to their homes and farms. But it certainly looks a little singular, if what Joseph asserted was true, that "the Lord" had not discovered this condition of things before.
The second excuse is still worse than the first—"the strength of mine house have not hearkened unto my words." Thus because of the dilatoriness of the Saints in the East, the Saints in the West were to remain outcasts from Jackson county, and "the Lord's" decree of the restoration of the people was to become a dead letter! What a contrast was this to the ancient story of "the sword of the Lord and of Gideon!" To cap the climax, the warriors in "Zion's Camp" were informed that in due time they should be properly rewarded, but would have to regard the present disappointment as "a trial of their faith!"
This Jackson county trouble has been a sad affair for the Mormon Church in many ways. It was, to say the least, very questionable instruction to declare "ye shall avenge me of mine enemies." There is enough of natural vindictiveness in men without elevating vengeance into a religious obligation. No people as zealous and devoted as the Mormons could receive such a commandment without partaking of its spirit and reducing it to practice. It makes it a duty for every fanatic to curse and avenge in the Lord's stead. How well it has been performed in spirit if not always in practice let the anathemas of the Tabernacle and the persecution of apostates tell.
Up to this period the Saints had no conception that they were the instruments of "the Lord's" vengeance, and it is to be regretted that they were ever enlightened upon the subject. They had already been informed that it was better to obtain Zion by purchase than by force, and they were now instructed to buy up—
———"all the lands in Jackson county that can be purchased, and in the adjoining counties. . . . and after these lands are purchased, I will hold the armies of Israel guiltless in taking possession of their own lands, which they have previously purchased with their own monies, and of throwing down the towers of mine enemies that may be upon them, and scattering their watchmen, and avenging me of mine enemies, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me."
To this excellent advice of purchasing all the lands and
