"We feel more like weeping over Zion than rejoicing over her, for we know that the judgments of God hang over her, and will fall upon her except she repent, and purify herself before the Lord, and put away from her every foul spirit. We now say to Zion, this once, in the name of the Lord, Repent! repent! awake! awake! put on thy beautiful garments, before you are made to feel the chastening rod of Him whose anger is kindled against you. Let not Satan tempt you to think we want to make you bow to us, to domineer over you, for God knows this is not the case; our eyes are watered with tears, and our hearts are poured out to God in prayer for you, that He will spare you, and turn away His anger from you. * * * Therefore, with the feelings of inexpressible anxiety for your welfare, we say again Repent, repent, or Zion must suffer, for the scourge and judgment must come upon her."[[23]]

All this reproof and warning, however, only produced a partial repentance, and in July following acts of violence began to be perpetrated upon the Saints by the old settlers of Missouri, and in the month of November, under circumstances of great cruelty, all the Saints were driven from Jackson county, and later more than two hundred of their homes, together with their public improvements, were destroyed.

When the Lord revealed to the Prophet Joseph why this affliction had befallen the people, He said: "Verily I say unto you concerning your brethren who have been afflicted, and persecuted, and cast out from the land of their inheritance, I, the Lord, have suffered the affliction to come upon them wherewith they have been afflicted, in consequence of their transgressions; yet I will own them, and they shall be mine in that day when I shall come to make up my jewels. Therefore, they must needs be chastened and tried, even as Abraham, who was commanded to offer up his only son; for all those who will not endure chastening, but deny me, cannot be sanctified. Behold, I say unto you, there were jarrings, and contentions, and envyings, and strifes and lustful and covetous desires among them; therefore, by these things they polluted their inheritances. They were slow to hearken unto the voice of the Lord their God, therefore the Lord their God is slow to hearken unto their prayers, to answer them in the day of their trouble. In the day of their peace they esteemed lightly my counsel; but in the day of their trouble, of necessity they feel after me. Verily I say unto you, notwithstanding their sins my bowels are filled with compassion towards them; I will not utterly cast them off; and in the day of wrath I will remember mercy.[[24]]

From this it is very clear that the reason why the Saints were prevailed against by their enemies and driven from the center place of Zion, was because of their failure to live up to the high requirements made of them by the Lord. In subsequent efforts to redeem Zion, by attempting to return the exiles to Jackson county, the Saints in all parts of the land again failed to respond with sufficient promptness and fulness to the requirements of the Lord, for He commanded them again to consecrate money to purchase lands in Jackson county and in the counties round about, saying to the Church: "There is even now already in store a sufficient, yea even abundance, to redeem Zion, and establish her waste places, no more to be thrown down, were the churches who call themselves after my name willing to hearken to my voice."[[25]]

The Lord also commanded them to gather up their forces and to go in sufficient strength to possess the land, and maintain their inheritance against their enemies. This, however, they failed to do. Instead of raising five hundred men, as they were commanded to do,[[26]] they started from Kirtland in "Zion's Camp" with a company of only about one hundred and thirty men, and twenty baggage wagons. This number was increased by additions en route to one hundred and eighty-two men, but even this number fell far short of the strength required to accomplish the purpose for which the camp was organized. In the matter of raising money for the purchase of lands the failure was more conspicuous than in raising men to take possession of them, and hence this effort to redeem Zion failed.

Here let me pause in pointing out the unwisdom of the Saints, to make an explanation, lest there should be a misunderstanding of what is thus far set down respecting their transgressions, by reason of which they were prevailed against by their enemies. These transgressions, be it understood, were no violations of the laws of the land, nor did they consist in any acts of aggression or of trespass upon their Missouri neighbors. The old settlers of Missouri themselves are our witnesses here; for in all their procedure in this Jackson county persecution there is no accusation made against the Saints of violations of the law. On the contrary, in their public utterances against the Saints and in justification of their own course, the old settlers declare—after expressing their determination to rid their society of the Saints, peacefully if they could, but forcibly if they must—"that the arm of the civil law does not afford us a guarantee, or at least a sufficient one, against the evils which are now inflicted upon us, and seem to be increasing by the said religious sect."[[27]] A more emphatic acknowledgement that the alleged offenses of the Saints were not cognizable by the laws, that the Saints had not violated the laws of the land, could not be made.

In their second manifesto the mob said: "The evil is one that no one could have foreseen, and is therefore unprovided for by the laws; and the delays incident to legislation would put the mischief beyond remedy."[[28]] Another admission that amounts to a declaration, that the Saints, whatever the nature of the complaints made against them were, had not violated any of the laws of the state, that their offending was not cognizable by the laws of the land.

The transgressions and sinfulness referred to in the revelations and letters of reproof and warning quoted, and for which transgressions the Saints were left in the hands of their enemies, were sins against each other and the Lord—unbelief in the word of God, hardness of heart towards each other, rejection of the servants of God, fault-finding, bickerings, jealousies, covetousness, pride, idleness, boastfulness, levity of thought and conduct, disregard of the scriptures, especially of the Book of Mormon, neglecting to instruct their children in sacred things and to bring them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord; all of which were displeasing to the Lord, contrary to His commandments, and a violation of the conditions upon which He had promised to redeem Zion and preserve His people from their enemies. "Ye call upon my name for revelations;" said the Lord to the Elders in Zion, "and I give them unto you; and inasmuch as ye keep not my sayings, which I give unto you, ye become transgressors, and justice and judgment are the penalty which is affixed to my law. * * * I, the Lord, am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do not what I say, ye have no promise."[[29]]

This, then, was the nature of their offenses; they sinned against the Lord in the particulars named; they sinned against each other in the manner described; they did not trespass against their non-Mormon neighbors, nor break the laws of the land; but they failed to live in accordance with the high moral and spiritual law of the Gospel; they failed to meet the conditions on which God was pledged to their maintenance upon the land of Zion, and hence were left in the hands of their enemies.

At the commencement of this subdivision of the Introduction I called attention to the great things which God had revealed to the Saints, the greatness of the dispensation committed unto them, accompanied by the promise to establish Zion and give unto the Saints the land thereof as an everlasting inheritance. It would be marvelous indeed, and past all human experience, if these great things did not turn the heads of some of the weak-minded, and make them vain-glorious and boastful. I doubt not for a moment that many vain and foolish things were said by such characters in the presence of, and perhaps directly to, the old settlers of Jackson county, about the Saints taking possession of the land, and the wicked being driven away. There was doubtless enough of this kind of talk to give color to what the Missourians charged on this head, viz., "They [the Saints] declare openly that their God hath given them this county of land, and that sooner or later they must and will take possession of our lands for an inheritance."