Manifestations of the Spirit

Beloved hearers: I esteem it indeed an inestimable blessing to be permitted, with you, to listen to the precious testimony that we have just been listening to from our venerable President. I know that the things which he has declared unto us are the eternal truths of heaven that have been revealed to us in the day in which we live. They are no more true from my knowing they are true, or from you knowing they are true, than if we did not know it; or if the wicked do not know it, they are no less true. They are the truths by which the people of this generation will have to be judged. President Woodruff has lived in this Church and in the knowledge of this Church almost sixty years. I have lived in it about fifty-two years. And I wish to say that I also know that this is the work of the living God. It has not been devised by man, nor by any combination of men. But it has been sent forth by the condescension of our Heavenly Father, through our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the ministry of holy angels. The wisdom of men has been brought to naught wherein they have thought that they were of necessary importance in the work of God. He has taken those who were young in years, ignorant of the learning of the world, and has taught them in the knowledge of Himself and of His purposes. This is the highest degree of knowledge that is conferred upon men in the earth, and the human family are going to find it so. ¶

The present is a time when those who are doubtful and who are less established entertain feelings of trepidation in their hearts, not knowing what has been, as some of the older ones do know; therefore they are not prepared to understand, without the revelations of Jesus Christ, what is to come. But there is a philosophy in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ which aids people so that they come to understand the necessity of some things that have to exist. Our children, the rising generation who have been born in these valleys, and the many who have emigrated to this country from foreign nations during the period of our existence here, are ignorant of the persecutions that occurred to the people of God in the States. They have not had a knowledge, and a sense, an understanding, and a conscious comprehension of those things; and they also must be made, by the blessings and providences of God, to come with us to a knowledge of His dispensations, to an understanding of His appointments and of the great truths that have been revealed. True, many of our children have come up in the Sabbath schools and in the various associations, and have obtained a knowledge by the testimonies of the Holy Ghost for themselves. But there are many who have not; and it is pitiable to remember that some are associated with such parentage that they do not have the examples before them which are calculated to bring them to the knowledge of God in their earliest days. ¶

We have had a period of almost unexampled prosperity. While our children and they of little experience have not had a full knowledge of these things, what have been the feelings of those who came from the States here, scattered and peeled, a little over forty years ago, when it was not known that man could subsist in these valleys? The feelings of those men and women are sentiments of the utmost gratitude to God that they were permitted to get away safely from their professed Christian friends and lawless mobbers and have a little rest in these mountains, where we could serve God according to the dictates of our consciences. The Lord graciously brought us out through great difficulties, a thousand miles from settlements, where we were hidden, as it were, from the people of the nation around us. And for quite a season (it is within the memory of some, and precious it is yet) the Lord blessed us to appoint the rulers from among our number, even the political rulers. We were blessed with the best of guidance and wisdom, by men who were inspired with the revelations of Jehovah to teach us. We were united, we were happy, and we knew nothing of drunkenness, and scarcely knew profanity; and blessed as we were in this excellent latitude of superlative health, it was a saying among the people for many years that we were not going to die here of disease. We did not, but died of old age. Presently the avenues of communication were opened up, and all manner of people came to dwell among us, and all manner of spirits and diseases dwell among us. It becomes now a necessity for every saint to have on the whole armor that he may be able to stand for himself before his God, and contend successfully against the power of darkness. ¶

This is our condition today. These things are calculated to put us, in common parlance, upon our metal, to find out whether we are right with God, having fellowship and influence with Him. Oh! if all those who are before me today would have and keep the testimony of Jesus, the spirit of revelation that our President has been telling us of, what would be the consequences? Would there be any difficulties among this people? No indeed! Every family would be living in the light and spirit of that revelation. Each family would govern itself. The Presidency of the Church, the Presidencies of Stakes and the Bishops of Wards, as well as the High Councils, would have little to do in settling difficulties. Why? Because, as the Prophet Joseph said, the people being taught correct principles they would govern themselves. This is what the Lord is trying to bring His people up to, and fortunate for us if we so live as to acquire those abilities of self-government and self-control. I would admonish all that they cultivate diligently the spirit of prayer and supplication. With this vast tide of prosperity, with this influx of wealth and inflation of prices, many men are forgetting their prayers—old and young—and they are having so much business and so much hurry, they cannot stop to pray, neither at morning nor at night. I warn you, my brethren, if you cease your prayers and do not keep that connection between you and your God, you will dry up and be blown away. These influences will contaminate you. They will hunger your soul after the things of the world, and the cares of the world will choke the word, and the Spirit of the Lord will withdraw from you, unless you find speedy repentance and turn to find favor and presence of the Lord again. It is of the utmost importance that we should keep the connection complete between us and heavens. We know when there is a storm, and we put in a telegram to send abroad and we do not get an answer, that there is something the matter—the poles are down, the wire is down, for there has been some storm. But when the wires are in order, the message goes through and we get the answer. Just so it is about our prayers. If we live as we ought to do, the spirit of prayer and supplication is with us, and we are increasing in strength, in faith, and in fellowship with God, with the angels and the spirits of the just made perfect. And these things will be hastened on; according to our diligence and faithfulness, will the purposes of God be brought about unto us. ¶

We have had, to my understanding, a most precious season during this Conference. It has seemed as if the gamut of the gospel has been traced towards us, in every keynote of it, from personal confession up to the highest principles of the gospel. It seems to me that every soul must have been fed; every afflicted, sorrowful one must have been comforted; every tried and tempted one must have felt the benefit of these instructions to refresh his soul and renew his strength before the Lord. I wish to testify that I have been greatly blessed of the Lord. ¶

I obtained the first testimony of the Holy Spirit to the truth of this great work in the midst of what is called the grand prairie in Missouri. I was crossing it on foot one day in November, 1838. I had just heard that the Prophet, the Apostles and the Elders, to the number of thirty or forty, had been taken off to Richmond, Liberty and other places, to prison, and that we need never hope to have them with us any more; for the wicked had determined that they should not dwell with us, nor we with them. I felt as a boy seventeen years old would naturally feel under those circumstances—about two thousand miles from his native home, in search of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God and the servants of God. Right there in that lonely place it was that the blessings and glory of God shone around me, and it was shown to me that we would have them again; it was the work of God, it could not be destroyed, it could not be broken up, it could not be impaired. It was shown to me how it looked to Peter and the brethren anciently when Jesus Christ was crucified, and the Apostle has written for us that his hopes were well nigh gone. When the Lord made this manifest to me, I rejoiced exceedingly, and traveled over that prairie with great lightness and testimony, and got up to associate with the people of God. ¶

That was the first testimony I received from God concerning the work. And during the last fifty years that I have been traveling with you and throughout the nations in preaching the Gospel to this and European countries, I have been blessed with testimonies repeatedly, such as healings, tongues, interpretations, prophecies, revelations, and the still small voice and in divers other ways. I know this to be the Church and Kingdom of God, I know it to be the work of the Lord, just as truly as I know any earthly thing I have to do with; and, knowing this, I feel, and have all the time, to consecrate myself with what little I am and have, to help build up this Church and to advance its interests in any humble capacity in which I may be situated. ¶

You will recollect that some few years ago one among the Apostles had the senseless inconsideration to feel and to say that our Savior was only as another man; that he was tried and convicted, sentenced and executed as any other culprit should be; and you will remember that he was moved out of his place. This thing struck deep into my heart. I was ordained, as you know, here in these valleys, in 1849, being then the youngest member in the Council of the Apostles. But this circumstance struck me all through like melted lead. It went down into my soul, and I thought, what do I know about our Great Captain, our Lord Jesus Christ, our Great Redeemer, and called to be an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. It came home to me with an earnestness that set me at work with prayer and with fasting, and with searching the scriptures, until God in His pleasure showed it to me; and I can say that I know that my Redeemer lives, and He will come and stand upon the earth in the latter day. He came and went through His ministry, until the earth and the inhabitants thereof did what they listed with Him, and when they had done the last thing they could do with Him, He triumphed over death and hell and went on high. He lives there and will remain there until His enemies shall be made his footstool. You and I are called upon to prepare ourselves in body and in spirit, in all that we are, with all that we have, with all that we can control, and prepare our surroundings, for His coming, His glorious return, when He shall bring His ransomed throngs with Him. ¶

No earthly potentates, be he czar, emperor, king, lord or noble, or of any title, has had the prestige and the attention of the human family as has this our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The most ancient time we hear of—in the Garden of Eden—it was said of Him that He should come in the meridian of time, and sacrifices were given and required to perpetuate this knowledge, that He was to come as the great living sacrifice, and by the wisdom of the Eternal and man on the earth it was so perpetuated; and every great man that had any knowledge of God offered sacrifices and perpetuated that knowledge till Jesus came and dwelt in the flesh. These records that President Woodruff referred us to this morning contain testimonies that have come down through the ages of time unto us, and we know that He has come, that He has passed through this ordeal, that He has wrought out salvation and the resurrection for all mankind. ¶

We live in a period of time when people’s hearts are hard. The nation seems to be beclouded. Terrible thought! our nation is filled with lies concerning us. They do not know us. We have not the power to make ourselves known to them. They are unwilling to know. They seem as if they are afraid we are right. We cannot get them even to that first birth, by which they might see the Kingdom of God, much less enter into it. Oh, what a terrible condition they are in! Parts of the United States will not listen to an Elder; other parts are now receiving the Gospel a little. But what has the Lord to say about this matter? We understand, by the revelations, that the great father of lies is the author of this condition of things. He was a liar from the beginning, and he has imposed these lies and false ideas upon the human family, and he is keeping them under that cloud lest they should come unto a knowledge of the truth. What did the Apostles say anciently? That “God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Oh, terrible fate, terrible judgment, terrible consequences; right here in the flesh, without waiting to get out of it, to find the torments of hell as promised by some! For God has decreed that he will sweep away this refuge of lies with the besom of His destruction as promised by his ancient prophets. ¶

This is the condition of the world. And now while it is so that we cannot be heard by the preaching of the Gospel, we say, as our President has said, let us go to the dead. Let us get the records of our ancestry and go to work for them; and very soon we will find that they will be at work for us, as those who are laboring in the holy places do find. This is a work that has to do with the generations of the dead for ages that are past. ¶

The testimony of John is true concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, who was in the beginning, in the creation, and without Him there was not anything made that was made. He had control as He was the character known as Jehovah. When He was in the burning bush he said to Moses, I am Jehovah; and He told His name along occasionally to the ancient prophets and worthies, by which we know that He was the Jehovah. When He came and entered into the flesh, then He was the Christ, and has been known by that name ever since. He is our great Redeemer. And we are commencing the great work of the last dispensation, in which the consummation is to be; when there will come people from all nations, kindreds, tongues and people, and they will praise and glorify His holy name, who hath redeemed us out of every nation, and kindred and tongue and people, and hath made us kings and priests unto our God, and we shall reign on the earth. There is a glorious prospect of triumph ahead, and we have no need to fear, no need to be anxious about the outcome. The thing is to conduct ourselves properly every day under the circumstances and conditions in which we are placed, and abide by every law which God has given us, that we may be sanctified by them unto immortality and eternal life; and if we can attain this, we are safe, we are certain and are founded upon the rock of ages, and it matters little whether we live or die. We shall all go in our time and turn; it will only be a question according to the providence of God, when. ¶

Well, brethren and sisters, I rejoice exceedingly in this work. There is no other thing like it on the earth. Why, the gold and the silver bear no comparison of joy and satisfaction to what does the understanding and knowledge of the truth of these principles and that these blessings that are offered us in the Gospel are certain to come to us, and that we get a foretaste and commencement of them here by testimony after testimony, line upon line, here a little and there a little. ¶

Now, some people think it is a terrible way we are getting on and the way that it is being lorded over God’s heritage. It is but a few days ago that there were men eating and drinking with us at the table of the Lord right here in this Tabernacle; let me ask you where are they now? Is there the wisdom in man, or in any syndicate of men that could be got up among us, that could have drawn the line between God’s people and they who are not His people as has been done right here in the streets of this city? Is it not a presumptuous thought to think that God would give unqualifiedly His blessings unto all, promiscuous as we were? And He has made those that have been selling their brethren for ten, twenty or thirty dollars apiece into the hands of their enemies, to turn and train with those that were like them. This is the commencement of the line which is being drawn between the people and those that are not the people. Is there skill of man that could have done this with as little injury of feeling, as little difficulty of any kind, as this single circumstance? The Bishops know who are their people now. They can go and labor with these people in their Wards and help settle the difficulties among their worthy brethren; they can help many among them who cannot get recommends to go to the Temple and administer for their dead—help reconcile their feelings, settle their affairs in a way that they can go well recommended sanctify themselves, serve the Lord more perfectly, and advance in the knowledge of the truth. ¶

My brethren and sisters, I pray the Lord to bless all these opportunities to strengthen the weak, to encourage the sad and the heavy-hearted; for each ward has people in all conditions—in ease and comfort, sorrow and sadness, affliction and distress. But he who has the testimony of Jesus can stand the storms which shall come upon us and laugh defiance at all the powers of sin and Satan. They may make the heart sad and sorrowful and fill us with pain; but the testimony of Jesus, that makes wise the simple and fills the soul with light and knowledge and revelation, can above it all find smiling joy as they see the light shining out of that cloud behind which He hides a smiling face. May the Lord strengthen us; may we so live as to engage that strength. And let me tell you, while we have had words of consolation, of reproof and of exhortation given to us, there is no word that the Lord has ever condescended to utter in our behalf, whether it be so simple as to say that you should retire to your beds early and rise early, that your bodies and minds may be invigorated, or what you should eat and drink, even up to the higher laws that pertain to the celestial kingdom, which is too trifling for us, or that we can afford to neglect. We must say as Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” Let us understand this, and make it our daily business to raise that kind of bread, keep it on hand and live by it continually. Then the Lord will remember His promises. He will aid us in affliction, send us succor in distress, bear us safely through and count us as His own. May this be our happy lot, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. ¶