| Show 0 ELDER mi WILFORD WOODRUFF neu DEU EN cred ered aKED ED N awl i in the satt sall lake labe Ag assembly hallat mallat at the semiannual somi sem annual conference of dt lake staka of zion Satu saturday Af afternoon lemoon nil nix 3rd ard nury tuly 1880 irel itel BY hy JOHN I 1 1 mke HAVE listened to the instructions given giel here this afternoon by my breth brethren ren reu as well as the remarks of broiher ir with feelings pf af s great greab deal of int interest grest when m we talk of our duties as tatter latter day saints I 1 think many af tapes tf bes pes that some of us perhaps all nil of us more or less fall short of compre deriding and understanding the re we are under to godi godl believe the renever was a dispensation pensa tion loii br or a gerie gerle generation ratiOn of men world that ever hap had g greater rea ter work to perform or av ever even were lvere under greater responsibility to god god than thin the latter day saints the kingdom of god has been put piat VA our hands hande we have heel beel raised up as sons and daughters of the lord to take this kingdom to lay tb e foundation of it to build up alt bit it to carry it out in its various branches until it becomes perfected before the heavens beavens and before the earth ashod lias has foreordained fore ordained it should be and those principles which have been referred to by the brethren in regard to our duties we WO sanely safely ignore lanore them nor turn aside from them thom I 1 will say as one of the quorum of the twelve apostle from the time I 1 was first acquainted quain ted with its organization until today to df day we leave never felt ourse ourselves liles at liberty to stay away from our meetings s unless wo we were sick or circumstances cum curn stances hindered us in some way or other I 1 can say that for myself and aridi I 1 believe I 1 can call say the saibi sama for nor my brethren we have h aap alwa niwa always feli duty bound to attend our meetings and if we do not attend the question might arise what lias has become of the twelve apostles where lire are aro they that they do not attend tz their thOr meetings it would be a very afy proper question to ask and if this responsibility rests upon us in the capacity which we occupy does it not n rest upon other men I 1 think it does I 1 do not believe the lord ever required joseph smith or brigham dmn or auy uny of their counselors to b undertake kuo ito build up this kingdom do malone maione alone nione he never required them to q build these temples alone they were required to perform their duties that ib A true joseph smith was called of god inspired of god raised up of the lord ordained of god long before bafo lie lle was bom born to stand in hi the fies fles flessas g nas much as jeremiah or any of the ancient prophets to lay idy the foundation of t this 1 is church and kingdom Hy performed his As work faithfully we he la bored faithfully while he in the flesh and sealed his ills testimony with his blood other weri men were w erg called also to build upon the foundation which he laid W 0 h have 1 in n which are pas past t and gone been under the necessity ongoing of going forth to preach the gospel in prid we behave have had t this is to do we have been called to do it we hive been ordained to do it we havo have been commanded of god to do it and so have hundreds hundred sand and thousands of the elders of this church and kingdom we have all some responsibility anora more or less resting upon us whether as regards going on missions or anything else I 1 remember brother Brothe rJ joseph oseph smith vis abed myself brother taylor brother brigham ain arn young and several other miss we were about to take our mission to england we were sick and afflicted many m any auy of us atilia at the same time we felt to go the prophet blessed us as is also our and anti families and I 1 was reading idt a day or two ago his ills instructions from my journal he HO taught us Is som some every very important principles some of which I 1 liero here ri name timia brother taylor myself george A smith john E page and others had b been een called to fill the place ot of those who had fallen away brother joseph laid us the cause canse of those men turning away from the tho commandments men ts ot god lle lie he ito I to hoped b we would won I 1 d learn wi wisdom by what we saw with the eyrand rd the ear and and that thit we wo would be able to discern dis c em the spirit spirits of other men without witha pt be to toleah learn by sad expert experience enie ente e ite ito he ile then remarked that any man mail apy any elder eider in ht this tilis chu church relland and kingdom who pursued a course whereby he would ignore or in other to obey any known law jaw or commandment or duty whenever a man did this neglected any duty god required at his hand in attending meetings filling missions or obeying counsel counse he laid a foundation to lead him to apostasy aposto r and this was waa the reason those they had misused the priesthood sealed upon their heads they had bad neglected to magn magnify if y their calling as apostles as elders eiders they had bad used ti that priesthood lood to attempt to build th themselves up andio and to perform some other work besides the building up of the kingdom of god and noton not only y did he be give us this counsel but the same is given in the revelation of god to us I 1 have cave ever read wi with ith a great agrest deal deai of interest that revelation given iven to joseph smith in answer answer to fis his prayer prayer in liberty jail I 1 have ever looked upon that revelations of god to that man considering tile tiie jow few sentences it includes include am containing as muc mue much h principle as any revelation god ever gave to man ile he gave joseph to understand that he held the priesthood which priesthood was after the order of god after the order berof of the same priesthood by which god himself performed all his works in the heavens and in the earth and any man who bore that priesthood had the same power that priesthood had communication muni cation with to move the heavens power to per from the work of the heavens and wherever any man magnified that calling god gave his angels charge conce concerning ming bing him and his minis ministrations orations were of power and force both in this worl world dand and the world to come but let that man ue use that priesthood for any other purpose than the building lip up of tile the kingdom of god for which purpose it was givenans give nand the heavens withdrew themselves the power pf af the priesthood departs and he be is left to walk in darkness and not in light and this hr lbs the key to apostasy of ofal a men whether in this generation or any other our responsibilities before the I 1 lord ord are great we have no right to brechany break breh kany hany any law that god has given antous unto us the more we do so the less power we have before god before heaven and before the earth and the nearer we live to god the closer we obey his laws and keep his commandments mand ments the more power we will have and the greater will be our desire for the building up of the kingdom of god while we dwell here in the flesh we hareno have no right to break the sabbath we have no right to io neglect our meetings to attend to our labors a ors I 1 do not believe there was any man ever belonged to this church and kingdom bince since its organization has ever made anything by going to attend to h his is farril farmon on the sabbath but if your ox falls 1 into A to a pit get h him in ou out t work in that and right but for us to go farming to the neglect ege of our meetings and other duties de devolving 0 ving upon us is something we have ave no right to do the spirit of god does not like it it withdraws itself from usand 11 we make no money ey by it we should keep the sabbath holy we should attend our meet this I 1 kingdom is advancing it has got to advance and somebody hasiot has got to build it up somebody has got to labor jabor in it the god of heaven has had 4 a people prepared before the world was made for this dispensation he had bad a people prepared to stand in the flesh to take this kingdom and bear it oft off and add tb the e very spirit of the prophets and apostles who have gone before us has been manifested in the lives of faithful men and women from the organization of this church until today to day and will continue until the comin coming of the lord as there are a grat great manyuen and worm worn women en who will live their religion and carry out the purposes of god on the earth it is our duty as apostles as elders and as latter day saints to contemplate to reflect to read the word of god and try to comprehend compre liend our condition our position and our responsibility before the lord if our eyes were opened if the vail were lifted and lyo lye we should see gee our con ou r r responsibility es if we could codi comprehend the feelings of god our heavenly father and the heavenly hea bea venly vonly host hosts sand and the justified spirits made perfect in their watch care over us in their anxiety about us in our lab labs irs here while we are in the flesh we would all feel that we have no time to waste in folly or anyta anything which brings to pass no good all xii U of us a as elders of israel and as latter day saints bear some portion of the holy priesthood either the or it is a kingdom of priests and there is work enough for this people to magnify their calling ca nning fling the lord bord has agreed to sustain us S and to break every weapon that thab Is formed against us he has promised fo to sustain Zio nand nand naud when the prophet saw this zion of gl ged god 1 in the mountains his soul was filled with joy and he cried sing 0 heavens and be bei joyful 0 earth and break forth into singing 0 mountains for the lord hath comforted his people and dud will have mercy upon his af fleter again the prophet says can cn a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on ont beson ye yea yen they may forget yet will I 1 not forget thee abee dori norl has been before the face of the lord since the creation of the world our heavenly father has protected ned led this people we have been favored from the day we set our feet in the valleys of the mountains notwithstanding the tribulation and opposition we have had to contend with all the designs of the wicked and ungodly to ty stop this thwarted the hand band of god is over zion he is our comforter he sus sug bains us and we have every encouragement on the face of the earth as latter day saints to be true and faithful unto him the little time we spend in the flesh our OUK responsibilities ties are great our work is great we not only have the gospel to preach to the nations of the earth but we have to nill fill these valleys towns cities ac and we have among other important things to rear those temples unto the name nume of the lord before the coming of christ we have got to enter into those temples and redeem our dead not only the dead of our own fain farn family fly buethe but the dead of the whole spirit world this is part of the great work of the latter day saints we shall build these temples and if we do our duty there is no power can hinder this work be because causer the lord tord is with us and aud certainly ourilin our oun aim alm is high As a people pepie we aim at celestial glory we aim at the kingdom of god we have been raised up for this purpose to warn the world to preach the gospel to go to the rne rue ekof the earth and bring them to these valleys of the mountains that they may be delivered from the power of sin and satan our numbers are many compared with former dispensations never thel thela numbers are few when compared with the twelve or fourteen hundred millions 0 of f inhabitants who dwell in the flesh still with the help of or god we have power to redeem the world this is our work we are obliged to labor and to continue while we are here and when we have finished our work our sons the rising generation have got to take this kingdom and bear it off eight of khz th quorum orthe ortho twelve apostles are in the spirit world today who were in the flesh when wilen we so they pass away one after arter another when they finished their work lio do you su suppose appose that in their minds and feelings they realized they had done too much I 1 think abill not just so with those who remain in the flesh there thele is no time to throw away and I 1 would to god that the elders of israel could fully realize and the great work that god has put upon their i shoulders the building up of the this kingdom has continued to increase n and spread whence when we came here 33 years ago we found this place a barren desert there was no mark I 1 of the white man here it was a desert indeed hardly a green thin tiling to meet the eye you can ean see today to day for yourselves the inhabitants of zion are a marvel and a wonder to the world they occupy these valleys of the mountains from idaho to arizona the valleys as it were aie ate filled with latter day saints and who are these latter day saints they are the people whom the god of heaven has raised up in fulfillment fulfilment of promise and revelation he has carefully gathered them together by the power of the gos pelby the power of revelation and placed them here in the valleys of the mountains has there ever been any power formed against this people that has been successful nay and this people will never see the day when our enemies shall prevail for the very vety reason that god had decreed do that zion shall be built up the kingdom that daniel saw shall roll dorthi forth until the little stone cut out of the mountain without hands bands shall fill the whole earth the people of god shall be pre prepared Dared in the latter days to carry out the great gramme pro of bhe the he almighty and all the powers of the earth and hell combined cannot prevent them when I 1 see the view that the world lakein regard to this great latter day work when I 1 hear it questioned as to whether god ba has anything to do with it when I 1 see the feeling of hatred that is manifested towards us to tomed md it is the strongest evidence thit that this I 1 is the work of god why because we have been cho eho choen chosen en out of the world and therefore the world baters haters liate us this is a testimony that jew anil and gentile gen tile tiie whole world look at then if this is the work of god what is the world going to do about abdu abou tit tir it what tan this nation or the combined nations odthe of th the earth do about it can any power beneath beneat li the heavens stay the progress pro gres of the work of god I 1 nay pay it cannot be bp done I 1 do not boast of the these there se things as the ther work of man it is ure the wark of the tho almighty it js s not tile the work of man the Lord has jias called men to td labor in his kingdom and I 1 wish the elders would look upon this subject as it i is s and realize our position lefore before me lord here we are a handful of people cho eho choen chosen ed out opt of some twelve or fourteen hundred m millions illions I 1 of people and my faitel fai fal ui in regard to this matter is that before we were born before beford joseph smith was waa bob boi born boru before brigham Brig harm hara was born my faith is that we were chosen to come forth in this thia day and generation and do the work which god has designed should be done that ism is my y view in in r regard neward to the day saints and that is tho the teason why the apostles and elders in the early days of this church had bad power to go forth without purse or scrip and preach the gospel of christ and bear record of his kingdom had it not been for that power we could not have performed the work we have had hau to be sustained by the hand of god until today to day and we shall be sustained until we get though |
