Brother Pen's Protection from a Violent Mob in Belfast
Published October 5, 2026 at 11:32 PM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
During an outdoor meeting in Belfast, Brother Pen and his companions were surrounded by a hostile crowd that rushed at them. Despite the aggressive behavior of the mob and their attempts to incite violence, Brother Pen spoke with power and was able to hold the crowd's attention for a time, preventing immediate physical injury. The Elders were eventually forced to leave by tram to escape the mob's persistent efforts to cause a disturbance.
Fuller account of this event (the complete account as preserved in The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 47, No. 31, 3 August 1885, p. 494):
In Belfast, Brother Pen and his companions were holding an outdoor meeting, when they were surrounded by a mob, who rushed at them, but Brother Pen spoke with such power that he held the crowd for a time, and they were enabled to leave by tram, and thus escaped the mob.
In Their Own Words
“There was a large crowd on the land—when we made our appearance on the steps they came with a rush towards us. Had we been other than servants of God in this great last dispensation, the end might have been different; but through the mercy of God, and the manner in which Brother Pen rose in his most earnest, soul-stirring way to unfold the truth, the people were held as if spell-bound for a time. He had not spoken long, however, before the spirit of the enemy was actively at work laboring to break up the meeting, and the fiends in human form by whom we were surrounded, rushed upon us from all sides. We had to get on the tram to get away from the mob. — Millennial Star 47:31”
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 3 August 1885 (Vol. 47, No. 31). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1885-08-03_47_31 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Complete account: The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 47, No. 31, 3 August 1885, p. 494 https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1885-08-03_47_31
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