Show I 1 copyright secured HISTORY OF JOSEPH SMITH 1840 ato thursday ath I 1 had previously preached in washington and one of my sermons I 1 find re ported in synopsis by a member of congress I 1 which I 1 will insert entire washington ath february 1840 my dear mary I 1 went last evening to hear joe smith the he celebrated mormon expound his doctrine I 1 with several others had a desire to understand his tenets as explained by himself he is not an educated man but he is a plain sensible strong minded man everything he says is said in a manner to leave an impression that he is sincere I 1 there is no levity no fanaticism fanata cism no want of dignity in his deportment he is apparently from forty to forty five years of age rather above the middle stature and what you ladies would call a very good looking man in his garb there are no peculiarities his dress being that of a plain unpretending pretending citizen he is by profession a farmer but is is evidently evidently well read he commenced by saying that he knew the prejudices which were abroad in the world against him but requested us to pay no respect to the rumors which were in circulation respecting him or his doctrines he was accompanied by three or four of his bis followers he said 1 I will state to you our belief so for far as time will permit ibe I 1 be fieve said he that there is a god possessing all the attributes ascribed to him by all christians of all denominations that he reigns over all things in heaven and on earth and that all are subject to his power he then spoke rationally of the at tributes of divinity such as foreknowledge mercy ac ac he then took up the bible I 1 believe said he in this sacred volume in it the mormon faith is to be found we teach nothing but what the bible teaches we believe nothing I 1 ng but what Is to be found in this book I 1 be fieve in the fall of man as recorded in the bible I 1 believe that god foreknow fore knew everything but did di not foreordain everything I 1 deny that foreordain and foreknow is the same thing he foreordain ed the fall fail of man but all merci merciful fial as he is he foreordained fore ordained at the same time a plan of redemption for all mankind I 1 believe in the divinity of jesus christ and that he died for the sins of all men who in adam had fallen he then enter ed into some details the result of which tended to show his bis total unbelief of what is termed original orl orli i al sin he believes that it is washed away by the blood of christ and that it no longer exists asa As a necessary consee consequence nonce he believes that we are all born pure and undefiled dented un that all children dying at an early age say eight years not knowing in good from evil were incapable of sinning and t that but all such assuredly go to heaven I 1 believe said he that man is a moral responsible free agent that altho alt hoit it was foreordained fore ordained he should fall and be redeemed yet after the redemption it was not foreordained fore ordained that he should again sin in the bible a rule of conduct is laid down for him in the old and new testaments the law by which he is to be governed may be found if he violates that law he is to be punished for the deeds done iu in the body I 1 believe that god is eternal that he had no beginning and can have no end eternity means that which is without beginning or end I 1 believe that the soul is obern eternal it had no beginning it can have no end here he entered into some explanations which were so brief that I 1 could not perfectly comprehend him but the idea seemed to be that the soul of man the spirit had existed from eternity in the bosom of divinity and so far as he was w intelligible to me must ultimately return from whence it come came he said very little of rewards and punishments but one conclusion from what he did say was irresistible he contended throughout that everything which had a beginning must have an ending and an consequently if the punishment of man commenced in the next world it must according to his logic and belief have an end during the whole of his address and it occupied more than two hours there was as no opinion or belief that he be expressed that was waa calculated in the slightest degrees degree to impair the morals of society or in any manner to degrade and brutalize the human species there was much in his precepts precept st if they were followed that would soften the asper aties of man towards man and that would tend to make him a more rational being than he is generally found to be there was no violence no fury no denunciation his religion appears to I 1 be the religion of meekness lowliness and mild persuasion towards the close of liis his address he remarked that lie had been represented as pretending to be a savior a worker of mirac miracles lea ac all this was I 1 i false he made no such pretensions he was but a man hr ho said a plain untutored man seek I 1 ing what he should do to be saved he performed no iw miracles he did not pretend to possess any such power he closed by referring to the mormon bible which he said contained nothing inconsistent or conflicting with the christian bible and he again repeated that all who would follow the precepts of the bible whether mormon or not would assuredly be saved throughout his whole address he displayed strongly a spirit of charity and forbearance the mormon bible he said was communicated to him direct from reaven heaven if there was such a thing on earth as the author of it then he smith was the author but the idea that he wished to impress was that lie he had penned it as dictated by god I 1 have taken some pains to explain tin this s mans belief as he himself explained it I 1 have done so because it might satisfy your curiosity and might be interesting to you and some of your friends 7 have my opinion of the mormons cormons Mor mons they are an injured and much abused people of matters of faith you know I 1 express no opinion I 1 have only room to add let william if you cannot do it ac acknowledge knowledg re the receipt of this with the enclosure remember me to sarah aud and the boys boy kiss kisa the dear baby for me affection 1 abely your husband M L DAVIS DATES I 1 omitted to say lie he does riot not believe in infant baptism sprinkling but in immersion after eight years of age to mrs matthew L davis henry street new york during my stay I 1 had an interview with martin van buren the president who treated me very insolently and it was with great reluctance he listened to our message which when he had heard he said gentlemen YOUR CAUSE is JUST BUT I 1 CAN CAM DO NOTHING FOR FOIL YOU and if I 1 take up for you I 1 shall lose the vote of STis his whole course went to show that he was an office seeker that self aggrandizement was his ruling passion and that justice jand righteousness were no part of his position 1 found him such a man as I 1 could not conscientiously sup at the head of our noble republic I 1 also eort ad an interview with mr john C calhound Calhou Cal honn nj i whose conduct towards me very ill became his station I 1 became satisfied there was little use for me to tarry to press the just claims of the saints on the protection of the president or congress and staid but a few days taking passage in company with rockwell and foster on the railroad and stages back to dayton ohio friday ath high council at montrose voted to all brethren who should persist in keeping tippling shops in that branch of the church sunday elder eider young tarried at elder pratts 58 mott street N Y and elder kimball arrived there this morning thursday soth judge higbee I 1 left at washington and he wrote me as follows 16 washington city february 1840 dear brother r have just returned from the commit tee room wherein I 1 spoke about one hour and a half there were but three of the committee present for which I 1 am very sorry I 1 think they will be obliged to acknowledge the justice of our cause they paid good attention and I 1 think my remarks were well received it was a special meet meeting ing appointed to hear me by my request the missouri senators and representatives were invited to attend dr linn and mr jamieson attended and god gave me courage so that I 1 was not intimidated by them dr linn I 1 thought felt a little uneasy at times but manifested a much better spirit afterwards than mr jamieson I 1 told them firstly that I 1 represented a suffering people who had bad been bee together jitu myself of their rights in missouri who numbered something like fifteen thousand souls and not only they but many others were deprived of the rights guaranteed to them by the Constitution of the united states at least the amount of one hundred and fifty thousand free born citizens are deprived the enjoyment n i 0 y an e nt of citizenship in each or every state that t h t we W had no ingress in the state of missouri nor could any of us have only at the expense of our lives and this by the order of the executive I 1 then took their own declaration of the cause of our expulsion referred them to P P pratts pamphlet which I 1 held in my hand then showed that the first accusation therein contained was on account of our religious tenets feneis furthermore that the others were utterly groundless I 1 went on to prove that the whole persecution tion from beginning to end was gro grounded on our religious faith for evidence of this I 1 referred them to porter Rock wells testimony and P powells I 1 stated that there was abundant testimony to prove this to be a fact among the documents I 1 then gave e a brief history of the persecutions from the first t settlement in the state to our final expulsion I 1 also stated that the society were industrious inoffensive and innocent of crime had the times and seasons from which I 1 read governor lucas letter to alanson ripley balso I 1 also referred to judge youngs letter from pike county the clerks and others respecting our character in their section of country I 1 gave them some hints of the haunts hauns mill massacre and the murder of the two little boys but referred them more particularly to the documents for information concerning those things and furthermore that I 1 had not come here to instruct them in what they were to do in the case but to present them with the facts having all confidence in this honorable body the congress believing them to be honorable men I 1 demanded from them a restitution of all our rights and privileges as citizens of the united states and damages for all the losses we had susi suei bained iu in consequence of our persecutions and expulsion from the state and told them we could have recourse no where else on earth that I 1 knew of that we could not sue an army of soldiers neither could we go into the state to sue any one else I 1 told them that I 1 knew not how far congress had jurisdiction in this case or how far they had not but as far as they had bad we claimed the exercise of it for foi our relief for we were an injured people these and some others were the principle subjects of my speech after which mr jamieson said he was once in the mormons cormons Mor mons favor but afterwards ter wards learned that it was impossible to live among them for they stole their neighbors hogs and there being so eo much testimony he believed it ac ac I 1 f replied something like this making statements was one tiling thing and proving them was another mr linn then said he wished me to answer one thing viz if the legislature of missouri did not refuse to investigate the subject of our difficulties solely on account of the trials then pending in reply I 1 assured him that I 1 knew they had refused us an investigation but as to that being the cause I 1 did not know but told him they might have done it when those trials were discharged he seemed to think it injustice for congress to take it up before the legislature had acted on it I 1 occupied all but a few minutes of the time lime when the senate were to go into session so they adjourned until the morrow at ten when the missourians Missour ians are to reply mr linn observed that there was a gentleman whom he would have before the committee on the morrow who lived in the upper part of missouri that knew everything relative to the affair I 1 presume he is to put in his gab I 1 suppose I 1 must attend the committee as I 1 am solicited by the chairman but I 1 would rather take a flogging because I 1 must sit still and hear bear a volubility of lies conw concerning ning myself se if im and d brethren lies I 1 say for they have nothing bu but t lie lies to tell that will in the least degree justify their conduct in missouri mr linn said he had written to missouri to get all the evidence taken before judge king so that if the thing must come up he would be prepared to have a full investigation of the matter and that the committee should have power to send for persona papers ac ac I 1 ahl in my remarks I 1 stated that an article of the constitution was violated in not granting compulsory process for witnesses in behalf of the prisoners and that the main evidence adduced upon which they were committed as I 1 understood was from dr avard who once belonged to our society and was compelled to swear as suited them best in order to save his life that I 1 know knew him to be a man whose character was the worst I 1 ever knew in all my associations or intercourse with mankind and that I 1 had evidence by affidavits before them of five or six respectable men to prove that all he swore to was false brethren and sisters I 1 want your especial prayers that god may give me wisdom to manage this case according to his will and that he will protect me from our foes both publicly and privately yours in the bonds of love ELIAS HIGBEE friday washington city feb 21 1840 dear brethren I 1 have just returned again from the committee room mr linn an and ago 1 mr jamieson made some remarks to which I 1 replied mr linn is much more mild and reason reasonable aWe I 1 mostly perhaps from jio policy licy than mr jamieson Jamie sn who related a long loni lingo of stuff which he said was proven before the legislature i 11 tura which amounted to about this that ller joseph oseph smith gave the mormons cormons liberty to trespass on their neighbors property also told them that it all belonged to them as they were Israe israelites liMs upon the strength of this they became the aggressors I 1 replied that the jackson county people in their declaration of causes that induced them to unite in order to drive the mormons Mor Mer mons the crime of stealing or trespass ing was not mentioned and there was no dockets docket either clerks or justices that could shew it in jackson clay caldwell or in daviess counties and that no man ever heard such teaching or doctrine from joseph smith or any other imor mormon that we held to no such doctrine neither believed in any such thing I 1 mentioned portioned some things contained in our book of doctrine and covenants government and laws in general I 1 told them we had published edg long ago our belief on that subject some things I 1 recollected which were that all persons should obey the laws of the government under which they lived and that ecclesiastical power should not be exercised to control our civil rights in any way particularly that ecclesiastical power should only be used in the church and then no further farther than fellowship was concerned I 1 think they injured their cause today to day there is another appointment for them on the morrow at 10 their friend they said woo sick consequently could not attend today to day mr linn said he thought it would be time enough to take it up in congress when they could not get justice from the state and that he was confident there was a disposition in the state of missouri to do us justice should we apply that the reason of their refusing to investigate before was the trials of the prisoners were pending and further farther said when speaking of |