Slaves are real estate in this and other states, and wisdom would dictate great care among the branches of The Church of Christ on this subject. So long as we have no special rule in The Church, as to people of color, let prudence guide; and while they, as well as we, are in the hands of a merciful God, we say: shun every appearance of evil.
Publishing this law, and the above comment, was construed, by the old settlers, to be an invitation to free people of color to settle in Jackson County! Whereupon an extra was published to the July number of the Star on the sixteenth of the month, which said:
The intention in publishing the article, "Free People of Color," was not only to stop free people of color from emigrating to Missouri, but to prevent them from being admitted as members of The Church.[J] * * * * To be short, we are opposed to having free people of color admitted into the State.
[Footnote J: In making the statement that it was the intention of the Star article not only to stop "free people of color" emigrating to Missouri, but also to "prevent them from being admitted as members of The Church," the editor of the Star goes too far; if not in his second article, explaining the scope and meaning of the first, then in the first article; for he had no business to seek to prevent "free people of color" from being admitted members of The Church. And in forming a judgment of this matter the reader must remember that it is the statement of the editor of the Star, and by no means represents the policy of The Church. As a matter of fact there were very few if any "free people of color" in The Church at that time. The "fears" of the Missourians on that head were sheer fabrications of evil-disposed minds.]
But in the face of all this the mob still claimed that the article was merely published to give directions and cautions to be observed by colored brethren, to enable them upon their arrival in Missouri, to "claim and exercise the rights of citizenship." "Contemporaneous with the appearance of this article"—the above article in the Star—continued the charge published in the Western Monitor—"was the expectation among the brethren, that a considerable number of this degraded caste were only waiting this information before they should set out on their journey." [K] And this base falsehood was used to inflame the minds of the old settlers against the saints.
[Footnote K: Western Monitor for the 2nd of August, 1833.]
That the saints may have said the Lord would yet give them the land of Missouri for their inheritance, is doubtless true; but that they were to obtain it in any other than a legal way never entered their minds. They had been commanded of the Lord to purchase [L] the land for an inheritance. Besides, the elders stationed in Zion about this time, addressed an epistle to the churches abroad, in which they alluded to the gathering of ancient Israel, and pointing out the difference in their circumstances and those by which the saints now were surrounded. Ancient Israel had been compelled to obtain the lands of their inheritance by the sword. "But," the address adds, "to suppose that we can come up here, and take possession of this land by the shedding of blood, would be setting at naught the law of the glorious gospel and also the word of our Great Redeemer: and to suppose that we can take possession of this country without making regular purchases of the same, according to the laws of our nation, would be reproaching this great republic, in which most of us were born, and under whose auspices we all have protection." [M] Nothing then can be clearer than that while the saints may have said that Missouri would eventually be the land of their inheritance, they were expecting to obtain it in a perfectly legitimate manner—by purchase.
[Footnote L: Doc. & Cov. Sec. 57:3, 5.]
[Footnote M: Evening and Morning Star, July, 1833.]
I have been particular in examining the charges made against the saints by their enemies in Jackson County, in order that my readers may know that wherein the things charged were not in and of themselves innocent, and no cause for offense whatever, they were utterly without foundation in truth.