Читать книгу Wilford Woodruff, Fourth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - Wilford Woodruff - Страница 16

"On the 4th of October, 1839, my uncle, Adna Hart, died, aged forty-three years. I had visited him in his sickness, preached the gospel to him, and he was believing. I had been associated with him from my youth up. On his death bed he sent me a request that I preach his funeral sermon. I was having the chills and fever daily at the time, attended with a very severe cough, so much so that my father thought I would never leave his home alive; but when they brought me the request of my dying uncle, and the day came for his burial, I told my father to get his horse and buggy ready, as I was going to attend the funeral. He thought I was very reckless about my own life, as I had suffered with chills and fever some fifteen days, and to attempt to speak in my weak state, and to begin at the same hour that my chill was to come on, seemed to him foolhardy. My parents were quite alarmed, yet according to my request my father got up his team, and I rode with him and my stepmother five miles, through a cold, chilly wind, and commenced speaking to a large congregation at the same hour that my chills had been accustomed to come on. I spoke with great freedom for over an hour; my chills left me for that time, and I had no more attacks for many days.

"On the Monday following, October 17th, I felt sufficiently restored to health to continue my journey. I took leave of my father and sister, and left for New York, where I arrived on the morning of the 8th of November. I spent two months and seven days after my arrival in New York, in traveling and preaching in that city, and in New Jersey and Long Island, a portion of the time with Parley and Orson Pratt. During this period I had frequent attacks of the chills and fever, but I preached almost daily.

"On the 13th of December, I attended our conference in New York City, with Elder Parley P. Pratt, who prophesied that the mission of the Twelve to Great Britain would be known to all nations, as it surely has been. On this day Elder John Taylor arrived in our midst. It was a happy meeting; he had passed through a severe siege of sickness after we parted, but through the mercy of God had been preserved, and was able to continue his journey. He informed us that others of the Twelve had suffered a great deal of sickness, and that it was with difficulty that they could travel.

"After spending six days in New York, Elder John Taylor, in company with Elder Theodore Turley and myself, sailed out of New York harbor on the 19th of December, 1839, on board the packet ship Oxford. We took steerage passage, which cost fifteen dollars each. We had storms and rough weather, but most of the winds were favorable to a quick passage. While on the ship, a Methodist minister got into a discussion with some Catholics who were in the company, and the arguments of the minister ran rather more into abuse than sound argument. Elder Taylor told the Methodist minister that he did not think it was becoming in a daughter to find so much fault with the mother; for, as the Methodists came out of the Catholics, Elder Taylor thought the mother had as much right to enjoy her religion unmolested as the daughter had. That ended the argument. Our company consisted of one hundred and nine souls, composed of Americans, English, Scotch, Irish, Welsh, and Dutch."

While in New York preparing for his departure for Europe, Elder Woodruff twice saw his wife in a dream. The second time she was weeping, and both times was in great affliction. Upon his inquiring after their little daughter. Sister Woodruff answered, "She is dead." The warning in this dream received fulfillment on the 17th of the following July, the child dying on that date, while he was in England.