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 shore; 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 God-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 shine with what the natural eye would deem a brighter lustre; 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 God, 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 passed 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 passed 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 Fanny 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 clashing 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 friendship of Heber C. Kimball with his life-long colleague, Brigham Young. The Youngs and Greenes, like the Kimballs, 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 circumstances, were looked down upon by the proud members of the flourishing 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 noble wife were touched with sympathy and compassion 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."
He found in these families, which were related, congenial associates, for they too were seekers after truth, and truth they were all destined, ere many days, to find.
Sometime in the fall or winter of 1831, about three weeks after Heber and his wife had joined the Baptist church, five Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came from Pennsylvania to Victor, five miles from Mendon, and tarried at the house of Phineas H. Young.
They were Eleazer Miller, Elial Strong, Alpheus Gifford, Enos Curtis and Daniel Bowen. Hearing of these men, Heber was prompted by curiosity to visit them, "when," says he, "for the first time I heard the fullness of the everlasting gospel."
The glorious news of a restored gospel and a living priesthood, commissioned of and communicating with the heavens; the promise of the Holy Ghost with signs following the believer, as in days of old; the wondrous declaration of angels revisiting the earth, breaking the silence of ages, bringing messages from another world;--all this fell upon the heart of this God-fearing man, and on the hearts of his friends and companions, like dew upon thirsty ground. As the voice of a familiar spirit, it seemed an echo from the far past--something they had known before.
To hear, with Heber, was to believe. He was convinced that they taught the truth, and was constrained to receive their testimony. He saw, more clearly than ever, that he had embraced but a portion of the truth in the Baptist faith; that the creeds of Christendom, the religions of the world, were but remnants of the everlasting gospel, broken off fragments of that grand Rock of Ages, the same in all generations; mixtures of truth and error; lesser lights at best in the broad firmament of human faith; and that now, when the Sun had once more arisen, the stars that lit the night must pale away.
Both Heber and Brigham received the word gladly, and were impelled to testify of its divinity. Then the power of God fell upon them.
"On one occasion," says Heber, "Father John Young, Brigham Young, Joseph Young and myself had come together to get up some wood for Phineas H. Young. While we were thus engaged we were pondering upon those things which had been told us by the Elders, and upon the saints gathering to Zion, when the glory of God shone upon us, and we saw the gathering of the saints to Zion, and the glory that would rest upon them; and many more things connected with that great event, such as the sufferings and persecutions that would come upon the people of God, and the calamities and judgments that would come upon the world.
"These things caused such great joy to spring up in our bosoms that we were hardly able to contain ourselves, and we did shout aloud 'Hosannah to God and the Lamb.'"
This heavenly vision, vouchsafed as the reward of faith and pure desires, only made them eager to know more of the "marvelous work and wonder" which the God of Israel had set His hand to perform, in fulfillment of the words of His ancient prophets. The Holy Ghost had fallen upon them, as on Cornelius of old, before baptism. They had plucked from the Tree of Life, from branches overhanging the wall, luscious fruit, whose sweetness and flavor made them long to enter the garden and more fully satisfy the desire of their souls.
Heber, accordingly, proposed a journey to Pennsylvania, the state from whence the Elders came, where several branches of the Church were established. It was winter; January, 1832. Putting his horses to the sleigh, he and his companions set off upon the journey, a distance of one hundred and twenty-five miles. The party consisted of Heber C.
Kimball, Brigham Young, Phineas Young and the wives of the two latter.
The branch they visited was in Columbia, Bradford County; that from which the Elders came, in Rutland, Tioga County.
They tarried about six days, attending the meetings of the Church, witnessing the manifestations of the gifts of the spirit, such as speaking in tongues, interpretations and prophecy, and learning more of the nature and mission of the great latter-day work. They returned home rejoicing, praising God, and bearing testimony by the way.
CHAPTER IV.
HEBER EMBRACES MORMONISM--A BAPTISM OF FIRE--DEATH OF MIRIAM YOUNG--VILATE KIMBALL A MOTHER TO THE ORPHANS--HEBER ORDAINED AN ELDER--RESOLVES TO VISIT KIRTLAND.
Heber, be it remembered, was a potter, and, though fairly well-to-do in the world, continued to labor at his trade for a livelihood.
One day in April, of the spring following his visit to Pennsylvania, as he was working in his shop, in the act of forming a vessel on the wheel, Alpheus Gifford entered. This Elder was then on his second mission to those parts, in company with others of his brethren. The conversation turning on the subject of the gospel, Heber said: "Brother Alpheus, I am ready to go forward and be baptized."
What followed is thus graphically told. Says Heber: "I arose, pulled off my apron, washed my hands and started with him, with my sleeves rolled up to my shoulders, and went a distance of one mile, where he baptized me in a small stream in the woods. After I was baptized I kneeled down and he laid his hands upon my head and confirmed me a member of the Church of Jesus Christ, and said unto me, 'In the name of Jesus Christ, and by the authority of the holy Priesthood, receive ye the Holy Ghost;' and before I got up off my knees he wanted to ordain me an Elder; but I plead with him not to do it, for I felt myself unworthy of such a calling, and such an office."
This event, so important to Heber C. Kimball and his posterity, took place on Monday, the fifteenth of April, 1832. Brigham Young had been baptized the day before, by Elder Eleazer Miller. Two weeks later, Heber's wife, Vilate, was baptized by Joseph Young.
A branch was raised up in Mendon numbering over thirty souls; its members were as follows:
John Young, sen., and Mary his wife, Brigham Young and Miriam his wife, Phineas H. Young and Clarissa his wife, Joseph Young, Lorenzo D. Young and Persis his wife, John P. Greene and Rhoda his wife and their children, Joel Sanford and Louisa his wife, William Stillson and Susan his wife, Fanny Young, Isaac Flummerfelt, wife and children, Ira Bond and his wife Charlotte, Heber C. Kimball and Vilate his wife, Rufus Parks, John Morton and Betsey his wife, Nathan Tomlinson and his wife, Israel Barlow with his mother, brothers and sisters.
The reception of the Holy Ghost was to Heber a veritable "baptism of fire." He thus describes his remarkable experience:
"Under the ordinances of baptism and the laying on of hands, I received the Holy Ghost, as the disciples did in ancient days, which was like a consuming fire. I felt as though I sat at the feet of Jesus, and was clothed in my right mind, although the people called me crazy.
"I continued in this way for many months, and it seemed as though my body would consume away; at the same time the scriptures were unfolded to my mind in such a wonderful manner that it appeared to me, at times, as if I had formerly been familiar with them."
Thus did the Comforter, the spirit of truth, bringing things past to remembrance and showing things to come, move upon the heart of this "mighty man of valor," whom the Lord was raising up for a marvelous future work. One of the weak things of earth, through whom the Omnipotent would yet thresh the nations by the power of His Spirit.