ORDAINED TO THE APOSTLESHIP—MY MIS-
SION TO ENGLAND.
Joseph Smith, the Prophet, asked the
Lord what His will was concerning the
Twelve, and the Lord answered in a
revelation, given , in which
He says: "Let them take leave of my
Saints in the city Far West, on the , on the building spot
of my house, saith the Lord. Let my
servant John Taylor, and also my ser-
vant John E. Page, and also my servant
Wilford Woodruff, and also my servant Willard Richards, be appointed to fill
the places of those who have fallen, and
be officially notified of their appoint-
ment." [Doctrine and Covenants 118:5-6]
It will be observed that this differs
from nearly all other revelations in this
respect: a fixed day and a stated place
were given for the commencement of
the mission. When the revelation was
given, all was peace and quietude in Far
West, Missouri, the city where most of
the Latter day Saints dwelt; but before
the time came for its fulfillment, the
Saints of God had been driven out of
the State of Missouri into the State of Illinois, under the edict of Governor Boggs; and the Missourians had sworn
that if all the other revelations of Joseph
Smith were fulfilled, that should not be.
It stated the day and the place where the
Twelve Apostles should take leave of the
Saints, to go on their missions across the
great waters, and the mobocrats of Mis-
souri had declared that they would see
that it should not be fulfilled.
It seemed as though the Lord, having
a foreknowledge of what would take
place, had given the revelation in this
manner to see whether the Apostles
would obey it at the risk of their lives.
When the time drew near for the ful-
fillment of this commandment of the
Lord, Brigham Young was the President
of the Twelve Apostles; Thomas B.
Marsh, who was the senior Apostle, had
fallen. Brother Brigham called together
those of the Twelve who were then at Quincy, Illinois, to see what their minds
would be about going to Far West, to
fulfill the revelation. The Prophet Jos-
eph and his brother Hyrum, Sidney Rig-
don, Lyman Wight and Parley P. Pratt
were in prison in Missouri at the time;
but Father Joseph Smith, the Patriarch,
was at Quincy, Illinois. He and others
who were present did not think it wis-
dom for us to attempt the journey, as
our lives would be in great jeopardy.
They thought the Lord would take the
will for the deed. But when President
Young asked the Twelve what our feel-
ings were upon the subject, we all of us,
as the voice of one man, said the Lord
God had spoken, and it was for us to
obey. It was the Lord's business to take
care of His servants, and we would ful-
fill the commandment, or die trying.
To fully understand the risk the
Twelve ran in making this journey, my
readers should remember that Lilburn
W. Boggs, governor of the State of Mis-
souri, had issued a proclamation, in
which all the Latter-day Saints were re-
quired to leave that State or be exter-
minated. Far West had been captured
by the militia, who were really only an
organized mob; the citizens had been
compelled to give up their arms; all the
leading men who could be got hold of
had been taken prisoners; the rest of
the Saints—men, women and children—
had to flee as best they could out of the
State to save their lives, leaving all their
houses, lands and other property which
they could not carry with them to be
taken by the mob. In fact they shot
down the cattle and hogs of the Saints
wherever they could find them, and
robbed them of nearly everything they
could lay their hands upon. Latter-day
Saints were treated with merciless cruelty
and had to endure the most outrageous
abuses. It was with the greatest diffi-
culty that many of them got out of the
State, especially the prominent men; for
there were many men of that State at
that time, who acted as though they
thought it no more harm to shoot a
Mormon than a mad dog. From this
brief explanation you will be able to un-
derstand why some of the brethren
thought we were not required to go back
to Far West to start from there upon our
mission across the ocean to Europe.
Having determined to carry out the
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF WILFORD WOODRUFF.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF WILFORD WOODRUFF.
Column 1
CHAPTER II.
ORDAINED TO THE APOSTLESHIP—MY MISSION TO ENGLAND.
Joseph Smith, the Prophet, asked the
Lord what His will was concerning the
Twelve, and the Lord answered in a
revelation, given , in which
He says: "Let them take leave of my
Saints in the city Far West, on the , on the building spot
of my house, saith the Lord. Let my
servant John Taylor, and also my servant John E. Page, and also my servant
Wilford Woodruff, and also my servant
Willard Richards, be appointed to fill
the places of those who have fallen, and
be officially notified of their appointment.'"
It will be observed that this differs
from nearly all other revelations in this
respect: a fixed day and a stated place
were given for the commencement of
the mission. When the revelation was
given, all was peace and quietude in Far
West, Missouri, the city where most of
the Latter day Saints dwelt; but before
the time came for its fulfillment, the
Saints of God had been driven out of
the State of Missouri into the State of
Illinois, under the edict of Governor
Boggs; and the Missourians had sworn
that if all the other revelations of Joseph
Smith were fulfilled, that should not be.
It stated the day and the place where the
Twelve Apostles should take leave of the
Saints, to go on their missions across the
great waters, and the mobocrats of Missouri had declared that they would see
that it should not be fulfilled.
It seemed as though the Lord, having
a foreknowledge of what would take
place, had given the revelation in this
manner to see whether the Apostles
would obey it at the risk of their lives.
When the time drew near for the fulfillment of this commandment of the
Lord, Brigham Young was the President
of the Twelve Apostles; Thomas B.
Marsh, who was the senior Apostle, had
fallen. Brother Brigham called together
those of the Twelve who were then at
Quincy, Illinois, to see what their minds
would be about going to Far West, to
fulfill the revelation. The Prophet Jos-
Column 2
eph and his brother Hyrum, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight and Parley P. Pratt
were in prison in Missouri at the time;
but Father Joseph Smith, the Patriarch,
was at Quincy, Illinois. He and others
who were present did not think it wisdom for us to attempt the journey, as
our lives would be in great jeopardy.
They thought the Lord would take the
will for the deed. But when President
Young asked the Twelve what our feelings were upon the subject, we all of us,
as the voice of one man, said the Lord
God had spoken, and it was for us to
obey. It was the Lord's business to take
care of His servants, and we would fulfill the commandment, or die trying.
To fully understand the risk the
Twelve ran in making this journey, my
readers should remember that Lilburn
W. Boggs, governor of the State of Missouri, had issued a proclamation, in
which all the Latter-day Saints were required to leave that State or be exterminated. Far West had been captured
by the militia, who were really only an
organized mob; the citizens had been
compelled to give up their arms; all the
leading men who could be got hold of
had been taken prisoners; the rest of
the Saints—men, women and children—
had to flee as best they could out of the
State to save their lives, leaving all their
houses, lands and other property which
they could not carry with them to be
taken by the mob. In fact they shot
down the cattle and hogs of the Saints
wherever they could find them, and
robbed them of nearly everything they
could lay their hands upon. Latter-day
Saints were treated with merciless cruelty
and had to endure the most outrageous
abuses. It was with the greatest difficulty that many of them got out of the
State, especially the prominent men; for
there were many men of that State at
that time, who acted as though they
thought it no more harm to shoot a
Mormon than a mad dog. From this
brief explanation you will be able to understand why some of the brethren
thought we were not required to go back
to Far West to start from there upon our
mission across the ocean to Europe.
Having determined to carry out the
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