these were not the impelling causes of the migratory movement now in contemplation. Joseph Smith's character has not been read aright, nor the record of his people from the beginning, if it be imagined that fear for his personal safety or the hope of immunity from further persecution were the motives that then actuated them. No; it was to them the beginning of Israel's latter-day gathering, an initiatory step toward the building up of Zion; and though the reason may have been, in part, that Mormonism,-hated, defamed, and struggling against apparently overwhelming odds,―might gain a firmer foot-hold for its fight of faith than seemed possible amid the warring spiritual elements of the more thickly populated portions of the land, it was far from being the chief purpose and principal end in view. These Latter-day Saints believed they were fulfilling a God-given destiny in thus flocking Zionward,-in fleeing, as Isaiah had said Israel should, "upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west." They were destined to make literal these words of the ancient seer to an extent little dreamed of at that time in their philosophy.

A farewell conference was held at Fayette on the 2nd of January, 1831. The affairs of the Church in the eastern parts were settled, or left in the hands of trusty agents to wind up as speedily as possible, and the Prophet, accompanied by his wife, and by Sidney Rigdon, Edward Partridge, Ezra Thayre and Newel Knight, toward the latter part of the month set out for Kirtland.

They arrived there about the 1st of February. Driving his sleigh through the streets of the little town, the Prophet drew up at the mercantile door of Messrs. Gilbert and Whitney. Alighting from his vehicle he entered the store and introduced himself as "Joseph the Prophet," to Newel K. Whitney, the junior partner of the firm. By him and his household, Joseph and his wife, pending other arrangements for their reception, were cordially received and entertained.

The first step taken by the Prophet, after setting in order the Church at Kirtland,-the affairs of which, after the departure of

Elder Cowdery and his confreres, had become somewhat demoralized spiritually, was to lay the foundation of what is known to Latter-day Saints as the United Order. A brief exposition of this principle of their religion will here be necessary.

Some of the views of the Saints relative to the up-building of Zion have already been dwelt upon. Of the United Order, or the Order of Enoch, as it is otherwise named, it may be said it is a religio-social system involving the methods whereby that "up-building" is to be accomplished. Said Joseph Smith: "It is not given that one man should possess that which is above another." This is the key-note of the United Order.

Co-operative or communistic schemes the world had known before. Saint Simon and Fourier in France, Owen in England and in America, each ere this had launched his bark of philanthropic thought and theory upon the waters of social reform. As early as

1825 Robert Owen and his associates had established industrial communities on both sides of the Atlantic. There was even at this time, in the vicinity of Kirtland-though not of Owen's origin-a small community called "the family," which, following the example of some of the early Christians, held their temporal possessions in But the United Order introduced by Joseph Smith probably went further toward realizing, or foreshadowing, the Millennarian dream of the prophet, poet and philanthropist, than anything the world had before witnessed.

common.

Nor are these idle words, words of unmerited eulogy. A Millennium without a God is impossible. A communistic scheme, a plan for social reconstruction, without a religious basis, the love of God and man as its central idea, is born but to perish, howsoever for a season it may thrive. And even with religion,-the highest and strongest motive that can impel selfish humanity,—will it not be found a stupendous and all but impossible task? Instance the failures of those would-be social reformers, secularists, who have thought to leave God and religion out of their otherwise grand schemes for society's reconstruction and regeneration. Deity must

be recognized, must be at the head and helm of all plans for man's perfecting. Otherwise they cannot endure. The "natural man" is too much an enemy to God, too much the enemy of his fellow man, to conquer covetousness and love his neighbor as himself, save God be with him. And without self-conquest, without love of humanity, no Millennium, no universal brotherhood, no reign of peace and righteousness is possible.

Herein lay the superiority of Joseph Smith's concept over those of the eminent social reformers, his predecessors and cotemporaries. The United Order was not a mere financial scheme, not a co-operative, joint-stock mercantile concern; not a mere plan for social reconstruction, involving only a community of temporal interests. It was all these and more. It was religious, not secular in its character; spiritual, not temporal in its genius; and yet, being spiritual, it comprehended and circumscribed the temporal. How and where Joseph Smith obtained it is not the question to be here determined. He declared that it was revealed to him by the Almighty. Impartial history can neither affirm nor deny it. The province of the historian is the field of facts, and it is a fact that Joseph Smith so stated. At all events, God was recognized as its author, its laws as His laws, its aim and purpose His. Its avowed object was to glorify God by lifting up man, mentally, physically, morally, spiritually. It was to the Saints the Millennial lever that was to move the world, gradually but effectually, toward the glorious goal of universal brotherhood and good will. It was as the voice of Elias,—the voice of one crying in the wilderness : Prepare ye the way of the Lord." "Make His paths straight." "Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain." In other words, it meant the leveling of class distinctions,-the bringing down of the mountains of pride, the exalting of the valleys of humility; the extirpation of fraud and crookedness, and the eventual triumph of true culture and civilization. By means of it Zion was to "arise and shine," the "joy of the whole earth," ere the coming of Him whose

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peaceful and righteous reign has been the theme of prophet tongues and poet pens in all ages.

It was an order of industry, too, and not of idleness; a rule of law and not of anarchy, wherein each soul, having consecrated his all, and being assigned his stewardship, was to labor faithfully for the common weal in that field or pursuit for which he proved best fitted and designed. "Every man seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God." Such was the theory of the United Order.

More practically speaking, the system meant that each individual, on entering the Order, was to deed to the Church, or its authorized representative, his or her property in toto, utterly relinquishing its possession. It might be a farm, a workshop or a sum of money, much or little, that was thus "consecrated." But whatever it was, it thenceforth belonged to the Order, and not to the individual. All would then be owners alike, and equality in temporal things be inaugurated.

A deed would then be given by the Church, or its representative, to each member of the Order, conveying to him or her a certain portion of the general property, probably the same farm or workshop that the individual had before consecrated. This was a "stewardship," thenceforth possessed by the individual, but to be used for the general good; all gains reverting to a common fund or store, whence each steward should derive his or her support. All were required to labor diligently-there were to be no drones in the hive -and to deal fairly and justly with one another. Apostasy from the Church was equivalent to withdrawal from the Order. The individual might then retain his stewardship, but not reclaim the residue of property, over and above that portion, which he had consecrated to the common cause. Unity and equality were the watchwords of the Order; man's salvation and God's glory the ends to be kept constantly in view.

According to the faith of the Saints, it was just such a system as this that sanctified in antediluvian times the City of Enoch and

prepared it for translation, when, according to the record, "the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind and dwelt in righteousness, and there was no poor among them;" a system established in after ages by the Apostles at Jerusalem, when "the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul,-neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common ; a system which, according to the Book of Mormon, prevailed upon this land among the Nephites for nearly two centuries after the coming of Christ. An order of unity and equality, a system of consecrations and stewardships, the abolition of fraud and monopoly in all their phases, a sinking of individual interests into and for the purpose of the common good, the sacrifice of self at the shrine of principle of pure religion-whose incense, call it charity, philanthropy, or what we will, is the pure love of God and humanity.

It was to the establishment of such an order,-one object of which, in the arcana of the faith, was to pave the way for the return of the Zion of Enoch, which the Saints believe will yet descend to earth, the planet whence it was taken,-that Joseph Smith, as early as February, 1831, more than fifty years before Edward Bellamy and his ingenious book "Looking Backward" were heard of, directed his thoughts and labors.

A movement to that end was the organization of the Bishopric, representing the temporal wing of the Mormon Church government. The Apostleship, which pertains to the Priesthood of Melchisedek, though possessing general powers has a special calling to minister in spiritual things; while the Bishopric, which is the presidency of the Priesthood of Aaron, administers, under the direction of the higher authority, in things temporal.

The first call to the Bishopric was that of Edward Partridge, who received his appointment on the fourth day of February. He was required "to leave his merchandise and spend all his time in the service of the Church," for which he was to receive his support, or a just remuneration. Two other Elders were called to officiate.