Show 1 f copyright secured T LIFE OF JOSEPH SMITH 1 wednesday spent the day reading hebrew at the cou council acil room in cOn company Dany with say my scribe which gave me much satisfaction on ae t count of his recovering health for I 1 delight ilk ia his company thursday slat at home after attending to 1 the duties of my family retired to the council 1 room to pursue my studies the council of the twelve convened in the upper room in the printing office directly over the room where we were as assembled sem bled in oar our studies they sent for me an and d the presidency or a part of them to receive ceide counsel from us on the subject of ther I 1 council which is to be held on saturday next in the afternoon I 1 attended at the chapel to give directions concerning the upp upper er i rooms an and d more especially the west room which I 1 intend I 1 occupying for a translating room which aiu wul be prepared this week the be public mind has been excited of late by I 1 reports which have been circulated con concerning certain egyptian mummies and ancient records which ware purchased by certain gentlemen of kirtland last july it has haa been said that the purchasers of these antiquities pretend they have the body of abraham Abi avimelech melech the king of the philistines joseph who was sold into egypt agypt ac c ac c for or the ade purpose of attracting the attention of the multitude and gulling the unwary I 1 which is utterly false who these ancient inhabitants of egypt were I 1 do not at present say abraham was buried on his own possession on in tae cave of machpelah Mach in the tp field ceif of ephron the son of zohar the hittite which is is before mamre which he purchased of the sons of ileth heth avimelech Abi melech lived in in the same country and for aught we know died there and the children chil dien of israel carried josephs bones from egypt when they went out under moses consequently could not have been found in egypt in the nineteenth century the herec record oi of abraham and joseph found with the mummies is beautifully written on papyrus with black and a small part red ink or paint in in pei f feet act pre preservation ion the characters are su such ger as you you find upon the coffins of mummies hieroglyphics ac with many characters charnote s or letters like the present though though probably not quite so square form of the hebrew without points the records were obtained from one of the oat cat lacombs in egypt near the place where one once e stood the renowned city of thebes by the celebrated french traveler antonio lebolo in the year 1831 lie he procured license from mehemet ali then viceroy of egypt under the protection of chevalier drovetti the french co consul n in in the year 1828 and emp employed loved men I 1 four months and two days if I 1 understood correctly I 1 egyptian or turkish soldiers at from four to six cents per diem each man entered the catacomb june ath 1831 and obtained I 1 eleven mummies there were several hundred mummies mummies in the same catacomb about one hundred embalmed embalm ed after the first order and placed in niches and two or three hundred after the second and third order and laid upon the door or bottom of the th grand carity canty the two 1 bat orders of embalmed embalm ed were so decayed that abey could not be removed and only eleven of the first found in the niches on his way from alexandi ex andria ia to paris he put in at trieste and af f ter ten days dayd illness expired this was in the one year 1832 previous to his dece decease asep he made aill a will of the whole to mr michael H chandler chancier I 1 then ihen in philadelphia nephew whom he supposed suppo oed aed to have been in ireland accordingly 1 the whole were sent to dublin and mr chandler friends ordered them to now new york where they were received at the custom house hoase in the winter or spring of 1833 in april of the same year mr chandler paid the dalias and took possession of his mummies up to this time they had not been taken out of the coffins nor the coffins opened on opening 7 the coffins he discovered that in connection with two of the bodies were something rolled up with the same kind of linen saturated with the same bitumen which when examined proved to be two rolls of pa papyrus afler rua previously mention I 1 ed two or three other small pieces of pa papyrus with astronomical calculations epitaphs ac were found with others of the mummies mummies when mr chandler discovered that there was something with the mummies he supposed or h hoped OP od it might be some diamonds or valuable metal and was no little chagrined when he SAW his disappointment he was immediately told while yet in the custom house that there 1 i was no mazi man in that city who could translate his roll but was referred by the same gentleman a stranger to mr joseph smith junior who continued d he posse possesses ses some kind of power or gifts by which he had previously translated similar characters I 1 was then unknown to mr chandler neither did he know that such a book or work as the record of the Nep hites had been brauo brought ht before the public from new york he took his collection on to philadel P phia h aa w where here he obtained the certificate of the learned quee fee messenger and advocate page and from thence came on to kirtland as before related in july thus I 1 have given a I 1 brief history of the manner in which the writing of the fathers abraham and joseph have been preserved and how I 1 came in p possession of the same a correct translation of which I 1 shall give in its iti proper place I 1 to show the spirit of the public journals such as the philadelphia saturday courier new york daily advertiser Adver tizer sunday morning ino 11 news and the press genera generally ltv the past v vear e ar tow towards ards me and the cause of god which I 1 have fearlessly espoused I 1 quote the following as a specimen of the whole from M M noahs new york evening star I 1 1 H athen temple on lake erie I 1 that bold faced impostor joe smith of gold bible and mormon memory has caused hi h n 4 poor poo fanatic followers to erect on the shores of lake ake erie near Pain bainville ville ohio a stone building 58 by 78 feet with dormer windows de nominating the same the temple of the lord we should think this work of iniquity extorted out oat of the pockets oi or his dupes as it reflects its shadows over the blue lake would make the waters water crimson with shame at the prostitution restitution of its beautiful banks to such unhallowed galloped gall owed purposes ia thus much from M M N noah on h a jew few who had bad used all the influence in his power to dupe his bis fellow jews and make I 1 them believe that the new jerusalem for them was to be built on grand island whose banks are surrounded by the waters of the same lake i erie the lord reward him according to his I deeds 1836 friday morning january 1836 this being the beginning of a new year my heart is fined filled with gratitude to god that he has baa preserved ray my life and the lives of my family while another year has haa rolled away we have been sustained and upheld in thi the midst of a wicked and perverse oer veraa generation and exposed to all the afflictions temptations and misery 1 i I 1 that are incident to human life for which I 1 feel to humble myself in dust and ashes as it were before the lord but bat notwithstanding the garati agrati 1 I 1 ude tude that fills raj my heart on the past year and the multiplied blessings that have crowned our heads my heart is pained within m me e because of the difficulty that exists in mv my fathers family the devil has made a violent attack on my brother william and calvin stoddard and the powers of darkness darene s seem to lower over their minds and not only theirs but oases casts a gloomy shade over the minds of my brothers and sisters which prevents them from seeing things as they really arcand the powers of carthand eart hand hell seen seem combined to overthrow us and the church by causing a division in the famil family y and indeed the adversary is bringing into requisition tion all his subtlety to prevent the ain faints from bein being g endowed by causing a division among t the h is twelve also among the seventy and bicke rings and jealousies among the elders and official members of the church and so the leaven of iniquity ferments and spreads mong among the members of the church but I 1 am that t nothing on my X par swi shall he be lacking to adjust and amicably dispose of and settle all ail family difficulties on this day that the ensuing year and years be they few or many many ma may y be spent in righteousness before god and ad I 1 kow know that the cloud will burst and satans gatans kingdom be laid in ruins with all his black designs and the saints come forth like gold seven times tried in the fire being made perfect through sufferings and temptations and the blessings of heaven and earth multiply multiplied aed upon our heads beads which may god grant for christs sake amen brothers william and hyrum and uncle john smith came to my house and we went into a room by ourselves in company with father and elder martin harris father smith thon then opened our interview by prayer after which he expressed his feelings on the occasion irl in a very feeling and pathetic manner even with all the sympathy of a father whose feelings were deeply wounded on the account of the difficulty that was vas existing in the family and while he be addressed us the spirit of god rested down upon us in mighty 13 power and our hearts were melted brother william made an humble confession fes sion and asked my forgiveness for the abuse he had offered me and wherein I 1 had been out of the way I 1 asked hib bib forgiveness and the 8 spirit i ril it 0 of f ca confession and forgiveness was mutual TIM among ong us as all and we covenanted with each other in the sight of god and the holy i angels and the brethren to strive henceforward arward to build each other up in in righteousness in all things and not listen to evil reports concerning each other but like brethren indeed go to each other with our grievances in in the spirit of meekness and be reconciled and thereby promote our happiness and the happiness of the family and in short the happiness and well being of all my wife and mother and my scribe were then called in and we repeated the covenant to them that we had entered into and while gratitude swelled our bosoms tears flowed from our eyes eves I 1 was then requested to close our interview which I 1 did with prayer and it was trul truly y a jubilee and time of rejoicing in after which we all administered byl by laying abing aying on of hands to my cousin george A seii smith th who was ii immediately healed of a severe rh rheumatic affection all over the body which caused excruciating pain i saturday morning ad according to previous arrangement I 1 went to the council at 9 oc look this council was called to sit in judgment on a complaint preferred against brother william smith by orson johnson on the december the council organized and proceeded proceeded roce eded to tte business but before entering on the trial brother william arose and humbly confessed the charges preferred against him and asked the forgiveness of the council and the whole congregation gre gation A vote was then called to know whether his confession was satisfactory and whether the brethren would extend the hand band of fellowship again with cheerfulness the whole congregation raised their hands to receive hin him elder almon W babbit also confessed the charges which I 1 preferred against him in a previous council and was received into fellowship I 1 council voted that vincon knight and thomas grover should be ordained elder sand some other business was transacted in union and f fellowship and the best of feeling seemed to prevail among the brethren and our hearts were made glad on the occasion and there was joy in in heaven and my soul doth magnify 15 the lord for his and mercy e en dureth forever elijah fordham forshar a hyram y ram dayton samuel james and john herrot berrot were also appointed by council to be ordained elders under my hands bands sunday morning ad went to meeting at the usual hour president dent ri rigdon I 1 don delivered a fine lecture upon the subject 0 of f revelation in the I 1 I 1 afternoon I 1 conf confirmed irined ten or twelve persons who had been baptized among whom was malcham C davis who was baptized during intermission today to day brother william smith made his confession to the church to their satisfaction and was cordially received into fellow fellowship shi again the lords supper was wa administered Adminis administered and brother william gave ve out an appointment to preach in the evening evening I 1 at early candlelight candle light and preached a fine discourse and this day has been a day of rejoicing to me the cloud that has been hanging ha nging over a us s has burst with blessings on our heads and satan has been foiled in his attempts to destroy me and the church by causing jealousies to arise in the hearts of some of the brethren and I 1 thank my heavenly father faher for the union and harmony which 0 h now prevails in the church monday morning ath met and organized our hebrew school according to the arrangements that were mado made on saturday last as we had bad engaged doctor to teach us in the hebrew caged row language when we had our room prepared we inform informed ea him that we were ready I 1 and our room prepared and he agreed to wait I 1 on us this day and deliver his introductory lecture yesterday j he sent us word that he could not come until wednesday next a vote was then called to know whether we 6 aou would I 1 d 8 submit to such treatment or not and carried in the negative and elder sylvester smith appointed clerk to write him on the subject and inform him that his bis services were not wanted and elders wm E mcclellin Mc Lellin and orson hyde di dispatched at h to hudson seminary to hire a teas teacher er they were vere appointed by the voice of the school to act in in their behalf H however however w we e 00 concluded holud 0 d to go 0 on with our school and do the best we coald could until we obtain a teacher and by the voice of the school I 1 consented to render thim them all the assistance I 1 was able to for the time being we are mccu occupying the translating room for the use of t the he school choo until another room can be prepared this is the first day da v we h have a ve occupied it which is the west room in the up per part of the temple which was consecrated this morning by prayer offered up by father I 1 smith this is is a rainy rainy time and the roads are extremely muddy met this evening at t the he temple to make arrangements for a singing I 1 i school after some altercation a judicious ari j ran gement was made a committee of six wax was I 1 chosen to take charge of the singing depart i I 1 ment tuesday ath attended the hebrew school I 1 divided them into classes had some debate 1 with elder orson orion pratt concerning the pronunciation nuncia tion of a hebrew letter he manifested a stubborn spirit at which I 1 was much grieved wednesday ath attended school echo oll and a spent most moat of the forenoon forenoon 4 in settling the unpleasant I 1 feelings that existed in the breast of elder 0 pratt and after much controversy he confessed his fault for entering into any controversy concerning so small a matter as the sound of a hebrew letter and asked the forgiveness of the whole school and was cheerfully forgiven by all elder rewellin Re mcclellin Mc Lellin returned from hudson and reported to the school that he be had hired a teacher to teach us the term of seven weeks for three hundred and twenty dollars that is forty scholars for that arao aDt to cota commence mence in about fifteen days ile he is ia highly celebrated at a a hebrew scholar and proposes to give us |