PRECIOUS MEMORIES

SIXTEENTH BOOK OF THE
FAITH PROMOTING SERIES

PREFACE

The assurances received of the beneficial effects of the earlier volumes of the Faith-Promoting Series encourage the hope and belief that the present volume may be none the less helpful and appreciated. Narratives of personal experience, especially when they relate to people familiar to the reader or the community in which he lives possess a peculiar charm to most people, and especially to the young, and may convey helpful lessons more effectually than homilies or treatises, however carefully written, are apt to. The reason therefor probably is that in the narrative the moral is applied in real experience whereas in the treatise or homily the moral is expressed in the abstract only, and doubt may exist in the mind of the reader as to just how to apply it in real life.

The hope is entertained that not only may the narratives contained in this volume entertain and at the same time tend to promote faith in those who read them, but that they may also incite others in the community whose lives have been fraught with incidents that would be faith-promoting if published to have the same reduced to writing and supply us therewith for use in the Faith-Promoting Series, or else furnish us with the facts and allow us to prepare the same for publication.

G. C. L.

CONTENTS

SUFFERING AND SERVICE OF THOMAS 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.

CHAPTER II.

Thomas' Responsibility—Journey to Wisconsin—Disappointment—A New Home Sought—Strenuous Life—Knee Injured—Intense Suffering—Given Up to Die—Stimulating Vision—Birth of a Daughter—Novel Runaway—Remedy for his Lameness—Sundry Efforts to Earn a Living—Chinch Bugs Threaten Destruction of Crop—Crop Saved by Inspiration.

CHAPTER III.

Start to Utah—Obstacles in Traveling—Strained From Over-Lifting—Halted Through Illness—Journey to Utah Abandoned—Go to Springfield, Illinois—New Occupation—Money Made and Lost—Journey Resumed—Providentially Helped—Unexpected Meeting of Relatives—Work at Outfitting Post—Journey Across the Plains—Arrival in Salt Lake City.

CHAPTER IV.

Locates in Bountiful—Generosity of Neighbors—Recognized Home Shown Him in Dream—Burned Out—Runs a Saw Mill—Death of Wife—Child Terribly Scalded, Recovers—Brigham Young's Promise—Marries Again—Comforting Testimonies.

CHAPTER V.

Unstinted Service—Inspiration—Goes to the Northwestern States as a Missionary—Health Fails and he Returns—Shocking Death of Son David—Limb Amputated—Patriarchal Blessing—Incident in Logan Temple—Trip to England to Obtain Genealogy.

CHAPTER VI.

His Life's Mission Found—Extensive Genealogy Obtained—Blessed in His Wives and Children—Death of Wife and Others—Third Marriage—Leg Amputated a Second Time—His Benediction.

GEORGE L. FARRELL'S MISSIONARY EXPERIENCE.

CHAPTER I.

Visits Birmingham Conference—Dying Girl Healed When Administered to—Prediction That She Should Be Baptised Fulfilled—Goes to Utah, Gets Married, Has a Child and Dies—Other Conversions in the Challis Family.

CHAPTER II.

Mr. Clark's Intolerance—Elder Farrell's Influence Over Him—Baptisms in Stanwick—Clark Family Migrate.

PREPARED FOR THE GOSPEL.

John Anderson's Search for the Truth—Providential Way in Which He Was First Led to Attend a Meeting of the Saints—Embraced the Gospel—Firm Adherence Thereto.

A PREDICTION AND ITS FULFILLMENT.

Prediction that an Apparently Barren Woman Would Give Birth to a Son—Its Literal Fulfillment—That Son's Reverence for the Elder Who Made the Prediction.

A TONGUE OF UTILITY.

Elder Bastian Inspired to Preach in the Danish Language Before He Had Learned It.

JUDGMENT UPON AN ANTI-"MORMON."

Thug Hired to Assault a "Mormon" Preacher—His Mission Divined by the Elder—A Prediction Concerning the Instigator—Its Literal Fulfillment.

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,