Isaiah speaks of the foundation of this great Zion, and writes the whole of her history and travels up to the present day, and from this time on until the winding-up scene. If we had not been driven from Nauvoo we would never have come up the Platte River, where, Isaiah says, he saw the Saints going by the river of water wherein went no galley with oars; a great company of women with child and her that travailed with child would never have come here to the mountains of Israel if we had not been driven from that land, and a whole flood of prophecy would have remained unfulfilled, with regard to our making this desert blossom as the rose, the waters coming forth out of the barren desert, our building the house of God on the tops of the mountains, lifting up a standard for these nations to flee to; all this and much more would have remained unfulfilled had we not been guided and led by the strong arm of Jehovah, whose words must be fulfilled though the heavens and the earth pass away.
Having been brought to Zion, another subject presents itself to our consideration….

– Wilford Woodruff, 10/8/1873