STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND--THE ELDERS LED BY THE SPIRIT TO
PRESTON--"TRUTH WILL PREVAIL"--THE REVEREND JAMES FIELDING--WONDERFUL
FULFILLMENT OF HEBER'S PROPHECIES--A PEOPLE PREPARED FOR THE
GOSPEL--THE ELDERS PREACH IN PRESTON.
After landing on this foreign shore, Heber's mind for a season was
overshadowed with gloom. Among strangers and without money--for he had
not a penny in his pocket--and reflecting on the wretched state of
affairs in far away Kirtland, where the Prophet of God, whom he loved
as his own soul, was surrounded by enemies, and his own family in
lowly circumstances in the midst of persecution, his spirits were much
depressed. It was then that he had the following night vision. Says
he:
"I was in a great water, swimming, and had swam away, trying to make
land, although I saw no land, until I had become weary and tired, when
I began to sink; then an angel came to me and placed his hand under my
chin, for some time keeping me from sinking, until I had rested and
gained strength; he blessed me and said, 'Brother Heber, you shall now
have strength to swim ashore.' I again began to swim, and it appeared
as though every time I stretched forth my arms and feet, I would move
rods at each stroke, and continued doing so until I reached land."
This dream, coming as such dreams generally do, in a season of deep
depression, was as a spring of pure water in the desert to the parched
lips of the weary traveler. As a promise of success, it was amply
verified in the subsequent experience of the father and founder of the
British mission. "Rods at a stroke" is indeed a strikingly appropriate
figure, illustrating the labors in the vineyard of this faithful and
mighty servant of the Lord.
"The time we were in Liverpool," he continues, "was spent in council,
and in calling on the Lord for direction. While thus engaged, the
Spirit of the Lord was with us and we felt greatly strengthened. Our
trust was in God, who could make us as useful in bringing down the
kingdom of Satan, as He did the ram's horns in bringing down the walls
of Jericho; and in gathering out a number of precious souls, who were
buried amid the rubbish of tradition, and who had no one to show them
the way of truth."
"Go to Preston," said the Spirit of the Lord, and to Preston they went
accordingly. The place indicated was a large manufacturing town in
Lancashire, thirty-one miles from Liverpool. They arrived there about
four o'clock in the afternoon of July 22nd.
It was election day in Preston. Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, who had
ascended the throne just three days before the landing of the Elders
on her dominions, had ordered a general election for members of
Parliament. In the very midst of this busy and interesting scene,
Heber and his companions alighted from the coach. He thus describes
the spectacle:
"I never witnessed anything like it in my life. Bands of music
playing. Flags flying in all directions. Thousands of men, women and
children parading the streets, decked with ribbons characteristic of
the politics of the several candidates. Anyone accustomed to the
peaceable and quiet manner in which the elections in America are
conducted, can scarcely have any idea of an election as carried on in
England. One of the flags was unrolled before us, nearly over our
heads, the moment the coach reached its destination, having on it the
following motto: 'TRUTH WILL PREVAIL,' in large gilt letters. It being
so very seasonable, and the sentiment being so very appropriate to us
in our situation, we cried aloud, 'Amen! Thanks be to God, TRUTH WILL
PREVAIL!'"
The Elders took a room in Wilfred Street, in a house belonging to a
widow. Joseph Fielding, in the meantime, went in quest of his brother,
the Reverend James Fielding, who was pastor of a church in Preston.
Returning shortly, he was the bearer of a polite message from the
reverend gentleman, inviting the Elders to visit him that evening.
Accordingly, Apostles Kimball and Hyde and Elder Goodson went, and
were kindly received by Mr. Fielding and his brother-in-law, Mr.
Watson, a minister from Bedford. They conversed upon the subject of
the Gospel until a late hour. Next morning the Elders received from
Mrs. Watson a slight testimonial of her appreciation of their visit,
in the shape of a half crown piece.
The Reverend James Fielding, who was destined to be an instrument of
Providence for the establishment of Mormonism in Preston--its first
foreign foothold--was a brother to Miss Mary Fielding, the same who,
with others, accompanied Heber from Kirtland to Fairport, when he
started on his mission to England. She subsequently became the wife of
Hyrum Smith, the martyr, and mother of Joseph F. Smith, the Apostle.
At this juncture, it will be well to refer to an extraordinary
prophecy of Heber C. Kimball's, uttered in the spring of 1836, which
connects itself in an interesting manner with the mission he was now
about to fulfill. Apostle Parley P. Pratt, over whom the prediction
was made, narrates the incident as follows:
"It was now April; I had retired to rest one evening at an early hour,
and was pondering my future course, when there came a knock at the
door. I arose and opened it, when Elder Heber C. Kimball and others
entered my house, and being filled with the spirit of prophecy, they
blessed me and my wife, and he prophesied as follows:
"'Brother Parley, thy wife shall be healed from this hour, and shall
bear a son, and his name shall be Parley; and he shall be a chosen
instrument in the hands of the Lord to inherit the Priesthood and to
walk in the steps of his father. He shall do a great work in the earth
in ministering the word and teaching the children of men. Arise,
therefore, and go forth in the ministry, nothing doubting. Take no
thought for your debts, nor the necessaries of life, for the Lord will
supply you with abundant means for all things.
"'Thou shalt go to Upper Canada, even to the city of Toronto, the
capital, and there thou shalt find a people prepared for the fullness
of the gospel, and they shall receive thee, and thou shalt organize
the Church among them, and it shall spread thence into the regions
round about, and many shall be brought to the knowledge of the truth
and shall be filled with joy; and from the things growing out of this
mission shall the fullness of the Gospel spread into England, and
cause a great work to be done in that land.'
"This prophecy was the more marvelous because, being married near ten
years, we had never had any children; and for near six years my wife
had been consumptive, and had been considered incurable. However, we
called to mind the faith of Abraham of old, and judging him faithful
who had promised, we took courage."
Both these prophecies, the one relating to the birth of his son, and
the other to his Canadian mission, were literally and marvelously
fulfilled. Parley P. Pratt, jun., was born March 25th, 1837, eleven
months after the event was thus foretold. Among the "people prepared
for the fullness of the Gospel" whom Parley the Apostle found "in the
city of Toronto," in strict accordance with Heber's inspired words,
was John Taylor, afterwards an Apostle and the President of the
Church, and a powerful champion of Mormonism in the British Isles;
also Joseph Fielding, Heber's fellow missionary, and his sisters, Mary
and Mercy, who had lately emigrated from England. The Fieldings of
Canada wrote to their reverend brother in Preston an account of the
rise and progress of the latter-day work, and thus prepared him for
the advent of the Elders upon British shores. He, in turn, told his
congregation and exhorted them to pray to the Lord to send His
servants unto them. Obedient to his counsel, the worthiest and most
pious members of his flock commenced praying for the coming of the
Elders from America. Their faith shook the heavens, and in dreams and
visions many were shown the very men whom the Lord was about to send
into their midst. Heber C. Kimball, especially, on his arrival in
Preston was recognized by persons who had never until then beheld him
in the flesh.
Thus, "from things growing out of this mission" to Canada, had the
fullness of the Gospel "spread into England," according to Heber's
prediction. Thus, like Parley in the city of Toronto, had Heber found
in Preston, souls who were prepared to receive his message. The angels
of God had been before him, and left their foot-prints upon the
people's hearts.
The day after their arrival in Preston, being the Sabbath, the
brethren, on the invitation of Mr. Fielding, repaired to Vauxhall
Chapel, where he held forth from his own pulpit. "We sat before him,"
says Heber, "praying to the Lord to open up the way for us to preach."
At the close of the service, the reverend gentleman, of his own
accord--for no one had requested it--gave notice that an Elder of the
Latter-day Saints would preach in his chapel at 3 o'clock in the
afternoon. The news spread rapidly, and a large congregation assembled
at the appointed hour, to hear the Elders from America.
The first speaker was Heber C. Kimball. Says he: "I declared that an
angel had visited the earth, and committed the everlasting Gospel to
man; called their attention to the first principles of the Gospel; and
gave them a brief history of the nature of the work which the Lord had
commenced on the earth; after which Elder Hyde bore testimony to the
same, which was received by many with whom I afterwards conversed;
they cried 'glory to God,' and rejoiced that the Lord had sent His
servants unto them. Thus was the key turned and the Gospel
dispensation opened on the first Sabbath after landing in England."
Another appointment was given out for the brethren in the evening,
when Elder Goodson preached, and Joseph Fielding bore testimony, and
still another for the Wednesday night following, when Apostle Hyde
held forth and Elder Richards added his testimony. The chapel was
filled to overflowing, and many were "pricked in their hearts," being
convinced of the truth, "and began to praise God and rejoice
exceedingly."
Thus was the first opening made for the preaching of the Gospel in the
British Isles and on the continent of Europe. Thus it was--to use the
Reverend Fielding's famous phrase--that "Kimball bored the holes,
Goodson drove the nails, and Hyde clinched them."