It seems to fall to my lot to occupy a few moments this morning; and I
feel to say that this is a blessed place, and that this is a blessed
people, and that they are partaking of a great many blessed things.
If the Latter-day Saints could prize and comprehend the blessings that
are given unto them, and if our minds were enlightened continually by
the Holy Spirit, we should feel ourselves blest and comprehend that we
are made partakers of the greatest blessings which the Lord imparts
unto the children of men—I may say far greater than the rest of our
fellow creatures who now inhabit this earth.
The Lord says, Whosoever are quickened by a portion of the celestial
spirit and abide a celestial law, they shall inherit a celestial
glory; whosoever are quickened by a terrestrial spirit shall inherit a
terrestrial glory. I realize this, and consider that the Lord has
revealed unto us the celestial law; that is, he has given unto us the
fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and has given us a knowledge of
the principles of eternal life. The Lord reveals truth unto the
children of men; by which truth we are to be qualified and prepared
for exaltation. Truth has been presented in its simplicity, so that it
might be comprehended by the sons of men.
As I reflect this morning upon the condition of the human family, and
consider how differently we are situated from the masses of mankind, I
do feel that we ought to be grateful to our great Benefactor. There
are millions of the human family who assemble in various houses, in
cathedrals, churches, and chapels for the purpose of worshipping God;
but is there one of those numerous congregations who come together
with an understanding of the truth, except there be some Latter-day
Saint Elder who is called to preach to the inhabitants of the earth?
Do they come together understanding the principles of the same Gospel,
the same plan of salvation, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, in a way and
manner to make them one?
Now, God could not make a people one with so many kinds of faith and
such a multiplicity of doctrines, diametrically opposed to each other,
as exist in the world. But we are a blessed people: we have the
principles of union and oneness with us; and by carrying them out,
they bind us together and make us one.
It is upon this principle that the Latter-day Saints are blest and
made free. We are delivered in a great measure from those troubles and
perplexities, false doctrines, the darkness, the error, and
superstition by which our minds have been beclouded, until the light
has made manifest unto the children of men that they were in darkness;
for this was the case with us all. Until the light came, we
were groveling in the dark, in a great measure. Though we might be
honest, and we might be actuated by the best and holiest feelings,
yet, until the fulness of the Gospel was revealed, the world were like
the blind groping for the wall. We had no Apostles—no Prophets; we had
no inspired men to rise up and tell us what to do to be saved; and we
had to go through with all that trouble, misery, and darkness to which
the children of men are subject while living under false doctrines,
false traditions, and false teachers.
I have frequently remarked in my life, and I was sincere in the
sentiment in saying that I would rather take a six months' tour in the
Penitentiary than to go through with a six months' conviction and
conversion in the sectarian world, according to their order of doing
business. Let any man go through the ordeal of six months' conviction
and conversion in the Presbyterian Church, and then be made acquainted
with the true plan of salvation, and he will feel about as I do upon
the subject.
Read the history of any man, and read his experience in the religious
world, and you will find that it is worse, as far as the affliction of
the soul is concerned, than as long a time in the Penitentiary. We
will take a Presbyterian revival. A man is called by the sectarian
excitement to get religion. He goes to the clergy—I do not care
whether it is in a synod or in any other place; but suppose that he
has a great desire to seek after the plan and principles of salvation,
and he applies to the clergy, they will tell him like this—You must
surrender yourself to the Lord. He goes to work to pray and fast, and
he is faithful and diligent in trying to give his heart to the Lord;
but he is still in trouble, and he goes to the priest and informs him
of his situation; and the priest tells him all the time—You must give
your heart unto God; you must be willing to be damned and to suffer
all things for the sake of Christ. The minister still pleads with him
to submit himself to God; but he does not tell him the first step
which he ought to take in order to have his sins forgiven and obtain
salvation, but tells him continually that he must do it—that he must
give his heart to God. The result is that the man mourns and weeps,
and by-and-by he thinks that he has committed the unpardonable sin,
and he gets so that he thinks it is the worst sin that he can commit
to pray when going through these feelings and this trial.
I have read the history of many strong-minded men; and besides this, I
know my own history and experience: I know the way the children of men
suffer in attempting to give their hearts unto God; and, as I have
said, as far as the feelings of the children of men are concerned, it
would not be grieving their feelings any more in bearing the reproach
of their neighbors to be sent to prison for crime, than some men have
endured in getting religion.
What is the reason of all this? It is because they have not the same
law—because there is not any man inspired to rise up and teach them
the way to be saved—no Apostle to teach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Now, in the midst of these trials and tribulations, many of you can
remember how many nights and days you have spent in suffering and
distress, trying to give your hearts to God. And when you have been
called into the circle of ministers, have they not called upon you
again and again to come to the anxious bench and get religion? I can
well remember it, although I never joined any church at all until I
joined the Latter-day Saints; but yet I attended meetings, and
I have been called upon day after day and night after night to give my
heart to God, so much so that I would get mad to be told to do a thing
so many times that I was all the time trying to do; for I had a desire
to do that which was right, but did not know how to take the first
step; and those who taught could not tell me how.
Now, had there been an Apostle there to have said, "Go and repent, be
baptized for the remission of your sins, and then I will lay my hands
upon you that you may receive the Holy Ghost, which will lead and
guide you into all truth; it will enlighten your mind in relation to
the principles of eternal life, and it will show you things past,
present, and to come;" how easy this would have been, providing a man
inspired of God had been there.
In relation to these things, this people are truly blest; but the
world are in worse darkness than they were before Joseph Smith
received revelation from heaven. They have gone into thicker darkness,
for the Gospel has been offered to the children of men—to the most of
the Christian nations during the last twenty-five years, and in a
great measure they have rejected it; but before the light came to them
they did not know what to do, for the world were bound up in
ignorance, darkness, and by false traditions, false principles, and
false teachers who gave unto the children of men their erroneous
opinions for doctrines of salvation.
We are liberated from these things: the cloud of darkness is taken
from us, and the light of eternal truth has begun to shine upon our
minds.
Some of this assembly have embraced this Gospel in foreign countries,
and many of us in this our native land; and now we have all come
together to hear preaching, exhortation, and receive instruction in
the things of God, and we have come expecting to hear the truth; and in
this we have not been disappointed, for we do hear the truth from this
stand. We have been taught the pure principles of virtue and
righteousness by the servants of God.
The knowledge we have received has taken from us those troubles of
mind and soul and those distressing feelings which were occasioned by
those false doctrines and traditions that were implanted in our minds
in early life, and that have caused us so much suffering in days that
are gone. Then, I say, it is a great blessing that God has given unto
us the celestial law—the principles of the Gospel that will lead to
celestial glory and eternal lives.
The Lord has for years past been continually revealing the simple
principles that will bring us back into the presence of our heavenly
Father, and which will give unto us a place in his celestial kingdom,
if we abide a celestial law.
We can all see the effects of the establishment of the Church and
kingdom of God upon the earth, and we perceive that the effects of the
Gospel are very different from false tradition and from sectarian
absurdities that deluge the world. The requirement is that men shall
abide the celestial law of God, in order that they may be quickened by
that power and be united by those principles with the Apostles, and
Prophets, and all those beings who have been quickened by it in ages
that are gone, and dwell in the light and presence of God, and be
forever in the society of the city of Enoch and our brethren who have
gone before us, and who have been made perfect by the same Gospel
which we have received.
If we were to go into the celestial world, we should then be actuated
by the spirit that predominates there, and have continually with us
those principles by which we should be governed. We have got
to possess the same spirit and principles in this world, and we have
got to abide a celestial law here, and be united upon the principle
that unites the people of God who dwell in his presence, in order to
get the same glory that they enjoy.
These are the principles that are taught us from day to day, and we
must learn to carry them out, and we must lay aside our selfishness
and all false principles that we have imbibed and that have been
taught us from our infancy, in order that we may obtain the blessings
and power of God.
It is different with us from what it is and will be with the children
of this people. As one of the old Prophets said, speaking of the
gathering in the last days, when they would come together, wake up
from their drowsiness, get to understand principle, and see their true
position, they will say, "Surely our fathers have inherited lies, and
things wherein there is no profit." And it is truly so; for we can
already say that our fathers have inherited lies, and we have
inherited many of their traditions.
Until we heard the fulness of the Gospel, we were filled with
traditions and false doctrines; and the teachers of the day did not
instruct men to walk in the same path, but they were continually
teaching something that would divide men in their feelings, and that
would produce as many different creeds and schisms as there were sects
in the world; and hence we have all the evils attendant upon that
course of life.
This puts me in mind of a circumstance that happened when I was
preaching in Kentucky. I preached upon the first principles of the
Gospel, and at the close of my discourse I gave the privilege for
anyone to ask questions or to make remarks, if they felt so disposed. A
gentleman arose, and I noticed that a great many of the congregation
began to laugh; and I afterwards learned that the gentleman was an
infidel, and hence the congregation were disposed to make fun of him.
He said, "I will not detain you long, but I wish to state to this
large congregation that Mr. Woodruff has taught me more this evening
than I ever learned in my whole life before. From my boyhood I have
been searching into religion; and when I have asked a minister in
relation to the way of life, he would point me to the way he was
walking himself; then I would ask another, and he would point out a
different way; and I might have asked a hundred, and they would all
have pointed out a different road, and they would tell me that I must
be born again. I observed men who were said to be born again, and one
class of men who were said to be born again would take one way, and
another would take quite a different road; and I always marveled at
this, for I did not see any sense in men taking different roads to
lead to the kingdom of heaven. But now this man, Mr. Woodruff, has
told me the truth, and shown me the reason they took so many different
roads after they were born again; and the reason is, because they were
all born BLIND."
This in reality is the case, for many of us have been born again
according to the traditions of our fathers; but those that keep the
celestial law and obey the principles of the Gospel of Christ, you
never find them taking different roads. There is but one right road,
and it is a straightforward one; and the principles and rules that
govern you in that path are simple and easy to be understood. This is
the path for us to walk in, and I consider that we are greatly blessed
in having learned the true way and in being delivered from that yoke
of bondage that has chained us down with error, false
doctrine, and false teachers.
This I count one of the greatest blessings that God has given to the
children of men, to have the plain truth pointed out to them. You look
at the religions of the day, and see their confusion and the mystery
that hangs around them: you may present the truth to them as plainly
as you can, and so simply that an intelligent child might understand,
and still they cannot comprehend it. You ask a man among them about
the character of God, and about his attributes, and what can he tell
you? They will preach about God, about the Son, and the Holy Ghost,
long sermons, to prove that those three personages are one; and when
they get through, they know nothing about it, and conclude it is a
great mystery.
Where is the man or woman that comprehended anything about God or
about eternity until Joseph Smith revealed the fulness of the Gospel?
I could read of those things in the Bible which we now believe in and
receive; but I was surrounded by the traditions of the world and could
not comprehend them.
We are now taught, from time to time, the plain principles of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ—the plan of salvation—the way to live in order
to have the approbation of our Father in heaven. Is not this a
blessing above all blessings? If this people could comprehend their
blessings, they never need have an unhappy moment. If this people
could comprehend the position they stand in and their true
relationship to God, they would feel perfectly satisfied, and they
would realize that our heavenly Father is merciful unto us, and that
he has bestowed great and glorious blessings upon us.
When we consider that we can come into this Tabernacle and sing, pray,
preach, exhort, and bless, and that there is no sheriff standing at
our doors with writs to arrest us, we may consider these things as
blessings from the hands of the Almighty; for they are such.
As brother Brigham, brother Heber, and many others have said, there is
not a man that is capable of entering into the celestial kingdom of
God who is not willing to receive the instructions of his brethren and
abide the law of God. There is not a man in this kingdom, who has got
the right spirit within him, but who thanks God for the mountains and
for the five hundred miles of sage plains that lie between us and the
homes of our enemies.
The hand of God has been visible in bringing us here, and it has been
visible with us all the time, as far as we have taken the counsel that
has been given us. These are truths that cannot be disputed.
I feel comfortable and truly thankful in my mind for the blessings
bestowed upon us, and I feel to pray that we as a people may increase
in the knowledge of God and of the laws of his kingdom, and in the
knowledge of all those principles that lead to glory, to exaltation,
and eternal lives, and that will lead us back to our Father in
heaven. The troubles of the children of men are very numerous, but a
great many of them are borrowed. I believe two-thirds of the troubles
of men are borrowed. It appears to be a natural gift, or it seems
natural to us to borrow trouble; and it is a good deal so with our
blessings: we look forward to some future time when we are going to
enjoy great and glorious blessings, but our blessings are at the
present time. This is the time that we should enjoy the blessings that
God has given us. We should rejoice today, and be happy today, and
feel to thank the Lord for the blessings that he has put into our
hands; and as to borrowing troubles, we should let them all pass; for
it is sufficient for us to pass through troubles and trials
when they are upon us; and if we pursue this course, we may escape a
great many imaginary, trying, and perplexing scenes.
Many of us have expected trouble this winter from enemies; and it did
appear as if trouble was inevitable, to look at things naturally. We
may look at things as they may approach us next summer, and we may
expect that our enemies will seek to destroy us; and in fact I do not
doubt but that it is now in the hearts of the children of men to
concoct schemes for our destruction; for we know they desire to have
this people blotted out of existence. They have not the Spirit of God,
but they are in worse than midnight darkness; and the consequence is,
they do not delight or desire to see anybody live upon the earth who
will serve God and carry out his purposes. They are afraid of the
power of true religion and of the consequences that must necessarily
arise; and hence they feel to say in their hearts, There shall not a
kingdom be upon the earth that belongs to God.
This is the feeling of our enemies; for they are stirred up by Satan
to root out every principle of righteousness and truth from the earth.
Can they do this? No, they never can. Why not? Because God reigns,
governs, and controls the ship of Zion, and he has established the
principles of eternal truth upon the earth, and they do dwell in the
hearts of the children of men, and they will bring forth fruit to the
honor and glory of God. We do know and understand that this kingdom
will not be given to another people; for it is established with a
promise never to be given to another people: but, with the light of
the Holy Spirit, we shall subdue our enemies and overcome every
obstacle. It is our duty to be continually increasing in faith, that
we may be enabled to call upon the Lord with acceptance, and that we
may stay our enemies and hedge up their way; and let us pray for them,
and let us continue to believe that, if we do as we are told, we can
accomplish whatever we are united upon; and be assured that the Spirit
of God will not lead us to unite upon anything that is evil.
We know it is right to establish a kingdom of God upon the earth, and
we know it is right to establish in the hearts of men the principles
of life and salvation which God has revealed through Joseph the
Prophet.
If we will do our duty and listen to those that are set to lead us, we
shall find that the hand of God will be over us for our good, and it
will be against those that are planning for our destruction; and God
will strengthen and uphold this people until the day comes for the
kingdom of God to spread itself abroad, and until the law of God is
issued forth from Zion. We shall find that this will be the case; and
inasmuch as we have these privileges and this faith, as Saints of the
Most High, we should prize them and lay hold of them with one united
heart, and not consider that the battle is to the strong or the race
to the swift; for the Lord holds the destinies of all, and we are in
his hands.
I do feel thankful to see the spirit of peace and the spirit of
cleansing here at home. I am thankful that I see the time when wicked
men do not delight to dwell here in Utah, and I do feel that the
righteousness, the conduct, and the acts of this people in general
will be such that it will be a hot place for wicked men.
It is our duty to live in this manner so that we can ferret out
iniquity wherever it exists. Men that come here to seek for our gold
and silver find that it is now too hot for them. The day has now come
that they cannot bear the burning heat of Zion, and I am glad
of it; and I also hope that we may still increase, for there is still
room for more improvement. We speak of improvement, and truly there
has been a great improvement in the midst of this people; but there is
still room for great advancement to be made, for many of us are still
a long way short of being prepared for the celestial kingdom and of
having the reward promised to celestial and exalted beings.
There is great room for every man to labor and to improve his life,
that he may be prepared to meet our Father in heaven and to enjoy the
same glory that those participate in who are heirs to the celestial
kingdom of God. Notwithstanding these things are before us, I fear
that we do not sufficiently appreciate them; but we must learn to so
order our lives that we shall be ready at any moment to respond to any
and every call that may be made upon us.
We feel at home here, and we feel that this is the place for us; and
my constant prayer to God is that we may not only enjoy, but that we
may prize the privileges that are afforded us—prize the day that we
live in, and the City of Great Salt Lake where we dwell.
Those who have been here for years past do not realize the difference
that there is between this place and the world; but I can tell you
that, with the wicked, it is one continual scene of blasphemy and of
every species of wickedness that is calculated to lead the mind down
to death and to lead men and women from the way of life, and from the
holy Gospel of Jesus Christ, and from everything that is calculated to
produce holiness and purity in the human mind.
The power that predominates here has a tendency to lead us in the path
of virtue and rectitude and to unite us together: it will lead us to
obey the law of heaven and to carry out those principles that we are
taught day by day. In this way we can do right and have the
approbation of our heavenly Father; and then he will preserve us from
all our enemies, whether they be few or many; and though the whole
world be arrayed against us, the Lord will as sure preserve us and
make a little one a great nation as he delivered Israel out of
Egyptian bondage; and this kingdom will become, as Daniel has seen it,
a great mountain, and fill the whole earth.
These and all the blessings and promises which he has given will be
fulfilled in their time and in their season; which may the Lord grant
for Christ's sake. Amen.