PREFACE
"My principal object, in writing the following
brief history of my experience, was, in the first place, to preserve,
for the benefit of my posterity, a record of some of the remarkable
testimonies I have received.
But the deep feeling I entertain that the manifestations
of the goodness of God, as here recorded, ought not to be buried
in oblivion or forgetfulness, a desire to add my mite to the great
ocean of testimony which the Lord has given on behalf of His Latter-day
Work, and the request of several of my friends, have induced me
to publish the history to the world.
That the following pages may do something towards
removing the great darkness and unbelief that prevail, relative
to revelations through the medium of visions, or other miraculous
gifts, convincing some of the unchangeableness of the God of Heaven,
in these respects, as well as helping to confirm those who already
believe in these truths, is my prayer in the name of Jesus Christ.
Amen."
"I was born on the 30th day of September, in the year 1794 in the town of Queenbury, 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 amongst 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, being inconsistent with the mercies and love of God. However, I did not actually join the Universalists. But their doctrine, with respect to the eternity of punishment, and etc., savoured to me of a more generous and God-like nature, than the contracted notions held by the other de' nominations, 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 (1819), 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 or fifteen years previously, appeared before me, praying. I heard his voice clearly and distinctly, and listened attentively.
In the course of his prayer, he referred to a 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 of, no language can describe. The dispatch 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 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, 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 after wards, 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 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 that 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 consented 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 evidenced 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(1834) more passed, and I was still unconnected with any religious party. At this time, what were called "Protracted Meetings," or religious services, continuing for days and sometimes weeks, were very popular in America. In common with the rest of the "Universalists," I felt unfavorable to these 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 meeting 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 not possibly have sustained life, but the Spirit of the Lord so operated on my system that I felt full at the time, and had no desire to eat or partake of anything.
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, 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 o the sole of my foot-in 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 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 have 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, &c., that it was not to him or his people that these gifts would be given. So I sought for them elsewhere. A few days later, curiosity led me to visit the Latter-day Saints, amongst 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 that the above confirmation which I 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 manifestations 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, &c., appeared to me to be compounds of the grossest absurdity possible. I could see no light or good in it at all! 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 twelve 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 or not 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, 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 after, 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 had never had in my life before 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 Lard 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....
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- ploughing, sowing, fishing, and engaging in mechanical business. I saw them, under the infliction of the plagues, &c., lift their eyes towards Heaven, curse God, and die. I also saw many other things as predicted by ancient Prophets. Thus do I know the truth of the Bible, as well as 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 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 bank of the creek, preparing for the ordinance, Satan made a last effort to prevent my entering the Church. A man coming along by the water 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 instructions as to my behavior when in the water, I listened to 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. I t 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 into 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, &c. When the,. 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 little 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 of small 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. Whilst 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.
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 schoolroom 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 rose 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 the 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 Chautauque county, New York, who was afflicted with a cancer. Her life was despaired of by herself and all her neighbors, when she sent to me, and I was told to come that night if I wished to see her alive I 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, &c. 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, another brother broke out 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, the murder of our brethren there, and 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 sight. Our hearts were filled with sorrow. In a fortnight afterwards, we received a letter from John P. Green, 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.
This recalls to my remembrance something of the kind that 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 leaned 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 from the bed, on her feet, without apparently bending a joint in her body, 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, and, passing towards me, something which by the feel appeared like a man's hand, grasped me by both sides of my 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 partially recovered, so much so that she obeyed anything 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 waning, and composed himself to sleep in an armchair, whilst 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 inquiries, 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, "0h 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, 1 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 afterward 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's
permitting him to exercise his physical power was to give me experience
of such facts, without which I never could have known..."
….During this period, several missions were appointed me, one to the north of Albany, where I succeeded in baptizing a good number; another to the Eastern States. About a year previous to the death of Joseph, with Jesse W. Crosby, who had friends in that part, I was assigned a mission to Nova Scotia… This brought me into the region of country where I had lived for ten years when a young man. The first place we commenced at was in the town of Lime, Jefferson County, New York. Here we procured a schoolhouse as usual. The custom in America in laying out townships, which are usually about six miles square, is in every two-mile lot to apportion a piece of land for a schoolhouse. When the schoolhouse is built, it is public property, and invested in the hands of three trustees. This enabled us to sound the gospel in America easier, in some respects, than in England, for the consent of any two of the trustees had only to be obtained and we could use the room as much as we pleased after the school hours. We confined our labors chiefly to Jefferson County, where we found a few scattered members, and managed to raise up some six branches, consisting of about two hundred members. These were abundantly blessed with the gifts of tongues, prophecy, healings, etc., and the branches became very strong in the faith….
Just at this time the spring was coming on, and the St. Lawrence River began to clear from ice, so that we were able to continue our journey to Nova Scotia. Previous to our departure we had a farewell meeting with the Saints. It was a delightful meeting, and they rejoiced much, for the Spirit of the Lord was greatly poured out. During the meeting, a little boy stood up and spoke in tongues, the tears rolling down his face all the time. The interpretation stated that, after leaving that place, I should go to another, where I should be mobbed and left for dead, and that the blood should run down from my head on my clothes and the ground. I took this for a timely warning, and thought that, by prudence, I might escape. Accordingly, by great caution, I kept clear of much that I might have suffered….We passed down the St. Lawrence River, and, after preaching a few times at Montreal, passed on to Quebec, where we distributed a few books, but the priests would not allow us to preach. At this place we wished to take the steamboat to Nova Scotia We commenced to baptize soon after the foregoing occurrence, and the Spirit of the Lord was mightily poured out, in proportion to which the powers of darkness began to manifest themselves through the unbelievers. But that which enraged our opponents most was the baptism of some of the greatest men in the place. All manner of lies began to circulate about our conduct and intention.
This enraged our enemies so much that our lives became endangered, and, to escape their violence, we had to sleep in the woods, and do our baptizing in the night, as their determination was to mob us the first opportunity. Unfortunately one of them overheard me promise to visit one of the brethren after I had been preaching one day. This mobber, with a party of about ten others, waylaid me. Some of them held me while the rest beat me about the head with their fists; but not being able to bruise me sufficiently in this manner, one of them took off one of my boots, and belabored me about the head with the heel of it, until I was covered with blood, which ran down onto my clothes and the ground. Some of them then threw me down, and jumped upon me with their knees, until they broke several of my ribs…. In the foregoing recital, the reader will perceive how fully the word of the Lord, spoken in tongues by the youth, before we left Jefferson County, was fulfilled.
The next day, by the blessing of God, I recovered
sufficiently to walk seventeen miles and preach, but my face was
discolored, and I could only see with one eye. I took for my text
Paul's words, "thrice have I been beaten with stripes, etc.,"
and, as may be supposed, my personal appearance furnished
a very favorable evidence on behalf of my argument,
that the same effects--violence and death, followed the preaching
of the gospel in these days, as did anciently.
Published in 1853 London England
Taken from Faith Like The Ancients
Compiled by N. B. Lundwall 1950
Additional History