Show I 1 copy right gh t Secure S e cure a aj HISTORY OP OF yoseph JOSEPH SMITH april 1844 Saturday saturdays 6 conference met pursuant to adjournment journ ment present prest JOSEPH josepn SMITH HY S SMITH SIDNEY RIGDON and WM war MARKS of the twelve BRIGHAM YOUNG heber henek HF BER ner C WOOD gurr gurs JOHN TAYLOR and geore A SMITH the members of the high council an immense in number of elders and a very large concourse of people presidents joseph and hyrum smith came to the stand at a quarter past 10 when the meeting was called to order by elder brigham young youn the choir sung a hymn after which president joseph smith rose lo 10 state to the congre congregation atlon the nature of the business which would me have to come before them he stated that it had bad been expected by some that the aitt jitt little le petty difficulties which have existed would be brought up and invest investigated ted before C this conference but it will not be the case these things are of too trivial a nature to occupy cu y the attention of so large a b body ody I 1 intend ten to give you some instruction on n the principles of eternal ortruth of truth but will defer it until others have spoken in consequence of the weakness of my lungs the elders will give adu instruction and then if necessary I 1 will offer such corrections as may be proper to fill up the interstices those who feel desirous of a owing sowing the seeds of discord will be dis appoint appointed ed on this occasion it is our purpose to 10 build up and establish the principles of righteousness righteous nesa and not to break down and destroy the great jehovah has ever been with me and the wisdom of god will direct me in in the seventh hour I 1 feel in closer comi nunion runion and better standing with god than ever if I 1 felt feit elt eit before in my elifet life ilfe and I 1 am glad of this opportunity to appear in your midst I 1 thank god for the glorious day that he has given us in as large a congregation it is necessary that the greatest order and decorum be observed I 1 request quest this at your hands and believe that you will all keep good order prayer was offered by W W phelps after aich V the choir bung sung bung sung a hymn elder sidney riton ri rigdon xon ton then r rose ise ose and said it is with no ordinary degree of I 1 enjoy this privilege this morning kvant want of health and other circumstances have kept ept me in in silence for nearly the last five years it can hardly be expected that when the violence of sickness has used its influence and the seeds of disease have so long preyed upon moe toe that I 1 can rise before this congregation only in weakness I 1 am now come forth from a bed of sickness and have enough of strength left to appear here for tor the hirst first time in my true character I 1 have not come before a conference forthe for the last hive five years in my true character I 1 shall consider this important in privilege sacred in my family history during life ilfe I 1 hardly promise myself lungs to make this congregation hear me I 1 shall do the e best I 1 can and the greatest can do no more mote the circumstances by which we are now surrounded points out the principles of my discourse the history of this church which 1 I 1 have known from inq it infancy my text is behold the church of god of the jast days I 1 do db not know that I 1 can find it in the bible I 1 do not think it necessary to have paul paal to make a text for me 1 I can make a text for myself I 1 recollect in the year year 1830 I 1 met the whole church of christ in a little old log house bouse about 20 feet square near waterloo NY N Y and we began to talk about the kin kingdom kindom dom of god as if we had the world at our comand command we talked with great confidence and talked big things although we were not many people we had big feelings we knew 14 years agothar ago that the church would become as large as it is today to day we were as big then as as we shall ever be we began to talk like men in in authority and power we looked upon the men of the earth as grasshoppers if we did not see this people we saw by vision the church of god a thousand times larger and when men would come in they would say vre we wanted to upset the government although we were not enough enough to well man a farm or meet a woman w with th a milk pail all the elders all the members met in conference in a room 20 feet square I 1 recollect elder phelps being put in jail for reading the book of INI jyl mormon winon Vinon he he came to bee gea us and expressed great astonishment and left ua us apparently apparent pondering in his heart he afterwards came to kirtland ohio and said he was wae a convert many things were taught believed and preached then which have since come to pass pase we knew the whole world would laugh at lisp 1191 us so we concealed ourselves and there was much knuch excitement about our secret meetings charging ging us with designs against the government i and arid with laying plans lans ians to get money ae c which never existed in me heads beads of anyone else and if we had bad talked d in public we should have be teen been en ridiculed more than we ire were the world being leing leing entirely ignorant of the testimony mony many of the prophets ana and and without knowledge of what god was about to do treated tr all we we said with pretended contempt and much ridicule and had they lave have heard all we said it would have made warle it worse vors f for or us we talked about the people com coming i ng as doves davs I 1 to the windows that thal 1 all nations should flock unto it that they should come bending to the standard of jesus saying our fathers fathera have taught falsehood and thusa things in which there is no profit and of whole nations being born in one day we talked such bi big g things that men could not bear them and they not only ridiculed us for what we did say in public but threatened and inflicted much personal abuse and had bad they heard beard all we said their violence would have been insupportable god had great things to say for the we salvation of the world which if they had been told to the public would have brought persecution upon us unto d death eath so we were obliged to retire to our acre secret t chambers an i commune ourselves with god if we had bad told uie the people what our e eyes ea behold this day we should not have been te believed but the rascals would have shed our blood if we had only told them what we believed there we sat in secret and beheld the glorious visions and powers of the kingdom of heaven pass and repass we had not a mi mighty aty congregation congregation to shelter us if a mob came upon us we had ad to run and hide ourselves to save our lives the time has now come to tell why we held heid secret meetings we were maturing plans fourteen year years s ago which we can now tell were we maturing plans to corrupt the world to destroy the peace of society no let fur fourteen teen years experience of the church tell the story the church never would have been here it if w we had not done as we dia did in secret the cry of false prophet and imposter impostor rolled I 1 upon us u I 1 do not know that anything has taken place in the history of this church which we did not then believe belleve it was waa written upon our hearts an and d never could be taken away it wab waa indel indelibly itly engraved no power beneath yonder heavens could obliterate it this was the period when god laid the foundation of the church and he laid it firmly truly and upon eternal truth if any man says it is not the work of goj I 1 know they lie some of you who know you have a house how bow long would it take to make you reason yourself into a belief that you have no house where you now reside with your 0 f family ai V neither have we any power whereby why e jy we can cari ever persuade bursel ourselves v es that this is not the church of god we do not care who sinks or swims or opposes but we know here is the church of god and I 1 have hava authority before god for saying so I 1 have the testimony of je jebus jesus kus sus which is the spirit of prophecy I 1 have slept with it I 1 have walked with it the idea has never been out of my heart for a moment and I 1 will reap the glory of it when I 1 leave this thib world 1 defy men and hell and devils to put it out of my heart I 1 defy all and will triumph in alite of them I 1 know low god I 1 have gazed upon the glory elory of god the throne vision visions a and glories of god and the visions of eternity in days gone goner by what is a man of god to do when h he e a becs bees ees all the mad madness nessi wrath and follies of our persecutors he will do as god does he will sit and laugh one breath from the nostrils of god would blow them out of existence to hell these were the beginning of good days shut up in in a room eating nothing but bui bu dr dry J johnny 0 h n lly ily cake and buttermilk every man awo who ha had d a little barmor far mor clothes sold them and ted what he had bad among the rest and did the best they could I 1 had little to eat little to wea we araud ralla arand ratia yet it was war the beginning of good days some bay gay I 1 want plenty to eat plenty to drink plenty to wear and a good boube bouse to live ini in and aay say they then I 1 will believe but god w will ill lil not rot give it until you have proved yourselves to him no wonder then that we should be joyful today to day if the people will do as they are told I 1 will tell you what to do get the visions of heaven and seek no what you shall eat or what you shall drink but seek the will of god get aret into the presence of gad and ther will wilf h have oe ild johnny oh ady cake and milk and water no more would you not be astonished if even now we should tell the glories and the privileges of the saints of god to you and to the world we should be ridiculed and no wonder we shut it up in secret if we wre were to tell you when jehovah looked on lo 10 it ia is beauty it iti is steaven it 19 15 felicity to look on I 1 should marvel if it were we e otherwise if a man tells you one glary or one message he is learning another at the same sarae time do riot be astonished then if we even yet have secret meetings asking god for things 0 for your benefit do not be afraid go back to the commencement of this church and see what was concocted then there was no evil concocted when we first held secret meetings and it i 1 t ia is the same now has god forgotten to be gracious tobe to be merciful to mankind womankind did beever he ever concoct anything that was d devilish for mankind ile he could not do 0 it I 1 never am afraid of god or man concocting concoct ing anything to hurt me I 1 have faith to detect man even if he did I 1 would ask god to detect ct them and would bold khelu fast before ha he should sf louid do it I 1 am not afra afraid idof of menor men or devils I 1 have bave none of those feare feama jealousies dreads dr eads eadi forebodings ings inga ac I 1 nut put my trus trumfr in n god and whatever go god d does for foi me is only for my salvation A man mari is a bad teamster who ruas runs his tei tea team m inthe worst road and showed how much like the gospel what I 1 have already said i ie only to prepare the way here five of the tribe appeared with their interpreter and were assisted to the stand by the president I 1 at am going to tell teil of something that surprised me we at the beginning 0 of the church I 1 have handled heard beard seen and known things which I 1 have not yet told after the church began to grow row it was fa bored w with ith monstrous wise men they had so much wisdom that they could dispute what god said and what his ser servant vant said they were opposed to virtue they would say they had revelations and visions and were as certain that god had gi venit as I 1 was that the devil had bad ile he referred to the chi children ildren eldren of israel w who bo were snivelling sni velling and murmuring about abott their leeks and onions ac ac and so it is in these last days some men are always yelling about what the church believes and opposing every good thing I 1 want devils to gratify themselves and if howling yelling yelping will do you any good do it till you are all damned if calling us devils ac will do you any good let us have the whole of it and you can then go on your way to hell without a grunt gru nt we hear bear these things ever since the church existed they have come up with us they have had so much more wisdom they knew all about the ki kingdom n om before God revealed it and they know all ali a 11 things before they are heard they understand more than god knows we gather of all kinds if we get all nati nations 1 ons we get all wisdom all cunnin gand everything else the sectarians sect arians cannot be as wise as we vee are fortley for they have only got the plans of man for we have got mans plans the devils plan sand the bestif alewe have gods plan I 1 do not know whether Mf ether there are any of these wise men here this m morning 0 r nin I 1 have merely given riven ch i ven this thia ai as a part of the history h of this church r h I 1 am disposed to give some reasons why salvation only belongs belons belon 0 s to the kingdom of god and to that alone ilone I 1 will endeavor to show why salvation belongs beings to us more peculiarly in contra contri distine tion to all other bodies will this be clear enough I 1 discover one thing mankind have labored under one universal mistake about this viz salvation was distinct from government le that I 1 can build a church without government and that thing have power to save me when god sets up a system of salvation he sets tip ip a system of government when I 1 speak of a government I 1 mean what 11 I 1 say I 1 mean a government that shall rule oyer over temporal and spiritual affairs every man is a government of himself and infringe upon no government A man is not an honorable man if he i is s not above all law and above government I 1 see in our town we have need of government some study law oni only y for the fhe purpose ur p ose of seeing a e eing how bow many man feuds f e how ho w many broils bp r i 1 9 they th e y can lick kick up how much they can disturb the peace pe 1 ace of the public without breaking the law and then say 11 1 I know my rights and will have tham 1 11 1 I did not know it was the marshal or I 1 would not have done dona it he is no 66 gentl gentleman eman g gentlemen gentlemen ent lemen would not insult a poor man in i n the street but would bow bov to him as much as those who appear more respectable no marshal or any one else should pull me up ftp we ought to live a great way within the circle of the laws of the land I 1 would live far above all law the law of god is far more righteous than the laws of the land the laws of god are far above the laws of the land the kingdom of god does aws not interfere with the laws of the land but keeps itself by its own laws 21 ere cre reported by elder thomas bullock Bulloc kJ eider elder rigdon stopped to refresh himself the choir sun sung hymn elder lohn john taylor being bellg called upon to address the congregation saidy said sald it gives ives me pleasure to meet reet and associate with BO so large a e an assemblage of the saint saints a I 1 alway always s feel rg ee I 1 at home bome among the brethren I 1 consider them the honorable of the earth and it if I 1 can do an anything V thin to conduce to their happiness or that willin will in anywise tend to their edification I 1 am satisfied I 1 therefore address this congregation with cheerfulness and pleasure and if by unfolding atly any of the principles of truth that I 1 am in possession of or laying before you anything E pertaining to the kingdom if my ideas will enlarge arge your minds winds or produce beneficial results to any I 1 shall consider myself on this as on all other occasions amply re repaid a 1 ll 11 c v many |