Reprimanded by the Three Nephites

foreign [Music] 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 20 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 the 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 secretaries of the day my ideas of religion were just those which are naturally instilled into the Mind by the statements of scripture where no priest craft exists to pervert them diminish their force or Cloud their meaning consequently I believed in the Bible just as it is 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 occasion of sickness among my relatives while he had a boy retiring to some barn or other convenient place of the kind and there being suddenly restored to health an answer to prayers offered there by me and their behalf I continued this until about 15 years of age when circumstances caused me to live in settlements where the sex 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's 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 for their doctrines with respect to the eternity of punishment Etc Savor to me of a more generous and god-like nature then the contracted Notions held by the other denominations concerning God's purpose towards the Human family amid 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 25 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 hat on my arms on the chair top to rest myself and dry my clothes which were moistened by 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 14 or 15 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 being done on 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 is 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 place that I could see portions of several books of the prophet 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 dispatch with which I read astonished me for I seemed able to read a chapter and the time usually occupied in reading a verse and the contents of the 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 troops though the Bible were presented to my mind and what age Prophet or Apostle had said on each particularly 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 such connection between 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 no one 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 was 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 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 Schoolhouse 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 my dream was less proved to me I little thought what doctrines I was to preach in connection with what people or church but I was to have a greater evidence of the truth in my dream as will be seen five more years 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 coveted it with the Lord that he would reveal his mind and will unto me whatever Duty or sacrifice 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 15 days I scarcely ate or drink anything at other times that which I subsisted on during these 15 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 later a knowledge was given to 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 indelible impression behind as the spirit did not tell me to whom these things were to be restored I at first faceted 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 another 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 the Fulfillment of the prediction for I beheld the manifestation of the gift of the interpretation of tongues and received the ladder 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 the 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 is 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 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 air I had perused the pages I rejected it all together acting in this bigoted manner I'd resigned myself to the evil influence that was gaining power over me so that directly after I felt the similar dislike sees 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 to never 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 commence to read it again the book was hardly in hand when in a moment my light and recollection returned as usual this made me rejoice in immediately the idea flashed across my mind what have you done with the Book of Mormon behave is 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 and permit them to live until his second coming on the Earth like under John spoken of in the Bible hear my mind half yielded to the belief which rose 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 person they might wish to Jews or gentiles I ask the Lord to allow me to see them for a witness and a 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 or 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 person had 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 recognize 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 and or 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 what evidence is 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 prophesying 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 is 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 and infinite intelligence that none but a mind that knew the end from the beginning could display I was not baptized directly as I hope 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 an answer by 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 the ancient Prophets thus do I know the truth of the Bible as well as that of the Book of Mormon and I am a 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 the 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 the meetings all the time the second day of this conference I with four others was baptized by Elder McClellan 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 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 said concerning the Mormons it has been discovered that it is all an imposter 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 begin to question but quickly recollecting the manifestations I had received I told him he was a child of the devil and I pushed 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 through the water and even threatened that she would not live with me was for a long time 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 find only 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 for 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 of small things I wish to speak at once without waiting so I awoke her and without any preface did as I was bid the wonderful occurrence 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 the 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 removed from my body commencing at the pit of my stomach and 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 winner I again went up to Kirtland to attend the dedication of the Temple and to meet with the solemn assembly that was there convened they are 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 and 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 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 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 the turning the hearts of the fathers to the children previous to the reinstitution of the ordinance of baptism for the Dead by this time most of the members of the Pomfret Branch into which I have been baptized were gathered up to Kirtland the first Gathering Place of the Saints and I was left without anyone 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 14 sheep in Portland go and gather them then go south where I have 22 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 30 or 40 people at the time appointed I stood up to address them as soon as Aya rolls on my feet and looked at 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 was called to preach the gospel this was summertime I continued preaching in Portland until the winter came on when having baptized a few out of the place they met at my house at Pomfret on Sundays and on the weekdays I extended my labors in the south as I was told I found just 14 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 22 previously spoken of but it was a year and a half before I completed the number not long after receiving the office of an 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 wish 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 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 aiding 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 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 pouring into her brain leave her entirely and the wound healed up rapidly the saints that I had 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 not wisdom 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 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 1000 miles from Portland we accordingly bowed again in supplication before the Lord and after rising from our knees and reseeding 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 13 or 14 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 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 site our hearts were filled with sorrow in a fortnight we received a letter from John P Greene a faithful Elder of the Church of Missouri who was at the time he managed to write secreted in the woods the letter detail then confirmed all the events previously related 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 Hans Mill took place when Elders Orson Hyde and Hebrew 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 in 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 often repeated confirmed our faith and I ask is it wonderful possessing such evidence that the Lord was with the church as those mentioned in the previous narrations that neither reproach driving's burnings robbings nor even murderings should be able to quench our love for the truth there was not a branch in the whole of the church that did not possess abundance of such testimonies here in these and in the following statements is the testimony of one individual only but I could crowd this little work all that I have witnessed of the kind and then add to it the collected testimonies of the thousands in America alone leaving out Europe all together 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 14 persons converted in 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 and 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 10 or 12 feet long and as thick as a man's thigh and very high up in 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 height of at least 60 feet striking him on the crown of his head crushing him to the Earth the violence of the blow broke 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 is 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 snares 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 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 the manifestation of the power of God I like Peter of old cleared the house of all but Jesse's relatives had 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 mourning 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 is 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 an eye into death but that if she was faithful and sent for the Elders of the church she would 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 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 to one of the elders but as he had to go some six miles before he returned with myself she was through all appearance dead and had not been perceived to breed for an hour upon arriving at the house I asked the Lord to cause her to breathe that 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 as we entered that she was dead and had been sold for an hour I then administered to her in the name of Jesus and prayed to the Lord to preserve her life and tell 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 rose 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 in September 1847 we found that the pioneers and others of the Saints had gone into the valley shortly after them had been hard at work sowing all winter for every wagon had taken about two bushels of grain consequently most of the wheat that the Crickets had not harvested on their own account the inhabitants had and they had raised a considerable quantity of vegetables also and as it is well known after we had been in the valley about a fortnight they prepared a splendid feast composed mostly of the fruits of their labor to which faced all the saints and strangers in the valley were invited such numbers however had arrived in the valley that the vegetables raised by her Brethren went but a little way and after the Feast at their expense it was a rarity to get any vegetables until the following June 14 months from the time we left winter quarters when we partook of vegetables raised by ourselves our bread also became very scarce before the wheat put in by the Saints generally was ready to harvest some persons lived for three months on their cattle which they had to kill for food and on Roots which they dug up of course after a time our clothes and farming implements began to wear out and we had the delightful Prospect of wearing sheepskins Etc our wagons were becoming scarce many having been broken in the canyons and we had no Timber suitable for making more and if there had been from where would we get the iron work necessary for making them or for making plows shovels Etc for cultivating the ground without which of course food would cease and starvation would ensue in fact naturally speaking things looked alarming and just calculated to dry up our hopes and fill us with fears matters were at this crisis when one day Hebrew C Kimball stood up in the congregation of the Saints and prophesied that in a short time we should be able to buy articles of clothing and utensils cheaper in the valley then we could purchase them in the states I was present on the occasion and with others there only hoped the case might be so for many of the Saints felt like the man spoken of in the scriptures who heard Elisha prophesy at the time of a hard famine in Samaria that before tomorrow a measure of fine flowers should be sold for a shekel and two measures of barley for a shekel we thought that if the Lord would make Windows in heaven might this thing be but without an absolute Miracle there seemed no human probability of its fulfillment however Elder Kimball's prophecy was fulfilled in a few months information of a great discovery of gold in California had reached the states and large companies were formed for the purpose of supplying the gold diggers with food and clothing and Implements of every kind for digging Etc numbers of substantial wagons were prepared stores with wholesale quantities of clothing of every kind Spades picks shovels chests of Carpenters tools tea coffee sugar flour fruits Etc when these companies arrived within a short distance of Salt Lake City news reached them that ships have been dispatched for many parts of the world fitted out with goods for California this threatened to flood the market so these companies brought their goods into the valley and disposed of them for just what could be got Provisions wagons clothes tools almost for the taking away at least half the price for which Goods could have been purchased in the states many disposed of their wagons because their teams gave out and could not get on any further some sold almost all they had to purchase a mule or horse to pack through with thus where the Saints amply provided even to overflowing with every one of the necessaries and many of the luxuries of which they had been so destitute and thus was the prediction of the servant of the Lord fulfilled this was a miraculous Providence but not more so than those which had been my lot to see the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints experience ever since my connection with it in this short history of some of the testimonies I have witnessed and received the reader may see that I have had much to establish me in the truths of Mormonism [Music]

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Published: Tue Aug 30 2022