Saturday, 8.—Soon after the July conference at Manchester, Elder Parley P. Pratt started for America for the purpose of getting his family and taking them to England, meantime leaving the Star in charge of President Brigham Young, assisted by Elder Willard Richards.

The Prophet's Letter to John C. Bennett—Bidding Him Welcome to Nauvoo, to partake of—its Poverty.

Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois,

August 8th, 1840.

Dear Sir:—Yours of the 25th ultimo, addressed to Elder Rigdon and myself, is received, for which you have our thanks, and to which I shall feel great pleasure in replying.

Although I have not the pleasure of your acquaintance, yet from the kindness manifested towards our people when in bondage and oppression, and from the frank and noble mindedness breathed in your letter, I am brought to the conclusion that you are a friend to suffering humanity and truth.

To those who have suffered so much abuse, and borne the cruelties and insults of wicked men so long, on account of those principles which we have been instructed to teach to the world, a feeling of sympathy and kindness is something like the refreshing breeze and cooling stream at the present season of the year, and are, I assure you, duly appreciated by us.

It would afford me much pleasure to see you at this place, and from the desire you express in your letter to move to this place, I hope I shall soon have that satisfaction.

I have no doubt you would be of great service to this community in practicing your profession, as well as those other abilities of which you are in possession. Since to devote your time and abilities in the cause of truth and a suffering people may not be the means of exalting you in the eyes of this generation, or securing you the riches of the world, yet by so doing you may rely on the approval of Jehovah, "that blessing which maketh rich and addeth no sorrow." Through the tender mercies of our God we have escaped the hands of those who sought our overthrow, and have secure locations in this state, and in the territory of Iowa. Our principal location is at this place, Nauvoo, (formerly Commerce), which is beautifully situated on the banks of the Mississippi, immediately above the lower rapids, and is probably the best and most beautiful site for a city on the river. It has a gradual ascent from the river nearly a mile, then a fine, level, and fertile prairie—a situation in every respect adapted to commercial and agricultural pursuits, but like all other places on the river, is sickly in summer.

The number of inhabitants is nearly three thousand, and is fast increasing. If we are suffered to remain,[[9]] there is every prospect of its becoming one of the largest cities on the river, if not in the western world. Numbers have moved in from the seaboard, and a few from the islands of the sea (Great Britain).

It is our intention to commence the erection of some public buildings next spring. We have purchased twenty thousand acres in the Iowa Territory opposite this place, which is fast filling up with our people. I desire all the Saints, as well as all lovers of truth and correct principles, to come to this place as fast as possible, or [as rapidly as] their circumstances will permit, and endeavor, by energy of action and concentration of talent, &c., &c., to effect those objects, that are so dear to us. Therefore my general invitation is, Let all that will, come, and partake of the poverty of Nauvoo freely.

I should be disposed to give you a special invitation to come as early as possible, believing you will be of great service to us; however, you must make arrangements according to your circumstances. Were it possible for you to come here this season to suffer affliction with the people of God, no one will be more pleased to give you a more cordial welcome than myself.

A charter has been obtained from the legislature for a railroad from Warsaw, being immediately below the rapids of the Mississippi, to this place—a distance of about twenty miles, which if carried into operation will be of incalculable advantage to this place, as steamboats can only ascend the rapids at a high stage of water. The soil is good, and I think not inferior to any in the state. Crops are abundant in this section of country—and I think provisions will be reasonable.

I should be very happy could I make arrangements to meet you in Springfield at the time you mention—but cannot promise myself that pleasure. If I should not, probably you can make it convenient to come and pay us a visit here, prior to your removal.

Elder Rigdon is very sick, and has been for nearly twelve months with the fever and ague, which disease is very prevalent here at this time. At present he is not able to leave his room.

Yours, &c.,

Joseph Smith, Jun.

To J. C. Bennett, M. D.

P. S.—Yours of the 30th is just received, in which I am glad to learn that your increasing desire to unite yourself with a people "that are everywhere spoken against," and the anxiety you feel for our welfare—for which you have my best feelings; and I pray that my heavenly Father will pour out His choicest blessings in this world, and enable you by His grace to overcome the evils which are in the world, that you may secure a blissful immortality in the world that is to come.

J. S., Jun.

August 10.—Colonel Seymour Brunson, aged forty years, ten months and twenty-three days, died at Nauvoo. Colonel Brunson was among the first settlers of this place. He has always been a lively stone in the building of God and was much respected by his friends and acquaintances. He died in the triumph of faith, and in his dying moments bore testimony to the Gospel that he had embraced.

Saturday, 15.

Letter of John C. Bennett to Messrs. Smith and Rigdon—Announcing that he will soon be in Nauvoo.

Wayne County Illinois, August 15, 1840.

Reverends Joseph Smith, Jun., and Sidney Rigdon.

Respected Friends:—I have written you several communications to Commerce and Nauvoo, supposing they were different places, but a brother to a lady in your community, now in this place, informs me that they are one and the same.

I have received no reply to my letters, and attribute the delay to a press of business or professional absence. I have come to the conclusion to join your people immediately, and take up my abode with you. Let us adopt as our motto—Licut partribus sit Deus nobius—(as God was with our fathers, so may He be with us), and adapt the means to the end, and the victory is ours. The winged warrior of the air will not cease to be our proud emblem of liberty, and the dogs of war will be forever chained.

I shall be with you in about two weeks, and shall devote my time and energies to the advancement of the cause of truth and virtue, and the advocacy of the holy religion which you have so nobly defended, and so honorably sustained.

My love to all the brethren.

With sentiments of fraternal regard.

Yours respectfully,

J. C. Bennett.

Footnotes:

[1]. Formerly a town in Kent and Surrey, England, on the Thames, noted for its dock yards, now part of London.

[2]. Lorenzo Snow was born April 30, 1814, in Mantua, Portage county, Ohio. He was the eldest son of Oliver Snow and Rosetta L. Pettibone. The early years of his life were spent upon his father's farm. Later he entered Oberlin College, a Presbyterian institution, in the town of Oberlin, in Lorain county, Ohio, about sixty miles southwest of Kirtland. In June, 1836, he visited Kirtland and attended the Hebrew classes, then being taught in the Temple. While in Kirtland he became a convert to the faith of the Latter-day Saints and was baptized by Elder John Boynton, one of the Twelve Apostles. The following year he did some missionary work among his relatives and friends in Ohio, and in 1836, with his parents, who in the meantime joined the Church, he moved to Missouri, and shortly afterwards went upon a preaching mission through the states of Kentucky and Illinois. A few days before starting upon this mission mentioned in the text, namely, 17th of July, 1840, he was ordained a seventy by President Joseph Young, and the day following was made a High Priest under the hands of Don Carlos Smith. The testimony which this man received of the truth of the Gospel is very interesting, and seems to have remained with him throughout his long life, in all the freshness of its first impression upon him. Having received the usual promise of a testimony of the truth of the work if he obeyed the Gospel, he sought that testimony most earnestly in prayer with the following result as stated by himself:

"I had no sooner opened my lips in an effort to pray than I heard a sound just above my head like the rushing of silken robes; and immediately the Spirit of God descended upon me, completely enveloping my whole person, filling me from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet, and oh, the joyful happiness I felt! No language can describe the almost instantaneous transition from a dense cloud of spiritual darkness into a refulgence of light and knowledge, as it was at that time imparted to my understanding. I received a perfect knowledge that God lives, that Jesus Christ is the son of God, and of the restoration of the Holy Priesthood, and the fullness of the Gospel. It was a complete baptism—a tangible immersion in the heavenly principle or element, the Holy Ghost; and even more physical in its effects upon every part of my system than the immersion by water."

[3]. When the great offense of Elder William W. Phelps is taken into account—amounting as it did to a betrayal of the Prophet and the Church in Missouri, during the troubles of the Saints in that state—this letter is remarkable. The Prophet's frank forgiveness of his erring brother, gently chiding his wrong-doing, but at the same time remembering in a large way that brother's former devotion and labors; the Prophet's willingness to have the prodigal return and occupy his former high standing among the Saints—all this exhibits a broad-mindedness and generosity that can come only from a great soul, influenced by the spirit of charity enjoined upon his disciples by the teachings of the Son of God. One of the surest evidences of Joseph Smith's greatness of mind and of the inspiration of God upon him is to be seen in his treatment of those who had fallen but were willing to and did repent of their sins. His capacity to forgive under these circumstances seemed boundless.