TIMES AND SEASONS
"TRUTH WILL PREVAIL."
VOL. III. NO. 22.] CITY OF NAUVOO, ILLINOIS, SEPT. 15, 1842. [WHOLE NO. 58.
A VISIT TO JOE SMITH.-We present the following extract from a letter received some days ago, from a clergyman now in Illinois:-Exchange Paper.
"I spent the night in the city of the 'Latter Day Saints.' In the morning I visited the lions of the place.
Nauvoo contains a population variously estimated at from five to ten thousand. Probably there are six to seven thousand people there. It is a beautiful location. The city is laid out in acre lots, each lot having a house, generally of one story; it extends from 3 to 4 miles along the river, and runs back about the same distance, and this space is all built on.
I called to see the prophet, and had a short but pleasant interview with him. I asked him about the gold plates which he professes to have dug up an translated into the Book of Mormon. He said: 'Those plates are not now in this country; they were exhibited to a few at first, for the sake of obtaining their testimony-no others have ever seen them, and they will never be exhibited again.'
He next asked me- 'What is the fundamental doctrine of your faith?' 'The unity of God-one God in one person.' 'We don't agree with you. We believe in three Gods. There are three personages in Heaven-all equal in power and glory, but they are not one God.' I suppose, from what I heard, that Smith makes it a point not to agree with any one in regard to his religious opinions, and adapts himself to the person with whom he happens to be talking for the time being."
(->) Tolerable fair: Though the idea that Joseph Smith adapts his conversation to the company, is an error. Joseph Smith opposes vice and error, and supports his positions from revelation: no odds whether there be two, three, or "Gods many." The Father, and the Son are persons of Tabernacle; and the Holy Ghost a spirit, besides the sons of God: for the scriptures say: "Ye are Gods."
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Times and Seasons may be read in it's original format here: https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/times-and-seasons-15-september-1842/16
