Lesson 28 -- "The rest of the story"

Far West Temple Site

In class this week we continued to discuss the role that adversity plays in our lives as Latter-day Saints and how we can hope to remain strong in our testimony of the Savior when faced with many trials and challenges today.


Historical background: The years in Kirtland following the Zion's Camp march of 1834 were at first very eventful with the organization of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles and of the Seventy in 1835 and then the completion and dedication of the Kirtland Temple in March of 1836. However, the economic Panic of 1837 ushered in an era of apostasy and persecution for the Church.

• In Kirtland, Frederick G. Williams (counselor to the Prophet Joseph Smith), Luke S. Johnson, and John F. Boynton (members of the twelve) were excommunicated. Together with other prominent apostates, these men actively sought to discredit the Prophet Joseph and made living in Kirtland impossible. Joseph received word from the Lord: "Get ye out of this place" (Jan. 1838). Soon, members of the Church were leaving Kirtland as fast as preparations for travel could be made.





• In Missouri, the citizenry of Clay County demanded that the Saints who had removed to that county from Jackson County leave. A committee was formed and a resolution passed: "objects of the deepest hatred and detestation to many of our citizens": (1) they were Northerners with a different dialect and customs; (2) they were nonslaveholders and opposed to slavery; (3) they were friendly with the Indian tribes on the frontiers [Ivan J. Barrett, Joseph Smith and the Restoration, p. 362].





• In September 1836, the Saints began to remove from Clay County and settle in the newly formed Ray County at the settlement they named Far West. The majority of the Kirtland Saints who left Ohio in the years 1836-1838 also settled at Far West. North of Ray County, the state legislature also set up two more "Mormon" counties -- these were named Caldwell and Daviess counties.





• In November 1837 the Prophet Joseph visited Far West for the first time. He instructed the brethren to postpone the construction of the temple there until further revelations were received from the Lord (see April 1838 below).





• In early 1838, Oliver Cowdery, W. W. Phelps, David and John Whitmer, William E. McLellin, Lyman E. Johnson, Orson Hyde and Thomas B. Marsh were excommunicated in Missouri. This more or less coincided with the arrival of Joseph and Hyrum Smith and Brigham Young at Far West. Some of the above apostates (not all) joined with the mobs who by now were actively seeking to permanently drive the Saints from their homes and settlements in Missouri.





• April 1838: Section 115 of the Doctrine & Covenants was received, a revelation addressed to the presiding officers of the Church at Far West. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is named officially for the first time. Instructions on how to proceed with the dedication of the temple plot are given: (1) the foundation and preparatory work should begin on July 4, 1838; (2) on April 26, 1839 the laying of the foundation should be completed.





• May 19, 1838: Section 116 of the Doctrine & Covenants was received. As Joseph gazed upon a valley in Daviess county the Lord revealed that the place was to be called Adam-ondi-Ahman because "it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people."




• July 4, 1838: The cornerstones were laid for the temple at Far West. Sidney Rigdon delivered his now infamous "salt sermon" in the which he spoke forcefully against apostates and mobocrats, likening them to savorless salt and boldly suggested they they should be stamped out. These were fighting words and the mobs in Missouri picked them up.




• July 8, 1838: Section 119 of the Doctrine & Covenants was received instructing members to pay one tenth of their interest annually as tithing to the Church. In Section 120 new members of the Quorum of the Twelve were called to fill vacancies which were open due to apostasy and excommunication. These were: John Taylor, John E. Page, Wilford Woodruff, and Willard Richards.




• October 25, 1838: The Battle of Crooked River occurred in Daviess County. David W. Patten, one of the Twelve Apostles, was killed along with two other men defending the Saints. A member of the mob was also killed in the skirmish.




• October 27, 1838: Governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued the "extermination order." That decree stated that "the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary, for the public peace" [Our Heritage, p. 47].




• October 30, 1838: The Haun's Mill Masacre occurred in Caldwell County. 17 men and boys were killed by the mob.




• October 31-November 1, 1838: Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, Parley P. Pratt, George W. Robinson, Hyrum Smith and Amasa M. Lyman were taken prisoners by the Missouri mob and jailed at Richmond in Ray County.




• December 1, 1838: Joseph and Hyrum Smith were transferred to Liberty Jail in Clay County with other prisoners Sidney Rigdon, Lyman Wight, Caleb Baldwin, and Alexander McRae.

We discussed at length the revelations given to Joseph Smith while confined in Liberty Jail. Joseph plead with the Lord for the suffering Saints and recorded this experience in letters written to Bishop Edward Partridge. The letters remained in the possession of the Church and were first canonized and published as Sections 121, 122, and 123 of the Doctrine & Covenants in 1876.

We also listened to comments by Truman G. Madsen on Joseph's experience in the Liberty Jail. Thank you to those of you who shared personal stories of trial and adversity with the class.

And now... "the rest of the story:"

On the subject of adversity and personal apostasy, many have asked the question: How can one explain such hideous acts as those perpetrated by the mobs in Missouri by men who had testified innumerable times that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that the Church was the true and restored gospel of Jesus Christ? John Taylor answered this question: "Only on the score of the weakness of our common humanity. We were living in troublous times, and all men's nerves are not proof against such shocks as we then had to endure" [B. H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, vol. 1, p. 473].

Truman Madsen tells of a conversation between the Prophet Joseph and a new convert to the Church by the last name of Behunan who also expressed his dismay that so many prior Church leaders were now enlisted in the mob elements that were set on bringing about the destruction of the Church. Brother Behunan told Joseph "I'll never do that. If I ever leave the Church, I'll go away; I'll buy another acre of ground somewhere else; I'll never even mention the Mormon Church and I'll forget it." The Prophet smiled wisely and said, "Brother Behunan you do not know what you will do. When you enlist to serve the Lord Jesus Christ, you leave neutral ground forever and you can never get back to it. If you leave the Church of God, it can only be at the instigation of the evil one, and you will submit to him, and you will come to hate me and the Saints and even thirst for our blood!" Happily, Brother Behunan was faithful to his death. But what Joseph said there, became a genuine description of case after case, after case.

At the end of class Sunday, Eva (who BTW just happens to be my brilliant AND beautiful wife) asked if the temple cornerstones were laid when Joseph and Hyrum were still in the Liberty Jail. In my haste, I responded "no," not knowing the full and amazing story regarding the revelation given in D&C Section 115. I was basing my response on this passage from Our Heritage, p. 46: "The cornerstones for the temple were dedicated at Far West on 4 July 1838."

In fact, Eva had just read the following miraculous account of the fulfillment of the prophecy contained in D&C 115, and in fact she was absolutely correct. Like her, I was struck by the obvious hand of Providence that allowed this revelation to be fulfilled even though the Twelve had been scattered by the mobs that were still actively seeking their lives and Joseph and Hyrum were confined in Missouri prisons. I will quote the entire passage for all to read:

"On March 18, 1839, Brigham Young called a meeting and inquired of the congregated Saints [then located at Quincy, Illinois] what their feelings were regarding the fulfillment of a revelation given through Joseph in the previous July that on April 26, 1839, the Twelve should take their leave of the Saints from the temple lot in Far West to cross the waters and preach the gospel in England. According to Wilford Woodruff, 'Father Smith, the Patriarch, said the Lord could not expect the Twelve Apostles to go up and sacrifice their lives to fulfill that revelation; but the Spirit of the Lord rested upon the Twelve,' and Brigham Young, accompanied by Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith, and Alpheus Cutler -- the master workman of the Lord's House -- left Quincy for Far West. En route they met John E. Page, another member of the Twelve, with his family, who joined them. Arriving at Tenney's Grove, thirty miles out of Far West, Brigham Young's party was joined by Heber C. Kimball -- a member of the Twelve -- and a number of Saints. The Saints informed the Twelve that six days earlier a mob had ridden into Far West and jeered at them about the revelation. On April 5, 1839, Theodore Turley, a Saint, had been warned by the mobocrat, Captain Samuel Bogart, 'the Twelve are now scattered all over creation; let them come here if they dare; if they do, they will be murdered.' Shortly after midnight on April 26 five apostles and twenty Saints gathered on the spot meant for the Lord's House. Alpheus Cutler resumed laying the foundation of the Lord's House, in accordance with the revelation, by rolling a large stone adjacent to the southeast corner. The five apostles ordained Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith to their quorum to fill the vacancies left by apostasy. Darwin Chase and Norman Shearer, recently liberated from the Richmond jail, were ordained to the office of seventy. Thirty apostates were excommunicated, and the Saints sang the hymn "Adam-ondi-Ahman." Then the Twelve took their leave of the Saints and started back to Illinois" [Ivan J. Barrett, Joseph Smith and the Restoration, pp. 434-35].

At roughly the same time, but headed in the opposite direction, and after the Prophet and his companions had been held in Liberty Jail for nearly five months, they were sent to Daviess County and then to Boone County for trial. While they were being moved to Boone County, the guards let them escape because some officials concluded that they could not be successfully prosecuted. Joseph Smith and the other prisoners then made their way to Illinois, where they joined their families and the rest of the Saints.

On May 1, 1839, Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, and Brigham Young stood on a bluff overlooking a large expanse of swamp in Commerce, Illinois where the Church had just purchased 182 acres of land for the city that would soon be named Nauvoo -- which interpreted from Hebrew means a "beautiful situation or place, carrying with it, also, the idea of rest; and is truly descriptive of the most delightful location" [Ivan J. Barrett, Joseph Smith and the Restoration, p. 478].

Sunday, August 16th, we will talk about that beautiful place, Nauvoo and building the Kingdom of God.
Reading assignment: D&C 124: 1-21, 87-90, 97-110; 126; Our Heritage, pp. 51-52, 55-58, 61-62.

My next posting will contain the links to biographical material for each of the key figures of the Nauvoo era in alphabetical order.