CHARACTER SKETCH.

By Dr. J. M. Tanner.

"To the law and to the testimony; and if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." If the whole religious life of Wilford Woodruff could be summed up in a single sentence, it would be in that Scriptural statement by which the truth of God's purposes was made evident. The Scripture was his safe guide in every walk of life. To him it was a living fountain. Its promises gave him assurance, its warnings restrained him, its proverbs gave him wisdom, its psalms attuned his soul, its more sure word of life was to him conclusive of all that God had done and that He would yet do many great and marvelous things among the children of men.

He was a devout student of the Bible, and that book accounts not alone for the spiritual quality of his life, but for the peculiar workings of his mind. There was nothing in life that he could not measure in terms of Holy Writ. It is doubtful whether the Bible ever brought a human soul more perfectly within the circumference of its teachings, promises, rewards, and inspiration than it brought Wilford Woodruff. He was what is sometimes called a man of one book; that is, a man whose predominant characteristics are marked by a single book. He knew his Bible. It was the companion of his youth, the joy of his early manhood, and the solace of his old age. Whatever did not square with its teachings was to him insufficient. It brought him discernment and made him wakeful and watchful for the new light its promises contained. It was a watch-tower on which he stood looking for new evidences of a new dispensation and of glorious promises of a day to come. In his youth, his contact with religious denominations brought him no spiritual satisfaction, because the sects of that day did not conform to that standard of truth, the Holy Writ, to which he had pledged his allegiance.

A man whose life the Bible so completely permeated could be naught else than a spiritual-minded man. To no man's mind was God ever a more potent reality in the affairs of men than to his mind. To him He was not a distant being whose mysteries obscure and overawe. To Wilford Woodruff God was a companion, a kind and loving father, a protector, a guide. That God spoke with men face to face was no metaphor to him, was no spiritualized conclusion, it was a commonplace, though profound, truth. He regarded himself as a child of God to whom and with whom he had a right to speak. There was nothing in life which a man might not disclose to his Maker, and he aspired to commune with God as one man speaketh to another.

His conceptions of God made religion a simple thing, as simple as it was wonderful. He seldom argued religion, he never proved the existence of God, he rarely explained obscure meanings of Holy Writ. To him God was the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. The relationship of man to his Maker was set forth on the first pages of the Bible. God made man in his own image; male and female created He them. That God had talked to Adam in the garden of Eden was no myth, was no mystery. He had talked to others. He would talk to men again. Nothing satisfied his spiritual cravings short of an actual communication between heaven and earth. For such a communication he was looking, hoping, praying. When it came, it was as clear to his understanding as the rays of light at noonday sun. His whole being was illuminated by the new revelation. However, he put it to the test; he measured it in the light of Scripture; tested it by individual experiences, and it was in perfect harmony with his spiritual and intellectual being; and when once he put his hand to the plow, he never looked back. No doubt ever troubled him; no misgivings ever dampened his ardor. Thenceforth he never questioned the truth of a divine call to the children of this age any more than he questioned his own existence.

It is difficult in such a man to draw a line between his spiritual and his physical life. Certain it is, he made no distinction. Everything that touched divine purpose was to him a part of his religion. If he preached, he preached in the name of God; if he dug ditches and tilled the earth, it was equally in obedience to a divine command. He was just as devout with the scythe or the sickle as he was with the hymn book or in the pulpit. When one therefore speaks of the spiritual characteristics of such a man, he speaks of the whole man; and if Wilford Woodruff's spiritual nature were merely a characteristic, religion might have been thought of in him as an incident, a part of his life. It was his whole life; for it was measured in terms of his relationship with his God—that relationship he recognized everywhere throughout a remarkable and unique life.

Those best acquainted with the life and habits of Wilford Woodruff will find it difficult, if not wholly impossible, to call to mind any circumstance of unoccupied moments in all their acquaintanceship with him. He was a man of medium height, of a robust nature, heavy set, and of unbounded nervous energy. Those who glorify work and exalt its importance in the divine economy of man find in him an example of the highest type.

He loved work, not alone for its own sake, but because it was associated with divine command. Nor was it to him merely a means of getting on in the world, of adding conveniences and comfort to his own life as well as to those dependent upon him; to him it was a blessing, a privilege, an opportunity which he always availed himself of whenever his calling would permit. Nor was he discriminating in the kind of work he did. He took up whatever was at hand to be done. His toil in the canyons, his sweat in the harvest field, his travels upon the plains were all important parts in divine economy and he performed every labor of life with as much zeal as he was wont to exercise in promulgating the word of God. He was not a worker in the ordinary sense of the word; for in work he always set himself about to accomplish extraordinary tasks.

Those who remember him in the pioneer days of Utah call to mind his unusual physical powers when compared with other men. "I have seen him," said John A. Woolf of Cardston, Canada, "feed a threshing machine with bundles from a stack, when three ordinary men complained of the task. He was never particular where he worked, usually he got in the most disagreeable place about a thresher in order to favor those with whom he worked. When he might have chosen his place, he went to the chaff-pen where the smut and dirt were almost unbearable. I never knew a harder worker than Wilford Woodruff."

He could turn from one occupation to another without the least apparent effort. He would toil assiduously in the harvest field, and with scarcely a moment's notice be ready to receive the dignitaries of the nation that might happen to visit Salt Lake City while he was thus engaged. To sweat, was a divine command as much so as to pray; and in his life he exemplified in the highest degree that simple Christian life that makes for the physical, mental, and moral well-being of man. He believed sincerely in the moral supremacy of manual toil. He loved it and enjoyed it.

Whenever in the midst of his public ministries there came to him an opportunity to retire to his farm, he went to it with all the energy of his marvelous physical endurance. His love of toil produced in his life what it does in the lives of most men of similar habits, a simplicity, a democracy, and the spirit of universal brotherhood. To him there were no commonplace tasks. All that he did was important to his own exaltation in this life and in the world to come. His love of labor penetrated the veil and admitted him to the world beyond wherein he saw God-given opportunities to work. An idle, self-sufficient life in the next world was as abhorrent to his nature as the ordinary conceptions of purgatory. The thought that in the great beyond men should have an unwaning and an undiminished endurance in the industry of an eternity was glorious to his mind.

In this age when men are shirking physical tasks in the industrial world in pursuit of occupations that are as free as possible from bodily exertions, his life stands out as a beautiful example of simplicity and vigor. No man ever did more in the Church to exalt work and put upon it the impress of divine command than Wilford Woodruff; and he was as unostentatious in physical toil as he was in every other occupation which he honestly and faithfully pursued.

In the broadest and highest sense of the term, Wilford Woodruff may be designated as truly the friend of mankind; but within that broader friendship there were intimacies and confidences which he carried with him from his earlier days through the remainder of life. He, like most men of a strong character and loving disposition, had his special friends—friends whose spirit and manner of life were congenial to him—friends whose religious practices and thoughts were in harmony with his own aspirations.

With him, however, friends were not selected because of their station in life; they were among all classes, the humblest as well as the highest; indeed, it is doubtful whether Wilford Woodruff ever recognized any class distinction whatever. If he ever made a distinction, it was a distinction between the good and the bad. He was never governed by considerations of wealth, rank, or public honors. His friendships belonged to that old-fashioned type wherein men were actuated by a spirit of brotherhood and unaffected love for one another.

Nor was he one of those who boasted of friendships with the selected few. Every stake of Zion, if not almost every community, contained some special friend or friends, time-honored and true. He loved to throw off the formalities of social restraint and indulge in those heart to heart talks that brought up reminiscences of earlier days. Like others, he was especially attracted by those whose view-points of life were similar to his own, whose spiritual natures reveled in the things of God and ascribed to Him both the honors and the glories of this world.

His friendships were both sincere and lasting; even when friends deviated from the paths of the highest rectitude, he preferred to think of them as they once were, in the enjoyment of divine favor. The good in others was uppermost in his judgment of men, and his friendship was all the more lasting because it was accompanied by a spirit of charity and good-will to all.

It would perhaps be here a little discriminating to speak of any individual friendships of his life. There is one, however, that was so strong and lasting that it illustrates with great clearness the character of the man. Ezra T. Clark of Farmington was a man of simple habits and devoted to industrial life. He loved the soil whose very particles awakened within him a satisfaction and an enthusiasm. These two men developed throughout many years of intimate association a loving regard for each other that was as striking as it was beautiful. Whenever Elder Woodruff could steal away from the duties and responsibilities of life some leisure hours, he sought an evening's pastime in the home of his friend. Their devotion to each other grew with years; and it may be truthfully said that nothing ever came up in life to disturb their confidence and love.

Elder Woodruff was throughout all his life an ideal neighbor. His interest in those about him was one of helpfulness. He was quick to see the needs of a neighbor and generous in his impulse to give and to help. His high regard for the privileges of others never permitted him to trespass on the rights or the property of those about him. The property of others was as sacred to him as his own and its safety elicited his careful attention. He was generous in the contribution of his time and knowledge.

His selection in the early days of Utah as the head of organizations intended to place within the reach of all the best methods of farming and manufacture illustrates the esteem in which he was held by those who intrusted to him matters of such welfare to the people. He was therefore the highest type of a missionary of good deeds as well as of good counsel.

There was never in him a spirit of condescension. He never thought of obligations under which he was placing his fellowmen while doing them a service. He served others because he enjoyed the spirit of helpfulness and found it a part of his God-given nature to be of use in every possible manner to those it was his joy to help on in the world.

The missionary spirit of Elder Woodruff which manifested itself so zealously in the welfare and happiness of others did not permit him to pursue life in the interest of any selfish ambitions or personal aggrandizement. His journal reveals the pride he felt in bringing home to the lives of men the great truths of Mormonism. He was always more interested in what others derived from his services than what came to him. In counsel, therefore, he was never actuated by selfish aims, and he was free from suspicion that the things which others advocated could have any ulterior purpose than that which appeared upon the surface.

By nature he was an unsuspicious man and that made his life free from the jealousies, envies, and misgivings so destructive of human happiness. That nature made him an optimist. He went about life not only looking for the good, but with ability to see it. He had nothing to conceal, nothing to disfigure, therefore the shades and colorings of life with him were true to nature.

Whenever in his judgment it became necessary to offer any criticism upon the lives or conduct of others, it was for the purpose of warning those whom he criticized against the dangers that would befall them, if they pursued such a course. Often throughout his journal he speaks of the apostasy of prominent men and old-time friends. What he wrote is in a spirit of charity; his words are words of regret, and his sentiments are full of brotherly consideration, even toward those who ceased to entertain convictions in harmony with his own.

Though he was a man of a gentle spirit, it must not be supposed that he was wholly incapable of pronouncing judgment upon the wicked or the ungodly. But even his judgments were not accompanied by personal antagonisms. He was both forgetful and forgiving. He was not a man of marked prejudices, and there is no evidence that he ever pursued with malice those in whom he had lost confidence. He was, perhaps, as free from prejudices as any prominent man in his day. This beautiful quality of life made him tractable, easily persuaded, especially when the influence about him was one of brotherly love or kind consideration.

In the minor affairs of life, and in the details of administration, he was not very particular how things were done, provided they could be accomplished without friction and in a spirit which conformed to the principles of the gospel. He was never insistent, nor was he persistent in having his own way in his association with his fellowmen. He had so completely surrendered himself to the will of God and to the leadership of his brethren that nothing ever menaced his ambition or aroused a spirit of resentment within him, provided he was not required to sacrifice principle or subordinate his manhood. Instances are revealed in his journal where he took a strong stand when questions of right and wrong were at stake; and he manifested the fire of righteous zeal whenever any question arose not in harmony with his conceptions of God's message to the children of men. Dislike, envy, or jealousy had so little effect upon his hopeful nature that those ordinary prejudices common to mankind rarely troubled him. He rejoiced in the good fortune of others, and praised God.

The study of the life of Wilford Woodruff constantly reminds one of Nathaniel of whom Jesus said: "He is an Israelite without guile." The evil conditions of mankind, people's shortcomings, and even their vices were not matters which rested upon his conscience or aroused a spirit of denunciation or judgment within him. It was not easy for him to think of evils or to associate them with his fellowman. He looked upon the bright side of life and had a keen appreciation of the good there was in others.

Whenever he uttered words of condemnation or prophesied the judgments of God, it was in pursuance of divine manifestations to his heart and mind. Whenever he spoke words of reproof, it was because he conceived it his duty to do so, not because it was his nature to criticise or to find fault. When he spoke of the wickedness of the world, or the wrong-doings of his fellowmen, it was as a rule in a spirit of testimony, and not because of the things which he saw or heard. No man was ever more willing than Wilford Woodruff that the sentiments of his heart and the thoughts of his mind should be read as if in an open book. The dividing line of his inner life and the expression of his words and conduct was never marked. He was therefore free from that secret life which is constantly struggling against the revelations of its real truth. The Saints will always think of him as a man like Nathaniel—without guile.

One of the highest evidences of a truly religious nature is the sincerity of life that characterizes it. It is also that quality of the human soul which gives zeal to missionary life and makes the testimony borne carry conviction to the hearts of others. The sincerity of Wilford Woodruff never left any room for doubt as to his convictions upon everything which he advocated. His earnestness commanded the respectful attention of all who heard him, even though they were not convinced by the evidences of his word or the force of his arguments.

In all matters of religion, an earnest demeanor is necessary for the assurance of others as well as one's own self-satisfaction. It was easy for every man—Mormon, Jew, or Gentile—to believe that Wilford Woodruff believed himself, and sincerely to believe oneself is the highest evidence of that inner conviction which removes misgivings and doubts from the human soul. It was this peculiar quality of life that made him a model missionary.

Possessing the highest qualities of sincerity, he naturally became an earnest advocate in his teachings and an indefatigable worker in everything he set his hands to do. There was never anything about his life, never any diversions from the path of duty or surrender to the spirit of a pleasure-loving age to disturb the zeal that came from the sincerity and earnestness of his soul. In many there is often a strong desire to surrender themselves to that spirit of pleasure that deadens the conscience and gives self-justification after wrong doing. With him, as with others, a consistent earnestness and a heartfelt sincerity were a safeguard against a spirit of disbelief. Those qualities of life never permitted him to shirk responsibility or be indifferent to the obligations every man should feel with respect to his Maker. He was, therefore, like the prophets of old—zealous for the things of God.

There was a steadfastness of purpose in all that Wilford Woodruff set his hand to do. He was as devoted in action as he was in thought and feeling. His standard of life was a religious standard, and it was supported by a constancy that was peculiar to his nature. From the beginning to the end of life, his religious convictions were strictly adhered to. He was never drawn into subordinate considerations. He never ran off at a tangent, never allowed minor matters to absorb him. His loves, his hopes, his aims in life were all subordinate to the great central truth of God's revelation. He might be misinformed about details; facts might be distorted; events might be wrongly stated; but he had a guiding star from which his eyes were never taken; and sooner or later, he set himself in harmony with the true spirit of the age in which he moved.

His devotion always made him reliable and true. Friends never doubted his friendship, nor troubled themselves about its continuance. He had that perfect regard for the friendships of life which bound him to men. The qualities that made him devoted to men and to duty came from the larger devotion which he always felt for the things of God. He truly loved his God. Whatever that love might mean to others, to him it meant a willing service, a confiding heart, a life of steadfast devotion to the obligations which he felt the Lord had laid upon him. His devotion made him intensely earnest, sincere, and guileless. It helped him to see the best there was in life. The true and beautiful filled his heart with admiration. Devotion gave to him a simplicity that left no place for pride and vain ambitions. There came to him out of a devout life the enjoyment of all God's revelations in nature and in word.

His family life was devoid of every show of ostentation. He enjoyed the companionship of the youngest child, and kept in touch with the sorrows and joys of family life. He could not stand aloof from the family life which he had done so much to create. The responsibilities of his home he shared with every member of his household. He loved his wives and children, and in their midst was free, easy, and approachable. His discipline never carried with it any severity. In his home he found relaxation and rest from the strenuous life he led. His children loved him. They were free to reason or persuade. They felt no barriers between him and them. Their conscience might be troublesome to them, but his sternness never was. He belonged to that class of fathers styled indulgent. His own example called for an industrious and obedient life in his home. It was easy for his children to understand what they should do by what they saw him do. Goodness was the quality he most extolled; and if his family would only be good, they were to his mind best prepared to fulfill any responsibility God might place upon them. They would learn their duties by doing them. He considered one duty well done the best means of learning and doing new ones. The family life it was his earnest endeavor to create and beautify is reflected in the joyful spirit that comes to descendants who meet annually on his birthday, March first, to do honor to his name.