Day in the Life

Oct 22, 1840

Journal Entry

October 22, 1840 ~ Thursday

22 A hand pointing to the right I wrote a letter to Brother Thomas
Clark
. We hired Mr J. Barretts Academy
57, King Street Square, Goswall Street
(the enterance Door in President Streett for three
mont[h]s to preach in. I went to the printer
& got 500 hand bills published which cost
me 11/ this to give notice of our meeting
on my return from the office Elder Smith
presented me with three A folded letter/box letters to read &
also the No 10) of the Times & Seasons one
letter was from Elder Richards & one from Father
John Smith to his son George A. & while reading
it I was informed that my Daughter Sarah
Emma Woodruff
was DEAD [FIGURE] this is the first
information I have had of it. May the Lord
comfort her mother in her afflictions, & preserve
her life & health & her son for my sake,
A hand pointing to the right I wrote two letters one to Brother Francis
Pullin
& one to Elder Samuel Warren

In the evening in company with Elder
G. A. Smith I attended A Missionary meeting of
the Weslian Methodist in the Weslian City road
road Chapapel ^Wesleyan^ Chapel London I[t] was considered
one of the greatest missionary meetings ever held
in the city of London the chair was occupied
by the LORD MAYOR of the city of London
He was a noble looking man, his watch guard
consisted of six gold chains which were large
& heavy. The object of this meeting was for the
Wesleyan Methodist to send out foreign missionari[es]
& to make collections enough to clear themselves of
a debt of £50000. the most splended talents of
Europe were gatherd together on this occasion Ministers
of the Church of Scotland, of England, & of the
Wesleyans were present in large numbers, the mee
ting opened early & continued untill after 10 [ocl[ock]]
oclock. There was much policy manifest in this
combination of ministers & power of the differen[t]
churches for the purpose of Gathering collections I
herd speaches from 10 or 12 Ministers. One
Scotch Minister Says as he arose & addressed the
chairman & meetings My Lord & Wesleyan

friends let my tongeue cleave to the roof of my
mouth [Psalms 137:6] & my right hand forget her cunning
when I will not take a Wesleanyan by the hand
& call him Brother. A church Minister sayes
My Lord & Wesleyan friends, I wish you
while looking at the Church of England to cover
her imperfections with the cloke of charity
& while observing the Church of Scotland to
do the same & I would readily cover the impe[r]
perfections of the Wesleyan Society but I know
not whare they are, I would not hesitate to cove[r]
the imperfections of the Church of Rome was int
in my power but they are all Scarlet. A
Wesleyan arose & viz Mtr Robert Young of
the Queen street circuit ^chapel^ & Says. We are
highly favored on this occasion by having for
our chairman the Lord Mayer of London the
chief magestrate of the most renowned city in the
world & My Lordship has like Cesar submited
himself to the worship & accknowledgement of
Christ, in this condesention, but when rightly
considered is not my Lordship as highly honord in
presiding over this vast body of respectable citizens
this evening who have met together on so important
an occasion as he would be to reign upon a
Throne for the Angel in heaven honour evry
effort that is made on earth for the spread of the
gospel & the saving of the souls of men, mMy
Lord & christian friends, how did the Ancient
Apostles prevail, they were illiterate & unlearned
men, they had neither money, nor influence thei[r]
doctrins were unpopular, yet they esstablished
the gospel, Maintained the Doctrin of Christ &
caused the Nations to tremble, yet this was all by
the power of God & not of man. My Lord our
circumstances are different from thers, we
have influence & wealth, we have splended
chapels & respectable bodies, & our numbers are
many, yet If God is not with us we cannot
prevail." (I shouted Amen) My Lord & christian
friends two things are necessary to accomplish
the object o[f] this meeting viz the spirit of God
within [us W] us & a collection of money witho[ut]
sufficient to pay off our church Deabt & send
missionaries abroad &c. thus speach after
speach was made untill 10 oclock when a collection
was taken up After which the

Lord Mayor of London arose & addressed a cro-
uded assembly of about 3000 person[s] in the cCiteey
Road Chapel (which was the first chapel ever built
by Mr John Wesley) the Lord Mayor says It is with
pleasure that I have been permiteted to preside over
this respectable body this evening on so important
occasion the memory of which will be i[n]delibly
fixed upon my mind as one of the most pleasing
events of my life, & I trust I shall ever be as
ready to perform evry Duty required of me by the
citizens of London as I have been to meet with
our Wesleyan friends this evening, the house rung
with applause, & the congregation dispersed the
Lord Mayor was conveyed to his Mansion in his
private carriage drawn by two Steeds whose harness
decorated with gold & silver which were glistning in
the sable shadses of night,

But in the midst of all this scenery who can imag
in my feelings none but those placed in kike [like]
circumstancs though I had a mission & a message
to the Inhabitants of London & stood in there mids[t]
ready to deliver it as soon as God opened my way
yet I was as little unknown by them, as Jonah
was to the citizens of Niniva while in the whales
Blelly & I clearly saw & realized that notwi-
thstanding this great display of talent, power &
policy, to send missionaries to the heathen they
as much need an humble messenger of God to
teach them the first principles of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ as Niniva Did a Prophet to cry repen
tance
unto them, I retired home alone meditating
upon the signs of the Present generation

People

Browse people Wilford Woodruff mentioned on this day in his journal. Click on the person's name to view a short bio and other pages they are mentioned on or click on "View in Family Search" to view their FamilySearch profile.

2 mentions
Historical Figure
Pullen, Francis
3 Sep 1802 - 3 Sep 1861
24 mentions
1840 British Convert
Smith, George Albert
26 Jun 1817 - 1 Sep 1875
1431 mentions
Apostle, Missionary
9 mentions
Smith, John, b. 1781
16 Jul 1781 - 23 May 1854
Wesley, John
17 Jun 1703 - 2 Feb 1791
14 mentions
Historical Figure, Eminent Men and Woman
28 mentions
Scriptural Figure
Woodruff, Phebe Whittemore Carter
8 Mar 1807 - 10 Nov 1885
1580 mentions
Family
Young, Robert
1796–1865
2 mentions
Historical Figure
Warren, Samuel
8 May 1822 - 3 Nov 1863
9 mentions
1840 British Convert, United Brethren
Woodruff, Sarah Emma
14 Jul 1838 - 17 Jul 1840
164 mentions
Family
Clark, Thomas Henry
31 May 1806 - 14 Oct 1873
43 mentions
1840 British Convert, United Brethren
7 mentions
Historical Figure
Woodruff, Wilford (Jr.)
22 Mar 1840 - 9 May 1921
716 mentions
Family
Richards, Willard
24 Jun 1804 - 11 Mar 1854
540 mentions
Apostle

Places

Browse places mentioned in Wilford Woodruff's journal entry on this day. Click on the place names to view other pages where they are mentioned.

Quotes

View selected quotes from this page in Wilford Woodruff's journal.

though I had a mission & a message to the Inhabitants of London & stood in there mids[t] ready to deliver it as soon as God opened my way yet I was as little unknown by them, as Jonah was to the citizens of Niniva while in the whales Blelly & I clearly saw & realized that notwi- thstanding this great display of talent, Power & Policy, to send missionaries to the heathen they as much need an humble messenger of God to teach them the first Principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ as Niniva Did a Prophet to cry repen tance unto them
~ Wilford Woodruff
"He that judgeth a matter before he heareth is not wise"
~ Wilford Woodruff

Related Documents

Browse other documents with this same date. These could include pages from Wilford Woodruff's autobiographies, daybooks, letters, histories, and personal papers. Click on the document titles to view the full document.

Autobiography 1883 Tullidge's Quarterly Magazine
day, the , I held public meeting at the Academy, when four offered themselves for baptism; and on the following Sunday I again preached twice and baptized and confirmed three more. These were the first fruits of my labors in London.

Events

View selected events in the two months surrounding this date in Wilford Woodruff's life. Click on the dates to jump to that day in Wilford Woodruff's journal.

Oct 22, 1840