GOVERNOR FORD IN NAUVOO--NEWS OF THE MARTYRDOM MESSAGE TO
NAUVOO--ARRIVAL OF THE BODIES--SORROWFUL SCENES--THE BURIAL.
Governor Ford in Nauvoo.
Military Display.
Departure of the Governor from the Danger Zone.
The Start from Nauvoo with the Bodies of the Martyrs.
The Address of Dr. Richards _et al._.
Preparation of the Bodies for Burial.
Lying in State.
The Real Burial.
Official Statement of the Martyrdom of the Prophet and Patriarch.
{XXI}
INTRODUCTION.
_I. The Time Period._
The time-period covered in this sixth volume of the HISTORY OF THE
CHURCH is less than one year. Nine months and twenty-eight days, to be
exact; or from the 1st of September, 1843, to the 29th of June, 1844.
Events within this period are therefore given in elaborate detail. The
general reader and the student of our history will find in this volume
a larger collection of documents, official and otherwise, covering this
period, than will be found elsewhere.
This volume also closes the first Period of our Church History,
the period marked off by two events: (1) the birth of the Prophet
Joseph Smith; and (2) his martyrdom and that of his brother Hyrum, at
Carthage, Illinois.
The Journal History of the Prophet, that great source of historical
knowledge concerning the development of the New Dispensation, closes
with his entry of the 22nd of June, 1844. After that, for our knowledge
of the remaining events of the Prophet's life, we are dependent upon
collections of _data_ by the Church historians from public and private
sources, of which collections there are two: the first extends from
the 22nd of June to the 29th of that month, and forms the concluding
chapters of this volume; the second begins also with the 22nd of June,
and extends to the 8th of August, 1844; at which time the Twelve
Apostles were sustained for the time being as the presiding council of
the Church. This second collection of _data_ by the Church historians
will open Volume VII of this History.
In the present volume we see the Prophet's brave struggle against the
overwhelming odds of his foes--foes within the Church, false brethren;
and foes without the Church--the combination of political and sectarian
enemies fixed in their determination to kill him, destroy Nauvoo, and
expel the Saints from Illinois: for all these things were included in
the program of the anti-Mormons of Illinois, even before the death
of the Prophet was encompassed. Three score and seven years now give
perspective to the stirring events in which the really great drama was
enacted; and from that vantage ground of perspective said events may
be reviewed to the enlightenment of those who seek to know the truth,
{XXII} and the injustice of the things enacted in Illinois during the
closing months of the Prophet Joseph's earthly career.
_II. Why the Latter-day Saints were Welcomed to Illinois._
On the one hand, in the above mentioned struggle, was a people who but
a few years before had been welcomed into Illinois as exiles from a
neighboring state, the victims of a cruel and ignorant intolerance.
They were welcomed, in part, because of the injustice to which they
had been subjected in a neighboring state, and because their physical
sufferings, arising from want of shelter and food in an inclement
season of the year to which they were exposed, was such as to move
adamantine hearts to pity. Also they were welcomed because, as pointed
out in the Introduction to Volume IV of this HISTORY, the state of
Illinois needed augmentation of her population by just such a people
as the Latter-day Saints were--industrious, frugal, skilled mechanics,
successful farmers, experienced men of affairs, men capable of trade
and commerce, enterprising and with a larger proportion of educated
men and women among them than was to be found among the people of
western Illinois in those days. I do not here employ the language of
adulation on the one hand, nor seek to make invidious distinctions upon
the other. Either would be vain, since the well-known and accepted
facts of history would disprove the declarations made if not founded
in truth. The fact is, however, that all that is claimed above for
the Missouri exiled Latter-day Saints is true and well-attested by
their achievements in settling Nauvoo, which in four years rose from
a ware-house or two and a few half tumbledown shacks on the banks of
the river, and called "Commerce," to the dignity of being the first
city in Illinois in population and commercial enterprise, and also gave
promise of developing into a manufacturing center of great importance.
This last item was evidenced in the fact that the founder of Nauvoo,
President Joseph Smith, and the Nauvoo city council appreciated the
possibilities in the water power of the Lower Des Moines Rapids in
the Mississippi, at the head of which the city was located. Reference
to his journal entry for the 23rd of September (this volume, p. 80)
will witness that he suggested that a petition be sent to the national
Congress for the construction of a canal around the rapids to overcome
the obstruction for the free passage of river craft, which the rapids
prevented during the low water period of each year, and thus enhance
the value of the great stream to the inland commerce of the west. [1]
Reference again to President Smith's journal {XXIII} entry for the 8th
of December, 1843 (this volume, p. 103) will disclose the fact that he
gave instruction in the forenoon to his clerk to draw a plan for a dam
in the Mississippi; and that in the afternoon of the same day the city
council met and passed an ordinance authorizing Joseph Smith to "erect
a dam of suitable height to propel mills and machinery from any point
within the limits of said city, and below the Nauvoo House;" also in
connection with this dam to construct a "harbor or basin for steamboats
and other craft;" and to construct docks, wharfs and landings," the
wharfage fees to be "regulated by ordinance of said city (this volume
p. 106).
_III. Nauvoo as a Possible Manufacturing Center._
What further contributed to the promise that Nauvoo would be a great
manufacturing center as well as the center of an immense agricultural
region with a splendid commercial outlet, was the fact that artisans
and tradesmen of the very first order in skill, were rapidly gathering
into the city, not only from the New England and other Eastern states
of our own country, but also from the British Isles. It was inevitable
if let alone that Nauvoo would become the greatest manufacturing
center of Illinois, and among the first of such cities in the United
States. The Prophet did not live to see even a commencement made upon
these large enterprises he had conceived, but subsequently his zealous
followers organized a company to carry them to a successful conclusion
under the title of "The Nauvoo Water Power Company," [2] which began
the construction of the dam on the 29th of April, 1845; but which had
to be abandoned because of the hostilities that soon after increased
and continued until they culminated in the expulsion of the Latter-day
Saints from Illinois. [3]
{XXIV} In addition to these measures, manufacturing and agricultural
associations were incorporated; also the "Nauvoo House Associations"
for the erection of a hotel, ambitious to be known as the finest
hostelry in the Upper Mississippi country. One of the agricultural
associations, known as the "Big Field Corporation," held six sections,
or three thousand eight hundred and forty acres of land east of Nauvoo;
and the year following the Prophet's death the company harvested about
thirty thousand bushels of corn, nearly the same amount of wheat,
besides an "abundance of oats, barley, buckwheat, potatoes and other
vegetables." [4]
_IV. Educational Measures at Nauvoo._
And not only in material things was the superior character of
Nauvoo's founders and builders proclaimed; but equally broad and
comprehensive were their preparations for an educational system. By
their city charter they were empowered to establish an institution of
learning within the limits of the city for the teaching of the arts
and sciences and learned professions, to be called the "University
of the City of Nauvoo;" also a common school system for the city,
all of which was in course of development even in the early years
of Nauvoo's existence. And in addition to these direct educational
institutions of common schools and projected university, literary
and dramatic associations were organized, as also choral and band
organizations for the cultivation of musical talents and to promote the
pleasure and refinement of society; while the religious zeal of the
community expressed itself in the rapidly rising walls of the splendid
temple--soon to be the most solid and pretentious building in the
state; and in the tireless missionary enterprise of the dominant Church.
{XXV} _V. Jealousy of Nauvoo's Promising Greatness._
Nothing was lacking, then, in the promises of constant and rapid
growth, of prosperity and future greatness of Nauvoo. Small wonder
if the narrow bigotry and jealousy of small-souled men of the time
and vicinity--especially those who were inhabitants of rival towns,
particularly those of Warsaw and Carthage--were envious of Nauvoo's
prosperity and promise of future greatness. Hitherto this element of
jealousy of Nauvoo's prosperity and promise of future greatness has
not been accorded the importance due to it as a contributing cause to
the warfare made upon that city and the Saints. Little doubt, however,
can be entertained, now attention has been called to it, but what as a
contributing cause jealousy of Nauvoo stood next to religious prejudice
and political distrust and hatred.
A correspondent from Fair Haven, Connecticut, to a gentleman in Nauvoo,
set forth this matter most convincingly. An excerpt of the letter was
published in the _Nauvoo Neighbor_ of August 7th, 1844. It is proper to
say that the writer was not a member of the Mormon Church; "but," as
the editor of the _Neighbor_ describes him, "a citizen of Connecticut,
loving law and liberty and life;" and now the paragraph dealing with
the point under discussion:
"It is now known here that the lazy speculators of Warsaw, and the
still lazier office drones at Carthage, cared nothing for Joseph
Smith personally, or for his tenets either; but the prosperity
of Nauvoo increasing as it did, beyond any former parallel, even
in the western world, excited in their bosoms envy, hatred and
all ungodliness. This is the true secret of all their barbarous
movements against Mormonism--and they supposed by destroying
the Smiths they should extinguish their religion, disperse the
Mormons--depopulating and desolating Nauvoo."
Also a correspondent to the _State Register_ published at Springfield,
Illinois, speaking of Thomas C. Sharp, editor of the _Warsaw Signal_
and the anti-Mormon disturbances in Hancock county said:
"He [Sharp] is also described as having made himself the 'organ
of a gang of town lot speculators at Warsaw,' who are afraid that
Nauvoo is about to kill off their town and render speculation
abortive." [5]
Mr. Backenstos in January, 1845, when the repeal of the Nauvoo Charter
was under discussion in the Illinois legislature, referred to this same
subject in a speech on the floor of the house of representatives, in
the course of which he said:
"Town rivalry had also something to do with this opposition to
Nauvoo. While Warsaw was on the decline, Nauvoo was rapidly
increasing {XXVI} in wealth and population; a plan to bring about
a re-action was soon concocted by the leading men of Warsaw,
who made one pilgrimage after another to Nauvoo, imploring the
Mormon Prophet to aid them in building up a city adjoining the
town of Warsaw, by settling a portion of the Mormon population in
and about Warsaw, and commence the building of a new city. The
bubble soon exploded, and the speculation failed. This gave rise
to dissatisfaction with some who had heretofore been exceedingly
polite to '_Lieutenant General Joseph Smith!_'" [6]
Thus in every way, to refer back to the point of starting the
discussion of this subdivision, the Latter-day Saints are proven
by their achievements and the foundations they laid for the future
greatness of their city, to be a superior people, and hence a desirable
addition to the population of the then young commonwealth of Illinois.
_VI. The Character of the People of Western Illinois._
On the other hand there was a population in western Illinois, and
perhaps more especially in Hancock county, which had more than its
full share of lawless and desperate men; who, as by a law of social
gravitation, seek the frontiers of civilization. Moreover it is
notorious that the whole upper Mississippi was a rendezvous for
gamblers, counterfeiters, horse thieves, murderers and other criminals
that infested the great river, which gave easy ingress and egress to a
frontier wilderness on the one hand, and to such centers of population
and activity, on the other, as New Orleans, St. Louis, and many minor
places, besides. "I must give some account of the anti-Mormons,"
says Governor Ford in his History of Illinois, when referring to the
inhabitants of Hancock county. "I had a good opportunity to know the
settlers of Hancock county," he continues. "I had attended the circuit
courts there as state's attorney, from 1830, when the county was first
organized, up to 1834: and to my certain knowledge the early settlers,
with some honorable exceptions, were in popular languages hard cases"
(page 406). Then for a period of several years to the advent of the
"Mormons" he had no means of knowing the character of the people who
drifted into the country: "But," he adds, "having passed my whole
life on the frontier, on the outer edge of the settlements, I have
frequently seen that a few first settlers would fix the character of a
settlement for good or for bad, for many years after its commencement.
If bad men began the settlement, bad men would be attracted to them,
upon the well known principle that birds of a feather will flock
together. Rogues will find each other out, and so will honest men.
From all which it appears extremely probable, that the later {XXVII}
immigrants were many of them attracted to Hancock by a secret sympathy
between them and the early settlers."
Indeed the governor suggests that it may have been "the promptings of
a secret instinct," which led the "Mormons" to "discern their fellows"
and induced them to settle in Hancock in preference to other localities
open to them. All which may be regarded as an ingenious thrust at the
Latter-day Saints, but which fails of reaching its mark from the fact
that it was the criminal element chiefly in Hancock county's population
which arrayed itself in antagonism against the Saints, and against
whom they were arrayed in all their conflicts in that county. Whereas,
under the governor's theory, this criminal element among the "old
citizens" and the Saints should have been as hand in glove in their
cooperation of encompassing evil things. But to the contrary; from the
time the "Mormons" appeared on the scenes at Commerce, in 1839, until
they were expelled, they steadfastly and emphatically set their faces
against the evils that cursed that community, and denounced all manner
of evil both as manifested in a few of their own delinquent members,
apostates and camp followers who trailed after the main body of the
Church from Missouri, as well as in others: such as dram-drinking,
swearing, Sabbath-breaking, contracting debts under pretense of poverty
and distress without any prospects or intention of paying, [7] and
especially did they denounce stealing, under any and all pretexts
whatsoever. [8]
And as it was largely the criminal element among the "old citizens"
that was arrayed against the Saints (with unprincipled politicians
and a few bigoted and jealous religious leaders added), so was it the
conservative and law-abiding portion of the community among whom they
had many friends; and nearly all of whom were at least so far friendly
with the Saints that they could not be induced to oppose them, much
less join in acts of mob violence to the injury of their persons or
property; for which reason this portion of the non-Mormon population
were called by the contemptuous name of "Jack-Mormons," which epithet
was invented by the editor of the Warsaw _Signal,_ Thomas C. Sharp,
who also originated the term "Jack-Mason" when editing an anti-Masonic
paper in western New York. In all probability it was this second name
which suggested the first.
{XXVIII} _VII. Educational Status of the People of Western Illinois._
Education among the masses of Hancock's non-Mormon population was of
the meagrest kind. Even Mr. Gregg, the historian of the county, who
always gives the best report possible of conditions, remarks, when
treating of the county's educational status, that "a new country
and among pioneers, is not the place where prosperous colleges and
seminaries, or even high schools, are actually found. Hence common
schools and, in many instances, very 'common' ones at that, were the
best means of education in Hancock county in early days," But this is
said of the schools of Hancock county; the greater number of the adult
population, 1839-1846, which represent the years when the Saints lived
in the county, had migrated from states where educational opportunities
were even fewer and less advanced than in western Illinois. Even
some of the men prominent in political life in the state were men
of extremely limited education. "Joseph Duncan, elected governor of
Illinois in 1834, and who had served four terms in Congress previous
to his election as governor, had but a limited education," says Gregg.
[9] And of Thomas Carlin, who was the governor of Illinois when the
exiled Saints moved into the state--he had previously held many minor
offices--the same authority says: "He had but a meager education." [10]
But while the above represents the educational conditions both among
the masses of Hancock county and western Illinois in general, and of
some of the men in public life, it is also true that there were here
and there men in Hancock and surrounding counties of good education and
enlightened culture, such as Stephen A. Douglas, O. H. Browning, Major
Warren, John J. Hardin, General Minor R. Deming, Samuel Marshal, Judge
Jesse B. Thomas, Josiah Lamborn, Governor Ford and others.
_VIII. The Political Phase._
It has already been observed in these volumes (Vol. IV, Introduction)
that in addition to the Latter-day Saints being welcomed into Illinois
on account of their economic value in a newly and sparsely settled
country, as wealth creators through their industry, frugality and skill
in mechanics and husbandry, political parties of Illinois both Whigs
and Democrats vied with each other in heartiness of welcome, each
hoping the profit by the influx of the new population in both state
{XXIX} and national elections. Hence it was possible to obtain for
Nauvoo the exceptional powers that constituted her, under the letter
of her charter, an autonomy within the limits of her boundaries more
akin to a sovereign state than to a municipality within a state and a
county. And such were the powers claimed for her by her founders. [11]
Hence also that catering to the misconception and wrong interpretations
of the chartered powers of Nauvoo by lawyers and politicians seeking
professional and political favors of the people, which encouraged the
belief that the city government was the omnipotent political power
within the city limits; and that her municipal court was not only equal
to, but even superior to the state courts--"for all other courts were
restricted," it was contended, while the municipal court of Nauvoo
was not restricted! Similar claims of absolutism were made respecting
Nauvoo misled by their legal and political advisers, who gave false
counsel instead of true, and who encouraged people in their prejudices
and flattered their vanity rather than corrected their errors by an
appeal to sound judgment and to the law.
_IX. Mischief Arising from False Legal and Political Counsel._
Much mischief arose from this source. It was because of these
misconceptions in respect of the character of their city government
that led to the enactment of those ill advised and unwarranted city
ordinances--
That made gold and silver alone legal tender within the city;
That declared Joseph Smith exempt from arrest on requisitions from
Missouri founded upon the old difficulties in that state, and providing
that persons making an attempt to arrest him might be taken with or
without process, imprisoned for life, and might not be pardoned by the
governor without consent of the mayor; [12]
That authorized the city council, marshal, constables and city watch
to require all strangers entering the city or already tarrying there
to give their names, former residence and for what intent they were
tarrying in the city, and answer such other questions as the officers
respectively deemed proper to ask; refusal to give the desired
information, or giving false names or information subjected them to the
same penalties as "vagrants and disorderly persons;"
That further authorized and required the above named officers to {XXX}
"hail and take all persons found strolling about the city at night
after nine o'clock and before sunrise, and to confine them in ward for
trial under the ordinances concerning vagrants and disorderly persons,
unless they could give a good account of themselves for being out
after nine o'clock;"
That further authorized and required the aforesaid officers to
enter all hotels or houses of public entertainment, and such other
habitations as they may judge proper, and require the inmates to
give immediate information of all persons residing in said hotel or
habitation, and their business, occupation or movements, under penalty
of forfeiture of license, if a public house, and they and the transient
persons subject to the penalties visited upon vagrants for failure
to give the information required, or giving false information; while
the officer who should "refuse or neglect to perform the above duties
should be fined $100, and be broke of his office;"
That forbade the search and seizure of person or property by foreign
process [_i. e._ other process than that issuing from the city's
authority] within the city of Nauvoo, leading to the widespread belief
that the design of said ordinance was "to hinder the execution of the
statutes of Illinois" within said city; [13]
That asked the general government to ratify the Nauvoo Charter, and
in addition constitute the city a territorial government, by granting
"all rights, powers, privileges and immunities belonging to territories
and not repugnant to the constitution of the United States," with
power granted to the mayor to call to his aid a sufficient number
of the United States troops, in connection with the Nauvoo Legion,
to repel the invasion of mobs, keep the public peace, protect the
innocent from lawless banditti; the United States officers to obey the
requisition of this ordinance; and the Nauvoo Legion, when in service
quelling mobs and preserving the public peace, to be under the same
regulations, rules and laws of pay as the troops of the United States;
the territorial privileges to continue until the "state of Missouri
restores to those exiled citizens [the Latter-day Saints] the lands,
rights, privileges, property, and damages for all losses" they had
sustained by being banished from that commonwealth; [14]
And, finally, that asserted the right of the municipal court to arrest
{XXXI} process issued by the state's circuit courts, and even by the
United States courts, by _habeas corpus_ proceedings; and insisted,
not only upon the right to pass judgment upon the sufficiency of writs
under which arrests were made, but upon the right also to go behind the
writs and try the cases upon their merits.
_X. Subserviency of Politicians and Lawyers._
Blame for this political subserviency and misleading political and
legal advice, may not be charged on one party more than another. If
Cyrus Walker, a Whig candidate for congress, assented to the doctrine
as understood by Nauvoo's leading men, that the municipal court of
Nauvoo held the power under _habeas corpus_ procedure to arrest
execution of process of the state courts, as he did, [15] so, too,
did Joseph P. Hoge, Democratic nominee; and even Governor Ford, when
requested to call out the militia to rearrest Joseph Smith after he had
been liberated from the custody of Sheriff Reynolds, agent of Missouri,
under _habeas corpus_ proceedings, took refuge behind the _habeas
corpus_ proceedings of the Municipal Court at Nauvoo. In that case the
court not only inquired into the sufficiency of the writ of requisition
from Missouri, and granted by Governor Ford himself, but also went back
of the writ and tried the case _exparte_ on its merits, and finally
discharged the prisoner, both "for want of substance in the warrant, *
* * as well as upon the merits of the case." [16] When answering the
request of Missouri to rearrest Joseph Smith, Governor Ford, I say, at
least took refuge behind the aforesaid proceedings of the Municipal
Court to the extent of saying, in the face of that procedure, that
"no process, officer or authority of Illinois had been resisted or
interfered with," [17] and therefore refused to call out the militia to
rearrest President Smith.
It is but fair to Governor Ford, however, to say that in his inaugural
speech of December 8th, 1842, he pointed out what he regarded as
objectionable features in the Nauvoo charter, and recommended its
modification, [18] and later censured the lawyers for misleading the
Nauvoo city authorities in this matter, in the following passage from
a letter to the Mayor and City Council of Nauvoo, under date of June
22nd, 1844.
You have also assumed to yourselves more power than you are
entitled to in relation to_ habeas corpus_ under your charter. I
know that you have been told by lawyers, for the purpose of gaining
your favor, {XXXII} that you have this power to any extent. In this
they have deceived you for their own base purposes. Your charter
supposes that you may pass ordinances, a breach of which will
result in the imprisonment of the offender.
For the purpose of giving more speedy relief to such persons
authority was given to the Municipal Court to issue writs of
_habeas corpus_ in all cases arising under the ordinances of the
city.
It was never supposed by the Legislature, nor can the language of
your charter be tortured to mean that a jurisdiction was intended
to be conferred which would apply to all cases of imprisonment
under the general laws of the state or of the United States, as
well as the city ordinances.
To which President Smith replied:
Whatever power we have exercised in the _habeas corpus_ has been
done in accordance with the letter of the Charter and Constitution
as we confidently understood them; and that, too, with the ablest
counsel; but if it be so that we have erred in this thing, let the
Supreme Court correct the evil. We have never gone contrary to
constitutional law, so far as we have been able to learn it. If
lawyers have belied their profession to abuse us the evil be on
their heads. [19]
_XI. The Fate of a Balance of Power Factor in Politics._
Being misled by false legal and political advice was not the only
misfortune of the kind perpetrated upon the Saints, first by the
subserviency of, and then the betrayal by, politicians and lawyers.
The hope of both parties to secure political advantage by the influx
of the now Latter-day Saint population into the state has been already
referred to; as also the efforts of both parties to gain their favor by
granting exceptional favors to them in founding Nauvoo. When, however,
the time for voting came, and the Saints voted according to their
convictions of duty, or as their inclinations prompted, the defeated
party or candidates blamed them for the defeat, and straightway favored
the adoption of an anti-Mormon policy, which found support not only in
the defeated party, but also among those who felt a grievance against
the Saints on other accounts; some because Nauvoo's prosperity and
constantly increasing importance as a center of population and trade
and commerce was rapidly eclipsing all other towns of the state; and
others, over-anxious to retard, if not destroy, a rival system on
account of religious prejudice. When an anti-Mormon party took the
field, pledged itself to repeal the Nauvoo charter, and to drive the
Mormons from the state--as was the pledge of Joseph Duncan, Whig
candidate for Governor of Illinois in 1841, [20] there was really no
other course for the Saints to pursue but to combine solidly for the
defeat of the candidate and {XXXIII} party making such pledges; the
instinct of self-preservation impelled such a course, rather than the
prompting of inclination.
For a time, as in all such cases, the party receiving the support of
this practically solid Mormon vote could be relied upon to protect
and defend those who had made success possible for them; but at the
first indication that the hold of the favored party upon such vote is
precarious, that there is a possibility that it might go to the other
side, [21] naturally the ardor of their friendship, seldom or never
sincere, cools; and they are as ready to combine for the destruction
of their former allies as others have been. And when in addition to
precariousness of hold upon those who possess the balance of power
there stands up in the back ground of things the possibility that
the balance of power party may become strong enough in the political
subdivision in which they are located to run affairs on their own
account, the likelihood of all parties combining against them becomes
all the more assured. In Illinois the Latter-day Saints ran the entire
political gamut of experience as a "balance of power" factor in the
politics of western Illinois. The final phase of that experience had
been reached when at a mass meeting held at Carthage on the sixth of
September, 1843, it was--
_Resolved,_ That as it has been too common for several years past
for politicians of both political parties, not only of this county,
but likewise of the state, to go to Nauvoo and truckle to the heads
of the Mormon clan for their influence, we pledge ourselves that we
will not support any man of either party in the future who shall
thus debase himself. [22]
Politicians still sought Mormon aid to encompass their own political
ends, but, as Governor Ford later remarked, "they were willing and
anxious for Mormon voters at elections, but they were unwilling to risk
their popularity with the people, by taking part in their favor even
when law and justice, and the Constitution, were all on their side;"
[23] and {XXXIV} so finally all parties turned against them, and they
were at the last, as we shall see in the future volume of this history,
expelled without mercy from the state.
_XII. Joseph Smith's Candidacy for the Presidency._
The mischief that threatened during the Prophet's life time, and
which finally befell the Saints, was clearly foreseen by the Church
leaders; and the desire to escape from the threatening portents of it
prompted the nomination of Joseph Smith for the office of President of
the United States, in the general election of 1844. Of course there
could be no hope seriously entertained that he would be elected; but,
as explained by an editorial in the _Times and Seasons,_ [24] if the
Saints could not succeed in electing their candidate, they would have
the satisfaction of knowing that they had acted conscientiously; they
had used their best judgment, under the circumstances, and if they
had to throw away their votes, it was better to do so upon a worthy
than upon an unworthy individual who might use the weapon they put
into his hand to destroy them. The Prophet himself evidently regarded
his nomination humorously rather than seriously, except that it might
result in withdrawing the Saints from the position of shuttle-cock
between the battle doors of the two old political parties. "I care but
little about the presidential chair," he said on one occasion. "I would
not give half as much for the office of President of the United States
as I would for the one I now hold as Lieutenant General of the Nauvoo
Legion." Again he said: "When I get hold of eastern papers, and see
how popular I am; I am afraid myself that I shall be elected; but if
I should be, I would not say [_i. e._ to the Latter-day Saints] your
cause is just but I can do nothing for you."
As a further evidence that Joseph Smith did not regard his candidacy
as likely to be successful, he was, at the time of his nomination and
afterwards, pushing vigorously his project of a western movement for
the Church. He had drawn up a memorial and ordinance to the national
congress asking to be authorized by the general government to raise
one hundred thousand armed volunteers to police the intermountain and
Pacific coast west from Oregon to Texas, for the purpose of assuring
Texas her independence, and maintaining the claims of the United
States to Oregon, and affording the whole western population of our
country protection from Indian depredations; and thus contribute to
the rapid settlement and development of that noble extent of country
lying between the Mississippi and the Pacific Ocean. His agents, Orson
Hyde and Orson Pratt, presented the matter to senators {XXXV} and
representatives at Washington, and a number favored the project of the
removal of the Mormons to the west, but generally urged that Joseph
Smith go without seeking special authorization from the government.
Reference to Orson Hyde's report of the procedure among congressmen
and their views upon the subject will be found in his two important
communications to the Prophet from Washington, in chapter XVI of this
volume. Mr. John Wentworth, representative to Congress from northern
Illinois, introduced President Smith's Memorial and Ordinance into
the House on the 25th of May, to be read for the information of the
House; but before the reading was concluded, objection was made, and
as it required unanimous consent to have it read, further reading was
prevented. A vote to suspend the rules in order that Mr. Wentworth
might secure the reading of the memorial stood 79 yeas, and 86 nays,
which vote gives evidence at least of a widespread desire to have the
matter presented to the House. [25]
_XIII. Missouri as a Factor in the Affairs of Nauvoo._
In addition to all the Illinois factors that entered into the complex
situation confronting the Saints at Nauvoo, at the time of the
Prophet's death, and some time previous to his arrest, was the attitude
and course pursued by Missouri with reference to Nauvoo and the Saints.
Disgraced as a state by her own conduct towards the Latter-day Saints,
when they were inhabitants within her borders, her people were all too
willing to co-operate with any party or agency that would continue to
make war upon them. If the state of Illinois which with open arms had
received the people that Missouri exiled from her borders, under such
circumstances of cruelty, could also be brought to drive them from that
state, it would be regarded, in a way, as a vindication of Missouri
and the course she had taken in her treatment of the Saints, since in
effect it would say, that the people of Illinois, no less than the
people of Missouri, found it impossible to tolerate the "Mormons;"
and therefore there must be something fundamentally wrong with them,
rather than with the people of these states. Hence the anti-Mormons of
Hancock and adjoining counties in Illinois, always found support in
whatever of violence or wrong they planned against the Saints. Hence
the constant threats of invasion of mobs from Missouri, emphasized by
occasional kidnapping expeditions into Hancock county, together with
frequent requisitions upon the Illinois authorities for the arrest and
extradition of Joseph Smith on the old charges against him in Missouri.
And these {XXXVI} Missouri threats and outrages were not among the
least of the annoyances and anxieties of the Saints; and they make
clear the necessity that was felt for an efficient militia force at
Nauvoo. Hence the Nauvoo Legion and the lively interest manifested in
its frequent musters and drills, and its thorough equipment; all of
which, but for the constant danger of invasion from Missouri mobs,
and the co-operation with them of like forces in Illinois, would have
been inconsistent with the deportment of a religious community whose
mission was one of peace and good will towards men; and who had been
especially commanded to "renounce war and proclaim peace" (Doc and Cov.
Sec. 98:16); and commanded also to "sue for peace," both to those who
had "smitten" them--the revelation was given after the expulsion from
Jackson county, Missouri--and "to all people;" and "lift up an ensign
of peace, and make a proclamation of peace unto the ends of the earth"
(Doc. and Cov. sec 105: 38-40). But invasions from Missouri constantly
menacing them, and the danger of mob violence breaking out in Illinois,
justified the organization of the Legion, and the maintenance of its
efficiency by full equipment of arms and frequent drills and musters;
for the right of self-preservation is not abrogated by any divine law
given to the Saints; and duty to protect home and family against the
assaults of the evil-disposed, presses as firmly upon the Saints, as
upon those who have not definitely pledged themselves to a program of
righteousness.
_XIV. Apostate Conspirators at Nauvoo._
One other factor only remains to be mentioned of those that enter into
that combination of forces that resulted in the death of the Prophet
and the Patriarch. That is the conspiracy of apostates within Nauvoo
itself.
The apostates and their sympathizers were headed by a coterie of
prominent young men: The two Law brothers, William and Wilson; Robert
D. and Charles A. Foster, brothers; Francis M. and Chauncey L. Higbee,
brothers, and unworthy sons of that most faithful man and the Prophet's
devoted friend, Judge Elias Higbee (See Vol. IV pp. 81-100 _passim_);
Sylvester Emmons and Joseph H. Jackson. Of these, William Law was
counselor in the First Presidency, and Wilson Law was a major general,
and commander of one of the cohorts of the Nauvoo Legion, and all were
or had been more or less prominent in the public life of Nauvoo.
The cause of their apostasy seems to have been the baneful influence
of John C. Bennett's immoralities; for these men were quite generally
associates of his before his flight from Nauvoo. They evidently lost
{XXXVII} the spirit of the gospel, wandered through sin into spiritual
darkness, and seemingly were obsessed by a murderous spirit against the
Prophet who boldly revealed their wickedness and publicly denounced
their conduct; and in retaliation this coterie of apostates entered
into conspiracies to encompass President Smith's death, and that of his
brother Hyrum. They were in communication with the Prophet's enemies in
Missouri, and sought to betray him into their hands. They were among
the chief actors in all schemes of opposition and conspiracies against
him in the closing year of his life, including those plots which
eventuated in the martyrdom of both Prophet and Patriarch at Carthage.
_XV. The "Expositor" Affair._
Such are the chief factors that enter into the combination of events
detailed in this volume of HISTORY and which have a direct relationship
to the martyrdom of the Smith brothers. They existed as combustible
materials awaiting only the spark that would set them aflame to work
death and destruction.
The spark came. It came in the destruction of the _Nauvoo Expositor,_
published by the above mentioned coterie of apostates. It was the
intention of the _Expositor,_ as its name would indicate, to make
an _expose_ of alleged conditions in Nauvoo, in the moral, social,
religious and political phase of them. Also to agitate for the
_"unconditional repeal of the Nauvoo Charter."_ This was a challenge
to mortal combat, the issue being the life of the city of Nauvoo; and
after that the question of the existence of the Church in Illinois,
or even within the confines of the United States; for undoubtedly the
city charter once repealed, carrying with it the disorganization of the
Legion, protection for the Saints, as matters stood in 1844, both civil
and military, would be gone. It was a life and death struggle then
that the advent of the _Expositor_ inaugurated. The Saints stood at
such disadvantage in the proposed contest that if the _Expositor_ was
allowed to run its course it would inevitably have won its case against
the city; and against the Church, so far as the latter continuing in
Illinois, and perhaps as far as its continuance in the United States
was concerned.
The new marriage system, involving the practice, within certain
limitations and under very special conditions, of a plurality of wives,
constituted a ground of appeal to popular prejudices and passions that
would have been absolutely resistless if the paper had been allowed
to proceed. The charter would have been repealed; the city government
destroyed, or at the least modified and placed in the hands of an
apostate or anti-Mormon minority whose administration would have been
intolerable to the large majority of Nauvoo's citizens; and finally the
{XXXVIII} scenes of Missouri would have been re-enacted in an Illinois
setting.
In the presence of such difficulties, what was to be done? In addition
to declaring the existence of the practice of plural marriage, not yet
announced or publicly taught as a doctrine of the Church, and agitating
for the unqualified repeal of the Nauvoo charter, gross immoralities
were charged against leading citizens which doubtless rendered the
paper grossly libelous. In other cities such an avowed enemy as the
_Expositor_ was, would have been destroyed by a mob. For the people
of Nauvoo to have so proceeded would have been a departure from their
principles of upholding law and order, and would have brought upon
them the people of the surrounding counties, and from Missouri in
overwhelming numbers. Mob violence could not be thought of; and yet the
safety of the community imperatively demanded the suppression of the
_Expositor_ at any cost.
Under these circumstances the city council met and took under
consideration the _Expositor_ and the necessity of destroying it. As
their charter conferred upon the city the right to remove nuisances,
the city council declared the _Expositor_ press a nuisance and directed
the Mayor to have it destroyed, which he did by giving an order to that
effect, and it was destroyed without riot or tumult.
The legality of the action of the Mayor and City Council was, of
course, questionable, though some sought to defend it on legal grounds;
but it must be conceded that neither proof nor argument for legality
are convincing. On the grounds of expediency or necessity the action
is more defensible. The existence of the city, the preservation of
the Latter-day Saints until provision could be made for a retreat
from Illinois--which retreat was even then being provided for by the
Prophet in the projected movement of the Church to the west--demanded
the cessation of the publication of the _Expositor_. By proceeding at
least under the forms of law, the city council, though they might be
conscious of the illegality of their action, avoided the necessity of
the people resorting to mob action for self-preservation, and made
it possible for the legality of their course to be determined in the
courts, and the parties injured to recover compensation for the press
and damages by civil process. Meantime the libelous press with its
mission of destruction of the Saints at Nauvoo was silenced; and had
events taken the course which the action of the city council provided,
a respite would have been gained from impending violence, during which
arrangements for the retreat of the Saints from Illinois could have
been completed and a goal of safety won for them. Under a plea, then,
of absolute necessity to self-preservation of a community, and to
achieve the retreat here alluded to, and with the certainty that those
injured in property by the _Expositor's_ destruction would be fully
compensated {XXXIX} in civil action before the courts--the action of
the mayor and city council of Nauvoo is defensible, even if not on the
ground of the legality of their procedure. [26]
_XVI. The Appeal to the Mob Spirit._
Events did not take the course planned for them. The uproar that
followed the destruction of the _Expositor_ press, put all reason at
defiance. At Warsaw a mass meeting was held which issued a statement,
in connection with the resolutions it passed, that "A mob at Nauvoo,
under a city ordinance, has violated the highest privilege in
government; and to seek redress in the ordinary way would be utterly
ineffectual. * * * _Resolved,_ that we hold ourselves at all times
in readiness to co-operate with our fellow citizens in this state,
Missouri, and Iowa, to exterminate, _utterly exterminate_ the wicked
and abominable Mormon leaders, the authors of our troubles. * * * The
time, in our opinion, has arrived when the adherents of Smith as a body
should be driven from the surrounding settlements into Nauvoo. That the
Prophet and his miscreant adherents should then be demanded at their
hands; and, if not surrendered, a war of extermination should be waged
to the entire destruction, if necessary for our protection, of his
adherents. And we hereby recommend this resolution to the consideration
of the several townships, to the mass convention to be held at
Carthage."
The Carthage meeting held a few days later embodied the above in their
resolutions, as did other mass meetings held at various places. The
_Warsaw Signal_ in its impression of June 12th, passionately said: [27]
"We have only to state that this [i. e. The destruction of the
_Expositor_ press] is sufficient! War and extermination is
inevitable! CITIZENS ARISE, ONE and ALL!!! Can you stand by, and
suffer such INFERNAL DEVILS! to ROB men of their property rights,
without avenging them? We have no time to comment: every man will
make his own. LET IT BE MADE WITH POWDER and BALL!!!"
All the combustible material to which attention is called in this
Introduction was instantly aflame at the destruction of the _Expositor_
press. Every passion was appealed to, jealousy, envy, cupidity, hatred.
All the lawless elements of the community were practically invited to
{XL} assemble and run riot in lawless violence, and excess of carnage
and destruction of property and life. Nothing but the wholesome fear of
the strength and effectiveness of the Nauvoo Legion at that time held
this lawless element in check.
It was all in vain that hearings were had before the municipal court of
Nauvoo, on the _Expositor_ matter; in vain that a subsequent hearing
was had before Esquire Wells, then not a Mormon and living outside of
Nauvoo limits; in vain that the _Nauvoo Neighbor_ sought to conciliate
the awakening wrath that was aroused in the community, by pleading
that if the city council had "exceeded the law of the land, a higher
court could regulate the proceedings;" in vain that President Smith
urged Governor Ford to come to Nauvoo to make personal investigation of
conditions and take the necessary steps to prevent riot and war--all
was in vain; preparations were in the making on all sides for an
uprising against Nauvoo and the Saints, and there was nothing left but
to defend the city by placing it under martial law and calling upon the
Legion to resist the threatened assault, which act was made the basis
for the subsequent charge of "treason."
Then followed in quick succession the demand of the governor for the
Mayor and members of the City Council to come to Carthage and submit to
trial under circumstances that inevitably meant death; the inspiration
of the Prophet to go to the West and all would be well; the crossing
of the Mississippi by the Prophet and a few trusted friends to make
preparations for that journey; the accusation by false friends of
cowardice on the Prophet's part, the flight as of a false shepherd
leaving the flock to be devoured by wolves; the lightning-like retort
of the Prophet--"_If my life is of no value to my friends, it is
of none to myself;"_ the return to Nauvoo; the subsequent going to
Carthage to submit to the demands of the governor of Illinois in every
particular, and the well-known story of Carthage jail--the martyrdom.
_XVII. The Prophet's Nobility in the hour of Trial._
The bearing of the Prophet throughout the closing months with which
this volume deals is admirable. There is no faltering or evidence of
weakness at any point of his conduct. If criticized at all it would be
for over-daring, for over self-confidence, that approached sublimity.
Strong men through wickedness fell away from their discipleship, and
conspired against him; the Prophet reproved them in the gate, and
proclaimed their iniquities in public when hope of reforming them
was gone. He saw mobs forming for the destruction of himself and
Nauvoo and his people; he calmly prepared to meet force with force,
and drilled and prepared his legion for the conflict, entrenched
some of the approaches to the city, and picketed them with guards;
as mayor of the {XLI} city he placed the city under martial law; and
as lieutenant-general he took personal command of the Nauvoo Legion
and stood ready to defend the rights of himself and his people, for
which his revolutionary ancestry had fought in the war for American
independence. He believed gloriously in the right of self-defense, and
resistance to oppression by physical force if necessary. To his uncle
John Smith at Ramus who had asked for counsel in the disturbed state of
things, he wrote ten days before his death:
"I write these few lines to inform you that we feel determined in
this place not to be dismayed if hell boils over all at once. We
feel to hope for the best, and determined to prepare for the worst,
and we want this to be your motto in common with us: _We will never
ground our arms until we give them up by death._"
And from Carthage prison, on the morning of the day of his martyrdom,
he wrote to his wife for transmission to his people:
"There is one principle which is eternal: It is the duty of all men
to protect their lives and the lives of their household, whenever
necessity requires, and no power has a right to forbid it, should
the last extreme arrive; but I anticipate no such extreme; _but
caution is the parent of safety._"
When the jail in Carthage was assailed, and the mob was pouring
murderous volleys into the room occupied by himself and friends, the
Prophet turned prom the prostrate form of his murdered brother to face
death-dealing guns and bravely returned the fire of his assailants,
"bringing his man down every time," and compelling even John Hay, who
but reluctantly accords the Prophet any quality of virtue, to confess
that he "made a handsome fight" in the jail. [28]
_XVIII. Always the Prophet-Teacher._
But what was more wonderful than the manifestation of moral and
physical courage and good generalship during these turbulent months of
his career, was the pursuance of his duties as a teacher of religious
truth--his calling as a Prophet of God. Notwithstanding he was troubled
on every side, he could compose his mind to instruct the {XLII} Church
on such doctrines as the complete salvation of their dead; how to
proceed with the administration of all ordinances given for and in
behalf of the dead; the doctrine of the resurrection and the reality
of spiritual existences; the plurality of Divine Intelligences, or
Gods; the nature of man's spirit; the doctrine of eternal progress for
intelligences who keep the estates through which they are appointed to
pass; the nature and character of the Godhead, and the relationship
of man to God. All these themes and many more he dwelt upon in
public discourse and private interview and written communications.
He lived his life, as I have said elsewhere, _in crescendo,_ it grew
in intensity and volume as he approached its close. Higher and still
higher the inspiration of God directed his thoughts; bolder were
his conceptions, and clearer his expositions of them. So far was he
from being a "fallen prophet" in the closing months of his career,
as apostates charged, that he grew stronger with each passing day;
more impressive in weight of personal character, and charm of manner;
for he preserved amid all the conflicts and trials through which he
passed--until the shadows of impending death began to fall upon him
in Carthage prison--the natural sweetness of his nature, and the
intellectual playfulness characteristic of him from boyhood--_so do not
fallen prophets._
* * * * * * *
Side by side on the banks of the majestic river that half encircles
Nauvoo, the "beautiful," carrying with it also the idea of "rest,"
peacefully sleep the brothers, Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the Prophet and
the Patriarch of the Church in the New Dispensation of the Gospel.
Their lives were interlaced by almost daily associations from childhood
to the last awful scene of martyrdom. It was therefore most fitting
that they should be buried beside each other, on the banks of the
"Father of Waters" in the city they had founded, where they had toiled
and suffered and achieved; where their joys rose to greater heights
and their sorrows sounded greater depths than falls to the lot of but
few men in this world. Undisturbed may their death slumber be until it
shall be ended by the trump of God, calling them forth to a glorious
resurrection.
* * * * * * *
_Prophet and Patriarch_
In the Temple square at Salt Lake City, where tens of thousands, made
up of people of nearly every nation in the world view them, stand two
bronze statues, life size, on granite bases. They are the statues
of the Brothers Smith, the Prophet and the Patriarch of the New
Dispensation of the Gospel. On the granite basements, respectively, are
bronze tablets on {XLIII} which is engraved the Life Record of these
men, and what is characteristic of each.
The text of the bronze plate of Hyrum Smith's statue is as follows:
HYRUM SMITH.
The Patriarch and a witness of the Book of Mormon.
An elder brother, and the steadfast friend and counselor of Joseph
Smith, the Prophet.
Born at Tunbridge, Vermont, February 9th, 1800; suffered martyrdom
with the Prophet at Carthage, Illinois, on the 27th of June, 1844.
The friendship of the brothers Hyrum and Joseph Smith is foremost
among the few great friendships of the world's history. Their names
will be classed among the martyrs for religion.
The Book of Mormon--the plates of which Hyrum Smith both saw and
handled; the revelations in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants; the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--these, to bring them
forth for the salvation of the world, cost the best blood of the
19th century.
"I could pray in my heart that all men were like my brother Hyrum,
who possesses the mildness of a lamb and the integrity of Job, and,
in short, the meekness and humility of Christ. I love him with that
love that is stronger than death."--_Joseph Smith_.
"If ever there was an exemplary, honest and virtuous man, the
embodiment of all that is noble in the human form, Hyrum Smith was
the representative."--_President John Taylor_.
As he shared in the labors, so does he share in the honor and glory
of the New Dispensation with his Prophet Brother.
In life they were not divided; in death they were not separated; in
glory they are one.
The text on the west side of the base of Joseph Smith's tablet is:
JOSEPH SMITH.
The Prophet of the New Dispensation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
our Lord. He was born at Sharon, Vermont, on the 23rd of December,
1805; and suffered Martyrdom for the word of God and the testimony
of Jesus at Carthage, Illinois, on the 27th of June, 1844.
HIS VISION OF GOD.
I saw two Personages whose glory and brightness defy all
description. One of them spake unto me and said:
"_This is my Beloved Son: hear Him._"
I asked which of all the sects was right, and which I should join.
I {XLIV} was answered I must join none of them; they were all
wrong; they teach for doctrine the commandments of men; I received
a promise that the fullness of the Gospel would at some future time
be made known to me.
THE BOOK OF MORMON.
This book was revealed to him, and he translated it by the gift and
power of God. It is an inspired history of ancient America, and
contains the fullness of the Gospel. It is the American Testament
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
THE ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH.
Joseph Smith received divine authority through the ministration of
angels to teach the Gospel and administer the ordinances thereof.
He established again in the earth the Church of Jesus Christ,
organizing it by the will and commandment of God on the 6th day of
April, 1830.
He also received commission to gather Israel and establish Zion on
this land of America; to erect temples and perform all ordinances
therein both for the living and the dead; and prepare the way for
the glorious coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to reign on earth.
The contents of the tablet on the east side of the base of the
Prophet's statue are these gems from his teachings:
TRUTH GEMS.
The glory of God is intelligence.
It is impossible for a man to be saved in ignorance.
Whatever principles of intelligence we attain unto in this life
will rise with us in the resurrection.
There is a law irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations
of this world upon which all blessings are predicated; and when
we obtain any blessing from God it is by obedience to that law on
which it is predicated.
This is the work and glory of God: to bring to pass the immortality
and eternal life of man.
Adam fell that man might be; and men are that they might have joy.
The intelligence of spirits had no beginning, neither will it have
an end. Jesus was in the beginning with the Father: man was also in
the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was
not created or made, neither indeed can be.
The spirit and body is the soul of man; and the resurrection from
the dead is the redemption of the soul.
It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the
character of God; and to know that man, (as Moses) may converse
with Him as one man converses with another.
{XLV} This message of the Prophet, and these doctrines of the east
bronze tablet, together with other doctrines taught by him in this
PERIOD I of our CHURCH HISTORY, and to be found scattered through the
six volumes now published of that history, await only the mind of
some God-inspired Spencer to cast them into synthetical form--to be
adequately presented and witnessed--to constitute Mormonism both the
Religion and the Philosophy of modern times--to bring to pass and to
glorify the Golden Age of the long-promised Millennium of Christian
hope.
Footnotes:
1. That the general government of the United states has since
constructed such a canal from Keokuk to Montrose, directly opposite
Nauvoo on the west, and at a cost of more than four and a half million
dollars, completing it in 1877 is noted in this volume, p. 80 and
footnote.
2. See _Nauvoo Neighbor_ for March 5th and March 12th. John E. Page
was president of the company; and in a communication to the _Neighbor_
(March 12, 1845) urging a vigorous prosecution of the enterprise, he
said:
"We have commenced active operations for the building of a dam in the
river, as noticed in the _Neighbor_ of last week. * * *
"Here is the proud and gallant Mississippi, with her rapid current,
tumbling to the broad Atlantic, seeming to say (as she quickens her
pace over the rugged rocks of the lower rapids just opposite to our
beautiful Nauvoo) only improve my shores and banks, ye Saints, as ye
improve my neighboring soil; and I will propel your mills, cotton and
woollen manufactories, by which your laborers can find employ, and your
poor can be clothed and fed."
3. As the suggestion of Joseph Smith for building the canal around the
Des Moines Rapids by the general government of the United states was
carried out; so also is the water power of the Des Moines Rapids being
utilized for manufacturing and other purposes, first suggested by the
Prophet, but now, of course, in a way and on a larger scale than it
was possible even for men to dream of when the city council of Nauvoo,
in 1843, authorized the construction of a dam to harness this power in
the Mississippi for the service of man. This, however, is now nearly
an accomplished fact through the enterprise of the Keokuk and Hamilton
Water Power Company, which, between Hamilton on the Illinois side,
and Keokuk on the Iowa side of the Mississippi (eight or nine miles
below Nauvoo), has in course of construction a dam which, including
abutments, will be 4,700 feet in length, will stand 32 feet above the
river bed, and be 42 feet wide at its base, built of solid concrete.
In connection with the dam, and incident to it will be wharfage and
a large drydock for the construction and repair of floating craft.
There will be developed and for sale as the result of this enterprise,
200,000 horsepower for the service of St. Louis and other towns of
Missouri, Illinois and Iowa. The dam and power house will be built at a
cost of $22,000,000.
4. See "History of the Mormon Church," _Americana_ magazine, number for
January, 1911, Ch. LIX; also Elder John Taylor's Journal entry for 5th
of September, 1844.
5. The _Register_ article is copied into the_ Nauvoo Neighbor_ for
November 13th, 1844.
6. _Nauvoo Neighbor_, March 12th, 1845.
7. See John Taylor's communication to the Quincy _Argus_, May 1st,
1839. HISTORY OF THE CHURCH, Vol. III, Chapter XXIII.
8. See Denunciation of Thieves, 1844, by Hyrum Smith; by President
Smith and the formal action of the Apostles quorum, this HISTORY Vol.
IV, Chapter XVII. Also the minutes of the conference held at Nauvoo
April, 1843, this HISTORY, Vol. V, Chapter XVII.
9. History of Hancock County, p. 158.
10. Ibid.
11. See this HISTORY Vol. V, Ch. XXIV and Vol. IV. Introduction pp, 22
_et seq_.
12. This ordinance about a month after its enactment was repealed at
the suggestion of President Smith. See this volume pp. 55-6.
13. This alleged "design" of the ordinance President Smith specifically
denied in the open session of the city council, and to a committee of
lawyers from Carthage, who waited upon the city council to protest
against this ordinance; and the ordinance was amended by a third
section disclaiming such alleged intention, but still retaining the
feature that forced state process to be served through the agency
Nauvoo's city officers. See this vol. pp. 173-4.
14. This volume pp. 130-132.
15. This HISTORY Vol. V, pp. 467-8, 472.
16. This HISTORY, Vol. V. pp. 473-4.
17. See Ford's letter to Thomas Reynolds, Governor of Missouri, under
date of August 14, 1843. This HISTORY, Vol. V, pp. 553-6.
18. Ibid p. 200.
19. This HISTORY, Vol. VI. Ch. XXVI, where both letters will be found
at length.
20. See Ford's_ History of Illinois_. p. 269; also this HISTORY, Vol
IV, pp. 479-481 and footnotes; Vol. V, p. 490.
21. Such appeared to be the very great probability in the election of
1843. As will be remembered by the readers of Vol. IV of this HISTORY,
Cyrus Walker, Esq., Whig candidate for Congress, rendered valuable
service in delivering the Prophet from the hands of those bent upon
running him into Missouri for trial on the old complaint against him
in that state. That service could only be obtained in that crisis by
Joseph Smith pledging himself to vote for Walker, which was interpreted
to mean, of course, the Mormon vote; and it was generally conceded that
the Whigs receiving the Mormon vote would be successful. Before the day
of election, however, there had arisen strong reasons for believing
that the arrest of Prophet and the effort to take him to Missouri, as
also Walker's appearance upon the scene to effect his liberation, was
itself a political trick to secure the Mormon vote for the Whig party,
which was thwarted by the Mormons voting, at the last moment, the
Democratic ticket. (See Vol. V, Chapter XXVI).
22. Ford's History of Illinois, p. 364.
23. See this volume, pp. 214-217, where the editorial is given _in
extenso_.
24. See Chapter XI, this volume, where the memorial itself, Hyde's two
letters and the action in the House of Representatives will be found in
full.
25. See Chapter XXX, _passim_ this volume for a discussion of the
_Expositor_; also Taylor-Colfax Discussion on the "Mormon" Question,
p. 20. Also an editorial from the Nauvoo _Neighbor_, see p. 496, this
volume.
26. I follow the typing and punctuation from the _Signal_ as given by
the late John Hay, secretary of state, _Atlantic Monthly_ of December,
1869.
27. This is the late Secretary of State John Hay, in the _Atlantic
Monthly_ for December, 1869; "Joe Smith died bravely, he stood by the
jam of the door and fired four shots, bringing his man down every
time. He shot an Irishman named Wills, who was in the affair from his
congenital love of a brawl, in the arm; Gallaghor, a Southerner from
the Mississippi bottom, in the face; Voorhees, a half-grown hobbledehoy
from Bear Creek, in the shoulder; and another gentleman, whose name I
will not mention, as he in prepared to prove an _alibi_, and besides
stands six feet two in his moccasins." In a later paragraph he refers
to "the handsome fight in the jail."
HISTORY OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS.
PERIOD I.
HISTORY OF JOSEPH SMITH, THE PROPHET.
CHAPTER I.
AN ESTIMATE OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH AS A RELIGIOUS LEADER--ANTI-MORMON
MEETING AT CARTHAGE--HISTORICAL SKETCH--IMPORTANT CONFERENCE OF THE
TWELVE HELD IN BOSTON.
_Friday, September 1, 1843._--A conference was held in Buffalo, New
York, Elder John P. Greene presiding; Wm. H. Folsom, [1] clerk: 13
branches, 1 High Priest, 58 {2} Elders, 2 Teachers, 1 Deacon, and 247
members were represented.
I attended the meeting of the High Council as a witness in the case of
Cowles [2] vs. George J. Adams. Charges not sustained.
_Saturday, 2._--I was not well, and therefore adjourned Mayor's Court.
_Sunday, 3._--I attended council with my brother Hyrum, Newel B.
Whitney, Willard Richards, William Law and William Marks, and gave
instructions to the brethren in relation to things in futurity.
A tremendous storm at Chester, Penn. The creek rose twenty-three feet
in two hours, and swept away all the bridges, many factories and
houses, and upwards of twenty persons drowned.
A conference was held at Hayward's Hotel, Manchester, England.
_Minutes of the Manchester Conference, held 3rd of September, 1843._
Charles Miller, President; William Walker, Clerk. Present: 1
Patriarch, 1 High Priest, 25 Elders, 40 Priests, 21 Teachers, and 4
Deacons.
Total number of members represented was as follows: 1,549 members,
including 44 Elders, 99 Priests, 56 Teachers, 22 Deacons. Baptized
since last general conference, 80; cut off, 29; emigrated, 18;
removed, 26; died, 4.
_Monday, 4._--Attended mayor's court and tried three cases--viz.,
City _versus_ A. Dodge, S. Dodge, and Luther Purtelow.
The two first I fined five dollars, and the last one dollar and costs.
One, p.m., called and gave licence for {3} a circus performance, which
I attended with my family until five, p.m.
I copy from the_ New York Sun_ as follows:--
"JOE SMITH, THE MORMON PROPHET." [3]
This Joe Smith must be set down as an extraordinary character, a
prophet-hero, as Carlyle might call him. He is one of the great men
of this age, and in future history will rank with those who, in one
way or another, have stamped their impress strongly on society.
Nothing can be more plebeian, in seeming, than this Joe Smith.
Little of dignity is there in his cognomen; but few in this age
have done such deeds, and performed such apparent miracles. It
is no small thing, in the blaze of this nineteenth century, to
give to men a new revelation, found a new religion, establish new
forms of worship, to build a city, with new laws, institutions,
and orders of architecture,--to establish ecclesiastic, civil and
military jurisdiction, found colleges, send out missionaries, and
make proselytes in two hemispheres: yet all this has been done by
Joe Smith, and that against every sort of opposition, ridicule
and persecution. This sect has its martyrs also; and the spirit
in which they were imprisoned and murdered in Missouri, does not
appear to have differed much from that which has attended religious
persecutions in all ages of the world.
That Joe Smith, the founder of the Mormons, is a man of great
talent, a deep thinker, and eloquent speaker, an able writer, and
a man of great mental power, no one can doubt who has watched his
career. That his followers are deceived, we all believe; but,
should the inherent corruptions of Mormonism fail to develop
themselves sufficiently to convince its followers of their error,
where will the thing end? A great military despotism is growing
up in the fertile West, increasing faster in proportion, than
the surrounding population, spreading its influence around, and
marshalling multitudes under its banners, causing serious alarm to
every patriot.
What is the reason that men are so blind that they cannot or will not
see the hand of the Lord in His work of the last days!
_Tuesday, 5._--Went to the office at nine, a.m., with Mr. Hamilton, of
Carthage, who had obtained a deed from {4} the sheriff of the county
for lot 2, block 103, in the city of Nauvoo, for taxes, although I had
previously paid them; which is another specimen of the oppression,
injustice, and rascality of Mr. Collector Bagby, who by such foul means
robs me and other Saints, and abuses all who come unfortunately in his
power.
I requested my clerk to make out a bill of fare for the "Mansion."
The ship _Metoka_ sailed from Liverpool with a company of Saints on
board.
_Wednesday, 6.--_I went to the recorder's about half past six, a.m.,
and found him in bed.
Held mayor's court in the case, "City _versus_ Joseph Owen."
_Anti-Mormon Meeting at Carthage, Seat of Hancock, County Illinois._ [4]
Meeting convened pursuant to adjournment. The former chairman [5] not
being present.
Edson Whitney, Esq., was called to the chair, and the meeting being
organized, the following preamble and resolutions were submitted by the
committee, and unanimously adopted:--
PREAMBLE AND RESOLUTIONS.
This meeting having convened for the purpose of taking under
advisement a subject of vital importance not only to this county,
but to all the surrounding counties, regret that we are necessarily
and irresistibly forced to the conclusion that a certain class
of people have obtruded themselves upon us, calling themselves
Mormons, or Latter-day Saints, and under the sacred garb of
Christianity, assumed, as we honestly believe, that they may the
more easily, under such a cloak, perpetrate the most lawless and
diabolical deeds that have ever, in any age of the world, disgraced
the human species.
In evidence of the above charge, we find them yielding implicit
obedience to the ostensible head and founder of this sect, who
is a pretended prophet of the Lord, and under this Heaven-daring
assumption {5} claiming to set aside, by his vile and blasphemous
lies, all those moral and religious institutions which have been
established by the Bible, and which have in all ages been cherished
by men as the only means of maintaining those social blessings
which are so indispensably necessary for our happiness.
We believe that such an individual, regardless as he must be of
his obligations to God, and at the same time entertaining the most
absolute contempt for the laws of man, cannot fail to become a
most dangerous character, especially when he shall have been able
to place himself at the head of a numerous horde, either equally
reckless and unprincipled as himself, or else made his pliant tools
by the most absurd credulity that has astonished the world since
its foundation.
In the opinion of this meeting, a crisis has arrived, when many
of the evils to be expected from a state of things so threatening
have transpired. We feel convinced that circumstances have even now
occurred which prove to us most conclusively that Joseph Smith, the
false Prophet before alluded to, has evinced, in many instances,
a most shameless disregard for all the forms and restraints of
law, by boldly and presumptuously calling in question the acts
of certain officers, who had fearlessly discharged the duties
absolutely imposed upon them by the laws, particularly when they
have come in contact with his own sordid and selfish interests.
He has been heard to threaten--nay, he _has_ committed violence
upon the person of an officer, because that officer dared honestly
to do his duties according to law.
He has caused his city council to pass laws contrary to the laws of
the state, and subversive of the rights of citizens of this state.
Citizens have been arrested, tried and punished for breaches of
those mock laws, from time to time, in such manner, that they have
been compelled to the humiliating necessity of seeking an asylum
elsewhere, in order to escape the tyranny and oppression of this
modern Caligula.
He has caused the writ of _habeas corpus_ to be issued by the
municipal court of the city of Nauvoo, in a case not provided for
in the charter of this city, and indeed contrary to the letter of
that instrument; and, himself a prisoner, arrested under grave
charges made by a neighboring state, brought before said court,
tried, and acquitted; thereby securing his own rescue from the
custody of the law.
Citizens from the adjoining counties have been denied the right to
regain property stolen and taken to Nauvoo, even after they have
discovered both the thief and the property; and themselves, under
the most frivolous pretenses, arrested, fined, and other property
rifled from them, to satisfy the mock judgments and costs of his
cormorant officers.
{6} Persons upon whom stolen property has been found in the city of
Nauvoo, have been brought before this religio-political chief; and
he, in the capacity of mayor of the city, has refused to convict,
where the cases have been most clear and palpable.
We have had men of the most vicious and abominable habits
imposed upon us to fill our most important county offices, by
his dictum, in order, as we verily believe, that he may the more
certainly control our destinies, and render himself, through the
instrumentality of these base creatures of his ill-directed power,
as absolutely a despot over the citizens of this county as he now
is over the serfs of his own servile clan.
And, to crown all, he claims to merge all religion, all law, and
both moral and political justice, in the knavish pretension that
he receives fresh from heaven divine instructions in all matters
pertaining to these things; thereby making his own depraved will
the rule by which he would have all men governed.
He has caused large bodies of his ragamuffin soldiery to arm
themselves, and turn out in pursuit of officers legally authorized
to arrest himself; he being charged with high crimes and
misdemeanors committed in the state of Missouri, and these officers
arrested by the vilest hypocrisy, and placed in duress, that he
might enable himself to march triumphantly into Nauvoo, and bid
defiance to the laws of the land.
In view of the above grievances, this meeting feel that it is
their bounden duty to resist, by every laudable means, all such
unwarrantable attacks upon their liberties. Therefore--
_Resolved,_ 1st. That inasmuch as we honestly believe that the
combination of people calling themselves Mormons, or Latter-day
Saints, have given strong indications, in their recent movements,
that they are unwilling to submit to the ordinary restraints of
law, we are therefore forced to the conclusion that the time is not
far distant when the citizens of this country will be compelled to
assert their rights in some way.
_Resolved,_ 2nd. That while we would deprecate anything like
lawless violence, without justifiable cause, yet we pledge
ourselves in the most solemn manner to resist all the wrongs which
may be hereafter attempted to be imposed on this community by the
Mormons, to the utmost of our ability,--peaceably, if we can, but
forcibly, if we must.
_Resolved,_ 3rd. That in the event of our being forced into a
collision with that people, we pledge ourselves that we will stand
by and support each other in every emergency up to the death.
_Resolved,_ 4th. That we believe that it is also the interest
of our friends in the neighboring counties and also neighboring
states to begin to take a firm and decided stand against the high
pretension and base designs of this latter-day would-be Mahomet.
{7} _Resolved,_ 5th. That provided we must necessarily, for the
well-being of this community, the protection of our dearest rights,
and the preservation of our excellent institutions, adopt measures
to humble the pride and arrogance of that audacious despot; we
therefore call upon all good and honest men, without distinction of
party or place, to come to the rescue.
_Resolved,_ 6th. That we pledge ourselves in the most determined
manner that if the authorities of the State of Missouri shall make
another demand for the body of Joseph Smith, and our Governor
shall issue another warrant to stand ready at all times to serve
the officer into whose hands such warrant may come, as a _posse_,
in order that it may not be said of us, in future, that the most
outrageous culprits have been suffered "to go unwhipped of justice."
_Resolved,_ 7th. That a corresponding committee be appointed to
communicate with the different parts of this county, and also with
other counties; and we would also recommend to all surrounding
counties to appoint like committees for the purpose of a mutual
interchange of views in regard to the subjects embraced in these
proceedings.
_Resolved,_ 8th. That as it has been too common for several years
past for politicians of both political parties, not only of this
county, but likewise of the state, to go to Nauvoo and truckle
to the heads of the Mormon clan for their influence, we pledge
ourselves that we will not support any man of either party in
future who shall thus debase himself.
_Resolved,_ 9th. That if the Mormons carry out the threats they
have made in regards to the lives of several of our citizens, we
will, if failing to obtain speedy redress from the laws of the
land, take summary and signal vengeance upon them as a people.
_Resolved,_ 10th. That when the Government ceases to afford
protection, the citizens of course fall back upon their original
inherent right of self-defense.
In pursuance of the 7th resolution, the following gentlemen
were appointed to act as a central corresponding committee at
Carthage--namely, Captain Robert F. Smith, Major T. J. Bartlet,
Harmon T. Wilson, Frank A. Worrel, and Walter Bagby.
On motion of Henry Stevens, it was ordered that committees,
consisting of two persons, be appointed in each election precinct
of this county, for the purpose of communicating with the central
committee at Carthage; and that those two may add to their number
at discretion.
On motion of Daniel Beaver, it was made the duty of the person
whose name stands first on the list of each committee to act as
chairman; and that all communications from the other committees, or
from any other sources shall be added.
{8} The following gentlemen were then appointed by the chair as
committees in the several precincts, to wit:--
_Green Plains_--Edson Whitney and Levi Williams.
_Bear Creek_--William White and Andrew Moore.
_Chili_--Stephen Owen and Arthur Morgan.
_Augusta_--William D. Abernethy and Alexander Oliver.
_Saint Mary's_--William Darnell and Daniel Beaver.
_Fountain Green_--Thomas Geddis and S. H. Tyler.
_La Harpe_--Jesse Gilmer and Charles Comstock.
_Camp Creek_--James Graham and Thomas Harris.
_Appanooce_--John McCanley and John R. Atherton.
_Montebello_--Samuel Steel and Benjamin B. Gates.
_Warsaw_--Thomas C. Sharp and Mark Aldrich.
On motion of Levi Williams, Colonel Root, of McDonough county, was
added to the central corresponding committee of Carthage.
On motion of Henry Newton, Esq.,
_Resolved,_ That the central committee of correspondence act as a
general committee of supervision; and, in case of a contingency
occurring requiring aid, that they immediately call on the precinct
committees and upon all others favorable to our cause to furnish
such aid as the exigency of the case may require.
On the motion of Charles C. Stevens, the following supplementary
resolutions were unanimously adopted:--
_Resolved,_ That the president of this meeting be requested to
communicate with the Governor of Missouri, and respectfully request
him to make another demand upon the authorities of this state for
the body of Joseph Smith, commonly called the Mormon Prophet;
and in the event of a requisition and an order for his arrest
and delivery to the proper officers of the state of Missouri, we
offer our services to enforce said order, and pledge ourselves to
sustain the supremacy of the laws at all hazards and under all
circumstances.
_Resolved,_ That a copy of the proceedings of this meeting be
forwarded to the publisher of the _Warsaw Message, Quincy Whig,_
and _Quincy Herald,_ for publication, with a request to them to add
a note, soliciting all editors friendly to our cause in this state,
Missouri, and Iowa Territory, to copy.
It was then moved and seconded, That this meeting adjourn, subject
to the call of the central corresponding committee.
Edson Whitney, Chairman.
W. D. Abernethy, Secretary.
Editors throughout Illinois, Missouri, Iowa Territory, friendly to
the Anti-Mormon cause, are requested to publish the proceedings, in
today's paper, of a meeting held at Carthage on the 6th instant.
{9} _Thursday, 7.--_I took home the letter written to Harrisburg
[6] for the Church History, a small fragment of which only has been
preserved, and is as follows:--
_Historical Sketch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints._
Messrs. Editors,--The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
was founded upon direct revelation, as the true Church of God
has ever been, according to the Scriptures (Amos 3:7, and Acts
1:2); and through the will and blessings of God, I have been an
instrument in his hands, thus far, to move forward the cause of
Zion: therefore, in order to fulfill the solicitations of your
letter of July last, I shall commence with my life.
[Then follows a brief historical sketch of the Church from the
birth of the Prophet to the settlement of the Saints at Nauvoo,
much in the strain of the _"Wentworth Letter"_ already published in
this HISTORY, (Vol. IV, Ch. XXXI); and for the reason that all the
historical data in this I. Daniel Rupp sketch is contained in the
_Wentworth Letter,_ it is thought unnecessary to reproduce it here,
excepting the closing paragraphs which deal with conditions and
prospects at Nauvoo, on the date at which we have arrived in our
HISTORY, viz. September, 1843.--Editor.]
Nauvoo, upon every point connected with increase and prosperity
has exceeded the most sanguine expectations of thousands. It now
contains near 3,500 houses, and more than 15,000 inhabitants.
The charter contains, among its important powers, privileges or
immunities, a grant for "The University of Nauvoo," with the same
liberal powers of the city, where all the arts and sciences will
grow with the growth and strengthen the strength of this beloved
city of the Saints of the last days.
Another very commendatory provision of the charter is that that
portion of the citizens subject to military duty are organized
into a body of independent military men, styled the "Nauvoo
Legion," whose highest officer holds the rank and is commissioned
lieutenant-general. This Legion, like other independent bodies of
troops in this Republican Government, is at the disposal of the
Governor of the state, and President of the United States. There is
also an act of incorporation for an Agricultural and Manufacturing
Association, as well as the Nauvoo House Association.
Since the organization of this Church, its progress has been rapid,
and its gain in numbers regular. Besides these United States, where
{10} nearly every place of notoriety has heard the glad tidings
of the Gospel of the Son of God, England, Ireland and Scotland
have shared largely in the fullness of the everlasting Gospel, and
thousands have already gathered with their kindred Saints to this
the corner stone of Zion. Missionaries of this Church have gone
to the East Indies, to Australia, Germany, Constantinople, Egypt,
Palestine, the islands of the Pacific, and are now preparing to
open the door in the extensive dominions of Russia.
There is no correct data by which the exact number of members
composing this now extensive and still extending Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints can be known. Should it be supposed at
150,000, it might still be short of the truth.
Believing the Bible to say what it means and mean what it says,
and guided by revelation, according to the ancient order of the
fathers, to whom came what little light we enjoy, and circumscribed
only by the eternal limits of truth, this Church must continue the
even tenor of its way.
Called at the office, and administered the laying on of hands to Sister
Partington and her two children.
Dreadful conflagration at Stuhlweissenburg, in Hungary. About six
hundred houses destroyed.
_Friday, 8.--_My wife being sick, I was at home all day.
Stephen Markham started for Dixon with the court papers in relation to
the writ of habeas corpus, and as a witness.
I directed William Clayton to go to Augusta, Iowa, to get a deed signed
by Mr. Moffit for the steamer _Maid of Iowa_.
Muster day of the first cohort.
The Twelve held a meeting in Boylston Hall, Boston. Present--Elders
Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, George A. Smith, Wilford Woodruff, John
E. Page.
_Saturday, 9.--_My wife a little more comfortable. William Clayton
went to Augusta, got the deed signed by Mr. Moffit and his wife, and
returned in the evening.
General training of the Nauvoo Legion.
The quorum of the Twelve met the church in Boston, at Boylston Hall, in
conference. Sixteen branches were represented, containing 878 members.
A great deal of {11} valuable instruction was given by the Twelve, and
the hall, a very large one, was crowded. A number were baptized during
conference, which lasted three days. The minutes of conference I here
insert:--
_Important Conference of the Twelve, Held at Boylston Hall, Boston,
September 9, 1843._
Present of the Quorum of the Twelve--Elders Brigham Young, Heber C.
Kimball, Parley P. Pratt, Orson Pratt, Orson Hyde, John E. Page,
Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith.
[_Reported by Wilford Woodruff._]
Conference opened with prayer by Elder George A. Smith.
After the various branches in the New England States were
represented, Elder P. P. Pratt made a few remarks, of which the
following is a synopsis:
Some Elders tell us that they have taught the gathering according
to the Scriptures. But it is not sufficient to teach the principle
from the Scriptures alone; for if there was no other guide, the
people would be left in doubt as to whether they should gather to
Jerusalem, Africa, America, or elsewhere. It is right to teach the
gathering according to the Scriptures, although some predictions
of the Prophets are obscure; but we are not left to them alone.
We know and all the Saints ought to know that God has appointed a
place and time of gathering and has raised up a Prophet to bring
it about, of which we are witnesses. Our message is that we are
witnesses of the fulfillment of the predictions of the Prophets.
We have not to lay down a long, round-about [system] of arguments
and calculations. The specific time and place are pointed out, the
stakes are driven, the foundations of the city and temple are laid,
and a people already gathered. We therefore know where to go; and
to reject the revelations of God, which have pointed out these
things to us, only brings condemnation. If this is not the case,
then our faith is vain, and our works and hopes are vain also.
We worship a God who can inspire His servants to tell the people
what to do. We have already got the opinions of men enough
concerning the coming of Jesus Christ; but we need the voice of a
Prophet in such a case and we have it. I am willing to risk my all
upon it: and if the Elders understand the principle of gathering,
and teach it correctly, the people will have the correct spirit of
the gathering.
It is time we come out and declared boldly and definitely what God
had for the people. We want more than opinions--we want your works.
He has said he would send a Prophet to prepare the way. And {12}
let me ask these profound sectarians, why He has not done it? If
the angels found a God in heaven able to give instructions, shield
them from sword and famine, &c., why have we not found Him? Let
the teachers bear the message they are entrusted with; and if the
people wish then for Scripture, tell them that their message is in
fulfillment of prophecy; but let them have the whole message.
Elder E. P. Maginn said he for one had taught the gathering
according to the Scriptures; but he considered all modern
revelations Scripture as well as those given anciently.
Elder Brigham Young addressed the meeting on the subject of our
faith. We hear the Elders represent the feeling of the brethren
concerning the gathering. This is right. The Spirit of the Lord
Jesus Christ is a gathering spirit. Its tendency is to gather the
virtuous and good, the honest and meek of the earth, and, in fine,
the Saints of God. The time has come when the Lord is determined
to fulfill his purposes. The people are apt to say that if they
had lived in the days of Jesus Christ they would have received His
work. But judge ye if the people are better now than then. They are
not. When the full, set time was come, the Lord came in the flesh
to do His work, whether the people were prepared or not; and He
would not have come at all, if He had waited till the people were
prepared to receive Him. It was decreed from all eternity that He
should come, and He came. The people were not prepared then, nor
are they any more prepared now. And now the full set time has come
for the Lord God Almighty to set His hand to redeem Israel. We are
not bound to make the people believe, but we are bound to preach
the Gospel; and having done this, our garments are clear.
The Lord does not require every soul to leave his home as soon as
He believes. Some may be wanted to go to the isles of the sea, and
some to go north, and some south. But He _does_ require them to
hearken to counsel, and follow that course which He points out,
whether to gather or stay to do some other work.
The Spirit of the Lord and His work are on the alert, and those who
keep up with the work must be on the alert also. The Spirit of the
Lord will leave them who sit down and refuse to obey. When the Lord
says, "Gather yourselves together," why do you ask Him what for?
Had you not rather enjoy the society of Saints than sinners whom
you cannot love? Is it not the principle of the Saints to mingle
together and promote the great cause in which they are engaged?
Perhaps some of you are ready to ask, "Cannot the Lord save us as
well where we are as to gather together?" Yes, if the Lord says
so. But if He commands us to come out and gather together, He will
not save us by staying at home. Have you not received the Gospel?
Yes. {13} Then do you believe what we say? Have you not received
the Holy Ghost, by receiving the Gospel which we have brought unto
you? Yes, thousands have; and it stands as a testimony that God has
got a Prophet on the earth. You might have been baptized seventy
times seven in any way except the way God had ordained and pointed
out, and you would not have received the Holy Ghost. This also is a
testimony to you.
Are you engaged with us in this great work? "Yes, certainly," you
answer, "heart and hand." "Can we do any good?" Yes, you can. The
sectarian world send the Bible to the nations of the earth. The
poor among them put sixpence, fifty cents or a dollar into the box
to carry out that object; and can the Latter-day Saints do nothing?
Let them do what God requires. He has required that we should build
a house unto His name, that the ordinances and blessings of His
kingdom may be revealed, and that the Elders may be endowed, go
forth and gather together the blood of Ephraim--the people of God,
from the ends of the earth.
Can you get an endowment in Boston or anywhere, except where God
appoints? No, only in that place which God has pointed out. Now,
query--Could Moses have obtained the law if he had stayed in
the midst of the children of Israel, instead of going up on to
the mountain? The Lord said, "Go and do so and so; stand before
Pharaoh; pull off thy shoes, for the place is holy." Moses obeyed,
and obtained blessings which he would not have received if he had
been disobedient.
Has the Lord spoken in these last days, and required us to build
Him a house? Then why query about it? If He has spoken, it is
enough. I do not care whether the people gather or not, if they
don't want to do so. I do not wish to save the people against their
will. I want them to choose whether they will gather and be saved
with the righteous, or remain with the wicked and be damned. I
would like to have all people bow down to the Lord Jesus Christ;
but it is one of the decrees of the Lord that all persons shall act
upon their agency, which was the case even with the angels who fell
from heaven.
Now, will you help us to build the Nauvoo House and Temple? If so,
you will be blessed: if not, we will build it without you. And if
you don't hearken, you will not have the Spirit of the Lord; for
the Spirit of the Lord is on the move.
The Apostles tried to gather the people together in their day.
Christ said He would gather the Jews oft as a hen gathereth her
chickens under her wings, but they would not. Neither God nor
angels care whether men hear or forbear: they will carry on their
work; for the full, set time is come for God to set up His kingdom,
and we go about it. We must build a house, and get an endowment,
preach the gospel, {14} warn the people, gather the Saints, build
up Zion, finish our work, and be prepared for the coming of Christ.
Now, we want to send four missionaries to the Pacific Islands,
and we want a little clothing, and beds, and money to pay their
passage. Can you do something for them? This is not all. We want
you to give all you have to spare towards building the Temple.
We shall be able to build it, if we have to work with a sword in
one hand. But perhaps you are afraid you will not have enough for
yourself, when you get there; yet how easy it is for the Lord to
take it away from you by fire or otherwise!
Elder Maginn had an ivory cane. I asked him for it, but he declined
making me a present of it. Not long after, he had it stolen from
him in a crowd, and it now does neither of us any good. Perhaps
your purse may slip through your pocket, or you may lose your
property; for the Lord can give and take away. Jacob, with his
faith, obtained all the best cattle his father-in-law had.
If I had a wife and ten children, I would give all my money to
build the Temple and Nauvoo House, and I would trust in God for
their support. Yet I will be richer for it; for God would prosper
me in business. Men are apt to serve God on Sunday, and neglect Him
all the week. Who blesses you and all the people? God. But do the
people acknowledge the hand of God in all these things? No; they
turn away from Him, and do not acknowledge Him, or realize from
whom their blessings flow. They know not who blesses them. It never
comes into their hearts. So with the farmer. The blessings are
constantly flowing to him, and he considers not whence they come.
Let me tell you a secret. When the Lord shakes the earth, and every
valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made
low, He will bring gold for brass, silver for iron, brass for wood,
and iron for stones. Then you will have no use for gold, for money
and gods as you now have. You will not care so much about it; but
the Lord will think as much of it then as now.
But now we want some of the gods of the Gentiles--some of the
gold and silver to build the Temple and Nauvoo House for the
accommodation of the kings, princes and nobles of the earth, when
they come to inquire after the wisdom of Zion, that they may have
a place for their entertainment, and for the weary traveler to be
refreshed. Let us have your gold to take to Nauvoo for this purpose.
Is there wisdom in Zion? We think so, and the world begins to think
so. Let the world come forward and translate the plates that have
of late come forth, [7] if they have wisdom to do it. The Lord {15}
intends to take away the gods of the Gentiles: He pulleth down and
He buildeth up at His own pleasure.
Sacrifice your gods for the building up of Zion. Administer of your
substance. Send our missionaries to the islands of the seas. Don't
be afraid of a dollar, or a hundred dollars, or even a thousand
dollars. I would not. I have made a sacrifice of all I possessed
a good many times. I am richer the more I give; for the Lord has
promised and does reward me a hundredfold; and if I sacrifice all
for the cause of God, no good thing will be withheld from me. I
have taken this course to get rich. I have given all I had, and
God has given many blessings in consequence. If I am too bold in
asking, be too bold in giving. I ask, expecting to receive. Put
your shoulders to the wheel with all your might. Give your all, and
become rich by receiving a hundredfold.
Adjourned until half-past two o'clock, when the meeting was opened
by singing.
Prayer by Elder Parley P. Pratt. Singing.
Elder Parley P. Pratt said: I have a few remarks to make concerning
the subject spoken of in the forenoon by Elder Brigham Young, who
said we wanted all your gold, silver, and precious things. We not
only want your all as pertaining to gold, silver, &c., but we want
you, your wives and children, and all you have to be engaged in the
work of the Lord.
I don't know that I can give you a better pattern of what we want
than the case of Joseph in Egypt. Israelites will get all they
can. They are very great to go ahead. The Egyptians believed in
dreams; and by the peculiar gift of interpretation of dreams,
Joseph entered into a great scheme of speculation. He used the gift
of interpretation to become great in the eyes of the Egyptians. He
obtained great political influence, came out with gold ornaments,
and rode in the king's chariot in great splendor. He laid up corn
in great abundance during the seven years of plenty; and when the
famine came, he got all their gold, silver, cattle, land, property,
and, finally their persons. * * *
God is the origin of power--the Sovereign. He made the people and
the earth, and He has the right to reign. There will be good times
and good government, when the world will acknowledge the God of
heaven as the Lawgiver, and not till then; and if I could live
under His government, I should be thankful, although I am a real
Republican in principle, and would rather live under the voice of
the people than the voice of one man. But it will be for the good
and happiness of man when that government is established, which we
pray for when we say, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth
as it is in heaven;" and until that time arrives we must pray for
it.
{16} This Joseph in Egypt--the speculator--what a great and good
man he was! I love him, I admire his course, and I believe a little
of his blood is in my veins. But had Joseph been like the religious
world at the present day--had he said he had got religion and done
with the world, he would not have rode the king's horse, worn his
robe, or had to do with gold and silver; and he would have done
no good, built no storehouses, and saved no corn, for fear of
speculation.
But he acted differently. And there is an ancient prediction
respecting our modern prophet, Joseph--namely, that a prophet and
seer should be raised up, and those who seek to destroy him shall
be confounded. This has proved true. Upwards of thirty law suits
have been brought against the Lord's anointed, and his persecutors
have as often been confounded. He has been raised and supported
according to the prophecy, to do a work on the earth, and the Lord
has been with him. Every weapon formed against him has been broken.
He has overcome all the lawsuits which have been brought against
him, and no accusation has been sustained against him; yet he will
lay a plan to speculate as large as ancient Joseph did; he will
have power to buy up all the rest of the world.
What Elder Young said is good. We want all he spoke of, and a great
deal more, We do not want it for ourselves, but for you. We want
you to use it; and we have a Prophet who tells how, when and where
to use it. Take your means and unite your exertions in this work.
We want you to take that course which will save you. Build up a
city and temples, and enjoy them, and do as the Lord tells you, and
hearken to counsel.
We have prophets to tell us what to do, and we should get as much
wisdom as the world. If they want a railroad built, all they have
to do is to open books. The people subscribe stock, a railroad is
soon built, and an income is realized. The Saints ought to be as
well united as the world, and do the things that God has required,
that a great nation may be saved from all nations.
The old gentleman [Satan] that rules the nations has ruled long
enough; and if I were an infidel, I would like to have the Lord
raise up a Joseph, or a Daniel, or a Mordecai, or an Esther, to
obtain political, temporal, and spiritual power, and cause a change
for the good of the world. Thank heaven, he has begun to raise them
up. He has raised up another Joseph to do the great work of God,
and it will continue on until the saying goes forth that the Lord
has built up Zion.
The kingdom of God must be established, and it will be. I read that
gold, silver, power, thrones, and dominions will be connected with
the great work of God in the last days. Then let us wake up {17} to
see what God says shall come to pass, and let us enlarge our hearts
and prepare for the great and glorious work.
Do the Saints here in Boston know that they are identified with
the laying of the foundation, and establishing of a great and
mighty kingdom, which is to include all the great and glorious work
to be fulfilled in the last dispensation and fullness of times?
And I prophesy, in the name of the Lord, that whether the Saints
of Boston or any other place, stand for it or rise against it,
numberless millions will celebrate that day when the foundation of
this work was laid.
Elder George A. Smith said: I am pleased with the many remarks
which have been made this day. You can easily see a similarity
between the two Josephs, and the revelations that are given for the
salvation of the present generation. Joseph in Egypt, a savior of
his father's house and the Egyptians: Joseph [Smith] at this day
holds the keys of salvation not only to the Gentiles, but also to
the house of Israel.
I do not know but some may have reflections different from my own.
I will, however, show how the Lord deals with mankind. Some may
say, "Who can believe that God who dwells in heaven will condescend
to speak to the people about building Him a house in this day of
religion and science?"
This may be considered simple in the eyes of many; but the day
was when the salvation or damnation of the whole world hung upon
as small a circumstance. "Noah, by faith, being warned of God of
things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the
saving of his house, by which he condemned the world, and became
heir of the righteous which is by faith."
Had the editors of this day lived then, I think they would have
said and written more against it than they have against Joseph
Smith and the revelations he has received and published.
We find God was in the habit of telling men to do many simple
things, even to the giving of a law concerning the protection of
birds' nests. You talk about God condescending to speak of small
things in the last days, but it is only as it was in the days of
Moses; for we read in the Bible how God commanded the children of
Israel, when they found a bird's nest, (Deut. XXII:7) not to take
the dam with the young: "But thou shalt in any wise let the dam go,
and take the young to thee." Why? "That it may be well with thee,
and that thou mayst prolong thy days."
We see from this, that however small and simple the commandments of
God appear to be, they are great in their results. Connecting this
with the law of God to Israel concerning the eating of locusts,
beetles and grasshoppers (Leviticus XI:22). "Even these of them ye
may {18} eat; the locust after his kind, and the bald locust after
his kind, and the beetle after his kind, and the grasshopper after
his kind."
Is this as small business for the Lord to talk about as it is for
Him to command the Saints to build a tavern or boarding house for
visitors who constantly go to Nauvoo, which, when done, will do
much good for the spreading of the work to all nations. What good
could arise from a law of God permitting the eating of beetles and
grasshoppers, I cannot say.
All the prophecies have aimed at the gathering of the people, and
saving them in the last days. But it is better never to have known
the Master's will than to know it and not perform it; and my advice
is, If you cannot take hold of the work and go through the whole
course, stop and go no further. If you have not courage to go on at
the expense of all things, it is better to turn back.
We do not want to deceive you. Our traditions have taught us to be
very religious, to wear long faces, never to tell an amusing story,
nor to laugh, &c. This was the case with the long-faced Christians
in Missouri, and they were the first to strike a dagger to our
hearts. It is better for a man to act out what he is than to be a
hypocrite. "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father,
is this," says James, "to visit the fatherless and widows in their
affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world."
I do not like that religion which lies in a man's long face, or his
coat or his hat. If I wear a strange hat, it is not because of my
religion: for where the religion of a man is in the shape of a hat
or coat, it is not very extensive anywhere else.
Some of the Elders want to appear very big, and to be called great
preachers; but whenever I have seen them trying to preach something
large and mysterious, to get a name, I have concluded they have yet
much to learn. I have been eleven years a member of this Church,
and was a believer two years before I entered it; and during
that time I have seen many Elders who like to preach large and
mysterious sermons.
As many are desirous of hearing mysteries, I will rehearse a short
sermon of mysteries for their edification. Elder Kimball has had a
long standing in the Church. He has preached much, done much good,
brought many souls into the kingdom, had great influence, and is
considered the most successful minister among us.
Elder Amasa Lyman and myself went into Pike county, Illinois,
to preach where the Elders had preached all the mysteries about
beasts, heads and horns. They wanted us to preach mysteries. We
told them we were not qualified to preach mysteries; but if they
would send for Elder Kimball he would preach them. So they sent
about forty miles {19} for Elder Kimball, and brought him down, they
were so anxious to hear mysteries.
When he came, he had a large congregation assembled. He arose and
remarked that he understood they had sent for him to come and
preach the mysteries to them. "I am well qualified, and fully
competent to do it, and am happy to have the privilege. I want
the attention of all." When every mind was stretched and eager to
learn these great mysteries he said, "The first mystery I shall
present before you is this, 'Look at Elder Amasa Lyman; he needs
a pair of pantaloons and a new hat. But it appears you do not see
it; consequently I want to open your eyes and reveal to you a
great mystery; for an Elder in the Church has need of a hat and a
pair of breeches as well as yourselves, and _especially_ when the
Saints _know_ he is so much in need of them!'" He preached a few
more mysteries of the same nature, and the result of this sermon
was that Elder Lyman got a pair of pants and a new hat, and Elder
Kimball and myself each a barrel of flour for our families.
Elder Brigham Young arose and said: I will make an apology for my
remarks in the former part of the day. Some may think I spoke very
plainly; but the object I had in view was to teach you your duty,
as I am aware the people are not made to feel it; and the apology I
have to make is this: I will turn Thomsonian doctor, and give the
composition without cream and sugar,--it matters not whether I get
friends or foes. If this work does not live, I do not want to live;
for it is my life, my joy, my all; and if it sinks, God knows I do
not want to swim.
I wish you to understand this--that he that gathereth not with
us scattereth, and they have not the Spirit of God. We live in
anticipation of the day when mobs cannot harm us, and they who have
tasted the bitter cup feel to realize this hope. Wake up, ye Elders
of Israel who have sought to build yourselves up, and not the
kingdom of God, and put on your sword. Wake up, ye that have daubed
with untempered mortar! Hearken and hear me; for I say unto you, in
the name of Jesus Christ, that if you do not help us to build the
Temple and the Nauvoo House, you shall not inherit the land of Zion.
If you do not help to build up Zion and the cause of God, and help
me and my brethren on our way when we want to go on the Lord's
business, you shall not partake of the blessings which are laid
up in store for the Saints. Many Elders seek to build themselves
up, and not the work of the Lord. They will say "Put gold rings on
my fingers; give me what I want;" and they care nothing about the
Temple. This they should not do. I will not allow myself to do so;
and when any one does this, no matter who he may be, even though
he was one {20} of the Twelve, he will not prosper. Those of the
Twelve and others of the Elders who have apostatized, I have known
their hearts and their breathings. I have known their movements
although they thought I did not know much. But I knew all about
them; and when I see men preaching to build themselves up, and not
Zion, I know what it will end in. But you may say you are young.
I don't care if you are. Are you old enough to know what you are
about? If so, preach and labor for the building up of the city of
Zion; concentrate your means and influence there, and not scatter
abroad. Instead of which, some of the Elders appear to be dumb and
lazy, and care for nothing but themselves.
Now, ye Elders, will you be faithful? If not, you will not be
chosen, for the day of choosing is at the door. Why be afraid of
a sacrifice? I have given my all many times, and am willing to do
it again. I would be glad to hear the Lord say through His servant
Joseph, "Let my servant Brigham give again all that he has," I
would obey it in a moment, if it took the last coat off my back.
A hymn was sung.
Elder Kimball arose and said: I get up of necessity to say a few
words. I am unwell, but I feel the importance of this work. I
have been a member of this Church twelve years. I came out of the
Baptist church and joined this with all my heart, as I was seeking
after truth. I have passed through everything but death; in fact
I have been brought into situations even worse than death. It has
been my lot and privilege to sacrifice all I possessed from time to
time; and we have come here to call for help to build the Temple
and Nauvoo House. I have spent thirty dollars to get here, and have
collected fifteen and that with much difficulty.
We were commanded of the Lord to come: but it seems as though
but few felt interested in it. Here I see four brethren going as
missionaries to the Sandwich Islands, and destitute of means to
help themselves. I could weep for them. I feel interested in this
great work. We are seeking to bring about a work that could never
before be performed.
When the time is brought about that we are to receive our
inheritances, the more faithful we are, the larger will be our
reward. We have come out to reap, but do we have time to reap new
grain? No; for it takes all our time to try to save that which is
already reaped.
We have reapers in the field, and we are trying to save the wheat.
We want to get it on the barn floor, so that we may thrash it.
We have come after it to warn you. You think Elder Young put the
flail on rather heavy; but it is nothing to be compared with the
thrashing you will get in Zion, and those who have the hardest
heads will, of {21} course, have to be thrashed the hardest. But
don't be troubled about the chaff when it comes to the barn, for
God will prepare a great winnowing mill which will blow all the
chaff away, and the wheat will be found before the mill: then it
has to go through the smut machine, then ground, then put through
the bolting machine, and many will bolt in going through. I speak
in parables. I compare the Saints to a good cow. When you milk
her clean, she will always have an abundance of milk to give; but
if you only milk her a little, and don't strip her, she will soon
dry up. So with the Saints: if they do but little in building up
Zion, they soon have but little to do with. This was the case in
Cincinnati.
The night before arriving at Cincinnati, I had a dream while on the
steamboat. I dreamt that I had a wagon with a rack on it, and an
individual with me. We were going to a field of wheat of mine that
had been cut, bound and shocked up, in order to haul into the barn.
When we came to the field, I jumped off the wagon, and got over the
fence to examine it, pulled off the cap sheaf, and behold it was
oats. Pulling the bundles apart, I found there were clusters of
rats. On further examination I found clusters of mice, and the oats
were all eaten up.
In my dream I was going to haul in wheat, but to my astonishment it
was oats, and they were all eaten up by the rats and mice.
I thought these rats and mice were the Elders and official members
who had been in and lain on the Church at Cincinnati--lived on the
wheat--eaten it up instead of building up new branches; so that
when the Twelve came along, they could not get anything for the
Temple or Nauvoo House, or hardly a place to stay. The rats had
eaten up the wheat, so we had to go to the world for a home to stay
while we were there.
We do not profess to be polished stones like Elders Almon W.
Babbitt, George J. Adams, James Blakeslee, and Eli P. Maginn, &c.,
&c.; but we are rough stones out of the mountain; and when we roll
through the forest, and knock the bark from the trees, it does not
hurt us, even if we should get a corner knocked off occasionally;
for the more we roll about, and knock the corners off, the better
we are; but if we were polished and smooth when we get the corners
knocked off, it would deface us.
Joseph Smith never professed to be a dressed, smooth, polished
stone, but to have come rough out of the mountain; and he has
been rolling among the rocks and trees, yet it has not hurt him
at all: but he will be as smooth and polished in the end as any
other stone, while many who were so very polished and smooth in
the beginning get badly defaced and spoiled while they are rolling
about.
Elder Parley P. Pratt said--Some are going to Zion, and the rest
{22} want to know what they shall do. The Lord, through Jeremiah
(III, 14,15) says, "I will take you one of a city, and two of a
family, and I will bring you to Zion; and I will give you pastors
according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and
understanding." Inasmuch as you hearken to counsel, you will know
what the will of the Lord is concerning you in all things. Meet
often together to worship God and to speak to each other of the
things of God. Gather as soon as you can. Come up to the mountain
of the Lord's house, and there learn of these things, that the
Scriptures may be fulfilled.
Elder Orson Pratt said--I do not know that I can say anything to
impress the subjects which have been spoken upon more fully upon
your minds than has been done. There are some things, however, I
wish to mention. We have learned from what we have heard this day
that great blessings will be given to the faithful when the Temple
is finished. I will speak of some of the consequences that will
follow, if we do not obey.
When the Temple is reared, God will manifest Himself in a peculiar
manner. If we are obedient, He has told us He will make manifest
to us things we are ignorant of. He has said He will reveal things
which pertain to this dispensation that have been hidden and kept
secret from the foundation of the world.
No former age or generation of the world have had the same things
revealed: all other dispensations will be swallowed up in this. He
declares, in His revelations, the consequences of not building the
house unto His name within such a time. The Lord says, If you build
the house in that time, you shall be blessed; but if not, you shall
be rejected as a church with your dead, saith the Lord. So, if that
house is not built, then in vain are all our cares; our faith and
works, our meetings and hopes are vain also; our performances and
acts will be void.
The servants of God who are faithful and do their duty will get
the blessing; and we are determined to do our duty, and lay these
principles before the Saints, so that they may have the privilege
of contributing. We will turn this responsibility upon the heads of
the Saints; then our garments will be clear, and the Lord is able
and will be willing to endow all the faithful in some other place.
This Church, in its infancy, was directed to do a certain work, and
the consequences pointed out. The Lord gave a revelation several
years since to the Church to appoint our wise men, and send up
our moneys by them to buy land; if not, we should not have an
inheritance, but our enemies should be upon us. We went through
and told the Saints these things; but did the churches do as God
commanded? No, they did not. But the revelation was fulfilled, and
the enemies of the Saints came upon them, and drove them from their
houses and homes, {23} and finally from the State of Missouri. This was
in consequence of their disobeying the commandments of God through
His servant Joseph.
Many suppose they must get direct revelation from God for
themselves. Not so. He has a prophet, and he says the Church shall
give heed to the words of the Prophet, as he is to hold the keys of
the kingdom of God in this life and in the world to come. Then it
is of much consequence that you give heed to his word.
Says one, Suppose we are not satisfied that this is the work of
God? You can ask God if the work is true, and He will give you a
testimony. You can put every confidence in the Book of Mormon and
in Joseph, the Prophet; and if you are not satisfied, go to God. I
doubt in my own mind if men can stand what they will have to pass
through, unless they do get a witness for themselves; and I pray
you to give heed to the words which the Twelve have taught you, and
ask God to help you.
The conference was adjourned until ten o'clock tomorrow morning.
_Sunday,_ 10th. Conference met according to adjournment.
Meeting was opened by singing, and prayer by Elder Maginn; after
which Elder Wilford Woodruff addressed the assembly from Amos
III:7--"Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his
secret unto his servants the prophets?" According to the testimony
of the Scriptures in all ages of the world, whenever God was about
to bring a judgment upon the world or accomplish any great work,
the first thing he did was to raise up a Prophet, and reveal unto
him the secret, and send him to warn the people, so that they may
be left without excuse. This was the case in the days of Noah and
Lot. God was about to bring judgments upon the people, and he
raised up those Prophets who warned the people of it; yet they gave
no heed to them, but rejected their testimony; and the judgments
came upon the people, so that they were destroyed, while the
Prophets were saved by pursuing the course marked out by the Lord.
Jesus Christ testified to the Jews of the things that awaited them
as a nation, the fall of Jerusalem, and their dispersion among
the Gentile world; but they did not believe it. Yet the secret of
all these things was revealed to the Prophets and Apostles. They
believed it, and looked for its fulfillment; and it came to pass as
it was predicted, though contrary to the expectation of the Jewish
nation.
In like manner do we look for the certain fulfillment of those
tremendous events upon the heads of the Gentile world which have
been spoken of and pointed out by all the holy Prophets and
Apostles since the world began, they having spoken as they were
moved upon by the power of God and the gift of the Holy Ghost,
events which more deeply {24} concern the Gentile world than the
overthrow of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jews did the
Jewish nation; for while they stumbled at the stone they were
broken; but when it falls upon the heads of the Gentile world, it
will grind them to powder.
The full set time is come for the Lord to set His hand to
accomplish these mighty events; and as He has done in other ages,
so has He done now--He has raised up a Prophet, and is revealing
unto him His secrets. Through that Prophet He has brought to light
the fullness of the everlasting Gospel to the present generation,
and is again once more for the last time establishing His Church
upon the foundation of the ancient Apostles and Prophets, which is
revelation, Jesus Christ being the chief corner stone.
In the Church is now found judges as at the first, and counselors
as at the beginning; also Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors,
and Teachers, with gifts and graces, for the perfecting of the
Saints, the work of the ministry, and the edifying of the body of
Christ.
The Lord has raised up His servants, and sent them into the
vineyard to prune it once more for the last time, to preach the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, and to warn the nations, that they may be
left without excuse in the day of their visitation; also to gather
the honest in heart and the meek of the earth, that Zion may be
built up, and the sayings of the Prophets fulfilled.
One of the secrets that God has revealed unto his Prophet in these
days is the Book of Mormon; and it was a secret to the whole world
until it was revealed unto Joseph Smith, whom God has raised up
as a Prophet, Seer, and Revelator unto His people. This record
contains an account of the ancient inhabitants of this continent
and of the cities with which they overspread this land from sea
to sea, the ruins of which still remain as standing monuments of
the arts, science, power, and greatness of their founders. It
also points out the establishing of this our own nation, with the
conditions for its progress, and those predictions contained in
the Book of Mormon--the stick of Joseph in the hand of Ephraim,
will as truly be fulfilled as those contained in the Bible--the
stick and record of Judah; and both these sticks or records contain
prophecies of great import concerning the Gentile nations, and
especially this land and nation, which are not yet fulfilled, but
must shortly come to pass: yea, their fulfillment is nigh, even at
the doors.
Though the secrets which God is revealing through His servant the
Prophet in these last days may be unpopular and unbelieved in by
the world, yet their unbelief will not make the truth of God of
none effect, any more than it did in the days of Lot and Noah, or
at the fall of Jerusalem.
When Jesus Christ said there should not be left one stone upon
{25} another in the temple that should not be thrown down, the
Jewish nation did not believe it, neither would they receive such
testimony; but they looked at outward circumstances, and were
ready to say, "Who can prevail against us? What nation like unto
our nation? We have held the giving of the law, the oracles, and
the Urim and Thummim; the lawgiver has never departed from between
our feet; we have held the power of government from generation to
generation; and what nation hath power now to prevail against us?"
Through this order of reasoning they were blinded, and knew not
the day of their visitation: they understood not the things that
belonged to their peace; they rejected their Lord and King,
contended against the word and testimony, and finally put Him to
death on the cross, with many who followed Him. But this did not
hinder the fulfillment of His predictions concerning that nation.
The words of the Lord had gone forth out of His mouth, and could
not return unto Him void. The things that belonged to their peace
were hid from their eyes, and they were counted unworthy as a
nation. The kingdom was to be rent out of their hands and given to
another; the die was cast, and judgment must come.