Discourse 1891-04-04 [D-57]

THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS' MILLENNIAL STAR.

PRESIDENT WILFORD WOODRUFF said: We are highly blessed of God in being permitted to meet together on this the sixty-first anniversary of the organization of the Church of

LATTER-DAY SAINTS' MILLENNIAL STAR.

Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I feel that we ought to be thankful before the Lord, that our hearts should be filled with gratitude and thanksgiving for this privilege which we now enjoy. It is true many of our friends have been called from our midst during the past year, to the other side of the veil. The Lord has been merciful to us, as a people, in preserving us through our history, in all the vicissitudes of life through which we have been called to pass since the establishment of this Church and kingdom. I feel that we should lift our hearts in prayer to God our Heavenly Father for His mercies, and that He will guide and direct us by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, that our minds may be enlightened, and our understanding opened to comprehend His mind and will concerning His people.

I rejoice in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in the revelations that come from heaven to both Jew and Gentile, with the various dispensations of God to man. Generation after generation has passed away since the early Patriarchs stood in the flesh on the earth. The Lord has expressed, through the mouths of inspired men, from generation to generation, His mind, His will, His work. Those revelations which were delivered thousands of years ago have been fulfilled to-day in our midst and among the nations of the earth. God has set His hand to establish His work, to warn the world once more, for the last time, before the coming of the Son of man, and He has called Elders into the vineyard of the Lord, to labor while the day lasts; for "the night cometh, when no man can work." [##John 9:4##] We have the fruits of this labor before us to-day, in this Tabernacle, in the valleys of these mountains. I trust, while we are together, that our prayers may be lifted up to the Lord, that our hearts may be united; that while our brethren, the Apostles and Elders, stand before us and give unto us their testimony of the word of God, we may have a full share of His blessing.

I do not think I ought to occupy much more of your time this morning; but I feel thankful that I am still with you, and able to meet on this occasion with so many of the Latter-day Saints who have entered into covenant with the Lord, and upon whose shoulders He has laid the holy Priesthood, to administer, to warn the world, to devote their time and attention to the ordinances of the House of God, both for the living and the dead. I feel myself that of all people under heaven that have ever lived, the Latter-day Saints have the greatest cause to rejoice that they live in the day and generation when the Lord has set His hand to gather together His people, to establish both Jerusalem and Zion, and to fulfil His promises made to Father Abraham and the ancient Patriarchs and Prophets.

The Jews have been a hiss and a bye-word among the Gentiles since the death of the Savior, eighteen hundred years ago. Their redemption is at the door to-day; it has been proclaimed by inspired men to their own tribe. It is left on record that the Jews will return home, that Jerusalem will be rebuilt; their temple will be established, and all those great and mighty promises given by inspiration and revelation will come to pass.

I pray God our heavenly Father to bestow His blessing upon us, that it

LATTER-DAY SAINTS' MILLENNIAL STAR.

may continue to rest upon His Saints who have entered into covenant with Him; that we may recognize our responsibility and magnify our calling day by day, so that when we pass to the other side of the veil we may be justified in His sight. This is my prayer and desire for Jesus Christ's sake, amen.