I do not intend to convey the idea that there was not a falling away,
an apostasy, at the time of the martyrdom and the exodus from Nauvoo,
for there were many who forsook the cause, but compared with the Church
membership, they were but few. Who were they? Did the faithful Saints
forsake the Church at that time? Did those who risked their lives--who
were shot with the Prophet and Patriarch forsake the Church? No! We do
not find the faithful Latter-day Saints, who had the Gospel rooted in
their hearts turning away. Then who were those who forsook the cause? I
will tell you.
In the parable of the sower the Savior said:
"Behold a sower went forth to sow; and when he sowed some seed fell
by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up. Some fell
upon stony places where they had not much earth; and forthwith they
sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth; and when the sun
was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they
withered away."
In explaining this parable He said:
"But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he
that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; yet hath he
not root in himself, but dureth for a while; for when tribulation
or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is
offended."
These were they who forsook the Church in the exodus from Nauvoo. Not
the faithful who had been tried and proved and not found wanting, who
had an abiding testimony of the truth. Now, let us see what Gen. Thomas
L. Kane has to say on this subject. He visited Nauvoo about this time
and also the camps of Israel. In the postscript to the second edition
of his lecture on "The Mormons" he says, page 86:
"The Mormons as I saw them, though a majority, were but a portion
of the Church as it flourished in Illinois. When the persecution
triumphed there, and no alternative remained for the steadfast in
the faith but the flight out of Egypt into the wilderness, as it
was termed, all their fair weather friends forsook them." * * * * *
"So the Mormons have been as it were, broken and screened by
calamity. Their designing leaders have left them to seek after
fortunes elsewhere. Those that remain of the old stock are the
masses, always honest in the main and sincere even in delusion; and
their guides are a few tried and trusty men, little initiated in
the plotting of synagogues, and more noted for services rendered
than bounties received. They are the men whom I saw on the prairie
trail, sharing sorrow with the sorrowful, and poverty with the
poor; the chief of them all, a man of rare natural endowment, to
whose masterly guidance they are mainly indebted for their present
prosperity, driving his own ox team and carrying his sick child in
his arms."
We have the statement of Sidney Rigdon, one of those who forsook the
cause. It is found in his Messenger and Advocate for June, 1846, pages
474-5, and a portion of his statement I will now read:
"Their camp [that is the camp of the exiles, the pioneers] is in
the western part of Iowa, some 200 miles west of Nauvoo. Their
situation according to our informant, is as miserable as it well
could be. Their stock of provisions they took with them, is getting
fast reduced, so much so, that they can proceed no further; neither
can they go back. They are there without shelter, other than tents
and wagons, and their tents so indifferent that they will not shed
the rain, which has been incessantly falling since their arrival.
In this awful condition is to be found the aged and infirm, the
mother and tender infant. When our informant left, they were
going to fence in some 300 or 400 acres of land, for the purpose
of raising a crop of corn to try and preserve life. The remains
of their furniture, which in part consists of beds and bedding,
they are sending off to Missouri to exchange for corn and bacon to
sustain life. * * * * This said Young professed to be a follower
of Christ, and hold communion with Him, and to receive revelations
from Him; but where are his pretensions now? He has got, according
to our informant, some 800 or 1,000 people far into the wilds,
without food, without shelter, and himself being judge, without
object. * * * A state of wretchedness beyond this is not easily
conceived of. Our informant says when he left, which was some three
weeks since [and I may add that it is quite evident from this
account why he left] the mud, by reason of the incessant rains, was
six inches deep round their camp."
I suppose that there are some present this afternoon who realize the
hardships through which the pioneers had to pass that tried men's souls
and that only the faithful were able to endure.
I have now shown that the great majority of the Latter-day Saints
followed President Brigham Young and were true to the Church. We get a
good idea of the number who scattered from the testimony of William W.
Blair.