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Show The Tanners and the San Bernardino Mission 179 of the Church may place them, and to go when sent, and to come when called, this we believe to be the privilege and duty of all the Saints." The rather long article continues: "We hope that after the very pointed advice and counsel given by the Presidency, that the plain Saints knowing their duty, will be found in the path of obedience. We went to California because we were sent to build up the Kingdom and of God.2i The controversy over San Bernardino continued over the years. inaugration of the mission, Lyman and Rich had been called and set apart to lead the Saints to California, and their presence in San Bernardino signified church approval. But Brigham had sensed from the very beginning a danger in too many of his Saints wandering At the away in search of a better place. He felt strongly that the future of Zion was in the fastness of the Rocky Mountains. The church was in the unenviable position of having fostered the establishment of a city that now was a threat to its very existence. After considerable agonizing, the church leaders had concluded Lyman assign them to Europe. While they were on their way back to Salt Lake, only a few days before reaching it, Brigham Young in a speech prepared the people of Utah for the steps the brethren were taking in dealing with the San Bernardino problem: to recall and Rich and We are in the happiest situation of any people in the world. inhabit the very land in which we can live in peace, and there is no other place on this earth that the saints can now live without being molested. Suppose, for instance, you should go to California. Brs. Amasa Lyman and Charles C. Rich went and made a settlement in South California, and many of the brethren were anxious that the whole church should go there. We we had gone there, this would have been about the last year in which any of the Saints could stay there. They would have been driven from their homes. It is about the last year that Bro. Amasa can stay there. Were he able to tell you the true situation of that place, he would tell you that hell reigns there and it is just as much as any "Mormon" can do to live there, and that it is about time If for him and every true Saint to leave that land." As I have often brought us to said, I am these barren thankful valleys, fullness that the Lord has these sterile mountains, to to a to |
