DISCOURSE
Delivered by President Wilford Woodruff,
Sunday Morning, ,
at the Semi-Annual Conference, held
in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City,
Utah.
I feel disposed to try to address this
assembly of Latter-day Saints for
a while this morning; but I wish to say
that I need not only the strict atten-
tion but the faith and prayers of the
Saints of God, for no man can fill the
place which I or these Apostles occupy,
to fulfil the command of God and the
requirements of the Latter-day Saints,
except by the inspiration of Almighty
God. This is a truth that has remained
on the earth from the day of Father
Adam to this hour.
I have some things upon my mind I
would like to lay before this assembly
if I can get sufficient of the spirit of
inspiration to do it. To commence
with, I want to bear my testimony to
these Latter-day Saints and to the
world that I am held responsible be-
fore God, the angels and the heavenly
hosts for the testimony which I bear
before you; and so is every man who
bears record of the Son of God and of
the work of God in this or any other
generation. These Latter-day Saints
bear record to the world, and have
borne record for almost a generation
past, that Joseph Smith was a Prophet
of God; that they know this work is of
God, and [t]hat this is the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
They are held responsible for this, and
if they bear a true testimony, the na-
tions of the earth who hear that testi-
mony will be held responsible for the
use they make of it. Do you ask me
how I know this is the work of God,
and that Joseph Smith is a Prophet
of God? I will tell you how
I know. I know it by the revelations
of Jesus Christ and by the inspiration
of the Lord. If I may be allowed to
refer to myself without being consider-
ed egotistical, I will tell you why I
bear this testimony.
Eighty-five years have passed over
my head since I first tabernacled in
the flesh. Almost sixty years of that
period I have been a member of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. During that time I have borne
some portion of the Holy Priesthood,
and for fifty-three years I have occu-
pied the position of the Apostleship, in
connection with my brethren. I have
also traveled abroad and at home. I
have been taught from my childhood
up by the revelations of God in the re-
cords of divine truth that have been
given to us, that there is one God, and
that there is one Jesus Christ, who
is the Savior of the world, and the
only Savior pertaining to this world
and to the redemption thereof. I have
been taught that there is one Priest-
hood, in its two divisions. I have been
taught that there is one Holy Ghost,
and that there is one Gospel and one
set of ordinances for the salvation of
the whole posterity of Adam, and only
one. I have been taught that these
ordinances are the same in every age
of the world. Whoever reads the New
Testament can see the testimony of
the Apostles that there was but one
Gospel in that day and generation; and
that Gospel was taught by Adam him-
self to his posterity. The same Gospel
was taught by Moses, and by all the
patriarchs and prophets down to the
days of Jesus Christ. There was but
the one Gospel. But the promise was
that whoever received that Gospel
should receive the Holy Ghost and the
gifts thereof, and these gifts were made
manifest from generation to generation
when the God of heaven had a people
on the face of the earth.
In traveling during these sixty years
that I have been in the Church, abroad
and at home, I have been associated
with the Elders of Israel in the ad-
ministration of these ordinances to the
human family. What has been the
result? Remember now what I to[l]d
you, that I am held responsible for my
testimony. I have traveled, I may say,
in the midst of visions, in the midst of
the administration of angels, in the
midst of the power of God. In connec-
tion with my brethren, I have laid
hands upon the sick, and they have re-
covered. We have laid hands upon
the blind, and they have seen; upon
the deaf, and they have heard; upon
the lame, and they have walked; upon
those possessed with devils, and they
were cast out; and even unto the resur-
rection of the dead. Those gifts and
graces that have followed the servants
of God in every age of the world
have been associated with this
Church from the day of its organ-
ization until this hour. These are
truths in the sight of high heaven, and
I will meet them there when I go to
the other side of the veil. Therefore, if
there are any strangers here, I bear
testimony to these things, for I know
they are true. The inspiration of the
Holy Ghost deceives no man, and
when any people receive this Gospel
and this Priesthood, they know for
themselves whether the work is of God
or not. Yes, we lay hands upon the
sick, and while we do so, the Spirit and
power of God comes upon us, from the
crown of our head to the soles of our
feet. We lay hands upon men to or-
dain them to the Priesthood, and the
power of God rests upon the men who
administer. These thirty thousand
Elders who dwell here in the moun-
tains of Israel, when they go to the
nations of the earth and get up and
declare the Gospel of Jesus Christ
to the world, the Holy Ghost
is with them. They bear a testimony
that rejoices the hearts of men, and
men receive that testimony, and ev-
erything they promise them is fulfilled
to the very letter.
This is the reason why I know that
Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God,
and that this is the Church of God on
the earth. And I wish many times
that I had power to express to the
Latter-day Saints what is in my heart,
and what the vision of my mind opens
unto me in those seasons when I am
inspired with the Spirit and power of
God to see what lies before this people
and before this generation. Oh! ye Lat-
ter-day Saints, you talk about revelation,
and wonder if there is any revelation.
Why, bless your souls, say nothing
about the Apostles and Elders around
me, these mountains contain thousands
upon thousands of devoted women,
holy women, righteous women, virtu-
ous women, who are filled with
the inspiration of Almighty God. Yes,
these women have brought forth an
army of sons and daughters in these
mountains by the power of God, and
these sons and daughters partake of
the inspiration of their mothers, as
well as of their fathers. I will ask you,
what are these Apostles doing when
they rise up and preach to you? What
are these Elders of Israel doing when
they bear record here to the Latter-day
Saints and to the world, if they have
not inspiration and rev[e]lation? There
is not a man on the footstool of God
Almighty today who has power to
preach the Gospel and testify to its
truth, only by the inspiration of the
Holy Ghost. Yes, we have revelation.
The Church of God could not live
twenty-four hours without revelation.
We do not have as much as we ought
to have; and when I look at the work
that has been piled up for these Latter-
day Saints to bear off in the world, I
feel as though we need a good deal of
more inspiration and revelation than
we have. We want our souls to be
wide open to the things of God, and
to understand our position and destiny.
I realize, Latter-day Saints require at
my hands, as President of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Lat-
ter-day Saints, many things. They
also require many things at the hands
of my counselors and these Apostles.
We can accomplish what is required
of us if we have the faith and the as-
sistance of the Latter-day Saints and
the power of God; but without that we
can do nothing.
I will say a few words with regard to
another dispensation. The whole
Christian world profess to believe in
the Bible. You look through that
book, and you will not find a single in-
stance of a Prophet, or an Apostle, or
an inspired man going forth to preach
the Gospel except by the power of
the holy and everlasting Priest-
hood. No man has had power
to go forth and administer in the ordi-
nances of salvation without that
Priesthood, from Adam down. Father
Adam was a great High Priest. So
were his sons that were with him—
Seth, Enos, Jared, Canaan, Mahala-
leel, Enoch and Methuselah; and a
great many others bore the holy
Priesthood. All that Moses did was
by the power of the holy Priesthood.
All that Jesus Christ and the Apostles
did was by the power of the Priest-
hood. Jesus Christ was our great
High Priest, and He came into the
world and laid down His life as a great
sacrifice for the redemption of the
world. It is that dispensation that I
wish to say a few words about. It was
rather a peculiar dispensation. The
Savior came to the Jewish nation—to
His own—through the loins of Abra-
ham, Isaac and Jacob, and David. The
Jewish nation rejected Him. He la-
bored until they put Him to death. He
lived only three years and a half
after He entered the ministry.
He lived long enough, however, to
choose twelve Apostles, to organize a
church, to warn that nation, and to
declare unto them what would come
upon their heads. Moses had also told
the Jewish nation of these things in
his day, by the inspiration of the Lord.
Has one jot or title fallen unfulfilled?
Not one. When the Savior suffered
that ignominious death on the cross,
and was about to give up the ghost,
He said, "Father, forgive them, for
they know not what they do." [Luke 23:34] Is not
that a strange saying for a man who
was being crucified and about to go
into the spirit world? But Jesus saw
everything that would befall the Jew-
ish nation, and well might He make
such a remark. He saw that one
thousand eight hundred years after
His death this yoke of bondage and
trial and tribulation would rest upon
the posterity of Judah, and he was
ready to forgive them. No, they
did not know what they did.
They did not comprehend it. They
did not understand that they were put-
ting to death their Shiloh—the king of
the Jews, their great Redeemer. They
were too overwhelmed with darkness
and iniquity to comprehend this.
But, as I was saying, Jesus chose
twelve Apostles. They were fisher-
men, weak and illiterate. But the
Lord has always chosen the weak
things of this world, instead of the
great, and the learned, and the rich,
and the powerful of the earth. Why
has He done it? That He might have
instruments that He could handle—
men who would obey Him, who
would take His counsel and carry out
His commandments. In preparing
this dispensation in which we live the
Lord has known perfectly well what
lay before us. He has known the
mighty events that were to be heaped
upon the heads of both Jew and
Gentile, Saint and sinner, Zion and
the world; and He has prepared an
element to do this work of His,
which He has gathered here
in the mountains of Israel. But in the
days of the Savior it was a dispensa-
tion of sacrifice; and Jesus Christ and
the Apostles only lived a little while
after they were chosen, to warn the
nation in which they dwelt and that
generation. Jesus Christ was crucified,
the Apostles were put to death, and
most every man who bore the Priest-
hood was slain, excepting John the
Revelator. The Lord had ordained
him to live, and he did not die, but
remains today upon the face of the
earth, in fulfilment of the promises of
God to him. But in that day they had
not the privilege of building the Zion
of God or the Kingdom of God. It was
not a dispensation prepared for that.
These men laid down their lives, and
the judgments of God overtook the
Jewish nation, in fulfillment of the pre-
dictions of the Savior and the Pro-
phets. Moses told them in his day,
"And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine
own body, the flesh of thy sons and of
thy daughters, which the Lord thy
God hath given thee, in the siege, and
in the straitness, wherewith thine ene-
mies shall distress thee." [Deuteronomy 28:53] All this
came to pass, and the kingdom was
taken from the earth, the holy Priest-
hood was taken up to God, who gave
it, and the Church went into the wil-
derness, and there remained until the
day set for its restoration to the world.
But I want to speak more particularly
about this great and last dispensation,
in which the Lord has said, through
the mouths of all the patriarchs and
prophets, a mighty work should be per-
formed. It is different, my brethren and
sisters, from the days of the Savior. I
do not believe there ever was a greater
dispensation than the one in which
you and I live, because in it is cen-
tred the fulfilment of all prophecy
and all revelation that has been mani-
fest looking to the final restoration of
all things before the coming of the
Son of Man. I want to speak of our
condition today before the Lord. When
the Savior died He went to preach to
the spirits in prison. Most all the
people from the days of Noah to that
day had died without the Gospel, and
Jesus went and preached to them.
They had this work resting upon
them in that day. In this day and
generation we have in the Bible, the
Book of Mormon and the Doctrine
and Covenants the history of the
Latter-day Saints and of the world.
You are my witnesses today that this
people are here in fulfilment of these
revelations and prophecies. We have
had a Prophet raised up in these last
days, as great a Prophet as ever
breathed the breath of life, save Jesus
Christ, and He was raised up for the
purpose of laying the foundation
of this work. And how is this
dispensation and this work to com-
mence? I would like to have the
Christian world read the revelations of
St. John. There you have before you
a picture of what awaits this genera-
tion. You have there proclaimed that
in the commencement of this great
and last work in the last days an angel
of God would fly through the midst of
heaven, having the everlasting Gospel
to preach to them that dwell on the
earth, "and to every nation, and kin-
dred, 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] Yes, ye Latter-
day Saints, the hour of God's judgment
is come." The Lord raised a great
Prophet unto us. He was a mighty
man, although illiterate, in one sense
of the word. The Lord called upon him
to perform this work, and he not only
received the visitation of angels, but
even the voice of God. This is the
only dispensation that I have ever
read of in which the Father and Son
both appeared to the man whom He
had chosen to establish His Church.
Joseph Smith received this great
honor. He was a Prophet of God.
I have traveled with him a good many
miles. Speaking of the gifts and
graces manifested by the Elders of
Israel, I have seen Joseph Smith in
one day go forth among the sick and
command those that were dying to
arise and be made whole, and they
have leaped from their beds, been
clothed, and walked out in the street
and followed the Prophet of God in his
travels through the midst of the Saints
of God. Can I doubt this work? Can
you doubt it? I think not. No man
that has had any experience in this
work can doubt it. You remember
Brother Fordham. He was breath-
ing his last breath of life when
the Prophet took him by the hand
and commanded him in the name of
Jesus of Nazareth to arise and be
made whole. He leaped from his
bed, was clothed, and walked out and
into the house of Brother Joseph
Bates Noble, who is still living in
these mountains. He was also lying
at the point of death and was instantly
healed by the power of God, through
the voice of the Prophet of God. I
name these things because I have had
experience in them and have a right to
mention them. The power of God was
with the Prophet, from the time he
was ordained to the Priesthood until
he was murdered. He lived some four-
teen years after he laid the foundation
of this work. And when he organized
this Church he organized it in its full
power and glory, and every gift and
grace, and every ordinance that
belongs to the Church of God.
Nothing was ever manifest in any
age of the world but what was included
in the organization of this Church. It
was organized with Prophets, with
Apostles, with Pastors, with Teachers,
with helps and governments, with
gifts and graces, and with the Mel-
chisedek and Aaronic Priesthoods.
Joseph Smith was true and faithful to
death, and he was a mighty man of
God, as may be seen by anyone who
will read that code of revelations which
he left to us—as sublime revelations as
God ever gave to man.
Now, brethren and sisters, the
foundation has been laid, and you are
here in these mountains of Israel.
Myself and others have preached to
you in England, in Scotland, in
Wales, in the islands of the sea and
among the nations of the earth. We
have declared unto you the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. You have believed our
testimony and have received it. You
went forth and were baptized in water
for the remission of your sins, and
you received the Holy Ghost by
the power of God, and by that
power you are here today. We might
have preached to you till we had been
as old as Methuselah, but if our testi-
mony had not been backed up by the
power of God, you would have re-
mained at home; you would not have
been here in these mountains to fulfil
the revelations of God. These things
are true, and you know they
are true. You know you received
the testimony yourselves, and by this
you have been gathered together. Up-
wards of sixty years have passed over
our heads since the organization of this
Church on the earth, and its history is
before the world. It has been a little
stone cut out of the mountains without
hands. We have had a terrible war-
fare from the organization of this
Church until today; but one thing is
comforting and encouraging: the God
of heaven inspired men thous-
ands of years ago to tell exactly
what these Latter-day Saints would do.
They were of the house of Israel, scat-
tered among the nations of the earth,
and the Lord would stretch out His
hand and gather them together, and
they would go to the place that the old
Patriarch said should belong to Joseph:
Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruit-
ful bough by a well; whose branches run
over the wall. The archers have sorely
grieved him, and shot at him, and hated
him: But his bow abode in strength, and
the arms of his hands were made strong
by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob;
(from thence is the shepherd, the stone of
Israel.) . . . The blessings of thy
fathers have prevailed above the bless-
ings of my progenitors unto the utmost
bounds of the everlasting hills: they shall
be on the head of Joseph, and on the
crown of the head of him that was separ-
ated from his brethren. (Gen. xlix,22-26).
You are the descendants of this holy
man of God. You have come here in
fulfillment of these things.
I do not expect that I will be able to
answer my mind in telling you how I
feel with regard to these things, but I
will do the best I can. You have been
gathered to these mountains of Israel,
led by a prophet, a seer, a revelator,
and a mighty man. When we came
here we found a barren desert. Men
said, "Go to California; you cannot do
anything here." "No," President
Young said, "we shall stay here; we shall
build a temple here; we shall
build a city here. This is what is or-
dained of God, and we shall accom-
plish it." Judge, brethren and sisters,
whether he was inspired or not. We
have made a beginning. We have
made the desert to blossom as the
rose, and laid the foundation for the
great work of our God that is going to
be fulfilled in these mountains of
Israel, and you will stand in holy
places while the judgments of God
work in the earth. Yes, let the world
read these judgments of God and that
which lies before all nations under
heaven. These things will come to
pass to the very letter. Then what is
our duty and our position here? The
Lord told us through the Prophet
Joseph in the beginning of this work
that He was going to call Elders into
the vineyard for the last time, to prune
the vineyard. We have got to
prepare it for the coming of the
Son of Man. The wheat has
got to be gathered into the
garner before the chaff is burned. And
the Elders of Israel have got to go
forth and warn the inhabitants of the
earth, as Joseph Smith told the Twelve
Apostles the last time I saw him be-
fore his martyrdom, when he laid be-
fore us the work he was required to do.
The Prophet said: "God has given to
me every key, every power and princi-
ple of salvation belonging to this great
last dispensation; and I have sealed
upon your heads every key, principle
and power which God has sealed upon
me. Now, you Apostles, round up
your shoulders and bear off this king-
dom, or you will be damned, saith the
Lord." I do not forget these things,
and they are true. I believe I am the
only man living in the flesh who was
present on that occasion. This is our
position, brethren and sisters, before
the Lord. There is a tremendous
responsibility upon these Latter-
day Saints. We have the world
to warn. We have to preach
the Gospel, and attend to those things
that God has committed to us. The
Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum
were martyred, and they will have a
martyr's crown. They have gone to
the other side of the veil, to mingle
with the Gods and to plead for their
brethren, and they are faithful and
diligent in their duties. But some of
us are left behind. Since that time
this work has gone on, and it has got
to continue, and we cannot avoid this.
What the Lord requires at the hands of
these Apostles, and Elders and Latter-
day Saints is to warn the world, to
preach the Gospel, to build up Zion, to
carry out the purposes of the Lord, and
to prepare ourselves to stand in holy
places while the judgments of God
work in the earth.
Joseph Smith revealed unto us the
principle of the redemption of the
dead. There was no revelation I ever
read that gave me more joy and con-
solation than that. Jesus Christ and
the Apostles had to go to the spirits in
prison and redeem those who had lived
from the days of Noah down to their
generation. Here we have one thous-
and eight hundred years, during which
millions and millions of the human
family have died without the Gospel of
Christ. They have gone into the spirit
world, and the Lord expects these Lat-
ter-day Saints to go forth and redeem
these dead, as they hold the keys of
the salvation of their dead; so that
when they go into the spirit world and
meet their fathers and their mothers
and their relatives, they shall not say
to them, "You held the keys of my
salvation, and you have not attended to
this work, and I am left here in prison."
We should not neglect this. It is not
only our duty to preach the Gospel and
to warn the world, that they may be
left without excuse in the day of God's
judgment, but it is our duty to re-
deem our dead. Joseph Smith, when
he was martyred, went and opened
the prison doors in the spirit world.
So did those brethren that died in
Zion's camp. Every Elder that has
gone to the other side of the veil has
a work to perform there, and those
in the spirit world will receive their
testimony. But they cannot be bap-
tized there. Their sons and daugh-
ters who dwell in the flesh have to
carry out this great and mighty work.
Brethren and sisters, these are some
of the duties that are required of us.
We should open our eyes, and our
ears, and our hearts, to see, hear and
understand the great and mighty re-
sponsibility that rest upon us. Thank
God, we have had power in this barren
desert to build three temples. Hun-
dreds of thousands of the dead have
been redeemed in these temples, and
there are millions yet to be redeemed.
Here is this Salt Lake Temple that
President Young laid the founda-
tion of. We want to finish that
temple and dedicate it unto
the Lord. This is some of
the work that is required of us. The
eyes of all the heavenly hosts are over
these Latter-day Saints, and they are
over these sons and daughters that
dwell in the mountains of Israel. God
Himself and His Son Jesus Christ, who
is our advocate with the Father, look
to us to do this work. The eyes of
Joseph Smith and every Prophet and
Saint of God who dwells in the spirit
world are watching over us. They
cannot come here and build that Tem-
ple. They are not ordained to that.
But we are here in the flesh, and I
ask, in the name of the Lord, and as
a great favor of these Latter-day
Saints, that we will unite together
with our means and finish that Temple,
that we may go into it and redeem our
dead. Many of you have got thousands
of relatives in the spirit world who
are looking to you. They never
heard the Gospel in life, but they will
hear it, at the mouth of David Patten,
Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John
Taylor, and these Apostles and Elders
that have gone into the spirit world.
But, as I said before, they cannot be
baptized there. We can, and we must
do it for them.
This is how I feel about our position.
We are here by the power of God. It
is a marvel to me that we are as well
off as we are. It is a marvel to me
that we have the power that we have.
For there is a vast number of fallen
spirits that are at war against God and
His Christ, against this people and this
Church, and against the redemption
of the dead. Lucifer knows that if
this Church prospers, his kingdom will
fall. But God has sustained us, and
will sustain us until we get through, if
we do our duty. The hand of God is
over us here, and Zion is a city
set upon a hill, which cannot be
hid. We are only small, and have only
just begun the organization; but the
Lord will hasten His work, and it will
continue until all these promises of
God will be fulfilled. There is where
my faith rests and my consolation
dwells. I know that God is true, and
that the testimonies of all the Patri-
archs and Prophets, have thus far been
fulfilled to the very letter. There is
not a city nor a generation but has felt
the chastening hand of God when they
have undertaken to overthrow the
work of God.
I want to say some[t]hing in relation
to home industry. True, it is Sunday,
but that matters not; for we are called
to build up Zion temporally as well
as spiritually. All that has been said
in our Conference with regard to home
industry is good. We want to con-
tinue this, and as far as we possibly
can we should, as President Young
told us, open doors of work
and labor among ourselves. These
temporal matters are a part
of the labors that we have to per-
form while we are here. Brethren,
when we get on the other side of the
veil and our eyes are opened, we will
marvel over a great many things that
we do not understand here; and a
great many things will there be un-
derstood that cannot be here.
One subject more I want to name,
and that is with regard to our future.
I will tell you what the Lord has re-
vealed to me. You talk of revelation.
I have a go[o]d many revelations. We
are not particularly required to write
all the revelations given to us. Joseph Smith
wrote revelations in his day,
and we have them to read, and they
will all be fulfilled to the very letter.
There has been a good deal said about
the rising generation of the Latter-
Day Saints. I will tell you what
will come to pass. My sons, the
sons of my Counselors, the sons of
these Apostles, and the sons of
this people, will rise up by
the power of God, and they
will take this Kingdom and bear it off.
You need make no mistake about this
matter. They are the element that
God has ordained, the same as He
ordained us, to do His work. Our
posterity will not forsake the Lord, nor
their fathers, nor their mothers, nor
the work in which they are engaged.
Too many of them, it is true, have
been led astray; too many of them
have been found where they should
not be; but the bulk of the sons of this
people will remain true and faithful to
this work. There is no other element
that the heavens look to but the rising
generation of the Latter-day Saints, in
connection with the Lamanites, and
they will be true and faithful. The
Spirit of God will be with them, and
they will follow the footsteps of their
fathers, as their fathers follow Christ;
and they will in their day and time
stand—yes, brethren and sisters, our
sons will stand in the flesh in the midst
of these judgments of Almighty God
when it will require faith and power,
even to commanding the elements to
obey them, to live. These judgments
are at the door.
Brethren and sisters, many of us
forget at times that we are here on a
mission. When I was but a boy I read
the New Testament, under old Dr.
Porter and others, and I read about
Jesus Christ and His Apostles; that
they had power to command the ele-
ments to obey them, power to com-
mand the sick and they were healed,
and power to command the dead and
they were raised to life. "Oh," said I,
"may I live to se[e] a Prophet; may I live
to see an Apostle; may I live to see a
man of God who will teach me these
principles." The first sermon I heard
preached by a servant of God I em-
braced the Gospel and was baptized.
From that day to this I have not seen
one moment when I have had
any doubt with regard to the truth
of this work. Whatever trials I
have had, they have been
of a different nature to that. I say
to our young men in Zion, arise
and obey the commands of God. Go before
the Lord and get the Holy Ghost, and
open your eyes to the work that lies
before you. Your fathers are passing
away and going to the other side of the
veil, where we shall all go in our time.
But the kingdom will rise, and God
will sustain it, and it will never fall
from this time till it is prepared as the
Bride, the Lamb's wife, for the coming
of the Son of Man.
I feel to bless the Latter-day Saints.
We have got a noble class of men and
women in the mountains of Israel. No
better men and women ever lived on
the earth. Read the history of these
Relief Societies, these Improvement
Associations, these Primaries, and the
labors of our sisters in Israel. They
have been true and faithful all the
way through, and they have
been raised up, the same as
the Elders of Israel have, to
stand in the flesh and to magnify their
callings in their day and time. They
are doing a great work, and God will
bless them, and I bless them with
every sentiment of my heart. I feel
also to bless my brethren who bear the
Apostleship. Now, you talk about
union. Can Apostles dwell with this
work upon their shoulders without
being united? They cannot do it. The
same Spirit bears record to each of
them. Here are my Counselors and the
Apostles, we are of one heart and
mind, and when we have the Spirit of
God there is nothing but that we see
alike in. Here is Brother Snow, an
aged man as well as myself, and the
President of the Twelve Apostles; he
has got the spirit of his calling and
office with him, and God is blessing
him. He is full of revelation, full of
the Spirit of the Lord. We have a
mighty work upon us, and we want
power in the midst of Israel to carry
it out, and to do what the Lord
requires of us; and we shall have
power to do it. I tell you I rejoice
when I let my mind rest upon these
temples of our God in these mountains
of Israel. Who ever heard of such a
thing in any generation?—a class of
men driven from the society of the
Christian world into the wilderness
have power to gather together and rear
these temples unto the name of the
Most High God, and go into these
temples and to attend to the ordinances
therein. We hold and will hold the
keys of the salvation of our dead to the
endless ages of eternity. As the
Prophet said, the Lord has raised up
saviors upon Mount Zion, while the
kingdom is the Lord's in the latter
days. The heavens are full of revela-
tion. The earth is full of revelation.
The Bible is full of revelation, as well
as these other books that we have;
and we have revelation, and should
have day by day.
I thank God that I am alive, and
that He has preserved me up to this
hour. I have a good many times, and
some of them lately, come pretty near
going to the other side of the veil; but I
know that I have tens of thousands of
prayers of righteous men and women,
which ascend into the ears of the Lord
of Sabaoth day by day; and when I
say that of myself I say it of my Coun-
selors, of these Apostles, and of the
Elders of Israel. They have the
prayers of the people. These prayers
are heard and answered. The Lord
has taken whom he would take, and
has preserved in life whom he would
preserve, according to the counsels of
His own will. We are appointed a
certain work, and when we get through
our sons will take it and bear it off.
Zion will arise, and the glory of God
will rest upon her; she will have power
in the earth, and the day is at hand
when, as Joseph Smith said, thou-
sands of the great men of the earth will
come to Zion to behold the glory
thereof.
God bless you, and pour out His Spirit
upon you, and guide and direct you
all. Remember your prayers. Be
kind to one another. Do not find fault
with one another. We ought to be
careful in speaking evil of one another.
Bear one another up. Brethren and
sisters, the glory of the whole matter is,
that when we get through we are go-
ing to have our families with us—our
fathers and our mothers, our brothers
and our sisters, our wives and our
children—in the morning of the
resurrection, in the family organization
of the celestial world, to dwell forever
and forever. This is worth all you or
I can sacrifice the few years we have
to spend here in the flesh. God bless
you. Amen.