"Mr. Smith, how do you govern these people?"
"I teach them correct principles and they govern themselves."
"Salvation cannot come without revelation; it is in vain for any man to minister without it. No man is a minister of Jesus Christ without being a Prophet. No man can be a minister of Jesus Christ except he has the testimony of Jesus, and this is the spirit of prophecy."
The Prophet was preaching in Philadelphia, when a man called out for a sign and would not let Joseph proceed peaceably with his sermon. After having vainly warned the man of what Christ said concerning sign-seekers, the person still persisting, Joseph said to the congregation:
"This man is an adulterer."
"It is true," cried another, "for I caught him in the very act;" and the sign-seeker after wards confessed that the charge was correct.
"The Saints can testify whether I am willing to lay down my life for my brethren. If it has been demonstrated that I have been willing to die for a Mormon, I am bold to declare before heaven that I am just as ready to die in defending the rights of a Presbyterian, a Baptist or a good man of any other denomination; for the same principle which would trample upon the rights of the Latter-day Saints would trample upon the rights of the Roman Catholics, or of any other denomination who may be unpopular and too weak to defend themselves."
"There are two Comforters spoken of. The first Comforter is the Holy Ghost. * * * Now what is this other Comforter? It is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. When any man obtains this last Comforter he will have the personage of Jesus Christ to attend him, or appear unto him from time to time, and even He will manifest the Father unto him. They will take up their abode in him, and the visions of the heavens will be opened unto him and the Lord will teach him face to face, and he may have a perfect knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of God; and this is the state and place the ancient Saints arrived at when they had such glorious visions."
Sunday, March 10, 1844—"I prophesy in the name of the Lord that Christ will not come this year; and I also prophesy in the name of the Lord that Christ will not come in forty years; and if God ever spoke by my mouth He will not come in that length of time. Jesus Christ never did reveal to any man the precise time that He would come."
"The Savior, Moses and Elias, gave the keys of the Priesthood to Peter, James and John, on the Mount, when they were transfigured before Him. * * * How have we come at the Priesthood in the last days? It came down in regular succession. Peter, James and John had it given to them, and they gave it to others." [The Prophet and Oliver Cowdery].
The Laws, and Fosters, and Higbees had threatened to kill Joseph, alleging that he was a false Prophet and they would do well to rid the world of him. He preached a funeral sermon upon Elder King Follett, on Sunday, the 7th day of April, 1844. Referring to the murderous hate of his enemies he said:
"If any man is authorized to take away my life because he thinks and says I am a false teacher, then, upon the same principle, we should be justified in taking away the life of every false teacher; and where would be the end of blood? and who would not be the sufferer?
"But meddle not with any man for his religion; and all governments ought to permit every man to enjoy his religion unmolested. No man is authorized to take away life in consequence of difference of religion, which all laws and governments ought to tolerate and protect, right or wrong. Every man has a natural, and, in our country, a constitutional right to be a false prophet as well as a true prophet. If I show, verily, that I have the truth of God, and show that ninety-nine out of every hundred professing to be religious ministers are false teachers, having no authority, while they pretend to hold the keys of God's kingdom on earth, and was to kill them because they are false teachers, it would deluge the whole world with blood."