Thus in sickness and poverty, without purse and without scrip, leaving their families destitute of the comforts of life, with nothing but the assurances of the people, who were as poor as themselves, that they should be provided for, the Twelve turned their faces toward Europe, to preach the Gospel to the highly civilized peoples of the world. Shaking with the ague, and then burning up with the fever; now in the homes of the wealthy, then in the hovels of the poor; now derided by the learned and self-styled refined, and now welcomed by the poor of this world who rejoiced in the message they bore—they journeyed on, never looking back, nor complaining of the hardships through which they were called to pass for the Master's sake. They had ringing in their ears the words of Jesus:
"He that loveth father or mother, houses or lands, wives or children more than he loveth me is not worthy of me." And again they had the promise: "There is no man that hath left houses, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting."
With this warning and this promise before them, they made their way by different routes, but at last met in England, where an effectual door was opened for the preaching of the Gospel, and thousands with joy embraced the truth.
These men went out weeping, bearing precious seed; they returned in time bringing their sheaves with them, and had joy in their harvest. And what shall separate these men who endured so much for the Gospel's sake, from the love of God? "Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?" "Nay, in all these things they shall be more than conquerors through Him that loved them."
Footnotes
[1]. Missouri Persecutions, Chapter XLVIII.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE "TIMES AND SEASONS."
THE power of the press in sustaining the work he had begun, was early recognized by Joseph Smith and his associates; and it was this recognition of its powers which led him to establish, as early as possible, a paper that would be under the control of The Church, voice its sentiments and defend its principles. The Church had been organized but eighteen months, and its membership was very small when a conference held in Ohio authorized the purchase of a press, and instructed W.W. Phelps to begin the publication of a paper in Independence, Missouri. In June, 1832, the first number of that paper, the Evening and Morning Star, was published.
The following year the Evening and Morning Star press was broken and the type scattered by the mob, which collected at Independence to drive the Saints from Jackson County. The press and the book-binding property were never again restored to The Church, though the Star afterwards reappeared in Kirtland, edited by Oliver Cowdery.