Minutes, 14 April 1838

On 14 April 1838, JS presided at a meeting to investigate a complaint against for his position regarding enforcement of the “,” the church’s revealed dietary code. The church’s position regarding this code had recently become more rigid and had provoked some members to resist the church’s involvement in temporal matters. West’s case had been tried earlier in a council of , who apparently ruled in his favor. However, , the original complainant, appealed his case against West to the high council on 27 March 1838. The high council members convened to hear the case on 14 April, immediately following two days of disciplinary councils in which they had excommunicated dissident church leaders. In the trial against held the day before, one of the charges was that Whitmer did not observe the Word of Wisdom. Wait brought several witnesses to testify regarding statements West had allegedly made about the Word of Wisdom and church authority. An hour-long adjournment noted in the meeting minutes suggests the trial lasted several hours. In the end, JS ruled that West had merely “erred in spirit” and should only be admonished. Meeting minutes, which included a transcript of the complaint, were taken by high council clerk . The minutes were later copied into Minute Book 2 by .