Cambridgeport Mass
To the Historian of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Dear Brother Richards, I forward to you as you are the Historian of the Church, A file of ^the^ the New
York weekly Herrald, with this communition. I have sent some to you and President Young
by Elder Rockwood & others, & will continue to send as often Ias I have an opportunity. From
the Herrald, you will draw an idea of the signs of the times throughout the word since you left
the States. Elder Appleby has kept a record of affairs as they have transpired during the past
season for the benefit of the Church which He may forward to you soon. I have also watched
the signs, And occasionally made an Extract in my Journal, & on the first day of January 18489
I recorded A summary or synopsis of the same, A portion of which I will forward in this communiac-
ation to you: As it may in some measure be interesting to have A view of things, As they are passing in
Great Babylon, which is separated from you by the sage deserts, And High Mountains of Israel.
"Thus ends the year of eighteen hundred and forty Eight. A Year big with with Events. A year in
which the fig treees tree hath rapidly put forth her leaves and blossomed for the summer. A year
which has laid the foundation for the fulfillment of more prophecy & Revelation than whole
centauries in other ages. Thrones have been cast down, whole kingdoms overturned, And the
Power of the Pope of Rome laid prostrate, and He driven from his kingdom. All the Nations of
the Earth convulsed. Revolutions, wars, Anarchy, & confusion have followed each other in rapid
succession. Cholera, plagues, fire and famine followed in the train. And last of all though not least
in importance is the foundation laid for the disolution of the Amarican Goverment. While
these theings are going on, The Ottoman Empire with many of the Nations of the East have
come to the conclusion that the Jews are human beings, and are now saying to them, you may now
go home, And rebuild Jerrusalem and your Temple and we will help you. These are some of the
leading features of the signs of the times of Eighteen hundred forty Eight.
The revolutions of Europe commenced with France. The people rose in mass, had three days fight
at the end of which they drove Louis Philipi King of the French out of the kingdom with all the
Royal family. The people entered the Turrelles, took the Throne upon their shoulders, carried it into
the streets, and dashed it to peaces upon the ground. The people then undertook to Esstablish a
Republican Goverment. It was said there were ownly 500 killed the first three days fight,
afterwords A reaction took place when it was reported that some 15000 were killed. They have
since organized, And Louis Napoleon Bonaparte is now President of France. The Jerman
states and Prusia next followed in Revolution, which still remians unsettled. Although the
King of Prusia has called A constitutional Goverment. Next the Kingdom of Austria
arose in mass, drove the Emperor from his Throne & kingdom. He afterwards returned
raised armies, & bombarded Vienna eight days. Bloodshed continued untill the Emperor
Abdicated his Throne. The Emperor of Russia has also had wars & difficulties in
his dominions, untill he has in many intstances been under necessity of yielding to the
wishes of the people untill his Throne has been in danger. The Irish have made A struggle
to throw off the British Yokke Yoke, but they have failed in it. Yet their is trouble brewing
for the British Goverment. The Roman Empire have risen up in their strength, And compelled
the Pope to make change after change, And at last have dashed his power to the Earth, Assassin-
ated his counsellors, And driven him from his Papal seat & Throne, which has never befor been
vacated for more than one thousand years. And He has had to seek protection by flexing
fleeing to other Nations. The world are ready to cry out that it is strange indeed that republican-
ism is about to plant ists standard at the seat of the Mother of Abominations, the head of
Rome. The Nations of the Earth at the same time are begining ^to say^ to the despised Jew, outcast &
down trodden for Eighteen centuries you, too, are at last discovered to be a man—with the common
Elements of Humanity—you, too must be free, you may not ownly enjoy the rights of citizenship
but you may return home to the land of Judea, rebuild Jerrusalem, And lay the foundation of
your Temple once more, more glorious than at the begining. "This sentiment has the past year
for the first been formerly recognized not ownly by the Sultan but by nearly all the great
powers, including the English, Russian, & Italian." One glorious feature in the Revolutions of
Europe & the signs of the times is that it is dashing in peaces & breaking asunder all bars &
petitions against the introduction of the proclamtion of the gospel of Jesus Christ to
all the world. Go forth, now ye Elders of Israel, and make A proclamation of "this gospel of
the Kingdom to Evry nation, kingdom, tounge, & people, under the whole Heaven as A witness
unto them that the End may come" I judge from A letter written by Elder Orson Spencer
that some from England are preparing to improve the present opportunity of spreading the
gospel to those Nations. He says "There will soon be some vary Effecient preaches in the
French Nations. We also have A learned Hindo in this country that speaks more than
A dozen different languages Arabic &c who is preparing to go to Asia to preach the
gospel soon." While these things are going on in the East yet as for a moment turn our thoughts
to the Position of Blood stained America. A Nation though Blessed above all other Nations under
Heaven, yet she has of late been guilty of sheding the blood of Apostles, Prophets, Patriarchs, and Saints.
she has sufferd mob rule, to take the place of constitution law and order, and what position
do we find her in at the close of this year. Not ownly one of her states, Ohio has disgraced
herself by sitting having a legislator sit for weeks and spend their time fighting for the mastery
instead of doing the business of the People. But the leaders of the whole Nation at Washington
are engendering the spirit of Party strife, hatred, disunion & war, meeting in separate parties
and laying plans for the dissolving of the Union and the Annihilation of the American Government
And James Gordon Bennett of the New York Herrald, And other Editors after Prophesying month
after month that there was no dangers of dissolving the Union, are with all there prophesies
recorded in their paper staring them in their face, under the neccessity of recording the account
of the parties, ways, And means, made use of to accomplis And bring to pass the vary things they had
been prophesying against. And while the senators & statesmen from the slaves states meet
in convention and resolve, that if slavery is Abolished or prohibited in the District of Columbia
or the Territories of New Mexico or Calafornia, that they will immediately dissolve the
Union, ^&^ lay taxes upon the shipping of the free states. At the same time citizens & statesman of
the free states meet in convention, And Resolve that if those things are not done
that they will dissolve the Union. While these parties are growing more & more
determined & further & wider Apart, still the public mind seem to be blinded as to the
result of these resolutions, And seem ignorant concerning the fruit which will be produced
from the seed of their own sowing. yes they have eyes but see not, ears but hear not, &
hearts but do not understand, while the servants, of God filled with inspiration, can behold
the scene in its true light, And comprehends the result with as much certainty as did
Noah, Lot, & Jesus, each in their day while beholding the conduct of the Antedolouvi-
ans, Sodom & Gomorrow, or the inhabitants of Jerruselem. And as the words of the Lord
were fulfilled in the former case, in like manner will they be in the latter. During the
past year the Asiatic Cholera one of the plagues of the last days has again made its appe-
arance throughout Europe slaying its tens of thousands. It has Appeared through England
& Scotland, And just Arived in America. It is in New York, New Orleans, Mobeal, Memphis
Cincinnati, Pittsburg, and nearly all the towns on the Missiissippi River the last accounts
say about 100 deaths daily in New Orleans. Crime of evry kind has apparently increased throughout
the United States during the past year, 100 per cent, it appears as though the cup of their
iniquity was full, And the hour of their judgment had come, And that calamity, confusion sorrow
And Death had recieved their commission to visit this land, And in some instances the hearts of man
are begining to fail them for fear of those things coming on the Earth. And their cry is that an awful
uncertainty is resting upon all things. I cannot close my Record upon the signs of the times of 1848
without turning my eye towards Zion, yes Zion, which is not now merely a phantom of the brain or a
name, but actually a living thing, truly she is yet but a babe, just born, yet she has a tabernacle, the mountains
of Israel, her bed is in the chamber of the rocks, her garden one of the rich gard valleys of Ephraim.
She speaks; And her vioice is as the voice of GOD. She has A spirit which burns likes flames of fire
she has power, and has started a little stone a rolling ^from the mountain her habitation^ which increases as it goes, it is causing the Earth
to quake & tremble, take care ye nations it will grind you to dust. She has messangers which go & come
at her bidding, one of them can chase a thousand, & two put ten thousand to flight, they command
the Elements & they obey them. She has an Ensign for the Nations to flee to, she has A law
which will soon govern the Earth. She is born in the generation that David had a view of.
O Praise the Lord I am a witness that mine Eyes have beheld her. She has keys to open, And no man
can shut, or shut & no man can open. Her power is from Heaven, whare she has noble senators
who plead her cause both day & night. This is the Zion I seek after, this is the Zion I speak off. Her Church
is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Her city was sought out in 1847. And the Lord
has favored her from that time, And during the year 1848 the Church has been organized with
a first Presidency of three persons viz. Brigham Young, Heber C Kimball, & Willard Richards,
who have gatherd to the Mountains of Israel in the valleys of the Great Salt Lake, Great Basin
North America, And taken with them some three thousand saints, with there flocks & herds
which makes A population of about seven thousands souls in the City of the Great Salt Lake.
The Lord has also blest their land which has brought forth in Abundance. And while ^the^ Lord has
^been^ multiplying blessing upon Zion in her quiet habitation, Her messengers have been crying aloud to the
Nations of the Earth & the Isles of the sea, preaching the gospel unto the & uttering their testimony
in the power of God & the gift of the Holy Ghost, untill they have gatherd their thousands
together, untill one of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb, (Orson Pratt), Estimates that it will take
three hundred ships to remove the saints from the British Isles alone to the land of Zion.
The saints who were gathered in the valley of the Sacramento, have discoverd such vast mines of
gold, silver, copper & other precious ores that the report of it is creating great excitement throughout
the world, Esspecially in the United States, untill tens of thousands are rushing to the gold regions to try
to obtain the precious mettal. And as the hand of God has been so visible in all the signs of 1848, may
He continue his work through 1849, and All following years, untill His Arm shall be made bare
in the eyes of all Nations, untill Zion shall shall arive to her full strength of Manhood. "for Brass
may she have gold, for Iron silver, for wood Brass, & for stones Iron, may her Exacters & peace officers
be rightous men, may her Nobles be of Ephriam & Her Governoorr procede out of the midst of him. may all
of her messengers be armed with righteousness in the power of God in great glory. May all the Nations
of the Earth fear & tremble because of her Law, may the wicked find her sons terrible when they
go to Battle against her & not have power to stand before them. May her dwelling places be disting-
uished by A pillar of fire by night And A cloud by day, And in fine may she arise and shine forth
And spread Herself abroad with all that perfection of beauty, power and glory which has ever
been spoken concerning her, even to the full Expectation of GOD, Angels, and Men.
Wilford Woodruff
Among the signs of the last days I will name that there has of late been a shower of living worm found
on the top of the snow about one inch in length in many parts of the Eastern states, it is spoken off
in a Number of the papers. I forward you with this a quantity of slits of paper cut from the various
publications of the day, & one peace upon the shower of worms
[sideways text]
W. Woodruff
To the Historian of the Church
of Jesus Christ of L. D. S.
to W. Richards
Feb. 15, 1849
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