Revelation through Edmund C. Briggs

1852

In 1852 Samuel E. Gurley and Edmund C. Briggs went to the house of W. W. Blair to convince him to join with the Reorganization movement. Brother Blair gives the following account:

"That evening we engaged, in a room by ourselves, in a spirited discussion of the matters they presented, and continued it until the next morning near three o'clock. It was now Sunday, and after our morning repast we again repaired to the parlor, and after fervent prayer as before, in which we all joined, we again entered on a critical discussion of the theories advocated by them. This continued until near noon, and it found us no nearer united than at the beginning. They now seemed to abandon the idea of convincing me of their theories by argument, and in order not to appear opinionated or beyond reach of argument, I said to them if they knew their position to be correct on matters under consideration to go ahead and that I might possibly learn it by and by.

"Brother Gurley, who had been the chief speaker hitherto, seemed reluctant to say anything further, whereupon Brother Briggs rose to his feet, took the Book of Mormon from the table, leafed it over rapidly as if seeking to find some particular passage, and then placing his hand to his mouth and trembling from head to feet, while the tears coursed down his cheeks, seemed to read these words, "I, the Lord, will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy, and I will forgive whom I will forgive." But these words are nowhere to be found in the Book of Mormon.

"Just as soon as he began speaking, the Holy Spirit, such as had borne witness to me of the doctrine of Christ at the beginning, seemed to fill the room and also the persons of all present with its enlightening, convincing, and heavenly power. Brother Briggs raised his right hand and broke forth with a prophecy directed to me, declaring what had been my desires and intentions, declaring also that I would soon be released from my temporal affairs, would be called to the ministry, would be made "an apostle of the Lamb of God," be called to preach the gospel and "thresh the Gentiles by the power of God's Spirit"; said that the Lord would soon call Joseph, the son of Joseph the Seer, to be president of the church, and that the standard then erected would never fall, also that the work of the Lord would go forth in power and triumph until its final completion."

(The Memoirs of President W. W. Blair, pp. 8-9; quoted in Vision #15, p. 6, emphasis added)

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