Читать книгу The Missouri Persecutions - B. H. Roberts - Страница 11

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STORM CLOUDS.

The spring of 1833 opened early in western Missouri. The streams, which had been so long locked up in ice, broke loose under the genial rays of the returning sun, and rushed madly on to swell the majestic current of the Missouri. The winter snows early melted before the balmy breath of spring, and grass and flowers in rich profusion and of varied hue clothed the great rolling prairies of the west in their loveliest attire. The forests along the water courses put forth their tender buds, and the birds that had migrated to the south in the autumn, to escape the severity of the winter, joyfully returned to build their nests in the same old woods, and make the wilderness glad with their sweet songs. All nature rejoiced, and the saints who had gathered to that land to build up Zion rejoiced with her. They had repented of the sins which had called forth the reproofs of the servants of God: and although there were some persons among them with whom the Lord was not well pleased, yet they had received assurances from God that the angels rejoiced over them.

Under these auspicious circumstances eighty officials and a large number of the members of The Church met for the service of God, and to be instructed in the things of eternal life, at the Ferry on Big Blue, a small forest-lined stream a few miles west of Independence. Their conversation and discourses ranged over immense periods of time; extending back to that time when the morning stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for joy in anticipation of the blessings that would follow the creation of this earth.^[A] They spoke of the cruel persecutions endured by the disciples of Jesus in former ages, little dreaming that the time was at hand when they, too, would be required to endure like trials for the truth's sake—for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. Their minds were absorbed in contemplating the future glory of Zion; their souls were filled with joy unspeakable—filled with that spirit which ages before caused men and angels to unite in singing, "Peace on earth; good will to man." This occurred on the 6th of April, and was the first attempt of The Church to celebrate the anniversary of her birthday. Only three years before, in the house of Peter Whitmer The Church had been organized; and now the saints in Missouri were exclaiming, How The Church has grown! How much has been accomplished! The Gospel had been preached in nearly all the states of the Union: thousands had hailed the message with delight, and numerous branches of The Church had been established. The place of the city of Zion had been revealed, and nearly a thousand of the saints gathered there. A printing establishment had been founded, and the precious truths from heaven were being published to the world; and all this had been accomplished in the face of poverty and bitter opposition.

[Footnote A: Job 38:3–7.]

During the summer of 1833, a school for the elders was organized in Zion, presided over by Elder Parley P. Pratt, who labored with all the zeal of an apostle in teaching them the things of God. They held their meetings in the shady groves—in "God's first temples," and their instructor frequently walked several miles bare-footed to meet with them. How strange it seems to record the above as occurring in this age! It appears to be quite out of joint with the times, and smacks rather of that age in which John the Baptist preached the gospel in the wilderness of Judea, clothed with camel's hair, and a girdle of skin about his loins; and whose food was locusts and wild honey. Some day, however, when a parallel shall be drawn between the introduction of the gospel in this dispensation, and that in which John figured, it will appear that the men who have been chosen of the Lord in this age to perform his work, possess the same simplicity of character as those whom he chose in Judea, nineteen hundred years ago—the same guileless honesty of purpose; the same child-like confidence in God, and the same unwavering fidelity to their Master's cause; as willing to undergo privations, hunger and cold, and toil and nakedness; as willing to endure the scorn and hatred of the world; as willing to suffer bonds and even death.

The migration of the saints to Missouri in the early summer of 1833, exceeded that of the previous season; but they were settling among a people who possessed characteristics with which, from the nature of things, they were bound to be at variance. The "old settlers" of Jackson County were principally from the mountainous portions of the Southern States. They had settled along the water-courses, in the forests which lined their banks, instead of out on the broad and fertile prairies, which only required fencing to prepare them for cultivation. It was the work of years to clear a few acres of the timber lands, and prepare them for cultivation, but with these small fields the "old settlers" were content. They had no disposition to beautify their homes, or even make them convenient or comfortable. They lived in their log cabins without windows, and very frequently without floors other than the ground; and the dingy, smoked log walls were unadorned by pictures or other ornaments. They were uneducated; those who could read or write being the exception and not the rule; and they had an utter contempt for the refinements of life. It is needless to add that they were narrowminded, ferocious, and jealous of those who sought to obtain better homes, and who aspired to something better in life than had yet entered into the hearts of these people.

There was another element in western Missouri which did not tend to the improvement of its society. Western Missouri at the time of which I write, and as before remarked, was the frontier of the United States, and therefore a place of refuge for those who had outraged the laws of society elsewhere. Here they were near the boundary line of the United States, and if pursued by the officers of the law, in a few hours they could cross the line out of their reach, as the officers could not operate outside of their own nation. These outcasts helped to give a more desperate complexion to the already reckless population of western Missouri.

The Saints could not join the Missourians in their way of life—in Sabbath-breaking, profanity, horse-racing, idleness, drunkenness, and debauchery. They had been commanded to keep the Sabbath day holy, to keep themselves unspotted from the sins of the world. The fact of people having so little in common with each other was of itself calculated to beget a coldness and suspicion, which would soon ripen into dislike. The saints, too, had come, for the most part, from the Northern and New England States, and the hatred that existed at that time between the people of the slave-holding and free states, was manifested toward the saints by their "southern" neighbors. Moreover, the old settlers were dear lovers of office, and the honors and emoluments growing out of it; and they greatly feared that the rapidly increasing saints would soon outnumber them, and that the offices would be wrested from them. Political jealousy is always cruel and unscrupulous; and is not slow to find excuses for destroying the object of its hatred. To the politician as well as to the lover,

"Trifles light as air,

Are to the jealous confirmations strong

As proofs of Holy Writ."

And where these "trifles" do not exist, we shall see in the progress of our narrative that sectarian meanness and political jealousy do not hesitate to manufacture them.

As early as the spring of 1832 there began to appear signs of an approaching storm. In the deadly hours of the night the houses of some of the saints were stoned, the windows broken, and the inmates disturbed. In the fall of the same year a large quantity of hay in the stack belonging to the saints was burned, houses shot into, and the people insulted with abusive language. In the month of April, 1833, the old settlers to the number of some three hundred met at Independence, to consult upon a plan for the destruction, or immediate removal, of the "Mormons" from Jackson County. They were unable, however, to unite on any plan, and the mob becoming the worse for liquor, the affair broke up in a "Missouri row."

The secret of their failure in accomplishing anything was this: A few of the brethren, learning that such a meeting was being held, met for secret prayer, and petitioned the Father to frustrate the plans of this ungodly mob, who were seeking their destruction. The Lord, in view of the fact, doubtless, that this people were partially repenting of the evils for which they had been reproved, in his mercy heard their prayers, and thwarted the designs of their enemies. But the angry clouds of the threatened persecution had been merely drifted aside, not driven from the horizon; and in a few months they assumed a more threatening aspect than on their first appearance.

The sectarian priests inhabiting Jackson and the surrounding counties were earnestly engaged in fanning the flames of prejudice, already burning in the public mind. The Rev. Finis Ewing, the head and front of the Cumberland Presbyterian church, published this statement: "The 'Mormons' are the common enemies of mankind and ought to be destroyed."

The Rev. Pixley, who had been sent out by the Missionary Society to Christianize the savages of the west, spent his time in going from house to house, seeking to destroy The Church by spreading slanderous falsehoods, to incite the people to acts of violence against the saints.

Early in July, a document was in circulation known as the "Secret Constitution," setting forth the alleged grievances of the mob, and binding all who signed it to assist in "removing the 'Mormons.'" The document set forth the following: The signers believed an important crisis was at hand in their civil society, because a pretended religious sect—the "Mormons"—had settled in their midst. The civil law did not afford them a sufficient guarantee against the threatening evils, and therefore they had determined to rid themselves of the "Mormons," "peaceably if they could, forcibly if they must;" and for the better accomplishment of this object, they had organized themselves into a company—pledging to each other their "bodily powers, their lives, fortunes, and sacred honors!"