Discourse 1896-06-07
Sunday, , by
PREST. WILFORD WOODRUFF.
-[REPORTED BY ARTHUR WINTER.]-
I suppose it is expected that while I
live and am able to meet with the Saints
I shall do a little talking and take my
turn with the rest. I feel disposed to
speak a few moments on this occasion,
if I can get the spirit of it.
I listened to two very interesting dis-
courses here this forenoon by two of the
Apostles. I was very much edified with
both of them, because they were true.
When the Lord called Joseph Smith as
a prophet, seer and revelator to organ-
ize this church, he organized it for all
time and for all purposes necessary to
prepare the iohabitants of the earth for
the coming of the Son of Man. I think
sometimes that even the Saints of God
almost forget their position, their calling,
their responsibility, and what God re-
quires at their hands. Brother Abraham
H Cannon referred this morning to the
Mutual Improvement Associations and
conveyed the idea that there was but a
small percentage of our young men in
this Stake of Zion who attended these
associations. Now, I want to say a few
words upon that subject. I want to
have our young men open their ears,
their eyes, their hearts, their spirits, and
look about themselves and understand
where they are and what their position
is. The God of heaven has set His
hand to build up Zion; has set His hand
to purify the earth, and to establish a
people on the earth to be prepared for
the coming of the Son of Man. The
Latter-day Saints who dwell in these
mountains have this responsibility rest-
ing upon them; and no man who has
had the privileges of this Gospel, and
who has parents in the Church of God,
can throw off this responsibility. It is
the desire of the authorities of the
Church and of the parents of these young
men and maidens who dwell here, that
they should rise up and magnify their
calling and fulfill their position in the
earth. There is no other people under
heaven that enjoy the privileges that
the Latter-day Saints have, and that
our sons and daughters have in our or-
ganizations in the midst of Israel. I am
anxious that all Latter-day Saints, from
the Presidency of the Church down to
the last member, should understand
clearly in their minds that the God of
heaven is not trifling with this people, is
not trifling with this generation, nor
with the inhabitants of the earth. All
that He has said, all that He has in-
spired His prophets to prophesy, from
father Adam down to our day, concern-
ing this generation and the inhabitants
of the earth, will have its fulfillment in
the earth. No power can stay the hand
of God in this thing. Blessed is that
man who has got a son that is ready
and willing to go forth to the nations of
the earth and warn the world, to pre-
pare them for the judgments which
await the world, and to save the souls of
men. There is nothing more pleasing
to me than to see our sons willing to go
upon missions, either at home or abroad;
to see them laying the foundation in
their youth and early manhood to be-
come useful in the kingdom of God and
useful in the world at large. Our
Heavenly Father requires this mission
and this warning at the hands of these
Apostles, and the Presidents of the
Church, and the Elders of Israel, and
the Latter-day Saints. We are all held
responsible for the course we pursue in
these things. I have a great anxiety
myself that none of our sons will forsake
the kingdom of God and turn to those
things that are not profitable, sacrificing
the Gospel and the privileges that lie be-
fore us for the sake of the pleasures of
this world. Our sons should not do that.
Our daughters should encourage their
brothers to magnify their calling and to
do their duty in their day and time. Our
Sabbath schools and our Mutual Im-
provement associations should be at-
tended by all the young men in Israel.
The Sabbath schools have a very good
attendance. I think there are nearly
one hundred thousand enrolled in the
Sabbath schools in these mountains of
Israel. I hope that we may pursue that
course ourselves wherein we may be
justified before the Lord.
The hand of God has been manifest
in this Church from its organization un-
til today. Sixty-six years have past
and gone since the Prophet Joseph or
ganized the Church, and hundreds and
thousands have been inspired by the
spirit and power of God to embrace the
Gospel. This spirit was upon me in my
boyhood. The first sermon I heard an
Elder in Israel preach I believed, and
went forth and was baptized. And from
that day to this, I will say before God,
angels and men, in all that I have passed
through in this Church, there never has
been one moment that I have had any
doubt in my mind with regard to the
work of God. I have been in the midst
of leading men, some of whom have
apostatized and turned away; but I have
never seen anything that ever tempted
me to turn to the right or left from obey-
i[n]g the commandments of God or be-
lieving in the revelations of God.
We as Latter-day Saints believe the
Bible; but are we looking for the fulfill-
ment of the Bible? Read the revela-
tions of St. John, and read what is com-
ing to pass in the last days before the
coming of the Son of Man. These
things are beginning to manifest them-
selves in the earth, and they will con-
tinue until the scene is wound up and
prophecy is fulfilled. I will take the
liberty of saying today that what you
have seen going abroad of late in our
own nation and among the inhabitants
of the earth, there is a meaning to it.
Does anybody understand it? Does any-
body comprehend why all of a sudden,
so to speak, these judgments are mani-
fest, laying waste our cities and towns?
This is only the beginning of these
judgments that are going to awake the
world; and they will continue until the
rivers and the seas turn to blood and to
gall, and many of the inhabitants of the
earth will die because of these things.
They have all been portrayed, and they
will be fulfilled.
My brethren and sisters, this work is
upon us. There is no getting away
from it if we expect to gain salvation
and exaltation. It was laid upon Joseph
Smith and those who have followed him
in the Priesthood. We as Elders of
Israel have gone abroad to the nations
in our day and time, and we know for
ourselves, and not for another, that the
gifts and graces follow the Elders of
Israel in our day as they have in the days
of Christ and the Apostles. You all
know this. I do not suppose that there
is a man among us who is not acquaint-
ed with these things. Those gifts and
graces have always followed the Priest-
hood and the administration of the
Elders. The sick have been healed,
devils have been cast out, the blind have
been made to see, the deaf have heard,
the Gospel of Christ has been manifest
in all its power from the beginning of
the Church. If this were not the work
of God, these things would not have
been manifested as they have been. I
am not telling you anything that is new
to you. These things belong to the
Gospel of Christ. They were with the
Apostles of Christ in His day. There is
one thing I have sometimes marveled at
—that Jesus Christ, the Son of the Liv-
ing God, the Savior of the world, with
the great and mighty work which rested
upon His shoulders, only dwelt ion the
flesh three years and a half after he
entered into the ministry. Joseph Smith,
who was called to lay the foundation of
this work, spent fourteen years in the
flesh after the Church was organized.
John the revelator, when speaking of
the events that were to take place in the
last days, says:
And I saw another angel fly in the midst of
heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach
unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every
nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and
give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment
is come. [Revelation 14:6-7]
