PRESIDENT WILFORD WOODRUFF
Strange personal experiences—Preserved by the
revelations and power of God—Incidents of a
remarkable ministry—Great change coming over
the earth—The work of God progressing.
-[At President Woodruff's request,
President Cannon read the 1st Section
of the Book of Doctrine and Cove-
nants.]-
I want the attention and the prayers
of the Saints who have assembled
upon this occasion. I have been sick
and very weak in my body for a
month past, and did not feel that I
would be able to attend this Confer-
ence till the day before it opened. I
have been blessed in this respect to
be with you. I desire to say some
things to you, and perhaps some
strange things, too. I feel disposed to
say something about myself, to give
you a little of the history of my life,
because of what I may want to say,
before I get through, to the rising
generation of Israel. My remarks may
be very eccentric to any but Latter-
day Saints, and to them also, I expect.
I suppose when I was born the devil
knew what I should be called to do;
for there has been from the day I was
born until the present two powers with
me—one to kill me, the other to save
me. I stand before you today a pretty
sound-looking, for a man ninety-one
years of age. I stand before you with
a body in which almost every bone has
been broken except my back and neck.
I have had through my life a power af-
ter me to take my life. When I was
about three years old I was pushed
into a caldron of boiling water, which
had just been taken off the fire. My
grandmother took me out, and my skin
all dropped off excepting off my head
and feet. I was wrapped up for
months in cotton and oil. That was
the beginning of my troubles. When
I was twelve years of age I was
drowned; at any rate, I lay in thirty
feet of water long enough to drown
anyone. After several unsuccessful
attempts, I was brought up out of the
water. This was under the Farming-
ton mill dam. I was just as dead as
I shall be thirty years hence. I lay on
my back and saw the sun go out, and
passed through all the sensations of
death that any man would in drown-
ing. After an hour's labor, I was
brought around to life again. I shall
not go into the particulars of many of
these things, but I have passed
[throug]h what may be termed death a
number of times in my life. When I
was 15 years old I was in one of those
Connecticut blizzards. I walked four
miles through a wood into the open
country, and I sought some place
where I could hide from the storm
and rest. There was but one house
within a mile of me—that was the
poor house, which was about twenty-
five rods away. The man was moved
upon to go up in his garret to get some
pennyroyal to give to a sick woman,
and he felt led to look out of the win-
dow. He saw me crawling into the
hollow of a big tree. He knew what
the result of that would be better than
I did. He took his horse and sleigh
and came to me, and when he got
there I was asleep, and he preserved
my life. When I was 14 years old I
was bit by a mad dog, and ought to
have died; but I did not. So I contin-
ued on, until I can say that I have
broken both of my legs, one twice;
broken both of my arms, breast bone,
several ribs, and altogether been
through a pretty hard experlence for
a man who had to be called to preach
the Gospel, at least. I was a miller
by trade. I have been in two water
wheels under full head of water, and
I suppose I ought to have been killed
in either of them, but I was not hurt.
That preserving power has followed
me all the way through my life. It
has been with me upon my missions
abroad as well as at home. It has
followed me until the present day, and
I have been placed in a great many
strange places.
I was ordained to dedicate this Salt
Lake Temple fifty years before it was
dedicated. I knew I should live to
dedicate that Temple. I did live to do
it. I had a great desire in my boyhood
to receive the Gospel of Christ, to see
a prophet or somebody that could
teach me the Gospel of Christ as
taught by the ancient Apostles and as
I read of in the New Testament. I
desired this with every sentiment of
my heart, and on the first Gospel
sermon I ever heard I was baptized,
with my oldest brother. I immediate-
ly went to Kirtland. I was in Zion's
Camp with the Prophet of God. I saw
the dealings of God with him. I saw
the power of God with him. I saw that
he was a Prophet. What was mani-
fest to him by the power of God upon
that mission was of great value to
me and to all who received his instruc-
tions. I will refer to one instance.
A short time before we landed in
Missouri Joseph called the camp to-
gether. He there prophesied unto us,
and told us what lay before us. He
gave us the reason why chastisement
was before us. He says: "You con-
sider me a boy with the rest of you.
You have not realized my position be-
fore the Lord. But there is a chas-
tisement before this camp." He told us
that this would come upon us because
he had not been obeyed in his counsels.
In one hour after we landed in Mis-
souri and pitched our tents at Mr.
Burkett's, one man began to fall here,
another there, and in a few moments
we had a dozen of our camp stretched
upon blankets with cholera. The
Prophet of God, when he saw this,
felt to sympathize with them, and he
and Hyrum laid their hands upon
Brother Carter, the first man that
was taken sick, but as soon as they
did it they were seized themselves,
and they both had to leave the camp.
He said afterwards: "I told you what
was coming to pass, and when afflic-
tion came I stretched out my hand to
stay it, and I came very near falling
by it myself." That mission was very
interesting to me.
I want to say here that in all my
life since joining this Church and
kingdom, notwithstanding these pow-
ers that have been with me to kill
me, I have always had the revelations
of God with me. That is something
I want to talk about to Israel before
I get through. The power of God has
told me what to do and what not to
do. While the devil has had power
to afflict my body very seriously, there
has been a power with me that has
saved me through it all. And, when-
ever I have had the Holy Spirit with
me to tell me what to do, I have had
to do that. By that I have been
saved. By listening to that still small
voice I am here today with you. There
are two reasons why I am there today.
When I went back after the pioneer
journey, President Young said he
wanted me to take my family and go
to Boston, and stay there till I could
gather all the Saints of God in New
England and Canada and bring them
to Zion. That was the mission he
gave me on my return from the pio-
neer journey to Winter Quarters. I
went in the spring, as he told me, and
took my family. We came one even-
ing to one of the brethren's houses in
Indiana. Several of us were there.
Orson Hyde had a team as well as my-
self. We drove into a long yard. I
set my carriage within six inches of
his. I had my wife and children with
me. I tied my animals to an oak tree
on the other side of where we camped.
I went to bed in my carriage. As I
laid down, the Spirit of the Lord told
me to get up and move my carriage.
I did not ask the Lord what He
meant. I did as I was told. The same
Spirit told me to go and move my
animals away from that tree. I did
that. My wife asked me why I did it.
I told her I did not know. I had not
been in bed twenty minutes when
there came a whirlwind and took that
oak tree, which had stood there per-
haps fifty years, split it right through
the trunk, and it swept through both
of those fences where my carriage had
stood. It never touched Brother Hyde's
carriage, but it would have crushed
me and my family to the earth
if I had not listened to the voice of the
Spirit. After spending two years and
a half in New England and Canada,
getting the Saints out, I started back
with the last lot, about a hundred,
from Boston. We landed in Pitts-
burg at dusk. We were anxious not
to stay there, but to go on to St.
Louis. I saw a steamer making steam
ready to go out. I went to the cap-
tain and asked him how many passen-
gers he had. "Three hundred and fif-
ty." "Could you take another hun-
dred?" "Yes." I was just about to
tell him we wanted to go aboard when
that Spirit said to me, "Don't go
aboard that steamer, you nor your
company." All right, said I. I had
learned something about that still,
small voice. I did not go aboard that
steamer, but waited till the next morn-
ing. In thirty minutes after that
steamer left, it took fire. It had ropes
instead of wheel chains, and they could
not go ashore. It was a dark night,
and not a soul was saved. If I had
not obeyed the influence of that moni-
tor within me, I would have been there
myself, with the rest of the company.
The Thirteenth ward would not have
had an Atwood for a Bishop; the
Church would not have had a Leonard
W. Hardy as Bishop. They were both
with me, and their families, including
Brother Samuel Hardy, who is in St.
George now, upwards of ninety years
old. I never disobeyed that Spirit
but once in my life; I did it then
through the urgency of other persons,
and it nearly cost me my life. I have
been acquainted with this Spirit. It
was not the blow of trumpets nor
thunder and lightning; it was the still
small voice to me [1 Kings 19:11-12]. All the way from
my boyhood I have been governed and
controlled by that Spirit. My missions
have been by that Spirit of revelation.
I was told to go to Fox Islands by
that same still small voice. In the
time of the great apostasy in Kirtland
the Spirit of the Lord said to me, "Get
you a partner and go to Fox Islands."
I knew no more what was in Fox
Islands than what was in Kolob. I
went there, however, baptized a hun-
dred and brought them up to Zion with
me. It was upon that island where I
received a letter from Joseph Smith,
telling me that I was called by revela-
tion to fill the place of one of the
Twelve who had fallen. You will see
it in the Doctrine and Covenants. That
thing was revealed to me before I re-
ceived the letter from Joseph Smith,
but I did not feel disposed to tell it to
any mortal man, for I knew it was my
duty to keep such things to myself.
Through all my life and labors, when-
ever I have been told to do anything by
the Spirit of the Lord, I have always
found it good to do it. I have been
preserved by that power. That power
was with me when I went to Hereford-
shire. I was preaching every night
with Brother Cordon, and one night we
held a meeting in the town hall at
Hanley, in Staffordshire. The Spirit—
that still small voice—said to me, "This
is the last meeting you will hold with
this people for many days." I told the
congregation so when I got up. They
were very much astonished, and asked
me where I was going. I told them I
did not know. After, I went to ask the
Lord what he wanted of me, and He
told me to go to the south. That was
all the answer I got. I took the stage
and rode eighty miles south. The first
man's house I went into was John Ben-
bow's. I had not been in his house
fifteen minutes till I understood why
the Lord had sent me there. There
was a people broken off from the Wes-
leyan Methodists, who had banded
together and called themselves United
Brethren. They were watching for the
coming of the Son of Man, watching
for the Gospel of Christ, as they read of
it in the New Testament. The first
thirty days after I got there I brought
into the Church some two thousand,
with fifty ministers, and all their
chapels, licensed according to law, were
in my hands. There was no blowing
of trumpets about that. The Spirit of
the Lord told me to go there, and when
I got there I saw why I was sent.
That is, perhaps, enough to
say about those things. Now, I
want to say to this congregation, to
the young men of Israel, to the Elders
of Israel, to all our missionaries, the
day has come when the God of heaven
requires at my hands, as the President
of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, to say unto you, it
is the will of God for you to take this
course. Get the Spirit of God before
you go on your missions or anywhere
else. Get the spirit of revelation with
you. And when you get that you are
safe, and you will do exactly what the
Lord wants you to do. I have felt
strongly impressed to say that to this
Conference. What can you do with-
out revelation? We cannot do the will
of God and accomplish what is re-
quired of us without it. We will make
no mistakes if we pursue that course.
That spirit is with the Apostles, and
with the Elders of Israel who are true
and faithful. The rising generation
should labor to obtain the Spirit of
God. Get it within you and it will be
a continual monitor with you.
That is one reason, brethren and sis-
ters, why my life has been preserved.
I will tell you another reason. Of
course, this is my own reason for it.
One reason why I am here is because
the Lord has chosen the weak things
of this world to preach the Gospel, to
do His work, to build up His kingdom.
I do not think He has ever had a
weaker instrument on earth to work
through than myself. The Almighty
has known that never for a minute
since I have been a member of this
Church have I had any power to take
any honor or glory to myself with re-
gard to anything that I have been en-
abled to do in the work of the ministry
or elsewhere. Why? Because I have
known it has come from God, and not
from me. And no other man who has
engaged in this work has had any pow-
er of himself. This power has come
from God unto us, whereby we have
been enabled to do the work He has re-
quired at our hands.
There is a change coming over the
earth; there is a change coming
over the Christian world; and it
is at our door. You read the
revelations in the Bible, in the Book of
Mormon and in the Doctrine and Cove-
nants appertaining to our day and the
generation before the coming of the Son
of Man. War! Yes; war is one of the
troubles that belong to the generation
in whlch we live. It will come to pass,
and no power beneath the heavens can
stay it. Who cannot open their eyes
and see the change in the things around
us? Read these revelations—the revela-
tion just read by Brother Cannon, and
the others in these books. The God of
heaven has set His hand to carry out
these great purposes that you read of.
They are as sure to come to pass as
that God lives. There is no power on
earth, nor beneath the earth, nor any-
where else, that can stay the fulfill-
ment of these things. And they are at
our doors.
I am anxious that the Latter-day
Saints shall round up their shoulders
and bear off the kingdom of God. Many
in the world have labored to try the
overthrow [of] Mormonism. They have
driven our people from their lands.
They have persecuted and afflicted us.
They have put some to death, for the
word of God and testimony of Jesus.
But they have not thwarted the pur-
poses of God in any of these things.
The Lord, in His mercy and wisdom,
has led this people to these valleys of
the mountains. It is ordained of God
that Zion is to be established here.
Here is the Tabernacle that the
Prophet spoke of as a covering from
the storm and the wind, etc. These
temples are here in fulfillment of
prophecy. We have four of them in this
State. President Young was honored
of God in the establishment of these
things. He lived long enough to dedi-
cate the corner stone of this Temple on
this block, into which the Latter-day
Saints go and deliver their friends who
are in the prison house, and attend
to the ordinances of the house of God
for them, in fulfillment of the ancient
Prophets, who spake as they were
moved upon by the Holy Ghost, to the
effect that saviors should be raised
up on Mount Zion in the latter days
while the kingdom is the Lord's. Zion
has got to arise.
"Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O
earth; and break forth into singing, O
mountains; for the Lord hath com-
forted His people, and will have mercy
upon His afflicted.
"But Zion said, The Lord hath for-
saken me, and my Lord hath forgotten
me.
"Can a woman forget her suckling
child, that she should not have com-
passion on the son of her womb? Yea,
they may forget, yet will I not forget
thee.
"Behold, I have graven thee upon the
palms of my hands; thy walls are con-
tinually before me." (Isaiah, 49:13-16.)
All that has been spoken concerning
Zion will come to pass, and you and I
today are witnesses of these things.
We are here for salvation and eter-
nal life. We are here to obtain those
great blessings which Saints of God
in every age of the world have obtained
when they have obeyed the command-
ments of God. Shall we fail? No, we
shall not if we do our duty. The Gospel
is just as good today as it was in
the days of the Savior. As to the glor-
ious blessings of the Gospel of Christ,
they have been unpopular in almost
every age of the world. Take Christ
Himself: where was there a more un-
popular man than the Savior of the
world in His day? And His Apostles
were unpopular. They were put to
death for the word of God and testi-
mony of Jesus Christ. Nevertheless,
Christ was the Son of God; and the
Saducees, the Pharisees, the Essenes,
and all the sects that warred against
Him were cursed and many of them
were cast down to hell, while He re-
mains as the Savior of the world, and
received the honor and the glory which
His Father had ordained for
Him. I want our young
people especially to remem-
ber these things. Those who are going
upon missions must not neglect them.
Unless you have the Holy
Ghost with you when you go out
to preach the Gospel, you cannot
do your duty; but when you
have that you are safe, go where you
will, and your words will have their
effect in the hearts of the honest and
meek of the earth.
Brethren and sisters, I feel to thank
God that we are as well off as we are.
I feet [feel] to thank God that we are in the
position we occupy in these valleys of
the mountains. Here is a safe place.
While in the dedication of that Temple
I saw the judgments of God that were
about to be poured out upon this gen-
eration. They will come to pass. I
read the other night of a terrible flood.
Who ever heard of such a flood in
America before? These floods, and
troubles and tribulations are increasing
in the earth, and they will increase un-
til this scene is wound up. I pray God
my Heavenly Father to bless you all,
to inspire our hearts, that the vision
of our minds may be open to compre-
hend the position we are in and the re-
sponsibility we are under. The eyes of
all heaven and earth and hell are over
us. The eyes of the devils are over us.
They labor for our destruction; but
they have not power to do it. We are
in the hands of God. He holds the keys
of the destinies of the inhabitants of
the earth, and He will bless the
righteous, no matter who they are nor
where they are. I am thankful to
listen to the teachings that I have
heard at this Conference from the El-
ders of Israel. I rejoice in the progress
that has been made during the past
year in the Church abroad. There has
been an addition to the Church that we
have never met with in any other year
since the organization of this Church.
And here at home there has been a
great addition. Our sisters have labored
faithfully in the Primary Associations,
in the Mutual Improvement associations,
and in every capacity in which they
are called to labor. The blessings of
God are with them, and they are doing
much good. The Sunday schools have
also added to their numbers. They
have now over one hundred thousand
members. The Young Men's Mutual
Improvement Associations, as has been
said, have an addition of about
thirteen thousand as a result of their
labors the past year. God is blessing
those who labor among them. If you
can save a soul from death, what bless-
ings you will have with that soul. As
the Lord said to Oliver Cowdery, "If
it so be that you should labor all your
days in crying repentance unto this
people, and bring, save it be one soul
unto me, how great shall be your joy
with him in the kingdom of my
Father." [Doctrine & Covenants 18:15] We should continue in this
labor, that we may gain the salvation
of the souls of men. Inasmuch as you
will do this, the blessings of God will
attend you. Zion has got to arise or
fall. Which shall it be? The
proclamation of the Gospel of Christ
is in favor of Zion. All the revelations
appertaining to this day are in favor
of Zion, and of preparing the way for
the coming of the Son of Man. And
Zion will arise and shine.
God bless you, one and all. Let us
do our duty and seek to magnify our
religion, that when we get through we
will rejoice in that. It is better to be
on the Lord's side than anywhere else.
I want salvation. I want to meet my
forefathers and my friends whom I
have labored here to redeem, who
never heard the Gospel in their day
and generation. God has given us this
privilege. We have Elders of Israel
laboring in all these temples day by
day for the salvation of the children
of men. We have been blessed in this
labor, and we will continue to be
blessed; and when we get on the other
side of the veil there is not one of us
but will rejoice for the good we have
done. May God bless you. I feel to
bless the Latter-day Saints, as far as
I have power to bless. Our daughters
and our mothers are laboring for the
salvation of Israel in their line, and so
are the Elders of Israel in their line.
But we want to increase and continue
to increase, until we have power in
the earth to gather up all the honest
and meek of the earth. God bless,
guide and direct us all in the path of
truth and righteousness, for Jesus'
sake. Amen.
At the conclusion of his remarks
the vast congregation arose en masse
and in unison with the choir, sang:
We thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet,
To guide us in these latter days.