The Rocky Mountain Saints/Chapter 13

On the 6th of April, 1838, the eighth anniversary of that organization in which he so much rejoiced, and was so much favoured, Oliver Cowdrey was destined to find himself cast out of the Church and consigned to the tender mercies of Satan. After those extraordinary experiences with heavenly beings had all been rehearsed, Oliver still persisted in rebellion, and was formally "turned over to the buffetings of the devil." But Cowdery was not alone; another rebel was found in the person of David Whitmer, the second witness to the Book of Mormon. Martin Harris, the third witness of this remarkable production, had already been consigned to the infernal regions, and thus the excommunication of Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer during the conference completed the work of apostacy among those who had seen the angel, and heard the testimony about "the plates," and their translation into English. From the beginning, the devil had desired that he might possess these "witnesses," and at last "the Lord" made the transfer, with the understanding and instruction that his Sable Majesty was to heap upon the rebels all the agony under which they could wriggle.

The modern prophets trench pretty closely upon "Anathema Maranatha" of the ancient Sanhedrim, and evidently consider that it is the correct thing. A Mormon Bishop cursing ​an "apostate" is a perfect realization of the prayer of Burns's "Holy Willie:"

From this time Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer are handed down to posterity in Mormon Church history charged with being "connected with a gang of counterfeiters, thieves, liars, and blacklegs of the deepest dye," and with "cheating and defrauding the Saints." In the formal list of charges for Cowdery's excommunication was another: "Seeking to destroy the character of Joseph Smith, Jr., by falsely insinuating that he was guilty of adultery." Martin Harris had previously been catalogued with "negroes who wear white skins," and he and his associates were "so far beneath contempt that a notice of them would be far too great a sacrifice for a gentleman to make."^[1] Hyrum Smith, the brother of the Prophet, after his deliverance from a Missouri prison, charges the brothers Oliver and Lyman Cowdery with going to his house while he was "held in durance vile," and robbing him of his valuables under the cloak of friendship. Such were the men whom "the Lord" had selected as witnesses to the divinity of the Book of Mormon.

During this conference the apostles who were in rebellion at Kirtland were formally excommunicated, viz.: Luke Johnson, Lyman E. Johnson, and John F. Boynton. Another apostle was added to the list of apostates—William E. McLellin; and William Smith, another apostle, and brother of the Prophet, had a narrow escape from expulsion. This was a trying time to the Saints, and many left the Church, but Joseph was indomitable. It was during his severest trials and in the face of approaching danger that Joseph displayed the greatest faith in his mission. At this moment he saw the shadows of coming ​events that would try men's souls, but he would make no compromise with "the rebels." He was resolved on victory or martyrdom. His confidence was heroic: in himself he had unbounded faith.

Joseph saw the necessity of a new gathering place. Kirtland was gone; a few of the Saints only were conditionally tolerated in Jackson county, and in the other counties of Missouri where they had taken refuge a continuance of peace was very doubtful. A new city was to be laid out on the north side of Grand River, twenty miles distant from Far West. The brethren called the new location Spring Hill, but Joseph had a revelation naming it Adam-Ondi-Ahman.^[2]

There has always been some mystery about the exact location of the Garden of Eden, the early residence of the innocent progenitors of the human race—Darwin aside—but it has generally been supposed to have been somewhere on the eastern continent. On the occasion of naming this new gathering place, Joseph was informed that the Garden of Eden, with all the rich incidents of the morning of creation, was localized in Jackson county, Missouri, and that this new spot selected for the gathering of the Saints and named Adam-Ondi-Ahman was the identical region where Adam and Eve betook themselves after the expulsion from the historical garden. Joseph also gives with considerable minuteness a statement about a great gathering or conference held there of the leading men of Adam's posterity about three years preceding the departure of that first patriarch from this mundane sphere. In that particular valley the Saints were now commanded to gather in the last days; but this heavenly intelligence changed in nothing the hearts of the Missourians toward the Mormons.

Governor Dunklin had advised the expelled Mormons to seek redress in the courts for their losses in Jackson county; and, ever ready to assert their claims, the Saints failed not to follow the suggestion thus offered. The consequent prosecution of some of the leading "mobocrats" was a constantly-recurring element of strife, which, added to the growing political influence of the Saints, afforded politicians and anti-Mormons the opportunity of combining against the com​mon enemy, as they claimed to regard the followers of the Prophet.

The Kirtland Colony was now entirely broken up, and the eastern Saints poured into Missouri. Proud of their growing strength, and chafing under past persecutions, Sidney Rigdon in the Fourth-of-July oration delivered a Mormon "Declaration of Independence," informing the Missourians that they must cease their oppression and persecution of "the Saints of the Most High God." It was the enunciation of an enthusiast's programme, and just such a foolish speech as the Missourians wanted to hear. It set the country on fire, and hostile action was resolved upon. The anti-Mormons were waiting for a pretext, and Sidney furnished it. His language on that occasion is thus reported:

"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. The man, or the set of men, who attempts it does so at the expense of their lives. And the mob that comes on us to disturb us, it shall be between us and them a war of extermination, for we will follow them till the last drop of blood is spilled, or else they will have to exterminate us; for we will carry the seat of war to their own houses and their own families, and one part or the other shall be utterly destroyed. Remember it, then, all men! "No man shall be at liberty to come into our streets, to threaten us with mobs, for if he does he shall atone for it before he leaves the place, neither shall he be at liberty to vilify and slander any of us, for suffer it we will not in this place.^[3] We therefore take all men to record this day, as did our fathers, and we pledge this day to one another, our fortunes, our lives, and our sacred honours, to be delivered from the persecutions which we have had to endure for the last nine years, or nearly that. Neither will we indulge any man or set of men in instituting vexatious law suits against us, to cheat us out of our just rights; if they attempt it, we say woe be unto them. We this day, then, proclaim ourselves free, with a purpose and a determination that can never be broken, No, never! No, never!! No, never!!!"

​The elections were at hand, and the old settlers saw in the incoming Mormons from the East a repetition of the traditionary story of Aaron's rod, and they resolved not to be swallowed up or exterminated as Sidney threatened.^[4]