Discourse 1890-08-03 [D-34]

DISCOURSE Delivered by President Wilford Woodruff, at Logan (Cache Stake Conference), Sunday Morning, Aug. 3rd, 1890.

I have a few thoughts and reflections which I would like to present to the Latter-day Saints who compose 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 Latterday 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 principle 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 resurrection 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 required 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 Priesthood, 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 permit 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 remove 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 destroyed by the judgments of the Almighty whenever it has become ripened in iniquity, as in the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, of Babylon, Nineveh, Tyre and Sidon, and a great many other ancient cities and countries. But the Saints of God cannot prosper unless they are united. This has been demonstrated 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 Israelites—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 together. 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 bestowed upon almost all the male members of the Church the Holy Priesthood.

This union was necessary between God and the prophets and apostles of old. Unless that union had existed between Him and His servants 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 martyred. 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 Baptist. 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 somewhat 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 married 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 chastisement 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 inheritances 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 acquainted with the union that has existed. I can say that I never associated with a class of men that ever manifested the same love for one another as the Apostles of the Church have when they have been faithful. 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 consequences? It sent them to perdition. Their power fell like lightning from heaven. Their priesthood 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 rejected them. Those were days of sorrow to me and to those who remained 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 condition 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 upon 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, without 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 anything 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 peculiar 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, because 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 fulfilment 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 before you. He has filled these mountains 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 Apostles. 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 counselors 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 Presidency of the Church. Standing connected 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 before 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 Seventies, 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 disunion. 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 united. 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 lesser Priesthood, and they should labor to promote their interest 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 heaven, 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 refuge, 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 temporary; 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 hundred 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; because 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 improvement in Logan. There is room for a great deal of improvement in Salt Lake City. There is room for improvement throughout these mountains. 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 thousand 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 judgments 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 Priesthood, 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 advancement. 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 promises. Do not be discouraged, therefore, 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 principles 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 Priesthood that the work of God has been accomplished. It is by this Priesthood that men have ordinances conferred upon them, that their sins are forgiven, and that they are redeemed. 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 brethren, 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 Priesthood. 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 brethren 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 themselves 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. Thousands 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 fellowmen, 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 principle 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 Abraham, through the lineage of our forefathers, unto us in this last dispensation 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.