In 1830 the church met together in a room 20 feet square— and began to talk about the kingdom of God as tho, they had the world at command, although they have had not many people they had big feelings. They then knew that the church would become as large as it now is. They began to talk like men with authority and power. They looked the upon the men of the earth as grasshoppers. They felt as big then as they ever will till the day of God Almighty.— They saw by vision the Church of God a thousand times as big as it is now. And when men would come in they would say we wanted to upset the government although they was not enough to meet a woman with a milk pail. They met in a room 30 feet square held a conference and laid the foundation of the kingdom. He spake next concerning being put in jail for publishing about the Book of Mormon.— There were many things believed & preached at that time which have come to pass. He next explained why they had met in secret. They had things to say <​to one another​> which never existed in the hearts of any one and if they had talked in public they would have been ridiculed. They talked about the people coming as doves to their windows &c and a nation being born in a day God had great things to say for the salvation of the world which if told to the public would bring persecution upon us.

He referred to the Prayer by concerning our having arived at the age to choose our own guardian. If we had told what we believed— that the church would be as it is at this day— They would have come upon us and shed our blood— there we sat in secret— and there the glorious, visions and powers of the kingdom of heaven were portrayed before them. We had not a mighty congregation to shelter us. If a mob came upon us we had to run and hide up to save our lives. They time has now come to tell why we held secret meetings— We were we maturing plans to corrupt the world— destroy the peace of society— let 14 years experience of the church tell the story. The church would never have been here if we had not done as we did, in secret [p. 2]