History of Joseph Smith, the Prophet and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Joseph F. Smith

last dispensation; the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net cast into the sea, that gathers of every kind of fish; and when it is full, they draw it to shore, and sit down, and gather the good into vessels, and cast the bad away. The first step in the process of correcting human nature is to discover its defects. It may not always follow that when the defects are made known they will be corrected. But it is true that no correction will be made until the necessity of correction is manifest, until the defects are pointed out. Hence God has said: "If men will come unto me, I will show unto them their weaknesses." But, unhappily, it sometimes is the case that men resist God, they love their sins, they become hardened in their iniquity, they resist the Spirit, and prove themselves unworthy of the Father's kingdom. What then? Shall they pollute that kingdom, or shall they be cast out as material unfitted for the Master's use, and of their own volition choose to remain so? There can be but one reasonable answer to the question. They refuse to go peaceably, however. They are boisterous, they accuse the innocent, they justify their own course, they seek to wreck the Church, to bring to pass chaos; and in the midst of this disorder they are cast out; and although this may not always end their power to work mischief, or create annoyance for the body—religious—for the power to work evil is still with them—yet the Church is rid of them, and in no way can be regarded as responsible for their wickedness. It is our custom to enumerate such scenes as among the calamitous events of the Church; and they are so, in some aspects of the case. As already remarked it is a calamitous time for those who are cast out, for they are overcome of the evil one; and as the heavens wept when the Son of the Morning and his following were cast out of heaven, so it is to be expected that the Saints will be sad, and sorrow over those who are overcome of the adversary. But for the Church herself it is well that this intractable material is gotten rid of; that the body religious is purged of those who can only be a source of weakness and of shame to her. She is helped by the event; purified by it; strengthened; made more acceptable with God and pleasing to reasonable men. It is only in a modified sense, then, that this latter part of the Kirtland period of the Church's history can be regarded as a calamitous time. There is more adversity yet to follow in the experience of the Saints; much distress and many sore trials; and so shall there continue to be such times of trial as long as the Church remains the Church militant. Not until she becomes the Church triumphant, and is glorified by the presence of her Great Head, the Lord Jesus Christ, can the Saints hope for an absolute discontinuance of the occasional recurrence of what are generally considered trying or calamitous events.

      Footnotes

      1. See Mal. 3:1-7.

      2. Isaiah 11:11-16; also History of the Church, vol. I, pp. 12, 13.

      3. Following are a few of the most prominent of these prophecies: Deut. 30:1-6; Isaiah 2:1-4; Jeremiah 3, 12-18. Also 16:4-18; 23:1-8, and 31:7-14.

      4. See Doc. & Cov. sec. 45:1-71, this revelation was given in 1831; also Doc. & Cov. sec. 133. This is the revelation called the appendix and was given November 3, 1831.

      5. Life of John Taylor, p. 96.

      6. Leon Zeltekoff.

      7. Rabbi Emil G. Hirsch.

      8. Max Nordau.

      9. Israel Zangwill.

      10. Biography of Lorenzo Snow, p. 496.

      11. Church History Vol. I p. 12, also Mal. 4:5, 6.

      12. Isaiah 42:7.

      13. Ibid. 49:6-9.

      14. Ibid. 61:1.

      15. I Peter 3:18-20.

      16. Ibid. 4:6.

      17. I Cor. 15:29.

      18. Heb. 11.

      19. Mal. 4:5, 6.

      CHAPTER I.

       Table of Contents

      The Year Eighteen Hundred and Thirty-four—Affairs in Zion and Kirtland.

      Condition of the Saints in Missouri.

      January 1, 1834.—The scattered Saints in Missouri commenced the year eighteen hundred and thirty-four, with a conference, which they held in Clay county, on the first day of January, at which Bishop Partridge presided. After transacting much business relative to comforting and strengthening the scattered members of the Church, it was

      Resolved, That Lyman Wight and Parley P. Pratt be sent as special messengers, to represent the situation of the scattered brethren in Missouri, to the Presidency and Church in Kirtland, and ask their advice.

      Excommunication of Wesley Hurlburt.

      On the evening of the 2nd of January, a Bishop's court assembled in Kirtland to investigate the case of Wesley Hurlburt, against whom charges had been preferred by Harriet Howe and others to the effect "that Hurlburt had denied the faith, spoken reproachfully of the Church, did not believe Joseph was a true Prophet," etc. Hurlburt was in the place, but did not appear before the court, consequently was cut off.

      Mob Threats at Kirtland.

      The threats of the mob about Kirtland through the fall and winter had been such as to cause the brethren to be constantly on the lookout, and those who labored on the temple were engaged at night watching to protect the walls they had laid during the day, from threatened violence. On the morning of the 8th of January, about 1 o'clock, the inhabitants of Kirtland were alarmed by the firing of about thirteen rounds of cannon, by the mob, on the hill about half a mile northwest of the village.¹

      A Prayer.

      On the evening of the 11th of January, Joseph Smith, Jun., Frederick G. Williams, Newel K. Whitney, John Johnson, Oliver Cowdery, and Orson Hyde united in prayer, and asked the Lord to grant the following petitions:

      1.—That the Lord would grant that our lives might be precious in His sight; that He would watch over our persons, and give His angels charge concerning us and our families, that no evil nor unseen hand might be permitted to harm us.

      2.—That the Lord would also hold the lives of all the United Order as sacred, and not suffer that any of them should be taken.

      3.—That the Lord would grant that Brother Joseph might prevail over his enemy, even Dr. Hurlburt, who has threatened his life, whom Joseph has caused to be taken with a precept; that the Lord would fill the heart of the court with a spirit to do justice, and cause that the law of the land may be magnified in bringing Hurlburt to justice.

      4.—That the Lord in the order of His providence, would provide the Bishop of this Church (at Kirtland) with means sufficient to discharge every debt, in due season, that the Order owes, that the Church may not be brought into disrepute, and the Saints be afflicted by the hands of their enemies.

      5.—That the Lord would protect our printing press from the hands of evil men, and give us means to send forth His record, even His Gospel, that the ears of all may hear it; and also that we may print His Scriptures; and also that He would give those who were appointed to conduct the press, wisdom sufficient that the cause may not be hindered, but that men's eyes may thereby be opened to see the truth,

      6.—That the Lord would deliver Zion, and gather in His scattered people to possess it in peace; and also, while in their dispersion, that He would provide for them that they perish not from hunger or cold; and finally, that God, in the name of Jesus, would gather His elect speedily, and unveil His face, that His Saints might behold His glory, and dwell with Him. Amen.

      Efforts of Sectarian Priests Against Restoration of Exiles.

      As soon as the Governor of Missouri intimated, or the news began to circulate, that the "Mormons" (as the people called the members of the Church), would be restored to their possessions in Jackson county (if they desired to be), the priests of all denominations, as the men behind the scene, with the mob, began to set their springs in motion,