YEARS OF GREAT AGITATION, 1881, 1882.
Leonard Hardy's Birthday Party.--Prophecy Concerning Joseph F.
Smith.--Death of Orson Pratt.--Visit to St. George.--The Edmunds
Law.--Oscar Wilde.--Conditions at St. Johns, Arizona.--Call of
President George Teasdale, Heber J. Grant and Seymour B. Young.--Death
of Captain William H. Hooper.
In the beginning of the year 1881 Elder Woodruff found it possible to
enjoy the quietude of his home, free from the threats and undisturbed
by the agitation of his enemies. He appreciated the liberties he now
enjoyed, and so far as his own life was concerned, he characterized the
New Year not by personal resolutions, but by prayer. He had no will of
his own to carry out, but wanted to be in a position to do God's will.
There is something about the prayers of Elder Wodruff that was on his
part an intense interest in the welfare and happiness of others. He is
always zealous for God and the Church; and those who were true to their
calling had a special claim upon his friendship and love.
January 1st was the anniversary of Bishop Leonard W. Hardy's birth. The
venerable leader had a well-earned reputation for integrity to God and
to his fellow-men. In the sunset of life his family came to appreciate
more and more the arduous labors of an honored sire, the anniversary of
whose birth they now celebrated by a surprise party. Elder Woodruff was
present and joined in the congratulations of the family and friends.
Such occasions always made him reminiscent. In learning so thoroughly
the history of the Church, he had also learned the history of those who
were its representative men. He also knew, too, when their spirit was
in harmony with the spirit of the great latter-day work.
As long as Elder Woodruff stood at the head of the Young Men's Mutual
Improvement Associations he devoted himself specially to their
interest. Like all those who are full of enthusiasm and have hope
constantly enkindled within their hearts, he was naturally young in
spirit. On January 16th that year he attended a conference of the young
men in Ogden City, where he explained to them the importance of divine
authority, and showed the meaning {535} of those keys which unlock the
door of salvation to the human family. Those keys, he explained, had
been in the keeping of God's trusted servants from the most ancient
times; by them different dispensations were opened. He exhorted the
young men to study the Scriptures. They were of all books the most
important to the welfare and happiness of mankind. He also recommended
to them the study of ancient history, wherein they might see the hand
dealings of God with the human family.
On the 19th of January, 1881, the President and the Twelve, the
Patriarch, Bishop Hunter, L. John Nuttall, the President's secretary,
met in solemn council and prayer by which they represented to the Lord
the needs of His people. They implored His protection against the
enemy, whose growing power was an increasing menace to the peace of the
Church. This meeting was in obedience to the Lord's command, given in
the revelation to Elder Woodruff in the wilderness of Arizona. "It was
truly a solemn occasion," writes Elder Woodruff, in his journal.
On the 21st he went to Ogden, where he took part in a social party,
gotten up in honor of Eliza R. Snow, it being the anniversary of her
birth.
The Quarterly Conference there, convened on the 22nd and 23rd, and
it was on this occasion, after an address to the people by Joseph F.
Smith, that Elder Woodruff arose and prophesied that the man to whom
they had just listened would yet become the President of the Church in
all the world. In his journal he asks that the prophecy be made a note
of, and that it be made a matter of special record when its fulfillment
was realized, which was October 17th, 1901, more than twenty and a half
years after the prophecy was uttered, and more than thirty years from
the time he made the same prediction in Nephi.
"NEPHI, March 22nd, 1909.
"About the year 1869, two Apostles visited Nephi and held meeting
there. They were Wilford Woodruff and Joseph F. Smith. On Sunday
morning they attended Sunday School, which was held in the old Social
Hall. Elder Woodruff interested the children by speaking of incidents
in the life of the Prophet Joseph Smith and of his labors. He then
turned to Elder Joseph F. Smith and asked him to arise to his feet.
Elder Smith complied. {536} 'Look at him, children,' Wilford Woodruff
said, 'for he resembles the Prophet Joseph more than any man living. He
will become the President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. I want you, every one of you, to remember what I have told you
this morning.' After this Brother Woodruff called on Elder Smith to
speak. The latter said he could remember the Prophet, although he was
then very young. He remembered sitting upon his knees. I was present on
this occasion.
"Respectfully,
"LANGLEY A. BAILEY."
Early in the month of February we find him in Smithfield, where he was
building a new home for his family. His journal shows considerable
impatience over the delay in the work on his house. He was himself a
man of action. Whatever he had to do, he went at with all his might.
His presence, however, had the desired effect, and it was not long
before his home was completed and his wife and children thereby made
more comfortable.
On his return to Salt Lake he manifested great interest in the
condition of Orson Pratt and Charles C. Rich, who were both in a
critical condition physically. On the 20th, feeling that Elder Pratt's
mission in this life was nearly ended, and to the end that his last
days might close in peace, he gave him a blessing of comfort that he
might be resigned to the will and purposes of God concerning life and
death.
It was a practice with Wilford Woodruff whenever he gave an important
blessing, to record it in his journal. In blessing Elder Pratt, he
says: "It has been your lot to dwell as an Apostle in the flesh and
stand in the Church and Kingdom of God longer than any other man in
this generation. It has been your lot to cross the ocean to proclaim
the words of salvation more than any other man. Let your heart be
comforted. Let your soul be full of joy, for the Heavenly hosts are
watching over you."
Before the close of February, Elder Woodruff started again for St.
George. His associations there were always to his mind those of the
most heavenly character. There was, perhaps, no place in the Church
ever settled by a choicer class of men than those who were called
to St. George. The men and women of that place possessed spiritual
natures that were in harmony with the {537} life and aspirations of
Elder Woodruff. St. George has, therefore, in his journal, a very
prominent place. On the anniversary of his birth, in St. George that
year, he says: "I have passed my birthdays in this Temple in the years
1870, 71, 72, and 74. My seventy-third birthday I passed in Sunset,
Arizona. This is one of the most glorious days of my life. This morning
there appeared at the Temple two hundred and thirty-nine persons for
endowments. Many of these had come to assist him in his Temple work.
He also records the fact that for his dead there had been performed
two thousand seven hundred and forty-nine baptisms, two thousand and
thirty-seven had been endowed, and seven hundred and five couples
sealed.
On March 22nd he returned to Salt Lake. After the spring Conference of
that year Elder Woodruff was prostrated by a sickness which lasted most
of the month of April. On May 1st, however he attended the Quarterly
Conference in Logan and held meetings in Smithfield, Franklin, and
other places. The summer months of that year he was occupied in
visiting the leading stakes of Zion, both north and south of Salt Lake
City.
On the 2nd of July he expressed his horror at the shocking news of the
assassination of President Garfield. Respecting the celebration of
the Fourth of July that year he writes, that as a people they do not
consider it proper to be celebrating while the President of the United
States lies in the agonies of death, brought about by the hand of an
assassin.
On the 16th he records the death of Joseph Young, aged eighty-seven
years, three months and nine days. Joseph Young was at the time of his
death senior president of the Seventies, and had been from the first
organization of the first council to the end of his life.
October 3rd he records the death that day of Apostle Orson Pratt. At
the funeral Elder Woodruff spoke at some length on the life of Elder
Pratt, and read the revelation given through Joseph Smith to Orson
Pratt in 1830. "Brother Orson Pratt has lived in the Church longer
than any other man, perhaps he has lived in it longer than any former
man could ever live in the Church. He has crossed the Atlantic Ocean
sixteen times and has traveled more miles than any other man in the
Church. He has preached more sermons; he has brought many thousands to
a {538} knowledge of the truth. He had this revelation given to him
which I have read in your hearing. He has lifted up his voice long and
loud. He has done a great work and I cannot mourn his death. I cannot
mourn over the death of inspired men who have died in the faith. Any
man or woman who has kept the Celestial Law of God on the earth and
has died in the faith will open his or her eyes to a scene of glory
and blessings and eternal life that men cannot obtain from any other
principle."
After the October conference, Elder Woodruff accompanied President
Taylor and party to all the stakes in the southern part of the
Territory. They were absent three weeks. That visit gave to the Saints
new courage and awakened a stronger desire to attend to their duties.
Elder Woodruff was present the early part of January, when the Gardo
House was opened and a reception given on that occasion by President
John Taylor, who shook hands with something like two thousand people.
On the 8th he was also in the Assembly Hall when the Temple Block was
dedicated.
In the early part of 1882 the Saints began to feel the effects of the
agitation abroad against them, and Congress was beset by the enemies of
the Church, who importuned that body to pass the most drastic measures
against the Mormons. Throughout the United States the most vicious
and absurd stories were circulated. The President and the Twelve made
special efforts to get the facts before the country, and especially
before the Congress of the United States. The spirit, however, of
anti-Mormonism had worked itself into a state of frenzy. Ministers of
the United States held frequent meetings in all parts of the country.
Under date of February 15th, 1882, Elder Woodruff says: "There has
never been a time since the organization of this Church when such a
universal howl was raised against us. The whole land is flooded with
lies against the people of God. The government seems determined on the
destruction of the faithful Latter-day Saints."
In the midst, however, of the political excitement, Elder Woodruff
took comfort in that spiritual nature with which God had so richly
endowed him. Nor was he forgotten by his faithful co-workers in St.
George. On March the first there came to him the following telegram:
"President Woodruff: Temple {539} workers of St. George greet and
congratulate you on this your natal day, praying peace, length of days,
continued usefulness, and the increasing power of the heavens to rest
upon you." His reply reads: "Thanks for the greeting of my friends.
May our friendship and union increase and continue throughout time and
eternity." Such exchanges of friendship and such assurances of love
meant much to him. He was a man of a most friendly nature and those
friendships of life which his integrity won, he never lost.
The month of March, 1882, was an important landmark in the history
of God's people. After years of constant agitation, and after the
circulation of the most pernicious falsehoods, and after a campaign by
the ministers of the country against the Latter-day Saints, Congress
passed a law most drastic in its terms, and doubly so in the manner of
its execution. From that period dates what has been properly styled,
the Crusade.
On the 14th of March, 1882, the Edmunds Bill passed the House of
Representatives by a vote of one hundred and ninety to forty-two. Elder
Woodruff records in his journal, to their credit, the names of those
who voted against the bill, and the states which they represented. Of
the bill itself he writes: "It is entirely a breach of the Constitution
of the United States; condemns men before trial or conviction by court
or jury; takes away the right of trial by a jury of their peers;
makes an _ex post facto_ law and a bill of attainder; takes away from
the Latter-day Saints, because of their religious convictions, the
franchise, and deprives them from sitting on juries because of their
opinions; but if the nation can stand it, we can. It is taking a stand
against God, against Christ and His kingdom, and against His people."
Ten days later, the 24th, the bill became a law by the signature of
President Arthur. The words of President Woodruff will be debated and
contradicted. It will be pointed out that the Supreme Court of the
United States, in passing upon the constitutionality of that law, is
the final arbiter; and so it is, so far as this nation is concerned;
but the Latter-day Saints held then, as they do now, that there is One
who holds in His keeping the destinies of nations; One who is raising
up a people to Himself, who shall practice virtue and righteousness.
Whether the words of Elder {540} Woodruff were prophetic, or merely the
expression of disappointment and anger, must be left to Him in whose
name, and in whose name only, men have authority to prophesy. One thing
is certain: the Latter-day Saints, in a spirit of resignation, have
left the conduct of this nation toward them in the hands of God. At the
same time, they have no desire to hinder the progress of this nation
or thwart any patriotic purpose. On the contrary, they hope for the
best, teach loyalty, patriotism, and uphold the Constitution of their
country. They feel that men must come sooner or later to recognize the
hand of God in His judgments.
When the spring conference convened, on the 6th of April, that
year, there was considerable anxiety among the people; for with
them there was a general desire to submit themselves to the will of
God; and it is a part of their religious training, indeed, their
conviction and testimony that there are properly appointed channels
through which divine guidance comes to them. The words of their
leaders at this conference were received with solemn attention and
heartfelt determination. President Taylor spoke with great power and
determination, counseled the Saints to keep the commandments of God and
honor the constitutional laws of the land. On that occasion a reporter
of the _New York World_ and a correspondent of the _London Times_ were
present and listened to the proceedings of the conference.
Elder Woodruff was a many-sided man. He never surrendered himself or
his interests to one thing exclusively. To him the program of life was
made up of all sorts of conditions and experiences. From the affairs
of the conference he records in his journal the lecture delivered
on the 10th of the month by Oscar Wilde on "Art and Beauty." Elder
Woodruff was slow to judge men and then only upon the most impressing
convictions. However, of Oscar Wilde he said: "It was a very singular
lecture, indeed, and he seemed a very singular man." His subsequent
history proved him to be very singular indeed.
On the 13th he met with his council, when it was voted to call twenty
young Indians and educate them in the Brigham Young Academy at Provo,
that they might be missionaries among their own people. His heart was
in the Indian mission,--the great possibilities of that people were so
clear to his mind as to make him somewhat impatient concerning their
future.
{541} On the 20th he said: "We received a telegram this morning from
George Q. Cannon, saying that a vote was taken on his case in the House
of Representatives. One hundred and twenty-three votes were cast for
his expulsion, and seventy-nine against it. Ninety did not vote at all.
His seat in Congress was therefore declared vacant."
Shortly after this he referred to his visit to the quarterly conference
in Logan with President Taylor, whom he quotes at that time as follows:
"When we go to the spirit world, we go naked, as we came into the
world, or if we get any clothing it is as much by our dependence upon
others as when we were born into this world. If we get a mansion in our
Father's Kingdom we shall also be dependent upon Him for it."
Of Joseph F. Smith's sermon, he quotes: "Can we say that that which is
perfect has not come? Are not the revelations and commandments of God
perfect? Is not the gospel of Christ, with the priesthood which God
has revealed, perfect? Although we ourselves have not arrived at that
stage of perfection which it is our privilege to obtain, yet the means
of perfection has been given us." At the close of the meeting Elder
Woodruff said: "I went to the tower of the Temple in a rain storm and
found the work there progressing very nicely."
Elder Woodruff kept in close touch with affairs in Arizona. His recent
experiences there had endeared the Saints to him, and the opportunities
among the Indians had made that Territory important from the standpoint
of Church history. A number of Saints located in St. Johns, which was
a Mexican town. In those days the people were surrounded by a class of
ruffians known there as cowboys. There was also some friction between
the Saints and the Mexicans, and altogether the people of St. Johns
were subjected to considerable anxiety because of the contentious
spirit around them.
In Elder Woodruff's journal we take the following account of a
disturbance, which came to him through private correspondence.
The event mentioned occurred June 24th, 1882. "The Mexicans were
celebrating St. John's day, when several men rode into town armed
with pistols and guns. The Mexicans ordered them to leave town or put
away their arms. They refused to do either, when fighting broke out
between the two parties. The Mexicans gathered {542} their arms and
drove the cowboys into some unfinished houses. Three of the leaders
were then taken prisoners, one killed and another wounded. It was on
this occasion that Elder Nathan C. Tenney, one of the Saints there, was
killed while trying to make peace and stop the fight."
On the 27th of the following September they met in council to consider
fully all the vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve and the First
Council of Seventies. It was decided to leave the nominations entirely
to the President of the Church, which has been largely the custom from
the beginning. A little later Elder Abraham H. Cannon was chosen to
fill the vacancy in the First Council of Seventies.
On the 13th of October the First Presidency and the Twelve met to
receive the revelation of God to President Taylor, in which the
duties of the Priesthood and of the Saints were set forth. In that
same revelation appears the call of President George Teasdale of the
Juab Stake, and President Heber J. Grant of the Tooele Stake to the
vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve, Elder Seymour B. Young was
called to fill the vacancy in the First Council of Seventies and
requested to keep the whole law of God as a preparation for his new
calling and labors.
Concerning the Patriarchal Order of Marriage, President Taylor said:
"If we do not embrace that principle soon, the keys will be turned
against us. If we do not keep the same law that our Heavenly Father has
kept, we cannot go with Him. A man obeying a lower law is not qualified
to preside over those who keep a higher law." In harmony with the
remarks of President Taylor Elder Woodruff observed: "The reason why
the Church and Kingdom of God cannot advance without the Patriarchal
Order of Marriage is that it belongs to this dispensation just as
baptism for the dead does, or any law or ordinance that belongs to a
dispensation. Without it the Church cannot progress. The leading men
of Israel who are presiding over stakes will have to obey the law of
Abraham, or they will have to resign."
On the 30th of December Elder Woodruff's journal contains the
following: "I dreamed last night that Captain William H. Hooper was
dead. I told my family this morning that when I heard from him I should
hear that he was dead. Later, Brother {543} Jacques informed me at the
Historian's office that the captain died at twenty minutes past eight.
I saw Captain Hooper in the spirit world in my dream. I saw a few of
the mansions in the Celestial Kingdom of God which were composed of
beautiful stones and of materials that were as real as anything on
earth, and that the best architects in heaven were employed in the
construction of these buildings."
{544}