or she might best be fitted. There were to be no drones in the hive, no idleness eating the bread of industry. Employment for all, a place for everything and everything in its place—such was the ideal of this social-religious organization. It stood, in short, for justice and fair-dealing, with every man in the secure possession and full enjoyment of his own. Out of the righteous unity resulting from this ideal condition, was to come the power to build up Zion and prepare the way of the Lord.

Why the Ideal Was Not Realized. The United Order was not permanently established; nor did its original workings long continue. Selfishness within, and persecution without, were the two-fold cause. The Church, driven from place to place, found it impracticable, with an imperfect acceptance by its members of the Law of Consecration, to bring forth Zion at that early day. The great event, however, was only postponed. The realization of the ideal is still in prospect.

The Jackson County Expulsion-Aħ attempt to rear the New Jerusalem was made in the summer of 1831, a colony approximating fifteen hundred men, women and children, settling for that purpose in Jackson County, Missouri," upon lands purchased from the Federal Government. Ground was consecrated, and a City laid out, including the site for a Temple. But a lack of the perfect unity necessary on the part of those selected for this sacred task, prevented its accomplishment at that time. "There were jarrings and contentions, and envyings and strifes, and lustful and covetous desires among them; therefore, by these things they polluted their inheritances." Forewarned by the Prophet of what would result if these evils were not corrected, the colonists

o, D. & C. 45:64-71.

Þ, Ib. 101:6.

did not as a whole pay sufficient heed to the admonition, and the Lord permitted their enemies to come upon them and drive them from "the goodly land."

Persecuted and Persecutors.-The Jackson County colonists, whatever their faults, were superior to the people who mobbed them and drove them from their homes, misinterpreting their motives and falsely accusing them of unfriendly acts or intentions toward the earlier settlers. The persecuted were better than the persecutors; but not good enough to completely carry out the high and holy purposes of Deity. It was in the autumn of 1833 that the "Mormon" colony was expelled from Jackson County.

Zion Not Moved. Then, and at a later period, when similar and worse mobbings and drivings had taken place, those who committed or countenanced the outrages were wont to say mockingly: "Whenever the Mormons are driven from one Zion, their Prophet gets a revelation appointing Zion somewhere else." How utterly unfounded this assertion, is best told in the language of a revelation given a few weeks after the Jackson County expulsion. Therein the Lord says:

"Zion shall not be moved out of her place, notwithstanding her children are scattered;

"They that remain, and are pure in heart, shall return, and come to their inheritances, they and their children, with songs of everlasting joy, to build up the waste places of Zion.

"And, behold there is none other place appointed than that which I have appointed; neither shall there be any other place appointed . . . for the work of the gathering of my saints,

q, Hist. Ch. Vol. 1, pp. 390, 426.

"Until the day cometh when there is found no more room for them; and then I have other places which I will appoint unto them, and they shall be called stakes, for the curtains or the strength of Zion."r

Stakes of Zion.-Hear it, ye Gentiles! Hear it, O. House of Israel! Jackson County, Missouri, is the chosen site for the City of Zion. No other place has been or will be appointed for that purpose. All other gathering places for God's people are Stakes of Zion, holding the outside cords and curtains of the spiritual Tabernacle of the Lord.

Zion's first Stake was at Kirtland, Ohio; and other stakes were organized in Missouri, Illinois, and Iowa. All these have been abandoned; but many others, since established, now flourish in the region of the Rocky Mountains. There was no stake organization in Jackson County, though that part is sometimes referred to as "The Center Stake." Zion is there, or will yet be there-the very City of God; but no Stake of Zion.s

In Abeyance.-Zion is greater than any of her Stakes. It will require the Law of Consecration to bring forth Zion; while a lesser law suffices for the creation of stakes, When the building up of Zion was postponed, the Law of Consecration was suspended, and the United Order went

r, D. & C. 101:17, 18, 20, 21; 115:6.

s, Zion, in sacred writ, is symbolized by a tent or portable tabernacle, such as the Israelites carried with them in the Wilderness. Evidently it was the custom then, as it is now, when setting up a tent, to drive stakes and fasten cords thereto-cords stretched from the tent, to make it firm and secure. Hence the phrase: "Lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes," a metaphor applied to Zion by the Prophet Isaiah. (54:2; 33:20). When a tent is erected, no center stake is driven; it would be in the way-an obstacle to stumble over. Figuratively and in a larger sense, the same would be true of a Center Stake of Zion. There is no need for such a thing, and it would spoil the symbolism of the picture.

into abeyance. Then was introduced the Law of Tithing,† a law adapted to the undeveloped condition of the Church. Since that time the work of founding and maintaining Stakes of Zion, preparatory to the coming forth of Zion proper, has engrossed the attention of the gathered children of Ephraim.

t, D. & C. 119.

ARTICLE TWENTY-FOUR.

Redemption by Power.

To Redeem Zion.-The failure of the Latter-day Saints, through lack of unity and obedience, to build up Zion in Jackson County, has been dwelt upon. It remains to tell of an effort to "redeem Zion," to reinstate the plundered people upon the lands of which they had been unlawfully and violently dispossessed. This effort was put forth early in the year 1834, when an expedition was organized in Ohio for that purpose.

The Zion's Camp Expedition.-So was it styled. The Camp consisted of two hundred and five men, led by Joseph Smith in person, and including quite a number of Elders subsequently called to positions of high prominence in the Church. The expedition failed of its object-its avowed object for reasons similar to those which had caused the expulsion from Jackson County. Disobedience and rebellion on the part of some members of the Camp, and the continued disregard, by many of the exiles, of the divine requirements made of them, prevented their restoration to the homes and possessions of which they had been despoiled.

A Want of Preparedness.-Zion might have been redeemed, even at that early day, had the redemptive machinery been ready and in condition to do the necessary work." But such a condition did not exist. "Gather up the strength of my house," the Lord had said concerning those upon whom he proposed to lay the sacred duty of Zion's redemption. But "the strength" of his "house" did not hearken to the appeal, and the few who enrolled themselves as mem

a, D. & C. 105:2.

b, Ib. 103:30; 105:16.