History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

432 MISSIONS AND IMMIGRATION.
peculiar people? Do you not long to gather to your
brethren and sisters in the heights of Zion, where
sinners cannot dwell? Do you not fondly wish to
assemble with the elders of Israel in the sacred restingplaces
of the excellent of the earth, and there inherit
the earth and enjoy the bountiful blessings of a munificent
creator?"
Such sayings, freely circulated among the toiling
myriads of Europe, where for twelve and fifteen hours
a day men worked for a wage barely sufficient to supply
their needs, were not without effect. Under such
conditions, a new religion, which promised to exchange
the penury and drudgery of its converts for plenty and
moderate labor, could not fail to receive a hearing.
Moreover, the story of the prophet's assassination and
of the expulsion from Illinois was yet fresh in the minds
of the people. The saints were still looked upon as martyrs,
and as martyrs who, having boldly launched forth
into an untrodden wilderness, had at length established
for themselves an abiding-place, and now stretched
forth the hand of christian fellowship to the weary
and heavy-laden in all the earth. Never since the
founding of the sect was their cause held in more esteem;
never had they dwelt together in more perfect
harmony, less disturbed by outside influences, or less
mindful of the events that were transpiring in the
great world beyond. The years that had elapsed
since their departure from Nauvoo had witnessed the
rise and fall of an empire, the crash of a throne, the
great revolutions in the world of science and the world
of commerce. But, except so far as they seemed to
fulfil the predictions of their seer, all these matters
concerned them less than did the building of a sawmill
or a nail-factory in the land of which their
prophet had foretold: "And they who are in the
north countries shall come in remembrance before the
Lord, . . .and a highway shall be made in the midst of
the great deep, . . . and in the barren deserts there shall