{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_54337/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_54337","id":"gutenberg_54337","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/54337","summary":null,"tags":["Book of Mormon","Category: Biographies","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Latter Day Saint churches","Latter Day Saints","Smith, Joseph, Jr., 1805-1844"],"text":"REMINISCENCES\n\nOF\n\nJOSEPH, THE PROPHET,\n\nAND THE COMING FORTH OF\n\nTHE BOOK OF MORMON.\n\nBY ELDER EDWARD STEVENSON,\n\nOf the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.\n\nILLUSTRATED.\n\nSALT LAKE CITY:\n\nPUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR.\n\n1893.\n\n[Image: Edward Stevenson, Born May 1st, 1820, at Gibraltar, Spain.]\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\nIn presenting this pamphlet of Reminiscences to the public, the Author\ndesires to explain the circumstances that induced him to issue it.\nWhile delivering a series of illustrated lectures in the various\ntabernacles and public halls throughout the Territory--and which\nwere repeated on more than 200 different occasions--the Author was\nearnestly solicited to publish the lectures, including engravings of\nthe paintings, in the form in which they now appear.\n\nHaving become convinced from the great interest taken in the lectures,\nthat they were productive of much good, the Author finally determined\nto submit the lectures to the public.\n\nThe Author having been personally acquainted with the Prophet Joseph\nSmith, and having been with him in many of his trying experiences,\ndesires to add his testimony to the truth of the work inaugurated by\nhim, under instructions from the Almighty, and hopes that the incidents\nherein related will induce many to investigate this great and important\nwork; for he that judgeth without investigation is unwise.\n\nRespectfully, THE AUTHOR.\n\n\n\nREMINISCENCES OF JOSEPH THE PROPHET\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nThe Mighty Messenger of the Latter-day Dispensation.--A Brief Record of\na Life fraught with Matchless Heroism, under all manner of Persecution,\nTrials, Imprisonment, Hardships and finally Martyrdom.\n\n[Image: Joseph Smith, the Prophet.]\n\nThe picture herewith presented is one of the few produced of the\nProphet Joseph Smith. It is here reproduced from one published in\nHarper's Pictorial many years ago and now makes its appearance for\nthe second time. Although it is only a wood cut, there are in it some\ntrue lines and features of the Prophet when he was about the age of\ntwenty-six. At this early period the science of photography was but\nin its infancy and pictures of prominent men were neither so correct\nnor plentiful as at the present time. It is, indeed, very proper and\ndesirable to preserve the best pictures of those who have proven\nthemselves the benefactors of our country, and more especially so of\nhim who was chosen and ordained of God to give light and truth and\neternal blessings to mankind.\n\nOf the few likenesses of our martyred Prophet placed before the public,\nthere has been one presented by his son (Joseph Smith, Jr.), which\npurports to be a copy or fac simile of a painting which was evidently\ntaken when he was quite young. It is a front view and, in some\nrespects, bears a striking resemblance to the one we present to our\nreaders, notwithstanding that ours is a side view.\n\nMany efforts have been made to obtain a good portrait, but, it is to be\nregretted, without satisfactory results. Brother Nathan T. Porter, of\nCenterville, Davis County, Utah, who first saw Joseph Smith in Jackson\nCounty, Mo., in the year 1831, is very much pleased with this picture,\nand so also is Aunt Zina D. H. Young, who sees in it many striking\nfeatures of the youthful Prophet.\n\nI first saw him in 1834 at Pontiac and the impression made upon my\nmind by him at that time causes me now much pleasure in presenting the\npicture to his many friends. The love for him, as a true Prophet of\nGod, was indelibly impressed upon my mind, and has always been with me\nfrom that time, although nearly sixty years have since passed away.\n\nIn that same year, 1834, in the midst of many large congregations, the\nProphet testified with great power concerning the visit of the Father\nand the Son, and the conversation he had with them. Never before did\nI feel such power as was manifested on these occasions, and, although\nonly a small percentage of those who saw and heard him accepted the\nrestored Gospel, there was not one who dared to dispute it. Many of\nour neighbors were heard to say: \"Well, if Mormonism is true, it will\nstand; if not true, it will fall.\" Many of them lived to see it stand\nand increase, and while they themselves passed away in death's embrace,\nthe work continued to flourish and prosper.\n\nThe fact that so few received his testimony caused me, for a time, to\ngreatly marvel. But when I looked back to the period when Jesus and\nHis chosen Twelve and Seventies labored, with all their might, for the\nsalvation of a fallen world, even with all manner of signs following\ntheir labors, and saw how few believed in our embraced their testimony\nin that day of mighty power, when even the grave was robbed of its\nvictims and the dead commanded to come forth and live, and that while\nthe dead lived the living were dead; yea, when I saw and meditated\nupon these things, I became somewhat reconciled, and the words of\nthe Lord, through Jeremiah, recurred to my mind and I was satisfied.\nThe words were these, \"And I will take you one of a city, and two of\na family, and I will bring you to Zion. And I will give you pastors\naccording to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and\nunderstanding.\"--Jer. 3. chap. 14, 15. After these lessons I learned\nthat while the Gospel was free to every one, yet every one was not free\nto receive the Gospel.\n\nWhile thus speaking of the Prophet's visit to Pontiac, Oakland County,\nMichigan (then a Territory), I cannot pass by the predictions which he\nthen made and which were afterwards literally fulfilled as witnessed by\nmyself and many others. Joseph said, \"If you will obey the Gospel with\nhonest hearts, I promise you in the name of the Lord, that the gifts as\npromised by our Saviour will follow you, and by this you may prove me\nto be a true servant of God.\"\n\nI am, with others, a witness that these gifts did follow many in the\nbranch of the Church which was raised up in Pontiac. Among them were\nDeacon Bent of the Presbyterian Church, who was the first one baptized\n(and who afterwards became President of the High Council in Nauvoo).\nHis daughter Mary was the first one who spoke in tongues in this\nbranch. Besides Mary Curtis, Joseph Wood, Elijah Fordham and others\nalso enjoyed that gift. We felt that we were blessed above kings,\nrulers and potentates of the earth and truly we were a happy branch of\nthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Our souls were full of\njoyous thanksgiving, and our songs of gladness rejoiced the heart by\nday, dispelled the gloom of night and welcomed the coming morn. Those\nonly can realize our happiness and delight who sing with the soul and\nunderstanding the beautiful song of Zion:\n\n We thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet, To guide us in these latter days;\n We thank Thee for sending the Gospel To lighten our minds with its\n rays.\n\nThe above named Mary Curtis, who afterwards became Sister Reed, will be\nremembered as the lady who spoke in tongues in the Logan Temple about\nthree years ago, on a fast day, and who, on that same day, after having\ncompleted her day's work in the Temple, went home in the evening and\ndied. Lyman O. Littlefield, of Logan, as well as myself and my Sister\nMary Stevenson Clark, of Farmington, Davis Co., Utah, witnessed the\nspeaking in tongues by Mary Curtis in Michigan, sixty years ago, and\nalso on this occasion in Logan Temple.\n\nThese, however, were not the only blessings with which we were favored\nin the Pontiac branch, for we enjoyed the presence of the venerable and\nvenerated father of the Prophet (Joseph Smith, Sen.), the Patriarch of\nthe whole Church of God on the earth. The writer was one of many who,\nunder his hands, received choice and rare blessings, when the power of\nthe Holy Ghost filled the house to such an extent that the tears flowed\ndown the cheeks of even those who lived and died outside of the pale of\nthe Church.\n\nOliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris were also heard by the\nwriter to testify that they, in open day, stood in the presence of\nthe God who ministered unto the Prophet. And indeed there was a power\naccompanying these testimonies which was irresistible, and which made\ndeep and lasting impressions.\n\nAlthough a mere humble widow's son, I felt proud and blessed of God,\nwhen he honored us by coming under our roof and partaking of our\nhospitality. Oh! how my heart swelled with delightful emotions of\nheavenly love, as I selected and presented to him some of our choice\napples in exchange for the golden nuggets of celestial truth, which he\nbestowed upon us as he partook of the humble but hearty hospitality\nof a widow's table! We were proud, indeed, to entertain one who had\nconversed with the Father and the Son, and been under the tuition of\nan angel from Heaven, and who, under the immediate direction of the\nAlmighty, had organized the true church on the earth, after the exact\npattern of that organized by God, through Jesus Christ, eighteen\nhundred years before.\n\nIn parting from under our roof the Prophet expressed a desire to have a\nloan of a large English Book of Martyrs which we possessed, promising\nto return it to us when he should meet us again in Zion, in the State\nof Missouri, which he did, and on returning it he said, \"I have, by the\naid of the Urim and Thummim, seen those martyrs, and they were honest,\ndevoted followers of Christ, according to the light they possessed, and\nthey will be saved.\"\n\nFor the benefit of those who have not been privileged to meet our\nbeloved martyred Prophet, I deem it a favor to present the picture,\nwith the incidents here narrated, for the pleasure and consideration of\nall who may peruse them.\n\nJoseph Smith was born December 23rd, 1805, in Sharon, Windsor County,\nVermont. At about the age of eight years, he passed through an ordeal\nwhich gave remarkable evidence of heroic fortitude and indomitable\npower of will, under intense bodily suffering. After recovering from a\nsevere typhus fever, a fever sore affected his leg and threatened him\nwith the loss of the limb. Under these circumstances, a consultation\nof physicians was held, and after making an incision eight inches\nin length, and examining the bone, they decided that, if his life\nwas to be saved, amputation of the member was absolutely necessary.\nThis operation, however, was so strongly opposed by both parents and\nson that the doctors finally concluded to remove the affected parts\nof the bone. Accordingly, they called for a strong cord to bind the\nlad, and were intending to give him a stimulant; but to all this our\nyoung hero most decidedly objected, saying, \"I will not touch one\nparticle of liquor, neither will I be tied down; but I will have my\nfather sit on the bed and hold me in his arms, and then I will do\nwhatever is necessary to have the bone taken out.\" By drilling into\nthe bone on each side of the part affected, three pieces of bone\nwere extracted, the removal being made with a pair of forceps. The\nmanhood and willpower of this noble youth of eight years, under so\ntrying an ordeal, foreshadowed the story of his life--a life fraught\nwith matchless heroism, under all manner of persecution, trials,\nimprisonments, hardships and finally martyrdom. The howlings of\nmurderous mobs, infuriated by infernal legions, the lying slanders of a\nvile hireling priesthood, and the base treachery of loathsome traitors,\nproved utterly powerless to cause him to swerve a single hair's\nbreadth from the cause of God and the interests of the downtrodden\nand oppressed. To the transgressor and hypocrite he was a fierce lion\nin the way, to injured innocence he was a tower of strength, and to\nthe poor and helpless he was ever a brother and a friend. He lived a\nhero of heroes, and a Prophet of Prophets, and to save his brethren\nfrom harm and bloodshed, he dauntlessly went to his death, and died\na Martyr of Martyrs. The world, in its wickedness and crime, may\ntreat his memory with derision and scorn; but when his defamers are\nforgotten, the great and mighty Prophet of God who, under the name of\nJoseph Smith, laid down his life for truth and his brethren, shall be\nfondly enshrined in the heart of the universe and his life and actions\napproved and applauded by the loving lips of eternity.\n\nIt has been truly said that \"God moves in a mysterious way\" in order\nto perform His wonders, and the Scriptures lead us to believe that He\noften leads us by a \"way that we know not of.\" Seldom, or never, were\nthese expressions more fully verified than in the removal of the future\nProphet's father from Vermont and his settling in Palmyra in New York\nstate. Little did the good man dream of the fact, as he wended his\nway from his former home, that he was being led by the Lord to the\nvery place where his son's great work was to be accomplished. Yet such\nwas certainly the fact. Every step of his journey was guided by the\ncontrolling power and wisdom of God, and, although he knew it not, he\nsettled just where God wanted him and where He wanted his son, who was\nto be like Joseph of old, the saviour of his father's house.\n\nWhen between the ages of fourteen and fifteen, after earnestly calling\nupon God, Joseph had his first vision, as set forth in another chapter.\nWhen he was between seventeen and eighteen years old, he had his second\nvision, which is likewise elsewhere described. And when he was between\ntwenty-one and twenty-two, after having been instructed by a heavenly\nmessenger for four years, in the year 1827 the golden records were\nentrusted to the custody of the youthful Prophet. He had been married\njust eight months and four days at this time. In the year 1827, by the\naid of the Urim and Thummim, or interpreters, the history of two lost\nnations was translated, the one being the nation of the Jaredites and\nthe other that of the Nephites. The remnants of the latter of these\nnations of the Nephites were the wild Indians of America, who were\nfirst discovered by Columbus in the year 1492.\n\nOn the sixth day of April, 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of\nLatter-day Saints was organized. And on the twenty-seventh day of June,\n1844, the Prophet sealed his testimony with his blood. Joseph Smith\nwas murdered in Carthage Jail when he was in the prime of his life,\nbeing only thirty-eight years, six months and six days old. It was just\nfourteen years, two months and twenty-one days after the Church was\norganized. Strange as it may appear, our Lord and Saviour was murdered\nwhen only a few years younger than Joseph, and both were put to death\nfor the same cause, namely, the establishing of the Church of Christ on\nthe earth, the one in the former and the one in the latter days.\n\nDark and solemn was that day when Illinois shed the innocent blood of\nthe two martyrs, Joseph and Hyrum Smith. They were at the time under\nthe protection of Governor Thomas Ford, who pledged his sacred honor\nfor their safety. But the pledge, which was never meant to be kept, was\nmost shamefully broken, and these two heroic spirits were given up to\na professed Christian mob of merciless demons, and they were cruelly\nmurdered in cold blood. These great and good men, servants of the Most\nHigh God, of \"whom the world was not worthy,\" were of one heart and one\nmind throughout all their life, and in death they were not separated.\nThey fled together from the murderous mob to their destined home on\nhigh. There, while they bask in the sunshine of eternal peace and love,\nthey testify by their blood to the horrid cruelties that reign in the\nheart of a wicked and apostate world.\n\nThere were but four years, ten months and fourteen days between the\nages of these noble martyred brothers, Hyrum being the elder.\n\nJoseph, on this occasion, voluntarily gave himself up to the strong arm\nof the law, for he had ever been willing to be tried by the tribunals\nof his country. At this time, our beloved Prophet was impressed with a\nsad foreboding somewhat similar to that experienced in Gethsemane by\nthe Saviour just previous to the crucifixion, when he called upon the\nFather and said: \"Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me:\nnevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.\" The Prophet Joseph said,\nwhile on his way to Carthage, \"I am going like a lamb to the slaughter;\nbut I am calm as a summer's morning; I have a conscience void of\noffence towards God and towards all men. I shall die innocent, and it\nshall yet be said of me, 'he was murdered in cold blood.'\" Elder Bates\nNobles, now living, authorizes me to say that he heard the Prophet\nutter those very words. Well, this prophecy of our murdered Prophet\nhas been often fulfilled in the testimonies of the Saints, both among\nthemselves and before the world, as well as by the utterances of the\nhonorable and upright men of all lands, but to its bitter cost, it has\nnot yet been said by our nation. However, we will watch and wait. \"God\nis just is all we say.\"\n\n \"Our Patriarch and Prophet, too, Were massacred. They bled, To seal\n their testimony, They were numbered with the dead.\"\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nThe Hill Cumorah, where the Plates of the Book of Mormon were Concealed\nby Moroni and afterwards Delivered by him to Joseph Smith.--Some\nValuable History Pertaining to this Thrice-named Hill.\n\nA beautiful picture of the Hill Cumorah is presented on the opposite\npage. The hill is situated in the northwestern part of New York, about\nthirty miles south of Rochester. It is also near the New York Central\nRailroad, and only three and a half miles from Palmyra station to the\nsouth, and on the Canandaigua turnpike.\n\nThis noted hill has been three times named and by three distinct and\ngreat nations. For particulars concerning its historical importance\nwe begin our study in the year 1823. At that time there was found in\nthe side of this historic hill, by an obscure boy, a number of gold\nplates. These plates were very ingeniously concealed in a stone box\nand, bearing a record and being now translated, supply us with all the\nearlier information contained on them.\n\nThere is a vast amount of valuable history pertaining to this hill,\nwhich is far more picturesque than the hills which surround it. There\nis an extensive valley on the east, as well as one on the west side\nof the hill, where the turnpike runs south, passing through the town\nof Manchester in the rear of the hill about two miles. Manchester, as\nwell as the Hill Cumorah, is situated in the township of Manchester.\nThe most prominent view of the hill is its north front. It extends\nsouth nearly a mile, where it terminates into a more level plateau,\nwhich is occupied as an agricultural district. From the highest point\nof the hill, which is the northern end, where the writer has stood a\nnumber of times, is one of the most lovely sights imaginable. To the\neast is the New York Central Railroad, about four miles north is a most\nlovely town named Palmyra, and two miles northwest is where the father\nof Joseph Smith located a farm when the latter was only twelve years\nof age. Finally, the whole country surrounding the hill from the most\nelevated spot, as far as the natural vision can grasp, is indeed a most\ncharming scene of farms, orchards, houses, barns and rolling hills,\nwith occasional forests, and in the proper season, fields of golden\ngrain, barns well-filled, orchard trees laden with apples, peaches\nand pears, with here and there patches of strawberries, raspberries,\nblackberries, cherries, currants and garden vegetables in variety. All\nof these beautiful scenes have engraven upon my mind a picture which\ndefies the artist's brush to place on canvas.\n\n[Image: The Hill Cumorah.]\n\nThe first name given to this hill (and by a lost nation who left the\nTower of Babel 2000 B.C.) was Ramah, as found in their history, page\n606, new edition. This history is called the Book of Mormon, and this\nportion is written by a historian named Ether.\n\nIt was named the second time by an entirely different people, and\ncalled Cumorah, as found on page 559, new edition, of the same book, by\nthe historian whose name was Mormon.\n\nThe third name is Bible Hill, or Mormon Hill, and was given in the year\n1829.\n\nHaving studied the history of these lost nations, I felt very much\ninclined to gratify the desires awakened in my bosom to visit the\nplace. Impelled by these aspiration, I undertook the journey and soon\nfound myself at a pleasant and commodious hotel in Palmyra.\n\nEarly on a summer's morning in the year 1870, after a gentle shower\nduring the night, with just sufficient rainfall to lay the dust, I\nset out to walk to the hill. Never can I forget the lovely scenery of\nthat lonely but interesting walk down the most excellent Canandaigua\nturnpike. Among the objects passed on the way was the former home of\nJoseph Smith, and the very old and comely schoolhouse where he learned\nsome of his early lessons.\n\nArriving near the object of my morning's walk, I set bout inquiring for\nthe Hill Cumorah. But not one could I find in all the country round who\ncould give me the desired information; until one, and the right one\ntoo, who was made to comprehend my mind and wish, said, \"Is it Mormon\nHill that you want, or what is more familiarly known among us in this\ncountry as 'Bible Hill,' where old Joe Smith found the Mormon Bible? Is\nit this place you wish to find?\"\n\nHaving answered affirmatively the question, I was not only enabled,\nby my friend's direction, to learn the third and last name given to\nthis hill, but to find myself standing upon the summit of one of the\nmost interesting objects of my 100,000 miles' travel. It appeared more\nlike a dream than a stern reality. Could it be possible that here was\nthe identical spot of ground where stood a being who had lived in\nthe fourth century, some fourteen hundred and fifty years prior to\nmy occupying this position? Indeed, it was verily true. But, oh! the\nwonderful contrast between the two views, and the changes of scenery\nin that time! Now a beautiful landscape: such a one as delights the\nvision, until the mind becomes swallowed up and absorbed in deep\nreflection. There are beauties of hills and dales, orchards and farms,\nlawns and gardens on every side, more especially to the north, east and\nwest. Just for a moment cast your eye on the engraving, which is the\none of my choice, exhibiting, as it does, a north front, and to my mind\nthe most lovely view of all. There are differing pictures of this hill,\nsome real and some imaginary. The one presented is from a painting made\nfrom a photograph which Apostle F. D. Richards had taken while on a\nvisit to this historic hill and country.\n\nSome cows and other additions have been made to the picture, such as\nthe carriage conveying the visitors along the roadway by the fence,\nto the house, where the owner of the hill and surroundings lives. But\nthe main features of the hill are true representations of it, so much\nso that J. W. Fox, Jr., also Bishop G. H. Taylor, both of whom visited\nthe place some years before, say it is the best picture of it that they\nhave ever seen presented.\n\nBrother Edward Hold, of South Jordan Ward had a vision of the hill\n(similar to the one the prophet Joseph Smith had), and described it\nvery minutely before seeing the picture of it. He said, just above\nwhere he saw a portion of the top of the stone box there was a tree,\nand upon this point I interrogated him closely, stating that only two\nyears previous Bishop Black, Brother Andrew Jenson and I had visited\nthe spot of ground, and there was no tree there; but he insisted that\nthere was a tree just above the stone box, a clumpy tree, for he saw\none there. It became necessary for an explanation before he should see\nthe picture.\n\nAt the period of discovery of the gold plates, there stood upon the\nside of the hill, about fifteen feet above where the stone box had so\nlong reposed, a lone, solitary, sugar maple tree, and there continued\nto grow until twenty-two years ago, just as described by Brother Holt,\nwho was so highly favored of God as to see the whole scene in a vision\nor dream.\n\nWhat made Brother Holt's vision all the more deeply interesting to me\nwas that in 1871 I had enjoyed the great privilege and pleasure of\nvisiting the hill in person, and of seeing the very identical spot of\nground where Mormon concealed the stone box and its precious records\nand where Moroni, his son, finished the writing and sealed up these\nrecords. But there was no tree standing there as was described in the\nvision, for it had been cut down shortly before and was lying on the\nground, not having as yet been removed. It was a clumpy sort of a\ntree, about two feet in diameter. For a long time it had stood there\nlike a solitary sentinel guarding the sacred spot which contained\nthe book that was to shape the destinies of thousands upon thousands\nof the human race, and people the heavens with the true sons and\ndaughters of God. I have always regretted the removal of that tree,\nfor it was a conspicuous mark on the northwest point of the now almost\ntreeless hill. After satisfying Brother Hold as to the absence of the\ntree, which he had seen in his vision, he very readily recognized the\npainting as being a correct and accurate representation of the deeply\ninteresting Hill Cumorah as he had seen it in his vision forty years\nbefore.\n\nBrother Holt, with respect to his vision, stated that he \"had retired\nto bed, after reading the Book of Mormon, and that he had entertained\nsome doubts regarding the vision Joseph Smith had of the hill, and of\nhis finding the stone box containing the plates. But the vision which\nhe had himself received concerning the matter served to remove every\nshadow of a doubt from his mind, for all future time. In the last\nchapter, written by Moroni just before closing or sealing up the box,\nhe engraved upon the plates the following words: \"And I seal up these\nrecords, after I have spoken a few words, by way of exhortation, unto\nyou; behold, I would exhort you, that when ye shall read these things,\nif it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember\nhow merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the\ncreation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these\nthings. I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the eternal Father,\nin the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall\nask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ,\nhe will manifest the truth of it unto you.\" Brother Holt, as well\nas hundreds of others, can testify that these words are true and in\nconsonance with the words of Jesus Christ himself, \"Ask and it shall be\ngiven unto you, seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened\nunto you,\" and also in accordance with the words of James, who says,\n\"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men\nliberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him,\" but \"let him\nask in faith, nothing wavering.\"\n\nThe boy Joseph did not ask in vain, neither will any other person ask\nin vain who asks in faith for the word of the Lord faileth not but\nendureth forever. My guide who accompanied me on my visit in 1871,\npointed out to me many places of interest, and also entertained me\nhospitably at his table, where a number of harvesters had assembled.\nThe covered carriage represented in the picture is conveying our party\non my second visit to the house in which we all dined together, which\nis situated to the left of the painting. The dinner party to me was\nhighly interesting, and all the more so as we sat conversing about\nthe things of God right in the shadow of the Hill Cumorah. All spoke\nfreely, and asked many questions, which I felt it a great pleasure\nto answer. They were anxious to hear something of the spread of the\nwork since the gold plates were discovered in that remarkable hill,\nand I very gladly gratified them with a short account of the rise and\nprogress of this \"marvelous work and a wonder,\" from the day the angel\nvisited Cumorah and gave the plates to Joseph, the boy-prophet, down to\nthe present time, when the work has gathered into its cause some two\nhundred and fifty thousand Saints, and founded the Territory of Utah\nin the west. The conclusion come to by this party of harvesters was\nthat the subject of our conversation was indeed a \"marvellous work and\nwonder.\" Still, like many other time-servers and worldly-wise people,\nthey felt their spirits weakening within them, and they exclaimed, \"But\nMormonism is so very unpopular!\"\n\n\"Yes,\" I replied, \"it has been so since the Jews and Gentiles murdered\nthe Chief Shepherd.\"\n\nOur pleasant entertainment and agreeable conversation here terminated,\nafter bearing my testimony to the divinity of the restored gospel,\nand to the fact that more than fourteen hundred years ago the gold\nplates, that contained the same, were sealed up and deposited in this\nvery hill, destined to come forth and revolutionize the world, in\nthese latter days. Cordially bidding good-day to my hospitable host, I\nproceeded on my way, and found an old gentleman who lived west of the\nhill and who was quite agreeable and conversational on the subject of\nmy visit to Cumorah. He was well-acquainted with some of the history of\nthe coming forth of the book which was to \"speak out of the ground,\"\nalthough spiritually, he did not seem to have greatly benefited by this\n\"marvelous work and a wonder.\" Still, from him I gleaned some useful\ninformation. He pointed out the spot of ground where the stone box was\nplaced, near the summit, and on the west side of the point of the hill.\nHe likewise stated that soon after the rumor so widely spread regarding\n\"Joe\" Smith finding a gold bible, that there was great excitement\nthroughout the whole country, and that it was about this time the\nRochester Company located and searched for hidden treasure.\n\nQuestioning him closely he stated that he had seen some good-sized flat\nstones that had rolled down and lay near the bottom of the hill. This\nhad occurred after the contents of the box had been removed and these\nstones were doubtless the ones that formerly composed the box. I felt a\nstrong desire to see these ancient relics and told him I would be much\npleased to have him inform me where they were to be found. He stated\nthat they had long since been taken away. He further said that he knew\n\"Joe\" Smith as a \"money digger\" and a \"visionary man\" and Martin Harris\nas an honest reliable farmer. Joseph in his history says that he worked\nin a mine for Mr. Stowel, hunting for hidden treasures, at fourteen\ndollars per month, hence his name as a money-digger. I then inquired\nif he ever knew Joseph Smith to be convicted of crime. He replied\nthat he had not known him as having been convicted. The surrounding\nscenery, which embraced a young grove of beech, sugar maple, hickory,\noak, bass-wood, etc., covering about five acres of ground, was very\nbeautiful. The grove is about 200 yards southwest of where the plates\nwere found. There was a fine, well-cultivated field of grain on the\nhillside. My loquacious guide showed me another and much deeper cavity\nmade on the east side of the hill by the above-named Rochester treasure\nseekers, a company of prospectors. They said that science aided by\nmineral rods did not lie and that most assuredly there were rich\ntreasures concealed in the hill, and they were determined to have them.\nBut with all their science and laborious excavations they failed to get\na glimpse of the coveted treasures and returned to their homes if not\nricher, at least it is to be hoped wiser men, for the only results of\ntheir efforts were the holes they left on the hillside. Notwithstanding\nthis, there are strong and feasible reasons for believing that there is\nabundance of treasure hid up in Cumorah, but it is guarded by the hand\nof the Lord and none shall ever possess it until made known in the due\ntime of the Lord. The great and mighty nation of the Jaredites, having\ndeparted from God and shed the blood of the prophets, became divided\ninto bloodthirsty factions, who waged relentless and merciless wars\nagainst each other for many years; finally, after millions were slain,\nthey arrayed themselves into two mighty opposing armies and mutually\nagreed to give each other four years in which to gather their entire\nforces of men, women and children around Ramah, and there make one last\nappalling death struggle for victory, but so well were these colossal\narmies matched in numbers, valor, fury and hatred that they continued\nto fight day after day till both sides were completely destroyed from\nthe face of the land. One man of all these great and mighty armies\nalone remained alive. Ere they begin the dreadful carnage, they made\nexcavations and hid up in Ramah their immense treasures.\n\nThe Lord again peopled the land and they too became haughty and lifted\nup in the pride of their hearts, renounced God and slew his prophets,\nand division, war and bloodshed again filled the land with horror.\nOnce more were immense hosts arrayed into two great armies, the one\ncalled the Nephites, the other the Lamanites, and strange to say they\nalso marshalled their forces, and undertook to make one last death\nstruggle for victory or death. The battle ceased when the Nephites\nwere destroyed, and again millions lay dead upon the fatal ground. The\nJaredites' Ramah was the Nephites' Cumorah, and their ashes commingle\nand repose in death. Ere this last horrid conflict commenced, they,\ntoo, hid their untold treasures in this HIll Cumorah, and it was said\nby President Young at Farmington, Davis Co., Utah, June 17, 1877, just\ntwo months and twelve days before his death:\n\n\"There were a great many treasures hid up by the Nephites. * * * I\nlived right in the country where the plates were found from which\nthe Book of Mormon was translated, and I know a great many things\npertaining to that country. I believe I will take the liberty to tell\nyou of another circumstance that will be as marvelous as anything can\nbe. This is an incident in the life of Oliver Cowdery, but he did not\ntake the liberty of telling such things in meeting as I take. I tell\nthese things to you, and I have a motive for doing so. I want to carry\nthem to the ears of my brethren and sisters, and the children also,\nthat they may grow to an understanding of some things that seem to\nbe entirely hidden from the human family. Oliver Cowdery went with\nthe Prophet Joseph when he deposited these plates. Joseph did not\ntranslate all of the plates: there was a portion of these sealed which\nyou can learn from the Book of Doctrine and Covenants. When Joseph got\nthe plates, the angel instructed him to carry them back to the Hill\nCumorah, which he did. Oliver says that when Joseph and Oliver went\nthere, the hill opened, and they walked into a cave, in which there was\na large and spacious room. * * * They laid the plates on a table; it\nwas a large table that stood in the room. Under this table there was a\npile of plates as much as two feet high, and there were altogether in\nthis room more plates than probably many wagon loads; they were piled\nup in the corners and along the walls. * * * I tell you this as coming\nnot only from Oliver Cowdery, but others who were familiar with it. *\n* * I relate this to you, and I want you to understand it. I take this\nliberty of referring to these things so that they will not be forgotten\nand lost.\n\n\"Carlos Smith was a young man of as much veracity as any young man\nwe had, and he was a witness to these things. Samuel Smith saw some\nthings, Hyrum saw a good many things, but Joseph was the leader. Now,\nyou may think I am unwise in publicly telling these things, thinking\nperhaps I should preserve them in my own breast; but such is not my\nmind. I would like the people called Latter-day Saints to understand\nsome little things with regard to the workings and dealings of the Lord\nwith his people here upon the earth.\"_--Journal of Discourses, Vol. 19,\np. 36._\n\nIt was likewise stated to me by David Whitmer in the year 1877 that\nOliver Cowdery told him that the Prophet Joseph and himself had seen\nthis room and that it was filled with treasure, and on a table therein\nwere the breastplate and the sword of Laban, as well as the portion of\ngold plates not yet translated, and that these plates were bound by\nthree small gold rings, and would also be translated, as was the first\nportion in the days of Joseph. When they are translated much useful\ninformation will be brought to light. But till that day arrives, no\nRochester adventurers shall ever see them or the treasures, although\nscience and mineral rods testify that they are there. At the proper\ntime when greed, selfishness and corruption shall cease to reign in the\nhearts of the people, these vast hoards of hidden treasure shall be\nbrought forth to be used for the cause and kingdom of Jesus Christ.\n\nChanging the scene once more another prophet, whose name was\nMormon, stood on the summit of this hill. At that time a great and\nfierce battle was fought. After the conclusion of the battle, which\noccurred about 1472 years ago, Mormon's grief was expressed on this\nheart-rending and doleful scene as found on page 560 of their history\nin the Book of Mormon. We will here again refer to the great battle of\nthe Lamanites and Nephites:\n\n \"And when they had gone through and hewn down all my people save it\n were twenty and four of us, (among whom was my son Moroni) and we\n having survived the dead of our people, did behold on the morrow, * * *\n from the top of the hill Cumorah, the ten thousand of my people who\n were hewn down, being led in the front by me. And we also beheld the\n ten thousand of my people who were led by my son Moroni.\" (Mormon\n 6:11-12)\n\nAnd other generals are named who led each their ten thousand until we\nreach the enormous number of two hundred and thirty thousand men, with\ntheir wives and children, who were strewn around this most marvelous\nhill:\n\n \"And their flesh, and bones, and blood lay upon the face of the earth,\n * * * to moulder upon the land, and to crumble and to return to their\n mother earth. And my soul was rent with anguish, because of the slain\n of my people, and I cried: O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed\n from the ways of the Lord! O ye fair ones, how could ye have rejected\n that _Jesus,_ who stood with open arms to receive you! Behold, if\n ye had not done this, ye would not have fallen. But behold, ye are\n fallen, and I mourn your loss. O ye fair sons and daughters, ye\n fathers and mothers, ye husbands and wives, ye fair ones, how is it\n that ye could have fallen! But behold, ye are gone, and my sorrows\n cannot bring your return. And the day soon cometh that your mortal\n must put on immortality, and these bodies which are now mouldering in\n corruption must soon become incorruptible bodies; and then ye must\n stand before the judgment seat of Christ, to be judged according to\n your works; and if it so be that ye are righteous, then are ye blessed\n with your fathers who have gone before you. O that ye had repented\n before this great destruction had come upon you. But behold, ye are\n gone, and the Father of heaven knoweth your state, and He doeth with\n you according to His justice and mercy.\"\n\n Before leaving the prophet Mormon standing on the hill in his\n lamentation, let us still extend the vision over the great\n battlefield, calling to mind that the 230,000 men were all soldiers,\n then were their wives, mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, which\n we will multiply by five, making 1,150,000 souls; then extend the\n vision over and around the enemy's camp, and at least double the\n number of slain, increasing the sad scene to the enormous total of\n 2,300,000 souls. Only for a moment imagine that we see the camp just\n before that great battle: twenty-three camps each of 10,000, with a\n general at their head, would be required for the 230,000 soldiers.\n\n While I was standing upon this same spot of ground about three years\n ago, my mind contrasted the various changes of the present with the\n past and I fancied that I could review, as did Mormon, the sad and\n gloomy picture of his time, 1472 years ago.\n\n The fathers of those who fell around this historic hill came from\n Jerusalem 600 years B.C. They were warned of God to flee from the\n land, because of the terrible calamities that were about to befall the\n inhabitants of that once Holy City, for killing the prophets of God\n and for their wickedness.\n\n The decrees of God were fulfilled in the destruction of the\n inhabitants of Jerusalem, after they crucified the Saviour and his\n disciples, and became fully ripe in iniquity. But 600 years before\n these disasters, the colony, who were directed by revelation, crossed\n the sea, landing in South America, building up cities, migrating\n northward, and leaving in their tracks northward many cities, temples,\n massive walls, and fortifications, some of which have been discovered\n by Catherwood and Stevens, as well as by many other historians; and\n new discoveries are still being brought to light. Among the many\n remarkable ruined aboriginal cities of the continent of America,\n Palenque is one of the most noted. It is situated on the Rio Chacamas,\n a branch of the great river Usumasinta, on the borders of Yucatan. It\n is in latitude 17 degrees 30 minutes north, longitude 92 degrees 25\n minutes west. In this old city of ruins is a temple--no doubt one of\n the Nephite temples. The picture shows it as restored from the relics\n that are left. It is built of stone and is at the base 310 feet long,\n 180 feet deep, and 25 feet high. Ranges of stone steps 30 feet broad\n lead up to it, flanked with gigantic statues nine feet high, carved\n in stone. There are numerous hieroglyphics engraven but considerably\n defaced.\n\n [Image: Palenque Restored.]\n\n The Book of Mormon speaks of many temples and cities which were built\n by the people of this time, and no doubt this is one of them in\n ruins. But who is there that is able to tell the story of those mound\n builders, excepting their own revealed history?\n\n It must be remembered that this last nation, called Nephites, became\n a very numerous people, and their history, which they were commanded\n of the Lord to keep on thin plates of gold, informs us that while\n they lived lives of purity, serving God prayerfully, they prospered\n exceedingly.\n\n The precious metals abounded on this new and promised land, so\n beautifully described by the ancient prophet Moses. This man of God,\n just before his death, blessed the children of Israel, and of Joseph,\n he said:\n\n \"Blessed of the Lord be this land, for the precious things of heaven,\n for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the\n precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things\n put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the ancient\n mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for\n the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good\n will of him that dwelt in the bush let the blessing come upon the head\n of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated\n from his brethren. His glory is like the firstling of his bullock,\n and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push\n the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten\n thousands of Ephraim, and the thousands of Manasseh.\"\n\nNow, if we can successfully establish this continent of America as\nbeing the land spoken of by Moses--which is verily true--then we shall\nfind not only those lost nations but the present generation dwelling on\nthis land abounding in the good things found even in the lasting hills,\nand a choice land above all others.\n\nAs evidence I will introduce the words of our famed patriarch, Father\nJacob:\n\n \"Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose\n branches [children] run over the wall [the ocean]. The archers have\n sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him, but his bow abode\n in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands\n of the mighty God of Jacob; from thence is the Shepherd, the stone of\n Israel. Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by\n the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above,\n blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts,\n and of the womb: The blessings of thy father have prevailed above\n the blessings of my progenitors [Abraham and Isaac, whose land was\n Jerusalem] unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills [Rocky\n Mountains;] they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of\n the head of him that was separate from his brethren [which was Joseph,\n sold by his brethren into Egypt].\"\n\nFather Lehi and his son Nephi and others, just before crossing the sea,\nor wall of waters, to this choice land of Jacob, searched the records\nwhich were brought from Jerusalem and these are the words which they\nfound recorded:\n\n \"And my father Lehi also found upon the plates of brass, a genealogy\n of his fathers; wherefore he knew that he was a descendant of Joseph,\n yea, even that Joseph who was the son of Jacob, who was sold into\n Egypt, and who was preserved by the hand of the Lord, that he might\n preserve his father, Jacob, and all his household from perishing with\n famine. And they were also led out of captivity and out of the land of\n Egypt, by that same God who had preserved them. And thus my Father,\n Lehi, did discover the genealogy of his fathers.\"\n\nWhile Father Lehi and those who were with him encamped on the borders\nof the Red Sea, by a command of the Lord the sons of Lehi returned to\nJerusalem and succeeded in bringing Ishmael (a righteous Israelite of\nthe \"tribe of Ephraim\") with his five marriageable daughters, to join\nthe colony. They finally emigrated to America, literally fulfilling\nthe words of Jacob with regard to Joseph's promised inheritance of the\nchoice land that was to reach to the everlasting hills. By this new\nacquisition, the sons of Lehi were provided with wives, and that, too,\nof Ephraimitish blood, making the remnants of their line, who were\ndiscovered in the year 1492 by Christopher Columbus, of the lineage\nof Ephraim and Manassah, whose descendants are the American Indians.\nThus are we provided with a history which every one should read and\nbecome acquainted with the origin of the natives of America, and find\nan explanation of the ruins found in North, South and Central America.\nTheir history, translated from the gold plates, is now called the Book\nof Mormon. This book also gives a brief account of a previous nation,\nwhich left the Tower of Babel 2,000 years B. C., landing near the Gulf\nof California. They were 344 days in crossing the ocean. In process of\ntime, they emigrated northward and finally became a great nation and\npeople.\n\nHere follows a few words as recorded in their history on page 571,\nchapter first, thirty-third verse:\n\n \"Jared came forth with his brother and their families, with some\n others and their families, from the great Tower, at the time the Lord\n confounded the language of the people and swore in his wrath that they\n should be scattered upon all the face of the earth.\"\n\nIn addition to these words we will add the seventh and eighth verses of\nthe eleventh chapter of Genesis:\n\n \"Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they\n may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them\n abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth.\"\n\nI think America is a pretty large portion of the earth, and comes in\nfor its share of people. According to the word of the Lord the people\n_were_ scattered. Those who wish to follow this colony closely can read\ntheir history as found in the Book of Mormon until they had built up\ncities, etc., which have been and are being constantly discovered. In\nprocess of time they numbered about 15,000,000 people and became rich,\nwicked and ripe for destruction.\n\nAt one time a fierce battle was fought near where Buffalo, N. Y., now\nstands, wherein two million were lying strewn upon the earth, slain in\nbattle and no one to bury them, till the stench drove them southward\nto the Hill Ramah, which was called Cumorah by the Nephite race. A\ncontract was entered into between Kings Coriantumr and Shiz, giving\nCoriantumr four years to gather together all who were on the side of\nCoriantumr, and all for King Shiz were gathered together unto his camp.\nEther has recorded in the Book of Mormon that:\n\n \"The army of Coriantumr did pitch their tents by the hill Ramah. And\n it was that same hill where my Father Mormon did hide up the records\n unto the Lord, which were sacred. * * * When they were all gathered\n together, every one to the army which he would, with their wives and\n their children, both men, women and children being armed with weapons\n of war, having shields, and breast-plates, and head-plates, and being\n clothed after the manner of war, they did march forth one against the\n other to battle; and they fought all that day, and conquered not, and\n when it was night they were weary, and retired to their camps; and\n after they had retired to their camps, they took up a howling and a\n lamentation for the loss of their people who were slain; their howling\n and lamentation did rend the air exceedingly.\"\n\nA continuation of this lamentable slaughter, with weeping and howling,\nwas kept up for six successive days, till only thirty-two of the people\nof Shiz and twenty-seven of Coriantumr's were left, and on the seventh\nday Coriantumr with his twenty-seven retreated, which gave the opposing\nKing Shiz fresh courage. He said, \"I will slay Coriantumr or perish by\nthe sword,\" and indeed his words were fulfilled after a severe battle,\nin which all were slain, excepting King Shiz, who had fallen faint and\nweak, and Coriantumr, who leaned upon his sword to rest, after which he\nsmote off the head of Shiz and fell to the ground as if he was dead.\nHere the history leaves this, the only survivor of those two mighty\narmies, around this historic Hill Cumorah, thus bringing to pass the\nwords of the prophet Ether, who prophecied to King Coriantumr that\nunless he and his people should repent, every one of them should be\nslain except himself and he should live to see a strange people possess\nthe land and be buried by them. Now, in order to verify the prophet's\nwords, I will refer you to the book of Omni, Book of Mormon, which says:\n\n \"And Coriantumr was discovered by the people of Zarahemla; and he\n dwelt with them for the space of nine moons\" (months).\n\nCoriantumr, weak, wounded and alone, had to wend his way about 3,000\nmiles to Zarahemla, where he remained until his death and was buried by\nthis strange people.\n\nThus ended two great nations around this historic hill, in fulfillment\nof God's word, as found in the Book of Mormon, page 474:\n\n \"Behold, this is a choice land, and whatsoever nation shall possess it\n [and this will apply to all people in every age] shall be free from\n bondage, and from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven,\n if they will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ. I\n will forgive thee and thy brethren of their sins, but thou shalt not\n sin any more, for ye shall remember that my spirit shall not always\n strive with man; wherefore if ye will sin until ye are fully ripe, ye\n shall be cut off from the presence of the Lord.\"\n\nThis has been fulfilled to the very letter with both nations.\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nThe Angel that had been foretold would \"Fly through the midst of\nHeaven, having the everlasting Gospel to Preach unto them that Dwell on\nthe Earth\" appears to Joseph Smith.--The Golden Plates are Given into\nhis Charge.\n\nThe memorable twenty-second day of September, 1827, was the day\nappointed by the angel Moroni to meet Joseph Smith on the Hill Cumorah.\nThere he was to receive the gold plates, the breast-plate and the Urim\nand Thummim. The accompanying shows Joseph grown to maturity, being no\nlonger a lad of tender years as when he received his first vision. He\nnow stands in his noble, dignified manhood, in the twenty-second year\nof his age. Before being entrusted with those valuable plates it was\nnecessary that he should become experienced with regard to such sacred\nmatters. For more than four years previous to this event he had at\nintervals met the angel and been instructed by him. This was during the\nimportant period between boyhood and manhood, when the mind is easily\nimpressed. During all that time, he had not been permitted to take the\nplates away.\n\nThe appointed time now having come, we see him receiving the treasure,\nas pictured in the engraving. He is holding the book in his hands,\nwhile the breast-plate rests on the edge of the stone box, with the\nsword of Laban near by. The angel, holding the Urim and Thummim, is in\nthe act of delivering it unto Joseph, and while doing so charges him as\nfollows:\n\n \"Now you have got the record into your own hands, and you are but a\n young man: therefore, you will have to be watchful and faithful to\n your trust, or you will be overpowered by wicked men; for they will\n lay every plan and scheme possible to get it away from you; and if you\n do not take heed continually, they will succeed. While it was in my\n hands, I could keep it and no man had power to take it away; but now I\n give it up to you. Beware, and look well to your ways, and you shall\n have power to retain it, until the time for it to be translated.\"\n\nIn 1834 I first listened to this Prophet of God, who related this\nvision he had been favored with. The honesty and power of his\nexpression carried conviction with it.\n\nI will now introduce a few Bible quotations in order to prove that just\nsuch an event as the one represented by the accompanying illustration\nwas to take place in the latter days. Zechariah in his 2nd chapter says:\n\n \"And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another\n angel went out to meet him.\n\n \"And said unto him, run, speak to this  young man, saying, Jerusalem\n shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men\n and cattle therein.\"\n\nIn order to discover further the mind of God's inspired prophet, we\nwill turn to his 8th chapter, which reads as follows:\n\n \"Again the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying,\n\n \"Thus saith the Lord of hosts; I was jealous for Zion with great\n jealousy. * * *\n\n \"Thus saith the Lord; I am returned unto Zion, and will dwell in the\n midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth.\n\n \"Thus saith the Lord of hosts, there shall yet old men and old women\n dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his\n hand for very age.\n\n \"And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing\n in the streets thereof.\n\n \"* * * Behold I will save my people from the east country, and from\n the west country;\n\n \"And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of\n Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.\"\n\nSoon after the message of the angel to the young man Joseph, he, in\nobedience to God's command, organized the church. In due time there\nwere Twelve Apostles, and he appointed two of those Apostles on a\nmission to Jerusalem. Upon Mount Olivet, one of the apostles,--Orson\nHyde,--offered a dedicatory prayer unto God, the Eternal Father.\n\nIn that prayer he supplicated God to remember his promises made to\nFather Abraham concerning this dry and barren land, and Abraham's seed\nwhich should inhabit this thirsty country, and who had wandered as\nstrangers in a strange land. The land had become barren because of the\nsins of those who, in their ignorance, crucified God's Only Begotten\nSon, Jesus Christ. He further pleaded:\n\n \"And as Jesus, thy Son, in his sorrowful and trying hours, cried,\n 'Lord, forgive them, they know not what they do!' so do thou, O God,\n have mercy on them and let the promises of the prophets come up in\n remembrance before thee. Be pleased, O Father, to send the rains on\n these parched lands; and may the dews fall upon the hills and valleys,\n that the land may again teem with plenty, and cities be built up unto\n the Lord our God.\"\n\nThis is the substance of the supplication of the Apostle who dedicated\nthe land of Palestine. Since then the way is being prepared with a\nrailroad from the Mediterranean Sea to Jerusalem; and lo! the time has\ncome for God's mercy, as foretold by Isaiah, 40th chapter:\n\n \"Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye\n comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is\n accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of\n the Lord's hand double for all her sins.\"\n\nJoel, another of God's ancient prophets, prophecying of future events,\nin 2nd chapter, says:\n\n \"Fear not, O land; be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in\n the Lord your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately,\n and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and\n the latter rain in the first month. And the floors shall be full of\n wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. * * * And ye\n shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord\n your God, that hath dealt wondrously with you, and my people shall\n never be ashamed.\"\n\nRealizing that the words of the prophets Isaiah and Joel will have a\nliteral fulfillment, we can readily conceive of the way being thus\nprepared for the support of the hosts that are soon to fill the streets\nof Jerusalem; for without the early and the latter rains, this land,\nfor so many generations barren, could not be redeemed. Indeed, the\nwords of those who crucified the Savior, or who consented to his death,\nare brought forcibly to the minds of Christians:\n\n \"His blood be upon us and our children.\"_--Matt.27:25_\n\nBecause of their wicked desires, desolation has rested upon this land\nwhich once flowed with milk and honey. But, thank God! a pardoning time\nis being ushered in. The angel spoken of by Zechariah has come with the\nglad tidings.\n\n[Image: The Angel Moroni Delivering the Golden Plates to Joseph Smith.]\n\nJohn, the Revelator, also, was permitted to behold an angel who had a\nmessage to deliver. Who can truthfully say the angel he saw is not the\nvery one Zechariah said should speak to the young man?\n\n \"And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having\n the everlasting gospel [the Book of Mormon says it contains the\n everlasting gospel] to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and\n to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people; saying with\n a loud voice, fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his\n judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the\n sea, and the fountains of waters.\"_--Revelation, 14,6-7._\n\nIn Zechariah, 2nd chapter, 8th verse, it says:\n\n \"Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for lo, I come, and I will\n dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord. And many nations shall be\n joined to the Lord in that day.\"\n\nWhat day? The day in which the angel was to speak to the _young_ (not\nold) man. In Zion there are now over twenty nationalities who are\njoined to the Lord.\n\nZechariah in the same chapter says:\n\n \"And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the Holy Land and\n shall choose Jerusalem again. Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord;\n for he is raised up out of his holy habitation.\"\n\nThese things are soon to take place, when the Jews will be gathered.\n\n \"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion: shout, O daughter of Jerusalem;\n behold thy king cometh unto thee.\"_--Zec. 9, 9._\n\nHe will come this second time, when:\n\n \"They shall look upon me whom they have pierced.\"_--Zec. 12,10._\n\nAgain, this prophet says in chapter 15, 6:\n\n \"And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands?\n Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of\n my friends.\"\n\n \"In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David\n and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.\"_--Zec. 12, 1._\n\nThe same book, 14th chapter, says:\n\n \"His feet shall stand in that day upon the _Mount of Olives_.\"\n\nIt appears sufficiently plain that God has set his hand again the\nsecond time to gather not only the _Jews,_ but the _House_ of Israel.\n\nIn Isaiah, 11th chapter, it is clearly stated that there is to be an\nensign to the _people_; to it shall the _gentiles_ seek. And the next\nverse says that in that day the Lord will set his hand _again_ the\n_second_ time to gather his people.\n\n \"And he shall set up an ensign for the _nations,_ and shall assemble\n the outcasts of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the\n four corners of the earth.\"_--Isaiah, 11,12._\n\nWe learn more perfectly in the tenth verse that the Gentiles as well as\nthe Jews are remembered.\n\nIsaiah, 2nd chapter, says:\n\n \"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the\n Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains.\"\n\nFollowing on we find that two places are distinctly spoken of: _Zion,_\nfrom whence the law of God is to go forth; and the word of the Lord\nfrom JERUSALEM. And as Jesus came to his own (the Jews) first, and to\nthe Gentiles last, so now the first shall be last and the last shall\nbe first. And in our day Joseph Smith has been directed by the Lord to\ngather the people to Zion, as so vividly portrayed by the prophet who\nsaw the angel who should run and speak to the young man.\n\nHaving introduced these Bible evidences, we shall repeat the testimony\nof three witnesses whom God raised up, and who, until their death, were\nalways true and faithful to their testimony:\n\n \"Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, unto\n whom this work shall come, that we, through the grace of God the\n Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which contain\n this record, which is a record of the people of Nephi, and also of\n the Lamanites, their brethren, and also of the people of Jared, who\n came from the tower of which hath been spoken; and we also know that\n they have been translated by the gift and power of God, for his voice\n hath declared it unto us; wherefore we know of a surety that the work\n is true. And we also testify that we have seen the engravings which\n are upon the plates; and they have been shown unto us by the power of\n God, and not of man. And we declare with words of solemness, that an\n angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our\n eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon;\n and we know that it is by the grace of God the Father, and our Lord\n Jesus Christ, that we beheld and bear record that these things are\n true: and it is marvelous in our eyes; nevertheless, the voice of the\n Lord commanded us that we should bear record of it; wherefore, to be\n obedient unto the commandments of God, we bear testimony of these\n things. And we know that if we are faithful in Christ, we shall rid\n our garments of the blood of all men, and be found spotless before the\n judgment seat of Christ, and shall dwell with him eternally in the\n heavens. And the honor be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the\n Holy Ghost, which is one God. Amen.\n\n OLIVER COWDERY, DAVID WHITMER, MARTIN HARRIS.\n\nNotwithstanding every one of these three witnesses withdrew from the\nChurch in 1838, yet they remained firm in their declarations to the\ntruth of their testimony. Nine years afterwards Oliver Cowdery returned\nto the church and was rebaptized. In 1871 Martin Harris came to Utah,\nand he also was rebaptized. David Whitmer, who died at Richmond, Ray\nCo., Mo., was the only one of the three who died without rebaptism. He\nhad resided in that place nearly fifty years, and many leading citizens\nof Richmond signed their names, which were published, testifying that\nDavid Whitmer was an honorable citizen whose veracity was unquestioned.\n\nI can testify to the truth of these statements, for I visited him in\n1870, also in 1879, and again in 1886. I was acquainted with him in\n1833 and also in 1838 when he was disfellowshipped by the Church at\nFar West, Mo. It was no secret among those who knew him at his home in\nRichmond that he always stood firm to his testimony, as above stated.\nThe other two witnesses were equally valiant, both while in full\nfellowship and after withdrawing from the Church, and I defy the world\nto impeach either of those three witnesses.\n\nJoseph Smith could not have accomplished the work entrusted to him\nwithout the aid of the Urim and Thummim. It was therefore provided for\nhim. Anciently it was used by God's servants--His prophets, seers and\nrevelators. The language engraven upon the gold plates is Reformed\nEgyptian and is spoken of in the Book of Mormon, which says:\n\n \"And now behold, we have written this according to our knowledge\n in the characters which are called among us the Reformed Egyptian,\n being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of\n speech.\"_--Book of Mormon, p.570, N. E._\n\nAnd the thirty-fourth verse says:\n\n \"But the Lord knoweth the things which we have written, and that none\n other people knoweth our language; therefore hath he prepared means\n for the interpretation thereof.\"\n\nThere is still another instance worth mentioning. King Limhi was\nin possession of twenty-four gold plates, and desired to have them\ntranslated. Ammon told the king:\n\n \"I can assuredly tell thee, O king, of a man who can translate the\n records; for he has wherewith that he can look and translate all\n records that are of ancient date; and it is a gift from God, and the\n things are called interpreters.\"_--Book of Mormon, p. 30, N. E._\n\n \"And now he translated them by the means of those two stones which\n were fastened into the two rims of a bow. Now these things were\n prepared from the beginning, and were handed down from generation\n to generation, for the purpose of interpreting language.\"_--Book of\n Mormon, p. 228, 13-14 v._\n\n \"And whosoever has these things is called Seer, after the manner of\n old times.\"_--Book of Mormon, p. 228, 16 v._\n\nBy the above we learn that the Urim and Thummim or interpreters was\nanciently used, and answered the description of those that Joseph is\nrepresented as receiving.\n\nThe Prophet's mother was permitted to see and handle them and describes\nthem thus:\n\n \"I found that they consisted of two smooth, three-cornered diamonds,\n set in glass, and the glasses were set in silver bows which were\n connected with each other in much the same way as old-fashioned\n spectacles.\"\n\nMartin Harris described them just the same, only he said they were\nlarger than the ordinary spectacles.\n\nSome have marveled at the Lord's choice in selecting one so young and\nunlearned as Joseph Smith to perform so great a work. However, the\nLord's ways are not man's ways. For,\n\n \"As the Heavens are higher than the earth, so are the Lord's ways\n higher than man's ways.\"\n\nAs an instance we read how the Lord sent the prophet Samuel unto Jesse,\nsaying he had provided a king among his sons. And how, when Samuel\nlooked on Eliab, he thought surely the Lord's anointed was before him.\nBut the Lord said unto Samuel:\n\n \"Look not at his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because\n I have refused him; for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man\n looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.\"\n\nAfter seven sons of Jesse had been presented, Samuel asked, \"Are here\nall thy children?\" to which Jesse replied, \"There remaineth yet the\nyoungest and behold he keepeth the sheep.\" And he it was whom the Lord\nhad chosen should be anointed king. Samuel did the bidding of the Lord,\nand we learn that the spirit of God rested upon David, and he became a\nman after God's own heart.\n\nIn this connection we will not pass by unnoticed God's mighty power in\nraising up the great prophet Moses, as a deliverer of His chosen people\nfrom under the hand of Pharoah, the oppressor and king of Egypt. In\nthis case, His power was manifested in overruling Pharoah's midwives\neven unto disobedience of their wicked king in preserving the male\nchildren of the promised seed of Abraham, as found in the 1st chapter\nof Exodus:\n\n \"But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt\n commanded them, but saved the men children alive.\" [That is, the\n Hebrew children, for they were the ones the king sought to destroy.]\n\n \"Therefore, God dealt well with the midwives; and the people\n multiplied, and waxed very mighty.\n\n \"And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made\n them houses.\n\n \"And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, every son that is born\n ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.\"\n\nWhere is the mother that will not join in saying that King Pharoah was\nan oppressor, a tyrant and a murderer? Yet God's ways are so kind, good\nmerciful and wise that we are led to praise His holy name forever. God\nraised up a Moses, whose mother kept him hid three months, after which\nshe put him in an ark of bulrushes, while his sister acted as a spy and\nwatched over him at a distance. King Pharoah's daughter to her bath\ndrew near; the babe's cries inclined her heart to the young Hebrew,\nthe spy was at hand, the real mother was procured, who received pay\nfor minding her own child. Moses finally became the adopted son of the\nking's daughter, whom she named Moses, because she drew him out of the\nwater, as found in the 2nd chapter of Exodus. The life and history of\nMoses is well known to every Bible student, as the deliverer of ancient\nIsrael, and I ask, is it more marvelous to accept a modern Moses in the\nperson of Joseph Smith, the Prophet whom God raised up in our day?\n\nAgain, if the selection by Jesus of Peter the fisherman to be the chief\napostle had taken place in our day, it would probably have seemed as\nsurprising as the choosing of Joseph Smith for his work. The fellow\napostles of Peter were all unlearned, except Paul.\n\nIt is just as easy for our Lord to accomplish His purposes now through\nthe agency of unlearned men as it was anciently. God _has_ established\na Church through the agency of this young man, which has caused the\nwisdom of the wise to perish.\n\nThe story of Joseph Smith's first vision is a very simple and beautiful\none. It will be remembered he was but a boy fourteen years of age when\nthis event occurred. He had been, previously, in a disturbed state of\nmind concerning religion. In the neighborhood where he dwelt there\nhad been great excitement, on account of a religious revival. At the\nmeetings he attended he learned that the various sects were very much\nopposed to each other. In the midst of this tumult and war of words and\nopinions, Joseph felt grieved and asked himself, \"What is to be done?\nWho of all these are right? And how shall I know?\"\n\nOne day Joseph read in the first chapter of James as follows:\n\n \"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men\n liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.\"\n\nUsing Joseph's own words, he said:\n\n \"Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart\n of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with\n great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again\n and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did.\n * * * Unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never\n know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood\n the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all\n confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible. At\n length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness\n and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of\n God. * * * So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of\n God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning\n of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred\n and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made such\n an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the\n attempt to pray vocally. After I had retired to the place where I had\n previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself\n alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart\n to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by\n some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing\n influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak.\n Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as\n if I were doomed to sudden destruction. But exerting all my powers to\n call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had\n seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into\n despair and abandon myself to destruction--not to an imaginary ruin,\n but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had\n such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being--just at\n this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my\n head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until\n it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered\n from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I\n saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description,\n standing above me in the air. One of them spoke unto me, calling me by\n name and said, pointing to the other, 'This is my beloved Son, hear\n him!'\n\n \"My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all\n the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner,\n therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak,\n than I asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which\n of all the sects was right--for at this time it had never entered\n into my heart that all were wrong--and which I should join. I was\n answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong;\n and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were\n an abomination in his sight. * * 'They teach for doctrine the\n commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the\n power thereof.' He again forbade me to join any of them; and many\n other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time.\n\n \"Some time afterwards the vision was made known to a Methodist\n preacher, who treated it with contempt, saying it was all from the\n devil; that there was no such thing as visions or revelations in these\n days; that all such things had ceased with the Apostles, and that\n there never would be any more of them.\"\n\nThe ministers and others persecuted him, which caused him deep sorrow,\nalthough an obscure boy, and under the necessity of obtaining a scanty\nmaintenance by his daily labor. But, strange to say, he became very\nprominent and conspicuous, and evil was spoken of him continually.\nNevertheless, he had seen a vision, and, like Paul before King Agrippa,\nrelated the account of the vision he had, when he \"saw a light and\nheard a voice.\" Still, there were a few who believed him. Some said\nhe was dishonest; others said he was mad; and he (like Joseph) was\nridiculed and reviled; but all this did not destroy the reality of his\nvision. He had seen a vision--he knew he had--and all the persecution\nunder heaven could not make it otherwise. Joseph Smith said:\n\n \"I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God?\n or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen?\n for I had seen a vision. I knew it. I knew that God knew it; and I\n could not deny it, neither dared I do it; at least I knew that by so\n doing I would offend God, and come under condemnation.\"\n\nFor over three years Joseph continued his labors daily until the 21st\nof September, 1823. After retiring to his bed in quite a serious mood,\nhe shortly betook himself to prayer and supplication to Almighty God\nfor a manifestation of his standing before Him. While thus engaged he\nreceived the following vision, using his own words:\n\n \"While I was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered a light\n appearing in my room, which continued to increase until the room was\n lighter than at noonday, when a personage appeared at my bed-side;\n he had on a loose robe of most exquisite whiteness, * * * his hands\n were naked, and his arms also a little above the wrist, * * * his head\n and neck were also bare. * * * his whole person was glorious beyond\n description, and his countenance truly like lightning. The room was\n exceedingly light, but no so very bright as immediately around his\n person. When I first looked upon him I was afraid, but the fear soon\n left me.\n\n \"He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent\n from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; that\n God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good\n and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues; or that it should\n be both good and evil spoken of among all people. * * * While he\n was conversing with me about the plates, the vision was opened to\n my mind that I could see the place where the plates were deposited,\n and that so clearly and distinctly, that I knew the place again when\n I visited it. After this communication, I saw the light in the room\n begin to gather immediately around the person of him who had been\n speaking to me, and it continued to do so until the room was again\n left dark, except just around him, when instantly I saw, as it were, a\n conduit open right up into heaven, and he ascended up till he entirely\n disappeared, and the room was left as it had been before this heavenly\n light had made its appearance.\"\n\nThis vision was repeated three times during the night, and the\nangel each time instructed him of great events, such as famine,\nwar, pestilence and grievous judgments, which were to come in this\ngeneration. He also reminded him that his name should be known for good\nand evil, and that wicked men would seek to destroy him, which was\nliterally fulfilled.\n\nIn 1517, Mexico, then unknown to the world, though teeming with its\nmillions of Lamanites, was discovered by Cortez; and the gold plates\nthat Joseph Smith received contain their history, which I advise all\nmen to read.\n\nFurthermore, the angel said that the fulness of the everlasting\ngospel was contained in the record that was about to be delivered to\nhim, which was the same as that taught by the Savior to the ancient\ninhabitants of Jerusalem.\n\nThus comes unto us knowledge unveiling the mystery surrounding the\nAmerican Indians which has puzzled the most profound historians of our\nage to explain. For all this useful knowledge we are indebted to God,\nthe giver of all good.\n\nAlthough the Prophet was manifestly unlearned at this time, as evinced\nby the spelling written by him over the seven lines of characters,\nshown in another place in this pamphlet, he afterwards became\nproficient as a scholar, and studied the classic languages at the\nSchool of the Prophets in Kirtland, Ohio. This school was established,\nby command of the Lord, for the purpose of educating the Elders and\nothers in the history of nations, countries and people; thus laying up\ntreasures of knowledge and useful information.\n\nThe Prophet, however, was not dependent upon scholastic learning, for\nGod revealed to him line upon line, here a little and there a little,\nenabling him to become efficient in organizing the Church in its\nperfect order; so much so, that the learned theologians and others of\nthe present day are adopting many of the doctrines revealed to him.\n\nThe description of the breast-pate, as given by the mother of Joseph,\nis very interesting. She was favored with handling it, but it was\ncovered with a thin muslin cloth, through which she could see the\nglittering gold. It was concave on one side and convex on the other.\nIt would extend from the neck downwards as far as the center of the\nstomach of a man of extraordinary size. Attached to it were four straps\nof the same material, for the purpose of fastening it to the breast;\ntwo of these ran back so as to fasten over the shoulders, and the other\ntwo were designed to fasten to the waist. Mother Smith said the straps\nwere the width of her two fingers, for she measured them. They had\nholes in the ends for convenience in fastening. Although the Urim and\nThummim and breast-plate go together, it was not necessary for them\nalways to remain attached to each other. Mother Lucy Smith also saw and\nhandled the interpreters, and described them as \"two diamonds set in\nsilver bows, much like old-fashioned spectacles, only much larger.\" She\nalso said that the breast plate was worth more than $500.\n\nSoon after Joseph received the plates and other articles, the angel\nleft him to manage the work entrusted to him, which responsibility\nhe felt very seriously. He first concealed the secret treasure in a\nsecluded place, excepting the Urim and Thummim, which he kept with\nhim. Soon after Joseph arrived at home he explained to his parents the\nnecessity of keeping the sacred relics under lock and key, and until\nsuch time as proper precaution was taken, he had hidden them away\nsecurely. Then said the mother:\n\n\"Order a chest at once.\"\n\n\"But we have not a dollar in the house to pay for it,\" said Joseph.\n\n\"God will provide, my son,\" said the confidential mother. \"Go, promise\npart cash and part trade,\" which was done, and the same day Mrs. Wells,\nof Macedon, gave Joseph work at digging a well, promising cash for the\nwork. The mother reminded the son of the Lord's providence, so soon\nfulfilled.\n\nWhile Joseph was working for Mrs. Wells, to supply their daily wants\nand to pay for the chest in which the plates were to be secured, a mob\nof twelve men, headed by Mr. Willard Chase, a Methodist class leader,\nand a certain conjurer whose special business was to divine the hiding\nplace of the gold plates, were heard to say:\n\n\"We will have that gold Bible in spite of all the devils in hell.\"\n\nFather Smith, knowing that the plates were secreted away from home,\nfelt deep anxiety concerning their safety, and he induced Emma, the\nProphet's wife, who was living with the family, to go on horseback to\ngive warning to Joseph of the intentions of the mob. From an impression\nJoseph had, he looked with the Urim and Thummim, which he had with\nhim, after which, meeting his wife with a smile, he informed her that\nthe plans of the mob would prove futile; that the plates were safe.\nHowever, he returned home with his wife, and in the evening, after\nprocuring the chest, Joseph started for the plates, but as he was\nreturning home with them, he was waylaid and attacked three times, but\nhe finally escaped, although bruised and weary, bringing the plates\nhome in safety.\n\nThis was one of his first lessons and a fulfillment of the angel's\nwords to him.\n\nNot long after this first experience, the Prophet was warned of a\nsecond attempt to rob him of the treasure.\n\nOn this occasion he remembered the angel's charge in regard to using\nevery precaution, and the promise that if he was prayerful and careful\nhe should not lose them. A stone of the old-fashioned hearth was\nremoved and the plates and the breast-plate were concealed in a cavity\nunder the hearth. The stone had just been replaced, when a large armed\nmob came rushing uproariously around the house. The door was thrown\nopen and were in the house, Joseph at their head, rushed out, when the\nmob fled without their booty. A third attempt to obtain the plates was\nalso unsuccessfully made. This time the treasures were hid in some flax\nin the loft of a cooper shop, and an empty box was hidden under the\nfloor. It was said that a young woman, aided by a peepstone, pointed\nout the cooper shop as the repository of the \"Gold Bible.\" During the\nnight the place was rummaged, the floor torn up and the box broken\nto pieces. This was another experience, but the treasures were still\nsafely preserved. It was manifested to the Prophet that a facsimile\nof characters must be copied and sent to the most learned professors\nof the country, and that Martin Harris should be the bearer of them.\nBefore the Prophet could accomplish this desired object, however, he\nwas compelled to seek peace in Pennsylvania, for the whole country\naround seemed determined to give Joseph no peace whatever. While the\nservant of God was on his way from his father's house, to seek a\npeaceful retreat, he was stopped on the highway twice by a mob of fifty\nmen, but as the necessary precaution had been observed by hiding the\nplates in a barrel of beans, again they were preserved.\n\nThe trying scenes which this young man had to pass through, having been\ncompelled to leave his home and country by reason of the persecutions\nheaped upon him in his young married life, were of a heart-rending\ncharacter, besides the labor of translating the Book of Mormon, and\norganizing the Church, which he was instructed to do. It became all the\nmore difficult to perform this great work because new revelation came\nso much in contact with the traditions of the different religious sects\nof the day, each one differing from the other, yet each one claiming\nto be the right Church. Just imagine this unlearned youth, possessing\nno funds only as he earned them by his daily labor, under these\ncircumstances, with increasing responsibilities of family, and home.\nWithout God's aid it would border on insanity to entertain a faint\nhope of success in so stupendous an undertaking. Had it not been that\nthe Lord had promised to help him, his heart would have failed him by\nthe way. But there was encouragement found in the words of the prophet\nIsaiah, 29th chapter, where the prophet, speaking of the very time and\ncondition surrounding the youth, used these words:\n\n\"Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this\npeople, even a marvelous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their\nwise men shall perish ... They also that erred in spirit shall come to\nunderstanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.\" (Isaiah\n29:14, 24)\n\nTens of thousands have proven those words to be true. I was personally\nfavored with many conversations with the three witnesses whom God\nraised up, one of whom was Martin Harris, a near neighbor of Joseph\nSmith. In 1871, while I was emigrating Martin Harris from Kirkland,\nOhio, during our journey of over 2,000 miles, he related many little\nincidents which occurred in those early times.\n\nOne of the incidents that interested me most was when, on a certain\noccasion, Martin's neighbors prevailed upon him to drink some wine with\nthem with the evident intention of getting him to deny his testimony\nto the Book of Mormon. Martin drank but little, while his neighbors\npartook more freely. When they were in high glee they asked him if he\nreally believed that he saw the angel of which he had testified.\n\n\"No,\" said Martin, \"I do not believe it.\"\n\n\"Now,\" said they, \"we know you are an honest man.\"\n\n\"Stop a moment,\" said Martin, \"and properly understand me. My reason\nfor not believing it is that knowledge surpasses belief. Gentlemen, it\nwas in open day when I saw the angel and I testify to you that I know\nmy testimony is true. I do not believe it is true; I know it is.\"\n\nThe reader can imagine the chagrin that his neighbors felt at this\nunexpected outcome of their efforts to entrap him.\n\nMartin told me that, knowing the indigent circumstances of the Prophet,\nhe felt it was his duty to aid in the great work by giving Joseph fifty\ndollars to help advance the Lord's work. This occurred just prior to\nJoseph's leaving Manchester for Harmony, Penn. The Lord raised tip a\nfriend in time of need. The Lord remembered Martin for the timely aid,\nalthough it was many days afterwards. Martin also stated that he had\nhired Joseph to work for him on his farm many times and paid him fifty\ncents per day, which was the usual price paid for hired help at that\ntime. He also said that he had hoed corn with Joseph often, and that\nthe latter was a good hand to work.\n\nThe Prophet found a short season of rest with his father-in-law at\nHarmony, Penn., where he succeeded in copying the seven lines of\ncharacters, which, by a previous arrangement, were taken to Professor\nAnthon, of New York, as explained in the next chapter.\n\nSoon after Martin Harris returned from New York, he commenced to write\nfor the Prophet while he translated from the gold plates. Martin often\nrelated to the writer the mode of translation. He said that the Prophet\npossessed a seer stone as well as the Urim and Thummim, by means of\nwhich he could translate the characters. On one occasion Martin placed\nin a hat a stone very much like the Prophet's seer stone, and after\nthe Prophet had looked an unusual length of time, he raised his head,\nsaying, \"Martin, what in the world is the matter? all is dark as\nEgypt.\" Martin smiled, and confessed. Joseph said, \"Martin, why did you\ndo this?\" Martin answered: \"To stop the mouths of fools, who tell me\nyou know all this by heart, and are deceiving me.\"\n\nFather Sanford Porter, while living in Jackson County, Mo., in 1832,\nWas desirous to know how the Prophet translated the characters which\nwere engraven on the gold plates, and made it a matter of prayer. While\nthe Prophet was receiving a revelation in Jackson County, Missouri,\nFather Porter was present in the room and while observing that the\nProphet would speak a sentence to be written by a scribe engaged for\nthat purpose, the scribe would say, \"It is written,\" and if written\ncorrectly the sentence before the Prophet would disappear and another\nsentence would appear likewise, but if not written correctly by the\nscribe the sentence would remain, and after the necessary correction\nhad been made, the sentence would disappear.\n\nMany years ago Father Porter related to me that it was shown unto\nhim, that by the aid of the Urim and Thummim the Prophet could see a\nsentence as if in gold letters, which he would read, and when it was\nwritten another sentence would appear. Martin Harris stated to me\nas above that when he had written the sentence that was presented,\nif written correctly it would disappear and another sentence would\nappear, and so continue. At the conclusion of the revelation Joseph was\nreceiving, Father Porter said that the Prophet remarked that he had\nnever found such great faith as was manifested in that house on that\noccasion.\n\nThe writer is satisfied that there never was a greater prophet, seer\nand revelator on this earth than Joseph Smith, the Prophet of God.\n\nCHAPTER 4\n\nThe Seven Lines of Characters that were translated by Joseph Smith are\ntaken by Martin Harris to Prof. Anthon, fulfilling the words of the\nProphet Isaiah, 29th chapter: \"Read this, I pray thee, but he says, I\ncannot, for it is sealed.\"\n\nThe seven lines of characters presented in the accompanying engraving\nwere copied by the hand of Joseph Smith in Harmony, Pennsylvania, in\nthe year 1827, he then being in the twenty-second year of his age. They\nwere copied from a book of gold plates which he found hidden in a stone\nbox, the box being nicely jointed together and set in cement. The six\nslabs of stone forming the box were so dressed that they were smooth\nand square on the inside, but rough on the outside. Indeed, they were\nso rough that the capstone, which was crowning, looked something like\na cobblestone, for at the time of being found a small portion was laid\nbare and protruded from the hill side. No one, unless in possession\nof the knowledge of what was therein contained, would have paid any\nattention to the stone in passing.\n\nMost certainly, it was very ingeniously constructed and hidden in a\nvery choice spot of ground. It was first found in the spring of 1823,\nand the young man who found it was only in the seventeenth year of\nhis age. He was too young and inexperienced at that time to receive\nso valuable a treasure, for it must be in weight about forty pounds\nor more of pure gold, and in sheets that were very thin like unto\nthin sheets of tin plate; and they were covered with engravings of\na very curious workmanship, showing great skill by those who were\nthe engravers. There were several different persons who did the\nwork of engraving. The plates contained a history which reached out\nover a period of a thousand years, beginning 600 B. C., and continuing\nuntil 420 AD. The history had necessarily to be very brief, and when\ntranslated was called the Book of Mormon--that is, the portion which\nwas translated, for there is a portion yet held in reserve, which was\nsealed with three extra rings, and which will yet, in the due time of\nthe Lord, be revealed and translated.\n\nAll these plates were fastened together with three great rings, so\nthat each plate could be turned over in the same manner as if hinged\ntogether. So we are led to see that these people were very skilled,\nand were also careful in preserving their history. That history brings\nto light who the people were that left so many ruined cities, towers,\ntemples and other relics, many of which are found with hieroglyphics of\na similar character to the seven lines presented. The Book of Mormon,\ntranslated from those plates, makes a book of 623 pages, and is at\nthe present time printed in about fifteen different languages. In the\nbox with the gold plates was a breast-plate made of gold and valued\nat about five hundred dollars. Attached to this breast-plate was a\nUrim and Thummim or interpreters. The latter was in form like unto\nan old-fashioned pair of spectacles, two clear stones set in rims of\nsilver. I have conversed with Martin Harris, who handled them, and he\nsaid he had placed them as he would a pair of spectacles, but they were\ntoo large for him, as if they had been made for a larger race of people\nthan the present generation.\n\nThis Urim and Thummim was similar to what we read of in the Bible of\nolden times and which only belonged to seers, revelators and prophets.\nThese were hidden with the book, to help the one to whom they should be\nentrusted to translate them correctly.\n\nThe hill from whence those plates were taken is fully described in\nanother chapter.\n\nI will vouch for the correctness of the characters, as I have compared\nthem with the original copy, which is still in existence, intact,\njust as it was when Martin Harris, as a messenger, took it with the\ntranslation Joseph Smith had made, to Professor Anthon of New York.\nThe copy here presented was traced from the original copy, and this\nengraving, made by Mr. John Held, of Salt Lake City, is an exact\nreproduction of it.\n\nIn the year 1871 I was favored with the privilege of bringing Martin\nHarris from Kirtland, Ohio, to Utah. While on our journey, I had many\nopportunities of conversing with him upon this subject, as well as\nupon many other incidents which occurred at the early period of the\ntranslation. Soon after presenting the seven lines of characters to\nProfessor Anthon, be (Martin Harris) aided the young Prophet by acting\nas scribe during a portion of the translation. The learned Professor\nAnthon, after having the lines of characters presented to him, examined\nthem carefully, and gave a certificate stating that they were Egyptian\ncharacters and had been correctly translated. Mr. Harris, with the\ncertificate, started to leave, but when he had advanced as far as the\ndoor, the Professor called to him, asking where he obtained those\nplates. Harris replied:\n\n\"In a hill near Palmyra, New York.\"\n\n\"Then bring the book to me and I will translate the plates for you.\"\n\n\"I can not do so,\" said Martin, \"for a part of them is sealed.\"\n\n\"Then,\" replied Mr. Anthon, \"I cannot read a sealed book,\" upon which\nhe recalled the certificate and tore it up.\n\nMartin Harris said to me, \"At that time I was not aware that the\nProphet Isaiah, in the twenty-ninth chapter of his writings, had\npredicted that those exact words would be uttered and the prophecy thus\nfulfilled by Prof. Anthon. For the better information of the reader\nwe will refer to the book of Isaiah, beginning at the 11th and 12th\nverses, which reads as follows:\n\n \"And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that\n is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this,\n I pray thee: and he said, I cannot, for it is sealed. And the book [not\n the words or seven lines of characters] is delivered to him that is not\n learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.\n\nIt is well known that Joseph Smith was not learned, and claimed to\nbe only a farmer's boy without the opportunities for a scholastic\neducation; for he had, as Peter the fisherman, to work for his living.\n\nPermit me to offer some striking evidence to show that the Prophet was\nnot learned, by the word directly over the lines of characters. How\nnatural it would be for a boy unlearned to leave out the silent h and\nfurther to substitute the o for the e, as it is written by his own\nhand, thus--Caractors. This I offer as evidence of the fulfillment of\nIsaiah's words, 29th chapter and 12th verse, \"I am not learned.\"\n\nWell, indeed, may the prophet say in the same chapter:\n\n\"Cry ye out, and cry; they are drunken, but not with wine; they\nstagger, but not with strong drink.\"\n\nI ask what kind of drunkenness can this mean, unless as really inferred\nby Isaiah's own words: \"For the Lord hath poured out upon you the\nspirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your\nrulers, the seers hath he covered.\"\n\nAt the time the book came forth there were upon the earth no prophets\nor seers to guide the people. There had been prophets from the time of\nAdam to Moses and from Moses to Jesus Christ, John the Revelator being\nthe last prophet of that time, 96 AD.\n\nAnd the Book came forth and a new prophet arose after that long period,\nand at a time when people were drunken with confusion regarding the\ntrue religious light, for there were about six hundred different\nreligious sects staggering against each other, each one claiming to be\nthe true church that Christ established, with one lord, one faith, one\nbaptism, and one God and Father of all.\n\nEvery Bible student should know that Jesus placed in his church: first,\ntwelve apostles, then seventies, elders, pastors, teachers, gifts and\nblessings for the perfecting of the saints. After the apostasy from\nthe Church of Christ, the mother of harlots made all nations drunken\nwith the wine of her fornication, divided up into fragments, without\nprophets, seers or revelators. It was in this condition, as the\nprophets have foretold, when the boy Prophet began so marvelous a work,\nand which cost him his life to establish.\n\nCHAPTER 5\n\nThe Prophet Joseph and others Sentenced to be Shot on the Public Square\nat Far West, in the Presence of their Friends.--The Execution Deferred,\nand the Prisoners afterwards sent to Liberty Jail.\n\nThe Liberty Jail, which is fast going into ruins, is situated in the\ncity of Liberty, Clay County, Missouri. It is inland three miles from\nthe Missouri River and about ten miles from Independence in Jackson\nCounty, and Independence is eleven miles from Kansas City of the same\nstate.\n\nThere are many reasons why this jail should become conspicuous and\nbe preserved in history, but the principal one is that there Joseph\nSmith, the Prophet, in the fall of 1838 and spring of 1839, at the\ntime of Governor L. W. Boggs' exterminating war against the Mormons,\nwas most unjustly and wickedly imprisoned. In 1838, the Prophet and\nothers were betrayed into the hands of the Missouri mob by Colonel\nGeorge M. Hinkle, the mob being headed by General Samuel D. Lucas. The\nprisoners were tried under martial law and sentenced to be shot on\nthe following day on the public square in Far West, in the presence\nof a multitude of the followers of \"Joe\" Smith, as they chose to call\nhim. This was intended, no doubt, as a sample of Missouri charity,\nsympathy and humanity, and as a lesson for Mormons for daring to\nbelieve as conscience dictated, and for exercising as American freemen\nthe privileges guaranteed by a Constitution believed to be inspired.\nThe writer speaks for himself, as one for whom he had deep sentiments\nof regard, as a true Prophet, who was sent of God to re-establish the\nfullness of the everlasting gospel.\n\nBut God overruled the horrible edict that the Prophet and his\ncompanions should be shot on the public square on the following day at\n8 o'clock a.m. This was on the 31st of October, 1838. General Doniphan\ndenounced the proposed act as \"cold-blooded murder,\" threatening to\nwithdraw his brigade from the scene of the intended massacre.\n\nThis turned the tide of events and Lucas and his murderous colleagues\nbegan to hesitate and finally to reconsider their action. That General\nLucas was acting under Governor Lilburn W. Boggs' orders is evident by\nthe utterances made unto us who were compelled to assemble together\non the public square at Far West, where we were harangued by General\nClark at considerable length. The speech was very abusive, as can be\nlearned by reading it farther on in this pamphlet. Before introducing\nthe speech we will state a number of interesting facts which occurred\nabout that time. There was in existence the Fifty-third Regiment of\nMissouri Militia, under the command of Col. George M. Hinkle, who held\na commission signed by the Governor of the state.\n\nThere was times of trouble when it became necessary for Colonel Hinkle\nto call out the militia, consequently our movements were in accordance\nwith the laws of Missouri. On the 30th of October, 1838, Neil Gillam\nwas at the head of a mob who were disguised as wild Indians. They were\npainted, and Gillam himself was arrayed as an Indian chief. The mob\nhad been burning houses and driving the Mormons' stock away from their\nowners, taking prisoners, etc. Colonel Hinkle ordered out a company\nof militia, about 150 in number, to endeavor to learn the intentions\nof Gillam and others, who were camping on Log Creek, near Far West. I\nwas one of those under Col. Hinkle, and we all were on horseback. We\nsoon learned that their intentions were hostile. A flag of truce in the\nhands of Charles C. Rich was shot at during the day, and our company\nwas cut off from Far West by a line of battle being formed between us\nand our homes. Colonel Hinkle returned from the front of our line with\nhis military coat off, saying that there were hardly enough of us to\nallow a mouthful apiece for the numerous hosts before us. He seemed\nexcited and fearfully frightened, and for this and other reasons I have\nalways believed this accounted for his conduct on that occasion. We\nretreated fifteen miles (instead of five miles, from where we were),\nto Far West, arriving about the time the troops were nearing the city.\nThey were marching with red flags, which were interspersed and mixed\nup with Gillam's command of painted faces. Our company coming into Far\nWest on the gallop, created quite a sensation, as we were mistaken\nfor the enemy coming in from two different points. We, however, soon\nproved ourselves to be friends, and were just in time to extend the\nline already formed in defense of the city. Our adversaries were in\nthe ratio of about ten to one of us, which looked rather serious for a\nlittle handful of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day\nSaints.\n\nThe Prophet came along after our arrival and said:\n\n\"Fear them not; God is for us, and there are more for us than there\nare against us [meaning the hosts of heaven were on our side.] God\nand liberty is the watchword,\" said Joseph. \"Fear them not, for their\nhearts are cold as cucumbers.\"\n\nNight was fast approaching, and flags of truce were passing between\nthe two lines, by which we learned that this formidable army was sent\nout by Governor Boggs with orders to exterminate us. It was finally\nconcluded not to murder us that night, so the army withdrew until the\nnext morning, when they intended to make a final end of Mormonism.\nThey camped for the night on Goose Creek, one mile away from the city.\nThus ended one of the most eventful days of our lives. It fell to my\nlot to stand guard that night, and the worst confusion and disorder\never witnessed by human beings existed in the enemy's camp. This, with\nunearthly yelling and howling, produced a real pandemonium very much\nresembling my idea of hell. A sort of breast-work was constructed\nduring the night, made principally of wagons, house logs, etc. A dark\nand dreary night was that. On the following day, October 31st, we\nwere preparing to meet death, if necessary, rather than surrender our\nreligion to a mob. We trusted in the Lord, however, and a better way\nwas prepared. Colonel Hinkle had been communicating with the enemy\nduring the day, and in the afternoon Joseph Smith and others passed\nover the breast-works near where I and others were on duty. Colonel\nHinkle lead the party to meet the enemy, where he betrayed them into\ntheir hands. This treachery on his part turned out for the best, for\nGod suffers offences to come, as in the case of Judas, \"but woe to him\nby whom they come.\"\n\nOn the following day, November 1st, 1838, we were marched into a hollow\nsquare just outside of the city, where we delivered up about 630 guns,\ngrounded our arms, and advanced to the center of the square, where the\nsmall arms and swords were left in a pile. The late Bishop McRae gave\nsix cuts with his sword and a pointer in the ground and left his sword\nsticking there. We were left without the means of self-defense and at\nthe mercy of a conscienceless set of ignorant, prejudiced people, many\nof whom, like St. Paul before his conversion, acted as if they were\ndoing God's service in destroying property and abusing the Mormons. My\nwidowed mother's house was plundered and my sister, now living here in\nUtah, had her clothes taken from her in open day, leaving her destitute\nof her necessary apparel.\n\nGeneral Wilson, who was one of the mobbers in Jackson County, was in\ncompany with Joseph Smith soon after he was condemned to be shot.\nJoseph asked General Wilson what he had done that he should be treated\nwith such indignity, stating that he had always been a supporter of the\nConstitution and of good government. Wilson's reply was:\n\n\"I know it, and that is the reason I want to kill you, or have you\nkilled.\"\n\nSubsequently this same Wilson said to P. P. Pratt and others:\n\n\"We Jackson County boys know how it is, and therefore have not the\nextreme hatred and prejudice which characterizes the rest of the\ntroops. We know perfectly well from the beginning that the Mormons\nhave not been the aggressors at all. As it began in 1833 in Jackson\nCounty, Mo., so it has been ever since.... We mob you without law;\nthe authorities refuse to protect you according to law, you then are\ncompelled to protect yourselves, and we act upon the prejudices of\nthe public, who join our forces and the whole is legalized for your\ndestruction and our gain ... When we drove you from Jackson County\nwe burned 203 of your houses, plundered your goods, destroyed your\npress, type and paper, books, office and all--tarred and feathered old\nBishop Partridge--as exemplary an old man as you can find anywhere. We\nshot down some of your men, and if any of you returned the fire, we\nimprisoned you and had you on trial for murder. D--d shrewdly done,\ngentlemen; and I came d--d near kicking the bucket myself; for on\none occasion while we were tearing down houses, driving families and\ndestroying and plundering goods, some of you good folks put a ball\nthrough my son's body, and another through the arm of my clerk, and a\nthird pierced my shirt collar and marked my neck. No blame, gentlemen;\nwe deserved it, and let a set of men serve me as your community have\nbeen served, and I'll be d--d if I would not fight till I died.\"\n\nMost certainly this was an honest confession, and I can certify to\nnearly all of his acknowledgments, for I have been driven from my home\nand robbed of my hard-earned property more than once. There are many\nothers besides General Wilson who have acknowledged to the same things,\nfor I have personally heard them.\n\nWhen the brethren were being hurried away, as prisoners, from their\nhomes, P. P. Pratt says:\n\n\"I went to General Moses Wilson in tears, and stated the circumstances\nof my sick, heart-broken, destitute family, in terms which would have\nmoved any heart that had a latent spark of humanity yet remaining, but\nI was only answered with an exultant laugh and a taunt of reproach by\nthis hardened murderer. Halting at the door of Hyrum Smith, I heard\nthe sobs and groans of his wife at Hyrum's parting. She was then near\nconfinement and needed more than ever the comfort and consolation of a\nhusband's presence. As we returned to the wagon we witnessed the sad,\nparting of Sidney Rigdon and his family, and in the same wagon was\nJoseph Smith, while his aged father and mother came up overwhelmed with\ntears, and took each of the prisoners by the hand with a silence of\ngrief too great for utterance.\n\nLittle encouragement was left to those grief-stricken parents, for they\nknew so well that they were in the hands of a mob who had snatched and\ndragged them away as if they were murderers. Fresh to their minds was\nrecalled a scene that took place in earlier days, when, close to their\nown thresholds, a demon in human form, in the dark hour of the night,\nhad fired at their son, just barely missing him. There were fifty-six\ncitizens thus dragged away from their homes, without any earthly hope\nof deliverance, only as in God they put their trust. Judge King said to\nH. C. Kimball:\n\n\"Joe Smith is not fit to live.\"\n\nFor further light concerning the good or evil wishes of this great mob\nof Missourians, we will now return to the public square to hear the\nabusive words of General Clark. Addressing the Mormons he said:\n\n\"It now devolves upon you to fulfill a treaty that you have entered\ninto.\n\n\"1st.--Your leading men be given up to be tried according to the law.\nThis you have already complied with.\n\n\"2nd.--That you deliver up your arms. This has been attended to [which\nwe did, surrounded by the mob, some of whom I heard say, 'Now we have\ngot their arms, it is as good as death to them.']\n\n\"3rd.--That you sign over your properties to defray the expenses of the\nwar. This you have also done.\n\n\"4th.--That you leave the state forthwith. And whatever may be your\nfeelings concerning this, or whatever your innocence, it is nothing to\nme. General Lucas (whose military rank is equal to mine) has made this\ntreaty with you, and I approve of it. I should have done the same. I am\ndetermined to see it executed. The character of this state has suffered\nalmost beyond redemption. And we deem it as an act of justice to\nrestore her character to its former standing among the states by every\nproper means. The orders of the Governor to me were, that you should\nbe exterminated, and not allowed to remain in the state. And had not\nyour leaders been given up, and the terms of the treaty complied with,\nbefore this time you and your families would have been destroyed and\nyour houses in ashes.\n\n\"There is a discretionary power vested in my hands, which, considering\nyour circumstances, I shall exercise for a season. You are indebted to\nme for this clemency. I do not say you shall go now, but you must not\nthink if staying here another season or of putting in crops; for, if\nyou do, the citizens will be upon you. If I am called here again in\ncase of non-compliance of a treaty made, do not think that I shall do\nas I have done now. You need not expect any mercy, but extermination.\nFor I am determined the Governor's orders shall be executed.\n\n\"As for your leaders, do not think, do not imagine for a moment, do not\nlet it enter into your minds, that they shall be delivered and restored\nto you again for their fate is fixed, their die is cast. Their doom is\nsealed. I am sorry, very sorry, gentlemen, to see so many intelligent\nmen found in this situation. Oh! if I could invoke the Great Spirit,\nthe unknown God--[I suppose without body, parts or passions]--to\nrest upon and deliver you from that awful chain of superstition, and\nliberate you from those fetters of fanaticism with which you are bound,\nthat you no longer do homage to a man! My advice is that you become\nas other citizens, let by a recurrence of these events you bring upon\nyourselves irretrievable ruin.\"\n\nIt vividly recurs to my mind that at the closing of General Clark's\nhard talk, G. M. Hinkle also spoke to the large body of Saints, saying:\n\n\"I would advise you all to do as I have done, for I have got my hand\nout of the lion's mouth, and I intend to keep it out hereafter.\"\n\nIt may not be out of place to relate a statement made to me by E. B.\nTripp, who authorizes me to use his name, regarding George M. Hinkle,\nwhose hand he said was out of the lion's mouth (taking his own word for\nit.) Elder. E. B. Tripp says:\n\n\"In 1852, I lived in Wapelo, Louisa Co., Iowa G. M. Hinkle, a stranger\nto me, came into my drug store. He introduced himself to me, saying:\n'This is Mr. Tripp, I understand. I hear that you are going to Utah,\nand I would like to have a private talk with you. I am the man who\nbetrayed Joseph Smith and others into the hands of the mob in Missouri.\nI am a miserable man, and scarce know what to do with myself. I would\nbe willing to lay down my life if this would atone for the sin I\ncommitted. What can I do, Mr. Tripp, for I know Mormonism is true?\"\n\nThis is the substance of the conversation as reported by Brother Tripp,\nwho save him some good advice before he parted with him. Thomas B.\nMarsh, one of the Twelve Apostles, apostatized during this dark hour\nof Missouri persecution. I saw him and heard him speak then, and also\nwhen he came to Utah and was rebaptized. I heard him confess with deep\nregret, saying:\n\n\"Look at my trembling limbs and see the fate of an apostate, for I am\na wreck, but Mormonism is true, and I advise you not to do as I have\ndone, in my apostasy.\"\n\nGen. John C. Bennett, who once flourished in Nauvoo, apostatized\nbecause of his iniquities. He died in Polk City, Iowa, a miserable\nwreck, debased and degraded. When I was in Iowa on a mission I learned\nof a party who once had a rope around his neck and over a limb. At that\ntime he barely escaped being hung up like a dog.\n\nPrior to Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and others, being marched to Liberty\njail, General Lucas allowed the prisoners to see for a few moments, in\nthe presence of their guards, their weeping wives and children. Most of\nthem were not permitted to speak, being merely allowed to look at them\nbefore being hurried away.\n\nMary Fielding Smith, wife of Hyrum Smith, a few days after his painful\nparting from her husband, became a mother. The favored child thus born\namidst those warlike scenes is today known as Joseph Fielding Smith,\nCounselor to the First Presidency.\n\nThe brethren were taken to Independence, Jackson County, Missouri,\nto be murdered by those who only a few years before drove the Saints\nfrom the country, murdering some, tarring and feathering others, and\nexpelling the remainder without color of law. Notwithstanding this, on\nSunday, November 4th, 1838, the Prophet preached to many who gathered\naround them. The officers, finding that the people's feelings were\nsoftened into tears of sympathy, had them removed to Richmond, where\nthey were chained down as felons and then removed to Liberty jail.\n\nIn September, 1888, in company with Elder Andrew Jenson and\nBishop Black, of Deseret, I visited this place, also Far West and\nAdam-Ondi-Ahman. This trip brought vividly before me many sayings of\nthe Prophet, more particularly of his speaking of the Garden of Eden,\nwhich he said was situated at Independence, which is only about ten\nmiles to the northwest of Liberty jai. The Prophet said it had been\nmanifested unto him that here was where our Father Adam was placed,\nand where his home was until his fall, when he was driven out into the\ndreary world, and from thence he took his departure northeast about\nseventy miles, to where a stake of Zion was located, and it was named\nAdam-Ondi-Ahman by revelation. This knowledge makes this land, which is\ngood and greatly blessed, all the more attractive to the Saints, and\ncreates a desire to cherish not only the memory of the land, but this\nloathsome jail as well, which is now going to ruins.\n\nThe Bible tells us about the Garden of Eden, and why not locate it\nhere in this goodly land as well as any other part of the earth? Many\nchanges have taken place since Adam's time, as, for instance, the great\ndeluge and the division of the earth in the days of Peleg. Again, at\nthe crucifixion, when the solid rocks were rent, mountains cast up,\nand great convulsions took place on the face of the whole earth. All\nof these events would naturally tend to make it difficult to locate\nthe Garden without revelation, and this is how I became informed on\nthis subject. I was with the Prophet Joseph Smith sixty miles northeast\nof Liberty jail in 1838, less than one year before he was imprisoned\nthere. We were standing with others on the hill Adam-Ondi-Ahman. The\nProphet said, pointing to a mound of stones:\n\n\"There is where Father Adam built an altar when he was driven from the\nGarden of Eden and offered up sacrifice unto the Lord.\"\n\nHe further said that the Garden of Eden was in or near Independence,\nthe center stake of Zion. I thought it a great privilege to be at that\ntime with the Prophet, and to hear his words regarding the mound and\npile of rocks laid up at so early a period of the world's history.\n\nThree years ago I visited the same altar with deep interest, and also\nthe spot of ground where the Prophet received the revelation, wherein\nAdam-Ondi-Ahman is named as the place where Adam shall come to visit\nhis people, or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by Daniel\nthe Prophet. Doc. and Cov., Sec. 115, page 415. The Prophet said that\nthis Michael is Adam.\n\nI quote the following from the revelation:\n\n\"Is there not room enough upon the mountains of Adam-Ondi-Ahman ... the\nland where Adam dwelt? ... Therefore come up hither to the land of my\npeople, even Zion.\"--Doc. and Cov., sec. 117, v. 8\n\nHaving lived and worked at the tin business in sight of this dungeon\nwhere the Prophet was so unjustly imprisoned and suffered so much, this\nknowledge of the country was welcome news to me. On one occasion, as\nI was informed by the late Bishop Alexander McRae, who was imprisoned\nin this same jail, and as he substantially related to me, five of the\nprisoners, viz: Joseph Smith, Hyrum, his brother, Caleb Baldwin, Lyman\nWight, Sidney Rigdon and Bishop McRae were taking supper together. All\nbut Brother McRae partook of tea, as they were glad to get anything to\nsustain life. Soon afterwards five of the inmates were taken sick and\nsome of them were blind for three days, after which they were afflicted\nwith sore eyes for a long time. Bishop McRae escaped this affliction\nas he did not partake of the tea. All of the six prisoners agreed that\npoison had been put in the tea, but how and by whom was unknown to them.\n\nWhile the prisoners were confined in this jail, young Joseph Smith and\nEmma, his mother, visited their husband and father. It was at this time\nthat Joseph's son, now the leader of the Reorganized church, claims\nto have received a blessing under the hands of his father. Joseph F.\nSmith, with his mother, visited his father in this same jail, and\nalthough but an infant, received a blessing under his hands. Owing to\nthe delicate state of her health, Joseph F.'s mother had to be taken\non a bed in a carriage, to see, perhaps for the last time, her husband\nas a prisoner for the gospel's sake. The meeting and parting on that\noccasion must have been heartrending under the circumstances. Very few\ncan now realize such days as those of the imprisonment at Liberty jail.\n\nFrom the day that Joseph Smith received the plates at the hands of\nMoroni, the angel, until his incarceration in Liberty jail, his life\nwas one of persecution, trial and imprisonment, so much so that on one\noccasion Joseph was led to pray:\n\n\"O God! where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy\nhiding place? How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye--yea,\nthy pure eye--behold from the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people,\nand of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries?\nYea O Lord, how long shall they suffer these wrongs and unlawful\noppressions, before thine heart shall be softened towards them, and\nthey bowels be moved with compassion towards them? O Lord God Almighty,\nmaker of the heaven and earth, and seas, and all things that in them\nare, and who controlleth and subjecteth the devil and the dark and\nbenighted dominion of Sheol! Stretched forth thy hand; let think eye\npierce; let thy pavilion be taken up; let thy hiding place no longer be\ncovered; let thine ear be inclined; let thine heart be softened, and\nthy bowels moved with compassion towards us. * * * Remember thy suffering\nSaints, O our God.\"\n\nThe Prophet loved the Saints, and he knew of their extreme suffering,\nand their moving through mud and rain, in poverty, leaving their homes\nand all behind them, while he, with his brethren, was in a dungeon\nliable to be poisoned at any time. They knew their lives were not safe\nin such a mobocratic state as was Missouri then. However, Joseph had\nconsolation, dark as it appeared, for he promised his brethren that not\none of their lives should be lost. In the midst of their cries unto the\nLord, he was answered thus:\n\n\"My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversary and thine afflictions\nshall be but a small moment; and then, if thou endure it well, God\nshall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes. Thou\nart not yet as Job; thy friends do not contend against thee, neither\ncharge thee with transgression, as they did Job. * * * Wo unto all those\nthat discomfort my people, and drive, and murder, and testify against\nthem, saith the Lord of Hosts. A generation of vipers shall not escape\nthe damnation of hell. * * * Let thy bowels also be full of charity\ntowards all men and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish\nthy thoughts unceasingly. Then shall thy confidence wax strong in the\npresence of God, and the doctrine of the Priesthood shall distill upon\nthy soul as the dews from heaven. The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant\ncompanion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and\ntruth, and they dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without\ncompulsory means it shall flow unto thee for ever and ever.\"\n\nWhen I looked upon the Liberty jail in 1834, again in 1838-39, and\nfor the last time in 1888, in the last stages of decay (it being 54\nyears from the time I first saw it), my soul was moved upon with deep\nemotion, for thoughts of the past crowded upon my mind. Indeed, I felt\nalmost bewildered, and as if in a dream. It was only four years and\nnine months after the Prophet left this dungeon that he was murdered,\ndying as a martyr in Carthage jail, Hancock County, Illinois, on the\nmemorable 27th of June, 1844.\n\nElder Jenson, Bishop Black and myself obtained a photograph of the jail\nas a relic, from which the engraving illustrating this article has been\ntaken. The jail was built about 1830, of hewn oak logs, and was only 14\nby 14-1/2 feet in the clear. Soon after a stone wall two feet thick was\nadded, leaving a space of twelve inches between the logs and the stone\nwall, which was filled in with loose stones, thus making a wall four\nfeet thick.\n\nIn order to show how particular the Prophet was regarding revelations\nwhich he received from the Lord, I will relate an incident which\noccurred in Liberty jail. While the Prophet was receiving a revelation,\nthe late Bishop Alexander McRae was writing as Joseph received it. Upon\nthis occasion Brother McRae suggested a slight change in the wording of\nthe revelation, when Joseph sternly asked:\n\n\"Do you know who you are writing for?\"\n\nBrother McRae, who at once discovered his mistake, begged the Prophet's\npardon for undertaking to correct the word of the Lord.\n\nIn March, 1839, and less than one month before leaving the jail, Joseph\nreceived the word of the Lord, as follows:\n\n\"The ends of the earth shall inquire after thy name, and fools shall\nhave thee in derision, and hell shall rage against thee, while the pure\nin heart, and the wise, and the noble, and the virtuous, shall seek\ncouncil, and authority, and blessings constantly from under thy hand.\nAnd thy people shall never be turned against thee by the testimony of\ntraitors. And although their influence shall cast thee into trouble,\ninto bars and walls, thou shalt be had in honor, and but for a small\nmoment and thy voice shall be more terrible in the midst of thy enemies\nthan the fierce lion, because of thy righteousness; and thy God shall\nstand by thee forever and ever. If thou art called to pass through\ntribulation; if thou art in perils among robbers; if thou art in\nperils by land or by sea; if thou are accused of all manner of false\naccusations; if thy enemies fall upon thee; if they tear thee from the\nsociety of thy father and mother, and brethren and sisters; and if,\nwith a drawn sword, thine enemies tear thee from the bosom of thy wife\nand of thine offspring, and thine elder son (Joseph), although but 6\nyears of age, ... and thou be dragged to prison, and thine enemies\nprowl around thee like wolves for the blood of the lamb; and if thou\nshould be cast into the pit, or into the hands of murderers, and the\nsentence of death passed upon thee; if thou be cast into the deep; if\nthe billowing surge conspire against thee; if fierce winds become thine\nenemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to\nhedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell gape open the\nmouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall\ngive thee experience, and shall be for thy good. The Son of Man hath\ndescended below them all; art thou greater than he? Therefore hold on\nthy way, and the Priesthood shall remain with thee, for their bounds\nare set and they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall\nnot be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God\nshall be with you for ever and every.\"\n\nCHAPTER 6\n\nThe Assassination of Generals Joseph and Hyrum Smith in Carthage,\nHancock Co., Ill., June 27, 1844, while under the pledged protection of\nthe Governor of the State.\n\nThe engraving presented on another page is a true representation of\nthe jail at Carthage, Illinois, wherein Joseph Smith, revered by\nthe \"Mormon\" people as a prophet of God, and his brother Hyrum were\nfoully murdered in 1844. A sketch of the building was made by the late\nRobert Campbell soon after the massacre, from which the illustration\naccompanying this sketch was made.\n\nThe mob of eighty men, whose faces were painted black, were under the\ndirection of the notorious Captain Williams, who is represented in the\npicture as standing just back of the four men who are shooting the\nProphet as he is lying partially stunned against the well curb. The\nCaptain is directing the murder, as is to be seen in the engraving.\nFarther to the right is Captain Smith, with his company of Carthage\nGreys, who were entrusted with the care and custody of the prisoners\nunder the pledge of the Governor of the state for their safety.\n\nIn the afternoon of the day of the murder, the mob were concealed\nin the woods about three-quarters of a mile northwest of the jail,\nwhere they had previously marched. The front of the jail is to the\nsouth. Communication for some time was kept up between the mob and\nthe Carthage Greys by couriers, until a perfect understanding was\neffected between the two mobs, for by this mutual understanding the\nState troops had become identified with the murder. The diabolical plot\nwas so arranged that the troops had their guns loaded only with blank\ncartridges. From the situation of affairs, the disbanding of the troops\nat Carthage (except those treacherous Greys), and the Governor being\nat the same time in Nauvoo disarming the Nauvoo Legion, looks like a\nvery deep plot for the murder of those two innocent prisoners. What\nmakes it still more apparent that the State was guilty of this foul\ndeed, is the fact that not one of those who were immediately connected\nwith the murder were ever convicted, while many of them roamed at\nlarge, although well known to the community as having taken part in the\nmurder, some even boasting of having participated in the vile act. One\nman in particular, who lived in what was known as Morley's settlement,\nnear Carthage, openly claimed to have helped in the massacre.\n\nWhile I was in St. George about two years ago I read from a record book\nthe following:\n\n\"Mr. Meradis Perry, a near neighbor of ours, was one of the mob who\nkilled Joseph Smith. He came home from Carthage sick and begged my\nfather to kill him; 'for,' said he, 'I can neither eat nor sleep. When\nI close my eyes I can see Joseph Smith before me; I am a miserable\nman.' My father told him that he was in the hands of the Lord, and he\nwould deal with him as seemed good onto himself; that Joseph was a true\nprophet sent of God, and his blood, with that of his brother, would\ncry from Carthage jail against his murderers as did Able's against his\nslayer. My father, James Bellows, lived near Morley's settlement.\"\n\nThe daughter of Jas. Bellows, who has the record named, vouches for the\nabove, having seen the mobber. She says he was a miserable human being.\n\nThe mob came from the woods, entered the stairway door, crowded\nupstairs, and commenced pressing in the door where the prisoners were\nconfined. They were unable to open the door for a while, when shots\nwere fired through the door. All was commotion and confusion. A ball\npassing through the door pierced Hyrum Smith on the side of his nose\njust below the eye, when he fell prostrate on the floor, exclaiming: \"I\nam a dead man.\"\n\nThe Prophet thought that by leaping from the window of the upper story\nwould attract the attention of the rabble and thus save the lives of\nhis friends. Willard Richards is to be seen looking from the window of\nthe prison upon the heart-rending scene without being able to render\nthe Prophet of God any assistance in his dying moments.\n\nIt is possible that while the martyr was holding on to the window sill\nhe received some of his wounds, before falling to the ground. As he\nreached the ground he cried out: \"O Lord, my God!\"\n\nEach received four balls. John Taylor and Willard Richards, two of the\nTwelve Apostles, were the only ones in the room at the time besides\nthe two martyrs. John Taylor was wounded severely with four balls, but\nafter much suffering he recovered, and lived a life of usefulness, and\nfinally presided over the Church, until his death. Willard Richards\nescaped without a hole in his robe, and died in peace in his Utah home\nmany years after.\n\nThus two of the most noble sons of God have sealed their testimony with\ntheir blood, and henceforth are numbered with those whom John saw under\nthe altar,--\"the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and\nfor the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice,\nsaying: How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge\nour blood on them that live on the earth? And white robes were given\nevery one of them: and it was said unto them, that they should rest for\na little season, until their fellow servants and their brethren, that\nshould be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.\"\n\nAs Jesus our Saviour was crucified and his disciples martyred, and not\none of their murderers ever brought to justice (only as God punished\nthem), so has it been in this enlightened age of the world with\nassassins who have been equally guilty.\n\nThe picture, although a sad one, is a true representation of the\ntragedy, and will never be forgotten by those who once behold it. Hyrum\nSmith was 44 years old in February, 1844, and Joseph Smith was Only 38\nin December, 1843. They were martyred on the 27th of June, 1844. The\nlate President John Taylor's watch was struck with a bullet while in\nhis pocket, and stopped between 4 and 5 o'clock.\n\nI first saw Joseph Smith in 1844 at my mother's house. It was late\nin the spring season. I also heard him bear his testimony many times\nwith a power that was not gainsaid by those who heard him testify with\nregard to the visions which he had been favored with. Some of his\nhearers said:\n\n\"Well, if it is true it will stand.\"\n\nWhen I heard the three witnesses testify to the coming forth of the\nBook of Mormon, and that they had in open daylight both seen and\nheard the voice of the angel, I knew their testimony was true. My\nfirst impression of Joseph nearly sixty years ago was that he was a\ntrue prophet, and I formed a love for him which increased with our\nacquaintance. I was with him in the state of Missouri during those\ntrying scenes until his imprisonment in Liberty jail, and subsequently\nin Illinois, and with the bereaved family and thousands of Latter-day\nSaints shed a tear over his remains as he lay silently in death's\nembrace. I took a last look at him in the Nauvoo Mansion in June, 1844.\n\nJoseph Bates Nobles stated to me that he was with the Prophet when he\nwas going voluntarily to give himself up to the pretended requirements\nof the law, on which occasion he said:\n\n\"I am going like a lamb to the slaughter, but I am calm as a summer's\nmorning; I have a conscience void of offence towards God and towards\nall men. I shall die innocent, and it shall yet be said of me--'He was\nmurdered in cold blood.'\"\n\nHyrum also knew of their doom, for on the morning just before leaving\nfor the murderous prison he turned down the leaf of the fifth chapter\nof the Book of Ether, which reads as follows:\n\n\"And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord that he would give\nunto the gentiles grace, that they might have charity. And it came to\npass that the Lord said unto me, if they have not charity, it mattereth\nnot unto you, thou hast been faithful; wherefore, thy garments are\nclean. And because thou hast seen thy weakness, thou shalt be made\nstrong, even to the sitting down in the place which I have prepared\nin the mansions of my father. And now I----bid farewell unto the\ngentiles; yea, and also until my brethren whom, I love, [and all who\nknew him well knew of his mercy and benevolence], until we shall meet\nbefore the judgment seat of Christ, where all men shall know that my\ngarments are not spotted with your blood.\"\n\nThey were innocent of crime, as had been proven many, many times.\nIt was a conspiracy of \"traitors and wicked men,\" and their blood,\nas I saw it on the floor of Carthage jail in 1844, soon after their\nmartyrdom, and again in 1888, is still there as a witness against the\nmurderers.\n\nThe jail is now transformed into a comfortable private residence, and\nis occupied by Mrs. Elizabeth Mathews Browning, her husband having\ndeeded it to her. Many years ago the county sold the premises to Mr.\nB. F. Patterson, subsequently he sold it to Mr. Jas. M. Browning, who\nin turn deeded it to his wife. While being shown around the premises,\nin its varied parts, by Mrs. Browning, we came to where the well\ncurb once stood, which is now substituted by a bed of lilies of the\nvalley, being assured that the spot will ever be held in remembrance.\nThe house has an addition of an east wing, and the rude fence has been\nremodeled into a nice picket fence. Just prior to leaving Carthage, the\nkind lady of the house took us up stairs, where the mob entered. We\nsaw the bullet hole through the door. Although repaired somewhat, we\nsaw where the bullet went that killed Hyrum. Other bullet marks were\nalso visible. Although the floor was carpeted, we were assured by Mrs.\nBrowning that the blood stain still remains, and cannot be washed away.\n\nAt the time of the Prophet's martyrdom, many marveled why Joseph was\ntaken away from the Church; but since that time we have learned that\nit must needs be that offenses come, but woe to them by whom they\ncome. God suffered his Son Jesus to be crucified. It was necessary\nto accomplish certain ends. Many have marveled because of his death,\nbut it was needful that he should seal his testimony with his blood,\nthat he might be honored and the wicked be condemned. When Mr. O.\nH. Browning, pleading for the Prophet, gave a recitation of what he\nhimself had seen at Quincy, Illinois, on the banks of the Mississippi\nRiver (when the Saints were expelled from Missouri), so sad were the\nscenes depicted that the spectators were moved into tears. Judge\nDouglass himself and most of the officers wept. In conclusion, Mr.\nBrowning said:\n\n\"Great God! have I not seen it? Yes, my eyes have beheld the\nblood-stained traces of innocent women and children in the drear\nwinter, who have traveled hundreds of miles barefoot, through frost\nand snow, to seek refuge from their savage pursuers. 'Twas a scene\nof horror sufficient to elicit sympathy from an adamantine heart.\nAnd shall this unfortunate man, whom their fury has seen proper to\nselect for sacrifice, be driven into such a savage land and none dare\nto enlist in the cause of justice? If there was no other voice under\nheaven ever to be heard in this cause, gladly would I stand alone\nand proudly spend my last breath in defense of an oppressed American\ncitizen.\"\n\nJudge Douglass dismissed Joseph on the 10th of June, 1841. Again in\nMay, 1843, he was kidnapped in Dixon, Ill., but before his enemies\nsucceeded in dragging him over the line into Missouri, he obtained the\naid of three lawyers, who finally secured his release on habeas corpus.\nWhile in custody, Mr. Reynolds of Missouri several times cocked his\npistol on Joseph, threatening to shoot. The latter bared his breast,\nsaying:\n\n\"Shoot away! I have endured so much I am weary of life; kill me, if you\nplease.\"\n\nAfter repeated failures to have him executed in a legal way, his\nenemies said:\n\n\"If we cannot reach him by law, powder and ball shall,\" which was at\nlast fulfilled at the well-curb at Carthage jail.\n\n\"Our Patriarch and Prophet, too, Were massacred; they bled To seal\ntheir testimony,--They were numbered with the dead, Ah, tell me, are\nthey sleeping? Me thinks I hear them say, 'Death's icy chains are\nbursting, 'Tis the Resurrection day!'\n\n* * * * * * * * * *\n\n\"Oh, wretched murd'rers, fierce for human blood!\nYou've slain the Prophets of the living God,\nWho've borne oppression from their early youth,\nTo plant on earth the principles of truth.\"","title":"Reminiscences of Joseph, the Prophet, and the Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":24855}