Letter from James Adams, Advising the Prophet to Appear for Trial.
CITY OF SPRINGFIELD, December 17, 1842.
General J. Smith.
MY SON:—It is useless for me to detail facts that the bearer can tell. But I will say that it appears to my judgment that you had best make no delay in coming before the court at this place for a discharge under a habeas corpus.
I am, &c.,
J. ADAMS.
On receiving the foregoing letters, and Dr. Richards having entered for the copyright of a map of the city of Nauvoo for Joseph Smith, in the clerk's office of the District of Illinois, the brethren left Springfield for Nauvoo.
Tuesday, 20.—Chopping and drawing wood with my own hands and team, as I had done mostly since the 9th. President Young continued very sick. This afternoon the brethren arrived from Springfield and presented me with Messrs. Ford, Butterfield and Adams' letters, and general history of their proceedings, which was highly satisfactory.
The First Elder to Die in a Foreign Land.
Elder Lorenzo D. Barnes died this morning at a quarter past three o'clock, at Bradford, England. He is the first Elder who has fallen in a foreign land in these last days. He had been long connected with the Church, and had been distinguished, both in his native land and in Great Britain, for his piety, and virtue. Read correspondence between Dr. Richards and General James Arlington Bennett, and read German with Elder Orson Hyde. Brother Shearer inquired the meaning of the "little leaven which a woman hid in three measures of meal." I replied, it alluded expressly to the last days, when there should be but little faith on the earth, and it should leaven the whole world; also there shall be safety in Zion and Jerusalem, and in the remnants whom the Lord our God shall call. The three measures refer directly to the Priesthood, truth springing up on a fixed principle, to the three in the Grand Presidency, confining the oracles to a certain head on the principle of three.
Friday, 23.—Wrote R. M. Young, Esq., U. S. Senator from Illinois, Washington City, that I would accept the proposals of John C. Walsh, and give him $2,500 for the north-west quarter of section 8, 6 north, 8 west, said land lying between my farm and the city.
Saturday, 24.—At home afternoon. Read and revised my history with Secretary Richards, and walked with him to see Sister Lyon, who was sick. Her babe died a few minutes before our arrival. From there we went to Brother Sabine's to compute expense money for our journey to Springfield, having just borrowed $100 for that purpose. While there, Brother Richards asked if I wanted a wicked man to pray for me? I replied, Yes; if the fervent, affectionate prayer of the righteous man availeth much, a wicked man may avail a little when praying for a righteous man. There is none good but one. The better a man is, the more his prayer will avail. Like the publican and the Pharisee, one was justified rather than the other, showing that both were justified in a degree. The prayer of a wicked man may do a righteous man good, when it does the one who prays no good.
Sunday, 25.—I wrote to Orrin Wright, Jun., Philadelphia.
The Manchester, (England) conference met, numbering 1,507 members including thirty-three Elders, eighty-seven Priests, fifty-three Teachers, and nineteen Deacons under the presidency of Elder Thomas Ward.