By C. H. B.
A MOTHER AND CHILDREN IN GREAT WANT—THE MOTHER'S FAITH—HER PRAYER—IS PROVIDED WITH MONEY IN A MYSTERIOUS WAY.
In the year 1864, a little boy named Charles lived with his mother and sister in the city of C——, near the central part of the State of Indiana. His father and elder brother had enlisted in the army, then fighting for the Union. Charles was but four years of age, not large enough to earn anything, and their daily food depended upon what his mother earned by her hard day's labor.
It was in the winter season. Times were hard, and growing worse every day, and the people had but little for the mother to do. It was with great difficulty that she earned enough for herself and children to live upon.
One morning she went out in the cold wintry blast and gathered bark from the fence rails to keep her children from suffering with the severe cold, and at breakfast she gave them the last crust of bread that was in the house, not eating any herself. Then she went out into the city to seek something to do to earn some more bread for her little ones. But after a long search she returned, very tired, both in body and mind, without accomplishing her object.
The poor woman sat down and wept bitterly. Her children were crying for bread, and she had none to give them. But when they again asked her for bread she said to them, "The Lord will provide."
Presently she knelt down, her bosom swelling with grief, and asked the Lord to spare her children's lives.
Then rising to her feet, she thought of some carpet rags she had put into a barrel just the day before, and decided to take them to a store and see if she could sell them for some bread.
Just as she turned the barrel up-side down, to empty out the rags, she said in a tone of motherly kindness: "Dear children, do not cry; the Lord will not let us starve." Then she turned the barrel back, and, on looking into it, what do you suppose greeted her eyes?
It was something that made her countenance beam with gladness and her eyes dance with joy, and she exclaimed, "The Lord will provide! Blessed be the name of the Lord!"
It was a dollar bill. It had never been lost there, because she had washed out the barrel the day she put the rags into it. But how it got there I will leave you to form your own opinion. Suffice it to say, that it was neither in the rags nor barrel the day before.
It purchased bread enough to last them a few days, till they received seventy dollars sent them from the army.
Which occurred at Healdsburg, Sonoma Co., Cal., in 1857, between Doctor Bonham, a Methodist Minister, and a "Mormon" Elder.
By H. G. B.
DR. BONHAM.—I understand that you are making some prosylytes to your Church in this country.
"MORMON" ELDER.—Yes, we have some fifty or sixty members that have been added to the Church lately, on this side of Sacramento River.
DR. B.—Nine-tenths of the religious portion of the community in this country look upon your people as being deceived, and your ministers as deceivers, and your doctrines as being false and pernicious.
M. E.—Yes, I am aware of this fact, and also of another fact: that is, that the same opinion prevailed among nine-tenths of the Pharisees and Sadducees, eighteen hundred years ago, about our Savior and His apostles and prophets, and the doctrines which they taught. The same kind of religious sentiment was arrayed against the gospel then, as now.
DR. B.—But you must know that the doctrines of a new revelation, and of apostles and prophets are a delusion, and that you are leading astray many of the people.
M. E.—Then the Bible must be a delusion, and it must be that it is leading many of the people astray, for the Bible teaches the same doctrine that we teach, namely, new revelation, apostles and prophets.
DR. B.—I deny that it does. "The law and the prophets continued until John, after which the kingdom of heaven was preached."
M. E.—Would you prove by this quotation that there were to be no more revelation, nor apostles and prophets after John? Then, indeed, was Jesus Himself a false prophet, and His apostles were false teachers, and all that was revealed to the world through Him and them was also false. Such a conclusion is impossible. What, then, are the facts? The kingdom of heaven was really preached afterwards, and that, too, by apostles and prophets, with a continual flow of revelation.
DR. B.—Yes, I will agree that new revelation and apostles and prophets were necessary till the kingdom was established; but after that time, they were no longer needed, and were rightly done away. They left us a perfect pattern in the New Testament, which is all that is needed to guide the church in all things.
M. E.—And, according to this perfect pattern you allude to, you have elders, bishops, priests, teachers and deacons in your church, have you?
DR. B.—Yes; to be sure we have. And these officers are in our church according to the perfect pattern given us in the New Testament.
M. E.—I suppose, then, you have apostles, prophets and seventies in your church, thus following out the perfect pattern to its completeness.
DR. B.—No; we have no apostles nor prophets; nor have we any seventies. They are all done away with.
M. E.—Now, can't you see that you are inconsistent? If the New Testament pattern requires elders and bishops to be organized in the church, it also requires apostles and prophets just the same. If this pattern is authority for an elder, it is just as good authority for an apostle. If authority for a bishop, it is just as surely authority for a prophet. Your assertion that they are done away with, and no longer needed, is a palpable contradiction of the plainest truths of the New Testament pattern.
DR. B.—Does not Paul, in the 8th verse of the 13th chapter of his first letter to the Corinthians, say, "Whether there be prophecies they shall fail?"
M. E.—Yes, and in the 10th verse of the same chapter Paul plainly tells them when prophecy shall fail, that is: "When that which is perfect is come." Paul, in his 4th chapter to the Ephesians, 11th to 13th verses, also refers to the apostles and prophets as being necessary in the church to bring about this perfection, also for the work of the ministry, and to continue "till we all come in the unity of the faith."
The work of the ministry is not or ought not to be done away. The perfecting of the Saints, and that unity spoken of, are works that belong to all time, as surely as it was necessary in Paul's time. Therefore, your quotation from Paul is certainly a very strong proof in favor of our doctrines.
DR. B—I cannot see the necessity of apostles and prophets; nor do I believe that God intended that they should be continued in the church. Is it not written in the last chapter of John's Revelations, 18th and 19th verses, that if any man shall add to or diminish from the words of this book, that a heavy penalty shall rest upon him? If God did not allow any more revelations to the world than they at that time possessed, then the necessity for apostles and prophets no longer existed, as they were the only mediums through whom He revealed His will to mankind.
M. E—What you see, or cannot see, or what you believe, or do not believe in this connection, does not amount to a pin, unless you see and believe the truth.
In the 12th chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians, Paul compares the church of Christ to the body of a man, placing the apostles and prophets as the head of that body; other officers and members composing the other portions of the body.
There were many members, yet but one body. God had set the members in the body as it pleased him; first, apostles, then prophets, etc., down to the feet. The head could not say to the body, "I have no need of you;" nor again, could the feet say to the body, "We have no need of you." The body could not live an hour without the head. Therefore, the church of Christ could not live without apostles and prophets, these constituting the head of the Church.
DR. B.—But you have not answered my quotation from John, forbidding any addition to the word of God, thus cutting off the necessity of new revelation, and the channels or mediums through which it was given, forever after.
M. E.—That was just what I was going to come to when you interrupted me. God did, indeed, forbid any man to add to, or diminish from His word, as you correctly quoted. Also in Deuteronomy, 4th chapter and 2nd verse, we find a similar prohibition, given through Moses. Now what do these passages prove? Simply this: Man shall not add nor diminish, but the Lord can do so at His pleasure. A few days after the death of Moses the Lord began to reveal more of His word to Joshua, the successor of Moses. And it is recorded in history that the Lord did the same thing in St. John's case, for he wrote his narrative of the gospel and his three epistles after his Book of Revelations, from which you made your quotation.
DR. B.—Your doctrines are the most dangerous that I know of, and the best calculated to deceive the ignorant and the unwary. And your preaching ought not to be allowed in this country, and I shall try to prevent all that I can have any influence over from going to hear you.
M. E.—I have not done with your quotations yet. No man in our Church has ever added to or diminished the word of God. We have never violated those restrictions in the least, but the Methodists and many other sects of the present day have both added to and taken from the word of God. They have added the practice of infant baptism, and substituted sprinkling for the ordinance of baptism by immersion. They have heaped to themselves teachers, having itching ears, who have turned from the truth and have added their fables; they divine for money and preach for hire. They have added the mourner's bench to what they call the worship of God. The fear of God is taught by the precepts of men, and nearly all that is preached or believed in by them is of their own adding.
They have diminished from the word of God in that they deny new revelation, apostles, prophets, seventies, the gifts of the Holy Ghost, the ordinances and power of the gospel, and all the grandest, best and most glorious promises contained in the great plan of salvation.
And I warn you to beware that the plagues John spoke of be not added to you, and that your part in the book of life and your part in the holy city be not taken away. For you have "transgressed the law, changed the ordinances and broken the everlasting covenant."
DR. B.—I understand that the government is sending an army to Utah, to exterminate you "Mormons." And I think it will serve them just right. Such gross impostors ought not to be allowed to live. No such delusion should be tolerated among civilized communities.
M. E.—That's right; come out in your true colors! Like the Pharisees of old, when you cannot bring any arguments to prevail against the truth, you would resort to the sword—you would have recourse to arms—to violence, and destroy all those that love and sustain the truth. And you, Doctor Bonham, would have been first among the men that crucified the Redeemer, had you lived then. You would have been the man to have beheaded John the Baptist, and for the same reason; and to have slain the apostles and prophets. Your antipathy to apostles and prophets prove it. "Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers," the Pharisees.
By BENJAMIN BROWN.
THE AUTHOR'S BIRTH AND PARENTAGE—EARLY RELIGIOUS IMPRESSIONS—MARRIAGE—VISION OF HIS BROTHER, AND OF THE BIBLE—THE AUTHOR DREAMS OF PREACHING—ATTENDS A "PROTRACTED MEETING"—HIS IMPRESSIONS WHILE THERE—HE MEETS WITH THE LATTER-DAY SAINTS—VISION OF TWO NEPHITE APOSTLES.
I was born on the 30th of September, in the year 1794, in the town of Queensbury, Washington County, State of New York. My father, Asa Brown, belonged to the denomination of "Friend Quakers." His business was that of a farmer. I worked with him chiefly until I was twenty years of age.
During my boyhood I was much deprived of the benefits of education, owing to my father's removing from place to place, in new settlements, they affording him greater facilities for the purchase of cheap land than older ones. By these means he was enabled to have his children settle around him.
Being thus brought up, far from the abodes of the religious sectaries of the day, my ideas of religion were just those which are naturally instilled into the mind by the statements of Scripture, where no priestcraft exists to pervert them, diminish their force or cloud their meaning; consequently, I believed in the Bible just as it read, where the self-evident rendering of the context did not prove it figurative or parabolic.
The idea that revelation from God was unattainable in this age, or that the ancient gifts of the gospel had ceased forever, never entered my head, until I gathered the notion from the creeds of churches with which I became acquainted in after years. I can remember many times, on occasions of sickness among my relatives, while yet quite a boy, retiring to some barn, or other convenient place of the kind, and their being suddenly restored to health, in answer to prayers offered there, by me, in their behalf.
I continued thus until about fifteen years of age, when circumstances caused me to live in settlements where the sects of the day had established some of their churches, and I was unfortunate enough to hear their preaching.
I soon began to lose my pure, simple ideas of God, and imbibe those more generally received; and, shortly after, by listening to the contending opinions of these parties, I found the hitherto simple Bible a perfect mystery.
I had previously been seriously and religiously inclined, but the jarrings and uncertainty of my new ideas shook that simple faith which I had reposed in the Scriptures, and in God, until I began to mix with light or vain company. I at times thought little about such matters, but, in moments of reflection, the Spirit of the Lord would often show me the folly of my conduct, and bring to my remembrance the goodness of God manifested to me in past times.
The Universalist system appeared to me the most reasonable of the various denominations I came in contact with. The horrible hell and damnation theories of most of the other parties, in my idea, were inconsistent with the mercies and love of God.
However, I did not actually join the Universalists. But their doctrines, with respect to the eternity of punishment, etc., savored to me of a more generous and God-like nature, than the contracted notions held by the other denominations, concerning God's purposes towards the human family.
Amidst all the folly which, for short periods, I gave way to, a deep anxiety possessed me to find the truth, and I visited, and, to some extent, mingled with, the religious professors of many of the sects, at their meetings, and took part in the same.
About the age of twenty-five, I married, and settled on a small farm of my own.
About nine or ten years later than this, after a fatiguing day's labor, I returned home one evening, and, having partaken of my supper, turned my back to the fire, as my custom was, and leaned, with my head on my arms, on the chair top, to rest myself, and dry my clothes, which were moistened with the perspiration caused by the heat. My wife retired to rest, expecting me shortly to follow.
Thus left alone, I was musing on things generally, but not particularly on any religious subject, when a vision of my brother, who had died some fourteen of fifteen years previous, appeared before me, praying. I heard his voice clearly and distinctly, and listened attentively.
In the course of his prayer, he referred to the great work to be done on the earth during the last days, quoting several Scriptures. I did not, however, fully comprehend the meaning of them, until, coming into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, years after, I saw the applicability of his words to the views of that people, with regard to the restoration of the gospel gifts, the great work of gathering the Saints of all nations in the last days, and the fullness of the latter-day glory, for he particularly prayed for the hastening of these things.
Soon he disappeared from my view, when suddenly, to use a Scripture phrase, a sound, as of a rushing mighty wind, with some accompanying influence, seemed to fill the house and myself, and I heard a voice saying: "This is the spirit of understanding." An open Bible appeared before me, so peculiarly placed, that I could see portions of several books of the prophets and apostles at once.
Directly I heard the above words, I began to read, understanding and intelligence burst upon my mind, and the glory and beauty that seemed to shine forth in the subjects treated upon, no language can describe. The despatch with which I read, astonished me, for I seemed able to read a chapter in the time usually occupied in reading a verse, and the contents of a whole book were laid before my mind about as quickly as otherwise I could have perused a single chapter.
With the rapidity of lightning, various truths of the Bible were presented to my mind, and what each prophet or apostle had said on each particular subject met my eyes, in consecutive order, concentrated and connected, showing that each and all of those men were inspired by the same Spirit, and had a distinct knowledge of the same grand events and glorious truths, particularly those which I had heard my brother pray about. I never before saw suchconnectionbetween the Scriptures. What one prophet had said on a subject met my sight, and directly, with the quickness of thought, I read what each of the other prophets or apostles had said about the same thing. I saw the whole at a glance, brought as it were to a focus.
Such a chain of testimonies, and an interweaving of evidences, accompanied with that perception and comprehension which the Holy Ghost alone can give, none can realize but those who have received that Spirit and revelations unto themselves. Such persons know just how it is.
I was disturbed, apparently in the midst of my vision, by my wife's calling to me, when the vision left me, and I felt just like a hungry man who is called or snatched suddenly away from a feast. But the joy and peace with which my spirit was filled remained with me, and I glorified God.
Things went on much as usual, till something like a year afterwards, when I had a singular dream, which, as it had a bearing on my future life, I will relate:
I dreamed that I had been called to preach the gospel, and the first time I thus officiated, it was in a school-house, in an adjoining town, with which I was well acquainted. I saw all the members of the congregation, which was small, and, when I awoke, I could distinctly remember the position each person occupied in the room.
This so impressed my mind that I told my wife of it, and said I believed it would be realized; but she scouted the idea. What was I, a working man, to do with preaching? Well, at other times, it would have appeared equally foolish to myself, but it had been given to me that her mother, living at the place, knew by a dream the same thing, and I told this to my wife. At last she promised that, if it turned out to be the case, she would believe the dream to be true.
In a day or so, we paid her mother a visit, and found that she had dreamed, that night, that I was coming to preach in the town where she lived, and we learned, from her friends, that she had been entreating one of her relatives to carry her to my residence, that she might tell me of it.
Although the truth of the dream was thus proved to me, I little thought what doctrines I was to preach, and in connection with what people or church. But I was to have greater evidence of the truth of my dream, as will be seen hereafter.
Five years more passed, and I was still unconnected with any religious party. At this time, what were called "protracted meetings," or religious services, continued for days, and sometimes weeks, were very popular in America.
In common with the "Universalists," I felt unfavorable to the meetings, but such magnificent reports of their results—the wholesale "conversion of souls," led me to attend one. I humbled myself, and determined to divest my mind of all prejudice, and put myself at least in a position to receive all the good that could be obtained.
Before going, I covenanted with the Lord, that if He would reveal His mind and will unto me, whatever sacrifice or duty He might require at my hands, I would do it. Little did I think of the way my truthfulness would be tried, or possibly I might have shunned such a contract.
As soon as I began to attend, I felt the Spirit of the Lord operating upon me, so that I seemed filled to overflowing with its teachings. A continual stream of glorious truths passed through my mind, my happiness was great, and my mind was so absorbed in spiritual things, that all the time the meetings lasted, which was about fifteen days, I scarcely ate or drank anything. At other times, that which I subsisted on during these fifteen days, could scarcely have sustained life, but the Spirit of the Lord so operated on my system, that I felt full all the time, and had no desire to eat or partake of anything.
The subject of "Freemasonry" was just then agitating the public mind, so that many of the churches were divided about it, more especially the one to which most of the members attending this meeting belonged, being divided into "Masons" and "Anti-Masons." This meeting was called the "Masonic party."
The other minister of the same church held Anti-Masonic principles, and refused to meet with the Masonic party, and kept most of his party away. This caused a great deal of quarrelling and contention, and much anger and bad feeling, of which I knew but little until afterwards. I had heard of the two parties, but had not interested myself in the matter, and consequently did not care much about it.
While sitting in the meeting, listening to the preaching, being much interested in what was being said, the Spirit of the Lord came upon me, and revealed that I was to visit the minister of the Anti-Masonic party, Judge Cushing, and tell him of his foolishness and wickedness in increasing the spirit of division between those who ought to be united as brethren in one common interest.
It rained hard at the time, and feeling rather taken up with the preaching, I thought I would delay until the close of the meeting.
This mission to me was a very hard task. How was I, a man from the thrashing-floor, to reprove a minister, and, moreover, a judge? But a few minutes had scarcely elapsed, before the word of the Lord came to me again, with greater power than before, that I was to goat once!I had covenanted with the Lord, and I felt determined to fulfill, if it killed me; so I sprang to my feet, took my hat, and departed from the meeting.
I found the judge at a public inn, engaged in making some purchase. I requested to speak with him for a few minutes in private. He said he would attend to me presently. I sat down, but I had hardly done so before the Spirit of the Lord was again upon me, like fire in my bones, commanding me to deliver my message directly.
I again requested to speak with the Judge, stating that my business was urgent. He complied this time, and retired with me outside the house. The Spirit of the Lord gave me utterance, and filled my mouth with words, and I laid before him, in language which was given me, the impropriety of his conduct.
The same Spirit bearing witness, the judge acknowledged his folly, said he would amend, and told me that he had spent many sleepless nights as a result of his course. He also said that, directly I sat down, something told him for what I had come, although I was a stranger to him. In fact, he knew nearly as well before I had spoken, as after.
This confirmed my faith that the Lord had sent me, but it was a great trial to my feelings at the time. However, I had another trial to undergo, which occurred some days afterwards during the same meeting.
While the minister was preaching, it was revealed to me to arise and declare to the congregation, that they, before coming together to pray for the conversion of others, ought first to be reconciled one to the other, so that their gifts of prayer might be accepted by the Lord. The Spirit also said, that some in the congregation were guilty of oppressing the poor, taking unlawful usury, oppressing the hireling in his wages, and many other sins of a similar character.
I waited until the preacher had finished his discourse, during which the idea of having to arise and speak before this congregation of about fifteen hundred people, most of whom, being members of Christian societies, I considered better persons than myself, filled me with fear, and the perspiration rolled off me profusely.
Could such a thing have availed, I would sooner have given five hundred dollars than have buckled up to this task, but there was no escape; I had covenanted, and the moment the minister ceased speaking I delivered my message. It was received very well by the congregation, many fancying I was converted to their faith, and, being blessed with such gifts, a bit of a prize.
On coming out, two men, one a justice of the peace, and the other a colonel, came up to me. The justice asked why, if I had anything against him, I did not, as the Scripture directs, go to him privately, and not expose him before all the congregation.
The other said, "If you have got a man by the throat, you need not think that because it is pleasant to you, it is so to him."
I told them that as the cap seemed to fit they might wear it. But I was much surprised, for I was not aware they were present.
About a day previous to the close of this meeting, I received a more important communication than either of the previous ones. A knowledge was given me that the ancient gifts of the gospel—speaking in tongues, the power to heal the sick, the spirit of prophecy, etc., were just about to be restored to the believers in Christ.
The revelation was a perfect knowledge of the fact, so sure and certain, that I felt as though the truth had been stereotyped upon me. I knew it from the crown of my head to the sole of my foot, the whole of my system being filled with the Holy Ghost! I can compare it to nothing better than the change made on a clean sheet of paper by a printing press, leaving an indellible impression behind.
As the Spirit did not tell meto whomthese things were to be restored, I at first fancied, in my ignorance, that the people with whom I had been meeting were about to be blessed with these things, so I joyfully visited the minister of the meeting, and laid before him the intelligence I had received.
But, to my great astonishment, I met with an utter repulse. He told me it was all of the devil, for such things had ceased forever!
Had anyone knocked me down with a beetle, I could not have felt more sensibly the opposition between the spirits by which we were actuated. I soon found, by the bold and determined way in which he fought against the principle of present revelation, etc., that it was not to him or his people that these gifts would be given. So I sought for them elsewhere.
A few days afterwards, curiosity led me to visit the Latter-day Saints, among whom I witnessed a fulfillment of the prediction, for I beheld a manifestation of the gifts of prophecy and tongues, and received the latter myself.
Notwithstanding this confirmation which I had received of the truth of the Church of the Latter-day Saints was very great, I did not feel sufficiently convinced to be induced to join them at once.
I had experienced the Spirit of the Lord in a similar way elsewhere, so that when the Elders of the Church, at this meeting, urged upon me to yield obedience to the gospel they preached, which possessed such evidences as the manifestation of the ancient gifts, I treated the Elders very lightly, and replied, that as for the gift of tongues, I could speak in tongues as well as any of them. So I could, for directly one of them manifested this gift, the gift of tongues rested upon me, and gave me the same power.
Thus did the devil seek to blind me, and turn that testimony which the Lord had given me for the truth, almost into an evidence against it! However, I procured a Book of Mormon, and took it home to read, determined to investigate until I was fully satisfied. But I had scarcely begun to read, before I felt greatly to dislike the book. Ere I had perused ten pages, I rejected it altogether.
Acting in this bigoted manner, I had resigned myself to the evil influence that was gaining power over me, so that, directly after, I felt a similar dislike seize me towards the Bible. Its statements of miracles, etc., appeared to me to be compounds of the grossest absurdity possible. I could see no light or good in it, and actually resolved never to read it again!
But, oh! the darkness that seized me as soon as I had made this resolution! The light that was in me became darkness, and how great it was, no language can describe. All knowledge of religious truth seemed to forsake me, and if I attempted to quote Scripture, my recollection failed, after the first word or so! So remarkable was this, that it excited reflection, and caused me to marvel, and finally I determined to repent of my resolve respecting the Bible, and I commenced to read again.
The book was hardly in my hand, when, as in a moment, my light and recollection returned as usual. This made me rejoice, and immediately the idea flashed across my mind, "What have you done with the Book of Mormon? Behave as fairly to that." I soon reprocured it. But, even this time, I felt prejudiced against the book. I resolved, however, to read it through, and I persevered in its perusal, till I came to that part where Jesus, on visiting the continent of America, after his resurrection, grants the request of three of the apostles whom he had chosen, to permit them to live until his second coming on the earth (like unto John spoken of in the Bible).
Here my mind half yielded to the belief which arose within me, that perhaps it might be true, whereupon I took the book and laid it before the Lord, and pleaded with Him in prayer for a testimony whether it was true or false, and, as I found it stated that the three Nephites had power to show themselves to any persons they might wish to, Jews or Gentiles, I asked the Lord to allow me to see them for a witness and testimony of the truth of the Book of Mormon, and I covenanted with Him, if He complied with my request, that I would preach it, even at the expense of my life, should it be necessary.
The Lord heard my prayer, and, about five days afterwards, two of the three visited me in my bedroom. I did not see them come, but I found them there.
One spoke to me for some time, and reproved me sharply on account of my behavior at the time when I first attended the meeting of the Saints, and treated so lightly the gift of tongues. He told me never, as long as I lived, to do so again, for I had grieved the Spirit of the Lord, by whose power that gift had been given.
This personage spoke in the Nephite language, but I understood, by the Spirit which accompanied him, every word as plainly as if he had spoken in English. I recognized the language to be the same as that in which I had heard Father Fisher speak at the meeting.
Such a rebuke, with such power, I never had in my life, before nor since, and never wish to have again. I was dumb before my rebuker, for I knew that what he said was right, and I felt deserving of it.
How these men went, I do not know, but directly they were gone, the Spirit of the Lord said to me, "Now, you know for yourself! You have seen and heard! If you now fall away, there is no forgiveness for you."
Did I not know then, that the Book of Mormon was true, and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of the Lord? Surely I did, and I do now, as surely as I know that I live.
The world wonders at the zeal and faith of "Mormon" missionaries in diffusing their principles over the world; but the surprise of the world would soon cease did they know by what evidences the truth of the faith of the Latter-day Saints had been made known unto them, for by such proofs as the foregoing, and by the revelations of the Holy Ghost, in tongues, prophecyings, visions, etc., has the work of the last days been attested unto thousands upon thousands, in ways so peculiar, and attended with such circumstances, that no power of sophistry or reason can possibly show these proofs to be the effects of a fanatical mind or a diseased imagination. And even could these proofs be overturned, the Latter-day Saints have still stronger proofs found in the evidences of glorious principles, never before discovered, harmonizing with each other, and every known truth, and clearing up and connecting Scripture statements from beginning to end, unlocking the great science of life, shedding light on our existence, and discovering, in the arrangement and combination of these truths, an infinite intelligence that none but a mind that knew the end from the beginning could display!
VISION OF THE LAST DAYS—BAPTISM OF THE AUTHOR AND FOUR OTHERS—HIS WIFE'S DREAM AND BAPTISM—HE IS ORDAINED AN ELDER—VISITS KIRTLAND—ON HIS RETURN, IS ATTACKED BY FEVER—IS MIRACULOUSLY HEALED—RE-VISITS KIRTLAND—BEGINS TO PREACH—MIRACULOUS HEALING OF A CANCER—ACCIDENT AND MIRACULOUS HEALING OF JESSE W. CROSBY—POISON MIRACULOUSLY NULLIFIED——CASTING OUT OF EVIL SPIRITS.
I was not baptized directly, as I hoped to have the pleasure of seeing my wife comply with the same ordinance, when we could enter the Church together. In the meantime I prosecuted my inquiries.
Shortly after inquiring of the Lord concerning the truth of the judgments preached by the Latter-day Saints as being at hand, and impending over this generation, I was shown, in answer, by a vision, the various scenes described in the revelations of the ancient prophets.
The inhabitants of the earth appeared before me in their various occupations—plowing, sowing, fishing, and engaged in mechanical business. I saw them, under the infliction of the plagues, etc., lift their eyes towards heaven, curse God, and die. I also saw many other things as predicted by ancient prophets.
Thus do Iknowthe truth of the Bible as well as of the Book of Mormon, and I am witness for both!
A whole year and a half I deferred my baptism, still waiting for my wife, who, although at first favorable to "Mormonism," had become a determined enemy to the Church.
When I went to hear the "Mormons" preach at Westfield, a village where the Twelve Apostles were holding their first conference, curiosity had drawn great numbers to hear them, so that they had crowded meetings all the time. The second day of this conference, I, with four others, was baptized by Elder McLellin, and confirmed the same night.
While undressing on the banks of the creek, preparing for the ordinance, Satan made a last effort to prevent my entering the Church. A man, walking along by the water's side, came up to me and said, "I wish to speak to you for a few minutes before you go into the water."
Thinking, of course, that he was a friend, or a member of the Church, who intended to give me some instruction as to my behavior in the water, I followed him, and, having got me to retire some rods off, he said, "Have you heard what has come out?" "No," I replied, "what about?"
"Why," he continued, "concerning the 'Mormons.' It has been discovered that it is all an imposture, a regular hoax to deceive the people. The affair has just come to light. If you wait only a little, you'll hear all about it."
At first this completely stunned me, for I was listening very attentively, considering him one of the Church, and for a moment I began to question, but quickly recollecting the manifestations I had received, I told him he was a child of the devil, and I pushed past him to the water, and was baptized at once. This was on the 15th of May, 1835.
My wife, who had managed to be present when I was going to the water, and even threatened that she would not live with me, was, for a long while after, (perhaps a year and a half,) bitterly opposed to the work, but I knew from the Lord that she would come into the Church, and I told her so. As the way she was at last brought in was very curious, I will mention it.
She dreamed one night that a large company of visitors had come to her house, for whom she had to prepare supper. On going into her buttery to procure the necessary food to cook, she could only find a small potato, about the size of a robin's egg, lying on a wooden trencher. However, with this small stock she commenced, and by some wonderful means converted this little affair into a splendid preparation of pies, puddings, etc.
When they were ready she stood still, wondering how it had all been done, for, as may be supposed, it puzzled her sorely to conceive how, from a small potato, and that on a wooden trencher, she had produced such an elegant entertainment.
Just at this moment while she was thus marveling, I was awakened from my sleep, with a command sounding in my ears that I was to say to my wife, "Don't you remember hearing that you should not despise the day ofsmall things?" I was to speak at once, without waiting. So I awoke her, and without any preface did as I was bid.
The wonderful concurrence of these words with her dream, and the self-evident interpretation of it, referring as it did to her past conduct (for one of the principal reasons of the opposition she felt to my joining the Church was, that she considered it disgraced her to have her husband belong to a Church that was so poor, and everywhere spoken against), so impressed itself upon her mind, with other confirmations, that she was baptized, and has remained firm to the Church ever since.
When I had been in the Church about three months, I was ordained an Elder, under the hands of Jared Carter. The next day I, with my wife, went up to Kirtland, to visit the Saints living there.
After a very happy time, during which the book of Doctrine and Covenants was first presented to the Church, we started for home.
While on the lakes, I was attacked by one of the lake fevers prevalent there, and became very ill indeed. I was, however, taken home and put to bed.
The same day two Elders of the Church called in to see me, and finding I was in such a condition, they laid their hands upon me. While their hands were yet upon my head, I felt the disease remove from my body, commencing at the pit of my stomach, moving gradually upwards towards the hands of the Elders, and I was made perfectly whole.
The same day I was out at work milking my cows, and went around to invite my neighbors to hear the preaching in the evening. This was the first case of healing I had ever witnessed.
The succeeding winter I again went up to Kirtland, to attend the dedication of the temple, and to meet with the solemn assembly that was there convened. There the Spirit of the Lord, as on the day of Pentecost, was profusely poured out. Hundreds of Elders spoke in tongues, but, many of them being young in the Church, and never having witnessed the manifestation of this gift before, some felt a little alarmed.
This caused the Prophet Joseph Smith to pray to the Lord to withhold the Spirit. Joseph then instructed them on the nature of the gift of tongues, and the operation of the Spirit generally.
We had a most glorious and never-to-be-forgotten time. Angels were seen by numbers present, and the first endowments were received.
It was during this assembly that the Saints' favorite hymn was given, by inspiration, commencing:
"The Spirit of God, like a fire, is burning!The latter-day glory begins to come forth;The visions and blessings of old are returning,The angels are coming to visit the earth."
"The Spirit of God, like a fire, is burning!The latter-day glory begins to come forth;The visions and blessings of old are returning,The angels are coming to visit the earth."
The beauty and applicability of this hymn will be seen by the Saints, on reading the third and fourth verses, when it is recollected that this was a solemn assembly, and that the ordinance of washing of feet, etc., was just then being attended to.
It was also at this time that Elijah the Prophet appeared, and conferred upon Joseph the keys of turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, previous to the re-institution of the ordinance of baptism for the dead.
By this time most of the members of the Pomphret Branch, into which I had been baptized, were gathered up to Kirtland, the first gathering-place of the Saints; and I was left without any one to counsel or direct me as to the way in which I should devote my labors in spreading the principles of truth, when one day the Word of the Lord, by the power of the Spirit, came unto me, saying, "I have fourteen sheep in Portland: go and gather them; then go south, where I have twenty-two more, and gather them also."
I then began to preach for the first time, and for that purpose procured the school-room in Portland, and, through my friends, circulated a notice that I was going to preach. This gathered a small congregation of some thirty or forty people.
At the time appointed I stood up to address them. As soon as I arose on my feet and looked on the congregation, the dream which I had had five years before, but which I had entirely forgotten, flashed across my recollection. There was the identical room I had seen, with the very people and children, just in those positions in the place that I had described them to my wife years before, when I informed her that I dreamed I was called to preach the Gospel! This was summer time.
I continued preaching at Portland until the winter came on, when, having baptized a few out of the place, they met at my house at Pomphret on Sundays, and on the week days I extended my labors in the south.
As I was told, I found just fourteen in Portland willing to obey the gospel, and by no exertion of mine could I get any more! I also obtained, in the south, the twenty-two previously spoken of, but it was a year and a half before I completed the number.
Not long after receiving the office of Elder, I was called to lay hands on a sister named Crowell, in Chautauqua County, New York, who was afflicted with a cancer. Her life was despaired of by herself and her neighbors, when she sent to me, telling me to come that night if I wished to see her alive! Not being able to go then, I prayed the Lord to give her a good night's rest. I visited her in the morning, and found that she had had a better night's rest than usual. I found her head, where the cancer had broken out, a dreadful sight, full of cancer worms, which were eating into the skull, three pieces of which had come out.
I anointed her head with oil, and prayed the Lord on her behalf, and, being obliged, left immediately to attend to my hay.
The next time I saw her was the following Sunday, when I met her at the meeting. She pulled off her cap, and showed me her head. It was entirely healed, and the flesh was as sound as ever.
She said that within half an hour after my administering to her, she felt all the pain, which had previously been intense, and, to use her expression, "like a thousand gimlets boring into her brain," leave her entirely, and the wound healed up rapidly.
The Saints that I gathered at Portland, and that met at my house, were richly blessed with the various gifts of the Spirit—tongues, interpretations, prophecy, etc. I will relate an instance or two.
One Sunday morning, while opening the meeting with prayer, the gift of tongues came upon me, but thinking of Paul's words, that it is sometimes wisdom not to speak in tongues unless one is present who can interpret, and forgetting that a sister possessing the gift of interpretation was present, I quenched the Spirit, and it left me.
Immediately after, another brother spoke in tongues, the interpretation of which was, that "the Lord knew we were anxious to learn of the affairs of our brethren in Missouri, and that if we would humble ourselves before Him, and ask, He would reveal unto us the desires of our hearts."
Missouri was some thousand miles from Portland. We accordingly bowed again in supplication before the Lord, and, after rising from our knees and re-seating ourselves, the same brother broke out singing in tongues in a low, mournful strain.
But judge our feelings when the interpretation was given, and was found to be some thirteen or fourteen verses of poetry, descriptive of affairs in Missouri, and the murder of our brethren there, telling us that just at that time—
"Our brethren lay bleeding on the ground,With their wives and children weeping around."
"Our brethren lay bleeding on the ground,With their wives and children weeping around."
We had so often proved the truth of similar communications, that we felt as assured of the truth of this shocking news as though our eyes actually beheld the horrid sight. Our hearts were filled with sorrow.
In a fortnight afterwards we received a letter from John P. Greene, a faithful Elder of the Church in Missouri, who was, at the time he managed to write, secreted in the woods. The letter detailed and confirmed all the events previously revealed in tongues, proving that on the very day we had been informed of the transactions occurring a thousand miles off, the bleeding corpses of our brethren lay stretched on the ground after the slaughter. It was either at or about this time, that the massacre at Haun's Mill took place.
When Elders Orson Hyde and Heber C. Kimball visited England on the first mission to that country, and while we were yet ignorant of their success, it was revealed in tongues at this same branch, that just at the time we had the gift, those Elders were standing with a large multitude around some waters, attending to the ordinance of baptism. Information afterwards received from England confirmed this statement in all its parts.
Such things as these, oft repeated, confirmed our faith, and, I ask, is it wonderful, possessing such evidences that the Lord was with the Church, as those mentioned in the previous narrations, that neither reproach, drivings, burnings, robbings, nor even murderings, should be able to quench our love for the truth which had gained us such blessings?
There was not a branch in the whole of the Church that did not possess abundance of such testimonies. Here, in these and the following statements, is the testimony of one individual only. But could I crowd into this little workallthat I have witnessed of the kind, and then add to it the collected testimonies of the thousands in America alone, leaving out Europe altogether, it would present a flood of testimony of a mightier and more conclusive kind than has been given to authenticate any truth ever submitted to the world.
One of the fourteen persons converted at Portland was a young man named Jesse W. Crosby, and, as it may prove interesting to many of the Saints, I will relate something that particularly affected him, occurring in his history.
He had been engaged with his brother and brother-in-law, in felling trees in a wood. The trees grew very close together, and one which they cut down had, in falling, struck another, and broken off one of its limbs, which hung suspended by the other branches.
It is a very common thing in forest country, to see dry, detached limbs hanging in this way for months, and sometimes years, without falling. This one was about ten or eleven feet long, and as thick as a man's thigh, and very high up the tree.
Not apprehending danger, Jesse was working without his hat, just under this branch. Suddenly, a movement, caused by the wind, shook the tree, and the loose branch fell from a hight of at least sixty feet, striking him on the crown of his head, crushing him to the earth. The violence of the blow broke in a portion of his skull, forming a hollow about as large as the palm of a man's hand. His neck and shoulders were also much injured. Altogether, a more deplorable object I never saw in my life.
He was carried home by his friends, most of whom were members of the Church, and his father, who was not a member, procured a doctor, who pronounced Jesse's case desperate, unless, on removing the broken part of the skull, it should be found that the skin of the brain was still entire, when, by using a silver plate over the exposed portion, a chance might still exist of his life.
The doctor proceeded to cut Jesse's head for that purpose, but was stopped by his mother, who strongly objected to this experiment, and sent for me to administer to him.
I was then eight miles off, and at the time of my arrival he had not spoken, nor scarcely indicated any signs of life. Going into the room where he lay, I found it filled with the neighbors, who were mostly enemies of the Church. Sneers and jeers of "Here comes the Mormon, we'll soon see whether he can heal now," saluted my ears on all sides.
From a sign which I had received while on my way, I knew Jesse would recover, and being reminded, on account of the reason given in the previous remarks, that such people should not be privileged to behold a manifestation of the power of God, I, like Peter of old, cleared the house of all but Jesse's relatives, and administered to him in the name of the Lord. Jesse then recovered sufficiently to speak, after which he fell into a peaceful sleep, and, before morning, was altogether better.
In less than four days from the time of receiving this terrible accident, from which there seemed no human probability that he could recover, or, if he did, only to survive the loss of reason, he was again at work in the woods hauling timber, the wound being entirely healed up.
Since then, he, as an Elder of this Church, has been on missions to various parts of the world, including England, and has also fulfilled a mission to Nova Scotia. The above case of healing occurred in the winter.
Another very remarkable case of prophecy and healing came under my observation the following spring. A revelation was given by the Spirit, in tongues, to the effect that one of our number would be poisoned by the enemies of the Church, and be brought nigh unto death, but that if she was faithful and sent for the Elders of the Church, she should be restored.
This warning was repeated twice at intervals of about a month. On the last occasion, in addition, it was stated that the person giving the interpretation would be the sufferer. This terrible idea so affected her that she was completely overcome.
After recovering she proceeded home, and the weather being warm she drank of some sweetened water, which she had prepared in the morning for use, and had left in an exposed situation. When she had drank a second time she felt her mouth burn. She immediately declared she was poisoned, and commenced reaching violently until she became blind.
Her husband, after procuring a person to stay with her, went for one of the Elders, but as he had to go some six miles before he returned with myself, she was to all appearance dead, and had not been perceived to breathe for an hour.
Upon arriving at the house, I asked the Lord to cause her to breathe if she was to recover. Upon looking at her closely I perceived that she gave two distinct gasps, such as are usually given when the breath is leaving the body. Had I not seen this, I should have concluded that she was dead, for the women who were watching with her said, directly we entered, that she was dead, and had been so for an hour.
I then administered to her in the name of Jesus, and prayed the Lord to preserve her life till my son-in-law returned with some oil he had gone to procure. As soon as I had done this she was able to speak sufficiently, in a whisper, to ask for some water, but, so great was her weakness, that she fell on her face when raised to receive the water.
The oil arriving, we administered some to her internally, in the name of the Lord, when she arose without any assistance, saying, "I am healed! I am well! but I am blind!" I then anointed her eyes, telling her that she should see the light of day. Her sight immediately returned, and the next day, she, with her husband, was on her way to Illinois.
The cause of her going there so suddenly was that it had been given in tongues, directly after her recovery, that unless her husband departed at once from that place, both of them would be poisoned. With what had just occurred before their eyes, they needed no second warning this time. This was the same woman that was healed of the cancer.
The signs spoken of include the casting out of devils. This recalls to my remembrance something of the kind which occurred at the Pomphret branch, previous to which I had had but very little experience as to what may be termed the physical power of the devil.
I was then far from the body of the Church, consequently, what I learned, I had to find out by experience, having no one to tell me.
The case was that of a sister who was possessed, and whom I, with two other Elders, was called upon to visit. Directly we entered her room, she called out, "Take your shoes from off your feet; this is holy ground, the Prophet Elijah is here."
I saw the spirit by which she was influenced, so I walked up to her and said, "I am a servant of the Lord, I obey no command of the devil."
She became uproarious directly, for all who had gone in previously had complied with her directions. As soon as we attempted to rebuke the evil spirit in the name of the Lord, she arose up from the bed on her feet, without apparently bending a joint in her body, as stiff as a rod of iron.
From this we saw the power with which we had to contend; and, failing at first to eject the spirit, we bowed ourselves in prayer before the Lord, and asked him to assist us.
The evil spirit then came out full of fury, and, as he passed by one of the brethren, seized him by both arms and gripped them violently. Passing towards me, something, which by the feel appeared like a man's hand, grasped me by both sides of the face, and attempted to pull me sideways to the ground, but the hold appearing to slip, I recovered my balance immediately.
My face was sore for some days after this. The other brother that was seized was lame for a week afterwards.
As soon as this was done, the sister partly recovered, so much so that she obeyed everything I chose to tell her to do, whereas, before, she was perfectly ungovernable.
Still she seemed to be surrounded by some evil influence. This puzzled us, for we knew the spirit was cast out, but we learned the cause afterwards. Just then it was revealed to us that if we went to sleep the devil would enter one of the brethren.
My nephew, Melvin Brown, neglected the warning, and composed himself to sleep in an arm chair, while we were still watching with the sister. Directly he did so the devil entered into him, and he became black in the face, and nearly suffocated.
He awoke immediately, and motioned for us to lay hands on him, for he could not speak. We did so, and the evil spirit then left him, and he recovered at once.
About a week afterwards the same spirit re-entered the sister, and this time fully confessed his character. In answer to our enquiries, he said his name was "Legion." This explained how it was that the woman, after we had cast out an evil spirit, was under an evil influence, for there must have been many spirits.
He also reviled our priesthood, but he had to submit to it at last, saying to us, "O! you have the priesthood have you? Well, then, cast me out, command me to come out," trying to shake our faith, and thus incapacitate us to rebuke him successfully.
Failing in this, he tried another method by entering me. I felt seized by a strange influence, and to every question put to the woman I knew the answer she was going to give, for I was possessed by a similar spirit. This broke the chain of our union and strength, consequently I requested the Elders to rebuke the evil spirit from me, after which, at our united rebuke, he left the woman.
Previous to this the sister had been a very faithful Saint, and she ever afterwards was, but she had given the devil ground by encouraging a spirit contrary to the order of the Church, taking upon herself to rebuke the Elders, and he claimed his right by virtue of her transgression.
No doubt one object of the Lord in permitting him to exercise his physical power was to give me experience of such facts, without which I never could have known; but I, like many others who may read this record, might have argued my ignorance of such things as a proof that they did not exist, except in imagination.