Tuesday, January 3, 2023

Jacob Gates on the Spiritual Outpouring on the Congregation when D&C 132 was First Read in London (December 26, 1852)


We met at an early house in the Freemasons’ Hall. The morning was taken up partly with business and partly with instruction. The afternoon after the meeting was opened, I arose and addressed the people to prepare them for the reading of the revelation given to Joseph Smith in Nauvoo on July 12, 1843, on the plurality of wives. After I had spoken some time, the Spirit of God poured out upon me copiously. The same spirit seemed to prevail on the whole congregation. Its influence was wonderful. At the close of my remarks, I asked the people if they felt prepared to receive anything, and if they were, to say “Amen.” Such a response was never heard before. The whole house rang with the voices of twelve or fourteen hundred people. I then called upon James Marsdon to read. He arose and read distinctly while the people listened with breathless silence. Thus, for the time was this revelation read in the great city of London. (Jacob Gates, Journal, December 26, 1852, in The Journals of Jacob Gates, ed. KC Kern, 275-76)

 


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