{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_46783/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_46783","id":"gutenberg_46783","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46783","summary":null,"tags":["Category: History - American","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Latter Day Saint churches -- History","Latter Day Saints"],"text":"EARLY SCENES\n\nIN\n\nCHURCH HISTORY.\n\nEIGHTH BOOK OF THE\n\nFAITH-PROMOTING SERIES.\n\nDesigned for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-Day\nSaints.\n\nJuvenile Instructor Office, Salt Lake City, 1882.\n\n\n\nCopyright applied for at the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at\nWashington, D. C., by G. C. Lambert.\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\nMany deaths have occurred within the last few years among the veteran\nmembers of our Church. Numbers of persons have recently passed away\nwho were connected with the Church during the early years of its\nexistence, and whose lives were filled with scenes and incidents of\nthe most interesting nature. Their wonderful experience so far as\nknown is appreciated by their intimate friends, in whose memories it\nis embalmed, but it will hereafter only be known as tradition, for, as\na rule, they have left no written testimony or record of their lives\nto show to future generations what they have seen or passed through.\nWe have scarcely ever heard of the death of such a person without a\nfeeling of regret that the important scenes of which he was a witness\nwhile living were not better known, and that a definite and accurate\naccount of them had not been written before his death.\n\nA short time since we conceived the idea of publishing a volume of the\n\"Faith-Promoting Series,\" entitled EARLY SCENES IN CHURCH HISTORY, to\nbe made up of such incidents of appropriate nature as we could obtain\nfrom early members of the Church.\n\nOf course we were aware that a single volume of the size contemplated\ncould not describe a tithe of the interesting scenes of a\nfaith-promoting nature with which the early history of the Church\nabounded, but not until we had started the compilation did we realize\nto the full extent the vastness of the field which we had entered upon.\nWe gathered the incidents contained in the present volume at random\n(mostly from verbal narratives), compiled them very hastily, with too\nlittle regard perhaps for variety, and feel that we have hardly made a\ncommencement at recounting the early scenes of which a record should be\nperpetuated.\n\nIn compiling this volume no effort has been made at selecting scenes\nof a marvelous or sensational character; the aim has rather been to\nmention such incidents as would tend to show how the power of God was\nmanifested in behalf of the Saints in those early days, and thereby\npromote faith among the young, for whose benefit this Series is\npublished. Nor is it to be supposed that such scenes as are herein\ndescribed have been confined to any particular period of our Church's\nhistory. As wonderful incidents of special providence could be related\nof the present age as of that which is past. The power of God is as\nmanifest now in shaping the destiny of His Saints, in preserving their\nlives and in answering their prayers as it ever has been. The faithful\nnever had greater cause to rejoice nor the wicked to tremble than they\nhave at the present time. That the perusal of this volume may cause\nthose into whose hands it may come to be more faithful and devoted to\nthe cause of God, is the earnest desire of\n\nTHE PUBLISHER.\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n\"SHOW US A SIGN.\"\n\nMy Sister's Hip Broken--No Hopes of Ever Being Able to Walk--Our\nFamily Embrace the Gospel--Scoffers Demand as a Sign that my Sister\nbe Healed--Elder Brackinbury's Designs--Caught in the Act of Robbing\nthe Grave--My Brother's Death--My Sister Healed-The Healing Fails to\nConvince the Unbelievers.\n\n\nCONTEST WITH EVIL SPIRITS.\n\nThe Savior's Promise--Sent on a Mission When a Boy--Conference in\nBurke's Garden--A Girl Apparently Stricken With Death--My Fright at\nBeing Asked to Administer to Her--Prompted by the Spirit to Cast the\nDevil Out of Her--The Evil Spirit Leaves Her and Enters Two Others--Six\nElders Contend With the Evil Spirit for Thirty-Six Hours--Its Final\nBanishment.\n\n\nEARLY EXPERIENCE OF A. O. SMOOT.\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nSickly Condition when Young--Healed According to Elder Patten's\nPrediction--Labor as a Missionary with Elder Woodruff--Severe\nSickness--Healed Under the Administration of my Brethren--A Mission\nto the Southern States--Removal to Far West--Mission to Missouri and\nArkansas--Opposed by a Baptist Deacon--Terrible Judgment upon Himself\nand Family--John Houston, the Infidel--Far West Besieged--Taken\nPrisoner.\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nMarried while a Prisoner of War--Property Confiscated--Removal\nto Quincy--First Hard Work--Removal to Montrose--Mission to\nTennessee--Shot at--Camp, my Champion--A Lawyer and his Mob--Appeal to\nMasons for Help--Ready Response--Camp's Vengeance on the Lawyer--News\nof Martyrdom--Return to Nauvoo--Brigham Young Inspired--Another Mission\nSouth--Blessings in the Temple--Journey to Salt Lake Valley.\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nAlmost Lost in the Atlantic--Narrowly Escape the _Saluda_\nDisaster--Nearly Dead with the Cholera--Healed in Answer to\nPrayer--Blown up with a Keg of Powder--A Sick Woman Healed--Elder\nPatten's Remarkable Prediction Fulfilled--A Man Almost Dead Recovers on\nBeing Baptized.\n\n\nSCENES IN THE BRITISH MISSION.\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nElder Halliday Applied to for Help By a Sister whose Son is Dying--Not\nAble to go, he Gives the Lady his Handkerchief and Promised her\nthe Child Shall Live--The Child Revives from Apparent Death by the\nWoman's Faith and Prayer--Preaching in Penzance--Discouragement and\nWant--Strange Conduct of a Lady Attending the Meeting--Invitation to\ngo to St. Just--Gift of Tongues and Interpretation Given to Elder\nHalliday, Through which he Receives a Revelation--Revelation Literally\nFulfilled.\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nElder Elias Morris Falls with a Scaffold a Distance of Thirty Feet\nWithout Being Hurt--Gift of Healing Possessed by Elder Abel Evans--A\nWoman Healed who had Her Face Eaten Away by a Cancer--Storm at Sea\nRebuked--A Broken Leg Cured--A Broken Skull Mended--Fever on Shipboard\nStopped by the Prayer of Faith.\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nElder John Parry's Statement--His Brother's Testimony and Death--His\nSister's Reproof and Death--Embrace the Gospel--His Sleep Troubled--A\nRemedy and Lesson--Orson Spencer Healed--Providential Help--Escape from\na Mob--Cancer in a Man's Face Cured by Laying on of Hands--Preserved\nfrom Mobs.\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nJohn T. Evans' Statement--A Sick and Helpless Woman Healed on Being\nBaptized--Relapse and Death after Apostasy--Saints Required to Renounce\ntheir Religion or Lose their Situations--Cholera Epidemic--Healed\nAccording to Faith--Private Discussion with a Malignant Preacher, who\nTakes the Cholera and Begs the Elders to Cure Him--Healed and then\nBaptized--Curious Manner in which Food and Lodging were Provided.\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nJudgment Upon Opposers--Two Men Killed by their Horses--Horrible Death\nof Another--Eight Preachers go Down After Opposing Elder Evans--A\nMan Saved from Bleeding to Death by the Prayer of Faith--A Sister\nHealed--Woman Cured of a Bloody Issue on Being Baptized--Escape the\nFury of a Mob by the Spirit's Warning--A Warning Through the Gift of\nTongues.\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nThomas D. Giles' Experience--His Head Crushed and Split Open by a Ton\nof Coal Falling Upon It--Healed by the Power of God--A Deaf and Dumb\nMan Receives His Hearing and Speech on Being Baptized, etc.\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nScene in the Experience of Wm. J. Smith--A Strange Prophecy and Its\nWonderful Fulfillment.\n\n\nREMARKABLE HEALINGS.\n\nMartin H. Peck's Testimony of a Number of Remarkable Cases of\nHealing--A Broken Arm, a Crushed Leg, etc., Healed Immediately.\n\n\nPHILO DIBBLE'S NARRATIVE.\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nHis Early Life--Conversion--Curious Signs--Joseph Removes to\nKirtland--Wonderful Manifestations--A Miraculous Case of Healing--Sidney\nRigdon in Darkness--Joseph Predicts that the Evil One will Handle Him,\nand the Prediction is Fulfilled.\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nRemoval to Missouri--The Saints' Guns Purchased for Mobocrats by a\nSectarian Preacher--Attack of the Mob on the Whitmer Settlement--The\nWriter Shot--Subsequent Exposure and Suffering--Critical\nCondition--Healed Miraculously--How Zion's Camp was preserved on\nFishing River--A Vision.\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nMilitia Organized at Far West--Liberty Pole Struck by\nLightning--General Atchison Defends the Prophet in a Lawsuit--Atchison\nRemoved from Office for being Friendly to the Saints--Far West\nBeseiged--Leaders of the Saints Betrayed for a Price--Escape to Quincy.\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nRent a Farm--Sickness--Providential Recovery--Inspired\nto Preach--Removal to Nauvoo--Death of my Wife--Second\nMarriage--Premonition of Death--Warning from the Prophet--A Dream and\nits Fulfillment--A Prophecy and its Fulfillment--Evil Spirits Cast out\nof a Man--Joseph Smith's Trust in the Lord.\n\n\n\n\"SHOW US A SIGN.\"\n\nBY B. F. JOHNSON\n\nMY SISTER'S HIP BROKEN--NO HOPES OF EVER BEING ABLE TO WALK--OUR\nFAMILY EMBRACE THE GOSPEL--SCOFFERS DEMAND AS A SIGN THAT MY SISTER\nBE HEALED--ELDER BRACKINBURY'S DEATH--WARNED BY THE SPIRIT OF THE\nBODY-SNATCHERS' DESIGNS--CAUGHT IN THE ACT OF ROBBING THE GRAVE--MY\nBROTHER'S DEATH--MY SISTER HEALED--THE HEALING FAILS TO CONVINCE THE\nUNBELIEVERS.\n\nAbout the year 1830, when I was twelve years of age, Nancy, my eldest\nsister, was thrown from a horse, and had her hip broken.\n\nThe bone was broken so near the socket that it could not be set,\nand physicians all agreed that it would be impossible for her ever\nagain to walk upon that leg, or in any degree to recover its use, as\nossification had taken place without a connection of the bones and they\nhad slipped past each other, making the broken limb nearly an inch\nshorter than the other. She walked upon two crutches, and for years was\nnot able to bring upon the broken limb weight sufficient to hurt the\nfinger of a small child, if placed under her foot.\n\nIn the year 1831, my brothers Joel H. and David received the gospel\nin Amherst, Ohio, and in the fall of the same year my brother David\nbrought to us the Book of Mormon, near Fredonia, State of New York.\n\nSoon afterwards my brother Joel, with A. W. Babbitt--then only a\nboy, came also, and was followed by Elders Brackinbury and Durfee.\nElder Brackinbury was an earnest and powerful preacher, and all the\nElders seemed filled with the spirit of the Lord. Many received their\ntestimony, and my mother and Lyman R. Shearman, a brother-in-law, were\nthe first to be baptized.\n\nPriest and people came out to oppose the work, and would scoffingly\nask, \"Why, if miracles can be performed, do you not heal Sister Nancy?\"\nMany would also say: \"If they would only heal Sister Nancy we would all\nbelieve!\"\n\nMy sister was a young woman of excellent mind and character. Having\na good common education, she had for some years taught our district\nsummer school, and, being religiously inclined, had joined the Freewill\nBaptist church. Like my mother, who was also a religious woman, she was\nnot only respected, but was beloved by all who knew her. But, although\nshe had obeyed the gospel, the time had not come for her release from\nher crutches by the healing power of God. The wicked were seeking it\nfor a sign, as in the days of our Savior, when they followed Him even\nto His crucifixion, demanding that He come down from the cross, as a\nsign, to prove to them that He was the Son of God; yet no sign was\ngiven except that of their overthrow and destruction.\n\nAfter a few weeks of successful preaching and baptizing, Elder\nBrackinbury was taken violently sick, and, within a few days, died of\nthe bilious cholic.\n\nTo us, then young and inexperienced members of the Church, his death\ncame as a trial to our faith, as well as a very great grief. To think\nthat so good a man, in such a field of useful labor, and far away\nfrom his home and family, should be permitted to die, and that too so\nsuddenly, was naturally a test to the faith and integrity of so young a\nbranch.\n\nAlthough the grave had closed over his body and we were in deep sorrow,\nour enemies were not satisfied, for while we were assembled in the\nevening after his burial, to talk and pray and mourn together, the\nspirit of revelation said to my brother David that they were then\ndigging up the body of Brother Brackinbury for dissection.\n\nMy brothers with others quickly started, and proceeding rapidly to the\ngrave about one mile away, found three men there who had unearthed the\ncoffin and were just dragging the corpse from under its lid. As our\nparty approached they sprang out of the grave and fled.\n\nDavid, then a stripling of about twenty years, pursued them, and like a\nyoung lion, grappled with, captured and brought back as a prisoner one\nof the most powerful young men of the country--not only much older but\nnearly double his size--a student of medicine in our native town.\n\nThe prisoner was afterwards committed by a magistrate, and put under\nbonds to appear at his trial.\n\nThese, with other unhappy events, caused us to desire to leave our\nnative place and gather with the Saints at Kirtland, which we did in\nthe spring of 1833. In the summer of that same year it was proposed to\nbuild the Kirtland Temple, and as it was designed at first to build it\nof brick, my three eldest brothers, with those of us who were younger,\nengaged in making the brick for that purpose; and there brother David,\nwho was then about twenty-two years of age, became a martyr to the\ngreat and good cause. Through his ambition to perform more labor than\nhe was able to endure, and by over-exertion in procuring the wood, he\nbled at the lungs and died the same fall. He bore a faithful testimony\nof the gospel being again revealed, and spoke with the gift of tongues\nwith his latest breath, which was interpreted by Don Carlos Smith, the\nProphet's brother, who was present at the time.\n\nAbout this time the Spirit of the Lord seemed to be poured out upon the\nSaints in Kirtland. There families often met together to \"speak of the\nLord,\" and the gifts of the gospel were enjoyed in rich abundance. As\nyet my sister Nancy had never, since her hip had been broken, taken one\nstep unaided by her crutches; but the time had now come for her release.\n\nShe was commanded by Elder Jared Carter--then a man of mighty faith--to\narise, leave her crutches and walk.\n\nShe arose in faith, full of joy, and was from that hour made whole, and\nnever again did she walk upon crutches or lean upon a staff.\n\nThe same fall I returned on a visit to my native town, full of a desire\nthat our old neighbors, as well as my young associates, should embrace\nthe truth; for I felt sure that they would believe my testimony that my\nsister was healed, and, as they had promised, accept the gospel.\n\nI was full of hope, although I was but a boy, that they would all\nbe converted through my testimony; but alas! there were none to be\nconverted--no one to accept the great truths of the gospel. They\nbelieved my statement that my sister had become well and was walking\nunaided upon her broken limb, yet, to their understanding, \"some\nnatural cause had produced the effect,\" and they were unbelievers still.\n\nWhen again, as a missionary, I returned to the place of my birth\nand preached to those same persons the gospel, bearing a faithful\ntestimony, they were glad to see me, and treated me with great\nkindness, yet no one was converted to the truth, for signs had failed\nto make them believe.\n\n\n\nCONTEST WITH EVIL SPIRITS.\n\nBY H. G. B.\n\nTHE SAVIOR'S PROMISE--SENT ON A MISSION WHEN A BOY--CONFERENCE IN\nBURKE'S GARDEN--A GIRL APPARENTLY STRICKEN WITH DEATH--MY FRIGHT AT\nBEING ASKED TO ADMINISTER TO HER--PROMPTED BY THE SPIRIT TO CAST THE\nDEVIL OUT OF HER--THE EVIL SPIRIT LEAVES HER AND ENTERS TWO OTHERS--SIX\nELDERS CONTEND WITH THE EVIL SPIRIT FOR THIRTY-SIX HOURS--ITS FINAL\nBANISHMENT.\n\nJust a few minutes before our Savior took His leave of the twelve\napostles and ascended on high, He promised that certain gifts and\nblessings should be enjoyed by the believer.\n\nYou will find this promise recorded in the 16th chapter of the gospel\naccording to St. Mark, 17th and 18th verses. It is of one of these\ngifts that I wish to speak.\n\nWhen on my first mission (in the year 1844), in the State of Virginia,\nwe were attending a conference in Burke's Garden, Tazewell County.\nThere were some ten or twelve Elders in attendance, most of whom had\njust arrived a week or two previous from Nauvoo, where they had,\nduring the April Conference, been called and set apart for missions in\nVirginia. It was Sunday evening, some time early in May. Our conference\nhad just closed, the last services of which were the ordinances of\nbaptism and confirmation administered to several persons.\n\nThe Saints and strangers had dispersed to their homes, except some of\nthe Saints who lived at a distance. A few of these had put up with\nColonel Peter Litz, who, with his family, were members of the Church,\nand where also several of the Elders, myself included, were going to\nstay over night.\n\nThe time in the evening was what would be called early twilight. Some\nof the Elders had taken an evening stroll. At any rate, I was the only\nElder that was about the house, when Sister Litz came to me (I was\nseated at the time out in the yard) very much excited, and said that\none of the sisters who had come to stay over night, was taken suddenly\nand very severely sick, and she (Sister Litz) desired me to administer\nto her.\n\nI was only a boy, yet in my teens, and with little or no experience,\nand had never been called upon, up to that time, to administer to the\nsick. I naturally shrank from the task, and would have given anything\nto have had some one to take it off my shoulders.\n\nHowever, there was no escape for me--no other Elders were present, and\nshe insisted that I should attend to the ordinance.\n\nI followed Sister Litz into the house, and there lay the girl,\nstretched upon a bed, apparently lifeless, without breath or motion.\n\nI asked Sister Litz what was the matter with the girl, but she could\nnot tell.\n\n\"What can I do?\" I thought. What could any one do? Nevertheless, I\nplaced my hands upon her head, knowing full well if the Lord did not\nhelp me, that I would utterly fail in being able to say the first\nappropriate word, or exercise the least power.\n\nAs soon as I opened my mouth, I began to cast a devil out of her, which\nwas farthest from my thoughts before I commenced. I commanded it, in\nthe name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her, and not to return again.\nThe evil spirit immediately departed from her, she being restored to\nher normal condition, seemingly as well as ever.\n\nNot ten minutes after, the same evil spirit entered another girl. But\nduring this interval Elder Robert Hamilton had returned from a walk,\nand was present at the time of the second attack, and was mouth with\nmyself in casting it out.\n\nIn about the same time it would take a person to walk from one room to\nanother, a third young sister was attacked, and in the same way exactly\nthat the two first had been taken; and our administration had the same\neffect in relieving her as in the first two cases.\n\nThis third one was no sooner rid of the evil spirit, than it returned\nand took possession the second time of the one last before relieved of\nits power; and when it was cast out from this one, it took possession\nof the third one again, and so on, alternately, as well as I can\nremember, for three or four times. But the spirit never returned the\nsecond time to the first sister that was attacked that evening.\n\nHowever, at the end of three or four hours, we separated the two girls,\nby taking one of them up stairs and into a room at the west end of the\nhouse, leaving the other in a room on the first floor at the east end,\nmaking the distance between as far as we could for both to occupy the\nsame house, which was a large one.\n\nIn the meantime one of the Elders from the house of one of the nearest\nneighbors had come in, so there were six of us in attendance, the names\nof whom were as follows: Robert Hamilton, James Park, Richard Kinnamon,\nChapman Duncan, Alfred B. Lambson and myself.\n\nA. B. Lambson, James Park and Richard Kinnamon, with the father of the\ntwo girls (for they were sisters), watched with the one in the room on\nthe first floor, while Robert Hamilton, Chapman Duncan and myself, with\nthe mother, watched with the other in the upper room.\n\nWhile possessed with this evil spirit, the girls would sometimes lay in\na trance, motionless, and apparently without breathing, till we were\nready to conclude they were dead, then they would come to and speak\nand sing in tongues, and talk about Priesthood and the endowments. At\nother times, they would choke up, ceasing to breathe until they were\nblack in the face, and we thought they would surely die. Sometimes they\nwould froth at the mouth and act like they were in a fit. If standing\nupon their feet when taken, they would fall to the floor and act like\nthey were struggling for life with some unseen power. Altogether, these\ncases reminded us of the one recorded in Mark, 8th chapter, 14th to\n29th verse, and other cases recorded in the New Testament.\n\nWe never made a failure when attempting to cast out this evil spirit\nfrom either of the girls. But invariably as soon as one of them was\ndispossessed, in the length of time it would take a person to walk from\none room to the other, the spirit would take possession of the other,\nbut never both at the same time, and both were operated upon alike,\nso we knew there was but one evil spirit to deal with; yet it seemed\nimpossible to get rid of it, for the girls were possessed with it\nalternately for some thirty-six hours.\n\nHowever, we took advantage of the Savior's explanation in the 9th\nchapter of Mark, before referred to, and fasted and prayed. After\nwhich, while the three of us up stairs were administering (Robert\nHamilton being mouth) and commanding the devil (for such we were from\nthe first convinced it was) to come out of her and return to its\nown place, Elder Duncan immediately interrupted, and said to Elder\nHamilton, \"Name the place; name the place!\" (See Matthew, 8th chapter\nand 31st verse.)\n\nThis somewhat confused Elder Hamilton, who hesitated, when Elder Duncan\ncalled the name of a family who were near neighbors, and of whom not\none us had thought in connection with these cases. Elder Hamilton\nrepeated this name, and immediately the evil spirit departed, not only\nfrom the girl it then had possession of, but from the house. And in a\nmoment all in the house felt and knew that they were rid of its power\nand influence and that it would not again return.\n\nWe all, by this time, knew something of the power of the adversary, for\nwe had had an actual experience, indeed, a contest, that had left us\nweak and nearly worn out, to an extent that an actual corporal struggle\nwith flesh and blood would not have so reduced us.\n\nWhy was the key to its departure given to Elder Duncan and not to Elder\nHamilton, who was acting as mouthpiece at the time? is a question my\nyoung readers are ready to ask, as we asked one another at the time,\nand were not able to answer, and which I am unable to answer to this\nday.\n\nAnd why was it necessary to give this demon the privilege to return to\ntorment some other family?\n\nThis also I am unable to answer to my own satisfaction; but this much I\ncan say: the family referred to was bitterly opposed to the gospel and\nits blessings, and to all those who taught, practiced, or enjoyed the\nsame. A daughter of this family had been afflicted in a very singular\nway from her childhood. This girl had, in company with her parents and\nall the family (as they never left her alone), attended our baptismal\nmeeting on Sunday evening, and her family spoke of her being and acting\nlike a new person for two days after attending that meeting, often\nspeaking of the good effect the witnessing of the ordinance of baptism\nhad had upon her.\n\nTo all I have said in the foregoing, I was an eye and ear witness. All\nthose who are living, who were present at the time this occurred, will\nremember the truth of what I have inscribed, though at the time we kept\nit from the world. I have written this experience for the benefit of\nthe young Elders who are now abroad on missions, and for the benefit\nof the boys who may hereafter be called on to take missions, and any\nothers who may glean any good from its perusal; and also as an evidence\nof the truth of the promise of Jesus to believers.\n\n\n\nEARLY EXPERIENCE OF A. O. SMOOT.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nSICKLY CONDITION WHEN YOUNG--HEALED ACCORDING TO ELDER PATTEN'S\nPREDICTION--LABOR AS A MISSIONARY WITH ELDER WOODRUFF--SEVERE\nSICKNESS--HEALED UNDER THE ADMINISTRATION OF MY BRETHREN--A MISSION\nTO THE SOUTHERN STATES--REMOVAL TO FAR WEST--MISSION TO MISSOURI AND\nARKANSAS--OPPOSED BY A BAPTIST DEACON--TERRIBLE JUDGMENT UPON HIMSELF\nAND FAMILY--JOHN HOUSTON, THE INFIDEL--FAR WEST BESIEGED--TAKEN\nPRISONER.\n\nMy life has been an exceedingly active, busy one, but when my\nexperience is compared with that of many of my brethren there is\nperhaps nothing very extraordinary about it. I have seen the power\nof God manifested in various ways, and have had all the testimonies\nthat I could ask for of the divine character of the work instituted\nthrough Joseph Smith, with which I have been connected for almost\nhalf a century. But I have never seen anything that I could call very\nmiraculous, nor have I sought for anything of the kind as an evidence\nof the truth of God's work. To me everything has seemed to come along\nnaturally. And yet when all things are considered, my whole life\nmight be regarded as miraculous. When I reflect upon the precarious\ncondition of my health when a boy, and the indulgence with which I was\nthen treated, and then upon what I have been enabled to endure and\naccomplish, through the blessings of God since, there is something\nrather remarkable about it to me.\n\nI was born on the 17th of February, 1815, in Owenton, Owen Co.,\nKentucky. Both the town and County in which I was born were named after\nmy great-uncle, Abraham Owen, in whose honor I was named. He was killed\nin the battle of Tippecanoe, while serving under General Harrison, who\nwas afterwards President of the United States. Abraham Owen's sister,\nmy great-aunt, was Stonewall Jackson's mother, so that General Jackson\nand I were second-cousins.\n\nFrom my early childhood, almost from my infancy, I was afflicted with a\nlung disease, and supposed to be in consumption. Indeed, I was so bad a\ngreat deal of the time that my life was despaired of. When I was about\nnine years old my death seemed so imminent that my burial clothes were\nmade. However, I rallied somewhat, but not to be able to do any work. I\nhad a great desire to live, and also to know if the Lord had a church\nupon the earth, and I investigated the various doctrines professed by\nthose with whom I came in contact, but could never feel satisfied to\njoin any of the religious sects.\n\nWhen I attained my twentieth year, and while I was still very sickly,\nElders David W. Patten and Warren Parrish visited the part where I\nresided, as missionaries, and I became convinced of the correctness of\nthe doctrines which they taught and embraced the same, being baptized\nby Elder Parrish and confirmed by Elder Patten. Brother Patten, in\nconfirming me, promised that I should be healed of my infirmity and\nbecome a strong and powerful man. This prediction was verified to the\nletter; I began to grow strong immediately.\n\nThe following spring I was ordained a deacon and placed to preside\nover a small branch of the Church raised up by Elders Patten and\nParrish, and on the 7th of the next April I was ordained an Elder under\nthe hands of Brother Woodruff and started out with him preaching. I\ntraveled with him in Kentucky and Tennessee until the early part of the\nfollowing winter, when we left the South and went to Kirtland, Ohio,\nwhere I attended school with him and studied Greek and Latin.\n\nThe change of climate and a little carelessness on my part brought\non an attack of typhoid fever and pleurisy, from which I suffered\nseverely, and it was thought that I could not recover. Brother\nWoodruff, however, who was waiting upon me, called in Elders Brigham\nYoung, Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, and Hyrum Smith, and the\nfive laid their hands upon me and rebuked the disease and blessed me.\nWhile their hands were upon my head I fell into an easy sleep, and when\nI awoke my disease was entirely gone.\n\nA few days after, I was advised by the Prophet Joseph to return to the\nSouthern States and raise up a company of Saints and emigrate to Far\nWest, Missouri. I accordingly went South, and in the month of May had\nsucceeded in organizing a company of two hundred souls with about forty\nteams and started on our journey. The trip occupied about two months.\nWe immediately set about making homes and soon began to get comfortable\nsurroundings.\n\nIn January, 1838, I was called to fill a mission to the southern part\nof Missouri and throughout Arkansas. During this mission an incident\noccurred which I think worth relating. I was preaching one afternoon\nin the court-house at Yellsville, where I had also held meeting in the\nforenoon, when in the midst of my discourse I was interrupted by a\nBaptist deacon, who arose and exclaimed: \"That young man is not quoting\nthe scripture correctly.\"\n\nI was speaking at the time upon the authenticity of the Book of Mormon.\nI was also enjoying an unusual flow of the Holy Spirit, and felt more\ncalm and collected at this interruption than I otherwise would have\ndone. I deliberately opened the Bible and read therefrom the very\npassages which I had previously quoted verbatim, and cited the chapter\nand verse.\n\nAt this the Baptist took his seat, but I had not proceeded much farther\nwith my remarks when I again had occasion to quote from the scriptures,\nand lest I again should be found fault with, I opened the Bible and\nread from it, when the deacon, a second time arose and declared that it\nwas not from King James' translation of the Bible that I was quoting,\nbut \"Joe Smith's golden Bible,\" etc.\n\nSeveral of the audience immediately ordered him to be still and let the\nyoung man proceed, as they wanted to hear the preaching.\n\nAgain he became quiet, but soon broke forth in a perfect rage, said I\nwas lying, and denounced, in a rather incoherent manner, \"Joe Smith\"\nand his \"golden bible,\" and the \"Mormons\" as \"chicken thieves\" and \"hog\nstealers,\" etc.\n\nA number of persons immediately surrounded him as if they intended to\nthrust him out, and lest they should use violence I began to plead\nfor him, and requested them to allow him to retire quietly. I added,\nhowever, that I was there on my Father's business, commissioned to\nproclaim the gospel, and if he did not speedily repent the Lord would\nrebuke him and the judgment of God would overtake him. At this he\nturned and rushed from the room almost foaming with rage.\n\nHe had four drunken sons in the town and he proceeded to hunt them up\nto incite them to mob me. Just then a fire broke out in the Baptist\nmeeting house, and on hearing the alarm I adjourned the meeting for one\nhour.\n\nIn the audience was a Major John Houston, a brother of the celebrated\nSam Houston, who was in command of a military post near by. He had\nboarded a few days at the same place that I had, and had therefore\nbecome somewhat acquainted with me.\n\nHe followed the deacon and advised him against molesting me, telling\nhim if he persisted in it he would have to take him in charge. The\ndeacon concluded to desist but raged, and cursed \"Joe Smith\" and the\n\"golden bible\" and the young preacher, and everything connected with\nhim as he proceeded home, and on entering his house, almost immediately\nfell dead and turned black.\n\nIn this condition he lay for two days, no one, not even his own sons,\ndaring to go near him until, a Campbellite preacher, who also had\nhappened to be one of my audience, and who had heard of his condition,\ncame to me and informed me of it. I went with him to Major Houston, and\nthrough his influence some persons were employed to go and bury the\ndead man.\n\nWithin a week from the time of the deacon's death his wife also died,\nand his sons kept up their drunken spree until they had run through\nfour thousand dollars of the money which their father had left and also\nother property.\n\nMany of the people of the town regarded this series of calamities as\nthe judgment of God, and even the Campbellite preacher admitted to me\nthat it had very much the appearance of it.\n\nSoon after these events transpired I returned to a place about twenty\nmiles distant, to fill a previous appointment, and while there Major\nHouston was taken sick with the cholera. He felt that he was going to\ndie, and wanted to have me sent for. I had conversed with him many\ntimes upon the subject of religion, and, though he professed to be an\ninfidel, I could see that he was pricked in his heart but was too proud\nto acknowledge it. Shortly before he died he made a request that I\nshould preach his funeral sermon, and on my return to Yellsville I did\nso, and I think I never had more of the Spirit of God in preaching in\nmy life than I did on that occasion, infidel though he pretended to be.\n\nI returned from this mission in the summer of 1838, and soon afterwards\nthe troubles of the Saints with the Missouri mobocrats recommenced,\nin which I became earnestly engaged. After Far West had been besieged\nby the mob militia under General Clark and we had been compelled to\nsurrender our arms, I was taken prisoner in company with many of my\nbrethren.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nMARRIED WHILE A PRISONER OF WAR--PROPERTY CONFISCATED--REMOVAL TO\nQUINCY--FIRST HARD WORK--REMOVAL TO MONTROSE--MISSION TO TENNESSEE-SHOT\nAT--CAMP, MY CHAMPION--A LAWYER AND HIS MOB--APPEAL TO MASONS FOR\nHELP--READY RESPONSE--CAMP'S VENGEANCE ON THE LAWYER--NEWS OF\nMARTYRDOM--RETURN TO NAUVOO--BRIGHAM YOUNG INSPIRED--ANOTHER MISSION\nSOUTH--BLESSINGS IN THE TEMPLE--JOURNEY TO SALT LAKE VALLEY.\n\nOn the 11th of November, while still a prisoner of war, I was married,\nwhich might be considered as a proof that I had not lost hope. I\nwas fortunate in securing a wife who was zealous and devoted to her\nreligion and ready to sacrifice or endure anything to further its\ninterests.\n\nAfter the troops were withdrawn from Far West I visited my farm two\nmiles south of the town, to look after my stock which I had left there,\nand found that all my earthly possessions save my real estate had been\nconfiscated by the army.\n\nOn visiting the late camp-ground of the army I found the heads of\neleven of my oxen which had been butchered, and there was no trace left\nof my sheep, swine, etc.\n\nBrother John Butler, who had been obliged to flee to the north to save\nhis life, had left his family in my charge. He had a span of very poor\nhorses and an old wagon. I loaded the wagon up with his wife and five\nchildren and what few goods I had left, which consisted of one trunk\nfull of clothes besides what my wife and I wore. I managed to find one\nof my horses which the mob had taken and used in such a shocking manner\nthat his back was skinned almost from his withers to his tail. This\nanimal I hitched on ahead of Brother Butler's horses, and by those of\nus walking who were able to do so, we slowly made our way to Quincy,\nIllinois, in the depth of winter. On arriving there I went to work\ncarrying the hod up a four-story building--really the first hard work I\nhad ever done, to make another start in life, while my wife assisted by\ntaking in sewing.\n\nIn the month of July I removed to Montrose, opposite Commerce. In May\nof the following year I went on a mission to Tennessee, from which I\nreturned the following October, and again the next year, I went to\nCharleston, South Carolina, being instructed to introduce the gospel\nthere. I spent all the money I had in renting halls and publishing\nplacards announcing my meetings, but although I had large audiences,\nand numbers of persons came to me, Nicodemus-like--by night, to inquire\nabout the gospel, I failed to make one convert. I returned to Nauvoo\nfrom this mission in 1842.\n\nIn the summer of 1843, I took a trip through southern Illinois and\nnorth-western Kentucky, in the interest of the Nauvoo House, and\nin May, 1844, I again went south to Tennessee to electioneer for\nJoseph Smith as candidate for the Presidency of the United States. On\narriving at Dresden, Tenn., I rented the court-house to hold meeting\nin, and while in the act of preaching to a good-sized audience, a mob\ngathered outside and a shot was fired at me through the window. The\nbullet passed near my head and lodged in the ceiling, and immediately\nafterwards a few brickbats were also thrown through the window.\nConsiderable excitement followed and the audience began to scatter,\nwhen a man by the name of Camp, somewhat noted as a fighting character,\narose and called on the fleeing people to stop. He told them if they\nwould only sit and listen to the preaching, he would go out and look\nafter the persons who were creating the disturbance. About two-thirds\nof the audience again became seated and he went outside and procured a\nshot-gun, with which he patroled around the courthouse the remainder of\nthe evening, and there was no further trouble.\n\nAnother meeting was announced for the following day, but before it\ncommenced a lawyer of the town laid his plans to break it up. I had not\nlong been speaking when he, at the head of a mob of two hundred men,\nmarched into the room and demanded that I should cease speaking, as\nthey had come to attend to my case.\n\nIn this emergency, and for the only time in my life in public, I made\nuse of a masonic sign calling for help, when lo! a number of persons\nsprang up to assist me. The lawyer was commanded to give his reasons\nfor interfering with me, which he proceeded to do by delivering a most\nabusive and slanderous speech. I finally commanded him to sit down and\nhe did so very suddenly, and the masons who were present, who were very\nnumerous and influential, gave him to understand that he would not be\nallowed to molest me. I continued my remarks, and at the close of the\nmeeting Mr. Camp took vengeance on the lawyer by knocking him down and\nkicking him around the court-house yard.\n\nFrom Dresden I proceeded to Paris, in the same State, where I\ncontracted for the publication of 1,000 copies of Joseph Smith's\n\"Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States.\" After the\nprinting had been done and paid for, the printer informed me that if I\nattempted to circulate the pamphlets it would be likely to land me in\nthe penitentiary, as the views expressed therein, in regard to freeing\nthe slaves, would be considered treasonable and contrary to law. On\nconsulting a lawyer of the place, a boyhood friend of mine, I found\nthat he held the same opinion, and I therefore suppressed the whole\nedition.\n\nI was at Father Church's, on Duck river, in Hickman Co., Tenn., when I\nreceived the news of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, six days\nafter the consummation of that bloody deed. I immediately proceeded\ndown Duck river to the Tennessee river, by canoe, and, on arriving\nthere, in company with three other Elders, purchased a skiff, and made\nmy way to Paducah on the Ohio river, from which place I took steamer to\nNauvoo.\n\nOn arriving in Nauvoo I found that Sidney Rigdon was striving to\nestablish his claim to the leadership of the Church, and proffering\nvarious unheard-of offices to such persons as would rally around his\nstandard. However, on the arrival of President Young and the other\nApostles from their missions, his claims were soon set aside.\n\nI was present at the meeting held in Nauvoo on the occasion when\nPresident Young assumed the leadership of the Church, and can testify\nwith hundreds of others that he spoke by the power of God on that\noccasion and that he had the very voice and appearance of Joseph Smith.\n\nThe following autumn I was sent by President Young to Kentucky,\nTennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi to raise means for the\nbuilding of the Temple and also to induce the Saints scattered through\nthat region to migrate to Nauvoo and make preparations to journey\nwestward. I returned to Nauvoo in the summer of 1845, bringing a\nlarge number of the Saints with me. I also left many others partially\nprepared to follow, who were subsequently gathered up by Elders John\nBrown and Wm. Crosby and led westward, by way of Arkansas, to Salt Lake\nValley.\n\nAfter my return to Nauvoo I labored on the Temple until it was so far\ncompleted as to admit of the ordinances being performed in it, when I\nhad the blessed privilege of entering it and receiving my endowments\nand having wives sealed to me. I also at that time had the son of my\nfirst wife (who, I should have mentioned, was a widow when I married\nher) adopted to me by the Priesthood, and he has ever since borne my\nname and been recognized and treated as one of my own sons.\n\nI labored about three months in the temple in administering the\nordinances of the house of God to others, and in April, 1846, I left\nNauvoo and started westward with quite a large company of my southern\nfriends. On arriving at Winter Quarters I was ordained a Bishop and\nappointed to preside over a Ward, and spent the winter in building\ncabins to shelter the people and in looking after the wants of the\npoor. In the spring of 1847 I was appointed to organize and lead\nwestward a company of Saints having one hundred and twenty wagons. I\nchose as my assistants Major Russell and Geo. B. Wallace. We arrived in\nSalt Lake Valley on the 24th day of September.\n\nThus passed the first twelve years of my connection with the\nChurch--twelve years of rough but not unprofitable experience for me,\nconsidering the many lessons I learned and the satisfaction I enjoyed\nin contemplating my labors. During that period I had become strong and\nhealthy, and through the blessings of God, had been enabled, with the\nhelp of my wife and boy, to earn a subsistence and accumulate some\nproperty, notwithstanding the many missions I had filled and the losses\nof property I had sustained.\n\nSince that time I never have performed a regular preaching mission\nabroad, although in 1851, I was sent to England, for that purpose; but\non arriving there it was decided to have me return to lead the first\ncompany emigrated by the Perpetual Emigration Fund across the plains,\nand after a stay of thirty days in that country I did so. I filled\nvarious business missions, however, in which I crossed the plains\nthirteen times with ox and mule teams.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nALMOST LOST IN THE ATLANTIC--NARROWLY ESCAPE THE \"SALUDA\"\nDISASTER--NEARLY DEAD WITH THE CHOLERA--HEALED IN ANSWER TO\nPRAYER--BLOWN UP WITH A KEG OF POWDER--A SICK WOMAN HEALED--ELDER\nPATTEN'S REMARKABLE PREDICTION FULFILLED--A MAN ALMOST DEAD RECOVERS ON\nBEING BAPTIZED.\n\nDuring my experience I have seen the power of God manifested upon\nvarious occasions in preserving my life; indeed, considering the many\nnarrow escapes I have had, it might be almost thought that I have had a\ncharmed life.\n\nOn my return from England in 1853, on board the new steamer _Pacific_,\nwe encountered a severe storm, in which the deck was swept clear of\nrigging, the deck cabin, one of the wheels, both wheel houses and\nthe bulwarks. The steamer was entirely submerged in the sea at one\ntime, and had she not been very well built she would never have come\nto the surface again. It looked like a precarious time, but I felt\nan assurance that the vessel would be saved, and in the midst of all\nthe excitement which prevailed among the crew and passengers I felt\nquite calm. I had seventeen thousand dollars in gold in my possession,\nand I did not even fear that I would lose that. Our preservation,\nhowever, was certainly providential, for the vessel was in a terribly\ndilapidated condition, but we finally arrived safely in New York with\nthe wrecked vessel, after a voyage of sixteen days.\n\nI subsequently had a very narrow escape on the occasion of the _Saluda_\ndisaster. I had purchased the supplies for my company to make its\noverland journey with, except cattle, at St. Louis, and had decided\nto go farther up the river to buy the stock, when Eli B. Kelsey came\nto me to consult me in regard to chartering the _Saluda_ to convey\nan independent company of Saints up the river. I went with him to\nexamine the boat, and on finding that it was an old hulk of a freight\nboat, fitted up with a single engine, I strongly advised him against\nhaving anything to do with it. He seemed to be influenced in making\nchoice of it entirely by the fact that he could get it cheaper than\na better one; but in my opinion it seemed folly, for in addition to\nthe danger of accident, the length of time likely to be occupied in\nmaking the journey would more than counterbalance what might be saved\nin the charge for transit. However, he decided to charter it, and then\nboth he and the captain urged me strongly to take passage with them,\noffering to carry me free of cost if I would only go, but I could\nnot feel satisfied to do so. I followed a few days afterwards on the\n_Isabella_, and overtook them at Lexington, where the _Saluda_ was\nstopped by the float-ice and was unable to proceed farther. I went on\nboard of her to visit the Saints (who were in charge of D. J. Ross, Eli\nB. Kelsey having gone ashore to purchase cattle), and left just before\nthe last plank was drawn in, preparatory to attempting to start. I\nhad not walked to exceed two hundred yards after leaving the _Saluda_\nbefore the explosion occurred, and on turning to look in the direction\nof the the ill-fated boat I saw the bodies of many of the unfortunate\npassengers and various parts of the boat flying in the air in every\ndirection. Fortunately for the Saints on board, they were mostly on\nthe deck of the boat and pretty well towards the stern, and they\nconsequently fared better than those who were below, or on the forepart\nof the boat, which was blown entirely to pieces. As it was, however,\nupwards of twenty of the Saints were lost or subsequently died of their\nwounds. My own preservation I can only attribute to the providence of\nthe Almighty, for if I had remained a moment on the wharf to see the\nboat start, as would have been very natural for a person to do, I would\nhave been blown into eternity as those were who stood there.\n\nI shall never forget the kindness of the citizens of Lexington in\ncaring for the living and burying the dead. The Lord certainly inspired\nthem to do all that sympathy and benevolence could suggest in aid of\nthe afflicted. The city council set apart a piece of ground in which\nto bury the Saints who had died, and William H. Russell, the great\ngovernment freighter, and many other prominent citizens did all they\ncould to comfort and help the afflicted survivors. Besides their\ndevoted attention, their contributions in aid of the Saints amounted to\nthousands of dollars.\n\nThe disaster described is really the only accident of any consequence\nby water that has befallen a company of Latter-day Saints in emigrating\nfrom the old countries, and there was much reason to believe that\nProvidence was in their favor to a great extent even in that case, or a\nmuch greater number would certainly have lost their lives.\n\nI remained at Lexington about eight days looking after the interests of\nthe Saints and purchasing stock, after which I returned to St. Louis,\nwhere I met the company of Saints I was to conduct across the plains.\nOn reaching Atchison, our starting point for the overland journey, the\ncompany was stricken with the cholera. There were over forty cases, and\nof these some fifteen proved fatal. Numbers were healed instantaneously\nthrough the prayer of faith when the Elders laid their hands upon\nthem, although apparently near death's door; others gave way entirely\nto fear, failed to exercise faith and soon died. After we had started\nupon our journey and when the last person who had been afflicted had\nrecovered, I was prostrated with the same dread disease. The train\nwas stopped and the whole company fasted and prayed for two days for\nmy recovery, but I continued growing worse until my limbs and the\nlower portion of my body were apparently dead, but then the faith of\nthe Saints and the power of the Almighty prevailed in my behalf and I\nrecovered. I had, however, lost seventy-five pounds in weight within a\nfew days.\n\nAnother remarkable instance in which the providence of the Almighty\nwas manifest in my preservation occurred in the following May. I was\nemptying a small keg of powder and standing in a stooping position\nright over it, and as it did not run out very freely I shook the keg,\nwhen it exploded. The staves and pieces of hoops were scattered in\nevery direction, some pieces being afterwards found at least eight rods\ndistant. I was blown into the air and my face and hands most terribly\nburned. It was a marvel that the staves of the keg were not driven\nthrough my body, but it did not appear that a single one had struck\nme. The whole of the skin came from my face and hands, yet, wonderful\nto relate, there is not now a mark of powder about my face, and my\neyesight, the loss of which I was most fearful of, was not at all\nimpaired by it.\n\nThis series of narrow escapes which I have related I passed through\nwithin a little over a year; and it really seemed to me that Satan was\nbent upon my destruction. The fact that my life was preserved through\nthem was an evidence to me of the power of God and that He had a\npurpose in allowing me to live.\n\nI have witnessed the power of God displayed in the healing of persons\nwho were sick in hundreds of instances, in some cases that would\nprobably be considered by the world as very wonderful, but to which\nthe Saints, whose experience has been similar to my own, had become\naccustomed. I think Elder David W. Patten possessed the gift of healing\nto a greater degree than any man I ever associated with. I remember on\none occasion when I was laboring with him as a missionary in Tennessee,\nhe was sent for to administer to a woman who had been sick for five\nyears and bed-ridden for one year and not able to help herself. Brother\nPatten stepped to her bedside and asked her if she believed in the Lord\nJesus Christ. She replied that she did. He then took her by the hand\nand said, \"In the name of Jesus Christ, arise!\"\n\nShe immediately sat up in bed, when he placed his hands upon her\nhead and rebuked her disease, pronounced blessings upon her head and\npromised that she should bear children. She had been married for seven\nyears and had never had any children, and this promise seemed very\nunlikely ever to be fulfilled. But she arose from her bed immediately,\nwalked half a mile to be baptized and back again in her wet clothes.\nShe was healed from that time, and within one year became a mother, and\nafterwards bore several children.\n\nI was myself healed under his administration in a manner which appeared\nto me very remarkable at that time. While traveling I was taken very\nsick and was forced to seek entertainment at the house of an infidel.\nElder Patten was desirous of administering to me and, by way of a\npretext, asked the privilege of praying. His request was granted and he\nknelt beside the bed upon which I was lying, and, without the family\nnoticing it, placed his hand upon my head. While his hand was upon\nme, I felt the disease pass off from my system as palpably as I ever\nexperienced anything in my life, and before he arose from his knees I\nwas as well as I ever had been, and able to arise and eat my supper.\n\nI remember a rather remarkable instance of healing that occurred at\nWinter Quarters, which I think worth relating:\n\nDuring the winter of 1846-7 while the Saints were encamped on the\nbanks of the Missouri there was a great deal of sickness among them,\nand many died. Among others who were afflicted was a man by the name\nof Collins, who had followed up the Church for some time on account of\nhis wife being a member, but who never felt quite satisfied to embrace\nthe gospel, although he never opposed the work. When he was taken sick\nit was not thought by his friends that he could recover, as he had\nappeared to be sinking rapidly under the effects of the disease, and\nfor some time he lay in a semi-unconscious state, from which it was\nfeared he would never rally.\n\nHowever, he finally regained consciousness and looked around, when I\nasked him if he had any message to leave before he died. He immediately\nreplied that it would not do for him to die then, as he had not been\nbaptized, and urged very strongly to be taken right down to the river\nto receive this ordinance.\n\nYielding to his solicitations, some of the brethren brought the running\ngear of a wagon with a few boards on it, up to the door of the cabin in\nwhich he was living, and his bed, with him lying upon it, was carried\nout and placed on the wagon. When we had proceeded part way down to\nthe river the wagon tire commenced running off one of the wheels and\na halt was made to hammer it on again. On noticing the wagon stop and\nhearing the hammering, he inquired what was the matter, and when he was\ninformed that the tire was running off, he replied impatiently, \"Oh,\nnever mind the tire; go on, or I'll die and go to hell yet before I'm\nbaptized!\"\n\nWe proceeded on with him till we reached the river, which at that time\nwas frozen over, but the ice had been cut away near the shore in order\nthat our animals might drink. There he was lifted from his bed, carried\ninto the water and I baptized him for the remission of his sins and his\nrestoration to health. After being taken out of the water a blanket was\nwrapped around him and he was seated for a moment to rest upon a block\nof ice upon the shore. Seeing the brethren turning the wagon around, he\ninquired what they were going to do. They replied that they were going\nto put him on the bed and haul him back home, when he arose to his feet\nand assured them that they need not go to that trouble, for he could\nwalk back, and he did so, and from that time became a healthy man.\n\n\n\nSCENES IN THE BRITISH MISSION.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nELDER HALLIDAY APPLIED TO FOR HELP BY A SISTER WHOSE SON IS DYING--NOT\nABLE TO GO, HE GAVE THE LADY HIS HANDKERCHIEF AND PROMISES HER THE\nCHILD SHALL LIVE--THE CHILD REVIVES FROM APPARENT DEATH BY THE\nWOMAN'S FAITH AND PRAYER--PREACHING IN PENZANCE--DISCOURAGEMENT AND\nWANT--STRANGE CONDUCT OF A LADY ATTENDING THE MEETING--INVITATION TO\nGO TO ST. JUST--GIFT OF TONGUES AND INTERPRETATION GIVEN TO ELDER\nHALLIDAY, THROUGH WHICH HE RECEIVES A REVELATION--REVELATION LITERALLY\nFULFILLED.\n\nThe various gifts of the gospel were perhaps enjoyed to as great\nan extent by the Elders who labored in England in an early day as\nthey have been by any people and in any place, at least in this\ndispensation. Nor were the manifestations of these gifts confined\nto the Elders who were engaged in the ministry, for their converts\nalso enjoyed them to a very great extent. Many of them through their\nextraordinary faith and humility called forth the blessings and power\nof God in various ways. The gift of healing was very manifest, and\nscores of instances might be related wherein persons were healed in a\nmost miraculous manner.\n\nBishop George Halliday, of Santaquin, who labored extensively as a\nmissionary in his native country in an early day, relates an incident\nof this kind. Upon a warm Sunday evening, after he had been preaching\nto an audience in Bristol, he was accosted by a Mrs. Ware, a sister\nin the Church, who told him she had a son extremely sick and thought\nto be dying. She begged him to go home with her and administer to it.\nShe lived three miles distant, on Durham Down. It was quite late in\nthe evening and he was so extremely tired that he scarcely felt able\nto comply with her request; and yet he did not like to decline. All\nat once he felt impressed to say: \"Here, Sister Ware, you take my\nhandkerchief and go home to your child and lay it on him wherever he\nseems to be affected, praying to the Lord to heal him. If you do this I\nwill promise you that he will recover.\"\n\nWith full faith the good lady took the handkerchief and departed. On\nreaching her home she was met at the door by her daughters and friends,\nwho informed her that her son was dead.\n\n\"No,\" said she, \"I cannot believe it! Brother Halliday has promised me\nthat he shall live, and I have his handkerchief to lay upon him.\"\n\nShe hastened to the boy and did as she had been directed to, and the\nchild, which a few minutes before had been inanimate, began to show\nsigns of life. The next morning he was able to come down to breakfast,\nand soon regained his wonted health. He afterwards emigrated to Utah.\n\nBrother Halliday also relates another instance in which the power of\nGod was displayed in a rather remarkable manner, near the same time:\n\nHe and Elder John Chislett were sent to Penzance, Cornwall,\nto introduce the gospel to the inhabitants. They met with no\nencouragement, yet they did not feel justified in leaving the place\nuntil they had given the people a thorough warning. Their funds were\nso low that the two of them were forced to live on a penny's worth of\nbread and a penny's worth of soup per day; yet their faith was strong,\nand they spent much of their time in prayer. Finally, as a last resort,\nin the effort to awaken an interest in the message they had to bear to\nthe people, they decided to give a course of public lectures. Elder\nHalliday pawned his watch to raise the necessary money to rent a hall\nand publish some placards announcing their meetings, and on the first\nevening appointed they were gratified at seeing a few come to hear\nthem. Among the audience they noticed particularly a well-dressed\ngentleman and lady, the latter of whom commenced weeping almost as\nsoon as she entered the hall and continued to do so as long as the\nmeeting lasted. The Elders, of course, could assign no reason for this\npeculiar conduct while the meeting was in progress, nor were they any\nmore enlightened when, at the close of the services, the lady came\nforward with her husband and invited them to visit her at her home at\nSt. Just, about six miles distant. This was the first invitation they\nhad received from anyone in the place, and they accepted it joyfully,\nand would willingly have gone home with her that night, but, to their\ndisappointment, she named the following Wednesday as the time when\nshe would be pleased to receive them. Nothing further passed between\nthem, but it was evident that a favorable impression had been made upon\nher, and that she was a woman of intelligence and refinement. While\nanticipating the pleasure of visiting her and waiting for the day to\narrive, the Elders continued to subsist upon their scanty fare, and\nspent their time in vainly endeavoring to proselyte among the citizens\nof Penzance.\n\nWednesday morning came and with it a drenching rain storm, through\nwhich the Elders tramped the whole six miles, hungry and penniless.\nShortly before arriving at St. Just, and while they were crossing\na plowed field, with the mud clinging to their boots so they could\nscarcely walk, the Lord deigned to comfort them by giving Elder\nHalliday the gift of tongues and the interpretation of the same, in\nwhich it was made known to him that the lady whom they were going to\nvisit had been favored with a vision in which she had seen himself and\nElder Chislett; also that she was the owner of several houses, one of\nwhich she was going to allow them to use to hold meetings in, and that\nhe was going to baptize her that very night.\n\nAs soon as this had passed through his mind, for he had not spoken\naloud, but to himself, he joyfully slapped his companion on the\nshoulder and exclaimed, \"Cheer up, John! I have had a revelation!\" He\nthen proceeded to relate all that had been revealed to him.\n\nWhen they arrived at the house they were drenched as badly as if they\nhad been in a river. Even their boots were full of water, so that when\nthey pulled them off and turned the tops downward it ran out of them in\na stream. Their friend, however, had been anxiously looking for them,\nand had prepared a blazing fire to warm them and spread the table with\ntempting food. She also proposed for them to change their clothes as\nfar as she could supply them with dry ones to put on from her husband's\nwardrobe. \"But,\" said she, \"I can hardly wait for you to change your\nclothes, I am so anxious to talk to you.\"\n\n\"Oh, you need not be in such a hurry,\" remarked Elder Halliday, \"for I\nknow what you are going to say!\"\n\nShe looked at him in surprise and inquired how he knew.\n\n\"Why,\" he said, \"I have had it revealed to me on the way here.\" He then\nrelated to her every particular as it had been made known to him, until\nhe got to that part relating to her baptism, when she interrupted him\nby exclaiming in surprise to her husband:\n\n\"There, now, is that not just as it occurred? How could he have learned\nthat? for you know I have not talked with anyone but you about it!\" She\nthen admitted that the week previous, while lying awake in bed, she saw\na bright light in the room and awoke her husband and pointed it out to\nhim. He also saw it, and it passed around the room in the direction of\nPenzance, to which place it led her in her mind, and there she saw two\nmen trying to raise a standard, in which labor the people who looked on\nseemed unwilling to lend a helping hand. She reproached them for their\nlack of interest, and took hold herself to assist. This vision was so\nplain that she afterwards related the whole of it to her husband and\neven described the appearance of the men. Then she could not rest until\nshe had, in company with her husband, visited Penzance and attended\nthe lecture she there saw announced. As soon as she entered the hall\nand saw the two Elders she recognized them and could not refrain from\ncrying. As to the other part of what had been revealed to him, she\nsaid it was true that she was the owner of a row of houses, which she\npointed out to the Elders, and that the last one was a school-house in\nwhich her husband taught school, and which they were welcome to use as\na meeting house as long as they wanted to free of charge.\n\n\"But,\" said Elder Halliday, \"that is not all that the Lord revealed to\nme. He told me that I was going to baptize you before I went to bed\nto-night, and now I want your husband to go and find some water for\nthat purpose.\"\n\nBrother Halliday, in telling what had been revealed to him, felt a good\ndeal as he imagined the prophet Jonah must have felt when the Lord\ncommanded him to go to Nineveh and declare the destruction of that\ncity. He had before him the fear of being declared a false prophet,\nand it required a great deal of faith in him to tell it, especially\nthat part relating to her baptism. However, he was soon relieved on\nthat score, for the good lady expressed her readiness and anxiety to\ngo immediately and be baptized. But her husband declared there was not\na stream or pond in that region deep enough to baptize a person in,\nand it would be no use for them to think of doing such a thing that\nday. \"Is there not a ditch or hollow anywhere around here that is deep\nenough?\" said Elder Halliday, \"Please go and see.\"\n\nThe husband complied with a dubious look on his face, while the Elders\nproceeded to change and dry their clothes, and soon he returned and\nreported that the heavy shower which had fallen had so filled all the\nditches and low places that they would have no difficulty in finding\nwater deep enough.\n\nWithin two hours from the arrival of the Elders the lady was baptized\nand confirmed, she being the first one to embrace the gospel in the\nregion known as \"Land's End.\"\n\nThe Elders ever found a home at her house and enjoyed the privilege\nof holding meetings in her school-house for years, and she remained\nfaithful, but her husband, although he was kind to the Elders and\nwilling to entertain them, never joined the Church. He was an infidel\nand an astrologer.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nELDER ELIAS MORRIS FALLS WITH A SCAFFOLD A DISTANCE OF THIRTY FEET\nWITHOUT BEING HURT--GIFT OF HEALING POSSESSED BY ELDER ABEL EVANS--A\nWOMAN HEALED WHO HAD HER FACE EATEN AWAY BY A CANCER--STORM AT SEA\nREBUKED--A BROKEN LEG CURED--A BROKEN SKULL MENDED-FEVER ON SHIPBOARD\nSTOPPED BY THE PRAYER OF FAITH.\n\nElder Elias Morris, now a resident of Salt Lake City, labored\nextensively as a local and traveling Elder in the Welch mission in an\nearly day. In illustration of the manner in which the Lord's power was\noften manifested in preserving the lives of His servants, he relates an\ninstance from his experience:\n\nWhile acting as a local Elder in his native place, laboring at his\ntrade during the week and preaching in the surrounding villages on\nSundays, he once had occasion to speak of the signs which the Savior\nhad promised should follow believers: \"In my name they shall cast out\ndevils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents;\nand if they drink any deadly, thing it shall not hurt them; they shall\nlay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.\" He argued that the\nenjoyment of those promised blessings was not limited to the believers\nwho lived when the Savior was upon the earth, but that the faithful\nLatter-day Saints also shared the same. The sectarian preachers of\nthe neighborhood who listened to or heard of Elder Morris' remarks on\nthat occasion ridiculed them, and one especially, a Methodist deacon,\nhad a great deal to say about them. In repeating those remarks and\ncommenting on them to others, he also exaggerated what had been said,\neven asserting falsely that Elder Morris had claimed that if he were to\nfall from the top of a quarry it would not hurt him. Elder Morris heard\nof this deacon's exaggerated stories and flippant comments, but did not\ndeign to notice them, although he was well acquainted with the man, in\nfact he was at that very time in his employ.\n\nA few days afterwards Elder Morris happened to be engaged upon a\nthree-story building, pointing the front, and for that purpose was\nsitting on a hanging scaffold near the top of the wall. All at once\nhe felt the scaffold giving way, the planks upon which it rested,\nand which projected from the inside of the building, having become\nloosened. He called immediately to a fellow workman engaged inside the\nbuilding to come to his relief, but before the man reached the window\nto grasp the plank, the scaffold fell and Brother Morris with it. With\na silent prayer to God for help, and fully realizing his danger, he\ndropped the distance of thirty feet or more, alighting on his thigh on\nthe stone pavement. In an instant he was upon his feet, and placing his\nhand on a window sill, he sprang lightly into the lower room of the\nbuilding and escaped the falling planks, which did not reach the ground\nuntil after he had, and came forth the next minute unharmed. He did not\neven feel the slightest pain from the fall.\n\nIt happened that the Methodist deacon, one of the owners of the\nbuilding, and Elder Morris' father were in the street in front of\nthe building at the time of the accident, and the latter was almost\nparalyzed with fear at the sight of his boy falling down, and no less\nsurprised and overjoyed at seeing him walk forth the next moment\nunscathed. The deacon, too, seemed very much astonished and hardly able\nto believe the evidence of his own sight when he saw the man whose\nreligious pretentions he had ridiculed so much pass through such an\nordeal and appear unhurt. Elder Morris noticed his surprised look as\nhe approached him, and thought it a fitting opportunity to tax him\nwith the slander and ridicule which he had been indulging in at his\nexpense. He accordingly did so, and then asked ironically, hinting at\nthe story which the deacon had circulated about him, \"Isn't that almost\nequal to falling off a quarry?\" The deacon acknowledged that it was,\nand declared that some supernatural power must have saved him in that\ninstance at least.\n\nMany anecdotes are related of Elder Abel Evans, formerly of Lehi, in\nthis Territory, who died while on a mission in Wales some years since.\nHe was a man of wonderful faith, and possessed the gift of healing in a\nremarkable degree. While laboring as a missionary in Wales in an early\nday he met a sister who was a member of the Church and was afflicted\nwith a terrible cancer in her face which had eaten away her upper lip\nand the greater portion of her nose. She had tried all the doctors\nshe could find who pretended to cure cancers and they had one after\nanother given her case up as hopeless. When Brother Evans met her she\nwas mourning over her affliction and recounting her suffering and the\nefforts she had made to get relief. He listened to her story and then\nasked: \"Why do you not apply to the Great Physician to cure you?\"\n\n\"Do you think it would be of any use?\" she asked, brightening up.\n\n\"Why,\" he replied \"with the Lord all things are possible! If you have\nfaith you can be healed!\"\n\nShe expressed her anxiety to be administered to, and he forthwith\npurchased a bottle of olive oil, consecrated it and anointed her face,\napplying the oil with a feather to the worst part. He also rebuked the\ndisease and prayed for her recovery, and from that hour the cancer was\nkilled and her face began to heal. He repeated the operation two or\nthree times, and, strange as it may appear, the flesh and skin actually\ngrew again upon that part of her face which had been eaten away and a\nnew nose in time developed--not a perfect one it is true, but one that\nwas a great improvement upon none at all. Notwithstanding this great\nmanifestation of God's goodness to her, however, this woman afterwards\napostatized.\n\nOn one occasion Brother Evans was sailing from Liverpool to Bangor,\nat which place he had an appointment to preach, when a terrible storm\narose, which threatened the destruction of the vessel. When the\nofficers and crew were all ready to give up hope, Elder Evans retired\nto a secluded part of the vessel, called upon the Lord in prayer,\nreminding Him of the appointment to be filled and that he was upon His\nbusiness, and, in mighty faith, rebuked the storm, when it calmed so\nsuddenly that all hands on board were as much surprised as delighted,\nand quite at a loss to account for the sudden change in their prospects.\n\nIn the year 1846, a man living in Merthyr Tydvil, who was a member of\nthe Church, happened accidentally to break his leg between the knee and\nankle. A surgeon was called in, who set the broken bones, bound the\nlimb up with bandages and splints and cautioned the patient to keep\nperfectly quiet until the fracture could have time to knit. Three days\nafterwards Elders Abel Evans and Thomas D. Giles called to see him, and\nthe former questioned him as to his faith. \"Do you believe,\" said he,\n\"that the Lord has power to heal your broken limb?\"\n\nThe man acknowledged that he did.\n\n\"Do you believe,\" he again, asked, \"that we, as the servants of God,\nholding the Priesthood, have authority to call upon the Almighty and\nclaim a blessing for you at His hands?\"\n\nThe man assured him that he did.\n\n\"Then,\" said he, \"If you wish it we will take the bandages off your\nbroken leg and anoint it.\"\n\nThe man consented, the bandages and splints were removed and his leg\nwas anointed with consecrated oil. The brethren then placed their hands\nupon his head, and Elder Evans rebuked the power of the evil one,\ncommanded the bones to come together and knit, and, finally, that the\nman should arise from his bed and walk. He got out of bed immediately\nand walked about the house, and from that time had no occasion to use a\nbandage on the injured limb or even walk with a stick.\n\nWhile crossing the sea in 1850, emigrating to Utah, a number of\nremarkable cases of healing occurred under his administration. One was\nthat of a young girl who was terribly afflicted with evil spirits,\nand who was entirely relieved when he placed his hands upon her head.\nAnother was that of a little boy who fell through the hatchway of the\nvessel, alighting upon his head on the ring and bolt of the lower\nhatchway. When he was picked up it was found that the force of the fall\nhad driven the iron upon which he struck into his head, and within a\nminute afterwards the injured place puffed up like a distended bladder.\nOf course, he was knocked insensible and apparently lifeless, but\nBrother Evans and one or two other Elders immediately administered to\nhim, and while their hands were upon his head the swelling entirely\ndisappeared and he was restored to consciousness and to health. This\nwas witnessed and marveled at by a number of persons who were not in\nthe Church as well as a great many of the Saints who were on board.\n\nWhen Elder Evans was crossing the Atlantic in charge of a company of\nSaints emigrating to Utah, a terrible epidemic in the nature of a\nfever broke out on the ship, and threatened the destruction of all on\nboard. He felt that their only hope lay in securing the favor of the\nAlmighty, and determined to muster all the faith he could in appealing\nto the Lord. He called together four Elders of experience who were on\nboard, and asked them to retire with him to the hold of the vessel\nand unite in prayer. They did so again and again without any apparent\ngood result, and Brother Evans marveled at the cause. It was such an\nunusual thing for him to fail to have his prayers answered, that he\nwas surprised that it should be so in that instance, and he could\nonly account for it by lack of union or worthiness on the part of the\nElders. He therefore called the four Elders again to retire with him\nto the hold of the ship, and took with him a basin of clean water.\nWhen they had reached a secluded place where they were not likely to\nbe overheard or disturbed by others, he talked to the Elders about the\nnecessity of their being united in faith and clear of sin before God if\nthey desired to call upon Him and receive a blessing. \"Now,\" he said,\n\"I want each of you Elders, who feels that his conscience is clear\nbefore God, who has committed no sin to debar him from the enjoyment of\nthe Holy Spirit, and who has faith in the Lord Jesus Christ sufficient\nto call upon the Almighty in His name and claim the desired blessing,\nto wash his hands in that basin!\" Three of the Elders stepped forward\nand did so; the fourth could not--his conscience smote him. He was\ntherefore asked kindly to retire, and the four others joined in earnest\nprayer before the Lord and rebuked the disease by which the people were\nafflicted. The result was that the epidemic ceased its ravages and the\nsick recovered from that very hour, much to the surprise of the ship's\nofficers and others on board who knew nothing of the power by which\nsuch a happy result was accomplished.\n\nIn the winter of 1850, Elder Abel Evans lived at Council Bluffs, on the\neastern bank of the Missouri river. A great many of the Saints were\nthere at the time working for an outfit for their overland journey or\nawaiting the return of fine weather before starting across the plains.\nThat locality was somewhat noted for its insalubriety, but during that\nwinter an unusually large amount of sickness prevailed. Some of the\nmore prominent Elders were kept quite busy going about from house to\nhouse administering to the sick among the Saints, and scores, perhaps\nhundreds of cases of healing occurred under their hands, many of\nwhich were quite remarkable. Sister Ashton, now of Salt Lake City,\nrelates how she was healed there when near death's door, and under\ncircumstances the memory of which even now causes her to shed tears.\nShe had been sick for a considerable length of time and so bad for two\nweeks that she had not been able to take a mouthful of food, when she\nheard of the death of her father.\n\nIn her weak condition this intelligence was a heavy blow to her. Her\nmother had died previously and been buried without her having the\nprivilege of being with her during her sickness or even seeing her\nface when dead, and the thought of being deprived of this privilege in\nthe case of her father also, almost overcame her. She had during her\nsickness felt a strong desire to live, and now in addition to that she\nwas anxious to see her dead father before he was buried, and attend\nhis funeral. Some of the Elders came and administered to her, but they\nwere not men in whom she had a great deal of faith, and she failed to\nreceive any benefit from their administration. After awhile, however,\nBrother Evans called to see her, and, on learning of her desire to\nattend her father's funeral, he promised her without any hesitation\nthat she would do so. Placing his hands upon her head, he rebuked the\nsickness with which she was prostrated and pronounced the blessing of\nhealth upon her. She arose immediately from her bed, and rode six miles\nthat same day, and saw her father buried.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nELDER JOHN PARRY'S STATEMENT--HIS BROTHER'S TESTIMONY AND DEATH--HIS\nSISTER'S REPROOF AND DEATH--EMBRACE THE GOSPEL--HIS SLEEP\nTROUBLED--A REMEDY AND A LESSON--ORSON SPENCER HEALED--PROVIDENTIAL\nHELP--ESCAPE FROM A MOB--CANCER IN A MAN'S FACE CURED BY LAYING ON OF\nHANDS--PRESERVED FROM MOBS.\n\nElder John Parry, who was master-mason on the Logan Temple up to the\ntime of his death, which occurred in July last, left a manuscript\njournal in which a number of very interesting incidents are recorded.\n\nHis brother, Bernard Parry, died on the 12th of November, 1841, while\na member of the Campbellite church, and without having heard of the\ngospel as revealed through Joseph Smith. While upon his death bed,\nhowever, his mind was illumined by the Spirit of God and he had the\ngift of prophecy. He said that the Lord had shown him many great and\nmarvelous things which were to come to pass in this age, but that he\nwould not live to see them, for he was about to die. \"But,\" said he,\naddressing his father, \"the Lord is going to do a great work and a\nwonder upon the earth, and you shall be called to take part in it,\nfather; and you shall yet preach the everlasting gospel to thousands in\nWales.\"\n\nThen turning to his brother John, he said, \"And you also, John, shall\nbe called to it, and shall preach the gospel to tens of thousands, and\nshall baptize many, and my body shall not altogether rot before the\nSavior will stand upon the earth.\"\n\nThe night before he died, he inquired of his brother John if he would\nbe willing to do just as he requested him. John replied that he would,\nwhen he asked him to remove the things, one by one, that stood upon a\ntable near by, into another room. His brother complied without saying\na word, and was then requested to return them and arrange them as\nthey were before upon the table. This John also did without asking\na question, whereupon Bernard said, \"Well done; now I wish you to\nremember that that is the way to serve the Lord! whatever He commands\nyou to do, do it without asking questions.\"\n\nAfter impressing this lesson upon his brother's mind, he lay back upon\nhis pillow and never spoke again.\n\nElder Parry never heard the gospel preached until five years after his\nbrother's death, but the prediction in regard to his preaching and\nbaptizing was literally fulfilled.\n\nA sister of his also had peculiar impressions before her death, which\noccurred about five years later. She had, while living in Cheltenham\nsome time previously, met some Latter-day Saints, and become somewhat\nacquainted with the doctrines which they preached. On returning to the\nparental home she frequently referred to these doctrines, and urged her\nrelatives to investigate them, but her father and her brother John, who\nwere zealous Campbellites, were prejudiced against the \"Mormons\" by\nthe false reports which they had heard about them and opposed her and\npersuaded her to have nothing to do with them.\n\nShe was taken sick with a fever, and when about to die she called her\nrelatives around her and said to her father, \"Your religion is worth\nnothing in the hour of death. I have lived it as faithfully as mortal\ncould do, and it is of no good to me now. I am going to utter darkness,\ntherefore look to yourselves and seek a religion that will support you\nand enable you to face death fearlessly--the one that you have is of no\nvalue!\"\n\nThen turning to her brother John, she reproached him with having\nhindered and persuaded her from embracing the gospel of Jesus Christ.\n\nThis was too much for him to bear, for he loved his sister dearly, and\nhe fainted and fell to the floor. When he regained his consciousness\nhis sister had ceased speaking and soon died.\n\nBrother Parry gives an account of the manner in which he became\nacquainted with the Latter-day Saints and embraced the gospel.\n\nIn 1844, a friend of his told him that Joseph Smith, the Prophet had\nbeen killed. As soon as he heard this, something whispered to him:\n\"He was a servant of God.\" From that moment his prejudice against the\nLatter-day Saints was removed.\n\nHe heard but little of \"Mormonism\" after that until he removed to\nBirkenhead, in 1846. While going from there to Liverpool in company\nwith some of his relatives and friends, he met a \"Mormon\" Elder, who\ninvited him to attend one of their meetings to be held in the last\nnamed place. He persuaded his companions to accompany him, and they\nall attended the meeting. While listening to the Elders bear their\ntestimony to the great latter-day work, he felt convinced that they\nspoke the truth, and believed them with all his heart.\n\nAt the close of the meeting, he asked one of his friends, a Campbellite\npreacher, what he thought of the \"Mormons\" and their doctrines. The\npreacher replied that their doctrines were a \"damnable heresy.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said Mr. Parry, \"one of the sayings of Paul has been fulfilled\nwith you and me to-day.\"\n\n\"What is that?\" asked the preacher.\n\n\"When he said the gospel would be unto one 'the savor of death unto\ndeath: and to the other the savor of life unto life.' It has been life\nunto life to me, and I shall be a Latter-day Saint,\" was the response.\n\nHe attended another meeting in the evening of the same day, and at the\nclose he and his father handed in their names for baptism.\n\nShortly after he was baptized Brother Parry was ordained an Elder and\nwas appointed to preside over the Birkenhead branch of the Church.\nWhile praying subsequently for a testimony of the truth, a voice spoke\nto him and said: \"The gift of healing shall follow thee to a great\nextent.\"\n\nThis was literally fulfilled.\n\nAfter joining the Church Elder Parry was often troubled in his sleep\nby evil spirits. Upon one occasion he inquired of the president of the\nLiverpool branch why it was that he was thus annoyed. The Elder replied\nthat some persons were troubled more than others, and told him to use\nthe following words in his prayers before retiring to rest: \"O God, the\nEternal Father, I ask Thee in the name of Thy Son, Jesus Christ, to\ngive Thine angels charge concerning me this night, and allow not the\npowers of darkness to molest my spirit nor body.\"\n\nHe did this, and was troubled with evil spirits no more, until one\nnight, feeling very sleepy, he uttered a hasty, formal prayer and\nwent to bed. During the night he was almost overcome by the power of\nevil spirits, which were visible. Unable to utter a word, he prayed\nfervently in his mind to the Lord to release him. In an instant the\nheavens appeared to him to open, and he saw an angel descend towards\nhim. The personage took hold of him and raised him up a little, and\nimmediately the powers of darkness disappeared.\n\nElder Parry asked the angel why it was that the Lord permitted the evil\none to abuse him in such a manner, to which he replied: \"Because thou\ndidst not pray from the heart, but with thy lips.\"\n\nAt one time Elder Orson Spencer came from Liverpool to spend a few days\nat a place where Elder Parry was living. While there he was taken very\nsick. Elder Parry anointed him and he soon recovered.\n\nA short time after this the Birkenhead branch of the Church was\ndisorganized, and Elder Parry was sent to Wales to preach. He was\nsoon out of money, and being without a place to stop, he and his\nfellow-laborer took lodgings in a small store. They called for food\non credit, trusting the Lord would provide means to enable them to\npay their way. The next day they held two meetings, and enough money\nwas given them to pay for their board and some to help them in their\ntravels.\n\nUpon another occasion, he was obliged to put up at a boarding house, as\nhe was a stranger in the place, and there were none who would entertain\nhim. He had no money with which to pay his board when he went there,\nbut after holding a meeting and telling the people that he was a\nstranger, without money, and was sent to preach without purse or scrip,\nseveral of the congregation donated small sums to help him. While on\nhis way to the house where he was stopping, a child came to him from\nthe opposite side of the street and placed in his hand a half-penny.\nWhen he went to settle for his board and lodgings he found that he had\njust the exact amount with which he was charged.\n\nWhile holding a meeting in the open air, at one time, Elder Parry and\nanother traveling Elder were disturbed by a ruffian who challenged\nthem to fight, and they were obliged to dismiss the meeting. They went\nto a public house to take lodgings, and were followed by a mob. Being\nimpressed that they were evil disposed, Elder Parry told the landlady,\nin the presence of the gang of ruffians, that he and his companion\nwould take a walk before retiring for the night. He did not intend to\nreturn again, but said this to avoid being followed by the mob. After\nleaving the house he and his companion cast lots in the name of the\nLord to know whether they should stay in that place for the night or\ngo to another town near by. The lot fell for them to leave the place,\nand they did so. They arrived in the next town about midnight, and got\nlodgings at a public house, Elder Parry sleeping with a drunken fellow\nand his friend with a man that had fits several times during the night.\n\nThe next morning they returned for their valises, and met a man, who\ninformed them that their enemies had been hunting for them during the\nnight until seven o'clock in the morning. They had searched every part\nof the town, even among the tombstones, in the churchyard, and vowed\nthat if they found the Elders they would kill them.\n\nWhile preaching in a town in Wales, Elder Parry prophesied that before\nthe end of that year (and it was then the month of September) there\nwould be a branch of the Church of Jesus Christ raised up in that\nvillage. At that time there was but one member of the Church residing\nthere; but before the year closed a branch with fourteen or fifteen\nmembers was organized.\n\nElder Parry relates some remarkable instances of healing by the power\nof God which he witnessed.\n\nOne was in the case of the sister who was afflicted with a cancer in\nher face, an account of which has already been given. He assisted\nElder Abel Evans in administering to her, and testifies to her entire\nrecovery.\n\nAnother case of miraculous healing was that of his brother-in-law, John\nWilliams, who now resides in this Territory, and who was not a member\nof the Church at the time this occurred. He was also afflicted with a\ncancer which had completely taken away his lower lip and part of his\nchin and tongue. After trying in vain to get relief through the skill\nof physicians, he applied to the Elders of the Church to administer to\nhim. They did so twice, and shortly after he received a new tongue, lip\nand chin.\n\nTwo children who were stricken with fever and ague and one with\ncancer, belonging to the same family, were also healed through the\nadministration of the Elders.\n\nElder Parry testifies that many times while fulfilling his duties as\nan Elder of the Church of Jesus Christ he was attacked by mobs, who\nthrew stones at him; and although at times the stones flew past him\nin showers, he was never injured by them. Upon several occasions his\nenemies attempted to inflict upon him bodily injury, but they were\nfrustrated in all their plans. At one time they secured another man,\nthinking it to be Elder Parry, and maltreated him in a shameful manner.\n\nSeveral of the most bitter enemies of the Church in those days died an\nunnatural death. One man, who was a sectarian minister, and one of the\nworst opposers to the work of God to be found in that vicinity, became\nferocious like a mad dog, and had to be chained up for quite a while\nbefore his death.\n\nBrother Parry was released from his labors as a traveling Elder in the\nWelsh conference, in the early part of the year 1856, and immediately\nprepared to emigrate to this country. Upon reaching Iowa City, on\nhis journey westward, he was appointed captain of a company of one\nhundred persons. Provisions became scarce among the emigrants, and\ntheir rations were reduced to one-half pound of flour per day for each\nperson. On account of this, some of the company on arriving at Council\nBluffs concluded to remain there and work, and therefore left the camp.\nUpon learning this Brother Parry went back for them, and prevailed upon\nthem to continue their journey. While trying to overtake the company,\nwhich was a considerable distance ahead, he was surrounded by a number\nof men who were very anxious that the emigrants who were with him\nshould stay and work for them, and were angry at him for persuading\nthem to leave. Some of the pursuing party were sent to procure tar and\nfeathers to cover him with, while the others were guarding him. Their\nattention was attracted for a moment in another direction, when Elder\nParry took advantage of the opportunity to escape by running towards\nthe camp of the Saints. He was overtaken, however, before he reached\nit by two of the gang, who seized him by the collar, but he made some\nthreats which frightened them and they let him go. After reaching camp\nhe was still pursued by others who were mounted on horseback, and\narmed with revolvers, clubs, etc., but he escaped their recognition by\nchanging his clothing. The mobocrats finally returned to Council Bluffs\nwithout having accomplished their object, for Elder Parry's influence\nover the discouraged men prevailed, and they decided to continue their\njourney.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nJOHN T. EVANS' STATEMENT--A SICK AND HELPLESS WOMAN HEALED ON BEING\nBAPTIZED--RELAPSE AND DEATH AFTER APOSTASY--SAINTS REQUIRED TO RENOUNCE\nTHEIR RELIGION OR LOSE THEIR SITUATIONS--CHOLERA EPIDEMIC--HEALED\nACCORDING TO FAITH--PRIVATE DISCUSSION WITH A MALIGNANT WHO TAKES\nTHE CHOLERA AND BEGS THE ELDERS TO CURE HIM--HEALED AND THEN\nBAPTIZED-CURIOUS MANNER IN WHICH FOOD AND LODGING WERE PROVIDED.\n\nElder John T. Evans, now of Salt Lake City, spent about eight years\nwhen a young man in preaching the gospel in his native country--Wales.\nDuring about five years of this time he labored as a traveling Elder\nin North Wales, one of the very hardest of missionary fields, where\nhe traveled and preached without purse or scrip. Much of the time he\nlabored alone, for, although many different Elders were sent at various\ntimes by the president of the mission to assist him, they generally\nbecame discouraged on account of the persecution and hardships they\nwere forced to endure and soon abandoned their labors.\n\nThe interesting incidents connected with his labors in that land which\nElder Evans can relate would fill a volume.\n\nUpon one occasion he and four other Elders were sent to an iron\nmanufacturing district about seven miles from Neath to introduce the\ngospel. Among their first converts were a man by the name of William\nHowells and his family. This man on embracing the gospel received a\nstrong testimony of its divinity and was fearless in declaring it unto\nothers. He had a sister who had been so sick and helpless as to be\nbed-ridden for three-and-a-half years. She was a member of the Baptist\nchurch, but on hearing the doctrines of the Latter-day Saints explained\nshe soon became dissatisfied with her religion; and when her brother\ntestified to her that the gospel had been restored to the earth through\nthe Prophet Joseph Smith, with all its former gifts and blessings,\nshe declared her intention to be baptized. Her husband was bitterly\nopposed to the gospel, but all the reason, ridicule and persuasion that\nhe could use failed to turn her from her purpose. She was resolute,\nand so zealous withal that she made a special request to be baptized\non Sunday, between eleven and twelve o'clock, that the people of the\nwhole neighborhood might see the ceremony, and had word circulated to\nthat effect. It was a novel thing in that region to see Latter-day\nSaints baptizing, and the result was, that about three thousand persons\nassembled on the bank of the stream to witness it. She was carried from\nthe house to the stream, the distance of about half a mile in a chair,\nand there Elder Evans, assisted by a man named David Matthews, carried\nher into the water and baptized her.\n\nShe was rewarded for her faith by being entirely restored to health,\nand that too, instantaneously, for she walked out of the water and to\nher home.\n\nThis public manifestation of the power of God seemed to be the signal\nfor commencing a perfect storm of opposition against the Saints.\nThrough the influence of sectarian ministers with the proprietors\nof the iron works a great pressure was brought to bear against the\nSaints. It was claimed that they were Chartists, that is, members of\na political organization which had caused a great deal of trouble\nthroughout the kingdom a short time previously, and other lies equally\nunreasonable were circulated about them to make them odious and\nunpopular.\n\nThe five Elders who had been doing the preaching and baptizing, and who\nwere dependent upon their labor in the iron works for their living,\nwere informed by their employers that they must renounce the \"heresy\"\nwhich they taught as religion, or lose their positions. They chose the\nlatter.\n\nAbout two hundred of their converts were also employed in the iron\nworks. They were given one month's time to renounce their religion\nor likewise lose their situations. All efforts to obtain employment\nelsewhere without a recommendation from their last employers proved\nunavailing, on account of the rumors against their characters, and\nfinally, when they were brought to the test, about half of them chose\nto renounce their religion rather than lose their work. The others were\ndischarged and scattered to different parts in search of employment.\nMany of them suffered severely for want of the necessaries of life,\nand were only kept from starving by the collections taken up for their\nbenefit among the more fortunate Saints in other parts of the mission.\n\nAmong others who yielded to the pressure which the enemies of the\nSaints brought to bear against them, was the sister who had been healed\non being baptized. Notwithstanding her former zeal and resolution, and\nthe miraculous power of God which she had experienced, she abandoned\nthe faith. She perhaps thought she had no further need of God's mercy,\nbut if so, the sequel proved how sadly she was mistaken, for she was\nsoon prostrated as before and lingered in that condition until she died.\n\nIn the summer of 1849 the cholera prevailed throughout Wales to an\nalarming extent. The mortality was so great in some places that a\nperfect panic ensued. The Elders, however, continued their labors,\nundaunted by the disease, administering to the sick day and night,\nand the faith of the Saints was so great that they almost invariably\nrecovered. A local Elder by the name of Thomas Jones, who was a man\nof some property, and not obliged to work for his living, spent his\nwhole time while the disease prevailed in visiting among the sick. He\ncarried a bottle of consecrated oil about in his pocket to anoint them\nwith, and administered to all whom he found afflicted, and out of the\nwhole number only one died, and he was the only one who had taken the\nmedicine prescribed by a doctor. The town regulations required the sick\nto have a doctor, but as a rule his medicine was thrown into the fire\ninstead of being taken by the patients who belonged to the Church.\n\nOne of the preachers who had violently opposed the Saints became\nalarmed at the spread of the epidemic and attempted to flee and escape\nfrom it, but it overtook him and after three days of terrible agony he\ndied.\n\nAnother preacher by the name of Jenkins, who had been an enemy to the\nSaints, was stricken with the cholera and sent for Elder Evans to\nadminister to him. That he should do so will be considered all the more\nremarkable when the history of their early acquaintance is known:\n\nElder Evans, while laboring in Pembrokeshire, obtained the use of the\ntown hall, in a place called Fishguard, to hold meeting in and lighted\nit at his own expense. When the meeting had fairly commenced and he was\nin the act of preaching to a rather large audience, the whole of the\nlights in the room were extinguished simultaneously, according to a\npreconcerted plan, and a rush was made by the rabble towards the end of\nthe room where the Elder stood. A tall man, who happened to be standing\nnear Elder Evans, immediately placed his hand on the latter's shoulder,\nand said, \"Young man, come out of here, or you will be hurt!\" and\nleading the way, proceeded with him around one side of the room and out\nthrough the door, leaving the crowd rushing and jamming and shrieking\nto get at the Elder, whom they still supposed to be at the farther end\nof the hall.\n\nThe stranger took Elder Evans to a public house, saying that he\nwould like to have a talk with him, and on arriving there sent for\nMr. Jenkins, the Baptist preacher of the place, who had been at the\nmeeting, and probably engaged in urging the rabble on, to come there\nand have a private discussion. He came, and his principal argument\nconsisted of abuse and the rehearsal of all the absurd stories which\nhe had ever heard about the Saints. Although an educated man he seemed\nunable to cope with Elder Evans in the discussion of religion from a\nBible standpoint.\n\nThe friend who had delivered Brother Evans from the mob finally\ninterrupted them by exclaiming, \"Mr. Jenkins, you are no match for this\nyoung man in discussing from the Bible; you had better go to college\nagain!\"\n\nMr. Jenkins seemed considerably chagrined at this, and gave it up.\n\nThe next time Elder Evans met this preacher it was some months later,\nand, probably remembering the discussion, Mr. Jenkins then treated\nhim with some degree of respect. It was that very night that he was\nstricken with the cholera, and knowing that Elder Evans was in the\nvillage he sent his brother to beg of him to come and cure him. Brother\nEvans, and a man named John Nicholas who was staying with him, got out\nof bed and went to the sick man, and found him, doubled up with the\ncholera and in great agony. The Elder informed him, in answer to his\nappeal for relief, that the blessings of the gospel were not for men\nof his class, who were determined to oppose the work of God, but for\nthe Saints. He said, \"I will administer to you on one condition only,\nand that is that you repent of your sins and covenant with the Lord to\nforsake them and embrace the gospel if He spares your life.\"\n\n\"But,\" said the preacher, writhing with pain, \"I have an appointment\nout to preach for my own church.\"\n\n\"You must forego that,\" said Elder Evans, \"and preach such doctrines no\nmore, or I will not administer to you.\"\n\nThe sick man agreed, and the brethren placed their hands upon his\nhead, rebuked the disease and prayed for his recovery, and he was\nimmediately healed. The next day he was baptized, and afterwards became\nan efficient preacher of the true gospel, endured much persecution for\nhis religion in that country, emigrated to Utah with a handcart company\nand finally apostatized when Johnson's army came here.\n\nBrother Evans and a man named Thomas Harris were upon one occasion\ncalled on to administer to a young girl who was so convulsed with the\ncholera that she did not look like a human being, and so near dead\nthat she was black. A number of Saints were present at the time, whose\nfaith was centered on her recovery, and several unbelievers were also\nthere. The Elders administered to her, and while their hands were upon\nher head all signs of the disease vanished, and she was immediately\nrestored to health.\n\nA rather curious circumstance occurred while Elder Evans was laboring\nin North Wales in company with Peter Davis. They were traveling as\nusual without purse or scrip, and had been two days without food, when\nthey entered a village and applied at a store kept by a man named Jones\nto try to sell a few tracts with which to procure some food.\n\nOn learning what kind of tracts they were, the store-keeper refused\nto purchase, and they tramped on. The next place they entered was a\nshoe-maker's shop, where they asked the privilege of warming themselves\nby the fire, for they were almost frozen, it being extremely cold\nweather and the month of February. Some of the shoe-makers became\ninterested in their conversation and one of them proffered to try and\nfind a place for them to stay over night. He returned, however, after a\nwhile, to say that the Methodist preacher of that circuit was to occupy\nthe spare bed which he expected to procure for them. He, therefore,\nrecommended them to proceed some distance farther till they came to a\nfarm house, to which he directed them, where he had no doubt they could\nget lodgings and food.\n\nThe Elders trudged along, but when they arrived at the farm house it\nwas evident that the family had retired for the night, for there was no\nlight to be seen. They noticed a barn, however, standing convenient to\nthe roadside, which seemed to offer shelter for them at least, and they\nentered it and burrowed into a heap of straw they found there. They\nlay in that position for some time, shivering with the cold and trying\nin vain to go to sleep, when suddenly they heard some one outside call\nout, \"Hello! you men; come out here!\" Their first thought was that some\none had detected them while in the act of seeking shelter in the barn\nand informed the police, who were about to arrest them as vagrants.\nThey, therefore, remained as quiet as possible until the call had been\nrepeated several times, when they concluded they might as well answer,\nwhatever might be the consequences. As soon as they inquired what was\nwanted, the person informed them that he would find a place for them to\nstay if they would come out. Thinking some treachery might be meant,\nthey declined with thanks, and told him they could get along where they\nwere. He, however, urged them to go with him, saying he would take them\nto a place where they could have a good supper and a comfortable bed\nto sleep in. They accordingly came out and accompanied the stranger,\nwhom they had never seen before, back to the village and to the very\nstore where they had tried to sell the tracts. There they found a warm\nwelcome, a good supper and a comfortable bed. But now for the sequel:\n\nA young girl who happened to be in the shoe-shop where they called\nand who overheard the conversation, afterwards had occasion to call\nat Jones' store, and repeated it to the proprietor's daughter. The\nsympathy of the girls was aroused at the thoughts of the two young and\nstrange preachers seeking lodgings and food that cold night, and when\nMiss Jones retired to bed she found it impossible to go to sleep. Her\nteeth rattled and she shook and chilled all over although she was in\na comfortable bed and in a warm house. Nor could the family prevent\nher from chilling although they did all they could to warm her. In the\nmidst of her shivering she kept bewailing the fate of the two young\npreachers, whom she felt sure would suffer that cold night, and finally\nshe prevailed upon her brother to go in search of them and bring them\nback to their house, that they might have some supper and a comfortable\nbed to sleep in.\n\nAs soon as her brother had started on his errand of mercy the girl\nceased to chill and, in fact, got up, dressed herself and helped at\npreparing supper for the brethren before they arrived. It was not\nuntil the next morning that they learned the secret of the kindness\nshown them and saw in what a curious manner the Lord had operated in\npreserving them from possible death by freezing and providing them with\nthe food which they needed so badly.\n\nIt was quite a common thing in early days in the Welsh mission for the\npower of the devil to be manifested in what were called the Saints'\nmeetings--that is, testimony or sacramental meetings. The evil one\nseemed to be always on the alert to operate through some one, and the\npower of the Priesthood invariably had to be exerted to banish the\nevil influences from the meeting. Although not apparent at the time,\nexperience generally proved that the persons through whom the evil\none operated were not serving God as they should do--they were either\ndoubting the divinity of the principles which they had embraced or\nthey had broken the sacred covenants which they had made with the\nAlmighty and gone into transgression. Very frequently, after being\nrelieved of the evil spirits which possessed them such persons would,\nin a spirit of penitence and humility, acknowledge their faults and\nask forgiveness, but occasionally persons would be found who were not\nwilling to do this, but continued in sin and were a source of trouble\nand disturbance to the Saints whenever they happened to be present\nat their meetings; and it sometimes occurred that the spirits which\npossessed them were so stubborn and determined not to yield that the\nbrethren really found it difficult to cope with them.\n\nIn the latter part of the year 1848, the Elders laboring in the\nMerthyr Tydvil branch had a great deal of trouble with two young women\nof that branch who very frequently were possessed of evil spirits.\nThey were such a source of annoyance in the meetings that, on the\nday of a general conference which was to be held about the close of\nthe year, they were cautioned, by Elder Dan Jones who then presided\nthere, against attending the meeting. To this, however, they paid no\nattention, and when the meeting was opened, it was only too apparent\nthat they were there. In a short time the meeting was in such an\nuproar, through the raving and shrieking of those girls, that the\nspeaker could not be heard. Some of the Elders were immediately sent to\ncast the evil spirits out of them, but they failed to do so, and with\ndifficulty the girls were carried into an adjoining room.\n\nWhen a presiding Elder has the spirit of his office upon him it is his\nprivilege to know the proper course to take in any emergency. It is his\nprivilege to enjoy communion with the Holy Spirit and have the Lord\ndictate through him that which will be for the best good of the members\nover whom he is set to preside. It is also his privilege to discern by\nwhat spirit the people with whom he is brought in contact are actuated.\n\nIt would seem that Elder Dan Jones had the spirit of discernment on\nthat occasion and was inspired to take the wisest course in dealing\nwith the girls and the stubborn spirits by which they were possessed.\nHe was satisfied that they were wilfully sinful, or the spirit of God\nwould not be withdrawn from them and the devil suffered to exercise\nsuch power over them. He therefore proposed that they be cut off from\nthe Church on account of their transgressions, and the Saints assembled\nvoted unanimously to that effect. No sooner had they done so than the\nevil spirits left the girls and they became rational. When they were no\nlonger members of the Church, the devil had no further need to try to\nannoy the Saints through them. The result was that the girls afterwards\nsaw what their sin had brought them to, repented of it and made public\nacknowledgement before the Saints, after which they were re-baptized\nand were no more troubled by evil spirits.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\nJUDGMENT UPON OPPOSERS--TWO MEN KILLED BY THEIR HORSES--HORRIBLE DEATH\nOF ANOTHER--EIGHT PREACHERS GO DOWN AFTER OPPOSING ELDER EVANS--A\nMAN SAVED FROM BLEEDING TO DEATH BY THE PRAYER OF FAITH--A SISTER\nHEALED--WOMAN CURED OF A BLOODY ISSUE ON BEING BAPTIZED--ESCAPE THE\nFURY OF A MOB BY THE SPIRIT'S WARNING--A WARNING THROUGH THE GIFT OF\nTONGUES.\n\nIn numbers of instances in Brother John T. Evans' experience he had\nevidence of the judgments of the Almighty being visited upon those who\nopposed him.\n\nOn one occasion he and another Elder visited a village in\nMontgomeryshire, North Wales, to try to effect an opening. They\nfailed to obtain a house to hold meeting in, but nevertheless they\nannounced to the inhabitants that they would be back there one week\nfrom that time to preach to them. There seemed to be a strong spirit\nof opposition to them there, and on their again visiting the place\nand attempting to preach in the street opposite a public house, two\nmen emerged from the rear of the tavern leading a couple of fractious\nand high-spirited horses. They immediately commenced manoeuvering\nthe animals in the midst of the crowd who had gathered to listen to\nthe preaching. It was evidently a preconcerted plan to break up the\nmeeting, and it succeeded, for the people scattered and the Elders were\nforced to retire, and as they did so they were followed by a crowd\nof roughs who pelted them with stones till they had got clear of the\nvillage. Within two weeks from that time one of the men who had helped\nto break up the meeting by leading his horse into the crowd was kicked\nby the same animal and died from the effects of it, and the other\nman was thrown from his horse and killed. The people of that region\nregarded the summary death of these two men as a judgment sent upon\nthem for opposing the Elders, and they therefore treated them with more\nrespect afterwards.\n\nAnother case occurred in Elder Evans' native place, where he was sent\nby Captain Dan Jones to introduce the gospel. An old shoemaker who\nhad known and been friendly to him from his childhood, on hearing him\npreach came out and denounced the doctrine he taught as heretical and\n\"Mormonism\" as a delusion. He was so bitter that he even followed\nBrother Evans from place to place and railed against him almost like a\nmadman. He had not pursued this course very long when he was stricken\ndown with a peculiar kind of sickness which none of the doctors who saw\nhim understood anything about, although numbers of them visited him.\nOne of his arms was paralyzed and he had such a raging fever that he\nfelt as if it was consuming him. He begged of his friends to throw cold\nwater on him to keep him from burning up, and the doctors, not knowing\nwhat else to do for his relief, advised that it be done. Accordingly\nthose who were waiting upon him continued dashing cold water upon him\nwhile he remained alive, and he died raving and cursing \"Mormonism\" and\nevery person connected with it.\n\nWhile preaching in that same region Elder Evans was sent for by a very\nwealthy and influential man named Nathaniel Rowlands, who wished him\nto come and preach at his house. He had once heard Elder Abel Evans,\npreach and became somewhat interested in the doctrines he taught, and\nwanted to learn more of them. After preaching at his house he went to\na village about a mile distant to fill an appointment. At this village\na literary gathering or _eisteddfod_ was being held, composed of the\nbest educated men of the region, who were in the habit of meeting to\ncompare their literary and musical compositions and compete for prizes.\nThis association comprized quite a number of ministers of various\ndenominations, and they, knowing that Elder Evans was going to preach\nin the village on the same evening upon which they were to hold their\nmeeting, decided to go and oppose him publicly and expose his doctrines\nto the ridicule of his congregation. They, therefore, sent one of their\nnumber to Elder Evans' meeting to detain him until their meeting was\nover.\n\nThis man came, and at the close of Elder Evans' sermon he began asking\nhim questions, and thus detained him until a late hour, and the\ncongregation, knowing the character of the inquisitor, stayed to see\nthe end of the controversy. Finally, eight other preachers from the\n_eisteddfod_ came and announced to the Elder their intention. Elder\nEvans was greatly surprised to see such an array of talent unitedly\nopposed to him, but he did not feel to shrink from the contest, for\nhe knew he had the truth on his side. In the outset some of the more\nindependent persons in the audience stated that if the fallacy of the\nyoung man's doctrines was to be exposed, he should first be allowed to\nstate briefly what his doctrines were. The preachers assented to this\nand Elder Evans explained, one after another, the first principles\nof the gospel, in as plain a manner as possible, and they in turn\nsought to controvert and ridicule them. When he got to the subject of\nbaptism a division occurred among the preachers, some of them being\nBaptists and others holding baptism as non-essential. They soon got to\ndenouncing each other as vehemently as they had the young Elder just\nbefore, and when they almost got to blows the audience interfered and\nthe meeting was broken up, leaving a far more favorable feeling towards\nElder Evans than had before existed.\n\nWhen the news of this reached Mr. Rowlands he was very indignant, and\nhe immediately wrote to each of the preachers, denouncing his action\nin interfering with the young Elder, whom he had known from childhood\nas honest and conscientious, and every way deserving of respect. The\nresult was, the preachers lost caste from that very time and sunk into\noblivion, despised by all who knew them.\n\nWhile Elder Evans was laboring in Pembrokeshire a man by the name of\nThomas Evans broke a blood vessel and bled inwardly, the blood also\nissuing from his nose and mouth profusely. Doctors were called in and\ntried in vain to stop the hemorrhage. Brother Evans and another Elder\non learning of the man's condition went to see him. He had then grown\nso weak that he was scarcely able to speak, but he made known that he\ndesired them to administer to him. They complied with his request, and\non taking their hands from his head it was noticed that the bleeding\nhad stopped, and the man recovered from that time, although it was some\ntime before he regained his strength, as he had lost so much blood.\n\nNear the same time and in the same region a sister in the Church, named\nMorgan, was taken very sick. Her friends did all they could for her,\nbut she continued growing worse. When she had grown so bad that the\npersons waiting upon her expected her to die almost hourly, she fell\nasleep and dreamed that Elder Evans came and laid his hands upon her\nand she recovered immediately. On relating the dream to her friends,\nthey tried to find out where Brother Evans was, and sent to different\nparts of the country in search of him, without finding him, however;\nbut during the day Elder Evans happened to call at the house where the\nsick woman was. She saw him as he passed the window before he entered\nthe door and she declared afterwards that the sight of him caused her\npain to vanish, and when he laid his hands upon her head she was healed\ninstantly, and arose and ate her supper.\n\nOne of the most remarkable cases of healing that ever occurred in\nBrother Evans' experience was that of a woman who had been afflicted\nwith a bloody issue for thirty years, and who had been given up by the\ndoctors as incurable. On hearing the gospel she believed, and requested\nbaptism. Notwithstanding the protests of her friends, who all declared\nthat if she went into the water it would kill her, she determined to do\nso, and Elder Evans baptized her. From that very time she was cured of\nher affliction and was no more troubled by it.\n\nIn illustration of the providential way in which the Elders are\nsometimes preserved when their enemies seek to destroy them, Brother\nEvans relates the following: In a village in Pembrokeshire in which\nhe had often preached, a man by the name of Thomas, who had listened\nto his testimony and was a believer but had not made up his mind to\nbe baptized, was taken sick with the cholera. When the disease had\ngot such a hold upon him that he felt that he must die, he became\nvery anxious to be baptized, and sent for his brother, who was an\nElder in the Church, and demanded baptism at his hands. He expressed\nno hopes of living, he fully expected to die, and to gratify him his\nbrother baptized him. The man died soon afterwards as he had expected\nto, but at the coroner's inquest which was held over the body, on the\nfact being known that he was baptized, a great uproar was raised.\nHis brother was arrested, charged with murder, and the Elders who\nhad labored in that region were threatened with the vengeance of the\npopulace if they ever returned. John Thomas was in time tried for his\nbrother's murder, and acquitted, the evidence being clear that he died\nfrom cholera and not from being baptized. Soon afterwards Elder John\nMorris, who was president of the Pembrokeshire conference, and Brother\nEvans, who was his counselor, called at the village and put up as usual\nat the house of an old gentleman named Noat, who was a member of the\nChurch. Before retiring for the night they felt impressed to leave\nthat house, and go to another and stay. It was fortunate that they did\nso, for, if they had failed to act upon the warning of the Spirit,\nthey would probably have forfeited their lives as a consequence. In\nthe night a mob broke open the doors of Noat's house and searched for\nthe Elders, whom they supposed to be there. Failing to find them, they\ndragged old Brother Noat from his house and abused him most shamefully,\nbecause he would not inform them where the Elders were. The Elders, on\nhearing of the outrage the next morning, went to the house; but were\nseen by some of the mob, and had to flee for their lives, being stoned\nout of the place.\n\nAs an example of the manner in which the gifts of tongues and the\ninterpretation of the same were enjoyed by the Saints in the Welsh\nmission in an early day, Brother Evans relates the following: It was\ncustomary at that time for the Saints in emigrating from Wales to sail\nfrom Swansea to Liverpool. A couple or three days after a company had\nstarted in this way, many of them having gone from Aberdare, a \"Saints'\nmeeting\" was being held in the latter place, when a young man was led\nto speak in tongues. On the interpretation being given by another\nperson present, it was stated that the company of Saints who had sailed\nfor Liverpool were in danger of being wrecked, and were praying very\nearnestly for their deliverance, and wishing that their friends at\nhome would also pray for them. The man who presided over the meeting\nsupposed from the length of time which had elapsed after the company\nhad sailed that they must have reached Liverpool before that time.\nHe therefore preferred to act upon his own judgment to accepting the\nSpirit's warning, and dismissed the meeting without offering a prayer\nfor the safety of their friends. A few days afterwards news reached\nAberdare that the company had been all but lost on the voyage, and at\nthe time that their friends were holding their meeting they were in the\ngreatest peril.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nTHOMAS D. GILES' EXPERIENCE--HIS HEAD CRUSHED AND SPLIT OPEN BY A TON\nOF COAL FALLING UPON IT--HEALED BY THE POWER OF GOD--A DEAF AND DUMB\nMAN RECEIVES HIS HEARING AND SPEECH ON BEING BAPTIZED, ETC.\n\nBrother Thomas D. Giles, of Salt Lake City, was connected with the\nChurch and labored considerably in the ministry in Wales soon after\nthe introduction of the gospel in that land. He relates many curious\ncircumstances connected with his conversion to the gospel and his early\nexperience in the same, some of which we will give to our readers\nsubstantially as he tells them:\n\nBrother Giles was a Baptist when he was a young man, and an earnest\nseeker after truth wherever it was to be found. The first time he met\nhis friend Abel Evans after that gentleman had joined the Church, he\nwas asked by him what he thought of the Latter-day Saints. Brother\nGiles replied that he knew nothing about them. Brother Evans then\npredicted that he soon would know something about them, and, more\nthan that, he and his father's family would soon be baptized by them.\nBrother Giles thought but little of this prediction at the time, but\nit was soon literally fulfilled, for on hearing the gospel preached he\nwas convinced of its truth, and on the 1st of November, 1844, he was\nbaptized by Elder Abel Evans. He bears his solemn testimony now that as\nsoon as the Elders placed their hands upon his head and confirmed him\na member of the Church the power of the Holy Ghost filled his system,\nbrought joy to his heart and gave him an assurance that his sins were\nforgiven, for which he had been praying for many years. His father was\nalso prepared to receive the gospel as soon as he heard it preached,\nfor he had for a long time been inquiring after a church organized\nafter the pattern given by our Savior and His apostles, and possessing\nthe various gifts which were formerly enjoyed by the Saints. The result\nwas that he and the whole of his family were soon baptized.\n\nAbout seventeen months after he was baptized Elder Giles was called to\nlabor as a missionary in Monmouthshire, where he soon baptized a goodly\nnumber of people, organized about thirty branches of the Church and had\nthe satisfaction of seeing his converts enjoy the gifts of the gospel,\nsuch as speaking in tongues, interpreting the same, healing the sick,\ncasting out evil spirits, etc. He had much opposition to meet, and\nsuffered considerable persecution, but was upheld by the power of God,\nand had great joy in his labors. When holding outdoor meetings he was\nfrequently interrupted by persons who were influenced by the sectarian\nministers of the region. One man in particular, named Daniels, was very\npersistent in opposing him and trying to break up his meetings, and on\none occasion after doing so he declared that if the Elders attempted to\nhold meeting again at the same place the following Sunday he would have\nmen enough there to mob them out of the place. Before the next Sunday\ncame, however, the man was in his grave, having been accidentally\nkilled while at his work.\n\nThe first person baptized under Brother Giles' administration was a man\nnamed Wm. Lewis, who immediately opened his house for the Elders to\nhold meetings in. But the Saints soon numbered so many that his house\nwould not contain them. The Elders then applied to a tavern keeper for\na large room in which to hold their meetings, which he very kindly\ngranted them, and in a short time he and all his family were converted\nand baptized, and gave up their tavern. Baptisms occurred every night\nin the week, and in a short time that branch numbered two hundred and\nthree. In time a still larger hall was required in which to convene,\nand the Elders applied to a Mr. Davis, who owned a large building\ncalled \"The Greyhound Hall,\" to obtain the use of it. He, however,\ncould not think of allowing the \"Mormons\" to meet in his hall, as he\nfeared it would injure his business and destroy his influence. But he\nsoon had reason to regret taking such an illiberal course, as he met\nwith a series of losses through having his animals suddenly sicken and\ndie, and could only attribute his bad luck to the displeasure of the\nAlmighty at his refusal to grant the Saints the use of his hall. After\nthat he was glad to have them use it. Among others baptized was the\nleader of the Baptist choir as well as most of his principal singers,\nand as a consequence the singing in the meetings of the Saints became\nquite an attractive feature.\n\nThe faith in the ordinances of the gospel displayed by the Saints among\nwhom Brother Giles labored was quite remarkable. The feeling with most\nof them on being taken sick was that if they could only have the Elders\ncome and lay their hands upon them they would be well, and the result\nwas generally according to their faith. Brother Wm. Lewis, of whom\nmention has already been made, was taken seriously sick on one occasion\nand was unable to leave his bed. His first thought was to send for\nElder Giles to come and administer to him. He visited him as requested,\nand, on entering the door, called out cheerily, asking him what he\nmeant by lying in bed, and told him to get up and come down stairs. So\ngreat was the sick man's faith that he sprang out of bed on hearing the\nvoice and obeyed, and when Brother Giles had administered to him he was\nas well as he ever had been.\n\nSimilar faith was manifested by the Saints when the cholera prevailed\nin that land, and Brother Giles testifies that every one so afflicted\nwhom he or the other Elders laboring with him administered to,\nrecovered. This was certainly remarkable, considering the very great\nnumber of unbelievers who died there of that dread malady. One case\nin particular Brother Giles mentions, that of a sister named Dudley,\nwho was so bad that she had turned black and whose sunken eyes\nindicated that she had not many minutes to live. None of the friends\nwho surrounded her had any hopes of her living except her husband. He\ncalled for Elder Giles to administer to her and when he did so she was\nrestored to health and is now living in Utah.\n\nAbout the same time a Mrs. Davies, who was not in the Church, sent for\nElders Giles and Dudley to administer to her, as she was very sick and\nconfined to her bed. They did so, and her faith made her whole. After\nthat she and her husband joined the Church, and are in Utah now, true\nLatter-day Saints.\n\nOn another occasion, when Elder Giles was on a visit to his father's\nhouse, he was sent for to administer to a neighbor lady, who had been\nsick and confined to her bed for a considerable length of time. When\nhe went to see her she was suffering the most excruciating pain, but\nwhen he had anointed her and rebuked her disease all pain vanished and\nshe was restored to health. She afterwards came to Utah and frequently\ntestified of the miraculous manner in which she was healed.\n\nBrother Giles himself met with a terrible accident, and the power of\nGod manifested in preserving his life and restoring him to health, was\nnot less remarkable than in the cases before mentioned. On the 23rd\nof July, 1843, he visited the Llanelly branch of the Church, where he\nheld meeting out of doors in the forenoon and in the afternoon attended\na sacrament meeting. At the latter meeting permission was given for\nany of the Saints to speak as they might feel led by the Spirit.\nAmong others Elder Giles was moved upon to speak in tongues, and the\ninterpretation of what he said was given to the president of the\nbranch, Elder John Morgan, as follows: \"My servant, watch, for thy life\nis in danger; but through thy faith thy life shall be spared!\"\n\nFeeling sure that there was something prophetic about this, Elder\nGiles warned Brother Morgan at the close of the meeting to be careful,\nand not to be out late at night, lest some plot might be laid by his\nenemies to take his life. He also said that he would try to take care\nof himself, and avoid danger, lest it might be himself that the warning\nwas intended for.\n\nOn the following Wednesday, the 26th of July, Brother Giles went to\nhis work as usual in the coal mine, and in a short time after he had\ncommenced work a large piece of coal, weighing about two thousand\npounds fell upon him. He was in a stooping posture at the time, being\nabout to pick up a piece of coal that lay in front of him, and when he\nwas knocked down his head lodged between this and the mass of coal that\nfell upon him. His head was split open from the back of the crown down\nto his eyes. One of his eyes was also completely cut out of the socket,\nand the other crushed so that it ran out.\n\nHe was taken home, and two physicians came and examined his head. They\ndeclined doing anything for him, as they said it was not possible for\nhim to live over two hours. However, after a great deal of persuasion,\nthey consented to wash off his head, pick the pieces of coal out of it\nand sew up the wounds. They also left medicine for him to take, such as\nthey thought suitable for the case, but he refused to take a drop of\nit. He remembered the promise of the Lord, that through faith his life\nshould be spared, and felt to hold on to it and claim a blessing at\nthe hands of the Almighty. The Saints of the branch in which he lived\nwere very faithful and kind, and did all they possibly could under the\ncircumstances for his comfort.\n\nOn the third day after the accident Elder William S. Phillips, the\npresident of the Welsh mission, anointed him with consecrated oil, laid\nhis hands upon his head and blessed him in the name of Jesus Christ.\nBrother Giles testifies that the healing power of the Holy Spirit did\nrest upon him at that time, for he got out of bed and walked across\ntwo rooms, back and forth. On the ninth day after the accident he sang\na song for some of his friends who had called to see him, and in four\nweeks he traveled twelve miles in company with two of the brethren to\nvisit his father and mother and the president of the branch. On the\nfourth Sunday after the accident, being called upon, he spoke in a\npublic meeting in the afternoon and evening.\n\nSoon after that he was called upon to travel throughout the mission and\nbear his testimony and preach to the people, in company with Elder John\nJones, and he did so.\n\nWhile thus engaged he visited Newport, and learned the particulars\nof a miracle that had occurred there a short time previous. A young\nman named Reuben Brinkworth, who had been deaf and dumb for a number\nof years, manifested a desire to be baptized, and on receiving that\nordinance at the hands of Elder Nash, in whose house he resided, both\nhis hearing and speech were immediately restored to him.\n\nBrother Giles visited this young man and questioned him in regard to\nthe miracle, and was assured by him that when he went into the water\nto be baptized he could neither hear nor speak, but as soon as he was\nbaptized he could do both. Brother Nash also bore his testimony to the\nsame facts.\n\nNear the same time that Brother Giles met with his accident a friend\nof his, named David Davis, who was living in Merthyr, was almost\ncrushed to a pulp by the roof of a coal mine falling upon him. When he\nwas dug out Elder William Phillips and some other brethren laid their\nhands upon him and promised him that he should live and be healed.\nWhile their hands were upon his head, his broken ribs and other bones\nwere heard coming together with a noise which was quite perceptible.\nBrother Davis, who was a truthful, honest man, lived to travel about\nWales and testify of this miracle and follow his daily labor as if no\nsuch accident had ever occurred. He afterwards emigrated to the United\nStates, and is perhaps yet alive.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nSCENE IN THE EXPERIENCE OF WM. J. SMITH--A STRANGE PROPHECY AND ITS\nWONDERFUL FULFILLMENT.\n\nIn February, 1856, Elder William J. Smith, who was on a mission in\nEngland, was appointed by the Presidency of the Church in that land to\npreside over the Warwickshire conference. Under his ministrations many\nwere baptized into the Church in Coventry, which stirred up the clergy\nof that city against him to such an extent that they specially enjoined\nit upon their scripture readers to warn the people against going to\nhear the \"Mormons.\"\n\nElder Smith determined to deliver a series of eight lectures on the\nfirst principles of the gospel, at Spurn End chapel, the regular\nmeeting place of the Saints; and to secure attendance he placarded\nCoventry with large bills announcing his intention. This caused many to\ncome and hear him.\n\nOn the Sunday morning announced for the sixth lecture Elder Smith was\nso sick that he was unable to arise from his bed. In this extremity he\nprayed earnestly to the Lord to heal him, so that he could fill his\nappointment. It was with much difficulty that he went to the morning's\nmeeting, but being resolved to do his utmost, he addressed the Saints,\nand, the Spirit of God resting upon him, he was much strengthened and\nwas enabled to fill his appointment in the afternoon.\n\nThe meeting was a very crowded one; all classes apparently were\nrepresented; scripture readers were present to take notes, while\nnumbers, probably hundreds, were unable to obtain admission.\n\nIn the rear of the chapel ran the line of railway that connected\nCoventry with Nuneaton, and in that portion of its road it was built\nupon arches high above the ground. These were so near the chapel\nthat whenever a train passed, it not only made a great noise, but\nperceptibly shook the building. Elder Smith's audience, though so\nlarge, was a very attentive one, but shortly after he had commenced\nspeaking a train came thundering by, causing the minds of the people to\nbe distracted from his teachings. Feeling annoyed at the interruption,\nthe speaker suddenly stopped talking, paused for a few moments and then\nexclaimed, \"Babylon! confusion! I cannot speak an hour without being\ninterrupted by the railway,\" and then, stretching out his hand, he\ncontinued, \"In the name of Jesus Christ, my Master, that railway arch\nshall fall to the ground.\" Elder Smith then continued his sermon. When\nhe had done, he had mingled feelings; he could scarcely understand why\nhe was prompted to utter such a prophecy; he felt that if he had left\nthat out it would have been the best discourse he ever preached. But\nthe words were uttered and could not be recalled; they had been heard\nby scores, many of whom were not friends of the Saints; still he felt\nimpressed that what he had prophesied was by the Spirit of God, and\nthat gave him peace.\n\nHis words were reported to nine clergymen, who made it their business\nto have competent judges examine the arches and discover if possible\nif there was any cause for a statement and prophecy such as his. These\ngentlemen declared the arches to be sound, that there were no better in\nEngland, and consequently Brother Smith was ridiculed and derided as a\nfalse prophet.\n\nShortly afterwards Elder Smith was called away from Coventry by the\npresidency of the mission, and appointed to succeed Elder Henry Lunt in\nthe presidency of the Newcastle-on-Tyne pastorate. He left Warwickshire\nwithout seeing his prophecy fulfilled; but within a few weeks a heavy\nrain fell and undermined the arches, and nineteen out of twenty-one\nfell to the ground, leaving only two standing. Through this fall much\ndamage was done to the contiguous residences and other property.\n\nBrother Henry Russell, who now lives at Union, in Salt Lake County, was\nat that time a lamp-lighter in Coventry. He was engaged in lighting the\nstreet lamps when this destruction took place. He was just about to\npass under one of the arches when it fell, and he probably would have\nbeen killed had he not been stopped by a policeman and detained until\nthe danger was over.\n\nThus is the saying of the Lord corroborated, that what His servants\ndeclare by His Spirit He will fulfill.\n\n\nREMARKABLE HEALINGS.\n\nMARTIN H. PECK'S TESTIMONY OF A NUMBER OF REMARKABLE CASES OF\nHEALING--A BROKEN ARM, A CRUSHED LEG, ETC., HEALED IMMEDIATELY.\n\nBrother Martin H. Peck, of Salt Lake City, relates a series of cases of\nhealing that occurred in his family and under his administration. He\njoined the Church in Vermont, in 1833, and about two years later, while\non a visit to a place about nine miles from where he lived, he received\nword from his wife at home that their child was lying at the point of\ndeath and she desired him to come home immediately and bring an Elder\nwith him. He was not more surprised at learning of his son's dangerous\ncondition than of the faith in the ordinances of the gospel which his\nwife manifested, by wanting an Elder to lay hands on the child; for\nshe had not then joined the Church or manifested much interest in the\ngospel. He was therefore almost as much pleased on his wife's account\nas he was pained on account of his child on receiving the news. Taking\nElder James Snow with him, he hastened home, and found the little\nfellow lying helpless and in a very low condition in his mother's arms.\nBrother Peck only held the office of a Teacher at the time, so Elder\nSnow administered to the child alone, and while doing so the little\nfellow dozed off into a quiet slumber, and when he awoke he was as well\nas he ever had been.\n\nSoon afterwards Brother Peck himself was taken extremely ill, and to\nall appearances seemed about to die. He even lost his sight and was in\nthe greatest agony, but Elder John Badger was called in and rebuked the\ndisease and blessed him, and he was healed immediately. On describing\nhis symptoms afterwards to a friend who was an experienced physician,\nhe was assured that his was an extreme case, and it was doubtful if\nmedical skill could have saved him.\n\nNear the same time his son Joseph was troubled with a couple of\nswellings on the glands of his neck which threatened to choke him.\nAfter various remedies had been tried without avail a physician was\nconsulted, who declared the boy could not live long if they continued\nto grow, and recommended that a surgical operation be performed to\nremove them, although even that, he admitted, would be very dangerous.\nBrother Peck concluded not to act upon his advice, and he sent for some\nElders instead and had them anoint and lay hands upon him. The result\nwas that in a few days the swellings had entirely disappeared.\n\nFrom Vermont Brother Peck removed to Ohio, and while there a great deal\nof sickness prevailed and many deaths occurred in his neighborhood. The\ndoctors seemed to be entirely baffled in their efforts to cope with the\ndisease. Among others stricken down was Brother Peck's son, William.\nHe lay unconscious all day with his eyes turned back in his head, and\napparently in a dying condition. A number of neighbors called in to see\nhim and urged Brother Peck to send for a doctor. He told them, however,\nthat he could not have much confidence in doctors' skill after seeing\nthe children which they attended die off, as they had done, like rotten\nsheep. He preferred to have nothing to do with them. Nor did he feel\nlike administering to the boy while unbelievers were in the house. His\nwife happened to be away from home, and he felt confident that when she\nreturned their united faith would result in obtaining a blessing from\nthe Almighty. Some of the neighbors in their solicitude stayed with the\nboy all day, and doubtless thought Brother Peck an unfeeling wretch, as\nhe would not send for a doctor. On the return of Sister Peck she, too,\nrefused to have a physician, and so the neighbors left in disgust. As\nsoon as they had done so the parents called mightily upon the Lord to\nspare their child's life and Brother Peck rebuked the disease, and he\nwas healed instantly.\n\nBut a few days had elapsed when their son Joseph was taken suddenly\nvery sick, and a neighbor hastened to Brother Peck's shop to inform him\nif something were not done immediately for his relief he would be dead.\nHe also offered his services to wait upon him. Brother Peck thanked him\nfor his kindness but declined accepting the offer. On reaching his home\nand seeing the condition of the child, which was truly alarming, he and\nhis wife referred the case to the Lord, with the same result as in the\nprevious case.\n\nA rather curious case was that of a young lady who lived in Brother\nPeck's family who was afflicted with a most distressing cough, from\nwhich she could get no relief. It seemed as if she would almost choke\nwith it. On being administered to by the Elders she was relieved\nimmediately, and never coughed again for two weeks, when, on getting in\na passion, the cough returned.\n\nThere was a doctor by the name of Harvey Tate living neighbor to\nBrother Peck in Ohio, who became somewhat interested in the doctrines\nof the Latter-day Saints, and for the purpose of learning more\nconcerning them made a visit to his house. While he was there Brother\nPeck's son James was brought home with a broken arm, caused by his\nfalling from a tree. The fracture was about three inches above the\nwrist joint, and so complete that his arm formed a right angle at the\nplace where it was broken. The doctor set and bandaged it, and the boy\nwas put in bed. The pain was so great, however, that he could scarcely\nendure it, and after the doctor had gone he begged his father to\n\"bless\" him, saying he knew that would cure him.\n\nBrother Peck accordingly administered to him and the pain immediately\nceased. He slept well during the night and on getting up the next\nmorning played about with his fellows as if nothing had ever been the\nmatter with his arm, not even having it in a sling. The next day he was\nsent to the doctor to show him his arm, and when he entered his house,\nthe doctor noticed, to his surprise, that the boy took hold of a chair\nwith his lame hand and lifted it forward to sit down upon. Taking the\nlittle fellow by the hand, he then asked him if he felt any pain in his\narm or hand, and the boy answered frankly that he did not. The doctor\nbent his fingers and saw that he had free use of them, then examined\nhis hand and wrist and saw that there was no sign of swelling, and\ndeclared that it was the power of God which had healed the broken limb,\nfor nothing else could have done it in so short a time. This incident\nprobably influenced Dr. Tate in favor of the Latter-day Saints, as he\nsoon afterwards joined the Church. He was baptized by Elder John E.\nPage, and ordained an Elder, and for some time was quite a faithful and\nefficient member, but he subsequently lost the faith. He had abundant\nevidence, however, while he remained in the Church that the power of\nGod was with the Saints, as he saw it manifested on several occasions\nso plainly that he could not deny it. But he may have been like some\nothers of whom it has been said that they joined the Church through\nseeing a miracle performed and apostatized because they could not see\none every day.\n\nOn one occasion he and Elder Peck were called upon to go a distance of\nten miles to see a sister in the Church who was thought to be dying.\nThey traveled with all possible speed, and on arriving at the place\nfound the woman in a very critical condition. The doctor, although\nused to scenes of sickness, allowed Brother Peck to take the lead in\ndirecting what should be done for the relief of the patient, and he\nproposed to anoint and lay hands upon her. They accordingly did so, and\nshe was healed immediately, and arose and prepared supper for them.\nWhile returning home the doctor remarked jocularly, that the experience\nof that evening presented a new phase in his medical practice. He had\nnever taken that course before to cure patients, nor was he in the\nhabit of going that distance to visit them without charging for it.\n\nWhile journeying to Missouri with the \"Kirtland Camp,\" Brother Peck's\nson, Edwin, had his leg accidentally run over by a heavily loaded\nwagon, on a very hard road. When he was picked up the limb appeared to\nbe flattened as if almost crushed to a pulp, and the flesh was laid\nopen. Brother Peck had seen the power of God manifested in so many\ninstances then, and he had such confidence in the Almighty hearing and\nanswering his prayers, that he never thought of summoning a surgeon,\nbut immediately administered to the boy and then placed him in the\nwagon. In an hour afterwards he examined his leg and found that it\nwas entirely well, the only sign of the injury left being a slight\nscar which had the dry and scaly appearance of an old sore, long since\nhealed up. The place was not even discolored. There were numbers of\nwitnesses to this miracle, many of whom are living to-day.\n\n\n\nPHILO DIBBLE'S NARRATIVE.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nHIS EARLY LIFE--CONVERSION--CURIOUS SIGNS--JOSEPH REMOVES\nTO KIRTLAND--WONDERFUL MANIFESTATIONS--A MIRACULOUS CASE OF\nHEALING--SIDNEY RIGDON IN DARKNESS--JOSEPH PREDICTS THAT THE EVIL ONE\nWILL HANDLE HIM, AND THE PREDICTION IS FULFILLED.\n\nI am the second son of Orotor and Bulah Dibble, and was born June 6th,\n1806, at Peru, Pittsfield County, Massachusetts. When I was quite young\nmy father removed to the town of Granby, where he died when I was ten\nyears old, leaving my mother with nine children. My elder brother,\nPhilander, and I were taken by one Captain Apollos Phelps, living at\nSuffield, Connecticut, to raise until we were twenty-one years old, he\nhaving no children of his own. Morally speaking, he was a good man, and\ntaught us good principles, and treated us as though we were his own\nsons.\n\nI remained with him four or five months after I became of age, when\nI resolved to travel. I then visited Boston, Massachusetts, and its\nharbor, and saw the ship _Java_, that was fitted out with six hundred\nsoldiers to protect the merchants against the pirates. I also visited\nseveral islands and many of the surrounding towns and then returned\nto Suffield, where I became acquainted with Miss Celia Kent, daughter\nof Benajah Kent, of Suffield, and married her; the Rev. Calvin Phileo\nperforming the ceremony. I was then twenty-three years of age.\n\nMy wife having some property in Ohio, we sold our possessions in\nConnecticut and removed to that part. While crossing Lake Erie\nfrom Buffalo to Fairport we encountered a terrible storm, and our\ndestruction seemed imminent, but through an overruling Providence we\nwere saved and landed safely. We passed through Chardon, Ohio, and\nlocated three miles west of that city, at a place called King Street,\nwhich was within five miles of Kirtland. I there purchased a farm and\nentered into the business of buying and selling wild lands.\n\nOne morning I was standing at my gate when two men drove up in a\ntwo-horse wagon, and asked me to get in and go home with them, about\nquarter of a mile distant. On the way, one asked me if I had heard the\nnews, and informed me that four men had come to Kirtland with a golden\nBible and one of them had seen an angel. They laughed and ridiculed\nthe idea, but I did not feel inclined to make light of such a subject.\nI made no reply, but thought that if angels had administered to the\nchildren of men again I was glad of it; I was afraid, however, it was\nnot true. On my return home I told my wife what I had heard.\n\nThe next day I was intending to go fifty miles south to the town of\nSuffield, Ohio, to pay some taxes, but my wife thinking that one or two\ndays would not make much difference about that, proposed that we should\nhunt up those strange men in Kirtland.\n\nThe next morning I took my wife, another man and his wife, and started\nfor Kirtland. When we arrived there, the men we were seeking had gone\nto the town of Mayfield, but were to return to Kirtland the next day.\nThe following morning I hitched up my carriage and again drove to\nKirtland, one of my neighbors accompanying us with his team and family.\nOn arriving there, we were introduced to Oliver Cowdery, Ziba Peterson,\nPeter Whitmer, Jr., and Parley P. Pratt. I remained with them all day,\nand became convinced that they were sincere in their professions. I\nasked Oliver what repentance consisted of, and he replied, \"Forsaking\nsin and yielding obedience to the gospel!\"\n\nThat evening he preached at Brother Isaac Morley's, and bore his\ntestimony to the administration of an angel at noonday. He then dwelt\nupon the subjects of repentance and baptism and the bestowal of the\nHoly Ghost, and promised that all who embraced these principles\nwith honesty of heart should receive a testimony. He also requested\nall who wished to be baptized to make it manifest by arising. Five\npersons, among whom were William Cahoon and myself, arose. I then\nmade preparations for baptism by borrowing a suit of clothes. My wife\nthought I was too hasty, and said if I would wait awhile perhaps she\nwould go along with me. She was a Baptist by persuasion. I paid no\nheed to her, but went forthwith and was baptized by Parley P. Pratt.\nThis was on the 16th of October, 1830. When I came out of the water, I\nknew that I had been born of water and of the spirit, for my mind was\nilluminated with the Holy Ghost.\n\nI spent that evening at Dr. F. G. Williams'. While in bed that night I\nfelt what appeared to be a hand upon my left shoulder and a sensation\nlike fibers of fire immediately enveloped my body. It passed from my\nright shoulder across my breast to my left shoulder, it then struck me\non my collar bone and went to the pit of my stomach, after which it\nleft me. I was enveloped in a heavenly influence, and could not sleep\nfor joy.\n\nThe next morning I started home a happy man. All my neighbors were\nanxious to know the result of my visit to Kirtland, and I was visited\nby two Campbellite preachers, named respectively Scott and Williams,\none of whom remarked, \"Mr. Dibble, I understand you have joined the\n'Mormons.' What reason have you to believe they have the truth?\"\n\nI told them, \"The scriptures point to such a work, which should come\nforth.\"\n\nHe then asked me where I found it. I took the Bible and opened it\nwhere it speaks of truth springing out of the earth, and righteousness\nlooking down from above. He read it and handed it to the other\npreacher. They made no comments.\n\nI bore my testimony to them of what I had received, and Mr. Scott said,\n\"I don't doubt, Mr. Dibble, that you have received all you say, because\nyou are honest, but they are impostors.\"\n\nI then asked Mr. Scott if he believed the Lord would bless the labors\nof a false prophet, to which they did not stop to reply but left, and\ntold the people it was no use talking to me.\n\nOne of my neighbors came to me and said, \"We have sent a man down to\nYork State to find out the truth of this work, and he is a man who will\nnot lie. If he returns and says it is false, will you believe him?\"\n\nI told him I would believe the truth, and asked him if that man (whose\nname was Edward Partridge) should come back and say it was false if he\nwould believe him.\n\nHe replied, \"Yes; for he is a man who would not lie for his right arm!\"\n\nI then added, \"If he says it is true, will you then believe him?\" to\nwhich he reluctantly replied that he would.\n\nShortly after this, however, when Brother Partridge wrote back and said\nthat he had been baptized, and was then preaching the gospel, this\nman shunned me, and for a long time afterwards gave me no chance to\ntalk with him. But when we met, I asked him what he thought of Brother\nPartridge, and he replied that he was honest, but had been deceived.\n\nThe four missionaries who had visited Kirtland proceeded on westward\nto the borders of the Lamanites, in Jackson County, Missouri, on the\nmission to which they had been called by revelation through Joseph the\nProphet, leaving the few converts they had made to themselves. Meetings\nwere held occasionally by the members of the Church in Kirtland, all\nof which I attended. All manner of spirits were there made manifest,\nand no one to detect them. Many persons were operated upon in a very\nstrange manner, and I was impressed that the spirits which inspired\nthem were from the evil one.\n\nAt a meeting held one evening at Brother Whitney's, the heavens were\nopened and the Spirit of God filled the house and rested upon all the\ncongregation to overflowing, little children not excepted. Prophesying\nand singing the songs of Zion were indulged in until morning. Brother\nWhitney, who had not then yielded obedience to the gospel, was\nconvinced of the truth, and shortly after was baptized.\n\nI will here observe that about the time of which I write, there were\nmany signs and wonders seen in the heavens above and in the earth\nbeneath in the region of Kirtland, both by Saints and strangers. A\npillar of light was seen every evening for more than a month hovering\nover the place where we did our baptizing. One evening also, as Brother\nWilliam Blakesley and I were returning home from meeting, we observed\nthat it was unusually light, even for moonlight; but, on reflection, we\nfound the moon was not to be seen that night. Although it was cloudy,\nit was as light as noonday, and we could seemingly see a tree farther\nthat night than we could in the day time.\n\nSoon after this Joseph with his father's family came to Kirtland, and\nsaid the Lord had sent him there, and he or the devil would have to\nleave.\n\nThis was the first time I had beheld Joseph. After he arrived the false\nspirits which had been operating through the members of the Church\nceased for awhile.\n\nI held myself in readiness to assist the Smith family with my means or\nmy personal services as they might require, as they were financially\npoor. They were living on a farm owned by F. G. Williams, in Kirtland,\nupon which there was a debt of four hundred dollars due, which had to\nbe paid within a stated time or the farm would revert to its former\nowner.\n\nJoseph Coe, who was required to raise this amount to save the farm,\nsaid he could not do so, for his wife held the money and she did not\nbelong to the Church. Being present with Joseph when the subject came\nup, I said to him, \"I can raise the money!\" and he replied that if I\nwould, I should be blessed.\n\nI explained to him how I would have to raise the money. I owned twelve\nhundred acres of land lying twenty miles south of Elyria, which was\nworth three dollars per acre. In order to raise the money then I would\nhave to sell a portion of it for one dollar and twenty-five cents per\nacre, and I accordingly did so and paid Joseph the four hundred dollars.\n\nWhen Joseph came to Kirtland his fame spread far and wide. There was a\nwoman living in the town of Hiram, forty miles from Kirtland, who had a\ncrooked arm, which she had not been able to use for a long period. She\npersuaded her husband, whose name was Johnson, to take her to Kirtland\nto get her arm healed.\n\nI saw them as they passed my house on their way. She went to Joseph and\nrequested him to heal her. Joseph asked her if she believed the Lord\nwas able to make him an instrument in healing her arm. She said she\nbelieved the Lord was able to heal her arm.\n\nJoseph put her off till the next morning, when he met her at Brother\nWhitney's house. There were eight persons present, one a Methodist\npreacher, and one a doctor. Joseph took her by the hand, prayed in\nsilence a moment, pronounced her arm whole, in the name of Jesus\nChrist, and turned and left the room.\n\nThe preacher asked her if her arm was whole, and she straightened it\nout and replied: \"It is as good as the other.\" The question was then\nasked if it would remain whole. Joseph hearing this, answered and said:\n\"It is as good as the other, and as liable to accident as the other.\"\n\nThe doctor who witnessed this miracle came to my house the next morning\nand related the circumstance to me. He attempted to account for it by\nhis false philosophy, saying that Joseph took her by the hand, and\nseemed to be in prayer, and pronounced her arm whole in the name of\nJesus Christ, which excited her and started perspiration, and that\nrelaxed the cords of her arm.\n\nI subsequently rented my farm and devoted all my time to the interest\nof the Church, holding myself in readiness to take Joseph wherever he\nwished to go.\n\nOn invitation of Father Johnson, of Hiram, Joseph removed his family to\nhis home, to translate the New Testament. This was in the year 1831.\n\nAt this time Sidney Rigdon was left to preside at Kirtland and\nfrequently preached to us. Upon one occasion he said the keys of the\nkingdom were taken from us. On hearing this, many of his hearers wept,\nand when some one undertook to dismiss the meeting by prayer he said\npraying would do them no good, and the meeting broke up in confusion.\n\nBrother Hyrum came to my house the next morning and told me all about\nit, and said it was false, and that the keys of the kingdom were still\nwith us. He wanted my carriage and horses to go to the town of Hiram\nand bring Joseph. The word went abroad among the people immediately\nthat Sidney was going to expose \"Mormonism.\"\n\nJoseph came up to Kirtland a few days afterwards and held a meeting in\na large barn. Nearly all the inhabitants of Kirtland turned out to hear\nhim. The barn was filled with people, and others, unable to get inside,\nstood around the door as far as they could hear.\n\nJoseph arose in our midst and spoke in mighty power, saying: \"I can\ncontend with wicked men and devils--yes with angels. No power can pluck\nthose keys from me, except the power that gave them to me; that was\nPeter; James and John. But for what Sidney has done, the devil shall\nhandle him as one man handles another.\"\n\nThomas B. Marsh's wife went from the meeting and told Sidney what\nJoseph had said, and he replied: \"Is it possible that I have been so\ndeceived? But if Joseph says so, it is so.\"\n\nAbout three weeks after this, Sidney was lying on his bed alone. An\nunseen power lifted him from his bed, thew him across the room, and\ntossed him from one side of the room to the other. The noise being\nheard in the adjoining room, his family went in to see what was the\nmatter, and found him going from one side of the room to the other,\nfrom the effects of which Sidney was laid up for five or six weeks.\nThus was Joseph's prediction in regard to him verified.\n\nWhen Joseph was ready to go back to Hyrum, I took him in my carriage.\nSoon afterwards I had occasion to visit Hyrum again. On my way there\nI was persuaded to stop at the Hulet settlement and attend a meeting.\nWhen I arrived at Father Johnson's the next morning, Joseph and Sidney\nhad just finished washing up from being tared and feathered the night\nbefore. Joseph said to Sidney: \"We can now go on our mission to\nJackson County\" (alluding to a commandment given them while they were\ntranslating, but which they concluded not to attend to until they had\nfinished that work). I felt to regret very much that I had not been\nwith them the evening before, but it was perhaps providential that I\nwas not. On a subsequent visit to Hiram, I arrived at Father Johnson's\njust as Joseph and Sidney were coming out of the vision alluded to in\nthe Book of Doctrine and Covenants, in which mention is made of the\nthree glories. Joseph wore black clothes, but at this time seemed to be\ndressed in an element of glorious white, and his face shone as if it\nwere transparent, but I did not see the same glory attending Sidney.\nJoseph appeared as strong as a lion, but Sidney seemed as weak as\nwater, and Joseph, noticing his condition smiled and said, \"Brother\nSidney is not as used to it as I am.\"\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nREMOVAL TO MISSOURI--THE SAINTS' GUNS PURCHASED FOR MOBOCRATS BY A\nSECTARIAN PREACHER--ATTACK OF THE MOB ON THE WHITMER SETTLEMENT--THE\nWRITER SHOT--SUBSEQUENT EXPOSURE AND SUFFERING--CRITICAL\nCONDITION--HEALED MIRACULOUSLY--HOW ZION'S CAMP WAS PRESERVED ON\nFISHING RIVER--A VISION.\n\nIn 1832 I sold my possessions in Ohio, and, we being called upon by\nJoseph to advance monies to purchase the land in Jackson County, I paid\nfifty dollars for that purpose and also gave Brother Parley P. Pratt\nfifty dollars to assist him as a pioneer. I was then called on for\nmoney to be placed in the hands of Brothers Whitney and Gilbert, who\nwere going to New York to purchase goods to take up to Jackson County,\nand gave them three hundred dollars.\n\nI joined in with a company led by Brother Thomas B. Marsh, and arrived\nin Independence, Jackson County, on the 10th of November. I remained in\nIndependence until spring and then removed to the Whitmer settlement,\nfarther west, where I built a house, fenced twenty acres of land and\nput in a garden.\n\nIn the fall of 1833, a sectarian preacher by the name of M'Coy came to\nthe Whitmer settlement where I was living to buy up all the guns he\ncould, representing that he wanted them for the Indians. We suspected\nno trouble, and quite a number of us sold our guns to him. The sequel\nof his action was, however, soon apparent to us, for rumors soon\nreached us of mobs assembling and threats being made to drive us from\nthe County.\n\nWhen the mob first began to gather and threaten us, I was selected to\ngo to another County and buy powder and lead. The brethren gave me the\nprivilege of choosing a man to go with me. I took with me a man by the\nname of John Poorman. We thought we were good for four of the mob. We\nwent to the town of Liberty, Clay County, and purchased the ammunition,\nand returned safely.\n\nSoon after I returned a mob of about one hundred and fifty came upon us\nin the dead hour of night, tore down a number of our houses and whipped\nand abused several of our brethren. I was aroused from my sleep by\nthe noise caused by the falling houses, and had barely time to escape\nto the woods with my wife and two children when they reached my house\nand proceeded to break in the door and tear the roof off. I was some\ndistance away from where the whipping occurred, but I heard the blows\nof heavy ox goads upon the backs of my brethren distinctly. The mob\nalso swore they would tear down our grist mill, which was situated\nat the Colesville branch, about three miles from the settlement, and\nlest they should really do so, and as it was the only means we had of\ngetting our grain ground, we were counseled to gather there and defend\nit. We accordingly proceeded there the next morning. The following\nnight two men came into our camp, pretending they wanted to hire\nsome men to work for them. Brother Parley ordered them to be taken\nprisoners, when one of them struck him a glancing blow on the head with\nhis gun, inflicting a severe wound. We then disarmed them and kept them\nas prisoners until morning when we gave them back their arms and let\nthem go.\n\nThe next day we heard firing down in the Whitmer settlement, and\nseventeen of our brethren volunteered to go down and see what it meant.\nBrother George Beebe was one of these volunteers and also one of the\nmen who was whipped the night previous. [A] When these seventeen men\narrived at the Whitmer settlement, the mob came against them and took\nsome prisoners. Brother David Whitmer brought us the news of this and\nsaid: \"Every man go, and every man take a man!\"\n\n[Footnote A: Brother Beebe carried the marks of this whipping to his\ngrave, as the brethren who laid him out at the time of his death, in\nDecember, 1881, at Provo, Utah County, can testify.]\n\nWe all responded and met the mob in battle, in which I was wounded\nwith an ounce ball and two buck shot, all entering my body just at the\nright side of my navel. The mob were finally routed, and the brethren\nchased them a mile away Several others of the brethren were also shot,\nand one, named Barber, was mortally wounded. After the battle was over,\nsome of the brethren went to administer to him, but he objected to\ntheir praying that he might live, and asked them if they could not see\nthe angels present. He said the room was full of them, and his greatest\nanxiety was for his friends to see what he saw, until he breathed his\nlast, which occurred at three o'clock in the morning.\n\nA young lawyer named Bazill, who came into Independence and wanted to\nmake himself conspicuous, joined the mob, and swore he would wade in\nblood up to his chin.\n\nHe was shot with two balls through his head, and never spoke. There was\nanother man, whose name I fail to remember, that lived on the Big Blue,\nwho made a similar boast. He was also taken at his word. His chin was\nshot off, or so badly fractured by a ball that he was forced to have\nit amputated, but lived and recovered, though he was a horrible sight\nafterwards.\n\nAfter the battle I took my gun and powder horn and started for home.\nWhen I got about half way I became faint and thirsty. I wanted to stop\nat Brother Whitmer's to lay down. The house, however, was full of women\nand children, and they were so frightened that they objected to my\nentering, as the mob had threatened that wherever they found a wounded\nman they would kill men, women and children.\n\nI continued on and arrived home, or rather at a house in the field that\nthe mob had not torn down, which was near my own home. There I found my\nwife and two children and a number of other women who had assembled. I\ntold them I was shot and wanted to lay down.\n\nThey got me on the bed, but on thinking of what the mob had said,\nbecame frightened, and assisted me up stairs. I told them, however,\nthat I could not stay there, my pain was so great. They then got me\ndown stairs again, and my wife went out to see if she could find any\nof the brethren. In searching for them she got lost in the woods and\nwas gone two hours, but learned that all the brethren had gone to the\nColesville branch, three miles distant, taking all the wounded with\nthem save myself.\n\nThe next morning I was taken farther off from the road, that I might be\nconcealed from the mob. I bled inwardly until my body was filled with\nblood, and remained in this condition until the next day at five p. m.\nI was then examined by a surgeon who was in the Black Hawk war, and\nwho said that he had seen a great many men wounded, but never saw one\nwounded as I was that ever lived. He pronounced me a dead man.\n\nDavid Whitmer, however, sent me word that I should live and not die,\nbut I could see no possible chance to recover. After the surgeon had\nleft me, Brother Newell Knight came to see me, and sat down on the side\nof my bed. He laid his right hand on my head, but never spoke. I felt\nthe Spirit resting upon me at the crown of my head before his hand\ntouched me, and I knew immediately that I was going to be healed. It\nseemed to form like a ring under the skin, and followed down my body.\nWhen the ring came to the wound, another ring formed around the first\nbullet hole, also the second and third. Then a ring formed on each\nshoulder and on each hip, and followed down to the ends of my fingers\nand toes and left me. I immediately arose and discharged three quarts\nof blood or more, with some pieces of my clothes that had been driven\ninto my body by the bullets. I then dressed myself and went out doors\nand saw the falling of the stars, which so encouraged the Saints and\nfrightened their enemies. It was one of the grandest sights I ever\nbeheld. From that time not a drop of blood came from me and I never\nafterwards felt the slightest pain or inconvenience from my wounds,\nexcept that I was somewhat weak from the loss of blood.\n\nThe next day I walked around the field, and the day following I mounted\na horse and rode eight miles, and went three miles on foot.\n\nThe night of the battle many of the women and children ran into the\nwoods. One sister, not being able to take all of her children with her,\nleft her little boy four years old in a corn shock, where he remained\nuntil morning. Some went out on the burnt prairie. The mob gathered and\nswore they would go and massacre them. When they got ready to go, the\nheavens were lit up with the falling of stars. This brought to us a\nperfect redemption at that time.\n\nThe night of the battle, the mob took all my household furniture, and\nafter my recovery I crossed the river to Clay County, leaving behind me\na drove of hogs, three cows and all of my crop, which I never recovered.\n\nIn Clay County I enjoyed some rest from persecution, and had two\nchildren born to me, Emma and Philo, Jun. I was there when Zion's camp\ncame up. I met them on Fishing river. There the power of the Lord was\nmanifested by His sending a thunder storm, which raised Fishing river\nten feet higher than it was ever known to rise before. I saw the cloud\ncoming up in the west when I was ten miles from Fishing river in the\nmiddle of the afternoon. As it moved on eastwardly it increased in size\nand in blackness, and when it got over the camp it stopped, and in the\nnight the rain and hail poured down in torrents, and the lightning\nflashed from the cloud continuously for three hours.\n\nJust before night, two men came into camp and asked where Mr. Smith\nwas. Joseph said, \"I am the man.\" They then advised him to disband his\ncamp, \"for,\" said they, \"the mob are gathering, and there won't be one\nof you left to-morrow morning!\"\n\nJoseph smiled, and said: \"I guess not.\" Seeing that Joseph did not\nbelieve what they came to tell him, they went off vexed.\n\nWe learned afterwards that the hail was so heavy on the mob, that they\nwere forced to seek shelter, and the leader of them swore he would\nnever go against the \"Mormons\" again.\n\nZion's camp was disbanded on Fishing river. The leading men of Liberty\nbeing desirous for peace, called a meeting and invited our leading men\nto meet with them, which they did. They told our committee that if they\ncould have peace, we should have a County to ourselves, and if we had\nnot money enough to buy out the old settlers of Caldwell County they\nwould lend us money to buy them out.\n\nThis settled our difficulties at that time.\n\nIn the meantime a conference was held in Liberty, Clay County, at which\nI was ordained a Teacher under the hands of David Whitmer.\n\nWe then commenced settling Caldwell County, to which I removed, built\na house, entered seven hundred and twenty acres of land and bought a\nlot in town. I also entered land for many of the brethren, and for this\npurpose had to go the distance of eighty miles, where the land office\nwas located.\n\nOn my return home, when I got to Liberty, midway between Lexington and\nFar West, I concluded I would travel from there home by night, as it\nwas very warm during the day. The road led through a strip of timber\nfor four miles, and after that across a prairie for twenty miles.\n\nWhen I had traveled about two-thirds of the way across the prairie,\nriding on horseback, I heard the cooing of the prairie hens. I looked\nnorthward and saw, apparently with my natural vision, a beautiful\ncity, the streets of which ran north and south. I also knew there were\nstreets running east and west, but could not trace them with my eye\nfor the buildings. The walks on each side of the streets were as white\nas marble, and the trees on the outer side of the marble walks had the\nappearance of locust trees in autumn. This city was in view for about\none hour-and-a-half, as near as I could judge, as I traveled along.\nWhen I began to descend towards the Crooked river the timber through\nwhich I passed hid the city from my view. Every block in this mighty\ncity had sixteen spires, four on each corner, each block being built\nin the form of a hollow square, within which I seemed to know that\nthe gardens of the inhabitants were situated. The corner buildings on\nwhich the spires rested were larger and higher than the others, and the\nseveral blocks were uniformly alike. The beauty and grandeur of the\nscene I cannot describe. While viewing the city the buildings appeared\nto be transparent. I could not discern the inmates, but I appeared to\nunderstand that they could discern whatever passed outside.\n\nWhether this was a city that has been or is to be I cannot tell.\nIt extended as far north as Adam-ondi-Ahman, a distance of about\ntwenty-eight miles. Whatever is revealed to us by the Holy Ghost will\nnever be forgotten.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nMILITIA ORGANIZED AT FAR WEST--LIBERTY POLE STRUCK BY\nLIGHTNING--GENERAL ATCHISON DEFENDS THE PROPHET IN A LAWSUIT--ATCHISON\nREMOVED FROM OFFICE FOR BEING FRIENDLY TO THE SAINTS--FAR WEST\nBESIEGED--BETRAYED FOR A PRICE--ESCAPE TO QUINCY.\n\nPart of Zion's camp went back to Kirtland, and also Brother Joseph, but\nin consequence of the mobs and apostates the Church organization in\nKirtland was broken up. Some of the apostates left Kirtland and came\nup to Far West. They called meetings and told the people that Joseph\nwas a fallen prophet, and they were determined to put David Whitmer in\nhis place. Some of the brethren, including the president of the branch\nI lived in, fell in with the views of the apostates. I being a Teacher\nin the branch, took up a labor with them, first going to our president\nand taking with me a Deacon. Our president said if he had got to become\nan enemy to David to be a friend to Joseph, he could not be a friend to\nJoseph. He then called the branch together in order to put me out of\noffice as a Teacher, but the branch sustained me. He afterwards cited\nme to appear for trial before Bishop Partridge, who gave me two weeks\nto make satisfaction, and I appealed my case to the High Council, who\ndecided there was no cause of action.\n\nJoseph and family soon arrived at Far West. Soon after a regiment was\norganized by W. W. Phelps, Geo. M. Hinkle, Lyman Wight and Reed Peck,\nthey having received their commissions from the governor. An election\nof officers was called and G. W. Robinson was elected colonel, I\nlieutenant colonel and Seymour Brunson major.\n\nWhile celebrating the 4th of July at Far West, there came up a thunder\nshower, and the lightning struck our liberty pole and shivered it to\npieces. Joseph walked around on the splinters and said: \"As that pole\nwas splintered, so shall the nations of the earth be!\"\n\nWhen the trouble with the mob commenced, Colonel Robinson took about\none-half of the force to Adam-ondi-Ahman to defend that place. Joseph,\nHyrum and Sidney also went with them, leaving me in command at Far\nWest. The detachment returned in about four days.\n\nA few days afterwards Joseph Smith and I took a walk out upon the\nprairie, and in the course of our conversation I suggested to him\nto send for General Atchison to defend him in the suit then brought\nagainst him, as he was in command of the third division of the militia\nof the State of Missouri, and was a lawyer and a friend to law. Joseph\nmade no reply, but turned back immediately to Far West, and a man was\nselected, with the best horse to be found, to go to Liberty for General\nAtchison.\n\nThe next day General Atchison came to Far West with a hundred men and\ncamped a little north of the town.\n\nOn consulting with Joseph Smith, Atchison told him that he did not want\nany one to go with them to his trial, which was to take place midway\nbetween Far West and Adam-ondi-Ahman. Joseph at first hesitated about\nagreeing to this, but Atchison reassured him by saying: \"My life for\nyours!\"\n\nWhen they arrived at the place of trial quite a number of the mob had\ngathered, and on seeing Joseph commenced to curse and swear. Atchison,\nhowever, checked them by saying: \"Hold on boys, if you fire the first\ngun there will not be one of you left!\"\n\nJoseph was cleared and came away unmolested. Soon afterwards the\ngovernor, thinking Atchison was too friendly towards the Saints, took\nhis command from him and placed General Clark in command of the militia.\n\nShortly before Far West was besieged, I was taken sick, and Colonel\nHinkle came into military command under his old commission. I gave up\nmy horse, saddle and bridle, and also my rifle and sword for Brother\nLysander Gee to use in defense of our city.\n\nWhen General Clark's army came up against Far West, Colonel Hinkle\nbetrayed the First Presidency of the Church into their hands for seven\nhundred and fifty dollars. Then Joseph and Hyrum, Sidney, and Lyman\nWight were taken by the mob, who held a court-martial over them and\nsentenced them to be shot the next morning at eight o'clock on the\npublic square. Lyman Wight told them to \"shoot and be damned.\" Generals\nAtchison and Doniphan immediately rebelled against the decision, and\nDoniphan said, if men were to be murdered in cold blood, he would\nwithdraw his troops, which he did. General Atchison then went to\nLiberty and gave a public dinner, and delivered a speech, in which he\nsaid, \"If the governor does not restore my commission to me, I will\nkill him, so help me God!\" On hearing this the audience became so\nenthusiastic that they took him upon their shoulders and carried him\naround the public square.\n\nAfter the surrender of Far West, the mob sent officers to get me, but\nfinding that I was sick they went back and so reported. They came the\nsecond time and went back and reported the same. The third time they\ncame they swore they would have me if they had to take me on a bed.\nI lived one-and-a-half miles west of the town, and told my folks if\nthey could dress me and help me on my horse I would undertake to leave\nfor Quincy. A young man named Joel Miles was to go with me to help me\noff and on my horse. Leaving Far West on my left, I arrived at Quincy\nunmolested.\n\nI will here digress from my narrative, and state that while I was\nat Far West the battle of Crooked river occurred, in which David W.\nPatten was killed, also the massacre at Haun's Mill. Brother Joseph\nhad sent word by Haun, who owned the mill, to inform the brethren who\nwere living there to leave and come to Far West, but Mr. Haun did not\ndeliver the message. I should also have mentioned that while at Far\nWest an election was held to elect an assessor. Isaac Higbee, myself\nand a Missourian were the candidates. The brethren held a caucus\nmeeting and advised one of us to withdraw our name lest the Missourian\nmight gain the election, and proposed that Higbee and I cast lots for\nit. Two tickets were put into a hat for us to draw from. There was a\nlarge crowd gathered around and Joseph Smith among them. He said, \"I am\ngoing to prophesy that Philo will get it.\" Sure enough I drew it.\n\nOn my arrival in Quincy, knowing that our people would soon be flocking\nthere in great numbers to cross the river, I rented the ferry at nine\ndollars per day for thirty days. I ran the boat about ten days and\nferried the Saints across on their own terms, and still made money\nat it. Some of the brethren, however, on arriving, assumed the right\nto dictate me, and wanted that I should give up the ferry into their\nhands. The man who owned it said if I would give it up he would release\nme from paying that day's rent, which I agreed to do, supposing it\nwould go into the hands of the brethren. But when I gave up the papers\nto him, he informed the brethren that they must pay him full fare or\nelse make boats and ferry themselves at half price. This caused a great\ndeal of extra and unnecessary expense to our people.\n\nBefore I left Far West, I made arrangements with a man to bring my\nfamily through to Quincy, for which I paid him sixty dollars in gold on\ntheir arrival.\n\nIn the spring of 1839, Sidney Rigdon came to me and said he knew of a\nman who owned a farm three miles east of Quincy and wanted to rent it\nto some good man whom he could recommend, and that I could have the\nchance. I gladly accepted the offer and rented the farm of two hundred\nacres.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nSUCCESSFUL FARMING--SICKNESS--PROVIDENTIAL RECOVERY--INSPIRED\nTO PREACH--REMOVAL TO NAUVOO--DEATH OF MY WIFE--SECOND\nMARRIAGE--PREMONITION OF DEATH--WARNING FROM THE PROPHET--A DREAM AND\nITS FULLFILLMENT--A PROPHECY AND ITS FULFILLMENT-EVIL SPIRITS CAST OUT\nOF A MAN--JOSEPH SMITH'S TRUST IN THE LORD.\n\nI took four other brethren--Simeon Crandall and three of his sons, to\nhelp me carry on the farm, and we raised a heavy crop, which took us\nall the fall and winter to market.\n\nWhile living upon this farm, I was taken sick. Dr. Williams attended\nme, and after awhile said he could do no more for me. I then called for\nthe Elders to administer to me and Brother A. J. Stewart, his brother,\nLevi, and Brother Killian were called in, but before they arrived Mr.\nRobbins, of whom I rented the farm, called to see me. He declared that\nI might possibly live till three o'clock, but could not live till\nmorning.\n\nWhen the Elders administered to me, Brother Killian being mouth, I was\nin bed. He poured the oil on my forehead and I jumped right out of bed\nand put on my clothes. On hearing that Robbins was going to Quincy in\nthe morning, I walked up to his house, three-quarters of a mile, and\nwent with him in his carriage to Quincy, remained all day and returned\nwith him at night.\n\nSome of my gentile neighbors, wishing to learn about \"Mormonism,\" sent\nto Quincy for Brother John P. Greene to come out and preach to them.\nWhen he came, he called at my house and wanted to know of me what\nsubject he had better treat upon. I told him were I in his place I\nshould speak on the resurrection of the dead, which he did. There was\na large congregation of members of various denominations present. They\nwere so well pleased with Brother Greene's remarks, that they would\nnot let him off until he left another appointment to preach. Before\nthe appointed time arrived, however, Brother Greene was taken sick\nand could not come. A large congregation had gathered at the place\nappointed, and only three Elders present--A. J. Stewart, his brother\nLevi, and myself.\n\nSeeing the situation of things, we consulted together as to what should\nbe done, when Brother A. J. Stewart said he would undertake to fill\nBrother Greene's appointment, but that if he got baulked we must help\nhim out. I remarked I could not preach, if I did it would only be like\na sectarian telling his experience, but said, \"I will do the singing,\"\nwhich I did.\n\nBrother Stewart arose, opened the Bible and tried to read, but had to\nspell his words, and broke down and said that some of the brethren\nwould take up the subject and go on with it. He then called on me. I\narose to speak. The Holy Ghost came down and enveloped me, and I spoke\nfor over two hours. When I found the Spirit leaving me I thought it\ntime to close, and told my hearers it was the first time I had spoken\nto a public congregation.\n\nA Brother Mills who was present, felt so well that he went home with me\nand declared that I had delivered the greatest discourse he had ever\nheard. Said I: \"Brother Mills, I don't know what I have said. It was\nnot me; it was the Lord!\"\n\nIn the spring of 1840, I removed to Nauvoo, then called Commerce, which\nhad been appointed by Joseph for the gathering place. During the next\nyear my wife died, and left me with five children, two daughters and\nthree sons. I concluded to get my children homes and then travel and\npreach the gospel; but when I had obtained homes for them I found I had\nnot only lost my wife, but also my children, and they had not only lost\ntheir mother, but also their father and each other's society.\n\nOn the 11th of February, 1841, I married a second wife--a Widow Smith\nof Philadelphia, who was living in the family of the Prophet. He\nperformed the ceremony at his house, and Sister Emma Smith insisted\nupon getting up a wedding supper for us. It was a splendid affair, and\nquite a large party of our friends were assembled.\n\nI then rented a house of Hyrum Kimball on the river bank for ten\ndollars per month, and kept a warehouse, and also boarders and a\nbakery. While there in business, I saw in vision my grave before me\nfor two weeks; it mattered not whether my eyes were open or shut it\nwas there, and I saw no way of escape. One day Brother Joseph came and\ntook dinner with us, and as we arose from the table I walked out upon\nthe porch and sat down on a bench. Joseph and my wife followed me, and\nhe came before me and said: \"Philo, you must get away from here or you\nwill die, as sure as God ever spoke by my mouth!\" He then turned to my\nwife and said: \"And you will hardly escape by the skin of your teeth!\"\n\nI immediately stepped into Joseph's carriage and rode with him to the\nsouth part of town and rented another place, after which I settled up\nmy business as fast as I could, and made arrangements to remove. Many\nhearing of Joseph's prediction about me, said if they had been in my\nplace they would have remained where I was and tested the truth of it,\nbut I assured them if they had been in my place they would have done\njust as I did.\n\nAfter I had settled my business and removed my family, we were one day\nat Joseph's house, when he said to my wife: \"You didn't believe what\nI told Philo the other day! Now, I will tell you what the Lord told\nme; He told me to go and tell Philo to come away from there, and if he\nobeyed he should live; if not he should die; and I didn't want to see\nyou a widow so soon again. If Philo had remained there fourteen days\nlonger, he would have been a corpse.\"\n\nOne night Joseph came to my house about twelve o'clock, and called me\nup. I immediately went out to see what was wanted. We went across the\nstreet to James Allred's and called him up, and we three went back\nto Joseph's house. On the way he told us that a flat boat with about\nthirty men had landed just below his house, and that he had overheard\nsome of their conversation. They had made arrangements to kidnap him\nthat night and sink him in the river. Brother Allred and I went down\nto the river; but they must have seen Joseph's movements as we found\nnothing of them, although we got up some more of the brethren and\nsearched up and down the river.\n\nWhen Joseph and Emma were preparing to go up the river to Dixon, to\nmake a visit with some of her connections, I was at their house. The\nnight before they started, I had a dream, in which I saw Joseph taken\nprisoner and guarded by two men, who after awhile left Joseph in Nauvoo\nand went off cursing and swearing. The next morning I related my dream\nto Joseph; he listened to me but made no reply.\n\nWhile visiting at Dixon he was taken prisoner by a sheriff of Missouri\nand an officer of Illinois, but instead of getting him over into\nMissouri as they had planned to, he was brought to Nauvoo. There they\nleft Joseph and went off cursing and swearing, just as I had heard them\nin my dream.\n\nWhen, on the advice of the Prophet, I quit my situation on the river,\nmy wife felt so bad at the loss of my business prospects that she said\nwe might as well die by the sword as by famine. I asked her if she\nthought it would be worse for us temporally to obey the word of the\nLord. I prophesied that before the year would pass away it would be\nbetter for us than if we had remained there.\n\nWm. Pratt had three city lots upon which he was owing a debt of one\nhundred dollars, and said if I would raise the money I might have my\nchoice of the three. I raised the money all but three dollars, but was\nat a loss to know how to get the balance. It was a hard time to borrow\nmoney. On my way to Brother Pratt's, I picked up three dollars in the\nstreet, Brother Stephen Goddard being with me at the time.\n\nI then took the three dollar bill which I found to Bishop Whitney's and\nrequested him to take the number of it, and if an owner came for it to\nsay that I would refund it to him, but that I wanted the use of it a\nfew days. I soon sold the lot for four hundred dollars, and then asked\nmy wife if my prophecy was not fulfilled.\n\nOne of my neighbors, a Brother James Moses, who lived across the street\nfrom me, was taken sick, and for six weeks was not able to speak above\nhis breath. I went occasionally to see him, and one day while there\nBrother Bills and I were asked by Sister Moses to administer to him,\nwhich we did. She then asked us what we thought of him, and I replied\nthat I had no testimony that he would live or that he would die; but\nshe might as well pour water upon fire to make it burn as to give him\nmedicine. This offended her, as she had a doctor by the name of Green\nattending him, and we left.\n\nSoon after this Brother Kimball (one of the Apostles) was called on to\nadminister to him, when Sister Moses asked him what he thought of her\nhusband's condition. He replied in the very words that I had used, but\nadvised them to hold on to him. Brother Bills and I happening to call\nin again to see him, we were asked if we would anoint him. I consented\nand stepped up to the bed to put some oil on his forehead, but felt\nimpressed to stop and say that he was possessed of evil spirits, and\nthat they would kill him if they were not cast out before morning. He\nthen commenced raving, and might have been heard across the street.\n\nThe Twelve Apostles were sent for and three of them came, Brother W.\nRichards being one of them, who was mouth in prayer, as we all knelt in\nthe room. After prayer, Brother Richards went to the bed, and, in the\nname of Jesus Christ, commanded the evil spirits to leave him and leave\nthe house, which they did instantly, and Brother Moses became rational.\nHe afterwards told us all about his feelings while the evil spirits\nhad afflicted him, and that he was as sore as a boil all over from the\neffects of what he had passed through.\n\nWhen Joseph first came to Nauvoo, then called Commerce, a Mr. White,\nliving there, proffered to sell him his farm for twenty-five hundred\ndollars, five hundred dollars of the amount to be paid down, and the\nbalance one year from that time. Joseph and the brethren were talking\nabout this offer when some of them said: \"We can't buy it, for we lack\nthe money.\" Joseph took out his purse, and, emptying out its contents,\noffered a half dollar to one of the brethren, which he declined\naccepting, but Joseph urged him to take it, and then gave each of the\nother brethren a similar amount, which left him without any. Addressing\nthe brethren, he then said: \"Now you all have money, and I have none;\nbut the time will come when I will have money and you will have none!\"\nHe then said to Bishop Knight: \"You go back and buy the farm!\"\n\nBrother Knight went to White, but learned from him that he had raised\nthe price one hundred dollars, and returned to Joseph without closing\nthe bargain. Joseph again sent him with positive orders to purchase,\nbut Brother Knight, finding that White had raised the price still\nanother hundred dollars, again returned without purchasing. For the\nthird time then Joseph commanded him to go and buy the farm, and\ncharged him not to come back till he had done so.\n\nWhen Bishop Knight got back to White, he had raised another hundred\non the place, making the whole amount twenty-eight hundred dollars.\nHowever, the bargain was closed and the obligations drawn up, but\nhow the money was going to be raised neither Brother Knight nor the\nother Brethren could see. The next morning Joseph and several of the\nbrethren went down to Mr. White's to sign the agreement and make the\nfirst payment on the land. A table was brought out with the papers upon\nit, and Joseph signed them, moved back from the table and sat with his\nhead down, as if in thought for a moment. Just then a man drove up in\na carriage and asked if Mr. Smith was there. Joseph hearing it, got up\nand went to the door. The man said, \"Good morning, Mr. Smith; I am on a\nspeculation to-day. I want to buy some land, and thought I would come\nand see you.\" Joseph then pointed around where his land lay, but the\nman said: \"I can't go with you to-day to see the land. Do you want any\nmoney this morning?\"\n\nJoseph replied that he would like some, and when the stranger asked\n\"How much?\" he told him \"Five hundred dollars.\"\n\nThe man walked into the house with Joseph, emptied a small sack of gold\non the table, and counted out that amount. He then handed to Joseph\nanother hundred dollars, saying: \"Mr. Smith, I make you a present of\nthis!\"\n\nAfter this transpired, Joseph laughed at the brethren and said: \"You\ntrusted in money; but I trusted in God. Now I have money and you have\nnone.\"\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note:\n\nSome apparent printer's errors (such as \"jonrney\" instead of \"journey\"\nand \"appeaance\" instead of \"appearance\") have been resolved.","title":"Early Scenes in Church History: Eighth Book of the Faith-Promoting Series","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":34530}