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 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 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."