Stepped forward to the breastwork
of the stand and said: Before dis-
missing this Conference I want to
say a few words to the Latter-day
Saints. The Lord has said, by reve-
lation, to those who hold the
keys of the Kingdom of God:
"Whomsoever thou shalt bless
I will bless and whomsoever
thou shalt curse I will curse."[Genesis 12:3]
I have traveled something like a
hundred and seventy-five thousand
miles in my day and time, and I
have preached the Gospel to the
nations, to the islands of the sea and
to my own country. I have met,
in some instances, men who pro-
fessed to have faith in God and to
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
who have stood up before me and
cursed the Prophet of God, Joseph
Smith, and blasphemed the name of
God. But in the midst of all these
things, I have never seen a moment
of my life when I felt to curse any-
body. I hope I never shall. But I
have told these men, under these
circumstances, that the curse of God
would overtake them; and in no
instance, when I have been moved
upon to say that, has it ever fallen
unfulfilled; for they have been
marked cases of the judgments
of God overtaking them. But
with regard to blessing, I will
say, if there was ever an
hour in my life that I felt to bless
the Latter-day Saints, it is at the
present time. My heart is drawn
out with love and gratitude towards
God and my brethren with whom I
am surrounded. I have been sus-
tained as a weak instrument in the
hands of God as the President of
this Church. Since I have been
called to this office I have been sus-
tained by the Latter-day Saints,
and for over fifty years of my life
as an Apostle. Why should not
my heart be drawn out in love to-
wards such a people? The world
know not the love of the Latter-day
Saints. They do not comprehend
it. It never entered into their
souls. I am surrounded here with
Prophets, Apostles, Elders and
Saints of the living God; and in the
morning of the resurrection, when
they come out of their graves, they
will pass by the Gods and the
angels who are set there to watch
the interests of the celestial world;
they will go to those thrones, king-
doms, principalities and powers
which have been ordained of God
for them to occupy—those who
dwell in this dispensation as well as
in other ages of the world. If I am
faithful, I shall meet you there; I
shall meet this people there; I shall
meet these Saints of the Living God
there. Therefore, I feel it is my
privilege to bless the Latter-day
Saints. I cannot go abroad, as a
man, and spread this Gospel to the
world and administer to them the
ordinances thereof, to have any
effect, without the Holy Priesthood;
and I, as a man, cannot bless the
inhabitants of the earth, so that the
Lord is bound to acknowledge it,
only by the power of the Holy
Priesthood; and that power I feel
to exercise at the present time in
blessing my brethren and sisters.
In the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, I feel to bless my Counselors
—Presidents Geo. Q. Cannon and Jos. F. Smith. They have stood by
me in all the labors of life, as far as
we have been associated, since we
have entered into the new and ever-
lasting covenant. On the same prin-
ciple, I feel to bless these Apostles
who surround me. We have been
united. We are united in the Gospel
of Jesus Christ, and they have the
gratitude of my heart for the labors
of love and life which they have
carried out in their day and time.
I feel to bless the Presidents of the
Seventies, with all their quorums in
this Church, with every blessing that
I have power to bestow upon them,
as a servant of the Living God.
I feel to bless the High
Priests, who bear the high and Holy Priesthood after the order of
Melchisedec—their Presidents and all
who belong to the quorums. I also
feel to bless the thousands of the
Elders of Israel who have entered
into covenant with the Lord, who
have received a portion of the Mel-
chisedec Priesthood, and who have
gone forth and been faithful in the
ordinances of the House of God. I
feel to bless the Bishopric and the Lesser Priesthood, which is after
the order of Aaron—the first Priest-
hood sealed upon the heads of Jo-
seph Smith and Oliver Cowdery by John the Baptist, who held it, and
who laid down his own life for the
word of God and testimony of Jesus
Christ. I feel to bless these Latter-
day Saints, as fathers and mothers,
as brothers and sisters, in
all the ordinance of the House
THE DESERET WEEKLY.
President W. Woodruff
Stepped forward to the breastwork
of the stand and said: Before dismissing this Conference I want to
say a few words to the Latter-day
Saints. The Lord has said, by revelation, to those who hold the
keys of the Kingdom of God:
"Whomsoever thou shalt bless
I will bless and whomsoever
thou shalt curse I will curse."
I have traveled something like a
hundred and seventy-five thousand
miles in my day and time, and I
have preached the Gospel to the
nations, to the islands of the sea and
to my own country. I have met,
in some instances, men who professed to have faith in God and to
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
who have stood up before me and
cursed the Prophet of God, Joseph
Smith, and blasphemed the name of
God. But in the midst of all these
things, I have never seen a moment
of my life when I felt to curse anybody. I hope I never shall. But I
have told these men, under these
circumstances, that the curse of God
would overtake them; and in no
instance, when I have been moved
upon to say that, has it ever fallen
unfulfilled; for they have been
marked cases of the judgments
of God overtaking them. But
with regard to blessing, I will
say, if there was ever an
hour in my life that I felt to bless
the Latter-day Saints, it is at the
present time. My heart is drawn
out with love and gratitude towards
God and my brethren with whom I
am surrounded. I have been sustained as a weak instrument in the
hands of God as the President of
this Church. Since I have been
called to this office I have been sustained by the Latter-day Saints,
and for over fifty years of my life
as an Apostle. Why should not
my heart be drawn out in love towards such a people? The world
know not the love of the Latter-day
Saints. They do not comprehend
it. It never entered into their
souls. I am surrounded here with
Prophets, Apostles, Elders and
Saints of the living God; and in the
morning of the resurrection, when
they come out of their graves, they
will pass by the Gods and the
angels who are set there to watch
the interests of the celestial world;
they will go to those thrones, kingdoms, principalities and powers
which have been ordained of God
for them to occupy—those who
dwell in this dispensation as well as
in other ages of the world. If I am
faithful, I shall meet you there; I
shall meet this people there; I shall
meet these Saints of the Living God
there. Therefore, I feel it is my
privilege to bless the Latter-day
Saints. I cannot go abroad, as a
man, and spread this Gospel to the
world and administer to them the
ordinances thereof, to have any
effect, without the Holy Priesthood;
and I, as a man, cannot bless the
inhabitants of the earth, so that the
Lord is bound to acknowledge it,
only by the power of the Holy
Priesthood; and that power I feel
to exercise at the present time in
blessing my brethren and sisters.
In the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ, I feel to bless my Counselors
—Presidents Geo. Q. Cannon and
Jos. F. Smith. They have stood by
me in all the labors of life, as far as
we have been associated, since we
have entered into the new and everlasting covenant. On the same principle, I feel to bless these Apostles
who surround me. We have been
united. We are united in the Gospel
of Jesus Christ, and they have the
gratitude of my heart for the labors
of love and life which they have
carried out in their day and time.
I feel to bless the Presidents of the
Seventies, with all their quorums in
this Church, with every blessing that
I have power to bestow upon them,
as a servant of the Living God.
I feel to bless the High
Priests, who bear the high and
Holy Priesthood after the order of
Melchisedec—their Presidents and all
who belong to the quorums. I also
feel to bless the thousands of the
Elders of Israel who have entered
into covenant with the Lord, who
have received a portion of the Melchisedec Priesthood, and who have
gone forth and been faithful in the
ordinances of the House of God. I
feel to bless the Bishopric and the
Lesser Priesthood, which is after
the order of Aaron—the first Priesthood sealed upon the heads of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery by
John the Baptist, who held it, and
who laid down his own life for the
word of God and testimony of Jesus
Christ. I feel to bless these Latterday Saints, as fathers and mothers,
as brothers and sisters, in
all the ordinance of the House
