Wilford Woodruff, Fourth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: History of His Life and Labors, as Recorded in His Daily JournalsWoodruff, Wilford
Religion
Wilford Woodruff, Fourth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: History of His Life and Labors, as Recorded in His Daily Journals
Woodruff, Wilford
Woodruff, Wilford, 1807-1898
"One day Elder Hale and I ascended to the top of a high granite rock
on South Island for prayer and supplication. We sat down under the
shade of a pine tree which grew out of a fissure in the rocks, and
Elder Hale read the sixteenth chapter of Jeremiah, where mention is
made of the hunters and fishers that God would send in the last days
to gather Israel. We were, indeed, upon an island of the sea, standing
upon a rock where we could survey the gallant ships, and also the
islands which were as full of rocks, ledges, and caves as any part
of the earth. And what had brought us here? To search out the blood
of Ephraim, the honest and meek of the earth, and gather them from
these {80} islands, rocks, holes, and caves of the earth unto Zion. We
prayed, and rejoiced together. The spirit of God rested upon us. We
spoke of Christ and the ancient prophets and apostles in Jerusalem;
of Nephi, Alma, Mormon, Moroni, in America; of Joseph, Hyrum, Oliver,
and the apostles in our own day; and we rejoiced that we were upon the
islands of the sea searching out the blood of Israel. While filled with
these meditations and with the spirit of God, we fell upon our knees
and gave thanks to the God of heaven, and felt to pray for all Israel.
After spending most of the day in praise and thanksgiving, we descended
to the settlement and held a meeting with the people.
"On the 6th of September we called upon Captain Benjamin Coombs, and
visited his flakes, where he had one thousand quintals of codfish
drying for the market. They had been caught mostly in the neighborhood
of Newfoundland. While we were passing Carvey's Wharf, our attention
was called to a large school of mackerel playing by the side of the
warf. Several men were pitching them out with hooks. We also caught
what we wanted and went on our way.
"We continued to labor, to preach, and to baptize. We organized a
branch of the Church upon each island. Finally, on the 2nd of October,
we parted with the Saints on North Island to return to Scarboro
for a short time. We walked from Thomaston to Bath, a distance of
forty-six miles in one day, and at the latter place attended a
Baptist convention. I also preached there in the evening to a large
congregation, and the people gave good attention and wished to learn
more about our doctrines. On the following day we walked thirty-six
miles to Portland, and the next day to Scarboro. There I again met my
wife and her father's family.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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