President Wilford Woodruff said: I feel disposed to occupy a few
moments in bearing testimony to the principles presented unto us by
Elder Penrose. He has referred to the freedom of the soul, to the freedom
of the mind of the Latter-day Saints toward other people. I traveled with
Joseph Smith thousands of miles; have been associated with him and
with the Apostles of our Church almost since its organization. I have
heard Joseph Smith say in public and in private that if he were the
emperor of the world, and had control of every human being on the face
of the earth, he would give every man, woman and child the fullest liberty
to enjoy their religion, and sustain them in it, let that religion be what it
might. Those are my sentiments. We have no contention with any man
on earth because of his religion. Joseph Smith's argument upon this sub-
ject was this: There is no emperor, no monarch, no king, no president
breathing the breath of life on earth who has created his subjects. They
are the creatures of God; He created them; they are His children.
Therefore, neither emperor, president, king nor ruler has the right to
deprive any of his subjects of the right of worshiping God according to
their consciences, for they are held responsible and accountable to their
Creator for their religion, and not to man.
If I had the control of fifty tabernacles, and any preachers of the
Gospel, from any sect under heaven, who had not tabernacles or temples
of their own to go into to give their views, I would be perfectly willing
they should occupy them. If there is a sect or a man on the face of the
earth who has got a truth I do not possess, I want it. Why? Because I
am going into the spirit world, the same as you are. The men whom I
was acquainted with in early days in this Church have almost all passed
away, and I shall follow them very soon myself. This whole congregation,
with all the Christian world, have to pass, in a few years, to the other side
of the veil. Then deception will not answer nor be of any benefit to me.
Any false testimony I may give, or anything I may do subversive of the
will of God towards His creature, man, I shall be held accountable for
before the bar of Almighty God, and so will every other man. Therefore,
while we accord to every man the right to enjoy his own religion, to be-
lieve what he pleases and worship as he sees fit, we claim, as Latter-day
Saints, the same privilege. This is a fundamental doctrine of our faith.
What Brother Penrose has said here to-day is true.
The Latter-day Saints are somewhat peculiar from other religious
denominations; one of their peculiarities is this, that no man knows when
he comes into this Tabernacle who is going to speak here. This is true, as
a general thing. This is my personal experience. I have traveled one
hundred and sixty thousand miles in the last sixty years of my life. I
have been in the Church about that length of time. I have traveled
among the nations of the earth, the islands of the sea and in my own
country. I have preached the Gospel, and I have never known, whenever
I arose to speak to the people, what I was going to say. I have been de-
pendent upon the inspiration of Almighty God, as have all the Elders in
this Church. Brother Penrose has remarked concerning our manner of
preaching. Whom has the Lord called, from the creation of the world, to
do this work? He has called, in a great measure, the weak things of this
world. You may trace this in the whole history of the dealings of God
with men. When He wanted a king in Israel, He chose a boy—David, one
of the sons of Jesse. [1 Samuel 16:1-13] Who were the Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ,
whom He chose to stand by Him and to preach the Gospel? They were
illiterate fishermen. [Matthew 4:18-22] Men in this day have been called from the plow, the
plane and the hammer, and the various occupations of life, and thrust into
the vineyard of the Lord. Why have they gone? Because they knew for
themselves—every man has known who has embraced this Gospel and
done his duty—that he has had to depend upon the Lord. That is the
only dependence that we have. I never in my life, except in one or two
instances in my early preaching, attempted to prepare anything to say to
the congregation, and when I did I never touched the subject at all.
I will say to our friends who are present, you see a city here, you see a
tabernacle here. How did this come about? I came here with President
Young, in 1847. We found a barren desert—as barren as the desert of
Sahara. It was in keeping with the name it bore—the Great American
Desert. How is it to-day? There is a city here, and we are building a
Temple. We go into temples to attend to ordinances for the living and
the dead, as has been told us to-day? These Elders of Israel have been
called by the power of God to go forth into the world and preach to their
fellowmen, and they have promised them in the name of Jesus Christ that
all who received this Gospel should receive the Holy Ghost. If this were
not true, and the men and women they baptized received not the Holy
Ghost, could they not have found it out before this time? Had not the
Lord Almighty backed up this testimony of His humble servants, Utah
to-day would be as barren as we found it in 1847, so far as the Latter-day
Saints are concerned. But by the power of God men have received this,
and by His power they have been gathered here.
I will say another thing. The prophecies of Isaiah would have fallen
unfulfilled, as well as the prophecies of many other Prophets, had not
these things taken place. Since the creation of man the Lord has never
brought judgment upon any generation, upon any city, town or country,
that I have ever read of, whenever they have been ripened in iniquity,
until He has fully warned them by men raised up for that purpose, and
they have rejected those men. Take those ancient cities, when they be-
came ripened in iniquity, the Lord raised up humble, honest men to warn
kings, rulers, and those that inhabited those cities, that the judgments of
God would overtake them if they did not repent. Read the history of
Thebes, of Tyre, of Sidon, of Nineveh, of Memphis, and of Babylon the
great, built to defy all power but God Himself. All that the Prophets
prophesied unto them came to pass to the very letter. There is not a
Christian, a Jew, a "Mormon," or an infidel, or any body else, can point
to a prophecy or a revelation contained in the Bible by any man of God
sent to any of these cities but what has had its fulfillment. Babylon itself
was overthrown, and, in fact, it has been so covered by the drifting sands
of the desert that man can hardly find its foundations to-day.
I wish to say to the Church and to the gentlemen and ladies who visit
us, that we believe we are living in one of the most important genera-
tions God ever gave to man. Read the revelations of St. John. Read the
revelations of Isaiah and the other Prophets. Are they going to fall un-
fulfilled? I tell you nay! they will come to pass. I will say as one man
who has lived a considerable length of time, as men count time, that the
great change I see taking place in the world has an effect upon my mind,
because in it I see the fulfillment of these revelations of God. I lived in
Farmington, Connecticut. I received my first teachings under Dr. Porter,
and under Dr. Haws, of Hartford. They were two reverend gentlemen,
learned men, and they taught according to the light and knowledge of
their day and generation. I used to have peculiar feelings, and I would
ask these gentlemen questions. Said I, "Why is it that you don't contend
for the faith once delivered to the Saints? How is it that you don't have
those gifts and graces tbat were manifest in the days of Christ and His
Apostles?" They told me that these things were given in the dark ages of
the world, to convince the children of men that Jesus was the Christ. But
said they, we are now living in the blaze of the great Gospel light, and we
don't need them. Now, I did not believe that then; I don't believe it
now. That kind of argument I could not comprehend. I agree with
Brother Penrose that whenever the Lord has a Church upon the earth,
and that Church receives the Gospel of Christ, and they enjoy the Holy
Ghost, every gift and grace that ever did belong to the Church of God be-
longs to that Church, no matter who they are nor in what age of the world
they live. These things are true to day, and have been manifest since the
organization of this Church.
We have been called and commanded of God to preach the Gospel of
Christ, or be under condemnation. The Gospel of Christ does not injure
anybody. But there is one strange thing with regard to the inhabitants
of the earth and the Church of Christ. The Apostles, Prophets and lead-
ing men in every age of the world, if they tried to live godly in Christ
Jesus, became unpopular. Even Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came
to redeem the world, follow him from the manger to the cross, through
suffering mingled with blood, to the throne of grace, and was he popular?
No, He was not. Were the Apostles popular? They were not. The Jews
and Gentiles not only crucified the Savior, but put to death every Apostle
and every man that bore the Priesthood in that day and time, excepting
John the Revelator. So in all ages they have been unpopular. So was
Joseph Smith. He laid down his life for the word of God and testimony
of Jesus Christ. He has gone into the spirit world, and he will receive his
reward there. He was a Prophet of God. He laid the foundation of a
great work. It is by that same power that we are here to-day, and the
hand of God is in all these matters. We wish to do all the good we can
what little time we spend in the flesh, and I feel in my heart to say, God
bless you, God bless my friends and those who visit us, and bless all men
that try to do what is right. As long as we do what is right we will re-
ceive the blessings of God. As has been said here to-day, every man,
except the sons of perdition, will receive some kind of salvation. There
is one glory of the sun, there is another glory of the moon, there is another
glory of the stars, and as one star differs from another star in glory, so
also will it be in the resurrection. All of us will be judged according to
the deeds done in the body. We have but a little time to live upon the
earth. If we live to be a hundred years old, it is a very short span when
compared with eternity. We are here upon a mission, and a few of us
have been called to labor in preaching the Gospel. We have done what
we could in this matter, that our garments might be clean from the blood
of all men.
I pray that the spirit of the Lord may guide and direct us, and give us
wisdom in all that we do, that when we go into the presence of God we
may be counted worthy to receive salvation and eternal life, for Jesus'
sake. Amen.