the churches, collect money, and administer to the wants of the poor. The new translation of the bible was again taken up and continued through the winter, the new testament being completed and sealed up, not to be opened till it reached Zion.[1]
On January 23, 1833, the ceremony of washing feet is instituted after John's gospel. Each elder washes his own feet first, after which Joseph girds himself with a towel and washes the feet of them all. "Behold, verily, thus saith the Lord unto you, in consequence of evils and designs, which do and will exist in the hearts of conspiring men in the last days, I have warned you, and forewarned you, by giving unto you this word of wisdom by revelation, that inasmuch as any man drinketh wine or strong drink among you, behold it is not good, nor meet in the sight of your father. And again, tobacco is not for the body, neither for the belly, and it is not good for man. And again, hot drinks are not for the body or belly."
- ↑ Hardly had President Smith turned his back upon Zion, when dissensions broke out among the saints there. He corresponded regularly with the Star, giving advice and warning, but matters apparently grew worse, for in January 1833 a conference of twelve high priests was held at Kirtland, or Kirtland Mills, as they now called their settlement, at which Orson Hyde and Hyrum Smith were appointed to write an epistle to the brotherhood of Zion. The document was dated Jan. 14th, and began: 'From a conference of 12 high priests to the bishop, his council, and the inhabitants of Zion.' After premising that Smith and certain others had written on this all-important subject, and that the replies received had not given satisfactory assurances of confession and repentance, charges were made that old grievances, supposed to be settled, had been again brought up in a censorious spirit, and that they had accused Brother Smith of seeking after monarchical power and authority. This complaint was made by Carroll in a letter dated June 2d. Again, Brother Gilbert, on Dec. 10th, wrote a letter which contained 'low, dark, and blind insinuations, which they declined to entertain, though the writer's claims and pretensions to holiness were great.' Brother Phelps, Dec. 10th, wrote a letter betraying 'a lightness of spirit that ill becomes a man placed in the important and responsible station that he is placed in.' To a request that Smith should come to Zion, made by Phelps in a previous letter, it was answered that ' Brother Smith will not settle in Zion until she repent and purify herself. . .and remember the commandments that have been given her to do them as well as say them.' Finally, it was threatened that unless these disturbances should cease, they should all be cutoff, and the Lord would seek another place. Brother Ziba Peterson was delivered 'over to the buffetinga of Satan, in the name of the Lord, that he may learn not to transgress the commandments of God.' Times and Seasons, v. 801.
