EARLY DAYS OF 1844.
Conduct of the Laws and the Marks.--Discourse on Elijah by the
Prophet.--The Celestial Law.--Prophet's Candidacy for President of
U. S.--Exploring Expedition to California Planned.--Joseph, Mayor
of Nauvoo.--Hostility in Carthage.--Mischief Makers in Nauvoo.--The
Prophet Talks on Politics.
The year 1844, a year pregnant with momentous events--events which
history has magnified because of their importance to mankind in general
and to the Latter-day Saints in particular, was ushered in with a cold,
blustering snow storm. Characteristic of his busy life, Elder Woodruff
celebrated the day by plastering and whitewashing the printing office.
He was enthusiastic over his new-found occupation and gave his heart
and hand to the work before him.
Into the midst of the busy, hopeful life of the Saints, there entered
an element of uncertainty and of deep concern, and whispered threats
against the life of the Prophet were circulated. The false charges of
the apostate element were growing in intensity.
As the outgrowth of these conditions in Nauvoo at that time, there was
held on the 3rd of January, in Joseph's store, a court of inquiry. The
inquiry was directed to the conduct of William Law, Wilson Law, and
William Marks. Of William Law Elder Woodruff writes in his journal: "He
professes to believe that Joseph has instructed the police to kill him,
but the truth is that the Laws have turned traitors and are breeding
mischief which is intended to take the life of the Prophet Joseph
Smith." On the 5th of the month a second court was held relating to the
same matter. In contradistinction to the spirit of the Laws there was
an enthusiastic, hopeful spirit which caused faithful men and women to
look forward with fond anticipations to the completion of the Temple.
Work in the house of God was then taking hold upon the feelings of men
and women who had had revealed to them the relation and duties they
sustain to their progenitors as well as to their posterity. The spirit
of Elijah was upon the elders of the Church.
On January 21st, Elder Woodruff records the fact that Apostle {198}
Parley P. Pratt had just received second anointings and that he had
been instructed by the Prophet that it was his duty to have his wife
sealed to him for eternity in order that his glory might be full. Elder
Woodruff records the following words from the prophet: "What shall I
talk about today? I discern that Brother Cahoon wishes me to speak
upon the coming of Elijah. The Bible says, 'I will send you Elijah
before the great and terrible day of the Lord shall come, that he
shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the chidren and the hearts of
the children to their fathers lest I come and smite the earth with a
curse.' The word 'turned' should read 'point' or 'seal.' But, what is
the object of this important mission, or how is it to be fulfilled?
The keys are to be delivered, the spirit of Elijah is to come, the
gospel is to be preached, the Saints of God are to be gathered, Zion is
to be built up, and the Saints are to come forth as Saviors on Mount
Zion. But how are they to come as Saviors on Mount Zion? By building
temples, erecting baptismal fonts and receiving in the temples all
the ordinances, sealings, and anointings in behalf of our progenitors
who are dead, that they may come forth in the first resurrection and
be with us exalted to thrones of glory. I would to God that this
Temple were now completed, that we might go forth and attend to these
ordinances in their fullness! I would advise all the Saints to gather
their living relatives to this place and be prepared against the day
when the destroying angel shall go forth. My only trouble now is that
which concerns ourselves. The Saints may be divided, broken up and
scattered before we accomplish the work now in view. There are so many
fools in the world for the devil to act upon that it oftimes gives him
the advantage. Any person who is exalted to the highest mansion must
abide the celestial law and the whole law, too, but there has been much
difficulty in getting understanding into the hearts of this generation.
Even the Saints are slow to understand. How many will be able to abide
the celestial law, endure the trials, and receive their exaltation I am
unable to say. 'Many are called, but few are chosen.'"
The Temple was still incomplete. The Presidency and the Twelve were
urging the work upon it. In order that the Twelve might be prepared
to administer in the ordinances of the house of God they were given
their endowments and their wives sealed to {199} them for eternity.
Elder Woodruff gives the exact dates when certain members of the Twelve
received these ordinances. He says, in his journal, "There is at this
time quite a revival throughout Nauvoo and an inquiry after the things
of God by all the quorums of the Church generally."
There was a strange commingling of spirits in Nauvoo at that time.
Spirits of life and death were at war, and the Prophet's approaching
end was made manifest to him in a dream which he related in his office
to Wilford Woodruff, Willard Richards, and W. W. Phelps. The Prophet
clearly saw the coming storm of persecution which awaited him. His
release from opposition was represented by his power to pass through
the air and be lifted up by the power of God above the earth.
Furthermore this year was one for a presidential election. The Saints
had been constantly ground between the political parties of those days.
Whatever significance may be attached to the candidacy of Joseph Smith
at that time for the presidency of the United States, it has since
been the subject of all sorts of speculation. Elder Woodruff, in his
journal, says: "A congregation of the citizens met in the room over
Joseph's store to hear his views upon the affairs of government, views
which he had written and which were read by W. W. Phelps. 'I would not
have permitted my name to be used by my friends as a candidate for the
President of the United States if we could have enjoyed, unmolested,
our religious and civil rights as American citizens--the rights which
the constitution guarantees to all citizens, but rights which have
been denied us from the beginning. I feel it my right and privilege to
obtain what influence and power I can, lawfully, for the protection of
injured innocence.'"
At the close of the meeting there was a unanimous vote passed to
support Joseph Smith. The Prophet had reason to appreciate the rights
and liberties of mankind, of which he had been so often unlawfully and
wantonly deprived.
"On the 21st of February," Elder Woodruff writes, "I met with the
quorum of the Twelve at Joseph's store, and according to Joseph's
counsel a company was selected to go on an exploring expedition to
California, and to select a place for the building of a city. Jonathan
Dunham, David Fulmer, Phineas Young, Samuel W. Richards and several
others were named for the expedition." {200} The Prophet subsequently,
in company with a number of his brethren, left Nauvoo on this proposed
expedition, but turned back, as all know from the sad story of his
last days, to be a martyr to the work he had been instrumental in
establishing.
A curious circumstance of those times was the preaching of an
Episcopalian minister in an adjoining room. Following the preacher,
Joseph said, "The object with me is to obey and to teach others to
obey God and all that He commands us to do. It matters not whether
the principle be popular or unpopular, I will always maintain it
though I stand alone in doing so." According to Elder Woodruff the
Prophet, in 1842, predicted that within five years the Saints would be
established beyond the Rocky Mountains and became a mighty people in
the inter-mountain regions.
On the evening of February 25th the news of the death of Joseph
Duncan and Governor Reynolds of Missouri reached Nauvoo. They were
among the most persistent enemies of the Saints. The news of their
death called forth a notable prophecy from Joseph Smith, who wished
his words recorded that they might be remembered when they were
fulfilled. He declared that in five years the Saints would be rid of
their old enemies, whether they were apostates or men who were never
in the Church. Five years saw the Saints located in the valleys of the
mountains. Those predictions were more the voice of the spirit than
any expectations of the people who were eagerly working for an early
completion of the Temple.
On the 7th of March there was a large meeting of the Saints in Nauvoo.
Eight thousand people had gathered by invitation to listen to the words
of their Prophet and the Twelve. The latter directed their remarks more
particularly to the ordinances which should take place in the house of
God. "One of the great objects I had in calling this meeting," said the
Prophet, "was to make a few remarks relative to the laws and ordinances
of the city and to the building of the Temple. The reason I want to
speak of the laws is that the officers have difficulty in administering
them. We wish to have the people rule, but rule in righteousness. The
laws are enacted and they can be repealed, if the people wish it, but
the people should not complain of the officers. I am instructed by
the city council to tell this people that if you do not like any law
we have passed, we will repeal it for we are your servants. There are
{201} those in this community who would oppose anything good. If you
preach virtue to them they will oppose it. If a case is tried here,
they want it appealed to Carthage."
In those days Carthage contained the chief enemies of the Prophet, and
the town became a gathering place for those bent upon his destruction.
Any movement in opposition to him or to the Latter-day Saints in Nauvoo
found sympathetic support there. Justice for the Prophet in Carthage
was therefore absolutely impossible. The lawyers and those encompassing
his destruction took advantage of the law on a question of venue to put
the object of their venom at the mercy of men whose attitude towards
him was always malignant.
During these days the Prophet was the mayor of Nauvoo, and his
home-town sheltered men who were seeking to encompass the Prophet and
his devoted followers. Such men were indeed a very small minority, but
they were able to make a great amount of noise and do endless mischief.
A certain individual had undertaken to appropriate the wharfage lands
at the foot of Water Street, and thus create an issue between himself
and the city. Such conduct awakened antagonism between people outside
of Nauvoo desiring to carry on business there in the city. Outsiders
did not always discriminate between the conduct of the mischief-makers
and the people at large. Everything disagreeable and annoying was laid
at the door of the Latter-day Saints.
These facts will explain the Prophet's outburst of indignation when he
said: "I want every fool to stay at home and let the steamboats and
captains and peace officers alone. How can we prevent mobs and the
shedding of innocent blood unless we strike at everything that rises up
in disorder."
There were in the city secret combinations planned to thwart the
purposes of Joseph and to bring confusion upon him and the great
majority of the people. Among those plotting his ruin were men who
professed personal friendship. "I despise," he says, "the man who
betrays with a kiss. A certain man has been writing to the New
York Tribune. I will not mention his name. He says much that was
appropriated for the Temple has been spent for other purposes. But any
man who has paid anything for the Temple can learn from the books that
every farthing has been used for that building. There are many men in
our midst who are trying {202} to build themselves up at our expense,
and others are watching for some pretended iniquity, and make a man an
offender for a word."
After an article entitled, "A Voice of Innocence from Nauvoo," was
read, Brigham Young addressed in the afternoon the assemblage. "I wish
to speak on the duties of lawyers," he said, "classing myself with the
lawyers in the house of Israel. When any man who is a lawyer takes a
course to break peace instead of promoting it, he is out of the way of
his duty. A doctor of law should be a peacemaker. The great object we
have before us is the completion of the Temple this season. We have
felt the effects of slander and want a cure, or balm for it. I carry
one with me all the time, and I want you to do the same. I will tell
you what it is. It is to mind our own business and let others alone,
to suffer rather than to do wrong. If anyone will take your property
away let him alone and have nothing to do with him. A spirit intended
to divide the Saints has been manifested in this city. We have built
up this city. Would steamboats have landed here if the Saints had not
come, or would speculators make anything out of our lands if we had not
come to give them value? Israel is to be the head, and not the tail.
All who have gone from us have gone from the head to the foot. Oppose
this work and it will roll over you. When since it began did this work
ever stop? What the Saints need to know is what the Lord wants of them
and then have the courage to do it. If the Saints will keep the law of
God, the hypocrites and the scoundrels will not be comfortable in their
presence."
Closing the meeting the Prophet said, "I care but little for politics;
I would not give much for the presidential chair in comparison with
the office I now hold; but as men in the world have used the powers
of government to oppose and persecute us, it is proper for us to use
those powers for our own protection and rights. Were I President of the
United States I would never say to an oppressed people, 'Your cause is
just but I can do nothing for you.'"
Continuing, he spoke of the annexation of Texas, and he further
believed that the United States should receive all the territory
that it could. He was in favor of paying for the slaves and further
believed that steps should be taken to give freedom to all colored
{203} children after a fixed period. By these means he believed that
much bloodshed would be averted and that in the end it would be less
expensive to the country at large. "This government," he said, "will
receive no suggestions from me. Those who hold the responsible places
are controlled by a spirit of self-sufficiency, but they will have to
meet with fear and trembling in a day to come the false position they
have taken."
"The Prophet Joseph," says Elder Woodruff, in his journal, "favored the
admission of Canada into the United States. He regarded all of North
and South America as the land of Zion, and believed that the principles
upon which the government of the United States was founded should
govern as well all the various nations on this continent."
On the 8th of March, a number of leading citizens met to consider the
question of vice-president on the presidential ticket.
Through all the teachings of the Prophet in those days there ran a
spirit of deep concern for the completion of the Temple, so that the
ordinances to be performed therein might be enjoyed by the Saints.
"These ordinances," Joseph insisted, "must be performed in this life."
He spoke on the land of Zion and of the days to come when there would
be stakes established throughout North and South America. His words
were like the sounds of a distant echo; their realization was then
scarcely within the compass of the most vivid imagination. Now that
stakes of Zion are spreading out into Canada, Mexico, and various
states of the Union, the fulfillment of these prophetic utterances is
within the understanding of all Latter-day Saints. And in view of these
prophecies one may exclaim with the psalmist of old: "Go about Zion;
count the towers thereof."
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