175 years ago today - 1840: 4 July

[Patriarchal blessing of George Miller Given by Joseph Smith, Sen.] ... [thou] hast joined thyself to a harlot, but the Lord has now opened thy eyes. ... Thou shall see the Nephites, that remain in the flesh. The heavens shall be opened and thou shalt behold great things and the veil shall be rent, and thou shalt be permitted to look within the veil and behold that which thou wilt not be able to utter; thy life shall be long; thou mayst tarry until the winding up scene and then be numbered with the hundred-and-forty-and-four-thousand that stand upon Mount Zion; thou shalt have many blessings, that I cannot speak at this time; the lame shall leap as a hart, the blind shall see, the deaf hear, and the poor rejoice in the Holy One of Israel through thy instrumentality; thou shalt be useful, and shalt bring in thy thousands, through thy ministry, ... thou art a pure Ephraimite, and thou shalt have power over sickness, and death,

[Source: From H. W. Mills: Mormon Bishop and His Son: "De Tal Palo Tal Astilla", Los Angeles, Historical Society of Southern California, 1917, pp. 91-92, quoted in Selected LDS Patriarchal Blessings, New Mormon Studies CD ROM, Signature Book, 2009, http://amzn.to/newmormonstudies]