DISCOURSE
By Elder WILFORD WOODRUFF,
delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt
Lake City, .
REPORTED BY DAVID W. EVANS.
The few of us who met here this forenoon
had the privilege of listening to a very
interesting discourse from Bro. Penrose,
on the first principles of the gospel. I say
the "few" who were here, for there were
few, and there are every Sabbath in the fore
part of the day. I think if the Latter-day
Saints prized their privileges as they ought
to do, there would be more attend meeting
on a Sunday morning, there would be more
of us faithful to the Lord our God and to
the covenants we have made if we did but
realize the rewards that, in the future, will
be awarded for the deeds done here in the
flesh.
There was one principle referred to by
Bro. Penrose this morning, upon which I
wish to make a few remarks, for the benefit
of the elders of Israel. It is a very common
saying with us, as elders, in our remarks
concerning the gifts of the gospel to speak of
confirming the gifts of the Holy Ghost by
the laying on of hands. There is no differ-
ence with regard to our faith, opinions or
views, as a church, pertaining to this
principle; it is only in the manner in which
we use our language. There is a difference
between the gifts of the Holy Ghost and
the Holy Ghost itself. As Brother Penrose
said this morning, we repent of our sins, are
baptized for the remission of them and we
receive the laying on of hands for the
reception of the Holy Ghost; but the elders,
when speaking on this principle, instead
of saying so, not unfrequently say "for the
reception of the gifts of the Holy Ghost."
Now we have no right, power nor authority
to seal the gifts of the Holy Ghost upon
anybody, they are the property of the Holy
Ghost itself. To explain this I will say, for
instance, Prest. Young may go and preach
in every ward in this city; yet it is President
Young in each ward. When in the 14th
Ward he may give a man an apple; in the
13th Ward he may give another person a
loaf of bread; in the 10th Ward he may give
a man a dollar in money; in the 1st Ward
he may give a man a horse and carriage.
Now they are all different gifts, but he is
one and the same man who bestows them.
I merely bring up this figure by way of
illustration.
We lay hands upon the heads of those
who embrace the gospel and we say unto
them, "In the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ receive ye the Holy Ghost." We
seal this blessing upon the heads of the
children of men, just as Jesus and His
Apostles and the servants of God have done
in every age when preaching the gospel of
Christ. But the gifts of the Holy Ghost are
His property to bestow as he sees fit. To
one is given the spirit of prophecy, to
another a tongue, to another the interpreta-
tion of tongues and to another the gift of
healing. All these gifts are by the same
spirit, but all are the gifts of the Holy
Ghost, to bestow as He sees fit, as the
messenger of the Father and the Son to the
children of men.
The Holy Ghost, as was justly presented
this morning, is different from the common
spirit of God, which we are told lighteth
every man that cometh into the world. The
Holy Ghost is only given to men through
their obedience to the gospel of Christ; and
every man who receives that spirit has a
comforter within,—a leader and guide to
dictate him. This spirit reveals, day by
day, to every man who has faith, those
things which are for his benefit. As Job
said, "there is a spirit in man and the in-
spiration of the Almighty giveth it under-
standing." [Job 32:8] It is this inspiration of God to
His children in every age of the world that
is one of the necessary gifts to sustain man
and enable him to walk by faith, and to go
forth and obey all the dictations and com-
mandments and revelations which God
gives to His children to guide and direct
them in life.
We have a long list given to us in the
New Testament scriptures of those, who, in
ancient days, lived, labored and performed
their duties by faith. Among them was
Noah, who, being warned of God, went forth
and prepared an ark for the salvation of
himself and family. Abraham, also, offered
up his son Isaac by faith, because he was
called and commanded of God, believing in
the promises God had made unto him. [Genesis 22:1-19]
This gift and principle of faith is neces-
sary for the Saints in every age of the world
to enable them to build up the kingdom of
God and perform the work required of
them. All that the ancients did was by
faith. Jesus and His apostles often quoted
the prophecies of the ancient prophets and
showed that they were fulfilling them.
Even the labors of Jesus, from the manger
to the cross, through his whole life of pain,
sorrow, affliction, suffering, persecution
and derision, were all by faith. It was by
the power of the Father, whose work He
had come to perform, that He was sustain-
ed. He fully believed that He would be
able to accomplish all that He had been sent
to perform. It was on this principle that
He fulfilled every requirement and obeyed
every law, even that of baptism, when He
was immersed in the Jordan by John, who
held the Aaronic priesthood and the keys
of baptism for the remission of sins. [Matthew 3:13-17] Bap-
tism was a righteous law; in fact it was the
law of God to save the children of men,
and Jesus was the door, and He, although
free from sin and guile, complied with it as
an ensample to His disciples and the rest of
the children of men.
The apostles, in their labors, had to work
on the same principle that the Saints in
both former and latter days have had to
work upon,—namely the principle of faith.
Joseph Smith had to work by faith. It is
true that he had a knowledge of a great
many things, as the Saints in former days
had, but in many things he had to exer-
cise faith. He believed He was fulfilling
the prophecies of the ancient prophets. He
knew that God had called him, but in the
establishment af [of] His kingdom He had to
work continually by faith. The church
was organized on the 6th of April, 1830,
with six members, but Joseph had faith
that the kingdon [kingdom] thus commenced, like a
grain of mustard seed, would become a
great church and kingdom upon the earth;
and from that day until the day on which
he sealed his testimony with his blood, his
whole life was as if wading through the
deep waters of persecution and oppression,
received from the hands of his fellowmen.
He had all this to endure through faith, and
he was true, faithful and valiant in the
testimony of Jesus to the day of his death.
All the labors that we have performed
from that day until the present have been
by faith, and we, as Latter-day Saints,
should seek to cherish and grow in this
principle, that we may have faith in every
revelation and promise and in every word
of the Lord, that has been given in the
Bible, Book of Mormon and Doctrine and
Covenants, for they will surely come to
pass as the Lord God lives, for the unbelief
of this generation will not make the truths
of God without effect.
When the members of Zion's Camp were
called, many of us had never beheld each
others' faces; we were strangers to each
other and many had never seen the
prophet. We had been scattered abroad,
like corn sifted in a seive, throughout the
nation. We were young men, and were
called upon in that early day to go up and
redeem Zion, and what we had to do we had
to do by faith. We assembled together
from the various States at Kirtland and
went up to redeem Zion, in fulfilment
of the commandment of God unto us.
God accepted our works as He did
the works of Abraham. We accomplished
a great deal, though apostates and unbe-
lievers many times asked the question
"what have you done?" We gained an ex-
perience that we never could have gained
on any other way. We had the privilege
of beholding the face of the prophet, and
we had the privilege of traveling a thousand
miles with him, and seeing the workings
of the spirit of God with him, and the rev-
elations of Jesus Christ unto him and
the fulfilment of those revelations. And
he gathered some two hundred elders from
throughout the nation in that early day and
sent us broadcast into the world to preach
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Had I not gone
up with Zion's Camp I should not have
been here to-day, and I presume that
would have been the case with many others
in this Territory. By going there we were
thrust into the vineyard to preach the gos-
pel, and the Lord accepted our labors. And
in all our labors and persecutions, with our
lives often at stake, we have had to work
and live by faith.
The Twelve Apostles were called by rev-
elation to go to Far West, Caldwell
County, to lay the foundation of the corner
stone of the Temple. When that revela-
tion was given this Church was in peace
in Missouri. It is the only revelation that
has ever been given since the organization
of the Church, that I know anything about,
that had day and date given with it. The
Lord called the Twelve Apostles, while in
this state of prosperity, on the 26th day of
April, 1838 to go to Far West to lay the
corner stone of the Temple; and from there
to take their departure to England to preach
the gospel. Previous to the arrival of that
period the whole Church was driven out of
the State of Missouri, and it was as much
as a man's life was worth to be found in the
State if it was known that he was a Latter-
day Saint; and especially was this the case
with the Twelve. When the time came for
the Corner stone of the Temple to be laid,
as directed in the revelation, the Church
was in Illinois, having been expelled from
Missouri by an edict from the Governor.
Joseph and Hyrum Smith and Parley P.
Pratt were in chains in Missouri for the
testimony of Jesus. As the time drew nigh
for the accomplishment of this work, the
question arose, "What is to be done?" Here
is a revelation commanding the Twelve to
be in Far West on the 26th day of April, to
lay the Corner stone of the Temple there; it
had to be fulfilled. The Missourians had
sworn by all the Gods of eternity that if
every other revelation was given through Jo-
seph Smith were fulfilled, that should not
be, for the day and date being given they
declared that it should fail. The general
feeling in the Church, so far as I know,
was that, under the circumstances it was
impossible to accomplish the work; and
the Lord would accept the will for the deed.
This was the feeling of Father Smith, the
father of the Prophet. Joseph was not with
us, he was in chains in Missouri, for his re-
ligion. When President Young asked the
question of the Twelve, "Brethren, what
will you do about this?" The reply was:
"The Lord has spoken and it is for us to
obey." We felt that the Lord God had given
en the commandment and we had faith to
go forward and accomplish it, feeling that
it was His business whether we lived or died
in its accomplishment. We started for Mis-
souri. There were two wagons. I had one
and took Brother Pratt and President
Young in mine; Brother Cutler, one of the
building committee, had the other. We
reached Far West and laid the Corner stone
according to the revelation that had been
given to us. We cut off apostates and
those who had sworn away the lives of
the brethren. We ordained Darwin Chase
and Norman Shearer into the Seventies.
Brother George A. Smith and myself were
ordained into the quorum of the Twelve on
the Corner stone of the Temple; we had been
called before but not ordained. We then
returned, nobody having molested or made
us afraid. We performed that work by
faith, and the Lord blessed us in doing it.
The devil, however, tried to kill us, for
before we started for England everyone of
the Twelve was taken sick, and it was
about as much as we could do to move or
stir. I had traveled in Tennessee, Missis-
sippi, Kentucky and Arkansas for two or
three years, and that too, during the sickly
season, where they were not well enough
to take care of the sick, and I had never had
the ague. But upon this occasion I was
taken with the ague, the first time in my
life. All the Twelve had something the
matter with them. But we had to travel
sick; we had to travel by faith in order to
fulfil the mission to which we had been
called by revelation. But the Lord sus-
tained us, He did not forsake us. We went
to England, and we baptized, in the year
1840, something like seven thousand peo-
ple, and established churches in almost all
the principal cities of the kingdom. Bro.
Pratt established a branch in Edinburgh,
Scotland. Brother Kimball, George A. and
myself built up a branch in London, and sev-
[eral] branches in the south of England. We
baptized 1,800 persons in the south of Eng-
land in seven months; out in that number
two hundred were preachers belonging to
different denominations of that land. We
opened an emigration office, published the
Book of Mormon and gathered many to
Zion. God, was with us, and I may say
that He has been in all the labors of this
Church and Kingdom.
In the pioneer journey, coming here, we
had to come by faith; we knew nothing
about this country, but we intended
to come to the mountains. Joseph had
organized a company to come here, before
his death. He had these things before him,
and understood them perfectly. God had
revealed to him the future of this Church
and Kingdom, and had told him, from time
to time, that the work of which he was lay-
ing the foundation would become an ever-
lasting kingdom—would remain forever.
President Young led the pioneers to this
country. He had faith to believe that the
Lord would sustain us. All who travelled
hither at that time had this faith. The
spirit of God was with us, the Holy Ghost
was with us; and the Angels of the Lord
were with us and we were blessed. All,
and more than we anticipated, in coming
here, has been realized, as far as time would
permit.
When the Mormon Battalion was called
for by the United States, we were in our
exile, having been driven from our homes,
our country and graves of our fathers, from
lands we had bought of the United States
Government, for our religion, into the wil-
derness. The Government made a demand
upon us for five hundred men to go to the
Mexican war. I do not suppose that they
expected we would furnish them, but we
did, and we did it by faith. Five hundred
men, the strength of Israel, were sent to
fight the battles of their country, leaving
their wives, children and teams on the
prairie. They had to exercise faith, and so
had we who remained, believing it would
turn out for the best, and it has proved so.
Every member of that Battalion who has
remained faithful has always rejoiced, from
that day to this, that he was a member
thereof. It has proved a blessing to him,
and it proved salvation to Zion.
I have referred to these things to show
that hitherto, in our labors to build up the
Church and Kingdom of God upon the
earth, we have had to labor by faith. It is
still requisite. God has called upon us to
warn this generation. He has set His hand
to establish Zion—the great Zion of God—
about which the prophets have said so
much. No prophet has spoken more
pointedly on this subject than Isaiah. Our
drivings from Missouri, our persecutions,
our travels along the Platte River, the man-
ner of our coming to the mountains of Israel,
our return again to the land of Zion and
the building of the temple in Jackson
County have all been spoken of by Isaiah
as well as by all the prophets who have
spoken concerning the Zion of the latter
days.
We have exercised faith in the carrying
out of these promises and in the fulfilling
of those revelations of God unto us. We
have walked and lived by faith, precisely
the same as the apostles, prophets and saints
have done in every dispensation and age
of the world; for there is one remarkable
feature with regard to the work of God, and
that is, it has always been unpopular in
every age and generation. The Lord has
never sent a message to the inhabitants of
the earth but what it has been despised,
in a great measure, by most of them
As it was in the days of Noah and
Lot, so shall it be in the days of the
coming of the Son of Man. [Matthew 24:37] In the days of
Noah there were eight souls saved, after
one hundred and twenty years' labor in
preaching and building the Ark. [Genesis 7:1-7] In the
days of Lot but very few left the city of
Sodom. Lot and his family left, and we
are told that his wife was turned into a pillar
of salt; and what the angels had told Lot
concerning Sodom and Gomorrah came to
pass—fire and brimstone were sent down
from heaven upon them and they were
destroyed. [Genesis 19:24-29]
The work of God and the gospel of Christ
have always been unpopular. Take the life
of the Savior himself. There is a fair ex-
ample. Trace Him from the day he was
born until His death, and who were His
friends. A few illiterate fishermen. Jesus
Christ came to the house of Judah and they
rejected him; and Jerusalem, Judea, and
the inhabitants of all the region round about
rose up against Him with the exception of
a few poor men and women. Still He was
the Savior of the world, the great Shiloh of
Israel, the great King of the Jews. That is
a fair ensample of the way in which the
work of God has been received in every
age and dispensation. All that Jesus said
concerning the Jews has come to pass to the
very letter; not one jot or tittle has fallen
unfulfilled. Their history for the last eigh-
teen hundred years, until the present day,
has been a remarkable ensign to the nations
of the earth of the truth of the Bible and of
the truth of the testimony of Jesus Christ,
and of Him being the Savior of the
world. All that He said concerning them
and all that Moses predicted concerning
their dispersion and about their being
driven, as corn is sifted through a seive,
among the nations; about the manner in
which their women did evil to the children
of their own bosoms when Jerusalem was
surrounded by the Roman army, when it
was taken and over two millions of its in-
habitants were destroyed by sword,
pestilence and famine, has been fulfill-
ed. [Amos 9:9] All these things have been in strict
fulfillment of the sayings of Moses and
Jesus concerning them. When the Sa-
vior was sentenced to death, they cried
"let His blood be upon us and upon
our children;" and they have been trampled
under foot by the whole Gentile world for
the last eighteen hundred years. [Matthew 27:21-25] In their
affliction and persecutions they have had to
suffer almost beyond the endurance of
man, and until the last few years, have
scarcely had the right of citizenship in any
nation under heaven—except in the United
States. All that has been spoken concern-
ing them has had its fulfilment as fast as
time would admit.
It is so with regard to the gospel of Jesus
Christ in the latter days. If they called the
master of the house Beelzebub, will they
not say the same of his household? They
said that He cast out devils by Beelzebub,
the prince of devils, they said He was a
pestilent fellow and a stirrer-up of sedition
and strife, still He was the Savior of the
world. [Matthew 10:25]
This principle of unbelief has existed
in every age; it exists to-day. The elders
of Israel have had to contend with this
power of darkness, with persecution, op-
pression, ridicule and opposition from those
who should have received their message—
a message which was for the good and sal-
vation of those who rejected it. The Jews
should have received the testimony of
Christ, but as a nation they rejected it. Our
experience has been very similar to that of
Jesus and His apostles. We have had to
labor by faith. We have had to exercise
faith in the revelations that have been given
to us in the Book of Doctrine and Cov-
enants and Book of Mormon, as well as in
the Bible. These revelations pourtray what
lies before us as a people. The fate of this
nation and the nations of the earth has been
pourtrayed by the ancient prophets in the
Book of Mormon and Bible. Isaiah has
told us what will come to pass in the latter
days concerning those who fight against
Mount Zion and against the children of
Zion. Every weapon will be broken, every
nation that will not serve Zion shall be
utterly wasted away saith the Lord; for the
Lord will fight in defence of the land of
Zion. He will establish the kingdom that
Daniel saw, in fact that kingdom has been
established; the Zion of God has been set
up, the Church of Jesus Christ of Lat-
ter-day Saints has been established by
revelation from Jesus Christ in our day and
generation; and we are called to build it up,
we are called to perform its work. As I
have often remarked, the Gods, the Angels,
the whole heavens, all the good men, all
the spirits of the just that dwell in the
eternal world are watching with vast in-
terest the labors of this people.
They are not perfect without us, we are
not perfect without them. [Doctrine and Covenants 128:15] There is no
period in the whole history of the world,
no dispensation of God to man, that is
fraugh with such interest as the dispensa-
tion in which we live; there never has been.
No prophets, no apostles or inspired men
in any age of the world ever had the priv-
ilege of laying the foundation of the Zion
of God to remain on the earth to be thrown
down no more for ever. In every other dis-
pensation of the world the people have risen
up against God and His Christ, against the
kingdom and against the priesthood, and
have overthrown the messengers of Heaven,
and put to death every man who has borne
the kingdom of God, and the kingdom has
been taken from the earth. This is true of
every age except that of Enoch. He built
up a kingdom and gathered together the
people after laboring and preaching three
hundred and sixty-five years. He per-
fected a city, which was called the city of
the Zion of God. But behold and lo, the na-
tions of the earth awoke and found that Zion
had fled! The Lord took it to Himself; took
it away from the earth. The people were
righteous; they had become sanctified and
the Lord took them away out of the power
of the wicked. Zion could not remain on
the earth; there was not power sufficient to
withstand the assaults of the wicked; or if
there was, the time had not come when the
Lord would make use of the children of
men; or there were not enough of the chil-
dren of men willing to take hold and man-
ifest those principles in their lives so that
that they could remain on the earth.
But in the latter days He will do so. He
has sworn it by Himself, because there is
none greater to swear by. He has declared
it through the mouth of every prophet that
has ever lived on the earth, whose writings
we possess, both in the Bible and Book of
Mormon, as well as in those glorious reve-
lations in the Book of Doctrine and Cove-
nants given through the mouth of Joseph
Smith the prophet. These sayings are true.
We as a people should exercise faith in
them, no matter what may be transpiring
in the outside world. We have had the
powers of wicked men and devils to con-
tend with. We may say that the devil is
mad; he is stirred up against Zion: he
knows that his reign will last but a little
season longer.
This arch enemy of God and man, called
the devil, the "Son of the Morning," who
dwells here on the earth, is a personage
of great power; he has great influence and
knowledge. He understands that if this
kingdom, which He rebelled against in
Heaven, prevails on the earth, there will be
no dominion here for him. He has great
influence over the children of men; he la-
bors continually to destroy them. He la-
bored to destroy them in Heaven; he la-
bored to destroy the works of God in
Heaven, and he had to be cast out. He is
here, mighty among the children of men.
There is a vast number of fallen spirits,
cast out with him, here on the earth. They
do not die and disappear; they have not
bodies only as they enter the tabernacles
of men. They have not organized bodies,
and are not to be seen with the sight of the
eye. But there are many evil spirits
amongst us, and they labor to overthrow
the church and kingdom of God. There
never was a prophet in any age of the world
but what the devil was continually at his
elbow. This was the case with Jesus Him-
self. The devil followed him continually
trying to draw Him from His purposes and
to prevent Him carrying out the great work
of God. You see this manifested when he
took Jesus on to the loftiest pinnacle of the
temple and showed Him all the glory of
the world, telling him, that he would give
Him all this if He would fall down and
worship him. The poor devil did not own a
foot of land nor anything else! The earth
was made by and belonged to the Lord
and was His footstool. Yet the devil of-
fered that to Jesus which was not his own.
Jesus said unto Him, "Get thee behind me
Satan." [Matthew 16:23]
This same character was with the disci-
ples as well as with their master. He is
with the Latter-day Saints; and he or his
emissaries are with all men trying to lead
them astray. He rules in the hearts of the
inhabitants of the earth. They are gov-
erned and guided by him far more than
by the power of God. This is strange, still
it is true. See the wickedness in the world.
See the abominations with which the earth
is deluged, causing it to groan under the
burden. Where does this evil come from?
From the works of the devil. Everything
that leads to good is from God, while every
thing that leads to evil is from the devil.
Here are the two powers. How many on
the earth are honoring God, acknowledg-
ing His hand in all things and keeping His
commandments? Very few. Just the
same to-day as in the days of Noah. We
read that one of a family and two of a city
will be gathered to Zion in the last days.
Out of twelve hundred millions, that dwell
on the face of the earth, we, after forty
years' labor, have succeeded in gathering a
few thousands together to the valleys of
the mountains. The numbers are very
few; hut [but] this few should be faithful.
Last Sabbath, those who were here, list-
ened to a discourse from Bro. Geo. Q.
Cannon, in which he delivered his testi-
mony concerning Joseph Smith and Presi-
dent Young. I thought to myself, it seemed
a kind of a queer idea that, at this late date,
one of the Apostles should be called upon,
to stand up in the sacred desk and defend
the characters of these men as prophets and
apostles. Yet so it was, and these things
are necessary.
Joseph Smith was what he professed to
be, a prophet of God, a seer and revelator.
He laid the foundation of this church and
kingdom, and lived long enough to deliver
the keys of the kingdom to the elders of
Israel, unto the Twelve Apostles. He spent
the last winter of his life, some three or four
months, with the quorum of the Twelve
teaching them. It was not merely a few
hours ministering to them the ordinances
of the gospel; but he spent day after day,
week after week and month after month,
teaching them and a few others, the things
of the kingdom of God. Said he, during
that period, "I now rejoice. I have lived
until I have seen this burden, which has
rested on my shoulders, rolled on to the
shoulders of other men; now the keys of
the kingdom are planted on the earth to be
taken away no more for ever." But until
he had done this, they remained with him;
and had he been taken away they would
have had to be restored by messengers
out of heaven. But he lived until every key,
power and principle of the holy priesthood
was sealed on the Twelve and on President
Young, as their President. He told us
that he was going away to leave us, going
away to rest. Said he, "you have to round
up your shoulders to bear off the kingdom.
No matter what becomes of me, I have
desired to see that Temple built, but I shall
not live to see it. You will; you are called
upon to bear of this kingdom." This lan-
guage was plain enough, but we did not
understand, it any more than the disciples
of Jesus when he told them He was going
away, and that if he went not the Comforter
would not come. It was just so with Jos-
eph. He said this time after time to the
Twelve and to the Female Relief Societies
and in his public discourses; but none of
us seemed to understand that he was going
to seal his testimony with his blood, but so
it was. What he said to us and the church
we have had to perform. Joseph Smith was
a good man, a prophet of God. His works
are before the world; they are before the
eyes of the nation; they are before the hea-
vens and the earth. The foundation that
he laid we have built upon until the pres-
ent day; and that foundation no power on
earth or in hell will ever be able to remove.
That church and kingdom of God that is
planted here in these valleys of the moun-
tains will remain on the earth until the
little stone Daniel saw will become a moun-
tain and fill the earth,—until the reign of
Jesus is supreme and universal.
It startles men when they hear the
Elders of Israel tell about the kingdoms of
this world becoming the kingdom of our
God and His Christ. They say it is trea-
son for men to teach that the kingdom Dan-
iel saw is going to be set up, and bear rule
over the whole earth. Is it treason for God
Almighty to govern the earth? Who made
it? God, did He not? Who made you?
God, if you have any eternal Father. Well
whose right is it to rule and reign over you
and the earth? It does not belong to the
devil, nor to men. It has never been given
to men yet; it has never been given to the
nations. It belongs solely to God and He
is coming to rule and reign over it. When
will that be? It may not be perfected un-
til Christ comes in the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory to reward every
man according to the deeds done in the
body. [Matthew 24:30] That kingdom, the germ of which
is planted here will continue to grow and
will never be overthrown. As I said before,
no matter what takes place outside of this
Territory—we as Latter-day Saints should
exercise faith in God, for just as sure as
God was true to Daniel, Moses, Noah,
Enoch and to the prophets and apostles, so
will He be true to us; so will He be true to
His word in these latter days and will ful-
fill all He has said.
This is the work we have to perform. It
is a good work, a great work, a glorious
work, and one in which the Latter-day
Saints should rejoice, for it confers upon
them the privilege of being instruments in
the hands of God of helping to build up His
kingdom on the earth. This should give
us joy, and the promises made to us in con-
nection with this work ought to sustain us
and give us hope, joy, and consolation.
I have been happy since I formed the
acquaintance of the gospel of Jesus Christ:
I was never satisfied until I found the Lat-
ter-day Saints. In my boyhood I could
read in the Bible and New Testament of a
people who had power with God, who had
the gifts and graces, who could command
the elements and they obeyed them; who
had power to heal the sick, and had the
gifts of the Holy Ghost imparted unto
them by God himself. That was the kind
of religion I always desired to live to see.
I desired to live to see a prophet and an
apostle, or some man who was inspired of
God who could teach me the way to be
saved. I have lived to see that day.
I rejoice in it for I know it is true.
I know this work is true. I know it is
the kingdom of God, as you do, and as
all men do who have received the testimony
of the Holy Spirit and have been faithful
for themselves.
As to President Young his labors have
been with us. It has been remarked some-
times, by certain individuals, that President
Young has said in public that he was not a
prophet nor the son of a prophet. I have
traveled with him since 1833 or the spring
of 1834; I have travelled a good many thou-
sand miles with him and have heard
him preach a great many thousand ser-
mons; but I have never heard him
make that remark in my tife [life]. He is
a prophet, I am a prophet, you are, and
anybody is a prophet who has the testi-
mony of Jesus Christ, for that is the spirit
of prophecy. The elders of Israel are pro-
phets. A prophet is not so great as an
apostle. Christ has set in His Church, first,
apostles; they hold the keys of the Kingdom
of God. Any man who has traveled with
President Young knows he is a prophet of
God. He has foretold a great many things
that have come to pass. All the Saints who
are well acquainted with him know that he
is governed and controlled by the power of
God and the revelations of Jesus Christ.
His works are before the world; they are
before the heavens; before the earth; before
the wicked as well as the righteous; and it
is the influence of President Young that
the world is opposed to. This Priesthood,
these keys of the Kingdom of God that
have been sealed upon him, the world is at
war against; let them say what they may,
these things are what they are at enmity
with. Their present objection to the Latter-
day Saints, they say, is plurality of wives.
It is this principle they are trying to
raise a persecution against now. But how
was it in Missouri, Kirtland, Jackson
County, Far West, Caldwell County, in all
our drivings and afflictions, before this
principle was revealed to the Church? Cer-
tainly it was not polygamy then. No, it
was prophets, it was revelation, it was the
organization of an institution founded by
revelation from God. They did not believe
in that, and that was the objection in those
days. If we were to do away with poly-
gamy, it would only be one feather in the
bird, one ordinance in the Church and
Kingdom. Do away with that, then we
must do away with prophets and apostles,
with revelation and the gifts and graces of
the gospel, and finally give up our religion
altogether and turn sectarians and do as the
world does, then all would be right. We
just can't do that, for God has commanded
us to build up His Kingdom and to bear
our testimony to the nations of the earth,
and we are going to do it, come life or come
death. He has told us to do thus, and we
shall obey Him in days to come as we have
in days past.
Brethren and sisters let us exercise faith;
the ancient prophets lived by faith; it is as
necessary for us as for them. I believe
what God has said will be fulfilled. I be-
lieve the Book of Mormon and the Book
of Doctrine and Covena[n]ts will be fulfilled,
and all the promises and prophecies made
by the faithful servants of God. When
any man speaks as he is moved upon by
the Holy Ghost, that is the word of God to
the people; and though the heavens and
the earth pass away, not one jot or tittle of
the word of God will fall unfulfilled. [Doctrine and Covenants 1:38] I
care not whether it be by His own voice
out of the heavens; by the ministration of
angels; by the voice of a prophet, or by
the inspiration of the Holy Ghost through
His servants, it is the word of God to the
people; it is truth and it will have its effect
and fulfillment. Everything that has been
communicated to us by revelation I believe
to be true; many of them I know. I have
faith and knowledge, both in a degree. I
want more; I wish for more, and all I ask
is that the Lord will enable me to be faith-
ful. I wish eternal life. I want salvation.
This is the object of my life; for this I em-
braced "Mormonism." This is the princi-
ple that has sustained me from the time I
entered this church and kingdom. This
hope sustained me when I shouldered my
knapsack and went forth to travel and
preach without purse or scrip, thousands
of miles through the United States. This
principle of inspiration has sustained the
elders of Israel in every age of the world.
It is that which sustained Joseph Smith
from the day he commenced his career as
a servant of God until the time that he
sealed his testimony with his blood. Some-
body has got to pay the bill for the shed-
ding of that innocent blood. Shedding in-
nocent blood has cost the Jews eighteen
hundred years of suffering, mourning, woe
and destruction; it has cost this nation
already four years of war, with two millions
of men laid in the dust, and four thousand
million dollars in money; and woe be to
that nation, tongue or people that sheds
the blood of the Saints of God, or under-
takes to oppose the work of God in this or
any other generation. They will have to
reap what they sow; for what you sow you
will reap, and the reward you mete will be
rewarded to you again, whether you are
Saints or sinners, in all nations, kindreds,
tongues and people under the whole heav-
ens.
This is the position that we occupy. This
warfare is not between man and man but
between God and the world. If the Lord
does not defend the Latter-day Saints we
cannot defend ourselves. We can do what
is required of us, but God, Himself, has to
defend us. He has done it and He will
continue to do it until the coming of the
Lord Jesus Christ, or until his Kingdom
triumphs on the earth. This is my faith;
and I would rather, to-day, lay down my
life, honoring the faith once delivered to the
Saints, than turn round and fear men, who
have power only to kill the body, instead
of fearing Him who has power to cast both
soul and body into hell. Salvation is of
more consequence to me and to this people,
and to all the inhabitants of the earth, than
anything else. What is the world with its
honors, gold, silver, thrones, principalities
and powers compared with salvation? They
all end at death, they are of no force after,
and are of no moment when compared
with eternal salvation. Oh, what glorious
principles have been revealed to the Latter-
day Saints! Where did you get them? How
did you obtain them? Through the voice
of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young by
revelation from God. That is the way we
obtained them. The principles of the gospel
of Jesus Christ have power and efficacy
after death; they will bring together men
and their wives and children in the family
organization and will re-unite them worlds
without end. The power of those who sit
upon thrones in this life will end at their
death; they will have no extra power in the
world to come because they have occupied
thrones in this. The Czar of Russia, the
Emperor of France, the Queen of England,
or any other sovereign, will not have any
additional power in the world to come
because of their present glory. It will all
end with their death. These are the king-
doms of men, they are not ordained of God.
True, they will be held accountable for the
exercise of their power here; God will hold
them responsible for that, but so far as
salvation and glory hereafter are concerned
their exalted positions here will not avail
them anything. There is not a man who
has lived since the Church went into the
wilderness and the Kingdom of God was
taken from the earth, until Moroni rent the
vail and gave to Joseph Smith the records
of the Book of Mormon, and until Peter,
James and John sealed upon him the keys
of the Holy Priesthood, who can claim a
wife in the resurrection. Not one of them
has been married for eternity, but only
until death. But unto the Latter-day
Saints the sealing ordinances have been
revealed, and they will have effect after
death, and, as I have said, will re-unite
men and women eternally in the family
organization. Herein is why these princi-
ples are a part of our religion, and by them
husbands and wives, parents and children
will be re-united until the links in the
chain are re-united back to Father Adam.
We could not obtain a fullness of celestial
glory without this sealing ordinance or the
institution called the patriarchal order of
marriage, which is one of the most glorious
principles of our religion. I would just as
lief the United States Government would
pass a law against my being baptized for the
remission of my sins, or against my re-
ceiving the Holy Ghost as against my
practicing the patriarchal order of mar-
riage. I would just as lief they would take
away any other principle of the gospel as
this. The opinion of men generally, in
relation to this subject, is that the Latter-
day Saints practice it for the gratification of
their carnal desires; but such ideas are
wholly untrue. The world seek after this;
but the Saints of God practise this principle
that they may partake of eternal lives, that
they may have wives and posterity in the
world to come and throughout the endless
ages of eternity.
God promised to Abraham that his seed
should be as numerous as the stars in the
heaven or as the sands on the sea shore.
We all know, from reading the history of
Abraham, that this promise has not been
fulfilled, for you may take one square
yard of sand on the sea shore, and the
grains it would contain would be more
numerous than all the inhabitants that ever
lived on the earth; hence this promise of
the Lord could not be fulfilled if, as the
Christian world imagine, the marriage re-
lation ceases with the termination of this
life, and that after the resurrection there is
no increase. But in the resurrection there
will be no end to the increase of Abraham,
it will continue through all eternity.
These are some of the principles of the
gospel God has revealed to us. Are they
not worth living for and having faith in?
They are. Then do not fear because of the
wicked. We have everything to encourage
us. The Latterday Saints should be faith-
ful. We should live our religion and be
true and faithful to our covenants. We
should magnify our callings as apostles,
elders and Saints, before God angels and
men. We have but little time to work, and
we should work while it is called to-day;
by and by night comes when no man can
work. When the vision of my mind is
opened and I gaze abroad upon this genera-
tion, I many times feel to mourn in my
spirit to see the darkness and unbelief and
the carelessness of man with regard to his
future and eternal state. Instead of seek-
ing with all their powers to secure to them-
selves eternal life they seem to be doing
their utmost to turn the last key to seal
their condemnation and to make them-
selves the sons of perdition. They will
labor to shed innocent blood and to
destroy the Church and Kingdom of God
on the earth. This is one of the promptings
of the evil one.
There are two things which have always
followed apostates in every age of the
world, and especially in our day. In the
early days of the Church, in Kirtland, as
soon as men apostatized from the Church
and Kingdom of God, they immediately
began to fear their fellow men, and to fancy
their lives were in danger. Another pecu-
liarity common to apostates was that they
desired to kill those who had been their
benefactors. This was the case with the
Higbees, Laws and others with regard to
the Prophet Joseph, when they turned
against him, they sought with all their
powers to take away his life. Not only
were they afraid of their own lives, but
they sought to take his, and they eventually
succeeded, and woe is their doom. What
would they not give in exchange for their
souls? But no matter, they cannot redeem
them. This spirit always accompanies the
apostates. What are they afraid of? There
is something they do not understand or
comprehend; they walk in the dark, and by
and by they will unite with the wicked
and try to overthrow the very work they
have been trying to build up.
This spirit has always been with the en-
emies of rightousness. The devil seeks to
overthrow the kingdom of God and the
Saints and he always will do it as long as
he has any power on the earth; therefore
we should be united. We should be faith-
ful and labor hard to do what we have to
do and not put off anything for the build-
ing up of the kingdom of God. We should
obey all the ordinances we can for our-
selves and our children; for the living and
the dead. We should attend to these things
as we go along, and when we get through
with our work and into the spirit world,
we may look back and be satisfied with
our labors. There is a great deal for the
Latter-day Saints to do. We have done a
good deal, but the work is only just com-
menced. Zion is not what she must be;
Zion is growing. She has grown since we
came to the valleys of the mountains. We
have done something for the living: we
have warned the nations; the garments of
many of us are clear of the blood of this
generation. It cannot rise in judgment
against Joseph Smith, Brigham Young or
the Twelve Apostles, nor against thousands
of the elders of this church and kingdom.
We have lifted up our voices day and night:
we have preached to millions of our fellow
men and have travelled hundreds of thous-
ands of miles to offer this gospel to the na-
tions of the earth. Still they have turned
against us, and a great many of them have
sought our overthrow. They will receive
their reward and we shall receive ours.
What joy, consolation and satisfaction it
will be to the apostles, elders and Saints of
God, of this day, who remain true and faith-
ful to the end! having become members of
the church of the Firstborn, and been val-
iant in the testimony of Jesus, when they
meet Father Adam, Enoch, Jacob, Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Jesus and the apostles, how great
their joy will be! They labored in their
day for the work of God, and their toils are
over; we are having our day and our labor.
By and by we shall meet and mingle in the
eternal world. How fast we pass away!
Where is Bro. Heber whom we used to see
so often in our midst here and in the En-
dowment House? In the spirit world.
Bro. Willard, Joseph, Hyrum, David Pat-
ton, Jedediah, Parley Pratt, and Bro. Ben-
son among the rest, have gone. We shall
all go pretty soon, we shall not remain a
great while. Our labors in this life are
short, and we shall soon pass to the other
side of the vail. Our children, the rising
generation, will possess the kingdom; on
them the labor of rolling on the work of
God will rest, until the kingdom and the
greatness of the kingdom under the whole
heaven will be given to the Saints of the
Most High and they will possess it for ever
and ever, and the meek will inherit the
earth. [Daniel 7:27] Let us be diligent, let us be faithful;
let us labor while it is called to-day that
we may be counted worthy to receive a
reward that will satisfy us in the end.
I pray that God will bless us, that He
will pour out His spirit upon us and give
us the testimony of Jesus Christ; that we
may guard our welfare, and watch our-
selves that our feet may not slip. It is an
awful thing for a man, in any generation,
to receive this gospel, to taste the good word
of God and the powers of the world to
come, [Hebrews 6:5] and then turn away and lose the testi-
mony of Jesus and turn against God; such a
man's condition is worse than his who
never heard the gospel of Christ. He
will lament and mourn, and that too,
without ever receiving redemption. Such
individuals can not be redeemed and re-
stored to that which they have forfeited.
It is far better to receive the gospel and be
faithful in the midst of all opposition. If
we continue so, when we meet with the
fathers we can rejoice with them and par-
take of the same kingdom and the same
glory; quickened by the same spirit, hav-
ing kept the same law and been preserved
thereby.
May God bless us all and help us to over-
come the world, the flesh and the devil, for
Jesus sake. Amen.