Pillar of Light

by Gerald N. Lund

  Though news of it would not reach Nauvoo for more than two weeks, ex-Governor Lilburn W. Boggs was shot as he sat in his house by an unknown assailant on 6 May 1842 (see HC 5:14). This would later prove to have lasting implications for Joseph and the Church.

  The descriptions given of militia in general and the Nauvoo Legion in particular are accurate as to numbers, dress, weaponry, and so on (see In Old Nauvoo, p. 131).

  The attempted assassination as depicted here is described by Joseph in his history (see HC 5:4–5). His comment about the “breathings of the Spirit” and the question that would be asked of Bennett at the Judgment come directly from his account. It should be remembered that while nothing public had been announced at this point, Joseph was by now fully aware of what Bennett was up to and was moving to take action against him. Whether Bennett knew that or not at this point is not clear.

  Chapter 28

  They came quietly to the home of Benjamin and Mary Ann Steed. There were five of them—Nathan and Lydia, Carl and Melissa, and Caroline. They came separately, within minutes of each other. They each knocked softly at the front door rather than simply walking in as was their habit. That alone was proof that they sensed that this was not to be just another evening together at Grandma and Grandpa’s. As Caroline arrived, the last of the five to do so, and Benjamin came into the parlor with her, he saw the surprise on their faces at who had been included in his unexpected invitation and who had been excluded. They were subdued and unusually reserved, though he could clearly see the questions in each one’s eyes.

  Benjamin had arranged the chairs so that there were two on one side of the sofa, one on the other. That put all five of them sitting together and facing Benjamin and Mary Ann, who had matching chairs side by side. Carl and Melissa were on the sofa, Caroline in the single chair, Nathan and Lydia in the double set.

  Benjamin did not sit down. He stood beside Mary Ann, one hand resting lightly on her shoulder. “Thank you for coming. I know you have many questions, which we shall answer in a moment. This is a family council. It is limited to the seven of us for reasons you’ll understand. To begin with, I’d like to take Carl and Nathan with me into the other room for a few minutes. Mother Steed will explain some things to the women while we are gone.”

  “But Pa!” Nathan exclaimed, guessing now what this was about.

  Benjamin started away. “We’ll meet in the kitchen.”

  Obviously agitated, Nathan stood and followed. Carl, his face impassive and unreadable, did the same. Benjamin went into the kitchen and, once Nathan and Carl had joined him, shut the door. Before Nathan could speak, he held up his hand. “I know what you’re going to say, Nathan, and I want you to know that what I do tonight I do not do lightly.”

  “Are you telling them?” Nathan flung his head in the direction of the parlor.

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Pa, we promised we wouldn’t say anything to anyone else unless we all agreed to it.”

  Benjamin’s head came up slowly. “There was a plan to assassinate Joseph yesterday at the Legion’s parade and sham battle.”

  Nathan rocked back as though struck.

  “What?” Carl cried.

  He told them quietly, seeing the shock only deepen into total revulsion.

  “And Bennett was behind it?” Nathan said in a hoarse voice.

  There was a curt nod, and then Benjamin turned to Carl. “I don’t think anything more will come of it. But this isn’t something we can keep in a sack any longer. It could affect our wives and they have the right to know what is going on.”

  “Do they know about this, what happened yesterday?” Carl asked.

  “No, and that is the one thing I’m not going to share with them. Right now Bennett thinks that his plan was foiled, but he doesn’t know that Joseph suspects him.”

  Nathan ran his fingers through his hair, thinking deeply. “You’re right, this changes everything. But why bring Caroline? Joshua is going to see this as a real betrayal.”

  Benjamin dropped his second bombshell. “Joseph knows everything, Nathan.”

  Nathan had been looking toward the window. Now his head came around slowly. Carl was staring at Benjamin too.

  “He knows that Nathan is looking into the plural marriage thing?” Carl asked in alarm.

  “You told him?” Nathan exploded. “You told him that, Pa?”

  “Nathan, Joseph is not a fool. You’ve been asking questions of the Twelve. You’ve been avoiding him. What did you think he would think?”

  Nathan shook that off. “You didn’t say he suspects, Pa. You said he knows.”

  Benjamin sighed. “That’s right. I’ve told him everything.”

  Nathan reached him in three strides and grabbed his arm. “After we said we wouldn’t? Don’t you think I wanted to say something to him? Don’t you think I’ve felt awful sneaking around behind his back?”

  “Listen to me! This isn’t something we can sit on any longer. Whatever happens now is going to profoundly influence Caroline. Joshua has no right to hide this from her and then spring it on her like a snare. Lydia is already sick with worry about you. You’ve been depressed, withdrawn, distant. She knows something is wrong, but she doesn’t know what. Well, she has a right to know. The same with Melissa and Carl.”

  “I’m glad,” Carl said quietly. “I’ve not felt good about this from the beginning.”

  “These are our wives,” Benjamin said, pleading for understanding. “Not only do they have a right to know what is going on, but we need their counsel on this. I talked to Joseph and Hyrum about it. It was their suggestion that we hold this family council.” He turned to the door again. “Now we’ve got a long night ahead of us, so let’s get on with it.”

  He stepped through the door and walked down the hall to the parlor.

  It was obvious that Mary Ann’s news had cast a pall over the three women. Melissa stood as Carl came to her, and put her arms around him. “Oh, Carl,” was all she said.

  Benjamin sat down by Mary Ann and she reached out and took his hand, squeezing it gently. Lydia also took Nathan’s hand, but she still seemed perplexed. She wasn’t yet sure what all of this about Bennett had to do with Nathan’s recent dark moodiness. Benjamin sighed, dreading having to add to their concern. But stalling wasn’t a solution, so he jumped in, not willing to delay it with small talk. “Mary Ann has explained about Carl’s investigation of Bennett. She hasn’t told you the rest.” He could see the change in their faces. They thought they had heard it all. “There’s something else. Yes, Carl was satisfied that the whole sordid mess that Bennett described was nothing but lies, but—” He drew a quick breath. “But he learned that there was a good possibility that Joseph was teaching the doctrine of plural marriage.”

  It didn’t register. All three of them looked blankly at him. “Plural marriage?” Caroline said, genuinely puzzled. “What do you mean by that?”

  “That God authorizes a man to have more than one wife,” Nathan said bleakly.

  There was a collective gasp and simultaneously they recoiled in horror.

  Carl was nodding. “I wasn’t sure. I was just hearing things and—”

  Nathan cut in sharply. “Pa, you talked with Joseph today. Did you ask him if it was true?”

  “I did.”

  Now Nathan’s eyes were filled with undiluted anguish. “And?”

  “The answer is yes, Nathan.”

  Nathan dropped his head into his hands. “I knew it!” he cried. “They just kept hedging. No one would answer me directly. But they wouldn’t deny it either.”

  “Knew what?” Lydia asked, reaching over to try and hold him. She turned to Benjamin in horror. “Are you saying . . . ?” Her eyes widened into great round circles. “You’re not saying that it’s true!”

  He wasn’t going to try and shield them on this. They had to know. “Yes, it is true.”

  Nathan was still shaking his head and mumbling to himself. “I knew it! I just knew it!” Then suddenly he snapp
ed up. “Has Joseph already—?”

  Benjamin said it very quietly, but firmly. “Yes.”

  It was as if he had been kicked. The air went out of him in a long whoosh. “No,” he whispered.

  Carl was aghast. “You don’t mean . . .”

  “Yes.” The weariness made Benjamin’s voice low and heavy. “Heber too.”

  “What?” Caroline cried. “What are you saying?”

  “They have already married other women.”

  “Joseph?” Lydia cried.

  “Yes. At least one, maybe more.”

  She was dazed. “Who?”

  “I don’t know. And I’m not sure that he’s living with them as husband and wife. But they have been joined to him in eternal marriage.”

  Nathan was staring at the wall. “So there was some truth to it after all.”

  “To Bennett’s lies?” Benjamin retorted in disgust. “Absolutely none. Joseph never gave Bennett any such licence. The man was acting totally out of his own depravity.”

  He leaned forward, earnest now, wanting Nathan most of all to understand. “Don’t you see what’s happening here, Nathan? From Satan’s point of view, this is a brilliant strategy. Just as Joseph is about to be told by the Lord that it is time for the principle of plural marriage to be restored, along comes John C. Bennett. He’s smooth, he’s handsome, he helps us get a charter, he’s elected mayor. We are all a little agog that such a man has become one of us. And then he starts his work—silently, insidiously, treacherously. He starts teaching a corrupted form of the very doctrine that is about to be revealed. He’s a man of influence and position. He’s the Assistant President, of all things. There couldn’t be a more destructive problem. It sows doubt, it raises questions, it has the whole city aflame with rumors. It is a brilliant stroke!”

  He instantly shook his head. “No, not brilliant, for that implies light, and there is no light in Satan or his followers. But it is cunning to the highest degree.” He paused, deeply depressed suddenly. “And we have not seen the end of this. Not by a long shot.”

  Melissa was still in shock. She was whispering something to Carl, and he just kept shaking his head.

  Lydia looked ill. Her face was drawn and almost gray. “Does Emma know?” she asked in a small voice.

  “Yes,” answered Benjamin.

  She felt like she couldn’t get her breath. “And she . . . ?”

  Benjamin’s shoulders lifted and fell. “Joseph says she has accepted the doctrine, but not surprisingly she is having a difficult time with its application. But she has accepted the fact that—”

  Lydia looked away, her hand to her mouth.

  Benjamin looked around the circle. “I don’t want to rush this. We need to talk about it as long as you want. But when you’re ready, Brigham Young and Heber Kimball are waiting for us at Heber’s house.”

  That brought all of their heads up with a jerk.

  “Yes,” he said. “Joseph thinks that we need to hear what they have to say. But not until you’re ready. They’ll wait as long as necessary.”

  He looked to Nathan. “And Joseph said to tell you that he will be waiting for you. However long it takes, he’ll be there when you’re ready to talk with him.”

  In the end they only stayed at Benjamin’s another fifteen minutes or so. Except for Benjamin and Mary Ann, they were all still a little dazed. There were a few questions, some comments that showed how deeply they had been affected, but mostly they just sat and stared at Benjamin, trying to comprehend what he was telling them. So eventually he led them out and they came to the home of Heber and Vilate Kimball.

  But it was Brigham Young who met them at the door. As he ushered them into the sitting room, he spoke to Benjamin. “I apologize,” he said, “my Mary Ann planned to come, but our little Brigham, Junior, has taken quite ill just since supper. Bad food, I suppose. And she felt it best to stay with him.”

  “We understand,” Benjamin said.

  In the sitting room, Heber and Vilate Kimball were waiting for them, seated side by side on a small divan. They both rose, Heber shaking hands with the men and the women, Vilate nodding to the men but taking only the women’s hands.

  Heber Kimball was a barrel-chested man. Though now a potter by trade, in his early years he had worked with his father as a blacksmith and he still had a blacksmith’s arms and torso. Taller than Brigham by a couple of inches, he was considerably more stout. He liked to point out to people that he was the only person he knew whose chest measurements were the same from front to back as they were side to side. He and Brigham were of the same age, born only two weeks apart in the summer of 1801. They were approaching their forty-first birthdays, which made them four years older than Joseph. Heber was totally bald on the top of his head, but what remained on both sides was thick and wiry dark hair. He wore heavy sideburns down to the jawline.

  Normally he was of a sunny disposition, always ready with a quip or a joke to make others smile, his piercing dark eyes quick to dance with humor. As he greeted them now and welcomed them to his home, there was little sign of that. His eyes were dark and troubled, his demeanor greatly subdued.

  Vilate Murray Kimball was five years Heber’s junior. Of Scottish descent, she was a lovely woman who carried herself with grace and poise. She was as dark haired as Heber and wore her hair parted down the middle and pulled to either side. This emphasized the fineness of her features, the bright, intelligent eyes, and the sensitive mouth. She was educated and literate. Lydia had seen some of the poems she had written and they were elegantly crafted. More sober by nature than Heber, she was nevertheless a pleasant and happy woman and greatly loved by those who knew her. But like her husband, tonight she was very quiet and deeply serious.

  Brigham stood at the end of the room, waiting until all were seated. There was a brief, humorless smile. “Judging from what I see in the sisters’ faces, I assume they know, Brother Benjamin.”

  “Yes.”

  “Good, then there’s no need spending time on nonessentials.” Now he spoke to all of them. “As you know, Joseph has not only given us permission to talk to you, he has requested that we help you understand better what is going on. And why. That is the most important—the why. I know this has come as disturbing news. I can see it in your eyes. You shall see that you are not alone in that reaction.” He looked to his fellow Apostle. “I should like Heber and Vilate to tell you their story, but first I would like to make one or two points.”

  Heber nodded. Vilate did as well.

  “On several occasions, the Lord has said that he will prove his people. He will test us to see if we are truly committed to keeping our covenants with him. In one of the revelations he says to us, ‘I will have a pure people, saith the Lord, that will serve me in righteousness.’ In another, he said that he will prove us in all things to see if we will serve him, even unto death. And if we cannot abide in our covenants even unto death, we are not worthy of him.”

  His eyes were fixed and looking above their heads now. “I do not fully understand why this is so, why the way has to be so hard, the required price so high. But it doesn’t really matter whether I understand it or not. We have been tried by the sword and by the ball. We have been driven, mocked, spat upon, jailed, and slain. We have seen those who should have been our staunchest friends become our bitterest enemies. We have seen sickness and starvation. We have seen our children lie down with hollow bellies and raging with fever. We have been placed in the frying pan, and when that became unbearable, we were kicked into the fire.”

  He took a chair now and turned it around, leaning on the back of it as though it were a pulpit. His voice dropped to a low pitch, and it was filled with heaviness. “I thought we had seen it all. Jackson County. Kirtland. Haun’s Mill. Far West.” He shook his head. “How naive I was. How narrow my perspective was to think that we had been tested to the limits of our endurance. How little did I dream that there was something of far greater pain, far greater demands.” His eyes bored into them in
turn now, pinning them with his words. “If you do not see this in that light, then you will not understand what is happening.”

  He paused for a moment to see if there was any reaction, but there was none. So he plunged on. “Now, to something more practical. What we are going to discuss with you this evening, you are not free to discuss with others. Not even with others of your family.” He looked directly at Caroline. “Not even with your husband.”

  She nodded slowly.

  “This may be hard for you to understand. Some will say that Brother Joseph is trying to hide the truth. Some will say Brother Joseph is betraying his people. I will only say this. Joseph is not a coward.” His voice was strong and challenging now. “He himself has said that no coward shall inherit the celestial kingdom. But caution is not cowardice. Especially when the Lord whispers, ‘Be cautious. Give not this principle to the multitude as yet. Someday this doctrine shall be thundered from the housetops, but not yet. Reveal it only to those who can be trusted. Reveal it only to those who have been proven, for there are those, even in high places, who seek your life.’”

  Brigham let that sink in for a moment, pleased to see that they were suitably shocked. “Lest you think I am overly dramatic, there has already been a foiled attempt on Joseph’s life.”

  Mary Ann rocked back. “What?”

  “Yes.”

  “Here in Nauvoo?” Lydia asked, the horror twisting at her face.

  “Yes, within the past week. I cannot say more than that. But I say it to impress upon your minds the importance of keeping confidences.”

  Now he turned to Carl. “I know, Brother Carl, that you are not a member and that we have no call upon your loyalty. But Brother Joseph is also keenly aware of what you have done these past few weeks. He is deeply grateful. It is at his specific request that you are asked to be here tonight.”

  Carl was deeply moved. Melissa, seeing this, slipped her arm through his and held him tightly as he spoke. “Tell Brother Joseph that I am honored by his trust, and assure him that it is not misplaced.”