"P.S.—Brother Hezekiah Peck: We remember your family with all the first families of the Church who first embraced the truth. We remember your losses and sorrows; our first ties are not broken; we participate with you in the evil as well as the good, in the sorrows as well as the joys; our union, we trust, is stronger than death, and shall never be severed. Remember us unto all who believe in the fullness of the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We hereby authorize you, Hezekiah Peck, our beloved brother, to read this epistle and communicate it unto all the brotherhood in all that region of country.
"Dictated by me, your unworthy brother, and fellow laborer in the testimony of the Book of Mormon. Signed by my own hand in the token of the everlasting covenant. Joseph Smith, Jun."
[2]. This communication in the Prophet's history as published in the Millennial Star appears under the date of April 21st, 1835; but it was thought to be a better grouping of events to bring it down to this date—first half of June—where the whole incident may be disposed of in a single reference to it. Following is a remark of the Prophet's respecting the letter as published in the Star, but which under our present arrangement of the matter is not necessary in the text of the History: "One object, and only one, has induced us to lay the foregoing letter from England, before our matters; and that is, the good of the cause of God. It might have remained in our possession, perhaps for years, in silence, had it not been for circumstances, which we will briefly mention hereafter." These "circumstances" are those relating to the indifferent actions of Mr. Hewitt, as set forth in the text.
[3]. This is not the name accepted by the Church which Mr. Hewitt represented. The religious body usually called "Irvingites" object to any designation "which implies sectarianism" and therefore, they themselves use no other name than the "Catholic Apostolic Church," of which the congregation at Barnsley, England, was but a branch. Such was the prominence, however, for learning, social and ecclesiastical standing of Reverend Edward Irving that when he gave the influence of his name and standing to what was probably a really spiritual awakening among some of the people in western and southern Scotland, the movement received his name, hence "Irvingites." Mr. Irving was born in Annan, Dumfrieshire, August 15, 1792, and in his early ministry was associated with such men as Doctors Chalmers and Canning. He created no little stir in higher circles of religious society in London for a time; but his announcement of the near approach of the coming of the Son of Man, attended by the judgments of God, together with his strictures against the looseness of fashionable life, soon displeased the worldly who for a time flocked to hear him; and the people of fashion soon separated from his congregation. He taught the doctrine that the spiritual gifts of the Gospel were to continue forever in the Church, together with the New Testament organization of the Church. The Irvingite views of this New Testament organization are set forth in the following: "There are, as in the apostolic times, four ministeries:1st, that of 'apostle;' 2nd, that of 'prophet;' 3rd, that of 'evangelist;' and 4th, that of 'pastor.' The apostles are invested with spiritual prerogatives; they alone can administer the Holy Ghost by laying on of hands; to them the mysteries of God are revealed and unfolded to the Church; and they decide on matters of order and discipline. Nothing that transpires in any Church in the way of 'prophetic utterance' can be authoritatively explained save by them; and the various 'angels of the Churches' are bound to bring all such utterances under their cognizance, in order that they may be rightly interpreted. The function of the 'prophet' has been already indicated. The work of an 'evangelist' mainly consists in endeavoring to 'bring' in, those who are without. The 'angel' of the Catholic Apostolic Church, corresponds with the bishop of other Christian denominations. The ministers of each full congregation comprise an angel, with a four-fold ministry (consisting of elders, prophets, evangelists, and pastors;) and a ministry of deacons to take charge of temporal matters. This ministry is supported by tithes, the people giving a tenth of their income for the support of the priesthood. Church affairs were managed by a council of ministers of all classes, whose selection and arrangement are conceived to have been foreshadowed in the structure of the Mosaic tabernacle." The sympathy of the members of the Catholic Apostolic Church at Barnsley who believed in the spiritual gifts of the Gospel, and what they understood to be the New Testament organization of the Church, readily explains the interest they would naturally feel in the Latter-Day Saints in America, when they would come to hear of the things which God had established among them; and it is regretted that they did not send a more faithful representative than Mr. Hewitt to enquire into the work of the Lord as developed in divine manifestations to the Prophet Joseph. "This Mr. Hewitt," says John Whitmer in his manuscript history of the Church, page 52, "did not obey the Gospel; neither would he investigate the matter. Thus ended the mission of Mr. Hewitt."
[4]. Of the evangelical or patriarchal order of Priesthood in the Church it is said in the revelations of God: "The order of this Priesthood was confirmed to be handed down from father to son, and rightly belongs to the literal descendants of the chosen seed, to whom the promises were made. This order was instituted in the days of Adam, and came down by lineage in the following manner." Then follow the names of those who successively held the evangelical Priesthood in ancient times (Doctrine and Covenants, sec. 107). According to the word of the Lord, at the time this order of Priesthood was conferred upon Hyrum Smith, brother of the Prophet, it is said "The Patriarch holds the keys of the patriarchal blessings upon the heads of all my people, that whoever he blesses shall be blessed, and whoever he curses shall be cursed; that whatsoever he shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever he shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Doctrine and Covenants, 124, 92, 93.) It was undoubtedly upon this order of priesthood that the Prophet spoke in the meeting of the twenty-first of June.
[5]. Mr. Chandler is responsible for the English of the above certificate, and I do not feel at liberty to edit it.
Chapter XVII.
Sundry Council Meetings in Vermont, Ohio, and New York.