DISCOURSE
Delivered by President Wilford
Woodruff, at the Quarterly Con-
ference of the Salt Lake Stake,
Salt Lake City, .
REPORTED BY GEORGE F. GIBBS.
I feel thankful that I have the
privilege of assembling in this Tab-
ernacle with my friends, the Latter-
day Saints, to partake of the Lord's
Supper, the emblems of His body
and blood, His body which was
broken for us and His blood which
was shed for us. I regard this as a
great privilege. While meeting
with the Saints upon occasions of
this kind I often reflect upon their
spiritual condition, and hope and
pray that those of us who are thus
favored to commemorate the death
and sufferings of our Lord and Sa-
vior by partaking of the Sacrament,
may so live that we may be worthy
to eat and drink with Him at the
great marriage supper of the Lamb,
in company with the prophets and
patriarchs and Saints of God of form-
er and latter days whom the Father
hath given unto Him—those who
have obeyed the law, received the
truths of the Gospel and kept His
commandments.
I wish to say to the Latter-day
Saints that every man holding the
holy Priesthood, every man called
to preside over the Church or any
branch of it, is dependent upon the
Lord for His Holy Spirit to guide
and sustain him. We have found
the exhortation of the Savior to the
apostles of His day applicable to our
own labors and experience, wherein
He said, "And when they bring
you unto the synagogues, and unto
magistrates, and powers, take no
thought how or what ye shall
answer, or what ye shall say: for
the Holy Ghost shall teach you in
the same hour what ye ought to
say." [Luke 12:11-12] We differ from many people
in this regard. We very often call
upon the Elders from among the
congregation to come to the stand
to speak without any preparation.
We all, in a measure, occupy this
same position before our fellow men.
I never know when appearing
before an assembly of the Saints
what I may say to them; I leave
entirely all these matters with the
Lord. If the Lord gives me noth-
ing, I shall certainly have but very
little to say to the people. And this
is the position that the Elders are
placed in as teachers in Israel. My
feelings and views are that the
Lord never did have a people from
Father Adam to the present time
that were called upon to build up
His Kingdom and establish His
Zion in the world, or to preach the
gospel of repentance to the children
of men, but what they were de-
pendent entirely upon the God of
heaven for their support.
The Lord has told us by revela-
tion to speak as we may be moved
upon by the Holy Ghost. When a
man speaks as he is moved upon by
the Holy Spirit, what he says is the
word of the Lord; it is the mind of
the Lord, it is scripture, it is the
will of the Lord, it is the power of
God unto salvation to every one that
believes. [Romans 1:16] Why? Because the Holy
Ghost is one of the personages of the
Godhead. God the Father and God
the Son possess tabernacles, and
God himself has created man after
His own image; but the Holy Ghost
is a personage of Spirit, which bears
witness of the Father and Son unto
the children of men.
With regard to the rights of the
human family I wish to say that
God has given unto all of His chil-
dren of this dispensation, as He
gave unto all of His children of
previous dispensations, individual
agency. This agency has always
been the heritage of man unto the
rule and government of God. He
possessed it in the heaven of heav-
ens before the world was, and the
Lord maintained and defended it
there against the aggression of
Lucifer and those that took sides
with him, to the overthrow of
Lucifer and one-third part of the
heavenly hosts. By virtue of this
agency you and I and all mankind
are made responsible beings, respon-
sible for the course we pursue, the
lives we live, the deeds we do in the
body. I will repeat here what I have
often remarked as the words and
sentiments of the Prophet Joseph
who once declared it in my hearing.
Said he, "If I were ruler or emperor
of the world, and I had power over
the whole human family, I would
make every man, woman and child
free in the enjoyment of his or her
religion, be that religion whatever
it may." These are my sentiments.
All people under heaven by virtue
of their agency, whether living un-
der a republican, a monarchical or
any other form of government, are
entitled to religious freedom to wor-
ship God according to the dictates
of their own conscience, they being
held accountable to God alone for
the use they make of their agency.
And while we, as a community,
accord this right and privilege to
man the world over, we claim the
same right ourselves. For we pro-
fess to believe in the fullness of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ which God
has revealed through the ministra-
tions of angels sent unto the serv-
ants of God in the dispensation in
which we live. It was made known
to John the Revelator and to others
of the Prophets and Apostles that
in the last days, among the many
great events which were to take
place before the coming of the Son
of Man, the everlasting Gospel
would be restored to the earth. Re-
ferring to this event the Apostle
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]
As Latter-day Saints we believe that
angels visited Joseph Smith whom
God raised up, and delivered unto
him the fulness of the Gospel; and
that he was ordained under the
hands of heavenly messengers who
held the keys of the Holy Priesthood
and also the Priesthood after the
order of Aaron.
Nearly sixty years have passed
and gone since this Church was or-
ganized. It has fallen to my lot to
be associated with this people for the
last 56 or 57 years of my life. I
traveled with Joseph Smith and the
Apostles and with many who are
now in the spirit world, hundreds
and thousands of miles laboring for
the salvation of our fellow men.
We are very differently situated to-
day from what we were in the early
days of this Church. We now oc-
cupy permanent homes in the val-
leys of these Rocky Mountains.
I came here with Brigham
Young when the country was a
barren desert. The record of our
lives for the last forty years, during
which time we have been here, is
before the world as history. The
aim and object of our lives today are
what they were in the beginning,
namely the building up of the
Kingdom of God upon the earth.
And I wish to bear my testimony to
the Latter-day Saints and to the
world that this Gospel of the King-
dom which the angel of God de-
livered unto Joseph Smith will be
preached as a witness to all the
world before the end come. It is the
same Gospel that was preached by
Christ and the Apostles, and which
the Jews rejected. There is but one
Gospel plan of salvation, and it is
eternal and everlasting in its char-
acter; it cannot be perverted or
changed with impunity; hence the
Apostle Paul has said in this con-
nection, "Though we, or an angel
from heaven, preach any other Gos-
pel unto you than that which we
have preached unto you, let him be
accursed." [Galatians 1:8] What was the Gospel
taught by Paul, and by Peter,
James and John? The first princi-
ple of the Gospel they taught was
faith in God; the next was repent-
ance of sins, and then baptism for
the remission of sins. Jesus Him-
self was baptized of John, that he
might fulfil all righteousness, be-
cause baptism was a righteous law,
and one of the ordinances of the ever-
lasting Gospel. At first John de-
clined to baptize the Savior, recog-
nizing the fact that He was without
sin, and that baptism was for the re-
mission of sin. But Jesus answer-
ing said, "Suffer it to be so now: for
thus it becometh us to fulfil all
righteousness." And He baptized
the Savior and Redeemer of the
world. As soon as this ordinance
was attended to the heavens ac-
knowledged the act by the manifes-
tation of the Holy Ghost. [Matthew 3:13-17] And the
next ordinance after baptism is the
laying on of hands for the reception
of the Holy Ghost. This was the
Gospel taught by the Apostles while
they lived. The Holy Ghost gave
unto men a testimony that Jesus was
indeed the Christ, the Redeemer of
the world; and it was a guide to
their feet and a lamp to their path
during their whole lives. The
Church at first was organized upon
the foundation of Apostles and
Prophets, Christ Jesus being the
chief corner stone. We are told that
Christ has set in the Church, "First
apostles, secondarily prophets;"
that "He gave some apostles; and
some prophets; and some evan-
gelists; and some pastors and teach-
ers;" [Ephesians 4:11] and they were to be standing
ministers to the Church "for the
perfecting of the Saints, for the work
of the ministry, for the edifying of the
body of Christ till we all come in
the unity of the faith, and of the
knowledge of the Son of God, into a
perfect man, unto the measure of
the stature of fullness of Christ." [Ephesians 4:12-13]
The Lord required Joseph Smith to
organize the Church of Christ after
this order. He did so, and this
Church has remained intact in its
organization from that day to the
present; and it will continue to
remain until the coming of the Son
of Man. And I would say here
that there is no change of the Gos-
pel of Christ in this, neither has
there been in any other age of the
world. There never has been any
change from eternity to eternity,
neither has there been any change
of the ordinances, or of the Holy
Priesthood; they are the same "yes-
terday, today and forever." [Hebrews 13:8]
I will also make a remark with
regard to our views of the Priest-
hood. Jesus Christ is our High
Priest. He held the Priesthood af-
ter the order of Melchisedec, which
is without beginning of days or end
of years, being from eternity to
eternity. We have been informed
that Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan,
Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuse-
lah, Lamech, and Noah, were all
High Priests. [Doctrine and Covenants 107:53] In all the dispensa-
tions whenever God has had a peo-
ple upon the earth, no man has ever
been called to administer in any of
the ordinances of the Gospel except
by and through the eternal and
everlasting Priesthood. We cannot
learn from the Bible—"the stick of
Judah," [Ezekiel 37:15-20] the record of the Jews—
that God ever called a man to offici-
ate in the offering of sacrifices,
or to administer in any of the
ordinances of the Gospel, ex-
cept by and through the Priest-
hood. And our belief is that no
man has a right to minister in this
age in the ordinances of the House
of God, except he be duly called and
ordained. The Holy Priesthood is
the channel through which God
communicates and deals with
man upon the earth; and the
heavenly messengers that have
visited the earth to communicate
with man are men who held and
honored the Priesthood while in the
flesh; and everything that God has
caused to be done for the salvation
of man, from the coming of man
upon the earth to the redemption of
the world, has been and will be by
virtue of the everlasting Priesthood.
Our Elders who are called to bear
this Priesthood are being sent abroad
to preach the Gospel without purse
or script, and they are blessed in
their labors. [Doctrine and Covenants 24:18-19] Truly has it been
said the Lord has called the weak
things of the world to confound
the wisdom of the wise, and to
bring to pass the purposes of God. [1 Corinthians 1:27]
And they like the servants of the
Lord of former days have promised
to all those who obey the Gospel
that they should receive the Holy
Ghost. I have often said, and I
say again, we might have preached
to the whole world until we had be-
come as old as Methuselah if the
testimony of our Elders had not
been backed up by the gift of the
Holy Ghost, Utah would be today
as barren as we found it in 1847;
that is, as far as our being here is
concerned. It is the Spirit of God,
the testimony of Jesus, that has
been imparted to the Saints in fulfil-
ment of the promise of the Elders
who preached the Gospel to them in
their native lands, that has impelled
this people to gather to these valleys
of the mountains. And if I were
to call upon all those of this con-
gregation who have received this
testimony to rise to their feet, the
Latter-day Saints of this congrega-
tion would respond in a body. If
the people had not received this
testimony they never would have
left their homes and friends to
come here. You knew it was not
the work of man, but the work of
God, and you labored diligently to
effect your deliverance from Baby-
lon because you were moved upon
by the Spirit of God, and you never
rested until you emigrated.
We are called of God to establish
His Zion upon the land of Joseph.
You have the Bible, which the
Christian world profess to believe
in, as well as the Book of Mormon,
which you believe in. These rec-
ords and revelations of God testify
of your day. Isaiah pointed out
your history, your travels in coming
to these western valleys, your labors
here; and if we had not gathered
here, much of the Bible prophesies
would have failed in their fulfil-
ment. Many say these revelations
are to be spiritually construed, that
they are not intended to be under-
stood in a literal sense. We view
these things differently. We take it
what the Lord through His
servants has said concerning
this matter means what He
has said and said what he means.
It is true we have passed through a
good deal of persecution; but in
this we are no exception to the rest
of God's servants and people of other
ages. The records that have come
to us testify of these things. Oppo-
sition to God and His Christ, oppo-
sition to light and truth has existed
since the beginning to the present
day. This is the warfare that com-
menced in heaven, that has existed
through all time, and that will con-
tinue until the winding up scene,
until He reigns whose right it is to
reign, [Doctrine and Covenants 58:22] when He shall come in clouds
of glory to reward every man ac-
cording to the deeds done in the
body.
We live in a peculiar dispensation—
I will say the great and last dispen-
sation of God to man. And what is
the state of our nation and that of
the Christian world? Unbelief with
regard to the fulfilment of what
the prophets have said should take
place in the last days. I have felt that
the Lord has become very unpopular
in this generation, and that His
revelations have become very un-
popular. Common schools turn the
Bible out of doors. Of course there
is a general profession of faith and
belief in God, but a decided unbe-
lief exists, and a general indiffer-
ence with regard to the fulfilment
of the predictions contained in the
Bible. A great many too believe
when a man dies that is the end of
him, that there is no hereafter. Can
any sensible man believe that the
God of heaven has created two or
three hundred thousand million
spirits, and given them tabernacles,
merely to come and live upon the
earth and then to pass away into
oblivion or to be annihilated? It
seems to me that no reflecting man
can entertain such belief. It is con-
trary to common sense and to seri-
ous reflection. Generation after
generation has lived and died,
has passed into the spirit world,
and we have to a limited extent an
account of the doings of God with
them. The Prophets, Apostles and
Patriarchs have left their inspired
writings on record for our use and
benefit, and we shall be held ac-
countable in the exercise of our
agency for the manner in which
we treat the Word of God that has
come unto us.
I testify that the God of heaven
has set His hand to establish His
Kingdom, and to build up His
Church and establish His Zion
upon the foundation of Prophets and
Apostles, Jesus Christ being the
chief corner stone. We live in a
dispensation different from any
other. The dispensation that ush-
ered in the Christian era was one of
sacrifice. The Savior came and
tabernacled in the flesh, and entered
upon the duties of the Priesthood at
30 years of age. After laboring
three and a half years He was cruci-
fied and put to death in fulfilment
of certain predictions concerning
Him. He laid down His life as a
sacrifice for sin, to redeem the world.
When men are called upon to repent
of their sins, the call has reference
to their own individual sins, not to
Adam's transgressions. What is
called the original sin was atoned
for through the death of Christ irre-
spective of any action on the
part of man; also man's indi-
vidual sin was atoned for by
the same sacrifice, but on condition
of his obedience to the Gospel plan
of salvation when proclaimed in
his hearing. This gospel we are
called to preach to the children of
men, calling on them to repent and
be baptized for the remission of their
sins, and promising them through
their obedience and faithfulness the
gift of the Holy Ghost, which shall
lead and guide them in the ways of
all truth and deliver them from
darkness and doubt. And the re-
sults of the preaching of the serv-
ants of God are seen today in what
is being done by this people; and it
is our duty to continue this
work, to warn mankind and
to gather the Israel of our
God. We will be held under con-
demnation if we do not do our duty;
if we do not warn the nations.
Whenever a nation or city has
ripened in iniquity, the Lord has
raised up Prophets to warn them of
the destruction that awaited them
unless they repented. The Lord
raised up Noah and commanded
him to preach repentance to the peo-
ple of his day, and instructed him
to build an ark for the salvation
of those who should believe on Him.
Enoch and his people were peculiar
from the rest of the world of his
day, and the wicked sought his life;
but the power of God was upon him
to such an extent that the wicked
trembled at his words, and feared
him. At last he and his people were
translated, were taken from the
earth, and the disobedient of his day
were left to their own destruction.
The same fate befel the Jewish na-
tion in consequence of their rejec-
tion of the truth, and their treat-
ment of those who were sent unto
them. They put to death the ser-
vants of the Lord and crucified the
Messiah. All that had been predict-
ed concerning them came literally
to pass. Israel as a nation was over-
thrown; their temples destroyed, and
they that escaped death by the
sword were taken captive, and that
people have been trampled under
the feet of the Gentiles for the past
1800 years.
Now we understand there is a
feeling and spirit working among
the Jews to return to the land of
their fathers to re-build their city
and temple and prepare for the com-
ing of Shiloh their King. And
this will in time be accomplished.
We should have faith in God and
His promises, and we should read
the revelations that have come unto
us, and treasure them up. We are
all in the hands of God; He holds
our destiny and the destiny of this
nation. All are held by the power
of God. It is for us to understand
the signs of the times, for these
things are before us. This is not
our work; but if we are true and
faithful in this ministry we shall re-
ceive our inheritances upon the earth
according to the promises. That
our Father may bless us all, and
that we may be true and faithful to
Him and to one another, laboring
with all our might to build up Zion
and to establish His name in honor
in the earth, that at last we may re-
ceive the reward of the faithful, is
my prayer, for Christ's sake. Amen.