England - Day 13 (Liverpool)

A few details about another of my ancestors (check out the second-to-last point.  Wow!)

Milo Andrus

Member of Zion’s Camp

In First Quorum of the Seventy

Helped build the Kirtland Temple

Studied Hebrew under Professor Joshua Seixas

Patriarchal blessing from Joseph Smith, Sr.

Helped build the Nauvoo Temple

Ordinance worker in Nauvoo Temple

Bishop of 5^th Ward, Nauvoo Stake

Served on Nauvoo police force and in Nauvoo Legion (as Howard Egan)

Many missions: Ohio, New York, Indiana, Canada, England

President of Liverpool Conference

2^nd mission in England: president of Birmingham District

Chaplain of the Utah Legislature

Captain of three different pioneer companies

Constructed railroad beds for Union Pacific Railroad in Echo Canyon and at Point

of the Mountain, between Salt Lake County and Utah County

First president of St. Louis Stake in Missouri

The original Henry Eyring (ancestor of world-renowned scientist, and wife of a

prophet [Camilla Eyring Kimball], and of member of First Presidency)

converted in part by Milo Andrus

Bishop of Big Cottonwood Ward in Salt Lake valley

Spoke at Eliza R. Snow’s funeral

On high council of St. George Stake

On high council of Oxford, Idaho, Stake + president of high priests quorum

Patriarch of Oxford Stake

Father of fourth largest family in LDS history: 11 wives, 57 children (more

children than Brigham Young)

His Pony Express station and hotel are preserved in Pioneer Heritage State Park, SLC

From the biography of Milo Andrus, Trumpeter of God:

The Isle of Man in the Irish sea, halfway between England and Ireland and twenty miles south of Scotland, was also in Milo’s Conference.  He notes that on Friday, 15 June 1849, he went to the Isle of Man on the steam packer Linweld and arrived at Douglas.  The Saints had posted bills giving notice of a meeting for Saturday, 17 June, at which Milo would speak.  On that day he preached three times to audience of significant size.  Milo recorded that an opponent from Yorkshire, England, contended against him.  “But by the Spirit of Truth,” Milo recorded, “I soon put him to flight to his own shame.”

There was never a dull moment for Milo during his first mission to England.  On 1 March 1849, he moved his family to Doncaster Street, apartment number 15, in Liverpool [we looked for it, but couldn’t find it], assisted by a faithful Saint, Brother Libets.  That evening he preached to an attentive audience in the Music Hall [found it!], one of the large prominent auditoriums in Liverpool.  He preached there regularly to eager audiences.

 Then and now

One Sunday at the Music Hall, Milo preached in the morning and President Orson Pratt preached in the evening.  Milo wrote, “We had a good day of it.  The Spirit of God was given unto the Saints.”  Bills were distributed and posted in Liverpool announcing that Elder Pratt would preach on Sunday, 20 May 1849, and that Milo would speak on the following Thursday.  The Music Hall was filled to overflowing and many strangers were in attendance.

In October of 1849, in the Music Hall, John Bows slandered the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Twelve who took the gospel to the British people.  The thread of his discourse was sown with the lies of apostates whom Milo knew in Missouri and Illinois: Reed Peck, Sampson Avard, and John C. Bennett.  Milo contended with Bows for two hours and truth prevailed.  Then George D. Watt, the first Englishman baptized, replied to Bows’ slandering remarks.  Milo took “the liberty to say in the presence of God that Mr. J. Bows is the greatest hypocrite that I ever saw.  May the curse of his own doings follow him”; the curse did follow him to his eternal shame and disgrace.

At the close of one meeting in the Music Hall, with a large number of people around him, Milo was accosted by a prominent minister who sternly said, “We don’t desire you to come to our blessed land of England to preach; we have all the churches that we can fill, and we have all the preachers that we can afford to pay.  Why do you come over here, Andrus, with all your eloquence and seeming power to convert?”

Milo replied, “Did we pass around a collection plate tonight?  No.  We are over here without financial remuneration, my good brother, to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the wonderful people of Great Britain.”

“Why don’t you go to the heathens like we do?”

With a smile on his face, Milo replied, “We do.”

The minister asked, “Where do you go?”

And with his infectious smile, Milo simply said, “We come right here.”

This reply annoyed the minister, so Milo continued.  “Now, don’t be disturbed, my brother.  That isn’t intended as an offense at all.  There are no finer people in the world than you have here in England, but what is a heathen anyhow?”

Hesitatingly, the minister answered, “A heathen is a man who doesn’t believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, or in Jesus Christ.”

“Do you have any people like that in Great Britain?” inquired Milo.

The minister’s face turned crimson as he dropped his head and replied, “Yes, I am sorry to say we have.”

“Surely,” said the subject of our story, “you are not going to complain about us Mormon missionaries coming to England to help you to convert them.  You haven’t been able to do it, so that is why we are here.  We want all the people in England to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ.”

At one of the overcrowded meetings, Milo was given a small jar of pickled cabbage by his friend and future convert, Mr. Ross. Milo enjoyed cabbage pickled, and holding up the jar for his audience to see, he declared, “Cabbage has done more for England than Shakespeare.”

There was silence and then a burst of laughter.

Then said Milo, “Now, my dear friends, I want to talk to you about food, spiritual food.  Our Lord Jesus counseled his followers to seek for the food which is everlasting.  He said, ‘Labor not for the meat which perishes, but that meat which endures unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you.’ Jesus then said: ‘I am the bread of life; he that comes to me shall never hunger; and he that believes on me shall never thirst.’”

Milo put the jar of pickled cabbage carefully down on the pulpit, held up the Book of Mormon, and said, “This book is filled with the food which is everlasting.  The first Prophet spoken of in this book, Lehi, taught of everlasting life using food as a symbol.  He received a dream in which he saw himself partaking of the most delicious of all fruits, the fruit of the tree of life.  The fruit of this tree offers each of us ‘exceeding great joy.’ In this dream Lehi shows that eternal life is the greatest gift, the most desirable fruit we can obtain.”

A person in the audience asked. “How can I obtain this fruit?”

Milo replied, “We can obtain this fruit by following the straight and narrow path that follows the word of God—the iron rod.  Eternal life is possible because of God’s love for us, which he manifested in the gift of his son, Jesus Christ, whose servant I am, and whose message I impart to you.”

The audience was enthralled.  Shortly after this sermon, Milo baptized six of twelve people from that congregation who were eventually converted.  Thus, in addition to many others, he was instrumental in bringing these twelve people to the light of Christ and the food of everlasting life.

Something for the nephews........totally unrelated to the above text. :)

Leaving the port at Liverpool heading toward the Isle of Man.  More on that tomorrow.