Benjamin Brown writes to his wife Sarah M. Brown; reports seeing "Old father Adam" in a vision.

Date
Apr 1836
Type
Letter
Source
Benjamin Brown
LDS
Hearsay
Holograph
Direct
Reference

"Benjamin Brown, letter to Dear wife [Sarah M. Brown], circa 1836 April," 1-2, MS 17646, Church History Library

Scribe/Publisher
Benjamin Brown
People
Joseph Smith, Sr., Sarah M. Brown, Mathias M. Bovee, Benjamin Brown, Adam
Audience
Sarah M. Brown
PDF
Transcription

Dear wife I last night heard from you [page torn]

which I thank the Lord, Brother Bovee said [paid torn]

Gospel <to father> For which my heart rejoiced for [page torn]

and great is thy reward. Rejoice in the Lord [page torn]

Rejoice, let your moderation be known [page torn]

Now be careful for nothing but in eve [page torn]

[illegible] and with thanksgiving let your requests be made known

to [page torn]

[illegible] God, And the peace of God which passeth all understanding [shall] [page torn]

fill your hearts through Christ Jesus.

Now to let you know a few of the thousand great things of God that is

passing in this place, there has been no mobs as you have beard. But

the work of the Lord is increascing daily. There has been from one to

ten Baptized every day of this week, some of the Elders have been out

for a few days some have baptized 16 some five &c [page torn]

Elders still continue to come in and wash and anoint for the solmn

assembly which will be called next sunday for tithin[g] [page torn]

& sacrifice with fasting & Prayr in the house of the Lord fr[page torn]

8 oclock in the morning until 4 in the afternoon [page torn]

known how long the meeting will hold probaly [page torn]

we have meetings almost every evening and [page torn]

and hold till 9. Many marvelous things [page torn]

transpired even greater than at the day of Penti[cost][page torn]

are increasing in faith and expecting greater [page torn]

endowment it is expected that there is three hundred of [page torn]

in Prayer with one accord as at Jerusalem.

many visions are given and also Revelations by night & by day some have already come to pass, and many have no[t] yet but will soon. I will present when father Smith Blest a man who lived in Niagara County who was in a streight whether to go home, on Business or say at the solem assembly the old patriarch said you want to go home, But the Lord will give you a Sign between this and tomorning and the man asked the Lord for a sign about 2 hours after he came out of the house to go to meeting there appeared a light over the Hou[se] [page torn]

of the Lord and extended from west to East But that part [page torn]

the heavens over his house or home was dark & he said it eno[ugh] [page torn]

some have seen the heavens opend & seen the savior others have seen angels on the four corners of the house of the Lord with drawn swords & also stood think on the ridge Elisha with his chariot of Fire, Peter John & James, & the highway cast up the ten tribes returning in chariots as far as the eye could extend some saw the Redemtion of Zion and other thing to num

[page torn] not the wine & oil. Deeds to the church

[page torn] [w]hether the wicked will be raised

[page torn] 318 page and now my brethren

[page torn]nd prophet of old has testified

[page torn] of God and the people stoned him to death

[illegible] Whether the Saints that are raised will remain on earth during the thousand years, for they lived & reigned with Christ a thousand years Rev 20th 4th

Book of Mormon 424th page Cain & his followers

Old father Adam was seen Butiful man his hair stood back & curled most beautiful even down on his shoulders . . .

BHR Staff Commentary

Transcription taken from Steven C. Harper, "Pentecost Continued: A Contemporaneous Account of the Kirtalnd Temple Dedication," BYU Studies 42, no. 2 (2003), 13, 15, 17. According to Nathan Lassen Jones, "The Ancient Order and the New Measures: Early Mormon Temple Worship and Finneyite Revivalism," Journal of Mormon History 42, no. 2 (April 2016): 115, the vision of "Father Adam" is an account of a vision Brown, not "other saints" had:

Brown spoke in glowing terms about what he called "the order of the House of the Lord," for example, yet he took was caught up in the g eneral feeling of Pentecostal bliss, proclaiming at one point, "Many visions are given and also revealtoins by night and by day . . . Old Father Adam was seen, beautiful man, his hair stood thick [and] curled most butiful, even down on his shoulders."

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