PREACHING THE GOSPEL TO, AND HELPING THE LAMANITES.
OBEDIENCE TO COUNSEL.
Remarks by Elder WILFORD WOODRUFF, in the Bowery at Provo,
July .
REPORTED BY J. V. LONG.
I have sat and listened with a great
deal of interest to the teachings of
the Prophets and Apostles of the
Lord, and I feel it to be a privilege,
indeed, to enjoy the society of such
men, to hear them speak, and to have
a few moments with the rest to
address you. In the subjects and
items that have been presented before
us, there is a great amount of import-
ant matter. I have felt, and did in
the commencement of this Conference,
that for one man or several men to
have oil enough in their vessels to
supply one thousand men was a very
difficult thing, but it seems neces-
sary when a congregation comes
together for all to have oil in their
lamps, and not to require one or
half-a-dozen men to have oil with
them for the whole congregation [Matthew 25:1-13].
Well, brethren and sisters, we have
heard a great deal since this meeting
commenced, on various subjects, and
we have had good teachings—prin-
ciples of eternal life have been set
before us by the several brethren who
have spoken. The proceedings of
this Conference have led my mind to
reflection. I have reflected upon what
I have heard, and considered the im-
portance of those teachings we have
received; and there is one thing I
want to say to this congregation,
when the servants of God who have
been set to lead us, or to lead the
people of God in all the word, when
they rise up to testify, and when they
stand forth to teach the Saints, and
to present principles before them
that are calculated to save them if
adhered to, I wish the Saints to
understand that those teachings, or
those precepts have to be received by
us as a people, for they will prove a
savor of life unto life or death unto
death.
I thought of the children of Israel
this morning. Now, says Moses to
them, I have set life and death before
you, choose which you will receive,
and it is just so with us, the way
of life is pointed out and if we
neglect to walk therein, there is
nothing but death stares us in the
face. [Deuteronomy 30:19] Let us stop and reflect a
moment—let us see whether it is best
for us to receive life or death.
Brethren, you have heard plain truths,
and they have been dictated by the
power of the Holy Ghost and
by the testimony of Jesus Christ,
and now is the time for you to
decide whom ye will serve. When
I used to hear the Prophet Joseph,
and when I hear Brigham, or
Heber, or Jedediah M. Grant, or
the Twelve Apostles, or any other
men, if they speak by the spirit and
power of God, and they tell us thus
saith the Lord, so and so will come
to pass, for instance those who will
feed and clothe these Lamanites and
see to their wants, as our President
has told us, they shall be blessed and
prosper, while those who despise
them shall go down and shall not
stand in the kingdom of God, I
believe that what they say will be
fulfilled. I also believe that which
was said here to-day, viz.: That we
do forget what we are, and we often
forget who we are; we forget, as a
people in these mountains, by what
hand we have been led here, and by
whom we have been governed and
controled since this kingdom has been
organized and the holy Priesthood
committed to man upon the earth.
We become so overcome by the cares
of life that we neglect and forget
our duties, and as the brethren have
remarked with reference to our
brethren and sisters in this place,
they do not realize the responsibility
that rests upon us. Do we realize
the salvation that is to be given to
this people? If we did we would
prize our privileges far more than we
do at the present time. How many of
us who are now in this congregation rea-
lize as we ought the salvation and the
privileges which are granted to us?
Do you appreciate the Priesthood that
is given you, and that the keys of the
kingdom are given to you, and that
the world of mankind are dependent
upon you for salvation? No, not as
you ought. We forget our God and
our prayers, we forget to call upon
God for his Holy Spirit to rest upon
us, that we may live to his honour
and glory. Truly, if the Elders in
this Church and kingdom realized
what is put into their possession, and
that the God of heaven will actually
require an account of our stewardship,
an account of what we have been
doing, and what use we have been
making of the gifts and blessings
which he has bestowed upon us, we
should be more diligent in the per-
formance of all our duties, and we
should often act differently to what
we do, and pursue a different course,
and especially concerning our red
brethren. And I will say to you
brethren who reside in Provo, for
God's sake listen to counsel, and for
the sake of the house of Israel, and
for your own sake listen to the in-
structions of President Young and
carry them into practice. Do not go
away from this stand and let those
things escape your minds, and be
like water spilled upon the ground
which cannot be gathered again, but
receive them as the revelations of
Jesus Christ to us. It has been
remarked that it costs a great deal
to keep the Lamanites, and who does
not know that everything costs a
a good deal in this kingdom? Have
you not tithed your whole substance,
your flocks and herds and all your
possessions? Have not the Gentiles
robbed you and spoiled you of every
thing you possessed? and have you
not had to make your beds in the
mud upon the banks of the Missis-
sippi river. You have experienced
all this and a great deal more. Does it
require the same to pay your Tithing?
Does it require the same affliction, the
same suffering to keep the command-
ments of God, as it did in those days of
persecution and trial? No, it does
not. Will it cost as much to farm
for them, to feed and clothe them, as
it cost us in those times of trouble
and perplexity? All will acknow-
ledge that it is better to give a part
than to lose the whole, and have to
flee to the rocks and mountains, and
be driven from our homes by the
Gentile world. You will find, brethren
and sisters, that the trials will be
heavier and more severe every time,
and you will also find, that when the
duties of our calling are light upon us,
it will be then that we will require to
be stirred up to diligence and to the
performance of our duty. The people
are always the best when they are
busily engaged. When I have heard
brother Kimball declare, that if this
people did not save their wheat and
the necessaries of life they would see
hard times and famine in the land.
I say these things sink like lead into
my feelings, and they always did
from the very first that I heard them.
Whenever I hear things set forth by
the servants of God, I always know
that there is a meaning to them, and
they always weigh heavily upon my
mind. The Lord foreshows us
through his servants what is coming
to pass, and in this way we have
been led by the hand of God; and it
has been by his mercies that we
have been guided until the present
time. The blessings of God have been
multiplied upon our heads year after
year, and we have had more than we
deserve bestowed upon us, and the
counsel and instructions given us have
been good. I hope that we will be
wise, and not let those things pass
away as idle tales, but follow them up
and be on hand for every thing that
is required at our hands. I hope that
brother Snow will lead up in these
matters, respecting your meeting-
house and farming operations for the
natives, and I hope that they will
carry out the instructions given them,
and if the brethren will attend to
these things and do them in faith and
in the name of the Lord, I will tell
you how it will be, all you take in
hand will prosper, the Lord will bless
your crops, and your cattle, and all
that you possess. But if you neglect
your labour this year, why next year
your labours will be double; and so it
will be year after year until all your
blessings will be taken away, and you
will be left to yourselves. Then do
what is required at your hands, and
your yoke will be easy and your
burden light, because you will do each
day that which belongs to that day.
I know that what has been said
here is true, and the Spirit bears
record to you and to every honest
heart—to every man and woman,
that these things are correct. These
Lamanites have a right to the holy
Priesthood, and it is our duty to carry
the Gospel unto them that they
may attain to all its privileges and
blessings.
We have for the last twenty years
been preaching it in the United States,
in Europe, and distant nations of the
earth, and thousands have embraced
it; but in accomplishing this the
Elders of Israel have had to make all
kinds of sacrifices, and be absent from
their families for several years at a
time, but now the key is turned to
the seed of Israel, they are right here
in our midst scattered abroad among
these mountains. "What," says one,
"preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to
these natives?" Yes, God has deter-
mined that seeing the Gentiles count
themselves unworthy of eternal life,
he will through the instrumentality
of his servants cause salvation to go
to Israel in the mountains, and fulfil the
promises which were made to their
fathers hundreds of years ago. When
you see the servitude in which the
poor of mankind are kept in the
various nations, and the privations,
abominations, and oppression that
grind down the inhabitants of the
earth, does it not make us feel for
them? And to whom can they look
for deliverance? They never will
find it but through the instrumental-
ity of this people, for into their hand
the kingdom is given never more to
be destroyed, but it will spread and
increase until all have had an oppor-
tunity of receiving the truth in all
nations. And those that will not
keep the commandments of God will
feel his chastening rod, for he will
purify and cleanse the earth that it
may be prepared for the coming of
Christ.
The kingdom of God will remain
upon the earth, and the holy Priest-
hood will rest down upon these our
neighbours as well as we, and the
keys of power will remain with this
people for ever and be used for their
redemption, for this is the decree of
the Almighty. If we do not do our
duty as a people we shall be chastened
and whipped until we learn obedience.
Then, I say, that it is for us to work
to build up his kingdom, whatever
we are instructed to do, that we
should perform at all times and listen
to the counsels of his servants what-
ever may be the consequences. Yes,
brethren, the time is at hand when
we are and shall be required to put
forth our hands and do a great work
upon the earth, and the dead branches
must be cut off in order that there
may be room for the kingdom of God
to grow. We see the jud[g]ments of
God spreading among the nations of
the earth, and what are our feelings?
My feelings are, that it is according
to the prophecies of those men who
were inspired in days that are gone.
Well, do I delight in seeing the
wicked destroyed? No, I do not; but
I delight in seeing the righteous get
what they look for, happiness and
eternal life. Is it a benefit for the
wicked portion of mankind to live or
to die and go down to the grave? It
is better for the people to go down to
the grave than to live upon the earth;
when the principles of salvation are
offered to the world, it is better that
they should cease to live than bring
thousands of posterity into the world
who will like themselves do wickedly,
for the wicked and the ungodly
of the earth will not receive the
Gospel of Christ, and the earth is
bound to be cleansed that there may
be room for the righteous to live, for
a holy and righteous generation to be
raised up and the name of God
honoured among men. These are my
feelings upon that subject. And it
will be just so with us, we will be
under greater condemnation than any
other people if we neglect our duties,
because we have received the Priest-
hood of God, and have learned what
is right and what is wrong. How
many of our brethren now present
before the light of revelation came
felt as we do now? Would we not
have given anything in the world
that we possessed to have had the
privilege of listening to the teachings
we have had this day? We were
then like the blind groping for the
wall, and all we had to do was to
walk by the little light we could get.
We were then filled with traditions of
our fathers who had inherited vanity,
lies, and things in which there was
no profit. Things are different now,
we know for ourselves, we understand
the things of God, then let us obey
for ourselves that we may prosper.
I feel an anxiety for the welfare of
this people, and I pray that we may
not neglect the blessings that are
given to us, for this is an important
time. While we are in this proba-
tion we should make the best possible
use of our time, for this is the time
to receive life and knowledge and to
lay up treasures in heaven, that where
our heart is, there our treasures may
be also. There are many things in
my mind to speak upon for the
benefit of this people, but I do not
feel to occupy your time longer. I
do feel though that the subject before
us is of all importance to the house of
Israel, and I believe that the Lord
does intend that we should speak to
them, and bring them to understand
the light of truth. They are in
darkness, because their fathers had
the truth and turned away and forsook
the Lord their God. The Prophets
among them wrote records, and in
those records they promised blessings
to their children who should live in
the last days. They promised that
after the cursing and afflictions should
come the blessings, and if the Lord
has taken us from the midst of the
Gentiles and has enlightened our
minds so that we can comprehend
life and death in a great measure,
and the principles of truth that are
being revealed, we should feel satis-
fied with the blessings God has given,
and we should be as ready to preach
to these Lamanites as we are to the
Gentiles. Are they not of the seed
of Israel? Are they not all our
brethren and of the house of Joseph?
Then, brethren, let us take heed, and
when we look upon them and see
their conditions deal with them
wisely, and the Lord will acknowledge
our labours. I will tell you what
I believe about this matter—the
redemption of these natives—had this
people come here under the same
impressions that they had in New
York, in Ohio, in Kentucky, or in
Maine, or in any other State, had they
come when they first received the
Gospel and the Spirit of it, for then
their hearts were touched with the
Spirit of the Gospel of salvation, and
they felt well, and had they have
come here under those impressions
and continued to live under those
impressions which they first received
in relation to these scattered tribes;
I say long before this, had the people
who first settled in Utah Valley lived
up to the first impressions first made
upon their minds, these Utes would
have felt to be our brethren and
sisters. They would have been one
with us, and they would have been
in this Church long ago, and their
children would have been reading
and writing, and you would have seen
some of the young men busily engaged
preaching to the tribes the fulness of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If the
Latter-day Saints had come here
when they first received the impres
sion, and the Book of Mormon from
Joseph Smith, this wild degraded
race of men might have been, to a
great extent, civilized and acquainted
with the Gospel. What do you say
brethren, is not that correct? (Loud
cries of "Yes.") I know it is. I
have heard the brethren and sisters
speak in tongues and give interpre-
tations about this very people, and
they would say that they would teach
the Lamanites to spin and sew, and
also to be clean; do they feel so
now? No; I tell you they are back-
sliders from that faith which they
then imbibed; they are lukewarm
and cold to those things which God
has taught us respecting this people
with whom we now live. Well, now,
again, if you will reflect and look
back a little you will see that we
have been for several years past
calling for the Elders to go forth and
preach the Gospel, and we have
almost preached to all nations. There
may be some nations that we have
not preached to, but we have preached
it in France, Italy, Germany, and the
States of the German Confederacy;
and it has been preached in the
British Isles, in North and South
America, and the Society and Sand-
wich Islands, and to China, and we
have even sent them to the dark
regions of Asia and Africa to preach
the Gospel of Christ. There were
two of our brethren past through
here last night who have been to
those countries. Chauncey West has
been through that country and can
tell how it is there. Could he get
any converts there? Yes, if he could
get them plenty to eat, but if he
could not feed them and keep them
they would not stay with him. Now
Chauncey West has done as much as
he could, and not only preached and
travelled, but he has cleared his
skirts of those people among whom
he has travelled, and he has cleared
this people, for they have been
commanded to preach this Gospel to
all the nations of the earth.
Do we want to save the Lamanites?
Yes, we do, and they are here by
thousands and hundreds of thousands,
right upon this continent; we have
them all around us and they want
saving. Supposing we were to take
those Elders that we have in the
various nations and send them in
among these Indians, these natives
of the mountains, what would be the
result? Our Elders go and leave
their families for two, three, five
and seven years, they leave all
and travel by land and sea, they
get shipwrecked, go almost naked,
and be gone for years, preach-
ing and labouring year after year,
and what do they accomplish?
Not as much as they could do at
home in one month, but still they go,
and positively don't do as much good
as they could do at home in one
fourth the time. Now, suppose I
were to call for Missionaries to go
and preach the Gospel to the nations
that are termed the civilized nations, I
could get hundreds of volunteers. Why
are you not willing to make sacrifices
here? Why should not men be willing
to go and spend their time and talents
among these Lamanites and save time,
money, and hundreds and thousands of
dollars? Let a man till his garden,
attend to the cows, get his living and
devote the spare portion of his time
to preaching to these Lamanites, and
and he will be right at home all the
time. But men will prefer going and
spending their time year after year
among the Gentile nations, and
accomplish a mere nothing. And I
can find men in this congregation
who will do this, and do it freely,
but say to them set your own time
and go to the kanyon and get a load of
wood for these Lamanite squaws and
will they do it? No, they will not.
Is it not strange that men will act
so, go from home and spend hundreds
and thousands of dollars to preach
the Gospel to somebody of noted
civilization, away off yonder (pointing
east,) but will we go to the Laman-
ites? No, but we try to get away
off from them. We are treating
them just as the Latter-day Saints
have been treated by the Gentiles. If
any of them come about begging, the
Latter-day Saints instead of serving
them and thereby kindling a good
spirit within them say "here, get
out of the way, let this alone, and
don't you meddle with that, I don't
like you, go away from my house."
This is the way the Saints talk to
these natives. Now, where shall we
go—to the nations that have rejected
the fulness of the Gospel, or shall we
stay at home and preach to these
natives? I tell you, if we send this
people off from us and treat them
with contempt we shall regret it, and
mourn because of it. I am going to
tell you what to do with these natives,
you Bishops and Presidents of Provo
and Springville, call out those teams
which you have about you, all of
them, and if these Indians want
wood, haul it for them for you have
burned theirs, and they need a little
wood as well as you. Let them have
feed on the range for their horses,
wood to burn, and then they will let
you alone. You will eat their fish
too, on which they depend for a
living one part of the year, and
every service berry that you can
find in the mountains, and still
you grumble to let them have
a little with you. You don't want
the crickets, and therefore they
can have the whole of them, but
you have secured the antelope and
everything else that you could make
any kind of use of. Before the whites
came, there was plenty of fish and ante-
lope, plenty of game of almost every
description; but now the whites have
killed off these things, and there is
scarcely anything left for the poor
natives to live upon. Brethren what
are you going to do with them?
Kick them out of doors when they
come in and let them starve to
death? If we do this, we shall most
assuredly regret it. Well, what will
you do brother Brigham? I will
tell you what I will do; there is
brother Armstrong here, and he is an
agent, and I want him to set off a
piece of land for the natives and
make a division line, and have it
clearly understood that they are not
to intrude upon your ground, nor you
upon theirs. In addition to this, make
a road from their land, so that when
they want to come to the city they
can do it without breaking down
fences or intruding upon anybody's
land. Then teach them to work, to
fence in their land, to plough, to raise
wheat and corn, and potatoes, and
everything they need; teach them to
be cleanly and industrious, and prevail
on them to send their children to
school to learn to read and write the
English language, and let some of
those men that used to talk of
teaching the Lamanites, and of con-
verting them, let them go down and
build a nice school-house in their
settlement, and there teach them the
principles of civilization. And instead
of you wasting your hundreds and
thousands worth of time, and of grain,
and clothing, do as they did in Salt
Lake City last year; they formed a
society for the benefit of these
Indians, and put their means together
and made them clothing of various
kinds, and distributed those articles
which they were enabled to obtain
among the Lamanites, and do you go
and do likewise. Gather up the yarn,
and the cotton yarn, and woollen
yarn, and make them up into
clothes to make them comfort-
able. But they must work for
those things; teach them to work
for all they have and don't encourage
the idle, those who refuse to work.
In this way you will gradually bring
them in to civilization, and they will
be convinced that you are their friends,
and that you intend to do them good,
and these things will lead them to
give ear to the Gospel and be bap-
tized for the remission of their sins.
Now are we going to try to make
them one, and encourage them to
abide here in peace, or are we
determined to drive them from us?
I can tell you the Lamanites of these
mountains will yet be a shield to this
people if we do right, and if we will
not do our duty, our necks are ready
for the halter or the knife; yes, you
will find that our necks will be ready
for the knives of our enemies, if we
do not look to these poor degraded
natives.
I want to know now, if the brethren
can really and truly realize our true
position with regard to the Lamanites,
or do you consider them a poor, lost,
sunken race of beings that are not
worth saving? Do you ever read
the Book of Mormon? If you do,
do you believe and realize the
truth of its sayings, and also what
the Lord revealed to the Prophet
Joseph? These are things that
we have in our possession; we
have them in the Book of Doctrine
and Covenants and in the History of
Joseph Smith. Do you look them
over? If you do, and if you lay
them to heart as the things of God,
you will feel that it is actually our
duty to do all we possibly can
to benefit, enlighten and save this
dark and ignorant people. Do you
feel like killing off the Laman-
ites? I tell you there is no man
that will ever feel like killing
them if he possesses the Spirit
of the Lord. Well, says one,
"do you ever feel like chastising
them brother Brigham?" Yes, I do,
but I let the Spirit of the Holy
Gospel direct me; but until the
light of the Holy Gospel shone
upon me I felt like other men.
When the Priesthood was restored,
and the light of truth burst in
upon my mind, I knew then that
if it were not for the Israel-
ites the Gentiles might go to hell
and be damned. The Lord would
not take much pains with us any-
how, were it not for the pro-
mised seed. Instead of them being
inferior to us in birthright, they
are superior, and they stand first
in many instances, with regard to
the promises in particular. Well,
but says one, "how will you
prove this?" I will tell you,
if we had been of the house of Israel
and forsaken our God as much as we
have, and despised his ordinances
and trampled them under our feet, we
would have been cursed like these
Lamanites are, this is my proof. If
the Gentiles had been of the house of
Israel, legal heirs to the Priesthood,
and had received their oracles as the
house of Israel did, you would have
found that the same curse would have
come upon the Gentiles that you now
see upon these Lamanites, but inas-
much as they were not of the pro-
mised seed, to them the blessings
did not pertain, and they had no
part nor lot in them, only as they
were afterward granted on condition
of obedience. The Son of God came
through Israel, but we Gentiles being
strangers, and foreigners, and aliens,
in a national point, we had nothing
to do with putting Christ to death,
and hence the curse did not come
upon the Gentiles. When they are
restored, will they not stand before
the Gentiles? Will they not be
numbered with the Sons of God
and be adorned with the gifts
and graces of the Gospel, and stand
before the Gentiles? Yes, they
will! Now, what do the people
think? I should like to know
what this congregation think about it.
There are a good many brethren
and sisters here from Springville,
Palmyra, and Payson, what do
you all think about it? Had we
better drive them away out of the
country? Or, had we best take
hold and bring them into the
Gospel of Jesus Christ? Now, if
this people, male and female, feel
to school them, spend time and
pains to instil into their minds
correct principles, to divide land
with them, and clothe them, draw
their wood for them until they
learn to draw their own, and farm
for them until they learn to farm
for themselves, and if they will
no more slay them, no more seclude
them from their houses and hospi-
tality, and will go to work and
restore them to the knowledge of
the truth the Lord God will bless
them, and they have nothing to
fear. If you will live up to this
you will rise, while those who do
not will go down. If this people will
observe this covenant, and follow
it one and all, (and here are the
leading men in these mountains be-
longing to several of the tribes, and
they feel well), thousands and hun-
dreds of thousands will embrace
this Gospel, and for ought I know
scores of thousands will become
members of this Church.
Now, if you will take hold of the
wheel and lift, it may be granted
unto us to accomplish this great
work, and I tell you that you will
receive the blessings of the Gospel,
such as you never received before, if
you will make up your minds to be
favourable and merciful unto them
in their filthiness, and in their
ignorance, these blessings are yours.
But if you get angry and kill
them, you will not obtain them.
Say to them, "if you steal and
destroy our property we will bear
with you, and while you are ignor-
ant we will bear with you," and
if this people will take this course
from this time forth, they will
feel the power of God more than
they ever did in these last days
before. (The congregation here
united in a loud "Amen.") And
you are finding it so, too.
Just give them what they want;
I tell you it is the cheapest way
to fight them. You can draw
them to you and make them bend
to anything if you use them well.
And if any man abuses them,
let him be dealt with by the
civil authorities, and in this way
you will succeed in the work you
have in view.
May God bless you all. Amen.