THE THREATENED JUDGMENT--IF--!
The day following this revelation the camp left Fishing River and
approached Liberty, Clay County; but when within five or six miles of
that place they were met by General Atchison and others who requested
them not to go to Liberty, as the people were very greatly enraged
at them. As this request was made by men of influence, and those who
desired peace, and who felt an interest in the execution of justice,
Joseph consented not to go to Liberty; and turning aside, camped on
Rush Creek, near the residence of Sydney Gilbert, and in a Brother
Burghart's field.
The day before, three of the brethren had suffered some with the
cholera but it was not until the camp came to Rush Creek that
the disease broke out among them in its fury. The night of the
twenty-fourth of June will long be remembered by the members of Zion's
Camp. All night long they heard the moans and piteous cries of the
sufferers, and loud lamentations of those who lost their loved ones by
the ravages of this dreadful disease.
When it first made its appearance Elder John S. Carter attempted to
rebuke it, but he became its first victim. Joseph also undertook to
stay its ravages by the laying on of hands. He administered to his
brother Hyrum. "The moment I attempted to rebuke the disease, that
moment I was attacked," he writes; "and had I not desisted, I must have
saved the life of my brother by the sacrifice of my own, for when I
rebuked the disease, it left him and seized upon me. I quickly learned
by painful experience that when the great Jehovah decrees destruction
upon any people, and makes known his determination, man must not
attempt to stay his hand."
The brethren unitedly covenanted and prayed, hoping that they might
have power with the heavens to stay the ravages of the plague; but to
no purpose; for while they were engaged in prayer Elder Wilcox died.
The deaths occurred so rapidly that coffins could not be prepared,
so the dead were rolled up in blankets and put hurriedly into their
graves; and while part of the brethren were engaged in digging the
graves, others had to stand guard, musket in hand. After the plague
had continued for two or three days, an effectual remedy was found for
it by dipping those afflicted in cold water, or pouring it upon them.
In all about seventy suffered from the cholera, and out of that number
thirteen died.
The camp was dispersed early on the morning of the 25th, and Joseph
sent by express to Messrs. Thornton, Doniphan, and Atchison, the
following note:
_Gentlemen:_--Our company of men advanced yesterday from their
encampment beyond Fishing River to Rush Creek, where their tents
are again pitched. But feeling disposed to adopt every specific
measure that can be done without jeopardizing our lives, to quiet the
prejudices and fears of some part of the citizens of this county,
we have concluded that our company shall be immediately dispersed
and continue so till every effort for an adjustment of differences
between us and the people of Jackson has been made on our part, that
would in anywise be required of us by disinterested men of republican
principles.
I am respectfully,
Your obedient servant,
JOSEPH SMITH, JR.
Thus Zion's Camp was disbanded. Had Governor Dunklin possessed the
courage to enforce the law of the State; had he called out the militia
of Missouri to reinstate the exiles in their homes, as at one time he
expressed a willingness to do, the history of the camp might have been
different. But Governor Dunklin lacked that courage, and without that
assistance the camp itself was powerless.
Perhaps another view is also admissible. Had the members of Zion's Camp
been more faithful--less contentious--more united; and had the saints
in the eastern branches had more faith--faith to send up to Zion more
men and more money with which to strengthen the hands of the saints on
the land of Zion--the history of Zion's Camp might have been different.
But thus it is: what men and great movements might attain to is often
defeated, sometimes by the actions of enemies, sometimes by the lack
of devotion and faith and energy on the part of those into whose
hands great enterprises are committed. While God's general purposes
will never ultimately be defeated by man, still upon each side of the
general purposes of God a margin somewhat wide seems to have been left
in which those both for and against those purposes may write what
history they please--one that will meet with the approval of God, or
one that will meet only with condemnation--herein is the agency of man.
But in the exercise of that agency God's purposes will not be thwarted,
for man's agency will not extend so far as that--if it did it would
interfere with God's agency and decrees.
Joseph Smith and his brethren, on hearing that the governor of Missouri
was afraid to execute the laws by returning the exiled saints to their
homes, again covenanted that they would never cease their exertions
until Zion was redeemed, and truth, justice and law should triumph over
falsehood, injustice, and mobocracy,--a covenant which they called upon
the God of their fathers to witness, and which they engaged to fulfill
either in this life or the life to come.
But standing above all human resolutions, as the heavens stand above
the earth, is Jehovah's own decree that he will execute justice and
judgment, and that he will not give to wickedness a lasting victory.
Zion will be redeemed. God has decreed it. "Behold, I say unto you, the
redemption of Zion must needs come by power; therefore, I will raise
up unto my people a man, who shall lead them like as Moses led the
children of Israel, for ye are the children of Israel, and of the seed
of Abraham, and ye must needs be led out of bondage with power, and
with a stretched out arm: and as your fathers were led at the first,
even so shall the redemption of Zion be." [A]
[Footnotes A Doc. & Cov. Sec. 103:15-18.]