CHAPTER IV.
A change—Great Apostacy.—Disaffection creeps into every Quorum.—Pride and speculation.—Apostates claim the Temple.—Warren Parrish a ringleader.—A fearful, terrible scene in the Temple.—The scene described.—What occurred, the next Day.—Very interesting Court scene.—John Boynton portrayed.—Joseph and Sidney flee for their lives.—Father Smith served with State's Warrant.—How he escaped.—Luke Johnson befriends him.—Luke's death.
DURING the time my brother was on this, his first mission, a great change had been going on in Kirtland, in the midst of the Saints. A spirit of speculation had crept into the hearts of some of the Twelve, and nearly, if not every quorum was more or less infected. Most of the Saints were poor, and now prosperity was dawning upon them—the Temple was completed, and in it they had been recipients of marvelous blessings, and many who had been humble and faithful to the performance of every duty—ready to go and come at every call of the Priesthood, were getting haughty in their spirits, and lifted up in the pride of their hearts. As the Saints drank in the love and spirit of the world, the Spirit of the Lord withdrew from their hearts, and they were filled with pride and hatred toward those who maintained their integrity. They linked themselves together in an opposing party—pretended that they constituted the Church, and claimed that the Temple belonged to them, and even attempted to hold it.
Warren Parrish, who had been a humble, successful preacher of the Gospel, was the ringleader of this apostate party. One Sabbath morning, he, with several of his party, came into the Temple armed with pistols and bowie-knives, and seated themselves together in the Aaronic pulpits, on the
