"City of Nauvoo
"June 1st, 1843."
On the 11th of June there was a meeting of the Saints in the Temple wherein the Prophet addressed those present upon various subjects such as baptism for the dead, spirits in prison, different degrees of glory, and the Godhead. The Temple ordinances were occupying the Prophet's mind and he was urging strenuously the completion of the Temple. To its sacred ordinances he attached the highest importance, and, indeed, he declared them necessary to a fulness of the glory of God. He began by reading the words of Jesus: "O! Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not." "The main purpose in gathering the people of God was to build unto the Lord a house wherein He could reveal to them the ordinances and glories of His Kingdom. There are certain ordinances and principles which were taught and practiced which must be done in a temple of the Lord built for that purpose. This was ordained in the mind of God before the world was and through this purpose the Lord designed the gathering of the Jews, but they rebelled against Him. For the same reason the Lord gathers His Saints in the last days. One of the ordinances of the House of the Lord is baptism for the dead. God decreed before the foundation of the world that this ordinance should be administered in a house prepared for that purpose. If a man obtains the fullness of the gospel, he must do as Jesus did by keeping all the ordinances of the House of the Lord.
"Men will say, 'I will never forsake you but will stand by you at all times,' yet the moment you teach them some of the mysteries retained in the heavens to be revealed in the last days they are ready to stone you and put you to death. It was the same spirit which crucified our Savior. The doctrine of baptism for the dead is clearly shown in the New Testament, and if the doctrine is not good then throw away the book; but if it is the Word of the Lord, let the doctrine be acknowledged as coming from Him.
"In regard to the spirits in prison much has been said, especially regarding the words of the Savior to the thief on the cross: 'To-day thou shalt be with Me in paradise.' The translators and commentators make Jesus say, 'paradise.' This is a modern word and does not answer at all to the original which Jesus used. There is nothing in the original of any language signifying 'paradise.' It should be, 'To-day thou shalt be with Me in the spirit world.' He did not say 'paradise or heaven.'
"Much has been said about the word 'hell.' But what is hell? It is another modern term. It is taken from Hades, the Greek, or Sheol, the Hebrew, and its true meaning is 'world of spirits.' The words 'Hades,' 'Sheol,' 'paradise,' and 'spirits in prison,' are used in the Scripture as one word. The righteous and the wicked all go to the same world of spirits. 'I believe,' says one, 'in one heaven and one hell. All are equally happy or equally miserable.' Yet Paul speaks of three glories: 'celestial, terrestial, telestial;' and the Savior says that in His Father's house there are 'many mansions.' Paul says he knew a man caught up to the 'third heaven.'
"The world believes that the Godhead physically is all embodied in the Lord Jesus Christ, but this is not true. Peter and Stephen say that Jesus sat on the right hand of God, and any person who has seen the heavens opened knows that there are three personages in the heavens holding the keys of power. As the Father hath power in Himself so also hath the Son power in Himself. Then the Father has at some time laid down His body and taken it again: so He has a body of His own, so also has the Son.
"The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, and if a man claimed to have that testimony and yet denied the spirit and principle of revelation and prophets, he is damned by his own mouth. 'A man may be happy in the belief that Jesus Christ is God, and yet not obey His commandments. A man of God should be endowed with wisdom, knowledge, and understanding in order to teach and lead the people. The blind may lead the blind and both fall in the ditch together.
"I will ask this assembly and all the Saints if they will build this house and receive the ordinances and blessings which the Lord has in store for them, or will they not, but let Him pass by and bestow His blessings upon another?"
Passing from the mysteries and glories of the Godhead, Elder Woodruff makes record of his work upon a plot of prairie land which he was bringing under cultivation. In all of his thoughts and labors, whether secular or spiritual, he sustained the same lofty inspiration. When he preached, he preached in the name of the Lord, when he plowed, he plowed for the glory of God's Kingdom. All that he said and all that he did was to him but a united whole in the dispensation of God's purposes. Life to him, in its highest and best sense, was the fulfillment of the Divine will. Wherever he was, whatever he was doing, he was thinking of his Maker with whom he worked, walked, and talked in this life. It was all glorious, it was all a part of God's decree. Work of the hands was with him a great privilege and he never let an opportunity pass by to exercise his body, and he rejoiced in the opportunity to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. How could he think of work as a drudgery, how others could look upon it as such was incomprehensible to him. Being always ready to put his hand to the plow, he found many opportunities in the course of a long life to gratify his passion for work.