About this time I was shown that it was my duty to visit our people in New Hampshire. My constant and faithful companion at this time was Sister Louisa Foss, a sister of Samuel Foss, the husband of my sister Mary. I can never forget her kind and sisterly attention to me in my journeys. We were also accompanied by Elder Files and his wife, who were old and valued friends of my family, and by Brother Ralph Haskins and Elder James White.
We were cordially received by our friends in New Hampshire, but there were wrongs existing in that field which burdened me much. We had to meet a Spirit of self--righteousness that was very depressing. I had previously been shown the pride and exaltation of certain ones whom we visited, but I had not the courage to meet them with my testimony. Had I done so, the Lord would have sustained me in doing my duty.
Encouragement for Elder Morse
While visiting at the house of Elder Washington Morse, the burden did not leave me, but I did not yet feel sufficiently strong to bear my testimony, which would have placed the oppressive burden upon those to whom it belonged.
During our stay at this house, I was very ill, prayer was offered in my behalf, and the Spirit of God rested upon me.
I was taken off in vision, and some things were shown me concerning the case of Elder Morse in connection with the disappointment of 1844.
Elder Morse had been firm and consistent in the belief that the Lord would come at that time; but when the period passed without bringing the event expected, he was perplexed and unable to explain the delay. Although bitterly disappointed, he did not renounce his faith, as some did, calling it a fanatical delusion; but he was bewildered, and could not understand the position of God's people on prophetic time. He had been so earnest in declaring that the coming of the Lord was near, that when the time passed, he was despondent, and did nothing to encourage the disappointed people, who were like sheep without a shepherd, left to be devoured of wolves.
Jonah's Disappointment
The case of Jonah was presented before me. God commanded him to go to Nineveh, and deliver the message that He gave him. Jonah obeyed. The solemn cry was heard throughout the streets of the wicked city, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"
The city was a marvel of wealth and magnificence; yet the king believed the warning, and he and his people humbled themselves before the Lord, with fasting and sackcloth. A merciful God accepted their repentance and lengthened the days of their probation. He turned away His fierce anger, and awaited the fruits of Nineveh's humiliation.
But Jonah dreaded being called a false prophet. He murmured at the compassion of God in sparing the people whom he had warned of destruction. He could not bear the thought of standing before the people as a deceiver. He overlooked the great mercy of God toward the repentant city, in the personal humiliation of seeing his prophecy unfulfilled.
Elder Morse was in a condition similar to that of the disappointed prophet. He had proclaimed that the Lord would come in 1844. The time had passed. The check of fear that had partially held the people was removed, and they indulged in derision of those who had looked in vain for Jesus. Elder Morse felt that he was a byword among his neighbors, an object of jest, and he could not be reconciled to his position. He did not think of the mercy of God in granting the world a longer time in which to prepare for His coming that the warning of His judgment might be heard more widely, and the people tested with greater light.
Instead of being discouraged at his disappointment, as was Jonah, Elder Morse should have cast aside his selfish sorrow and gathered up the rays of precious light that God had given His people. He should have rejoiced that the world was granted a reprieve, and been ready to aid in carrying forward the great work yet to be done upon the earth, in bringing sinners to repentance and salvation.
A False Report
It has been reported that on the occasion of this vision, I declared that in forty years the end of the world would come. No such words were uttered by me. I had no light concerning the end of time, The subject of Nineveh, its lengthened probation, and the consequent grief of Jonah, were presented to me as parallel with our own disappointment in 1844. The case of Elder Morse was presented to me as one that represented the condition of a large class of our people at that time. Their duty was plainly marked out; they were to trust in the wisdom and mercy of God, and patiently labor as His providence opened the way before them.