A council is
called to discuss the matter of building the
house of the Lord. oseph gives the plan of the
Lord. Account of the struggles to build the
temple in poverty and guarding it against the
mob. Sophronia taken very sick and healed by
the power of the priesthood. Letter from Joseph
the Prophet to his uncle Silas Smith outlining
the reasons for modern-day revelation. Joseph
Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith move into Joseph and
Emma’s home. Lucy falls down the stairs,
receives a severe injury, later catches a cold
and loses her eyesight. She is healed by the
blessing of the priesthood and never uses glasses
again.
Summer
1833 to spring 1835
The ensuing summer
after Joseph’s return from Missouri, [1]
the brethren called a council to discuss the
subject of building another meetinghouse, as
the first was now rather small to afford room
for the increased congregation.
In this council Joseph requested
each of the brethren to rise and give his views,
and when they were through, he would give his
opinion concerning the matter. They all spoke.
Some thought that it would be better to build
a frame house. Others said that a frame house
was too costly, and the majority concluded upon
putting up a log house and made their calculations
about what they could do towards building it.
Joseph rose and reminded them that they were
not making a house for themselves or any other
man, but a house for God. “And shall we,
brethren, build a house for our God of logs?
No, I have a better plan than that. I have the
plan of the house of the Lord, given by himself.
You will see by this the difference between
our calculations and his idea of things.”
He then gave them
the full plan of the house of the Lord at Kirtland,
with which the brethren were highly delighted,
particularly Hyrum, who was twice as much animated
as if it were designed for himself, and declared
that he would strike the first blow towards
building the house. [2]
Before the meeting closed,
they resolved upon laying the cornerstone one
week from the succeeding Wednesday. “Now,
brethren,” said Joseph, “let us
go select a place for the building.” They
all went out, and when they came to a certain
field of wheat, which my sons had sown the fall
before, they chose a spot in the northwest corner.
Hyrum ran to the house and caught the scythe
and was about returning to the place without
giving any explanation, but I stopped him and
asked him where he was going with the scythe.
He said, “We are preparing to build a
house for the Lord, and I am determined to be
the first at the work.”
In a few minutes,
the fence was removed, the young wheat cut,
and the ground in order for the foundation of
the wall, and Hyrum commenced digging away the
earth where the stones were to be laid. This
was Saturday night. Early Monday morning, the
brethren were out with their teams, laboring
with great ambition at digging a trench for
the wall, quarrying stone and hauling it to
the place where they were to be used. Although
there were but thirty families in Kirtland at
that time (as many of the brethren had gone
to Jackson County), the work never stopped nor
stood still for the want of means or laborers.
But they suffered much pain, fatigue, and uneasiness,
for as soon as the work was commenced, our enemies
began to swear that we should not finish it.
Still, the brethren were faithful to their charge,
and they took turns keeping guard upon the walls
every night. [3] My sons
also took their turns, standing upon the walls
as often as three nights in the week. How many
of those affectionate brethren spent days and
nights watching for the enemy, lest they should
steal into the town unawares and murder the
Prophet and his council and tear down the foundation!
But they clung fast by the walls and “gave
no quiet sleep to their eyes, nor peaceful slumber
to their eyelids, until they found a place for
the Lord, an habitation for the mighty God of
Jacob.” [4]
Many of those who
once stood guard lie full low, and their bodies
are moldering to dust, but their spirits have
returned to God, and their works have followed
them, for they did not turn therefrom, but continued
faithful to the end; while others, alas, are
buried in far more gross and dreadful darkness,
for they have forsaken the truth and taken to
themselves the god of this world and given heed
to vanity and lies, things wherein there is
no profit. The Savior said, “If the light
that is in thee be darkness, how great is that
darkness!” [5]
Mary Bailey [6]
and Agnes Coolbrith were then boarding with
me. They devoted their whole time to making
and mending clothes for the brethren who worked
on the house. There was but one mainspring to
all our thoughts, and that was building the
Lord’s house.
I often wonder to hear brethren and sisters
murmur at the trifling inconveniences which
they have to encounter in living in a little
less stylish establishment than they have been
accustomed to, and I think to myself, salvation
is worth as much now as it was in the beginning
of the work. But I find that “all like
the purchase, few the price will pay.”
And although they all speak frequently of being
of that people whom the Lord will try in all
things, yet when they find by experience that
they have been preaching a doctrine which is
literally true, they feel as though those who
carried them the message of eternal life had
injured them, and reflect on those who brought
them into the Church as though they had acted
the part of an enemy. I often find that even
those who have been with us from almost the
outset are, some of them, still clinging to
their property as if life depended upon close
economy.
How often I have, with my
daughters and daughters-in-law, parted every
bed in the house for the accommodation of the
brethren, and then laid a single blanket on
the floor for my husband and myself, while Joseph
slept upon the same hard floor, with nothing
but a cloak for both bed and bedding, Emma placing
herself by his side to share his comfort —
and this was our rest for two weeks together,
while we labored hard every day.
But those who were accommodated
by our privations did not know how we fared,
for neither Emma nor I suffered them to know
that we took unwearied pains for them, and when
the Lord’s house was being built, how
our brethren at Kirtland watched and toiled.
A short time after
the work on the temple was commenced, my husband’s
brother John Smith, who had been lying very
low with the consumption, determined to be baptized,
notwithstanding he was unable to walk into the
water. He was baptized and soon healed. Shortly
after, he came to Kirtland with his family in
order to assist in the work to which they had
been called. [7] Not long
after Brother John arrived, my daughter Sophronia
Stoddard was taken very sick, and her symptoms
soon became so alarming that her husband started
for a physician, who, after attending upon her
some time, pronounced her beyond the reach of
medicine and discontinued his visits, because
he said that he could be of no service to her.
In a short time, she became so weak that she
could not speak nor turn herself in bed for
several days, and many thought that she was
dying. About this time Jared Carter [8]
returned from a preaching mission. He was a
man of great faith, and I thought that if I
could get him to administer to her with my husband
and our sons, by their united faith she might
be healed. I mentioned this to Mr. Smith and
he called our sons and Brother Carter together,
and they laid hands on her, and in one-half
an hour she spoke to me and said, “Mother,
I shall get well — not suddenly, but the
Lord will heal me gradually.” The same
day she sat up for an hour, and in three days
she walked across the street.
After Brother John moved
to Kirtland, Joseph wrote a letter to his Uncle
Silas which I think would be interesting to
my readers, and shall therefore give it insertion
in this place:
Kirtland Mills, Ohio, September
26, 1833.
Respected Uncle Silas: —
It is with feelings of deep interest for the
welfare of mankind, which fill my mind on the
reflection that all were formed by the hand
of Him who will call the same to give an impartial
account of all their works on that great day
to which you and myself, in common with them,
are bound, that I take up my pen and seat myself
in an attitude to address a few, though imperfect,
lines to you for your perusal.
I have no doubt but that
you will agree with me, that men will be held
accountable for the things they have done, and
not for the things they have not done. Or that
all the light and intelligence communicated
to them from their beneficent Creator, whether
it is much or little, by the same they, in justice,
will be judged. And that they are required to
yield obedience, and improve upon that, and
that only, which is given, for man is not to
live by bread alone, but by every word that
proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.
Seeing that the Lord has
never given the world to understand, by anything
heretofore revealed, that he had ceased forever
to speak to his creatures, when sought unto
in a proper manner, why should it be thought
a thing incredible that he should be pleased
to speak again in these last days for their
salvation? Perhaps you may be surprised at this
assertion, that I should say for the salvation
of his creatures in these last days, since we
have already in our possession a vast volume
of his word, which he has previously given.
But you will admit that the word spoken to Noah
was not sufficient for Abraham, or it was not
required of Abraham to leave the land of his
nativity, and seek an inheritance in a strange
country upon the word spoken to Noah, but for
himself he obtained promises at the hand of
the Lord, and walked in that perfection, that
he was called the friend of God. Isaac, the
promised seed, was not required to rest his
hope alone upon the promises made to his father
Abraham, but was privileged with the assurance
of his approbation, in the sight of Heaven,
by the direct voice of the Lord to him. If one
man can live upon the revelations given to another,
might I not with propriety ask, why the necessity,
then, of the Lord’s speaking to Isaac
as he did, as is recorded in the twenty-sixth
chapter of Genesis? For the Lord there repeats,
or rather, promises again to perform the oath
which he had previously sworn to Abraham; and
why this repetition to Isaac? Why was not the
first promise as sure for Isaac as it was for
Abraham? Was not Isaac Abraham’s son?
And could he not place implicit confidence in
the veracity of his father as being a man of
God? Perhaps you may say that he was a very
peculiar man, and different from men in these
last days, consequently, the Lord favored him
with blessings, peculiar and different, as he
was different from men of this age. I admit
that he was a peculiar man, and was not only
peculiarly blessed, but greatly blessed. But
all the peculiarity that I can discover in the
man, or all the difference between him and men
in this age, is, that he was more holy and more
perfect before God, and came to him with a purer
heart, and more faith than men in this day.
This same might be said
on the subject of Jacob’s history. Why
was it that the Lord spake to him concerning
the same promise, after he had made it once
to Abraham, and renewed it to Isaac? Why could
not Jacob rest contented upon the word spoken
to his fathers? When the time of the promise
drew nigh for the deliverance of the children
of Israel from the land of Egypt, why was it
necessary that the Lord should begin to speak
to them? The promise or word to Abraham, was,
that his seed should serve in bondage, and be
afflicted, four hundred years, and after that
they should come out with great substance. Why
did they not rely upon this promise, and when
they had remained in Egypt, in bondage, four
hundred years, come out, without waiting for
further revelations, but act entirely upon the
promise given to Abraham, that they should come
out?
Paul said to his Hebrew
brethren, that God being more abundantly willing
to show unto the heirs of promise the immutability
of his counsel, he confirmed it by an oath.
He also exhorts them, who, through faith and
patience inherit the promises.
Notwithstanding, we (said
Paul) have fled for refuge to lay hold upon
the hope set before us, which hope we have as
an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast
and which entereth into that within the veil,
yet he was careful to press upon them the necessity
of continuing on until they, as well as those
who then inherited the promises, might have
the assurance of their salvation confirmed to
them by an oath from the mouth of him who could
not lie; for that seemed to be the example anciently,
and Paul holds it out to his Hebrew brethren
as an object attainable in his day. And why
not? I admit that by reading the Scriptures
of truth, the saints, in the days of Paul, could
learn, beyond the power of contradiction, that
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had the promise of
eternal life confirmed to them by an oath of
the Lord, but that promise or oath was no assurance
to them of their salvation; but they could,
by walking in the footsteps, continuing in the
faith of their fathers, obtain, for themselves,
an oath for confirmation that they were meet
to be partakers of the inheritance with the
saints in light.
If the saints, in the days
of the apostles, were privileged to take the
saints for example, and lay hold of the same
promises, and attain to the same exalted privileges
of knowing that their names were written in
the Lamb’s Book of Life, and that they
were sealed there as a perpetual memorial before
the face of the Most High, will not the same
faithfulness, the same purity of heart, and
the faith, bring the same assurance of eternal
life, and that in the same manner to the children
of men now, in this age of the world? I have
no doubt, but that the holy prophets, and apostles,
and saints in ancient days were saved in the
kingdom of God; neither do I doubt but that
they held converse and communion with him while
they were in the flesh, as Paul said to his
Corinthian brethren, that the Lord Jesus showed
himself to above five hundred saints at one
time after his resurrection. Job said that he
knew that his Redeemer lived, and that he should
see him in the flesh in the latter days. I may
believe that Enoch walked with God, and by faith
was translated. I may believe that Noah was
a perfect man in his generation, and also walked
with God. I may believe that Abraham communed
with God, and conversed with angels. I may believe
that Isaac obtained a renewal of the covenant
made to Abraham by the direct voice of the Lord.
I may believe that Jacob conversed with holy
angels, and heard the word of his Maker, that
he wrestled with the angel until he prevailed,
and obtained a blessing. I may believe that
Elijah was taken to heaven in a chariot of fire
with fiery horses. I may believe that the saints
saw the Lord, and conversed with him face to
face after his resurrection. I may believe that
the Hebrew church came to Mount Zion, and unto
the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to an innumerable company of angels. I may
believe that they looked into eternity, and
saw the Judge of all, and Jesus the Mediator
of the New Covenant. But will all this purchase
an assurance for me, and waft me to the regions
of eternal day, with my garments spotless, pure
and white? Or, must I not rather obtain for
myself, by my own faith and diligence in keeping
the commandments of the Lord, an assurance of
salvation for myself? And have I not an equal
privilege with the ancient saints? And will
not the Lord hear my prayers, and listen to
my cries as soon as he ever did theirs, if I
come to him in the manner they did? Or, is he
a respecter of persons?
I must now close this subject
for the want of time; and, I may say, with propriety,
at the beginning. We would be pleased to see
you in Kirtland; and more pleased to have you
embrace the New Covenant.
I remain, yours affectionately,
Joseph Smith, Jun.
[9]
In 1835 we were still living
on the farm and working with our might to make
comfortable the droves of company which were
constantly coming in from the country, both
those who were in and out of the Church. But
when Joseph saw how crowded we were, and that
we were breaking ourselves down with hard work,
he told us that it would not answer for us to
carry on a public house at free cost any longer,
and by his request, we moved into an upper room
of his house, where we lived very comfortably
for a season.
I thought as my time had
been so taken up with business, I now devoted
the principal part of it to reading, and I studied
the Bible and Book of Mormon and the recent
revelations constantly until a circumstance
occurred which deprived me of the privilege.
One day upon going downstairs to my dinner,
I incautiously set my foot upon a round stick
which lay near the top of the stairs. This,
rolling under my foot, pitched me forward down
the steps, and I bruised my head sadly, for
my right arm was lame at the time and I could
not use it to any advantage. I was much hurt,
but thinking I should be better soon, I said
nothing about it at that time.
Brother Cahoon came in the
afternoon and requested Mr. Smith to go to his
house and give a patriarchal blessing to some
of his friends who had just arrived from the
East. My husband invited me to accompany him,
but I told him that I was afraid that I should
take a cold that would affect me seriously on
account of my fall. But, as he refused to go
without me, after much persuasion on the part
of Brother Cahoon, I went. In spite of all the
care which I could take, I took cold, and an
inflammation settled in my eyes which increased
until I was not able to open them. The distress
which I suffered for a length of time surpasses
all description.
Everything that
was supposed to help in the least degree was
faithfully tried by my daughters and daughters-in-law,
but in vain. I called upon my husband, sons,
and other elders to administer to me by prayer
and the laying on of hands. I desired that I
might receive my sight, even that I might be
able to read without ever putting on spectacles
again. They did pray for this with fervent spirit,
and when they took their hands off of my head,
I opened my eyes and read two lines in the Book
of Mormon. I am now sixty-nine [10]
and I have not worn glasses since. This was
done by the special power of God, and I felt
to adore his name for the same.
Notes
