[1] I Preached at the Temple to a Large Collection.

John Bennion to Samuel Bennion [2], 18 February 1844

I am ancious for you and all the rest of our family to be here. You know according to Scripture all things have got to be restored If so the old man or patriarch is not to be separated from his posterity until death nor the children from the father. But like good old Jacob who stood at the hed of his family till a good old age and then called his sons together and blessed them This doctrine along with many other glorious truths have got to be restored in there place This patriarchal order is already entered into by many families in this city This fornoon [sic] we have been hearing Jos[ep]h Smith preach in the open air to a congreagation of several thousand I rejoice in the truths which I hear from time to time All the tribulation and disappointment through which the Saints have to pass is forgotten when the glory and greatness of the Eternal worlds are placed before the mond. It is then of the greatest importance then that we keep the commandments of God given to his Saints that we may escape the judgments which await the inhabitants of the earth My desire is that you and I with our Familys and conections may stand on Mount Zion where there shall be peace and safty.

Thomas Bullock Diary [3]

Attd the first meeting at the temple, Joseph spoke, to an immense congregation.

—18 February 1844

Notes

[1] See History of the Church, 6:221. Not in Teachings. In this second edition of Words, the John Bennion to Samuel Bennion account appears for the first time (it did not appear in the first edition of Words).

[2] John Bennion (1820-77) was born in Moor, County of Flint, North Wales of John Bennion and Elizabeth Roberts. Samuel (1818-89) was John's elder brother. John and Samuel's mother died when John was nine years old. John was the first of the family to join the Church in 1841. He married Esther Wainwright, February 15, 1842, and five days later emigrated to America from Liverpool, England, arriving at Nauvoo, Illinois, May 7, 1842. This letter was addressed to his elder brother who was still living in England. Samuel arrived in Nauvoo in May 1845. Consecutively, John and Samuel served as the first two presiding elders of the North Jordan Branch, a dependent branch of the West Valley (Salt Lake County) Ward.

[3] Thomas Bullock (1816-85). A trained stenographer, Bullock was scribe to Joseph Smith and wrote nearly 700 pages of the manuscript of Joseph Smith's history.