Inez Smith (later Davis), granddaughter of Alexander H. and Elizabeth Smith, ca. 1910
RLDS author, Inez Smith Davis provided the following description of worship activities around Far West. "Every Thursday evening, prayer and testimony meeting was held in Far West, and every Sunday there were alternately preaching and Communion services. The Saints attended these meetings regularly. But few of them had teams, and those who had were forced to keep them working their crops all week, so rested their horses on the Sabbath day, and walked to church. "Sunday after Sunday," says one of these settlers, "quite a crowd of men, women, and children could be seen wending their way to the Central City.'" [Inez Smith Davis, Story of the Church (Independence, MO: Herald Publishing House, 1934)].
Solomon Wixom recalled, "... This is the first day I got into the city of Far West, on the 25th of May 1837. I moved on my place on the head of Log Creek. I went to work at clearing and planting my garden stuff and potatoes, going to mill and to meeting, and on the 4th of June I went to Far West to hear Brother T. B. March, the President of the 12, and D. W. Patton and William Smith, both of the 12. I then heard them all preach, and on the next sabbath I attended meeting at the [Log Creek] school house. Brother Charles C. Rich and H[ervey] Green preached. This was the 11th of June 1837." [Solomon Wixom, MS 1559, f5, the Journal and Day Book of Solomon Wixom, Pekin, Illinois, March the 26th 1835, LDS Family and Church Historical Department, Archives].
Sidney Rigdon could inspire an audience to tears!
Sidney Rigdon preached on the Sunday after his arrival at Far West in April 1838. His son John recalled, "All the Mormons in Far West came to hear him. There was a large schoolhouse outside the village where the meeting was to be held. There was no standing room. They took out the windows, the weather being warm, and got up into the window spaces. Some had to remain outside. He preached for two hours. It was one of his great efforts." [John Wickliffe Rigdon, "The Life and Testimony of Sidney Rigdon," Dialogue, Vol.1, No. 4, 30-34].
During a 7 November general assembly of the Saints there [at Far West], Rigdon explained "the object of the meeting, giving a relation of the recent reorganization of the Church in Kirtland." Smith and Rigdon were then nominated and "unanimously chosen" though Williams was replaced by Hyrum Smith. [FWR, 122]. While addressing the throng, Rigdon also preached on the temperance sweeping the nation, a proposition he highly favored. A year earlier his preaching to a Kirtland gathering had prompted a vote to discontinue the use entirely "of all liquors from the Church in Sickness & in health except wine at the Sacraments & for external Washing." [Kenney, 1 (4 December 1836): 110-111]. After a few similar remarks from Rigdon, the Far West audience "unanimously voted not to support Stores and Shops selling spirituous liquors, Tea, Coffee or Tobacco." [FWR, 124]. The congregation seemed enthusiastically united with Rigdon. In his closing prayer he asked the Lord to "dedicate this land for the gathering of the Saints, and their inheritances."[FWR, 124].
Joseph Smith, Jr., S. Rigdon, and Hyrum Smith moved their families to this place, Far West, in the spring of 1838. As soon as they came here, they began to enforce their new organized plan, which caused dissensions and difficulties, threatenings and even murders. Smith called a council of the leaders together, in which council he stated that any person who said a word against the heads of the Church, should be driven over these prairies as a chased deer by a pack of hounds, having an illusion to the Gideonites, as they were termed, to justify themselves in their wicked designs. Thus on the 19th of June, 1838, they preached a sermon called the salt sermon, in which these Gideonites understood that they should drive the dissenters... [Whitmer, The Book of John Whitmer, typescript, Community of Christ Archives, Independence, Missouri].
Rigdon biographer Mark McKiernan observed, "on June 19, 1838, Rigdon delivered a scathing denunciation of disloyalty among the members of the Church. No text nor synopsis has remained of his discourse, but reports of eyewitnesses indicated that Rigdon, who could inspire an audience to tears, could also lash them into fury. Rigdon took his text from the fifth chapter of Matthew: "Ye are the salt of the earth. If the salt hath lost its savor, it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men." Joseph Smith followed Rigdon's harangue with a short speech, apparently sanctioning what he had said. The salt sermon caused a frenzy of activity aimed at purging the ranks of disloyal members. One unfortunate effect of the controversy over dissenters was the formation of the apparently unauthorized Danites, a secret militant society for the enforcement of orthodoxy." [Citing John Corrill, A Brief History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, St. Louis, MO: 1839): 26 and Lu B. Cake, Peepstone Joe and the Peck Manuscript (New York City, 1857): 104-05; see "The Historians Corner," BYU Studies, Vol. 11, No. 1: 90].
Joseph Smith regularly occupied the stand on Sundays
Joseph Smith preached the Sunday sermon, 6 May 1838, at Far West, Missouri. The Prophet spoke on “hasty judgment, or decisions upon any subject given by and people, or in judging before they had heard both sides of a question,” and then entered into a discussion of Abraham: “I also gave some instructions in the mysteries of the kingdom of God; such as the history of the planets, Abraham's writings upon the planetary system, etc.” [History of the [LDS] Church, 3: 27, cited in Jay M. Todd, The Saga of the Book of Abraham (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1969), 208].
James B. Bracken, Sen, wrote, "The first time I saw the Prophet Joseph Smith was in June, 1838, in the town of Far West, Caldwell County, Missouri. I went to a meeting and he preached to the people, teaching them the principles of salvation... I never saw a nobler looking or acting man than Joseph Smith appeared on that occasion. ["Testimony of Brother James B. Bracken," Sen," Recollections of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 203].
Peter H. Burnett, a lawyer who represented church leaders recalled, "I well remember the first time I ever saw Joseph Smith, Jr. I arrived at Far West one Saturday evening in June or July, 1838, and found there John McDaniel, a young merchant of Liberty. John was wild, imprudent, and fond of frolics. On Saturday he had openly ridiculed Smith's pretensions to the gift of prophecy, and his remarks had been reported to the prophet. On Sunday John and myself went to hear Smith preach. The church was a large frame building, with seats well arranged and a good pulpit. We were treated with great politeness, and kindly shown to seats that commanded a full view of the whole proceedings. The congregation was large, very orderly, and attentive. There were officers to show people to their seats, who were most polite and efficient in the discharge of their duties.
Following the church's withdrawal from DeWitt, Smith preached and urged members to consecrate their property and come forward for service in the army of the Lord. [Corrill, Brief History of the Church, Chapter 21]. Joseph's history records that on, "Sunday, October 14.— I preached to the brethren at Far West from the saying of the Savior: "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his brethren." At the close I called upon all that would stand by me to meet me on the public square the next day." [Joseph Smith, History of the Church, Vol. 3, 162].
Warren Foote attended the preaching service and recalled, "[October] 14th. [1838] Sunday. Mr. Barnard, and I went to Far West to meeting. Joseph Smith preached. He said that those who would not turn out to help to suppress the mob, should have their property taken to support those who would. He was very plain and pointed in his remarks, and expressed a determination to put down the mob or die in the attempt." [Warren Foote Autobiography, typescript, BYU-S, 25].
"Sunday, 29 Elders Kimball and Hyde having just returned from England, preached in Far West. July 9, 1838." [History of the Church [LDS], Vol. 3, 45].
Two sermons were delivered by other preachers, which were simply plain, practical discourses, and created no emotion. But when Joseph Smith, Jr. rose to speak he was full of the most intense excitement. He boldly denounced McDaniel in the most severe terms, saying, in substance, that no man should come to Far West and openly vilify and slander him, and that, if his brethren would not protect him, he would protect himself. I had not heard the remarks of McDaniel, and was wholly taken by surprise. I watched him as he sat by my side, and he was pale as a corpse, but did not stir or open his lips. The Mormon audience were deeply moved, but preserved good order. After the services were ended, McDaniel requested me to go with him to see Smith, and we did so. An explanation was made on both sides, and the matter there terminated." [Peter H. Burnett. Recollections and Opinions of an Old Pioneer (D. Appleton & Co., 1880)].
Heber C. Kimball preached the "Clay Sermon" at Far West
Joseph Smith made note of Kimball's sermon. A later researcher observed, "I think one of the great sermons that has been delivered in this Church was delivered at Far West, Missouri, when Heber C. Kimball delivered what is known in our writings as the "clay sermon," be and in it he said that we should as clay to be molded as the Lord would mold us, and to do the will of the Lord. His sermon was acclaimed by the Prophet Joseph Smith as one of the great contributions to the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times in the reflection of the attitude that we should have in serving the Lord." [Alvin R. Dyer, Conference Report, October 1958, 51-52]. A child of Alfred Bosworth recalled, "a trip to the Missouri way up to far west... we got there Sunday morning just as people was gathering for meeting we drove up [a]long side the house Alfred went in We set [in] the wagon and heard the sermon." [Alfred Bosworth family papers, unidentified child, MS 6800, f1, item 2, LDS Family and Church Historical Department, Archives].
Mariah Pulsipher related the following, as Kirtland Camp completed its journey from Ohio. "Joseph and Hyrum Smith met us at Far West, Missouri. They greatly rejoiced to see us. They preached to us that night and told us to settle in Diahman [Adam-ondi-Ahman], Daviess County." ["Autobiography of Mariah Pulsipher," in Kenneth Glyn Hales, comp. and ed., Windows: A Mormon Family (Tucson, Arizona: Skyline Printing, 1985)].