The Life of Joseph Smith, the Prophet

THREATS OF A MOB OF THREE HUNDRED AT INDEPENDENCE—PURITY REQUIRED OF CHURCH MEMBERS—EXCOMMUNICATION OF DR. P. HURLBURT—HIS THREATS AGAINST THE PROPHET—PIXLEY JOINS THE MOB—HIS MALICIOUS FALSEHOODS— MEETING OF A BASE ELEMENT—WICKED DETERMINATIONS—DESTRUCTION OF THE SAINTS' PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT—W. W. PHELPS DRIVEN FROM HOME—BISHOP PARTRIDGE AND ELDER ALLEN TARRED AND FEATHERED—"YOU MUST LEAVE THE COUNTRY"—ANOTHER MEETING OF THE ENEMY—THE SAINTS AGREE TO LEAVE JACKSON COUNTY.

Eighteen hundred years after the crucifixion of our Savior, His Church in this last dispensation celebrated the third anniversary of its establishment. The ceremonies took place on the 6th day of April, 1833, on the banks of the Big Blue River in the western part of Jackson County, Missouri. Few as were the Saints then gathered in the land Zion, the event was impressive in its solemn recall of the past, and sublime in its exalted promise for the future of Christ's people. Joseph himself was not there; but eighty men who had received the Priesthood and also many other members of the Church were present to enjoy this reawakening in modern times of the power of the Son of God.

This was not to be the only reawakening. The spirit of insensate murder which Jesus had encountered and which had culminated on Calvary was aroused in all its intensity against these His humble and chosen followers in the latter days. In the same month which witnessed the glorious reunion of the Saints, a mob, consisting of three hundred men, congregated at Independence and swore with much blasphemy to drive the people of God from their homes in that region and to destroy that branch of the Church. News of these dreadful threats was brought to the leading Elders at Independence; and in solemn assemblage they prayed that God would stay the hand of the wicked. The supplication was granted for a time; and the drunken rabble became filled with mutual hatred and distrust, so that they scattered from the meeting and carousing place, mingling with their maledictions against the Saints much vile language and many execrations concerning each other.

When the Prophet learned of these manifestations in Jackson County, he was filled with much concern for his brethren; but his duty as commanded by the Lord required for a time his presence at Kirtland and in the East. And at Kirtland, despite the poverty of the people and the menace made by a wicked world against them, preparations were made to build the house unto the Lord as required in the revelations.

The spirit of persecution which raged was doubtless permitted, if for no other reason than that it had the effect to purify the Church, and the members were also admonished thereby to sweep all unworthiness from their midst and to exclude from Church membership all wilful and persistent wrong-doers. Few and poor as were the Saints, it was the rule that no man, whatever his attainments or wealth, should retain his fellowship if his conduct proved that his soul was vile. It was not and is not now the practice of the Latter-day Saints to cover the sins of their members from the gaze of an unbelieving world, and to harbor the wrong-doer rather than to subject the entire body to the reproach of scoffers. With charity such as Christ commanded for all the frailties of a humanity struggling toward goodness, the Church has ever been an uncompromising punisher of wilful wickedness. In June, 1833, one Doctor P. Hurlburt was tried by the council of High Priests upon a charge of impure conduct with women while acting as a missionary in the East; and although he contested the case, as he desired for his own selfish purposes to continue for a time in relation with the Church, his guilt was fully established, he was cut off and the world was warned against him as an insidious enemy of female chastity. This man Hurlburt, being filled with hatred by the exposure of his true nature, showed himself a vindictive enemy of the Prophet and the Church, and in later times his name became associated with the notorious Spaulding story, and with threats and attempts upon Joseph's life.

It was by such men, dishonorable apostates, suborned and aided by a jealous clergy, that the early falsehoods were propagated and the early persecutions were incited against the Church which would not condone their impurities. And it is the wicked untruth, started in that age and added to by the same class of men in later times, which is circulated to-day and which deceives the world concerning a people whose sole desire is to live in purity and in peace with all mankind. It was then, as it is now, noted that, in many instances, the charges against Latter-day Saints have varied according to the varied character of their originators. Men whose profession is divining for money, whose trade is deceiving human souls to gratify their own avarice, joined in the cry that Joseph Smith and his fellow Apostles were selfish seekers after the things of this world. Men whose souls felt no repugnance to the butchery of defenseless men, pure women and innocent little children originated the awful lie that murder was practiced and condoned by this Church. Impure wretches, looking with lustful eyes upon females, originated the untruth that woman was degraded and her virtue held in light esteem by the Latter-day Saints; and among the most prominent persecutors and prosecutors of this people have been lechers. Dishonest and disreputable men circulated the absurd falsehood that Joseph Smith and his followers sought to despoil others of their possessions instead of acquiring homes by the labors of their own hands. It is one of the most peculiar experiences of the Saints that in most instances the charge brought against them has been one of which the originator would himself be glad to be guilty.

So it was at Independence in the summer of 1833.

The first effort of the mob failed. They lacked a leader sufficiently base to unite them in their plans for robbery and murder. But in July of that year a man named Pixley, a paid agent of a sectarian Missionary Society, was dwelling in that region under the pretense of helping the Indians to the light of Christianity. He defamed the Saints to their fellow citizens of Missouri and sent malicious lies to the eastern states to stir up the older communities of the nation to a feeling of dislike. He misrepresented the Saints to the Indians and to the wilder white men of the border, with the hope to inflame these ungoverned and lawless people to attack and destroy the little handful of church members. The number of the Saints in the center stake of Zion at this time was twelve hundred. They were law-abiding and industrious. But they were intent upon the work commanded of the Lord, and they did not assimilate readily nor join in unworthy pursuits with the surrounding people, white and red and black. This self-isolation or exclusiveness constituted their sole offense. It is not surprising that the Saints should have striven to keep their skirts clean from close contact with the vicious element abounding there, nor that this same vicious element should have been easily aroused against a people so singular in their demeanor, and so unworldly in their lives and aspirations.

Pixley, himself the teacher of a false religion, proclaimed against Joseph Smith as a false prophet. Pixley, himself the leader of deceived converts, proclaimed against the Saints as deluded followers. Pixley, himself a dishonest creature, proclaimed that the purpose of the Saints was to steal the possessions of other settlers, to steal their negroes, or to incite them to run away. The Latter-day Saints were men from the eastern states—Yankees—and consequently open to the suspicion of being Abolitionists. In upper Missouri in those days no charge could be made that would arouse more intense hatred and violence than that of being an Abolitionist. The mere whisper of such a suspicion was sufficient to inflame anger and arouse a mob. By such cries, Pixley and others of his kind induced every dissolute idler in that region to join in an onslaught for plunder. They all hoped to safely annihilate the Church and to seize the lands of the Saints under cover of a Pharisaical cry, "False prophets, deluded followers, idle vagabonds, land thieves!" With this man Pixley were united professed ministers of the gospel, officers of the law, politicians and many individuals of less personal importance if not less vindictiveness. They succeeded in so exciting the public mind that a mass meeting to devise some unlawful plan against the Saints was held at Independence, on the 20th day of July, 1833, at which a great horde of five hundred persons were in attendance. Not only were the scum of that wild region gathered, but men holding high official positions were also present, for individuals with political aspirations are often ready to join the lowest and most depraved in any popular movement. Amazing as it may seem, Lieutenant-Governor Lilburn W. Boggs, the second officer of the State of Missouri, was personally cognizant of the proceedings and aided every movement against the Saints.

Colonel Richard Simpson was chairman of the meeting, and James H. Flournoy and Colonel Samuel D. Lucas were secretaries. A committee appointed for the purpose prepared and presented a manifesto, which was adopted by the meeting. It denounced the Saints for their poverty and for their peculiar religious belief, but it did not dare to charge a single specific violation of law against them. It closed with the declaration that no Latter-day Saint should in future be permitted to settle in Jackson County; that such as then resided there should remove; that the Evening and Morning Star should no longer be published, and the business of printing by the Saints should be discontinued in that county; and "that those who failed to comply with this requisition are to refer to those of their brethren who have the gift of divination and of unknown tongues to inform them of the lot that awaits them."

Not a single voice was recorded against the adoption of this infamous edict. It was unanimously accepted; and immediately a committee of thirteen persons was appointed to see that the decree was enforced. The space of two hours was allowed by the meeting for the delivery of the terms of this manifesto to the presiding officers of the Church, for their answer to this demand, and for the return of the committee to the meeting. Scant time, indeed, for the expatriation of twelve hundred law-abiding men, women and children! The Saints asked for delay for a pitiful ten days, in which to consider the awful decree. The answer was, "Fifteen minutes are enough."

The mob were terribly, murderously earnest. When the committee returned to the re-convened meeting after a lapse of that brief two hours, they reported that the leaders of the Saints and the editor of the paper had asked time for consultation, not only among themselves but with their fellow believers and the Presidency of the Church in Ohio. A yell of hate greeted this announcement, and the meeting instantly and unanimously resolved to wreak instant vengeance upon the Saints and the paper. Headed by a red flag to signify their bloody purpose and their defiance of law, they rushed upon their prey. The house of William W. Phelps, the editor, containing the printing establishment, was razed to the ground. His press and type and other materials were seized and carried away by the mob. The papers and books were destroyed, and the family and furniture of the editor were cast off the premises. An infant child of Elder Phelps was dangerously ill in his wife's arms, but mother and babe were thrust out as brutally as the rest. An attack was made upon the store for the purpose of plundering it, but the mob was induced to forego their purpose to engage in more sanguinary delights. Bishop Edward Partridge and Charles Allen were stripped and tarred and feathered, because they would not deny the truth nor agree to leave the county at once. With the tar was mixed some powerful acid which burned their flesh frightfully. Several of the brethren were threatened with whipping and even worse. But it was growing dark and the mob concluded that enough had been done for one time; so the mass meeting, which this inhuman rabble was called, adjourned for three days until the 23rd of July, 1833. And Lilburn W. Boggs addressed some of the Saints saying, "You now know what our Jackson boys can do, and you must leave the country."

THE CORNER STONE OF THE KIRTLAND TEMPLE LAID—A PRINTING ESTABLISHMENT OPENED—THE PROPHET'S MISSION TO CANADA—A MINISTER'S OPPOSITION— BAPTISMS—PERSECUTIONS AT KIRTLAND—WILFORD WOODRUFF RECEIVES THE GOSPEL.

No work of murderous mobs or judicial persecution has ever been able to stay the cause inaugurated under divine direction through Joseph Smith. At the very hour when the mob, on the 23rd day of July, 1833, were issuing their mandate of exile to the Saints in Jackson County, the cornerstone of the Lord's house in Kirtland was being laid according to the order of the Holy Priesthood of Christ. It was not that the purpose had shifted, that the center stake was to be removed from Missouri to Ohio. The command had been given; it will not be annulled. But long before manifestation of mob violence in Jackson County, the Lord had directed the building of a temple at Kirtland and the establishment of a stake of Zion there.

And while the future, to human appearance, seemed to be growing darker and darker, Joseph received a revelation in which the Lord declared His immutable covenant that the Saints should be rewarded and blessed according to His promise, and that their afflictions should eventually be turned to their everlasting good. And, while the wickedness of the mobs in Missouri was still agitating the hearts of Joseph and the Saints and making the weak among the people to tremble and the strong to feel deep indignation, the Lord commanded His Saints to renounce war and proclaim peace and to bear afflictions patiently, until the third time of their being smitten by the wicked. He promised them that whoso should lay down their life in the cause of Christ should find it again, even life eternal.

On the 11th day of September, 1833, a council under the presidency of the Prophet was held in Kirtland, and it was decided that a printing establishment should be opened there for the publication of the persecuted Evening and Morning Star and for a new paper to be called the Latter-day Saints' Messenger and Advocate. About the same time Elders Orson Hyde and John Gould were sent to Jackson County as messengers from the First Presidency to the Missouri Saints in their tribulation.

The Prophet felt that the field of souls was white for the harvest and that it was incumbent upon him to thrust in his sickle and gather the honest-in-heart. On the 5th day of October, 1833, he departed from Kirtland upon a missionary journey to Canada, in company with Sidney Rigdon and Freeman A. Nickerson. At various places on the road, they stopped and proclaimed the word of the Lord unto the inhabitants. In some villages they found already members of the Church. In others they found God-fearing men and women who were praying for light and were willing to obey when the simple gospel was presented before the eyes of their understanding. On the 12th day of October they had arrived at Perrysburg, New York, where they halted for a little time. Here the Prophet received a revelation in which the Lord instructed him that Zion must be chastened yet for a season, although she would finally be redeemed. When they reached Lodi, New York, they preached in the evening and made a further appointment for the day following at a Presbyterian meeting house, the use of which had been promised to them. But when many people had assembled outside the hall to hear Joseph, they were refused admission by the jealous sectarians in charge, and the indignant congregation went home in great confusion. On the 17th day of October the Prophet and his companions reached the home of Freeman A. Nickerson at Mount Pleasant in Upper Canada; and at this place and the adjoining town of Brantford and the villages of Colburn and Waterford they held several meetings which were blessed by a great outflow of the Spirit of God and by the presence of many honest-hearted people. Upon one occasion at Colburn they were beset very tumultuously at one of their meetings by a Wesleyan Methodist, who was determined that the assembled people should not hear the gospel. But his own lack of logic and courtesy injured himself rather than the persons against whom his violent efforts were directed. On the 26th day of October, after preaching to a large congregation at Mount Pleasant, Joseph baptized twelve persons, and on each of the two following days he baptized two persons, all of whom were confirmed as members of the Church. The Prophet also ordained E. F. Nickerson to be an Elder; and he gave much instruction to the newly-converted Saints concerning the truth and the constant necessity for watchfulness and humility. This labor made a considerable opening in this region for the further preaching of the truth. It was not, however the first proclamation of the gospel in Canada, because as early as July 20th of the same year, 1833, Elder Orson Pratt had preached to the people in Patten.

On the 29th day of October the Prophet and his companions departed from Mount Pleasant for Kirtland; and on Monday, the 4th day of November, the Prophet reached his home and found his family in peace, as had been promised in the revelation given to him at Perrysburg.

The inhabitants of Geauga County, Ohio, in which Kirtland was situated, began now to partake of a persecuting and mobocratic spirit, and threatened the Saints resident there with similar afflictions to those which had been visited upon their brethren in Missouri. The Prophet knew of the hate that was hanging around him, but he calmly viewed the situation, and in writing to Bishop Partridge at Clay County, Missouri, under date of December 5th, 1833, he said:

The inhabitants of this county threaten our destruction, and we know not how soon they may be permitted to follow the examples of the Missourians; but our trust is in God, and we are determined, by His grace assisting us, to maintain the cause and hold out faithful unto the end, that we may be crowned with crowns of celestial glory, and enter into the rest that is prepared for the children of God.

On the 16th day of December, 1833, the Lord revealed to Joseph the divine purpose concerning the Saints in Missouri, saying,

I, the Lord, have suffered the affliction to come upon them, wherewith they have been afflicted, in consequence of their transgressions;

Yet I will own them, and they shall be mine in that day when I shall come to make up my jewels.

Therefore, they must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son;

For all those who will not endure chastening, but deny me, cannot be sanctified.

* * * * *

And they that have been scattered shall be gathered;

And all they who have mourned shall be comforted;

And all they who have given their lives for my name shall be crowned.

Therefore, let your hearts be comforted concerning Zion; for all flesh is in mine hands; be still and know that I am God.

Zion shall not be moved out of her place, notwithstanding her children are scattered;

They that remain, and are pure in heart, shall return, and come to their inheritances, they and their children, with songs of everlasting joy, to build up the waste places of Zion.

And immediately after the revelation was received the Prophet sent William Pratt and David W. Patten, as messengers to the scattered Saints of Missouri to give them words of comfort and instruction.

Early in the month of December, 1833, Bishop Newel K. Whitney and Oliver Cowdery had brought to Kirtland a new printing press, and on the 18th day of the month a printing office in Kirtland was dedicated to the Lord and His purposes, and Oliver Cowdery began the publication of the Evening and Morning Star, which had been cast out of Missouri. On the day that Joseph dedicated the printing establishment to the service of the Lord, his father, Joseph Smith, Senior, was ordained to be the Patriarch to the whole Church. On that day Joseph wrote:

And blessed is my father, for the hand of the Lord will be over him, for he shall see the afflictions of his children pass away; and when his head is fully ripe, he shall behold himself as an olive, whose branches are bowed down with much fruit; he shall also possess a mansion on high.

In view of all that has since occurred, it is a remarkable fact, that the Prophet recorded in his journal of the 31st of December, 1833, the fact that "Wilford Woodruff was baptized at Richland, Oswego County, New York, by Zera Pulsipher." And this was before the Prophet and the future Apostle and President had ever met in the flesh. This is not the only mention of Wilford Woodruff in Joseph's dairy prior to their meeting. In one place the Prophet notices that Wilford had been ordained a teacher. It was the 25th day of April, 1834, when Wilford Woodruff visited the Prophet at Kirtland, and from that time on until Joseph's death they were intimately associated. It was clear that Joseph felt the staunch worthiness of his young brother, and in relying on him the Prophet was leaning upon no weak or broken reed, for Wilford Woodruff had been and had ever shown the fidelity of a Saint and the integrity and power of an Apostle of Jesus Christ. He was one of the most faithful of all the men who were gathered near to the Prophet's person to share his trials and his confidences. Wilford Woodruff never made any attempt to cultivate showy qualities, and yet he was always marked among his fellows; his characteristic humility and unswerving honesty being sufficient to attract the attention of all who had known him. His is another of the names to be recorded with that of Joseph, and it is worthy to stand side by side with the names of Brigham Young and John Taylor, for he was as loyal to them as he and they were to Joseph, the first Prophet of this dispensation.

THE JACKSON COUNTY PERSECUTIONS—APPEAL TO GOVERNOR DUNKLIN—HIS TIMID REPLY—HEARTLESS DRIVINGS—A BRUTAL MURDER—BOGGS ALLOWS THE MOB TO ORGANIZE AS A MILITIA—PITCHER PLACED IN COMMAND—CERTAIN MEN TAKEN IN CUSTODY BY THE MOB—SETTLEMENT IN CLAY COUNTY—COURT OF INQUIRY.

"Be still and know that I am God."

These are the words with which the Almighty answered Joseph when he importuned Heaven concerning the woes of the Saints in Missouri. And so he was wont to solace himself and his brethren with the remembrance of the revealed word that "After much tribulation cometh the blessing." How many years of the people or days of the Lord must elapse before the Saints would be planted in power in Zion, the Prophet could not learn; but this he did know that after her term of affliction and purification had passed she would be redeemed and beautified, and this is the promise that he uttered to his brethren in Kirtland and wrote to the Saints in Missouri.

While Joseph had been traveling in the missionary field, momentous events took place in the far west. The truce which the mob had made, the mob had broken. Assaults upon the houses of the Saints were of constant occurrence. Satan was not satisfied that the people of the Lord should peacefully migrate with their few possessions into some other region, and the more turbulent spirits in the rabble began to threaten the lives of leading men at Independence and to declare that all of the people—men, women and children,—should be whipped out of the county. An attempt was made to establish a colony in Van Buren County, in the south. Some of the Saints settled there and began to labor diligently in the fields, but the spirit of mobocracy had spread, and a mob rose in arms, threatening to drive the Saints farther into exile.

On the 28th day of September, 1883, a petition was addressed to His Excellency Daniel Dunklin, Governor of the State of Missouri, by the persecuted people in Jackson County; and it was carried to the executive office in Jefferson City by Elders Orson Hyde and William W. Phelps. In this eloquent document a recital was made of the woes to which the people had been subjected, of the patience with which they had borne these outrages, of the utter subversion of the principles of law and humanity, and of the participation in these outrages by leading men in the state, civil and military officers, politicians and preachers. The final appeal in this petition was as follows:

Knowing, as we do, that the threats of this mob, in most cases, have been put into execution, and knowing also that every officer, civil and military, with a very few exceptions, has pledged his life and honor to force us from the county, dead or alive; and believing that civil process cannot be served without the aid of the Executive; and not wishing to have the blood of our defenseless women and children to stain the land which has once been stained by the blood of our fathers to purchase our liberty; we appeal to the Governor for aid, asking him, by express proclamation or otherwise, to raise a sufficient number of troops, who, with us, may be empowered to defend our rights, that we may sue for damages in the loss of property—for abuse—for defamation, as to ourselves; and if advisable, try for treason against the government, that the law of the land may not be defied, nor nullified, but peace be restored to our country:—And we will ever pray.

Not one word in this petition had been set down in malice; it was temperate and respectful; and though its utterances were strong, they were borne out by incorruptible testimony, as well as, mainly, by the admissions of the mob themselves.

After such an appeal, the Saints were entitled to prompt action and help. The Governor merely replied that the attorney-general of the state was absent, and upon his return a response would be prepared and sent by mail to Independence. The messengers from Zion journeyed back with empty hands, and awaited, amidst the tide of persecution, which was rising higher and higher around them, the signal of succor, from the executive office.

About the 26th of October, 1833, a reply was received from Governor Dunklin, in which he says:

No citizen, nor number of citizens, have a right to take the redress of their grievances, whether real or imaginary, into their own hands. Such conduct strikes at the very existence of society and subverts the foundation on which it is based. Not being willing to persuade myself that any portion of the citizens of the state of Missouri are so lost to a sense of these truths as to require the exercise of force, in order to ensure respect for them, after advising with the attorney-general, and exercising my best judgment, I would advise you to make a trial of the efficacy of the laws; the judge of your circuit is a conservator of the peace. If an affidavit is made before him by any of you, that your lives are threatened and you believe them in danger, it would be his duty to have the offenders apprehended, and bind them to keep the peace.

Such was the redress offered by the man whose sworn duty it was to see that the laws were faithfully executed. The lamb was sent back by the lion to ask protection from the wolf! It has often happened since in the history of the Saints, as it was then, that the men who should have been their vigilant protectors against plunderers and murderers, have been among the thieves and assassins.

But Governor Dunklin's letter contained a promise that, in the event of a failure to get proper execution of the law in Jackson County, he would, upon official notification, take further steps to enforce its faithful observance. Upon this slight hope, the Saints began to restore their houses to comfort and to labor in the fields for their maintenance.

The Saints had engaged four lawyers to aid them in obtaining a redress of their grievances, and as soon as this fact became known, the event occurred which Governor Dunklin should have foreseen. With tenfold intensity the fire of hatred raged against the people. On the night of October 31st an armed mob attacked a settlement of the Saints west of Big Blue, tore the roofs from many of the dwelling houses, whipped the men and drove the women and children screaming into the wilderness. The profanity of the mob was appalling. None of the Saints were armed, and the resistance which they might have offered with sticks was forbidden by their captors under penalty of death. Satiated with brutality, the mob at length retired, leaving orders that the Saints—men, women and children—should leave the county. The next day was the first of bleak November; and when the cold morning dawned, the Saints crept out of their hiding places whither they had fled for safety, and came back to their despoiled homes to find their habitations and their gardens in ruins. The women wept for their scourged and bleeding husbands. Children sobbed with hunger, cold and fear. How were these plundered people to find means for journeying to a land of safety? And whither were they to go? Asylum had already been denied them in the adjoining county: adequate protection had been practically denied to them by the civil power of the state; and they had no hope that any section of Missouri would harbor them.

Such scenes of horror were repeated night after night at Independence, and every dwelling place of the Saints in that county. At Independence, on the 1st of November, one of the mob was caught in the very act of robbing the store of Gilbert & Whitney, and was carried before Samuel Weston, a justice of the peace; but despite the boast of the Governor, Mr. Weston refused to issue a warrant or to entertain the case, and the robber was turned loose to join his fellows in a continuation of murderous work. Other efforts were made to secure the aid of judicial power to stop the horrible work of the rabble, but in vain. Such of the officers of the law as were not allied with the mob dared not assert their authority. And so the work of rapine went on until it ended in murder.

The 3rd day of November, 1833, was Sunday, and the Saints hoped for a cessation of hostilities, but none came. Word went out among the mob that Monday would be a bloody time. On November the 4th, the day of Joseph's return to Kirtland from his Canada mission, a large party of the mob fired upon some of the Saints west of Big Blue. Several of the Saints were wounded, two desperately. These were young men named Barber and Dibble, who were thought to have been fatally injured; but Philo Dibble finally recovered, and at the time of this writing is still living, a respected citizen of Utah Territory. After lingering in great agony, Barber died the next day. Three times and more the Saints had permitted their enemies to smite them, and three times and more they had submitted patiently. They had appealed to civil and military power in vain, and now the sight of blood thus wantonly shed aroused in them a strong spirit of resistance. When the mob continued the massacre they were greeted by shots from such of the Saints as had guns, and two of the mob fell dead. One of them, Hugh L. Brazeale, had often boasted: "I will wade to my knees in blood but that I will drive the Mormons from Jackson County."

The men who had caught the mobber in the act of plundering Gilbert & Whitney's store were arrested upon a fictitious charge of assault upon that wretch. Apparently the mob had no difficulty in obtaining process of court and securing its service. An effort was made to kill these prisoners while they were in charge of the officers of the law, and shots were fired at them, and they had to be placed in jail to protect their lives.

And now comes the most diabolical feature of all the persecution in Missouri up to that date. On the 5th day of November, 1833, Lieutenant-Governor Boggs permitted the mob to organize as a militia, and placed them under the command of Colonel Thomas Pitcher. While the Saints showed no intention of resisting, the rabble did not feel the need of such organization; but when it was found that, driven to the last extremity, the Saints would fight for their lives, Boggs clothed the mob with military power, that resistance to them might be charged against the Saints as insurrection against the legal authorities of the state of Missouri.

Colonel Pitcher demanded that the Saints should give up their arms; that certain men who had been engaged in the fight west of Big Blue should be delivered into his hands to be tried for murder; and that the people should leave the county forthwith. It was clear that the alternative was death to the men and outrage to the women and children. And so the Saints yielded under solemn promise of protection. As soon as the demand was complied with, the mob rushed like demons in various directions, bursting violently into houses and threatening the women and children with massacre. One party of the mob was headed by Rev. Isaac McCoy, and other preachers joined in the rabble. Men, women and children fled to the prairie and to the river banks, seeking in the wilderness, amidst all its terrors, a peace denied them by civilized men. Husbands and wives and children were separated, and one knew not whether his beloved kin were dead or alive.

Who can say that a restoration of the Gospel of Peace was not necessary in such an age?

After a time most of the scattered Saints gathered in Clay County, where a court of inquiry was ordered by Governor Dunklin, but the murderers and robbers who slew the Saints and took their substance in Jackson County, Missouri, went unwhipped of justice. Clay County was the only section of the state which received the Saints with any degree of charity. From Van Buren and Lafayette and other counties they were forced to flee as they were from Jackson.

In Clay County, where many of them had found a haven of rest among noble-hearted citizens, the Saints prepared and sent up to Governor Dunklin such piteous appeals as might have melted a heart of adamant. They had been stripped of all their worldly substance; winter was upon them; they even lacked food and raiment; and from hour to hour they were in expectation of further assaults. It was their supplication to the Governor that he would use the power of the state to restore them to their lands and possessions, and to give a sufficient guard to a court of inquiry, which might examine into the whole history of the outrages made against them. The court of inquiry was held, and Colonel Pitcher was arraigned and ordered for further trial by court-martial. But it soon became clear that the Saints could not be restored to their lands in Jackson County under existing conditions; because the mob swore that if they returned, there would be a wholesale massacre of Mormons, and the Governor, it was said, had not the constitutional right to establish a permanent guard for the persons and property of the defenseless Saints.

Messengers had gone at various times from the scenes of the outrage in Missouri to the Prophet at Kirtland, and when he heard the dreadful news, he burst into tears and sobbed aloud:

"Oh, my brethren, my brethren! would that I had been with you to share your fate. Almighty God, what shall we do in such a trial as this?"

HURLBURT'S EFFORTS TO DESTROY JOSEPH—HIGH COUNCILS ORGANIZED—THE CAMP OF ZION—A HARD JOURNEY—RATTLESNAKES IN CAMP—THE PROPHET'S PHILOSOPHY—ELDER HUMPHREY'S EXPERIENCE.

With the opening of the year 1834, Joseph recorded his prayer that the Lord would deliver Zion and gather in His scattered people to possess it in peace, and that, in their dispersion, He would provide for them that they might not perish of hunger and cold.

At the same time he was pursued by threats against his own life. The apostate, Doctor P. Hurlburt, was determined to wreak his rage upon Joseph's person. Hurlburt had circulated vile falsehoods and presented lying affidavits among the people in the towns surrounding Kirtland, in the hope of exciting mobocratic violence. If personal considerations alone had been involved in these attempts of Hurlburt's to destroy him, the Prophet might have taken no steps to restrain him or to bring him to justice. But his duty to the Church demanded his preservation, and by his consent process of court was secured against Hurlburt, and later, on the 9th of April, 1834, that infamous creature was found guilty of threatening to kill, and was by a court at Chardon, Ohio, placed under bonds.

Many high councils exist in the Church at the present time, there being one in every Stake of Zion. It was on the 17th day of February, 1834, at Kirtland, however, that the Prophet organized the first high council of the Church. This tribunal consisted of twelve High Priests, and it was presided over by the Prophet and his two counselors, Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams. Its duty was to hear all matters of dispute between members of the Church who sought equity, and to decide such issues according to the principles of eternal justice. The plan of settling disputes and preventing litigation among brethren, which the Prophet was then inspired to introduce, has grown with the growth of the Church, and the high council has performed an important mission in the years which have followed. It has worked without fees; it has known no coercion; the honesty of its decisions have been beyond question; and often it has been appealed to by men not of the faith, that their disputes might be settled with fairness and economy. It has never usurped the function of the criminal courts; it has never sought to enforce its judgment by any civil process. It has only decreed according to clear and unmistakable justice and has left the parties to accept the judgment, and if not complied with or appealed from, to have Church fellowship withdrawn from them. The rules which the Prophet established to control its proceedings under divine guidance were delivered to it at the time of organization, and they, speaking of all the high councils which have since been organized, are still governed by them. To confirm the twelve chosen men in their places the Prophet laid his hands upon each one's head and blessed him with the gifts and authority necessary for his calling.

The first act of the high council at Kirtland was to declare Joseph Smith the President of the Church with Sidney Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams as the other members of the First Presidency.

All this time the cry of the exiled Saints in Missouri was ascending to heaven for the redemption of their homes and for their own release from oppression. In a revelation given to the Prophet February 24, 1834, the Lord made known that the wicked had been permitted to fill up the measure of their iniquities that those who are called after His name might be chastened for a season; because in many things they had not hearkened unto His commandments. He declared that in His own due time the punishment of His wrath should be poured out upon the persecutors of His Saints, and He promised the elect that they should repossess the goodly land from which they had been driven. The Prophet was commanded to gather up the strength of the Lord's house to journey to the land Zion to assist the scattered Saints. Two days later he departed for the East to obtain assistance for the work of the Lord. Other Elders were also called to perform similar missions. The Prophet traveled as far as Geneseo, New York, reaching there on the 15th day of March, 1834. On the way he preached to many of the congregations of Saints and also to many assemblages of unbelievers. On the 19th of March he began his return journey to Kirtland, which place he reached on the 28th. On the 18th day of April, 1834, while Joseph was journeying in company with Sidney Rigdon, Oliver Cowdery and Zebedee Coltrin to New Portage for the purpose of gathering up help for Zion, an effort was made by a party of men to capture them as they traveled along the road after darkness had fallen. By driving rapidly they escaped the hands of the bandits who sent a torrent of curses after the Prophet's party.

It was the 5th day of May, 1834, when Joseph, having gathered clothing and food for his brethren and sisters in Missouri who had been robbed and plundered of their effects, departed, with a company of brethren, from Kirtland to find and succor the distressed Saints. His party consisted of about one hundred men, nearly all young and nearly all endowed with the Priesthood. At New Portage they were joined by fifty men, some of whom had gone in advance of the main body from Kirtland. A careful and harmonious organization of the company was made that the progress of this Camp of Zion might be in steadiness and order.

The wagons of the party numbered twenty and were filled with provisions and clothing, and such arms as the company needed for the securing of game and for defense. Nearly all of the men were compelled to walk, and Joseph cheerfully led their journey. They traveled sometimes forty or fifty miles in a day, resting always on the Sabbath and holding religious services. Every night they retired to their tents at the sound of the trumpet, and every man bowed to the Lord in thanksgiving for the blessings of the day and in supplication for the welfare of the families they were leaving behind and the poor Saints they were going to meet. And every morning at the sound of the trumpet every man arose and fell upon his knees before Heaven, invoking its watchful care during the day.

The march was necessarily one of great hardship. The men waded rivers, struggled through marshes and tramped across hard stretches of hill and sandy plain. Many of them suffered from bruised and bleeding feet. Often they were harassed by evil men who suspected their mission and sought to prevent its fulfillment.

A few persons in the Camp had proved unruly, and while they were in the vicinity of the Illinois River, Joseph was led to utter a solemn warning against the dissensions of some of his brethren. He exhorted them to faithfulness and humility, and told them that the Lord had revealed to him that a scourge must come upon them in consequence of their disobedience. Still if they would repent and humble themselves before the Lord, a part of the severity of the scourge might be turned away.

Joseph and his brethren reached the banks of the Mississippi on the 4th day of June, and encamped at a point where the river was a mile and half in width. Having but one ferry boat two days were required in which to make the passage of the entire party from Illinois into Missouri. Besides, they were delayed, though not prevented, by the menace of numerous enemies who swore that they should not pass beyond the Mississippi.

One of the instructions given by the Prophet during this journey was that his brethren should not kill an animal of any kind, unless it became absolutely necessary to save themselves from starvation. On one occasion, while the Prophet's tent was being pitched at camp the men saw three rattlesnakes and were about to kill them, but Joseph forbade the act. He asked the Elders how would the serpent ever lose its venom while the servants of God made war upon it with desire to kill. He said: "Men themselves must first become harmless before they can expect the brute creation to be so. When man shall lose his own vicious disposition and cease to destroy the inferior animals, the lion and lamb may dwell together and the suckling child play with the serpent in safety." It was a deep philosophy and contrary to the preconceived notions and early lessons of his brethren; but they obeyed. And soon they experienced the truth of his words. One of the members of the Camp by the name of Solomon Humphrey lay down on the prairie one day to rest. He fell asleep with his hat in hand. While he slumbered a large rattlesnake crawled up and coiled between him and his hat, and when Elder Humphrey awoke he found the serpent's head not a foot from his own. He did not harm it, and when some of his brethren would have killed it, he stayed their hands, saying: "No, I will protect him, for he and I have had a good nap together." Although the rattlesnake was roused it made no effort to strike.

VAIN APPEALS OF THE JACKSON COUNTY SAINTS FOR PROTECTION—THE APPROACH OF ZION'S CAMP—ATTEMPTS TO RAISE AN OPPOSING ARMY—JAMES CAMPBELL'S PROPHECY AND ITS FULFILLMENT—A PROVIDENTIAL STORM—REMARKABLE RISE OF FISHING RIVER—JOSEPH STATES THE OBJECT OF ZION'S CAMP—A COMFORTING REVELATION.

While the Prophet was encountering and overcoming many difficulties to bring succor to the Saints, the latter were engaged in a vain struggle to secure their rights. Correspondence passed between their leaders and the civil officers from the judges up to the President of the United States. Many of the appeals brought polite replies, but they resulted in no effective aid. Governor Dunklin sent several communications recognizing and deploring the wrongs inflicted, but stating he could not, without transcending his power, order a military force to maintain the Saints in their Jackson County possessions. The latter sentiment was also the substance of the reply from the Secretary of War in behalf of the President of the United States. It is worthy of note that in all of the correspondence upon this question not a single charge is made against the Saints. It proves that in all things they were the sufferers from wrong, and not the doers of wrong; because the men to whom they appealed would have been quick to offer an excuse for their failure to extend redress.

Possibly the Governor thought he had done enough when he filled his correspondence with high-minded and sympathetic sentiments; but of what avail was it to the Saints for him to say to them as follows?

On the subject of civil injuries, I must refer you to the courts; such questions rest with them exclusively. The laws are sufficient to afford a remedy for every injury of this kind, and, whenever you make out a case, entitling you to damages, there can be no doubt entertained of their ample award. Justice is sometimes slow in its progress, but it is not less sure on that account.

This is but a repetition practically of what he had said before without avail. Was not this almost a mockery of the people's disasters? It was at least a satire upon the persistent denial of the judicial officers in Jackson County to do justice. Later a court of inquiry was convened at Independence, under military guard; but the mob defied all the authority of law, scoffed at the Governor's order, subdued the court into a state of terror, and laughed at the troops as they were withdrawn. A court martial was convened and it found Colonel Pitcher guilty of calling upon the militia to repress an insurrection where there was no insurrection, and decided that he had taken arms from the citizens who were lawfully seeking to defend themselves against unlawful aggression; but the Governor in vain commanded the officers to restore the arms to the people from whom they had been stolen. Although repeated orders were issued by his Excellency those arms never were and to this day have not been returned.

The assaults of the mob on the scattered Saints and their property in Jackson County continued. In the latter part of April, 1834, one hundred and fifty houses were torn to the ground by the rabble.

Joseph and his party found a branch of the Church at Salt River, in the state of Missouri, where they encamped to spend Sunday, the 8th of June. Here they were joined by Hyrum Smith and Lyman Wight with another party which had been gathered in the State of Michigan and surrounding regions; and the Camp of Zion with this addition now numbered two hundred and five men and twenty-five wagons well laden. Several days were devoted to much needed recuperation, for the greater part of this devoted band of men had traveled nine hundred miles in a little more than a month's time, the journey being largely made on foot amidst all the natural hardships of a wild country where constant watchfulness had to be exercised.

On the 18th of June they pitched their tents within one mile of Richmond in Ray County. Two days previous to this time a mass meeting had been held at the court house in Liberty, Clay County, to consider propositions made by the people of Jackson County to the exiled Saints. Flaming war speeches were delivered by civil officers and by sectarian priests from Jackson County, who had hoped to arouse the hospitable people of Clay against their inoffensive guests, the Saints. Because General Doniphan and the chairman of the meeting, a Mr. Turnham, counseled peace and decency, the old spirit of savage violence broke loose with all its virulence on the part of the representatives from Independence, and the meeting ended with a stabbing affray between two members of the former mob, in which one of them was dangerously wounded. The leading men among the Saints presented an answer in which they asked for time and in which they deprecated any hostilities upon either side during the pendency of the negotiation. It was at once manifest that the proposition of the mobocrats had been but a sham to cover further violence. The news of the approach of the Prophet and his brethren in an organized camp had reached the ears of these infuriated men, and they felt that he was putting himself in their power. They counted with entire certainty upon the inability of the officers of the law to prevent their carrying out any fell purpose which they might adopt against the Latter-day Saints. If there was an official who did not justify them in their attacks upon the believers in this unpopular religion, they expected to overawe him; but from the Governor down they knew they had secret sympathy if not their active aid. With all their innocence and excellence, therefore, the Latter-day Saints could place no reliance upon the laws and the safeguards of civilized society to protect them if these desperadoes chose to attack them.

The sole purpose of Joseph and his brethren was to bring succor to their suffering friends; but this their inhuman enemies were determined they should not do. Fifteen of the most violent mobocrats, with Samuel C. Owens and James Campbell at their head started to raise an army to meet and overpower the Camp of Zion. James Campbell swore as he adjusted his pistols in the holsters, "The eagles and turkey buzzards shall eat my flesh if I do not fix Joe Smith and his army so that their skins will not hold shucks, before two days are past." That night as twelve of these mobocrats were attempting to cross the Missouri River their boat was sunk and seven of them were drowned. Among the lost was Campbell, whose corpse floated down the river several miles and lodged upon a pile of driftwood, where ravenous birds did indeed pick his flesh from his bones, leaving the hideous bare skeleton to be discovered three weeks later by one Mr. Purtle.

On the night of the 19th, unobserved by a large party of their enemies who intended to fall upon them and murder them, the members of Zion's Camp passed through Richmond in the darkness, and pitched their tents between two branches of Fishing River.

While the members of the Camp were making preparations for the night five armed desperadoes appeared before them and, with many blasphemies, said: "You will see hell before morning. Sixty men are coming from Richmond, and seventy more from Clay County to utterly destroy you." More than three hundred bloodthirsty men had engaged to concentrate at this point and attack Joseph. But to the subsequent unbounded thankfulness of the members of the Camp, the Lord interposed. When night came a mighty hurricane arose, throwing the plans of these savages into confusion, scattering them in the utmost disorder, and melting their courage into abject fright in the presence of the awful elemental strife. The severity of the storm was not felt to the same extent where Joseph and the camp had rested, but around them hail fell like grapeshot, spreading terror among the people and devastation amidst all the work of human hands.

While the surrounding region was in this state of consternation, Joseph and his party took refuge in a log meeting house near their camp, being compelled to enter the building through a window. When the commotion was over and they emerged from their retreat, the Prophet gave orders that the parties to whom the house belonged should be visited and tendered an explanation of the intrusion and remuneration for any fancied damage. So scrupulous was he not to trespass upon the rights of others.

When the tornado burst only forty of the mob had been able to cross Fishing River. They afterwards swore that the little Fishing River rose thirty feet in thirty minutes, separating them from their companions, and making them glad to flee back among their lawless friends in Jackson County. The larger party of the mob, thus foiled in their purpose to cross the river, also fled. The Big Fishing River had risen nearly forty feet in one night. One of the mob had been killed by lightning.

On Saturday, the 21st of June, Colonel Scounce and two other leading men of Ray County visited Joseph, and begged to know his intentions, stating: "We see that there is an almighty power that protects this people." Colonel Scounce confessed that he had been leading a company of armed men to fall upon the Prophet, but had been driven back by the storm. The Prophet with all the mildness and dignity which ever sat so becomingly upon him, and which always impressed his hearers, answered that he had come to administer to the wants of his afflicted friends and did not wish to molest or injure anybody. He then made a full and fair statement of the difficulties as he understood them; and when he had closed the three ambassadors, melted into compassion, offered their hands and declared that they would use every endeavor to allay the excitement.

On the 22nd day of June, 1834, while encamped on Fishing River, Joseph received a revelation in which the Lord declared that the Elders should wait for a season for the redemption of Zion; that he did not require at their hands to fight the battles of Zion, for he would fight their battles; and this he addressed to the Camp which had come up from Kirtland and other places into Missouri to do His will and with the hope that they might contribute to the redemption of His afflicted people. The Lord rebuked many among the Saints in the branches of the Church in the different states for their failure to join the Camp of Zion in response to the call which He had made upon them. The Lord had required the churches abroad to send up wise men with their moneys to purchase lands in Missouri, and thus assist in the redemption of Zion; but they had not hearkened unto His words. After renewing the promise that the day of redemption should surely come, and promising those who had hearkened to His words that He had prepared a blessing and an endowment for them if they would continue faithful, the revelation concluded:

And inasmuch as they [the Saints] follow the counsel which they receive, they shall have power after many days to accomplish all things pertaining to Zion.

And again I say unto you, sue for peace, not only the people that have smitten you; but also to all people;

And lift up an ensign of peace, and make a proclamation of peace unto the ends of the earth;

And make proposals for peace unto those who have smitten you, according to the voice of the Spirit which is in you, and all things shall work together for your good;

Therefore be faithful, and, behold, and lo, I am with you even unto the end. Even so. Amen.

THE SCOURGE OF ZION'S CAMP—JOSEPH AND HYRUM ATTACKED BY CHOLERA—THEIR DELIVERANCE—THE CAMP DISBANDED—THREATS AGAINST THE PROPHET—HIS FEARLESSNESS—JOSEPH RETURNS TO KIRTLAND—SYLVESTER SMITH'S CHARGE OF IMPURITY—THE PROPHET VINDICATED—VISIT TO MICHIGAN—THE LAW OF TITHING.

The scourge came as had been foretold, and the Camp of Zion felt its terrible effects. Moanings and lamentations filled the air. In the divine economy it is not unfrequently the case that the innocent suffer with the wrong-doers. "The Lord suffereth the righteous to be slain that His justice and judgment may come upon the wicked." In this attack some faithful men fell victims under the awful power of this scourge, and the entire camp suffered more or less. In organized bodies of Saints experience has proved that it is not always the element which is guilty of transgression which alone has to endure the consequences, but the entire body which harbors or permits the impurity has to suffer. If it were not so, there would not be such imperative reason for a community to look well to the work of self-cleansing. It is when the judgment of Heaven falls upon the obedient as well as the careless and disobedient of any organization that the people are taught to strive unceasingly, not alone each for his own but all for the general purification. Some of the men who went down from Kirtland with Joseph and who had joined him on the road were among the noblest of human kind. They were of such exalted faith and courage that their righteous fame stands with that of the greatest disciples of old. They adhered to the Lord's commandments and to His prophet with all the fidelity of their souls. But other men—unjust, selfish, rebellious by nature—were also among the number of Zion's Camp; and as soon as they became wearied by hardships they betrayed their own lack of innate nobility. It was this latter class of men which brought affliction upon the Camp.

It was about the 22nd day of June, 1834, when the cholera appeared in Zion's Camp at Fishing River. During the next week it raged in the midst of the party. Sixty-eight of the Saints were attacked and thirteen of them died. Among the fatal cases was that of Algernon Sidney Gilbert, a man of talent and many good works, though not always able to subdue self. Just before the destroyer seized him, the Prophet called him to journey to Kirtland to receive there his endowments and from there to proclaim the everlasting gospel of redemption. Elder Gilbert's answer was: "I would rather die than go forth to preach the gospel to the Gentiles." When he thus answered the Prophet of God he was full of strength and health; but in a few hours after the scourge had breathed upon him he was dead. Joseph and Hyrum administered assiduously to the sick, and soon they were in the grasp of the cholera. They were together when it seized them; and together they knelt down and prayed for deliverance. Three times they bowed in supplication, the third time with a vow that they would not rise until deliverance from the destroyer was vouchsafed. While they were thus upon their knees a vision of comfort came to Hyrum. He saw their mother afar off in Kirtland praying for her absent sons, and he felt that the Lord was answering her cry. Hyrum told Joseph of the comforting vision and together they arose, made whole every whit. In ministering to their other brethren they discovered that to dip an afflicted person in cold water afforded great relief and this was practiced generally until the scourge had run its threatened course and had left the Camp.

During the days of the scourge the Prophet had moved his party from Fishing River. On the 23rd of June, they had reached within five or six miles of Liberty in Clay County, when General Atchison and several other persons went out from the town to meet the Prophet. They begged him not to go to Liberty as the people had become much enraged. Accepting the advice, Joseph turned from the road to Liberty and encamped on the banks of Rush Creek.

On the 25th of June the Prophet announced by letter to General Atchison and party, that he had concluded to disperse his company, in order to allay the prejudice and fear on the part of citizens of Clay County. He requested the gentlemen to whom his note was addressed to inform the Governor of the action thus taken; because the Prophet knew that Dunklin's ears were being filled with the most malicious rumors concerning the purpose entertained by Zion's Camp. In execution of his promise Joseph disbanded his party, and the brethren scattered themselves among the Saints of that region.

The next day a report was received from one S. C. Owens, a leader of the Jackson County mob, in which he declared that his people would not accept the proposition of the Saints—to buy the lands of the men who objected to the Saints returning to their homes in Jackson County—nor anything akin to it. He coolly recommended that the Saints "cast their eye" on a distant and uninhabited spot which he named, "to see if that was not a county calculated for them."

One appeal after another was being made to the Governor of the state; but so far as practical help was concerned, all were unanswered. Active hostilities in a general sense against the Saints had ceased for the time being, and there was some reason for hoping that they would be allowed to remain in Clay and surrounding regions. All the honest and fair-minded settlers in that land were forced to recognize the good qualities of the exiles from Jackson. The Saints were industrious, charitable and thrifty. Among them were no drunkenness, brawls nor crimes which too often gave a bad character to other border communities.

To this prospect of peace the Prophet's personality had greatly contributed. In all the march through Missouri his magnificent qualities had impressed themselves upon the people whom he met. His course had been that of a worthy leader among men. He had shown in all his intercourse with the inhabitants of Missouri the utmost courage and generosity. It was his nature to extend consideration and kindness towards others, and he was as regardful of the rights of his fellow-men at this time as always before and always after during his lifetime. The leading men of Clay County who were brought into contact with him felt that he possessed remarkable power. There was that in his dignified deportment and in the fearless glance of his blue eyes which warmed the souls of other men to his own, and they submitted to his charm of manner, even when they had come to oppose him. And when at last, to allay the fears of his avowed enemies, he dispersed his party, while surrounded by vindictive mobs who sought his life and the lives of his associates, he evinced a courage and a wisdom as grand as they were rare.

Jackson County was alive with men who had sworn to assassinate him if he ventured within their reach. What could have been more admirable than his noble disregard of all their threats! On the 1st of July, 1834, unattended, except by two or three personal friends, he crossed the Missouri River from Clay into Jackson County, visited Independence and saw all that goodly land which the Lord had promised as a Zion, but which now was under the desecration of murder, rapine and a veritable reign of terror.

He stood among the ruins of once peaceful homes and gazed upon once fruitful fields which wicked men had laid waste, and his great heart swelled nigh to bursting. Did any premonition come to him of that awful hour when he should next look upon these scenes; when in chains he should be carried through the streets of Independence, as captive kings of old were dragged at their victor's chariot wheels to make the populace shout with cruel joy! Well might Joseph, Prophet of God, have indescribable emotions as he gazed upon this spot, hallowed in his mind by so many tender recollections and so many promised glories. Mobs had done their work, Zion was desolate. Joseph himself was free. But the day was not far distant, when he should, as a captive, be brought to Independence and his enemies should gloat over the tortured hero and his pale but undaunted face.

The Prophet had gone to Independence without ostentation, but without fear. While he prayed there, the eyes of the wicked were blinded, that they knew him not; and when he returned to his brethren he was unscathed.

On the 3rd day of July, the Prophet organized a high council near Liberty, in Clay County, and for several days he was engaged in imparting instruction to the members of that body, and such others as desired to listen to his words of wisdom.

An appeal was made and published to the world regarding the grievances of the Saints, and asking for the restoration of their rights, and for the privilege to live in peace.

On the 9th day of July, Joseph, in company with his brother Hyrum and Frederick G. Williams and others, departed for Kirtland. Returning, the journey was as toilsome as at first. The distance to be traversed was one thousand miles, and but few of the comforts of civilization existed for them along the path. Heat, thirst, hunger and pain of body alike oppressed them and were alike endured with patient fortitude. About the 1st day of August Joseph reached his home.

In leaving the Saints in Missouri the Prophet had hoped that for a time, at least, they would be blessed with protection from their enemies, and that the brethren would be accorded the opportunity to gain a maintenance for their suffering wives and children. Although before he parted with them many appeals had been made for a restoration to their possessions in Jackson County, it is not probable that he entertained any hope that Governor Dunklin would accomplish such a courageous act. Joseph's subsequent zeal in building up Kirtland seems to indicate that he had prescience of the continued exile of the Church from the land of Zion.

Shortly after the Prophet's return to Kirtland, he submitted before the high council some charges which had been made against himself by one of the rebellious spirits in Zion's Camp. This man, Sylvester Smith, had become angered on the march by Joseph's rebukes, which were only uttered in kindness and to secure proper discipline and mutual concession and forbearance among the brethren; and in his rage Sylvester had declared that the Prophet was corrupt in his heart. The complaint made by Sylvester did not include any specific charge of impurity, and the Prophet might have passed it by without notice. But he wanted to teach the brethren that no man was above the law of God, and he cheerfully and patiently submitted to an investigation. It was made fairly and fully, with no undue favor to him; and the result was a complete vindication of the Prophet's character and eventually a confession by Sylvester Smith of his own injustice, wrong-doing and evil inspiration. Thus, by his own example, Joseph showed to his brethren the saintly course for the settlement of difficulties.

Joseph gave another evidence of his devotion to the work and his personal humility, at this time. Labor upon the house of the Lord in Kirtland was in progress, but the poverty of the people and the surrounding difficulties made the advancement very slow. Only thirty families of Saints were then resident in Kirtland, and the toil and self-denial of the little handful cannot be described. Joseph gave his services as foreman in the temple stone quarry, and labored day after day with his own hands in bringing out the materials for that important structure. At the same time Hyrum was showing similar evidence of his industry and meekness. It was he who lifted the first spadeful of earth for the foundation trench, and he continued from that time on to watch and work and pray for the success of this sacred undertaking.

Having placed all things in order in Kirtland for the progress of the Lord's house, Joseph departed on the 16th of October, 1834, with his brother Hyrum and others to visit the Saints in the state of Michigan. They went by water, and on board the steamer they met a man who called himself Elmer. Not knowing who they were, in the course of conversation he said: "I am personally acquainted with Joe Smith; I have heard him preach his lies, and now since he is dead I am glad. I heard Joe Smith preach in Bainbridge, Chenango County, New York, five years ago, and knew him because he had such a dark complexion." Then he continued his exultations at the supposed death of the Prophet. This is an illustration of the malice and ignorance which prevailed at that time. Joseph was not dead; his complexion was not dark; he had never been in Bainbridge. Elmer had probably heard the tirade of some sectarian minister against Joseph Smith and thought he was praising God when he lied about the Prophet, and that he was doing Christ's service by exulting in his supposed death.

After preaching to the Michigan Saints for a brief time and giving and receiving comfort in their society, Joseph and his companions returned to Kirtland, reaching there about the last of October. During the month of November with so many labors upon his hands Joseph found every moment of time occupied. He was able to accomplish prodigious labors, because he obeyed the rule which he had established over his life and which he tersely states:

"WHEN THE LORD COMMANDS, DO IT."

His scrupulous regard for the interests of others is shown by a circumstance which occurred during the last of November, 1834. Some brethren and sisters representing a branch of the Church in the east called at Kirtland. They had in their possession means with which to purchase lands in Zion; but in view of the action of mobs and the inaction of officials, they could not well proceed to Missouri. The money was offered to the Church in Kirtland, or to Joseph as its President; but as this was not the purpose for which the means had been donated, he would only take it in trust to be paid back with interest in the ensuing spring; and he gave proper security for the fulfillment of these conditions. The means thus obtained was not devoted to his personal use, but was entirely employed in the furtherance of Church works.

It was with the close of 1834 that a pledge of tithing was first given, and the custom now in force was begun, the doctrine having been foreshadowed in previous revelations from the Almighty. The principle of tithing as now practiced very properly begun with the Prophet. On the 29th day of November, 1834, Joseph united in prayer with Oliver Cowdery for a continuation of divine blessings; and being filled with joy on this occasion, they entered into a covenant with the Lord as follows:

"That if the Lord will prosper us in our business, and open the way before us, that we may obtain means to pay our debts, that we be not troubled nor brought into disrepute before the world, nor His people; after that, of all that He shall give us, we will give a tenth, to be bestowed upon the poor in His Church, or as He shall command; and that we will be faithful over that which He has entrusted to our care, that we may obtain much; and that our children after us, shall remember to observe this sacred and holy covenant; and that our children and our children's children may know of the same, we have subscribed our names with our own hands.

"JOSEPH SMITH,

"OLIVER COWDERY.

"And now, O Father, as thou didst prosper our father Jacob, and bless him with protection and prosperity wherever he went, from the time he made a like covenant before and with thee; as thou didst, even the same night, open the heavens unto him, and manifest great mercy and power, and give him promises, so wilt thou do with us his sons; and as his blessings prevailed above his progenitors unto the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills, even so may our blessings prevail like his; and may thy servants be preserved from the power and influence of wicked and unrighteous men; may every weapon formed against us fall upon the head of him who shall form it; may we be blessed with a name and a place among the Saints here, and thy sanctified when they shall rest. Amen."