Latter Day Saints; United States -- Description and travel
them counterfeit, but they had no occasion to call any
counterfeit, for they never redeemed but a very few
thousand dollars, and there must be now a great many
thousands of their bills out. There was some which
others signed _pro. tem._ that were genuine too, the
name of F. G. Williams, N. K. Whitney, and one
Kingsbury, all those are genuine.
The church have not now nor never had any common
stock,[6] all that has been consecrated, Smith and the
heads of the church have got, and what they get now
they keep, for to show this I send you a revelation
which is as follows:--Revelation given July 9th, 1837,
in far west, Caldwell county, Missouri,--O Lord, show
unto us, thy servants, how much thou requirest of the
properties of thy people for a tything? Answer: Verily,
thus saith the Lord, I require all their surplus
properties to be put into the hands of the bishop of my
church of Zion, for the building of mine house, and for
the laying the foundation of Zion, and for the
priesthood, and for the debts of the presidency of my
church, and this shall be the beginning of the tything
of my people, and after that, those who have been
tythed, shall pay one-tenth of all their interest
annually, and this shall be a standing law unto them
forever, for my holy priesthood saith the Lord: Verily,
I say unto you, it shall come to pass, that all those
who gather unto the land of Zion, shall be tythed of
their surplus properties, and shall observe this law,
or they shall not be found worthy to abide among you;
and behold, I say unto you, if my people observe not
this law to keep it holy, and by this law sanctify the
land of Zion unto me that my statutes and my judgments
may be kept thereon, that it may be most holy; behold:
Verily I say unto you, it shall not be a land of Zion
unto you, and this shall be one example unto all the
states of Zion, even so. Amen. They left here in a
great hurry, as there was many debts against them, for
the principal part that Smith had was borrowed, as also
the heads of the church in general, and they had to
keep the poor brethren lugging their boxes of silks and
fine clothes from place to place, so that they should
not be taken to pay their just debts, and mostly
borrowed money, until they succeeded in getting them
off in the night. They were pursued, but to no effect,
they had a train too numerous, so the people could not
get their pay, and thus they have brought destruction
and misery on a great many respectable families, that
are reduced to distress, while they live in splendour
and all kinds of extravagance. These statements are
well known here, and I presume will not be contradicted
there, unless by some fanatic that has no knowledge of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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