JOHN TAYLOR'S BRAVE DEFENSE OF JOSEPH—THE PROPHET ENCOUNTERS THE SPIRIT OF APOSTASY IN MISSOURI—HYRUM IN THE FIRST PRESIDENCY—BRIGHAM YOUNG'S COURAGE AND DEVOTION—JOSEPH DRIVEN FROM KIRTLAND—DAVID W. PATTEN'S PROPHETIC OBJECTION—SAD EXCOMMUNICATIONS—FATE OF PROMINENT MEN—ADAM-ONDI-AHMAN—THE GATHERING.
After the apostasy became general at Kirtland, those who banded themselves against the Prophet and the faithful Saints set up a claim to the ownership of the Temple. Scenes of a turbulent and even violent character were witnessed in the sacred building. Deadly weapons were drawn and flourished and lives were threatened by the members of the apostate party who sought by these means to overawe the peaceful members of the Church and to accomplish the ends they had in view.
After the visit which the Prophet, Sidney Rigdon and Thomas B. Marsh made to Canada, Elder John Taylor, with the view of making preparations to gather with the Saints and to provide a home for himself and family, repaired to Kirtland. While there he attended services in the Temple. Fault-finding and accusation were indulged in by leading men in their remarks, and the Prophet was the target at which their shafts of censure were aimed. They looked upon him and spoke of him as a fallen prophet. These attacks aroused all the lion of John Taylor's nature—and all who ever saw him when strength and courage were demanded, can remember how grandly he could rise to the occasion and satisfy every expectation—and he arose and obtained the privilege of speaking from one of the stands. He was a stranger to the congregation; they knew not who he was nor whence he came, but the Saints saw in him a man of God. His fine presence, his courageous demeanor, the plainness and strength of his reasoning and the power of God which accompanied his words, made a great impression upon the entire audience. His address was a masterly exposition of the great truths which God had inspired Joseph to reveal—truths of which all the learned and religious world were in entire ignorance until they were brought forth by Joseph—and a defense of him as a prophet of God. The dissenters were rebuked and the Saints were strengthened and encouraged and all felt that a man had appeared upon the scene who would yet be a power among the Saints. This was President Taylor's first public introduction to the Saints at the gathering place.
Undaunted by the apostasy, and relying upon the promise of the Lord, Joseph knew that the work would surely grow and that places must be appointed for the gathering of the Saints in the last days. To every human appearance, in the spring and summer of 1837, the Church was in a state of dissolution; but all who were animated by the spirit of truth knew that the disunion at Kirtland was but the effort of the adversary, which, with patience and faithfulness, might be overcome.
In September, Joseph had not yet learned through any earthly medium of the marvelous work which was to be done abroad among the honest-in-heart; and yet, on the 27th day of that month, he and Sidney Rigdon began a journey to the west to visit the Saints in Missouri and to establish places into which might come converts from every land. They were accompanied on this journey by Vinson Knight and William Smith, while Hyrum was already at Far West, laboring with his accustomed energy and fidelity for the advancement of the gospel and the well-being of the Saints.
While the Prophet and his companions were on the way, Hyrum's wife Jerusha died at Kirtland, leaving five little children. Her dying message was full of faith in the gospel and was a comfort to her absent husband when he learned it, and it proved that she was worthy to be the consort of the destined patriarch and martyr.
A little over a month was consumed in the journey to Far West; and soon after the Prophet's arrival he began to hold meetings for the settlement of all difficulties which had arisen between the brethren there, the same evil spirit which had gained such sway in Kirtland having begun to assert its power in Missouri. On the 7th of November, 1837, a general assembly of the Church was held at Far West, at which Frederick G. Williams was rejected by the congregation as a counselor to the President of the Church; and, upon motion of Sidney Rigdon, Hyrum Smith was elected to fill the vacancy. The local organization was also perfected, and prayer was offered to God that this place might be a gathering spot for the Saints.
As it appeared to the Prophet that the regions surrounding Far West, occupied by other settlers, afforded yet much room, the plat of Far West was enlarged into the dimensions of a city, and every preparation was made to afford a refuge to such as might choose to gather to this new Stake of Zion. It was also decided that the time had not yet come for the building of a temple at Far West, but that the brethren should await the commandment of the Lord upon this subject.
About the 10th of November, Joseph left Far West to return to Kirtland, occupying a month in the journey and reaching his home on the 10th day of December.
While he had been absent, the spirit of apostasy had gained an ascendancy with men who had previously begged forgiveness from the Prophet. Warren Parrish, John F. Boynton, Joseph Coe and others,—deeming that the absence of the Prophet afforded them an opportunity—banded themselves together to accomplish the overthrow of the Church. They renounced the Church of Jesus Christ, renounced the authority of the Prophet of God, and set up an organization for themselves. Denouncing Joseph and his faithful supporters as heretics, they became so violent at any opposition to their falsehoods that they even sought the lives of their former brethren.
Brigham Young always was one of the truest and most intrepid of men; and during all these Kirtland troubles he openly and fearlessly declared to all that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God and had neither transgressed nor fallen from his divinely appointed place. His unswerving and undaunted attitude, the plainness of his declarations and the vigor of his defense of Joseph, and his exposure of the schemes of his enemies, aroused their fury. The apostates could not brook this boldness of the Apostle Brigham; it interfered with their murderous designs against Joseph and their hateful purposes against the Church. Threats and cajolery having alike failed to intimidate or divert him, they determined to kill him. But he learned of their designs; and nearly two weeks after the Prophet had returned to Kirtland and was able to assert his own authority, Brigham Young departed for Missouri to escape the assassins who ravened for his life at Kirtland.
In the meantime the work abroad progressed gloriously. On Christmas day, 1837, a conference was held at Preston, at which the reports showed that already the branch of the Church in England numbered about one thousand souls.
The letters conveying these happy tidings had not yet reached the Prophet; and except as hope was inspired in his heart by the Holy Spirit, he had little comfort through the darkness of that night of 1837, for apostasy and transgression strove hard to rule the weak and ruin the staunch at Kirtland.
The experience of 1836-7 in the Church demonstrated as never before, that irrefragable testimonies concerning the divine origin of the gospel and the prophetic calling of Joseph were not alone sufficient to keep men faithful. Unflinching firmness and intrepidity were also indispensable; but preeminent above all other qualities, purity of life was absolutely essential. The half century which has since elapsed has abundantly confirmed this. The virtuous, humble men who possessed steadfastness and faith in the days of trial at Kirtland, have since grown to prominence among the Saints. The qualities which they then exhibited have had ample room for exercise in the subsequent vicissitudes through which the Church has passed. The Lord has tried and proved them; they have acquired confidence themselves; and the people have ever looked to them as leaders who could be trusted and upon whose courage, judgment and integrity they could safely rely.
In this connection it is worthy of remark that the three men who have succeeded the Prophet Joseph as Presidents of the Church, were all distinguished during Joseph's lifetime for their love for the truth and their unswerving affection and loyalty to him as the Prophet of God. President Brigham Young, probably above all men in Kirtland, displayed these qualities during the stormy scenes of the last year of his residence at that place.
President Wilford Woodruff, though not so prominent in those days as he afterwards became, was expostulated with, coaxed and ridiculed by some of his old friends, notably Warren Parrish, who had been his fellow-missionary in the Southern States, for the purpose of inducing him to join them and turn against the Prophet. But the integrity of the man was immovable and all their efforts proved unavailing.
With the dawn of the new year confusion and mobocratic power increased, and on the 12th of January, 1838, Joseph and Sidney were driven from Kirtland to escape mob violence. Their destination was Far West, and they were pursued more than two hundred miles by armed enemies seeking their lives. The weather was intensely severe, and Joseph and his companion, with their families who had joined them, suffered greatly in their endeavor to elude the murderous pursuit. Several times the pursuers crossed the Prophet's track. Twice they entered the houses where his party had gained a refuge, and once they occupied a room in the same building with only a partition between them, through which the Prophet heard their oaths and imprecations concerning him. Thus were they protected by divine power, else murder would have been done, for the long and unavailing pursuit had filled these would-be assassins with a fiendish desire for blood. Owing to the severity of the season two months were occupied in the journey to Far West, which place the Prophet and his family reached on the 14th day of March, 1838, accompanied by Apostle Brigham Young, who had joined him on the way.
His arrival was very timely and necessary. Upon his previous visit objection had been raised to some of the local authorities and they were only accepted by the congregation after having made humble confession of their sins and entered their solemn promise of repentance.
But so soon as the Prophet had turned his back upon Far West to go to Kirtland, the local presidency had again entered into transgression, acting selfishly and arbitrarily in the administration of financial affairs and completely losing the confidence of the body of the people.
While the Prophet had been journeying toward Missouri after escaping the Ki............