Discourse 1890-04-06 [D-115]

DISCOURSE

Delivered by President Wilford Woodruff at the General Conference, held in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Sunday morning, April 6, 1890.

-[REPORTED BY ARTHUR WINTER.]-

I feel that every heart in this congregation should be filled with gratitude to God for the blessings we enjoy this morning, that so many of us have the privilege of meeting in this Tabernacle in peace and quietude to worship God.

I want to say to this large assembly that the President of the Church, or his Counselors, or the Twelve Apostles, or any other man who dwells in the flesh, has no power in and of himself to instruct or edify the Latter-day Saints; he can only do so by the power and blessings of Almighty God. In this respect I am as weak as the least member of this Church and Kingdom. We are all dependent upon the Lord; and I feel this morning that I stand in need, not only of the faith and prayers of the Latter-day Saints, but of the blessings of God and the Holy Spirit to assist me to declare unto the Latter-day Saints the word of the Lord.

I will say another thing. The Saints of God in every age of the world—prophets, apostles and revelators—have been in such a position that they have had no chance to be lifted up in the pride of their hearts, or to boast of their power and strength to do the work of God among the children of men. [##3 Nephi 16:10##] Every man who was acquainted with Joseph Smith and those who followed him, knows full well that this was their condition while they dwelt among us. Joseph Smith was a humble man. He was one of the weak instruments in the hands of God. He was raised up in this last dispensation and fulness of times to lay the foundation of this great Church on the earth. He was taught by the administration of an[g]els from heaven. He knew full well that his strength lay in God and not in himself. That is our condition at the present time. We have no chance to be lifted up in the pride of our hearts with regard to the position we occupy. If the President of the Church or either of his Couselors or of the Apostles, or any other man, feels in his heart that God cannot do without him, and that he is especially important in order to carry on the work of the Lord, he stands upon slippery ground. I heard Joseph Smith say that Oliver Cowdery, who was the second Apostle in this Church, said to him, "If I leave this Church it will fall." Said he, "Oliver, you try it." Oliver tried it. He fell; but the Kingdom of God did not. I have been acquainted with other Apostles in my day and time who felt that the Lord could not do without them; but the Lord got along with His work without them. I say to all men—Jew and Gentile, great and small, rich and poor—that the Lord Almighty has power within Himself, and is not dependent upon any man, to carry on His

work; but when He does call men to do His work they have to trust in Him.

I marvel today, in my own mind, why I stand before you as the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have been associated with some forty Apostles in my day and time. Twenty-four of them—two quorums—are today in the spirit world. There is a quorum of young men, many of them the sons of Apostles who have passed away, with us today. Well, when I look at this and see that I am still in the midst of Israel, and realize that I have been called to this position, I marvel at it. But it is the business of the Lord and not of man. It is not a position that I have sought. On the other hand, the eternal truth of this responsibility stares me in the face. I know that I am responsible, for the position that I hold today, to the God of heaven, who has chosen me, as are these apostles before me and these tens of thousands of Elders of Israel who now dwell in the flesh on the earth. I attended a Priesthood meeting here last evening with quite a number of those bearing the Priesthood. I look upon the responsibility of these people as being very great. We have been called upon in this day to receive the Priesthood and to go forth and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to this generation—to the Gentiles first, and then to the House of Israel. This has been my lot. It has been the lot of these Apostles, and many, yea thousands, of the leaders of the Latter-day Saints. We have been called upon to preach the Gospel of Christ to this generation and to warn them of the judgments which are to come.

There has been a great deal said at this conference. We have had strong testimonies borne by the Elders of Israel who have addressed us. I remarked at the commencement of this conference (there were comparatively few people here then) concerning our position and revelation. I remarked that Moses gave revelations to Israel. We have the Bible—the stick of Judah—containing the law of God through Moses and through the ancient prophets and patriarchs. [##Ezekiel 37:19##] It has been handed down to us through the thousands of years that are past and gone. While libraries, like the library of Alexandria (which was destroyed by an Arab chief and took days and days to burn, it being one of the largest ever gathered together in the world) have perished, the Bible has been preserved unto us, and we have it to read. It gives unto us the law of God given to the ancients. But there has been no change in that law, so far as the gospel is concerned, from that day until this. The Bible—the Old and the New Testament—gives unto us the law whereby we may be exalted and go back again into the presence of God and dwell with Him for ever and ever. It gives unto us the course we should pursue in order to receive a part in the first resurrection, that we may come forth clothed with glory, immortality and eternal life. It also gives us the history, not only of what is passed with the Jews, but of what is to come to pass. Then we have the Book of Mormon—the stick of Joseph in the hands of Ephraim—that was written upon this continent by apostles and prophets. It contains, among other things, the teachings of Jesus Christ when he appeared, after his resurrection, in his immortal and glorious body, and taught the gospel here. Those revelations contain a great many principles. They show unto us the final winding-up scene, the situation of great Babylon and the judgments that were to come to pass in the last days before the coming of the Son of Man. We have also the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, which you have in your houses and which you can read. This code of revelation was given through the mouth of the Prophet Joseph Smith, by the Urim and Thummim and otherwise. That book contains some of the most glorious and most sublime revelations God ever gave to man. It shows unto us what lies before us, what awaits this nation and the nations of the earth and what is at the door of the inhabitants of the earth. These things are clear, they are pointed, they are strong, and they are the revelations of God, and they will be fulfilled, whether men believe it or not.

Now, with regard to present revelation. President Young led us a great many years. He led us to these valleys. He was a man of God, filled with revelation. His teachings were attended by the inspirations of Almighty God. He laid the foundation of the building of this whole Territory. He governed and controlled this Tabernacle we are in, the Temple we are building, and other Temples that we have built in this Territory; and in all his counsels the word of the Lord was with him. He had but few revelations that were written and published to the world. But we had the word of the Lord through him day by day. The same with President Taylor. We have already got, as I said before, this code of revelation, which we can read every day, and which is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction, to guide us in the way of life from day to day and from year to year while we dwell in the flesh. [##2 Timothy 3:16##] When the Apostles and Elders of Israel are called to teach you, when they are called to go abroad and to teach the inhabitants of the earth, they are commanded of the Lord to speak as they are moved upon by the Holy Geost; [##Doctrine and Covenants 68:3##] and when a man speaks as he is moved upon by the Holy Ghost, it is the word of the Lord, it is the mind of the Lord, it is the will of the Lord, it is Scripture, it is the power of God unto salvation unto every one that believes. If we do not have the Holy Ghost we have no business to teach. But when the Elders of Israel do teach you by the Holy Ghost, you have the revelations of God to you. We have these revelations lying before us for our guidance day by day, as well as the living oracles.

I would say to the President of the United States, to the Congress of the United States, to the Cabinet, and to all the inhabitants of this land, as well as to all the nations of the earth—kings, emperors, princes and people—do not worry about these Latter-day Saints. I would say to all nations under heaven, if these people are not the people of God, if this work has not been established by God Almighty, they will fall of themselves, they will be swept from the face of the earth by the judgments of God, when Great Babylon falls. But if they are of God, what can you do about it? What can the nations of the earth do about it? Have the nations forgotten that there is a God in Israel? Have they forgotten that there is a God who created the heavens and the earth, and that He governs and controls all these things? If He has set His hand to perform this work, there is no power on the face of the earth, or in hell, that can destroy it, because Jehovah holds it in His own hands. He holds our destiny and the destiny of all the world in His hands. But the great difficulty with this nation and with all nations is, as it has been in every age, they do not acknowledge the hand of God in any of these things. You see it in the history of the whole world and in the dealings of God with men and cities and nations, from the creation of the world. I have referred to these things before in my remarks. Whenever a nation is ripened in iniquity, the Lord raises up prophets and inspired men and they are sent forth to warn that nation, and when they have warned the people and given unto them the word of the Lord, that word will not fall unfulfilled. We have before us a great many instances of the dealings of God with men. We have a fair example in Babylon the Great. King Nebuchadnezzar, surrounded with the city walls a hundred feet high and wide enough for several chariots to ride abreast upon the top thereof, with brazen gates and with a power to defy all but God himself, what did he say: "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty?" [##Daniel 4:30##] The prophet might have told Nebuchadnezzar that the God of heaven had proclaimed a man before he was born that would come and take that great city and destroy its ruler. Cyrus was named by the Lord before he was born, through the mouth of the prophet; [##Isaiah 44:28##] and when the time came, as King Belshazzar and his princes were feasting and drinking wine out of the cups that had been brought from the temple at Jerusalem, he took possession of the city and carried off the treasures. [##Daniel 5:1-4##] The army of Cyrus turned the river out of its course and walked in under the walls of the city. Belshazzar was taken prisoner and slain, and the city went into the hands of people they were not looking for. [##Daniel 5:30-31##] What did Cyrus do when he took the city of Babylon? He took the riches—cattle, horses and property— there was in that city and offered them as a sacrifice to the great God. This is the course that a heathen king took; and we understand, from

history, that Cyrus pursued this course all his life. Whenever he took a city he went and offered sacrifice to the great God, the God of heaven. You may trace this through the whole history of the world until the present hour and you will find that that God who sits enthroned on high has governed and controlled all these things. He will do the same today. That same God has set His hand to fulfill the volume of revelations contained in these records of divine truth, which portray the winding-up scene of the work and Kingdom of God in the last dispensation and fulness of times. Our Heavenly Father called His servant Joseph Smith. He laid the foundation of this Church and Kingdom, and he organized the Church with prophets, apostles, pastors, teachers, gifts and graces, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, and for the edifying of the body of Christ, until we all come to the perfect stature of a man in Christ Jesus, in fulfilment of the revelations of God. [##Ephesians 4:11-13##] Our numbers are few, it is true; but the people of God always were few in every age of the world. Noah, after preaching 120 years, while building the ark, only succeeded in saving eight souls out of all the inhabitants of the earth. [##Genesis 6-7##] The rest were destroyed by the flood, and they were shut up in prison and there visited by Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. While his body lay in the tomb three days His spirit went to preach to those spirits that were in prison, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh. [##1 Peter 3:19-20##] The work of the Lord always has been an uphill business so far as laboring among the children of men is concerned. But there is no person who believes in the Bible can deny that the Lord has proclaimed that in the latter days He would set His hand to build up His Church and Kingdom, He would gather together His people, and He would send an angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach un to every nation, kindred, tongue and people under the whole heavens, crying with a loud voice: "Fear God and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come." [##Revelation 14:6-7##] This was the proclamation of the angel of God who delivered the Gospel of Christ to Joseph Smith. "The hour of His judgment is come." [##Doctrine and Covenants 133:36-38##] So say we. We have been called upon to warn the nations. We have been called to go forth without purse or scrip. We have had to travel abroad, swim rivers, wade swamps, travel on foot, and visit the nations of the earth in various ways, to preach the Gospel unto them. We have been obliged to do this, for we have been called to do it, whether we were popular or unpopular. If we had not done this, we would have been condemned; the Lord would have cut us off and raised up a people that would perform His work. These thousands of Elders, gathered out from the nations of the earth, upon whose shoulders rests this Priesthood, are the instruments in the hands of Almighty God, and are called to go forth to warn this generation; and their testimony will rise up in judgment against this generation and condemn them, and I declare it in the name of Jesus Christ, as an Apostle of the Lamb of God in this day and age of the world. I say there is not a nation under heaven, there is not a king, a prince or a president, or any other man who has power over the sons of men, but should give unto their subjects the privilege of worshiping God according to the dictates of their own consciences. These subjects are the creatures of God, they are the children of God. They are placed here on the earth and are responsible to God Himself for their religion, for their faith and for their worship. They are not responsible to the emperors, or kings, or presidents, or governors who rule over them. Every man is responsible for the course he pursues before the Lord. And God will bless no king, no emperor and no president who will not give unto his subjects the rights and privileges in their relationship to God which the Father Himself has given unto them. Whenever these subjects are deprived of their rights, those who preside over them are held responsible.

We are here upon a mission. This is not our home. This is not the place where we expect to dwell forever. We are going into the spirit world. I have been associated with the Church for 57 years. I was intimate with the Prophet Joseph Smith and those that laid the foundation of this Church, who were martyred for the word of God and testimony of Jesus. They today are in the spirit world, mingling with the Gods, where they can plead for their brethren. So too shall we go in our day and time. In view of this can I afford to reject the gospel, or to turn away from that which the Lord has required at my hands, because it does not suit the world? I cannot. I have got to meet my acts before the throne of God, and so have this nation and all the inhabitants of [t]he earth. They will understand then that there is a power above them, and that is the God of heaven. All men have got to appear at the judgment seat of Christ. And when men shed the blood of the righteous because they follow the words of the Lord, they have to pay for it. No man can shed the blood of the righteous without it costing him something. It was so in the days of Jesus Christ. No man was more unpopular on the face of the earth than Jesus Christ was from the day He was born until He ascended into heaven. All Jerusalem was against Him. The Jews were against Him. The Gentiles were against Him, in a great measure. They cried out against Him and accused Him of everything that was wrong, and labored very hard to find some accusation against Him whereby they might put Him to death. It is true that the Gentile judge who heard the testimony against Jesus told the Jews: "I find no fault in this man," and he washed his hands, saying, "I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see you to it." All right, said they, "his blood be on us, and on our children." [##Matthew 27:22-25##] How little did those Jews know what it would cost them to shed the blood of Jesus Christ. Well might the Son of God, while on the cross, cry out, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do." [##Luke 23:34##] Strange language for a man that was expiring on the cross! Why did He say this? He knew what would be the result to the Jewish nation for the next two thousand years. Whenever the nations of the earth have taken a stand against the Gospel of Christ or the people of God, they have had to pay the bill. It has cost something to shed the blood of Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith, and the price is not fully paid yet.

While the world look upon us as a strange people, while they have no faith in us or in our teachings, and while they have no faith in the Bible which they profess to believe in, still their unbelief will not make the truths of God without effect. The inhabitants of the earth know not what awaits them. The Lord is going to cut short His work in righteousness. If He did not no flesh would be saved. As I have said before, we have been called upon to warn this generation. How was it when we first went to New York, to Philadelphia, to Boston, and to the various states of the Union? We went there and found hundreds of people who were ready to receive the Gospel of Christ. We organized churches throughout the United States, north and south, more especially in the northern and middle states. At that time there was not the feeling that there is today. There were a great many who were willing to open their eyes to see, their ears to hear, and their hearts to understand. The Lord told Joseph Smith that He had set His hand to prune His vineyard once more for the last time, and He commanded him and others to go forth and warn this generation to gather out the honest and meek of the earth, and to prepare for the day of His judgment. And in one place in this book of ##Doctrine and Covenants 86:2-6|Doctrine and Covenants##, in explaining the parable of the wheat and the tares, the Lord says: "Behold, verily I say, that the field was the world, and the Apostles were the sowers of the seed; and after they have fallen asleep, the great persecutor of the church, the apostate, the whore, even Babylon, that maketh all nations to drink of her cup, in whose hearts the enemy, even Satan, sitteth to reign, behold he soweth the tares, wherefore the tares choke the wheat and drive the church into the wilderness. But behold, in the last days, even now while the Lord is beginning to bring forth the word, and the blade is springing up and is yet tender. Behold, verily I say unto you, the angels are crying unto the Lord day and night, who are ready and waiting to be sent forth to reap down the fields; but the Lord said unto them, pluck not up the tares while the blade is yet tender (for verily your faith is weak) lest you destroy the wheat also."

Do the inhabitants of the earth realize the judgments that hang over

their heads? They do not, no more than t[h]e people did in the days of Noah, in the days of Lot, and in the days of the Jews when they put to death the Messiah.

You have embraced the Gospel. How came you to be gathered here in these valleys of the mountains, in this once barren desert? Where did you come from? You came from England, from Norway, from Sweden, from the various nations of the earth and from the isles of the sea. How was it that you came here? You reply: An Elder of Israel called. I heard him preach. He told me if I would repent of my sins, I should receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. I believed him. I went forth and was baptized. I had hands laid upon me for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and I did receive the Holy Ghost. There was no deception about this. I was moved upon to gather with the Saints of God to the mountains of Israel, that I might stand with them and be taught in the things of the Kingdom of God, that I might stand in holy places while the judgments of God were poured forth in the earth.

That is why you are here. We might have preached to you till we had been as old as Methusaleh, and if the Almighty had not backed up the testimony of these Elders of Israel, Utah today would be as barren a desert as we found it as far as the Latter-day Saints are concerned.

This is the work of Gok, and we are called upon to labor, no matter what may appear around us, or what persecutions we may be called upon to pass through. This is the great last Kingdom of our God that Daniel saw. [##Daniel 2:26-47##] It is the Zion of God that Isaiah saw. [##Isaiah 60##] It is the Church of Jesus Christ that the Revelator John saw. [##Revelation 14##] The angel of God has come and delivered his message, in fulfilment of the commandments of God, and the cry has been, Prepare ye for the coming of the Son of man; behold the day of God's judgment is come. This is the proclamation to the whole world today— Jew and Gentile. And this is why we are here. We have been led here by the inspiration and power of God, and we have come here to fulfill the volume of the book of the revelations of God to the inhabitants of the earth. Therefore, I say, let not your hearts be troubled. It is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. [##Luke 12:32##] These Latter-day Saints are where they should be— where the Lord has called them; and if we do our duty, if we unite together and keep the commandments of God, all will be well in Zion. The Lord has said: "Verily I say unto you, that I, the Lord, will contend with Zion, and plead with her strong ones, and chasten her until she overcomes and is clean before me; for she shall not be removed out of her place. I, the Lord, have spoken it." [##Doctrine and Covenants 90:36-37##] We have got to do right and keep the commandments of God. If we don't, we shall be chastened, there is no doubt about that. But while the world are looking for the destruction of this Church, they will look in vain. They do not realize that the judgments of God are being proclaimed by sword and by fire, and that the Lord is pleading with all flesh. The sword is bathed in heaven; it will fall upon Idumea and the world, and who is able to stand the judgments of the Almighty? [##Isaiah 34:5##] Those who are striving for our overthrow, if they have not faith today in this and in God, they will have faith whenever they come to judgment; for the whole of them have got to go to judgment, and they will be judged according to their deeds done in the body.

Brethren and sisters, let us look at these things as they are. We are under great responsibity. In every dispensation God has called men and placed them as watchmen on the walls of Zion. He told Ezekiel: "I have set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel; therefore thou shalt hear the word at my mouth, and warn them from me. When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn away from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul." [##Ezekiel 33:7-9##] We have been called upon to warn this generation. We have tried to do it in our weak way. I have for the last fifty-seven years of my life. So have these brethren here. We have traveled thousands of miles without purse or scrip. We have lifted up our voices and preached the Gospel of Christ to this dispensation.

We are also called, brethren and sisters, to perform some work in our day and time that no other dispensation of men have been called to do. We have been called to rear temples and to go into those temples and redeem our dead. It takes as much to save a dead man as it does a living one. If the dead have not heard the Gospel, the Lord is not going to send them to hell because they have not received it. The Lord is the Father of all. He is merciful to all, and He will save all, except the sons of perdition. Every man will have a glory. Our "Liberal" friends here will have a glory. A man will have a celestial glory if he abides the law of the celestial kingdom; he will have a terrestrial glory if he abides the law of the terrestrial kingdom; he will have a telestial glory if he abides the law of the telestial kingdom. That is the law of God unto us.

Brethren and sisters, I have desired to know the truth from the day I was a child. I read the Bible in my boyhood. I attended Sabbath school under old Dr. Porter and Dr. Haws. I read in this New Testament about Jesus Christ. I read of what kind of a Gospel He preached and what kind of a man He was. I read about the Apostles and of the power they had; how they laid hands upon the sick and they recovered; they could cast out devils, and, in some instances, raised the dead. In my boyhood I longed that I might live on the earth till I could find a servant of God, an inspired man, who would teach me these principles that I read of in the New Testament. The Lord promised me, in fulfilment of my prayers, that I should live to see that day. I have lived to see it. The Lord has called a people from the nations of the earth, from every sect, party and denomination, to receive the fulness of the everlasting Gospel. There is but one Gospel. There never was but one Gospel; there never will be but one. Millions of people have been born in the flesh, have lived and have gone to the grave, who never saw the face of a prophet in their lives; never saw a man that was called of God and had power to administer in one of the ordinances of the House of God. Will God condemn them because they did not receive the Gospel? Not at all. They are in the spirit world—our fathers. We are called upon, as saviors on Mount Zion, while the kingdom is the Lord's, in the latter days, to go forth and redeem our dead. We hold in our hands the keys and power of their redemption, by attending to the ordinances of God for them. It is a work that the Lord has blessed us with. I thank God for this privilege. It is one of the blessings that the Latterday Saints enjoy. When I go into the spirit world I expect to meet my fathers, my mothers, my relatives. I have been in the Temple of the Lord. I have received endowments for over three thousand of them on my father's and my mother's side, all that I could get access to. I do not want to go into the spirit world to meet these people and have them say to me, "You had power to enter into these Temples to get redemption for me, but you have not done it."

Lay these things to heart. Be not afraid with regard to the work; only serve God and trust in Him. You cannot serve man, nor make flesh your arm, for your salvation. If we are saved, if we are delivered, if we have redemption, it will be by the power of the God of Israel. He sent His Son into the world to lay down His life for the redemption of the children of men.

I feel to thank God that I have this privilege of bearing my testimony to the work. I know it is true. I know Joseph Smith was one of the greatest prophets that God ever raised up in the earth, save Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith holds the keys of this great and last dispensation and fulness of times; he will hold those keys to the endless ages of eternity. He sealed his testimony with his blood. And if we have to do the same, what of it? Thousands and thousands of the children of men lay down their lives in going to war for the sake of worldly honor. Is it any more for a man to lay down his life for the gospel's sake than it is for him to lay it down for some other cause? I say no. It makes no difference what we are called to pass through, if we are united and do our duty all will be well. I want salvation when I get through. I want to go where my Heavenly Father and the Savior are, if I can. I want to go where the Apostles and Prophets are who have borne the heat and burden of

the day in their generations—Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and all the Prophets and Patriarchs whose testimonies we have in the Bible, as well as those who dwelt in this land.

I bear my testimony that this is the Kingdom of God. As to persecution, all men who live godly in Christ Jesus suffer persecution. Why this combination by priest and people against Joseph Smith, an illiterate boy, as soon as he was administered to by the angels of God? Why did he wade in deep waters up to the day of his death? Why did he pass through forty or fifty vexatious lawsuits? Because he was a servant of God and warned the inhabitants of the earth of the judgments that were to come. So it has been with all who have followed him. If this people were not the people of God, you would not see a combination of the inhabitants of the earth for our destruction. Are these Latter-day Saints all the sinners there are in the world? If they are, I tell you the inhabitants of the earth are in a good condition. But it is not so. We sin enough, it is true; perhaps too much; we are guilty of a good many things, probably, that we ought to repent of; I have no doubt there should be a reformation among us in some things; we do not pray as much as we ought to; but we are not so bad as the world call us by any means. The Presidency, the Apostles and these Elders of Israel, our hearts should be united together. We should labor with each other, and for each other, and for the benefit of the children of God. We have tried to do that, in a measure, I believe; but we are weak. If, however, we will do our duty, all will be well.

I pray God to bless these Latterday Saints. I know He will bless us if we walk uprightly before Him We will conquer, we will overcome, Zion will arise and flourish, it will stand as appointed of the Lord, the saints of God will be gathered, they will stand in holy places while the judgments of God are manifest in the earth. I say to the Latter-day Saints and to the world, watch the signs of the times, watch the changs that are going to take place. I tell you that thunders, that lightnings, that earthquakes, that storms, that cyclones, that pestilence and that famine are gathered together in the heaven of heavens, and the angels of God are ready to go forth when the testimony of the elders of Israel is closed. Messengers will visit the earth that they cannot mob, that they cannot destroy, because they are the angels of God. These are eternal truths, written like pages of living fire upon these records of Almighty God, and they will have their fulfillment. Prepare yourselves for the things that await us. They are sure to come. No power can stay the hand of the Almighty. God bless us and give us inspiration, light and truth, that we may be prepared for that which is to come, for Christ's sake. Amen.