The opportunity for missionary service soon came. The Laws, Higbees, Fosters, Blakesley, and others came out in open rebellion against the Prophet of God, who now felt a foreboding of evil days to come. The Prophet, therefore, made a call upon the Twelve to take a mission to the Eastern States. He would not have their lives jeopardized by the enmity which was intensifying about him. Upon the Twelve rested the responsibility of the Kingdom, should he be called to lay down his life. Elder Woodruff left Nauvoo in company with George A. Smith, J. M. Grant, Ezra Thayer, and the latter's son. Of this circumstance he writes, "This was the last mission the Prophet ever gave to the Twelve Apostles in this dispensation. He wished none of us to remain by him except Willard Richards. Apostle John Taylor was later required to remain and take charge of the printing and publications. The Prophet then turned to me and said: 'Brother Woodruff, I want you to go, and if you do not you will die.' His words rested with mighty weight upon me when he spoke, and I have often thought since, in contemplation of the awful tragedy of his and Hyrum's martyrdom, how truly his {205} words would have been verified had I remained. Elder Taylor barely escaped. Willard Richards escaped the bullets altogether. He escaped, as was written of him later, 'without even a hole in his robe.' I took the parting hand of Hyrum and Joseph, at their own dwellings. Joseph stood in the entry of his door when I took his hand to bid him farewell. Brother J. M. Grant was with me. As he took me by the hand, he said: 'Brother Woodruff, you are about to start upon your mission.' I answered, 'Yes.' He looked me steadily in the eye for a time without speaking a word; he looked as though he would penetrate my very soul, and at the same time seemed unspeakably sorrowful as if weighed down by a foreboding of something dreadful. He finally spoke in a mournful voice: 'God bless you, Brother Woodruff; go in peace.' I turned and left him with a sorrowful heart, partaking of the same spirit which rested upon him. This was the last time I ever saw his face or heard his voice again--in the flesh. Sad were the last months of the Prophet's life. They were like the last days of Him who died on Calvary for the redemption of a fallen world. The Apostles of this dispensation, while not aware of the coming events in all their fullness, were yet more fully prepared for the sad event than were the Apostles of Jerusalem. Those of the latter days had been endowed with power from on high, and they did not slumber while their Prophet suffered, as did those 'in the Garden of Gethsemane.'"