During his mission, Wilford Woodruff organized a company of Saints, and went with them a short distance, starting them on the way to Zion—a portion of the work of gathering in which he did so much subsequently, both in the United States and Great Britain. Most of his travels for over two years had been on foot. Since leaving Richland, New York, he had journeyed over six thousand miles. Under his administration the sick were healed, mobacrats were destroyed by the power of God, light from heaven had been sent in the darkness of the night to lead him from a lost condition in the forest and to save him from being dashed to pieces over a rocky precipice, other miracles were wrought, and Wilford Woodruff, in his early youth and manhood, had become in a marked degree a choice witness for God and for the divine mission of Joseph Smith, the Prophet.
Let it be remembered, too, that to enjoy all this power it was not necessary to be an apostle, a patriarch, a high priest, or a seventy. For the greater part of his mission, Wilford Woodruff was only a priest after the order of Aaron. Like John the Baptist, he magnified his calling; his soul was in the work; he loved his fellowbeings, and yearned for their salvation. His whole experience is a striking lesson worthy of being learned, and an example to be followed profitably by all the young men and elders of Israel. More than once, thousands of the Saints have heard Wilford Woodruff say in assemblies of worship that in all his life he never had enjoyed more of the spirit and power of God than when he was a priest doing missionary work in the Southern States.
His first mission being completed, he approached the city of the Saints—Kirtland—whence he had departed over two years previously. "The Temple of the Lord," says he, "came in sight—first in importance to our vision. I truly rejoiced when the House of the Lord rose into view as we drew near to this Stake of Zion. It was the first time I had seen the Temple of God—the first Temple built in this generation. After my long absence, I rejoiced greatly to strike hands with the Prophet Joseph, and with many others engaged in rolling on the mighty work of the Lord in the last days.
"Two years and a half had elapsed," he writes further, "since I left Kirtland with my brethren in poverty to go up to visit our brethren in tribulation in Zion. The Saints at Kirtland were then poor, despised, and looked upon by the pomp of Babylon with disdain, and people watched with eager eyes to behold them sink into forgetfulness. But what a change has come! Now I behold a cheerfulness beaming from every countenance, and the scenes around indicate prosperity. The noise of the ax and the hammer, the stir of their bank and market, and especially the presence of the House of God, speak in language loud as thunder that the Saints will have a city in spite of all the false prophets of Baal, and in spite of even earth and hell combined, because God is with them, and His Temple stands in honor of His Kingdom, while Babylon begins to wonder and soon will perish."
CHAPTER 8.
IN KIRTLAND, 1836.
Wilford's First Attendance at Meeting in the Temple.—Called to Speak.—Church's Attitude Toward the Use of Liquor.—Wilford in the First Quorum of Seventy.—Receives Temple Endowments.—Troubles in Kirtland.—Greatness of the Prophet Joseph.—Wilford's Marriage.—Receives a Patriarchal Blessing.
The missionary experiences of Wilford Woodruff in the Southern States gave to him a firmness and a comprehension that came from the testimony of the spirit of God. From the day he joined the Church, he was in active service. He was not among those who required special training and who needed the constant guidance of the leaders to keep them within the bounds of the Church. His first experience was in Zion's Camp. He remained a short time in Missouri and then set out upon his mission. His life was therefore governed by the workings of the spirit within him. That spirit was his guide—the rock upon which his faith and understanding were established. His return, therefore, to Kirtland did not subject him to the temptations of evil, nor to the rebukes of the Prophet. He knew that he was about his Father's business and was not swerved by the sophistries of men, or the speculative spirit of those times.