Wilford woodruff collected discourses

*This is a collection of unedited material that someone sent to us via e-mail. I am not sure about all of the references, but I know that most of them are correct.

Wilford Woodruff collected discourses.

Brian Stuy, Collected Discourses Vol. 1, p. 218

I say to you, as Brother Cannon has, the Kingdom of God is here. The Priesthood is here. The keys of the Kingdom of God are here. They will remain here. It makes no difference whether Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, or anybody else, remains; while these keys are here we have a right to know the mind and will of God; and when we do our duty, when we live our religion, we shall have these principles manifested to us. I know what awaits this nation. I know what awaits the Latter-day Saints. Many things have been shown to me by vision and by revelation. I know that the Latter-day Saints have need to repent of all their darkness, all their unbelief and all their disunion that they have in Zion. Our power, our salvation, our exaltation, our redemption, our glory and our preparation for the coming of the Son on Man, depend entirely upon our own acts. As was said today, if we [p.219] are not united, we shall be chastised by the power of God. But the Lord said: "Fear not, little flock, the kingdom is yours until I come." No matter if earth and hell combine against us, we are in His hands, and He has said that He will guide and direct the affairs of the Kingdom. The Lord is no different today from what He was in the days of Adam, of Enoch, of Christ, of Joseph, of Brigham. The Latter-day Saints should seek for the Spirit of God. We have great power and great blessings given unto us. As has been said here, look at our condition today, and compare it with what it has been in years past. Some of you were acquainted with our former condition. Here is Brother Philo Dibble. He was in Jackson County. He was shot through the body; but his life was preserved by the power of God. We were driven away; our property was burned and destroyed. The Lord told us to importune at the feet of the Judge and the Governor, and if they did not heed us, to importune at the feet of the President. And if the President would not heed us, then the Lord would come forth out of His hiding place, "and in His fury vex the nation, and in His hot displeasure and in His fierce anger, in His time, will cut off those wicked, unfaithful and unjust stewards, and appoint them their portion among hypocrites and unbelievers, even in outer darkness, where there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth." Do you think the Lord told the truth? Yes, He did; and not one jot or tittle will fall unfulfilled. If our nation does not give us our rights; if they continue to oppress and persecute us, these things are in the hands of God. More than 50 years ago the Prophet Joseph received a revelation which said: "Behold, verily I say unto you, the angels are crying unto the Lord day and night, who are ready and waiting to be sent forth to reap down the field." These angels wanted to go and reap down the earth. But the Lord said in effect, "No; wait till the earth is warned; wait till the nations of the earth have the Gospel of Christ preached unto them; wait till they have a chance to repent and receive the Gospel, if they will. When this is done, then you may go down.

Now, Paul says that if we preach any other gospel than that which he taught, we should be accursed. The first principle in that Gospel is faith in Christ as the Savior of the world. When men have faith, then they are required to repent of their sins and be baptized for [p.224] the remission of sin. This is what Jesus Christ taught, and He set the example himself. Though He committed no sin, He went unto John the Baptist and demanded baptism of him. John the Baptist said he was not worthy to do it. But Jesus said, "Suffer it to be so now; for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness." After being baptized it is necessary that we should have hands laid upon us by men holding the Holy Priesthood, for the reception of the Holy Ghost. Now, if you have the Holy Ghost with you and every one ought to have I can say unto you that there is no greater gift, there is no greater blessing, there is no greater testimony given to any man on earth. You may have the administration of angels; you may see many miracles; you may see many wonders in the earth; but I claim that the gift of the Holy Ghost is the greatest gift that can be bestowed upon man. It is by this power that we have performed that which we have. It is this that sustains us through all the persecutions, trials and tribulations that come upon us. We also have the gifts of the Spirit among us. I can bear testimony that the sick have been healed, the blind have been made to see, the deaf to hear and the lame to walk, and devils have been cast out, by the power of God. These gifts and graces have been with this people from the organization of the Church until the present hour. There sits a man [pointing to Brother Philo Dibble] who, fifty-five years ago, while in Jackson County, Missouri, was shot through the body because of his religion. If it had not been for the power of God, which was manifested in his behalf, he would have gone to the grave. Other men have been in like circumstances. The Lord has taken whom He pleased and when He pleased, and preserved in life those whom He would preserve, according to the counsel of His own will. I bear record that these gifts are enjoyed by this people, according to their faithfulness before God. If we lack these things, it is because we do not live our religion; for if we do our duty before the Lord, those blessings will be with us.

Dialogue, Vol.1, No.4, p.26

But the few members of the church at Independence got to quarrelling with the Missourians and they drove them out of Jackson County and they went into Clay County, and there they got into trouble again with the Missourians. 24 Philo Dibble was shot. Dibble told me he was shooting at the Missouri mob and went to load his gun after shooting at them but found that the end of his powder horn had been shot off and powder spilled. He saw a hole through his coat and unbuttoning it found a hole through the vest. He did not examine any farther since he then was in no pain. He remained there looking at the boys shooting at the Missouri mob for nearly an hour. At last pain came on and he was in dreadful agony. After the fight was over he was attended by his brethren and got well and lived to be about 83 years of age and was buried at Salt Lake, and the ball that wounded him in the fight in Clay County, Missouri, remained in the body when it was carried to his grave.

Dialogue, Vol.2, No.2, p.8 p. 26. n. 24:

Though the mob first met in April, 1833, the Saints were not driven from Jackson County until November 1833. They remained in Clay County until September, 1836. Philo Dibble was shot during the Jackson difficulties, November 4, 1833.

Dialogue, Vol.10, No.1, p.41

Of the thirty-three hymns printed in the original issues of the Evening and Morning Star, ten have survived in the present Hymns. Of these, six were by Church members. Five of the six were written by W. W. Phelps: "Redeemer of Israel," "Earth With Her Ten Thousand Flowers," "We're Not Ashamed to Own Our Lord," "Now Let Us Rejoice in the Day of Salvation," and "Awake! O Ye People, the Savior Is Coming." The other indigenous hymn is "The Happy Day Has Rolled

On," by Philo Dibble. The four non-indigenous hymns appearing in the present hymnal are:

"Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken," by John Newton; "He Died! the Great Redeemer Died" and "Joy to the World" by Isaac Watts; and "Guide Us, O Thou Great Jehovah," translated by Robert Robinson.

Dialogue, Vol.10, No.1, p.43

Emma's first assignment had been completed. The small book contained ninety hymns (texts only). Of these, thirty-nine had already appeared in either the Morning and Evening Star or the Messenger and Advocate, and of these thirty-nine, thirty are accredited to W. W. Phelps, five to Parley P. Pratt, two to Eliza R. Snow, and one each to Philo Dibble and Edward Partridge, all of whom were Latter-day Saints. The current hymnal contains twenty-eight hymns from this first collection, fourteen of which were composed by Mormon musicians. The hymns were grouped in this first edition under the following classifications Morning Hymns, Evening Hymns, Farewell Hymns, On Baptism, Sacrament, On Marriage and Miscellaneous. There is an alphabetical index by first line of the hymn and author. Dialogue, Vol.15, No.2, p.62 - p.63

Philo Dibble, a friend of Joseph Smith who made early replicas of the Smith brothers' death masks, preserved a third stone used by the Prophet in Nauvoo: "At the time of the martyrdom, [Dibble] rescued a small seer stone, at the Nauvoo Mansion House, from falling into the hands of the apostates. He brought this seer stone across the plains. Later, as curator of church history, he showed the death masks, the seer stone, and other items of historical value on his lecture tours throughout the territory of Utah."82 Though a description of this stone is not given, it is definitely not the Chase seer stone, which was still in the possession of Oliver Cowdery. It may well be the same stone that the Prophet showed to the Quorum of Twelve in 1841, which Wilford Woodruff referred to as the "Urim and Thummim" and which Brigham Young called a seer stone. Brigham Young documents that Joseph had more than one seer stone: "I met with President W. Richards and the Twelve on the 6th. We spent the time in interesting conversation upon old times, Joseph, the plates, Mount Cumorah, treasures and records known to be hid in the earth, the gift of seeing, and how Joseph obtained his first seer stone [italics added].83

Dialogue, Vol.29, No.2, p.5

The eight "Possible Wives" listed in the chart are supported by limited and/or problematic evidence (sometimes only one attestation in a late source). In addition, there is often contradictory evidence. For instance, Hannah Dibble's marriage to Joseph Smith is supported by two pieces of evidence in late sources that refer to a "Mrs. Dibble" or a "Sister Dibble" as Joseph's wife. Yet it is not certain which Mrs. Dibble is referred to. Hannah lived in Joseph's home briefly, but then Joseph officiated at her marriage to Philo Dibble, who did not seem to act as a "front husband," as at least one other man did. Later she married Philo, not Joseph, for eternity in the Nauvoo temple.

Dialogue, Vol.29, No.2, p.36 - p.37

2. HANNAH ANN DUBOIS: Johnson, My Life's Review, 96: "At this time I knew that the Prophet had as his wives, Louisa Beeman, Eliza R. Snow, Maria and Sarah Lawrence, Sisters Lyon and Dibble, one or two of Bishop Partridge's daughters, and some of C. P. Lott's daughters, together with my own two sisters." John Hyde, Mormonism: Its Leaders and Designs (New York: W. P. Fetridge, 1857), 84: "There is a Mrs. Dibble living in Utah, who has a fine son. She was sealed, among others, to Joseph Smith, although living with her present husband before and since. On the head of her son, Smith predicted the most startling prophesies about wielding the sword of Laban, revealing the hidden Book of Mormon, and translating the sealed part of the records. There is not a person at Salt Lake who doubts the fact of that boy being Smith's own child." The chief opposing evidence is Hannah's eternal marriage to Dibble in the Nauvoo temple (Sealing and Adoption Book A, 243). Joseph Smith performed the marriage to Dibble: "On the 11th of February, 1841, I married a second wife a Widow Smith of Philadelphia, who was living in the family of the Prophet. He performed the ceremony at his house, and Sister Emma Smith insisted upon getting up a wedding supper for us. It was a splendid affair, and quite a large party of our friends were assembled." Philo Dibble, "Philo Dibble's Narrative," Early Scenes in Church History (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1882), 92-93. This does not sound like a "pretend" marriage, as was the case with the Sarah Ann Whitney Joseph Kingsbury marriage.

Elders' Journal, Vol.1, No.4, p.60

Third, that George W. Robinson act as Colonel for the day, Philo Dibble as Lieutenant Colonel, Seymour Brunson as Major, and Reed Peck as Adjutant.

SUNSTONE 7:5/14 (Sep/Oct 82)ARTICLE

which he had "taken some time and pains to pick Up."4 The description from Philo Dibble reads as follows:

Inhabitants of the Moon

Times and Seasons, Vol.3, No.6, p.670

Philo Dibble

Times and Seasons, Vol.6, No.1, p.1125

Philo Dibble concurred in the foregoing testimony, also that sister Crandal saw the hearts of King Follet, and Hiram Page, and they were not right. Hiram Page testified that Lyman Leonard said if it was necessary to lay aside the gifts for a season, they would receive a knowledge of it through the gifts. Nathan West concurred in the foregoing testimony, also testified that Sally Crandall saw his heart that it was full of eyes, also eyes in other hearts, some few, some many eyes.

D. Michael Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, p.40

Another seer stone Joseph Smith evidently possessed was greenish in color. An early history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, quoted one of Smith's acquaintances that Smith obtained a "seeing stone" from Jack Belcher and that "it was a green stone, with brown, irregular spots on it" (Blackman 1873, 577). This account, though hostile to Smith, is corroborated in a Mormon source. In 1934, Norman C. Pierce, a member of the LDS church, wrote that he had acquired from the widow of his uncle James a greenish-grey seer stone which had come from David Dibble, the son of early Mormon convert Philo Dibble. Dibble, in turn, obtained the greenish seer stone either directly from Smith or from his Mansion House residence at Nauvoo shortly after Smith's martyrdom (N. Pierce 1934; N. Pierce 1937; Kraut 1967, 32-33).6 Photographs of the stone show that it resembles the description of the Belcher stone (fig. 9). Thus, according to early Utah folklore of the Dibble-Pierce families, Joseph Smith had a green seer stone in the 1840s which passed into the possession of Philo Dibble; and according to Pennsylvania folklore, Joseph Smith obtained such a green stone originally from Jack Belcher during the 1820s. After Pierce's death, the Belcher-Smith-Dibble stone was acquired by the Princeton University Library (Bush 1986). That none of the Palmyra neighbors referred to such a greenish stone would suggest that Smith did not use it to the extent he did his two other well-known stones.

FIGURE 9. Joseph Smith's green seer stone, later owned by Utah pioneer Philo Dibble. This stone matches the description of the green stone Jack Belcher allegedly gave to Joseph Smith in the 1820s in Pennsylvania. (Courtesy Princeton Collection of Western Americana, Princeton University Library)

Joseph Smith, History of the Church, Vol. 2, p.140

Philo Dibble concurred in the foregoing testimony, and also testified that Sister Crandall saw the hearts of King Follett and Hiram Page, and they were not right.

Brigham Young, History of the Church, Vol. 7, p.399

Tuesday, 15. Brother Heber C. Kimball, George A. Smith and myself went to visit Philo Dibble, who was sick. We then went to Isaac Higbee's office and attended a council in relation to the organization of a town under the general incorporation act. Afterwards visited the arsenal and Uncle John Smith who let Dr. Cannon have his house and lot in Macedonia to cancel an obligation for four hundred dollars held by Dr. Cannon's wife and her sister against myself and

Brother Kimball. Proceeded to Bishop Whitney's and administered to his wife who was sick; thence to the Seventies' Hall and attended General Council, where the letter from Governor Ford was read. If the advice of Governor Ford relative to organizing city government under the state law were complied with to the letter, it would require [p.400] twelve incorporations, as limited by the state statutes to supply the place of the Nauvoo Charter and cover the limits of the city with this species of complicated, restricted town protection.

Lecture Written by John M. Rigdon on the Early History of the Mormon Church

I am the only living child of Sidney Rigdon, who died in the town of Friendship, Alle. Co., New York, the summer of 1876; who was, at the time of his death about 83 years old. There were 12 children in my father's family. They are all dead except myself. Sidney Rigdon joined the Mormon Church in the year of 1830 at Kirtland, Ohio, and in the year 1833 was ordained Joseph Smith's first counselor, which position he retained up to the time of Joseph Smith's death at Carthage, Illinois (who was killed by a mob on the 27th day of June, 1844). I never knew a time when I did not know Joseph Smith. I knew him from my earliest recollections up to the time of his assassination at Carthage in the state of Illinois. I was familiar with him as I was with my own father. I used to see him almost every day of my life. My father and his family most always lived very close to him. I used to see him every day and sometimes much oftener. When my father and mother joined the Mormon Church at Kirtland, Ohio, he, my father, was living at a little town called Mentor in the state of Ohio, about five miles from Kirtland. He was, at the time he joined the Mormon Church, preaching what was then Campellitism, now called Christian, and soon after he joined the Mormon Church he was charged with having written The Book of Mormon. He always denied the same to friend and foe alike but they would not believe him. They would claim that he stole one Solomon Spaulding's manuscript and from that concocted out of the same manuscript The Book of Mormon. He used to tell them he never saw Spaulding's manuscript in his life but the people of the world would not believe him and continued to asset that he did write the Book of Mormon and gave it to Joseph Smith to introduce to the world. The religions of the world were determined to prove, if they could, that the Book of Mormon was not obtained as Joseph Smith claimed (that an angel from heaven appeared to him and told him where to go and find which was buried in the hill near Palmyra, New York). The fact that Joseph Smith had the book, all that knew him said he did not know enough to have written it, and somebody else must be found who they [p. 2] thought could have written it; for to admit that an angel appeared to Joseph Smith and told him where to go and find it was a reflection on their religion and their religion must be maintained at all hazards. Therefore, they selected Sidney Rigdon as the man. Perhaps it might be well enough for me to tell you what kind of a man Sidney Rigdon was and then you will see why the world claimed he was the author of The Book of Mormon. Sidney Rigdon was born in the year of 1793 in Washington County, Penn. His father, William Rigdon, was a farmer living on a farm ten miles from Pittsburgh (being then a city of about 10,000 inhabitants). His father, William Rigdon, married a wife by the name of Nancy Gallighar. They had four children, Sidney Rigdon was the youngest. He had two brothers and one sister. His oldest brother, Carval Rigdon, married and moved on a farm near to the old homestead. His second brother, Loamma Rigdon, was a sickly boy and unable to work on the farm. His sister, Lacy Rigdon, married one Peter Boyer who owned a farm near the old homestead and moved with her husband, Peter Boyer, to his farm leaving Loamma Rigdon and Sidney Rigdon on the old homestead with their father and mother. It was the rule in the country, that when a boy was too feeble to work in a farm, they would send him to school and give him an education. Loamma Rigdon was too sickly and feeble to labor on a farm and his parents decided to send him to school and give him and education. Sidney Rigdon wanted to go to school and pleaded with his father and mother to let him go with his brother to school, but they would not consent to let him go, saying to him, he was able to work on the farm and he could not go. At last finding they would not let him go to school, he said to them in anger he would have as good an education as his brother got and they could not prevent it. So his brother, Loamma, was sent to school; he went to Lexington, K. Y., studied medicine and became a Physician. He never returned to the old homestead to live but went to Hamilton in the state of Ohio and there practiced medicine for over 40 years, [p. 3] leaving Sidney Rigdon and his father and mother on the farm to live. Sidney Rigdon, after his brother Loamma Rigdon had gone to Lexington K. Y., he borrowed all the histories he could get and began to read them. His parents would not let him have a candle to read by night. He therefore gathered hickory bark; there was plenty of it around the old farm, and he used to get it and at night throw it in the old fire place and then lay with his face bent towards the fire and read history till nearly morning unless his parents got up and drove him to bed before that time. In this way he became a great historian, the best I ever saw. He seemed to have the history of the world on his tongue's end and he got to be a great biblical scholar as well. He was as familiar with the Bible as a child was with his spelling book. He was never known to play with the boys; reading books was the greatest pleasure he could get. He studied English Grammar alone and became a very fine grammarian. He was very precise in his language. At length his father William Rigdon died leaving Sidney Rigdon and his mother alone on the farm. At length they got tired of living alone on the farm. It was lonesome and they sold the farm and his mother went to live with her daughter Mrs. Peter Boyer and Sidney Rigdon went to study Theology under a Baptist minister by the name of Peters who belonged to what was called the straight Baptist. I do not know what the straight Baptist means unless it is those Baptist who believe in infant damnation and that, it would seem to me, to be straight enough for most any one. After getting his license to preach he went to Pittsburgh and preached a short time there and then went to the town of Warren; Trumbell co., in Ohio and remained there about 2 years. He did not have any particular charge of a church but where ever a vacancy occurred in the country he always filled and that way got a reputation of [being] a very eloquent preacher. Nature made him an orator and his great knowledge of history and the Bible gave him the knowledge so he was able to talk on almost any subject. He was of a natural religious turn of mind and he delighted in preaching the Gospel. [p. 4] At lenght he got married. He married a daughter of Jerimiah Brooks who was also a great Baptist and soon after his marriage he and his wife started on their wedding tour to go to Pittsburgh to visit his brother, his mother and sister who resided 10 miles from Pittsburgh. They went on horse back; that is the way they rode in those days. They reached Pittsburgh on Saturday night and stayed there over night. One of the members of the Baptist Church who had heard my father preach came to see him and wanted to know if he would not come to the Baptist Church and preach to them Sunday morning. He said they had one of the largest churches in the city of Pittsburgh, but the church had become divided and they had no minister and had no preaching in the Church and he would be much pleased if he would come and preach to them Sunday morning.

He told the Brother he would. The Brother gave notice that night that there would be preaching in the church. The next morning quite a little congregation gathered at the church to hear him preach. After his discourse he told the congregation that he was going out into the country about 10 miles from the city to visit his Brother and mother and sister and should remain out there about 4 weeks and if they wished him to come into the city and preach to them every Sunday morning during the time he remained out in the country he would do so as he could ride into the city every Sunday morning and preach to them and then go back in the afternoon. This offer they gladly accepted and my father preached in the Church for 4 Sundays in succession. When he got ready to go home he and his wife again came to Pittsburgh and stayed over night and quite a number of members of the church called to see them and wanted to know if he would not when he got home come back and take charge of the church and be their pastor. They said to him they had the largest congregation in Pittsburgh when they were united and they thought from what they had heard of his preaching he could unite them. They would be much pleased to have him come back and be their minister. He said to them that he would take the matter under advisement and when he got home he would consider the matter and let them know. When he got home he told his father-in-law of the offer of the Church at Pittsburgh [p. 5] and he, being a great Baptist urged him by all means to accept it as it was not very often a young minister received such an offer. It might be the making of him and give him a great reputation. He therefore informed the members of the Church at Pittsburgh that he accepted their offer and would soon come to Pittsburgh and become their pastor. Soon after informing them of his acceptance he returned to Pittsburgh with his wife and became Pastor of the Baptist Church. It was not long after he took charge of the Church until he united the Church and he had the largest congregation in the city and in less than one year he had the reputation of being one of the most eloquent preachers in the city. Everything went smoothly along, fame and fortune seemed to be within his grasp. At length an old Scotch Divine came to Pittsburgh and wanted to know of my father if he preached and taught the Baptist Confession of Faith., Infant Damnation. He told him he did not as he did not believe it and would not teach it. The Scotch Divine replied to him that he would have to teach it as it was part of the Baptist Confession of Faith. My Father replied to him that he did not care if it was a part of the Baptist Confession of Faith. It was to him too horrible a doctrine for him to teach and he would have nothing to do with it. His refusal to teach the Baptist Confession of Faith occasioned quite a stir among the congregation. The older members of the church thought he ought to teach it as it was a part of their Confession [of] Faith while the younger members thought he acted wisely in refusing to teach the doctrine. My father seeing there was to be a division in the Church tendered his resignation and the Church got another minister. After resigning the pastorship of the Baptist Church he remained in Pittsburgh, about 2 years. After that in a tan yard with his brother-in-law Richard Brooks who was a tanner and couyer by trade who started a tannery in Pittsburgh, my father contributed some money in the business. At the end of 2 years they sold the tanner. Soon after that Sidney Rigdon became acquainted with Alexander Campbell who was a very learned man but not much of an orator. He and Campbell got their heads together and started what was then called Campbellite Church now called [p. 6] Christian. Sidney Rigdon [Baptised] Campbell and Campbell Baptised him and the church was started. There was not much of their confession of Faith. It was to believe in the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, be baptised for the remission of your sins and take the Bible for your guide was all there was of it. Its simplicity recommended itself to the General Public and Sidney Rigdon went to Mentor, Ohio and commenced to preach the doctrine. He soon had quite a large congregation. They built him a church and he again seemed to be on the high road to fame and fortune. One day the congregation asked him what he was going to charge them per year for his preaching. He said "Nothing." He said the apostles asked nothing for their preaching and he was not going to charge anything. They said to him in reply that he had been giving them the Gospel and now they were going to give him something. They bought him a little farm coming right up to the edge of the village and had built him a house. It was almost ready for him to move into when along come Parley Pratt, Oliver Cowdery and one Zibe Paterson with the Book of Mormon. It was a bound volume and it was the first time Sidney Rigdon ever saw it or ever heard of the man called Joseph Smith. Parley Pratt presented the Book to my Father Sidney Rigdon in the presence of my mother and my oldest sister who was a young girl of 10 years of age. Parley Pratt used to be a Baptist minister and was some what acquainted with Sidney Rigdon. In presenting the Book of Mormon he said, "Brother Rigdon, here is a book which is a revelation from God. One Joseph Smith, a young boy had an angel appear to him who told him where to go to find the Plates upon which the Book was engraved. They were gold. Joseph Smith went as directed by the angel and found the plates in a hill near Palmyra New York and brought them to his home and there by the power of God translated them and it was the everlasting Gospel given to the children of men." My sister and mother told me that my Father replied to Parley Pratt that you need not argue to case with me. I have one Bible which I claim to have some knowledge and which I believe to be a revelation of God. But as to this book I have some doubts but [p. 7] you can leave it with me when you go away in the morning and I will read it and when you come again I will tell you what I think about it. Pratt said he would do it but said he will you let us preach in your church to night. My father hesitated for a moment and finely said it would probably do no harm and they might preach in the church if they wished to do so. Quite a little congregation gathered at the church to hear the strangers preach. Their strange doctrines about an angel appearing to a young boy who told him where to go to find a book engraved upon gold plates hid up in a hill (page 18) near Palmyra New York which had the everlasting Gospel to preach to the children of men engraved upon it. Oliver Cowdery and Parley Pratt preached. Peterson did not say anything. Pratt spoke last. At the conclusion of his remarks Pratt asked my father if he had any remarks to make if so he should be pleased to hear him. Sidney Rigdon arose and said, "Brethren, we have listened to strange doctrines tonight but we are commanded to prove all things and to hold fast to that which is good. I would caution you not to be too hasty in giving your opinion upon what you have heard but give this matter your careful consideration and then you will be better prepared to tell whether it is true or not. The meeting was dismissed and Cowdery, Pratt and Peterson went home with my father and stayed over night and in the morning when they went away they left him the Book of Mormon telling him that they were going to the town of Kirtland about 5 miles from there and would be back in about 2 or 3 weeks. My father immediately after the strangers had gone away commenced to read the Book. He got so engaged in it that it was hard for him to quit long enough to eat his meals. He read it both day and night. At last he had read it through and pondered and thought over it. At length Pratt and his 2 companions got back. My father asked them who this Joseph Smith was and how much education he had. They said he was a man about 22 years old and had hardly a common school education. My father replied that if that was all the education he had he never wrote the Book. Pratt told my father that they had converted some people at Kirtland [p. 8] while they were gone and were a going to baptise some of them the coming week and would be pleased to have him and his wife come down and see them at the time of the baptism took place. My father promised that they would and did so and while there and before they left for Mentor they were both baptised into the Mormon Church. When they got back and his congregation heard of what he had done they were furious at him and said to him if he had remained a campbelite and continued to preach the Gospel of which he had helped to create, he might gone down to the Grave as one of the great divines of the age. But now he had gone and thrown it all away and was agoing to fool [himself] away and was agoing to follow a fool of a boy who claimed an angel had appeared to him and told him where to go to find some plates of Gold upon which there was engraved The Book of Mormon which was to be the foundation of the Mormon Church. It was nonsense and a man of his knowledge ought to have better known than to have had anything to do with such impostures. He ought not to have let them preach in their church, should not have let them stay over night in his house should have refused to have anything to do with them. My father replied that they could talk to him as they pleased he was convinced in reading the Book of Mormon the doctrine preached by the Mormons was true and he was agoing to preach the doctrine let the consequences by what they may. He was not permitted to move into the little house which finished for him to live in and the Campbelite Church refused to have anything more to do with him. Therefore, he took his family and his little belongings and went to a little town called Hyrum about 2« miles from Kirtland and then lived with those people who had been baptised by Parley Pratt and his associates at Kirtland. When he had got there with his family they wished him to go to Palmyra and see Joseph Smith and he went and saw Joseph at that time being the first time he ever had seen or met him and he never saw the Book of Mormon until Parley Pratt presented it to him at Mentor Ohio. He did not see the Plates from which J. Smith translated the Book of M. but he talked with him and also the witnesses who saw the plates and helped to write the Book as translated by J. Smith from plates after spending a few day with J. Smith he came back to Hyrum firmly convinced that he had found the [p. 9] everlasting Gospel to preach to the children of men. In 1833 he was ordained to be J. Smith's first counselor which position he held up to time of Joseph was killed at Carthage Ill. in month of 1844. Not long after he had moved to Hyrum, J. Smith came there to live and sometime during the winter or early spring of the year J. Smith and Sidney Rigdon were one morning before daylight taken out of bed and tarred and feathered by a mob. The mob came and got Rigdon first. He was a man weighing about 225. As they dragged him some distance over the frozen ground by his heels bumping the back of his head so that when they got him to the place where they were to put the tar and feathers on him he was insensible. They covered him with tar and feathers and pounded him till they thought he was dead and then went to get J. Smith. He fought them but they got hold of him at last and carried him out and they took him where Rigdon lay and Joseph thought he was dead. The mob covered him with tar and feathers and pounded him till they got tired and left them both on the ground. J. Smith soon after the mob left got up and went home not very badly hurt. He was bruised some about the head. My father must have lain on the ground when the mob left him for some time. At last he got up in a dozed condition did not know where he was nor where to go but at last got his face turned toward his home more by accident than design and went realing along the road not knowing where he was and would have passed his house but my mother was out the door watching for him and went out as he came along and got him in the house. She got the tar and feathers off from him as best she could and got him to bed. In the morning J. Smith came over to see him but he was crazy. He wanted him to get him his razor. J. Smith wanted to know what he wanted it for he said he wanted to kill his wife. J. Smith soothe him as best he could and left him. In a few days my father regained his mind. Soon after getting over the effects of the tar and feathers they took their horses and started for Jackson Co. Mo. a distance of about 1000 miles. They laid out the town of Independence in Jackson Co. and selected a sight for a temple and came home. They left a few Mormons at Independence Mo. among the [p. 10] number was W. W. Phelps. He was publishing a little paper at Independence which was published once a month. But the few members of the Church at Independence got to quarrelling with the Messourines and they drove them out of Jackson Co. and they went into Clay Co. and there they got into trouble again with the Messourines. Philo Dibble was shot. Dibble told me he was shooting at Mo. mob and went to load his gun after shooting at them but found end of powder horn had been shot off and the powder spilled. He saw a hole through his coat. Unbuttoning it found a hole through the vest. He did not examine any farther he then was in no pain. He remained there looking at the boys shooting at the Mo. for nearly an hour. At last pain came on and he was in dreadful agony. After the fight was over he was attended by his brethren and got well and lived to about 83 years of age and was buried at Salt Lake and the ball that wounded him in the fight at Clay Mo. remained in the body where it was carried to his grave. The Mo. drove the few saints from Clay Co. but told them if they would go into Colwell Co. Mo. they might stay there. They would not be disturbed so they moved into Colwell Co. and founded the town of Far West. J. Smith and Rigdon after returning again to Ohio concluded that as the Mo. was Actly so badly they would make the gathering place Kirtland Ohio about 2« miles Hyrum. They accordingly moved their families to Kirtland. There was where my first recollections began and they began erection of a temple. I remember well while they were building temple was finished 1836 and was dedicated. Rigdon preached the sermon. How the Mormons succeeding in building the temple I could never understand. They had no money but some how contrived to get the lumber and the members of the church worked from early in the morning till 10 or 12 at night. Some got board and some didn't so at the end of 3 years it was finished and was one of the largest houses then in the state of Ohio. One day when temple was to be dedicated there was great time rejoicing by the members of the Church. They could not all get into Church first day. The ceremony was continued on second day. My father preached sermon on first day. He took for his text Psalm 8th of the Savior. Foxes have holes and the birds have nest but the Son of Man has no place to lay his [p. 11] head. He said that was the first temple that had ever been erected and dedicated to the service of the living God in Modern times that he had any knowledge of. This sermon was said to be one of the great efforts of his life. What glorious times the saints had when the temple was dedicated and what shouts of Hosannah have I heard from the old temple while the Mormons were permitted to worship God within its wall. The people came to church every Sunday because they wanted to come. You could not keep them away. A great many strangers came to hear the Mormons preach. My father usually preached on Sunday morning and great crowds both members and strangers came to hear him. Upper story of temple was used for schools. I went to school last year we remained at Kirtland. Alias Smith who was probate Judge of Salt Lake 1863 was my teacher. It seemed however that Mormons were not to be permitted to remain in Kirtland any great length of time after completion Temple. In less than two years from it completion J. S. and S. R. were forced to leave Kirtland on account of their starting Kirtland bank. My father opposed it. He said it would not be legal as they had no charter and did not wish to have anything to do with it but J. S. thought differntly and persueded father to sign bills as President and Joseph signed them as cashier. They gave them notes for the silver needed to start bank. It ran but a short time as they could not get the silver redeem bills; the bills came back to bank faster than silver could be gotten to redeem them with. And the bank went down. The notes which they had given to get hard money to redeem the bills became due. One Warren Parrish, who used to be a good Mormon and who got notes in his possession and had apostasized from Mormonism got angry with Joseph for some reason unknown to me, and told Joseph that he had notes which Joseph and Sidney had given upon which they had borrowed money to start bank with. And they were about due. And if notes were not paid at maturity he would sue them and get judgement against Joseph and Sidney. And if judgement was not paid he would put them in jail where they would stay until judgement was paid. There was a law in State of Ohio to effect if one got a judgement on a debt against another [p. 12] and it was not paid he could be thrown into jail and remain there until he paid it. As they could not pay judgement, all they could do was to get out of state. Therefore in winter of 1837 they and families started for Calwell Co. Mo.---a distance of about 1000 miles. I was attending school in upper part of temple when we left. On coming home from school in afternoon of day we left I saw considerable commotion about my father's home. I inquired of mother what was reason. She said "Nothing that concerned me." In evening I say several men come to our house and whisper a [time] and go away. I wanted to know of mother what was the trouble but could get no reply; and was at last ordered to bed. And I and brother Sidney went to bed. Along in night was awakened by man trying pair shoes on my feet. I asked what he was doing. He said he had gotten me new pair shoes. I said that was all right, but had he not better wait till morning then I could try them on better. He said, "You go to sleep and don't ask questions." I did so. Not long after that my brother and I were awakened and told to dress as we were going away. I asked where we were going, and he said to a land flowing with milk and honey that I had heard talked so much about. Well, I thought if I was going to that land which was flowing with milk and honey it was a pretty good place for me to go. And I wanted to go. That night about 12 O'clock we started in an open lumber wagon leaving my brother-in-law, George W. Robinson behind to sell some property and get two spans of horses, a carriage and another lumber wagon and meet us at Dublin in state of Indiana, where we were to wait for him to come up. We rode all night in the lumber wagon which we left Kirtland in. Joseph Smith met us with all his family [-]. Just as we were leaving the village of Kirtland, we stopped the next morning a little after daylight to get breakfast at a hotel and from there went to Akron, O. and a short distance from there we stopped at a friend's house and stayed some two days in order to put covers on the wagons so we would be warmer. Then we again started for Dublin Indianna and reached there without accident. There we [p. 13] waited three weeks for Robinson to come up.

Minutes of the High Council of the Church of Jesus Christ of Nauvoo Illinois, Internally

Dated/Paginated

present 1) Bent 2) Allred 3) Wilson 4) Cutler 5) Fulmer 6) Harris 7) Grover 8) Johnson 9) Numan G. Blogett pro tem 10) Philo Dibble pro tem 11) Zebidee Coultrin pro tem 12) Sherwood.

Marvin S. Hill, Quest for Refuge, p.34

Philo Dibble described Joseph Smith's reaction when he arrived in Kirtland in February 1831.

"When the prophet saw the false spirits which caused jumping, shouting, falling down, he said, 'God has sent me here, and the devil must leave, or I will.'"23 In late March, Smith wrote to his brother Hyrum that "the devil had made many attempts to overthrow them, it has been a serious job but the Lord is with us."24

Philo Dibble (Danite lieutenant colo-Harvey Green (elders' quorum presi-

nel), age 32 ER, RPT, WADdent at Far West), age 31 ER, WAD