The Know

On July 8, 1838, Joseph Smith “received five separate revelations—the most known to have been recorded on one single day,” leading one church historian, Alexander L. Baugh, to rightfully declare this as “a day of revelation.”1 Four of those revelations have been canonized in the Doctrine and Covenants as sections 117–120 and highlight some of the pressing needs and concerns for the Church during 1838.2

Of particular importance was the calling of new Apostles. In the previous year, between late 1837 and early 1838, four of the original Twelve Apostles—William E. McLellin, Luke S. Johnson, Lyman E. Johnson, and John F. Boynton—had left the Church.3 William McLellin had even become actively antagonistic toward Joseph Smith and the Church, to the point that he aided Missouri mobs in persecuting the Saints. Thus, in a revelation now found in section 118 of the Doctrine and Covenants, four new Apostles were called to fill the vacancies in this Quorum: “Let my servant John Taylor, and also my servant John E. Page, and also my servant Wilford Woodruff, and also my servant Willard Richards, be appointed to fill the places of those who have fallen, and be officially notified of their appointment.”4

This revelation is also important for another reason. In the previous April, the Lord had expressed that the Twelve Apostles would be called to serve a mission beginning in the spring of 1839 (see Doctrine and Covenants 114:1). This 1838 revelation specified that their mission should commence “on the twenty-sixth day of April next” and that the Twelve were to “take leave of my saints in the city of Far West . . . on the building-spot of my house” (118:5). From there, the Apostles were to preach in the British Isles.

During the intervening nine months, however, challenges arose that made the fulfilment of this prophecy seem impossible. Casey Paul Griffiths explained,

In the year following the revelation, Thomas B. Marsh, the president of the Quorum of the Twelve, had apostatized. David W. Patten, the next in seniority, was killed at the Battle of Crooked River. Joseph Smith and other leaders of the Church languished in Liberty Jail, and Missouri governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued a literal extermination order against the Saints.5

Driven from their homes yet again, the Saints took refuge in Illinois.6

In the early months of 1839, many members of a Missouri mob made public threats against the Saints and especially against the Apostles should they ever return. The mob was aware of this revelation and intent on thwarting its fulfillment. As Wilford Woodruff later recalled, "The Missourians had sworn by all the gods of eternity that if every other revelation given through Joseph Smith were fulfilled, that should not be, for the day and date being given they declared that it should fail."7

The threat to the Apostles’ lives appears to have been quite real. On April 5, 1839, Captain Samuel Bogart of the Missouri militia and other dissidents had threatened to murder the Twelve if they stepped foot in Far West.8 However, as Steven C. Harper observed, “Anyone who wonders whether the apostles would do so is probably not familiar with Brigham’s iron resolve.”9 Concerning a meeting of the Apostles to decide the best course of action on March 18 at Quincy, Illinois, Brigham Young recorded,

Many of the Authorities considered in our present persecuted and scattered condition, the Lord would not require the Twelve to fulfil his words to the letter, and, under our present circumstances, he would take the will for the deed, but I felt differently, and so did those of the Quorum who were with me. I asked them, individually, what their feelings were upon the subject? They all expressed their desires to fulfil the revelation. I told them the Lord God had spoken, and it was our duty to obey, and leave the event in His hands and He would protect us.10

Wilford Woodruff recorded that Brigham and the Twelve “felt that the Lord God had given the commandment and we had faith to go forward and accomplish it, feeling that it was His business whether we lived or died in its accomplishment.”11 At this same meeting, George A. Smith was sustained by the Church to be ordained an Apostle in place of Thomas B. Marsh. Wilford Woodruff was also sustained by the congregation to the apostleship, per section 118.12

The Apostles departed for Far West one month later, on April 18, 1839. Brigham Young, Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, John Taylor, and George A. Smith were joined by Alpheus Cutler, who had been the master builder on the Far West temple. While on the way, they were joined by Apostle John E. Page. Heber C. Kimball, another member of the Twelve, was already in Far West helping the last of the Saints leave the state.13 They arrived on April 25, 1839, just a day before they had been commanded by the Lord to depart from Far West.

Aware of the danger they were in should they be discovered, the Apostles held a small conference with the remaining Saints in Far West in the early morning of April 26, consisting of twenty-five members in total.14 Alpheus Cutler rolled a corner stone onto the temple lot to commence the foundation of the temple, and on this stone Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith were, in turn, ordained to the apostleship. From there, the Apostles departed Missouri for their mission to England, leaving the temple lot in Far West for a future day when the temple could be built as the Saints had hoped.15 Thus, the revelation given in Doctrine and Covenants 118 was fulfilled to the letter.

The Why

Before departing for the British Isles, the Apostles first returned to Illinois to help their families settle in Nauvoo. When the time came to leave, Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball were bedridden with malaria and could not walk without assistance. Despite their challenge, they left their families shouting, “Hurrah, hurrah for Israel!”16 As the Apostles arrived in England in 1840, they commenced what would be “one of the most important events in Church history”; thousands were soon converted.17

Orson Hyde, having been readmitted to the apostleship after a period of disfellowship, joined the other Apostles in England before traveling on to the Holy Land to dedicate it for the gathering of Israel. Willard Richards, who was already serving a mission in England at the time, was ordained as an Apostle when the other members of the Twelve arrived, as per the Lord’s earlier instructions.18 By 1841, nine of the Apostles accepted their mission in England and the nations abroad.

The significance of this mission cannot be overstated. Thousands of converts joined the church and with such speed that three Church historians noted, “Converts came so rapidly . . . that they could not print literature fast enough to keep pace with the demand.”19 Thousands of copies of the Book of Mormon were printed in England, and for decades Liverpool remained a stronghold of the Church and was critical in publishing efforts in Europe.20 At the same time, many of these British converts ended up joining the Saints in Nauvoo, where the Church grew rapidly and continued to prosper for a time in its new temporary headquarters.

This mission had a salutary impact on Church leadership as well. Before the mission to England, the Quorum of Twelve Apostles had lost half of the original members at one point over infighting and apostasy. Yet their missionary service abroad was profoundly unifying. Ronald K. Esplin observed, “Never again would Brigham Young see a Quorum of the Twelve Apostles disanimated and divided as he had seen in the past. Under difficult circumstances and with sacrifice, they had come as a religious duty and they had triumphed.”21

When they returned to Nauvoo, the Apostles had also earned the trust of Joseph Smith to no small degree. Indeed, “it was no coincidence that the apostles who first met as a quorum in Manchester in April 1841 soon became Joseph’s right hand in Nauvoo and eventually, as his successors, led the Latter-day Saint migration to the Great Basin. Thereafter these men remained unalterably united behind Joseph and his teachings, while those who refused to accept the foreign mission call eventually fell away.”22

Through their faith, these nine Apostles would eventually be given the keys of the kingdom by Joseph Smith just months before his martyrdom.23 In many ways, the preparation of the Apostles for this responsibility came to a head on April 26, 1839, that momentous and divinely appointed departure date in Far West. There and then, Brigham Young and the remaining Apostles showed the Lord that they would take seriously His specific commands and that they were intent on seeing this one fulfilled to the letter. Because of their great faith and exacting obedience, the world and the Church have been immeasurably blessed.