SERIES OF ESCAPES EXPERIENCED BY PRESIDENT WOODRUFF THROUGH HEEDING THE SPIRIT'S WARNINGS—INSTANCE OF FAILING TO DO SO.

President Wilford Woodruff, who was specially susceptible to spiritual impressions and guidance, has related many instances of the Spirit prompting him to do or refrain from doing certain things, with the results of his action in the premises, from which the following are culled as samples:

"In 1848, after my return to Winter Quarters from our pioneer journey, I was appointed by the Presidency of the Church to take my family and go to Boston, to gather up the remnant of the Saints and lead them to the valleys of the mountains.

"While on my way east I put my carriage into the yard of one of the brethren in Indiana, and Brother Orson Hyde set his wagon by the side of mine, and not more than two feet from it.

"Dominicus Carter, of Provo, and my wife and four children were with me. My wife, one child and I went to bed in the carriage, the rest sleeping in the house.

"I had been in bed but a short time, when a voice said to me, 'Get up, and move your carriage.'

"It was not thunder, lightning nor an earth-quake, but the still, small voice of the Spirit of God—the Holy Ghost.

"I told my wife I must get up and move my carriage. She asked, 'What for?'

"I told her I did not know, only the Spirit told me to do it.

"I got up and moved my carriage several rods, and set it by the side of the house.

"As I was returning to bed, the same Spirit said to me, 'Go and move your mules from that oak tree,' which was about one hundred yards north of our carriage.

"I moved them to a young hickory grove and tied them up. I then went to bed.

"In thirty minutes a whirlwind caught the tree to which my mules had been fastened, broke it off near the ground and carried it one hundred yards, sweeping away two fences in its course, and laid it prostrate through that yard where my carriage stood, and the top limbs hit my carriage as it was.

"In the morning I measured the trunk of the tree which fell where my carriage had stood, and I found it to be five feet in circumference. It came within a foot of Brother Hyde's wagon, but did not touch it.

"Thus by obeying the revelation of the Spirit of God to me I saved my life, the lives of my wife and child, as well as my animals.

"In the morning I went on my way rejoicing.

"While returning to Utah in 1850, with a large company of Saints from Boston and the east, on my arrival at Pittsburg, I engaged a passage for myself and company on a steamer to St. Louis. But no sooner had I engaged the passage than the Spirit said to me, 'Go not on board of that steamer; neither you nor your company.'

"I obeyed the revelation to me, and I did not go on board, but took another steamer.

"The first steamer started at dark, with two hundred passengers on board. When five miles down the Ohio river it took fire and burned the tiller ropes, so that the vessel could not reach the shore, and the lives of nearly all on board were lost either by fire or water. We arrived in safety at our destination, by obeying the revelation of the Spirit of God to us.

"In another instance, after attending a large annual conference in Salt Lake City, and, having a good deal of business to attend to, I was somewhat weary, and at the close of the conference I thought L would repair to my home and have a rest.

"As I went into the yard the Spirit said to me, 'Take your team and go to the farm,' which is some three miles south of the Tabernacle.

"As I was hitching the horse to the wagon Mrs. Woodruff asked where I was going.

"I said, 'To the farm.'

"'What for?' she asked.

"'I do not know,' I replied; but when I arrived there I found out.

"The creek had overflowed, broken through my ditch, surrounded my home, and filled my barnyard and pig pen. My wife was wading in the water, trying to turn it from the lot, to save the home and family.

"Through my own exertions I soon turned it and prevented much damage that might have occurred had I not obeyed the voice of the Spirit.

"This same Spirit of revelation has been manifested to many of my brethren in their labors in the kingdom of God, one of which I will here name.

"Elder Charles C. Rich was going from Sacramento to San Bernardino with a company of brethren. He had in his possession a large amount of money to make payment on their land purchase. This was known to some road agents in the vicinity, who gathered a company of robbers and went on ahead of Brother Rich and lay in ambush, intending to kill the 'Mormons' and rob them of their money.

"Before reaching the company of robbers Brother Rich came to a by-path or trail. The Spirit then told him to take that path.

"The brethren with him marveled at his course, not knowing that enemies awaited them, but they arrived in safety at San Bernardino with their lives and money, while the robbers wondered why their prey did not come."