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Show 57 under his influence."2^ And Heber C. Kimball claimed: "The day has come when the Devil is coming with all his combined forces: he has laid siege to the kingdom of God, and it will never cease till this kingdom triumphs."2" Indeed, the theme of "God versus Devil" was a constant subject of the speeches and diary entries of the latter half of I857. Brigham Young declared that "God is at the helm," and suggested that the Saints pity their aggressors; "for they know not whom they are fighting against."29 Naturally, if the time had arrived for the kingdom of God to emerge from bondage and take its place at the head of a world government, the kingdom must declare its independence from all other governments-in this case the United States. This was a delicate business. The hierarchy need be certain of their convictions that the kingdom was indeed on the ascendancy. If their bid for independence failed, treason would be the result. Brigham Young moved along cautiously with this idea. On August 2, just nine days after receiving word of the coming troops, he began toying with the idea in his Sunday sermon in the Bowery. In this fiery speech, he did all but declare independence from the United States. Although he technically stopped short of a formal declaration, the allusions were so strong as to be unmistakable: The time must come when there will be a separation between this kingdom and the kingdoms of this world, even In every point of view. The time must come when this kingdom must be free and independent from all other kingdoms. Are you prepared to have the thread cut today?... Now let me tell you one thing-I shall take it as a witness that God designs to cut the thread between us and the world, when an army undertakes to make their appearance in this Territory to chastise me or to destroy my life from the earth.... I shall take a hostile movement by our enemies as an evidence that it is time for the thread to be cut.-J |
