I Feared No Set of Men

Description

Cyril Call was born in June 1785, in Woodstock, Vermont. He married Sarah Tiffany on April 6, 1806. He was raised a Methodist and in time became a Methodist preacher. In 1817, he moved his family to Ohio. In November 1832, Cyril was taught the gospel by John Murdock and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He studied the gospel carefully and became close friends with the Prophet Joseph Smith. However, Sally, his wife and some of his children refused the gospel. Sally was brought up the daughter of a Baptist preacher. Their unwillingness to accept baptism greatly concerned Cyril. He confided his anguish to the Prophet Joseph Smith. Family records indicate that Joseph heard his concerns, placed his hands upon Cyril’s head and pronounced a blessing, stating that, “his wife and every one of his children should be converted to the Gospel; be baptized into the Church, be faithful workers, and remain loyal advocates of their religion to the day of their death, and that his posterity should be lovers of the truth and workers in the Lord’s vineyard.” Not long after, Sally joined the Church. However, the story of the conversion of their second son is most remarkable.

Anson Call was born May 13, 1810, while the family was still in Vermont. He grew up the second of thirteen children. As he came of age, he developed a stuttering problem that he could not overcome. He married Mary Flint in 1833.

When missionaries brought the gospel to his father’s family Anson resisted. He described that their preaching “was a constant annoyance to my feelings. I became dissatisfied,” he said, “with all denominations and myself.” It frustrated him that in discussing the gospel with the missionaries he said “They would cuff me about like an old pair of boots. I came to the conclusion that the reason of my being handled so easy was because I did not understand the Bible and the Book of Mormon.”

Anson took a copy of the Bible and the Book of Mormon and commenced reading and comparing the two. For six months, he studied, prayed, and compared. At the end, he had read both books through and said, “I became a firm believer in the Book of Mormon.” Only his wife knew the intense struggle of his soul. Anson described himself as “proud and haughty and to obey the gospel was worse than death. I studied three years hard,” he said, “to learn that Mormons were true. I labored under these under these feelings…becoming at times almost insane. To be called a Mormon, I thought was more than I could endure. I lamented that my lot was cast in this dispensation. My dreams and meditations and my thoughts made me most miserable.”

And finally, with a heart broken and that haughty spirit contrite, Anson said, “I at last covenanted before the Lord that if he would give me confidence to face the world in Mormonism I would be baptized for the remission of my sins.”

Anson described that “before I arose from my knees the horrors of my mind were cleared. I feared no set of men.” And from that point forward, to the end of his days, Anson Call proved himself a fearless and faithful man of God.

He adds the following almost as a postscript to his remarkable conversion, “After I joined the Church I was administered to for my stammering speech, from which I was relieved.”

And thus, the power of a Prophet’s promise and a father’s faith.

Sources: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/KVP5-P7S

https://catalog.churchofjesuschrist.org/assets/3fd356d3-8c94-4097-994e-20203300ae28/0/0