Doctrine and Covenants 118 was given following the return of Apostles Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde from a successful mission to England. Wilford Woodruff later noted that “[Doctrine and Covenants 118] is the only revelation that has been given since the organization of the Church, that I know anything about, that had [a] day and date given with it.”¹ The revelation specified not only the exact day, April 26, 1839, that the revelation was to be fulfilled but also the precise place for “the building-spot of my house” (D&C 118:5) in Far West. President Woodruff later recalled that “when the revelation was given[,] all was peace and quietude, comparatively, in that land.”² However, a year after, when the time came for the revelation to be fulfilled, conditions in Far West had radically changed.

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. President Woodruff noted, “the inhabitants of Missouri had sworn that if all the revelations of ‘old Joe Smith’ were fulfilled, that [D&C 118] should not be, because it had a day and date to it.”³

Recognizing the danger of returning to Far West, Brigham Young, now President of the Twelve, asked the other quorum members, “What shall we do with regard to the fulfillment of this revelation?”⁴ Several leaders present at the meeting, including Joseph Smith Sr., advised the Twelve to not endanger their lives, saying, “the Lord would take the will for the deed.” Wilford Woodruff recalled, “the Spirit of the Lord rested upon the Twelve, and they said—‘The Lord God has spoken, and we will fulfill that revelation and commandment.’”⁵

Early in the morning of April 26, 1839, Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, John Taylor, and others met on the temple site in Far West. They conducted a brief service in which they ordained Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith as Apostles, quietly sang a hymn, and offered prayers. At the end of their prayers, the group rolled a stone into place at the southeast corner of the temple. Then they quietly departed. On their way out of town, Theodore Turley, a Latter-day Saint who had accompanied the Twelve to Far West, could not resist stopping at the home of Isaac Russell, an apostate who still resided in town, to tell him that the revelation had been fulfilled.⁶ A later history compiled under Joseph Smith’s direction records:

As the Saints were passing away from the meeting, Brother [Theodore] Turley said to [John E.] Page and [Wilford] Woodruff, “Stop a bit while I bid Isaac Russell goodbye.” And knocking at his door[,] called [for] brother Russell[,] his wife answered, “Come in[,] it is Brother Turley[.]” Russell replied, “It is not[,] he left here two weeks ago” and appeared quite alarmed. But on finding it was Turley, asked him to sit down, but he replied “I cannot; I shall lose my company[.]” “Who is your company? inquired Russel[,] “the Twelve[?]” “The Twelve[.]” “Yes[,] don’t you know that this is the twenty-sixth and the day the Twelve were to take leave of their friends on the foundation of the Lord’s House to go to the Islands of the Sea? The Revelation is now fulfilled, and I am going with them.” Russell was speechless and Turley bid him, “Farewell[!]”⁷

1. Wilford Woodruff, in Journal of Discourses, 13:59.

2. Wilford Woodruff, in Journal of Discourses, 18:123.

3. Wilford Woodruff, in Journal of Discourses, 18:123.

4. Wilford Woodruff, in Journal of Discourses, 18:123.

5. Wilford Woodruff, in Journal of Discourses, 18:123.

6. James B. Allen, Men with a Mission, 1837–1841: The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the British Isles, 1992, 56–57.

7. JS History, vol. C-1, p. 14 [Addenda], JSP.