Discourse 1884-08-02
President Wilford Woodruff said it
was a correct doctrine that young men
should hold the priesthood when they
took the daughters of Zion to wife. It
was their duty also to qualify them-
selves to proclaim the gospel to the
world. Many had regretted their neg-
ligence in this matter at home, when
standing before assemblies of stran-
gers abroad. The youth of Zion will
have to bear off this kingdom in the
midst of the calamities and judgments
that will vex the world. When the
earth was fully ripe in wickedness they
would then be required to go forth and
bind up the law and seal the testimony
to the nations of the earth. The pre-
dictions of the servants of the Lord
would all be fulfilled, notwithstanding
the unbelief of this generation. The
prophecies of God's servants had been
literally fulfilled in the past in the raising
up of one nation and the overthrow
of others, and in the destruction of
cities and kingdoms, and those yet to
be fulfilled would come to pass in the
same manner.
President Woodruff again referred to
the necessity of the young men prepar-
ing themselves for the work of the
ministry and narrated circumstances
that transpired during his labor in that
capacity. To this end it was not
necessary for a man to have a collegiate
education, but the Elders were to study
the principles of the Gospel, that at
the proper time the Holy Spirit might
select from the knowledge they had
stored up, such things as would do
good when spoken. In this respect the
Elders were totally unlike the priests
of the day. God always backed up the
testimonies of his servants. The field
was large and the laborers few and the
Lord wanted the young to qualify
themselves to gather out the wheat
from the tares.
