calculate the risks and weigh the chances until the opportunity for effective duty has passed-passed, it may be never to return. There is none more replete with truth of the many maxims we might seleet than the one, "Be there a will and wisdom finds the way."

To a great extent life is always what we ourselves make it. No doubt there are limits to human capability in all affairs; everywhere men meet with obstacles which even their highest energy cannot overcome, still, as a rule, our wishes, are but prophecies of the things we are capable of performing. We conquer difficulties because we feel that we can do so. Nearly all great characters have been remarkable for their power of will. Napoleon was not the only man. that ever said to himself, "There is nothing impossible." What could better exhibit his dauntless spirit than the answer he made when told that between him and the enemy he would conquer, stood the Alps! "There shall be no Alps," was his daring reply. So most obstacles can be made stepping-stones to success. Washington lost more battles than he won, but he organized victory out of defeat and triumphed in the end.

Classed with perseverance, which is so necessary to success, are patience, courage, hope, and self-knowledge which is by

no

means the least of these qualities. "Know thyself" was considered by the ancients to be a maxim so divine that they said it fell from Heaven, while religious teachers, philosophers, poets, all have taught its importance. The great advantage of any self-study, which shows what our special gifts and corresponding defects are, is that it makes us both humble and hopeful! Self-conceit comes from a vague imagination of our possessing remarkable qualities and not from any real perception of what we are. Actual knowledge of one's self will show that some temptation surrounds every success; that new opportunities come with every failure; that our weakness has a force hidden somewhere, and that our strength, on which we pride ourselves, has its weaker part; as some one has said, "Our virtues and vices grow out of the same stem." We cannot always root out an evil tendency, but by the growth of truth and love we may be able to conquer the evils of the heart. Thus we see we are humbled while

thinking that our greatest success and highest gifts have their dangers, and are hopeful when we see that even our worst propensities can be turned to good.

We may study our complex nature, and, when we come to know it, we can animate and strengthen what is best, discouraging at the same time that which cannot work to our benefit. While we cannot invent circumstances we can select those which are favorable, and make use of the power to fix and solidify all our good qualities; and with the light of great examples to guide us-representatives of humanity in its best form every one is not only justified, but bound in duty to aim at reaching the highest standard of character. Everywhere are found in man evidences of conscience, rewarding him when he does. what he believes to be right, punishing when he falls into wrong. In all souls there is this instinctive sense of good and bad; morality itself is nothing if not respect for duty and principle, apart from all rewards they may bring. For if we do right in hope of some reward to follow, we are not acting conscientiously but from selfish motives. There are men we know possessed of active perceptive powers, while in others, the intuitional powers excel, being more shocked at the sight of injustice and more elevated by acts of benevolence. We take men with active perceptive powers as our guides, in respect to outward things, but quite often we look upon the men of intuition as visionaries. If they are so, we might well be proud to have their visions of infinite truth, beauty, and justice their visions of the great realities of the spiritual world. They place before our minds great moral truths, which join us to God and eternity, and lay the foundations on which the stage of society, morality, the very worth of man depends. This is the instinct of the future and rests in faith and trust. While some have more, others less, it may be strengthened by exercise. We may look down or upward, upon our sorrows or our joys. All experience teaches us that we become that which we would make ourselves. If we wish to be of any use to ourselves and those around us, we cannot fear responsibilities; we must be ready to run a risk of failure, to expose ourselves, to be misunderstood, to encounter opposition, censure, dislike. All real life is a warfare. If we are real to our convictions, and

have a desire to obey conscience, we shall soon find ourselves in the heat and thick of battle. I Think as others do, drift along with the masses, and no exertion is required; life is apparently one glad dream. But what reward will such a dreamer receive at last? The same as that bestowed upon him who exhibited in daily life, as well as on rare occasions, that moral courage, born of conscience, which he obtained by hard work? We reject the thought at once, and yet do we not live half forgetful that there is an end to all things? We forget that sterling qualities are necessary even in the minor events of life. True courage is what we want, not rashness, insensibility to danger; qualities of this kind which so often pass for courage these are natural, while that is acquired by discipline and education; it consists in self-control, presence of mind, and devotion to what is good and true.

Closely associated with it is the love of truth; this quality alone makes men strong. He who follows with unfaltering steps the path of truth is lifted above fear; but sees through and beyond all impediments. What matter though the world criticise and perhaps condemn him? He may make mistakes but our glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall; and in the end they fail and they alone who have not striven. When a man is able to rise above himself, only then he becomes truly strong. The very effort to advance, to arrive at a higher standard of character than we have reached, is inspiring, and we cannot fail to be improved by every honest effort made in an upward direction. Whoever, though, seeks to bring all power into his own hands for personal ends, no matter how high his standing, will surely decline and fall. We have this exemplified best, perhaps, in the first great French emperor. He knew that his campaign throughout was beset with unknown dangers; he saw the awful abyss before him but his ambition, which but answered the promptings of his vanity, cried out to him, Advance, go on; Bonaparte may sway the sceptre as monarch of the whole world. Whose fall could have been greater? He had force of will with intellect which carried him to a great height of power but he lacked the principles of conscience, perhaps not

a

entirely but to a certain extent. When the fall came he would gladly have commenced life again, but we cannot always be taking the initiative and beginning

anew.

We need to be carried forward by our daily work; this is one of the blessed influences which keep the soul strong. The sight of what there is to do, the feeling that whatever ought to be done, must not be passed over, and the trust that God will help us to do with these incentives, who can predict for us failure? Nothing is so encouraging as the knowledge of what has been achieved by patience, wisdom, and determined purpose. We look back at the great men of history-Columbus, Washington, Milton and a host of wonderful characters, generally thinking only of their own success; their whole career seems to be one of steady triumph; but when we dwell upon their lives, we find them so checkered with difficulties of all kinds that we shrink from the very thought of what they have so bravely encountered; we desire the renown they have won for themselves, remembering not that to the victor alone belongs the spoils. We forget that life grows out of struggle, and that the greater the conflict the more deserving are we of the crown we would wear. The world gives its admiration to that worker who does best what multitudes do well.

Then it is excellence we must cultivate and this comes from constant, persevering efforts, directed towards a noble purpose to bring at the close its well-merited reward. 'Tis Perfection that crowns this excellence; she weaves the garland; 'tis hers to bestow. She stands ready to encircle the brow of him whose merits she is pleased to crown, but on that brow she must find clear and bright the name she herself has won.

Hopeless the task to baffle care,

Or break through sorrow's thrall!
To shake thy yoke thou may'st not dare;
It would more keenly gall.
Through life's dark maze a sunnier way

This tranquil thought insures-
To know, let Fate do what she may,
He conquers who endures!

Vengeance for any cruel wrong
Bringeth a dark renown;

But fadeless wreaths to him belong
Who calmly lives it down;
Who scorning every mean redress,
Each recreant art abjures,
Safe in the noble consciousness,
He conquers who endures!

Who quells a nation's wayward will
May lord it on a throne;
But he's a mightier monarch still
Who vanquisheth his own.
No frown of Fortune lays him low,
No treacherous smile allures;
King of himself, through weal or woe,
He conquers who endures!

Mark the lone rock that grandly studs
The melancholy main-

The raving winds, the foaming floods, Burst over it in vain.

In age majestic as in youth,

It stands unchanged, secure; Symbol immortal of the truthThey conquer who endure!

-Charles J. Dunphie.

ATM

[T the time our serial begins the dominant religion was the established one or that of the Church of England. It contained the well-known thirty nine Calvinistic articles, but these were interpreted by the clergy in general according to the more liberal principles of Arminianism, all other religions being tolerated.

Such was the condition of the British Isles when, about the first of June, 1837, Heber C. Kimball was called by the spirit of revelation and set apart by the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, then at Kirtland, Ohio, to preside over a mission in England, accompanied by Orson Hyde who was set apart for the same work at the same time. In a few days James Fielding was set apart, and on the eve of the 12th Williard Richards who had been away several months on a long journey, and had returned the day previous, was set apart for the same mission.

The following morning, Tuesday the 13th, these brethren gave the parting hand, bade farewell to home and loved ones and without purse or scrip started for England. These men displayed the spirit and genius of the work. To start

out on a journey of near four thousand miles, under adverse circumstances and

among strangers, with no apparent pros pects of sustenance or aid, required that faith and confidence in God and his word which is only born of a true discipleship

in Christ.

They were accompanied twelve miles to Fairport by several Saints and there took a steamer for Buffalo where they arrived next day. At this place the brethren expected to receive some money from Canada to assist them on their journey, but were disappointed. They arrived in Albany on the 19th and by the 22d all were in New York. There providential aid was received and on July 1 they started on the Garrick for Liverpool.

During the one week they were in New York they lodged in an old store room, sleeping on straw placed on the floor, eating what cold victuals they could get and conversing with the people as they had opportunity. On the 29th the brethren sealed, superscribed, and forwarded one hundred and eighty of Orson Hyde's "Timely Warnings" to the ministers of the different denominations in the city. On the 16th of July Elder Hyde preached on the aft quarter deck and in twenty days they reached Liverpool.

Here the elders found themselves on a foreign shore, surrounded by strangers.

They immediately took lodging in a private house on Union street until after the inspection of the ship and on the 22d took coach for Preston. When they had alighted from the coach and were standing by their trunks in front of the hotel a large flag was unfurled over their heads on which was printed in golden letters, "Truth Will Prevail." At the sight of this their hearts rejoiced and they cried aloud, "Amen, thanks be unto God; truth will prevail."

During the day they secured lodgings, and in the evening they visited the Reverend James Fielding, a brother of Elder Fielding, then a preacher in the Vanshall chapel. He had previously been apprized of the coming forth of this work in America, through letters from his relatives and then had requested his church members to pray that God would send them his servants and exhorted the people to receive their message when they should come.

On the following Sunday, they went to hear the Reverend Fielding preach, and he announced that an elder of the Latter Day Saints would preach in the afternoon in his pulpit. This was voluntary on his part as no one had requested the privilege. In the afternoon Elder Kimball gave a brief history of the rise of the church and of the first principles of the gospel and Elder Hyde bore testimony. Elder Goodson preached in the evening. and Joseph Fielding bore testimony. On Wednesday Elder Hyde preached and the Reverend Fielding closed his doors against them and began to oppose the work, stating that the elders had promised to say nothing about baptism in their ser mons before he consented to let them preach in his pulpit, whereas the subject of the elders preaching had not been named between them before Mr. Fielding gave out the public appointment, much less (if possible) "that they would say nothing about baptism."

On Sunday, the 30th day of July, nine of Mr. Fielding's members offered themselves for baptism and Mr. Fielding presented himself before the elders and forbade their baptizing them, but he received for answer that they were of age and could act for themselves and the can

didates were baptized by Elder Kimball. George D. Watt was the first who offered himself for baptism and he afterwards.

became a staunch defender of the faith.

Elder Russell (who in connection with John Goodson and John Snyder of Canada had joined the brethren at New York) preached in the market place in the afternoon, and from that day the doors of private houses were opened on almost every hand for the elders. After a night of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving the brethren separated, Goodson and Richards going to Bedford in one of the south Midland counties as before described, Russel and Snyder going on a mission to Alston.

The Rev. Fielding continued to oppose the doctrine of baptism for a season, but, finding that he was likely to lose all his best members, he offered to baptize them himself; but they, being aware that he had no authority, declined his friendly offer whereupon he engaged the Rev. Giles, a Baptist minister in Preston, of as little authority as himself, to do the baptizing for his flock, but the iniquitous scheme succeeded little better than the other as only one came forward to his baptism.

Mr. Fielding's people also stated that he acted the part of a hypocrite and deceived them when he read the letters to them in public which he received from America, by keeping back those parts which treated on baptism, which, since the foregoing failure, he had opposed.

Miss Jenneta Richards was the first one confirmed in England. She was visiting friends in Preston, but soon returned home to Walkerford to her father's house and informed him relative to what she had done and requested him to send for Elder Kimball. Elder Kimball. Mr. Richards complied and in response Elder Kimball arrived on Saturday evening, and the following day preached three times in Mr. Richard's pulpit to crowded assemblies, twice the following week and also the next Sunday, being kindly and courteously entertained by Mr. and Mrs. Richards. Six persons were baptized within the week.

After a short visit to Preston, where Elder Hyde continued preaching and baptizing, Elder Kimball returned to Walkerford, the work soon spreading in the neighborhood, and from there going forth to Clitheroe, Waddington, Downham, Chatburn, Thornly, and Ribchester through the labors of Kimball and Fielding.

On Wednesday, August 2, Elders Good

son and Richards arrived in Bettford and, having letters of introduction to the Rev. Timothy R. Matthews, they immediately repaired to his residence, while he, in turn, expressed great joy at their arrival and manifested his sincerity by walking arm in arm with the elders through the streets of Bedford, calling on the members of his church and extending invitations to attend the lecture of the elders at his chapel vestry that evening.

Mr. Matthews had lately been apprized of the Saints in America through the medium of Reverend Fielding. He was also a brother-in-law of Elder Fielding. In the evening his church assembled in the vestry and Goodson and Richards addressed them, as also on the three following evenings with the entire approbation of the Reverend Matthews, who, at the close of the lectures, publicly bore testimony to the truth advanced and called upon his people to know why they did not come forward for baptism, while they in return wished to know why he did not set them the example.

After this he (Matthews) engaged another house in the neighborhood for the elders under the pretense that some of the proprietors of the chapel might not be disposed to allow the elders to longer occupy the "vestry." He continued to attend and spent a major portion of each day with the brethren in conversation. He told the elders that he had received two ordinations, one from Bishop West, whom he had proven to be an imposter and another from the Church of England, which he acknowledged to have descended from the Church of Rome, and he further acknowledged that he had no authority from God.

On the tenth five were baptized by Elder Goodson. Soon after this Mr. Joseph Saville a member of Mr. Matthews' church desired baptism, but, wishing his pastor to be baptized at the same time, waited on him in connection with the elders, and Matthews and Saville mutually agreed to meet the elders on the banks of the river Ouse, at a specified hour in the afternoon, as both wished to be baptized. At the appointed hour Mr. Saville and the elders were there, but Matthews did not make his appearance, and after an hour's wait, Mr. Saville was baptized. The elders returned to Mr. Matthew's home to learn the cause of his non-appear

ance and were informed by his family that he had gone out in the country to preach.

In a day or two it was currently reported that he had baptized himself, and this was afterwards confirmed by his wife, who stated to Elder Kimball at Preston, that he had done so, reasoning on this principle, "If I have authority to administer the sacrament to my people, why have I not authority to baptize, etc.?" This he did, after he had acknowledged that he "had no authority to administer in the ordinances of God's house," and altogether regardless of the injunctions of Scripture. Here we see the straits to which men will go in order to maintain their preconceived ideas in contradistinction to the word of God.

From that time he commenced to preach baptism and to baptize all those who felt it their duty to be baptized, and then invited them to the "penitent form" to get a remission of sins, but finding that would not answer all the designs he intended, he afterwards began to baptize for the remission of sins. He kept on adding one thing to another in imitation of truth as fast as it answered his purpose, but it was some time before he arrived at the heaven-daring, conscience-seared hardihood to lay hands on those he baptized for the reception of the Holy Ghost, while at the same time he acknowledged that he was not in possession of it himself by praying that he might receive it.

He called his church the "Latter Day Saints" while, before that, he had been crying in public and private that the Latter Day Saints and their doctrines came from hell, and that the brethren were false prophets. In seeking thus to secure prestige among the people without conforming to the claims of God's servants, he dismally failed, and only made his weakness the more prominent.

In Preston the work was attacked by a Rev. Atkins, and although he and Fielding did all they could to injure the influence of the elders they only became the more painfully aware that they were adding fuel to the flame, and the work spread far and wide, and on the 6th of August, Elders Kimball, Fielding, and Hyde addressed a large concourse of people in the market place amid the most bitter persecution. On the same evening some forty or more of those previously