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Then he made some exclamation that
was rather profane. I sat down and
commenced warning him. I told him
that he had apostatized from the Gos-
pel of Christ; he had had the Priest
hood and he was pursuing a course that
would send him to destruction, and the
judgments of God would overtake
him. Well, he raged like a demon.
That is about all I said to him. I cer-
tainly did not stay long, but I delivered
my message. When I left the house he
followed me, and when he came to
where I was he fell dead at my feet as
though he had been struck with a thun-
derbolt from heaven. He was a very
large man and he turned as black as an
African, and his skin seemed almost to
burst open. The next day I attended
his funeral. But he had raised a mob
and had sent word for them to come
and drive us out of the country or hang
us, and they had sent warnings to us to
leave. The consequence was, there
were some fifteen or twenty deaths dur-
ing my stay there. Men were taken
with what was called pleurisy. Doctors
came in and opened a vein, and they
died in five minutes. One of these
men sent for me, and I went and saw
him. Two men were holding him. He
said to me, "I wish you would cut open
my side; I have a pain here and it is
skin deep; you can cut it out and save
my life." I looked at him, but did not
say anything to him. I said to myself,
"If your eyes were open, you would see
the angel of death standing by your
side." He died while I was there.
After this my partner left me, and I
went alone to Memphis, Tennessee, and
met with Brothers Patten and Parrish.

After laboring in that part for a length
of time, I received a letter from Joseph
Smith and Oliver Cowdery, in which
they requested me to stay in that coun-
try and take charge of the churches
that we had built up there. The Proph
et promised me many things, and said I
should lose no blessings by tarrying in
that country and doing as he wished me,
and letting the other brethren go and
get their endowments. I was then at
the house of Brother Abraham O.
Smoot's mother. I received this about
sundown. I went into a little room
where there was a sofa, to pray alone.
I felt full of joy and rejoicings at the
promises God had made to me through
the Prophet. While I was upon my
knees praying, my room was filled with
light. I looked and a messenger stood
by my side. I arose, and this personage
told me he had come to instruct me.
He presented before me a panorama.
He told me he wanted me to see with
my eyes and understand with my mind
what was coming to pass in the earth
before the coming of the Son of Man.
He commenced with what the revela-
tions say about the sun being turned to
darkness, the moon to blood, and the
stars falling from heaven. Those things
were all presented to me one after
another, as they will be, I suppose,
when they are manifest before the com
ing of the Son of Man. Then he
showed me the resurrection of the
dead—what is termed the first [##John 5:28–29##] and sec-
ond resurrection [##; Doctrine & Covenants 88:97–102##]. In the first resur-
rection I saw no graves nor anyone
raised from the grave. I saw legions of
celestial beings, men and women who
had received the Gospel all clothed in
white robes. In the form they were
presented to me, they had already been
raised from the grave. After this he
showed me what is termed the second
resurrection. Vast fields of graves
were before me, and the Spirit of God
rested upon the earth like a shower of
gentle rain, and when that fell upon the
graves they were opened, and an im
mense host of human beings came
forth. They were just as diversified in
their dress as we are here, or as they
were laid down. This person-
age taught me with regard to these
things. Among other things he showed
me, there were seven lions like burning
brass placed in the heavens. I asked
the messenger what they were for. He
said they were representative of the
different dispensations of the Gospel of
Christ to men, and they would all be
seen in the heavens among the signs
that would be shown. After this passed
by me, he disappeared. Now, if I had
been a painter I could have drawn
everything that I saw. It made an im-
pression upon me that has never left me
from that day to this. The next day
we had a meeting in the academy.
Brother Smoot and some others went
with me; but I was a lost man. I
hardly knew where I was, so enveloped
was I in that which I had seen.

I refer to this as one of the visitations
that was given me in my boyhood, so to
speak, in the Gospel. I was a Priest at
the time. Of course, there was a
motive in this personage visiting me and
teaching me these principles. He
knew a great deal better than I did
what lay before me in life. It was
doubtless sent to me for the purpose of
strengthening me and giving me en-
couragement in my labors.

The other instance I want to refer to is
what I spoke about at the recent Gen-
eral Conference. I need not dwell par-
ticularly upon this now; but I had a
motive in laying it before the people on
that occasion. The history of Brother
Kimball's operations with those evil
spirits in England is before the Church.
And while on this point I want to cor-
rect a mistake that I made in referring
to this matter at our General Confer-
ence. I got the names of Brother Kim-
ball and Brother Hyde confused in my
mind, and made it appear that Brother
Kimball rebuked those evil spirits from
Brother Hyde, when in fact it was
Brother Kimball who was afflicted with
those spirits and Brother Hyde admin-
istered to him. As this is a matter of
history, I wish to state it correctly, and
therefore make this explanation.
When Brother Kimball, Brother George
A. Smith and myself went to London,
we encountered these evil spirits. They
sought to destroy us. The very first
house that was opened to us was filled
with devils. They had gathered there
for our destruction, so that we should
not plant the Gospel in that great city
Brother Kimball went to Manchester on
some business, and left Brother George
A. Smith and myself there. One
night we sat up till 11 o'clock, talking
Mormonism, and then we went to bed.
We had only just laid down when these
spirits rested upon us, and we were in
a very fair way of losing our lives. It
was as if a strong man had me by the
throat, trying to choke me to death. In
the midst of this a spirit told me to pray.
I did so, and while praying, the door
opened, the room was filled with light,
and three messengers came in. Who
they were I know not. They came and
laid their hands upon us, and rebuked
those powers, and thereby saved our
lives. Not only so, but by the power
they held they rebuked the whole
army of devils that were in that great
city, and bound them so that they have
never troubled any Elder from that day
to this.

Now, those messengers were sent to
us because it was necessary. We would
have lost our lives if somebody had not
delivered us. We needed help, and we
could not get it anywhere else.

This is all I want to say with regard to
the administration of angels to myself.
This Apostle that I refer to told me he
had prayed and prayed for the adminis-
tration of angels. Well, if it had been
necessary to save his life, as it was in
my case, he would have had the admin-
istration of angels. But he had access
to the gift of the Holy Ghost, as all of
us have. And that, brethren and sisters,
is what I want to talk to you about.

One morning, while we were at
Winter Quarters, Brother Brigham
Young said to me and the brethren that
he had had a visitation the night previ-
ous from Joseph Smith. I asked him
what he said to him. He replied that
Joseph had told him to tell the people
to labor to obtain the Spirit of God; that
they needed that to sustain them and to
give them power to go through their
work in the earth.

Now I will give you a little of my ex-
perience in this line. Joseph Smith
visited me a great deal after his death,
and taught me many important princi-
ples. The last time he visited me was
while I was in a storm at sea. I was
going on my last mission to preside in
England. My companions were Brother
Leonard W. Hardy, Brother Milton
Holmes, Brother Dan Jones, and another
brother, and my wife and two other wo-
men. We had been traveling three
days and nights in a heavy gale, and
were being driven backwards. Finally
I asked my companions to come into
the cabin with me, and I told them to
pray that the Lord would change the
wind. I had no fears of being lost; but
I did not like the idea of being driven
back to New York, as I wanted to go
on my journey. We all offered the same
prayer, both men and women; and when
we got through we stepped on to the
deck and in less than a minute it was as
though a man had taken a sword and
cut that gale through, and you might
have thrown a muslin handkerchief out
and it would not have moved it. The
night following this Joseph and Hyrum
visited me, and the Prophet laid before
me a great many things. Among other
things, he told me to get the Spirit of
God; that all of us needed it. He also
told me what the Twelve Apostles
would be called to go through on the
earth before the coming of the Son of
Man, and what the reward of their
labors would be; but all that was taken
from me, for some reason. Neverthe-
less I know it was most glorious, al-
though much would be required at our
hands.

Joseph Smith continued visiting my-
self and others up to a certain time, and
then it stopped. The last time I saw
him was in heaven. In the night vision
I saw him at the door of the temple in
heaven. He came and spoke to me.
He said he could not stop to talk with
me because he was in a hurry. The
next man I met was Father Smith; he
could not talk with me because he was
in a hurry. I met half a dozen brethren
who had held high positions on earth,