OCTOBER 1897
First Presidency
WILFORD WOODRUFF
-George Q. Cannon
-JOSEPH F. SMITH
Quorum of the 12 Apostles
LORENZO SNOW
-Franklin D. Richards
-Brigham Young Jr.
-Francis M. Lyman
-John Henry Smith
-George Teasdale
-HEBER J. GRANT
-John W. Taylor
-Marriner W. Merrill
-Anthon H. Lund
-Matthias F. Cowley
-Abraham O. Woodruff
Between 1880 and 1897, John Taylor had died and Wilford Woodruff became President of the Church in 1889. John Willard Young was still serving as Counselor to the Apostles, and Moses Thatcher was removed from the Quorum after not being sustained in the April 1896 Conference. Albert Carrington had been excommunicated. The other Apostles had since died. Heber J. Grant didn't attend this Conference due to illness.
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. It is a great blessing to receive the Gospel of Christ, to receive the Holy Priesthood, and to be called to labor in the Priesthood for the salvation of the children of men. This labor is upon us and will remain upon us until the coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven, to reward every man according to the deeds done in the body.
WW - "The Written Word"
Whenever the Lord requires any Prophet, Seer, Revelator, to speak, the Spirit of the Lord is with
him to give counsel to the people from time to time as he is moved upon, and such as the people ought to hear. But I want you to understand this one thing; the Holy Priesthood and power of God do not stop there; it does not stop with the Presidency, it does not stop with the Twelve Apostles, it does not stop with our leading men of Israel ; — there is not a man on God's footstool that is sent forth into the world to preach the Gospel but ought to have the Spirit of the Lord upon
him and the revelation of God to him. And by that power these valleys of the mountains have been filled with the inhabitants of the world today; by that power this Tabernacle has been built; by that power have the Elders, from the organization of this Church until today, performed their
work. There is no end to the Holy Ghost and the power of God and the revelations of God to man...
The Bible is all right, the Book of Mormon is all right, the Doctrine and Covenants is all right, and they proclaim the work of God and the word of God in the earth in this day and generation: until the coming of the Son of Man; but the Holy Priesthood is not confined particularly to those books, that is, it did not cease when those books were made. It belongs to every man that goes forth into the world, and these are our principles, and these are our rights, and these are our duties, and
these are our gifts. The Holy Ghost is not confined to any one man, but every one should have it.
WW - "Called to the Apostleship"
I tell you, brethren and sisters, the God of heaven has set His hand to build up Zion, in fulfillment of all the revelations of God to man from the days of Father Adam down to this day. The counsels that have been given here today are just and true, and we ought to observe them. I cannot sin, you cannot sin, we cannot turn from the commandments of God in anywise, but we are the losers by it. Again, I will say to this congregation, God Almighty will afflict these Latter-day Saints if they do not pursue the course they are called upon to pursue. The Lord will build up Zion and carry out His purposes; but we will be chastised unless we listen to the counsels of the servants of God. If these Latter-day Saints turn to the right or the left, on political questions or on other principles, to separate themselves one from another and from the commandments of God, the Lord Almighty will hold them responsible, and they will be chastised for doing it. I know this as well as I know I am alive. I am anxious for the salvation of the Latter-day Saints...
The eyes of the heavens are over us; the eyes of God himself, the eyes of every Prophet and Apostle in the spirit world, are watching you, watching this Priesthood, to see what they are doing and what they are going to do. It is of far more importance than we realize and comprehend. Let us awake to the ordinances of the House of God and do our duty, that we may be justified, for Christ's sake.
WW - "Closing Remarks"
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. I want to tell you this upon this occasion. My mouth shall not be closed upon these principles. I know it is the duty of the Latter-day Saints to unite together in your local affairs, the election of your city councils, the election of men to act for you in the affairs of state. Lay aside your extremes in democracy and republicanism, as far as is wise in that matter, and in other than local matters as Latter-day Saints unite together within your party lines and appoint good men. When you do that, God will bless you. You won't all be taxed to death and lose your property, if you will appoint good men and pursue this course.
Jesus, said on a certain occasion, that He would build His Church upon revelation: that is, Peter having received a revelation that Jesus was the Son of God and so saying Jesus replied, "Upon this rock will I build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." The system of salvation and exaltation and glory was of such a character that there was this grand feature about it, all persons might receive a perfect knowledge of its divine source.
When we take into consideration the difficulties those have to meet who obey these principles we see the necessity that they should have a perfect knowledge of that which they have received, and thus the Lord bestows upon them the means by which they can contend against the difficulties and the persecutions and secure the blessings connected with these promises...
I was acquainted with Joseph Smith for years. And I know Brother Oliver Cowdery to have been a good man, honorable, honest, and truthful; although years after this, Oliver Cowdery left the Church for a while. He became proud and exalted, and left the Church; but the spirit and the testimony never left him, and after suffering the afflictions of the Lord, he repented and was very glad to come back into the Church, and he got back just in time to go into the other world, and that is just about the whole of it so far as Oliver Cowdery was concerned...
There is no man that knows the truth of this work more than I do. I know it fully; I know it distinctly. I know there is a God just as well as any man knows it, because God has revealed himself to me. I know it positively. I shall never forget the manifestations of the Lord; I never will forget them as long as memory endures. It is in me. There is something to labor for, there is something to sacrifice for...
The wife should never in the presence of her children speak disrespectfully of her husband. If she thinks her husband has done wrong (he might have done), she should never speak of it in the presence of her children. She should take him out of the presence of her children and there tell him of his faults, in a pleasant way, but never in the presence of the children speak disrespectfully of the father. And the father the same. He has no right to speak disrespectfully of his wife in the presence of her children. And I pray God to give the husband and wife the spirit and the understanding to correct themselves in such matters. I know that a great many of the difficulties that now appear, and the disrespect that we find in reference to the Priesthood, among young people, arises from this fact, that there have been difficulties in the home circle.and there has been disrespect expressed in their presence, of the father by the mother, or of the mother by the father.
He will rebuke the devourer, and He will cause that the earth shall be fruitful, that it shall yield in its strength to the husbandman, the tiller of the soil, and to the herder of flocks, He will increase his kine, and will prosper him upon the right hand and upon the left, and he shall have an abundance, because he puts his trust in God; he draws near unto Him, and he is willing to prove Him, to see whether He will not open the windows of heaven and pour out blessings upon him that he shall not have room to contain them. Let every man who has received the Gospel of Jesus Christ receive this saying, and hearken to these words, for all they are worth. Some men may esteem them lightly, and those who do will, without doubt, fail to draw near, they will neglect to prove the Lord, they will not fulfill the commandments that He has given, and they will never know that God tells the truth, and that He is able to fulfill His word and promise unto His people when they are willing to obey and keep His law.
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