



Produced by Holly Astle, Mormon Texts Project Intern
(http://mormontextsproject.org/)







HELPFUL VISIONS.

THE FOURTEENTH BOOK OF THE FAITH-PROMOTING SERIES.


Intended for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-day
Saints.


JUVENILE INSTRUCTOR OFFICE,

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH.

1887.



COMBINED FAITH-PROMOTING SERIES,

Nos. 1-5, $1.35,

Nos. 6-10, $1.25.



CONTENTS.

A TERRIBLE ORDEAL.

CHAPTER I.

Remarkable Spiritual Manifestations--Thrilling Experience of Elder
David P. Kimball, as Narrated by himself.

CHAPTER II.

Account of Patten Kimball and Others, Regarding the Search for and
Finding of his Father.

BRIANT S. STEVENS.

CHAPTER I.

Briant Stringham Stevens Becomes a Missionary to His Associates and
Brings Four Boys to Belief and Baptism--A Good Child who Passed Amidst
the Daily Temptations of Life Unscathed.

CHAPTER II.

Accidents to Briant--He is Ordained to the Priesthood--Patient
Endurance of His Sufferings--He is Blessed to be an Elder and then
Slumbers in Death.

CHAPTER III.

A "Helpful Vision" to Briant's Stricken Father--the Comforter Brings
the Peace which Passes All Understanding--The Funeral of the Little
Missionary--His Work Lives after Him.

FINDING COMFORT.

CHAPTER I.

Called to Australasia--The Modern Imitators of Job's Friends--Our
"Special Instruction" is to "Build up the Kingdom of God in those
Lands"--A Disappointment ends in a Blessing--Promises by an Apostle
which were Literally Fulfilled--We Reach Sydney, I am Separated From my
Companion.

CHAPTER II.

Labor which Brought Little Compensation--A Mysterious Call to
New Zealand--Attacked by an Evil Spirit--The Visitation Thrice
Repeated--Meeting the Brother of a Friend--On Board the _Wakatipu_
Bound for New Zealand.

CHAPTER III.

An Irreverent Company of Passengers--Sickness and a Horror of Life
Fall Upon Me--A "Helpful Vision"--"Only be True"--Invoking the
Name of Christ--A Jolly Singer and a Jolly Song--Landing at Port
Littleton--Strange Recognition of Brother Nordstrand--His Dream
Concerning Me.

CHAPTER IV.

Reason for my Sudden Call to Leave Sydney--The Little Old Lady of the
_Wakatipu_--She had Waited a Generation to Renew her Covenants--Another
"Helpful Vision"--A Mysterious Half-Sovereign--Saved from Death in a
Swift River.

CHAPTER V.

Some Old Members of the Church--The Spirit Prompts Promises to Them
which are Literally Fulfilled--Help from a Catholic Who is Suddenly
Converted and Who as Suddenly Apostatizes--A Spontaneous Prophecy--The
Journey Home--A Careful Observer--Safe in Zion.

TRAITORS.

Solemn Warnings--A Traitor can Never be Anything but
Despicable--Examples of the Past.



PREFACE.

The very encouraging reports we are constantly receiving from various
parts of the country concerning the vast amount of good accomplished by
these small publications, induces us to issue the fourteenth book, with
the sincere hope that it may not be less interesting or instructive
than those which have preceded it.

The Visions here recorded will again prove that truth is stranger than
fiction, and we trust that a perusal of these manifestations will lead
our young people to seek for the guidance of the Lord in all things,
and make Him their constant friend. The article on traitors is very
appropriate reading matter for the present season, and will, it is
hoped, cause everyone to look upon the men of this class with the
contempt they so justly merit, and sustain everyone in shunning as they
would poison, any traitorous act.

Our great desire is that this little book may assist in the education
and elevation of the young people and others who may peruse it.

THE PUBLISHERS.



A TERRIBLE ORDEAL.

BY O. F. WHITNEY.



CHAPTER I.

REMARKABLE SPIRITUAL MANIFESTATIONS--THRILLING EXPERIENCE OF ELDER
DAVID P. KIMBALL, AS NARRATED BY HIMSELF.

The following narrative of the experience of the late David Patten
Kimball, who was lost on the Salt River desert, Arizona, in the latter
part of November, 1881, is taken by permission from a letter written
by him to his sister, Helen Mar Whitney, of this city, on the 8th of
January, 1882. Brother Kimball was then a resident of Jonesville,
or Lehi, three miles from Mesa, where the letter was written. The
events described took place while he was returning home from a trip to
Prescott, the capital of that Territory.

The experience related was of so remarkable a character as to meet with
dubiety on the part of some, especially those inclined to be skeptical
regarding spiritual manifestations. Some went so far as to ascribe the
sights and scenes through which the narrator claimed to have passed,
to the fevered fancy of a mind disordered by strong drink. That such
should have been supposed, particularly by those who are ignorant of
spiritual things, is not surprising, when it is remembered that even
the Apostles of Christ, on the day of Pentecost, were accused of being
"drunken with new wine," when the power of the Spirit fell upon them
and they "spake with tongues and prophesied."

What is here presented is the plain and simple testimony of an honest
man, who adhered to it till the day of his death, which occurred within
two years from the date of his letter, and was in literal fulfillment
of certain things which he said were shown him in vision, and of which
he frequently testified while living.

For the benefit of such as may not have known Brother David P. Kimball,
we will state that he was the fourth son of the late President Heber C.
Kimball, whose wonderful encounter with evil spirits, on the opening
of the British Mission in 1837, has become a matter of Church history.
Here is the excerpt from David's letter:

"On the 4th of November, I took a very severe cold in a snow storm at
Prescott, being clad in light clothing, which brought on pneumonia
or lung fever. I resorted to Jamaica ginger and pepper tea to obtain
relief and keep up my strength till I could reach home and receive
proper care. On the 13th I camped in a canyon ten miles west of
Prescott, my son Patten being with me. We had a team of eight horses
and two wagons. That night I suffered more than death. The next night
we camped at Mr. McIntyre's, about twenty miles farther on. I stopped
there two nights and one day, during which time I took nothing to drink
but pepper tea. On the 16th we drove to Black's ranch, twenty-eight
miles nearer home, and were very comfortably located in Mr. Black's
house.

"About 11 p. m., I awoke and to my surprise saw some six or eight men
standing around my bed. I had no dread of them but felt that they were
my friends. At the same time I heard a voice which seemed to come from
an eight square (octagon) clock on the opposite side of the house.
It commenced talking and blackguarding, which drew my attention,
when I was told to pay no attention to it. At this point I heard the
most beautiful singing I ever listened to in all my life. These were
the words, repeated three times by a choir: 'God bless Brother David
Kimball.' I at once distinguished among them the voice of my second
wife, Julia Merrill, who in life was a good singer. This, of course,
astonished me. Just then my father commenced talking to me, the voice
seeming to come from a long distance. He commenced by telling me of
his associations with President Young, the Prophet Joseph, and others
in the spirit world, then enquired about his children, and seemed to
regret that his family were so scattered, and said there would be a
great reformation in his family inside of two years. He also told me
where I should live, also yourself and others, and a great many other
things. I conversed freely with father, and my words were repeated
three times by as many different persons, exactly as I spoke them,
until they reached him, and then his words to me were handed down in a
like manner.

"After all this I gave way to doubt, thinking it might be only a dream,
and to convince myself that I was awake, I