Neither did the red men of the wilderness spring from their thicket with a warwhoop, and tomahook, and scalping knife, to perpetrate this bloody outrage! But hold still, modern christianity! The inquisitor of blood is in pursuit of thee, even to the gates of thy stronghold. Thou canst not cover thy hiding place with the screen of papacy, for she was not there. Thou canst not say that the autocrat of the Greek religion, with iron despotism cast these men into prison for teaching the Bible. Neither was it the sword of the Mussulman propogating his religion. There was no Mahometanism in Illinois. Neither canst thou charge it upon the Monarchical Institutions of Europe or established Episcopacy. "Thou art the man." Free Republican Christianity; you did it! In thy youthful beauty, the rising pride and envy of nations; thou didst it! Thy priests and laymen rose from their devout knees, and lighted the fagot and torch of the incendiary.—The sick man and (gravis) mother begged for God's sake, and for humanity's sake, you would spare their humble cottages which their brawny hands had reared in the midst of loneliness, want, and insalubrity of climate. Yet their cries were unheeded. Thev had but one alternative, either to be thrust out upon miasmatic ground, or remain and burn with their habitations. The man that persisted to watch his stack of grain against the incendiary, was shot dead in the act. Durfee's blood crimsons the skirts of republican christianity in Illinois. Where were the rulers and governors? Did they hear of it? Oh! it's nobody but Mormons! Where was the legislature of Illinois when the Smiths were shot in prison, in the sight of all Carthage, by hundreds in a painted gang? The governor threatening to destroy the city in person if they did not keep the peace, and deliver the Smiths for trial? What did the supreme legislature, delegates from more than four hundred thousand people of Illinois, in fresh review of these scenes of assassination, do? They repealed the city charter of Nauvoo. The mob made one gap in the law by assassination, and the state government following the example, threw down the whole enclosure that guarded the rights and privileges of thousands by repealing the charter. Where were the Illinois priests of modern christianity at that time? A distinguished clergyman of the city of Quincy, in their defence, said to the writer, we (the clergy) had nothing to do with those scenes in Hancock. Aye, indeed! neither had the pharisaic priests any thing to do with the robbed and wounded man, but the good Samaritan picked him up and carried him to an inn, and paid his bill. But Jesus Christ had to do with making an eternal record of the difference between the conduct of the good Samaritan, and the hypocrite of high priestly profession. Even a priest commanded the mob force in the final attack upon the city that expelled the remnant of Saints that were too poor to get away sooner. This remnant were left shelterless and sick, famishing upon the west bank of the Mississippi, where the quails of heaven actually fed them as they lay upon their couches, and in their wagons, in the sight of both friends and foes. Hear it! thou stronghold of modern christianity! Say not what great things you would do if you were not trammelled by the despotic shackles of monarchical government! A puritan christianity planted the tree of liberty on the solitary soil of America, from choice seed of her own selection. After being long nursed and watered by her numerous and learned priesthood. These are the full grown fruits of it; kidnapping, robbery, rapine, arson, and murder.—Systematic efforts were made, more than once, to prevent the influx of provisions into Nauvoo, in order that famine in a land of plenty, might coerce the inhabitants to flee their city, in building which they had sweat and toiled, and many had died. Time and again, steam boats were hailed and searched, in order to stop barrels of flour from going to Nauvoo, that had been purchased by our citizens in a time of scarcity at St. Louis. And provisions and other necessaries, had actually to be freighted for Madison and other river towns, in order to escape detection. Teams loaded with pork from inland counties were arrested, and turned to other markets, as though it were an acknowledged siege for the purpose of causing starvation. I know these things to be true, and my blood warms with mingled pity and indignation at the recollection of scenes of which I have been an eye witness.
At this time, and in this day of revivals, where were the ten thousands of priests that officiate at the altar? Where were the innumerable converts to modern christianity? What part did they all take towards regulating public opinion and preventing human slaughter? The sons and daughters of the puritans were there in affliction for the gospel's sake; and no less than two venerable pensioners, Hatch and Hinsdale, that fought in the revolutionary struggle for American Independence, were there, and were driven from their country for maintaining the right of conscience.
Now, who ever heard in all America of a priest pleading publically against these outrages, and importuning the throne of God in behalf of these suffering sons and daughters of God? Modern American christianity must redouble her gracious sanctimonious looks, in order to cover up this horrid indifference to lawless violence and suffering humanity.
The statesman that fears not God, nor regards man, may have some semblance of apology for his indifference; but American churches have none. But, where were the statesmen that make high professions of patriotism, and sensitive regard for the national honor of the United States? Could no disgrace accrue to the nation, when twenty thousand peaceable industrious citizens were violently robbed of millions of property without a shadow of requital? What security can foreign emigrants have for colonizing on the western lands, if whole cities and towns may be depopulated at a single blast of the popular caprice with impunity? What regard can American statesmen be supposed to entertain for the sacred and inalienable rights of the people, while no man ever opened his mouth either in the halls of Congress or of state legislatures against the most palpable and gross infractions of the constitution that ever transpired since the existence of the United States government.
The constitution guarantees to every man the right to worship God according to the dictates of conscience, and without molestation. It promises the right of property and the defence and protection of peaceable and unoffending citizens; but millions of property have been illegally plundered, and thousands of patriotic and worthy citizens have been deprived of the liberty of common citizens, and forced into the wilds of the mountains in the most inhuman manner. Had any foreign nation committed a small part of this damage upon their commercial interests, would not the national executive have demanded redress for spoliations, even at the mouth of the canon?
But I would not have you think, sir, by these remarks, that I entertain any acrimonious feelings towards my country. No; far from it. I love my native land, though cruelly exiled from it, because it is in that land that liberty is destined to flourish above all lands. That land has been set apart in the councils of eternity, and dedicated as the nursery of virtue and religious liberty. That is emphatically a land of promise. Its very soil is hallowed above all others, for the literal production of truth. There the blessings promised to Joseph are to be first displayed and enjoyed. There the ensign is to be first lifted up to all nations; and all nations, or the upright of all nations, are to flow together there. Every description of product and variety of climate is there. Notwithstanding the degeneracy and corruption of the civilized portions of that land, there is more toleration in the government and constitution, and more facilities for the introduction and spread of gospel truth in that land, than any other under the whole heaven. It is the very place, and probably the only place on this planet, where the true and eternal kingdom of God could get a footing, and survive the blasts of persecution, and the rage of fallen and apostate spirits of men and devils. Hitherto the Saints of God have been slaughtered, or compelled, like the city of Enoch, to forsake the earth.
But the Book of Mormon, and the angelic message to the young man Joseph, have dug the grave of apostacy, and laid the axe at the root of false religions. The earth is destined to enjoy a reign of righteousness, and a happy period of rest. Truth must and will prevail, and the kingdom of our God will be established in the mountains of Israel, just where all the prophets that have spoken of it, have seen it rise and flourish, never more to be thrown down.
When thousands that now compose the Church, and who have proved before the American people that the cords of their union cannot be sundered by the hottest thunderbolts of persecution, are assembled in the remote, extensive, and fertile valley of the almost unknown mountain, they will be for ever invincible. With their peaceable and inoffensive habits, which have characterised their movements from the beginning, no people will ever be likely to assail them again, till their numbers and strength will be too forbidding. The accessions to this people have never been so great as during the last six months. The certainty that this people will survive all opposition, and triumph over every obstacle, was never so palpably manifest as at this very moment. Famine and war, pestilence, bankruptcy, treachery, and distrust, are causing panic and fear among the nations. Those who love peace and retirement, and abhor contention, crime, and revolution, must seek an asylum among the Saints, for it cannot be found elsewhere on the earth. The Lord God himself will stir up the nations to anger and strife, and thrash them as with a flail, and sift them as with a sieve. And the honest in heart will flee to the Lord's hiding place, in ships and in companies, even as clouds and as doves to their windows.
While the unity of great and powerful nations is undergoing a rapid conversion into fractional weakness, the strength of Israel is accumulating and augmenting beyond all former precedent. The materials of which this body of people is composed are not like the heterogenous masses that constitute other nations; but they are select and chosen ones out of every nation whose views—religious, political, social, and pecuniary—are previously all cast in the mould of unity; like the materials of Solomon's temple, they are all fitted for their place and destination before they are brought together. The ten millions of Mexico could not stand even before the ten thousand of the United States; because the latter were united and subject to orderly discipline; while the former were distracted and divided. The hosts of Israel have never yet offered the first forcible resistance to the violent and lawless assaults of their enemies; yet the principles of self-defence are alike compatible with their feelings and their faith, and by no means obnoxious to the practice of Abraham, Joshua, or David, or even Jesus Christ.
When governments become too weak or perverse to protect their subjects, it then becomes the divine and inalienable right of all men to protect themselves by all lawful and just means. Whatever lessons of forbearance and non-resistance Jesus Christ might have left on record, suited to particular circumstances, there is a predominance of scriptural instructions in favour of self-defence, and innumerable examples to prove that the "Lord is a man of war." Time would fail to make mention of Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Sampson, David, and Barek. The prayer of Sampson was, that he might destroy his enemies; and God not only heard his prayer, but gave him strength to fulfil his request: out of an opposing army, God even commissioned one of his angels (not so holy a personage as some modern Christians) to kill one hundred and eighty-five thousand in one night! Indeed! say you; could God do such a bloody deed? Surely; and he that causelessly strikes the second cheek will be repaid, for "the day of vengeance is in his (God's) heart;" but those who proudly say, that they have no further need of revelation, will find that day to come upon them unawares, even as a "thief in the night."