WEBSTER, Francis – Stop the Criticism

    0 0
    Read Time:2 Minute, 3 Second

    Francis Webster was attending Sunday School.  A group of adults criticized the Church for letting the Martin Handcart company suffer on their 1856 trek.  Old Brother Webster stood up and said:

    “I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts mean nothing here, for they give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. Mistake to send the Handcart Company out so late in the season? Yes! But I was in that company and my wife was in it, and Sister Nellie Unthank whom you have cited here was there, too. We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? Every one of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with Him in our extremities!…I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go only that far and there I must give up for I cannot pull the load through it. I have gone to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me! I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but my eyes saw no one. I knew then that the Angels of God were there…Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No! Neither then nor any minute of my life since. The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company.”

    Elder Dallin H. Oaks said,

    “It is not enough to study or reenact the accomplishments of our pioneers. We need to identify the great, eternal principles they applied to achieve all they achieved for our benefit and then apply those principles to the challenges of our day. In that way we honor their pioneering efforts, and we also reaffirm our heritage and strengthen its capacity to bless our own posterity and those millions of our Heavenly Father’s children who have yet to hear and accept the gospel of Jesus Christ. We are all pioneers in doing so.”  

    About Post Author

    Brother Brigham

    chadstowell@gmail.com
    Happy
    Happy
    0 %
    Sad
    Sad
    0 %
    Excited
    Excited
    0 %
    Sleepy
    Sleepy
    0 %
    Angry
    Angry
    0 %
    Surprise
    Surprise
    0 %

    Related Tags

    Average Rating

    5 Star
    0%
    4 Star
    0%
    3 Star
    0%
    2 Star
    0%
    1 Star
    0%
    (Add your review)

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    You May Also Like

      COX, Amos: Brief life story

      One day she said “If you will have Amos Cox administer to me I think I will get well.” Father was only 17 years old at the time and had never administered to anyone in his life, but they sent for him out in the field where he was scything grain. He said he was dumb founded, but told them he would come. There in the field he asked Heavenly Father what to say and said he believed it was one of the most humbling experiences of his life. He went to the house, washed his hands, and sealed the anointing. He promised the girl that she would get well, then when he looked at her and saw how frail and pale she looked, he was scared and so weak that he sat down.
      View Post

        BLANCHARD, Amelia Jane Davis

        The Davis family, being among the first settlers to Cache Valley, suffered untold privations and hardships. Amelia remembered the trials they had with the Indians, and how frightened she was. They would come to the door begging for food and no one dared to turn them away. As Ann H. fixed food for them, the Indians would play with the white children. When coming out of the house with food one day, Ann H. discovered the Indians had exposed her children to the black smallpox. The twins soon came down with the illness. The settlers were all so frightened of the deadly disease that a log shelter was hurriedly built a short distance north of the Logan Cemetery. The Davis family, including the stricken twins, moved there in isolation. Amelia told of rats, mice, and snakes so thick that the healthy children took turns with willows, brushing the snakes from the beds of the sick children. Their beds located on the floor were made with a straw tick. The weather was severe coming through the open cracks of the shelter. The family was badly neglected and almost starved to death. Remarkably, the twins recovered from the smallpox epidemic, but after being home only a short time, diphtheria struck, taking the lives of both twins, Henry and Catherine. Childhood days were very strenuous and hard. These early settlers had lots of troubles, yet they had some thrilling and good times too. Amelia often told stories of the exciting sleigh rides, dances and house parties they enjoyed. How she loved her church activities! Amelia's greatest desire was to do good for others and scatter sunshine wherever she went.
        View Post

          TWITCHELL, Ephraim & Phoebe Melissa Knight

          One day Branch President Ephraim Twitchell was traveling from Sacramento a long way by wagon. The last day of his journey he was traveling late, after dark. He did not stop because he was almost home. He was alone in his wagon, when suddenly there was a man sitting beside him on the spring seat. He just appeared from nowhere. He told Ephraim that he should take his family from San Juan Bautista and go to San Bernardino. Ephraim responded that they had not been in San Juan very long and that his children had their friends there. He noted that he did not think he could get them to go with him. The man beside him replied, "Yes, you can, and you must go to San Bernardino or you will lose them." When Ephraim turned to answer him he was not there. He had disappeared just as he had appeared -it seemed like just out of thin air. Ephraim knew the gospel very well and remembered their story in the Book of Mormon about the three Nephites. He thought this must be the answer-the messenger was one of the three Nephites. He then saw a beautiful new coat that the messenger had left on the spring-seat beside him. He thought the messenger had really been there-that he had not just imagined or fantasized. Ephraim went home and told his wife, Melissa. They talked about the move. They prayed about it for a couple of days. They knew they must go to San Bernardino, California. Every one of their children and one nephew, John Newton Twitchell, the oldest son of Jasper Twitchell went with them. Anciel Ephraim's oldest son came a year later.
          View Post