Thomas B Marsh

Thomas B Marsh was in Boston the time the Book of Mormon was being printed.  He had heard about a "gold bible" and went in search of it.  "His curiosity led him to Grandin’s print shop; there he met Martin Harris, who gave him proof sheets of the first sixteen printed pages of the Book of Mormon and then accompanied him to the Smith home in Manchester. Oliver Cowdery spent portions of two days telling him about Joseph and the Restoration. Thomas returned to Massachusetts and taught his family about the new work." (Church History in the Fulness of times, 74-75).

He was then Baptized and sent on a mission to Missouri.  When he returned, the commandment to set up the Quorum of the 12 Apostles was given.  He, along with Joseph Smith, selected those 11 men who would join them.  He was named the President of the Quorum of the 12 Apostles.  In Doctrine and Covenants 31 the Lord calls Thomas "blessed...because of [his] faith in [the Lord's] work.  “As long as Thomas B. Marsh was faithful he was an eloquent speaker. At the time of the troubles in Clay County, Mo., he was elected a member of a committee to lay the grievances of the Saints before the authorities of the State. On that occasion he spoke so impressively that General Atchison, who was present, shed tears, and the meeting passed resolutions to assist the Saints in finding a new location.” (Smith and Sjodahl, Commentary, p. 165.) 

But, like many of the leaders of the church, he ended up falling away.  Here is how President Monson describes the story. 

While the Saints were in Far West, Missouri, Elizabeth Marsh, Thomas’s wife, and her friend Sister Harris decided they would exchange milk in order to make more cheese than they otherwise could. To be certain all was done fairly, they agreed that they should not save what were called the strippings, but that the milk and strippings should all go together. Strippings came at the end of the milking and were richer in cream.

Sister Harris was faithful to the agreement, but Sister Marsh, desiring to make some especially delicious cheese, saved a pint of strippings from each cow and sent Sister Harris the milk without the strippings. This caused the two women to quarrel. When they could not settle their differences, the matter was referred to the home teachers to settle. They found Elizabeth Marsh guilty of failure to keep her agreement. She and her husband were upset with the decision, and the matter was then referred to the bishop for a Church trial. The bishop’s court decided that the strippings were wrongfully saved and that Sister Marsh had violated her covenant with Sister Harris.

Thomas Marsh appealed to the high council, and the men comprising this council confirmed the bishop’s decision. He then appealed to the First Presidency of the Church. Joseph Smith and his counselors considered the case and upheld the decision of the high council.

Elder Thomas B. Marsh, who sided with his wife through all of this, became angrier with each successive decision—so angry, in fact, that he went before a magistrate and swore that the Mormons were hostile toward the state of Missouri. His affidavit led to—or at least was a factor in—Governor Lilburn Boggs’s cruel extermination order, which resulted in over 15,000 Saints being driven from their homes, with all the terrible suffering and consequent death that followed. All of this occurred because of a disagreement over the exchange of milk and cream.  (School thy Feelings, November 2009 Enisgn) 

"Regarding this treachery, Joseph Smith remarked that Thomas B. Marsh

“had been lifted up in pride by his exaltation to office and the revelations of

heaven concerning him, until he was ready to be overthrown by the first

adverse wind that should cross his track, and now he has fallen, lied and

sworn falsely, and is ready to take the lives of his best friends. Let all men

take warning by him, and learn that he who exalteth himself, God will

abase.”24 Thomas Marsh was excommunicated 17 March 1839." (CHFT 199)

 "After 19 years of rancor and loss, Thomas B. Marsh made his way to the Salt Lake Valley and asked President Brigham Young for forgiveness. Brother Marsh also wrote to Heber C. Kimball, First Counselor in the First Presidency, of the lesson he had learned. Said Brother Marsh: “The Lord could get along very well without me and He … lost nothing by my falling out of the ranks; But O what have I lost?! Riches, greater riches than all this world or many planets like this could afford.” (School Thy Feelings)

This story shows what pride can do to us.  It will eventually lead to being left alone and being forced to be humble.  So what can we do to remain humble and have the things said of us that Joseph Smith said?  That is the question I'm going to leave you to ponder.  Feel free to comment!