FIRST MISSION OF THE TWELVE--HEBER REVISITS THE SCENES OF HIS
CHILDHOOD--MOBBING AN ABOLITIONIST--"THE ACCUSER OF THE
BRETHREN"--DAYS OF REPENTANCE AND REFORMATION.
The Apostles started on their first mission, May 4th, 1835. They
traveled through the eastern states and Upper Canada, preaching,
baptizing, setting in order the branches of the Church, counseling the
Saints to gather westward, and collecting means for the purchase of
lands in Missouri and the completion of the Lord's House in Kirtland.
Like the Apostles anciently, they went forth two by two, traveling
"without purse or scrip," and preaching by the way. Heber's first
companion was William Smith, brother to the Prophet.
Separating at Dunkirk, New York, on the 5th of May, the Apostles met
in conference on the 9th, at Westfield, Chautauqua County. Here they
sat in council upon the first case brought before them for
adjudication. A local traveling Elder named Joseph Rose had been
teaching erroneous doctrine and perverting the word of God, in that he
spiritualized the literal promise of the Savior; that before His
second coming the sun should be darkened and the moon turned to blood.
Rose asserted that the Jewish church was the sun, darkened, and the
Gentile church, the moon, which should be turned to blood. He was
shown his error and reproved sharply, whereupon he humbly acknowledged
his fault.
At Mendon, his former home, Heber and his companion, Elder Orson Hyde,
were confronted by a Baptist priest named Fulton, who withstood them
harshly. Says Heber: "He called us false prophets, and, rejecting our
testimony, advised us to go home. We declared unto him that we should
go forth preaching the Gospel, and no power should stay us. I told him
if he did not repent of his sins and be baptized for the remission of
them, he would be damned; which made him angry. We then passed on
until we came to a pure stream of water, and there cleansed our feet,
bearing testimony against him, as the Lord commanded."
At the Lyonstown conference, on the 6th of June, it was Heber's turn
to preside; the Twelve having been instructed by the Prophet to
preside in turn at their meetings according to their ages. From here
Elder Kimball traveled in company with Elder Luke Johnson towards
Pillowpoint, the place of the next conference. In the town of Rose
they were cordially received, but in Hewton were turned away from
twelve houses, where they had solicited entertainment. At midnight
they put up at an inn, retiring supperless to bed, as they had but one
shilling with which to pay for their lodging. A walk of six miles
before breakfast next morning brought them to Esquire David
Ellsworth's where they were warmly welcomed and hospitably
entertained. The Apostles blessed the kind souls who thus administered
to their wants, and who, on bidding them farewell, gave them money,
wished them God-speed and wept at their departure. About one year
later the whole family embraced the Gospel.
At Pillowpoint, Jefferson County, a conference was held on the 19th of
June. Here the council tried John Elmer, a member of the Church, for
holding views and doctrines opposed to the principles of truth. "When
called upon, he stated that he had had many visions and revelations,
and that the Lord had revealed to him of a certainty that He would
make His second appearance within fifteen years; also that the Spirit
of God often came upon him and threw him down, and caused him to
disfigure himself, or die the death of the righteous, or of the
wicked, and then come to life again in the presence of others, to
convince them that he was a man of God and had great power. He also
stated that in one of his visions the Lord Jesus appeared personally
and laid His hands upon him and sanctified him, both soul and body,
and that he was now immortal or changed, so that he would never die.
He stated that he could hold red-hot iron or live coals of fire in his
hands without receiving any injury; together with other curious
notions and vagaries, ascribing them all to the power of God; and that
he never would deny them, although the Council and whole Church should
decide against him. The Council endeavored to show him that he was
deceived by the adversary, but to no effect. He said he would rather
be expelled from the Church than give up any of his views or say they
were not of God. Consequently the Church lifted their hands against
him."
While at Sackett's Harbor, Heber received a letter from his wife,
apprising him of the birth of his son, Heber P., at Kirtland, on the
1st of June. His joy found vent in a characteristic burst of humor. He
propounded the following riddle to the brethren: "I have three
children now, and have not seen one of them." This was quite a puzzle
to them, until he explained that the _one_ he referred to was the
infant born since he left home.
He next visited his native state, Vermont, and remained several days
among the scenes of his childhood, visiting and preaching to his
relatives and acquaintances, and wherever opportunity arose. Some
believed, but did not obey the Gospel. A false prophet named Davison
had gone through the country some time before, deceiving the people
with pretended miracles. They were therefore prejudiced against the
true faith, with its new and strange promises of spiritual gifts and
blessings.
Crossing over the Green Mountains, taking a bypath through a lonely
and densely timbered wilderness, his only companions the wild animals
and screech-owls inhabiting those solitudes, he arrived at St.
Johnsbury, and met in council with his brethren on the 17th of July.
They held their meetings in a large barn belonging to a Mr. Snow. It
was in this neighborhood that the Snow, Farr, Badger and Bingham
families embraced the Gospel. Apostle Erastus Snow was born at St.
Johnsbury, November 9th, 1818.
With sore and blistered feet, Heber now traveled alone down the
Connecticut river into New Hampshire, visiting the town of Plainfield,
where his mother was born. He met with considerable opposition, even
among his own kindred. At Bradford the Twelve sat in council and tried
Elder Gladden Bishop for teaching false doctrine. He was suspended
from fellowship. Heber next visited Boston, in company with Apostles
Thomas B. Marsh and Brigham Young, and after spending several days
with the Saints in that city, where each was presented with a new suit
of clothes by Sisters Fanny Brewer, Polly Voce and others, they went
northward to the state of Maine. On the way they stopped at Dover, and
were shown through a large cotton factory, the work-hands all
suspending operations and gazing with much curiosity at the "Mormon
Apostles."
The last conference of the year 1835 was held at Farmington, Maine, on
the 28th of August. Having fulfilled their mission, the Apostles
agreed to return to Kirtland, and separated with that understanding,
after appointing a day and hour to meet upon the steamboat wharf in
Buffalo.
At Concord, New Hampshire, under date of September 3rd, Heber writes
thus in his journal: "Here I understood an Abolitionist named Davis
was going to deliver a lecture at the Court House. I went with the
other stage passengers to hear his principles. After waiting some time
for the gentleman, instead of seeing his person as we anticipated, we
beheld an uproar among the people, and our ears were saluted with the
howls of three or four hundred demons in human shape who were in
search of the Abolitionist; and not finding him in the State House, or
streets, they commenced demolishing a building and searching others.
After a little while the peace officers prevailed on them to desist.
They then prepared an effigy, which they carried through the streets
on a rail for some time; then forming an assembly before the State
House, had an oration delivered on the subject and burned the effigy,
while the men of the city dared not open their mouths or say ought to
them. They then went to a place where they had three pieces of cannon,
which they continued firing until daylight. This was a night of
peculiar feeling; reflecting upon the night when my brethren were
driven from their homes in Jackson County, Missouri, by a similar mob,
and also considering that the time might come when I might fall into
the hands of a like band of ruffians, my cry to the Lord was, Save the
man from the hands of these foul monsters. There was such an uproar in
the city next morning, that it took five men to hold the horses while
the passengers got into the stage. This man was one of the first
lecturers on Abolitionism in that country, and it was then very
unpopular."
At Plainfield, Heber tarried two days with his cousin, Charles
Spaulding, in the house where his mother was born and reared. From him
he received a legacy of seven dollars, left him by his aunt, Speedy
Spaulding, who had died a short time before. This money enabled him to
pursue his journey. By way of Albany, New York, Palmyra and the hill
Cumorah, he proceeded to Canandaigua, where lived his sister Melvina
(Mrs. James M. Wheeler) and to Byron, the home of his sister Abigail
(Mrs. Jesse Mum). Thence he rode on to Buffalo, the stage arriving
just one hour ahead of the appointed time. His brethren, the Apostles,
were all there awaiting him.
Taking passage on board the steamer "United States," they had gone as
far as Dunkirk when the vessel struck a rock and sprung a leak. She
made for Erie, but reached there with difficulty, being obliged to run
upon a sand-bar to keep from sinking. Hailing a passing boat, the
Apostles left the disabled steamer, and on board the other arrived at
Fairport, from which point they had sailed nearly five months before.
Here they hired wagons and drove on to Kirtland, reaching home on the
25th of September.
While the Apostles were absent upon this mission, the "accuser of the
brethren" had been busy sowing discord, with a view to causing
coldness and estrangement between the First Presidency and the Twelve.
Two of the Apostles, Orson Hyde and William E. McLellin, had been
suspended during their absence and called home for trial, and, so
great was the influence brought to bear by misrepresentation upon the
minds of the Presidency, they had been led to mistrust the fidelity of
others.
The charge against Elders Hyde and McLellin was for speaking and
writing disrespectfully of President Rigdon, in his manner of
conducting the Kirtland school. The charge was substantiated, and the
brethren confessed their fault and were restored to fellowship.
The accusations against the Twelve were more serious. It was said that
they had sought to be independent of the presiding quorum of the
Church, and had failed to fulfill their mission, in not preaching, at
the Freedom conference, the gathering to Zion, or the collection of
means for the Kirtland Temple and the purchase of lands in Missouri.
Both charges were proved to be groundless.
At the council, where the Apostles laid their grievances before the
Presidency, and "all things were reconciled," the Prophet Joseph, it
is said, made a covenant with the Twelve that never again would he
entertain a charge against them on one-sided testimony, or pass
judgment upon them even in thought, without first giving them an
opportunity of being heard in their own defense.
If this noble, just, and charitable resolve had always been adhered to
by the Saints of God, in whom, if in any people, such a principle
should find its exponents and exemplars, how many bitter
heart-burnings might have been spared; how many reputations remained
unblasted, enmities unaroused, wounds uninfected! Had the idle gossip,
the malicious slanderer, the toadying, truckling tale-bearer, who
oscillates, pendulum-like, between man and man, seeking occasion
against his brother, making him "an offender for a word," coloring all
he hears, and pouring into oft too willing ears his insidious tale of
derogations and detractions;--had such characters invariably been
required to face those whom they accused and to prove their
assertions, who can say that the cause of Zion, the unity and
purification of God's people, would not have been subserved rather
than injured thereby? Are we not too prone to heed the tale-bearer,
the secret enemy, who, striking unawares with "the shaft that flies in
darkness," perchance seeks to build up his own, upon the ruins of his
brother's reputation; and too slow to remember justice and the law of
God--that in the mouths of two or three witnesses, and these not
enemies of the accused, shall every word be established?
Well might Solomon say, and well may it be believed, that among the
things which "the Lord doth hate," are "a false witness that speaketh
lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren."
The men who had caused the trouble between the Presidency and the
Apostles, or those whom Heber held responsible, were Warren Cowdery,
Jared Carter and others, who, using Oliver Cowdery and other
influential Elders near the person of the Prophet, as conduits of
their ill-will, wrought injury to their brethren who were far away,
unable, because absent, to defend themselves.
"I will here remark," says Heber, "that every individual who used an
influence against the Twelve on their mission, apostatized and went
out of the Church; and this should remain an everlasting warning to
all others. In those days there was a continual itching in certain
individuals to destroy the union existing between the Twelve and the
First Presidency, and the union in the First Presidency, which thing
they did at last effect, which broke up the Church for a time; for
Oliver Cowdery, Warren Cowdery, Jared Carter, Frederick G. Williams,
and six of the Twelve became disaffected, and turned against Joseph
and those of the Twelve who sustained him."
As, in the end, good comes of evil, and from the compost-heap springs
forth the flower of fragrance and beauty, so from the unhappy event
related, issued good and glad results. From the time the
reconciliation took place between the Presidency and the Twelve, a
reformation commenced in the Church. "Those meetings," says Heber, "of
humiliation, repentance, and confessing of sins, were truly the
beginning of good days to us, and they continued through the
endowment."