The Life of Joseph Smith, the Prophet

by George Q. Cannon

This was the sad situation as the Prophet approached the dwelling place of the Saints in Missouri. Many of the people went out to meet him, and at a distance of one hundred and twenty miles from Far West they found him and tendered him teams and money to help him forward. The joy they had in his presence arose from an absolute knowledge of his power and authority as a Prophet of God. They were certain that many of their difficulties would end with his presence, because he would give the light of truth by which to guide their footsteps.

On the eighth anniversary of the organization of the Church a conference was held at Far West under the presidency of Joseph. On this occasion David W. Patten declared that he could not recommend William E. McLellin, Luke Johnson and John F. Boynton as members of the Twelve, and he was also doubtful of William Smith. His objection to these men was prophetic; all of them lost their standing, disgraced their calling, forfeited their knowledge of the truth and their promise of reward hereafter, and sank back into the mire of this world.

At the same conference Brigham Young, David W. Patten and Thomas B. Marsh were chosen to preside over the Church in Missouri.

On the 12th of April, 1838, Oliver Cowdery was found guilty of serious wrong-doing for which he had not made repentance, and he was excommunicated by the high council at Far West. Before the same tribunal on the day following David Whitmer was charged with persistent disobedience of the word of wisdom and with unchristianlike conduct, and he was also cut off. Luke Johnson, Lyman E. Johnson and John F. Boynton were excommunicated about the same tune, and less than a month later a similar fate befell William E. McLellin.

It was a sorrowful day for Joseph when he lost the companionship of these men who had been with him during many trials and who had participated with him in the glorious understanding of heavenly things. But they were no longer anything but dead branches, harmful to the growing tree, and it was necessary for the pruner to lop them off. Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer were two of the witnesses to the Book of Mormon, designated by the word of the Almighty to view the plates and to be ministered unto by the Angel of the Record. Oliver had stood with Joseph in the Kirtland temple and seen the marvelous manifestations there. It was sad to see them thus shorn of power and blessing, but they had demonstrated their unworthiness to hold the positions which they had filled, and the penalty must fall upon them that the Church might escape the evil of their sins.

Had Joseph's faith in God and confidence in the mission which the Creator had entrusted to him been less than it was, he might have temporized with these men and not dealt with them in so strict and summary a manner. He was attached to them by many ties. They had been his aids and companions in days when he most needed help, sustenance and friendship. Through his ministrations of the gospel, God had enabled him to abundantly repay them. Still he never could forget their past associations. They were two of the heaven-selected witnesses who had testified that God's voice had declared to them that Joseph's translation of the Book of Mormon had been made by the gift and power of God. If they should be excommunicated from the Church, suppose that they, filled with anger thereat, should abandon themselves to the spirit of evil which so many men, so dealt with, yielded to in those days; what then? Like others, might they not renounce the truth, circulate all manner of falsehoods, deny the divinity of the work and even the solemn testimony which they had borne? These might be the reflections of an ordinary man under such circumstances; but such thoughts never troubled this Prophet of God. This Church was not the Church of man. Jesus Christ, its divine head, had promised He would take care of, sustain and defend it. However much, then, Joseph's affection and friendship might be for these men, he owed a paramount duty to his God to deal with transgressors in His Church according to the laws which He had given. This duty the Prophet performed without hesitation, leaving all consequences for the Lord to control.

Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris, the three witnesses of the divine origin of Joseph's translation of the Book of Mormon, were all severed from the Church. They became opponents of Joseph Smith and claimed he had fallen into transgression; but amid all their trials, temptations and vicissitudes they never hesitated or wavered in regard to the published testimony which they gave to the world concerning the Book of Mormon. Each of them to the day of his death, asseverated in the most solemn manner the truth of his testimony. All three are dead; but they still live as immutable witnesses of the truth and divinity of the record known as the Book of Mormon, and by their testimony will the world yet be judged.

In the sacred records which have come to us there is no mention of any other man, that was so highly favored as Oliver Cowdery was, falling from his exalted position and forfeiting his blessings and Priesthood as he did. What a lesson and warning does his history convey! It is generally understood by those who knew him in the days of which we write, that he was guilty of unvirtuous conduct. This came to the Prophet's knowledge. He warned Oliver of the consequences which would follow if he did not repent. The warnings were unheeded. The Spirit of God withdrew itself from him and he fell into darkness; and from being the second Elder in the Church, he lost his standing as a member and became an alien to the people of God. For years he remained in this condition. After the exodus of the Saints from Nauvoo and the city of Salt Lake had been founded, he arrived at Kanesville, made suitable acknowledgments in great humility to the Church there and was admitted to it by baptism under the direction of Elder Orson Hyde. He was re-ordained to the Melchisedec Priesthood and shortly afterwards died at Richmond, in the state of Missouri.

Martin Harris also came back penitent to the Church, after being for years separated from it. He was restored to fellowship and the Priesthood, and was strong in his testimony for the truth up to his death, which was at a very advanced age at Smithfield, Cache County, Utah Territory.

David Whitmer never rejoined the Church; but his testimony concerning the divine origin of the Book of Mormon was widely circulated through the newspapers of the country. He died at Richmond, Missouri.