Joseph Smith Biography

Without Disclosing My True Identity

before he leaves the place, neither shall he be at liberty, to vilify and slander

any of us, for suffer it we will not in this place.

We therefore, take all men to record this day, that we proclaim our liberty on

this day, as did our fathers. And we pledge this day to one another, our

fortunes, our lives, and our sacred honors, to be delivered from the

persecutions which we have had to endure, for the last nine years, or nearly

that. Neither will we indulge any man, or set of men, in instituting vexatious

law suits against us, to cheat us out of our just rights, if they attempt it we say

woe be unto them.

We this day then proclaim ourselves free, with a purpose and a

determination, that never can be broken, “no never! no never!! NO

NEVER”!!!^63

So much for the “fullness of the everlasting Gospel as delivered by the Savior!”

Joseph’s feelings at the time echoed Mormon’s:

[The Saints] began to boast in their own strength, and began to swear before

the heavens that they would avenge themselves of the blood of their brethren

who had been slain by their enemies. And they did swear by the heavens,

and also by the throne of God, that they would go up to battle against their

enemies, and would cut them off from the face of the land. ...they had sworn

by all that had been forbidden them by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

that they would go up unto their enemies to battle, and avenge themselves of

the blood of their brethren.^64

Joseph knew that the spiritual demise of the Latter-day Saints was near. Like Mormon,
Joseph “utterly refused to go up against [his] enemies and...[stood] as an idle witness.”^65

Alexander Hale Smith

Earlier that year, on June 2, 1838, Joseph’s son, Alexander Hale Smith, had been born
to a much fatigued and burdened Emma.^66 While Sidney Rigdon and Brigham Young ran
the Church the way they wanted and the way the people expected them to, Joseph stayed
close to his beloved wife. LDS historians have written of this time:

Joseph’s happy prospects had faded quickly in Far West. Hope for the new

land, its beauty, its expanse briefly invigorated him, and then the struggle with

the dissenters, the Danites, and the growing animosity in upper Missouri

darkened the picture. As if borne down by troubles during the summer of

1838, he mysteriously recedes in the records. Sidney Rigdon preached the

sermons. George Robinson’s minutes credited the Presidency with leading the

Church. Judging from the records, Joseph was uncustomarily passive, leaving

a power vacuum for Sidney Rigdon, Sampson Avard, and Lyman Wight to fill.

Little evidence remains of Joseph’s thoughts and feelings; little he did went on