Part 2 (1/2)

He was capable of sensing fully--though probably he had never seen or heard--those sublime words of the poet:

”There is a pleasure in the pathless woods; There is a rapture on the lonely sh.o.r.e; There is society, where none intrudes, By the deep sea, and music in its roar.

I love not man the less, but nature more, From these our interviews; in which I steal From all I may be, or have been before, To mingle with the universe and feel What I can ne'er express, yet cannot all conceal.”

True, he was a diamond in the rough, but a diamond, nevertheless, for all of its incrustations. Unlettered and untaught, save in nature's school, the university of experience, where he was an apt and profound scholar, he was possessed of marvelous intuition, a genius G.o.d-given, which needed no kindling at a college shrine to prepare it for the work which providence had designed.

Not but that education would have polished the gem, causing it to s.h.i.+ne with what the natural eye would deem a brighter l.u.s.tre; but the fact remains that Heber C. Kimball, as he was, not as he might have been, was best adapted for the divine purpose, the career marked out for him by the finger of Deity.

It is not strange that a nature of this kind, solemn, thoughtful and inspirational, should have been led early to seek ”an anchor for the soul,” a knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. But his search for many years was in vain; he found not among the sects of Christendom the precious pearl which an honest soul will sell all that it hath to obtain.

”From the time I was twelve years old,” says he, ”I had many serious thoughts and strong desires to obtain a knowledge of salvation, but not finding anyone who could teach me the things of G.o.d, I did not embrace any principles of doctrine, but endeavored to live a moral life. The priests would tell me to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but never would tell me what to do to be saved, and thus left me almost in despair.

”During the time I lived in Mendon, I mostly attended the meetings of the Baptist church, and was often invited to unite myself with them. I received many pressing invitations to unite with different sects, but did not see fit to comply with their desires, until a revival took place in our neighborhood. I had pa.s.sed through several of their protracted meetings and had been many times upon the anxious bench to seek relief from the 'bands of sin and death.' But no relief could I find until the meetings were pa.s.sed by.

”At this time I concluded to put myself under the watch-care of the Baptist church and unite myself to them; as soon as I had concluded to do this, the Lord administered peace to my mind, and accordingly, the next day I went, in company with my wife, and we were baptized by Elder Elijah Weaver; and we partook of the sacrament on that day for the first and also the last time with them.”

Such was his initiation into religion, as pertaining to a Christian sectarian church. Though not in accord with the Baptist faith in all its teachings, it seemed to him to be nearest right according to the Bible; probably from the stress laid upon baptism by immersion, manifestly the Bible mode, and the only true way of being ”born of the water.” Besides, he deemed it wise to put a ”guard” upon himself, to ”keep him from running into evils.”

The peace of mind that he experienced, as the sanction of the Holy One upon a prudent and conscientious act, was but the prelude and prophecy of far greater things to follow. The heavens were bestirring themselves. The invisible world was up in arms. Truth and Error were taking the field. The latter-day conflict had begun. The signs of the coming of the Son of Man were showing themselves in the heavens.

It was the eventful night of September 22nd, 1827. Says Heber C.

Kimball:

”I had retired to bed, when John P. Greene, who was living within a hundred steps of my house, came and waked me up, calling upon me to come out and behold the scenery in the heavens. I woke up and called my wife and Sister f.a.n.n.y Young (sister to Brigham Young), who was living with us, and we went out-of-doors.

”It was one of the most beautiful starlight nights, so clear that we could see to pick up a pin. We looked to the eastern horizon, and beheld a white smoke arise toward the heavens; as it ascended it formed itself into a belt, and made a noise like the sound of a mighty wind, and continued southwest, forming a regular bow dipping in the western horizon. After the bow had formed, it began to widen out and grow clear and transparent, of a bluish cast; it grew wide enough to contain twelve men abreast.

”In this bow an army moved, commencing from the east and marching to the west; they continued marching until they reached the western horizon. They moved in platoons, and walked so close that the rear ranks trod in the steps of their file leaders, until the whole bow was literally crowded with soldiers. We could distinctly see the muskets, bayonets and knapsacks of the men, who wore caps and feathers like those used by the American soldiers in the last war with Britain; and also saw their officers with their swords and equipage, and the clas.h.i.+ng and jingling of their implements of war, and could discover the forms and features of the men. The most profound order existed throughout the entire army; when the foremost man stepped, every man stepped at the same time; I could hear the steps. When the front rank reached the western horizon a battle ensued, as we could distinctly hear the report of arms and the rush.

”No man could judge of my feelings when I beheld that army of men, as plainly as ever I saw armies of men in the flesh; it seemed as though every hair of my head was alive. This scenery we gazed upon for hours, until it began to disappear.

”After I became acquainted with Mormonism, I learned that this took place the same evening that Joseph Smith received the records of the Book of Mormon from the angel Moroni, who had held those records in his possession.

”John Young, sen., and John P. Greene's wife, Rhoda, were also witnesses.

”My wife, being frightened at what she saw, said, 'Father Young, what does all this mean?'

”'Why, it's one of the signs of the coming of the Son of Man,' he replied, in a lively, pleased manner.

”The next night similar scenery was beheld in the west by the neighbors, representing armies of men who were engaged in battle.”

A wonderful foreshadowing, truly, of the warfare to be waged between the powers of good and evil, from the time Truth sprang from earth and Righteousness looked down from heaven upon the boy Joseph, predestined to bring to light the buried records of the past.

In Mendon began the intimacy and friends.h.i.+p of Heber C. Kimball with his life-long colleague, Brigham Young. The Youngs and Greenes, like the Kimb.a.l.l.s, were from Vermont, and had moved into Mendon a few months prior to the event just related. In religion they were Reformed Methodists, but, being in lowly circ.u.mstances, were looked down upon by the proud members of the flouris.h.i.+ng church to which they belonged.

They had suffered greatly from sickness, and had seen much sorrow and affliction.

Heber's generous heart and that of his n.o.ble wife were touched with sympathy and compa.s.sion for their situation. Says he: ”To them my heart was united, because a principle had existed in my breast from earliest childhood, to plead the cause of suffering innocence, to go on the side of the oppressed at all times; neither do I remember to have ever varied from this fixed principle at any time in my life; I have many times turned aside from the company of those who were highly esteemed in the world, and sought the society of the poor and humble, those who loved the ways of the Lord better than the praise of the world.”