A Miracle, But No Conversion

A number of years ago President Francis M. Lyman and President B. H. Roberts had attended a quarterly conference at Loa, Wayne County, Utah. In those days traveling was by team and whitetop. The brethren had started early that morning to catch the train at Sigurd -- fifty or sixty miles distant. They stopped for breakfast at Koosharem. While they were eating, a very singular incident occurred.

A young man, seeing the whitetop, knowing the elders were in the house, dismounted from his horse, entered, and eagerly asked: "How long are you brethren going to stay here?"

"Just long enough to finish our breakfast. Why?" queried Elder Lyman.
"Because I should like to bring my uncle here and have you administer to him."
Before the brethren had finished their breakfast, there entered the living room of the house a man who was led in his physical blindness by his wife and this young, outstanding rancher. As the elders entered the living room, Brother Lyman, in his bighearted way, putting his hand on the man's knee, said:
"Well, so you want to be administered to, do you?"
"No, I do not," was the surprising reply.
"Well, then," said President Lyman, "why are you here?"
"Because my wife and my nephew put me in the wagon and brought me here," was his frank statement.
"How long has it been since you lost your sight?" asked President Lyman. The man told him. And Brother Lyman said: "Well, you believe the Lord can heal you, do you not?"
The man answered, "Well, I think he can. I don't know if he will."
There seemed to be an absolute absence of faith so far as the man was concerned.
"Do you belong to the Church?" asked President Lyman.
"No, I do not," was the reply.
"Well, if the Lord heals you, you would be glad to acknowledge his power, should you not?"
"Yes, if he did, I think I should."

Let me tell you at this point now what seemed to me in that instance to be most significant, and then I will finish the story. That young man had seen in a dream or vision the night before two men who had administered to his uncle, and the latter had received his sight through that administration. That is what prompted him to dismount from his horse, and make the request.

President Lyman and President Roberts performed the administration. The man, his wife, and nephew returned to their home. Presidents Lyman and Roberts resumed their journey to Salt Lake City.
Two or three months later, President Lyman was attending a conference in Blackfoot, Idaho. Among those who greeted him, walking unaided, was this man to whom they had administered. "Do you remember me?" the man asked.
President Lyman said, "Yes, and I see you have received your sight."
"Yes, I have," said the man; "I can read a newspaper as well as you can."
During the brief interview that followed, President Lyman remarked: "I remember our conversation -- how do you account for your having received your sight?"
"Well," said the skeptic, "I believe that the medicine I was taking had just begun to work."
There was a miracle but its effect in converting the man to the power of God was nil.
To me a most important phase of the story is the pre-vision of that young rancher, for I know that pre-vision is an actual fact in life, and it was through his faith that the man had been blessed.


You young men who pass through periods of doubt about the reality of the spirit in man, and of the possibility of its being in contact with divine influence, should ponder earnestly on the fact that there is something within you which can become cognizant of happenings or incidents that are entirely beyond the limit of any one or all of your five physical senses.