Sunday, October 22, 2017 – Sunday Services, Browning Gun Tours

This morning’s Sunday sservices were very good as usual. All three of our talks were on the same topic, “Our Forefathers Legacy of Faith and Hope.” Once again we heard faith promoting stories from the journals of those early faithful pioneers who devoted their lives and everything they owned to follow the Prophet of God.  I’ve always loved the pioneer stories as they have touched my heart so deeply. Especially now that Sis. Johnson and I have lived and served in Nauvoo those pioneer stories have taken on new life and new meaning.

I am proud to say that my own great great grandfather, Orville Southerland Cox, lived here in Nauvoo before setting off for the Rocky Mountains with his wife and children. Orville Southerland Cox was a close friend of Jonathan Browning, the famous gunsmith in Nauvoo. While the other Saints were leaving, Orville remained in Nauvoo until almost the last departed. He assisted Jonathan Browning in transforming an old rusty steamer shafts into cannon that was so effectively used by Daniel H. Wells at the battle of Nauvoo.

In the middle of the prairie, at Council Bluffs, Iowa, Orville helped Jonathan Browning aid the myriads of weary pioneers restock, effect repairs and rest as they were passing through on their way to the Rocky Mountains toward Zion.

 And speaking of Jonathan Browning, this afternoon Sis. Johnson and I were assigned to give tours at the home and gunsmith shop of the legendary Jonathan Browning. I particularly enjoy giving tour at the Jonathan Browning Home and Gunsmith Shop. Among other things he was famous for the invention of the repeating rifle. But more importantly this great man had a quest for truth and learned for himself that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God and that the Gospel of Jesus Christ had been restored to the earth in the latter-days.

Prior to Jonathan Browning’s baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints he was a very good and successful gunsmith in Quincy Illinois. Later, after his baptism he moved his family to Nauvoo. In Nauvoo Jonathan’s skills as a gunsmith took on a new emphasis. Making guns meant more than just having a trade. From then on, Jonathan engraved on the stock of each gun the words “Holiness to the Lord – Our Preservation.” Jonathan is remembered for using his talents to help protect Nauvoo and the Saints that lived there. Throughout his life he used his skills, resources and talent to help the Saints in Nauvoo, on their trek West and as they settled in the Rockies.