Discourse 1892-10-09 [D-103]

DISCOURSE

Delivered by President Wilford Woodruff, Sunday Morning, October 9th, 1892, at the Semi-Annual Conference, held in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, Utah.

I feel disposed to try to address this assembly of Latter-day Saints for a while this morning; but I wish to say that I need not only the strict attention but the faith and prayers of the Saints of God, for no man can fill the place which I or these Apostles occupy, to fulfil the command of God and the requirements of the Latter-day Saints, except by the inspiration of Almighty God. This is a truth that has remained on the earth from the day of Father Adam to this hour.

I have some things upon my mind I would like to lay before this assembly if I can get sufficient of the spirit of inspiration to do it. To commence with, I want to bear my testimony to these Latter-day Saints and to the world that I am held responsible before God, the angels and the heavenly hosts for the testimony which I bear before you; and so is every man who bears record of the Son of God and of the work of God in this or any other generation. These Latter-day Saints bear record to the world, and have borne record for almost a generation past, that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God; that they know this work is of God, and [t]hat this is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They are held responsible for this, and if they bear a true testimony, the nations of the earth who hear that testimony will be held responsible for the use they make of it. Do you ask me how I know this is the work of God, and that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God? I will tell you how I know. I know it by the revelations of Jesus Christ and by the inspiration of the Lord. If I may be allowed to refer to myself without being considered egotistical, I will tell you why I bear this testimony.

Eighty-five years have passed over my head since I first tabernacled in the flesh. Almost sixty years of that period I have been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. During that time I have borne some portion of the Holy Priesthood, and for fifty-three years I have occupied the position of the Apostleship, in connection with my brethren. I have also traveled abroad and at home. I have been taught from my childhood up by the revelations of God in the records of divine truth that have been given to us, that there is one God, and that there is one Jesus Christ, who is the Savior of the world, and the only Savior pertaining to this world and to the redemption thereof. I have been taught that there is one Priesthood, in its two divisions. I have been taught that there is one Holy Ghost, and that there is one Gospel and one set of ordinances for the salvation of the whole posterity of Adam, and only one. I have been taught that these ordinances are the same in every age of the world. Whoever reads the New Testament can see the testimony of the Apostles that there was but one Gospel in that day and generation; and that Gospel was taught by Adam himself to his posterity. The same Gospel was taught by Moses, and by all the patriarchs and prophets down to the days of Jesus Christ. There was but the one Gospel. But the promise was that whoever received that Gospel should receive the Holy Ghost and the gifts thereof, and these gifts were made manifest from generation to generation when the God of heaven had a people on the face of the earth.

In traveling during these sixty years that I have been in the Church, abroad and at home, I have been associated with the Elders of Israel in the administration of these ordinances to the human family. What has been the result? Remember now what I to[l]d you, that I am held responsible for my testimony. I have traveled, I may say, in the midst of visions, in the midst of the administration of angels, in the midst of the power of God. In connection with my brethren, I have laid hands upon the sick, and they have recovered. We have laid hands upon the blind, and they have seen; upon the deaf, and they have heard; upon the lame, and they have walked; upon those possessed with devils, and they were cast out; and even unto the resurrection of the dead. Those gifts and graces that have followed the servants of God in every age of the world have been associated with this Church from the day of its organization until this hour. These are truths in the sight of high heaven, and I will meet them there when I go to the other side of the veil. Therefore, if there are any strangers here, I bear testimony to these things, for I know they are true. The inspiration of the Holy Ghost deceives no man, and when any people receive this Gospel and this Priesthood, they know for themselves whether the work is of God or not. Yes, we lay hands upon the sick, and while we do so, the Spirit and power of God comes upon us, from the crown of our head to the soles of our feet. We lay hands upon men to ordain them to the Priesthood, and the power of God rests upon the men who administer. These thirty thousand Elders who dwell here in the mountains of Israel, when they go to the nations of the earth and get up and declare the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world, the Holy Ghost is with them. They bear a testimony that rejoices the hearts of men, and men receive that testimony, and everything they promise them is fulfilled to the very letter.

This is the reason why I know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, and that this is the Church of God on the earth. And I wish many times that I had power to express to the Latter-day Saints what is in my heart, and what the vision of my mind opens unto me in those seasons when I am inspired with the Spirit and power of God to see what lies before this people and before this generation. Oh! ye Latter-day Saints, you talk about revelation, and wonder if there is any revelation. Why, bless your souls, say nothing about the Apostles and Elders around me, these mountains contain thousands upon thousands of devoted women, holy women, righteous women, virtuous women, who are filled with the inspiration of Almighty God. Yes, these women have brought forth an army of sons and daughters in these mountains by the power of God, and these sons and daughters partake of the inspiration of their mothers, as well as of their fathers. I will ask you, what are these Apostles doing when they rise up and preach to you? What are these Elders of Israel doing when they bear record here to the Latter-day Saints and to the world, if they have not inspiration and rev[e]lation? There is not a man on the footstool of God Almighty today who has power to preach the Gospel and testify to its truth, only by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. Yes, we have revelation. The Church of God could not live twenty-four hours without revelation. We do not have as much as we ought to have; and when I look at the work that has been piled up for these Latterday Saints to bear off in the world, I feel as though we need a good deal of

more inspiration and revelation than we have. We want our souls to be wide open to the things of God, and to understand our position and destiny. I realize, Latter-day Saints require at my hands, as President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, many things. They also require many things at the hands of my counselors and these Apostles. We can accomplish what is required of us if we have the faith and the assistance of the Latter-day Saints and the power of God; but without that we can do nothing.

I will say a few words with regard to another dispensation. The whole Christian world profess to believe in the Bible. You look through that book, and you will not find a single instance of a Prophet, or an Apostle, or an inspired man going forth to preach the Gospel except by the power of the holy and everlasting Priesthood. No man has had power to go forth and administer in the ordinances of salvation without that Priesthood, from Adam down. Father Adam was a great High Priest. So were his sons that were with him— Seth, Enos, Jared, Canaan, Mahalaleel, Enoch and Methuselah; and a great many others bore the holy Priesthood. All that Moses did was by the power of the holy Priesthood. All that Jesus Christ and the Apostles did was by the power of the Priesthood. Jesus Christ was our great High Priest, and He came into the world and laid down His life as a great sacrifice for the redemption of the world. It is that dispensation that I wish to say a few words about. It was rather a peculiar dispensation. The Savior came to the Jewish nation—to His own—through the loins of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and David. The Jewish nation rejected Him. He labored until they put Him to death. He lived only three years and a half after He entered the ministry. He lived long enough, however, to choose twelve Apostles, to organize a church, to warn that nation, and to declare unto them what would come upon their heads. Moses had also told the Jewish nation of these things in his day, by the inspiration of the Lord. Has one jot or title fallen unfulfilled? Not one. When the Savior suffered that ignominious death on the cross, and was about to give up the ghost, He said, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." [##Luke 23:34##] Is not that a strange saying for a man who was being crucified and about to go into the spirit world? But Jesus saw everything that would befall the Jewish nation, and well might He make such a remark. He saw that one thousand eight hundred years after His death this yoke of bondage and trial and tribulation would rest upon the posterity of Judah, and he was ready to forgive them. No, they did not know what they did. They did not comprehend it. They did not understand that they were putting to death their Shiloh—the king of the Jews, their great Redeemer. They were too overwhelmed with darkness and iniquity to comprehend this. But, as I was saying, Jesus chose twelve Apostles. They were fishermen, weak and illiterate. But the Lord has always chosen the weak things of this world, instead of the great, and the learned, and the rich, and the powerful of the earth. Why has He done it? That He might have instruments that He could handle— men who would obey Him, who would take His counsel and carry out His commandments. In preparing this dispensation in which we live the Lord has known perfectly well what lay before us. He has known the mighty events that were to be heaped upon the heads of both Jew and Gentile, Saint and sinner, Zion and the world; and He has prepared an element to do this work of His, which He has gathered here in the mountains of Israel. But in the days of the Savior it was a dispensation of sacrifice; and Jesus Christ and the Apostles only lived a little while after they were chosen, to warn the nation in which they dwelt and that generation. Jesus Christ was crucified, the Apostles were put to death, and most every man who bore the Priesthood was slain, excepting John the Revelator. The Lord had ordained him to live, and he did not die, but remains today upon the face of the earth, in fulfilment of the promises of God to him. But in that day they had not the privilege of building the Zion of God or the Kingdom of God. It was not a dispensation prepared for that. These men laid down their lives, and the judgments of God overtook the Jewish nation, in fulfillment of the predictions of the Savior and the Prophets. Moses told them in his day, "And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, which the Lord thy God hath given thee, in the siege, and in the straitness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee." [##Deuteronomy 28:53##] All this came to pass, and the kingdom was taken from the earth, the holy Priesthood was taken up to God, who gave it, and the Church went into the wilderness, and there remained until the day set for its restoration to the world.

But I want to speak more particularly about this great and last dispensation, in which the Lord has said, through the mouths of all the patriarchs and prophets, a mighty work should be performed. It is different, my brethren and sisters, from the days of the Savior. I do not believe there ever was a greater dispensation than the one in which you and I live, because in it is centred the fulfilment of all prophecy and all revelation that has been manifest looking to the final restoration of all things before the coming of the Son of Man. I want to speak of our condition today before the Lord. When the Savior died He went to preach to the spirits in prison. Most all the people from the days of Noah to that day had died without the Gospel, and Jesus went and preached to them. They had this work resting upon them in that day. In this day and generation we have in the Bible, the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants the history of the Latter-day Saints and of the world. You are my witnesses today that this people are here in fulfilment of these revelations and prophecies. We have had a Prophet raised up in these last days, as great a Prophet as ever breathed the breath of life, save Jesus Christ, and He was raised up for the purpose of laying the foundation of this work. And how is this dispensation and this work to commence? I would like to have the Christian world read the revelations of St. John. There you have before you a picture of what awaits this generation. You have there proclaimed that in the commencement of this great and last work in the last days an angel of God would fly through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach to 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##] Yes, ye Latterday Saints, the hour of God's judgment is come." The Lord raised a great Prophet unto us. He was a mighty man, although illiterate, in one sense of the word. The Lord called upon him to perform this work, and he not only received the visitation of angels, but even the voice of God. This is the only dispensation that I have ever read of in which the Father and Son both appeared to the man whom He had chosen to establish His Church. Joseph Smith received this great honor. He was a Prophet of God. I have traveled with him a good many miles. Speaking of the gifts and graces manifested by the Elders of Israel, I have seen Joseph Smith in one day go forth among the sick and command those that were dying to arise and be made whole, and they have leaped from their beds, been clothed, and walked out in the street and followed the Prophet of God in his travels through the midst of the Saints of God. Can I doubt this work? Can you doubt it? I think not. No man that has had any experience in this work can doubt it. You remember Brother Fordham. He was breathing his last breath of life when the Prophet took him by the hand and commanded him in the name of Jesus of Nazareth to arise and be made whole. He leaped from his bed, was clothed, and walked out and into the house of Brother Joseph Bates Noble, who is still living in these mountains. He was also lying at the point of death and was instantly healed by the power of God, through the voice of the Prophet of God. I name these things because I have had experience in them and have a right to mention them. The power of God was with the Prophet, from the time he was ordained to the Priesthood until he was murdered. He lived some fourteen years after he laid the foundation of this work. And when he organized this Church he organized it in its full power and glory, and every gift and grace, and every ordinance that belongs to the Church of God. Nothing was ever manifest in any age of the world but what was included in the organization of this Church. It was organized with Prophets, with Apostles, with Pastors, with Teachers, with helps and governments, with gifts and graces, and with the Melchisedek and Aaronic Priesthoods. Joseph Smith was true and faithful to death, and he was a mighty man of God, as may be seen by anyone who will read that code of revelations which he left to us—as sublime revelations as God ever gave to man.

Now, brethren and sisters, the foundation has been laid, and you are here in these mountains of Israel. Myself and others have preached to you in England, in Scotland, in Wales, in the islands of the sea and

among the nations of the earth. We have declared unto you the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You have believed our testimony and have received it. You went forth and were baptized in water for the remission of your sins, and you received the Holy Ghost by the power of God, and by that power you are here today. We might have preached to you till we had been as old as Methuselah, but if our testimony had not been backed up by the power of God, you would have remained at home; you would not have been here in these mountains to fulfil the revelations of God. These things are true, and you know they are true. You know you received the testimony yourselves, and by this you have been gathered together. Upwards of sixty years have passed over our heads since the organization of this Church on the earth, and its history is before the world. It has been a little stone cut out of the mountains without hands. We have had a terrible warfare from the organization of this Church until today; but one thing is comforting and encouraging: the God of heaven inspired men thousands of years ago to tell exactly what these Latter-day Saints would do. They were of the house of Israel, scattered among the nations of the earth, and the Lord would stretch out His hand and gather them together, and they would go to the place that the old Patriarch said should belong to Joseph:

Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall. The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him: But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel.) . . . The blessings of thy fathers have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. (##Genesis 49:22-26|Gen. xlix,22-26##).

You are the descendants of this holy man of God. You have come here in fulfillment of these things.

I do not expect that I will be able to answer my mind in telling you how I feel with regard to these things, but I will do the best I can. You have been gathered to these mountains of Israel, led by a prophet, a seer, a revelator, and a mighty man. When we came here we found a barren desert. Men said, "Go to California; you cannot do anything here." "No," President Young said, "we shall stay here; we shall build a temple here; we shall build a city here. This is what is ordained of God, and we shall accomplish it." Judge, brethren and sisters, whether he was inspired or not. We have made a beginning. We have made the desert to blossom as the rose, and laid the foundation for the great work of our God that is going to be fulfilled in these mountains of Israel, and you will stand in holy places while the judgments of God work in the earth. Yes, let the world read these judgments of God and that which lies before all nations under heaven. These things will come to pass to the very letter. Then what is our duty and our position here? The Lord told us through the Prophet Joseph in the beginning of this work that He was going to call Elders into the vineyard for the last time, to prune the vineyard. We have got to prepare it for the coming of the Son of Man. The wheat has got to be gathered into the garner before the chaff is burned. And the Elders of Israel have got to go forth and warn the inhabitants of the earth, as Joseph Smith told the Twelve Apostles the last time I saw him before his martyrdom, when he laid before us the work he was required to do. The Prophet said: "God has given to me every key, every power and principle of salvation belonging to this great last dispensation; and I have sealed upon your heads every key, principle and power which God has sealed upon me. Now, you Apostles, round up your shoulders and bear off this kingdom, or you will be damned, saith the Lord." I do not forget these things, and they are true. I believe I am the only man living in the flesh who was present on that occasion. This is our position, brethren and sisters, before the Lord. There is a tremendous responsibility upon these Latterday Saints. We have the world to warn. We have to preach the Gospel, and attend to those things that God has committed to us. The Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum were martyred, and they will have a martyr's crown. They have gone to the other side of the veil, to mingle with the Gods and to plead for their brethren, and they are faithful and diligent in their duties. But some of us are left behind. Since that time this work has gone on, and it has got to continue, and we cannot avoid this. What the Lord requires at the hands of these Apostles, and Elders and Latterday Saints is to warn the world, to preach the Gospel, to build up Zion, to carry out the purposes of the Lord, and to prepare ourselves to stand in holy places while the judgments of God work in the earth.

Joseph Smith revealed unto us the principle of the redemption of the dead. There was no revelation I ever read that gave me more joy and consolation than that. Jesus Christ and the Apostles had to go to the spirits in prison and redeem those who had lived from the days of Noah down to their generation. Here we have one thousand eight hundred years, during which millions and millions of the human family have died without the Gospel of Christ. They have gone into the spirit world, and the Lord expects these Latter-day Saints to go forth and redeem these dead, as they hold the keys of the salvation of their dead; so that when they go into the spirit world and meet their fathers and their mothers and their relatives, they shall not say to them, "You held the keys of my salvation, and you have not attended to this work, and I am left here in prison." We should not neglect this. It is not only our duty to preach the Gospel and to warn the world, that they may be left without excuse in the day of God's judgment, but it is our duty to redeem our dead. Joseph Smith, when he was martyred, went and opened the prison doors in the spirit world. So did those brethren that died in Zion's camp. Every Elder that has gone to the other side of the veil has a work to perform there, and those in the spirit world will receive their testimony. But they cannot be baptized there. Their sons and daughters who dwell in the flesh have to carry out this great and mighty work.

Brethren and sisters, these are some of the duties that are required of us. We should open our eyes, and our ears, and our hearts, to see, hear and understand the great and mighty responsibility that rest upon us. Thank God, we have had power in this barren desert to build three temples. Hundreds of thousands of the dead have been redeemed in these temples, and there are millions yet to be redeemed. Here is this Salt Lake Temple that President Young laid the foundation of. We want to finish that temple and dedicate it unto the Lord. This is some of the work that is required of us. The eyes of all the heavenly hosts are over these Latter-day Saints, and they are over these sons and daughters that dwell in the mountains of Israel. God Himself and His Son Jesus Christ, who is our advocate with the Father, look to us to do this work. The eyes of Joseph Smith and every Prophet and Saint of God who dwells in the spirit world are watching over us. They cannot come here and build that Temple. They are not ordained to that. But we are here in the flesh, and I ask, in the name of the Lord, and as a great favor of these Latter-day Saints, that we will unite together with our means and finish that Temple, that we may go into it and redeem our dead. Many of you have got thousands of relatives in the spirit world who are looking to you. They never heard the Gospel in life, but they will hear it, at the mouth of David Patten, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, and these Apostles and Elders that have gone into the spirit world. But, as I said before, they cannot be baptized there. We can, and we must do it for them.

This is how I feel about our position. We are here by the power of God. It is a marvel to me that we are as well off as we are. It is a marvel to me that we have the power that we have. For there is a vast number of fallen spirits that are at war against God and His Christ, against this people and this Church, and against the redemption of the dead. Lucifer knows that if this Church prospers, his kingdom will fall. But God has sustained us, and will sustain us until we get through, if we do our duty. The hand of God is over us here, and Zion is a city set upon a hill, which cannot be hid. We are only small, and have only just begun the organization; but the Lord will hasten His work, and it will continue until all these promises of God will be fulfilled. There is where my faith rests and my consolation dwells. I know that God is true, and that the testimonies of all the Patriarchs and Prophets, have thus far been fulfilled to the very letter. There is not a city nor a generation but has felt the chastening hand of God when they have undertaken to overthrow the work of God.

I want to say some[t]hing in relation to home industry. True, it is Sunday, but that matters not; for we are called to build up Zion temporally as well as spiritually. All that has been said in our Conference with regard to home industry is good. We want to continue this, and as far as we possibly can we should, as President Young told us, open doors of work

and labor among ourselves. These temporal matters are a part of the labors that we have to perform while we are here. Brethren, when we get on the other side of the veil and our eyes are opened, we will marvel over a great many things that we do not understand here; and a great many things will there be understood that cannot be here.

One subject more I want to name, and that is with regard to our future. I will tell you what the Lord has revealed to me. You talk of revelation. I have a go[o]d many revelations. We are not particularly required to write all the revelations given to us. Joseph Smith wrote revelations in his day, and we have them to read, and they will all be fulfilled to the very letter. There has been a good deal said about the rising generation of the LatterDay Saints. I will tell you what will come to pass. My sons, the sons of my Counselors, the sons of these Apostles, and the sons of this people, will rise up by the power of God, and they will take this Kingdom and bear it off. You need make no mistake about this matter. They are the element that God has ordained, the same as He ordained us, to do His work. Our posterity will not forsake the Lord, nor their fathers, nor their mothers, nor the work in which they are engaged. Too many of them, it is true, have been led astray; too many of them have been found where they should not be; but the bulk of the sons of this people will remain true and faithful to this work. There is no other element that the heavens look to but the rising generation of the Latter-day Saints, in connection with the Lamanites, and they will be true and faithful. The Spirit of God will be with them, and they will follow the footsteps of their fathers, as their fathers follow Christ; and they will in their day and time stand—yes, brethren and sisters, our sons will stand in the flesh in the midst of these judgments of Almighty God when it will require faith and power, even to commanding the elements to obey them, to live. These judgments are at the door.

Brethren and sisters, many of us forget at times that we are here on a mission. When I was but a boy I read the New Testament, under old Dr. Porter and others, and I read about Jesus Christ and His Apostles; that they had power to command the elements to obey them, power to command the sick and they were healed, and power to command the dead and they were raised to life. "Oh," said I, "may I live to se[e] a Prophet; may I live to see an Apostle; may I live to see a man of God who will teach me these principles." The first sermon I heard preached by a servant of God I embraced the Gospel and was baptized. From that day to this I have not seen one moment when I have had any doubt with regard to the truth of this work. Whatever trials I have had, they have been of a different nature to that. I say to our young men in Zion, arise and obey the commands of God. Go before the Lord and get the Holy Ghost, and open your eyes to the work that lies before you. Your fathers are passing away and going to the other side of the veil, where we shall all go in our time. But the kingdom will rise, and God will sustain it, and it will never fall from this time till it is prepared as the Bride, the Lamb's wife, for the coming of the Son of Man.

I feel to bless the Latter-day Saints. We have got a noble class of men and women in the mountains of Israel. No better men and women ever lived on the earth. Read the history of these Relief Societies, these Improvement Associations, these Primaries, and the labors of our sisters in Israel. They have been true and faithful all the way through, and they have been raised up, the same as the Elders of Israel have, to stand in the flesh and to magnify their callings in their day and time. They are doing a great work, and God will bless them, and I bless them with every sentiment of my heart. I feel also to bless my brethren who bear the Apostleship. Now, you talk about union. Can Apostles dwell with this work upon their shoulders without being united? They cannot do it. The same Spirit bears record to each of them. Here are my Counselors and the Apostles, we are of one heart and mind, and when we have the Spirit of God there is nothing but that we see alike in. Here is Brother Snow, an aged man as well as myself, and the President of the Twelve Apostles; he has got the spirit of his calling and office with him, and God is blessing him. He is full of revelation, full of the Spirit of the Lord. We have a mighty work upon us, and we want power in the midst of Israel to carry it out, and to do what the Lord requires of us; and we shall have power to do it. I tell you I rejoice when I let my mind rest upon these temples of our God in these mountains of Israel. Who ever heard of such a thing in any generation?—a class of men driven from the society of the Christian world into the wilderness have power to gather together and rear these temples unto the name of the Most High God, and go into these temples and to attend to the ordinances therein. We hold and will hold the keys of the salvation of our dead to the endless ages of eternity. As the Prophet said, the Lord has raised up saviors upon Mount Zion, while the kingdom is the Lord's in the latter days. The heavens are full of revelation. The earth is full of revelation. The Bible is full of revelation, as well as these other books that we have; and we have revelation, and should have day by day.

I thank God that I am alive, and that He has preserved me up to this hour. I have a good many times, and some of them lately, come pretty near going to the other side of the veil; but I know that I have tens of thousands of prayers of righteous men and women, which ascend into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth day by day; and when I say that of myself I say it of my Counselors, of these Apostles, and of the Elders of Israel. They have the prayers of the people. These prayers are heard and answered. The Lord has taken whom he would take, and has preserved in life whom he would preserve, according to the counsels of His own will. We are appointed a certain work, and when we get through our sons will take it and bear it off. Zion will arise, and the glory of God will rest upon her; she will have power in the earth, and the day is at hand when, as Joseph Smith said, thousands of the great men of the earth will come to Zion to behold the glory thereof.

God bless you, and pour out His Spirit upon you, and guide and direct you all. Remember your prayers. Be kind to one another. Do not find fault with one another. We ought to be careful in speaking evil of one another. Bear one another up. Brethren and sisters, the glory of the whole matter is, that when we get through we are going to have our families with us—our fathers and our mothers, our brothers and our sisters, our wives and our children—in the morning of the resurrection, in the family organization of the celestial world, to dwell forever and forever. This is worth all you or I can sacrifice the few years we have to spend here in the flesh. God bless you. Amen.