DISCOURSE BY ELDER WILFORD WOODRUFF,
DELIVERED IN THE NEW TABERNACLE, SALT LAKE CITY, SUNDAY
AFTERNOON, .
(Reported by Geo. F. Gibbs.)
NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL—THIRTY YEARS PROGRESS IN THE
MOUNTAINS—THE GOSPEL UNCHANGABLE—JOSEPH INSPIRED—PRESI-
DENT YOUNG'S WORK—WORK OF THE TWELVE—LABORS IN ST.
GEORGE TEMPLE—GATHERING OF THE SPIRITS OF THE DEAD.
It is with much pleasure and sa-
tisfaction I again stand before the
Saints of God in this Tabernacle.
A year nearly has passed since I en-
joyed this privilege, my labors hav-
ing been directed elsewhere. What-
ever I may say to you depends en-
tirely upon the dictation of the Holy
Spirit. And I may say that we all
need the inspiration of the Almighty
to dictate us, whether we preach or
listen, and not only in our public
gatherings but in all of our labors
connected with the building up of the
kingdom of God, yes, just as much
as the Saints of God did in every
past age and dispensation.
I can truly say as the Apostle Paul
said, "For I am not ashamed of the
Gospel of Christ; for it is the power
of God unto salvation to every one
that believeth." [Romans 1:16] I am not ashamed
of what the world is pleased to call
"Mormonism;" I am not ashamed
of any revelation that God has given
unto the Latter-day Saints, through
the mouth of modern Prophets; I
am not ashamed to acknowledge my-
self a firm believer in the literal ful-
filment of the Bible, as well as every
communication of God to man, al-
though I am well aware that the
Scriptures have been more or less
spiritualized by the whole Christian
world, especially during the last
hundred years. I believe that holy
men of old wrote and spoke as they
were moved upon by the Holy Ghost,
and that they meant what they said
and said what they meant, and that
the Apostle Paul spoke truly when
he said, "that no prophecy of the
Scripture is of any private interpre-
tation." [2 Peter 1:20] The Lord has taught us in
a modern revelation contained in
this book, the "Doctrine and Cove-
nants," that it matters not whether
he speaks from heaven by his own
voice, or by the ministration of an-
gels, or by the mouth of his servants
when they are moved upon by the
Holy Ghost, it is all the same the
mind and will of God; and although
the heavens and earth pass away,
my words would not fall unfulfilled. [Doctrine and Covenants 1:38]
I desire more particularly to ad-
dress myself, this afternoon, to the
Latter-day Saints; and at the same
time if any of the strangers present
can receive any benefit from my re-
marks, I shall be glad of it.
Our position, to-day, before the
heavens and the earth and before
each other, reminds me of days that
are past and gone. On the 20th of
July, 1847, I brought our late Presi-
dent Young in my carriage through
Emigration Canyon into this val-
ley, which was the first time he set
foot upon this land. The question
has been often asked by strangers
who visit our city, why did Brig-
ham Young pick upon this spot to
build a city? Because it was shown
him before he came here. But
when we came to this country, what
did we find here? A barren desert,
as barren as the Desert of Sahara;
and the only signs of life were a few
black crickets, some cayote wolves,
and a few poor wandering Indians.
To-day we may travel from Paris in
the north of our Territory to St.
George in the south, a distance of
some 500 miles, and see on every
hand towns and villages, gardens,
and orchards, fields and crops; we
behold a people industrious and
happy, building their own dwelling-
houses, meeting-houses, school-houses,
tabernacles and Temples, and im-
provements and enterprises are con-
stantly going on. And all this
within so short a time. What does
this mean? What does it bespeak
to the strangers who visit our Terri-
tory, and in fact to the whole world,
and to heavenly as well as mortal
beings? It is evidence that God
has set his hand to fulfil the predic-
tion contained in the Bible, that he
has commenced the work of uniting
the record or stick of Joseph with
that of Judah; that the set time
has come for him to favor Zion.
And how have these things come
to pass and what was the origin
of this peculiar system that presents
itself now to the inhabitants of the
earth, which found a resting-place in
the wilds of this desolate, uninhabited
land, and which has already produced
such marvellous results? It was
performed in a very singular manner,
to begin with. As the Lord ever has
done in attempting to establish his
rule and government on the earth,
he chose the weak things of the
earth, and them he will use to con-
found the wisdom of the wise. He
manifested himself to a boy in his
teens, and also sent an angel to
him on several occasions, in fulfil-
ment of the revelation to John the
Revelator, and of the inspired words
of many other Prophets and Apostles
who have spoken concerning the
marvellous work and wonder of the
latter-days. But says the world,
"We do not believe that." We un-
derstand that perfectly well; we do
not expect you to receive the Gospel
of the Son of God with the same
readiness that you believe the false-
hoods and misrepresentations that
are constantly made about it. The
world ever has opposed it, and we
expect to meet all manner of opposi-
tion until the final triumph of right
over wrong, of truth over error. We
might commence with father Adam
and trace it down to the present time,
and we would find that the same
spirit of opposition and of persecu-
tion followed the people of God in
every age, as exists to-day against
us, as a people. And so natural is
it for the devil to oppose every move
that the Lord makes towards re-
claiming and redeeming the earth,
that men are often found to de-
nounce the "Mormons" and their
religion when they know nothing
either of us or our tenets. The Sa-
vior of the world himself was de-
nounced as a deceiver, as an imposter;
why? Because those who raised
this cry against him knew him not,
and those who re-echoed it took not
the trouble to ascertain whether it
was true or false. And it has been
precisely in the same way that the
names of Joseph Smith and Brig-
ham Young have been had for evil
by the masses of this enlightened
age. The Savior said of those that
rejected him, that he was hated by
them because he testified of their
works, which were evil. And so
verily it might be said of those who
decry against the men who, in this
respect have not been more favored
than their Master. Through them
light has dawned upon the world,
and because men choose darkness
rather than light, their deeds being
evil, they find their opposite in
"Mormonism," and in all those who
faithfully adhere to it and advocate
it.
Through this boy, inexperienced
and unlearned as he was, the Lord
organized this Church on the 6th
day of April, 18[3]0, with only six
members; and it can be said of him
as of no other man in Christendom,
that he was the instrument in the
hands of God of presenting to the
world a system of religion, a Church
organization complete with all the
keys and powers of the Holy Priest-
hood, and that through him has
been imparted to the religious world
more light and knowledge than all
the professors of religion combined,
with all their boasted intelligence
and learning. And when he pub-
lished to the world this new yet old
doctrine, even the everlasting Gos-
pel, it was found to agree precisely
with that taught by the Savior, and
the Church organization was after
the same pattern as the one insti-
tuted by Him, although the Gospel
had not been preached since it was
driven away from the earth by the
iron hand of persecution. One of
the peculiar features in the faith of
the Latter-day Saints is that we be-
lieve there is but one Gospel, that
there never has been nor never will be
any other, and that that Gospel never
changes from one generation to ano-
ther, and that it consists of the sim-
ple principles taught by the Savior
and contained in the New Testament,
which principles never deviate one
from another. The first was faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ; the se-
cond was baptism in water by im-
mersion for the remission of sins,
and then the laying on of hands for
the reception of the Holy Ghost;
and this was the kind of doctrine
taught by Christ and his Apostles,
and this was the doctrine that Jo-
seph Smith preached. In doing so
he stood alone in the world, and he
had to meet the traditions of eighteen
hundred years, traditions which had
been handed down from generation
to generation, which were entirely
opposed to the doctrine which the
Lord had revealed to him, and which
he was commanded to preach. You
and I were taught from our youth
that there was no such thing as new
revelation, it was all done away;
and this same tradition is being im-
bibed by the youth of Christendom
to the present time. Ask the min-
isters, the men to whom people look
as their spiritual guides, why they do
not enjoy the gifts and graces and the
light of revelation from heaven, and
what is the universal reply? It is
in substance, "Oh, these things are
all done away, they are no longer
needed; it was necessary that they
should exist in the dark ages of the
world but not in these days of the
blaze of Gospel light." Whenever
God had a Church upon the earth-
these gifts were enjoyed by the peo-
ple. The sick were healed of their
sickness, the lame were made to walk,
the blind to see, the dumb to speak,
etc., through the administrations
of those among them who held the
Priesthood, which authorizes men
to act in the name of the Lord; and
without it no man ever did or ever
can officiate in the ordinances of the
House of God. And I cannot be-
lieve that there is an honest-hearted
man anywhere who possesses any
portion of the spirit of the Lord, and
who has any faith in the revelations
of God, who can believe that men,
whether of high or humble birth,
learned or unlearned, would be di-
vinely called to minister in the things
of God, unless they were endowed
from on high with the same power
that the ancient Apostles possessed.
Well, the Prophet Joseph Smith
lived fourteen years after he had
organized the Church; and during
that time the work spread over the
United States, and to some of the
foreign nations and islands of the
sea. And when he had done this, he
had a mission the other side of the
vail, as well as this. Here again we
widely differ from other religious
denominations. As I before intimated,
the world of mankind do not compre-
hend "Mormonism;" the people are
as ignorant of the Gospel to-day as
Nicodemus was when he inquired of
the Savior what he should do to be
saved. And I will here say that the
answer which Jesus made him in that
early day is strictly applicable to all
who are now seeking the same infor-
mation. "Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God." [John 3:3]
And no man from Father Adam to
the present time ever understood the
principles of the Gospel, unless he
received the testimony of Jesus
through obedience thereto.
We are living in the dispensation
which Daniel saw in prophetic vision,
when the kingdom of God was to
be established upon the earth, whose
dominion is to have no end, and
when the greatness of the kingdom
is to be given to the Saints of the
Most High, to possess it forever and
ever. Who are the Saints of God,
I may ask? Every honest soul who
on hearing the Gospel preached, re-
ceives it and obeys it, and uses his
energies to consummate its establish-
ment upon the earth.
The Prophet Joseph was moved
upon by divine inspiration in the
establishment of this Church. And
before his death he called the Twelve
Apostles together, whom he had
called to the ministry by revelation,
intimating that he was going to
leave them, that he would shortly
be called home to rest. And he
talked with them and instructed
them for weeks and months in the
ordinances and laws of the Gospel;
and he sealed upon their heads all
the Priesthood, keys and powers
that had been conferred upon him
by the angels of God. And then,
in addressing them he said, "Breth-
ren, no matter what becomes of me,
or what my fate may be, you have
got to round up your shoulders and
bear of[f] this kingdom; the God of
heaven requires it at your hands. I
have desired," said he, "to see the
Temple completed, but I shall not
be spared to see it, but you will."
Although he spoke so plainly to us,
intimating that his end drew near,
we could no more get it into our
hearts that he was going to be mar-
tyred, any more than the Apostles
could comprehend the meaning of
the Savior when he told them he
was going away, and that if he did
not leave them, the Comforter could
not come. When the Messiah was
crucified his followers felt sorrowful
and disappointed, because they ex-
pected him to release them and
their nation from the Romish yoke.
And so helpless did they feel them-
selves when denied his society, that
even Peter, the first among the
Apostles, proposed that they return
to their nets, that instead of pur-
suing the high ealling [calling] of "fishers
of men," that they again become
common fishermen. They compre-
hended not the words of the Savior
to them. But after his death, he
appeared to them, and they began
to understand then what he had
previously told them. We did not
understand either what Joseph
meant when he told us he was going
to be taken away. But so it was,
and when it came, we knew too well
his meaning, for sorrow and gloom
rested upon all Israel. The question
may be asked, Why was this neces-
sary? There may be more than one
reason; one, however, is, the dis-
pensation already ushered in is the
dispensation of the fullness of times;
and like preceding ones, the men
who have been called upon to open
them up, had to seal their testimony
with their blood, Joseph had to do
the same. But those who took his
life, and those who assented to it,
will have to pay the bill. He held
the keys of the Priesthood, and had
a work to perform in the spirit world,
as Jesus had. When he was put to
death, and while his body lay in
the tomb, he went to the spirit
world to introduce the Gospel to the
spirits there, that they might have
the opportunity of either receiving
or rejecting it, and be judged ac-
cording to men in the flesh. And
it will be the privilege of every son
and daughter of Adam, sometime
of their life, either in the body or
in the spirit, to hear the glad
tidings of great joy proclaimed to
them, for God is just and is no
respector of persons. Joseph, then,
standing at the head of this dispen-
sation holds the keys of the Priest-
hood pertaining to this time, and it
was a duty that the God of heaven
required of him to open up the
Gospel to those in the spirit world
who had not received it. And
there is no greater duty resting
upon the Latter-day Saints to-day
than that of building Temples, and
officiating therein for the dead as
well as the living. Said Paul, in
support of this doctrine, "Else
what shall they do which are bap-
tized for the dead, if the dead rise
not at all? Why are they then
baptized for the dead?" [1 Corinthians 15:29] There is
no doubt or obscurity in the minds
of the Latter-day Saints respecting
this principle, it has been made
plain unto our understanding by
the light of revelation. The Ad-
versary, well knowing the nature
and importance of the mission of
this Prophet of God, put it into the
hearts of wicked men to kill him,
and in taking his life they thought
they were putting an end to "Mor-
monism." They reasoned from
their human standpoint, for such
might have been the case if this
work were the creation of man. But
the hand of God was over him and
the work that he established, and
it is his work and he directs it, and
those who want to find fault with
it, or any part of it, should enter
complaint against God, for he is its
Author; we are merely the instru-
ments in his hands in carrying it on.
After the martyrdom of our be-
loved Prophet, the Twelve Apostles
stepped forward, in the magnitude
of their calling, and assumed the
Presidency of the Church, and, as
a Quorum, they led it, with Pre-
sident Young as President of that
Quorum, for several years before
there was an organization of the
First Presidency; and when this
organization was effected, with Brig-
ham Young as President of the
Church, he continued to preside for
the space of thirty-three years, un-
til the time of his death, notwith-
standing the combined efforts of the
Adversary and wicked men to de-
stroy him from off the earth. His
works are before you; they are be-
fore the heavens and the earth, and
all men. The entire Territory bears
marks of his genius and enterprise;
and the Lord certainly crowned
his labors with success, as he has
blessed the labors of his brethren
who have not spared their hands
or their hearts in assisting him.
And instead of the work of the
latter-day stopping, or its progress
being retarded in consequence of
the death of our beloved President,
it will move forward with accelerated
speed, until Zion arises in beauty,
and power, and dominion, in fulfil-
ment of the inspired words of Pro-
phets and Seers who have spoken,
and who, while wrapt in heavenly
vision, saw our day.
It cannot be a very great while
before many of us will follow him.
I have traveled with him for some
forty-four years of my life, and
during those years I have never
known him to waver or flinch in
the performance of his duties. He
has performed an honorable mission
to earth, and while his body sleeps
his spirit lives, and he continues
his labors, strengthening the hands
of Joseph, and Hyrum, and Jede-
diah, and Heber, and George A.,
and all those who have been true
and faithful to God and to man
while upon the earth, who are now
engaged in the same great cause of
redemption and salvation. Although
President Young has finished his
earthly career and mission to this
earth, the work has only commenced.
The Gospel must be thoroughly and
faithfully preached to every nation
under heaven, and the Lord holds
us responsible, for verily the trust
has been imposed upon us, and it
behooves us to see to it. I have
traveled more or less for the last
forty years, without purse or scrip,
and I have been sustained by the
hand of the Lord, and so have my
brethren. Our Elders who are called
constantly from the plow and the
workshops to go forth into the world
and preach the Gospel, traveling
from place to place on foot, without
purse or scrip, and although they are
not trained in colleges or seminaries
of learning, yet they are sustained
and enabled to cope with the learned
and wise, and the honest in heart
receive their testimony, which is
accompanied by the Spirit of God,
and the Holy Ghost.
Before I close, I want to say one
thing to the Latter-day Saints, which
is resting upon my mind. President
Young having now passed away, his
labors with us have ceased for the
present. He, with his brethren,
built and completed one Temple,
also laid the foundation for one at
Manti and one at Logan, and besides
a great deal of work has been done
on the one in this city. He left this
unfinished work for us to carry on to
completion; and it is our duty to
rise up and build these Temples. I
look upon this portion of our min-
istry as a mission of as much import-
ance as preaching to the living; the
dead will hear the voice of the ser-
vants of God in the spirit-world,
and they cannot come forth in the
morning of the resurrection, unless
certain ordinances are performed,
for and in their behalf, in Temples
built to the name of God. It takes
just as much to save a dead man as
a living man. For the last eighteen
hundred years, the people that have
lived and passed away never heard
the voice of an inspired man, never
heard a Gospel sermon, until they
entered the spirit-world. Somebody
has got to redeem them, by per-
forming such ordinances for them
in the flesh as they cannot attend
to themselves in the spirit, and
in order that this work may be
done, we must have Temples in
which to do it; and what I wish to
say to you, my brethren and sisters,
is that the God of heaven requires
us to rise up and build them, that
the work of redemption may be
hastened. Our reward will meet us
when we go behind the vail.
"Blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord from henceforth: Yea,
saith the Spirit, that they may rest
from their labors; and their works
do follow them." [Revelation 14:13]
We have labored in the St. George
Temple since January, and we have
done all we could there; and the
Lord has stirred up our minds, and
many things have been revealed to
us concerning the dead. President
Young has said to us, and it is verily
so, if the dead could they would speak
in language loud as ten thousand
thunders, calling upon the servants
of God to rise up and build Tem-
ples, magnify their calling and re-
deem their dead. This doubtless
sounds strange to those present who
believe not the faith and doctrine of
the Latter-day Saints; but when
we get to the spirit-world we will
find out that all that God has revealed
is true. We will find, too, that
everything there is reality, and that
God has a body, parts and passions,
and the erroneous ideas that exist
now with regard to him will have
passed away. I feel to say little else
to the Latter-day Saints wherever
and whenever I have the opportu-
nity of speaking to them, than to
call upon them to build these Tem-
ples now under way, to hurry them
up to completion. The dead will
be after you, they will seek after
you as they have after us in St. George.
They called upon us, knowing that
we held the keys and power to re-
deem them.
I will here say, before closing,
that two weeks before I left St.
George, the spirits of the dead gath-
ered around me, wanting to know
why we did not redeem them. Said
they, "You have had the use of
the Endowment House for a num-
ber of years, and yet nothing has
ever been done for us. We laid
the foundation of the government
you now enjoy, and we never apos-
tatized from it, but we remained
true to it and were faithful to God."
These were the signers of the De-
claration of Independence, and they
waited on me for two days and two
nights. I thought it very singular,
that notwithstanding so much work
had been done, and yet nothing
had been done for them. The
thought never entered my heart,
from the fact, I suppose, that here-
tofore our minds were reaching after
our more immediate friends and
relatives. I straightway went into
the baptismal font and called upon
brother McCallister to baptize me
for the signers of the Declaration
of Independence, and fifty other
eminent men, making one hundred
in all, including John Wesley, Col-
umbus, and others; I then baptized
him for every President of the Uni-
ted States, except three; and when
their cause is just, somebody will
do the work for them.
I have felt to rejoice exceedingly
in this work of redeeming the dead.
I do not wonder at President Young
saying he felt moved upon to call
upon the Latter-day Saints to hurry
up the building of these Temples.
He felt the importance of the work;
but now he has gone, it rests with
us to continue it, and God will bless
our labors and we will have joy
therein. This is a preparation ne-
cessary for the second advent of the
Savior; and when we shall have
built the Temples now contemplated,
we will then begin to see the neces-
sity of building others, for in pro-
portion to the diligence of our labors
in this direction, will we comprehend
the extent of the work to be done,
and the present is only a beginning.
When the Savior comes, a thousand
years will be devoted to this work
of redemption; and Temples will
appear all over this land of Joseph,
—North and South America—and
also in Europe and elsewhere; and
all the descendants of Shem, Ham,
and Japheth who received not the
Gospel in the flesh, must be offi-
ciated for in the Temples of God,
before the Savior can present the
kingdom to the Father, saying, "It
is finished."
May God continue to bless us,
and guide and direct our labors, is
my prayer, in the name of Jesus.
Amen.