Volume VI: Table of Contents

	 Introduction
	 Chapter I:         An Estimate of the Prophet Joseph as a Religious
                    Leader--Anti-Mormon Meeting at
                    Carthage--Historical Sketch--Important Conference
                    of the Twelve Held in Boston.
	 Chapter II:        Movements of Apostles in the East--The Nauvoo
                    Mansion--Rockwell Acquitted--Special Conference
                    at Nauvoo--Discourse of the Prophet on the Demise
                    of James Adams.
	 Chapter III:       Ancient Ruins in America, Book of Mormon
                    Evidences--The Prophet on the U.S. Constitution
                    and the Bible--Misrepresentations
                    Corrected--Letter to the U.S. Presidential
                    Candidates--The Prophet's Address to the Saints.
	 Chapter IV:        Correspondence Between James Arlington Bennett
                    and President Joseph Smith--Renewal of Petitions
                    to Congress for Redress of Missouri
                    Grievances--President Joseph Smith's Appeal to
                    the Green Mountain Boys, Vermont--Status of the
                    Nauvoo Legion in Illinois Militia.
	 Chapter V:         The Avery Kidnapping--Defensive Preparations
                    Against Missouri Mobs--Appeals to the General
                    Government for Protection--Nauvoo Legion Offered
                    as United States Troops.
	 Chapter VI:        Memorial of City Council to Congress Anent
                    Missouri Affairs--Rockwell Returns to
                    Nauvoo--Recital of His Adventures--Avery's
                    Acquittal by Missouri's Courts--Nauvoo's Police
                    Force Increased Publication on Mormonism, Pro Et
                    Con--1843.
	 Chapter VII:       President Smith's Correspondence with John C.
                    Calhoun--Cartwright Drowning Case, England--City
                    Guards Increased--Fears of Law and
                    Marks--Investigation by the City
                    Council--Resistance of Officers at
                    Carthage--Anti-Mormon Objections to City
                    Ordinances--The Prophet's Difficulties with
                    Francis M. Higbee--Regulations for the Sale of
                    Spirituous Liquors.
	 Chapter VIII: Presentation of the Book of Mormon to Queen
               Victoria--The Sealing Powers of the
               Priesthood--Governor Ford's Warning to the People
               of Hancock County--Apostrophe to Missouri--Joseph
               Smith Nominated for President of the United
               States--His Views on the Powers and Policy of the
               Government of the United States.
	 Chapter IX:        Comments on Candidacy of Joseph Smith for
                    President of the United States--Tenders of Peace
                    to Missouri--Preliminary Steps to Western
                    Movement of the Church--James A. Bennett and
                    Vice-Presidency.

	 Chapter X:         Urging the Building of the Temple--Tenders of
                    Peace to Missouri--Prophet's Discourse on Elias,
                    Elijah, Messiah--Lyman Wight's Proposal of a
                    Southwest Movement for the Church.
	 Chapter XI:        Orson Pratt Sent to Washington as Agent of
                    Nauvoo--Amos Fielding to England, Ditto--Comment
                    on the Candidacy of Joseph Smith for President of
                    the U.S.--Conspiracy of the Laws, Higbees,
                    Fosters Et Al Against Joseph Smith--The Prophet's
                    Memorial to Congress--Occupation of the West
                    Contemplated.
	 Chapter XII:       The Authorities of Nauvoo vs. the Higbees et
                    al.--Dedication of the Masonic Hall--The Church
                    Conference in April, 1844--Address of President
                    Sidney Rigdon.
	 Chapter XIII: Conference of the Church, April, 1844,
               continued--Address of Patriarch Hyrum Smith--The
               Building of the Temple.
	 Chapter XIV:       Conference of the Church, April, 1844
                    (continued)--The King Follett Sermon--The
                    Character of God--Religious Freedom--God An
                    Exalted Man--Eternal Life to Know God and Jesus
                    Christ--Everlasting Burnings--Meaning of the
                    Hebrew Scriputres--A Council of the Gods--Meaning
                    of the Word Create--The Immortal
                    Intelligence--The Relation of Man to God--Our
                    Greatest Responsibility--The Unpardonable
                    Sin--The Forgiveness of Sin--The Second Death.
	 Chapter XV:        General Conference for April, 1844,
                    (concluded)--The Announcement that the Whole Land
                    of America is Zion--Instructions to Elders Set
                    Apart for Missions--A General Conference in
                    England.
	 Chapter XVI:       Difficulties with the Higbees and Fosters,
                    Conferences Appointed by the Twelve Throughout
                    the United States--Instructions to Reuben
                    Hedlock, President of the British
                    Mission--Preparations for Enlargement of the
                    Work--Francis M. Higbee's Suit Against President
                    Smith--The Prophet Released.
	 Chapter XVII: Address of the Prophet--His Prophetic Calling and
               the Resurrection--Status of Affairs at
               Nauvoo--Hyde's Report From Washington of the
               Western Movement--Oregon.
	 Chapter XVIII:     The State Presidential Convention at Nauvoo--The
                    States Represented--Speech of John S. Reid,
                    Esq.--Early Days with the Prophet.
	 Chapter XIX:       Charges Against President Smith Before the
                    Circuit Court--His Voluntary Appearance at
                    Court--Treatment--Return to Nauvoo.

	 Chapter XX:        Case of Jeremiah Smith Before Municipal Court at
                    Nauvoo--Affidavits of Crimes of Chauncey L.
                    Higbee--Appearance of the "Expositor."
	 Chapter XXI:       The Destruction of the "Nauvoo
                    Expositor"--Proceedings of the Nauvoo City
                    Council and Mayor.
	 Chapter XXII: President Smith Arrested for Riot in Relation to
               "Expositor" Affair--Habeas Corpus Proceedings
               Before Municipal Court--A Call From Arkansas--The
               Prophet's Dreams--Mass Meetings at
               Warsaw--Letters to Governor Ford on "Expositor"
               Affair.
	 Chapter XXIII:     Discourse of the Prophet--The Godhead--The Mob
                    Uprising--Arrest of President Smith et al. Over
                    the "Expositor" Affair Before Esquire Wells.
	 Chapter XXIV: Rumors of Invasion from Missouri--The Legion
               Ordered to Assist the City Marshall--Nauvoo
               Placed Under Martial Law--The Mayor's Address to
               the Legion.
	 Chapter XXV:       Attempts to Draft Saints Into Mob Service Against
                    Nauvoo--Threatened Invasion from Missouri--James
                    A. Bennett Urged to come to Nauvoo.
	 Chapter XXVI: The Twelve Called From Eastern Mission--Governor
               Ford at Carthage--Nauvoo Delegation to
               Governor--Threats and Conspiracy Against the
               Prophet's Life--Governor Ford Invited to Nauvoo
               to Investigate Conditions.
	 Chapter XXVII:     Preparations to Defend Nauvoo--Mob Movements on
                    Carthage Road--Governor Ford's Review of Hancock
                    County Difficulties--Joseph Smith's Account of
                    the Same Difficulties--Defense of His Own and
                    Associates Course.
	 Chapter XXVIII:    Governor Ford's Wrong Viewpoint--Elder Taylor's
                    Account of the Interview with the Governor at
                    Carthage--Close of the Prophet's Journal
                    Narrative of His Life.
	 Chapter XXIX: The Prophet Starts for the Rocky Mountains--The
               Counsel of False Brethren--The Return to
               Nauvoo--The Surrender and Arrival at Carthage.

	 Chapter XXX:       Arrest of Joseph and Hyrum Smith on a Charge of
                    Treason--False Imprisonment--Elder Taylor's
                    Protest--False Imprisonment.
	 Chapter XXXI: Interview in Carthage Prison Between Governor
               Ford and the Prophet--Taylor's Report of the
               Interview--Testimony to the Existence of a
               Carthage Conspiracy Against the Prophet's Life.
	 Chapter XXXII:     The Prophet in Carthage Prison--The Union of
                    Judicial, Executive, and Military Authority in
                    Dealing with the Prisoners--The Last Night in
                    Prison.
	 Chapter XXXIII:    The Day of the Martydom--Threats--Repeated
                    Warnings of the Prisoners' Danger Given to
                    Governor Ford--The Carthage Greys as Guards.
	 Chapter XXXIV:     Departure of Governor Ford for Nauvoo--The
                    Afternoon in Carthage Prison--The Assault on the
                    Prison--The Martydom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.
	 Chapter XXXV: Governor Ford in Nauvoo--News of the Martydom
               Message to Nauvoo--Arrival of the
               Bodies--Sorrowful Scenes--The Burial.



        HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS

                                Period I.
             History of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, by himself
                An Introduction and Notes by B. H. Roberts
             

                        INTRODUCTION TO VOLUME VI.

	I. The Time Period.

	The time-period covered in this sixth volume of the HISTORY OF THE
CHURCH is less than one year. Nine months and twenty-eight days, to be
exact; or from the 1st. of September, 1843, to the 29th of June, 1844.
Events within this period are therefore given in elaborate detail. The
general reader and the student of our history will find in this volume a
larger collection of documents, official and otherwise, covering this
Period, than will be found elsewhere.

	This volume also closes the first Period of our Church History, the
period marked off by two events: (1) the birth of the Prophet Joseph
Smith; and (2) his martyrdom and that of his brother Hyrum, at Carthage,
Illinois.

	The Journal History of the Prophet, that great source of historical
knowledge concerning the development of the Now Dispensation, closes with
his entry of the 22nd of June, 1844. After that, for our knowledge of the
remaining events of the Prophet's life, we are dependent upon collections
of data by the Church historians from public and private sources, of which
collections there are two' the first extends from the 22nd of June to the
29th of that month, and forms the concluding chapters of this volume; the
second begins also with the 22nd of June, and extends to the 8th of
August, 1844; at which time the Twelve Apostles were sustained for the
time being as the presiding council of the Church. This second collection
of data by the Church historians will open Volume VII of this HISTORY.

	In the present volume we see the Prophet's brave struggle against the
overwhelming odds of his foes--foes within the Church, false brethren; and
foes without the Church--the combination of political and sectarian
enemies fixed in their determination to kill him, destroy Nauvoo, and
expel the Saints from Illinois' for all these things were included in the
program of the anti-Mormons of Illinois, even before the death of the
Prophet was encompassed. Three score and seven years now give perspective
to the stirring events in which the really great drama was enacted; and
from that vantage ground of perspective said events map be reviewed to the
enlightenment of those who seek to know the truth, and the injustice of
the things enacted in Illinois during the closing months of the Prophet
Joseph's earthly career.

	II. Why the Latter-day Saints were Welcomed to Illinois.

	On the one hand, in the above mentioned struggle, was a people who
but a few years before had been welcomed into Illinois as exiles from a
neighboring state, the victims of a cruel and ignorant intolerance. They
were welcomed, in part, because of the injustice to which they had been
subjected in a neighboring state, and because their physical sufferings,
arising from want of shelter and food in an inclement season of the year
to which they were exposed, was such as to move adamantine hearts to pity.
Also they were welcomed because, as pointed out in the Introduction to
Volume IV of this HISTORY, the state of Illinois needed augmentation of
her population by just such a people as the Latter-day Saints
were--industrious, frugal, skilled mechanics, successful farmers,
experienced men of affairs, men capable of trade and commerce,
enterprising and with a larger proportion of educated men and women among
them than was to be found among the people of western Illinois in those
days. I do not here employ the language of adulation on the one hand, nor
seek to make invidious distinctions upon the other. Either would be vain,
since the well-known and accepted facts of history would disprove the
declarations made if not founded in truth. The fact is, however, that all
that is claimed above for the Missouri exiled Latter-day Saints is true
and well-attested by their achievements in settling Nauvoo, which in four
years rose from a ware-house or two and a few half tumbledown shacks on
the banks of the river, and called "Commerce," to the dignity of being the
first city in Illinois in population and commercial enterprise, and also
gave promise of developing into a manufacturing center of great
importance. This last item was evidenced in the fact that the founder of
Nauvoo, President Joseph Smith, and the Nauvoo city council appreciated
the possibilities in the water power of the Lower Des Moines Rapids in the
Mississippi, at the head of which the city was located. Reference to his
journal entry for the 23rd of September (this volume, p. 80) will witness
that he suggested that a petition be sent to the national Congress for the
construction of a canal around the rapids to overcome the obstruction for
the free passage of river craft, which the rapids prevented daring the low
water period of each year, and thus enhance the value of the great stream
to the inland commerce of the west. Reference again to President Smith's
journal entry for the 8th of December, 1843 (this volume, p. 103) will
disclose the fact that he gave instruction in the forenoon to his clerk to
draw a plan for a dam in the Mississippi; and that in the afternoon of the
same day the city council met and passed an ordinance authorizing Joseph
Smith to "erect a dam of suitable height to propel mills and machinery
from any point within the limits of said city, and below the Nauvoo
House;" also in connection with this dam to construct a "harbor or basin
for steamboats and other craft;" and to construct docks, wharfs and
landings," the wharfage fees to be "regulated by ordinance of said city
(this volume p. 106).

	III. Nauvoo as a Possible Manufacturing Center.

	What further contributed to the promise that Nauvoo would be a great
manufacturing center as well as the center of an immense agricultural
region with a splendid commercial outlet, was the fact that artisans and
tradesmen of the very first order in skill, were rapidly gathering into
the city, not only from the New England and other Eastern states of our
own country, but also from the British Isles. It was inevitable if let
alone that Nauvoo would become the greatest manufacturing center of
Illinois, and among the first of such cities in the United States. The
Prophet did not live to see even a commencement made upon these large
enterprises he had conceived, but subsequently his zealous followers
organized a company to carry them to a successful conclusion under the
title of "The Nauvoo Water Power Company," which began the construction
of the dam on the 29th of April, 1845; but which had to be abandoned
because of the hostilities that soon after increased and continued until
they culminated in the expulsion of the Latter-day Saints from Illinois.

	In addition to these measures, manufacturing and agricultural
associations were incorporated; also the "Nauvoo House Associations" for
the erection of a hotel, ambitious to be known as the finest hostelry in
the Upper Mississippi country. One of the agricultural associations, known
as the "Big Field Corporation," held six sections, or three thousand eight
hundred and forty acres of land east of Nauvoo; and the year following the
Prophet's death the company harvested about thirty thousand bushels of
corn, nearly the same amount of wheat, besides an "abundance of oats,
barley, buckwheat, potatoes and other vegetables.

	IV. Educational Measures at Nauvoo.

	And not only in material things was the superior character of
Nauvoo's founders and builders proclaimed; but equally broad and
comprehensive were their preparations for an educational system. By their
city charter they were empowered to establish an institution of learning
within the limits of the city for the teaching of the arts and sciences
and learned professions, to be called the "University of the City of
Nauvoo;" also a common school system for the city, all of which was in
course of development even in the early years of Nauvoo's existence. And
in addition to these direct educational institutions of common schools and
projected university, literary and dramatic associations were organized,
as also choral and band organizations for the cultivation of musical
talents and to promote the pleasure and refinement of society; while the
religious zeal of the community expressed itself in the rapidly rising
walls of the splendid temple--soon to be the most solid and pretentious
building in the state; and in the tireless missionary enterprise of the
dominant Church.

	V. Jealousy of Nauvoo's Promising greatness.

	Nothing was lacking, then, in the promises of constant and rapid
growth, of prosperity and future greatness of Nauvoo. Small wonder if the
narrow bigotry and jealousy of small-souled men of the time and vicinity--
especially those who were inhabitants of rival towns, particularly those
of Warsaw and Carthage--were envious of Nauvoo's prosperity and promise of
future greatness. Hitherto this element of jealousy of Nauvoo's prosperity
and promise of future greatness has not been accorded the importance due
to it as a contributing cause to the warfare made upon that city and the
Saints. Little doubt, however, can be entertained, now attention has been
called to it, but what as a contributing cause jealousy of Nauvoo stood
next to religious prejudice and political distrust and hatred.

	A correspondent from Fair Haven, Connecticut, to a gentleman in
Nauvoo, set forth this matter most convincingly. An excerpt of the letter
was published in the Nauvoo Neighbor of August 7th, 1844. It is proper to
say that the writer was not a member of the Mormon Church; "but," as the
editor of the Neighbor describes him, "a citizen of Connecticut, loving
law and liberty and life;" and now the paragraph dealing with the point
under discussion:

	"It is now known here that the lazy speculators of Warsaw, and the
still lazier office drones at Carthage, cared nothing for Joseph Smith
personally, or for his tenets either; but the prosperity of Nauvoo
increasing as it did, beyond any former parallel. even in the western
world, excited in their bosoms envy, hatred and all ungodliness. This is
the true secret of all their barbarous movements against Mormonism--and
they supposed by destroying the Smiths they should extinguish their
religion, disperse the Mormons--depopulating and desolating Nauvoo."

	Also a correspondent to the State Register published at Springfield,
Illinois, speaking of Thomas C. Sharp, editor of the Warsaw Signal and the
anti-Mormon disturbances in Hancock county said:

	"He [Sharp] is also described as having made himself the 'organ of a
gang of town lot speculators at Warsaw,' who are afraid that Nauvoo is
about to kill off their town and render speculation abortive."

	Mr. Backenstos in January, 1845, when the repeal of the Nauvoo
Charter was under discussion in the Illinois legislature, referred to this
same subject in a speech on the floor of the house of representatives, in
the course of which he said;

	"Town rivalry had also something to do with this opposition to
Nauvoo. While Warsaw was on the decline, Nauvoo was rapidly increasing in
wealth and population; a plan to bring about a reaction was soon concocted
by the leading men of Warsaw, who made one pilgrimage after another to
Nauvoo, imploring the Mormon Prophet to aid them in building up a city
adjoining the town of Warsaw, by settling a portion of the Mormon
population in and about Warsaw, and commence the building of a new city.
The bubble soon exploded, and the speculation failed. This gave rise to
dissatisfaction with some who had heretofore been exceedingly polite to
'Lieutenant General Joseph Smith.!'"

	Thus in every way, to refer back to the point of starting the
discussion of this subdivision, the Latter-day Saints are proven by their
achievements and the foundations they laid for the future greatness of
their city, to be a superior people, and hence a desirable addition to the
population of the then-young commonwealth of Illinois.

	VI. The Character of the People of Western Illinois.

	On the other hand there was a population in western Illinois, and
perhaps more especially in Hancock county, which had more than its full
share of lawless and desperate men; who, as by a law of social
gravitation, seek the frontiers of civilization. Moreover it is notorious
that the whole upper Mississippi was a rendezvous for gamblers,
counterfeiters, horse thieves, murderers and other criminals that infested
the great river, which gave easy ingress and egress to s frontier
wilderness on the one hand. and to such centers of population and
activity, on the other, as New Orleans, St. Louis, and many minor places,
besides. "I must give some account of the anti-Mormons," says Governor
Ford in his History of Illinois, when referring to the inhabitants of
Hancock county. "I had a good opportunity to know the settlers of Hancock
county," he continues. "I had attended the circuit courts there as state's
attorney, from 1830, when the county was first organized, up to 1834: and
to my certain knowledge the early settlers, with some honorable
exceptions, were in popular languages hard cases" (page 406). Then for a
period of several years to the advent of the "Mormons" he had no means of
knowing the character of the people who drifted into the country' "But,"
he adds, "having passed my whole life on the frontier, on the outer edge
of the settlements, I have frequently seen that a few first settlers would
fix the character of a settlement for good or for bad, for many years
after its commencement. If bad men began the settlement, bad men would be
attracted to them, upon the well known principle that birds of a feather
will flock together. Rogues will find each other out, and so will honest
men. From all which it appears extremely probable, that the later
immigrants were many of them attracted to Hancock by a secret sympathy
between them and the early settlers."

	Indeed the governor suggests that it may have been "the promptings of
a secret instinct," which led the "Mormons" to "discern their fellows" and
induced them to settle in Hancock in preference to other localities open
to them. All which may be regarded as an ingenious thrust at the
Latter-day Saints, but which fails of reaching its mark from the fact that
it was the criminal element chiefly in Hancock county's population which
arrayed itself in antagonism against the Saints, and against whom they
were arrayed in all their conflicts in that county. Whereas, under the
governor's theory, this criminal element among the "old citizens" and the
Saints should have been as hand in glove in their cooperation of
encompassing evil things. But to the contrary; from the time the "Mormons"
appeared on the scenes at Commerce, in 1839, until they were expelled,
they steadfastly and emphatically set their faces against the evils that
cursed that community, and denounced all manner of evil both as manifested
in a few of their own delinquent members, apostates and camp followers who
trailed after the main body of the Church from Missouri, as well as in
others' such as dram-drinking, swearing, Sabbath-breaking, contracting
debts under pretense of poverty and distress without any prospects or
intention of paying, and especially did they denounce stealing, under any
and all pretexts what soever.

	And as it was largely the criminal element among the "old citizens"
that was arrayed against the Saints (with unprincipled politicians and a
few bigoted and jealous religious leaders added), so was it the
conservative and law-abiding portion of the community among whom they had
many friends; and nearly all of whom were at least so far friendly with
the Saints that they could not be induced to oppose them, much less join
in acts of mob violence to the injury of their persons or property; for
which reason this portion of the non-Mormon population were called by the
contemptuous name of "Jack-Mormons," which epithet was invented by the
editor of the Warsaw Signal, Thomas C. Sharp, who also originated the term
"Jack-Mason" when editing an anti-Masonic paper in western New York. In
all probability it was this second name which suggested the first.

	VII. Educational Status of the People of Western Illinois.

	Education among the masses of Hancock's non-Mormon population was of
the meagrest kind. Even Mr. Gregg, the historian of the county, who always
gives the best report possible of conditions, remarks, when treating of
the county's educational status, that " a new country and among pioneers,
is not the place where prosperous colleges and seminaries, or even high
schools, are actually found. Hence common schools and, in many instances,
very 'common' ones at that, were the best means of education in Hancock
county in early days," But this is said of the schools of Hancock county;
the greater number of the adult population, 1839-1846, which represent the
years when the Saints lived in the county, had migrated from states where
educational opportunities were even fewer and less advanced than in
western Illinois. Even some of the men prominent in political life in the
state were men of extremely limited education. Joseph Duncan, elected
governor of Illinois in 1834, and who had served four terms in Congress
previous to his election as governor, had but a limited education," says
Gregg. And of Thomas Carlin, who was the governor of Illinois when the
exiled Saints moved into the state--he had previously held many minor
offices --the same authority says: "He had but a meager education."

	But while the above represents the educational conditions both among
the masses of Hancock county and western Illinois in general, and of some
of the men in public life, it is also true that there were here and there
men in Hancock and surrounding counties of good education and enlightened
culture, such as Stephen A. Douglas, O. H. Browning, Major Warren, John J.
Hardin, General Minor R. Deming, Samuel Marshal, Judge Jesse B. Thomas,
Josiah Lamborn, Governor Ford and others.

	VIII. The Political Phase.

	It has already been observed in these Volumes (Vol. IV, Introduction)
that in addition to the Latter-day Saints being welcomed into Illinois on
account of their economic value in a newly and sparsely settled country,
as wealth creators through their industry, frugality and skill in
mechanics and husbandry, political parties of Illinois both Whigs and
Democrats vied with each other in heartiness of welcome, each hoping the
profit by the influx of the new population in both state and national
elections. Hence it was possible to obtain for Nauvoo the exceptional
powers that constituted her, under the letter of her charter, an autonomy
within the limits of her boundaries more akin to a sovereign state than to
a municipality within a state and a county. And such were the powers
claimed for her by her founders. Hence also that catering to the
misconception and wrong interpretations of the chartered powers of Nauvoo
by lawyers and politicians seeking professional and political favors of
the people, which encouraged the belief that the city government was the
omnipotent political power within the city limits; and that her municipal
court was not only equal to, but even superior to the state courts--"for
all other courts were restricted," it was contended, while the municipal
court of Nauvoo was not restricted! Similar claims of absolutism were made
respecting Nauvoo misled by their legal and political advisers, who gave
false dices and flattered their vanity rather than corrected their errors
by an appeal to sound judgment and to the law.

	IX. Mischief Arising from False Legal and Political Counsel.

	Much mischief arose from this source. It was because of these
misconceptions in respect of the character of their city government that
led to the enactment of those ill advised and unwarranted city
ordinances--

	That made gold and silver alone legal tender within the city;

	That declared Joseph Smith exempt from arrest on requisitions from
Missouri founded upon the old difficulties in that state, and providing
without process, imprisoned for life, and might not be pardoned by the
governor without consent of the mayor;

	That authorized the city council, marshal, constables and city watch
to require all strangers entering the city or already tarrying there to
give their names, former residence and for what intent they were tarrying
in the city, and answer such other questions as the officers respectively
deemed proper to ask; refusal to give the desired information, or giving
false names or information subjected them to the same penalties as
"vagrants and disorderly persons;"

	That further authorized and required the above names officers to

	"hail and take all persons found strolling about the city at night
after nine o'clock and before sunrise, and to confine them in ward for
trial under the ordinances concerning vagrants and disorderly persons,
unless they could give a good account of themselves for being out "after
nine o'clock;"

	That farther authorized and required the aforesaid officers to enter
all hotels or houses of public entertainment, and such other habitations
as they may judge proper, and require the inmates to give immediate
information of all persons residing in said hotel or habitation, and their
business, occupation or movements, under penalty of forfeiture of license,
if a public house, and they and the transient persons subject to the
penalties visited upon vagrants for failure to give the information
required, or giving false information; while the officer who should
"refuse or neglect to perform the above duties should be fined $100, and
be broke of his office;"

	That forbade the search and seizure of person or property by foreign
process [i. e. other process than that issuing from the city's authority]
within the city of Nauvoo, leading to the widespread belief that the
design of said ordinance was "to hinder the execution of the statutes of
Illinois" within said city;

	That asked the general government to ratify the Nauvoo Charter, and
in addition constitute the city a territorial government, by granting "all
rights, powers, privileges and immunities belonging to territories and not
repugnant to the constitution of the United States," with power granted to
the mayor to call to his aid a sufficient number of the United States
troops, in connection with the Nauvoo Legion, to repel the invasion of
mobs, keep the public peace, protect the innocent from lawless banditti;
the United States officers to obey the requisition of this ordinance; and
the Nauvoo Legion, when in service quelling mobs and preserving the public
peace, to be under the same regulations, rules and laws of pay as the
troops of the United States; the territorial privileges to continue until
the "state of Missouri restores to those exiled citizens [the Latter-day
Saints] the lands, rights, privileges, property, and damages for all
losses" they had sustained by being banished from that commonwealth;

	And, finally, that asserted the right of the municipal court to
arrest process issued by the state's circuit courts, and even by the
United States courts, by habeas corpus proceedings; and insisted, not only
upon the right to pass judgment upon the sufficiency of writs under which
arrests were made, but upon the right also to go behind the writs and try
the cases upon their merits.

	X. Subserviency of Politicians and Lawyers.

	Blame for this political subserviency and misleading political and
legal advice, may not be charged on one party more than another. If Cyrus
Walker, a Whig candidate for congress, assented to the doctrine as
understood by Nauvoo's leading men, that the municipal court of Nauvoo
held the power under habeas corpus procedure to arrest execution of
process of the state courts, as he did, so, too, did Joseph P. Hoge,
Democratic nominee; and even Governor Ford, when requested to call out the
militia to rearrest Joseph Smith after he had been liberated from the
custody of Sheriff Reynolds, agent of Missouri, under habeas corpus
proceedings, took refuge behind the habeas corpus proceedings of the
Municipal Court at Nauvoo. In that case the court not only inquired into
the sufficiency of the writ of requisition from Missouri, and granted by
Governor Ford himself, but also went back of the writ and tried the case
exparte on its merits, and finally discharged the prisoner, both "for want
of substance in the warrant, * * * as well as upon the merits of the
case." When answering the request of Missouri to rearrest Joseph Smith,
Governor Ford, I say, at least took refuge behind the aforesaid
proceedings of the Municipal Court to the extent of saying, in the face of
that procedure, that "no process, officer or authority of Illinois had
been resisted or interfered with," and therefore refused to call out the
militia to rearrest President Smith.

	It is but fair to Governor Ford, however, to say that in his
inaugural speech of December 8th, 1842, he pointed out what he regarded as
objectionable features in the Nauvoo charter, and recommended its
modification and later censured the lawyers for misleading the Nauvoo
city authorities in this matter, in the following passage from a letter to
the Mayor and City Council of Nauvoo, under date of June 22nd, 1844.

	You have also assumed to yourselves more power than you are entitled
to in relation to habeas corpus under your charter. I know that you have
been told by lawyers, for the purpose of gaining your favor.

	that you have this power to any extent. In this they have deceived
you for their own base purposes. Your charter supposes that you may pass
ordinances, a breach of which will result in the imprisonment of the
offender.

	For the purpose of giving more speedy relief to such persons
authority was given to the Municipal Court to issue writs of habeas corpus
in all cases arising under the ordinances of the city.

	It was never supposed by the Legislature, nor can the language of
your charter be tortured to mean that a jurisdiction was intended to he
conferred which would apply to all cases of imprisonment under the general
laws of the state or of the United States, as well as the city ordinances.

	To which President Smith replied:

	Whatever power we have exercised in the habeas corpus has been done
in accordance with the letter of the Charter and Constitution as we
confidently understood them; and that, too, with the ablest counsel; but
if it be so that we have erred in this thing, let the Supreme Court
correct the evil. We have never gone contrary to constitutional law, so
far as we have been able to learn it. If lawyers have belied their
profession to abuse us the evil be on their heads.

	XI. The Fate of a Balance of Power Factor in Politics.

	Being misled by false legal and political advice was not the only
misfortune of the kind perpetrated upon the Saints, first by the
subserviency of, and then the betrayal by, politicians and lawyers. The
hope of both parties to secure political advantage by the influx of the
now Latter-day Saint population into the state has been already referred
to; as also the efforts of both parties to gain their favor by granting
exceptional favors to them in founding Nauvoo. When, however, the time for
voting came, and the Saints voted according to their convictions of duty,
or as their inclinations prompted, the defeated party or candidates blamed
them for the defeat, and straightway favored the adoption of an
anti-Mormon policy, which found support not only in the defeated party,
but also among those who felt a grievance against the Saints on other
accounts; some because Nauvoo's prosperity and constantly increasing
importance as a center of population and trade and commerce was rapidly
eclipsing all other towns of the state; and others, over-anxious to
retard, if not destroy, a rival system on account of religious prejudice.
When an anti-Mormon party took the field, pledged itself to repeal the
Nauvoo charter, and to drive the Mormons from the state--as was the pledge
of Joseph Duncan, Whig candidate for Governor of Illinois in 1841, there
was really no other course for the Saints to pursue but to combine solidly
for the defeat of the candidate and party making such pledges; the
instinct of self-preservation impelled such a course, rather than the
prompting of inclination.

	For a time, as in all such cases, the party receiving the support of
this practically solid Mormon vote could be relied upon to protect and
defend those who had made success possible for them; but at the first
indication that the hold of the favored party upon such vote is
precarious, that there is a possibility that it might go to the other
side, naturally the ardor of their friendship, seldom or never sincere,
cools; and they are as ready to combine for the destruction of their
former allies as others have been. And when in addition to precariousness
of hold upon those who possess the balance of power there stands up in the
back ground of things the possibility that the balance of power party may
become strong enough in the political subdivision in which they are
located to run affairs on their own account, the likelihood of all parties
combining against them becomes all the more assured. In Illinois the
Latter-day Saints ran the entire political gamut of experience as a
"balance of power" factor in the politics of western Illinois. The final
phase of that experience had been reached when at a mass meeting held at
Carthage on the sixth of September, 1843, it was--

	Resolved, That as it has been too common for several years past for
politicians of both political parties, not only of this county, but
likewise of the state, to go to Nauvoo and truckle to the heads of the
Mormon clan for their influence, we pledge ourselves that we will not
support any man of either party in the future who shall thus debase
himself.

	Politicians still sought Mormon aid to encompass their own political
ends, but, as Governor Ford later remarked, "they were willing and anxious
for Mormon voters at elections, but they were unwilling to risk their
popularity with the people, by taking part in their favor even when law
and justice, and the Constitution, were all on their side;" and so finally
all parties turned against them, and they were at the last, as we shall
see in the future volume of this history, expelled without mercy from the
state.

	XII. Joseph Smith's Candidacy for the Presidency.

	The mischief that threatened during the Prophet's life time, and
which finally befell the Saints, was clearly foreseen by the Church
leaders; and the desire to escape from the threatening portents of it
prompted the nomination of Joseph Smith for the office of President of the
United States, in the general election of 1844. Of course there could be
no hope seriously entertained that he would be elected; but, as explained
by an editorial in the Times and Seasons, if the Saints could not succeed
in electing their candidate, they would have the satisfaction of knowing
that they had acted conscientiously; they had used their best judgment,
under the circumstances, and if they had to throw swap their votes, it was
better to do so upon a worthy than upon an unworthy individual who might
use the weapon they put into his hand to destroy them. The Prophet himself
evidently regarded his nomination humorously rather than seriously, except
that it might result in withdrawing the Saints from the position of
shuttle-cock between the battle doors of the two old political parties. "I
care but little about the presidential chair," he said on one occasion. "I
would not give half as much for the office oP President of the United
States as I would for the one I now hold as Lieutenant General of the
Nauvoo Legion." Again he said: "When I get hold of eastern papers, and see
how popular I am; I am afraid myself that I shall be elected; but if I
should be, I would not say [i. e. to the Latter-day Saints] your cause is
just but I can do nothing for you."

	As a further evidence that Joseph Smith did not regard his candidacy
as likely to be successful, he was, at the time of his nomination and
afterwards, pushing vigorously his project of a western movement for the
Church. He had drawn up a memorial and ordinance to the national congress
asking to be authorized by the general government to raise one hundred
thousand armed volunteers to police the inter- mountain and Pacific coast
west from Oregon to Texas, for the purpose of assuring Texas her
independence, and maintaining the claims of the United States to Oregon,
and affording the whole western population of our country protection from
Indian depredations; and thus contribute to the rapid settlement and
development of that noble extent of country lying between the Mississippi
and the Pacific Ocean. His agents, Orson Hyde and Orson Pratt, presented
the matter to senators and representatives at Washington, and a number
favored the project of the removal of the Mormons to the west, but
generally urged that Joseph Smith go without seeking special authorization
from the government. Reference to Orson Hyde's report of the procedure
among congressmen and their views upon the subject will be found in his
two important communications to the Prophet from Washington, in chapter
XVI of this volume. Mr. John Wentworth, representative to Congress from
northern Illinois, introduced President Smith's Memorial and Ordinance
into the House on the 25th of May, to be read for the information of the
House; but before the reading was concluded, objection was made, and as it
required unanimous consent to have it read, further reading was prevented.
A vote to suspend the rules in order that Mr. Wentworth might secure the
reading of the memorial stood 79 years, and 86 nays, which vote gives
evidence at least of a widespread desire to have the matter presented to
the House.

	XIII. Missouri as a Factor in the Affairs of Nauvoo.

	In addition to all the Illinois factors that entered into the complex
situation confronting the Saints at Nauvoo, at the time of the Prophet's
death, and some time previous to his arrest, was the attitude and course
pursued by Missouri with reference to Nauvoo and the Saints, Disgraced as
a state by her own conduct towards the Latter-day Saints, when they were
inhabitants within her borders, her people were all too willing to
co-operate with any party or agency that would continue to make war upon
them. If the state of Illinois which with open arms had received the
people that Missouri exiled from her borders, under such circumstances of
cruelty, could also be brought to drive them from that state, it would be
regarded, in a way, as a vindication of Missouri and the course she had
taken in her treatment of the Saints, since in effect it would say, that
the people of Illinois, no less than the people of Missouri, found it
impossible to tolerate the "Mormons;" and therefore there must be
something fundamentally wrong with them, rather than with the people of
these states. Hence the anti-Mormons of Hancock and adjoining counties in
Illinois, always found support in whatever of violence or wrong they
planned against the Saints. Hence the constant threats of invasion of mobs
from Missouri, emphasized by occasional kidnapping expeditions into
Hancock county, together with frequent requisitions upon the Illinois
authorities for the arrest and extradition of Joseph Smith on the old
charges against him in Missouri. And these

	Missouri threats and outrages were not among the least of the
annoyances and anxieties of the Saints; and they make clear the necessity
that was felt for an efficient militia force at Nauvoo. Hence the Nauvoo
Legion and the lively interest manifested in its frequent musters and
drills, and its thorough equipment; all of which, but for the constant
danger of invasion from Missouri mobs, and the co-operation with them of
like forces in Illinois, would have been inconsistent with the deportment
of a religious community whose mission was one of peace and good will
towards men; and who had been especially commanded to "renounce war and
proclaim peace" (Doc and Cov. Sec. 98, 16); and commanded also to "sue for
peace," both to those who had "smitten" them--the revelation was given
after the expulsion from Jackson county, Missouri--and "to all people;"
and "lift up an ensign of peace, and make a proclamation of peace unto the
ends of the earth" (Doc. and Cov. sec 105: 38-40). But invasions from
Missouri constantly menacing them, and the danger of mob violence breaking
out in Illinois, justified the organization of the Legion, and the
maintenance of its efficiency by full equipment of arms and frequent
drills and musters; for the right of self-preservation is not abrogated by
any divine law given to the Saints; and duty to protect home and family
against the assaults of the evil-disposed, presses as firmly upon the
Saints, as upon those who have not definitely pledged themselves to a
program of righteousness.

	XIV. Apostate Conspirators at Nauvoo.

	One other factor only remains to be mentioned of those that enter
into that combination of forces that resulted in the death of the Prophet
and the Patriarch. That is the conspiracy of apostates within Nauvoo
itself.

	The apostates and their sympathizers were headed by a coterie of
prominent young men: The two Law brothers, William and Wilson; Robert D.
and Charles A. Foster, brothers; Francis M. and Chauncey L. Higbee,
brothers, and unworthy sons of that most faithful man and the Prophet's
devoted friend, Judge Elias Higbee (See Vol. IV pp. 81-100 passim);
Sylvester Emmons and Joseph H. Jackson. Of these, William Law was
counselor in the First Presidency, and Wilson Law was a major general, and
commander of one of the cohorts of the Nauvoo Legion, and all were or had
been more or less prominent in the public life of Nauvoo.

	The cause of their apostasy seems to have been the baneful influence
of John C. Bennett's immoralities; for these men were quite generally
associates of his before his flight from Nauvoo. They evidently lost the
spirit of the gospel, wandered through sin into spiritual darkness, and
seemingly were obsessed by a murderous spirit against the Prophet who
boldly revealed their wickedness and publicly denounced their conduct; and
in retaliation this coterie of apostates entered into conspiracies to
encompass President Smith's death, and that of his brother Hyrum. They
were in communication with the Prophet's enemies in Missouri, and sought
to betray him into their hands. They were among the chief actors in all
schemes of opposition and conspiracies against him in the closing year of
his life, including those plots which eventuated in the martyrdom of both
Prophet and Patriarch at Carthage.

	XV. The "Expositor" Affair.

	Such are the chief factors that enter into the combination of events
detailed in this volume of History and which have a direct relationship to
the martyrdom of the Smith brothers. They existed as combustible materials
awaiting only the spark that would set them aflame to work death and
destruction.


	The spark came. It came in the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor,
published by the above mentioned coterie of apostates. It was the
intention of the Expositor, as its name would indicate, to make an expose
of alleged conditions in Nauvoo, in the moral, social, religious and
political phase of them. Also to agitate for the "unconditional repeal of
the Nauvoo Charter." This was a challenge to mortal combat, the issue
being the life of the city of Nauvoo; and after that the question of the
existence of the Church in Illinois, or even within the confines of the
United States; for undoubtedly the city charter once repealed, carrying
with it the disorganization of the Legion, protection for the Saints, as
matters stood in 1844, both civil and military, would be gone. It was a
life and death struggle then that the advent of the Expositor inaugurated.
The Saints stood at such disadvantage in the proposed contest that if the
expositor was allowed to run its course it would inevitably have won its
case against the city; and against the Church, so far as the latter
continuing in Illinois, and perhaps as far as its continuance in the
United States was concerned.

	The new marriage system, involving the practice, within certain
limitations and under very special conditions, of a plurality of wives,
constituted a ground of appeal to popular prejudices and passions that
would have been absolutely resistless if the paper had been allowed to
proceed. The charter would have been repealed; the city government
destroyed, or at the least modified and placed in the hands of an apostate
or anti-Mormon minority whose administration would have been intolerable
to the large majority of Nauvoo's citizens; and finally the

	Scenes of Missouri would have been re-enacted in an Illinois setting.

	In the presence of such difficulties, what was to be done In addition
to declaring the existence of the practice of plural marriage, not yet
announced or publicly taught as a doctrine of the Church, and agitating
for the unqualified repeal of the Nauvoo charter, gross immoralities were
charged against leading citizens which doubtless rendered the paper
grossly libelous. In other cities such an avowed enemy as the Expositor
was, would have been destroyed by a mob. For the people of Nauvoo to have
so proceeded would have been a departure from their principles of
upholding law and order, and would have brought upon them the people of
the surrounding counties, and from Missouri in overwhelming numbers. Mob
violence could not be thought of; and yet the safety of the community
imperatively demanded the suppression of the Expositor at any cost.

	Under these circumstances the city council met and took under
consideration the Expositor and the necessity of destroying it. As their
charter conferred upon the city the right to remove nuisances, the city
council declared the Expositor press a nuisance and directed the Mayor to
have it destroyed, which he did by giving an order to that effect, and it
was destroyed without riot or tumult.

	The legality of the action of the Mayor and City Council was, of
course, questionable, though some sought to defend it on legal grounds;
but it must be conceded that neither proof nor argument for legality are
convincing. On the grounds of expediency or necessity the action is more
defensible. The existence of the city, the preservation of the Latter-day
Saints until provision could be made for a retreat from Illinois--which
retreat was even then being provided for by the Prophet in the projected
movement of the Church to the west--demanded the cessation of the
publication of the Expositor. By proceeding at least under the forms of
law, the city council, though they might be conscious of the illegality of
their action, avoided the necessity of the people resorting to mob action
for self-preservation, and made it possible for the legality of their
course to be determined in the courts, and the parties injured to recover
compensation for the press and damages by civil process. Meantime the
libelous press with its mission of destruction of the Saints at Nauvoo was
silenced; and had events taken the course which the action of the city
council provided, a respite would have been gained from impending
violence, during which arrangements for the retreat of the Saints from
Illinois could have been completed and a goal of safety won for them.
Under a plea, then, of absolute necessity to self-preservation of a
community, and to achieve the retreat here alluded to, and with the
certainty that those injured in property by the Expositor's destruction
would be fully compensated in civil action before the courts--the action
of the mayor and city council of Nauvoo is defensible, even if not on the
ground of the legality of their procedure.

	XVI. The Appeal to the Mob Spirit.

	Events did not take the course planned for them. The uproar that
followed the destruction of the Expositor press, put all reason at
defiance. At Warsaw a mass meeting was held which issued a statement, in
connection with the resolutions it passed, that "A mob at Nauvoo, under a
city ordinance, has violated the highest privilege in government: and to
seek redress in the ordinary way would be utterly ineffectual * * *
Resolved, that we hold ourselves at all times in readiness to co-operate
with our fellow citizens in this state, Missouri, and Iowa, to
exterminate, utterly exterminate the wicked and abominable Mormon leaders,
the authors of our troubles. * * * The lime, in our opinion, has arrived
when the adherents of Smith as a body should be driven from the
surrounding settlements into Nauvoo. That the Prophet and his miscreant
adherents should then be demanded at their hands; and, if not surrendered,
a war of extermination should be waged to the entire destruction, if
necessary for our protection, of his adherents, And we hereby recommend
this resolution to the consideration of the several townships, to the mass
convention to be held at Carthage."

	The Carthage meeting held a few days later embodied the above in
their resolutions, as did other mass meetings held at various places The
Warsaw Signal in its impression of June 12th, passionately said:

	"We have only to state that this [i. e. The destruction of the
Expositor press] is sufficient! War and extermination is inevitable!
CITIZENS ARISE, ONE and ALL!!! Can you stand by, and suffer such INFERNAL
DEVILS! to ROB men of their property rights, without avenging them? We
have no time to comment: every man will wage his own. LET IT BE MADE WITH
POWDER and BALL!!!"

	All the combustible material to which attention is called in this
Introduction was instantly aflame at the destruction of the Expositor
press. Every passion was appealed to, jealousy, envy, cupidity, hatred.
All the lawless elements of the community were practically invited to
assemble and run riot in lawless violence, and excess of carnage and
destruction of property and life. Nothing but the wholesome fear of the
strength and effectiveness of the Nauvoo Legion at that time held this
lawless element in check.

	It was all in vain that hearings were had before the municipal court
of Nauvoo, on the Expositor matter; in vain that a subsequent hearing was
had before Esquire Wells, then not a Mormon and living outside of Nauvoo
limits; in vain that the Nauvoo Neighbor sought to conciliate the
awakening wrath that was aroused in the community, by pleading that if the
city council had "exceeded the law of the land, a higher court could
regulate the proceedings;" in vain that President Smith urged Governor
Ford to come to Nauvoo to make personal investigation of conditions and
take the necessary steps to prevent riot and war-all was in vain;
preparations were in the making on all sides for an uprising against
Nauvoo and the Saints, and there was nothing left but to defend the city
by placing it under martial law and calling upon the Legion to resist the
threatened assault, which act was made the basis for the subsequent charge
of "treason."

	Then followed in quick succession the demand of the governor for the
Mayor and members of the City Council to come to Carthage and submit to
trial under circumstances that inevitably meant death; the inspiration of
the Prophet to go to the West and all would be well; the crossing of the
Mississippi by the Prophet and a few trusted friends to make preparations
for that journey; the accusation by false friends of cowardice on the
Prophet's part, the flight as of a false shepherd leaving the flock to be
devoured by wolves; the lightning-like retort of the Prophet--"If my life
is of no value to my friends, it is of none to myself;" the return to
Nauvoo; the subsequent going to Carthage to submit to the demands of the
governor of Illinois in every particular, and the well-known story of
Carthage jail--the martyrdom.

	XVII. The Prophet's Nobility in the hour of Trial.

	The bearing of the Prophet throughout the closing months with which
this volume deals is admirable. There is no faltering or evidence of
weakness at any point of his conduct. If criticized at all it would be for
over-daring, for over self-confidence, that approached sublimity. Strong
men through wickedness fell away from their discipleship, and conspired
against him; the Prophet reproved them in the gate, and proclaimed their
iniquities in public when hope of reforming them was gone. He saw mobs
forming for the destruction of himself and Nauvoo and his people; he
calmly prepared to meet force with force, and drilled and prepared his
legion for the conflict, entrenched some of the approaches to the city,
and picketed them with guards; as mayor of the city he placed the city
under martial law; and as lieutenant-general he took personal command of
the Nauvoo Legion and stood ready to defend the rights of himself and his
people, for which his revolutionary ancestry had fought in the war for
American independence. He believed gloriously in the right of
self-defense, and resistance to oppression by physical force if necessary.
To his uncle John Smith at Ramus who had asked for counsel in the
disturbed state of things, he wrote ten days before his death:

	"I write these few lines to inform you that we feel determined in
this place not to be dismayed if hell boils over all at once. We feel to
hope for the best, and determined to prepare for the worst, and we want
this to be your motto in common with us' We will never ground our arms
until we give them up by death."

	And from Carthage prison, on the morning of the day of his martyrdom,
he wrote to his wife for transmission to his people:

	"There is one principle which is eternal: It is the duty of all men
to protect their lives and the lives of their household, whenever
necessity requires, and no power has a right to forbid it, should the last
extreme arrive; but I anticipate no such extreme; but caution is the
parent of safety."

	When the jail in Carthage was assailed, and the mob was pouring
murderous volleys into the room occupied by himself and friends, the
Prophet turned prom the prostrate form of his murdered brother to face
death-dealing guns and bravely returned the fire of his assailants,
"bringing his man down every time," and compelling even John Hay, who but
reluctantly accords the Prophet any quality of virtue, to confess that he
"made a handsome fight" in the jail.

	XVIII. Always the Prophet-Teacher.

	But what was more wonderful than the manifestation of moral and
physical courage and good generalship during these turbulent months of his
career, was the pursuance of his duties as a teacher of religious
truth--his calling as a Prophet of God. Notwithstanding he was troubled on
every side, he could compose his mind to instruct the

	Church on such doctrines as the complete salvation of their dead; how
to proceed with the administration of all ordinances given for and in
behalf of the dead; the doctrine of the resurrection and the reality of
spiritual existences; the plurality of Divine Intelligences, of Gods; the
nature of man's spirit; the doctrine of eternal progress for intelligences
who keep the estates through which they are appointed to pass; the nature
and character of the Godhead, and the relationship of man to God. All
these themes and many more he dwelt upon in public discourse and private
interview and written communications. He lived his life, as I have said
elsewhere, in crescendo, it grew in intensity and volume as he approached
its close. Higher and still higher the inspiration of God directed his
thoughts; bolder were his conceptions, and clearer his expositions of
them. So far was he from being a "fallen prophet" in the closing months of
his career, as apostates charged, that he grew stronger with each passing
day; more impressive in weight of personal character, and charm of manner;
for he preserved amid all the conflicts and trials through which he
passed--until the shadows of impending death began to fall upon him in
Carthage prison--the natural sweetness of his nature, and the intellectual
playfulness characteristic of him from boyhood--so do not fallen prophets.


	Side by side on the banks of the majestic river that half encircles
Nauvoo, the "beautiful," carrying with it also the idea of "rest,"
peacefully sleep the brothers, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the Prophet and the
Patriarch of the Church in the New Dispensation of the Gospel. Their lives
were interlaced by almost daily associations from childhood to the last
awful scene of martyrdom. It was therefore most fitting that they should
be buried beside each other, on the banks of the "Father of Waters" in the
city they had founded, where they had toiled and suffered and achieved;
where their joys rose to greater heights and their sorrows sounded greater
depths than falls to the lot of but few men in this world. Undisturbed may
their death slumber be until it shall be ended by the trump of God,
calling them forth to a glorious resurrection.

	Prophet and Patriarch

	In the Temple square at Salt Lake City, where tens of thousands, made
up of people of nearly every nation in the world view them, stand two
bronze statues, life size, on granite bases. They are the statues of the
Brothers Smith, the Prophet and the Patriarch of the New Dispensation of
the Gospel. On the granite basements, respectively, are bronze tablets on
which is engraved the Life Record of these men, and what is characteristic
of each.

	The text of the bronze plate of Hyrum Smith's statue is as follows:

	HYRUM SMITH.

	The Patriarch and a witness of the Book of Mormon.

	An elder brother, and the steadfast friend and counselor of Joseph
Smith, the Prophet.

	Born at Tunbridge, Vermont, February 9th, 1800; suffered martyrdom
with the Prophet at Carthage, Illinois, on the 27th of June, 1844.

	The friendship of the brothers Hyrum and Joseph Smith is foremost
among the few great friendships of the world's history. Their names will
be classed among the martyrs for religion.

	The Book of Mormon--the plates of which Hyrum Smith both saw and
handled; the revelations in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants; the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--these, to bring them forth for the
salvation of the world, cost the best blood of the 19th century.

	"I could pray in my heart that all men were like my brother Hyrum,
who possesses the mildness of a lamb and the integrity of Job, and, in
short, the meekness and humility of Christ. I love him with that love that
is stronger than death."--Joseph Smith.

	"If ever there was an exemplary, honest and virtuous man, the
embodiment of all that is noble in the human form, Hyrum Smith was the
representative."--President John Taylor.

	As he shared in the labors, so does he share in the honor and glory
of the New Dispensation with his Prophet Brother.

	In life they were not divided; in death they were not separated; in
glory they are one.

	The text on the west side of the base of Joseph Smith's tablet is:

	JOSEPH SMITH.

	The Prophet of the New Dispensation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ our
Lord. He was born at Sharon, Vermont, on the 23rd of December, 1805; and
suffered Martyrdom for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus at
Carthage, Illinois, on the 27th of June, 1844.

	HIS VISION OF GOD.

	I saw two Personages whose glory and brightness defy all description.
One of them spake unto me and said:

	"This is my Beloved Son : hear Him."

	I asked which of all the sects was right, and which I should join. I

	was answered I must join none of them; they were all wrong; they
teach for doctrine the commandments of men; I received a promise that the
fullness of the Gospel would at some future time be made known to me.

	THE BOOK OF MORMON.

	This book was revealed to him, and he translated it by the gift and
power of God. It is an inspired history of ancient America, and contains
the fullness of the Gospel. It is the American Testament of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.

	THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH.

	Joseph Smith received divine authority through the ministration of
angels to teach the Gospel and administer the ordinances thereof. He
established again in the earth the Church of Jesus Christ, organizing it
by the will and commandment of God on the 6th day of April, 1830.

	He also received commission to gather Israel and establish Zion on
this land of America; to erect temples and perform all ordinances therein
both for the living and the dead; and prepare the way for the glorious
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to reign on earth.

	The contents of the tablet on the east side of the base of the
Prophet's statue are these gems from his teachings:

	TRUTH GEMS.

	The glory of God is intelligence.

	It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance.

	Whatever principles of intelligence we attain unto in this life will
rise with us in the resurrection.

	There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations
of this world upon which all blessings are predicated; and when we obtain
any blessing from God it is by obedience to that law on which it is
predicated.

	This is the work and glory of God: to bring to pass the immortality
and eternal life of man.

	Adam fell that man might be; and men are that they might have joy.
The intelligence of spirits had no beginning, neither will it have an end.
Jesus was in the beginning with the Father' man was also in the beginning
with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made,
neither indeed can be.

	The spirit and body is the soul of man; and the resurrection from the
dead is the redemption of the soul.

	It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the
character of God; and to know that man, (as Moses) may converse with Him
as one man converses with another.

	This message of the Prophet, and these doctrines of the east bronze
tablet, together with other doctrines taught by him in this PERIOD I of
our CHURCH HISTORY, and to be found scattered through the six volumes now
published of that history, await only the mind of some God-inspired
Spencer to cast them into synthetical form--to be adequately presented and
witnessed--to constitute Mormonism both the Religion and the Philosophy of
modern times--to bring to pass and to glorify the Golden Age of the
long-promised Millennium of Christian hope.


       HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS. 
             PERIOD I. HISTORY OF JOSEPH SMITH, THE PROPHET. 
                                  VOLUME VI
       CHAPTER I. AN ESTIMATE OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH AS A RELIGIOUS
   LEADER--ANTI-MORMON MEETING AT CARTHAGE--HISTORICAL SKETCH--IMPORTANT
                 CONFERENCE OF THE TWELVE HELD IN BOSTON.

	Friday, September 1, 1843.--A conference was held in Buffalo, New
York, Elder John P. Greene presiding; Wm. H. Folsom, clerk: 13 branches,
1 High Priest, 58

	Elders, 2 Teachers, 1 Deacon, and 247 members were represented.

	I attended the meeting of the High Council as a witness in the case
of Cowles vs. George J. Adams. Charges not sustained.

	Saturday, 2.--I was not well, and therefore adjourned Mayor's Court.

	Sunday, 3.--I attended council with my brother Hyrum, Newel B.
Whitney, Willard Richards, William Law and William Marks, and gave
instructions to the brethren in relation to things in futurity.

	A tremendous storm at Chester, Penn. The creek rose twenty-three feet
in two hours, and swept away all the bridges, many factories and houses,
and upwards of twenty persons drowned.

	A conference was held at Hayward's Hotel, Manchester, England.

	Minutes of the Manchester Conference, held 3rd of September, 1843.
Charles Miller, President; William Walker, Clerk. Present: 1

	Patriarch, 1 High Priest, 25 Elders, 40 Priests, 21 Teachers, and 4
Deacons.

	Total number of members represented was as follows: 1,549 members,
including 44 Elders, 99 Priests, 56 Teachers, 22 Deacons. Baptized since
last general conference, 80; cut off, 29; emigrated, 18; removed, 26;
died, 4.

	Monday, 4.--Attended mayor's court and tried three cases--viz.

	City versus A. Dodge, S. Dodge, and Luther Purtelow.

	The two first I fined five dollars, and the last one dollar and
costs. One, p. m., called and gave licence for a circus performance, which
I attended with my family until five, p. m.

	I copy from the New York Sun as follows:--

	"JOE SMITH, THE MORMON PROPHET."

	This Joe Smith must be set down as an extraordinary character, a
prophet-hero, as Carlyle might call him. He is one of the great men of
this age, and in future history will rank with those who, in one way or
another, have stamped their impress strongly on society.

	Nothing can be more plebeian, in seeming, than this Joe Smith. Little
of dignity is there in his cognomen; but few in this age have done such
deeds, and performed such apparent miracles. It is no small thing, in the
blaze of this nineteenth century, to give to men a new revelation, found a
new religion, establish new forms of worship, to build a city, with new
laws, institutions, and orders of architecture,-- to establish
ecclesiastic, civil and military jurisdiction, found colleges, send out
missionaries, and make proselytes in two hemispheres' yet all this has
been done by Joe Smith, and that against every sort of opposition,
ridicule and persecution. This sect has its martyrs also; and the spirit
in which they were imprisoned and murdered in Missouri, does not appear to
have differed much from that which has attended religious persecutions in
all ages of the world.

	That Joe Smith, the founder of the Mormons, is a man of great talent,
a deep thinker, and eloquent speaker, an able writer, and a man of great
mental power, no one can doubt who has watched his career. That his
followers are deceived, we all believe; but, should the inherent
corruptions of Mormonism fail to develop themselves sufficiently to
convince its followers of their error, where will the thing end? A great
military despotism is growing up in the fertile West, increasing faster in
proportion, than the surrounding population, spreading its influence
around, and marshalling multitudes under its banners, causing serious
alarm to every patriot.

	What is the reason that men are so blind that they cannot or will not
see the hand of the Lord in His work of the last days!

	Tuesday, 5.--Went to the office at nine, a. m., with Mr. Hamilton, of
Carthage, who had obtained a deed from the sheriff of the county for lot
2, block 103, in the city of Nauvoo, for taxes, although I had previously
paid them; which is another specimen of the oppression, injustice, and
rascality of Mr. Collector Bagby, who by such foul means robs me and other
Saints, and abuses all who come unfortunately in his power.

	I requested my clerk to make out a bill of fare for the "Mansion."

	The ship Metoka sailed from Liverpool with a company of Saints on
board.

	Wednesday, 6.--I went to the recorder's about half past six, a. m.,
and found him in bed.

	Held mayor's court in the case, "City versus Joseph Owen."

	Anti-Mormon Meeting at Carthage, Seat of Hancock, County Illinois.

	Meeting convened pursuant to adjournment. The former chairman not
being present.

	Edson Whitney, Esq., was called to the chair, and the meeting being
organized, the following preamble and resolutions were submitted by the
committee, and unanimously adopted:--

	PREAMBLE AND RESOLUTIONS.

	This meeting having convened for the purpose of taking under
advisement a subject of vital importance not only to this county, but to
all the surrounding counties, regret that we are necessarily and
irresistibly forced to the conclusion that a certain class of people have
obtruded themselves upon us, calling themselves Mormons, or Latter-day
Saints, and under the sacred garb of Christianity, assumed, as we honestly
believe, that they may the more easily, under such a cloak, perpetrate the
most lawless and diabolical deeds that have ever, in any age of the world,
disgraced the human species.

	In evidence of the above charge, we find them yielding implicit
obedience to the ostensible head and founder of this sect, who is a
pretended prophet of the Lord, and under this Heaven-daring assumption
claiming to set aside, by his vile and blasphemous lies, all those moral
and religious institutions which have been established by the Bible, and
which have in all ages been cherished by men as the only means of
maintaining those social blessings which are so indispensably necessary
for our happiness.

	We believe that such an individual, regardless as he must be of his
obligations to God, and at the same time entertaining the most absolute
contempt for the laws of man, cannot fail to become a most dangerous
character, especially when he shall have been able to place himself at the
head of a numerous horde, either equally reckless and unprincipled as
himself, or else made his pliant tools by the most absurd credulity that
has astonished the world since its foundation.

	In the opinion of this meeting, a crisis has arrived, when many of
the evils to be expected from a state of things so threatening have
transpired. We feel convinced that circumstances have even now occurred
which prove to us most conclusively that Joseph Smith, the false Prophet
before alluded to, has evinced, in many instances, a most shameless
disregard for all the forms and restraints of law, by boldly and
presumptuously calling in question the acts of certain officers, who had
fearlessly discharged the duties absolutely imposed upon them by the laws,
particulary when they have come in contact with his own sordid and selfish
interests.

	He has been heard to threaten--nay, he has committed violence upon
the person of an officer, because that officer dared honestly to do his
duties according to law.

	He has caused his city council to pass laws contrary to the laws of
the state, and subversive of the rights of citizens of this state.

	Citizens have been arrested, tried and punished for breaches of those
mock laws, from time to time, in such manner, that they have been
compelled to the humiliating necessity of seeking an asylum elsewhere, in
order to escape the tyranny and oppression of this modern Caligula.

	He has caused the writ of habeas corpus to be issued by the municipal
court of the city of Nauvoo, in a case not provided for in the charter of
this city, and indeed contrary to the letter of that instrument; and,
himself a prisoner, arrested under grave charges made by a neighboring
state, brought before said court, tried, and acquitted; thereby securing
his own rescue from the custody of the law.

	Citizens from the adjoining counties have been denied the right to
regain property stolen and taken to Nauvoo, even after they have
discovered both the thief and the property; and themselves, under the most
frivolous pretenses, arrested, fined, and other property rifled from them,
to satisfy the mock judgments and costs of his cormorant officers.

	Persons upon whom stolen property has been found in the city of
Nauvoo, have been brought before this religio-political chief; and he, in
the capacity of mayor of the city, has refused to convict, where the cases
have been most clear and palpable.

	We have had men of the most vicious and abominable habits imposed
upon us to fill our most important county offices, by his dictum, in
order, as we verily believe, that he may the more certainly control our
destinies, and render himself, through the instrumentality of these base
creatures of his ill-directed power, as absolutely a despot over the
citizens of this county as he now is over the serfs of his own servile
clan.

	And, to crown all, he claims to merge all religion, all law, and both
moral and political justice, in the knavish pretension that he receives
fresh from heaven divine instructions in all matters pertaining to these
things; thereby making his own depraved will the rule by which he would
have all men governed.

	He has caused large bodies of his ragamuffin soldiery to arm
themselves, and turn out in pursuit of officers legally authorized to
arrest himself; he being charged with high crimes and misdemeanors
committed in the state of Missouri, and these officers arrested by the
vilest hypocrisy, and placed in duress, that he might enable himself to
march triumphantly into Nauvoo, and bid defiance to the laws of the land.

	In view of the above grievances, this meeting feel that it is their
bounden duty to resist, by every laudable means, all such unwarrantable
attacks upon their liberties. Therefore--

	Resolved, 1st. That inasmuch as we honestly believe that the
combination of people calling themselves Mormons, or Latter-day Saints,
have given strong indications, in their recent movements, that they are
unwilling to submit to the ordinary restraints of law, we are therefore
forced to the conclusion that the time is not far distant when the
citizens of this country will be compelled to assert their rights in some
way.

	Resolved, 2nd. That while we would deprecate anything like lawless
violence, without justifiable cause, yet we pledge ourselves in the most
solemn manner to resist all the wrongs which may be hereafter attempted to
be imposed on this community by the Mormons, to the utmost of our
ability,--peaceably, if we can, but forcibly, if we must.

	Resolved, 3rd. That in the event of our being forced into a collision
with that people, we pledge ourselves that we will stand by and support
each other in every emergency up to the death.

	Resolved, 4th. That we believe that it is also the interest of our
friends in the neighboring counties and also neighboring states to begin
to take a firm and decided stand against the high pretension and base
designs of this latter-day would-be Mahomet.

	Resolved, 5th. That provided we must necessarily, for the well-being
of this community, the protection of our dearest rights, and the
preservation of our excellent institutions, adopt measures to humble the
pride and arrogance of that audacious despot; we therefore call upon all
good and honest men, without distinction of party or place, to come to the
rescue.

	Resolved, 6th. That we pledge ourselves in the most determined manner
that if the authorities of the State of Missouri shall make another demand
for the body of Joseph Smith, and our Governor shall issue another warrant
to stand ready at all times to serve the officer into whose hands such
warrant may come, as a posse, in order that it may not be said of us, in
future, that the most outrageous culprits have been suffered "to go
unwhipped of justice."

	Resolved, 7th. That a corresponding committee be appointed to
communicate with the different parts of this county, and also with other
counties; and we would also recommend to all surrounding counties to
appoint like committees for the purpose of a mutual interchange of views
in regard to the subjects embraced in these proceedings.

	Resolved, 8th. That as it has been too common for several years past
for politicians of both political parties, not only of this county, but
likewise of the state, to go to Nauvoo and truckle to the heads of the
Mormon clan for their influence, we pledge ourselves that we will not
support any man of either party in future who shall thus debase himself.


	Resolved, 9th. That if the Mormons carry out the threats they have
made in regards to the lives of several of our citizens, we will, if
failing to obtain speedy redress from the laws of the land, take summary
and signal vengeance upon them as a people.

	Resolved, 10th. That when the Government ceases to afford protection,
the citizens of course fall back upon their original inherent right of
self-defense.

	In pursuance of the 7th resolution, the following gentlemen were
appointed to act as a central corresponding committee at Carthage--
namely, Captain Robert F. Smith, Major T. J. Bartlet, Harmon T. Wilson,
Frank A. Worrel, and Walter Bagby.

	On motion of Henry Stevens, it was ordered that committees,
consisting of two persons, be appointed in each election precinct of this
county, for the purpose of communicating with the central committee at
Carthage; and that those two may add to their number at discretion.

	On motion of Daniel Beaver, it was made the duty of the person whose
name stands first on the list of each committee to act as chairman; and
that all communications from the other committees, or from any other
sources shall be added.

	The following gentlemen were then appointed by the chair as
committees in the several precincts, to wit-- Green Plains--Edson Whitney
and Levi Williams. Bear Creek--William White and Andrew Moore.
Chili--Stephen Owen and Arthur Morgan. Augusta--William D. Abernethy and
Alexander Oliver. Saint Mary's--William Darnell and Daniel Beaver.
Fountain Green--Thomas Geddis and S. H. Tyler. La Harpe--Jesse Gilmer and
Charles Comstock. Camp Creek--James Graham and Thomas Harris.
Appanooce--John McCanley and John R. Atherton. Montebello--Samuel Steel
and Benjamin B. Gates. Warsaw--Thomas C. Sharp and Mark Aldrich.

	On motion of Levi Williams, Colonel Root, of McDonough county, was
added to the central corresponding committee of Carthage.

	On motion of Henry Newton, Esq.,

	Resolved, That the central committee of correspondence act as a
general committee of supervision; and, in case of a contingency occurring
requiring aid, that they immediately call on the precinct committees and
upon all others favorable to our cause to furnish such aid as the exigency
of the case may require.

	On the motion of Charles C. Stevens, the following supplementary
resolutions were unanimously adopted:--

	Resolved, That the president of this meeting be requested to
communicate with the Governor of Missouri, and respectfully request him to
make another demand upon the authorities of this state for the body of
Joseph Smith, commonly called the Mormon Prophet; and in the event of a
requisition and as order for his arrest and delivery to the proper
officers of the state of Missouri, we offer our services to enforce said
order, and pledge ourselves to sustain the supremacy of the laws at all
hazards and under all circumstances.

	Resolved, That a copy of the proceedings of this meeting be forwarded
to the publisher of the Warsaw Message, Quincy Whig, and Quincy Herald,
for publication, with a request to them to add a note, soliciting all
editors friendly to our cause in this state, Missouri, and Iowa Territory,
to copy.

	It was then moved and seconded, That this meeting adjourn, subject to
the call of the central corresponding committee.

	EDISON WHITNEY, Chairman. W. D. ABERNETHY, Secretary.

	Editors throughout Illinois, Missouri, Iowa Territory, friendly to
the Anti-Mormon cause, are requested to publish the proceedings, in
today's paper, of a meeting held at Carthage on the 6th instant.

	Thursday, 7.--I took home the letter written to Harrisburg for the
Church History, a small fragment of which only has been preserved, and is
as follows--

	Historical Sketch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

	Messrs. Editors,--The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was
founded upon direct revelation, as the true Church of God has ever been,
according to the Scriptures (Amos iii:7, and Acts i:2); and through the
will and blessings of God, I have been an instrument in his hands, thus
far, to move forward the cause of Zion: therefore, in order to fulfill the
solicitations of your letter of July last, I shall commence with my life.

	[Then follows a brief historical sketch of the Church from the birth
of the Prophet to the settlement of the Saints at Nauvoo, much in the
strain of the "Wentworth Letter" already published in this History, (Vol.
IV, Ch. xxxi); and for the reason that all the historical data in this I.
Daniel Rupp sketch is contained in the Wentworth Letter, it is thought
unnecessary to reproduce it here, excepting the closing paragraphs which
deal with conditions and prospects at Nauvoo, on the date at which we have
arrived in our HISTORY, viz. September, 1843.--Editor.]

	Nauvoo, upon every point connected with increase and prosperity has
exceeded the most sanguine expectations of thousands. It now contains near
3,500 houses, and more than 15,000 inhabitants. The charter contains,
among its important powers, privileges or immunities, a grant for "The
University of Nauvoo," with the same liberal powers of the city, where all
the arts and sciences will grow with the growth and strengthen the
strength of this beloved city of the Saints of the last days.

	Another very commendatory provision of the charter is that that
portion of the citizens subject to military duty are organized into a body
of independent military men, styled the "Nauvoo Legion," whose highest
officer holds the rank and is commissioned lieutenant-General. This
legion, like other independent bodies of troops in this Republican
Government, is at the disposal of the Governor of the State, and President
of the United States. There is also an act of incorporation for an
Agricultural and Manufacturing Association, as well as the Nauvoo House
Association.

	Since the organization of this Church, its progress has been rapid,
and its gain in numbers regular. Besides these United States, where nearly
every place of notoriety has heard the glad tidings of the Gospel of the
Son of God, England, Ireland and Scotland have shared largely in the
fullness of the everlasting Gospel, and thousands have already gathered
with their kindred Saints to this the corner stone of Zion. Missionaries
of this Church have gone to the East Indies, to Australia, Germany,
Constantinople, Egypt, Palestine, the islands of the Pacific, and are now
preparing to open the door in the extensive dominions of Russia.

	There is no correct data by which the exact number of members
composing this now extensive and still extending Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints can be known. Should it be supposed at 150,000,* it
might still be short of the truth.

	Believing the Bible to say what it means and mean what it says, and
guided by revelation, according to the ancient order of the fathers, to
whom came what little light we enjoy, and circumscribed only by the
eternal limits of truth, this Church must continue the even tenor of its
way.

	Called at the office, and administered the laying on of hands to
Sister Partington and her two children.

	Dreadful conflagration at Stuhlweissenburg, in Hungary. About six
hundred houses destroyed.

	Friday, 8.--My wife being sick, I was at home all day.
	Stephen Markham started for Dixon with the court papers in relation
to the writ of habeas Corpus, and as a witness.

	I directed William Clayton to go to Augusta, Iowa, to get a deed
signed by Mr. Moffit for the steamer Maid of Iowa.

	Muster day of the first cohort.


	The Twelve held a meeting in Boylston Hall, Boston. Present--Elders
Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, George A. Smith, Wilford Woodruff, John E.
Page.

	Saturday, 9.--My wife a little more comfortable. William Clayton went
to Augusta, got the deed signed by Mr. Moffit and his wife, and returning
in the evening.

	General training of the Nauvoo Legion.

	The quorum of the Twelve met the church in Boston, at Boylston Hall,
in conference. Sixteen branches were represented, containing 878 members.
A great deal of valuable instruction was given by the Twelve, and the
hall, a very large one, was crowded. A number were baptized during
conference, which lasted three days. The minutes of conference I here
insert--

	Important Conference of the Twelve, Held at Boylston Hall, Boston,
September 9, 1843.

	Present of the Quorum of the Twelve--Elders Brigham Young, Heber C.
Kimball, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, Orson Hyde, John E. Page, Wilford
Woodruff, George A. Smith.

	[Reported by Wilford Woodruff.]

	Conference opened with prayer by Elder George A. Smith.

	After the various branches in the New England States were
represented, Elder P. P. Pratt made a few remarks, of which the following
is a synopsis:

	Some Elders tell us that they have taught the gathering according to
the Scriptures. But it is not sufficient to teach the principle from the
Scriptures alone; for if there was no other guide, the people would be
left in doubt as to whether they should gather to Jerusalem, Africa,
America, or elsewhere. It is right to teach the gathering according to the
Scriptures, although some predictions of the Prophets are obscure; but we
are not left to them alone. We know and all the Saints ought to know that
God has appointed a place and time of gathering and has raised up a
Prophet to bring it about, of which we are witnesses.

	Our message is that we are witnesses of the fulfillment of the
predictions of the Prophets.

	We have not to lay down a long, round-about [system] of arguments and
calculations. The specific time and place are pointed out, the stakes are
driven, the foundations of the city and temple are laid, and a people
already gathered. We therefore know where to go; and to reject the
revelations of God, which have pointed out these things to us, only brings
condemnation. If this is not the case, then our faith is vain, and our
works and hopes are vain also.

	We worship a God who can inspire His servants to tell the people what
to do. We have already got the opinions of men enough concerning the
coming of Jesus Christ; but we need the voice of a Prophet in such a case
and we have it. I am willing to risk my all upon it: and if the Elders
understand the principle of gathering, and teach it correctly, the people
will have the correct spirit of the gathering.

	It is time we come out and declared boldly and definitely what God
had for the people. We want more than opinions--we want your works. He has
said he would send a Prophet to prepare the way, And let me ask these
profound sectarians, why He has not done it? If the angels found a God in
heaven able to give instructions, shield them from sword and famine, &c.,
why have we not found Him? Let the teachers bear the message they are
entrusted with; and if the people wish then for Scripture, tell them that
their message is in fulfillment of prophecy; but let them have the whole
message.

	Elder E. P. Maginn said he for one had taught the gathering according
to the Scriptures; but he considered all modern revelations Scripture as
well as those given anciently.


	Elder Brigham Young addressed the meeting on the subject of our
faith. We hear the Elders represent the feeling of the brethren concerning
the gathering. This is right. The Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ is a
gathering spirit. Its tendency is to gather the virtuous and good, the
honest and meek of the earth, and, in fine, the Saints of God. The time
has come when the Lord is determined to fulfill his purposes. The people
are apt to say that if they had lived in the days of Jesus Christ they
would have received His work. But judge ye if the people are better now
than then. They are not. When the full, set time was come, the Lord came
in the flesh to do His work, whether the people were prepared or not; and
He would not have come at all, if He had waited till the people were
prepared to receive Him. It was decreed from all eternity that He should
come, and He came. The people were not prepared then, nor are they any
more prepared now. And now the full set time has come for the Lord God
Almighty to set His hand to redeem Israel. We are not bound to make the
people believe, but we are bound to preach the Gospel; and having done
this, our garments are clear.

	The Lord does not require every soul to leave his home as soon as He
believes. Some may be wanted to go to the isles of the sea, and some to go
north, and some south. But He does require them to hearken to counsel, and
follow that course which He points out, whether to gather or stay to do
some other work.

	The Spirit of the Lord and His work are on the alert, and those who
keep up with the work must be on the alert also. The Spirit of the Lord
will leave them who sit down and refuse to obey. When the Lord says,
"Gather yourselves together," why do you ask Him what for? Had you not
rather enjoy the society of Saints than sinners whom you cannot love? Is
it not the principle of the Saints to mingle together and promote the
great cause in which they are engaged?

	Perhaps some of you are ready to ask, "Cannot the Lord save us as
well where we are as to gather together?" Yes, if the Lord says so. But if
He commands us to come out and gather together, He will not save us by
staying at home. Have you not received the Gospel? Yes.

	Then do you believe what we say? Have you not received the Holy
Ghost, by receiving the Gospel which we have brought unto you? Yes.
thousands have; and it stands as a testimony that God has got a Prophet on
the earth. You might have been baptized seventy times seven in any way
except the way God had ordained and pointed out, and you would not have
received the Holy Ghost. This also is a testimony to you.

	Are you engaged with us in this great work? "Yes, certainly," you
answer, "heart and hand." "Can we do any good?" Yes, you can. The
sectarian world send the Bible to the nations of the earth. The poor among
them put sixpence, fifty cents or a dollar into the box to carry out that
object; and can the Latter-day Saints do nothing? Let them do what God
requires. He has required that we should build a house unto His name, that
the ordinances and blessings of His kingdom may be revealed, and that the
Elders may be endowed, go forth and gather together the blood of
Ephraim--the people of God, from the ends of the earth.

	Can you get an endowment in Boston or anywhere, except where God
appoints? No, only in that place which God has pointed out. Now,
query--Could Moses have obtained the law if he had stayed in the midst of
the children of Israel, instead of going up on to the mountain? The Lord
said, "Go and do so and so; stand before Pharaoh; pull off thy shoes, for
the place is holy." Moses obeyed, and obtained blessings which he would
not have received if he had been disobedient.

	Has the Lord spoken in these last days, and required us to build Him
a house? Then why query about it? If He has spoken, it is enough. I do not
care whether the people gather or not, if they don't want to do so. I do
not wish to save the people against their will. I want them to choose
whether they will gather and be saved with the righteous, or remain with
the wicked and be damned. I would like to have all people bow down to the
Lord Jesus Christ; but it is one of the decrees of the Lord that all
persons shall act upon their agency, which was the case even with the
angels who fell from heaven.

	Now, will you help us to build the Nauvoo House and Temple? If so,
you will be blessed: if not, we will build it without you. And if you
don't hearken, you will not have the Spirit of the Lord; for the Spirit of
the Lord is on the move.

	The Apostles tried to gather the people together in their day. Christ
said He would gather the Jews oft as a hen gathereth her chickens under
her wings, but they would not. Neither God nor angels care whether men
hear or forbear: they will carry on their work; for the full, set time is
come for God to set up His kingdom, and we go about it. We must build a
house, and get an endowment, preach the gospel, warn the people, gather
the Saints, build up Zion, finish our work, and be prepared for the coming
of Christ.

	Now, we want to send four missionaries to the Pacific Islands, and we
want a little clothing, and beds, and money to pay their passage. Can you
do something for them? This is not all. We want you to give all you have
to spare towards building the Temple. We shall be able to build it, if we
have to work with a sword in one hand. But perhaps you are afraid you will
not have enough for yourself, when you get there; yet how easy it is for
the Lord to take it away from you by fire or otherwise!

	Elder Maginn had an ivory cane. I asked him for it, but he declined
making me a present of it. Not long after, he had it stolen from him in a
crowd, and it now does neither of us any good. Perhaps your purse may slip
through your pocket, or you may lose your property; for the Lord can give
and take away. Jacob, with his faith, obtained all the best cattle his
father-in-law had.

	If I had a wife and ten children, I would give all my money to build
the Temple and Nauvoo House, and I would trust in God for their support.
Yet I will be richer for it; for God would prosper me in business. Men are
apt to serve God on Sunday, and neglect Him all the week. Who blesses you
and all the people? God. But do the people acknowledge the hand of God in
all these things? No; they turn away from Him, and do not acknowledge Him,
or realize from whom their blessings flow. They know not who blesses them.
It never comes into their hearts. So with the farmer. The blessings are
constantly flowing to him, and he considers not whence they come.

	Let me tell you a secret. When the Lord shakes the earth, and every
valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, He
will bring gold for brass, silver for iron, brass for wood, and iron for
stones. Then you will have no use for gold, for money and gods as you now
have. You will not care so much about it; but the Lord will think as much
of it then as now.

	But now we want some of the gods of the Gentiles--some of the gold
and silver to build the Temple and Nauvoo House for the accommodation of
the kings, princes and nobles of the earth, when they come to inquire
after the wisdom of Zion, that they may have a place for their
entertainment, and for the weary traveler to be refreshed. Let us have
your gold to take to Nauvoo for this purpose.

	Is there wisdom in Zion? We think so, and the world begins to think
so. Let the world come forward and translate the plates that have of late
come forth, if they have wisdom to do it. The Lord intends to take away
the gods of the Gentiles: He pulleth down and He buildeth up at His own
pleasure.

	Sacrifice your gods for the building up of Zion. Administer of your
substance. Send our missionaries to the islands of the seas. Don't be
afraid of a dollar, or a hundred dollars, or even a thousand dollars. I
would not. I have made a sacrifice of all I possessed a good many times, I
am richer the more I give; for the Lord has promised and does reward me a
hundredfold; and if I sacrifice all for the cause of God, no good thing
will be withheld from me. I have taken this course to get rich. I have
given all I had, and God has given many blessings in consequence. If I am
too bold in asking, be too bold in giving. I ask, expecting to receive.
Put your shoulders to the wheel with all your might. Give your all, and
become rich by receiving a hundredfold.

	Adjourned until half-past two o'clock. when the meeting was opened by
singing.

	Prayer by Elder Parley P. Pratt. Singing.

	Elder Parley P. Pratt said: I have a few remarks to make concerning
the subject spoken of in the forenoon by Elder Brigham Young, who said we
wanted all your gold, silver, and precious things. We not only want your
all as pertaining to gold, silver, &c., but we want you, your wives and
children, and all you have to be engaged in the work of the Lord.

	I don't know that I can give you a better pattern of what we want
than the case of Joseph in Egypt. Israelites will get all they can. They
are very great to go ahead. The Egyptians believed in dreams; and by the
peculiar gift of interpretation of dreams, Joseph entered into a great
scheme of speculation. He used the gift of interpretation to become great
in the eyes of the Egyptians. He obtained great political influence, came
out with gold ornaments, and rode in the king's chariot in great splendor.
He laid up corn in great abundance during the seven years of plenty; and
when the famine came, he got all their gold, silver, cattle, land,
property, and, finally their persons. * * *

	God is the origin of power the Sovereign. He made the people and the
earth, and He has the right to reign. There will be good times and good
government, when the world will acknowledge the God of heaven as the
Lawgiver, and not till then; and if I could live under His government, I
should be thankful, although I am a real Republican in principle, and
would rather live under the voice of the people than the voice of one man.
But it will be for the good and happiness of man when that government is
established, which we pray for when we say, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven;" and until that time arrives we must
pray for it.

	This Joseph in Egypt--the speculator--what a great and good man he
was! I love him, I admire his course, and I believe a little of his blood
is in my veins. But had Joseph been like the religious world at the
present day--had he said he had got religion and done with the world, he
would not have rode the king's horse, worn his robe, or had to do with
gold and silver; and he would have done no good, built no storehouses, and
saved no corn, for fear of speculation.

	But he acted differently. And there is an ancient prediction
respecting our modern prophet, Joseph--namely, that a prophet and seer
should be raised up, and those who seek to destroy him shall be
confounded. This has proved true. Upwards of thirty law suits have been
brought against the Lord's anointed, and his persecutors have as often
been confounded. He has been raised and supported according to the
prophecy, to do a work on the earth, and the Lord has been with him. Every
weapon formed against him has been broken. He has overcome all the
lawsuits which have been brought against him, and no accusation has been
sustained against him; yet he will lay a plan to speculate as large as
ancient Joseph did; he will have power to buy up all the rest of the
world.

	What Elder Young said is good. We want all he spoke of, and a great
deal more, We do not want it for ourselves, but for you. We want you to
use it; and we have a Prophet who tells how, when and where to use it.
Take your means and unite your exertions in this work. We want you to take
that course which will save you. Build up a city and temples, and enjoy
them, and do as the Lord tells you, and hearken to counsel.

	We have prophets to tell us what to do, and we should get as much
wisdom as the world. If they want a railroad built, all they have to do is
to open books. The people subscribe stock, a railroad is soon built, and
an income is realized. The Saints ought to be as well united as the world,
and do the things that God has required, that a great nation may be saved
from all nations.

	The old gentleman [Satan] that rules the nations has ruled long
enough; and if I were an infidel, I would like to have the Lord raise up a
Joseph, or a Daniel, or a Mordecai, or an Esther, to obtain political,
temporal, and spiritual power, and cause a change for the good of the
world. Thank heaven, he has begun to raise them up. He has raised up
another Joseph to do the great work of God, and it will continue on until
the saying goes forth that the Lord has built up Zion.

	The kingdom of God must be established, and it will be. I read that
gold, silver, power, thrones, and dominions will be connected with the
great work of God in the last days. Then let us wake up to see what God
says shall come to pass, and let us enlarge our hearts and prepare for the
great and glorious work.

	Do the Saints here in Boston know that they are identified with the
laying of the foundation, and establishing of a great and mighty kingdom,
which is to include all the great and glorious work to be fulfilled in the
last dispensation and fullness of times? And I prophesy, in the name of
the Lord, that whether the Saints of Boston or any other place, stand for
it or rise against it, numberless millions will celebrate that day when
the foundation of this work was laid.

	Elder George A. Smith said: I am pleased with the many remarks which
have been made this day. You can easily see a similarity between the two
Joseph's, and the revelations that are given for the salvation of the
present generation. Joseph in Egypt, a savior of his father's house and
the Egyptians' Joseph [Smith] at this day holds the keys of salvation not
only to the Gentiles, but also to the house of Israel.

	I do not know but some may have reflections different from my own. I
will, however, show how the Lord deals with mankind. Some may say, "Who
can believe that God who dwells in heaven will condescend to speak to the
people about building Him a house in this day of religion and science?

	This may be considered simple in the eyes of many; but the day was
when the salvation or damnation of the whole world hung upon as small a
circumstance. "Noah, by faith, being warned of God of things not seen as
yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by which
he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteous which is by
faith."

	Had the editors of this day lived then, I think they would have said
and written more against it than they have against Joseph Smith and the
revelations he has received and published.

	We find God was in the habit of telling men to do many simple things
even to the giving of a law concerning the protection of birds' nests. You
talk about God condescending to speak of small things in the last days,
but it is only as it was in the days of Moses; for we read in the Bible
how God commanded the children of Israel, when they found a bird's nest,
(Deut. xxii: 7) not to take the dam with the young: "But thou shalt in any
wise let the dam go, and take the young to thee." Why? "That it may be
well with thee, and that thou mayst prolong thy days."

	We see from this, that however small and simple the commandments of
God appear to be, they are great in their result. Connecting this with the
law of God to Israel concerning the eating of locusts, beetles and
grasshoppers (Leviticus xi: 22). "Even these of them ye may eat; the
locust after his kind, and the bald locust after his kind, and the beetle
after his kind, and the grasshopper after his kind."

	Is this as small business for the Lord to talk about as it is for Him
to command the Saints to build a tavern or boarding house for visitors who
constantly go to Nauvoo, which, when done, will do much good for the
spreading of the work to all nations. What good could arise from a law of
God permitting the eating of beetles and grasshoppers, I cannot say.

	All the prophecies have aimed at the gathering of the people, and
saving them in the last days. But it is better never to have known the
Master's will than to know it and not perform it; and my advice is, If you
cannot take hold of the work and go through the whole course, stop and go
no further. If you have not courage to go on at the expense of all things,
it is better to turn back.

	We do not want to deceive you. Our traditions have taught us to be
very religious, to wear long faces, never to tell an amusing story, nor to
laugh, &c. This was the case with the long-faced Christians in Missouri,
and they were the first to strike a dagger to our hearts. It is better for
a man to act out what he is than to be a hypocrite. "Pure religion and
undefiled before God and the Father, is this," says James, "to visit the
fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted
from the world."

	I do not like that religion which lies in a man's long face, or his
coat or his hat. If I wear a strange hat, it is not because of my
religion: for where the religion of a man is in the shape of a hat or
coat, it is not very extensive anywhere else.

	Some of the Elders want to appear very big, and to be called great
preachers; but whenever I have seen them trying to preach something large
and mysterious, to get a name, I have concluded they have yet much to
learn. I have been eleven years a member of this Church, and was a
believer two years before I entered it; and during that time I have seen
many Elders who like to preach large and mysterious sermons.

	As many are desirous of hearing mysteries, I will rehearse a short
sermon of mysteries for their edification. Elder Kimball has had a long
standing in the Church. He has preached much, done much good, brought many
souls into the kingdom, had great influence, and is considered the most
successful minister among us.

	Elder Amasa Lyman and myself went into Pike county, Illinois, to
preach where the Elders had preached all the mysteries about beasts, heads
and horns. They wanted us to preach mysteries. We told them we were not
qualified to preach mysteries; but if they would send for Elder Kimball he
would preach them. So they sent about forty miles for Elder Kimball, and
brought him down, they were so anxious to hear mysteries.

	When he came, he had a large congregation assembled. He arose and
remarked that he understood they had sent for him to come and preach the
mysteries to them. "I am well qualified, and fully competent to do it, and
am happy to have the privilege. I want the attention of all." When every
mind was stretched and eager to learn these great mysteries he said, "The
first mystery I shall present before you is this, "Look at Elder Amasa
Lyman; he needs a pair of pantaloons and a new hat. But it appears you do
not see it; consequently I want to open your eyes and reveal to you a
great mystery; for an Elder in the Church has need of a hat and a pair of
breeches as well as yourselves, and especially when the Saints know he is
so much in need of them!" He preached a few more mysteries of the same
nature, and the result of this sermon was that Elder Lyman got a pair of
pants and a new hat, and Elder Kimball and myself each a barrel of flour
for our families.

	Elder Brigham Young arose and said: I will make an apology for my
remarks in the former part of the day. Some may think I spoke very
plainly; but the object I had in view was to teach you your duty, as I am
aware the people are not made to feel it; and the apology I have to make
is this: I will turn Thomsonian doctor, and give the composition without
cream and sugar,--it matters not whether I get friends or foes. If this
work does not live, I do not want to live; for it is my life, my joy, my
all; and if it sinks, God knows I do not want to swim.

	I wish you to understand this--that he that gathereth not with us
scattereth, and they have not the Spirit of God. We live in anticipation
of the day when mobs cannot harm us, and they who have tasted the bitter
cup feel to realize this hope. Wake up, ye Elders of Israel who have
sought to build yourselves up, and not the kingdom of God, and put on your
sword. Wake up, ye that have daubed with untempered mortar! Hearken and
hear me; for I say unto you, in the name of Jesus Christ, that if you do
not help us to build the Temple and the Nauvoo House, you shall not
inherit the land of Zion.

	If you do not help to build up Zion and the cause of God, and help me
and my brethren on our way when we want to go on the Lord's business, you
shall not partake of the blessings which are laid up in store for the
Saints. Many Elders seek to build themselves up, and not the work of the
Lord. They will say "Put gold rings on my fingers; give me what I want;"
and they care nothing about the Temple. This they should not do. I will
not allow myself to do so; and when any one does this, no matter who he
may be, even though he was one of the Twelve, he will not prosper. Those
of the Twelve and others of the Elders who have apostatized, I have known
their hearts and their breathings. I have known their movements although
they thought I did not know much. But I knew all about them; and when I
see men preaching to build themselves up, and not Zion, I know what it
will end in. But you may say you are young. I don't care if you are. Are
you old enough to know what you are about? If so, preach and labor for the
building up of the city of Zion; concentrate your means and influence
there, and not scatter abroad. Instead of which, some of the Elders appear
to be dumb and lazy, and care for nothing but themselves.

	Now, ye Elders, will you be faithful? If not, you will not be chosen,
for the day of choosing is at the door. Why be afraid of a sacrifice? I
have given my all many times, and am willing to do it again. I would be
glad to hear the Lord say through His servant Joseph, "Let my servant
Brigham give again all that he has," I would obey it in a moment, if it
took the last coat off my back.

	A hymn was sung.

	Elder Kimball arose and said: I get up of necessity to say a few
words. I am unwell, but I feel the importance of this work. I have been a
member of this Church twelve years. I came out of the Baptist church and
joined this with all my heart, as I was seeking after truth. I have passed
through everything but death; in fact I have been brought into situations
even worse than death. It has been my lot and privilege to sacrifice all I
possessed from time to time; and we have come here to call for help to
build the Temple and Nauvoo House. I have spent thirty dollars to get
here, and have collected fifteen and that with much difficulty.

	We were commanded of the Lord to come: but it seems as though but few
felt interested in it. Here I see four brethren going as missionaries to
the Sandwich Islands, and destitute of means to help themselves. I could
weep for them. I feel interested in this great work. We are seeking to
bring about a work that could never before be performed.

	When the time is brought about that we are to receive our
inheritances, the more faithful we are, the larger will be our reward. We
have come out to reap, but do we have time to reap new grain? No; for it
takes all our time to try to save that which is already reaped.

	We have reapers in the field, and we are trying to save the wheat. We
want to get it on the barn floor, so that we may thrash it. We have come
after it to warn you. You think Eider Young put the flail on rather heavy;
but it is nothing to be compared with the thrashing you will get in Zion,
and those who have the hardest heads will, of course, have to be thrashed
the hardest. But don't be troubled about the chaff when it comes to the
barn, for God will prepare a great winnowing mill which will blow all the
chaff away, and the wheat will be found before the mill' then it has to go
through the smut machine, then ground, then put through the bolting
machine, and many will bolt in going through. I speak in parables. I
compare the Saints to a good cow. When you milk her clean, she will always
have an abundance of milk to give; but if you only milk her a little, and
don't strip her, she will soon dry up. So with the Saints' if they do but
little in building up Zion, they soon have but little to do with. This was
the case in Cincinnati.

	The night before arriving at Cincinnati, I had a dream while on the
steamboat. I dreamt that I had a wagon with a rack on it, and an
individual with me. We were going to a field of wheat of mine that had
been cut, bound and shocked up, in order to haul into the barn. When we
came to the field, I jumped off the wagon, and got over the fence to
examine it, pulled off the cap sheaf, and behold it was oats. Pulling the
bundles apart, I found there were clusters of rats. On further examination
I found clusters of mice, and the oats were all eaten up.

	In my dream I was going to haul in wheat, but to my astonishment it
was oats, and they were all eaten up by the rats and mice.

	I thought these rats and mice were the Elders and official members
who had been in and lain on the Church at Cincinnati--lived on the
wheat--eaten it up instead of building up new branches; so that when the
Twelve came along, they could not get anything for the Temple or Nauvoo
House, or hardly a place to stay. The rats had eaten up the wheat, so we
had to go to the world for a home to stay while we were there.

	We do not profess to be polished stones like Elders Almon W. Babbitt,
George J. Adams, James Blakeslee, and Eli P. Maginn, &c., &c.; but we are
rough stones out of the mountain; and when we roll through the forest, and
knock the bark from the trees, it does not hurt us, even if we should get
a corner knocked off occasionally; for the more we roll about, and knock
the corners off, the better we are; but if we were polished and smooth
when we get the corners knocked off, it would deface us.

	Joseph Smith never professed to be a dressed, smooth, polished stone,
but to have come rough out of the mountain; and he has been rolling among
the rocks and trees, yet it has not hurt him at all: but he will be as
smooth and polished in the end as any other stone, while many who were so
very polished and smooth in the beginning get badly defaced and spoiled
while they are rolling about.

	Elder Parley P. Pratt said--Some are going to Zion, and the rest want
to know what they shall do. The Lord, through Jeremiah (iii: 14,15) says,
"I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you
to Zion; and I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall
feed you with knowledge and understanding." Inasmuch as you hearken to
counsel, you will know what the will of the Lord is concerning you in all
things. Meet often together to worship God and to speak to each other of
the things of God. Gather as soon as you can. Come up to the mountain of
the Lord's house, and there learn of these things, that the Scriptures may
be fulfilled.

	Elder Orson Pratt said--I do not know that I can say anything to
impress the subjects which have been spoken upon more fully upon your
minds than has been done. There are some things, however, I wish to
mention. We have learned from what we have heard this day that great
blessings will be given to the faithful when the Temple is finished. I
will speak of some of the consequences that will follow, if we do not
obey.

	When the Temple is reared, God will manifest Himself in a peculiar
manner. If we are obedient, He has told us He will make manifest to us
things we are ignorant of. He has said He will reveal things which pertain
to this dispensation that have been hidden and kept secret from the
foundation of the world.

	No former age or generation of the world have had the same things
revealed' all other dispensations will be swallowed up in this. He
declares, in His revelations, the consequences of not building the house
unto His name within such a time. The Lord says, If you build the house in
that time, you shall be blessed; but if not, you shall be rejected as a
church with your dead, saith the Lord. So, if that house is not built,
then in vain are all our cares; our faith and works, our meetings and
hopes are vain also; our performances and acts will be void.

	The servants of God who are faithful and do their duty will get the
blessing; and we are determined to do our duty, and lay these principles
before the Saints, so that they may have the privilege of contributing. We
will turn this responsibility upon the heads of the Saints; then our
garments will be clear, and the Lord is able and will be willing to endow
all the faithful in some other place.

	This Church, in its infancy, was directed to do a certain work, and
the consequences pointed out. The Lord gave a revelation several years
since to the Church to appoint our wise men, and send up our moneys by
them to buy land; if not, we should not have an inheritance, but our
enemies should be upon us. We went through and told the Saints these
things; but did the churches do as God commanded? No, they did not. But
the revelation was fulfilled, and the enemies of the Saints came upon
them, and drove them from their houses and homes, and finally from the
State of Missouri. This was in consequence of their disobeying the
commandments of God through HIs servant Joseph.

	Many suppose they must get direct revelation from God for themselves.
Not so. He has a prophet, and he says the Church shall give heed to the
words of the Prophet, as he is to hold the keys of the kingdom of God in
this life and in the world to come. Then it is of much consequence that
you give heed to his word.

	Says one, Suppose we are not satisfied that this is the work of God?
You can ask God if the work is true, and He will give you a testimony. You
can put every confidence in the Book of Mormon and in Joseph, the Prophet;
and if you are not satisfied, go to God. I doubt in my own mind if men can
stand what they will have to pass through, unless they do get a witness
for themselves; and I pray you to give heed to the words which the Twelve
have taught you, and ask God to help you.


	The conference was adjourned until ten o'clock tomorrow morning.

	Sunday, 10th. Conference met according to adjournment.

	Meeting was opened by singing, and prayer by Elder Maginn; after
which Elder Wilford Woodruff addressed the assembly from Amos iii:
7--"Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto
his servants the prophets?" According to the testimony of the Scriptures
in all ages of the world, whenever God was about to bring a judgment upon
the world or accomplish any great work, the first thing he did was to
raise up a Prophet, and reveal unto him the secret, and send him to warn
the people, so that they may be left without excuse. This was the case in
the days of Noah and Lot. God was about to bring judgments upon the
people, and he raised up those Prophets who warned the people of it; yet
they gave no heed to them, but rejected their testimony; and the judgments
came upon the people, so that they were destroyed, while the Prophets were
saved by pursuing the course marked out by the Lord.

	Jesus Christ testified to the Jews of the things that awaited them as
a nation, the fall of Jerusalem, and their dispersion among the Gentile
world; but they did not believe it. Yet the secret of all these things was
revealed to the Prophets and Apostles. They believed it, and looked for
its fulfillment; and it came to pass as it was predicted, though contrary
to the expectation of the Jewish nation.

	In like manner do we look for the certain fulfillment of those
tremendous events upon the heads of the Gentile world which have been
spoken of and pointed out by all the holy Prophets and Apostles since the
world began, they having spoken as they were moved upon by the power of
God and the gift of the Holy Ghost, events which more deeply concern the
Gentile world than the overthrow of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the
Jews did the Jewish nation; for while they stumbled at the stone they were
broken; but when it falls upon the heads of the Gentile world, it will
grind them to powder.

	The full set time is come for the Lord to set His hand to accomplish
these mighty events; and as He has done in other ages, so has He done
now--He has raised up a Prophet, and is revealing unto him His secrets.
Through that Prophet He has brought to light the fullness of the
everlasting Gospel to the present generation, and is again once more for
the last time establishing His Church upon the foundation of the ancient
Apostles and Prophets, which is revelation, Jesus Christ being the chief
corner stone.

	In the Church is now found judges as at the first, and counselors as
at the beginning; also Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, and
Teachers, with gifts and graces, for the perfecting of the Saints, the
work of the ministry, and the edifying of the body of Christ.

	The Lord has raised up His servants, and sent them into the vine.
yard to prune it once more for the last time, to preach the Gospel of
Jesus Christ, and to warn the nations, that they may be left without
excuse in the day of their visitation; also to gather the honest in heart
and the meek of the earth, that Zion may be built up, and the sayings of
the Prophets fulfilled.

	One of the secrets that God has revealed unto his Prophet in these
days is the Book of Mormon; and it was a secret to the whole world until
it was revealed unto Joseph Smith, whom God has raised up as a Prophet,
Seer, and Revelator unto His people. This record contains an account of
the ancient inhabitants of this continent and of the cities with which
they overspread this land from sea to sea, the ruins of which still remain
as standing monuments of the arts, science, power, and greatness of their
founders. It also points out the establishing of this our own nation, with
the conditions for its progress, and those predictions contained in the
Book of Mormon--the stick of Joseph in the hand of Ephraim, will as truly
be fulfilled as those contained in the Bible--the stick and record of
Judah; and both these sticks or records contain prophecies of great import
concerning the Gentile nations, and especially this land and nation, which
are not yet fulfilled, but must shortly come to pass: yea, their
fulfillment is nigh, even at the doors.

	Though the secrets which God is revealing through His servant the
Prophet in these last days may be unpopular and unbelieved in by the
world, yet their unbelief will not make the truth of God of none effect,
any more than it did in the days of Lot and Noah, or at the fall of
Jerusalem.

	When Jesus Christ said there should not be left one stone upon
another in the temple that should not be thrown down, the Jewish nation
did not believe it, neither would they receive such testimony; but they
looked at outward circumstances, and were ready to say, "Who can prevail
against us? What nation like unto our nation? We have held the giving of
the law, the oracles, and the Urim and Thummim; the lawgiver has never
departed from between our feet; we have hold the power of government from
generation to generation; and what nation hath power now to prevail
against us?"

	Through this order of reasoning they were blinded, and knew not the
day of their visitation; they understood not the things that belonged to
their peace; they rejected their Lord and King, contended against the word
and testimony, and finally put Him to death on the cross, with many who
followed Him. But this did not hinder the fulfillment of His predictions
concerning that nation. The words of the Lord had gone forth out of His
mouth, and could not return unto Him void. The things that belonged to
their peace were hid from thei