6. But the Lord saith unto them, pluck not up the tares while the blade is yet tender (for verily your faith is weak), lest you destroy the wheat also.
7. Therefore, let the wheat and the tares grow together until the harvest is fully ripe; then ye shall first gather out the wheat from among the tares, and after the gathering of the wheat, behold and lo, the tares are bound in bundles, and the field remaineth to be burned.
8. Therefore, thus saith the Lord unto you, with whom the priesthood hath continued through the lineage of your fathers—
9. For ye are lawful heirs, according to the flesh, and have been hid from the world with Christ in God—
10. Therefore, your life and the priesthood have remained, and must needs remain through you and your lineage until the restoration of all things spoken by the mouths of all the holy prophets since the world began.
11. Therefore, blessed are ye if ye continue in my goodness, a light unto the Gentiles, and through this priesthood, a savior unto my people Israel. The Lord hath said it. Amen.
Footnotes
1. George Albert Smith was born at Potsdam, St. Lawrence county, New York, on the 26th of June, 1817. He was the son of John Smith, the sixth son of Asael and Mary Smith. John Smith was therefore a brother of the Prophet's father, and George Albert and the Prophet were cousins. In the fall of 1828, Asael Smith, grandfather of the subject of this note, received a letter from Joseph Smith, Sen., informing him of some of the visions the youthful Prophet had received. Soon after this a letter from the young Prophet himself was received by John Smith, and read in the hearing of George Albert. The letter declared that the judgments of God would overtake the wicked of this generation unless they repented. The letter made a deep impression upon George Albert; while his father remarked that "Joseph wrote like a prophet." In August, 1830, Joseph Smith, Sen., visited his brother John, bringing with him the Book of Mormon, a copy of which he left at the former's residence. During the temporary absence of his uncle, who was visiting other branches of the family, George Albert championed the Book of Mormon, and answered objections urged against it by the neighbors who came in to examine it. Meantime he formulated some objections of his own, which his Uncle Joseph on his return answered to his complete satisfaction; and he never afterwards ceased to advocate the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Notwithstanding this conviction, however, he was not baptized until some two years had elapsed as will be seen by reference to the date of his baptism in the text of the Prophet's narrative.
At this point I think it proper that a letter written by Asael Smith, grandfather of the Prophet Joseph Smith Jun., should be introduced. A copy of the letter was obtained by George A. Smith, the subject of the foregoing biographical note, while on a visit to Topsfield, in 1872. The original was in the hands of a son of Mr. Jacob Town, then the town clerk of Topsfield, and who, while unwilling to part with the original, because written to and received by his father, permitted President George A. Smith to copy it.
On the outside of the letter, besides the superscription, "Mr. Jacob Town, Topsfield Commonwealth of Massachusetts," is this: "Rec'd Feb. 14, 1796, from Asael Smith." From which it appears, when compared with the date under which it was written, the letter was one month on the journey from Tunbridge, Vt., to Topsfield, a distance of 150 miles, and was probably carried by private conveyance.
The letter is produced here for two reasons: first for its own intrinsic interest as a literary relic of one of the Prophet's ancestors, and of the American Revolutionary period; second, as showing the character of the stock from which the Prophet Joseph descended. This letter exhibits in Asael Smith a noble independence of character, united with a childlike humility before God, together with unbounded faith and trust in the wisdom of Providence and of His over-ruling hand in the affairs of nations. Loyalty to his country and faith in the stability of the government under the over-ruling providences of God are equally conspicuous. The letter will go far towards refuting the slanders which untruthful writers have been pleased to circulate concerning the character of that race from which the Prophet descended.
Asael Smith's Letter to Mr. Jacob Town.
"Tunbridge. Jan. 14th, 1796.
"Respected Sir:—Having a favorable opportunity, altho' on very short notice, I with joy and gratitude, embrace it, returning herewith my most hearty thanks for your respect shown in your favor of the 30th of November, by Mr. Willis, which I view as a singular specimen of friendship, which has very little been practiced by any of my friends in Topsfield, altho' often requested.
"My family are all, through the goodness of the Divine Benediction, in a tolerable good state of health, and desire to be remembered to you and to all inquiring friends.
"I have set me up a new house since Mr. Willis was here and expect to remove into it next spring, and begin again on an entire new farm, and my son Joseph will live on the old farm (if this that has been but four years occupied can be called old), and carry it on at the halves, which half I hope will nearly furnish my family with food, whilst I with my four youngest sons shall endeavor to bring to another farm, etc.
"As to news, I have nothing as I know of, worth noticing, except that grain has taken a sudden rise amongst us about one-third.
"As to the Jacobin party, they are not very numerous here, or if they are they are pretty still; there are some in this state, viz., in Bennington, who like other children crying for a rattle, have blared out against their rulers, in hopes to wrest from them, if possible, what they esteem the plaything of power and trust. But they have been pretty well whipped and have become tolerably quiet again, and I am in hopes if they live to to arrive to the years of discretion, when the empire of reason shall take place, that they will then become good members of society, notwithstanding their noisy, nucious behavior in their childhood, for which they were either capable of hearing or giving any reason.
"For my part, I am so willing to trust the government of the world in the hands of the Supreme Ruler of universal nature, that I do not at present wish to try to wrest it out of His hands, and I have so much confidence in His abilities to teach our senators wisdom, that I do not think it worth while for me to interpose, from the little stock of knowledge that He has favored me with, in the affair, either one way or the other. He has conducted us through a glorious Revolution and has brought us into the promised land of peace and liberty, and I believe that He is about to bring all the world into the same beatitude in His own time and way; which, altho' His ways may appear never so inconsistent to our blind reason, yet may be perfectly consistent with His designs. And I believe that the stone is now cut out of the mountain without hands, spoken of by Daniel, and has smitten the image upon his feet, by which the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and the gold, (viz.) all the monarchial and ecclesiastical tyranny will be broken to pieces and become as the chaff of the summer threshing floor, the wind shall carry them all away, that there shall be no place found for them.
"Give my best regards to your parents and tell them that I have taken up with the eleventh commandment, that the negro taught to the minister, which was thus—
"The minister asked the negro how many commandments there were, his answer was 'Eleben, sir.' 'Aye,' replied the other, 'what is the eleventh? That is one I never heard of.' 'The eleventh commandment, sir, is mind your own business.'
"So I choose to do and give myself but little concern about what passes in the political world.
"Give my best regards to Dr. Meriam, Mr. Willis, Joseph Dorman and Mr. Cree, and tell Mr. Cree I thank him for his respects and hope he will accept of mine. Write to me as often and as large as you can and oblige your sincere friend and well-wisher.
(Signed) Asael Smith
"Mr. Jacob Town, Jun."
The following appears on the back of the first page of the letter, being evidently of the nature of a postscript—
"Give my hearty thanks to Mr. Charles Rogers for his respects shown in writing me a few lines, and tell him that I should a wrote to him now, had I