The Woodruff brothers were aroused to a spirit of investigation. They were full of hope and of grand expectations. They wanted to harmonize the new message with the word of God as pronounced in Holy Writ. They had rested heretofore their faith upon its teachings. In all matters religious, it had been their supreme guide. They were anxious to know more, and therefore took the elders with them to their home and sat up late that night conversing upon the principles of the gospel.
Wilford began at once to read the Book of Mormon. "As I did so," he writes, "the spirit bore witness that the record which it contained was true. I opened my eyes to see, my ears to hear, and my heart to understand. I also opened my doors to entertain the servants of God." He at once became a living witness to the truth of the promise made in that book that whoso should read it with a prayerful heart should have a witness of its truth, and whoso should receive the record and not condemn it because of the imperfections which might appear in its language should know greater things to come. The spirit of that book brought divine harmony to his soul so wonderfully attuned to the spirit and language of the Bible.
Those were days of grand opportunities for a soul that had been so long in a state of hunger and thirst after righteousness. The new message brought to him a new enthusiasm. On the 30th of the month, Wilford and the elders called upon Noah Holton, a preacher of the Freewill Baptist denomination, whose daughter was very ill. After listening to the elders for some time, Mr. Holton made a solemn covenant to go forward and be baptized if the Lord would heal his daughter. The elders laid their hands upon her and she was healed by the power of God.
It was not a time for delay. These brothers had long waited for the message which had now brought the glorious tidings of a divine call. They would not delay obedience to those ordinances which opened the door to the enjoyment of greater light. They asked for baptism at the hands of the elders. On December 31st, the last day of the year, 1833, there assembled at the water's edge about 11 o'clock in the morning a large number of people who witnessed the baptism of Wilford Woodruff by Zera Pulsipher. There were baptized at the same time his brother Azmon, also two young ladies who had been healed the day before. Of this circumstance he writes in his journal: "The snow was about three feet deep, the day was cold, and the water was mixed with ice and snow, yet I did not feel the cold."
There was a public meeting held that night by candle-light and a large congregation assembled; but unlike the meeting that was first held, there was a spirit of opposition. After explaining to the people the ordinance of the laying on of hands, the elders confirmed Wilford and his companions members of the Church by the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. Speaking of this meeting he says: "There was a good deal of darkness in the room; but when the congregation dispersed, the people took away with them that darkness. The Holy Ghost fell upon us and we had a time of great rejoicing. The next day, January 1st, 1834, my brother Azmon reproached Noah Holton for his tardiness in receiving the gospel after he had made a covenant to obey it on condition that his daughter be healed. Holton received the warning and was baptized."
The story of Wilford Woodruff's conversion was simply a continuation of the life carefully prepared to receive the new message, and to embrace in all sincerity the truth which it contained. What a similarity of experience is found in the lives of Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, John Taylor, and indeed thousands of Latter-day Saints! It was the same spirit of inquiry, the same profound and heartfelt desire to know the whole truth of God's existence and His divine purpose respecting the children of men. The truth is, the new spirit of a coming dispensation was upon them. Their hearts were strongly inclined to worship. They were eager to know how they should worship; for they saw in the religious contentions of those days a spirit strange to the teachings of the Bible. They were in very truth, "Sheep who knew the shepherd's voice and a stranger they would not follow."
There is something beautiful in the ambitions of Wilford Woodruff throughout a long life of great service. He was ambitious to know the will of God and to be worthy of Divine approbation. If he could only be an active worker in the Church of Christ; if the Lord would only receive him into Divine service, his ambitions would be realized.
On January 25th, 1834, Elder Pulsipher organized the Saints in Richland into a branch of the Church. He ordained Wilford Woodruff to the office of a teacher and gave him a written license which embodied the certificate of his baptism and his ordination. "I felt," he writes, "that I could truly exclaim with the prophet of God, 'I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.' The fulness of the everlasting gospel had come at last. It filled my heart with great joy. It laid the foundation of a greater and more glorious work than I ever expected to see in this life. I pray God in the name of Jesus Christ to guide my future life, that I may live to His honor and glory, and be a blessing to my fellowmen, and in the end be saved in His celestial kingdom, even so, Amen."