History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

158 THE STORY OF MORMONISM.
of Fayette, Seneca county, declaring the three witnesses
to bear record of the book. The voice of Mich
ael on the banks of the Susquehanna, detecting the
devil when he appeared as an angel of light. The
voice of Peter, James, and John in the wilderness between
Harmony, Susquehanna county, and Colesville,
Boone county, on the Susquehanna River, declaring
themselves as possessing the keys of the kingdom,
and of the dispensation of the fulness of times. And
again, the voice of God in the chamber of old Father
Whitmer, in Fayette, Seneca county, and at sundry
times and in divers places, through all the travels
and tribulations of this church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints."
We come now to a most momentous epoch in the
history of the church, to the most important act of
the prophet during the entire course of his wonderful
life, to the act of all others pregnant with mighty
results, if we except the primary proceedings relative
to the sacred book and its translation.
Twenty years had passed since the plates of Mormon
had been revealed to Joseph, during which time
he had suffered divers and continued persecution.
He and his followers had been reviled and spit upon
from the beginning; some of them had been robbed,
and beaten, hunted down, imprisoned, and slain.
Yet they had prospered; the church had rapidly
increased, and its members were blessed with plenty.
Their neighbors spoke much evil of them and committed
many violent acts. The saints were exceedingly
annoying; they voted solid and claimed the
whole world as theirs, including Jackson county,
Missouri ; they were wild in their thoughts, extravagant
in their pretensions, and by no means temperate
in the use of their tongues; they were not always
prudent; they were not always without reproach.
Just how far certain members or leaders erred,
bringing evil on all, it is impossible at this day to