The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1880-04-04
Silver and the JOsephiteS
SALT LAKE CRY, April 2. 80.
Editors Herald

Edtf0fs derdtd
The position taken by the higl
priests of the Josephite order relative
to the introduction OF Mormonism. or
as they would perhaps word it. tnt
re-introduetion of the true and ever
lasting gospel, by, or rather through
Joseph the Seer" is thai be was q
prophet OF God and duly appointed
and ordained by the heavenly Mel
chjzedek and Asronic priestboods to
usher in the dispeusatien OF tue full
ness of times; thst he came 10 fulfill.
ment of prophecy as uttered by
ancient prophets and apostles. The
prophecy of Daniel is greatly favored
by them, parts OF which read about
as follows: ''In the days OF these
(ceItsiD) kings the God of heaven
shall set up kingdom which shall
break in pieces all other kingdoms
and stand forever" ''shall never be
thrown down or given to another
people" Now, Sirs, the elders OF
the above order affirm that this king
dom, through the fundamentally Of
the above titled person, was estab.
lished or ''set up" This being the
case as ger their own showing, how
ls it that they claim to be that king
dom, when it is well known that
they came not into existence as an
organized body til many years sub
sequent to the organization of that"
kingdom by Joseph Smith, ir.. and
not until many years after his death?
And when they did bring about On
organization it came not according 10
their own publ'shed statement
through their present head by direct
revelation from God, but through one
II. 81. DEAN, Spirituslist, though
he might not have known that be
was such. This Spirituslist, Mr..
Dean, laid claim to having received
revelation of instruction how and
when to organize church and which
church he or they were pleased to
call the true Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints. This would
seem to signify that God, through his
servant Daniel, had made some kind of
a mistake, since it became necessary
to re-orgsnize his kingdom, or
church, and give it into the hands OF
another people. The result of the
said organization was, instead OF the
people coming to young Joseph the
Prophet as did the people to John the
Baptist, and also to Joseph the
Seer" he young Joseph) went to
them. Marx you, say not that he
received not special instructions 60 to
do. But whether those instructions
came from God or not is another
thing. 1t is very doubtful if God
go instructed him.
But to give a kind of semblance
to the correctness of their position
they tell US that the kingdom or
church established, organized, "set
up" by GOD through Joseph the
Seer" was afterwards rejected because
of wickedness and spostacy on the
part of the twelve apostles and others
of the holy priesthood. Doubtless
God was not pleased with the rebel
lious and wicked of his people. He
never has been. But he is not such |
a revengeful being to cast of (reject) |
his entire church (kingdom) because
OF the wickedness of few, or even the
of many. Such line OF
procedure ia not gll in accord with
his past acts. The history OF his
dealings with his ancient people, as re-
corded in the Bible, is abundant
proof. Besides, God does not, and
the Josephites ought to know it,
forego his promises in any such a
Then to the query may
come up in the minds OF some:
When did the twelve and others OF
the priesthood apestatizs Was it
before the ''Seer's'' death or after.
wards? should suppose it will be
conceded by the Josephite elders that
Joseph the Prophet and Seer" for
sock not his God but remained faith
ful to death. How was it then with
the quorum of the twelve apostles
Did they not, most of them, es-
pecially those of them that came to
these valleys. remain faithful to
Joseph and Mormonism? Those of
that quorum who departed from the
Mormon faith did so. 1 believe, be-
fore his death. Whatever there
might be said of their conduct in re-
lation to Mormonism, on their way
to this country and after they arrived
it certainly cannot be said that they
remained not its adherents up to
Joseph's death. II one or more OF
them, mean of those who came
here, had been previously a little
shaky, it seems that they retraced
their steps and were restored to full
fellowship with their quorums.
think the Josephite priests should
reflect at least twice on this matter be-
fore they speak once. The fact of the
whole matter, as averred by nearly all
who have taken any pains to investi-
gate the beginning of Josephiteism, is
that the foundation is not of the adj
mantine kind, but of the sand, sandy.
J. SILVER.