Church History Lesson 29 (D&C 121–122)
July 10-16
INTRODUCTION
Our Gospel Doctrine manual provides the following summary: “After the Saints were driven from Jackson County in late 1833, they found refuge in nearby Clay County until they were asked to leave in 1836. From Clay County, they moved about 60 miles north and established the community of Far West and other smaller settlements. The Church prospered for a time in northern Missouri. The population grew rapidly, and temple sites were dedicated in Far West and Adam-ondi-Ahman. However, there continued to be conflicts among some of the Saints. Several leaders were excommunicated, including Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer. During the hot summer months of 1838, relations between the Latter-day Saints and their northern Missouri neighbors continued to deteriorate rapidly.”
CONFLICTS WITH MISSOURIANS INCREASE
Atrocities in Daviess County. At an election in Gallatin, Missouri, in 1838 efforts to keep the members of the Church from voting resulted in a fight. No one was killed, but the strength of the Latter-day Saint vote was established as an issue on both sides. Some enemies of the Church in Daviess county spread false rumors that the Saints had “riz” and were destroying property and killing people. Some mobsters went so far as to burn their own homes and farms and then say that the Mormons had done it—a tactic they had used earlier against Indians that they successfully drove out of the county.
Sidney Rigdon’s Inflammatory Speech
On July 4th of 1838, the Saints gathered in Far West for Independence Day celebrations. They used the occasion to praise the Constitution and to celebrate their God-given rights. Sydney Rigdon, however, gave a fiery speech in which he threatened the Church’s enemies—both apostates and mobsters—if they continued to deny the Saints their rights.
Sydney Rigdon said, “We take God and all the holy angels to witness, this day, that we warn all men, in the name of Jesus Christ to come on us no more for ever, for from this hour we will bear it no more. . . .that mob that comes on us to disturb us, it shall be between us and them a war of extermination. We will never be the aggressors . . . but shall stand for our own until death . . . It shall be between us and them a war of extermination, for we will follow them, till the last drop of their blood is spilled, or else they will have to exterminate us . . . We this day, then, proclaim ourselves free with a purpose and determination that never can be broken. No, never! No, never! No, never!”1
OPEN WARFARE ERUPTS
Attrocities at Dewitt. Upon hearing Sydney’s threatening words, rumors spread, and great excitement was generated among the opposing factions. The Saints in DeWitt were placed under siege—nearly starving to death until they were driven out and made their way to Far West, several of them dying on the way. The Saints made appeals to Governor Boggs, asking him to send troops to protect them and their property. But he brush off their request with the quip: “The quarrel [is] between the Mormons and the mob,” and they could “fight it out.”2
The Battle of Crooked River. On October 25th, at a confrontation at Crooked River nine brethren were wounded and three died— including Elder David W. Patten, who was the first Latter-day Saint killed in the Missouri conflict. He was brought back to Far West, where he died a short time later.
Governor Boggs Orders Extermination of the Mormons
When word of the Battle of Crooked River reached the governor’s office, he was greatly alarmed, and whereas he would do nothing to help the Mormon citizens of DeWitt earlier, he was now determined to send troops to protect others against the Mormons. He issued his infamous “Order of Extermination” in which he stated: “The Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state, if necessary for the public good. Their outrages are beyond all description.”3
The Haun’s Mill Massacre
Three days after this decree, on October 30th, a mob of 200 descended upon the community of Haun’s Mill, killing 17 unarmed men and boys.
Joseph Young described some of the aftermath of the massacre: “When we arrived at the house of Mr. Haun, we found . . . Mr. McBride’s [body] in front, literally mangled from head to foot. We were informed by Miss Rebecca Judd . . . that he was shot with his own gun, after he had given it up, and then cut to pieces with a corn cutter by a Mr. Rogers of Daviess county, who . . . repeatedly boasted of this act of savage barbarity. . . . The place of interment . . . was a vault in the ground, formerly intended for a well, into which we threw the bodies of our friends. . . . Among those slain I will mention Sardius Smith, son of Warren Smith, about nine years old, who, through fear, had crawled under the bellows in the shop, where he remained till the massacre was over, when he was discovered by a Mr. Glaze, of Carroll county, who presented his rifle near the boy’s head, and literally [blew] off the upper part of it. . . . Afterwards, Glaze boasted of this fiend-like murder and heroic deed all over the country.”4
Treachery Leads to Arrests
On 31 October, at a moment when open war between the Saints and the Missouri militia seemed inevitable, General Samuel D. Lucas, an officer in the state militia, invited Church leaders to visit his camp on the outskirts of Far West to negotiate a settlement. Five Church leaders responded to the invitation and approached the general’s camp under a flag of truce—Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Parley P. Pratt, Lyman Wight, and George W. Robinson. General Lucas took advantage of the situation; instead of entering into a discussion, he arrested the Prophet and 50 of his associates. Most of these leaders were released within three weeks. However, six of them, including Joseph and Hyrum Smith, were detained despite their innocence.
A History of Caldwell County records:
The next day a secret court was held under the direction of General Samuel Lucas. At the conclusion he directed a fellow officer, General Alexander Doniphan, to “take Joseph Smith and the other prisoners into the public square of Far West, and shoot them at 9 o’clock” the next morning”. . . . But Gen. Doniphan, in great and righteous indignation, promptly returned the following reply to his superior:
“‘It is cold-blooded murder. I will not obey your order. My brigade shall march for Liberty to-morrow morning, at 8 o’clock; and if you execute those men, I will hold you responsible before an earthly tribunal, so help me God! ‘ A. W. DONIPHAN, ‘Brigadier-General.’
The Prophet Rebukes Guards at Richmond Jail
Fearful of carrying out his execution order in the face of Doniphan’s refusal, Lucas directed that the prisoners be taken to Independence to await further orders. Joseph Smith and his companions were paraded through the streets in front of curious local people.
After a few days in Independence, an order came directing that the prisoners be taken to Richmond for a preliminary trial. Upon their arrival they were thrust into an old log house and chained together with three chains and seven padlocks.
It was in this setting, during the proceedings of a civil court of inquiry, that Joseph Smith’s rebuke of the guards took place.
Parley P. Pratt said:
“In one of those tedious nights we had lain as if in sleep till the hour of midnight had passed, and our ears and hearts had been pained, while we had listened for hours to the obscene jests, the horrid oaths, the dreadful blasphemies and filthy language of our guards, Colonel Price at their head, as they recounted to each other their deeds of rapine, murder, robbery, etc., which they had committed among the “Mormons” while at Far West and vicinity. They even boasted of defiling by force wives, daughters and virgins, and of shooting or dashing out the brains of men, women and children.
“I had listened till I became so disgusted, shocked, horrified, and so filled with the spirit of indignant justice that I could scarcely refrain from rising upon my feet and rebuking the guards; but had said nothing to Joseph, or any one else, although I lay next to him and knew he was awake. On a sudden he arose to his feet, and spoke in a voice of thunder, or as the roaring lion, uttering, as near as I can recollect, the following words:
” ‘SILENCE, ye fiends of the infernal pit. In the name of Jesus Christ I rebuke you, and command you to be still; I will not live another minute and hear such language. Cease such talk, or you or I die THIS INSTANT!’
“He ceased to speak. He stood erect in terrible majesty. Chained, and without a weapon; calm, unruffled and dignified as an angel, he looked upon the quailing guards, whose weapons were lowered or dropped to the ground; whose knees smote together, and who, shrinking into a corner, or crouching at his feet, begged his pardon, and remained quiet till a change of guards.”5
LIBERTY JAIL
Upon conclusion of the court of inquiry in Richmond, on 30 November 1838, Joseph Smith and five others were sent to jail at Liberty, Missouri, to await trial, entering the jail on 1 December 1838.
Conditions in Liberty Jail were harsh:
— The prisoners were kept in the lower level, which was like a dungeon—dark, cold, and unsanitary.
— Due to the darkness of the jail, the prisoners’ eyes suffered.
— The food was inadequate and so filthy they could not eat it until driven by hunger to do so.
— The Prophet and his companions had only a little straw on the stone floor for their beds, with meager blankets for cover.
— The ceiling was so low that some of the brethren, including Joseph and Hyrum, could not stand upright.
— They were also under constant threat of death.
This dark, cold prison was the Prophet’s home for the next four and one-half months. The experience there was highlighted only by occasional visits of relatives and friends.
Murder, Rape, Arson and Expulsion
Meanwhile, the atrocities in Far West continued. The Prophet received a number of reports about it.
— 8,000 Saints in Missouri were forced out of their homes
— Some were robbed, beaten, and killed by the mobs.
— Some women were taken into the local church, strapped to the benches, and raped.
— Many others were thrown out of their homes, which, after all valuable belongings had been taken by the mob, were burned to the ground.
— Joseph’s home was one of these. The mob was quite anxious to destroy his home, and W.W. Phelps, who was at that time apostate, directed them to it.
While the Prophet and his counselors were imprisoned, the Prophet gave President Brigham Young, senior member of the council of the Twelve, responsibility for leading the Saints in their preparations to leave the state.
Emma Smith wrote in a letter to Joseph dated March 1839:
“Dear Husband
“Having an opportunity to send by a friend I make an attempt to write, but I shall not attempt to write my feelings altogether, for the situation in which you are, the walls, bars, and bolts, rolling rivers, running streams, rising hills, sinking valleys, and spreading prairies that separate us, and the cruel injustice that first cast you into prison and still holds you there, with many other considerations, places my feelings far beyond description . . .
“No one but God, knows the reflections of my mind and the feelings of my heart when I left our house and home, and almost all of everything that we possessed excepting our little children, and took my journey out of the State of Missouri, leaving you shut up in that lonesome prison. But the reflection is more than human nature ought to bear, and if God does not record our sufferings and avenge our wrongs on them that are guilty, I shall be sadly mistaken. . . .
“Emma Smith”
In March 1839, when the Prophet received Emma’s letter, he had been in the Liberty Jail for over four months, knowing that his people were being driven to seek shelter among strangers, unable to help them. We can only imagine his despair.
“O GOD, WHERE ART THOU?”
The Prophet heard reports of the Saints’ suffering and pleaded with the Lord for help. In response, the Lord gave some powerful revelations. Portions of these revelations are now sections 121, 122, and 123 of the Doctrine and Covenants.
Elder B. H. Roberts said, “[These revelations] “made Liberty jail, for a time, a center of instruction. The eyes of the saints were turned to it as the place whence would come encouragement, counsel—the word of the Lord. It was more temple than prison, so long as the Prophet was there. It was a place of meditation and prayer. . . . Joseph Smith sought God in this rude prison, and found him.”6
The Prophet Pleas unto God for Help (D&C 121:1–6)
These verses express the Prophet’s heartfelt concerns for the Saints and for his fellow prisoners as well as for himself. Everything had gone wrong:
—The treachery of apostate former friends and associated
—Their unjust arrest and imprisonment
—Horrendous atrocities being visited upon the Saints
—12,000 Saints driven from the state in the middle of winter
—Being locked up in a dark, dirty, cold, and insanitary jail cellar at Liberty
“If Thou Endure it Well” (D&C 121:7–33)
The Lord’s answer, discerned by the Prophet despite the rude circumstances of his incarceration, is a classic example of Joseph’s prophetic calling:
— The Lord spoke peace to the Prophet Joseph Smith (vv. 7–10).
— The fate of those who fight against God and his people (vv. 11–15).
— The fate of apostates who have turned against the Church (vv. 16–25).
— The promise to those who remain faithful to the end (vv. 26–33).
— The entire world will eventually know about Joseph Smith (D&C 122:1–4).
“The Son of Man Hath Descended below Them All”
Because the Savior descended below all things, He has a perfect understanding of all our trials (D&C 122:5–8; 19:16–19).
Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “As part of His infinite atonement, Jesus . . . has borne the sins, griefs, sorrows, and, declared Jacob, the pains of every man, woman, and child (2 Nephi 9:21). Having been perfected in His empathy, Jesus thus knows how to succor us. . . . Nothing is beyond His redeeming reach or His encircling empathy. Therefore, we should not complain about our own life’s not being a rose garden when we remember who wore the crown of thorns!”7
THE DOCTRINE OF THE PRIESTHOOD
Priesthood Authority, Power and Keys
“Many are called, but few are chosen” because of worldliness and ego (D&C 121:34–35).
Elder Boyd K. Packer said, “Power in the priesthood comes from doing your duty in ordinary things: attending meetings, accepting assignments, reading the scriptures, keeping the Word of Wisdom.”8
Elder M. Russell Ballard said, “Those who hold the priesthood must never forget that they have no right to wield priesthood authority like a club over the heads of others in the family or in Church callings. . . . Any man who . . . seeks to use the priesthood in any degree of unrighteousness in the Church or in the home simply does not understand the nature of his authority. priesthood is for service, not servitude; compassion, not compulsion; caring, not control.”9
It is the “nature and disposition” of men to exercise unrighteous dominion (D&C 121:39–40).
The source of priesthood power and how it may be lost (D&C 121:34–38).
Righteous Priesthood Leadership (D&C 121:41–45)
The way in which priesthood should be exercised:
— Persuasion (Reasoning).
— Long-suffering (Patience).
— Gentleness and meekness (Humility).
— Love unfeigned (Genuinely felt affection).
— Kindness (Not anger or abuse).
— Pure knowledge (Knowing the facts).
— Reproving “betimes” (Correcting immediately when needed).
The promises to those who bear their priesthood worthily (D&C 121:45–46).
— Self-confidence bestowed by the Spirit
— “Garnish” in 1832 meant to permeate, as spices do when they are mixed with food. An understanding of righteous priesthood principles
— The constant presence of the Holy Ghost
— Righteousness
— Truth
— An everlasting dominion (exaltation in the Celestial kingdom).
THE FRUITS OF ADVERSITY
Everyone must Experience and Overcome Adversity
Adversity is part of God’s plan for our testing and growth during mortality. We came to earth knowing we would experience pain, trials, and other difficulties.
The Prophet Joseph Smith said, [Afflictions] “have been my common lot all the days of my life; . . . and I feel, like Paul, to glory in tribulation” (D&C 127:2). Adversity can also come “to accomplish the Lord’s own purposes in our life that we may receive the refinement that comes from testing.
President Harold B. Lee said, “Living the gospel of Jesus Christ is no guarantee that adversity will not come into our lives; but living the gospel does give us the strength and faith and power to rise above that adversity and look beyond the present trouble to the brighter day.”10
Elder Marion G. Romney said, “I have sought the Lord in my own extremities and learned for myself that my soul has made its greatest growth as I have been driven to my knees by adversity and affliction.”11
Some people are embittered by trials while others grow and are strengthened (Alma 62:49–51).
President Spencer W. Kimball said, “One time or another we all face adversity’s chilling wind. One man flees from it, and like an unresisting kite falls to the ground. Another yields no retreating inch, and the wind that would destroy him lifts him as readily to the heights. We are not measured by the trials we meet, only by those we overcome.”12
Coping with Adversity
— Be patient in afflictions; they will “be but a small moment (D&C 121:7).”
— Rejoice and give thanks (D&C 98:1).
— Remain obedient and “cleave unto all good (D&C 98:11).”
— Care for the soul, not for the body, and seek the Lord (D&C 101:36–38).
— Do not fear what man may do, for God will be with us forever (D&C 122:9; 98:13).
The Blessings of Adversity
— The Lord will be with us, stand by us, and heal us in our afflictions (D&C 122:4).
— Those who are faithful in tribulation will receive glory, joy, and other blessings (D&C 121:29).
— All things will work together for our good and to the Lord’s glory (D&C 122:7).
— Those who are faithful in affliction will be exalted (D&C 121:8).
President James E. Faust said: “In the pain, the agony, and the heroic endeavors of life, we pass through a refiner’s fire, and the insignificant and the unimportant in our lives can melt away like dross and make our faith bright, intact, and strong. . . . It is part of the purging toll exacted of some to become acquainted with God. In the agonies of life, we seem to listen better to the faint, godly whisperings of the Divine Shepherd.”13
Notes:
1. LDS Historical Department, Salt Lake City, 12.
2. History of the Church, 3.157.
3. History of the Church, 3:175.
4. Quoted in History of the Church, 3:184–185.
5. Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, 210–211.
6. A Elder B. H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of the Church, 6 vols. [1930], 1:526.
7. In Conference Report, Apr. 1987, 89; or Ensign, May 1987, 72.
8. Ensign, Nov. 1981, 33.
9. In Conference Report, Oct. 1993, 105; or Ensign, Nov. 1993, 78.
10. Quoted by A. Theodore Tuttle, in Conference Report, Oct. 1967, 15.
11. Improvement Era, Dec. 1969, 69.
12. General Conference Address, October 1974; Ensign, November 1974, 82.
13. In Conference Report, Apr. 1979, 77; or Ensign, May 1979, 53.
