Smith made a second trip to Independence, leaving Ohio on April 2, 1832, and arriving there on his return the following June. His stay in Missouri this time was marked by nothing more important than his acknowledgment as President of the high priesthood by a council of the church there, and a "revelation" which declared that Zion's "borders must be enlarged, her Stakes must be strengthened."
CHAPTER III. — THE EXPULSION FROM JACKSON COUNTY—THE ARMY OF ZION
The efforts of the church leaders to check too precipitate an emigration to the new Zion were not entirely successful, and, according to the Evening and Morning Star of July, 1833, the Mormons with their families then numbered more than twelve hundred, or about one-third of the total population of the county. The elders had been pushing their proselyting work throughout the States and in Canada, and the idea of a land of plenty appealed powerfully to the new believers, and especially to those of little means. The branch of the church established at Colesville, New York, numbering about sixty members, emigrated in a body and settled twelve miles from Independence. Other settlements were made in the rural districts, and the non-Mormons began to be seriously exercised over the situation. The Saints boasted openly of their future possession of the land, without making clear their idea of the means by which they would obtain title to it. An open defiance in the name of the church appeared in an article in the Evening and Morning Star for July, 1833, which contained this declaration:—
"No matter what our ideas or notions may be on the subject; no matter what foolish report the wicked may circulate to gratify an evil disposition; the Lord will continue to gather the righteous and destroy the wicked, till the sound goes forth, IT IS FINISHED."
With even greater fatuity came the determination to publish the prophet's "revelations" in the form of the "Book of Commandments." Of the effect of this publication David Whitmer says, "The main reason why the printing press [at Independence] was destroyed, was because they published the 'Book of Commandments.' It fell into the hands of the world, and the people of Jackson County saw from the revelations that they were considered intruders upon the Land of Zion, as enemies of the church, and that they should be cut off out of the Land of Zion and sent away."*
* "Address to All Believers in Christ," p. 54.
Corrill says of the causes of friction between the Mormons and their neighbors:—*
* Corrill's" Brief History of the Church," p. 19.
"The church got crazy to go up to Zion, as it was then called. The rich were afraid to send up their money to purchase lands, and the poor crowded up in numbers, without having any places provided, contrary to the advice of the Bishop and others, until the old citizens began to be highly displeased. They saw their country filling up with emigrants, principally poor. They disliked their religion, and saw also that, if let alone, they would in a short time become a majority, and of course rule the county. The church kept increasing, and the old citizens became more and more dissatisfied, and from time to time offered to sell their farms and possessions, but the Mormons, though desirous, were too poor to purchase them."*