Chamberlin’s and Hyrum’s mutual understanding of the word “visionary” implies a general category of people who were known to believe in visions. 4Ĭhamberlin’s story of meeting the Smiths, although involving only himself and a half dozen others, had implications for many more. At least as Solomon told the story-and John Taylor later copied the whole account into his Nauvoo journal-Joseph Smith and Solomon Chamberlin had received similar instructions from heaven. When Solomon asked Hyrum if he believed in visions or revelations, Hyrum answered, “Yes, we are a visionary house.” Apparently Hyrum saw in Chamberlin’s pamphlet the same message that he and the others had learned from Joseph’s experiences and from the Book of Mormon. One reason is that Solomon and Hyrum, though complete strangers when they met in 1829, recognized each other as kindred spirits. 3Ĭhamberlin’s story captures the attention of anyone interested in the cultural history of Joseph Smith’s time. Solomon was later baptized by Joseph Smith and, in 1862, died in Washington County, Utah. The Smiths gave him sixty-four pages of Book of Mormon proofs, and he set off again for Canada, this time as a missionary for the gold bible. I said, the Lord told me these things a number of years ago, I then said, If you are a visionary house, I wish you would make known some of your discoveries, for I think I can bear them.Īfter hearing the Smiths’ story, Solomon was convinced that this was the work he was looking for. They wondered greatly who had been telling me these things, for said they we have the same things wrote down in our house, taken from the Gold record, that you are preaching to us. I then opened my mouth and began to preach to them, in the words that the angel had made known to me in the vision, that all Churches and Denominations on the earth had become corrupt, and no Church of God on the earth but that he would shortly rise up a Church, that would never be confounded nor brought down and be like unto the Apostolic Church. He then gave it to a man, which I learned was Christian Whitmer, he finished reading it. Hyrum read first, but was so affected he could not read it. Father Smith was one and some of the Whitmer’s. They then called the people together, which consisted of five or six men who were out at the door. I said, Then I will give you one of my pamphlets, which was visionary, and of my own experience. He looked at me as one astonished, and said, I hope it will be peace, I then said, Is there any one here that believes in visions or revelations he said Yes, we are a visionary house. found Hyrum walking the floor, As I entered the door, I said, peace be to this house. In “A Short Sketch of the Life of Solomon Chamberlain,” written at Beaver, Utah, when Chamberlin was nearly seventy, he said, “When the boat came to Palmyra, I felt as if some genii or good Spirit told me to leave the boat.” Guided by his inspiration, Chamberlin walked south from the town center, heard about the “gold bible” at the house where he spent the night, and the next day made his way to the place where Joseph Smith Sr. Chamberlin printed up an account of his visions and was still distributing them and looking for the apostolic church when he stopped in Palmyra. The angel told him that the churches were corrupt and that God would soon raise up an apostolic church. Born in Canaan, Connecticut, in 1788, Chamberlin had joined the Methodists at age nineteen, moved on to the Methodist Reformed Church about seven years later, and then tried life on a communal farm where property was held in common, following the New Testament pattern.ĭissatisfied with the religions he had tried, Chamberlin prayed for further guidance, and in 1816, according to his account, “the Lord revealed to me in a vision of the night an angel,” 1 whom Chamberlin asked about the right way. Grandin’s press in Palmyra, Solomon Chamberlin, a restless religious spirit who lived twenty miles to the east, broke a journey to Upper Canada, stopping not far from the residence of Joseph Smith Sr. In the fall of 1829, when the first proofs of the Book of Mormon were coming off E. B.
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