[Wilford Woodruff]
I then set out in company with Elder Smoot on foot in a hard snowstorm for Kirtland. We Came in Sight of the Temple of the Lord before we reached the village & I truly felt to rejoice at the Sight as it was the first time that mine eyes ever beheld the house of the Lord built by Commandment & Revelation.
We soon entered the village & I spent one of the happiest days of my life at this time in visiting Kirtland & the House of the Lord & the Presidents & Elders of the Church. I was truly edified to again strike hands with President Joseph Smith Jr. & many other beloved saints of God who are rolling on the mighty work of God & of Israel after being seperated from them for 2 1/2 years ... There is an enjoyment in meeting our brethren & companions in tribulation that the world Knows not off because it flows from a Celestial Source.
After Spending a short time in Conversing With my friends A more important scene was now to open to my view than Kings ever saw or Princes ever Knew in this generation Which was to visit the Temple of the Lord & its contents. Elder Smoot & myself visited each appartment of the House accompanied by Elder Parrish & I must confess the scenery is indisscribable. When I entered the threshhold of the house & Passed into the lower room their was great Solemnity if not Awe immediately overwhelmed me. I felt indeed as if my footsteps were in the Temple of the Lord.
..Two & a half years since I left Kirtland [for a mission in the south] with my Brethren in their Poverty to go fourth to visit our brethren in tribulation in Zion. ....
[Source: Wilford Woodruff's Journal: 1833-1898 Typescript, Volumes 1-9, Edited by Scott G. Kenney, Signature Books 1993, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]
No comments:
Post a Comment