Wilford Woodruff

“ The day is not far distant when nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and State against State, and there will be sorrow such as never was among men. Watch the signs of the times, for we are living in an important age. ”

“ They are turning the last key to rend the nation asunder, and they will be broken as a potter's vessel, and cast down as a nation, to rise no more for ever. For whenever the rulers of any nation trample their own constitution and laws under foot, and oppress, and destroy the weak, because they have the power and the people love to have it so, they sow the seeds of their own dissolution, and they will reap their own destruction.
We have nothing to fear. The Lord is with us, and will sustain and nourish his Church and kingdom, as he has done from the beginning. ”

“ Ever since I have been made acquainted with the Gospel and the progress of this people, I have always believed that the United States would take this course, and, in a national capacity and under the form of law, seek to destroy the Church and kingdom of God from off the earth. For the light has come unto them and the Gospel of salvation has been offered unto them, and they have rejected it and killed the Prophets. Hence, the light and Spirit of God is taken from them, sin abounds, and they are filled with anger against all that is good. ”

“ The rulers of mankind have not sought for the Spirit of God and the light of eternity to show them the responsibility they are under to Him who has raised them to power and authority and given them dominion over their fellow-beings. They have not exercised their power and authority to honour God and redress the wrongs of the poor and oppressed over whom they preside.
The misery and evils which now exist throughout the world have got to be corrected, in a great measure, through the power of God, before the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of God and his Christ. ”

“ It is a great and mighty work to establish the kingdom of God on the earth, that the law may go forth from Zion to rule the kingdoms of the world. The light, knowledge, truth, and wisdom to do this has got to come through the holy Priesthood, which is the government of God upon the earth.
Our temporal and eternal salvation is all connected and linked together, as we have been told to-day. The Lord has raised up unto us fathers leaders, and counsellors after his own heart: they possess his will, and they are leading the people to exaltation and glory. ”

“ The spirit to do men good and relieve the sufferings of mankind does not dwell in the breasts of monarchs, kings, presidents, and rulers among the nations of the earth at the present day; but sorrow, crime, poverty, tyranny, oppression, and starvation prevail throughout the world. ”

“ If a man has never learned a letter of a book, if the Lord calls upon him to lead the Church and kingdom of God, he will give him power to do it. We have had these lessons laid before us day after day, calling upon us to be united, and our hearts to become as the heart of one man, that our prayers and works may be centred to one point in carrying out the counsel of our head. ”

“ The sounds of blasphemy are not heard in our streets: rioting, drunkenness, whoredom, rape, and murder, and the black catalogue of crime practised in the Christian world do not meet the eye or salute the ear of the passer-by in Utah The contrast between the City of Great Salt Lake and the cities of the nations abroad, touching the order, decency, virtue, and moral character of the people here, cannot be told. ”

“ The Lord has already revealed great and glorious truths and principles concerning the government of the children of men in the establishment of his Church and kingdom upon the earth. Does it not require as much wisdom and revelation from God to govern the nations of the earth in a way to bring men into subjection to righteous laws, light, privileges, and blessings which they are now deprived of in the organization of temporal governments of the world, as is required in the spiritual government of the Church of Christ upon the earth? ”

“ Let this people go to work and sustain the head of this Church all the time, and let their prayers continually ascend in his behalf, that God may give him wisdom for our guidance; then, no matter if armies approach us, or all hell boils over. Let the people be perfectly passive in the hands of God, live their religion, and learn and profit by the daily lessons they receive; then you will find that glory, victory, and prosperity will abide with this kingdom. ”

“ During the last twenty or twenty-five years, many things have been prophesied; and the Lord, through his servants, has made many promises which have been revealed unto us concerning the blessings that are in store for us if we faithfully do our duty. I can say, with my brethren, that I rejoice that I am in these valleys of the mountains associated with the people of God a thousand miles from Christianity, civilization, and the fruits thereof—at least such as are now manifest throughout the Christian world ”

“ When there was every appearance, outwardly, of our enemies coming upon us, the spirit with them has been all the time, "We do not believe we shall have to go to battle or shed the blood of our enemies this season." ”

“ There is more crime, wickedness, and abomination committed now throughout the United States, according to the population, in 24 hours—a thousand times—than there was thirty years ago. I do not suppose there has been a generation more wicked and corrupt than the present Christian world. ”

“ Since we have become acquainted with brother Joseph and the Gospel, we have looked forward with much interest to the day when the kingdom of God should be established upon the earth in the same light, power, and glory in which the Apostles and Prophets saw it by vision and revelation ”

“ All is right with those who lead us. All is right as far as we do right. We have enjoyed many blessings during the past year. The Lord has in his mercy poured out his Holy Spirit upon us as a people, and there is a great change with the inhabitants of Zion during the past year. We were in a great measure asleep; and the Lord, knowing the things which lay before us, poured out his Holy Spirit abundantly upon our leaders who called upon us to wake up, and the Spirit of God was poured out upon the people ”

“ If there was a point where man in his progression could not proceed any further, the very idea would throw a gloom over every intelligent and reflecting mind. God himself is increasing and progressing in knowledge, power, and dominion, and will do so, worlds without end. ”

“ The Lord will lead President Young where he wants him to go. We know God is with him and has led him all the time; and he led Joseph while he lived. The Quorum of the Twelve may exhaust their talent and acquirements in exhibiting principle upon any matter which belongs to the head to reveal, and yet the Prophet has to point out the error and set us right. ”

“ There has never been a set of men since the Lord made the world who have laboured more diligently than the Twelve Apostles and Elders of this Church in preaching the Gospel to the world. They have rejected the message sent to them, revealed by an angel from God, which leaves them now under condemnation. Brother Joseph would have embraced the whole circle of the human family in the principles of salvation, if he had possessed the power. ”

“ If he had been enlightened by the Holy Spirit and could have foreseen the reward he will meet, he would sooner have suffered his blood to have been spilled; and it would have been better for him. The nation does not know what they are doing, nor comprehend. ”

“ Many of our nation have been guilty of crimes, in their persecutions against us, that would cost the lives of presidents, governors, senators, legislators, and many thousands of men, if law and justice were executed in righteousness against them. ”

“ I do not believe that any General, since the Lord made the world, has been the subject of more earnest prayers than General Wells has since he has been out in the mountains. He has been well sustained, and so has President Young. ”

“ But the day has now come when he has begun to prepare the way that he may come and take possession of the earth himself, and reign King of nations, as he does now King of Saints. The day of the Devil's power to prevail against the kingdom of God has passed away. ”

“ Yes, we are taught many principles which tend to our exaltation and glory, which could not be made manifest unto us only as they are revealed unto us by the inspiration of the Almighty, through the mouth of his servants the Prophets. ”

“ This has been the feeling when, to all human appearance, it would seem that we should have to shed the blood of our enemies, or they ours. There is not such an example on history as the way in which our enemies have been stayed from fulfilling their hellish designs. It is the first time the American army has been stayed in their course. They got as far as Ham's Fork, and there they stuck. We have heard read their gracious proclamation. Many of the brethren wonder that they have not wisdom enough to make out a decent document ”

“ The whole Church may unite to carry out any point that ought to come through the head, and we could not effect it. It requires brother Brigham to tell us what is right and what is wrong in many things, because that is his place and calling. There is a perfect channel existing between the Lord and him, through which he obtains wisdom, which is diffused through other channels to the people. ”

“ Then you will see clock—work, perfect harmony, and the effects of it wherever it is manifest—whether it be in a Bishop over his ward, in the Twelve Apostles, in a President over a Branch of the Church, or in a father over his family. You will obtain blessings, by thus sustaining every man in his place and calling, which you cannot get by any other principle. ”

“ No person who has listened to the words of the Presidency of this Church during a few months past, and has seen the fulfilment of their sayings, but can clearly see the hand of God with them and his Spirit guiding them continually. ”

“ But cross a Bishop, a Prophet, or a father over his family in their track, and you will see a friction immediately: you will see trouble, difficulty, darkness, and affliction; and nothing will go right. ”

“ I should wonder if they had wisdom to make out a sensible document, or one that would pass an examination.
The Lord so far has fought our battles and has proved his people. When men have been called upon to go out and lie in the path of the enemy, I have not known one instance of a man's refusing to go. All have been willing to go and do as they were told. ”