The spirit has such power when it is once thoroughly aroused, that for a time it so braces up the body as to make it almost impregnable to disease and unconscious of fatigue. But this cannot continue long. It wears out the body; and as soon as the excitement is removed, then comes the period of relaxation and the body sinks down from sheer exhaustion. Such was the condition of the exiled Saints who came flocking into Nauvoo, in the summer of 1839. They had reached a haven of rest. The fearful strain on the nervous system under which they had labored during the mobbings in Missouri and their flight from that State was removed; and they fell down in Nauvoo exhausted, to be a prey to the deadly malaria prevalent in that locality. Such was their condition on the morning of the 22nd of July. Joseph's house was crowded with the sick whom he was trying to nurse back to health. In his door-yard were a number of people camped in tents, who had but newly arrived, but upon whom the fever had seized. Joseph himself was prostrate with sickness, and the general distress of the Saints weighed down his spirit with sadness. While still thinking of the trials of his people in the past, and the gloom that then overshadowed them, the purifying influence of God's Spirit rested upon him and he was immediately healed. He arose and began to administer to the sick in his house, all of whom immediately recovered. He then healed those encamped in his door-yard, and from thence went from house to house calling on the sick to arise from their beds of affliction, and they obeyed and were healed. In company with P.P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, John Taylor, Heber C. Kimball, and John E. Page, he crossed the river to Montrose, and healed the sick there. One case is mentioned by all who have written on the subject as being very remarkable. This was the case of Elijah Fordham. He was almost unconscious and nearly dead. Bending over him, the Prophet asked the dying man if he knew him, and believed him to be a servant of God. In a whisper he replied that he did. Joseph then took him by the hand, and with an energy that would have awoke the dead, he commanded him in the name of Jesus Christ to arise from his bed and walk. Brother Fordham leaped from his bed, removed the bandages and mustard plasters from his feet, dressed himself, ate a bowl of bread and milk, and accompanied the Prophet to other houses on his mission of love. All day the work continued; and to the Saints who witnessed the remarkable manifestation of God's power in behalf of the sick, the twenty-second day of July, 1839, is remembered with gratitude to Almighty God, who through the demonstration of His power that day, gave an indisputable witness to the world that He was with Joseph Smith, and had authorized him to speak in the name of Jesus Christ. To the Saints it was a testimony that God was with them; for they witnessed a fulfillment of God's ancient promise to His people, viz.--