I felt pained and distressed when [apostle and church patriarch] William [Smith] was speaking so did a great many of the congregation, and many of the people left, being disgusted at the remarks he made... it was calculated to lead astray many of the young men, elders and women, and to lead to corruption, adultery and every other wicked thing both in men and women letting loose the reins of government; ...
[John Taylor responding] ... Jacob had four wives and David had several hundred can we say that we can have a nuber of wives.
Bro. William then arose and said he did not wish me to comment, to criticize or to make any remarks upon his doctrine or preaching, that if I did he should reply to me. I paused until he got through, and again commenced speaking, when he again interrupted me; and said as often as he thought proper to rise he would answer any thing that I might advance. ... I again waited until he got through when I felt constrained by the Spirit of God, which rested upon me in power to proclaim with energy that God had called me to be a watchman upon the towers of Zion and that when I saw any danger or evil approaching I would lift up my voice and warn the people in the name of Israel's God and that no man should shut my mouth, when I had spoken these words the congregation cried with a loud voice,'--Amen.
I then stated whatever the opinion of Bro. William might be, I knew that there was a great deal of hypocrisy and deception ... I had been called upon to expose the corruptions of some men who were in secret publishing the doctrines contained in a book written by Udney H .Jacobs which was a corrupt book; they state that it was Joseph's views, published under a cloak of another man's name and the character of Joseph Smith was implicated in the matter ...
He then arose and made an apology for what he had said, and stated that he knew nothing of this book that had been spoken of and did not know anything of the principles advanced in it. ...
['The John Taylor Nauvoo journal, January 1845-September 1845,' BYU Studies 23:3 (1983) edited by Dean C. Jessee]
No comments:
Post a Comment