18th [FIGURE] Elders and
arived in the city also President we
met together had some council. I wrote a letter
to the , advising the Elders who have
families in to go immediately to them &
for all the authorities of the church to assemble
at Nauvoo for a council, by order of the quorum of
the Twelve Wilford Woodruff Clerk B. Young President
After which Elder O. Hyde and myself accompanied
Sister to take tea with a sister who was attending
to a house near the state house fronting the common
we walked all over the house & took a view of the
furniture it could not have cost much less than
one hundred thousand dollars to have furnished the
it. After tea we walked to meeting in a hall in
Washington St opposite Boydston hall Elder
Hyde had advertised to Preach upon the murder
of and and take up a collection
at the close to pay his expenses home.
The following is a brief synopsis of the same
The speaker read the 24 ch Matthew 9 to 14 verses
as the foundation of some remarks. Said he would
much rather leave the strife of men, and spend
his time in speaking of the gospel of Jesus Christ
But it is my design to night to speak upon the death
of the Prophet & Patriarch. Some might think because
of the death of the men it would put a stop to the
work but not so, when God has sent a men at any
time they were opposed by the world, for any gener-
ation, that has a prophet of God in their midst they
see his weakness as touching human nature & the
people are watching for iniquity & they spend all
their time talking about any thing they see him
do that does not accord with their traditions &
tell a great many falshoods about him but entirely
forget and overlook all the good he does. It was
the nation will now be deprived of the benefit of that
wisdom and intelligence which the seer &
revelator would have brought to light that would
have been used for the benefit of the nations,
But now their die is cast and doom is sealed, &
their judgdment will come in an hour they are not
aware of. It was so with the Jews, they said if
we let Jesus alone he will come and take away
our state and Nation so they crusifyed his
shed his blood and said let it be upon us and our
children [Matthew 27:25]. And the judgments came upon them
their was laid in the dust, & the inhabitants fell
by the sword & famine and the remnant was
scattered throughout the gentile world, while if
they had recieved Jesus Christ he would oft
had gatherd together the people & saved the city.
When the nations of the earth send their messeng
ers or ministers to any people & they are not recieved but
^wel^ intreatly and killed treated lightly and killed will not
that nation take vengance on their enemies, is God
then of less consequence than man, when he sends
his prophets, messengers & servants to the world with
a message & the people cast them out stone shoot
and kill them, will not God take vengance on that
nation yea he ever did and ever will, and this nation
will not escape. said in pouring out the plagues
upon the earth 16 ch 3 v. that he poured out his vial upon
the sea and it became as the blood of a dead man and
evry living soul died in the sea, and the third angel
poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountain of
waters and they became blood. And the Angel said
the Lord was righteous in so doing for they have shed
the blood of Saints and Prophets and thou hast given them
blood to drink for they are worthy 6 v. Some yay [say] it
was in the days of Jesus Christ, But it was not in the
days of Jesus Christ for John lived after and saw
things in the last days. It seems that the waters
was turned to blood because they had shed the
Blood of Prophets and Saints. Their was to be
two Prophets in slain, for they tormented
them. Prophets are always a torment to the People
for they tell them the truth, reprove their transgressions
speak of the Judgments that are to come, when those
prophets were to be slain the people all would rejoice
& send presents to one another because the prophets who
had tormented them were slain, but in three days
they stood upon their feet & the Joy of their enemies
was of short duration. It is so now their is a secret
Joy in the hearts of the Priest and many people
that the Prophet and is murdered and
some manifest their joy openly. It is always a
dark time Just before day, it is a dark time now
but it will soon be light. When Christ was crucifyed
it was a dark time they were ready to go to their farm
fishing and merchandize and sent to inquire if
he was the one or if we should look for another, the
answer was go and thell them what you see and
hear, feel my body I have arisen, and Joy immediatly
arose in their bosom. As soon as the Jews found he
had arisin they bribed the guard to say that while they
were asleep his deciples stole him away, which saying
is believed among the Jews untill the present day [Matthew 28:11-15]
and they are taken in their own snare for it has been
that vary key that has chained them untill the present
time, & so it is with this nation they have sealed their
damnation by shedding the blood of the vary man that
holds the keys of this last dispensation and consequently
their destiny. A word about Br being killed
some have thought he could not be killed, but the Lord
never said so neither did Joseph say so. So did
Peter say to Jesus when he told him that he would be slain
or offered, far be it from thee, this shall not come upon
thee. Jesus said get the[e] behind me Satan thou savoreth not
the things that be of God but of men [Matthew 16:22-23].
In the first instance The Prophet crossed the
to & while there he inquired of the Lord what he
should do and the Lord told him to return and give
himself up he appeared to be aware that he would be
slain. The covenants convey this ^same^ idea ^concerning ^ see Page 159, 4 par
behold I grant unto you eternal life if you should be slain
Page 126, 1 & 2 Par. It is supposed by some that the
had a hand in this affair, at first they were not ready to
recieve him for the plan was not finished how to dispose
of him. The Govornor had taken away all of the state
arms, & was in requesting them to give up
their private arms at the same time that they were murder-
ing our brethren at . as soon as the word came
the govornor fled, the women and children removed
so as to come stir up the world to come and destroy the
place but this failed. In consequence of the death
of the prophets the Editors seem to get the spirit of prophecy
and say the work is done & will stop, and die. But as
am in the midst of the Prophetic Editors like Saul I
ketch some of the spirit of Prophecy & so I will prophe[s]y
that instead of the work diying it will be like the mustard
stock that was ripe that a man undertook to throw out
of his garding and scattered seed all over it and next
year it was nothing but mustard. It will be so by
shedding the blood of the prophets it will make 10 Saints
whare their is one now. Some said that he would
be President, but is now dead, now what will he do
the Revelator says He that overcometh will I give
Power over the Nations and he shall rule them with a
rod of Iron [Revelation 2:26-27]. I dont know but he may hold the keys
of the Plagues that are to be poured out in the last
days upon this and other nations. Angels appeared
anciently to , who were his fellow servants the
prophets Joseph may appear in this day, to his brethren
This gospel of the kingdom must be preached in all the world
for a testimony then shall the end come. though they should
be persecuted if they endured to the end they should
be saved. This generation speak much about the clouds
and weather they disern the face of the sky but why
can they not disern the signs of the times. The fig trees
are leaving and all things indicate the second advent
of Christ.
Elder arose and said he felt disposed to add
his testimony. be of good cheer, the testiment is not
in force while the Testator liveth when he died it was
in force so it is with . On the day of Pentecost
their was but 120 of the Saints, but at that time
their were added 3000 souls. When God sends a
man to do a work all the devils in hell cannot kill him
untill he gets through his work. So with Joseph. He
prepared all things gave the keys to men on the earth
and said I may be soon taken from you.
I recieved an extra Nauvoo Neighbor during the evening
which gave an account of the death of ^the^ Prophet &
at the close of the meeting I went home and spent
the night with a brother
