TREASURES IN HEAVEN
FIFTEENTH BOOK OF THE
FAITH PROMOTING SERIES
DESIGNED FOR THE INSTRUCTION
AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF YOUNG
LATTER-DAY SAINTS
COMPILED AND PUBLISHED BY
GEO. C. LAMBERT
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
1914
OFFICIAL SANCTION
April 8, 1914
To the First Presidency, City.
Dear Brethren:
I have had a desire for a long time past to resume the publication
of the Faith Promoting Series that I originated and published
something like thirty-five years ago, but which has been suspended
for almost thirty years.
I received the sanction of the Church authorities when the
publication of this series was commenced, and had ample evidence
afterwards of the popularity of the volumes issued, and of the
general benefit resulting therefrom. I now desire your sanction
in what I may do in publishing additional volumes; and hope to
subserve the interests of the Church and promote true faith only in
what I publish.
If you deem it necessary to appoint a committee to whom I may
refer any matter concerning which there may be a question as to
propriety, etc., I shall be glad to have you do so.
I am prepared to assume all financial responsibility, and believe,
with the experience I have had, I shall be able to do effective
work in the selection and preparation of the matter.
I intend to make the volumes about one hundred pages each, and hope
to be able to sell them at twenty-five cents per volume.
I have the matter partially prepared for two volumes, the first to
relate to Temple work, and to be called "Treasures in Heaven," the
second to contain a variety of incidents and experiences, and to be
called "Choice Memories."
A waiting your kind consideration and reply, and with kindest
regards, I remain
Your Brother,
GEO. C. LAMBERT.
April 30, 1914
Elder George C. Lambert, City.
Dear Brother:
We learn by yours of the 28th inst. that you desire to resume the
publication of the "Faith Promoting Series," discontinued some
thirty years ago, and we take pleasure in informing you that you
have our sanction to do this, and that we have appointed Elders
George F. Richards, A. W. Ivins and Joseph F. Smith, Jr. as a
committee to read the manuscript.
With kind regards,
Your Brethren,
JOSEPH F. SMITH, ANTHON H. LUND, CHARLES W. PENROSE,
First Presidency.
PREFACE
No lesson taught by the Savior during his ministry in mortality was
more frequently and thoroughly impressed than that of unselfish
service. Of those who labored solely for the things of this world,
or for praise or the honors that men can bestow, He had a habit of
saying: "They have their reward." If they obtained that which they
strove for they were already repaid: they were entitled to nothing
more. Of the rich He said, "Ye have received your consolation." It
was not sufficient that man should seek to benefit or bring happiness
alone to those they loved. Even that He evidently regarded as a species
of selfishness, as implied by the saying: "For if ye love them which
love you, what reward have ye?" "For sinners do even the same." His
exhortation was: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where
moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal;
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor
rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal."
All this was not intended to imply that wealth itself was intrinsically
bad, or that poverty had any essential virtue, except as a means to
an end. The rule was, as expressed by the great Teacher, that "where
the treasure is, there will the heart be also." A sublime test upon
this point was that made of the young man who applied to the Savior
upon one occasion to know what good thing he could do to gain eternal
life. Though he was able to say that he had kept all the commandments
from his youth up, it was apparent to the Master that his heart was
set upon the wealth he possessed, as evidence of which he turned away
sorrowfully when required by the Savior to surrender his possessions,
for the benefit of the poor, and follow Him.
The Gospel as revealed anew in our day has shed a flood of light
upon the subject of salvation, and the conditions upon which it is
predicated. The glorious principle of salvation for the dead, as
revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith, has awakened a desire in the
hearts of thousands of earnest seekers after truth to do a vicarious
work for the benefit of their dead relatives and friends, that they may
share in all the blessings and privileges of the Gospel. In this work,
as well as in the preaching of the Gospel to the living, have avenues
been opened up for unselfish work, which, as it involves no earthly
reward, is clearly in the line of laying up treasures in heaven, as
distinguished from the work of amassing treasures upon earth which
absorbs the attention of so many of the earth's inhabitants. That the
recital of some typical examples of sacrifices unselfishly made in
the interest of others, and the joy experienced therein, may tend to
promote faith in those who read the same and incite them also to lay
up treasures in heaven, this volume is published in continuation of
the "Faith Promoting Series," originated and published by the present
author about thirty-five years ago.
CONTENTS
A MODERN STOIC
CHAPTER I.
Birth of Niels--Obscure Childhood--Crippled, Helpless Condition--Gospel
Preached--Taught Needlework--Training in Bible and Lutheran Creed--A
Prophetic Priest--Remarkable Prediction Concerning Niels. Page 7.
CHAPTER II.
Death of his Mother--Life in Aalborg--Conversion to Mormonism--Heavenly
Message to Elder Kempe--His Obedience thereto--Baptism of Niels--His
Relatives Ashamed of Him--Proposition to Make Him a Lutheran Preacher.
Page 12.
CHAPTER III.
Desire to Migrate--Discouraging Prospects--Help From an Unexpected
Source--Religious Discrimination--Contends for His Rights--Effects
a Compromise--Characteristics of Niels--Spiritual Impressions and
Premonitions. Page 17.
CHAPTER IV.
A Vision and its Pre-Mortal Counterpart--Beset by Evil
Spirits--Deliverance Therefrom--Preparations to Migrate--Long
Voyage--Toilsome Journey--Lost on the Plains--Help from the Lord. Page
21.
CHAPTER V.
Feat as a Pedestrian--Lessons Learned and Ambition Developed
While Traveling--Arrival in Salt Lake City--Employment Diligently
Sought--Precarious Success--Miraculously Fed. Page 27.
CHAPTER VI
Invests in Real Estate--Acquires a Home--Vicarious Work in Logan
Temple--Consequent Elation--Promise to a Dying Friend--Gratuitous
Fulfillment in Manti Temple. Page 33.
CHAPTER VII.
Completion of Salt Lake Temple--His Work Therein--Sister Corradi
Inspired to Apply to Him--Devoted Work for her Kindred--His Severe
Afflictions--Saving Work for 2200--Graceful Old Age. Page 37.
CHAPTER VIII. Modern Stoic--His Modest Obscurity--What Religion Has
Done for Niels--Philosophic Way in Which He Views Death. Page 40.
A WOMAN WITH A PURPOSE
Purpose Essential to Success--Birth and Parentage of Carolina
Corradi--Her Mother's Prescience--Preparation for Future
Career--Devoted Work in Behalf of Dead Kindred. Page 47.
AN EXCEPTION
A Rich Man's Handicap--Wealth Not Essentially Bad--But Qualities its
Possession Develops a Bar to Salvation--Typical Case of a Man Reared in
Affluence--Unpromising Start in Married Life--How He Became Interested
in Temple Work--Worthy Example in Recent Years. Page 55.
MY MOTHER
CHAPTER I.
Prediction from Malachi Fulfilled--Birth and Childhood of Mary Alice
Cannon--Cannon Family Embrace the Gospel--Migrate--Mother's Death at
Sea--Arrival at Nauvoo--Father's Death--Her Marriage. Page 65.
CHAPTER II.
Strenuous Life in Nauvoo--City Besieged--Thrilling Experience--Miracle
of Quails--Run Over by Wagon--Wagon Sinks to Bottom of River--Life in
Utah--Mission Abroad--Her Posterity. Page 74.
EXAMPLES OF RIGHTEOUS ZEAL
Night Workers Who Serve in the Temple During the Day--Many Women Serve
at Great Personal Sacrifice--Temple Work a Boon to the Blind. Page 89.
A MODERN STOIC
CHAPTER I.
BIRTH OF NIELS--OBSCURE CHILDHOOD--CRIPPLED, HELPLESS CONDITION--GOSPEL
PREACHED--TAUGHT NEEDLEWORK--TRAINING IN BIBLE AND LUTHERAN CREED--A
PROPHETIC PRIEST--REMARKABLE PREDICTION CONCERNING NIELS.
Perhaps no better example of unselfish service in the interest of
others, of patience and forbearance under the burden of a serious
physical handicap and courage and persistence in a labor of love and
sacrifice can be found than is afforded in the life of the hero whose
portrait is herewith presented.
Niels P. L. Eskildz was born May 31, 1836, at Lindholm, County of
Aalborg, Denmark, only a few miles from the city of Aalborg, which
is celebrated as being the birthplace of President Anthon H. Lund.
The parents of Niels were unassuming, country folks, with nothing to
distinguish them from their industrious and respectable neighbors
except their rather unusual size and a certain pride of bearing and
correctness of speech, due to their superior education, and the fact
that they were both descendants in a direct line from noble, titled
families.
They had a small farm, the cultivation of which furnished them little
more than a modest living, and the father combined the occupation of
butcher with that of farmer, by slaughtering animals and selling meat
in the village market place every Wednesday and Saturday.
[Image: Niels P.L. Eskildz]
Niels was the youngest of the family, having two brothers of almost
gigantic stature and a sister who, when grown, was the largest woman
in that part of Denmark. Niels also, would doubtless have grown to be
an unusually large man had he not met with an awful accident when ten
years of age.
Denmark is a country almost without fences, the farms being separated
one from another by imaginary lines. Instead of the cows and sheep
owned by the farmers being allowed to range at will in pastures, the
custom was and still is to stake them out individually, and lead them
in at night. As a rule the cows are models of decorum, and one of the
prettiest as well as commonest sights of the country is to see a boy or
girl marching a number of cows, like so many soldiers, in double file
and close rank from the pasture to the barn.
Niels, having been sent by his parents to thus bring a cow in from the
field, the creature, though usually docile, suddenly became fractious
and, running around the boy, tangled him up in the rope, and then
frantically dragged him through a grain field and against numerous
obstructions before she could be stopped. When released the poor boy
was found to have a broken thigh and other serious injuries, from the
effects of which he was bedfast for more than three years. It was
feared he never would recover, but his patient mother gave him the
most devoted attention and relieved the tedium of his helplessness by
teaching him needlework, at which she was an adept, and by reading to
him. In course on time he grew strong enough to be propped up in a
chair and thus carried into the open air, but the exertion was probably
too much for him, as he soon had a relapse, and during the ensuing two
years spent most of his time in bed. His spine by degrees became so
curved and deformed that, while his legs were nearly of normal length,
his body had the appearance of having been crumpled down thereon, and
his large, well-shaped head crowded down between his shoulders.
In the year 1850 Apostle Erastus Snow arrived in Denmark as a
missionary. He had not been there long when the Gospel influence began
to be felt and converts to flock to his standard. One family among the
residents of Lindholm embraced the Gospel, and soon found themselves
somewhat notorious because of the attention they received from the
local Lutheran priest, near whose chapel the family lived, and his
frequent public comments on their abandonment of the Lutheran faith and
acceptance of the unpopular doctrines of "Mormonism."
In those days the Lutheran church held almost undisputed sway
throughout Denmark, and the invariable rule was for children to be
diligently taught the Bible and drilled in a knowledge of the Lutheran
creed from their infancy. When the children attain the age of about
thirteen years they are required to appear before the priest for a
series of examinations, as to their knowledge of these subjects before
being confirmed as members of the Lutheran church.
When Niels was fourteen years old, and was barely able to hobble about
a little on crutches, he was cited to appear with a class of dozen or
more children before the priest, to be catechised. This they did many
times until they were able to answer satisfactorily all the questions
propounded to them. At about the first of these meetings a young girl
asked to be excused from the examinations, because her parents had
joined the "Mormons," and she expected to. She cited in support of
her plea, that the King of Denmark had granted religious liberty. Her
request was complied with by the priest, who proceeded to comment
on "Mormonism" then and at every subsequent meeting in a way that
indicated that he must have been studying "Mormon" literature, and
Niels very strongly suspected that the priest was really converted to
"Mormonism," although he either lacked the courage to embrace it, or
considered it impolitic to do so. Whether this surmise was correct or
not, the priest seemed to have "Mormonism" constantly in his mind, and
his frequent allusions to its doctrines and the scripture supporting
the same had the effect of converting Niels to "Mormonism." Though he
did not then declare his belief in the Gospel, he had not from that
time a doubt of its truth.
That priest, whose name was Holger Christopher Kongslev Thryde, was a
very peculiar man, a thorough scriptorian, a keen reasoner and withal
quite inspirational. When the class of which Niels was a member had
received sufficient training by him to appear for public examination
and confirmation as members of the Lutheran church, they were all
notified to be present at the regular Sunday service in the chapel.
There they were separately catechised by the priest in presence of the
congregation. Their answers being satisfactory, he asked each in turn
as to his willingness to enter into covenant to serve God. On being
told that he was, the priest said "then give your heart to God and
your hand to me." Holding the child by the right hand, he then placed
his left hand upon the youthful head, confirmed him as a member of
the Lutheran church and exhorted him to faithfulness or indulged in
predictions concerning his future, apparently as the spirit prompted
him. Of one boy he expressed regret that he had been confirmed a
Lutheran, for he would soon abandon the faith. The sequel proved this
prediction to be true, for the boy soon left his birthplace to live
among relatives who were Baptists, and accordingly became a Baptist.
When Niels was confirmed, the priest proceeded to say: "The Lord has
laid a heavy hand upon you in your youth, which will be a hard cross
for you to bear through life; but it was for a wise purpose--to prepare
you for a great work that you do not understand now. After you have
traveled thousands of miles to a strange land you know not, you will
there eventually have a chance to go into the sanctuary of the Lord to
do a work for your father's family and your ancestors that they did not
understand or know anything about."
This prediction made a deep impression upon the mind of Niels, who
remembered every word of it, and felt that somehow it would be
fulfilled, though he could not then conceive how or when. That he, a
helpless cripple and confirmed invalid; without money or influential
friends, should ever travel thousands of miles over land and sea,
seemed very improbable; indeed, it seemed very unlikely that he would
live long enough to make such a journey if he were financially able.