Minutes of September 19, 1835

Mormon History 1830-1844

Minutes of September 19, 1835

Jared Carter is admonished for commanding congregation to pray for committee, implying it was superior to the brethren, and for resisting counsel.

Date	September 19, 1835	Kirtland council
Location	Kirtland, Ohio.
Description	High Council held in Kirtland …
Presidents present	Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, Frederick G. Williams, Sidney Rigdon, and W. W. Phelps
Clerk	Sylvester Smith
Counselors	John Smith Orson Johnson Newel Knight John Whitmer Samuel H. Smith John Johnson Joseph Smith Sr. Joseph Coe Hyrum Smith Levi Jackman Noah Packard Roger Orton
Consider Jared Carter's doctrine	Joseph: purpose of meeting to decide whether Jared Carter's Sunday preaching was in error.
Council: Joseph decide	Council calls on Joseph to decide.
Joseph organizes council, appoints 6 to speak	Joseph prays and organizes the council. Six counselors are appointed to speak.	six: for church court procedures see Minutes of February 17, 1834
Jared explains	Jared explains his teaching:
God says he's right	he believed that God directed him by his spirit, & afterwards being rebuked by the Presidents, Cowdery, Rigdon & Phelps, he called upon the Lord & received again a witness of the spirit that he was right & the Presidents were wrong,
Rebuked for iniquity, a sign Must uphold committee	… God had shown him by laying his hands upon him in Judgement & delivering him therefrom, that he was thus rebuked by Heaven for his iniquity, and that he was made an example to the whole church, and God would curse them if they did not hold up the Committee, for he was made an example in this thing.
Sidney: Jared not wise	Sidney, who attended the meeting in question, is sure Jared did not have the "spirit of wisdom" when he spoke.
Samuel H, Smith: God will curse those who speak against the committee	Samuel H. Smith speaks half an hour, then rises again, "filled with the spirit," and declares God will curse any man or woman who speaks against the committee and will "set the Committee away up from the common brethren."
Told Jared in private and with presidents he had to confess	On Sunday he told Jared in private that he was wrong. Then, with other presidents advised him to make a public confession after filling his mission to the East. Jared needed to make amends with many brethren "who were agrieved with him."
W. W. Phelps: Jared commanded brethren to pray for committee	W. W. Phelps agrees with Sidney and adds that Jared "commanded the brethren to pray for the committee and demanded it in the name of the lord with an Authoritative voice & gesticulation which are not according to the meekness of the spirit of Jesus."
Oliver Cowdery agrees Presidents spoke in meekness	Oliver adds that he and the other presidents spoke to Jared in "the Spirit of meekness & only desired to do him good, & had no personal feelings, did not express any but the contrary."
John Whitmer: Jared not an example	John Whitmer concurs. He doesn't think God has made Jared an example, " for he is not before the Church as such, and God hath not so revealed it to the Saints."
Okay for brethren to pray for committee	Putting a different spin on Jared's command that the Saints pray for the committee, John suggests it was acceptable, "for in so doing if they did not fellowship him, they must pray for his removal, & so all his designs would be frustrated."
Jared: prayer would protect brethren	Eld. Carter did say that even the faults of the Committe might be charged back upon the brethren, if they neglected to pray for them.
	Several others (unnamed) substantiate previous testimony.
Counselors speak	The six counselors speak.
John Smith: his bark worse than his bite	John Smith thinks Jared "did not express the feelings of his heart so as to be understood, & perhaps his heart was not so hard as his words."	John and Joseph Sr. are brothers.
Joseph Sr.: needs to be admonished	Joseph Sr. says Jared "was exalted and did [not] receive the admonition of the Presidents, & in consequence lost the true spirit & so has erred since the time of his discourse and needs admonishing."
Orson Johnson agrees	Orson Johnson agrees.
Joseph Coe: Jared awkward in expression	[Joseph Coe: Jared] had a small degree of the Spirit in his discourse & a greater degree in his remarks afterwards, but was awkward in expressing his views, not having much of the spirit, and that the feelings of his heart were not as expressed by his words.
Appropriate to consider expression over heart?	An appeal is made to "the Court" whether it is appropriate to consider "the feelings of mens hearts" rather than their words and actions.
Must stay with the facts	[Decision:] the council must be confined to facts, words and actions and not go into feelings & designs which were not expressed.
	The other counselors agree.
Hyrum: God and prayer of faith healed, not Jared	God blessed Jared. It was "the prayer of faith" that healed the sick Jared refers to. That does not mean he always has "the Gift of God and wisdom to direct." He wanted "to excell, and the spirit of meekness was withdrawn and he left to err." Jared is not yet perfect.
Jared erred though heart good	He erred in understanding, and he used the wrong words, but "the spirit of his heart or the integrity of the same might be good in the main."
Jared confesses	Jared Carter stands and declares he is "willing to acknowledge his faults" and admit that he lacks wisdom.
Delivered from cholera Thought it was the same spirit	He was seized with cholera while in the East. He prayed "for deliverance & finally received the spirit of God which healed him, & he then thought & he then thought it was the same spirit which he had when preaching in Kirtland."
	Sidney and W. W. Phelps ask Oliver to speak and they would not as it was getting late.
Oliver: excitement may be from God, Satan, or man	[Oliver:] …a man might be highly excited, and yet within have the Spirit of God or of Satan but it came by his own Spirit or judgement, therefore, some things may be of God, others of man & others from the Adversary.
Jared's sermon partly of God	Some of Jared's sermon manifest the spirit of God, but his concluding remarks revealed
Concluding remarks were not Exalted committee above brethren	his own spirit of self justification & pride, commanding in the name of Jesus and not by the spirit of Jesus, or of meekness, & was very wrong in this thing. Also in exalting the Committee above the brethren, is [as] if they might not be touched by the brethren.
Healed by prayer	Jared was healed in answer to prayer, but his impressions about being made an example to the church, were not.
Frederick: Jared erred	Frederick G. Williams decision: Jared erred with his lips and misinterpreted the admonitions of the presidents who labored with him.
David: Jared lacked humility and trust in brethren	David Whitmer: Jared "has lacked in humility, and also in confidence in his brethren, and erred as expressed by President Williams."
Joseph: erred	Joseph: Jared "erred in judgment" when he failed to understand the presidents who labored with him. He "erred in spirit" when he spoke as he did on Sunday.
Rebellious spirit Destroyer on him	… the hand of the destroyer was laid upon him because he had a rebellious spirit from the beginning; and the word of the Lord has been spoken by my mouth, that it should come upon him, and this Council should see it, and now that he has been seized by the destroyer comes in fulfillment of His word;
Should have confessed	and God requires him to bear testimony of it before the Church, and warn them to be careful, and not to do as he had done.
Instead, tried to prove Book of Mormon, etc. Stumbled	But instead of doing this, he said he would prove the Book of Mormon, and one thing or another, not being sufficiently humble to deliver just the message that was required, and so he stumbled and could not get the Spirit, and the brethren were not edified, and he did not do the thing that God required,
Erred in word selection	but erred in choosing words to communicate his thoughts; such as commanding the prayers of the Church instead of soliciting them,
Exaggerated significance	and also of making himself an example for the Church, when it was only the things that he suffered which were to be as a check upon transgression.
Rebelled against presidents, authorities	His rebelling against the advice and counsel of the Presidents was the cause of his falling into the hands of the destroyer again, as he had done before when he rebelled against the counsel that had been given him by the authorities of the Church;
Erred, deserves reproof	and that in all this, Elder Carter has not designed to do wickedly, but he erred in judgment, and deserves reproof, and the decision is—
Decision: confess to church	and the decision is—that he shall acknowledge his errors on the morrow, before the congregation, and say, Brethren, I am fully convinced that I have erred in spirit, in my remarks before you, when I spoke here a few Sabbaths since; and now I ask your forgiveness.
If humble, God will bless him	And if he do this in full faith, and is truly humble before God, God will bless him abundantly as He hath been wont to do.
Jared consents	Elder Carter arose, and justified the decision of the Court, and promised to comply.
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