THE DESERET WEEKLY.
Truth and Liberty.
No. 7. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, FEBRUARY 3, 1894. Vol. XLVIII.
THE POWER OF FAITH.
Discourse Delivered at the Sixty-fourth
Semi-Annual Conference, of the
Church, in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake
City, Sunday Afternoon, , by
PREST. WILFORD WOODRUFF.
-[REPORTED BY ARTHUR WINTER.]-
I have never attended a conference
since I have been a member of this
Church—now nearly sixty years—at
which I have refused, when called upon
by the proper authority and the Spirit
of God, to speak and to bear my testi-
mony according to the light that I had
in me, and I disliked to pass over this
conference without saying something.
I have been in poor condition for public
speaking, having had a severe cold upon
my lungs during the past week, which
has prevented me from doing almost
any kind of business.
I have been deeply interested in the
testimonies of the servants of God who
have addressed us during this confer-
ence. They have laid before us many
great truths. My mind rests upon the
subject of faith. Faith is the first prin-
ciple of the Gospel. What is faith?
Paul, in writing to the Hebrews, under-
takes to explain it. He says that "faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen;" and to
prove this he goes on to tell what dif-
ferent men accomplished through faith.
(See xi chap. of Hebrews.) I look upon
faith as one of the most important prin-
ciples that God ever revealed to man.
Here we have four temples in these
mountains, and hundreds of people are
laboring in them. Who for? Both for
the living and the dead. Why do they
labor for the dead? Have they ever
seen the resurrection of the dead? No,
except by vision or revelation. But
they have faith in it, and as an evidence
of that faith they perform this work.
They look forward to the resurrection
and eternal judgment, to the celestial
kingdom and the great blessings which
God has revealed for the salvation and
exaltation of the children of men. They
do this by faith, and it is by this power
that they have accomplished what they
have during the last sixty years. By
faith this tabernacle has been built,
these temples have been reared, and
these people have been gathered from
the nations of the earth. Thousands of
Elders have been called, not from col-
leges, but from the various occupations
of life, and sent forth into the world to
preach the Gospel without money and
without price. Now for many years
they have gone forth and preached this
Gospel. Men have listened to them,
and some spirit or power has convinced
them that the testimony which these
Elders have borne was true. These
humble men of God have gone forth
and said: "The fullness of the ever-
lasting Gospel has been revealed by the
administration of angels; the Lord has
raised up prophets and inspired men;
He has organized the Church on the
earth as it was in the days of Jesus
Christ and the Apostles; we have
brought you this Gospel; hearken to it,
and we promise you, in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ, if you will receive
our testimony, repent of your sins, go
down into the water and be baptized
for the remission of your sins, you shall
receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, that
shall bear record and witness unto you
that what we say is true." What has
been the result of this? Thousands have
believed that testimony and proved that
it was true. These Elders labored by
faith; they traveled by faith; they worked
by faith. It was faith that sustained
them all the way through. They trav-
eled without purse and scrip, and through
their faith the God of heaven fed and
clothed them, and opened the way be-
fore them. This has been the case now
for sixty years. And many people be-
lieved the testimony of these simple
men. They repented of their sins, were
baptized for the remission of them, in
the name of the Father, and of the Son,
and of the Holy Ghost; they received
that Holy Ghost, and it bore testimony
to them of the truths of the Gospel.
Brethren and sisters, it is by faith that
you are here today, gathered from the
nations of the earth. By that power you
have been sustained, until you have ac-
complished these things that are now
before you in your history. We ought
to look at these things as they are. We
ought to have faith, not only in what is
past but in what is to come. It is by
faith that we look forward to the resur-
rection of the dead. Our forefathers are
in the spirit world. They died without
the Gospel. They never saw the face of
a prophet or an apostle. They laid
down their bodies, and their spirits went
into the spirit world. There they have
listened to the Gospel of Christ. Jesus
taught the Gospel in the spirit world
while His body lay in the tomb. Joseph
Smith, Hyrum Smith and those Elders
of Israel who have been martyred and
who have died for the word of God and
testimony of Jesus have gone to preach
this Gospel there. Spirits in prison have
received their testimony. The prison
doors have been opened. These spirits
will come forth in the morning of the
resurrection, and they will receive these
blessings and glories, the same as if they
had heard and received the Gospel in
the flesh. And these Latter-day Saints
have built these temples and gone to
work in them with just as much assur-
ance of the truth of these things as
though it had been sounded in their ears
by the trump of the archangel of God.
They have had this faith, and they will
not be disappointed.
That is the condition the Latter-day
Saints are in today. As to opposition,
we may expect that, because the arch-
enemy has labored against the work of
God in all ages of the world. But we
have reason to rejoice and to be thank-
ful to our Heavenly Father that we are
as well as we are today before Him. I
want the Latter-day Saints to bear in
mind that the ancient patriarchs and
prophets spoke as they were moved
upon by the Holy Ghost, and they spoke
the truth. The Lord has said just what
He meant, and meant what He said.
The word of the Lord will never fall un-
fulfilled. If you want to know what is
coming to pass, read the revelations of
God in the Bible, in the Book of Mormon
and in the Book of Doctrine and Cove-
nants. The revelations of the Lord
through the Prophet Joseph Smith are
glorious revelations. What the Lord
promised in the commencement of this
work has been fulfilled to the very letter
up to the present. So it will continue.
We should lay these things to heart.
There has been a good deal said with
regard to our temporal affairs. That is
all right. What the brethren have said
concerning our temporal condition is of
importance to us. I still am of the
opinion that inasmuch as Zion is going
to be built up on the earth, it is the
mind and will of God that we should do
something for ourselves. We ought to
cultivate the earth. We ought not to
wait for the world to come and
plant and dig our potatoes, or
plant and harvest our wheat, or
to build railroads and carry them on.
The Presidency of the Church have
shouldered a very heavy load connected
with this sugar factory. Why should we
not make sugar? Utah sends a very
great amount every year out of the
Territory for sugar. This should not
be. The soil is here and the talent is
here to raise beets and to make sugar.
Why should not the Latter-day Saints
do this and keep their money at home?
Is there any sin in this? Not at all; the
more of these things we would do, the
better, I think, the Lord would be pleas-
ed with us. I know there has been
quite a feeling one way or another, be-
cause we have burdened ourselves with
these labors. But it is our duty to try
to get the Latter-day Saints to cultivate
the earth and to produce what they eat
and drink and what they wear. We have
tried to do this. It is true, it cost a great
deal to establish the sugar plant, and the
Church had to shoulder a great measure
of responsibility in connection with it,
in order to carry it out. I do not think
we have done wrong in that. When I
go before my Father in heaven I am
willing to bear my part of the respon-
sibility, because if there is anything on
earth that I was ever moved upon by the
Spirit to do it was to unite in that enter-
prise with my brethren. I believe it is
our duty to manufacture what we use,
as far as we can, at home. We refer to
these temporal things because they are
and always will be connected with us.
I feel to rejoice myself that we are as
well off as we are. There has never
been a period when we have been any
better off than we are today. I look
back to the days when we came here.
We found a barren desert. The man
that led us here was Brigham Young.
He was a prophet, seer and revelator.
He was never destitute of revelation
from the day that I first knew him until
his body was laid in the tomb. He was
a great man—a man of God. We see
the result of his work here. He was
our architect, so to speak. He fulfilled
his mission in a great and wonderful
manner, and when he laid his body
down he went to mingle with his breth-
ren and the Gods.
The Gospel of Christ is true. The
Zion of God is true. We are here in
fulfilment of the revelations and visions
of the ancient patriarchs and prophets.
Read Isaiah, Jeremiah and the other
prophets, and see what they said. We
came here by the revelations of God.
Many of the brethren felt it hard to
leave our beautiful Nauvoo and to go to
the mountains. Had we not done this,
some of the revelations of God would
have fallen unfulfilled. I say to the
Latter-day Saints, have faith. Let us
have faith in the promises and revela-
tions of God. Do you comprehend
what is manifest in the earth today? The
seeds of destruction are everywhere.
The judgments of God are beginning to
go forth. But who acknowledges the
hand of God in these things? I rejoice
that the cloud of darkness is being lifted
from the eyes of our countrymen in re-
gard to the Latter-day Saints, and that
they are manifesting kindness towards
us. Speaking of our visit East, I con-
fess it was marvelous in my eyes to see
how different these things are today to
what they have been in the past. They
begin to see that the people in the moun
tains of Israel are white men, and that
they have some talent. I thank God
for these things. I thank Him for the
kindness we have received at the hands
of the friends of our nation. My prayer
to God is that His blessings may rest
upon our nation and upon the leaders
thereof, and that the spirit of liberty, of
law, of righteousness and of truth may
rest upon all American citizens and
everybody that dwells under this great
government. It is one of the greatest
governments God ever raised upon the
earth. What has it been raised up for?
That in the midst of it the Lord might
establish His Zion and His work.
Brethren and sisters, let us be true and
faithful to our duties and to our God.
Let us look forward to the exaltation
and the blessings that God has in store
for those who keep His commandments.
Every man will be judged according to
the deeds done in the body. There are
laws celestial, laws terrestrial, and laws
telestial. We speak of the celestial
glory and of the heavenly hosts. Who
are the heavenly hosts? They are those
who have tabernacled on this earth, been
faithful to God, and passed behind the
veil. And they are interested in the
welfare of the inhabitants of the earth.
They are interested in the salvation of
the human family. They have labored
for it in the flesh; they do so today in
the spirit world. These are the people
we look to by faith. We are here upon
a mission. We are trying to fulfil that
mission. I hope we may be true and
faithful to it.
I am thankful before the Lord for the
blessings that I have enjoyed in this con-
ference and for the testimonies I have
heard from these Apostles. They speak
as men having authority, inspired by the
Spirit of God, and they speak the truth.
Many of our friends that have labored
with us have passed away. We our-
selves shall pass away in our time. I
may say that if it had not been for the
prayers of these thousands of Latter-
day Saints, I today should have been
mingling with my brethren in the spirit
world. I know that I have been preser-
ved by the prayers of my brethren and
sisters, and I am still with you. I feel
very weak, and hardly qualified to mag-
nify my calling as an Apostle, as the
leader of the people of Israel; in fact, no
man is, only as moved upon by the
power of God. What little time I may
stay here I hope my heart will not be set
on the riches of this world, but on doing
the will of God and uniting with my
brethren in bearing off the great work
and responsibility resting upon us. If
we will do this, all will be right. When
we get to the other side of the veil, we
shall know something. We now work
by faith. We have the evidence of
things not seen. The resurrection, the
eternal judgment, the celestial kingdom,
and the great blessings that God has
given in the holy anointings and endow-
ment in the temples, are all for the
future, and they will be fulfilled, for
they are eternal truths. We will never
while in the flesh, with this veil over us,
fully comprehend that which lies before
us in the world to come. It will pay
any man to serve God and to keep His
commandments the few days he lives
upon the earth. With regard to our
position before we came here, I will say
that we dwelt with the Father and with
the Son, as expressed in the hymn, "O
my Father," that has been sung here.
That hymn is a revelation, though it was
given unto us by a woman—Sister Snow.
There are a great many sisters have the
spirit of revelation. There is no reason
why they should not be inspired as well
as men. We dwelt in the presence of
God before we came here, and we have
been sent here upon a mission, and I do
not want to live any longer myself than
I can magnify that calling. What bene-
fit is it to any man to dwell here and to
miss the object for which he was sent,
even eternal life? Therefore, it does
not pay any man to sin. When a man
sins it is because he yields to the enemy,
not because the devil has power over
him irrespective of his agency. The
devil is laboring for the destruction of
the human family. But the Gospel is
sent into the world to save them.
Brethren and sisters, God bless you.
I am glad to meet with you and to have
a little time to speak to you. I hope
and trust we may be true a[n]d faithful to
the end of our days, that we may be
satisfied when we get through with our
work; that our hearts may not be set up-
on anything that perisheth, but that we
may do what we can to build up Zion
and bring forth salvation to mankind as
far as we have the opportunity while we
dwell in the flesh. God bless us and
guide us all i[blank]l our work, for Jesus'
sake. Amen.