WILFORD WOODRUFF
4th President of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
April 7, 1889 – September 2, 1898

President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (October 10, 1880 – April 7, 1889)

Member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (April 26, 1839 – April 7, 1889)

General Conference Addresses

  • April 1898 General Conference
    • Opening Remarks
      • “My prayer to God is that His blessing may be over us, that our minds may be open to comprehend our duties, our blessings, and those things which are required at our hands; that we may be true and faithful in our labors while we dwell in the flesh, so that when we get through we may be satisfied with our labors here, and be justified when we are called to give an account of the deeds done in the body.”
    • Personal Experiences
      • “What can you do without revelation? We cannot do the will of God and accomplish what is required of us without it.”
    • Christ to Come
      • “Joseph Smith was full of revelation. He foresaw this people, and this work until it was
        wound up. My prayer to God is that we may pursue such a course that we may enjoy and receive all these blessings, and our posterity after us.”
    • Historical Incidents
      • “Every one of those men that signed the Declaration of Independence, with General Washington, called upon me, as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the Temple at St. George, two consecutive nights, and demanded at my hands that I should go forth and attend to the ordinances of the House of God for them. Men are here, I believe, that know of this. Brothers J. D. T. McAllister, David H. Cannon and James G. Bleak. Brother McAllister baptized me for all those men, and then I told those brethren that it was their duty to go into the Temple and labor until they had got endowments for all of them. They did it. Would those spirits have called upon me, as an Elder in Israel, to perform that work if they had not been noble spirits before God? They would not.”
  • October 1897 General Conference
    • Opening Remarks
      • “The hand of the Lord has been with this people and with the Elders of Israel, and will continue to be. The Lord is in earnest, in fulfillment of His promises from the creation of the world down to this day, with regard to His dispensations to man. I hope and trust that while we dwell in the flesh we all may realize and understand this.”
    • Labor for Zion
      • “It has been good to serve the Lord, good to honor God and to obey His commandments. No matter what we may be called to do, or what office we may be called to fill, if we trust in God and do our duty, we will be carried through.”
      • “I cannot sin, you cannot sin, we cannot turn from the commandments of God in anywise, but we are the losers by it.”
    • Closing Remarks
      • “I prophesy, in the name of Israel’s God, the day has come when the mouths of Wilford Woodruff, George Q. Cannon, Joseph F. Smith, and these Twelve Apostles, should not be closed because of the opinions of the children of men. There have been feelings that these men holding high positions—the Twelve Apostles and Presidency—should say nothing about politics. I want to say to you here, the day has come when God Almighty requires at your hands to unite together in your temporal business, and in your politics, so far as it is wisdom. I do not care whether a man is a Republican or a Democrat, in that he is free; but it is your duty to unite in electing good men to govern and control your cities, your local affairs, and I will state that when you do not do this you are losers of the blessings of Almighty God.”
  • October 1881 General Conference
    • The Channels of Communication
      • “Now, my brethren and sisters, those of us who are left here have a great work to do. We have been raised up of the Lord to take this kingdom and bear it off. This is our duty; but if we neglect our duty and set our hearts upon the things of this world, we will be sorry for it. We ought to understand the responsibility that rests upon us. We should gird up our loins and put on the whole armor of God. We should rear Temples to the name of the Most High God, that we may redeem the dead.”
  • April 1881 General Conference
    • The Saints Have Cause to Rejoice
      • “I say to the Latter-day Saints, let us be faithful; let us keep the commandments; let us not renounce a single principle or command which God has given to us.”
  • October 1880 General Conference
    • Responsibility of the Saints
      • “It will not pay us to apostatize; neither will it pay us to sin, it costs ten thousand times more than it is worth from beginning to end. Therefore, let us be true and faithful to God.”
  • April 1880 General Conference
    • Performing the Work of God
      • “It is time for us te repent and turn away from all our evils. The responsibility of carrying forward this Kingdom is upon the shoulders of the Latter-day Saints.”
    • Friends of God
      • “If the Lord has any friends on the earth they are the Saints of God, and if the Saints of God have any friends anywhere, they consist of the God of Israel and the heavenly hosts, and the spirits of just men made perfect.”
      • “If half of this church were to fall away, it would not destroy the purposes of the Lord.”
  • April 1878 General Conference
    • Coming Glory of Zion
      • “I know we live in a day of infidelity; I know that darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the minds of the people; I know that the Lord is angry with the wicked, and withholding his Spirit from the inhabitants of the earth; I know that light has come into the world, and that men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. But as a servant of the living God I will say that, notwithstanding all the unbelief of this wicked generation—the Christian, the Jewish and the pagan world, together with the combined efforts of the devil and wicked men, the fulfillment of the purposes of God in their times and seasons cannot be frustrated. These volumes of revelation are written on the pages of divine truth as in letters of fire, and they will have their fulfillment whether men believe or disbelieve, for they are the words of God.”
  • April 1876 General Conference
    • Infidelity of the Christian World
      • “If we are not keeping the commands of the Lord can we claim his blessings? We cannot; and this is matter for reflection for the Latter-day Saints.”
      • “There is no man or woman so poor but what he or she can obey the Gospel.”
  • October 1875 General Conference
    • The Resurrection
      • “The testimony of the Spirit of God to me is that this whole kingdom, this great kingdom of Priests, this forty thousand men in these mountains of Israel, who have borne the Priesthood, have thoroughly fulfilled one part of the parable of the ten virgins. What is that? Why, that while the Bridegroom has tarried we have all slumbered and slept; as a Church and kingdom we have slumbered and slept, and the word of the Lord to me is that we have slept long enough; and we have the privilege now of rising and trimming our lamps and putting oil in our vessels. This is the word of the Lord to me.”
      • “It is our duty to cease shaking in our shoes for fear the Lord Almighty should give some of his words to govern and control us in our temporal affairs. Who, to use a comparison, expects to have a forty-acre lot alone in the kingdom of God, or in heaven, when we get there? None need expect it, for in that kingdom, in heaven or upon earth, we shall find unity, and the Lord requires at our hands that we unite together, according to the principles of his celestial law.”
  • October 1874 General Conference
    • The Gospel of Christ Unpopular
      • “We would not persecute, abuse, or quarrel with any man because of his religious views. A man’s religion, let it be what it will, is between him and his God. He is going to the eternal world, and he will receive his reward, and there is no reason or use in quarreling about religion, and we have never felt to do this in our lives.”
    • Saints Are Chosen
      • “It does not make any difference what we as a people may be called to pass through. Men can go no further than they are permitted by the Lord.”
      • “If we unite ourselves according to the law of God we shall have far more safety than if we turn away from the commandments of the Lord and set our hearts upon the things of this world. If we forget God we are liable to be scourged.”
      • “It is our duty as a people to unite together and not to be slothful in well doing.”
  • April 1874 General Conference
    • Union is Strength
      • “Is salvation, is eternal life worth a yoke of cattle, a house, a hundred acres of land, or anything that we possess here in the flesh? If it is, we certainly ought to be as ready to permit the Lord to govern and control us in all our temporal labors as we are in our spiritual labors.”
  • October 1873 General Conference
    • Unchangeableness of the Gospel
      • “This is the great dispensation in which the Zion of God must be built up, and we as Latter-day Saints have it to build. People think it strange because so much is said with regard to this. I will tell you Latter-day Saints, and the Christian world too, our work will fall short, we will come short of our duties, and we never shall perform the work that God Almighty has decreed we shall perform unless we enter into these temporal things.”
  • April 1873 General Conference
    • The Gospel Embraces All Truth
      • “There is no man or woman who has ever lived on the earth and kept the commandments of God who will be ashamed of, or sorry for it, when they go into the presence of God.”
  • April 1872 General Conference
    • Advice to Mothers
      • “The Lord never created this world at random; he has never done any of his work at random.”
      • “Our children should not be neglected; they should receive a proper education in both spiritual and temporal things. That is the best legacy any parents can leave to their children.”
    • Comprehensiveness of the Latter-day Work
      • “The question might be asked, why was the appearance of Joseph Smith given to Brigham Young? Because here was Sidney Rigdon and other men rising up and claiming to be the leaders of the Church, and men stood, as it were, on a pivot, not knowing which way to turn. But just as quick as Brigham Young rose in that assembly, his face was that of Joseph Smith—the mantle of Joseph had fallen upon him, the power of God that was upon Joseph Smith was upon him, he had the voice of Joseph, and it was the voice of the shepherd. There was not a person in that assembly, Rigdon, himself, not excepted, but was satisfied in his own mind that Brigham was the proper leader of the people, for he would not have his name presented, by his own consent, after that sermon was delivered. There was a reason for this in the mind of God; it convinced the people. They saw and heard for themselves, and it was by the power of God.”
  • April 1867 General Conference
    • Necessity of Unity in Faith and Practice
      • “We have to build up Zion, a temporal work here upon the face of the earth, and we have got to establish righteousness and truth. When I say a temporal work, I speak of temporal things. The Zion of our God cannot be built up in the hearts of men alone. We have to build up temples and cities, and the earth has to become sanctified and to be made holy by the children of God who will dwell upon it, and to do this we must be united together.”
  • April 1862 General Conference
    • Exhortation to Obedience to Counsel
      • “It is the privilege of every man and woman in this kingdom to enjoy the spirit of prophecy, which is the Spirit of God; and to the faithful it reveals such things as are necessary for their comfort and consolation, and to guide them in their daily duties.”
  • April 1857 General Conference
    • The Latter-Day Work, Etc.
      • “The reproofs of a friend are far better than the kisses of an enemy.”
      • “Let us make up our minds to do right, and let our union increase, and truly follow the men God has set to lead us. There is where our salvation lies.”
      • “Let us prepare ourselves, so that, in whatsoever we are corrected, we may be passive in the hands of the servants of God, and thank the Lord; for whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son and daughter he receives.”
    • Necessity of Adhering to the Priesthood, Etc.
      • “I hope we may all pursue the course laid down for us by the servants of the Lord; for, if we do this, I know that we shall be safe in this world, and secure happiness and exaltation in the world to come.”
      • “If the Prophet of God should tell me that a certain principle or theory which I might have learned was not true, I do not care what my ideas might have been, I should consider it my duty, at the suggestion of my file leader, to abandon that principle or theme. Supposing he were to say the principles by which you are governed are not right—that they were incorrect, what would be my duty? I answer that it would be my duty to lay those principles aside, and to take up those that might be laid down by the servants of God.”
  • October 1856 General Conference
    • The Facilities Afforded, Etc.
      • “We should learn a lesson by this handcart operation as we should by every other operation of the servants of God. I know how it looks to the Saints, but “Mormonism” to men that have not the Spirit of God is a great mystery and a strange work indeed, they do not understand the ways or work of God; it looks to them like leading the people to destruction; but in all cases where destruction comes in all ages of the world, it is where the counsels of the Prophets of God are not fully carried out, but where the people deviate in some measure from their counsel. And this was fully manifest in the days of the ancient Prophets as well as in our day.”
      • “The word of the Lord and the words of His servants have been proved many times, and that before our eyes; our leaders were led by the Spirit of God, and I can bear testimony that our Prophets and leaders have the Spirit of the Lord, and they are clothed upon with the holy Priesthood of God, and all the powers and keys thereof, and with the holy anointing, and are fully authorized and qualified to build up the kingdom of God upon the earth; they are inspired by the very same spirit that the ancients were; they want to build up the kingdom of God, this is their object.”
      • “The Presidency of the Church are calling upon us as a people to repent and put off our sins. It is right, it is just that we should awake and reform, for we have got to have the same spirit; we have to wake up from the deep sleep and slumbering condition in which we find ourselves. We must arise to a sense of our position and to understand the signs of the times, and become acquainted with what the Lord requires at our hands.”
      • “We as a people should be humble, be prayerful, be submissive to the powers that be, that we may receive the promised blessings of our Heavenly Father.”
      • “I will tell you how I feel about it; men bearing the Priesthood of God, it is a solemn truth, and you know it as well as I do, that almost all the male members in this land bear the holy Priesthood of the Most High, and yet at the same time we have had more stealing, more lying, more swearing in one year than there should have been in a thousand; we have had more stealing here in Utah than has been for our credit, and when you have taken up that you may also take up every other sin and pile them up together and what is our condition before God? Why, we have violated our covenants which we made at the waters of baptism. What is the use then of our saying that we have been righteous, that we have been holy, when we have actually been in a sound sleep, when we have been so much out of the way? It is no use whatever, and the time of sifting and purifying the Saints has come, and for one I am willing to put on the garment, and keep it on, until we burn out all the evil that exists.”
      • “It is our duty, brethren, to live in that way and manner before our God, that we will find no difficulty in administering in any of the ordinances of the kingdom of God; we should live so that the spirit and power of the Holy Ghost will rest down upon us; we should humble ourselves before the Lord in our closets, and live day by day, so that we can know what is right and what is wrong, and when the Presidency give us any instruction or charge, to live so that we will be ready to follow their counsel.”
      • “I know that I can take the reproof to myself, and I consider that it is one of the greatest victories for a man to gain, to learn how to control himself. Show me a man that does control himself and I will show you a safe man; or a man that has prepared himself by this principle is on the road to salvation. A man that is prepared to lay all that he hath upon the altar, and his life with it, for the Gospel’s sake and the kingdom of God, is in the right way, but the moment that we teach a doctrine that we do not practice we show our weakness. The moment a man or a woman becomes angry they show a great weakness, and so it is with any of us when we do anything wrong.”

Other Reported Addresses

  • The Work of God, Discourse in Salt Lake City, May 6, 1870
    • “All this internal work is left for the Holy Ghost to reveal to the living oracles, as they guide, lead, dictate and direct the people day by day. This is one thing I want to say to my friends and to the Saints of God, that without the Holy Ghost, without direct revelation and the inspiration of God continually, Brigham Young could not lead this people twenty-four hours. He could not lead them at all. Joseph could not have done it, neither could any man. This power is in the bosom of Almighty God, and he imparts it to his servants the prophets as they stand in need of it day by day to build up Zion.”
    • “I fear not the world. We are the only people under heaven who are one, and we are not half as much one as we ought to be; we have to improve. We are the only people in the whole Christian world who make any pretensions to oneness in building up the Zion of God on the earth. We profess to be one in the Gospel, and we have to become so in temporal matters. We have to become of one heart and mind in giving attention and obedience to the counsel of God in all things, both spiritual and temporal. Zion has got to advance; she has got to rise and shine and put on her beautiful garments. She is advancing and has been from the time of the organization of this Church, and she will continue to do so until the winding up scene.”
    • “The only thing we need fear is that we shall not keep the commandments of the Lord.”
    • “The Prophet Joseph was called an idler and a gold digger. We have been called a great many things—such as lazy, indolent, and many other things discreditable. Why, every man possessing reason and judgment, who knows anything about the Territory of Utah, will at once pronounce such assertions nonsensical, for this city and every portion of the Territory bear witness to the untiring labor and industry of the Latter-day Saints, and the people, as a general thing outside, are beginning to give up the idea that we are an idle people. They formerly found a great deal of fault with Joseph Smith, because they said he was a gold digger; but since then nearly all the Christian world have turned gold diggers. Hundreds of thousands of them have run into this western country to dig gold; and, while they formerly found fault with us for digging gold they have lately found fault because we do not dig it. I hope and trust that all the accusations of wrong brought against us in the future will be as groundless as those of the past. Let us show our faith by our works, let us show to the Lord our God that we have faith and confidence in his word and works.”
  • Inspiration and Teachings of the Spirit, Remarks in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, March 22, 1857
    • “When the Elders proclaimed the Gospel unto you; those of you who are here received that word, meditated upon it, so much so that you have been willing to forsake all that you possessed and come to Zion. The seed has produced good fruit; it has caused you to come to Zion; but there are millions of the masses who heard the Gospel, but they have hardened their hearts and darkness has taken hold of their minds, and hence they have rejected the Spirit of God which has striven with them: they, in acting upon their agency, have given way to seducing spirits and rejected the Gospel of Christ, and consequently the Spirit of God has been withdrawn from them; and because of this the Lord has been taking his Spirit from the nations of the earth. We see the fruits of it. It needs no argument to prove a truth so visible.”
    • “We should not only reprove ourselves when wrong, but we should reprove sin wherever we see it, whether in ourselves, in our streets, or in our quorums. We should always show our disapprobation of those that are wrong—that are sinful and wicked.”
  • Intelligence Comes From God, Etc., Discourse in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, February 22, 1857
    • “We realize that the minds of this people need feeding continually, and we all have to depend upon the Holy Spirit and the Lord to feed our minds from that inexhaustible fountain of intelligence which comes from God, for we cannot obtain food from any other source to feed the immortal mind of man. Here are a large assembly of minds who are reaching forth to receive light and truth before the Lord.”
    • “A great many people have tried to seek for happiness independent of first seeking the kingdom of heaven, &c., but they have always found it an uphill business, and so shall we if we try it.”
    • “Trusting in the Lord in these days is an unpopular business with the world.”
    • “By pursuing this course we shall be prospered, and have continual peace in our minds, and as the Lord has said, nothing will be withheld from any man that seeks for the righteousness and blessings of the kingdom of God. Salvation should be the uppermost thing with us, and you will find if ever we seek to do something else besides carrying out the dictates of the Holy Spirit, we will get into the fog and into darkness and trouble, and we shall be ignorant of the way we are pursuing. Every day that we live we need the power of the Lord—the power of His Holy Spirit and the strength of the Priesthood to be with us that we may know what to do. And if we will so live before the Lord, the Spirit will reveal to us every day what our duties are; I do not care what it is we are engaged in, we should first find out the will of the Lord and then do it, and then our work will be well done and acceptable before the Lord, but if we take a course against light and against the Spirit of God, we will find it an unprofitable road to travel.”
    • “Brother Wells has said, why the world is troubled about us is because we are united. This is true; the world and the devil are afraid of it, and he has labored all his life to divide everything where righteousness dwelt, or at least ever since he was cast out from the presence of God, what he did before that I cannot say any further than what is revealed. We have got to be one and labor together to build up this kingdom because we cannot establish it upon any other principle.”
  • Necessity of Obeying the Instructions, Remarks in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, January 25, 1857
    • “If we act up to our privileges as a people, we have no more time to lose or to spend in an unprofitable manner. We should not act indifferently with regard to the blessings which the Lord is offering unto us, and which we have the privilege of obtaining; we should labor with all our might to build up the kingdom of God, that we may secure unto ourselves every blessing necessary for our salvation. We live in an important day; it is a day of mercy and a day of great blessings unto us as a people, and we should appreciate it as such.”
    • “I realize that it is the duty, not only of us who hold the Priesthood but of this people generally, to present ourselves in humility and faith before the Lord, that we may obtain the blessings which are in readiness for us, and we can obtain all the light, the knowledge, the faith, the intelligence and power which is necessary for our salvation by humility, obedience, and submission to the will of God.”
    • “If I do not enjoy the Holy Spirit, there is something the matter, and I should labor until that is removed, for I consider that to be the first turning key, and we should do this to prove that we are honest before the Lord, and that we desire to do right in our minds and in our hearts. Yet, as I have said before, unless that Spirit is with us, we do not know whether we are doing right or wrong.”
    • “If we walk in the paths of unrighteousness, we grieve the Holy Spirit, and grieve our brethren, and injure ourselves.”
    • “Some of the people have looked upon the law of tithing as a kind of tax and burden laid upon them, but who is it for? Our tithing, our labor, and all that we do in the kingdom of God, who is it all for? The tithing is not to exalt the Lord, or to feed or clothe Him, He has had His endowments long ago; it is thousands and millions of years since He received His blessings, and if He had not received them, we could not give them to Him, for He is far in advance of us. I want the brethren to understand this one thing, that our tithing, our labor, our works are not for the exaltation of the Almighty, but they are for us. Not but what the Lord is pleased to see us obey His commandments, because by doing this it will place us in a position that will fulfil and accomplish the object of our creation, and bring about the end designed by our coming to take tabernacles here in the flesh. Again, when we do wrong, the Lord knows we shall inherit sorrow and misery if we continue in that wrong. Then I say, brethren, let us understand this as it is, and we shall do well. In paying our tithing, in obeying every law that is given to exalt us and to do us good, it is all for our individual benefit and the benefit of our children, and it is not of any particular benefit to the Lord, only as He is pleased in the faithfulness of His children and desires to see them walk in the path which leads to salvation and eternal life.”
  • The People Asleep, Etc., Remarks in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, December 21, 1856
    • “We are called upon to wake up and reform, and it makes me feel curious when I go into the High Priests’ meeting, and see not one half of them there when a meeting is held to prepare them to wake up the people.”
    • “The Twelve Apostles have got to rise up and magnify their calling, or they will be removed out of their place. The High Priests, the Seventies, the Bishops, and every other Quorum of the Church and Kingdom of God have got to do the same, or they also will be removed; we cannot sleep any longer with the Priesthood of Almighty God resting upon us, and the work that is required at our hands. WE CANNOT SLEEP. I do not wonder that calling on the people to wake up has killed one man, and it will kill more if we do not respond to the call; mortality cannot endure the visions of eternity that rests on them when they look on the Priesthood and see the position they are in; it has nearly laid brother Young in the grave; he felt he could not live until some man rose up and started the work of reformation.”
    • “It is necessary to reform. The question may be asked, what is the matter? Why, we are asleep; if the [p. 148a]eyes of any man or woman is opened as they should be, they could see the things of God as they are in one moment; they would see there is a necessity of waking up and doing something. Here is a great and mighty dispensation committed into the hands of this people for the living and the dead; the candle of the Lord God is placed in these mountains like a city that is set on a hill that cannot be hid; the work is on your shoulders, ye Priests of the Most High God!—on you rests the salvation of this generation, and the Lord will require this stewardship at your hands.”
    • “The Lord has given you the keys of the Priesthood with all the blessings pertaining to it—as great and as mighty a work as ever was committed to any man on the earth, and that too in the midst of the last dispensation and fulness of times. The Lord requires us to prepare this generation, both Jew and Gentile, either for salvation or damnation through the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the administering of the ordinances of the House of God, and we go to sleep! The Apostles go to sleep—the Seventies go to sleep—the Elders of Israel close their eyes to slumber, and we the only people God has on the earth, upon whose shoulders He has laid the responsibility of performing this great and mighty work!”
    • “Do you wonder that Prophets get up here and chastise, and draw the sword of justice and hold it over our heads? I do not. I wonder that our children at the fireside do not rise up and prophesy, with a voice like thunder and in flames of fire, unto their fathers and mothers, and unto the people of Israel.”
    • “We have sin and sinners among us, and what are we going to do about it? Why, we are going to try to live our religion, and when we do that we shall do right. The business with me is to do right today, to live my religion today, and leave the events with God; He holds the destinies of the nations and of all men; they are in His hand; He made the earth and controls the children of men upon it.”
  • Preaching the Gospel, Etc., Remarks in the Bowery at Provo, July 15, 1855
    • “How many of us who are now in this congregation realize as we ought the salvation and the privileges which are granted to us? Do you appreciate the Priesthood that is given you, and that the keys of the kingdom are given to you, and that the world of mankind are dependent upon you for salvation? No, not as you ought. We forget our God and our prayers, we forget to call upon God for his Holy Spirit to rest upon us, that we may live to his honor and glory. Truly, if the Elders in this Church and kingdom realized what is put into their possession, and that the God of heaven will actually require an account of our stewardship, an account of what we have been doing, and what use we have been making of the gifts and blessings which he has bestowed upon us, we should be more diligent in the performance of all our duties, and we should often act differently to what we do, and pursue a different course, and especially concerning our red brethren.”
    • “Well, do I delight in seeing the wicked destroyed? No, I do not; but I delight in seeing the righteous get what they look for, happiness and eternal life. Is it a benefit for the wicked portion of mankind to live or to die and go down to the grave? It is better for the people to go down to the grave than to live upon the earth; when the principles of salvation are offered to the world, it is better that they should cease to live than bring thousands of posterity into the world who will like themselves do wickedly, for the wicked and the ungodly of the earth will not receive the Gospel of Christ, and the earth is bound to be cleansed that there may be room for the righteous to live, for a holy and righteous generation to be raised up and the name of God honored among men.”
  • The Church and Kingdom of God, Etc., Discourse at the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, February 25, 1855
    • “I felt to rejoice last Sabbath while sitting in this stand, listening to our President. I will tell you why I felt to rejoice—there was one main reason for my joy; I have been acquainted long enough with this work to know its truth; I have had sufficient experience in it to see and to know that the hand of God is in it, and that it is controlled and guided by the Spirit of the Almighty, and the revelations of heaven; to know, that from the commencement of it, it has been the design of the God of heaven to establish His Kingdom upon the earth, to be thrown down no more forever.”
    • “But those who have been taught after the traditions of the fathers, have been taught that the Bible should be spiritualized, that it does not mean what it says, nor say what it means; we have been taught to believe that where the Lord says Israel shall be gathered, it means spiritually. When we read any portion of Scripture, which did not agree with our traditions, every man had his own system of spiritualizing, to make it bend to his own views. Instead of this, we have now learned that God means what He says, and says what He means.”
    • “Why does it require an angel to bring the Gospel from heaven in these last days, when the earth is deluged with Gospel, with religion, with different systems and plans of salvation? Because that none of them are according to the order or organization that God has given to govern and control the human family when they would be controlled by Him. If there had been a true organization of the kingdom of God upon the earth in these latter days, there would have been no need of an angel to visit the earth to teach men the first principles of the Gospel of Christ, and administer its ordinances to them.”
    • “This logic always appeared strange to me. I said then, and I say now, may the Lord give me such periods of darkness as were enjoyed by the Apostles and Saints of old, in preference to the Gospel blaze of modern Christianity. The ancient doctrine and power will unlock the mysteries of heaven and pour forth that Gospel light, knowledge, and truth, of which the heavens are full, and which has been poured out in every generation when Prophets appeared among the children of men. But the Gospel of modern Christendom shuts up the Lord, and stops all communication with Him. I want nothing to do with such a Gospel, I would rather prefer the Gospel of the dark ages, so called.”
    • “As Latter-day Saints, we look upon the signs of the times, we are not ignorant of them, but we understand them. We look upon the events that are rolling upon us with great interest. It matters not what the minds and feelings of men are, the Lord is determined to raise up a people that will worship Him; and if He has to whip, and scourge, and drive us through a whole generation, He will chastise us until we are willing to submit to righteousness and truth, or until we are like clay in the hands of the potter. The chastisements we have had from time to time have been for our good, and are essential to learn wisdom, and carry us through a school of experience we never could have passed through without. I hope, then, that we may learn from the experience we have had to be faithful, and humble, and be passive in the hands of God, and do His commandments.”
    • “The chastisement of a friend is far better than the kisses of an enemy.”
    • “I feel thankful that the Lord has revealed these things for our benefit, and that He has given us power and authority to stand up in the defense of that which is right before the Lord, and to bear testimony of the truth, and to proclaim those things which will assuredly come to pass in this generation. It is better for us to fall in defense of truth, than to deny the words of God, and go to hell. It is better to suffer stripes for the testimony of Christ, than to suffer and fall by our sins and transgressions, and then have to suffer afterwards. I would rather seal my testimony with my blood, and lay my body to rest in the grave, and have my spirit go to the other side of the veil, to enjoy a long eternity of light, truth, blessings, and knowledge which the Lord will bestow upon every man who keeps His law, than to spend a few short years of earthly pleasure, and be deprived of those blessings, and the society of my friends and brethren behind the veil.”
    • “It was grievous to the feelings of Jesus Christ, to his Apostles, and to Joseph Smith, when they saw the people running into danger, and it is grievous to President Young, when he sees the people reckless in pursuing their own course leading them to destruction; when they are not willing to take his counsel and abide the doctrines he teaches; but when he sees the people willing to obey wholesome counsel, and endeavor to sanctify themselves before the Lord, he feels strengthened and sustained, he feels backed up by the works of the people, and not by one alone. I hope this will be the case with us, that we will set in order our own houses, as wives, husbands, children, as parents, and as officers in the Church and Kingdom of God. If we will sanctify ourselves, and do right, we shall have our reward, and shall be satisfied with it. No man or woman in the Kingdom of God that does wrong can escape sorrow. It is so in the world; the Lord rewards all men according as their works have been in the body.”

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