Helpful Visions: The Fourteenth Book of the Faith-Promoting Series. Intended for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-day Saints — John Shaqi
Helpful Visions: The Fourteenth Book of the Faith-Promoting Series. Intended for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-day Saints
Religion
Helpful Visions: The Fourteenth Book of the Faith-Promoting Series. Intended for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-day Saints
Latter Day Saint churches -- Doctrines
I recalled the description given by Joseph Smith of the darkness which
enveloped him when he first prayed in the woods for light; and I knew
that I had experienced in some slight degree the same torment which he
encountered on that occasion. I remembered that the Prophet spoke of
giving up under the torture that he was suffering, and of his being
saved by the power of God just at the moment when he felt himself
slipping away into death and perdition. This, though undoubtedly in a
greatly moderated degree, was my own experience.
After this the feeling that I must go to New Zealand was borne
irresistibly. The last emphatic warning had shown me that Sydney was no
place for me at this hour, and that I must heed the commandments which
were given to me. Accordingly, I purchased a ticket for Port Littleton,
distant about twelve hundred miles from Sydney.
The steamer by which I was to sail would not leave for a week, but I
could not rest easy until I had secured my passage. The vessel was
called the _Wakatipu_, from two Maori words, waka, meaning canoe, and
tipu, meaning goods; the union signifying a canoe or ship to carry
goods.
After purchasing this ticket the feeling of anxiety and unrest which
had possessed me departed, and I felt quite content in the full
consciousness that I was now in the line of my duty; but I still had a
dread of the evil influences which I now knew abounded in Sydney and
inhabited the house at which I was staying.
When now I took up a book or a newspaper I could see the words as
distinctly as ever, and was no more visited by the commandment which
had been so manifest on other occasions.
The couch on which I had lain when seized by these dark powers was
my own bed at night, and I had not been troubled in the evening. But
from the hour of the second seizure I religiously avoided sitting
or reclining upon the lounge in the day-time. I had a strong horror
of sleeping upon this couch at night, but I had no alternative; and
solaced myself by constant prayer and humility before the Lord, asking
to be protected from the assaults of the adversary.
Previous to taking my departure for New Zealand I went out to Ashfield
to bid Brother Armstrong and his family farewell. Again I returned
late in the evening. I thoughtlessly threw myself upon the couch, and
almost in the very second I was seized by the destroyer. The experience
was the same as on the other occasions, except that it was much more
powerful and painful. I believed for a moment that I must die; but once
more I was restored by my prayer to heaven. The sensations I suffered
in these seizures I never can forget. To speak of them even at this
hour causes a chill of horror to pass over my being, and as a rule I
feel a dreadful pain attacking my heart.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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