Show I 1 copyright secured HISTORY OF JOSEPH SMITH f DECEMBER 1838 thursday far west agreeable to appointment the standing high council met when it was found that several were absent who some of them have had to flee for their lives therefore it being necessary that those vae vacancies ancis be filled the meeting was w as called for that purpose and also to express each others feelings respecting the word of the lord prest preset brigham young presiding the council was opened by prayer by elder kimball after prayer president young made aa a few remarks remais saying he thought it all important to have the council re organ aed and prepared to do business he advised the counselors to be wise and judicious in all their movements and not hasty in their transactions As for his faith it was the same game as ever and he fellow shipped all such each as loved the gospel of our lord and savior jesus christ christin in act as well as word elder kimball arose and said he felt as all formerly for he had endeavored to keep 1 I a straight forward course but wherein he had been out of tata th way in any manner he meant I 1 IN to mend in that thing and he was determined to do as much as possible as he would be done by and his faith was as goo good d as ever he was in fello fellowship p with all who wanted to do right simeon carter said as to his faith in the work it was the same as ever he did not think that joseph was a fallen prophet but he believed in every revelation that had come through him still he thought that perhaps joseph had not acted in all things according io to the best wisdom yet hoffar how far chehad he had been unwise unwise he could not say he did not think that josph joseph would be removed and another planted in in his stead but he believed he would still perform his work he was still determined to persevere and act in righteousness in all things so that he might at last gain a crown of glory glor ya and reign in in the kingdom of gud god jared carter responded with president brigham youngs feelings and wished still to walk with il the bret brethren diren thomas grover said he was firm in the faith and he believed the theotime time would come when n jo joseph eh would stand before kings ands and ap speak k ma mai marvelous velos words david D dorac art expressed his feelings in a similar manner levi jackman says his faith is the same banfe as ever and he has confidence in brother joseph as ever a 1 solomon hancock says he is a firm boa believer in the book of mormon and doctrine and covenants and that brother joseph is not a fallen prophet but will yet be exalted and become very high john badger says his confidence in the work is the same as ever and his faith if possible is stronger than ever he believes that it was nece necessary that these scourges urges should come george W harris says that as it respects the scourges urges which have come upon us that the hand of god was in it ac samuel bent says that his f faith aith is at as ever and that he feels to praise god in prisons and in dungeons and in in all circumstances after some consultation it was thought I 1 expedient to nominate high priests to fill the vacancies vacancies the council was organized as follows simeon carter no 1 jared carter 2 thomas grover 3 david dort 4 levi jackman 5 solomon hancock 6 john badger 7 john Nl murdock 8 john E page 9 george W harris 10 john taylor 11 samuel bent 12 voted that john murdock fill the vacancy of john P green no 4 and david D dort ott the he pla place ce 0 of I 1 elias higbee no 11 and john B badger de d e t the he pl place e of george morey no 7 and lym lyman a S sherman h rm the place of newell A knight until he returns council adjourned until friday evening 6 closed in in prayer by president young E ROBINSON clerk isaac russell w who ho had become connected with a small camp of the saints of about thirty families going west turned from his course at louisiana and led them north ten miles on the spanish claims where they built huts or lived in tents through the win ter in great suffering russell turned prophet apostate said joseph had fallen and he WAS appointed to tole ie id the people chandler rogers who was moving west was met by a mob at huntsville arid and compelled to turn back and fell in with Russ elPs ca camp aa russell said he was the chosen of the lord lo 10 r d and when they left that place they would have to go on foot and take nothing with them and they must maist sell their teams ac some would not sell and he on cursed r 10 them sunday 16 I 1 wrote the f ollo wint ater liberty jail missouri dec 1838 to the church of jesus christ of latter day saints in caldwell county and all the saints who are scattered abroad who are persecuted and made desolate and who are afflicted in divers manners for christs sake and the gospels by the hands of a cruel mob and the tyrannical disposition of the authorities of this state and whose perils are greatly augmented by the wickedness and corruption of false brethren may grace mercy and the peace of god be and abide with you and notwithstanding all your sufferings we assure you that yo you have our prayers and fervent desires for your welfare day and night we believe that that god who seeth us in this solitary place will hear our prayers and reward you openly know assuredly dear brethren that it is for the testimony of jesus that we are in bonds and in prison but we say unto you that we consider that our condition is better notwithstanding our sufferings than those who have persecuted us and smitten us and borne false witness against us and we most assuredly believe that those who do bear false witness against us do seem to have a great triumph over us for the present but we want you to remember haman and mordecai you know that human haman could not be satisfied so iono long as he saw mordecai Morde eai at the kings gate aa and he sought the life of mordecai and the people of the jews but the lord so ordered it that haman was hanged upon his own gallows so sis shall it come to pass with poor haman in the last days those who have sought by unbelief and wickedness and by the principle of to destroy us and the people of god by killing and scattering them abroad and wilfully and maliciously delivering us into the hands of murderers desiring us to be put to death thereby having us dragged about in chains and cast into prison and for what cause it is b because cause we were honest men and were determined to defend the lives of the saints at the expense of our own I 1 say unto you van that those who have thus thu 8 vilely treated us like haman hainan shall be hanged upon their own gallows or in other words shall fall into their own gin and snare and ditch and trap which they have prepared for us and shall go backwards and stumble and fall and their name shall be blotted out and god shall reward them according to all their abominations dear brethren do not think that our I 1 hearts faint as though some strange thing thi I 1 had happened unto us for we have seen an and been assured of all these things beforehand and have an assurance of a better hope than that of our persecutors therefore god hath bath made broad our shoulders for the burden we glory in our tribulation because we know that god is with us that he is our friend an and d that he will save our souls we do not abt care caie for them that can kill the body they cannot harm ham our souls we ask no favors at the hands handi of mobs nor of the tha world nor of the devil nor of his emmis saries the dissenters and abd those who love and make and swear falsehoods to take away our mee lives I 1 we have never dissembled nor will we for the sake of our lives forasmuch then as we know that we have been endeavoring with all our minds and strength to do the will of god and all things whatsoever he has commanded via us and as to our light speeches which may have escaped our lips from time to time they have nothing to do with the fixed purposes of our hearts therefore it ceth eth us to say that our oar souls were vexed from day to day we refer you to isaiah who considers those who make a man an offender for a word and lay a snare fo for r him that re in the gate we believe that the old prophet verily told the truth and wo we have no retraction a action to make we have reproved proved in the gate and men have laid snares for or us we have spoken words and men have made us offenders and notwithstanding ng all this our minds are not yet darkened but feel strong in the lord but behold the word the savior if the lio light I 1 ht which is in you become darkness behold how great is that darkness look at the dissenters again if you were ot of the world the world would love its own look at mr hinkle a 0 wolf in cheeps clothing look at his brother john corrill borrill rill look LOA at the beloved brother reed peck who aided him in leading us as the savior was led into the camp as a lamb prepared for the slaughter as a sheep dumb before his so we opened not our mouths but bat these men like balaam being greedy for reward sold us into the hands of those who loved them for the world loves his own I 1 would remember william E Mu Lellin who comes up to us as one of jobs comforters god suffered such kind of beings to afflict job but it never entered into their hearts that job would get out of it all this poor man who professes to be much of a prophet i has no other dumb ass to ride but david whitmer to forbid his madness when he goes up to curse israel and this ass not being in of the same kind as balsams Bala ams therefore the angel notwithstanding appeared unto him yet he could not penetrate his understanding sufficiently so but what he be brays out curlings cur sings instead of blessings poor ass whoever lives to see it will see him and his rider perish like those who perished in the gainsaying of korah or after the same condemnation or now as for these and the rest of their company we will not presume to say that the world loves them but we presume to sy say they love the world and we classify them in in the error of balaam and in the gain sayings of korah and with the company of korah dathan and abiram perhaps our brethren may say because we thus write that we are offended at these characters if we are it is not for a word neither because they reproved in the gate but because they have been the means of shedding innocent blood are they not murderers then at heart are not their consciences seared as with a hot iron we confess that we are offended but the savior said it must needs be that of offe fences rices come but wo unto them by whom they come and again blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake rejoice and be e exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the prophets which were before y you 0 U 31 now dear brethren if any men ever had reason to claim this promise we are the men for we know that the world not only hates us but they speak all manner of evil of us falsely for no other reason than that we have been endeavoring to teach the f fullness ull of the gospel of jesus christ after we were bartered away by hinkle and were taken into the militia camp we had all the evidence we could have asked for that the world hated us if there were priests among them of all the different s sects ats they hated us and that most cordially too if there were generals they hated us if there were colonels they hated us and the soldiers and officers of every kind hated us and the most profane blasphemous and drunkards and whoremongers hated us they all hated us most cordially and now what did they hate us for purely because of the testimony of jesus christ was it because we were liars we know that it has been reported by some but it has bas been reported falsely was it because we have committed treason against the government in daviess county coun pr of burglary or of larceny or of arson or any other unlawful act in daviess county we know that priests and certain lawyers and certain j judges adges who are the instigators adders and abettors abet tors of a certain gang of murderers and robbers who have been carrying on a scheme of to uphold their raft ag against dinst the saints of the last days for a number of years and have tried by a well contemplated contemplate a and premeditated scheme to put down by physical power a system of religion that all the world by their mutual attainments and by an any fair means whatever were not able to resist hence robbers were encouraged by priests and levites by the pharisees Pharis ees sadducees and Esse essences nees and Herod Her odiana ians and the most worthless abandoned and debauched lawless and in inhuman haman and the most beastly set of men that the earth can boast of and indeed a parallel cannot be found any where else to gather together to steal to plunder to starve and to exterminate and burn the houses of the mormons cormons Mor mons these are characters that by their treasonable and overt acts have desolated and laid waste daviess county these are the characters that would fain make all the world believe that we are guilty of the above named acts but they represent us falsely we stood in our own defence and vie we believe that no man of us acted only in a justa lawful and a righteous retaliation against such marauders we say unto you that we have not committed treason nor any other unlawful act in daviess county was it for murder in ray county against mob militia who was a wolf in the first instance hide and hair teeth lega lees and tail who afterwards put on a militia sheepskin sheep skin with the wool on who can sally forth in the day time into the flock and snarl and show abow his teeth and scatter and devour the flock and satia satiate te himself upon his prey and then sneak back into the bramble in order that he might conceal himself in his well tried skin with the wool on we are well aware that there is a certain set of priests and satellites and robbers mob bers that would fain make all the world believe that we ere are the dogs doge that barked at this thia I 1 howling wolf that made such havoc anion among the sheep who when he retreated h howled wl ea and bleated bleared at such a desperate rate that if one could have been there hev he would have thought that all the wolves whether wrapped up in sheep skins or in goat skins or in any other skins and in fine all the beasts of the forest were awfully alarmed and catching the scent of innocent blood they sallied forth with one tremendous howl and bryin crying I 1 of all sorts and such a howling and such a tremendous havoc never was known such a piece of inhumanity and relentless cruelty and barbarity cannot bo be found in all the annals of hist history orv these are the characters that would make 1 the world believe that we had committed I 1 I 1 mur derby making making r an attack upon this howling I 1 wolf while we were at home and in our beds and asleep and knew nothing of that transaction any more than we know what is going on in china while we are within these walls therefore we say again unto you we are innocent of these things fhil 8 and they have re represented P us falsely was it for co committing ru adultery we are aware that false slander has gone abroad for it has been reiterated in our ears these are falsehoods also renegade mormon dissenters are running through the world and spreading various foul and libelous reports against us thinking thereby to gain gain the friendship of the world because they know that we are not of the world and that the world hates us therefore they make a tool of these fellows by them try to do all the injury they can and after that they hate them worse than they do us because they find them to be base traitors and sycophants such characters god hates we cannot love them the world hates them and we sometimes think that the devil ought to be ashamed of them we have 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