written there discourses & I have urged this same course upon the Twelve
& all the corums of the Church to keep a record of there meetings & the
dealings of God with them & for all men who bear the Priesthood
to keep a record of their lives esspecially of all their official acts in
the church & kingdom of God. You may say that this is a great deal
of trouble vary well it has been to me in one sens it has occupied
nearly evry leasure moment of my time for 24 years but what of it
I have never spent any of my time more profitably for the benefit of
manking [mankind] than in my Journal writing for a great portion of the Church
History has been compiled from my Journals & some of the most glorious
Gospel sermons truths & revelations that were given from God to this people
through the mouth of the Prophets Joseph, Brigham, Heber & the Twelve could
not be found upon the Earth on record ownly in my Journals & they are
compiled in the Church History & transmitted to the saints of God in
all future Generations does not this pay me for my trouble it does in
many instances in this Church men have been appointed clerks
to write for the church they have kept the records instead of
delivering them to the President of the Church whare they belonged & some
they would appostitize then they would insult the Church by offer-
ing to sell them their own records at an enormous price. I have
deposited my records & Journals in the Historians office whare I
hope they may do some good. we have had a vary interesting
time this winter during the referamation among the Latter day saints
the spirit & power of God has been poured out in a wonderful
manner & many glorious truths have been revealed through
the presidency Twelve & others & in the various quorums meeting
now should not their be a record kept of these things in the comm-
encement of these meeting the clerks took quite full reports
but thinking it to much trouble they now take them vary short &
we can hardly get an outline of the real facts of our meetings
& the power of God & the dealings of God with us evry man should
write a brief history of his life his parentage, His birth his
religion when he was baptized & by whom when ordained what
to & by [w]home give a brief sketch of all his missions & of all his
offical acts & the dealings of God with him then if He was to
die & the Historians wished to publish his history they would
have sumthing to go by. Many may think this a dry subjet
& unimportant but it is not so to me I am now trying to
get up a history of the Twelve Apostles as first organized
half of them are now out of the Church & scarsly any record
left whareby I can get a correct knowledge of their ministry
or work & some of those who remain & are labouring to
build up the kingdom of God have not kept a record of
their missions ministry offical acts & decission upon important
subjects & the gifts graces & dealings of God with them sufficient to
give a true & corret History of their lives their are but
few aside from the presidency of this church who feel the import-
ance of this subjet sufficent to put it in practice. It may be
considered by some not important to write or keep a record of our
work or the work of God but I believe it is otherwise the Prophets
would not have been moved upon to exhort us to faithfulness upon
this subject the Lord has told us that what we seal on Earth shall
be sealed in heaven & what we record on Earth shall be recorded
in heaven & what is not sealed or recorded on Earth is not sealed
written there discourses & I have urged this same course upon the Twelve
& all the corums of the Church to keep a record of there meetings & the
dealings of God with them & for all men who bear the Priesthood
to keep a record of their lives esspecially of all their official acts in
the church & kingdom of God. You may say that this is a great deal
of trouble vary well it has been to me in one sens it has occupied
nearly evry leasure moment of my time for 24 years but what of it
I have never spent any of my time more profitably for the benefit of
mankind than in my Journal writing for a great portion of the Church
History has been compiled from my Journals & some of the most glorious
Gospel sermons truths & revelations that were given from God to this people
through the mouth of the Prophets Joseph, Brigham, Heber & the Twelve could
not be found upon the Earth on record ownly in my Journals & they are
compiled in the Church History & transmitted to the saints of God in
all future Generations does not this pay me for my trouble it does in
many instances in this Church men have been appointed clerks
to write for the church they have kept the records instead of
delivering them to the President of the Church whare they belonged & some
they would appostitize then they would insult the Church by offering to sell them their own records at an enormous price. I have
deposited my records & Journals in the Historians office whare I
hope they may do some good. we have had a vary interesting
time this winter during the referamation among the Latter day saints
the spirit & power of God has been poured out in a wonderful
manner & many glorious truths have been revealed through
the presidency Twelve & others & in the various quorums meeting
now should not their be a record kept of these things in the commencement of these meeting the clerks took quite full reports
but thinking it to much trouble they now take them vary short &
we can hardly get an outline of the real facts of our meetings
& the power of God & the dealings of God with us evry man should
write a brief history of his life his parentage, His birth his
religion when he was baptized & by whom when ordained what
to & by whome give a brief sketch of all his missions & of all his
offical acts & the dealings of God with him then if He was to
die & the Historians wished to publish his history they would
have sumthing to go by. Many may think this a dry subjet
& unimportant but it is not so to me I am now trying to
get up a history of the Twelve Apostles as first organized
half of them are now out of the Church & scarsly any record
left whareby I can get a correct knowledge of their ministry
or work & some of those who remain & are labouring to
build up the kingdom of God have not kept a record of
their missions ministry offical acts & decission upon important
subjects & the gifts graces & dealings of God with them sufficient to
give a true & corret History of their lives their are but
few aside from the presidency of this church who feel the importance of this subjet sufficent to put it in practice. It may be
considered by some not important to write or keep a record of our
work or the work of God but I believe it is otherwise the Prophets
would not have been moved upon to exhort us to faithfulness upon
this subject the Lord has told us that what we seal on Earth shall
be sealed in heaven & what we record on Earth shall be recorded
in heaven & what is not sealed or recorded on Earth is not sealed
"Journal (January 1, 1854 – December 31, 1859)," March 17, 1857, The Wilford Woodruff Papers, accessed May 13, 2024, https://wilfordwoodruffpapers.org/p/98pB