George A. Smith

“ 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 influence became helpless, and were bound hand and foot as in chains, being as immovable as a stick of timber. ”

“ Many individuals bore testimony that they saw angels, and David Whitmer bore testimony that, he saw three angels passing up the south aisle, and there came a shock on the house like the sound of a mighty rushing wind, and almost every man in the house arose, and hundreds of them were speaking in tongues, prophecying or declaring visions, almost with one voice. ”

“ A number of them who manifested the greatest gifts, and had the greatest manifestations have fallen out by the way side, you look around among us and they are not here. Many who received the knowledge of the things of God by the power of his spirit, and sought not after signs and wonders, and when the spirit rested upon them seemed to produce no visible demonstration, you look around among the Saints in the valleys of the mountains, and you find they are here with us bearing on high the standard of Zion, or have descended into honorable graves. ”

“ The voice seemingly of an individual, was absolutely necessary to say that Joseph had a single friend. You look at times of danger, moral and physical, and you will find that the spirit of determination and strong will in the breast of a single man may save a most terrible panic and disaster. By management it was proved that Joseph had friends, and when he had gone to the state of Missouri, having fled from Kirtland, he was met with coldness by men who were in authority there. All this was the result of apostacy. ”

“ He came six hundred miles to Kirtland, and went to Joseph with the message that he had suffered John Noah, a prophet of God, to be cut off from the Church, and that consequently he had lost his office; and he had also suffered the women to wear caps, and the men he allowed to wear cushions on their shoulders, and for these heinous sins he was cut oft, and this man had come six hundred miles barefooted to bear the terrible message. You might suppose such an adventurer coming among us would be regarded as a madman by all, but at that time several men were ready to listen to him ”

“ Let "Mormonism" be true or false, the Spaulding story from beginning to end is an unmitigated falsehood. Solomon Spaulding was a Presbyterian minister; he entered into the iron trade in Conneaut, Ohio, but failing in business he took a notion to write a novel; he wrote a book called the Manuscript Found, he took his work to Pittsburg, to a man by the name of Patterson to get it printed, but he failed and never printed it. It was pretended that it fell into the hands of Sidney Rigdon, and that he converted it into the Book of Mormon, and induced Joseph Smith to publish it ”

“ Wherefore it shall come to pass, that if you behold a spirit manifested that you cannot understand, and you receive not that spirit, ye shall ask of the Father in the name of Jesus, and if he give not unto you that spirit, that you may know that it is not of God: and it shall be given unto you power over that spirit, and you shall proclaim against that spirit with a loud voice, that it is not of God ”

“ When the Church was organized, persons came into it bringing along some of these enthusiastic notions individuals who professed to have revelations on every subject, and who were ready to banish every moral principle under the guidance of false spirits. Joseph the Prophet had also to learn by experience, and to teach the Elders and the early members of the Church, how they should judge of the manifestation of spirits. ”

“ There was a prevalent spirit all through the early history of this Church, which prompted the Elders to suppose that they knew more than the Prophet. Elders would tell you that the prophet was going wrong, men who thought they knew all about this work thirty or forty years some of them before the Lord revealed it, tried "to steady the ark." The Church was constantly afflicted with such a class of men. ”

“ It was also peculiar in the history of the age, that just at the time that God was revealing unto his servant Joseph to raise up men to bear testimony of the principles of the Gospel in its fulness and simplicity, Satan was at work stirring up the hearts of the children of men to a species of religious excitement. ”

“ God has been with this people and has guided them, and dictated them, and is continuing to do so up to the present moment, and will continue so to do until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and his Christ. ”

“ As soon as this Council had made this decision upon Hurlburt, Joseph arose, and said to the Council, he is not honest, and what he has promised he will not fulfil; what he has confessed are not the thoughts and intents of his heart, and time will prove it. Hurlburt stated to the Branch in Thompson, Ohio, that he had deceived Joseph Smith's God or the spirit by which he is actuated, I have proved that Council has no wisdom, I told them I was sorry I confessed and they believed it to be an honest confession, I deceived the whole of them and made them restore me to the Church. ”

“ In relation to the manifestation of the spirit and a man exercising it, he may be guilty of error of manner as well as error in matter, and these principles in this way were gradually introduced into the minds of the brethren, the Elders being instructed all the while now and then, when falling out by the way-side. The first Council I ever attended where the Prophet was present was at the trial of Doctor P. Hurlburt. This occur [r] ed in June, 1833. He had been cut off from the Church by the Bishop's Council, and a Council of twelve High Priests, was organized to try the case on appeal. ”

“ The Prophet said, purchase lands in the vicinity of Kirtland; men were induced to buy farms, and to go to work and build houses, to quarry rock, and haul them on the ground, to build a Temple. We were not then supplied with reporters and clerks as we are now, and many of the books that were kept have been wrested from the hands of the Church by apostates. The foundation of the Kirtland Temple was laid in 1833, and there is scarcely a scrap of history relating to it to be found, not even the names of the twenty-four Elders in their order who laid the foundation of it. ”

“ Dennison died in the Ohio Penitentiary where he was incarcerated for procuring an abortion, which caused death; Joseph soon after located in Kirtland. In Kirtland there were manifestations of evil spirits in high places, which might have been considered more dangerous than the manifestations in the early establishment of the Church. Sidney Rigdon, on one occasion got up to preach, and commenced by saying that the Church and kingdom was rent from them and given to another people. Joseph was absent, when he came home he found Sidney almost like a mad man. ”

“ But the Reformed Baptists held the doctrine which I believe was first preached in Ohio, by Sidney Rigdon, that a man must reform, that repentance was simply a reformation, and the moment that repentance was resolved upon, the candidate was ready for baptism ”

“ There were in many parts of the country strange manifestations, great camp and other protracted meetings were assembled together to worship under the various orders denominated Methodists, Campbelites, Presbyterians, Baptists, Unitarians, etc., among whom were manifested the development of a spirit which deprived men of their strength ”

“ Hurlburt went round and got subscribers, to pay him when the book should be delivered, one dollar each for the four hundred. Howe got the books printed and refused to furnish Hurlburt with his share, until by a piece of legerdemain he got hold of his subscription list and got the four hundred dollars, and then he let him have the books. When Hurlburt went to supply his subscribers he found they had already been served. The Spaulding story in that country was considered so ridiculous, that the books could with difficulty be sold at any price ”