First Phase - Joseph Smith
    Assassination of Joseph Smith

Introduction

The first phase in the history of the church begins with Joseph Smith and the early rise of the church. It includes some of the blackest pages in American History.  Persecution solely on the basis of religious discrimination followed the latter day saints at everywhere they gathered.  First, in Kirtland, Ohio.  Then, in Jackson Country, Missouri.  In Illinois, Joseph Smith was murdered, while under protective custody.

The last three phases of the Mormon church is found on "LDS Churches."

George J. Adams, in 1849, wrote a brief history of the rise of the church.  The title is A True History of the rise of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (and related topics).  You may either click on this link, or use the link on the "Mormon Books" page.

First Phase - Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith was born in Sharon, Vermont on December 23, 1805. When he was fourteen his family moved to Manchester, Ontario County, New York. Although Joseph had very little education, he was earnestly concerned about the kingdom of Heaven. At the age of fifteen there was a great religious excitement in the area in which he lived. "In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions' I often said to myself, what is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it? While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads:

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.

"Never did any passage of Scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passage of Scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible. At length I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at length came to the determination to "ask of God," concluding that if He gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture. So, in accordance with this, my determination to Ask God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally." (History of the Church, Vol. 1, p. 4)

He was first seized upon by a great power that entirely overcame him and left him in thick darkness. After exerting all his strength, he called upon God to deliver him. He related, "It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said--pointing to the other--'THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, HEAR HIM.'

"My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right--and which I should join. I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong, and the personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in His sight: that those professors were all corrupt; that 'they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; they teach for doctrines the commandments of men: having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.' He again forbade me to join with any of them: and many other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time. When I came to myself again, I found myself lying on my back, looking up into heaven. When the light had departed, I had no strength; but soon recovering in some degree, I went home. And as I leaned up to the fireplace, mother inquired what the matter was. I replied, 'Never mind, all is well--I am well enough off.' I then said to my mother,--'I have learned for myself that Presbyterianism is not true.' " (Ibid., p. 5)

Joseph continued his normal vocations until September 21, 1823; when, "I betook myself to prayer and supplication to Almighty God for forgiveness of all my sins and follies, and also for a manifestation to me, that I might know of my state and standing before Him; for I had full confidence in obtaining a divine manifestation, as I previously had done. While I was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered a light appearing in my room, which continued to increase until the room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a personage appeared at my bed side, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor. He had on a loose robe of most exquisite whiteness. It was a whiteness beyond anything earthly I had ever seen; nor do I believe that any earthly thing could be made to appear so exceedingly white and brilliant. His hands were naked and his arms also, a little above the wrist, so, also were his feet naked, as were his legs, a little above the ankles. His head and neck were also bare. I could discover that he had no other clothing on but this robe, as it was open, so that I could see into his bosom. Not only was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person was glorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like lightning. The room was exceedingly light, but not so very bright as immediately around his person.

"When first I looked upon him, I was afraid; but the fear soon left me. He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me and that his name was Moroni;~11.1 that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people.

"He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the sources from whence they sprang. He also said that the fullness of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants; also that there were two stones in silver bows--and these stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted what is called the Urim and Thummim--deposited with the plates; and the possession and use of these stones were what constituted 'Seers' in ancient or former times; and that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book.

"After telling me these things, he commenced quoting the prophecies of the Old Testament. He first quoted part of the third chapter of Malachi ~12.1 and he quoted also the fourth or last chapter of the same prophecy, though with a little variation from the way it reads in our Bibles. Instead of quoting the first verse as it reads in our books, he quoted it thus:

"For behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall burn as stubble; for they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

"And again, he quoted the fifth verse thus:

"Behold I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.

"He also quoted the next verse differently:

"And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers; if it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.

"In addition to these, he quoted the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, saying that it was about to be fulfilled.

"He quoted also the third chapter of Acts, twenty-second and twenty-third verses, precisely as they stand in our New Testament. He said that that Prophet was Christ; but the day had not yet come when "they who would not hear his voice should be cut off from among the people," but soon would come. He also quoted the second chapter of Joel, from the twenty eighth verse to the last. He also said that this was not yet fulfilled, but was soon to be. And he further stated that the fullness of the Gentiles was soon to come in. He quoted many other passages of Scripture, and offered many explanations which cannot be mentioned here.

"Again, he told me, that when I got those plates of which he had spoken--for the time that they should be obtained was not yet fulfilled--I should not show them to any person; neither the breast plate with the Urim and Thummim; only to those to whom I should be commanded to show them; if I did I should be destroyed. While he was conversing with me about the plates, the vision was opened to my mind that I could see the place where the plates were deposited, and that so clearly and distinctly that I knew the place again when I visited it.

"After this communication, I saw the light in the room began to gather immediately around the person of him who had been speaking to me, and It continues to do so, until the room was again left dark, except just around me, when instantly I saw, as it were, a conduit open right up into heaven, and he ascended until he entirely disappeared, and the room was left as it had been before this heavenly light had made its appearance." (Ibid., p. 9)

The heavenly messenger appeared to Joseph two more times that same evening. The next day when he found himself unable to work he went to the place where he saw the plates were buried. "Having removed the earth, I obtained a lever, which I got fixed under the edge of the stone, and with a little exertion raised it up. I looked in, and there indeed did I behold the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate, as stated by the messenger. The box in which they lay was formed by laying stones together in some kind of cement. In the bottom of the box were laid two stones crosswise of the box, and on these stones lay the plates and the other things with them.

"I made an attempt to take them out, but was for bidden by the messenger, and was again informed that the time for bringing them forth had not yet arrived, neither would it, until four years from that time; but he told me that I should come to that place precisely in one year from that time and that he would there meet with me, and that I should continue to do so until the time should come for obtaining the plates. Accordingly, as I had been commanded, I went at the end of each year, and at each time I found the same messenger there, and received instruction and intelligence from him at each of our interviews, respecting what the Lord was going to do, and how and in what manner His kingdom was to be conducted in the last days." (Ibid., p. 16)

While Joseph was staying with a Mr. Isaac Hale, he married his daughter, Emma Hale on January 18, 1827.

"At length the time arrived for obtaining the plates the Urim and Thummim, and the Breastplate. On the twenty-second day of September, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, having gone as usual at the end of another year to the place where they were deposited, the same heavenly messenger delivered them up to me with this charge: that I should be responsible for them; that if I should let them go carelessly, or through any neglect of mine, I should be cut off; but that if I would use all my endeavors to preserve them, until he, the messenger should call for them, they should be protected." (Ibid. p. 18)

His life was filled with persecution during the next months. After moving to Pennsylvania he translated "a considerable number of" the plates. " Two days after the arrival of Mr. Cowdery (being the 7th of April) I commenced to translate the Book of Mormon, and he began to write for me." (Ibid., p. 32)

"We still continued the work of translation, when in the ensuing month (May, 1829), we on a certain day went into the woods to pray and inquire of the Lord respecting baptism for the remission of sins, that we found mentioned in the translation of the plates. While we were thus employed, praying and calling upon the Lord, a messenger from heaven descended in a cloud of light, and having laid his hands upon us, he ordained us, saying:

"Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the Gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.~39.1

"He said this Aaronic Priesthood had not the power of laying on hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, but that this should be conferred on us hereafter; and he commanded us to go and be baptized, and gave us directions that I should baptize Oliver Cowdery, and afterwards that he should baptize me. Accordingly we went and were baptized. I baptized him first, and afterwards he baptized me, after which I laid my hands upon his head and ordained him to the Aaronic Priesthood, and afterwards he laid his hands on me and ordained me to the same Priesthood--for so we were commanded.

"The messenger who visited us on this occasion, and conferred this Priesthood upon us, said that his name was John, the same that is called John the Baptist in the New Testament, and that he acted under the direction of Peter, James and John who held the keys of the Priesthood of Melchizedek, which Priesthood he said would in due time be conferred on us, and that I should be called the first Elder of the Church, and he (Oliver Cowdery) the second. It was on the 15th day of May, 1829, that we were ordained under the hand of this messenger and baptized.

"Immediately on our coming up out of the water after we had been baptized, we experienced great and glorious blessings from our Heavenly Father. No sooner had I baptized Oliver Cowdery, than the Holy Ghost fell upon him, and he stood up and prophesied many things which should shortly come to pass. And again, so soon as I had been baptized by him, I also had the spirit of prophecy, when standing up, I prophesied concerning the rise of this church, and many other things connected with the Church, and this generation of the children of men. We were filled with the Holy Ghost, and rejoiced in the God of our salvation.

"Our minds being now enlightened, we began to have the Scriptures laid open to our understandings, and the true meaning and intention of their more mysterious passages revealed unto us in a manner which we never could attain to previously, nor ever before had thought of. In the meantime we were forced to keep secret the circumstances of having received the Priesthood and our having been baptized, owing to a spirit of persecution which had already manifested itself in the neighborhood. We had been threatened with being mobbed from time to time, and this, too, by professors of religion. And their intentions of mobbing us were only counteracted by the influence of my wife's father's family (under Divine providence), who had become very friendly to me, and who were opposed to mobs, and were willing that I should be allowed to continue the work of translation without interruption; and therefore offered and promised us protection from all unlawful proceedings as far as in them lay." (Ibid., p. 39)

[Note: a more complete record is found in the History of the Church, Vol. 1, chaps. 1 to 5.]

The first English Edition of the Book of Mormon was published in 1830. The introduction to the Book of Mormon contains, "Wherefore, it is an abridgment of the record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites--Written to the Lamanites, who are a remnant of the house of Israel; and also to Jew and Gentile--Written by way of commandment, and also by the spirit of prophecy and of revelation--Written and sealed up, and hid up unto the Lord, that they might not be destroyed--To come forth by the gift and power of God unto the interpretation thereof--Sealed by the hand of Moroni, and hid up unto the Lord, to come forth in due time by way of the Gentile--The interpretation thereof by the gift of God.

"An abridgment taken from the Book of Ether also, which is a record of the people of Jared, who were scattered at the time the Lord confounded the language of the people, when they were building a tower to get to heaven--Which is to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever-- And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that JESUS is the CHRIST, the ETERNAL GOD, manifesting himself unto all nations--And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ." Translated by Joseph Smith, Jun.

In either May, or June 1929, Joseph Smith was ordained at the hands of Peter, James, and John to be an Apostle, and prophet. They were the last ones, after Christ, to hold this priesthood on the earth.

The Church of Christ (later Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) was organized by Joseph Smith on April 6, 1830. "1 Behold, there shall be a record kept among you; and in it thou shalt be called a seer, a translator, a prophet, an apostle of Jesus Christ, an elder of the church through the will of God the Father, and the grace of your Lord Jesus Christ, 2 Being inspired of the Holy Ghost to lay the foundation thereof, and to build it up unto the most holy faith. 3 Which church was organized and established in the year of your Lord eighteen hundred and thirty, in the fourth month, and on the sixth day of the month which is called April.

"4 Wherefore, meaning the church, thou shalt give heed unto all his words and commandments which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me; 5 For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith. 6 For by doing these things the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disperse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name's glory. 7 For thus saith the Lord God: Him have I inspired to move the cause of Zion in mighty power for good, and his diligence I know, and his prayers I have heard. 8 Yea, his weeping for Zion I have seen, and I will cause that he shall mourn for her no longer; for his days of rejoicing are come unto the remission of his sins, and the manifestations of my blessings upon his works.

"9 For, behold, I will bless all those who labor in my vineyard with a mighty blessing, and they shall believe on his words, which are given him through me by the Comforter, which manifesteth that Jesus was crucified by sinful men for the sins of the world, yea, for the remission of sins unto the contrite heart. 10 Wherefore it behooveth me that he should be ordained by you, Oliver Cowdery mine apostle; 11 This being an ordinance unto you, that you are an elder under his hand, he being the first unto you, that you might be an elder unto this church of Christ, bearing my name- 12 And the first preacher of this church unto the church, and before the world, yea, before the Gentiles; yea, and thus saith the Lord God, lo, lo! to the Jews also. Amen." (Doctrine and Covenants, 21)

The Church of Christ was organized after the order of the priesthood given to the Apostles of Christ. "11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: 13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." (Eph. 4)

The Melchisedec Priesthood is the priesthood of an endless life. Of this priesthood there are two orders: Apostles and Priests. The prophet, seer, translator, and apostle (first degree Apostle and Lawgiver) of Jesus Christ stands at the head of the Church of Christ on the earth. Only one may hold this office on the earth at a time. Joseph was like unto Moses in this priesthood. Below him is the office of Counselor (second degree Apostles). These are prophet, seer, and apostle. Next in the order of of the priesthood of God are third degree Apostles (of these there are twelve) and fourth degree Apostles (Evangelists to single nation). Of Priests there are High Priests and Elders.

The Aaronic Priesthood is the priesthood of life and has three orders: Priest, Teacher, and Deacon. John (the Baptist) held the Aaronic Priesthood by birthright (his father Zacharias being Priest in the temple) and by ordination.

[NOTE: All of these offices are best explained in the Book of the Law of the Lord, translated by James J. Strang.  Links to the complete book with notes by James is on the Home Page.

As a Lawgiver to the Church, Joseph Smith continued to give revelations for the guidance, direction, and correction of the people. The Doctrine and Covenants represents those revelations/commandments.

The church was organized in Fayette, New York. Afterwards, it was moved to Kirtland, Ohio. After great persecution, the people began gathering to Far West, Missouri. The city of Zion was established at what is now Independence, Missouri. The saints suffered sever persecution and were driven from the state of Missouri by an "extermination order" of then Governor Boggs. The reason for this oppression was in consequence of their beliefs and because they lived a simple and humble lifestyle; unlike the near savage thieves and robbers that populated the surrounding countryside.

"The law is made to secure the punishment of the guilty, and not to sacrifice the innocent, and the governor whose paramount duty it is to protect the citizens of his State from lawless violence, whenever he knows that to comply with such requisition he would be delivering the citizens into the hands of a mob as a victim to appease the thirst of the infuriate multitude for blood, without trial and against justice: under such circumstances, we repeat, the Governor is bound by the highest of all human laws, to refuse to comply with the requisition: and will the Argus or Governor Carlin pretend to deny that the present is not a case of this kind.

"The history of the Mormon difficulties in Missouri, is of too recent an origin not to be well known to the Governor. A few years since, when they had settled in the Far West, and had gathered around them the comforts and of life, and were beginning to reap the just reward of their industry and enterprise, a mob attempted to drive them from their homes; as peaceable citizens, enjoying all the rights guarantied to them by a Republican Constitution, they had a right, and did call on the Governor of Missouri, for protection. Did he, in obedience to the oath which he had taken to support the Constitution of the State, respond to the call as a Governor should? No!--and forever will a stain rest upon the name of Lillburn W. Boggs, and the State of Missouri. Mr. Boggs told the Mormons that they must take care of themselves--in fact denying them the protection of the Constitution under whose broad folds they had taken shelter. Thus denied the protection of the State, they prepared to defend their homes, wives and children. Did Mr. Boggs, as the controversy proceeded, remain a neutral spectator, as his first intimation had given the Mormons to understand? Oh, no!--when the mob was forced to fly for safety--like cowards as they were--then this wise and oath-bound Executive, called out the militia of the State, to aid, in expelling--or rather, to use one of the expressions of Mr. Boggs--in "exterminating" the Mormons. Which is as much as to say--if the Mormons cannot be driven from their homes, their possessions, and all else that they hold dear, peaceably--why then, kill, murder, burn, destroy, any thing, so the Mormons are "exterminated" from the State! Most just, humane, wise, and patriot governor Boggs!

"Many of them were barbarously butchered, and all shamefully unsettled and cruelly driven from their comfortable firesides at an inclement season of the year,--those who escaped secret murder, were inhumanly and savagely treated, their females violated, and their property confiscated and plundered, by the barbarous Vandals who were persecuting them even unto death! and to such men and to such people, would Governor Carlin deliver up two of our Mormon citizens for a sacrifice! We oppose this batter and trade in blood, upon higher grounds than the mere forms of law upon which the Argus justifies the Governor. If we believed that Smith and Rigdon had been guilty of criminal acts in Missouri, and could have a fair trial for such acts, under the laws of that State, we should be among the first to advocate the surrender of those gentlemen. It is not the laws of Missouri, of which we complain, it is of the officers who are appointed to execute and carry out those laws.--Their conduct must be forever reprobated--it is a lasting disgrace to the State." (Times and Seasons, Vol. 1, p. 188)

The atrocities against these people and the confiscation of their lands has never been remedied by the State of Missouri. The people fled into Illinois. A new stake of Zion was established at Nauvoo, Illinois. The industrious labor of the people soon caused the town to grow into one of the largest cities in the West. The total number of Latter Day Saints at this time was estimated at 200,000. The persecutors of Joseph followed him into Illinois; still thirsty for his blood. When Joseph Smith elected to run for the Presidency of the United States, he faced severe opposition. His answer to the slave situation was to sell public lands and secure their freedom--a thought slaveowners (like those in Missouri) bitterly opposed.

They managed to have Joseph arrested under trumped up charges (as they had done many times before) and imprisoned in the Carthage Jail under the immediate protection of Governor Ford. The blood thirsty mob would stop at nothing short of Joseph's martyrdom.

Assassination of Joseph Smith

Awful assassination of

JOSEPH AND HYRUM SMITH!--
The pledged faith of the state of Illinois stained with innocent blood by a Mob!
(Times and Seasons, July 1, 1844, Vol. 5, p. 560)

"On Monday the 24th inst., after Gov. Ford had sent word, that those eighteen persons demanded on a warrant, among whom were Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith should be protected, by the militia of the State, they in company with some ten or twelve others, started for Carthage. Four miles from that place, they were met by Capt. Dunn, with a company of cavalry, who had an order from the Governor for the 'State Arms.' Gen. Smith endorsed his acceptance of the same, and both parties returned to Nauvoo to obtain said arms. After the arms were obtained, both parties took up the line of march for Carthage, where they arrived about five minutes before twelve o'clock at night. Capt. Dunn nobly acquitting himself, landed us safely at Hamilton's Hotel.

"In the morning we saw the Governor, and he pledged the faith of the State, that we should be protected. Gen. Smith and his brother Hyrum were arrested by a warrant founded upon the oaths of H. O. Norton and Augustine Spencer for treason. Knowing the threats from several persons, that the two Smiths should never leave Carthage alive we all began to be alarmed for their personal safety. The Gov. and Gen. Deming conducted them before the McDonough troops and introduced them as Gen. Joseph Smith and Gen. Hyrum Smith.--This maneuver came near raising a mutiny among the 'Carthage Greys,' but the Governor quelled it.

"In the afternoon, after great exertions on the part of our counsel, we dispensed with an investigation, and voluntarily gave bail for our appearance to the Circuit Court, to answer in the care of abating the Nauvoo Expositor, as a nuisance.

"At evening the Justice made out a mittimus with an investigation, and committed the two Gen. Smiths to prison until discharged by due course of law, and they were safely guarded to jail. In the morning the Governor went to the jail and had an interview with these men, and to every appearance all things were explained on both sides.

"The constable then went to take these men from the jail, before the Justice for examination, but the jailor refused to let them go, as they were under his direction 'till discharged by due course of law;' but the Governor's troops, to the amount of one or two hundred, took them to the Court House, when the hearing was continued till Saturday the 29th, and they were remanded to jail. Several of our citizens had permits from the Governor to lodge with them, and visit them in jail. It now began to be rumored by several men, whose names will be forthcoming in time, that there was nothing against these men, the law could not reach them, but powder and ball would! The Governor was made acquainted with these facts, but on the morning of the 27th, he disbanded the McDonough troops, and sent them home; took Captain Dunn's company of Cavalry and proceeded to Nauvoo, leaving these two men and three or four friends, to be guarded by eight men at the jail; and a company in town of 60 men, 80 or 100 rods from the jail, as a corps in reserve.

"About six o'clock in the afternoon the guard was surprised by an armed Mob of from 150 to 250, painted red, black and yellow, which surrounded the jail, forced in--poured a shower of bullets into the room where these unfortunate men were held, 'in durance vile,' to answer to the laws of Illinois; under the solemn pledge of the faith of the State, by Gov. Ford, that they should be protected! but the mob ruled!! They fell as Martyrs amid this tornado of lead, each receiving four bullets! John Taylor was wounded but not seriously. Thus perishes the hope of law; thus vanishes the plighted faith of the state; thus the blood of innocence stains the constituted authorities of the United States, and thus have two among the most noble martyrs since the slaughter of Abel, sealed the truth of their divine mission, by being shot by a Mob for their religion!

"Messengers were dispatched to Nauvoo, but did not reach there till morning. The following was one of the letters:

12 o'clock at night, 27th June,
Carthage, Hamilton's Tavern."

TO MRS. EMMA SMITH,
AND MAJ. GEN. DUNHAM, &c-

"The Governor has just arrived; says all things shall be inquired into, and all right measures taken.

"I say to all the citizens of Nauvoo, my brethren, be still, and know that God reigns. Don't rush out of the city--don't rush to Carthage; stay at home, and be prepared for an attack from Missouri mobbers. The Governor will render every assistance possible--has sent out orders for troops--Joseph and Hyrum are dead, but not by the Carthage people--the guards were true as I believe.

"We will prepare to move the bodies as soon as possible.

"The people of the county are greatly excited, and fear the Mormons will come out and take vengeance--I have pledged my word the Mormons will stay at home as soon as they can be informed, and no violence will be on their part, and say to my brethren in Nauvoo, in the name of the Lord--be still--be patient--only let such friends as choose come here to see the bodies--Mr. Taylor's wounds are dressed & not serious--I am sound.

WILLARD RICHARDS,
JOHN TAYLOR,
SAMUEL H. SMITH

"Defend yourselves until protection can be furnished necessary, June 27th, 1844.

    THOMAS FORD, Governor
    and Commander in chief."

(From, The Gospel Herald, Vol. 4, p. 92/1000)

A Testimony to the Nation
to the President and Congress of the United States,
and to the People of the Nation
we, James J. Strang, George J. Adams, and William Marks
Presidents of the Church of the Saints, Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ
and Witnesses of His Name unto all Nations, send Greeting:--

"It is twenty years this day since our brethren, the prophets and saints of God, organized the only church existing, solely by commandment and revelation of God, now on the earth. A few months subsequent to that organization a few of our brethren went up into the western part of Missouri, one of the States of this union, and commenced a settlement there.

"Agreeable to a commandment which God gave them, they purchased large quantities of lands of the government of the United States, and paid the full price therefor to the officers of the United States, the ministers of your predecessors in office. Upon these lands our brethren, the saints, made extensive settlements, continually showing themselves the most industrious, peaceable and law-abiding citizens of that section of the country. At the time of which we speak no one among them was accused of any violation of the law, or of a want of attachment to the constitution and government of the United States, or of the State of Missouri.

"Notwithstanding these facts, and the legal rights of our brethren, a numerous meeting of citizens of Missouri was held at Independence, in Missouri, which decreed the expulsion of the saints from that part of the State. This meeting issued a manifesto to the public giving to the world the reasons for banishing from their neighborhood a numerous class of citizens; the entire church of the Latter Day Saints. In giving these reasons they stated that our religious sentiments and domestic habits were incongruous with theirs, and that is was necessary for their happiness that our brethren should leave; and as the grievances of which they complained were not recognized by the laws, and the saints had not violated any existing law whereby they were subject to regular prosecution in the courts, therefore they would take redress into their own hands, and compel us to leave the country, peaceably if they could, forcibly if they must. This decree was carried out by the expulsion of the saints from Jackson Co., Missouri.

"They then settled in various counties on the north side of the Missouri river, but continual collisions took place, till finally they were banished from the State by authority of a mandate issued by Lillburn W. Boggs, acting Governor, distinctly commanding that the saints (in derision called Mormons) be banished from the State, or exterminated. We are perfectly aware that this mandate of the acting Governor was unauthorized by the law, and in violation of the constitution of the State of Missouri. But the Legislature of that State, in failing to impeach the Governor, and by appropriating the money to pay the expense of EXECUTING HIS ORDER, has affirmed and adopted the act as the crime of the State. In accomplishing this expulsion ten thousand persons, men, women and children, were plundered of their possessions, EXILED FROM THEIR HOMES, and DRIVEN IN DESTITUTION, HUNGER AND WANT, in mid winter, to a distant land, passing much of the way in the midst of HOSTILE FOES, who not only refused them shelter and food, but kept them in continual danger.

"Many were separated from their families and incarcerated in prison, whence, after long detention, they escaped only by paying large sums of money to prison keepers, judges and lawyers, as the price of their enlargement. Besides a feeble few, who, after learning that their persecutors were without compassion, were slain while defending their wives, their children and their firesides; eighteen persons, unarmed, and engaged in the worship of God, were murdered unresisting, and in cold blood, in the early part of these persecutions; one of them a mere child, who died mixing together the words of his prayer to God, and his supplication for mercy from his murderers: another, an old man, bowed down with suffering and sorrow, scarred with the wounds he had received fifty-seven years before in defence of American liberty and American independence; all yielding up their lives for the name of Jesus, and the witness of the gospel. Others, at different times, shared the same fate; how many, we know not.

"Subsequently the saints settled in great numbers in the State of Illinois, and built up, besides many villages, the city of Nauvoo, at one time the most populous city in that State. At their first settlement they were kindly received; but after building up flourishing towns, becoming numerous as a religious people, and strong in their political influence, religious prejudice, political interests and commercial rivalry combined together to destroy them.

"On this occasion our persecutors sought to justify their violence by accusing the saints of enormous crimes, and the most astounding corruptions. That these accusations were utterly unfounded is clearly shown by the fact that with courts, jurors and prosecuting officers constantly and assiduously selected from among our persecutors, few of the saints were ever prosecuted on criminal charges, and very few indeed ever convicted.

"Nevertheless this persecution was carried on until our fellow servants, the prophets, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, were martyred; the houses of hundreds of the saints burned down before their eyes; the entire community amounting to 25,000 banished from that section of the State, and four millions of dollars worth of property sacrificed.

"For all these wrongs the laws and institutions of the country offer us no redress. It is vain to answer that such acts are contrary to law, and that the courts are open to us. There is a law in the land stronger than statutes--more potent than the usages of courts. The will of the masses, however vicious and partial, no matter by what influences produced, has been able to TRAMPLE ON ALL PRECEDENT, and ride down all law. It has done more. It has produced legislation according to its wishes, in violation of all constitutional securities; and not merely contrary to precedent, but destructive of natural right.

"This unrecognized law, found only in the will of the masses, has been enforced in destroying houses, offices and valuable papers of some of the most distinguished citizens of the country, public building of various kinds, printing presses and rail roads owned by wealthy companies, churches and convents of the most ancient and numerous religious denomination in the country, and to overthrow contracts which had stood the vicissitudes of two hundred years, the ordeal of civil war and national revolution, though defended by the sanctity of constitutional and statute law; usages older than the language we speak; the power of a great State; the wealth that seven generations of thrift had accumulated; and backed by an aristocracy made honorable by deeds of benevolence, justice, patriotism and valor as boundless as the sources of its greatness.

"If these cannot resist the power of this new element of national and state government mob law, how shall we? We are aware that our name is cast out as evil, as a kind of apology for the uncounted injuries which have been heaped upon us. But you will not forget that in early times among all the most polished nations the name christian was looked on as a name for fanaticism and debauchery; that the learned Greeks and victorious Romans held them cannibals, and that, even now, in half the civilized and christian nations democracy is considered synonymous with anarchy and lawlessness--how justly, you can judge.

"And if the sanctity of the ancient christian faith, and the greatness of your nation have not protected them from these aspersions, what shall protect us from equal wrongs? We protest against this nearly universal practice of assuming that we are guilty of great crimes, as an excuse for denying us the regular protection of the government in our legal rights. But when we examine the evidence of the truth of these assumptions, they are most conclusively falsified.

"Joseph, the martyred prophet, whose blood stains on the jail at Carthage are as indelible as those of Jesus on the cross, has been arrested thirty-nine times on criminal charges. Thirty-nine times he has been tried in the courts of his enemies; many times at the bar of men who advocated his murder. And thirty-eight times, in such courts, at the bar of such men, has he been acquitted.

"The only offence of which he was ever convicted is that of unlawful banking--an offence committed with impunity by other men in nearly every State in the union. Nor did he escape conviction by the testimony of his brethren. Such men would stop their ears against it. If this is not a sufficient vindication of him as a law-abiding man, no array of facts could be.

"That the charge on which he was finally arrested and imprisoned was merely trumped up for the purpose of seizing upon him and detaining him till a convenient time for his destruction, is as clearly proved as any fact whatever in the history of the country.

"And when we add that his murderers were indicted, arraigned and acquitted at the instance of their own friends, without any attempt to introduce the necessary evidence against them, and merely for the purpose of interposing a legal bar to their punishment, in some more healthy period of the public mind, we think it will not require argument to convince all mankind that the State of Illinois has adopted that murder as its own.

"There is now in the States of Missouri and Illinois four millions of dollars worth of houses and lands purchased with the money and produced with the skill and industry of our brethren the saints, which they are not permitted to occupy.

"To you, as the highest authority known to the land, we appeal for redress. We have not forgotten that there are other tribunals in which causes partially similar in kind, immeasurably less in aggravation, are sometimes examined, perhaps occasionally righted. But these tribunals are closed against us, by the power of that law, already referred to, which is above statute, precedent and right.

"Courts, State Legislatures, and State executives are deaf to us. When we speak, they cannot hear. When we ask justice, their faces are turned from us. True, when they do speak, their voice is for us. But it comes after the deed is done, or it is so faintly heard that the lawless do not think it earnest. The forms of law hold us as victims, and the power that is above law overwhelms us. Thus have two of our prophets died in the hands of public officers, and under the destroying protection of a State Governor, personally superintending the proceedings, and no one act of public indignation has rebuked the deed. By every form of judicial proceeding known to the laws of the land, the perpetrators have been legally shielded from the punishment which the law itself denounces against such crimes.

"If you tell us (as some of your predecessors told these martyred prophets while they were yet alive) that "you have no power to redress our wrongs," then there is presented to the world the melancholy spectacle of the greatest republic on earth, a christian nation, acknowledging itself powerless to judge; unable to protect the right; a nation on whose righteousness half the earth rest the hopes of man, confessing that there is a power above the law, riding down the constitution, which stalks abroad to plunder and banish the citizens, and none to rebuke; murders the unoffending innocent, and none to say, "why do ye so?" which sanctifies its deeds of violence, even in the eyes of religious men, by blackening the fame of the glorious dead, with the name of crimes which in their life time it dared not attempt to prove, even in its own tribunals.

"The fact that our brethren are the owners of large tracts of land, purchased of the United States, and secured to us by the name and seal of the President, which they have never sold, and which they are not permitted to occupy, by the powers actually existing, and that our brethren have been banished and murdered, and their persecutors are unrebuked, and positively and legally screened from punishment, is as indelibly stamped on the history of the country as the declaration of independence, or the victory of Buena Vista.

"All the inferior powers have been appealed to in vain. Unless you redress these wrongs, must they rest on the nation forever, and bring down the wrath of God on those who have done, and those who have permitted them? If you fear not God, how will you answer to mankind and to posterity, for such a desecration of republicanism, in a christian country?

"For these wrongs we do not ask a grant of lands, nor a State or Territorial government--We acknowledge that we have had enough of these. We shall never sell the lands of our brethren and ourselves, the inheritance of the martyred and of their children, for new grants of which we are equally liable to be deprived by some new act of violence.

"We do ask compensation in money or land for the blood of the dead, or the persecutions of the living. The lands we have been robbed of, we shall continue to claim for the banished, and for the widows and orphans that murders have made, till the day when the judgment of God shall be revealed on the nation, and his wrath no longer slumbers; and they shall go up and possess it, though the nation ceases.

"But these things admonish us that we are not to expect peace or protection in the midst of the people who have done us this iniquity. Both by the commandment of God and from the necessity of our situation, we are seeking a home in a land where religious sects and political parties are far removed from us, a land uninhabited.

"We have not been suffered to live with other men. Shall we not be permitted to live alone? God made the earth for all men. Of the vast all he has given us a few little islands. They are the work of his hands; not man’s. Why should man sell God’s work?

"We, therefore, the servants of the living God, the fellow servants of the martyred saints, ask you, the President and Congress of the United States, to pass a law giving the consent of the nation that the saints may settle upon and forever occupy all the uninhabited lands of the islands in lake Michigan, and to cease to sell the same to other persons. And of the people of the United States we ask that as they have not allowed our brethren to remain in peace with them, they will suffer us to remain there separate from them.

"We further ask that you, by some public act, condemn in behalf of the nation the martyrdom of the saints and their exile from some of the States. Unless you do this, will posterity and God hold the nation guiltless of the blood of saints and prophets? What evidence has ever yet been given that the nation sanctions not the deed? How has she washed her hands of this blood?

"We further ask that you take such measures, whether constitutional or by a peaceable change of the forms of government, as shall secure redress for these wrongs, and the punishment of the aggressors. Less than this there can be no excuse for doing. The government which cannot or will not prevent such crimes, does not deserve to continue; and it would be distrusting the justice of the Most High to believe he would not destroy it.

"As you do good or evil, God reward you. James J. Strang,
Written at Buffalo, the 6th day of April, 1850.
Geo. J. Adams, William Marks." (Gospel Herald, Vol. 5, No. 12, p. 92/1000)

Joseph Smith had been the only person since 1830, to make a claim to the restoration of the gospel, the holy priesthood, and the Church of God. Either he did, in fact, restore the Church of Christ, or it still does not exist on the earth. It is not in the claim to be a prophet, alone, that Joseph Smith is to be judged; but, how he came by that position and then whether he taught the same as all earlier prophets. All prophets of God teach the same, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." (James 1:17) All ministers of God must abide in this principle. "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." (Isa. 8:20)