Trouble Accepting

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Which vision did members of the Church have a hard time accepting that Joseph Smith received?

a.            The Civil War

b.            The Word of Wisdom

c.            The Three Degrees of glory

d.            Emma collecting hymns for the Church

Yesterday’s answer:

A   Addison lived like them

Among the noteworthy things [Addison] Pratt describe during his missionary work in the South Pacific are the encounters he and his companions had with the London Missionary Society, as attested in his journals (1844-1852). On September 17, 1844, just four months after Pratt landed in Tubuai, he recorded his first meeting with three LMS missionaries, one of whom was William Howe. When Pratt held out his hand to this LMS missionary, Howe responded, “No I shall not give you my hand till we are better acquainted.” Pratt further noted that Howe said to him, “I understand you have come to these Islands in the capacity of a preacher. . . . I suppose that you are aware that so many years ago, the English missionary society of London established a mission among these islands at a very vast expense. . . . We have got the bible translated into this [Tahitian] language.”

The conversation then turned to questions launched by the English missionaries concerning the Mormon usage of the Bible and a brief discussion of the Book of Mormon. When things became heated, one of the LMS missionaries (Mr. Jason) stepped in to smooth things over, whom Pratt notes “seemed to be a very different man from the two [Howe and another missionary].” Pratt then began to take the initiative in asking questions. He bore a strong testimony of the restoration of The Church of Jesus Christ of the earth. Pratt then made a very bold gesture:

“I hed [held] up my right hand and called on all the Heavenly hosts to witness, that I knew Joseph Smith to be a good man and a prophet to the Lord, and I knew this work to be preparatory to the second coming of Christ, and if I lied, I lied in the name of the Lord eternal damnation, and nothing less, is the penalty of such as a crime, and if I told the truth, and they gave no heed to it, they would have to suffer the consequence. They thought, they dare bear testimony to what they preacht, but did not, in the way that I did. I then advanced some other points of doctrine and offered them my, bible to  find scripture to confute it, and their reply was, that they must go on board, but told me, as long as I preacht the truth they could pray for my success, but if I preacht, error they would pray that it might fall to the ground. I told them that our prayers were united, if they would pray thus, and I could make the same prayers for them, upon this they 3 gave me the hand of fellowship. They wisht for a book of Mormon and I gave them one, also a voice of waring and O. Pratt’s pamphlet, giving a short sketch of Joseph Smith’s life.”

Pratt then relates that these English missionaries laid anchor for several days but did not continue to preach, adding that Howe asked some of the natives if they would like him to spend some time with them on the island. One native refused the request and said “they had got a man [Pratt] they liked better, for he is satisfied to live as we do and fair [fare] as we fair. But if you stop, we have to go to building you houses . .  and you will want so much waiting and tending on. They were treated very coolly, to what they had been used to, before.”

The Closedown of LDS Iowa Settlements in 1852 That Completed the Nauvoo Exodus and Jampacked the Mormon Trail, William G. Hartley, BYU Studies, Vol. 52, No. 3, 2013, 109-111.