The Missouri Persecutions. B. H. Roberts

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      On Sunday, the 11th of April, the public ministry of The Church may be said to have begun. Oliver Cowdery on that day preached the first public discourse of the new dispensation then opening. Of the nature of the discourse we know little or nothing. The meeting was held by previous appointment at the house of Mr. Peter Whitmer, in Fayette, and was largely attended by people of the neighborhood, and the preaching was certainly successful, as upon the same day, and doubtless as a result of the explanations, teachings, doctrines and spirit of the discourse, a number came forward for baptism, and a few days later a number more—thirteen in all. And so the work grew and prospered.

      Fayette, in Seneca County, New York, and Colesville, Broome County, in the same State, were the centers of activity for The Church in those early days. In both places meetings were occasionally held, and baptisms were frequent, in the clear, beautiful waters of Seneca Lake. What historical associations will yet gather about these localities! Fayette! Seneca Lake! I venture to predict that these places will in the ages to come be as famous as Capernaum and Lake Gennesaret. The latter were the scenes of Christ's early ministry. The former the scenes of Joseph Smiths. The latter were identified with the Dispensation of the Meridian of Time. The former with the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times. Capernaum and Gennesaret are associated with memories of the Christ, with Simon Peter, with John, with Andrew and Nathaniel, and Mary of Magdala. Fayette and Seneca with Joseph Smith, with Oliver, with David Whitmer, with Joseph Knight and Newel, his son, with Emily Coburn and others. Gennesaret was but the widening of the Jordan; Seneca but one of the river valleys once occupied and modified by the glaciers which in ancient times filled that land.^[I] The site of the ancient Capernaum is now unknown; so, too, the Fayette of our Church history is no more; but of the latter as of the former, and of Seneca as of Gennesaret it may be said: If every vestige of human habitation should disappear from beside it, and the jackal and the hyena should howl about the shattered fragments where Joseph once taught, yet the fact that he chose it as the scene of his ministry will give a sense of sacredness and pathos to its lovely waters till Time shall be no more.

      [Footnote I: Enc. Brit., Art. New York.]

      On the first of June The Church held its first conference as an organized body. At that conference—held in Fayette—more brethren were ordained to the various offices of the Priesthood; a number who had been baptized were confirmed; the sacrament was administered, and many spiritual manifestations were enjoyed, such as beholding heavenly visions and prophesying.

      Thus The Church was organized and well started upon its career, the history of which was to be so thrilling; the success of which was to be so great; and the final victory of which over every opposing power is assured by the promises of God.

CHAPTER II.

       Table of Contents

      THE MISSION TO THE LAMANITES.

      The Book of Mormon, the coming forth of which has already been detailed, contains many promises to the Lamanites—that is, to the American Indians, whom it reveals to be the remnants of mighty nations that once inhabited the Americas, and also proclaims them to be descendants of the house of Israel. Their present fallen state arises from their departure from the ways of the Lord, and the instructions and doctrines of their ancient prophets; the very blackness of their skin is the result of God's curse upon them for their unrighteousness; yet are they promised that they shall know their origin—the favored race from which they are descended; it is promised that the gospel of Jesus Christ shall be declared among them, and they shall regard it as a blessing from the hand of the Lord; "and their scales of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes, and many generations shall not pass away among them save they shall be a white and delightsome people." ^[A] It is promised that Zion, the New Jerusalem, shall be built upon the land of their fathers—the Americas—which, according to the Book of Mormon, is a land especially dedicated to the seed of Joseph, of Egyptian fame, the son of Jacob, "and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh;" and in this great work of building up the Zion of God, the Lamanites are assigned a special part, which will be a manifestation of God's favor towards them.^[B]

      [Footnote A: II Nephi, chap. 30.]

      [Footnote B Book of Mormon, Ether 13, and III Nephi 20.]

      Very naturally, of course, those who accepted the Book of Mormon as true, possessed a lively interest in this people, that is, in the Lamanites; and anxiously looked forward to the commencement of the fulfillment of the words of their ancient prophets concerning them; and hence at the close of a conference held in the last days of September, and which also extended into the early days of October, "a great desire," says the Prophet, "was manifested by several elders respecting the remnants of the house of Joseph—the Lamanites residing in the west—knowing that the purposes of the Lord were great to that people, and hoping that the time had come when the promises of the Almighty in regard to that people were about to be accomplished, and that they would receive the gospel and enjoy its blessings. The desire was so great that it was agreed upon that we should inquire of the Lord as to the propriety of sending some of the elders among them, which we accordingly did." ^[C]

      [Footnote C Millennial Star, (Supplement), Vol. 14, p. 44.]

      The result of this inquiry was a revelation in which Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer, Parley P. Pratt and Ziba Peterson were called to go on a mission to the Lamanites who then inhabited the western states and the Indian Territory. On their journey westward the Indian missionaries stopped at Kirtland, Ohio, where they converted a number of people to the gospel, and organized a branch of The Church.

      It was here that Sidney Rigdon, a somewhat noted Campbellite preacher, resided and had a large following. These Campbellites, or Disciples of Christ, as they preferred to be called, were reformed Baptists: that is, in addition to believing that immersion is the only acceptable mode of baptism, they also taught that baptism, when preceded by true faith in God and sincere repentance, was "for the remission of sins;" and that forgiveness of sins really followed every proper baptism. It was on the occasion of this visit of the Indian missionaries to Kirtland, that Sidney Rigdon first heard of Joseph Smith and Mormonism; and the first time he ever saw the Book of Mormon was when young Parley P. Pratt, himself formerly a Campbellite preacher, presented a copy of it to him to read. I think it important to make this statement here, because it has been asserted that Sidney Rigdon had much to do with producing the Book of Mormon; the theory of some being that it was he who stole from a printer in Pittsburg—a Mr. Patterson—a manuscript story written by a sort of harebrained, retired minister, of the name of Solomon Spaulding; and that, after making some changes in the text, he then connived with Joseph Smith to palm it off upon the world as a new revelation from God—a theory which, in addition to being absolutely untrue, always was inadequate as an explanation of the origin of the Book of Mormon, and is now quite generally abandoned, since the manuscript of Solomon Spaulding most unexpectedly came to light in 1884, verbatim copies of which have been widely published; the original now being in Oberlin College, in the State of Ohio. It needs only a perusal of the "Manuscript Found" to satisfy anyone that it never could in the remotest manner have suggested the Book of Mormon, or any part of it; while the fact that Sidney Rigdon knew nothing of the Book of Mormon until Parley P. Pratt presented it to him at Kirtland, Ohio, on the occasion above referred to, is a complete refutation of the idle stories that he was associated with Joseph Smith in writing the Book of Mormon.

      Sidney S. Rigdon was born in St. Clair Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, on the 19th of February, 1793, and was the youngest son of William and Nancy Rigdon. On his father's side his forefathers were English; on his mother's, Irish. In his youth and early manhood he followed the vocation of a farmer and tanner. At the age of twenty-five he became associated with a Baptist society, and possessing a natural gift of oratory he drifted into the ministry СКАЧАТЬ