A Young Folks' History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Part 17

During the time of this crusade thirteen hundred persons suffered from fines or imprisonment.

July 25, 1887, President John Taylor died at Kaysville, Davis County, Utah.

He had been in exile for over two years; but the brave spirit was now away from under the power of persecutors, and the Saints could but look on the peaceful form and face of their beloved leader.

Topics.--1. President John Taylor. 2. Plural marriage. 3. The Edmunds Bill. 4. The "Crusade." 5. The Edmunds-Tucker Bill.

Questions and Review.--1. Why was there no danger to the Church at the death of President Young? 2. When was the First Presidency organized again?

3. Who composed it? 4. Tell what you can about John Taylor. 5. Tell about the Jubilee year. 6. When and where was plural marriage revealed to the Church? 7. When was the first law pa.s.sed against this practice? 8. What is meant by a law being const.i.tutional? 9. What was the Edmunds Bill? 10. How was it enforced? 11. What was the Edmunds-Tucker Law? 12. When and where did President Taylor die?

CHAPTER x.x.xVI.

PRESIDENCY OF WILFORD WOODRUFF.

At the April conference, 1889, the First Presidency was again organized.

Wilford Woodruff was chosen president and he called the former counselors to act also with him. President Woodruff was eighty-two years old when this high calling was placed upon him, but he was still quite strong and active. His life had been devoted to G.o.d and his cause. He joined the Church in 1833, so you see he had been with it from the beginning. He had been an Apostle for fifty years. It will give you an idea of how busy President Woodruff had been when you are told that from 1834 to 1895 he had traveled through twenty-eight States of the Union, three of the countries of Europe, and six islands of the sea. He had held 7,555 meetings, preached 3,526 discourses, organized fifty-one branches of the Church, besides doing a great deal of other work in the Church.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PRESIDENT WILFORD WOODRUFF.]

President George Q. Cannon, first counselor in the presidency, came with his father's family from England to Nauvoo in the year 1842, and from that time had been an active worker in the Church. In 1850 he, in company with other missionaries, went to the Sandwich Islands. Here Elder Cannon translated the Book of Mormon into the native language, and sometime after he had it printed. He labored as an editor and a publisher of Church papers in San Francisco, in Liverpool, and at home with the _Deseret News_. In 1860 he was ordained an Apostle. In 1866 he began to publish the _Juvenile Instructor_. He spent many years in Was.h.i.+ngton as delegate from Utah.

President Cannon was the General Superintendent of Sunday Schools to the time of his death.

The second counselor in the presidency, Joseph F. Smith, was born November 13, 1838, in Far West, Missouri, a few days after the time when his father Hyrum Smith was taken by the mob and ordered to be shot. As a nine-year-old boy he drove his mother's yoke of cattle across the plains with an emigrant train. President Smith has filled many missions to Europe, to the Sandwich Islands and to various parts of the United States.

He was ordained as one of the Twelve Apostles July 1, 1866.

During the first few years that Wilford Woodruff was president of the Church, the persecution against those who had more than one family continued to rage; yet the enemies of the Saints were not satisfied. Though many of the people had been deprived of the right to vote and hold office, yet there were enough left to outvote the anti-"Mormons," many of whom were eager to get into some office. These kept urging Congress to pa.s.s other laws against the "Mormons," and at last a number of bills were introduced in Congress for the purpose of disfranchising the "Mormons," that is, taking away from them the right to vote and to hold public office.

During all this trouble the authorities of the Church were asking the Lord to show them the right thing to do. In answer to these pleadings, the Lord inspired President Woodruff to issue what is called the manifesto. In this doc.u.ment President Woodruff, among other things, said:

"Inasmuch as laws have been enacted by Congress forbidding plural marriages, which laws have been p.r.o.nounced const.i.tutional by the court of last resort, I hereby declare my intention to submit to those laws, and to use my influence with the members of the Church over which I preside to have them do likewise.

"... And I now publicly declare that my advice to the Latter-day Saints is to refrain from contracting any marriage forbidden by the law of the land."

At the general conference of the Church held October 6, 1890, President Woodruff's action was sustained by the vote of the conference.

The enemies of the Church now had no excuse for their persecutions, so, after a time, peace came once more. The two political parties, the "Liberal" and "People's" which had been for many years fighting each other at the polls, now disbanded, and "Mormons" and non-"Mormons" joined either the Democratic or the Republican party.

In 1893 the great World's Fair was held in Chicago. In September of that year the Tabernacle choir of Salt Lake City, led by Evan Stephens, went to Chicago, accompanied by the first presidency and others. The choir gave concerts in some of the large cities on the way, and at Chicago carried off the second prize of one thousand dollars for the best singing.

During the World's Fair there was held what was called a Parliament of Religions. Meetings were convened where people of all religions were invited to speak and tell of their beliefs. Men came from every part of the world. There were Catholics and Protestants; there were followers of Brahma and Buddha from India; there were Greeks and Mohammedans; there were j.a.panese, Chinese, and negroes--but, among them all there was one religion and one church lacking, and that was the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It had not been invited, and when Elder B.H. Roberts was sent to Chicago to get a hearing for the Church of Christ, he was treated in an ungentlemanly manner and was not allowed to properly present the claims and doctrines of the Church. The Savior once said: "Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man's sake." May we not draw a great lesson from all this?

On January 4, 1896, President Grover Cleveland signed the paper which admitted Utah into the Union as a state. Celebrations in honor of the event were held in all the towns and cities of the State.

Fifty years from the time the pioneers entered Salt Lake Valley, July 24th, 1897, a grand celebration was held in Salt Lake City to honor the event.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PIONEER MONUMENT.]

This celebration began Tuesday, July 20, 1897, and closed on the night of Sat.u.r.day 24th. On the 20th the Pioneer Monument, which is surmounted by a bronze statue of President Brigham Young, and situated near the Southeast corner of the Temple block, Salt Lake City, was dedicated by President Wilford Woodruff. The same day, at a reception held in the Tabernacle, all surviving pioneers of 1847, were presented with a golden badge. Memorial services in honor of the deceased pioneers were held in the Tabernacle on Sunday 25th.

When the war with Spain broke out the next year, a call was made on Utah for five hundred volunteers. Utah's young men, many of them sons of the pioneers and old settlers, heeded the call, and the men were promptly raised and sent to the seat of war.

President Wilford Woodruff while on a visit to the Pacific coast, took suddenly ill and died in San Francisco, September 2, 1898.

Topics.--1. Wilford Woodruff. 2. George Q. Cannon. 3. Joseph F. Smith. 4.

The "Manifesto." 5. The Parliament of Religions. 6. Death of President Woodruff.

Questions and Review.--1. Who const.i.tuted the fourth First Presidency of the Church? 2. Tell something of President Woodruff. 3. Name some positions President Cannon has held. 4. Tell about President Smith's boyhood. 5. What further laws did the enemies of the "Mormons" wish pa.s.sed against them? 6.

What is the "manifesto?" 7. How came it to be issued? 8. When was it accepted. 9. Tell about the Tabernacle choir's trip to Chicago. 10. What was the Parliament of Religions? 11. How was the Church treated in that body? 12. Give some reasons for this treatment. 13. When was Utah admitted as a state? 14. Tell about the Utah volunteers. 15. When and where did President Woodruff die?

CHAPTER x.x.xVII.

TEMPLE BUILDING.

G.o.d's goodness, mercy, and watch-care reach to all his children, whether they be white or black, bond or free; whether they live now or lived thousands of years ago; yes, whether they are alive or dead. Death is but a change from one sphere of action to another, and as G.o.d is everywhere, it is not alone in this life that his loving care is manifested. The gospel also is everlasting. It did not begin with this world, neither will it end with this life, but its purifying, uplifting power is felt throughout all time and place.

Salvation is to get from under the powers of sin and death, and live forever in the hereafter, growing in wisdom and in power, and becoming more and more like unto our Great Father, G.o.d. This salvation is obtained by obeying the principles of the gospel and performing the ordinances required therein. You all know what the first of these principles and ordinances are. One of the ordinances is that a person must be baptized by water for the remission of sin. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved,"

said the Savior. This must of course be performed here on earth, and by a servant of G.o.d having authority to do so.

Now, by thinking about it a moment, you will know that there are a great many of the human race who have not been baptized with this kind of baptism. Millions there are and have been who never heard of the gospel or of Jesus Christ. Many others there are and have been who have had a kind of baptism but not performed by one with authority. What will then become of all these people?

Many religions of the day teach that there is no chance for people after they leave this life; if they are not saved when they die, they never can be afterwards. Can you not see what a cruel thought that is? Think of the millions who have not had a chance! Surely G.o.d would not punish people for not doing something they had no chance to do.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE TEMPLE BLOCK.]

Now all this was made plain to the Prophet Joseph Smith. The Lord told him that all those who died without repentance and baptism would have a chance in the next world. Christ, while his body lay three days in the tomb, went and preached to the spirits in prison. Likewise, many of the servants of G.o.d have, and are now preaching the gospel to the children of G.o.d in the spirit world. They can there believe and repent, but can not be baptized.

That must be done for them by someone on the earth. This ordinance can be performed in any place that G.o.d directs, but he has commanded that holy buildings be erected wherein baptisms for the dead can be performed. This, then, is one use of our temples. Marriages, sealings and other holy ordinances are also performed in these buildings.

The first temple site was dedicated in Jackson county, Missouri, August 3, 1831, but, as you have been told, no work was done to erect a building. The Kirtland temple you also have been told about. After the Saints left Kirtland the building was neglected. Then it came into the possession of the Reorganization or "Reorganites," as they are sometimes called, a religious body founded, and built up for the most part by apostates from the Church. The Kirtland temple is still standing.

Ground was dedicated for a temple at Far West July 3, 1837, but owing to the Saints being driven away, no work other than digging the foundation was done.

The next effort was at Nauvoo. This temple was begun April 6, 1841, and dedicated April 30th and May 1, 1846. You will remember how the Saints toiled to complete this building. It was a large, beautiful structure, one of the finest in the west, and cost about one million dollars. About two years after the Saints had left Nauvoo, the temple was destroyed by fire.

The Salt Lake temple was begun in 1853, but while it was being built three others were completed. The first of these is the St. George temple. It was begun the 9th of November, 1871, and dedicated April 6, 1877. The Logan temple was begun May 18, 1877, and completed May 17, 1884. The corner stones of the temple at Manti were laid April 14, 1879, and the building was dedicated May 21, 1888. All these temples are beautiful buildings, and many are the blessings the Saints have received in them.

Those of you who have not seen the Salt Lake temple may get a good idea of its beauty by the picture. It is built of hewn blocks of gray granite, a hard, beautiful stone. It was forty years in building. The last top stone on the towers, called the capstone, was laid April 6, 1892. There were at least forty thousand people on the temple grounds on this occasion. A platform had been erected on the south side of the temple, whereon the authorities of the Church were seated. There were services of singing, prayer, and speaking, and then President Woodruff touched a b.u.t.ton which sent an electric current up a wire to the top of the tower. The electricity set free the capstone which settled into its place. President Lorenzo Snow led the vast audience in giving the grand Hosanna shout.

President Woodruff was anxious to live to see the completion of the temple.

It was therefore voted by the large audience present that the inside of the building be finished in one year.