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 humbled 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 east end of the Temple, while Father Smith and others, as usual, occupied those of the Melchizedek Priesthood on the west. Soon after the usual opening services, one of the brethren on the west stand arose, and just after he commenced to speak, one on the east interrupted him. Father Smith, presiding, called to order—he told the apostate brother that he should have all the time he wanted, but he must wait his turn—as the brother On the west took the floor and commenced first to speak, he must not be interrupted. A fearful scene ensued—the apostate speaker becoming so clamorous, that Father Smith called for the police to take that man out of the house, when Parrish, John Boynton, and others, drew their pistols and bowie-knives, and rushed down from the stand into the congregation; J. Boynton saying he would blow out the brains of the first man who dared to lay hands on him. Many in the congregation, especially women and children, were terribly frightened—some tried to escape from the confusion by jumping out of the windows. Amid screams and shrieks, the policemen, in ejecting the belligerents, knocked down a stovepipe, which fell helter-skelter among the people; but, although bowie-knives and pistols were wrested from their owners, and thrown hither and thither to prevent disastrous results, no one was hurt, and after a short, but terrible scene to be enacted in a Temple of God, order was restored, and the services of the day proceeded as usual.