LITERAL APPLICATION OF CHRIST'S COMMAND--THE SAINTS LEAVE FATHER AND
MOTHER, HOME AND FRIENDS, TO GATHER TO ZION--MRS. WILLIAM STAINES--HER
EARLY LIFE AND EXPERIENCE--A MIDNIGHT BAPTISM IN MIDWINTER--FAREWELL TO
HOME AND EVERY FRIEND--INCIDENTS OF THE JOURNEY TO NAUVOO.
How characteristic the following gospel passages! How well and
literally have they been applied in the history and experience of the
Latter-day Saints:
"He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me;
and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of
me.
"And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not
worthy of me.
"He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his
life for my sake, shall find it.
"And every one that has forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters,
or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's
sake, shall receive a hundred fold, and shall inherit everlasting
life."
This gospel was preached by the Mormon elders with nothing of the
"spiritual" sense so acceptable to fashionable churches. Nothing of the
idealistic glamour was given to it. Most literal, indeed almost cruelly
Christian, was Mormonism here.
But it was not until the "gathering" was preached to the disciples
in Great Britain, that the full significance of such a gospel was
realized. True it was made as severe to the saints in America, through
their persecutions; especially when at length they were driven from the
borders of civilization. To the British mission, however, in the early
days, we must go for striking illustrations. A "gathering dispensation"
preached to Europe before the age of emigration had set in! At first
it startled, aye, almost appalled the disciples in Great Britain. In
those days the common people of England scarcely ever strayed ten miles
from the churchyards where had slept their kindred from generation to
generation. True the mechanic traveled in search of employment from
one manufacturing city to another, passed along by the helping hand of
trade societies; but families, as a rule, never moved. Migration was to
them an incomprehensible law, to be wondered at even in the example of
the birds who were forced by climate to migrate as the season changed.
Migrating peoples could only be understood in the examples of the Jews
or Gipseys, both of whom were looked upon as being "under the curse."
"Going to London" was the crowning event of a lifetime to even the
well-to-do townsman, a hundred miles distant from the metropolis; going
to America was like an imagined flight to the moon. At best emigration
was transportation from fatherland, and the emigration of tens of
thousands of England-loving saints was a transportation to the common
people without parallel for cruelty.
It was long before English society forgave the American elders for
preaching emigration in England. It looked upon them absolutely as the
betrayers of a confiding religious people who had already been too much
betrayed by an American delusion.
And as observed, the doctrine of emigration from native land to
America--the new world; another world in seeming--and that, too, as
a necessity to salvation, or at least to the obedience of heaven's
commands, appalled at first the very "elect." Nothing but the Holy
Ghost could dissipate the terrors of emigration.
Sister Staines shall be first chosen to personally illustrate this
subject, because of the peculiarity of her experience, and for the
reason that she is the wife of William C. Staines, himself an early
Mormon emigrant to Nauvoo, and to-day the general emigration agent of
the Church, and who, during the past fifteen years, has emigrated,
under the direction of President Young, about fifty thousand souls from
Europe. Others of the sisters will follow in this peculiar line of
Mormon history.
Priscilla Mogridge Staines was born in Widbrook, Wiltshire, England,
March 11th, 1823.
"My parents," she says, "were both English. My father's name was John
Mogridge, and my mother's maiden name was Mary Crook.
"I was brought up in the Episcopal faith from my earliest childhood, my
parents being members of the Episcopal Church. But as my mind became
matured, and I thought more about religion, I became dissatisfied with
the doctrines taught by that Church, and I prayed to God my Heavenly
Father to direct me aright, that I might know the true religion.
"Shortly after being thus concerned about my salvation, I heard
Mormonism and believed it God had sent the true gospel to me in answer
to my prayer.
"It was a great trial for a young maiden (I was only nineteen years
of age) to forsake all for the gospel--father, mother, brothers and
sisters--and to leave my childhood's home and native land, never
expecting to see it again. This was the prospect before me. The saints
were already leaving fatherland, in obedience to the doctrine of
gathering, which was preached at this time with great plainness by the
elders as an imperative command of God. We looked upon the gathering
as necessary to our salvation. Nothing of our duty in this respect was
concealed, and we were called upon to emigrate to America as soon as
the way should open, to share the fate of the saints, whatever might
come. Young as I was and alone of all my family in the faith, I was
called to take up my cross and lay my earthly all upon the altar; yet
so well satisfied was I with my new religion that I was willing to make
every sacrifice for it in order to gain my salvation and prove myself
not unworthy of the saints' reward.
"Having determined to be baptized, I resolved to at once obey the
gospel, although it was mid-winter, and the weather bitterly cold.
"It is proper to here state that baptism was a trial to the converts in
England in those days. They had to steal away, even unknown to their
friends oftentimes, and scarcely daring to tell the saints themselves
that they were about to take up the cross; and not until the ordinance
had been administered, and the Holy Ghost gave them boldness, could
they bring themselves to proclaim openly that they had cast in their
lot with the despised Mormons. Nor was this all, for generally the
elders had to administer baptism when the village was wrapt in sleep,
lest persecutors should gather a mob to disturb the solemn scene with
gibes and curses, accompanied with stones or clods of earth torn from
the river bank and hurled at the disciple and minister during the
performance of the ceremony.
"On the evening of a bitterly cold day in mid-winter, as before stated,
I walked four miles to the house of a local elder for baptism. Arriving
at his house, we waited until midnight, in order that the neighbors
might not disturb us, and then repaired to a stream of water a quarter
of a mile away. Here we found the water, as we anticipated, frozen
over, and the elder had to chop a hole in the ice large enough for
the purpose of baptism. It was a scene and an occasion I shall never
forget. Memory to-day brings back the emotions and sweet awe of that
moment. None but God and his angels, and the few witnesses who stood
on the bank with us, heard my covenant; but in the solemnity of that
midnight hour it seemed as though all nature were listening, and the
recording angel writing our words in the book of the Lord. Is it
strange that such a scene, occurring in the life of a latter-day saint,
should make an everlasting impression, as this did on mine?
"Having been thus baptized, I returned to the house in my wet and
freezing garments.
"Up to this hour, as intimated, my heart's best affection had been
centred on home, and my greatest mental struggle in obeying the gospel
had been over the thought of soon leaving that home; but no sooner
had I emerged from the water, on that night of baptism, and received
my confirmation at the water's edge, than I became filled with an
irresistible desire to join the saints who were gathering to America.
The usual confirmation words, pronounced upon my head, 'Receive ye the
gift of the Holy Ghost,' were, indeed, potent. They changed the current
of my life. This remarkable and sudden change of mind and the now
all-absorbing desire to emigrate with the saints was my first testimony
to the truth and power of the gospel.
"Shortly thereafter (December 27th, 1843), I left the home of my birth
to gather to Nauvoo. I was alone. It was a dreary winter day on which
I went to Liverpool. The company with which I was to sail were all
strangers to me. When I arrived at Liverpool and saw the ocean that
would soon roll between me and all I loved, my heart almost failed me.
But I had laid my idols all upon the altar. There was no turning back.
I remembered the words of the Saviour: 'He that leaveth not father and
mother, brother and sister, for my sake, is not worthy of me,' and I
believed his promise to those who forsook all for his sake; so I thus
alone set out for the reward of everlasting life, trusting in God.
"In company with two hundred and fifty saints I embarked on the
sailing vessel _Fanny_, and after a tedious passage of six weeks'
duration, we arrived in New Orleans. There an unexpected difficulty met
us. The steamer _Maid of Iowa_, belonging to the prophet Joseph, and on
which the company of saints had expected to ascend the Mississippi to
Nauvoo, was embargoed and lashed to the wharf. But Providence came to
our aid. A lady of fortune was in the company--a Mrs. Bennett--and out
of her private purse she not only lifted the embargo, but also fitted
out the steamer with all necessary provisions, fuel, etc., and soon the
company were again on their way.
"The journey up the river was a tedious and eventful one, consuming
five weeks of time. At nearly every stopping place the emigrants were
shamefully insulted and persecuted by the citizens. At Memphis some
villain placed a half consumed cigar under a straw mattress and other
bedding that had been laid out, aft of the ladies' cabin, to air. When
we steamed out into the river the draft, created by the motion of the
boat, soon fanned the fire into a quick flame. Fortunately I myself
discovered the fire and gave the alarm in time to have it extinguished
before it had consumed more than a portion of the adjoining woodwork.
Perhaps one minute more of delay in its discovery, and that company
of two hundred and fifty souls would have been subjected to all the
horrors and perils incident to a panic and fire on shipboard.
"At another place the pilot decided to tie up the boat at a landing
and wait for the subsiding of a furious gale that was blowing. This he
accordingly did, and let off steam, thinking to remain there over night.
In the meantime a mob gathered. We were Mormons. Too often had mobs
shown that the property of Mormons might be destroyed with impunity,
in the most lawless manner, and their lives taken by the most horrible
means. Had that boat been consumed by fire, 'twould, have been but a
pleasing sensation, seeing that it belonged to the Mormon prophet; and
the two hundred and fifty men, women and children, if consumed, would
have been, in the eyes of their persecutors, only so many Mormons well
disposed of. Thus, doubtless, would have thought the mob who gathered
at that landing-place and cut the boat adrift _The Maid of Iowa_ was
now submitted to the triple peril of being adrift without steam, at
the mercy of a treacherous current, and in the midst of a hurricane.
The captain, however, succeeded in raising the steam, and the boat
was brought under sufficient control to enable her to be brought to,
under shelter of a heavy forest, where she was tied up to the trees and
weathered the gale.
"At another landing a mob collected and began throwing stones through
the cabin windows, smashing the glass and sash, and jeopardizing
the lives of the passengers. This was a little too much for human
forbearance. The boat was in command of the famous Mormon captain,
Dan Jones; his Welsh blood was now thoroughly warm; he knew what mobs
meant. Mustering the brethren, with determined wrath he ordered them to
parade with loaded muskets on the side of the boat assailed. Then he
informed the mob that if they did not instantly desist, he would shoot
them down like so many dogs; and like so many dogs they slunk away.
"As the _Maid of Iowa_ had made slow progress, and had been frequently
passed by more swift-going steamers, her progress was well known by the
friends of Nauvoo. So on the day of our arrival the saints were out _en
masse_ to welcome us. I had never before seen any of those assembled,
yet I felt certain, as the boat drew near, that I should be able to
pick out the prophet Joseph at first sight. This belief I communicated
to Mrs. Bennett, whose acquaintance I had made on the voyage. She
wondered at it; but I felt impressed by the spirit that I should know
him. As we neared the pier the prophet was standing among the crowd. At
the moment, however, I recognized him according to the impression, and
pointed him out to Mrs. Bennett, with whom I was standing alone on the
hurricane deck.
"Scarcely had the boat touched the pier when, singularly enough, Joseph
sprang on board, and, without speaking with any one, made his way
direct to where we were standing, and addressing Mrs. Bennett by name,
thanked her kindly for lifting the embargo from his boat, and blessed
her for so materially aiding the saints."