Life of Heber C. Kimball, an Apostle Part 3

The branch in Mendon began to nourish, and the gifts of the spirit were poured out upon its members. This branch is reputed to have been the second in the Church to receive the gift of tongues; one of the branches in Pennsylvania being the first in which that gift was manifested.

Such a pentecostal renewal could scarcely take place without a corresponding movement of opposition on the part of the powers of darkness. The inevitable was at hand. Satan commenced to rage, and the Saints were annoyed and persecuted. Heber's former friends turned against him. His creditors combined to push him to the wall. During one week five or six executions were taken out against him. His brother Solomon was the only one outside the Church, willing to lend him a helping hand in his financial troubles, resulting from the inimical actions of his neighbors and old-time a.s.sociates. His brother Charles, who had formerly befriended him, was dead. But the Lord opened his way, much to the chagrin of his persecutors, and he obtained money to meet his liabilities, so that none of his property was sold at auction.

In September following the organization of the branch in Mendon, Brigham Young's wife, Miriam, died. She had been feeble for months, but in her expiring moments, filled with a supernatural vitality, she clapped her hands and praised G.o.d, calling upon all around to join her in so doing. She continued in this happy state until she breathed her last, moving her lips in prayer when her voice could no longer be heard. Heber remarks that the death-bed scene of this zealous and devoted Saint was to him another testimony of the truth and power of the everlasting gospel. Vilate Kimball took charge of Miriam's two little daughters, and, thenceforth, until after they removed from Mendon, the families of Brigham and Heber were as one.

In the meantime, the latter had been ordained an Elder, under the hands of Joseph Young, and labored with him and Brigham in the ministry. They visited Genesee, Avon and Lyonstown, baptizing many and building up branches of the Church. The following incident, related by Heber, shows how powerfully the Holy Ghost wrought through him in his ministrations:

"Brother Ezra Landon preached in Avon and Genesee, baptized eighteen or twenty, and being afraid to confirm them and promise the Holy Ghost, he requested me to confirm them, which I did according to the best of my knowledge, p.r.o.nouncing but a few words on the head of each one, and invariably saying, 'receive ye the Holy Ghost in the name of Jesus Christ.' Immediately the Holy Ghost fell upon them, and several commenced speaking in tongues before they arose from their knees, and we had a joyful time. Some ten or twelve spoke in tongues, neither of whom had ever heard any person speak in tongues before, they being the first baptized in that place."

The region in which he was laboring is thus interestingly described:

"From the time Father Bosley located near Avon, he found and plowed up axes and irons, and had sufficient to make his mill irons, and had always abundance of iron on hand without purchasing.

"In the towns of Bloomfield, Victor, Manchester, and in the regions round about, there were hills upon the tops of which were entrenchments and fortifications, and in them were human bones, axes, tomahawks, points of arrows, beads and pipes, which were frequently found; and it was a common occurrence in the country to plow up axes, which I have done many times myself.

"I have visited the fortifications on the tops of those hills frequently, and the one near Bloomfield I have crossed hundreds of times, which is on the bluff of Honeyoye River, at the outlet of Honeyoye Lake.

"In that region there are many small deep lakes, and in some of them the bottom has never been found. Fish abound in them.

"The hill c.u.morah is a high hill for that country, and had the appearance of a fortification or entrenchment around it. In the State of New York, probably there are hundreds of these fortifications which are now visible, and I have seen them in many other parts of the United States."

Readers of the Book of Mormon will remember that in this very region, according to that sacred record, the final battles were fought between the Nephites and Lamanites. At the hill c.u.morah, the Nephites made their last stand prior to their utter extermination, A. D., 385.

Thus was Heber preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles, above the graves of the ancients of Israel, whose records with the fullness of that Gospel, and the relics of their prowess and civilization, were now "whispering from the dust."

But another scene was about to shift in his life's drama. He had planned to visit Kirtland, the bosom of the Church, and home of Joseph the Prophet.

CHAPTER V.

THE LAND OF SHINEHAH--ARRIVAL OF HEBER AND BRIGHAM IN KIRTLAND--THEIR FIRST MEETING WITH THE PROPHET--THE KIMb.a.l.l.s AND YOUNGS REMOVE TO OHIO--VEXATIOUS SUITS AND MOB VIOLENCE--FALLEN ON PERILOUS TIMES.

Kirtland, at the time arrived at in our narrative, was the head-quarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The home of the Prophet of G.o.d and many of the leading Elders of Israel, it was also the spot designated by revelation where the first temple was to be built in this dispensation.

The Church, organized at Fayette, Seneca County, New York, on the 6th of April, 1830, had entered on the third year of its existence, and the Saints throughout the eastern parts had been commanded to gather westward. Kirtland and its vicinity, or "the land of Shinehah," as it is named in revelation, had been settled as a stake of Zion since early in 1831, and from there, in the summer of the same year, had gone forth a colony of Saints to purchase and occupy "the land of Zion," in the western confines of Missouri. That region was then the nation's frontier, bordering on a wilderness inhabited by wild beasts and savages, and but spa.r.s.ely peopled itself by whites scarcely less ignorant and cruel.

The Gospel, preached by the first missionaries sent westward from New York, in October, 1830, had taken a firm hold among the honest-in-heart of Northern Ohio. Among those who had embraced the new faith--new, indeed, and wonderful to that generation--were Sidney Rigdon, Edward Partridge and Newel K. Whitney. The Pratts, the Whitmers, and other noted families were already numbered among the followers of the "Mormon" Prophet, and it was Parley P. Pratt, Oliver Cowdery and other Elders who had first brought the Gospel to Kirtland.

The new branch throve so rapidly as to soon eclipse in importance all others; an event no doubt divinely ordered, as the Saints at large, in December, 1830, were commanded to "a.s.semble together at the Ohio."

Late in October, or early in November, 1832, Heber C. Kimball, in company with Brigham and Joseph Young, arrived in Kirtland. They had traveled by team a distance of three hundred miles. Their first meeting with the Prophet, whom they had come so far to see, was on the 8th day of November. Joseph was felling trees in the forest when the party approached. It is related that, on seeing Brigham, he said: "There is a man who will yet preside over this Church."

As to Heber, the heart of Joseph was at once knit with his, in friendship like unto that of David and Jonathan; and this feeling of brotherly love, like a golden chain, uniting these two n.o.ble souls, was destined to endure unbroken through time and eternity.

Says Heber: "We saw brother Joseph Smith and had a glorious time; during which Brother Brigham spoke in tongues before Joseph, this being the first time he had heard anyone speak in tongues. He rose up and testified that the gift was from G.o.d, and then the gift fell upon him and he spoke in tongues himself. He afterwards declared it was the pure, or Adamic language that he spoke. Soon after this the gift of tongues commenced in the Church at Kirtland generally. We had a precious season and returned with a blessing in our souls."

In the fall of 1833, Elder Kimball disposed of his possessions in Mendon, and settled his affairs preparatory to gathering to the bosom of the Church. He had borne faithful testimony to the inhabitants of the place which had been his home for so many years, but, with few exceptions, they had turned a deaf ear to his warning words. Heber was the only one of his father's household to embrace the Gospel. His brother Solomon, though friendly, and at one time, like Agrippa, "almost persuaded," did not come within the fold.

No sooner was Heber ready to start Zionward, than he was again beset by petty persecutions. This time they were not only malicious, but of an out and out dishonest character. Notwithstanding he had settled all his accounts, and paid every penny that he owed--"unless it was two cents to one man, in a case where change could not be procured"--and left debts owing to him, uncollected, to the amount of "some hundred dollars," attachments were issued at the instance of some of his neighbors, and his goods seized by officers of the law.

Rather than be delayed by a law-suit, in which, owing to religious prejudice, he had little hope of receiving fair treatment, he settled the unjust claims and departed.

His family at this time consisted of himself and wife, and their two children, William Henry and Helen Mar. Judith Marvin, an elder daughter, and Roswell Heber, a younger son--the first and latest born of the household--had died. Brigham Young and his two little daughters went in the same wagon with the Kimball family to Kirtland. They reached their destination about the last of October, or early in November. They first occupied a house belonging to Elijah Smith, uncle to the wife of Bishop N. K. Whitney; but Heber soon had a home of his own, which he continued to share with his friend and brother Brigham, until the latter procured a separate domicile.

It is an interesting fact that Brigham was the builder of Heber's house in Kirtland, he being a carpenter and joiner, as well as a painter and glazier.

"When I got to Kirtland," says Elder Kimball, "the brethren were engaged in building the House of the Lord. The commandment to build the House and also the pattern of it, were given in a revelation to Joseph Smith, jun., Sidney Rigdon, and Frederick G. Williams, and it was to be erected by a stated time. The Church was in a state of poverty and distress, in consequence of which it appeared almost impossible that the commandment could be fulfilled. Soon after our arrival, there was a contribution called for to finish the school-house and printing office; I contributed the gla.s.s for the house, and I gave Brother Hyrum Smith two hundred dollars for the building of the temple."

The newly arrived pilgrims had fallen on perilous times. Mobocracy was rife and rampant; persecution was raging against the Church, both in Ohio and in Missouri. The infernal regions seemed stirred to their depths at the prospect of a temple, whose walls, now climbing heavenward, gave promise of salvation and deliverance for the living and the dead; the unlocking of prison doors, the bursting of spirit dungeons, the smiting off of fetters from the limbs of the slave of sin, and the ushering forth of the penitent captive into the life and light of gospel liberty. Keys were about to be restored whereby the heavens would be brought nearer to the earth, the prophets of the past would minister in holy places to the prophets of the present, and the cause of human redemption receive such an impetus as would shake the throne of Satan to its foundations. No wonder the dominions of Sheol were agitated.

"Our enemies," says Heber, "were raging and threatening destruction upon us. We had to guard night after night, and for weeks were not permitted to take off our clothes, and were obliged to lie with our fire-locks in our arms, to preserve Brother Joseph's life and our own.

Joseph was sued before a magistrate's court in Painesville, on a vexatious suit. I carried him from Kirtland to Painesville, with four or five others, in my wagon, every morning for five days, and brought them back in the evening. We were often waylaid, but managed to elude our enemies by rapid driving and taking different roads. Esquire Bissell defended the Prophet and he came off victorious.

"At this time our brethren in Jackson County, Missouri, were also suffering great persecution; about twelve hundred were driven, plundered and robbed, their houses burned, and some of the brethren were killed.

"Mobs were organized around Kirtland, who were enraged against us, ready to destroy us."

Such was the state of affairs with the Church of the living G.o.d, at the close of the year 1833. Such was the nature of the action upon which the hero of this history had entered. But he was of the gold, not the dross of the earth, and pa.s.sed through the fire, purified, yet not consumed.

CHAPTER VI.

THE GATHERING OF THE t.i.tANS--HEBER'S TESTIMONY OF JOSEPH AND THE TWELVE--THEIR MIGHTY MISSION--THE TEST OF FAITH--ZION'S CAMP.

Joseph, Brigham and Heber together in Kirtland! By what strange fatality were these mighty lives thus interwoven? We have seen how Brigham and Heber came together, and how, from thenceforth, the currents of their lives and fortunes ran parallel. Now they were joined with Joseph, their prophet chief, like streams that swell a river.

Interesting is it also, if only as a coincidence, that so many of the leading spirits of the latter-day work should have been natives of Vermont--a diadem for thee, proud State, and one which thou wilt prize in coming time!--from whence scattered, ere acquaintance with the Gospel or with each other began, to meet as co-laborers in the same great cause, among the hills and dales of Northern Ohio. As though the heavens had decreed their lives should thus commingle.

And the heavens had so decreed. It was not chance, it was destiny "shaping their ends," and fulfilling her mission in their behalf. And though from the ends of the earth--what matter names or nativity?--it had been the same. "He that scattered Israel will gather him." From all nations that fated blood, when goes Jehovah's fiat forth, like the rain-drops sprinkled upon the hills, must trickle back to the Ocean whence it came.

It was a coalescing of divine affinities, the relinking of a spirit chain, which, though it often part, is never broken, and though seemingly divided, forever inseparable.

"Are you ever going to be prepared to see G.o.d, Jesus Christ, His angels, or comprehend His servants, unless you take a faithful and prayerful course?"

"Did you actually know Joseph Smith?"

The questions are Heber C. Kimball's, addressed in later years to a congregation of the Saints.

"No," he answers for them, and continues:

"Do you know Brother Brigham? No."