Foreign Missionary Labors 1839–1841 The Foreign Mission of the TwelveOn the 26th day of April, 1839, a majority of the apostles took their leave of the Saints at Far West—then a hostile land—to go forth and declare the everlasting Gospel “over the great waters” as they had been commanded. The families of these brave men had been recently and ruthlessly banished from their homes, and were on their journey seeking shelter and a friendly habitation. It required the greatest courage and the highest quality of faith for men to go forth across the ocean to a foreign country to preach the Gospel without purse or scrip, leaving their families in poverty, homeless, destitute, and ill. Yet this was the test to which these brethren were put at this time. They did not fail, but manfully and nobly took up their cross and started on their missions. Other brethren, of the seventies, just as faithful, accompanied them on their journey to the foreign field. No sooner was the main body of the Saints located in Iowa and Illinois, out of the reach of mobs, than most of the members of the council of the twelve started on their way to the British Isles. On the 2nd day of July, 1839, the presidency met with the apostles, and some others who were to accompany them, and gave them instructions pertaining to their labors. On this occasion many important items on doctrine, the Priesthood, and the deportment of missionaries in the field, were discussed. In the course of his instructions President Joseph Smith taught them to beware of self-sufficiency, and to observe charity and wisdom and to exercise the principle of mercy; for if we forgive our brother, or even an enemy, before he repent or ask forgiveness, our heavenly Father will be equally merciful unto us. He further instructed them that they were not sent out to be taught, but to teach, and to be honest, open and frank, in all intercourse with mankind. He closed his instructions with the following words:
Items on PriesthoodAbout this time he also instructed the brethren on various matters of Priesthood, from which the following excerpts are taken:
Epistle of the TwelveAfter receiving their charge from the First Presidency, before their departure for their fields of labor, the members of the council of the twelve, wrote an epistle to the elders of the Church, the churches scattered abroad, and all the Saints, giving them instruction: and encouragement in their afflictions. To the Saints they said:
To the elders they said:
The Missionaries DepartAt a meeting held in Commerce, Sunday, July 7, 1839, Elders Brigham Young, John Taylor, John E. Page, Wilford Woodruff and Orson Hyde, made their farewell remarks before their departure on their foreign mission. The following day Elders Taylor and Woodruff took up their journey toward their field of labor. Sunday, July 28, Elder Parley P. Pratt, who had arrived in Commerce on the 10th from his long confinement in Missouri prisons, made his farewell talk; so also did his brother Orson, who had assisted Parley in his escape. August 29, Elders Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt and Hiram Clark left Commerce on their missionary journey, and they were followed September 18, by President Brigham Young and Elder Heber C. Kimball. Elders George A. Smith, Reuben Hedlock and Theodore Turley, left three days later. William Smith, of the council of the twelve, failed to go. Willard Richards, not yet ordained an apostle, was in England where he had remained since the opening of the mission. Elders Orson Hyde and John E. Page were shortly afterwards set apart for a mission to Palestine to dedicate the land for the return of the Jews, and there was one vacancy in the council caused by the death of David W. Patten, which was not filled until April, 1841, when Lyman Wight was chosen. Circumstances under which these brethren departed were extremely distressing, as may be well imagined. Elder Heber C. Kimball thus reports the departure of President Brigham Young and himself on their missionary journey:
The conditions of some of the other brethren were little better. Elders George A. Smith and companions upset their wagons in the soft ground before they got out of sight of the village of Commerce, and Elders Smith and Turley were so weak they could not get up, and Brother Hedlock had to lift them into the wagon again. Soon after, as they were on their way, some gentlemen passing them asked who had been robbing the burying ground; so miserable did they appear.2 After passing through many hardships, traveling without purse or scrip, the Lord coming to their assistance many times in a miraculous way, these brethren finally reached their destination. Elders John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff and Theodore Turley arrived in Liverpool, January 11, 1840, and were followed by President Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, George A. Smith and Reuben Hedlock, who arrived April 6, after a stormy passage of twenty-eight days. At the time of sailing, President Young and Elder Kimball were still in poor health, and Elder George A. Smith was suffering extremely with ague. It was impossible for the brethren journeying on this mission to go together in a body, and inadvisable. Due to sickness they were detained many days, yet they pursued their course as rapidly as circumstances would permit. As President Young and party left the New York harbor, the shore resounded by the voices of the assembled Saints who had come to bid them farewell on their journey. They unitedly sang: “The Gallant Ship is under Way,” composed by Elder William W. Phelps. Ordination of Willard RichardsThe first council meeting of the apostles on foreign soil was held in Preston, England, April 14, 1840, at the house of Elder Willard Richards, who on this occasion was ordained to the apostleship by President Brigham Young, and under the hands of all the brethren of the council who were present. Other business was transacted and the brethren assigned to fields of labor. On this occasion Brigham Young was also unanimously sustained by the brethren of the twelve as the president of that council. There were present: President Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith and Willard Richards. The Millennial StarA general conference of all the Saints in the British Isles was held in Preston the following day, April 15, 1840, at which there were present, or represented, the following: elders, 36; priests, 45; teachers, 36: deacons, 11; members, 1686, all contained in 34 branches which had been raised up since the opening of that mission by Elder Kimball and companions in 1837. At this conference it was decided to publish a hymn book, and a monthly periodical under the direction and superintendency of the twelve, for the benefit and information of the members of the Church. The next day, in a council meeting of the apostles, Parley P. Pratt was chosen to edit the monthly periodical which was to be called “The Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star,” which soon made its appearance and has been issued continuously ever since. The committee selected to prepare for printing a book of hymns was Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt and John Taylor. British Copyright of the Book of MormonIt was also decided, agreeable to the counsel of the First Presidency previously obtained, that copyright of the Book of Mormon and of the Doctrine and Covenants be secured in England; and that editions of these books be printed. The first number of the Millennial Star was issued in Manchester, in pamphlet form of twenty-four pages, Wednesday, May 27, 1840. Later the place of publication was transferred to Liverpool, which became the headquarters for most of the publications of the Church, until comparatively recent years. The First Patriarch in EnglandUnder the labors of the twelve and their missionary companions, branches of the Church had sprung up in various parts of England, and the population of the Church was now growing rapidly. At another council meeting of the twelve, held April 16, 1840, it was decided that a patriarch be ordained, and the honor fell to the lot of Elder Peter Melling, a most worthy man, who was ordained in Preston the following day. Early in 1841, John Albiston was also ordained to this sacred calling. Individual Labors of the TwelveElders John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff and-Theodore Turley, the first of the missionaries to arrive in England, met in a special council Friday, January 17, 1840, with Joseph Fielding and Willard Richards of the presidency of the British Mission, and decided on their fields of labor. It was agreed that Elders Taylor and Fielding should go to Liverpool; Elder Hiram Clark, to Manchester, with Elder William Clayton; and Brother Richards to labor where the Spirit should direct. In Liverpool Elders Taylor and Fielding raised up a branch of about thirty members before the arrival from America of the other brethren of the twelve. This number rapidly increased and at the beginning of the year 1841, numbered more than two hundred souls. In March, 1842, the headquarters of the mission were transferred to Liverpool. In HerefordshireIn the Potteries of Staffordshire, Elders Woodruff and Turley found a fruitful field. Elder Woodruff labored in Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Lane End and the Potteries from the 22nd of January, 1840, to the 2nd of March, preaching every night in the week, and two or three times on the Sabbath day, and the people flocked to hear his words and many were baptized. While preaching on the Sabbath, March 1, which was the anniversary of his birth, the Lord manifested to him that he was to leave that part of the country and go to the south. Acting on the impression from the Spirit, he left on the 3rd of March and continued his journey to the farming communities of Herefordshire and stopped at the home of Mr. John Benbow, at Castle Frome, Ledbury. Mr. Benbow was a wealthy farmer, cultivating some three hundred acres of land. Elder Woodruff presented himself to this gentleman as a missionary from America and an elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who had been sent to preach the Gospel to him and his household and all the inhabitants of the land. Mr. Benbow rejoiced in the statements of Elder Woodruff, and informed him that there were in that place six hundred persons and more, who had broken off from the Methodists and had taken the name of “United Brethren.” They had forty-five preachers and a number of meeting houses that were duly licensed according to the law of the land. They were searching for light and truth. Losing no time, on the morning of the 5th, Brother Woodruff stated he would like to begin his labors by preaching to the people. There was a large hall in the mansion of Mr. Benbow, which was available for that purpose, and the people were invited to come and hear the new message, from the new world across the sea. The people of the neighborhood deserted their ministers and came to hear this strange preacher, who, in the course of a short time, baptized over six hundred persons in that place. At the meeting held on March 8, a constable, sent through complaint of the parish rector, came to arrest him for “preaching to the people.” Elder Woodruff said he had a license to preach as well as the rector, and if the constable would take a chair and sit beside him until the close of the meeting he would be at his service. He then launched forth on a discourse treating the first principles of the Gospel, and at the close of the meeting opened the door for baptism, and several came forward to be baptized; among the number were four preachers and the constable, who said, “Mr. Woodruff, I would like to be baptized.” The constable went to the rector and told him that if he wanted Mr. Woodruff arrested, he must go himself and serve the writ, for he had heard him preach the only true Gospel sermon he had ever heard. The rector then sent two clerks of the Church of England as spies, and they were both baptized. The ministers and rectors of the Church of England then sent a petition to the Archbishop of Canterbury, to request Parliament to pass a law prohibiting the “Mormons” from preaching in the British nation, stating that they had baptized fifteen hundred persons, many of whom were members of the Church of England. But the Archbishop, knowing well that the laws of England permitted religious freedom, replied that the petitioners, if they had the worth of souls at heart as much as they valued ground where hares, foxes and hounds ran, they would not lose so many of their flock. The other brethren also met with remarkable success. The field was ripe, ready for the harvest, and thousands of the house of Israel were soon gathered into the fold. At a conference of the Church in the British Isles held in October, 1840, there was reported a Church membership of about 4,000 souls, and in the meantime a number had emigrated to the United States. The First Emigration to the United StatesIn June, 1840, a company of forty Saints sailed in the ship Britannia from Liverpool for New York, being the first Saints to leave England for Zion. The Mission to PalestineAt the general conference of the Church held in Nauvoo, Hancock County, April 6–8, 1840, Elder Orson Hyde, who had not departed for England with the other apostles, was appointed to take a mission to Palestine to dedicate there the land for the gathering of the Jews. Elder John E. Page, who had also tarried at home, was called to accompany him. While addressing the congregation on the 6th, Elder Hyde remarked that it had been prophesied, some years before, that he had a great work to perform among the Jews; and that he had recently been moved by the Spirit of the Lord to visit that people, and gather all the information he could find respecting their movements, hopes and aspirations, and communicate them to the Church. He expressed the desire to visit the Jews in New York, London and Amsterdam, on his way to the field of his appointment. It was moved and carried that he proceed at once on his mission and that Elder John E. Page be given proper credentials and accompany him. On the 15th of April, Elder Hyde left Nauvoo for Jerusalem. Working his way across the country to New York, he sailed, after some delays, for Liverpool, on his way to Palestine, Saturday, February 13, 1841. He traveled alone, as Elder John E. Page had failed to make the journey. Other Missionary AppointmentsOther missionary appointments to foreign fields were made in these early days. In July, 1840, William Barrett, a boy seventeen years of age, was ordained an elder by Elders George A. Smith and Alfred Cordon, in Hanley, Staffordshire, England, and set apart to take a mission to Australia, to be the first missionary to that country. In August, following, Elder William Donaldson, of the British army, having been assigned to the field in India, was also blessed and set apart to labor for the Church in that land. The following year, at the conference of the Church, Elder Harrison Sagers was called to go to Jamaica; Elder Joseph Ball, to South America; Elder Simeon Carter to Germany; and Elder Arza Adams to Canada, where the Gospel had previously been preached. The Return of the ApostlesOn the 20th day of April, 1841, President Brigham Young and Elders Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith and Willard Richards, with a company of Saints left Liverpool on the ship Rochester, for New York. Parley P. Pratt continued in England to edit the Millennial Star and preside over the mission. After a period of one month upon the water they arrived safely in New York, and continuing their journey arrived in Nauvoo, July 1, 1841. Some eighteen or twenty months before, these brethren had left Nauvoo, poverty-stricken, afflicted and sorrowful of heart. Now they returned rejoicing and with gladness of heart, bearing the fruit of their labors. They started on their way without money, and returned with none. Yet, during their labors abroad, they had published an edition of five thousand copies of the Book of Mormon; and an edition of three thousand copies of the Hymn Book; over fifty thousand tracts and pamphlets; had established a permanent magazine, the Millennial Star; organized an emigration agency for the gathering of the Saints to Zion, and had been instrumental in the hands of the Lord in bringing thousands of the children of the House of Israel to a knowledge of the everlasting Gospel. Truly it was a marvelous work, worthy of all commendation. The Prophet’s CommentsCommenting on the labors of these members of the council of the apostles, the Prophet said:
Notes1. Documentary History of the Church, vol. 3:385 –8. 2. Another incident worthy to relate is the following statement by Elder Wilford Woodruff:
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