"When first hearing the principle taught, believing that he would be called upon to enter into it, he had thought of two elderly ladies named Pitkin, great friends of my mother"s, who, he believed, would cause her little, if any, unhappiness. But the woman he was commanded to take was an English lady named Sarah Noon, nearer my mother"s age, who came over with the company of Saints in the same ship in which father and Brother Brigham returned from Europe. She had been married and was the mother of two little girls, but left her husband on account of his drunken and dissolute habits. Father was told to take her as his wife and provide for her and her children, and he did so.[A]
[Footnote A: Heber was told by Joseph that if he did not do this he would lose his Apostleship and be d.a.m.ned.]
"My mother had noticed a change in his manner and appearance, and when she inquired the cause, he tried to evade her questions. At last he promised he would tell her after a while, if she would only wait. This trouble so worked upon his mind that his anxious and haggard looks betrayed him daily and hourly, and finally his misery became so unbearable that it was impossible to control his feelings. He became sick in body, but his mental wretchedness was too great to allow of his retiring, and he would walk the floor till nearly morning, and some times the agony of his mind was so terrible that he would wring his hands and weep like a child, and beseech the Lord to be merciful and reveal to her this principle, for he himself could not break his vow of secrecy.
"The anguish of their hearts was indescribable, and when she found it was useless to beseech him longer, she retired to her room and bowed before the Lord and poured out her soul in prayer to Him who hath said: "If any lack wisdom let him ask of G.o.d, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not." My father"s heart was raised at the same time in supplication. While pleading as one would plead for life, the vision of her mind was opened, and, as darkness flees before the morning sun, so did her sorrow and the groveling things of earth vanish away.
"Before her was ill.u.s.trated the order of celestial marriage, in all its beauty and glory, together with the great exaltation and honor it would confer upon her in that immortal and celestial sphere, if she would accept it and stand in her place by her husband"s side. She also saw the woman he had taken to wife, and contemplated with joy the vast and boundless love and union which this order would bring about, as well as the increase of her husband"s kingdoms, and the power and glory extending throughout the eternities, worlds without end.
"With a countenance beaming with joy, for she was filled with the Spirit of G.o.d, she returned to my father, saying: "Heber, what you kept from me the Lord has shown me." She told me she never saw so happy a man as father was when she described the vision and told him she was satisfied and knew it was from G.o.d.
"She covenanted to stand by him and honor the principle, which covenant she faithfully kept, and though her trials were often heavy and grievous to bear, she knew that father was also being tried, and her integrity was unflinching to the end. She gave my father many wives, and they always found in my mother a faithful friend."
Helen also refers in her narrative to the sensation caused in Nauvoo, one Sabbath morning, prior to the return of the Twelve from England, by a sermon of the Prophet"s on "the restoration of all things," in which it was hinted that the patriarchal or plural order of marriage, as practiced by the ancients, would some day again be established, The excitement created by the bare suggestion was such that Joseph deemed it wisdom, in the afternoon, to modify his statement by saying that possibly the Spirit had made the time seem nearer than it really was, when such things would be restored.
These facts serve to show something of the nature and extent of the sacrifice made by the Saints in accepting this principle, and likewise the pure, lofty, religious motives actuating both men and women who could thus heroically embrace a doctrine against which--as is generally the case with the gospel"s higher principles--their traditions and preconceived notions instinctively rebelled.
Soon after the revelation was given, a golden link was forged whereby the houses of Heber and Joseph were indissolubly and forever joined.[A] Helen Mar, the eldest daughter of Heber Chase and Vilate Murray Kimball, was given to the Prophet in the holy bonds of celestial marriage.
[Footnote A: The Prophet Joseph, I am informed, in blessing Heber C.
Kimball, told him that his inheritance in Zion should adjoin his on the north.]
CHAPTER XLVII.
JOHN C. BENNETT"S APOSTASY--HEBER AND THE TWELVE SENT OUT TO REFUTE HIS SLANDERS--HEBER"S FAMOUS SERMON: "THE CLAY IN THE HANDS OF THE POTTER"--INCEPTION OF THE RELIEF SOCIETY--VILATE"S VOW AND HEBER"S PRAYER.
Without doubt, the revelation of the great principle of plural marriage was a prime cause of the troubles which now arose, culminating in the Prophet"s martyrdom and the exodus of the Church into the wilderness. True, the old causes remained, sectarian hatred and political jealousies, and these were the immediate reasons for such results. But back of all was the eternal warfare of truth and error, battling each for the world"s supremacy, and the mailed hand of Omnipotence pushing the chosen people along the thorn-strewn, blood-sprinkled path of a glorious destiny.
John C. Bennett, an individual who had wormed himself into the good graces of the Saints, like the serpent of old among the flowers of Eden, at this juncture apostatized, not finding the Church of G.o.d, with its pure and wholesome laws, a safe refuge for vice, or a suitable arena for the antics of rascality. Excommunicated for his vile practices, he at once entered the lecture field--that favorite resort of vengeful apostates--and sought to abuse the public mind in relation to the Latter-day Saints and their religion. His charges were so atrocious as to half defeat their own purpose, the more intelligent at once rejecting them for what they were--outrageous fabrications.
Many of the ignorant and fanatical, however, believed them. The Prophet therefore called a council of leading Elders, including Heber C. Kimball and others of the Twelve, to consider the advisability of sending missionaries through the states to preach the gospel--the principles which the Saints really believed and were authorized to teach--and expose and refute the slanderous charges of the man Bennett and other apostates.
This council was held in the latter part of August, 1842. It was decided to hold a special conference at once and nominate the Elders who were to go upon this mission. Accordingly, on the 29th of August a conference convened at Nauvoo, at which three hundred and eighty Elders volunteered for the purpose.
One of these was Heber C. Kimball. He, in company with Brigham Young, George A. Smith and Amasa Lyman (who had lately been ordained an Apostle under the hands of the other three), having been instructed by the Prophet, set out upon this mission early in September. They held their first meeting at Lima, where they addressed a large a.s.sembly in a grove, in relation to the slanderous reports of John C. Bennett.
Their labors and subsequent movements were outlined as follows in a letter to the editor of the _Times and Seasons:_
"DEAR BROTHER:
"Having commenced our mission yesterday, we held our first conference at Elder Isaac Morley"s. We had a good time. The brethren here are in good spirits. We ordained nineteen Elders and baptized twelve. We expect next Sat.u.r.day and Sunday to hold a two days" meeting in Quincy, being the 17th and 18th instant; on the 24th and 25th at Payson; the 1st and 2nd of October at Pleasant Vale; the 8th and 11th of October at Pittsfield; the 15th and 16th of October at Apple Creek, in Green County. From thence we shall proceed to Jacksonville and Springfield.
"If you please, notice the above in your paper, for the benefit of those friends scattered abroad.
"Yours in the everlasting covenant,
BRIGHAM YOUNG, H. C. KIMBALL.
"MORLEY SETTLEMENT, September 12, 1842."
Having fulfilled their mission, Brigham and Heber returned together to Nauvoo on the 4th of November.
The opening of the year 1843 was a period of rejoicing to the Saints at Nauvoo, the Prophet having been honorably discharged from his arrest under the Missouri writ, by the U. S. District Court of Illinois, Judge Pope presiding. Grateful for this, the Twelve issued a proclamation to the Saints to observe the 17th of January as a day of fasting, prayer and thanksgiving for the Prophet"s deliverance. On the next day Joseph invited his friends to a feast to commemorate the event, Heber being one of the number.
On the evening of March 7th a meeting was held at the house of Elder Kimball, which was crowded. Heber addressed the a.s.sembly, taking for his text, Jeremiah xviii, 2-5, on the figure of the clay in the hands of the potter. Joseph was so pleased with his sermon that he deemed it worthy of special notice in his history. This was the origin of Heber"s famous sermon--"the clay in the hands of the potter," so familiar to the Saints, and well worthy of remembrance, not only for the masterly way in which it was presented, but for the depth of the doctrine therein contained.
Probably it was Heber"s early profession--it will be remembered that he was by trade a potter--that first impressed him with this important theme, with its train of a.s.sociate thoughts and images. And herein was shown the thoughtful, observant nature of his mind, which drew from simplest as well as sublimest objects that wealth of simile, the rich fund of metaphor and comparison in which his sayings were so prolific.
Thus also was evinced the poet nature of the man, though he probably never wrote a line of verse.
Heber"s powers as a speaker--though he never sought the distinction or claimed the t.i.tle of orator--were well recognized, even at that early day. As a persuader, not with tinkling phrases and flowery rhetoric, to please the ear, but by simple words and the power of the Holy Ghost, to move the heart, he had few equals.
Some days after the meeting referred to, a pet.i.tion reached Nauvoo from Boston, signed by twelve hundred names, asking for Elders Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde to come and labor in that city. A similar pet.i.tion was also sent from Salem, Ma.s.sachusetts, by Elder Erastus Snow. Before going on another mission, however, Heber, in connection with the Prophet, took an active part in creating an organization which has since become famous in the midst of Israel. It was no other than the Relief Society, the preliminary meeting of which was held at the house of Heber C. Kimball in Nauvoo. In view of the scarcely less famous organizations which have sprung up since, known as the Young Men"s and Young Ladies" Mutual Improvement a.s.sociations of the Latter-day Saints, it is interesting to note that the former movement originated among the young people, for whose welfare Heber was at that time specially and zealously laboring. We quote from the Prophet"s history:
A SHORT SKETCH OF THE RISE OF THE YOUNG GENTLEMEN AND LADIES" RELIEF SOCIETY.
"In the latter part of January, 1843, a number of young people a.s.sembled at the house of Elder H. C. Kimball, who warned them against the various temptations to which youth is exposed, and gave an appointment expressly for the young at the house of Elder Billings; and another meeting was held in the ensuing week at Brother Farr"s school-room, which was filled to overflowing. Elder Kimball delivered addresses, exhorting the young people to study the scriptures, and enable themselves to "give a reason for the hope within them," and to be ready to go on to the stage of action, when their present instructors and leaders had gone behind the scenes; also to keep good company and to keep pure and unspotted from the world.
"The next meeting was appointed to be held at my house; and notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, it was completely filled at an early hour. Elder Kimball, as usual, delivered an address, warning his hearers against giving heed to their youthful pa.s.sions, and exhorting them to be obedient and pay strict attention to the advice and command of their parents, who were better calculated to guide the pathway of youth than they themselves.
"My house being too small, the next meeting was appointed to be held over my store. I addressed the young people for some time, expressing my grat.i.tude to Elder Kimball for having commenced this glorious work, which would be the means of doing a great deal of good, and said the grat.i.tude of all good men and of the youth would follow him through life, and he would always look back upon the winter of 1843 with pleasure. I experienced more embarra.s.sment in standing before them than I should before kings and n.o.bles of the earth; for I knew the crimes of which they were guilty, and knew precisely how to address them; but that my young friends were guilty of none of them, and therefore I hardly knew what to say.
"I advised them to organize themselves into a society for the relief of the poor, and recommended to them a poor lame English brother [Maudesley], who wanted a house built, that he might have a home amongst the Saints; that he had gathered a few materials for the purpose, but was unable to use them, and had pet.i.tioned for aid. I advised them to choose a committee to collect funds for this purpose, and perform this charitable act as soon as the weather permitted. I gave them such advice as I deemed was calculated to guide their conduct through life and prepare them for a glorious eternity.
"A meeting was appointed to carry out these suggestions, at which William Cutler was chosen president, and Marcellus L. Bates, clerk. Andrew Cahoon, C. V. Spencer and Stephen Perry were appointed to draft a const.i.tution for the society, and the meeting adjourned to the 28th of March, when the said committee submitted a draft of a const.i.tution, consisting of twelve sections. The report was unanimously adopted, and the meeting proceeded to choose their officers. William Walker was chosen president; William Cutler, vice-president; Lorin Walker, treasurer; James M.
Monroe, secretary; Stephen Perry, Marcellus L. Bates, R. A.
Allred, Wm. H. Kimball and Garret Ivans, were appointed a committee of vigilance. The meeting then adjourned until the next Tuesday evening.
"The next meeting was addressed by Elders Brigham Young, Heber C.
Kimball and Jedediah M. Grant, whose instructions were listened to with breathless attention."
The Relief Society afterwards became distinctively a woman"s organization.
Heber"s next mission was through the eastern states, in company with President Young and others, collecting means for the temple and the Nauvoo House, which were then in course of erection. They left Nauvoo early in June, 1843. The day before starting, Vilate Kimball penned these tender lines and presented them as a token of love to her husband:
"NAUVOO, June 8th, 1843.
"MY EVER KIND AND AFFECTIONATE COMPANION:
"I write these few lines for you to look upon when you are far distant from me, and when you read them remember they were penned by one whose warm, affectionate heart is ever the same towards you; _yea, it is fixed, firm as a decree which is unalterable_.
Therefore, let your heart be comforted, and if you never more behold my face in time, let this be my last covenant and testimony unto you: that I am yours in time and throughout all eternity.
This blessing has been sealed upon us by the Holy Spirit of promise, and cannot be broken only through transgression, or committing a grosser crime than your heart or mine is capable of, that is, murder.
"So be of cheer, my dearest dear, For we shall meet again Where all our sorrows will be o"er, And we are free from pain.
"V. KIMBALL."