Show = DISCOURSE I psllver ed nt the SlxtyElghth Annual Co feronce In the Tabernacle Salt Lake City UtahThur doy Afternoon October 7 1B97 by PRESIDENT WILFORD WOODRUFF J lAt Mont president Cannon Woodruffs read tho l and request t jltM I100k of Doctrine and Coon Coo-n aI l I want the attention and the prayers Saints who have assembled 01 the spun this occasion I have been sick and verY weak In my body for B month rat and did not reel that I would be able to attend this Center till tho day before It opened I aa tale been blessed In this respect toM to-M with you I desire to say some thing to vou and perhaps some ttiue things too I reel disposed to say something about myself to give ton a little or the history or my life Lame ot what I may want to say before I get through to the rising generation of Israel My remark j maybe may-be Vy eccentric to any but Latter mints anil to them also I expect d day i nSroM tohen I a born the devil knew chat I should be called to del there has ben from the day I wa born for until the present two power with I lSe one to kill me the other to saVe SSTl eland before you today a pretty lOundlooklng for a man ninetyone 01 I stand before you with o nee mn tins a body in v hich almost evry one hn ben broken except my hack and neck I have Md through my life a power al lire When I was ler me 10 take my wase about three yalS old I was pushed i caldron of boiling water which m tht revhi nrf bad lust l been take oft the fire My I grandmother took me out and my akin aU dropped off excepting ot my had and feet I was wrapped up for I months In cotton and all That was the beginning or my trouble When I sas twelve years or ale I was drowned at any rate I lay In thIrty feet or water tong enough to drown anyone After several unsuccessful attempts I was brought up out of the water This was under the Farming ton mill aim I was Just as dead as I Shall be thirty years hence I lay on nr back end saw the sun go out and Salved through all the sensations of death that any man would In drown Irr I After an hours labor I was brought around to life again I shall tot go Into the particulars of many of then things but I have passed through what may be termed death a cumber nt times In my life When I nl 15 years old I was In one of those Connecticut billiards I walked four cuts through a wood Into the open country and I sought some place one I could hid from the storm and rest There was but one liouU wltaln a mile of methat was the poor house which was about twenty lit nil away The man was mod upon to f < > up In his garret to get some ttnnpnytl to give to a sick woman id h fUt led to look out of the window win-dow He aw me crawling Into the fake 01 a big tree He knew what 111 null ot that would be better than till Ho took his horse and sleigh ad came to me and when he got there 1 was asleep and be preserved by life When fPvC4h years old I ni bit by a mad dog and ought to tin died but I did not Bo I contln ai on until II can say that I have token b both of my legs one twice rokenboth treken both or my arm breast tone vet ei al l ribs and altogether been through a pretty hard experience for a man echo had to he called to preach the Compel at least I wa a miller by trade I have ben In two water wheels under full hoad of water and I surpose I ought to have bun killed fn other of them but I was Slut hurt That piesifMnu power > has followed me all tho way through my life It has been with me upon my missions abroad as well as at home It has followed me until I the present day and I have been placed fe a great many strange places I was ordained to dedicate this Bait Luke Temple fifty years before It was dedicated I knew I should live to dedicate that Term I did live to do It I had a great desire In my boyhood to recede the Gospel of Christ to see a plopTTet or somebody that could teach mn the Gospel of Christ ox taught b > tho ancient Apostles and ae I read of In the New Testament 1 desired this with every sentiment of my heart and on the first Gospel sermon I ever heard I was baptized with my oldest brother I immediate ly went to Kirtland I was In Zion Camp with the Prophet of God I saw the dealings of God with him I saw I the power of God with him hlr 4w that he was a Prophet What was final fest to hIm by the power of God upon that mission wn of groat aluc tome to-me and tn nil who received his Instructions Instruc-tions I will refer to one Instance A short time before we landed in Mlsloul Joseph called the camp tore sether Ile to-re prophesied unto us and told us what lay before us Ho gave us the reason why chastisement wa before us He sass You con Ider me a boy with the rest of you You have not allied my position before be-fore the Lord But there Is I a chastisement chas-tisement before this cn mPy lie told us that this would come upon us because ho had not been obeyed In his counsels In one hour niter wo landed In MI sourl and pitched our tents nt Mr Durkctts one man began to fall here another there and In B few moment we had a dozen of our camp stretched upon blankets with thfr cholera The Prophet of God when he saw this fPuet h 111 lhe nJh felt to smypathlze with them and he I and Ilyrum laid their hands upon Brother Carter the first man that was taken sick but as soon as they did It they were seized themselves and they both had to leave the camp He said afterwards I told you what wn coming to pass and when IlfIllc tlon came I stretched out my hand to stay It and I came very near falling by it mjseir That mission was very Interesting to me I want to say here that In all my life since Joining this Church and kingdom notwithstanding these powers pow-ers that have been with me to kill me I have always had the revelation of God with me That Is I something I want to talk about to Israel before I get through The power of God has told me what to do and what nut to do While the devil has had power to afflict my body very seriously thre has been a power with me that has 1 saved me through It all And whenever when-ever I have had the Holy Spirit with me to tell me what to do I have had to do that ly that I have been saved 13j listening to that still small voice I am here today with you There are two reason why I am her tOdDy When I went back after the pioneer Journey President Young said he wanted me to toko my family and go to Doston and stay there till I could gather all the Saints of God In New England and Canada and bring them to Zion That was the mission he gave me on my return tram the plo ner journey to Winter Quarters I went In the spring n he told me alHI took my tamlly We came one eII IIIK to on or the brethrens l houe In India Sevrnl or u s Wero Ihe Oroll IIYde had a team Pawere ns my bell We drove Into a Ions yard I set my carriage within six inches of his I had my wife nnd children with me I tied my animal to an oak ties un the other side of where the camped I went to bed In my carriage As I laid flown the Spirit of tho Lord lold me to get up and move my carriage 1 did not ask the Lord what lie meant I did as I was told The setae SIlt told mo to go and move my animals away from that tree 1 did that My wife asked me why I did it I told her I did not Know I had not hon In bed twenty minutes wln there carne n hlrHMml and took that oak tree which hail stood there perhaps per-haps fifty years split It tight thru h the trunk and It swept through both of those fences where my carriage had stood It never touched Brother Ilylc carriage but It would have crushed me and my family to the unit If I had not listened to the voice of the Spirit After spending tO years and a half In New England 14 Canada getting the Saints out I started back withntheh lot rhundre with the last lot about a hundred from Boston We landed In IltlB burg at dunk We were anxious not to lay there but to so on to i St Louts I saw n steamer making team ready to go out I went to the captain cap-tain and asked him how many passengers passen-gers he had Three hundred and fifty fif-ty I Could you take another hundred hun-dred Yes I wa just about to tell him we wanted to go aboard when that SpIrit Bald to me Dont go aboard that steamer you nor your company All right said I I had learned something about that still small voice I did not go aboard that steamer but waited till the next mornIng morn-Ing In thirty minutes after that steamer left It took lire It had ropes instead of wheel chains and they could not go ashore It was a dark night and not a soul was saved If I had not obeyed the Influence of that monitor moni-tor within me I would have been there withinw metile rest of the company The Thirteenth word would T hive had an Atwood for a lllshop the Church would not have had a Leonard W Hardy a s Bishop They were both with me and their families Including Brother Samuel Haidy who Is I in St George now upwards or ninety years old I never disobeyed that Spirit but once In my life I did It the through the urgency or other persons and It nearly coat me my life I have been n icaualnted with this Spirit It was not the blow of trumpets nor thunder and lightning It was the still small voIce to me All the way from my boyhood I have been governed andY controlled by that Spirit M and-Y missions have been by that Spirit of revelation I was told to go to Pox Islands tat Y t-at same still small voice In the time of the great apostasy In Klrtlar the Spirit ot the Lord said to me Get you a partner and go to Fox Island I knew no more what was In Fox Islands than whet was In Itolob 1 went there however baptized a hundred hun-dred and ought them up to Zion w Ith me It wa upon that Island where I received a letter from Joseph mildred telling me that I was called by revelation revela-tion to 1111 the place or ono ot the Twelve who had fallen iou will see It In the Doctrine and Covenants That thing was revealed to me before I received re-ceived the letter from Joseph Smith but I did not feel disposed to tell It to any mortal man for J know It wn my duty to keep such things to myself Through all my life and labors whenever when-ever I have been told to do anything by the Spirit of the Lord I hae always found It rood to do It I have been preserved by that power That power was with me when I went to Hereford shire I was preaching every night with Brother Cordon and one night we held ar meting In the town hall at Hanley in Staffordshire The Spirit that still small voice said to me This la the last meeting you will hold with this people for many dajo I told the I congiegatlon I BO when I got up They were ery much astonished I I I and asked I mp where I was rolng I told them I did not know After I went to ask the Lord what ho wonted of mo and He told me to go to the couth That was all the answer I got I took the stage and rode eighty miles south The first mans houe I went Into wo John Bell bows I had not been In his house fifteen minutes till I understood why the Lord had sent me there There w n people broken oft from them Wesleyan Wes-leyan Methodists who had handed together and called themselves UnltM Brethren They were watching for the coming or the oC Manson watching for the Gospel or Christ AB they read of It In 1 the New Testament The first thirty days after I got there I brought Into the church some two thousand with fifty l ministers and all their chapels IIcened according tn In w were In my hands There was no blowing of trumpets about that The Spirit ot the Lord told me to go there and when I got there I saw why I was sent That perhaps pal ugh tony to-ny about lhoe thlne Now r want to eny tn this congregation to the young men or Israel to the Elders or Israel to oil our missionaries the tiny nas come when the God ui heaven requires nt my hands as the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints to say unto you It Is the will of nod for you to take this course Get the Spirit of God before you go on your missions or anywhere else Got the spirit of revelation with you And when you get that you are safe and you will do exactly what the Lord wants you to do 1 have felt strongly Impressed to nay that to this Conference What can you do without with-out revelation We cannot do the will of God and nooompllh who is I required re-quired of us without It We will make no mistake If we pursue that course That spirit is I with the Apostles and with the Elder I nf Israel who arc true and faithful The rising generation should labor to obtain the Spirit of God Get it within sou and it will be a continual monitor with you That is one reason brethren and sisters sis-ters why my life has been preserved I will tell you another reason or course this 1a I my own reason for II One reason why I am here Is because the Lord has chosen the weak things of this world to preach the Gospel to do His work to build up His kingdom I do not think He has ever had a weaker Instrument on earth to work through than myself The Almighty has known that never for a minute slnee I have ben a member of this Church have I had allY power to take any honor or glory to myself with regard re-gard to anything that I have been enabled en-abled to do In the work of the ministry or elsewhere Why Because I have known It hs come from God and not from me And no other man who has engaged this work has had any power pow-er of himself This power has come from God unto us whereby we have been enabled to do the work lIe has required re-quired at our hands There In I a change coming over the earth there Is I a change coming over the Christian world and It is I at our door You read there the-re > elation In the Bible In the Book ot Mormon and In the Doctrine and Covenants Cove-nants appertaining to our day and the generation before the coming of the Son of Man Warl Yes war Is one of the troubles that belong to the generation In which we live It will come to pass and no power beneath the heavens can stay It L Who cannot open their eyes and ace the change In the things around us Read these revelation = the revela lion just read by Brother Cannon and the others In i these books The God ot heaen has set Ills hand to carry out these great purposes that you read of They are an earn to come to pas cur I that God lives There beano power on earth nor beneath the earth nor anywhere any-where else that can stay the rulllil mnt e > f these things And they are i t our doors I am anxious that Ihe Jtterday Saintsbear holl round up Ihelr holliders alld bear oft th kingdom of God Many In the world have labored to try the oHrthrow Mormonism They have driven our people I from their lands They have persecuted and aifllcted us They have put some to death for the word of God and testimony of Jesus But they have not thwarted the pur poses of Cod In any of three things The Lord In Ills mercy and wisdom has led this people to these valley at the mountain It Is I ordained or Clod that Zion Is to be established here Item Is I the Tabernacle that the Prophet spoke or as a covering from the storm and the wind etc These temples are here In fulfillment or prophecy We have four of them In this State President Young was honored or Gal In the establishment or the things Ho lived long 1 enough 10 dedicate dedi-cate the corner atone of this Temple on this blick Into which the Latterday Saints go and deliver their friends who are In the prison house and attend to the ordinances 1 if the house of Ood for them In fulllllment of tho ancient Prophets Mho shake 110 they were moved upon by the Holy Ghost fo the effect that saviors should be raised up on Mount Zion In the latter days while the kingdom Is I the Lords Zion I has got to arise fling 0 han and be Jo > ful 0 earth and bleak forth Into singing 0 Mountains for the Lord hath com forted Ills people and will have mercy upon Illi aflllcted But Zion said The Lord hath for aaleell me and my Lord hath forgotten me meCall Call a woman forget her suckling child that she should not have rem pdlon on the con or hr womb Yea they may forget set will I not forget thee leeBehold Behold I have graven thee upon the palms oC my hand thy wall aN con tlnuaUy before me Isaiah SMJl All I the han been spoken concerning Plan I will come to pass and you and n1 today are witnesses or these things We are here for salvation and eternal eter-nal lire We are here to obtain those great blessings which Saints ot God tn every age of the world have obtained when they have obeyed the commandments command-ments of God Shall we fall No wo shall not It we do our duty The Gospel la I Just as good today as It was In the days ot the Savior As to the glor Iou bllng or the Gospel or Christ thy have ben unpopular In almost every nge of the world Take Christ IIImelt here wa there a more unpopular un-popular man than the Savior of the world In Ills day And Ills Apostles were unpopular They were put to death for the word of God and testimony testi-mony ot Jesus Christ Nevertheless fhrlst was the Ron of God and the Failuceen the Pharisees the Deserves r and all the sect that warred against HIM caste cured and many or them were cast down to hell while He remains re-mains ns the Savior of the world and received the honor and the glory which His Father had ordained for Him I want our young people especially to remember remem-ber theo things Those who are going upon mllon must not neglect them Unless you have the holy Ghost with you when iou go out to preach the Gospel you cannot do jour duty but when you have that you are sate go where You will and your words will have their effect In the hearts or the honest and meek of the earth Brethren and sisters i I feel to thank God that wo are as well ot as we are I feet to thank God that Nee are In the position wo occupy In the valleys or the mountain Ire Is f a are place While In the dedication of that Temple I saw the Judgments of God that were about to be poured out upon this generation gen-eration They will come to pas I read the other night of a terrible flood Who ever heard of such a flood In America before These floods and troubles and tribulations are Increasing In the cab III and thcs will Increase un I tit this seem Is wound up I pray God my Heavenly rather to t bless you all I to Inspiic our hearts that the vision of our minds may bo open to compre i r nodu trd hand the position we g In and the re Ponlblllty wo are under Tho eyes of All hi aell i and earth and hell are over ua The cn ot the devils are over us They labor for our destruction but they have not power to tie It We ore t the hands of God He holds I tho keys I or the dtlnlo or the Inhabitant or I the earth and Ho will bless the righteous 110 matter who they are nor where they are r am thankful to listen to the teachings that 1 have hard nt this Conference tom the 11 dare or Israel I rejoice In the progress that line bn mode luring the post sear In the Church ahroad There has been an addition to the Church that we have never met with In nn other year since the organization of thll Church And here at home there has been a great addition Our sisters have labored faithfully In the Primary Associations In the Mutuallmproemcnt associations and ho every rapacity In which they d b1 1 Itt ale called to labor 1 The blosebogs of God are with them and they are doing much good The Sunday schools hoe also added to their numbers Thy have now over one hundred thousand members The Young Mens Mutual Improvement Associations as has been said have an addition of about thirteen thousand as a result of theIr labors the Past eor God Is I blessing those who labor among them It you can save a soul from death what bless Ings you will have with that soul As the Lord said to Oliver Cowders If It so be that you should < labor all sour das In crying repentance unto this people 1 and bring save It be ono soul unto me how great shall be your Joy with him In the kingdom or my Iather We should continue in this labor that we may gain the salvation I if the soul or mn Inasmuch as you will do thIs the bleslngs or God will attend you Zion has got to arise or fall Which shall It be The proclamation of the Gospel ot Christ Is In favor of Zion All the revelations appertaining to this day are In favor or Zion and or preparing the way for the coming of the Ron or Man And Zion will arise and shin e God bless you one and all Let us rlo our duty and seek to magnify our rellgloll that when we got through we will rejoice In that It A better to bon b-on the Lord aide than anywhere ellI ell-I want salvation I want to mt my forefathers and ny friends whom I have labored here to redeem who never heard the Gospel In their day and generation God has given us this privilege We have Elders of Israel laboring In all these temples day by day for the salvation of the children or mono We have been blessed In this labor and we will continue to be blessed and when we get on the o file side or the veil there la I not one or us but will rejoice for the good we have lone My God bless you I feel to bless the LaUerday Saints as far as I have power to bless Our daughter and our mothers are laboring for the alvatlo of Israel In their line and 80 are the riders or Israel In their line But we want to Increase and continue to Increase until We have power In the earth to gather up all the honest and meek of the earth God bless guide and direct us all In the path ot I truth and righteousness for Jesus sake Amen |