Page:History of Utah.djvu/136

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84
THE STORY OF MORMONISM.

somewhat of his former faith; whereupon a revelation ordered him to go with Parley P. Pratt and preach to the shakers, not according to his old ideas, but as Parley should direct.

"And again, I say unto you that whoso forbiddeth to marry is not ordained of God, for marriage is ordained of God unto man; wherefore it is lawful that he should have one wife, and they twain shall be one flesh. Beware of false spirits. Given May 1831."

The saints from New York began to come in numbers, and Bishop Partridge was ordered to look after them and attend to their requirements. It was ordered that if any had more than they required, let them give to the church; if any had less, let the church relieve their necessities. The 6th of June a conference of elders was held at Kirtland, and several received the authority of the Melchisedec priesthood. The next conference should be held in Missouri, whither Joseph and Sidney should proceed at once, and there it would be told them what to do. And to the same place others should go, two by two, each couple taking different routes and preaching by the way. Among those who went forth were Lyman Wight and John Corrill, John Murdock and Hyrum Smith by the way of Detroit, Thomas B. Marsh and Selah J. Griffin, Isaac Morley and Ezra Booth, David Whitmer and Harvey Whitlock, Parley P. Pratt and Orson Pratt, Solomon Hancock and Simeon Carter, Edson Fuller and Jacob Scott, Levi Hancock and Zebedee Coltrin, Reynolds Gaboon and Samuel H. Smith, Wheeler Baldwin and William Carter, Joseph Wakefield and Solomon Humphrey. With Joseph and Sidney were to go Martin Harris and Edward Partridge, taking with them a letter of recommendation from the church.[1] "And thus, even as I have

  1. From this point in the history of this delusion,' says Howe, 'it began to spread with considerable rapidity. Nearly all of their male converts, however ignorant and worthless, were forthwith transformed into elders, and sent forth to proclaim, with all their wild enthusiasm, the wonders and mysteries of Mormonism. All those having a taste for the marvellous and de-