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Show 39 rebuking the administrators of the law who turned their backs on the Mormons' pleas for protection. But their loyalty to the constitution was eclipsed by their loyalty to the "higher law." The constitution was perceived as part of a divine plan in which a nation was founded where religious freedoms would foster the restoration of the true church and the Zion society necessary for the coming of Christ. Orson Pratt, the Mormon Apostle, wrote in 1849 that the kingdom of God "is the only legal government that can exist in any part of the universe. All other governments are illegal and unauthorized. God, having made all beings and worlds, has the supreme right to govern them..."2" In spite of this view that all earthly governments were usurpers of power, the Saints were not traitors and committed no overt acts of treason. Joseph Smith frequently cautioned against the use of force or violence to obtain their aims, and it is a basic tenet of the church that "we believe in being subject to kings, presidents, rulers, and magistrates, in obeying, honoring, and sustaining the law."2T The doctrines of the Mormons pertaining to the overthrow of the United States government were not a call to arms; they were prophesies that the Mormons expected to see fulfilled. This is not to imply that the Saints would stand idly by during the actions of the last days, but any participation in these millennial events was to be from a position of self defence or indifference. Joseph exclaimed in 1844 that "it may be that the Saints will have to beat their ploughs into swords, for it will not do for men to sit down patiently and see their children destroyed."2" Shortly after the expulsion from Jackson County, Smith revealed the parable of the nobleman and the olive trees. In an obvious reference to the redemption of Zion by force, a certain nobleman commanded his servants to "redeem my vineyard" and to "break down the walls of mine |