Strength of Samson
BY ELDER TED E. BREWERTON
FROM APRIL CONFERENCE 1986
Here is a true story that relates a simple experience of a nineteen-year-old who became a remarkable one. He was magnified and had great powers acted through him. There was a young nineteen-year-old admirer of Joseph Smith, Philemon Merrill, who had come with other loyal followers to rescue their prophet from the hands of Sheriffs Reynolds and Wilson. While returning to Nauvoo, the company rested "in a grove of timber." One of the lawyers for the sheriff and the kidnappers boasted of his wrestling powers. He offered a wager that he could throw any man in Illinois. Stephen Markham, a bodyguard of Joseph's and a huge man, also an experienced wrestler, took up the challenge. The boaster threw Stephen, and a taunting shout went up from the Prophet's enemies.
As the taunts continued, Joseph Smith turned to young Philemon Merrill and said: "`Get up and throw that man.'"
The boy was about to refuse, to excuse himself by saying he was not a wrestler, but the look in the Prophet's eyes silenced the tongue. "He arose to his feet filled with the strength of a Samson." Philemon "lifted his arms" and told the lawyer to take his choice of sides.
"The man took the left side with his right hand under," which gave him a decided advantage. Philemon Merrill's friends protested, but young Philemon felt such confidence in the words of the Prophet that it made little difference to him what advantage his antagonist took. As they began to grapple, Joseph instructed him, "`Philemon, when I count three, throw him!'
"On the instant after the word of three from Joseph's lips," Philemon Merrill, "with the strength of a giant, threw the lawyer over his left shoulder, and he fell striking his head upon the earth."
Little wonder it is reported that "awe fell upon the opponents of the Prophet when they saw this, and there were no more challenges to wrestle during the journey" (George Q. Cannon, Life of Joseph Smith the Prophet, Classics in Mormon Literature, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1986, pp. 450-51).
BY ELDER TED E. BREWERTON
FROM APRIL CONFERENCE 1986
Here is a true story that relates a simple experience of a nineteen-year-old who became a remarkable one. He was magnified and had great powers acted through him. There was a young nineteen-year-old admirer of Joseph Smith, Philemon Merrill, who had come with other loyal followers to rescue their prophet from the hands of Sheriffs Reynolds and Wilson. While returning to Nauvoo, the company rested "in a grove of timber." One of the lawyers for the sheriff and the kidnappers boasted of his wrestling powers. He offered a wager that he could throw any man in Illinois. Stephen Markham, a bodyguard of Joseph's and a huge man, also an experienced wrestler, took up the challenge. The boaster threw Stephen, and a taunting shout went up from the Prophet's enemies.
As the taunts continued, Joseph Smith turned to young Philemon Merrill and said: "`Get up and throw that man.'"
The boy was about to refuse, to excuse himself by saying he was not a wrestler, but the look in the Prophet's eyes silenced the tongue. "He arose to his feet filled with the strength of a Samson." Philemon "lifted his arms" and told the lawyer to take his choice of sides.
"The man took the left side with his right hand under," which gave him a decided advantage. Philemon Merrill's friends protested, but young Philemon felt such confidence in the words of the Prophet that it made little difference to him what advantage his antagonist took. As they began to grapple, Joseph instructed him, "`Philemon, when I count three, throw him!'
"On the instant after the word of three from Joseph's lips," Philemon Merrill, "with the strength of a giant, threw the lawyer over his left shoulder, and he fell striking his head upon the earth."
Little wonder it is reported that "awe fell upon the opponents of the Prophet when they saw this, and there were no more challenges to wrestle during the journey" (George Q. Cannon, Life of Joseph Smith the Prophet, Classics in Mormon Literature, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1986, pp. 450-51).
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