The Lions of the Lord: A Tale of the Old West

by Harry Leon Wilson

  CHAPTER XV.

  _How the Souls of Apostates Were Saved_

  The Wild Ram of the Mountains had spoken truly; there was work at handfor the Sons of Dan. When his Witness at last came to Joel Rae, he triedvainly to recall the working of his mind at this time; to remember wherehe had made the great turn--where he had faced about. For, once, heknew, he had been headed the way he wished to go, a long, plain road,reaching straight toward the point whither all the aspirations of hissoul urged him.

  And then, all in a day or in a night, though he had seen never a turn inthe road, though he had gone a true and straight course, suddenly he hadlooked up to find he was headed the opposite way. After facing his goalso long, he was now going from it--and never a turn! It was the wretchedparadox of a dream.

  The day after Brigham's sermon on blood-atonement, there had been ameeting in the Historian's office, presided over by Brigham. And herefor the first time Joel Rae found he was no longer looked upon as onetoo radical. Somewhat dazedly, too, he realised at this close range theseverely practical aspects of much that he had taught in theory. It wasstrange, almost unnerving, to behold his own teachings naked of theirpulpit rhetoric; to find his long-cherished ideals materialised byliteral-minded, practiced men.

  He heard again the oath he had sworn, back on the river-flat: "_I willassist in executing all the decrees of the First President, Patriarch,or President of the Twelve, and I will cause all who speak evil of thePresidency or Heads of the Church to die the death of dissenters orapostates_--" And then he had heard the business of the meetingdiscussed. Decisions were reached swiftly, and orders given in wordsthat were few and plain. Even had these orders been repugnant to him,they were not to be questioned; they came from an infallible priesthood,obedience to which was the first essential to his soul's salvation; andthey came again from the head of an organisation to which he was boundby every oath he had been taught to hold sacred. But, while they lefthim dazed, disconcerted, and puzzled, he was by no means certain thatthey were repugnant. They were but the legitimate extension of histeachings since childhood, and of his own preaching.

  In custody at Kayesville, twenty-five miles north of Salt Lake City,were six men who had been arrested by church authority while on theirway east from California. They were suspected of being federal spies.The night following the meeting which Joel Rae had attended, theseprisoners were attacked while they slept. Two were killed at once; twomore after a brief struggle; and the remaining two the following day,after they had been pursued through the night. The capable Bishop Wrightdeclared in confidence to Joel Rae that it reminded him of old days atNauvoo.

  The same week was saved Rosmas Anderson, who had incurred rejection fromIsrael and eternal wrath by his misbehaviour. Becoming submissive to thedecree of the Church, when it was made known to him by certain men whocame in the night, it was believed that his atonement would suffice toplace him once more in the household of faith. He had asked but half aday to prepare for the solemn ceremony. His wife, regretful but firm inthe faith, had provided clean garments for her sinful husband, and theappointed executioners dug his grave. They went for him at midnight. Bythe side of the grave they had let him kneel and pray. His throat hadthen been cut by a deft hand, and he was held so that his blood ran intothe grave, thus consummating the sacrifice to the God of Israel. Thewidow, obeying priestly instructions, announced that her husband hadgone to California.

  Then the soul of William Parrish at Springville was saved to eternalglory; also the soul of his son, Beason. For both of these sinful oneswere on the verge of apostasy; had plotted, indeed, and made secretpreparations to leave the valley, all of which were discovered bychurch emissaries, fortunately for the eternal welfare of the two mostconcerned. Yet a few years later, when the hated Gentiles had gainedsome shadow of authority in the new Zion, their minions were especiallybitter as to this feat of mercy, seeking, indeed, to indict theperformers of it.

  As to various persons who met death while leaving the valley, opinionwas divided on the question of their ultimate salvation. For it wasannounced concerning these, as their bodies were discovered from time totime, that the Indians had killed them. This being true, they had diedin apostasy, and their rejection from the Kingdom was assured. Yet afterawhile the Saints at large took hope touching the souls of these; forBishop Wright, the excellent and able Wild Ram of the Mountains, tookoccasion to remark one Sabbath in the course of an address delivered inthe tabernacle: "And it amazes me, brethren, to note how the spirit hasbeen poured out on the Lamanites. It really does seem as if an Injunjest naturally hates an apostate, and it beats me how they can tell 'emthe minute they try to sneak out of this valley of the Lord. They mustlie out in them hills jest a-waiting for apostates; and they won't haveanything else; they never touch the faithful. You wouldn't think theyhad so much fine feeling to look at 'em. You wouldn't suspect they wasso sensitive, and almost bigoted, you might say. But there it is--and Idon't believe the critters will let many of these vile apostates getbeyond the rocky walls of Zion." Those who could listen between thewords began to suspect that the souls of such apostates had been dulysaved.

  Yet one apostate the very next day was rash enough to controvert theBishop's views. To a group of men in the public street at high noon andin a loud voice he declared his intention of leaving for California, andhe spoke evil of the Church.

  "I tell you," he said, in tones of some excitement, "men are murderedhere. Their murder is planned by Bishops, Priests, Elders, and Apostles,by the President and his Counsellors, and then it is done by men theysend to do it. Their laying it on to the Indians don't fool me a minute.That's the kind of a church this is, and you don't ketch me staying init any longer!"

  Trees had been early planted in the new settlement, and owing to thecare bestowed upon them by the thrifty colonists, many were now matured.From a stout limb of one of these the speaker was found hanging thefollowing morning. A coroner's jury hastily summoned from among theSaints found that he had committed suicide.

  Another whose soul was irrevocably lost was Frederick Loba, who hadrefused to take more than one wife in spite of the most explicit advicefrom his superiors that he could attain to but little glory either inthis world or that to come with less than three. He crowned his offenseby speaking disrespectfully of Brigham Young. Orders were issued to savehis soul; but before his tabernacle could be seized by those who wouldhave saved him, the wretched man had taken his one wife and fled to themountains. There they wandered many days in the most inclement weather,lost, famished, and several times but narrowly escaping the little bandthat had been sent in pursuit of them; whose members would, had theybeen permitted, not only have terminated their bodily suffering, butsaved their souls to a worthy place in the life to come. As it was, theywandered a distance of three hundred miles, and three days after theirlast food was eaten, the man carrying the woman in his arms the last sixmiles, they reached a camp of the Snake Indians. These, not sharing withtheir Utah brethren the prejudice against apostates, gave them afriendly welcome, and guided them to Fort Laramie, thereby destroyingfor the unhappy man and his wife their last chance of coming forth inthe final resurrection. But few at this time were so unlucky as thispair; for judgment had begun at the house of the Lord, and Israel wasattentively at work.

  It was now that Joel Rae became conscious that he was facing directlyaway from the glory he had so long sought and suffered for. Though asyet no blood for Israel had been shed in his actual presence, he hadattended the meetings of the Sons of Dan, and was kept aware of theiroperations. It seemed to him in after years that his faculties had atthis time been in trance.

  He was seized at length with an impulse to be away from it all. As thedays went by with their tragedies, he became half wild with restlessnessand a strange fear of himself. In spite of his lifelong training, heknew there was wrong in the air. He could not question the decrees ofthe priesthood, but this much became clear to him,--that only one thingcould carry with it more possibilities of evil than this course o
f theChurch toward dissenters--and that was to doubt that Brigham Young'svoice was as the voice of God. Not yet could he bring himself to this.But the unreasoning desire to be away became so strong that he knew hemust yield to it.

  Turning this in his mind one day he met a brother Elder, a man full ofzeal who had lately returned from a mission abroad. There had been, hesaid, a great outpouring of the spirit in Wales.

  "And what a glorious day has dawned here," he continued. "Thank God,there is a way to save the souls of the blind! That reminds me--have youheard of the saving work Brother Pixley was obliged to do?"

  "Brother Pixley?--no." He heard his own voice tremble, in spite of hiseffort at self-control. The other became more confidential, steppingcloser and speaking low.

  "Of course, it ain't to be talked of freely, but you have a right toknow, for was it not your own preaching that led to this gloriousreformation? You see, Brother Pixley came back with me, after doinggreat works abroad. Naturally, he came full of love for his wives. Buthe had been here only a few days when he became convinced that one ofthem had forgotten him; something in her manner made him suspect it, forshe was a woman of singularly open, almost recklessly open, nature. Thena good neighbour came and told him that one night, while on his way forthe doctor, he had seen this woman take leave of her lover--had seen theman, whom he could not recognise, embrace her at parting. He taxed herwith this, and she at once confessed, though protesting that she had notsinned, save in spirit. You can imagine his grief, Brother Rae, for hehad loved the woman. Well, after taking counsel from Brigham, he talkedthe matter over with her very calmly, telling her that unless her bloodsmoked upon the ground, she would be cast aside in eternity. She reallyhad spiritual aspirations, it seems, for she consented to meet theordeal. Then, of course, it was necessary to learn from her the name ofthe man--and when all was ready for the sacrifice, Brother Pixleycommanded her to make it known."

  "Tell me which of Brother Pixley's wives it was." He could feel thelittle cool beads of sweat upon his forehead.

  "The fifth, did I not say? But to his amazement and chagrin, she refusedto give him the name of the man, and he had no way of learning itotherwise, since there was no one he could suspect. He pointed out toher that not even her blood could save her should she die shielding him.But she declared that he was a good man, and that rather than bringdisgrace upon him she would die--would even lose her soul; that in truthshe did not care to live, since she loved him so that living away fromhim was worse than death. I have said she was a woman of a large nature,somewhat reckless and generous, and her mistaken notion of loyalty ledher to persist in spite of all the threats and entreaties of herdistressed husband. She even smiled when she told him that she wouldrather die than live away from this unknown man, smiled in a way thatmust have enraged him--since he had never won that kind of love from herfor himself--for then he let her meet the sacrifice without furthertalk. He drew her on to his knee, kissed her for the last time, thenheld her head back--and the thing was done. How sad it is that she didnot make a full confession. Then, by her willing sacrifice, she wouldhave gone direct to the circle of the Gods and Goddesses; but now, dyingas she did, her soul must be lost--"

  "Which wife did you say--"

  "The fifth--she that was Mara Cavan--but, dear me, Brother Rae! youshould not be out so soon! Why, man, you're weak as a cat! Come, I'llwalk with you as far as your house, and you must lie abed again untilyou are stronger. I can understand how you wished to be up as soon aspossible; how proud you must feel that your preaching has led to thisglorious awakening and made it possible to save the souls of many sinfulones--but you must be careful not to overtax yourself."

  Four days later, a white-faced young Elder applied to Brigham forpermission to go to the settlements on the south. He professed to besick, to have suffered a relapse owing to incautious exposure so soonafter his long illness. He seemed, indeed, not only to be weak, but tobe much distressed and torn in his mind.

  Brigham was gracious enough to accord the desired permission, addingthat the young Elder could preach the revived gospel and rebaptise onhis way south, thus combining work with recreation. He was also goodenough to volunteer some advice.

  "What ails you mostly, Brother Joel, is your single state. What you needis wives. You've been here ten years now, and it's high time. You'regiven to brooding over things that are other people's to brood on, andthen, you're naturally soul-proud. Now, a few wives will humble you andmake you more reasonable, like the rest of us. I don't want to be toodownright with you, like I am with some of the others, because I'vealways had a special kind of feeling for you, and so I've let you go on.But you think it over, and talk to me about it when you come back. It'shigh time you was building up your thrones and dominions in theKingdom."

  He started south the next day, riding down between the two mountainranges that bordered the valley, stopping at each settlement, breathingmore freely, resting more easily, as each day took him farther away.Yet, when he closed his eyes, there, like an echo, was the vision of awoman's face with shining eyes and lips,--a vision that after a fewseconds was washed away by a great wave of blood.

  But after a few days, certain bits of news caught up with him thathappily drove this thing from his sight for a time by stirring withinhim all his old dread of Gentile persecution.

  First he heard that Parley Pratt, the Archer of Paradise and one of theTwelve Apostles, had been foully murdered back in Arkansas while seekingto carry to their mother the children of his ninth wife. The father ofthese children, so his informant reported, had waylaid and shot him.

  Then came rumours of a large wagon-train going south through Utah on itsway to California. Reports said it was composed chiefly of Missourians,some of whom were said to be boasting that they had helped to expel theSaints from Jackson County in that State. Also in this train werereported to be several men from Arkansas who had been implicated in theassassination of Apostle Pratt.

  But news of the crowning infamy reached him the following day,--newsthat had put out all thought of his great sin and his bloody secret,news of a thing so monstrous that he was unable to give it credenceuntil it had been confirmed by other comers from the north. PresidentBuchanan, inspired by tales that had reached him of various deedsgrowing out of the reformation, and by the treatment which variousFederal officers were said to have received, had decided that rebellionexisted in the Territory of Utah. He had appointed a successor toBrigham Young as governor, so the report ran, and ordered an army tomarch to Salt Lake City for the alleged purpose of installing the newexecutive.

  Three days later all doubt of the truth of this story was banished. Wordthen came that Brigham was about to declare martial law, and that he hadpromised that Buchanan's army should never enter the valley.

  Now his heart beat high again, with something of the old swift fervour.The Gentile yoke was at last to be thrown off. War would come, and theLord would surely hold them safe while they melted away the Gentilehosts.

  He reached the settlement of Parowan that night, and when they told himthere that the wagon-train coming south--their ancient enemies who hadplundered and butchered them in Jackson County--was to be cut off beforeit left the basin, it seemed but right to him, the just vengeance ofHeaven upon their one-time despoilers, and a fitting first act in thewar-drama that was now to be played.

  Once more the mob was marching upon them to despoil and murder and putthem into the wilderness. But now God had nerved and strengthened themto defend the walls of Zion, even against a mighty nation. And as atoken of His favour and His wish, here was a company of their bitterestfoes delivered into their hands. Beside the picture was another; he sawhis sister, the slight, fair girl, in the grasp of the fiends at Haun'sMill; the face of his father tossing on the muddy current and suckedunder to the river-bottom; and the rough bark cylinder, festooned withblack cloth, holding the worn form of the mother whose breast had nursedhim.

  When he started he had felt that he could never again preach while thatsecret lay upo
n him,--that he could no longer rebuke sinnershonestly,--but this matter of war was different.

  He preached a moving sermon that day from a text of Samuel: "As thysword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless amongwomen." And when he was done the congregation had made the little dimlylighted meeting-house at Parowan ring with a favourite hymn:--

  "Up, awake, ye defenders of Zion! The foe's at the door of your homes; Let each heart be the heart of a lion, Unyielding and proud as he roams. Remember the wrongs of Missouri, Remember the fate of Nauvoo! When the God-hating foe is before ye, Stand firm and be faithful and true."