Thus was the test applied in the lifetime of Joseph, and thus was his declaration of divine inspiration vindicated. No one since the day of William E. M'Lellin has seen fit to make an attempt like his. Yet, the test was not for M'Lellin's day only. When the book of Doctrine and Covenants was finally printed, in 1835, the revelation prescribing the divinely appointed test was included as Section Sixty-seven. And the section has retained its place from that day to this. Not a word has been changed; not one element of the meaning has been altered. As a test, it is just as applicable at present, and just as forceful, as in the time of William E. M'Lellin. Any one who doubts may apply the test today, tomorrow, or at any time; though, some one has very wisely said, "it is a most dangerous thing to do."
As a revelation containing an applicable test, section sixty-seven is, then, of especial interest and value to us. The value is evident and important, even without making an actual application of the test. Let us suppose for a moment that Joseph Smith was never at any time divinely inspired—that he was nothing better than an unscrupulous impostor. It must be conceded then that he was a man of remarkable ability, though his education was limited. The Book of Mormon alone is a monumental work. In all its pages, from the lesser plates of Nephi, from Mormon's abridgment of the greater plates, from the record of Zeniff, from the story of Jared and his brother, and from other interpolated parts, to the end, there is not a single contradiction, not a single absurd doctrine or conclusion. On the other hand, the book shows a steady growth and development of the story; it reveals a philosophic system of theology; it displays perfect harmony between it and the Holy Bible. Again, in the many revelations contained in the book of Doctrine and Covenants, there are no contradictory statements, there is no obscuration of the doctrine of the Christ, there is no confusion in the duties of officers or members. On the contrary, the book is so clear that the whole Church is built up after its directions. There is no essential point of Church doctrine that was not revealed by Joseph Smith; there is no point of Church organization or discipline that was not provided for by Joseph Smith. Certainly then, if he were an impostor, he must have been a man of clear insight, of remarkable analytical power, of wonderful executive ability.
Now, if an impostor possessed the capability of successfully producing a work so complicated as the Book of Mormon, and of foisting upon the world a system of philosophy so nearly perfect as "Mormonism," and further, of effecting a Church organization far more perfect than that of the German army,—is it credible that he would throw into the face of the world a test of his labors so simple, and yet so infallible, as that contained in section sixty-seven of the Doctrine and Covenants? Consider again the fact that Joseph Smith was an unlettered man, that he had little skill in literary art. Remember further, that many of his followers, in his own day, were far more highly gifted in the way of the world than he. Would he then dare these men of superior literary ability to write a single revelation equal to the least of his? Remember also that we of today have better educational advantages than even the most favorably situated of Joseph's day. Would then an impostor, so farsighted as Joseph Smith seems to have been, have left on record a challenge for all succeeding generations to write a single revelation equal to the least of his? Would not, rather, an intelligent impostor refrain from calling undue attention to his purported revelations? Would he not certainly exercise the utmost care not to prescribe any test whereby those revelations might be detected as false? And if by chance some foolish test had been allowed to creep into the would-be sacred word, would not the impostor or his friends eagerly seize the first opportunity to expunge that test, and even the whole revelation in which it was contained? Certainly, a man who had planned his work so well as Joseph Smith—were he an impostor—planned his, would not be guilty of so gross an oversight as to leave among his printed revelations so easy a test as that in section sixty-seven.
The conclusion of the whole matter has, of course, been long self-evident. We are grateful to Joseph Smith for fearlessly giving the unbelieving world a test that may be applied to his work at any time. But the fair-minded man will see that an application of the test is unnecessary. The very fearlessness of Joseph's assertion that no uninspired man can write a revelation equal to the least of his, is evidence of his good faith and of his divine assurance. No mere impostor would dare place so unqualified a challenge before all the world.
XXIII.
THE TESTIMONY OF MARTYRDOM.
Thursday, the twenty-seventh of June, 1844, was a day of gloom for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Less than a quarter of a century had passed since the boy-prophet, Joseph Smith, had seen his first vision in the Sacred Grove. Scarce twenty-one years had passed since the angel, Moroni, had first appeared to him. Only fourteen years had passed since the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had been organized. Yet, during those few years, how much had been accomplished! And during those few years, too, how severe had been the persecution to which the Prophet and his followers had been subjected! Since the day that he had first divulged the fact that he had seen a vision, the Prophet had known hardly a moment of peace. He had been evilly spoken of even by those who had been numbered among his friends. He had been haled before courts of law near half a hundred times on the foresworn oaths of men who themselves should have been condemned by law. He had been thrown vilely into prison, and had endured all the indignities of the common felon. He had been hounded from cover to cover, as the fated stag is hunted by unleashed dogs. His devoted followers had been ruthlessly driven from their homes to build anew in the wilderness and in the desert. Always, however, the courts had been forced to admit, that, while the Prophet and his friends were compelled to pay much more than a reasonable penalty for the offenses of which they were accused, yet they were in every case perforce dismissed as innocent. Not a single charge could be sustained against them. But now, at last, the malignant hatred of his enemies prevailed against the Prophet. On Thursday, the twenty-seventh of June, 1844, the Prophet Joseph Smith, and his brother, the patriarch, Hyrum Smith, were brutally mobbed and shot to death, in the upper room of the old jail, at Carthage, Illinois.
No more flagrant act of mob-violence can be shown in the history of the modern religious world than this which brought Joseph Smith to a brutal and untimely death. It would not be appropriate, however, to take up here a detailed, critical study of the events that led up to the martyrdom. We need to know the sad story only in its outlines. On Friday, the seventh of June, 1844, there appeared in Nauvoo the first and only number of a weekly periodical called the Nauvoo Expositor. The Expositor had been founded, according to its own prospectus,[A] for the avowed purpose, amongst others, of advocating, through its columns, "the unconditional repeal of the Nauvoo city charter," and of instigating the people of Nauvoo and adjacent parts to unite in persecuting the Prophet Joseph Smith and his friends. The first and only number of the Nauvoo Expositor was true to the promises of the prospectus.
[Footnote A: "History of the Church," Vol. VI, pp. 443, 444.]
It is needless to say that the people of Nauvoo resented the vicious slanders published in the Expositor. They resented, moreover, the unrighteous purposes for which it was founded. The matter of this new periodical, the Nauvoo Expositor, was brought to the attention of the city council of Nauvoo. After several days' careful investigation, the council passed an ordinance declaring the Nauvoo Expositor a nuisance, and issued an order to the mayor, Joseph Smith, to have the nuisance abated. On the night of Monday, June tenth, 1844, the city marshal, accompanied by the major-general of the Nauvoo Legion and the members of the Legion, carried the press, the type, the printed paper, and the fixtures of the Nauvoo Expositor, into the street and destroyed them.
This summary action of the city council of Nauvoo against the Nauvoo Expositor was the beginning of the final trouble that led to the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith. There was raised such a hue and cry by the apostate publishers of the short-lived Nauvoo Expositor, that the whole state of Illinois was roused to attention. Mass-meetings were held in which the action of the city council of Nauvoo was denounced. Joseph Smith was arrested for riot. His case was heard before a non-Mormon justice. On June twelfth, he was acquitted. But the enemies of the Prophet had become thoroughly aroused. They banded themselves together, and determined to do him to death. He was arrested a second time for the Expositor affair, and was again acquitted. But the disturbance continued to grow worse. The spirit of mobocracy took possession of the defamers of the Prophet. They began to clamor for his blood, and for the blood of those that should dare to remain loyal to him. Their frenzy had grown to such uncontrollable proportions that nothing short of the shedding of blood could satisfy them. The Nauvoo Expositor, though dead, was bringing to pass the very results for which it was first given life.