The Rocky Mountain Saints/Chapter 8
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 fought manfully for its fulfilment, and Brigham who has made it his principal stock in trade to raise the hopes and aspirations of his followers, will both remain as before, unchallenged in their claims to a "priesthood that is infallible." Such is faith!
While the troubles in Missouri were raging, the Prophet deemed it advisable not to provoke the fury of the mob by his presence, and therefore concluded to labour elsewhere while he still showered upon the Saints encouraging revelations. The anti-Mormons offered to buy the lands from which their antagonists had been driven and to pay them for their improvements, but negotiation was impossible. "The Lord" had commanded them to gather in Missouri and had pointed out with his own finger the place for the Temple in Independence. They could not sell their inheritances without also selling the revelations of "the Lord," his promises and the prophecies of his servant. Joseph counselled the Saints not to sell, and they obeyed, and to this day many of the faithful rejoice in the possession of their title-deeds. When Federal troops, during the rebellion, swept through those counties of western Missouri laying waste and devastating everywhere they went, the Saints in Utah saw in them the avenging angels of the Lord, and their hopes of an early return to Jackson county revived.
Joseph, during the troubles in Missouri, was closely occupied with the building of the Temple in Kirtland, and raising the means to continue that work was a herculean task. To these labours he added a mission to the Eastern States and to the Canadas. About this time it was also decided to revive the Star, that had been so ruthlessly dealt with in Missouri, under the designation of the Latter-Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate, at Kirtland. During his mission abroad, Joseph baptized many into the Church, and " his hands were strengthened," though the people around him were poor and apostacy began to trouble him.
Up to this time Joseph had been a Prophet, Seer, Revelator, and Translator; but now another rôle was opened to him—he was to become a military leader and restore the Saints to their possessions in Jackson county. A lengthened revelation was given in February, 1834, to raise "the strength of the Lord's house," and go up to Missouri to redeem Zion, and the Prophet became, by the election of a council of elders, "Commander-in-chief of the Armies of Israel."
Revelations under the most favourable circumstances are not always over clear to ordinary mortals, and there is often controversy about the fulfilment of a prophecy; but this revelation given through Joseph for "the redemption of Zion" is so palpably applicable to this special period of Mormon history that it is deserving of particular attention. The situation of the exiled Saints from Jackson county, the gathering of "the Lord's hosts" to reinstate them in their possessions, the marching of those brethren a distance of 1,200 miles, and their unflagging zeal and faith up to the last moment, are unequivocal facts, yet the whole "pomp and circumstance of glorious war" accomplished nothing that was promised. Here is the revelation:
. . . "Verily I say unto you, I have decreed that your brethren which have been scattered shall return to the land of their inheritances, and build up the waste places of Zion, for after much tribulation, as I have said unto you in a former commandment, cometh the blessing. Behold this is the blessing which I have promised after your tribulations and the tribulations of your brethren, your redemption and the redemption of your brethren, even their restoration to the land of Zion to be established no more to be thrown down, nevertheless if they pollute their inheritances they shall be thrown down, for I will not spare them if they pollute their inheritances. Behold I say unto you the redemption of Zion must needs come by power, therefore I will raise up unto nay 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. Therefore let not your hearts faint, for I say not unto you as I said unto your fathers, mine angel shall go up before you, but not my presence; but I say unto you, mine angels shall go before you, and also my presence, and in time ye shall possess the goodly land."
. . . "Therefore let my servant Baurak Ale [Joseph Smith][1] say unto the strength of my house, my young men and the middle aged, gather yourselves together unto the land of Zion, upon the land which I have bought with monies that have been consecrated unto me; and let all the churches send up wise men with their monies and purchase land even as I have commanded them, and inasmuch as mine enemies come against you to drive you from my goodly land, which I have consecrated to be the land of Zion, even from your own lands after these testimonies which ye have brought before me against them, ye shall curse them, and whomsoever ye curse, I will curse, and ye shall avenge me of mine enemies, and my presence shall be with you even in avenging me of mine enemies, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.
"Let no man be afraid to lay down his life for my sake, for whoso layeth down his life for my sake shall find it again, and whoso is not willing to lay down his life for my sake, is not my disciple. It is my will that my servant Sidney Rigdon shall lift up his voice in the congregations in the Eastern Countries in preparing the Churches to keep the commandments which I have given unto them concerning the restoration and redemption of Zion. It is my will that my servant Parley P. Pratt and my servant Lyman Wight should not return to the land of their brethren until they have obtained companies to go up unto the land of Zion by tens, or by twenties, or by fifties, or by an hundred, until they have obtained the number of five hundred of the strength of my house. Behold this is my will; ask and you shall receive; but men do not always do my will; therefore if you cannot obtain five hundred, seek diligently that peradventure you may obtain three hundred, and if ye cannot obtain three hundred, seek diligently that peradventure ye may obtain one hundred. But verily I say unto you a commandment I give unto you that ye shall not go up unto the land of Zion until you have obtained one hundred of the strength of my house to go up with you unto the land of Zion. Therefore, as I said unto you, ask and ye shall receive; pray earnestly that peradventure my servant Baurak Ale may go with you and preside in the midst of my people, and organize my kingdom upon the consecrated land, and establish the children of Zion upon the laws and commandments which have been and which shall be given unto you."
This "revelation" is certainly very specific and direct, and evinces an unequivocal disposition on the part of "the Lord" to destroy his enemies. With such a termination to the expedition, as will be read in the following chapter, it is with pity mingled with a sense of the ludicrous that one peruses this page in the history of the Mormon Church.
- ↑ For the purpose of protecting Joseph when the revelations were printed, in those of a warlike character, he is designated as Baurak Ale, and in others he is represented by Enoch, Gazelam, and Seth.