CHAPTER VIII.
An eastern sage has said that "the beginning of strife is like the letting out of water"—it is easier to commence hostilities than to stop them and thus it proved in the history of the Missouri troubles, for the end has not yet come. The Mormons were driven out of Jackson county and their enemies were now successful, but war was only begun. The Saints never yield to wrong while life serves them. They can be vanquished and humbled, but never conquered. The very nature of their faith forbids the thought—"The Lord is on our side"—to yield is to deny the faith. When undoubted facts are against them, they admit defeat, but then only. When in the right, if overwhelmed, "the Lord" may counsel expediency and the point at issue may seem to be conceded; but it is only so in appearance and temporarily in order to gain some greater advantage in future. It is now over thirty-seven years since the first Missouri persecution began, but the Saints who were then expelled from Jackson county still believe in a triumphal return to their inheritances and still expect to see the temple built in "this generation."
In the very nature of things, the "generation" in which the revelation and prophecy were delivered must pass away without witnessing their fulfilment, yet the last of these Jackson county Saints will go down to his grave believing that there has been no failure. Joseph who delivered the prophecy and
