Suffering and Service of Thos. Briggs
CHAPTER I.
WITHERED LIMB RESTORED TO USE—SISTER AND MOTHER INSTANTLY HEALED—SAINTS PRESERVED IN CHOLERA EPIDEMIC—PROPHETIC ADVICE TO THE BRIGGS FAMILY—CONSEQUENCES OF FAILURE TO FOLLOW IT—VOYAGE TO AMERICA—THE MOTHER HEALED IN ANSWER TO PRAYER—SATANIC THREAT FULFILLED IN MOTHER'S DEATH—SICKNESS AND RECOVERY OF THOMAS—HIS MARRIAGE—PREMONITION OF DEATH—DEATH OF FATHER.
BROTHER THOMAS BRIGGS, of Bountiful, Utah, a man who is noted for his zeal and integrity, has had a rather eventful life, the principal incidents of which he has had reduced to a type-written narrative for the benefit of his posterity. From this compilation and information otherwise obtained, the following items are culled:
He was born August 20, 1832, at Newark, Notting-hamshire, England. When six years of age he removed with his parents to Hull, where his father owned and operated a small vessel that plied about the coast and on the rivers, where the water was too shallow for large ships to navigate. His parents were religious people, but dissatisfied with the sects of the day, and therefore not members of any of them.
In the year 1848, the father heard of the Latter-day Saints, and, on attending one of their meetings, was immediately attracted by their doctrines. The mother could not be persuaded to attend a meeting for a long time because of the unpopularity of the "Mormons," and for the reason that their place of worship was in a somewhat disreputable part of the town.
When she did finally hear the "Mormon" Elders, she too, as well as Thomas, became interested, the latter especially so on hearing a discourse on "the gifts of the Gospel and the signs that follow the believer." Thomas at that time was sorely afflicted with what the doctors called a withered limb. What he heard set him to thinking, reading the Bible and praying. His parents had spent a large amount of money on having his left leg, (which had ceased growing, and was very painful,) treated by various doctors, but all in vain.
In the fall of 1848 the Father embraced the Gospel, and near the same time he took Thomas to a very noted doctor, in the hope that he would be able to cure him; but the doctor, after examining the boy, said his was a very bad case, and told the father confidentially that he could not live much longer.