1. Mormon 9:32.
2. Hist. Church, Vol. 1, p. 15.
3. 3 Nephi 21:23, 24; Ether 13:3-8.
4. 1 Nephi 13:10-19; 22:7, 8.
5. 2 Nephi 10:11-13.
6. Ether 2:8-12.
7. Gen. 49:22-26.
8. Deut. 33:13-15.
9. 2 Nephi 3:12.
10. Ezek. 37:16-24. The king here mentioned is not David, son of Jesse, but "another by the name of David" who is to be "raised up out of his lineage."—Hist. Ch., Vol. 6, p. 253.
11. Ether 2:10.
12. Isa. 2:3.
SEERSHIP AND PROPHECY.
What Joseph Beheld.
Seer and Prophet.—"Seer" and "Prophet" are interchangeable terms, supposed by many to signify one and the same thing. Strictly speaking, however, this is not correct. A seer is greater than a prophet.[1]One may be a prophet without being a seer; but a seer is essentially a prophet—if by "prophet" is meant not only a spokesman, but likewise a foreteller. Joseph Smith was both prophet and seer.[2]
Like Unto Moses.—A seer is one who sees. But it is not the ordinary sight that is meant. The seeric gift is a supernatural endowment. Joseph was "like unto Moses;" and Moses, who saw God face to face, explains how he saw him in these words: "Now mine own eyes have beheld God; yet not my natural, but my spiritual eyes; for my natural eyes could not have beheld; for I should have withered and died in his presence; but his glory was upon me; and I beheld his face, for I was transfigured before him." Such is the testimony of the ancient Seer, as brought to light by the Seer of Latter-days.[3]
Spirit Eyes.—Let it not be supposed, however, that to see spiritually is not to see literally. Vision is not fancy, not imagination. The object is actually beheld, though not with the natural eye. We all have spirit eyes, of which our natural or outward eyes are the counterpart. All man's organs and faculties are firstly spiritual, the body being but the clothing of the spirit. In our first estate, the spirit life, we "walked by sight." Therefore we had eyes. But they were not our natural eyes, for these are not given until the spirit tabernacles in mortality. All men have a spirit sight, but all are not permitted to use it under existing conditions. Even those thus privileged can only use it when quickened by the Spirit of the Lord.[4]Without that, no man can know the things of God, "because they are spiritually discerned."[5]Much less can he look upon the Highest unspiritually, with carnal mind or with natural vision. "No man"—no natural man—"hath seen God at any time."[6]But men at divers times have seen him as Moses saw him—not with the natural but with the spiritual eye, quickened by the power that seeth and knoweth all things.
By the Holy Ghost.—The seeric faculty, possessed in greater degree by some than by others, is the original spirit sight reinforced or moved upon by the power of the Holy Ghost. By this means certain persons, peculiarly gifted and sent into the world for that purpose, are able, even while in the flesh, to see out of obscurity, "out of hidden darkness," and behold the things of God pertaining both to time and to eternity. Joseph Smith possessed this ability—this gift, but it was the Spirit of the Lord that enabled him to use it. By that Spirit he beheld the Father and the Son; and by that Spirit, operating through the same marvelous gift, he translated the cryptic contents of the Book of Mormon.
How the Book of Mormon was Translated.—The reputed method of translation was as follows: The Seer, scanning through the "interpreters" (Urim and Thummim) the golden pages, saw appear, in connection with the strange characters engraved thereon, their equivalent in English words. These he repeated to his scribe—Oliver Cowdery most of the time—and the latter wrote them. It was a peculiarity of the process that, until the writing was correct in every particular, the words last given would not disappear; but on the necessary correction being made, they would immediately pass away and be succeeded by others.[7]
The Priesthood Restored.—The greater part of the Book of Mormon was translated at Harmony, Pennsylvania, the home of Joseph's father-in-law, Isaac Hale. While the Prophet and his scribe were thus employed (May 15, 1829) John the Baptist, as an angel from heaven, conferred upon them the Aaronic Priesthood.[8]Soon afterward they were ordained to the higher or Melchizedek Priesthood, by three other heavenly messengers, the Apostles Peter, James and John.[9]By virtue of this authority, and pursuant to divine direction, the two young men, associated with a few others organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Petty Persecution.—During their sojourn in the little Pennsylvania village, Joseph and Oliver suffered considerable annoyance at the hands of mischievous persons who, having no faith in their work and regarding it as a hoax, seemed bent upon rendering their situation as disagreeable as possible. Learning of their unpleasant situation, and desiring to help along the sacred task to which they were devoting themselves, Peter Whitmer, Sr., a farmer living at Fayette, Seneca County, New York, sent his son David with a team and wagon to bring them to the Whitmer home.
David Whitmer's Account.—"When I arrived at Harmony," says David Whitmer, "Joseph and Oliver were coming towards me and met me at some distance from the house. Oliver told me that Joseph had informed him when I started from home, where I had stopped the first night, how I read the sign at the tavern, where I stopped the second night, etc., and that I would be there that day before dinner; and this was why they had come out to meet me. All of which was exactly as Joseph had told Oliver; at which I was greatly astonished."[10]It was at the Whitmer farmhouse, in Fayette, that the Church was organized, April 6th, 1830.
Newel K. Whitney and the "Stranger."—Another instance of Joseph's use of the seeric gift connects with the occasion of his arrival at Kirtland, Ohio, where the Church, at an early day, established its headquarters. A few months prior to that time, Oliver Cowdery and three other Elders, on their way to preach the Gospel to the Lamanites, or Indians, had tarried for a season at Kirtland, where they converted a number of the white dwellers in that region. Among these were Sidney Rigdon, Newel K. Whitney, and others who became prominent in the "Mormon" community. The Saints in Ohio, learning that the Church would probably move westward, began to pray for the coming of the Prophet.
The prayer was soon answered. About the first of February, 1831, a sleigh, driven into Kirtland from the East, drew up in front of the mercantile store of Gilbert and Whitney. A stalwart young man alighted and walked into the store. Approaching the junior partner and extending his hand cordially, as if to an old and familiar acquaintance, he saluted him thus: "Newel K. Whitney, thou art the man!"
The merchant was astonished. He had never seen this person before. "Stranger," said he, "You have the advantage of me; I could not call you by name as you have me."
"I am Joseph the Prophet," said the stranger, smiling. "You have prayed me here, now what do you want of me?"
Joseph Smith, while in the State of New York, had seen Newel K. Whitney, in the State of Ohio, praying for his coming to Kirtland; and therefore knew him when they met.[11]The purpose of this vision, in all probability, was to pave the way for a meeting between the Prophet and the man who was to have the honor of entertaining him during the first weeks after his arrival in Ohio.
Vision of the Three Glories.—One of the most glorious manifestations ever vouchsafed to mortals, came to Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, in the month of February, 1832. They were at Hiram, Portage County, Ohio, where the Prophet, assisted by Elder Rigdon, who had been a Campbellite preacher, was occupied with revising the English translation of the Hebrew Bible—a circumstance that may have given rise to the oft-refuted story of Rigdon's authorship of the Book of Mormon.[12]The manifestation referred to was a vision of human destiny, including the three general conditions of glorified man—celestial, terrestrial, and telestial. Concerning this marvelous vision, Joseph and Sidney thus testify:
"We, Joseph Smith, Jr., and Sidney Rigdon, being in the Spirit on the sixteenth of February, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, by the power of the Spirit our eyes were opened and our understandings were enlightened, so as to see and understand the things of God . . . .
"Of whom we bear record, and the record which we bear is the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who is the Son, whom we saw and with whom we conversed in the heavenly vision."[13]
Thus is furnished an additional proof that it is by the power of God, and not of man, that mortals behold the visions of eternity.
The Greenville Incident.—In May of the same year, Joseph Smith, President of the Church, and Newel K. Whitney, Bishop of Kirtland, were returning from a visit to Jackson County, Missouri, where, since the summer of 1831, a "Mormon" colony had been laying the foundations of the City of Zion, upon grounds consecrated by the Prophet for that purpose. The returning visitors were detained several weeks at Greenville, Indiana; the Bishop having a broken leg, caused by leaping from a runaway stage coach. Surrounded by unfriendly people, some of whom he suspected of an attempt to poison him, the Prophet proposed that they forthwith leave that dangerous neighborhood. His record goes on to say:
"Brother Whitney had not had his foot moved from the bed for nearly four weeks, when I went into his room, after a walk in the grove, and told him if he would agree to start for home in the morning, we would take a wagon to the river about four miles, and there would be a ferry-boat in waiting, which would take us quickly across, where we would find a hack which would take us directly to the landing, where we should find a boat in waiting, and we would be going up the river before ten o'clock, and have a prosperous journey home. He took courage and told me he would go; we started the next morning and found everything as I had told him."[14]
A White Lamanite.—Still another instance. In 1834, while the "Zion's Camp" expedition[15]was on its way to Missouri, some of the party exhumed from an ancient mound the skeleton of a man having a stone-pointed arrow between two of his ribs. The Prophet, in a vision of the past, discovered the identity of this skeleton, and informed his brethren that the man's name was Zelph, that he was "a white Lamanite,"[16]and had been killed in battle by the arrow found between his ribs.[17]
Kirtland Temple Visions.—By this same power Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, in the Temple at Kirtland, Ohio (April 3rd, 1836), beheld Jehovah, the God of Israel; also Moses, Elias and Elijah, who committed to them spiritual keys necessary for carrying on various phases of the Lord's work.[18]
Adam's Altar.—In 1838, after the main body of the Church had moved to Missouri, the Saints built several towns and projected others in Caldwell and other counties of that State. One of those towns was at Spring Hill, Davis County, where the men who made the survey for a new settlement came upon the ruins of an ancient altar, situated on a wooded hill overlooking the surrounding country. Straightway they reported to the Prophet their interesting find. He, upon beholding it, said to those who were with him: "There is the place where Adam offered up sacrifice after he was cast out of the Garden."[19]
The Old-New World.—America, according to Joseph Smith, is the Old World—not the New[20]. The primeval Garden was in the part now called Jackson County. Our First Parents, after their expulsion from Eden, dwelt in the place where this altar stood. The Lord named it Adam-ondi-Ahman, "because it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by Daniel the Prophet."[21]
All this by the power of seership—all this and more; for many other instances might be given. But these will suffice to show the nature of this rare and precious gift, and the manner of its exercise by the mighty Seer and Prophet holding the keys of this Gospel dispensation.
1. Mosiah 8:15.
2. Such men as Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American philosopher, and Count Leo Tolstoi, the Russian writer, are sometimes referred to as "seers;" it being thought by those who so designate them, that the power to think profoundly and express wise and intelligent opinions, especially on the future, constitutes seership. It is in this sense that the term "vision" is so much used. But a great thinker is not necessarily a seer; though a seer is apt to be a great thinker. Joseph Smith was both; not so Ralph Waldo Emerson; not so Count Tolstoi. They were great philosophers, but there is nothing in the life-work of either to indicate that he possessed the power of a seer.
3. Moses 1:11. Moses further declares that he could look upon Satan "in the natural man," but, says he: "I could not look upon God, except his glory should come upon me and I was strengthened before him."
4. D. and C. 67:11.
5. 1 Cor. 2:9-14.
6. John 1:18.
7. David Whitmer's "Address to all True Believers in Christ." p. 12; and Martin Harris' Statement to Edward Stevenson, Millennial Star, Vol. 44, pp. 86, 87.
8. D. and C. 13.
9. Hist. Ch. Vol. 1 pp. 39-42, Note.
10. David Whitmer's Statement to Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith, Mill. Star, Vol. 40, p. 772.
11. Hist. Ch., Vol 1, pp. 145, 146. Note.
12. Sidney Ridgon had never so much as seen the Book of Mormon, until several months after it was published, when a copy of it was handed to him in Northern Ohio, by Parley P. Pratt, one of the Elders of the Lamanite Mission. Parley and Sidney corroborate each other in their separate accounts of this incident. Moreover Sidney's acquaintance with Joseph Smith did not begin until almost a year after the Book of Mormon came forth. Yet he was charged with creating it, with converting a religious history into a secular romance entirely dissimilar in character and style from the Nephite record—a romance written by one Solomon Spaulding. A full account of this discredited theory of the origin of the Book of Mormon may be found in George Reynolds' "Myth of the Manuscript Found," and in "Whitney's History of Utah," Vol. 1, pp. 46-56.
13. D. and C. 76:11, 12, 14. See also Article Forty, this Series.
14. Hist. Ch. Vol. 1, pp. 271, 272.
15. See Article Twenty-four.
16. 3 Nephi 2:14-16.
17. Hist. Ch. Vol. 2, pp. 79, 80.
18. D. and C. 110.
19. "Life of Heber C. Kimball," p. 222; Taylor's "Mediation and Atonement," pp. 69, 70; Whitney's "History of Utah"—Biography A. O. Smoot, Vol. 4, p. 99.
20. The Prophet's inspired declaration to that effect finds confirmation in the writings of Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Agassiz, and John Fiske.
21. D. and C. 116.
What Joseph Foretold.
The Proof of Prophecy.—To prove one a prophet, it is necessary to show, not only that he prophesied, but that things predicted by him came to pass. Measured by this standard, Joseph Smith's claim to the title is clear and unimpeachable. I shall not attempt to enumerate all his prophecies, but will mention some of the more notable, as demonstrating his possession of the wonderful power to unlock and reveal the future.
Earliest Predictions.—The Angel Moroni's promise to the boy, that he, an obscure and unlettered country lad, should live to do a work that would cause his name to be known among all nations,[1]has been often cited—too often to require extended comment here. The same may be said of Isaiah's familiar declaration, that in the presence of God's wondrous work, the wisdom of the wise should perish and the understanding of the prudent be hid.[2]These promises are fulfilling daily. Passing them by with this brief mention, I take up one of the best known of Joseph Smith's predictions, namely, the "Revelation and Prophecy on War."
An Ominous Christmas Gift.—This tremendous forecast, relating not only to the fierce internecine struggle between the Northern and Southern States of the American Union, but to other and mightier upheavals as well, some past and some yet future, was launched at Kirtland, Ohio, on the 25th of December, 1832. It may be said, therefore, that it came as a solemn Christmas gift to the inhabitants of the world, warning them to prepare for terrible events.
War and Other Calamities.—The Prophet declared that war would "be poured out upon all nations," beginning at a certain place. That place was South Carolina. The Southern States, divided against the Northern States, would call upon Great Britain, and Great Britain would call upon other nations, for defensive assistance against hostile powers. Slaves, rising against their masters, would be "marshalled and disciplined for war;" and the red remnants "left of the land" would "become exceeding angry" and "vex the Gentiles with a sore vexation." By bloodshed and famine, plague, earthquake and tempest, the inhabitants of the earth would mourn and "be made to feel the wrath and indignation and chastening hand of an Almighty God." The Prophet exhorted his followers to "stand in holy places and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come."[3]
For nineteen years this prophecy remained in manuscript, though copies of it were carried by "Mormon" missionaries and read to their congregations in various parts of the world. In 1851 it was published at Liverpool, the first edition of "The Pearl of Great Price" containing it. Therefore, it was a matter of public note and printed record long before the dire fulfillment began.
Beginning of the Fulfillment.—The revelation had been in existence twenty-eight years, three months, and seventeen days, when, on the twelfth of April, 1861, the Confederate batteries in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina, opened fire on Fort Sumter, thus precipitating the war between the North and the South. As is well known, it arose over the slave question, a circumstance fulfilling another of Joseph Smith's predictions—one dated April 2nd, 1843.[4]
Southern States call on Great Britain.—How eleven of the Southern States, bent upon withdrawing from the Union and establishing an independent government south of the Mason and Dixon Line, called upon Great Britain, and were accorded a measure of encouragement by the ruling classes of that country, need scarcely be told here. The arrest and release of the Confederate commissioners, Mason and Slidell, who had been sent across the Atlantic to present the case of the seceding States at the Court of St. James; and the subsequent payment by the British Government of the Alabama claims ($15,500,000), for damages sustained by United States commerce at the hand of Confederate privateers, built and fitted out in British ports, tell in part the story.
The Negro and Indian Questions.—It is also a matter of history, that many of the negro slaves, set free by President Lincoln's edict of emancipation, and trained as troops, fought in the Northern armies against their former masters. Whether or not this was a complete fulfillment of the forecast concerning the once enslaved people, remains to be seen. The race question was not entirely settled by the Civil War; it still hovers as a dark cloud on our national horizon. As for Indian troubles, many of which have arisen since Joseph Smith prophesied concerning them, while apparently they have ceased to "vex," more may yet be heard from that quarter before the problem is finally solved.
An Effort to Avert Calamity.—Joseph Smith's last public act of a political character was an effort to save his country from the awful calamity that he saw impending. To some it may appear strange, even inconsistent, that a prophet, after making a prediction, would try to prevent it from coming to pass. But it is only a seeming inconsistency. It should be remembered that divine promises and prophecies are conditional. There is always an alternative, expressed or implied, hinging upon a change of attitude or conduct on the part of the person or persons toward whom the prophecy is directed. Deem it not incongruous, therefore, that this Prophet, after predicting the Civil War, should endeavor to open a way of escape from the evils he had foreseen and foretold.
In January, 1844, only five months before his martyrdom, Joseph Smith became a candidate for President of the United States. One of the planks of his political platform was a proposition to free the slaves of the South—not by confiscation, thereby despoiling their owners, but by purchase, making their freedom a gift from the General Government; the funds necessary for the purpose to be realized from the sale of public lands. This just and humane proposition, repeated eleven years later by Ralph Waldo Emerson,[5]and favored also by Abraham Lincoln, was ignored; and it cost the Nation a million of lives and billions of treasure to despise the counsel of a prophet of God, and adopt instead what the hate-blinded politicians of that period deemed "a more excellent way."[6]
How Stephen A. Douglas Fulfilled Prophecy.—Closely connected with events immediately preceding the Civil War, is another prophecy of Joseph Smith's, uttered May 18, 1843, and recorded at the time in the journal of his private secretary. On the date given, the Prophet dined with Stephen A. Douglas, at the home of Sheriff Backenstos, in Carthage, Illinois, the same town where the brothers Joseph and Hyrum afterwards met their tragic death. Judge Douglas was holding court there. The principal topic of conversation after dinner was the persecution of the Latter-day Saints in Missouri, not only the Jackson County affair of 1833, but the more sanguinary tragedy of 1838-1839, culminating in the mid-winter expulsion of the entire Church—then numbering twelve to fifteen thousand members—and its establishment in the adjoining State of Illinois. An account of these events, at the Judge's request, the "Mormon" leader gave. His narrative included a recital of the ineffectual attempts made by him and his people to obtain from the Federal government a redress of grievances.
Douglas was deeply interested, and strongly condemned the conduct of Missouri. He was very friendly with the Prophet, who, continuing the conversation, predicted trouble for the Nation unless those wrongs were righted. Then, addressing Douglas, he said: "Judge, you will aspire to the Presidency of the United States; and if you ever turn your hand against me or the Latter-day Saints, you will feel the weight of the hand of the Almighty upon you. And you will live to see and know that I have testified the truth to you, for the conversation of this day will stick to you through life."[7]
God's Hand Against Him.—Judge Douglas reaped the full fruition of those fateful words. The prophecy concerning him was first published in the Deseret News, at Salt Lake City, September 24, 1856, and on February 26, 1859, it appeared in the Millennial Star, at Liverpool. Between those dates, Stephen A. Douglas, then a United States Senator—made such by the aid of "Mormon" votes in Illinois—turned his hand against his old-time friends and supporters. Joseph Smith was dead, but his followers, driven from the confines of civilization, were out in the wilderness, laying the foundations of the State of Utah. In a political speech, at Springfield, Illinois, June 12, 1857, Senator Douglas, basing a reference to the "Mormons" upon certain wild rumors afloat concerning them, virtually accused them of all manner of crimes and abominations. The speech was looked upon as a bid for popular favor.
Then came the Senator's race for the Presidency. His prospects at the outset were favorable. His party held the preponderance of the national vote, and he was the idol of his party. In June, 1860, he was enthusiastically nominated by the Democratic Convention at Baltimore. Men shouted for him, worked for him, and on election day voted for him; but all in vain, God's hand was against him! His party, torn by dissension, divided its strength among three candidates, and was overwhelmingly defeated. "The Little Giant" was "snowed under," and his great rival, Abraham Lincoln, elevated to the Presidential chair. A few months later Senator Douglas died at his home in Chicago. He was only in the prime of life—aged forty-eight—but he had lived long enough to realize that God's prophets do not speak in vain.
1. Hist. Ch. Vol. 1, pp. 11, 12.
2. Isa. 29:14.
3. D. and C. 87.
4. Ib. 130:12, 13.
5. Josiah Quincy, who visited Joseph Smith at Nauvoo shortly before the martyrdom, says of him and his views on slavery:
"Smith recognized the curse and iniquity of slavery, though he opposed the methods of the Abolitionists. His plan was for the nation to pay for the slaves from the sale of the public lands. 'Congress,' he said, 'should be compelled to take this course, by petitions from all parts of the country; but the petitioners must disclaim all alliance with those who would disturb the rights of property recognized by the Constitution and foment insurrection.' It may be worth while to remark that Smith's plan was publicly advocated, eleven years later, by one who has mixed so much practical shrewdness with his lofty philosophy. In 1855, when men's minds had been moved to their depths on the question of slavery, Mr. Ralph Waldo Emerson declared that it should be met in accordance 'with the interest of the South and with the settled conscience of the North. It is not really a great task, a great fight for this country to accomplish, to buy that property of the planter, as the British nation bought the West Indian slaves.' He further says that the 'United States will be brought to give every inch of their public lands for a purpose like this.' We, who can look back upon the terrible cost of the fratricidal war which put an end to slavery, now say that such a solution of the difficulty would have been worthy a Christian statesman. But if the retired scholar was in advance of his time when he advocated this disposition of the public property in 1855 what shall I say of the political and religious leader who had committed himself, in print, as well as in conversation, to the same course in 1844? If the atmosphere of men's opinions was stirred by such a proposition when war-clouds were discernible in the sky, was it not a statesmanlike word eleven years earlier, when the heavens looked tranquil and beneficent."—"Figures of the Past," pp. 397, 398.
6. President Lincoln, toward the close of the Civil War, "wrote a message to Congress, proposing to pay the slaveholders $400,000,000 for their slaves, if the South would only cease fighting. All the Cabinet objecting, with a sigh he put the message in his drawer." See article, "Lincoln in Victory," by James Morgan, Deseret News, May 10, 1920.
7. William Clayton's Journal, May 18, 1843.
Looking Westward.
Why the "Mormons" Migrated.—Foreseeing that the Nation would turn a deaf ear to his patriotic appeal for a peaceful and just settlement of the slave question, the Prophet began to contemplate the removal of the Church from close proximity to the scenes of strife and carnage that were about to be enacted. It was highly necessary that a people chosen for such a purpose—to prepare the world for the ushering in of the Reign of Righteousness—should remain upon earth to accomplish their mission. In order to so remain, they must be out of the way of the troubles that were imminent, and, so far as possible, keep out of the way until the divine judgments predicted had gone forth and done their work. This was one reason why the Latter-day Saints migrated to the Rocky Mountains.
Driven to their Destiny.—Their cruel expulsion from Missouri had indirectly contributed to their safety; for when the war-cloud which had long been gathering finally burst, it poured out much of its fury upon those very lands from which the Saints had been driven.[1]And now, their enforced pilgrimage into the all but untrodden wilderness of the Great West likewise preserved them from many trials that would have fallen to their lot had they tarried within the area seriously affected by the stern events that followed.
Fleeing the Wrath to Come.—It was a next-best course that the fugitive people pursued. Originally they were cast for a very different role, but not being ready to enact that role, another part was assigned them, one destined to prepare them for the greater performance that is yet to follow. In order that the community might survive, and accomplish, when the time came, the mighty task of "redeeming Zion," it was imperative that they should "flee the wrath to come."
The Exodus Foretold.—The removal of the Saints to the region of the Rocky Mountains, was the theme of a prophecy uttered by Joseph the Seer nearly two years before his death, and nearly four years prior to the beginning of the famous "Mormon Exodus." Nauvoo, Illinois, where he then resided, is on the east bank of the Mississippi River, and on the west bank, just opposite, is the little town of Montrose. From the Prophet's personal history, I now quote an entry of Saturday, August 6th 1842:
"Passed over the river to Montrose, Iowa, in company with General Adams, Colonel Brewer and others, and witnessed the installation of the officers of the Rising Sun Lodge, Ancient York Masons, at Montrose, by General James Adams, Deputy Grand Master of Illinois. While the Deputy Grand Master was engaged in giving the requisite instructions to the Master-elect, I had a conversation with a number of brethren in the shade of the building, on the subject of our persecutions in Missouri and the constant annoyance which has followed us since we were driven from that State. I prophesied that the Saints would continue to suffer much affliction, and would be driven to the Rocky Mountains. Many would apostatize, others would be put to death by our persecutors or lose their lives in consequence of exposure or disease, 'and some of you will live to go and assist in making settlements, build cities, and see the Saints become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains."'[2]
Anson Call's Narrative.—One of the men who heard that prediction was Anson Call, afterwards a prominent colonizer in various parts of the Rocky Mountain region. His account, descriptive of the Montrose incident, follows:
"A block school-house had been prepared, with shade in front, under which was a barrel of ice water. Judge Adams was the highest Masonic authority in the State of Illinois, and had been sent there to organize this lodge. He, Hyrum Smith, and J. C. Bennett, being high Masons, went into the house to perform some ceremonies which the others were not entitled to witness. These, including Joseph Smith, remained under the bowery. Joseph, as he was tasting the cold water, warned the brethren not to be too free with it. With the tumbler still in his hand, he prophesied that the Saints would yet go to the Rocky Mountains; and, said he, 'this water tastes much like that of the crystal streams that are running from the snow-capped mountains.' . . . . I had before seen him in a vision (i.e. while having a vision), and now saw, while he was talking, his countenance change to white—not the deadly white of a bloodless face, but a living, brilliant white. He seemed absorbed in gazing upon something at a great distance, and said: 'I am gazing upon the valleys of those mountains."'[3]
The Seeric Power.—Joseph Smith, at that time, was standing on the west bank of the Mississippi River, fifteen hundred miles from the Rocky Mountains; yet he saw these grand old hills, crowned with unmelting snows, and seamed with rugged gorges down which the crystal torrents were flowing as they flow today. He actually beheld, with spirit vision, these objects—beheld them so vividly, that had he been permitted to carry out his partly formed purpose of leading his people to their new home in the wilderness, he would have recognized this land, and would have been able to say, as Brigham Young said, upon beholding Salt Lake Valley: "This is the Place."[4]
Another Prophet and Seer.—But Joseph did not live to accompany his people upon their historic journey. Another mighty leader was raised up to pilot modern Israel to their promised land. Of Brigham Young it is related, that while crossing the plains west of the Missouri River, in the spring and summer of 1847, he had a vision of the region that he and his fellow pilgrims were about to inhabit. He saw a tent settling down from heaven over the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, and heard a voice proclaim: "This is the place where my people Israel shall pitch their tents." Such is the testimony of Erastus Snow,[5]one of the principal men who came with President Young to the Rocky Mountains. Consequently when the great Pioneer said, "This is the place," he was repeating words that had been spoken to him—repeating them while viewing with natural eyes a scene that his spirit eyes had already beheld.
Human Wisdom vs. Divine Guidance.—What availed, after that, the pessimistic forebodings of the mountaineer, James Bridger, who camped with the Pioneers just after they passed the Rocky Mountains, and whose laconic speech, "I would give a thousand dollars if I knew an ear of corn could ripen in Salt Lake Valley," has been often and variously quoted? What availed the roseate account given of the California Coast by the ultra-optimistic Samuel Brannan, who, after sailing with a "Mormon" colony from New York and landing at the Bay of San Francisco, crossed the Sierra Nevada, met the Pioneers on Green River, and endeavored to persuade them that the flowery slopes of the Pacific were a better place of abode for the exiled people than the parched alkali wastes of "The Great American Desert?" Brigham Young knew better than Colonel Bridger or Elder Brannan what was for the best. Looking past the present into the future, he had for all such warnings and persuasions, one reply: "This is the place."
Prophecy Fulfilled and Vision Verified.—Brigham Young was not the man to ignore divine guidance. His own vision was before him, beckoning him on; and Joseph Smith's prediction behind him, urging him forward and pointing out the way. The Latter-day Saints were to "become a mighty people"—not in California, not along the Pacific Coast, but "in the midst of the Rocky Mountains."
1. The history of guerilla warfare and its merciless suppression along the Missouri-Kansas border, amply bears out this assertion.
2. Hist. Ch. Vol. 5, p. 85.
This prophecy began to be fulfilled early in February, 1846, when the first companies of the migrating Saints left Nauvoo for the West, crossing the frozen Mississippi on the ice. About the middle of June they reached the Missouri River, then the frontier of the Nation, where their further progress was delayed for a whole season by the enlistment of the "Mormon" Battalion—five hundred men—who responded to a call from the Government and volunteered to assist the United States in its war with Mexico.
3. "This was followed," continues the Call narrative, "by a vivid description of the scenery of these mountains as I have since become acquainted with it. . . . . It is impossible to represent in words this scene which is still vivid in my mind—the grandeur of Joseph's appearance, his beautiful descriptions of this land, and his wonderful prophetic utterances as they emanated from the glorious inspirations that overshadowed him. There was a force and power in his exclamations of which the following is but a faint echo: 'Oh the beauty of those snow-capped mountains! The cool refreshing streams that are running down through those mountain gorges.' Then, gazing in another direction, as if there was a change of locality: 'Oh the scenes that this people will pass through! The dead that will lie between here and there.' Then, turning in another direction, as if the scene had again changed: 'Oh the apostasy that will take place before my brethren reach that land! But, he continued, 'the priesthood shall prevail over its enemies, triumph over the devil, and be established upon the earth, never more to be thrown down."' Hist. Ch. Vol. 5, pp. 85, 86. Note.
4. The journey of the Pioneers began at Winter Quarters (now Florence, Nebraska) about the middle of April, 1847. It ended on the shores of the Great Salt Lake, July 24th of the same year. The company, led by President Brigham Young in person, consisted originally of 143 men, three women, and two children. The men were well armed and equipped, and the company traveled mostly in covered wagons, drawn by horses, mules and oxen. Four large companies of emigrants followed immediately after the Pioneers, arriving in Salt Lake Valley during the autumn.
5. See Apostle Snow's discourse of July 25, 1880, reproduced in the "Improvement Era" for June, 1913.
The Place of Safety.
An Inspired Choice.—Who can doubt the wisdom of the choice that made the Rocky Mountains, in lieu of the Pacific Coast, a permanent home for the once homeless Latter-day Saints? Had they gone to California, as Elder Brannan advised, it would have meant, in all probability, their disruption and dispersion as a community, or at all events another painful exodus in quest of peace and freedom. It would have been to invite, from the inhabitants of that region—fast filling up with immigrants from those very States where the persecuted people had experienced their sorest troubles—a repetition of the woes from which they were fleeing. Here in these mountain fastnesses, a thousand miles from the frontiers of civilization, they were safe from mobs and molestation.
Better Than Elsewhere.—Better for them, in every way, that they should bide where Providence placed them. The coast country, with all its attractions—and they are many—has no such rare climate as can be found in this more highly favored region. The land once supposed to be worthless, and to redeem which even in part from its ancient barrenness, has required years on years of toil and privation, turns out to be a veritable treasure-house of natural resources, a self-sustaining empire; and in periods of strife and turmoil, when war rocks the world, it is probably the safest place beneath the sun.
The Great War.—This mention again brings to the fore Joseph Smith's great "Prophecy on War." It has been seen how the Southern States, when they endeavored to withdraw from the Union, "called on Great Britain" for recognition and assistance, thus making good a portion of the Prophet's prediction. But when did Great Britain "call upon other nations," fulfilling in her own case the terms of the "Mormon" leader's fateful forecast? Certainly not during the stormy period of the "sixties," nor for many decades thereafter.
But the time came eventually. After the outbreak of the World War, when the German hosts were overrunning Belgium and Northern France, threatening even England herself, Great Britain did call upon the nations with which she had made treaties, for the help that she so sorely needed. The visit to America, before and after the United States declared war against Germany, of representatives of Great Britain and others of the Allied nations, appealing for military aid, was a potent factor in inducing our Government to send ships and troops across the Atlantic, to help beat back the Teutonic invader.
Only The Beginning.—Very evident is it that the tempest of war foretold by Joseph Smith did not cease with the close of the conflict between the Northern and the Southern States. The storm has continued intermittently to this time. Lulls there have been, but no lasting cessation of the strife. Five years after the collapse of the Southern Confederacy, came the Franco-Prussian War, foreshadowing Germany's mad attempt to conquer the world. The American Civil War, the Franco-Prussian War, and the more recent World War, were all parts of the great "outpouring" predicted on that ominous Christmas day. And the same may be said of other conflicts that have since taken place. Equally true will it be of any future strife that may be necessary to help free the world from oppression and iniquity. Unless the wicked repent, there is more—much more to come.[1]
But in what way did the revolt of South Carolina, which began the Civil War, prove a "beginning" of wars for "all nations"? This question is intelligently discussed in a pamphlet recently put forth by Elder James H. Anderson, of Salt Lake City. That writer shows that with the outbreak of the Southern-Northern conflict, the whole system of modern warfare underwent a change, and that since then it has experienced a complete revolution, through the invention and use of machine guns, airships, submarines, and other death-dealing instrumentalities, absolutely unknown in previous military history, and marking a distinct beginning, such as the Prophet indicated.[2]
Dangers Upon the Deep.—One frightful feature of the unparalleled struggle that ended with the signing of the armistice (November 11, 1918), was the havoc wrought by the German U-boats, otherwise known as submarines. There had been, before the coming of the U-boat, dreadful dangers upon the waters, as the fate of the ill-starred "Titanic"—ripped open by an iceberg—testifies. But the submarine, the assassin of the "Lusitania," multiplied those dangers a hundred fold. Did the proud world know that a prophet of God had foreseen these fearful happenings, and had sounded a warning of their approach?
In August, 1831, Joseph Smith, with a party of friends, returning from their first visit to Zion in Jackson County, encamped on the bank of the Missouri River, at a place called Mcllwair's (or Mcllwaine's) Bend. There, one of the party, William W. Phelps, saw in vision the Destroyer riding in awful fury upon the river, and the incident called forth a revelation in which the Lord says:
"Behold, there are many dangers upon the waters, and more especially hereafter;
"For I, the Lord, have decreed in mine anger many destructions upon the waters; yea, and especially upon these waters;
"Nevertheless, all flesh is in mine hand, and he that is faithful among you shall not perish by the waters.
* * * * * *
"Behold, I, the Lord, in the beginning blessed the waters, but in the last days, by the mouth of my servant John, I cursed the waters.
"Wherefore, the days will come that no flesh shall be safe upon the waters,
"And it shall be said in days to come that none is able to go up to the land of Zion upon the waters, but he that is upright in heart. . . . .
"I, the Lord, have decreed, and the destroyer rideth upon the face thereof, and I revoke not the decree."[3]
No Flesh Safe Upon the Waters.—Was not this condition almost realized during the darkest days of the Great War? Perils undreamed of developed; disasters without precedent, unexampled in history, were of frequent occurrence. Even upon the calm Pacific no ship pursued consecutively the same track twice. Companies operating the great ocean-liners no longer announced the dates of departure from one port or of expected arrival at another. They dared not; the destroyer was abroad, death was in the depths, and the spirit of dread brooded upon the bosom of the waters. And this upon the comparatively peaceful Western Ocean; while upon the Atlantic, in the Mediterranean, and in the North Sea, the terrible submarine told the tale of danger and disaster.
The Food Question.—Another phase of the Titanic struggle was the food question. Joseph Smith had predicted famine;[4]and the famine came. As early as October, 1876, the Prophet's successor, President Brigham Young, placed upon the members of the Relief Society a special mission—that of gathering and storing grain against a day of scarcity; and from that time the activities of the Society were put forth largely in this direction. Some made light of the labors of these devoted women, declaring that another famine could not be. Too vast an area of the earth's surface was under cultivation, and the means of rapid transit and communication were too plentiful, to permit of such a misfortune. If famine threatened any part of the world, word of it could come in the twinkling of an eye, and millions on millions of tons of food-stuffs, speedily transported to the scene, would stave off the straitness and render the calamity impossible.
The Spectre of Famine..—Alas for those who put their trust in the arm of flesh! In spite of the vast and ever-increasing productivity of the soil; in spite of railroads, steamships, and telegraphs, spreading a network of steel and electricity over the face of the planet, this was, and is still, a famine-threatened world. Europe calls upon America for food; America generously responds; but as fast as she consigns her cargoes of foodstuffs to the needy nations, the merciless and devouring submarine sends them to the bottom of the sea. Such indeed was the situation. The floor of the ocean is strewn with the wrecks of transports whose mission was to carry bread to the starving millions of other lands. And where was the man, uninspired of Heaven, who could have anticipated such a catastrophe?
Our nation became aroused to the necessity existing for the avoidance of Waste and the conservation of food stuffs. All civilized countries awakened to the same urgent call. The "Mormon" grain-storing movement was no longer a joke—a target for ridicule. The gaunt spectre of Famine had shown a glimpse of his face, and the whole world trembled at the prospect. The God of Joseph and of Brigham had vindicated the patient labors of His faithful handsmaids, and fulfilled in part the solemn forebodings of prophecy.
"Mormon" Grain for the Government.—Not the least item of interest connected with this subject, is the fact that the United States Government, through its Food Administrator, in May, 1918, made request upon the authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for the turning in of all the Relief Society wheat then on hand, for use in the war. The request was cheerfully complied with, 225,000 bushels of wheat being promptly furnished by the Church to the Federal Government.
The Drought of 1919.—How easily a famine could come, was shown during the prolonged drought in the summer of 1919, when throughout the Intermountain West and in regions beyond, lands usually productive lay parching for many weeks under the torrid rays of the sun. As a result, millions of acres of growing grain, especially in the dry-farming districts, perished for want of moisture. And yet there are men who deem human powers and earthly resources all-sufficient, and who declare, in the face of prophecy, that famine and war are obsolete and never again can be.
A Scholar's Opinion.—Such a pronouncement, as to war, was made repeatedly, in public, only a short while before the World War broke out. That splendid scholar and publicist, David Starr Jordan, expressed by tongue and pen his positive conviction that another great conflict, in this advanced and cultured age, was humanly impossible—it simply could not come.[5]But Another had said, two thousand years before: "Such things must come."[6]And not long after the delivery of Doctor Jordan's optimistic, well-meant prediction, the greatest hell of conflict that this world has ever known burst forth and well-nigh wrapt the globe in a mantle of smoke and flame.
The One Safe Guide.—"Men may come and men may go," but God and Truth "go on forever." Heaven and Earth may pass, but the divine word, by whomsoever spoken, will endure unshaken "amid the wreck of matter and the crash of worlds." The sure word of prophecy, flowing from the fountain of the Spirit, is the one safe guide through the chaos of the present and the mystical mazes of the future.
A Prophet's Voice.—More firmly founded than the scholarly utterance in question, was a prediction made by President Wilford Woodruff, at Brigham City, Utah, in the summer of 1894. In the course of a public address, referring to the near approach of the judgments of the last days, the venerable leader said: "Great changes are at our doors. The next twenty years will see mighty changes among the nations of the earth." And it was just twenty years, or in the summer of 1914, when the terrible strife that has wrought so many mighty changes swept like a whirlwind over the nations.
Other Prophetic Warnings.—One could almost believe that President Woodruff's fellow Apostle, Orson Pratt, was gazing with seeric vision upon the same dreadful picture, when he thundered into the ears of the world this solemn admonition: "A voice is heard unto the ends of the Earth! A sound of terror and dismay! A sound of nations rushing to battle! Fierce and dreadful is the contest!Mighty kingdoms and empires melt away!The destroyer has gone forth; the pestilence that walketh in darkness; the plagues of the last days are at hand; and who shall be able to escape? None but the righteous; none but the upright in heart."[7]
Eight years later this same Apostle, then at Liverpool, about to embark for America, issued to the inhabitants of Great Britain this "Prophetic Warning":
"If you will not repent and unite yourselves with God's Kingdom, then the days are near at hand when the righteous shall be gathered out of your midst. And woe unto you when that day shall come, for it shall be a day of vengeance upon the British nation! . . . . Your armies shall perish; your maritime forces shall cease; your cities shall be ravaged, burned and made desolate, and your strongholds shall be thrown down; the poor shall rise against the rich, and their storehouses and their fine mansions shall be pillaged, their merchandise and their gold and their silver and their rich treasures shall be plundered. Then shall the lords and nobles and the merchants of the land, and all in high places, be brought down and shall sit in the dust and howl for the miseries that shall be upon them. And they that trade by sea shall lament and mourn; for their traffic shall cease."[8]
Saviors of the Nation.—To escape the judgments hanging over the wicked, and find a place where they might worship God unmolested, the Latter-day Saints fled to the Rocky Mountains. Here, and here only, during the temporary isolation sought and found by them in the chambers of "the everlasting hills," could they hope to be let alone long enough to become strong enough to accomplish their greater destiny. For there was more in that enforced exodus and the founding of this mountain-girl empire than the surface facts reveal. If tradition can be relied upon, Joseph Smith prophesied that the Elders of Israel would save this Nation in the hour of its extremest peril. At a time when anarchy would threaten the life of the Government, and the Constitution would be hanging as by a thread, the maligned and misunderstood "Mormons"—always patriotic, and necessarily so from the very genius of their religion—would stand firm upon Freedom's rocky ramparts, and as champions of law and order, of liberty and justice, call to their aid in the same grand cause kindred spirits from every part of the nation and from every corner of the world. All this preparatory to a mighty movement that would sweep every form of evil from off the face of the land, and rear the Zion of God upon the spot consecrated for that purpose. This traditional utterance of their martyred Seer is deeply imbedded in the heart and hope of the "Mormon" people.
"Mormonism's" Monument.—The State of Utah with its fringe of offspring settlements, is no adequate monument to Latter-day Israel. Zion is their monument, and it will stand in Jackson County, Missouri. Ephraim is but getting ready for his mighty mission—the Lion crouching before he springs.
1. D. and C. 5:19; 45:31, 68, 69; 63:33; 88:87-91; 97:22, 23; 115:6.
2. See "Prophecies of Joseph Smith and their Fulfillment," by Nephi L. Morris, p. 20.
3. D. and C. 61:4-6, 14-16, 19. Compare Moses 7:66 and Rev. 16:3, 4.
4. D. and C. 87:6.
5. "There is no war coming," said Doctor Jordan to the press representatives who flocked to interview him on his return, in 1910, from Europe, where he had been lecturing on "Universal Peace." "The only battle between England and Germany will be on paper." In his book, "War and Waste," published a few years later, he said of the "Great War of Europe which never comes": "The bankers will not find the money for such a fight, the industries of Europe will not maintain it, the statesmen cannot. . . . . There will be no general war until the masters direct the fighters to fight. The masters have much to gain, but vastly more to lose, and their signal will not be given." In August, 1912, the Doctor delivered a spoken address to the same effect in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. This was just two years before the war that "could not come"—came.
6. Matt. 24:6.
7. "The Kingdom of God," July, 1849.
8. "Mill. Star" Oct. 24, 1857. Orson Pratt, then presiding over the European Mission, had been called home, owing to a prospect of serious trouble between Utah and the United States Government. A false report that the "Mormons" were in rebellion against the Federal authority had caused the Government to send an army, under General Albert Sidney Johnston, to put down the alleged insurrection. Brigham Young, Governor of the Territory (now State) of Utah, proclaimed martial law and made preparation to resist the "invaders." A part of the preparation was the withdrawal of all "Mormon" missionaries from the outside world. It remains but to say that "The Utah War" ended by peaceable adjustment and without bloodshed.