| Show I 1 DISCOURSE bouve pouve d at the sixty eighth annual C conference e r ence in the tabernacle salt lake city utah thursday after noon april ath 1898 by g WORD WOODRUFF 4 lat at president woodruffs request president cannon read the lot lat section of at the book of doctrine and cove af tats I 1 want the attention and the prayers of the saints who have assembled upon this occasion I 1 have been sick nick aad nd very weak in my body for a month past and did not feel that I 1 i would be able to attend this confer elwe till the day before it opened I 1 bave been blessed in this respect to ae with you I 1 desire to say some X things to you and perhaps some estrange things too I 1 feel disposed to amy ur something about myself to give you IL a little of the history of my life ae because of what I 1 may want to say bay before I 1 get through to the rising gone generation ration of israel my remarks may be very eccentric to any but letterly latterly 4 saints ands andio to them also I 1 expect I 1 1 suppose when I 1 was born the devil knew what I 1 should be called to do tor or there has been from the day I 1 was born until the present two powers with one to kill me the other to save agn 1946 1 I stand before you today a pretty amund looking for a man ninety one olt of age I 1 stand before you with ia years 9 loody body in which almost every bone has been bro broken ken except my back and neck IE nave had through my life a power atter after me to take my life when I 1 was bout about three years old I 1 was pushed two a caldron of bailin boiling water which ol 01 ihma had just been taken off the tire fire my grandmother frand IT mother ther took me out and my skin an U dropped off excepting off my head aud hd feet I 1 was wa wrapped wrapper up for months in cotton and oil that was taw beginning of my troubles when it was vas twelve years of age I 1 was drowned at any rate I 1 lay in thirty feet of water long enough to drown jsn anyone yone after several unsuccessful attempts I 1 was brought up out of the water this was under andl r the farming WS toft mill dam I 1 was wan just as an dead as an JEg X hall be thirty years hence I 1 lay on back and saw the sun go out and my mw parsed through all the sensations of death that any man would in drown magr t after an hours labor I 1 was brought around to life again I 1 shall not lot so 0 o into the particulars of many of these things but I 1 have passed through what may be termed death a dumber of times in my life when I 1 ra 15 years old I 1 was in one of those connecticut blizzards I 1 walked four tales through a wood into the open country and I 1 sought some place ivera iver 4 I 1 could hide bide from the storm end there was but one house mile of me that was the or hoase which was about rods away the man was moved upon to go up in his garret to get some pennyroyal to give to asick a sick woman and nd he felt led to look out of the window he saw me crawling into the i hollow of a big tree he knew what the result of that would be better than I 1 did he took his horse and sleigh and came to me and when he got there I 1 was asleep and he preserved my life when I 1 was 14 years old I 1 was bit by a mad dog and ought to have died but I 1 did not so I 1 continued on until I 1 can say that I 1 have broken both of my legs one twice broken both of my arms breast bone several ribs and altogether been through a pretty hard experience for a man who had to be called to preach the gospel at least I 1 was a miller by trade I 1 have been in two water wheels under full head of water and I 1 suppose I 1 ought to have been killed in either of them but I 1 was not hurt that preserving power has followed me all the way through my life it has been with me upon my missions abroad as well as at home it has followed foil owed me until the present day and I 1 have been placed in a great many strange places I 1 was ordained to dedicate this salt lake temple fifty years before it was dedicated I 1 knew I 1 should live to dedicate that temple I 1 did live to do it I 1 had a great desire in my boyhood to receive the gospel of christ to see a prophet or somebody that could teach me the gospel of christ as taught by the ancient apostles and ab I 1 read of in the new testament I 1 desired this with every sentiment of my heart hear and on the first gospel sermon I 1 ver ever heard I 1 was b baptized baptised apt sed with my oldest brother I 1 im immediately medi went to kirtland I 1 was in zions camp with the pro prophet het of god I 1 saw the dealings of god with him I 1 saw the power of god with him I 1 saw that he was a prophet what was manifest to him by the power of god upon that mission was of great value to me mb and to all who received his instructions I 1 will refer to one instance A short time before we landed in missouri joseph called the camp together he there prophesied unto us and told us what lay bea before ore us he gave us the reason why chastisement was before us he says you consider me a boy with the rest resie of you you have not realized my position before the lord but there to Is a chastisement ti before this camp he told us that this would come u upon pon us because he had not been obeyed in his hill counsels in one hour after we landed in missouri and pitched our tents at mr i burketta Bur ketts one man began to fall here another there and in a few moments I 1 we had a doken of our camp stretched upon blankets with the cholera the prophet of god when he saw this felt to with them and he j and hyrum laid their hands upon brother carter the first man that was taken sick but as an soon as they i did it they were seized themselves and they both had to leave the camp he fie said afterwards 1 I told you what was coming to pass and when affliction came I 1 stretched out my hand to stay it and I 1 came very near falling by it myself that mission was very interesting to me I 1 want to say here that in all my life since joining this church and kingdom notwithstanding these powers that have been with me to kill me I 1 have always had the revelations of god with me that is something I 1 want to talk about to israel before I 1 get through the power of god has told me what to do and what nut not to do while the devil has had power to afflict my body very seriously there has been a power with me that has ha saved me through it all and whenever I 1 have had the holy spirit with me to tell me what to do I 1 have had to do that by that I 1 have been saved by listening to that still small voice I 1 am here today with you there are two reasons why I 1 am here today when I 1 went back after the pioneer journey president young said he wanted me to take my family and go to boston and stay there till it I could gather all the saints sainte of god in now new england and canada and bring them to zion that was the mission he gave me on my return from the pioneer journey to winter quarters I 1 went in the spring as mee me and took my family we came one evening to one of the breth rens houses house in indiana several of us were the orson hyde had a team as well as myself we drove into a long yard I 1 set my carriage within six inches of his I 1 had my wife and children with me I 1 tied my animals to an oak tree on the other side of where we camped I 1 went to bed in my carriage As ac I 1 laid down the spirit of the lord told me to get up and move my carrai carriage I 1 did not ask the lord what he meant I 1 did as I 1 was told the same mune spirit told me to so go and move my animals away from that tree I 1 did that my wife asked me why I 1 did it I 1 told her I 1 did not know I 1 had not been in bed twenty minutes ahou there came a whirlwind and took that oak tree which had stood there perhaps fifty years split it right through the trunk and it swept through both of those fences where my carriage had stood it never touched brother hydes hyde casTi carriage age but it would have crushed me and my family to the tarth it if I 1 had not listened to the voice of the spirit after spending two years and 6 a half in new england and canada getting the saints out I 1 started back with the last lot about a hundred from boston we landed in pittsburg at dusk we were anxious anat not to stay there but to so go on to st louis I 1 saw a steamer making steam ready to go out I 1 went to the cap tain and asked him how many passengers he had three hundred and fifty could you take another hundred yes I 1 was just about to tell him we wanted to go aboard when that spirit said to me dont go aboard thit that steamer you nor your company all right said 1 I 1 I had learned something about that still I 1 small voice I 1 did not go aboard that steamer but waited till the next morning in thirty minutes after that steamer left it took fire it had ropes rope instead of wheel chains and they could not go ashore it was a dark night and not a soul was saved if I 1 had not obeyed the influence of that mont monitor within me I 1 would have been there ther myself with the rest of the company the thirteenth ward would not have had an atwood for a bishop the church would not have had a leonard W hardy as bishop they were both with me and their families including brother samuel hardy who is in st george now upwards of ninety years old I 1 never disobeyed that spirit but once in my life I 1 did it then through the urgency of other persons and it nearly cost me my life I 1 have been acquainted with this spirit it was not the blow of trumpets nor thunder and lightning it was the still small voice to me all the way from my boyhood I 1 have been governed and controlled by that spirit my missions have been by that spirit of revelation I 1 was told to go to pox fox islands by that same still small voice in the time of the great apostasy in kirtland the spirit of the lord said to me get you a partner and go to fox islands I 1 knew no more what was in fox islands than what was in dolob I 1 went there however baptized a hun dred and brought them up to zion with it was upon that island where I 1 received a letter from joseph smith telling 1 me that I 1 was called by revelation to fill the place of one of the twelve who had fallen you will see it if in the doctrine and covenants that thing was revealed to me before I 1 re calved the letter from jost joseph ph smith but I 1 did not feel disposed to tell it to any mortal man for I 1 knew it was my duty to keep such things to myself through all my life and labors whenever ver I 1 have been told to do anything by the tae spirit of the lord I 1 have always found it rood to do it I 1 have been preserved by that power that power was with me when I 1 went to hereford shire I 1 was preaching every night with brother cordon and one night we held a meeting in the town hall at hanley in staffordshire the spirit that still small voice said to me this is the last meeting you will hold with this people for many days I 1 told the congregation so when I 1 got up they were very much astonished and asked e where I 1 was going I 1 told them I 1 se d not nat know after I 1 wept to ask the lord jard what he wanted of me and he told me to iko go to the south that was lu 4 the answer I 1 got I 1 took the stage euid W I 1 rode eighty miles south the first leans anis house I 1 went into was john ben bows I 1 had not been in his house honse fifteen minutes till I 1 understood why the lord had sent me there there was via a people broken off from the wesleyan methodists who had banded together and called themselves united brethren they were watching for the coming of the son of man watching cor or the gospel of christ as they read of tt it in the new testament the first thirty days after I 1 got there I 1 brought into the church some two thousand with fifty ministers and all their chapels elga licensed according to law were in my hands there was no blowing of trumpets about that the spirit of the lord told me to go there and when I 1 got there I 1 saw why I 1 was sent that is perhaps enough to ray gay about those things now I 1 want to say to this congregation to the young men of israel to the elders of israel to all our missionaries the day has come when the god of heaven requires at my hands as the president of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints to say unto you it to is the will of god for you to take this course get the spirit of god before you go on your missions or anywhere else get the spirit of revelation with you and when you get that you are safe and you will do exactly what the jr y lord wants you to do I 1 have felt strongly Irn impressed pressed to say that to this conference what can you do without revelation we cannot do the will of god and accomplish what Is required of us without it we will make no mistakes if we pursue that course that spirit Is with the apostles and with the elders of israel israyel who are true and faithful the rising generation should labor to obtain the spirit of god get it within you and tt it will be a continual monitor with you that is one reason brethren and sisters why my life has been preserved I 1 will tell you another reason of course this Is my own reason f for or it one reason why I 1 am here is because the lord has chosen the weak things of this world to preach the gospel to do his work to build up his kingdom I 1 do not think he has ever had a weaker instrument on earth to work through than myself the almighty has known that never for a minute since I 1 have been a member of this church have I 1 had any power to take any honor or glory to myself with regard to anything that I 1 have been enabled to do in the work of the ministry or elsewhere why because I 1 have known it has come from god and not from me and no other man who has eri engaged in this work has had any power of himself this power has ooma come from god unto us whereby we have been enabled to do the work he has required at our hands there is a change coming over the earth there is a change coming over the christian christaan world and iland it to is at our door you read the revelations revelation in the bible in the book of mormon and in the doctrine and covenants appertaining to our day and the generation before the coming coining of the son of man war yes war is one of the troubles that belong to the generation in which we live it will come to pass pam and no power beneath the heavens can stay it who cannot open their eyes and see the change in the things around us read these revelations the revelation just read by brother cannon and the others in these books the god gd of heaven has set his hand to carry out these great purposes that you read of they are as sure to come to pass as ae that god lives there to is no power on earth nor beneath the earth nor anywhere else that ean can stay the fulfillment os of these things and they are 4 at our doors I 1 am anxious that the latter day saints shall round up their shoulders and aid bear oft off the kingdom of god many kany in the world have labored to try the overthrow mormonism they have driven our people from their lands landh they have persecuted and afflicted us they have put some to death for or the word of god and testimony of jesus but they have not thwarted the purposes of god in any of these th things lings the lord in his mercy and wisdom has led this people to these valleys of the mountains itle it ie ordained of god that zion is to be established here here is the tabernacle that the prophet spoke of as a a covering from the storm and the wind etc these theme temples are here in fulfillment of prophecy we have four of them in abda state president young was honored of god in the establishment of these things he lived long enough to dedicate the corner stone of this temple on this block into which the latter day saints go and deliver their friends who are in the prison house and attend to the ordinances of oc the house of god for them in fulfillment of the ancient prophets who as they were moved upon by the holy ghost to the effect that saviors |
