| Show DISCOURSE delivered by president wilford woodruff r at spring springville WM ville tuesday tue aday morning march ath 1889 REPORTED BY ARTHUR WINTER brethren and sisters I 1 feel to say god bless you I 1 am glad to meet with you and to have the privilege of once more bearing my testimony to the gospel of jesus christ and the kingdom of god what brother cannon has told you with regard to the work of the lord is true I 1 have traveled in my day a great many miles with the prophet joseph smith I 1 once heard him say that if he were the emperor of the world and had control of the whole human family he would defend every man woman and child in the enjoyment of their religion no matter what their religion was whether it was true or false he said they had a right to that privilege and the exe exercise of that agency which god had given to the whole human family those were his sentiments they are my sentiments today the revelator st john represented to us that there would be about six hundred threescore three score and six flix different religions upon the earth in these last days the number of the name that was spoken of by him today that number I 1 presume is very nearly filled the whole christian world are as diverse in their views and principles of religion and roads to heaven or hell as the stars are diverse in their position in the heavens and while I 1 would grant this privilege that I 1 have spoken of to all mankind I 1 claim the same privilege for myself and for all our people we have a right to the enjoyment of our religion and belief and to practice the same on the ear earth th and all other sects and parties have the same right inasmuch as I 1 claim this I 1 want to give some of my views and tell you my feelings with regard to the gospel of jesus christ to commence with I 1 will quote quota the words of the apostle paul you are doubtless familiar with paulis paul Is history and know what a persecutor of the saints he once was and how he became converted to the truth and his hia conversion was waa so thorough and complete that he finally laid down his life in defense of the gospel of christ that same paul said though w we or on angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you let him be accursed 11 that was a strong declaration and to make it more emphatic he repeated it now brethren and sisters add mands friends that gospel which paol taught is what I 1 believe in hl it is what I 1 have believed I 1 was old enough to read the new testament my bellef belief la ih that gospel was so strong that I 1 never joined any sed sect or denomination on the earth until 1 I heard a man preach to me that gospel he held the priesthood and he taught me the same gos gospel el that paul taught As many of you may have heard me remark before I went to sabbath school in my boyhood under tar porter in farmington connecticut he and dr haws of hartford conn were presbyterian divines and were considered great men in that day in that sabbath school I 1 read the new testament I 1 learned verse after verse and chapter eh apter after chapter what did the testament teach me it taught me the gospel of life and salvation it taught me a gospel of power before the heavens and on the earth it taught me that the organization of the church consisted of prophets apostles pastors pastore and teachers with helps and governments ern ments what for for the perfecting of the saints for the wort work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of christ till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of god unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the falness of christ these are the things which I 1 learned and they made an impression upon me I 1 believed in them yet I 1 had never heard them taught by any clergyman or divine upon the earth in my early manhood I 1 attended the meetings of almost every denomination there was on one occasion I 1 attended one of those great meetings which were sometimes hold held in Connect connecticut icat at which forty or fifty ministers of various denominations were gathered together they prayed for a pentecostal season and for a good many other things at this meeting permission was given for anybody to make remarks I 1 was quite young then I 1 arose and stepped into the aisle and I 1 said to that body of ministers my friends will you tell me why you don dont donit it contend for the faith once delivered to the sainte will you tell me why you dont contend for that gospel that jesus christ taught and that his apostles taught why do you not contend for that religion that gives unto you power before god power to heal the sick to make the blind to see the lame to walk and that gives you the holy ghost and taape gifts and graces that have been manifest from the creation of the world why do you not teach the people those principles that the ancient patriarchs and pro prophets peets taught while they were clothed with the revelations of god they had the administrations of angels they had bad dreams and visions and constant revelation to guide and direct them in the path in which they should walk the presiding elder said my dear young man you would be a very smart man and a very useful man in the earth if you did not believe all those foolish things these things were given to the children of men in the dark ages of the world and they were given for the very purpose of enlightening the children of men in that age that they might believe in jesus christ today we live in the blaze of the glorious gospel light and we do not need these things f said 1 I then give me the dark ages of the world give me those ages when men received these principles there is where I 1 stood in my youth I 1 did not believe that these gifts and graces were done away only through the unbelief of the children of men alen they were done away when men rejected the law of the gospel of jesus christ turned away from the kingdom of god built up altars to baal and sought to carry out principles of their own and the earth remained in that condition until the lord raised up a prophet in these last days he raised up joseph smith who laid the foundation of this church and kingdom and from that day until the present whenever any one has embraced the gospel of christ and lived that religion the gifts and blessings of that gobdel have been bestowed upon them and this will be so BO unto the end I 1 have traveled many thousands of miles at home and abroad preaching the gospel of christ to my fellow men and in my experience I 1 have never known a man or woman who when they received the gospel with honest hearts and were baptized did not receive a testimony for themselves while in england in 1840 1 was inspired of the lord to go to herefordshire Hereford shire there had never been any elders in that that part of the country when I 1 arrived there I 1 found about six hundred people called united brethren they had broken 0 off ff from the wesleyan methodists they sought for those ancient gifts that I 1 have been speaking about they had been praying to god to open the way before them what was the consequence all of them except one including forty five preachers were baptized in thirty days they received the gospel and the gifts and graces followed them As I 1 said before these are the principles that I 1 believe in and I 1 will say here that this same gospel was with father adam with noah with EA enoch and with au all the sua ancient patriarchs and p prophets ro p h e ta there has been no change and I 1 J say as a servant of god there is no do H change in the eternal and y R ing priesthood it is without beginning of days or end of years it 1 is from eternity unto eternity by the power of that priesthood god glodi our eternal father has organized 41 all worlds and redeemed all worlds world that have ever been redeemed by H that same priesthood men have administered on the earth in the ordinances din ances of the gospel of christ there is no chan change ge to the gospel rf of jesus christ nor to one og of the ordinances din ances thereof and whenever nevO that gospel is offered to the childreth of men it is by the power of the i priesthood no man who has ever eva breathed the breath of life since god made the world has ever r I 1 hai biad the power to go forth and in one of the ordinances of the GO i pel of christ without that priest hood and no man ever will this th may not be believed by many of tf tb habitants of the earth but it to 11 true we have been gathered to theo aba valleys of the mountains by tb power and inspiration of god ih might have gone forth and preached V till we had become as old as methot selah and if the power of the al AI A mighty had not I 1 attended 04 th preaching utah might still ha been beena a desert but the spirit bore record to the teachings of ifft elders of israel and the honest i heart and meek of the earth fo r the gospel and gathered vf to these valleys this is in fulfill 1 I ment of the revelations of goa john the revelator Bev elator in his vision the isle of patmos saw ano gel fly in the midst of heaven naming the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on ob the eartly 4 and to every nation and kind kindred and tongue and people saying VV ww a loud voice fear god and gt glory to him for the hour of ss judgment Is come ap those W have been fulfilled the angel god has visited the earth jand and delivered the falness of the gospel un tb the e inhabitants thereof and they SO receiving it by the power fewer of that t gospel you left your homes and oas to these mountains of israel now paul says that if we af pf any other gospel than ta that at which V taught we should be first principle plia in that Go gospel spells is nj in christ as the savior odthe of the ifft hen men have faith then they are paired required to repent of their sins and be s baptized for the remission of sin alb is what jesus christ taught he set the example himself though ough he committed no sin he ont unto john the baptist and demanded handed baptism of him john the aplist said he was not worthy to do ll it but jesus said suffer it to be 80 now for thus it be cometh us to fall all righteousness after be lug baptized it is necessary that we have hands bands laid upon us 47 men holding the holy priesthood forthe tae reception of the holy ghost wa if you have the holy ghost with ith you and every one ought to have 1 I can say unto you that there is YAO tio greater gift there is no greater eatna eat ng there is no greater teotimo ny y given to any man on earth you have the administration of an I 1 you may see many miracles ou wy see many wonders in the earth jtb but I 1 claim that the gin gift of ule holy ghost is the greatest gift that taa can be bestowed upon man it 0 ay y this power that we have per admed luied that which we have it is that sustains us through all the trials and tribulations abat t borne upon us we also have the ae gifts gift of the spirit among us I 1 oan bear testimony that the sick nave 44 been healed the blind have baade to see the deaf to hear all L the lame to walk and devils hae ave been cast out by the power of wd these gifts and graces have ith this people from the or pulon of the church until the present ot hour there sits sita a man ting to brother philo dibble fifty five while in j years ago Jack county missouri was shot gh the body because of his re ldoa goi if it had not been for the power er of god which was manifest ed ln a hiff big behalf he would have gone to 0 the O grave other men have been 14 like B air circumstances Cum stances the lord has akell eo whom he pleased and when U pleased and preserved in hi life t who hoin M he would preserve ac epding to the counsel of his own I 1 bear record that these gifts to ft levoyed by this people according their faithfulness before god if we e lack these things it is because VS do w not live our religion for if we 4 ill m duty before the lord those will be with us reth fe thren reu and sisters the lord has get 1 haadin hand in of f the cords ww of t the he prophet daniel to es his kingdon once more and aft the be last m on the earth and to dine wa hib 1119 vineyard vi with a mighty og 09 he has called men and A ordained them and sent thorn thom forth to prune the vineyard for the last time before the judgments of god overtake the world these principles are true and if we will do our duty the blessings of god will attend us the lord has set his hand to call forth his church out of the wilderness the world has been in darkness and error from the day that jesus and his disciples died the lord took the priesthood to himself he left the christian and the jewish world without the gospel of christ without a solitary man who had power to administer in the ordinances din ances of the gospel these are the truths of heaven and I 1 bear record of them to all men and you will find that they are true when you go into the presence of god if the lord ever fulfills his predictions it is quite time that he began to have a people on the earth who will acknowledge misname his name theotime the time has como come when god is ie going to perform his work if you want to know what is going to take place i read the bible let the christian world read the bible they dont believe the book of mormon or the doctrine and covenants let them see what the revelator Bev elator st john says is going to take place in the last days read bead of the opening of the seals the pouring out of the plagues the turning of the rivers and the seas into blood and of the death and judge ment that are going to overtake the world john wrote these things as he was moved upon by the holy ghost and his words will come to pass we are living in a great day these mountains are filled with lat ter day saints in fulfillment of the revelations of god the lord has commenced this work and he is not going to leave it I 1 warn all men of that zion is going to be buildup buil tup zion is going to be established zion to is going to be clothed with the glory gorgod agod and the kingdom of god will be like the little stone atone cut out of the mountain without hands it will fill the whole earth and prep prepare tire the way for the coming of the son of man brethren and sisters this is my testimony this is the religion that I 1 believe in have not I 1 a right to believe in it I 1 say I 1 have I 1 say to every methodist to every catholic to every presbyterian and to all you have a right to your own belief we have a little time to dwell here in the flesh I 1 shall soon be called to go into the presence of god and I 1 am willing to meet all the world there with regard to my testimony I 1 know my testimony is true I 1 know joseph smiths testimony is true I 1 know he sealed his hia testimony with his blood it te re quiren his bis blood apparently to sw seal this dispensa dispensation tilon as it did the blood of jesus and the of old to seal their dispensations brethren and sisters I 1 want to see you faithful I 1 want you to be saved in the kingdom of god I 1 want to be saved too what ia gold what is silver what is honor bonor what is the glory of this world it au perishes with the using where are the ancient prophets and apostles they have fallen asleep where are ape the generations that have existed before us they have gone to sleep our forefathers are in the spirit world I 1 shall very soon follow thema them 1 expect so will you our future destiny lie heft on the other side of the vall vail when I 1 die I 1 want the privilege of going where god my heavenly father is and where jesus christ the savior of the world is 19 he who taught the te doctrines that brother cannon and I 1 are teaching you today and that the elders of israel have taught from the commencement of this work I 1 want to dwell with them and with our people who have been true and faithful to god 1 believe god will save all people except the sons of perdition in some glory there i is a |
