The Apocrypha.
March 9.—Having come to that portion of the ancient writings called the Apocrypha, I received the following:
Revelation.8
1. Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you concerning the Apocrypha, there are many things contained therein that are true, and it is mostly translated correctly.
2. There are many things contained therein that are not true, which are interpolations by the hands of men.
3. Verily, I say unto you, that it is not needful that the Apocrypha should be translated.
4. Therefore, whoso readeth it, let him understand, for the Spirit manifesteth truth;
5. And whoso is enlightened by the Spirit, shall obtain benefit therefrom;
6. And whoso receiveth not by the Spirit, cannot be benefited. Therefore it is not needful that it should be translated. Amen.
A Mission to the East Appointed.
March 12.—A council of High Priests assembled in the school room and decided that Horace Cowin and Zerubbabel Snow, Amasa M. Lyman9 and William F. Cahoon, Jenkins Salisbury and Truman Wait, journey east on a mission, two by two, paired as their names are written. Brothers Cowin and Salisbury were ordained at the same time.
Case of Brother Lake.
March 15.—A council was called to consider the case of Brother Lake, from Wooster, Wayne county, Ohio, who came professing to have received revelations. On investigation, it was unanimously agreed, that said Brother Lake was under the influence of an evil spirit, and that his license as Priest be taken from him.
The same day I received the following:
Revelation to Enoch (Joseph Smith, Jun.,) given to the Saints in Kirtland.10
1. Verily, thus saith the Lord, I give unto the united order, organized agreeable to the commandment previously given, a revelation and commandment concerning my servant Shederlaomach (Frederick G. Williams), that ye shall receive him into the order. What I say unto one I say unto all.
2. And again, I say unto you my servant Shederlaomach, (Frederick G. Williams), you shall be a lively member in this order, and inasmuch as you are faithful in keeping all former commandments you shall be blessed forever. Amen.
Footnotes
1. Zebedee Coltrin was born at Ovid, Seneca county, New York, September 7, 1804. He was the son of John and Sarah Coltrin; and was baptized into the Church soon after its organization.
2. Lyman E. Johnson was born in Pomfret, Windsor county, Vermont, October 24, 1811. He was baptized into the Church in February, 1831, by Sidney Rigdon and was ordained an Elder under the hands of the Prophet Joseph Smith.
3. Levi Ward Hancock was born April 7, 1803, in Old Springfield, Hampden county, Massachusetts. He was the youngest son of Thomas Hancock and Amy Ward Hancock. When Levi was about two years old his family removed from Massachusetts to Ohio, settling in Chagrin, Cayahoga county, not far from Kirtland. Here Levi grew to manhood, occupied chiefly in farming with his father. In 1827, however, he purchased a farm in Ashtabula county, which is in the extreme northeast part of Ohio. He was directly in the pathway of Elders Cowdery, Pratt, Whitmer and Peterson, when journeying westward on their mission to the Lamanites; and shortly after they passed through his neighborhood he followed them to Kirtland, where he was baptized on the 16th of November, 1830, by Elder Parley P. Pratt, and was soon afterwards ordained an Elder under the hands of Oliver Cowdery.
4. William Smith was the fifth son of Joseph Smith, Sen., and Lucy Smith. He was born in Royalton, Windsor county, Vermont, March 13, 1811; and was baptized soon after the Church was organized.
5. It was the intention of the Prophet to have this revised version of the Scriptures, which he had made with such laborious care, published in Zion, at the printing establishment of the Church in that place, (New Testament and Book of Mormon to be published together; see p. 341), but before the work could even be commenced, the persecution arose which made the undertaking impracticable. And such was the unsettled state of the Church throughout the remaining years of the Prophet's life that he found no opportunity to publish the revised Scriptures, and to this day there is no authoritative publication of his translation of the Old and New Testaments given to the world, except in such excerpts as appear in the Pearl of Great Price. On this subject the late President George Q. Cannon, in his "Life of Joseph Smith," remarks in a foot note (p. 142)—"We have heard President Brigham Young state that the Prophet, before his death, had spoken to him about going through the translation of the Scriptures again and perfecting it upon points of doctrine which the Lord had restrained him from giving in plainness and fulness at the time of which we write [2nd Feb., 1833]."
6. Doctrine and Covenants, sec. lxxxix.
7. Doctrine and Covenants, sec. xc.
8. Doctrine and Covenants, sec. xci.
9. Amasa Mason Lyman was born in the township of Lyman, Grafton county, New Hampshire, on the 30th of March, 1813. He was the third son of Boswell Lyman and Martha Mason. His father dying when Amasa was about eight years of age, and some time later his mother marrying again, he was reared in the home of his grandfather, on the maternal side, Perez Mason, until he was eleven years of age. Perez Mason then retired from his farm to live with his eldest son, Perley Mason; with whom also, according to the wishes of his mother, Amasa lived during the next seven years. When young Lyman was in his eighteenth year he became thoughtful on the subject of religion and earnestly sought the favor of the Lord by righteous deportment, though without connecting himself with any of the religious sects. About one year later Elders Orson Pratt and Lyman E. Johnson passed through the section of New Hampshire where young Lyman lived, on a preaching tour. He believed the message proclaimed by these new evangels and was baptized on the 27th of April, 1832, by Elder Lyman E. Johnson, and confirmed on the following day by Elder Orson Pratt. In consequence of the ill feelings which arose in his uncle's family, owing to his joining the Church, Amasa departed from the home of his kindred, and set out on foot for the gathering place of the Saints in Ohio. After a journey of some seven hundred miles, in which he endured many hardships—for much of the journey was made on foot and with but scant means of subsistence—he arrived at Hiram in Portage county, and engaged to work for Father Johnson at ten dollars a month. It was at this time that the Prophet was making his home at Father Johnson's, though on the arrival of young Lyman at Hiram he was absent in Missouri. About the first of July, however, Joseph returned from his western journey, and Amasa had the joy of meeting the Prophet of the new dispensation. Of that meeting and the impressions it produced, he says: "Of the impressions produced I will here say, although there was nothing strange or different from other men in his personal appearance, yet when he grasped my hand in that cordial way (known to those who have met him in the honest simplicity of truth), I felt as one of old in the presence of the Lord; my strength seemed to be gone, so that it required an effort on my part to stand on my feet; but in all this there was no fear, but the serenity and peace of heaven pervaded my soul, and the still small voice of the Spirit whispered its living testimony in the depths of my soul, where it has ever remained, that he was the man of God."—Autobiographical Sketch of Amasa M. Lyman, Millennial Star, vol. xxvii, p. 473.
10. Doctrine and Covenants, sec. xcii.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Kirtland to Be a Stake of Zion—Regulation of Church Affairs in Missouri.
The School of the Prophets.
March 18.—Great joy and satisfaction continually beamed in the countenances of the School of the Prophets, and the Saints, on account of the things revealed, and our progress in the knowledge