THE FALL OF DAVID WHITMER AND OLIVER COWDERY.
Thus Far West was founded; and the impediments to her growth as a
strictly moral and temperance city removed. And yet, causes were at
work that were undermining the spiritual strength of many of the
saints, and killing the influence of a number of the elders in high
positions. A wave of speculation, especially in lands, swept over the
entire country, and the brethren partook largely of this spirit, which
proved ruinous to their spiritual life. Among those who were affected
by this spirit of wild speculation to their injury were John Whitmer
and W. W. Phelps. Shortly afterwards Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer,
two of the three witnesses to the truth of the Book of Mormon, were
excommunicated. The charges sustained before the High Council against
Oliver Cowdery were:
1. Persecuting the brethren by urging on vexatious law suits against
them, and thus distressing the innocent.
2. Seeking to destroy the character of Joseph Smith, Jr., by falsely
insinuating that he was guilty of adultery.
3. Treating The Church with contempt by not attending meetings.
4. Leaving his calling, to which God had appointed him by revelation,
for the sake of filthy lucre, and turning to the practice of law.
5. Disgracing The Church by being connected in the "bogus" business, as
common report says.[A]
[Footnote A: Upper Missouri was infested with sharps engaged in
counterfeiting the currency of the United States, and common rumor
connected Oliver Cowdery with them.]
6. Dishonestly retaining notes after they had been paid; and finally
forsaking the cause of God and returning to the beggarly elements of
the world, and neglecting his high and holy calling, according to his
profession.
The charges sustained against David Whitmer were:
1. Not observing the word of wisdom.
2. Unchristian-like conduct in neglecting to attend meetings, and in
uniting with and possessing the same spirit as the dissenters.
3. Writing letters to the dissenters in Kirtland, unfavorable to the
cause and to the character of Joseph Smith, Jr.
4. Neglecting the duties of his calling, and separating himself from
The Church.
5. Signing himself president of the Church of Christ in an insulting
letter to the High Council, after he had been cut off from the
presidency [B]
[Footnote B: In reorganizing the quorums of the Priesthood at Far
West, in November, 1836, to which we have alluded, David Whitmer was
made president of The Church in Missouri, and W. W. Phelps and John
Whitmer, counselors; but the whole Church under the leadership of
Thomas B. Marsh, Lyman Wight, David Patten, and others, on February 5,
1838, met as a committee of the whole, and preferred serious charges
of wickedness against the three presidents, and refused to sustain
them in their office. The vote which deposed them was unanimous, but
the presidents refused to acknowledge the authority of The Church and
continued to sign documents as presidents of The Church. It is this to
which the fifth charge against David Whitmer refers.]
As before stated, these two men, Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer,
were two of the three special witnesses to the Book of Mormon. It
was, therefore, a bold move to excommunicate them. Although it may be
thought outside the theme I am following in these pages to make such
a digression, still I cannot refrain from indulging in the following
reflections: Suppose for a moment that the theory of the world relative
to the origin of the Book of Mormon be true: that is, that it was the
production of Solomon Spaulding or Sidney Rigdon; that Joseph Smith was
put forward as a figure-head; and the three witnesses were induced to
become parties to the fraud that was to be perpetrated on mankind--if
this supposition were true, would Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, under
such circumstances, have dared to withdraw their fellowship from these
men? If the Book of Mormon were a huge scheme to deceive mankind,
and Cowdery and Whitmer were parties with Smith and Rigdon to the
deception, the latter would hardly venture to cast away the former,
for fear they might deny their testimony, expose the fraud, and cause
the whole Mormon Church fabric to collapse. If the Book of Mormon had
been a fraudulent production, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon would
never have dared to break with these two important witnesses, whatever
their wickedness might be. But the bold, independent course pursued
in excommunicating them, when their conduct warranted the action,
supplies good evidence that Joseph Smith knew that the existence of
The Church did not depend on the testimony of Oliver Cowdery and David
Whitmer. The Book of Mormon being true, it would stand independent of
these witnesses, and Joseph knew it. But the most gratifying part of
it is, these witnesses to the Book of Mormon, though separated from
The Church--excommunicated for unrighteousness--never denied their
testimony or changed it in the least. But the fact of their having
uniformly adhered to their testimony while disconnected with The
Church, doubtless adds strength to that testimony, as they stand in the
light of disinterested witnesses.
Oliver Cowdery, after his excommunication, became a wanderer for
a number of years, unsettled and restless, though following the
profession of the law. It was impossible for a man who had once tasted
the glories of the Celestial Kingdom of God, as Oliver Cowdery had,
to be satisfied with the dry husks of the beggarly elements of the
world; and hence after some ten years of wandering outside The Church
of Christ he at last found his way back to the fold of God, to the
house of his father, and begged to be admitted as a humble member of
The Church. This was in the early part of November, 1848, before a High
Council over which Elder Orson Hyde presided. On that occasion Oliver
Cowdery said: "Brethren, for a number of years I have been separated
from you. I now desire to come back. I wish to come humbly and be one
in your midst. I seek no station, I only wish to be identified with
you. I am out of The Church. I am not a member of The Church, but I
wish to become a member of it. I wish to come in at the door. I know
the door. I have not come here to ask precedence. I come humbly and
throw myself upon the decisions of this body, knowing as I do, that its
decisions are right and should be obeyed."
Soon after this he was re-baptized. He was on his way to join the main
body of The Church when he stopped at Kanesville, Iowa, where the above
occurred. Before continuing his journey west he resolved to visit his
wife's friends, the Whitmers, then living at Richmond, Missouri; and
while there he was taken with an illness from which he died, on the 3rd
of March, 1850, in his forty-fifth year. According to the testimony
of Phineas Young, who was present at his death, "his last moments
were spent in bearing testimony of the truth of the gospel revealed
through Joseph Smith, and the power of the holy Priesthood which he had
received through his administration."
David Whitmer never denied his testimony to the truth of the Book
of Mormon, through all the years of his separation from The Church,
but repeatedly reaffirmed it, especially in the closing years of his
life. Three days previous to his death, which occurred on the 25th of
January, 1888, he called his family and a number of his friends to his
bedside, and turning to his physician, said:
"Dr. Buchanan, I want you to say whether or not I am in my right mind,
before I give my dying testimony."
The doctor answered: "Yes, you are in your right mind, for I have just
had a conversation with you."
He then addressed himself to all around his bedside in these words:
"Now, you must all be faithful in Christ. I want to say to you all, the
Bible and the record of the Nephites (Book of Mormon) is true, so that
you can say that you heard me bear my testimony on my death-bed. All be
faithful in Christ, and your reward will be according to your works.
God bless you all. My trust is in Christ forever, worlds without end.
Amen." [C]
[Footnote C: Richmond Democrat, February 2, 1888.]