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and none of them could stop to talk
with me because they were in a hurry.
I was much astonished. By and by I
saw the Prophet again, and I got the
privilege to ask him a question. "Now,"
said I, "I want to know why you are in
a hurry. I have been in a hurry all
through my life; but I expected my
hurry would be over when I got into the
kingdom of heaven, if I ever did."
Joseph said: "I will tell you, Brother
Woodruff. Every dispensation that has
had the Priesthood on the earth and
has gone into the celestial kingdom, has
had a certain amount of work to do to
prepare to go to the earth with the
Savior when He goes to reign on the
earth. Each dispensation has had
ample time to do this work. We have
not. We are the last dispensation, and
so much work has to be done, and we
need to be in a hurry in order to ac-
complish it." Of course, that was
satisfactory to me, but it was new doc-
trine to me.

Brigham Young also visited me after
his death. On one occasion he and
Brother Heber C. Kimball came in a
splendid chariot, with fine white horses,
and accompanied me to a conference
that I was going to attend. When I got
there I asked Brother Brigham if he
would take charge of the conference.
"No," said he, "I have done my work
here. I have come to see what you are
doing and what you are teaching the
people." And he told me what Joseph
Smith had taught him in Winter Quar-
ters, to teach the people to get the Spirit
of God. He said, "I want you to teach
the people to get the Spirit of God.
You cannot build up the Kingdom of
God without that."

That is what I want to say to the
brethren and sisters here today. Every
man and woman in this Church should
labor to get that Spirit. We are sur-
rounded by these evil spirits that are at
war against God and against everything
looking to the building up of the king-
dom of God; and we need this Holy
Spirit to enable us to overcome these
influences. I have had the Holy Ghost
in my travels. Every man has that has
gone out into the vineyard and labored
faithfully for the cause of God. I have
referred to the administration of angels
to myself. What did these angels do?
One of them taught me some things re-
lating to the signs that should precede
the coming of the Son of Man. Others
came and saved my life. What then?
They turned and left me. But how is it
with the Holy Ghost? The Holy Ghost
does not leave me if I do my duty. It
does not leave any man who does his
duty. We have known this all the way
through. Joseph Smith told Brother
John Taylor on one occasion to labor to
get the Spirit of God, and to follow its
dictation, and it would become a prin-
ciple of revelation within him. God has
blessed me with that, and everything I
have done since I have been in this
Church has been done upon that prin-
ciple. The Spirit of God has told me
what to do, and I have had to follow
that.

In the time of the apostasy in Kirt-
land, Joseph Smith hardly knew when
he met a man, unless the Spirit of God
revealed it to him, whether he was friend
or foe. Most of the leading men were
fighting him. Right in the midst of that
darkness the Spirit of God said to me,
"You choose a partner and go straight
to Fox Islands." Well, I knew no more
what was on Fox Islands than what was
on Kolob. But the Lord told me to go,
and I went. I chose Jonathan H. Hale,
and he went with me. We cast out some
devils there, preached the Gospel and
performed some miracles. I crossed
lake Ontario and went into Connecticut,
where my father lived. I had not seen
one of my relatives from the time I em-
braced the Gospel. I preached the Gos-
pel there, and baptized my father, my
stepmother, and sister, and uncles and
aunts, and organized a branch there.
Every member of that branch was a
relative of mine, excepting one, and he
was a Methodist class leader who board-
ed at my father's house. This was all
promised to me by old father Smith
when he blessed me. I got to Fox Is-
lands, and did a good work there.
Through the blessings of God I brought
nearly a hundred from there up to Zion,
at the time the Saints were driven out of
Missouri into Illinois.

So it has been all through my life. If
I have undertaken to do anything, and
the Lord has wanted me to do some-
thing else, He has had to tell me. When
we were sent to England, we were sent
by revelation. I went into the Stafford-
shire potteries with Brother Alfred Cor-
don. We were doing a splendid work,
baptizing almost every night, and I
thought it was the finest mission I ever
was on. I went into the town of Hanley
one night, and attended meeting in a
large hall, which was filled to overflow-
ing. The Spirit of the Lord came upon
me and said that that was the last meet-
ing I should hold with that people for
many days. I told the people that that
was the last meeting I should be with
them. After the meeting, they asked
me where I was going. I told them I
did not know. In the morning I asked
the Lord what He wanted of me. He
merely said, "Go to the south." I got
into the stage and rode eighty miles
The first man's house I stopped at was
John Benbow's in Herefordshire. In
half an hour after I entered the house I
knew exactly why the Lord had sent
me. There was a people there who
had been praying for the ancient order
of things. They were waiting for the
Gospel as it was taught by Christ and
His Apostles. The consequence was,
the first thirty days after I got there I
baptized six hundred of those people.
In eight month's labor in that country I
brought eighteen hundred into the
Church. Why? Because there was a
people prepared for the Gospel, and the
Lord sent me there to do that work. I
have always had to give God the glory
for everything good that has happened
to me; for I have realized by what
power it came.

When I got back to Winter Quarters
from the pioneer journey, President
Young said to me, "Brother Woodruff,
I want you to take your wife and chil-
dren and go to Boston, and stay there
until you can gather every Saint of God
in New England and Canada and send
them up to Zion." I did as he told me.
It took me two years to gather up every-
body, and I brought up the rear with a
company. When I got into Pittsburg
with this company it was dusk, and I saw
a steamer just preparing to go out. I
walked right up to the captain and asked
him if he was ready to go out. He said
he was. "How many passengers have
you?" "Two hundred and fifty." "Can
you take another hundred?" "I can."
"Then," said I, "I would like to go
aboard with you." The words were
hardly out of my mouth when the Holy
Ghost said to me, "Don't you, nor
your company go aboard that steamer."
That was enough; I had learned the
voice of the Spirit. I turned and told
the captain that I had made up my mind
not to go at present. That steamer
started out. It was a dark night, and
before the steamer had gone far she
took fire, and all on board was lost. We
should probably have shared the same
fate, had it not been for that monitor
within me.

I refer to these things because I want
you to get the same Spirit. All the
Elders of Israel, whether abroad or at
home, need that Spirit. When I was on
my way east at one time I drove into a
man's yard in Indiana. Brother Orson
Hyde had driven in and set his wagon in
the dooryard, and I set mine by the side
of it. I turned my mules and tied them
up to an oak tree. I had my wife and
two children with me in my carriage.
We went to lie down, and the Holy
Spirit told me to get up and move my
carriage. I got right up. My wife
asked me what I was going to do. I
said I was going to move the carriage.
She wanted to know what for. I told
her I did not know. I moved the
carriage about fifteen rods, looked
around, and then went to bed again.
The Spirit told me to get up again and
move my mules. I did so. In twenty
minutes there came up a whirlwind that
blew that oak tree down and laid it
right across where my carriage had
been. By listening to that Spirit our
lives were saved.

Now, it was not an angel that pointed
out these things to me; it was the Holy
Ghost. This is the Spirit that we must
have to carry out the purposes of God
on the earth. We need that more than
any other gift. I felt impressed yester-
day to teach this principle to the Latter-
day Saints. We are in the midst of
enemies, in the midst of darkness and
temptation, and we need to be guided
by the Spirit of God. We should pray
to the Lord until we get the Comforter.
This is what is promised to us when we
are baptized. It is the spirit of light, of
truth, and of revelation, and can be with
all of us at the same time.

Brethren and sisters, God bless you.
I am glad to meet with you. There are
very few of you as old as I am. How
long I shall tarry in this country I do
not know; but while I do stay I want to
do what good I can. These are prin-
ciples that have rested a great deal upon
my mind. If we labor for this Spirit,
we will have no quarreling, and no dif-
ficulty, so long as that is dwelling with-
in us. God bless you. Amen.