Show SUNDAY SERVICES dents WJ wilford iford woodruff and addressed the saints F smith sunday afternoon w n the ti tabernacle auit bt 1897 the services being 4 presided over by elder angus M can 5 president of the salt lake stake alte the choir sang the anthem behold the arno mountain andain of the lord in latter days shall rise prayer was offered by elder heber choir Eho choir ir further sang beams the sacred dawning of f the great millennial morn WOODRUFFS ADDRESS president wilford woodruff was the abot avot fa speaker he spoke as follows k wt want to say to the latter day saints that I 1 have had quite a desire 15 allate to once m more ore address you upon which I 1 have vane me few subjects upon my mir mind j I 1 nave have been for quite a time under the weather as the saying is not been able to meet with the g nor to do any business a good di deal of the time but I 1 have been of late with a little better health ithe first suba subject act I 1 want to name is vh ti addressing of the latter day sedith in this tabernacle or in hi any other assembly there is nothing more j to me irne than to arise before five ten thousand people and attempt to them when not one in five or ten or twenty can hear what I 1 say jt it to IS very difficult when this tabernacle Is full for any man to make hear in speaking in this tabernacle there are a few to rules which I 1 think every man should observe in the first place he ought to preach to that post to in the center yonder from the unie he begins till he gets through aten a man who speaks from this ad 1 turns to the right nobody on the cao ama hear him and when I 1 turns tarns to the left no I 1 ah artt the right can hear him fr men iben an and d women to sit here r hour without hearing or un ig what lyhal to Is said Is very pain luain on n me brethren and sisters tuf r to this I 1 perhaps am aitt like the rest of my brethren I 1 do not know that I 1 can make this assembly hear but I 1 will do the best I 1 can I 1 was blessed with the privilege of attending the celebration of the introduction of the pioneers into these valleys of the mountains I 1 was very poor in health but I 1 was enabled almost every day to attend those assemblies and on the pioneer day I 1 had the privilege of riding at the head of the pioneer company with several of my brethren the events which I 1 was privileged to witness during the jubilee week were of deep interest to me and brought to my mind a great many thoughts and reflections I 1 had the privilege of meeting in this tabernacle some ten or fifteen thousand boys and girls of the rising generation in the midst of israel among other things I 1 had the honor of being crowned here by a young lady as the oldest pioneer of the valley I 1 looked upon it as a far higher honor than being crowned a king or a prince all that I 1 saw and heard during those celebrations furnished a testimony to me and laid with weight upon mv mind the events of the past I 1 viewed the adorning and the lighting of this city in the evenings with great delight I 1 have traveled something like miles in over sixty years of my pilgrimage and I 1 never saw in any part of the world anything to compare with it it is true the nations of the earth in years gone by have not had those appliances that we have today in so a measure I 1 want to refer to the contrast between beav een the celebration of the entrance of the pioneers into this valley and the entrance of the pioneers itself this celebration brought strongly to my mind god has wrought in these vall leys of the mountains My thoughts turn to the day when we c r entered this valley when I 1 drove president young in my carriage carriaga e he lying dupen upen a bed of sickness we camped here heie on the east of the knutsford we spent one night there president young toung slept in his bed in my wagon one after entering this barren desert and he was quite a sick nian man he said to me in the morning brother woodruff I 1 want to take a walk all right said I 1 A 4 n umber number or of the twelve apostles were thre th re and they got together he commenced to walk from our encampment across this barren desert this sage plain pain without any guide to mark anything appertaining to the future of the children childre of men in this land president young was quite feeble he wore his little green cloak upon his shoulders arid and he walked slowly along As we advanced from below on to the rising ground we came to a certain spot where he stopped very suddenly he took his cane which had a spike in the end of it and stuck it down into the groundland ground and said here shall stand the temple of our god it went through me like lightning I 1 did not insult him the prophet of god by asking him who told him so what was there here to encourage the prophet of god to make a remark of that kind what had he to trust to to build a temple here that would cost four millions of dollars instead of having around him a hundred thousand working men with millions of money in hand he had one hundred and forty men we were sore and tired and weary without any money in our I 1 pockets and still the prophet of god sticks his cane into the ground and says here shall stand the temple of our god I 1 asked him to stop there till I 1 could break a piece of sage brush or something that I 1 could drive down into the place I 1 did nothing else until I 1 put a stake in that spot that he marked with hla his cane and then we went on about our business but when I 1 listened to his words that first night that we spent in this barren deser tand then he told us here was going to stand the temple of our god I 1 knew that man spoke by the spirit of almighty god I 1 knew it from the spirit that was resting upon me I 1 wash wa satisfied it would all be fulfilled what has been the result before you he lived here he laid the foundation dation of that temple and there stood the in the middle of that temple when IL 11 was laid out without any regard to his prophecies or sayings these things rested with great weight upon my mind as aa I 1 looked upon the mighty throngs celebrating the event of the pioneers into the valleys of the mountains there stands that temple today with its spires on top of ft one of which a statue of moroni stands the gospel trump pointing to the throne of god im heaven in fulfillment of the cie of and prophets thousands of years ago those are eternal truths that ought to rest with some weight fight upon the minds of them latter day saints half an hour after the event I 1 have described I 1 heard president young say to samuel brannan who was urging him to leave this desert land and go to california no I 1 am going to stop right here I 1 am going to builds build a city here I 1 am going to build a tempie tempe here arid and I 1 am going to build vt a country here where is the fulfillment of this it is before the eyes of all the etorla today this prophecy has bt been en fulfilled to the very letter president young lived to dedicate the corner stone of this temple ands and to fulfil fulfill all that he had promised he not only built this temple but he dictated and directed the building of the st george temple at a cost of half a million dollars I 1 dedicated the lower part of that house in its first dedication by commandment of the prophet of the lord brother erastus snow and brother brigham young jr dedicated the other portion of it thousands upon thousands of the living and the dead have been blessed ais that temple from that day until the present these are principles of interest to me whether they are to anybody else or not the prophet of godi gob alap laid out the manti temple and he did a thing that perhaps no other man on the earth would have done he removed a mountain at the cost of a hundred thousand dollars to get a place that would suit him tor for that temple to stand on that temple was built under his direction ana brother folsom superintended super intended its construction st not only that temple but also the temple in logan was built by his voice and counsel so long as he lived these things are before the heavens and before the earth and the saints ought ht not TO forget the ble blemings sings which god has bestowed through hla his prophets who have been among us the lord has set HN hand to carry out this great work here we have standing in the state of utah four temples in which the elders of israel are laboring to redeem their dead and the dead of their fellow men these things lio lie with weight upon my mind they did during this great celebration to see the thousands upon thousands come here into these valleys of the mountains fifty years after our arrival it made me feel as though all thop the latter day saints s ought to have faith in god in his promises and revelations por for if there is anything that has taken place unlooked unlocked for to the whole earth it has been the building up or of these rocky mountains by the lat ter day saints through the power ot god but we have performed a works work so far and that too under the dic dictation and direction of the prophets of goa that have been sent among us E T think that we as latter day saints ought to understand our position before the lord and every man that has got the Priesthood every man that has entered into covenants with the lord should never turn his thoughts his affections or his work in any other channel than the building up of the kingdom of god if we do we will miss it in the end when we pass to the other side of the vall vail we have everything to encourage us in the carrying out of the purposes of the lord in our labors it has been a very remarkable period that we have passed through during the celebration of the entrance of the pioneers into the valley and of that which has taken place since we came here I 1 am thankful myself to god that I 1 have lived to see the fulfillment of these promises of the prophet of god they are great testimonies to me that the lord means what he says and says what he means there is another principle I 1 have upon my mind that I 1 would like to speak of the prophet joseph smith taught the twelve apostles tin in my day and time with regard to the principle of revelation the prophet said the elders of israel would have their minds moved upon by the spirit ot of god concerning various things which they might not always understand but if they would follow out that principle and practice upon it it would woula very soon become a principle of revelation to them this is a true principle and by observing it I 1 have been een blessed all my life almost every aaion mission I 1 have ever had in this church has hag been by the inspiration of almighty god to me I 1 have been led to do this that and the other and whenever I 1 have done it I 1 have found the truth of god made manifest concerning it I 1 am here today a living man without heeding that principle I 1 aou would d have been in the spirit world a great meny years ago we all should seek and labor for this principle of revelation and get the mind and will wili of cod it is very easy to do that if we do our duty before the lord I 1 desire to refer to myself a little I 1 in carrying out those principles which have been given me by the prophet of god in the time of the great apos tasy at kirtland when there were so many enemies that held the apostleship and various offices in the priesthood who were at war against the prophet of god I 1 was there up to a certain time right in the midst of that apostasy the spirit of god came to me and told me to choose a partner and go to fox islands I 1 knew no more what was on fox islands than I 1 did what was on dolob but the lord said go to fox islands and I 1 selected a partner and went my partner was jonathan H hale I 1 went through farmington connecticut my fathers father abiding place and preached there on one night I 1 baptized my father my stepmother my half sister and several of my relatives and organized a small branch of the church I 1 then went on my way to the islands when I 1 got to the islands I 1 learned what the lord had sent me there for I 1 found a people that were searching for light and truth without dwelling upon this I 1 will say I 1 had the privilege with my companion of baptizing every man and woman belonging to a bap 1 aist church thereof there of course this aroused a warfare against us A methodist minister came from the south islands and made war against us and I 1 baptized most of the members of uia church in a little while I 1 took a large company of them with me up to zion after I 1 received word from the prophet that I 1 was called of god by revelation to MI the place of one of the twelve now nobody told me to go to fox islands except the lord I 1 asked some counsel about it and went and fulfilled what the lord required at my hands it was upon the principle of revelation it was the same when the twelve apostles went to england they went by revelation and commandment man dment of god brother john taylor and myself were the two first of the quorum to land in england brother taylor went to liverpool and I 1 went to staffordshire I 1 there found brother cordon with whom I 1 stopped and labored we preached every night in the week and baptized quite a number and I 1 thought we were doing an excellent work I 1 went one night into the town hall of hanley to preach to the people before I 1 got up tc speak the holy spirit came to me and told me this is the last meeting you will hold with this people for many days I 1 did not know what the lord wanted of me we did our preaching and we baptized quite a number after the meeting the saints saint asked me where I 1 was going I 1 told them I 1 know I 1 went and asked the lord what I 1 should do and where I 1 should go go to the south was all the answer I 1 got from the lord I 1 got into the stage and rode eighty miles south and the first mans house I 1 stopped at was john ben bows when I 1 got there I 1 found a large number of people who had broken off from the wesleyan methodists and other churches and who had taken the name of united brethren praying the lord to open some door whereby they could be enlightened in the things of god and anxiously waiting tor for the ancient order of things to be as you and I 1 have been in our day I 1 been in his house fifteen minutes until I 1 understood why the lord had sent me the first thirty days I 1 brought all that body of people and many others into the church I 1 baptized them and their ministers too I 1 had in my hands all their chapels licensed according to law we brought into the church over two thousand in eight months and formed two or three conferences and many of them are now in utah some of them bishops in the church I 1 do not name this because I 1 want to take any honor to myself but when the spirit of god tells a man to do anything he ought to do it and then the blessings of god will be with him it has been so with me in my labors I 1 have endeavored to do what the lord has told me I 1 want our elders our young men that are going on missions to learn this principle while they are young learn to get the spirit of revelation you know what is right and what is wrong and the spirit of god will educate our young men in these principles and they will become mighty men in the hands of god if they will but carry this out this to is a principle that I 1 feel we ought to teach and practice we should study constantly to know what the mind and will of god is concerning us and when we do that there will be no division among us but we shall all be of one heart and one mind brethren and sisters I 1 do not feel that I 1 ought to talk any longer to you this afternoon but I 1 thank god that I 1 have this privilege of meeting with you once more in the flesh there are many things I 1 do not understand and one is why I 1 am here at my present age I 1 do not understand why I 1 have been preserved as long as I 1 have been when so many apostles and prophets have been called 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