Elder Nathan West preferred charges against Samuel Brown, High Priest, for teaching contrary to counsel, namely, encouraging the brethren in practicing gifts (speaking in tongues,) in ordaining Sylvester Hulet a High Priest (without counsel) in a clandestine manner; asserting that he had obtained a witness of the Lord, which was a command to perform the same on receiving the gift of tongues, which gift he had never before received, but afterwards said that he had been in possession of that gift for the space of a year; and in undervaluing the authority and righteousness of the High Council by charging Elder West not to say anything that would tend to prejudice their minds, lest they might not judge righteously. The charges were sustained by the testimony of Leonard Rich, Charles English, Brother Bruce, Edward Partridge, Hiram Page, Roxa Slade, Caleb Baldwin, and Sylvester Hulet. President David Whitmer gave the following decision, which was sanctioned by the council: "According to testimony and the voice of the Holy Spirit, which is in us, we say unto you, that God, in His {138} infinite mercy, doth yet grant you a space for repentance; therefore, if you confess all the charges which have been alleged against you to be just, and in a spirit that we can receive it, then you [Samuel Brown] can stand as a private member in this Church, otherwise we have no fellowship for you; and also, that the ordination or Sylvester Hulet, by Samuel Brown, is illegal and not acknowledged by us to be of God, and therefore it is void." Brother Brown confessed the charges, and gave up his license, but retained his membership. [2] [Sidenote: Letter of Appointment to the Elders.] Council adjourned on the evening of the first of August; but previous to adjourning, the Council gave the following letter to the Elders appointed to visit the churches in Clay county: _To the Latter-day Saints who have been driven from the land of their inheritance, and also those who are gathering in the regions round about, in the western boundaries of Missouri. The High Council established according to the pattern given by our blessed Savior Jesus Christ, send greeting_: