20 I have been suffering the past week with a severe cold but it
is now breaking up I met with the council at 11 oclok & attended to
the spoke first & refered to the time he first
saw in the same house whare the first Branch of the
Church was organized said he wished that there could be a small
plain history of Joseph Smith written by some one who had a good
Memory by some one who could remember the circumstances as they
were. said he received a testimony there that he knew the work was of
God it was not by the or open vision but
by the He made other remarks. He was followed By W. Woodruff
I said there was one subject I wished to speak upon & that was writing
& keeping a Journal of the dealings of God with us I have many times
thought the Quorum of the Twelve & others considered me rather enthu-
siastic upon this subject But when the Prophet Joseph organized the
Quorum of the Twelve he Commanded them to write & keep a Journal
or History of their lives & gave his reasons why they should do it I think
the Twelve Apostles & all the who bear the
should keep a Journal of their official acts & the dealings of God with them
I would be glad to read the Acts of My forefathers if they had never
herd of a God. But esspecially when men are called to stand at the
head of a Great dispensation like this & to build up the on
the Earth to remain forever, they of all men on Earth ought to write
& keep a true & correct History of the rise & progress of that Kingdom,
of the Revelations of Jesus Christ & his dealings with us as we travel
along in our pilgrimage. I have had this spirit upon me since I first
Entered this Chirch I was Baptized the first sermon I herd & from
that day untill now I have kept a daily Journal whenever I have herd
preach, teach, or prophesy, I have always felt it my duty
to write it. I have always felt uneasy I could not Eat drink or sleep
in peace untill I did write it & my mind has been so Exercised upon
this subjects that when I herd Joseph Smith teach & I had not pen-
cil & paper I would go home & set down & write that whole sermon
almost word for word & sentence By sentence as it was deliver & when
I had written it, it was taken from me I remembered it no more
this was the gift of God to me & the question has often rested me why are
these things so, why has this subject rested upon me more than other men
again another Question has rested upon my mind many times? why
has the devil sought to take my life from the day I was born untill
now more than other men, for I been a marked victim for the
devil from the day I was born untill now, and I can find but
one answer & that is the devil knew if I got into the I would write the History of the
Church & leave on Record the doings, works, & teachings of the prophets
& Apostles & Saints in the , & that I would attend to
the Ordinances of the . For my Fathers Household & Friends
both for the living & the dead. I am the ownly person in all the lineage
of my Fathers Household Either on my Father or side who
has been in the Church & in a situation to do any thing for my
Fathers House I Baptized my & all his household that He had
with him at the time including my &
I am the ownly person that has attended to any of the ordinances
of the Church for my Dead. Again I have recorded nearly all
the sermons & teachings that I Ever herd Joseph Smith deliver & many
of the I have in my Journals scores of sermons
of President that He does not know that Exist on
Earth so of , , , & others, one
reason I have Been moved upon to write in Early days was
nearly all the Historians appointed in the Early History of the Church
& took the Journals away with them which in a measure
were lost to the Church. I still keep a daily Journal but I have not
reported sermons much for many years for we have had scribes
& reporters to keep a record of the sayings of the Prophets & Apostles &
I rejoice & thank God for it does my soul good to look upon these
little Boys sons of Brother & others set at the reports
table & report the sermons as they are delivered from the mouth of
the Prophets & Apostles I would there were 10 whare their is but one
Another Subject I wish to say a few words upon & that is the spirit
of God to man, the which is given to the saints, The
inspiration of the Almighty which giveth the spirit of man under-
standing it is the greatest testimony man can possess, his Eyes & Ears
may be deceived in seeing the miracles such as the magicians in the
days of or such as the & beasts of the last day will
perform wbut when the Elect receive the Holy Ghost they will not be deceived [Exodus 7:22]
but man is apt to look to high or Expect too great things so that they
often times mistake the & the inspiration of the Almighty
it is not in the Thunder or whirlwind that we should look for the spirit
of God but in the "The wind Bloweth whare it listeth
& ye hear the sound thereof but cannot tell whence it cometh or whether
it goeth so all is the spirit saith Jesus" [John 3:8] We should all become acquainted
with this spirit & obey its voice for it hath preserved the prophets Apostles
& for the last 40 years in their travels upon the Earth. We have
all Experienced this from time to time our lives have been preserved
by listning to the whisperings of that still small voice. When I was going
to in the spring of 1848 with my family I drove into the door
yard of one of the Brethren tied my Mules to a large oak tree & went
to Bed in my carriage with my carriage ^family^ the spirit came upon
me & told me to get up & move my ^carriage^ & my mules I did so & it was but
a short time untill a whirlwing took that oak tree broak it into nom
the ground & brought it some 12 rods & laid it prostrate in that dooryard
& the body of fall whare my carriage stood & if I had not moved it
I should have been killed with my family. Again when I was bri-
nging the Eastern Saints to this valley when I arived in
I chartered a steemboat to take the saints to as soon as
I had done it the spirit said to me dont go abord of that Boat. the
Captain released me & I chartered another the steemer that
I first chartered started down the river soon took fire burned
the wheel cha ropes into & nearly all the passenger Either burned
to death or drowned many in this Church have Experienced these
things, & in all the travels & Emigrations of the saints for the last
40 years the preserving care of our has been over
us & we as a people have been preserved while the wicked have
been destroyed upon Evry hand, the destruction of the
is the ownly case whare the saints have met with disaster in their
Emigration, and if who was the leader of the company
had had the & his office upon him he never would
have gone on board of that Boat or taken the saints on board of it
I would Exhort all the Saints to get the & keep
it & live under its influence, & then they are always safe. And
"this is the condemnation of the world that light has come
into the world & men love darkness rather than light because their
deeds are Evil [John 3:19]
Elder followed in some remarks the spirit of God
rested upon us & we had a good meeting
