and could discover the forms and features of the men. The most profound order existed throughout the entire army; when the foremost man stepped, every man stepped at the same time; I could hear the steps. When the front rank reached the western horizon a battle ensued, as we could distinctly hear the report of arms and the rush.

"No man could judge of my feelings when I beheld that army of men, as plainly as ever I saw armies of men in the flesh; it seemed as though every hair of my head was alive. This scenery we gazed upon for hours, until it began to disappear.

"After I became acquainted with Mormonism, I learned that this took place the same evening that Joseph Smith received the records of the Book of Mormon from the angel Moroni, who had held those records in his possession.

"John Young, sen., and John P. Greene's wife, Rhoda, were also witnesses.

"My wife, being frightened at what she saw, said, 'Father Young, what does all this mean?'

"'Why, it's one of the signs of the coming of the Son of Man,' he replied, in a lively, pleased manner.

"The next night similar scenery was beheld in the west by the neighbors, representing armies of men who were engaged in battle."

A wonderful foreshadowing, truly, of the warfare to be waged between the powers of good and evil, from the time Truth sprang from earth and Righteousness looked down from heaven upon the boy Joseph, predestined to bring to light the buried records of the past.

In Mendon began the intimacy and friendship of Heber C. Kimball with his life-long colleague, Brigham Young. The Youngs and Greenes, like the Kimballs, were from Vermont, and had moved into Mendon a few months prior to the event just related. In religion they were Reformed Methodists, but, being in lowly circumstances, were looked down upon by the proud members of the flourishing church to which they belonged. They had suffered greatly from sickness, and had seen much sorrow and affliction.

Heber's generous heart and that of his noble wife were touched with sympathy and compassion for their situation. Says he: "To them my heart was united, because a principle had existed in my breast from earliest childhood, to plead the cause of suffering innocence, to go on the side of the oppressed at all times; neither do I remember to have ever varied from this fixed principle at any time in my life; I have many times turned aside from the company of those who were highly esteemed in the world, and sought the society of the poor and humble, those who loved the ways of the Lord better than the praise of the world."

He found in these families, which were related, congenial associates, for they too were seekers after truth, and truth they were all destined, ere many days, to find.

Sometime in the fall or winter of 1831, about three weeks after Heber and his wife had joined the Baptist church, five Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came from Pennsylvania to Victor, five miles from Mendon, and tarried at the house of Phineas H. Young. They were Eleazer Miller, Elial Strong, Alpheus Gifford, Enos Curtis and Daniel Bowen. Hearing of these men, Heber was prompted by curiosity to visit them, "when," says he, "for the first time I heard the fullness of the everlasting gospel."

The glorious news of a restored gospel and a living priesthood, commissioned of and communicating with the heavens; the promise of the Holy Ghost with signs following the believer, as in days of old; the wondrous declaration of angels revisiting the earth, breaking the silence of ages, bringing messages from another world;—all this fell upon the heart of this God-fearing man, and on the hearts of his friends and companions, like dew upon thirsty ground. As the voice of a familiar spirit, it seemed an echo from the far past—something they had known before.

To hear, with Heber, was to believe. He was convinced that they taught the truth, and was constrained to receive their testimony. He saw, more clearly than ever, that he had embraced but a portion of the truth in the Baptist faith; that the creeds of Christendom, the religions of the world, were but remnants of the everlasting gospel, broken off fragments of that grand Rock of Ages, the same in all generations; mixtures of truth and error; lesser lights at best in the broad firmament of human faith; and that now, when the Sun had once more arisen, the stars that lit the night must pale away.

Both Heber and Brigham received the word gladly, and were impelled to testify of its divinity. Then the power of God fell upon them.

"On one occasion," says Heber, "Father John Young, Brigham Young, Joseph Young and myself had come together to get up some wood for Phineas H. Young. While we were thus engaged we were pondering upon those things which had been told us by the Elders, and upon the saints gathering to Zion, when the glory of God shone upon us, and we saw the gathering of the saints to Zion, and the glory that would rest upon them; and many more things connected with that great event, such as the sufferings and persecutions that would come upon the people of God, and the calamities and judgments that would come upon the world.

"These things caused such great joy to spring up in our bosoms that we were hardly able to contain ourselves, and we did shout aloud 'Hosannah to God and the Lamb.'"

This heavenly vision, vouchsafed as the reward of faith and pure desires, only made them eager to know more of the "marvelous work and wonder" which the God of Israel had set His hand to perform, in fulfillment of the words of His ancient prophets. The Holy Ghost had fallen upon them, as on Cornelius of old, before baptism. They had plucked from the Tree of Life, from branches overhanging the wall, luscious fruit, whose sweetness and flavor made them long to enter the garden and more fully satisfy the desire of their souls.

Heber, accordingly, proposed a journey to Pennsylvania, the state from whence the Elders came, where several branches of the Church were established. It was winter; January, 1832. Putting his horses to the sleigh, he and his companions set off upon the journey, a distance of one hundred and twenty-five miles. The party consisted of Heber C. Kimball, Brigham Young, Phineas Young and the wives of the two latter. The branch they visited was in Columbia, Bradford County; that from which the Elders came, in Rutland, Tioga County.

They tarried about six days, attending the meetings of the Church, witnessing the manifestations of the gifts of the spirit, such as speaking in tongues, interpretations and prophecy, and learning more of the nature and mission of the great latter-day work. They returned home rejoicing, praising God, and bearing testimony by the way.