Discourse 1883-10-14
APOSTLE WILFORD WOODRUFF
When I look at the creations of God
I often marvel at the infinite variety
which I see therein. This eternal
variety was shown among the spirits
of men in the eternal world, and there
was a gradation of spirits before cre-
ation just the same as after the birth
of men. The Lord has said he would
take of the noble spirits and make
rulers in His kingdom. Very few
men in any age of the world since
the days of Adam, have been willing
to receive the word of the Lord and
work in harmony with Him. So it is
to-day. Out of 11,000,000,000 peo-
ple now on the earth only a few have
embraced the gospel. The feeling of
this generation is, "Give me gold and
silver; I do not want the salvation
you offer." You are forming your
characters. I am forming mine. If
I commit sin it must be paid for
somewhere, if not in time, then in
eternity. The secret acts and
thoughts and intents of men are to
be revealed by the angels of the Lord.
The angels that will reveal these
things are the servants and prophets
of the Lord who have held the keys
of various dispensations of the gos-
pel in the different thousand years,
since the creation, from the first to
the seventh.
Joseph Smith was a noble spirit in
the presence of God thousands of
years before he was born. The
Lord has chosen other spirits who
are now among the Latter-day Saints
who have hearts and souls that are
inclined to truth and righteousness.
The sisters have just as good a right
to smoke, chew, drink and get drunk
as the brethren have. But the sis-
ters never do these things. We will
all have to keep the word of wisdom
sooner or later. We are told by rev-
elation that all the intelligence and
truth we aquire during life will re-
main with us in the resurrection.
The world is against us. Our own
nation is seeking to oppress us, and
already a movement is afoot to in-
duce the next Congress to pass strin-
gent legislation to oppress us. It is
our duty to pray daily to the Lord
for His power to be exercised in our
behalf. I have faith in Zion. I saw
it when it was small, and I have seen
a little one became a thousand. I
have faith our young people. I
believe they will keep the Word of
Wisdom, and become a righteous na-
tion.
We are on the verge of great
changes. There will be changes in
Zion, in Jerusalem, in the United
States and in all nations of the
world. If our young men want to
know what events await this genera-
tion, let them read the revelation of
St. John. The Lord showed to him
many things that will come to pass
in this age of the world.
