Discourse 1889-09-01 [D-146]

DISCOURSE

Delivered by President Wilford Woodruff, at the Quarterly Conference of the Salt Lake Stake, Salt Lake City, September 1, 1889.

REPORTED BY GEORGE F. GIBBS.

I feel thankful that I have the privilege of assembling in this Tabernacle with my friends, the Latterday Saints, to partake of the Lord's Supper, the emblems of His body and blood, His body which was broken for us and His blood which was shed for us. I regard this as a great privilege. While meeting with the Saints upon occasions of this kind I often reflect upon their spiritual condition, and hope and pray that those of us who are thus favored to commemorate the death and sufferings of our Lord and Savior by partaking of the Sacrament, may so live that we may be worthy to eat and drink with Him at the great marriage supper of the Lamb, in company with the prophets and patriarchs and Saints of God of former and latter days whom the Father hath given unto Him—those who have obeyed the law, received the truths of the Gospel and kept His commandments.

I wish to say to the Latter-day Saints that every man holding the holy Priesthood, every man called to preside over the Church or any branch of it, is dependent upon the Lord for His Holy Spirit to guide and sustain him. We have found the exhortation of the Savior to the apostles of His day applicable to our own labors and experience, wherein He said, "And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take no thought how or what ye shall answer, or what ye shall say: for the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say." [##Luke 12:11-12##] We differ from many people in this regard. We very often call upon the Elders from among the congregation to come to the stand to speak without any preparation. We all, in a measure, occupy this same position before our fellow men. I never know when appearing before an assembly of the Saints what I may say to them; I leave entirely all these matters with the Lord. If the Lord gives me nothing, I shall certainly have but very little to say to the people. And this is the position that the Elders are placed in as teachers in Israel. My feelings and views are that the Lord never did have a people from Father Adam to the present time that were called upon to build up His Kingdom and establish His Zion in the world, or to preach the gospel of repentance to the children of men, but what they were dependent entirely upon the God of heaven for their support.

The Lord has told us by revelation to speak as we may be moved upon by the Holy Ghost. When a man speaks as he is moved upon by the Holy Spirit, what he says is the word of the Lord; it is the mind of the Lord, it is scripture, it is the will of the Lord, it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believes. [##Romans 1:16##] Why? Because the Holy Ghost is one of the personages of the Godhead. God the Father and God the Son possess tabernacles, and God himself has created man after His own image; but the Holy Ghost is a personage of Spirit, which bears witness of the Father and Son unto the children of men.

With regard to the rights of the human family I wish to say that God has given unto all of His children of this dispensation, as He gave unto all of His children of previous dispensations, individual agency. This agency has always been the heritage of man unto the rule and government of God. He possessed it in the heaven of heavens before the world was, and the Lord maintained and defended it there against the aggression of Lucifer and those that took sides with him, to the overthrow of Lucifer and one-third part of the heavenly hosts. By virtue of this agency you and I and all mankind are made responsible beings, responsible for the course we pursue, the lives we live, the deeds we do in the body. I will repeat here what I have often remarked as the words and sentiments of the Prophet Joseph who once declared it in my hearing. Said he, "If I were ruler or emperor of the world, and I had power over the whole human family, I would make every man, woman and child free in the enjoyment of his or her religion, be that religion whatever it may." These are my sentiments. All people under heaven by virtue of their agency, whether living under a republican, a monarchical or any other form of government, are entitled to religious freedom to worship God according to the dictates of their own conscience, they being held accountable to God alone for the use they make of their agency. And while we, as a community, accord this right and privilege to man the world over, we claim the same right ourselves. For we profess to believe in the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ which God has revealed through the ministrations of angels sent unto the servants of God in the dispensation in which we live. It was made known to John the Revelator and to others of the Prophets and Apostles that in the last days, among the many great events which were to take place before the coming of the Son of Man, the everlasting Gospel would be restored to the earth. Referring to this event the Apostle says: "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting 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##] As Latter-day Saints we believe that angels visited Joseph Smith whom God raised up, and delivered unto him the fulness of the Gospel; and that he was ordained under the hands of heavenly messengers who held the keys of the Holy Priesthood and also the Priesthood after the order of Aaron.

Nearly sixty years have passed and gone since this Church was organized. It has fallen to my lot to be associated with this people for the last 56 or 57 years of my life. I traveled with Joseph Smith and the Apostles and with many who are now in the spirit world, hundreds and thousands of miles laboring for the salvation of our fellow men. We are very differently situated today from what we were in the early days of this Church. We now occupy permanent homes in the valleys of these Rocky Mountains. I came here with Brigham Young when the country was a barren desert. The record of our lives for the last forty years, during which time we have been here, is before the world as history. The aim and object of our lives today are what they were in the beginning, namely the building up of the Kingdom of God upon the earth. And I wish to bear my testimony to the Latter-day Saints and to the world that this Gospel of the Kingdom which the angel of God delivered unto Joseph Smith will be preached as a witness to all the world before the end come. It is the same Gospel that was preached by Christ and the Apostles, and which the Jews rejected. There is but one Gospel plan of salvation, and it is eternal and everlasting in its character; it cannot be perverted or changed with impunity; hence the Apostle Paul has said in this connection, "Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed." [##Galatians 1:8##] What was the Gospel taught by Paul, and by Peter, James and John? The first principle of the Gospel they taught was faith in God; the next was repentance of sins, and then baptism for the remission of sins. Jesus Himself was baptized of John, that he might fulfil all righteousness, because baptism was a righteous law, and one of the ordinances of the everlasting Gospel. At first John declined to baptize the Savior, recognizing the fact that He was without sin, and that baptism was for the remission of sin. But Jesus answering said, "Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." And He baptized the Savior and Redeemer of the world. As soon as this ordinance was attended to the heavens acknowledged the act by the manifestation of the Holy Ghost. [##Matthew 3:13-17##] And the next ordinance after baptism is the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost. This was the Gospel taught by the Apostles while they lived. The Holy Ghost gave unto men a testimony that Jesus was indeed the Christ, the Redeemer of the world; and it was a guide to their feet and a lamp to their path during their whole lives. The Church at first was organized upon the foundation of Apostles and Prophets, Christ Jesus being the chief corner stone. We are told that Christ has set in the Church, "First apostles, secondarily prophets;" that "He gave some apostles; and some prophets; and some evangelists; and some pastors and teachers;" [##Ephesians 4:11##] and they were to be standing

ministers to the Church "for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, into a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of fullness of Christ." [##Ephesians 4:12-13##] The Lord required Joseph Smith to organize the Church of Christ after this order. He did so, and this Church has remained intact in its organization from that day to the present; and it will continue to remain until the coming of the Son of Man. And I would say here that there is no change of the Gospel of Christ in this, neither has there been in any other age of the world. There never has been any change from eternity to eternity, neither has there been any change of the ordinances, or of the Holy Priesthood; they are the same "yesterday, today and forever." [##Hebrews 13:8##]

I will also make a remark with regard to our views of the Priesthood. Jesus Christ is our High Priest. He held the Priesthood after the order of Melchisedec, which is without beginning of days or end of years, being from eternity to eternity. We have been informed that Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, and Noah, were all High Priests. [##Doctrine and Covenants 107:53##] In all the dispensations whenever God has had a people upon the earth, no man has ever been called to administer in any of the ordinances of the Gospel except by and through the eternal and everlasting Priesthood. We cannot learn from the Bible—"the stick of Judah," [##Ezekiel 37:15-20##] the record of the Jews— that God ever called a man to officiate in the offering of sacrifices, or to administer in any of the ordinances of the Gospel, except by and through the Priesthood. And our belief is that no man has a right to minister in this age in the ordinances of the House of God, except he be duly called and ordained. The Holy Priesthood is the channel through which God communicates and deals with man upon the earth; and the heavenly messengers that have visited the earth to communicate with man are men who held and honored the Priesthood while in the flesh; and everything that God has caused to be done for the salvation of man, from the coming of man upon the earth to the redemption of the world, has been and will be by virtue of the everlasting Priesthood.

Our Elders who are called to bear this Priesthood are being sent abroad to preach the Gospel without purse or script, and they are blessed in their labors. [##Doctrine and Covenants 24:18-19##] Truly has it been said the Lord has called the weak things of the world to confound the wisdom of the wise, and to bring to pass the purposes of God. [##1 Corinthians 1:27##] And they like the servants of the Lord of former days have promised to all those who obey the Gospel that they should receive the Holy Ghost. I have often said, and I say again, we might have preached to the whole world until we had become as old as Methuselah if the testimony of our Elders had not been backed up by the gift of the Holy Ghost, Utah would be today as barren as we found it in 1847; that is, as far as our being here is concerned. It is the Spirit of God, the testimony of Jesus, that has been imparted to the Saints in fulfilment of the promise of the Elders who preached the Gospel to them in their native lands, that has impelled this people to gather to these valleys of the mountains. And if I were to call upon all those of this congregation who have received this testimony to rise to their feet, the Latter-day Saints of this congregation would respond in a body. If the people had not received this testimony they never would have left their homes and friends to come here. You knew it was not the work of man, but the work of God, and you labored diligently to effect your deliverance from Babylon because you were moved upon by the Spirit of God, and you never rested until you emigrated.

We are called of God to establish His Zion upon the land of Joseph. You have the Bible, which the Christian world profess to believe in, as well as the Book of Mormon, which you believe in. These records and revelations of God testify of your day. Isaiah pointed out your history, your travels in coming to these western valleys, your labors here; and if we had not gathered here, much of the Bible prophesies would have failed in their fulfilment. Many say these revelations are to be spiritually construed, that they are not intended to be understood in a literal sense. We view these things differently. We take it what the Lord through His servants has said concerning this matter means what He has said and said what he means. It is true we have passed through a good deal of persecution; but in this we are no exception to the rest of God's servants and people of other ages. The records that have come to us testify of these things. Opposition to God and His Christ, opposition to light and truth has existed since the beginning to the present day. This is the warfare that commenced in heaven, that has existed through all time, and that will continue until the winding up scene, until He reigns whose right it is to reign, [##Doctrine and Covenants 58:22##] when He shall come in clouds of glory to reward every man according to the deeds done in the body.

We live in a peculiar dispensation— I will say the great and last dispensation of God to man. And what is the state of our nation and that of the Christian world? Unbelief with regard to the fulfilment of what the prophets have said should take place in the last days. I have felt that the Lord has become very unpopular in this generation, and that His revelations have become very unpopular. Common schools turn the Bible out of doors. Of course there is a general profession of faith and belief in God, but a decided unbelief exists, and a general indifference with regard to the fulfilment of the predictions contained in the Bible. A great many too believe when a man dies that is the end of him, that there is no hereafter. Can any sensible man believe that the God of heaven has created two or three hundred thousand million spirits, and given them tabernacles, merely to come and live upon the earth and then to pass away into oblivion or to be annihilated? It seems to me that no reflecting man can entertain such belief. It is contrary to common sense and to serious reflection. Generation after generation has lived and died, has passed into the spirit world, and we have to a limited extent an account of the doings of God with them. The Prophets, Apostles and Patriarchs have left their inspired writings on record for our use and benefit, and we shall be held accountable in the exercise of our agency for the manner in which we treat the Word of God that has come unto us.

I testify that the God of heaven has set His hand to establish His Kingdom, and to build up His Church and establish His Zion upon the foundation of Prophets and Apostles, Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone. We live in a dispensation different from any other. The dispensation that ushered in the Christian era was one of sacrifice. The Savior came and tabernacled in the flesh, and entered upon the duties of the Priesthood at 30 years of age. After laboring three and a half years He was crucified and put to death in fulfilment of certain predictions concerning Him. He laid down His life as a sacrifice for sin, to redeem the world. When men are called upon to repent of their sins, the call has reference to their own individual sins, not to Adam's transgressions. What is called the original sin was atoned for through the death of Christ irrespective of any action on the part of man; also man's individual sin was atoned for by the same sacrifice, but on condition of his obedience to the Gospel plan of salvation when proclaimed in his hearing. This gospel we are called to preach to the children of men, calling on them to repent and be baptized for the remission of their sins, and promising them through their obedience and faithfulness the gift of the Holy Ghost, which shall lead and guide them in the ways of all truth and deliver them from darkness and doubt. And the results of the preaching of the servants of God are seen today in what is being done by this people; and it is our duty to continue this work, to warn mankind and to gather the Israel of our God. We will be held under condemnation if we do not do our duty; if we do not warn the nations. Whenever a nation or city has ripened in iniquity, the Lord has raised up Prophets to warn them of the destruction that awaited them unless they repented. The Lord raised up Noah and commanded him to preach repentance to the people of his day, and instructed him to build an ark for the salvation of those who should believe on Him. Enoch and his people were peculiar from the rest of the world of his day, and the wicked sought his life; but the power of God was upon him

to such an extent that the wicked trembled at his words, and feared him. At last he and his people were translated, were taken from the earth, and the disobedient of his day were left to their own destruction. The same fate befel the Jewish nation in consequence of their rejection of the truth, and their treatment of those who were sent unto them. They put to death the servants of the Lord and crucified the Messiah. All that had been predicted concerning them came literally to pass. Israel as a nation was overthrown; their temples destroyed, and they that escaped death by the sword were taken captive, and that people have been trampled under the feet of the Gentiles for the past 1800 years.

Now we understand there is a feeling and spirit working among the Jews to return to the land of their fathers to re-build their city and temple and prepare for the coming of Shiloh their King. And this will in time be accomplished. We should have faith in God and His promises, and we should read the revelations that have come unto us, and treasure them up. We are all in the hands of God; He holds our destiny and the destiny of this nation. All are held by the power of God. It is for us to understand the signs of the times, for these things are before us. This is not our work; but if we are true and faithful in this ministry we shall receive our inheritances upon the earth according to the promises. That our Father may bless us all, and that we may be true and faithful to Him and to one another, laboring with all our might to build up Zion and to establish His name in honor in the earth, that at last we may receive the reward of the faithful, is my prayer, for Christ's sake. Amen.