Remarks by President Wilford Woodruff, delivered at Bountiful, June 26, 1881.

There are a few of us still living in the flesh and able to mingle with the people, but our orbit or circuit has become so extended that we are a little like the courts—it takes us a long time to get around to visit the people.

You have had excellent counsel this morning from our brethren. They have taught us a portion of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which we should treasure up. 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. 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. It is our lot to live in the great and last dispensation that God has given unto man, the dis– pensation in which a people is to be prepared to build up the kingdom of God on the earth, which is to be thrown down or overcome no more forever. 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. This people and these Elders who bear the Melchizedek Priesthood, through the providence of Almighty God, will not be called upon to go forth, like David of old, and shed the blood of their fellow man in their own defense. There were many things required of him which will not be required at our hands; and some things he was not permitted to do, because he was a man of blood. These are my views with regard to our position.

We are called of God. We have been gathered from the distant nations, and our lives have been hid with Christ in God, but we have not known it. The Lord has been watching over us from the hour of our birth. 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. These are my sentiments with regard to the Latter-day Saints. 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. 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. 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. 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.

I have had some reflections on the same subject referred to by Brother Cannon. In going into the house of Brother Call, and those of the many of the brethren, what do we see? We see good houses, pleasant homes, and the inmates thereof, enjoying the necessaries and comforts of life. We have places to rest, we have places to lay our heads. How different are the circumstances that surround us today in comparison with our situation before we came to these valleys, and in comparison with the experience of many of the ancients. Jesus himself, the son of the living God, had not where to lay his head. The foxes, he said, had holes, and the birds of the air had nests, but the Son of Man had not a place to lay his head. He traveled in the midst of poverty all the way to the cross. We have been in the same condition. We who have been in this Church since its early days, have known what it is to be without homes, to travel without purse or scrip, to go hungry and almost naked, to suffer from cold and fatigue. When we came here the ground was all that we had to lie upon, and we were glad and felt to rejoice in our hearts that God had brought us to a place where we could lie down if it was upon the ground, in peace, free from the persecution of our enemies. God has proved us in days that are past and gone. He has now given us a country and a home. It has been well said that we should be careful lest these conveniences and comforts, by which we are now surrounded, should draw us from the things 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. 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.

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 somebody 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.

Here is a subject I have thought about. David said, “Let my enemies go to hell quickly.” He got angry, and he did some things he should not have done. Our Savior acted right the reverse. The more light and knowledge a man has, the more of the power of God he enjoys, and the more he is able to comprehend the things of God. Why did the Savior say, when he was under the agonies of death, “Father, forgive them?” Because He knew well that, although they were blind as to what they were doing, they and their posterity would welter for 1,800 years under the curse of God, for the deed they were perpetrating. He knew what the result of the shedding of his blood would be upon the human family, yet he was sorrowful because he knew that before he should come again as their Shiloh, the Jewish nation would be trodden under foot of the Gentiles. The result of their treatment of the Savior of the world still afflicts them. In many countries they are still persecuted and deprived of the right of citizenship, and are not permitted to purchase land and hold it as personal property. The Savior could foresee their future, and what would befall them and their race, until he should come again. While he himself suffered, he could exclaim, knowing all the circumstances, “Father, forgive them.” Brother Taylor feels the same towards this nation. We should all have the same feeling, and if we enjoy the Spirit of God, we can overcome that feeling which arises in the hearts of men to resent a wrong, to return evil for evil. Joseph went to God, and he opened his mind by vision, in which he saw the destruction of our nation; he saw that famine and pestilence and war would lay waste our land, until it became so terrible that he prayed God to close the vision. Well may we say, “Father, forgive them.” Well may we pray for them, and feel in our hearts not to envy them, but leave them in the hands of God.

There are two spirits with us. I will relate a little circumstance which took place with me. I brought President Young sick in my carriage on July 24th, 1847, the first time he set his eyes upon this valley. In process of time I followed President Young to the Utah penitentiary, under the edict of a religious bigot and wicked man, because he felt his dignity was not honored by President Young. On my way to the place of confinement I remember what my reflections were. I thought to myself, “Now, here is President Young, the man, under God, who came here, far removed from civilization, the pioneer of emigration to the great West, and found a barren, desolate land, inhabited only by a very poor lot of Indians and wild animals: today it blossoms comparatively as the rose; and today he is a prisoner on his way to jail.” It worked upon my mind considerably. By and by another spirit said to me, “Be still, and know that I am God, and will fight the battles of this people; you need not allow yourself to be troubled about this.” The result we all know. That very act leveled Chief Justice McKean to the ranks of the common citizen from which he never rose again, and he has since passed away, and like others, is in the hands of God. Brigham Young will rise in judgment against him and against all men who have persecuted and maligned and abused him. That will be the case with all of us—we shall be called upon to judge this generation. We should as Saints of God, never allow ourselves to wish the destruction of those who oppose or persecute us, but leave them in the hands of our God, to deal with them as he in his justice and mercy may see fit.

With regard to the law of God, it is all right. We can well afford to keep it and trust in him. I look upon it as really marvelous, when we bear in mind the ceaseless endeavors to make themselves notorious at the expense of those who have obeyed that law. I say, when I look upon the results of all that has been said and done about it, I regard it as a marvel. 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. Quite a remarkable thing has just happened—four cyclones start from near the same point, each taking a different course, the results of which are known. God has nothing to do with them, says the world. But the judgments of God will be poured out, and the spirit of unbelief will grow in the hearts of the people, and they will be blind to his power until it is too late.

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.

God bless you. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Wilford Woodruff, delivered at the General Conference, Sunday Morning, April 3, 1881.

I think that all of us as Latter-day Saints should have our hearts filled with gratitude and thanksgiving to God our Heavenly Father for his mercies and blessings which we enjoy this day. It is certainly a source of much pleasure to me to have the privilege of meeting with so many of the Latter-day Saints, and with so many bearing the Holy Priesthood in this dispensation of God to man. I cannot but re– joice when I reflect upon the history of this people, and contemplate the dealings of God with us, how that He has protected us and sustained us and delivered us and made us a community in the land, and that too under adversity and opposition.

In tracing the history of the Prophets and Apostles of old, as well as those of our day, we find that there have been some very peculiar manifestations of the trust and con– fidence in God which they have exercised. Consider, for instance, the position of the Three Hebrews. They could afford to trust themselves in the hands of God; they could afford to meet whatever punishment or affliction or persecution which might be heaped upon them in consequence of their obeying the law of God. But they could not afford to bow down and worship the image which Nebuchadnezzar had caused to be set up, because it was contrary to the commandments of God. The history of the result of their refusing to obey the royal edict, commanding all Babylon to fall down and worship it, we are familiar with; also with the similar circumstance in which the Prophet Daniel figured. 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 willfully disobeyed. I will here mention the case of Jonah, which presents itself to my mind, when the Lord sent him to deliver a message to Ninevah. The requirement was a little too much for Jonah, and he thought he would try to avoid it; but after he had spent three days and nights in the belly of a whale, he thought, no doubt, that if ever he got to land he would unhesitatingly obey the commandments of the Lord. The result we know. We take our Savior, and also the Apostles who followed him; we read the history of what they suffered and passed through. All of the Apostles suffered death (excepting one, whom they could not destroy), including the Son of God himself, in order to seal their testimony with their blood; while the Savior had to suffer upon the cross, to fill the mission which he had been preordained to perform; which, by the way, is a very strange ensample to man, to see the Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father on the earth, the Firstborn in the spirit world, a person of His high exaltation and glory, condescending to come forth to be born in a stable and cradled in a manger; and after he grew up, how he traveled about in adversity and suffering, never shrinking from any duty imposed upon him—it should certainly be a good ensample to all of his followers. And the Apostles themselves, because of their integrity to the truths of the Gospel which they had received through their Master, the Savior, they like him, suffered death, and thus sealed their testimony with their blood. They could perform no more than he could towards turning the hearts of the people to the truth; but they determined to risk whatever suffering, trouble or tribulation they were called to pass through for the word of God, and the testimony of Jesus, that they might receive eternal life.

I bring this home to ourselves. I bring it home to the Latter-day Saints; I bring it home to our day and generation. Many of us have been acquainted with our Prophet and Patriarch, Joseph and Hyrum Smith. We know their lives; we know the suffering and trouble they passed through. These men are true and faithful unto death. They could afford to do it; but they could not afford to deny the faith; they could not afford to shrink from the important message which God had given unto them, of establishing this Church and kingdom upon the earth, but they could afford to be true and faithful to the last moments of their lives, in advocating and defending the principles of the Gospel of the Son of 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, that 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 com– mandment 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 fulfillment 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. I read these—the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and I regard them as eternal truths. I cannot find any revelations given from the days of Moses down to the days of Joseph Smith, nor from the days of Joseph to our day, by men who have spoken as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost, but what has been fulfilled to the very letter, as far as time would admit of. Though the heavens and the earth pass away, not one jot or tittle which will fall unfulfilled. When I read these solemn, these eternal declarations made through the mouth of Joseph Smith, my heart swells with gratitude and praise to God, my heavenly Father. 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 to. 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.

I say again, the Latter-day Saints have every encouragement; their pathway is plain and inviting before them. And the nearer we adhere to the commandments of God, the more confident we shall become that God is our friend and that He is watching over us, and that his Son Jesus is our advocate, with the Father, that he is in the midst of this people, and that he will contend for the rights of his Saints, and will ward off every weapon which is formed against Zion. So far at least we have been sustained; the arm of Jehovah has been made bare in our behalf ever since we have been in these valleys, and all Israel whose eyes are open to see, and whose minds can comprehend the dealings of God with his people, know it. We have been sustained by the power of God from the beginning to this day, and nothing short of the power of God could have saved us and brought us through; and nothing but the power of God can preserve us, and nothing but his wisdom can pilot us safe to the high destiny which awaits us. Perhaps I may be permitted to say, we met with a good deal of persecution and oppression and suffering before we came to these valleys, and still the hand of oppression is stretched out against us, and the public mind everywhere within the pale of Christendom is more or less set on our destruction, and that because a certain Biblical principle—the patriarchal order of marriage is practiced by us. When Earl Rosborough was visiting this city, he inquired of President Taylor what excuse the State of Missouri had in driving ten thousand of this people beyond their borders into the State of Illinois; and what excuse the people of this nation had who took part in, and those who countenanced the persecution which we have endured, for persecuting us before the principle of patriarchal marriage was practiced by the Latter-day Saints. President Taylor replied, it was because we believed in revelation, because we believed in Prophets and Apostles, and because we believed in the ancient, the apostolic, the everlasting Gospel, with all its gifts and blessings. Then, said Earl Rosborough, “it would make no difference, as far as your being at variance with the Christian world is concerned, whether you practice plural marriage or not, unless you renounce all other principles you hold to that caused your persecution heretofore; you would be persecuted still.” I say the same today. The nation cares no more about our practicing the order of plural marriage than any other principle of the Gospel; it would make no difference with us today. Were we to compromise this principle by saying, we will renounce it, we would then have to renounce our belief in revelation from God, and our belief in the necessity of Prophets and Apostles, and the principle of the gathering, and then to do away with the idea and practice of building Temples in which to administer ordinances for the exaltation of the living and the redemption of the dead; and at last we would have to renounce our Church organization, and mix up and mingle with the world, and become part of them. Can we afford to do this? I tell you no, we cannot; but we can afford to keep the commandments of God. And I will here say, that we have been sustained by the hand of Jehovah in a marvelous and miraculous manner ever since we came to these valleys and proclaimed to the world our belief in the revelation of celestial or plural marriage; and I will say further, and in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior and Elder Brother, we shall be sustained from this time until he comes in the clouds of heaven, inasmuch as we shrink not from the performance of our duties. We have somebody to deal with besides man. The God of heaven holds our destiny; he holds the destiny of our nation and of all the nations, and he controls them. Therefore, I say to the Latter-day Saints, let us be faithful; let us keep the commandments; let us not renounce a single principle or command which God has given to us. Let us keep the word of wisdom. Let us pay our tithes and offerings. Let us obey the celestial law of God, that we may have our wives and children with us in the morning of the first resurrection; that we may come forth clothed with glory, immortality and eternal lives, with our wives and children bound to us in the family organization in the celestial world, to dwell with us throughout the endless ages of eternity, together with all the sons and daughters of Adam who shall have kept the commandments of God.

I pray that we may be able to do our duty in this world. I pray that we may not fear man who can only kill the body, but fear God who hath power to cast both body and soul into hell. 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. 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.

When I contemplate the fact that the few men and women dwelling in these mountain valleys have had committed to them this great and mighty work, 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. Our prayers, one and all, should be that of David’s—“Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.”

I pray God to bless this assembly of His people; and to bless the Presidency of the Church, the Apostles and all bearing the holy Priesthood, together with all who have entered into covenant with him. My earnest prayer is that the blessings of our God may be over us in time, that when we get through and shall pass behind the veil, we shall have done all that was required of us, and be prepared to dwell with the sanctified and the just made perfect through the blood of the Lamb. Amen.

Discourse by President Wilford Woodruff, delivered in the Salt Lake Assembly Hall, at the Half Yearly Conference, of the Salt Lake Stake of Zion, Sunday Afternoon, Jan. 9th, 1881.

“Woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! For if I do this thing willingly, I have a righteous reward: but if against my will, a dispensation of the gospel is committed unto me.” These were the words of the Apostle Paul. Again he said: “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” And he repeats this. Again he says: “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” 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. Again, the Lord says (in sec. 1 of the Book of Doctrine and Covenants): “And the voice of warning shall be unto all people, by the mouths of my disciples, whom I have chosen in these last days. And they shall go forth and none shall stay them, for I the Lord have commanded them. Behold, this is mine authority, and the authority of my servants, and my preface unto the book of my commandments, which I have given them to publish unto you, O, inhab– itants of the earth. Wherefore, fear and tremble, O ye people, for what I the Lord have decreed in them shall be fulfilled. * * Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments; And also gave commandments to others, that they should proclaim these things unto the world; and all this that it might be fulfilled, which was written by the prophets.” Again, the Lord has said, “Behold, now it is called today until the coming of the Son of Man, and verily it is a day of sacrifice, and a day for the tithing of my people; for he that is tithed shall not be burned at his coming. * * and I will not spare any that remain in Babylon. Wherefore, if ye believe me, ye will labor while it is called today.” This is the word of the Lord to the Elders of Israel. And I say the same to the Latter-day Saints. 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 been given, those receiving it are held responsible before high heaven for the use they make of it.

I feel to back up the testimony given to us this forenoon by President Taylor. I have had the same feelings resting upon me for the last years of my life. I realize that our condition, our position, the responsibility we hold, the relationship we sustain to God, and the relationship we sustain to this great and last dispensation—I feel that many of us as Latter-day Saints, hold too lightly these important trusts committed to our charge. The angel of God, as declared to St. John, the Revelator, while upon the Isle of Patmos, had come forth in the last days, flying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell upon the earth, and to every nation, kindred, tongue and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come. 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. He was the first man since the day the Savior was put to death, and the Apostles and the Priesthood taken home to God—he was the first and only man that ever attempted to establish the Gospel of Jesus Christ according to the ancient order of things. 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.

This is our condition today. O ye Elders of Israel who have received the Holy Priesthood, we have this work laid upon our shoulders, we have to take hold and build up this kingdom or be damned. This is our condition; we cannot get away from it; the ancient Apostles could not; we cannot. It is the greatest dispensation God ever gave to the human family in any age of the world, and we are commanded to carry it forward. We cannot afford to treat lightly this work. We cannot undertake to serve God and mammon. We cannot undertake to serve the world and fulfil our missions as Apostles and Elders of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have got to take one side or the other. 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. The Lord said in the beginning, some fifty years ago, in the first revelation almost which was given to us, that the harvest was ripe, and that whosoever would thrust in his sickle and reap the same is called of God.

I have given you my views and feelings with regard to these things. I have my faith, my hope. 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.

We have been under the necessity of carrying this Gospel to the generation in which we live. 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.

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. The Lord told us fifty years ago, that “Darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people, and all flesh has become corrupt before my face.” But He has sent forth the warning voice to them. He has called upon all men to repent and obey the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that they may be counted worthy to escape the judgments of God.

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. 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 ensample 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 Astyages, 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 butler’s 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. But 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. If we attempt to please the world on the one hand and serve the Lord on the other, we will fall.

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 round up our shoulders, and bear off this kingdom.

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.

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. We are building temples to the name of the Lord. What are we building them for? That we may enter in and redeem our dead. 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. 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 to.” 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. 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 receiveth 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.” 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 other 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.

Now, our position is this: We have been chosen out of the world, the world hate us, our nation hates us, indeed the inhabitants of the earth in a great measure hate us. Of course there are honorable exceptions. But a great many despise us; a great many wish our destruction. Why? Because 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 of 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. There is a long time hereafter. 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 I say I desire this for myself, I desire the same for my family.

I pray God my Heavenly Father, to let his blessings rest upon us; I pray that his Holy Spirit may be with us to guide us in the path we should walk in; 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. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Wilford Woodruff, delivered at the General Conference, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, Oct. 10th, 1880.

There are many times when I feel a great desire to speak to the people because I have things in my heart that I would like to say. I cannot say at the present time however, that I have any great desire to speak, still I will bear my testimony and express a few thoughts in my reflections that are upon me today.

I am happy and greatly pleased in what I have witnessed, and I feel that the heavens are pleased with our proceedings this day. I feel that they are right. The kingdom of God is onward; it is not backward. It is wisdom that we perform what we have done today.

The act of organizing the council of the first presidency of the church and kingdom of God, I have regarded as a most solemn scene, to See this mighty host of priesthood who are assembled in this house vote in such unanimity, and to see this vast congregation rise in a body with uplifted hands to heaven, it is like the rushing of many waters—there is power in it; there is power with this people; there is power with the priesthood and in the ordinances of the house of God. And what we have done today will have its effect, it will have its effect in the heavens and on the earth. The responsibility that we bear as elders of Israel, before the heavens and before the earth and before each other, is very great. We are called of God; we have been chosen, we have been ordained as men who have been called to bear the priesthood and to attend to the ordinances of the house of God, to preach the Gospel, to warn this generation, to build up Zion, to redeem the earth, to erect temples unto the name of the Most High God, to redeem the living and the dead, and to carry out those great purposes which have been foreordained before the world was. It is a great calling, it is a great responsibility: and I feel that we, as servants of God and as elders of Israel, that we should try in our minds to comprehend these things.

I reflect a good deal with regard to our position, as was described to us today by Brother Pratt. 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, (at the same time smiting himself upon the breast) “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. Said the Lord unto him, “Before you were begotten I knew you” etc.

So do I believe with regard to this people, so do I believe with regard to the apostles, the high priests, seventies and the elders of Israel bearing the holy priesthood, I believe they were ordained before they came here; and I believe the God of Israel has raised them up, and has watched over them from their youth, and has carried them through all the scenes of life both seen and unseen, and has prepared them as instruments in his hands to take this kingdom and bear it off. If this be so, what manner of men ought we to be? If anything under the heavens should humble men before the Lord and before one another, it should be the fact that we have been called of God.

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 will here make a remark concerning my own feelings. After the death of Joseph Smith I saw and conversed with him many times in my dreams in the night season. On one occasion he and his brother Hyrum met me when on the sea going on a mission to England. I had Dan Jones with me. He received his mission from Joseph Smith before his death; and the prophet talked freely to me about the mission I was then going to perform. And he also talked to me with regard to the mission of the Twelve Apostles in the flesh, and he laid before me the work they had to perform; and he also spoke of the reward they would receive after death. And there were many other things he laid before me in his interview on that occasion. And when I awoke many of the things he had told me were taken from me, I could not comprehend them. I have had many interviews with Brother Joseph until the last 15 or 20 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 Geo. 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.

I feel myself as though we are blessed of the Lord, and that we ought to be satisfied. I feel that we should humble ourselves before God, that we should labor to magnify our callings, and honor this priesthood which we received before we came here while we live out the few days appointed to man in the flesh. And I do hope and pray God that we may magnify our priesthood and calling while we tarry here, so that when we get through our earthly mission and go into the spirit world, we may meet with Brothers Joseph and Brigham and Heber and the rest of the faithful men whom we knew and labored with while in the flesh, as well as Father Adam, Enoch, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and all the prophets and apostles who have had their day and their time and their generation, and who have finished their work here below and gone home to glory. Do you not think they are interested about us? I tell you they are. And I desire when I die, and my spirit goes into the spirit world, to meet these men and to go where they are; and I wish to live in that way and manner so as to be worthy of this blessing. And when I say this of myself I wish it to apply to all Israel. It will not pay us to apostatize; neither will it pay us to sin, it costs ten thousand times more than it is worth from beginning to end. Therefore, let us be true and faithful to God. And inasmuch as we have voted today to sustain the presidency of this church and kingdom, let our prayers ascend night and morning into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, in behalf of the men who now stand at our head, and also in behalf of the apostles and in behalf of all the priesthood of God in their place and station. And inasmuch as we do this we will grow, we will advance, the Spirit of God will be poured out upon us which will reveal unto us the mind and the will of God concerning us. And Zion will continue to increase in power on the earth, and eventually accomplish all for which it is designed, which is my prayer in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Wilford Woodruff, delivered in the Tabernacle, at Logan, Sunday Morning, August 1st, 1880.

It is a common saying with us, that the Lord has set his hand to build up his kingdom; but, notwithstanding, it is a true and a very interesting one. Let us turn our minds which way we will, as men of God, as Elders in Israel, if we enjoy any portion of the Spirit of the Lord, we cannot help seeing the hand of the Lord in his works in these mountains and in the earth. It is a difficult matter, many times, for men of the world to understand the literal fulfillment of revelation; in fact, some of our leading men, men of wisdom, men who have enjoyed a good portion of the Spirit of the Lord—it has been difficult for them to understand the fulfillment of prophecy. In conversation with persons with regard to the affairs of our nation, I remember President Young telling them that there would be a division in our nation between the North and South. “But,” said they, “that cannot be; the stability of our government is of too durable a nature to even permit of any such thing.” This is the way that our leading men felt before the rebellion; this is the way, as a general thing, that leading men feel today. They cannot comprehend, it is not in their hearts to believe in the fulfillment of prophecy; they cannot understand how it is that any power or wisdom that God can exercise, can bring to pass the prophecies that remain to be fulfilled. We had examples of this, as I have said. But the crisis came; a four years’ war was waged, which laid in the grave a million and a half of the strength of our nation, and, as I have often said, and which I believe is true, cost them a debt which they will never live to pay. They could not comprehend this until it was over. It is so with our nation today; they cannot comprehend, notwithstanding the mighty evidence that is rolling before them like the waves of the sea, one event after another in their fulfillment; but they cannot realize how the Lord can make use of the elements known to mankind to bring about the destruction of a nation like ours. When Brother John Morgan was speaking, I was reminded of a certain spirit that arose in the hearts of men a few years ago, incited through the oppression of capital against labor. A few men rose up in Pittsburgh and other places in Pennsylvania, and in three days destroyed some twenty million dollars worth of railroad property. When this element once rises, what power has law, what power have the officers of the law or the government to control it? It cannot be controlled by human power. As Latter-day Saints, we can in a measure understand, when we come to reflect that God rules and overrules and can do anything he has a mind to with regard to the fulfillment of these events. I believe the Bible; I believe the Book of Mormon; I believe the Doctrine and Covenants, and I believe that the predictions they contain will in their fulfillment roll upon our heads, and upon the heads of this nation, and upon the heads of the people of Zion, and the judgment of God, that have been proclaimed in the hearing of the people for the last fifty years, through the mouth of Joseph Smith and of Brigham Young and the apostles and the elders of Israel, by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost—not one jot or tittle of what has been declared will fall to the ground unfulfilled, and the Latter-day Saints ought to be prepared for them. I know many of these things look dark when men look upon them with the natural vision, and as a consequence doubt and unbelief follow; but when you look upon them with your mind enlightened by the Spirit of God, the spirit of inspiration and revelation, we then are able to understand them, and how easy it is for God to bring to pass the predictions of his servants.

The Lord, in a revelation given to Orson Hyde and William McClellan in the early days of the Church, in sending them out to preach the Gospel, told them that when they preached they should speak as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and that if they did not have the Holy Spirit to direct them, they were told not to teach. “And,” said the Lord, “when you do speak as you are moved upon by the Holy Ghost, your words are the words of God, they are scripture, and they are the mind of the Lord to the people.” (Sec. 68.) Many have an idea that it is something very strange for men nowadays to have revelation, and that nobody should have revelation excepting Brother 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 wherever 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.

With regard to prophesying, I wish to say, that we have a great many times the revelations of God given unto us through his spirit, when we do not comprehend what revelation is. How many of you have had the still small voice of the spirit whisper things to you, and when you have followed the dictations of that spirit it has become in you a principle of revelation. I would not be here today if I had not listened to the whisperings of that still small voice which has guided me in my journeyings; I never could have passed through the dangerous scenes and incidents of my life had I not followed the whisperings of the spirit of the Lord to me. And 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. Brother Heber C. Kimball, for instance, was a natural prophet; he would at times give utterance to things when preaching under the influence of the holy Spirit that would frighten himself and has many times been known to say after he had finished preaching, “What have I said?” I am reminded of a circumstance which occurred in the early settlement of Utah, at a time when we were all in very destitute circumstances, without the shadow of any reasonable hope for seeing better times. At such a time Brother Kimball in preaching one day told the congregation that many months would not pass before we would be able to buy goods in Salt Lake City as cheaply as they could be bought in New York City. When Brother Kimball had said this he actually felt frightened for he could not see how it could come to pass, but it was spoken under the influence of the Holy Ghost, and therefore it was revelation. 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 would 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. Brother 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 teachings about which, at the time, we have little or no idea.

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. And I saw them called of God and sent forth into the United States and to Babylon, or what is called the Christian world, to bind up the law and seal up the testimony against the nations of the earth, because they had re– jected the testimony of Jesus; and of the establishment of the kingdom of God upon the earth. 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.

I will say to Israel who are here today, we should take hold of this work in earnest and build this temple and redeem the dead as well as the living; and have faith in God believing that this is the work of God which will roll on to its fulfillment in the earth. God will not disappoint you in these the last days; he will not disappoint the wicked, he will not disappoint the devils in hell, nor the angels of God in the heaven will not be disappointed with regard to the fulfillment of the revelations; whatever may be the unbelief of this generation it will make no difference with regard to the fulfillment of the revelations of God and the predictions of his servants.

When in the Tabernacle at Salt Lake City on the 24th of July, in looking upon the assembled multitude and in contemplating the magnitude and grandeur of the procession, I said to myself “What can be the feelings of the world?” What can be the feelings of our enemies who are laboring to “break up Mormonism,” and who have for these many years past indulged in the fond expectation, and have even gone so far as to predict year after year that in a few years more “Mormonism” will be done away. The world do not know what to do with “Mormonism;” the heads of our own nation and the kings of the earth are alike undecided, with regard to this handful of people that are growing up in these mountains. They see our union and the work already accomplished by us; they see the elements of prosperity and power manifested in this people, and although they do not say it themselves it is a fact, the spirit of fear to a degree is taking hold of them, they are afraid that the “Mormons” tell the truth when the say the God of heaven has set his hand again for the last time to establish his rule and government in the earth, which is destined to become a great kingdom and fill the whole earth. The great men of the earth are not ignorant of the existence of this people; they are studying our history, and they are watching the result of our labors. Although we are located in the interior of this mountain country, and so recently considered without the pale of civilization, the Latter-day Saints are not hid from view, their light is not under a bushel, but they are already known and talked of throughout all Christendom; and this Zion will continue to grow and no power will hinder it. Let us prepare ourselves and keep the faith, obey the commandments of God and exercise faith in these things; and let our prayers ascend into the ears of the God of Sabaoth day and night, for the fulfillment of these revelations and prophecies.

The Lamanites will fulfill all that God has said about them, and the Jews will fulfill and realize all that has been said respecting them and all that has been promised and pre– dicted upon their heads by their father Jacob and by the prophets. It was foretold by the prophet Moses that they should be driven and despised by their enemies, and that they should be cursed of God, and that his curse should follow them until Christ came; and that they would reject him, and then they would be scattered as corn is sifted in a sieve, etc. But hear it all Israel, after your sorrow and pain and distress and after the days of your tribulation, your great Eloheim will stretch out his hand and gather you from every nation wherever you are driven, and he will bring you home to your own land, and you shall rebuild, your temple and city, and you shall be delivered by Shiloh when he comes. That will be fulfilled; and all that God has said with regard to the ten tribes of Israel, strange as it may appear, will come to pass. They will, as has been said concerning them, smite the rock and the mountains of ice will flow before them, and a great highway will be cast up, and their enemies will become a prey to them; and their records, and their choice treasures they will bring with them to Zion. These things are as true as God lives.

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.

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 whithersover 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.

I pray God’s blessing upon the men working on the temple, and his blessing upon the Saints, that their hearts may be inclined to build them. If you knew and understood the feelings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and those of his brethren associated with him, and the feelings of the millions of the human family who are shut up in their prison houses we would not tire, we would labor with all our might until the building was finished and dedicated, and then we would labor for the redemption of our dead. Ask Bishop Hunter if he ever expects to meet with his friends and associate with those who have passed away, unless he redeems them in the flesh, and he will tell you, no. He could not mingle with them if he did not redeem them in the flesh. I know the same, too.

I pray God to bless you, and to pour out his spirit upon my brethren of the quorum of the Twelve, that we may walk in the light and be guided aright in all our ministra– tions. And I tell you again; God will not disappoint you; this kingdom will never go backward, neither will it ever be given into the hands of another people; but it will rest upon the shoulders of our sons and daughters when Christ comes in the clouds of heaven. We have no time to throw away, or spend in the foolish things of the flesh; what time is at our disposal should be used in building up the Zion of God, and in preparing ourselves and our families for the things that await us. Oh, I wish many times that the veil was 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.

This is how I feel, this is my faith. I read the Bible, the Book of Mormon and the Book of Covenants, and I look for everything contained in them to be fulfilled. We are making history day by day, and we are fulfilling the events which they predicted would transpire in the latter days. Isaiah, when he saw in vision this people in the mountains, exclaims:

“Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.

“But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.

“Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.”

In the own due time of the Lord all things spoken by the prophets will be literally fulfilled.

I pray God to help us to do our duty and to help us to feel interested in our labors in the flesh. And as a closing remark, seeing that this is election time, I will say, do not, my brethren, allow the spirit of contention and dissension to creep in among you. I am ashamed of some of our people who, instead of using their powers and influence in endeavoring to unite the people, go to work and raise strife, and the result is that in some of our cities an opposition ticket is gotten up, and our own people in these places divide one against the other. I say, shame on the elder or man holding the priesthood, the authority delegated to him by high heaven, who will do this thing; the heavens are displeased with such a man, and unless he repents he will certainly be found numbered with those who are arrayed against God and his kingdom on the earth. We have the whole world against us, besides many evil spirits to contend with, and we certainly should not divide one against another.

May God bless Israel, is my prayer, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Wilford Woodruff, delivered in the Salt Lake Assembly Hall, at the Priesthood Meeting, Sunday Evening, July 4th, 1880.

As this is the priesthood meeting of the elders of Israel and those bearing the priesthood, I feel I would like to say a few words in connection with what Brother Taylor has said. I look upon our condition or our position, as a people, that we are called to a certain work. 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. Now I look upon the elders of Israel here tonight, and in this Church and kingdom, as upon a mission. We have been ordained to a mission, and we have our time set to do it and to perform it. Not that I know exactly how many days or years we are going to spend in it. But this mission is required at our hands, not at the hands of Brother Taylor, Brother Joseph, or Brother Brigham alone, but it is required at our hands by the God of heaven, and we are performing a work and laying a foundation which we have got to meet on the other side of the veil. It does not make any difference to what position we are called or or– dained. If we are called to the office of a bishop we should fulfill 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. And when labor is laid upon us to perform we should not ignore that labor or lay it aside. There is an account kept, whether we keep one or not. There are a good many revelations which show us that this is the case. Your history goes before you. All of you will find it when you get to the other side of the veil. Every man’s history—his acts—are written, whether he has kept a record here or not. This is plainly manifested in the revelation known as the “Olive Leaf.”

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 fulfill 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 am under 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. I do not think we live our religion as we ought to. I do not think our hearts are set upon building up this kingdom as they should be as Latter-day Saints. Now, do not think I am your enemy because I tell you these things. I feel we have an important work to perform, and others will continue the work when we have passed away. I look around and view the work of time. I look around and find that eight of the Twelve Apostles have passed into the world of spirits since we came into this valley; I expect to go there myself, I expect my brethren will; we shall all go there before many years are over. I do not look for anything else; and I will say that for the last year or two in my reflections I have felt that I have no other business on this earth but to try to build up this kingdom. I do not feel that I am justified in settling my heart upon the things of this world to the neglect of any duty that God requires at my hands. And another thing, when I look at this generation, when I think of over twelve hundred millions of people who dwell in the flesh, many of them ripening for the judgments of God, a generation that is ready to receive the wrath of God upon their heads—when I consider these things, I know that if I neglect to bear my testimony before them, if I neglect to bear my testimony to this generation when I have an opportunity, I shall feel sorry for it when I go into the spirit world.

That is the way I feel with regard to this work. God requires that we bear record of it to this generation; and when I think of the extent of this generation, the greatness of it, when I consider that this is a generation and dispensation when God has set his hand to establish a kingdom, the great and last kingdom, and the only kingdom that the Lord ever did establish in any age of the world, to remain on the earth through the millennium, when I think of these things I can realize the greatness of this work. The Lord never had prophets in any age of the world who could stand in the flesh and live, and build up the kingdom of God. The world has always made war upon them and destroyed them, with the exception of Enoch who was taken up to heaven with his city. Now, if we could realize that we have the kingdom of God upon the earth today, with the promise of God our Father, that it will stay upon the earth until the coming of the Son of Man—if we could realize this and realize our responsibility, it seems to me that we would all have a desire to magnify our calling.

As I was going to say, with a generation like this, with the nations of the earth as they are today, having the power to build up the kingdom of God to stay here, having the power to rear temples to the Most High God, against the wrath and indignation of a thousand million people—I say, having this power, and being sustained by the Lord, we certainly ought to be willing to do our part of the work. We have borne testimony—I have, my brethren have, the elders of Israel have—to this generation for many years. We have borne testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, of the Book of Mormon and of the prophets of God who has been raised in this our own time, and those testimonies will rise up in judgment against this generation and will condemn those who reject them.

This kingdom is in our hands to bear it off. The God of heaven is with us. He has sustained us. He turns away the wrath of man. He binds the hands of our enemies and breaks every weapon that is formed against Zion. He has established his people in these valleys of the mountains.

I would say to bishops, and to all men in authority, we should have an interest in carrying on this work. We should labor to get the Spirit of God. It is our right, our privilege, and our duty to call upon the Lord, that the vision of our mind may be opened, so that we may see and understand the day and age in which we are living. It is your privilege, and mine too, to know the mind and will of the Lord concerning our duties, and if we fail to seek after this, we neglect to magnify our calling.

As Brother Taylor has said, here we are at headquarters. We are an ensample for all the other Stakes to look at. We should not consider anything we are called to perform a labor. Anything we are called upon to do we should do with a will. I look back to the days of our early missions. Brother Taylor, Brother Brigham, myself and others, had to go our ways sick with fever, ague, and the power of death surrounding us; had to leave our wives and children without food, without raiment, and go without purse and scrip to preach the Gospel. We were commanded of God to do it, and if we had not done it we should not have been here today. But having done these things, God has blessed us. He has sustained the faithful elders of this Church and kingdom, and he will continue to do so until we get through.

I wanted to express my feelings in relation to these matters. I reflect upon our position. I realize that we have a testimony to bear, and that we shall be held responsible for the manner in which we perform our duties. As apostles, seventies, elders, priests, etc., we are accountable to the Most High God. If we do our duty, then our skirts will be clean. We are watchmen upon the walls of Zion. It is our duty to warn the inhabitants of the earth of the things that are to come, and if they reject our testimony, then their blood will be upon their own heads. When the judgments of God overtake the wicked they cannot say they have not been warned. My garments, and the garments of thousands of others, are clean of the people of this generation, as also the garments of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and those of the elders of Israel who have died in the faith. We have borne our testimony, and when the judgments of God come, men cannot say they have not been warned. I consider our position before this generation is of vast im– portance to us and them. I do not want, when I go into the spirit world, to have this generation rise up and condemn me, and say I have not done my duty.

There never was a generation like this. There has never been a people like this. There has never been a work like this since God made the world. True, there have been men who have preached the Gospel; but in the fulness of times the Lord has set his hand to establish his kingdom. This is the last dispensation. He has raised up men and women to carry on his work, and as I have often said, many of us have been held in the spirit world from the organization of this world, until the generation in which we live. Our lives have been hid with Christ in God, and the devil has sought to kill us from the day we were born until the present hour. But the Lord has preserved us. He has given us the priesthood, he has given us the kingdom and the keys thereof. Shall we disappoint our heavenly Father? Shall we disappoint the ancient prophets and apostles who looked forward to this day? Shall we disappoint Joseph Smith, and those brethren who have gone before, who laid the foundation of this work and left us to labor after them? 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. It won’t pay you nor me to apostatize. But then there is this danger, you know. Brother Joseph used to counsel us in this wise: “The moment you permit yourselves to lay aside any duty that God calls you to perform, to gratify your own desires; the moment you permit yourselves to become careless, you lay a foundation for apostasy: Be careful; understand you are called to a work, and when God requires you to do that work do it.” Another thing he said: “In all your trials, tribulations and sickness, in all your sufferings, even unto death, be careful you don’t betray God, be careful you don’t betray the priesthood, be careful you don’t apostatize; because if you do, you will be sorry for it.” We received a great deal of that kind of counsel, and I have remembered it from that day until the present.

But I do not wish to detain you. I felt to back up the testimony Brother Taylor has given. I take it to myself. I can make nothing by neglecting any duty. 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. We cannot sin with impunity; we cannot neglect any counsel with impunity, but what it will bring sorrow; and the only safe way is to round up our shoulders and do our duty, and thus bear off the kingdom. None of us have a long time to stay here. When I look around and reflect upon my brethren that are gone, I ask, Where are they? Where are they gone? Here is Brother Taylor, myself and others who form part of the early organization of this quorum, who have traveled with the Church for a great many years; but Brother Joseph Smith and others have been gone for a long time—gone into the spirit world. While I reflect upon these things I often ask, What are their views toward us? How does the Lord look upon us as a people? I consider the Lord and the heavenly hosts are watching us. I know they manifest great interest in our welfare and in the course we pursue. I do not want to miss salvation. I want to go where Brother Joseph is. I want to go to my heavenly Father, and to his Son Jesus Christ, and to the old prophets who lived in their generations.

Let us try to live our religion. Let us seek for the Holy Spirit, that it may dwell in our bosoms day by day. Bless your souls, we have all we want of this world’s goods. Who ever saw a people so well off as the people of Utah in these valleys of the mountains? Who has given us these things? Our heavenly Father. He has blessed the land for our use. This donation that has been made, some may call it a sacrifice; but Brother Taylor had a desire to stretch out the hand of kindness to the oppressed of the Latter-day Saints. We want them to have the benefit of this. We should therefore labor with a will. No matter how long you are a bishop, your work will be closed in the flesh by and by. Where are many of the bishops of this Church and kingdom who held office thirty years ago? Gone; and the bishops who are here tonight, others will supply their places by and by. We will all pass away in our turn, and the faithful will come forth at the coming of the Son of Man, which is but a little while.

I feel anxious that we may not forget God; I feel anxious that we may not forget the position we occupy before him; for I will say this concerning myself: if ever I had any satisfaction or happiness, I have had it in “Mormonism.” If there is anything to me or about me, it has been given to me in “Mormonism.” If I have ever received any blessings; if I have ever had power to testify of the things of God, and been the means of bringing any into the Church and kingdom of God, it has been by the power of God, or by that which is termed “Mormonism,” the Gospel of Christ. I know it is the power of God that has accomplished these things. It has been by the power of God that we have received all we are in possession of—our riches, our gifts, our wives and our children. How many of you have had sealed upon your heads kingdoms, powers and principalities in the world to come? Who can compare these blessings with gold and silver and the things of this world? Or what is to be compared with the gift of eternal life?

I pray God, our heavenly Father, to bless you, to bless all those who bear the holy priesthood; that the blessings of God may be over you. 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. May God bless you. May he guide and direct us all. May he keep us in the hollow of his hand. May he sanctify us and prepare us to inherit eternal life, is my prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Wilford Woodruff, delivered in the Salt Lake Assembly Hall, at the Semi-Annual Conference, of the Salt Lake Stake of Zion, Saturday Afternoon, July 3rd, 1880.

I have listened to the instructions given here this afternoon by my brethren, as well as the remarks of Brother Cannon, this forenoon, with feelings of a great deal of interest. When we talk of our duties as Latter-day Saints, I think many times some of us, perhaps all of us, more or less, fall short of comprehending and understanding the responsibilities which we are under to God. I believe there never was a dispensation or a generation of men in any age of the world that ever had a greater work to perform, or ever were under greater responsibility to God, than the Latter-day Saints. The kingdom of God has been put into our hands. We have been raised up as sons and daughters of the Lord to take this kingdom, to lay the foundation of it, to build upon it, to carry it out in its various branches until it becomes perfected before the heavens and before the earth as God has foreordained it should be. And those principles which have been referred to by the brethren in regard to our duties, we cannot safely ignore them nor turn aside from them. I will say as one of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles, from the time I was first acquainted with this organization until today, we have never felt ourselves at liberty to stay away from our meetings unless we were sick or circumstances hindered us in some way or other. I can say that for myself, and I believe I can say the same for my brethren. We have always felt duty bound to attend our meetings, and if we do not attend the question might arise, what has become of the Twelve Apostles? Where are they that they do not attend their meetings? It would be a very proper question to ask. And if this responsibility rests upon us in the capacity which we occupy, does it not rest upon other men? I think it does. I do not believe the Lord ever required Joseph Smith or Brigham Young or any of their counselors to undertake to build up this kingdom alone. He never required them to build these Temples alone. They were required to perform their duties, that is true. Joseph Smith was called of God, inspired of God, raised up of the Lord, ordained of God long before he was born, to stand in the flesh, as much as Jeremiah or any of the ancient prophets, to lay the foundation of this Church and kingdom. He performed his work faithfully. He labored faithfully while he tabernacled in the flesh, and sealed his testimony with his blood. Other men were called also to build upon the foundation which he laid.

We have in days that are past and gone been under the necessity of going forth to preach the Gospel in the world. We have had this to do. We have been called to do it. We have been ordained to do it. We have been commanded of God to do it, and so have hundreds of thousands of the elders of this Church and kingdom. We have all 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 kingdom—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. They had misused the priesthood sealed upon their heads. They had neglected to magnify their callings as apostles, as elders. They had used that priesthood to attempt to build themselves up and to perform some other work besides the building up of the kingdom of God. And not only did he give us the counsel, but the same is given in the revelation of God to us. 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.

Our responsibilities before the Lord are great. We have no right to break any law that God has given unto us. The more we do so the less power we have before God, before heaven and before the earth, and the nearer we live to God, the closer we obey his laws and keep his commandments, the more power we will have, and the greater will be our desire for the building up of the kingdom of God while we dwell here in the flesh.

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.

This kingdom is advancing. It has got to advance, and somebody has got to build it up. Somebody has got to labor in it. The God of heaven has had a people prepared before the world was made for this dispensation. He had a people prepared to stand in the flesh to take this kingdom and bear it off; and the very spirit of the prophets and apostles, who have gone before us, has been manifested in the lives of faithful men and women from the organization of this Church until today, and will continue until the coming of the Lord, as there are a great many men and women who will live their religion and carry out the purposes of God on the earth.

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 watchcare 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. All of us, as elders of Israel and as Latter-day Saints, bear some portion of the holy priesthood, either the Melchizedek or Aaronic. It is a kingdom of priests, and there is work enough for this people to magnify their calling. The Lord has agreed to sustain us, and to break every weapon that is formed against us. He has promised to sustain Zion, and when the Prophet saw this Zion of God in the mountains, his soul was filled with joy and he cried, “Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the Lord hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.” Again the prophet says, “Can a woman forget her suckling child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.” Zion has been before the face of the Lord since the creation of the world! Our heavenly Father has protected this people. We have been favored from the day we set our feet in the valleys of the mountains, notwithstanding the tribulation and opposition we have had to contend with. All the designs of the wicked and ungodly to stop this work have been thwarted. The hand of God is over Zion. He is our Comforter. He sustains us, and we have every encouragement on the face of the earth, as Latter-day Saints, to be true and faithful unto him the little time we spend in the flesh.

Our responsibilities are great; our work is great. We not only have the Gospel to preach to the nations of the earth, but we have to fill these valleys, towns, cities, etc., and we have, among other important things, to rear temples unto the name of the Lord before the coming of Christ. We have got to enter into those temples and redeem our dead—not only the dead of our own family, but the dead of the whole spirit world. This is part of the great work of the Latter-day Saints. We shall build these temples and, if we do our duty, there is no power that can hinder this work, because the Lord is with us; and certainly our aim is high! As a people we aim at celestial glory; we aim at the establishment of the kingdom of God. We have been raised up for the purpose of warning the world; to preach the Gospel; to go to the meek of the earth and bring them to these valleys of the mountains, that they may be delivered from the power of sin and Satan. Our numbers are many compared with former dispensations. Nevertheless, our numbers are few when compared with the twelve or fourteen hundred millions of inhab– itants who dwell in the flesh. Still, with the help of God, we have power to redeem the world. This is our work. We are obliged to labor and to continue to while we are here, and when we have finished our work, our sons, the rising generation, have got to take this kingdom and bear it off.

Eight of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are in the spirit world today who were in the flesh when we came here, and so they pass away, one after another, when they finish their work. Do you suppose that in their minds and feelings they realized they had done too much? I think not. Just so with those who remain in the flesh. 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.

This kingdom has continued to increase and spread. When we came here thirty-three years ago we found this place a barren desert. There was no mark of the white man here. It was a desert indeed, hardly a green thing to meet the eye. You can see today for yourselves. The inhabitants of Zion are a marvel and a wonder to the world. They occupy these valleys of the mountains from Idaho to Arizona. The valleys, as it were, are filled with Latter-day Saints. And who are these Latter-day Saints? They are the people whom the God of heaven has raised up in fulfillment of promise and revelation. He has carefully gathered them together by the power of the Gospel, by the power of revelation, and placed them here in the valleys of the mountains. Has there ever been any power formed against this people that has been successful? Nay; and this people will never see the day when our enemies shall prevail, for the very reason that God had decreed that Zion shall be built up; the kingdom that Daniel saw shall roll forth, until the little stone cut out of the mountain without hands shall fill the whole earth. The people of God shall be prepared in the latter days to carry out the great program of the Almighty, and all the powers of the earth and hell combined cannot prevent them. When I see the view that the world takes in regard to this great latter-day work; when I hear it questioned as to whether God has anything to do with it; when I see the feeling of hatred that is manifested towards us, to me it is the strongest evidence that this is the work of God. Why? Because we have been chosen out of the world and therefore the world hates us. This is a testimony that Jew and Gentile and the whole world look at. Then if this is the work of God what is the world going to do about it? What can this nation or the combined nations of the earth do about it? Can any power beneath the heavens stay the progress of the work of God? I tell you nay, it cannot be done. I do not boast of these things as the work of man; it is the work of the Almighty; it is not the work of man. The Lord has called men to labor in his kingdom, and I wish the elders would look upon this subject as it is and realize our position before the Lord. Here we are a handful of people chosen out of some twelve or fourteen hundred millions of people; and my faith in regard to this matter is that before we were born, before Joseph Smith was born, before Brigham was born—my faith is that we were chosen to come forth in this day and generation and do the work which God has designed should be done. That is my view in regard to the Latter-day Saints, and that is the reason why the apostles and elders in the early days of this Church had power to go forth without purse or scrip and preach the Gospel of Christ and bear record of his kingdom. Had it not been for that power we could not have performed the work. We have had to be sustained by the hand of God until today, and we shall be sustained until we get through, if we keep the commandments of God, and, if we do not, we shall fall, and the Lord will raise up other men to take our place. Therefore, I look upon it that we had a work assigned to us before we were born. 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. They were not the class of men that were chosen for a work of this kind in any age of the world. The Lord Almighty chose the weak things of this world. He could handle them. He therefore chose Joseph Smith because he was weak, and he had sense enough to know it. He had the ministration of angels out of heaven. He had also the ministration of the Father and the Son and of the holy men who once dwelt in the flesh.

We have been obliged to acknowledge the hand of God. From out of the pit have we been dug. We have been taken from the plough, the bench, the various occupations of life, having limited knowledge of what the world calls learning. The Lord has called this class of men as elders, and inspired by the power of God they have gone forth and warned the world, and those of this generation who reject the testimony of these elders will be under condemnation, for the elders will rise up in judgment and condemn them. The building up of this kingdom rests upon our shoulders—not upon the shoulders of Brother Taylor and the Twelve Apostles alone, but every man and every woman who has heard this Gospel and gone into the waters of baptism will be held responsible for the light and knowledge they received.

This is my testimony to you today. You have got the kingdom of God here. It has grown and increased, and will continue to grow and increase. I look at this building; I look at the tabernacle here; I look at the temples that are being built; I see what is going on in the mountains of Israel, and I ask what is it? It is the work of God. I acknowledge his hand in it. This is the reason why we are inspired to build these temples. Why we labor to build them is 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 on 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 work of the last dispensation—the redemption of the living and the dead.

We ought not, as elders of Israel, to treat lightly the blessings we enjoy. We ought not to treat lightly the holy priesthood, or attempt to use it for any other purpose under the whole heavens other than to build up the Zion of God. The counsel that has been given this forenoon upon this matter we should lay to heart. The eyes of all the heavenly hosts are over this people. They are watching us with the deepest anxiety. They understand things better than we do, for our veil is our bodies, and when our spirits leave them we will not have a great way to get into the spirit world. They know the warfare we have with wicked spirits and with a wicked world, but what encouragement we have when we read the revelations! We live in a generation when the Lord has decreed that his kingdom shall be preserved. The prophets of every other dispensation have been called to seal their testimony with their blood. My faith is that those of this dispensation will not be called to do this. Joseph and Hyrum, it is true, were called to lay down their lives. Why? I believe myself it was necessary to seal a dispensation of this almighty magnitude with the blood of the testator for one thing, and for another thing the people were worthy that put him to death, and will have the bill to pay as the Jews had to pay for the blood of the Messiah; but as far as the leaders of this people and the people generally are concerned, I think the Lord intends we should live at peace. With regard to Brigham Young, we all know the disposition there was on the part of his enemies to take his life. I never believed, however, that he would die a violent death. Neither do I believe that we shall be required to go forth and stain our swords in the blood of our fellow men in our defense. It has been decreed that the wicked shall slay the wicked. Now, I give you my views regarding these things. I speak the sentiments of my own heart and what I believe. The judgments of our God will be poured forth, but the elders of Israel will not be called upon to slay the wicked. The wicked will slay the wicked. When I read the Bible, the Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, I feel that it is with us as with the generation that lived in the days of Ezekiel. In those days the Lord told the prophet to tell the people that what he said he meant to fulfil. And so it is in the day and age in which we live. All things will be fulfilled. The judgments of Almighty God will be poured out upon the wicked. The harvest is ripe, and I know the farmer has got to cut his crops when they are ripe, otherwise they will go back into the ground and rot.

When I see the wickedness and abomination that prevail in Babylon, covering the earth, as it were, like a mighty sea—when I see these things I feel to ask myself the question, how long can these things rise up in the sight of heaven and not have their reward? In my own mind I can see a change at our door. In the face of the revelations I cannot see how it can be otherwise. 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.

Therefore, let us try to live our religion. We have the kingdom of God. There is no question about this. There was none with Joseph Smith when the angels of God ministered unto him, and we had a living testimony of this work from that day to this. What is the greatest testimony any man or woman can have as to this being the work of God? I will tell you what is the greatest testimony I have ever had, the most sure testimony, that is the testimony of the Holy Ghost, the testimony of the Father and the Son. We may have the ministration of angels; we may be wrapt in the visions of heaven—these things as testimonies are very good, but when you receive the Holy Ghost, when you receive the testimony of the Father and the Son, it is a true principle to every man on earth, it deceives no man, and by that principle you can learn and understand the mind of God. Revelation has been looked upon by this Church, as well as by the world, as something very marvelous. 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 dependence upon than the still small voice of the Holy Ghost.

I know this is the work of God. I know God is with this people. I am anxious for them. I am anxious for the rising generation, for the young men and young women, for I know this kingdom has got to rest upon their shoulders. When I see the evils that exist in Salt Lake City, I realize they are in danger. Our responsibilities as parents are great. We have not only to set an example ourselves, but we must pray for them, and counsel them, and I am satisfied that the Lord will prepare our young men and young maidens, the sons and daughters of this people, so that they will take this kingdom and bear it off. The kingdom will never be thrown down or given to another people.

I thank God I live in this day and age of the world. I thank God that I heard the Gospel. I thank the Lord I have been made partaker of the holy priesthood in connection with the Gospel, and all the fears I have had have been about myself and friends. I never had any fears about the kingdom of God. I do not have any today. I realize and understand, as well as I know any– thing, that this kingdom is ordained to stand. It will grow and increase. Zion will arise and put on her beautiful garments. The only fears that I have are with regard to myself, my family, my wives and my children. We are surrounded with temptations which have a tendency to lead us away. We have got to guard against them; we have got to increase our faith and live nearer and nearer to the Lord.

I pray God to bless you and bless this people, and bless those who are called to watch over us. We have to watch as well as pray. We have to guard the Church and kingdom of God. By and by our mission will close. We will soon pass away and shall reap our reward. We are living in the last dispensation. Joseph Smith, I expect, will sound the sixth trumpet. He will be at the head of this dispensation; or, if he does not blow the trumpet of this dispensation, I do not know who will. Somebody has got to do it, and it must be somebody holding the keys of the various dispensations of the world. No other angels are coming from any other world to administer in this dispensation; those men will minister who dwelt here in the flesh.

May God bless us and help us to keep his commandments, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Wilford Woodruff, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday Afternoon, June 6th, 1880.

I have a desire to be heard in what I say to this assembly. I know the difficulties there are in speaking here. It requires not only attention, but quietude among the people.

I feel disposed to read a few verses from the good old book the Bible—some of the sayings of Isaiah and Ezekiel. [The speaker then read from the 12th chapter of Ezekiel, from the 21st to the end of the chapter.] I have (the speaker continued) a few reflections upon my mind that I would like to lay before the Latter-day Saints, especially those who bear the holy priesthood. Among the lessons which we are learning in our day and time is this one truth: that we all of us need the spirit of revelation in order that we may teach mankind of the things of God. I do not believe myself there ever was a man lived in the flesh on the earth, in any day or age of the world, no matter what his position, calling, name, or age might be—I do not believe any man ever had the power to do the work of God, to build up his kingdom or to edify the souls of men, without inspiration and revelation; for the Lord has never called any man in any age of the world to do any of this kind of work, whether to preach the Gospel, to prophesy, or to declare the word of the Lord to the inhabitants of the earth, or to administer in any ordinance in any temple or in any tabernacle, without the holy priesthood. There are no ordinances acceptable in the sight of God of any force after death or in the eternal worlds except those ordinances that are performed by men bearing the holy priesthood. Our heavenly Father himself has officiated by this principle in the creation of all worlds, in the redemption of all worlds, and in all the work which he has performed; it has all been done by the power of the Godhead and the holy priesthood, which is without beginning of days or end of years. This priesthood has power with the heavens. It has association with the heavens. The heavens are connected with this priesthood, let it rest upon the shoulders or head of any man, whether it be Jesus Christ, or those fishermen, or the ancient patriarchs or prophets or Joseph Smith, or any other man who is called of God as was Aaron, by revelation, and prophecy to bear record of the name of God in any age of the world. Therefore, I occupy the same position myself. I know I need the Spirit of God. I know you do. I know any man does who rises on this stand, and attempts to teach the people. You give a man the inspiration of Almighty God and the eternal truths of heaven and he can instruct and edify the children of men upon the principles of life and salvation; without this he cannot do it. And in order to present to my brethren and sisters and friends the subject that I have on my mind, I will just refer a little further to some words of the Lord to the Prophet Ezekiel, [The speaker again referred to the Book of Ezekiel, and quoted from the 9th, 14th and 33rd chapters, all of parts quoted having reference to the dealings of God with the wicked.] Continuing, Elder Woodruff said: Now, having quoted all these passages of Scripture, I want to say to my brethren the apostles, the high priests, the seventies, the elders of Israel, who bear the holy priesthood, upon whose shoulders the God of heaven, in this day and generation has placed the responsibility of the Melchizedek and Aaronic priesthood; has placed the responsibility of this great and last dispensation, the fulness of times, and the building up of the great kingdom of God which Daniel saw by revelation, vision and inspiration in his day and generation as proclaimed by all the prophets and apostles who have written in this book, in the stick of Judah as well as in the stick of Joseph and other revelations given to us through the mouth of the prophets and apostles in our day and generation—I want to ask in the face of all this—and I take it home to myself—what position are we in before high heaven, before God the Father, before his Son Jesus Christ, before the heavenly hosts, before all justified spirits made perfect from the creation of the world to this day? What condition are we in as the servants of the living God, men holding the holy priesthood into whose hands the God of Israel has given this kingdom. Are we disseminating the mighty flood of revelation and prophecy in these records and these books which are now to rest upon the generation as in the days of Noah and Lot? In this respect are we justified in the sight of God, in the sight of heaven, in the sight of angels, and in the sight of men? Can we fold our arms in peace and cry, “all is peace in Zion,” when, so far as we have the power of the priesthood resting upon us, we can see the condition of the world? Can we imagine that our garments will be clean without lifting our voice before our fellow men and warning them of the things that are at their doors? No, we cannot. There never was a set of men since God made the world under a stronger responsibility to warn this generation, to lift up our voices long and loud, day and night so far as we have the opportunity and declare the words of God unto this generation. We are required to do this. This is our calling. It is our duty. It is our business. We have had to perform this work for the last 50 years of our lives. When the Lord called Joseph Smith to lay the foundation of the Church he called him in fulfillment of many revelations given in other dispensations to men. He was preserved by the hand of God to come forth in the last days, even in the dispensation of the fulness of times. He was a prophet of the living God. He was a prophet, seer and revelator. The Lord called upon him to do the work for which he was ordained before the foundation of this world. He did all that was required of him, and he was surrounded with thousands of men who were acquainted with his life, and with the Spirit and power of God which rested upon him, and who sustained him in life and in death. We know he was a prophet of God, and we know he brought forth the stick of Joseph, the Book of Mormon, which was given unto him by the angel of God. This Church and kingdom has been organized by the command of God and by the revelations of heaven. It has continued to grow and increase, and has been upheld by the Lord Almighty, from its organization until the present hour. And when I look at this Tabernacle and think of the words of the prophet Isaiah, “that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the tops of the mountains;” when I look at these everlasting hills and the land given by promise to Father Jacob and his posterity; when I see this barren desert peopled by 150,000 Saints of the living God who have been gathered from nearly every nation under heaven through the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ—what can I say about it? Can I say it is a dream? Can I say that it is all a vision? Can I say that this work is of man and not of God? Can I say these are revelations and prophecies which belong to some other generation? I tell you no. This is the kingdom of God. Here are the Saints of God. These mountains are being filled with the Latter-day Saints from every nation under heaven, and with these things before me I know that it is my duty to preach the Gospel, to warn Saints and sinners wherever I have the opportunity. The Lord told Joseph Smith that he would prove us in all things, whether we would abide in his covenant even unto death, that we might be found worthy. The prophet sealed his testimony with his blood. That testimony is in force upon all the world and has been from the day of his death. Not one word of the Lord shall pass away unfulfilled. The unbelief in this generation will make no difference with regard to the building up of the kingdom of God. As it was in the days of Noah so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Therefore, I desire to ask my brethren, the elders of Israel—and I ask myself at the same time—do we understand our position before the Lord? Ezekiel has passed away. He is in the spirit world. He has received his resurrected body and stands at the right hand of God with other prophets and apostles who lived in days gone by. They had their day and generation. All these patriarchs and prophets and apostles had a time to prophesy, to preach, to labor, and to administer in the ordinances of life and salvation. Now, in this last dispensation, ye elders of Israel, this work has been put into your hands. Therefore what shall we say, and what shall we do? Are we acting as watchmen upon the walls of Zion? If we are, are we justified in closing our mouths, in closing our ears, or in setting our hearts upon anything else excepting the building up of the kingdom of God? I do not think we are. In my view our responsibility is very great. We should live our religion. We should practice ourselves what we preach. We should treasure up the words of life. We should search the records of divine truth. We should seek to comprehend the day and age in which we live. This is the way I look upon our situation today. I do not look upon the revelations recorded in these books, touching the dispensation of the fulness of times, as something that will pass away unfulfilled. We live in a generation when great changes are about to take place. We live in a time when darkness covers the whole earth and gross darkness the people. The world are a great way from the truth. Infidelity overwhelms the earth, in fact it is a hard matter today to get either priest or people, sect or party, of any name or denomination under heaven to believe in the literal fulfillment of the Bible, as translated in the days of King James, which contains the revelations given from the days of Father Adam down to our own time, and which point out to us the signs of heaven and earth indicating the coming of the Son of Man. We live in the generation itself when Jesus Christ will come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. We live in the generation when the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been revealed in its fulness to the Gentiles, and when the Gospel of Christ will go to the House of Israel, to the descendants of Lehi, in fulfillment of that which is recorded in their records in the 9th, 10th and 11th chapters of the last book of Nephi. These prophets spake by the power of God and the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, and as the apostle says, “No prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.” I feel therefore to say to my brethren who bear the holy priesthood, and I say it to myself and to all—I do not think we have much time to lie down and slumber. We have no time to speculate in trying to get rich, in try– ing to accumulate gold and silver. What we have got to do is to build up the kingdom of God. As apostles, high priests, elders, seventies and the lesser priesthood, we are bound together by this new and everlasting Gospel and covenant; we are called to perform the great and mighty work of building up Zion, of building temples wherein we may labor for the living and the dead, and we should live in that way and manner that we may be governed and controlled at all times by the Holy Spirit.

I know very well how the world look at these things. As I said before, the world is far from the Lord. We ourselves are too far from the Lord as a people. We ought to draw near to the Lord, and labor to obtain the Holy Spirit, so that when we read the revelations of God we may read them by the same Spirit by which they were given. Then we can understand their purport when given to the children of men.

The Lord has said by the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah, that he would proceed to do a marvelous work and a wonder; and when I look at the rise and progress of this Church, when I behold the great work the Lord has performed, it was a marvelous work and a wonder indeed. There never has been, in my view, any generation in which the same amount of prophecies and important events have to be fulfilled as in the generation in which we live. Joseph Smith, an illiterate boy, was raised up by the power of God. His teachers were the angels of heaven. He was administered unto by the Son of God. He received the Aaronic priesthood of John the Baptist, who was beheaded for the testimony of Jesus Christ. He received the apostleship and Melchizedek Priesthood under the hands of Peter, James and John, who were also put to death for the word and testimony of Jesus Christ. He made use of these ordinances by the commandment of God. He organized the Church and kingdom of God; he did that which all the wisdom of the sectarian world could never have comprehended. He established the only church on the face of the earth according to the ancient order of the Church of Jesus Christ, with apostles, prophets, teachers, gifts, helps, governments, baptism for the remission of sins, the laying of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost—an organization which has not existed on the earth from the day the ancient apostles were put to death, and the holy priesthood taken from the earth, until the present. This Church has continued to rise. It is the only true church upon the face of the whole earth. Its history is before the world. It has continued to grow and increase from the day it was organized until the present time. This is the Zion of God. We see an embryo of it in these valleys of the mountains, and it is designed by the Most High God to stand on the earth in power and glory and dominion, as the prophets of God saw it in their day and generation. This is the kingdom that Daniel saw, and it will continue to roll forth until it fills the whole earth. These are eternal truths, whether the world believe or disbelieve them, it matters not, the truths cannot be made of non-effect. This is certainly a strange work and a wonder. There has been every exertion made to stay it. Armies have been sent forth to destroy this people, but we have been upheld and sustained by the hand of the Lord until today.

And now I desire to bear my testimony. I have no fears, my brethren and sisters—and I say the same to our nation, to all kings, queens, emperors, presidents and governments of this world—I have no fears with regard to “Mormonism,” and the ultimate triumph of the kingdom of God; because the Lord Almighty has said that the nation and kingdom that will not serve him shall perish and be utterly wasted away. If this had not been the Zion of God it would not have stood so long as it has done. This kingdom, however, has not been organized by the power of man but by the power of God, and whatever God undertakes to do he will carry out. I have therefore no fear of this kingdom. It was ordained to come forth before the world was made; and the Lord never undertook a dispensation of this kind without due preparation before he commenced. He had material in the spirit world who would in time be raised up to carry on this kingdom. I have no fears about this work being accomplished, but I have fears about many of the Latter-day Saints; because if we have the holy priesthood upon our heads and do not live our religion, of all men we are under the greatest condemnation. We have baptized a great many into this Church and kingdom—not many, certainly, when compared to the twelve hundred million inhabitants of the earth—but a great many have apostatized. What! Latter-day Saints apostatize? Yes. I tell you people will apostatize who have received the holy priesthood and Gospel of Jesus Christ, if they do not honor God, if they do not keep his commandments, obey his laws and humble themselves before the Lord; they are in danger every day of their lives. Look at the number of devils we have, round about us! We have I should say, one hundred to every man, woman and child. One-third part of the heavenly host was cast down to the earth with Lucifer, son of the morning, to war against us—which I suppose will number one hundred million devils—and they labor to overthrow all the Saints and the kingdom of God. They even tried to overthrow Jesus Christ; they overthrew Judas, and they have succeeded in overthrowing a good many Latter-day Saints, who had a name and standing among us, who undertook to build themselves up instead of the Kingdom of God. And when men having this priesthood—I do not care whether it was in the days of Adam, in the days of Moses, in the days of Joseph Smith, or in the days of Brigham Young, I care not in what day they lived—if they bore this priesthood and undertook to use it for any other purpose than the building up of the kingdom of God, then amen to the power and priesthood of such men.

The Lord will have a people to carry on his purposes who will obey and serve him. He has a good many people in this day and age of the world, who will be faithful unto death, whether called to seal their testimony with their blood or not. He has a people who will maintain his work while they are here. But here is the danger, ye Latter-day Saints, and the Savior saw it very plainly, and has left it on record in the earth: He compared the kingdom of God unto ten virgins, which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. “And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bride– groom cometh; go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterwards came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.” Now, those who have got oil in their lamps, are men who live their religion, pay their tithing, pay their debts, keep the commandments of God, and do not blaspheme his name; men and women who will not sell their birthright for a mess a pottage or for a little gold or silver; these are those that will be valiant in the testimony of Jesus Christ.

This is the way I feel today. I feel to warn my brethren and sisters, the Latter-day Saints, to live their religion, to trim their lamps, because as the Lord lives, his word will be fulfilled. The coming of Jesus is nigh at the door. These judgments that I have read will come to pass, and though Brigham, Joseph, Noah, Daniel and Job, or anybody else were in the land, they could not do more than deliver their own souls by their righteousness. The man that is righteous cannot save the wicked. We have got to live our own righteousness, that is keep the commandments of God.

We are approaching changes. There are judgments at our door. There are judgments at the door of this nation, and at the door of Great Babylon. How do the world feel today? How does our nation feel? Something similar to Belshazzar, the king. On the night that he drank out of the golden and silver vessels with his princes and his wives, he thought, “Well, I made this country. I made this city. I am the god of this country;” but when the Lord Almighty manifested his displeasure by the writing on the wall, the scene was changed. His kingdom was broken up and given to the Medes and Persians. His greatness, his gold and silver did not save him. In the same way the Lord in ancient days swept away great cities when they were ripened in iniquity. Jerusalem was overthrown in fulfillment of the words of the Lord. Jeremiah and Isaiah prophesied what would come to pass, and it was fulfilled to the very letter. So I say to the Gentiles, so I say to the Latter-day Saints. What the Lord has spoken concerning our nation, and concerning the nations of the earth, notwithstanding that the unbelief of the world may be great, notwithstanding that they may reject the word of God and seek to put the servants of God to death—will all be fulfilled. War, pestilence, famine, earthquakes and storms await this generation. These calamities will overtake the world as God lives, and no power can prevent them. Therefore I say to the elders of Israel, be faithful. We have had the priesthood given to us, and if we fail to use it right, we shall be brought under condemnation. Therefore, let us round up our shoulders and bear off the kingdom. Let us labor to obtain the Holy Spirit—and power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ—which has been put into our hands, and inasmuch as we do this, the blessing of God will attend our efforts.

We have been here a number of years. We have preached the Gospel and labored to build up this kingdom. Many have been associated with this Church almost from the beginning. Many have been taken away. Joseph and Hyrum sealed their testimony with their blood. Many have passed to the other side of the veil, and many others of us will soon follow them; but I do not want when I get there to have it said, “When you were in the flesh you had the priesthood, you had the power to rebuke sin, but you were not man enough to chastise the ungodly.” Neither do I want my relatives to rise up and say, “You had the power to do a work for the redemption of the dead, but you have neglected these things.” I do not want these things to rise up against me. As for gold and silver, they are of very little account compared with eternal life. When we die we must leave the riches of this world behind. We were born naked and we will go out of the world in the same condition. We cannot take with us houses, gold, silver, or any of this world’s goods. We will even leave our tabernacles for somebody to bury. Our spirits must appear in the presence of God, and there receive our reward for the deeds done in the body.

Therefore, I pray God my heavenly Father to enable us to live our religion, to labor for light and truth that we may not work in the dark; to live nearer and nearer the Lord and be prepared for that which is to come, and eventually gain eternal life, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Discourse by Elder Wilford Woodruff, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday, June 30, 1878.

There is a principle that I feel disposed to say a few words on, in connection with what brother Rich has been saying, and that is the principle of faith.

[The speaker then read the 11th chapter of Hebrews.]

I have taken the liberty of reading this catalogue of blessings which ancient men of God obtained through the principle of faith; which principle is as much needed today by the people of this generation, as by any people at any age of the world. We might continue the chapter of results and operations of the prin– ciple of faith to the present day. For by faith Joseph Smith received the ministration of God out of heaven. By faith he received the records of Nephi, and translated them through the Urim and Thummim into our own language, and which have since been translated into many different languages. By faith he made the foundation of this Church and kingdom, just as much as Noah, by faith, built the ark, and received the fulness thereof. By faith he prophesied, leaving a record, a testament which has been given through his mouth to the inhabitants of the earth, and which contains the revelations of God yet to be fulfilled. The testator is dead, but his testament is in force to all the world. By faith the Elders of this Church left their homes and families, and went, when called upon, to foreign nations without money and without learning or experience, to preach the Gospel of the kingdom without price to this generation, and warning the inhabitants of the earth of the judgments of God which await the world, and which must overtake the wicked. Faith is necessary on the part of the Latter-day Saints, say nothing about the outside world, in order to read and believe the records of divine truth which have come unto us; and it requires faith on the part of the Christian world to really believe this record, the Bible—to believe that the Lord, through his servants, really means what he says, and says what he means. It requires faith on the part of the Latter-day Saints to perform their duties acceptably before God, for we, in this dispensation, must walk by faith and not by sight, just as much as the people of God in any previous dispensation. And this principle we should exercise and live by. Some of the revelations which God has given unto us point to the future condition of the world, and foretell what must shortly befall the world of mankind. These predictions were uttered by holy men as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and although the men themselves have passed away, not one jot or tittle of their words will fail in their fulfillment. Notwithstanding all the unbelief and infidelity of the modern world, there is not a man living that can place his finger upon the first revelation of God to man, from the days of father Adam to the present time, but what has had or is having its fulfillment as fast as time and opportunity admit of. God lives. These revelations which have been given through men who were inspired of the Holy Ghost, will have their fulfillment, even if the results should effect the destruction of the generation now living. When Jesus brought the Gospel to his father’s house—the Jews, they rejected him and the words of life he taught them. He found them intently looking forward to the coming of their Shiloh in the person of a king, a ruler who should possess great power, even power sufficient to deliver them from the Romish yoke. They never once dreamed that he would appear in their midst as the babe of Bethlehem, who should be born in a stable, and cradled in a manger, a man who should know sorrow, and who should be acquainted with grief, and who should choose as his disciples illiterate fishermen of low degree. And although he was their Savior King who would have redeemed them, and delivered them, and given unto them the Gospel of peace and of liberty, yet they in their vanity and pride despised him, and persecuted him, and at last shed his blood. But was there a word ever uttered by him concerning their Temple or nation but what met with its fulfillment to the very letter? The history of the Jews, which chronicles the days of their glory and power, when they held the Urim and Thummim, the ephod, the Priesthood, and when they offered sacrifice, taken in connection with the prediction of Jesus foretelling their downfall and dispersion, is of itself sufficient to teach every infidel mind that there is truth in the revelations of God to man. The Jews have been trampled under the feet of the Gentiles for the last 1,800 years, fulfilling, too, what Moses said of them; and they have been overthrown as a nation, and led captive unto other nations, and are held in scorn by the Gentiles even to the present hour. And you may begin at the beginning, taking, for instance, those great cities that figured anciently in their splendor and magnificence, and which were built to defy all time, such as Nineveh, Thebes, Tyre and Sidon, Memphis and Babylon. Where are they, and what became of them? They are gone, their history buried as if it were, in oblivion, and that too in fulfillment of prophesy. Yes, the words of some poor honest prophet or apostle raised up to declare the Gospel to the inhabitants thereof, but whom they despised and rejected, have met with their fulfillment, and the disobedient and wicked have passed away to be judged according to the deeds done in the body. And you may trace the history of the world from father Adam to the present time, and I can defy any man to point to a single prediction, uttered by inspired men raised up of God, but what has or will come to pass in its time and season. And if the Gentiles today would read these revelations of God, and exercise faith in them, they would no longer wonder when they come among us, to see these valleys, for 600 miles, filled with cities and towns, gardens and orchards, temples and tabernacles, and with comfortable dwellings. But the fact is, unbelief has overwhelmed the Christian world, and man has spiritualized the Scriptures until there is no faith in him, and he has no faith in God, nor in the literal fulfillment of his revelations to man. That is what ails the world today. The predictions of the Bible never would have been fulfilled, had not the Lord, in these last days raised up a prophet as an instrument in his hands to again establish his Gospel on the earth, and gather together the house of Israel to the valleys of these everlasting hills, according to his decree to old father Jacob; and his seed have yet to make this western desert to blossom as the rose, bringing forth “the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary.” The whole history of this people has been foretold by the prophet Isaiah, thousands of years ago; and it has been a steady growth from the commencement to the present. And will the Lord stop here? No; whether men believe or not, this Zion so often spoken of in holy writ, has got to arise and put on her beautiful garments; these mountain vales have got to be filled with the saints of God and temples reared to his holy name, preparatory to the time when “the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” And this time will come when the nations are fully warned by the preaching of the servant of God, and his judgments commence to be poured out upon the world, in fulfillment of the revelations of St. John. Faith then is what the unbelieving world needs to exercise in God and in his revelations to man; but as I have said, whether we do it or not, our unbelief will never turn the hand of God to the right or the left.

God has restored again his Gospel. He has raised up men and commanded them to go forth and preach it to the world, and they have been engaged doing so now for nearly half a century, ever since the organization of this Church. It was organized by revelation, with prophets, apostles, pastors, teachers, helps and government, and the principles of it were taught by revelation, the same as Jesus and the Apostles taught them, there is no change whatever. The Lord never revealed but one Gospel to the inhabitants of the earth, in any age of the worlds, nor never will; the Gospel is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and the principles thereof are faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, believing that he is, and that he lived and died as a ransom for the sins of the world; and baptism for the remission of sins, being immersed and buried in water, by one having authority of God, that you may rise in newness of life, in fulfillment of the testimony of Jesus, and then receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands confirming the believers members of his Church. And when you are born of the water and the Spirit, you can enter into the Kingdom of God, and being born of the Spirit, you can see the Kingdom of God. And such believers, when they receive the Holy Ghost receive the inspiration and revelation and light of it. Our eyes and ears may be deceived by the cunning and machinations of man; but the Holy Ghost never deceives anybody. It bears record of the Father and the Son, and it bears record in the Gospel to those who possess it. The Lord never had a church on the face of the earth, from its first organization until today, unless that church was organized by revelation, with prophets and apostles, pastors, teachers, helps and governments endowed with the Holy Priesthood—that power delegated from God to man, which authorized him to act for God; and without this Priesthood no man, from the day the world rolled into existence, has any right to administer in any of the ordinances of his holy house, neither has any man a right to that Priesthood save he be called of God as was Aaron who, we are informed was called by revelation. 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 savor of life unto life or death unto death. It was by virtue of this priesthood the twelve apostles anciently went into the world to preach the Gospel, and it was because of this priesthood which they held that men, in rejecting them, rejected Him who sent them and consequently brought upon themselves condemnation. Light has again come into the world; but men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Hence condemnation rests down upon the world, for the consequences of rejecting the Gospel must overtake the world in this the last dispensation, just as much as they did in former ones, in the days of Noah and Lot and those of the Savior.

As I before stated, so say I again, the Gospel of Christ requires faith all the day long, for no man can continue faithful to the end without it. God has set his hand a second time to build up that kingdom which Daniel was permitted to see in vision, and to establish that Zion in the mountains which Isaiah saw. He has set his hand, for the last time, to gather together all things which are in heaven and on earth which are in Christ, unto himself. The day has come when the Lord has sent forth a proclamation to warn the nations to prepare for his second coming; and the signs of both heaven and earth all indicate the coming of the Son of Man, which is near at the door. No man knows the day or the hour when Christ will come, but the generation is clearly pointed out, the fig tree is leaving, and great changes are near at hand. Great Babylon is coming in remembrance before God, and the Lord has called upon the inhabitants of the earth who are very wicked, to repent of their sins and turn unto him. The generation in which we live is a wicked and an adulterous generation, and wickedness and abomination of every kind are increasing, and the earth has commenced to groan under the evil practices of man. The heavens are in pain over the disobedience and unrighteousness of the children of men, and the angels, we are told, are waiting in their places in the Temple for the time to come when they will be called upon to go forth and reap down the earth. Judgments await the world, but they heed not, and apparently do not care. With fire and sword the Lord will plead with all flesh, and as the prophet has said respecting this event, “the slain of the Lord will be many;” and these things will overtake the world in an hour when they expect them not, when they will be crying peace, but alas, peace will have departed from them, and they left to devour and destroy each other. All these things are foretold and many of them are written in these revelations given in our day, and they are already being fulfilled before our eyes; and they will continue to be fulfilled, until all that is spoken of shall have come to pass. Therefore, I want to say to the Latter-day Saints: exercise faith in God, and exercise faith in his revelations, and read them and ponder over them, and pray earnestly that you may have a correct understanding of all that God has revealed, that you may grow in the light and knowledge of God, and see the importance of living your religion and of living uprightly before him; for all men, both Jew and Gentile, Saint and sinner, will be judged according to the deeds done in the body, and for the opportunities which we have of informing ourselves of the will of God concerning us, which if we allow to go unimproved, we cannot be held guiltless. It certainly becomes us, who have named the name of Christ, to walk uprightly before God, for we cannot escape his chastening hand if we reject the light we have received. Our condemnation will be far greater than those who never embraced the principles of the Gospel, if we apostatize, or through indifferent carelessness we allow the cares and things of this world to choke down the good seed planted, we have “tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come;” we “know the Master’s will,” and if we do it not we will be “beaten with many stripes.” 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 into Jordan to be baptized of John? To fulfil 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 telestial glory, but no man will receive of the celestial glory except it be through the ordinances of the House of God. Jesus performed that act that he might set the example; he was the way for others to follow. The Jews, as I have said, rejected him and the Gospel he brought to them, and they shed his blood. They have been paying the penalty of their misdeeds for the last 1,800 years. It costs something to shed innocent blood, it costs something to shed the blood of prophets and apostles. And I have sometimes taken the liberty, before strangers as well as Latter-day Saints, to express my views in regard to shedding the blood of Joseph Smith and other prophets. It has cost this nation four years’ war, laying in the dust nearly a million and a half of men, and it has also cost millions upon millions of dollars, creating a debt which it will never live to pay. This is the faith of Wilford Woodruff, and I think I have a right to exercise my faith in this matter. I say then, it costs something to shed the blood of righteous men in this as well as in previous generations.

My testimony is that judgments await Babylon, judgments await the Christian world, and if people will read their Bible, they will see these declarations written down, and these judgments will increase until the world is cleansed from wickedness. And I say to all the world, Repent of your sins, and be baptized for the remission of them, that you may receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and be saved in the kingdom of God. 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.

Therefore, yours, as well as my eternal destiny, our future position throughout the ages of eternity, depend upon the few hours, the few days, the few weeks we spend in the flesh. If I ever obtain a full salvation it will be by my keeping the laws of God. If I sin against God and man, I shall have to foot the bill; it will be so with you and with the whole world. This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ; this is the Zion of God, and what you see already accomplished in this desert land is really in fulfillment of the revelations of God. The hand of God has guided this Church from its incipiency to the present time. God will continue to direct its affairs, and there is no power on the earth or under the earth that can ever stop its progress, for he himself, has decreed that the Zion of the latter days shall never be overthrown; but on the contrary, as he has said through the mouth of the Prophet Isaiah, “For the nation and the kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.” Pretty strong doctrine to be taught by a humble man of God. Nevertheless, time will bring it about and it is not in the power of man to prevent it. I am a believer in revelation. I am a believer, from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet, with every particle of spirit in me, that God will bring about, literally and to the very letter, all that he has spoken through his servants, ancient and modern.

By way of concluding my remarks I wish to bear testimony to this congregation and to the strangers present, that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the living God; he was raised up by the Lord, and laid the foundation of this Church. He lived to accomplish the work he was raised up to do. He received the keys of the Priesthood from under the hands of Peter, James and John, and those pertaining to the gathering of scattered Israel, from under the hands of Moses, the leader of ancient Israel. Elijah, or Elias, also visited him and bestowed upon him the keys to “turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to the fathers,” which was in fulfillment of a prediction by the Prophet Malachi. He also received the keys of the Aaronic Priesthood under the hands of John the Baptist, which Priesthood pertains to the temporal government of the Church. After performing his work he sealed his testimony with his blood, passed behind the veil, and he with his brethren who have also gone, is still engaged in carrying on the same great work. He still labors by virtue of this Priesthood which he received on earth, and which he will continue to hold, worlds without end. And this will be the case with every faithful man of God who magnifies his calling and Priesthood here below.

May God bless you, my brethren and sisters and friends, with his Holy Spirit, and give you faith in him, and in his revelations, that you may be led to do his will while you live upon the earth. But whether you live to be thus favored or not, my testimony is that they will have their fulfillment. Even so, amen.

Discourse by Elder Wilford Woodruff, delivered at the Annual Conference, Saturday Morning, April 6, 1878.

The very fact that we have a people, that we have a Zion, that we have a kingdom, that we have a Church and a Priesthood which is connected with the heavens, and which has power to move the heavens, and that we know that the heavens are communicating with us, directing the performance of this great latter-day work in which the Latter-day Saints are engaged, this very fact alone should fill our hearts with humility before the Lord our God, and it should continually remind us in our reflections and feelings of the responsibility we are under both to Him and to one another, and also of our dependence upon him for all the blessings we enjoy of a spiritual as well as a temporal nature.

The prayer offered up by brother Pratt filled my mind with reflections of the past. Almost half a century has expired since the Prophet of God organized this Church upon the earth; but he and most of the men who labored prominently with him, in laying the foundation of this Church, are not with us today, their voices are hushed in death, they have finished their earthly work, having labored a series of years, and are now the other side of the veil. There are but two of the first Quorum of the Twelve with us in the flesh, and only two of the second Quorum. And this speaks in loud and forcible language, at least it does to me, that what we have to do in the interest of the great cause of salvation, we should perform it faithfully and diligently, making the very best use of the few remaining days we have yet to labor in the flesh.

While I refer to the absence of our brethren whose works remain and whose memories are cherished, I am fully conscious this morning that we who are left are not laboring alone, nor particularly for our own benefit, in a temporal point of view; but I realize that we are called and ordained of God to labor with him and the heavenly hosts, in the accomplishment of his purposes, the bringing forth and establishing of his Zion and Kingdom in the earth, and all that has been designed to be consummated in this the dispensation of the fullness of times. I also sense that when I and my brethren who still remain shall pass away, we shall go as others have done—we shall not take this world or any part of it with us. 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. We have been gathered here in our present condition by the commandment and by the inspiration of the Lord, to continue the work that others commenced, and like them we must improve the time in doing what is required of us, working faithfully for God and his Kingdom while the day lasts.

I know, you know, and all Israel knows who have received the fullness of the everlasting Gospel in this last dispensation of God to man, that this is the work of God and not of man; we understand this perfectly. This Church and Kingdom has been organized by the administration of angels from God. The organization of this Church has been governed and controlled by revelation and upon no other principle, and what has already been accomplished since our existence, as a church, reveals the handiwork of God, for no man could have done what has been done unless God were with him. I rejoice to have the privilege of meeting with so many of my brethren and sisters, and that I have the privilege of bearing testimony to the divinity of this latter-day work, and of the principles of salvation revealed from God to man. The scene I behold this morning, and that which I behold in traveling through the extent of this Territory, speaks to me in very loud language that it is in fulfillment of the designs of God, and the revelations of Jesus Christ, which are recorded not only in the Bible, or on the stick of Judah, but also in the Book of Mormon, or stick of Joseph in the hands of Ephraim, as well as in the New Testament, and those revelations of modern date as those of ancient time, have been sealed with the blood of him who brought them forth, and this testimony therefore is in force to all the world. The Lord is not trifling with this generation, neither is he trifling with the Saints or with the world of mankind. During the last 48 years the Gospel has been preached to this generation, and this work will continue preaching to the Gentiles, until the Lord directs otherwise. The harvest is ripe, and he, the Lord, said, through the Prophet Joseph, he that would thrust in the sickle and reap was called of God. And some have continued to labor faithfully almost from the organization of this Church to the present time—almost half a century. I think it a great blessing and privilege to stand in the midst of the people of God in this age of the world to preach the Gospel of Jesus, and to labor to build up Zion, in obedience to his commandments, and to carry out his purposes in the day and age in which I live. We, as a whole people, should certainly exercise our faith in God and in the revelations, more especially those that immediately refer to our present condition; no matter where they are found, in any of the records of divine truth. The Lord has said unto us, through Joseph Smith, that it matters not whether he speaks unto the children of men by his own voice or by the ministrations of angels, or whether by the voice of his servants, that it is all the same, it is his word, his mind and his will to those to whomsoever it comes; and that although the heavens and the earth pass away, not one jot or tittle of his word shall remain unfulfilled.

I am a believer in this revelation and also in the records which are left for us to pursue, the inspired words of ancient as well as modern Prophets; and I also believe that they will have their fulfillment in the due time of the Lord, and that no power on earth can prevent it. and I do not believe there has been a revelation given from God to man, from the days of father Adam to this hour, but what has had its fulfillment, or will have, as fast as time will admit; and we are every day of our lives making history, and we are also fulfilling the prophecies of Isaiah and many other ancient men of God, who were permitted in vision to see our day.

I know we live in a day of infidelity; I know that darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the minds of the people; I know that the Lord is angry with the wicked, and withholding his Spirit from the inhabitants of the earth; I know that light has come into the world, and that men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. But as a servant of the living God I will say that, notwithstanding all the unbelief of this wicked generation—the Christian, the Jewish and the pagan world, together with the combined efforts of the devil and wicked men, the fulfillment of the purposes of God in their times and seasons cannot be frustrated. These volumes of revelation are written on the pages of divine truth as in letters of fire, and they will have their fulfillment whether men believe or disbelieve, for they are the words of God.

It is a great work, an almighty work; it is a work different from that of any dispensation which God has given to man. When I look upon these Latter-day Saints I cannot help contemplating our calling and the labor required at our hands, and, when I am reminded of the account that we have all got to give before the judgment seat of God for the use we make of our own time and talents, and the gifts of God and the holy Priesthood, and the work of our God which has been committed to us, I feel to ask, What manner of men ought we to be. Our souls should be open to the building up of this Kingdom of God, and we should continue with increased diligence to rear towards heaven these Temples of our God, the foundation of which we have laid and commenced to build upon, so that all Israel who dwell here may enter into them and attend to the ordinances of the house of God. And I again say to the Latter-day Saints, this work the God of Israel requires at your hands. This requirement is not confined to the Twelve, the President of Stakes and the Bishops, but it is binding upon every man who has entered into covenant with the Lord our God, and I trust that one and all will willingly share this responsibility, and not for a moment permit this work to drag or appear laborious to perform.

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. We have a harvest to reap both sides of the veil. We have already done considerable work on this side, by way of preaching the Gospel to the nations of the earth, as commanded to do by God. Well do I remember the early experience of the first Elders of the Church, how we traveled afoot for thousands of miles, without purse or scrip, with valise in hand, and many times having to beg our bread, from door to door, in order to impart to the people a knowledge of the Gospel. Our garments are clear from the blood of this generation, and the testimony of these Elders will yet rise in judgment against this generation to condemn them. Notwithstanding the unbelief of the Christian world, and notwithstanding the warfare that may be waged against God and his Christ, Zion will be redeemed and his kingdom will be established never more to be thrown down. He holds the nations in his own hands, and he also has his Saints in his holy keeping, and he will continue to guide and direct and sustain his people, until they consummate all unto which they have been ordained.

Look at these valleys! When we came here in 1847, they were barren and desolate, without the least sign or mark of civilization. Today our Territory is filled with villages, towns and orchards, and the land is brought under a good state of cultivation, inhabited by a civilized race. Who are they? Sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty; they are a people that have been, as corn sifted in a sieve, among the Gentile nations, and called out by the proclamation of the everlasting Gospel. The Lord chose a boy from the humble walks of life, and endowed him with intelligence and power to commence this great work, and also to send forth others throughout this and to other nations bearing the message of life, and this people opened their hearts to receive it, and were baptized in water for remission of sins, and received the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost. They have been born of the Spirit, and they have seen the king– dom of God, and they have received ordination in order to enter into it. And when they enter into it, they have the spirit of it, and this makes the difference between the Latter-day Saints and the former-day Saints. No man can see the kingdom of God unless he is born of the Spirit; and this is wherein these Latter-day Saints have faith in God, and observe the signs of the times, and trust in him by this principle. Their prayers have ascended in the ears of the Lord of Sabbaoth, asking for things which they stood in need of; and he has answered our prayers and he has continued to sustain us until the present time. I ask, my brethren and sisters, will the Lord withhold now his hand, will he now close the heavens, withdrawing the power by which we have been upheld? No, he will not; his hand will continue over us if we be true to him and the laws he has given unto us. He has decreed before the foundation of this world, before the fall of man, that in the dispensation of the fulness of times, he would gather unto himself all things, both things which are in heaven and things on the earth. He is doing it, although the world generally does not know it.

Now, brethren and sisters, I do not wish myself to occupy all your time this morning, but I want to say to you that our position, our calling, our religion embrace the noble work of God, both temporal and spiritual, which rests upon us. We have to go forth with our hands and build up Zion. Zion will be built up; Zion will be redeemed, and she will arise and shine and put on her beautiful garments; she will break from off her neck her yoke, and she will be clothed with the glory of our God. Zion has been sold for naught; she will be redeemed without money; she will arise in her beauty and glory, as the Prophets of God have seen her; she will extend her borders and strengthen her stakes, and the God of heaven will comfort her, inasmuch as we will unite together to carry out his purposes.

I see nothing to tempt me or you to turn aside from the work given us to do. The Prophets have predicted that every weapon that is formed against Zion shall be broken, and this is in accordance with the revelations of God to us. He will continue this work and direct its onward course, but he expects us to continue to reclaim the waste places, and to continue to build Temples and also to impart of our substance. And I wish all Israel to understand that when we impart of our substance to build Temples that we do not do it to benefit the Lord at all, he had his endowments a long time before we were born, and also passed through his probation. We are his children, he wishes to exalt us back to his presence, and he knows very well we are obliged to walk in the same path and receive the same ordinances in order to inherit the same glory that surrounds him. And when we erect Temples in which to perform ordinances for the living and the dead, we do it to benefit our own blessed selves. I want salvation, I wish to inherit eternal life, I wish to get back to the presence of God from whence I came, when I have finished my probation in the flesh. And I believe that I desire nothing in this respect but what you also wish. Then I know that it requires my diligence and my constant labor and study, the little time I have to spend in the flesh, to do all I can to build up Zion and to establish the Church and the kingdom of God upon the earth. If we can only obtain eternal lives we shall attain to the greatest of God’s gifts to man. Our Savior, our Heavenly Father, the angel Gabriel, Peter, James and John, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, are not coming back to build our Temples for us, they are not coming to settle new country and open up new roads, plant out our trees, build up and beautify this land, this is our part of the work, and we have got it to do, working while we live, and when we go away we shall move on exactly as others have done, leaving our houses, our gardens, our flocks and herds, and all our earthly interests behind us. And when we go to the spirit world and our eyes are opened on eternal lives, we shall all marvel at the way in which our lives have been spent. There is a veil over all the earth, it is ordained of God that it should be so, and the fact of it being so will prove all of his children whether we will abide in his covenant even unto death or not. And those who are not willing to abide in their covenant unto the end for the building up of the kingdom of God, are not worthy of a place with God and with the Savior and those who have sealed their testimony with their blood.

I pray the Lord to bless you and all those who may attend this Conference, and also the brethren who may address you; and trust that our prayers may continually ascend into the ears of the Lord on behalf of Zion and her speedy redemption.

I will say before closing, that I have just returned from St. George, where I have been laboring in the Temple. The work of God continues there; as a general thing we have as much labor as the Temple is capable of sustaining. The spirit of the work does not lag. And I can safely add that just as quick as the people get the Temple done at this place, the way will be opened before them, they will feel the responsibility of attending to the work so essentially necessary to be done on behalf of those who have lived and passed away without having had the privilege of receiving the blessings of the Gospel; and as their time and attention will be occupied in this direction will they perceive the importance as well as the magnitude of the work. There are many today who stand in need of this assistance, and as I have often said, so say I again to this body of Latter-day Saints, that this labor devolves upon us, and God requires it at our hands. The Pro– phet Joseph may turn the keys in the spirit world, and he and those engaged with him may preach to the spirits in prison, but they cannot baptize them nor confirm them, nor administer offices of the endowment. Some person or persons dwelling in the flesh must attend to this part of the work for them; for it takes just as much to save a dead man who never received the Gospel as a living man. And all those who have passed away without the Gospel have the right to expect somebody in the flesh to perform this work for them, Amen.