Show DISCOURSE ll 11 by eider elder george A smith bowery eunicy 2 k V REPORTED BY J T V L ONG j I 1 suppose that my cay brethren and sisters are acquainted quain ted with george A and whenever ho presents himself in the presence odthe saints and attempts to entertain them or amuse them with his chin music they expect that he will say something f funny unna I 1 have been interested today to day very much in listening to the instructions instruct lons ions of br elias and br kimball and the president I 1 have been interested amused and instructed and I 1 may sa say chas bened and reproved perhaps all at the s ame same 1 time and I 1 hope that the instructions of the forenoon will be of lasting benefit to me lif in every part i of the territory and in every other place where I 1 have been I 1 have taken a good deal of pleasure in endeavoring to talk to the people to preach to them but whenever wb enever I 1 have hava been in G 3 L J city I 1 have felt dis disposed ased to listen and to take counsel from may ray braren brethren and I 1 have felt that thera there were many others whose appe appearance aranci io ia d od dressing the saints w ou be much more mo e acceptable ar and and ard d hen ben hence e I 1 have felt to hold my dongue my father late patriarch john smith was the sixth son of asahel smith and was born in new hampshire joseph smith the father of tile the prophet and second son of asahel was born in topsfield Tops field massachusetts the second asanet smith the father of elias ellas who addressed you this forenoon was the third son of my grandfather I 1 merely name this fact because as br kimi ball and br youn young remarked so very few of that family have been valiant for the truth there are but few comparatively of their numerous pos that have been valiant for the truth after the tha family of joseph smith senior was destroyed there were but few left to stand up for the truth of the gospel of all that numerous family my tuy fathers elder brother was the father of a numerous posterity and was a bitter enemy to the truth and his descendants remain so to the present time the only remaining brother of the prophet william has done all that he be could do all that was in his power I 1 may say from the time of the prophets death to annihilate and destroy the principles which the prophet taught to the nations of the earth my mv uncle silas smith iio ilo lie the fourth son afasa of asa be tel died aled on his way to missouri or rather on his return from there behig being driven from that state iry iff 1839 in pike county count illinois he had been in the church some years and had been faithful asahel smith the father of elias was a man of an extraordinary retentive memory and possessed posses pd fa a great knowledge of the bible so much so that he be could read it as well without the book as with it and after he embraced mormonism nobody could oppose him successfully for all their objections were answered from the bible immediately giving chapter and verse he died on his awas way to the valley in the state of iowa in 1848 he was a patriarch in the church and bore a faithful testimony to the truth of my grandfathers family there is lint but one living an old my lady by thenamae the name of waller residing in in the city of new york and she is 90 years of age and remembers all that has transpired during the last eighty years just as well as if irit it had all ali just occurred I 1 visited her when I 1 wag was a s last back there and in talking with me she would speak of things that had bad transpired many years cacleas back as though they had occurred within a year she is sanguine jn in relation to the truth of mormonism althof although h ae he has never embraced it and to use the la language guage af of her son on she preaches it all the time my grandfather asahel asabel smith heard of the coming forth of the book of mormon and he said it was ti true us for he ilg knew that something would turn up in his hb family that would revolutionize the world the news came to us in 1828 we then tilen lived in i n new york the four brothers were there asahel silas jesse and john the old man my grandfather living with them we received the news that some place had bad been discovered disco vereil containing plates of gold the old ola man ban as I 1 remarked said that it was true although his oldest son felt disposed to ridicule it lie he lived till the book of mormon was brought to him and died when lie lle helian had bad read it about half through being 87 years of age the c congregation ondre g galion will excuse moe roe for fon naming thia this but I 1 wa was so disgusted with the tiie conduct of of I 1 william that when I 1 was in the tile eastern states I 1 almost tool took pains to obliterate the fact from the ibe earth that my name was smith for I 1 con it was the worst thing a man could do id to endeavor to build himself up on the merits of others and I 1 feel so yet and for cousin william to go and ende endeavor ator to pull down the work of his brother I 1 feel that he has bas disgraced the family and the name I 1 have never suffered one single exertion to be omitted on my part that would in any way tend end to sustain the principles and doctrines of the holy gospel and aid in the development of the holy priesthood which god has revealed I 1 have endeavored d deavo dearo red all the time to preserve as perfect a his tory lory of the prophet and those connected with him bim from the organization of the Chur cli cil to the present time as I 1 possibly could the saints could have carried william upon spon their shoulders they could have have carried him in in their arms and have done any thing for him hi m i if be would hare have laid aside his ani fo follies lies lles and wickedness and have done r right ht it is like the jatin latin figure figu rebut but I 1 beg g your pardon I 1 rieter never neter studied latin but suffice ce it to say the husbandman found a rattlesnake cold and frozen and lie he took it and he put it in his bis bosom bosora and kept it there till it was warm and then the snake coiled about the husbandmen husbandman and destroyed his life this was waa the conduct of if william smith in the days of joseph and afterwards up to the present time the principle that a man roan should stand up on in this world ie is simply this he should do right himself and thereby set an example to others put rut for a L noan roan to have bave good blood in his wis veins veins and then to go and disgrace that blood is perhaps a double responsibility if we descended from abraham or from joseph or from arly any other virtuous i good upright apri ht man mar and we do not riot emulate his bis deeds and frow follow his bis example the greater will be our shame when I 1 was about eleven years old my grandfather received letters containing the news that joseph of uncle joseph had discovered by the revelations of the almighty some gold plates and that these gold plates contained a record of great worth it was generally ridiculed and laughed laugh edat at A short time after this another letter came written by y joseph ose him himself and this letter bore testimony of f the wickedness and the fallen condition of the chriatian christian world my father read the letter and J well the remark he made about it 4 why he lie he writes ue like a prophet some time io in august 1830 my uncle jospph joseph ph j smith idith and lind don carlos smith came some two hundred and fifty miles from where the prophet I 1 was residing in ontario county mew kw york and j I 1 they brought a book of mormon with wilb hem them I 1 ij llad tad never lever seen them before aria I 1 gif git elf astonished j it their sayings un uncle ase joseph and don von carlos carios were er e anxious acx 0 sto to get to stockholm to see grandfather accordingly they them started and my father went to carry them I 1 and my mother spent the whole of saturday all day sunday and sunday night in reading the book of mormon and I 1 believe I 1 teada read and studied it more moie then than I 1 have ever done si since nce nee I 1 studied it attentively and rennei penned down what I 1 considered to be serious objections although I 1 was but thirteen years of age yet I 1 cons considered dered the objections I 1 had lad discovered to be sufficient to overthrow it about five in the evening the neighbors came in and wanted to see the bool booe book they took hold of the book and some of them were probes religion and they b began gan to raise their objections fault with and ridicule the book and there was no no one to defend it so I 1 thought I 1 would try I 1 commenced to argue in favor of the book and answered one objection after another until I 1 came off victoriously and got the compliment of being a very smart boy no one br brought 0 aught the objections to the book that I 1 had bad mine were geographical objections I 1 had studied geography a few weeks but that few weeks deal about it itis like a man that studies the hebrew language an he has haa to drink deep before he an do much much with it and I 1 thought I 1 could confound them ina lna in a few days I 1 sap saw saw my uncle and talked with him and in about half an hour all my learned objections to the book of mormon were dispensed with and I 1 found myself in tile the same position as my neighbors and abd from that day to this I 1 have havo been an advocate of the book of mormon and have never suffered it to be slandered lar lai dered against a amt without saying something in its favor with one exception an and then I 1 said something 1 I had been the favorite of my uncle jesse and he be was a religious man a covenanter and 1 I thought what be he did not know was not worth knowing ile he came but with all hi his s strength th against it and exerted the most cruel tyranny over his family prohibited my uncle joseph from talking in his house and threatened to hew bew down with hig his broad axe any who would dare to preach such nonsense in ill his I 1 went lo 10 visit him and he abused me because I 1 had bad become favorable and because uncle joseph bad a private conversation with me I 1 had always treated him with the greatest respect and entertained a very high opinion of or him he was a man of good education aduca kioh and had considerable display and being the elder eider of the family he naturally elicited fr from 0 m us more or less res respect peca cf finall finally in conversation upon various subjects land Tand he turned turne and talked about that private conversation and he said joe dare not talk in my presence then says he the fabe devil never shut my div mouth 1 I 1 replied perhaps he opened it uncle I 1 thought I 1 should have ave lost my identity he gave me to the devil instanter I 1 went and told uncle asahel what had transpired and the old gentleman laughed and I 1 then went to see uncle silas and told him and be said li if old men begin to talk with boys they must take boys play and from that day to the present if I 1 have said anything I 1 have said what I 1 have thought dining dm ing the fall of 1830 a gentleman who li lived ed in in our neighborhood went to western new york and saw the he prophet got baptized and ordained an elder and that was elder solomon humphrey very few tew knew the ike old gentleman he lied died in in missouri in 1035 1 he was a very faithful man previous to joining joining the church he lie was a baptist exhorter he came back to our place of residence in company with a man named wakefield who is named in the book of doctrine and cove ants they caine calne came and preached and baptized for lie remission of sins I 1 had been beeh raised and my mother was a very very verv pious woman the reverend elijah lyman her uncle who lived in brookfield vermont was tile the standard of religion reli rell gion glon in that country and he had bestowed upon ii on her the greatest care hat that her reli rell be of the best kind and of course I 1 had a great 9 reat deal of this religion in mei me which I 1 had learned from her I 1 wanted to know what I 1 should do to be saved aved so I 1 went to a presbyterian revival meeting ae I 1 n to t lafter 0 get et religion that I 1 might be prepared to join the latter latten day saints or mormons cormons Mor mons as they are termed at the thi time lime my father was sick with the consumption and given up to die I 1 had a herd of cattle to take care of or but notwithstanding my numerous duties I 1 went to the protracted meeting aad and took a load of persons with me I 1 carried them there and brought them back avery every lay day they had a fashion of f religion ion ioa that I 1 had never heard 0 of and ii if was one that was not known k in in the days dars of the apostles and even john wesley nor any of the old reformer reformers had not got such a thing thin into their heads beads that that thai of converting convert ilag g souls by machinery the rhe process was like this th is all who desired to be prayed to take certain seats and then I 1 one of the ministers preached to them and depicted the miseries of hell and the he duration of ebern 1 ly A nen inose people were taken to a praying establishment where praying was carried on oil night and day then after a certain tune hey they were brought back and preached to again the he minis ministers keeping before their eyes tile the untold mi mise se of hell and the duration of eternity when the ministers got them to feel anxious anxious they would sing with them and then pray again when a man by this process was declared to be converted then i he was required to get up and formally renounce nce the world the flesh and the devil 1 and to tell his experience this was about the he process proc essl m iii ici near as i 1 can recollect I 1 did not 9 go 0 to the anxious seat myself in self seif for I 1 was not yet under conviction during this time of going to the protracted meeting I 1 had haa fire wood to cut my sick father to attend to and to take care of our stock but I 1 still I 1 endeavored to 6 attend meeting meetings si partly to accommodate my friends and partly because I 1 de aired sired to be bp present subject to fo these thele cir t was und under udder erthe the peces necessity sity of ol retta ing mg i home h ome every evening and hence 1 could not stay as late as many of them while at the piotr protracted acted meeting bm however I 1 had the satisfaction of hearing some of my own comrades who had bad got converted formally re bounce the world the flesh and the devil and promise henceforth to io be christians in the midst of all this y you ou may depend upon it that if ewt ever a poor soul asked god to show him the way of life I 1 did and that too with all my might mind and strength I 1 could not be a hypocrite and to lay say I 1 was afraid of damnation when I 1 had no fear of it at all that was what I 1 could not do I 1 always had the credit of being the greatest coward in the family and hence the others used to take pleasure in ridiculing what they termed my cowardice it is also well known that whenever there has been any thing the matter in the shape of indian difficulties I 1 have had bad the character of belh being the greatest coward in in the country especially in in the southern martof part of this territory and yet I 1 was not afraid of hell when all its mis miseries edes were painted 1 before my eyes neither would J say that I 1 was under conviction was not this thia meeting was a great one and the progress made in converting souls was also great and they made hell look so so terrible to nearly all present that they burnt out and frightened about aili alit the sinners in the place except myself atone at one time they had bad two hundred sinners un une uni der conviction and such crying groaning sighing and lamentation for sins anever heard beard either before or since they were so forcible and terrific that they are indelibly written upon my memory I 1 soon hoori found myself alone |