Great care must be taken to give God the glory in your after prayer, "for no flesh can glory in his sight."
Enconiums should produce humility, lest we be puffed up, and, in an after time, display our complete nothingness.
EARLY EXPERIENCE OF A LATTER-DAY SAINT.
HEAR THE GOSPEL BY CHANCE—COMPUNCTION AT SPEAKING LIGHTLY OF THE PROPHET—JOIN THE CHURCH—A NEW SUIT OF CLOTHES—OPPOSED BY RELATIVES—MY OLD FRIEND, THE BIBLE—A DREAM—REQUIRED TO RENOUNCE "MORMONISM" OR LEAVE THE HOUSE—MY RELATIVES REFUSE TO SPEAK TO ME—THEY PAWN MY CLOTHES—I RECOVER THEM—VIOLENCE USED—MY CLOTHES TORN—MY MOTHER'S DEATH—MY BROTHERS QUARREL AND CALL UPON ME TO SETTLE THEIR DIFFICULTIES—MY BROTHER SICK—HEALED IN ANSWER TO MY PRAYER.
The substance of the following little sketch was told to the writer by the subject of it, who is an Elder in the Church, and lives in Salt Lake City. His name is Robert P—k. We give it in words as near his own as we can remember.
I was born and reared in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. I passed my boyhood without thinking much on religious matters, till I was about eighteen years of age. At this period of my life I was walking along what is called the Green, a kind of public park, when my attention was attracted by some men discussing publicly the principles of religion. One of them was a Baptist, and I could see that he had the best of the argument, baptism by immersion being a Bible doctrine. This was on Sunday evening.
After listening to the discussion for some time, I was attracted to a place where another man was preaching. This one proved to be an Elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I was so struck with the principles he advanced, that I drank down greedily every word he spoke, and on hearing him tell where the meeting-house of the Latter-day Saints was situated, I went there. I was, however, too bashful to go inside, but I walked back and forth around the building, listening and catching whatever words I could.
I was out later than usual that night, and when I got home I was questioned as to the cause of my absence, by my mother (my father had been dead many years) and brothers. I said I had been to hear the "Mormons."
"Who are the Mormons?"