| Show DISCOURSE by y eider elder W M woodruff dc delivered at the general conference in the mcw yew tabernacle salt sall lake city elj etl april ell til ril ath 1873 REPORTED BY DY DAVID IV EVANS ONE oxe of the proverbs common among the saints of god in the dispensation pensa t tion ion lon in which wo we live the dispensation of the falness of times J is tho the file kingdom of god or nothing i 2 president young has been tr trying ying ring to get us to labor to build up t the c kingdom of god this kin kingdom do it has been given into the hanis hangs hands of the tile latter day saints to establish on the earth and unless we labor for its advancement we shall certainly fall short of salvation for all the salvation there is whether for jew gentile saint or sinner is iu in connection with this kingdom we have had hai a great many plain truths presented before this conference and if we will observe the counsels that llave lave been given we shall be led to salvation every one of the propositions made by PrO pre president Adent young lias has this tendency it is our duty as latter day saints to sustain the zion of god on the tile earth what he has said to us is true wo we have heard it thousands of times we have been counselled counseller coun selled for many marly years to try to lay a foundation for our own independence in these mountains it is a well known principle in it political economy that any nation or people that expend more than they produce or buy from other nations more than they sell in return will grow poor we should produce what we use what we eat and wear and as for what we drink why the tile mountain streams supply that of the purest quality w there are several items to which whick I 1 would like to call yo your ur attention president young has taken the lead in establishing woollen factories in this territory others have assisted in this work but he has done much more than any other man and now we have several good mills for the tile manufacture of cloth and other fabrics owned and run Z by the saints in utah still we sen send many large quantities of wool abroad instead of using it in our own mills and import goods of outside man manufacture u facture instead of maki makl making ng them at home how long will wiil 1 I I 1 it be before we are arc poor and our territory ard guined drained of all the tho 0 money we can raise raise if we continue this we should not send our wool to be manufactured in the states and then pay our money for cloth brought from there here where are our wool growers what are they thinking about when they do this this is an item which I 1 consider of vital importance to the latter day saints we should keep our wool at home and we should manufacture this wool wooi into cloth and we should buy and pay py for that cloth and support home nome manufactures this is is a principle which we have neglected in a great degree but we have llave got to come to it sometime we have got either to make ourselves self sus ining ta or we shall have to go without a good many things that we now regard as almost indispensable for our we welfare fare and comfort for there is not a man who believes in in the revelations of god but what believes the day is at hand when there thele will be trouble among the nations of the earth when great babylon will come in in remembrance before god and his liis judgments will visit the nations when that day comes if zion has food and raiment and the comforts of life she must produce them and there must be a beginning to these things lings ti this is the zion of god this is the work of god the servants of god have borne record and testimony to this now for more than forty years and the lord has backed up their testimony fulfilling his word in the events which have transpired in the earth the lord says 1 I am angry with none except those who acknowledge not my hand in all things As a people we have been obliged ta acknowledge the hand of god in our salvation and guidance some of the speakers have referred to the daiv ings and persecutions of the saints in the past the lord says of fences must needs come but woe to him by whom they come if we had not been driven from jackson caldwell and clay counties and from kirtland and nauvoo utah I 1 today to day would have been a barren desert devert there would have been no railroad rail rall roid from the atlantic to the pacific and we should not have fulfilled I 1 may say thousands of the revelations of god as we have done the hand band of the lord has his been manifest in all these matters he has watched this and over this work from its foundation oun dation until today to day and he will continue to do so but it is certainly truo true that as a people we must heed tile the counsels ortho of the lord through his liis servants for these counsels if observed will secure us salvation and lead us to prosperity union and happiness president young as an instrument in the hands of god has brought his tens of thousands from the old world who never were worth I 1 may say gay a farthing who never owned a horse carriage wagon cow I 1 pig or chicken and and hardly har bar mon ay had bread enough to keep soul and body together there are thousands upon thousands now in these valleys of the mountains who wiio were brought here by the tile donations of tile tiie saints of god and the mercies of god unto them they are ilow liow now settled through this valley for six hundred dred miles they have enough to eat drink and wear houses and lands of their own and piety of this tills worlds goods to make them comfortable everything that leads to good and to do good is of god and everything that leads to evil and to do evil is of the wicked one I 1 will ask has not good grown out of the whole work of god from the tile organization animation aniza tion of this tills church until today has not this tilis gospel been offered for more than forty years to the nations of the earth in its plainness truth and simplicity as it was anciently I 1 by jesus and his apostles it has and thousands who wilo are isa hip this territory today to day can bear testimony to its truth the tile example is before begore the world zion is like a cit city eity y set on a hill that cannot be hid she is a beacon to the nations of the earth the saints of god are fulfilling the revelations of god they are fulfilling the prophecies and sayings of the ancient patriarchs and prophets wlm who spoke as they were moved moved upon by the tile holy ghost and no prophecy is of private private interpretation if those boly holy men of god spoke the word of god what they said will have its fulfillment and no power can stay this work the tile set time has come for the lord to establish his kingdom of which daniel spoke that zion which isaiah saw and portrayed and about which he and many other prophets have left so many sayings in in their prophecies the history of the progress of this church is before the world it is the work of god and not a saying ever made about it by an inspired man whether in the bible book of mormon or in the doctrine and covenants will fali fail of its fulfillment no matter whether these words came by the voice of god out of the heavens by the ministration of angels or by the voice of the servants of god in the flesh it is the same although the heavens and the tiie earth may pass away they will not go unfulfilled this is the foundation upon which the latter day saints labor and upon which they have labored from the beginning of this church jose joseph p h smith has hns IL s often been termed an illiterate unlearned man he was a farmers son and had very small chance of education what primer had bad he to reveal the fullness of the tiie gospel to the world none at all only as he was taught by the administration of angels from heaven by the voice of god and by the inspiration lon ion and power of t the he holy gil all ghost t the principles which have been revealed to the world through g him are true as the throne of god their influence is already felt in the earth and will continue to increase until the coming of the son of man and the blood of the prophets which has been shed in testimony thereof will remain in force upon all the world until the scene is wound up what other people on the face of the earth are preparing for jesus christ theford Th eLord jesus christ is coming to reign reign on earth the world haysay may say that lie delays his comin coming until the end of the earth but they hey know neither the thoughts nor the ways of the lord the lord will not delay his coming I 1 n because of their unbelief and the signs both in heaven and earth indicate that it is near the figr fig trees are leafing in sight of all the nations of the earth and if they had the spirit of god they could see and understand them the latter day saints can not stand still we can not become stereotyped god has decreed that his zion must progress we can not remain in one groove or po position Eltion this kingdom has continued to progress from the beginning and the little one is now more than a thousand and it will hasten to become a strong nati nation anfor for itis it is gods work and its destiny is is in his hands it becomes us as latter day saints to realize these things as they are and also our position and calling before god we must build up the zion and kingdom of god on the earth or fail in the object of our calling and receiving the priesthood of god in these latter days the full set time has come which the tiie lord decreed before the foundation of the world the great dispensation of the last days and a people must be prepared for the coming of the son of man mau how can they do it by being gathered out from babylon how often has the question been asked why can not the latter day saints live abroad in the world and enjoy their religion we can hardly enjoy it as we are today to day gathered together 0 the tile wicked will follow us up and then we are overwhelmed wh elined like a mountain with tradition but we have gathered together that we may be taught by prophets patriarchs and inspired men and we are endeavoring under their instructions to throw off the trammels with which we and our forefathers have been bound for generations we are not pre prepared are for the coming of the tile son of man alan and if he were to eeme come toda today to da day we could not endure it there is is no people on the tile earth prepared for that but the tile lord is laboring with us he be has carried us its a school of experience now for forty years vears ears and we should certainly have uli mil been dull scholars if we had not learned some wisdom the lord intends that we shall unite ourselves together and in building up the zion of god if we can not attain to all that is required of us today we will do what we can and progress as fast as we can that the tile way may be prepared for the fulfillment fill ment of the words of the lord here is the bible the record of the jews given by the inspiration odthe of tile lord through moses and the ancient patriarchs and prophets Is it an imposture and as the infidels say the work of man ko NO it is not in the power of any man who ever breathed the breath of life to make such a book without the inspiration inspiration of the almighty it is just so with the book of mormon all the ingenuity of all the men under heaven could not compose and present to the world a book like the book of mormon its ts principles are divine they are from god they could never emanate from the mind of an impostor or from the mind of a person writing a novel why because the promises and prophecies it contains are being fulfilled in the sight of all the earth so with the revelations given through the prophet joseph smith contained in the book of doctrine and covenants t they hey are being fulfilled we the latter day saints have this great almighty work laid upon us and our hearts should not be set upon the things of the world for if they are we shall forget god and lose sight of his kingdom the counsels exhortations and instructions which we receive from the servants of god are just and true As a people if we will do the will of god we have the power to build burld up zion in beauty po glory as the tha lord has revealed it through the mouth of the prophet it rests with us the lord work working ng with us we are called upon to work with the lord just as fast as we are prepared eared to receive the things of his kingdom lne ine adom but I 1 am satisfied there has got to be a great change with us in many respects before we are prepared for the redemption ofelon of zion and the bull buil building ding up of the new jerusalem I 1 believe beneve the only way for us is to get enough of the spirit of god that we may see and understand our duties and comprehend the will of the lord this is a great day an important time a time in which great events await the world zion babylon jew gentile saint and sinner high and low rich and poor great and ad important events will follo follow teach leach other in quick succession before the eyes of this generation no generation that ever lived on the earth lived in a more interesting pernod period erio erlo than the one in which we live and when we consider that our ete eternal al destiny depends upon lipon the few 83 short ort orl years that we spend here what manner of persons ought we to be men spend their lives for what they call wealth or happiness but they seek not after the way of life and in in a few years they lie down and die and open their eyes in the spirit world and they will come forth at some time and be judged according to the deeds done in the body A great deal deai has been said with regard to mormonism and the strange people who dwell in these mountains many strangers have come to visit this city thinking that their lives were hardly safe because of the horrid stories they had heard ear car about these terrible mor imor mons 11 when the fact is if they had only known known it they were a great deal safer here than in any of the great cities of the world 0 the lord has been working and this people have been working and the object of their labor has been and is to establish the gospel of jesus christ and to spread truth and righteousness we came here a few pioneers on the of july 1847 and we found a desert it looked as though no white man could live here we have llave to acknowledge now ledge the hand liand of god in all the blessings we havo have today to day this territory is now filled with cities towns villages and rarden gardens sw the earth lias has blossomed like a rose and the desert has brought forth streams of water from dry places the lord has blessed the people we have to acknowledge his hands bands anthi in this this is only a beginning the world have appo opposed sed us from the beginning beginning even very many honest hearted men ignorant of the tho nature and object of mormonism 11 have lave opposed us if the veil were nvere lifted one minute from the eyes of the world and they could see the things of eternity as they are ate ta lere lero is not a mail man living not excepting our friend brother newman nowman or president grant or any other man that breathes who would not bow down before god and pray for bri brigham ham young and thed ther prosperity of this work but chereb theren 16 a vail vall over mens mi ads darkness Dark lark bess Sess covers the tile earth and gross darkness the minds of the nations and this is to prove whether they will or will not walk in the covenant of the lord there area few who have had bad sufficient independence of mind and stability of character to obey the celestial law but how few friends the alm aim almighty ht and his servants have hadan had in t this is age of the world As it was in the days of noah and lot so it will w ill lil be in the days of the coming of the son of man the numbers of the servants of god are few let the lord almighty send a message to the world now as he |
