THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS'
MILLENNIAL STAR.
"And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away
[t]hy sins, calling on the name of the Lord."—ACTS XXII:16.
No. 20. Vol. LVIII. Thursday, May 14, 1896. Price One Penny.
DISCOURSE BY PRESIDENT WILFORD WOODRUFF.
THE following discourse was delivered by President Wilford Woodruff at
the General Conference of the Church, in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City,
:—
The highest calling the Lord ever called any human being to, in any
age of the world, has been to receive the Holy Priesthood, with its keys
and powers, and to be called to go forth to the inhabitants of the earth
and teach them the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to qualify
and prepare them for a part in the first resurrection and to go back into
the presence of God, their Creator, to dwell in glory worlds without end.
The Lord bestowed that blessing, that Priesthood and that power in the
beginning of creation. Father Adam was called of God and ordained to
the fullness of the Melchisedek Priesthood—ordained to the highest office
and gift of God to man on the earth. Adam bestowed that blessing upon
seven of his sons—Seth, Enos, Jared, Canaan, Mahalaleel, Enoch and
Methuselah. They were all ordained High Priests by their father Adam,
and possessed the privilege and the right to understand the Gospel of
Jesus Christ and to give it to the human family, so that they might
qualify and prepare themselves for eternal life. [Doctrine and Covenants 107:53] In tracing the history
of the dealings of God with men from that day to this, we find the Lord
has in various dispensations and times given unto the sons of men that
blessing. Israel had it in the beginning, from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
down, and until Moses, who traveled with the children of Israel forty
years in the wilderness. They had the gifts and graces of that Priesthood
bestowed upon them, and they had the privilege of magnifying their
callings and preparing themselves for eternal life. But Israel would not
accept the Melchisedek Priesthood, and therefore it was taken from them,
and the Lesser Priesthood was conferred upon them while they traveled [Doctrine and Covenants 84:23-26]
LATTER-DAY SAINTS' MILLENNIAL STAR.
in the wilderness. It is not necessary for me to spend time in tracing this
Priesthood through the six thousand years that have past and gone; but
it has been manifest in every age and dispensation when God has had
prophets and apostles on the earth. Jesus Christ came into the world in
the meridian of time. He was the Great High Priest to Israel. He was
the Son of God, the Savior of the world. He chose His Apostles, He
organized His Church. He bestowed upon these Apostles all the gifts and
graces belonging to the apostleship. In that dispensation it seems that
they were called to lay down their lives for the word of God and testimony
of Jesus Christ. The Savior himself was put to death. The Apostles
were all, with one exception, put to death in their day and time, until
finally the Priesthood was taken home to God, and remained there for a
length of time. But my views are that whenever the inhabitants of the
earth were prepared for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the power of the
Priesthood, it has been bestowed upon them.
In the days of the Savior and His Apostles, John the Revelator, while
upon the Isle of Patmos, gave an outline of great events which were to
transpire in the last dispensation of the fulness of times. Other prophets
and apostles, who spoke as they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost,
left on the pages of history a record of what the Lord would do in the
last dispensation. Among the great events that the Revelator saw was
the one described in the 14th chapter of his Revelation, and which is often
quoted by our elders, because it is very applicable.
And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the ever-
lasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every
nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour
of his judgment is come. [Revelation 14:6-7]
If this revelation had not been fulfilled, neither you nor I would be here
to-day, this Tabernacle would not be erected, this city would be still part
of the Great American Desert, as we found it; but in the fulfilment of
the revelations of God, these things have been done and some of us have
lived to see them. The angel of God did visit Joseph Smith, the Prophet
of God, who was raised up by the power of God as a prophet, seer and
revelator, and who organized the Church of Jesus Christ in the earth.
From that day until this the work has progressed and the Gospel has
been preached. The Holy Ghost has been with the people. The Lord
Almighty has set His hand to carry out the great programme—to establish
the Zion of God in the earth and to prepare the people for the coming of
the Son of Man.
These are my views with regard to the calling of men in this dispensa-
tion. Gold and silver may pass away; houses and lands may perish; all
temporal matters will pass away; but the Priesthood never, salvation
never, the kingdom of God never, and prophecy will never fall unfulfilled.
We have had Apostles now for upwards of sixty years. Many have died
and gone to the other side of the veil; and those upon whom God bestowed
the glory and power of the organization of the Church have sealed their
testimony with their blood, as the ancient Apostles did. They have gone
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home to receive their reward; but that organization has remained; the
Holy Priesthood has been given to the sons of men and has remained
upon their heads, and will remain upon the heads of this people until the
coming of the Son of Man. Therefore, I say to the Latter-day Saints, we
are in this organization to-day. I do not pretend to say exactly the num-
ber that we have in the Priesthood; but we have from fifteen to twenty
thousand Elders in this Church; we have many various organizations of
the Priesthood, and churches are organized throughout the world as far
as we have had an opportunity. I have been called, these Apostles have,
many of the Elders have, to go to the nations of the earth and the islands
of the sea to preach the Gospel to our fellow-men. What greater calling
can any man have on the face of the earth than to hold in his hands
power and authority to go forth and administer in the ordinances of
salvation? Do we prize these things in their fullness? I do not think
we do. Nevertheless, so far we have been enabled to maintain our posi-
tion, and to go forth and fulfill our missions as far as we have had time
and opportunity. Certainly there has been nothing in this work that I
have had greater consolation in than in preaching the Gospel to my fellow-
men and in administering unto them the ordinances of the house of God,
both for the living and the dead. I may say the same with regard to my
brethren who are called to perform those ordinances.
There was something said yesterday by the brethren with regard to our
sons and our missionaries abroad. I will say for myself—and when I say
it for myself I think I speak for a great many others—there is no joy that
I have ever had that has been greater than that which has come to me in
having sons receive the Holy Priesthood and go forth and administer
among the nations of the earth the ordinances of life and salvation. It
is a glorious gift to the sons of men. It is what men have not enjoyed
before us for the last eighteen hundred years almost. Then should we not
prize these things? Yes, we should. The Lord, in the dispensation of His
providences, has given to us an army of sons and daughters, and our sons
are called to go to the nations of the earth. We want to instill into their
minds the importance of these blessings to the inhabitants of the earth
and the saving of souls from sin. You give unto any soul the principles
of life and salvation and administer these ordinances to him, and you
become an instrument in the hands of God in the salvation of that soul.
There is nothing given to the children of men that is equal to it.
This is our position to-day in these mountains. We have been led here
by the power of God—led by a prophet, seer and revelator, President
Brigham Young, who was full of the Holy Ghost and full of revelation,
appointed of the Lord, and who magnified his calling up to the hour of
his death. We came here and found a barren desert. From that day till
this it has been a continual growth and increase, until we have arrived at
a point where we have a tabernacle as a "shadow in the daytime from the
heat * * * and for a covert from storm and from rain." [Isaiah 4:6] These
things have all been prophesied of thousands of years ago by the ancient
prophets and patriarchs who foresaw the work of God in the last days.
I want to say a few words to our young men who are rising up among
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us. I want them to comprehend and understand the blessings that are
within their reach. The Lord has given us a large number of sons and
daughters. They have got to take the places of their fathers, the same as
the sons of Adam had in his day and generation. A great responsibility
rests upon them. The Lord requires at the hands of our sons that they
shall bear off this kingdom of our God while they dwell in the flesh, that
they may be justified. The Lord told Oliver Cowdery, "And if it so be
that you should labor all your days in crying repentance unto this
people, and bring save it be one soul unto me, how great shall be your
joy with him in the kingdom of my Father." [Doctrine and Covenants 18:15] It requires light, knowledge,
and understanding; it requires the spirit and power of God for us to
comprehend our position, our blessings, and our gifts that God has placed
upon us. I feel to rejoice and thank God myself that I have lived to see
what I do in these valleys of the mountains; that I have lived to see
these multitudes that fill these tabernacles and temples and labor here
in the building up of the kingdom of God. The Lord has been very mer-
ciful to me, and my life has been preserved to pass through these things,
and I still remain in the midst of this people. I have to acknowledge the
hand of God in the whole of it. I suppose you have to do so with regard
to your lives. The fact is, there is not a blessing that God has bestowed
upon us from the beginning but has been the gift of God. We should
understand this. We have preached the Gospel to every nation, kin-
dred, tongue, and people, as far as the Lord has opened doors for us
and we have had the privilege of going. Still the world to-day is full of
people who have not heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ; and while the
Priesthood rests upon our shoulders we are still under obligation and are
still held responsible for the salvation of the children of men, as far as we
have the privilege of bestowing these gifts upon the sons and daughters of
Adam. Only think that by embracing the Gospel of Christ we can become
heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ, that we can have part in
the first resurrection, and come forth out of our graves and be clothed with
glory, immortality, and eternal lives, and pass into the presence of God
and the Lamb and dwell with them eternally in the heavens! Who com-
prehends this? Do the inhabitants of the earth? They do not. Satan
has warred against us from the organization of this Church, to try and
destroy this people; but so far we have been preserved. We should be
thankful for these blessings. I realize myself that we are dependent upon
the Lord in all things. The Lord is our preserver. He is the author of
our salvation. Jesus Christ has laid down His life to redeem us by His
blood, and through that we have these blessings bestowed upon us.
Among other things, we live in a generation in which the Lord has
enabled us to rear several temples—some in these mountains and some
before we came here; and hundreds and thousands of people go into these
temples to redeem their dead. This is a blessing the Latter-day Saints
should prize. It is a duty that is required at our hands to do what we can in
this direction. It is a blessing that the inhabitants of the earth have not
had for centuries until this dispensation. I hope that no man who has got
a record of his father's house will go down to his grave without having
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attended to this work. How would I feel, after living as long as I have,
with the privileges I have had of going into these temples, to go into the
spirit world without having done this work? I meet my father's house, I
meet my mother's house, I meet my progenitors, and they are shut up in
prison; I held the keys of their salvation, and yet did nothing for them;
what would be my feelings, or what would be their feelings toward me?
They would not like it. I feel that while the Lord has given us this bless-
ing, every man and woman in this Church that has any faith at all in God
and in the Gospel should attend to this duty. Jesus Christ, while His
body lay in the tomb, went and preached to the spirits in prison, that were
drowned in the days of Noah by the flood, because of their wickedness and
abominations. [1 Peter 3:19-20] They had been in prison for a long time, and He went and
preached to them, "that they might be judged according to men in the
flesh, but live according to God in the spirit." [1 Peter 4:6] Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith,
David Patten, and the Apostles and Elders who have been true and faith-
ful unto death have also gone to the spirits in prison in their day and time
and preached the Gospel of Christ to their fathers' houses and to those
who are shut up in prison, and they are laboring there for the salvation of
the children of men. These are glorious principles—principles which the
Latter-day Saints should not neglect while they have the privilege and
power. As I said in the beginning, there is no calling a man can be called
to any greater than to have this right and privilege to go forth and save
the souls of men—save them by preaching the Gospel to them, by adminis-
tering the ordinances of the house of God to them, that they may be pre-
pared themselves to go into the kingdom of heaven and into a celestial
glory. There are three glories. Paul in speaking upon that subject said,
"There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another
glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. So
also is the resurrection of the dead." [1 Corinthians 15:41-42] These glories over-shadow the whole
human family. Now, how much better it is for a man to receive these
ordinances, that he may go where God and Christ dwell, which is the
highest glory! But Jesus said in His day, "Strait is the gate, and
narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it;"
while "broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be
which go in thereat." [Matthew 7:13-14] I think many times that we ourselves do not prize
the blessings that we enjoy and that are within our reach. Our hearts
should be set upon the building up of the kingdom of God, the Zion of
God, and the work of God, while we are here and have power to perform
these things. It is our duty as the Presidency and as Apostles, not only
to labor ourselves, but to send forth the Elders of Israel to the nations of
the earth to proclaim the Gospel. Doors are open to-day among many of
the nations for the spread of the Gospel of Christ, and to bring the people
unto Christ, that they may receive these blessings.
Brethren and sisters, this is the way I feel this morning. Of all people
under heavens we should be the best, the most righteous, and the most true
and faithful to God and to our fellow-men. We should be true and faith-
ful to the Holy Priesthood while we have it resting upon us, and true to
our labors. I rejoice at our condition to-day. I rejoice at the peace that
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has come unto us by the power and blessing of God. I rejoice at the
change that is taking place in the world. We are visited now by hundreds
of people from the nations of the earth. They are coming to behold the
glory of Zion. They come to enquire at our hands concerning various
matters, and there is a very different feeling to what there was in former
days toward us. Brother John W. Taylor referred to our going to St.
Louis and to Chicago. Yes, I recollect very well when we went into Jackson
County, Missouri. My labors there have been alluded to. When I went on
my first mission in 1834, I had to go through Jackson County on my way to
Arkansas. It was just after our brethren had been driven out. I had to
go and hide in the cornfields and in the brush during the day, and walk
along in the night, till I got through that country, for the lives of myself
and companion were in danger there. The last time I went there, the Mayor of Independence came out to meet us with a fine carriage. He had
but one arm, having lost the other in the army, but he gave us that arm and
made us welcome. I could not help but feel the difference between then and
when I went through there as a missionary. There is a change taking place.
Zion is going to rise and shine, and the glory of God will rest upon her.
This people, if they do their duty, will fulfill and carry out these great
principles, and the eyes of the world will be turned toward Zion, and men
will come to enquire concerning the things of the kingdom of God. We are
in a good condition. We are blessed of the Lord. The Latter-day Saints
have never been so well off temporally. Go into the houses of the Latter-
day Saints, and you will find them in a better position than they have ever
been before. These are the blessings of God, and we should prize these
things and give God the glory for them, while we try to do our duty and
magnify our calling. I want to say that I am in for salvation and for
eternal life. I have labored for that since I was a boy. I have desired the
gifts, and graces, and blessings manifest in the days of Jesus and His
Apostles. In my childhood I prayed God that I might live to see a prophet
or somebody who could teach me the principles I read in the New Testa-
ment. The clergy of the day did not do it. Nobody around there appeared
to believe in such things. Well, I have lived to see prophets and apostles;
I have lived to travel with them and to unite with them in the kingdom
of God. I have been in the apostleship fifty-eight years; I have been in
the Church sixty-three years. My whole life almost has been spent in this
Church; and from the time I came into the Church I went on missions
and have never ceased altogether from that day to this. I have always
rejoiced in this, and do to-day. When I die and lay down my body, I
do not want anybody to rise up and say that I have neglected my duty
in trying to give him salvation as far as I could. I have always rejoiced
in preaching the Gospel; I have always rejoiced in administering the ordi-
nances of life and salvation at home and abroad, because I have known that
this was the work of God, and I know it is to-day.
I want to say now to the rising generation, gird up the loins of your
minds, prepare yourselves, and realize you have a mission before you.
Who are going to bear this kingdom off when we go to the grave? To
whom does the God of Israel look to do this? He looks to our sons and
LATTER-DAY SAINTS' MILLENNIAL STAR.
daughters that are rising up here. This responsibility rests upon them,
and I hope they will fulfill and magnify their calling. There is nothing
like it on earth. You may get the riches of the world; they pass away;
but eternal life, celestial glory, a place with the righteous after resurrec-
tion, with immortal bodies, are worth more than all this world can give.
I have confidence to believe that the Latter-day Saints will carry out these
principles and magnify their calling before the Lord. I have hopes that
our sons and daughters will do the same.
Brethren and sisters, I say, God bless you. I am glad to meet with you.
I rejoice in the Gospel, in the kingdom of God, and in the Holy Priesthood.
I pray God to bless you, to open your eyes to see, and ears to hear, and
your hearts to understand. I pray God to open your understanding, that
you may comprehend the value and blessing of the Gospel that you have
received and of the blessings of these temples and tabernacles in the
midst of which you have the privilege of dwelling and receiving the
ordinances of God. I pray that we may pursue that course that when
we get on the other side of the veil we shall be satisfied with our
record. We will find our history and our record there in the great library
of the celestial kingdom of our God, and we will know what we have been
doing in this life. If we do anything that is wrong we will be sorry for
it. We should repent of wrong and try to do better. I pray that the
Spirit of God may be with us to guide and direct us in our labors until we
get through here, then when we pass away we may be received in the
kingdom of God. We shall rejoice if we do right; for our eyes have not
seen, our ears have not heard, and it has never entered into the hearts of
the children of men the glory that lies before the sons and daughters of
Adam. It is hidden from our eyes to-day, and will never be open to us
until we enter into the presence of God and the Lamb. Amen.