Come on! Ye prosecutors! Ye false swearers! All hell, boil over! Ye burning mountains, roll down your lava! For I will come out on top at last. I have more to boast of than ever any man had. I am the only man that has ever been able to keep a whole church together since the days of Adam. A large majority of the whole have stood by me. Neither Paul, John, Peter, nor Jesus ever did it. I boast that no man ever did such a work as I. The followers of Jesus ran away from Him; but the Latter-day Saints never ran away from me yet ... When they can get rid of me, the devil will also go. Joseph Smith, The History of the Church vol VI
Elders Orson Hyde, Luke S Johnson, and Warren Parrish then presented the Presidency with three servers of glasses filled with wine to bless. And it fell to my lot to attend to this duty, which I cheerfully discharged. It was then passed round in order, then the cake in the same order; and suffice it to say, our hearts were made glad while partaking of the bounty of earth which was presented, until we had taken our fill. Joseph Smith, The History of the Church II:378
Eternity is full of thrones, upon which dwell thousands of children reigning on thrones of glory, with not one cubit added to their stature. Joseph Smith, Journal of Discourses VI:10
For instance, the descendants of Cain cannot cast off their skin of blackness, at once, and immediately, although every soul of them should repent, obey the Gospel, and do right from this day forward ... Cain and his posterity must wear the mark, which God put upon them; and his white friends may wash the race of Cain with Fuller’s soap every day, they cannot wash away God’s mark; the Lamanites, through transgression, became a loathsome, ignorant and filthy people, and were cursed with a skin of darkness … yet, they have the promise, if they will believe, and work righteousness, that not many generations shall pass away before they shall become a white and delightsome people; but it will take some time to accomplish this at best. Joseph Smith, The Latter-Day Saints Millennial Star vol 14 p418
For it is my will, that in time, ye should take unto you wives of the Lamanites and Nephites, that their posterity may become white, delightsome and just, for even now their females are more virtuous than the gentiles. Joseph Smith, revelation Missouri 1831
Had I anything to do with the Negro, I would confine them by strict law to their own species. Joseph Smith, cited History of the Church V:218
He [God] set the temple ordinances to be the same forever and ever and set Adam to watch over them, to reveal them from heaven to man, or to send angels to reveal them. Joseph Smith, History of the Church 4:208
How I do love to hear the wolves howl! Joseph Smith
I accepted the invitation to see Judge Pope in his room, and spent an hour in conversation with his honor in which I explained to him that I did not profess to be a prophet any more than every man ought to who professes to be a preacher of righteousness: and that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Joseph Smith, Comprehensive History of the Church V:231-232
I combat the errors of the ages ... I solve mathematical problems of universities, with truth – diamond truth; and God is my right hand man. Joseph Smith, 1843
I have had trouble enough with this thing [Book of Mormon]. Joseph Smith, burying original manuscript of Book of Mormon, cited Ernest H Taves, ‘Trouble Enough: Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon’ p160 1984
I prophesy in the name of the Lord God of Israel, unless the United States redress the wrongs committed upon the Saints in the state of Missouri and punish the crimes committed by her officers that in a few years the government will be utterly overthrown and wasted, and there will not be so much as a potsherd left. Joseph Smith, prophecy 18th May 1843
I replied, I was opposed to hanging, even if a man kill another, I will shoot him, or cut off his head, spill his blood on the ground, and let the smoke thereof ascend up to God; and if ever I have the privilege of making a law on that subject, I will have it so. Joseph Smith, The History of the Church V:296
... it is generally supposed that sacrifice was entirely done away when the Great Sacrifice ... was offered up, and that there will be no necessity for the ordinance of sacrifice in future; but those who assert this are certainly not acquainted with the duties, privileges and authority of the Priesthood, or with the Prophets. Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith p172
It is the will of the Lord that those who went to Zion, with a determination to lay down their lives, if necessary, should be ordained to the ministry, and go forth to prune the vineyard for the last time, or the coming of the Lord, which was nigh – even fifty-six years, should wind up the scene. Joseph Smith, The History of the Church II:182
I was answered by God that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong; and the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: ‘they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof’. He again forbade me to join with any of them. Joseph Smith, Joseph Smith History 1:18-20
I whipped him till he begged. He threatened to prosecute me. I sent Luke Johnson the constable after him and he run him out of the County into Mentor. Joseph Smith, recalling to dinner guest his confrontation with Baptist minister in Kirkland
Josiah Butterfield came to my house and insulted me so outrageously that I kicked him out of the house, across the yard, and into the street. Joseph Smith, The History of the Church V: 316
Monday, June 10, 1844 ... The Council passed an ordinance declaring the Nauvoo Expositor a nuisance, and also issued an order to me to abate the said nuisance. I immediately ordered the Marshal to destroy it without delay …
About 8 p.m. the Marshal returned and reported that he had removed the press, type, printed paper, and fixtures into the street, and destroyed them. This was done because of the libelous and slanderous character of the paper. Joseph Smith, The History of the Church XI:432
On the 9th, in company with ten Elders, I left Independence landing for Kirtland. We started down the river in canoes, and went the first day as far as Fort Osage, where we had an excellent wild turkey for supper. Nothing very important occurred till the third day, when many of the dangers so common upon the western waters, manifested themselves; and after we had encamped upon the bank of the river, at McIlwaine’s Bend, Brother Phelps, in open vision by daylight, saw the destroyer in his most horrible power, ride upon the face of the waters; others heard the noise, but saw not the vision. Joseph Smith, diary 11th August 1831
Section 1: Be it ordained by the City Council of Nauvoo, that the mayor of the city be and is hereby authorized to sell or give spirits of any quantity as he in his wisdom shall judge to be for the health and comfort or convenience of such travelers or other persons as shall visit his house from time to time. Passed December 12, 1843. Joseph Smith Mayor. Willard Richards, Recorder. Joseph Smith, The History of the Church VI:111
Some time in the second year after our removal to Manchester, there was in the place where we lived an unusual excitement on the subject of religion. It commenced with the Methodists, but soon became general among all the sects in that region of country. Indeed, the whole district of country seemed affected by it, and great multitudes united themselves to the different religious parties, which created no small stir and division amongst the people, some crying, ‘Lo here!’ and others, ‘Lo, there!’ Some were contending for the Methodist faith, some for the Presbyterian, and some for the Baptist.
During this time of great excitement my mind was called up to serious reflection and great uneasiness; but though my feelings were deep and often poignant, still I kept myself aloof from all these parties, though I attended their several meetings as often as occasion would permit. In process of time my mind became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect, and I felt some desire to be united with them; but so great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations, that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong.
So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally.
After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction.
But, exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction – not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being – just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.
It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other – This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!