In September of the same year Father Joseph Smith, Patriarch to The Church, and father of the Prophet Joseph, was "gathered to his final home," in the sixty-ninth year of his age. He was baptized on the sixth day of April, 1830, and was one of the six who organized The Church on that date. Indeed he was the one who first received the testimony of his son after the angel Moroni visited him on that memorable night of September 21, 1823; and it was he who first exhorted his prophet son to be faithful and diligent to the message he had received. He endured many persecutions on account of the claims made by his son Joseph to being a prophet of God; for Joseph's declarations that he had received heavenly visions and revelations together with a divine commission to preach the Gospel of Christ, not only brought upon himself the wrath of the ungodly, but involved his whole family in the persecutions which followed him throughout his life. Of these things, however, his father never complained, but endured all things patiently, and with true heroism, and ever supported his son in carrying out the counsels of Heaven. He was born on the twelfth of July, 1771, in Topsfield, Massachusetts; and was the second of the seven sons of Asahel and Mary Smith; his forefathers being among those who early came from England to Massachusetts. He was a large man, ordinarily weighing two hundred pounds, was six feet two inches tall, and well proportioned, strong and active; and he stood unbowed beneath the accumulated sorrows and hardships he had experienced during his nearly three score and ten years of sojourn in this life. The exposures, however, that he suffered in the exodus from Missouri brought on him consumption, of which he died. His was an unassuming nature—noted mostly, perhaps, for its sincerity and unwavering integrity. He was a child of nature, and one of nature's noblest; his life had been spent in parts remote from the busy marts, where "wealth accumulates and men decay," and he had passed through his probation on earth without being corrupted by the evil influences of luxury or enervating civilization. He was a type of men, so well described by one of our poets, in the following lines:
Simple their lives—yet theirs the race
When liberty sent forth her cry,
Who crowded conflicts deadliest place,
To fight—to bleed—to die;
Who stood on Bunker's heights of red,
By hope through years were led—
And witnessed Yorktown's sun
Shine on a nation's banner spread,
A nation's freedom won!
Such was the character of the first Patriarch of The Church in this dispensation.
Another circumstance of interest in Nauvoo during this eventful summer of 1840 was the return of a number of prodigals to The Church. I have already stated the case of Orson Hyde. Frederick G. Williams was dropped from his position as counselor to the Prophet in November, 1837, and in March, 1839, was excommunicated at a conference in Quincy, Illinois. At the April conference in 1840, however, he came before the assembled Church and "humbly asked forgiveness, and expressed his determination to do the will of God for the future." He was forgiven by the Saints but was never restored to his former position in the First Presidency.
About the time Thomas B. Marsh and Orson Hyde fell during the trying scenes in Missouri, W. W. Phelps and Oliver Cowdery left The Church. Elder Phelps was a man who had been of great service to The Church and to the Prophet in a literary way, though some of his work in that line was marred by pedantic verbosity, and pretension to a knowledge of ancient languages which was not justified by any extended acquaintance he had of them. Still, he it was who in the early rise of The Church gave the cast to very much of The Church literature, and, as I remarked, he had been useful to The Church and the Prophet in the capacity of an editor and writer.
During the summer of 1840 he began to feel his way back from his apostasy into The Church. He had seen his folly and began to tremble at the gulf which opened at his very feet to devour him. He felt debased and humbled, and most piteously begged to be forgiven and taken back in the confidence of his brethren and the Saints. So interesting are the circumstances connected with his return that I give in extenso the letters which passed between himself and the Prophet.
W. W. PHELPS' LETTER TO JOSEPH SMITH.
DAYTON, OHIO, June 29, 1840.
BROTHER JOSEPH—I am alive, and with the help of God I mean to live still. I am as a prodigal son, though I never doubt or disbelieve the fullness of the Gospel. I have been greatly abused and humbled, and I blessed the God of Israel when I lately read your prophetic blessing on my head, as follows:
"The Lord will chasten him because he taketh honor to himself, and when his soul is greatly humbled he will forsake the evil. Then shall the light of the Lord break upon him as at noonday, and in him shall be no darkness," etc.
I have seen the folly of my way, and I tremble at the gulf I have passed. So it is, and why I know not. I prayed and God answered, but what could I do? Says I, "I will repent and live, and ask my old brethren to forgive me, and though they chasten me to death, yet I will die with them, for their God is my God. The least place with them is enough for me, yea it is bigger and better than all Babylon." Then I dreamed that I was in a large house with many mansions, with you and Hyrum and Sidney, and when it was said, "Supper must be made ready," by one of the cooks, I saw no meat, but you said there was plenty, and showed me much, and as good as I ever saw; and while cutting to cook, your heart and mine beat within us, and we took each other's hand and cried for joy, and I awoke and took courage.
I know my situation, you know it, and God knows it, and I want to be saved if my friends will help me. Like the captain that was cast away on a desert island; when he got off, he went to sea again, and made his fortune the next time—so let my lot be. I have done wrong, and am sorry. The beam is in my own eye. I have not walked with my friends according to my holy anointing. I ask forgiveness in the name of Jesus Christ of all the Saints, for I will do right, God helping me. I want your fellowship; if you cannot grant that, grant me your peace and friendship, for we are brethren, and our communion used to be sweet, and whenever the Lord brings us together again, I will make all the satisfaction on every point that Saints or God can require. Amen.
W.W. PHELPS.
Elders Hyde and Page, en route for the east on their mission to Jerusalem, met with Phelps at Dayton, and at his request these brethren added the following to his communication:
Brother Phelps requests us to write a few lines in his letter, and we cheerfully embrace the opportunity. Brother Phelps says he wants to live; but we do not fell ourselves authorized to act upon his case, but have recommended him to you; but he says his poverty will not allow him to visit you in person at this time, and we think he tells the truth. We therefore advise him to write, which he has done.
He tells us verbally, that he is willing to make any sacrifice to procure your fellowship, life not excepted, yet reposing that confidence in your magnanimity that you will take no advantage of this open letter and frank confession. If he can obtain your fellowship, he wants to come to Commerce as soon as he can. But if he cannot be received into the fellowship of The Church, he must do the best he can in banishment and exile.
Brethren, with you are the keys of the Kingdom; to