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Show 56 received its warning and rejected it, and now the time of reckoning had come. Orson Pratt, who had returned from his mission in England during the "war," contended that "the Gentile world had been thoroughly warned."24 Patriarch John Young, speaking from the pulpit in Salt Lake City on October 25, alluded to the missionaries having warned the Gentile nations in fulfillment of prophecy. His text was Matthew 24:14: "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." He asserted that the Latter-day Saint missionaries had then traveled "thousands of miles over deserts and mountains.... to almost every nation upon earth.... and I know that the time is near at hand when Babylon will fall."25 The impending conflict was rapidly assuming the status of a holy war among the Saints, and they were now becoming excited. Everything was perfectly clear to them; all was black and white. The conflict was between God and the Devil. The Devil would rage against them, but he could not beat God. The purpose of the troops coming to Utah was nothing more than the Devil attempting to stamp out God's people once and for all as he had been trying to do since the gospel was restored by Joseph Smith. If the Devil was to do anything, he would certainly do all in his power to break up the gathering of Israel and thwart God's plans. This posture was assumed by the Mormons from the very onset of the campaign. Bishop Harrington,! of American Fork, reported to his flock, two days after word of the approaching army was received, that the army was coming to "destroy the Servants of God."2° The church hierarchy was no less bitter in their assessment of the army. On August 23, John Taylor ripped the adminstration's intentions of sending troops to the Territory: "Now, they go to work and send out an army with sealed orders, and, if necessary, are prepared to commint anything that the Devil may suggest to them; for they are |
