Footnotes
[1]. John E. Page was born February 25, 1799, in Trenton Township, Oneida County, New York. He was baptized by the brother of Martin Harris—Emer Harris—in August, 1833, in Ohio, and ordained an Elder in September, 1833. He was now, on his removal to Kirtland, in his thirty-sixth year.
[2]. This is a most important document, since in it the Prophet reviews the actions and motives of himself and associates in settling the Church in Missouri. It is a most just and conservative statement of the case, a statement in which the errors and overzeal of some of the Elders and Saints are admitted and deplored. It also admirably portrays the Prophet as the conservative force in the Church, and gives an insight into the greatness and inspiration of his mind.
[3]. It has been decided to let the several divisions of this communication to the Elders of the Church appear together in this one chapter. There were three separate communication of the Prophet, as they appear in the Messenger and Advocate for September, November and December, 1835, respectively; but they constitute one continuous address, it is believed that it will in every way be better to have them appear together in one chapter.
[4]. In this and several of the following paragraphs the Prophet alludes to Alexander Campbell, founder of the sect of the "Disciples;" and also to an article which appeared in the Millennial Harbinger, Vol. 2 (1831), pages 86-96. The reference to Elymas, to which the Prophet so strongly replies, stands thus in Campbell's article—which was afterwards circulated as a pamphlet: "I have never felt so fully authorized to address mortal man in the style in which Paul addressed Elymas the sorcerer as I feel towards this atheist Smith." (Millennial Harbinger, Vol. 2, p. 96). That is, "O full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord" (Acts 13:10).
The paragraph dealing with the laying on of hands, and the passages of scripture quoted in support of that doctrine will also be the better understood when it is known that while Mr. Campbell and his associates taught faith in God, repentance and baptism for the remission of sins, they rejected wholly the doctrine of the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the enjoyment of the spiritual blessings which accompany the possession of that Spirit.
[5]. Notwithstanding this promise of the Prophet, the subject was not again renewed by him. About this time he was so overwhelmed with work and a multitude of other subjects that he did not find time to complete the work he had outlined in these papers.