Copyright 1913, by FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY

CHAPTER 4

CLIMBING THE TOWER OF FAITH

BRIGHAM had shown missionary zeal, even before visiting the prophet. It was not likely that his ardour would be lessened by personal acquaintance with the source of divine light and wisdom. In December, 1832, shortly after the death of his first wife, Brigham and his brother started for Upper Canada on a mission. They went on foot. Men of that day were better accustomed to hardship than city dwellers of our own time; but even with this allowance, questions of the sincerity of Brigham's conversion seem rather idle in the face of such an expedition. In February, 1833, the brothers returned to Mendon, New York, where they stayed until spring. On the first of April, Brigham was afoot for Canada once more. He was not only a persuasive missionary but a good colonization agent; in July of the same year he arrived in Kirtland, bringing with him a number of Canadian families whom he had converted to the faith.

After establishing his Canadian recruits at Kirtland, Brigham went back to Mendon, settled his affairs there, and then with his two little daughters and his warm friend, Heber Kimball, rejoined the prophet at the Kirtland "stake of Zion." Here he settled down to his trade of glazier, preaching from time to time as requested; and here on March 31, 1836, he married his second wife, Mary Ann Angell. A month later, he joined in another expedition, this time of a warlike rather than a religious character.

The Mormon settlements in Missouri had been enduring trials which will be sketched at greater length in a subsequent chapter. They had been driven from Jackson county in November, 1833, under circumstances calculated to anger the gentlest people alive. In the spring of 1834, Joseph Smith organized an "army" for the purpose of chastising the Jackson county mob, and restoring the Missouri Saints to their homesteads. Brigham was asked to go along, receiving the prophet's promise that not a hair of his head should be harmed. The assurance was grateful, though hardly necessary with a man like Brigham Young, and he was one of the prophet's party which set out from Kirtland in May.

This performance illustrates in striking fashion the looseness of social organization and the weakness of governmental authority in that day and region. Here were two hundred and five men, more or less equipped with weapons and fully equipped with military titles, bound on a martial invasion of a community in a distant state. Yet the federal government seems to have taken no notice of the matter, neither did the state authorities of Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, or even Missouri. With heavenly signs and wonders about them, and very human squabbles among them, the army of the Saints crossed three states and penetrated well into Missouri without molestation. Not far from Liberty, Clay county, however, Smith received a friendly warning to come no further. With a promptitude which goes far to acquit him of the charge of rashness, he heeded the advice, turned aide, and after stopping for a revelation on Fishing river, camped on the bottom lands of Rush creek.

Here on June 22 1834, the expedition was attacked by cholera. Smith undertook to heal the sick by prayers and laying on of hands, but he foundas many a similar practitioner has found since-that such remedies work best in the presence of imaginary ailments. "I quickly learned by painful experience that when the great Jehovah decrees destruction upon any people, and makes known his determination, man must not attempt to stay His hand," he writes with engaging frankness. Over sixty members of the expedition were smitten with the disease, and at least thirteen died. This much punishment having been inflicted for the unspecified sins of the brethren, prayer became efficacious, and the plague was stayed. The abortive expedition soon returned to Kirtland.

The trip had not harmed the Jackson county mob, but it seems to have been of decided help to the advancement of Brigham Young. Two events with their respective dates are very enlightening in this regard. On February 17, 1834, before the expedition to Missouri, -- there was organized at Kirtland the "high council" of the church. It consisted of twelve members; and both its name and the circumstances of its choosing indicate that it was intended as a sort of church senate, a governing body supreme under the prophet.

Brigham was not chosen one of the high council. He was not deemed important enough for such an office. One year later, in February, 1835, there was chosen the Quorum, or Twelve Apostles, which was raised above the high council, and made second only to the prophet. Brigham was named one of the Twelve Apostles; and not only this, but he was made third in order of seniority. A single year, marked genuine hardship and struggle, had brought the quiet man from comparative obscurity to a place near the top of the strongest council of the church.

There is ground for suspecting that the Quorum of apostles became a substantial part of church government at Brigham's suggestion. Other signs that an organizing mind was at work in the church followed. In the same month of February, the Seventies were organized. This was a very important step for it provided the working machinery to manage the church, and to arouse and direct religious enthusiasm. Prior to the coming of Brigham Young, whenever Joseph wanted anything done, he had a revelation. He had a revelation urging the printer not to press for his bill when getting out the first edition of the Book of Mormon, and another revelation fixing the price at which the work was to be sold. He had a revelation telling a convert to sell a tannery, and turn the proceeds over to the church. He had a revelation telling people to lend him money, and other revelations indicating when and where he would pay the debt. Young's practical mind thought that such matters could be managed without troubling the Almighty, and he seems to have pressed this view to some purpose.

Not for nothing, however, does one bring order out of chaos. Herbert Spencer's dictum that some minds hate exact measurements is as true in theology as in cookery -- though less frequently put to the test. Sidney Rigdon had been Smith's chief counsellor in the days before the coming of Brigham; and the brilliant but unstable orator could not view with any pleasure the steady advance of his unassuming, bullchested, practical-minded competitor. Direct information as to the rivalry of this pair for influence with Smith is wanting; but the indirect evidence is plentiful and convincing. There is the central fact that Rigdon lost ground while Young was gaining it, from the beginning of their acquaintance to their final struggle for mastery after the death of Joseph. There is the steady disparagement of Rigdon by Mormon writers, a fashion set by Young and plainly agreeable to him. Lastly, and most amusing of all, there is the peculiar alternation between instances of the Prophet Smith's increasing trust in Brigham, and the calls which came for Brigham to go on missions.

Brigham's elevation to the quorum of the Apostles came on February 14th, 1835. In May of the same year, he was ordered to go on a mission to the "Lamanites," or Indians. Joseph promised the missionary that his work in this particular field would "open the doors to all the seed of Joseph." The cryptic phrase was never tested, for it is not of record that Brigham ever reached the Indian country. Had he done so, and there left his scalp in the lodge of some heathen "Lamanite," it is a reasonable guess that Sidney Rigdon's grief would have been purely official.

In September of 1835, Brigham was back in Kirtland, working at his trade, working on the temple, preaching from time to time, pitting his sturdy common sense against whatever intrigues his rivals may have devised. This quiet life continued through the winter. The temple was dedicated March 27, 1836. Such an occasion in that day could not pass without miracles. There were visions, and outpourings, and the gift of tongues; and, perhaps in deference to this last phenomenon, the occasion was called the LatterDay Pentecost. The elders of the church gathered for anointings; the quorum of the Twelve Apostles was present; and the prophet himself conferred on Brigham Young the signal honour of washing his feet.

It is not likely that Brigham expected this favour to pass unnoticed; but this time he was not required to take chances with the Lamanites. He was sent on a mission to New York and New England; passed the summer in the East, and returned to Kirtland in the fall.