Chapter XXIV. The Messianic Test

It holds Good. The Parallel Exact. The Spiritual Struggle on the Threshold of the British Mission. The Door of Salvation Opened. Marvelous Achievements of Heber C. Kimball and Wilford Woodruff.

Never since the world began has any but the Christ given this astounding and supreme test of his mission :

" Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. * * *

" And these signs shall follow them that believe : In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues ;

"They shall take up serpents ; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them ; they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover. * *

" And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word with sioms following. "

Now the point of the test of this spiritual problem of the Christ is not so much in the affirmation that whosoever believed should be saved, or whosoever believed not should be damned ; nor is it in

the command that the convert should be baptized, that he or she might enter in at the gate, but that the signs should follow the preaching of the gospel of the Christ, offered to every creature. Many religious lawgivers and reformers have risen among the nations, but none that we know with the power to say, " These signs shall follow everywhere," as a witness of the Word and the Divine Person in whose name they were wrought. Not even did Moses give this test of his mission, though he himself wrought miracles, to the confounding of the magicians of Egypt. He, at the most, could only say, " I would that all the Lord's people were prophets." The apostles of Jesus were themselves surprised, at first, at the miraculous results which followed their preaching, while the multitude, seeing the works of Jesus, " Glorified God, saying, We never saw it on this fashion." Nor was it less surprising to Simon Magnus, of whom all the people of Samaria said, "This man is the great power of God."

" And when Simon saw that, through laying on ol the Apostles' hands, the Holy Ghost was given, he offered them money,

" Saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay my hands, he may receive the Holy Ghost."

The fact was that Jesus held the sceptre over all spiritual empires, though he does not as yet over the empires of this earth. Even devils knew him, and obeyed the awful magic of his supreme name.

Now in this age these things of Jesus are not wonderful to the Christian world, with whom the

record of his works is accounted to be the new testament of God ; but truly may it be the crowning wonder that the supreme test of the Christ also held good in the case of Joseph the Prophet of the Latter-days.

Have we not here, then, a spiritual problem worthy the attention of the whole world ? Two persons — Jesus and Joseph — have appeared, with the power to say to their apostles, " Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. * * And these sig?is shall follow them that believe." Two persons with divine authority in themselves, received from the Father, to say to their apostles, " On whomsoever ye lay your hands, he shall receive the Holy Ghost."

True, a Simon Magnus might not receive the Holy Ghost, it having no temple in him ; or, it being mercifully withheld, lest he should sin against it, heaping damnation upon his own head ; hence said Peter: "Thy money perish with thee. * * * Thou hast neither lot nor part in the matter : for thy heart is not right in the sight of God." So of others, according to the same law; but with the exactitude of a science, the conditions of the law were found to be that on whomsoever their hands were laid, the signs should follow.

Thus sent Jesus his apostles forth : thus sent Joseph his apostles, to work in the name of the Christ.

In America this great spiritual problem of the age, in the name of Jesus, manifested through Joseph, was found to hold good. The test was exact. That indeed was the very cause and explanation of

all these events of Mormon history, chronicled in this Testament of the work of God in the latter days.

But will this grand spiritual problem work also in foreign lands ? was the very question with which the Apostles were brought face to face at the period of the stupendous apostacy at Kirtland, which brought the quick flight from that first Stake of Zion, to be followed by the fall of Far West, the imprisonment of the Prophet, and the expulsion of the Saints from Missouri.

It will be here remembered that, at the crisis in Kirtland, Joseph said that the Lord revealed unto him that "something new" must be done to "save the church." And that something new was to send his gospel to the nations,— to show to the elders and the American saints that in all lands "these signs" should follow every creature who believed in Joseph Smith, the sent and anointed of Jesus Christ. Mark, that was the very test of that hour, for the apostate elders and apostles said not that Joseph had not once been a prophet — concerning which they still witnessed — but that he was at that moment a "fallen" prophet, and rejected of the Lord. Then Joseph (knowing the spirit within him, and the almighty power behind him to decide just such a controversy), one day in the temple, as we have seen, went over to Heber C. Kimball, in whom he knew the Spirit dwelt, and declared, " The Spirit whispers to me, Let my servant Heber take a mission to Great Britain, to open the door of salvation to that nation."

The Apostle Heber went, to prove that Joseph

was the Lord's Prophet, while Brigham remained behind to break the tidal wave of apostacy.

On Heber's mission the fate of the church depended. Now was the grand spiritual test to be put to all nations and to every creature, — the test which has been given only by Jesus and Joseph. Will it fail ? Ah ! that is the problem, even to this day, — one which millions, in the near future, are going to prove for themselves! The answer which Heber sent back across the waters, in that day, was,

"Glory to God, Joseph! The Lord is with us among the nations abroad !"

Having been absent in Great Britain about a year, Heber, and Orson Hyde, returned, with glorious news of the salvation, and the sioms, and the Holy Ghost, which followed their testimony in foreign lands ; but so overwhelming has been the flood of events, in the expulsion of the. saints from Missouri,— which Heber returned barely in time to help them through, — that the force of his mission abroad, as a grand test of the Latter-day dispensation of the Christ, has not hitherto been emphasized.

It would be neither proper nor possible to incorporate the history of the British mission in this personal book of the Prophet, but it may be observed, however, in passing, that the missionary work of the Latter-day Apostles abroad, for the first fourteen years, is equally marvelous with that of the early apostles to the Gentiles. This. was especially illustrated in the missions of Heber C. Kimball to Great Britain, in 1837, and Wilford Woodruff, in 1840.

But at the very threshold of the British mission

we have something of the view in point too important to be passed over, although perhaps never before presented in that connection. The spiritual powers were, at the very outset, so wondrously manifested as, from that time forward, to form one of the principal chapters of the spiritual marvels of the Latter-day church. Let us now view the incident in the light of the test of Joseph's mission, upon Jesus' promise, — ■" In my name they shall cast out devils;" and "These signs shall follow them that believe." See the two powers in direct warfare on the arrival of the Apostles in Great Britain. Here is the record from Heber's journal :

"About daybreak, Sunday, July 30th [1837], Elder Isaac Russell came up to the third loft, where Elder Hyde and myself were sleeping, and called upon us to pray for him, that he might be delivered from the evil spirits that were tormenting him to such a decree that he felt he could not live loner unless he obtained relief. We laid hands on him, I being mouth, and prayed that the Lord would have mercy upon him and rebuke the devil. While thus engaged I was struck with great force by some invisible power, and fell senseless upon the floor; and the first thing I recollected was being supported by elders Hyde and Russell, who were praying for me. They then laid me on the bed, but my agony was so great I arose, bowed on my knees and prayed.

" I then sat upon the bed, and could distinctly see the evil spirits who foamed and gnashed their teeth upon us. We gazed upon them about an hour and a half. We were not looking towards the window, but towards the wall ; space appeared before us, and

we saw the devils coming in legions, with their leaders, who came within a few feet of us. They came towards us like armies rushing to battle ; they appeared to be men of full stature, possessing every uncomely form and appearance of men in the flesh, mangled and deformed, who were angry and desperate, and I shall never forget the vindictive malignity depicted on their countenances, and any attempt to paint the scene which then presented itself, or portray the malice and enmity depicted in their countenances, would be vain. I perspired excessively, and my clothes were as wet as if I had been taken out of the river.

" Although I felt exquisite pain, and was in the greatest distress for some time, and cannot even look back on the scene without feelings of horror, yet by it I learned the power of the adversary, his enmity against the servants of God, and got some understanding of the invisible world. We distinctly heard those spirits talk and express their wrath and hellish designs against us. However, the Lord delivered us from them and blessed us exceedingly that day, and I had the pleasure of baptizing nine."

Then came victory to the Apostles in Great Britain. Whole villages were converted at a sweep, " by the power of God," and not by the wisdom of man, of the former of which Heber had much. See the following instances from his journal :

" Having mentioned my determination of going to Chatburn to several of my brethren, they endeavored to dissuade me from going, informing me that there could be no prospect of success whatever, as several ministers of different denominations had

endeavored in vain to raise churches in these places.

This did not discourage me in the least. I went in the name of Jesus Christ. My testimony was accompanied by the Spirit of the Lord, and was received with joy; and these people, who were represented as being so hard and obdurate, were melted down into tenderness and love, and the effect seemed to be general.

" I told them that being a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, I stood ready at all times to administer the ordinances of the gospel. At the close of my discourse I felt some one pulling my coat, and turning- round I was accosted with, ' Master ! Master ! please will you baptize me?' 'and me,' 'and me,' exclaimed more than a dozen voices. Accordingly I went down into the water and baptized twenty-five. The next morning I returned to Downham, where I had preached the evening previous to preaching in Chatburn,and baptized between twenty and thirty in the course of the day."

The wonders, in detail, of the rise of the British mission maybe found in the Life of Heber C. Kimball ; suffice now the close of this view of the multitudes converted by the power of God and' the signs following the believer, in, if possible, the still more striking apostolic example of Wilford Woodruff, on the mission of 1840. He says :

" According to the directions of the Spirit, on the 3d [March, 1840,] I went to Herefordshire, and called upon John Benbow at Castlefroom. I found a people prepared for the gospel. I preached twice at his house. On the 6th I baptized six persons,

including John Benbow and wife. I here found a society called ' United Brethren/ numbering about six hundred members and about fifty preachers Thomas Kington was the presiding elder. They came from all quarters to hear me preach, and believed my testimony, and I preached and baptized daily. The ministers of the Church of England sent three clerks to see what I was doing, and I baptized them. One constable came to arrest me for preaching, and I baptized him. In about thirty days I baptized one hundred and sixty, forty-eight of whom were preachers of the United Brethren, including their presiding elder."

This is the simple record of the Apostle, without a single dramatic touch. The barest description of the case is no less than this: One day while in Staffordshire, where he is preaching and baptizing, the word of the Lord comes to his apostle Wilford, saying, " Up and get ye whithersoever the Lord shall lead you, for he hath a great work for you elsewhere. Turn neither to the riht hand nor to the left, by the way, but go as my spirit shall lead you." So the Apostle started, "led by the Spirit."

Into Herefordshire he travels on foot; Froom's Hill is reached, and there is the farm-house of John Benbow, a respectable English farmer. To that house the Spirit leads him, he knowing absolutely nothing of its inmates. Prompted by the Spirit, the Apostle knocks at the farmer's door. He is admitted. He tells his mission and bears his testimony. The household receive it. The Apostle forthwith preaches the gospel in that house, to the

villagers, who gather to hear the strange tidings. Soon the Rev. Thomas Kington, Superintendent Minister of the Froom's Hill circuit of United Brethren, hears and obeys the gospel ; and then the Spirit runs through all the regions round, and is glorified.

In six months he has baptized over one thousand members, sweeping into his church the entire circuit of the United Brethren, with over fifty of their local and traveling ministers, with their chapels, and in twelve months the Apostle has raised up three conferences.

One instance of this marvelous missionary work is especially worth telling. Two ministers from a neighboring village, attracted by the strange rumors in circulation, came in a gig to the house where the Apostle is abiding. He has gone to baptize some converts. The ministers follow in their gig, and find him by the wayside, when they accost him. He there by the way preaches the gospel to them ; applies the language of Philip to the eunuch ; bids them down into the water. They obey the Apostle, and go their way rejoicing.

And this is the ministry of an Apostle in our day; an Apostle 'Ted by the Spirit."

The promise of the Christ was thus well tested in the early rise of the Latter-day work in England.

" These signs shall follow them that believe ! "

Joseph, of America, was a prophet indeed. Yet "who hath believed our report ? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed ? For behold he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as

a root out of a dry ground ; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not."