Lorenzo Snow’s Vision and Baptism of the Holy Ghost

“Some two or three weeks after I was baptized, one day while engaged in my studies, I began to reflect upon the fact that I had not obtained a knowledge of the truth of the work—that I had not received the manifestation that I had been expecting. I had been baptized, it is true, and had received the ordinance of the laying on of hands, but I had not realized the fulfillment of the promise of the reception of the Holy Ghost, in the way and manner that I had anticipated. I had not received that testimony which I felt was necessary to enable me to go forth and proclaim the Gospel to the world. I felt very much depressed. I had been reading the Book of Mormon, and had been praying and fasting, and had been very anxious to receive a testimony for myself. I had no sooner opened my lips in an effort to pray, than I heard a sound, just above my head, like the rustling of silken robes, and immediately the Spirit of God descended upon me, completely enveloping my person, filling me from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet, and O, the joy and happiness I felt! No language can describe the instantaneous transition from a dense cloud of mental and spiritual darkness into a refulgence of light and knowledge, as it was at that time imparted to my understanding. I then received a perfect knowledge that God lives, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and of the restoration of the Holy Priesthood, and the fullness of the Gospel. It was a complete baptism—a tangible immersion in the heavenly principle or element, the Holy Ghost; and even more real and physical in its effects upon every part of my system than the immersion by water; dispelling forever, so long as reason and memory last, all possibility of doubt or fear in relation to the fact handed down to us historically, that the Babe of Bethlehem is truly the Son of God; also the fact that He is now being revealed to the children of men, and communicating knowledge, the same as in the apostolic times.”

— Lorenzo Snow, as quoted in Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow by Eliza R. Snow