I have been sustained as a weak instrument in the hands of God as the President of this Church. Since I have been called to this office I have been sustained by the Latter-day Saints, and for over fifty years of my life as an apostle. Why should not my heart be drawn out in love to such a people? The world know not the love of the Latter-day Saints. They do not comprehend it. It never entered into their souls. I am surrounded here with prophets, apostles, elders and Saints of the living God; and in the morning of the resurrection, when they come out of their graves, they will pass by the Gods and the angels who are set there to watch the interests of the celestial world; they will go to those thrones, kingdoms, principalities and powers which have been ordained of God for them to occupy -- those who dwell in this dispensation as well as in other ages of the world. If I am faithful, I shall meet you there; I shall meet these Saints of the living God there. Therefore, I feel it is my privilege to bless the Latter-day Saints. I cannot go abroad, as a man, and spread this gospel to the world and administer to them the ordinances thereof, to have any effect, without the Holy Priesthood; and I, as a man, cannot bless the inhabitants of earth, so that the Lord is bound to acknowledge it, only by the power of the Holy Priesthood; and that power I feel to exercise at the present time in blessing my brethren and sisters.
In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I feel to bless my counselors -- Presidents George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith. They have stood by me in all the labors of life, as far as we have been associated, since we have entered into the new and everlasting covenant. On the same principle I feel to bless these apostles who surround me. We have been united. We are united in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they have the gratitude of my heart for the labors of love and life which they have carried out in their day and time. I feel to bless the presidents of the seventies, with all their quorums in this Church, with every blessing that I have power to bestow upon them, as a servant of the living God. I feel to bless the high priests, who bear the high and Holy Priesthood after the order of Melchizedek -- their presidents and all who belong to the quorums. I also feel to bless the thousands of the elders of Israel who have entered into covenant with the Lord, who have received a portion of the Melchizedek Priesthood, and who have gone forth and been faithful in the ordinances of the house of God. I feel to bless the bishopric and the lesser priesthood, which is after the order of Aaron -- the first priesthood sealed upon the heads of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery by John the Baptist, who held it, and who laid down his life for the word of God and testimony of Jesus Christ. I feel to bless these Latter-day Saints, as fathers and mothers, as brothers and sisters, in all the ordinances of the house of God. I feel to bless them in their families, in their flocks, and in their herds, and in all they put their hands unto. As far as I have the power to bless, they have the blessings of my heart and my spirit, in every sense of the word. And I say to all Israel, God bless you.
Let us live, brethren and sisters, that when we have finished our work and our testimony, as other generations have done, we will receive the same exaltation and glory. The world do not know you. The world do not know this work. They do not understand it. They have not entered into the spirit of it; they never will except they obey the gospel of Jesus Christ and the law of the celestial kingdom.
(The vast audience then rose to their feet and President Woodruff pronounced the final benediction.) -- MS 52:755-757. (1890).
THE PRIESTHOOD AND ITS WORK ETERNAL. The same priesthood exists on the other side of the veil. Every man who is faithful is in his quorum there. When a man dies and his body is laid in the tomb, he does not lose his position. The prophet Joseph Smith held the keys of this dispensation on this side of the veil, and he will hold them throughout the countless ages of eternity. He went into the spirit world to unlock the prison doors and to preach the gospel to the millions of spirits who are in darkness, and every apostle, every seventy, every elder, etc., who has died in the faith, as soon as he passes to the other side of the veil, enters into the work of the ministry, and there is a thousand times more to preach there than there is here.
REALITY OF THE WORK IN ETERNITY. I have felt of late as if our brethren on the other side of the veil had held a council, and that they had said to this one, and that one, "Cease thy work on earth, come hence, we need help," and they have called this man and that man. It has appeared so to me in seeing the many men who have been called from our midst lately. -- JD 22:333-334, October 8, 1881.
And I will here say that every elder of Israel who lays down his life, whether he dies in his bed, or is put to death by the enemies of truth, when he goes into the spirit world his works follow him, and he rests in peace. The priesthood is not taken from him, and he has thousands more to preach to there than he ever had here in the flesh. But it depends upon the living here to erect temples, that the ordinances for the dead may be attended to, for by and by you will meet your progenitors in the spirit world who never heard the sound of the gospel. You who are here in Zion have power to be baptized for and to redeem your dead. -- JD 17:250, October 9, 1874.
THE BASIC DOCTRINE. What does the Savior, the Son of God, say to us in our testament? He says, in speaking of the priesthood of Melchizedek, that "they who receive this priesthood receive me, saith the Lord; for he that receiveth my servants receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth my Father; and he that receiveth my Father, receiveth my Father's kingdom; therefore, all that my Father hath shall be given unto him. And this is according to the oath and covenant which belongeth to the priesthood. Therefore, all those who receive the priesthood, receive this oath and covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved." (Doctrine and Covenants 84:35-40.)
Who in the name of the Lord can apprehend such language as this? Who can comprehend that, by obeying the celestial law, all that our Father has shall be given unto us -- exaltations, thrones, principalities, power, dominion -- who can comprehend it? Nevertheless it is here stated. How few there are on the earth today, or in any dispensation, who have been able to abide the celestial law of God. It brings down the hatred of the whole generation in which we live. No man can live the celestial law without bringing upon his head persecution. It cost the Savior his life; he suffered an ignominious death upon the cross. Joseph Smith sealed his testimony with his blood, as also have others connected with this Church and kingdom. -- JD 22:209, January 9, 1881.
ALL WHO RECEIVE THE PRIESTHOOD RECEIVE THE OATH AND COVENANT. I often reflect upon the promises made concerning the priesthood. The Lord, in a revelation upon this subject, says, Doctrine and Covenants, Section 84, 33rd to 40th verses: "For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies. * * * all that my Father hath shall be given unto him. Therefore, all those who receive the priesthood, receive this oath and covenant of my Father, which he cannot break, neither can it be moved."
JOINT HEIRSHIP WITH JESUS. Now, I sometimes ask myself the question, Do we comprehend these things? Do we comprehend that if we abide the laws of the priesthood we shall become heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ? I realize that our eyes have not seen, our ears have not heard, neither hath it entered into our hearts to conceive the glory that is in store for the faithful.
THE PRIESTHOOD TO BE PROVEN AND TRIED. We are placed in a position to be proven and tried; we must be, we have been, we shall be, until we get through with our labors in the flesh. The Lord told Joseph Smith that he would prove us in all things, whether we will abide in his covenant, even unto death, that we may be found worthy: "for if we will not abide in his covenant; we are not worthy of him." Jesus Christ abode in the covenant; he kept all the commandments while he was upon the earth. He even was baptized by the hands of John, although it was not for the remission of Sin, but to fulfil all righteousness. There was no part of the gospel that Christ did not fulfil, and he called upon Joseph Smith to fulfil the same. This he did. He laid down his life. He went to the spirit world, and he is there watching over this people. He has power there, and so have our brethren who have gone to the other side of the veil. They are laboring for us. They are watching to see how we perform the work left to our charge. -- JD 23:329-330, December 10, 1882.
APOSTASY IS NOT PROFITABLE FOR THE PRIESTHOOD. It won't pay to apostatize: "there is no money in it." Any man who receives this priesthood and tastes of the word of God, and of the powers of the world to come -- any man that turns away from these things, apostatizes, and turns away from the Church of God, shall not, in accordance with the revelations of the Lord to Joseph Smith, "have forgiveness of sins in this world nor in the world to come." (Doctrine and Covenants 84:41.) -- JD 23:331, December 10, 1882.
"WE ARE UNDER SACRED COVENANTS TO STAND BY THE TRUTH." Let me say to my brethren and sisters, our responsibilities are great, far greater than the outside world who reject the gospel. We have received the light, the knowledge of God; we are under sacred covenants to stand by the truth, and by one another in righteousness. If we are found traitors to the cause, crucifying the Son of Man afresh, great will be our condemnation. -- JD 18:221, August 13, 1876.
WE MUST WAKE UP! I feel that we as a people have got to rise up and clothe ourselves with the power of God. There must be a reformation, or a change, in our midst. There is too much evil among us. The devil has got too much power over us. A good many that bear the name of Christ and the Holy Priesthood, are getting cold in the things of God. We must wake up; we must trim our lamps, and be prepared for the coming of the Son of Man. -- JD 21:285, July 3, 1880.
REASONS FOR WEEDING OUT UNRIGHTEOUSNESS. If we are afraid to rebuke iniquity, or ashamed to cast it off ourselves, Israel would go to hell, we should be cut off as a people, and the Lord would raise up another, for he is bound to have a people in the last days who will keep his commandments, and magnify their calling, and prove themselves friends of God, and maintain the principles of righteousness, and honor them before God, angels, and men, that his kingdom may be established in purity, and be prepared for the coming of the Messiah; for Christ is coming again to earth; he is preparing the bride, and here is a portion of it before me today.
Will he receive us to himself? Are we prepared for his coming and kingdom and fulness thereof, unless we are sanctified, and lay aside sin, and do right? No. We must sanctify ourselves, and keep the commandments of God, and do these things that are required at our hands, before we can be prepared for the coming of the Great Bridegroom. -- JD 2:202, February 25, 1855.
A CALL TO THE PRIESTHOOD TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY. It is the word of the Lord through the mouth of his servant Brigham, and has been for a long time the word of the Lord to me, that as twelve apostles, as seventy apostles, as high priests, and as elders of Israel, it is time that we should rise up and bear the burden that rests upon the shoulders of Brigham Young, who is far advanced in life, and has had the weight and burden of this Church and kingdom upon his shoulders. It is our duty to rise up and bear off this burden, and lift it from our President, and also to cry aloud unto the people to unite themselves together. It is our duty to cease shaking in our shoes for fear the Lord Almighty should give some of his words to govern and control us in our temporal affairs. Who, to use a comparison, expects to have a forty-acre lot alone in the kingdom of God, or in heaven, when we get there? None need expect it, for in that kingdom, in heaven or upon earth, we shall find unity, and the Lord requires at our hands that we unite together, according to the principles of his celestial law.
This is what I consider to be the word of the Lord to us. It is our duty to unite ourselves together, and to sustain the institutions which have been established in these mountains by the revelations of God unto us. -- JD 18:126-127, September 12, 1875.
WE CAN AFFORD TO SERVE GOD. I wish to say to our leading men, the presidency of this Church, the twelve apostles, the presidents of stakes and their counselors, the bishops, the seventies, the high priests and elders, and to all men bearing the Holy Priesthood, as well as to all who have entered into covenant with God, that we can, as individuals and as a people, afford to maintain our integrity in this our day and generation, regardless of consequences. We can afford to be true and faithful to God; we can afford to carry out every principle and commandment which God has given unto us; we can afford to do this, as much so as prophets and apostles and people of God of other dispensations and generations. And I would say to all Israel, there is not one soul of us who can afford to compromise one of the revelations or one of the commandments which God has committed to our charge. No man can afford to do this who is called of God to build up this kingdom. We can afford, however, to meet the consequences, whatever they may be. And I would say to all present this day, we should have, and that we have as much comfort, as much hope and as much cause to trust in God, and have received as much encouragement, by the overruling hand of Almighty God in our behalf, to go on magnifying our calling and to be true and faithful to every commandment which God has given unto us, as the people of any other generation had in their day; and for one I can say, "It is the kingdom of God or nothing" for me, and I am willing to risk the consequences.
I know that I cannot afford to disobey any commandment which God has given to me, because there is no man who holds the priesthood, and possessing the inspiration and the gifts of God and the light of truth, but would be ashamed both in the flesh and in the spirit world to meet his God, and to be obliged to acknowledge that he did not obey his commandments. And I will here say that whenever we do our duty, whenever we keep the commandments which have been made known to us, we will see the fulfilment of the promises which God has made to us with regard to this day, age and dispensation. There is no promise which God has made to us but what will be fulfilled to the very letter. -- JD 22:146, April 3, 1881.
CHASTISEMENT. Do I blame President Young because he chastises us? No. Would he be a father to us, a prophet, and a high priest of God, if he saw his brethren going wrong, and would not warn and chastise them? The chastisement of a friend is far better than the kisses of an enemy. -- JD 2:198, February 25, 1855.
TO THE PRIESTHOOD -- "BEAR OFF THIS KINGDOM!". I feel to say to my brethren who have received the Holy Priesthood: we occupy a position in the world which is of great importance to us. We have received the teachings of heaven; in fact, I believe there never was a people since God made the world, who received more teachings than the Latter-day Saints for the last fifty years. The world has rejected the light of truth, and the fulness of the Gentiles will come in. But it is our duty to preach the gospel to them, until the Lord says, "It is enough." We must roundup our shoulders, and bear off this kingdom. -- JD 22:208, January 9, 1881.
AN APPEAL TO SEEK ETERNAL REALITIES. Brethren, for God's sake do not let us set our hearts on the things of this world to the neglect of the things of eternal life. Do not let the bishops feel it is a hard matter to carry out any of the counsels given by those who are called to direct all these things. Bless your souls, if you lived here in the flesh a thousand years, as long as Father Adam, and lived and labored all your life in poverty, and when you got through, if, by your acts, you could secure your wives and children in the morning of the first resurrection, to dwell with you in the presence of God, that one thing would amply pay you for the labors of a thousand years. What is anything we can do or suffer, to be compared with the multiplicity of kingdoms, thrones, and principalities that God has revealed to us?
Well, we have got the kingdom, and we must bear it off. -- JD 21:284, July 3, 1880.
SOME CHARACTERISTICS. I rejoice before the Lord this day that we have leaders in Israel that are qualified for their place and station to preside over this people, and who will seek their welfare, and are not afraid or ashamed to rebuke wickedness in high places, whether manifested by their brethren or neighbors if they do wrong. Their minds are quick as the vivid lightning of heaven; they are filled with the visions of eternity; they are not asleep, but they comprehend the elements around them; they read and digest them, and they know exactly what course to pursue; the leaders of this people know what they are doing, what is approaching the world; and we may all know the same things by reading the scriptures and by prayer, and through the ministering of the Holy Ghost conferred upon us. -- JD 2:197, February 25, 1855.
WHY GOD CALLS THE HUMBLE. The Lord has chosen the weak things of the world to lead this people. Joseph Smith was but a young man when he died -- not forty years of age. He lived nearly fourteen years after the organization of this Church. President Brigham Young followed him. Who was Brigham Young? He was a painter and glazier. He was a humble man. But the Lord called him to lead this people. You know what he has done, and the spirit that was with him. The Lord was with him, and he continued to lead this people by the power of God and by the revelations of Jesus Christ. He laid the foundation of a great work in these mountains of Israel. Many strangers who have recently visited us have marveled and wondered at Salt Lake City being laid out in the manner it was. I have told them that I helped Brigham Young lay out this city in the midst of sagebrush, in 1847. There was not a white man's house then within a thousand miles of us. What was John Taylor? He was a wood turner, and he led the Church for quite a time. Wilford Woodruff was a miller and a farmer; that was about the highest ambition he ever arrived at as far as this world was concerned. That is about the way the Lord has chosen these men. Why did he not choose these learned and great men? As I have often said, he could not handle them. God has always chosen the weak things of the earth. -- MS 53:782 (1891).
LEADERSHIP AND THE FLOCK. I contend that there is one principle by which the Lord leads his servants, and if we are faithful, they will lead us in the way of life; and inasmuch as we have faith to believe in their instructions -- in the teachings of the Holy Spirit through them, we are always in the safe path, and shall be sure of our reward.
You take a shepherd, for instance; and, according to the ancient practice, we learn that they always went forward and prepared the way, so that there could be no danger in advance but what the shepherd would learn of in time to save the sheep. If they are allowed to run by the shepherd, the wolves are apt to catch them and destroy them; and the very moment that men in this kingdom attempt to run ahead or cross the path of their leaders, no matter in what respect, the moment they do this they are in danger of being injured by the wolves. -- JD 5:83, April 9, 1857.
COUNSEL FROM THE FIRST PRESIDENCY. Whatever counsel the Presidency of this Church have been led to give unto this people, it has been dictated by the Spirit and power of God, and our safety and salvation lies in obeying that counsel and putting it into practice. We should learn to listen to the operation and manifestation of the Spirit of Truth. -- JD 4:94-95, October 6, 1856.
Pray for the Presidency of this Church -- pray for them to have the spirit of revelation. -- JD 5:269, September 27, 1857.
SUSTAINING THE PRESIDENCY. Then I hope my brethren and sisters will feel in their hearts to sustain the Presidency of the Church, by their faith, works, and prayers, and not suffer them to carry all the load, while we hide ourselves in the rear. If we should do this we are not worthy, we are not worthy of our position as elders in Israel, and fathers and mothers in Israel. Let each one bear their share; and if we will correct our own follies, and set in order our own houses, and do that which is right, we shall then do some good, and help to lift the load that rests upon those that lead. -- JD 2:199-200, February 25, 1855.
"THE HIGHER OUR POSITION THE MORE OUR RESPONSIBILITY." The position which I occupy, and that occupied by my brethren the apostles, should not have tendency, if we have the Spirit of God, to make us lifted up or exalted in our spirits before the Lord. I know, as the God of Israel lives, that I have no power, nor have I had, in this Church, to perform any work pertaining to this kingdom, until it has been given unto me by the God of heaven. I know Joseph Smith had not, nor Brigham Young, nor John Taylor, nor any apostle or elder in this Church and kingdom. And the moment that I attempt to become lifted up in the pride of my heart, because of any position that I hold, that moment I become a very unwise man. So with anyone else. The higher our position the more our responsibility. -- MS 51:338 (1889).
THE OBLIGATIONS OF THE PRESIDENT AND OTHER AUTHORITIES OF THE CHURCH. It is my duty to have fellowship with God, as weak an instrument as I am in the hands of God. It is my duty to have power with God. And when I have this, then my counselors should stand by me and with me. We should be of one heart and mind in all matters, temporal and spiritual, that come before us in the labor of the Church and kingdom of God. And I am thankful to say that this has been the case since I have been called to this position, or since the organization of the Presidency of the Church. Standing connected with us here are the Twelve Apostles. It is their duty to be of one heart and one mind. They have no right to be otherwise. They cannot be otherwise and prosper before God. They should be one with us, and we one with them. They have their rights; they have their agency. But when the Presidency of the Church say unto any of them, "This is the word of the Lord," or, "This is right," they should take hold and work with us. The law of God requires this union at our hands. It is the duty of the seventies, also, to be united with the Twelve Apostles. The seventies are called upon by the apostles to go forth and labor in the vineyard of the Lord, and they work together. So, brethren and sisters, with every organization in this Church. There should be union. There should be no discord, no disunion. If there is, the Lord is not pleased with it, and we are hindered in our work. I want all the quorums to understand this.
The lesser priesthood should be united. Here is Bishop Preston. He stands at the head of the Aaronic Priesthood. He has got counselors. They should be united together. They should be united with the lesser priesthood, and they should labor to promote their interest and welfare. I have no fault to find with the brethren in these matters. I mention these things as duties devolving upon us. -- MS 52:594 (1890).
COMMUNION WITH GOD -- A NECESSITY. Men who have held any portion of the Holy Priesthood, and have had its gifts, graces, and blessings bestowed upon them, have been under the necessity of having communion with God. In the whole history of the world I have never read of any man whom God called to stand at the head of his work, who has not sought the Lord while in that position; and the Lord has been with him. It is my faith that the Lord will never permit any man upon whose shoulders he places the authority and power to lead Israel, to go astray, or to lead the children of God from the path of duty. The Lord would remove such a man from his place. -- MS 52:578 (1890).
THE LEADERS ARE TEMPTED. If anybody supposes that the Presidency and apostles here are never tempted of the devil, they are mistaken. We are tempted all the time, more or less, and we have to war against these things in order to stand and maintain our position. -- MS 57, 756, October 6, 1895.
WHAT IS A PROPHET. It has been remarked sometimes, by certain individuals, that President Young has said in public that he was not a prophet nor the son of a prophet. I have traveled with him since 1833, or the spring of 1834; I have traveled a good many thousand miles with him and have heard him preach a great many thousand sermons; but I have never heard him make that remark in my life. He is a prophet, I am a prophet, you are, and anybody is a prophet who has the testimony of Jesus Christ, for that is the spirit of prophecy. The elders of Israel are prophets. A prophet is not so great as an apostle. Christ has set in his Church, first, apostles; they hold the keys of the kingdom of God. -- JD 13:165, December 12, 1869.
RELATIONS BETWEEN THE PRESIDENT OF THE CHURCH AND THE APOSTLES. The Prophet Joseph, in his day, consulted with the apostles, and sought their views on important matters and principles. He would say, "I want you to tell me your views and feelings about this, that and the other." The agency which God has given us was never taken from us, either by him or his Prophet. We used to express our feelings to the Prophet, and we did so with all good conscience before God. As a general thing our views were alike; but if there was anything in them different from what Joseph considered was right, when we got through he would tell us thus and so. Then we did not stand against that, but we united upon it. One of the apostles once brought before the Prophet Joseph a very peculiar kind of a system. Joseph listened to him very patiently, and when this brother got through, he said, "Brother Joseph, what do you think of that?"
"Why," says he, "Brother ______________, it is a beautiful system, and I have only one fault in the world to find about it."
"What is it?"
"It is not true."
Of course, when a man gets up a thing that is not true, he has to lay it aside. -- MS 52:593 (1890).
THE QUESTION OF SUCCESSION. [On the 28th of March, 1887, President Wilford Woodruff wrote to one of the brethren in answer to this question: Do you know of any reason in case of the death of the President of the Church why the Twelve Apostles should not choose some other person than the President of the Twelve to be the President of the Church?"]
I know several reasons why he should not. First, at the death of the President of the Church, the Twelve Apostles become the presiding authority of the Church, and the president of the Twelve is really the President of the Church by virtue of his office as much while presiding over the Twelve Apostles as while presiding over his two counselors. In the appointment of Brigham Young and John Taylor to the Presidency of the Church, it never entered the heart of any one of the Twelve Apostles to claim the right to preside over Brigham Young or John Taylor, as they were all the presidents of the Church, and if they were not fit to preside over the Church they were not fit to preside over the Twelve Apostles. Second, in case of the death of the President of the Church it takes the majority of the Twelve Apostles to appoint the President of the Church, and it is very unreasonable to suppose that the majority of that quorum could be converted to depart from the course marked out by inspiration and followed by the apostles at the death of Christ and by the Twelve Apostles at the death of Joseph Smith. I see no reason for discussing this subject until there is some reason for it. -- Cowley 561.
BRIGHAM YOUNG'S SUCCESSION. I have heard two or three of the brethren testify about Brother Young in Nauvoo. Every man and every woman in that assembly, which perhaps might number thousands, could bear the same testimony. I was there, the Twelve were there, and a good many others, and all can bear the same testimony. The question might be asked, why was the appearance of Joseph Smith given to Brigham Young? Because here was Sidney Rigdon and other men rising up and claiming to be the leaders of the Church, and men stood, as it were, on a pivot, not knowing which way to turn. But just as quick as Brigham Young rose in that assembly, his face was that of Joseph Smith -- the mantle of Joseph had fallen upon him, the power of God that was upon Joseph Smith was upon him, he had the voice of Joseph, and it was the voice of the shepherd. There was not a person in that assembly, Rigdon, himself, not excepted, but was satisfied in his own mind that Brigham was the proper leader of the people, for he [Rigdon] would not have his name presented, by his own consent, after that sermon was delivered. There was a reason for this in the mind of God; it convinced the people. They saw and heard for themselves, and it was by the power of God. -- JD 15:81, April 8, 1872.
What position can any man occupy on the face of the earth, that is more noble, Godlike, high, and glorious than to be a messenger of salvation unto the human family? What more responsible position can a man occupy than to be an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ? I do not know of any in this or any other generation. -- JD 13:319, September 5, 1869.
THOUGHTS ON THE APOSTLESHIP: DISCOURSE AT THE FUNERAL OF EZRA T. BENSON, SEPTEMBER 5, 1869. Tracing down the sacred history through the different ages and dispensations, we learn that many prophets existed among the children of men. Moses was a lawgiver in Israel, and held the office of a prophet, seer and revelator. When I say that many prophets have existed, it probably needs some qualification. The number of persons thus honored of God has not been many when compared with the whole of the people who have lived; but in every gospel age and dispensation, God has had his prophets and servants upon the earth to make known his will to its inhabitants. In the days of Moses, elders were chosen as his counselors; and seventy elders were ordained to bear record of the things of God and to assist Moses in the work to be performed in his day; but we do not read of apostles being chosen under Moses's dispensation. Jesus tabernacled in the flesh to establish the kingdom of his Father upon the earth, and when he was thirty years of age he went forth administering in the ordinances of the house of God, and he chose twelve apostles to assist him, and he gave to them the keys of the kingdom of God. And the highest office that any man has ever held on the face of the earth in this or any other generation is that of an apostle.
We read that God set in his church first apostles, then prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, gifts, graces, and helps; and the office of an apostle entitles him to hold the keys of the kingdom of God; and what he binds on earth is bound in heaven and what he looses on earth is loosed in heaven. The history of the twelve whom Jesus chose is to be found in the New Testament; within the lids of that book their travels, the course they pursued and the doctrines they taught are published to the world. Nearly the whole of them sealed their testimony with their blood. Some were crucified as their Master was; some were beheaded; and all, except John, suffered martyrdom in some way for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. This was the fate of the first quorum of apostles we have any history of.
After the death and resurrection of the Savior, when he ministered to his disciples the last time on earth, he informed them that he had other sheep not of this fold whom he was going to visit and minister unto. The Book of Mormon is a record of the descendants of the house of Israel who dwelt on this continent anciently. In that record we find that Christ, after his death and resurrection, visited that branch of the house of Israel which dwelt on this continent. On the occasion of that visit we are informed that Jesus chose twelve apostles and gave to them the same power, keys, gifts, and graces that he had given to his apostles on the eastern continent, and they went forth and magnified their callings. All of this quorum of the Twelve Apostles had the promise of departing and being with Christ when they were seventy-two years old, except three of them. To these three Jesus gave a promise similar to that which he gave to John the Revelator namely, that they should tarry in the flesh until he came. History informs us that the wicked tried to kill John in various ways, placing him, on one occasion, in a cauldron of boiling oil, but his life was preserved; and that finally, in the reign of Domitian Caesar, he was banished to the Isle of Patmos to work in the lead mines. While there he was blessed with visions, revelations, knowledge, light and truth, a portion of which we have recorded in what are called the Revelations of St. John. In the reign of Nerva, John was recalled, and afterwards wrote his epistles. The first quorum of apostles were all put to death, except John, and we are informed that he still remains on the earth, though his body has doubtless undergone some change. Three of the Nephites, chosen here by the Lord Jesus as his apostles, had the same promise -- that they should not taste death until Christ came, and they still remain on the earth in the flesh.
Thus we have an account in the Bible and Book of Mormon of but two quorums of Twelve Apostles being chosen previous to this dispensation; but in these last days the Lord called upon Joseph Smith, gave him power and authority to organize his church and kingdom again upon the earth, and gave him the Holy Priesthood and the keys of the kingdom of God. Joseph was ordained to the apostleship under the hands of men holding the keys of the kingdom of God in the days of Jesus -- namely, Peter, James and John.
I shall not occupy time with entering into the details of these things. I have referred to them to show the importance of the office held by Brother Benson. He was a member of one of the three quorums of apostles that have ever been chosen on the face of the earth since Jesus Christ tabernacled in the flesh, that we have any knowledge of. The first was chosen when Jesus commenced his public labors in the flesh; the second after his resurrection, here on this continent; and the third, since the revelation of the gospel in our own day. Here we find only thirty-six men, chosen at various times and dispensations, in six thousand years, to hold this order of priesthood, unless they were chosen in the days of Enoch and at times in which the Bible does not inform us. This number has been increased, however, by others who have been chosen to fill vacancies in these quorums, as in the case of Judas, and others; but it is safe to say that the entire number who have held this office from the days of Adam until today has been very limited. As to the number of inhabitants who have dwelt on the earth during that period, it is a pretty difficult matter to form any correct idea in relation to it. I do not think that any statistician could tell this to any degree of correctness. It is a kind of a given point in these days to say that the population of the earth is about a thousand millions, and that this number pass away every generation. It is also estimated that about three generations pass away in a century; this gives three thousand millions in a century, thirty thousand millions in a thousand years, and one hundred and eighty thousand millions in six thousand years -- about the period that is supposed to have elapsed since the creation of man upon the earth. Whether these statistics are anything like correct it is not of much importance to discuss; but it is an important reflection that Brother Benson, who has been associated with us so many years, is one of the chosen few, of all the immense numbers who have dwelt on the face of the earth, who have been called to hold the office of apostle. -- JD 13:319-321, September 5, 1869.
SOME REQUIREMENTS OF THE APOSTLESHIP. I have been associated with the apostleship for over fifty years. I knew those men. I knew their lives. When the prophet Joseph organized the quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he taught this principle of union to them. He gave them to understand that they must be of one heart and one mind, and they must take upon themselves fully the name of Christ; that if God commanded them to do anything they must go and do it; that if they married a wife they could not stay at home three or four years to take care of her if they were called to go to the nations of the earth.
I myself started on a mission six weeks after I was married, and I was gone two or three years. So with others of my brethren. It mattered not what temporal work we had to do, when we were called to go abroad we had to go. This was one of the requirements of the apostleship. We also had to be united. We could not contend one with another. If we did, the spirit of God would be withdrawn from us, and we would receive chastisement at the hands of the Lord. Under the celestial law of the kingdom of God men must unite together; men must love one another; men must stand by this Holy Priesthood and maintain the powers of it while they dwell in the flesh, in order to honor God and to be prepared to receive their inheritance in the world to come.
As I have said before, I have been a member of the quorum of the apostles for over fifty years. I have been acquainted with its ups and downs. I have been familiar with its apostates. I have also been acquainted with the union that has existed. I can say that I never associated with a class of men that ever manifested the same love for one another as the apostles of the Church have when they have been faithful. Of course, we have seen days of sorrow. After the first quorum was called of God; after they had had the ministration of angels and seen the power of God manifested, some of them yielded to temptation. They said, "We have served God long enough, and now we are going to serve ourselves." They stopped praying and went to merchandising. They stopped serving God, and took a decided stand against the prophet whom God had raised up to lay the foundation of this Church and kingdom. What were the consequences? It sent them to perdition. Their power fell like lightning from the heaven. Their priesthood was taken from them, and sealed upon the heads of other men. It has remained so to this day, and will, for all I know, to the endless ages of eternity. With all the light they had, with all the power they had, and with all the manifestations they had from God out of heaven, they turned from these things and rejected them. Those were days of sorrow to me and to those who remained faithful; for one-half of the quorum fell and turned against Joseph. But the Lord was with him. So were Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball and others of the brethren of the quorum. They stood by him; while others deserted him and were cut off the Church and they today are in the spirit world, without the priesthood, without the crown, without their glory, and without celestial blessings that were promised them on condition of their faithfulness.
With this exception, the quorum of the Twelve Apostles have been united. We knew this was the work of God. We knew the God of heaven had laid this apostleship upon our shoulders. We knew, as Joseph Smith told us just before his martyrdom, that if we did not round up our shoulders and bear off this kingdom we would be damned. No man can receive this apostleship; no man can be called to this important calling, and then turn away from it, without condemnation or being cursed by the hand of God. It matters not what sacrifices God requires at our hands in the building up of his kingdom, we have got to meet these things and trust in him. -- MS 52:579-580 (1890).
STATEMENT ON THE SELECTION OF MARRINER W. MERRILL, ANTHON H. LUND, AND ABRAHAM H. CANNON, OCTOBER 6, 1889. I wish to say to this assembly of Latter-day Saints, that there are three vacancies in the quorum of the Twelve Apostles, in consequences of the organization of the First Presidency. We have felt that it is time to fill that quorum now, at this conference, and the people should be prepared for the presenting by the Twelve Apostles of such names as they may feel by the spirit of God to be worthy and proper persons to receive this ordination or to occupy this position. These apostles are prophets, seers and revelators. I have confidence in them; I believe they have power to present such things as would be in accordance with the will of God. They (the apostles) presented to me a list of names. I wish here to say, and I want it understood, that neither myself, President George Q. Cannon, nor President Joseph F. Smith, who are my counselors, presented any of these names. We left it with the quorum of the apostles. I became thoroughly satisfied that they had upon that list such names as would be acceptable unto the Lord. We took those names and made it a matter of prayer, and the spirit of the Lord manifested unto me those whom we should appoint. They have all been accepted by the quorum of the apostles as well as the Presidency of the Church. I have a reason for making these remarks. -- MS 51:753-754 (1889).
ADMONITION TO THE APOSTLES. I will say to the apostles, our responsibility is very great. The prophets who organized the Church and laid the foundation of this last dispensation, with a whole quorum of apostles, have finished their testimony and gone into the spirit world. We have been called to take their places. What manner of men ought we to be? The whole earth is ripening in iniquity, and the Zion of God should be prepared for the coming of the bridegroom. We should humble ourselves before the Lord, and be in a position to be filled with the spirit of our calling, with the Holy Ghost, and with the revelations of Jesus Christ, that we may know the mind and will of God concerning us, and be prepared to magnify our calling and bring to pass righteousness, and be valiant in the testimony of Jesus Christ to the end of our pilgrimage here in the flesh. The prophets, apostles, and all the heavenly hosts are watching over us. There never was a time who the work of God required a more faithful testimony and labor from the apostles and elders than today. -- MS 48:804, Epistle to the Saints Abroad, October 26, 1886.
ADMONITION TO THE SEVENTIES. I would say to the seventies, who stand connected with the quorum of the Twelve Apostles, as messengers to the nations of the earth, it has fallen to your lot to go forth and assist to prune the vineyard once mare, and for the last time, before the coming of the Son of Man. The Lord said, fifty-seven years ago, that the field was white for the harvest, and he had set his hand to prune the vineyard once more, and for the last time. The elders were commanded at that day to thrust in their sickle and reap while it was called today, for soon night would come, when no man could reap. Brethren, it is much nearer night now than it was fifty-seven years ago. The Savior said at that day, that the angels were crying day and night for the privilege to go forth and reap down the earth. He informed them they must wait a little season until the harvest was fully ripe. The nations must be warned, Zion must be established, and the wheat, or the Saints, be gathered into the garner, then the angels might go forth and reap the tares, gather them in bundles and prepare them for the burning.
Since that day many thousands of the Saints have been gathered to Zion from the nations of the earth. But you are called upon at this late day to still go forth and warn the Gentiles with the proclamation of the gospel. Therefore, brethren, you who are called to go into the vineyard, whether apostles, high priests, seventies, or elders, do not be weary in well doing. Remember, you are messengers of salvation. Keep yourselves pure and spotless before God and all men. Seek to bring to pass righteousness, and save the souls of men. Labor faithfully that your garments may be clean from the blood of all men, and that the nations may be left, without excuse in the day of God's judgments upon the wicked, which is nigh at hand, and those judgments will be poured out without measure.
All the messengers in the vineyard should be righteous and holy men, and call upon the Lord in mighty prayer, In order to prevail. It is the privilege of every elder in Israel, who is laboring in the vineyard, if he will live up to his privileges, to have dreams, visions and revelations, and the Holy Ghost as a constant companion, that he may be able thoroughly to gather out the blood of Israel and the meek of the earth, and bring them into the fold of Christ.
It is true that the elders who are called to bear record of the gospel of Christ to the nations of the earth are many times called to pass through persecution for the gospel's sake, and in some instances to lay down their lives, as did the ancient Saints, and quite a number in our day, for Christ's sake. But there seems to be a special crown of glory, laid up for every man who is martyred for Christ's sake and the gospel's. No matter in what age of the world he lays down his life for Christ's sake, he will find it again, and eternal life in the world to come, Therefore, brethren, let us be diligent in our labors in this last hour in the vineyard. The Lord said to Oliver Cowdery, if he labored all the days of his life and saved but one soul, how great would be his joy in the kingdom of heaven with that one soul. We have everything to encourage us in our labors in the vineyard of the Lord. -- MS 48:804-805, Epistle to the Saints Abroad, October 26, 1886.
A LABOR OF RESPONSIBILITY. As I view it, we are not placed here as elders of Israel, apostles, or bishops, merely to get rich in gold and silver, and the things of this world. We have a labor laid upon our shoulders. Joseph Smith had, Brigham Young had, the Twelve Apostles have, we all have, and we will be condemned if we do not fulfil it. We shall find it out when we get to the other side of the veil. It is through this neglect of duty that so many have left this Church and kingdom of God. There is hardly a tithe of the people who have been baptized in water for the remission of sins that have died in the faith. In the United States there are tens of thousands of apostate Mormons. Many a time in my reflections I have wished I could fully comprehend the responsibility I have to God, and the responsibility every man is under who bears the priesthood in this generation. But I tell you, brethren, I think our hearts are set too much upon the things of this world. We do not appreciate, as men bearing the Holy Priesthood in this generation should, the mighty responsibility we are under to God and high heaven, as well as to the earth. I think we are too far from the Lord. -- JD 21:281-282, July 3, 1880.
It is our duty as apostles, as elders and as Latter-day Saints, to contemplate, to reflect, to read the word of God, and to try to comprehend our condition, our position, and our responsibility before the Lord. If our eyes were opened, if the veil were lifted, and we could see our condition, our responsibility, and could comprehend the feelings of God our heavenly Father, and the heavenly hosts, and the justified spirits made perfect, in their watch-care over us, in their anxiety about us in our labors here in the flesh; we would all feel that we have no time to waste in folly or anything else which brings to pass no good. -- JD 21:191, July 3, 1880.
THE BISHOP'S CALLING. If we are called to the office of a bishop we should fulfil the duties pertaining to that office. I know it has been considered a very hard office, and one to which a good deal of time has to be devoted. Yet there are a great many bishops who don't spend much time in it, while others are true to their calling. A bishop's calling is an important one. He is called to be a father to the people of his ward. -- JD 21:281, July 3, 1880.
THOUGHTS FOR THE HIGH PRIESTS. While this labor is going on among the nations of the earth, there is a great labor and responsibility resting upon the whole ministry who dwell in Zion. There is labor sufficient for every man who bears any portion of the Holy Priesthood, in the various capacities in which the brethren are called to act. The high priests, whose calling is to preside, are called upon to officiate in Zion as high counselors, presidents of stakes, and counselors, bishops, and counselors, superintendents of Sabbath schools and Mutual Improvement associations. In every capacity in which they are called to act, they have an immense field in which to improve their talents and magnify their calling. Here is where the high priests are mainly called to preside, officiate and labor.
There never was a time when the Holy Priesthood, in its various branches, offices and labors, had a greater work to perform, than in our day. The searching out of iniquity, the purifying, sanctifying and cleansing of the people, the uniting of the Saints and the general perfecting of Zion, rest upon the brethren and the Holy Priesthood who dwell in Zion. . .
WORK OF THE ELDERS IN "THE INSTITUTIONS OF ZION." One of the most important and responsible fields of labor in Zion is that committed to the care of those who preside over and teach in the primaries, Sabbath schools, and Improvement associations, and those who are teaching private day schools among the Latter-day Saints. Who can comprehend the result of the labor performed by the elders of Israel in these branches? No man, unless filled with the revelations of heaven and the inspiration of Almighty God. We send out hundreds of elders, who go to the nations of the earth to preach the gospel of Christ. After spending two or three years as missionaries, if they have converted a dozen souls and brought them into the Church, they think they have done a good work, which they certainly have. But here, the elders who are presiding over and teaching in these institutions in Zion, filled with the children of the Latter-day Saints, have an army of immortal souls before them to guide and teach, and to direct their minds, that they may be qualified to step forth and take hold of the Church and kingdom of God and build it up and bear it off triumphantly, after their fathers and elders are laid in the tomb. O what a mission is given to the sons of Ephraim, the elders of Israel, the Latter-day Saints! To warn the whole world of the judgments which are to come, preach the gospel to all people, gather the Saints from all nations, build up Zion, and prepare for the coming of the Son of Man, standing in holy places, while judgments waste the wicked. -- MS 48:805-806, Epistle to the Saints Abroad, October 26, 1886.
ADVICE TO THE ELDERS. I wish to say a few words to the elders. I suppose we are all elders. Do you teach your families the way of life and salvation? Do you teach your wives and children the counsel of God? We should impress upon the minds of our children the evil consequences of committing sin or breaking any of the laws of God, they should be made to understand that by doing wrong they will inherit sorrow and tribulation which they can easily escape by doing right, and they should learn this principle by precept without learning sorrow and affliction by experience from doing wrong. -- JD 4:97, October 6, 1856.
"I wish to have the Latter-day Saints understand their appointment, position, and responsibility before the God of heaven, and their responsibility to both Jew and Gentile, in this and the other side of the veil." -- WILFORD WOODRUFF, -- JD 18:110. September 12. 1875.
TO INAUGURATE A REIGN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. This is the Only dispensation which God has ever established that was foreordained, before the world was made, not to be overcome by wicked men and devils. All other dispensations have been made war upon by the inhabitants of the earth, and the servants and Saints of God have been martyred. This was the case with Jesus and the apostles in their day. The Lord gave the good old prophet Enoch, president of the Zion of God, who stood in the midst of his people three hundred and sixty-five years, a view of the earth in its various dispensations, showing him that the time would come when it would groan under the wickedness, blasphemy, murders, whoredoms and abominations of its inhabitants. The prophet asked the Lord whether there would ever be a time when the earth should rest; and the Lord answered that in the dispensation of the fulness of times the earth would fill the measure of its days, and then it would rest from wickedness and abominations, for in that day he would establish his kingdom upon it, to be thrown down no more for ever. Then a reign of righteousness would commence and the honest and meek of the earth would be gathered together to serve the Lord, and upon them would rest power to build up the great Zion of God in the latter days. These things were also shown to Abraham, and many others of the ancient servants of God had glimpses of them by vision, revelation and the inspiration of the Spirit of God, and what they saw, or an account of what they saw, has been left on record.
This dispensation is one that all the patriarchs and prophets had their eye upon, and the Lord has commenced it, and has carried it on now for more than forty years, since this Church was organized with six members. We have not altogether traveled on beds of ease, we have had warfare and opposition from the commencement until this day; but we and the world may set our hearts at rest concerning "Mormonism," for it will never cease until the Lord Jesus Christ comes In the clouds of heaven. -- JD 17:245-246, October 9, 1874.
EVERYTHING TO BE REVEALED. The day has already dawned when the light of heaven is to fill the earth; the day in which the Lord has said that nothing should be kept hidden, whether it be things pertaining to one God, or many Gods, to thrones, principalities or powers; the day in which everything that has been kept from the knowledge of man ever since the foundation of the earth, must be revealed; and it is a day which the ancient prophets looked forward to with a great deal of interest and anxiety.
THE GOSPEL TO BE PREACHED TO EVERY NATION. It is a day in which the gospel is to be preached to every nation, tongue and people for a witness of what shall follow; a day in which the Israel of God who receive it in their dispersed and scattered condition are to gather together to the place appointed of God, the place where they will perform the "marvelous work and wonder" spoken of by the ancients who, in vision, saw our day; and where they will begin to inherit the promises made to the fathers respecting their children.
THE WORK IS UNDER WAY. The work that is to be so marvelous in the eyes of men has already commenced, and is assuming shape and proportions; but they cannot see it. It will consist in preaching the gospel to all the world, gathering the Saints from the midst of all those nations who reject it; building up the Zion of God; establishing permanently in the earth his kingdom; preparing for the work of the gathering of the Jews and the events that will follow their settlement in their own lands, and in preparing for ourselves holy places in which to stand when the judgments of God shall overtake the nations. This is truly a good work; and it is a marvel (when we look at it with our natural eyes) how this people are sustained in their faith and hope of accomplishing it, besides having to provide for the wants of themselves and families, which is of itself as much as most men can accomplish. -- JD 24:51-2, January 27, 1883.
A SHORT WORK. The Lord is going to make a short work in the earth, and he will defend his anointed, his prophets, his Zion and his people. This is the decree of Almighty God. -- JD 18:116, September 12, 1875.
BUILDING THE NEW JERUSALEM. We are called upon to work with the Lord just as fast as we are prepared to receive the things of his kingdom. But I am satisfied there has got to be a great change with us in many respects before we are prepared for the redemption of Zion and the building up of the New Jerusalem. I believe the only way for us is to get enough of the Spirit of God that we may see and understand our duties and comprehend the will of the Lord. -- JD 16:36, April 7, 1873.
TO BE BUILD BY THE UNITED ORDER AND CELESTIAL LAW. It has been promised that the New Jerusalem will be built up in our day and generation, and it will have to be done by the United Order of Zion and according to celestial law. And not only so, but we have to keep that law ourselves if we ever inherit that kingdom, for no man will receive a celestial glory unless he abides a celestial law; no man will receive a terrestrial glory unless he abides a terrestrial law, and no man will receive a telestial glory unless he abides a telestial law. -- JD 17:250, October 9, 1874.
THE FULNESS OF TIMES -- VIEWED FROM SALT LAKE CITY IN 1881. Now, I want to say something with regard to the dispensation in which we live. The God of heaven has set his hand to fulfil the volume of revelation which the Bible contains, to build up that kingdom that Daniel the Prophet saw in the interpretation of the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. The God of heaven has sent forth that angel which John the Revelator saw "fly in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his judgment is come." That angel has delivered the gospel to Joseph Smith, and I know it. I bear my record and testimony to this truth. It is the truth of the living God. He has set his hand, as I have said, to build up this kingdom. Isaiah has written its history. Look at these valleys of the mountains. I came here on the 24th of July, 1847. What did I find? A barren desert, as barren as the desert of Sahara. There was no mark of the white man. It did not look as if any white man could live here at all. How is it today? Travel through the length and breadth of this territory and behold the cities, towns, villages, gardens, orchards, fields, and crops that cover this once barren desert. What does it means? It means that God Almighty is carrying out his purposes, it means that he has brought to his remembrance what his prophets and apostles have spoken; and all things shall be fulfilled to the very letter, even to the winding-up scene. From whence has come this congregation; from whence have come the Saints gathered together together these mountains of Israel? They have been gathered from every nation as far as the gospel has been preached. We have been gathered together by the power of the gospel. Yet, as I have remarked many times in my public discourses, if we had preached until we were as old as Methuselah, we could never have got men and women to leave their homes if they had not been moved upon by the Holy Ghost. The elders of Israel preached the gospel unto them and promised them in the name of Jesus Christ, that if they would receive this gospel they would receive the Holy Ghost. Is there a man on the face of God's footstool today that would dare make such a promise as that unless he were backed up by the power of God? No, not one. If the elders of Israel had been impostors, deceivers, they would have been very soon found out; but the God of Israel has backed up their testimony, and it is on this principle that these valleys are filling with the people of God today. -- JD 22: 344, October 23, 1881.
PRECEDES CHRIST'S COMING. I do not suppose that there has been any dispensation upon the earth in which a greater variety of evidence, or important evidence of the divinity of the Latter-day work, has been given than that which is occurring, and that will continue to occur, until the second coming of the Son of Man. There is no man upon the earth who believes in the literal fulfilment of prophecy as contained in the Old and New Testaments, but who must in his heart believe that the God of heaven will in the latter days set his hand to perform a great work and a wonder in the earth; and that he will call forth his Church out of the wilderness of darkness and establish it upon the foundation of apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus as the chief cornerstone. . . . There is no man that believes in the literal fulfilment of the revelations of God through the prophets who does not believe that the Lord will in the latter days gather a people together out of every nation under heaven, and that he will also gather the dispersed of Judah -- the Jews -- that have been trodden under the feet of the Gentiles for the last 1,800 years for shedding the blood of the Messiah. -- JD 23:77-78, March 26, 1882.
IN THE LAST DAYS. The Jews will be moved upon by and by, and they will return to the land of their fathers, and they will rebuild Jerusalem. These Lamanites here will receive the gospel of Christ in fulfilment of the revelations of God. The prophets which have been shut up in the north country with the nine and a half tribes led away by Shalmanezer, King of Assyria, thousands of years ago, will come in remembrance before God; they will smite the rocks and mountains of ice will flow down before them, and those long lost tribes will come forth in your day and mine, if we live a few years longer, and they will be crowned under the hands of the children of Ephraim -- the elders of Israel who dwell in the land of Zion. And by and by the testimony of the gospel will be sealed among the Gentiles, and the gospel will turn to the whole house of Israel, and the judgments of God will back up the testimony of the elders of this Church, and the Lord will send messengers who will go forth and reap down the earth. -- JD 18:38, June 24, 1875.
THE PRINCIPLE OF GATHERING: ITS PURPOSE AND MEANING. The principle of gathering has been preached for the past thirty-seven years. Before this principle was preached by the elders, a great many of the people had received the spirit of it; and the consequence was, that no sooner had it been taught by the Presidency of the Church, than the people everywhere were ready to receive it. It had been revealed to them by the Holy Ghost, whose office it is to reveal that which is past, present, and that which is to come, and no surer, stronger testimony can be given to anyone than it affords. We have gathered here for the express purpose of establishing Zion which, according to the scriptures, must be before the gospel can be sent to the Jews. -- JD 18:221, August 13, 1876.
See also Chapter 20, "The Second Coming of Christ," for other references to these "messengers."
AFTER FORTY YEARS' LABOR. We can see how fully the revelation, calling us to go to the western countries, has been fulfilled. In less than forty years, a standard has been lifted up, and people gathered here from France, England, Scotland, Wales, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and almost all the nations of Europe in fulfilment of that revelation. When it was given no man among us knew anything about Salt Lake or the Rocky Mountains; but it has been fulfilled before our eyes. We have come up here and in so doing have fulfilled the revelations of God, so far. -- JD 15:282, January 12, 1873.
ALTHOUGH RESTORED TO THE GENTILES, THE GOSPEL WILL ALSO GO TO THE JEWS. The gospel is now restored to us Gentiles, for we are all Gentiles in a national capacity, and it will continue with us if we are faithful, until the law is bound, and the testimony sealed, and the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, when it will again revert to the Jews, whom the Lord will have prepared to receive it. They will gather to their own land, taking with them their gold and silver, and will rebuild their city and temple, according to the prediction of Moses and the prophets. When this time arrives, which is nigh, even at our doors, let the Gentile nations who reject the gospel which is now sent to them, prepare to meet the judgments of an offended God! For when their cup is full even to the brim, the Lord will then remember the chastisements of the Jews, his favored people, and at whose hands they will have received double for their iniquities. Offenses must come, said the Savior, but woe unto them by whom they come. Woe unto the Gentiles, who have administered afflictions to the Jews for these many years! Woe unto them if they now reject this only means of salvation, for the awful calamities spoken of in these books, the Bible and Book of Mormon, will certainly befall them. -- JD 18:220-221, August 13, 1876.
MEANING OF "GENTILES." Sometimes our neighbors and friends think hard of us because we call them Gentiles; but, bless your souls, we are all Gentiles. The Latter-day Saints are all Gentiles in a national capacity. The gospel came to us among the Gentiles. We are not Jews, and the Gentile nations have got to hear the gospel first. The whole Christian world has got to hear the gospel, and when they reject it, the law will be bound and the testimony sealed, and it will turn to the house of Israel. Up to the present day we have been called to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, and we have had to do it. -- JD 18:112, September 12, 1875.
THE WORK OF RESTORING JUDAH. Again, here is Judah, which is the tribe of Israel from whom Jesus sprang; how many times have I seen them among the nations of the earth, standing in their synagogues, even gray-haired rabbis, with their faces to the east, calling on the great Eloheim to open the door for them to go back to Jerusalem, the land of their fathers, and to send their Shiloh, their king of deliverance. When I have seen this my soul has been filled with a desire to proclaim unto them the word of God unto eternal life, but I knew I could not do this, the time had not come, I could not preach to them. I might have stood in their midst for a month and preached unto them Jesus Christ or their Shiloh and king, but I should have failed to establish one particle of faith in their minds that he was the true Messiah.
THE JEWS WILL ACCEPT CHRIST AT HIS COMING. They do not believe in Jesus Christ; there is an unbelief resting upon them, and will until they go home and rebuild Jerusalem and their temple more glorious than at the beginning, and then by and by, after this Church and kingdom has arisen in its glory, the Savior will come to them and show the wounds in his hands and side, and they will say to him, "Where did you get those wounds?" and he will answer, "In the house of my friends." Then their eyes will begin to open, and they will repent and mourn, they and their wives apart, and there will be a fountain opened for uncleanness to the house of Judah, and they will for the first time receive Jesus Christ as their Savior, they will begin to comprehend where they have been wandering for the space of two thousand years.
THE CONVERSION OF JUDAH. You cannot convert a Jew, you may as well try to convert this house of solid walls as to convert them into the faith of Christ. They are set in their feelings, and they will be until the time of their redemption. They are looking forward to the time when they will go home and rebuild Jerusalem. They have looked for it many hundreds of years. They are looking for the coming of their king. They do not suppose for a moment that he has already come, but they are looking for him to come as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, not as a lamb led to the slaughter and as a sheep that is dumb before his shearers; they are looking for him to come with power and great glory.
I thank God that the day is at hand when the Jews will be restored. I have felt to pray for them; I feel interested in their behalf, for they are of the seed of Abraham and a branch of the house of Israel, and the promises of God still remain with them. It is true they fell through unbelief, and the kingdom was taken from them and given to the Gentiles, and when it came from them, it came clothed with all its gifts, powers, and glory, priesthood and ordinances which were necessary for the salvation of men, and to prepare them to dwell in the presence of the Gods; and when the kingdom was given to the Gentiles, they for a while brought forth the natural fruits of the kingdom. But they, like the Jews, have fallen through the same example of unbelief, and now, in the last days, the kingdom of God has to be taken from the Gentiles, and restored back to every branch and tribe of the house of Israel; and when it is restored to them, it must go back with all its gifts, and blessings, and priesthood which it possessed when it was taken from them. But the Lord has said that in restoring these blessings to the children of Abraham, that he would be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them. But from what branch or part of the house of Israel will the Lord look for this petition or request to issue, if not from the Latter-day Saints? For we are out of the tribe of Joseph through the loins of Ephraim, who has been as a mixed cake among the Gentiles, and are the first fruits of the kingdom, and the Lord has given unto us the kingdom and priesthood and keys thereof. Hence the Lord will require us to ask for those blessings which are promised unto Israel, and to labor for their salvation. -- JD 4:232-233, February 22, 1857.
GATHERING OF THE JEWS IN UNBELIEF. As I have been reading to you today, the Jews have got to gather to their own land in unbelief. They will go and rebuild Jerusalem and their temple. They will take their gold and silver from the nations and will gather to the Holy Land. When they have done this and rebuilt their city, the Gentiles, in fulfilment of the words of Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and other prophets, will go up against Jerusalem to battle and to take a spoil and a prey; and then, when they have taken one-half of Jerusalem captive and distressed the Jews for the last time on the earth, their Great Deliverer, Shiloh, will come. They do not believe in Jesus of Nazareth now, nor ever will, until he comes and sets his foot on Mount Olivet and it cleaves in twain, one part going towards the east, and the other towards the west. Then, when they behold the wounds in his hands and in his feet, they will say, "Where did you get them?" And he will reply, "I am Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews, your Shiloh, Him whom you crucified." Then, for the first time will the eyes of Judah be opened. They will remain in unbelief until that day. This is one of the events that will transpire in the latter day. -- JD 15:277-278, January 12, 1873.
THE TEN TRIBES OF ISRAEL. Again, here are the ten tribes of Israel; we know nothing about them only what the Lord has said by his prophets. There are prophets among them, and by and by they will come along, and they will smite the rocks, and the mountains of ice will flow down at their presence, and a highway will be cast up before them, and they will come to Zion, receive their endowments, and be crowned under the hands of the children of Ephraim, and there are persons before me in this assembly today who will assist to give them their endowments. They will receive their blessings and endowments, from under the children of Ephraim, who are the first fruits of the kingdom of God in their dispensation, and the men will have to be ordained and receive their priesthood and endowments in the land of Zion, according to the revelations of God. -- JD 4:231-232, February 22, 1857.
THE AMERICAN INDIANS. We are all Gentiles by nationality, we are of the Gentile nations who hold the sway of the earth. Not only will the Jews have blessings again, but these poor despised Indians will enjoy the light and glory of the gospel of Christ; their fathers proclaimed blessings upon them, by the spirit of prophecy and revelation, which are as assuredly to rest upon a remnant of that people as they exist, though they are now the most miserable beings that live upon the face of the earth. Nevertheless, a remnant of them will embrace the gospel, and their eyes will be opened and they will understand that they are of Israel. Our missionaries have labored among them, and what effect has it had? But little. Missionaries of different orders have labored among them, with little or no success.
We cannot do a great deal for that people, only pray for them, and treat them kindly, until the power of God begins to rest upon them, and they are waked up by the visions of heaven, and the angels begin to converse with them. They will be inspired by the spirit of the power of God, like other branches of Israel, and the day will come when the poor Utahs, and Piedes, and other degraded tribes in these mountains will again feel they possess souls among men as their fathers did before them. The ten tribes will also come in remembrance before the Lord, and they will again return with outstretched arms to their lands, and be led by leaders inspired by the Spirit and power of God, and they will come with visions, revelations, and prophets, and they will be baptized and ordained under the hands of the children of Ephraim, who bear the Holy Priesthood on the earth at that time, and they will be crowned with glory, power, immortality, and eternal lives before God. -- JD 2:200-1, February 25, 1855.
LO, THE POOR INDIAN! Why are these Lamanites roaming about in misery and wretchedness, living upon reptiles of the earth? Why are they cursed so bitterly, and brought down so low, for they are of the seed of Israel? It is because the chastening rod of the Almighty has rested upon them and their fathers. We should be very cautious and careful to keep the commandments of God, and do right, while we have such examples of the dealings of God with the nations who have broken his laws. We shall be corrected in all our errors, that we may become sanctified, and be prepared for those glories, principles, powers, and privileges which the Lord has promised to reveal to us. -- JD 2:198, February 25, 1855.
THE LAMANITES AND FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY. I am looking for the fulfilment of all things that the Lord has spoken, and they will come to pass as the Lord God lives. Zion is bound to rise and flourish. The Lamanites will blossom as the rose on the mountains. I am willing to say here that, though I believe this, when I see the power of the nation destroying them from the face of the earth, the fulfilment of that prophecy is perhaps harder for me to believe than any revelation of God that I ever read. It looks as though there would not be enough left to receive the gospel; but notwithstanding this dark picture, every word that God has ever said of them will have its fulfilment, and they, by and by, will receive the gospel. It will be a day of God's power among them, and a nation will be born in a day. Their chiefs will be filled with the power of God and receive the gospel, and they will go forth and build the new Jerusalem, and we shall help them. They are branches of the house of Israel, and when the fulness of the Gentiles has come in and the work ceases among them, then it will go in power to the seed of Abraham. -- JD 15:272, January 12, 1873.
A UNIQUE POSITION. There is no other people since the foundation of the world called to perform the work which you, Latter-day Saints, are called to perform. The God of heaven has given you the kingdom, the great and last kingdom, the only kingdom which has ever been set up on this earth to remain until the coming of the Son of Man. Although in its infancy, this work has a great and a mighty future; and as I have often said, the eyes of all the hosts of heaven are over us; the eyes of God himself, and the eyes of all the prophets and apostles who have ever lived in the flesh are watching this people. They know that they are not (neither can they be made) perfect without you; and they fully understand that we cannot be made perfect without them. They understand the greatness, the extent, the power and the glory of this dispensation.
CAUSE FOR GRATITUDE. I feel that of all people under heaven we ought to be the most grateful to our God; and that we ought to remember to keep our covenants, and humble ourselves before him, and labor with all our hearts to discharge faithfully the responsibilities which devolve upon us, and the duties which are required at our hands. For we can afford to do anything which God requires of us; but none of us can afford to do wrong. It would cost far more than this world with all its wealth is worth for the Latter-day Saints to do wrong and come under the disfavor of Almighty God. -- JD 22:148, April 3, 1881.
We occupy a different position from any other generation; there has never been a generation since God made the world that has been called upon to perform the work that the Latter-day Saints have. -- JD 22:232, June 26, 1881.
OUR POSITION. I consider this to be our position today: we have the privilege of walking in the light; we have the privilege of comprehending and knowing the truth -- of knowing the way to be saved and exalted in the presence of our Father and God. We are in a position to know his mind and will, through his servants the prophets. The Lord has given unto us teachers and inspired men -- men who are inspired by the Spirit and power of God -- clothed them with truth, and endowed them with wisdom to teach us at all times the path we should walk in. This is a great blessing, whether we realize it or not. -- JD 8:268, August 26, 1860.
FALSE PRIDE NOT JUSTIFIED. We have no chance to be lifted up in the pride of our hearts with regard to the position we occupy. If the President of the Church or either of his counselors or of the apostles or any other man feels in his heart that God cannot do without him, and that he is especially important in order to carry on the work of the Lord, he stands upon slippery ground. I heard Joseph Smith say that Oliver Cowdery, who was the second apostle in this Church, said to him, "If I leave this Church it will fall."
Said Joseph, "Oliver, you try it." Oliver tried it. He fell; but the kingdom of God did not. I have been acquainted with other apostles in my day and time who felt that the Lord could not do without them; but the Lord got along with his work without them. I say to all men -- Jew and Gentile, great and small, rich and poor -- that the Lord Almighty has power within himself, and is not dependent upon any man, to carry on his work; but when he does call men to do his work they have to trust in him. -- DW 40:559-560, April 6, 1890.
THE MISSION OF THE SAINTS. We have come to this earth upon a mission; and we have been gathered to the valleys of these mountains that we may be taught and instructed in the things of God; that we may magnify our calling before the Lord; that we may become saviors upon Mount Zion; that we may have power to go forth and warn the nations of the earth. I look upon the mission of the Latter-day Saints as being as important as that of any people that ever lived in any age of the world. I have often expressed my views with regard to this. As elders of Israel, very few of us fully comprehend our position, our calling, or relationship to God, our responsibility, or work the Lord requires at our hands. The Lord has given unto us the priesthood. This is conferred upon us that we may administer in the ordinances of life and salvation. But to enable us to perform our duties acceptably, there is one thing we need, one and all of us, and that is the Holy Spirit. -- JD 23: 328-329, December 10, 1882.
THE PRIME OBJECTIVE. We have nothing else to do but to build up the kingdom of God. If we do this he will keep us and provide for us. We want to labor as a body of priesthood, to enter into the holy of holies; we want to come before God, and pray until we get the spirit of this work, until we comprehend our calling before God. -- JD 24:53, January 27, 1883.
THE ANSWER TO A PARABLE. The Lord compared the kingdom of heaven to ten virgins; five were wise and five were foolish; five had oil in their lamps and five had not. Now the question is, how can we keep oil in our lamps? By keeping the commandments of God, remembering our prayers, do as we are told by the revelations of Jesus Christ, and otherwise assisting in building up Zion. When we are laboring for the kingdom of God, we will have oil in our lamps, our light will shine and we will feel the testimony of the spirit of God. On the other hand, if we set our hearts upon the things of the world and seek for the honors of men, we shall walk in the dark and not in the light. If we do not value our priesthood, and the work of this priesthood, the building up of the kingdom of God, the rearing of temples, the redeeming of our dead, and the carrying out of the great work unto which we have been ordained by the God of Israel -- if we do not feel that these things are more valuable to us than the things of the world, we will have no oil in our lamps, no light, and we shall fail to be present at the marriage supper of the Lamb. -- JD 22:208, January 9, 1881.
WE CANNOT REMAIN IN ONE GROOVE OR POSITION. The Latter-day Saints cannot stand still; we cannot become stereotyped. God has decreed that his Zion must progress. We cannot remain in one groove or position. . . . We must build up the Zion and kingdom of God on the earth, or fail in the object of our calling and receiving the priesthood of God in these latter days. -- JD 16:35, April 6, 1873.
"ALL THIS AND HEAVEN TOO." All is peace in Zion, and I thank God for it. I am reminded of a saying made by Brother Cannon upon entering the well-furnished parlor of one of President Merrill's houses, of Richmond, in Cache County.
"What," he said, "all this and heaven too?"
Yes, God intends to give to his Saints the good things of the earth, as well as the blessings of heaven, as they shall become able to use them properly. -- JD 24:54, January 27, 1883.
WE MUST UNITE TO BUILD ZION. Again, I will say to this congregation, God Almighty will afflict these Latter-day Saints if they do not pursue the course they are called upon to pursue. The Lord will build up Zion and carry out his purposes; but we will be chastised unless we listen to the counsels of the servants of God. If these Latter-day Saints turn to the right or the left, on political questions or on other principles, to separate themselves one from another and from the commandments of God, the Lord Almighty will hold them responsible and they will be chastised for doing it. I know this as well as I know I am alive. I am anxious for the salvation of the Latter-day Saints. I do not know anything about what you are on politics, but we should be united together and labor together to build up Zion. We have been called from the nations of the earth to do that; and if we do not do it, the judgments of Almighty God will rest upon us. -- CR 47, October, 1897.
WITH "EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF," IT IS THE DEVIL FOR US ALL. What are the things of this world? What are houses and lands, goods and chattels, and the treasures of the earth generally, to us? What are they to any Saints of God compared with eternal life? We should certainly be as well off to unite ourselves and our interests together in the things of God as to be separate. There have been too much selfishness and division and every man for himself amongst us, and the devil for us all. -- JD 17:246, October 9, 1874.
In every age of the world the Saints of God have been obliged to be united. Babylon may divide; the inhabitants of the earth may have all the division they wish for; but they will all receive the results of that disunion, and have done all the way through. . . . But the Saints of God cannot prosper unless they are united. -- DW 42:305, August 3, 1890.
"IF YE ARE NOT ONE YE ARE NOT MINE." The subject that I have upon my mind is, union among the Latter-day Saints. The Savior said to his apostles anciently, and to the apostles in our day: "I say unto you, be one; and if ye are not one ye are not mine." "I and my Father are one."
There is a principle connected with this that I think is very important to us as a people and as a Church on the earth. With all the divisions, and all the discontent, and the quarrelings and opposition among the powers on earth, or that have been revealed from heaven, I have never heard that it has ever been revealed to the children of men that there was any division between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. They are one. They always have been one. They always will be one, from eternity unto eternity. Our Heavenly Father stands at the head, being the author of the salvation of the children of men, having created and peopled the world and given laws to the inhabitants of the earth. This principle is shown unto us by the revelation of the laws which belong to the different kingdoms. There is a celestial kingdom, a terrestrial kingdom, and a telestial kingdom. There is a glory of the sun; a glory of the moon, and a glory of the stars; and as one star differs from another star in glory, so also is the resurrection of the dead. In the celestial kingdom of God there is oneness. -- there is union. -- MS 52:577 (1890).
RESPONSIBILITY OF THOSE WHO ACCEPT THE GOSPEL. We are held responsible for this work and the building up of the kingdom of God according to the best light and knowledge and revelation which God has given unto us. We ought to be thankful to the Lord for his mercies unto us. I feel as though his hand has been visible in the establishing of his Church here in the Rocky Mountains, from our first arrival as pioneers in the valleys of the mountains, when we found a barren desert, until the present. . . . It is a great blessing to receive the gospel of Christ, to receive the Holy Priesthood, and to be called to labor in the priesthood for the salvation of the children of men. This labor is upon us and will remain upon us until the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven, to reward every man according to the deeds done in the body. -- CR 1-2, October, 1897.
OUR DUTY. We have been raised up of the Lord to take this kingdom and bear it off. This is our duty; but if we neglect our duty and set our hearts upon the things of this world, we will be sorry for it. We ought to understand the responsibility that rests upon us. We should gird up our loins and put on the whole armor of God. We should rear temples to the name of the Most High God, that we may redeem the dead. -- JD 22:334, October 8, 1881.
Ours is no ordinary calling. Great opportunities and privileges have been bestowed upon us. To us, as a people, has been entrusted the grand and glorious labor of laying the foundation of the kingdom of God upon the earth. Every act of our lives should be performed with this in view. Nothing should be done by anyone calling himself a Latter-day Saint that will conflict with the policy which God has announced as proper to be adopted in establishing that kingdom. -- MS 50:309, April 6, 1888.
TO THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF 1889. Who is going to take this kingdom and bear it off? Unto whom is the Lord going to look to take this kingdom in its final triumph and prepare it in its perfection and glory for the coming of the Son of Man? To our sons and daughters. It is these young men and maidens who dwell in these valleys of the mountains that have got to assume this responsibility. Upon their shoulders this kingdom has got to rest, when their fathers and elders have passed to the other side of the veil. This is before me just as plain as the light of the sun in the firmament of heaven. -- MS 51:594 (1889).
OUR AIM: THE CELESTIAL LAW. Our aim is high. There are a few in this generation who have attempted to keep the celestial law. I desire to keep that law, so that when I have finished my probation here, I may get into the presence of my Heavenly Father, where our Savior is, where the old patriarchs and prophets are, where Joseph Smith and his brethren the apostles and those who have lived faithful until the day of their death are. That is my desire, and when I say I desire this for myself, I desire the same for my family. -- JD 22:210, January 9, 1881.
We are trying to abide the celestial law of God; we are preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, and endeavoring to carry out its principles. Now the question is, will it pay us to do so? Will it pay us to be faithful? Will it pay us to pass through whatever trials or afflictions, or persecutions, or even death itself, for the kingdom of God, for salvation and eternal life, the greatest of all gifts which God can bestow on the children on men? I say it will, and I hope that the Latter-day Saints, that all men in authority that we will all be faithful before the Lord, that we will remember our prayers, labor for the Holy Spirit, labor to know the mind and will of God, that we may know the path to walk in, that we may obtain the spirit of the Lord and the Holy Ghost, and that we may overcome the world and magnify our calling till we get through this probation. -- JD 22:209-210, January 9, 1881.
"WE DO NOT SEEK ANY MAN'S HURT." We do not seek any man's hurt, however much of an enemy he may be to us, we leave him in the hands of God, we know that he will reward him, and the reward will be all that God, saints, angels, devils or wicked men can ask and it will be all that any man can want. -- JD 17:193, October 7, 1874.
THE LESSON OF FIFTY YEARS. It is now over fifty years since the organization of this Church and kingdom, and since its birth it has continued to progress and grow in numbers and in influence and power, and it will do so until Zion presents herself before the heavens in her glory, power and dominion, as the old prophets have seen it in vision. Then, what manner of men and women ought we to be, who are called to take part in the great latter-day work? We should be men and women of faith, valiant for the truth as it has been revealed and committed into our hand. We should be men and women of integrity to God, and to his Holy Priesthood, true to him and true to one another. We should not permit houses and land, gold and silver, nor any of this world's goods to draw us aside from pursuing the great object which God has sent us to perform. Our aim is high, our destiny is high, and we should never disappoint our Father, nor the heavenly hosts who are watching over us. We should not disappoint the millions in the spirit world who, too, are watching over us with an interest and anxiety that have hardly entered into our hearts to conceive of. These are great and mighty things which God requires of us. -- JD 22:233, June 26, 1881.
I hope we live our religion. I hope we strive to keep the commandments of God. We occupy a very important position in the world. There are very few of the inhabitants of the earth who are laboring to build up Zion. There are very few, apparently, who are able to abide the law of God. There are very few who are willing to sacrifice anything for eternal life and salvation, and thousands will have to inherit a kingdom other than the celestial.
Nevertheless, my brethren and sisters, we are laboring and progressing in this work. Zion is advancing; the kingdom of God is rolling on. The progress of this kingdom has never stopped from the day of its organization; it never will until it has accomplished all for which it has been organized and established on the earth to accomplish. -- JD 23:330, December 10, 1882
I feel to say that there is no people under heaven who have so much cause to rejoice and to be grateful as the Latter-day Saints. -- JD 22:148, April 3, 1881.
"THE PRINCIPLES WE ADVOCATE WILL REMAIN FOREVER." We should live our religion. I have no fears with regard to the kingdom of God. We may have fears in regard to ourselves. This man may apostatize, the others may apostatize, John Taylor, myself, or anybody else may die, but it will make no difference with regard to this work. Israel will never be without a lawgiver. Zion will become all that Israel saw it, in its beauty, power and glory in the earth. I wanted to say so much to strangers here as well as Latter-day Saints. We believe in these principles with every sentiment of our soul. We expect them, we are ready to die for them, but they will never be destroyed. We may go to prison, we may suffer all manner of persecution, but the principles we advocate will remain forever. -- JD 22:346, October 23, 1881.
Gold and silver may pass away; houses and lands may perish; all temporal matters will pass away; but the priesthood never, salvation never, the kingdom of God never, and prophecy will never fall unfulfilled. -- MS 58:306, April 5, 1896.
I pray God to pour out his Holy Spirit upon us, that our ears may be open to hear and our hearts to understand the things of the kingdom of God, which is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. -- JD 24:244, July 20, 1883.
Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, p. 132 par. 1 It is no light thing for any people in any age of the world to have a dispensation of the gospel of Jesus Christ committed into their hands, and when a dispensation has given, those receiving it are held responsible before high heaven for the use they make of it. -- JD 22:205, January 9, 1881.
GOSPEL MUST BE THOROUGHLY AND FAITHFULLY PREACHED TO EVERY NATION. The gospel must be thoroughly and faithfully preached to every nation under heaven, and the Lord holds us responsible, for verily the trust has been imposed upon us, and it behooves us to see to it. -- JD 19:228, September 16, 1877.
We are commanded to preach the gospel to the nations of the earth. The elders of Israel have been doing this for the last fifty years. We are still doing it, in the United States and other parts of the world. We shall continue to labor among the Gentiles just as long as the Lord says we must do so. But at the same time we have now been commanded to turn to a branch of the house of Israel. Here are the Lamanites, thousands and thousands of them surround us. They look to us for the gospel of Christ. It is our duty to go to them and organize them, and preach to them the words of life and salvation. -- JD 23:330, December 10, 1882.
THE GENTILE FULNESS. The gospel of Christ has to go to the Gentiles until the Lord says "enough," until their times are fulfilled, and it will be in this generation. -- JD 15:278, January 12, 1873.
When the Gentiles reject the gospel it will be taken from them, and go to the house of Israel, to that long suffering people that are now scattered abroad through all the nations upon the earth, and they will gather at home by the thousands, and by hundreds of thousands, and they will rebuild Jerusalem, their ancient city, and make it more glorious than at the beginning, and they will have a leader in Israel with them, a man that is full of the power of God and the gift of the Holy Ghost; but they are held now from this work, only because the fulness of the Gentiles has not yet come in. Tens of thousands among the Gentile nations will receive the gospel, but the majority of them will reject it, and then the Jews will receive it; and it will go to them with all the gifts, blessings, and powers it possessed when it was taken from them. -- JD 2:200, February 25, 1855.
THE MISSIONARY SPIRIT. I have waded swamps and swum rivers, and have asked my bread from door to door; and have devoted nearly fifty years to this work. And why? Was there gold enough in California to have hired me to do it? No, verily; and what I have done and what my brethren have done, we have done because we were commanded of God. And this is the position we occupy today. We have preached and labored at home and abroad, and we intend to continue our labors, by the help of God, as long as we can have liberty to do it, and until the Gentiles prove themselves unworthy of eternal life, and until the judgments of God overtake the world, which are at the door. -- JD 23:130, May 14, 1882.
WHAT GREATER CALLING. What greater calling can any man have on the face of the earth than to hold in his hands power and authority to go forth and administer in the ordinances of salvation? Do we prize these things in their fulness? I do not think we do. Nevertheless, so far we have been enabled to maintain our position, and to go forth and fulfil our missions as far as we have had time and opportunity. Certainly there has been nothing in this work that I have had greater consolation in, than in preaching the gospel to my fellow men and in administering unto them the ordinances of the house of God, both for the living and the dead. -- MS 58:507, April 5, 1896.
THE JOY OF SENDING MISSIONARIES. I will say for myself and when I say it for myself I think I speak for a great many others -- there is no joy that I have ever had that has been greater than that which has come to me in having sons receive the Holy Priesthood and go forth and administer among the nations of the earth the ordinances of life and salvation. It is a glorious gift to the sons of men. . . . You give any soul the principles of life and salvation and administer these ordinances to him, and you become an instrument in the hands of God in the salvation of that soul. There is nothing given to the children of men that is equal to it. -- DW 52:545-546, April 6, 1896.
WORDS TO THE MISSIONARIES. I wish to say a few words to the missionaries -- to those who are going abroad to preach the gospel of Christ. I want to give you a word of exhortation and counsel, brethren: that is, whenever you are in doubt about any duty or work which you have to perform, never proceed to do anything until you go and labor in prayer and get the Holy Spirit. Wherever the Spirit dictates you to go or to do, that will be right; and, by following its dictates, you will come out right.
We shall be brought to many places during our career in the ministry among the nations of the earth, where we may consider a certain course of procedure to be right; but, if we do not know, it will be better for us to go before the Lord, and ask in faith that we may be instructed in the way of life.
I will take the liberty of saying that it is your privilege, brethren, to get the mind and will of the Lord in relation to your duties while abroad among the people; and it is also the privilege of the whole people who are called Israel to obtain the revelations of the Holy Spirit to guide them in every duty in life. Whatever position a man may stand in, it is his privilege, as a Saint of God, to enjoy this blessing; and a man who understands himself will not move without the operations of the Spirit to lead him. -- JD 5:85, April 9, 1857.
When we send men upon missions, or to perform any branch of business or labor, of course we expect them to perform it, and the Lord expects them to do the same. -- JD 21:281, July 3, 1880.
THE NECESSITY OF REVELATION IN PREACHING THE GOSPEL. There is no elder who has gone out to preach and who has baptized anybody but knows that he has had to have revelation to enable him to magnify his calling. He could not live without this and do his duty. -- MS 56:642, October 8, 1894.
There is one particular feature connected with the preaching of the gospel: You may send out a thousand elders and they will all teach the same doctrines; they will all labor for the building up of the same Church, they will be united; for their faith, their doctrines, and the organization of the Church have all been made known unto them by the revelations of God: hence they will see eye to eye in regard to the principles of the gospel. Supposing a thousand ministers of different denominations were to be sent out into the world, it would be very different with them from what it is with the elders of the Church of Christ: they would not be so united or so harmonious in their sentiments. Our union and oneness of sentiment constitutes one of the prominent beauties of the organization of the kingdom of God. -- JD 8:265, April 22, 1860.
TESTS OF TRUTH. When he who has the authority preaches the gospel, he promises, in the name of Jesus Christ, to all that believe and obey, that the Holy Ghost will be given them. By virtue of this promise, all such can know for themselves, whether it is of God, or whether it is of man. If an unauthorized man goes forth, pretending to proclaim this same gospel, and it matters not how able and talented he may be, his doctrine can be detected, because the promises which were to follow the believers in Christ are not realized, the Holy Ghost which imparts its gifts unto men are not received, and hence the fallacy of the doctrines of men is exposed, so that none need be deceived. -- JD 18:219, August 13, 1876.
THE WORLD'S RESPONSE TO THE GOSPEL MESSAGE. The Lord has offered the fulness of the everlasting gospel to the inhabitants of the earth today and they refuse to receive it. Brother (Orson) Pratt, here, myself, and thousands of us have traveled ten thousand miles on foot, without purse or scrip, carrying our knapsack or valise, and we have waded swamps, swum rivers, and begged our bread from door to door to preach the gospel to this generation. And how many have we got to the same gospel in all its simplicity and plainness that Jesus preached, and that the Holy Ghost rests upon those who believe it? Two of a city and one of a family, as the prophet has said, and we have gathered them to Zion. Nevertheless, the warning voice has gone forth to the world. -- JD 18:115-116, September 12, 1875.
MISSIONARY SUCCESS. The whole secret of our success as far as making converts is concerned is, that we preach the same gospel in all its simplicity and plainness that Jesus preached, and that the Holy Ghost rests upon those who receive it, filling their hearts with joy and gladness unspeakable, and making them as one; and they then know of the doctrine for themselves whether it be of God or man. -- JD 23:129, May 14, 1882.
What the Latter-day Saints have done by way of preaching the gospel under all kinds of difficulties, building up cities and subduing waste lands, and establishing themselves in the earth, they have done by the revelations and commandments of God to them. -- JD 23:131, May 14, 1882.
THE NEW TESTAMENT PRESCRIPTION. The New Testament clearly shows that whenever God has had a people upon the earth -- when he has had a church and kingdom in the world, it has been organized with prophets and apostles, and has been endowed with revelations, with diverse kinds of gifts, with healing power, with miracles, with dreams, and I may say with every member that belongs to the body of Christ, necessary for the edifying of the body, for the work of the ministry, or sanctifying of the people. -- JD 2:192, February 25, 1855.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TRUE CHURCH -- PRIESTHOOD AND REVELATION. The Lord never had -- and never will have to the end of time -- a church on earth without prophets, apostles, and inspired men. Whenever the Lord had a people on the earth that he acknowledged as such, that people were led by revelation. No man can find anything contrary to this. When the gospel was given to the Jews, all the gifts and graces and powers thereof, accompanied it. It was accompanied by the eternal priesthood -- which is after the order of the Son of God, without which no man can administer in the ordinances of life and salvation. -- JD 24:240, July 20, 1883.
Now, have the Gentiles had that church and kingdom of God in their midst since the ancient apostles were put to death? I think not. At the present time there are some six hundred threescore and six different religions -- different roads to heaven and to hell -- in the world; but none of these bear much resemblance to the gospel as taught by Jesus Christ and his apostles. The whole Christian world today rises up against these Latter-day Saints because they profess to believe in revelation, in prophets and apostles. This has been the case ever since the organization of this Church. -- JD 24:240-241, July 20, 1883.
DANIEL'S PROPHECY. The God of heaven also proclaimed through Daniel, four thousand years ago, that in the latter days he would set up a kingdom which should never be destroyed; and the kingdom should not be left to other people, but it should break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it should stand forever. That prophet also declared that a little stone should be cut out of the mountain without hands; that the stone should become a great mountain and fill the whole earth; and that it should break in pieces all other kingdoms. Was that prophet inspired by the Spirit and power of God? I say in the name of Israel's God, he was, and so was Isaiah when he spoke of the gathering of the people unto the mountains of Israel to establish the Zion of God in its beauty, strength, power and glory. -- JD 25:7, January 6, 1884.
FEARLESS LEADERSHIP. I rejoice that this kingdom is blessed with a leader, or leaders, who are not ashamed or afraid to watch over the interests of Zion -- at all times to seek diligently the welfare of the children of Israel; who will point out the path for this people to walk in, whether that path may be popular or unpopular; leaders who will not hesitate to rebuke sin and wickedness; whether emanating from high or low places. -- JD 2:191, 192, February 25, 1855.
PROPHETIC LEADERSHIP. The Lord never had a people in any age of the world without prophets to lead them, even to the present day; and this is the reason why this Church and kingdom is so diverse from the views, feelings, and traditions of the nations around us, and that has caused it to meet with great opposition, persecution, and opposing spirits from the commencement, and perhaps may continue to do so until the winding-up scene. -- JD 2:192, February 25, 1855.
A KINGDOM OF PRIESTS -- TO BUILD UP THE KINGDOM OF GOD. Now, having said so much on that subject, I want to say to my brethren and sisters, that we are placed upon the earth to build up Zion, to build up the kingdom of God. The greater proportion of the male members of Zion, who have arrived at the years of early manhood, bear some portion of the Holy Priesthood. Here is a kingdom of priests raised up by the power of God to take hold and build up the kingdom of God. -- JD 22:333, October 8, 1881.
SEARCHING AND BUILDING. And I will also say we cannot be fruitful in the things of the kingdom of God, except we are diligent in searching for the things of God. It is our duty to do so. We have been called by the spirit of revelation, by the voice of God from heaven, through the mouth of his prophets, to preach the gospel and build up this kingdom. This is the word of the Lord unto us. -- JD 22:206, January 9, 1881.
It may be asked -- What are the commandments of the Lord? Many of them are contained in these records, the Bible, Book of Mormon, and book of Doctrine and Covenants; and we have the living oracles with us, and have had from the commencement. -- JD 18:189, April 6, 1876.
CHANGE AND DEVELOPMENT -- A CHARACTERISTIC OF THE KINGDOM. How did we feel when we first heard the living could be baptized for the dead? We all went to work at it as fast as we had an opportunity, and were baptized for everybody we could think of, without respect to sex. I went and was baptized for all my friends, grandmothers, and aunts, as well as those of the male sex; but how was it? Why, by-and-by, it was revealed, through the servants of the Lord, that females should be baptized for females, and males for males; but the full particulars of this order were not revealed till after the days of Joseph: therefore this shows an advance in the building up of the kingdom, the gathering of Israel, and the warning of the nations of the earth. -- JD 5:85, April 9, 1857.
THE SHIP ZION MOVES ONWARD BUT DOES NOT DRIFT. So many things have occurred which are entirely different to preconceived notions as to the course that would be taken in building up Zion that each one needs to have a knowledge that God is leading us in the path which we are now pursuing. To some who are inclined to despond and to take a gloomy view of affairs, the ship Zion may, perhaps, appear to be drifting away from its old moorings because things are being done or movements consented to which, to their eyes, portend disaster to us and to the work of God.
There has always been a few among us who have been filled with evil forebodings, and who have failed to see the wisdom of God in the steps which his people have been led to take. They have questioned and found fault with the counsel that has been given and the measures which have been adopted and have asserted that revelation had ceased and the Saints were no longer guided by men to whom God made known his will. . . . Experience has proved that in all such cases those who make these accusations are themselves in the dark.
But the faithful people -- those who have lived strictly in accordance with their profession as Saints and with the requirements of the gospel -- have not been assailed by doubts of this character. There might be many things which they could not fully understand, the reasons for which might not be fully apparent to them at the time; but possessing the Spirit of God, and being led by it, they trusted in the Lord and felt satisfied to leave the management of his kingdom and its affairs to his supreme wisdom. Time developed to their minds the correctness of the course which the Church had been led to adopt. This has occurred so frequently in our career that the instances will readily suggest themselves to those familiar with our history. In this way, however, the faith of the people has been constantly tested. -- MS 50:309, April 6, 1888.
See also, "The Law of Adoption," in Chapter XI.
GOD IS AT THE HELM. I want to get this principle into your minds, that God Almighty is guiding the course of this Church and kingdom; and we are not; and he has organized it for this day and generation, and it never will be rooted out of the earth again. -- JD 24:54, January 27, 1883.
TO REDEEM THE EARTH. The God of heaven has put into our hands the gospel, the priesthood, the keys of his kingdom, and the power to redeem the earth from the dominion of sin and wickedness under which it has groaned for centuries, and under which it groans today. Let us lay these things to heart, and try to live our religion; so that when we get through we may look back on our lives, and feel that we have done what was required of us, individually and collectively. -- JD 14:6, January 1, 1871.
A MISSION OF SALVATION. One of the proverbs common among the Saints of God in the dispensation in which we live -- the dispensation of the fulness of times, is, "The kingdom of God or nothing." President Young has been trying to get us to labor to build up the kingdom of God. This kingdom has been given into the hands of the Latter-day Saints to establish on the earth, and unless we labor for its advancement we shall certainly fall short of salvation, for all the salvation there is, whether for Jew, Gentile, saint, or sinner, is in connection with this kingdom. -- JD 16:32-33, April 7, 1873.
QUALIFICATIONS FOR BUILDING THE KINGDOM OF GOD. I have never believed any man was qualified from the days of father Adam to our day to go forth among the inhabitants of the earth with the declaration of the gospel of Jesus Christ, in a way and manner to convince them or teach them the gospel in its truth and purity, and in the power of God, only by inspiration. I have never believed that any man was qualified in any age of the world to build up the kingdom of God, or do the will of God only upon that principle. And I have felt, both while abroad in the world, as well as at home, that when called upon to teach the Latter-day Saints or anybody else -- I have felt as though my lips ought to be touched with a live coal from the altar and my heart filled with inspiration from Almighty God. -- JD 24:236, July 20, 1883.
NEED OF INDIVIDUAL TESTIMONY. A man must become acquainted with the Lord, acquainted with the principles of the gospel of Jesus Christ and receive them before he is qualified to understand the work of God, or the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. -- JD 24:239, July 20, 1883.
GROWTH OF THE KINGDOM. I realize that the kingdom of our God, of which we are members, is only in its infancy, although we look upon it as being great, compared with what it has been.
It commenced like a small mustard seed, but it has gradually increased until the birds begin to lodge in its branches; and yet it is but small, compared with what it is to be. We have had many symbols and figures presented to our minds to illustrate the growth and increase of the kingdom of God; and I will here say, in respect to its being like the comparison made by Daniel, it answers the figure very well -- only, instead of its rolling down hill, it has come up hill into the mountains; and I do hope and pray that it may continue to grow and increase in strength and in power, that when it rolls down hill it may go with mighty power and accelerated speed, that it may not require so much toil, labor, and fatigue to carry the kingdom from the mountains as it did to bring it up. -- JD 5:82, April 9, 1857.
A GREAT FUTURE. This kingdom is rising in these valleys of the mountains, and it will eventually spread itself abroad through the length and breadth of North and South America. We may now look forward into the great future that lies before us, and it will require just as much of a stretch of faith now as it did in the beginning to look at the kingdom of God upon the earth as it is to be built up in this dispensation, so that the word of the Lord may go forth from Zion, the servants of God be clothed with the power of the priesthood, to give counsel and to preside over the nations of the earth, when the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdom of our God and his Christ. -- JD 9:165, December 1, 1861.
Now, so far as I am concerned, I want to say to my friends, and to all peoples, I have no fears with regard to the kingdom of God, I have no fears with regard to Zion; I have no fears with regard to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, it is in the hands of the Almighty, and all that He hath said with regard to its work in the latter days will come to pass in spite of earth and hell combined. I want the world to understand this. These are eternal truths. The principles will live when our nation is broken to pieces and wasted away, and when we ourselves have passed away to the spirit world. There is no power beneath the heavens that can hinder, stop or destroy the progress of truth and the decrees of Almighty God. I want to have the Latter-day Saints understand these things. We are in the hands of God. This is a very different generation from any other. It is a generation when the Lord has decreed -- and that, too, before the world was made -- that in the last days the God of heaven shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed nor given to other people; the little stone cut out of the mountains without hands shall become a great mountain and fill the whole earth. These are the declarations of the Lord himself. -- JD 22:345-346, October 23, 1881.
TO FILL ALL THE EARTH. This kingdom is but a very small stone, comparatively speaking. It is not yet a great mountain, neither has it filled the whole earth; but, as the Lord lives, it will. This is how I feel; and I sincerely desire that we may have our minds opened upon the subject of the building up of the kingdom of God. In this we shall have joy, no matter whether in prosperity or adversity. -- JD 8:272, August 26, 1860.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD TO STAND. Where have you ever read that the kingdom of God would be overthrown in the last days? You cannot find it anywhere on the pages of the records of divine truth. No; the revelations of God will be fulfilled. And we must exercise faith in that direction. -- JD 25:10, January 6, 1884.
I will repeat what I have often said -- there is no power beneath the heavens that can remove Zion out of her place, or destroy this Church and kingdom, as long as the people do the will of God, for he will sustain them, and overrule the acts of their enemies for their good and for the final triumph of his truth in the earth. -- JD 22:233, June 26, 1881.
GETTING THE KINGDOM TO ROLL. As I remarked last evening in the high priests' quorum, we have been rolling this kingdom uphill, up a mountain; we have been toiling against a mighty current all the day long from its first organization, but the day will soon come, if this people will do their duty and take hold of the kingdom of God as they should do, it will soon get on the top of the mountain, and then it will begin to roll down from the mountains, and it will gather both strength and speed as it goes, and then instead of singing "Get out of the way, the handcart's rolling," it will be "Get out of the way, the kingdom's coming," and it will not stop until it has filled the whole earth. The Lord has proclaimed this in all the revelations he has given on the subject. -- JD 4:229, February 22, 1857.
WHY BE STARTLES. It startles men when they hear the elders of Israel tell about the kingdoms of this world becoming the kingdom of our God and his Christ. They say it is treason for men to teach that the kingdom Daniel saw is going to be set up, and bear rule over the whole earth. Is it treason for God Almighty to govern the earth? Who made it? God, did he not? Who made you? God, if you have any Eternal Father. Well, whose right is it to rule and reign over you and the earth? It does not belong to the devil, nor to men. It has never been given to men yet; it has never been given to the nations. It belongs solely to God and he is coming to rule and reign over it. -- JD 13:164, December 12, 1869.
TIME IS PRECIOUS. There is no time to throw away, and I would to God that the elders of Israel could fully realize and comprehend the great work that God has put upon their shoulders -- the building up of his kingdom. -- JD 21:192, July 3, 1880.
WHY BUILD TEMPLES. We are building temples to the name of the Lord. What are we building them for? That we may enter in and redeem the living and the dead. -- JD 22:209, January 9, 1881.
This is the reason why we are inspired to build these temples . . . because the day has come when they are needed. Joseph Smith went into the spirit world to unlock the prison doors in this dispensation or generation. He stayed here long enough to lay the foundation of this kingdom and obtain the keys belonging to it. The last time he ever met with the Quorum of the Twelve was when he gave them their endowments, and when they left him he had a presentiment that it was the last time they would ever meet. He had something to do the other side of the veil. He had a thousand to preach to there, where you and I have one in the flesh. And this is the great word of the last dispensation -- the redemption of the living and the dead. -- JD 21:194, July 3, 1880.
ETERNAL RELATIONSHIPS. There is hardly any principle the Lord has revealed that I have rejoiced more in than in the redemption of our dead; that we will have our fathers, our mothers, our wives and our children with us in the family organization, in the morning of the first resurrection and in the celestial kingdom. These are grand principles. They are worth every sacrifice. When we get home with God and with the prophets and apostles we will rejoice exceedingly. "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." -- MS 52:596 (1890).
REDEMPTION OF THE DEAD. We have a great work before us in the redemption of our dead. The course that we are pursuing is being watched with interest by all heaven. There are fifty thousand millions of people in the spirit world who are being preached to by Joseph Smith, and the apostles and elders, his associates, who have passed away. Those persons may receive their testimony, but they cannot be baptized in the spirit world, for some body on the earth must perform this ordinance for them in the flesh before they can receive part in the first resurrection, and be worthy of eternal life. It takes as much to save a dead-man as a living one. The eyes of these millions of people are watching over these Latter-day Saints. Have we any time to spend in trying to get rich and in neglecting our dead? I tell you no. -- JD 22:34, June 26, 1881.
THE ENDOWMENT -- A HISTORICAL INSIGHT. I was reading in the News last evening a speech reported to have been made by Joseph Smith III, son of the Prophet Joseph Smith, in which he accuses us of pursuing an entirely different course from that of his father; that his father had nothing to do with the endowments which form a part of our religious faith. . . . I wish to say that Joseph Smith III utters falsehoods when he says what he is reported to have said about his father: for I bear record to this congregation, and I ask our young people to bear it in mind after I am gone, that Joseph Smith first made known to me the very ordinances which we give to the Latter-day Saints in our endowments. I received my endowments under the direction of Joseph Smith. . . Joseph Smith himself organized every endowment in our Church and revealed the same to the Church, and he lived to receive every key of the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods from the hands of the men who held them while in the flesh, and who holds them in eternity. -- JD 23:131, May 14, 1882.
See previous footnote advice as to the meaning of the statistical figure mentioned by President Woodruff.
THE LORD'S ENDOWMENTS. The Lord has had his endowments a great many years ago. He has ascended to his thrones, principalities and powers in the eternities. We are his children. He has given us a law, and he has placed us here on the earth to obey that law. We are here to fill a probation and receive an education. -- JD 22:209, January 9, 1881.
A DOCTRINE OF EQUALITY. God is no respecter of persons; he will not give privileges to one generation and withhold them from another; and the whole human family, from father Adam down to our day, have got to have the privilege, somewhere, of hearing the gospel of Christ; and the generations that have passed and gone without hearing that gospel in its fulness, power and glory, will never be held responsible by God for not obeying it. Neither will he bring them under condemnation for rejecting a law they never saw or understood; and if they live up to the light they had they are justified so far, and they have to be preached to in the spirit world. But nobody will baptize them there, and somebody has got to administer for them by proxy here in the flesh, that they may be judged according to men in the flesh and have part in the first resurrection. -- JD 18:190-191, April 6, 1876.
AN EXTENSIVE MISSION. Our mission is more extended and extensive than we realize. . . . We are bordering upon the millennium. We are living in the great and last dispensation, in the which the God of Israel expects us, his servants, his sons and daughters, to perform the work which has been left to our charge. It is our duty to build these temples. It is our duty to enter into them and redeem our dead. Joseph Smith is preaching to the spirits in prison; so are all the elders who have died in the faith. There are millions of them there, and they must have the gospel offered to them. Joseph Smith and others cannot baptize the spirits in water, it is not the law; but their posterity, their sons and daughters who are living in the last dispensation, are expected to go into these temples and there redeem their dead. This is a good work and it is a great blessing for men and women to have this privilege. We have one of these temples finished, and we are doing a great work in that temple. A hundred and sixty-two thousand persons have been baptized for the dead, and nearly seventy thousand endowments have been given in that temple. We have only just begun this work. We want the Logan temple finished, as also the temple at Manti, that the people may go forth and redeem their dead. Our forefathers are looking to us to attend to this work. They are watching over us with great anxiety, and are desirous that we should finish these temples and attend to certain ordinances for them, so that in the morning of the resurrection they can come forth and enjoy the same blessings that we enjoy. We are living in the flesh and have the privilege of receiving the gospel of Christ for ourselves. Our forefathers had not this privilege; and as their posterity when we meet them in the spirit world we shall have the joy and satisfaction of knowing that we did our duty by them while here upon the earth. We occupy a position in this capacity towards them the same as we do to this generation. We occupy the position of saviors upon Mount Zion. -- JD 23:330-331, December 10, 1882.
THE REDEMPTION OF THE SPIRITS OF MEN WHO DIED WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE OF THE GOSPEL. There has been a good deal said here with regard to baptism for the dead. When Joseph Smith had laid the foundation of this word he was taken away. There are good reasons why it was so. Jesus sealed his testimony with his blood. Joseph Smith did the same, and from the day he died his testimony has been in force upon the whole world. He has gone into the spirit world and organized this dispensation on that side of the veil; he is gathering together the elders of Israel and the Saints of God in the spirit world, for they have a work to do there as well as here. Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Father Smith, David Patten and the other elders who have been called to the other side of the veil have fifty times as many people to preach to as we have on the earth. There they have all the spirits who have lived on the earth in seventeen centuries -- fifty generations, fifty thousand millions of persons who lived and died here without having seen a prophet or apostle, and without having the word of the Lord sent unto them. They are shut up in prison, awaiting the message of the elders of Israel. We have only about a thousand millions of people on the earth, but in the spirit world they have fifty thousand millions; and there is not a single revelation which gives us any reason to believe that any man who enters the spirit world preached the gospel there to those who lived after him; but they all preach to men who were in the flesh before they were. Jesus himself preached to the antediluvian world, who had been in prison for thousands of years. So with Joseph Smith and the elders -- they will have to preach to the inhabitants of the earth who have died during the last seventeen centuries; and when they hear the testimony of the elders and accept it there should be somebody on the earth, as we have been told, to attend to the ordinances of the house of God for them. -- JD 16:269, October 8, 1873.
THOUSANDS TO EMBRACE THE GOSPEL IN THE SPIRIT WORLD. Great and glorious are these principles which God has revealed to us concerning the redemption of our dead. I tell you when the prophets and apostles go to preach to those who are shut up in prison, and who have not received the gospel, thousands of them will there embrace the gospel. They know more in that world than they do here. -- MS 56:341, May 28, 1894.
DISCERNING THE SIGNIFICANT. Oh, I wish many times that the veil were lifted off the face of the Latter-day Saints. I wish we could see and know the things of God as they do who are laboring for the salvation of the human family who are in the spirit world; for if this were so, this whole people, with very few, if any, exceptions, would lose all interest in the riches of the world, and instead thereof their whole desires and labors would be directed to redeem their dead, to perform faithfully the work and mission given us on earth; so that when we ourselves should pass behind the veil and meet with Joseph and the ancient apostles, and others who are watching over us and who are deeply interested in our labors, we might feel satisfied in having done our duty. -- JD 21:302, August 1, 1880.
Many of us have traveled a great many years in the vineyard of the Lord, trying to save the souls of men and lay up treasures in heaven. Thousands have been redeemed in these temples. You have one here in Logan. We have been called as saviors upon Mount Zion, while the kingdom has been the Lord's. These are glorious principles. To be saved ourselves, and to save our fellow men, what a glorious thing! What is gold and silver; what are the riches of this world? They all perish with the using. We pass away and leave them. But if we have eternal life, if we keep the faith and overcome, we shall rejoice when we go upon the other side of the veil. -- MS 52:596 (1890).
THE BEGINNING. What have you to say about redeeming the dead, or the work of the temples of our God, that is not already revealed? I will say this: When the Prophet Joseph had this revelation from heaven, what did he do? There are witnesses here of what he did. He never stopped till he got the fulness of the word of God to him concerning the baptism for the dead. But before doing so he went into the Mississippi River, and so did I, as well as others, and we each baptized a hundred for the dead, without a man to record a single act that we performed. Why did we do it? Because of the feeling of joy that we had, to think that we in the flesh could stand and redeem our dead. We did not wait to know what the result of this would be, or what the whole of it should be. Finally the Lord told the Prophet: "When any of you are baptized for our dead, let there be a recorder, and let him be eyewitness of your baptisms; let him hear with his ears, that he may testify of a truth, saith the Lord; that in all your recordings it may be recorded in heaven; whatsoever you bind on earth, may be bound in heaven; whatsoever you loose on earth, may be loosed in heaven." That was the beginning of this work.
MORE REVELATION TO COME. I want to say, as the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that we should now go on and progress. We have not gotten through with revelation. We have not gotten through with the work of God. But at this period we want to go on and fulfil this commandment of God given through Malachi -- that the Lord should send Elijah the prophet, "and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." Ye sons of men, I say unto you, in the name of Israel's God, those very principles, that God has revealed are what have stayed the judgments of the Almighty on the earth. Were it not for these principles, you and I would not be here today. We have had prophets and apostles. President Young, who followed President Joseph Smith, led us here. He organized these temples and carried out the purposes of his calling and office. He laid the foundation of this great temple on this block, as well as others in the mountains of Israel. What for? That we might carry out these principles of redemption for the dead. He accomplished all that God required at his hands. But he did not receive all the revelations that belong to this work; neither did President Taylor, nor has Wilford Woodruff. There will be no end to this work until it is perfected. -- MS 56:324-325, May 21, 1894.
ADDED REVELATION: "THE LAW OF ADOPTION." I want to lay before you what there is for us to do at this present time; and in doing this I desire particularly the attention of President Lorenzo Snow, of the Salt Lake Temple; President M. W. Merrill, of the Logan Temple; President J. D. T. McAllister, of the Manti Temple, and President D. H. Cannon, of the St. George Temple, and those associated with them. You have acted up to all the light and knowledge that you have had; but you have now something more to do than what you have done. We have not fully carried out those principles in fulfilment of the revelations of God to us, in sealing the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers. I have not felt satisfied, neither did President Taylor, neither has any man since the Prophet Joseph who has attended to the ordinance of adoption in the temples of our God. We have felt that there was more to be revealed upon this subject than we had received. Revelations were given to us in the St. George Temple, which President Young presented to the Church of God. Changes were made there, and we still have more changes to make, in order to satisfy our Heavenly Father, satisfy our dead and ourselves. I will tell you what some of them are. I have prayed over this matter, and my brethren have. We have felt, as President Taylor said, that we have got to have more revelation concerning sealing under the law of adoption. Well, what are these changes? One of them is the principle of adoption. In the commencement of adopting men and women in the temple at Nauvoo, a great many persons were adopted to different men who were not of the lineage of their fathers, and there was a spirit manifested by some in that work that was not of God. Men would go out and electioneer and labor with all their power to get men adopted to them. One instance I will name here: A man went around Nauvoo asking every man he could, saying, "You come and be adopted to me, and I shall stand at the head of the kingdom, and you will be there with me." Now, what is the truth about this? Those who were adopted to that man, if they go with him, will have to go where he is. He was a participator in that horrible scene -- the Mountain Meadow massacre. . . . Men are in danger sometimes in being adopted to others, until they know who they are and what they will be. Now, what are the feelings of Israel? They have felt that they wanted to be adopted to somebody. President Young was not satisfied in his mind with regard to the extent of this matter; President Taylor was not.
When I went before the Lord to know who I should be adopted to (we were then being adopted to prophets and apostles the) Spirit of God said to me, "Have you not a father, who begot you?"
"Yes, I have."
"Then why not honor him? Why not be adopted to him?"
"Yes," said I, "that is right."
I was adopted to my father, and should have had my father sealed to his father, and so on back; and the duty that I want every man who presides over a temple to see performed from this day henceforth and forever, unless the Lord Almighty commands otherwise, is, let every man be adopted to his father. When a man receives the endowments, adopt him to his father; not to Wilford Woodruff, nor to any other man outside the lineage of his fathers. That is the will of God to this people. I want all men who preside over these temples in these mountains of Israel to bear this in mind. What business have I to take away the rights of the lineage of any man? What right has any man to do this?. No; I say let every man be adopted to his father; and then you will do exactly what God said when he declared he would send Elijah the prophet in the last days. Elijah the prophet appeared unto Joseph Smith and told him that the day had come when this principle must be carried out. Joseph Smith did not live long enough to enter any further upon these things. His soul was wound up with this work before he was martyred for the word of God and testimony of Jesus Christ. He told us that there must be a welding link of all dispensations and of the work of God from one generation to another. This was upon his mind more than most any other subject that was given to him.
In my prayers the Lord revealed to me that it was my duty to say to all Israel to carry this principle out, and in fulfilment of that revelation I lay it before this people.
I say to all men who are laboring in these temples, carry out this principle, and then we will make one step in advance of what we have had before.
Myself and counselors conversed upon this and were agreed upon it, and afterwards we laid it before all the apostles who were here (two were absent) -- Brothers Thatcher and Lund, the latter being in England), and the Lord revealed to every one of these men -- and they would bear testimony to it if they were to speak -- that that was the word of the Lord to them. I never met with anything in my life in this Church that there was more unity upon than there was upon that principle. They all feel right about it, and that it is our duty. That is one principle that should be carried out from this time henceforth.
"But," says one, "suppose we come along to a man who perhaps is a murderer." Well, if he is a murderer, drop him out and connect with the next man beyond him. But the Spirit of God will be with us in this matter.
We want the Latter-day Saints from this time to trace their genealogies as far as they can, and to be sealed to their fathers and mothers. Have children sealed to their parents, and run this chain through as far as you can get it. When you get to the end, let the last man be adopted to Joseph Smith, who stands at the head of the dispensation. This is the will of the Lord to this people, and I think when you come to reflect upon it you will find it to be true. -- MS 56:335-339, May 28, 1894.
FURTHER ON FAMILY SEALINGS. Another principle connected with this subject I want to talk about. A man has married a woman, and they have a family of children. The man lays down in death without ever hearing the gospel. His wife afterwards hears the gospel and embraces it. She comes to the temple and she wants to be sealed to her husband, who was a good man. The feeling has been to deny this and to say, "No, he was not in the Church, and you cannot be sealed to your husband." Many a woman's heart has ached because of this, and as a servant of God I have broken that chain a good while ago. I have laid before every woman this principle and let her have her choice. Why deprive a woman of being sealed to her husband because he never heard the gospel? What do any of us know with regard to him? Will he not hear the gospel and embrace it in the spirit worlds
There will be very few, if any, who will not accept the gospel. Jesus, while his body lay in the tomb, went and preached to the spirits in prison, who were destroyed in the days of Noah. After so long an imprisonment, in torment, they doubtless gladly embraced the gospel, and if so they will be saved in the kingdom of God. The fathers of this people will embrace the gospel. It is my duty to honor my father who begot me in the flesh. It is your duty to do the same. When you do this, the Spirit of God will be with you. And we shall continue this work, the Lord adding light to that which we have already received. I have had friends adopted to me. We all have, more or less. But I have had peculiar feelings about it, especially lately. There are men in this congregation who wish to be adopted to me. I say to them today, if they can hear me, Go and be adopted to your fathers, and save your fathers, and stand at the head of your father's house, as saviors upon Mount Zion, and God will bless you in this. This is what I want to say, and what I want carried out in our temples. . . . I have had a great anxiety over this matter. I have had a great desire that I might live to deliver these principles to the Latter-day Saints, for they are true. They are one step forward in the work of the ministry and in the work of the endowments in these temples of our God. When you get to the last man in the lineage, as I said before, we will adopt that man to the Prophet Joseph, and then the Prophet Joseph will take care of himself with regard to where he goes.
A man may say, "I am an apostle, or I am a high priest, or I am an elder in Israel, and if I am adopted to my father, will it take any honor from me?"
I would say not. If Joseph Smith was sealed to his father, with whom many of you were acquainted, what effect will that have upon his exaltation and glory? None at all. Joseph Smith will hold the keys of this dispensation to the endless ages of eternity. It is the greatest dispensation God ever gave to man, and he was ordained before the world was to stand in the flesh and organize this work. He was martyred for the word of God and testimony of Jesus, and when he comes in the clouds of heaven he will wear a martyr's crown. Those of you who stand here -- I do not care whether you are apostles or what you are -- by honoring your fathers you will not take any honor from your heads; you will hold the keys of the salvation of your father's house, as Joseph Smith does. You will lose nothing by honoring your fathers and redeeming your dead. It is a glorious work. When I returned from England in 1841 and heard Joseph Smith give this revelation, that we had power to redeem our dead, one of the first things I thought was, "I have a mother in the spirit world." My father was in the flesh. I baptized and ordained him and brought him up to Zion, where he is buried. But I never saw my mother to know her. She died when I was an infant. I had power to seal my mother to my father. Was not that a satisfaction? It was to me. I have gone to work with the assistance of my friends and redeemed my father's and my mother's house. When I inquired of the Lord how I could redeem my dead, while I was in St. George, not having any of my family there, the Lord told me to call upon the Saints in St. George and let them officiate for me in that temple, and it should be acceptable unto him. Brother McAllister and the brethren and sisters there have assisted me in this work, and I felt to bless them with every feeling of my heart. This is a revelation to us. We can help one another in these matters, if we have not relatives sufficient to carry this on, and it will be acceptable unto the Lord. -- MS 56:339-341, May 28, 1894.
ADMONITION IN 1877 TO COMPLETE THE TEMPLES. I want to say one thing to the Latter-day Saints, which is resting upon my mind. President Young having now passed away, his labors with us have ceased for the present. He, with his brethren, built and completed one temple at St. George, also laid the foundation for one at Manti and one at Logan, and besides a great deal of work has been done on the one in this city. He left this unfinished work for us to carry on to completion; and it is our duty to rise up and build these temples. I look upon this portion of our ministry as a mission of as much importance as preaching to the living; the dead will hear the voice of the servants of God in the spirit world, and they cannot come forth in the morning of the resurrection, unless certain ordinances are performed, for, and in their behalf, in temples built to the name of God. It takes just as much to save a dead man as a living man. -- JD 19:228, September 16, 1877.
AN INCIDENT AT ST. GEORGE TEMPLE. I will here say that two weeks before I left St. George, the spirits of the dead gathered around me, wanting to know why we did not redeem them. Said they, "You have had the use of the Endowment House for a number of years, and yet nothing has ever been done for us. We laid the foundation of the government you now enjoy, and we never apostatized from it, but we remained true to it and were faithful to God."
These were the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and they waited on me for two days and two nights. I thought it very singular, that notwithstanding so much work had been done, and yet nothing had been done for them. The thought never entered my heart, from the fact, I suppose, that heretofore our minds were reaching after our more immediate friends and relatives.
I straightway went into the baptismal font and called upon Brother McAllister to baptize me for the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and fifty other eminent men, making one hundred in all, including John Wesley, Columbus, and others. I then baptized him for every President of the United States, except three; and when their cause is just, somebody will do the work for them. -- JD 19:229, September 16, 1877.
A STORY ABOUT THE LOGAN TEMPLE. With regard to our preaching I will say that as apostles of God and as men appointed to lead and guide Israel, we have a great many things presented to our minds that at the time appear to be beyond our comprehension. . . . I was thinking today of a time many years ago, when President Young and several brethren of the twelve, were in Logan; it was a time when a railroad up to this region was not even dreamed of, the time when Brothers Ezra T. Benson and Peter Maughan presided here; when at a meeting President Young called upon me to talk to the people assembled. The night before, however, we had been met by a long line of children and young people, from three up to twenty years of age; they had come out to meet the prophet, and presented a fine sight. While talking to the people I felt led to speak to the children and young people; and I told them that I wanted them to remember the visit which the president was making them because the day would come when they were grown up, when they would talk to one another and say, that on such a day President Young and party visited us, and we were told then that we should see the day when a temple should be built in this place, from the top of which we would be able to survey the country around which could be occupied by ten thousand of our people; and you will say that this was told to us when Brother Benson and Brother Maughan presided here. We never thought of building a temple here at that time; it had never entered into the heart of man to do so. Brothers Benson and Maughan have been for some years now in the spirit world. Today you are engaged building a temple which will be completed and dedicated; and when this shall be done these young people will have the opportunity of going to the top of the building and will then see what I promised to you in those early days.
I mention this to show you how things are presented to our minds and given utterance to in our public teaching's about which, at the time, we have little or no idea. -- JD 21:298-299, August 1, 1880.
A STORY ABOUT THE SALT LAKE TEMPLE. When in the western country, many years ago, before we came to the Rocky Mountains, I had a dream. I dreamed of being in these mountains, and of seeing a large, fine-looking temple erected in one of these valleys which was built of cut granite stone. I saw that temple dedicated, and I attended the dedicatory services, and I saw a good many men that are living today in the midst of this people. . . . When the foundation of that temple was laid I thought of my dream and a great many times since. And whenever President Young held a council of the brethren of the Twelve and talked of building the temple of adobe or brick, which was done, I would say to myself, "No, you will never do it"; because I had seen it in my dream built of some other material. I mention these things to show you that things are manifested to the Latter-day Saints sometimes which we do not know anything about, only as they are given by the Spirit of God. -- JD 21:299-300, August 1, 1880.
I thank God we have a temple upon this block, where the Latter-day Saints in this religion can enter and redeem their dead -- their fathers and mothers and their progenitors who have gone into the spirit world without the gospel. They never heard the gospel, and no man, in time or in eternity, will ever be saved in the celestial kingdom of God without the gospel of Christ. -- MS 56:660, October 15, 1894.
TEMPLE BUILDING TO CONTINUE OVER THE WORLD. This is a preparation necessary for the second advent of the Savior; and when we shall have built the temples now contemplated, we will then begin to see the necessity of building others, for in proportion to the diligence of our labors in this direction, will we comprehend the extent of the work to be done, and the present is only a beginning. When the Savior comes, a thousand years will be devoted to this work of redemption; and temples will appear all over this land of Joseph -- North and South America -- and also in Europe and elsewhere; and all the descendants of Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who received not the gospel in the flesh, must be officiated for in the temples of God, before the Savior can present the kingdom to the Father, saying, "It is finished." -- JD 19:229-230, September 16, 1877.
INCLUDES EVERY BRANCH OF BUSINESS, ANY SUBJECT. The building up of the Zion of God in these latter days includes, I may say of a truth, every branch of business, both temporal and spiritual, in which we are engaged. We cannot touch upon any subject which is lawful in the sight of God and man, that is not embraced in our religion. The gospel of Jesus Christ which we have embraced, and which we preach, includes all truth, and every lawful calling and occupation. . . . We inhabit temporal bodies, we eat temporal food, we build temporal houses, we raise temporal cattle and temporal wheat; we contend with temporal weeds and with temporal enemies in our soil, and these things naturally give rise to the necessity of attending to and performing many duties of a temporal and arduous nature, and they, of course, are embraced in our religion. -- JD 15:77, April 8, 1872.
A TEMPORAL ZION. Strangers and the Christian world marvel at the "Mormons" talking about temporal things. Bless your souls, two thirds of all the revelations given in this world rest upon the accomplishment of this temporal work. We have it to do. We can't build up Zion sitting on a hemlock slab singing ourselves away to everlasting bliss; we have to cultivate the earth, to take the rocks and elements out of the mountains and rear temples to the Most High God; and this temporal work is demanded at our hands by the God of heaven, as much as he required Christ to die to redeem the world, or as much as the Savior required Peter, James and John to go and preach the gospel to the nations of the earth. This is the great dispensation in which the Zion of God must be built up, and we as Latter-day Saints have it to build. We are obliged to build cities, towns and villages, and we are obliged to gather the people from every nation under heaven to the Zion of God, that they may be taught in the ways of the Lord. We have only just begun to prepare for the celestial law when we are baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. -- JD 16:268-269, October 8, 1873.
TEMPORAL AFFAIRS AND INSPIRATION. There has been a good deal said with regard to our temporal affairs. That is all right. What the brethren have said concerning our temporal condition is of importance to us. I still am of the opinion that inasmuch as Zion is going to be built up on the earth, it is the mind and will of God that we should do something for ourselves. We ought to cultivate the earth. We ought not to wait for the world to come and plant and dig our potatoes, or plant and harvest our wheat, or to build railroads and carry them on. The Presidency of the Church have shouldered a very heavy load connected with this sugar factory. Why should we not make sugar? Utah sends a very great amount every year out of the Territory for sugar. This should not be. The soil is here and the talent is here to raise beets and to make sugar. Why should not the Latter-day Saints do this and keep their money at home? Is there any sin in this? Not at all; the more of these things we would do, the better, I think, the Lord would be pleased with us. I know there has been quite a feeling one way or another, because we have burdened ourselves with these labors. But it is our duty to try to get the Latter-day Saints to cultivate the earth and to produce what they eat and drink and what they wear. We have tried to do this. It is true, it cost a great deal to establish the sugar plant, and the Church had to shoulder a great measure of responsibility in connection with it, in order to carry it out. I do not think we have done wrong in that. When I go before my Father in heaven I am willing to bear my part of the responsibility, because if there is anything on earth that I was ever moved upon by the Spirit to do it was to unite in that enterprise with my brethren. I believe it is our duty to manufacture what we use, as far as we can, at home. We refer to these temporal things because they are and always will be connected with us. -- MS 56:227, April 9, 1894.
UNITY AND PROGRESS. We are the only people under heaven who are one, and we are not half as much one as we ought to be; we have to improve. We are the only people in the whole Christian world who make any pretensions to oneness in building up the Zion of God on the earth. We profess to be one in the gospel, and we have to become so in temporal matters. We have to become of one heart and mind in giving attention and obedience to the counsel of God in all things, both spiritual and temporal. -- JD 14:34, May 6, 1870.
LETTING THE LORD GOVERN IN TEMPORAL AFFAIRS. From the commencement of this work to the present day, the labor has been harder with the servants of God to get the people prepared in their hearts to let the Lord govern and control them in their temporal labor and means than in matters pertaining to their eternal salvation. -- JD 17:71, May 8, 1874.
A FORECAST IN 1894. So far as our temporal matters are concerned, we have got to go to work and provide for ourselves. The day will come when, as we have been told, we shall all see the necessity of making our own shoes and clothing and raising our own food, and uniting together to carry out the purposes of the Lord. We will be preserved in the mountains of Israel in the day of God's judgment. I therefore say to you, my brethren and sisters, prepare for that which is to come. You have a great future before you. There is a change coming over the world with regard to Zion. The day is coming when the world will say, "Let us not go up to battle against Zion, for the inhabitants of Zion are terrible; wherefore we cannot stand." They will find that the power of God is with this people. We want to prepare ourselves for this, and sanctify ourselves before the Lord that we may be prepared to carry out our mission. -- MS 56:644, October 8, 1894.
IMPORTANCE OF INDUSTRIALIZATION. In building up the Zion and kingdom of God in these latter days, our agricultural and manufacturing interests are of the most vital importance; in fact manufacturing and agricultural pursuits are of vital importance to any nation under heaven. Show me a nation whose people cultivate the earth, and manufacture what they need, and I will show you a rich and independent nation. Show me a nation that lives entirely by mining and I will show you a poor nation -- one that is ready to run out and become obsolete. You see this manifest in the history of all nations under heaven. What gives England her wealth today? Her coal, iron and the products of her soil, in connection with her prodigious manufactures; and it is so with all the nations of the earth. What makes the United States what she is today? Her products and the cultivation of her soil, and the constant efforts she has made to supply the wants of her people. Not but what mining is all right, there is no fault with the development of the resources of the earth under favorable circumstances. When we came here our position demanded that the very first thing we did was to plant our potatoes and sow our wheat, or we had starvation before us, and I will here say that the Saints and the elders of Israel have gone before the Lord day after day and week after week, and prayed the Almighty to hide up the treasures of these mountains, lest even the Latter-day Saints with all the faith they had, should be tempted to turn away from the cultivation of the earth and the manufacture of what they needed; and the Lord heard our prayers, and we dwelt here many years and filled these valleys for six hundred miles with cities, towns, villages, gardens, orchards, fields, vineyards, hundreds of schoolhouses, and places of worship, until we made the desert blossom as the rose, and had a supply of wheat, bread and clothing upon our hands. Then, I do not know but the elders ceased praying for the Lord to hide up the treasures of the earth -- I guess they did, for very soon after mines began to be opened. -- JD 15:77-78, April 8, 1872.
UNDERLYING PHILOSOPHY OF HOME MANUFACTURING. President Young has taken the lead in establishing woolen factories in this Territory. Others have assisted in this work, but he has done much more than any other man, and now we have several good mills for the manufacture of cloth and other fabrics owned and run by the Saints in Utah. Still we send many large quantities of wool abroad instead of using it in our own mills, and import goods of outside manufacture instead of making them at home. How long will it be before we are poor, and our Territory drained of all the money we can raise, if we continue this? We should not send our wool to be manufactured in the States, and then pay our money for cloth brought from there here. Where are our wool growers? What are they thinking about when they do this? This is an item which I consider of vital importance to the Latter-day Saints. We should keep our wool at home, and we should manufacture this wool into cloth, and we should buy and pay for that cloth, and support home manufactures. This is a principle which we have neglected in a great degree; but we have got to come to it some time. We have got either to make ourselves self-sustaining, or we shall have to go without a good many things that we now regard as almost indispensable for our welfare and comfort, for there is not a man who believes in the revelations of God but what believes the day is at hand when there will be trouble among the nations of the earth, when great Babylon will come in remembrance before God, and his judgments will visit the nations. When that day comes, if Zion has food and raiment and the comforts of life she must produce them, and there must be a beginning to these things. -- JD 16:33, April 7, 1873.
COOPERATION. We have to become united as a people in all our labors -- in our agriculture, manufactures, and every branch of our temporal labors. It is of great importance to the Latter-day Saints that they should unite together on the principle of cooperation. -- JD 14:36, May 6, 1870.
THE ADVANTAGES OF COOPERATION. Let us not be weary in well doing; let us not slacken our hands, either in cultivating the earth or in the manufacturing of what we need. Cooperate in agricultural and mercantile matters, also in our tanneries, and in the making of butter and cheese. One man may engage in these branches of business with advantage if he have skill and experience to guide him; but in cooperation the wisdom of all is combined for the general good. This plan has been adopted with advantage in other communities, cities, states, territories and countries, and it can be in this more extensively than it has been hitherto. -- JD 15:80, April 8, 1872.
THE UNITED ORDER. I can see everything in favor but nothing against the United Order. These teachings are of the Lord; the servants of God have been moved to call upon the people, and the Lord has moved upon the people, and their hearts are being touched by the light of the Holy Spirit, and they are entering into this organization; and my feeling is that if you and I, who profess to be the friends of God, and have entered into a covenant with him, withdraw our hearts from him that we do not see the necessity of uniting ourselves according to this law of God, we shall begin to dry up, and what little life, light, or spirit we have will leave us and we shall go down and we shall not walk in the light of the Lord. I view it as a day of decision to the Latter-day Saints throughout the whole church and kingdom of God, and we shall find it to our advantage to decide rightly, and to walk in the path marked out for us by the servants of the Lord. -- JD 17:73, May 8, 1874.
THE UNITED ORDER AND WORLD EVENTS. There are certain events awaiting the nations of the earth as well as Zion; and when these events overtake us we will be preserved if we take the counsel that is given us and unite our time, labor and means, and produce what we need for our own use; but without this we shall not be prepared to sustain ourselves and we shall suffer loss and inconvenience thereby. I am satisfied that as a people, pursuing the course we have pursued hitherto, we are not prepared for the Zion of Enoch or the kingdom of God. There was an order carried out anciently by the people of this continent and by the people of the city of Enoch, wherever that was located, which was very different from the practice which has prevailed among the Saints of latter days; and as far as such a system being any injury to us I can see none in the world. I can see no injury that can overtake the Latter-day Saints, by their uniting together, according to the law of God, and producing from the elements that which they need to eat, drink and wear, and I feel as though the time has come for such an order to be instituted; and the readiness with which the people receive the teachings of the servants of God in regard to this matter is a testimony that the time has come to favor Zion. -- JD 17:70-71, May 8, 1874.
There are very many advantages that will accrue to us if we unite our hearts, feelings, labors, interests, property, and everything that we are made stewards over. One thing is certain, we cannot continue in the course that we have pursued in regard to temporal matters. It is suicidal for any people to import ten dollar's worth of products while they export only one, and it is a miracle and a wonder to me that we have lived as long as we have under this order of things. We have sent millions of dollars out of the Territory every year, for articles for our home consumption, while we have exported but very little; hence I say that the establishment and success of this new order among us will bring about our temporal salvation. -- JD 17:69-70, May 8, 1874.
A CRITIQUE OF THE UNITED ORDER. We had a request given to us, at the opening of the conference, yesterday morning, by President Young, to give evidences for and against the United Order of Zion. I do not know that I should be a very able advocate against it. I have been looking over in my own mind, the arguments which might be brought against it, and there are a few things I will name. If we were to undertake to unite according to the spirit and letter of this order it would, in one sense of the word, deprive us of having half a dozen candidates at elections, as is the custom generally in the Christian world. It would, in a measure, deprive these candidates of the opportunity of spending a month or two stump-speeching to get the votes of the people; then, when the election came, of paying for two or three barrels of bad whiskey to treat those who are going to vote for them. Then it might deprive Alderman Jeter Clinton, or some other justice of the peace, of the chance of collecting two or three hundred dollars as fines from those who had committed a breach of the peace. It might deprive the Benedicts and other surgeons of the opportunity of collecting five hundred or a thousand dollars for mending broken arms and legs that got in free fights. Probably it would deprive the people of the opportunity of spending fifty or a hundred thousand dollars a year in importing mustard into this Territory, and require the farmers to collect and use that which is now a nuisance on their fields. It might also deprive us of the privilege of paying a hundred thousand dollars for imported brooms, and require us to plant two or three hundred acres of broom corn. These are about the only objections that I can think of against the order, though you might carry it out in detail, perhaps, a god deal further; but with regard to the benefits arising from it, they are so numerous that it would take a long time to enumerate them. I do not think it requires a great deal of argument to prove to us that union is strength, and that a united people have power which a divided people do not possess. -- JD 17:69, May 8, 1874.
SEEK FIRST THE KINGDOM. The words which Brother Wells quoted, and which Brother Samuel Richards referred to, furnish as strong a proof as can be furnished as to the true principle of prosperity, touching things temporal and things spiritual. I refer to the words of Jesus Christ which he spoke to his followers: "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto you." I will tell you, brethren and sisters, we may try it all the days of our lives, we may try every path and every principle in this world, and we as Saints cannot prosper upon any other mode of proceeding than by first seeking the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness; when we do this there is no blessing, there is no good, no exaltation, gift, grace, desire, or anything that a good man can wish that is profitable and good for time and for eternity, but will be given unto us.
A great many people have tried to seek for happiness independent of first seeking the kingdom of heaven, but they have always found it an uphill business, and so shall we if we try it. . .
The kingdom of God is a righteous kingdom, all its laws are righteous, its government is a righteous government, and the king who governs and controls it does so upon righteous and eternal principles, and we must act upon the same principles of righteousness. Who cannot see that if a man seeks first the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness that he will become righteous and hence he will be blessed and justified in all of his acts. -- JD 4:227-228, February 22, 1857.
RICHES. I have been talking about getting riches. I do not find fault with riches. The gold and silver are the Lord's. We want houses, buildings, and we must cultivate the earth. This is all right. I do not find fault with a man getting rich, I find fault with our selling the kingdom of God, our birthright, selling the gospel and depriving ourselves of eternal life, for the sake of gratifying the lusts of the flesh, the pride of life and the fashions of the world; and setting our hearts upon these things. -- JD 18:121, September 12, 1875.
As for riches and wealth, I do not want them if they will damn me. I would like to have enough to clothe, shoe and feed my wives and children, and to make them comfortable, if I can get it honestly before the Lord; but I would rather myself and them all be in poverty than to have wealth and be destroyed. Riches are dangerous unless we can use them so as not to destroy us; if we cannot use them to the glory of God and for the building up of his kingdom, we are better without them. -- JD 18:39-40, June 24, 1875.
ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE. When Joseph Smith died, Nauvoo remained, he did not take it with him; when President Brigham Young died, Salt Lake City still remained, and when we join them we shall leave behind us the things of time, even as Jesus did himself who was the founder of the earth. This truth itself should incite the Latter-day Saints to reflection, it should indelibly impress upon our memories, the fact that we are working for something far greater, in real worth, than dollars and cents, houses and lands, and this world's goods. -- JD 19:295-296, April 6, 1878.
THE SPIRIT OF DEDICATION. The Lord has blessed us. He has blessed the earth for our use; and we ought to dedicate our families, our fields, our crops, our herds, to God. -- JD 23:332, December 10, 1882.
CREATED FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES. The Lord never created this world at random; he has never done any of his work at random. The earth was created for certain purposes; and one of these purposes was its final redemption and the establishment of his government and kingdom upon it in the latter days, to prepare it for the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose right it is to reign. That set time has come, that dispensation is before us, we are living in the midst of it. -- JD 15:8, April 6, 1872.
THE LORD OWNS THE EARTH. The Lord made the earth, and placed man upon it, and he owns it still, and he will cut off wickedness, no matter where it exists, so that there will be room for the good fruit to grow. As true as the Lord lives, if we wish to exist upon the earth in these days, we must be righteous; if we expect to have a place, an inheritance, and dwell on the earth, we must keep the law of God, or we shall be cut off. This will apply to all, to Jew and Gentile, bond and free; this will apply to all men in every nation, and under all circumstances. -- JD 2:201, February 25, 1855.
WHO OWNS THE EARTH. Who owns the earth? Does the devil? No; but he has had it a great while, and holds universal sway, and has held it almost from the beginning; so much so, that if the Lord inspires a man upon the earth, the power of the devil is so great, that that man is, or men are, slain. Even Christ and his apostles could but exist in tribulation and suffering for a little while, and then were slain. The power of the devil was so great, that the principles of righteousness were driven from the earth, and those that taught them. But, hark! in the last days it will not be so, the time has come for the kingdom to be established, because the earth is ripe, and the set time has come. -- JD 2:201, February 25, 1855.
We have been called upon by the Lord and his servants to keep the Word of Wisdom; it is time we did it. -- JD 14:35, May 6, 1870:
THE WORD OF WISDOM APPLIES TO ALL. The Word of Wisdom applies to Wilford Woodruff, the President of the Church, and it applies to all the leaders of Israel as well as to the members of the Church; and if there are any of these leading men who cannot refrain from using tobacco or liquor in violation of the Word of Wisdom, let them resign and others take their places. As leaders of Israel, we have no business to indulge in these things. -- MS 56:737, November 19, 1894.
TEMPORAL SALVATION -- THROUGH THE WORD OF WISDOM. With regard to the Word of Wisdom, I must say I was agreeably surprised to see how generally the people are taking hold of it. We did not see much coffee or tea, and I do not think that one in the company drank a drop of it. I rejoice in this; it is going to make the people more wealthy, it will save us a great deal of means, besides preventing our being poisoned to death, for these things are poisoned, and the Lord understood that when he gave the Word of Wisdom many years ago. -- JD 12:388, May 19, 1867.
"APPLICABLE TO THE WEAKEST SAINT." We have been taught the Word of Wisdom. It was given to us many years ago, and the Lord said it was applicable to the weakest Saint. Very few of us have kept the Word of Wisdom; but I have no doubt that if the counsel of President Young were carried out it would save the people of this Territory a million of dollars annually. I feel that we ought to put these things into practice. We ought to unite together in all matters required of us in order to carry out the purposes of the Lord our God. The people are able to do it if they feel disposed. Why, Bishop Hardy told me here this morning that he had laid aside his tobacco; he has loved it almost ever since he was born, and if he can leave it off every man in Israel ought to be able to do it. It was said today that whisky-drinking makes fools of men; it does. Its effects are much worse than they used to be, for the liquor made nowadays contains so much strychnine and arsenic that it is enough to kill anybody, and unless those who use it do lay it aside many will die. Lay aside whisky, tobacco, tea, and coffee, and use none of them unless it be as a medicine. We can all do it, and there is not a man or woman in Israel, with any faith in this work, but is required to do so. -- JD 11:370, April 7, 1867.
A COMMANDMENT OF GOD. Tithing is a commandment of God to the people, and should be observed. -- MS 56:658, October 15, 1894.
TITHING -- A PRINCIPLE OF SACRIFICE. President Taylor treated this forenoon upon the law of tithing. Perhaps the Latter-day Saints do not want to hear much more upon this subject, but I have felt a long time that we as a people were somewhat ignorant of that law. We have looked upon it as a matter of little consequence; we have looked upon it with a great deal of indifference whether we pay tithing or not. But the subject was clearly set forth this forenoon by president Taylor. He has no power to change this law, nor has any other man; and if we do not obey it, we can lay no claim to the promises made to those who obey it. These things are very plain and pointed. The principle of tithing has been a principle of sacrifice in almost every age of the world; in fact, it was peculiarly so among the people in ancient days, and among even the heathen nations of the earth. -- JD 22:207, January 9, 1881.
TITHING -- A MEANS OF RECEIVING THE BLESSINGS OF ACTIVE MEMBERSHIP. The law of tithing was carried out by all Israel, from the creation of the world down to the present time -- that is, whenever God had a people upon the earth they observed the law of tithing. And I believe, as President Taylor has stated, that it is our duty to pay our tithes and offerings before the Lord. It is a commandment of the Lord that we should do this, and I do not feel myself called upon as a member of this Church and kingdom to require the President of this Church to attempt to change this order, or attempt to find fault with him because he does not permit young men who curse and swear, who do not pay their tithing, etc., to enter the Lord's house and there have sealed upon their heads the highest blessings that were ever given to patriarchs and prophets, who have sealed their testimony with their blood. He has told the bishops and presidents of stakes not to give recommends to young men or old men, or anybody else, who do not obey the laws of God in this respect, and I feel to back him up in this matter, for I know he will be justified before the Lord. -- JD 22:207-208, January 9, 1881.
TITHING IS FOR THE BENEFIT OF MAN. Some of the people have looked upon the law of tithing as a kind of tax and burden laid upon them, but who is it for? Our tithing, our labor, and all that we do in the kingdom of God, who is it all for? The tithing is not to exalt the Lord, or to feed or clothe him. I want the brethren to understand this one thing, that our tithing, our labor, our works are not for the exaltation of the Almighty, but they are for us. Not but what the Lord is pleased to see us obey his commandments, because by doing this it will place us in a position that will fulfil and accomplish the object of our creation, and bring about the end designed by our coming to take tabernacles here in the flesh. Again, when we do wrong, the Lord knows we shall inherit sorrow and misery if we continue in that wrong. Then I say, brethren, let us understand this as it is, and we shall do well. In paying our tithing, in obeying every law that is given to exalt us and to do us good, it is all for our individual benefit and the benefit of our children, and it is not of any particular benefit of the Lord, only as he is pleased in the faithfulness of his children and desires to see them walk in the path which leads to salvation and eternal life. -- JD 4:192-193, January 25, 1857.
PRACTICE TITHING AS WELL AS PREACH IT! I have felt for a good while that we required stirring up with regard to the law of tithing, and other things. The question is here: If this is the work of God, and the Lord has given us commandments, will we be blessed in obeying these commandments? The Lord holds our destiny in his hands. The earth, the riches of the earth, the crops, the herds, or flocks, our food and raiment are all the gifts of God to us.
Of course, we are required to practice what we preach. I believe in that doctrine. Now, I know for myself, that the Presidency of this Church pay their tithing. As chairman of the auditing committee, I know what their tithing is. The Twelve Apostles pay their tithing. Bishop Hunter and his counselors pay their tithing, as well as a great many others in this Church and kingdom. I would not preach tithing if I did not pay it. I consider it my duty to pay my tithing. I consider it is a law of God to me, and I am no poorer for obeying it. I wish my brethren and sisters to take this principle to heart. As the President has said, the Lord does not care anything about our cattle, our gold and our silver. The law of tithing is a law of God to us. Obedience is better than sacrifice. -- JD 22:208-209, January 9, 1881.
We should pay our tithing according to the law of God. We should attend to all the duties required at our hands. We should not neglect our prayers. Men should seek to enjoy the spirit of God, and the fellowship of his Holy Spirit. We should seek to do all the good we can, so that we may feel justified when we get through. -- JD 23:332, December 10, 1882.
FASTING AND "HEADACHE." It was remarked this morning that some people said they could not fast because it made their head ache. Well, I can fast, and so can any other man; and if it makes my head ache by keeping the commandments of God, let it ache. -- MS 56:657, October 15, 1894.
SABBATH OBSERVANCE. We have no right to break the Sabbath. We have no right to neglect our meetings to attend to our labors. I do not believe that any man, who has ever belonged to this Church and kingdom, since its organization, has made anything by attending to his farm on the Sabbath: but if your ox falls into a pit, get him out; to work in that way is all just and right, but for us to go farming to the neglect of our meetings and other duties devolving upon us, is something we have no right to do. The Spirit of God does not like it, it withdraws itself from us, and we make no money by it. We should keep the Sabbath holy. We should attend our meetings. -- JD 21:191, July 3, 1880.
EFFECT OF CONNECTICUT BLUE LAWS ON WILFORD WOODRUFF. I was brought up under the blue laws of Connecticut, when Presbyterianism ruled throughout the state as the religion of that state; and I dared no more go out to play on a Sunday than I dared put my hand in the fire. It would have been considered an unpardonable sin. We could not attend a ball and dance; we did not dare attend a theatre, and from Saturday night, at sundown, to Monday morning, we must not laugh or smile, but we must study our catechism. This we had to do whether we were members of the Church or not. My father was not a member of any church. This early teaching had its effect upon me. -- JD 11:61, January 22, 1865.
HOW TO GO TO MEETING. Let us prepare ourselves and do our duty, and let the high priests and seventies go to their meetings, and before you go there, go to work and get the Spirit of God, that when you get there you may not freeze to death. And I want to have the people, when they come here, to get enough of the Spirit of God, that when the Presidency rise in this stand they may give us what is in their hearts. They are filled with blessings for this people. All the trouble is our eyes have been closed, we have been in a deep sleep; let us wake up and attend to our duty, and make it the first business we do.
Go to, and if you have not the Spirit of God, make it your first business to get it, that your minds may be opened to see the things of God as they are; it is your privilege and mine, that we may be prepared for what is to come. -- JD 4:149-150, December 21, 1856.
THE SPIRIT OF UNDERSTANDING. When any of the Presidency of this Church, or of the quorum of the Twelve, or any of the elders rise in this stand to speak, this people look unto them, and expect they will enjoy the Holy Spirit sufficiently to say something that will edify them. The people almost unanimously look for this. I will say, on the other hand, that the Presidency, the Twelve, and the elders who preach in this house expect that the people will have the Spirit of the Lord, that they may come to understanding; and this is just as much required that they may comprehend what is said unto them as it is required of the brethren who speak, to teach doctrine, principle, truth, and the revelations of Jesus Christ. -- JD 5:48, March 22, 1857.
WHY WE MEET. We meet upon the Sabbath day for the purpose of partaking of the sacrament, the emblems of the Lord's body and blood which were broken and shed for us, and also to give and receive instruction as we may be led by the Spirit of God. -- JD 24:236, July 20, 1883.
We certainly have a great amount of teaching, of instruction, of principle, of revelation, and of the word of God, which has been given unto this people, not only that which is recorded in the Bible, the Book of Mormon, book of Doctrine and Covenants, the church history, but we have day by day, and night by night, instructions given unto us, we have a little here and a little there, a discourse today and another tonight, and we are continually receiving instructions from the servants of God. We receive instructions in our ward meetings, and almost every time a few of us meet together, we do so for the purpose of receiving the word of the Lord. -- JD 4:190, January 25, 1857.
STAKE QUARTERLY CONFERENCES. We meet with the Saints of the several stakes at the stake quarterly conferences for the purpose of giving instruction which all need in order to qualify themselves to magnify their calling as Saints of God, engaged in establishing and building up the church and kingdom of God. And I will here say, as I have often said, that all men, and all women, regardless of the position they occupy, or the office they hold, are dependent upon the Lord for his Spirit to assist them in their labors. -- JD 24:50, January 27, 1883.
PROPER DECORUM. I want to preach a short sermon to this congregation. To begin with, I have heard President Young and President Taylor a great many times from this stand ask the people to keep quiet until the meeting was dismissed; but as soon as the sermon ends there are a hundred of them rush for the doors. I do not like it. It pains me to see the President of the Church make this request, and the people pay no attention to it.
Now, in this fast age we are passing from a polite age to a vary rude one in many respects. When I was a boy sixty-five years ago, and went to school, I never thought of passing a man whom I knew in the street, or a woman, without taking off my hat and making a bow. I never thought of saying "yes" or "no" to those that were placed over me. I was taught to say "yes, sir," and "no, sir"; but today it is "yes" and "no," "I will," "I won't," "I shall" and "I shan't." Now, when I see this rudeness amongst us, I sometimes wish that the spirit of the New England fathers was more among the people. But I do hope, brethren, sisters and friends, when a man stops talking and the choir rises to sing, that you will keep your seats. You can afford to do this as well as the President of the Church, the Twelve Apostles, or others who are sitting on this stand. You don't see us jump and run for the door the moment a speaker is done. The Lord is displeased with any such thing. I hope you will pardon me for so speaking. I felt to say that much. -- JD 22:330, October 8, 1881.
THE LAND OF ZION. This land, North and South America, is the land of Zion, it is a choice land -- the land that was given by promise from old father Jacob to his grandson and his descendants, the land on which the Zion of God should be established in the latter days. -- JD 15:279, January 12, 1873.
ZION IN AMERICA: A BLESSED LAND FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF GOD'S KINGDOM. I will say to the Latter-day Saints that we have been more blessed in this land than has any other dispensation or generation of men. The Lord has been at work for the last three hundred years preparing this land, with a government and constitution which would guarantee equal rights and privileges to the inhabitants thereof, in the midst of which he could establish his kingdom. The kingdom is established, the work of God is manifest in the earth, the Saints have come up here into the valleys of the mountains, and they are erecting the house of God in the tops thereof, for the nations to flow unto. A standard of truth has been lifted up to the people, and from the commencement of this work the Latter-day Saints have been fulfilling that flood of revelation and prophecy which was given formerly concerning this great work in the last days. I rejoice in this, and also because we have every reason to expect a continuation of these blessings unto Zion. -- JD 15:10, April 6, 1872.
THE PROBLEM OF GOVERNMENT. The Lord has already revealed great and glorious truths and principles concerning the government of the children of men in the establishment of his Church and kingdom upon the earth. Does it not require as much wisdom and revelation from God to govern the nations of the earth in a way to bring men into subjection to righteous laws, light, privileges, and blessings which they are now deprived of in the organization of temporal governments of the world, as is required in the spiritual government of the Church of Christ upon the earth? Where is that knowledge to flow from? The spirit to do men good and relieve the sufferings of mankind does not dwell in the breasts of monarchs, kings, presidents, and rulers among the nations of the earth at the present day; but sorrow, crime, poverty, tyranny, oppression and starvation prevail throughout the world.
The rulers of mankind have not sought for the Spirit of God and the light of eternity to show them the responsibility they are under to him who has raised them to power and authority and given them dominion over their fellow-beings. They have not exercised their power and authority to honor God and redress the wrongs of the poor and oppressed over whom they preside.
HOW CORRECT THE MISERIES OF EARTH. The misery and evils which now exist throughout the world have got to be corrected, in a great measure, through the power of God, before the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of God and his Christ. It is a great and mighty work to establish the kingdom of God on the earth, that the law may go forth from Zion to rule the kingdoms of the world. The light, knowledge, truth, and wisdom to do this has got to come through the Holy Priesthood, which is the government of God upon the earth. -- JD 6:118, December 6, 1857.
ON GOVERNMENTS AND THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION. The governments of the world are varied. We have despotic, monarchial and republican governments, and in order to become a citizen of any one of them we have to obey the laws of that government. A great deal has been said about the form of government, and the constitution under which we live. They have been the praise of all Americans, and perhaps of people living in other portions of the earth. We consider that we have been blessed as a nation in possessing the freedom and privileges guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. They have been a rich legacy from our fathers. We consider our form of government superior to any other on the earth. It guarantees to us "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." And, while the inhabitants of many other governments have been tyranically bound up, and their minds controlled in certain channels, and they have been deprived of the right of liberty of speech and of many other rights valued by freemen, ours has guaranteed unto us all the liberty that can be enjoyed by man. Still, I have many times thought that we, as American citizens, have not prized the gifts and blessings guaranteed to us by the Constitution of our country. For the last few years, especially, the Constitution at times has been looked upon as a matter of the smallest consequence. In some respects, however, it has been a blessing to us as a people, and it is to the whole nation, as far as it is carried out. But in order to fully receive its blessings we have to honor its precepts. -- JD 12:275, July 19, 1868.
TRUTH AND HUMAN GOVERNMENT. I know as God lives that if this or any other government departs from the principles of truth, becomes ripened in iniquity, forsakes the Lord, forsakes the principles of life and liberty, the God of heaven will hold it responsible. Judgments will come upon the wicked. When men depart from the principles of truth and cleave unto darkness and wickedness, they reap the whirlwind; they lay the foundation for desolation. -- JD 25:11, January 6, 1884.
In all the history of the dealings of God with man this one principle, sooner or later, has manifested itself: that virtue exalteth a nation, while sin is a reproach to any people. You will see that this has been manifested in the history of all nations under heaven -- in their rise and progress and prosperity, and in their fall and decline and in their final overthrow and destruction. You will find in every instance that sin, error, darkness, falsehood, wrongdoing, have laid the foundation of the overthrow of every nation and city under heaven from the foundation of the world until the present time. What men sow they will reap, and what measure they measure to others will be measured unto them. -- JD 25:6-7, January 6, 1884.
THE AMERICAN CONSTITUTION. I am an American citizen; a great many of this group, I hope, are. I was born in the State of Connecticut, and many of the New England forms and teachings in our childhood, sixty-five years ago, were good to receive and live by. But what I want to say is: we live in a government raised up by the God of heaven. We have a Constitution that was given by inspiration from God to man. I believe it is the best human form of government that was ever given to the human family. Now, I say if our rulers and governors become corrupt and attempt to trample those principles under their feet; though the nation itself might go to pieces, yet it is beyond the power of man to destroy the principles of the Constitution. They may destroy one another, yet the principles contained in that instrument will live, and the God of heaven will maintain them until Jesus Christ comes in the clouds of heaven to set up his throne in Jerusalem, and to reign on the earth a thousand years. -- JD 22:346, October 23, 1881.
THE CONSTITUTION MUST PREVAIL. I would to God that the rulers of our land -- the President of the United States, the Congress of the United States, the Supreme Court of the United States -- would learn the responsibility the God of heaven will hold them to in the administration of those glorious principles laid down in the Constitution of the government of this country. The God of heaven will hold this nation, as well as all other nations, responsible for the manner in which these principles are used. If they misuse them, it will be their loss. If they trample the Constitution underfoot; if they undertake to deprive any portion of citizens of the rights the Constitution guarantees unto them, they will be held responsible, and will have to pay the bill. When innocent blood is shed, it costs something; and I would to God that our nation could understand the blessings they enjoy. There is no nation on the face of the earth that has the same liberty that is guaranteed to us by the Constitution of our country. -- JD 25:11, January 6, 1884.
CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERTY IN AMERICA. As far as constitutional liberty is concerned, I will say, the God of heaven has raised up our nation, as foretold by his prophets generations ago. He inspired Columbus, and moved upon him to cross the ocean in search of this continent. The world is acquainted with the history of his course; his pleadings with the courts of Europe, and his final triumph in finding sympathy in the King and Queen of Spain, who furnished the necessary means to make the exploration. It is also well known how our forefathers found a home and an asylum in this land from the hand of persecution, and how they planted here the tree of liberty and jealously guarded it from the attempt of the mother country to uproot and destroy it. The hand of God was in this; and it is through the intervention of his providence that we enjoy today the freest and most independent government the world ever saw. And what was the object of this? It was to prepare the way for the building up of the kingdom of God in this the last dispensation of the fulness of times; and as long as the principles of constitutional liberty shall be maintained upon this land, blessings will attend the nation. -- MS 51:801-802 (1889).
FREEDOM IS GOD-GUARANTEED. If there is an emperor, asking, a president, a ruler of any nation or people, whether a monarchy, kingdom or republic -- that takes away from any of his subjects or fellow-citizens the right to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, he deprives them of a right which the God of heaven has guaranteed unto them. These are the sentiments of the Latter-day Saints. We believe in giving to all men freedom, freedom in spirit and action; we believe in religionists of every creed and faith enjoying the liberty to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences, which right is guaranteed unto them by God himself; and the man or set of men that would deprive their fellows of this God-given right, assume a responsibility that they must answer for before the bar of God. If I had the power and control of the whole world I would never think of depriving any man, woman or child of this natural, this inherent right, whether their religious views were true or false. -- JD 23:124-125, May 14, 1882.
LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE. There is one principle which has been universally acknowledged by the Latter-day Saints, by Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, the apostles and all the leading men of the Church. I have heard Joseph Smith and Brigham Young say that if they had the power over the whole world, over every human being who breathes the breath of life, they would give every inhabitant of the earth the right to worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience. This is a principle which we believe in as Latter-day Saints, we ever have believed in it, and it is a principle which even the laws of our country, the Constitution of our government holds out to all of its citizens.
What! Would you give the Methodists, the Baptists, etc., the privilege of enjoying their religion?
Certainly. Our city abounds with churches of different denominations. Have they ever been opposed by anybody belonging to this Church in the erection of their churches and in the enjoyment of their religion? I think not. If they have, they should not have been. Why would you do this? Because the God of heaven gives all his children this right and privilege, it belongs to the whole human family, every man, woman and child under heaven has the right to worship God according to his own views, and according to the light which he has. The Lord gives all the children of men this right and privilege. He gives them their agency and holds them responsible for their actions, and while the Lord does this, why should the children of men interfere? Why those scenes of blood that have taken place on the earth through religious principles? They are unrighteous. As Latter-day Saints we claim the same right that we would give to the inhabitants of all the world. We say to all men. "Enjoy your religion, worship God according to the dictates of your own conscience." We ask the same right as the children of God. We claim this by the Constitution and laws of our country, and upon this principle we have embraced the fulness of the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ. -- JD 22:341-342, October 23, 1881.
INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP FREEDOM. As Latter-day Saints we respect the rights of all men. We believe that all mankind, men and women in this and every other dispensation and generation, have certain rights; and that God has created all men with an agency, I care not in what kingdom, empire, republic or place they dwell. They have a right to enjoy their religion. They have a right to worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences. "But," says one, "do you mean that in empires where an emperor holds the rights and destinies of his subjects in his hands?" Yes. I mean there is no emperor who breathes the breath of life who has the right to deprive one of his subjects of the freedom of his religion. I will tell you why. No emperor or king, no president, no ruler of any nation under the heavens has ever given his subjects life. Their life has come from God, and God has granted them their agency and the right to worship him according to the light and knowledge they have. This is the view entertained by the Latter-day Saints. And I have heard Joseph Smith say that if he were emperor of the whole world, holding the destinies of all men in his hands, he would defend the religious rights of every man, whether his religion was right or wrong. And especially ought this to be the case in this American nation, the Constitution of which guarantees to all people the right to worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience. This is the broad platform upon which our government has been founded. I have looked upon the Constitution of the United States as one of the best instruments ever devised by man for the government of the inhabitants of the earth. I look upon it as such today. And, while we are willing to allow the Methodists, the Baptists, the Presbyterians, the Catholics, and every sect under heaven, the right to enjoy their religion undisturbed, yet we claim the same privilege as a people, as a church, as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and hence, in expressing myself here this afternoon with regard to the gospel of Jesus Christ, or the kingdom of God, if I differ from any of this congregation, I have a right to differ; the congregation has a right to differ from me; and no man has a right to say, Why do you so? The destinies of the whole human family are in the hands of God. I shall be held accountable before the God of heaven -- and so will all men -- for the course I pursue in this life. -- JD 24:237-8, July 20, 1883.
THE FOLLY OF PERSECUTION. I say to the world, to every sect under heaven, if you ever obtain any blessings in the eternal worlds from anybody at all, it will be from the God the Latter-day Saints worship, for God made us all; whether we are Methodists, Baptists, Mormons or anything else we are all the children of one parent. Then why should we persecute one another because of our religion? It is folly in the highest degree. We live in a land and under a constitution which guarantees the right to worship God according to the dictates of conscience to every sect, party, name and denomination under heaven, then why should we be so narrow-minded as to hate or seek to persecute or kill our neighbor because he differs from us in religion? -- JD 17:193-194, October 7, 1874.
FUNDAMENTAL LIMITATIONS ON BOTH CHURCH AND STATE. It is this: we hold that this Church was set up and organized by command of the Almighty; that it has the right to formulate and maintain rules of church discipline applying to its own members; that the extent of its punitive power is the excommunication of the transgressor; that it has no power to punish anyone by deprivation of life, liberty or property or personal injury in any form; that governments should not regulate the church, nor the church seek to control the state; that all men should be politically free and equal to vote as they please and to sustain what politics they please, so that they do not infringe on the rights of others.
THE CHURCH STRIVES FOR A PERFECT LAW OF LIBERTY. We believe this Church will prepare the way for the coming of Christ to reign as king, and that this Church will then develop into the kingdom of God, which all Christians pray will come; that the will of God may be done on earth as it is in heaven. We believe in the full and free agency of man, and that when that kingdom is established there will be perfect liberty on earth, civil, political and religious. MS 52:162 (1890).
CHURCH COURTS DO NOT EXERCISE CIVIL FUNCTIONS. We declare that no bishop's or other court in this Church claims or exercises civil or judicial functions, or the right to supersede, annul or modify a judgment of any civil court. Such courts, while established to regulate Christian conduct, are purely ecclesiastical, and their punitive powers go no further than the suspension or excommunication of members from Church fellowship.
THE CHURCH DOES NOT CLAIM OR EXERCISE A RIGHT TO INTERFERE WITH SOCIAL OR POLITICAL RIGHTS OR PRIVILEGES. That this Church, while offering advice for the welfare of its members in all conditions of life, does not claim or exercise a right to interfere with citizens in the free exercise of social or political rights and privileges. The ballot in this Territory is absolutely untrammeled and secret. No man's business or other secular affairs are invaded by the Church or any of its officers. Free agency and direct individual accountability to God are among the essentials of our church doctrine. All things in the Church must be done by common consent, and no officer is appointed without the vote of the body.
THE ENDOWMENT SUPPORTS, IS NOT HOSTILE, TO THE CONSTITUTION. We declare that there is nothing in the ceremony of the endowment, or in any doctrine, tenet, obligation or injunction of this Church, either private or public, which is hostile or intended to be hostile, to the government of the United States. On the contrary, its members are under divine commandment to revere the Constitution as a heaven-inspired instrument and obey as supreme all laws made in pursuance of its provisions.
THE CHURCH DOES NOT CLAIM TO BE AN INDEPENDENT TEMPORAL KINGDOM OF GOD. We also declare that this church does not claim to be an independent, temporal kingdom of God, or to be an imperium, an imperio aiming to overthrow the United States or any other civil government. It has been organized by divine revelation preparatory to the second advent of the Redeemer. It proclaims that "the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Its members are commanded of God to be subject unto the powers that be until Christ comes, whose right it is to reign.
Church government and civil government are distinct and separate in our theory and practice, and we regard it as part of our destiny to aid in the maintenance and perpetuity of the institutions of our country.
We claim no religious liberty that we are unwilling to accord to others.
We ask for no civil or political rights which are not granted and guaranteed to citizens in general.
We desire to be in harmony with the government and people of the United States as an integral part of the nation.
We regard all attempts to exclude aliens from naturalization, and citizens from the exercise of the elective franchise, solely because they are members of the "Mormon" Church, as impolitic, unrepublican, and dangerous encroachments upon civil and religious liberty.
Notwithstanding the wrongs we consider we have suffered through the improper execution of national laws, we regard those wrongs as the acts of men and not of the government; and we intend, by the help of Omnipotence, to remain firm in our fealty and steadfast in the maintenance of constitutional principle and the integrity of this republic. -- MS 52:34-35, December 12, 1889.
Signed by Wilford Woodruff, George Q. Cannon, Joseph F. Smith, Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; Lorenzo Snow, Franklin D. Richards, Brigham Young, Moses Thatcher, Francis M. Lyman, John Henry Smith, George Teasdale, Heber J. Grant, John W. Taylor, M. W. Merrill, A. H. Lund, Abraham H. Cannon, Members of the Council of the Apostles; John W. Young, D. H. Wells, Counselors.
To the officers and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, General Conference assembled:
Dear Brethren and Sisters -- Every Latter-day Saint will recognize the value of union, not only in action but in matters of faith and discipline. As to the rights and authority of the priesthood of the Son of God, it is of the highest importance that there should be no difference of opinion among the officers and members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Feeling the necessity of a correct understanding of this principle, we deem it proper at this sixty-sixth anniversary of the organization of the church in these last days, to prepare and present a statement on the subject, embodying the doctrine which has always prevailed in the church, and our views upon it. We were prompted to adopt this course at the present time because of events which have happened during the late political contest. A great diversity of opinion on the subject has been expressed, and even by leading elders in the church, which latter fact has naturally led in some instances to considerable division of sentiment.
It is of great importance that we understand each other and that there be harmony in our teachings. It is especially important that these teachings shall be in accordance with the rules and regulations and doctrines which have been taught and which have prevailed from the beginning until the present time, having not only the sanction of undisputed usage, but the approval of faithful leaders in the church, and of him in whose name and by whose authority they act.
An epistle read in the April Conference, 1896, in Salt Lace City, which defines clearly the position of the Church in regard to the state, and also the duty of those holding prominent offices in the priesthood, not to accept positions which would interfere with the performance of the duties of their calling without first consulting with their brethren and the First Presidency. This document was signed by President Wilford Woodruff and his counselors in the First Presidency, by members of the Council of Twelve, the First Council of Seventy, the Patriarch, and Presiding Bishopric.
PRESIDING AUTHORITIES MAKE NO ATTEMPT TO UNITE CHURCH AND STATE. In the late exciting contest, to which reference has been made, the presiding authorities in some instances have been misunderstood. In other instances they have been misrepresented, which has led to a wrongful conception of their real views. It has been asserted too freely, and without foundation, that there has been a disposition on their part to interfere with individual liberty and to rebuke in some men a course which was applauded in others. In a word, that they have appeared to desire to assert and maintain an unjust and oppressive control over the actions of the members of the Church, and in thus doing have endeavored to effect a union of church and state. In the heat of political discussion, assertions have been made and arguments used conveying to the public mind a false idea concerning the position of the officers of the Church, and leaving the impression that there has been and was now being made an attempt to accomplish the union above referred to. Now that the excitement has passed, and calmer reason has resumed its sway, we think it prudent to set forth so that all may understand, the exact position occupied by the leading authorities of the Church.
In the first place we wish to state in the most positive and emphatic language that at no time has there ever been any attempt or even desire on the part of the leading authorities referred to to have the Church in any manner encroach upon the rights of the state, or to unite in any degree the functions of the one with those of the other.
CHURCH AND STATE DURING TERRITORIAL DAYS. Peculiar circumstances have surrounded the people of Utah. For many years a majority of them in every portion of the Territory belonged to one church, every reputable member of which was entitled to hold and did hold some ecclesiastical Office. It is easy to see how, to the casual observer it might appear singular that so many officers of the church Were also officers of the State; but while this was in fact the case, the distinction between the church and the state throughout those years was carefully maintained. The president of the church held for eight years the highest civil Office in the community, having been appointed by the national administration governor of the Territory. The first secretary of the Territory was a prominent Church official. An apostle represented the Territory in Congress as a delegate during ten years. The members of the legislature held also offices in the Church. This was unavoidable; for the most suitable men Were elected by the votes of the people, and, as we have stated, every reputable man in the entire community held some church position, the most energetic and capable holding leading positions. This is all natural and plain enough to those who consider the circumstances; but it furnished opportunity for those who Were disposed to assail the people of the Territory to charge them with attempting to unite church and state. A fair investigation of the conditions will abundantly disprove the charge and show its utter falsity.
On behalf of the Church of which we are leading officers, we desire again to state to the members and also to the public generally, that there has not been, nor is there, the remotest desire on our part or on the part of our coreligionists to do anything looking to a union of church and state.
FORMATION OF NATIONAL POLITICAL PARTIES IN UTAH AFTER 1890. We declare that there has never been any attempt to curtail individual liberty -- the personal liberty of any of the officers or members of the church. The First Presidency and other leading officers did make certain suggestions to the people when the division on party lines took place. That movement was an entirely new departure, and it was necessary, order that the full benefit should not be lost which was hoped to result from this new political division, that people who were inexperienced should be warned against hasty and ill-considered action. In some cases they were counseled to be wise and prudent in the political steps they were about to take, and this with no idea of winning them against their will to either side. To this extent, and no further, was anything said or done upon the question, and at no time and under no circumstances was any attempt made to say to voters how they should cast their ballots. Any charge that has been made to the contrary is utterly false.
ACCEPTANCE OF POLITICAL POSITIONS BY LEADING CHURCHMEN. Concerning officers of the Church themselves, the feeling was generally expressed in the beginning of the political division spoken of that it would be prudent for leading men not to accept of office at the hands of the political party to which they might belong. This counsel was given to men of both parties alike -- not because it was thought that there was any impropriety in religious men holding civil office, not to deprive them of any of the rights of citizenship, but because of the feeling that it would be better under all the circumstances which had now risen to avoid any action that would be likely to create jealousy and ill feeling. An era of peace and good will seemed to be dawning upon the people, and it was deemed good to shun everything that could have the least tendency to prevent the consummation of this happy prospect. In many instances, however, the pressure brought to bear upon efficient and popular men by the members of the parties to which they belonged was of such a character that they had to yield to the solicitation to accept nomination to office, or subject themselves to the suspicion of bad faith in their party affiliations. In some cases they did this without consulting the authorities of the Church; but where important positions were held, and where the duties were of a responsible and exacting character, some did seek the counsel and advice of the leading Church authorities before accepting the political honors tendered them. Because some others did not seek this counsel and advice ill feeling was engendered, and undue and painful sensitiveness was stimulated; misunderstanding readily followed, and as a result the authorities of the church were accused of bad faith and made the subjects of bitter reproach. We have maintained that in the case of men who hold high positions in the Church, whose duties are well defined, and whose ecclesiastical labors are understood to be continuous and necessary, it would be an improper thing to accept political office or enter into any vocation that would distract or remove them from the religious duties resting upon them without first consulting and obtaining the approval of their associates and those who preside over them. It has been understood from the very beginning of the Church that no officer whose duties are of the character referred to, has the right to engage in any pursuit, political or otherwise, that will divide his time and remove his attention from the calling already accepted. It has been the constant practice with officers of the Church to consult -- or, to use our language, to "counsel" -- with their brethren concerning all questions of this kind. They have not felt that they were sacrificing their manhood in doing so, nor that they were submitting to improper dictation, nor that in soliciting and acting upon the advice of those over them, they were in any manner doing away with their individual rights and agency, nor that to any improper degree were their rights and duties as American citizens being abridged or interfered with. They realized that in accepting ecclesiastical office they assumed certain obligations; that among these was the obligation to magnify the office which they held, to attend to its duties in preference to every other labor, and to devote themselves exclusively to it with all the zeal, industry, and strength they possessed, unless released in part or for a time by those who preside over them. Our view, and it has been the view of all our predecessors, is that no officer of our Church, especially those in high standing, should take a course to violate this long-established practice. Rather than disobey it, and declare himself by his actions defiantly independent of his associates and his file leaders, it has always been held that it would be better for a man to resign the duties of his priesthood; and we entertain the same view today.
In view of all the occurrences to which references have been made, and to the diversity of views that have arisen among the people in consequence, we feel it to be our duty to clearly define our position, so there may be no cause hereafter for dispute or controversy upon the subject:
RULES PROMULGATED FOR POLITICAL ACTIVITY. First -- We unanimously agree to and promulgate as a rule that should always be observed in the church and by every leading official thereof, that before accepting any position, political or otherwise, which would interfere with the proper and complete discharge of his ecclesiastical duties, and before accepting a nomination or entering into engagements to perform new duties, said official should apply to the proper authorities and learn from them whether he can, consistently with the obligations already entered into with the Church upon assuming his office, take upon himself the added duties and labors and responsibilities of the new position. To maintain proper discipline and order in the Church, we deem this absolutely necessary; and in asserting this rule, we do not consider that we are infringing in the least degree upon the individual rights of the citizen. Our position is that a man having accepted the honors and obligations of ecclesiastical office in the Church cannot properly of his own volition make those honors subordinate to or even coordinate with new ones of an entirely different character; we hold that unless he is willing to counsel in the priesthood, he should be released from all obligations associated with the latter, before accepting any new position.
Second -- We declare that in making these requirements of ourselves and our brethren in the ministry, we do not in the least desire to dictate to them concerning their duties as American citizens, or to interfere with the affairs of the state; neither do we consider that in the remotest degree are we seeking the union of church and state. We once more here repudiate the insinuation that there is or ever has been an attempt by our leading men to trespass upon the ground occupied by the state, or that there has been or is the wish to curtail in any manner any of its functions. -- MS 58:280-284, April 6, 1896.
JOURNAL ENTRY NOVEMBER 3, 1892. [In his journal of November 3, 1892, President Woodruff wrote] I had a visit today from certain prominent politicians who were not members of the Church. They seemed anxious to sew up the mouth of the Presidency so that the latter should have nothing to say in political matters. Presidents Cannon, Smith, and I, answered them.
[President Woodruff further expressed his right as an American citizen to exercise his franchise in the interest of any political party with which he saw fit to ally himself. He was unwilling to concede that there could be any circumstance whatever, politically, in which he might not raise his voice for the protection of the people. He claimed also the right to warn the people against the rule of the unrighteous. The political destinies, however, of the state, he did not regard as bound up in the religious destiny of the Church. He recognized the distinction between the two; nor did he assume an unfriendly attitude toward those who did not see as he saw, politically. However, he thought it both the privilege and the duty of church men to exercise their political judgment. He never yielded to the argument that because -- the political influence of a church leader was likely to be too great he should therefore not be permitted to exercise any political influence whatever.] -- Cowley, 581.
THE FIRST PRESIDENCY AND POLITIES -- A STATEMENT OF 1892. We emphatically deny that we, or either of us, authorized Mr. George F. Gibbs or any other person or persons to use our names so as to influence citizens to vote the Republican ticket, at Logan or elsewhere. If our names have been used in any such way, it has been entirely without permission from us, and we hereby condemn it as wrong and reprehensive. If we have any desire in this matter it is that the people of this territory shall study well the principles of both the great national parties, and then choose which they will join, freely, voluntarily, and honestly, from personal conviction, and then stand by it in all honor and sincerity. Each party should have the same rights, privileges and opportunities as the other. If any man claims that it is the wish of the First Presidency that a Democrat shall vote the Republican ticket, or a Republican the Democratic ticket, let all people know that he is endeavoring to deceive the public and has no authority of that kind from us. We have no disposition to direct in these matters, but proclaim that, as far as we are concerned, the members of this Church are entirely and perfectly free in all political affairs. But they should not indulge in ill-feeling or personalities. President George Q. Cannon is absent, but we are sure that if he were here he would sign this declaration with us. -- DW 48:440, March 25, 1892.
Now, the world is terribly afraid that the Presidency of this Church shall say something to somebody about politics; and even some of the elders of Israel appear very much afraid that they will get some counsel on these things. What are they thinking about? Politics should never turn the heart of any man bearing the Holy Priesthood from his brethren or from the cause of God. Let him enjoy his politics, and vote for whom he chooses; but let all men stop throwing this filth and slime and pursuing a course wherein God himself and the angels are ashamed of them. It makes no difference to me what a man's politics is: he has a right to enjoy his own political ideas; but let this people realize that they are Latter-day Saints and are held responsible before God for the course they pursue. -- DW 51:482, September 7, 1895.
REMARKS AT HIS 90TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION, MARCH 1, 1897. As I can hardly expect ever to have the opportunity of addressing the people of this state and my friends in days to come, I have a few reflections upon my mind that I wish to lay before you. And I will say they are different from any of my public speeches that I have been in the habit of presenting to the people. I have consulted no man with regard to the course I should pursue in my remarks here this morning, and I do not know that I shall satisfy my friends in the remarks that I may make.
First, I want to say a few words upon politics. I hope that will not astonish you. I have not been in the habit of this heretofore. But I feel desirous to say a few things that are upon my mind. In the first place, there is not one item, not one sentence in the Constitution of the United States, nor in the laws of the United States, nor of the State of Utah, that deprives any citizen, of any name, nature, religion, or politics in the land from joining any political party he wishes, or voting for whomsoever he wishes. This is the right of every man without hindrance. We have been accused at times of using Church influence to guide and direct the state. This is occasionally presented to the public as our action. I feel it my right and duty to say here today that I was acquainted with Joseph Smith and associated with him from 1833 until his martyrdom. I have been acquainted with Brigham Young and associated with him for forty years of my life, at home and abroad, under many circumstances. I have also been acquainted with John Taylor and labored with him in every capacity in which he was called to act. I have also been a member of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles for upwards of fifty-six years of my life. And I have been presiding over the Church itself for a few years. I have been associated with my counselors and with the present Twelve Apostles. And I want to say upon this occasion, before God, angels, and all men that are before me, that I never in one instance knew any leader of this Church to attempt to dictate and direct the affairs of the state as a member of the Church. At the same time, when any man no matter who he is -- Mormon, Jew, or Gentile -- uses money or any means to hire men to vote for him, I think he steps outside of his right, and stands in a measure condemned.
This document was also signed by Joseph F. Smith, "of the Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."
I want to say so much to my friends this morning. I have officiated for twenty sessions in the Legislative Council of the Territory of Utah, and one session as a member of the House, and it did not cost me one farthing for any office I ever held in the Church, or in the State, or in the Territory. And I never asked any mortal man on the face of the earth to cast a vote for me that I have any recollection of. As an example, perhaps, I may be permitted to say, I am the father of fourteen sons, and have a number of sons-in-law, and I believe they are pretty nearly evenly divided on political party lines -- Democrats and Republicans. I will give any man five dollars if, in conversing with them, he can get any one of them to say that his father ever told him whom to vote for. Some of you may try to make a little money perhaps at that. (Laughter.) I consider everybody is responsible for himself, and he has a right to vote for whom he pleases. -- Cowley, 606-607.
"I DO NOT CARE WHETHER A MAN IS A REPUBLICAN OR A DEMOCRAT." It is time to close this conference; but before closing I want to say a few words to the Latter-day Saints. I have attended conferences under the presidency of Joseph Smith during his lifetime, from 1833; I have attended conferences under President Brigham Young nearly forty years * * *; I have attended conferences under the presidency of John Taylor, and I have attended conferences as President of the Church myself since that period. That responsibility has rested upon me, and rests upon me today. Sixty-four years of my life have passed away as a member of this Church. I do not know that I shall ever address you again; I cannot tell anything about this; but I feel strongly impressed to say a few words to you upon principle, although it is late.
I want these Latter-day Saints to lay to heart what has been said by the apostles and elders who have spoken at this conference. I want to say another thing. I prophesy, in the name of Israel's God, the day has come when the mouths of Wilford Woodruff, George Q. Cannon, Joseph F. Smith, and these Twelve Apostles, should not be closed because of the opinions of the children of men. There have been feelings that these men holding high position -- the Twelve Apostles and Presidency -- should say nothing about politics. I want to say to you here, the day has come when God Almighty requires at your hands to unite together in your temporal business, and in your politics, so far as it is wisdom. I do not care whether a man is a Republican or a Democrat. In that he is free; but it is your duty to unite in electing good men to govern and control your cities, your local affairs, and I will state that when you do not do this you are losers of the blessings of Almighty God. I want to tell you this upon this occasion. My mouth shall not be closed upon these principles. I know it is the duty of the Latter-day Saints to unite together in your local affairs, the election of men to act for you in the affairs of state. Lay aside your extremes in democracy and republicanism, as far as is wise in that matter, and in other than local matters as Latter-day Saints unite together within your party lines and appoint good men. When you do that God will bless you. You won't all be taxed to death and lose your property if you will appoint good men and pursue this course.
I take the liberty, as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of making these remarks. No matter what the feelings of men may be towards me; I shall not stay in this country very long. But I realize very well that this people are groaning under poverty, under affliction, under taxation, and in positions that they ought not to be if they would only unite and do their duty. And this idea of a person being afraid of somebody because he is a Democrat or a Republican, it is all wrong. I feel like saying to you, as the President of the Church, and do state, that it is your duty to unite together and appoint good men to act in every capacity for the public welfare. Therefore, let us do our duty, walk uprightly before the Lord our God, and leave the consequences with him. -- CR 70-71, October, 1897.
I want to say to all Israel that the step which I have taken in issuing this manifesto has not been done without earnest prayer before the Lord. I am about to go into the spirit world, like other men of my age. I expect to meet the face of my Heavenly Father -- the Father of my spirit; I expect to meet the face of Joseph Smith, of Brigham Young, of John Taylor, and of the apostles, and for me to have taken a stand in anything which is not pleasing in the sight of God, or before the heavens, I would rather have gone out and been shot. My life is no better than other men's. I am not ignorant of the feelings that have been engendered through the course I have pursued. But I have done my duty, and the nation of which we form a part must be responsible for that which has been done in relation to this principle.
The Lord has required at our hands many things that we have not done, many things that we were prevented from doing. The Lord required us to build a temple in Jackson county. We were prevented by violence from doing it. He required us to build a temple in the Far West, which we have not been able to do. A great many things have been required of us, and we have not been able to do them, because of those that surrounded us in the world. This people are in the hands of God. This work is in the hands of God, and he will take care of it. Brother George Q. Cannon told us about the lies that are abroad. It is a time when there have been more lies about Mormonism than almost any other subject ever presented to the human family. I often think of what Lorenzo Snow said with regard to the doctrine of election. Says he: "It is like this: You can, and you can't; you will, and you won't; you shall, and you shan't; you'll be damned if you do, and you'll be damned if you don't." That is about the condition we as Latter-day Saints are in. If we were to undertake to please the world, and that was our object, we might as well give up the ship; we might as well have given it up in the beginning. But the Lord has called us to labor in the vineyard: and when our nation passes laws, as they have done, in regard to this principle which we have presented to the conference, it is not wisdom for us to make war upon sixty-five millions of people. It is not wisdom for us to go forth and carry out this principle against the laws of the nation and receive the consequences. That is in the hands of God and he will govern and control it. The church of Christ is here; the Zion of God is here, in fulfilment of these revelations of God that are contained in these holy records in which the whole Christian world profess to believe. The Bible could never have been fulfilled had it not been for the raising up of a prophet in the last days. The revelations of St. John could never have been fulfilled if the angel of God had not flown through the midst of heaven, "having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come." Was that angel going to visit New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and the world, and call the people together and preach to them? Not at all. But the Lord raised up a prophet. The angel of God delivered that gospel to that prophet. That prophet organized a church; and all that he has promised in this code of revelations (the book of Doctrine and Covenants) has been fulfilled as fast as time would admit. That which is not yet fulfilled will be.
Brethren and sisters, it is our duty to be true to God and to be faithful. Make your prayers known unto the Lord. The Lord has told us what he will do concerning many things. He will fulfil his word. Let us be careful and wise, and let us be satisfied with the dealings of God with us. If we do our duty to one another, to our country and to the Church of Christ, we will be justified when we go into the spirit world. It is not the first time that the world has sought to hinder the fulfilment of revelation and prophecy. The Jewish nation and other nations rose up and slew the Son of God and every apostle but one that bore the priesthood in that day and generation. They could not establish the kingdom; the world was against them. When the apostles asked Jesus whether he would at that time restore again the kingdom to Israel, He replied: "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power." He did not say it would be established then; but he taught them to pray: "Our Father which are in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." It is a long time since that prayer was offered, and it has not been fulfilled until the present generation. The Lord is preparing a people to receive his kingdom and his church, and to build up his work. That, brethren and sisters, is our labor.
I want the prayers of the Latter-day Saints. I thank God that I have seen with my eyes this day that this people have been ready to vote to sustain me in an action that I know, in one sense, has pained their hearts. Brother George Q. Cannon has laid before you our position. The Lord has given us commandments concerning many things, and we have carried them out as far as we could; but when we cannot do it, we are justified. The Lord does not require at our hands things that we cannot do.
This is all I want to say to the Saints upon this subject. But go before the Lord and ask him for light and truth, and to give us such blessings as we stand in need of. Let your prayers ascend into ears of the God of Sabaoth, and they will be heard and answered upon our heads, and upon the heads of the heads of the world. Our nation is in the hands of God. He holds their destiny. He holds the destinies of all men. I will say to the Latter-day Saints, as an elder in Israel and as an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are approaching some of the most tremendous judgments God ever poured out upon the world. You watch the signs of the times, the sign of the coming of the Son of Man. They are beginning to be manifest both in heaven and on earth. As has been told by the apostles, Christ will not come until these things come to pass. Jerusalem has got to be rebuilt. The temple has got to be built. Judah has got to be gathered and the house of Israel. And the Gentiles will go forth to battle against Judah and Jerusalem before the coming of the Son of Man. These things have been revealed by the prophets; they will have their fulfilment. We are approaching these things. All that the Latter-day Saints have to do is to be quiet, careful and wise before the Lord, watch the signs of the times, and be true and faithful; and when you get through you will understand many things that you do not today. This work has been raised up by the power of Almighty God. These elders of Israel were called from the various occupations of life to preach as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost. They were not learned men; they were the weak things of the world, whom God chose to confound the wise, "and things which are not, to bring to naught things that are." We are here on that principle. Others will be gathered on that principle. Zion will be redeemed. Zion will arise, and the glory of God will rest upon her, and all that Isaiah and the other prophets have spoken concerning her will come to pass. We are in the last dispensation and fulness of time. It is a great day, and the eyes of all the heavens are over us, and the eyes of God himself and all the patriarchs and prophets. They are watching over you with feelings of deep interest, for your welfare; and our prophets who were slain, and sealed their testimony with their blood, are mingling with the Gods, pleading for their brethren. Therefore, let us be faithful, and leave events in the hands of God, and he will take care of us if we do our duty.
I pray God that he will bless these apostles, prophets and patriarchs, these seventies, high priests and elders of Israel, and these Latter-day Saints, who have entered into covenant with our God. You have a great future before you. You have kept the commandments of God so far as you have had the opportunity, and by receiving the gospel of Christ and being faithful your reward is before you. Your history is written and is before you. I will say that this nation, and all nations, together with presidents, kings, emperors, judges, and all men, righteous and wicked, have got to go into the spirit world and stand before the bar of God. They have got to give an account of the deeds done in the body. Therefore we are safe as long as we do our duty. No matter what trials or tribulations we may be called to go through the hand of God will be with us and sustain us. I ask my Heavenly Father to pour out his spirit upon me, as his servant, that in my advanced age, and during the few days I have to spend here in the flesh, I may be led by his inspiration. I say to Israel, the Lord will never permit me or any other man who stands as president of this Church to lead you astray. It is not in the program. It is not in the mind of God. If I were to attempt that the Lord would remove me out of my place, and so he will any other man who attempts to lead the children of men astray from the oracles of God and from their duty. God bless you. Amen. -- MS 52:739-741 (1890).
The Latter-day Saints should not get the idea that the Lord has forsaken his people, or that he does not reveal his mind and will; because such an idea is not true. The Lord is with us, and has been with us from the beginning. This Church has never been led a day except by revelation. And he will never leave it. It matters not who lives or who dies, or who is called to lead this Church, they have got to lead it by the inspiration of Almighty God. If they do not do it that way, they cannot do it all. The Lord will not fail in these last days, and He will fulfil all that he has promised through his prophets and apostles, until Zion arises in its glory, and the Bride, the Lamb's wife, is prepared for the coming of the great Bridegroom.
I made some remarks last Sunday at Brigham City upon this same principle -- revelation. Read the life of Brigham Young and you can hardly find a revelation that he had wherein he said, "Thus saith the Lord;" but the Holy Ghost was with him; he taught by inspiration and by revelation. But with one exception he did not give those revelations in the form that Joseph did; for they were not written and given as revelations and commandments to the church in the words and name of the Savior. Joseph said, "Thus saith the Lord" almost every day of his life in laying the foundation of this work. But those who followed him have not deemed it always necessary to say "Thus saith the Lord"; yet they have led the people by the power of the Holy Ghost; and if you want to know what that is, read the first six verses of the 68th section of the book of Doctrine and Covenants, where the Lord told Orson Hyde, Luke Johnson, Lyman Johnson and William E. McLellin to go out and preach the gospel to the people as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost:
And whatsoever they shall speak when moved upon by the Holy Ghost shall be scripture, shall he the will of the Lord, shall be the mind of the Lord, shall be the word of the Lord, shall be the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation.
It is by that power that we have led Israel. By that power President Young presided over and led the Church. By the same power President John Taylor presided over and led the Church. And that is the way I have acted, according to the best of my ability, in that capacity. I do not want the Latter-day Saints to understand that the Lord is not with us, and that he is not giving revelation to us; for he is giving us revelation, and will give us revelation until this scene is wound up.
I have had some revelations of late, and very important ones to me, and I will tell you what the Lord has said to me. Let me bring your minds to what is termed the manifesto. The Lord has told me by revelation that there are many members of the church throughout Zion who are sorely tried in their hearts because of that manifesto, and also because of the testimony of the Presidency of this Church and the apostles before the master in chancery. Since I received that revelation I have heard of many who are tried in these things, though I had not heard of any before that particularly. Now, the Lord has commanded me to do one thing, and I fulfilled that commandment at the conference at Brigham City last Sunday, and I will do the same here today. The Lord has told me to ask the Latter-day Saints a question, and he also told me that if they would listen to what I said to them and answer the question put to them by the Spirit and power of God, they would all answer alike, and they would all believe alike with regard to this matter.
The question is this: Which is the wisest course for the Latter-day Saints to pursue -- to continue to attempt to practice plural marriage, with the laws of the nation against it and the opposition of sixty millions of people, and at the cost of the confiscation and loss of all the temples, and the stopping of all the ordinances therein, both for the living and the dead, and the imprisonment of the First Presidency and Twelve and the heads of families in the Church, and the confiscation of personal property of the people (all of which of themselves would stop the practice); or, after doing and suffering what we have through our adherence to this principle to cease the practice and submit to the law, and through doing so leave the prophets, apostles and fathers at home, so that they can instruct the people and attend to the duties of the Church, and also leave the temples in the hands of the Saints, so that they can attend to the ordinances of the gospel, both for the living and the dead?
The Lord showed me by vision and revelation exactly what would take place if we did not stop this practice. If we had not stopped it, you would have had no use for Brother Merrill, for Brother Edlefsen, for Brother Roskelley, for Brother Leishman, or for any of the men in this temple at Logan; for all ordinances would be stopped throughout the land of Zion. Confusion would reign throughout Israel, and many men would be made prisoners. This trouble would have come upon the whole Church, and we should have been compelled to stop the practice. Now, the question is, whether it should be stopped in this manner, or in the way the Lord has manifested to us, and leave our prophets and apostles and fathers free men, and the temples in the hands of the people, so that the dead may be redeemed? A large number have already been delivered from the prison house in the spirit world by this people, and shall the work go on or stop? This is the question I lay before the Latter-day Saints. You have to judge for yourselves. I want you to answer it for yourselves. I shall not answer it; but I say to you that that is exactly the condition we as a people would have been in had we not taken the course we have.
I know there are a good many men, and probably some leading men, in this Church who have been tried and felt as though President Woodruff had lost the Spirit of God and was about to apostatize. Now, I want you to understand that he has not lost the Spirit, nor is he about to apostatize. The Lord is with him, and with this people. He has told me exactly what to do, and what the result would be if we did not do it. I have been called upon by friends outside of the Church and urged to take some steps with regard to this matter. They knew the course which the government was determined to take. This feeling has also been manifested more or less by members of the Church. I saw exactly what would come to pass if there was not something done. I have had this spirit upon me for a long time. But I want to say this: I should have let all the temples go out of our hands; I should have gone to prison myself, and let every other man go there, had not the God of heaven commanded me to do what I did do; and when the hour came that I was commanded to do that, it was all clear to me. I went before the Lord, and I wrote what the Lord told me to write. I laid it before my brethren -- such strong men as Brother George Q. Cannon, Brother Joseph F. Smith, and the Twelve Apostles. I might as well undertake to turn an army with banners out of its course as to turn them out of a course that they considered to be right. These men agreed with me, and ten thousand Latter-day Saints also agreed with me. Why? Because they were moved upon by the Spirit of God and by the revelations of Jesus Christ to do it.
I leave this with you, for you to contemplate and consider. The Lord is at work with us. He is doing things here that you do not comprehend. -- MS 53:794-796 (1891).
I feel disposed to say something with regard to the Manifesto. To begin with, I will say this work was like a mountain upon me. I saw by the inspiration of Almighty God what lay before this people, and I knew that something had to be done to ward off the blow that I saw impending. But I should have let come to pass what God showed me by revelation and vision; I should have lived in the flesh and permitted these things to come to pass; I should have let this temple go into the hands of our enemies; I should have let every temple be confiscated by the hands of the wicked; I should have permitted all Church property to have been confiscated by our enemies; I should have seen these people -- prophets and apostles -- driven by our enemies, and our wives and children scattered to the four winds of heaven. I should have seen all this had not Almighty God commanded me to do what I did.
Did any of you ever know Joseph Smith, Brigham Young or John Taylor? Did you know of what material they were made? Was there a man on God's footstool that could have moved them to the right or to the left from anything they felt inspired to do? No. Here are George Q. Cannon, Joseph F. Smith and these Twelve Apostles. I want to ask you if Wilford Woodruff could have done anything that these men would not have accepted, in performing the work that was done that pained the hearts of all Israel, except by the spirit and power of God. No. I would just as soon have thought of moving the foundations of this world as to have taken any course to move these men, only by the revelations of God. When that Manifesto was given they accepted it. Why? Because they had the Spirit of God for themselves; they knew for themselves it was right. It was passed, also, before ten thousand Latter-day Saints, and there was not a solitary hand raised against that edict. They, also, had the spirit of revelation for themselves. Now I will tell you what was manifested to me and what the Son of God performed in this thing. The Lord has never yet taken from Lucifer, the Son of the Morning, his agency. He still holds it and will hold it until he is bound with the keys of death and hell. The Devil still has power; and the Son of God knew full well if something was not done in order to check this, all these things I have referred to would have come to pass. Yes, I saw by vision and revelation this Temple in the hands of the wicked. I saw our city in the hands of the wicked. I saw every temple in these valleys in the hands of the wicked. I saw great destruction among the people. All these things would have come to pass, as God Almighty lives, had not that Manifesto been given. Therefore, the Son of God felt disposed to have that thing presented to the Church and to the world for purposes in his own mind. The Lord had decreed the establishment of Zion. He had decreed the finishing of this temple. He had decreed that the salvation of the living and the dead should be given in these valleys of the mountains. And Almighty God decreed that the Devil should not thwart it. If you can understand that, that is a key to it.
"Though all the powers of darkness may war against us, the Lord is our friend, and He will sustain us and give us power to build up Zion and to carry out this work until the coming of the Son of Man. Therefore let your hearts be comforted." -- WILFORD WOODRUFF, JH April 7, 1895, p. 5.
FAITH IN PRAYER. I have more faith in prayer before the Lord than almost any other principle on earth. If we have no faith in prayer to God, we have not much in either Him or the gospel. We should pray unto the Lord, asking Him for what we want. Let the prayers of this people ascend before the Lord continually in the season thereof, and the Lord will not turn them away, but they will be heard and answered, and the kingdom and Zion of God will rise and shine, she will put on her beautiful garments and be clothed with the glory of her God, and fulfil the object of her organization here upon the earth. -- JD 17:249, October 9, 1874.
If I have any forte it is prayer to God. -- JD 15:283, January 12, 1873.
The heavens are full of blessings, and the Lord is willing to bestow them upon us. -- JD 8:268, August 26, 1860.
"PRAY ALWAYS AND FAINT NOT." There is one admonition of our Savior that all the Saints of God should observe, but which, I fear, we do not as we should, and that is, to pray always and faint not. I fear, as a people, we do not pray enough in faith. We should call upon the Lord in mighty prayer, and make all our wants known unto him. For if he does not protect and deliver us and save us, no other power will. Therefore our trust Is entirely in him. Therefore our prayers should ascend into the ears of our Heavenly Father day and night. -- MS 48:806, Epistle to the Saints Abroad, October 26, 1886.
MOTHERS SHOULD TEACH PRAYER TO THEIR CHILDREN. No mother in Israel should let a day pass over her head without teaching her children to pray. You should pray yourselves, and teach your children to do the same, and you should bring them up in this way, that when you have passed away and they take your places in bearing off the great work of God, they may have principles instilled into their minds that will sustain them in time and in eternity. I have often said it is the mother who forms the mind of the child. -- JD 15:12, April 6, 1872.
MEN CAN CONTROL THE HEAVENS! I think sometimes that we do not fully comprehend the power that we have with God in knowing how to approach him acceptably. All that these men holding the priesthood, and all that our sisters need do, is to live near God, and call upon him, pouring out their soul's desires in behalf of Israel, and their power will be felt, and their confidence in God will he strengthened. But the blessings of heaven can only be obtained and controlled upon the principles of righteousness. -- JD 24:55, January 27, 1883.
LIVE BY FAITH. Brethren and sisters, you should live by faith, realizing every day that all power rests with God, and that it is through him that we are able to live in peace and enjoy plenty; that it is through him the wrath of our enemies is turned aside from time to time, and that it will be through him that the remainder of their wrath will be restrained. You should enter your secret closets and call upon the name of the Lord. Many of you have learned how to pray; then fail not to let your prayers ascend up into the ears of the God of Sabaoth; and he will hear you. -- JD 24:55, January 27, 1883.
WHAT TO PRAY FOR. With regard to our present position I want to say that it is the duty of every Saint of God in these valleys of the mountains to let his prayers ascend into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, day and night in the season thereof, in the family circle and in private places, for the Lord to sustain his people, build up Zion and fulfil his promises. -- JD 17:247, October 9, 1874.
There should be a great deal of praying in Israel; not public prayers alone, but every man should go into his closet and there call upon God and ask him to sustain Zion, sustain the Presidency of the Church, and the Twelve Apostles, with all men who bear the Holy Priesthood in the earth. Upon the shoulders of these men devolves the duty to go forth and warn this generation of the judgments which are to come. -- DW 51:482, September 7, 1895.
THE VOICE OF WARNING. The Lord has never sent judgments upon any generation which we have any knowledge of until he has raised up prophets and inspired men to warn the inhabitants of the earth. This is the course the Lord has dealt with all men from the days of Father Adam to the present time. -- JD 22:206, January 9, 1881.
DIVINE JUSTICE. Did you ever know the Lord to bring his judgments upon any nation, from the days of Adam in the Garden of Eden until the present time, before he had warned them of their sins? No; the Lord has always warned the people before he has punished them for their wickedness. -- JD 8:263, April 22, 1860.
Do I delight in the destruction of the children of men? No. Does the Lord? No. He gives them timely warning, and if they do not listen to his counsel, they must suffer the consequences of their wicked acts. -- JD 2:201, February 25, 1855.
THE CONSEQUENCES OF SIN. The Gentile or Christian world today can no more commit sins, and be guilty of lying, stealing, blasphemy, whoredom or murder, or committing abominations, and escape the wrath of God, than could Sodom and Gomorrah, or the antediluvian world, or ancient Israel. The word of the Lord has been proclaimed against the Gentiles and all the inhabitants of the earth in the last days who commit sin, and it will as assuredly be fulfilled as in ancient days. The Lord has a controversy with this generation, and he will judge the inhabitants according to the deeds done in the body, and none can stay his hand. -- MS 48:803, Epistle to the Saints Abroad, October 26, 1886.
THE LESSONS OF HISTORY. The whole history of the dealings of the Lord with man has shown the benefits and blessings of obeying the Lord and keeping his commandments. The history of the dealings of the Lord with ancient Israel shows that he blessed the righteous and cursed the wicked and brought his judgments upon them. Whenever Israel hearkened to the teachings of Moses and the prophets, they prospered, and their enemies were a prey unto them. But when they departed from the Lord and set up altars to Baal, and committed sin, the Lord forsook them, as in the case of Judah and Jerusalem, in the days of Zedekiah the King. -- MS 48:802, Epistle to the Saints Abroad, October 26, 1886.
THE ANALYSIS OF WORLD PROBLEMS. The Latter-day Saint, in the vision of his mind, sees displayed on the great panorama of the world all the scenes that are to transpire in the present day, while the wicked are ignorant of what is about to transpire; they do not know what is the matter; while there are cholera, whirlwinds, storms, thunder, lightning, and earthquakes in divers places, and kingdom is rising against kingdom in battle array they are ignorant of what will be the end of these matters, and the cause of their existence, because the things of God are not before their eyes. They see naturally, but do not understand. They read the scriptures but do not look for the fulfillment of the words of the prophets, and they do not understand what those things mean when they are fulfilled before their eyes. Did they understand the scriptures they could see and understand what is the matter in the world. -- JD 2:199, February 25, 1855.
A MARVELOUS AGE. At the present day, darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the minds of the people; nevertheless they are living in an age of the world more fraught with interest to the human family than any preceding age or generation since the creation. There is no hundred years, no thousand years, no two thousand years since God made this world and placed Adam in the Garden of Eden when there was as much prophecy, revelation, visions, and word of the Lord, and promises of God to be fulfilled as there is in the generation in which you and I live. -- JD 14:3, January 1, 1871.
A DAY OF DARKNESS -- WARNING. I need not stop to tell you that we live in a day of darkness, wickedness, unbelief, and transgressions of every kind; I need not tell you this; the heavens know it, the earth knows it, the devils know it, all men know it who are acquainted with the human family in the day and age in which we live. -- JD 22:206, January 9, 1881.
No man can contemplate the truth concerning the nations of the earth without sorrow, when he sees the wailing, the mourning, and death, that will come in consequence of judgments, plagues, and war. It has already begun, and it will continue to multiply and increase until the scene is ended, and wound up. -- JD 2:201, February 25, 1855.
KNOWING THE FUTURE. If you want to know what is coming to pass, read the revelations of God in the Bible, in the Book of Mormon and in the book of Doctrine and Covenants. -- MS 56:227, April 9, 1894.
UNPLEASANT AND PLEASANT PROPHECIES. There are some prophecies pertaining to these latter days that are unpleasant to contemplate. President Young has been calling upon the daughters of Zion day after day, now, for years, to lay aside these Babylonish fashions. I have been reading the third chapter of Isaiah, and I have been hoping, all the days of my ministry, that the sayings contained in that chapter would never apply to the daughters of Zion in our day; but I believe they will, and inasmuch as they will not listen to President Young and to the prophets, apostles and elders of Israel with regard to throwing off these nonsensical things, I hope they will hasten the lengthening out of their skirts and drag them in the streets; that they will increase their round tires like the moon, increase their hoops, and their headbands, increase their Grecian bends at once and carry it out until they get through with it, so that we can turn to the Lord as a people. Some of the daughters of Zion do not seem willing to forsake the fashions of Babylon. I to such would say hasten it, and let the woe that is threatened on this account come, that we may get through with it, then we can go on and build up the Zion of God on the earth. But in spite of the follies that some among us delight in, we are going to build up Zion. We are going to fill these mountains with the cities and people of God. The weapons formed against Zion will be broken, and the nations of the Gentiles will visit her and their kings will come to the brightness of her rising. I often think when I see gentlemen and ladies sitting in our tabernacles, who have come over this great highway that has been cast up, whether they realize that they are fulfilling the prophecies of Isaiah. I think this many times in my own mind. I am satisfied that they do not realize it, but they fulfilling the revelations of God. The Gentiles are coming to the light of Zion and kings to the brightness of her rising. All these things have been spoken of and will be fulfilled; and by and by, when we are sanctified and made perfect, when we are chastised and humbled before the Lord, when we have got our eyes opened, and our hearts set upon building up the kingdom of God, then will we return and rebuild the waste places of Zion. We have got this to fulfil in our day and generation. Then think not, ye elders of Israel, ye sons and daughters of Zion, that we are going to live after the order of Babylon always. We are not. We shall be chastised and afflicted, and shall feel the chastening rod of the Almighty, unless we serve the Lord our God, and build up his kingdom, for he has given us all power; yes, all power is given into our hands to perform this work. -- JD 16:271, October 8, 1873.
JUDGMENT IS NEAR AT HAND. The Lord said to Ezekiel, "I have made thee a watchman unto the House of Israel." "When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul." This is precisely our condition today. As apostles, seventies, high priests and elders, we and all men who bear any portion of the Holy Priesthood, are watchmen upon the walls of Zion and messengers to all the inhabitants of the earth, and all of us will be held responsible if we do not improve our times and lift the warning voice, as far as we have opportunity, and warn this generation of the judgments of God which await them.
I know the judgments of God are very nigh unto the door of this nation, and this generation, and they will overtake the world before it is prepared for that time. Even the coming of the Son of Man is nigh, and he will come as a thief in the night. Who is prepared to abide the day of his coming? It is our duty to labor and reap. Then every man should be diligent in that sphere in which he is called to act, that his garments may be clean from the blood of all men.
I do not believe there was ever a generation of men who inhabited the earth who were more wicked, or who were practicing greater abominations, or who were sinning against greater light and knowledge, or who had a greater flood of judgments proclaimed against them by the word of the Lord, than the generation in which we live. Therefore, as Saints of the living God, who hear the Holy Priesthood, we shall be under condemnation if we do not lift up the warning voice against the evils and abominations which exist, so far as we have opportunity. -- MS 48:803-804, Epistle to the Saints Abroad, October 26, 1886.
THE AMERICAN NATION NOT TO ESCAPE WORLD DISORDERS. When I contemplate the condition of our nation, and see that wickedness and abominations are increasing, so much so that the whole heavens groan and weep over the abominations of this nation and the nations of the earth, I ask myself the question, can the American nation escape? The answer comes, No; its destruction, as well as the destruction of the world, is sure; just as sure as the Lord cut off and destroyed the two great and prosperous nations that once inhabited this continent of North and South America, because of their wickedness, so will he them destroy, and sooner or later they will reap the fruits of their own wicked acts, and be numbered among the past.
President Woodruff, of course, recognized the conditional nature of such prophecy, and that the doctrines of free agent and repentance afford means for escaping such destruction, providing they are used.
I cannot help it; I would to God they would repent, that their eyes might be opened to see their condition; but the devil has power over them; he rules the children of men, he holds Babylon in his own hand, and leads the people whithersoever he will. There are changes awaiting us, they are even nigh at our very doors, and I know it by the revelations of Jesus Christ; I know it by the visions of heaven; I know it by the administrations of angels, and I know it by the inspiration of heaven, that is given to all men who seek the Lord; and the hand of God will not stay these things. We have no time to lose. -- JD 21:301, August 1, 1880.
What our nation sows that it will also reap, and what it measures to others will be meted back to it heaped up, pressed down, and running over. I have peculiar feelings in reflecting upon the condition of our own nation. -- JD 23:132, May 14, 1882.
CALAMITIES MAY BE AVOIDED BY THE POWER OF THE GOSPEL. I should not try to speak to this congregation tonight, as I have spoken twice before today; but there are duties resting upon me that I must attend to. And I want to ask this congregation a question: When I have the vision of the night opened continually before my eyes, and can see the mighty judgments that are about to be poured out upon this world, when I know these things are true, and are at the door of Jew and Gentile; while I know they are true and while I am holding this position before God and this world, can I withhold my voice from lifting up a warning to this people, and to the nations of the earth? I may never meet with this people again; I cannot tell how that may be. But while I live and see these things continually before my eyes I shall raise my warning voice. Now, the question I wanted to ask you is this: We have millions of people on this earth, and over them all there hangs a cloud of darkness almost entirely upon their shoulders. Can you tell me where the people are who will be shielded and protected from these great calamities and judgments which are even now at our door? I'll tell you. The priesthood of God who honor their priesthood, and who are worthy of their blessings are the only ones who shall have this safety and protection. They are the only mortal beings. No other people have a right to be shielded from these judgments. They are at our very doors; not even this people will escape them entirely. They will come down like the judgments of Sodom and Gomorrah. And none but the priesthood will be safe from their fury. God has held the angels of destruction for many years, lest they should reap down the wheat with the tares. But I want to tell you now, that those angels have left the portals of heaven, and they stand over this people and this nation now, and are hovering over the earth waiting to pour out the judgments. And from this very day they shall be poured out. Calamities and troubles are increasing in the earth, and there is a meaning to these things. Remember this, and reflect upon these matters. If you do your duty, and I do my duty, we'll have protection, and shall pass through the afflictions in peace and in safety. Read the scriptures and the revelations. They will tell you about all these things. Great changes are at our doors. The next twenty years will see mighty changes among the nations of the earth. You will live to see these things, whether I do or not. I have felt oppressed with the weight of these matters, and I felt I must speak of them here. It's by the power of the gospel that we shall escape. -- YWJ 5:512-513 ("From the notable discourse delivered to the temple workers' excursion, Brigham City, June 24, 1894").
In almost twenty years to the day, the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated, June 28, 1914, initiating the first World War.
I want to see the Latter-day Saints live their religion, keep their faith and do their duty, and trust in God. And if men persecute you for the sake of your religion, what can you do? You can go to God, and make your wants known to him; and that is our duty as Latter-day Saints. And as to our nation, they, as well as we, are in the hands of God; and I have nothing to say about them. God will deal with them; and what they sow they will reap, and he will deal with us upon the same principle. -- JD 23:81-2, March 26, 1882.
SOCIAL AND NATIONAL "FREE AGENCY." I have been reflecting since sitting in the stand here, where are our brethren to whom we have listened for years and years? Where is President Young? Where is Brother Kimball? Where are Orson and Parley P. Pratt? Where is George A. Smith? Where is President John Taylor? And where are all those other apostles who have passed away? They are in the spirit world, mingling with the gods, connected with all the patriarchs and prophets who ever lived on the earth. You may ask the question: Why is it, then, that God, with the Savior, with father Adam, with Noah, with Enoch, with the ancient patriarchs and prophets and with all the apostles who have lived in this day and generation, counseling together on the other side of the veil, do not have power to turn away this persecution that Brother Cannon has been speaking of? Jesus told his disciples that if he were to pray to the Father, he would give him a legion of angels who would come to defend him; but, he said, the will of the Father would not in that way be fulfilled. So I say to you. If many things that we might desire in our hearts should be fulfilled, the work of the Lord would fail in being consummated. We should remember that this generation, like all other generations, have their own agencies. The nation in the midst of which we dwell today has its agency. The nations of the earth all have their agency. All sects and parties have; in fact, all the human family. And the God of heaven will hold them responsible. He will hold us responsible, according to the course we pursue. If we work and fight against God, and the kingdom of God, we have to meet that in days to come. -- MS 51:210-211 (1889).
THE HEREAFTER." There is a long time hereafter. -- JD 22:210, January 9, 1881.
THE REDEMPTION OF INFANTS. With regard to redemption, Paul said: All the children of Adam are redeemed from the fail by the atoning blood of Jesus, and all infants are redeemed as well as other people. There is no infant or child that has died before arriving at the years of accountability, but what is redeemed, and is therefore entirely beyond the torments of hell, to use a secretarian term. And any doctrine, such as the sprinkling of infants or any religious rite for little children, is of no effect whatever neither in this world nor in the world to come. It is a man-made doctrine, and therefore not ordained of God; and I will defy any man to find in any of the records of divine truth any ordinance instituted for the salvation of little innocent children; it would be unnecessary on the face of it, and the only thing that can be found is where Jesus took the little ones in his arms and blessed them, which is and would be perfectly right to do according to the order of God. But the sprinkling of infants or the doctrine that infants go to hell under any circumstances, is a doctrine ordained of man and not of God, and is therefore of no avail and entirely wrong and displeasing in the sight of God. So much about the infants. I will say again they are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ, and when they die, whether of Christian, Pagan, or Jewish parentage, their spirits are taken home to God who gave them, and never go to suffer torments of any kind. -- JD 23:126, May 14, 1882.
THE SEED OF ISRAEL. We are of the seed of Ephraim, and of Abraham, and of Joseph, who was sold into Egypt, and these are the instruments that God has kept in the spirit world to come forth in these latter days to take hold of this kingdom and build it up. -- JD 22:233, June 26, 1881.
ADAM AND EVE. The world, more or less, has found a great deal of fault with Mother Eve and with Father Adam, because of the fall of man; what I have to say with regard to it, I express as my own opinion. Adam and Eve came to this world to perform exactly the part that they acted in the Garden of Eden; and I will say, they were ordained of God to do what they did, and it was therefore expected that they would eat of the forbidden fruit in order that man might know both good and evil by passing through this school of experience which this life affords us. That is all I want to say about Father Adam and Mother Eve. Adam fell that man might be, and men are that they might have joy; and some have found fault with that. -- JD 23:125, May 14, 1882.
ABRAHAM AND ENOCH. God has raised up at different ages certain men to do a certain work, as he raised up father Abraham. He was a noble spirit, we are told, before he left the realms of glory to come and tabernacle in the flesh. He had the spirit of the Gods with him when he was born; and he was faithful to God, and he had confidence in him; and whatever God required at his hands, he performed. So with Enoch. He stood at the head of the dispensation in which he lived. He, in the course of time, some 350 years, built and perfected the city called Zion. He, however, met with all kinds of opposition from the people among whom he labored; but the power of God was manifested to such an extent that his enemies stood and trembled through fear; and through that power he was enabled to perform the mighty work which he and his people did; it was not because the devil and his party were any more kindly disposed towards the Saints of God, but because they could not help themselves; and in the wisdom of God, Enoch and his people and their city were taken away from the earth. -- JD 24:53, January 27, 1883.
THE CITY OF ENOCH. Reference has been made to the city of Enoch. Enoch stayed as long as he could in this world; and through his labors a people were sanctified who, with himself and their city were taken away from the earth because of their righteousness. The people of God in no generation have been able to dwell upon the earth only so long as they were able to finish their mission; the wicked living contemporaneously with them have warred against them and have conquered and overcome them in a great measure, until many have had to seal their testimony with their blood. -- JD 22:232, June 26, 1881.
UNTRANSLATED PLATES. Perhaps when the remainder of the plates, which were delivered to the Prophet Joseph, and which he was commanded not to translate come forth, we may learn many more things pertaining to our labor on the earth which we do not know now. But be this as it may, all this internal work is left for the Holy Ghost to reveal to the living oracles, as they guide, lead, dictate, and direct the people day by day. -- JD 14:33, May 6, 1870.
God has called a class of men and women who, with the exception of a few, have been permitted to live out their days and die a natural death. It is true that Joseph Smith, who laid the foundation of this work, and others, have had to seal their testimony with their blood; and if I were to tell what I think about it, I would say it was ordained of God that our Prophet and head should be sacrificed in the manner that he was, as much as it was ordained of God that Jesus Christ should be sacrificed in the way that he was; and that for two purposes -- in order that his testimony might remain in force upon all the world from the hour of his death, to rise up and condemn this generation who reject the gospel of salvation. With the exception of a few, it has been designed, I believe, that the prophets and apostles of this dispensation should not have to seal their testimony with their blood, but that they should live until they finish their missions on the earth, bearing their testimony to the truth of the work, and building up the kingdom of God; and then they will gather up their feet and sleep with the fathers, surrounded by their children and friends. -- JD 22:232-233, June 26, 1881.
A FINAL WORD. Before I sit down I want to say a word to the elders of Israel on another subject. I am called an old man; I guess I am. I was thinking just now, in speaking of the apostles and prophets that were with Joseph Smith when he made his last speech, I am the only man living that was with him at that time. The rest are in the spirit world. How much longer I shall talk to this people I do not know; but I want to say this to all Israel: Cease troubling yourselves about who God is; who Adam is, who Christ is, who Jehovah is. For heaven's sake, let these things alone. Why trouble yourselves about these things? God has revealed himself, and when the 121st section of the Doctrine and Covenants is fulfilled, whether there be one God or many gods they will be revealed to the children of men, as well as all thrones and dominions, principalities, and powers. Then why trouble yourselves about these things? God is God. Christ is Christ. The Holy Ghost is the Holy Ghost. That should be enough for you and me to know. If we want to know any more, wait till we get where God is in person. I say this because we are troubled every little while with inquiries from elders anxious to know who God is, who Christ is, and who Adam is. I say to the elders of Israel, stop this. Humble yourselves before the Lord; seek for light, for truth, and for a knowledge of the common things of the kingdom of God. -- MS 57:355-356, April 7, 1895.
LUCIFER AT WORK. The world has sought our overthrow from the beginning, and the devil does not like us very well. Lucifer, the Son of Morning, does not like the idea of revelation to the Saints of God, and he has inspired the hearts of a great many men, since the gospel was restored to the earth, to make war against us. But not one of them has make anything out of it yet -- neither glory, immortality, eternal life, nor money. No man or people ever did make anything by fighting against God in the past, and no man or people will ever made anything by taking that course in the future. -- JD 15:280, January 12, 1873.
Wickedness is in the earth, and Satan has great power over the hearts of men, and he seeks to destroy them, and he seeks to destroy this people, and lead away the elders of Israel and when he overcomes a man that has made a covenant with God, who has been baptized in this church and kingdom, he gains a greater victory over him than over one who never made any profession. -- JD 2:198, February 25, 1855.
THE LABORS OF THE DEVIL. This arch enemy of God and man, called the devil, the "Son of the Morning," who dwells here on the earth, is a personage of great power; he has great influence and knowledge. He understands that if this kingdom, which he rebelled against in heaven, prevails on the earth, there will be no dominion here for him. He has great influence over the children of men; he labors continually to destroy the works of God in heaven, and he had to be cast out. He is here, mighty among the children of men. There is a vast number of fallen spirits, cast out with him, here on the earth. They do not die and disappear; they have not bodies only as they enter the tabernacles of men. They have not organized bodies, and are not to be seen with the sight of the eye. But there are many evil spirits amongst us, and they labor to overthrow the church and kingdom of God. There never was a prophet in any age of the world but what the devil was continually at his elbow. This was the case with Jesus himself. The devil followed him continually trying to draw him from his purposes and to prevent him carrying out the great word of God. You see this manifested when he took Jesus on to the loftiest pinnacle of the temple and showed him all the glory of the world, telling him that he would give him all this if he would fall down and worship him. The poor devil did not own a foot of land nor anything else! The earth was made by and belonged to the Lord and was his footstool. Yet the devil offered that to Jesus which was not his own. Jesus said unto him, "Get thee behind me, Satan."
This same character was with the disciples as well as with their master. He is with the Latter-day Saints; and he or his emissaries are with all men trying to lead them astray. He rules in the hearts of the inhabitants of the earth. They are governed and guided by him far more than by the power of God. This is strange, still it is true. See the wickedness in the world. See the abominations with which the earth is deluged, causing it to groan under the burden. Where does this evil come from? From the works of the devil. Everything that leads to good is from God, while everything that leads to evil is from the devil. Here are the two powers. -- JD 13:163, December 12, 1869.
There was always a war between light and darkness, God and the devil, Saint and sinner, correct principles and false doctrines. We ourselves have a warfare with the evil propensities of our nature: we have already had to meet a warfare outwardly. In some instances there has been a physical contest, and our enemies have sought our destruction from the beginning. That warfare will continue until Satan is bound and iniquity swept from the earth. We need not suppose that we shall have peace in this conflict, for there will be no peace to the righteous until he reigns whose right it is to reign. -- JD 8:264, April 22, 1860.
These two principles do exist, good and evil, God and the Devil. Whatever leads to good and to do good is of God. Whatever leads to evil and to do evil is of the devil. God has labored from the creation of man to lead him to keep the celestial law, that he may inherit a celestial glory and partake of eternal life, the greatest of all the gifts of God to man; while the devil, with all the fallen angels, has labored from the creation to lead man astray, to lead him down to the perdition of ungodly men, that he may have dominion over him. -- MS 48:801, Epistle to the Saints Abroad, October 26, 1886.
SPIRITUAL WARFARE. Brother George Q. Cannon touched upon a very important principle this forenoon -- a principle which has often rested upon my mind; that is, with regard to the spirits that surround us. He said that one third of the hosts of heaven were cast out because of their rebellion. I suppose we may say that at least one hundred thousand millions were cast down from heaven to earth. Where are they? Some are in Salt Lake, some in New York, some in Amsterdam, some in Constantinople, some in Jerusalem; in fact, they are in every city and hamlet wherein the inhabitants of the earth dwell, and especially where there are any Latter-day Saints. And whether there are one hundred or not to every man, woman, and child, there are enough of them, at least, to labor for our overthrow. I say to my counselors, to the apostles, to the seventies, the high priests, the bishops, and all men who bear the Holy Priesthood, do you suppose these devils are around us without trying to do something? Are they asleep? Have they not a work to perform? I say to my brethren who bear the priesthood, we have got a mighty warfare to wage with these spirits. We cannot escape it. What will they do to you? They will try to make us do anything and everything that is not right. These devils would be very glad to make me and my brethren think we are great men, smarter than anyone else; to divide us one against the other, and to cause us to seek to confess our brother's sins instead of our own. We should, therefore, watch ourselves well. I should do this; my counselors and the apostles should; we all should. And unless we are united together, as has been said before, we are not the Lord's. -- MS 51:354 (1889).
CHRISTIANITY HAS TO OVERCOME EVIL. One of the brethren was speaking here about the views entertained by some in the world who regard Christianity and the work of God as a failure. I will say that the work of the Lord has never been a failure and it never will. His purposes have to be accomplished in the earth. There is one thing true with regard to the history and travels of the Saints of God in every age of the world -- they have had to pass through trials, tribulations and persecutions, and have had to contend with opposition, and this will always be their fate until the power of evil is overcome. -- JD 17:254, October 9, 1874.
THERE ARE MORE FOR US THAN AGAINST US. It is for us to wake up to a sense of our duty, and call upon the Lord in humility, and live near to him; and our eyes will be opened, as in the case of the young man the servant of the ancient prophet Elisha, and we will see that there are more for us than against us; and that the element of opposition tends only to hasten the fulfillment of the purposes of God. -- JD 24:56, January 27, 1883.
The devil did not make this earth. It never belonged to him, and never will; but Lucifer was cast down to the earth with the third part of the hosts of heaven, and they have dwelt here until today. They remain here yet; and they have had their effect upon the hearts and minds and lives of the children of men for nearly six thousand years -- from the time that man was cast out of the Garden of Eden into the cold and dreary world. -- JD 11:243, October 22, 1865.
I know that the devil seeks to overthrow this people, and it seems that the powers of darkness have to a great extent prevailed in their attempts to control the hearts of the children of men. For many generations the powers of darkness have had almost universal sway; but I thank God that I have lived to see the day when the kingdom of God has been set up on the earth, and that it is no more to be thrown down forever. Men with wicked hearts may seek to pull down the cause of truth, but all their efforts will be in vain, for the blessing of the Almighty is upon his Saints, the inspiration of the heavens is upon his servants, and they will overcome the powers of temptation and of the adversary. -- JD 8:270, August 26, 1860.
"TRUTH IS MIGHTY AND WILL PREVAIL." There is a proverb or saying which I have heard a good many times in my life, and which I think bears a great deal of weight, and that is, "truth is mighty and will prevail." I think this has been manifested in every capacity in which truth has been used, whether applied temporally or spiritually; whether applied to the world or to the kingdom of God. I think that in every age of the world, truth, whether it has been popular or unpopular, has proved itself, in the end of its labor, to prevail in all cases. -- JD 25:4, January 6, 1884.
ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE. What will it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Not much. What will a man give in exchange for his soul, when he gets on the other side of the veil? I marvel very much at the little interest manifested by the inhabitants of the earth generally in their future state. There is not a person here today but what is going to live on the other side of the veil as long as his Creator -- to the endless ages of eternity, and the eternal destiny of every individual depends upon the manner in which the few short years of the life in the flesh are spent. I ask, in the name of the Lord, what is popularity to you or me? What is gold or silver, or this world's goods to any of us, any further than to enable us to obtain what we need to eat, drink, and wear, and to build up the kingdom of God? And for us to stop praying, and to become crazy after the riches of the world, is the very height of foolishness and folly. To see the way that some people act, you might suppose that they are going to live here eternally, and that their eternal destiny depends upon the number of dollars they have. I sometimes ask the Latter-day Saints, how much we had when we came here? How much did we bring, and where did it come from? I do not think any one of us brought a wife or a brick house; I do not think that any of us were born on horseback or in a carriage, or that we brought railroad scrip and cattle and houses with us, but we were born naked as Job, and I think that we shall leave here as naked as he did. -- JD 18:119-120, September 12, 1875.
ETERNAL EXISTENCE. Bless your souls, our lives here are only a few days in duration, but on the other side of the veil we shall live eternally, we shall live and exist just as long as our Creator will exist, and our eternal destiny depends upon the manner in which we spend our short lives here in the flesh. -- JD 17:192-193, October 7, 1874.
MEANING AND FIRST PRINCIPLES. We acknowledge that through Adam all have died, that death through the fall must pass upon the whole human family, also upon the beasts of the field, the fishes of the sea and the fowls of the air and all the works of God, as far as this earth is concerned. It is a law that is unchangeable and irrevocable. It is true a few have been translated, and there will be living upon the earth thousands and millions of people when the Messiah comes in power and great glory to reward every man according to the deeds done in the body, who will be changed in the twinkling of an eye, from mortality to immortality. Nevertheless, they must pass through the ordeal of death involved in the change that will come from them. The Savior himself tasted of death; He died to redeem the world; His body was laid in the tomb, but it did not see corruption; and after three days it arose from the grave and put on immortality. He was the first fruit of the resurrection. There was no prophet, no saint or sinner, from the days of Father Adam to the days of Jesus that ever rose from the dead through the keys and power of the resurrection. Although we read of some who were restored to life, but this was not what is termed the resurrection. -- JD 23:125-126, May 14, 1882.
"IN EVERY DEATH THERE IS A BIRTH." On such occasions, when mourning the loss of our departed friends, I cannot help but think that in every death there is a birth; the spirit leaves the body dead to us, and passes to the other side of the veil alive to that great and noble company that are also working for the accomplishment of the purposes of God, in the redemption and salvation of a fallen world. And the spirit of this our deceased Sister, has gone to mingle with her little ones who have gone before her, and with her father and mother and her other family relations, and with her many friends who, like her, have wrestled with life and the struggles and troubles thereof, have overcome and gone home. All is well with Sister Cannon [the departed]. She is satisfied with her condition today. I feel with regard to her as I have always felt with regard to faithful Latter-day Saints, when they have finished their work and gone behind the veil that there are none of them that would return to their earthly bodies if they had the opportunity. -- JD 22:348, January 29, 1882.
"BE YE ALSO READY." The spirit of Sister Cannon has left us; her body is here awaiting the purifying changes it must undergo in mother earth. But whether her spirit is present witnessing these funeral services, or whether she, on opening her eyes in the spirit world, would say, "I leave my body for my friends to bury, I must enter upon my mission," that is something we are not able to speak definitely about, God having not revealed it unto us. But this we do know, she is all right, because she was thoroughly prepared for the change that awaited her; and she has gone to do all that she can for those of her kindred and friends that are to follow. And what more can you say? We are left, and we are doing for Sister Cannon what our friends, sooner or later, will be doing for us. It will not be very long before Brother Cannon and also the children and friends of the deceased who remain will join her in the spirit world, if it is not until the coming of Christ. This admonition comes home forcibly to the living, "Be ye also ready." And it applies to us all. And it is for us as parents and elders of Israel to labor in the cause of God, while we are permitted to tarry; living up to the light and knowledge that we have been blessed with. For there is a time appointed unto all men; and he takes away many according to the counsels of his own will. He takes whom he will take, and spares whom he will spare for a wise purpose in himself. These things are according to the purposes and ordinances of God to man. Some labor this side of the veil, others on the other side of the veil. If we tarry here we expect to labor in the cause of salvation, and if we go hence we expect to continue our work until the coming of the Son of Man. The only difference is, while we are here we are subject to pain and sorrow, while they on the other side are free from affliction of every kind. -- JD 22:349, January 29, 1882.
WHY MOURN. In making remarks at funerals, which I have often been called upon to do, I have taken the liberty of speaking plainly my feelings with regard to the dead. And I will say here, when I see a man or a woman, a true and faithful Latter-day Saint pass away, I do not feel in my heart to mourn. Why should we mourn for the woman whose remains lie before us? She has been true and faithful to the sacred and holy covenants that she entered into with God her Heavenly Father; she has received those ordinances in the house of God that will prepare her to go into the presence of the best men and women that have lived upon the earth; she has left a noble posterity to bear her name and to bear record of and to emulate her example; she is freed from pain and suffering and the anxieties of life, and is now beyond the power of the enemy of all righteousness; she has opened her eyes in the spirit world, among her relatives and friends and her own little ones, whose death caused her grief and pain; she has gone to enjoy the society of those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, and to inherit the blessings and glory of eternal life. No, I cannot feel to mourn for her. It is hard, of course, to part with our friends; but after all it is with regard to them, as one of old said. It is better to go to the house of mourning than the house of feasting. It is natural for us to give expression to our feelings in tears in laying away the bodies of our beloved friends, and there is a degree to which we may go which is proper and right; but there are extremes which are often indulged in, which is neither proper nor right for Latter-day Saints to copy after. Here, however, as I have said, we have nothing to mourn about. -- JD 22:348, January 29, 1882.
TO PARENTS ON THE LOSS OF THEIR CHILDREN. The question may arise with me and with you -- "Why has the Lord taken away my children?" But that is not for me to tell, because I do not know; it is in the hands of the Lord, and it has been so from the creation of the world all the way down. Children are taken away in their infancy, and they go to the spirit world. They come here and fulfil the object of their coming; that is, their tabernacle in the flesh. They come to receive a probation and an inheritance on the earth; they obtain a body or tabernacle, and that tabernacle will be preserved for them, and in the morning of the resurrection the spirits and bodies will be reunited, and as here we find children of various ages in a family, from the infant at the mother's breast to manhood, so will it be in the family organization in the celestial world. Our children will be restored to us as they are laid down if we, their parents, keep the faith and prove ourselves worthy to obtain eternal life; and if we do not so prove ourselves our children will still be preserved, and will inherit celestial glory. This is my view in regard to all infants who die, whether they are born to Jew or Gentile, righteous or wicked. They come from their eternal Father and their eternal Mother unto whom they were born in the eternal world, and they will be restored to their eternal parentage; and all parents who have received children here according to the order of God and the Holy Priesthood, no matter in what age they may have lived, will claim those children in the morning of the resurrection, and they will be given unto them and they will grace their family organizations in the celestial world.
THE FUTURE STATE OF THOSE WHO DIE IN INFANCY. With regard to the future state of those who die in infancy I do not feel authorized to say much. There has been a great deal of theory, and many views have been expressed on this subject, but there are many things connected with it which the Lord has probably never revealed to any of the prophets or patriarchs who ever appeared on the earth. There are some things which have not been revealed to man, but are held in the bosom of God our Father, and it may be that the condition after death of those who die in infancy is among the things which God has never revealed; but it is sufficient for me to know that our children are saved, and that if we ourselves keep the faith and do our duty before the Lord, if we keep the celestial law, we shall be preserved by that law, and our children will be given unto us there, as they have been given here in this world of sorrow, affliction, pain and distress. -- JD 18:31-32, June 24, 1875.
I will say to our mourning friends, your children are taken away and you cannot help it, we cannot any of us help it; there is no censure to be given to parents when they do the best they can. A mother should not be censured because she cannot save her sick child, and we have to leave these things in the hands of God. It will be but a little time until they will be restored to us; in a little time Brother and Sister Wheeler will again have the children whose loss they now mourn. -- JD 18:34, June 24, 1875.
ON THE LOSS IN INFANCY, AND THE REARING OF CHILDREN. Our children are taken away from us in infancy and childhood, and they are taken away as Job's were, in one sense of the word, through the dispensations of Providence, causing us severe trials. This we will acknowledge; but as I have already said, there are many things in this world that are far more painful and afflicting than to have our children burned to death. My friends may ask, "What is Brother Woodruff driving at in this remark?" I will tell you. I have lived in these valleys twenty-seven years since the pioneers came here. I have seen a whole generation of men and women grow up in these valleys of the mountains, and they have become parents. I have seen some, I will not say a great many, but I have seen some young men (I say nothing about maidens), who have met with untimely deaths and who have gone to the grave disgraced and a dishonor to themselves and to their parents. Circumstances of this kind are far more painful to any parent in the world than it is for their children to meet with sudden death by accident or any other way. None of us know what course our children will take. We set good examples before them, and we strive to teach them righteous principles. But when they come to years of accountability they have their agency and they act for themselves. -- JD 14:130-31, June 24, 1875.
HOPE OF THE RESURRECTION. It certainly does require a good deal of the Spirit of the Lord to give comfort and consolation to a father and mother mourning for the loss of their children; and without the gospel of Christ the separation by death is one of the most gloomy subjects it is possible to contemplate; but just as soon as we obtain the gospel and learn the principle of the resurrection, the gloom, sorrow, and suffering occasioned by death are, in a great measure, taken away. I have often thought that, to see a dead body, and to see that body laid in the grave and covered with earth, is one of the most gloomy things on earth; without the gospel it is like taking a leap in the dark. But as quick as we obtain the gospel, as soon as the spirit of man is enlightened by the inspiration of the Almighty, he can exclaim with one of old -- "O grave, where is thy victory, O death, where is thy sting? The sting of death is sin, and the gift of God is eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ." The resurrection of the dead presents itself before the enlightened mind of man, and he has a foundation for his spirit to rest upon. That is the position of the Latter-day Saints today. We do know for ourselves, we are not in the dark with regard to this matter; God has revealed it to us, and we do understand the principle of the resurrection of the dead, and that the gospel brings life and immortality to light. We have received the gospel, and if we are true to the principles of that gospel as long as we live, we shall be made partakers of immortality, exaltation and glory. -- JD 18:33, June 24, 1875.
Elder Woodruff was speaking at a funeral of two small boys who had met accidental death by fire.
SIGNS OF THE TIMES. What are the signs of the times? Do the Latter-day Saints comprehend them? This is a fast age. The Lord is going to cut his work short in righteousness. Read these revelations, for they contain the history of what is going to pass in the earth. The Lord said to Joseph in the beginning of this Church:
Behold, verify I say unto you, the angels are crying unto the Lord day and night, who are ready and waiting to be sent forth to reap down the fields;
But the Lord saith unto them, pluck not up the tares while the blade is yet tender (for verily your faith is weak), lest you destroy the wheat also.
Therefore let the wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest is fully ripe; then ye shall first gather out the wheat from among the tares, and after the gathering of the wheat, behold and lo, the tares are bound in bundles, and the field remaineth to be burned.
What is the matter with the world today? What has created this change that we see coming over the world? Why these terrible earthquakes, tornadoes, and judgments? What is the meaning of all these mighty events that are taking place? The meaning is, these angels that have been held for many years in the temple of our God have got their liberty to go out and commence their mission and their work in the earth, and they are here today in the earth. I feel bold in saying this to the Latter-day Saints. There is a meaning in these judgments. The word of the Lord cannot fall unfulfilled. If you want to know what is coming to pass, read the revelations of St. John, read the Book of Mormon and the book of Doctrine and Covenants, and these things are at our doors. -- MS 56:643, October 8, 1894.
Doctrine and Covenants 86:5-7.
THE ANGELS SPOKEN OF HAVE BEGUN THEIR MISSION. I want to bear testimony to this congregation, and to the heavens and the earth, that the day is come when those angels are privileged to go forth and commence their work. They are laboring in the United States of America; they are laboring among the nations of the earth; and they will continue. These things are at our doors, and neither you nor I can hinder them. We need not marvel or wonder at anything that is transpiring in the earth. -- MS 58:738, October 4, 1896.
I want the Latter-day Saints to stop murmuring and complaining at the providence of God. Trust in God. Do your duty. Remember your prayers. Get faith in the Lord, and take hold and build up Zion. All will be right. The Lord is going to visit his people, and he is going to cut his work short in righteousness, lest no flesh should be saved. I say to you, watch the signs of the times, and prepare yourselves for that which is to come. -- MS 53:796-797 (1891).
THE MILLENNIAL DAWN -- A STATEMENT IN 1875. The Millennium is dawning upon the world, we are at the end of the six thousand years, and the great day of rest, the Millennium of which the Lord has spoken, will soon dawn, and the Savior will come in the clouds of heaven to reign over his people on the earth one thousand years. -- JD 18:113, September 12, 1875.
"WE ARE LIVING AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE MILLENNIUM." We are living at the commencement of the Millennium, and near the close of the 6,000th year of the world's history. Tremendous events await this generation. You can read an account of them in the revelations of St. John; the opening of the seals; the blowing of the trumpets; the pouring out of the plagues; the judgments of God which will overtake the wicked when Great Babylon comes in remembrance before God, and when the sword that is bathed in heaven shall fall on Idumea, or the world who shall be able to abide these things? Here we are living in the midst of these tremendous events. -- JD 25:10, January 6, 1884.
THE SECOND COMING AT HAND. The signs of heaven and earth all indicate the near coming of the Son of Man. You read the 9th, 10th and 11th chapters of the last Book of Nephi, and see what the Lord has said will take place in this generation, when the gospel of Christ has again been offered to the inhabitants of the earth. The Lord did not reveal the day of the coming of the Son of Man, but he revealed the generation. That generation is upon us. The signs of heaven and earth predict the fulfillment of these things, and they will come to pass. -- JD 21:195, July 3, 1880.
SIGNS OF THE SECOND COMING. I do not know that any people on the earth, except the Latter-day Saints, are looking for this great event. There may be exceptions, there may be men who believe in the second coming of Christ. The people called Millerites, believe in the second coming of the Savior, and they have set a great many days when it should take place. But he did not come, and he never will come until the revelations of God are fulfilled and a people are prepared for his coming. He will never come until the Jews are gathered home and have rebuilt their temple and city, and the Gentiles, have gone up there to battle against them. He will never come until his Saints have built up Zion, and have fulfilled the revelations which have been spoken concerning it. He will never come until the Gentiles throughout the whole Christian world have been warned by the inspired elders Of Israel. They are called to thrust in the sickle and reap, for the harvest is ripe and the time has come, which is referred to in this revelation, when the Lord commands the elders to go forth and warn the world for the last time, and call upon the inhabitants of the earth to repent. -- JD 18:111, September 12, 1875.
ON THE PARABLE OF THE TEN VIRGINS. The parable of the ten virgins is intended to represent the second coming of the Son of man, the coming of the bridegroom to meet the bride, the church, the Lamb's wife, in the last days; and I expect that the Savior was about right when he said, in reference to the members of the Church, that five of them were wise and five were foolish; for when the Lord of heaven comes in power and great glory to reward every man according to the deeds done in the body, if he finds one half of those professing to be members of his Church prepared for salvation, it will be as many as can be expected, judging by the course that many are pursuing. -- JD 18:110, September 12, 1875.
THE GENERATION OF CHRIST'S COMING. No man knows the day or the hour when Christ will come, yet the generation has been pointed out by Jesus himself. He told his disciples when they passed by the temple as they walked out of Jerusalem that that generation should not pass away before not one stone of that magnificent temple should be left standing upon another and the Jews should be scattered among the nations; and history tells how remarkably that prediction was fulfilled. Moses and the prophets also prophesied of this as well as Jesus. The Savior, when speaking to his disciples of his second coming and the establishment of his kingdom on the earth, said the Jews should be scattered and trodden under foot until the times of the Gentiles were fulfilled. But, said he, when you see light breaking forth among the Gentiles, referring to the preaching of his gospel amongst them; when you see salvation offered to the Gentiles, and the Jews -- the seed of Israel -- passed by, the last first and the first last; when you see this you may know that the time of my second coming is at hand as surely as you know that summer is nigh when the fig tree puts forth its leaves; and when these things commence that generation shall not pass away until all are fulfilled.
WE ARE LIVING IN THE GENERATION OF CHRIST'S COMING. We are living in the dispensation and generation to which Jesus referred -- the time appointed by God for the last six thousand years, through the mouths of all the prophets and inspired men who have lived and left their sayings on record, in which his Zion should be built up and continue upon the earth. These prophecies will have their fulfillment before the world; and all who will not repent will be engulfed in the destructions which are in store for the wicked. If men do not cease from their murders, whoredoms, and all the wickedness and abominations which fill the black catalogue of the crimes of the world, judgment will overtake them; and whether we are believed or not, these sayings are true, and I bear my testimony as a servant of God and as an elder in Israel to the truth of the events which are going to follow very fast on each other. -- JD 14:5, January 1, 1871.
A PROPHETIC OPINION IN 1889. Many of these young men and maidens that are here today will, in my opinion, if they are faithful, stand in the flesh when Christ comes in the clouds of heaven. These young people from the Sabbath schools and from the Mutual Improvement Associations, will stand in the flesh while the judgments of the Almighty sweep the nations of the earth as with a besom of destruction, in fulfillment of the revelations of God, and they will be the very people whom God will bless and sustain. Therefore, I say, our young men cannot begin too quickly to qualify themselves by treasuring up wisdom and calling upon God and getting the Holy Priesthood; for they have got to stand in holy places while these judgments are poured out upon the earth. -- MS 51:595-596 (1889).
A besom is a kind of broom.
THE IMPORTANCE OF CONDUCT. Zion is not going to be moved out of her place. The Lord will plead with her strong ones, and if she sins he will chastise her until she is purified before the Lord.
I do not pretend to tell how much sorrow you or I are going to meet with before the coming of the Son of Man. That will depend upon our conduct. -- MS 51:547 (1889).
"We are making history. The travels and experience of the Latter-day Saints have been as interesting as the history of any people in any dispensation since the world began." -- WILFORD WOODRUFF, JD 19:134, October 13, 1877.
THE AGE-OLD SEARCH. Mankind in all ages search for happiness; they desire social and domestic peace; and when they think of the vast future, they desire to participate in the blessings that are spoken of as pertaining to that state of existence; but they know not how to obtain them, except a servant of God comes along and points out the way of life. -- JD 9:163, December 1, 1861.
HOW TO OBTAIN HAPPINESS. Ask any people, nations, kingdoms, or generations of men the question, and they will tell you they are seeking for happiness, but how are they seeking for it? Take the greatest portion of mankind as an example, and how are they seeking for happiness? By serving the devil as fast as they can, and almost the last being or thing that the children of men worship, and the last being whose laws they want to keep are the laws of the God of heaven. They will not worship God nor honor his name, nor keep his laws, but blaspheme his name, from day to day, and nearly all the world are seeking for happiness by committing sins, breaking the law of God, and blaspheming his name and rejecting the only source whence happiness flows.
If we really understood that we could not obtain happiness by walking in the paths of sin and breaking the laws of God, we should then see the folly of it, every man and every woman would see that to obtain happiness we should go to work and perform the works of righteousness, and do the will of our Father in heaven, for we shall receive at his hand all the happiness, blessing, glory, salvation, exaltation, and eternal lives, that we ever do receive either in time or eternity. -- JD 4:192, January 25, 1857.
"WE SHOULD LIVE IN SUCH A MANNER THAT THE SPIRIT AND BLESSING OF GOD MAY ATTEND US." We have but a little time to spend on earth even though we live to be a hundred years of age, and we have no time to waste. We should live in such a manner that the Spirit and blessing of God may attend us; and then when we cease our labors here we shall pass hence to continue them in the same cause of salvation and redemption, and all will be well with us. -- JD 23:83, March 26, 1882.
LIVE UP TO THE KNOWLEDGE YOU POSSESS. Put your trust in God and rely on his promises, living up to the light and knowledge you possess; and all will be well with you whether living or dying. -- JD 24:56, January 27, 1883.
SELF-CONTROL. I consider that it is one of the greatest victories for a man to gain, to learn how to control himself. Show me a man who does control himself and I will show you a safe man; for a man who has prepared himself by this principle is on the road to salvation. A man who is prepared to lay all that he hath upon the altar, and his life with it, for the gospel's sake and the kingdom of God, is in the right way. But the moment that we teach a doctrine that we do not practice we show our weakness. The moment a man or a woman becomes angry he or she shows a great weakness, and so it is with any of us when we do anything wrong. -- JD 4:98, October 6, 1856.
INTEGRITY. To me the principle of integrity is one of the greatest blessings we can possibly possess. He who proves true to himself or his brethren, to his friends and his God, will have the evidence within him that he is accepted; he will have the confidence of his God and of his friends. It is a great and a glorious principle; it is something that gives you that assurance in your friends that you can trust your property, your life, your all in the hands of your brethren. -- JD 8:266, April 22, 1860.
THE CHARACTER OF A SAINT. You will find, my brethren and sisters, there are but a very few comparatively, either male or female, who have had independence of mind enough, as well as honesty of heart sufficient to receive the gospel of Christ. It takes independence of mind, honesty of heart, faith in God, and firmness of character to live the life of a Latter-day Saint. -- JD 22:349, January 29, 1882.
ON BORROWING TROUBLE. The troubles of the children of men are very numerous, but a great many of them are borrowed. I believe two thirds of the troubles of men are borrowed. It appears to be a natural gift, or it seems natural to us to borrow trouble; and it is a good deal so with our blessings. We look forward to some future time when we are going to enjoy great and glorious blessings, but our blessings are at the present time. This is the time that we should enjoy the blessings that God has given us. We should rejoice today, and be happy today, and feel to thank the Lord for the blessings that he has put into our hands; and as to borrowing troubles, we should let them all pass; for it is sufficient for us to pass through troubles and trials when they are upon us; and if we pursue this course, we may escape a great many imaginary, trying, and perplexing scenes. -- JD 6:140-141, December 27, 1857.
ETERNAL LIFE: THE GREATEST GIFT OF GOD. Remember, my brethren, the greatest gift that God can bestow upon us is eternal life, and it is worth more than all the houses and lands or the gold and the silver upon the earth. For by and by we will go to the grave, and that puts an end to worldly possessions, as far as our using them is concerned. The grave finds a home for all flesh, and no man can take his houses and lands, his gold and silver, or anything else of a worldly character, with him. We brought none of these things with us when we came from our previous state. As Bishop Hunter says, babies are born without shoes and stockings. -- JD 22:234, June 26, 1881.
I feel to say to the Latter-day Saints everywhere, brethren and sisters, do good and you will reap good; what you sow you will also reap. -- JD 23:131-132, May 14, 1882.
AN ADMONITION. Brethren and sisters, seek after God; call upon him in your secret places, and do not turn away from righteousness and truth; there is nothing to be gained by doing that, but everything to lose. -- JD 22:236, June 26, 1881.
IT IS PROFITABLE TO ABIDE THE CELESTIAL LAW. I always have said and believed, and I believe today, that it will pay you and me and all the sons and all the daughters of Adam to abide the celestial law, for celestial glory is worth all we possess. If it calls for every dollar we own and our lives in the bargain, if we obtain an entrance into the celestial kingdom of God, it will amply repay us.
The Latter-day Saints have started out for celestial glory, and if we can only manage to be faithful enough to obtain an inheritance in the kingdom, where God and Christ dwell, we shall rejoice through the endless ages of eternity. -- JD 17:250, October 9, 1874.
With regard to the law of God, it is all right. We can well afford to keep it and trust in him. -- JD 22:235, June 26, 1881.
It is impossible, however, for the Saints of God to inherit a celestial kingdom without their being tried as to whether they will abide in the covenants of the Lord or not. -- JD 23:328, December 10, 1882.
Any man who undertakes to serve God has to round up his shoulders and meet it, and any man who will not trust in God and abide in his cause even unto death is not worthy of a place in the celestial kingdom. -- JD 17:245, October 9, 1874.
THE LORD'S DETERMINED PURPOSE. It matters not what the minds and feelings of men are, the Lord is determined to raise up a people that will worship him; and if he had a whip, and scourge, and should drive us through a whole generation, he will chastise us until we are willing to submit to righteousness and truth, or until we are like clay in the hands of the potter. The chastisements we have had from time to time have been for our good, and are essential to learn wisdom and carry us through a school of experience we never could have passed through without. I hope, then, that we may learn from the experience we have had to be faithful and humble, and be passive in the hands of God, and do his commandments. -- JD 2:198, February 25, 1855.
THE LORD'S OVERSIGHT. The Lord has been watching Over us from the hour of our birth. -- JD 22:233, June 26, 1881.
TIME IS SHORT. Brethren and sisters, we are living in a fast age, and we have no time to waste. This is a time when the Lord is going to cut his work short in righteousness. -- MS 51:596 (1889).
We cannot go to reap our crops and worship the devil one day, and then the next go into the tabernacle or temple of the Lord and worship him. That is not our religion; it does not admit of this. We cannot feel justified in such conduct; but if we live our religion, the blessings of Almighty God will be with us, and he will multiply them upon our heads. -- JD 8:272, August 26, 1860.
FAULT FINDING. I want to say to the brethren and to the sisters, let us cease finding fault one with another; let us not say that this man or this woman does wrong, this family does wrong, this person or the other sets a bad example; let us realize that we ourselves are held responsible for what we do.
It will do me no good if I apostatize because somebody's family follows the fashions of Babylon, or because some man or woman or some set of men and women do wrong. Let us cease this kind of work, and all of us look to ourselves. It will do me no good if I apostatize because I think someone else does not do right. We should lay this aside. There is too much of it in the Zion of God today, and has been a good while, finding fault with this, that, and the other, instead of looking at home.
"LET US ALL LOOK AT HOME." Let us all look at home, and each one try to govern his own family and set his own house in order, and do that which is required of us, realizing that each one is held responsible before the Lord for his or her individual actions only. -- JD 16:272, October 8, 1873.
TO THE RISING GENERATION. I wish to say, with regard to the rising generation -- the sons and daughters of the Latter-day Saints -- that they should take the counsel of their fathers; they should honor their parents, and honor God, and receive such counsel as is given unto them by wise men. I think many times that our children do not comprehend what lies before them. Their fathers are passing away. Yet this kingdom has got to remain on the earth until the coming of the Son of Man. This work has got to follow their fathers; it has got to rest upon the sons and daughters of Zion. -- MS 51:355 (1889).
ADVICE TO YOUNG PEOPLE GATHERED AT A MAY WALK (May 1, 1857). I feel to exhort and counsel you, my young friends, to listen to the voice of God and obey it while young, as Samuel did, that you may be great, good, and useful, and the beloved of the Lord and your parents and by all good men. Obey your parents and honor them, for by doing this you will obtain those great blessings which God has promised you . . .
. . . You are now laying a foundation in the bloom and beauty of youth and in the morning of your days to step forth upon the stage of life to act a conspicuous part in the midst of the most important dispensation and generation in which man has ever lived. And I can say in truth and safety that the result of your future lives, the influence which you will exert among man, and finally your eternal destiny for time and eternity, will in a great measure depend upon the foundation which you lay in the days of your youth, the manner in which you store your mind and cultivate while young.
Therefore neither you nor your parents can be too careful to see that your young and fruitful minds are fed and stored with good principles. You want to learn that which is true -- when you learn anything about God, Jesus Christ, the angels, the Holy Ghost, the gospel, the way to be saved, your duty to your parents, brethren, sisters, or to any of your fellow men, or any history, art or science, I say when you learn any of those things you want to learn that which is true, so that when you get those things riveted in your mind and planted in your heart, and you trust to it in future life and lean upon it for support, that it may not fail you like a broken reed.
It is one of the greatest blessings that God ever bestowed upon children that they have had parents who were in possession of true principles in relation to their Heavenly Father, salvation, eternal life, and were qualified and capable of teaching and traditionating their children in the same that they may be qualified to fulfil the object of their creation; while on the other hand, it is one of the greatest calamities that can befall a nation or people to be overwhelmed with false views in relation to themselves, their Creator, their salvation; and should the children of that people ever be taught the truth they would have to say as one of the prophets said the children of the Gentiles would say as they were gathered to Zion in the last days, that their "fathers had inherited lies and vanity and things wherein there is no profit." -- JH 1-2, May 1, 1857.
APPRECIATION AND LOVE FOR PARENTS. Love your fathers and mothers, appreciate and enjoy their society while you are with them, for you will soon enough be called to part with them, and if you live to see that day you will see the time when you will fully appreciate their society and know the worth of their counsel. -- JH 2, May 1, 1857.
HOW YOUNG PEOPLE MAY BLESS FAMILY LIFE. Obey your parents in all things and comfort their hearts, for you have the power to do this. When they are weary and pressed with the cares of life, seek to ease their burdens and smile upon them in their hours of sorrow and you will cast a charm of joy and peace around them which they cannot obtain from any other source.
Be kind to your brothers and sisters and all with whom you associate; kind words and good manners will cost you nothing and will add greatly to the happiness of those around you. Be true to yourselves by doing right in all things, by improving well your time and talents, by being wise, virtuous, and good. Be true to your God by keeping his commandments and doing his will, for he holds your destiny and the destiny of your parents and of all men in his own hands and he will reward all according to their works, whether they be good or evil, and all will be amply paid for doing well. -- JH 2, May 1, 1857.
Be happy, be contented, enjoy the days of your youth, enjoy your peaceful homes, enjoy the society of your parents, brothers, and sisters while you have an opportunity, for the days of your youth will soon be gone. Manhood will be upon you with all of its attendant cares and responsibilities. -- JH 2, May 1, 1857.
PROPER EDUCATION: THE BEST LEGACY PARENTS CAN LEAVE TO THEIR CHILDREN. Our children should not be neglected; they should receive a proper education in both spiritual and temporal things. That is the best legacy any parents can leave to their children. We should teach them to pray, and instil into their minds while young every correct principle. Ninety-nine out of every hundred children who are taught by their parents the principles of honesty and integrity, truth and virtue, will observe them through life. Such principles will exalt any people or nation who make them the rule of their conduct. Show me a mother who prays, who has passed through the trials of life by prayer, who has trusted in the Lord God of Israel in her trials and difficulties, and her children will follow in the same path. These things will not forsake them when they come to act in the kingdom of God . . .
. . . Our children should be prepared to build up the kingdom of God. Then qualify them in the ways of childhood for the great duties they will be called upon to perform. -- JD 15:12, April 6, 1872.
We want to save our children, and to have them partake of all the blessings that encircle the sanctified to have them receive the blessings of their parents who have been faithful to the fulness of the gospel. We do not want them to go through all the routine of false doctrines and erroneous systems that we have had to wade through in our generation. -- JD 8:272, August 26, 1860.
I once read a man's view of education -- he was not a Mormon, but a man of the world -- who said, "No man is fully educated unless he can tell where he came from, why he is here, and where he is going." That being the case, I thought there were few fully educated in the world. No man can tell where he came from unless it is revealed to him. We have had these things revealed to us in the Bible, Book of Mormon, and book of Doctrine and Covenants. We have thus come to the knowledge that we had an existence before we came here, and that we had a probation before we came here. We are now upon our second estate, and our eternal destiny depends upon the few years we spend in the flesh. We are placed here that it may be seen which law we will keep. Our Heavenly Father has placed before us the laws celestial, telestial, and terrestrial. If any man will obey the celestial law, he will be preserved by that law; all the glory, power and exaltation, belonging to that law, will be given to him. -- JD 22:209, January 9, 1881.
HOW TO LEARN. There is one thing I wish particularly to impress upon your minds, and that is, the importance of improving your time while young in treasuring up knowledge and learning those things which will be useful to you in after life. I know from experience, and so do most parents, that the child cannot appreciate the worth of true intelligence, the importance of improving their time in storing up useful knowledge while they are young, as they will when they come to act upon the stage of life, become fathers and mothers, and feel the full force of the responsibilities of training up children. . . Do not be discouraged because you cannot learn all at once; learn one thing at a time, learn it well, and treasure it up, then learn another truth and treasure that up, and in a few years you will have a great store of useful knowledge which will not only be a great blessing to yourselves and your children, but to your fellow men. -- JH 2, May 1, 1857.
THE INFLUENCE OF THE MOTHER. I consider that the mother has a greater influence over her posterity than any other person can have. And the question has arisen some time: "When does this education begin?" Our prophets have said, "When the spirit life from God enters into the tabernacle." The condition of the mother at that time will have its effect upon the fruit of her womb; and from the birth of the child, and all through life, the teachings and the example of the mother govern and control, in a great measure, that child, and her influence is felt by it through time and eternity. -- MS 51: 593 (1889).
A STUDY AND A WORK THAT SHOULD NOT BE LAID ASIDE. I have long been satisfied that the Devil was making great exertions to drive a wedge in between parents and children -- trying to inspire and instil into the minds of the sons and daughters of the Saints those corrupting notions that will prevent them from following the footsteps of their fathers and mothers: but this cannot be done! The sons and daughters of this people, if we do our duty, will be held by the strength and in the name of Israel's God.
I have looked upon this matter a great deal, and I have concluded that there never was a generation of the people upon whose shoulders rested greater responsibilities than rest upon this people and then must rest upon their sons and daughters. If this be true, how important it is that we should be wise fathers and mothers, and that we should act wisely in instilling into their youthful minds all those principles that will lead them to that which is just, and to carry out in their lives the principles of righteousness and truth. Many of our children have not had experience in the world; they know nothing of the scenes and corruptions that are among the wicked; they do not realize their present positions, nor the blessings conferred upon them by their parents having obeyed the fulness of the gospel.
We who have gained experience see the darkness and abominations that are in the hearts of men; but our children, not being able to contrast the evil with the good, cannot see and realize the blessings they enjoy in being under the influence of teachers in Israel. I do not refer to their parents alone, but those who lead and govern in the midst of Israel.
I have felt for a long time, and I think I have realized to some extent that the duties resting upon us are very great, and that we ought to strive to improve in wisdom and knowledge and in the principles of government, in order that we may know how to be fathers, mothers, and saviors, and learn how to be counselors and how to preside, not only in our own family circles, but wherever we may be called to act. It is a great thing to know how to act so as to gain the feelings and affections of our families, that will lead them in the path wherein they may be saved. This is a study and a work that should not be laid aside by parents, nor by the elders in Israel. -- JD 8:271, August 26, 1860.
THE DUTY TO MARRY -- ADVICE TO THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF 1875. Another word of the Lord to me is that, it is the duty of these young men here in the land of Zion to take the daughters of Zion to wife, and prepare tabernacles for the spirits of men, which are the children of our father in heaven. They are waiting for tabernacles, they are ordained to come here, and they ought to be born in the land of Zion instead of Babylon. This is the duty of the young men in Zion; and when the daughters of Zion are asked by the young men to join with them in marriage, instead of asking "Has this man a fine brick house, a span of fine horses and a fine carriage?" they should ask "Is he a man of God? Has he the Spirit of God with him? Is he a Latter-day Saint? Does he pray? Has he got the Spirit upon him to qualify him to build up the kingdom?" If he has that, never mind the carriage and brick house, take hold and unite yourselves together according to the law of God. -- JD 18:129-130, September 12, 1875.
FURTHER ADVICE IN 1889. There is a great destiny awaiting our young men. Therefore they ought to be temperate; not drink whisky, not chew or smoke tobacco, and not mingle with the drunken. And it is the duty of those who are not married to take these daughters of Zion to wife, when they arrive at a proper age. There are no better women on the face of the earth than those that dwell in these mountains of Israel. If there is any virtue anywhere, it exists among the women that live in Zion. The same with the men. Our young ladies are virtuous; their mothers are virtuous; and their fathers are virtuous. There may be exceptions; but the Lord has gathered together a people who are virtuous. My feelings are that every young man in Israel should get married when he arrives at a proper age. It does not cost any man more to provide these girls with food and clothing after they are married than it does before. It does not cost more for yourselves. But you are then prepared to begin to gather some means around you. Do not wait until you have about ten thousand dollars and have fine horses and carriages. You will get them just as quickly after you are married, and possibly quicker, than you will before.
It is our duty to get married at the proper time. It is the law of God. Therefore I would like to see you young men take these daughters of Zion to wife. -- MS 51:595 (1889).
FUTURE OF ZION'S YOUTH -- A REVELATION. One subject more I want to name, and that is with regard to our future. I will tell you what the Lord has revealed to me. You talk of revelation. I have had a good many revelations. We are not particularly required to write all the revelations given to us. Joseph Smith wrote revelations in his day and we have them to read, and they will all be fulfilled to the letter. There has been a good deal said about the rising generation of the Saints. I will tell you what will come to pass.
My sons, the sons of my counselors, the sons of these apostles, and the sons of this people will rise up by the power of God and they will take this kingdom and bear it off. You need make no mistake about this matter. They are the element that God has ordained, the same as he ordained us, to do His work. Our posterity will not forsake the Lord, nor their fathers, nor their mothers, nor the work in which they are engaged. Too many of them, it is true, have been led astray; too many of them have been found where they should not be; but the bulk of the sons of this people will remain true and faithful to this work. -- DW 45:548, October 9, 1892.
We are appointed to a certain work, and when we get through, our sons will take it and bear it off. Zion will arise, and the glory of God will rest upon her. She will have power in the earth, and the day is at hand when, as Joseph Smith said, thousands of the great men of the earth will come to Zion to behold the glory thereof. -- DW 45:548, October 9, 1892.
A PRAYER. I pray that we may magnify our calling and overcome the world, the flesh and the devil, and inherit eternal life, for Christ's sake. -- JD 22:210, January 9, 1881.
THOUGHTS ON LENGTH OF LIFE. I want to live as long as I can do good; but not an hour longer than I can live in fellowship with the Holy Spirit, with my Father in heaven, my Savior, and with the faithful Latter-day Saints. To live any longer than this, would be torment and misery to me. When my work is done I am ready to go; but I want to do what is required of me. -- JD 13:327, September 5, 1869.
PERSONAL REFLECTIONS. I marvel sometimes, when I reflect, why I am alive. I was going to say that there is not a man living scarcely that I was acquainted with in Kirtland. A whole quorum of apostles has been taken into the spirit world. But for some reason the Lord has preserved my life until the present day. And I sincerely desire, in the remaining days I have to spend here, that I may do what little good I can. I wish to magnify my calling; I wish to do my duty; I wish to know the mind and will of God, and try to do it. I pray not only that these blessings may be given to me, but to all the elders of Israel and the Latter-day Saints, which may God grant, for Christ's sake. -- MS 51:212 (1889).
The only marvel I have had all my life has been that the Lord ever chose me for anything, especially as an apostle and as president. But that is his own business; it was not mine. -- MS 57:739, October 6, 1895.
PERSONAL HUMILITY. When I look upon the ten thousand faces of Latter-day Saints before me the present time; and when I contemplate what God hath wrought in establishing this people in the midst of these mountain valleys; and when I bring myself face to face with the wonderful age we live in, and sense the mighty responsibilities that rest upon us, as watchmen upon the walls of Zion, and as watchmen to this generation when I contemplate these things, if any man under heaven feels his weakness, it is Wilford Woodruff -- MS 51:786 (1889).
I am entirely dependent upon the Lord. I always have been during my life, and in my travels and pilgrimages, preaching the gospel of Christ to my fellow men. It does not make any difference what age a man is in preaching the gospel, whether he is twenty-five, ninety, or five hundred years of age, if he is only inspired by the spirit and power of God. -- MS 57:337. April 7, 1895.
A HUMBLE TESTIMONY AS CHURCH PRESIDENT. I am thankful before the Lord for the blessings that I have enjoyed in this conference and for the testimonies I have heard from these apostles. They speak as men having authority, inspired by the Spirit of God, and they speak the truth. Many of our friends that have labored with us have passed away. We ourselves shall pass away in our time. I may say that if it had not been for the prayers of these thousands of Latter-day Saints, I today should have been mingling with my brethren in the spirit world. I know that I have been preserved by the prayers of my brethren and sisters, and I am still with you. I feel very weak, and hardly qualified to magnify my calling as an apostle, as the leader of the people of Israel; in fact, no man Is, only as moved upon by the power of God. What little time I may stay here I hope my heart will not be set on the riches of this world, but on doing the will of God and uniting with my brethren in bearing off the great work and responsibility resting upon us. If we will do this, all will be right. -- MS 56:228-229, April 9, 1894.
TEACHABLENESS. I have never seen the day or the hour that I was not susceptible of being taught by my brethren, neither have I ever seen the time that I thought I knew all the principles of the gospel; and I can truly say that I feel as much edified today in contemplating the things of God as ever I did in any hour of my life. -- JD 8:261, April 22, 1860.
AN AMBITION REALIZED. I prayed many an hour when a boy that the Lord would let me live to see a prophet or an apostle, or some man who could teach me that gospel which I read of in the New Testament. I have lived to see that day, and I thank God for it. I have tried to do what good I could in my weak way. I have tried to go into these temples and redeem my father's house. With the assistance of my friends I have been able to do this. When I go to the other side of the veil and meet with them, I think I shall be satisfied, and I think they will. They will find that these principles are true, and so will all denominations when they come in the presence of God. They will learn then, if not before, that this is the work of God. -- MS 56:660, October 15, 1894.
ON PREACHING. I made a covenant with the Lord, years ago, that whatever he would impress me to say, I would preach to the people. If we are not able to speak to your edification, it is not because there are not truth and knowledge, principles and laws sufficient within the pale of this Church, and connected with the work in which we are engaged. -- JD 24:50-5, January 27, 1883.
In my public teaching I never permit my mind to follow in any channel except that which the Spirit dictates to me, and this is the position we all occupy when we meet with the Saints, or when we go forth to preach the gospel. As Jesus told his apostles, take no thought what ye shall say, it is told us, take no thought what we shall say; but we treasure up in our minds words of wisdom by the blessing of God and studying the best books. -- JD 15-275, January 12, 1873.
I have never seen a day since I have been a member of this Church, that I have felt that any man was qualified to teach saint or sinner, Jew or Gentile, the inhabitants of the earth abroad or at home, only as he was moved upon by the power of God. -- JD 24:236, July 20, 1883.
AT GENERAL CONFERENCE. We have had a great many plain truths presented before this conference, and if we will observe the counsels that have been given here we shall be led to salvation. -- JD 16:33, April 7, 1873.
WILFORD WOODRUFF'S ATTITUDE. I do not feel that I am justified in setting my heart upon the things of this world to the neglect of any duty that God requires at my hands. -- JD 21:282, July 3, 1880.
I thank the Lord my God that my ears have been saluted with the sound of the gospel, and that I have had the privilege of reading the revelations of God to us, and I know that, as an individual, I am held responsible for my duty to him. -- JD 19:297, April 6, 1878.
"I REJOICE!" I rejoice in the gospel of the Son of God, as he has revealed it in this our day; I rejoice in the organization of the Church and kingdom of God, and in the revelations of heaven. I read them with a great deal of interest, for I know they are true; and, therefore, I look forward with assurance to their fulfillment in the earth. -- JD 23:83, March 26, 1882.
PERSONAL TRIALS. I have never had any trials in this Church with regard to my faith. My trials have been of another nature. -- DW 38:389, March 3, 1889.
THE COST OF SIN. I have never committed a sin in this church and kingdom, but what it has cost me a thousand times more than it was worth. -- JD 21:284, July 3, 1880.
CONCENTRATION OF EFFORT. I look upon the cause of God and the mission that he has given each of us connected with it, as requiring the whole attention, the might, mind and strength of each one of us, in order to magnify our calling and accomplish the work committed to our hands. -- JD 24:51, January 27, 1883.
THE POWER OF DETERMINATION AND FAITH. In any and every age of the world when God has called or commanded a man or a people to perform a certain work, they through determination and perseverance, and faith in him, have been enabled to accomplish it; and I do not know of a single instance wherein anything ennobling or exalting has been gained when his command has been shunned or wilfully disobeyed. -- JD 22:145, April 3, 1881.
SOME VALUES WITH WHICH TO WEIGH THE PROBLEMS OF CHOICE. It is better for us to fall in defense of truth, than to deny the words of God, and go to hell. It is better to suffer stripes for the testimony of Christ, than to suffer and fall by our sins and transgressions, and then to have to suffer afterwards. I would rather seal my testimony with my blood, and lay my body to rest in the grave, and have my spirit go to the other side of the veil, to enjoy a long eternity of light, truth, blessings, and knowledge which the Lord will bestow upon every man who keeps his law, than to spend a few short years of earthly pleasure, and he deprived of those blessings, and the society of my friends and brethren behind the veil. -- JD 2:199, February 25, 1855.
FLEETING RICHES. All the knowledge that we can accumulate from experience and observation, and from the revelations of God to man, goes to show that the riches of this world are fleeting and transitory, while he that has eternal life abiding in him is rich indeed. -- JD 22:234, June 26, 1881.
THE HAND OF GOD HAS BEEN MANIFESTED. If the hand of God has not been manifested in behalf of this people, I do not know where to look for it. This kingdom will stand, God will plead with her strong ones, but Zion will not be moved out of her place. -- JD 22:235-236, June 26, 1881.
INTEREST IN GOD'S WORK TO INCREASE. When I see the world making warfare against the Zion and people of God because they have borne record and testimony of his work on the earth I can tell pretty well what the end will be; I can see it. We are living in a time when the work of God is going to increase in interest every day until it is wound up. -- JD 14:5, January 1, 1871.
CHARACTERISTICS OF APOSTATES. There are two things which have always followed apostates in every age of the world, and especially in our day. In the early days of the Church, in Kirtland, as soon as men apostatized from the church and kingdom of God, they immediately began to fear their fellow men, and to fancy their lives were in danger. Another peculiarity common to apostates was that they desired to kill those who had been their benefactors. This was the case with the Higbees, Laws, and others with regard to the Prophet Joseph, when they turned against him, they sought with all their powers to take away his life. Not only were they afraid of their own lives, but they sought to take his, and they eventually succeeded, and woe is their doom. What would they not give in exchange for their souls? But no matter, they cannot redeem them. This spirit also accompanies the apostates. What are they afraid of? There is something they do not understand or comprehend; they walk in the dark, and by and by they will unite with the wicked and try to overthrow the very work they have been trying to build up. -- JD 13:168, December 12, 1869.
NEW MOVEMENTS BRING OPPOSITION. The moment that you take in hand any new operation in the kingdom of God, that moment you have to renew your warfare, and the Saints will find that wherein they undertake any new enterprise and are sent to the nations of the earth, the devil will be up against them. Look how he raged when the Prophet Joseph Smith commenced preaching upon this continent, and then again when we went from this country to Europe, it seemed as if all hell was let loose. As soon as Brothers Kimball and Hyde arrived in England, all the devils in Europe, or in England, at any rate, were let loose upon them, and it was precisely the same in London when the brethren went there; and I will say still further, it has been so in every place. -- JD 4:96, October 6, 1856.
THE STUDY OF THE GOSPEL. When a boy begins his education at school he begins at the first rudiments, and continues to progress step by step. It is so with the student in the study of the everlasting gospel. There were not many principles revealed to us when we first received it, but they were developed to us as fast as we were capable of making use of them.
I well remember the first sermon I heard. My conviction was that I had learned more about God and the things of his kingdom than I had learned in all my previous life. I believed the gospel then, and I not only believe it now, but I know it to be true. Since then I have received much valuable instruction through the revelations of God that have been made manifest; and I have never yet heard a principle set forth, but I have been able to see beauty and glory connected with it. -- JD 8:265, April 22, 1860.
THE CONTEMPLATION OF ETERNITY. How fast we pass away! Where is brother Heber, whom we used to see so often in our midst here and in the Endowment House? In the spirit world. Brothers Willard, Joseph, Hyrum, David Patten, Jedediah, Parley Pratt, and Brother Benson among the rest have gone. We shall all go pretty soon, we shall not remain a great while. Our labors in this life are short, and we shall soon pass to the other side of the veil. Our children, the rising generation, will possess the kingdom; on them the labor of rolling on the work of God will rest, until the kingdom and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven will be given to the Saints of the Most High, and they will possess it for ever and ever, and the meek will inherit the earth. Let us be diligent, let us be faithful; let us labor while it is called today, that we may be counted worthy to receive a reward that will satisfy us in the end. -- JD 13:169, December 12, 1869.
ANOTHER TESTIMONY. I feel to bear my testimony to this work. It is the work of God. Joseph Smith was appointed by the Lord before he was born as much as Jeremiah was. The Lord told Jeremiah "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." He was commanded to warn the inhabitants of Jerusalem of their wickedness. He felt it a hard task, but ultimately he did as he was commanded. So I say with regard to Joseph Smith, he received his appointment from before the foundation of the world, and he came forth in the due time of the Lord to establish this work on the earth. And so it is the case with tens of thousands of the elders of Israel. The Lord Almighty has conferred upon you the Holy Priesthood and made you the instrument in His hands to build up this kingdom. Do we contemplate these things as fully as we ought? Do we realize that the eyes of all the heavenly hosts are over us? Then let us do our duty. Let us keep the commandments of God, let us be faithful to the end, so that when we go into the spirit world and look back upon our history we may be satisfied. The Lord Almighty has set his hand to establish his kingdom never more to be thrown down or given to another people, and, therefore, all the powers of earth and hell combined will never be able to stay the progress of this work. The Lord has said he will break in pieces every weapon that is raised against Zion, and the nations of the earth, the kings and emperors, presidents and governors have got to learn this fact. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Lord. It is a fearful thing to shed the blood of the Lord's anointed. It has cost the Jews eighteen hundred years of persecution, and this generation have also a bill to pay in this respect.
I bear my testimony to these things. The Bible, the Book of Mormon, the book of Doctrine and Covenants contain the words of eternal life unto this generation, and they will rise in judgment against those who reject them.
May God bless this people and help us to magnify our callings, for Jesus' sake. Amen. -- JD 22:334-335, October 8, 1881.
Now, the Lord has many ways in which he communicates with us. Frequently, as has been the case in every age, truths, principles, warnings, etc., are communicated to the children of men by means of dreams and visions. There is a great vision recorded in the book of Doctrine and Covenants. When Sidney Rigdon and Joseph Smith saw the visions of heaven they were commanded to write while in the vision. The Lord was in that. It is a communication to man. But we have had a great many dreams -- I have had in my life and I suppose you have more or less -- which amount to nothing. I will tell you something about what I have reference to:
A man eats a hot supper when he goes to bed; he gets the nightmare; he is chased by a bear; or he falls over a precipice, and as soon as he strikes the ground he wakes up. Now, the Lord had nothing to do with that. A man may go to bed half worried to death, tired, and dream about something that will never take place. Last night, for instance, I dreamed I was making glass houses out of blocks of glass two feet square. Now, I don't know that the Lord was in that. Yet I have had dreams of a very different character.
When I was a boy eleven years old, I had a very interesting dream, part of which was fulfilled to the very letter. In this dream I saw a great gulf, a place where all the world had to enter at death, before doing which they had to drop their worldly goods. I saw an aged man with a beaver hat and a broadcloth suit. The man looked very sorrowful. I saw him come with something on his back, which he had to drop among the general pile before he could enter the gulf. I was then but a boy. A few years after this my father and mother removed to Farmington, and there I saw that man. I knew him the moment I saw him. His name was Chauncy Deming. In a few years afterwards he was taken sick and died. I attended his funeral. He was what you may call a miser, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. When the coffin was being lowered into the grave my dream came to me, and that night his son-in-law found one hundred thousand dollars in a cellar belonging to the old man. I name this merely to show that in this dream I had manifested to me certain things that were true. I think of all the inhabitants of the world having to leave their goods when they come to the grave.
After this scene had passed before me I was placed in a great temple. It was called the kingdom of God. The first man who came to me was Uncle Ozem Woodruff and his wife whom I helped into the temple.
In process of time, after embracing the gospel, and while on my first mission to Tennessee, I told Brother Patten of my dream, who told me that in a few years I would meet that man and baptize him. That was fulfilled to the very letter, for I afterwards baptized my uncle and his wife and some of the children; also my own father and stepmother and stepsister; and a Methodist priest or classleader -- in fact, I baptized every, body in my father's house. I merely mention this to show that dreams sometimes do come to pass in life.
Then, again, there are visions. Paul, you know, on one occasion was caught up to the third heaven and saw things that were not lawful to utter. He did not know whether he was in the body or out of the body. That was a vision. When Joseph Smith, however, was visited by Moroni and the apostles, it was not particularly a vision which he had; he talked with them face to face.
Now, I will refer to a thing that took place with me in Tennessee. I was in Tennessee in the year 1835, and, while at the house of Abraham O. Smoot, I received a letter from brothers Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, requesting me to stay there, and stating that I would lose no blessing by doing so. Of course, I was satisfied. I went into a little room and sat down upon a small sofa. I was all by myself and the room was dark; and while I rejoiced in this letter and the promise made to me, I became wrapped in vision. I was like Paul; I did not know whether I was in the body or out of the body. A personage appeared to me and showed me the great scenes that should take place in the last days. One scene after another passed before me. I saw the sun darkened; I saw the moon become as blood; I saw the stars fall from heaven; I saw seven golden lamps set in the heavens, representing the various dispensations of God to man -- a sign that would appear before the coming of Christ. I saw the resurrection of the dead. In the first resurrection those that came forth from their graves seemed to be all dressed alike, but in the second resurrection they were as diverse in their dress as this congregation is before me today, and if I had been an artist I could have painted the whole scene as it was impressed upon my mind, more indelibly fixed than anything I had ever seen with the natural eye. What does this mean? It was a testimony of the resurrection of the dead. I had a testimony. I believe in the resurrection of the dead, and I know it is a true principle. Thus we may have dreams about things of great importance, and dreams of no importance at all.
The Lord warned Joseph in a dream to take the young child Jesus and his mother into Egypt, and thus he was saved from the wrath of Herod. Hence there are a great many things taught us in dreams that are true, and if a man has the spirit of God he can tell the difference between what is from the Lord and what is not. And I want to say to my brethren and sisters, that whenever you have a dream that you feel is from the Lord, pay attention to it.
When I was in the city of London on one occasion, with Brother George A. Smith, I dreamed that my wife came to me and told me that our first child had died. I believed my dream, and in the morning while at breakfast, I felt somewhat sad. Brother George A. noticed this and I told him my dream. Next morning's post brought me a letter from my wife, conveying the intelligence of the death of my child. It may be asked what use there was in such a thing. I don't know that there was much use in it except to prepare my mind for the news of the death of my child. But what I wanted to say in regard to these matters is, that the Lord does communicate some things of importance to the children of men by means of visions and dreams as well as by the records of divine truth. And what is it all for? It is to teach us a principle. We may never see anything take place exactly as we see it in a dream or a vision, yet it is intended to teach us a principle. -- JD 22:331-333, October 8, 1881.
I have had the administration of angels in my day and time, though I never prayed for an angel. I have had, in several instances, the administration of holy messengers.
Some of you have read the history of the power of the devil in England, when the fallen angels that are upon the earth made war upon Brother Kimball, Brother Hyde, Brother Fielding and Brother Russell, who had all they could do to live in the midst of that kind of warfare. These evil spirits knocked down Brother Russell and Brother Hyde. They didn't Brother Kimball; but that power fell upon him. His eyes were opened. He saw the spirits before him; he saw what kind of beings they were. They gnashed their teeth; they were mad; they wanted to destroy the lives of the brethren. These men held the priesthood. Brother Kimball held the keys of the priesthood so far as England was concerned. These spirits had not, therefore, the power to destroy them.
Brother Kimball, Brother George A. Smith and myself had a similar experience in London, at a house where we were stopping. It seemed as if there were legions of spirits there. They sought our destruction, and on one occasion, after Brother Kimball had left us, these powers of darkness fell upon us to destroy our lives, and both Brother Smith and myself would have been killed, apparently, had not three holy messengers come into the room and filled the room with light. They were dressed in temple clothing. They laid their hands upon our heads and we were delivered, and that power was broken, so far as we were concerned. Why did the Lord send these men to us? Because we could not have lived without it; and, as a general thing, angels do not administer to anybody on the earth unless it is to preserve the lives of good men, or to bring the gospel, or perform a work that men cannot do for themselves. We do not particularly need the administration of angels unless we are in a condition similar to that in which Brother Kimball, Brother Smith, and I were placed, when we could not save our lives without them. -- DW 38:389-390, March 3, 1889.
Now I will give you a little of my experience in this line. Joseph Smith visited me a great deal after his death, and taught me many important principles. On one occasion he and his brother Hyrum visited me while I was in a storm at sea. I was going on my last mission to preside in England. My companions were Brother Leonard W. Hardy, Milton Holmes, Dan Jones, and another brother, and my wife and two other women. We had been traveling three days and nights in a heavy gale, and were being driven backwards. Finally I asked my companions to come into the cabin with me, and I told them to pray that the Lord would change the wind. I had no fears of being lost; but I did not like the idea of being driven back to New York, as I wanted to go on my journey. We all offered the same prayer, both men and women; and when we got through we stepped on to the deck and in less than a minute it was as though a man had taken a sword and cut that gale through, and you might have thrown a muslin handkerchief out and it would not have moved it. The night following this Joseph and Hyrum visited me, and the Prophet laid before me a great many things. Among other things he told me to get the Spirit of God; that all of us needed it. He also told me what the twelve apostles would be called to go through on the earth before the coming of the Son of Man, and what the reward of their labors would be; but all that was taken from me for some reason. Nevertheless it was most glorious, although much would be required at our hands.
Joseph Smith continued visiting myself and others up to a certain time, and then it stopped. The last time I saw him was in heaven. In the night vision I saw him at the door of the temple in heaven. He came to me and spoke to me. He said he could not stop to talk with me because he was in a hurry. The next man I met was Father Smith; he could not talk with me because he was in a hurry. I met half a dozen brethren who had held high positions on earth, and none of them could stop to talk with me because they were in a hurry. I was much astonished. By and by I saw the Prophet again and I got the privilege of asking him a question.
"Now," said I, "I want to know why you are in a hurry. I have been in a hurry all my life; but I expected my hurry would be over when I got into the kingdom of heaven, if I ever did."
Joseph said: "I will tell you, Brother Woodruff. Every dispensation that has had the priesthood on the earth and has gone into the celestial kingdom has had a certain amount of work to do to prepare to go to the earth with the Savior when he goes to reign on the earth. Each dispensation has had ample time to do this work. We have not. We are the last dispensation, and so much work has to be done, and we need to be in a hurry in order to accomplish it."
Of course, that was satisfactory, but it was new doctrine to me. -- DW 53:642-643, October 19, 1896.
I believe the eyes of the heavenly hosts are over this people; I believe they are watching the elders of Israel, the prophets and apostles and men who are called to bear off this kingdom. I believe they watch over us all with great interest. . . . I have had many interviews with Brother Joseph until the last fifteen or twenty years of my life; I have not seen him for that length of time. But during my travels in the southern country last winter I had many interviews with President Young, and with Heber C. Kimball, and George A. Smith, and Jedediah M. Grant, and many others who are dead. They attended our conference, they attended our meetings. And on one occasion, I saw Brother Brigham and Brother Heber ride in carriage ahead of the carriage in which I rode when I was on my way to attend conference; and they were dressed in the most priestly robes. When we arrived at our destination I asked President Young if he would preach to us. He said, "No, I have finished my testimony in the flesh. I shall not talk to this people any more." "But, said he, "I have come to see you; I have come to watch over you, and to see what the people are doing." Then, said he, "I want you to teach the people -- and I want you to follow this counsel yourself -- that they must labor and so live as to obtain the Holy Spirit, for without this you cannot build up the kingdom; without the spirit of God you are in danger of walking in the dark, and in danger of failing to accomplish your calling as apostles and as elders in the church and kingdom of God." And, said he, "Brother Joseph taught me this principle."
And I will here say, I have heard him refer to that while he was living. But what I was going to say is this: the thought came to me that Brother Joseph had left the work of watching over this Church and kingdom to others, and that he had gone ahead, and that he had left this work to men who have lived and labored with us since he left us. This idea manifested itself to me, that such men advance in the spirit world. And I believe myself that these men who have died and gone into the spirit world had this mission left with them; that is, a certain portion of them, to watch over the Latter-day Saints. -- JD 21:317-318, October 10, 1880.
Perhaps I may be permitted to relate a circumstance with which I am acquainted in relation to Bishop Roskelley, of Smithfield, Cache Valley:
On one occasion he was suddenly taken very sick -- near to death's door. While he lay in this condition, President Peter Maughan, who was dead, came to him and said: "Brother Roskelley, we held a council on the other side of the veil. I have had a great deal to do, and I have the privilege of coming here to appoint one man to come and help. I have had three names given to me in council, and you are one of them. I want to inquire into your circumstances.
The Bishop told him what he had to do, and they conversed together as one man would converse with another. President Maughan then said to him: "I think I will not call you. I think you are wanted here more than perhaps one of the others."
Bishop Roskelley got well from that hour. Very soon after, the second man was taken sick, but not being able to exercise sufficient faith, Brother Roskelley did not go to him. By and by this man recovered, and on meeting Brother Roskelley, he said: "brother Maughan came to me the other night and told me he was sent to call one man from the ward," and he named two men as had been done to Brother Roskelley. A few days afterwards the third man was taken sick and died.
Now, I name this to show a principle. They have work on the other side of the veil; and they want men, and they call them. And that was my view in regards to Brother George A. Smith. When he was almost at death's door, Brother Cannon administered to him, and in thirty minutes he was up and ate breakfast with his family. We labored with him in this way, but ultimately, as you know, he died. But it taught me a lesson. I felt that man was wanted behind the veil. We labored also with Brother Pratt; but he, too, was wanted behind the veil. -- JD 22:334, October 8, 1881.
We lost one of our apostles a short time since. He was about the youngest man in the quorum of the apostles. He was suddenly called away from us. There is a meaning to this. Many times things take place with us that we do not comprehend, unless it is given to us by revelation. But there is a meaning in the loss of that young apostle. I had a manifestation of that while in San Francisco recently.
One evening, as I fell asleep, I was very much troubled with evil spirits that tried to afflict me; and while laboring to throw off these spirits and their influence, there was another spirit visited me that seemed to have power over the evil spirits, and they departed from me. Before he left me he told me not to grieve because of the departure of Abraham Hoagland Cannon; for the Lord had called him to fill another important mission in the spirit world, as a pure and holy apostle from Zion in the Rocky Mountains -- a labor which would not only prove a great benefit to his father's household, but to the Church and kingdom of God on the earth. I feel to name this, because it is true. I have become acquainted with many things in our history that I have marveled at. While in the St. George temple I had a son, who was in the north country, drowned. He had a warning of this. In a dream he was notified how he would die. We had testimony of that after his death. I asked the Lord why he was taken from me. The answer to me was, "You are doing a great deal for the redemption of your dead; but the law of redemption requires some of your own seed in the spirit world to attend to work connected with this." That was a new principle to me; but it satisfied me why he was taken away. I name this, because there are a great many instances like it among the Latter-day Saints. This was the case with Brother Abraham Cannon. He was taken away to fulfil that mission. And where we have anything of this kind, we should leave it in the hands of God to reconcile. -- MS 58:742, October 4, 1896.
Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, p. 293 par. 1 I will now tell you one incident where I did not obey the spirit of the Lord, and came pretty near costing me my life. I was over at Randolph one December, visiting. On Monday morning the Spirit said to me, "Take your team and go home." I made up my mind to do it; but some of my friends felt anxious that I should stop, as my visit had been rather short, and I was persuaded to stop. I stayed until Saturday morning, but I felt uneasy. That warning of the Spirit rested upon me to that degree that I felt condemned, and I told my friends that I was going home. I ate an early breakfast that morning, put my horses to my wagon, took some hay and grain, and started for home by way of Wasatch, which was some thirty miles from there. When I got to Woodruff, the bishop wanted me to stay and hold a meeting there on Sunday.
"No," said I, "I have already stayed too long by one week."
Well, after I got about three miles from Woodruff, which is fifteen miles from Wasatch, I met with one of the most terrific snowstorms I ever saw in my life. Five minutes after it commenced I could not see the road. I could not guide my horses at all, so I let them go where they pleased. They had been twice over the ground before. I shut down the wagon cover and went to praying. I asked the Lord to forgive me for not obeying his commandments. At eight o'clock my horses carried me into Wasatch, the hubs of the wheels being under the snow. I think they must have got there by inspiration. I stayed there until Monday night. I made up my mind then that whenever the Lord told me to do anything I would do it.
I speak of this because every man should get the Spirit of God, and then follow its dictates. This is revelation. It doesn't make any difference what the spirit tells you to do; it will never tell you to do anything that is wrong. MS 53:644 (1891).
After one conference, when we had set apart a good many missionaries, I went home quite weary, and I said to myself, I will go and have a rest. Before I got in my house, the spirit told me to take my team and go to my farm. My wife said, "Where are you going?"
"I am going down to the farm."
"What for?"
"I don't know," said I.
I went down to the farm. I found that the river had broken over and had surrounded my house The water was two feet deep around my house. My hogs were drowning, and my stables were full. By going there I saved my house and surroundings and stopped up the break. These may be considered small things; still they show the working of the spirit. -- MS 53:643-644 (1891).
When I got back to Winter Quarters from the pioneer journey [1847], President Young said to me, "Brother Woodruff, I want you to take your wife and children and go to Boston and stay there until you can gather every Saint of God in New England and Canada and send them up to Zion."
I did as he told me. It took me two years to gather up everybody, and I brought up the rear with a company (there were about one hundred of them). We arrived at Pittsburgh one day at sundown. We did not want to stay there, so I went to the first steamboat that was going to leave.
I saw the captain and engaged passage for us on that steamer. I had only just done so when the spirit said to me, and that, too, very strongly, "Don't go aboard that steamer, nor your company." Of course, I went and spoke to the captain, and told him I had made up my mind to wait.
Well, that ship started, and had only got five miles down the river when it took fire, and three hundred persons were burned to death or drowned. If I had not obeyed that spirit, and had gone on that steamer with the rest of the company, you can see what the result would have been. -- MS 53:643 (1891), and DW 53:643, October 19, 1896.
After I came to these valleys and returned to Winter Quarters, I was sent to Boston by President Young. He wanted me to take my family there and gather all the Saints of God in New England, in Canada, and in the surrounding regions, and stay there until I gathered them all. I was there about two years. While on the road there, I drove my carriage one evening into the yard of Brother Williams. Brother Orson Hyde drove a wagon by the side of mine. I had my wife and children in the carriage. I had not been there but a few minutes when the spirit said to me, "Get up and move that carriage." I told my wife I had to get up and move the carriage.
She said, "What for?"
I said, "I don't know."
That is all she asked me on such occasions. When I told her I did not know, that was enough. I got up and moved my carriage four or five rods, and put the off fore wheel against the corner of the house. I then looked around me and went to bed. The same spirit said, "Go and move your animals from that oak tree." They were two hundred yards from where my carriage was, I went and moved my horses, and put them in a little hickory grove. I again went to bed.
In thirty minutes a whirlwind came up and broke that oak tree off within two feet from the ground. It swept over three or four fences and fell square in that dooryard, near Brother Orson Hyde's wagon, and right where mine had stood. What would have been the consequences if I had not listened to that spirit? Why, myself and wife and children doubtless would have been killed. That was the still, small voice to me -- no earthquake, no thunder, no lightning -- but the still, small voice of the Spirit of God. It saved my life. It was the spirit of revelation to me. -- MS 53:642-643 (1891).
I had a dream one night about our temple in Salt Lake City. I thought the temple was dedicated and organized, and we as the elders of Israel were laboring there for the redemption of our dead, and suddenly there was a door opened in the west, and an Indian chief came into the temple, leading a vast host of his tribe, and took possession of the temple, and I thought they performed more work in one hour than we could do in a day. This made a strong impression on my mind. I am satisfied that, although we have done a little for the Lamanites, we have got to do a great deal more. I believe I sealed the first Lamanitish man and woman together that ever were sealed in this dispensation. It was in the Endowment House, and quite a number of brethren and sisters were present. The man's name was Laman. I believe the day will come when these Lamanites, with the dark skin that rests upon them, will enter into these temples of the Lord in these mountains and do a great deal of work. They will come to an understanding of the redemption of the dead. They will have wisdom given unto them. They will have light and truth given unto them, and the spirit of their forefathers will be manifest unto them. -- MS 54:605-607 (1892).
I was once moved upon to go and warn old Father Hakeman, living on Petty-John Creek, Arkansas. He had been in Jackson County during the persecution period. His wife died there. His family consisted of five sons, all over six feet tall. Most of them had been whipped with hickory gads by mobs, and he went south into Arkansas, taking his sons with him. We went a good deal out of our way for the purpose of visiting Father Hakeman. I had a vision the night previous, in which was manifested to me the trouble that lay before us, but that the Lord would deliver us. We arrived at his house on Sunday morning. He was taking breakfast. We had had breakfast at the place where we stayed overnight. I saw a Book of Mormon on his shelf. He did not seem to pay any attention to us, or to take any interest in us. I took up the Book of Mormon, and said, "You have a very good book here."
"Yes," said he, "but it is a book that came from the devil."
That opened my eyes. He had been an elder; he had been in Zion; had been persecuted there and driven out; but I found that he had apostatized, and he was our enemy. I saw he would do anything he could against us.
We left him and went to Brother Hubbard's and stayed with him three weeks, during which we took our axes and cleared some land for him. I was strongly impressed three times to go up and warn Father Hakeman. At last I did so, according to the commandment of God to me. The third time I met with him, his house seemed to be full of evil spirits, and I was troubled in spirit at the manifestation. When I finished my warning, I left him. He followed me from his house with the intention of killing me. I have no doubt about his intention, for it was shown to me in vision. When he came to where I was, he fell dead at my feet, as if he had been struck with a thunderbolt from heaven. I was then a priest, but God defended me and preserved my life: I speak of this because it is a principle that has been manifest in the church of God in this generation as well as in others. I had the administration of angels while holding the office of a priest. I had visions and revelations. I traveled thousands of miles. I baptized men, though I could not confirm them because I had not the authority to do it.
In some accounts this name appears as Akeman.
I speak of these things to show that a man should not be ashamed of any portion of the priesthood. Our young men, if they are deacons, should labor to fulfil that office. If they do that, they may then be called to the office of a teacher, whose duty it is to teach the people, visit the Saints and see that there is no evil or iniquity carried on. God has no respect for persons in this priesthood any further than as they magnify their callings and do their duty. -- MS 53:641-642 (1891).
As I have said, while holding the office of teacher, I went to Missouri in Zion's Camp. After arriving in Missouri, having gone through many trials and tribulations, and suffering from cholera, which caused us to lay in the grave fifteen of our brethren, we stayed at Brother Lyman Wight's. While at Lyman Wight's, I attended council meetings with the Prophet, with David Whitmer, with Oliver Cowdery, and other leading brethren of the Church. David Whitmer was the president of the stake of Zion. Brother Joseph reproved him very sharply, as well as some of the other brethren, because of their lack in fulfilling the commandments of God and doing their duty.
While at that place I had a great desire in my heart to go and preach the gospel. I went off one Sunday night by myself into a hickory grove, several hundred yards from the settlement, and I asked the Lord to open the door for me that I might go and preach the gospel. I did not want to preach the gospel for any honor I might get on this earth; for I thoroughly understood, as far as a man could in my condition, what a preacher would have to pass through. It was not honor, nor wealth, nor gold, nor silver, that I desired: but I knew this was the gospel of Christ, revealed to me by the power of God; I knew this was the church of Christ; I knew Joseph Smith was a prophet of God; and I had a desire that I might preach that gospel to the nations of the earth. I asked the Lord to give me that privilege. The Lord answered that prayer, and said I should have my desire granted. I got up rejoicing. I walked about two hundred yards out in the open road; and when I got into the road there stood Judge Higbee. Said he, "Brother Woodruff, the Lord has revealed to me that it is your duty to be ordained to go and preach the gospel."
Said I, "Has he?"
"Yes."
"Well," said I, "if the Lord wants me to preach the gospel, I am perfectly willing to go and do that." I did not tell him I had been praying for this.
The consequence was I attended a council at Lyman Wight's, and was called and ordained to the office of a priest in the Aaronic Priesthood, while other brethren were ordained elders. I was called by Bishop Partridge to go to the southern country on a mission. Bishop Partridge asked me a great many questions, and I asked him questions. It was then dangerous for any of our brethren to go through Jackson County. He wanted me to go to Arkansas, and the road led square through Jackson County. I asked him if we should go through there (I had a companion with me -- an elder).
Said he, "If you have got faith to do it, you may; I haven't."
I thought that was a curious remark from a bishop.
"Well," said I, "the Lord says we must travel without purse or scrip; shall we do it?"
Said he, "That is the law of God; if you have faith to do it, you can do it."
He said he had hardly got faith to go into Jackson County. However, we started and went through Jackson County. We came near losing our lives, and were saved almost by a miracle. We traveled through Arkansas and other parts.
But I do not want to dwell on these things. I merely wish to say that I went out as a priest, and my companion as an elder, and we traveled thousands of miles, and had many things manifested to us. I desire to impress upon you the fact that it does not make any difference whether a man is a priest or an apostle, if he magnifies his calling. A priest holds the key of the ministering of angels. Never in my life, as an apostle, as a seventy, or as an elder, have I ever had more of the protection of the Lord than while holding the office as a priest. The Lord revealed to me by visions, by revelations, and by the Holy Spirit, many things that lay before me. -- MS 53:628-629 (1891).
When I was a small boy we had just emerged from under the blue laws of Connecticut -- to greater freedom of thought and action. The ducking-stool and other forms of punishment akin to it had been laid aside. Women were no longer hanged or burned at the stake as witches. Greater religious liberty was enjoyed. Women were allowed to kiss their children, husbands, their wives, on the Sabbath day, without being punished for it. If a boy took an ear of corn from the field, although even then he might be punished for it, he was not in danger of being sold as a slave, as in former days. The improved condition of things had just been brought about when I came into the world. But greater and more wonderful changes have been accomplished since that time. In my boyhood every acre of grain was cut with a sickle in New England. The first advance made in that direction was when the hand cradle came into use. The reaper and the binder were never dreamed of in those days. If such things had been brought into the wheat fields then, the people of the land would have almost thought the millennium had come. And there has been rapid advancement in almost every department of life. -- MS 59:444 (1897).
When I was a boy, there was an old man who used to visit at my father's house; his name was Robert Mason, and I heard teachings from him from the time that I was eight years old and upwards, and they were teachings that I shall ever remember, and he taught my father's household many important truths concerning the church and kingdom of God, and told them many things in relation to the prophets and the things that were coming upon the earth, but his teachings were received by but few, they were unpopular with the Christian world, but nearly all who did receive his teachings have joined the Latter-day Saints. Prophets were not popular in that day any more than now, and I have often thought of many things which the old man taught me in the days of my youth since I received the fulness of the gospel and became a member of the church of Christ.
He said, "When you read the Bible do you ever think that what you read there is going to be fulfilled? The teachers of the day," said he, "spiritualize the Bible, but when you read in the Bible about the dreams, visions, revelations and predictions of Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, or any other of the prophets or apostles, relative to the gathering of Israel and the building up of Zion, where they say that Israel shall be gathered upon litters, swift beasts and dromedaries, you may understand that it means just what it says, and that it will be fulfilled upon the earth in the last days. And when you read of men laying hands upon the sick and healing them, and casting out devils and working miracles in the name of Jesus Christ, it means what it says." And he further said, "The church of Christ and kingdom of God is not upon the earth, but it has been taken from the children of men through unbelief, and because they have taken away from the gospel some of its most sacred ordinances, and have instituted in their stead forms and ceremonies without the power of God, and have turned from the truth unto fables, but," said he, "it will soon be restored again unto the children of men upon the earth, with its ancient gifts and powers, for the scriptures cannot be fulfilled without it; I shall not live to see it, but," said he to me, "you will live to see that day, and you will become a conspicuous actor in that kingdom, and when you see that day, then that which the prophets have spoken will be fulfilled."
And as Brother Van Cott said about his father and grandfathers, that they did not join any church, it was so with me; I did not join any church, believing that the church of Christ in its true organization did not exist upon the earth, but when the principles of the everlasting gospel were first proclaimed unto me, I believed it with all my heart, and was baptized the first sermon I heard, for the Spirit of God bore testimony to me in power that it was true.
And I believe that I should never have joined any church had I not heard some men preach who had the Holy Priesthood. But when I heard the fulness of the gospel, I was greatly blessed in receiving it, and was filled with joy unspeakable, and I have never been sorry, but I have rejoiced all the day long, and when I saw that train of handcarts, I thought of the teaching and words of the old prophet Mason, for he came the nearest to being a true prophet of God in his predictions and works of any man I ever saw, until I saw men administering in the Holy Priesthood.
He also cast out devils in the name of Jesus Christ, by the laying on of hands and the prayer of faith. "But," said he, "I have no right to administer in the ordinances of the gospel, neither has any man unless he receives it by revelation from God out of heaven, as did the ancients. But if my family or friends are sick, I have the right to lay hands upon them, and pray for them in the name of Jesus Christ, and if we can get faith to be healed, it is our privilege"; and I will here say that many were healed through his faith and prayers, and that, too, within my knowledge. And when that first handcart company came into the city, I, indeed, thought of the old prophet, for if they did not come with litters it was as near as possible to it. . . . -- JD 4:99-100, October 6, 1856.
The first sermon that I ever heard in this Church was in 1833, by old father Zera Pulsipher, who died in the south, after having lived to be considerably over eighty years old. That sermon was what I had prayed for from my childhood. When I heard it I had a testimony for myself that it was true. I received it with every sentiment of my heart. He preached in a schoolhouse upon a farm that we owned in Oswego County, New York. He opened the door for any remarks to be made. The house was crowded. The first thing I knew I stood on top of a bench before the people, not knowing what I got up for. But I said to my neighbors and friends, "I want you to be careful what you say as touching these men (there were two of them) and their testimony, for they are servants of God, and they have testified unto us the truth -- principles that I have been looking for from my childhood."
I went forth and was baptized. I was ordained a teacher. I was always sorry that I was not a deacon first, for I had a desire to bear the priesthood in its various degrees, as far as I was worthy. I had had a desire for years, not only to hear the gospel, but to have the privilege and power of preaching it to my fellow men. I was a miller by trade, and I spent many a midnight hour in the mill calling upon the Lord for light and truth, and praying that I might hear the gospel of Christ, and be able to teach it to my fellow men. I rejoiced in it when I did receive it. -- MS 53:627 (1891).
Discourses of Wilford Woodruff, p. 305 par. 1 When the members of Zion's Camp were called, many of us had never beheld other's faces; we were strangers to each other and many had never seen the prophet. We had been scattered abroad, like corn sifted in a sieve, throughout the nation. We were young men, and were called upon in that early day to go up and redeem Zion, and what we had to do we had to do by faith. We assembled together from the various states at Kirtland and went up to redeem Zion, in fulfilment of the commandment of God unto us. God accepted our works as He did the works of Abraham. We accomplished a great deal, though apostates and unbelievers many times asked the question, "What have you done?" We gained an experience that we never could have gained in any other way. We had the privilege of beholding the face of the prophet, and we had the privilege of traveling a thousand miles with him, and seeing the workings of the Spirit of God with him, and the revelations of Jesus Christ unto him and the fulfilment of those revelations. And he gathered some two hundred elders from throughout the nation in that early day and sent us broadcast into the world to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Had I not gone up with Zion's Camp I should not have been here today, and I presume that would have been the case with many others in this Territory. By going there we were thrust into the vineyard to preach the gospel, and the Lord accepted our labors. And in all our labors and persecutions, with lives often at stake, we have had to work and live by faith. -- JD 13:158, December 12, 1869.
UNDERTAKING MEMBERSHIP IN ZION'S CAMP. I was called to take my life in my hands and go up to Missouri, and a little handful of us went up to redeem our brethren. We certainly had to go by faith. My neighbors called upon and pleaded with me not to go. Said they:
"Do not go, if you do you will lose your life."
I said to them: "If I know that I should have a ball put through my heart the first step I took in the state of Missouri I would go."
I went, and I did not get shot, neither did any of the rest of us, but we fulfilled the commandment of God. That is the way I felt in those days with regard to the work of God, and that is the way I feel today. I am after salvation and eternal life, and I do not want anything to stand between me and that which I am in pursuit of. -- JD 17:246, October 9, 1874.
This puts me in mind of a circumstance that happened when I was preaching in Kentucky. I preached upon the first principles of the gospel, and at the close of my discourse I gave the privilege for anyone to ask questions or to make remarks, if they felt so disposed. A gentleman arose, and I noticed that a great many of the congregation began to laugh; and I afterwards learned that the gentleman was an infidel, and hence the congregation were disposed to make fun of him. He said, "I will not detain you long, but I wish to state to this large congregation that Mr. Woodruff has taught me more this evening than I ever learned in my whole life before. From my boyhood I have been searching into religion; and when I have asked a minister in relation to the way of life, he would point me to the way he was walking himself; then I would ask another and he would point out a different way; and I might have asked a hundred, and they would all have pointed out a different road, and they would tell me that I must be born again. I observed men who were said to be born again, and one class of men who were said to be born again would take one way, and another would take quite a different road; and I always marveled at this, for I did not see any sense men taking different roads to lead to the kingdom of heaven. But now this man, Mr. Woodruff, has told me the truth, and shown me the reason they took so many different roads after they were born again; and the reason is, because they were all born BLIND."
This in reality is the case, for many of us have been born again according to the traditions of our fathers; but those that keep the celestial law and obey the principles of the gospel of Christ, you never find them taking different roads. There is but one right road, and it is a straightforward one; and the principles and rules that govern you in that path are simple and easy to be understood. This is the path for us to walk in, and I consider that we are greatly blessed in having learned the true way and in being delivered from that yoke of bondage that has chained us down with error, false doctrine, and false teachers.
This I count one of the greatest blessings that God has given to the children of men, to have the plain truth pointed out to them. -- JD 6:140, December 27, 1857.
When I visited Fox Islands the first time, I went to the house of Mr. Newton, a Baptist minister; and I stayed with him. But first I went to his church and heard him preach, and when he got through I wanted to bear record of the gospel, for I had a message to that people, and I appointed a meeting for four o'clock in the afternoon, and I preached the gospel to them, and Mr. Newton took me to his home and I gave him the Book of Mormon and the book of Doctrine and Covenants, and for ten days that man walked about his room until midnight trying to decide what he should do. The Spirit of the Lord bore record to him that my testimony was true, and he felt that if he obeyed the gospel which I had proclaimed unto him he would lose his good name and honor among men, but that if he did not receive it, he would be damned. Finally he rejected it, and the consequence was that he became a vagabond, and a miserable outcast. I baptized all his flock who owned any portion of the meeting house, and if he had embraced the gospel and been gathered with them he would have been here and saved in the kingdom of God, instead of the vagabond that he has since become. I merely mention this to show how the minds of some men are acted upon by the tidings of the gospel. Some of them feel that it would be a great reproach to obey that gospel and to keep the commandments of God. Bless your souls, we who obey the gospel of Christ are all in good company. Whenever you are persecuted for righteousness sake, said Jesus, rejoice and be exceeding glad for so persecuted they the prophets and apostles which were before you. -- JD 18:36, June 24, 1875.
I was once preaching to a large assembly in Collinsville, Connecticut; when I got through, a young clergyman came forward, and asked me if I had received any diploma from college. I answered him, "No."
"Do you know," said he, "that a man who has not received a college diploma has no right to preach?"
"No, sir," I said, "I do not know it."
"Well, sir," he said, "that is the case."
I then asked him to inform me how it was that Jesus preached, without receiving a college diploma?" -- JD 18:219, August 13, 1876.
The whole of that mission to England, from the beginning to the end, placed the in such a position that they had to walk by faith from first to last. The Lord gave a revelation, with date, day, month, and year, when they were to go up to lay the cornerstone in Caldwell county, Far West, Missouri. When that revelation was given, all was peace and quietude, comparatively, in that land. But when the time came for the twelve apostles to fulfil that revelation, the Saints had all been driven out by the exterminating order of Governor Boggs, and it was as much as a man's life was worth, especially one of the twelve, to be found in that state; and when the day came on which we were commanded by the Lord in that revelation to go up and lay the cornerstone of that temple, and there take the parting hand with the Saints, to cross the waters to preach the gospel in England, the inhabitants of Missouri had sworn that if all the revelations of "old Joe Smith" were fulfilled, that one should not be, because it had a day and date to it.
President Young asked the twelve who were with him -- "What shall we do with regard to the fulfilment of this revelation?" He wanted to know their feelings. Father Smith, the patriarch, said the Lord would take the will for the deed; others said the Lord could not expect the twelve apostles to go up and sacrifice their lives to fulfil that revelation; but the Spirit of the Lord rested upon the twelve, and they said -- "The Lord God has spoken, and we will fulfil that revelation and commandment"; and that was the feeling of President Young and of those who were with him. We went through that state, and we laid that cornerstone. George A. Smith and myself were ordained to the apostleship on that cornerstone upon that day. We returned in safety, and not a dog shed our blood.
As soon as we got home we prepared ourselves to go on our mission to England, and, as President Young has said, the devil undertook to kill us. I have myself been in Tennessee and Kentucky for two or three years, where, in the fall, there was not enough well persons to take care of the sick during the ague months, and yet I never had the ague in my life until called to go upon that mission to England. There was not one solitary soul in the quorum of the twelve but what the devil undertook to destroy; and, as was said yesterday, when Brother Taylor and myself, the two first of the quorum ready for the trip, were on hand to start, I was shaking with the ague, and I had it every other day, and on my well day, when I did not have it, my wife had it. I got up and laid my hands upon her and blessed her, and blessed my child, having only one at the time, and I started across the river, and that man who sits behind me today, the President of the Church and kingdom of God upon the earth, paddled me across the Missouri river in a canoe, and that is the way I landed in Nauvoo. I lay down on a side of sole leather by the old post office, and I did not know where to go, and I was not able to stand on my feet, and I lay down there. By and by the Prophet came along and said he -- "Brother Woodruff, you are going on your mission?"
"Yes," I said, "but I feel more like a subject for the dissecting room than for a mission."
He reproved me for what I said and told me to get up and go. Brother Taylor, the only member of the quorum of the twelve who was well, and I traveled together, and on the way he fell to the ground as though he had been knocked on the head with an axe. Old Father Coulton was carrying us, and Brother Taylor fell twice in that way, taken with the bilious fever, and no man in that quorum could boast that he went on that mission without feeling the hand of the destroyer, for it was laid upon us all. I had the shaking ague, and lay on my back in a wagon, and was rolled over stumps and stones, until it seemed as if my life would be shaken out of me. I left Brother Taylor behind, by his advice, for said he, "We are both sick, and if you stay you can't do anything here"; so old Father Coulton carried me along in his wagon until I got to Buffalo, New York.
From there I traveled alone to Farmington, Connecticut, my native place, and I stayed there fifteen days at my father's house, coughing and shaking every day. My father never expected that I should leave my bed, and my stepmother did not expect that I should ever get better. A message came from an uncle of mine, who had just died, and his last words were -- "I want you to send for friend Wilford, I want him to come and preach my funeral sermon."
My father said -- "You can't go and preach that sermon, for you can't sit up in your bed."
Said I -- "Never mind, get up your horse and wagon"; and he did so, and I got into it, and rode over that morning in a chilly wind, and the hour that my ague was coming on I got before a big blazing fire and preached the funeral sermon of my friend, and the ague left me from that day, and I went back and went on my way rejoicing.
In process of time Brother Taylor came along and he and I crossed the ocean together, and arrived in England, and here I want to make a little statement of my experience in those days concerning circumstances that took place with me. When Brother Brigham left home he told me that all his family had was one barrel of rotten flour. Two hundred cents would have bought every pound of provision I left with my family when I left home. But we left our wives, for we had the commandment of God upon us, and we were either going to obey it, or die trying. That was the spirit of the elders of Israel; and I blessed my wife and child and left them in the hands of God, and to the tender mercies of our noble bishops, and those who were acquainted with them know how it was in those days. However, I went on my way, and I want to speak of one little circumstance. I had with me an old cloak which I got in Tennessee when traveling with Brother Smoot over forty years ago. It had once been a dandy cloak, and had on keg buttons, and when new had a good deal of trimming and fancy work about it; but it was then pretty well threadbare and worn out. I wore it in Kirtland and I carried it to England with me; and when I was called by revelation to go to John Benbow's and preach the gospel I wore that cloak. I went there and found over six hundred people, called United Brethren, and among them were eighty-three preachers, and they, as a people, were in the gospel net. Before embracing the doctrine of the United Brethren, Sister Benbow had been what is called a "lady" in England, and she had worn her silks and satins. But after obeying the doctrine of this religious body she cut up and burned and destroyed her silks and satins and wore the plainest calicoes she could get, because she thought that was religion. When I went there to preach she looked at me with this old cloak with the keg buttons on, and the Spirit of the Lord bore testimony to me that religion, so far as she was concerned, had a good deal of tradition about it, and that her faith could be tried by the coat a man wore; and as Paul said, if eating meat offended his brethren, he would never eat any more, so I thought a good deal, and one morning I went out and cut off the buttons from my old cloak, and never had a button on it afterwards. By doing this and some other things, which some perhaps would call foolish, I, through the blessing of God and with the assistance of Brother Young, George A. Smith, and Willard Richards, caught the whole flock and baptized every soul except one solitary person into the church and kingdom of God. Many of them are here in this room today, and some of them have passed away. I mention this just to show our position. We traveled without purse and scrip, and we preached without money and without price. Why? Because the God of heaven had called upon us to go forth and warn the world. -- JD 18:122-125, September 12, 1875.
FAITH OF THE HEREFORDSHIRE CONVERTS. Out of that 1800 which we baptized in Herefordshire in seven months, I hardly know one that has turned against this Church. There has been less apostasy out of that branch of the church and kingdom of God than out of the same number from any part of the world that I am acquainted with. -- JD 15:345, February 23, 1873.
I am a good deal of the opinion of old Captain Russell, who was an extensive shipbuilder, and paid thousands of dollars yearly to the Gentiles as insurance fees. After he embraced "Mormonism," he began to reflect, "Here am I paying thousands of dollars yearly to the Gentiles to insure my ships, and I have to trust to the God of heaven after all to save my ships from sinking, and to prosper me in all my undertakings; this is not right." So he went to Liverpool, where the insurance office was, to settle his insurance bills and close up his business with the firm.
The gentlemen of the firm asked him when he had got through, saying, "Have we not treated you well, Mr. Russell?"
"Yes, I have no fault to find with you."
"What, then, is your object in pursuing this course? We have done business with you a good many years; we want to know if you are going to change your insurance office?"
"I am."
"Will you tell us where you are going to have your business done in the future?"
"Yes, I am going to have it done in heaven, for the insurance offices do not control the winds, the elements are not obedient to them, and I have been paying ten thousand dollars a year for insuring a few ships, and I have to trust in the Lord anyhow, so in the future I shall pay my insurance fee into the Lord's treasury."
The gentlemen of the office thought he was cracked or beside himself, for I tell you trusting in the Lord in these days is an unpopular business with the world. But the Saints have to trust in the Lord, and we might as well begin and seek this kingdom and the interest of it, and the righteousness of it, and build it up first as last. -- JD 4:228, February 22, 1857.
Several years ago I met a man and woman here in the street. The woman said, "Do you know me?"
I said, "I do not."
"Do you know this man that is with me?"
"No, I do not."
"Why," said she, "you laid hands on this boy in Herefordshire fifty years ago. He was dumb -- never spoke a word till you laid hands upon him and blessed him; and he has spoken ever since.
We have no business to claim to be Saints of the living God unless we have the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and if we have that, these gifts will be with us. You know this as well as I do. Joseph Smith had the whole spirit and power of this resting upon him while he lived. He taught these principles to us, and they have been realized, and will be until this scene is wound up. The work shows for itself. -- MS 58:741, October 4, 1896.
Now I have thought many times that some of those ancient kings that were raised up had, in some respects, more regard for the carrying out of some of these principles and laws, than even the Latter-day Saints have in our day. I will take as an example Cyrus, on account of his temperance. He was one of the kings of the Medes and Persians. I believe his father was a Persian and his mother a Mede. To trace the life of Cyrus from his birth to his death, whether he knew it or not, it looked as though he lived by inspiration in all his movements. He began with that temperance and virtue which would sustain any Christian country or any Christian king. And even when he was sent in his youth to his grandfather, the king of the Medes, he showed that he had been carefully brought up, and he followed his early training in a great measure throughout his life; while as king or leader of the Median armies, he conquered nearly the whole world -- in fact I do not know that he ever lost a battle. His grandfather was living in luxury, and when young Cyrus was sent to him he offered to serve him as a butler -- only he didn't do as butlers sometimes do -- that is, taste the wine before putting it on the table. Cyrus, when offered wine, said, "I am afraid it is poison."
"You are afraid it is poison? What makes you think it poison?"
"Why, because I have seen it make you and some of the princes act very strange, you would stagger and act very curious."
He followed this principle of temperance during his whole life. Before a battle he offered sacrifices to the Gods; when he finished a battle and had a victory he did the same thing. I have been struck in reading his history with the course he took in this matter. He would never enter into revelry or debauchery over the nations he had conquered. He taught such principles until the day of his death. Before he died he told those by whom he was surrounded, that he did not want his body put into a gold coffin or a silver coffin; he simply desired his body to be laid in the dust and covered with the earth. Many of these principles followed him, and I have thought many of them were worthy, in many respects, the attention of men who have the gospel of Jesus Christ. -- JD 22:207, January 9, 1881.
We are making history. The travels and experience of the Latter-day Saints have been as interesting as the history of any people in any dispensation since the world began. -- JD 17:248, October 9, 1874.
GROWTH OF THE CHURCH. This work is progressing, and it will continue to advance. I have seen the time when you could get the whole church into this room when there were a few high priests, no apostles or seventies, and only a few elders. -- JD 19:134, October 13, 1877.
JULY 24, 1847. -- I brought President Young in my carriage into the valley of Salt Lace. He was sick, and he asked me to turn my carriage so that he could get sight of the valley. I did so. He cast his eyes over the valley and looked for some little time. When he got through, he said, "Brother Woodruff, drive on. Here is our home. This is the place God has pointed out for us to plant our feet. I have seen this place before." He began to recover right from that time.
Well, we camped there, and we visited around some. President Young said, "Now, brethren, go where you please; go north, go south, go to any part of the country, and when you come back you will say this is the place." Men came from California, among them Brannan, who urged us strongly to go to California, saying that it was such a fine country, and we were there in a barren desert. But President Young said, "This is our home. Here we shall build the temple of God and the city of our God." I think this has been plainly fulfilled. The inspiration of the Lord was with President Young all through his life, and the result of it is manifest. I traveled with him in the first settling of this country. -- MS 54:590-591 (1892).
WILFORD WOODRUFF'S FIRST "24TH." I arrived at the the camp at 11:30. It was a little northeast of where the Knutsford hotel now stands. I had in my carriage one bushel of potatoes, and I covenanted that I would not eat nor drink until the potatoes were planted in the earth. I fulfilled the covenant, getting some of the brethren to help me, and soon had my potatoes planted. Other brethren also planted some, and from these few came all our Utah potatoes until the railroad was built. -- MS 59:445 (1897).
[President Wilford Woodruff addressed the Irrigation Congress, September 16th, 1891, as follows:]
Gentlemen of the Irrigation Congress: I feel myself very thankful that I have lived in the flesh long enough in this Territory to behold the faces of such a congregation of gentlemen as I see here today. It is not my purpose to occupy your time or attention in arguing, or talking, of conversing particularly upon the subjects, or at least those principles for which you have assembled; but what I will say will be a few words concerning our arrival here, and upon the experience in irrigation. Fifty-one years ago, the 24th of last July, I entered this valley with one hundred and forty-three emigrants, or in other words, pioneers. We were led by President Young. This country, upon our arrival, was called the Great American Desert, and certainly, as far as we could see, it did not discredit its name in the least. There was no mark of the Anglo-Saxon race, no mark of the white man -- everything was barren, dry, and desolate.
There were one hundred forty-three men, three women, and two children -- a total of one hundred forty-eight.
We pitched our camp a little distance to the southeast from here about 11 o'clock in the day. We had a desire to try the soil, to know what it would produce. Of course all this company -- nearly the whole of us -- were born and raised in the New England states -- Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut -- had no experience in irrigation. We pitched our camp, put some teams onto our ploughs (we brought our ploughs with us), and undertook to plough the earth, but we found neither wood nor iron was strong enough to make furrows here in this soil. It was like stone. We had to turn water on it. When we came to put our teams upon the ground again they sank down to their bellies in mud. We had to wait until the land dried enough to hold up our teams. We put in our crops and we stayed here one month. During that time President Young laid out this city, as you see it today, in the midst of sagebrush, with not a house within a hundred miles of us. We built a fort around ten acres, three sides of adobe, walls eighteen feet high, and one side with logs out of the canyon. We then returned to the Missouri and some two thousand men came later. President Cannon here was one of the company that came in after us.
Now what I wish to say is this: You gentlemen come here today; you see the city, you go through the country. Here are a thousand miles, I might say, through these mountains, filled with cities, towns, villages, gardens, and orchards and the produce of the earth that sustains the people. Without this water this irrigation for which you have met here today, this country would be as barren as it was in 1847, as we found it. Irrigation is what you have met to discuss. Whatever you decide upon in this matter, and unite upon, will, I am sure, prove a great blessing, not only to Utah, but to every state and territory where these arid lands are found. We have had to learn by experience, and all that we have obtained in these mountains has been by irrigation. There are portions yet which have not been irrigated, and as one gentleman said here, if you can make two drops of water where there was one, or two spears of grass where there was one, you are a benefactor to mankind. I say, God bless you in your deliberations. -- Address to the Irrigation Congress, September 16, 1891.
CONQUERING THE DESERT. If those who are now so anxious to obtain the homes we have made, had seen Utah as we saw it, they would never have desired a habitation here, but they would have got out of it as soon as they could. It was barren, desolate, abounding with grasshoppers, crickets, coyotes, and wolves, and these things seemed to be the only natural productions of the soil. We went to work by faith, not much by sight, to cultivate the earth. We broke almost all the ploughs we had the first day. We had to let streams of water out to moisten the earth, and by experience we had to learn to raise anything. -- JD 15:79, April 8, 1872.
I came here on the 24th of July, 1847, with a little handful of men as pioneers. What did we find? A barren desert, as barren as the desert Sahara. No mark of the white man here. No outward sign that a white man could live here. How has this desert been made to blossom as the rose? Why this body of people from almost every nation? I will tell you. We carried the gospel to Europe, the islands of the sea, and the different nations of the earth; we offered them the gospel, and a class of men and women -- two of a family, and sometimes a dozen of a city -- received our testimony, and when we laid hands upon them they received the Holy Ghost. That Holy Ghost has remained with them: it has instructed them and inspired their hearts, and today you see Utah as it is. If the Lord Almighty had not backed up the testimony of the elders of Israel as he has done, Utah today would have been as when we found it thirty-six years ago. -- JD 24:242, July 20, 1883.
THE WISDOM OF UTAH'S FOUNDERS -- A CONTRIBUTION TO AMERICAN NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT. If we had not cultivated the earth, but had turned our attention to mining, we should not only have starved to death ourselves, but thousands of strangers, who have passed through, would have shared the same fate. Utah Territory has been the great highway to California, Nevada, and all the western states and territories, and they have all looked, in a measure, to Utah for their bread. Nobody but Latter-day Saints would have lived here and endured the trials and afflictions that we endured in the beginning; none others would have stayed and fought the crickets one year, as we had to do year after year. Any people but the Latter-day Saints would have left this country long ago. Not only so, on account of the things I have already named, but I will here say that no other people could have lived here -- no, they would have knocked each other's brains out on account of the little water they would have had in their irrigating operations. When men saw their crops and trees withering and perishing for the want of water, the selfishness so general in the world would have worked up to such an extent that they would have killed one another, and hence I say that none but Latter-day Saints would have stood it; but they, by the training and experience they had before received, were prepared for the hardships and trials they had to encounter in this country. -- JD 15:79-80, April 8, 1872.
BRIGHAM YOUNG. When the Prophet Joseph was taken away, President Young occupied his place. He held the keys of the kingdom of God. It was for him to have association with God the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, and to lead Israel. You know what he has done. It is before you. He has filled these mountains of Israel with cities and towns and villages. He performed a great work. God was with him. He was true and faithful. He was one of the first quorum of apostles. He never varied; he never shrank from duty. He stood by the Prophet Joseph while he lived. He stood by the kingdom of God and by the Lord as long as he lived himself. -- MS 52:594 (1890).
The man who led us here was Brigham Young. He was a prophet, seer, and revelator. He was never destitute of revelation from the day that I first knew him until his body was laid in the tomb. He was a great man -- a man of God. We see the result of his work here. He was our architect, so to speak. He fulfilled his mission in a great and wonderful manner, and when he laid his body down he went to mingle with his brethren and the gods. -- MS 56:227-228, April 9, 1894.
BRIGHAM'S ANSWER TO SAM BRANNAN. President Young was inspired to come here, and he was inspired to work after he got here, and when Samuel Brannan, who took the ship Brooklyn from New York to San Francisco, loaded with Latter-day Saints, came to this barren country and met with the pioneers, he looked upon the desolation and barrenness, and tried with all the power he had to persuade President Young not to stop here, but to go on to California. I heard President Young give his answer to Samuel Brannan in the following language, striking his cane into the soil: "No, sir; I am going to stop right here. I am going to build a city here. I am going to build a temple here, and I am going to build a country here." And by the help of God he lived to see all this fulfilled. -- MS 59:444-445 (1897).
I am satisfied, and have been for some length of time, that the Lord would open some way of relief for the poor Saints, it would require all the Saints that are upon the earth with their means. I was going to say that it would require all the means in the world to bring the poor in the way they have been gathering. There must be a change in the way of the gathering, in order to save them from the calamities and the scourges that are coming upon the wicked nations of the earth. It would require more gold than all the Saints possess upon the earth, to gather the Saints unto Zion from all nations in the way they have been gathering, but now the handcart operation has been introduced to this people, it will bring five here where one has been brought heretofore. -- JD 4:96, October 6, 1856.
THE NOBILITY OF THE HANDCART PIONEERS. When I first met the train of handcarts my heart was full, the scene was overwhelming. Our hearts were swollen, as Brother Kimball said, till they felt as though they were as big as a two-bushel basket.
Was it sorrow that produced this? No, but joy; and why so? Because it looked as if the very floodgates of deliverance were opened, and as if we could say to the starving millions, "Come home to Zion, and improve the opportunity that is now open, and renew your covenants, reform yourselves in your lives and conduct." -- JD 4:94, October 6, 1856.
The handcart experiment was subsequently replaced by other low-cost and economic but superior means of emigration.
When I saw Brother Ellsworth come into this city covered with dust and drawing a handcart, I felt that he had gained greater honor than the riches of this world could bestow, and he looked better to me than he would have done had he been clothed with the most costly apparel that human ingenuity can produce; he looked better, I say, to me, than a man adorned with jewels and finery of every description. The honor any man can obtain by his faithfulness in this cause and kingdom is worth far more than all the honors and riches of the world.
Do I look upon these brethren and sisters that come in with handcarts with any less degree of respect than I should if they had come with horses, with dromedaries, with mules and swift beasts? No, I do not; but I feel that they have accomplished a good work in thus coming to Zion, in the way the Presidency have pointed out. -- JD 4:95-96, October 6, 1856.
I want now to say a few words upon the subject of our reformation. The Presidency have called upon us to reform our ways, to renew our covenants, and to commence to live the lives of Saints. I take this liberty because I have the opportunity of speaking to you. I say then that they have called upon us to put on the whole armor, to reform our conduct. Men having authority have called upon us to forsake our wickedness and our follies, and I may here say that the Presidency have preached to the people in this territory, not only for the last month, but for the last year, and I have thought that it was a good deal like throwing a ball against a rock, it did not penetrate but bounded back, but they have told us that we were asleep as a people, and we have been told of the condition that we are in by the prophets of God, and as Brother Grant has said, we may take the Church as a body with the priesthood, with but few exceptions, and we have been asleep. What! Should the apostles of Jesus Christ go to sleep, men who ought to have their minds upon nothing else but the kingdom of God? No, they should not, they should not be asleep, but they have not always felt as they should feel.
You may take the twelve, and the seventies, and high priests, and all the other quorums, except the First Presidency, and they have been more or less asleep. I believe the First Presidency have been awake or they would not have known that we were asleep, and they now think that it is time for us to awake and arise from our slumbers, and I feel so, too.
I will tell you how I feel about it; men bearing the priesthood of God, it is a solemn truth, and you know it as well as I do, that almost all the male members in this land bear the Holy Priesthood of the Most High, and yet at the same time we have had more stealing, more lying, more swearing in one year than there should have been in a thousand; we have had more stealing here in Utah than has been for our credit, and when you have taken up that you may also take up every other sin and pile them up together and what is our condition before God? Why, we have violated our covenants which we made at the waters of baptism. What is the use, then, of our saying that we have been righteous, that we have been holy, when we have actually been in a sound sleep, when we have been so much out of the way? It is no use whatever, and the time of sifting and purifying the Saints has come, and for one I am willing to put on the garment, and keep it on, until we burn out all the evil that exists. -- JD 4:97, October 6, 1856
A CALL TO REFORM. We are called upon to wake up and reform, and it makes me feel curious when I go into the high priests' meeting, and see not one half of them there when a meeting is held to prepare them to wake up the people. . . .
We have been called upon, some of us, as missionaries to the people of this city, to wake them up. We shall be among you, brethren, and we do not intend to let you sleep. Brother Orson Hyde is with us today; he has had a dream which refers to the wheat and the thrashing floor. I am glad Brother Hyde is with us, and I want to say to you, Brother Hyde, in the name of the Lord, wake up and rise up in the midst of your brethren the twelve, and lead them forth into the field of labor, and we will stand by you; if you will lead the twelve, Brother Hyde, in the spirit and power of your calling as an apostle of Jesus Christ, you will see your brethren by your side; we will back you up, and step forth and help to bear that mighty load which has rested upon the Presidency of the Church like a mountain, and nearly crushed them to the ground. As a quorum we have got to more fully obtain the spirit and power of our apostleship and take more upon ourselves the care and burden of the Church and kingdom of God than we have done.
The Twelve Apostles have got to rise up and magnify their calling, or they will be removed out of their place. The high priests, the seventies, the bishops, and every quorum of the church and kingdom of God have got to do the same, or they also will be removed; we cannot sleep any longer with the priesthood of Almighty God resting upon us, and the work that is required at our hands.
WE CANNOT SLEEP. Let the twelve apostles, and the seventy apostles, and high priest apostles, and all other apostles rise up and keep pace with the work of the Lord God, for we have not time to sleep. What is man's life good for, or his words or work good for when he stands in the way of men's salvation, exaltation, and glory? They are of no use at all.
As an individual, I am determined to wake up and do my duty, God being my helper. I want to see Brother Hyde, who is the president of the twelve, walk into all these quorums and attend their meetings, and we will back him up; I want him to lift up his voice like a trumpet and go to winnowing the wheat; it is for the twelve to rise up and carry off the load. The seventies have got to walk up in their place and do their duty. I know God requires this at our hands. The law of God, the Holy Priesthood, and the holy anointing and washing, and everything else that is holy requires it at our hands. I know this.
It is necessary to reform. The question may be asked, what is the matter? Why, we are asleep; if the eyes of any man or woman is opened as they should be, they could see the things of God as they are in one moment; they would see there is a necessity of waking up and doing something. Here is a great and mighty dispensation committed into the hands of this people for the living and the dead; the candle of the Lord God is placed in these mountains like a city that is set on a hill that cannot be hid; the work is on your shoulders, ye priests of the Most High God! -- on you rests the salvation of this generation, and the Lord will require this stewardship at your hands.
The Lord has given you the keys of the priesthood with all the blessings pertaining to it -- as great and as mighty a work as ever was committed to any man on the earth, and that, too, in the midst of the last dispensation and fulness of times. The Lord requires us to prepare this generation, both Jew and Gentile, either for salvation or damnation through the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the administering of the ordinances of the house of God, and we go to sleep! The apostles go to sleep -- the seventies go to sleep -- the elders of Israel close their eyes to slumber, and we the only people God has on the earth, upon whose shoulders he has laid the responsibility of performing this great and mighty work!
Do you wonder that prophets get up here and chastise, and draw the sword of justice and hold it over our heads? I do not. I wonder that our children at the fireside do not rise up and prophesy, with a voice like thunder and in flames of fire, unto their fathers and mothers, and unto the people of Israel. I know that the counsels we have had here through the mouths of the prophets of God are just and true. I know that the warning voice that has been heard in this stand, and the call that has been made on this floor is necessary; and I do hope and pray God that we, as missionaries, will listen to it. I want my brother missionaries in the first place to wake up, and get aroused with the mantle of salvation and Spirit of God ourselves, and get our own armor bright. It has been justly remarked here that we have got to labor ourselves until we get the Spirit of God, and then we can walk out among the people and correct them; but if we as seventies, as high priests, and apostles, and elders bearing the priesthood, if we are resolved to set our hearts upon things of this earth, without being engaged in the interest of the kingdom of God, what can we expect of the people? Not anything. -- JD 4:146-148, December 21, 1856.
A COMMENT ON THE "REFORMATION." We frequently hear remarks made about the reformation being over, and about their having got through with it in this place or in that place, but the amount of it is there never will be any end to the reformation, or in other words there will never be any end to our advancement, there will be no end to our improvement nor to our increase, neither in time nor in all eternity. -- JD 4:190, January 25, 1857.
When our Methodist friends came to this city, erected their tent and held their big camp meeting, what was the course pursued by the Latter-day Saints? The President of the Church, the Twelve Apostles and citizens with their wives and children gave them a congregation of many thousands, and we sat in their tent and listened to them while they abused us just as much as they pleased. We believe in giving every man the privilege of saying what he pleases, we have always been willing to let every man express his sentiments here among us. We are not afraid of them. If we have not the truth, that is what we are after, we want it. -- JD 17:194, October 7, 1874.
DRESS SHOULD BE COMELY AND COMFORTABLE. Before I close my remarks, I want to say a few words to our sisters and daughters in Zion, for I feel that there are some words of the Lord to them. This is a time that the daughters of Zion should hearken to the words of the prophet of God, who has been set to lead us. I feel that it is time, forty years after they were organized, that the Female Relief Societies should labor with all their might to carry out the object of their organization by the Prophet Joseph Smith. You may ask, "What was the object of that organization?" I will say that in organizing these societies there were several objects in view, some of which I will refer to before I get through. President Young has been calling upon you, as one branch of the land of Zion, to take hold and help to build it up. He desires that the sisters here in the land of Zion should govern and control the fashions of Zion. Instead of heaping to yourselves and imitating the fashions that have adorned Babylon, you should have independence enough to form your own; and those which are not comely and comfortable should be laid aside. I, myself, do not think it has been pleasing in the sight of God, to see the manner in which the mothers and daughters in Zion, for years past, have been ready to adorn themselves with every fashion that Babylon has contrived and invented. I need not mention all these things, but I will mention two or three. For instance, how is it with regard to the headdress of the ladies? The Lord has given to women generally a fine head of hair, which, we are told in the scriptures, is the glory of the woman; and she should let the hair given unto her adorn her head without adding any foreign substance, as is now done, in order to imitate and follow after the fashions of the world. Again, just as quick as the daughters of Babylon extend their crinolines until they cannot move in a space less than six or eight feet wide, in a coach, assembly room, or anywhere else, why the daughters of Zion must follow the same uncomely fashion. But a fashion the reverse of this is now adopted, and at the present time the daughters of Babylon wear their elastics so tight that they have not room left for locomotion when walking in the streets; and, of course, the daughters of Zion must practice the same. And now, see one of them, dressed in the height of fashion, crossing the street, and a runaway team comes thundering along. What a position she is in. Why, the only way she can save her life is to lie down and roll across the street like a saw log!
All these fashions are uncomely and should be laid aside. The daughters of Zion should do better than to trail silks and satins in the mud when walking in the street. The Female Relief Societies should lay hold of and regulate these things, and introduce fashions that are comely and comfortable; it is their duty to do it. -- JD 18:128-129, September 12, 1875.
"LEARNING TO THINK AND ACT FOR OURSELVES." God has a purpose to accomplish in permitting the treatment which we have received. Whatever the result to others . . . , to us it cannot be anything but profitable and beneficial, if we receive it in the right spirit and bear it patiently. One good effect is apparent. The Latter-day Saints are compelled, perhaps to a greater extent than ever before, to think and act for themselves, and not to depend so much upon others to lead them. MS 309, April 6, 1888.
The Edmunds-Tucker Act, the high water mark of anti-Mormon legislation, was enacted by the U. S. Congress in 1887, dissolving the Church and its corporate life and confiscating its property; an action which the Supreme Court of the United States upheld May 19, 1890.
Salt Lake City, April 6, 1893
Our Father in heaven, thou who hast created the heavens and the earth, and all things that are therein; thou most glorious One, perfect in mercy, love, and truth, we, thy children, come this day before thee and in this house which we have built to thy most holy name humbly plead the atoning blood of thine Only Begotten Son, that our sins may be remembered no more against us forever, but that our prayers may ascend unto thee and have free access to thy throne, that we may be heard in thy holy habitation. And may it graciously please thee to hearken unto our petitions, answer there according to thine infinite wisdom and love, and grant that the blessings which we seek may be bestowed upon us, even a hundredfold, inasmuch as we seek with purity of heart and fulness of purpose to do thy will and glorify thy name.
We thank thee, O thou Great Eloheim, that thou didst raise up thy servant, Joseph Smith, through the loins of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and made him a prophet, seer, and revelator, and through the assistance and administrations of angels from heaven, thou didst enable him to bring forth the Book of Mormon -- the stick of Joseph, in the hand of Ephraim -- in fulfilment of the prophecies of Isaiah and other prophets, which record has been translated and published in many languages. We also thank thee, our Father in heaven, that thou didst inspire thy servant and give him power on the earth to organize thy Church in this goodly land, in all its fulness, power and glory, with apostles, prophets, pastors, and teachers, with all the gifts and graces belonging thereto, and all this by the power of the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthood, which thou didst bestow upon him by the administration of holy angels, who held that priesthood in the days of the Savior. We thank thee, our God, that thou didst enable thy servant Joseph to build two temples, in which ordinances were administered for the living and the dead; that he also lived to send the gospel to the nations of the earth and to the islands of the sea, and labor exceedingly until he was martyred for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
We also thank thee, O our Father in heaven, that thou didst raise up thy servant Brigham Young, who hold the keys of thy priesthood on the earth for many years, and who led thy people to these valleys of the mountains, and laid the cornerstone of this temple and dedicated it unto thee; and who did direct the building of three other temples in these Rocky Mountains which have been dedicated unto thy holy name, in which temples many thousands of the living have been blessed and the dead redeemed.
Our Father in heaven, we are also thankful to thee for thy servant John Taylor, who followed in the footsteps of thy servant Brigham, until he laid down his life in exile.
Thou hast called thy servants Wilford Woodruff, George Q. Cannon, and Joseph F. Smith to hold the keys of the Presidency and priesthood this day, and for these shepherds of thy flock we feel to give thee thanksgiving and praise. Thy servant Wilford is bound to acknowledge thy hand, O Father, in the preservation of his life from the hour of his birth to the present day. Nothing but thy power could have preserved him through that which he has passed the eighty-six years that thou hast granted him life on the earth.
For the raising up of the Twelve Apostles, we also thank thee, our God, and for the perfect union which exists among us.
We thank thee, O Lord, for the perfect organizations of thy Church as they exist at the present time.
O Lord, we regard with intense and indescribable feelings the completion of this sacred house. Deign to accept this the fourth temple which thy covenant children have been assisted by thee in erecting in these mountains. In past ages thou didst inspire with thy Holy Spirit thy servants, the prophets, to speak of the time in the latter days when the mountain of the Lord's house should be established in the tops of the mountains, and should be exalted above the hills. We thank thee that we have had the glorious opportunity of contributing to the fulfilment of these visions of thine ancient seers, and that thou hast condescended to permit us to take part in the great work. And as this portion of thy servant's words has thus so marvelously been brought to pass, we pray thee, with increased faith and renewed hope, that all their words with regard to thy great work in gathering thine Israel and building up thy kingdom on earth in the last days may be as amply fulfilled, and that, O Lord, speedily.
We come before thee with joy and thanksgiving, with spirits jubilant and hearts filled with praise, that thou hast permitted us to see this day for which, during these forty years, we have hoped, and toiled, and prayed, when we can dedicate unto thee this house which we have built to thy most glorious name. One year ago we set the capstone with shouts of Hosanna to God and the Lamb. And today we dedicate the whole unto thee, with all that pertains unto it, that it may be holy in thy sight; that it may be a house of prayer, a house of praise and of worship; that thy glory may rest upon it; that thy holy presence may be continually in it; that it may be the abode of thy well-beloved Son, our Savior; that the angels who stand before thy face may be the hallowed messengers who shall visit it, bearing to us thy wishes and thy will, that it may be sanctified and consecrated in all its parts holy unto thee, the God of Israel, the Almighty Ruler of mankind. And we pray thee that all people who may enter upon the threshold of this, thine house, may feel thy power and be constrained to acknowledge that thou hast sanctified it, that it is thy house, place of thy holiness.
We pray thee, Heavenly Father, to accept this building in all its parts from foundation to capstone, with the statue that is on the latter placed, and all the finals and other ornaments that adorn its exterior. We pray thee to bless, that they decay not, all the walls, partitions, floors, ceilings, roofs and bridging, the elevators, stairways, railings and steps, the frames, doors, windows, and other openings, all things connected with the lighting, heating, and sanitary apparatus, the boilers, engines, and dynamos, the connecting pipes and wires, the lamps and burners, and all utensils, furniture and articles used in or connected with the holy ordinances administered in this house, the veils and the altars, the baptismal font and the oxen on which it rests, and all that pertains thereto, the baths, washstands and basins. Also the safes and vaults in which the records are preserved, with the records themselves, and all books, documents, and papers appertaining to the office of the recorder, likewise the library, with all the books, maps, instruments, etc., that may belong thereto. We also present before thee, for thine acceptance, all the additions and buildings not forming a part of the main edifice, but being appendages thereto; and we pray thee to bless all the furniture, seats, cushions, hangings, locks, and fastenings, and multitudinous other appliances and appurtenances found in and belonging to this temple and its annexes, with all the work of ornamentation thereon, the painting and plastering, the gilding and bronzing, the fine work in wood and metal of every kind, the embroidery and needlework, the pictures and statuary, the carved work and canopies. Also the materials of which the buildings and their contents are made or composed -- the rock, lime, mortar and plaster, the timbers and lath, the wood of various trees, the gold and silver, the brass and iron, and all other metals, the silk, wool, and cotton, the skins and furs, the glass, china, and precious stones, all these and all else herein we humbly present for thine acceptance and sanctifying blessing.
Our Father in heaven, we present before thee the altars which we have prepared for thy servants and handmaidens to receive their sealing blessings. We dedicate them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, unto thy most holy name, and we ask thee to sanctify these altars, that those who come unto them may feel the power of the Holy Ghost resting upon them, and realize the sacredness of the covenants they enter into. And we pray that our covenants and contracts which we make with thee and with each other may be directed by the Holy Spirit be sacredly kept by us and accepted by thee and that all the blessings pronounced may be realized by all thy Saints who come to these altars in the morning of the resurrection of the just.
O Lord we pray thee to bless and sanctify the whole of this block or piece of ground on which these buildings stand, with the surrounding walls and fences, the walks, paths, and ornamental beds; also the trees, plants, flowers and shrubbery that grow in its soil; may they bloom and blossom and become exceedingly beautiful and fragrant; and may thy Spirit dwell in the midst thereof, that this plot of ground may he a place of rest and peace, for holy meditation and inspired thought.
Preserve these buildings, we beseech thee, from injury or destruction by flood or fire; from the rage of the elements, the shafts of the vivid lightning, the overwhelming blasts of the hurricane, the flames of consuming fire, and the upheavals of the earthquake, O Lord, protect them.
Bless, we pray thee, Heavenly Father, all who may be workers in this house. Remember continually thy servant who shall he appointed to preside within its walls; endow him richly with the wisdom of the Holy Ones, with the spirit of his calling, with the power of his priesthood, and with the gift of discernment. Bless, according to their calling, his assistants and all who are associated with him in the performance of the ordinances baptisms, confirmations, washings, anointings, sealings, endowments, and ordinations which are performed herein, that all that is done may be holy and acceptable unto thee, thou God of our salvation. Bless the recorders and copyists, that the records of the temple may be kept perfect, and without omissions and errors, and that they may also be accepted of thee. Bless, in their several positions, the engineers, watchmen, guards, and all others who have duties to perform in connection with the house, that they may perform them unto thee with an eye single to thy glory.
Remember also in thy mercy all those who have labored in the erection of this house, or who have, in any way, by their means or influence, aided in its completion; may they in no wise lose their reward.
O thou God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, whose God thou delightest to be called, we thank thee with all the fervor of overflowing gratitude that thou hast revealed the powers by which the hearts of the children are being turned to their fathers and the hearts of the fathers to the children, that the sons of men, in all their generations can be made partakers of the glories and joys of the kingdom of heaven. Confirm upon us the spirit of Elijah, we pray thee, that we may thus redeem our dead and also connect ourselves with our fathers who have passed behind the veil, and furthermore seal up our dead to come forth in the first resurrection, that we who dwell on the earth may be bound to those who dwell in heaven. We thank thee for their sake who have finished their work in mortality, as well as for our own, that the prison doors have been opened, that deliverance has been proclaimed to the captive, and the bonds have been loosened from those who are bound. We praise thee that our fathers, from last to first, from now, back to the beginning, can be united with us in indissoluble links, welded by the Holy Priesthood, and that as one great family united in thee and cemented by thy power we shall together stand before thee, and by the power of the atoning blood of thy Son he delivered from all evil, be saved and sanctified, exalted and glorified. Wilt thou also permit holy messengers to visit us within these sacred walls and make known unto us with regard to the work we should perform in behalf of our dead. And, as thou hast inclined the hearts of many who have not yet entered into covenant with thee to search out their progenitors, and in so doing they have traced the ancestry of many of thy Saints, we pray thee that thou wilt increase this desire in their bosoms, that they may in this way aid in the accomplishment of thy work. Bless them, we pray thee, in their labors, that they may not fall into errors in preparing their genealogies; and furthermore, we ask thee to open before them new avenues of information, and place in their hands the records of the past, that their work may not only be correct but complete also.
O thou Great Father of the spirits of all flesh, graciously bless and fully qualify those upon whom thou hast placed a portion of thine authority, and who bear the responsibilities and powers of the priesthood which is after the order of thy Son. Bless them all from first to last, from thy servant who represents thee in all the world to the latest who has been ordained to the deacon's office. Upon each and all confer the spirit of their calling, with a comprehension of its duties and a loving zeal to fulfil them. Endow them with faith, patience and understanding. May their lives be strong in virtue and adorned with humility; may their ministrations be effectual, their prayers be availing, and their teachings the path of salvation. May they he united by the Spirit and power of God in all their labors, and in every thought, word and act, may they glorify thy name and vindicate the wisdom that has made them kings and priests unto thee.
For thy servants of the First Presidency of the Church we first of all pray. Reveal, in great clearness, thy mind and will unto them in all things essential for the welfare of thy people; give them heavenly wisdom, abounding faith, and the powers and gifts necessary to enable them to preside acceptably unto thee over the officers and members of thy Church. Remember in love thy servant whom thou hast called to be a prophet, seer, and revelator to all mankind, whose days have been many upon the earth; yet lengthen out his span of mortal life, we pray thee, and grant unto him all the powers and gifts, in their completeness, of the office thou hast conferred upon him; and in like manner bless his associates in the Presidency of thy Church.
Confer upon thy servants, the Twelve Apostles, a rich endowment of thy Spirit. Under their guidance may the gospel of the kingdom go forth into all the world, to be preached to all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, that the honest in heart in every land may hear the glad tidings of joy and salvation. Overrule, we pray thee, in the midst of the governments of the earth, that the barriers that now stand in the way of the spread of thy truths may be removed, and liberty and conscience be accorded to all peoples.
Remember in loving kindness thy servants, the Patriarchs. May they be full of blessings for thy people of Israel. May they bear with them the seeds of comfort and consolation, of encouragement and blessing. Fill them with the Holy Spirit of promise, and be graciously pleased to fulfil their words of prophecy, that thy name may be extolled by the people of thy Church and their faith in thee and in the promises of thy ministering servants may be increasingly strengthened.
With thy servants of the Twelve, bless their associates, the seventies; may they be powerful in the preaching of thy word and in bearing it to the four quarters of the earth. May an ever-widening way be opened before them until they shall have raised the gospel standard in every land and proclaimed its saving truths in every tongue, that all the islands and the continents may rejoice in the testimony of the great work thou art in these latter days performing on the earth.
Bless abundantly, O Lord, the high priests in all the varied duties and positions to which thou hast called them. As standing ministers of thy word in the multiplying stakes of Zion wilt thou endow them richly with the spirit of their exalted callings. As presidents, counselors, bishops, members of high councils, and in every other office which their priesthood gives them the right to fill, may they be righteous ministers of thy holy law, loving fathers of the people, and as judges in the midst of the Saints may they deal out just and impartial judgment tempered with mercy and love.
So, also, in their various callings, confer precious gifts of wisdom, faith and knowledge upon thy servants, the elders, priests, teachers, and deacons, that all may diligently perform their parts in the glorious labors thou hast called thy priesthood to bear.
Forget not, we beseech thee, thy servants the missionaries, who are proclaiming the saving truths that thou hast revealed for man's redemption to the millions who are now overshadowed by deep spiritual darkness. Preserve them from all evil, deliver them from mob violence, may they want no good thing, but be greatly blessed with the gifts and powers of their ministry. Remember also their families, that they may be sustained and comforted by thee and be cherished and cared for by thy Saints.
We pray thee for the members of thy holy church throughout all the world, that thy people may be so guided and governed of thee, that all who profess to be and call themselves Saints may be preserved in the unity of the faith, in the way of truth, in the bonds of peace, and in holiness of life. Strengthen the weak, we pray thee, and impart thy Spirit unto all.
Our Father, may peace abide in all the homes of thy Saints; may holy angels guard them; may they be encompassed by thine arms of love; may prosperity shine upon them, and may the tempter and the destroyer be removed far from them. May the days of thy covenant people be lengthened out in righteousness, and sickness and disease be rebuked from their midst. May the land they inhabit be made fruitful by thy grace, may its waters he increased and the climate be tempered to the comfort and need of thy people; may drought, devastating storms, cyclones, and hurricanes be kept afar off, and earthquakes never disturb the land which thou hast given us. May locusts, caterpillars and other insects not destroy our gardens and desolate our fields; but may we be a people blessed of thee in our bodies and spirits, in our homes and habitations, in our flocks and herds, in ourselves and our posterity, and in all that thou hast made us stewards over.
Now pray we for the youth of Zion the children of thy people; endow them richly with the spirit of faith and righteousness and with increasing love for thee and for thy law. Prosper all the institutions that thou hast established in our midst for their well-being. Give to our Church schools an ever-increasing power for good. May the Holy Spirit dominate the teachings given therein and also control the hearts and illuminate the minds of the students. Bless marvelously thy servants, the general superintendent, and all the principals, teachers and others officers, and also those who form the general board of education of thy Church. Remember likewise in thy loving kindness the Sunday Schools, with all who, either as teachers or scholars, belong thereto; may the influence of the instruction given therein broaden and deepen, to thy glory and the salvation of thy children, until the perfect day. Bless the members of the general board of the Deseret Sunday School Union with the wisdom necessary for the proper fulfilment of their duties, and for the accomplishment of the purposes for which this board was created.
We also uphold before thee the Young Men's and Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Associations, with all their officers, general and local, and the members. May they be prospered of thee, their membership be enlarged, and the good that they accomplish increase with every succeeding year. For the Primaries and religion classes we also seek thy constant blessings and guiding care; may the spirit of instruction be poured out upon the presidents and associate officers and the teachers. May they keep pace with the rest of the educational establishments in thy Church; so that from their earliest years our children may be diligently brought up in the ways of the Lord, and thy name be magnified in their growth in virtue and intelligence.
Nor would we forget, O Lord, the normal training classes among thy people, whether these classes be connected with the Church schools, the Improvement Associations, or the Sunday Schools. Grant that these classes may be the means of spreading true education throughout all the borders of the Saints by the creation of a body of teachers who will not only be possessed of rare intelligence, but be filled also with the spirit of the gospel, and be powerful in the testimony of thy truth and in implanting a love for thee and for thy works in the hearts of all whom they instruct.
We would hold up before thee, O Lord, the Relief Societies, with all their members; and all those who preside in their midst according to their callings and appointments, general or local. Bless the teachers in their labors of mercy and charity, who, as ministering angels, visit the homes of the sick and the needy, bearing succor, consolation and comfort to the unfortunate and sorrowful. And bless, we beseech thee, most merciful Father, the poor of thy people, that the cry of want and suffering may not ascend unto thee from the midst of thy Saints whom thou has blessed so abundantly with the comforts of this world. Open up new avenues by which the needy can obtain a livelihood by honest industry, and also incline the hearts of those blessed more abundantly, to give generously of their substance to their, in this respect, less favored brethren and sisters, that thou mayest not have reason to chide us for the neglect of even the least among thy covenant children.
O God of Israel, turn thy face, we pray thee, in loving kindness toward thy stricken people of the house of Judah. Oh, deliver them from those that oppress them. Heal up their wounds, comfort their hearts, strengthen their feet, and give them ministers after thine own heart who shall lead them, as of old, in thy way. May the days of their tribulation soon cease, and they be planted by thee in the valleys and plains of their ancient home; and may Jerusalem rejoice and Judea be glad for the multitude of her sons and daughters, for the sweet voices of children in her streets, and the rich outpouring of thy saving mercies upon them. May Israel no more bow the head, or bend the neck to the oppressor, but may his feet be made strong on the everlasting hills, never more, by violence, to be banished therefrom, and the praise and the glory shall be thine.
Remember in like pity the dwindling remnants of the house of Israel, descendants of thy servant Lehi. Restore them, we pray thee, to thine ancient favor; fulfil in their completeness the promises given to their fathers, and make them a white and a delightsome race, a loved and holy people as in former days. May the time also be nigh at hand when thou wilt gather the dispersed of Israel from the islands of the sea and from every land in which thou hast scattered them, and the ten tribes of Jacob from their hiding place in the north, and restore them to communion and fellowship with their kinsmen of the seed of Abraham.
We thank thee, O God of Israel, that thou didst raise up patriotic men to lay the foundation of this great American government. Thou didst inspire them to frame a good constitution and laws which guarantee to all of the inhabitants of the land equal rights and privileges to worship thee according to the dictates of their own consciences. Bless the officers, both judicial and executive. Confer abundant favors upon the President, his cabinet, and Congress. Enlightened and guided by thy Spirit may they maintain and uphold the glorious principles of human liberty. Our hearts are filled with gratitude to thee, our Father in heaven, for thy kindness unto us in softening the hearts of our fellow citizens, the people of this nation, towards us. That which thou hast done has been marvelous in our eyes. We thank thee that thou didst move upon the heart of the President of our nation to issue a general amnesty. Thou hast removed prejudice and misunderstanding from the minds of many of the people concerning us and our purposes, and they are disposed to treat us as fellow citizens, and not as enemies. In this holy house we feel to give thee glory therefor and we humbly ask thee to increase this feeling in their hearts. Enable them to see us in our true light. Show unto them that we are their friends, that we love liberty, that we will join with them in upholding the rights of the people, the Constitution and laws of our country; and give unto us and our children an increased disposition always to be loyal, and to do everything in our power to maintain Constitutional rights and the freedom of all within the confines of this great Republic.
Remember in mercy, O Lord, the kings, the princes, the nobles, the rulers, and governors, and the great ones of the earth, and likewise all the poor, the afflicted and the oppressed, and indeed, all people, that their hearts may be softened when thy servants go forth to bear testimony of thy name, that their prejudices may give way before the truth, and thy people find favor in their eyes. So control the affairs of the nations of the earth, that the way may be prepared for the ushering in of a reign of righteousness and truth. We desire to see liberty spread throughout the earth, to see oppression cease, the yoke of the tyrant broken, and every despotic form of government overthrown by which thy children are degraded and crushed, and prevented from enjoying their share of the blessings of the earth, which thou hast created for their habitation.
O God, the Eternal Father, thou knowest all things. Thou seest the course thy people have been led to take in political matters. They have in many instances joined the two great national parties. Campaigns have been entered upon, elections have been held, and much party feeling has been engendered. Many things have been said and done which have wounded the feelings of the humble and the meek, and which have been a cause of offense. We beseech thee, in thine infinite mercy and goodness, to forgive thy people wherein they have sinned in this direction. Show them, O Father, their faults and their errors, that they may see the same in the light of thy Holy Spirit, and repent truly and sincerely, and cultivate that spirit of affection and love which thou art desirous that all the children of men should entertain one for another, and which thy Saints, above all others, should cherish. Enable thy people hereafter to avoid bitterness and strife, and to refrain from words and acts in political discussions that shall create feeling and grieve thy Holy Spirit.
Heavenly Father, when thy people shall not have the opportunity of entering this holy house to offer their supplications unto thee, and they are oppressed and in trouble, surrounded by difficulties or assailed by temptation, and shall turn their faces towards this thy holy house and ask thee for deliverance, for help, for thy power to be extended in their behalf, we beseech thee to look down from the holy habitation in mercy and tender compassion upon them, and listen to their cries. Or when the children of thy people, in years to come, shall be separated, through any cause, from this place, and their hearts shall turn in remembrance of thy promises to this holy temple, and they shall cry unto thee from the depths of their affliction and sorrow to extend relief and deliverance to them, we humbly entreat thee to turn thine ear in mercy to them; hearken to their cries, and grant unto them the blessings for which they ask.
Almighty Father, increase within us the powers of that faith delivered to and possessed by thy Saints. Strengthen us by the memories of the glorious deliverances of the past, by the remembrance of the sacred covenants that thou hast made with us, so that, when evil overshadows us, when trouble encompasses us, when we pass through the valley of humiliation, we may not falter, may not doubt, but in the strength of thy holy name may accomplish all thy righteous purposes with regard to us, fill the measure of our creation, and triumph gloriously, by thy grace, over every besetting sin, be redeemed from every evil, and be numbered in the kingdom of heaven amongst those who shall dwell in thy presence forever.
And now, our Father, we bless thee, we praise thee, we glorify thee, we worship thee, day by day we magnify thee and give thee thanks for thy great goodness towards us, thy children, and we pray thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior, to hear these our humble petitions, and answer us from heaven, thy holy dwelling place, where thou sittest enthroned in glory, mighty, majesty and dominion, and with an infinitude of power which we, thy mortal creatures, cannot imagine, much less comprehend. Amen and amen.
-- From The House Of The Lord, Widtsoe Pamphlet Collection.
(Printed by George Q. Cannon and Sons Co., Publishers, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1893; pp. 24-36.)