Show historical DISCOURSE A sketch of church history by elder eider GEORGES ORGE onge A SMITH spoken in the tabernacle at ogden city tuesday november Ko vember 15 1861 10 a m BY G D WATT when the izord lord appeared to joseph smith and manifested into unto him a knowledge pertaining to the conila coming forth of op the book of mormon and the work of or the last days satan came also with his power and tempted joseah joseph it is written in the book of job 0 now there was a day when tile tiie the s SOBS ons of god came to present themselves before the lord and satan came also among them in the very commencement of this work the ito flo prophet joseph smith was called upon to contend face to face with the powers of darkness by spiritual manifestations and open visions as well as with men in the flesh stirred up by the same spirit of the adversary to edge edgo aphis wa way and destroy him from the tile earth and annihilate the uie work which lie he was about to commence commenced he thus describes the he incident gahe sprin aprin sprino 0 0 after bier iier gilad lh adre re tired llred fired into the placey wh where erd I 1 had ild previously designed togo I 1 go haying 1 looked around me and nin fin finding ing kneeled down and began to up tife tiie the tho desires of my heart to god I 1 had Bc arcely scarcely done dono BO when immediately I 1 was seized upon by some power dower which entirely overcame me ani adf had astonishing toni shing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I 1 could not speak thick darkness dark gathered around me and it seemed to me for a time tim e as if I 1 were doomed to sudden destruction but exerting all my powers to call upon god to deliver dellver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me and at the very moment when I 1 was ready to sink into despair and aban don myself to destruction not to an imaginary ruin but to the power of I 1 some actual being from the unseen world who had such a marvelous power as I 1 had never before felt in anabe any being just jua at this thi s moment of great alarm I 1 saw d a pillar of light exactly over my head above the brightness of the sun which descended gradually until it fell upon me it no sooner appeared than I 1 found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound when the light rested tested upon me I 1 saw two personages a whose brightness and glory defy ahl ahi an description standing above me in 1 air one pf af them unto me calling in 9 nie me by name and sal sai said sald pointing 0 ting to ti the 1 other this is my mv daso beloved ed son hear him 1 11 it was also peculiar in the history of the age that juat just at the time that god w was as revealing unto his servant joseph to raise up men to bear testimony of me principles of the gospel in its fullness and simplicity that satan was at work stirring up the hearts of the children ol 01 men to td a dieci steel of rella religious ious lous excitement there wone wore in ih many lia iia parts i rt of the country tz so strange f range g mail maii manifestations ife stations grear great reat camp a and d ther otiler protracted protract led lad meetings were assembled together to worship under the various varl vari Ous orders denominated methodists Campb Camp belies elites presbyterians rians baptists unitarians etc among whom were manifested the development of a spirit which deprived men of their strength they thoy world would gailit away or they would mai nai manifest 1 I 1 fest a variety 0 01 contortions of countenance there was introduced into the western states a phenomenon called the jerks persons tinder the influence flue raco rApo of religious fanaticism would jerk seemingly enough to tear them to pieces when the church was organized eed sed persons came into it bringing along some of these enthusiastic notions individuals divi duals who professed to have revelations oil on every subject and who were ready to banish every moral principle under the gull guidance dance of false spirits joseph the prophet had also to learn by i experience and to teach the elders and the ithe early darly members odthe of the church how hov they should judge of the manifest manifestation a atlon of sp spirits i its book of Do doctrine emmine effine and und covenants I 1 see sec 17 par 7 wherefore it shall mine wine to pass that if you b behold a spirit irit manifested that you cannot understand artand and you receive not that spirit meshall ye shall shail ask of the father in the name of jesus and if t he give not unto you that spirit that you may know ow that it is not of god and it shall be given unto you power over that spirit and you shall proclaim aga against ilist that spirit with a loud voice that it is not of god not with railing acus accusation atlon that ye be be not overcome neither with boasting nor rejoicing lest you be seized therewith and refers to hiram page who began to get revelations through the medium of a black stone certain characters appearing in C on that stone which lie he wrote down clown notes concerning jaise J alse revelations apostasies apost asies joseph smith indis in his history wrote thus to our great grief however we soon found that satan had been lying in wait to deceive and seeking whom he might devour br hyrum page had got in his possession a certain stone by which he had obtained revelations concerning the up building of zion theonder the order of the church ao ac all of which which were entirely at variance with the order of gods house as laid down in the new testament as well as our late revelations As a conference had been appointed for the first day of september I 1 thought it wisdom not to do much more than to converse with the brethren on the subject until the conference should meet me et finding however that many especially the whitmer family and oliver cowdery were believing eving much in the things set forth by this stone we thought best to inquire of the lord concerning so important a matter and before conference convened we received the revelation to oliver cowdery given at fayette new york septem per er 1830 1867 kan ern n para paragraph grap trap h of ofa i which h c th lord says sags I 1 ud nd fagain iou lou ii hait halt R ake th brother byrua pago page e between fv een hin i nd thet sofie sohie alone aull adil t teu i him anat those t ings walh he hath written from that sto storie agrenot are not of me and that satan deceived him for behold these things have not been appointed unto hipa neither shall anything be appointed unto any of this church contrary to the church covenants fo for rall rali nil nii all things must be done in order and by common consent in the church by the prayer of faith josephs history continues at length our conference assembled tho the subject of th the 0 stone previously mentioned was discussed and after considerable investigation bro page as well as the whole church who were present renounce renounced a the said stone and all things connected therewith much to our mutual satisfaction and hap har happiness 11 at some of the elders journeyed to the westward from the state of new york and built up branches in the state ot of ohio ollio elders oliver cowdery and anda I 1 P pratt visited sidney rigdon bigdon who resided in mentor geauga geaugh county and was famous in that country as a reformed baptist minister more familiarly known as Campb elites elifes he had preached the doctrine of baptism for the remission of sins the regular church havin having a different view of h subject for they consid considered ered cred baptism as an outward sign of an inward grace and that in order to be a candidate foi for baptism he must have received a change of heart chafi changed ged from a heart of stane to one of flesh lie was required to g into the congregation and formally re bounce the world the flesh and th devil having given evidence that 11 was a new creature and was re pare i for the reformed baptista baptists held the them doctrine which I 1 believe belleve was first preached in ohio by sidne sidney bidney y rigdon higdon that thata a man must reform that repentance mis was simply a reformation and the moment that repentance repentant tan was resolved resol vea upon the candidate was ready for baptism and so far their notion appeared to be an improvement upon the general idea entertained and consonant with the bible view r of ii ii as it was laid down bythe by the savior and his apostles but here they stopped and did not administer the laying on of hands for the gift of the holy ghost and what was further they contended there was no need ok of it that etwas it was all done away and that the written word was all the spirit there was when the elders waited on sidney I 1 rl bigdon don and presented to him the book of mormon teaching him the principle of laying on of hands for the reb reception eption of tile the if holy oly ghost he be received it as did several hundred members of his church and members of other churches in that vicinity who were baptized in a few weeks in ct et few days elders elder oliver cowdery P P pratt and ziba peterson passed on westward as their mission directed them to the western boundaries of the state of missouri sidney rigdon bigdon tooka too k journey to the east as did edward partridge for the purpose of visiting the prophet and these strange spirits of which we have already spoken bewan began began to manifest themselves in the chi ehi churches and branches which had been built up there was at this time in kirtland a society that had undertaken to have a community of property it has sometimes been denominated the morley family as there was a number of theli them located on a farm owned by captain isaac morley these persons bad had been baptized but had not yet been instructed in relation to their duties A false spirit entered into them developing developing their singular extravagant and wil wll wild ideas they had a meeting at the farm and among them was a negro known generally as black pete who became a reve revelator latoi others also aiso manifested wonderful developments they could see angels and letters would come down from heaven they said and they would be put through ligh tigh wonderful wonderful unnatural distortions finally on one occasion black pete got sight of af one of those revelations ve carried by y a black angel lie he started after it and ran off a steep wash bank 25 feet high passed through a tree top into the chagrin g river beneath ho he came out with a few scratches and his ardor somewhat cooled joseph smith came to kirtland and taught that people in relation to their error he showed them that the spirit of god did not bind men nor make them insane and that the power of the adversary which had been manifested in many instances was visible even from that cause for persons under its ila iii influence fluence became helpless and were bound hand and foot as in chains being as immovable as a stick of timber when joseph came to instruct these saints in relation to and ahn til manner of determining the aque from the other anja anra short time anjim nu m berof 4 tho rd had been belll influenced b by tude tuge foul manifestations apostate apost apostatized lcy icy I 1 among the number vaga was y com clark he got a revelation that he was to be the prophet that he was the true revelator and himself northrop sweet and four other individuals retired from the church and organized the pure piare church of christ 11 as they illey called it composed of six members and com minced having meetings and preaching but that was the extent of the the tho growth of this early schism john noah another of this thi class assumed to be a prophet and in consequence thereof was expelled from the church among the early baptisms in northern ohio was a methodist minister by the name nalee of ezra booth he was present 7 when the tile elders first received tho the or I 1 di nation of the high priesthood they met together in june 1831 ina lna in a log schoolhouse school house in kirtland kirtland a roam room about eig elg eighteen hleen hicen feet by twenty while they were there the manifestation of the power of god being on joseph he set apart some of the elders eldera to the high priesthood ezra booth was bound and his countenance was distorted anh and and numbers of the brethren looked at him and thought it was a wonderful manifestation fe of the power of god but to their astonishment joseph came forward and rebuked the foul spirit and commanded it to depart dopart in Tn consequence of which booth was relieved relley dd and many of the br brethren ethien were werd greatly tried at at such a singular treatment by the prophet of these wonderful manifestations of power others alladi had visions Lynia lyman if wight bore testimony tahe he saw the savior J 1 J the priesthood w was s conferred on a number of eidl eidt elders eiders ers and thirty were selected tot to take a mission to the western boundaries of missouri and travel and preach two and by the way traveling without purse or scrip they did so building up churches joseph was required to travel by water di or at a more rapid rate to reach there thare to meet the brethren and hold a conk conference rence renee in the land of zion it was only a short time after the return from this mission that ezra booth apostatized as did jacob scott symons rider eli johnson and a number of others the spirit of apos ta tacy cyvas was vas little known I 1 but when these men apostatized they became more violent pore yore more cruel and manifested a greater spirit of persecution than any other enemies what seemed singular ezra booth had been brou gilt glit into the church through the manifestation of a miracle the wife of father john johnson had been afflicted with the rheumatism so as to be unable urbie to raise her arm and hand for two years hor husband had believed the work and she also was believing she went to joseph the prophet droplet to have him administer to her booth oth accompanied them for he was well acquainted with the family and the condition of mrs johnson when the elders laid their hands upon her she was instantly healed so that she could use her arm and hand as well as ever she could i bously booth knew this to be an instantaneous cure and soon after wit j this miracle he was baptized 1 and ordained an elden elder elder eider he having formerly been 9 a methodist minister commenced preaching the gospel without purse or scrip and he did so until he found using a common expression it did not pay under these there circumstances he apostatized while he was in apostasy apo stacy he searched ills his cranium for some means to justify himself and published a series of lying letters in the ohio star a paper printed devenna in inre inBe Re venna those nine letters had been republished several times as evidence against mormonism and his apostasy acosta apo staey fulminated ina lna d in collecting a mob who 0 tarr t a r re land kand and a d feathered joseph smith and inflict inflicted d upon his family the loss s of 0 one n of 1 its number at hyrum portage cou county lity ohio joseph smith was occupying the tho room of a house brother johnson was living in at the saine same time it was a two story buil buli building dingi had steps in front the mob surrounded the house the twins being afflicted with measles joseph was lying upon a trundle bej bed bed with one of them the mob rushed in all ali and d gathered up joseph while in his bed and took him out in his night clothes and carried him out on to the top of the steps joseph joseah got a foot at liberty and kicked one of the men and knocked him down off the steps and the print of his head and shoulders were visible on the ground in the morning warren waste who strongest man in the western reserve considered himself perfectly able to handle joseph alone hut but ut when they got hold of him waste cried out do not let him touch tha the ground 0 or r he will run over the whole of us waste |