Life of Heber C. Kimball, an Apostle Part 19

"During our journey from Kirtland to Missouri, the weather was extremely warm, in consequence of which I suffered very much, my body being weakened by sickness, and I continued very feeble for a considerable length of time.

"Sunday, July 20th, I met Joseph, Sidney and Hyrum on the public square, as they started for Adam-Ondi-Ahman. Joseph requested me to preach to the Saints and give them a history of my mission, saying, 'It will revive their spirits and do them good,' which I did, although I was scarcely able to stand. I related many things respecting my mission and travels, which were gladly received by them, whose hearts were cheered by the recital, while many of the Elders were stirred up to diligence, and expressed a great desire to accompany me when I should return to England."

CHAPTER XXIX

THE LAND WHERE ADAM DWELT--THE SAINTS IMPELLED TOWARD THEIR DESTINY--PERSECUTION REVIVES--ADAM-ONDI-AHMAN--THE ALTAR OF THE ANCIENT OF DAYS.

The land where Adam dwelt. The site of the Garden of Eden. The place where the Ancient of Days shall sit, and the G.o.d of heaven shall again visit His people. As saith the prophet Daniel:

"I beheld till the thrones were cast down and the Ancient of Days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.

"A fiery stream issued and come forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

"I saw in the night visions, and behold one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought him near before him.

"And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pa.s.s away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. * * * * * *

"I beheld and the same horn made war with the Saints, and prevailed against them;

"Until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the Saints of the Most High; and the time came that the Saints possessed the kingdom."

Here, in this most ancient region, where, parallel with the stream of Time, the great river of mortal life arose, had pitched their tents the Saints of latter days.

Here dwelt Adam and Eve in the world's infancy; here they tasted of the fruit forbidden, and were driven forth from Eden, their fall predestined that mortal man might be. Here the great sire of mankind built altars unto G.o.d, offering sacrifice unto the Father in commemoration of the atonement of the Son. Here fell the first martyr; here righteous Abel's blood was spilt; here burst the awful thunders of heaven's awakened wrath upon the guilty head of earth's first murderer. Here Adam, bowed with age, blessed the righteous residue of his seed, and predicted whatsoever should befall his posterity to the latest generation.

All this ere the days of Peleg, in whose days "was the earth divided;"

ere Enoch's city rose to heaven, or the ark of Noah floated over a wave-buried world. Ere Babel's towering folly mocked the skies; ere wrecked was language on confusion's strand; ere the great river of humanity, dividing into rills, went forth to water with the streams of life the soil of every land.

Here, in the times of rest.i.tution, when all things in Christ are gathered in one, Adam, Michael, the great Prince, Ancient of Days, is to come in power and glory, revisiting the scenes of his earthly pilgrimage.

America, the old world, not the new! Cradle of man, mother of nations, grave of empires!

Unto Missouri, land of promise; the ancient, the chosen, the favored above all other lands, had the Lord's Prophet, Joseph, led His covenant people.

Spring Hill, Daviess County, Missouri, one of the settlements of the Saints in this region, had been renamed by revelation, Adam-ondi-Ahman, because, said the Lord, "it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by Daniel the Prophet."

Verily were the Saints of the Most High being driven toward their destiny. The "horn" that made war with them and "prevailed against them," was surely pushing them on to final victory. Was it not destiny, too, that they should thus retrace the steps of their great ancestor, who, driven forth from Eden,[A] dwelt in Adam-ondi-Ahman?

[Footnote A: Jackson County, Missouri, from whence the Saints were driven, is reputed to be the ancient site of the Garden of Eden.]

Heber was now with his people at Far West, in "the land where Adam dwelt," ready to perform his part of the labor in preparing the kingdom of the Son of G.o.d for the coming of the Ancient of Days.

"Soon after my arrival," says he, "Bishop Partridge gave me a lot and sufficient lumber to build a house. Charles Hubbard made me a present of forty acres of land, and another brother gave me a cow. All the brethren were remarkably kind in contributing to my necessities. About the last of August, after I had spent much labor, and nearly finished my house, I was obliged to abandon it to the mob, who again commenced persecuting the Saints, driving off their cattle and destroying their property."

The origin of this persecution was much the same as that of the Jackson County trouble, five years before. The thrift and enterprise of the Saints, with their growing power and influence, had aroused the jealous fears of their Gentile neighbors, and what the scheming villainy of political demagogues left undone, the malice of sectarian priests accomplished, in kindling the wrath of the ignorant and fanatical against them.

An election riot in Gallatin, Daviess County, on the 6th of August, 1838, where a combined effort was made to prevent the Mormons from voting, and several of the brethren were under the necessity of using force to defend themselves against their bullying a.s.sailants, was made the pretext for further outrages against the community to which they belonged. The Saints in that locality being helplessly in the minority, were at the mercy of the mob which now rose against them.

One of the methods employed by the leaders of the lawless banditti to enlist sympathy for their own cause, and arouse the public mind against their victims, was to destroy property belonging to non-Mormons, their own followers in some instances, and then ride through the country advertising it as the work of Mormons, against whom any tale, however false or atrocious, was readily believed. Some of the mob even fired upon a church while its occupants were worshiping on the Sabbath day, and then spread the alarm that the Mormons had "riz" and were destroying property, demolishing churches and interfering with free religious worship.

These atrocious falsehoods, worthy only of fiends incarnate, bore legitimate fruit in deeds equally devilish and appalling. The people rose _en ma.s.se;_ the Saints were driven from their homes, their houses plundered and burned, their fields laid waste, and men, women and children fled for their lives in all directions, pursued by their merciless oppressors.

What followed, Heber's record thus relates:

"After hearing of the mobbing, burning and robbing in Gallatin, Daviess Co., and the region round about, the brethren of Caldwell went directly to Adamondi-Ahman, which is on the west fork of Grand River.

Thomas B. Marsh, David W. Patten, Brigham Young, myself, Parley P.

Pratt and John Taylor amongst the number. When we arrived there we found the Prophet Joseph, Hyrum Smith and Sidney Rigdon, with hundreds of others of the Saints preparing to defend themselves from the mob who were threatening the destruction of our people. Men, women and children were fleeing to that place for safety from every direction; their houses and property were burnt and they had to flee half naked, crying, and frightened nigh unto death, to save their lives.

"While there we laid out a city on a high elevated piece of land, and set the stakes for the four corners of a temple block, which was dedicated, Brother Brigham Young being mouth; there were from three to five hundred men present on the occasion, under arms. This elevated spot was probably from two hundred and fifty to five hundred feet above the level of Grand River, so that one could look east, west, north or south, as far as the eye could reach; it was one of the most beautiful places I ever beheld.

"The Prophet Joseph called upon Brother Brigham, myself and others, saying, 'Brethren, come, go along with me, and I will show you something.' He led us a short distance to a place where were the ruins of three altars built of stone, one above the other, and one standing a little back of the other, like unto the pulpits in the Kirtland Temple, representing the order of three grades of Priesthood; 'There,'

said Joseph, 'is the place where Adam offered up sacrifice after he was cast out of the garden.' The altar stood at the highest point of the bluff. I went and examined the place several times while I remained there."

An episode of peace in time of war. A glimpse of heaven's blue through a rift in the gathering storm.

A fiery ordeal was before the Saints. The Church, tried with poverty and tempted by the prospect of wealth, had survived and maintained its integrity. It had also withstood the world's scorn, the wrath and ridicule of the unG.o.dly. Nor had fiery trials been wanting, whereby the faith of some had been proven, the supposed faith of others weighed in the balance and found wanting. A general test was now to be applied. The faith and integrity of the whole Church were about to pa.s.s through the fierce flames of affliction; between the upper and nether millstones of official tyranny and mob violence.

CHAPTER x.x.x.

TIMES THAT TRIED MEN'S SOULS--THE MOB GATHERING AGAINST FAR WEST--BATTLE OF CROOKED RIVER--DEATH OF DAVID W. PATTEN--DAYS OF DARKNESS AND DISASTER.

The fall and winter of 1838 was one of the darkest periods in Church history. Mobocracy on one hand, and apostasy on the other, dealt the cause of G.o.d cruel blows, such as no human work could hope to withstand. The tempest of persecution, briefly lulled, burst forth with tenfold fury; no longer a city or county--a whole state rose in arms against G.o.d's people, bent upon their destruction. "The dogs of war" were loosed upon the helpless Saints, and murder and rapine held high carnival amid the smoking ruins of peaceful homes and ravaged fields.

Then fell the mask from the face of hypocrisy. Treason betrayed itself. Apostles, Presidents, and Elders fell from the faith and joined hands with the robbers and murderers of their brethren. Satan laughed! The very mouth of h.e.l.l seemed opening to engulf the Kingdom which He who cannot lie has sworn shall stand forever.

Truly, those were "times that tried men's souls."

Like a rock in mid-ocean, facing the storm, unmoved by wind or wave, stood Heber C. Kimball; among the truest true, among the bravest brave.

Referring to the time of his visit to Adam-ondi-Ahman, he says:

"In a few days an express came with the news that the mob was gathering in every part of Missouri to come against the Saints in Far West. We therefore returned to Caldwell County.

"Thomas B. Marsh left the day previous to the rest of the Twelve, pretending there was something very urgent at home, and when we arrived at Far West, October 22nd, we learned that he and Orson Hyde had left the city. Brother Hyde was sick when we went to Diahman.

"The Saints, tenacious of their liberties and sacred rights, resisted the unlawful designs of the mob, and with courage worthy of them guarded their families and their houses from their aggressions. But not without the loss of several lives, among whom was my much esteemed and lamented friend David W. Patten, who fell a sacrifice to the spirit of persecution and a martyr to the cause of truth. The circ.u.mstances of his death I will briefly relate.

"It being ascertained that a mob had collected on Crooked River, led by the Rev. Samuel Bogard, a Methodist preacher, a company of sixty or seventy persons immediately volunteered in Far West to watch their movements, and if necessary repel their attacks. They chose Elder Patten for their leader, and commenced their march about midnight, and came up to the mob at the dawn of October 25th. As the brethren were marching quietly along the road near the top of the hill, they were fired upon, when young O'Banyon reeled out of the ranks, and fell mortally wounded. Thus the work of death commenced, when Captain Patten ordered his men to charge the mob, who proved to be on the creek below. It was yet so dark that little could be seen, looking to the west; but the mob could see Captain Patten and his men in the dawning light, when they fired a broadside and three or four of the brethren fell. Captain Patten ordered the fire returned, giving the watchword, 'G.o.d and Liberty.' The brethren charged the camp, when the mob were soon put to flight and crossed the river at the ford. One of the mob fired from behind a tree, and shot Captain Patten, who instantly fell mortally wounded, the ball having pierced his abdomen.