Wilford began at once to read the Book of Mormon. "As I did so," he writes, "the spirit bore witness that the record which it contained was true. I opened my eyes to see, my ears to hear, and my heart to understand. I also opened my doors to entertain the servants of God." He at once became a living witness to the truth of the promise made in that book that whoso should read it with a prayerful heart should have a witness of its truth, and whoso should receive the record and not condemn it because of the imperfections which might appear in its language should know greater things to come. The spirit of that book brought divine harmony to his soul so wonderfully attuned to the spirit and language of the Bible. Those were days of grand opportunities for a soul that had been so long in a state of hunger and thirst after righteousness. The new message brought to him a new enthusiasm. On the 30th of the month, Wilford and the elders called upon Noah Holton, a preacher of the Freewill Baptist denomination, whose daughter was very ill. After listening to the elders for some time, Mr. Holton made a solemn covenant to go forward and be baptized if the Lord would heal his daughter. The elders laid their hands upon her and she was healed by the power of God. It was not a time for delay. These brothers had long waited for the message which had now brought the glorious tidings of a divine call. They would not delay obedience to those ordinances {35} which opened the door to the enjoyment of greater light. They asked for baptism at the hands of the elders. On December 31st, the last day of the year, 1833, there assembled at the water's edge about 11 o'clock in the morning a large number of people who witnessed the baptism of Wilford Woodruff by Zera Pulsipher. There were baptized at the same time his brother Azmon, also two young ladies who had been healed the day before. Of this circumstance he writes in his journal: "The snow was about three feet deep, the day was cold, and the water was mixed with ice and snow, yet I did not feel the cold." There was a public meeting held that night by candle-light and a large congregation assembled; but unlike the meeting that was first held, there was a spirit of opposition. After explaining to the people the ordinance of the laying on of hands, the elders confirmed Wilford and his companions members of the Church by the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. Speaking of this meeting he says: "There was a good deal of darkness in the room; but when the congregation dispersed, the people took away with them that darkness. The Holy Ghost fell upon us and we had a time of great rejoicing. The next day, January 1st, 1834, my brother Azmon reproached Noah Holton for his tardiness in receiving the gospel after he had made a covenant to obey it on condition that his daughter be healed. Holton received the warning and was baptized."