While the House of the Lord was building he took great interest in its erection, and daily watched its progress, and had the pleasure of taking a part at the opening, and seeing it crowded by hundreds of pious worshipers. As the King of Israel longed for and desired to see the completion of the House of the Lord, so did he; and with him he could exclaim, "O Lord, I love the habitation of thine house, and the { 194} place where thine honor dwelleth." To dwell in the house of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple, was his daily delight; and in it he enjoyed many blessings, and spent many hours in sweet communion with his heavenly Father. He has trod its sacred aisles, solitary and alone from mankind, long before the king of day has gilded the eastern horizon; and he has uttered his aspirations within its walls, when nature has been asleep. In its holy enclosures have the visions of heaven been opened to his mind, and his soul has feasted on the riches of eternity; and there under his teachings have the meek and humble been instructed, while the widow and the orphan have received his patriarchal blessings.
There he saw the work spreading far and wide; saw the Elders of Israel go forth under his blessing--bore them up by the prayer of faith, and hailed them welcome when they again returned bringing their sheaves with them. There with his aged partner, he spent many happy days in the bosom of his family, whom he loved with all the tenderness of parental affection.
Here I might enlarge, and expatiate on the "scenes of joy and scenes of gladness" which were enjoyed by our beloved Patriarch, but I shall pass on to an event which was truly painful and trying.
The delightful scene soon vanished; the calm was soon succeeded by a storm and the frail bark was driven by the tempest and foaming ocean, for many who had once been proud to acknowledge him a father and a friend, and who sought counsel at his hands, joined with the enemies of truth, and sought his destruction; and would have rejoiced to see his aged and venerable form immured in a dungeon; but, thank God, this they were not suffered to do; he providentially made his escape, and after evading his enemies for some time, he undertook and accomplished a journey of a thousand miles, and bore up under the fatigue and suffering necessarily attendant on such a journey with patient resignation. After a journey of several weeks, he arrived in safety at Far West, in the bosom of the Church, and was cordially welcomed by the Saints, who had found an asylum in the rich and fertile county of Caldwell.