Day in the Life
Journal Entry
April 25, 1860 ~ Wednesday
25 I spent most of the day in the office The Eastern maill came in &
Brought some papers But no letters. The missionaries according to
appointment met at the Historians office at 3 oclock. Thare was
Present Presidents Brigham Young & Daniel H. Wells Also O. Hyde
O. Pratt W Woodruff G. A. Smith C. C. Rich Erastus Snow John
Taylor & F. D. Richards of the 12 who Blessed 54 Missionaries
I was mouth in Blessing Walter M Gibson. At the close of the
Blessing of the missionaries President Young addressed them in a
^W Woodruff Blessed 12 of the Above^
vary Edifying manner among other remarks He said "I want you to
go upon your mission in the spirit of God you will do more good by
bearing testimony of the work of God through the Holy Ghoost than all
the argument you can use you may take two men one may be vary
learned in all the arts & siences of the day and be able to preach a Bible
& a half in one serman and the other man may be ignorant of these
things but be filled with the Holy Ghost let one preach by his lear[n]ing
& argument the other by the Holy Ghost & the man that preaches by the
Holy Goh^o^st will make ten saints whare the other will one. I do not wish
by these remarks to lay one straw in the way of any of the Elders obtain-
ing a knowledge of the Arts & sciences and being armed with truthful
arguments upon evry subjet. the Elders should sheek diligently to obtain
all knowledge in their power but they should obtain the Holy Ghost to
assist them in their ministry. Unless a man can fell [feel] that he administers
the ussues [issues] of life & death unto the people he does not magnify his calling
as an Elder in Israel if a man [is] called of God to preached the godspel
and he preaches it in the demonstration of the Holy Ghost according to
his calling it will prove a savior of life unto life or of Death unto death
to those who hear. [2 Corinthians 2:16]
Some of you are going to visit your relations
now when you get whare your relatives are dont set down at your
ease & give up preaching but remember that you are on a mission and
you should improve your time
You will have all manner of Evil
spoken against you and all I ask of you and all that God or angels will
ask of you is that not one word spoken against you will be true but
that it shall all be fals and I want you for your own sake, my sake &
for the sake of Christ & the Kingdom of God that the wicked shall
have no cause to speak one word of Evil against you And if you
will go & not let down one thread of your calling but do your duty
in all things I would feel perfectly safe in warranting all of youru
a safe return home some have died while on there missions this
is lamentable For it is unnecessary For if an Elder goes &
does his duty in all things there is no necessity of his Falling by
the way. another subject I wish to speak upon & that is about your
beging upon your missions. I do not wish you to beg but trust in gGod
& not have it to say when you come home that you have robed any
one or taking any thing unjustly from any one go & preache the gospel
Faithfully & trust in God and He will give you all he has for you
There is another vary important subject which I wish to speak of & that
is the Temptation you will have From women this has caused the
down fall of more Elders in this Church than any other thing there is
some Elders who go on there missions all there lives and keep them-
selves clean & pure all there lives others comes home and are shady
there countenance Falls they cannot look you strait in the Eye they
fallen in the snare. Joseph said in speaking to the First Twelve that
they would have to watch against this snare For they would have
more trouble From this source than any other now let evry woman
alon while you are gone, dont lay your hand upon any woman, but
keep yourselves clean some have to bring a groop of women with
them they have to get a new dove into there house while they are gone
let those things alone while abroad, but what is done upon that
subject let it be done here.
while abroad you will meet with
many who will want to debate with you but dont contend with any
man but make a Bargin with such men & tell them if they have one
truth which you do not possess tell them you will exchange ten
Errors for it if you will show me I have them.
I shall meet with you tomorrow you will have a letter of Instruction
redad & I want you to observe it you will have prayers in camp there
must be no swareing nor contention you may think this or that
one does wrong but impute it to the Error of the Head & not the Heart
I have Appointed Joseph W Young to preside over the camp going
down I dont want you to Hurry him those teams have got to come
back again. you will be carried with your provisions Free But I
want you to assist the Teamsters about getting along Ther must not
be any abuse of cattle I have never permitted this in any company
I have had controll of I will never permit a man to abuse a dumb
brute yoaked or Harnessed up that cannot get away or speak for
himself but if a man wants to abuse any thing let him striken
a strong man that will knock him down in return but dont abuse
a dumb animal. At the close of the remarks Erastus Snow dismi-
ssed the meeting I walked home with Capt Gibson took supper with
him & conversed with him for some two hours concerning his mission
Former life He remarked that the 25 April was a vary Notable
day to him He Escaped From his prision in the Island of Java He
arived home at South Caralina & and met with a warm
demonstration of his townsmen on the 25 April. He had now been set
apart & Blessed under the hands of 2 of the Twelve Apostles (W Woodruff
being mouth) to go upon a mission to preach the gospel to the United States
upon the 25 April He felt much pleased with his blessing & wished me
to write it off & forward it to him
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.
Young, Brigham
1 Jun 1801 - 29 Aug 1877
3440 mentions
Apostle, Family
Rich, Charles Coulson
21 Aug 1809 - 17 Nov 1883
352 mentions
Apostle
Wells, Daniel Hanmer
27 Oct 1814 - 24 Mar 1891
800 mentions
Apostle
Snow, Erastus
9 Nov 1818 - 27 May 1888
697 mentions
Apostle
Richards, Franklin Dewey
2 Apr 1821 - 9 Dec 1899
816 mentions
Apostle
Smith, George Albert
26 Jun 1817 - 1 Sep 1875
1432 mentions
Apostle, Missionary
Taylor, John, b. 1808
1 Nov 1808 - 25 Jul 1887
1954 mentions
Apostle
Smith, Joseph (Jr.)
23 Dec 1805 - 27 Jun 1844
2369 mentions
Young, Joseph Watson
12 Jan 1829 - 7 Jun 1873
63 mentions
Hyde, Orson
8 Jan 1805 - 28 Nov 1878
693 mentions
Apostle
Pratt, Orson
19 Sep 1811 - 3 Oct 1881
1082 mentions
Apostle
Gibson, Walter Murray
16 Jan 1822 - 21 Jan 1888
38 mentions
Places
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Quotes
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"I want you to go upon your mission in the spirit of God you will do more good by bearing testimony of the work of God through the Holy Ghoost than all the argument you can use you may take two men one may be vary learned in all the arts & siences of the day and be able to preach a Bible & a half in one serman and the other man may be ignorant of these things but be filled with the Holy Ghost let one preach by his lear[n]ing & argument the other by the Holy Ghost & the man that preaches by the Holy Goh^o^st will make ten saints whare the other will one.
~ Brigham Young
Elders should sbeek diligently to obtain all knowledge in their power but they should obtain the Holy Ghost to assist them in their ministry.
~ Brigham Young
Events
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