JS, Discourse, [, Hancock Co., IL, 14 Sept. 1843]. Version copied [ca. 14 Sept. 1843] in JS, Journal, 1842–1844, bk. 3, p. [94]; handwriting of ; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS, Journal, 1842–1844.
Asterisk (*) denotes a "featured" version, which includes an introduction and annotation.
John Finch— spoke on the 3d principle mentioned yeste[r]day 10 past. 3.— Joseph spoke 5 minutes. told an anecdote of . and got up a community. at . big fish eat up the little. did not beleive the doctrine.— &c. Finch replied— a few minuts.— said he.— “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. & I am the Spir[i]tual prophet. Mr Smith the Temporal Prophet.[”] [p. [94]]
During the winter of 1829–1830, several members of Rigdon’s reformed Baptist congregation moved onto Isaac Morley’s farm near Kirtland, Ohio, and attempted to live as a community where all property was held in common. Many had been, or continued to be, associated with Campbell’s movement, although Campbell himself opposed communal living. Comprising some fifty or sixty individuals in about a dozen families, the community at Morley’s farm suffered “confusion and disappointments” because “they considered from reading the scripture that what belonged to a brother belonged to any of the brethren, therefore they would take each others clothes and other property and use it without leave.” Following Rigdon’s 1830 baptism by Mormon missionaries, most members of the community were also baptized into the Church of Christ. In February 1831, a JS revelation effectively ended the community. (Staker, Hearken, O Ye People, 43–47, 108–109; Whitmer, History, 11.)
Staker, Mark L. Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph Smith’s Ohio Revelations. Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2009.