“There is where Father Adam built an altar when he was driven from the Garden of Eden and offered up sacrifice unto the Lord.”
He further said that the Garden of Eden was in or near Independence, the center stake of Zion. I thought it a great privilege to be at that time with the Prophet, and to hear his words regarding the mound and pile of rocks laid up at so early a period of the world’s history.
Three years ago I visited the same altar with deep interest, and also the spot of ground where the Prophet received the revelation, wherein Adam-Ondi-Ahman is named as the place where Adam shall come to visit his [p.41] people, or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by Daniel the Prophet. Doc. and Cov., Sec. 115, page 415. The Prophet said that this Michael is Adam.
I quote the following from the revelation:
“Is there not room enough upon the mountains of Adam-Ondi-Ahman … the land where Adam dwelt? … Therefore come up hither to the land of my people, even Zion.’—Doc. and Cov., sec. 117, v. 8
Having lived and worked at the tin business in sight of this dungeon where the Prophet was so unjustly imprisoned and suffered so much, this knowledge of the country was welcome news to me. On one occasion, as I was informed by the late Bishop Alexander McRae, who was imprisoned in this same jail, and as he substantially related to me, five of the prisoners, viz: Joseph Smith, Hyrum, his brother, Caleb Baldwin, Lyman Wight, Sidney Rigdon and Bishop McRae were taking supper together. All but Brother McRae partook of tea, as they were glad to get anything to sustain life. Soon afterwards five of the inmates were taken sick and some of them were blind for three days, after which they were afflicted with sore eyes for a long time. Bishop McRae escaped this affliction as he did not partake of the tea. All of the six prisoners agreed that poison had been put in the tea, but how and by whom was unknown to them.
While the prisoners were confined in this jail, young Joseph Smith and Emma, his mother, visited their husband and father. It was at this time that Joseph’s son, now the leader of the Reorganized church, claims to have received a blessing under the hands of his father. Joseph F. Smith, with his mother, visited his father in this same jail, and although but an infant, received a blessing under his hands. Owing to the delicate state of her health, Joseph F.’s mother had to be taken on a bed in a carriage, to see, perhaps for the last time, her husband as a prisoner for the gospel’s sake. The meeting and parting on that occasion must have been heartrending under the circumstances. Very few can now realize such days as those of the imprisonment at Liberty jail.
From the day that Joseph Smith received the plates at the hands of Moroni, the angel, until his incarceration in Liberty jail, his life was one of persecution, trial and imprisonment, so much so that on one occasion Joseph was led to pray:
“O God! where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place? How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye—yea, thy pure eye—behold from the eternal heavens the wrongs of thy people, and of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries? Yea O Lord, how long shall they suffer these wrongs and unlawful oppressions, before thine heart shall be softened towards them, and they bowels be moved with compassion towards them? O Lord God Almighty, maker of the heaven and earth, and seas, and all things that in them are, and who controlleth and subjecteth the devil and the dark and benighted dominion of Sheol! Stretched forth thy hand; let think eye pierce; let thy pavilion be taken up; let thy hiding place no longer be covered; let thine ear be inclined; let thine heart be softened, and thy bowels moved with compassion towards us. * * * Remember thy suffering Saints, O our God.”
The Prophet loved the Saints, and he knew of their extreme suffering, and their moving through mud and rain, in poverty, leaving their homes and all behind them, while he, with his brethren, was in a dungeon liable to be poisoned at any time. They knew their lives were not safe in such [p.42] a mobocratic state as was Missouri then. However, Joseph had consolation, dark as it appeared, for he promised his brethren that not one of their lives should be lost. In the midst of their cries unto the Lord, he was answered thus: