DISCOURSE
Delivered by President Wilford Wood-
ruff, at Logan (Cache Stake Con-
ference), Sunday Morning, Aug.
3rd, 1890.
I have a few thoughts and reflec-
tions which I would like to present
to the Latter-day Saints who com-
pose this conference; but in order to
do it, I need the help and assistance
of the Spirit of God, as does every
man who attempts to teach the
people.
The subject that I have upon my
mind is, union among the Latter-
day Saints. The Savior said to His
Apostles anciently, and to the
Apostles in our day: "I say unto
you, be one; and if ye are not one
ye are not mine." [Doctrine and Covenants 38:27] "I and my
Father are one." [John 10:30] There is a prin-
ciple connected with this that I
think is very important to us as
a people and as a Church here on
the earth. With all the divisions,
and all the discontent, and the
quarrelings and opposition among
the powers on earth, or that have
been revealed from heaven, I have
never heard that it has ever
been revealed to the children of men
that there was any division between
God the Father, God the Son and
God the Holy Ghost. They are one.
They always have been one. They
always will be one, from eternity
unto eternity. Our Heavenly Father
stands at the head, being the Author
of the salvation of the children of
men, and having created and
peopled the world and given laws to
the inhabitants of the earth. This
principle is shown unto us by the
revelation of the laws which belong
to the different kingdoms. There is
a celestial kingdom, a terrestrial
kingdom, and a telestial kingdom.
There is a glory of the sun, a glory
of the moon, and a glory of the stars;
and as one star differs from another
star in glory, so also is the resurrec-
tion of the dead. [1 Corinthians 15:41-42] In the celestial
Kingdom of God there is oneness,
there is union.
In reading the history of the
dealings of God with men, from the
Bible, the Book of Mormon, and the
Doctrine and Covenants, we can
see that, from the days of Father
Adam, the Lord has raised up a
class of men, in every dispensation,
upon whom He has bestowed His
Priesthood, and unto whom He has
given power and authority to do His
work upon the face of the earth
among the children of men. And
these men have been in possession
of principles of union with God,
with the Son of God and with the
Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost was
given to Father Adam; he was filled
with it when, in his last days, he
blessed those of his sons who were
High Priests and the residue of his
posterity. [Doctrine and Covenants 107:53] Father Adam, Enoch,
Moses, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob, and all those old patriarchs
and prophets were obliged to have
communion with God. They were
under the necessity of seeking unto
the Lord, for unless they had this
communion they were not
qualified to do their duty.
They were dependent upon
the Lord for revelation, for light,
and for instruction to have power to
carry out the commandments of
God. This union that the Lord re-
quired of the ancient patriarchs and
prophets, and which Jesus required
of His Apostles, was required of
Joseph Smith and his brethren. It
has been required of all Saints of
God from the foundation of the
world till today. Men who have
held any portion of the Holy Priest-
hood, and have had its gifts, graces,
and blessings bestowed upon them,
have been under the necessity of
having communion with God. In
the whole history of the world I
have never read of any man whom
God has called to stand as the head of
His work, who has not sought the
Lord while in that position; and the
Lord has been with him. It is my
faith that the Lord will never per-
mit any man upon whose shoulders
He places the authority and power
to lead Israel, to go astray, or to
lead the children of God from the
path of duty. The Lord would re-
move such a man from his place.
In every age of the world the
Saints of God have been obliged to
be united. Babylon may divide;
the inhabitants of the earth may
have all the division they wish for;
but they will receive the results of
that disunion, and have done all
the way through. City after city,
nation after nation has been de-
stroyed by the judgments of the Al-
mighty whenever it has become
ripened in iniquity, as in the
case of Sodom and Gomorrah, of
Babylon, Nineveh, Tyre and Si-
don, and a great many other ancient
cities and countries. But the Saints
of God cannot prosper unless they
are united. This has been demon-
strated in the history of the world.
Moses, in his day, was obliged to
have communion and fellowship
with God. The Lord gave unto
him commandments, upon tables
of stone, for the guidance of the
children of Israel. When Moses
came down from the mountain and
saw the rebellion, the dissension
and the abominations of the Is-
raelites—that, notwithstanding all
the miracles they had witnessed,
revelations they had been given,
they had made a golden calf to
worship, because he had come
back to them in time—he was so
angry at their wickedness that he
cast the tables of stone to the
ground and broke them. [Exodus 32] Of
course you all know about
this. But Moses had to have
union with God. So in the
whole history of the people of God
in all ages. They have had to be
united. They have had to work to-
gether. They have had to receive
the law of God together. Jesus
was one with the Father. Says He:
"For I came down from heaven,
not to do mine own will, but the
will of him that sent me." [John 6:38] This
union was never broken between
the Father and the Son. The first
revelation given to Joseph Smith
was that of the Father and the Son.
The heavens were opened, and the
Father, with His Son, appeared to
Joseph, in answer to his prayer,
and He pointed to His Son and said,
"This is my beloved Son; hear ye
him." [Joseph Smith-History 1:17] This is a peculiarity that I
have no recollection of ever being
manifest in any other age of the
world. Another peculiar feature
connected with this dispensation is
that the God of heaven has bestow-
ed upon almost all the male mem-
bers of the Church the Holy Priest-
hood.
This union was necessary between
God and the prophets and apostles
of old. Unless that union had ex-
isted between Him and His serv-
ants it could not have extended
throughout the children of Israel
or among the children of men.
It is also of vast importance to us in
this Church and kingdom. I will
say myself that I do not believe there
ever was a man, save Jesus Christ,
that was more closely united and
associated with God the Father, and
God the Son, and God the Holy
Ghost, than the Prophet Joseph
Smith. The power of revelation
was with him from the day that he
was called to receive the Priesthood
up to the time when he was martyr-
ed. The power of inspiration was
with him day by day. This is
plainly manifest in the revelations
contained in the Book of Doctrine
and Covenants. Whenever the
Lord felt disposed to reprove him,
Joseph Smith, through his own
mouth, had to reprove himself; and
he did not hesitate to give the word
of the Lord, though it was against
himself. He was united with the
Lord; he was united with the Holy
Ghost; he was united with the
angels in heaven, with Peter, James
and John and with John the Bap-
tist. He received the Priesthood
from under their hands. [Doctrine and Covenants 128:20] [Joseph Smith-History 1:72] Joseph
called twelve Apostles. Who were
they? The Lord said to him: "The
twelve are they who shall desire to
take upon them my name with
full purpose of heart; and if
they desire to take upon
them my name with full purpose of
heart, they are called to go into all
the world to preach my gospel unto
every creature." [Doctrine and Covenants 18:27-28] The history of
these twelve Apostles we are some-
what acquainted with. I have been
associated with the Apostleship for
over fifty years. I knew those men.
I knew their lives. When the
Prophet Joseph organized the
Quorum of the twelve Apostles, he
taught this principle of union to
them. He gave them to understand
that they must be of one heart and
one mind, and they must take upon
themselves fully the name of
Christ; that if God commanded
them to do anything they must
go and do it; that if they mar-
ried a wife they could not stay
at home three or four years to take
care of her if they were called
to go to the nations of the earth.
I myself started on a mission six
weeks after I was married, and I
was gone two or three years. So
with others of my brethren. It
mattered not what temporal work
we had to do, when we were called
to go abroad we had to go. This
was one of the requirements of the
Apostleship. We also had to be
united. We could not contend one
with another. If we did, the Spirit
of God would be withdrawn from
us, and we would receive chastise-
ment at the hands of the Lord.
Under the celestial law of the
Kingdom of God men must unite
together; men must love one
another; men must stand by this
Holy Priesthood and maintain the
powers of it while they dwell in the
flesh, in order to honor God and to
be prepared to receive their inherit-
ances in the world to come.
As I have said before, I have been
a member of the Quorum of the
Apostles for over fifty years. I bave [have]
been acquainted with its ups and
downs. I have been familiar with
the apostates. I have also been ac-
quainted with the union that has
existed. I can say that I never asso-
ciated with a class of men that ever
manifested the same love for one an-
other as the Apostles of the Church
have when they have been faith-
ful. Of course, we have seen days
of sorrow. After that first Quorum
was called of God; after they had
had the ministration of angels and
seen the power of God manifested,
some of them yielded to temptation.
They said, "We have served God
long enough, and now we are going
to serve ourselves." They stopped
praying and went to merchandising.
They stopped serving God, and took
a decided stand against the Prophet
whom God had raised up to lay the
foundation of this Church and
kingdom. What were the conse-
quences? It sent them to perdi-
tion. Their power fell like light-
ning from heaven. Their priest-
hood was taken from them, and
sealed upon the heads of other men.
It has remained so to this day, and
will, for all I know, to the endless
ages of etenrity. With all the light
they had, with all the power
they had, and with all the
manifestations they had from
God out of heaven, they
turned from these things and re-
jected them. Those were days of
sorrow to me and to those who re-
mained faithful; for one half of the
Quorum fell and turned against
Joseph. But the Lord was with
him. So was Brigham Young and
Heber C. Kimball and others of the
brethren of the quorum. They stood
by him; while others deserted him
and were cut off the Church, and
they to-day are in the Spirit world,
without the Priesthood, without
their crown, without their glory,
and without the celestial blessings
that were promised them on con-
dition of their faithfulness.
With this exception, the Quorum
of the twelve Apostles have been
united. We knew this was the work
of God. We knew the God of
heaven had laid this Apostleship up-
on our shoulders. We knew, as
Joseph Smith told us just before his
martyrdom, that if we did not round
up our shoulders and bear off this
kingdom we would be damned. No
man can receive this Apostleship;
no man can bear this Priesthood; no
man can be called to this important
calling, and then turn from it, with-
out condemnation or being cursed
by the hand of God. It matters not
what sacrifices God requires at our
hands in the building up of His
kingdom, we have got to meet these
things and trust in Him.
The Prophet Joseph, in his day,
consulted with the Apostles and
sought their views on important
matters and principles. He would
say, "I want you to tell me your
views and feelings about this, that
and the other." The agency which
God had given us was never taken
from us, either by Him or His
Prophet. We used to express our
feelings to the Prophet, and we did
so with all good conscience before
God. As a general thing our views
were alike; but if there was any-
thing in them different from what
Joseph considered was right, when
we got through he would tell us
thus and so. Then we did not stand
against that, but we united upon it.
One of the Apostles once brought
before the Prophet Joseph a very pe-
culiar kind of a system. Joseph
listened to him very patiently, and
when this brother got through he
says, "Brother Joseph, what do
you think of that?" "Why," says
he, "Brother ———, it is a beautiful
system, and I have only one fault
in the world to find about it."
"What is it?" "It is not true."
Of course, when a man gets up a
thing that is not true, he has to lay
it aside.
I want to say, for the comfort of
the Latter-day Saints, that God is
not going to fail anybody. He has
carried out His purposes in every
age and generation of men. As
Brother Snow said today, He raised
up old father Abraham to stand at
the head of the House of Israel, be-
cause he was a noble spirit. Before
he was born he occupied such a
position with God, in his agency,
that he was given supremacy here
on the earth. He stands at the
head of his posterity, and at the
head of Israel, and will
occupy that position forever.
The Lord is not going to
disappoint us. He has fulfilled His
work up to the present time; and
now comes the consummation, the
winding up scene, and the fulfil-
ment of all those prophecies and
revelations which God has given to
inspired men, who were moved
upon by the Holy Ghost. Those
revelations you and I are fulfilling.
Joseph Smith laid the foundation of
this work. He holds the key of the
Kingdom today, and will to the
endless ages of eternity. He has
passed and gone. Over twenty
Apostles have passed away. Those
who laid the foundation of this
work are now in the Spirit world.
But we are alive here, and have
yet a few days in which to work.
Today we have a Quorum of Twelve
Apostles. When men have died or
apostatized, others have been called
to fill their places. When the
Prophet Joseph was taken away,
President Young occupied his
place. He held the keys of the
Kingdom of God. It was for him
to have association with God the
Father and with His Son Jesus
Christ, and to lead Israel. You
know what he has done. It is be-
fore you. He has filled these moun-
tains of Israel with cities and
towns and villages. He performed
a great work. God was with him.
He was true and faithful. He was
one of the first Quorum of Apos-
tles. He never varied; he never
shrank from duty. He stood by the
Prophet Joseph while he lived. He
stood by the Kingdom of God and
by the Lord as long as he
lived himself. After his death,
Brother Taylor took his place; and
when he passed away it fell upon
me, for a little while. It is my duty
to have fellowship with God, as
weak an instrument as I am in the
hands of God. It is my duty to
have power with God. And when
I have this, then my counsel-
ors should stand by me and with
me. We should be of one heart and
mind in all matters, temporal and
spiritual, that come before us in the
labor of the Church and Kingdom of
God. And I am thankful to say
that this has been the case since I
have been called to this position, or
since the organization of the Presi-
dency of the Church. Standing con-
nected with us here are the Twelve
Apostles. It is their duty to be of
one heart and one mind. They
have no right to be otherwise. They
cannot be otherwise and prosper be-
fore God. They should be one with
us, and we one with them. They
have their rights; they have their
agency. But when the Presidency
of the Church say unto any of them,
"This is the word of the Lord," or,
"This is right," they should take
hold and work with us. The law of
God requires this union at our
hands. It is the duty of the Seven-
ties, also, to be united with the
Twelve Apostles. The Seventies
are called upon by the Apostles to
go forth and labor in the vineyard of
the Lord, and they work together.
So, brethren and sisters, with
every organization in this Church.
There should be union. There
should be no discord, no dis-
union. If there is, the Lord
is not pleased with it, and we are
hindered in our work. I want all
the Quorums to understand this.
The lesser Priesthood should be unit-
ed. Here is Bishop Preston. He
stands at the head of the Aaronic
Priesthood. He has got counselors.
They should be united together.
They should be united with the less-
er Priesthood, and they should la-
bor to promote their inter-
est and welfare. I have no fault to
find with the brethren in these
matters. I mention these things as
duties devolving upon us.
Now, brethren and sisters, we
should all be united. Unless we are
one, we are not the Lord's. I wish
to exhort the Latter-day Saints to
observe this principle. Our aim is
high. What is that aim? It is the
Celestial Kingdom of ourGod. We
have been called out of the world,
from almost all nations under heav-
en, in fulfilment of the revelations
of God. We have been called
unto these mountains of Israel. We
are fulfilling revelations that were
given thousands of years ago. The
eyes of Jeremiah, of Ezekiel, of
Daniel, of Isaiah and of the ancient
Patriarchs and Prophets beheld our
day. They saw our Zion. They
saw our temples and our tabernacle,
built "for a shadow in the daytime
from the heat, and for a place of ref-
uge, and for a covert from storm and
from rain." [Isaiah 4:6]
Brethren and sisters, let us look
at these things as they are. What is
this world? Our lives here are tem-
porary; they are of short duration.
We are here upon a mission. This
people have been called together
from almost every nation under
heaven. They have gathered here—
a little handful out of fourteen hun-
dred millions of the human family.
Do you suppose the eyes of the
Lord have been withdrawn from
this people? Have the eyes of the
heavenly host been withdrawn? No;
they are watching over us with
feelings of the deepest interest.
They know where we stand. Why
do we have this warfare that we are
passing through? Because it is the
Church and Kingdom of God; be-
cause we are the people of God.
No man can live godly in Christ
Jesus without suffering persecution.
This is your legacy. It is the legacy
of all the Saints of God in every
age of the world. Therefore, I say
to the Latter-day Saints, let your
hearts be comforted. All is right in
Israel, as far as we make it right,
and as far as we do our duty.
I listened yesterday to the reports
made by the Bishops and others.
No doubt there is room for improve-
ment in Logan. There is room for a
great deal of improvement in Salt
Lake City. There is room for im-
provement throughout these moun-
tains. These Elders of Israel who
bear the Holy Priesthood should
prize their standing enough to never
permit themselves to go to these
saloons and drink with the drunken,
or to pursue a course whereby they
lose the Spirit of God. Brethren, if
you do this, you will be sorry for it;
and you will have to repent of these
sins and turn from them, in order to
get forgiveness before the Lord. I
know that this is the kingdom of
God. I know this is the people
whom He has raised up. They
have been kept, as I have often said,
in the Spirit world the last six thou-
sand years, to come forth and stand
in the flesh in this day and build
up this Church and kingdom and
warn this generation of the judg-
ments which await them. We
occupy this position before the Lord.
Then let us not betray our trust.
As the Lord said to the Prophet
Joseph, in answer to his prayer
while in Liberty jail:
"Behold, there are many called, but
few are chosen. And why are they
not chosen?
"Because their hearts are set so
much upon the things of this world,
and aspire to the honors of men, that
they do not learn this one lesson—
"That the rights of the Priesthood
are inseparably connected with the
powers of heaven, and that the powers
of heaven cannot be controlled nor
handled only upon the principles of
righteousness." [Doctrine and Covenants 121:34-36]
There is not a man that breathes
the breath of life today on the earth,
who holds and honors that Priest-
hood, but has power with the
heavens, and he can go before the
Lord and have his prayers heard
and answered. This is what the
Latter-day Saints should do. We
should live in that way and manner
that we can go before the Lord and
ask for those blessings, in faith and
in power, that we need to sustain us
to carry out the purposes of God
here in the mountains of Israel.
This is necessary for our advance-
ment. We live in a fast age.
Events are hastening on, and the
Lord is going to cut His work short
in righteousness, lest no flesh should
be saved. No matter about our
persecutions; no matter about the
advantages our enemies may have
from a political or temporal point of
view. God holds your destinies,
He holds the destinies of this nation
and of all men in His own hands.
He governs and controls them. And
His angels are ready and waiting to
go forth and reap down the earth.
But the Lord will fulfil His promi-
ses. Do not be discouraged, there-
fore, with regard to these things.
But we have got to be humble. We
have got to be prayerful. We have
got to have faith in God, and to be
united, and carry out those princi-
ples which the Lord requires at our
hands. All the organizations of the
Priesthood have power. The
Deacon has power, through the
Priesthood which he holds. So has
the Teacher. They have power to
go before the Lord and have their
prayers heard and answered, as well
as the Prophet, the Seer, or the
Revelator has. It is by this Priest-
hood that the work of God has been
accomplished. It is by this Priest-
hood that men have ordinances
conferred upon them, that their sins
are forgiven, and that they are re-
deemed. For this purpose it has
been revealed and sealed upon our
heads.
Brethren and sisters, these are a
few of the thoughts I have upon my
mind. There is a union that God
requires of every quorum in this
Church, from the Presidency down;
and when we set up our will and
our views against those of our breth-
ren, we want to be careful what we
are doing. We should all do the
will of God, laboring for light, for
truth and for those things that we
stand in need of. Speaking of the
love of the Saints of God, no man
knows the love that men bear one
another who hold the Holy Priest-
hood. It is above the love of women.
Why, when I traveled abroad alone,
on my early missions, I would have
done almost anything to have met a
Mormon Elder. It was worth more
than gold to me to meet anybody
that was in the Church. Our breth-
ren here—Brothers Cannon and
Snow and others—were called in
early days, before they received the
Apostleship, to go upon missions.
They went forth and proved them-
selves before heaven and earth. The
Lord knows these men. They have
been called by revelation. We
should all be careful not to hurt the
tender vine, nor to hurt one another.
Love one another, sustain one an-
other; and while we do live in the flesh
let us do our duty.
Our reward is on the other side of
the veil. No matter whether a man
is rich or poor here. Riches are
dangerous. It is better to be poor
than rich. If a man gets riches
enough to damn him, it is the worst
calamity that can come upon him.
As one said anciently, "Give me
neither poverty nor riches." Many
of us have traveled a great many
years in the vineyard of the Lord,
trying to save the souls of men and
to lay up treasures in heaven. Thou-
sands have been redeemed in these
temples. You have one here in
Logan. We have been called as
Saviors upon Mount Zion, while the
kingdom has been the Lord's. These
are glorious principles. To be saved
ourselves, and to save our fellow-
men, what a glorious thing! What
is gold and silver; what are the
riches of this world? They all
perish with the using. We pass
away and leave them. But if we
have eternal life, if we keep the
faith and overcome, we shall rejoice
when we go upon the other side of
the veil. I rejoice in all these
things. There is hardly any princi-
ple the Lord has revealed that I
have rejoiced more in than in the
redemption of our dead; that we will
have our fathers, our mothers, our
wives and our children with us in
the family organization, in the
morning of the first resurrection and
in the Celestial Kingdom. These are
grand principles. They are worth
every sacrifice. When we get home
with God and with the Prophets and
Apostles we will rejoice exceedingly.
"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,
neither have entered into the heart
of man, the things which God hath
prepared for them that love Him." [1 Corinthians 2:9]
Brethren and sisters, am I glad to
meet with you, and to have the
privilege of bearing my testimony.
This is the Church of God. The
Lord has a good people here—the
sons and daughters of Abraham,
whose lives have been hid with
Christ in God, and you have known
it not. The Priesthood has been
handed down from Father Abra-
ham, through the lineage of our
forefathers, unto us in this last dis-
pensation and fulness of times.
Then let us be true and faithful; let
us honor God; let us try to keep His
commandments; let us remember
our prayers and do our duty, and
especially be united—united to the
Lord, united to the Holy Ghost,
united to one another, that we may
carry out the principles in our day
and time; which may God grant,
for Christ's sake. Amen.