THE DESERET NEWS. -[July 5, 1866.
REMARKS,
By Elder WILFORD WOODRUFF, Tabernacle,
G. S. L. City, .
REPORTED BY E. L. SLOAN.
There is a great responsibility resting
upon any prophet, apostle, high priest,
elder, or any messenger or servant of
God, who is called to preach the gospel;
and any person who is called to preach
the gospel to the children of men is en-
tirely dependent upon the Spirit of the
Lord for all the principles he may pre-
sent unto those who hear him. Any
generation, also, to whom a message is
sent from heaven, is held responsible
for the receiving or rejecting of that
message.
It is a very hard matter for the Lord
to build up His kingdom upon the
earth, where the devil has power and
dominion over the minds of the chil-
dren of men. It would [be] impossible for
Him to do so in this or any other age of
the world, unless he found an element
to work with Him, for the very reason
that He has given to all men an agency
to choose the path in which they will
walk. This is the reason why there
has been so small a portion of time
since the creation of the world in which
God has had an organized kingdom up-
on the earth—when He has had a
church that He Himself has organized,
guided, dictated, directed and controll-
ed. The devil—lucifer—the son of the
morning, has had great dominion here
upon the earth; he has had great do-
minion over the minds of the children
of men; and the Lord has taken great
pains, I may say from the creation, to
endeavour to establish His kingdom, to
present His laws upon this earth, and
to get the children of men to obey those
laws that they might fulfill the object
of their creation.
The Lord gave father Adam the
p[r]iesthood, and the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ, after the fall. When he
went out into the dreary world, driven
from the Garden of Eden, he received
the gospel, he received the priesthood,
and he started forth upon the face of
the earth with the keys of the kingdom
of God, to endeavour to establish the
works of righteousness upon the earth. [Moses 5:6-12]
He gave this priesthood to his sons. A
number of them were ordained high
priests. [Moses 6:67-68] But in the commencement we
find not only the work of God but the
work of the devil manifest in the hearts
of men. Cain was stirred up in anger
against his brother Abel, and rose up
and slew him, shedding innocent blood,
and the power of evil commenced in
the beginning. [Genesis 4:1-17] We find from the Bible,
as well as from other revelations which
God has given us, that Adam and the
early patriarchs, those who were willing
to be led by the law of God in that gen-
eration, received the high priesthood,
and lived to a great age. It is said Me-
thusela lived to be almost 1000 years
old, and so did father Adam and others. [Genesis 5:27]
They held the priesthood, and taught
their children truth and righteousness
to establish the kingdom of God in their
day and generation. Herein is where
I say the Lord commenced and labored
to establish his kingdom and to guide
men to receive the word of the Lord,
that they might walk in obedience to
His laws, fulfill the object of their crea-
tion and be saved when they got
through with this probation,—that they
might keep their estate and receive an
exaltation and glory in the presence of
God.
We are informed by revelation that
Adam, three years previous to his
death, "called Seth, Enos, Cainan, Ma-
halaleel, Jared, Enoch and Methuselah,
who were all high priests, with the re-
sidue of his posterity, who were right-
eous, into the valley of Adam-ondi-
ahman" and there bestowed upon them
his last patriarchal blessing; and he
prophesied what should take place even
till the coming of Messiah, which pro-
phecy is said to be written in the Book
of Enoch. [Doctrine and Covenants 107:53] But men soon began to work
corruption and unrightoousness on the
earth in that early age; and in tracing
the history of the church and kingdom
of God from those prophets down, we
find that the majority of the human
family were unwilling to keep the com-
mandments of God or to live according
to those principles which were revealed
to them for their salvation. It was but
a little time after, comparatively speak-
ing, that Enoch, who was acquainted
with the teachings of Adam and of his
fathers who held the holy priesthood,
labored to gather the people together to
practise righteousness, but the majority
of them would not be guided by him.
He labored 365 years, we are informed
by revelation, teaching them principles
of righteousness, that they might be-
come sanctified and prepared to receive
celestial glory, but his labors were not
appreciated by them. Why did not
Enoch remain on the earth and Zion
prevail? Because wickedness prevailed.
The majority of the human family in
that generation were wicked; they were
not ruled over by the Lord; and, hence,
there were not men enough on the face
of the earth, in that generation, who
were willing to receive the gospel, keep
the commandments of God and work
the works of righteousness, for Enoch
to have power to remain on the earth.
Therefore it was that the Lord took
Enoch and the city of Enoch to him-
self; for we are informed by revelation
that the city was translated and all its
inhabitants. There were not men
enough in the days of Enoch who were
willing to sustain that which was right;
one part or other had to leave the earth;
and the Lord translated Enoch and his
city and took them home to Himself. [Moses 6:26-8:2]
You may trace the history of the
kingdom of God from that time down,
and you will find this prevailing among
the nations of the earth. They were
prone to evil, to sin, to blaspheme, to
lie, to steal, to swear, to commit adul-
try, to pollute the earth which they in-
herited, in their day and generation,
and hence it was an impossibility for
the Lord to establish His kingdom
among the children of men, unless
He could find willing minds enough to
receive that kingdom, to build it up and
sustain it and do the works of right-
eousness. The devil did not make this
earth. It never belonged to him, and
never will; but lucifer was cast down to
the earth with the third part of the
hosts of heaven, and they have dwelt
here until to-day. They remain here
yet; and they have had their effect up-
on the hearts and minds and lives of the
children of men for nearly six thousand
years—from the time that man was cast
out of the Garden of Eden into the cold
and dreary world.
The Lord has set His hand many
times in different dispensations to es-
tablish His kingdom upon the earth;
He has raised up men—noble spirits—
who have come forth and tabernacled
in the flesh at different periods and
times. He has inspired those men; giv-
en them revelations; filled them with
inspiration, with light, with truth,
with the things of the kingdom of God;
and many of them had the vision of
their minds opened to behold the fate
of the work of God in all generations—
the beginning, the middle and the end.
Many old prophets have seen, by reve-
lation, our day, have seen the sorrow,
calamity, war and afflictions in various
dispensations and ages of the world.
The earth had become so corrupted un-
der its inhabitants in the days of Noah,
that the word of the Lord came to him
to build an ark; he received revelation
from God to prepare to save himself and
his family, while the wicked were de-
stroyed. [Genesis 7-8] Enoch before him had seen
this event; he had seen the same things
as Noah. The Lord had shown him
what was in the future. Whenever a
generation have corrupted themselves
and defiled the earth, and the cup of
their iniquity is full, the Lord has
brought judgments upon that genera-
tion. This we have ample testimony of
from the commencement of the world.
Noah was 120 years building the ark,
we are informed in the Scriptures, and
during that time he preached the gospel.
How many were there who were will-
ing to believe his testimong? Only
eight souls in all, including himself.
He was very unpopular, I presume, and
had as much derision heaped upon his
head, for building an ark on dry ground,
as any man that ever lived on the
earth. But Noah was a prophet and a
messenger of God, called to warn that
generation and to build an ark, and if
he had not done it he would have been
held responsible for the lives of himself
and family and all that generation. But
he had the Spirit of God and was willing
to do as he was told, whether the doc-
trine he preached was popular or un-
popular. He built the ark, and went
into it with his family, and they were
saved. The history of the flood and of
the salvation of Noah and his family is
well known. He performed the work
assigned him to do, and was saved; and
that generation went to hell, there to
remain until Christ went and preached
the gospel to their spirits in prison that
they might be judged like men in the
flesh. So you may trace the history of
the kingdom of God through the world,
generation after generation, and there
is no generation that we have ever read
of, the majority of whom have been
willing to serve the Lord.
Look at the days of Abraham, whose
faith was so great that he was called
the father of the faithful. He was an
heir to the royal priesthood, another
noble spirit, the friend of God. He
came upon this earth, not in a way of
light, but through idolatrous pa-
rents. His father was an idolator. I
do not know who his grandfather was;
but his father had false gods that he
worshipped and sacrificed to. God in-
spired Abraham, and his eyes were
opened so that he saw and understood
something of the dealings of the Lord
with the children of men. He under-
stood that there was a God in heaven, a
living and true God, and that no man
should worship any other God but Him.
These were the feelings of Abraham,
and he taught his father's house, and
all around him, as far as he had the
privilege. The consequence was, his
father and the idolatrous priests of that
day sought to take his life. In the
book of Abraham, translated in our day
and generation, we are informed that
Abraham was bound, and those priests
sought to take his life, but the Lord de-
livered him from them. One reason
why they did so was, that he had gone
into those places which his father con-
sidered sacred, and among the wooden
gods which were there, and, being filled
with anger that his father should bow
down and worship gods of wood and
stone, he broke them. When his father
saw that his son Abraham had broken
his gods he was very angry with him.
But Abraham, trying to reason with his
father, said that probably the gods had
got to fighting among themselves and
had killed one another. He tried to
bring him to reason, but his father did
not believe they had life enough to kill
one another. If he had possessed the spir-
it which his son had, he would have said
there is no power with these gods; but
he did not, and Abraham had to flee
from his father's house, confiding in
the Lord, who gave many promises to
him and concerning hls posterity. [Abraham 1:1-19]
We have no account of the Lord's
having organized a kingdom upon the
earth in that day; but he gave the priest-
hood to Abraham, who taught his chil-
dren the principles of righteousness.
Isaac taught Jacob; and Jacob's sons,
the twelve Patriarchs, were taught by
the priesthood, and God gave unto them
many great and glorious blessings.
From that time until the days of Moses
we can trace in sacred history that the
Lord had witnesses on the earth, from
time to time, who were raised up and
bore record of the truth to the people.
Moses was raised up and led Israel forty
years, he was a high priest after the or-
der of Melchizedek, and received his
priesthood from Jethro, his father-in-
law, who received it through Abraham.
Moses undertook to preach the gospel
to the Israelites; but they were very
dark, very prone to evil, as well as the
gentiles around them; and they had not
that faith and the fulness of inspiration
which the Lord desired, to build up His
kingdom; consequently, they had a law
of carnal commandments given to them
to bring them to Christ. [Exodus 20-23] The Lord
labored with them, and Moses labored
with them; he could not leave them for
a short time but they were ready to
turn to idolatry and make a golden calf
to worship, or something contrary to
the kingdom of God. [Exodus 32]
Trace this down to the days of Christ
and you will find it has been a hard
matter for the Lord to get people to have
faith in Him to build up His kingdom.
Jesus came in fulfillment of the prophe-
cies; He was the Son of God, and a liter-
al descendant of Abraham. He came to
his own and his own received him not,
though he was the Son of God. [John 1:11] Take
the Jews to-day anywhere in the world,
and they do not believe in Jesus. I do
not say this because I wish to find fault
with them. I have a great love for
them as a people. But they have re-
jected the Messiah, and they will re-
main in unbelief until they go back and
rebuild Jerusalem—which they will do
in this generation—and until the Mes-
siah comes. The day will comc when
Judah will know who Shiloh is, and
that day is not very far distant. Jesus
came, organized his church and king-
dom and sent the gospel to the Jews;
but the Jews failed, through unbelief,
and the gospel was given to the gentiles,
to whom one of the ancient apostles
said "If God spared not the natural
branches, take heed lest He also spare
not you." [Romans 11:21] Did the kingdom of God re-
main in the days of Christ, with apos-
tles, pastors, teachers and the gift of the
Holy Spirit? But a little time elapsed
until the Lord could not find men
enough throughout the whole gentile
world who would receive the kingdom
of God in its purity, embrace its princi-
ples and maintain it on the earth.
Hence there was a falling away; the
gifts and graces of the gospel were lost
to men; those who held the priesthood
were overpowered, and put to death by
wicked men. The Church went into
the wilderness, and all that the pro-
phets had spoken concerning the king-
dom of God in that day had its fulfill-
ment.
Christendom professes to believe the
bible; and all we have asked of this gen-
eration is to believe the bible, and then
they will believe that God will establish
His kingdom in the last days, for the
bible plainly points it out, and shows
that the Lord will send an angel bear-
ing the everlasting gospel to them that
dwell on the earth, that it may be
preached to every nation, kindred, tongue
and people. All the prophets who have
spoken of the last days have spoken of
this work. Daniel saw it and prophe-
sied of it. [Daniel 10-12] Isaiah, Jeremiah, and all the
prophets have referred to it. And the
Lord sent His angel, in fulfillment of
what He declared He would do, who
called upon a man on the earth, a lit-
eral descendant of Abraham and of Jo-
seph—one of the promised seed who had
been prophesied of in ages past and gone,
that he would come forth and lay the
foundation of the kingdom of God. The
angels of God ministered unto him; his
name was Joseph Smith; and he laid
the foundation of this kingdom, or this
congregation would not be before me
to-day. You are the fruits of the labors
he commenced.
The Lord has said that in the last
days His kingdom should not be taken
from the earth, nor given to another
people; but that the kingdoms of this
world should become the kingdoms of
our God and His Christ. We have the
Bible, the Book of Mormon, the book
of Doctrine and Covenants, and other
revelations of God to this effect. Either
this is the kingdom of God or it is not
the kingdom of God. If it is not the
kingdom of God, then are we like the
rest of mankind; our faith is vain, our
works are vain, and we are in the same
condition of ignorance with regard to
the gospel and the purposes of God, as
the rest of the world. There are tens of
thousands throughout these valleys,
who know that this is the kingdom of
God. They know this by the revela-
tions of Jesus Christ. It is not the tes-
timony of another man that gives me
the knowledge for myself. If I had not
the testimony of truth for myself I
would not be qualified to build up this
kingdom. There is no man or woman
qualified to build up the kingdom of
God if they have not the testimony of
truth for themselves.
I will say to this congregation, Jew
and gentile, believer and unbeliever,
that this is the great kingdom spoken
of by Daniel, the commencement of the
Zion of our God, which every prophet
has spoken of who has referred to the
Zion of the last days. [Daniel 2:26-47] The Lord has
sworn by Himself, because He could
swear by no greater, that He will estab-
lish it in the latter days. But to do
this He must get a people to work with
Him. It could not be done otherwise
if the world stood for a million years,
for it is by the agency which men hold
that He accomplishes His purposes on
the earth. The Lord prepared the way
for this age and generation, and He has
raised up some of the noblest spirits in
this dispensation that ever dwelt in
the flesh. He ordained Joseph Smith
from before the foundation of the world
to come forth and lay the foundation of
His kingdom. Those that knew Joseph
know that he was true and faithful un-
to death. He labored, after he was or-
dained with Oliver Cowdery, fourteen
years, two months and twenty-one days,
in the establishment of this work, after
he organized the first branch, with six
members on the 6th day of April, 1830. [Doctrine and Covenants 20]
He was martyred on the 27th June,
1844. What did he accomplish, raised
up, as he was, in the midst of a gener-
July 5, 1866. THE DESERET NEWS.
tion as full of tradition as the inhabi-
tants of the earth were in the days of
Noah, and almost as unbelieving as that
generation were? [Moses 8:19-26] He had to combat
the errors of our forefathers which had
been handed down for generations. He
built upon the same foundation that
Jesus and the Apostles built upon. He
preached the same gospel accompanied
by the same ordinances that they
preached. He organized the Church in
the same way, with the same gifts and
blessings, and the same Spirit accompa-
nied the gospel to those who believed.
The elders went forth calling upon the
children of men to repent and be bap-
tized for the remission of sins, and have
hands laid upon them that they might
receive the Holy Ghost. And the tes-
timony was, that if they obeyed the
gospel they would receive that Spirit.
Did the Lord sustain that testimony by
giving the Holy Ghost from the Hea-
vens? He did, as every faithful man
and woman in this Church knows and
can bear testimony to before God, an-
gels and men. This was a great work.
He lived until he sent the gospel to the
nations of the earth; he built temples,
gave endowments to the Twelve and
others, and told them that they must
bear off this kingdom. He accomplished
all that the Lord required of him, and
he sealed his testimony with his blood;
and his testimony is in force to-day.
Had Joseph Smith shrunk from the
duty which God required of him; had
he said, "It is unpopular, I will not
make as much by preaching the gospel
as if I were to let it alone, I will only be
persecuted," the consequence would
have been he would have been damned.
The Lord would have taken the priest-
hood from him, and held him responsi-
ble for the testimony He had given him.
We are all in this position. If we do
not do our duty and bear a faithful tes-
timony to this generation, the Lord
will hold us responsible. This genera-
tion, who have shed the blood of Joseph
Smith and his brother Hyrum and oth-
ers of the anointed of God, are held re-
sponsible for so doing before high Hea-
ven, and the judgments of God will
follow them for shedding innocent
blood.
But did the kingdom stop when the
prophets were put to death? No, for it
is the kingdom of God. It fell to the
lot of brother Brigham Young to receive
the priesthood and hold the keys of the
kingdom. You who have been acquain-
ted with him for the past thirty years
know his life. You know what he has
accomplished. I have traveled many
thousands of miles with him, and have
been familiar with his labors. No man
ever lived in the flesh who traveled
more miles to carry salvation to the
children of men, who preached more
and did more for the redemption of
mankind and to carry out the purposes
of God, during thirty years, than he
has done and is doing. The Lord has
sustained him, for He is going to cut his
work short in righteousness. He is de-
termined to build up His kingdom as
He has promised. Did you ever see an
elder refuse when called upon to go on
a mission to preach the gospel? Hardly
one in five thousand. This is because
they are true and faithful unto God.
The Spirit of God is in them. The Lord
has planted that Spirit in them that
they might go and work to build up
this kingdom.
The world feel to-day concerning
"Mormonism" and this people as they
did in the days of Noah and Lot con-
cerning the revelations of God and those
who believed them then. But what of
it? The unbelief of men does not make
the work of God of no effect. The Lord
requires faithfulness at our hands; and
if we do not do our duty we will be held
responsible before high Heaven for the
use we make of the Holy Priesthood
which has been bestowed upon us.
While I sat and gazed, last Confer-
ence, upon the vast assembly of elders
who were here in this Tabernacle, I
thought of the words of Isaiah, when
his mind was opened and he looked in
vision upon the future. Said he, "Sing,
O heavens, and be joyful, O earth; and
break forth into singing, O mountains;
for the Lord hath comforted His people,
and will have mercy upon His afflict-
ed." [Isaiah 49:13] What do you see, Isaiah, that
should cause you to break forth in such
language as this? I see what the gods
of eternity see. I see what all the pro-
phets and pataiarchs before me have
seen,—that the Lord Almighty will
build up His Zion upon the earth in
great power and glory in the latter
days. Yes, "But Zion said, the Lord
hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath
forgotten me. Can a woman forget her
sucking child, that she should not have
compasion on the son of her womb?
Yea, they may forget, yet will not I
forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee
upon the palms of my hands; thy walls
are continually before me. Thy chil-
dren shall make haste; thy destroyers
and they that made thee waste shall go
forth of thee." (Elder Woodruff quoted
from the 13th to the 26th verse of Isaiah
49th chap; the 1, 2, 3, 7 and 8 verses of
the 52nd chap; and the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 13, 14,
15 and 22 verses of the 60th chap.)
Thus chapter after chapter he goes
on to declare that Zion's strength is in
the Lord Almighty; and His strength
is with her because of her faithfulness
and integrity. If the elders of Israel
had the vision of their minds opened to
see Zion in her beauty and glory, they
would have no time to sin or do evil;
but they would rise up in the strength
of the Lord God of Israel and accomp-
lish all that He requires at their hands.
Zion is yet in her weakness, but the
little one shall become thousands, and
the small one a great nation. We talk
of the future and of the promises of God
to us. They are worthy to be talked of,
worthy to be lived for, and to rejoice
over, because they are true.
We have warned our own and other
nations; and so far our garments are
clear of the blood of this generation.
There never were men in the flesh who
labored harder and tried more to fulfil
the commandments of God than the
elders of this Church have done. Some
of our elders have traveled over 100,000
miles in thirty years to preach the gos-
pel and build up the kingdom of God;
and the Lord Almighty has labored
with us.
I have an anxiety—a strong desire, to
see the people of the Latter-day Saints
—the inhabitants of Zion, rise up and
put on their strength. I desire to see
them increase in the knowledge of the
truth, in faith and good works, and in
the knowledge of the things of the
kingdom of God. The Lord is not
pleased with wickedness and sin. Let
any man look at our own beloved coun-
try. There is more crime now com-
mitted in ten years in it, than used to
be in a century. Will the Lord bear
with this? No, He will not. He has
already destroyed two great and power-
ful nations that dwelt on this conti-
nent, and the remnants of another are
scattered over the country in the miser-
able few who bear the marks of
the curse of God upon them—the In-
dians. If men shed innocent blood, do
wickedly and work iniquity, the seed
that they sow they must reap the har-
vest of.
If the Latter-day Saints, to whom the
Lord has revealed the light and truth
of the gospel, were to prove unfaithful
and rebel against God, they would be
cursed below any people on the earth,
below even these miserable Lamanites
that we see wandering around our set-
lements; for we know more than they
or their fathers knew; we know better
what the mind and will of God is. It
is that knowledge that has sustained us
for the last thirty years, and over. We
know this is the kingdom of God; that
we are the friends of God; that the
kingdom will stand; and woe be to that
nation, kindred, tongue or people, to
that individual or family under the
whole heaven that lifts a hand against
the Lord's anointed or against the
friends of God, for they will feel the
chastening hand of God. We wish this
generation well, and we have labored
hard to try and save them. Whether
men believe or disbelieve is nothing to
us; it is our business to keep the com-
mandments of God. If we live so as
to keep the Spirit of God with us we will
have power to do good and to carry out
the things which He requires at our
hands.
Be true and faithful; do your duty to
yourselves, to your country, to your
God, and to one another. When we do
this we shall overcome and inherit eter-
nal lives. May God grant that we may
do so for Christ's sake. Amen.