Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow / One of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

by Eliza R. Snow

Being present at a "Blessing Meeting," in the Temple, previous to his baptism into the Church; after listening to several patriarchal blessings pronounced upon the heads of different individuals with whose history he was acquainted, and of whom he knew the Patriarch was entirely ignorant; he was struck with astonishment to hear the peculiarities of those persons positively and plainly referred to in their blessings. And, as he afterwards expressed, he was convinced that an influence, superior to human prescience, dictated the words of the one who officiated.

The Patriarch was the father of Joseph, the Prophet. That was the first time Lorenzo had met him. After the services, they were introduced, and Father Smith said to my brother that he would soon be convinced of the truth of the latter-day work, and be baptized; and he said: "You will become as great as you can possibly wish—EVEN AS GREAT AS GOD, and you cannot wish to be greater."

Unenlightened as his mind was at the time, the foregoing saying of the Patriarch was a puzzle which my brother could not comprehend, as will be seen by the following expression from his journal:

The old gentleman's prediction, that I should ere long be baptized, was strange to me, for I had not cherished a thought of becoming a member of the "Mormon" Church; but when he uttered the last clause, I was confounded. That, to me, was a big saying, and, I then thought, approaching almost to blasphemy. And why not? After years of study and diligent search after knowledge, in that which most intimately concerned me—"From whence came I?" "Why am I here?" "What is my future destiny?" In all this, I was profoundly ignorant. As yet I had received no key that could unlock those mysteries—that could make known, to my satisfaction, my relationship to Him who controls the universe.

I looked at Father Smith, and silently asked myself the question: Can that man be a deceiver? His every appearance answered in the negative. At first sight, his presence impressed me with feelings of love and reverence. I had never seen age so prepossessing. Father Joseph Smith, the Patriarch, was indeed a noble specimen of aged manhood.

But with all my favorable impressions of the Patriarch, that big saying was a dark parable. The prediction that I should soon be baptized was fulfilled in two weeks from the time it was spoken, and in about four years from that time I was reminded of the foregoing prediction by a very wonderful revelation on the subject in which the principle, as well as the promise, was made clear to my understanding as the sun at noonday.

My brother spent most of the winter of 1837-8 in Kirtland, where he witnessed many marvelous manifestations of the power of God; also exhibitions of the power and opposition of the adversary. During the time he became intimately acquainted with Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and with his father, the Patriarch—with the Twelve Apostles and other leading men in the Church. In his journal he speaks of the fast meetings, prayer and testimony meetings in the Temple, as follows:

There we had the gift of prophecy—the gift of tongues—the interpretation of tongues—visions and marvelous dreams were related—the singing of heavenly choirs was heard, and wonderful manifestations of the healing power, through the administrations of the Elders, were witnessed. The sick were healed—the deaf made to hear—the blind to see and the lame to walk, in very many instances. It was plainly manifest that a sacred and divine influence—a spiritual atmosphere pervaded that holy edifice. Yes, indeed, for the Son of God, in His glory, had honored it with His royal presence. His voice, like the sound of many waters, was heard, saying:

I am the first and the last, I am he who liveth, I am he that was slain, I am your advocate with the Father. * * * Let the hearts of your brethren rejoice, and let the hearts of all my people rejoice, who have, with their might, built this house to my name.

For behold, I have accepted this house, and my name shall be here, and I will manifest myself to my people in mercy in this house, etc. (See Doctrine and Covenants.)