At 3 p.m President Taylor had a lengthy interview with President Joseph F. Smith and Patriarch John Smith. Memo. by President Taylor: 'There has been considerable dissatisfaction and complaint in regard to Patriarch John Smith.... In our conversation I informed him that the office of Patriarch to the Church was a very important position, so much so that in the temple at Kirtland, Joseph Smith placed his father, who was the first Patriarch to the Church in a stand above him, and furthermore when Joseph the Patriarch died, Joseph Smith called upon his brother Hyrum to occupy that position, and in doing so he released him from the office of counselor (as he was at that time counselor to Joseph) and William Law was appointed in his place. ... You will perceive that there are verygreat powers, privileges, promises, sealings, &c. mixed up and associated with this office, and therefore I have called upon you, Brother Smith, to have a little plain talk with you in regard to certain statements that have been made to me from time to time whereby you do not seem to have the full faith of the brethren, and some of them in authority, wherein it is alleged that you do not magnify your calling and priesthood as it is desirable you should do. I then related the position that we occupied in the Church. I told him God had introduced His kingdom and organized it, and in former generations after any particular manifestation, after a brief space there had generally been a falling off, and the people dwindled down to a state of unbelief... 'Brother Smith acknowledged that what I said was correct, and if there was anything out of place associated with his conduct he would like to be put right. 'I said it was very unpleasant for me to be put in the position of an accuser, and that is was simply out of regard to him, and the important position that he occupied; and furthermore, I considered it a duty that I owed the Church to see that all the officers were magnifying their callings. I told him then that one thing I had noticed about his affairs was that while he had taken a second wife a great many years ago, who so far as I know or had been informed was an honorable, virtuous and upright woman, he had neglected and seemed to treat lightly the covenant he had entered into with her. 'President Joseph F. Smith also bore testimony to the same thing, whereupon he tried to excuse himself, which excuses were satisfactory neither to myself nor Brother Joseph F. Smith. The latter also stated to him that he set a very bad example in smoking, thus breaking the Word of Wisdom.'
[Source: Minutes, as quoted in Minutes of the Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1910-1951, Privately Published, Salt Lake City, Utah 2010]
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