PRESIDENT WILFORD WOODRUFF
was the next speaker. He said:
I feel that I want to say to you,
my brethren and sisters, God bless
you. And I feel to bless you. I am
thankful that I have the privilege
of spending a few moments here
and bearing my testimony to the
Church and Kingdom of God here
on earth, backing up the testimony
of Brother Cannon.
The God of heaven has set His
hand to carry out one of His pur-
poses concerning the history of this
world and its inhabitants. In the
formation and creation of the world
the Lord had before Him the whole
history of the children of God, of the
inhabitants of the earth. All men
who have been readers and are ac-
quainted with the revelations of God
in those records that have been
handed down to us, can clearly see
that if God has had a people on the
earth, He has given unto that peo-
ple the Holy Priesthood, the revela-
tions of heaven, and the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. We read in the Rev-
elations of St. John and other por-
tions of the Scriptures, that in the
last days the God of heaven would
set His hand to establish His king-
dom to be thrown down no more for-
ever. [Revelation 11:15] [Daniel 2:44] You and I have lived to see
that day. The Lord has set His
hand to call forth the children of
men to receive His Gospel and His
Priesthood. There is this one peculiar
principles connected with the King-
dom of God in every age of the
world, and that is, every man and
woman is dependent upon God Him-
self for all the blessings and all the
power that they possess to carry out
His purposes. There is no change
of the Priesthood from eternity unto
eternity. It has dwelt with the God
of Israel from eternity unto eternity,
and will remain unchangeable.
There is no change in the ordinances
of the Gospel of life and salvation.
There never has been; there never
will be to the endless ages of eter-
nity. And whenever that Gospel
has been offered to the sons of men,
the Holy Priesthood has had to be
sent down to aid in carrying out
God's work. There is no man who
ever breathed the breath of life since
God made the world who has had
power to go forth and adminis-
ter in the ordinances of the Gos-
pel of Christ without that Priesthood.
Another thing I wish to say: Al-
most sixty years have passed since
the Church was organized here on
the earth, and the Lord has car-
ried out one peculiar principle, and
that is this—He has chosen the
weak things of the world to con-
found the wise, and things which
are not to bring to pass things
which are. You may begin with
the creation of the world. You
may take all the servants of the
Almighty that the God of Israel
has ever made use of in any age of
the world to carry out His work,
and they have been the weak sons
of Adam; they have been the
weak instruments, from a worldly
standpoint, in the hands of Al-
mighty God. Why has the Lord
chosen that class of men? Because
they have been in a posi-
tion that they were obliged to
acknowledge the hand of God
in all the power they possessed.
Take our own day. Brother Cannon
has referred to this people, to this
Church and Kingdom. He has told
you the truth. When the time came,
in fulfillment of the revelations of
St. John and the ancient patriarchs
and prophets, for Him to establish
His Kingdom on the earth, He raised
up a class of men suitable for the pur-
pose. I will here say, the Lord has
never undertaken to perform any
work, in any dispensation or genera-
tion, without preparing a people for
it. The Lord raised up a young man
—Joseph Smith. His spirit was
kept in the eternal world for six
thousand years, to come forth by
appointment, through the loins of
ancient Joseph and Ephraim, to
stand in the flesh and to establish
this Church and Kingdom. And
he only lived long enough to perform
it. He only lived long enough to
bring forth the record of the Book of
Mormon,—the stick of Joseph in the
hands of Ephraim, and put it with
the stick of Judah, in fulfillment of
the revelations of God; and then go
forth and organize the Church, with
all the instruments, all the knowl-
edge, that all the divines through-
out the world did not have power to
do, neither did they know how to
perform that work. [Ezekiel 37:15-20] He was the first
man in the last days that ever organ-
[i]zed a church upon the foundation
of Apostles and Prophets, Christ
Jesus being the chief corner stone,
according to the order as it was
in the days of the Savior. And
when He established this work,
he established it with prophets,
with apostles, with pastors, with
teachers, with gifts, with helps,
with graces, with the Holy Priest-
hood, with the power of God, and
with the ordinances thereof. It is
true, he waded in deep water. It is
true that he was sacrificed. When
he had got the foundation of this
work laid, he himself laid down his
life. He was martyred in a Christian
country for the work of God and the
testimony of Jesus Christ. He was
martyred for his religion. He sealed
his testimony with his blood, as
Jesus and other patriarchs and
prophets sealed the dispensations in
which they lived.
From that day until now, this Church
and Kingdom has continued to grow
and increase. It mattered not what
amount of persecution, what amount
of affliction, what amount of opposi-
tion we had to meet with. That God
who created the heavens and the
earth holds this Church and King-
dom on His hands. And I here say
to my brethren and sisters, the
Church and Kingdom of God is here.
It has come to stay. It has been or-
ganized to stay; and that God who
has organized it will sustain it until
the scene is wound up.
I have been reflecting since sitting
in the stand here, where are our
brethern to whom we have listened
for years and years? Where is Pres-
ident Young? Where is Brother
Kimball? Where are Orson and
Parley Pratt? Where is George A.
Smith? Where is President John
Taylor? And where are all those
other Apostles who have passed
away? They are in the spirit
world, mingling with the Gods, con-
nected with all the patriarchs and
prophets who have ever lived on
the earth. You may ask the ques-
tion: Why is it, then, that God,
with the Savior, with Father Adam,
with Noah, with Enoch, with the
ancient patriarchs and prophets, and
with all the Apostles who have lived
in this day and generation, counsel-
ing together on the other side of the
vail, do not have power to turn
away this persecution that Brother
Cannon has been speaking of?
Jesus told His disciples that if he
were to pray to the Father, He
would give Him a legion of angels
who would come to defend Him; but,
He said, the will of the Father
would not in that way be fulfilled.
So I say to you. If many things that
we might desire in our hearts should
be fulfilled, the work of the Lord
would fail in being consummated.
We should remember that this gener-
ation, like all other generations, have
their own agency. The nation in
the midst of which we dwell today
has its agency. The nations of the
earth all have their agency. All
sects and parties have; in fact, all the
human family. And the God
of heaven will hold them responsi-
ble. He will hold us responsible,
according to the course we pursue.
If we work and fight against God
and the Kingdom of God, we have
got to meet that in days to come.
Brother Cannon has referred to
the situation of men who have
fought against this work. Yes,
brethren and sisters, we have seen
this from the organization of the
Church; we shall see it until the
scene is wound up. But I want to tell
you one thing, and that is, the God
of heaven has not gone to sleep;
neither has He gone on a long
journey; nor has He forgotten His
people. Does He intend to with-
draw His hand? "Leave judg-
ment with me; it is mine, saith the
Lord; I will repay." [Romans 12:19] It is our busi-
ness to leave judgment with the
Lord in all these matters. Let us
do our duty.
Joseph Smith said fifty years ago
last June, in speaking of the Priest-
hood—you can read it in the history
of the Church—"Men profess to
prophesy. I will also prophesy. I
say, in the name of the Lord, that
the signs of the coming of the Son
of Man have already commenced in
the earth, and from this time hence-
forth will the judgments of God
be manifest among the nations
of the earth. Wars, blood-
shed, earthquakes, storms, thun-
der, lightning, pestilence, fam-
ine and the judgments of God will
follow in their turn; and when these
things go forth upon the earth, they
will never be returned or withheld
until the work of God is wound up."
Let Israel read, let the inhabitants
of the earth read, with regard to the
signs of the times, and what do you
see? There are a great many things
manifested that the world do not
acknowledge the hand of God in;
but we do and we should. There-
fore I would say to the Latter-day
Saints, it is the will of God that you
should not be discouraged; that you
