During his
April 1928 sermon at General Conference, J. Golden Kimball recollected the fulfilment
of prophecies delivered by his father Heber C. Kimball (1801-1868):
It was during this time of famine, when the
half-starved, half-clad settles scarcely knew where to look for the next crust
of bread, or for rags to hide their nakedness, that Heber C. Kimball, filled
with the spirit of prophecy, in a public meeting, declared to the astonished congregation,
that, within a short time, states’ goods would be sold in the streets of Great
Salt Lake City cheaper than in New York, and that the people should be
abundantly supplied with food and clothing.
As soon as the spirit force had abated, on
resuming his seat, he remarked to the brethren that he feared he had missed it
that time. President Young said; “Never mind, let it go.” Charles C. Rich, an
apostle, said; “I don’t believe a word of it.” Heber said, “Neither do I, but
God hath spoken.” The words of a prophet, when spoken by the spirit of God, are
the words of God, as he is the dictator.
The advent of the gold hunters, on their way
to California, set on fire, as it were, the civilized world, and hundreds of
richly laden trains made Salt Lake City their resting place. Thus, the Prophet
Heber’s words came true, for states’ goods were actually sold in the streets here
cheaper than they could be bought in New York.
Heber, a few years later, said, “That is the
way I prophesy, but I have predicted things I did not foresee and did not
believe anybody else did, but I have said it, and it came to pass. The Lord led
me right, but I did not know it.”
“Thou shalt go to Upper Canada, even to the
city of Toronto, the capital,” said Heber C. Kimball, to Parley P. Pratt, in
April, 1836, “And there,” continued Heber prophetically, “thou shalt find a people
prepared for the gospel, and they shall receive thee, and thou shalt organize
the Church among them, and it shall spread thence into the regions round abut,
and many shall be brought to a knowledge of the truth, and shall be filled with
joy; and from the things growing out of this mission shall the fullness of the
gospel spread into England and cause a great work to be done in that land.
This pointed prophecy was strikingly
fulfilled. The Fieldings, who were among the people that Parley found in Canada,
ready to receive his message, had a brother in England, a minister, to whom
they wrote concerning the rise of “Mormonism,” and thus prepared the way for
Apostles Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde, who, with their associates, including
Willard Richards and Joseph Fielding, carried the gospel across the Atlantic.
The Revelation James Fielding, the minister referred to , received them kindly
)though he afterwards turned against them) and it was from his pulpit in
Vauxhall chapel, Preston, Lancashire, July 23, 1837, that these elders preached
the first “Mormon” sermons ever heard in Britain. (Bonnie Taylor, ed. J. Golden Kimball: His Sermons [Latter-day
Publishing, 2007], 246-47)