The proceedings were opened by the Tabernacle choir singing "Noble Chief," after which prayer was offered by President Joseph F. Smith. Choir then sang, "Hail, Prophet, Brother, Friend."
An address of welcome was then made by President Woodruff. He spoke as follows:
"I feel highly honored this morning in meeting with so many of my friends upon this important occasion. Yesterday those who were present might have observed my condition. I was perfectly overwhelmed in consequence of the scene before me. It was not what was said particularly, but it brought to my mind in overwhelming power my boyhood and early manhood and my desires that I might live upon the earth to find a people who would receive the gospel of Jesus Christ as taught by Christ and the Apostles. In meeting with thousands of the children of the Latter-day Saints, it brought to my mind those scenes and the fulfillment of my prayers and desires before the Lord.
"I hope this morning I may be able to make a few remarks. I will say this, it has been a desire of my life from my boyhood up, never to address any assembly of people whom I could not make hear what I had to say. I feel the same this morning; I do not know whether I can make this assembly hear me or not; but I will do the best I can.
"As I can hardly expect ever to have the opportunity of addressing the people of this State and my friends in days to come, I have a few reflections upon my mind that I wish to lay before you. And I will say they are different from any of my public speeches that I have been in the habit of presenting to the people. I have consulted no man with regard to the course I should pursue in my remarks here this morning, and I do not know that I shall satisfy my friends in the remarks that I may make.
"First, I want to say a few words upon politics. I hope that will not astonish you. I have not been in the habit of this heretofore. But I feel desirous to say a few things that are upon my mind. In the first place, there is not one item, not one sentence in the Constitution of the United States, nor in the laws of the United States, nor of the State of Utah, that deprives any citizen, of any name, nature, religion, or politics in the land, from joining any political party he wishes, or voting for whomsoever he wishes. This is the right of every man without hindrance. We have been accused at times of using Church influence to guide and direct the State. This is occasionally presented to the public as our action. I feel it my right and duty to say here today that I was acquainted with Joseph Smith and associated with him from 1833 until his martyrdom. I have been acquainted with Brigham Young and associated with him for forty years of my life, at home and abroad, under many circumstances. I have also been acquainted with John Taylor and labored with him in every capacity in which he was called to act. I have also been a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for upwards of fifty-six years of my life. And I have been presiding over the Church itself for a few years. I have been associated with my counselors and with the present Twelve Apostles. And I want to say upon this occasion, before God, angels, and all men that are before me, that I never in one instance knew any leader of this Church to attempt to dictate and direct the affairs of the State as member of the Church. At the same time, when any man, no matter who he is—Mormon, Jew, or Gentile—uses money or any means to hire men to vote for him, I think he steps outside of his right, and stands in a measure condemned.
"I want to say so much to my friends this morning. I have officiated for twenty sessions in the Legislative Council of the Territory of Utah, and one session as a member of the House, and it did not cost me one farthing for any office I ever held in the Church, or in the State, or in the Territory. And I never asked any mortal man on the face of the earth to cast a vote for me that I have any recollection of. As an example, perhaps, I may be permitted to say, I am the father of fourteen sons, and have a number of sons-in-law, and I believe they are pretty nearly evenly divided on political party lines—Democrats and Republicans. I will give any man five dollars if, in conversing with them, he can get any one of them to say that his father ever told him whom to vote for. Some of you may try to make a little money perhaps at that. (Laughter.) I consider everybody is responsible for himself, and he has a right to vote for whom he pleases.
"Again, I never asked any office at the hands of any being in heaven or on earth, not even of my heavenly Father, except in one instance, which I will relate here. In my boyhood, as you have heard me testify, I went to the Sabbath schools. I read the New Testament. I saw the doctrine there portrayed in plainness, as taught by Jesus Christ and His Apostles, and it was a glorious doctrine. I had a great desire to live on the earth until I could see inspired men who could teach me those principles that I read of in the New Testament. I prayed a great deal in my boyhood and my early manhood that I might live on the earth to receive those principles that I there read of. In 1833, for the first time in my life, I saw an elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That was Zera Pulsipher. He told me that he was inspired of the Lord. He was threshing grain in his barn when the voice of the Lord came to him and told him to arise and go to the north, the Lord had business for him there. He called upon Brother Cheney, his neighbor, and a member of the Church. They traveled sixty miles on foot, in December, in deep snow, and the first place they felt impressed to call was at the house of my brother and myself. They went into the house and talked with my brother's wife, and they told her who they were and what their business was. They told her that they were moved upon to go to the north, and they never felt impressed to stop anywhere until they came to that house. When they told her their principles, she said her husband and her brother-in-law both were men who believed those principles, and they had prayed for them for years. They appointed a meeting in the school-house upon our farm. I came home in the evening and my sister-in-law told me of this meeting. I had been drawing logs from the shores of Lake Ontario (I was in the lumber business), and I turned out my horses, did not stop to eat anything, and went to the meeting. I found the house and the door yard filled with people. I listened for the first time in my life to a gospel sermon as taught by the elders of this Church. It was what I had sought for from my boyhood up. I invited the men home with me. I borrowed the Book of Mormon, and sat up all that night and read. In the morning I told Brother Pulsipher I wanted to be baptized. I had a testimony for myself that those principles were true. Myself and my brother, as was stated here yesterday, went forth and were baptized—the first two in that county. That was the beginning of my connection with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
"At this point I will ask upon the subject of religion, what are the rights of men upon religious subjects? I do not know that I can do better than to quote Brother Joseph Smith's remarks before thousands of people at a conference in Nauvoo, when there were many non-Mormons present. He said, 'If I were the emperor of the world and I had power to control the whole human family, I would sustain every man, woman, and child in the enjoyment of their religion.' Those are my sentiments today. I believe every man—Jew, Catholic, Protestant, or anything—has a right to enjoy his religion unmolested. I believe the Constitution of the United States and the laws of the United States guarantee this blessing and privilege to everybody. In fact, I believe that even Robert Ingersoll and his followers have a right to their opinions and to enjoy the same; they have a right to their views with regard to God, the Christ, to the heavens and earth, to the present and the future. Still I will say, I believe that when Robert Ingersoll goes into the spirit world he will find the Bible is not a novel. He will learn that there if never before. He will learn that the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ and the sacrifice He made is not a burlesque, but that that was done for the salvation of the world. And he will find that there will be a God there, there will be a heaven there, there will be a hell there, there will be everything there of which the Bible has spoken.
"In the spring after I was baptized, I went to Kirtland. There I met the Prophet Joseph Smith, and his brother, Hyrum. I met those men that afterwards formed the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. I traveled with Joseph Smith and with that company of men, two hundred and five of them, one thousand miles to the Missouri to assist our brethren in their difficulties. They had been driven from their homes and their lands, from Jackson County into Clay County. We traveled a thousand miles together. There I had my first experience in the dealings of God with His Prophet. I understood perfectly well that he was a prophet. I read the vision, I read his revelations, and I knew they could not come from any man on the face of the earth but by the inspiration of Almighty God. From Missouri I commenced my mission under Bishop Partridge. I will say that while there I had a great desire to preach the gospel. I had that desire from my boyhood up. I had been a miller, and I had walked my mill hours and hours in the night, with my soul filled with these desires to preach the gospel to the children of men. At the time I speak of I was a teacher, and had no power and authority to go forth and preach. I went one Sunday into the forest in Clay County. I was living with Lyman Wight, with half a dozen of the signers of the Book of Mormon—the Cowderys, the Whitmers, Judge Higbee and others. I went off by myself and prayed to the Lord that I might have the privilege of preaching the gospel to my fellow-men. That is all the office that I ever asked of the Lord or anybody else, as far as that is concerned. While praying, the Lord gave me His spirit and answered me that my prayers were heard and would be answered upon my head, and that what I had asked for should be given me. I walked two or three hundred yards out of the forest into an open—a broad highway—in the midst of the forest, and there I saw Judge Higbee standing in the middle of the road with his arms folded. I walked up to him, and when I got to him he said: 'Wilford, the Lord has revealed to me that it is your duty to be ordained to go and preach the gospel.' I said: 'Is that so?' He said: 'Yes.' 'Well,' said I, 'if the Lord wants me to preach the gospel I am ready to go and do it to the best of my ability.' I did not tell him that I had been praying for it. My mission commenced there and it has not ended to the present hour. I have had a responsibility resting upon me in connection with my brethren.