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We really mean it this time
S2E23 · Zion Part 5 (expulsion from Jackson County)
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Standard of Truth · Season 2 · Episode 23 · 52:15

Zion Part 5 (expulsion from Jackson County)

The rarest Latter-day Saint book, the Book of Commandments, exists today largely because two young sisters grabbed pages a mob threw into the street.

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The question ·

Why has God suffered so great a calamity to come upon Zion?

Joseph Smith (read by Gerrit)

Richard and Gerrit close the five-part Zion series with the Saints' expulsion from Jackson County in 1833. Gerrit tells how a mob gave Church leaders fifteen minutes to agree to leave, destroyed the printing office, tarred and feathered Edward Partridge and Charles Allen, and later drove the Saints from their homes in winter, while Mary Elizabeth and Caroline Rollins saved pages of the Book of Commandments. He then reads Joseph Smith's December 1833 letter, where Joseph admits he does not know why God allowed it, and Joseph's January 1834 prayer for Zion. Gerrit ends with his own grief over his brother Brian's death and the promise that Christ makes up for what we suffer.

Who comes upJoseph SmithEdward PartridgeCharles AllenW. W. PhelpsMary Elizabeth RollinsCaroline RollinsJohn WhitmerFrederick G. WilliamsNewel K. WhitneyPhilastus Hurlbut
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Richard promises to finish the five-part Zion series, and Gerrit admits they never mean it.

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Intro Welcome to the Standard of Truth Podcast, hosted by historian Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaat, where we explore the early days of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and gain rare historical insights into how a young farm boy was able to establish a new church and grow it by way of visions, manifestations and miracles.
Gerrit Miracles. Hi, welcome to another episode of the Standard of Truth podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaat, and I'm joined by my friend, Professor Richard LeDuc.
Richard Hello, Gerrit. In this week's podcast, we wanted to, I know I said this last time, but this time we really mean it. We want to conclude.
Gerrit I don't think we ever really mean it.
Richard We never do. We want to conclude the five-part Zion.
Gerrit The other side of us always perpetually promising to do a topic that we'll never actually get to is doing far more episodes on a certain topic that we do do.
Richard That's right. That no one asks for and no one wants.
Gerrit No, we got people ask for. There was like three or four. What about John?
Richard John asked about the violence in Missouri.
Gerrit And then we talked about something else.
Richard Well, no, I guess we're gonna get to it here because in this episode, we're gonna talk about the expulsion from Jackson County when last we left you. We were talking about this mob putting together a nice letter and then they signed it to 300 people and they pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor.
Gerrit They got themselves a title of liberty.
Richard Yeah, that's right.
Gerrit They wrote exactly what Moroni wrote on it and they started waving it. And they go to the leaders of the church with this ultimatum. Now, imagine if you're a member of the church. You don't know that because of this article that Phelps wrote that the powder keg exploded. You suddenly have all of these armed men show up and this is what they demand of you. I'm going to go to John Whitmer's account of this. John Whitmer wrote a history of this time period and he's one of the leaders of the church there in Missouri. John Whitmer is going to say that this group comes to them and says, this question, will you leave this county or not? Allowing us only 15 minutes to answer the question. We did not make any reply at that time. The committee further required of us to shut up the printing office store.
Gerrit And so they told me to have 15 minutes to make this decision. Of course, Joseph Smith and the leadership of the church is 1,000 miles away and at least two months' time in correspondence, maybe less if you went yourself.
Richard Was it two months there, two months back, or one month there, one month back? Oh, okay, so not that bad.
Gerrit That's way back.
Richard Very reasonable.
Gerrit Yeah, everyone, yeah. Works out really well if you're asking a question like, hey, where did you put the remote? And then two months later.
Richard Joseph, we have 15 minutes, please respond.
Gerrit Yeah, I need you to respond faster than that. And they were told that they have to close all their shops and they have to immediately leave the county. So think again about what's going on here. These people have been settling in Jackson County, purchasing land, living on land, building farms, building businesses, the print shop for the past two years. And this committee of this mob is saying that you have to leave all of it and you have to leave all of it immediately. You have to leave now. Think of this. This is, you know, middle of the night kind of running out of your house, fire alarm kind of stuff. So of course they say, well, we can't respond to you in 15. They can't even talk to all the other members in the area in 15 minutes. They're 15 minutes away from getting to one of the settlements to talk to the people who live there. The point from the mob's perspective though, is it doesn't matter how long it takes. You have to agree and everyone else has to agree we're going to drive you out.
Gerrit As John Whitmer continues, he says, when they found that we were unwilling to comply with their requests, they returned to the courthouse and voted to erase the printing office to the ground, which they immediately did. And at the same time, they took Edward Partridge and Charles Allen and tarred and feathered them, and then threatened to kill us if we did not leave the county immediately. So this is this first act of real violence here in Missouri. Tuesday arrived and the death and destruction stared us in the face. The whole county turned out and surrounded us, came to WW. Phelps and my house and took us upon the public square and also Partridge, Coral, Morley and Gilbert and were determined to massacre us unless we agreed to leave the county immediately. Finally, we agreed to leave the county. So, upon the following condition. So they essentially say, okay, okay, we'll leave, but you gotta give us time to pack up and get out.
Gerrit Half of us will be gone by January and then the other half will leave after that. But they've already destroyed the print shop. The print shop, not only is it where the newspaper is being published, so it makes sense why the mob is gonna destroy it because they're so offended by the newspaper article. Again, another example of how important that article inviting free black members of the church to move to Missouri, why you can see that the mob sees the printing office as the catalyst, right? They're not gonna go destroy the fields that were planted. The printing office is the symbol of offense because that's the one that violated the standards for the community.
Richard So we talked about this before we started to record about how the Saints situation in Nauvoo and the Nauvoo Expositor and how that's viewed kind of without this kind of context. I mean, I know it's a little bit of a recap, but I mean, because this was back season one, episodes four and five.
Gerrit Did you look that up?
Richard I actually did look that up. Because it was quite a while ago. I usually say it was in November of last year. This was actually, I think in July, but in that particular instance, you know, the Nauvoo Expositor is destroyed and people now are like, well, you can't destroy a press.
Gerrit The result is Joseph Smith's arrested and that takes him to Carthage Jail and there in Carthage he's murdered. And so yeah, for a modern looking back on that, you know, they see the idea that you would destroy a press because it was libelous as completely outrageous. How could, I mean, the idea that you could go destroy a printing press because you don't like what it's saying.
Richard Worth a state.
Gerrit Yeah, smacks against all of the ideas of the First Amendment that we have, basically, right? But for Latter-day Saints who had been a, they had been on the receiving end of so-called frontier justice multiple times, they had actually been taught that the freedom of the press didn't really exist. They were not remunerated for the destruction of their press. The entire print shop that the press was in was torn to the ground. They were in the process of trying to publish the first collection of Joseph Smith's revelations, which is called the Book of Commandments. We also had a previous podcast on that. And they're nearly done with that attempted publication. And so part of what the mob does is throws all the pages of that nearly finished Book of Commandments into the streets. Nobody is charged for this.
Gerrit This is a completely extra legal destruction of the printing press. The saints are going to lose printing presses in various towns as they are driven out. And there's no remuneration for any of that. There's certainly no public outcry. How could you possibly have allowed the destruction of that press? But in Nauvoo, when the Latter-day Saints, instead of as a mob, but via a city ordinance, their interpretation of a city ordinance, the city council votes that libelous presses can be considered nuisances and therefore removed from the town. They fully expect that the owners of the press will sue them in civil court and they'll have an argument over whether or not it's libelous. But that's all there is to it. Instead, it becomes the catalyst of the arrest of Joseph Smith and the, you know, which will lead to his murder.
Gerrit This destruction of the printing press and the print shop is where the well-known story comes of the Rawlins sisters, these young girls who, Caroline and Mary Elizabeth Rawlins, who are living there and they watch the mob throwing the pages out into the street. And this is what Mary Elizabeth Rawlins says about that. The mob renewed their efforts again by tearing down the printing office, a two-story building, and driving Brother Phelps' family out of the lower part of the house and putting their things in the street. They brought out some large sheets of paper and said, Here are the Mormon Commandments. My sister Caroline and myself were in the corner of a fence watching them. When they spoke of the Commandments, I was determined to have some of them. Remember, the Commandments of Joseph Smith are not one Gospel library app away from getting to them.
Gerrit There has not yet been a collection of Joseph Smith's revelations published yet. A couple of them have been published in the newspaper. A couple have been published in anti-Mormon newspapers. But if you're a member of the Church and you believe that Joseph is a prophet, you desperately want all of the revelations he's received from the Lord. So they were eagerly anticipating the publication of the Book of Commandments. And now, right at the tail end of that publication process, they're being cast into the street. And you can see, as Mary Elizabeth looked back on it, you know, I heard that those are the commandments and I wanted them. It kind of gives you an idea of this idea, how desperately they wanted these words coming from the prophet. My sister said if I went to get them, she would go too, but said they will kill us while their backs were turned prying out the gable end of the house because they're trying to bring down the entire house.
Gerrit They're tearing it down, the whole house. We went and got our arms full and turning away when the mob saw us and called us to stop, but we ran as fast as we could. Two of them started after us, seeing a gap in a fence, we entered into a large cornfield, laid the papers on the ground and hid them with our persons. The corn was from five to six feet high and very thick. They hunted around considerably and came very near us, but did not find us. After we satisfied ourselves that they had given up the search, we tried to find our way out of the field. The corn was so high that we couldn't see where to go. Soon we came to an old log stable, which looked as though it had not been used for years. Sister Phelps and children were carrying in brush and piling it up on one side of the barn to lay her beds on. So part of what's going on here, right, the Phelps family has been ejected from their home and they're trying to lay in this old barn. She took the pages from us. Oh, first, she asked me what I had and I told her.
Gerrit She took them from the pages from us, which made us feel very bad. They got them bound up in small books and sent me one, which I prized very highly. These little books of commandments, which were pieced together out of these pages that were rescued from the mob violence, have become the most valuable published Latter-day Saint book that exists because none of them were ever actually bound. Any of them that exist are essentially ones that were pieced together from the remnants of what was destroyed by the mob. If you have a book of commandments, like I said in a previous episode, it's worth a million dollars. It's a really good go check. If you've got some pioneer stocks, say, hey, do you have anything in there? Just go see if you can find a book of commandments. There's only 14 or 15 of them known to exist. At any rate, that violence was only part of it. Now, of course, Charles Allen and Edward Partridge are, you know, they are tarred and feathered. Edward Partridge, who's seen as the leader of the community, the bishop of the church, and plus he's the one in charge of assigning properties as people distribute their goods to the church and then receive their stewardship back in this Zion community.
Gerrit And so these men suffer a great deal of physical pain as well. And as John Whitmer describes, they're brought before the square and they're told, essentially, you're going to agree to leave or we're going to kill you. So they have not killed anyone yet, although they've performed all kinds of violence, destruction of property, certainly assaults. And without seeing any other way, they make the decision that they are going to they're going to make the decision to agree. We agree, we'll leave. Now, of course, when word reaches Joseph Smith in Ohio, this is a devastating thing that's happened. The Latter-day Saints who have spent their entire existence, even before there was a church, dreaming and thinking and waiting for the day that they could have their precious city of Zion, waiting for the Lord to tell them where it was going to be, suddenly have that same settlement completely ripped out from under them.
Gerrit And it is a very hard loss. There are, as we've talked about, some people who've only joined the church on the basis of the fact that there's going to be a city of Zion built. And now there's not going to be a city of Zion built, or at least not anytime soon. The saints agree to leave, but by November it becomes apparent that the saints, instead of leaving, are trying to get legal redress. Again, this is not a law. This is not the same thing as the extermination order that happened later. This is a mobocratic group of people coming to people's homes with guns and saying, you're going to leave or I'm going to kill you. So the saints really believe that the state of Missouri will see how incredibly unjust this is and they'll intervene. And when it becomes clear that the saints are not going to leave, there's actually a violent confrontation in which gunshots are exchanged on both sides.
Gerrit Several members of the church are hit, several members of the mob are hit, and one of the members of the church actually dies in that. They sometimes call this the Battle of the Blue. And the saints are driven from the county. So when Joseph hears about this, he is placed in this very difficult situation. There is intense suffering that is going on in Missouri. And think about why the people are there. Joseph, as the prophet of God, has received a revelation that that spot in Missouri is where the Temple of God and the New Jerusalem is supposed to be built. The people who are living in Missouri are all there because they have followed this prophet telling them to go. And now Joseph is confronted with the fact that not only are they being violently driven out of Zion, some of these faithful members have now been shot, one of them killed, and dozens and dozens and dozens of men, women and children, hundreds, thousands, are going to be driven from their homes in the wintertime.
Gerrit And so when Joseph hears about what's happened, he writes a letter. This is a December 10th letter that Joseph writes to the membership of the church in Missouri, 1833. From previous letters, this is Joseph writing, we learned that a number of our brethren had been slain, but we could not learn from those referred to above, as there had been but one, and that was Brother Barber and Brother Dibble wounded in the bowels. We were thankful to learn that no more were slain, and our daily prayers are that the Lord will not suffer His saints who have gone up to this land to keep His commandments to stain His holy mountain with their blood. I cannot learn from any communication by the Spirit to me that Zion has forfeited her claim to a celestial crown, notwithstanding the Lord has caused her to be thus afflicted. I have always expected that Zion would suffer sore affliction from what I could learn from the commandments which have been given.
Gerrit But I would remind you of a certain clause in one of them, which says that after much tribulation cometh the blessings. By this and others, and also one received of late, I know that Zion in the own due time of the Lord will be redeemed. But how many will be the days of her purification, tribulation and afflictions? The Lord is kept hid from my eyes. And when I inquire concerning the subject, the voice of the Lord is be still and know that I am God. Here you actually get to see this incredibly vulnerable position of Joseph Smith, where his friends, his loved ones, are being persecuted, suffering, in some cases being shot, and they're trying to follow the commandments of God. And so Joseph has the question that we very often attribute to him when he is in Liberty Jail, which he again has the question.
Gerrit But it becomes the question of every person who is a believer in God. Every Christian who thinks deeply about what they believe will at some point ask the question, if God is good, why? Why is God letting this happen? Here, this is the promise, the long promise, the promise in the Book of Mormon, promised in the Book of Revelation, promised in the Bible, the long promised New Jerusalem. That the members of the church have for years, not only begged to know the location, but once they had it, given up everything they had so that they could obtain a piece of that promised Zion. They had grand plans for Zion just before the violence took place that drove them out of the county. They had actually developed a plat of what they wanted the city of Zion to look like.
Gerrit The city of Zion had very broad streets, and in the center of the town, if you look at the plat, there were not just one temple, but 24 temples in the center of town. Now, they don't even know what they're going to use a temple for yet. Remember, we aren't even close to having the foundations of what would become the Kirtland Temple, but at the time, they just called it the Kirtland Schoolhouse. They aren't even close to anything beyond the foundation bricks. They don't know that there's going to be temple ordinances that will eventually be revealed in temples. They don't know any of that. But they plan the city of Zion with these 24 temples in the center of town and the roads radiating outward from that place. The streets that go right on both sides of the temples, well, there's Zion Street and Jerusalem Street and some streets like that.
Gerrit But after you get beyond those first roads surrounding the temple, what you end up getting is the first north, second north, third north. You also get first south, second south, third south, because the temple is the demarcator, those temples are. So one of the things that does survive from the city of Zion is that same plot map, that same idea of the city with its roads radiating out and being numbered by their distance from the temple in whatever direction they were in. Anyone who's listening who happens to be from the Salt Lake area said, that sounds kind of familiar, that second south and third west. Well, because that's how they planned it.
Richard And we'll be able to put a link. The map is pretty cool. I'm looking at it here. We'll have to put a link out to the podcast. You can check it out.
Gerrit We're only saying that now.
Richard I'm not going to do that.
Gerrit We won't actually do that. But yeah, you can look at the map. So they have grand ideals of how they want this city to be. And remember, they see this as preparatory to the Second Coming. They really believe that this city is going to be erected. God is going to defend them. And soon Jesus will come. And all of this horrible suffering that exists in the world will end. And just like that, almost overnight, all of Zion is gone. The residents are driven at gunpoint out of the county. They're forced to live as refugees throughout that winter and throughout the next couple of years, never having a permanent place to live until Caldwell County is established by the state of Missouri in 1836. And here Joseph is left in the position of wondering how it's possible that God could have allowed this essential aspect of the restoration to fall by the wayside.
Gerrit And I said, it's the question that every religious person asks, because whatever the monotheistic religion is, whether it's Islam or Judaism or Christianity, they are unified in the belief that there is a God, that God is all-powerful and that that God is good. And so when we start to question our faith, it very often is in the face of unbelievably unfair trials and circumstances. And so Joseph Smith is having that same difficulty, even though he's the prophet of the restoration, that really all of us experience as well. He is asking God, how could this happen? When are you going to fix this? When are you going to make this right? I thought we were following what you told us to do. And the answer Joseph, the prophet of God receives, is be still and know that I am God.
Gerrit He doesn't actually get the answer. And I think that's an important thing to, to, to realize. What instead does God tell Joseph as he relates in his letter to the saints in Missouri? All those who suffer for my name shall reign with me, and he that lay it down his life for my sake shall find it again. Joseph goes on to say, There are two things of which I am ignorant, and the Lord will not show me, perhaps for a wise purpose in himself. So again, here is Joseph saying, I need to understand this. He has received revelation where he has seen the celestial, terrestrial and celestial kingdom. He has received revelations where he has been visited by angels. He has seen the Lord multiple times. They have recently in the school of the prophets, seen both the father and the son, as well as multiple angels. And here Joseph is asking if the Lord will answer this question, and even Joseph cannot get an answer.
Gerrit They're kept back from him. And as Joseph says, perhaps for a wise purpose. And they are these. Why has God suffered so great a calamity to come upon Zion? And again, by what means will he return her back to her inheritance with songs of everlasting joy upon her head? These two things, brethren, are in part kept back. They are not plainly shown to me. And so here, it's incredibly how human Joseph is being at this point. Obviously, the saints in Missouri want to hear Joseph declare, the Lord says that next week, he's going to put you right back in your houses. And I'm sure Joseph wanted to hear a revelation like that. Instead, Joseph is writing to them and saying, I can't get an answer for either why this happened or how God's going to remedy this. And you can almost feel not just the frustration, as the letter goes on, you can feel the emotion that Joseph feels for these people that he loves so much.
Gerrit He says, when I contemplate upon all the things that have been manifested, I'm sensible that I ought not to murmur. And I do not murmur only in this, that those who are innocent are compelled to suffer for the iniquities of the guilty. And I cannot account for this. It is an incredibly humanizing letter to read of Joseph, where he has the same question that I have. How is it that good people are forced to suffer so unfairly in this mortality? Joseph doesn't have the answer either. We sometimes look at our prophets and we think, oh, they have the answer to every single thing. Well, they actually only have the answers to things that God has revealed to them. And if God hasn't revealed them yet, they can't just force the answer. Joseph doesn't know why God hasn't answered yet.
Gerrit But he goes on to say, now, notwithstanding all this, it is with difficulty that I can restrain my feelings. When I know that you, my brethren, with whom I've had so many happy hours, sitting as it were in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and having a witness which I feel and even have felt of the purity of your motives, that you are cast out and are as strangers and pilgrims on the earth, exposed to hunger, cold, nakedness, peril and sword, I say when I contemplate this, it is with difficulty that I can keep from complaining and murmuring against this dispensation. But I am sensible that that is not right. May God grant that not withstanding your great afflictions and sufferings, that there might not be anything that separate us from the love of Christ. Brethren, when we learn of your sufferings, it awakens every sympathy in our hearts. It weighs us down. We cannot refrain from tears, and yet we are only able to realize in part your sufferings.
Gerrit I often hear the brethren say that they wish they were there with you, that they might bear part of the sufferings. And I myself should have been with you had not God prevented it in the order of His providence, that the yoke of affliction might be less grievous upon you. God having forewarned me concerning these things for your sakes. And also, Brother Oliver, could not lighten your afflictions by tarrying longer with you. For His presence would have so much more enraged your enemies. So Joseph explains that apparently, he had been planning to go to Missouri and was warned off by God before any of this happened. And that Oliver Cowdery, who had been there, had come back to Ohio to relate everything that had happened. And Joseph's explaining that even if Oliver and I were there, all it would have done is make the mob more mad. It would have inflamed them even more. He goes on to say, after having listed all that, therefore God hath dealt mercifully with us.
Gerrit Boy, that is a very heavy sentence when the people reading it on the other end are going to be reading it from a tent in the middle of winter, somewhere outside of Jackson County where they've been driven, where they've lost most of their possessions, where they've lost the home they were working on, they've lost the fields that they've spent so much time on, they've lost their Zion. And Joseph writes to remind them that God has been merciful to them. He goes on to say, Oh, brethren, let us be thankful that it is as well with us as it is and that we are yet alive, that peradventure, God hath laid up in store great good for us in this generation and may grant that we may yet glorify His name. I feel thankful that there are no more who have denied the faith. And I pray God in the name of Jesus that you may all be kept in the faith unto the end. Let your sufferings be what they may.
Gerrit This to me is an incredibly inspiring letter that I revisit when I'm dealing with difficulties and sorrows. First, the Lord reminds them that it's not about this life. And Joseph relates that all those who lose their life in the service of God are going to find it in the life to come. But then second of all, reminding them to be grateful for whatever blessings they do have and the prayer that Joseph gives that we can maintain our faith regardless of what our sufferings might be. Now, it is true that because of the Missouri violence, there are people who fall away and apostatize. At the same time, there are others who go through this difficulty, this violence, this rejection of their promised Zion, and they maintain their faith. Edward Partridge doesn't stamp out of the room because he was tarred and feathered, and if Joseph Smith was a real prophet, he would have told me to get out of there before that happened.
Gerrit Edward Partridge maintains his faith that this really is God's church, Joseph really is his prophet, and Missouri really is the promised Zion, even though he suffers this great deal of personal difficulty and suffering. And I think it's something you reflect upon, obviously, every one of us, every person listening, every person who has ever lived is going to experience trials. Now, some of those trials will be trials that are of our own making. In the story of the prodigal son, the reason why he was hungry and would feign feed upon the husks that the hogs did eat or the swine eat is not because he didn't have some kind of basis in that. Even that kind of suffering is terrible, even if it is based upon someone's own actions that bring it to pass. But the reality is the suffering that we struggle with in this life is the suffering that does not in any way seem to be deserved.
Gerrit The suffering that appears to be random, that appears to be incongruous with the actual actions of that person, all of us know good men and women who have suffered unfairly in this life. And that question, are you really their God, that is uttered by every person who has ever suffered, is one that is being uttered even by Joseph Smith as well as other Latter-day Saints, when this promise of Zion is taken away from them. And it calls to mind Alma, Chapter 62, where this is near the end of this almost interminable war, as it seems, that Alma in the Book of Mormon is really the book of wars, basically, which is the reason why as a kid, it's the one where you're like, I can't wait till we get to Alma. Then we've got a great storyline, and there's all kinds of Captain Moroni and things like that.
Gerrit But as these wars come to a close, this is beginning in verse 39. Thus, under the 31st year of the reign of the judges of the people of Nephi, and thus they had had wars and bloodsheds and famine and affliction for the space of many years. And there had been murders and contentions and dissensions and all manner of iniquity among the people of Nephi. Nevertheless, for the righteous sake, yea, because of the prayers of the righteous, they were spared. But behold, because of the exceedingly great length of the war between the Nephites and the Lamanites, many had become hardened because of the exceedingly great length of the war. And many were softened because of their afflictions, insomuch that they did humble themselves before God, even in the depth of humility. I've always found that verse to be very interesting, that obviously thousands of people in the Lamanite-Nephite wars suffer, and that the randomness of the suffering in wartime, the horror of the loss of loved ones and livelihood can easily cause, as verse 41 says, some became hardened.
Gerrit Some saw the violence and the suffering and the difficulties, and it made them say, I don't think God's really there. And others experienced obviously not the exact same things, but other horrors of that war over these many years, and it caused them to turn even more to God. I think that's an interesting thing. The reality is none of us are going to make it through this life without having horrific trials, and no one's trials are the same, and there are certainly people who will suffer far more than I will ever suffer. But everyone will experience that sense of suffering that I'm trying to do what the Lord wants me to do, I'm trying to make it go, and it seems like every time I turn around, everything is falling apart. Why is God not stretching forth His hand and healing everything in an instant?
Gerrit That question that Joseph asked far more famously in Liberty Jail five years later when he writes, Oh God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place? How long? How long are you going to let this suffering take place? The answer God gives Joseph then is the same answer that God gives Joseph in 1833. Be still and know that I am God. That is one of the most difficult things to do amidst a trial. In the world, many people want to look at God as if he is some kind of intergalactic Santa Claus or as was brought up in a recent conference compared to a kind of vending machine where if you put the right amount of righteousness in, well, then you'll get the desired blessing that you seek.
Gerrit But it was not that way for the followers of Jesus in his time. It was not that way for the Israelites who followed Moses out of Egypt. It was not that way for the early members of the church. And it's not that way for us. All of us know people who are incredibly virtuous and good and desperately serving others in the gospel who also have horrific trials occur. And sometimes those difficulties cause us to pause and wonder, Oh God, where are thou and where is the pavilion covering thy hiding place? In his journal, at the same time he writes that letter, Joseph is going to make several entries relating to this suffering that's going on in Zion. December 19, 1833. This day, Brother William Pratt and David Patton took their journey to the land of Zion for the purpose of bearing dispatches to the brethren in that place from Kirtland.
Gerrit Oh, may God grant it a blessing for Zion as a kind angel from heaven. Amen. January 16, 1834. This is after hearing even more suffering that's going on in the midst of the winter expulsion from Jackson County. And this entry, unlike several of the other entries around this time, they're being written by Joseph's scribes. But this January 16, 1834 entry is in Joseph Smith's own handwriting. He writes, Lord, keep us and my family safe until I can return to them again. Oh, my God, have mercy on my brethren in Zion for Christ's sake. Amen. Then in the next entry, there is a, this is from another scribe who's recording this. There's a conference that's convened of several leaders in the church where they take to the Lord a petition, praying that God will help them with some difficulties.
Gerrit January 11, 1834, this evening, Joseph Smith Jr. Frederick G. Williams, Newell K. Whitney, John Johnson, Oliver Cowdery and Orson Hyde united in prayer and asked the Lord to grant the following petition. First, that the Lord would grant that our lives might be precious in His sight, that He would watch over our persons and give His angels charge concerning us and our families, that no evil nor unseen hand might be permitted to harm us. Second, that the Lord would also hold the lives of all the United Firm and not suffer any of them shall be taken. The United Firm, this organization created to help acquire land for the church during this time period. Thirdly, that the Lord would grant that our brother Joseph might prevail over his enemy, even Dr. Philastus Hurlbut, who has threatened his life, whom brother Joseph has caused to be taken with a precept, that the Lord would fill the heart of the court with a spirit to do justice and cause that the law of the land may be magnified in bringing him to justice, as we talked about, Philastus Hurlbut in the previous.
Gerrit Remember, he's going to actually be arrested for making public threats that he is going to wash his hands in the blood of Joseph Smith. And Joseph is taking Hurlbut's threats seriously. And this is not the only time he worries about it, but here's the third thing they pray for. Fourthly, that the Lord will provide an order of his providence, the bishop of the church, with means to discharge every debt that the firm owes in due season, that the church may not be brought into disrepute, and that the saints will be afflicted by the hands of their enemies. One of the problems of continually losing all of your property, either because you're commanded to move somewhere else, or because violent mobs steal all of your property, is you're going to find yourself perpetually in debt. We can't raise any corn in Missouri to try to pay off the debts that we acquired to buy the lands, because people with guns stole the land.
Gerrit But they left us with the debt. They didn't take the debt away. The saints who left everything that they had in New York and moved to Ohio didn't suddenly come into wealth, no, they still had the debts they had before they left, because they weren't able to sell their properties. Or if they were, they weren't able to sell them for any money. Fifthly, that the Lord would protect our printing press from the hands of evil men. Obviously, something that's very much on their mind is that the printing press of the church that was there in Zion was completely destroyed. So what do they do? They undertake to get another printing press. And they're actually a great fear that as they try to get this printing press from New York to now Ohio to Kirtland, that they are worried as Joseph writes in one letter that they are trying to haul them up in the midst of mobs. Obviously, the local antagonists in Kirtland don't want them publishing a newspaper there either, nor the Doctrine and Covenants or other things that are going to be published on that printing press.
Gerrit That the Lord will protect our printing press from the hands of evil men and give us the means to send forth His word, even His gospel, to the ears of all who may hear it. And also that we may print His scriptures. And also that He would give all those who are appointed to conduct the press wisdom sufficient to the cause, that it might not be hindered, but that man's eyes may thereby be open to see the truth. Sixthly, that the Lord would deliver Zion and gather in His scattered people to possess it in peace. And that also while they are in their dispersion, that He would provide for them, that they perish not with hunger or cold. And finally, that God in the name of Jesus would gather His elect speedily and unveil His face that the saints might behold His glory and dwell with Him. Amen. You get a feeling from Joseph's Journal how deeply he feels these things. Just reading that single entry in Joseph's own handwriting puts to lie the argument that Joseph Smith is just simply some kind of con artist pretending to be a prophet and trying to enrich himself on the hands of all of his deluded followers.
Gerrit This journal entry written in his own hand demonstrates his desperate angst for the people that he loves that have been driven out of Jackson County, out of the land of Zion. And if you know that you're a fraud, you probably don't need to write in a journal to yourself, God, please help those people. Please help them not suffer from hunger and cold while they've been cast out. Now, the Odyssey of the Saints, having lost those Missouri lands, is going to continue for the remainder of Joseph Smith's life. They are going to petition the multiple Missouri governors for a redress of their grievances. They are going to petition the legislature, the courts. They're going to petition the United States government, the Congress and the courts. And eventually Joseph will even petition the President of the United States himself. And in this blessed land of liberty, that phrase starts to become a little bit ironic to them, as nobody in any of those various levels of government is willing to sacrifice their political position to in any way provide redress for the Saints.
Gerrit Though the violence against them is going to become muted in 34, 35, and 36, while they're no longer in Jackson County, in 1838, it is going to come again, and it's going to come with a vengeance. And then you will have the slaughters of communities like Hans Mill and the wholesale assaults that will take place upon Latter-day Saints in every kind of vilest way you can imagine. Latter-day Saints in this Missouri period are going to experience all kinds of trials. Studying those things obviously can make us feel, and they can give us a little bit of depression. They can make us ask the same question, why did God allow this to happen? Remember that when we ask those questions, when we go through our own trials, that even those prophets who came before you, the men and women who sacrificed everything in order to bring about the city of Zion, those people, they suffered too.
Gerrit And I don't like to compare our sufferings to the sufferings of those who came before us, but I do think there is a common thread, and that is that Jesus tells his disciples that in the world you will have tribulation. Fear not, I have overcome the world. For whatever reason, in this mortal life, we are subject to all kinds of misery and pain and sadness and grief. And no one is immune to that. In my own life, over the past year, I've had some really difficult trials. My youngest brother, as I've mentioned before, my youngest brother, Brian, essentially suddenly passed away from an illness that may have been a very fast-spreading cancer that was not diagnosed and left two little boys at home and a grieving wife.
Gerrit And he was a good man. We didn't get the time on earth that we wanted with him. And he's gone. And it would be easy to shake your fist at heaven and say, God, there are horrible people all over this earth. Why is it that the righteous are the ones that are taken early? Why is there so much suffering? And even more recently, my wife Angie, who you can hear on one of our bonus podcasts, if you want to go hear what she has to say, she was diagnosed with a very aggressive and potentially deadly cancer. And confronting that is a horrific potential outcome. It is at times where we are most confronted with the horrors of this mortality that we most desperately need the Holy Spirit of God to speak to our soul that what we believe is not just a bedtime story.
Gerrit This isn't just a Disney movie where things are going to work out alright in the end because that's how the writers created it. The writer of our story is the Lord Jesus Christ and your Heavenly Father. And there is no promise that you are going to be able to avoid suffering in this life. In fact, you're promised that you will suffer in this life. The promise is that at some point, everyone that you have lost is going to be resurrected. Every trial that you have suffered is going to be made up to you. Somehow in the next life, every horror that cannot be explained, every maltreatment, every suffering, every long, lonely, dark night of the soul where you plead to God and say, Where are you, God? Somehow, through the atonement of Christ, will somehow be made up to us.
Gerrit And we will, as the Lord says at last, inherit our eternal reward, right? That is the promise of the Lord Jesus. It's the promise of the Gospel. And it's the point of Christianity, that although we suffer, and although we suffer at times unbearably so, there will come a time when all of our tears will be dried, all of our sufferings will be at an end, and we will have peace. We may not obtain that city of Zion in the Missouri of this world, driven as they were from it by violent antagonists, but there will be a Zion in the next life. There will be peace. There will be comfort. There will be understanding. There will be joy. There will be happiness. And that is the promise of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Gerrit And Joseph Smith believes it, not simply because he's read it, but because he's experienced it. And that's part of why we share the Gospel and the history of the Church with you. Because these things have given us comfort and peace, even in the agonizing, horrible moments that occasionally pop up in this mortality. So we will talk to you all again next week. Thanks for tuning in.
Intro Thank you for listening to the Standard of Truth podcast, hosted by historian Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaat. If you know anybody that could benefit from the material in this episode, please share it with them. And for more resources, visit standardoftruth.com. Until next time.

Quote board

Make a share card from any line

I don't think we ever really mean it.

GerritBanter

That's right. That no one asks for and no one wants.

RichardBanter

Joseph, we have 15 minutes, please respond.

RichardBanter

If you've got some pioneer stocks, say, hey, do you have anything in there? Just go see if you can find a book of commandments.

GerritBanter

It is an incredibly humanizing letter to read of Joseph, where he has the same question that I have.

GerritInsight

Well, they actually only have the answers to things that God has revealed to them.

GerritInsight

And if you know that you're a fraud, you probably don't need to write in a journal to yourself, God, please help those people.

GerritInsight

The writer of our story is the Lord Jesus Christ and your Heavenly Father.

GerritInsight

We may not obtain that city of Zion in the Missouri of this world, driven as they were from it by violent antagonists, but there will be a Zion in the next life.

GerritInsight

More from this episode

Claim checkThings people say, and what the episode shows.

Claim check

What critics say, and what the episode found
A prophet always knows why God allows suffering.
Joseph Smith was a con artist using his followers.
Take it to classReady to use in a lesson or a talk.

Take it to class

Ready to copy into a lesson or a text

When Zion was lost, even Joseph Smith couldn't get an answer to why; the Lord told him, "Be still and know that I am God."

Trials can harden or soften us, as Alma 62 says; Edward Partridge was tarred and feathered and kept his faith.

God isn't a vending machine: righteous people still suffer, and faithful Saints in every age have asked, "Where art thou?"

The promise of the gospel isn't a life without suffering; it's that through Christ every loss will one day be made up to us.

Banter binThe funniest moments in this episode.

Banter bin

The running jokes, for people who skip ahead
Miracles!Gerrit opens the episode with it before the usual welcome (0:25).
We really mean it this timeThey never really mean it; the other side of never doing a topic is doing far too many episodes on one (0:39).
Two months to respondGreat if you're asking where the remote is; "Joseph, we have 15 minutes, please respond" (3:08).
Richard looked it upHe actually checked the Nauvoo Expositor episodes were season one, episodes four and five (6:15).
Check your pioneer stocksA Book of Commandments in Grandma's things is worth a million dollars (12:30).
Episodes promised, never madeRichard will post a link to the Zion plat map; Gerrit: "We won't actually do that" (22:12).
Doctor inflationDr. Philastus Hurlbut, who threatened to wash his hands in Joseph's blood (40:02).
The Phebe Draper Palmer Brown MailbagSend Gerrit and Richard your question.

The Phebe Draper Palmer Brown Mailbag

Your question could be next week’s episode
Questions from Litners drive a lot of episodes. Send yours. If it makes the show, Richard reads it on air.
General ConferenceGeneral Conference talks that cite a scripture read in this episode.

In General Conference

Talks from the latest General Conference that cite a scripture this episode reads or names on air
October 2026 General Conference · cites D&C 121:1Jesus Christ Is the Great Deliverer!Elder Kevin J. HathawayElder Hathaway testifies that Jesus Christ is the great deliverer and that the question for the faithful is not whether He will deliver, but how and when.October 2026 General Conference · cites D&C 121:1The Infinite Power of God in Our CovenantsElder Jeremiah J. MorganElder Morgan grew up in another church that also believes in the Book of Mormon, where his single mother read it to him daily.

Summaries, themes and lessons for every talk are on What Did They Say?

Go deeperWhere to read more.

Go deeper

Deep dives the episode points toward
Look at the 1833 plat of the City of Zion and compare it with Salt Lake City's street grid (19:17).
Read Joseph Smith's full December 10, 1833 letter to the Missouri Saints (17:12).
The Book of Commandments: how it was printed, destroyed and pieced back together (12:30).
Read D&C 101 and D&C 121 together as Joseph's two answers to suffering in Missouri (36:40).
SOT Litner · S2E23.