{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_46601/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_46601","id":"gutenberg_46601","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46601","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Latter Day Saints"],"text":"GEMS\n\nFOR THE YOUNG FOLKS.\n\nFOURTH BOOK OF THE\n\nFAITH-PROMOTING SERIES.\n\n\n\nDESIGNED FOR THE INSTRUCTION AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF YOUNG LATTER-DAY\nSAINTS.\n\n\n\nJUVENILE INSTRUCTOR OFFICE, Salt Lake City, Utah. 1881.\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\nAlready one of the results which the Editor and Publisher of the\nFAITH-PROMOTING SERIES anticipated when the first volume was issued,\nis apparent--namely, a growing desire on the part of men of experience\nto write for publication such passages from their lives as will be\nof interest and benefit to the rising generation. The publication of\nthese in this form has not been commenced any too soon. The lives\nof the early Elders of the Church were crowded with incidents of\nfascinating interest, and it is due to posterity, as well as to the\nElders themselves, that a record of these should be preserved. But the\nveterans are fast passing away. It will be but a few years hence until\nmen will seek with avidity to obtain information concerning many events\nwhich, if not preserved in writing or in print, will be lost to the new\ngenerations who are crowding into the field.\n\nWe give these \"GEMS FOR THE YOUNG FOLKS\" with the hope that they will\nprove profitable to every reader. Some of them are brief; but they\nembody important principles and lessons.\n\nThe \"Testimonies for the Truth\" were published in pamphlet form by the\nauthor, the late Bishop Benjamin Brown, while on a mission to Great\nBritain. This little work has been rare, and for a number of years it\nhas been difficult to see, much less obtain, a copy. It contains so\nmuch that is encouraging and stimulating to faith that we think it\nshould be preserved in this Series.\n\nWithin two months we hope to be able to issue the next volume. It will\nbe a narrative of the personal experience of Elder Jacob Hamblin, as\na frontiersman, missionary to the Indians and explorer, disclosing\ninterpositions of Providence, severe privations, perilous situations\nand remarkable escapes.\n\nTHE PUBLISHER.\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\nFINDING A FATHER.\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nPart from my Father in infancy--His blessing and promise--Death of\nmy Mother--My Grandfather apostatizes and sets up a Church of his\nown--Bound to be an Uncle--Ill-treatment and ridicule--Prejudiced\nagainst the \"Mormons\"--Fear of them--Released from my Uncle's\npower--Inducements to go to California--Decide to start.\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nMy Outfit--Dissipation--Start to California--Upbraidings from my\nUncle--Uncle and Aunt disagree--A startling revelation, I learn that I\nam being taken to Utah--Leave my Uncle and join Spicer, to avoid going\nto Utah.\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nArrival at Parley's Park--Prepare for the worst, and visit Wm. H.\nKimball--Favorably impressed with my newly-found relatives--Arrival\nin Salt Lake City--Dread at thoughts of falling into the hands of the\n\"Mormons\"--Decide to go and see my Father and surrender, expecting to\nbe captured if I attempted to escape--Odd appearance going up East\nTemple Street--Meeting with my Father--Invited to change my clothes.\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nAshamed of my appearance--Introduced to my numerous relatives--Allowed\nto sleep with the boys--Homesick--Set to work and made\ncontented--Baptized and set apart for a mission--Return to Iowa--Meet\nmy relatives--My Grandfather's confession and testimony--His\nexhortation and request--Return home with my brother Isaac, thus\nfulfilling my Father's prediction--The lessons I learned by my\nexperience.\n\n\nSAVED BY PROVIDENCE.\n\nAppointed to take charge of a company of emigrants--Leave London\nfor America--Surrounded by a thick fog--The Captain unable to take\nobservations--The fog lifts--Saved from being dashed upon the\nrocks--Thank God for our deliverance.\n\n\nWARNINGS OF THE SPIRIT.\n\nImpressed by the Spirit not to go on a steamer, after arranging for my\npassage--Rush ashore before the boat starts--Boat snagged and sunk in\nthe Mississippi--Warned by the Spirit not to meet an appointment--Urged\nby my friends, I start--Aversion to going so strong, I gallop\nback--Friends unable to account for my fears--Robbery at the house\nwhere I was to have gone--Saved from suspicion by obeying the voice of\nthe Spirit.\n\n\nROBERT HAMILTON.\n\nChallenged to debate by Dr. Waltholl--His discomfiture and defeat--Dr.\nScott attempts to retrieve the Campbellite cause, and offers another\nchallenge--Resorts to the whiskey bottle--Elder Hamilton scores him for\nit.\n\n\nHOW SUCCESS IS GAINED.\n\nElders to go out two and two--Young missionaries inclined to\nshirk--Elder Moses Thatcher--His diffidence--The way he was broken\nin--His success--Elder McAllister--His backwardness in speaking--Forced\ninto it--His testimony--Elder Coray's experience--Promises of the Lord\nproved true.\n\n\nHELP IN TIME OF NEED.\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nStart upon a mission, penniless--Aid from the Captain and passengers\non the steamboat--Arrive at New Orleans--Fail in trying to find free\npassage to England--Discouragement--Prayer--Rebuke and answer--Apply\nfor passage on the _Berlin_--Kind reception from Captain Baker--Bargain\nfor passage--One-half to be paid in discussing religion with an\nEpiscopalian Minister.\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nThe voyage--Discussion--Minister's discomfiture--Arrive in\nLiverpool--Kindness of Captain Baker--Learn of his death and my\nduty--My shabby appearance--First sermon--Money put into my hand--Visit\nhome--More help from strangers.\n\n\nOVERCOMING DIFFIDENCE.\n\nDifference in persons about speaking in public--The Lord willing\nto help His servants to overcome timidity--Early experience\nin preaching--A feeling of fear and the Spirit of God not\ncongenial--Timidity conquered.\n\n\nTHE LORD WILL PROVIDE.\n\nA Mother and Children in great want--The Mother's faith--Her prayer--Is\nprovided with money in a mysterious way.\n\n\nDIALOGUE ON RELIGION.\n\n\nTESTIMONIES FOR THE TRUTH.\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nThe Author's birth and parentage--Early religious\nimpressions--Marriage--Vision of his Brother, and of the Bible--The\nAuthor dreams of preaching--Attends a \"Protracted Meeting\"--His\nimpressions while there--He meets with the Latter--Day Saints--Vision\nof two Nephite Apostles.\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nVision of the last days--Baptism of the Author and four others--His\nWife's dream and baptism--He is ordained an Elder--Visits Kirtland--On\nhis return is attacked by fever--Is miraculously healed--Visits\nKirtland--Re-visits Kirtland--Begins to preach--Miraculous healing of\na cancer--Accident and miraculous healing of Jesse W. Crosby--Poison\nmiraculously nullified--Casting out of evil spirits.\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nRemoval to Nauvoo--Sickness--Miraculously healed--Acquire\nconsiderable property--Acquaintance with Joseph Smith--Missions\nto Albany, and the Eastern states; also, with Elder J. W. Crosby,\nto Nova Scotia--Preach in Jefferson Co., N. Y., and organize\nsix Branches of the Church--Travel to New Brunswick--Invited to\npreach--Baptisms--Persecution--The Author waylaid by a mob, beaten,\nand left for dead--Attack on the house where he and Elder Crosby were\nin bed--The mob dispersed by Mrs. Shelton--They return and re--attack\nthe house--Are dispersed by Mr. Shelton--Two Branches organized.\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nReturn to Nauvoo--Sent to Jefferson Co. on a Tithing mission--Return\nwith a thousand dollars--Move West with the Church--Stay at Winter\nQuarters--Ordained Bishop--Scurvy in Camp--Hire out in Missouri--Arrive\nin Salt Lake Valley--Elder Kimball's prophecy and its fulfillment.\n\n\n\nFINDING A FATHER.\n\nBy ABRAHAM A. KIMBALL.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nPART FROM MY FATHER IN INFANCY--HIS BLESSING AND PROMISE--DEATH\nOF MY MOTHER--MY GRANDFATHER APOSTATIZES AND SETS UP A CHURCH OF\nHIS OWN--BOUND TO AN UNCLE--ILL-TREATMENT AND RIDICULE--PREJUDICED\nAGAINST THE \"MORMONS\"--FEAR OF THEM--RELEASED FROM MY UNCLE'S\nPOWER--INDUCEMENTS TO GO TO CALIFORNIA--DECIDE TO START.\n\nAt the earnest request of many of my friends I have compiled a few\nincidents of my early life, some of which have an important bearing on\nthe past history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.\n\nMy grandfather's confession and testimony are especially important, and\nthis sketch is written for the express purpose of giving publicity to\nhis statement.\n\nIn order, however, to arrive at a clear understanding of this, it\nbecomes necessary for me to insert a sketch of my early life.\n\nI have carefully penned these incidents from memory, having taken no\nnotes at the time of their occurrence, and they are as correct as it\nis possible to give them, especially such as refer to my grandfather\nCutler's testimony of the work of the Latter-day Saints, and this I can\nvouch for, word for word. At the time this occurred I had just joined\nthe Church, and his remarks made a powerful impression upon my mind,\nwhich nothing can ever efface.\n\nMy father, Heber C. Kimball, removed to Utah when I was only about\ntwelve months old, leaving his two wives (my mother--Clarissa Cutler,\nand her sister Emily) with one boy each, at Winter Quarters, now called\nFlorence, Nebraska, at the residence of my grandfather, Alpheus Cutler.\n\nThis occurred in the spring of 1847.\n\nMy father (as I have since learned) was very much impressed, prior to\nleaving us, with the belief that my mother would never come to Utah,\nand he, therefore, blessed my brother Isaac A. and myself, and while\nhis hands were upon my head he significantly remarked that I should\nsee the day that I would come to the valleys of the mountains and\nafterwards return for my brother.\n\nShortly after he left us my grandfather was called on a mission to the\nIndians on Grasshopper River, Indian Territory, and took his daughters\nand their two children with him.\n\nAbout two years afterwards the grim monster, death, visited us and\ndeprived me of my mother, and a few months later my aunt Emily died,\nalso Henrietta Cutler (widow of Moses Cutler) who left a girl now named\nPhelinda Rawlance.\n\nWe shortly afterwards removed to Manti, Fremont County, Iowa, where my\ngrandfather established a church and constituted himself its leader,\ncalling it \"The True Church of Latter-day Saints,\" and presumed to\nofficiate in the ordinances of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day\nSaints, such as baptisms, endowments, etc.\n\nHe also energetically denounced polygamy and the law of tithing, and\ntaught his followers that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God, but\nthat Brigham Young was not his successor, but an impostor, and that he\n(Alpheus Cutler) was the true leader and held the authority to carry on\nthe latter-day work.\n\nThis pretended \"True Church\" was organized, with Alpheus Cutler,\npresident; Edmund Fisher, first counselor; Chancey Whiting, second\ncounselor, and grandfather Fisher, patriarch.\n\nThey claimed all the gifts and powers belonging to the Church of Jesus\nChrist of Latter-day Saints.\n\nRepeated inducements were held out for my brother Isaac and myself\nto join the Church after we became old enough for membership. Isaac\nfinally consented to become a member, but I failed to see or comprehend\nthe necessity of it.\n\nSome time afterwards my grandfather was afflicted with rheumatism and\nphthisic, in consequence of which he was unable to follow his usual\navocations in procuring a livelihood.\n\nOften have I known him to sit up for six weeks at a time, not being\nable to lay down on account of the difficulty of breathing while in\nthat position.\n\nWhen I was about nine years of age, it became necessary for my\ngrandfather to make arrangements with my uncle Thaddeus for our further\nmaintenance. My brother and I were bound over to our uncle to serve him\nuntil we were twenty-one years of age, and he agreed on his part to\nprovide for us and our grandparents.\n\nIn consideration of faithfully performing his duties, my uncle was to\ninherit grandfather's property, but in case he failed to do so, he was\nnot to reap this benefit.\n\nAt the time this verbal agreement was made, my uncle took possession of\nthe property, but he afterwards failed to perform his duty.\n\nAfter taking up our residence in uncle's family he neglected to provide\nus suitable clothing and food, and our grandfather and grandmother were\nalso neglected. The church, however, assisted them and made up the\ndeficiency.\n\nMy brother and I were repeatedly ill-treated by uncle's family, and\nwere continually persecuted and called names for being polygamist\nchildren. In order to tantalize us, the members of the family would\ncall us \"bastards,\" \"Brigham,\" \"Heber,\" etc., and on the slightest\nprovocation they would threaten to send us to Utah, telling us that the\n\"Mormons\" would soon settle us.\n\nNo nervous children were ever worse frightened by stories about\nhobgoblins than my brother and I were, with what they told us about the\n\"Mormons.\"\n\nWe were also taught that if we stayed in the woods picking fruit, etc.,\nthe \"Mormons\" would be sure to catch us and carry us off. More than\nonce when gathering berries in the woods, were we alarmed by the flight\nof a bird or the rustling noise of some small animal in the underbrush.\nOur first impulse on such occasions, and the one invariably acted\nupon, was to drop our baskets and run like frightened antelopes, never\nstopping or looking back until we neared home, and felt sure that we\nwere safe from our fancied pursuers.\n\nOften in my dreams I imagined I was captured by the \"Mormons,\" and in\nmy waking moments I frequently pictured to myself a life of captivity\namong them--caged like a wild beast in a menagerie. The name \"Mormon,\"\nin fact, became to us synonymous with that of an ugly and dangerous\nmonster, and we grew up with the most bitter prejudice and intense\nhatred in our hearts towards all who bore that name.\n\nWe endured the ill-treatment of our uncle's family until patience no\nlonger seemed to be a virtue, and we rebelled.\n\nOur grandfather perceived that it was only right to release us from\ntheir power, and he therefore regained all the property he could\npossibly secure in stock and land from our uncle, and severed our\nobligations to him.\n\nFrom this time we commenced to work for ourselves, and also to support\ngrandfather and grandmother, and continued to do so until the spring of\n1862.\n\nIn the winter of 1861 I had a dangerous attack of winter fever, to\nwhich I nearly succumbed.\n\nIn the spring of 1862 I was sent a distance of thirty-five miles to\nHamburg, for a doctor to attend my cousin Sylvia Webb's child, who was\nsick, and after crossing the river I sent the doctor and remained with\nmy uncle, Edwin Cutler, for one week.\n\nWhile there he inquired how I would like to go to California, as he\nclaimed that he was going there.\n\nOn hearing this I was suddenly seized with the gold fever, and eagerly\nexpressed a wish to go, as I always had a great desire to roam.\n\nUncle Edwin requested me to return home and inform my grandparents, and\nascertain if they were willing for me to go.\n\nI returned home the following Sunday evening. I did not request\npermission to leave, but at once informed them that I was going to\nstart for California in the morning, and that I wanted them to get my\nclothes ready.\n\nNo reply was made to this remark, and, as they failed to comply, I\nrepeated my request, stating that if they did not provide them I would\nattend to it myself, as I was determined to go.\n\nGrandmother then remarked that if I was determined to go she would get\nmy clothes ready.\n\nDuring the night I made arrangements with my brother to take me a\ndistance of fifteen miles, to a small town called Sydney; and early in\nthe morning, after bidding grandfather and grandmother \"good-by,\" we\nstarted out.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nMY OUTFIT--DISSIPATION--START TO CALIFORNIA--UPBRAIDINGS FROM MY\nUNCLE--UNCLE AND AUNT DISAGREE--A STARTLING REVELATION, I LEARN THAT I\nAM BEING TAKEN TO UTAH--LEAVE MY UNCLE AND JOIN SPICER, TO AVOID GOING\nTO UTAH.\n\nWe arrived safely at Sydney, where I took leave of my brother and\nstarted alone for Hamburg, with all my earthly possessions in my hand,\nwhich consisted of a small bundle containing a suit of old-fashioned\nclothes and a fiddle.\n\nOn arriving at my uncle's residence he seemed quite elated to think\nhe had a servant and companion, for this was the first step towards\naccomplishing a design at this time known only to himself.\n\nPrevious to starting out he extended a great many privileges to me,\nsuch as a drink of whisky, hunting cattle, attending dances and riding\nmules, the last-named sport occasionally causing me to turn unexpected\nsomersaults.\n\nDuring this time I effected a sale of my fiddle for a gallon of whisky\nand a dollar in money. From the effects of drinking the whisky I felt\nthat I could easily reach California, and, after obtaining a pipe and a\npound of tobacco, I felt fully equipped for my trip.\n\nWhen feed became plentiful we started out, in company with a man by\nthe name of Gerard who had a lot of fine horses which he was taking to\nCalifornia.\n\nOur complete outfit consisted of one wagon, one yoke of oxen, one yoke\nof cows, a tent and a common camp-stove. My uncle adopted the plan of\nstaking the tent every night, also tying ropes to the wagon wheels and\nstaking the same. He also fixed the stove daily, or rather made me do\nit, and this work of course became very monotonous.\n\nUncle assisted me a week or two in performing camp duties and also in\ndriving team. I was grateful for all his previous kindness to me and in\norder to prove this I willingly performed all the duties required of\nme. But in a very short time he left all this work to me, and driving\nteam all day and performing these duties afterwards kept me entirely\nout of mischief.\n\nAll went well until after we passed Julesburg, on the Platte River,\nwhen the following important incidents occurred:\n\nI had slept a little longer than usual, having failed to awake before\nsunrise. My uncle aroused me and passionately remarked that he had not\nbrought me along to wait upon me himself, but for me to wait upon him.\n\nI had discovered this fact some time before, and these unkind\nupbraidings made me feel acutely my position as an orphan.\n\nShortly after this occurrence my uncle and his wife disagreed, and they\nfinally concluded to separate.\n\nMy aunt sought me out and informed me that she intended to stop at\nLaramie, and, in order to induce me to stay with her, she asked me if I\nknew where uncle was taking me? I replied that I supposed he was taking\nme to California.\n\nShe then informed me that he was taking me to my father in Utah.\n\nThis troubled me greatly, and aroused all my fears of, and hatred\ntowards the \"Mormons.\"\n\nAt this time I did not know my father's name, as I had always borne the\nname of Cutler, my mother's maiden name.\n\nOn receiving this information I was considerably vexed, and it caused\nme to swear terribly and shed tears of indignation.\n\nI at once charged my uncle with this intention, and we got to high\nwords about it. He told me I need not go to Utah, but that I could go\nto California.\n\nI knew that it was unfortunate to be liberated after coming five\nhundred miles from home, but I felt that I would rather die than ever\ngo to Utah.\n\nI, therefore, decided to stop at Laramie with my aunt and wait for a\nchance to go forward to California or return home.\n\nThe gold fever had now left me, and I became perfectly reckless, having\nrespect neither for God nor man.\n\nMatters continued so until we reached Laramie, when we halted for a few\ndays.\n\nAll this time nothing was mentioned of my uncle and aunt's separation,\nas a reconciliation had been effected.\n\nPrevious to this we had fallen in with a man by the name of James\nSpicer, from Hamburg, who had three wagons and one hundred and\nseventy-five head of loose cattle. He had his wife with him but no\nchildren of his own, though he had brought with him an orphan boy.\nSpicer came to me while at Laramie, and said, \"You don't want to go to\nUtah, do you?\"\n\nI replied that I did not.\n\nHe then said that he was not going there, and that he had noticed how\nI had been misused on the trip, but, as he was a small man compared\nwith my uncle, he did not deem it wisdom to interfere; but if I wished\nto leave my uncle and go with him he would lay over until my relatives\nwent forward if he had to remain all winter.\n\nHe stated that he had a man he wanted to get rid of, who could\naccompany my uncle in my place.\n\nI agreed to this arrangement.\n\nTwo days later my uncle came to me and said, \"Abe! let us get up the\ncattle; we can't wait any longer for Spicer. Frank Gilbert and company,\nbelonging to Gilbert, Gerrish and Co., of Salt Lake City, are just\nahead, and we can overhaul them.\"\n\nI then informed him that I would accompany him no farther, for I had\nagreed to go with Spicer to California.\n\nHe was quite vexed, but after considerable talk he cooled down and\naccepted Spicer's man as a substitute; and in a few hours from the time\nhe left us we hitched up and rolled out.\n\nMy uncle's next plan was to inform every \"Mormon\" he saw that one of\nHeber C. Kimball's lost boys was on the road, and describe our outfit\nto him.\n\nOn arriving at the Fort Hall Road (which was the route to California),\nSpicer was informed that several trains had been robbed and some\npersons killed while traveling in that direction. He, therefore,\ndecided to change his plans and go through Utah, as this was his last\nchance.\n\nI replied, \"D--the odds, Spicer, we will die brave!\" naturally\nsupposing that the \"Mormons\" would kill me or mark me in some way for\nrecognition.\n\nUp to this time all our company were ignorant of my parentage, and I\nthought I had better make a confidant of one of the boys named James\nLefler. I told him I had a father in Utah.\n\nHe was very anxious to know who my father was, and I informed him it\nwas either Brigham or Heber, I was not sure which, though I thought it\nwas Brigham.\n\nAt Green River Ferry we met Lewis Robison and sons. They soon\ndiscovered who I was, and commenced joking me by remarking that I could\nnot cross on their ferry, as they did not ferry \"Mormons.\"\n\nThis maddened me, and I threw off my clothes, and, placing them in the\nwagon, I jumped into the river, telling them they could go to h--.\n\nI swam across the river, which was very high and rapid, and approached\nthe bank lower down the stream.\n\nLewis Robison, desirous of making my acquaintance, and having learned\nthat I was the lost boy, brought my clothes down to me.\n\nWhen I saw him coming I remained in the water, for fear he would catch\nme, for I felt that I would rather drown than be taken to Utah.\n\nHe tried hard to persuade me to come out, but I declined, for fear he\nwould take me to Salt Lake.\n\nHe informed me who he was, and that he was acquainted with my father,\nbut did not tell me his name, and I did not care to know it.\n\nPerceiving that I would not leave the water, he returned to the boat,\nleaving my clothes on the bank.\n\nI then came out and dressed myself, and was soon mounted on one of\nSpicer's best horses, which had been brought over.\n\nRobison, seeing that I had come ashore, made another attempt to\nconverse with me, stating that I need not be afraid.\n\nI told him that I was not, but for all that I did not allow him to get\ncloser than thirty feet.\n\nFinding that I would not keep still long enough for him to approach me,\nhe talked with me from a distance, asking me if I would go and see my\nfather, Heber C. Kimball, when I got to Salt Lake.\n\nI told him I did not know.\n\nHe added that my father was a good man, and would be pleased to see me,\nand said he was going to Salt Lake in a few days and would inform him\nthat I was coming.\n\nOn learning this, I was careful not to dismount again while remaining\nat the ferry.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nARRIVAL AT PARLEY'S PARK--PREPARE FOR THE WORST, AND VISIT WM. H.\nKIMBALL--FAVORABLY IMPRESSED WITH MY NEWLY-FOUND RELATIVES--ARRIVAL\nIN SALT LAKE CITY--DREAD AT THOUGHTS OF FALLING INTO THE HANDS OF THE\n\"MORMONS\"--DECIDE TO GO AND SEE MY FATHER AND SURRENDER, EXPECTING TO\nBE CAPTURED IF I ATTEMPTED TO ESCAPE--ODD APPEARANCE GOING UP EAST\nTEMPLE STREET--MEETING WITH MY FATHER--INVITED TO CHANGE MY CLOTHES.\n\nWe did not encounter any more \"Mormons\" that knew me until after\narriving at Silver Creek, near Parley's Park, Utah. On arriving there I\nlearned that William H. Kimball lived at the Park.\n\nI had a faint recollection of having seen him at grandfather's, when he\ncalled several years previous, as he returned from his European mission.\n\nI concluded then that I was approaching a region where something\ndesperate would be required of me if I protected myself; so I made\nup my mind to put on a bold front and prepare for the worst. Feeling\nthat I might as well meet my troubles first as last, I decided to pay\nWilliam H. Kimball a visit before he came after me. I accordingly armed\nmyself with a revolver and a quid of tobacco, and asked one of the\nboys, a daring fellow, to go over to the ranch with me.\n\nOn reaching there I inquired for William H. Kimball, and was informed\nthat he was in the meadow, a short distance off, hauling hay.\n\nFrom the description my uncle had given of me, my brother William at\nonce recognized me, and said, \"Hello, Abe! where did you come from?\"\n\nHe seemed very glad to see me, and asked me to wait a few minutes and\nhe would go to the house with me, as his mother (Vilate Kimball) was\nthere, also two other brothers (Charles and Solomon), and part of his\nown family.\n\nAfter being introduced to all, we were invited to partake of a\ncivilized meal.\n\nI was asked a great many questions respecting my previous career and\nfuture intentions.\n\nAfter remaining till sunset we returned to camp with cordial\ninvitations to call again, which we did, during our stay on Silver\nCreek.\n\nI had one fight while there, and came very near getting whipped, as my\nopponent was left-handed. I managed, however, with a skillful blow, to\ndispossess him of his \"goatee.\"\n\nThe acquaintance formed at the Park with my relatives made a favorable\nimpression upon me, and great inducements were held out for me to call\nand see my father.\n\nMy brother Charles went to Salt Lake and informed my father where I\nwas. He immediately sent a team for me, but I declined to go. Spicer\nhad been a friend to me, and I did not think it right to forsake an old\nfriend for a new one. I, therefore, refused to leave him on any account\nuntil I saw his outfit safely landed in Salt Lake City, as he would\nhave been short of help had I done so.\n\nIt took us two days to travel from the Park to Salt Lake City.\n\nMy brother remained one day after we left, as he expected to overtake\nus before we reached the City, and intended to prevail on me to go home\nwith him.\n\nHe failed, however, to find us, as we went over the \"Little Mountain\"\nwhile he proceeded down Parley's Canyon and reached the City before we\ndid.\n\nWe encamped on Emigration Square for the night, and it was a very sad\nnight to me, as I expected to fall into the hands of the \"Mormons\" on\nthe following morning, and then I could not conceive what my fate would\nbe. I expected, however, it would be something awful, and dreaded it\nthe more as I thought of my early teachings.\n\nAbout breakfast time next morning an unexpected visitor--Sister\nTuft--called to see me, for the purpose of urging me to go and see my\nfather, though I never knew her reason.\n\nShortly afterwards Lewis Robison called, having learned that I had\narrived. He was anxious to know if I was going to see my father. I\ncarelessly remarked that I did not know.\n\nHe said he would call in a little while, and accompany me.\n\nTowards noon Spicer came to me, and said:\n\n\"Abe, what are you going to do? Are you going to stop with your father,\nor go with me?\"\n\nI told him I did not know, but thought I had better stop, for if I went\non they would take me prisoner and bring me back, and I thought I would\nsurrender. They might treat me better and not be so severe as they\nwould if I tried to escape.\n\nHe thought the same as I did, but said if I was not suited, and could\nget away, I should find him at Camp Floyd, where he would winter; and\nif I came there he would give me a home as long as he had one.\n\nWe bade each other good by, both shedding tears, as we parted.\n\nIf I had been called upon to mount the gallows I should not have done\nso with greater reluctance than I then manifested as I went forth to\nmeet my father.\n\nI started out with a small flour sack over my shoulder, containing all\nmy earthly possessions, and these consisted of the following articles\nof clothing: one old-fashioned coat, of the claw-hammer pattern, one\ncheckered gingham coat and a pair of pants (home-made and colored with\nwalnut bark). The legs of the pants were about five inches too long,\nand proportionately large in other parts.\n\nThe suit I wore was not as good as the one described, and consisted of\na hickory shirt, white ducking pants (eight inches too short), a pair\nof shoes but no stockings, and an old relic of a white hat, with a\nsmall rim.\n\nI remained on the square, alone, as long as I dared, watching Spicer's\noutfit moving down the State Road.\n\nI kept hoping that Robison would soon appear, according to promise,\nbut, as he failed to do so, I shouldered my sack and started out in\nsearch of my father.\n\nI reached East Temple Street, but dared not speak to any one, and,\ninstead of going on the sidewalk, I walked up the middle of the street.\n\nSuch an odd-looking genius as I appeared, of course, caused everybody\nto gaze at me.\n\nI kept looking warily over my shoulders, as I supposed everybody was\nanxious to catch me. I did not inquire for Heber C. Kimball until I\narrived opposite the Tithing Office, when I encountered a man named\nBenjamin Hampton (a gate keeper), who eyed me with suspicion, as if he\nsuspected that I was a desperado or a lunatic.\n\nI ventured to ask him where Heber C. Kimball lived, but he gave me no\nsatisfaction; in fact he would not even acknowledge that he knew such\na man. This caused me to give vent to an exclamation that was more\nexpressive than elegant, after which I continued my journey up the\nstreet till I crossed City Creek.\n\nThere I ventured to call at a house, and, concluding that Heber C.\nKimball did not live in that vicinity, I asked for Charles Kimball.\n\nThe lady to whom I addressed myself proved to be his wife, and she\nreplied that her husband was at his father's barn a short distance away.\n\nAs I crossed the yard numbers of people gazed curiously at me from\nwindows and doors.\n\nI called at the barn, and there found my brother, hitching up the\nhorses to go after me again. He was quite surprised to see me, and said\nhe would unhitch and accompany me to the house.\n\nI then wished that the earth would open and swallow me. On nearing the\nhouse I perceived a man whom I supposed to be my father, and my fear of\nhim was very great as I approached. My brother addressed him as father,\nand, by way of an introduction said, \"Here's your boy!\"\n\nMy father was six feet one inch in height, and had keen, piercing,\nblack eyes, which seemed to penetrate my inmost thoughts. His\ncountenance, however, was very pleasant, and he spoke to me in a kind,\nfatherly manner, and undertook to embrace me, which I declined, as I\nwas not used to such exhibitions of affection.\n\nHe said he was glad to see me, and asked me if I knew he was my father.\n\nI told him I neither knew nor cared, and hoped he would kick me out and\nlet me go.\n\nHe informed me that such was really the case.\n\nI told him that it was all right, then, I did not say he wasn't.\n\nHe invited me to take a chair and sit down, which I did, but kept my\nhat on.\n\nAfter viewing me from head to foot, he asked me if I had any clothes.\n\nI replied, \"Yes, plenty of them!\"\n\nHe then called his wife, Adelia, and told her to get a tub of water and\nput it in a bedroom, so that I could have a wash and change my clothes.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nASHAMED OF MY APPEARANCE--INTRODUCED TO MY NUMEROUS RELATIVES--ALLOWED\nTO SLEEP WITH THE BOYS--HOMESICK--SET TO WORK AND MADE\nCONTENTED--BAPTIZED AND SET APART FOR A MISSION--RETURN TO IOWA--MEET\nMY RELATIVES--MY GRANDFATHER'S CONFESSION AND TESTIMONY--HIS\nEXHORTATION AND REQUEST--RETURN HOME WITH MY BROTHER ISAAC, THUS\nFULFILLING MY FATHER'S PREDICTION--THE LESSONS I LEARNED BY MY\nEXPERIENCE.\n\nAfter taking a bath I put on my new suit, but was ashamed then to\nappear before the family, as my surroundings seemed so nice that my\nold-fashioned suit was made to appear worse than it really was. I\ntherefore decided to remain in the bedroom until I was invited out.\n\nMy aunts, Vilate and Adelia, insisted upon my joining the family, and\nif ever I felt ashamed of myself in the world it was then.\n\nMy father came to me in a few minutes and could not refrain from\nsmiling. I suppose it was my clothes that amused him. He immediately\nrequested his wife Adelia to comb my hair, which was to me a severe\ninfliction, as I feared the results. However, this operation was safely\npassed, proving that my fears were groundless, and the remainder of the\nday I spent pleasantly, viewing the premises.\n\nImagine my astonishment when, in the evening, my father called into the\nroom about twenty of his boys and girls and five or six of his wives.\nAfter being introduced we spent the evening reviewing my past life.\n\nI learned that my father was quite prepared to find me in such a rough\ncondition, for Lewis Robison, on arriving in the valley ahead of me,\nhad informed him that I was one of the most uncouth boys he ever met in\nall his travels.\n\nAt bedtime father extended to me the privilege of sleeping with the\nboys, in a new room that he had built. This kindness I appreciated\nvery much, although after retiring, the boys commenced making sport of\ntheir \"country brother,\" which caused me to get on the war path, an\nindulgence I was rather fond of, having been compelled to fight my own\nway from childhood, through having no father or mother to take my part.\n\nHowever, father soon put a stop to this, by appearing in his\nnight-clothes and telling the boys he would attend to them if they did\nnot keep quiet. We soon learned to love and respect each other.\n\nAll the liberties were extended to me that I needed, but in a few days\nI became home-sick. Although everybody was very kind to me, I could not\nhelp thinking of my old home, for all were strangers to me here.\n\nFather, perceiving this, set me to work, hauling wood, and I soon\nforgot my troubles, and in the winter I attended school, during which\ntime my father informed me of his desire for me to return to the States\nfor my brother Isaac.\n\nHe asked me what I thought of being baptized.\n\nI told him I didn't know.\n\nHe replied that I could do just as I pleased, but if I believed in the\nprinciples of the gospel he would like me to be baptized before going\nback. Nothing more was said on the subject for several months, when I\nwas again asked if I had concluded to be baptized.\n\nI told him I had, and he proposed immediately to send for Enoch Reese\nand have him baptize me.\n\nWe then went up City Creek, above the Church blacksmith's shop, where I\nwas baptized by Brother Reese. After returning to the house my father\nconfirmed me, and also ordained me an Elder and set me apart for a\nmission to the States, for the purpose of bringing my brother Isaac,\nand thus confirming the blessing pronounced upon me in my infancy.\n\nI was also to seek Orin Rockwell (Porter Rockwell's eldest son), and\nbring him and as many others as I could induce to come.\n\nI left home for the States on the 16th of April, 1863, in company with\nmy brother Heber and others, with mule and horse teams, and we made the\ntrip to the Missouri River in twenty-one days.\n\nAfter remaining a few days in Florence, Nebraska, I set out for home on\nhorseback. On arriving at Omaha my horse became very lame, and I left\nit and started out afoot.\n\nI found my brother Heber at Kanesville, Iowa, where he had gone on\nbusiness. He bought me a suit of clothes and a pair of shoes, and gave\nme a few dollars in money.\n\nI left Kanesville about noon, making Glenwood (twenty miles distant)\nthe same day. I stopped at a hotel for the night, and started out at\neight o'clock next morning.\n\nI arrived at my old home after dark, having walked fifty miles that\nday, and my feet were very sore.\n\nMy grandfather, grandmother, brother and friends were all glad to see\nme, and I spent several days in visiting my old resorts.\n\nA few days after my arrival my grandmother and a portion of the family\nwent out visiting. I remained, at grandfather's request, as he was\nstill an invalid through phthisic, etc., and was unable to leave the\nhouse.\n\nWhen alone, he commenced questioning me concerning Utah, asking me also\nabout Brother Schofield and some others of his acquaintance, but I was\nunable to give much information concerning them.\n\nHe asked me if I had seen my father, Heber C. Kimball. I told him I\nhad. He replied that he was glad of it.\n\nHe also asked me if I had been baptized, and I told him I had. He again\nreplied that he was glad of it.\n\nHe next asked me if I had received my endowments, and, when I informed\nhim that I had, he seemed pleased.\n\nHe then said: \"I have suffered you to be prejudiced to the extent that\nyou were, and it is now my duty to remove the same.\n\n\"You went off without asking my consent, which was all right. I knew\nthat Heber C. Kimball was your father, and always did know it; but did\nnot calculate that it should be known by you.\n\n\"I intended that you and Isaac should be the means of my support while\nI lived.\n\n\"You have now been to your father, and that is all right.\n\n\"I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and I know that Brigham\nYoung is his legal successor, and I always did know it. But the trouble\nwith me was I wanted to lead, and could not be led. I have run my race\nand sealed my doom, and I know what I have got to meet.\n\n\"I died once, and was dead for some length of time. My spirit left my\nbody and went to the land of spirits. I saw the crown that I should\nwear if I remained faithful, and the condemnation I should receive if\nI did not. I begged to remain, but was informed that I must return and\nwarn the people to repent, as my work on earth was not yet done.\n\n\"After my spirit returned to my body, those around discovered the\nappearance of life. The first words that I spoke were to Sidney Rigdon,\nwho was stooping over me. I called upon him to repent of his sins, or\nhe would be damned.\"\n\nMy grandfather paused here, but continued by saying: \"I want you to go\nback to your father, taking your brother Isaac with you, as I know he\nis a good man, and remain steadfast to 'Mormonism.'\n\n\"Let what may turn up, _never yield the point;_ for it will save and\nexalt you in the kingdom of God.\"\n\nHe wept like a child after saying this. He then said to me: \"One favor\nI wish to ask of you, namely, that you will not divulge this confession\nto those whom I lead while I live.\"\n\nWith this he released me, and I continued my visiting.\n\nMy brother was perfectly willing to accompany me, so in a few days\nwe started out for Florence, accompanied by one cousin (Jedediah\nAnderson), and Charles Cox and two live raccoons, which we brought\nalong as curiosities.\n\nAfter arriving at Florence we remained a few weeks, preparing to return\nto Salt Lake and drive teams for our brother Heber.\n\nWe arrived in the valley safely, and father was much pleased at our\nreturn, and gladly welcomed brother Isaac to his home.\n\nMy brother was as well suited as I had previously been, and soon after\njoined the Church.\n\nWe then contentedly settled down with father and remained with him\nalmost to the time of his death, which occurred on the 22nd of June,\n1868.\n\nIn this manner did I find a loving and kind father, whose character had\nbeen most shamefully maligned, and, though I was at one time reluctant\nto make his acquaintance, yet I have often thanked God since for such\nan exemplary parent.\n\nI learned by the experience which I have related many lessons that I\ntrust I may profit by as long as I live. I learned how difficult it is\nto overcome prejudices and false impressions, especially when formed in\nearly youth or childhood.\n\nI learned what a mischievous and dangerous quality ambition is, when\nnot properly controlled. In the case of my grandfather, ambition for\nworldly honors, for office and position among men, led him to outrage\nhis conscience. It caused him to barter away his claim upon the eternal\nriches and honor and glory of heaven for a miserable mess of pottage.\nIt caused him to lead a false life. It caused him to make a pretense of\nbelieving that which he had a positive knowledge was untrue. It caused\nhim to bring himself under condemnation by deceiving others. It even\ncaused him to mislead his own offspring until he could do so no longer.\n\nI learned something of the misery and sense of loss and remorse of\nconscience that result from such a course as that which my grandfather\npursued, and I hope that his example may ever prove a warning to\nall who read this sketch. May they avoid such unlawful aspirations\nas caused his ruin, and live so that they can ever look back with\nsatisfaction upon the past and forward with joy to the future.\n\n\n\nSAVED BY PROVIDENCE.\n\nBY J. NICHOLSON.\n\nAPPOINTED TO TAKE CHARGE OF A COMPANY OF EMIGRANTS--LEAVE LONDON\nFOR AMERICA--SURROUNDED BY A THICK FOG--THE CAPTAIN UNABLE TO TAKE\nOBSERVATIONS--THE FOG LIFTS--SAVED FROM BEING DASHED UPON THE\nROCKS--THANK GOD FOR OUR DELIVERANCE.\n\nThe Elders of the Church often speak of the care shown by the Lord in\npreserving His Saints from harm. He has delivered them miraculously\nfrom accidents and death many times.\n\nI will tell of a case in which God exersised His power in behalf of a\ncompany of His people.\n\nThe young people who may read this perhaps all know that hundreds and\nthousands of Saints gather to this country, from far off nations,\nevery year. Many ship loads of them have crossed the Atlantic Ocean--a\nvoyage of nearly 3,000 miles. On the sea, many accidents occur whereby\npeople lose their lives by drowning, through the sinking of ships in\nstorms. But nothing of this kind has ever taken place with a ship load\nof Saints. The reason for this is, that God has promised to protect His\nelect who should gather from the four quarters of the earth in these\nlatter days.\n\nIn the year 1866; Elder Brigham Young, Jr., who was then President of\nwhat is called the European Mission of the Church, appointed the writer\nof this article to take charge of a company of about five hundred\nSaints from Great Britain to the banks of the Missouri River, in this\ncountry, on their way to Salt Lake City. The Saints did not cross the\nsea in fast-sailing steamships in those days. They traveled over the\nwaters in slow-going sailing ships, depending for speed on favorable\nwinds. At that time six weeks, was considered the average length of\ntime for a voyage from England to New York.\n\nWe left the port of London on the 23rd of May, 1866, a very fine\ncompany of people, not a few of whom, I am pleased to say, are good,\nhonorable members of the Church, in Utah, to-day. I have in my mind\nespecially now some of the boys who were with us. I have seen them grow\nup to manhood, and they are still faithful.\n\nWhen the ship _American Congress_, on which we sailed, was near the\nshores of Newfoundland a thick fog prevailed for several days, which\nprevented Captain Woodward from taking an observation, being unable to\nsee the sun. He therefore could not tell exactly where we were.\n\nAbout this time the captain and Brother John Rider, who now lives\nin Kanab, and who was one of my counselors in the presidency of the\ncompany, were conversing on the part of the ship called the quarter\ndeck. I was standing some distance away from them. Brother Rider\nhappened to turn his face in the direction in which the ship was\nsailing. At that moment the fog lifted up from the surface of the sea,\nas if a vail or scroll had been raised. He saw clearly between the fog\nand the water for some distance ahead.\n\nSuddenly he exclaimed, pointing forward, \"Captain, what is that?\"\n\nCaptain Woodward, who was tall, powerful and active, made no answer. It\nwas no time for orders. He sprang to the wheelhouse with the agility\nof a tiger, and knocked the man at the helm \"heels over head,\" sending\nhim sprawling upon the deck. At the same instant he grasped the wheel,\nturning it with the most surprising rapidity. Although his movements\nwere so quick, he did not lose his presence of mind a moment. He was\nbusy with his voice as well as his hands, for while he acted as I have\ndescribed, he shouted, in clear, loud, piercing tones, the several\norders directing all hands to \"'bout ship.\" The sailors sprang to their\nposts. There were active limbs and busy hands among the rigging. The\ngood ship _American Congress_, swayed slowly around, and the moment of\nperil was past.\n\nHad this action been delayed a few moments the vessel would have been\namong the breakers, upon the rocks, dashed to pieces and probably not\na soul of the nearly five hundred on board would have escaped a watery\ngrave.\n\nThe rocks and breakers ahead, on the line of the vessel's course, were\nwhat Brother Rider saw when the fog lifted. The captain asked us, as a\nspecial favor, not to say a word to the people about the danger with\nwhich the ship had been threatened. He being commander of the vessel,\nwe considered it right to respect his desire; besides, we thought his\nsuggestion wise, as a knowledge of what had occurred would doubtless\nhave caused an uneasy feeling among the passengers. The company were,\ntherefore, not aware of the great danger they had escaped.\n\nElder Rider and myself thanked God for His goodness in so manifestly\nexercising His power in behalf of His Saints. The Lord fulfilled the\npromises made to us by His servants at the time we left England for the\nland of Zion.\n\n\n\nWARNINGS OF THE SPIRIT.\n\nBY H.G.B.\n\nIMPRESSED BY THE SPIRIT NOT TO GO ON A STEAMER, AFTER ARRANGING FOR MY\nPASSAGE--RUSH ASHORE BEFORE THE BOAT STARTS--BOAT SNAGGED AND SUNK IN\nTHE MISSISSIPPI--WARNED BY THE SPIRIT NOT TO MEET AN APPOINTMENT--URGED\nBY MY FRIENDS, I START--AVERSION TO GOING SO STRONG, I GALLOP\nBACK--FRIENDS UNABLE TO ACCOUNT FOR MY FEARS--ROBBERY AT THE HOUSE\nWHERE I WAS TO HAVE GONE--SAVED FROM SUSPICION BY OBEYING THE VOICE OF\nTHE SPIRIT.\n\nThere are no people on the earth, that we are acquainted with, that\nexercise so much faith in God our Heavenly Father as do the Latter-day\nSaints. No other people seek for His protecting care as they do. Nor\nare there any people to whom His protection is oftener extended or made\nmanifest more visibly than unto this people.\n\nEspecially has this been the case with hundreds of our Elders, when\ntraveling and preaching the gospel. A few of these instances of divine\nprotection in my own experience I wish to relate.\n\nWhile on my way to Nauvoo, Illinois, in the month of June, 1845, going\ndown the Ohio River, the steamer I was aboard of ran aground on the\n\"Flint Island Bar,\" just above Evansville, Indiana.\n\nI remained on the boat for thirty-six hours; when, the water in the\nriver being very low, and getting lower every day, and, seeing no\nprospect of our getting past this bar, I concluded to go ashore and\nwork a few days, as I understood laborers were in demand in Evansville.\nThe captain of the steamer aground, accordingly, refunded me a just\nproportion of the passage money I had paid him.\n\nI procured work for one week, at the end of which time the river began\nto rise. Being very anxious to pursue my journey, I went aboard the\nfirst boat that landed at Evansville, which I learned was going as far\nup the Mississippi River as Galena. I made arrangements with the clerk\nfor passage to Nauvoo, but did not pay him at the time, as he said the\nboat would not leave for two hours.\n\nI was never more desirous of pursuing my journey than I was on this\noccasion, yet soon after going aboard a feeling of aversion to going\non that steamer took possession of me. Instead of a sensation of joy,\nan undefinable dread, or foreboding of coming evil was exercising an\ninfluence over me, that increased in its power every moment, until I\ncould resist no longer, and, snatching up my trunk, I fled with it to\nshore, just as the deck hands stopped to haul in the gangway, and the\nboat moved off.\n\nI put my trunk down on the bank of the river, and sat down on it, too\nweak to stand on my feet longer.\n\nThis was a new experience to me, then. What did it mean? One thing was\ncertain, I felt as if I had just escaped from some great calamity to a\nplace of safety.\n\nTwo days after this I took passage on another steamer for St. Louis,\nwhere in due time I arrived in safety. As I walked ashore I met a\nnewsboy crying his morning paper, and among the items of news it\ncontained the most prominent was an account of the ill-fated steamer\nthat I had made my escape from at Evansville, on the Ohio River.\nI purchased the paper, and found the boat had been snagged in the\nMississippi River, below St. Louis, in the night, and sank, with a loss\nof nearly all that were on board.\n\nThe mysterious feeling that impelled me to leave that boat was cleared\nup to my satisfaction. There remained not the shadow of a doubt that\nProvidence had interposed between me and the great danger.\n\nThe thanks, gratitude, and joy that filled my whole being on this\noccasion, I will not try to describe.\n\nOn another occasion, when on a mission in the State of California, in\nthe year 1857, it became necessary for me to make a visit from the\nnorth end to the south end of San Francisco Bay.\n\nThere were two ways open to me to make this trip. One was to take the\nsteamer and go by water from Petaluma to San Jose, the place I wished\nto visit. The other was by land, on horseback, around the east side of\nthe bay, by way of Vallejo and Benicia.\n\nI had stayed over Monday night at the house of a Mr. H--, who was\npreparing to move south with his family, and who prevailed on me to\naccompany him around by land. He offered to feed both myself and horse\nas far south as I desired to go, thus relieving me of any expense.\n\nMr. H---- had taken great pains to tell me of a Mr. O----, who was very\nfavorably inclined to our people and doctrines. He thought that I\nought, by all means, to visit him, and that I could do so on the coming\nFriday evening, and join him (Mr. H--) on Saturday morning at Vallejo,\non the proposed trip.\n\nThis all appeared right enough to me, as Mr. O---- lived nearly in a\ndirect line from Petaluma (the place I would start from on Friday) and\nVallejo.\n\nMr. O---- had often invited me to make him a visit, and I therefore\npromised Mr. H---- that I would accept of his kind offer, and meet him at\nVallejo as proposed.\n\nOn the Friday following, I took dinner at A. J. Mayfield's, near\nPetaluma. Soon afterwards I caught and saddled my horse, when I began\nto feel opposed to going to Mr. O----'s.\n\nI remarked to Mr. Mayfield that I was tempted to give up my visit, at\nwhich he and wife (who were both great friends of ours) began to insist\nthat I must not fail to visit Mr. O---- and family, as they were very\nanxious for me to do so. His acquaintance and friendship, they said,\nwould be a great advantage to me, as he was a man of wealth and great\ninfluence.\n\nHaving nothing to offer as an excuse for not going, I mounted my horse\nand rode away.\n\nThe distance was about four miles; and, as I proceeded, the same\nmysterious influence was brought to bear upon me that had saved my life\non the other occasion, just related.\n\nThis aversion grew and increased upon me until I came in sight of Mr.\nO----'s house, which was located in a beautiful vale, some half a mile\naway. From this point I could proceed no farther, or, to say the least,\nit seemed madness to do so.\n\nSo powerfully was I impressed that some impending evil awaited me if\nI went farther, that I turned my horse about and started back on a\ngallop, which I did not break until I arrived at Mr. Mayfield's again,\nfeeling all the time as if I was fleeing from some great calamity.\n\nThe explanation I gave this family did not seem to satisfy them. I\ncould see they thought me a little inclined to lunacy. However, next\nmorning all was made plain enough.\n\nHaving given up my trip around the bay, I went, in company with Mr.\nMayfield, to Petaluma, to take steamer and make my way by water.\n\nWe had been in town but a few minutes when we met with Mr. O--, who had\ncome in to get out a warrant and an officer to arrest Mr. H--, whom I\nwas to have met that same morning at Vallejo.\n\nMr. O---- had been robbed the night before of eight thousand dollars in\ngold, and he charged H---- with being the guilty party, which afterwards\nwas proved to be true.\n\nIf I had not been prevented by a kind Providence, I would doubtless\nhave been arrested at Benicia with him, as an accomplice.\n\nThe reader can easily perceive the dilemma this would have placed me\nin. And no doubt Mr. H---- and his family would have done all in their\npower to fasten the guilt upon me, in order to save themselves.\n\nAs soon as Mr. Mayfield and I were alone, he exclaimed, \"O, I know now\nwhy you could not visit Mr. O---- last evening.\"\n\nThat family no longer regarded me as being superstitious.\n\nAs in the other case, I considered this a wonderful escape from a\nterrible snare, and was full of gratitude, giving thanks to Almighty\nGod for the same.\n\nSince then I have given more heed to the still small voice of the\nSpirit, and, consequently, have escaped many snares and evils that I\nmight otherwise have fallen into.\n\nMany other incidents I might relate of a similar nature. And there are\nthousands of our people that could testify to a great many marvelous\ndeliverances, many of them more wonderful than those I have given in\nthis sketch. Therefore, I advise the youth of Zion to seek always for\nthe guidance of the Holy Spirit, and for our Heavenly Father's kind and\nprotecting care to be extended over them.\n\n\n\nROBERT HAMILTON.\n\nBy H. G. B.\n\nCHALLENGED TO DEBATE BY DR. WALTHOLL--HIS DISCOMFITURE AND DEFEAT--DR.\nSCOTT ATTEMPTS TO RETRIEVE THE CAMPBELLITE CAUSE, AND OFFERS ANOTHER\nCHALLENGE--RESORTS TO THE WHISKY BOTTLE--ELDER HAMILTON SCORES HIM FOR\nIT.\n\nCharles and Robert Hamilton were brothers, born and raised in Glasgow,\nScotland, where, also, they both obeyed the gospel at an early period\nof the Church's history.\n\nI never had the pleasure of an acquaintance with Charles, but always\nunderstood that he was one of the most able and faithful men in the\nChurch in those early times.\n\nBoth of these brethren died previous to our exodus from Nauvoo.\n\nNow, it is of some of the incidents that transpired while Elder Robert\nHamilton and I traveled together as missionaries in the State of\nVirginia, in the years 1844 and 1845, that I wish to write.\n\nWhile preaching at Newcastle, the present County seat of Craig\nCo., Virginia, we were challenged by the Rev. Dr. Waltholl, of the\nCampbellite church, to meet him in discussion.\n\nWe accepted the challenge. The large church in Newcastle belonging to\nthe Campbellites, was offered for the purpose of holding the debate in.\nThe subjects and terms were agreed upon, the moderators chosen, and the\ntime to commence and continue the discussion to, was arranged, all of\nwhich the public was duly notified of.\n\nDuring the time the debate lasted the large church was filled to\noverflowing, good order prevailed, and the strictest attention was\ngiven.\n\nElder Hamilton was the speaker on our side. He was a fluent and\npowerful talker, enjoying much of the Spirit of the Lord, and as the\ngreat truths of the gospel flowed from his lips the audience seemed\nutterly entranced and carried away with the newness, plainness and\nforce of his arguments, \"for he taught them as one having authority,\nand not as the scribes.\"\n\nThe great Campbellite champion, the Rev. Waltholl, who was both\npreacher and lawyer by profession, was so utterly overwhelmed and\nfilled with confusion and terror from the first, that he never\nrecovered from the shock during the time the debate lasted. So much was\nthis the case with him that he could only occupy a small portion of the\ntime allotted to him, and, on the second day, at his own request, the\ndiscussion was brought to a close, although by his own proposition at\nfirst, it was to have lasted three days.\n\nThe reason he assigned for this was, that he was entirely unprepared\nto meet Elder Hamilton's arguments and evidence on the subjects under\ndiscussion, which were the authenticity of the Book of Mormon, the\norganization of the Church, with apostles, prophets, etc., and the\ngifts, blessings and power of the Holy Ghost.\n\nNot one of the hundreds that attended that discussion ever pretended\nthat the Campbellites did not meet with a great and decisive defeat on\nthat occasion.\n\nThe news of their disaster spread rapidly and widely throughout the\nland, and came to the ears of another of their great divines, by the\nname of Dr. Scott (doctor of divinity, not of medicine).\n\nThis man flattered himself that he was able to retrieve his cause\nfrom the terrible defeat that it had suffered at the hands of Elder\nHamilton, at Newcastle. He, therefore, challenged Brother Hamilton to\ndebate with him upon the same subjects, and with the same terms as at\nfirst, but in another church and at another place.\n\nThis challenge was also accepted by Brother Hamilton, and the\ndiscussion was held, but it proved more disastrous to the Campbellite\ncause than the first had done.\n\nDr. Scott failed so completely on every point, and so disgraced himself\nas well as the cause, that he never afterward attempted to preach.\n\nWhile the power, gifts and blessings of the Holy Ghost were being\ndiscussed, Elder Hamilton contending for its inspiration, its gifts and\nblessings as formerly enjoyed by the Saints, and the doctor arguing\nagainst these gifts, and denying such inspiration in any manner or\nform, I occupied a seat in the stand. While watching and listening to\nthe proceedings, I caught the doctor imbibing freely from a bottle of\nwhisky, which he replaced in his saddle-bags when the operation of\ndrinking was over.\n\nI had detected the smell of whisky the day previous, while seated near\nthe doctor, but never suspected it was from his breath. I could never\nhave thought a preacher guilty of so flagrant an outrage. But so it\nwas; I had caught him in the very act, and so informed Elder Hamilton.\n\nSuch a scathing as that preacher received from Brother Hamilton I never\nwitnessed. Said he:\n\n\"He denies the inspiration and power of the Holy Ghost; but there is an\ninspiration that he _does believe in_, and that is the spirit of the\nwhisky bottle, which he now carries in his saddle-bags, and from which\nhe has often sought and obtained _his kind of inspiration_ since the\nbeginning of this discussion.\"\n\nThis exposure and his muddled condition rendered Dr. Scott unfit to\ncontinue the debate longer. Prior to this time he had been considered\na respectable, pious and able preacher. However, that defeat and\nconsequent exposure destroyed his influence from that time forward.\n\nAs a rule, public discussions do not result in much good, but these\nwere exceptions, and in and around this place we soon had the names of\nforty persons who were applicants for baptism.\n\nI have traveled and labored in company with many of our most worthy\nElders, but never with one more faithful, contrite in spirit and\nchild-like, and yet more determined, valiant and undeviating in defense\nof the truth, and in every duty devolving upon him, than was Elder\nRobert Hamilton; and I have written this little sketch as a feeble\ntribute to his memory and his sterling worth.\n\nDuring the eight or ten months we traveled together, our union and love\nfor each other resembled very much that which existed between David and\nJonathan.\n\n\n\nHOW SUCCESS IS GAINED.\n\nBy H. G. B.\n\nELDERS TO GO OUT TWO AND TWO--YOUNG MISSIONARIES INCLINED TO\nSHIRK--ELDER MOSES THATCHER--HIS DIFFIDENCE--THE WAY HE WAS BROKEN\nIN--HIS SUCCESS--ELDER M'ALISTER--HIS BACKWARDNESS IN SPEAKING--FORCED\nINTO IT--HIS TESTIMONY--ELDER CORAY'S EXPERIENCE--PROMISES OF THE LORD\nPROVED TRUE.\n\nWe are informed in the book of Doctrine and Covenants, sec. 42, verse\n6, that the Elders are to travel \"two and two,\" and in sec. 84, verse\n106 (latest edition) that the strong in spirit are to take with them\nthe weak. That is, as I understand it, those that are experienced are\nto take with them the inexperienced.\n\nThus has it always transpired in my missionary labors.\n\nThe first mission I ever was called upon to perform was to the State\nof Virginia, in 1844. During that mission I traveled successively with\nElders Sebert C. Shelton, Chapman Duncan and Robert Hamilton.\n\nThese Elders had more experience than I had, consequently, it was very\nnatural for me to depend upon them to do the preaching, allowing the\nburden of our labors to rest upon their shoulders. But if they had\nhumored me, and allowed me to shirk my legitimate share of the work, I\nam satisfied that I would have failed to succeed on that mission.\n\nThey, however, took great pains to see that I should not neglect my\nshare in all the labors. They put me forward, and not unfrequently\nmanaged to leave me to fill appointments alone, and sometimes to travel\nalone for a week or two at a time. This left me to depend upon God and\nHis Spirit entirely, and I can truly testify that this course was very\nvaluable to me. I was often very much surprised and encouraged at the\nassistance afforded me through the Spirit on these occasions.\n\nSince that first mission I have been sent on many others, and have\ntraveled with seventeen other Elders at different times, most of whom\nwere without experience. Among these were several more or less like\nI had been--backward, and inclined to shirk the responsibility of\npreaching.\n\nI have had to resort to some pretty sharp management in breaking them\nin. A few of these instances I will relate.\n\nWhen Elder Moses Thatcher was only between fifteen and sixteen years of\nage, he traveled with me as a missionary in California.\n\nHe was naturally inclined to modesty and diffidence, and said to me one\nday that he would black our boots, curry and saddle our horses, and do\nall that was to be done except the preaching, if I would do that part\nof the work and excuse him.\n\nNaturally I entertained a great amount of sympathy for him, on account\nof his extreme youth, also because I remembered my own shortcomings\nwhen out on my first mission, during which time nothing ever so\nfrightened me as the thoughts of being called upon to arise and try to\npreach. I therefore favored him until I thought it unwise and an injury\nto him to indulge him farther.\n\nHaving been invited to visit and preach in a new locality, I asked\nElder T. to take some tracts and visit the place, and see the trustees\nof the school house. If the liberty to preach in the house was granted,\nthen he was to proceed to notify the neighborhood of the meeting,\ndistributing the pamphlets as he went. I also told him if anything\nhappened to prevent my being there he was to fill the appointment.\n\nAt this he trembled, and with a face white with fear he begged me not\nto fail to be there, until I nearly repented of my intention.\n\nHe succeeded in obtaining the use of the house, and in notifying the\npeople he came upon a quilting party of women and girls, who readily\npromised to be at the meeting, provided he (Elder T.) would preach.\n\nHe replied that his colleague would most likely do the preaching. But\nit turned out otherwise, and Elder T. was left to his fate; but he\nfilled his appointment like a man.\n\nJudging from the report that spread from that meeting, Elder T.\npreached as good a discourse then as at any time since, and probably\nwith greater satisfaction to himself.\n\nFrom that time forward he never failed to do his part in our labors,\nand I have no doubt that he looks back upon that achievement as one of\nthe greatest of a very eventful and useful life.\n\nElder J. D. H. McAllister traveled with me in Arkansas, and for the\nfirst two months of our labors, when called upon to talk, would not\noccupy above five minutes, and often not half that time. It would then\noccur to him that the audience would rather hear some one else than\nhim, after which he would not possess courage to try to talk longer,\nand would take his seat.\n\nHe would often say that he could not account for his being called on a\nmission. \"What can I do? I do not even know that this latter-day work\nis true. My father has often borne testimony that he knew this work to\nbe true. He is a good man and I believe his testimony; but I do not\nknow it to be true for myself.\"\n\nHowever, an opportunity occurred that dispelled all these doubts, and\nplanted in the place thereof, facts and certainties.\n\nI had taken a severe cold, and was so hoarse that I could not talk.\nA meeting was to be held, and at that meeting some one would have to\npreach.\n\nThe only alternative was for him to attend and do the preaching. To do\nthis he had to travel five or six miles across the \"slashes,\" face a\nlarge congregation composed almost entirely of strangers, and do all\nthe preaching, and that, too, alone.\n\nI never, while in that country, heard the last of the praises heaped\nupon him by the people for the \"best sermon\" they had ever listened\nto. He had no difficulty in testifying to the divinity of the great\nlatter-day work. The Holy Spirit rested upon him, and he could not keep\nback this testimony, which was as new to him as it was to those that\nheard him.\n\nThat day's work is no doubt remembered by him with the greatest\npleasure of any event of his life, and will prove as profitable as any\nin his future career.\n\nElder H. K. Coray was the most bashful of all the young Elders I\never traveled with, and it was more than a year before he overcame\nthis fault. I had almost despaired of his ever making a success as a\nmissionary. But I am proud to say he did finally succeed, and during\nthe last year of our labors together, through the blessings of the Holy\nSpirit, he became an able speaker, and our hearers listened to him in\nrapt attention.\n\nHe has often said that the experience he gained during that mission was\nworth more to him than all the wealth of the world.\n\nI could refer to the experiences of many other Elders who have traveled\nwith me, which were, in many instances, similar to those that I have\nrelated. Some of them have been so far discouraged that they would\nweep like a child; others would beg of me to release them and let them\nreturn home, who at brighter moments would charge me not to permit such\na thing, as they did not wish to disgrace themselves or their parents.\n\nI can think of nothing that would so blight a young Elder's future\nusefulness and destiny as a failure to make a success of his mission,\nor any work that the priesthood may have set him apart to do. And I\nfeel it my duty in this connection to bear my testimony to the truth\ncontained in the book of Doctrine and Covenants, that has never failed\nto be verified in my experience, and in that of all other Elders whose\nlabors have come within my observation. These promises are as follows:\n\n\"Any man that shall go and preach this gospel of the kingdom, and fail\nnot to continue faithful in all things shall not be weary in mind,\nneither darkened, neither in body, limb, nor joint: and an hair of his\nhead shall not fall to the ground unnoticed. And they shall not go\nhungry, neither athirst.\" (sec. 84, verse 80).\n\n\"Neither take ye thought beforehand what ye shall say, but treasure\nup in your minds continually the words of life, and it shall be given\nyou in the very hour that portion that shall be meted unto every man.\"\n(verse 85).\n\nI have written the above incidents of missionary life and made these\nquotations in connection with them for the encouragement of young\nElders now on missions, and the thousands of boys and young men that\nmay, and will yet have to take missions to the many nations of the\nearth.\n\n\n\nHELP IN TIME OF NEED.\n\nBy C.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nSTART UPON A MISSION, PENNILESS--AID FROM THE CAPTAIN AND PASSENGERS\nON THE STEAMBOAT--ARRIVE AT NEW ORLEANS--FAIL IN TRYING TO FIND FREE\nPASSAGE TO ENGLAND--DISCOURAGEMENT--PRAYER--REBUKE AND ANSWER--APPLY\nFOR PASSAGE ON THE \"BERLIN\"--KIND RECEPTION FROM CAPTAIN BAKER--BARGAIN\nFOR PASSAGE--ONE HALF TO BE PAID IN DISCUSSING RELIGION WITH AN\nEPISCOPALIAN MINISTER.\n\nIn the year 1846, at a council of the Twelve Apostles held in the\ntemple at Nauvoo, I was appointed to go on a mission to England.\n\nAfter seeing my wife and our one child provided for, as to travel\nand board in the great exodus then being inaugurated for the unknown\nsomewhere for the Saints to seek, I left Nauvoo, poor and penniless,\nfor St. Louis, Missouri.\n\nAfter procuring some pecuniary help, I took passage for New Orleans on\nboard the steamer _Brunswick_, Captain Moore commanding.\n\nFrom some of the passengers I received substantial evidences of answer\nto prayer for means to prosecute my journey. In my labors in preaching\nthe word I was wonderfully blessed, the captain kindly remitting\none-half of the cabin passage money.\n\nArriving at New Orleans a stranger, and knowing no Saints if there were\nany in that city, I secured lodgings and board at $1.00 per day. It now\nbecame a new and peculiar duty and strain on my faith and pocket to\nseek a passage in some sailing vessel, bound for Liverpool.\n\nI had some $45.00 in my pocket, the gifts of dear friends in St. Louis,\non board the steamer _Brunswick_, and from one person particularly in\nanswer to a masonic shake of the hand, unintentionally given.\n\nI endeavored to find passage on the no purse or scrip principle, and\nwas in every instance unsuccessful. I attributed these repulses to\nmeanness or the non-appreciation of the character of a missionary, such\nas I proclaimed myself, and to the national character of the captains\nof the several vessels to whom I applied, for, being English myself, to\nthis class I had purposely made my applications.\n\nMeeting with several rebuffs, I was fast drifting on the road to\ndiscouragement.\n\nOn the Thursday succeeding my arrival I stood on the levee, and\nin fervent prayer I asked God to open the way for me to fill this\nmission--to soften the heart of the next captain I applied to, so that\nhe might take me to Liverpool, free. I requested this as an evidence to\nme of God's favor; and if refused, I would take it as an evidence that\nI should return, overtake the Saints going west, and, with my family,\nfind a new home.\n\nWhile thus meditating and praying, it seemed as if some one came up to\nme and asked me how much money I had.\n\nI instinctively replied, \"About $40.00.\"\n\nThen came the query: What did I want with that but to pay my way? Why\nask for a Divine interposition on the heart or purse of any one while I\nhad money in my pocket?\n\nI felt the rebuke, yet I thought of my shabby clothes, my going home\nto see a proud-feeling mother, my desire by my personal appearance to\ncast no discredit on the cause I had espoused. These and many similar\nreflections passed hurriedly through my mind.\n\nMy invisible monitor did not leave me, but, waking me from the reverie,\nhe again plied me with similar interrogations and rebukes, and told me\nto apply to the ship then in direct sight.\n\nI looked up and saw the words: \"For Liverpool.\"\n\nI walked down to the pile of cotton from which the mate and some\nstevedores were loading the good ship _Berlin_.\n\nI asked the mate what was the chance to obtain passage on board his\nship for Liverpool.\n\nIn the most cherry voice he replied: \"First rate! But here comes\nCaptain Baker; talk with him.\"\n\nI approached him. He offered his hand. I told him my business, my\nwishes and aims. He invited me on board, and, it being noon, to dinner.\n\nAfter dinner he remarked: \"Now to business! You say you are a 'Mormon'\nmissionary. You wish to go to England! And how do you wish to go?\"\n\nI replied that I had but little money, and would be obliged to content\nmyself with a steerage passage.\n\nTo this he strenuously objected, remarking that I knew not the life of\na steerage passenger.\n\nHe asked me how much money I had, remarking that his cabin fare was\n$80.00.\n\nI put my hand in my pocket and drew out my entire stock of cash,\n$40.00. \"There captain,\" I remarked, \"is all I have, which is just half\nthe price of a cabin passage.\"\n\nHe remarked, \"I will take this in part payment!\"\n\n\"But,\" I asked, \"how shall I, how _can_ I pay you the difference?\"\n\nHe replied, \"I have heard much of the preachers of the 'Mormon' faith\nbeing experts in the scriptures. We shall take on board on Sunday\nevening an Episcopalian minister, and when we get out to sea and all\nthings in trim, I shall expect you and the minister to give me and my\nwife some Bible contests.\"\n\n\"Now,\" said I to the captain, \"having given you all my money, how can I\npay my board bill till you sail?\"\n\n\"Why,\" he replied, \"how can you board but board the ship _Berlin_!\nHere,\" (calling to one of the men) \"go with this boy and help him with\nany luggage he may have, and put it in the cabin.\"\n\nSoon I was duly installed. You may readily imagine my feelings of\ngratitude to God and the monitor on the levee.\n\nIn due time we sailed, after receiving the reverend gent, who was a\ntall, portly person, wearing the garb and look of his church.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nTHE VOYAGE--DISCUSSION--MINISTER'S DISCOMFITURE--ARRIVE IN\nLIVERPOOL--KINDNESS OF CAPTAIN BAKER--LEARN OF HIS DEATH AND MY\nDUTY--MY SHABBY APPEARANCE--FIRST SERMON--MONEY PUT INTO MY HAND--VISIT\nHOME--UNKINDNESS OF RELATIVES--MORE HELP FROM STRANGERS.\n\nWhen fairly out at sea, and as evening set in, the captain would order\nlights and request the minister to bring out his large Bible, and \"you,\nlittle one, bring out your little Bible.\"\n\nNeither of us was loth, and the theological set-to would commence.\n\nCaptain Baker would exclaim with a hearty oath, that the little one\nhad the best of it, and then the big one would get wrathy, and close\nhis book with a bang and declare the contest off. But Mrs. Baker would\ninterpose and soften his ire, and again we would return \"to the law and\nthe testimony.\"\n\nBut, alas! at one of these theological \"bouts,\" the theme being water\nbaptism, sprinkling and circumcision, the new birth, etc., I was so\nmarvelously assisted in delineating the new birth--water baptism, that\nhe closed his big book with a clang, and declared that he would never\nargue with me any more.\n\nThe captain, jumping up, swore with an oath that the \"little one\" had\nthe best of it, and Mrs. Baker smiled her approval.\n\nI pass over the general features of the voyage.\n\nArriving in the river Mersey early in the morning, and the tide not\nserving, the prospect was to remain on board till the tide changed.\n\nThe captain hailed a boat to go on shore, and bid me go with him. At\nfirst I declined, knowing I had no means, but by persuasion I consented.\n\nHe asked me where I was going to, and if I knew any one.\n\nI told him \"Stanley Buildings,\" and I knew no one only as my\ncredentials named certain persons, such as Messrs. Ward, Hedlock and\nWilson.\n\nHe accompanied me to Stanley Buildings, but finding no one there, it\nbeing too early for office hours, he invited me to breakfast.\n\nAfter breakfast, he took me to the office of the _Millennial Star_,\nrequesting me before leaving, to come down to the dock at a certain\nhour, which he named, as the ship would then be in her berth.\n\nAt the appointed time I was there.\n\nMy little trunk was examined and passed. I was in the act of throwing\nit over my shoulder when the captain seized it, hailed a cab, threw the\ntrunk to the driver, and literally pushed me inside the cab.\n\nI then said: \"Captain, this is pushing things to an extreme. I have no\nmoney, I gave you all I had. I owe you $40.00 balance of my passage\nmoney. How can I pay this fare and you?\"\n\n\"With this half sovereign pay your fare. As to the balance of the\npassage money, pay that by preaching the gospel as you know it, and as\nyour little book (a small pocket Bible) teaches it. Do all the good you\ncan, and when you pray, as I know you do, for I have heard you on board\nthe ship, pray for Sam Baker. God bless you; and when you get through\nand want to go back home, and I am in port, come to me and I will take\nyou back free.\"\n\nThen giving the door of the cab a slam, he said: \"Take this boy to\nStanley Buildings!\"\n\nI never saw Captain Baker again. I learned that in a subsequent voyage\nhe was lost at sea, in a terrific storm.\n\nOn the receipt of the news, as sensibly as you can hear a penny drop\ninto an empty contribution box, so sensibly did my monitor of the levee\ntell me of my duty--to be baptized for Captain Baker.\n\nBaptism for the dead was then a new principle in this age, and one but\nrecently revealed through the Prophet Joseph; I therefore hailed with\njoy unspeakable this, another direct manifestation of the presence of\nGod with me, the divine inspiration of Joseph Smith, and the truth of\nthis work.\n\nMy arrival at Liverpool was in the midst of the dazzling sumptuousness\nof the Joint Stock Company. Feastings, dress and the appointments of\nwell-paid attaches were the order of the day.\n\nMy appearance as to dress was not becoming.\n\nI saw in fancy my presiding officers there, myself, my intended visit\nhome, penniless. Yet had not God marvelously wrought for me? Why should\nI despair?\n\nPlacards announced my coming--the first from the temple at Nauvoo.\n\nSunday found me in the pulpit, with a vast host assembled.\n\nHow shall I, in adequate words, portray even now the grandeur of\nlanguage, ideas, the sublimity of the opening vision of mind, as I\ndilated on \"Ye must be born again?\" How enwrapped, how enlightened\nI was by the Spirit! How scripture, unthought of, unknown or\nunappreciated before, marched in single file before my mind! How,\nafter nearly two hours, I sank to my seat exhausted, and thought of my\nclothes and my mother's chagrin if I saw her in that plight.\n\nAfter the benediction, I descended to mingle with the people.\n\nMany strangers to the hall and the Saints came trooping to me, eager\nto press my hand, leaving therein weighty metallic evidences of their\nappreciation of a God-helped \"Mormon\" missionary.\n\nI now had more money than when on the levee at New Orleans.\n\nHow vividly I recall, even now, my gratitude, as on bended knees at my\nlodgings I thanked God for His wonderful interpositions in my behalf,\nand what joy I felt as I counted the metallic evidences of trust and\nanswer to prayer.\n\nAs soon as I could I visited home, from which I had been exiled for my\nfaith. They scanned me well, and one member of the family, referring to\nour mode of traveling--without purse or scrip, wanted to know if I had\ncome home to sponge on them.\n\nI replied \"No!\" and, putting my hand into my pocket, drew forth a\nsovereign. Pushing that towards them, I remarked, \"That will pay my\nboard bill while I stay. Our Elders do not sponge!\"\n\nI was proud that I had good clothes and money.\n\nAt the Sunday dinner the same acrimonious feelings were again exhibited.\n\nI arose from the table, sorrowed that years of absence had not softened\ntheir hearts towards me and the cause dearest to my heart, remarking\nthat \"This evening I will preach in the Theobald Road room, at 6-30.\"\n\nMy brothers came to hear me, and here again God opened the sacred\nvolume, showed me new beauties, gave me impassioned language to expound\nthe scriptures, afforded me power to enchain the audience, and again to\nsee strangers rush to give me money.\n\nMy brothers laughed the laugh of unbelief, while strangers and Saints\nthanked God for the words heard, and gave me more money.\n\nI hope this brief and hurried but truthful narrative may inspire some\nyoung Saint, missionary or otherwise, to be honest and trust in God\nwhen out without purse or scrip.\n\n\n\nOVERCOMING DIFFIDENCE.\n\nBy G. Q. C.\n\nDIFFERENCE IN PERSONS ABOUT SPEAKING IN PUBLIC--THE LORD WILLING\nTO HELP HIS SERVANTS TO OVERCOME TIMIDITY--EARLY EXPERIENCE\nIN PREACHING--A FEELING OF FEAR AND THE SPIRIT OF GOD NOT\nCONGENIAL--TIMIDITY CONQUERED.\n\nIt is most interesting to listen at meetings to the different\ntestimonies which the Latter-day Saints bear concerning the work of\nGod. The experience of no two persons is exactly the same, and yet all\nare true. One is impressed with an evidence of the truth in one way and\nanother in another way.\n\nSo also it is with the experience of the Elders; the experience of each\nvaries according to the constitution and temperament, the bent of mind\nand the circumstances which surround each one.\n\nWe have met with a few men in our life who never seemed to know what it\nwas to be timid in standing up before an audience. They always seemed\nto be perfectly self-possessed, and did not suffer in the least from\nfear; while we have known others who felt that it was impossible for\nthem to stand on their feet and address an audience.\n\nSome Elders in starting out, quickly conquer their feelings of\ntimidity. They soon get into the habit of thinking and talking upon\ntheir feet. They seem to care nothing about the congregation, while\nothers require a long time to get accustomed to speaking to audiences,\nand are easily embarrassed.\n\nWe firmly believe that the Lord will help every man to overcome this\ntimidity when sent upon a mission to preach the gospel. If he does not\nconquer the feeling of fear, it is because he allows it to master him,\nand does not use that faith which he should to shake it off.\n\nThe writer started out as a missionary when he felt that he was but a\ncomparative youth. He was exceedingly timid, and had a mortal dread of\nstanding up before a congregation. He sometimes thought that no one\ncould have suffered from this feeling as he did.\n\nBut there was one thing that he made up his mind to do--to never\nshrink from the discharge of his duty. If he should be called upon to\npray, to bear testimony or to speak, he was resolved that he would do\nhis best, and put his trust in the Lord to help him out.\n\nWith the exception of a few meetings, his first experience as a\nmissionary was in preaching in a strange language to a foreign people.\nThis was doubtless more embarrassing than it would have been to speak\nto the people in his mother tongue, because there was his awkwardness\nin the use of the language in addition to the ordinary feelings of\ntimidity to contend with.\n\nHe well remembers the feelings that he had prior to the first meeting.\nIf he could have run away, and done so honorably, he would have done\nit, but this would have been disgraceful.\n\nHe did the best he could, and suffered considerably from embarrassment;\nand though he baptized some nineteen souls in the ensuing five weeks,\nyet he suffered at each meeting from the same feelings of dread.\n\nSomething occurred on the sixth Sunday to arouse him and make him\nsomewhat angry. The conduct of some preachers and opponents of the\ngospel was very hateful, and in attending meeting that day he enjoyed\ngreater liberty than he had at any time previously. A fearless spirit\ntook possession of him, and the Spirit was able to speak through him as\nit had not done before.\n\nThe feeling of fear when it rests upon a man, drives away the Spirit\nof God. The two spirits cannot exist in the same bosom. One must have\nthe mastery. If the Spirit of God has the mastery, it drives away all\nfear, and enables a man to speak under its influence with power. If the\nspirit of fear has the mastery, the Spirit of God is checked, and the\nman is not able to tell the people the will and counsel of the Lord.\n\nAfter six weeks' preaching in this locality, the writer visited another\nplace, where the people were very anxious to hear. He succeeded in\ngetting a large meeting-house to preach in, and when he arose to give\nout the hymns and to pray, the sound of his own voice in the building\nfrightened him.\n\nThe congregation was a larger one than he had ever addressed before;\nbut he prayed earnestly to the Lord for help. He knew that no power but\nGod's could assist him and enable him to declare the truth.\n\nAfter reading a portion of the scriptures, he commenced speaking,\nand continued to address the people for upwards of an hour. He was\ncompletely carried away by the Spirit, and fear was banished. Tears\ncoursed down the cheeks of the congregation, and many felt the power of\nGod to so great an extent that they came forward and offered themselves\nfor baptism.\n\nA great work was done in that place and the vicinity, and from that\ntime to the present--about thirty years--the writer has never suffered\nfrom fear as he did previous to that day.\n\nIt is true that many men never can arise before a congregation without\nfeeling some degree of embarrassment and trepidation. The writer is\none of these; but that fear which paralyzes the mind, that impairs\nthe memory and produces a feeling of dread and utter forgetfulness of\neverything that one knows, he has never experienced from that time.\n\nWe relate this instance in our experience to show how differently\nElders are affected. Some can speak without any difficulty or fear\nafter the first time they get on their feet. It takes others, as in\nour own case, a longer time to overcome this feeling, probably arising\nfrom the fact that some have by nature more of that man-fearing spirit.\nOthers, again, may require a still longer time; but what we wish to\nimpress upon our young readers, and upon all who read these pages, is\nthat they should not be discouraged because the first time they get on\ntheir feet, or the second or third, they do not speak with that freedom\nthey desire.\n\nWhen the Spirit of God takes possession of a man, and he will yield to\nits influence, it will take away all fear, and enable him to tell the\ntruth in great plainness; and if he will persevere, nothing doubting,\nwe dare promise every Elder that he will be able to overcome his\nfeelings of fear and embarrassment, and be filled with holy boldness to\ndeclare the gospel unto the people in whose midst he is appointed to\nlabor.\n\n\n\nTHE LORD WILL PROVIDE.\n\nBy C. H. B.\n\nA MOTHER AND CHILDREN IN GREAT WANT--THE MOTHER'S FAITH--HER PRAYER--IS\nPROVIDED WITH MONEY IN A MYSTERIOUS WAY.\n\nIn the year 1864, a little boy named Charles lived with his mother and\nsister in the city of C----, near the central part of the State of\nIndiana. His father and elder brother had enlisted in the army, then\nfighting for the Union. Charles was but four years of age, not large\nenough to earn anything, and their daily food depended upon what his\nmother earned by her hard day's labor.\n\nIt was in the winter season. Times were hard, and growing worse every\nday, and the people had but little for the mother to do. It was with\ngreat difficulty that she earned enough for herself and children to\nlive upon.\n\nOne morning she went out in the cold wintry blast and gathered bark\nfrom the fence rails to keep her children from suffering with the\nsevere cold, and at breakfast she gave them the last crust of bread\nthat was in the house, not eating any herself. Then she went out into\nthe city to seek something to do to earn some more bread for her little\nones. But after a long search she returned, very tired, both in body\nand mind, without accomplishing her object.\n\nThe poor woman sat down and wept bitterly. Her children were crying for\nbread, and she had none to give them. But when they again asked her for\nbread she said to them, \"The Lord will provide.\"\n\nPresently she knelt down, her bosom swelling with grief, and asked the\nLord to spare her children's lives.\n\nThen rising to her feet, she thought of some carpet rags she had put\ninto a barrel just the day before, and decided to take them to a store\nand see if she could sell them for some bread.\n\nJust as she turned the barrel up-side down, to empty out the rags, she\nsaid in a tone of motherly kindness: \"Dear children, do not cry; the\nLord will not let us starve.\" Then she turned the barrel back, and, on\nlooking into it, what do you suppose greeted her eyes?\n\nIt was something that made her countenance beam with gladness and her\neyes dance with joy, and she exclaimed, \"The Lord will provide! Blessed\nbe the name of the Lord!\"\n\n_It was a dollar bill_. It had never been lost there, because she had\nwashed out the barrel the day she put the rags into it. But how it got\nthere I will leave you to form your own opinion. Suffice it to say,\nthat it was neither in the rags nor barrel the day before.\n\nIt purchased bread enough to last them a few days, till they received\nseventy dollars sent them from the army.\n\n\n\nDIALOGUE ON RELIGION.\n\n_Which occurred at Healdsburg, Sonoma Co., Cal., in 1857, between\nDoctor Bonham, a Methodist Minister, and a \"Mormon\" Elder_.\n\nBy H. G. B.\n\nDR. BONHAM.--I understand that you are making some prosylytes to your\nChurch in this country.\n\n\"MORMON\" ELDER.--Yes, we have some fifty or sixty members that have\nbeen added to the Church lately, on this side of Sacramento River.\n\nDR. B.--Nine-tenths of the religious portion of the community in this\ncountry look upon your people as being deceived, and your ministers as\ndeceivers, and your doctrines as being false and pernicious.\n\nM. E.--Yes, I am aware of this fact, and also of another fact: that\nis, that the same opinion prevailed among nine-tenths of the Pharisees\nand Sadducees, eighteen hundred years ago, about our Savior and His\napostles and prophets, and the doctrines which they taught. The same\nkind of religious sentiment was arrayed against the gospel then, as now.\n\nDR. B.--But you must know that the doctrines of a new revelation, and\nof apostles and prophets are a delusion, and that you are leading\nastray many of the people.\n\nM. E.--Then the Bible must be a delusion, and it must be that it is\nleading many of the people astray, for the Bible teaches the same\ndoctrine that we teach, namely, new revelation, apostles and prophets.\n\nDR. B.--I deny that it does. \"The law and the prophets continued until\nJohn, after which the kingdom of heaven was preached.\"\n\nM. E.--Would you prove by this quotation that there were to be no more\nrevelation, nor apostles and prophets after John? Then, indeed, was\nJesus Himself a false prophet, and His apostles were false teachers,\nand all that was revealed to the world through Him and them was also\nfalse. Such a conclusion is impossible. What, then, are the facts? The\nkingdom of heaven was really preached afterwards, and that, too, by\napostles and prophets, with a continual flow of revelation.\n\nDR. B.--Yes, I will agree that new revelation and apostles and prophets\nwere necessary till the kingdom was established; but after that time,\nthey were no longer needed, and were rightly done away. They left us a\nperfect pattern in the New Testament, which is all that is needed to\nguide the church in all things.\n\nM. E.--And, according to this perfect pattern you allude to, you have\nelders, bishops, priests, teachers and deacons in your church, have you?\n\nDR. B.--Yes; to be sure we have. And these officers are in our church\naccording to the perfect pattern given us in the New Testament.\n\nM. E.--I suppose, then, you have apostles, prophets and seventies in\nyour church, thus following out the perfect pattern to its completeness.\n\nDR. B.--No; we have no apostles nor prophets; nor have we any\nseventies. They are all done away with.\n\nM. E.--Now, can't you see that you are inconsistent? If the New\nTestament pattern requires elders and bishops to be organized in the\nchurch, it also requires apostles and prophets just the same. If this\npattern is authority for an elder, it is just as good authority for an\napostle. If authority for a bishop, it is just as surely authority for\na prophet. Your assertion that they are done away with, and no longer\nneeded, is a palpable contradiction of the plainest truths of the New\nTestament pattern.\n\nDR. B.--Does not Paul, in the 8th verse of the 13th chapter of his\nfirst letter to the Corinthians, say, \"Whether there be prophecies they\nshall fail?\"\n\nM. E.--Yes, and in the 10th verse of the same chapter Paul plainly\ntells them when prophecy shall fail, that is: \"When that which is\nperfect is come.\" Paul, in his 4th chapter to the Ephesians, 11th\nto 13th verses, also refers to the apostles and prophets as being\nnecessary in the church to bring about this perfection, also for the\nwork of the ministry, and to continue \"till we all come in the unity of\nthe faith.\"\n\nThe work of the ministry is not or ought not to be done away. The\nperfecting of the Saints, and that unity spoken of, are works that\nbelong to all time, as surely as it was necessary in Paul's time.\nTherefore, your quotation from Paul is certainly a very strong proof in\nfavor of our doctrines.\n\nDR. B--I cannot see the necessity of apostles and prophets; nor do I\nbelieve that God intended that they should be continued in the church.\nIs it not written in the last chapter of John's Revelations, 18th and\n19th verses, that if any man shall add to or diminish from the words\nof this book, that a heavy penalty shall rest upon him? If God did\nnot allow any more revelations to the world than they at that time\npossessed, then the necessity for apostles and prophets no longer\nexisted, as they were the only mediums through whom He revealed His\nwill to mankind.\n\nM. E--What you see, or cannot see, or what you believe, or do not\nbelieve in this connection, does not amount to a pin, unless you see\nand believe the truth.\n\nIn the 12th chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians, Paul\ncompares the church of Christ to the body of a man, placing the\napostles and prophets as the head of that body; other officers and\nmembers composing the other portions of the body.\n\nThere were many members, yet but one body. God had set the members in\nthe body as it pleased him; first, apostles, then prophets, etc., down\nto the feet. The head could not say to the body, \"I have no need of\nyou;\" nor again, could the feet say to the body, \"We have no need of\nyou.\" The body could not live an hour without the head. Therefore, the\nchurch of Christ could not live without apostles and prophets, these\nconstituting the head of the Church.\n\nDR. B.--But you have not answered my quotation from John, forbidding\nany addition to the word of God, thus cutting off the necessity of new\nrevelation, and the channels or mediums through which it was given,\nforever after.\n\nM. E.--That was just what I was going to come to when you interrupted\nme. God did, indeed, forbid any man to add to, or diminish from His\nword, as you correctly quoted. Also in Deuteronomy, 4th chapter and 2nd\nverse, we find a similar prohibition, given through Moses. Now what do\nthese passages prove? Simply this: Man shall not add nor diminish, but\nthe Lord can do so at His pleasure. A few days after the death of Moses\nthe Lord began to reveal more of His word to Joshua, the successor of\nMoses. And it is recorded in history that the Lord did the same thing\nin St. John's case, for he wrote his narrative of the gospel and his\nthree epistles after his Book of Revelations, from which you made your\nquotation.\n\nDR. B.--Your doctrines are the most dangerous that I know of, and\nthe best calculated to deceive the ignorant and the unwary. And your\npreaching ought not to be allowed in this country, and I shall try to\nprevent all that I can have any influence over from going to hear you.\n\nM. E.--I have not done with your quotations yet. No man in our Church\nhas ever added to or diminished the word of God. We have never violated\nthose restrictions in the least, but the Methodists and many other\nsects of the present day have both added to and taken from the word of\nGod. They have added the practice of infant baptism, and substituted\nsprinkling for the ordinance of baptism by immersion. They have heaped\nto themselves teachers, having itching ears, who have turned from the\ntruth and have added their fables; they divine for money and preach for\nhire. They have added the mourner's bench to what they call the worship\nof God. The fear of God is taught by the precepts of men, and nearly\nall that is preached or believed in by them is of their own adding.\n\nThey have diminished from the word of God in that they deny new\nrevelation, apostles, prophets, seventies, the gifts of the Holy Ghost,\nthe ordinances and power of the gospel, and all the grandest, best and\nmost glorious promises contained in the great plan of salvation.\n\nAnd I warn you to beware that the plagues John spoke of be not added to\nyou, and that your part in the book of life and your part in the holy\ncity be not taken away. For you have \"transgressed the law, changed the\nordinances and broken the everlasting covenant.\"\n\nDR. B.--I understand that the government is sending an army to Utah, to\nexterminate you \"Mormons.\" And I think it will serve them just right.\nSuch gross impostors ought not to be allowed to live. No such delusion\nshould be tolerated among civilized communities.\n\nM. E.--That's right; come out in your true colors! Like the Pharisees\nof old, when you cannot bring any arguments to prevail against the\ntruth, you would resort to the sword--you would have recourse to\narms--to violence, and destroy all those that love and sustain the\ntruth. And you, Doctor Bonham, would have been first among the men that\ncrucified the Redeemer, had you lived then. You would have been the\nman to have beheaded John the Baptist, and for the same reason; and to\nhave slain the apostles and prophets. Your antipathy to apostles and\nprophets prove it. \"Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers,\" the\nPharisees.\n\n\n\nTESTIMONIES FOR THE TRUTH.\n\nBy BENJAMIN BROWN.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nTHE AUTHOR'S BIRTH AND PARENTAGE--EARLY RELIGIOUS\nIMPRESSIONS--MARRIAGE--VISION OF HIS BROTHER, AND OF THE BIBLE--THE\nAUTHOR DREAMS OF PREACHING--ATTENDS A \"PROTRACTED MEETING\"--HIS\nIMPRESSIONS WHILE THERE--HE MEETS WITH THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS--VISION OF\nTWO NEPHITE APOSTLES.\n\nI was born on the 30th of September, in the year 1794, in the town of\nQueensbury, Washington County, State of New York. My father, Asa Brown,\nbelonged to the denomination of \"Friend Quakers.\" His business was that\nof a farmer. I worked with him chiefly until I was twenty years of age.\n\nDuring my boyhood I was much deprived of the benefits of education,\nowing to my father's removing from place to place, in new settlements,\nthey affording him greater facilities for the purchase of cheap land\nthan older ones. By these means he was enabled to have his children\nsettle around him.\n\nBeing thus brought up, far from the abodes of the religious sectaries\nof the day, my ideas of religion were just those which are naturally\ninstilled into the mind by the statements of Scripture, where no\npriestcraft exists to pervert them, diminish their force or cloud their\nmeaning; consequently, I believed in the Bible just as it read, where\nthe self-evident rendering of the context did not prove it figurative\nor parabolic.\n\nThe idea that revelation from God was unattainable in this age, or\nthat the ancient gifts of the gospel had ceased forever, never entered\nmy head, until I gathered the notion from the creeds of churches with\nwhich I became acquainted in after years. I can remember many times,\non occasions of sickness among my relatives, while yet quite a boy,\nretiring to some barn, or other convenient place of the kind, and their\nbeing suddenly restored to health, in answer to prayers offered there,\nby me, in their behalf.\n\nI continued thus until about fifteen years of age, when circumstances\ncaused me to live in settlements where the sects of the day had\nestablished some of their churches, and I was unfortunate enough to\nhear their preaching.\n\nI soon began to lose my pure, simple ideas of God, and imbibe those\nmore generally received; and, shortly after, by listening to the\ncontending opinions of these parties, I found the hitherto simple Bible\na perfect mystery.\n\nI had previously been seriously and religiously inclined, but the\njarrings and uncertainty of my new ideas shook that simple faith which\nI had reposed in the Scriptures, and in God, until I began to mix with\nlight or vain company. I at times thought little about such matters,\nbut, in moments of reflection, the Spirit of the Lord would often show\nme the folly of my conduct, and bring to my remembrance the goodness of\nGod manifested to me in past times.\n\nThe Universalist system appeared to me the most reasonable of the\nvarious denominations I came in contact with. The horrible hell and\ndamnation theories of most of the other parties, in my idea, were\ninconsistent with the mercies and love of God.\n\nHowever, I did not actually join the Universalists. But their\ndoctrines, with respect to the eternity of punishment, etc., savored to\nme of a more generous and God-like nature, than the contracted notions\nheld by the other denominations, concerning God's purposes towards the\nhuman family.\n\nAmidst all the folly which, for short periods, I gave way to, a deep\nanxiety possessed me to find the truth, and I visited, and, to some\nextent, mingled with, the religious professors of many of the sects, at\ntheir meetings, and took part in the same.\n\nAbout the age of twenty-five, I married, and settled on a small farm of\nmy own.\n\nAbout nine or ten years later than this, after a fatiguing day's labor,\nI returned home one evening, and, having partaken of my supper, turned\nmy back to the fire, as my custom was, and leaned, with my head on my\narms, on the chair top, to rest myself, and dry my clothes, which were\nmoistened with the perspiration caused by the heat. My wife retired to\nrest, expecting me shortly to follow.\n\nThus left alone, I was musing on things generally, but not particularly\non any religious subject, when a vision of my brother, who had died\nsome fourteen of fifteen years previous, appeared before me, praying. I\nheard his voice clearly and distinctly, and listened attentively.\n\nIn the course of his prayer, he referred to the great work to be done\non the earth during the last days, quoting several Scriptures. I did\nnot, however, fully comprehend the meaning of them, until, coming into\nthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, years after, I saw the\napplicability of his words to the views of that people, with regard\nto the restoration of the gospel gifts, the great work of gathering\nthe Saints of all nations in the last days, and the fullness of the\nlatter-day glory, for he particularly prayed for the hastening of these\nthings.\n\nSoon he disappeared from my view, when suddenly, to use a Scripture\nphrase, a sound, as of a rushing mighty wind, with some accompanying\ninfluence, seemed to fill the house and myself, and I heard a voice\nsaying: \"This is the spirit of understanding.\" An open Bible appeared\nbefore me, so peculiarly placed, that I could see portions of several\nbooks of the prophets and apostles at once.\n\nDirectly I heard the above words, I began to read, understanding and\nintelligence burst upon my mind, and the glory and beauty that seemed\nto shine forth in the subjects treated upon, no language can describe.\nThe despatch with which I read, astonished me, for I seemed able to\nread a chapter in the time usually occupied in reading a verse, and the\ncontents of a whole book were laid before my mind about as quickly as\notherwise I could have perused a single chapter.\n\nWith the rapidity of lightning, various truths of the Bible were\npresented to my mind, and what each prophet or apostle had said on each\nparticular subject met my eyes, in consecutive order, concentrated and\nconnected, showing that each and all of those men were inspired by the\nsame Spirit, and had a distinct knowledge of the same grand events and\nglorious truths, particularly those which I had heard my brother pray\nabout. I never before saw such _connection_ between the Scriptures.\nWhat one prophet had said on a subject met my sight, and directly, with\nthe quickness of thought, I read what each of the other prophets or\napostles had said about the same thing. I saw the whole at a glance,\nbrought as it were to a focus.\n\nSuch a chain of testimonies, and an interweaving of evidences,\naccompanied with that perception and comprehension which the Holy Ghost\nalone can give, none can realize but those who have received that\nSpirit and revelations unto themselves. Such persons know just how it\nis.\n\nI was disturbed, apparently in the midst of my vision, by my wife's\ncalling to me, when the vision left me, and I felt just like a hungry\nman who is called or snatched suddenly away from a feast. But the joy\nand peace with which my spirit was filled remained with me, and I\nglorified God.\n\nThings went on much as usual, till something like a year afterwards,\nwhen I had a singular dream, which, as it had a bearing on my future\nlife, I will relate:\n\nI dreamed that I had been called to preach the gospel, and the first\ntime I thus officiated, it was in a school-house, in an adjoining\ntown, with which I was well acquainted. I saw all the members of the\ncongregation, which was small, and, when I awoke, I could distinctly\nremember the position each person occupied in the room.\n\nThis so impressed my mind that I told my wife of it, and said I\nbelieved it would be realized; but she scouted the idea. What was I, a\nworking man, to do with preaching? Well, at other times, it would have\nappeared equally foolish to myself, but it had been given to me that\nher mother, living at the place, knew by a dream the same thing, and I\ntold this to my wife. At last she promised that, if it turned out to be\nthe case, she would believe the dream to be true.\n\nIn a day or so, we paid her mother a visit, and found that she had\ndreamed, that night, that I was coming to preach in the town where she\nlived, and we learned, from her friends, that she had been entreating\none of her relatives to carry her to my residence, that she might tell\nme of it.\n\nAlthough the truth of the dream was thus proved to me, I little thought\nwhat doctrines I was to preach, and in connection with what people or\nchurch. But I was to have greater evidence of the truth of my dream, as\nwill be seen hereafter.\n\nFive years more passed, and I was still unconnected with any religious\nparty. At this time, what were called \"protracted meetings,\" or\nreligious services, continued for days, and sometimes weeks, were very\npopular in America.\n\nIn common with the \"Universalists,\" I felt unfavorable to the meetings,\nbut such magnificent reports of their results--the wholesale\n\"conversion of souls,\" led me to attend one. I humbled myself, and\ndetermined to divest my mind of all prejudice, and put myself at least\nin a position to receive all the good that could be obtained.\n\nBefore going, I covenanted with the Lord, that if He would reveal His\nmind and will unto me, whatever sacrifice or duty He might require at\nmy hands, I would do it. Little did I think of the way my truthfulness\nwould be tried, or possibly I might have shunned such a contract.\n\nAs soon as I began to attend, I felt the Spirit of the Lord operating\nupon me, so that I seemed filled to overflowing with its teachings.\nA continual stream of glorious truths passed through my mind, my\nhappiness was great, and my mind was so absorbed in spiritual things,\nthat all the time the meetings lasted, which was about fifteen days, I\nscarcely ate or drank anything. At other times, that which I subsisted\non during these fifteen days, could scarcely have sustained life, but\nthe Spirit of the Lord so operated on my system, that I felt full all\nthe time, and had no desire to eat or partake of anything.\n\nThe subject of \"Freemasonry\" was just then agitating the public mind,\nso that many of the churches were divided about it, more especially the\none to which most of the members attending this meeting belonged, being\ndivided into \"Masons\" and \"Anti-Masons.\" This meeting was called the\n\"Masonic party.\"\n\nThe other minister of the same church held Anti-Masonic principles,\nand refused to meet with the Masonic party, and kept most of his party\naway. This caused a great deal of quarrelling and contention, and much\nanger and bad feeling, of which I knew but little until afterwards.\nI had heard of the two parties, but had not interested myself in the\nmatter, and consequently did not care much about it.\n\nWhile sitting in the meeting, listening to the preaching, being much\ninterested in what was being said, the Spirit of the Lord came upon\nme, and revealed that I was to visit the minister of the Anti-Masonic\nparty, Judge Cushing, and tell him of his foolishness and wickedness in\nincreasing the spirit of division between those who ought to be united\nas brethren in one common interest.\n\nIt rained hard at the time, and feeling rather taken up with the\npreaching, I thought I would delay until the close of the meeting.\n\nThis mission to me was a very hard task. How was I, a man from the\nthrashing-floor, to reprove a minister, and, moreover, a judge? But a\nfew minutes had scarcely elapsed, before the word of the Lord came to\nme again, with greater power than before, that I was to go _at once!_ I\nhad covenanted with the Lord, and I felt determined to fulfill, if it\nkilled me; so I sprang to my feet, took my hat, and departed from the\nmeeting.\n\nI found the judge at a public inn, engaged in making some purchase.\nI requested to speak with him for a few minutes in private. He said\nhe would attend to me presently. I sat down, but I had hardly done so\nbefore the Spirit of the Lord was again upon me, like fire in my bones,\ncommanding me to deliver my message directly.\n\nI again requested to speak with the Judge, stating that my business\nwas urgent. He complied this time, and retired with me outside the\nhouse. The Spirit of the Lord gave me utterance, and filled my mouth\nwith words, and I laid before him, in language which was given me, the\nimpropriety of his conduct.\n\nThe same Spirit bearing witness, the judge acknowledged his folly, said\nhe would amend, and told me that he had spent many sleepless nights\nas a result of his course. He also said that, directly I sat down,\nsomething told him for what I had come, although I was a stranger to\nhim. In fact, he knew nearly as well before I had spoken, as after.\n\nThis confirmed my faith that the Lord had sent me, but it was a great\ntrial to my feelings at the time. However, I had another trial to\nundergo, which occurred some days afterwards during the same meeting.\n\nWhile the minister was preaching, it was revealed to me to arise and\ndeclare to the congregation, that they, before coming together to pray\nfor the conversion of others, ought first to be reconciled one to the\nother, so that their gifts of prayer might be accepted by the Lord.\nThe Spirit also said, that some in the congregation were guilty of\noppressing the poor, taking unlawful usury, oppressing the hireling in\nhis wages, and many other sins of a similar character.\n\nI waited until the preacher had finished his discourse, during which\nthe idea of having to arise and speak before this congregation of\nabout fifteen hundred people, most of whom, being members of Christian\nsocieties, I considered better persons than myself, filled me with\nfear, and the perspiration rolled off me profusely.\n\nCould such a thing have availed, I would sooner have given five hundred\ndollars than have buckled up to this task, but there was no escape; I\nhad covenanted, and the moment the minister ceased speaking I delivered\nmy message. It was received very well by the congregation, many\nfancying I was converted to their faith, and, being blessed with such\ngifts, a bit of a prize.\n\nOn coming out, two men, one a justice of the peace, and the other\na colonel, came up to me. The justice asked why, if I had anything\nagainst him, I did not, as the Scripture directs, go to him privately,\nand not expose him before all the congregation.\n\nThe other said, \"If you have got a man by the throat, you need not\nthink that because it is pleasant to you, it is so to him.\"\n\nI told them that as the cap seemed to fit they might wear it. But I was\nmuch surprised, for I was not aware they were present.\n\nAbout a day previous to the close of this meeting, I received a more\nimportant communication than either of the previous ones. A knowledge\nwas given me that the ancient gifts of the gospel--speaking in tongues,\nthe power to heal the sick, the spirit of prophecy, etc., were just\nabout to be restored to the believers in Christ.\n\nThe revelation was a perfect knowledge of the fact, so sure and\ncertain, that I felt as though the truth had been stereotyped upon\nme. I knew it from the crown of my head to the sole of my foot, the\nwhole of my system being filled with the Holy Ghost! I can compare it\nto nothing better than the change made on a clean sheet of paper by a\nprinting press, leaving an indellible impression behind.\n\nAs the Spirit did not tell me _to whom_ these things were to be\nrestored, I at first fancied, in my ignorance, that the people with\nwhom I had been meeting were about to be blessed with these things, so\nI joyfully visited the minister of the meeting, and laid before him the\nintelligence I had received.\n\nBut, to my great astonishment, I met with an utter repulse. He told me\nit was all of the devil, for such things had ceased forever!\n\nHad anyone knocked me down with a beetle, I could not have felt more\nsensibly the opposition between the spirits by which we were actuated.\nI soon found, by the bold and determined way in which he fought against\nthe principle of present revelation, etc., that it was not to him\nor his people that these gifts would be given. So I sought for them\nelsewhere.\n\nA few days afterwards, curiosity led me to visit the Latter-day Saints,\namong whom I witnessed a fulfillment of the prediction, for I beheld a\nmanifestation of the gifts of prophecy and tongues, and received the\nlatter myself.\n\nNotwithstanding this confirmation which I had received of the truth\nof the Church of the Latter-day Saints was very great, I did not feel\nsufficiently convinced to be induced to join them at once.\n\nI had experienced the Spirit of the Lord in a similar way elsewhere,\nso that when the Elders of the Church, at this meeting, urged upon me\nto yield obedience to the gospel they preached, which possessed such\nevidences as the manifestation of the ancient gifts, I treated the\nElders very lightly, and replied, that as for the gift of tongues, I\ncould speak in tongues as well as any of them. So I could, for directly\none of them manifested this gift, the gift of tongues rested upon me,\nand gave me the same power.\n\nThus did the devil seek to blind me, and turn that testimony which\nthe Lord had given me for the truth, almost into an evidence against\nit! However, I procured a Book of Mormon, and took it home to read,\ndetermined to investigate until I was fully satisfied. But I had\nscarcely begun to read, before I felt greatly to dislike the book. Ere\nI had perused ten pages, I rejected it altogether.\n\nActing in this bigoted manner, I had resigned myself to the evil\ninfluence that was gaining power over me, so that, directly after,\nI felt a similar dislike seize me towards the Bible. Its statements\nof miracles, etc., appeared to me to be compounds of the grossest\nabsurdity possible. I could see no light or good in it, and actually\nresolved never to read it again!\n\nBut, oh! the darkness that seized me as soon as I had made this\nresolution! The light that was in me became darkness, and how great it\nwas, no language can describe. All knowledge of religious truth seemed\nto forsake me, and if I attempted to quote Scripture, my recollection\nfailed, after the first word or so! So remarkable was this, that it\nexcited reflection, and caused me to marvel, and finally I determined\nto repent of my resolve respecting the Bible, and I commenced to read\nagain.\n\nThe book was hardly in my hand, when, as in a moment, my light and\nrecollection returned as usual. This made me rejoice, and immediately\nthe idea flashed across my mind, \"What have you done with the Book of\nMormon? Behave as fairly to that.\" I soon reprocured it. But, even\nthis time, I felt prejudiced against the book. I resolved, however,\nto read it through, and I persevered in its perusal, till I came to\nthat part where Jesus, on visiting the continent of America, after his\nresurrection, grants the request of three of the apostles whom he had\nchosen, to permit them to live until his second coming on the earth\n(like unto John spoken of in the Bible).\n\nHere my mind half yielded to the belief which arose within me, that\nperhaps it might be true, whereupon I took the book and laid it before\nthe Lord, and pleaded with Him in prayer for a testimony whether it was\ntrue or false, and, as I found it stated that the three Nephites had\npower to show themselves to any persons they might wish to, Jews or\nGentiles, I asked the Lord to allow me to see them for a witness and\ntestimony of the truth of the Book of Mormon, and I covenanted with\nHim, if He complied with my request, that I would preach it, even at\nthe expense of my life, should it be necessary.\n\nThe Lord heard my prayer, and, about five days afterwards, two of the\nthree visited me in my bedroom. I did not see them come, but I found\nthem there.\n\nOne spoke to me for some time, and reproved me sharply on account of my\nbehavior at the time when I first attended the meeting of the Saints,\nand treated so lightly the gift of tongues. He told me never, as long\nas I lived, to do so again, for I had grieved the Spirit of the Lord,\nby whose power that gift had been given.\n\nThis personage spoke in the Nephite language, but I understood, by the\nSpirit which accompanied him, every word as plainly as if he had spoken\nin English. I recognized the language to be the same as that in which I\nhad heard Father Fisher speak at the meeting.\n\nSuch a rebuke, with such power, I never had in my life, before nor\nsince, and never wish to have again. I was dumb before my rebuker, for\nI knew that what he said was right, and I felt deserving of it.\n\nHow these men went, I do not know, but directly they were gone, the\nSpirit of the Lord said to me, \"Now, you know for yourself! You have\nseen and heard! If you now fall away, there is no forgiveness for you.\"\n\nDid I not know then, that the Book of Mormon was true, and that Joseph\nSmith was a prophet of the Lord? Surely I did, and I do now, as surely\nas I know that I live.\n\nThe world wonders at the zeal and faith of \"Mormon\" missionaries in\ndiffusing their principles over the world; but the surprise of the\nworld would soon cease did they know by what evidences the truth of the\nfaith of the Latter-day Saints had been made known unto them, for by\nsuch proofs as the foregoing, and by the revelations of the Holy Ghost,\nin tongues, prophecyings, visions, etc., has the work of the last days\nbeen attested unto thousands upon thousands, in ways so peculiar, and\nattended with such circumstances, that no power of sophistry or reason\ncan possibly show these proofs to be the effects of a fanatical mind\nor a diseased imagination. And even could these proofs be overturned,\nthe Latter-day Saints have still stronger proofs found in the evidences\nof glorious principles, never before discovered, harmonizing with each\nother, and every known truth, and clearing up and connecting Scripture\nstatements from beginning to end, unlocking the great science of life,\nshedding light on our existence, and discovering, in the arrangement\nand combination of these truths, an infinite intelligence that none but\na mind that knew the end from the beginning could display!\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nVISION OF THE LAST DAYS--BAPTISM OF THE AUTHOR AND FOUR OTHERS--HIS\nWIFE'S DREAM AND BAPTISM--HE IS ORDAINED AN ELDER--VISITS KIRTLAND--ON\nHIS RETURN, IS ATTACKED BY FEVER--IS MIRACULOUSLY HEALED--RE-VISITS\nKIRTLAND--BEGINS TO PREACH--MIRACULOUS HEALING OF A CANCER--ACCIDENT\nAND MIRACULOUS HEALING OF JESSE W. CROSBY--POISON MIRACULOUSLY\nNULLIFIED----CASTING OUT OF EVIL SPIRITS.\n\nI was not baptized directly, as I hoped to have the pleasure of seeing\nmy wife comply with the same ordinance, when we could enter the Church\ntogether. In the meantime I prosecuted my inquiries.\n\nShortly after inquiring of the Lord concerning the truth of the\njudgments preached by the Latter-day Saints as being at hand, and\nimpending over this generation, I was shown, in answer, by a vision,\nthe various scenes described in the revelations of the ancient prophets.\n\nThe inhabitants of the earth appeared before me in their various\noccupations--plowing, sowing, fishing, and engaged in mechanical\nbusiness. I saw them, under the infliction of the plagues, etc., lift\ntheir eyes towards heaven, curse God, and die. I also saw many other\nthings as predicted by ancient prophets.\n\nThus do I _know_ the truth of the Bible as well as of the Book of\nMormon, and I am witness for both!\n\nA whole year and a half I deferred my baptism, still waiting for my\nwife, who, although at first favorable to \"Mormonism,\" had become a\ndetermined enemy to the Church.\n\nWhen I went to hear the \"Mormons\" preach at Westfield, a village where\nthe Twelve Apostles were holding their first conference, curiosity had\ndrawn great numbers to hear them, so that they had crowded meetings all\nthe time. The second day of this conference, I, with four others, was\nbaptized by Elder McLellin, and confirmed the same night.\n\nWhile undressing on the banks of the creek, preparing for the\nordinance, Satan made a last effort to prevent my entering the Church.\nA man, walking along by the water's side, came up to me and said, \"I\nwish to speak to you for a few minutes before you go into the water.\"\n\nThinking, of course, that he was a friend, or a member of the Church,\nwho intended to give me some instruction as to my behavior in the\nwater, I followed him, and, having got me to retire some rods off, he\nsaid, \"Have you heard what has come out?\" \"No,\" I replied, \"what about?\"\n\n\"Why,\" he continued, \"concerning the 'Mormons.' It has been discovered\nthat it is all an imposture, a regular hoax to deceive the people. The\naffair has just come to light. If you wait only a little, you'll hear\nall about it.\"\n\nAt first this completely stunned me, for I was listening very\nattentively, considering him one of the Church, and for a moment I\nbegan to question, but quickly recollecting the manifestations I had\nreceived, I told him he was a child of the devil, and I pushed past him\nto the water, and was baptized at once. This was on the 15th of May,\n1835.\n\nMy wife, who had managed to be present when I was going to the water,\nand even threatened that she would not live with me, was, for a long\nwhile after, (perhaps a year and a half,) bitterly opposed to the work,\nbut I knew from the Lord that she would come into the Church, and I\ntold her so. As the way she was at last brought in was very curious, I\nwill mention it.\n\nShe dreamed one night that a large company of visitors had come to her\nhouse, for whom she had to prepare supper. On going into her buttery\nto procure the necessary food to cook, she could only find a small\npotato, about the size of a robin's egg, lying on a wooden trencher.\nHowever, with this small stock she commenced, and by some wonderful\nmeans converted this little affair into a splendid preparation of pies,\npuddings, etc.\n\nWhen they were ready she stood still, wondering how it had all been\ndone, for, as may be supposed, it puzzled her sorely to conceive how,\nfrom a small potato, and that on a wooden trencher, she had produced\nsuch an elegant entertainment.\n\nJust at this moment while she was thus marveling, I was awakened from\nmy sleep, with a command sounding in my ears that I was to say to my\nwife, \"Don't you remember hearing that you should not despise the day\nof _small things?_\" I was to speak at once, without waiting. So I awoke\nher, and without any preface did as I was bid.\n\nThe wonderful concurrence of these words with her dream, and the\nself-evident interpretation of it, referring as it did to her past\nconduct (for one of the principal reasons of the opposition she felt to\nmy joining the Church was, that she considered it disgraced her to have\nher husband belong to a Church that was so poor, and everywhere spoken\nagainst), so impressed itself upon her mind, with other confirmations,\nthat she was baptized, and has remained firm to the Church ever since.\n\nWhen I had been in the Church about three months, I was ordained an\nElder, under the hands of Jared Carter. The next day I, with my wife,\nwent up to Kirtland, to visit the Saints living there.\n\nAfter a very happy time, during which the book of Doctrine and\nCovenants was first presented to the Church, we started for home.\n\nWhile on the lakes, I was attacked by one of the lake fevers prevalent\nthere, and became very ill indeed. I was, however, taken home and put\nto bed.\n\nThe same day two Elders of the Church called in to see me, and finding\nI was in such a condition, they laid their hands upon me. While their\nhands were yet upon my head, I felt the disease remove from my body,\ncommencing at the pit of my stomach, moving gradually upwards towards\nthe hands of the Elders, and I was made perfectly whole.\n\nThe same day I was out at work milking my cows, and went around to\ninvite my neighbors to hear the preaching in the evening. This was the\nfirst case of healing I had ever witnessed.\n\nThe succeeding winter I again went up to Kirtland, to attend the\ndedication of the temple, and to meet with the solemn assembly that\nwas there convened. There the Spirit of the Lord, as on the day of\nPentecost, was profusely poured out. Hundreds of Elders spoke in\ntongues, but, many of them being young in the Church, and never having\nwitnessed the manifestation of this gift before, some felt a little\nalarmed.\n\nThis caused the Prophet Joseph Smith to pray to the Lord to withhold\nthe Spirit. Joseph then instructed them on the nature of the gift of\ntongues, and the operation of the Spirit generally.\n\nWe had a most glorious and never-to-be-forgotten time. Angels were seen\nby numbers present, and the first endowments were received.\n\nIt was during this assembly that the Saints' favorite hymn was given,\nby inspiration, commencing:\n\n  \"The Spirit of God, like a fire, is burning!\n  The latter-day glory begins to come forth;\n  The visions and blessings of old are returning,\n  The angels are coming to visit the earth.\"\n\nThe beauty and applicability of this hymn will be seen by the Saints,\non reading the third and fourth verses, when it is recollected that\nthis was a solemn assembly, and that the ordinance of washing of feet,\netc., was just then being attended to.\n\nIt was also at this time that Elijah the Prophet appeared, and\nconferred upon Joseph the keys of turning the hearts of the fathers\nto the children, previous to the re-institution of the ordinance of\nbaptism for the dead.\n\nBy this time most of the members of the Pomphret Branch, into\nwhich I had been baptized, were gathered up to Kirtland, the first\ngathering-place of the Saints; and I was left without any one to\ncounsel or direct me as to the way in which I should devote my labors\nin spreading the principles of truth, when one day the Word of the\nLord, by the power of the Spirit, came unto me, saying, \"I have\nfourteen sheep in Portland: go and gather them; then go south, where I\nhave twenty-two more, and gather them also.\"\n\nI then began to preach for the first time, and for that purpose\nprocured the school-room in Portland, and, through my friends,\ncirculated a notice that I was going to preach. This gathered a small\ncongregation of some thirty or forty people.\n\nAt the time appointed I stood up to address them. As soon as I arose\non my feet and looked on the congregation, the dream which I had had\nfive years before, but which I had entirely forgotten, flashed across\nmy recollection. There was the identical room I had seen, with the\nvery people and children, just in those positions in the place that I\nhad described them to my wife years before, when I informed her that I\ndreamed I was called to preach the Gospel! This was summer time.\n\nI continued preaching at Portland until the winter came on, when,\nhaving baptized a few out of the place, they met at my house at\nPomphret on Sundays, and on the week days I extended my labors in the\nsouth.\n\nAs I was told, I found just fourteen in Portland willing to obey\nthe gospel, and by no exertion of mine could I get any more! I also\nobtained, in the south, the twenty-two previously spoken of, but it was\na year and a half before I completed the number.\n\nNot long after receiving the office of Elder, I was called to lay\nhands on a sister named Crowell, in Chautauqua County, New York, who\nwas afflicted with a cancer. Her life was despaired of by herself and\nher neighbors, when she sent to me, telling me to come that night if I\nwished to see her alive! Not being able to go then, I prayed the Lord\nto give her a good night's rest. I visited her in the morning, and\nfound that she had had a better night's rest than usual. I found her\nhead, where the cancer had broken out, a dreadful sight, full of cancer\nworms, which were eating into the skull, three pieces of which had come\nout.\n\nI anointed her head with oil, and prayed the Lord on her behalf, and,\nbeing obliged, left immediately to attend to my hay.\n\nThe next time I saw her was the following Sunday, when I met her at\nthe meeting. She pulled off her cap, and showed me her head. It was\nentirely healed, and the flesh was as sound as ever.\n\nShe said that within half an hour after my administering to her, she\nfelt all the pain, which had previously been intense, and, to use her\nexpression, \"like a thousand gimlets boring into her brain,\" leave her\nentirely, and the wound healed up rapidly.\n\nThe Saints that I gathered at Portland, and that met at my house,\nwere richly blessed with the various gifts of the Spirit--tongues,\ninterpretations, prophecy, etc. I will relate an instance or two.\n\nOne Sunday morning, while opening the meeting with prayer, the gift\nof tongues came upon me, but thinking of Paul's words, that it is\nsometimes wisdom not to speak in tongues unless one is present who\ncan interpret, and forgetting that a sister possessing the gift of\ninterpretation was present, I quenched the Spirit, and it left me.\n\nImmediately after, another brother spoke in tongues, the interpretation\nof which was, that \"the Lord knew we were anxious to learn of the\naffairs of our brethren in Missouri, and that if we would humble\nourselves before Him, and ask, He would reveal unto us the desires of\nour hearts.\"\n\nMissouri was some thousand miles from Portland. We accordingly bowed\nagain in supplication before the Lord, and, after rising from our knees\nand re-seating ourselves, the same brother broke out singing in tongues\nin a low, mournful strain.\n\nBut judge our feelings when the interpretation was given, and was\nfound to be some thirteen or fourteen verses of poetry, descriptive of\naffairs in Missouri, and the murder of our brethren there, telling us\nthat just at that time--\n\n  \"Our brethren lay bleeding on the ground,\n  With their wives and children weeping around.\"\n\nWe had so often proved the truth of similar communications, that we\nfelt as assured of the truth of this shocking news as though our eyes\nactually beheld the horrid sight. Our hearts were filled with sorrow.\n\nIn a fortnight afterwards we received a letter from John P. Greene,\na faithful Elder of the Church in Missouri, who was, at the time he\nmanaged to write, secreted in the woods. The letter detailed and\nconfirmed all the events previously revealed in tongues, proving that\non the very day we had been informed of the transactions occurring a\nthousand miles off, the bleeding corpses of our brethren lay stretched\non the ground after the slaughter. It was either at or about this time,\nthat the massacre at Haun's Mill took place.\n\nWhen Elders Orson Hyde and Heber C. Kimball visited England on the\nfirst mission to that country, and while we were yet ignorant of their\nsuccess, it was revealed in tongues at this same branch, that just\nat the time we had the gift, those Elders were standing with a large\nmultitude around some waters, attending to the ordinance of baptism.\nInformation afterwards received from England confirmed this statement\nin all its parts.\n\nSuch things as these, oft repeated, confirmed our faith, and, I ask,\nis it wonderful, possessing such evidences that the Lord was with the\nChurch, as those mentioned in the previous narrations, that neither\nreproach, drivings, burnings, robbings, nor even murderings, should\nbe able to quench our love for the truth which had gained us such\nblessings?\n\nThere was not a branch in the whole of the Church that did not possess\nabundance of such testimonies. Here, in these and the following\nstatements, is the testimony of one individual only. But could I crowd\ninto this little work _all_ that I have witnessed of the kind, and then\nadd to it the collected testimonies of the thousands in America alone,\nleaving out Europe altogether, it would present a flood of testimony of\na mightier and more conclusive kind than has been given to authenticate\nany truth ever submitted to the world.\n\nOne of the fourteen persons converted at Portland was a young man\nnamed Jesse W. Crosby, and, as it may prove interesting to many of\nthe Saints, I will relate something that particularly affected him,\noccurring in his history.\n\nHe had been engaged with his brother and brother-in-law, in felling\ntrees in a wood. The trees grew very close together, and one which they\ncut down had, in falling, struck another, and broken off one of its\nlimbs, which hung suspended by the other branches.\n\nIt is a very common thing in forest country, to see dry, detached limbs\nhanging in this way for months, and sometimes years, without falling.\nThis one was about ten or eleven feet long, and as thick as a man's\nthigh, and very high up the tree.\n\nNot apprehending danger, Jesse was working without his hat, just under\nthis branch. Suddenly, a movement, caused by the wind, shook the tree,\nand the loose branch fell from a hight of at least sixty feet, striking\nhim on the crown of his head, crushing him to the earth. The violence\nof the blow broke in a portion of his skull, forming a hollow about as\nlarge as the palm of a man's hand. His neck and shoulders were also\nmuch injured. Altogether, a more deplorable object I never saw in my\nlife.\n\nHe was carried home by his friends, most of whom were members of the\nChurch, and his father, who was not a member, procured a doctor, who\npronounced Jesse's case desperate, unless, on removing the broken part\nof the skull, it should be found that the skin of the brain was still\nentire, when, by using a silver plate over the exposed portion, a\nchance might still exist of his life.\n\nThe doctor proceeded to cut Jesse's head for that purpose, but was\nstopped by his mother, who strongly objected to this experiment, and\nsent for me to administer to him.\n\nI was then eight miles off, and at the time of my arrival he had not\nspoken, nor scarcely indicated any signs of life. Going into the room\nwhere he lay, I found it filled with the neighbors, who were mostly\nenemies of the Church. Sneers and jeers of \"Here comes the Mormon,\nwe'll soon see whether he can heal now,\" saluted my ears on all sides.\n\nFrom a sign which I had received while on my way, I knew Jesse would\nrecover, and being reminded, on account of the reason given in the\nprevious remarks, that such people should not be privileged to behold\na manifestation of the power of God, I, like Peter of old, cleared the\nhouse of all but Jesse's relatives, and administered to him in the name\nof the Lord. Jesse then recovered sufficiently to speak, after which he\nfell into a peaceful sleep, and, before morning, was altogether better.\n\nIn less than four days from the time of receiving this terrible\naccident, from which there seemed no human probability that he could\nrecover, or, if he did, only to survive the loss of reason, he was\nagain at work in the woods hauling timber, the wound being entirely\nhealed up.\n\nSince then, he, as an Elder of this Church, has been on missions to\nvarious parts of the world, including England, and has also fulfilled\na mission to Nova Scotia. The above case of healing occurred in the\nwinter.\n\nAnother very remarkable case of prophecy and healing came under my\nobservation the following spring. A revelation was given by the Spirit,\nin tongues, to the effect that one of our number would be poisoned by\nthe enemies of the Church, and be brought nigh unto death, but that if\nshe was faithful and sent for the Elders of the Church, she should be\nrestored.\n\nThis warning was repeated twice at intervals of about a month. On the\nlast occasion, in addition, it was stated that the person giving the\ninterpretation would be the sufferer. This terrible idea so affected\nher that she was completely overcome.\n\nAfter recovering she proceeded home, and the weather being warm she\ndrank of some sweetened water, which she had prepared in the morning\nfor use, and had left in an exposed situation. When she had drank a\nsecond time she felt her mouth burn. She immediately declared she was\npoisoned, and commenced reaching violently until she became blind.\n\nHer husband, after procuring a person to stay with her, went for one of\nthe Elders, but as he had to go some six miles before he returned with\nmyself, she was to all appearance dead, and had not been perceived to\nbreathe for an hour.\n\nUpon arriving at the house, I asked the Lord to cause her to breathe if\nshe was to recover. Upon looking at her closely I perceived that she\ngave two distinct gasps, such as are usually given when the breath is\nleaving the body. Had I not seen this, I should have concluded that she\nwas dead, for the women who were watching with her said, directly we\nentered, that she was dead, and had been so for an hour.\n\nI then administered to her in the name of Jesus, and prayed the Lord\nto preserve her life till my son-in-law returned with some oil he had\ngone to procure. As soon as I had done this she was able to speak\nsufficiently, in a whisper, to ask for some water, but, so great was\nher weakness, that she fell on her face when raised to receive the\nwater.\n\nThe oil arriving, we administered some to her internally, in the name\nof the Lord, when she arose without any assistance, saying, \"I am\nhealed! I am well! but I am blind!\" I then anointed her eyes, telling\nher that she should see the light of day. Her sight immediately\nreturned, and the next day, she, with her husband, was on her way to\nIllinois.\n\nThe cause of her going there so suddenly was that it had been given in\ntongues, directly after her recovery, that unless her husband departed\nat once from that place, both of them would be poisoned. With what had\njust occurred before their eyes, they needed no second warning this\ntime. This was the same woman that was healed of the cancer.\n\nThe signs spoken of include the casting out of devils. This recalls to\nmy remembrance something of the kind which occurred at the Pomphret\nbranch, previous to which I had had but very little experience as to\nwhat may be termed the physical power of the devil.\n\nI was then far from the body of the Church, consequently, what I\nlearned, I had to find out by experience, having no one to tell me.\n\nThe case was that of a sister who was possessed, and whom I, with two\nother Elders, was called upon to visit. Directly we entered her room,\nshe called out, \"Take your shoes from off your feet; this is holy\nground, the Prophet Elijah is here.\"\n\nI saw the spirit by which she was influenced, so I walked up to her and\nsaid, \"I am a servant of the Lord, I obey no command of the devil.\"\n\nShe became uproarious directly, for all who had gone in previously had\ncomplied with her directions. As soon as we attempted to rebuke the\nevil spirit in the name of the Lord, she arose up from the bed on her\nfeet, without apparently bending a joint in her body, as stiff as a rod\nof iron.\n\nFrom this we saw the power with which we had to contend; and, failing\nat first to eject the spirit, we bowed ourselves in prayer before the\nLord, and asked him to assist us.\n\nThe evil spirit then came out full of fury, and, as he passed by one\nof the brethren, seized him by both arms and gripped them violently.\nPassing towards me, something, which by the feel appeared like a man's\nhand, grasped me by both sides of the face, and attempted to pull me\nsideways to the ground, but the hold appearing to slip, I recovered my\nbalance immediately.\n\nMy face was sore for some days after this. The other brother that was\nseized was lame for a week afterwards.\n\nAs soon as this was done, the sister partly recovered, so much so that\nshe obeyed everything I chose to tell her to do, whereas, before, she\nwas perfectly ungovernable.\n\nStill she seemed to be surrounded by some evil influence. This puzzled\nus, for we knew the spirit was cast out, but we learned the cause\nafterwards. Just then it was revealed to us that if we went to sleep\nthe devil would enter one of the brethren.\n\nMy nephew, Melvin Brown, neglected the warning, and composed himself to\nsleep in an arm chair, while we were still watching with the sister.\nDirectly he did so the devil entered into him, and he became black in\nthe face, and nearly suffocated.\n\nHe awoke immediately, and motioned for us to lay hands on him, for he\ncould not speak. We did so, and the evil spirit then left him, and he\nrecovered at once.\n\nAbout a week afterwards the same spirit re-entered the sister, and this\ntime fully confessed his character. In answer to our enquiries, he said\nhis name was \"Legion.\" This explained how it was that the woman, after\nwe had cast out an evil spirit, was under an evil influence, for there\nmust have been many spirits.\n\nHe also reviled our priesthood, but he had to submit to it at last,\nsaying to us, \"O! you have the priesthood have you? Well, then, cast\nme out, command me to come out,\" trying to shake our faith, and thus\nincapacitate us to rebuke him successfully.\n\nFailing in this, he tried another method by entering me. I felt seized\nby a strange influence, and to every question put to the woman I knew\nthe answer she was going to give, for I was possessed by a similar\nspirit. This broke the chain of our union and strength, consequently I\nrequested the Elders to rebuke the evil spirit from me, after which, at\nour united rebuke, he left the woman.\n\nPrevious to this the sister had been a very faithful Saint, and she\never afterwards was, but she had given the devil ground by encouraging\na spirit contrary to the order of the Church, taking upon herself\nto rebuke the Elders, and he claimed his right by virtue of her\ntransgression.\n\nNo doubt one object of the Lord in permitting him to exercise his\nphysical power was to give me experience of such facts, without which\nI never could have known; but I, like many others who may read this\nrecord, might have argued my ignorance of such things as a proof that\nthey did not exist, except in imagination.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nREMOVAL TO NAUVOO--SICKNESS--MIRACULOUSLY HEALED--ACQUIRE\nCONSIDERABLE PROPERTY--ACQUAINTANCE WITH JOSEPH SMITH--MISSIONS\nTO ALBANY, AND THE EASTERN STATES; ALSO, WITH ELDER J. W. CROSBY,\nTO NOVA SCOTIA--PREACH IN JEFFERSON CO., N. Y., AND ORGANIZE\nSIX BRANCHES OF THE CHURCH--TRAVEL TO NEW BRUNSWICK--INVITED TO\nPREACH--BAPTISMS--PERSECUTION--THE AUTHOR WAYLAID BY A MOB, BEATEN, AND\nLEFT FOR DEAD--ATTACK ON THE HOUSE WHERE HE AND ELDER CROSBY WERE IN\nBED--THE MOB DISPERSED BY MRS. SHELTON--THEY RETURN AND RE-ATTACK THE\nHOUSE--ARE DISPERSED BY MR. SHELTON--TWO BRANCHES ORGANIZED.\n\nThe doctrine of the gathering had been taught the Saints, at Pomphret,\nand, in common with the others, I felt a great desire to gather up\nand live with the body of the Church. With this idea I endeavored to\ndispose of my farm, but failure in my efforts to do this was the only\nthing that saved me from a share in the Missouri persecutions.\n\nThe winter previous to the poisoning case I sold my farm, and the time\nfor me to vacate expired just before this took place.\n\nFor several months I was preparing to remove, getting teams, wagons,\netc. When the time arrived, with my wife and children, and part of the\nbranch, including the woman who had been poisoned and her husband, I\nstarted to find the Church, thinking it was still in Missouri, though\nwe had heard that it had been mobbed and broken up.\n\nWe journeyed until we came to Springfield, about a hundred miles from\nNauvoo, where we met with some brethren who had been driven out of\nMissouri, and who told us that the Church was collecting in Nauvoo,\nthen called Commerce. We turned our course in that direction, and\narrived there in June, the weather being very warm at the time.\n\nWe found brothers Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon there, with a few\nothers. The rest were coming in daily, in a most distressed condition.\nMany of them were sick, and they had no house to enter when they\narrived. The nature of the climate, combined with the hardships they\nhad endured, soon made those ill who were not so previously.\n\nNumbers of the sick and dying had to lie on the ground, with only a\nblanket over them. No springs or wells were handy, and the Mississippi\nwater was unfit to drink, so that many had to go miles for water to\ngive to the afflicted. Sometimes one would go on horseback with a\njug, and fetch a little for the sick, and take it round to them. It\nwas frequently declared that the persecutions in Missouri were small\nmatters compared to the miseries endured at this period in Nauvoo.\n\nMy family, with myself, were also taken sick, and I laid so for two\nor three weeks. I was so far gone that I was quite senseless, and all\nthought I was dying. Doubtless I should have died, but one day Joseph\nSmith was passing by my door (for I had managed to procure a house)\nand was called in, and, as I was afterwards informed, laid his hands\nupon me, and commanded me to arise and walk, in the name of the Lord.\nThe first thing I knew was that I found myself walking on the floor,\nperfectly well, and within ten minutes afterwards I was out of the\nhouse visiting my daughter, whom I had not seen for nearly a month. I\nfelt so full of joy and happiness, that I was greatly surprised that\nevery one else was not as full of praise as myself.\n\nThis was the second time that I had been healed instantly by the power\nof God, through His servants.\n\nAttempts had been made to build a city on the site of Nauvoo, previous\nto the entrance of the Saints, but all the inhabitants, with the\nexception of three or four families, had died, and the Saints used the\ndeserted houses as far as they would go.\n\nIt was a common saying among the inhabitants of the surrounding country\nthat, if the \"Mormons\" could live here, they could live anywhere. It\ntruly was a most unhealthy spot, filled with ponds and stagnant water,\nleft by the overflowing of the Mississippi river, afflicting all the\nneighborhood with fever and ague.\n\nFrom this condition I saw the city become, through the industry of the\nSaints, a healthy and prosperous place, being drained of these swamps,\netc.\n\nI lived there until I had accumulated considerable property. During\nthis time, about seven years, I had frequent opportunities of\ncontinuing my acquaintance with Joseph Smith, seeing him nearly every\nday.\n\nFrom my actual knowledge, I can testify to the purity and uprightness\nof his life, and I know that he was a man of God. I had every\nopportunity to acquire this information, for, when escaping from his\nenemies, he has lived sometimes for a week at a time at my residence.\n\nDuring this period several missions were appointed me, one to the north\nof Albany, where I succeeded in baptizing a goodly number; another to\nthe Eastern States.\n\nAbout a year previous to the death of Joseph, with Jesse W. Crosby, who\nhad friends in that part, I was assigned a mission to Nova Scotia.\n\nOur route lay through Chicago, a distance of two hundred miles, which\nwe walked. We then, by steamer, passed down the northern lakes to\nBuffalo, a journey of at least a thousand miles, and again took steamer\non Lake Ontario, about four hundred miles further, and arrived at\nSackett's Harbor.\n\nAs we were destitute of means to prosecute our journey further, and, as\nI had some relatives living at hand, we concluded to stop and preach\nawhile, until we could procure means to go on, but the weather coming\non very cold, the rivers froze over, and we were compelled to spend the\nwinter in this place.\n\nThis brought me into the region of country where I had lived for ten\nyears when a young man. The first place we commenced at was in the town\nof Lime, Jefferson Co., New York.\n\nHere we procured a school-house. Two ministers, who usually occupied\nthe room, greatly opposed us at the close of our preaching, and\nendeavored to set the people against us, but they displayed such a\nweak, mean spirit, that their congregation left them. One minister, who\nhad a regular salary with a small farm, for his preaching, had them\ntaken from him, and many of his followers became members of the Church.\n\nWe confined our labors chiefly to Jefferson Co., where we found a\nfew scattered members, and managed to raise up some six branches,\nconsisting of about two hundred members. These were abundantly blessed\nwith the gifts of tongues, prophecy, healings, etc., and the branches\nbecame very strong in the faith.\n\nWhile we were here, I felt very anxious to know of the position of\naffairs at head quarters, and besought the Lord to enlighten me on the\nsubject. He did so, revealing unto me, through the gift of tongues, the\ninterpretation of which was given to myself, many things concerning the\nChurch, the temple ordinances at Nauvoo, and several other things, that\nI found, on my return to that place, to be strictly true.\n\nJust at this time the spring was coming on, and the St. Lawrence river\nbegan to clear from ice, so that we were able to continue our journey\nto Nova Scotia.\n\nPrevious to our departure we had a farewell meeting with the Saints. It\nwas a delightful meeting, and they rejoiced much, for the Spirit of the\nLord was greatly poured out. During the meeting, a little boy stood up\nand spoke in tongues, the tears rolling down his face all the time. The\ninterpretation stated that, after leaving that place, I should go to\nanother, where I should be mobbed and left for dead, and that the blood\nshould run down from my head on my clothes and on the ground.\n\nI took this for a timely warning, and thought that, by prudence, I\nmight escape. Accordingly, by great caution, I kept clear of much that\nI might have suffered.\n\nWe passed down the St. Lawrence river, and, after preaching a few times\nat Montreal, passed on to Quebec, where we distributed a few books, but\nthe priests would not allow us to preach.\n\nAt this place we wished to take the steamboat to Nova Scotia, but our\nmeans were inadequate, and the captain refused to lower the fare. Again\nwe were frustrated in our purpose to proceed on our mission.\n\nThis was our position when, one day, as Elder Crosby and I were walking\nabout Quebec, wondering what we should do to accomplish our purpose,\nwe came in contact with a gentleman who told us a plan by which we\nmight fulfill our mission--going on a sailing vessel to the mouth of\nthe river Delieu, then by land to the head waters of St. Johns river,\nNew Brunswick; then to buy a canoe, and paddle down that river to the\nmouth, where we could, for a small sum, take ship any day for Nova\nScotia.\n\nThis advice we concluded to act upon, but before we left Quebec, as our\njourney seemed to be diverted from its original purpose, I prayed the\nLord to show us, in vision, those people among whom he wished us to\nstop and confine our efforts, for our mission to Nova Scotia had been\nassigned to us at the request of Brother Crosby, whose friends lived in\nthat part, and was more to comply with his desire than from any prior\nintention the Presidency had with regard to the place.\n\nDescending St. John's river in the canoe, we overtook a man on a raft,\nwho asked us several questions, and finally we told him that we were\npreachers of the gospel.\n\nAfter hearing this he invited us to stop at his house, about twenty\nmiles farther down the river, and preach there on the Sunday. This we\ndid. We had a large congregation, and found a fine opening for the\nspread of the truth.\n\nAt the close of the meeting, at which I preached and Elder Crosby bore\ntestimony, we were invited to dine with a family residing there.\n\nThe wife of our host told us that, about two or three months before,\nthe minister that had preached in that part of the country had left,\nand they were without any religious instructor, when she prayed the\nLord to send some faithful person to supply his place.\n\nThus engaged, she was shown in a vision two men, the elder of whom was\npreaching, but the other delivered an exhortation of a different kind.\nThe doctrine, she said, was new to her, but it seemed true.\n\nShe also recollected distinctly the clothes and appearance of these\nmen, and, to her great surprise and pleasure, recognized them in the\npersons of Elder Crosby and myself, directly we entered the room. Of\ncourse our hearts were cheered at hearing this, and we felt assured\nthat the Lord was working in the vineyard with His servants.\n\nWe commenced to baptize soon afterwards, and the Spirit of the Lord\nwas mightily poured out, in proportion to which the powers of darkness\nbegan to manifest themselves through the unbelievers.\n\nBut that which enraged our opponents most was the baptism of some of\nthe greatest men in the place. All manner of lies began to circulate\nabout our conduct and intentions. Among other things, it was stated\nthat we were in the habit of interrupting public meetings, and many\nsuch statements were privately forwarded to the governor of New\nBrunswick by the religious ministers and others of our enemies.\n\nThis led him to send down an order to three justices of the peace to\nconvene a meeting, and produce whatever kind of evidence could be\nprocured, either for or against, and report accordingly.\n\nBefore this meeting was held we ascertained that these justices,\nwho were our most bitter enemies, had been searching law books for\nsomething to lay hold of us with, and had found an old statute,\napplying to the whole of the province, forbidding all dissenters to\nhold public religious services without a written license from the\ngovernor. But the spirit of their purpose was shown by the fact that\nthey had never put this law in force against the numerous dissenters\nthat had flourished there--in fact, two of these justices were\ndissenters themselves.\n\nThe day of the meeting arrived, and all manner of witnesses that could\nbe raked together were produced--among others a negro's evidence was\ntaken, who had previously been convicted of taking a false oath. But\nfor the purpose of this holy tribunal this testimony was good enough!\nWhat mattered? He was not for the defense--upon which side of the\nquestion it did not occur to the justices, as a necessary thing, to\ncall for any witnesses whatever.\n\nI quickly discovered that it was high time to stir in the matter, or\npossibly the next discovery would be that we were inmates of a jail;\nso, taking the advice of Squire Shelton, a gentleman whom we had\nbaptized, I waited with him on Judge Bardsley, the judge of the county,\nwho had frequently attended our meetings, and I procured a certificate\nfrom him that he had done so, and had heard nothing injurious to the\npeople or the government.\n\nWith this and a similar certificate from Mr. Shelton, who was also\na justice of the peace, Brother Crosby and I went to the governor's\nresidence, and obtained an interview; but we found him most terribly\nprejudiced against us, and very ignorant of law and gospel.\n\nHe broke down, however, before the arguments of his aid-de-camp and\ncounsel, who pleaded on our behalf, after battling with him for about\ntwo hours. The result was, that all law proceedings against us were\nstopped.\n\nThis enraged our enemies so much that our lives became endangered, and,\nto escape their violence, we had to sleep in the woods, and do our\nbaptizing in the night, as their determination was to mob us the first\nopportunity.\n\nUnfortunately, one of them overheard me promise to visit one of the\nbrethren after I had been preaching one day. This mobber, with a party\nof about ten others, waylaid me. Some of them held me while the rest\nbeat me about the head with their fists; but not being able to bruise\nme sufficiently in this manner, one of them took off one of my boots,\nand belabored me about the head with the heel of it until I was covered\nwith blood, which ran down on to my clothes and the ground.\n\nSome of them then threw me down, and jumped upon me with their knees\nuntil they broke several of my ribs. All this while I had been calling\nout loudly, whenever they did not stop my mouth.\n\nBut it suddenly occurred to me that, if I were to pretend to be dead\nthey would leave me, thinking their murderous work accomplished; so\nI groaned loudly as if dying, and resigned myself into their hands,\nholding my breath as much as possible. This succeeded, the darkness of\nthe night favoring my purpose, and they left me, and ran off as fast as\nthey could.\n\nDirectly they were gone I arose, though with great difficulty, and went\ninto a house not far distant, where I washed the blood off my person,\nand Elder Crosby, who also came there, laid hands upon me.\n\nThe mob, however, by some means discovering that I was not yet dead,\nand that Elder Crosby was with me, met, and resolved to attack the\nhouse that night, and, if possible, get possession of both of us, after\nwhich they purposed to cut off Elder Crosby's ears, tar and feather\nus, carry us out into the middle of St. Johns river, and, after tying\nstones to our feet, sink us both.\n\nThe first intimation that we received of this determination was by a\nwooden rail being hurled against the window. The rail broke through the\nwindow, came in upon the bed where we were sleeping, and awoke us both.\n\nWe immediately sprang up, and Elder Crosby rushed to the door where\nthey were hammering to get in. He held it as well as he could, but in\nanother moment they would have succeeded, had not Mrs. Shelton, who had\nbeen alarmed by the noise, come upon them unexpectedly with a lighted\ncandle, and surprised them in the act.\n\nThis frightened them, and, alarmed lest they should be known, they fled\nwith the rest that had been posted at the other parts of the house.\n\nWe were quiet after this for about an hour, and Justice Shelton, at\nwhose house we were stopping, went to alarm the neighbors and his son,\nwho lived some distance off, so that we might have assistance in case\nof the mob returning.\n\nThe mob returned while he was gone, having recruited their spirits with\nwhisky. They made a second attack upon the house, trying another door\nthis time.\n\nBut Elder Crosby held the door with an iron grasp and the resolution\nof a lion, so they were again unsuccessful. After drinking round they\ntried a third time, and one of them managed to get his arm through the\ndoor opening, but while doing so he was caught round the waist in the\narms of Mr. Shelton's son, who, with several others entered the place\nat the moment. And thus the Lord delivered us out of their hands, for\nthey were not long dispersing themselves after this.\n\nSeveral of them were recognized by our friends. These Mr. Shelton\nput under bonds, but they threatened to burn his house and barn if\nhe attempted to prosecute; and fearing that the government, from its\ndislike to the Saints, would refuse to back him up, he was compelled to\nlet these mobbers go, and we remained without redress.\n\nIn the foregoing recital, the reader will perceive how fully the word\nof the Lord, spoken in tongues by the youth before we left Jefferson\nCounty, was fulfilled.\n\nThe next day, by the blessing of God, I recovered sufficiently to\nwalk seventeen miles and preach, but my face was discolored, and I\ncould only see with one eye. I took for my text, Paul's words, \"thrice\nhave I been beaten with stripes, etc.\" and, as may be supposed, my\npersonal appearance furnished a very favorable evidence, on behalf of\nmy argument, that the same effects--violence and death, followed the\npreaching of the gospel in these days, as did anciently.\n\nNotwithstanding our persecutions we did not leave the country, but\ncontinued to preach, fearless of opposition, until we had baptized\nabout fifty, and organized two branches. These were also visited\nabundantly with the signs following, and the Saints rejoiced greatly in\nthe work. The persecution was a failure in Satan's calculation; it only\nexcited curiosity and awakened attention to our principles.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nRETURN TO NAUVOO--SENT TO JEFFERSON COUNTY ON A TITHING MISSION--RETURN\nWITH A THOUSAND DOLLARS--REMOVE WEST WITH THE CHURCH--STAY AT WINTER\nQUARTERS--ORDAINED BISHOP--SCURVY IN CAMP--HIRE OUT IN MISSOURI--ARRIVE\nIN SALT LAKE VALLEY--ELDER KIMBALL'S PROPHECY AND ITS FULFILLMENT.\n\nThe work in New Brunswick rolled on prosperously, but the time came\nwhen we had calculated to be at home. We had heard, too, that our\nbeloved Prophet had been murdered in Carthage jail, and we naturally\nfelt anxious to know how things were with our families and friends at\nNauvoo.\n\nOur parting with the Saints in New Brunswick was not very pleasant, as\nmay be supposed. As we were leaving the place, while stopping by some\nwater, waiting to cross by means of the ferry, we were overtaken by two\npersons, who requested us to baptize them. This we did, and confirmed\nthem on the spot--such was the spirit of the work in that region.\n\nWe returned by way of Boston, where I left Brother Crosby.\n\nI arrived at Nauvoo safely, but I had scarcely been there three weeks\nbefore I was again sent to Jefferson Co., this time on a tithing\nmission.\n\nI got back in about four months, carrying with me about a thousand\ndollars which the Saints had donated towards building the temple of the\nLord.\n\nWhile I was on my mission to New Brunswick, the Church promised the\nmob to leave Nauvoo by the next grass time--spring, so that when I\nreturned the second time the city was all excitement. All that could\nwere selling out, some were disposing of their things by auction, for\nwhatever could be got, while others would take cart-loads of furniture\nout into the country, and \"swap\" it for money or cattle; for, ready or\nnot ready, the mob meant to have the Saints out by the time stated.\n\nMy property was rather more pleasantly situated than many others', and\nI succeeded in getting the munificent sum of $250 for my house and\norchard, the nursery to which contained six thousand young grafted\nfruit trees, and was worth $3,000 at least.\n\nMany of the Saints would have been glad to have got off with no greater\nsacrifice than myself, but as the time drew near, the prices offered\nfor our property fell in proportion. Some of the Saints did not get\nhalf as much as I did, for property equally valuable. Others got\nnothing at all, but had to leave their houses just as they were, and\nthose living in the outskirts of the city were saved the sacrifice of\n_selling_ their houses for less than their worth, for the mob burned\nabout three hundred of them down, and destroyed the property of the\nowners.\n\nThe Saints were hard at work all the winter making wagons. The people\nthat came into the city were astonished to see the hundreds and\nthousands of wagons that were turned out in a few months.\n\nIn February, 1846, the authorities took the lead, crossed the river\nMississippi with a large camp, and stopped some seven or eight miles\nfrom the water on the other side, waiting for the snow to go off, which\njust then had fallen heavily. In consequence of this they had no food\nfor their cattle, and being at the end of regular settlements, had\ngreat difficulty in procuring any food, but as soon as possible they\nwere on the move.\n\nWhen the general emigration of the main body of the Church came on, it\nwas pretty much all at once. On the Nauvoo side of the river two or\nthree hundred wagons were waiting at one time for the ferry. In these\nwagons the Saints had to sleep, cooking their food on the beach.\n\nAlthough all the boats and ferries that could be had were employed,\nthis state of things continued for upwards of a month.\n\nAll the opposite shore was covered with wagons in which the Saints were\nliving, but multitudes were without any protection from the weather,\nexcept tents made with blankets, under one of which a whole family had\nto live.\n\nA scene of human suffering and endurance for the gospel's sake, on so\nlarge a scale, has seldom if ever before been seen on the earth. The\nsufferings of the Saints during their expulsion from Missouri, and\ntheir entrance to Nauvoo, were perhaps more intense, but not so many\nSaints endured them.\n\nPicture, dear reader, to yourself, the case of thousands--they had\nbeen mobbed and plundered in Missouri, had escaped only as fugitives,\nand had arrived at a new location, Nauvoo, only to see their families\ndie off around them by the fever and ague of that place.\n\nAfter surviving these troubles, cheering up, beginning life afresh,\nand seeing this abode of death converted, by incessant toil, into a\ngarden of health and prosperity, fancy to yourself the feelings of\nthe Saints when called upon to resign these blessings, made doubly\nvaluable by being so dearly paid for, and to exchange them for a barren\nwilderness, a prospect of a thousand miles' journey across untracked\nplains and mountains, and the probability of death on the journey, or\nof starvation afterwards.\n\nWill the annals of history present a similar case? The exodus of Moses\nand his bands was not equal to it, for he had a goodly land to promise\nhis hosts--a land flowing with milk and honey, to cheer their spirits\nup. They only had to enter upon the already cultivated land of their\nenemies. But here were twenty thousand people starting to locate a\nthousand miles beyond the borders of civilized life, over what had\nalways been considered impassable mountains.\n\nReports had arrived of Colonel Fremont's exploration, and the hardships\nhe had suffered, but here were not only men, but thousands of women and\nchildren, starting on the same hazardous journey, not only temporarily\nto endure these difficulties, but proposing to make a settled home in\nthose dreary wilds, and live where they were told not a spear of wheat\ncould be raised.\n\nNotwithstanding all these things, the recollection of past hardships,\nand the prospect of those in the future, the Saints were not\ndispirited, but from their abodes ascended the sound of joy and of\nrejoicing, to think that they had at last a prospect of getting beyond\nthe power of their enemies.\n\nShortly the first camp moved on, and the rest of the Saints came up to\nit in succession, but not until the first camp had crossed the Missouri\nriver.\n\nHere the command was, \"Stop and raise grain to go on with next year,\"\nfor we had a thousand miles' journey ahead, and not a settlement on\nthe road; besides, unless we wished to starve, we must have grain to\nsow our lands when we got there. So, at the word, a spot was selected\nand, before many weeks had passed, lands in all directions were fenced\nin, and a city composed of roughly-built houses and wagons, and called\nWinter Quarters, sprang into existence.\n\nAs the winter was, however, just coming on, of course we could not put\nin any grain until the spring. We began, then, more than ever, to feel\nthe destitution of our position, for want of vegetables had brought on\nthe scurvy, the provisions of many became exhausted, and our prospects\nof a fresh supply seemed rather distant.\n\nThe city was laid out in wards, over each of which a Bishop was\nappointed. One of these wards was committed to me, and this, of course,\nentailed upon me the care of the poor--no trifling matter under such\ncircumstances.\n\nIt would take no small space to describe all the expedients to which I\nwas often driven in fulfillment of this duty, for the little stock I\nhad of my own was soon gone, and still the poor had not done eating.\n\nWhat was to be done? I went to President Young, and very pathetically\ntold him that all my grain was gone, and I had not the first shilling\nin my possession with which to get any more. All the consolation I got\nfrom him was some instruction to \"feed them well, and take care they\nhave enough to eat,\" and it would not do for a Saint to say he could\nnot. So I had to scheme. I borrowed ten dollars from a sister who\npossessed a small store. I then crossed the Missouri river, and laid\nthe money out in meal and meat. But when this was gone I had to borrow\nof some one else to pay her, and then of some one else to pay him.\n\nI borrowed until I made my debt up to fifty dollars, and no more chance\nof payment appeared than at first. Who would not have been a Bishop\nthen? Fortunately, just at this juncture, the lost cattle of one who\nhad died in my ward came into my hands, and I sold them for fifty\ndollars. I paid my debt, and was ready to commence borrowing again with\na clear conscience.\n\nThe Pioneers started for the mountains to seek out a resting place for\nthe Saints, and the body of those that remained began to raise corn. I\nand many others left our families, went down into Missouri, and hired\nourselves out to obtain means to buy teams, clothes, flour, etc., so\nthat we might follow the Pioneers' camp.\n\nWhen the time arrived the Saints moved out promiscuously, and, after\ncrossing the Elk Horn river, they were organized into two large\ndivisions called Brigham's and Heber's companies. These were subdivided\ninto smaller companies of hundreds, fifties and tens, and in this way\nthe Saints proceeded across the plains.\n\nIn September, 1847, we found that the Pioneers and others of the Saints\nthat had gone into the Valley shortly after them, had been hard at work\nsowing all the winter, for every wagon had taken about two bushels\nof grain, consequently, most of the wheat that the crickets had not\nharvested on their own account, the inhabitants had, and they had\nraised a considerable quantity of vegetables also. And, as it is well\nknown, after we had been in the Valley about a fortnight, they prepared\na splendid feast, composed mostly of the fruits of their labor, to\nwhich feast all the Saints and strangers in the valley were invited.\n\nSuch numbers, however, had arrived in the Valley, that the vegetables\nraised by our brethren went but a little way, and after the feast\nat their expense, it was a rarity to get any vegetables until the\nfollowing June, fourteen months from the time we left Winter Quarters,\nwhen we partook of vegetables raised by ourselves.\n\nOur bread also became very scarce before the wheat put in by the Saints\ngenerally was ready to harvest. Some persons lived for three months on\ntheir cattle, which they had to kill for food, and on roots which they\ndug up. Of course, after a time, our clothes and farming implements\nbegan to wear out, and we had the delightful prospect of wearing sheep\nskins, etc.\n\nOur wagons were becoming scarce, many having been broken in the\ncanyons, and we had no timber suitable for making more, and if there\nhad been, from where were we to get the iron work necessary for making\nthem, or for making plows, shovels, etc., for cultivating the ground,\nwithout which, of course, food would cease and starvation ensue? In\nfact, naturally speaking, things looked alarming, and just calculated\nto dry up our hopes and fill us with fears.\n\nMatters were at this crisis, when one day Elder Heber C. Kimball stood\nup in the congregation of the Saints, and prophesied that \"in a short\ntime\" we should be able to buy articles of clothing and utensils\ncheaper in the Valley than we could purchase them in the States.\n\nI was present on the occasion, and with others there, only hoped the\ncase might be so, for many of the Saints felt like the man spoken of in\nthe scriptures, who heard Elisha prophesy at the time of a hard famine\nin Samaria, \"that before to-morrow, a measure of fine flour should be\nsold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel.\" We thought\nthat \"if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be,\"\nbut without an absolute miracle there seemed no human probability of\nits fulfillment.\n\nHowever, Elder Kimball's prophecy was fulfilled in a few months.\nInformation of the great discovery of gold in California had reached\nthe States, and large companies were formed for the purpose of\nsupplying the gold diggers with food and clothing, and implements\nof every kind for digging, etc. Numbers of substantial wagons were\nprepared, stored with wholesale quantities of clothing of every kind,\nspades, picks, shovels, chests of carpenters' tools, tea, coffee,\nsugar, flour, fruits, etc.\n\nWhen these companies arrived within a short distance of Salt Lake City,\nnews reached them that ships had been dispatched from many parts of the\nworld, fitted out with goods for California. This threatened to flood\nthe market. So these companies brought their goods into the Valley,\nand disposed of them for just what could be got--provisions, wagons,\nclothes, tools, almost for the taking away, at least at half the price\nfor which the goods could have been purchased in the States.\n\nMany disposed of their wagons because the teams gave out, and could not\nget on any farther. Some sold almost all they had to purchase a mule or\na horse to pack through with.\n\nThus were the Saints amply provided, even to overflowing, with every\none of the necessaries and many of the luxuries of which they had been\nso destitute, and thus was the prediction of the servant of the Lord\nfulfilled.\n\nThis was a miraculous Providence, but not more so than those which it\nhas been my lot to see the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints\nexperience ever since my connection with it.\n\nIn this short history of some of the testimonies I have witnessed and\nreceived, the reader may see that I have had much to establish me in\nthe belief of the truths of \"Mormonism.\"\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note:\n\nVarious changes were made to resolve apparent printer's errors in\nthe original book, such as \"aftewards\" for \"afterwards,\" \"Spirt\" for\n\"Spirit,\" etc.","title":"Gems for the Young Folks: Fourth Book of the Faith-Promoting Series. Designed for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-Day Saints.","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":31213}