ermitted to
give the cow to my friend, and I had the privilege of taking such
articles as I wished. I fitted up with just what would take me to
Illinois, and left the remainder as a spoil for the enemies of
the Church. I did not regret the loss of my property; I gave it
up as the price of my religious freedom.

Before I speak of other things I will say a few words of the
country we were then in. Adam-on-Diamond was at the point where
Adam came and settled and blest his posterity after being driven
from the Garden of Eden. This was revealed to the people through
Joseph the Prophet. The Temple Block in Jackson County, Missouri,
stands on the identical spot where once stood the Garden of Eden.
When Adam and Eve were driven from the Garden they traveled in a
northwesterly course until they came to a valley on the east side
of Grand River. There they tarried for several years, and engaged
in tilling the soil. On the east of the valley there is a low
range of hills. Standing on the summit of the bluffs a person has
a full view of the beautiful valley that lies below, dotted here
and there with groves of timber. On the top of this range of
hills Adam erected an altar of stone, on which he offered
sacrifice unto the Lord. There was in our time (1838) a pile of
stone there, which the Prophet said was a portion of the altar on
which Adam offered sacrifice. Although these stones had been
exposed to the elements for many generations, still the traces
remained to show the dimensions and design of the altar. After
Adam had offered his sacrifice he went up the valley some two
miles, where he blessed his posterity and called the place the
Valley of Adam-on-Diamond, which, in the reformed Egyptian
language, signifies Adam's Consecrated Land. It is said to be
seventy-five miles, in a direct course, from the Garden of Eden
to Adam-on-Diamond. Those ancient relics and sacred spots of
earth are held holy by the greater portion of the Latter-day
Saints. These things, and much more concerning the early days,
were revealed to the Prophet Joseph.

On the 20th day of November, 1838, I took leave of my home and
the sacred ground of Adam-on-Diamond and started as a banished
man to seek a home in Illinois. We went to my farm on Shady Grove
Creek, and stayed over night. We found everything as we had left
it, nothing having been interfered with. I killed a large hog and
dressed it to carry with us to cat on the journey. The snow was
fully twenty