Lesson Skipped - Missouri - Otherwise known as the five years jumped over between lesson 27 & 28.

If you didn't notice we skipped over the whole of the Missouri period in one fell swoop--Jackson County expulsion 1833 to State of Missouri expulsion 1838. As if one might be able to talk about 5 years in two minutes flat. Alas. 

But then neither can I do justice to the Saints' Missouri experience in a little post. Here are some places to start:


After the expulsion from Jackson County the Mormons moved to Clay county. Soon they were again asked to move from that county--though not violently. Missouri legislator Alexander Doniphan proposed creating a county specifically for the Mormons. Instead of one large county, two smaller northern Missouri counties--Daviess and Caldwell--were designated for the Mormons. Far West was by far the largest Mormon settlement, but Mormons were spread throughout those two counties and spilling over in to other counties as well. (See a bigger image here.) On the 1838 Fourth of July in Far West there were said to be five thousand people in town for the celebration.

On October 27, 1838 Missouri Governor Lilburn Boggs signed Executive Order 44--the Extermination Order: "The Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state, if necessary for the public good. Their outrages are beyond all description. If you can increase your force, you are authorized to do so, to any extent you may think necessary."

Here you can find all of BYU Studies's articles on Missouri. Of particular interest is Clark Johnson's classic reappraisal of the Missouri Redress Petitions here. Though the petitions were ineffectual in helping the Saints regain their losses, they importantly document those losses for us. 

To also look at the experience of some individual Mormons, here are tidbits from Mormon women talking about the trauma of their Missouri experiences (and not talking about--rape was a significant element of those experiences only ever obliquely mentioned). Here is a letter from Melissa Morgan Dodge to her brother after her Missouri experience.

Temperance Bond Mack to her daughter - Harriet Whittemore:

Knowing your anxiety for me I will endeavor to in form you  of an item of the scenery that has past around us.  Brother Joseph and Hyrum and Sidney Rigdon and a number of them are now in jail and have been in irons.  They will have their trial in March if they don’t call a special court.  They are prisoners of war.  They are an offering from the church to save the lives of others.  They suffer themselves.  The church have agreed to leave here in the spring but where to go they know not. 

We don’t know but we must flee from the haunts of men to the caves and dens in the rocks like that saints of old, but none of these things move me.  Neither do I regret that I have left the eastern states for where the Lord says go.  I must obey although my heart is with my children and they are near and dear to me, yet I am no better than the martyrs¾they had to suffer the loss of all things to be an incorruptible crown and so must I, and I do it cheerful knowing I shall reap in due time.  if I faint now fearing the truth will yet reach there and will be published in the papers and you will do well to search them. 

I wish you would show this letter to Sister Williams and daughters. and I would just say my mind is the same and if the scriptures are fulfilled the saints must suffer persecution and although we have suffered much and it looks dark ahead of us yet none of these things move me neither in my life dear if so be I can obtain a crown of glory. Far West, [Missouri] December 30, 1838  

Almira Mack Covey to her sister - Harriet Mack Whittemore 

We have been requested in several letters to give a history of the proceedings of the mob in Missouri but this is more than I can do.  It is more than I can do to point to you our feelings when surrounded by a wicked mob.  Not allowed even to go out of town to our friends without leave from that wicked crew.  You can better judge what my feelings were when seeing my husband taken away to prison with about 50 others and for what?  Nothing but our religion.  He was kept there three weeks and then released as they could find nothing against him. 

Mother bore her trials very well.  She said she never wishes herself back to Michigan.  And I can say for one that I never as yet repented of uniting myself to this persecuted people but feel willing to suffer for Christ’s sake.  But Harriet, it is no small trial to see your houses surrounded by a wicked mob threatening your lives and even killing some, and we not knowing when we laid ourselves down at night but we should all be massacred before morning for this was the orders of the Governor of Missouri. 19 January 1840

Ann Marsh Abbott to her brother - Nathan Marsh 

Dear brother many years have past away since I have wrote to you or you to me. . . .However, I will improve this opportunity and try to write something that you may know we are yet in the land of the living.

We are in pretty good health considering what we have had to encounter since we came to this country being driven by Mob from time to time which has caused infirmities to come to us, especially my Husband.  His health is poor, two different times he has had his blood spilt by Missouri Mob.  However, through the mercy of the Lord he is able to do a good deal of work though he is troubled very much with Rheumatism.

Now I can say that through all our trials and afflictions our faith is not lessened but strengthened in Mormonism.  And I can safely say we have passed through all this for Christ’s sake.  Neither do we expect that we have passed through all yet.  We have got to be tried and proven in all things so that we may stand or fall.

Many have fallen out by the wayside already.  Brother Thomas for one and his family.  They live in Missouri, what county or place I cannot tell you.  I have written to them but cannot get an answer.  However, I hope he is not lost so but what he can be found again.

When I reflect a moment I see what a scattered sheep we are.  I feel a great desire that we might, will be gathered even with the body of the Latter Day Saints.  They are flocking from all parts of the earth to Zion.  They’re almost continually coming from England by the hundreds.  When I look at this great work I often think, “Is it possible all my relations are ignorant of what the Lord is doing in these last days?”  Everyone can know for themselves the truth of this work.  I understand there is a small branch of the church of Mormons in your neighborhood.  If so it will be your privilege to know Mormonism. [1843]

Lesson 28 - "O God, Where Art Thou?"

The reading assignment for this week is 121:1-33, 122. Sections 121-123 are a part of a letter Joseph sent to Emma from Liberty Jail--a March 20, 1839 letter to “the church of Latter-day saints at Quincy Illinois and scattered abroad and to Bishop Partridge in particular.”

 Read (or listen or watch) Elder Holland on "Lessons from Liberty Jail" here. Though you might feel like you missed out on the photos, I've included a couple so you don't feel left out (even with scary mannequins--if you watch you can see his choices). Here's why you need to read this: Tonight’s message is that when you have to, you can have sacred, revelatory, profoundly instructive experience with the Lord in any situation you are in. Indeed, let me say that even a little stronger: You can have sacred, revelatory, profoundly instructive experience with the Lord in the most miserable experiences of your life—in the worst settings, while enduring the most painful injustices, when facing the most insurmountable odds and opposition you have ever faced.

Joseph's experience in the "prison-temple" (h/t B.H. Roberts) of Liberty was pivotal for Joseph. Some of the truths taught therein are likewise pivotal for us. As is his example. Our darkest moments can become priceless. Through Christ's atonement, those dark moments are consecrated and made holy. 

For essential historical context go to Justin Bray's new essay for Revelations in Context looking at the experience of those with Joseph here. Dean Jessee's classic "Walls, Grates, and Screeking Iron Doors" is here. Also Dean Jessee and Jack Welch's context for Joseph's letter from Liberty Jail here. 

 None of these articles really look at the experience of the wives as their husbands were in that nasty jail for six months (through a long winter). Newly married Mary Fielding Smith visited her husband, Hyrum, with their new son, Joseph (F. Smith - future Church President - born 13 days after Hyrum was taken). Mary, her sister Mercy, and the baby were shut in the jail with the men overnight. Mary did not like to talk about the experience, but described it to her brother as a "bitter cup" a few months later. She and Hyrum also had significant communication issues while he was in jail. (This shouldn't surprise us, should it?) Read her letter here. (Read the typescript, but look at the scan of the letter itself. She writes horizontally and vertically to use every last centimeter of space on that paper.) Her bio and another letter are here. While Joseph was in the jail, Emma left their home and walked four clinging children across the frozen Mississippi with Joseph’s papers and manuscripts tied around her waist.
 

If you didn't notice--we skipped over the whole of the Missouri period in one fell swoop--Jackson County expulsion 1833 to State of Missouri expulsion 1838. As if one might be able to talk about 5 years in two minutes flat. I've tried to compensate a bit in an additional post here.

Lesson 27 - "They Must Needs Be Chastened and Tried, Even as Abraham"

The sections for this week include 101, 103, 105. We are talking about the 1833 expulsion of the Saints from Jackson County, Missouri and Zion's Camp. For a primer in the expulsion from Jackson County here are the basics from the chapter in the Institute Manual.

The title for the lesson comes from section 101 verse 3. The Saints in Jackson County were being pushed from their homes--sometimes violently. Joseph, at home in Kirtland, had only heard bits and pieces of what was occurring in Missouri. As section 101 makes clear, the citizens of Missouri (indefinitely called the mob) were at fault, but so were the Saints in Jackson County. Verses 6-8 tell us of some of the ways the Saints were at fault. Elder Maxwell taught of three sources of adversity: our own sins, the sins of others, and the state of a fallen world. Whatever the source of the adversity, we have a possibility to learn and grow from the situation. This situation would test them and try them and their reaction was all important. Joseph wrote this as a letter to the Saints, not to harp on their faults, but to give them peace. Though they had lost Zion, all was in the Lord's hands.

For me, this week is all about how we react to adversity and how we endure. What does it mean to be "chastened and tried, even as Abraham?" What is an Abrahamic sacrifice? What could be your Abrahamic sacrifice?

Section 103 verse 22 is the call for Zion's Camp. The Saints were to walk to Jackson County, Missouri (about 900 miles) to try and help their brothers and sisters. Several volunteered in the High Council as Joseph read the revelation, yet the Lord said they needed at least 100 (and no more than 500). Missionaries were sent out among the Saints to recruit more of the Saints to help.

Tom Alexander had written one of my favorite articles on Zion's camp here. Parley P. Pratt went to Richland, New York as he searched for more Saints to join Zion's Camp. There he met recent convert Wilford Woodruff who quickly decided to join Zion's Camp and how it changed his life quite completely. Alexander briefly compares the different trajectory of Wilford's brother Azmon (the Woodruffs have some crazy names), who chose not to go.

Zion's Camp was not just made up of men, here Andrea Radke Moss writes about the contributions and experiences of the women and children of Zion's Camp. Hyrum Smith and Lyman Wight went to Pontiac, Michigan to find volunteers. Craig Manscill writes about their journey here.

Joseph received the revelation in Section 105 on the banks of the Fishing River in Missouri. The Fishing River is a tributary of the Missouri River--the Missouri River is the northern border of Jackson County (eastern Kansas City and modern-day Independence). Zion's Camp had walked the 900 miles to get there and then in verse 13 the Lord says--Wait, don't fight. I'll fight your battles for you. Not fighting once they got there was perhaps as difficult as the decision to go in the first place.

Our end goals are not always the Lord's end goals. Sometimes He tells us to turn around and go home and trust that He will take care of things. Again, it is our reaction that matters.

Lesson 26 - "Go Ye Unto All the World, and Preach My Gospel"

This week we return to missionary work. 42:6 and 88:81 are the two verses of focus from the lesson, but we will also talk about declension--apostasy in Kirtland. The lesson also includes the Lord's instructions to the first quorum of the Twelve in Section 112:12-34.

There are a wide variety of options to talk about the restored gospel being preached around the world.

We talked about missionary work previously here. The post links to "Testimony and Exhortation Among Early Mormon Women" and a biographical piece on Rebecca Swain Williams, focusing on her lifelong attempt to share the gospel with her father. Here is the fantastic letter from Rebecca to her father mentioned in the Ensign article. Official missionaries are never the only ones doing missionary work.

BYU Studies offers the seminal book on the mission of the apostles to Great Britain in the late 1830s and 1840s--Men with a Mission--here. The lesson in the manual has some good 19th century examples.

Some of the earliest female participation in LDS General Conference included returned missionaries in the early 20th century. Read their talks here and here and here.

BYU Studies has likewise done some great work on the gospel being spread throughout the world in the twentieth century into the twenty-first century. Steve Harper has a fantastic article on Mongolia here. A US Ambassador said Mongolia is 99% Buddhist and 1% Mormon. There is a little hyperbole there (it is .1%), but really interesting. There are also articles on Taiwan, Bulgaria, and Russia.

The transformation of the church during the 1837-1838 period should be its own lesson. 10-15% of church membership was lost between 1837 and 1838. Church leadership had a dramatic turnover losing  2 members of the First Presidency, 6-8 members of the first Quorum of the 12, the Presidency at Far West, all Three Witnesses, and 3 of the Eight Witnesses. Here are a few of W.W.Phelps' letters during this period (he was one of those who left during this period--he later returned in Nauvoo). For a long time the focus of this period was considered to be based in the failure of the church's bank - the Kirtland Safety Society. Read the classic revision of our understanding of this period here. Those most involved in the rejection of Joseph Smith and the church structure he established were not those who lost the most with the failure of the bank. More influential were ideals about democracy and fears of Joseph Smith becoming a sovereign. Oliver's brother Warren published the following in the Messenger and Advocate in July 1837: “If we give all our privileges to one man, we virtually give him our money and our liberties, and make him a monarch, absolute and despotic, and ourselves abject slaves or fawning sycophants.  If we grant privileges and monopolies to a few, they always continue to undermine the fundamental principles of freedom, and sooner or later, convert the purest and most liberal form of Government into the rankest aristocracy.  These, we conceive, are matters of history, matters of fact and cannot be controverted.  Well may be said, if we thus barter away our liberties we are unworthy of them.” William McLellin wrote that church leaders were guilty of “grasping like the Popes of Rome, both the temporal and spiritual powers of the Church.”  Many of the outside critiques of Mormonism sounded very similar, being called a Pope is never a good thing in early 19th century America. This was a critical moment to see if the fledging church would survive.

Lesson 25 - Priesthood: "The Power of Godliness"

Doctrine and Covenants 84 (all of it) and 121:34-46 with 107 as a supplement.

To talk about "the power of godliness" I think we need to try to think about priesthood as an all encompassing power essential for all of us, rather than merely focusing on specific offices as such (though 107 gives a good run down of specific offices and an outline of administration). I will spend most of our time with a close reading of section 84 and those verses from 121.

The priesthood keys and knowledge of priesthood offices were restored over time. The manual gives a sufficient list as a reminder: 

Aaronic Priesthood: 15 May 1829 (D&C 13) 
Melchizedek Priesthood: May or June 1829 [or ???] (D&C 128:20) [Be reminded of our discussion here.]

Apostles, elders, priests, teachers, and deacons: April 1830 (D&C 20:38–60)
Bishop: 4 February 1831 (D&C 41:9–10
High priests: June 1831 (heading to D&C 52)
First Presidency: 1832–33 (D&C 81; 90)
Patriarch: 18 December 1833 (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith [1976], 38–39)
High council: 17 February 1834 (D&C 102)
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: 1835 (D&C 107:23–24)
Seventies: 1835 (D&C 107:25)
First Quorum of the Seventy: 1835 (D&C 107:26, 93–97)

This structure and responsibilities can change over time through revelation. We will not spend any significant amount of time on the actual offices of the priesthood in my class, but more on to the oath and covenant of the priesthood and ordinances and their relationship to a knowledge of God.

Section 84:33-44 outlines the oath and covenant of the priesthood. Be specific in thinking about the covenants made by individuals and promises God makes to those individuals. 

Section 121 points again to the tension between a democratic and hierarchical model, but clearly reminds us that despite a hierarchy of priesthood offices and what some ill-informed individuals may think, priesthood power is not dependent on an office, but on righteous motives. 

Is there a difference between the possibilities of a priesthood holder and one able to receive priesthood covenants--crowned with temple ordinances? Joseph Fielding Smith taught "the blessings of the priesthood are not confined to men alone. These blessings are poured out upon all the faithful women of the Church....The Lord offers to his daughters every spiritual gift and blessing that can be obtained by his sons." (Here. CR April 1970, 59. The following conference he specifically talked of the oath and covenant here.) The ultimate covenant that the Lord makes with us is that if we are faithful we will receive "all [that] the Father hath." (84:38) Sounds a lot like 76:55 and those who inherit celestial glory "are they into whose hands the Father has given all things." Compare these qualifications and promises of the oath and covenants of the priesthood with the characteristics outlined for those who receive celestial glory. Is there a difference? How do they work together?

As Joseph taught the women of the Nauvoo Relief Society in 1842 he said "he was going to make of this Society a kingdom of priests as in Enoch's day--as in Paul's day" (here 30 March 1842, Eliza R. Snow Minutes). Turning to more inclusive language--a kingdom of priests and priestesses. (He was speaking to the Relief Society, though there were a few men there, they were not members of the Society. And just after this he has the men leave so he can teach the women.) The Society was to "move according to the ancient Priesthood." 

In the April 28th meeting, Joseph taught of the importance of purifying oneself (not being self-righteous and finding motes in other's eyes) and then "if you live up to your privileges the angels cannot be restrain'd from being your associates."  I see a lot of similarities between this and section 121. He taught, the "church is not now organiz'd in its proper order, and cannot be until the Temple is completed." He turned the key "to" the women "in the name of God" and he declared "this Society shall rejoice and knowledge and intelligence shall flow down from this time--this is the beginning of better days." (Here 28 April 1842.) Do we rejoice? Do we feel knowledge and intelligence flowing?

Just days later (at the beginning of May), Joseph introduced the temple endowment in his Red Brick Store in Nauvoo. Like his teachings to the women of the Nauvoo Relief Society, he introduced the temple endowment to small groups expecting them to share their knowledge and teach others after his death. The temple enabled "the proper order."

Verse 20-21 of section 84 teaches "in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest. And without the ordinances thereof, and the authority of the priesthood, the power of godliness is not manifest until men in the flesh." Ordinances and the priesthood power that enables those ordinances are vital. Elder David E. Sorenson taught “each ordinance is calculated to reveal to us something about Christ and our relationship to God.” (Here CR Oct 98.) Making covenants with God through priesthood ordinances are critical to learn about godliness--godlikeness or to live the godly life. Ordinances teach us how to gain those attributes as we willingly commit ourselves to the Lord by making and keeping covenants. Think about the role of the knowledge of God and how we learn about God's characteristics, perfections, and attributes. For me, the temple is central.

Moses wanted to bring the Children of Israel up the mountain, yet they were happy hanging out at the base of the mountain with a god they could see and touch--avoiding the risk of thunder and lightening climbing up the mountain with Moses. They wouldn't come up, so Moses returned down to them and they lost that opportunity to enter into the rest of the Lord. (84:23-25.) Where are we? On the flat plain or struggling up to the mountain of the Lord and taking advantage of an opportunity to enter into His rest?