
"For we have not followed cunningly devised
fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when
there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice
which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in
the holy mount.
"We have therefore a more sure knowledge
of the word of prophecy, to which word of prophecy ye do well
that ye take heed, as unto a light which shineth in a dark
place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your
hearts; Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scriptures
is given of any private will of man. For the prophecy came
not in old time by the will of man; but holy men of God spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost" (2 Peter 1:16-21).
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Last Days of the Prophet
The Story of the Church by Inez Smith
Davis
Chapter 35
The Church had so often appealed in vain for redress of their
wrongs that, as the presidential election approached, Joseph
Smith proposed to feel out some of the candidates with respect
to their attitude towards the Latter Day Saints. He wrote
Martin Van Buren, Lewis Cass, J. C. Calhoun, and Henry Clay.
None of the answers pleased him. Clay's was the most favorable
but not decisive enough to give the church any guarantee of
protection. The Saints therefore determined to place Joseph
Smith and Sidney Rigdon in the field on an Independent ticket.
Surely the church people throughout the States had not the
remotest idea of electing this ticket. The only explanation
of this move could be that these men, smarting under injustice
done, feeling unable to support any ticket in the field, resolved
to roll up as high a protest vote as they possibly could.
The "platform," if so it may be called, of this
unique movement had some very wise provisions, however hopeless
might be the chance of putting them into practice.
The year 1844 opened with public feeling running high on
the "Mormon" question. So numerous had the Saints
become in Hancock County that their favor was eagerly sought,
and the party to which support was not given was ready to
abuse and slander them.
In 1843 the Whig candidate for Congress, Cyrus Walker, had
been defeated by the Democratic candidate, Joseph P. Hoge,
and when it was learned that if the votes of Nauvoo, a large
majority of which were cast for Hoge, had been cast for Walker,
he would have been elected, the rage of the Whig press in
Illinois knew no bounds.
The newspaper industry in Illinois was then in its infancy
and, as has been implied by historians, a by no means reputable
infancy. Newspapers were practically all published in the
interest of one political party or the other, each editor
as firm in his own political faith (Whig or Democrat) as any
crusader in his religious belief. Each printed the speeches
of its statesmen in full, and knew by heart the argument of
its favorite spellbinders. "A man had to commit murder,
steal a horse, or break a leg to get into the papers"
in those days. "No painting barns, mending chicken coops,
or 'Sunday-ing' with some neighbor," could win public
recognition. The front page was for editorial comment on purely
political matters, and a little country editor was quite ready
to challenge debate with the biggest papers in New York City.
The editorial method of debate was to turn out the most unbelievable
"violence of invective and abuse." He poured forth
a perfect lava of detraction, which, were it not for the knowledge
of the people that such charges were generally false, or greatly
exaggerated, would have overwhelmed and consumed all men's
reputations. This was the sort of thing "especially to
the taste of the young, crude state, and the inhabitants entered
the lists without reserve and with sufficient vocabularies."
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