“Do you think there would be a place at your parents’ home where I could stay until we are married?”
Was that all? He felt such a rush of relief, his knees felt suddenly weak. Then almost immediately he realized what she was saying. His eyebrows shot upward. “Have your parents…?” He let it trail off, already knowing the answer.
She nodded.
“Because of me?” he started, feeling the anger starting to rise.
She sighed. “Can we talk, Nathan?” She walked to the corner where his things were and set the Book of Mormon on the shelf. He noted with surprise that one corner of it had a dark stain. Then he noticed a piece of hay stuck in the back of her hair. There were a few more flecks of it on the back of her dress.
He stepped to her, understanding finally dawning. “You slept here last night?” He gently pulled the hay from her hair and held it around in front of her.
Her head bobbed up and down once.
He turned her around to face him. “How long have you been here?”
“I came yesterday morning.”
“Yesterday morning?” he echoed dumbly. “If I had known I would have come home.”
“I knew you were gone, but I needed someplace to—”
“Have you had anything to eat since then?”
She shook her head.
Shocked, he took her by the shoulders. “We’re going right over to my parents’,” he said. “You must be starving.”
“Please, Nathan,” she said, “first, let’s talk.” She took his hand. “Bring the Bible. There’s something else I want to read to you.”
They sat on the porch of the cabin in the hazy sunshine of spring. Lydia leaned against him, holding his hand. She seemed lost in her thoughts, but Nathan was content to wait, still reveling in the joy of having her there beside him. Finally, she straightened and began to speak in a low voice. “When Melissa came and told me about your package, I was very upset.”
“Melissa?”
“Oh, that’s right. She said you didn’t know.” She smiled. “Dear Melissa. If she hadn’t come…” She told him quickly of Melissa’s appearance at the store, of her own search for the package, and of the confrontation with her father.
“I was so angry. I was angry with him.” She squeezed his hand. “I was angry at you. Why couldn’t you leave me alone? All you were doing was raking up the pain all over again.”
He started to say something, but she shook her head and went on quickly. “When I left the store, I was in turmoil. I have never felt so betrayed. My parents are not that way.”
Some pain deep inside her stopped her, and for a moment she was fighting her emotions again. But then she went on, talking more slowly now. “I went to the cemetery. You know how I love that place. It’s so peaceful. And the trees are just starting to come into leaf now. Anyway, I spent all afternoon there. At first I read your letter over and over. It really touched me. Knowing you couldn’t bear to stay around Palmyra, either, made me want to cry. Then, that scripture from John. What a lovely way to tell me that you still cared, that you had not given up on us! At that moment, I just wanted to hold you.”
“But?” he said, sensing something more coming.
“But your suggestion that I read the Book of Mormon irritated me. All that talk about judging Joseph Smith by his fruits. It was just more words. It was the same old thing. There was Joseph, looming between us again, keeping us apart.”
She poked at him, the very memory of the irritation bringing back a little of the frustration all over again. “Sometimes you can be so stubborn.”
He just laughed.
She smiled, then sobered again immediately. “I was even tempted to go home and tell Papa to throw the Book of Mormon away again. And yet…” She grew thoughtful. “But finally, I opened the book. My father had absolutely forbidden me to read it.” She looked at him with a sudden mischievousness. “I’m afraid I started to read it more to spite him than to please you.”
“As long as you started,” he said happily, putting an arm around her and pulling her in tight against him again.
She laid her head against his shoulder, her eyes half closing as she remembered. “I read for several hours. At first I was filled with resentment. I was looking only for proof that Joseph was a fraud. I’m afraid I didn’t get much out of it.” She paused, her face turning thoughtful. “Except this—I didn’t find it to be the evil thing my father said it was.”
Now suddenly her voice choked. Nathan just held her, letting her take it at her own pace. She sniffed, brushing at the tears angrily. “I returned home just after dark. My parents were frantic. I had stormed away and they had no idea where I was. I know now that was part of it. They were upset. I was still upset.”
“What happened?”
“My father asked if I had started to read the Book of Mormon. I told him yes. He was furious. He demanded I give it to him so he could burn it with the trash.” She shook her head. “It was the wrong thing to say. I was still fuming over his attempts to control my life. I told him I would do what I wanted, and I turned around and stomped off to bed.”
Nathan laughed softly. “It’s a good thing I’m the only stubborn one around here.”
That made her laugh too. “Oh, our poor children.”
Nathan sat up straight, staring at her.
“What?” she said, puzzled by the look on his face.
“Our children,” he murmured. “Our children. Do you know how many times I’ve used those words in my mind, and how many times I’ve thought it would never be.” He kissed her cheek quickly. “I’m sorry, go on. You stomped off to bed.”
“Yes. Well, I couldn’t sleep, of course. I lay there and lay there. But I kept coming back to what you said. You didn’t ask me to believe you. You didn’t ask me to believe Joseph. You asked me to ask God.”
“Yes. Did you read the place I marked for you?”
She nodded. “After lying there for almost an hour, I got up again and lit the lamp. I went to that place and read it again and again. That’s it, I thought. This is how I can know once and for all. And I decided right then that if I didn’t get an answer, I was going to leave for Boston immediately. I couldn’t bear to be around you any longer.”
“And if you did get an answer?”
“I didn’t want to think about that yet.” Her voice dropped now. “I began to read, this time with a different attitude. I kept asking God to let me know if it was true. I didn’t want to be deceived.”
Nathan felt his heart soaring. “And you got your answer?” He nearly shouted it.
“I read most of the night,” she said, her voice barely a whisper. “By morning, I knew.” She was gripping his hand with a sudden fierceness. “I’ve never felt anything like it. There was nothing blinding or miraculous. I just knew.” Her voice caught. “I just knew.”
She straightened now, moving away from Nathan, her eyes filled with pain. “I also knew what I had to do. I went down to face my parents first thing yesterday morning. It was terrible. I told them I knew the Book of Mormon was true and that I was going to marry you. I tried to explain to them what had happened. I was even foolish enough to try and get Papa to read the book too.”
She shook her head slowly. “I’ve never seen him in such a rage.” Though her face was calm as she spoke, a tear had welled up at the corner of one eye and now spilled over the lid and trickled down her cheek.
“So your father held true to his threat?” he asked softly.
She swallowed quickly, but could only nod.
“Lydia, they’ll soften in time. Once we’re married, they’ll get used to the idea. Things will change. You’ll see.”
She shook her head quickly, the tears streaming openly down her face now. “My father turned to Mama and forbid her to ever speak of me again. I am no longer a part of the family. It is as though I had died.”
She turned and buried herself against his chest. “Oh, Nathan,” she sobbed. “I love my parents. How can I live witho
ut them?”
“They’ll change,” he said lamely, trying to comfort her, feeling the emptiness of the words he himself did not believe.
She pulled away from him and turned to where he had set the Bible. “I came here. I knew you were gone, but I wanted to be alone anyway. Then I remembered something a preacher used once as a text for a sermon. I was a young girl then and thought it was a terrible thing to say. But I searched in the Bible until I found it. It was the final answer I needed.”
She opened the Bible and turned to the New Testament. When she found the place, her eyes read over it silently. Only then did she look up. “It is the Savior speaking.” She took a quick breath, then let it out slowly. Only then did she begin to read aloud.
“ ‘Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father—’ “
Her voice caught, and for a moment she could not continue. But finally, she bit her lip and began again. “‘For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother…’” Her voice was stricken now, barely audible. “‘And a man’s foes shall be they of his own house hold.’”
It was too much for her and she dropped the book in her lap. Gently, Nathan reached across and took it from her. His eyes found the place where she had left off. With his own voice filled with emotion, he finished it for her.
“ ‘He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.’ “
He stopped, then with strength and power, he read the next verse. “ ‘He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.’ “
He closed the book and set it aside. For a long time they sat there, silent, lost in their respective thoughts. Then slowly Nathan stood up. He reached down and took Lydia’s hands and pulled her up to face him.
He touched her cheek, so filled with love for her that he thought he would burst. “It will be all right, Lydia,” he promised. Then he suddenly grinned. It spread across his face rapidly, crinkling his eyes at the corners.
She sniffed back the tears. “What?”
“Do you know what my mother is going to say when we walk in together?”
Lydia laughed then too. “Do you think she’ll be pleased?”
“Pleased?” he cried. “You don’t know the half of it.” Then he laughed right out loud. “And Melissa? She’s gonna let out a yell that will be heard from here to Buffalo.”
Book Two: The Work and the Glory - Like a Fire is Burning
The Work and the Glory - Like a Fire is Burning
Text illustrations by Robert T. Barrett
© 1990 Gerald N. Lund and Kenneth Ingalls Moe
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, Deseret Book Company, P. O. Box 30178, Salt Lake City, Utah 84130. This work is not an official publication of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The views expressed herein are the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily represent the position of the Church or of Deseret Book Company.
BOOKCRAFT is a registered trademark of Deseret Book Company.
First printing in hardbound 1990
First printing in trade paperbound 2001
First printing in paperbound 2005
Visit us at DeseretBook.com
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 90-83215
ISBN 0-88494-801-3 (hardbound)
ISBN 1-57345-871-6 (trade paperbound)
ISBN 978-1-59038-497-8 (paperbound)
Printed in the United States of America
Delta Printing Solutions, Valencia, CA
10 9 8 7 6 5 4
Building the Kirtland Temple
Preface
The Bible records that on more than one occasion holy prophets were privileged to see God in heavenly vision. Jacob, Moses, Isaiah, Stephen, John—they and others testified they had seen the Lord. What if God were to appear to men in this day and age? How would they respond? What would they say? What would they do?
There are numerous accounts of angels appearing to men and women in New Testament times. Gabriel came to Zacharias in the temple and to Mary in Nazareth. Heavenly messengers appeared at the empty tomb after the Savior’s resurrection. There are at least six different appearances of angels recorded in the book of Acts alone, including the account of an angel freeing Simon Peter from prison. And in the book of Revelation we read that an angel appeared to John while he was held prisoner on the island of Patmos. What if a modern man claimed angels had come in our day? Would we believe or would we scoff?
The prophet Amos said, “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7). We still honor men such as Abraham, Moses, Daniel, Jeremiah, and call them prophets of the living God. Should one come today claiming to be a true prophet, a spokesman for the Lord, would we accept him? Would we honor him and seek his counsel?
Twenty years into the nineteenth century a fourteen-year-old boy named Joseph Smith, living on the frontier of America, said he had seen a vision of God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. Later he said he had been visited by angels from the presence of God. He said he was called to be God’s prophet.
Not surprisingly, these claims lit a fire storm of controversy. There were those who said Joseph was mad; others credited the devil for what had happened to him. He was mocked, insulted, vilified, threatened. But some listened and believed. When the Book of Mormon was published they eagerly read it. When, under divine direction, Joseph organized the Church of Jesus Christ on the earth again they immediately joined it. When the Prophet called for missionaries to spread the gospel to all who would listen, many responded and fanned out across the face of the land, bringing thousands into the kingdom.
What made the difference? Why did some become so infuriated that they were willing to murder? Why were others so deeply converted that they were willing to die for their faith? What was it about Joseph Smith and the Restoration that generated such passionate and diverse emotions?
The Work and the Glory seeks to answer some of these fundamental questions. It is a multivolume, multigenerational saga which tells the story of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly called the Mormon church) from its earliest beginnings. But the purpose of the series goes beyond simply retelling Church history. These books explore the reactions generated by a man who claimed divine revelation. They examine the feelings that were triggered by the claims of prophetic office. They probe the motivations of those who believed Joseph, and of those who formed one violent confederation after another to try and eliminate him.
This is all done through the eyes of the Benjamin Steed family, a fictional but typical frontier family in early nineteenth-century America. In Pillar of Light, the first volume in the series, we are introduced to the Steed family at the time they arrive in the Palmyra area of upstate New York and meet Joseph Smith. The association proves to be divisive for the entire Steed family. The spiritual outlooks of Benjamin Steed and his wife, Mary Ann, are significantly dissimilar. Joshua, the eldest son, and his brother Nathan also react in dramatically different ways to Joseph’s claims. That and the two brothers’ competition for the beautiful Lydia McBride eventually fracture the family in profound ways. Pillar of Light follows the Steeds through the events surrounding the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, the restoration of the priesthood, and the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ (covering the years 1827 to 1830).
In Like a Fire Is Burning, the second volume in the series, the story of the Steed family continues (covering the years 1830 to 1836). As the infant Church expands and spreads westward into Ohio and Missouri, new revelations are given, Church organization expands, the location of Zion is designated, the const
ruction of a temple is begun. Once again the Steeds are swept up in the unfolding drama, and their lives are molded and shaped by the events in which they find themselves involved. There is joy and there is tragedy. There is failure and there is triumph.
To weave a fictional family into real history and have them associate with real historical people obviously requires some literary license. But each of the novels in the series reflects, as much as possible, an accurate portrayal of the historical events associated with the coming forth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In the first volume no attempt was made to provide notes that would help the reader distinguish between historical and fictional events. A novel is not a history text. Footnotes or endnotes, however unobtrusive, can still break the flow of the narrative and thus may interfere with the purposes of a novel. However, many readers have inquired about the historicity of specific events that were included in volume 1. “Was this event or that event in the novel ‘really true’?” they ask.
It became obvious to me that these questions are both sincere and legitimate. Readers want to know which events are truly historical and not the figment of the writer’s imagination. Volume 2, therefore, incorporates a feature not found in the first volume. Though there are no notes embedded in the text, I have placed brief chapter notes at the end of the novel that indicate historical events and my handling of them. For those who wish to read more about a specific event, a few primary source citations are also included in these notes.
One other item of explanation may be helpful to the non-Latter-day-Saint reader. Throughout the novel, characters who are members of the Church refer to themselves and other members as “Saints.” This may seem a little presumptuous to one used to the more limited use of the term, such as that in the tradition of the Roman Catholic church. In New Testament times the followers of Christ commonly referred to all believers as Saints (see, for example, Acts 9:32; Romans 1:7; Ephesians 1:1; 2:19). The word saint comes from the Latin root sacer, which means “holy.” Since the early disciples consecrated themselves to be holy, it seemed only natural to call themselves Saints. From the very beginning of their history, and for the same reasons, the Mormons followed the practice of the New Testament Church and referred to all members as Saints. Indeed, it is found in the very title of the Church—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Pillar of Light Page 44