The Rise and Fall of Nauvoo

by B. H. Roberts

A movement of which Americans hear very little, but which may have an important effect upon the history of the coming century, is going forward upon the shores of the Mediterranean. This is the return of the Jews to their ancient home in Palestine—the Zionite movement it is called. For hundreds of years there has been talk of the Jew returning to Jerusalem. Through all his years of oppression and wandering, this vision of his native land has been held before his eyes by certain of his teachers. But it is only in the last twelve years, since the renewal of persecution in Russia, that the idea has taken shape. There are now more than four thousand colonists in Palestine. At Jaffa the schools are Hebrew, the ancient language being spoken altogether, and a Hebrew literature is being developed. The works of the great English, French and German authors are being translated, and writers of their own race are being encouraged.

The Zionite movement is backed by the influence of the Rothschilds and other great Jewish families and societies, and as we see its stirring in every country, we can believe it only requires a great popular leader to make it one of the important movements in history. That it is not purely religious, but racial, is proven by the co-operation of Rabinowitz, the Christian Jew who became so well known here during the World's Fair Congress. There is already one Jewish Christian colony in Palestine. * * * As a Jewish state, Palestine might well become a country that would claim consideration among the family of nations. If the Zionite continues to grow, such a result is almost assured.

During the same month, namely, in its impression of August 11th, 1896, the St. Louis Globe-Democrat published the following:

Only two decades ago there were not more than fifteen or twenty thousand Jews in Jerusalem. At that [time] no houses were to be found outside the walls of the city. Since then many changes have taken place and the Hebrew population—mainly on account of the increase of the Jewish immigration from Russia—now stands at between sixty and seventy thousand. Whole streets of houses have been built outside the walls on the site of the ancient suburban districts, which for hundreds of years have remained deserted. It is not, however, only in Jerusalem itself that the Jews abound, but throughout Palestine they are buying farms and establishing themselves in a surprisingly rapid manner. In Jerusalem they form at present a larger community than either the Christian or the Mohammedan.

CHAPTER XI.

DEATH'S HARVEST IN NAUVOO—RETURN OF PRODIGALS.

DURING the summer of 1840, death reaped a rich harvest in Nauvoo. Before his ruthless stroke fell many worthy Saints who had been connected with The Church from the time it was founded. Among the first to fall was Bishop Edward Partridge. He died on the twenty-seventh of May, in the forty-sixth year of his age. He was the first Bishop in The Church, and in that capacity had presided over the Saints who gathered to Zion, in Jackson County, Missouri, during the years 1831-33. Joseph described him as a "pattern of piety," and the Lord himself declared that he was like Nathaniel of old—his heart was pure before him, and he was without guile. His life was indeed an eventful one. He was called from his merchandising, and became a preacher of righteousness. Much, in fact all, of his riches fell into the hands of the mobs of Jackson County, in the autumn of 1833, and upon his meek and uncovered head fell a double portion of their fury. Five years later, he passed through those trying times experienced by the Saints in their exodus from the State of Missouri, under the exterminating order of the infamous Governor Boggs; and at that time, he again saw the fruits of his industry fall a prey to the rapacity of his relentless enemies. Stripped of his earthly possessions and broken in health, he reached Commerce, but the trials through which he passed had proven too much for his constitution, which was never robust, and he passed away, a victim to the intolerance and religious bigotry of this generation.

In September of the same year Father Joseph Smith, Patriarch to The Church, and father of the Prophet Joseph, was "gathered to his final home," in the sixty-ninth year of his age. He was baptized on the sixth day of April, 1830, and was one of the six who organized The Church on that date. Indeed he was the one who first received the testimony of his son after the angel Moroni visited him on that memorable night of September 21, 1823; and it was he who first exhorted his prophet son to be faithful and diligent to the message he had received. He endured many persecutions on account of the claims made by his son Joseph to being a prophet of God; for Joseph's declarations that he had received heavenly visions and revelations together with a divine commission to preach the Gospel of Christ, not only brought upon himself the wrath of the ungodly, but involved his whole family in the persecutions which followed him throughout his life. Of these things, however, his father never complained, but endured all things patiently, and with true heroism, and ever supported his son in carrying out the counsels of Heaven. He was born on the twelfth of July, 1771, in Topsfield, Massachusetts; and was the second of the seven sons of Asahel and Mary Smith; his forefathers being among those who early came from England to Massachusetts. He was a large man, ordinarily weighing two hundred pounds, was six feet two inches tall, and well proportioned, strong and active; and he stood unbowed beneath the accumulated sorrows and hardships he had experienced during his nearly three score and ten years of sojourn in this life. The exposures, however, that he suffered in the exodus from Missouri brought on him consumption, of which he died. His was an unassuming nature—noted mostly, perhaps, for its sincerity and unwavering integrity. He was a child of nature, and one of nature's noblest; his life had been spent in parts remote from the busy marts, where "wealth accumulates and men decay," and he had passed through his probation on earth without being corrupted by the evil influences of luxury or enervating civilization. He was a type of men, so well described by one of our poets, in the following lines:

Simple their lives—yet theirs the race
When liberty sent forth her cry,
Who crowded conflicts deadliest place,
To fight—to bleed—to die;
Who stood on Bunker's heights of red,
By hope through years were led—
And witnessed Yorktown's sun
Shine on a nation's banner spread,
A nation's freedom won!

Such was the character of the first Patriarch of The Church in this dispensation.

Another circumstance of interest in Nauvoo during this eventful summer of 1840 was the return of a number of prodigals to The Church. I have already stated the case of Orson Hyde. Frederick G. Williams was dropped from his position as counselor to the Prophet in November, 1837, and in March, 1839, was excommunicated at a conference in Quincy, Illinois. At the April conference in 1840, however, he came before the assembled Church and "humbly asked forgiveness, and expressed his determination to do the will of God for the future." He was forgiven by the Saints but was never restored to his former position in the First Presidency.