THE CASE OF ELIJAH
New witnesses are appearing nearly
every day, testifying in one form or another that Joseph Smith was visited by
angels.
The Saturday Evening Post, of January 15, 1949, is
a case in point. It carries an article written by Milton Lehman, entitled “The
Big Ancestor Hunt.” We don’t know who Milton Lehman is and doubt if he knows
but little, if anything, about Joseph Smith. But, in practically every sentence
of his article, he is unconsciously bearing witness that the ancient Prophet
Elijah made a visit to Joseph Smith in 1836.
Lehman’s opening paragraph reads:
“Although it is a rare American who knows his own great-grandfather, thousands
today are eagerly tracking him down. In Pennsylvania, they search for his will
in ancient court-house records. In Massachusetts, they value the pedigree more
than the family silver. In New Jersey, they band together as the tombstone
hounds, seeking clues to the family tree in abandoned cemeteries. From Los
Angeles to Long Island, the ancestor hunters are trying to find where they came
from.”
He goes on to say that many of the
searchers are grandfathers themselves, retired, with a good income and could
spend a life of ease, yet they drive themselves relentlessly in their search.
“Nothing distracts them,” says he, “neither the snows of winter, nor the first
robins of spring . . . even on the hottest days of summer, they crowd the
reading tables.”
Why do they do it? None of them
seem to know. They admit there is no monetary value to it, and perhaps no one
will bother to read what they have collected. Yet on and on they go at their
self-appointed task.
But someone knows. The faithful
among the Latter-day Saints know why they do it. They know that on April 3,
1836, the ancient Prophet Elijah appeared to Joseph Smith in fulfillment of the
Lord’s promise through the Prophet Malachi. Malachi’s prophecy reads: “Behold,
I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful
day of the Lord, and he shall turn the hearts of the . . . children to their
fathers . . . “ (Mal. 4:5, 6) for years, faithful Latter-day Saints have been
conscious of a peculiar spirit working on mankind, turning their hearts and
their minds to their dead ancestors.
. . .
Such an urge took hold of Artemus Ward, the man who
made himself rich and famous building the elevated railroad in New York. He
employed an expert genealogist full time to publish the names in a book. Before
the book was finished, Ward had a stroke which rendered him unconscious much of
the time until he died. Each time he gained consciousness he inquired about the
book. Was it finished? Would they please hurry? The publishers doubled their
efforts, threw the book together, and rushed a copy to him. He was conscious at
the moment; he took the book in his hands, patted it showed it to the doctors
and nurses, saying repeatedly, “The book is here. I have the book.” Shortly
afterward he died, seemingly a happy man. It appears the collection of names of
Mr. Ward’s ancestors, which his “heart had been turned to.” seemed more important
to him than all his other early possessions combined. (New England
Historical Genealogical Register, Vol. 80, page 314) (Rulon Killian, Those
Foolish Mormons [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1961], 35-36, 37)
Further Reading:
Resources on Joseph Smith's Prophecies