| Show DISCOURSE BY ily WOODRUFF ff delivered AT TUB forty sixth annual conference cf the church of or jesus christ of lat ter day saints in the new tabernacle er salt lake city oil on the morning of thursday A arti arll 1876 REPORTED BY DAVID W EVANS WHO am I 1 balth eaith the lord that I 1 comi nand naud and am not obeyed who am I 1 saith the lord that I 1 promise and do not fulfill fulfil ful fil we have again the thu privilege of assembling as 9 ourselves together upon another annual conference of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints and I 1 hope and trust thatchat that what time we may spend in conference our hearts may be lifted up unto the lord that his holy spirit may be given unto ua u that we may be dictated and directed in our words thoughts acts and teachings in such a manner that wo we may be justified before him vve we ive have said baid time after time and year after year that we I 1 live ive I 1 in a very peculiar age generation and dispensation and this thia is true time rol roi rolis rolls on carrying with it its events and fulfilling the revelations of at god unto us especially we live ina in a day of darkness dar knes unbelief and infidelity are covering the whole face of the earth until it seems as though the whole christian world had lost loat all hold of faith falth in god and in his son jesus christ and in the bible the revelations of god to man and this being the case if the lord has any udy people on the face of the tho earth they fill should ouid be increasing inc reas in faith in him you let a christian come coene here no matter who whether he be a minister professor or believe believer or any one who professes to believe in the bible and let lot him ask an elder in israel do you really bei bel believe belleve leve in jour your soul sincerely before the lord that mormonism is true when th the e elder answers him yes he is about as much astonished as we here hero were yesterday when thee these magazines exploded the fact of it 1 as I 1 said before the world do ilot not believe ia in god or in revelation and they marvel very greatly to find any man who has really got independence pen dence of mind enough to stand up and say 1 I believe that joseph smith was a prophet of Go GG dand I 1 believe in the revelations that were given through him I 1 believe in the literal fulfillment fulfilment of prophecy as written in the bible to hear men say this astonishes the whole christian world and it astonishes the latter day saints to see the amount of darkness and infidelity that nrc arc abroad in the earth hence as latter day saints I 1 think it requires qu ireson on our part an increase of faithfulness in the practice of our religion and in the various revelations of god contained in the bible book of mormon and book of doctrine and covenants we see before our eyes year after year the signs of heaven and of earth and the fulfillment fulfilment cy but how much are we as a peo pie pic increasing increasing Inc reasin t in faith in god do we increase in that respect in proportion to the increase of infidelity in the world perhaps I 1 am not a judge but it appears to me that we do not comprehend the work in which whick we are engaged and the bible book of mormon and the book of doctrine DGe trine trino and covenants are just as true today to day as they were twenty thirty or forty years ago when we shouldered our knapsacks and va ilses uses I 1 and travelled on foot from city to city state to state and from country to country to preach the word of god without money and without price trusting in the living god to sustain and uphold us in our missions I 1 say that this work is just as truo true now as then and so is the saying which I 1 quoted who am 1 I saith the lord that I 1 command and am not obeyed who am I 1 saith eaith the lord that 1 I promise and do not fulfill fulfil ful fil I 1 believe lieve that the lord will fulfill fulfil what he says I 1 believe that be he will fulfill fulfil his promises unto the latter day saints and unto the world unto zion and babylon and if he does d 0 es there is something at the door something for us as latter day saints to do I 1 ballete the lord x has held hold every man responsible ble bie from the day of our great progenitor father adam Adamin into tu whose hands bands the holy and the heye c of af tha of god have batteh committed and I 1 believe that every man every set of men and every people will be held responsible in time tinie and eternity for the use they have made of the gifts blessings and promises which have been given unto them the amount of it Is that if any people undertake to keep a celestial law it Is their privilege to enjoy the spirit and power of that law it is also the privilege of any man or set of men whoever who over received the g gospel to enjoy the blessings of thap thac gospel no matter what ago of the world they may have lived in every person who has ever repented of his sins and has been baptized for their remission after the order of god and after the similitude of jesus christ who was burled buried in water in the likeness of his death and came forth in the likeness of ills his resurrection has a right to the holy ghost it is promised and it belongs to him it is the right of all persons to enjoy this thib and andia if if they receive the holy ghost and its gifts they have ins inspiration p light and truth they have eyes to see ears to hear bear and hearts to understand and they should be in a p position 0 before the lord that they can eau comprehend his work far more perfectly than the world for they have not obeyed the gospel of christ and they have no right to or claim upon the gifts of that gospel but all who in any age of the world obey the gospel have a right to the comforter and to inspiration and revelation they belong to them and the lord never had bad a people on the face of the earth who did nut not have a right to these gifts and it was their privilege and duty to enjoy them this ia is the difference between those who keep celestial law the law of the gospel of jesus christ and those who do nut nit B but u t as ais I 1 I 1 have remarked all in every age of tho the world who have received a dispensation of the gospel are responsible before the lord for their thelt acts nets and for the manner in which they have used their blessings and privileges the prophets and ana apos ties in every age have been heid held responsible for the manner in which they made use of the gospel of christ when committed unto them ard tha is the way it Js with us today to day one thing is evident to everybody who reflects at all upon the things of the kingdom of god whenever the lord chooses a people out of the tho world they are ano bated hated by the world and are unpopular in III the world this has been the tha case in every age it was BO so in the dadi day 4 of jesus christ chrit ile he came to hia hla I 1 own fathers house the jews hei was of the lineage of abraham and when be he came to his own brethren he was unpopular he was wag rejected and opposed they dl did d not like him nor his course they were looking for shiloh to come but not as a babe born in a stable and cradled in id a manger and trav eiling elling on from that to the erms cross and the grave in poverty and affliction without military authority and without power to govern and con troi and to deliver and uphold th the jews as a nation chist christ came as the babe of rf bethlehem the lowest almost of the human buman family and remained so up to the day of eis his death A poorer man never lived that I 1 know of in judea and jerusalem than jesus christ who were his fol foi followers lowens they ware were not the great rich learned noble high priests or leading men ot at judea many of them were illiterate fishermen poor men weak things of the world they viere were vere the class clasa that jesus chose for his disciples and into their hands he ga havethe eithe keys of the kingdom of god he gave them the apostleship the powen power to bind and to seal both on earth and in heaven their deeds and labors reached not dot only through this world but they reached into the eternal worlds and will affect the inhabitants of judea and jerusalem from that day I 1 may say into eternity those disciples of christ received the holy priesthood the gospel of christ and the keys of the kingdom of god and jesus held them responsible to the day of their death for the course they pursued however much they were despised by the world they were held I 1 re c for bearing a 0 true faithful testimony to jew and gentile of jesus christ being tho true shepherd and alad the saviour of the world and BO I 1 will say about the lata luta ter day saints work they are edgag engaged ed in ezekiel says that in the last days the stick ol 01 joseph in the hands of ephraim should be placed with the stick of judaic before jhb eyed tir 01 tnt tut daatio l il t 6 hands bands of the lord LOTS for a special purpose seto to gather the house of israel in the latter days these two records were also to be made use of in order to preach the of the everlasting gospel to both jew and gentile and they will stand in judgment against the tho generation living on the earth when they come forth and from the day that moroni morant gye gaye that record into the hands of joseph smith lord held hold him responsible for the use which he made of it and whon he be gave him hlin the priesthood under the hands hailds of john the baptist and the apostle ship under the hands of bf peter james and john the lord almighty held him responsible unto the day that hee aled his hia testimony with his hta blood for the course g t that at he pursued with th these theae things and he bore his lits testimony left it on rec record oid aid and sealed it with his blood and laid down his aflfe and that testimony is in force today to day upon all the world and will remain so unto the end of time and when I 1 say this of joseph smith I 1 bay say it of every other othel man mail Preside president Ut young has led lid this church for many man n y years yearb ea s and the lord has held by him im r responsible Pon sible and will wili hold him BO 80 unto the day of or his death for the course pursued by him while conducting the affairs of ills his church and kingdom and also for the use he makes of the holy priesthood and te tue keys of the klif wilf kingdom ddom idom bo so also with his counsellors Coun the twelve apostles Apost leet leEr and everyone every one of us we sua shall 11 all te be held accountable to the day of our death and we shall have to give an account 1 before bedore the god of heaven when meno ave go into the spirit world and meet him min there for the lse ise use of this priesthood and the tiie tile keys of the kingdom which have been established on the earth for the last time have been committed into the hands bands of this people and god will hold the whole of us responsible for the use we make of the bles bies blessings slugs privileges and powers which wo we enjoy in connection therewith the eyes of god and his hia angels and of every man who dwells in the are watching us and the course coursel lie ide we vie pursue we are gathered together here as a people we have been in these mountains a good while and for a good many years we have been organized as a church and king kingdom domi in this fast ago in this thia dis dispensation aaion of the of times nd now the question with tindell me Is s alewe are we living up to our privileges ate we performing n the work rig required dired at atour our hands can we as a people claim blaim the bler blee blessings sings of bf the gospel of christ the blessings of the celestial law and of the celestial kingdom of god can we claim these things at the hands of our heavenly pm fhi ther unless we keep his commandments this thib is a question ahat we want to take home te to ourselves if we are not keeping the commands of the lord can we claim his blessing blessi I 1 n gu we can nor pot and this thia is matter for reflect reflection fon fob for the later lateri i day saints it may bo bui asked what are art arttie the of tb eLord many of them are lire contained in id these thede ie records the bible bibie book BOO of and book of or doctrine and covenants and we have tile the living oracles with us and have had from the commencement the lord will never lenvie leave his kingdom without a lawi lawgiver feer foer leader leade T president or some power to direct tile tiie annaira annaina of ills his church on the earth for ithe the reason that it is the dispensation of the of times in im w which hichi god lias has set up a king kingdom dord which is to boban no attl everlasting kingdom and td 0 whose dong dominion there w will III be ho no end eba that king ling kingdom doin doln will given into the hands of any other people but it will be given to the saints of the tho most high arid and they will possess posses s it for ever and ever now brethren and sisters sitters here comes a question in my mind this morning which I 1 think we ought to bri brins bring ng home to our ourselves selle 4 and mat tuat is ia ate U 17 people 1 doing our bur duty in lu k keeping k epolit the tho X law and com corn maud ments of god and tile hie covenants which we have mude iffe if we are we aredus tidied and we ve have a claim upon he holy spirit and upon the fhe blessi blessing lug and anu ipp app I 1 foliation rolia tion of god mady ahinga ar required at tho hauda handa of the latter day saints and there Is not one oflus ofus who has bai a lease of blare his bl ire life the elders of this church are ara passing g away awat and almast every conference we look around aroun dand and tind nod that body bas has lelta aud and audit it will babut a short abort time before many of us W who ha riet ara are he here re today to day will have closed out oui labors in tue tun flesh and aud is we 6 bhail shall have ayd lo 10 i rhe ahr y ld eif fise fife th 0 vall vail and it is important to us all that we should do what is required of us what we find to do today to day we should diot riot put off till tomor to mor row the tho guest guestion ion lon may maya arise rive in some minds what is required et of the latter day saints Saint fc I 1 will tell teli you some things that thao are required of us the lord us to pay our ti tithing think and another thing is that we go to and build the tempie temple in this city whether ved Q do bokor it or not it is raqul required rad of u us a and if we wel wei fall fail we in my view view shall be condemnation I 1 consider that the building of temples is one of the important things required requited by the lord of the latter batter day zady saints in the dispensation of the ifie of times that we may go temples and not buly only redeem the living but redeem our dead we yve have been a good in ih d in the valleys of the tho ht and we have not yet yel got latemple IQ finished to the the loll 1011 behave we have havo otie one pretty well weil tri tra dinst georte george and 1 I ard yer y ead of it butt gewant bhe bho here we ve have got the found foundation dai dal laid it has been standing a good many years ye arsand aud and I 1 think that we should go to and finish it and we can to tode Tede redeem enli enil our bur dead I 1 thia this is 19 among the things fori which I 1 th ink inh ke e shall be held responsible ae very many mady of us in this thid church and kingdom have been gathered Us s the prophet has baid said one and ofa of a llyl ihli family and two of a city and many of lof our progenitors now in iii the spirit irit world naver nevor never saw the f face op of an sin apostle prophet or inspired bhan bean man it and they are shut up lit iri prison joseph smith heber kemball george A smith and thousands of the elders of israel may preach to those spirits and they may rec receive eve the testimonies which the elders bear but the elder elders swill will not liot baptize gel Lel believers |
