There is a principle that I feel disposed to say a few words on, in
connection with what brother Rich has been saying, and that is the
principle of faith.
[The speaker then read the 11th chapter of Hebrews.]
I have taken the liberty of reading this catalogue of blessings which
ancient men of God obtained through the principle of faith; which
principle is as much needed today by the people of this generation,
as by any people at any age of the world. We might continue the
chapter of results and operations of the prin ciple of faith to the
present day. For by faith Joseph Smith received the ministration of
God out of heaven. By faith he received the records of Nephi, and
translated them through the Urim and Thummim into our own language,
and which have since been translated into many different languages. By
faith he made the foundation of this Church and kingdom, just as much
as Noah, by faith, built the ark, and received the fulness thereof. By
faith he prophesied, leaving a record, a testament which has been
given through his mouth to the inhabitants of the earth, and
which contains the revelations of God yet to be fulfilled. The
testator is dead, but his testament is in force to all the world. By
faith the Elders of this Church left their homes and families, and
went, when called upon, to foreign nations without money and without
learning or experience, to preach the Gospel of the kingdom without
price to this generation, and warning the inhabitants of the earth of
the judgments of God which await the world, and which must overtake
the wicked. Faith is necessary on the part of the Latter-day Saints,
say nothing about the outside world, in order to read and believe the
records of divine truth which have come unto us; and it requires faith
on the part of the Christian world to really believe this record, the
Bible—to believe that the Lord, through his servants, really means
what he says, and says what he means. It requires faith on the part of
the Latter-day Saints to perform their duties acceptably before God,
for we, in this dispensation, must walk by faith and not by sight,
just as much as the people of God in any previous dispensation. And
this principle we should exercise and live by. Some of the revelations
which God has given unto us point to the future condition of the
world, and foretell what must shortly befall the world of mankind.
These predictions were uttered by holy men as they were moved upon by
the Holy Ghost; and although the men themselves have passed away, not
one jot or tittle of their words will fail in their fulfillment.
Notwithstanding all the unbelief and infidelity of the modern world,
there is not a man living that can place his finger upon the first
revelation of God to man, from the days of father Adam to the present
time, but what has had or is having its fulfillment as fast as time and
opportunity admit of. God lives. These revelations which have been
given through men who were inspired of the Holy Ghost, will have their
fulfillment, even if the results should effect the destruction of the
generation now living. When Jesus brought the Gospel to his father's
house—the Jews, they rejected him and the words of life he taught
them. He found them intently looking forward to the coming of their
Shiloh in the person of a king, a ruler who should possess great
power, even power sufficient to deliver them from the Romish yoke.
They never once dreamed that he would appear in their midst as the
babe of Bethlehem, who should be born in a stable, and cradled in a
manger, a man who should know sorrow, and who should be acquainted
with grief, and who should choose as his disciples illiterate
fishermen of low degree. And although he was their Savior King who
would have redeemed them, and delivered them, and given unto them the
Gospel of peace and of liberty, yet they in their vanity and pride
despised him, and persecuted him, and at last shed his blood. But was
there a word ever uttered by him concerning their Temple or nation but
what met with its fulfillment to the very letter? The history of the
Jews, which chronicles the days of their glory and power, when they
held the Urim and Thummim, the ephod, the Priesthood, and when they
offered sacrifice, taken in connection with the prediction of Jesus
foretelling their downfall and dispersion, is of itself sufficient to
teach every infidel mind that there is truth in the revelations of God
to man. The Jews have been trampled under the feet of the Gentiles for
the last 1,800 years, fulfilling, too, what Moses said of them; and they have been overthrown as a nation, and led
captive unto other nations, and are held in scorn by the Gentiles even
to the present hour. And you may begin at the beginning, taking, for
instance, those great cities that figured anciently in their splendor
and magnificence, and which were built to defy all time, such as
Nineveh, Thebes, Tyre and Sidon, Memphis and Babylon. Where are they,
and what became of them? They are gone, their history buried as if it
were, in oblivion, and that too in fulfillment of prophesy. Yes, the
words of some poor honest prophet or apostle raised up to declare the
Gospel to the inhabitants thereof, but whom they despised and
rejected, have met with their fulfillment, and the disobedient and
wicked have passed away to be judged according to the deeds done in
the body. And you may trace the history of the world from father Adam
to the present time, and I can defy any man to point to a single
prediction, uttered by inspired men raised up of God, but what has or
will come to pass in its time and season. And if the Gentiles today
would read these revelations of God, and exercise faith in them, they
would no longer wonder when they come among us, to see these valleys,
for 600 miles, filled with cities and towns, gardens and orchards,
temples and tabernacles, and with comfortable dwellings. But the fact
is, unbelief has overwhelmed the Christian world, and man has
spiritualized the Scriptures until there is no faith in him, and he
has no faith in God, nor in the literal fulfillment of his revelations
to man. That is what ails the world today. The predictions of the
Bible never would have been fulfilled, had not the Lord, in these last
days raised up a prophet as an instrument in his hands to again
establish his Gospel on the earth, and gather together the house of
Israel to the valleys of these everlasting hills, according to his
decree to old father Jacob; and his seed have yet to make this western
desert to blossom as the rose, bringing forth "the fir tree, the pine
tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary."
The whole history of this people has been foretold by the prophet
Isaiah, thousands of years ago; and it has been a steady growth from
the commencement to the present. And will the Lord stop here? No;
whether men believe or not, this Zion so often spoken of in holy writ,
has got to arise and put on her beautiful garments; these mountain
vales have got to be filled with the saints of God and temples reared
to his holy name, preparatory to the time when "the Gentiles shall
come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." And this
time will come when the nations are fully warned by the preaching of
the servant of God, and his judgments commence to be poured out upon
the world, in fulfillment of the revelations of St. John. Faith then
is what the unbelieving world needs to exercise in God and in his
revelations to man; but as I have said, whether we do it or not, our
unbelief will never turn the hand of God to the right or the left.
God has restored again his Gospel. He has raised up men and commanded
them to go forth and preach it to the world, and they have been
engaged doing so now for nearly half a century, ever since the
organization of this Church. It was organized by revelation, with
prophets, apostles, pastors, teachers, helps and government, and the
principles of it were taught by revelation, the same as Jesus and the
Apostles taught them, there is no change whatever. The Lord never
revealed but one Gospel to the inhabitants of the earth, in any age of the worlds, nor never will; the Gospel is the same yesterday,
today, and forever, and the principles thereof are faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ, believing that he is, and that he lived and died as a
ransom for the sins of the world; and baptism for the remission of
sins, being immersed and buried in water, by one having authority of
God, that you may rise in newness of life, in fulfillment of the
testimony of Jesus, and then receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on
of hands confirming the believers members of his Church. And when you
are born of the water and the Spirit, you can enter into the Kingdom
of God, and being born of the Spirit, you can see the Kingdom of God.
And such believers, when they receive the Holy Ghost receive the
inspiration and revelation and light of it. Our eyes and ears may be
deceived by the cunning and machinations of man; but the Holy Ghost
never deceives anybody. It bears record of the Father and the Son,
and it bears record in the Gospel to those who possess it. The Lord
never had a church on the face of the earth, from its first
organization until today, unless that church was organized by
revelation, with prophets and apostles, pastors, teachers, helps and
governments endowed with the Holy Priesthood—that power delegated from
God to man, which authorized him to act for God; and without this
Priesthood no man, from the day the world rolled into existence, has
any right to administer in any of the ordinances of his holy house,
neither has any man a right to that Priesthood save he be called of
God as was Aaron who, we are informed was called by revelation. What
is the priesthood for? It is to administer the ordinances of the
Gospel, even the Gospel of our Father in heaven, the eternal God, the
Eloheim of the Jews and the God of the Gentiles, and all he has ever
done from the beginning has been performed by and through the power of
that Priesthood, which is "Without father, without mother, without
descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life," and the
administration of his servants holding this priesthood is binding,
being the savor of life unto life or death unto death. It was by
virtue of this priesthood the twelve apostles anciently went into the
world to preach the Gospel, and it was because of this priesthood
which they held that men, in rejecting them, rejected Him who sent
them and consequently brought upon themselves condemnation. Light has
again come into the world; but men love darkness rather than light
because their deeds are evil. Hence condemnation rests down upon the
world, for the consequences of rejecting the Gospel must overtake the
world in this the last dispensation, just as much as they did in
former ones, in the days of Noah and Lot and those of the Savior.
As I before stated, so say I again, the Gospel of Christ requires
faith all the day long, for no man can continue faithful to the end
without it. God has set his hand a second time to build up that
kingdom which Daniel was permitted to see in vision, and to establish
that Zion in the mountains which Isaiah saw. He has set his hand, for
the last time, to gather together all things which are in heaven and
on earth which are in Christ, unto himself. The day has come when the
Lord has sent forth a proclamation to warn the nations to prepare for
his second coming; and the signs of both heaven and earth all indicate
the coming of the Son of Man, which is near at the door. No man knows
the day or the hour when Christ will come, but the generation is
clearly pointed out, the fig tree is leaving, and great changes are near at hand. Great Babylon is coming in remembrance
before God, and the Lord has called upon the inhabitants of the earth
who are very wicked, to repent of their sins and turn unto him. The
generation in which we live is a wicked and an adulterous generation,
and wickedness and abomination of every kind are increasing, and the
earth has commenced to groan under the evil practices of man. The
heavens are in pain over the disobedience and unrighteousness of the
children of men, and the angels, we are told, are waiting in their
places in the Temple for the time to come when they will be called
upon to go forth and reap down the earth. Judgments await the world,
but they heed not, and apparently do not care. With fire and sword the
Lord will plead with all flesh, and as the prophet has said respecting
this event, "the slain of the Lord will be many;" and these things
will overtake the world in an hour when they expect them not, when
they will be crying peace, but alas, peace will have departed from
them, and they left to devour and destroy each other. All these things
are foretold and many of them are written in these revelations given
in our day, and they are already being fulfilled before our eyes; and
they will continue to be fulfilled, until all that is spoken of shall
have come to pass. Therefore, I want to say to the Latter-day Saints:
exercise faith in God, and exercise faith in his revelations, and read
them and ponder over them, and pray earnestly that you may have a
correct understanding of all that God has revealed, that you may grow
in the light and knowledge of God, and see the importance of living
your religion and of living uprightly before him; for all men, both
Jew and Gentile, Saint and sinner, will be judged according to the
deeds done in the body, and for the opportunities which we have of
informing ourselves of the will of God concerning us, which if we allow
to go unimproved, we cannot be held guiltless. It certainly becomes
us, who have named the name of Christ, to walk uprightly before God,
for we cannot escape his chastening hand if we reject the light we
have received. Our condemnation will be far greater than those who
never embraced the principles of the Gospel, if we apostatize, or
through indifferent carelessness we allow the cares and things of this
world to choke down the good seed planted, we have "tasted the good
word of God, and the powers of the world to come;" we "know the
Master's will," and if we do it not we will be "beaten with many
stripes." The religious world talk about nonessentials, there are no
such things existing in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus. He requires us
to obey the same laws that he himself obeyed, and which he taught in
his day. Why did he go into Jordan to be baptized of John? To fulfil
all righteousness. It was a righteous law, it belonged to him, and his
example is in force to all the world. No man can enter into the
kingdom of God except he is born of the water and of the Spirit. Men
may be judged and their bodies lie in the grave until the last
resurrection, to come forth and receive of a telestial glory, but no
man will receive of the celestial glory except it be through the
ordinances of the House of God. Jesus performed that act that he might
set the example; he was the way for others to follow. The Jews, as I
have said, rejected him and the Gospel he brought to them, and they
shed his blood. They have been paying the penalty of their misdeeds
for the last 1,800 years. It costs something to shed innocent blood, it
costs something to shed the blood of prophets and apostles.
And I have sometimes taken the liberty, before strangers as well as
Latter-day Saints, to express my views in regard to shedding the blood
of Joseph Smith and other prophets. It has cost this nation four
years' war, laying in the dust nearly a million and a half of men, and
it has also cost millions upon millions of dollars, creating a debt
which it will never live to pay. This is the faith of Wilford
Woodruff, and I think I have a right to exercise my faith in this
matter. I say then, it costs something to shed the blood of righteous
men in this as well as in previous generations.
My testimony is that judgments await Babylon, judgments await the
Christian world, and if people will read their Bible, they will see
these declarations written down, and these judgments will increase
until the world is cleansed from wickedness. And I say to all the
world, Repent of your sins, and be baptized for the remission of them,
that you may receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and be
saved in the kingdom of God. Without complying with these
requirements, you nor I can never go where God and Christ dwell,
worlds without end, for these things have been made known to us by
ancient and modern prophets.
Therefore, yours, as well as my eternal destiny, our future position
throughout the ages of eternity, depend upon the few hours, the few
days, the few weeks we spend in the flesh. If I ever obtain a full
salvation it will be by my keeping the laws of God. If I sin against
God and man, I shall have to foot the bill; it will be so with you and
with the whole world. This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ; this is the
Zion of God, and what you see already accomplished in this desert land
is really in fulfillment of the revelations of God. The hand of God has
guided this Church from its incipiency to the present time. God will
continue to direct its affairs, and there is no power on the earth or
under the earth that can ever stop its progress, for he himself, has
decreed that the Zion of the latter days shall never be overthrown;
but on the contrary, as he has said through the mouth of the Prophet
Isaiah, "For the nation and the kingdom that will not serve thee shall
perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted." Pretty strong
doctrine to be taught by a humble man of God. Nevertheless, time will
bring it about and it is not in the power of man to prevent it. I am a
believer in revelation. I am a believer, from the crown of my head to
the soles of my feet, with every particle of spirit in me, that God
will bring about, literally and to the very letter, all that he has
spoken through his servants, ancient and modern.
By way of concluding my remarks I wish to bear testimony to this
congregation and to the strangers present, that Joseph Smith was a
prophet of the living God; he was raised up by the Lord, and laid the
foundation of this Church. He lived to accomplish the work he was
raised up to do. He received the keys of the Priesthood from under the
hands of Peter, James and John, and those pertaining to the gathering
of scattered Israel, from under the hands of Moses, the leader of
ancient Israel. Elijah, or Elias, also visited him and bestowed upon
him the keys to "turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and
the heart of the children to the fathers," which was in fulfillment of
a prediction by the Prophet Malachi. He also received the keys of the
Aaronic Priesthood under the hands of John the Baptist, which
Priesthood pertains to the temporal government of the Church. After
performing his work he sealed his testimony with his blood,
passed behind the veil, and he with his brethren who have also gone,
is still engaged in carrying on the same great work. He still labors
by virtue of this Priesthood which he received on earth, and which he
will continue to hold, worlds without end. And this will be the case
with every faithful man of God who magnifies his calling and
Priesthood here below.
May God bless you, my brethren and sisters and friends, with his Holy
Spirit, and give you faith in him, and in his revelations, that you
may be led to do his will while you live upon the earth. But whether
you live to be thus favored or not, my testimony is that they will
have their fulfillment. Even so, amen.