Brother Wm Smith, Patriarch,
Your letter of the 9th has been read before a council of the Twelve and Trustees, by whose decision this answer is dictated.
The bills of $74.24 which you present for payment, cannot be answered according to request as the Trustees have not one dollar on hand; and very little or no money is coming in these days. and they have borrowed thousands & thousands of dollars to carry forward the business of the Temple thus far. and their calls and liabilities are constant & great. The Trustees further state that you have already received more assistance from the church funds than all the rest of the Twelve put together. although several of them are constantly engaged in the service of the church, and it seems, under such circumstances, very desirable for every man to use his endeavors to help himself, and inasmuch as you bless the people it is right they should pay you for it, & if they do it will surely give
you a better chance of living than any other one of the quorum; but if the people you bless do not pay you, and you depend on the trustees for support, it is right they should bring you Trustee orders. that they may know who they are so that they can get their pay of those who get their blessings.
with regard to "Cowdery's commentations" on your "Rebellious heart," the council knows not what you refer to unless it be the blessings in the "history of Joseph," (Times & Seasons July 1st 1845). If that be the thing, we think you labor under a mistake. Th[e] blessing is inserted in Joseph's private Journal which he called [ ] pocket book. & is Joseph's own language, & the blessing is good and great to yourself and posterity.
To your question "will the church purchase the house where I live for me"? The council decide that if the Trustees purchase the house. They will purchase it for the church for you to live in.
To your question. "when the Brethren call on me to be s
ealed to their wives, - their dead friends &c also to get patriarchal blessings for their dead- what shall I say to them?" Of what use for sealing when every thing of the kind must be done over again in the Temple to make it valid? And it is not according to the order of the church to confer Patriarchal Blessings on the dead by proxy, until baptism &c has been attended to for them by proxy, which must be done in the Lord's House, therefore, any thing of the kind done at this time would be of no effect .
You refer to "Joseph's teachings up stairs in the brick Store that the Twelve have power to build up the kingdom of God &c." which the Twelve well recollect.= and they also recollect that Joseph said that the sealing power is always vested in one man, and that there never was, nor never would be but one man on the earth at a time to hold the sealing power keys of the sealing power in the church, that all sealings must be performed by the man holding the keys, or by his dic
tation, and that man is the president of the church. Hyrum held the patriarchal office legitimately, So do you. Hyrum was counseller [counselor], So are you. but the sealing power was not in Hyrum legitimately neither did he act on the sealing principle only as he was dictated by Joseph in every case. This was proven, for Hyrum did in one case undertake to seal without counsel, & Joseph told him if he did not stop it he would go to hell and all those he sealed with him.
with regard to the "brothers not daring to come to you for blessings for fear of offending the Twelve or Uncle John," we know not what it is made out of.= The Twelve have never thrown a [unclear word] in your way, but done every thing they could for you and will continue to do s. We are also unquestionably informed that Uncle John has not blessed any; or very few for some time, on account of his health and when they have called on him he has told them to go to Willia[m] and get their blessing
Brigham
Young Prs...
Willard Richards Clerk.
(Brigham Young to William Smith, August 10, 1845, Brigham Young Collection, LDS Church Archives)
[[Brigham. Young] Communication letter to [William] Smith Patriarch]
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