[Footnote A: Matt. xvi.]

It is controverted also by all the facts of history which represent Peter as the chief Apostle and as holding a Presidency over the entire church. In modern revelation, too, the order in which the Apostles have been named who have administered to men on the earth—has been invariably Peter, James and John—Peter always named first as the leader, the chief.[A]

[Footnote A: John the Baptist at the time he conferred on Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery the Aaronic Priesthood (May 15, 1829) said that "he acted under the direction of Peter, James and John, who held the keys of the Priesthood of Melchisedek."—(Hist. Joseph, Mill. Star, supplement, Vol. XIV, p. 15.)

"I will drink of the fruit of the vine with you on the earth, . . . and also with John, the son of Zacharias…and also with Peter. James and John whom I have sent unto you, by whom I have ordained you and confirmed you Apostles and special witnesses of my name."—(Doc. and Cov., sec. xvii 5, 12.)

"Again what do we hear? . . . the voice of Peter, James and John in the wilderness, between Harmony . . . and Colesville . . . declaring themselves as possessing the keys of the kingdom," (Doc. and Cov., sec. cxxviii, 20), and so throughout. It is scarcely probable that Peter would thus invariably have been named first unless that had been his place, as the chief, that is, the presiding Apostle.]

William Smith, however, did not command much of a following in this first attempt to make himself a leader. His profligate life was too notorious in Nauvoo to make it possible for him to wield much influence even as a schismatic. His efforts at leadership on this occasion resulted only in violent denunciations of those who would not receive him, and his final expulsion from the church. At the general conference held on the 6th of October, 1845, he was disfellowshipped from the quorum of the Twelve, and on the 12th of the same month, more of his wickedness having come to light, he was excommunicated from the church. He shortly afterwards became associated with James J. Strang and other apostates in an attempt to establish a church in the state of Wisconsin, but that failed as we shall see.

Here it will be proper to note the support which Lucy Smith, mother of William, gave to his claims to the Presidency. I regret being under the necessity of quoting her in such a controversy, as it shows this good and noble woman to have been very much mistaken in this matter, and one must ever be sorry to see those who are upright mistaken, especially in so grave a matter as this under consideration. One must ever feel a delicacy in referring to the words and actions of the mother of Joseph and Hyrum, of Don Carlos and Samuel H. Smith. She was a woman who had suffered much for the work of God and the testimony of Jesus; who in addition to toil, sickness, poverty and exile had lived to see her two noblest sons murdered, and two other sons and her husband laid away in premature graves, indirectly the victims of that relentless persecution which followed her family and the church from the beginning. These sufferings and her great age doubtless will account for that weakness of mind through which, and not through any wrong intent, I feel sure, she was led into this error of supporting the claims of her son William. But glad as I would be to pass by this matter for the sake of Sister Lucy Smith, I cannot do so, for the reason that the Josephites quote her as supporting the claims of "Young Joseph," and I wish to show by her support of William that she did not do it.

The evidence that Sister Lucy Smith sustained the pretentions of
William Smith to the Presidency and not those made in behalf of "Young
Joseph," is found in the journal of the late President John Taylor, a
member of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles at the time in Nauvoo:

Friday, June 27th, 1845.

This was the anniversary of the day that Brothers Joseph and Hyrum were killed and myself shot. We met together (the quorum of the Priesthood) to pray, several of the Twelve were present. When I returned [home] in the evening, Mrs. Taylor showed me a copy of a vision that Mother Lucy Smith had, stating that her son William was head of the Church; the following is a copy: