Show biography of brigham young ana r and history of the mormon church by M R WERNER reprinted by permission from the ladies home journal continued from last week soon after the church was organized emma smith began to tear fear for the financial security of herself and her husband she urged that since he could not possibly prophesy all day long a part time job at some niora more lucrative boork ork would help tho the family finances joseph promptly received a revelation from god who said to mrs smith emma thou art an elect lady and thou not fear for thy husband shall support thee from the church this was revised when the second edition of the revelations was published to read thy husband support thee in the church emma was also by this revelation to act BS as scribe for or her husband arid and to compile an anthology of sacred hymns tor for the use ot of the new church the church began to make numerous converts nancy towle a pious traveler who preached concerning js christ wherever people would listen to her in america and la in europe visited kirtland ohio a few months after joseph smith established himself there she thus described the community of their numbers I 1 found ministers of different persuasions and some it appeared who had once been eminent ifor piety I 1 found adso many men of 0 both influence and wealth husbands who had left their wives and wives that had left their husbands children that had left their parents and parents their children that they might bo be accounted worthy as they said to escape all the things that should come to pass and to stand before the son or man jan as a man was converted he was sent forth to convert others and by this means the church rapidly grew in numbers curiosity concerning the new religion was aroused in the neighborhood and on sundays all the roads leading to kirtland were crowded witia with farm wagons on their way to the new chucci to hear the new pr prophet ophee there was little entertainment tain ment in the villages around kirtland and a new prophet was of major importance there were many reasons for the spread of mormonism one was wag the great zeal of its missionaries who traveled everywhere without purse or scrip to preach the new revelation A great appeal was found in the embellishment of the future life so that it was almost eastern in its magnificence and at the same time exclusive and snobbish the mormons cormons also offered the miracles of primitive christianity and added to them extemporaneously from rom their own experience a and circumstances cum curn stances another great sourest source of the popularity of mormonism the refuge which it offered as a new revelation revelation from the contusion confusion of the v various a r 1 oui s christian sects which b by y t their h e r m muti u I 1 tude tudo of petty distinct distinctions 0 o as befuddled the simple minds of thi th country people A comforting parallel when men of education and clergymen of other denominations laughed at the ideas ct cf mormonism with its revelations and its latter day miracles the mormons cormons accepted their laughter with complacent resignation tor for they said had bad not the savants savanis ot of rome athens and alexandria laughed derL derisively at saint paul it was only another comforting parallel with the struggles and triumphs ot of the primitive christians whom the mormons cormons admitted they were trying to emulate and to imitate and there were millions of christians all sprung originally from the perser verance of those early fathers of the church surely said the mormons cormons Mor mons it was a good omen when philosophers laughed the leaders of the mormon church took an interest in their followers temporal possessions as well as in their spiritual welfare and joseph smith received a revelation from god that it was the duty of every rightful heir to the kingdom of heaven to give to the church all the property that he did not need tor for his support the perplexing problem arose of just how much a man needed and it was met by an edict that a mormon should consecrate all his property to his bishop and then receive back from the hashop what lie he needed in order to live which was determined by him and his bishop in conference it they disagreed on this important point the case was to be appealed to a council of 0 high priests in which joseph smith sat smith was wag rather ious to I 1 make these deeds of consecration I 1 follow the letter ot of the law he wrote to one of his bishops we again say eay bo be sure to got a form according to law tor for securing I 1 a gift we have found by examining the law that a gift cannot be retained without this you will remember that tho the power of agency must be signed by the wives as well as the husbands and the wives aives must be examined in the matter separate and apart from the husbands the same game as signing a deed and a specification to that effect inserted at the bottom by the justice before whom such acknowledgment is made otherwise the power ot of attorney will be ot of no effect but many lot the early followers objected to this procedure and it was found necessary to abandon consecration se of property tor for a system of tithing by which ten per cent of a mans possessions wont went to the church when he joined it and ten per cent ot of his annual income was to be devoted to the church by this time brigham young had joined joseph smith and it is said that his more practical mind worked out out 1 this system besides his other work joseph smith jr was receiving revelations from god almost dally daily the most famous of these was that which prohibited the use ot of tobacco liquor coffee tea and 0 ther other hot drinks and which went by the name ol of the word ot of wisdom healing was practised practiced regularly and joseph smiths miracles were almost ot of daily occurrence he exercised moderation in miracles however with those who were not yet et convinced or of his divinity although brigham young also professed beliet belief in healing he never practised practiced it much he expressed it as his opinion that when healing by faith tailed failed the lord did not mean the subject to be ba healed A convert from europe who had lost a leg once came to brigham young in salt lake city and asked that his leg be restored brigham young is said to have answered it would be easy for me to give you another leg but it Is my duty to explain to you the consequences you are now well advanced in life it if I 1 give you another leg you will indeed have two legs until you die which will be a great convenience but in the resurrection not only will the leg which you lost rise and be united to your body but also the one which I 1 now give you thus you will be encumbered with three legs throughout eternity it is for you to decide whether you would prefer the transient inconvenience of getting alon along with one leg till you die or the de deformity of an extra leg forever the pilgrim naturally concluded i to remain maimed in this life that he might be perfect in that which wac waa to come from the moment brigham young joined the church he remained steadfast in his professed faith and defended the prophet against all apostates very often he must have felt elt thit that what joseph smith did was inexpedient cr eccentric but he told his congregation later that only once did he experience disagreement with the dictates of the prophet and he told how he overcame that temptation 1 I can tell the people that once in my life I 1 felt a want of confidence in brother joseph smith soon after I 1 became acquainted with him it was not concerning religious matters it was not about his revelations but it was in relation to his finan ciering to his managing the temporal affairs which he undertook A feeling came over me that joseph was not right in his finan financial caal management though I 1 presume the feeling did not lat last sixty seconds and perhaps not thirty but that feeling came on me once and once only from the time I 1 first knew him until the day of his death it gave me sorrow of heart and I 1 clearly saw and understood by the spirit of revelation manifested to me that it if I 1 was to harbor a thought in my heart that joseph could be wrong in anything I 1 would begin to lose confidence in him arid and that feeling would grow from step to step and from one degree to another until at last I 1 would have the same lack of confidence in his being the mouthpiece ot of the almighty and I 1 would be left as brother hooper observed upon the brink of 0 the precipice ready to plunge into what we may call the gult gulf of infidelity ready to believe neither in god nor his servants and to say that there Is no god or it if there Is we do not know anything about him that we are here and by and by shall go from here and that is all we shall know though I 1 admitted and knew in my feelings and knew all the time that joseph was a human being and subject to err still it was none ot of my business to look after big faults it bias Ps not tor for me to in question whether joseph was dicta dictated ced by the lord at all times and under all circumstances cum stances or not he was called of god god dictated him and it if ile he had a mind to leave him to himself and let him commit an error that was no business ot of mine ile he was gods cods servant and not mine he did not belong to the people but to the lord and was wa doing the work ot of the lord and it if ile he should suffer him to lead the people astray it would be because they ought to be led astray it if lie he should suffer them to be chastised and some of them destroyed it would be because they deserved it or to accomplish some righteous purpose that was my faith and it Is my faith still from journal of 0 discourses vol IV pp ap continued |