32
And upon whatsoever any of them, when they are dead, doth fall, it shall be unclean; whether it be any vessel of wood, or raiment, or skin, or sack, whatsoever vessel it be, wherein any work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the even; so it shall be cleansed.
33
And every earthen vessel, whereinto any of them falleth, whatsoever is in it shall be unclean; and ye shall break it.
• • •
35
And every thing whereupon any part of their carcase falleth shall be unclean; whether it be oven, or ranges for pots, they shall be broken down: for they are unclean, and shall be unclean unto you.
• • •
37
And if any part of their carcase fall upon any sowing seed which is to be sown, it shall be clean.
38
But if any water be put upon the seed, and any part of their carcase fall thereon, it shall be unclean unto you.
39
And if any beast, of which ye may eat, die; he that toucheth the carcase thereof shall be unclean until the even.
• • •
44
For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
49
And if the plague be greenish or reddish in the garment, or in the skin, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it is a plague of leprosy, and shall be shewed unto the priest:
• • •
52
He shall therefore burn that garment, whether warp or woof, in woollen or in linen, or any thing of skin, wherein the plague is: for it is a fretting leprosy; it shall be burnt in the fire.
53
And if the priest shall look, and, behold, the plague be not spread in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin;
• • •
57
And if it appear still in the garment, either in the warp, or in the woof, or in any thing of skin; it is a spreading plague: thou shalt burn that wherein the plague is with fire.
• • •
59
This is the law of the plague of leprosy in a garment of woollen or linen, either in the warp, or woof, or any thing of skins, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean.
3
Now Aaron had gone up to the land of Nephi, therefore the king could not confer the kingdom upon him; neither would Aaron take upon him the kingdom; neither were any of the sons of Mosiah willing to take upon them the kingdom.
• • •
14
And even I myself have labored with all the power and faculties which I have possessed, to teach you the commandments of
God, and to establish peace throughout the land, that there should be
no wars nor contentions, no stealing, nor plundering, nor murdering, nor
any manner of iniquity;
• • •
32
And now I desire that this inequality should be no more in this land,
especially among this my people; but I desire that this land be a land of
liberty, and every man may enjoy his rights and privileges alike, so
long as the Lord sees fit that we may live and inherit the land, yea,
even as long as any of our posterity remains upon the face of the land.
1
Behold, now it came to pass that the king of
the Lamanites sent a proclamation among all his people, that they
should not lay their hands on Ammon, or Aaron, or Omner, or Himni, nor
either of their brethren who should go forth preaching the word of God, in whatsoever place they should be, in any part of their land.
• • •
3
And thus they might go forth and preach the word according to their
desires, for the king had been converted unto the Lord, and all his
household; therefore he sent his proclamation throughout the land unto
his people, that the word of God might have no
obstruction, but that it might go forth throughout all the land, that
his people might be convinced concerning the wicked traditions of
their fathers, and that they might be convinced that they were all
brethren, and that they ought not to murder, nor to plunder, nor to
steal, nor to commit adultery, nor to commit any manner of wickedness.
• • •
7
For they became a righteous people; they did lay down the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more, neither against any of their brethren.
• • •
14
And the Amalekites were not converted, save only one; neither were any of the Amulonites; but they did harden their hearts, and also the hearts of the Lamanites in that part of the land wheresoever they dwelt, yea, and all their villages and all their cities.
49
Verily, verily, I say unto you, that when I give a commandment to any of the sons of men to do a work unto my name, and those sons of
men go with all their might and with all they have to perform that
work, and cease not their diligence, and their enemies come upon them
and hinder them from performing that work, behold, it behooveth me to
require that work no more at the hands of those sons of men, but to accept of their offerings.
• • •
70
And again, verily I say unto you, if my servant George Miller, and my
servant Lyman Wight, and my servant John Snider, and my servant Peter
Haws, receive any stock into their hands, in moneys, or in properties wherein they receive the real value of moneys, they shall not appropriate any portion of that stock to any other purpose, only in that house.
71
And if they do appropriate any portion of that stock anywhere else, only in that house, without the consent of
the stockholder, and do not repay fourfold for the stock which they
appropriate anywhere else, only in that house, they shall be accursed,
and shall be moved out of their place, saith the Lord God; for I, the Lord, am God, and cannot be mocked in any of these things.
10
In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know it?
11
While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
12
Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any
person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know,
and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know;
for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible.
• • •
20
He again forbade me to join with any of
them; and many other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at
this time. When I came to myself again, I found myself lying on my
back, looking up into heaven. When the light had departed, I had no
strength; but soon recovering in some degree, I went home. And as I
leaned up to the fireplace, mother inquired what the matter was. I
replied, “Never mind, all is well—I am well enough off.” I then said to
my mother, “I have learned for myself that Presbyterianism is not
true.” It seems as though the adversary was aware, at a very early
period of my life, that I was destined to prove a disturber and an annoyer of his kingdom; else why should the powers of darkness combine against me? Why the opposition and persecution that arose against me, almost in my infancy?
• • •
21
Some few days after I had this vision, I happened to be in company with one of
the Methodist preachers, who was very active in the before mentioned
religious excitement; and, conversing with him on the subject of religion, I took occasion to give him an account of
the vision which I had had. I was greatly surprised at his behavior;
he treated my communication not only lightly, but with great contempt,
saying it was all of the devil, that there
were no such things as visions or revelations in these days; that all
such things had ceased with the apostles, and that there would never be any more of them.
• • •
26
I had now got my mind satisfied so far as the sectarian world was concerned—that it was not my duty to join with any of them, but to continue as I was until further directed. I had found the testimony of James to be true—that a man who lacked wisdom might ask of God, and obtain, and not be upbraided.
• • •
28
During the space of time which intervened
between the time I had the vision and the year eighteen hundred and
twenty-three—having been forbidden to join any of the religious sects of the day, and being of
very tender years, and persecuted by those who ought to have been my
friends and to have treated me kindly, and if they supposed me to be
deluded to have endeavored in a proper and affectionate manner to have
reclaimed me—I was left to all kinds of temptations; and, mingling with all kinds of society, I frequently fell into many foolish errors, and displayed the weakness of youth, and the foibles of human nature; which, I am sorry to say, led me into divers temptations, offensive in the sight of God. In making this confession, no one need suppose me guilty of any great or malignant sins. A disposition to commit such was never in my nature. But I was guilty of
levity, and sometimes associated with jovial company, etc., not
consistent with that character which ought to be maintained by one who
was called of God as I had been. But this will not seem very strange to any one who recollects my youth, and is acquainted with my native cheery temperament.
• • •
59
At length the time arrived for obtaining the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate. On the twenty-second day of September, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, having gone as usual at the end of
another year to the place where they were deposited, the same heavenly
messenger delivered them up to me with this charge: that I should be
responsible for them; that if I should let them go carelessly, or
through any neglect of
mine, I should be cut off; but that if I would use all my endeavors to
preserve them, until he, the messenger, should call for them, they
should be protected.
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