Speaking of the many evidences given by God to his people of the truth of the work in which they are engaged, and encouraging those present, having received such testimonies to bear them in humility to the glory of God and to the education and strengthening of each other in their most holy faith, he said:

"I will tell you of an incident that transpired under my observation: There was a large concourse of people—something like a thousand—both in and out of the church, assembled at a conference in Manchester, England, in 1841.

"One Sunday morning they had preaching services and in the afternoon the Saints began to bear testimony to the truth of the work in which they were engaged. In the course of the meeting, a young sister arose and began to speak in tongues; then a brother rose up and gave the interpretation in English, which proved to be a prophecy. After that prophecy there was a young gentleman arose and said: 'My friends, I am not one of you. This is the first time that I was ever in a meeting of the latter Day Saints, but I have heard much about them. I have heard that they had the ancient gifts and blessings, but I could not believe it. I concluded to come and hear for myself.'

"He pointed to the young sister who had spoken in tongues and said: 'That lady did not know what she said. I am satisfied that she did not understand the language that she spoke in, and the gentleman that gave the interpretation to what the lady said did not understand the language she spoke. I tell you what the language was—it was Hebrew. I am what you would call a converted Jew, and I am well acquainted with the Hebrew language. I never heard anything so beautiful and true as that which I heard this afternoon; I am satisfied that the gentleman did not understand the language, but he interpreted it as correctly as I could have done myself. I am convinced that the Lord is with this people and that they have the ancient gifts of the gospel. I am ready to join this people.'

"He was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and went to Nauvoo. I was acquainted with him there and he was strong in the faith.

"Oh, my brethren, let us arise and shine, for the light has come and the glory of the Lord shall rise upon Israel. When we were coming over the mighty deep (we started on the 5th day of February, 1842), we had a very stormy time. After we had started from Liverpool and had sailed two weeks, we had not gained five hundred miles. The captain said: 'If the wind does not change, I shall have to change my course and put into some place for food, for the provisions will not last to the end of our voyage.' There was a prayer meeting called in the ship, and we had as glorious a meeting as I ever was in my life. There was a sister arose and spoke in tongues, and it was interpreted directly as follows: 'This night before midnight, there will be a storm such as will make this vessel shake in all its timbers, but there will not be a soul lost; and from that time the wind will change and be fair until we come to our destination.' When the half-hour bell rang at half-past eleven the storm began and lasted until half-past four in the morning. I have never, neither before nor since that time, witnessed such a terrible scene; it seemed as though the windows of heaven were opened and let the rain down in torrents. The wind was fierce and howling, and was dead against us. The captain ordered all the hatches down and everything made tight. He said to me in the morning: ' My friend, I expected to go down to the bottom. I expected that all my men were washed overboard, for they had to wade in water up to their knees; but in the morning at the call of the roll, there was not a single soul lost.' From that hour the wind changed to fair. We went on to the island of Cuba, and then there was a calm and we went on softly to our destination." —Autumn Leaves, February, 1890.