21^st Feb 1859 The Twelve Apostles met at the Prayer closit
in the Historians office, for Prayer & Fasting. There was
Present O. Hyde O. Pratt W. Woodruff G. A. Smith E. T. Benson
C. C. Rich Lorenzo Snow Erastus Snow & F. D. Richards

O Hyde opened by Prayer & spoke upon our position
and the day in which we live said the gospel had been
beging amoung the Gent[i]les for 30 years & he believed the
time was soon over he believed the time [was] at hand when the
Gentiles would beg for the Gospel

G. A. Smith Prayed in the spirit of the Lord and asked
for all things necessary for the Church & kingdom of God
the salvation of the Presidency, Twelve, our family & all Israel
& the destruction of our Enemies

We then sung Come all ye that love the Lord

O pratt Prayed that the Holy Ghost might be poured out
upon us, that our hearts might be filled with good desire[s]
that we might be taught to pray & what to ask of the Lord
we then sung O our Father thou that dwellest

^st

W Woodruff prayed and called upon the Lord to pour
out his spirit upon us & give us the gifts of the Holy Ghost
to Bless and preserve all Israel who would keep the comma-
ndments of God & to curse & destroy our enemies who would
not repent but seek our destruction

We sung this Earth was once a Garden Place

Erastus Snow spoke said he felt rather stupid but he had
a great desire to enjoy the Holy spirit. He talked as stupid
as he felt, and I thought rather Quenched the spirit, but he
prayed and asked for many things which were good

O Pratt spoke and said that as Brother Hyde first remarked
that in attempting to pray this morning his tongue was all
doubled up and seemed hard work to speak O Pratt said that
it made him think of Brother Whimer before he saw the
Angels he had to struggle hard with the powers of darkness
and in one instance the Devel appeared in the form of a
personage and he had to contend with that person & overcome
him, then an angel of God appeared to them Joseph said that
Moses was visited by the Devil and He said to Moses son of
Man worship thou me He told the Devil that He was a son of
God and he would not worship him soon the Lord appeared to him [Moses 1:12-13]

C. C. Rich recommended that no one speak unless he had
the spirit of God but to pray then we would have a good meeting
several ingaged in the conversation.

O. Pratt said there is one thing I think would be of advan-
tage to us in prair the Lord has said that whare two or
three agree as touching any thing it shall be given you He
said we should cast in our minds what the spirit would
wish us to ask for, then we should agree and all ask for the
same thing and exercise all the faith we could upon that
one thing, now if we asked for a hundred things & all difer[ent]
it does not seem as likely to be answered as though iwe askd
for a few things the Nephites when Jesus appeared to them
asked for the Holy Ghost and it was given them [3 Nephi 19:6-13]

O Hyde said that He must confess that he was more
stupid & dull than He wished to be he thought it was in
consequence of going without food & tobaco, which he
had been in the habit of useing. He said if we get the spirit
of the Lord & pray in the spirit we shall be agreed

W. Woodruff spoke & said that we were living in an impo-
rtant eria & that God required much at our hand as the Quorum
of the Twelve Apostle, the Heavens were full of Judgment for
the wicked & Blessings for the righteous, and the Lord has said
that He would be inquired off theby the House of Israel to do thoses
Blessings for them we should be united in asking for what we
want & we should go before God & ask him to stay our Enemies
& hold them that they shall have no power over us we may

^st

not be confined to one thing we want the Holy spirit & we will
ask for that and we will ask the Lord to Hold the Congress of the
United States & all our Enemis in that way that the will of God
may be done He said this year would be more filled with Judgments upon the
wicked than any year we have seen & 1860 will be far more so
E. T. Benson said that He fasted 3 days and was blessed in int
and thought we should not be discoraged but fast & Pray and
ask the Lord for what you want Now if we use coffee, tobaco
whiskey, & stuff ourselves ^with^ meat we will be like the Gentiles & can-
ot expect much of the spirit unless we prepare our bodies for it
I believe that good will grow out of this meeting

G. A. Smith said that I understand the Idea of Brother Pratt is
that we be united in what we ask for but not to limit us I
know that we want the Holy spirit. And one of the greatest
gifts that we want is wisdom to help us to use the Holy spirit
when we [get] we want a gr[e]at deal of wisdom to know when
to speak & when to be silent, as to the Congress of the United States
their is not ten men but what want to cut the throats of the
Presidency & Twelve Apostles and I want to Pray God to curse
them & give them No power over us & I want to pray for the
removal of the armey. Joseph Smith wrote his ^dedication pray^ prayer & went
and read it to the assembly & some were tryed with it

We all dressed in our robes. Lorenzo Snow prayed &
F D. Richards was mouth and prayed long and asked
for many things ^for^ the Church & Kingdom of God

The Brethren then spent a short time in mixed conversation
concerning the the death of Joseph & other things. we then
adjourned till tomorrow 10 oclok, ^1/2 past 3^ I spent the evening at home
I met in the evening with my family and taught them the
things of the kingdom. Elder Lorenzo Snow spent the
evening with me. The mail came in the evening