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and apostles, and were now passing through the same ordeal, the same suffering and persecution as they were forced to experience.

"I have been over fifty years, gentlemen, actively engaged in bearing witness of my knowledge respecting the divine authenticity of what is called Mormonism, and have declared the principles of my religion and borne my testimony of them through various. portions of my own country, also in Great Britain, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Turkey, Land of Palestine, and on the islands of the sea. These arduous and sacred responsibilities would never have been ventured by me without first knowing this religion, this gospel, and the authority to preach it had come direct from God to Joseph Smith, pure and unadulterated; not simply belief but a knowledge direct to me from God himself.

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"Mr. Snow, if I may be allowed the inquiry,' said the judge, 'what you mean by the term knowledge is, I presume, a conviction arising from an internal feeling or inward light. I wish now,' he continued, it to be distinctly understood, Mr. Snow, that we are in the pursuit of information, not of indulging in criticisms.'

"Judge Morgan,' said I, in speaking of knowledge I employ the term in its literal sense. I mean a physical demonstration, not belief alone, a feeling arising merely from mental enlightenment, as you mention, but

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physical knowledge, through the organ of the senses, of a nature which could never be questioned or doubted by its possessor while life and memory exist.'

Mr.

"'Would you object, Snow,' said the judge, 'to explain and fully describe the nature of that knowledge, and the precise manner in which it was given?'

"I shall be happy, gentlemen, to do so; but you must allow me time, and to approach the question in my Own way, a little circuitously. The following circumstances led me to investigate Mormonism:'

"While attending college at Oberlin, Ohio, in the spring of 1836, I had occasion to visit Kirtland, some sixty miles distant, where two of my sisters were residing. At that time this was the principal settlement of the Mormons. Joseph Smith, his counselors and leading Elders then had their homes in that locality, and the Saints had just completed a beautiful edifice called a temple. I became acquainted with Joseph Smith, his counselors, and a number of the prominent leaders. I attended several of their meetings, at which it was their custom for lay members, both men and women, to speak-give their experiences, and testify regarding their extraordinary spiritual manifestations. I talked with these people, their prominent Elders, with Joseph and his aged father, the Patriarch of the Church. I marvelled and was exceedingly astonished while

listening to what they solemnly declared regarding their wonderful experiences.

mony, if false, could be no less than positive villainy. In view of these facts, gentlemen, I felt it my duty to accept this gospel -and would you not yourselves?'

"Being at that time a young man, full of worldly aspirations, with bright prospects, and means to gratify my ambition in acquiring a liberal collegiate education; also having a host of wealthy, proud, aristocratic friends and relatives watching eagerly for my achieving high honors in life, of course you can easily understand that it was a great trial, and required the strongest effort to form a resolution to abandon those prospects, disappoint expectations, join the poor, ignorant despised Mormons, and follow Old Joe Smith, the money digger, as he and they were regarded.'

"The strange things I heard. and saw at their prayer and testimony meetings, those marvelous experiences as related by men and women whose sincerity and honesty I could not doubt, and as they asserted these were the natural and legitimate fruits of obedience to what they called the restored New Testament gospel, together with the priesthood, which held the keys of right to administer its ordinances of baptism for the remission of sins, and the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost. These things, as I said, overwhelmed me with astonishment. Joseph Smith assumed this position which no false prophet would dare-viz: that he had received the visitation of three angels, Peter, James and John, who, in the name and by the command of the Son of God, authorized him to preach the gospel, administer its ordinances, and promise the Holy Ghost, which would impart a knowledge of his authority and divine mission, and his right to organize the Church of God on the earth, to prepare a people for the second advent of the Son of Man. Under these circumstances, gentlemen, I could not otherwise than believe that Joseph | helped me, I laid my pride,

Smith was honest and sincere; and I knew that his statement was of that peculiar character in which with him there could be no chance for deception; and such testi

"Had I then understood, as I now know, the ultimate results of obedience to the gospel, a life of purity, and after its close an exaltation to the fullness of the Godhead, I should then have been ashamed to have called it a sacrifice. But in my ignorance, at that time, of its blessings and glories, it proved the proved the fiercest struggle of heart and will I ever experienced before or since. But through the help of the Lord, for I feel certain that He must have

worldly ambition and aspirations upon the altar, and as humble as a child went to the waters of baptism, received the ordinance administered by an Apostle, and

afterwards the laying on of hands.

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"One evening, a few days after this, when alone, engaged earnest prayer, the heavens were opened, the veil was rent from my mind, and then and there I received the most wonderful manifestations, grand and sublime, I believe as man was ever permitted to receive, and beyond the power of language fully to describe. It was shown me in that vision that there truly existed a Son of God, that Joseph Smith was really a prophet of God.'

"The first intimation of the approach of that marvelous vision was a sound just above my head like the rustling of silken robes, when immediately the Holy Spirit descended upon me, enveloping my whole person, filling me from the crown of my head to the souls of my feet, which was a complete baptism, as tangible an immersion in a heavenly principle or element-the Holy Ghost infinitely more real, physical in its effects upon every part of my system than was the immersion when I was baptized in water. That night after retiring to rest the same wonderful manifestations were repeated, and continued to be for several successive nights. From that time till the present on numerous occasions miraculous manifestations of the divine power have followed me and my administrations of the gospel ordinances. Judge Morgan, I continued, I profess to Irave, and actually do have, the right and authority from God to

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While in this train of conversation, it being signified by the guard that the time allotted for the interview was up, the gentlemen arose, having listened with the deepest interest, shook hands, thanking me in the warmest and most expressive terms for the great pleasure I had afforded them in the plain, sincere, and intelligent answers and explanations given during the very interesting interview. As they left Judge Morgan said, if possible, he should like to avail himself of the privilege of another interview and renew the conversation. I replied that it would give me pleasure, and if he called again and would spend a couple. of hours I felt certain that I would make the time both interesting and profitable. After inscribing, by request, their names and residences, repeating their feelings of thankfulness, they withdrew, attended by the marshal.

Lorenzo Snow.

Editor Young Woman's Journal. DEAR EDITOR,-Your request for a statement from me, in relation to the time and manner in which I became convinced of the truth, and knew that I had a

testimony of the gospel as revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith, has caused me some reflection. In answer to your kind and sisterly note, I will devote as much time and give it the consideration due to so weighty a matter so far as I am able.

From my cradle I was taught the gospel. No opportunity was neglected by my father to impress its obligations upon his children, though in a very quiet, meek and fatherly way, and his teachings to us were characterized more by example than by precept. At the time of the martyrdom of our great leaders, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, I remember well, though only a very small boy at that time, seeing them pass with others near our house on their way to be offered up as a sacrifice to the hate and bigotry of apostate brethren and sectarian priests, assisted and aided by some of the State militia. On June 28, at about 5 o'clock in the morning a messenger came to our door with the awful intelligence that during the afternoon of the preceding day cruelty and hatred had triumphed, that the Prophet and Patriarch had been butchered while being held in jail, and under the pledged protection of the Governor of the State, nay that prominent among their murderers were the Carthage Greys, who were known to be the body guard of the Governor, and that their bleeding remains had already arrived at the Nauvoo mansion, where they would be

viewed by the Saints during the day. Of course this awful deed made a deep and lasting impression upon my mind.

Child as was, through the teachings of my parents I had learned to look upon Joseph Smith as a great prophet, and he was one who had impressed me as he did others of more mature years, with his heavenly and divine intelligence. My next recollections of a leader for Latter-day Israel, was of Brigham Young. From the first time I saw him, after the Prophet's death, my heart went out to him in deep love and veneration, for I recognized him as the man who stood in the place of the martyred prophet, and soon learned the fact that he was loved and honored as such by all the Saints.

These incidents I mention as showing the tendency of my thoughts and the events which came within my experience which made a deep and lasting impression upon me, though too young at the time to desire or know how to seek for a testimony of the principles of truth, which the gospel principles taught.

In the year 1849 I was introduced to Oliver Cowdery, and the impression made upon me by this introduction was that I beheld a man who had fallen from the grace of God. At the age of eleven I received baptism, and was confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday. Saints, in Pottawatomie

County, Iowa, at about the same time and near the same spot where I met the man who once stood next to Joseph Smith in favor with God, and as the second Elder in the Church. I mention

these items in my early life's history as coincidental, and as having impressed me more and more with the solemn truths which had been revealed through the gospel of the Lord Jesus to a benighted world.

In the following year (1850) my father and his family crossed the plains and came to Utah. The Asiatic cholera was on the plains that season, and gathered in its merciless and unrelenting grasp many hundreds of emigrants who were in the mad race for wealth to the golden sands of California. The camps of the Saints did not entirely escape the dreaded scourge, and a few were stricken down and were laid in lonely graves by the wayside. In our company of thirty-six men, with their families, three were stricken by this terrible malady.

Two of them coming into camp in the evening feeling somewhat unwell, began cramping and vomiting, and were both dead before morning. After burying the dead we moved our camp a few miles, and an encampment was made on the banks of a small sluggish stream for the night. Some time about the middle of the night we were awakened by the screams of the third victim of the cholera scourge, and during the very short intervals of

release from the awful cramps and vomiting he pleaded for Brother Joseph (meaning my father) to come and lay hands on him.

Father immediately dressed and repaired to the couch of the sufferer, and addressed him in these words: "David, if I administer to you and ask the Lord to raise you up will you covenant this night that you will serve him all the days of your life?"

The young man immediately made the solemn promise that he would be a true and loyal servant to his Lord and Savior forever. Father laid his hands. upon him, and in the name of Jesus Christ rebuked the power of the destroyer, when the retching

and cramps immediately ceased, and the next morning Brother David Lewis, restored from this attack of cholera, was at his post and driving his team as usual. This case and the power of God manifested in his healing made a deep and lasting impression upon my mind, and every night on retiring I prayed long and fervently and fervently that God would save me from the cholera, and permit me to arrive safely in the valley, where I could once more behold the face of His prophet, Brigham Young; and like Brother Lewis, I made the most solemn covenants during these supplications that if my life were spared to again see this great man, and hear his voice, and live where he lived, that I, too, would be a faithful servant

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