| 428 "At a council of the high priests and elders, at my house, In Kirtland, on the evening of the 12th of February, I remarked that I should endeavor to set before the council the dignity of the office which had been conferred on me by the ministering of the angel of God, by his own voice, and by the voice of this church; that I had never set before any council in all the order of it, which it ought to be conducted, which, perhaps, has deprived the councils of some, or many blessings.
"And I continued and said, No man is capable of judging a matter, in council, unless his own heart is pure; and that we frequently are so filled with prejudice, or have a beam in our own eye, that we are not capable of passing right decisions, etc.
"But to return to the subject of order: In ancient days councils were conducted with such strict propriety that no one was allowed to whisper, be weary, leave the room, or get uneasy in the least; until the voice of the Lord, by revelation, or by the voice of the council by the Spirit, was obtained; which has not been observed in this church to the present. It was understood in ancient days, that if one man could stay in council, another could; and if the President could spend his time, the members could also; but in our councils, generally, one will be uneasy, another asleep; one praying, another not; one's mind on the business of the council, and another thinking on something else, etc.
"Our acts are rendered, and at a future day they will be laid before us, and if we should fail to judge right and injure our fellow beings, they maybe there, perhaps, condemn us; there they are of great consequence, and to me the consequence appears to be of force, beyond anything which I am able to express, etc. Ask yourselves, brethren, how much you have exercised yourselves in prayer since you heard of this council; and if you are now prepared to sit in council upon the soul of your brother?
"I then gave a relation of my situation at the time I obtained the record, the persecutions I met with, etc., and prophesied that I would stand and shine like the sun in the firmament, when my enemies and the gainsayers of my testimony
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