Life of Heber C. Kimball, an apostle

by Orson F. Whitney

CHAPTER XX.

THE MISSION OF ELIAS—THE SYMBOLISM OF THE UNIVERSE—THE PAST PREPARATORY TO THE PRESENT AND FUTURE—THE WAY PREPARED FOR THE FULNESS OF THE GOSPEL—THE "LESSER LIGHTS" OF ENGLAND—FIELDING, MATTHEWS AND AITKEN—THE STARS PALING BEFORE THE SUN.

The mission of Elias is the mission of preparation, the lesser going before the greater, opening up the way. The day-star heralding the dawn. The wedge of truth piercing the wall of prejudice, cleaving the ranks of error, creating the gap through which shall ride on victory's flaming wheels, the chariot of Righteousness.

"Behold I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me."

What Christ is to the Father, Elias is to the Son; messenger and symbol of His Majesty. And hath not Elias also his fore-runner? The mantle of Elias falls on many shoulders; the shadow of that mantle on many more.

Life, the universe, is one vast symbolism. Earth fore-shadows heaven. The stars, the worlds on high, are of higher worlds typical; a climax of constellations, a ladder of light, a burning stairway of immortal glories.

"System on system, countless worlds and suns,
Linked in division, one yet separate,
The silver islands of a sapphire sea,
Shoreless, unfathomed, undiminished, stirred
With waves which roll in restless tides of change."

Planet above planet, step by step, lustre upon lustre "until thou come nigh to Kolob;" Kolob, lord of light, king of kokaubeam, nearest unto the throne of God.

And shall it not be seen when all history is written, on earth as in heaven, where it exists as a prophecy; when all secrets are revealed and hidden things made known; that Time with all its ages is a chain, a climax, an ascending scale of dispensations, merging in each other, and all into one, like rills and rivers mingling with the ocean; that men and nations from the beginning have carved out the way for other men and nations; that human lives and human events, like sections of machinery turned by the enginery of Omnipotence, have fitted into and impelled each other, under the controlling, guiding master mind and hand that "doeth all things well?"

Was not the past all preparatory to the present? Does not the present foreshadow the future? Are not influences at work, even now; doctrines being taught, truths put forth by pulpit, play and press; discoveries made in art and science; antiquities unveiled and mysteries brought to light, that are surely paving the way for the revelations of Jesus Christ, past, present and to come? Is not the knowledge now possessed by the Saints, glorious though it be, but a foretaste, the antepast of a greater feast of knowledge yet to follow?

The mission of Elias is the mission of preparation, the lesser going before the greater, opening up the way.

The mantle of Elias falls on many shoulders; the shadow of that mantle on many more.

In America, it was Sidney Rigdon, Alexander Campbell and other orators and divines, who prepared the way before Joseph Smith and the fullness of the everlasting gospel. In England, the Fieldings, the Matthews, the Aitkens and other lights, shed the lustre of advanced thought over the path-way soon to be brightened by the beams of eternal truth. Receiving not the light themselves, they nevertheless bore witness of its approach, and unknowingly made ready the minds of many for its acceptance. The more lustrously they shone, the greater their measure of power, the higher, wider, deeper, more advanced and more liberal their doctrines, the nearer they approximated, although they knew it not, to what the world terms "Mormonism," what men in other ages called "Christianism," but what the Gods in eternity have glorified as the Gospel of life and salvation.

This preparatory work, like the work which was to follow, was both spiritual and temporal. In America, the sword of a Washington, the pen of a Jefferson had carved out the legend of liberty, "All men are equal," ere the Gospel trump was heard again proclaiming, to high and low, rich and poor, "Peace on earth, good will to men." In England, Victoria had ascended the throne, and the spirit of reform, in church and state, was rolling, a billow of victory, over the land. Society was moved to its center. Old institutions were crumbling. The iconoclast was abroad. Steam and electricity had begun their miracles; science was exploding superstition; tyrant's thrones were tottering; Liberty's upheaval in the west had shaken the very pillars of the east; the "former things" were passing away; He that "sat upon the throne" was making "all things new."

Thus had God prepared the way for the advent of the everlasting
Gospel.

As we have seen, the man chosen to pioneer the work on Europe's shores, to lead the assault on Satan's strongholds in the old world, and wave back over the Atlantic to his chief the signal of truth triumphant among the nations, was Heber C. Kimball.

Speaking of those "lesser lights" who went before him and his brethren
and unwittingly helped them to establish Mormonism in the British
Isles, Heber says, referring now to the mission of Elders Richards and
Goodson to the city of Bedford:

"A minister by the name of Timothy R. Matthews, a brother-in-law to Joseph Fielding, received them very kindly, and invited them to preach in his church, which was accepted, and in it they preached several times, when a number, amongst whom were Mr. Matthews and his lady, believed their testimony, and the truths which they proclaimed. Mr. Matthews had likewise borne testimony to his congregation of the truth of these things, and that they were the same principles that were taught by the Apostles anciently; and besought his congregation to receive the same. Forty of his members went forward and were baptized, and the time was appointed when he was to be baptized. In the interval, however, Brother Goodson, contrary to my counsel and positive instructions, and without advising with any one, read to Mr. Matthews the vision seen by President Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, which caused him to stumble, and darkness pervaded his mind; so much so, that at the time specified he did not make his appearance, but went and baptized himself in the river Ouse; and from that time he began to preach baptism for the remission of sins. He wrote to Rev. James Fielding saying that his best members had left him."

"Mr. Matthews was a gentleman of considerable learning and talent. He had been a minister in the established church of England, but seeing many things in that church contrary to truth and righteousness, and feeling that an overturn was nigh at hand, and that the church was destitute of the gifts of the Spirit, and was not expecting the Savior to come to reign upon the earth, as had been spoken by the prophets; he felt led to withdraw from that body, and gave up his prospects in that establishment. He then began to preach the things which he verily believed, and was instrumental in raising up quite a church in that place."

This of the Reverend Mr. Fielding, in Preston:

"Mr. James Fielding had been a minister in the Methodist Church, but for some of the above causes had withdrawn from that society, and had collected a considerable church in Preston. Those gentlemen, with their congregations at the time we arrived were diligently contending for that faith which was once delivered to the saints; but they afterwards rejected the truth. Notwithstanding they did not obey the Gospel, the greater portion of their members received our testimony, obeyed the ordinances we taught, and are now rejoicing in the blessings of the new and everlasting covenant."

Of the Rev. Robert Aitken, the most famous of these reform ministers,
Tullidge, our local historian, says:

"He seems to have been almost a Whitefield in his eloquence and magical influence over the people. He was emphatically the most popular 'new light' of the period in England. For years he had been preaching very successfully against 'the corruptions of the established church.' His mission had been quite a crusade against the English Episcopacy, and he had established many flourishing chapels in Liverpool, Preston, Manchester, Burslem, London and elsewhere. In the metropolis he founded 'Zion's chapel' and what is interesting in the case was that his themes on the ancient prophecies and their fulfillment in 'these latter days' were very like what might have been heard from Alexander Campbell or the eloquent Sidney Rigdon, before as well as after he became a Mormon Elder. The Rev. Robert Aitken was also powerful in his 'warnings to the Gentiles,' and his sermons were often glorious outbursts of inspiration, when he dwelt upon the prospect of a latter-day church rising in fulfillment of the prophets."

But the power and influence of this brilliant star were about to wane. A greater luminary had arisen—the very Latter-day Church of which he had spoken—before whose rays the light of "Zion's Chapel" must pale as pales the starlight before the morn.

Concerning this celebrated expounder of the Bible, and pounder of the Book of Mormon—for such it seems he literally was—Apostle Kimball writes:

"Soon after our arrival in England, many of the Aitkenites embraced the Gospel, which caused considerable feeling and opposition in the ministers belonging to that sect. Having lost quite a number of members, and seeing that more were on the eve of being baptized, the Rev. Robert Aitken came to Preston, and gave out that he was going to put down Mormonism, expose the doctrines, and overthrow the Book of Mormon. He made a very long oration on the subject, was very vehement in his manner, and pounded the Book of Mormon on the pulpit many times. He then exhorted the people to pray that the Lord would drive us from their coast; and if the Lord would not hear them in that petition, that He would smite the leaders.

"The next Sunday Elder Hyde and myself went to our meeting room, read the thirteenth chapter of first Corinthians, and strongly urged upon the people the grace of charity which is so highly spoken of in that chapter, and made some remarks on the proceedings of the Reverend Robert Aitken, who had abused us and the Book of Mormon so very much. In return for his railing we exhorted the Saints to pray that the Lord would soften his heart and open his eyes that he might see that it was hard to 'kick against the pricks.' This discourse had a very good effect, and that week we had the pleasure of baptizing fifty into the kingdom of Jesus, a large number of whom were members of Mr. Aitken's church."

Thus did the sheep of Israel, straying in Idumean pastures, continue flocking back into the Master's fold. They knew the voice of their Shepherd when He called, and a stranger they would no longer follow.