Show K JQ S X n 5 a s by 2 lifer IV WOODRUFF drupe DRUPP delivered in the tabernacle salt loike lake city january 1st ast 1871 f lt REPORTED BY DAVID DANID W EVAN sn f I 1 wish you alla aila all ali a happy new year and I 1 hope that we may live to see a good many and that we may keep the commandments of god obey his ris laws and have his approbation and bleSSI blessing Dg upon us as a people we hive have assembled here on this the first day of the week and the first day of the year 1871 and this leads my mind to reflect upon the age and generation in which we live and the great events of the latter days eve events ants which involve the interests and destiny of all the inhabitants of the earth both zion and babylon jew and gentile jerusalem america and the whole world all nations are interested in the events which are approaching us and which await this generation for whether the world believe aitor it or not they are of vast interest to them all there have been certain times looked forward to in the worlds history in which it was believed that something remarkable would occur and there have been several of these periods during the thelast last fifty years I 1 do not know that anything was predicted at an early day with regard to 1830 1810 but I 1 recollect when a boy at school of reading a certain terso versa about a great eclipse of the sun in eighteen hundred and yone yond will bo be a great eclipse upon the sun I 1 heard about this fifteen years before it took place it having been foretold b bv th the a astronomers tron omers by the principles antia and laws Ws of the science of astronomy on that day I 1 was wag passing through a forest of pinewood at farmington connecticut going to see my father whom I 1 had not seen for some time it was nearly as dark as night and when I 1 got through into the open fields there was what is termed a poor house the only house erected within several miles in that region of country A por man had died there and they were drawing his body on an ox sled and were going to bury him I 1 noticed this as I 1 passed along and thought of what T had read but nothing of any particular interest occurred that year except the eclipse of the sun but in 1830 something occurred of great interest I 1 to all the inhabitants of the tho earth that was the establishment of ortho tho the church of jesus christ of latter day oay saints many persons have looked forward to the year 1860 with great interest and this has been the case with many of the latter day saints what took place in that year the dissolution of the american union for in that year the south took a stand against the north and the north against the south in of a certain cevela re vela pela tion given by joseph smith thirty years before it took place joseph smith predicted e that there thera would be a great r rebellion ar e 1 in the united states the south and the north warring against each other and that this rebellion would commence in south carolina and would end in the death and mise misery y of many souls and that in process or time after many days the 6 laves would rise against their masters and that one nation would call for aid upon another for lor war would be poured upon I 1 the whole earth I 1 wrote this revelation twenty five years before the rebellion took dished fished place lace others also wrote it and it was published to the world before there was any prospect of the fearful events it predicted coming to pass joseph smith once said in a speech at nauvoo to a company that whosoever lived to see the two sixes come together in 66 would see the american continent deluged iii in blood this was many years before there was any prospect of a rebellion the history of ygo 60 and of yog 66 is before the world and I 1 do not wish to spend time in referring to it we have got by 30 ygo 60 68 and 70 and we are now living at a period when every year is big with events of interest to the inhabitants of the earth and they will continue from this time until the coming oi OL the lord jesus jesua christ many men have set times for the coming of the lord jesus christ among whom living hying in our own day we may mention mr miller he set times and clays days for the appearing of the messiah and has said that he would surely come on such a day now if mr miller had been acquainted with contained in the bible and with the spirit by which the scriptures were written he ho would have known very clearly that christ would not come until certain events had taken place he would have been aware that the messiah would nob not make his appearance until an angel of god had delivered the everlasting gospel from the heavens to be preached to the nations of the earth until the honest and meek of tho earth are gathered out from every sect arty party and denomination under the whole Ee heavens avens until the tho zion of god had gone up into the mountains of israel and there established zion and lifted up a standard to the people mr miller and all who have believed I 1 like ike him had they funder finder understood stood th tho the 0 scripture scriptures si 4 wd and p possessed oss essed the spirit of truth would hav ha known that christ would not come until the jews had returned to their own land and ana had rebuilt the city of jerusalem and the temple there they would have known that all these and many other prophecies must have been fulfilled as a pre ory work for tho coming of the messiah these things are before us we are hero bore in these valleys of the mountains as the church of jesus christ of latter day saints established by the hand of god by revelation from heaven this church has been established by raising up prophets unto whom have been given the keys of the kingdom of god the keys of the holy priesthood and apostleship of the son of god with power to organize the church and kingdom of god on the earth with all its gifts graces ordinances and orders as proclaimed by all the apostles and prophets prop heta who have lived since the world began it is because of this that we are here today to day in fulfillment of prophecy and revelation we have established a kingdom as it were a state a nation a people e here in the deserts of north america K we have planted six hundred miles of cities towns villages gardens orchards tabernacles and temples by the command of god for the hand of god is in all these things and they are in fulfillment of revelations given in the bible book of mormon and doctrine and covenants in our day and in ancient days this is the work of the lord and all the scriptures from the beginning be g inning of genesis to the end of revelation tio n point to this day as one of great interest to ii li all ail 11 the human family although as one said of old As it was in the days of noah and of lot so shall it bo be in the days of the coming of the son of man ilian I 1 in those days they were marrying and giving in marriage and when noah went into the ark and when lot fled out of sodom tho the inhabitants of the earth through their un belief were ignorant of the destruction awaiting them at the present day darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the minds of the people nevertheless they are living in an age of the world more fraught with interest to the human family than any preceding age or generation since the creation there bisno hundred years no thousand years no two thousand years since god made this world and placed adam in the garden of eden when there was as much prophecy revelation vision and word wort of the lord lord and promises of god to be fulfilled as there is in the generation in which you and I 1 live this is the great dispensation cfall of all ail dispensations this is the time timo to which all the prophets of god have pointed and in which they have declared the great latter day work of bf god should be established and I 1 will here say that many times while a boy when reading the testimony of john given on the isle islo of patmos whither be he had been banished for the testimony of jesus christ and for the word vord of god while reading the account lie he gives of the tho pouring out of plague sand sana judgments on the inhabitants of the earth I 1 have mar belled that the lord should do such a work but I 1 do not wonder at it today to day the scenes have changed when I 1 was a boy bov fifty years ago kingdom the tho of god had tibt not been established among men the angels of god had bad not visited the earth tho the lord almighty had not clothed his servants with the priesthood and commanded them to go and warn the nations of the earth of the judgments which awaited them there was not the wickedness then that there is today to day the wickedness committed today to day in the christian world in twenty leen deen four hours is 15 greater than would have been committed in a hundred years at the ratio of fifty years ago and the spirit of wickedness is increasing so that I 1 no longer wonder that god almighty will turn rivers into blood I 1 do not wonder that he will open the seals and pour out the plagues and sink great babylon as the angel saw like a millstone cast into the sea to rise no more for ever I 1 can se see er that it requires just such plagues and judgments to cleanse the earth that it may cease to groan under the wickedness ss and abomination in which tile the christian world welters weiters today to day I 1 can seethe see the necessity for the lord stretching forth his hand establishing his king hing kingdom dom warning the nations and gathering out the honest and meek of the earth from among all nations kindreds tongues and people sects and parties under the whole heaven an and aud preparing them to stand as the bride the lambs lamba am bs wife as the church of jesus christ as the kingdom of god adorned with goodly apparel adorned with wilh the light of zion with the tho principles of eternal life with the gospel of jesus christ preserving within themselves the virtues and attributes which have made god what he is established him nim on his throne and given him the power which he now posses possesses sel sei I 1 can say this the lord will never come to visit an earth like this he will never come to visit a gener goner atlon of the inhabitants of the earth until they are prepared for his coming and are willing to receive him this is the foundation of mormonism this is tho the foundation of the church and kingdom of god which was laid in 1830 the church was established on the ath of april in that year its history and the history of this people are before the world we ourselves have learned it by shoe leather many of the elders of israel have travelled a hundred thousand miles to preach the gospel during the last forty years without purse or scrip we have labored day and night and traveled as no other generation of men since the world was made have travel travelled aed led our oar garments are clear of the blood of this generation at least many of us and I 1 hope many more will be I 1 we have been true and faithful in our testimony to the inhabitants of the earth and as the world generally has rejected our out testimony th the eLord lord has wiz withdrawn his spirit irom the people in a great measure and the religion they once enjoyed is is as nothing to many of them infidelity prevails throughout the world very few either priests or people believe in a literal fulfillment fulfilment wf the tho bible they have a theory but as to believing in a real fulfillment fulfilment of prophecy or that the lord meant what he said and said what lie he meant that is out of the question very few believe it I 1 want to ask a ques question tiow will the unbelief of this generation make the truth of god without effect in our day anymore any more than it has in any other age of the world I 1 tell you nay and think not as paul says that I 1 am your enemy because I 1 ted toil you the truth these things are true belore before god this Is the zion of god and these aro are the people of god and hod we as latter day saints should live our religion better than we do and aa as we are now entering on another year I 1 hope we shall try to live our religion through this year and do our duty and keep the commandments ef of god an and walk uprightly before him that we may become united as the heart of one man there are great events as I 1 have already said before us the fact is the lord has laid down a great many ure premises concerning the latter days and they are going to be fulfilled for though the heavens and the earth pass away not one jot joh or tittle of the word of the lord loid will fall unfilled and when our nation and the nations of the earth have hava filled their cup and are ripened in iniquity the lord will cut them off the greater the battle the sooner it will end the greater the warfare the greater thi the tho victory if the saints do their duty these things are before my mind in the vision of it and the lord will not fail in anything YN he has promised concerning the work of the latter days whatever opposition this church and kingdom may have it Is the work of god the lord has planted and sustain sustained edit it jesus compares the kingdom of heaven to a mustard se edthe least of all seeds but by and by when it grows it becomes a large tree so the fowls of or the air can lodge in its branches so it has been with the kingdom of god but wo we are told that the little one will become a thousand and the small one a strong nation and the lord will hasten it in his own time the lord says 1 I will break every weapon formed against zion alad and every nation kindred tongue and people that wiil will not serve zion shall be utterly wasted away when I 1 see tho world making warfare against the zion and people of god because they have borne record and testimony of his work on the earth I 1 can tell pretty well what the end will be I 1 can see it we are living in a time when the work of god is going to increase in interest every day until it is wound up no man knows the dayon day or the hour when christ will con cou come le yet the generation has been pointed out by jesus himself he told his disciples when they passed by the temple as they walked out of jerusalem that that generation should not pass away before not one stone of that magnificent temple should be left standing upon another and abe jews should be scattered among the nations and history tell teil how remarkably that prediction was fulfilled moses and the prophets also prophesied of this aa as well as jesus the savior when speaking to his disciples les ies of his second coming and the establishment ashment lish ment of his kingdom on the earth said the jews should be scattered and trodden under foot until the times of the gentiles were fulfilled but said he when you see light breaking forth among the gentiles referring to the preaching ai of his gospel amongst them when you see salvation offered to the gentiles and the je jews jows vs the seed of israel passed by the last first and the first last when you see this you may know that the time of my second coming is at hand as surely as you know that summer is nigh when thefil the nig fig tree put puts forth its leaves and when these things commence that generation shall not pass away until all are fulfilled we are living in the dispensation and generation to which jesus referred the time appointed by god for the last six thousand years through the mouths of all the prophets and inep inspired ired men who have lived and left their sayings on record in which ills his zion should be built up and continue upon the camb these prophecies will have their fulfillment before the world and ail who will not repent will be in the destructions which are in store for the wicked if men do not cease caaso from their murders whore doms and all the wickedness and abominations which fill the black catalogue of the me crimes of the world judgment will overtake them and whether we are be believed cleved or not these sayings are |