Before the close of this conference
there is a subject upon which I wish to
bear my testimony. There were per-
haps very few people here yesterday
who are in this assembly today, when
Brother Thatcher delivered a lecture
upon the life of President Brigham
Young. He referred to a saying of
President Young which I, being a wit-
ness of, feel it my duty to allude to. I
am the first person unto whom he made
the remark, and the only one living in
the flesh who was with him and Joseph
Smith, the Prophet of God, when he
gave to the Twelve Apostles their charge
concerning the Priesthood and the keys
of the Kingdom of God; and as I myself
shall soon pass away like other men, I
want to leave my testimony to these
Latter-day Saints.
I was sitting with Brigham Young in
*Remarks by President Wilford Woodruff at
the Y.M.M.I.A. Conference, Sunday, .
the depot in the city of Boston at the
time when the two Prophets were mar-
tyred. Of course we had no telegraphs
and no fast reports as we have today to
give communication over the land. Dur-
ing that period Brother Young was wait-
ing there for a train of cars to go to
Peterborough. Whilst sitting there we
were overshadowed by a cloud of dark-
ness and gloom as great as I ever wit-
nessed in my life under almost any cir-
cumstances in which we were placed.
Neither of us knew or understood the
cause until after the report of the death
of the Prophets was manifested to us.
Brother Brigham left; I remained in
Boston and next day took passage for
Fox Islands, a place I had visited some
years before, and baptized numbers of
people and organized branches upon
both those islands. My father in-law,
Ezra Carter, carried me on a wagon
from Scarborough to Portland. I there
engaged passage on board of a steamer.
I had just put my trunk on board and was
just bidding my father-in-law farewell,
when a man came out from a shop—a
shoemaker—holding a newspaper in
his hand. He said, "Father Carter,
Joseph and Hyrum Smith have been
martyred—they have been murdered in
Carthage jail!"
As soon as I looked at the paper the
Spirit said to me that it was true. I had
no time for consultation, the steamer's
bell was ringing, so I stepped on board
and took my trunk back to land. As I
drew it off, the plank was drawn in. I
told Father Carter to drive me back to
Scarborough. I there took the car for
Boston, and arrived at that place on the
Saturday night.
On my arrival there I received a letter
which had been sent from Nauvoo, giv-
ing us an account of the killing of the
Prophets. I was the only man in Bos-
ton of the quorum of the Twelve.
I had very strange feelings, as I have
no doubt all the Saints had. I attended
a meeting on the following day in Boyd-
ston's Hall, where a vast number of the
inhabitants of Boston and some three
hundred Latter day Saints had assem-
bled. Hundreds of men came to that
meeting to see what the "Mormons"
were going to do now that their Proph-
ets were dead. I felt braced up; every
nerve, bone and sinew within me seemed
as though made of steel. I did not shed
a tear. I went into that hall, though I
knew not what I was going to say to that
vast audience. I opened the Bible pro-
miscuously and opened to the words of
St. John where he saw under the altar
the souls of them that were slain for the
word of God, and heard them cry, "How
long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou
not judge and avenge our blood on
them that dwell on the earth?" The
Lord informed them that they must wait
a little season, until their brethren were
slain as they were. [Revelation 6:9-11] I spoke on those
words.
Next day I met Brigham Young in the
streets of Boston, he having just re-
turned, opposite into Sister Voce's house.
We reached out our hands, but neither
of us was able to speak a word. We
walked into Sister Voce's house. We
each took a seat and veiled our faces.
We were so overwhelmed with grief and
our faces were soon bathed in a flood of
tears. I felt then that I could talk, though
I could not do so before—that is, to
Brother Brigham. After we had done
weeping we began to converse together
concerning the death of the Prophets. In
the course of the conversation, he smote
his hand upon his thigh and said,
"Thank God, the keys of the Kingdom
are here." Brother Thatcher referred
to that yesterday.
All that President Young or myself, or
any member of the Quorum need have
done in the matter was to have referred
to the last instructions at the last meet-
ing we had with the Prophet Joseph be-
fore starting on our mission. I have al-
luded to that meeting many times in my
life.
The Prophet Joseph I am now satis-
fied had a thorough presentiment that
that was the last meeting we would hold
together here in the flesh. We had had
our endowments; we had had all the
blessings sealed upon our heads that
were ever given to the Apostles or
Prophets on the face of the earth. On
that occasion the Prophet Joseph rose
up and said to us, "Brethren, I have de-
sired to live to see this temple built. I
shall never live to see it, but you will. I
have sealed upon your heads all the keys
of the Kingdom of God. I have sealed
upon you every key, power, principle
that the God of heaven has revealed to
me or sealed upon me. Now, no matter
where I may go or what I may do, the
Kingdom rests upon you."
Now don't you wonder why we, as
Apostles, could not have understood
that the Prophet of God was going to be
taken from us? But we did not under-
stand it. The Apostles in the days of
Jesus Christ could not understand what
the Savior meant when He told them "I
am going away; if I do not go away the
Comforter will not come!" [John 16:7] Neither did
we understand what Joseph meant.
"But," he said, after having done this,
"ye Apostles of the Lamb of God, my
brethren, upon your shoulders this
Kingdom rests; now you have got to
round up your shoulders and bear off
this Kingdom." And he also made this
very strange remark, "If you do not do
it you will be damned."
I am the last man living who heard
that declaration. He told the truth, too;
for would not any of the men who have
held the keys of the Kingdom of God or
an Apostleship in this Church have been
under condemnation, and would not the
wrath of God have rested upon them if
they had deserted these principles or de-
nied and turned from them and under-
taken to serve themselves instead of the
work of the Lord which was committed
to their hands?
When the Lord gave the keys of the
Kingdom of God, the keys of the Mel-
chisedeck Priesthood, of the Apostle-
ship, and sealed them upon the head of
Joseph Smith, He sealed them upon his
head to stay here upon the earth until
the coming of the Son of Man. Well
might Brigham Young say, "The keys
of the Kingdom of God are here." They
were with him to the day of his death.
They then rested upon the head of
another man—President John Taylor.
He held those keys to the hours of his
death. They then fell by turn, or in the
providence of God, upon Wilford Wood-
ruff.
I say to the Latter-day Saints the keys
of the Kingdom of God are here, and
they are going to stay here, too, until
the coming of the Son of Man. Let all
Israel understand that. They may not
rest upon my head but a short time, but
they will then rest on the head of an-
other Apostle, and another after him,
and so continue until the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ in the clouds of heaven
to "reward every man according to the
deeds done in the body."
I want to add another thing, because
I feel it my duty to say it to the Latter-
day Saints. There is a feeling—it was
so in the days of Joseph Smith—that he
was not the man to lead the Church.
Even his bosom friends, men with whom
he saw the angels of God, Oliver Cow-
dery and others, considered him a fallen
Prophet and thought they ought to lead
the Church. This history is before you
and before the world. The same feeling
was manifest in the days of Brigham
Young when he was called to hold the
keys of the Presidency of the Church.
There were other men who thought they
should be appointed to that office. But
the God of heaven manifested to you,
and to me, and to all men, who were in
Nauvoo, upon whom the mantle had
fallen. Brigham Young took his place,
and led the Church and Kingdom of
God up to the day of his death.
There are men today, there will be
men till the coming of the Son of Man,
I expect, who feel as though they ought
to lead the Church, as though it is not
going on right—that this, that, and the
other is wrong. I say to all Israel at this
day, I say to the whole world, that the
God of Israel, who organized this
Church and Kingdom, never ordained
any President or Presidency to lead it
astray. Hear it, ye Israel, no man who
has ever breathed the breath of life can
hold these keys of the Kingdom of God
and lead the people astray.
We talk of revelation. There has
been a feeling of wonder many times as
to why Brigham Young did not have
revelation, why John Taylor did not
have revelation, why Wilford Woodruff
does not have revelation, why any other
Apostle does not have revelation. I hold
in my hand a book of revelations, enough
to lead this Church into the celestial
kingdom of God. Anybody who will
obey that law will have all the revela-
tion that he can fulfill on the earth. We
are not without revelation. The heavens
are full of it, so is the holy Priesthood.
I know the destiny of this people; it
is revealed by the God of Israel and left
on record. I know the destiny of this
kingdom, and I want to say, let us try to
unite together and fulfill the law of God.
You need not trouble about the king-
dom God has established. He will take
care of it. The same God who has or-
ganized this Zion and gathered one
hundred and fifty thousand people here
from the nations of the earth, has His
eye over you, He is watching over you,
and He will take care of you when you
do your duty. Zion is not going to be
moved out of her place. The Lord will
plead with her strong ones, and if she
sins He will chastise her until she is
purified before the Lord.
I do not pretend to tell how much sor-
row you or I are going to meet with be-
fore the coming of the Son of Man. That
will depend upon our conduct.
With regard to the keys of the King-
kom of God, they were placed on the
earth to remain, and they will remain
until Jesus Christ comes in the clouds of
heaven. But I and other men, the Apos-
tles, and all who are called to officiate in
the name of the Lord need the faith and
prayers of the Latter-day Saints.
By way of closing I will say that Brig-
ham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Wood-
ruff, these Twelve Apostles around me,
and everyone of the Seventies, High
Priests, High Councilors, Presidents of
Stakes, the Melchisedec and all the
Aaronic Priesthood, and all the Latter-
day Saints—all will get what they labor
for. Whatsoever we sow, whether good
or evil, of that we will reap the fruit.
But in the morning of the resurrection
you will find Joseph Smith holding the
keys of this kingdom and dispensation
at the head of all Israel who belong to
this dispensation; he will hold them to
the endless ages of eternity, notwith-
standing that we shall all get our reward
for what we do. The keys of the king-
dom were given to Joseph Smith. They
were placed on the heads of other men
to make use of on earth for a short time;
and when we get through we shall all
have our reward.
Let us make up our minds to serve
and honor God. Do not have any fears
concerning the kingdom; the Lord will
lead that aright; and if Brother Wood-
ruff or any of the Presidency of this
Church should take any course to lead
you astray, the Lord will remove us out
of the way. We are in the hands of the
Lord and those keys will be held and
taken care of by the God of Israel until
He comes whose right it is to reign.
God bless you all. Amen.
-[At the evening session President
Woodruff made the following additional
remarks:]-
Before dismissing this assembly I feel
it my duty to say a few words. I ad-
dressed the Saints a short time this
afternoon upon a certain subject, and
that was in bearing my testimony to the
keys of the kingdom of God, which the
Lord gave to Joseph Smith, and the
retaining of those keys upon the earth
through their bestowal upon the heads
of the Apostles. I did not pretend to
dwell upon the organization of the
Priesthood or of the Church in these
remarks. My only object was to bear
my testimony upon that subject. After
the meeting I began to reflect, from re-
marks which I made, that perhaps many
of the people might get an entirely
wrong idea of my views with regard to
the kingom of God. I referred to the
Doctrine and Covenants—a code of re-
velations which the Lord gave to Joseph
Smith. This book contains some of the
most glorious revelations upon doctrine,
upon principle, upon government, upon
the kingdom of God and the different
glories, and upon a great many things
which reach into the eternal worlds.
My leaving this subject there, perhaps,
might lead my friends to suppose that I
did not believe in any more revelation.
This would be a great mistake. For if
we had before us every revelation which
God ever gave to man; if we had the
Book of Enoch; if we had the untrans-
lated plates before us in the English
language; if we had the records of the
Revelator St. John which are sealed up,
and all other revelations, and they were
piled up here a hundred feet high, the
Church and kingdom of God could not
grow, in this or any other age of the
world, without the living oracles of
God.
The Presidency of the Church is com-
posed of three men—the President and
his Counselors; and not only does the
President of the Church need revela-
tion daily, in order to pass through the
labor, the care and the business that
rests upon him, but his Counselors need
it. Every one of the Twelve Apostles
need it in all their administrations
throughout the world; and not only the
Twelve Apostles, but the Seventies, the
High Priests, the Bishops, the Elders
and all who belong to the Melchisedec
or Aaronic Priesthood—all need it in
their administrations in the world. No
man can go forth and lift up his voice and
declare the Gospel of Jesus Christ with-
out revelation. He needs the Holy
Priesthood with him; he needs the Holy
Ghost with him every day of his life. I
do not wish to be misunderstood in this
matter. Every man or woman that has
ever entered into the Church of God
and been baptized for the remission of
sins, has a right to revelation; yes,
women have a right to revelation, a
right to the Spirit of God, to assist
them in their labors, in their administra-
tions to their children, in counseling
their children and those over whom
they are called to preside. The Holy
Ghost is not restricted to men, nor to
Apostles or Prophets, it belongs to every
faithful man and woman, and to every
child who is old enough to receive the
Gospel of Christ.
I am very much opposed to false
doctrine, either preaching it myself or
having anybody else preach it. I there-
fore wish to make this correction if there
is any need of it. God never had a
Church or a people, in any age of the
world, that were ever governed and con-
trolled except by revelation. The living
oracles of God were among them—those
who held the keys of the Kingdom, and
they had to receive revelation to assist
them in all their work. The Elders of
Israel, when they go abroad to the
nations of the earth, need the Spirit of
God, to tell them to go here, or go
there, that they may search out the
honest in heart. Let us all understand
this, so that we may not be divided in
our views and sentiments.