HEBER'S POETIC NATURE--A ROUGH DIAMOND--EARLY RELIGIOUS
EXPERIENCE--JOINS THE BAPTIST CHURCH--"SIGNS IN THE HEAVENS
ABOVE"--HEBER C. KIMBALL AND BRIGHAM YOUNG--THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL.
Heber's temperament was religious and poetical. Sociable as he was,
and even bubbling over with mirth, at times, his soul was essentially
of a solemn cast. He loved solitude, not with the selfish spirit of
the misanthrope, but for the opportunities it gave of communing with
his own thoughts--a pleasure that only poet minds truly feel--and of
listening to the voice of God and nature, expressed in all the
countless and varied forms of life.
He was capable of sensing fully--though probably he had never seen or
heard--those sublime words of the poet:
"There is a pleasure in the pathless woods;
There is a rapture on the lonely shore;
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar.
I love not man the less, but nature more,
From these our interviews; in which I steal
From all I may be, or have been before,
To mingle with the universe and feel
What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal."
True, he was a diamond in the rough, but a diamond, nevertheless, for
all of its incrustations. Unlettered and untaught, save in nature's
school, the university of experience, where he was an apt and profound
scholar, he was possessed of marvelous intuition, a genius God-given,
which needed no kindling at a college shrine to prepare it for the
work which providence had designed.
Not but that education would have polished the gem, causing it to
shine with what the natural eye would deem a brighter lustre; but the
fact remains that Heber C. Kimball, as he was, not as he might have
been, was best adapted for the divine purpose, the career marked out
for him by the finger of Deity.
It is not strange that a nature of this kind, solemn, thoughtful and
inspirational, should have been led early to seek "an anchor for the
soul," a knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. But his
search for many years was in vain; he found not among the sects of
Christendom the precious pearl which an honest soul will sell all that
it hath to obtain.
"From the time I was twelve years old," says he, "I had many serious
thoughts and strong desires to obtain a knowledge of salvation, but
not finding anyone who could teach me the things of God, I did not
embrace any principles of doctrine, but endeavored to live a moral
life. The priests would tell me to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
but never would tell me what to do to be saved, and thus left me
almost in despair.
"During the time I lived in Mendon, I mostly attended the meetings of
the Baptist church, and was often invited to unite myself with them. I
received many pressing invitations to unite with different sects, but
did not see fit to comply with their desires, until a revival took
place in our neighborhood. I had passed through several of their
protracted meetings and had been many times upon the anxious bench to
seek relief from the 'bands of sin and death.' But no relief could I
find until the meetings were passed by.
"At this time I concluded to put myself under the watch-care of the
Baptist church and unite myself to them; as soon as I had concluded to
do this, the Lord administered peace to my mind, and accordingly, the
next day I went, in company with my wife, and we were baptized by
Elder Elijah Weaver; and we partook of the sacrament on that day for
the first and also the last time with them."
Such was his initiation into religion, as pertaining to a Christian
sectarian church. Though not in accord with the Baptist faith in all
its teachings, it seemed to him to be nearest right according to the
Bible; probably from the stress laid upon baptism by immersion,
manifestly the Bible mode, and the only true way of being "born of the
water." Besides, he deemed it wise to put a "guard" upon himself, to
"keep him from running into evils."
The peace of mind that he experienced, as the sanction of the Holy One
upon a prudent and conscientious act, was but the prelude and prophecy
of far greater things to follow. The heavens were bestirring
themselves. The invisible world was up in arms. Truth and Error were
taking the field. The latter-day conflict had begun. The signs of the
coming of the Son of Man were showing themselves in the heavens.
It was the eventful night of September 22nd, 1827. Says Heber C.
Kimball:
"I had retired to bed, when John P. Greene, who was living within a
hundred steps of my house, came and waked me up, calling upon me to
come out and behold the scenery in the heavens. I woke up and called
my wife and Sister Fanny Young (sister to Brigham Young), who was
living with us, and we went out-of-doors.
"It was one of the most beautiful starlight nights, so clear that we
could see to pick up a pin. We looked to the eastern horizon, and
beheld a white smoke arise toward the heavens; as it ascended it
formed itself into a belt, and made a noise like the sound of a mighty
wind, and continued southwest, forming a regular bow dipping in the
western horizon. After the bow had formed, it began to widen out and
grow clear and transparent, of a bluish cast; it grew wide enough to
contain twelve men abreast.
"In this bow an army moved, commencing from the east and marching to
the west; they continued marching until they reached the western
horizon. They moved in platoons, and walked so close that the rear
ranks trod in the steps of their file leaders, until the whole bow was
literally crowded with soldiers. We could distinctly see the muskets,
bayonets and knapsacks of the men, who wore caps and feathers like
those used by the American soldiers in the last war with Britain; and
also saw their officers with their swords and equipage, and the
clashing and jingling of their implements of war, and could discover
the forms and features of the men. The most profound order existed
throughout the entire army; when the foremost man stepped, every man
stepped at the same time; I could hear the steps. When the front rank
reached the western horizon a battle ensued, as we could distinctly
hear the report of arms and the rush.
"No man could judge of my feelings when I beheld that army of men, as
plainly as ever I saw armies of men in the flesh; it seemed as though
every hair of my head was alive. This scenery we gazed upon for hours,
until it began to disappear.
"After I became acquainted with Mormonism, I learned that this took
place the same evening that Joseph Smith received the records of the
Book of Mormon from the angel Moroni, who had held those records in
his possession.
"John Young, sen., and John P. Greene's wife, Rhoda, were also
witnesses.
"My wife, being frightened at what she saw, said, 'Father Young, what
does all this mean?'
"'Why, it's one of the signs of the coming of the Son of Man,' he
replied, in a lively, pleased manner.
"The next night similar scenery was beheld in the west by the
neighbors, representing armies of men who were engaged in battle."
A wonderful foreshadowing, truly, of the warfare to be waged between
the powers of good and evil, from the time Truth sprang from earth and
Righteousness looked down from heaven upon the boy Joseph, predestined
to bring to light the buried records of the past.
In Mendon began the intimacy and friendship of Heber C. Kimball with
his life-long colleague, Brigham Young. The Youngs and Greenes, like
the Kimballs, were from Vermont, and had moved into Mendon a few
months prior to the event just related. In religion they were Reformed
Methodists, but, being in lowly circumstances, were looked down upon
by the proud members of the flourishing church to which they belonged.
They had suffered greatly from sickness, and had seen much sorrow and
affliction.
Heber's generous heart and that of his noble wife were touched with
sympathy and compassion for their situation. Says he: "To them my
heart was united, because a principle had existed in my breast from
earliest childhood, to plead the cause of suffering innocence, to go
on the side of the oppressed at all times; neither do I remember to
have ever varied from this fixed principle at any time in my life; I
have many times turned aside from the company of those who were highly
esteemed in the world, and sought the society of the poor and humble,
those who loved the ways of the Lord better than the praise of the
world."
He found in these families, which were related, congenial associates,
for they too were seekers after truth, and truth they were all
destined, ere many days, to find.
Sometime in the fall or winter of 1831, about three weeks after Heber
and his wife had joined the Baptist church, five Elders of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came from Pennsylvania to Victor,
five miles from Mendon, and tarried at the house of Phineas H. Young.
They were Eleazer Miller, Elial Strong, Alpheus Gifford, Enos Curtis
and Daniel Bowen. Hearing of these men, Heber was prompted by
curiosity to visit them, "when," says he, "for the first time I heard
the fullness of the everlasting gospel."
The glorious news of a restored gospel and a living priesthood,
commissioned of and communicating with the heavens; the promise of the
Holy Ghost with signs following the believer, as in days of old; the
wondrous declaration of angels revisiting the earth, breaking the
silence of ages, bringing messages from another world;--all this fell
upon the heart of this God-fearing man, and on the hearts of his
friends and companions, like dew upon thirsty ground. As the voice of
a familiar spirit, it seemed an echo from the far past--something they
had known before.
To hear, with Heber, was to believe. He was convinced that they taught
the truth, and was constrained to receive their testimony. He saw,
more clearly than ever, that he had embraced but a portion of the
truth in the Baptist faith; that the creeds of Christendom, the
religions of the world, were but remnants of the everlasting gospel,
broken off fragments of that grand Rock of Ages, the same in all
generations; mixtures of truth and error; lesser lights at best in the
broad firmament of human faith; and that now, when the Sun had once
more arisen, the stars that lit the night must pale away.
Both Heber and Brigham received the word gladly, and were impelled to
testify of its divinity. Then the power of God fell upon them.
"On one occasion," says Heber, "Father John Young, Brigham Young,
Joseph Young and myself had come together to get up some wood for
Phineas H. Young. While we were thus engaged we were pondering upon
those things which had been told us by the Elders, and upon the saints
gathering to Zion, when the glory of God shone upon us, and we saw the
gathering of the saints to Zion, and the glory that would rest upon
them; and many more things connected with that great event, such as
the sufferings and persecutions that would come upon the people of
God, and the calamities and judgments that would come upon the world.
"These things caused such great joy to spring up in our bosoms that we
were hardly able to contain ourselves, and we did shout aloud
'Hosannah to God and the Lamb.'"
This heavenly vision, vouchsafed as the reward of faith and pure
desires, only made them eager to know more of the "marvelous work and
wonder" which the God of Israel had set His hand to perform, in
fulfillment of the words of His ancient prophets. The Holy Ghost had
fallen upon them, as on Cornelius of old, before baptism. They had
plucked from the Tree of Life, from branches overhanging the wall,
luscious fruit, whose sweetness and flavor made them long to enter the
garden and more fully satisfy the desire of their souls.
Heber, accordingly, proposed a journey to Pennsylvania, the state from
whence the Elders came, where several branches of the Church were
established. It was winter; January, 1832. Putting his horses to the
sleigh, he and his companions set off upon the journey, a distance of
one hundred and twenty-five miles. The party consisted of Heber C.
Kimball, Brigham Young, Phineas Young and the wives of the two latter.
The branch they visited was in Columbia, Bradford County; that from
which the Elders came, in Rutland, Tioga County.
They tarried about six days, attending the meetings of the Church,
witnessing the manifestations of the gifts of the spirit, such as
speaking in tongues, interpretations and prophecy, and learning more
of the nature and mission of the great latter-day work. They returned
home rejoicing, praising God, and bearing testimony by the way.