At the conclusion of the hymn, Elder Alpheus Cutler, the master workman of the Lord's House, laid the south-east corner stone in its position, and stated that in consequence of the peculiar situation of the Saints it was deemed prudent to discontinue further labor on the house until the Lord should open the way for its completion. The Apostles then took leave of some seventeen Saints who were present, and started on their way to fill their missions beyond the Atlantic.
On their way they stopped at Quincy, where they met the Prophet Joseph, who had lately escaped from the hands of his enemies in Missouri. The Prophet heartily approved the labors of the Twelve, and their course received also the commendation of the Church in a general conference assembled at Quincy.
The Saints that same spring began settling at Commerce, afterwards Nauvoo, on the east bank of the Mississippi, in Hancock County, Illinois. By this time the reaction from the excitement in which they had lived for more than a year, set in, and almost the entire people sank down from exhaustion, and became an easy prey to the malaria prevalent in the district at that time.
In the midst of this sickness, poverty and general wretchedness, Elder Taylor made his preparations to continue his journey to England. He had secured quarters for his family, in connection with others, in miserable, old log barracks in Montrose, a small settlement opposite Nauvoo, in what was then the Territory of Iowa.
It was the 8th of August that he left Montrose to fill his mission. He dedicated his wife and family to the care of the Lord, and blessed them in His name: "The thought of the hardships they had just endured," he remarks, "the uncertainty of their continuing in the house they then occupied—and that only a solitary room—the prevalence of disease, the poverty of the brethren, their insecurity from mobs, together with the uncertainty of what might take place during my absence, produced feelings of no ordinary character. These solicitations, paternal and conjugal, were enhanced also by the time and distance that was to separate us. But the thought of going forth at the command of the God of Israel to revisit my native land, to unfold the principles of eternal truth and make known the things that God had revealed for the salvation of the world, overcame every other feeling."
In Nauvoo Elder Taylor joined Wilford Woodruff, who was scarcely able to drag himself along, and who remarked that he felt and looked more like a subject for the dissecting room than a missionary. After taking leave of the Prophet and his counselors, Sidney Rigdon and Hyrum Smith, Elder Taylor and his sick companion left Nauvoo.
On the outskirts of the settlement they passed Parley P. Pratt and Heber C. Kimball, who were building a log house. Parley, who, it will be remembered, had carried the gospel to Elder Taylor, was stripped—bare headed and bare footed. He hailed the brethren as they were passing and gave them a purse, it was all he had. Elder Heber C. Kimball, who was but a short distance away, stripped as Elder Pratt was, came up and said, "As Brother Parley has given you a purse, I have a dollar I will give you to put in it." Then mutually blessing each other, they said farewell. Elders Taylor and Woodruff were the first of their quorum to start on their mission.
At Macomb they found Brother Zebedee Coltrin, who proposed taking them as far as Cleveland, Ohio, in his wagon, a proposition they gladly accepted. At this place a Brother Miller, whom Elder Taylor baptized while there, gave them a horse, and another a saddle and bridle. At Springfield a broker sold his horse for him, and with the proceeds he published a pamphlet on the persecutions of the Saints in Missouri. The edition was 2,000. A portion of these pamphlets were left in the hands of Elder Coltrin to dispose of, the proceeds to be given to Sisters Taylor and Woodruff.
Elder Taylor's strong constitution and iron will had carried him through the Missouri troubles and the trying scenes of poverty and sickness which prevailed that summer about Nauvoo; but as he traveled eastward his health began failing him. Approaching Indianapolis he was taken with violent vomiting and afterwards fainted by the wagon in the road. It was with some difficulty that his companions resuscitated him and conveyed him to the house of Brother Horace S. Eldredge, where he received the kindest treatment. Notwithstanding there were rest and attention for him at the home of Brother Eldredge until he should be restored, weak as he was, he continued his journey next morning. He would travel all day and frequently preach at night, though scarcely able to stand upon his feet.
At Germantown, in Indiana, his strength again failed him; and seeing no prospect of immediate recovery, he advised Brothers Woodruff and Coltrin to proceed on their journey without him. This they reluctantly did.