At the request of Elder Joseph Fielding, Elder Taylor wrote a letter to his brother, a minister in the town of Preston, England, giving an account of the restoration of the gospel through the ministration of angels to the Prophet Joseph Smith. This was doubtless the first announcement of these things in England, by an authorized servant of God.
Subsequently, in this same year, 1837, Elder Fielding accompanied Apostles Kimball and Hyde to England; and it was in his brother's chapel, in Preston, that Apostle Heber C. Kimball preached the first public discourse, in this dispensation, on the gospel in that land.
Footnotes
[1]. It may not be out of place to remark here that this Doctor Avard was the same man who, two years later, in Missouri, took it upon himself to organize a band of men whom he called "Danites." In this, as in the matter above related, he ran without being sent, and the affair ended in his disgrace. He intimated with an air of mystery, when organizing the Danite band in Missouri, that he had been appointed, by the heads of the Church, to perform some important work of a secret character, and at last put the men, whom he had inveigled into his secret meetings, under fearful oaths not to reveal the nature of his work. This done he revealed to the captains of the organization his plans; and to their surprise he proposed a bold scheme of robbery and plunder against the Gentiles. The brethren to whom he made known his plans, were indignant, for they knew that the heads of the Church were not standing behind any such thing as that, and reported the affair to the Prophet. As soon as Avard's movements were thus made known, he was promptly excommunicated; and the "Danite" movement was stifled at its birth.
CHAPTER V.
APPOINTED TO COLLECT FUNDS IN CANADA—CALL TO THE APOSTLESHIP—REFLECTIONS—PREPARES TO LEAVE CANADA FOR MISSOURI.
The spirit of apostasy so prevalent in Kirtland, in 1837 and 1838, resulted in many prominent leaders being excommunicated from the Church. Among those who fell in those dark days were a number of the Twelve Apostles.
About the same time several business enterprises which the Saints inaugurated at Kirtland, including a banking establishment, went down before the wave of financial disaster which swept over the country; and as the Presidency of the Church were heavily involved in consequence of these failures, Elder Taylor was appointed to collect funds in the district over which he presided, to relieve them from their embarrassment. He accomplished this labor to the entire satisfaction of the Presidency.
In the fall of 1837, Elder Taylor received word from the Prophet Joseph that he would be chosen to fill one of the vacancies in the quorum of Apostles.[[1]]