BRIGHAM YOUNG AND HIS MORMON EMPIREBy Frank J. Cannon and George L. Knapp Copyright 1913, by FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY CHAPTER 7 NAUVOO THE BEAUTIFUL
To a man who cared for ecclesiastical preferment and believed in the future of Mormonism, it was a fine opportunity. Brigham never doubted the permanency and glory of the church, and priestly power had become the breath of his nostrils. But he had no notion of using his chance to secure rulership of Zion. From the day when he spoke in tongues at Kirtland, Brigham had been the firm upholder of Joseph's power, prerogatives, and prophetic dignity; and he did not weaken, even under this temptation. He worked with the Saints in Missouri, doing all he could to lessen their suffering and organize the exodus, and spent his spare moments consulting with Joseph and devising plans for the prophet's release. These plans came to nothing. Sidney Rigdon was freed on a writ of habeas corpus -- perhaps because his captors had learned how unimportant the fiery exhorter was -- and he lost no time in putting the Mississippi river between himself and "Missouri justice." Later in the same month, Brigham was obliged to make a hurried exit, and joined his old rival at Quincy, Illinois. An informal meeting of such members of the Twelve as remained faithful and such other Saints as were within reach was held at Quincy, March 17, 1839. The condition of the church was desperate. Its prophet was in prison, its western home was in the hands of its enemies, apostasy within and assault without threatened the whole structure of faith. The people had lost nearly all their property, and were, making their escape from an inhospitable state under conditions of suffering seldom equalled in a civilized land in time of peace. Marching without supplies in the dead of winter, making tents of their bedclothing -- when they had any -- straggling over the Iowa line, crossing the Mississippi on the ice -- the followers of the prophet who remained true to his cause seemed more in condition to plead for charity than to assert dominion. But Brigham, who was real chief of the meeting in spite of the presence of Rigdon, never wavered. His priestly pride was as fierce and intolerant as if he had behind him a hierarchy of immemorial antiquity, instead of the disheartened followers of a backwoods crystal-gazer, who had gone into the revelation business a scant dozen years before. Brigham advised the people to find some spot in Illinois where they could build their Zion, urged and carried the excommunication of some members who had failed in recent trials, sent aid to the faithful still in Missouri, and generally took charge of everything. The Saints were well served that in this hour of difficulty the supreme command was held by the clear-headed, practical Brigham, rather than by the eruptive Joseph, or the discouraged Sidney. On April 6, 1839, the ninth anniversary of the church, Smith was taken from jail for trial, secured a change of venue, and shortly after was permitted to escape. He reached Quincy April 22, and at once assumed leadership. Plans for a new Zion were forthcoming without delay. The town of Commerce, Illinois, was chosen as a site, its name was changed to Nauvoo -- after a non-existent Hebrew word supposed to mean "beautiful" -- large land purchases were made, and the fourth eternal stake of Zion was set. Smith had the active support of Young in this project for a new Zion. Bishop Partridge advised strongly against trying to collect the Saints together into one place. Sidney Rigdon seems to have agreed with Partridge, and certainly advised against the land purchases actually made. In this emergency, Rigdon was for once a better counsellor than Brigham. The reason is not far to seek. Rigdon knew when he was whipped. Brigham did not. Almost the moment that Smith arrived at Quincy, Brigham and his companions of the Quorum of Apostles were off to Missouri on a secret mission. Smith had given a revelation the year before that on April 26, 1839, the Twelve, Apostles should meet at Far West, recommence layig the foundations of the temple, and from that point start across the great waters to convert the world. Brigham and his fellow Apostles were determined that this revelation should be fulfilled. Hiding in a nearby grove till night, the Apostles then slipped into the deserted town of Far West and proceeded to the temple block. They "recommenced laying the foundations" by rolling a big stone to one corner of the temple, had prayers, sang a few hymns, excommunicated a few sinners -- for that was an important part of a hierarch's duties in those trying days -- and then vanished before the belligerent Gentiles were awake. The tale is told by Mormon writers as a striking fulfilment of prophecy, and a proof of the courage and loyalty of the Twelve. To us, it seems rather to illustrate the extent to which sensible men can trick themselves with words; and the meagre returns that are accepted, as payment of golden promises, when those promises are made in the name of supernatural authority. After this episode, which was saved from absurdity only by the deadly seriousness of those concerned in it, the Twelve returned to Nauvoo. But they did not proceed at once on their mission across the waters. The beginnings of a new Zion were not propitious. The lower part of the town site was swampy, affording harbour to innumerable mosquitoes, and these of course, carried malaria. Deaths among the newcomers were numerous, and there were times in late summer when half the population were shaking or burning in the alternations of the disease. Joseph tried his hand at faith-healing, and Brigham testified that lie was made whole at the prophet's command. The value of this testimony may be gauged by the wellproven fact that a little later he was carried on a mattress to the house of his friend Heber Kimball and remained there four days in bed, constantly nursed by his wife. The plasmodium malaria knows no prophet but quinine. If Brigham was wrong in countenancing the building of Nauvoo, he was right in seeing that to make a workable Zion the prophet must have less disputatious and refractory converts than those gathered from the turbulent settlements of the Mississippi valley. Heber Kimball had achieved remarkable success in his British mission of 1837, and he longed to have Brigham accompany him to that land again. The time had come to put Heber's judgment to the test. While still so weak with fever that the first stage of the journey was made on a mattress, Brigham started in September, 1839, on his delayed mission, accompanied by six other members of the Quorum. They stopped by the way, especially in Kirtland; and Brigham spent the winter in New York. On April 6, 1840, -- the great church anniversary once more -- he landed in England. During Kimball's mission in 1837, it was claimed that nearly two thousand persons had been converted to the faith of Joseph Smith. This record was quickly surpassed by the mission of Brigham and his fellow Apostles. From whatever cause, there was in Britain a large element in a state of waiting. If their religious instability was less than that of people in the Mississippi valley, their religious eagerness was even greater, and distance lent enchantment to the view. They accepted the Mormon message as an answer to their prayers and hopes. The zeal of the exhorter met the zeal of the devotee; and instead of waiting to be argued into acceptance of the new faith, scores and hundreds boasted of their instant conversions. To this day, when other reasons fail, the descendants of these same people fall back on the family claim that their ancestors had a revelation from God that the gospel preached by the missionaries of Joseph was the truth. A few instances may help to set the picture of that mission before the reader. John Taylor, an Englishman of good birth and breeding, was reared in the Anglican church. Wishing a more active organization, he joined the Methodists while in his teens, and became a well-known preacher of that denomination in Canada. There he heard the Mormon gospel, became converted, and returned to carry the message to his old friends in England. Taylor's wife was the daughter of an old Manx family; and in the Isle of Man, legends and traditions of the supernatural are a necessary part of the household furniture. This family had a legend to fit the case. A sister-in-law of Taylor accepted his preaching of Mormonism as fulfilment of a tradition of her race that some day a messenger under the command of God should bring the true gospel out of the west, and that the same should raise their house to great power and glory. This strong-minded lady brought her whole family into the church, and with her surplus means, she emigrated a large number of the poorer Saints. Another anecdote of the early times: John Lamont, a Scotch miner well versed in the metaphysics of Calvinism, and noted all through the region for his continuity as well as skill in debate, was present at a meeting addressed by one of the Mormon missionaries. One over-zealous Calvinist was rude in his opposition to the new gospel. Lamont rebuked him for violating the rules of discussion, and in turn was twitted by his fellow miners: "Jock, ye're in a fair way o' becoming a Mormon yoursel' ! " "I ? Never!" shouted Lamont. "I'll deny me God first!" A week later, Lamont was baptized in the Mormon faith, and gave his testimony in the Mormon meeting. Then some of his friends taunted him: "Did ye no say, Jock, that before ye'd join the Mormons, ye'd deny your God?" "I did," retorted the unabashed controversialist. "My God was a useless, helpless figment o' man's mind, without body, parts, or passions. I have denied that devilish error. I now have the one true God, the Father o' all mankind, a glorious personage who was once a man like myself!" That conversion of John Lamont and his quick reply to his former companions were counted among the latter-day miracles. In fact, to those early workers in the British field everything was a miracle. If a man were converted from some other church, God had miraculously opened his eyes to the truth. If he had been an infidel and blasphemer of all churches, that but made more manifest the power and purpose of the Almighty to make Joseph Smith at once pope and emperor of the world. Under pressure of this contagious excitement, families and neighbourhoods began to vie with each other in having miraculous conversions; and the chief work of some Mormon missionaries was to baptize and instruct the droves who came to offer themselves as disciples of tie unseen prophet. But Brigham's mission was more than an effort to secure converts. It was also a most efficient colonization agency. Up to the time a man was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the church had worked for him. If was now his turn to work for the church -- and so long as Brigham had anything to do with Mormon affairs, that work was performed. The proper place to perform this redeeming labour, of course, was in the chosen Zion, which for the moment was Nauvoo. Brigham began sending his converts to America almost at once. The first company, forty-one in number, sailed exactly two months after Brigham landed. Two hundred more followed in September, one hundred and thirty accompanied Brigham on his return, and several companies came during the year 1841. Zion was being built by the works of the faithful, rather than by the dreams of the prophet. The result of Brigham's missionary activity is best told in his own words:
After the fervid tales of miracles and instantaneous conversions, this report comes like a refreshing breath of cold air. In spite of the pious language with which it is besprinkled, this is not the rhapsody of a zealot, nor the "testimony" of an enraptured visionary. It is the report of a business agent to the corporation which sent him forth on a difficult task, which 'he has performed in superb fashion. Brigham with five companions and one hundred and thirty converts sailed for New York on April 20, 1841. On July 7, they arrived at Nauvoo. Brigham made his report, and had his season of communion with the prophet. Eight days later, Joseph had the following significant revelation:
The most contumacious Gentile will admit that this is one revelation which Brigham never transgressed. His family received his very especial care to the last hour of his life. What Sidney Rigdon thought of this Divine authority for Brigham to stay at home is not recorded.
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