EARLY SCENES
IN
CHURCH HISTORY.
EIGHTH BOOK OF THE
FAITH-PROMOTING SERIES.
Designed for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-Day
Saints.
Juvenile Instructor Office, Salt Lake City, 1882.
Copyright applied for at the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at
Washington, D. C., by G. C. Lambert.
PREFACE.
Many deaths have occurred within the last few years among the veteran
members of our Church. Numbers of persons have recently passed away
who were connected with the Church during the early years of its
existence, and whose lives were filled with scenes and incidents of
the most interesting nature. Their wonderful experience so far as
known is appreciated by their intimate friends, in whose memories it
is embalmed, but it will hereafter only be known as tradition, for, as
a rule, they have left no written testimony or record of their lives
to show to future generations what they have seen or passed through.
We have scarcely ever heard of the death of such a person without a
feeling of regret that the important scenes of which he was a witness
while living were not better known, and that a definite and accurate
account of them had not been written before his death.
A short time since we conceived the idea of publishing a volume of the
"Faith-Promoting Series," entitled EARLY SCENES IN CHURCH HISTORY, to
be made up of such incidents of appropriate nature as we could obtain
from early members of the Church.
Of course we were aware that a single volume of the size contemplated
could not describe a tithe of the interesting scenes of a
faith-promoting nature with which the early history of the Church
abounded, but not until we had started the compilation did we realize
to the full extent the vastness of the field which we had entered upon.
We gathered the incidents contained in the present volume at random
(mostly from verbal narratives), compiled them very hastily, with too
little regard perhaps for variety, and feel that we have hardly made a
commencement at recounting the early scenes of which a record should be
perpetuated.
In compiling this volume no effort has been made at selecting scenes
of a marvelous or sensational character; the aim has rather been to
mention such incidents as would tend to show how the power of God was
manifested in behalf of the Saints in those early days, and thereby
promote faith among the young, for whose benefit this Series is
published. Nor is it to be supposed that such scenes as are herein
described have been confined to any particular period of our Church's
history. As wonderful incidents of special providence could be related
of the present age as of that which is past. The power of God is as
manifest now in shaping the destiny of His Saints, in preserving their
lives and in answering their prayers as it ever has been. The faithful
never had greater cause to rejoice nor the wicked to tremble than they
have at the present time. That the perusal of this volume may cause
those into whose hands it may come to be more faithful and devoted to
the cause of God, is the earnest desire of
THE PUBLISHER.
CONTENTS.
"SHOW US A SIGN."
My Sister's Hip Broken--No Hopes of Ever Being Able to Walk--Our
Family Embrace the Gospel--Scoffers Demand as a Sign that my Sister
be Healed--Elder Brackinbury's Designs--Caught in the Act of Robbing
the Grave--My Brother's Death--My Sister Healed-The Healing Fails to
Convince the Unbelievers.
CONTEST WITH EVIL SPIRITS.
The Savior's Promise--Sent on a Mission When a Boy--Conference in
Burke's Garden--A Girl Apparently Stricken With Death--My Fright at
Being Asked to Administer to Her--Prompted by the Spirit to Cast the
Devil Out of Her--The Evil Spirit Leaves Her and Enters Two Others--Six
Elders Contend With the Evil Spirit for Thirty-Six Hours--Its Final
Banishment.
EARLY EXPERIENCE OF A. O. SMOOT.
CHAPTER I.
Sickly Condition when Young--Healed According to Elder Patten's
Prediction--Labor as a Missionary with Elder Woodruff--Severe
Sickness--Healed Under the Administration of my Brethren--A Mission
to the Southern States--Removal to Far West--Mission to Missouri and
Arkansas--Opposed by a Baptist Deacon--Terrible Judgment upon Himself
and Family--John Houston, the Infidel--Far West Besieged--Taken
Prisoner.
CHAPTER II.
Married while a Prisoner of War--Property Confiscated--Removal
to Quincy--First Hard Work--Removal to Montrose--Mission to
Tennessee--Shot at--Camp, my Champion--A Lawyer and his Mob--Appeal to
Masons for Help--Ready Response--Camp's Vengeance on the Lawyer--News
of Martyrdom--Return to Nauvoo--Brigham Young Inspired--Another Mission
South--Blessings in the Temple--Journey to Salt Lake Valley.
CHAPTER III.
Almost Lost in the Atlantic--Narrowly Escape the _Saluda_
Disaster--Nearly Dead with the Cholera--Healed in Answer to
Prayer--Blown up with a Keg of Powder--A Sick Woman Healed--Elder
Patten's Remarkable Prediction Fulfilled--A Man Almost Dead Recovers on
Being Baptized.
SCENES IN THE BRITISH MISSION.
CHAPTER I.
Elder Halliday Applied to for Help By a Sister whose Son is Dying--Not
Able to go, he Gives the Lady his Handkerchief and Promised her
the Child Shall Live--The Child Revives from Apparent Death by the
Woman's Faith and Prayer--Preaching in Penzance--Discouragement and
Want--Strange Conduct of a Lady Attending the Meeting--Invitation to
go to St. Just--Gift of Tongues and Interpretation Given to Elder
Halliday, Through which he Receives a Revelation--Revelation Literally
Fulfilled.
CHAPTER II.
Elder Elias Morris Falls with a Scaffold a Distance of Thirty Feet
Without Being Hurt--Gift of Healing Possessed by Elder Abel Evans--A
Woman Healed who had Her Face Eaten Away by a Cancer--Storm at Sea
Rebuked--A Broken Leg Cured--A Broken Skull Mended--Fever on Shipboard
Stopped by the Prayer of Faith.
CHAPTER III.
Elder John Parry's Statement--His Brother's Testimony and Death--His
Sister's Reproof and Death--Embrace the Gospel--His Sleep Troubled--A
Remedy and Lesson--Orson Spencer Healed--Providential Help--Escape from
a Mob--Cancer in a Man's Face Cured by Laying on of Hands--Preserved
from Mobs.
CHAPTER IV.
John T. Evans' Statement--A Sick and Helpless Woman Healed on Being
Baptized--Relapse and Death after Apostasy--Saints Required to Renounce
their Religion or Lose their Situations--Cholera Epidemic--Healed
According to Faith--Private Discussion with a Malignant Preacher, who
Takes the Cholera and Begs the Elders to Cure Him--Healed and then
Baptized--Curious Manner in which Food and Lodging were Provided.
CHAPTER V.
Judgment Upon Opposers--Two Men Killed by their Horses--Horrible Death
of Another--Eight Preachers go Down After Opposing Elder Evans--A
Man Saved from Bleeding to Death by the Prayer of Faith--A Sister
Healed--Woman Cured of a Bloody Issue on Being Baptized--Escape the
Fury of a Mob by the Spirit's Warning--A Warning Through the Gift of
Tongues.
CHAPTER VI.
Thomas D. Giles' Experience--His Head Crushed and Split Open by a Ton
of Coal Falling Upon It--Healed by the Power of God--A Deaf and Dumb
Man Receives His Hearing and Speech on Being Baptized, etc.
CHAPTER VII.
Scene in the Experience of Wm. J. Smith--A Strange Prophecy and Its
Wonderful Fulfillment.
REMARKABLE HEALINGS.
Martin H. Peck's Testimony of a Number of Remarkable Cases of
Healing--A Broken Arm, a Crushed Leg, etc., Healed Immediately.
PHILO DIBBLE'S NARRATIVE.
CHAPTER I.
His Early Life--Conversion--Curious Signs--Joseph Removes to
Kirtland--Wonderful Manifestations--A Miraculous Case of Healing--Sidney
Rigdon in Darkness--Joseph Predicts that the Evil One will Handle Him,
and the Prediction is Fulfilled.
CHAPTER II.
Removal to Missouri--The Saints' Guns Purchased for Mobocrats by a
Sectarian Preacher--Attack of the Mob on the Whitmer Settlement--The
Writer Shot--Subsequent Exposure and Suffering--Critical
Condition--Healed Miraculously--How Zion's Camp was preserved on
Fishing River--A Vision.
CHAPTER III.
Militia Organized at Far West--Liberty Pole Struck by
Lightning--General Atchison Defends the Prophet in a Lawsuit--Atchison
Removed from Office for being Friendly to the Saints--Far West
Beseiged--Leaders of the Saints Betrayed for a Price--Escape to Quincy.
CHAPTER IV.
Rent a Farm--Sickness--Providential Recovery--Inspired
to Preach--Removal to Nauvoo--Death of my Wife--Second
Marriage--Premonition of Death--Warning from the Prophet--A Dream and
its Fulfillment--A Prophecy and its Fulfillment--Evil Spirits Cast out
of a Man--Joseph Smith's Trust in the Lord.
"SHOW US A SIGN."
BY B. F. JOHNSON
MY SISTER'S HIP BROKEN--NO HOPES OF EVER BEING ABLE TO WALK--OUR
FAMILY EMBRACE THE GOSPEL--SCOFFERS DEMAND AS A SIGN THAT MY SISTER
BE HEALED--ELDER BRACKINBURY'S DEATH--WARNED BY THE SPIRIT OF THE
BODY-SNATCHERS' DESIGNS--CAUGHT IN THE ACT OF ROBBING THE GRAVE--MY
BROTHER'S DEATH--MY SISTER HEALED--THE HEALING FAILS TO CONVINCE THE
UNBELIEVERS.
About the year 1830, when I was twelve years of age, Nancy, my eldest
sister, was thrown from a horse, and had her hip broken.
The bone was broken so near the socket that it could not be set,
and physicians all agreed that it would be impossible for her ever
again to walk upon that leg, or in any degree to recover its use, as
ossification had taken place without a connection of the bones and they
had slipped past each other, making the broken limb nearly an inch
shorter than the other. She walked upon two crutches, and for years was
not able to bring upon the broken limb weight sufficient to hurt the
finger of a small child, if placed under her foot.
In the year 1831, my brothers Joel H. and David received the gospel
in Amherst, Ohio, and in the fall of the same year my brother David
brought to us the Book of Mormon, near Fredonia, State of New York.
Soon afterwards my brother Joel, with A. W. Babbitt--then only a
boy, came also, and was followed by Elders Brackinbury and Durfee.
Elder Brackinbury was an earnest and powerful preacher, and all the
Elders seemed filled with the spirit of the Lord. Many received their
testimony, and my mother and Lyman R. Shearman, a brother-in-law, were
the first to be baptized.
Priest and people came out to oppose the work, and would scoffingly
ask, "Why, if miracles can be performed, do you not heal Sister Nancy?"
Many would also say: "If they would only heal Sister Nancy we would all
believe!"
My sister was a young woman of excellent mind and character. Having
a good common education, she had for some years taught our district
summer school, and, being religiously inclined, had joined the Freewill
Baptist church. Like my mother, who was also a religious woman, she was
not only respected, but was beloved by all who knew her. But, although
she had obeyed the gospel, the time had not come for her release from
her crutches by the healing power of God. The wicked were seeking it
for a sign, as in the days of our Savior, when they followed Him even
to His crucifixion, demanding that He come down from the cross, as a
sign, to prove to them that He was the Son of God; yet no sign was
given except that of their overthrow and destruction.
After a few weeks of successful preaching and baptizing, Elder
Brackinbury was taken violently sick, and, within a few days, died of
the bilious cholic.
To us, then young and inexperienced members of the Church, his death
came as a trial to our faith, as well as a very great grief. To think
that so good a man, in such a field of useful labor, and far away
from his home and family, should be permitted to die, and that too so
suddenly, was naturally a test to the faith and integrity of so young a
branch.
Although the grave had closed over his body and we were in deep sorrow,
our enemies were not satisfied, for while we were assembled in the
evening after his burial, to talk and pray and mourn together, the
spirit of revelation said to my brother David that they were then
digging up the body of Brother Brackinbury for dissection.
My brothers with others quickly started, and proceeding rapidly to the
grave about one mile away, found three men there who had unearthed the
coffin and were just dragging the corpse from under its lid. As our
party approached they sprang out of the grave and fled.
David, then a stripling of about twenty years, pursued them, and like a
young lion, grappled with, captured and brought back as a prisoner one
of the most powerful young men of the country--not only much older but
nearly double his size--a student of medicine in our native town.
The prisoner was afterwards committed by a magistrate, and put under
bonds to appear at his trial.
These, with other unhappy events, caused us to desire to leave our
native place and gather with the Saints at Kirtland, which we did in
the spring of 1833. In the summer of that same year it was proposed to
build the Kirtland Temple, and as it was designed at first to build it
of brick, my three eldest brothers, with those of us who were younger,
engaged in making the brick for that purpose; and there brother David,
who was then about twenty-two years of age, became a martyr to the
great and good cause. Through his ambition to perform more labor than
he was able to endure, and by over-exertion in procuring the wood, he
bled at the lungs and died the same fall. He bore a faithful testimony
of the gospel being again revealed, and spoke with the gift of tongues
with his latest breath, which was interpreted by Don Carlos Smith, the
Prophet's brother, who was present at the time.
About this time the Spirit of the Lord seemed to be poured out upon the
Saints in Kirtland. There families often met together to "speak of the
Lord," and the gifts of the gospel were enjoyed in rich abundance. As
yet my sister Nancy had never, since her hip had been broken, taken one
step unaided by her crutches; but the time had now come for her release.
She was commanded by Elder Jared Carter--then a man of mighty faith--to
arise, leave her crutches and walk.
She arose in faith, full of joy, and was from that hour made whole, and
never again did she walk upon crutches or lean upon a staff.
The same fall I returned on a visit to my native town, full of a desire
that our old neighbors, as well as my young associates, should embrace
the truth; for I felt sure that they would believe my testimony that my
sister was healed, and, as they had promised, accept the gospel.
I was full of hope, although I was but a boy, that they would all
be converted through my testimony; but alas! there were none to be
converted--no one to accept the great truths of the gospel. They
believed my statement that my sister had become well and was walking
unaided upon her broken limb, yet, to their understanding, "some
natural cause had produced the effect," and they were unbelievers still.
When again, as a missionary, I returned to the place of my birth
and preached to those same persons the gospel, bearing a faithful
testimony, they were glad to see me, and treated me with great
kindness, yet no one was converted to the truth, for signs had failed
to make them believe.
CONTEST WITH EVIL SPIRITS.
BY H. G. B.
THE SAVIOR'S PROMISE--SENT ON A MISSION WHEN A BOY--CONFERENCE IN
BURKE'S GARDEN--A GIRL APPARENTLY STRICKEN WITH DEATH--MY FRIGHT AT
BEING ASKED TO ADMINISTER TO HER--PROMPTED BY THE SPIRIT TO CAST THE
DEVIL OUT OF HER--THE EVIL SPIRIT LEAVES HER AND ENTERS TWO OTHERS--SIX
ELDERS CONTEND WITH THE EVIL SPIRIT FOR THIRTY-SIX HOURS--ITS FINAL
BANISHMENT.
Just a few minutes before our Savior took His leave of the twelve
apostles and ascended on high, He promised that certain gifts and
blessings should be enjoyed by the believer.
You will find this promise recorded in the 16th chapter of the gospel
according to St. Mark, 17th and 18th verses. It is of one of these
gifts that I wish to speak.
When on my first mission (in the year 1844), in the State of Virginia,
we were attending a conference in Burke's Garden, Tazewell County.
There were some ten or twelve Elders in attendance, most of whom had
just arrived a week or two previous from Nauvoo, where they had,
during the April Conference, been called and set apart for missions in
Virginia. It was Sunday evening, some time early in May. Our conference
had just closed, the last services of which were the ordinances of
baptism and confirmation administered to several persons.
The Saints and strangers had dispersed to their homes, except some of
the Saints who lived at a distance. A few of these had put up with
Colonel Peter Litz, who, with his family, were members of the Church,
and where also several of the Elders, myself included, were going to
stay over night.
The time in the evening was what would be called early twilight. Some
of the Elders had taken an evening stroll. At any rate, I was the only
Elder that was about the house, when Sister Litz came to me (I was
seated at the time out in the yard) very much excited, and said that
one of the sisters who had come to stay over night, was taken suddenly
and very severely sick, and she (Sister Litz) desired me to administer
to her.
I was only a boy, yet in my teens, and with little or no experience,
and had never been called upon, up to that time, to administer to the
sick. I naturally shrank from the task, and would have given anything
to have had some one to take it off my shoulders.
However, there was no escape for me--no other Elders were present, and
she insisted that I should attend to the ordinance.
I followed Sister Litz into the house, and there lay the girl,
stretched upon a bed, apparently lifeless, without breath or motion.
I asked Sister Litz what was the matter with the girl, but she could
not tell.
"What can I do?" I thought. What could any one do? Nevertheless, I
placed my hands upon her head, knowing full well if the Lord did not
help me, that I would utterly fail in being able to say the first
appropriate word, or exercise the least power.
As soon as I opened my mouth, I began to cast a devil out of her, which
was farthest from my thoughts before I commenced. I commanded it, in
the name of Jesus Christ, to come out of her, and not to return again.
The evil spirit immediately departed from her, she being restored to
her normal condition, seemingly as well as ever.
Not ten minutes after, the same evil spirit entered another girl. But
during this interval Elder Robert Hamilton had returned from a walk,
and was present at the time of the second attack, and was mouth with
myself in casting it out.
In about the same time it would take a person to walk from one room to
another, a third young sister was attacked, and in the same way exactly
that the two first had been taken; and our administration had the same
effect in relieving her as in the first two cases.
This third one was no sooner rid of the evil spirit, than it returned
and took possession the second time of the one last before relieved of
its power; and when it was cast out from this one, it took possession
of the third one again, and so on, alternately, as well as I can
remember, for three or four times. But the spirit never returned the
second time to the first sister that was attacked that evening.
However, at the end of three or four hours, we separated the two girls,
by taking one of them up stairs and into a room at the west end of the
house, leaving the other in a room on the first floor at the east end,
making the distance between as far as we could for both to occupy the
same house, which was a large one.
In the meantime one of the Elders from the house of one of the nearest
neighbors had come in, so there were six of us in attendance, the names
of whom were as follows: Robert Hamilton, James Park, Richard Kinnamon,
Chapman Duncan, Alfred B. Lambson and myself.
A. B. Lambson, James Park and Richard Kinnamon, with the father of the
two girls (for they were sisters), watched with the one in the room on
the first floor, while Robert Hamilton, Chapman Duncan and myself, with
the mother, watched with the other in the upper room.
While possessed with this evil spirit, the girls would sometimes lay in
a trance, motionless, and apparently without breathing, till we were
ready to conclude they were dead, then they would come to and speak
and sing in tongues, and talk about Priesthood and the endowments. At
other times, they would choke up, ceasing to breathe until they were
black in the face, and we thought they would surely die. Sometimes they
would froth at the mouth and act like they were in a fit. If standing
upon their feet when taken, they would fall to the floor and act like
they were struggling for life with some unseen power. Altogether, these
cases reminded us of the one recorded in Mark, 8th chapter, 14th to
29th verse, and other cases recorded in the New Testament.
We never made a failure when attempting to cast out this evil spirit
from either of the girls. But invariably as soon as one of them was
dispossessed, in the length of time it would take a person to walk from
one room to the other, the spirit would take possession of the other,
but never both at the same time, and both were operated upon alike,
so we knew there was but one evil spirit to deal with; yet it seemed
impossible to get rid of it, for the girls were possessed with it
alternately for some thirty-six hours.
However, we took advantage of the Savior's explanation in the 9th
chapter of Mark, before referred to, and fasted and prayed. After
which, while the three of us up stairs were administering (Robert
Hamilton being mouth) and commanding the devil (for such we were from
the first convinced it was) to come out of her and return to its
own place, Elder Duncan immediately interrupted, and said to Elder
Hamilton, "Name the place; name the place!" (See Matthew, 8th chapter
and 31st verse.)
This somewhat confused Elder Hamilton, who hesitated, when Elder Duncan
called the name of a family who were near neighbors, and of whom not
one us had thought in connection with these cases. Elder Hamilton
repeated this name, and immediately the evil spirit departed, not only
from the girl it then had possession of, but from the house. And in a
moment all in the house felt and knew that they were rid of its power
and influence and that it would not again return.
We all, by this time, knew something of the power of the adversary, for
we had had an actual experience, indeed, a contest, that had left us
weak and nearly worn out, to an extent that an actual corporal struggle
with flesh and blood would not have so reduced us.
Why was the key to its departure given to Elder Duncan and not to Elder
Hamilton, who was acting as mouthpiece at the time? is a question my
young readers are ready to ask, as we asked one another at the time,
and were not able to answer, and which I am unable to answer to this
day.
And why was it necessary to give this demon the privilege to return to
torment some other family?
This also I am unable to answer to my own satisfaction; but this much I
can say: the family referred to was bitterly opposed to the gospel and
its blessings, and to all those who taught, practiced, or enjoyed the
same. A daughter of this family had been afflicted in a very singular
way from her childhood. This girl had, in company with her parents and
all the family (as they never left her alone), attended our baptismal
meeting on Sunday evening, and her family spoke of her being and acting
like a new person for two days after attending that meeting, often
speaking of the good effect the witnessing of the ordinance of baptism
had had upon her.
To all I have said in the foregoing, I was an eye and ear witness. All
those who are living, who were present at the time this occurred, will
remember the truth of what I have inscribed, though at the time we kept
it from the world. I have written this experience for the benefit of
the young Elders who are now abroad on missions, and for the benefit
of the boys who may hereafter be called on to take missions, and any
others who may glean any good from its perusal; and also as an evidence
of the truth of the promise of Jesus to believers.
EARLY EXPERIENCE OF A. O. SMOOT.
CHAPTER I.
SICKLY CONDITION WHEN YOUNG--HEALED ACCORDING TO ELDER PATTEN'S
PREDICTION--LABOR AS A MISSIONARY WITH ELDER WOODRUFF--SEVERE
SICKNESS--HEALED UNDER THE ADMINISTRATION OF MY BRETHREN--A MISSION
TO THE SOUTHERN STATES--REMOVAL TO FAR WEST--MISSION TO MISSOURI AND
ARKANSAS--OPPOSED BY A BAPTIST DEACON--TERRIBLE JUDGMENT UPON HIMSELF
AND FAMILY--JOHN HOUSTON, THE INFIDEL--FAR WEST BESIEGED--TAKEN
PRISONER.
My life has been an exceedingly active, busy one, but when my
experience is compared with that of many of my brethren there is
perhaps nothing very extraordinary about it. I have seen the power
of God manifested in various ways, and have had all the testimonies
that I could ask for of the divine character of the work instituted
through Joseph Smith, with which I have been connected for almost
half a century. But I have never seen anything that I could call very
miraculous, nor have I sought for anything of the kind as an evidence
of the truth of God's work. To me everything has seemed to come along
naturally. And yet when all things are considered, my whole life
might be regarded as miraculous. When I reflect upon the precarious
condition of my health when a boy, and the indulgence with which I was
then treated, and then upon what I have been enabled to endure and
accomplish, through the blessings of God since, there is something
rather remarkable about it to me.
I was born on the 17th of February, 1815, in Owenton, Owen Co.,
Kentucky. Both the town and County in which I was born were named after
my great-uncle, Abraham Owen, in whose honor I was named. He was killed
in the battle of Tippecanoe, while serving under General Harrison, who
was afterwards President of the United States. Abraham Owen's sister,
my great-aunt, was Stonewall Jackson's mother, so that General Jackson
and I were second-cousins.
From my early childhood, almost from my infancy, I was afflicted with a
lung disease, and supposed to be in consumption. Indeed, I was so bad a
great deal of the time that my life was despaired of. When I was about
nine years old my death seemed so imminent that my burial clothes were
made. However, I rallied somewhat, but not to be able to do any work. I
had a great desire to live, and also to know if the Lord had a church
upon the earth, and I investigated the various doctrines professed by
those with whom I came in contact, but could never feel satisfied to
join any of the religious sects.
When I attained my twentieth year, and while I was still very sickly,
Elders David W. Patten and Warren Parrish visited the part where I
resided, as missionaries, and I became convinced of the correctness of
the doctrines which they taught and embraced the same, being baptized
by Elder Parrish and confirmed by Elder Patten. Brother Patten, in
confirming me, promised that I should be healed of my infirmity and
become a strong and powerful man. This prediction was verified to the
letter; I began to grow strong immediately.
The following spring I was ordained a deacon and placed to preside
over a small branch of the Church raised up by Elders Patten and
Parrish, and on the 7th of the next April I was ordained an Elder under
the hands of Brother Woodruff and started out with him preaching. I
traveled with him in Kentucky and Tennessee until the early part of the
following winter, when we left the South and went to Kirtland, Ohio,
where I attended school with him and studied Greek and Latin.
The change of climate and a little carelessness on my part brought
on an attack of typhoid fever and pleurisy, from which I suffered
severely, and it was thought that I could not recover. Brother
Woodruff, however, who was waiting upon me, called in Elders Brigham
Young, Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, and Hyrum Smith, and the
five laid their hands upon me and rebuked the disease and blessed me.
While their hands were upon my head I fell into an easy sleep, and when
I awoke my disease was entirely gone.
A few days after, I was advised by the Prophet Joseph to return to the
Southern States and raise up a company of Saints and emigrate to Far
West, Missouri. I accordingly went South, and in the month of May had
succeeded in organizing a company of two hundred souls with about forty
teams and started on our journey. The trip occupied about two months.
We immediately set about making homes and soon began to get comfortable
surroundings.
In January, 1838, I was called to fill a mission to the southern part
of Missouri and throughout Arkansas. During this mission an incident
occurred which I think worth relating. I was preaching one afternoon
in the court-house at Yellsville, where I had also held meeting in the
forenoon, when in the midst of my discourse I was interrupted by a
Baptist deacon, who arose and exclaimed: "That young man is not quoting
the scripture correctly."
I was speaking at the time upon the authenticity of the Book of Mormon.
I was also enjoying an unusual flow of the Holy Spirit, and felt more
calm and collected at this interruption than I otherwise would have
done. I deliberately opened the Bible and read therefrom the very
passages which I had previously quoted verbatim, and cited the chapter
and verse.
At this the Baptist took his seat, but I had not proceeded much farther
with my remarks when I again had occasion to quote from the scriptures,
and lest I again should be found fault with, I opened the Bible and
read from it, when the deacon, a second time arose and declared that it
was not from King James' translation of the Bible that I was quoting,
but "Joe Smith's golden Bible," etc.
Several of the audience immediately ordered him to be still and let the
young man proceed, as they wanted to hear the preaching.
Again he became quiet, but soon broke forth in a perfect rage, said I
was lying, and denounced, in a rather incoherent manner, "Joe Smith"
and his "golden bible," and the "Mormons" as "chicken thieves" and "hog
stealers," etc.
A number of persons immediately surrounded him as if they intended to
thrust him out, and lest they should use violence I began to plead
for him, and requested them to allow him to retire quietly. I added,
however, that I was there on my Father's business, commissioned to
proclaim the gospel, and if he did not speedily repent the Lord would
rebuke him and the judgment of God would overtake him. At this he
turned and rushed from the room almost foaming with rage.
He had four drunken sons in the town and he proceeded to hunt them up
to incite them to mob me. Just then a fire broke out in the Baptist
meeting house, and on hearing the alarm I adjourned the meeting for one
hour.
In the audience was a Major John Houston, a brother of the celebrated
Sam Houston, who was in command of a military post near by. He had
boarded a few days at the same place that I had, and had therefore
become somewhat acquainted with me.
He followed the deacon and advised him against molesting me, telling
him if he persisted in it he would have to take him in charge. The
deacon concluded to desist but raged, and cursed "Joe Smith" and the
"golden bible" and the young preacher, and everything connected with
him as he proceeded home, and on entering his house, almost immediately
fell dead and turned black.
In this condition he lay for two days, no one, not even his own sons,
daring to go near him until, a Campbellite preacher, who also had
happened to be one of my audience, and who had heard of his condition,
came to me and informed me of it. I went with him to Major Houston, and
through his influence some persons were employed to go and bury the
dead man.
Within a week from the time of the deacon's death his wife also died,
and his sons kept up their drunken spree until they had run through
four thousand dollars of the money which their father had left and also
other property.
Many of the people of the town regarded this series of calamities as
the judgment of God, and even the Campbellite preacher admitted to me
that it had very much the appearance of it.
Soon after these events transpired I returned to a place about twenty
miles distant, to fill a previous appointment, and while there Major
Houston was taken sick with the cholera. He felt that he was going to
die, and wanted to have me sent for. I had conversed with him many
times upon the subject of religion, and, though he professed to be an
infidel, I could see that he was pricked in his heart but was too proud
to acknowledge it. Shortly before he died he made a request that I
should preach his funeral sermon, and on my return to Yellsville I did
so, and I think I never had more of the Spirit of God in preaching in
my life than I did on that occasion, infidel though he pretended to be.
I returned from this mission in the summer of 1838, and soon afterwards
the troubles of the Saints with the Missouri mobocrats recommenced,
in which I became earnestly engaged. After Far West had been besieged
by the mob militia under General Clark and we had been compelled to
surrender our arms, I was taken prisoner in company with many of my
brethren.
CHAPTER II.
MARRIED WHILE A PRISONER OF WAR--PROPERTY CONFISCATED--REMOVAL TO
QUINCY--FIRST HARD WORK--REMOVAL TO MONTROSE--MISSION TO TENNESSEE-SHOT
AT--CAMP, MY CHAMPION--A LAWYER AND HIS MOB--APPEAL TO MASONS FOR
HELP--READY RESPONSE--CAMP'S VENGEANCE ON THE LAWYER--NEWS OF
MARTYRDOM--RETURN TO NAUVOO--BRIGHAM YOUNG INSPIRED--ANOTHER MISSION
SOUTH--BLESSINGS IN THE TEMPLE--JOURNEY TO SALT LAKE VALLEY.
On the 11th of November, while still a prisoner of war, I was married,
which might be considered as a proof that I had not lost hope. I
was fortunate in securing a wife who was zealous and devoted to her
religion and ready to sacrifice or endure anything to further its
interests.
After the troops were withdrawn from Far West I visited my farm two
miles south of the town, to look after my stock which I had left there,
and found that all my earthly possessions save my real estate had been
confiscated by the army.
On visiting the late camp-ground of the army I found the heads of
eleven of my oxen which had been butchered, and there was no trace left
of my sheep, swine, etc.
Brother John Butler, who had been obliged to flee to the north to save
his life, had left his family in my charge. He had a span of very poor
horses and an old wagon. I loaded the wagon up with his wife and five
children and what few goods I had left, which consisted of one trunk
full of clothes besides what my wife and I wore. I managed to find one
of my horses which the mob had taken and used in such a shocking manner
that his back was skinned almost from his withers to his tail. This
animal I hitched on ahead of Brother Butler's horses, and by those of
us walking who were able to do so, we slowly made our way to Quincy,
Illinois, in the depth of winter. On arriving there I went to work
carrying the hod up a four-story building--really the first hard work I
had ever done, to make another start in life, while my wife assisted by
taking in sewing.
In the month of July I removed to Montrose, opposite Commerce. In May
of the following year I went on a mission to Tennessee, from which I
returned the following October, and again the next year, I went to
Charleston, South Carolina, being instructed to introduce the gospel
there. I spent all the money I had in renting halls and publishing
placards announcing my meetings, but although I had large audiences,
and numbers of persons came to me, Nicodemus-like--by night, to inquire
about the gospel, I failed to make one convert. I returned to Nauvoo
from this mission in 1842.
In the summer of 1843, I took a trip through southern Illinois and
north-western Kentucky, in the interest of the Nauvoo House, and
in May, 1844, I again went south to Tennessee to electioneer for
Joseph Smith as candidate for the Presidency of the United States. On
arriving at Dresden, Tenn., I rented the court-house to hold meeting
in, and while in the act of preaching to a good-sized audience, a mob
gathered outside and a shot was fired at me through the window. The
bullet passed near my head and lodged in the ceiling, and immediately
afterwards a few brickbats were also thrown through the window.
Considerable excitement followed and the audience began to scatter,
when a man by the name of Camp, somewhat noted as a fighting character,
arose and called on the fleeing people to stop. He told them if they
would only sit and listen to the preaching, he would go out and look
after the persons who were creating the disturbance. About two-thirds
of the audience again became seated and he went outside and procured a
shot-gun, with which he patroled around the courthouse the remainder of
the evening, and there was no further trouble.
Another meeting was announced for the following day, but before it
commenced a lawyer of the town laid his plans to break it up. I had not
long been speaking when he, at the head of a mob of two hundred men,
marched into the room and demanded that I should cease speaking, as
they had come to attend to my case.
In this emergency, and for the only time in my life in public, I made
use of a masonic sign calling for help, when lo! a number of persons
sprang up to assist me. The lawyer was commanded to give his reasons
for interfering with me, which he proceeded to do by delivering a most
abusive and slanderous speech. I finally commanded him to sit down and
he did so very suddenly, and the masons who were present, who were very
numerous and influential, gave him to understand that he would not be
allowed to molest me. I continued my remarks, and at the close of the
meeting Mr. Camp took vengeance on the lawyer by knocking him down and
kicking him around the court-house yard.
From Dresden I proceeded to Paris, in the same State, where I
contracted for the publication of 1,000 copies of Joseph Smith's
"Powers and Policy of the Government of the United States." After the
printing had been done and paid for, the printer informed me that if I
attempted to circulate the pamphlets it would be likely to land me in
the penitentiary, as the views expressed therein, in regard to freeing
the slaves, would be considered treasonable and contrary to law. On
consulting a lawyer of the place, a boyhood friend of mine, I found
that he held the same opinion, and I therefore suppressed the whole
edition.
I was at Father Church's, on Duck river, in Hickman Co., Tenn., when I
received the news of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, six days
after the consummation of that bloody deed. I immediately proceeded
down Duck river to the Tennessee river, by canoe, and, on arriving
there, in company with three other Elders, purchased a skiff, and made
my way to Paducah on the Ohio river, from which place I took steamer to
Nauvoo.
On arriving in Nauvoo I found that Sidney Rigdon was striving to
establish his claim to the leadership of the Church, and proffering
various unheard-of offices to such persons as would rally around his
standard. However, on the arrival of President Young and the other
Apostles from their missions, his claims were soon set aside.
I was present at the meeting held in Nauvoo on the occasion when
President Young assumed the leadership of the Church, and can testify
with hundreds of others that he spoke by the power of God on that
occasion and that he had the very voice and appearance of Joseph Smith.
The following autumn I was sent by President Young to Kentucky,
Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi to raise means for the
building of the Temple and also to induce the Saints scattered through
that region to migrate to Nauvoo and make preparations to journey
westward. I returned to Nauvoo in the summer of 1845, bringing a
large number of the Saints with me. I also left many others partially
prepared to follow, who were subsequently gathered up by Elders John
Brown and Wm. Crosby and led westward, by way of Arkansas, to Salt Lake
Valley.
After my return to Nauvoo I labored on the Temple until it was so far
completed as to admit of the ordinances being performed in it, when I
had the blessed privilege of entering it and receiving my endowments
and having wives sealed to me. I also at that time had the son of my
first wife (who, I should have mentioned, was a widow when I married
her) adopted to me by the Priesthood, and he has ever since borne my
name and been recognized and treated as one of my own sons.
I labored about three months in the temple in administering the
ordinances of the house of God to others, and in April, 1846, I left
Nauvoo and started westward with quite a large company of my southern
friends. On arriving at Winter Quarters I was ordained a Bishop and
appointed to preside over a Ward, and spent the winter in building
cabins to shelter the people and in looking after the wants of the
poor. In the spring of 1847 I was appointed to organize and lead
westward a company of Saints having one hundred and twenty wagons. I
chose as my assistants Major Russell and Geo. B. Wallace. We arrived in
Salt Lake Valley on the 24th day of September.
Thus passed the first twelve years of my connection with the
Church--twelve years of rough but not unprofitable experience for me,
considering the many lessons I learned and the satisfaction I enjoyed
in contemplating my labors. During that period I had become strong and
healthy, and through the blessings of God, had been enabled, with the
help of my wife and boy, to earn a subsistence and accumulate some
property, notwithstanding the many missions I had filled and the losses
of property I had sustained.
Since that time I never have performed a regular preaching mission
abroad, although in 1851, I was sent to England, for that purpose; but
on arriving there it was decided to have me return to lead the first
company emigrated by the Perpetual Emigration Fund across the plains,
and after a stay of thirty days in that country I did so. I filled
various business missions, however, in which I crossed the plains
thirteen times with ox and mule teams.
CHAPTER III.
ALMOST LOST IN THE ATLANTIC--NARROWLY ESCAPE THE "SALUDA"
DISASTER--NEARLY DEAD WITH THE CHOLERA--HEALED IN ANSWER TO
PRAYER--BLOWN UP WITH A KEG OF POWDER--A SICK WOMAN HEALED--ELDER
PATTEN'S REMARKABLE PREDICTION FULFILLED--A MAN ALMOST DEAD RECOVERS ON
BEING BAPTIZED.
During my experience I have seen the power of God manifested upon
various occasions in preserving my life; indeed, considering the many
narrow escapes I have had, it might be almost thought that I have had a
charmed life.
On my return from England in 1853, on board the new steamer _Pacific_,
we encountered a severe storm, in which the deck was swept clear of
rigging, the deck cabin, one of the wheels, both wheel houses and
the bulwarks. The steamer was entirely submerged in the sea at one
time, and had she not been very well built she would never have come
to the surface again. It looked like a precarious time, but I felt
an assurance that the vessel would be saved, and in the midst of all
the excitement which prevailed among the crew and passengers I felt
quite calm. I had seventeen thousand dollars in gold in my possession,
and I did not even fear that I would lose that. Our preservation,
however, was certainly providential, for the vessel was in a terribly
dilapidated condition, but we finally arrived safely in New York with
the wrecked vessel, after a voyage of sixteen days.
I subsequently had a very narrow escape on the occasion of the _Saluda_
disaster. I had purchased the supplies for my company to make its
overland journey with, except cattle, at St. Louis, and had decided
to go farther up the river to buy the stock, when Eli B. Kelsey came
to me to consult me in regard to chartering the _Saluda_ to convey
an independent company of Saints up the river. I went with him to
examine the boat, and on finding that it was an old hulk of a freight
boat, fitted up with a single engine, I strongly advised him against
having anything to do with it. He seemed to be influenced in making
choice of it entirely by the fact that he could get it cheaper than
a better one; but in my opinion it seemed folly, for in addition to
the danger of accident, the length of time likely to be occupied in
making the journey would more than counterbalance what might be saved
in the charge for transit. However, he decided to charter it, and then
both he and the captain urged me strongly to take passage with them,
offering to carry me free of cost if I would only go, but I could
not feel satisfied to do so. I followed a few days afterwards on the
_Isabella_, and overtook them at Lexington, where the _Saluda_ was
stopped by the float-ice and was unable to proceed farther. I went on
board of her to visit the Saints (who were in charge of D. J. Ross, Eli
B. Kelsey having gone ashore to purchase cattle), and left just before
the last plank was drawn in, preparatory to attempting to start. I
had not walked to exceed two hundred yards after leaving the _Saluda_
before the explosion occurred, and on turning to look in the direction
of the the ill-fated boat I saw the bodies of many of the unfortunate
passengers and various parts of the boat flying in the air in every
direction. Fortunately for the Saints on board, they were mostly on
the deck of the boat and pretty well towards the stern, and they
consequently fared better than those who were below, or on the forepart
of the boat, which was blown entirely to pieces. As it was, however,
upwards of twenty of the Saints were lost or subsequently died of their
wounds. My own preservation I can only attribute to the providence of
the Almighty, for if I had remained a moment on the wharf to see the
boat start, as would have been very natural for a person to do, I would
have been blown into eternity as those were who stood there.
I shall never forget the kindness of the citizens of Lexington in
caring for the living and burying the dead. The Lord certainly inspired
them to do all that sympathy and benevolence could suggest in aid of
the afflicted. The city council set apart a piece of ground in which
to bury the Saints who had died, and William H. Russell, the great
government freighter, and many other prominent citizens did all they
could to comfort and help the afflicted survivors. Besides their
devoted attention, their contributions in aid of the Saints amounted to
thousands of dollars.
The disaster described is really the only accident of any consequence
by water that has befallen a company of Latter-day Saints in emigrating
from the old countries, and there was much reason to believe that
Providence was in their favor to a great extent even in that case, or a
much greater number would certainly have lost their lives.
I remained at Lexington about eight days looking after the interests of
the Saints and purchasing stock, after which I returned to St. Louis,
where I met the company of Saints I was to conduct across the plains.
On reaching Atchison, our starting point for the overland journey, the
company was stricken with the cholera. There were over forty cases, and
of these some fifteen proved fatal. Numbers were healed instantaneously
through the prayer of faith when the Elders laid their hands upon
them, although apparently near death's door; others gave way entirely
to fear, failed to exercise faith and soon died. After we had started
upon our journey and when the last person who had been afflicted had
recovered, I was prostrated with the same dread disease. The train
was stopped and the whole company fasted and prayed for two days for
my recovery, but I continued growing worse until my limbs and the
lower portion of my body were apparently dead, but then the faith of
the Saints and the power of the Almighty prevailed in my behalf and I
recovered. I had, however, lost seventy-five pounds in weight within a
few days.
Another remarkable instance in which the providence of the Almighty
was manifest in my preservation occurred in the following May. I was
emptying a small keg of powder and standing in a stooping position
right over it, and as it did not run out very freely I shook the keg,
when it exploded. The staves and pieces of hoops were scattered in
every direction, some pieces being afterwards found at least eight rods
distant. I was blown into the air and my face and hands most terribly
burned. It was a marvel that the staves of the keg were not driven
through my body, but it did not appear that a single one had struck
me. The whole of the skin came from my face and hands, yet, wonderful
to relate, there is not now a mark of powder about my face, and my
eyesight, the loss of which I was most fearful of, was not at all
impaired by it.
This series of narrow escapes which I have related I passed through
within a little over a year; and it really seemed to me that Satan was
bent upon my destruction. The fact that my life was preserved through
them was an evidence to me of the power of God and that He had a
purpose in allowing me to live.
I have witnessed the power of God displayed in the healing of persons
who were sick in hundreds of instances, in some cases that would
probably be considered by the world as very wonderful, but to which
the Saints, whose experience has been similar to my own, had become
accustomed. I think Elder David W. Patten possessed the gift of healing
to a greater degree than any man I ever associated with. I remember on
one occasion when I was laboring with him as a missionary in Tennessee,
he was sent for to administer to a woman who had been sick for five
years and bed-ridden for one year and not able to help herself. Brother
Patten stepped to her bedside and asked her if she believed in the Lord
Jesus Christ. She replied that she did. He then took her by the hand
and said, "In the name of Jesus Christ, arise!"
She immediately sat up in bed, when he placed his hands upon her
head and rebuked her disease, pronounced blessings upon her head and
promised that she should bear children. She had been married for seven
years and had never had any children, and this promise seemed very
unlikely ever to be fulfilled. But she arose from her bed immediately,
walked half a mile to be baptized and back again in her wet clothes.
She was healed from that time, and within one year became a mother, and
afterwards bore several children.
I was myself healed under his administration in a manner which appeared
to me very remarkable at that time. While traveling I was taken very
sick and was forced to seek entertainment at the house of an infidel.
Elder Patten was desirous of administering to me and, by way of a
pretext, asked the privilege of praying. His request was granted and he
knelt beside the bed upon which I was lying, and, without the family
noticing it, placed his hand upon my head. While his hand was upon
me, I felt the disease pass off from my system as palpably as I ever
experienced anything in my life, and before he arose from his knees I
was as well as I ever had been, and able to arise and eat my supper.
I remember a rather remarkable instance of healing that occurred at
Winter Quarters, which I think worth relating:
During the winter of 1846-7 while the Saints were encamped on the
banks of the Missouri there was a great deal of sickness among them,
and many died. Among others who were afflicted was a man by the name
of Collins, who had followed up the Church for some time on account of
his wife being a member, but who never felt quite satisfied to embrace
the gospel, although he never opposed the work. When he was taken sick
it was not thought by his friends that he could recover, as he had
appeared to be sinking rapidly under the effects of the disease, and
for some time he lay in a semi-unconscious state, from which it was
feared he would never rally.
However, he finally regained consciousness and looked around, when I
asked him if he had any message to leave before he died. He immediately
replied that it would not do for him to die then, as he had not been
baptized, and urged very strongly to be taken right down to the river
to receive this ordinance.
Yielding to his solicitations, some of the brethren brought the running
gear of a wagon with a few boards on it, up to the door of the cabin in
which he was living, and his bed, with him lying upon it, was carried
out and placed on the wagon. When we had proceeded part way down to
the river the wagon tire commenced running off one of the wheels and
a halt was made to hammer it on again. On noticing the wagon stop and
hearing the hammering, he inquired what was the matter, and when he was
informed that the tire was running off, he replied impatiently, "Oh,
never mind the tire; go on, or I'll die and go to hell yet before I'm
baptized!"
We proceeded on with him till we reached the river, which at that time
was frozen over, but the ice had been cut away near the shore in order
that our animals might drink. There he was lifted from his bed, carried
into the water and I baptized him for the remission of his sins and his
restoration to health. After being taken out of the water a blanket was
wrapped around him and he was seated for a moment to rest upon a block
of ice upon the shore. Seeing the brethren turning the wagon around, he
inquired what they were going to do. They replied that they were going
to put him on the bed and haul him back home, when he arose to his feet
and assured them that they need not go to that trouble, for he could
walk back, and he did so, and from that time became a healthy man.
SCENES IN THE BRITISH MISSION.
CHAPTER I.
ELDER HALLIDAY APPLIED TO FOR HELP BY A SISTER WHOSE SON IS DYING--NOT
ABLE TO GO, HE GAVE THE LADY HIS HANDKERCHIEF AND PROMISES HER THE
CHILD SHALL LIVE--THE CHILD REVIVES FROM APPARENT DEATH BY THE
WOMAN'S FAITH AND PRAYER--PREACHING IN PENZANCE--DISCOURAGEMENT AND
WANT--STRANGE CONDUCT OF A LADY ATTENDING THE MEETING--INVITATION TO
GO TO ST. JUST--GIFT OF TONGUES AND INTERPRETATION GIVEN TO ELDER
HALLIDAY, THROUGH WHICH HE RECEIVES A REVELATION--REVELATION LITERALLY
FULFILLED.
The various gifts of the gospel were perhaps enjoyed to as great
an extent by the Elders who labored in England in an early day as
they have been by any people and in any place, at least in this
dispensation. Nor were the manifestations of these gifts confined
to the Elders who were engaged in the ministry, for their converts
also enjoyed them to a very great extent. Many of them through their
extraordinary faith and humility called forth the blessings and power
of God in various ways. The gift of healing was very manifest, and
scores of instances might be related wherein persons were healed in a
most miraculous manner.
Bishop George Halliday, of Santaquin, who labored extensively as a
missionary in his native country in an early day, relates an incident
of this kind. Upon a warm Sunday evening, after he had been preaching
to an audience in Bristol, he was accosted by a Mrs. Ware, a sister
in the Church, who told him she had a son extremely sick and thought
to be dying. She begged him to go home with her and administer to it.
She lived three miles distant, on Durham Down. It was quite late in
the evening and he was so extremely tired that he scarcely felt able
to comply with her request; and yet he did not like to decline. All
at once he felt impressed to say: "Here, Sister Ware, you take my
handkerchief and go home to your child and lay it on him wherever he
seems to be affected, praying to the Lord to heal him. If you do this I
will promise you that he will recover."
With full faith the good lady took the handkerchief and departed. On
reaching her home she was met at the door by her daughters and friends,
who informed her that her son was dead.
"No," said she, "I cannot believe it! Brother Halliday has promised me
that he shall live, and I have his handkerchief to lay upon him."
She hastened to the boy and did as she had been directed to, and the
child, which a few minutes before had been inanimate, began to show
signs of life. The next morning he was able to come down to breakfast,
and soon regained his wonted health. He afterwards emigrated to Utah.
Brother Halliday also relates another instance in which the power of
God was displayed in a rather remarkable manner, near the same time:
He and Elder John Chislett were sent to Penzance, Cornwall,
to introduce the gospel to the inhabitants. They met with no
encouragement, yet they did not feel justified in leaving the place
until they had given the people a thorough warning. Their funds were
so low that the two of them were forced to live on a penny's worth of
bread and a penny's worth of soup per day; yet their faith was strong,
and they spent much of their time in prayer. Finally, as a last resort,
in the effort to awaken an interest in the message they had to bear to
the people, they decided to give a course of public lectures. Elder
Halliday pawned his watch to raise the necessary money to rent a hall
and publish some placards announcing their meetings, and on the first
evening appointed they were gratified at seeing a few come to hear
them. Among the audience they noticed particularly a well-dressed
gentleman and lady, the latter of whom commenced weeping almost as
soon as she entered the hall and continued to do so as long as the
meeting lasted. The Elders, of course, could assign no reason for this
peculiar conduct while the meeting was in progress, nor were they any
more enlightened when, at the close of the services, the lady came
forward with her husband and invited them to visit her at her home at
St. Just, about six miles distant. This was the first invitation they
had received from anyone in the place, and they accepted it joyfully,
and would willingly have gone home with her that night, but, to their
disappointment, she named the following Wednesday as the time when
she would be pleased to receive them. Nothing further passed between
them, but it was evident that a favorable impression had been made upon
her, and that she was a woman of intelligence and refinement. While
anticipating the pleasure of visiting her and waiting for the day to
arrive, the Elders continued to subsist upon their scanty fare, and
spent their time in vainly endeavoring to proselyte among the citizens
of Penzance.
Wednesday morning came and with it a drenching rain storm, through
which the Elders tramped the whole six miles, hungry and penniless.
Shortly before arriving at St. Just, and while they were crossing
a plowed field, with the mud clinging to their boots so they could
scarcely walk, the Lord deigned to comfort them by giving Elder
Halliday the gift of tongues and the interpretation of the same, in
which it was made known to him that the lady whom they were going to
visit had been favored with a vision in which she had seen himself and
Elder Chislett; also that she was the owner of several houses, one of
which she was going to allow them to use to hold meetings in, and that
he was going to baptize her that very night.
As soon as this had passed through his mind, for he had not spoken
aloud, but to himself, he joyfully slapped his companion on the
shoulder and exclaimed, "Cheer up, John! I have had a revelation!" He
then proceeded to relate all that had been revealed to him.
When they arrived at the house they were drenched as badly as if they
had been in a river. Even their boots were full of water, so that when
they pulled them off and turned the tops downward it ran out of them in
a stream. Their friend, however, had been anxiously looking for them,
and had prepared a blazing fire to warm them and spread the table with
tempting food. She also proposed for them to change their clothes as
far as she could supply them with dry ones to put on from her husband's
wardrobe. "But," said she, "I can hardly wait for you to change your
clothes, I am so anxious to talk to you."
"Oh, you need not be in such a hurry," remarked Elder Halliday, "for I
know what you are going to say!"
She looked at him in surprise and inquired how he knew.
"Why," he said, "I have had it revealed to me on the way here." He then
related to her every particular as it had been made known to him, until
he got to that part relating to her baptism, when she interrupted him
by exclaiming in surprise to her husband:
"There, now, is that not just as it occurred? How could he have learned
that? for you know I have not talked with anyone but you about it!" She
then admitted that the week previous, while lying awake in bed, she saw
a bright light in the room and awoke her husband and pointed it out to
him. He also saw it, and it passed around the room in the direction of
Penzance, to which place it led her in her mind, and there she saw two
men trying to raise a standard, in which labor the people who looked on
seemed unwilling to lend a helping hand. She reproached them for their
lack of interest, and took hold herself to assist. This vision was so
plain that she afterwards related the whole of it to her husband and
even described the appearance of the men. Then she could not rest until
she had, in company with her husband, visited Penzance and attended
the lecture she there saw announced. As soon as she entered the hall
and saw the two Elders she recognized them and could not refrain from
crying. As to the other part of what had been revealed to him, she
said it was true that she was the owner of a row of houses, which she
pointed out to the Elders, and that the last one was a school-house in
which her husband taught school, and which they were welcome to use as
a meeting house as long as they wanted to free of charge.
"But," said Elder Halliday, "that is not all that the Lord revealed to
me. He told me that I was going to baptize you before I went to bed
to-night, and now I want your husband to go and find some water for
that purpose."
Brother Halliday, in telling what had been revealed to him, felt a good
deal as he imagined the prophet Jonah must have felt when the Lord
commanded him to go to Nineveh and declare the destruction of that
city. He had before him the fear of being declared a false prophet,
and it required a great deal of faith in him to tell it, especially
that part relating to her baptism. However, he was soon relieved on
that score, for the good lady expressed her readiness and anxiety to
go immediately and be baptized. But her husband declared there was not
a stream or pond in that region deep enough to baptize a person in,
and it would be no use for them to think of doing such a thing that
day. "Is there not a ditch or hollow anywhere around here that is deep
enough?" said Elder Halliday, "Please go and see."
The husband complied with a dubious look on his face, while the Elders
proceeded to change and dry their clothes, and soon he returned and
reported that the heavy shower which had fallen had so filled all the
ditches and low places that they would have no difficulty in finding
water deep enough.
Within two hours from the arrival of the Elders the lady was baptized
and confirmed, she being the first one to embrace the gospel in the
region known as "Land's End."
The Elders ever found a home at her house and enjoyed the privilege
of holding meetings in her school-house for years, and she remained
faithful, but her husband, although he was kind to the Elders and
willing to entertain them, never joined the Church. He was an infidel
and an astrologer.