John Tanner and his family

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56 . John Tanner and His Family out his inviting them to his home, although the Carter journal says nothing of such a visit. By previous arrangement, John had scheduled a meeting at his home for Sunday, September 16 where the Carters would speak. On the Saturday before, he had his team hitched to his carriage and set out to notify his neighbors and invite them to his home. His leg seemed better already, as he spent five hours in his private buggy making sure everyone knew about the meeting. He probably knew that he would have an important announce­ determination to cast his lot with the Mormons. There would be room for all in the large Tanner home, and Sunday the sixteenth would be a day long remembered by John Tanner and his family, and by many kindly neighbors. ment to make of his The Sunday meeting was a success. Jared Carter wrote in his "The pleasure of the Lord was powerfully manifested." It is diary: not known how many were converted at this meeting, but the mis­ sionary reported: "After meeting we baptized." High point of the meeting, however, was not the spirited talk given by Jared Carter, but the healing of John Tanner's lame leg, the story told so often by Tanner descendants everywhere. All during the talk, Carter's eyes were focused on his gracious host who had spent five painful hours the previous day inviting his neighbors to meet the Mormon missionaries. He saw this beloved country squire with his foot propped up on a pillow, and his crutches leaning against the wall where he could reach them. He remembered his promise to him that if he read the Book of Mormon and believed it, he would see an improvement in his leg. This is Carters report: He had been lame for months, but we found he was a believer in the Book of Mormon. I asked him to endeavor to walk, in the name of Christ, he endeavored to undertake. I took him by the hand and commanded him in the name of Christ to walk, and by the power of Christ he was enabled to walk." Elizabeth, John's wife, says he threw away his crutches and Nathan again. says John wept and praised God. Most religious people are fascinated with stories of miracles, particularly with those which have to do with healings. Nathan's statement that this was the first case of healings that had seen never used them they and that it caused wonder and surprise, suggests the general excite­ ment about John's restoration to health.