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"And now, concerning the gathering. Let the bishop and the agent make preparations for those families which have been commanded to come to this land, as soon as possible, and plant them in their inheritance. And unto the residue of both elders and members, further directions shall be given hereafter. Even so. Amen."

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On the first Sunday after their arrival Joseph preached in the wilderness to a crowd of Indians, squatters, and, as he himself records, "to quite a respectable company of negroes." He made a few converts, and had another revelation from the Lord, to the effect that an angel should be appointed to receive money, and that Martin Harris should "be an example to the church in laying his moneys before the bishops

of the church. I ask that lands should be purchased for the place of the storehouse, and also for the house of the printing." On the 3rd of August, after a sojourn of less than three weeks, the spot for the temple was solemnly laid out, and dedicated to the Lord; and Joseph in a day or two afterwards, having completed all his arrangements, established a bishop, and acquired, as he thought, a firm footing for his sect in this remote but lovely and fertile spot, prepared to return into Ohio, to look after his business in Kirtland. He was accompanied by ten elders of the church. "We started down the river," says Joseph in his Autobiography, "in sixteen canoes, and went the first day as far as Fort Osage, where we had a wild Turkey for supper. Nothing very important occurred until the third day, when many of the dangers so common upon the western waters manifested themselves; and, after we had encamped upon the bank of the river, Brother Phelps, in open vision by daylight, saw the destroyer (the Devil) ride upon the waters. Others," he adds, "heard the noise, but saw not the vision." They arrived safely at Kirtland, after a journey of twenty-four days. Some dispute, of which the nature is not clearly known, appears to have arisen between Joseph and his friend Sidney Rigdon before their return. It is probable, from the course of subsequent events, that Sidney, even at this time, aspired to greater power in the church than suited the purposes of the " prophet;" but, whatever the disagreement was, Joseph thought fit to rebuke his chief disciple by a revelation from heaven, in which he accused him of " being exalted in his heart, and despising the counsel of the Lord." They afterwards became reconciled, and in partnership or conjunction of some kind, and by the aid of other members and elders of the church, they established a mill and a store in Kirtland, and set up a bank. Joseph appointed himself its president, and entrusted Sidney Rigdon with the office of cashier. To Kirtland, they gave the name of a "stake,” or support of Zion, intending to remain there for at least five years, "and make money," until the wilderness was cleared and the temple built in Zion.

From this time until January, 1832, Joseph continued preaching in various parts of the United States, making converts with great rapidity. He found it necessary, however, to check the presumption of some new and indiscreet converts who also had revelations from the Lord, which they endeavoured to palm off upon the public, asserting that they were quite as good as those of the prophet. Among others, one Mr. E. Maclellan was rebuked. “This Maclellan," says Joseph, 'as a wise man in his own estimation, and having more learning than sense, endeavoured to write a commandment like unto one of the least of the Lord's, but failed. It was an awful responsibility to write in

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the name of the Lord. The elders and all present, who witnessed the vain attempt of this man to imitate the language of the Lord Jesus Christ, renewed their faith in the revelation which the Lord had given through my instrumentality." Joseph, at the same time, was obliged to combat some charges which were brought against his character by one Ezra Booth, formerly in his council, and whom he denounced as an apostate, and as a man who, by the exposure of his own wickedness and folly, had left himself " a monument of shame for the whole world to wonder at." His strange doctrines, and these charges against his character, brought forward by men who had once been in his confidence, united to the hatred with which other fanatics more violent than himself regarded his preaching, created much ill-feeling against him. On the 25th of January, being then resident at a village called "Hiram," he was dragged out of his bed at midnight, from the side of his wife, "by a mob of Methodists, Baptists, Campbellites," and miscellaneous ruffians, who stripped him naked and tarred and feathered him. Sidney Rigdon was similarly treated by the same lawless and cowardly assemblage.

The following account of this outrage, the first of a long series, was given by Joseph some years afterwards :

"According to previous calculations, we now began to make preparations to visit the brethren, who had removed to the land of Missouri. Before going to Hiram to live with Father Johnson, my wife had taken two children (twins) of John Murdock to bring up. She received them when only nine days old, and they were now nearly eleven months. I would remark that nothing important had occurred since I came to reside in Father Johnson's house in Hiram. I had held meetings on the Sabbaths and evenings, and baptized a number. Father Johnson's son, Olmsted Johnson, came home on a visit, during which I told him that if he did not obey the Gospel, the spirit he was of would lead him to destruction; and then he went away. He would never return to see his father again. He went to the Southern States and Mexico; on his return, took sick, and died in Virginia. In addition to the apostate Booth, Simmonds Rider, Eli Johnson, Edward Johnson, and John Johnson, junior, had apostatized.

"On the 25th of March, the twins before mentioned, which had been sick of the measles for some time, caused us to be broke of our rest in taking care of them, especially my wife. In the evening, I told her she had better retire to rest with one of the children, and I would watch with the sickest child. In the night, she told me I had better lay down on the trundle-bed, and I did so, and was soon after awoke by her screaming murder! when I found myself going out of the door in the hands of about a dozen men; some of whose hands were in my

hair, and some had hold of my shirt, drawers, and limbs. The foot of the trundle bed was towards the door, leaving only room enough for the door to swing. My wife heard a gentle tapping on the windows, which she then took no particular notice of (but which was unquestionably designed to ascertain whether we were all asleep), and soon after the mob burst open the door, and surrounded the bed in an instant, and, as I said, the first I knew, I was going out of the door in the hands of an infuriated mob. I made a desperate struggle, as I was forced out, to extricate myself, but only cleared one leg, with which I made a pass at one man, and he fell on the door-steps. I was immediately confined again; and they swore by God they would kill me if I did not be still, which quieted me. As they passed around the house with me, the fellow that I kicked came to me, and thrust his hand into my face all covered with blood (for I hit him on the nose), and with an exulting horse laugh muttered: Ge, Gee, God d —n ye, I'll fix ye.'

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They then seized my throat, and held on till I lost my breath. After I came to, as they passed along with me, about thirty rods from the house, I saw Elder Rigdon stretched out on the ground, whither they had dragged him by the heels. I supposed he was

dead.

"I began to plead with them, saying: 'You will have mercy, and spare my life, I hope!' To which they replied, 'God d―n ye, call on your God for help, we'll show you no mercy;' and the people began to show themselves in every direction: one coming from the orchard had a plank, and I expected they would kill me, and carry me off on the plank. They then turned to the right, and went on about thirty rods further, about sixty rods from the house, and thirty from where I saw Elder Rigdon, into the meadow, where they stopped; and one said, 'Simmonds, Simmonds' (meaning, I suppose, Simmonds Rider), 'pull up his drawers, pull up his drawers, he will take cold.' Another replied, 'A'nt ye going to kill him? a'nt ye going to kill him?' when a group of mobbers collected a little way off, and said, 'Simmonds, Simmonds, come here;' and Simmonds charged those who had hold of me to keep me from touching the ground (as they had done all the time), lest I should get a spring upon them. They went and held a council, and as I could occasionally overhear a word, I supposed it was to know whether it was best to kill me. They returned after a while, when I learned that they had concluded not to kill me, but pound and scratch me well, tear off my shirt and drawers, and leave me naked. One cried, Simmonds, Simmonds, where's the tar bucket?' 'I don't know,' answered one, where 'tis, Eli's left it. They ran back, and fetched the bucket of tar, when one exclaimed,

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my

God d- -n it, let us tar up his mouth;' and they tried to force the tarpaddle into my mouth; I twisted head around, so that they could not; and they cried out: 'God d- -n ye, hold up your head, and let us give ye some tar.' They then tried to force a phial into my mouth, and broke it in my teeth. All my clothes were torn off me except my shirt collar; and one man fell on me and scratched my body with his nails like a mad cat, and then muttered out: God dthe way the Holy Ghost falls on folks.'

-n ye, that's "They then left me and I attempted to rise, but fell again; I pulled the tar away from my lips, &c., so that I could breathe more freely, and after a while I began to recover, and raised myself up, when I saw two lights. I made my way towards one of them, and found it was Father Johnson's. When I had come to the door I was naked, and the tar made me look as though I had been covered with blood; and when my wife saw me, she thought I was all smashed to pieces, and fainted. During the affray abroad, the sisters of the neigh. bourhood had collected at my room. I called for a blanket; they threw me one, and shut the door; I wrapped it around me and went in.

"In the meantime, Brother John Poorman heard an outcry across the cornfield, and running that way met Father Johnson, who had been fastened in his house at the commencement of the assault, by having his door barred by the mob; but, on calling to his wife to bring his gun, saying he would blow a hole through the door, the mob fled, and Father Johnson seizing a club ran after the party that had Elder Rigdon, and knocked one man down, and raised his club to level another, exclaiming, 'What are you doing here?' They then left Elder Rigdon and turned upon Father Johnson, who, turning to run towards his own house, met Brother Poorman coming out of the cornfield; each supposing the other to be a mobber, an encounter ensued, and Poorman gave Johnson a severe blow on the left shoulder with a stick or stone, which brought him to the ground. Poorman ran immediately towards Father Johnson's, and arriving while I was waiting for the blanket, exclaimed, 'I'm afraid I've killed him.' 'Killed who?' asked one; when Poorman hastily related the circumstances of the rencounter near the cornfield, and went into the shed and hid himself. Father Johnson soon recovered so as to come to the house, when the whole mystery was quickly solved concerning the difficulty between him and Poorman, who, on learning the facts, joyfully came from his hiding-place.

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My friends spent the night in scraping and removing the tar, and washing and cleansing my body; so that by morning I was ready to be clothed again. This being Sabbath morning, the people assembled for meeting at the usual hour of worship, and among those

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