THE
DESERET WEEKLY.
PIONEER PUBLICATION OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION.
ESTABLISHED JUNE 1850.
TRUTH AND LIBERTY.
NO. 15. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, SATURDAY, APRIL 8, 1889. VOL. XXXVIII.
DISCOURSE
Delivered by President Wilford Wood-
ruff, at Springville, Tuesday Morn-
ing, , 1889.
REPORTED BY ARTHUR WINTER.
Brethren and sisters: I feel to say,
God bless you. I am glad to meet
with you and to have the privilege
of once more bearing my testimony
to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and
the Kingdom of God. What Brother
Cannon has told you with regard to
the work of the Lord, is true. I
have traveled in my day a great
many miles with the Prophet Joseph
Smith. I once heard him say that
if he were the emperor of the world
and had control of the whole human
family, he would defend every
man, woman and child in the en-
joyment of their religion, no matter
what their religion was, whether it
was true or false. He said they had
a right to that privilege, and the
exercise of that agency which
God had given to the whole human
family. Those were his sentiments.
They are my sentiments today. The
Revelator, St. John, represented to
us that there would be about six
hundred three-score and six differ-
ent religions upon the earth in these
last days—the number of the name
that was spoken of by him. Today
that number, I presume, is very
nearly filled. The whole Christian
world are as diverse in their views
and principles of religion and roads
to heaven or hell, as the stars are
diverse in their position in the
heavens. And while I would grant
this privilege that I have spoken of,
to all mankind, I claim the same
privilege for myself and for all our
people. We have a right to the en-
joyment of our religion and belief,
and to practice the same on the
earth; and all other sects and parties
have the same right.
Inasmuch as I claim this, I want
to give some of my views and tell
you my feelings with regard to the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. To com-
mence with, I will quote the words
of the Apostle Paul. You are doubt-
less familiar with Paul's history,
and know what a persecutor of the
Saints he once was, and how he
became converted to the truth; and
his conversion was so thorough and
complete that he finally laid down
his life in defense of the Gospel of
Christ. That same Paul said:
"Though we, or an angel from
heaven, preach any other gospel un-
to you than that which we have
preached unto you, let him be
accursed." [Galatians 1:8]
That was a strong declaration;
and to make it more emphatic, he
repeated it.
Now, brethren and sisters, and
friends, that Gospel which Paul
taught is what I believe in. It is
what I have believed in since I was
old enough to read the New Testa-
ment. My belief in that Gospel was
so strong that I never joined any
sect or denomination on the earth
until I heard a man preach to me
THE DESERET WEEKLY
that Gospel. He held the Priest-
hood, and he taught me the same
Gospel that Paul taught. As many
of you may have heard me remark
before, I went to Sabbath school, in
my boyhood, under Dr. Porter, in
Farmington, Connecticut. He and
Dr. Haws, of Hartford, Conn.,
were Presbyterian divines, and were
considered great men in that day.
In that Sabbath school I read the
New Testament. I learned verse
after verse and chapter after chap-
ter. What did the Testament teach
me? It taught me the Gos-
pel of life and salvation; it
taught me a Gospel of pow-
er before the heavens and on
the earth. It taught me that the
organization of the Church consist-
ed of Prophets, Apostles, Pastors
and Teachers, with helps and gov-
ernments. What for? "For the per-
fecting 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,
unto a perfect man, unto the meas-
ure of the stature of the fulness
of Christ." [Ephesians 4:12-13] These are the
things which I learned, and they
made an impression upon me.
I believed in them; yet I had never
heard them taught by any clergy-
man or divine upon the earth. In
my early manhood I attended the
meetings of almost every denomina-
tion there was. On one occasion I
attended one of those great meet-
ings which were sometimes held in
Connecticut, at which forty or fifty
ministers of various denominations
were gathered together. They
prayed for a pentecostal season and
for a good many other things. At
this meeting permission was given
for anybody to make remarks. I
was quite young then. I arose and
stepped into the aisle, and I said to
that body of ministers: "My
friends, will you tell me why you
don't contend for the faith once de-
livered to the Saints? Will you tell
my why you don't contend for that
Gospel that Jesus Christ taught, and
that His Apostles taught? Why do
you not contend for that religion that
gives unto you power before God,
power to heal the sick, to make the
blind to see, the lame to walk, and
that gives you the Holy Ghost and
those gifts and graces that have been
manifest from the creation of the
world? Why do you not teach the
people those principles that the
ancient Patriarchs and Prophets
taught while they were clothed with
the revelations of God? They had
the administrations of angels; they
had dreams and visions, and con-
stant revelation to guide and direct
them in the path in which they
should walk." The presiding elder
said: "My dear young man, you
would be a very smart man, and a
very useful man in the earth, if you
did not believe all those foolish
things. These things were given
to the children of men in the dark
ages of the world, and they were
given for the very purpose of en-
lightening the children of men in
that age, that they might believe in
Jesus Christ. Today we live in the
blaze of the glorious gospel light,
and we do not need these things."
Said I: "Then give me the dark
ages of the world; give me those
ages when men received these prin-
ciples."
There is where I stood in my
youth. I did not believe that these
gifts and graces were done away,
only through the unbelief of the
children of men. They were done
away when men rejected the law of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ; turned
away from the Kingdom of God,
built up altars to Baal, and sought
to carry out principles of their own.
And the earth remained in that con-
dition until the Lord raised up a
Prophet in these last days. He
raised up Joseph Smith, who laid
the foundation of this Church and
Kingdom. And from that day un-
til the present, whenever any one
has embraced the Gospel of Christ
and lived that religion, the gifts and
blessings of that Gospel have been
bestowed upon them. And this
will be so unto the end.
I have traveled many thousands
of miles, at home and abroad,
preaching the Gospel of Christ to
my fellow-men; and, in my experi-
ence, I have never known a man or
woman who, when they received
the Gospel with honest hearts and
were baptized, did not receive a tes-
timony for themselves. While in
England, in 1840, I was inspired of
the Lord to go to Herefordshire.
There had never been any Elders in
that part of the country. When I
arrived there I found about six hun-
dred people called United Brethren.
They had broken off from the Wes-
leyan Methodists. They sought for
those ancient gifts that I have been
speaking about. They had been
praying to God to open the way be-
fore them. What was the conse-
quence? All of them, except one,
including forty-five preachers, were
baptized in thirty days. They re-
ceived the Gospel, and the gifts and
graces followed them.
As I said before, these are the
principles that I believe in. And I
will say here that this same Gospel
was with Father Adam, with Noah,
with Enoch, and with all the an-
cient patriarchs and prophets.
There has been no change. And I
say, as a servant of God, there is no
change in the eternal and everlast-
ing Priesthood. It is without be-
ginning of days or end of years. It
is from eternity unto eternity. By
the power of that Priesthood, God,
our Eternal Father, has organized
all worlds, and redeemed all worlds
that have ever been redeemed. By
that same Priesthood men have ad-
ministered on the earth in the or-
dinances of the Gospel of Christ.
There is no change to the Gospel of
Jesus Christ, nor to one of the or-
dinances thereof. And whenever
that Gospel is offered to the children
of men, it is by the power of the
Priesthood. No man who has ever
breathed the breath of life, since
God made the world, has ever had
the power to go forth and minister
in one of the ordinances of the Gos-
pel of Christ, without that Priest-
hood; and no man ever will. This
may not be believed by many of the
inhabitants of the earth; but it is true.
We have been gathered to these
valleys of the mountains by the
power and inspiration of God. We
might have gone forth and preached
till we had become as old as Methu-
selah, and if the power of the Al-
mighty had not attended that
preaching, Utah might still have
been a desert. But the Spirit of God
bore record to the teachings of the
Elders of Israel, and the honest in
heart and meek of the earth re-
ceived the Gospel and gathered to
these valleys. This is in fulfill-
ment of the revelations of God.
John the Revelator, in his vision on
the Isle of Patmos, saw "another an-
gel fly in the midst of heaven, hav-
ing 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] Those words
have been fulfilled. The angel of
God has visited the earth and deliv-
ered the fulness of the Gospel unto
the inhabitants thereof, and they are
receiving it. By the power of that
Gospel you left your homes and came
to these mountains of Israel.
Now, Paul says that if we preach
any other gospel than that which he
taught, we should be accursed. [Galatians 1:8] The
first principle in that Gospel is faith
in Christ as the Savior of the world.
THE DESERET WEEKLY.
When men have faith, then they are
required to repent of their sins and
be baptized for the remission of sin.
This is what Jesus Christ taught,
and He set the example himself.
Though He committed no sin, He
went unto John the Baptist and de-
manded baptism of him. John the
Baptist said he was not worthy to do
it. But Jesus said, "Suffer it to be
so now; for thus it becometh us to
fulfill all righteousness." [Matthew 3:15] After be-
ing baptized it is necessary that we
should have hands laid upon us
by men holding the Holy Priesthood,
for the reception of the Holy Ghost.
Now, if you have the Holy Ghost
with you—and every one ought to
have—I can say unto you that there
is no greater gift, there is no greater
blessing, there is no greater testimo-
ny given to any man on earth. You
may have the administration of an-
gels; you may see many miracles;
you may see many wonders in the
earth; but I claim that the gift of
the Holy Ghost is the greatest gift
that can be bestowed upon man. It
is by this power that we have per-
formed that which we have. It is
this that sustains us through all the
persecutions, trials and tribulations
that come upon us. We also have
the gifts of the Spirit among us. I
can bear testimony that the sick
have been healed, the blind have
been made to see, the deaf to hear
and the lame to walk, and devils
have been cast out, by the power of
God. These gifts and graces have
been with this people from the or-
ganization of the Church until the
present hour. There sits a man
-[pointing to Brother Philo Dibble ]-
who, fifty-five years ago, while in
Jackson County, Missouri, was shot
through the body because of his re-
ligion. If it had not been for the
power of God, which was manifest-
ed in his behalf, he would have gone
to the grave. Other men have been
in like circumstances. The Lord has
taken whom He pleased and when
He pleased, and preserved in life
those whom He would preserve, ac-
cording to the counsel of His own
will. I bear record that these gifts
are enjoyed by this people, according
to their faithfulness before God. If
we lack these things, it is because
we do not live our religion; for if we
do our duty before the Lord, those
blessings will be with us.
Brethren and sisters, the Lord has
set His hand, in fulfillment of the
words of the Prophet Daniel, to es-
tablish His Kingdom once more and
for the last time on the earth, and to
prune His vineyard with a mighty
pruning. He has called men and
ordained them and sent them forth
to prune the vineyard for the last
time, before the judgments of God
overtake the world. These princi-
ples are true, and if we will do our
duty, the blessings of God will at-
tend us. The Lord has set His hand
to call forth His Church out of the
wilderness. The world has been in
darkness and error from the day that
Jesus and His disciples died. The
Lord took the Priesthood to Him-
self. He left the Christian and the
Jewish world without the Gospel of
Christ, without a solitary man who
had power to administer in the or-
dinances of the Gospel. These are
the truths of heaven, and I bear re-
cord of them to all men, and you
will find that they are true when
you go into the presence of God. If
the Lord ever fulfills His predictions,
it is quite time that He began to
have a people on the earth who will
acknowledge His name. The time
has come when God is going to per-
form His work. If you want to
know what is going to take place,
read the Bible. Let the Christian
world read the Bible; they don't be-
lieve the Book of Mormon or the
Doctrine and Covenants. Let them
see what the Revelator St. John says
is going to take place in the last days.
Read of the opening of the seals,
the pouring out of the plagues the
turning of the rivers and the seas into
blood, and of the death and judge-
ment that are going to overtake the
world. John wrote these things as he
was moved upon by the Holy Ghost,
and his words will come to pass. [Moses 6:8]
We are living in a great day.
These mountains are filled with Lat-
ter-day Saints, in fulfillment of
the revelations of God. The Lord
has commenced this work, and He
is not going to leave it. I warn all
men of that. Zion is going to be
built up. Zion is going to be establish-
ed. Zion is going to be clothed with
the glory of God. And the Kingdom
of God will be like the little
stone cut out of the mountain with-
out hands; it will fill the whole
earth, and prepare the way for the
coming of the Son of Man.
Brethren and sisters, this is my
testimony. This is the religion that
I believe in. Have not I a right to
believe in it? I say I have. I say
to every Methodist, to every Catho-
lic, to every Presbyterian, and to all,
you have a right to your own belief.
We have a little time to dwell here
in the flesh. I shall soon be called
to go into the presence of God,
and I am willing to meet all the
world there with regard to my testi-
mony. I know my testimony is
true. I know Joseph Smith's testi-
mony is true. I know he sealed his
testimony with his blood. It re-
quired his blood, apparently, to
seal this dispensation, as it did the
blood of Jesus and the prophets of
old, to seal their dispensations.
Brethren and sisters, I want to see
you faithful. I want you to be
saved in the Kingdom of God. I
want to be saved, too. What is gold,
what is silver, what is honor, what
is the glory of this world? It all per-
ishes with the using. Where are the
ancient prophets and apostles? They
have fallen asleep. Where are the
generations that have existed before
us? They have gone to sleep. Our
forefathers are in the spirit world. I
shall very soon follow them, I ex-
pect. So will you. Our future des-
tiny lies on the other side of the
vail. When I die I want the priv-
ilege of going where God my
Heavenly Father is, and where
Jesus Christ, the Savior of the
world, is—He who taught the doc-
trines that Brother Cannon and I
are teaching you today, and that the
Elders of Israel have taught from
the commencement of this work. I
want to dwell with them, and with
our people who have been true and
faithful to God. I believe God will
save all people, except the sons of
perdition, in some glory. There is
a glory of the sun; there is a
glory of the moon, and a glory of
the stars, as one star differeth from
another star in glory, so is the resur-
rection of the dead. [1 Corinthians 15:41-42]All sects, all
parties, all people, except those who
shed innocent blood or commit un-
pardonable sin, will have a glory ac-
cording to their condition and the
lives they have lived on the earth.
As Brother Cannon has said, God
offers the Gospel to a generation, and
if they reject that Gospel it will
cost them dearly. It is a serious
thing for any dispensation to reject
the Gospel of Christ and to shed the
blood of the prophets. What did it
cost to shed the blood of the Savior?
He came to His Father's house—the
Jews. He brought the Gospel to
them, and warned them of the
wrath to come. But they rejected
the Gospel; they crucified Him and
put Him to death. What did it cost
them? Jesus told them himself what
it would cost them. He said: "And
they shall fall by the edge of the
sword, and shall be led away cap-
tive into all nations; and Jerusalem
shall be trodden down by the Gen-
tiles, until the times of the Gentiles
are fulfilled." [Luke 21:24] That yoke has been
upon the Jewish nation until the
present day, and it is not broken
THE DESERET WEEKLY.
yet, and will not be until
the times of the Gentiles are
fulfilled, which is close at our
door. Look at Jerusalem after Christ
was slain. Look at the trouble and
suffering the Jews endured in the
great war against Jerusalem, under
Titus. Twelve hundred thousand
people were taken out of the gates
[of] Jerusalem and fell by the famine
and by the sword. A remnant was
scattered throughout the world, and
remains in that condition today. At
the present time they are persecuted
in Russia, in Austria, in Germany,
and in other nations of the earth.
They will be persecuted until Christ
comes, or near that time.
It is the same in this generation,
and in every generation in which
God has had a people upon the earth.
It costs something to shed the blood
of righteous men.
I say to the Latter-day Saints, do
your duty, honor God and remem-
ber your covenants. I want these
young men and young women of
Israel to honor God, to honor their
parents, and remember their pray-
ers. This Kingdom has got to rest
upon your heads. The world do not
believe these things; but their un-
belief does not make the truths of
God of none effect. Therefore, I
have a right to urge these young
men to qualify themselves and pre-
pare themselves to take the places
of their fathers, and to honor God
and be united. United you stand,
divided you fall. Union is that
which God requires of us, as a peo-
ple. I hope you will lay these things
to heart. Read in the Bible and
you will find that they are true, and
they will have their fulfillment.
God bless you. Amen.