The Presidency Move to Missouri— Excommunication of Oliver Cowdery and Others
1838
Lowering Clouds
Threatening and sinister were the clouds which hung over the Church at the beginning of the year 1838. Apostasy had broken into the ranks, and many of the former faithful defenders of the truth had fallen by the wayside. Satan rejoiced, and the enemies of the Saints gained great power, which was later to be made manifest with extreme bitterness.
Flight of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon
So bitter became the spirit of opposition in Kirtland that Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon were forced to seek safety in flight. They departed from that place January 12, 1838, on horseback, and journeyed towards Far West. Unjust and vexatious law suits had been planted against them by their enemies. Several times Joseph had been cited to appear before the courts on trivial charges, from which he was cleared, which action did not tend to lessen the ugly feelings of his enemies. Some sixty miles west of Kirtland they tarried at Norton, where they were joined by their families. On the 16th, the journey was resumed, Elder Brigham Young accompanying them. At Dublin, in Indiana, the Prophet sought employment, cutting and sawing wood, to relieve his necessities. Here, through the aid of Elder Young, a Brother Tomlinson sold some property, and gave the Prophet three hundred dollars to help him on his way.
The weather was extremely cold and the fleeing brethren were forced because of enemies, to secrete themselves in their wagons without sufficient means to keep warm. Their adversaries followed them for more than two hundred miles from Kirtland, with guns and knives, seeking their lives. “They,” wrote the Prophet, “frequently crossed our track; twice they were in the houses where we stopped, and once we tarried all night in the same house with them, with only a partition between us and them; and we heard their oaths and imprecations, and threats concerning us, if they could catch us; and late in the evening they came into our room and examined us, but decided we were not the men. At other times we passed them in the streets, and gazed on them, and they on us, but they knew us not.” About two hundred and twenty miles from Far West a number of brethren met the Prophet, and assisted him with teams to that place, where he arrived, March 14, 1838. He was welcomed by the Saints with open arms. President Rigdon did not arrive in Far West until the 4th of April, having been detained by sickness in his family.
Rejection of the Missouri Presidency
The spirit of darkness spread from Kirtland to Missouri, and some of the leading brethren became affected. Martin Harris was dropped from the high council in Kirtland, with three others, September 3, 1837, and Oliver Cowdery, who had been in transgression, was retained in his calling on condition that he would repent; and should he fail to repent, the Prophet said, “the Church will soon be under the necessity of raising their hands against him; therefore pray for him.” These men, and others in Kirtland, influenced some of the brethren in Missouri, and the spirit of disaffection in Caldwell County commenced to grow. A general assembly of the Saints was held in Far West, February 4, 1838, and the members withdrew the hand of fellowship from their presiding officers, David Whitmer, William W. Phelps and John Whitmer. Similar action was taken on the succeeding days in Carter’s settlement, Durphy’s home, and Haun’s Mill.
The charges against two of them, William W. Phelps and John Whitmer, were that they had sold their possessions in Jackson County, contrary to the revelations of the Lord, which was paramount to a denial of the faith; and for the misappropriation of funds borrowed for the use of the Church. The Lord, in a revelation, had rebuked these men for their transgression and warned them, but they did not heed the warning. David Whitmer was likewise charged with improper conduct and neglect of duty, and with the violation of the word of wisdom, in the persistent use of tea, coffee and tobacco, and the Church had gone on record by vote that they would not sustain any officer who indulged in such things. Thomas B. Marsh and David W. Patten were sustained as presiding officers in Missouri, until the coming of Presidents Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon. The three accused men persisted in showing contempt for the decision of these conferences of the Church, in which action they were joined by Oliver and Marcellus F. Cowdery; therefore they were cited to appear before the high council, March 10, 1838, and William W. Phelps and John Whitmer were excommunicated. Marcellus F. Cowdery was disfellowshipped and the case of David Whitmer and Oliver Cowdery was held over for future investigation.