"And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them."
Oh, the sweetness of those simple words! Oh, the sublimity of the picture they portray! Liberty, equality, fraternity! This is Zion—THE PURE IN HEART!
But the Saints in Jackson County, Missouri, were not all that the Lord requires of a people chosen to execute a purpose so sacred, so sublime. "There were jarrings, and contentions, and envyings, and strifes, and lustful and covetous desires among them; therefore by these things they polluted their inheritances." Then was the lash of the Philistine applied, and they were driven forth from the goodly land. Satan hath his mission, as well as Christ.
Be it not inferred, however, that these hapless victims of mobocratic tyranny were utterly wicked and depraved, or that all were equally culpable in the eyes of Him, who, to punish the transgressors, permitted their enemies to come against them. With all their faults they were better far than their oppressors, more than the peers, in every Christian virtue, of the people of the world around them. Yet, judged by the higher law, the Gospel standard, which the world had not received, and were not under the same obligation to obey, these "children of the Light" were found remiss in many things.
The Kingdom of heaven is likened unto a field of grain, gathered unto the threshing-floor. The purpose of divine punishment is to purify. Upon the wheat and the chaff, alike, fell the iron flail of persecution.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE ZION'S CAMP EXPEDITION—JOSEPH AS A PROPHET-GENERAL—FINDING OF THE BONES OF ZELPH, THE ANCIENT—REBELLION IN THE CAMP—JOSEPH PREDICTS A SCOURGE—HEBER'S FAILURE AS A LAUNDERER—ZION'S CAMP SAVED BY A STORM.
"Gather up the strength of my house, and go up and redeem Zion!" Such was the burden of God's command to Joseph and his brethren in Kirtland. Such was their interpretation of the divine message and call.
Bidding farewell to his family and friends, whom he hardly dared hope he would ever meet again in the flesh, Heber enrolled himself in the little band of heroes who set out from Kirtland early in May, 1834. They were about one hundred strong, well armed and equipped, and were led by the Prophet Joseph in person. Subsequently their number increased to two hundred and five souls. But Heber will tell his own story of that eventful pilgrimage. Says he:
"Brother Joseph received a revelation concerning the redemption of Zion, part of which remains to be fulfilled. He sent messengers to the east and to the west and to the north and to the south, to gather up the Elders, and he gathered together as many of the brethren as he conveniently could, with what means they could spare, to go up to Zion, to render all the assistance that we could to our afflicted brethren. We gathered clothing and other necessaries to carry up to our brethren and sisters who had been plundered; and putting our horses to the wagons, and taking our firelocks and ammunition, we started on our journey; leaving only Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon and a few aged workmen who were engaged on the temple; so that there were very few men left in Kirtland. Our wagons were about full with baggage, etc., consequently we had to travel on foot.