At the time of the dedication of the
Salt Lake Temple, I remember with a great deal of pleasure the promises that
were made to the people by President Woodruff, that if we would go forth from
that time and seek to keep the commandments of God, and conform our lives to
the requirements of the Gospel, that our sins as a people though as scarlet
should become as white as wool, and that we should be free to serve God, and
have greater influence in the midst of the nations of the earth, and that the
persecution that is being brought to bear upon the people would cease. I say I
remember these predictions with a great deal of pleasure; and I have watched
with equal satisfaction the fulfillment of every prediction that was ever made
to the people. Wherever we have gone forth laboring to promote righteousness in
the earth, God has blessed our labors, and His Spirit has attended His people
in their undertakings. His servants have gone forth to the nations and have had
influence and power wherever they have traveled, to an extent that was never
before experienced since the organization of the Church upon the earth. And if
the Saints continue to improve in their lives, as a people, this Spirit will
continue to increase, and more success will attend the preaching of the Gospel.
(David H. Cannon, Conference
Report [April 1898]: 70-71)
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