Joseph Smith III's Memoirs :- a collection of some of his prophetic dreams

Here are some of the words of Joseph Smith III, and his dreams and spiritual gifts ....

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p.850

A Dream

There is a circumstance connected with the building of this church which should be related here. As it neared completion, we found that the increase in cost because of additional materials had exhausted the funds in the hands of the committee. One Thursday morning we met to consider the situation and determine what could be done about it.

Completely at the end of our resources, we found that when we should pay the workmen at the end of that week, there would be left but a very few dollars. We decided to present the matter to the Saints at prayer meeting that evening, and if , by Saturday, nothing had occurred to relieve the situation and to place in our hands the money needed for the further prosecution of the work, we would abandon the task for the present, discharge the men, board up the windows and doors, and await a brighter day.

Accordingly, at prayer meeting that evening I told the Saints just how matters stood, and they engaged most earnestly in prayer over the subject. We all parted in some dejection of spirit.

That night I had a dream. To be better understood, I will partly describe the home in which I was then living. It was a two-story, frame house, some twenty-four by forty feet, facing north, and standing with its broad side some twenty feet back from the sidewalk. Its front door opened into a little hall in the center; to the left, or east, was the dining room, occupying that entire half, with the exception of a pantry on the south.  The kitchen was a one story addition extending east from the main building, with a porch along its north side, from which a little walk led to the street.

In my dream it seemed to be noon, and our family had come into the dining room for the mid-day meal. I sat on the east side of the table, and had waited upon the rest of the folks, serving them with the meat course.  As I was about to supply my own plate, something attracted my attention. Looking out of the window nearest me, at my right, I saw a man, standing up in his wagon, drive rapidly up in front of the house and, as if in a great hurry, spring out, tie his horses to the hitching post, and come towards the house. Passing through the little gate at the sidewalk, he reached the door opening into the kitchen, upon which he rapped sharply with his knuckles.

From my place at the table I called. 'Come in',  He came at once into the kitchen and then, through the door at my back, into the dining room.  I turned to look at him, and found he was a stranger to me. At my right hand there was a 'spare' plate, as it was our custom always to set an extra place or two, for seldom were we without some guest at mealtime. So I said, with a gesture towards the extra place:

'You are just in time sir, Sit down; there is a plate here waiting for someone'
'Thank you, but I have no occasion to eat.' he replied.
'Well, then, will you sit down and wait? I shall soon be at liberty.'
'I haven't time to stay.'
At that I said, 'If you have no occasion to eat and no time to stay, tell me what I can do for you?'
'I have a little money, sir, and it has occurred to me that the committee building  this church here in Plano might be able to use it. If they can, it is at their service.' was his reply.
Astonished, I asked, 'How much have you?'
'Eight hundred and fifty dollars,' he answered
'How long can the committee use it?' I asked
'Anyway for two years; if necessary, maybe a little longer.'
'What interest do you want?' I questioned
'None for the two years; after that, if they wish it longer, I might want some.'
'What security do you want - the note of the committee?' I asked
'I don't want any security, other than your individual receipt for the money,' was his reply.
'Sit down, then; I will get paper and pen for the receipt.'

Arising, I went to my desk, secured the paper and pen and returned. He reached into the inside pocket of his vest, took out a large roll of bills, and laid it down beside me on the table. I counted the money and wrote the receipt; handed it to him and put the money in my pocket. He took the receipt, went out, jumped into his wagon and drove rapidly away down the street.

As I have stated, this dream came to me on the Thursday evening, after the prayer meeting. The next morning, when I went down to the office, I found Brother Sheen already at his desk, and Theodore Patrick, one of our printers, at his case. Brother W.D. Morton was also there, I believe.

I remarked to Brother Sheen:

If I could just obtain money when wide awake as easily as I can get it in dreams, we would have no trouble in finishing the church,' Then I told them my dream, and we laughed over it together, they joking me about it and attributing its appearance to my over-anxiety about the building, an explanation I was quite willing to concede.

That day when I went home at noon, the table was arranged just as it was in my dream, with an extra plate set at my right hand, though, as I have said, his was such a usual occurrence that I attached no importance to it. I waited on those about the table, as usual, and was preparing to stock up my own plate, when I heard a wagon approaching rapidly.  Looking out of the window on my right hand , I saw a man drive up - standing up in his wagon as he came - and stop in front of the house. He jumped out, fastened his team to the hitching post, and came quickly through the gate, up the little walk to the kitchen door, and rapped vigorously upon it. I called to him to come in.

All this happened exactly as it had happened in my dream of the night before, with this difference: in my dream I had not known my caller, but now I recognized him, though I had no conjecture, no remotest reason, for his coming or nature of his errand.

As he entered the dining room from the kitchen door back to me, I spoke to him:  'How do you do, Brother Williams. You are just in time; sit down and have something to eat with us'

'No,' he replied, 'I have no occasion to eat.'
As he uttered the words, the memory of my dream flashed into my mind, and, pursuing the course I had taken therein, I said:

'If you have no occasion to eat, sit down and wait a few minutes, and I will be at liberty'

'I have no time to stay, I am in a hurry,' he replied.

Then, turning towards him from my chair, I said, as I had in my dream, 'Well, if you have no occasion to eat and have no time to stay, what can I do for you?'

He answered, 'Well, I have a little money I do not need just now, and it occurred to me that this building committee, building the church here, might use it; if they can, it is at their service.'

'How much do you have?' I asked
'Eight hundred and fifty dollars'
'How long could the committee have it?'
'Two years, anyway; and possibly longer, if necessary,'
'What interest do you want?'
'I don't want any for the two years, after that I may have to charge a little.'
'What security do you wish- the committee's note?'
'No, sir; I only want your individual receipt, and that is all.'
'Very well, Brother Williams; I will take the money.'

I got paper, pen, and ink. He took out of his vest pocket, on the inside, a roll of bills which he laid down on the  table by me. I counted it, he looking on, my wife and others at the table also taking notice of the procedure. I wrote him a receipt to the effect that the building committee had received from Samuel Williams the sum of eight hundred and fifty dollars to be used by the committee in building the church in Plano. Receiving the receipt, he said good-bye, went out, jumped into his wagon, and drove off rapidly.  With rather peculiar thoughts I put the money in my pocket, finished my dinner, and then went back to the office as was my wont.

Entering, I found Brother Sheen writing at his table, where I had left him, and the other brethren at their accustomed tasks. Stepping up close to Brother Sheen and taking the bills from my pocket, I  threw them down on the table beside him, saying:

'There is the money of my dream!'
His face went white and he looked up at me, apparently quite startled, 'Don't be alarmed,' I saind, 'There is the money, all right, but I have neither robbed nor killed to get it!'

He stammered out, 'Where did it come from?'

So I told them the circumstances of Brother Williams' hurried call upon me at noon, and then it was my turn to laugh. We all knew Brother Williams, for some preaching had been done at Pavillion near his place. It seems that he had been working somewhere north of Sandwich, and had been holding his produce at corn dealer's in that place. Becoming dissatisfied , for some reason, he had withdrawn and sold some of it, but did not deposit the money in a bank because he had also lost confidence in that sort of institution.

Near Millington there was a money lender by the name of Budd, from whom he had borrowed some of the money with which he had purchased his farm, giving a mortgage upon the latter as security. After selling his corn at this time, it seems he had taken the money to Mr. Budd and offered it as a partial payment of his debt; but the money lender refused to accept it as he did not want to bother to make out new papers. He said he had confidence in Brother Williams, and preferred to wait for payment until he could be paid the full amount due.

So, Brother Williams had started to drive back home, the money still in his pocket. When he reached a certain corner, just a mile south of his home, the thought was presented to him that our church building committee might be glad to use the money. He immediately turned towards Plano instead of his own home, and brought the money to me, as I have related!.

This recital of my dream and of its fulfillment so closely following, is laid before the readers of these Memoirs for what consideration and philosophizing they may care to bestow upon it.  Should they wish, they may speculate as to what influence it was that moved Brother Samuel Williams, about 11 o'clock on the morning following my vivid dream, to come to Plano and to my house, and offer that money to our committee in almost the exact words and actions heard and seen in that dream!

At any rate, we were in that specific manner relieved of the necessity for boarding up our unfinished building on Saturday, as we had feared we would be obliged to do. None of the members of the committee had means or resources of his own to advance for the purpose. Brother Sheen was the only one who owned a house, one worth, probably, about twelve hundred dollars. Brother Bronson was poor, living in a rented house and working by the day for the support of his family. I, also, owned neither house nor money. Had it not been for this dream, which had come to me the night before, I should not have dared accept the money offered to me on Friday and to give therefor only my own personal receipt as security for its payment at a future time.  But accepting the peculiar circumstances as an indication of proper procedure, I took the money as a loan, and without hesitation.  We completed the building, and in a little over two years - before he needed or asked for it - we paid the amount back to Brother Williams, plus some fifteen dollars which he consented to take as interest.

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Gift of Tongues ...

A memorandum made by me for April 1, 1868, shows that at a prayer meeting held that evening, there were present four lamanite brethren, the names of two being Moses James and Daniel Covert. At the meeting several testimonies were borne, and a prophecy and a tongue or two were given. James, the older man, asked Brother Bronson, the president of the branch, if he might be allowed to speak in his native tongue. Brother Bronson referred the question to me and I replied, 'Certainly; let him speak in his native tongue if he wishes. While we may not be able to understand his words, weshall be able to tell whether or not he has the good Spirit with him when talking.'

Accordingly, both he and Brother Covert spoke in their native language, but to my surprise and great pleasure, I heard their words in perfect English!  As they finished, I arose and told the people what they had said, which surprised the Lamanites exceedingly. They sand a song in their Indian tongue, which I also heard in English as they delivered it. Altogether the experience was extremely interesting to us and to the Lamanite brethren, and the meeting was one long to be remembered.

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It may be interesting to insert here an occurrence of a similar nature to the prayer service of April 1. It occurred at the little mining camp or settlement of Saint David, in Fulton County. Elder David Williams was operating a coal mine there, and some of our Welsh brethren were working for him - Jeremiah Jeremiah, Henry Williams, David Griffiths, William Powell, and a number of others. There was a branch organization there, over which Brother Jeremiah presided. I went down and held a series of preaching services, but, Wednesday night approaching, I announced that the branch routine as touching the prayer meeting would be followed.

After supper at Brother Jeremiah's that evening, he asked if I preferred to stay at home, which I was welcome to do, or to go to prayer meeting, explaining that they always conducted that service in Welsh because their women could not speak English very well. He presumed, because I could not understand Welsh, the meeting would be uninteresting to me and I would not care to attend.  I told him I should like to go, anyway, for even if I could not understand what was said I could recognise the Spirit which accompanied the messages.

During the hour of service, a sister arose in her place, turned around to kneel down saying, as I plainly heard it, 'Let us pray'.  We all knelt, and she offered a very earnest and rather lengthy petition, every word of which I heard in very excellent English.

On the way back to Brother Jeremiah's, five of us were walking along together, and I said:

'Brother Jeremiah, why did you tell me your women folks could not speak much English?'
'Why? Because none of them can'
'Well, but surely one sister, the one who prayed, can, and very good English at that,'
'Oh, no, Brother Joseph. You are mistaken. None of our sisters prayed in English. They all spoke and prayed in Welsh.'

'Brother Jeremiah, I certainly heard one of them pray in English, tonight,' and I proceeded to tell them where she sat, how she rose up and said, 'let us pray,' and how when we had all knelt down she had offered a prayer in English.

Astonished, Brother Jeremiah answered, 'Well, there was certainly noone who spoke in English, tonight'. There was a sister sitting where you say she sat, but she said 'Let us pray' in Welsh, and she prayed in Welsh.

Then I told them what the sister had said, repeating her prayer almost word for word, for I had heard it with such clarity and the language was so beautiful if had been etched most plainly upon my mind. Rather impatiently then I chided:-

'Now then, why should you tell me that she did not speak in English?'

As I look back upon it now, I wonder at my incredulity and the slowness with which I accepted the statements of these four men, all of whom united in asserting that the sister's prayer had been offered in the Welsh  tongue although I had heard it so plainly in English.  They were convinced that I told the truth, and I had to admit that they did, also, and when the sister was told the story, she, too, understood as we did, that it was through the operation of some Divine power I had heard in my own language that which had been presented in another.

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To be continued ......