History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

PROGRESS AND APOSTASY. 89
five years. The store kept by Newel K. Whitney
and Sidney Gilbert should likewise be continued. A
system of tithes should be established. Ezra Booth
apostatized, and wrote letters against the church. 20
Orson Hyde, clerk in Gilbert and Whitney's store,
was baptized, and later make an elder. Phelps was
told to buy at Cincinnati a printing-press and type,
and start a monthly paper at Independence, to be
called the Evening and Morning Star, which was done.
Oliver Cowdery was instructed in November to return
to Missouri, and with him John Whitmer, the laUer
to visit the several stations, and gather further
materials for church history. Newel K. Whitney
20 Booth's letters were first printed at Ravenna, in the Ohio Star, and afterward
by E. D. Howe in his book, Mormonism Unveiled, 175-221. They are
nine in number, and are full of general denunciation and sorrow over his past
blindness, and an account of the hardships and disappointments attending
his journey to and from Missouri. I quote the more pertinent points.
'When I embraced Mormonism I conscientiously believed it to be of God.'
'The relation in which Smith stands to the church is that of a prophet, seer,
revealer, and translator; and when he speaks by the spirit, or says lie knows
a thing by the communication of the spirit, it is received as coming directly
from the mouth of the Lord.' 'This system, to some, carries the force of
plausibility, and appears under an imposing form. It claims the bible for its
patron, and proffers the restoration of the apostolic church, with all the gifts
and graces with which the primitive saints were endowed.' 'Many of them
have been ordained to the high priesthood, or the order of Melchisedec, and
profess to be endowed with the same power as the ancient apostles were. But
they have been hitherto unsuccessful in finding the lame, the halt, and the
blind who had the faith sufficient to become the subjects of their miracles,
and it is now concluded that this work must be postponed until they get to
Missouri; for the Lord will not show those signs to this wicked and adulterous
generation. In the commandment given to the churches in the state of New
York to remove to the state of Ohio, they were assured that these miracles
should be wrought in the state of Ohio; but .now they must be deferred until
they are settled in Missouri.' 'Everything in the church is done by commandment;
and yet it is said to be done by the voice of the church. For
instance, Smith gets a commandment that he shall be the head of the church,
or that he shall rule the conference, or that the church shall build him an
elegant house and give him 1,000 dollars. For this the members of the church
must vote, or they will be cast off for rebelling against the commandments of
the Lord.' 'Smith describes an angel as having the appearance of a tall, slim,
well built, handsome man, with a bright pillar upon his head.' The bishop's
'business is to superintend the secular concerns of the church. He holds a
deed of the lands; and the members receive a writing from him signifying
that they are to possess the land as their own so long as they are obedient to
Smith's commandments.' 'The Lord's storehouse is to be furnished with
goods suited to the Indian trade, and persons are to obtain license from the
government to dispose of them to the Indians in their own territory; at the
same time they are to disseminate the principles of Mormonism among
them.'