[Footnote 170: "Origin, Rise and Progress of Mormonism," 12.]
[Footnote 171: 15 Millennial Star, 308.]
[Footnote 172: "Mormon Portraits," 16.]
The Prophet's brothers and friends received a gift of real estate by revelation,[173] and another brother of the Prophet was retained in a holy office, though confessedly concealing his property to cheat his creditors.[174]
[Footnote 173: Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 94.]
[Footnote 174: 15 Millennial Star, 520.]
These are a part and by no means all of the evidence tending to establish that a desire for money was the inspiring cause of every act of the Mormon Prophet, the very divinity that moulded his thoughts and revelations, and brought into being Mormon's books. Before becoming a Prophet, Joseph Smith's earning capacity as a peep-stone money digger was $14 per month.[175] Soon after becoming a Prophet he became president of a bank.[176] In 1842 the Prophet (together with his brother Hyrum and Sidney Rigdon) took advantage of the bankruptcy law to avoid creditors, whose claims amounted to one hundred thousand dollars.[177] A few years later the Prophet was killed, he being at the time the richest man in Nauvoo.
[Footnote 175: 16 Millennial Star, 151.]
[Footnote 176: "Gleanings by the Way," 334. Sometimes Smith was cashier and Rigdon President. "Prophet of Palmyra," 135.]
[Footnote 177: 19 Millennial Star, 343. 20 Millennial Star, 106-216-246. "Mormonism and Mormons," 338.]