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At the trial, next day, various charges were preferred against the Prophet. Some of them were of a very frivolous character. For instance, he was accused of obtaining from Josiah Stoal, his former employer, a horse, and from one Jonathan Thompson a yoke of oxen, by telling them that he had received revelations that he was to have them. Messrs. Stoal and Thompson, taking the witness stand, testified in the prisoner's favor, and he was promptly acquitted. On leaving the court-room, however, he was re-arrested on a warrant from Broome County, and taken back to Colesville for trial. This time he was in the custody of an officer who treated him with great harshness; subjecting him to the insults of the rabble, refusing him for many hours any refreshment, and finally allowing him for his supper only a diet of bread-crusts and water.
At the Colesville trial Newel Knight was put upon the stand and made to testify concerning the miracle reported to have been per- formed upon him.
"Did the prisoner, Joseph Smith, junior, cast the devil out of you?" asked the prosecuting attorney of the witness.
"No, sir," replied Mr. Knight.
"Why, have not you had the devil cast out of you?"
"Yes, sir."
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"And had not Joe Smith some hand in its being done?"
"Yes, sir."
" And did not he cast him out of you ?"
" No, sir. It was done by the power of God, and Joseph Smith was the instrument in the hands of God on the occasion. He com- manded him out of me in the name of Jesus Christ."
" And are you sure that it was the devil ?"
" Yes, sir."
" Did you see him after he was cast out of you ?"
" Yes, sir; I saw him."
" Pray, what did he look like ?"
Here the prisoner's counsel informed the witness that he need not answer the question. Mr. Knight, however, replied :
" I believe I need not answer your last question, but I will do it provided I be allowed to ask you one question first, and you answer me. namely : Do you, Mr. Seymour, understand the things of the spirit ?"
" No," answered Mr. Seymour, "I do not pretend to such big things."
"Well then," rejoined Knight, "it would be of no use to tell you what the devil looked like, for it was a spiritual sight, and spir- itually discerned ; and of course you would not understand it were I to tell you of it."
A roar of laughter, at the lawyer's expense, shook the court- room. Mr. Seymour then arose and addressing the court paid his respects in no gentle terms to the prisoner. Among other things he repeated the story of his having been a "money-digger." The defendant, however, was not on trial for money digging, and his counsel having returned the forensic fire of the prosecution, he was again set at liberty.
In the breasts of many, hitherto hostile, a revulsion of feeling now took place. Even the officer who had treated the prisoner so harshly came forward and apologized for his conduct, and offered to help him evade a mob that had assembled outside the court-room, to
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"tar and feather" the Prophet and ride him on a rail. Taking advantage of this opportunity to escape, Joseph, rejoining his anx- ious wife, returned with her to Pennsylvania.
A few days later Joseph and Oliver revisited Colesville for the purpose of confirming their converts ; but the mob, again gathering, compelled them to forego their purpose and beat a hasty retreat, hotly pursued by the belligerent multitude. A subsequent visit was more successful. The inciters of this opposition were said to be prominent Presbyterians.
At his home in Harmony the Prophet now devoted some time to making a record of and arranging in their proper order the revelations he had from time to time delivered. At first Oliver Cow- dery assisted him, but he soon departed for Fayette, and Emma Smith then acted as a scribe to her husband.
Hitherto the relations between Joseph and Oliver seem to have been of the most friendly character. Mutually helpful,-Oliver to Joseph by means of a better education, and Joseph to Oliver by reason of superior intelligence and strength of character,-they were congenial in spirit and united in purpose. The first intimation of a change of heart in Oliver was contained in a letter from him to the Prophet, calling in question certain words of one of the revelations, and demanding that they be changed. The First Elder replied to the Second that the revelation came from God, and must stand as it had been delivered until God should change it. A per- sonal visit to Fayette followed, where Joseph found that some of the Whitmer family were in sympathy with Oliver. It required much pleading and persuasion on the part of the Prophet to finally convince them that they were in error. Even then the breach was closed only to be soon re-opened.
During August the persecutive spirit revived at Harmony, where the Methodists now conspired to create trouble for the hated founder of the rapidly growing rival Church. The influence brought to bear was such as to alienate from Joseph the friendship of his father- in-law, Isaac Hale, who joined the ranks of his opponents and
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became his bitter and relentless foe. Life at Harmony for Joseph and Emma, was now rendered intolerable. He therefore accepted a second invitation from the Whitmers to remove to Fayette, this time with his family, and take up his abode in their domicile. He arrived there during the last week in August.
Again, to his surprise and sorrow, the Prophet found the spirit of dissension among his followers. The trouble this time was over a certain stone in the possession of Hiram Page, one of the eight witnesses. From this stone, it was claimed, sundry mys- terious communications had been received, of a tenor and purport at variance with revelations already on record. These communications Joseph pronounced spurious, but Elder Cowdery and some of the Whitmers still placed reliance in them. The Prophet then spoke to them in the name of the Lord. Oliver was reminded that while he was as Aaron to Israel-a spokesman to the Prophet-Joseph was as Moses, the mouthpiece of the Almighty. He alone had the right to voice revelations to the Church for its guidance. Oliver was required to use his influence with Hiram Page to induce him to dis- card the stone-the apple of discord-and was informed of an important mission in store for him, a mission to the Lamanites, upon which he should set ont as soon as the differences then agitat- ing the Church had been settled. Allusion was made in this revela- tion to a certain "city" that was to be built "on the borders by the Lamanites."
Subsequently, at a conference held early in September. Iliram Page and his associates renounced the stone and "all things con- nected therewith," and in common with the whole Church renewed their covenant of fealty to Joseph, as its supreme prophet, seer and revelator. Thus was "the imminent deadly breach" closed, and what threatened to be for Mormonism, in its infancy, a serious if not a fatal wound, healed. Immediately afterward preparations went for- ward for the departure of the mission to the Lamanites.
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CHAPTER V.
1830-1831.
MORMONISM'S MISSION TO THE LAMANITES -- ITS SIGNIFICANCE -- OLIVER COWDERY, PARLEY P. PRATT, PETER WHITMER, JUNIOR, AND ZIBA PETERSON THE CHOSEN EVANGELISTS TO THE RED MEN -THEIR DEPARTURE FOR THE WEST-THE CATTERAUGUS INDIANS- KIRTLAND AND THE CAMPBELLITES-SIDNEY RIGDON-HIS CONVERSION TO MORMONISM-EDWARD PARTRIDGE- NEWEL K. WHITNEY-SUCCESS OF THE ELDERS IN OHIO-THEIR PILGRIMAGE RESUMED- ELDER PRATT'S ARREST AND ESCAPE-SIMEON CARTER-AMONG THE WYANDOTS-STORMS AND PRIVATIONS-ARRIVAL AT INDEPENDENCE, MISSOURI-PREACHING TO THE DELAWARES GOVERNMENT AGENTS AND CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES-THE ELDERS ORDERED OUT OF THE INDIAN COUNTRY.
HE significance of the missionary movement inaugurated by the Prophet, in sending forth Elders to evangelize the American Indians and distribute among the dusky tribes copies of the Book of Mormon, is only to be fully comprehended by those who have made careful study of the contents of that record, and of the various revelations voiced to the world by Joseph Smith. Indeed, the only key to the real history of Mormonism, from Cumorah to Carthage, and from Carthage to Deseret, is a knowledge of the aims and motives of its founders and disciples, as learned from their own lips or reflected from the pages of the records esteemed by them divine. Neither the enemies of a people, nor the disinterested, uninitiated observers of that people, however fair and honest, are trustworthy oracles and reliable exponents of their views and doctrines. Methodism, Catholicism, Mormonism, or any other ism. in order to be properly understood, must be permitted, like Paul before Agrippa, to speak for itself. In this light let us take a brief general glance at Mormonism.
First of all it must be borne in mind, as a basic fact, upon which to found all further argument or theory in relation to the
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Saints and their religion, that they sincerely believe themselves to be literally of the blood of Israel; children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,-mostly of Joseph through the lineage of Ephraim. The loss of their tribal identity, and their scattered state among the nations,-whence the gospel, they say, has begun to gather them,- is explained to them by the scriptures, which declare that Ephraim hath "mixed himself with the people;" that is, with other nations, presumably from the days of the Assyrian captivity. They believe, moreover, that in this age, "the dispensation of the fullness of times,"-a figurative spiritual ocean, into which all past dispensations of divine power and authority like rills and rivers run,-it is the purpose of Jehovah, the God of Israel. to gather His scattered people from their long dispersion among the nations, and weld in one vast chain the broken links of the fated house of Abraham. They quote from Jeremiah: "Hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd doth his flock." This gath- ering of Israel, they claim, is a step preparatory to the "gathering together in one" of "all things in Christ," both in heaven and on earth, as spoken of by Paul the Apostle. Mormonism, to its disci- ples, is no more nor less than primitive Christianity restored ; and Christianity in its primitive state, unpaganized, unapostate, no more nor less than the restored religion of Adam, Enoch, Noah, Mel- chisedek, Abraham, Moses and other ancient worthies who received the same from God, successively, all down the dispensations.
Israel's gathering in the "last days,"-the closing period of our planet's mortal probation,-is a cardinal doctrine with the Latter- day Saints, accounting as it does for their world-wide proselytism, the wanderings abroad of their Apostles and Elders in quest of the seed of Ephraim, their fellows, and their migrations from the ends of the earth to the American continent, believed by them to be the land of Zion.# Upon this land, which they hold to be the inherit-
* This in a general sense; specifically their " land of Zion " is Jackson County, Mis- souri.
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ance of Joseph,-given him by the Almighty in the blessings of Jacob and Moses," and occupied for ages by his descendants, the Nephites and Lamanites .- is to arise the latter-day Zion, New Jerusalem, concerning which so many of the prophet-poets of antiquity have sung. It was for this purpose, say the Saints, that the land was held in reserve, hidden for ages behind Atlantic's waves-the wall of waters over which, in Lehi and his colony, climbed Joseph's "fruitful bough." Next came the Gentiles, with Columbus in their van, to unveil the hidden hemisphere; then a Washington, a Jeffer- son and other heaven-inspired patriots to win and maintain the liberty of the land,-a land destined to be "free from bondage." And all this that Zion might here be established, and the Lord's latter-day work founded and fostered on Columbia's chosen soil. Yes, these Latter-day Saints,-false and fanatical as the view may seem to most,-actually believe that the greatest and most liberal of earthly governments, that of the United States, was founded for the express purpose of favoring the growth of what the world terms Mormonism.
Ephraim and Manasseh, the half tribes of Joseph, are to com- bine for the up-building of Zion, which is to become, in due time, "the joy of the whole earth," the glorious head and front of the world's civilization. "And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." Much of the seed of Ephraim is mixed with the Gentiles; therefore is he to be gathered from among them. Manasseh is largely to be found among the Laman- ites, the American Indians, and the dark-hued dwellers of the neigh- boring ocean islands. Though cursed of God and smitten by the Gentiles, the red men are yet to be reclaimed and the curse lifted from off them. Then will they become "white and delightsome," as of yore. 'The Book of Mormon and its believers declare that these Lamanites-Manasseh-will yet build the Zion of God, the Jerusalem of America, in which work they will be joined-some say
* Genesis xlix: 22-26. Deuteronomy xxxiii: 13-17.
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assisted, some directed-by. the Latter-day Saints, the children of Ephraim.
But the gathering of Israel is to include the whole house of Jacob; not merely the half tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. It involves the restoration of the Jews and the. re-building of old Jeru- salem, prior to the acceptance by Judah of the gospel and mission of the crucified Messiah; also the return of the lost Ten Tribes from "the north country" and their re-establishment in Palestine, their ancient Canaan.
The preliminary work of founding Zion, as well as a greater spiritual mission to follow, when the Ten Tribes from the north will receive in Zion their blessings under his hands, devolves upon Ephraim, the "first-born," empowered by a restored gospel and priesthood unto this very end and purpose. Hence, say the Saints, the mission and calling of Joseph Smith, the Prophet of Ephraim, who claimed to be a lineal descendant of Joseph who was sold into Egypt.
Again, the message borne by Ephraim in the last days, reversing the order of ancient-day evangelism, is first to the Gentiles, and then, when "the fullness of the Gentiles" has "come in," to the whole house of Israel. Perhaps it was a type, designed to foreshadow the anticipated fulfillment, this sending of the Elders, in the fall of 1830, after several months proselyting among the Gentiles of New York and Pennsylvania, to Lamanitish Israel, mostly inhabiting the wilder- ness beyond the nation's western frontier. The mission of these Elders was to preach the Gospel to the red men, as contained in the Bible and the Book of Mormon,-the sticks of Judah and of Joseph now "in the hand of Ephraim,"-" deliver to them the record of their forefathers, and inasmuch as they received their teachings to establish the Church of Christ among them. In other words, to pre- pare Manasseh for his part of the work of building up Zion. Such, from a Mormon standpoint, was the significance of that Lamanite mission, and such in general is the Mormon view of Mormonism.
* Ezekiel xxxvi : 16-20.
.
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The Elders chosen for this service were Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer, junior, Parley P. Pratt and Ziba Peterson.
A word here in relation to Parley P. Pratt, the future poet- Apostle of Mormonism, whose personal history interweaves at this point with several important events of that period. He was a native of the state of New York, and was now in his twenty-fourth year. Prior to his baptism by Oliver Cowdery in Seneca Lake about the 1st of September, 1830, he had been connected with a religious society called Reformed Baptists, or Campbellites, which he had joined two years before in the wilds of northern Ohio. In fact he had been a preacher of the Campbellites, who numbered among their leading men Alexander Campbell, the founder of the sect, and Sidney Rigdon, the latter, like Parley, an eloquent and gifted expounder of the scriptures. The magnet which had drawn Parley into the Campbellite fold was the scriptural nature of their doctrines, which included not only faith, repentance and baptism by immersion, -which, as a good Baptist, he believed in already,-but baptism for the remission of sins and the promise of the Holy Ghost, tenets not taught by the orthodox sects of Christendom. These doctrines had been preached by Sidney Rigdon in Parley's neighborhood; he being then a colonizer on the shores of Lake Erie. Soon after embracing the Campbellite faith, in August, 1830, he resolved to devote himself entirely to the work of the ministry. Selling out at a sacrifice, and abandoning his home in the wilderness, he traveled eastward to his native state; his young wife, nee Thankful Halsey, accompanying him. Near the city of Rochester, leaving his wife to pursue the journey homeward, Parley felt impelled to stop and preach, and walked ten miles into the country for that purpose. There, at the house of an old Baptist deacon named Hamlin, he first heard of and first saw the Book of Mormon. Deeply interested in its pernsal,- particularly in that part descriptive of the personal ministry of the Savior to the Nephites,-he decided to visit the young man who claimed to have translated the record from plates of gold. Arriving at Manchester, the parental home of the Smiths, he learned that
Sarly P. Sratt
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the Prophet was then living in Pennsylvania. He met Hyrum Smith, however, who entertained him kindly, presented him with a copy of the Book of Mormon and subsequently accompanied him to Fayette. There, being fully converted to the new faith, he was bap- tized, as stated, confirmed and ordained an Elder. He then revisited his old home in Canaan, Columbia County, where he converted and baptized his brother Orson, then a youth of nineteen years; destined like himself to achieve fame as a Mormon Apostle, and as one of the pioneer founders of Utah. Returning westward, Parley met for the first time Joseph Smith, who had returned from Pennsylvania and was visiting his parents at Manchester. Soon afterward, being called to accompany Elders Cowdery, Whitmer and Peterson upon their mission, he set out for the land of the Lamanites.
It was late in October, 1830, that the four Elders departed for the west. As was customary then with itinerants, unable to afford a nag or vehicle, or to pay coach and steamboat fares, they started afoot, husbanding their scanty means and trusting in Provi- dence to "open up the way." They first visited the Catteraugus Indians, near Buffalo, New York. By them they were kindly received, much interest being manifested by the red men in the strange things told them by the Elders. Presenting them with copies of the Book of Mormon, for the perusal of such of the Indians as could read, the missionaries bade them farewell and continued their journey westward.
The scene now changes to northern Ohio, a region at that time almost if not quite a wilderness, in the midst of which, among the hills and dales and glens and groves and streams that beautify the shores and give back the echoing music of Erie's rolling waves, not only these Mormon Elders,-who were merely the vanguard of a general migratory movement having westward as its watchword and religion as its guiding star .- but Mormonism itself, their parent church, was destined soon to plant its pilgrim feet.
Kirtland, a few miles inland from Lake Erie, was a picturesque and flourishing little town of one or two thousand inhabitants, doing
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business across the lakes with the fur-trapping regions of Michigan and some of the principal cities of the east. The leading "store" of the town, and indeed in all that region, was owned and conducted by Messrs. Gilbert and Whitney, who had formerly been in business at Painesville.
In this vicinity the Campbellites, or Disciples, as they called themselves, had made many converts. Among those now associated with them were Edward Partridge, of Painesville, and Newel K. Whitney, of Kirtland, both merchants,-the former a native of Pitts- field. Berkshire County, Massachusetts, and the latter of Marlborough. Windham County, Vermont. Like Parley P. Pratt, these men, who became the first two Bishops of the Mormon Church, were converts in the Campbellite faith of Sidney Rigdon's.
The prominent part played by this notable man in the affairs of Mormonism entitles his past record to some mention. Sidney Rigdon was born in St. Clair Township. Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, on the 19th of February, 1793. Connecting himself in his twenty-fifth year with the regular Baptist Church, he became, in March, 1819, a licensed preacher of that persuasion. Two months afterward he removed to Trumbull County, Ohio, where he subsequently mar- ried. Called in 1821 to the pastorate of the First Baptist Church of Pittsburg, he there became a very popular minister. Less than three years later, becoming dissatisfied with the doctrines of the Baptists, he conscientiously resigned his pastorate and withdrew from the society. During the next two years he labored in a tannery for a livelihood. Again removing to Ohio,-this time to Bainbridge, in Geauga County,-he there re-entered the ministry. He now preached the Campbellite doctrines. It seems that the founder of that sect, Alexander Campbell, had been one of Rigdon's parishioners at Pitts- burg. Following his pastor's example, he had left the Baptist Church, and with Mr. Walter Scott, and warmly supported by Mr. Rigdon, had founded the society of Reformed Baptists, or Camp- bellites. Rigdon's success, always pronounced, was now remarkable. The fame of his eloquence and reasoning powers spread far and wide.
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After a year's effective service in and around Bainbridge, he accepted a call to Mentor, thirty miles distant. There, in the midst of much persecution, occasioned by his phenomenal success, he continued to flourish. He converted and baptized multitudes, and organized congregations in all the country round. One of these was near the mouth of Black River, where Parley P. Pratt was converted. Sidney Rigdon was at the summit of his fame and popularity as a Campbell- ite preacher when Oliver Cowdery and his confreres,-the first missionaries sent westward by the Latter-day Saints from the cradle of their Church,-set out for the land of the Lamanites.
It was to Kirtland, not far from Mentor, that those Elders now made their way ; Parley P. Pratt being desirous of laying before his former friends and associates the principles he had recently espoused. As a reminder to the reader of what those principles comprised, the Articles of Faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as formulated a few years later by the Prophet, are here presented :
1. We believe in God, the Eternal Father, and in His Son Jesus Christ, and in the Holy Ghost.
2. We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.
3. We believe that through the atonement of Christ all men may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.
4. We believe that these ordinances are: First, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; sec- ond, repentance; third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; fourth, laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
5. We believe that a man must be called of God by "prophecy, and by the laying on of hands," by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.
6. We believe in the same organization that existed in the primitive church, viz .: apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists, etc.
7. We believe in the gift of tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, healing, inter- pretation of tongues, etc.
8. We believe the Bible to be the word of God, as far as it is translated correctly ; we also believe the Book of Mormon to be the word of God.
9. We believe all that God has revealed, all that He does now reveal, and we believe that He will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.
10. We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten 6-VOL. 1.
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Tribes. That Zion will be built upon this continent. That Christ will reign personally upon the earth, and that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisic glory.
11. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where or what they may.
12. We believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers and magistrates, in obey- ing, honoring and sustaining the law.
13. We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men : indeed we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul, " We believe all things, we hope all things," we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things. If there is anything virtuous, lovely or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.
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