6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY.
I answered his questions, and knowing he intended crowning his studies with a thorough knowledge of Hebrew, invited him to come to Kirtland at the close of his term in Oberlin, as a school was soon to commence there, under the tuition of an able Hebrew professor, for the sole study of that language. Accordingly he came, but not with the most distant idea of embracing the faith of the Latter-day Saints, of which were most of the Hebrew students, with whom, including Apostles and the Prophet Joseph, he became familiarly associated; and while he studied the dead language of the ancient Hebrews, his mind also drank in, and his heart became imbued with the living faith of the everlasting Gospel—"the faith once delivered to the" ancient "saints," and not many weeks passed after his arrival, before he was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
What a marvelous change crossed the path of the young aspirant! This one act of stepping into the waters of baptism, with its accompanying ordinance of the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, by authorized administrators, opened up a new world before him. He now sees with a changed and vastly enlarged vision—having been invested with an additional, a sixth sense, a sense which comprehends the things of God—which penetrates into futurity and estimates eternal values.
How wonderfully changed all his youthful aims! How suddenly they sink into insignificance! How extended the sphere of his youthful anticipations! How glorious—how exalted the motive power, the incentive that now prompts his youthful ambition! Instead of earthly military renown, he now enters the arena for championship with the armies of heaven—the achievements of the Gods, crowned with the laurels of eternity, everlasting glory, honor and eternal lives. Not to be armed with carnal weapons, and to be decked with glittering badges and costly equipage, to march forth in the pomp and pride of battle array, for the shedding of human
