Discourse 1892-11-13
PRESIDENT WILFORD WOODRUFF,
After quoting the words, "Blessed are
the dead which die in the Lord from
henceforth, yea saith the Spirit, for
they rest from their labors and their
works do follow them," [Revelation 14:13] said those
present had already heard quite as
good a sermon as he himself could
preach in the letter just read from
their departed brother whose taber-
nacle was before them, and whose
spirit had entered upon its mission on
the other side of the veil. To Presi-
dent George Q. Cannon, his family,
and the relatives of all those dead ones
whose names had just been read in
their hearing, he would say, if the veil
were removed and they could see
their departed ones in the spirit world,
they would rejoice with every senti-
ment of their heart at having had the
privilege of being the parents, brothers
and sisters of those who had entered
upon their labors and were at work
therein today. He would not attempt
on that occasion to ta[l]k about any of
their brethren in particular who had
left this sphere of action and entered
upon their ministerial labors beyond.
Those who died in the Lord hardly
tasted of death. When the spirit
left the body it entered into
the presence of the righteous. There
was a work on the other side of the
veil belonging to this dispensation as
well as to all others; and our Savior
Himself spent but a very short time in
the flesh—only three and a half years
—after he began his ministry before He
laid down His life, when He was cru-
cified and His blood was shed for the
redemption of the world. He then
entered immediately upon His work,
preaching to "the spirits in prison,"
and when His body was resurrected
He ascended to His Father. The
Savior's work had never ceased from
that day until now. That was an en-
sample to all men under heaven who
had received the Gospel of Jesus
Christ, who had received the Priest-
hood and been called to labor for the
salvation of the world.
He (the speaker) had listened to the
reading of several letters from their
departed brother, one of which had
been read that morning. Those to his
father concerning his mission were
deeply interesting to them all, as show-
ing the position the deceased
occupied, his great zeal, and his
desire to [l]eave the souls of men.
Brother Cannon's mission extend-
ed over but a few months, from
the time he entered the Master's vine-
yard until his spirit left its tabernacle.
But during that brief period he per-
formed an excellent work; he opened
a good many doors and brought souls
into the Kingdom. The speaker
thought that if those whose sons and
daughters died in the Lord and were
taken from among them could compre-
hend the work laid out for them by
our heavenly Father, they would feel
thoroughly satisfied. There was a great
amount of work to be done on the other
side of the veil by those who lived in
the flesh and labored in this great work
upon the earth from the time of Joseph
Smith down to the present. Temple
work for the dead was an important
duty in which a good many of the
Latter-Day Saints were engaged, and
more or less had to be done in this
respect in every age when the Lord
had a people on the earth. In these
last days this same duty rested upon us.
Our fathers who had died without a
knowledge of the Gospel had gone
into the spirit world, a[n]d we should
labor for them here. This they would
all learn when they, in their turn,
reached the other side of the veil and
the books were opened. A number of
the Latter-day Saints were taken
away in the prime of life, and some-
times it seemed that the very best of
our boys on earth were called to depart
hence. He did not know that they were
actually better than those who were
left; but certainly they had remained
faithful to the end.
As to him whose tabernacle now laid
before them, he felt that all was right.
He was a good and faithful boy, a true
Elder in Israel; he labored diligently
in the Master's cause up to the last
hour that he dwelt in the flesh, and he
rejoiced today in the spirit world
among the Lord's annointed, the
righteous that dwelt there. He felt
that Brother George Q. Cannon and
his family, the brothers and sistere [sisters] of
the deceased, and the relatives of all
others who had been called to mourn
the loss of their beloved ones,
those who had died among
the nations of the earth, had
all cause to rejoice in that they
continued faithful until called hence;
and when the books were opened and
we could understand these things
aright, it would be seen that the hand
of the Lord was in it and that what He
had done was in accordance with His
mind and will.
In conclusion, President Woodruff
prayed that the comforting influence
of the Lord might rest down upon the
sorrowing ones, until our bodies and
spirits were reunited on the morning
of the resurrection.
