expression) lies ever framed are told.
It seems as though the devil is mad
every way. "Now," says he, "they
are going to take advantage of this,
and I am determined they shall
have no benefit of it; I will fill the
earth with lies concerning them,
and neutralize this declaration of
President Woodruff's." And you
will see in all the papers everything
that can be said to neutralize the
effect of this. To me it is pretty
good evidence that the devil is not
pleased with what we are doing.
When we kept silence concerning
this, then we were a very mean and
bad people; and now that we have
broken the silence and made public
our position, why, we are wicked
in other directions, and no credence
can be attached to anything that we
say. You may know by this that
his satanic majesty is not pleased
with our action. I hope he never
will be.
President Wilford Woodruff
I want to say to all Israel that the
step which I have taken in issuing
this [Official Declaration 1] has not been done
without earnest prayer before the
Lord. I am about to go into the
spirit world, like other men of my
age. I expect to meet the face of
my Heavenly Father—the Father
of my spirit; I expect to meet the
face of , of , of , and of the
Apostles, and for me to have taken
a stand in anything which is not
pleasing in the sight of God, or be-
fore the heavens, I would rather
have gone out and been shot. My
life is no better than other men's.
I am not ignorant of the feelings
that have been engendered through
the course I have pursued. But I
have done my duty, and the nation
of which we form a part must be
responsible for that which has been
done in relation to this principle.
The Lord has required at our
hands many things that we have not
done, many things that we were
prevented from doing. The Lord
required us to build a in
. We were pre-
vented by violence from doing
it. He required us to build a
in , which
we have not been able to do.
A great many things have been re-
quired of us, and we have not been
able to do them, because of those
that surrounded us in the world.
This people are in the hands of God.
This work is in the hands of God,
and He will take care of it. Brother
told us about the
lies that are abroad. It is a time
when there have been more lies
told about Mormonism than almost
any other subject ever presented to
the human family. I often think
of what said with re-
gard to the doctrine of election.
Says he: "It is like this: You can,
and you can't; you will, and
you won't; you shall, and you
shan't; you'll be damned if
you do, and you'll be damned
if you don't." That is about the
condition we as Latter-day Saints
are in. If we were to undertake to
please the world, and that was our
object, we might as well give up the
ship; we might have given it up in
the beginning. But the Lord has
called us to labor in the vineyard;
and when our nation passes laws, as
they have done, in regard to this
principle which we have presented
to the Conference, it is not wisdom
for us to make war upon sixty-five
millions of people. It is not wisdom
for us to go forth and carry out this
principle against the laws of the na-
tion and receive the consequences.
That is in the hands of God, and
He will govern and control it. The
Church of Christ is here; the Zion
of God is here, in fulfilment of these
revelations of God that are con-
tained in these holy records in
which the whole Christian world
profess to believe. The Bible could
never have been fulfilled had it not
been for the raising up of a prophet
in the last days. The revelations of
St. could never have been
fulfilled if the angel of God
had not flown through the
midst of heaven, "having the
everlasting Gospel to preach
to 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] Was that angel
going to visit , , , and the world, and
call the people together and preach
to them? Not at all. But the Lord
raised up a Prophet. The angel of
God delivered that Gospel to that
Prophet. That Prophet organized a
Church; and all that He has prom-
ised in this code of revelations (the
Book of Doctrine and Covenants)
has been fulfilled as fast as time
would admit. That which is not
yet fulfilled will be.
Brethren and sisters, it is our duty
to be true to God and to be faithful.
Make your prayers known unto the
Lord. The Lord has told us what
He will do concerning many things.
He will fulfill His word. Let us be
careful and wise, and let us be satis-
fied with the dealings of God with
us. If we do our duty to one an-
other, to our country and to the
Church of Christ, we will be justi-
fied when we go into the . It is not the first
time that the world has sought to
hinder the fulfillment of revelation
and prophecy. The Jewish nation
and other nations rose up and slew
the Son of God and every Apostle
but one that bore the Priesthood in
that day and generation. They
could not establish the kingdom;
the world was against them. When
the Apostles asked Jesus whether
He would at that time restore again
the kingdom to Israel, He replied:
"It is not for you to know the times
or the seasons, which the Father
hath put in his own power." [Acts 1:7] He
did not say it would be established
then; but He taught them to pray:
"Our Father which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name. Thy king-
dom come. Thy will be done on
earth, as it is in heaven." [Matthew 6:9-10] It is a
long time since that prayer was
offered, and it has not been fulfilled
until the present generation. The
Lord is preparing a people to receive
His kingdom and His Church, and
to build up His work. That, breth-
ren and sisters, is our labor.
I want the prayers of the Latter-
day Saints. I thank God that I
have seen with my eyes this day
that this people have been ready to
vote to sustain me in an action that
I know, in one sense, has pained
their hearts. Brother George Q.
Cannon has laid before you our
position. The Lord has given us
commandments concerning many
things, and we have carried them
out as far as we could; but when
we cannot do it, we are justified.
The Lord does not require at our
hands things that we cannot do.
This is all I want to say to the
Latter-day Saints upon this subject.
But go before the Lord and ask Him
for light and truth, and to give us
such blessings as we stand in need
of. Let your prayers ascend into
the ears of the God of Sabaoth, and
they will be heard and answered
upon your heads, and upon the
heads of the world. Our nation is
in the hands of God. He holds
their destiny. He holds the desti-
nies of all men. I will say to the
Latter-day Saints, as an Elder in
Israel and as an Apostle of the Lord
Jesus Christ, we are approaching
some of the most tremendous judg-
ments God ever poured out upon
the world. You watch the , the signs of the
of the Son of Man. They are be-
ginning to be made manifest both
in heaven and on earth. As has
been told you by the Apostles, Christ
will not come until these things
come to pass. has got to
be rebuilt. The Temple has got to be
built. Judah has got to be gathered,
and the House of Israel. And the
gentiles will go forth to battle
against Judah and Jerusalem before
the coming of the Son of Man.
These things have been revealed by
the prophets; they will have their
fulfilment. We are approaching these
things. All that the Latter-day
Saints have to do is to be quiet, care-
ful and wise before the Lord, watch
the signs of the times, and be true
and faithful; and when you get
through you will understand many
things that you do not today. This
work has been raised up by the
power of Almighty God. These were called from the
various occupations of life to preach
as they were moved upon by the
Holy Ghost. They were not learned
men; they were the weak things of
this world, whom God chose to con-
found the wise, "and things which
are not, to bring to nought things
that are." [1 Corinthians 1:28] We are here on that
principle. Others will be gathered
on that principle. Zion will be
redeemed, Zion will arise, and
the glory of God will rest
upon her, and all that and
the other prophets have spoken con-
cerning her will come to pass. We
are in the last dispensation and
fulness of time. It is a great day,
and the eyes of all the heavens are
over us, and the eyes of God Him-
self and all the patriarchs and pro-
phets. They are watching over you
with feelings of deep interest, for
your welfare; and our prophets who
were slain and sealed their testimony
with their blood, are mingling with
the Gods, pleading for their brethren.
Therefore, let us be faithful, and
