there is but one right road, and it is a straightforward one

This puts me in mind of a circumstance that happened when I was preaching in Kentucky. I preached upon the first principles of the Gospel, and at the close of my discourse I gave the privilege for any one to ask questions or to make remarks, if they felt so disposed. A gentleman arose, and I noticed that a great many of the congregation began to laugh; and I afterwards learned that the gentleman was an infidel, and hence the congregation were disposed to make fun of him. He said, “I will not detain you long, but I wish to state to this large congregation that Mr. Woodruff has taught me more this evening than I ever learned in my whole life before. From my boyhood I have been searching into religion; and when I have asked a minister in relation to the way of life, he would point me to the way he was walking himself; then I would ask another, and he would point out a different way; and I might have asked a hundred, and they would all have pointed out a different road, and they would tell me that I must be born again. I observed men who were said to be born again, and one class of men who were said to be born again would take one way, and another would take quite a different road; and I always marvelled at this, for I did not see any sense in men taking different roads to lead to the kingdom of heaven. But now this man, Mr. Woodruff, has told me the truth, and shown me the reason they took so many different roads after they were born again; and the reason is, because they were all born BLIND.”

This in reality is the case, for many of us have been born again according to the traditions of our fathers; but those that keep the celestial law and obey the principles of the Gospel of Christ, you never find them taking different roads. There is but one right road, and it is a straightforward one; and the principles and rules that govern you in that path are simple and easy to be understood. This is the path for us to walk in, and I consider that we are greatly blessed in having learned the true way and in being delivered from that yoke of bondage that has chained us down with error, false doctrine, and false teachers.

This I count one of the greatest blessings that God has given to the children of men, to have the plain truth pointed out to them. You look at the religions of the day, and see their confusion and the mystery that hangs around them: you may present the truth to them as plainly as you can, and so simply that an intelligent child might understand, and still they cannot comprehend it. You ask a man among them about the character of God, and about his attributes, and what can he tell you? They will preach about God, about the Son, and the Holy Ghost, long sermons, to prove that those three personages are one; and when they get through, they know nothing about it, and conclude it is a great mystery.

Where is the man or woman that comprehended anything about God or about eternity until Joseph Smith revealed the fulness of the Gospel? I could read of those things in the Bible which we now believe in and receive; but I was surrounded by the traditions of the world and could not comprehend them.

We are now taught, from time to time, the plain principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ—the plan of salvation—the way to live in order to have the approbation of our Father in heaven. Is not this a blessing above all blessings? If this people could comprehend their blessings, they never need have an unhappy moment. If this people could comprehend the position they stand in and their true relationship to God, they would feel perfectly satisfied, and they would realize that our heavenly Father is merciful unto us, and that he has bestowed great and glorious blessings upon us.

Wilford Woodruff

6:139-40

Tagged: Gospel perspective, Joseph Smith, truth of the Gospel