--- title: President Heber C. Kimball's Journal description: 1882 book by Heber C. Kimball, a Mormon apostle, recounting his 1837-1838 mission to England and the beginnings of Mormon proselytizing there; seventh volume of the Faith-Promoting Series, issued by the Juvenile Instructor Office. Seventeen chapters. authors: - Kimball, Heber Chase collections: - history tags: - journal - missions - england - 19th-century - mormon-writings - history published: "1882" publisher: Juvenile Instructor Office publisher_place: Salt Lake City edition: First edition, Faith-Promoting Series no. 7 (Salt Lake City, 1882) language: en type: book reference: "Heber C. Kimball, *President Heber C. Kimball's Journal* (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1882), \"Preface.\"" source: url: https://archive.org/details/presidentheberck00kimbrich identifier: presidentheberck00kimbrich scan: University of California copy of the 1882 Juvenile Instructor Office edition, Internet Archive transcription: OCR text of the 1882 scan, with line-break hyphens joined, running heads and page numbers removed, library stamps dropped and obvious scan errors corrected; printed pagination kept as page markers. The italic line under each chapter heading is the chapter summary printed in the original. Not proofread against the page images. curator_note: A Mormon missionary narrative compiled from Kimball's journal and letters; the first ten chapters had earlier appeared as a Nauvoo pamphlet. Treated as a Mormon primary source, included for historical study. Inclusion does not imply endorsement. rights: status: public-domain basis: 1882 US publication (Salt Lake City, Juvenile Instructor Office); published before 1931, so public domain in the United States source: https://archive.org/details/presidentheberck00kimbrich publication_year: 1882 note: Publication year of the edition used is 1882; any modern rights notice in the Internet Archive metadata does not apply to this 1882 text. --- # Preface NO apology is necessary for publishing as a volume of the "Faith-Promoting Series" some portion of the history of the late President Heber C. Kimball. Knowing the estimation in which he was held while living by the Latter day Saints universally, and that the memory of his virtues and life-long devotion to the cause of God is still fresh in their hearts, we feel assured that they will regard as an acceptable offering the brief account of his experience contained in this volume. We only regret that we cannot in the present work give a sketch of his entire hfe, or at least all of Ihose incidents from it which would tend to promote faith in young readers. His was an exceedingly active and interesting life, and it is scarcely necessary to state that the sketch here published, covering a period of ojily a little over four years, contains but a fraction of that which is interesting and wonderful in his life's experience. However, what is here given will doubless convey many valuable lessons to those who read it, and will serve to indicate the character of the great man of whom it treats. Heber Chase Kimball was one of the greatest men of this age. There was a certain nobility about his appearance as well as his disposition that would have made him conspicuous in any community, and the Church of Jesus Christ afforded ample scope for the exercise of his ability, and the trying scenes through which he passed called into play his best powers. He was a man of commanding presence, with eyes so keen as to almost pierce one througlij and before which the guilty involuntarily quailed. He was fearless and powerful in rebuking the wrong-doer, but kind, benevolent and fatherly to the deserving. He possessed such wonderful control over the passions of men, combined with such wisdom and diplomacy, that the Prophet Joseph Smith called him "the peace-maker." His great fliith, zeal, earnestness, devotion to principle, cheerfulness under the most trying circumstances, energ}', pei\*scvcrance and honest simplicity marked him as no ordinary man. He i)0ssesscd great natural force and strong will power, yet in his submission to the Priesthood and obedience to the laws of God he set a pattern to the whole Church. His example throughout life was one of which his posterity may ever think with pride, and which the Saints generally will do well to follow. No man, perhaps, Joseph Smith excepted, who has belonged to the Church in this generation, ever possessed the gift of prophecy to a greater degree than Brother Kimball. Although not at all pretentious, he was somewhat celebrated among his acciuaintances for his prophetic inspiration. The prediction which he made soon after the arrival of the Pioneers in Salt Lake Valley, that the destitute Saints would soon be supplied with clothing, and that "States goods" would be sold in Salt Lake City as cheap as in New York, seemed most unreasonable at the time it was uttered. Its fulfillment, however, by the unexpected influx of gold-seekers,' making their way to California, and anxious to lighten their loads by selling their goods at almost any price, is now a matter of history. Scores of other priedictions were made by him and as literally fulfilled. Brother Kimball was the only one of his father's flimily who embraced the gospel, but now his is one of the most numerous families in the Church. At the time of his death, which occurred June 22, 18G8, he was the father of sixty-five children of whom thirty males and eleven females were then living. His direct descendants now number one hundred and seventy-two. The first ten chapters of this work were formerly published in pamphlet form by Elder R B. Thompson in Nauvoo. Only a small edition, however, was printed, and it has now been out of print for a great many years The next six chapters have been compiled from the manuscript history of Elder Kimball by his eldest daughter. Sister Helen Mar Whitney, to whom we are also indebted for the items contained in his letters from which the last chapter was written. THE PUBLISHER.