CHAPTER XLIV.
THE LORD'S HOUSE AT KIRTLAND COMMENCED—A LETTER FROM THE PROPHET TO HIS UNCLE SILAS.
Preceding Joseph's return from Missouri, the brethren called a council with the view of investigating the subject of building a meetinghouse, to accommodate the increased congregation.
In this council, Joseph requested that each of the brethren should give his views with regard to the house; and when they had all got through, he would then give his opinion concerning the matter. They all complied with his request. Some were in favor of building a frame house, but others were of a mind to put up a log house. Joseph reminded them that they were not building a house for man, but for God; "and shall we, brethren," said he, "build a house for our God, of logs? No, I have a better plan than that. I have a plan of the house of the Lord, given by himself; and you will soon see by this, the difference between our calculations and his idea of things."
He then gave them a full pattern of the house of the Lord at Kirtland, with which the brethren were highly delighted, particularly Hyrum, who was much more animated than if it were designed for himself.
After the close of the meeting, Joseph took the brethren with him, for the purpose of selecting a spot for the building to stand upon. The place which they made choice of was situated in the north-west corner of a field of wheat, which was sown by my sons the fall previous, on the farm upon which we were then living. In a few minutes the fence was removed, and the standing grain was levelled, in order to prepare a place for the building and Hyrum commenced digging a trench for the wall, he having declared that he would strike the first blow upon the house.
On the following Monday, the brethren went to work at the house with great ambition; and although not thirty families of Saints now remained in Kirtland, they never suffered the work to stop until it was accomplished. They had to endure great fatigue and privation, in consequence of the opposition they met with from their enemies, and which was so great, that they were compelled to keep a guard around the walls much of the time until they were completed. They "gave no sleep to their eyes, nor slumber to their eyelids, until they found a place for the Lord, a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob."
Mary Bailey and Agnes Coolbrith were then boarding with me; they devoted their time to making and mending clothes for the men who were employed on the house. There was but one mainspring to all our thoughts and actions, and that was, the building of the Lord's house.
I often wonder, when I hear brethren and sisters complain at the trifling inconveniences which they have to suffer in these days, and I think to myself that salvation is worth as much now as it was in the commencement of the work. But "all like the purchase, few the price would pay." How often I have parted every bed in the house for the accommodation of the brethren, and then laid a single blanket on the floor for my husband and myself, while Joseph and Emma slept upon the same floor, with nothing but their cloaks for both bed and bedding.