"I meditated upon these things, and in my journal of September 21st, 1840, I wrote thus: 'This has been a busy day with me. After standing upon my feet from morning till evening. I am called to shake hands with hundreds of Saints who have glad hearts and cheerful countenances. It is with no ordinary feelings that I mediate upon the cheering fact that a thousand souls have been baptized into the new and everlasting covenant in about half a year, in one field which God has enabled me to open. I pray Him to accept the gratitude of my heart for His mercies and blessings unto me in this thing, and to enable me to stand with these Saints and all the righteous in His celestial kingdom.' This day I stood upon my feet eight hours in conference, conversed much of the time in suggesting, speaking, etc.; ordained about thirty, confirmed some, healed many who were sick, shook hands with about four hundred Saints, walked two miles, and ended with about four hours chimney-corner preaching. I then lay down to rest, and dreamed of catching fish.
"The church ministers in this region were stirred up very much at this time, because of the success of the work of God in the midst of the people, and every exertion was made by them to stay its progress. They were finding that the Lord was delivering their flocks out of their hands and giving them unto the shepherds of the Church of the Saints. They were alarmed, and were holding conventions and meetings to contrive plans and adopt means to overthrow the latter-day work of God, which they understood not, and believed not, yet feared its power. And well indeed they might; for in some instances they did not have more than ten or fifteen at their churches on the Sabbath, while around them on every hand they had seen forty branches of two organized conferences of the Church of Latter-day Saints spring up in about six months, with over a thousand members and between one and two hundred offices ordained to scatter the seed of the gospel everywhere in this prolific field.
"On the 25th of September I again took leave of the Saints in my Herefordshire field of labor, to attend the Staffordshire conference which was held at Hanley. The day after the conference I baptized one, and preached at Tunstell; and on the next evening I preached at Burslem to a crowded house. The power of God rested upon me, and great solemnity pervaded the congregation. The spirit of God was moving the people, and they felt that the Lord was doing a work in their midst."
CHAPTER 13.
BRITISH MISSION, 1840-41.
Rapid Increase of the Church in Great Britain.—Mysterious Spirit Personage Attempts to Strangle Wilford Woodruff, and Wounds Him Severely.—He Is Relieved and Healed by Three Heavenly Visitors.—First Placard of the Church Posted in London.—Death of Wilford's Daughter.—Difficult Missionary Work in and around London.—Arrival of Lorenzo Snow To Take Charge of the British Mission.—All of the Twelve Called Home.—Attending Various Conferences.—Springing of the Spaulding Story.—Wilford Bids Farewell to the Saints in Fields Where He Had Labored.—General Conference of the British Mission, and Only Occasion of the Twelve Apostles Acting as a Quorum in a Foreign Land.—Wilford's Departure for Home, and Arrival at Nauvoo.—Made a Member of the Nauvoo City Council.
A general conference of the British Mission was held at Manchester, England, on the 6th of October, 1840, at which there were present six of the Twelve Apostles—Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, Orson Pratt, George A. Smith, and Wilford Woodruff. The presiding officers in the mission represented twenty-seven conferences, besides other churches or branches not yet included in organized conferences. The Church membership in Great Britain was given as 3,621, being an increase of 1,113 members since the conference held the April previous. On the evening of October 7th, the first discussion of any note of Mormonism, held in Great Britain, took place at Manchester, between Elder Alfred Cordon and a minister of one of the denominations whom Elder Woodruff does not name. It was attended by the members of the Twelve then in England. The subject under discussion was the Book of Mormon; and although the view of the Latter-day Saints was upheld therein by an elder of less prominence than one of the Apostles, the result evidently was very satisfactory to the Saints, and their cause received further favorable impression in the minds of a great majority of the fifteen hundred persons present on the occasion.
"I left Manchester on the 14th of October," writes Wilford Woodruff, "to return to my labors in London; and on my way, with Elder Alfred Cordon, I visited the Staffordshire Potteries and Birmingham. On the 17th I arrived in London, where I found Elder George A. Smith, and we were glad to meet each other again. We hired lodgings, board, and sitting-room at No. 40 Ironmonger Row, St. Luke's. Everything was costly, and we found that with the greatest economy we could not do with much less than a pound per week each. What few Saints there were in London were very poor, and unable to assist us. Most of the means used in my labors in London was supplied by my converts in Herefordshire.