The personal testimony of Wilford Woodruff, given in 1897
“I bear my testimony that the Prophet Joseph Smith said before a large assembly in Illinois that if he were the emperor of the world and had control over the whole human family, he would sustain every man, woman, and child in the enjoyment of their religion. Those are my sentiments today. I bear my testimony that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God, ordained of God to lay the foundation of His Church and Kingdom in the last dispensation and fulness of times. I bear my testimony that in the early spring of 1844 in Nauvoo, the Prophet Joseph Smith called the Twelve Apostles together and he delivered unto them the ordinances of the Church and the Kingdom of God, and all the keys and powers that God had bestowed upon him he sealed upon our heads. He told us that we must round up our shoulders and bear off this Kingdom or we would be damned. I am the only man now living in the flesh who heard that testimony from his mouth, and I know it is true by the power of God manifest through him.
“At this meeting he began a speech of about three hours upon the subject of the Kingdom. His face was as clear as aspen, and he was covered with a power that I have never seen in an instant in the flesh before. I bear testimony that Joseph Smith was the author of the endowments as received by the Latter-day Saints. I received my own endowments under his hands and direction and I know that are true principles. I not only received my own endowments under his hands, but I bear testimony that Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, George A. Smith, John Taylor, and other brethren received their endowments under the hands and direction of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and also my wife Phoebe, Aunt Phoebe Smith, Leonora Taylor, Mary Smith, and other whose names I cannot recall now.
“The Prophet Joseph laid down his life for the word of God and testimony of Jesus Christ, and he will be crowned as a martyr in the presence of God and the Lamb. In all his testimony to us, the power of God was visibly manifest in the Prophet Joseph. This is my testimony, spoken by myself into a talking machine on this the 19th day of March, 1897, in the ninety-first year of my life.” Wilford Woodruff.
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