THE TESTIMONY OF TOIL AND SUFFERING--EXERTION AND DANGER--A CHRISTIAN
ARGUMENT APPLIED.
Archdeacon Paley in his work, "The evidences of Christianity," says:
"There is satisfactory evidence that many, pretending to be original
witnesses of the Christian miracles, passed their lives in labors,
dangers, and sufferings, voluntarily undertaken and undergone in
attestation of the accounts which they delivered, and solely in
consequence of their belief of the truth of those accounts."
The learned archdeacon deducts from this fact a strong argument in
support of the truth of Christianity. In order to display his confidence
in the strength of his argument, he says: "If the Reformers in the time
of Wicliffe, or of Luther; or those of England, in the time of Henry
the Eighth, or of Queen Mary; or the founders of our religious sects
since, such as were Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Wesley in our times--had
undergone the life of toil and exertion, of danger and suffering, which
we know that many of them did undergo, for a miraculous story; that is
to say, if they had founded their public ministry upon the allegation
of miracles wrought within their knowledge, and upon narratives which
could not be resolved into delusion or mistake; and if it had appeared
that their conduct really had its origin in these accounts, _I should
have believed them_." [1]
Mr. Paley's argument is this: The early Christians came to the world
with a miraculous story; their public ministry was founded upon the
allegation of miracles wrought within their own knowledge, and upon
narratives which could not be resolved into delusion or mistake; their
conduct really had its origin in these miraculous accounts; and in
support of their declarations they endured lives of toil, poverty,
persecution, danger and suffering; and for these reasons Mr. Paley
concludes that the religion they advocated "must be true." "These men,"
he says "could not be deceivers. By only _not_ bearing testimony they
might have avoided all these sufferings and have lived quietly. Would
men in such circumstances pretend to have seen what they never saw;
assert facts which they had no knowledge of; go about lying, to teach
virtue; and though not only convinced of Christ's being an impostor,
but having seen the success of his imposture in his crucifixion, yet
persist in carrying it on; and so persist as to bring upon themselves,
for nothing, and with a full knowledge of the consequences, enmity and
hatred, danger and death?" [2]
The world, at least that part of it called Christian, accept as
conclusive the argument of the archdeacon; and even unbelievers in
the Christian story recognize the force of his reasoning. It is my
intention to apply his argument to the new dispensation of the gospel
introduced by Joseph Smith; for if the argument tends to prove the
divinity of the mission of the ancient apostles of the church, it ought
also to prove the divinity of the mission of the apostles of the new
dispensation, provided, of course, that the same conditions exist in
the latter as in the former case. Those conditions exist in the new
dispensation, as in the old, men come to the world with a miraculous
story--a story that relates the personal appearing of God the Father,
and his Son Jesus Christ; bringing to light the record of an ancient
people and translating it by miraculous means into the English
language; and the visitation of angels to restore divine authority. The
public ministry of Joseph Smith and his associates was founded upon the
allegation of these miracles wrought within their own knowledge, and
which are of a character, as I have already said, that they can not be
resolved into delusion or mistake; their conduct really had its origin
in these miraculous accounts; and in support of their declarations they
endured lives of toil, poverty, persecution, danger and suffering. The
reader has the proof of all these statements in the preceding pages of
this work, except in regard to the last, and it is now my purpose to
furnish him proof of that.
It has already been stated how the story of the appearance of the
Father and the Son to Joseph Smith brought upon his youthful head the
wrath of the ministers of the locality where he lived; how his own name
and that of his parents were loaded with opprobrium for no other reason
than because he asserted he had seen a vision.
Persecution and annoyance increased when it was noised abroad that he
had the plates from which he translated the Book of Mormon.
Soon after the church was organized there were a number of vexatious
law suits growing out of charges against him for setting the country in
an uproar by preaching the Book of Mormon.
In March, 1832, the prophet's house was broken into in the night. He
was dragged from his bed into an adjacent field, where the mob beat
him in the most inhuman and brutal manner. His body was bruised and
lacerated from head to foot. He was be-smeared all over with tar and
covered with feathers. At the same time Sidney Rigdon, who was now
connected with him in the ministry, was similarly treated. During the
night the friends of the prophet removed the tar and cleansed his body,
and the next day (Sunday), scarred and bruised as he was, he preached
to the people and baptized three persons.
By the year 1833 a large number of Saints had settled in Jackson
County, in the western part of Missouri, that place being pointed out
by revelation as the location of a great city to be called Zion. In
November of the year above named the inhabitants of Jackson County rose
against the church in that land and drove some twelve hundred men,
women and children from their homes into the wilderness, where they
lay exposed to the inclemency of the season, which in that latitude is
very severe. In the course of the troubles a number of the Saints were
killed, and others died from exposure. Two hundred and three houses
and one grist mill were burned down. A printing press was destroyed, a
store owned by members of the church looted, and much other property
destroyed. These troubles arose from the fact of the Saints accepting
the testimony of Joseph Smith concerning the miraculous events by which
the new dispensation of the gospel was introduced. [3]
When Joseph Smith learned of the expulsion of his followers from
Missouri he immediately organized a company and gathered together
clothing and provisions to go to their relief; and, if possible,
restore them to the lands from which they had been driven. This company
in Mormon history is known as Zion's camp. During that journey from
Ohio to Western Missouri many dangers were braved, many hardships
encountered, much toil and sickness experienced. As the only assurance
of assistance which could be obtained from the governor of Missouri was
of a nature to invite more bloodshed, [4] the company called Zion's
Camp disbanded.
The exiled Saints subsequently settled some fifty or sixty miles
north of Jackson County, and organized Caldwell County, where they
were joined by large numbers of their co-religionists from the East.
Joseph Smith also settled with them. The religious intolerance of
their neighbors, however, gave them no peace, and in the fall and
winter of 1838 the whole state of Missouri arose against the church
and expelled some twelve thousand peaceful and law-abiding United
States citizens from their homes solely on account of their religious
views. Joseph Smith, under circumstances of great cruelty, was torn
from his family and friends, and with a number of his prominent
brethren was thrust into prison where they remained for six months
awaiting trial, while their families and the church in the midst of
great suffering--hunger, cold and nakedness--the greater part of their
property destroyed--were driven from the State. Recognizing their
inability to prove aught against the prophet and his fellow-prisoners,
after six months' incarceration, while moving them from one part of the
State to another, their guards, evidently through an understanding with
the judges--connived at their escape. After enduring many hardships
the prophet rejoined his family and the church in Illinois, where the
Saints were then settling.
During his residence in Illinois the prophet's life was one continual
course of toil, excitement, sickness, and danger. Old foes and false
friends were well-nigh constantly seeking to entrap him. New schemes
were constantly hatching to destroy him. During his career some fifty
times he was dragged before the tribunals of his country and as many
times were the judges compelled to dismiss him. While living in
Illinois an effort was made to kidnap him and take him to Missouri
among his old enemies. In the midst of these persecutions he was
constantly preaching, translating, or completing the organization of
the church--setting in order the various quorums of the Priesthood
and instructing them in their duties. He endured poverty and hardship
throughout the greater part of his career and scarcely knew what it was
to enjoy peace--save that God-given peace that comes from within; and
which, however great the tempest from without may be, gives serenity
and joy unspeakable to the servants and prophets of God.
At last, after a life of continual warfare with error; after enduring
untold toil and persecution, illegal prosecutions and mob violence,
hardships and suffering--wicked men conspired against him, and while in
the charge of the officers of the State of Illinois, with the honor of
the great state pledged through the governor for his protection, he was
murdered in cold blood for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus,
in the thirty-ninth year of his age.
Counting from the time that he received his first vision, when a lad
of fourteen years, he stood a witness for God a little less than a
quarter of a century; but in that short time he suffered more and
accomplished more than has fallen to the lot of any other man to suffer
and accomplish since the Son of God expired on the summit of Golgotha.
Not only did Joseph Smith thus endure a life of toil, poverty,
persecution, danger and suffering in support of the miraculous accounts
in which his public ministry had its origin; but many of his followers
(some of them also witnesses of the miraculous events which brought
into existence the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) spent
their lives in the same way. The first Elders of the church shared
Joseph Smith's toils, mobbings, imprisonment, poverty, danger and
exile; and some, while engaged in the ministry, even in later years
have suffered death by violence [5] for testifying to the truth of
the miraculous story in which the church had its origin. The servants
of God have traveled in nearly all the nations of Europe; through the
states of North America; and among the peoples of the Pacific Islands.
They have usually gone without purse or scrip, and always without
remuneration. They have sacrificed their business and professional
interests, together with the associations of home and family that
they might preach the gospel newly restored to the earth, through the
ministration of angels to Joseph Smith. In telling the miraculous story
in which the new dispensation had its birth, they have "found leopards
and lions in the path," and "have made abundant acquaintance with the
hungry wolf, that with privy paw devoured apace and nothing said;" but
the have kept right on in the work God called them to perform; and have
endured toils and privations which even those of the ancient apostles
do not surpass. Amid the ridicule of the learned, the indifference
of the rich and the great, and the violence of the rabble they have
faithfully borne witness to the truth of the miraculous restoration
of the gospel in these last days, until the whole world is acquainted
with the story; and in their ministry they have given as much evidence
of the divinity of the message they proclaim to the world as ever the
apostles and elders of the ancient Christian church did by their lives
of self-denial, of toil, exertion, danger and suffering.
These labors they continued after the death of their prophet leader;
and I may say of them what Mr. Paley says of the first Christian
ministers--only slightly paraphrasing his words: These men could
not be deceivers. By only _not_ bearing testimony they might have
avoided all these sufferings and have lived quietly. Would men in such
circumstances pretend to have seen what they never saw; assert facts
which they had no knowledge of; go about lying, to teach virtue; and
though not only convinced of Joseph Smith's being an impostor but
having seen the success of his imposture in his martyrdom, yet persist
in carrying it on; and so persist, as to bring upon their own heads,
for nothing, and with a full knowledge of the consequences, enmity and
hatred, danger and death?
The conditions demanded in Mr. Paley's argument all exist in the
experience of the ministry of the new dispensation of the gospel,
and if the same weight be given the argument in the case of this
dispensation as is accorded to it when employed to prove the truth
of the Christian story as told by the ancient apostles and elders,
the divinity of the mission of Joseph Smith is proven beyond all
controversy.
Mr. Paley, continuing his argument under the head I have been
discussing, says that his belief in the miraculous story told by
men who had on account of it endured lives of toil and exertion, of
danger and suffering, would be very much increased "If the subject of
the mission were of importance to the conduct and happiness of human
life; if it testified of anything which it behoved mankind to know
from such authority; if the nature of what was delivered, required
the sort of proof which it alleged; if the occasion was adequate to
the interposition, the end worthy of the means. In the last case my
faith would be much confirmed, if the effects of the transaction
remained; more especially, if a change had been wrought, at the time
in the opinion and conduct of such members, as to lay the foundation
of an institution, and of a system of doctrines, which had since
overspread the greatest part of the civilized world." [6] In the new
dispensation of the gospel all these additional circumstances which
Mr. Paley finds in the old dispensation of Christianity, exist; so
that there is nothing wanting to justify the complete appropriation of
this time-honored Christian argument to the divinity of Joseph Smith's
mission. Let me point this out:
First: _The subject of the mission must be of importance to the conduct
and happiness of human life._ This is true of the message with which
Joseph Smith came to the world, since it cries repentance to all men,
warns them of the approaching judgments of God, and calls upon them to
worship God who created heaven and earth. If such a message is not a
subject of importance "to the conduct and happiness of human life" what
message could be? This message was surely of such importance since the
acceptance or rejection of it would affect the condition of men in time
and in eternity.
Second, _it must testify of that which it behoves mankind to know
from such authority._ This the message brought to the world by Joseph
Smith does, for it proclaims first, that the gospel together with the
authority to administer its ordinances had been taken from among men;
and second, that this same gospel and authority had been restored by
a new revelation, the only way it could be re-established when once
taken from the earth. I take it that it behooves mankind to know of
such a great transaction as this from "such authority"--that is, divine
authority.
Third, _the nature of what is delivered must require the sort of proof
which is alleged._ This the new dispensation does; for claiming to be
a revelation from God it requires just the same kind of testimony that
the old Christian dispensation did--the testimony of suffering and
toil on the part of those who receive it, and especially upon the part
of those who enter its ministry. It may be remarked in passing that
the new dispensation is just as worthy of such testimony as the old
Christian dispensation.
Fourth, _the occasion must be adequate to the divine interposition--the
end worthy of the means._ This is true of the new dispensation since
restoring the gospel to the earth after its absence for many centuries,
is not only an occasion worthy of the interposition but the only
way in which the plan of salvation could be restored. To make such
a restoration to the human race was surely an end worthy of such
means--that is, worthy of a revelation.
Fifth, _the effects of the original transaction must remain._ This
is true of the new dispensation as the religious faith at the first
promulgated by Joseph Smith and his associates is still in the earth,
and the circle of its influence is constantly widening.
Sixth, _a change must be wrought at the time of the transaction in the
opinion and conduct of such members as to lay the foundation of an
institution, and of a system of doctrines which have since overspread
the greatest part of the civilized world._ This condition also the
new dispensation fulfills. That is, a change was wrought at the time,
and by the means of the introduction of the new dispensation in the
opinions and conduct of a sufficient number to lay the foundation of
an institution, and of a system of doctrines which has since spread
throughout the greater part of the civilized world. I do not mean to
say by the last part of the statement that the new dispensation has
been accepted as true throughout the greater part of the civilized
world; but I do mean to say that a knowledge of it has since overspread
civilized nations; and that it has drawn to itself as great a number
of disciples as Christianity did in the first sixty-three years of
its existence. The change wrought in the opinions of those who have
accepted the testimony of Joseph Smith was quite as radical as that
which came to those who accepted the gospel in the first century of
Christianity. From believing that the volume of scripture was completed
and closed, and that the Bible contained all that had been revealed to
man, they turned to the belief that it contained but a few fragments of
the revelations of God and accepted a new volume of scripture received
and preserved by the people of the Western Hemisphere. From believing
that the ministrations of angels had forever ceased, they turned to
the belief that a number of angels had ministered to Joseph Smith,
and that in the future the visitation of angels to men would be still
more frequent. From believing that the spiritual graces and gifts of
the gospel were no more to be expected, they turned to the belief
that these blessings so abundantly enjoyed in the primitive Christian
church could also be possessed by them. They consequently sought
for and according to a volume of testimony that cannot be rejected,
they enjoyed the spiritual gifts of healing the sick, speaking in
tongues, interpretation of tongues, discernment of spirits, prophecy,
revelation, etc.; and sought a closer walk with God, and read and
practiced the moral law of the gospel more strictly.
Thus, as in the testimony of toil and suffering on the part of those
who came with the new faith--or the old faith renewed--there is nothing
wanting in these supplemental conditions which, in Archdeacon Paley's
opinion, adds to the weight of the testimony of toil and suffering.
Every condition in his argument for the truth of the old dispensation
of Christianity is met in the circumstance in the midst of which the
new dispensation of Christianity came into existence; and I claim for
the latter all the force that has been demanded for this argument when
applied to the former. The argument is the Archdeacon's, not mine;
but finding the conditions existing in the new dispensation that Mr.
Paley claims existed when the old was brought forth, I merely apply the
argument to the new; and throw the weight of Mr. Paley's reputation for
logic and force of statement into the support of the divinity of Joseph
Smith's mission.
Footnotes
1. Paley's View of the Evidences of Christianity, Proposition II.,
chap. i.
2. Paley's Evidences, Proposition I., ch. x.
3. Wight's Affidavit, _Times and Seasons_ for 1843, p. 26. The writer
for want of space cannot introduce the testimony to support these
several statements, nor indeed is it necessary; for the injustice and
cruelty of the conduct of the people of Missouri and Illinois against
the Latter-day Saints are universally conceded; as is also the fact
that these cruelties grew out of the prejudice existing against the
religion professed by the Saints. Those desiring information on the
subject may consult the writer's History of The Missouri Persecutions
and the Rise and Fall of Nauvoo.
4. The governor recognized the right of the people to be returned to
their lands, and agreed to call out the militia to accomplish that
object; but held that he had no authority to keep a force in Jackson
County to protect them from the mob. As to go back to their lands
under such circumstances would only be inviting another expulsion--the
saints not being sufficiently strong to hold their possessions against
the invasions of the mob--the attempt to re-instate the exiles was
abandoned.
5. As late as August, 1884, two Elders while in the act of beginning
religious service, on Sunday, in the state of Tennessee, were murdered
by a mob; two young men, members of the Church, were also killed, and
an aged woman, a member of the Church, savagely wounded.
6. Paley's Evidences, Proposition II., ch. i.