Smith was called to his great mission, more than human power was requisite to convince people that communication with the invisible world was possible. He was scoffed at, ridiculed and persecuted for asserting that he had received a revelation; now the world is flooded with revelations.
"Early in the spring of 1835, my eldest sister, who, with my mother was baptized in 1831, by the prophet, returned home from a visit to the saints in Kirtland, and reported of the faith and humility of those who had received the gospel as taught by Joseph—the progress of the work, the order of the organization of the priesthood and the frequent manifestations of the power of God.
"The spirit bore witness to me of the truth. I felt that I had waited already a little too long to see whether the work was going to 'flash in the pan' and go out. But my heart was now fixed; and I was baptized on the 5th of April, 1835. From that day to this I have not doubted the truth of the work.
"In December following I went to Kirtland and realized much happiness in the enlarged views and rich intelligence that flowed from the fountain of eternal truth, through the inspiration of the Most High.
"I was present on the memorable event of the dedication of the temple, when the mighty power of God was displayed, and after its dedication enjoyed many refreshing seasons in that holy sanctuary. Many times have I witnessed manifestations of the power of God, in the precious gifts of the gospel—such as speaking in tongues, the interpretation of tongues, prophesying, healing the sick, causing the lame to walk, the blind to see, the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak. Of such manifestations in the church I might relate many circumstances.
"In the spring I taught a select school for young ladies, boarding in the family of the prophet, and at the close of the term returned to my father's house, where my friends and acquaintances flocked around me to inquire about the 'strange people' with whom I was associated. I was exceedingly happy in testifying of what I had both seen and heard, until the 1st of January, 1837, when I bade a final adieu to the home of my youth, to share the fortunes of the people of God.
"On my return to Kirtland, by solicitation, I took up my residence in the family of the prophet, and taught his family school.
"Again I had ample opportunity of judging of his daily walk and conversation, and the more I made his acquaintance, the more cause I found to appreciate him in his divine calling. His lips ever flowed with instruction and kindness; but, although very forgiving, indulgent and affectionate in his nature, when his godlike intuition suggested that the good of his brethren, or the interests of the kingdom of God demanded it, no fear of censure, no love of approbation, could prevent his severe and cutting rebukes.
"His expansive mind grasped the great plan of salvation, and solved the mystic problem of man's destiny; he was in possession of keys that unlocked the past and the future, with its successions of eternities; yet in his devotions he was as humble as a little child. Three times a day he had family worship; and these precious seasons of sacred household service truly seemed a foretaste of celestial happiness."
Thus commenced that peculiar and interesting relationship between the prophet and the inspired heroine who became his celestial bride, and whose beautiful ideals have so much glorified celestial marriage.
There were also others of our Mormon heroines who had now gathered to the West to build up Zion, that their "King might appear in his glory." Among them was that exalted woman—so beloved and honored in the Mormon church—the life-long wife of Heber C. Kimball. There were also Mary Angel, and many apostolic women from New England, who have since stood, for a generation, as pillars in the latter-day kingdom. We shall meet them hereafter.
And the saints, as doves flocking to the window of the ark of the new covenant, gathered to Zion. They came from the East and the West and the North and the South.
Soon the glad tidings were conveyed to other lands. Great Britain "heard the word of the Lord," borne there by apostles Heber C. Kimball, Orson Hyde and Willard Richards, and others.
Soon also the saints began to gather from the four quarters of the earth; and those gatherings have increased until more than a hundred thousand disciples—the majority of them women—have come to America, as their land of promise, to build up thereon the Zion of the last days.
CHAPTER X.
THE LATTER-DAY ILIAD—REPRODUCTION OF THE GREAT HEBRAIC DRAMA—THE MEANING OF THE MORMON MOVEMENT IN THE AGE.
It was "a gathering dispensation." A strange religion indeed, that meant something more than faith and prayers and creeds.
An empire-founding religion, as we have said—this religion of a latter-day Israel. A religion, in fact, that meant all that the name of "Latter-day Israel" implies.
The women who did their full half in founding Mormondom, comprehended, as much as did their prototypes who came up out of Egypt, the significance of the name of Israel.
Out of Egypt the seed of promise, to become a peculiar people, a holy nation, with a distinctive God and a distinctive destiny. Out of modern Babylon, to repeat the same Hebraic drama in the latter age.
A Mormon iliad in every view; and the sisters understanding it fully. Indeed perhaps they have best understood it. Their very experience quickened their comprehension.
The cross and the crown of thorns quicken the conception of a crucifixion. The Mormon women have borne the cross and worn the crown of thorns for a full lifetime; not in their religion, but in their experience. Their strange destiny and the divine warfare incarnated in their lives, gave them an experience matchless in its character and unparalleled in its sacrifices.
The sisters understood their religion, and they counted the cost of their divine ambitions.
What that cost has been to these more than Spartan women, we shall find in tragic stories of their lives, fast unfolding in the coming narrative of their gatherings and exterminations.
For the first twenty years of their history the tragedy of the Latter-day Israel was woeful enough to make their guardian angels weep, and black enough in its scenes to satisfy the angriest demons.
This part of the Mormon drama began in 1831 with the removal of the church from the State of New York to Kirtland, Ohio, and to Jackson, and other counties in Missouri; and it culminated in the martyrdom of the prophet and his brother at Nauvoo, and the exodus to the Rocky Mountains. In all these scenes the sisters have shown themselves matchless heroines.
The following, from an early poem, written by the prophetess, Eliza R. Snow, will finely illustrate the Hebraic character of the Mormon work, and the heroic spirit in which these women entered into the divine action of their lives:
My heart is fix'd—I know in whom I trust.
'Twas not for wealth—'twas not to gather heaps
Of perishable things—'twas not to twine
Around my brow a transitory wreath,
A garland decked with gems of mortal praise,
That I forsook the home of childhood; that
I left the lap of ease—the halo rife
With friendship's richest, soft, and mellow tones;
Affection's fond caresses, and the cup
O'erflowing with the sweets of social life,
With high refinement's golden pearls enrich'd.
Ah, no! A holier purpose fir'd my soul;
A nobler object prompted my pursuit.
Eternal prospects open'd to my view,
And hope celestial in my bosom glow'd.
God, who commanded Abraham to leave
His native country, and to offer up
On the lone altar, where no eye beheld