| 1045 The exposition of the editor of the Messenger, that William Smith, (though he boasted of it in Nauvoo) never owned that establishment, nor paid a cent to sustain it, is a kind of veto on his proclamation, that seems to say; if one prominent article was manufactured out of "falsehood" to stir up the jealousy of the people, the whole must be a "bastard" production, conceived in sin, and brought forth in iniquity.
Leaving the apostates, hitherto, to "glitter on the darkness of midnight," and corrode in their own poisoned ooze, we cannot but lament that any should be so short sighted, now as to cover themselves with a net of lies, and then tangle themselves in their own NET, but so it is!
Read the following from the N. Y. Messenger:
BEWARE OF STRONG DELUSION, LEST YE BELIEVE A LIE AND BE DAMNED.
Beloved brethren and sisters:-We have received a proclamation published in the Warsaw Signal, purporting to come from William Smith, who has been cut off from the church in Nauvoo by a unanimous voice of the whole city, not one dissenting voice. What could have been the reason of this movement of the people of Nauvoo? Could it have been through any malicious feeling against their brother William, the only surviving brother of the family? Was it because Bro. William was so much more just and righteous than all the rest of the people in Nauvoo? Or was it because his conduct was insufferable in the extreme? We leave the saints to draw their own conclusions. His conduct in the east has been sufficient to place every enquiring [inquiring] mind on the right track. He states in his proclamation, things we consider worthy of comment, lest many who are unacquainted be led astray.
He pronounces the Twelve guilty of conduct "disgraceful to humanity," which comes certainly with a very bad grace. We would ask if Parly [Parley] P. Pratt, Orson Hyde, or Orson Pratt, during their mission to the eastern country, carried on the work of seduction, on the ground of marrying their victims on the decease of their wives? If they have been the means of driving people from the church, instead of bringing them in? Let the church of New York, Boston, and Philadelphia speak out and answer these questions. But you do not pretend to say that William Smith was guilty of such conduct. Let the churches in the eastern country speak, or let him come to the east and meat his accusers face to face. We do not feel to do William Smith any personal injury. But for a man like him, having been an eye witness of the fall of former apostates, to publish such a document to the world, shows very much the mark of madness and insanity. We will now notice one of his presumptions, which if he has no more foundation to predicate the rest of his assertions upon, than he has for this, his foundation will crumble from beneath him. "In the mean time, as all the saints well know, I was engaged in publishing a paper in New York, entitled the 'Prophet, got up by MY own labors, and carried on with as much earnest zeal as I could possibly employ upon it. All at once early in the spring, whom should I encounter but Mr. Parley P. Pratt, who had come from the West, with specific authority from the quorum of the Twelve, to take charge of all the printing etc., without a single provision with respect to MY own personal rights, or relative to any outlay I had subjected MYSELF to, in getting up the paper, materials for printing, etc., etc."
Who does not know, that has been acquainted with the first establishment of this paper, that William Smith was in Nauvoo when the first paper was published-that it was not got up by his labors, nor carried on or sustained by his 'earnest zeal', neither was he subjected to any personal outlay for type, paper, press, or utensils. The type, press and materials, were purchased by Bro. Doremus and the debts contracted by the extravagant management in publishing the first two or three numbers, we assumed the responsibility of, when it changed hands. And since that time, the publication of the paper has depended entirely upon our labors. This the saints in New York well know. Again he says, "I had labored hard for three years to build up the church, and for the last year to wrest it from the influence of 'Rigdonism.'"
What has been the greatest objection brought against the church in the eastern country by the Rigdonites? It was the conduct of William Smith. Benj. Winchester in conversation with Br. G. B. Wallace in Pittsburgh two weeks ago, said "if it had not been for William Smith, he should have been in the church to this day,"
And we have not the least doubt but half of the Rigdonites in this and other cities, would make the same answer. There has individuals to our knowledge, left the church in this city, for no other reason than the conduct of this man, and are now going form place to place, threatening him with the rod of justice. We have neither time nor room to give much attention to such maters. If any of the saints suffer themselves to be led by such a spirit, they are not of us, and of course will go out
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