THE FISHING RIVER REVELATION--WHY ZION WAS NOT REDEEMED--THE CHOLERA
IN CAMP--THE TEST OF FAITH COMPLETE--THE SHADOW OF A COMING EVENT.
Here, while the Camp rested on Fishing River, the Lord made further
known His will concerning the redemption of Zion. The revelation was
given on the 22nd of June, the same day that the Prophet repeated his
warning in relation to the coming scourge. The points most pertinent
to our narrative are here given:
"Behold I say unto you, were it not for the transgressions of my
people, speaking concerning the church and not individuals, they
might have been redeemed even now;
"But behold, they have not learned to be obedient to the things
which I required at their hands, but are full of all manner of
evil, and do not impart of their substance, as becometh saints, to
the poor and afflicted among them,
"And are not united according to the union required by the law of
the celestial kingdom;
"And Zion cannot be built up unless it is by the principles of the
law of the celestial kingdom, otherwise I cannot receive her unto
myself.
"And my people must needs be chastened until they learn obedience,
if it must needs be, by the things which they suffer. * * * * * *
"Therefore, in consequence of the transgression of my people, it
is expedient in me that mine elders should wait for a little
season for the redemption of Zion. * *
"But inasmuch as there are those who have hearkened unto my words,
I have prepared a blessing and an endowment for them, if they
continue faithful. * * *
"I have heard their prayers, and will accept their offering; and
it is expedient in me, that they should be brought thus far for a
trial of their faith."
Those who had families in the east were then told that they might
return, while the rest were required to remain in Missouri. The Saints
were instructed to observe wisdom and humility, and "lift up an ensign
of peace" to their enemies and to all the world, while awaiting the
day of God's power and of Zion's redemption.
The real purpose of the Almighty in relation to this important event
was foreshadowed in a revelation given February 24th, 1834, the one
calling for the organization of Zion's Camp. Therein the Lord says:
"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 by power, and with a
stretched out arm:
"And as your fathers were led at the first, even so shall the
redemption of Zion be."
While there is no doubt that, had the Lord's people been prepared,
they might have been redeemed according to His word, it is also
evident that the times were not then ripe for that event. This will be
shown more plainly as we proceed.
Continuing his narrative, Heber says;
"On Monday, June 23rd, a council of high priests met, according to
revelation, to choose some of the first Elders to receive their
endowments; being appointed by the voice of the spirit, through Joseph
Smith the Prophet. Edward Partridge was called and chosen to go to
Kirtland and receive his endowments, with power from on high, and to
also stand in his office as a bishop to purchase land in Missouri.
Also W. W. Phelps, Isaac Morley, John Whitmer, David Whitmer, Algernon
S. Gilbert, Peter Whitmer, Simeon Carter, Newel Knight, Thomas B.
Marsh, Lyman Wight, Parley P. Pratt, Christian Whitmer, and Solomon
Hancock were severally called and chosen to receive their endowments
in Kirtland with power from on high.
"On the morning of the 24th we started for Liberty, Clay County, where
our brethren were residing who had been driven from Jackson County,
taking our course round the head of Fishing River, in consequence of
high water. When we got within five or six miles of Liberty, General
Atchison and several other gentlemen met us, desiring that we would
not go to Liberty, as the feelings of the people in that place were
much enraged against us. Changing our course and bearing to the left,
we pursued our way across a prairie; then passing through a wood we
came to Brother Sidney Gilbert's where we camped on the bottom of Rush
Creek, in a field belonging to Brother Burgett.
"The destroyer came upon us as we had been warned by the servant of
God. About 12 o'clock at night we began to hear the cries of those who
had been seized. Even those on guard fell with their guns in their
hands, and we had to exert ourselves considerably to attend to the
sick, for they were stricken down on every hand. Thus it continued
until morning when the camp was separated into several little bands,
and dispersed among the brethren.
"I was left at the Camp in company with Joseph B. Noble, John D.
Parker, Luke Johnson and Warren Ingalls, in care of those who were
sick. We stayed with, and prayed for them, hoping they would recover,
but all hope was lost, for about six o'clock in the morning John S.
Carter expired. When the cholera first broke out he was the first who
came forward to rebuke it; when he was immediately seized by it, and
was the first to die. In about thirty minutes after Seth Hitchcock
died, and it seemed as though we must all sink under the power of the
destroyer.
"We were not able to obtain lumber to make them coffins, but were
under the necessity of rolling them up in their blankets and burying
them in that manner. We placed them on a sled, which was drawn by a
horse about half a mile, and buried them in a little bluff by the side
of a small branch of Rush Creek. This was accomplished by dark. Our
hopes were that no more would die, but while we were uniting in prayer
with uplifted hands to God, we looked at our beloved brother, Eber
Wilcox, who was gasping his last. At this scene my feelings were
beyond expression. Those only who witnessed it can realize anything of
the extent of our sufferings; and I felt to weep and pray to the Lord,
that he would spare my life that I might behold my dear family again.
I felt to covenant with my brethren and my God never to commit another
sin while I lived. We felt to sit and weep over our brethren, and so
great was our grief that we could have washed them with our tears. To
realize that they had traveled a thousand miles through so much
fatigue to lay down their lives for their brethren, increased our love
for them.
"Brothers Brigham and Joseph Young came from Liberty and assisted us
to bury Brother Wilcox. Their presence gave us much consolation. About
12 o'clock at night we placed Brother Wilcox on a small sled which we
drew to the place of interment with one hand on the rope and the other
bearing our firelocks for defense. While two were digging the grave
the others stood with their arms to defend them.
"While Brother Luke Johnson was digging, the cholera attacked him with
cramping and blindness. Brother Brigham laid hold of him and pulled
him out of the grave, and shook him about, talked to and prayed for
him, and exhorted him to jump about and exercise himself, when it
would leave him for a few moments, then it would attack him again; and
thus we had the greatest difficulty to keep the destroyer from laying
us low. Soon after we returned another brother was taken from our
little band; thus it continued until five out of ten were taken away.
"After burying these five brethren I was seized by the hand of the
destroyer, as I went in the woods to pray. I was instantly struck
blind, and saw no way whereby I could free myself from the disease,
only by jumping and thrashing myself about, until my sight returned to
me and my blood began to circulate in my veins. I started and ran some
distance, and by this means, through the help of God, I was enabled to
extricate myself from the grasp of death. This circumstance took place
in a piece of woods behind Brother Gilbert's house.
"On the 26th Algernon Sidney Gilbert, keeper of the Lord's storehouse,
signed a letter to the governor, in connection with others, which was
his last public act, for he had been called to preach and he said he
would rather die than go forth and preach the Gospel to the wicked
Gentile nations. The Lord took him at his word; he was attacked with
the cholera and died about the 29th.
"Brothers Erastus Budd and Jesse Johnson Smith, a cousin of the
Prophet, died at Brother Gilbert's about the same time.
"While we were here, the brethren being in want of some refreshment,
Brother Luke Johnson went to Brother Burgett to get a fowl, asking him
for one to make a broth for Elder Wilcox and others; but Brother
Burgett denied him it, saying, 'In a few days we expect to return back
into Jackson County, and I shall want them when I get there.' When
Brother Johnson returned he was so angry at Burgett for refusing him,
he said, 'I have a great mind to take my rifle and go back and shoot
his horse.' I told Luke to never mind; that such actions never fail to
bring their reward.
"Judge how we felt, after having left the society of our beloved
families, taking our lives in our hands and traveling about one
thousand miles through scenes of suffering and sorrow, for the benefit
of our brethren, and after all to be denied of a small fowl to make a
little soup for brethren in the agonies of death. Such things never
fail to bring their reward, and it would be well for the Saints never
to turn away a brother who is penniless and in want, or a stranger,
lest they may one day or other want a friend themselves.
"I went to Liberty, to the house of Brother Peter Whitmer, which place
I reached with difficulty, being much afflicted with the disease that
was among us. I stayed there until my return home, receiving great
kindness at the hands of the brethren.
"The destroyer having afflicted us four days, ceased. Sixty-eight were
attacked by the disease, of which number fourteen members of Zion's
Camp died.
"June 30th I started for home in company with Lyman Sherman, Sylvester
Smith, Alexander Badlam, Harrison Burgess, Luke Johnson and Zera Cole.
They elected me their captain.
"We proceeded on our journey daily, the Lord blessing us with strength
and health. The weather was very hot, but we traveled from thirty-five
to forty miles a day, until about the 26th of July, when we arrived in
Kirtland; having been gone from home about three months, during which
time, with the exception of four nights, I slept on the ground.
"On my arrival home I found my family well, and I felt to rejoice in
the Lord that He had preserved my life through so many dangers.
Concluding that I had finished my mission to which the Lord had called
me, after resting a few days, I established my pottery and began
business."
Thus ended that remarkable expedition; remarkable for its object, for
the issues involved, for its tragic episodes, examples of heroism and
miraculous manifestations of divine power. What had it achieved? some
may ask. Nay, might not many be tempted to query, Was not the mission
of Zion's Camp a failure?
"What have you accomplished?" was the sneering taunt of the apostate
and of those weak in faith, met by the remnant of the little band on
their return to Kirtland. "Just what we went for;" the meek, though
firm reply of such men as Heber C. Kimball and Brigham Young.
And they were right. To them it was no failure. The trial of their
faith was complete. Their offering, like Abraham's, had been accepted.
They had been weighed in the eternal balance, and were not found
wanting.
But what of Zion and her redemption?
Let the word of the Lord, the God of Enoch, the God of Joseph give
answer:
"THE REDEMPTION OF ZION MUST NEEDS COME BY POWER."
Power dwells in unity, not in discord; in humility, not pride; in
sacrifice, not selfishness; obedience, not rebellion.
Zion's Camp, if it failed at all in fulfilling its mission, failed for
precisely similar reasons to those which had caused the expulsion of
the Saints from Jackson County; reasons which, in ancient times, kept
Israel wandering for forty years in the wilderness, within sight of
their coveted Canaan, which they were not permitted in that generation
to possess. Like Moses, these modern pilgrims beheld, as from Pisgah's
top, their promised land: like Moses, on account of transgression,
they were not permitted to "cross over." No doubt there were Calebs
and Joshuas in the Camp, who were worthy. But the great event, in the
wisdom of the Highest, was not then destined to be.
It was left for a future generation and its Joshua to go up in the
might of the Lord and redeem Zion.
Yet not alone upon Zion's Camp must rest the responsibility of their
failure to redeem Zion. It bears with at least equal weight upon those
whom they came to succor.
What said the Lord concerning them?
"Behold, they have not learned to be obedient, * * * but are full
of all manner of evil, and do not impart of their substance, as
becometh Saints, to the poor and afflicted among them."
Is not the episode of the fowl, related by Heber, a tell-tale straw
before the wind in this connection? Can a people honey-combed with
selfishness build up Zion?
"And are not united according to the union required by the law of
the celestial kingdom;"--
Again that injunction of unity, the secret of Zion's redemption.
"Except ye are one ye are not mine."
"And Zion cannot be built up unless it is by the principles of the
law of the celestial kingdom, otherwise I cannot receive her unto
myself."
Wonderful revealing, this. What is it but to say that the United
Order, the Order of Enoch, the Order of Zion, is the order of the
celestial worlds, where the Gods, a divine brotherhood, have "all
things common?"
"Therefore it is expedient in me that mine elders should wait for
a little season, for the redemption of Zion."
Is it marvelous that this should be; that a work of such magnitude
should require preparation; that Zion, city of holiness, should be
built up only by the pure in heart? Ah, reader, the redemption of Zion
is more than the purchase or recovery of lands, the building of
cities, or even the founding of nations. It is the conquest of the
heart, the subjugation of the soul, the sanctifying of the flesh, the
purifying and ennobling of the passions. Greater is he who subdues
himself, who captures and maintains the citadel of his own soul, than
he who, misnamed conqueror, fills the world with the roar of drums,
the thunder of cannon, the lightning of swords and bayonets, overturns
and sets up kingdoms, lives and reigns a king, yet wears to the grave
the fetters of unbridled lust, and dies the slave of sin.
In her children's hearts must Zion first be built up and redeemed;
"every man seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all things
with an eye single to the glory of God." When the fig-tree of Israel's
faith puts forth such leaves, then know that the summer is nigh.
"And this cannot be brought to pass, until mine elders are endowed
with power from on high."
And yet were these same elders, unendowed, sent forth to redeem Zion?
Surely the Lord did not design it then to be. Else, would he not have
endowed them before-hand? This admitted, and what becomes of their
"failure?"
Ah, there are many such failures in a sublime success. They are but
steps in the stairway of triumph and victory.
What did Zion's Camp achieve? It cast the shadow of a coming event;
struck the spark that shall kindle to a flame; fixed on the horizon of
history a shining star, the herald of a glory yet to come.