“Sir,— In gone–by years, and long before I had heard of the Prophet “Joseph Smith” and, indeed, before he had existence, I had formed some very curious ideas about the ancient prophets. From reading their history in the Bible, I supposed they must have been men of no ordinary proportions; or, if so, that there was something about them different from other men, by which they might be distinguished at sight. As a matter of course, I thought they must have had grey hairs for a covering to make them appear very dignified, and beard as long as a Jew; for if they shaved, it would shew that they were men; and could I have had the privilege of looking at one I should have expected to have seen him clad in sheep, goat, bear or wolf skin, wandering about on the mountains, like the beasts he had robbed of their garments, lodging in the caves and dens of the earth, and subsisting on the fruits and nuts of the forests. It being too holy, too sanctified, too exhaulted, by his high [HC 5:406] calling, to appear in the habitations or among the society of men, unless he had some important message to communicate direct from heaven; some revelation or commandment to promulge to his fellows, and then he would just come forth and cry out, like the beasts in the wilderness, with so much sacred sanctity that everybody would know he was a prophet; and if by nothing else, when they saw his nails like bird’s claws, and his hairs like eagles feathers, and his face and hands as filthy as a baboon; for it never occurred to me that clean hands, in administering before the Lord, as mentioned in the Scripture, meant any thing more than a good conscience, and I had never supposed but that a man could worship God just as acceptably, all covered with dirt, and filth and slime, as though he had bathed in Siloam every hour, until I heard the Mormon prophet lecturing his people on the subject of neatness and cleanliness, teaching them [p. 1559]