I was born in the
year of our Lord 1830, on the 10th day of March in the town of Loughborough, in
Leicester. My Father, John Barratt, was
a member of the Independent Cavinist Church, he, in my childhood taught me to
pray and fear the Lord, but I, like the rest of the world, went into sin and
wickedness and followed the vanities of the world, until I was about to be
married. About this time my feelings
began to come on me very heavy and I began to think much upon my future state
of existence, I knew that was not in a saved state, and how to get right I did
not know, for there was so many different religions all around and I did not
know which to join to be right.
In the year of our
Lord 1849, on the 25th day of December, I was married to Mary Whitby who was a
widow, she had one child, his name was Thomas Whitby. After I was married my feelings was still
troubled about religion, and so troubled was my soul that I could not rest at
night nor day, the fear of death tormented my soul to that extent that my life
was misery to me, I often prayed to God and asked Him to lead me in the right
way and to guide me to that church which was the righter, for I did not think
that they were all wrong, and I went from one place of worship to the other to
try to find rest for my soul, but I tryed in vain, rest I could not find, and I
began to thing that I was lost for ever.
I began to despair and think that the Lord would not answer my prayers. I began to think that the world was about to
be at an end and thought so much about it that many times I gave over work,
thinking that the world was going to be at an end, and it was no use of we
working any longer. With thoughts like
these I felt very uneasy, and was still down cast, but I still prayed to God
for Him to have mercy on me and so I went along in this way, until the
beginning of the year 1849, when I left Loughborough, and came to Nottingham,
which is 15 miles from Loughborough, and when I was in Nottingham I still was
in fear of death and was very much troubled about religion. Still I prayed to God and asked Him to
enlighten my mind that I might find peace to my soul, but I went about
Nottingham to try to find peace, for a long time until I had given up for to be
lost, but just at this time when I was cast down to the ground in despair, one
Sunday I was going to Carrington which is one mile from Nottingham and , when I
was on the way going I was thinking about religion and all in a moment there
was as if it were a voice spoke to me, and said Latter-Day Saints, and it was
so impressed upon my mind that I could not resist it. At this time I did not know where the
Latter-Day Saints chapel was. I had
heard about the saints, but did not know what they believed about
salvation. I tried to get to Carrington,
but it was as if some power from above prevented me, I went about to try to
find the saints chapel, but after a great deal of trying there was as if it
were a voice spoke to me and said follow them people which are going that way.
So I followed them straight way and they took me to the saints meeting
house. I went in and sat down, then I
began to feel blessed, I heard the saints speak one to other of the goodness of
God to them, and that they was glad that they lived the last days to enjoy.
No comments:
Post a Comment