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PRESIDENT WILFORD WOODRUFF
said that through the mercy and providence of God those present this morning had been preserved to again attend the semi-annual Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Quite a number of our brethren and sisters had passed from this state of existence into the spirit world since we last met in Conference. In turn we should also pass away. While we had the privilege of meeting together in this capacity, he trusted that our hearts would be united in prayer before the Lord, that we might enjoy the inspiration of Almighty God, the gift of the Holy Ghost, the spirit of light and truth, so that we might edify one another in our teachings, counsels, testimonies and administrations. We needed this blessing day by day, that we might understand and comprehend the responsibilities which we were under to God our Heavenly Father.
When he reflected that this comparatively little band of men and women had been gathered into the valleys of these mountains, from all nations under heaven, by the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for the purpose of carrying out the mind and will of God in the age and dispensation in which we lived, he realized indeed, as all the Saints must, that the responsibility resting upon us, as upon the Saints of God in every age of the world, was very great.
Like all other dispensations and generations of men, we were placed here on a mission. We lived in the spirit world before we came here: we dwelt in the presence of God; and it had been our fortune, or our destiny—call it which you please—to be born in the present generation when the God of Israel had set His hand for the last time to build up His kingdom upon the earth, to prepare His people for the great event which awaits us.
There had been no dispensation fraught with greater importance than this, and his desire while we were together in this Conference was that the Apostles and Elders who might address us should have the spirit of the Priesthood upon them.
He thanked God that he still lived—that his life had been spared until now. When he looked back upon the past,he realized that the majority of his former companions—those with whom he had been associated from the foundation of this Church—had gone into the spirit world; and he expected shortly to follow them there.
From the time we were first led into these mountain valleys by a prophet, seer and revelator, who was clothed with the spirit and power of God, until now, the hand of God had been manifested among the people, and that in fulfilment of the revelations and prophecies recorded in every book handed down to us as the word of God to the children of men.
He sincerely hoped that while we lived in the flesh we would fully realize all our responsibilities and the work which is required at our hands. He desired that the Saints would, as far as possible during this conference, lay aside all business cares, and pay strict attention to the work now before us—that we might be of one heart and mind, and be filled with light, truth and power to receive the teachings of our brethren.