17th
In company with I called upon President
and asked him what I should do whare council was asked
of me either by the 70s or Bishops. said to the Quorum
of Seventies that when they were called to be Bishops or councillors
that they might still retain their place as Presidents of the seventies &
not be ordained High Priests. Bishop thinks that they should Be ordained
Bishops & High Priest. what shall I do about it. President Young said if
they would go their ^way^ & hold there tongue about it they might stand as they
are & act as Councellors to a Bishop, but if they will not, ordain them
I said I thought that men ought to walk in the channel pointed out
for them & not complain about it President Young said yes let them
do as they are told. I spent the day in the reading History & councelling
Elder & F. D. Richards was with me a part of the day I attended the
Bishops meetings in the evening. Bishop Hunter spoke & I followed him
I told the Bishops to impress upon the minds of the people the necessity
of living their religion after this date for if the people again commit
sin after being forgiven as they now were they would not
again be forgiven but the Justice of the Law would be brought against
them & they would have to pay the penalty or be cut off from the
Church again I told them they should not boast of their authority
& power or that a Seventy was greater than a High Priest or that a
High Priest was greater than a seventy no man should boast of the
power of the priesthood untill he obtained some of that power &
it was manifested upon him & when that was upon him he certainly
would not boast of it for the Holy spirit would teach him sens enough
to know better. It is vary seldom that I have known the power of
the presiesthood made manifest upon the children of men in our [day] to a
vary great Degree but in some instances it was manifest as in
the case of the prophet at the time his [house] was full of the sick &
dying & his door Yard & they were strewed along the bank of the
for 2 miles & Joseph rose up & shook himself like an old Lyion
& commenced at his own tent door & healed all the people who was
not dead on both sides of the river by the power of God his voice was
as the voice of God & the earth almost trembled under his feet as he com-
manded the sick to arise & be made whole. It was also manifest with
Joseph while made fast in chains & in prision in & his wicked
ungodly persecuters gathered around him & while he was made fast in
chains with his chains Brethren yet they goaded his feelings by boasting
of how many murders they had commited & rapes upon mormon women
& how they had cut the mormons to peices then they would blaspheme the
name of God untill his spirit was reigned up & he rose up in the power of
God in the midst of his chains & spoke as in the voice of thunder "Silence
ye fiends of the pit. I will not live another momen[t] & hear such vile
language from mortals, either you or I shall die right here or els you
shall scease from boasting of shall such damnable deeds as you are guilty
of." They quailed before his words like leather wilting in the flames
& they bowed before him & made acknowledgedments to him this was done
by the power of God. "Again was taken by an armed mob
under a United States warrant & when he was surroun[d]ed with an armed
mob of about 40 men under the garb of Law & would not let him say one word in
his own defence but he arose in the power of God & held them fast to their seats
untill he addressed them about 1/2 an hour he told them they were cowards
rascals & villans & he proved it to them, & they had not power to harm a hair
of His head & they let him & go, away. Again this power
was manifest with President Brigham Young on the bank of the
at when the merchants brought up goods to sell to the brethren
who were going to the mountains. Old Major Miller the Indian Agent was
surrounded by officers & Miller in order to show his great power He told the
merchants that owned some Alcohol not to roll a Barrel of off from the
boat that He would knock the head in & spill it upon the ground president
steped up & told the men to roll it out & if miller spilled it that
moment I will spill his clarret He & all the officers turned pale the liquor
was rolled out & nobody hurt And other instances might be named when
the power of the priesthood has been manifest but these men have never
boasted of it nor never will I made many other remarks. I was followed
by who spoke well.
