Life of Heber C. Kimball, an apostle

by Orson F. Whitney

"I was in a great water, swimming, and had swam away, trying to make land, although I saw no land, until I had become weary and tired, when I began to sink; then an angel came to me and placed his hand under my chin, for some time keeping me from sinking, until I had rested and gained strength; he blessed me and said, 'Brother Heber, you shall now have strength to swim ashore.' I again began to swim, and it appeared as though every time I stretched forth my arms and feet, I would move rods at each stroke, and continued doing so until I reached land."

This dream, coming as such dreams generally do, in a season of deep depression, was as a spring of pure water in the desert to the parched lips of the weary traveler. As a promise of success, it was amply verified in the subsequent experience of the father and founder of the British mission. "Rods at a stroke" is indeed a strikingly appropriate figure, illustrating the labors in the vineyard of this faithful and mighty servant of the Lord.

"The time we were in Liverpool," he continues, "was spent in council, and in calling on the Lord for direction. While thus engaged, the Spirit of the Lord was with us and we felt greatly strengthened. Our trust was in God, who could make us as useful in bringing down the kingdom of Satan, as He did the ram's horns in bringing down the walls of Jericho; and in gathering out a number of precious souls, who were buried amid the rubbish of tradition, and who had no one to show them the way of truth."

"Go to Preston," said the Spirit of the Lord, and to Preston they went accordingly. The place indicated was a large manufacturing town in Lancashire, thirty-one miles from Liverpool. They arrived there about four o'clock in the afternoon of July 22nd.

It was election day in Preston. Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, who had ascended the throne just three days before the landing of the Elders on her dominions, had ordered a general election for members of Parliament. In the very midst of this busy and interesting scene, Heber and his companions alighted from the coach. He thus describes the spectacle:

"I never witnessed anything like it in my life. Bands of music playing. Flags flying in all directions. Thousands of men, women and children parading the streets, decked with ribbons characteristic of the politics of the several candidates. Anyone accustomed to the peaceable and quiet manner in which the elections in America are conducted, can scarcely have any idea of an election as carried on in England. One of the flags was unrolled before us, nearly over our heads, the moment the coach reached its destination, having on it the following motto: 'TRUTH WILL PREVAIL,' in large gilt letters. It being so very seasonable, and the sentiment being so very appropriate to us in our situation, we cried aloud, 'Amen! Thanks be to God, TRUTH WILL PREVAIL!'"

The Elders took a room in Wilfred Street, in a house belonging to a widow. Joseph Fielding, in the meantime, went in quest of his brother, the Reverend James Fielding, who was pastor of a church in Preston. Returning shortly, he was the bearer of a polite message from the reverend gentleman, inviting the Elders to visit him that evening. Accordingly, Apostles Kimball and Hyde and Elder Goodson went, and were kindly received by Mr. Fielding and his brother-in-law, Mr. Watson, a minister from Bedford. They conversed upon the subject of the Gospel until a late hour. Next morning the Elders received from Mrs. Watson a slight testimonial of her appreciation of their visit, in the shape of a half crown piece.

The Reverend James Fielding, who was destined to be an instrument of Providence for the establishment of Mormonism in Preston—its first foreign foothold—was a brother to Miss Mary Fielding, the same who, with others, accompanied Heber from Kirtland to Fairport, when he started on his mission to England. She subsequently became the wife of Hyrum Smith, the martyr, and mother of Joseph F. Smith, the Apostle.

At this juncture, it will be well to refer to an extraordinary prophecy of Heber C. Kimball's, uttered in the spring of 1836, which connects itself in an interesting manner with the mission he was now about to fulfill. Apostle Parley P. Pratt, over whom the prediction was made, narrates the incident as follows:

"It was now April; I had retired to rest one evening at an early hour, and was pondering my future course, when there came a knock at the door. I arose and opened it, when Elder Heber C. Kimball and others entered my house, and being filled with the spirit of prophecy, they blessed me and my wife, and he prophesied as follows: