Day in the Life

Dec 22, 1856

Journal Entry

December 22, 1856 ~ Monday

22nd we spent the fore part of the day in the Legislature I took dinner with
the Presidency & Twelve & members of the council I Attended the seventies
Meeting in the evening Elder O Hyde W. Woodruff L. Snow & F. D. Richards
An arrow A single key with teeth to the left of the Twelve were present & a house full of the presidents of
the 70s. The first business that was Attended to was to
Bring up G P. Stiles for Adultery. He imphatically Denied it although
the testimony was strong against him. A. P. Rockwood was in the
stand, & he did not know twhat to do with him I bore it as long as I
could. I arose in the stand & said George P Stiles I am going to ask
you a question & if you are innocent you should proclaim your innocence
but if you are guilty dont you deny it before God the Holy Ghost & these
witnesses if you do the Judgments of God shall follow your footsteps
from this hour till you go to your Grave & from then[ce] to Hell {If I had felt the Spirit of God
I should have said that the man that stand on that [verily] that will follow you to your grave} He did not deny it
nor acknowledge it. He was then cut off from the Church. Elder O Hyde
spoke then I followed & the spirit & power of God rested upon me like a
Burning flame & so it did upon Brother Snow & Brother Richards as they spoke
& we all advised the first presidents of the Seventies to go forward &
present a resignation of their Presidency to President Young & let
some men take the place who could magnify it. Hancock & Z
Pulsipher
said they would & B L Clapp spoke. We had the spirit
& power of God rest upon us like fire shut up in our bones & revealed
many things unto us. I went home & I did not feel like going to
bed I felt as though I wanted to set up & pray all night

People

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Rockwood, Albert Perry
9 Jun 1805 - 26 Nov 1879
Clapp, Benjamin Lynn
19 Aug 1814 - 21 Oct 1865
141 mentions
1835 Southern Convert
Young, Brigham
1 Jun 1801 - 29 Aug 1877
3425 mentions
Apostle, Family
Richards, Franklin Dewey
2 Apr 1821 - 9 Dec 1899
815 mentions
Apostle
Stiles, George Philander
21 Oct 2024 - 1 Sep 1885
Hancock, Levi Ward
7 Apr 1803 - 10 Jun 1882
35 mentions
Zion's Camp
Snow, Lorenzo
3 Apr 1814 - 10 Oct 1901
692 mentions
Apostle, Family
Hyde, Orson
8 Jan 1805 - 28 Nov 1878
693 mentions
Apostle
Pulsipher, Zerah
24 Jun 1788 - 1 Jan 1872

Places

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Quotes

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December 23, 1856 ~ Tuesday 223 [FIGURES] I met in the Legislative Council there was no spirit to transact Business L Snow moved that President Kimball should give us an address. President Kimball said I do not feel much like speaking to day I feel feeble in body. & want my Liberty to act as I am moved by the Holy Ghost. but He began to talk & the power of God came upon him & he spoke for an hour I followed him & the room was filled as with Consumeing fire & all the member of the House came in & they all spoke untill sundown & the House was filled with the spirit of God almost to the consuming of our flesh & many things were revealed which were marvelous
~ Wilford Woodruff

Related Documents

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Discourse 1856-12-22
the Seventies Council, held at Seventies Council Hall, Br Woodruff arose, and said, Judge Stiles, a woman came out of the Tabernacle and confessed she had in- tercourse with you. Another says, she has seen you have intercourse with a woman, and can you say you have not had intercourse with this woman. We want you to confess it. We do not want you to tell a lie before God, men, holy Angels, and the devil for if you lie the Judgments of God will fall upon you.
Autobiography Volume 3 circa 1865-1866
On the evening of the I attended the Seventies meeting. There were present of the Twelve Elder Orson Hyde Wilford Woodruff Lorenzo Snow and F. D. Richards. The first business that was attended to was the trial G. P. Stiles for adultery. He emphatically denied it though the testimony was strong against him. A P. Rockwood was in the stand and he did not know what to do with him. I bore it as long as I could and then I arose in the Stand and said: "George P. Styles, I am going to ask you a question and if you are i^in^nocent you shall proclaim your i^in^nocence but if you are guilty dont you deny it before God the Holy Ghost and these witnesses. If you do the judgements of God shall follow your footsteps from this hour till you go to your grave and from thence to hell." I put the question and he did not deny it nor acknowledge it so he was cut off from the Church. All the members of the Twelve present then spoke and the power of God rested upon us like fire shut up in our bones and many things were revealed to us. We advised the Presidents of the Seventies to go forward and present their resignation to President Young and let men take their places who could magnify the office On the following day I met in the Legislative Council. There was no spirit to transact business. Lorenzo Snow moved that President Kimball should give us an address President Kimball said, "I do not feel much like speaking to day. I feel feeble in body and want my liberty to act as I am moved upon by the Holy Ghost. But he began to talk and the power of God

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.

Members of Territorial Legislature rebaptized (Wilford for the fifth time).
Church membership is 55,236.

Dec 22, 1856