| 172 in his Temple, was his daily delight; and in it he enjoyed many blessings, and spent many hours in sweet communion with his heavenly Father.
He has trod its secret alleys, solitary and alone from mankind, long before the King of day has guilded the eastern horizon; and he has uttered his asperations [aspirations] within its walls, when natures has been asleep. In its holy enclosures have the visions of heaven been opened to his mind, and his soul has feasted on the riches of eternity; and there, under his teachings have the meek and humble been instructed, while the widow and the orphan have received his Patriarchal blessing.
There he saw the work spreading far and wide,-saw the elders of Israel go forth under his blessing, bore them up by the prayer of faith, and hailed them welcome when they again returned bringing their sheaves with them.-There with his aged partner, he spent many happy days, in the bosom of his family, whom he loved with all the tenderness of parental affection. Here I might enlarge and expitiate [expatiate ?] on the "Scenes of joy, and scenes of gladness" which were enjoyed by our beloved Patriarch, but shall pass on to an event which was truly painful and trying.-The delightful scene soon vanished, the calm was succeeded by a storm, and the frail bark was driven by the tempest and foaming ocean, for many who had once been proud to acknowledge him a Father and friend, and who sought council at his hands, joined with the enemies of truth, and sought his destruction; and would have rejoiced to see his aged and venerable form immured in a dungeon: but thank God, this they were not suffered to do; he providentially made his escape, and after evading his enemies for some time, he undertook and accomplished a journey of a thousand miles, and bore up under the fatigue and suffering necessarily attendant on such a journey, with patient resignation. After a journey of several weeks, he arrived in safety at Far West, in the bosom of the church, and was cordialy [cordially] welcomed by the Saints; who had found an assylum [asylum] in the rich and fertile county of Caldwell. There he in common with the rest of the Saints hoped to enjoy, the privileges and blessing of peace-There, from the fertile soil and flowery meads, which well repaid the labor of the husbandman, and poured forth abundance for the support of the numerous herds which decked those lovely, and wide spread prairies, he hoped to enjoy uninterrupted, the comforts of domestic life. But he had not long indulged these pleasing anticipations, before the delightful prospect again vanished, the cup of blessing which he began again to enjoy, was dashed from his aged lips; and the cup of sorrow filled to overflowing was given him instead; and surely he drank it to the very dregs: for, not only did he see the Saints in bondage, treated with cruelty, and some of them murdered; but the kind and affectionate parent, saw; and ah! how painful was the sight, two of his Sons, to whom he looked up to for protection, torn away from their domestic circles, from their weeping and distracted families, by monsters in the shape of men, who swore and threatened to kill them, and who had every disposition to embrew [imbrue ?] their hands in their blood. This circumstance was too much for his agitated, and now sinking frame to bear up under; and although his confidence in his God was great, and his conduct was that of a christian and a saint; yet he felt like a man and a parent. At that time his constiution [constitution] received a shock from which it never recovered. Ah! yes, there were feelings agitated in the bosom of our desceased [deceased] friend at that time, of no ordinary kind, feelings of painful anxiety and emotion, too great for his earthly tabernacle to contain without suffering a great and a sensible injury; and which from that time began to manifest itself.
It would be unnecessary to trace him and his aged partner, (who shared in all his sorrows and affections,) from such a scene, as many of the Saints are knowing to the privations and sufferings, which they in common with the church, suffered while moving from that land of oppression; suffice it to say he arrived in safely in Illinois, broken down in constitution, and in health, and since then he has labored under severe affliction and pain, while disease has been slowly, but surely undermining his system.
Whenever he had a short respite
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