Chapter XVII (2)

President Joseph Smith stated that the next business in order was
to listen to appeals of elders, &c.; but none appeared. He was
rather hoarse from speaking so long yesterday, and therefore said
he would use the boys' lungs today.

The next business in order was to appoint some elders on missions.

Voted that Jedediah M. Grant be sent to preside over the church at
Philadelphia.

Voted that Joshua Grant be sent to preside over the Church at
Cincinnati.

Voted that Pelatiah Brown go to the village of Palmyra, in New
York, and raise up a branch of the Church.

_Complaints Against the Temple Committee_.

The Temple committee was called up for trial.

William Clayton said: Some may expect I am going to be a means of
the downfall of the Temple committee. It is not so; but I design
to show that they have been partial. Elder Higbee has overrun the
amount allowed by the trustees about one-fourth. Pretty much all
Elder Higbee's son has received has been in money and store pay.
Higbee's son has had nothing credited on his tithing. William F.
Cahoon has {338} paid all his tenth; the other sons of Cahoon have
had nothing to their credit on tithing. The committee have had a
great amount of store pay. One man, who is laboring continually,
wanted twenty-five cents in store pay when his family were sick;
but Higbee Said he could not have it. Pulaski S. Cahoon was never
appointed boss over the stone-cutting shop, but was requested to
keep an account of labor in it. During the last six months very
little means have been brought into the Temple committee. There are
certain individuals in this city who are watching every man who has
anything to give the Temple, to get it from him and pay for the
same in his labor.

Alpheus Cutler said he did not know of any wrong he had done. If
any one would show it, he would make it right.

The conference voted him clear.

Reynolds Cahoon said: This is not an unexpected matter for me to
be called up. I do not want you to think I am perfect. Somehow or
other, since Elder Cutler went up into the pine country, I have,
from some cause been placed in very peculiar circumstances. I think
I never was placed in so critical a position since I was born. When
President Smith had goods last summer, we had better property;
goods would not buy corn without some cash: instead of horses, &c.,
we took store pay. I have dealt out meal and flour to the hands to
the last ounce, when I had not a morsel of meal, flour or bread
left in my house. If the trustee, Brother Hyrum, or the Twelve, or
all of them will examine and see if I have too much, it shall go
freely. I call upon the brethren, if they have anything against me,
to bring it forward and have it adjusted.

Patriarch Hyrum Smith said: I feel it my duty to defend the
committee as far as I can; for I would as soon go to hell as be a
committee-man. I will make a comparison for the Temple committee. A
little boy once told his father he had seen an elephant on a tree;
the people did not believe it, but ran out to see what it was: they
looked, and it was only an owl.

Reynolds Cahoon said, when Brother Cutler was gone, Brother Higbee
kept the books, and they have found as many mistakes against
Brother Higbee as in his favor.

The conference then voted Cahoon clear.

Elias Higbee said: I am not afraid or ashamed to appear before you.
When I kept the books, I had much other business on my hands and
made some mistakes.

The conference voted in favor of Elder Higbee unanimously.

President Joseph Smith stated that the business of the conference
had closed, and the remainder would be devoted to instruction. It
is an insult to a meeting for persons to leave just before its
close. If they {339} must go out, let them go half an hour before.
No gentlemen will go out of meeting just at closing.

Singing by the choir.

Prayer by Elder Brigham Young.

_The Afternoon Session_.

Conference called to order at two-thirty p.m.

Singing. Prayer by Elder Brigham Young. Singing.

Elder Orson Pratt delivered a discourse from the prophecy of Daniel
on the Ancient of Days; for a synopsis of which see _Times and
Seasons_, page 204.

While the choir was singing, President Joseph remarked to Elder
Rigdon: This day is a millennium within these walls, for there is
nothing but peace.

To a remark of Elder Orson Pratt's, that a man's body changes
every seven years, President Joseph Smith replied: There is no
fundamental principle belonging to a human system that ever goes
into another in this world or in the world to come; I care not what
the theories of men are. We have the testimony that God will raise
us up, and he has the power to do it. If any one supposes that any
part of our bodies, that is, the fundamental parts thereof, ever
goes into another body, he is mistaken.

Singing by the choir. Prayer by Elder John Taylor.

The ice, which had made a bridge across the river since last November, moved away in immense masses.

_Morning Session of the Conference, Saturday, April 8th, 1843_.

President Joseph Smith addressed the Saints. [The following
synopsis was reported by Willard Richards and William Clayton.]

President Joseph Smith called upon the choir to sing a hymn, and
remarked that "tenor charms the ear, bass, the heart." After
singing, he spoke as follows:

I have three requests to make of the congregation: The first is,
that all who have faith will exercise it and pray the Lord to
calm the wind; for as it blows now, I cannot speak long without
seriously injuring my health; the next is that I may have your
prayers that the Lord will strengthen my lungs, so that I may be
able to make you all hear; and the third is, that you will pray for
the Holy Ghost to rest upon me, so as to enable me to declare those
things that are true.

_The Prophet Expounds the Scriptures_.

The subject I intend to speak upon this morning is one that I have
{340} seldom touched upon since I commenced my ministry in the
Church. It is a subject of great speculation, as well amongst the
elders of this Church, as amongst the divines of the day: it is
in relation to the beasts spoken of by John the Revelator. I have
seldom spoken from the revelations; but as my subject is a constant
source of speculation amongst the elders, causing a division of
sentiment and opinion in relation to it, I now do it in order that
division and difference of opinion may be done away with, and not
that correct knowledge on the subject is so much needed at the
present time.

It is not very essential for the elders to have knowledge in
relation to the meaning of beasts, and heads and horns, and other
figures made use of in the revelations; still, it may be necessary,
to prevent contention and division and do away with suspense. If we
get puffed up by thinking that we have much knowledge, we are apt
to get a contentious spirit, and correct knowledge is necessary to
cast out that spirit.

The evil of being puffed up with correct (though useless) knowledge
is not so great as the evil of contention. Knowledge does away
with darkness, suspense and doubt; for these cannot exist where
knowledge is.

There is no pain so awful as that of suspense. This is the
punishment of the wicked; their doubt, anxiety and suspense cause
weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth.

In knowledge there is power. God has more power than all other
beings, because he has greater knowledge; and hence he knows how to
subject all other beings to Him. He has power over all.

I will endeavor to instruct you in relation to the meaning of the
beasts and figures spoken of. I should not have called up the
subject had it not been for this circumstance. Elder Pelatiah
Brown, one of the wisest old heads we have among us, and whom I now
see before me, has been preaching concerning the beast which was
full of eyes before and behind; and for this he was hauled up for
trial before the High Council.

I did not like the old man being called up for erring in doctrine.
It looks too much like the Methodist, and not like the Latter-day
Saints. Methodists have creeds which a man must believe or be asked
out of their church. I want the liberty of thinking and believing
as I please. It feels so good not to be trammelled. It does not
prove that a man is not a good man because he errs in doctrine.

The High Council undertook to censure and correct Elder Brown,
because of his teachings in relation to the beasts. Whether they
actually corrected him or not, I am a little doubtful, but don't
care. Father Brown came to me to know what he should do about it.
The {341} subject particularly referred to was the four beasts and
four-and-twenty elders mentioned in Rev. 5:8--"And when he had
taken the book, the four beasts and four-and-twenty elders fell
down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden
vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints."

Father Brown has been to work and confounded all Christendom
by making out that the four beasts represented the different
kingdoms of God on the earth. The wise men of the day could not do
anything with him, and why should we find fault? Anything to whip
sectarianism, to put down priestcraft, and bring the human family
to a knowledge of the truth. A club is better than no weapon for a
poor man to fight with.

Father Brown did whip sectarianism, and so far so good; but I could
not help laughing at the idea of God making use of the figure of
a beast to represent His kingdom on the earth, consisting of men,
when He could as well have used a far more noble and consistent
figure. What! the Lord make use of the figure of a creature of
the brute creation to represent that which is much more noble,
glorious, and important--the glories and majesty of His kingdom?
By taking a lesser figure to represent a greater, you missed it
that time, old gentleman; but the sectarians did not know enough to
detect you.

When God made use of the figure of a beast in visions to the
prophets He did it to represent those kingdoms which had
degenerated and become corrupt, savage and beast-like in their
dispositions, even the degenerate kingdoms of the wicked world; but
He never made use of the figure of a beast nor any of the brute
kind to represent His kingdom.

Daniel says (ch. 7, v. 16) when he saw the vision of the four
beasts, "I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked
him the truth of all this," the angel interpreted the vision to
Daniel; but we find, by the interpretation that the figures of
beasts had no allusion to the kingdom of God. You there see that
the beasts are spoken of to represent the kingdoms of the world,
the inhabitants whereof were beastly and abominable characters;
they were murderers, corrupt, carnivorous, and brutal in their
dispositions. The lion, the bear, the leopard, and the ten-horned
beast represented the kingdoms of the world, says Daniel; for I
refer to the prophets to qualify my observations which I make,
so that the young elders who know so much, may not rise up like
a flock of hornets and sting me. I want to keep out of such a
wasp-nest.

There is a grand difference and distinction between the visions and
figures spoken of by the ancient prophets, and those spoken of in
the revelations of John. The things which John saw had no allusion
to the {342} scenes of the days of Adam, Enoch, Abraham or Jesus,
only so far as is plainly represented by John, and clearly set
forth by him. John saw that only which was lying in futurity and
which was shortly to come to pass. See Rev. i:1-3, which is a key
to the whole subject: "The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God
gave unto Him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly
come to pass; and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His
servant John: who bare record of the word of God, and of the
testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. Blessed
is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy,
and keep those things that are written therein: for the time is at
hand." Also Rev. iv:1. "After this I looked, and, behold, a door
was opened in heaven; and the first voice which I heard was as it
were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and
I will show thee things which must be hereafter."

The four beasts and twenty-four elders were out of every nation;
for they sang a new song, saying, "Thou art worthy to take the
book, and to open the seal thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue,
and people, and nation." (See Rev. 5:9.) It would be great stuffing
to crowd all nations into four beasts and twenty-four elders.

Now, I make this declaration, that those things which John saw
in heaven had no allusion to anything that had been on the earth
previous to that time, because they were the representation of
"things which must shortly come to pass," and not of what has
already transpired. John saw beasts that had to do with things on
the earth, but not in past ages. The beasts which John saw had to
devour the inhabitants of the earth in days to come. "And I saw
when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard, as it were the
noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And
I saw, and beheld a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow;
and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and
to conquer. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the
second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse
that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take
peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and
there was given unto him a great sword." (Rev. 6:1, 2, 3, 4.) The
book of Revelation is one of the plainest books God ever caused to
be written.

The revelations do not give us to understand anything of the past
in relation to the kingdom of God. What John saw and speaks of were
things which he saw in heaven; those which Daniel saw were on and
pertaining to the earth.

I am now going to take exceptions to the present translation of
the Bible in relation to these matters. Our latitude and longitude
can be {343} determined in the original Hebrew with far greater
accuracy than in the English version. There is a grand distinction
between the actual meaning of the prophets and the present
translation. The prophets do not declare that they saw a beast
or beasts, but that they saw the _image_ or _figure_ of a beast.
Daniel did not see an actual bear or a lion, but the images or
figures of those beasts. The translation should have been rendered
"image" instead of "beast," in every instance where beasts are
mentioned by the prophets. But John saw the actual beast in heaven,
showing to John that beasts did actually exist there, and not to
represent figures of things on the earth. When the prophets speak
of seeing beasts in their visions, they mean that they saw the
images, they being types to represent certain things. At the same
time they received the interpretation as to what those images or
types were designed to represent.

I make this broad declaration, that whenever God gives a vision or
an usage, or beast, or figure of any kind, He always holds Himself
responsible to give a revelation or interpretation of the meaning
thereof, otherwise we are not responsible or accountable for our
belief in it. Don't be afraid of being damned for not knowing the
meaning of a vision or figure, if God has not given a revelation or
interpretation of the subject.

I suppose John saw beings there of a thousand forms, that had
been saved from ten thousand times ten thousand earths like
this,--strange beasts of which we have no conception: all might be
seen in heaven. The grand secret was to show John what there was in
heaven. John learned that God glorified Himself by saving all that
His hands had made, whether beasts, fowls, fishes or men; and He
will glorify Himself with them.

Says one, "I cannot believe in the salvation of beasts." Any man
who would tell you that this could not be, would tell you that the
revelations are not true. John heard the words of the beasts giving
glory to God, and understood them. God who made the beasts could
understand every language spoken by them. The four beasts were four
of the most noble animals that had filled the measure of their
creation, and had been saved from other worlds, because they were
perfect: they were like angels in their sphere. We are not told
where they came {344} from, and I do not know; but they were seen
and heard by John praising and glorifying God.

The popular religionists of the day tell us, forsooth, that the
beasts spoken of in the Revelation represent kingdoms. Very well,
on the same principle we can say that the twenty-four elders spoken
of represent beasts; for they are all spoken of at the same time,
and are represented as all uniting in the same acts of praise and
devotion.

This learned interpretation is all as flat as a pancake! "What do
you use such vulgar expressions for, being a prophet?" Because
the old women understand it--they make pancakes. Deacon Homespun
said the earth was flat as a pancake, and ridiculed the science
which proved to the contrary. The whole argument is flat, and I
don't know of anything better to represent it. The world is full
of technicalities and misrepresentation, which I calculate to
overthrow, and speak of things as they actually exist.

Again, there is no revelation to prove that things do not exist in
heaven as I have set forth, nor yet to show that the beasts meant
anything but beasts; and we never can comprehend the things of God
and of heaven, but by revelation. We may spiritualize and express
opinions to all eternity; but that is no authority.

Oh, ye elders of Israel, harken to my voice; and when you are sent
into the world to preach, tell those things you are sent to tell;
preach and cry aloud, "Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand; repent and believe the Gospel." Declare the first principles,
and let mysteries alone, lest ye be overthrown. Never meddle
with the visions of beasts and subjects you do not understand.
Elder Brown, when you go to Palmyra, say nothing about the four
beasts, but preach those things the Lord has told you to preach
about--repentance and baptize for the remission of sins.

He then read Rev. 13:1-8. John says, "And I saw one of his heads as
it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed; and all
the world wondered after the beast." Some spiritualizers say the
beast that received the wound was Nebuchadnezzar, some Constantine,
some Mohammed, and others the Roman Catholic Church; but we will
look at what John saw in relation to this beast. Now for the wasp's
nest. The translators have used the term "dragon" for devil. Now
it was a beast that John saw in heaven, and he was then speaking
of "things which must shortly come to pass;" and consequently the
beast that John saw could not be Nebuchadnezzar. The beast John saw
was an actual beast, and an actual intelligent being gives him his
power, and his seat, and great authority. It was not to represent
a beast in heaven: it was an angel in heaven who has power in the
last days to do a work.

{345} "All the world wondered after the beast," Nebuchadnezzar and
Constantine the Great not excepted. And if the beast was all the
world, how could the world wonder after the beast? It must have
been a wonderful beast to cause all human beings to wonder after
it; and I will venture to say that when God allows the old devil to
give power to the beast to destroy the inhabitants of the earth,
all will wonder. Verse 4 reads, "And they worshiped the dragon
which gave power unto the beast; and they worshiped the beast,
saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to make war with
him?"

Some say it means the kingdom of the world. One thing is sure, it
does not mean the kingdom of the Saints. Suppose we admit that it
means the kingdoms of the world, what propriety would there be in
saying, Who is able to make war with my great big self? If these
spiritualized interpretations are true, the book contradicts itself
in almost every verse. But they are not true.

There is a mistranslation of the word dragon in the second
verse. The original word signifies the devil, and not dragon, as
translated. In chapter 12, verse 9, it reads, "That old serpent,
called the devil," and it ought to be translated devil in this
case, and not dragon. It is sometimes translated Apollyon.
Everything that we have not a key-word to, we will take it as
it reads. The beasts which John saw and speaks of as being in
heaven, were actually living in heaven, and were actually to have
power given to them over the inhabitants of the earth, precisely
according to the plain reading of the revelations. I give this as a
key to the elders of Israel. The independent beast is a beast that
dwells in heaven, abstract [apart] from the human family. The beast
that rose up out of the sea should be translated the image of a
beast, as I have referred to it in Daniel's vision.

I have said more than I ever did before, except once at Ramus, and
then up starts the little fellow (Charles Thompson) and stuffed me
like a cock-turkey with the prophesies of Daniel, and crammed it
down my throat with his finger.

At half-past eleven o'clock President Smith's lungs failed him, the
wind blowing briskly at the time.

Choir sung a hymn.

Elder John Taylor rose and made a few remarks, among which were the
following: "I have never said much about the beasts, &c., in my
preaching. When I have done it, it has been to attract attention
and keep the people from running after a greater fool than myself."

Singing and prayer.

Adjourned till two p.m.

A strong west wind; ice floating down the Mississippi seen from the stand.

{346} _Afternoon Session, two p.m._

Conference again opened; but the wind being too strong, the
congregation made a temporary stand at the east end of the Temple
walls, when Elder Taylor resumed his remarks on the kingdom of God
being set up in the last days, which will be like the little stone
cut out of the mountain.

Elder Orson Hyde said it was three years since he met with the
Saints and was set apart for his mission to Jerusalem. He had
traveled in the four quarters of the globe and had been among
people speaking fourteen or fifteen different languages, and they
all agree that some great event is close at hand.

Singing and prayer.

Sunday, 9th. Conference opened by singing, "The Spirit of God like
a fire is burning."

Prayer and singing. In consequence of President Joseph Smith being
afflicted in his lungs and breast, he was not able to preach, and
called on Elder Joshua Grant to speak, who stated that he had just
returned from a mission of three years. He had traveled through
several states, and had, in company with his brother, Jedediah M.
Grant, raised up a church of two hundred members. For synopsis of
discourse, see _Times and Seasons_, Vol. iv, page 236-7.

Elder Amasa M. Lyman also preached an eloquent discourse on the
Book of Mormon, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. See
_Times and Seasons,_ Vol. iv, pages 218-20.

{347}