Stanley Buildings Bath Street Liverpool
Dear Brother Phelps
I Reccevd your
kind letter by the hand of A Fielding
which I was glad to get for it is at all times
cheering to hear from old friends. I rejoice much
at the Choice glorious news I hear concerning
Zion by all the letters, & papers I get from the
goodly land of Joseph. I at times feel a^i^t a great
sacrafice to be deprived of ^the^ society of my friends in
that place & the choice Blessings Enjoyed in the City
of Joseph But the second thought teaches me that
obeded^i^ence is better than sacrafice & to hearken than the
fat of lambs, for I know it is necessary for
some one of the quorum to be in this land at the
present time & as the Lord & my Brother have
sent me heare I will be content & do the
best I can I know the Lord is with me & blesses
me abundantly if he did not I could not pass thrugh
the labours & responsibilities that are now resting
upon me. The work of the Lord is progressing well throughot
this Country considering the few experienced Elders we have
in this part of the vineyard the conferences are [most]
universally adding to their Numbers. I occasinally have to go
out into some of the conferences to settle some difficulty
that springs up But the Business of the Church
keeps me almost constantly at Liverpool at the
presnt time. I have just retuned from a 4 days tour
to Lemington Btween Birmingham & London. Lemington
is a place for the Gentry who visit the Springs similar
to the Saratoga Springs. We held a conference there
last Sunday the Sants meeting there for several weeks
had been fully attended but much disturbed by mobs brock [broke]
down ther Banister Tables Benches [&] but we had a vary
[still] time good attention & go[o]d was done. On Monday
we ^went^ through each appartmet of the warwick Castle & tower
said to be the most splend[id] castle in England occupied by
the Earl of Warwick & furnshed in the most splendid
manner that the genious of Nobility could invent the main
Body of the Castle is composed of several Rooms the whole
being 333 feet long filled with the richest paitings & furnture
walls hung with the richest Tapestry, Damask cove[r]ed Chairs tables
& [Stands] of prl shell & prrcious stones some est
£15,000 pouds each. This castle was 800 y[e]ars old &
the Tower was 500 y[e]ars old & 150 feet high it had each
with it 40 acres of pleasue ground & a park 5 mils
in circumfernce. Among the ancient Armoury I say
that worn by the grant Guy his head & Breast plate
& shied of steel wait 120 lbs his sword 20 lb his Brass
perage not hold 120 gal. Amg the splendd pa[i]ntings
of the kings Quens prnces Lord, orders & pacts &
reformers stood one as large as life of the fou[n]de[r]s of
the Jesuits. The Batten treated is very Politely
After leaveing the Castle we took railway to
Birmingham whare we arived in the Evening we found
between four & five hundred Saints assembled in a large
Hall to what is called in England a tea meeting they
were all seated at the table when we Entered meeting on
arival as we Entered the door the clapinof^g^ of hands &
stomping of feet as [touting] of aplause made the house
tremble after feasting with them we addressed them ^the who[l]e Body^ for
about two hours & had a good time & spent sevral
hours with the officers we broak up at midnight, &
in the morning returned home. I have many
calls though the Kingdom to visit the churches but I
have but little time to go abroad at prsent. The work of
the Lord is taking a higher stand in this country than
it has done By means of servents & our Book it is
beginni[ng] to be investigated by some of the Nobility &
rig^c^h ones of the earth. I hope it will not be a great
while before some of them will begin to open their hearts to
begin to do sumthing for Israel. I Recieved the
proclamations a few days since of the Twelve Apostles to
the Kings Rulers & Nations of the earth. I shall do
what I can to circulate it in this co[u]ntry. I have some
20,000 in press in English & have sent word to Eldr
Jones to prepare to publish it in Welch as soon as
it is out of press here. I shall visit the Rabbies
in this place with the work & see if I can get them
to publish it in Hebrew. I recieved your [illegible] [illegible]
& Cap Stone which I was Thankful for we will
make arrngements about forwarding Press to you
We have cleared the Ship Palmyra again to
day with about 60 passengers on her ownly about 13 Sants
the rest were transcint psssengers ths is the same ship
that A. Fielding went over in ^the^ last time
Mrs Woodruff joines me in respects to Bros
and Sister Phelps, Brother Richards, Mother Smith,
Sister Emma and Sister Mary Smith and their families
with the Twelve and all inquiring friends.
I still remain
Your brother in the Truth
Wilford Woodruff
[sideways text] Copy of letter
to
W. W. Phelps Esq,
[Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois|Nauvoo]]
9 Oct 1845 [end of sideways text]