The Work and the Glory (121 page)

Without realizing it, Nathan was on his feet. So was every man in the room. Their heads turned this way and that, looking up toward the ceiling to ascertain the source of the mighty roaring. Nathan felt a hand grip his shoulder. He turned. His father was staring at him, eyes wide with amazement and wonder. And then Benjamin began to speak. At least his mouth started to move, and sounds came out, but it took a moment before Nathan realized that it was unintelligible, a babble of sounds and words that made absolutely no sense to him at all.

Then suddenly he jerked forward, his eyes glued on his father’s mouth. It was the gift of tongues! His father was speaking in tongues! Nathan felt a jolt shoot through him. It hit him with such force that he groped wildly for the edge of the pew to stop his knees from buckling.

“The temple is filled with angels!”

The cry brought Nathan around to look up at the pulpits. It was Joseph who had shouted out. He was pointing out across the assembly room. Chills and a wild tingling were coursing all up and down the entire length of Nathan’s body now. But when he turned to scan the hall, he saw nothing. There was a sharp pang of disappointment. Then suddenly he was aware of another sensation. He felt them! His head came up sharply and he looked around again, focusing inwardly now. It was as if he had suddenly acquired another sense—not seeing, not hearing, but...He groped for the right word.
Knowing!
That was it. He knew, as surely as if he saw them, that there were other beings present with them in the room. Tears sprang unbidden to his eyes. He knew! He knew!

The assembly room was now filled with a roar of a different kind. All around him men were talking or calling out excitedly. Some pointed at the air in front of them, crying out that visions were opened to their view. Others evidently were allowed to see the heavenly beings. Some spoke in tongues, many were prophesying.

Nathan whirled back around to his father. Benjamin had stopped speaking now, but his face still glowed with a radiant power, as though inside there was some unseen fire. Nathan reached out and took him by the shoulders and shook him. “Pa,” he cried, “you spoke in tongues.”

For several moments, Benjamin just stared at him, then suddenly one great racking sob shook his body. “I know,” he whispered. “I know.”

It was eleven P.M. when father and son came out of the east doors of the Kirtland Temple and turned south toward their homes. They were still overwhelmed. And drained! Benjamin could not remember a time when he felt more exhausted. When they came to the gate in front of Benjamin’s home, he stopped for a moment. He turned back, and Nathan did the same. For almost a minute they gazed at the great dark silhouette of the building to the north of them.

“We’ll sing and we’ll shout with the armies of heaven.”
Earlier that day he had faltered when the choir had begun to sing that chorus from William Phelps’s dedicatory hymn. He had felt nothing but sorrow and envy then, and had lowered his eyes, not wanting anyone to see his shame. “The Spirit of God like a fire is burning,” the hymn began. This afternoon he had known that to be true, but only for others.

Now all of that was changed. Now he understood.

Benjamin turned to his son. His mouth opened, then shut again—a great lump in his throat suddenly cut him off. It was all right, though. Words could not possibly say what he was feeling. Instead, he held open his arms. Nathan’s eyes widened in surprise. Then, in an instant, he stepped into Benjamin’s encircling embrace.

For a long time, father and son stood there, not far from the shadow of the temple, holding one another, and silently rejoicing.

Dedication of the Kirtland Temple

Notes

Chapter One

The earliest documented account we have of Joseph Smith performing a marriage for members of the Church is that of 24 November 1835 (see
History of the Church
2:320; hereafter cited as HC). In that account Joseph does not specifically say it was the first marriage he had performed, but that seems to be the implication. Though the form and content of the ceremony as presented in the novel are essentially as described in the 1835 account, having Joseph perform the marriage of Nathan and Lydia in April 1830 is a fictional device, as is the attempt to have the constable arrest Joseph for doing so.

Chapter Three

The depiction of events in Colesville associated with Joseph’s visit and the attempts to baptize and confirm converts—principally Emma Smith and members of the Joseph Knight family—is essentially as described in Joseph’s history (see HC 1:86-88) and noted by Joseph Knight, Jr. (see Larry C. Porter, “The Colesville Branch and the Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon,”
BYU Studies
10 [Spring 1970]: 372-74). The legal harassment Joseph faced at this time, including the change of heart on the part of the constable and his giving Joseph assistance in escaping the hands of the mob, is also recorded in his history (see HC 1:88-89).

Chapter Four

The depiction of the trials in South Bainbridge and Colesville, including some of the dialogue and the blasphemous mocking Joseph received at the hands of his enemies, follows the recorded account in Joseph’s history (see HC 1:89-96). Some of the details are taken from a report made by one of Joseph’s defenders, John Reid, which is included in a footnote in that same source.

Chapter Five

Emma was pregnant and in poor health during the time the sisters were sewing clothing for the missionaries to the Lamanites, but refused to use that as an excuse to leave the work to others (see
Church History in the Fulness of Times
[Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1989], p. 80; hereafter cited as CHFT). The Mary Whitmer story is reported by her son David Whitmer (see CHFT, pp. 57-58). Emma and Joseph were living with the Whitmers at the time Mary had this experience, and so Emma undoubtedly heard Mary’s report. The suggestion that Emma reacted to it with frustration, however, is speculation on the part of the author. Section 25 of the Doctrine and Covenants, wherein Emma is counseled not to murmur, was given in July 1830, about a year after Mary Whitmer had the experience with Moroni.

Chapter Seven

The depiction of Joseph Smith’s arrival in Kirtland and his prophetic greeting of Newel K. Whitney is, in general terms, historically accurate (see CHFT, pp. 90-91).

Chapter Eight

The giving of the background of the Newel Whitney story (see note for chapter seven) to Carl Rogers is, of course, a fictional device; but the details of that story are accurate (see Andrew Jenson, comp.,
Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia
[1901-36; reprint, Salt Lake City: Western Epics, 1971], 1:223).

Chapter Nine

Lucy Mack Smith makes it clear that she was the one who led the Saints on the canal boat to Buffalo, and then on to Kirtland (see her
History of Joseph Smith by His Mother,
ed. Preston Nibley [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1958], pp. 195-97; hereafter cited as Mack Hist.).

Chapter Ten

On the journey to Kirtland, Lucy Mack Smith cared for the needs of her group, settled disputes, and saw to it that the group conducted prayer and worship services while under way. Her speeches of exhortation and encouragement in the novel come largely from her own account. (See Mack
Hist.,
pp. 196-99.)

Chapter Eleven

The group of Saints from the Finger Lakes region was too large for one boat, so a second company, under the direction of Thomas B. Marsh, left at about the same time. They arrived in Buffalo shortly after Lucy Mack Smith’s group. The Colesville Branch, under leadership of Newel Knight, had left earlier but were delayed in Buffalo for some time because of the ice. The depiction of the other groups’ reluctance to declare their identity is as described by Mother Smith (see Mack
Hist.,
p. 199).

The miraculous parting of the ice that occurs as Mother Smith exhorts the Saints to repent and call upon God for his intervention closely follows her recorded account of this remarkable event (see Mack
Hist.,
pp. 202-5).

Chapter Twelve

Parley’s humorous account of his escape from the constable and his dog comes from his autobiography, from which most of the wording in the novel is taken (see
Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt,
ed. Parley P. Pratt, Jr. [1874; reprint, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1985], pp. 36-39; hereafter cited as PPP
Auto.
).

Chapter Fourteen

The account of Elsa Johnson and the miraculous healing of her arm is drawn in detail from Joseph’s history and from a later report published in the
Millennial Star
(see CHFT, pp. 93-94, for more detail and references). Obviously, having her tell it to the Steeds at the June conference is the author’s device.

With regard to the blessing of Nathan and Lydia’s child, it should be noted that we do not know exactly when the blessing of infants was first instituted in the Church. We know that, in response to Doctrine and Covenants 20:70, children were blessed by priesthood holders (e.g., see PPP
Auto.,
p. 51). The report of an infant being blessed early in Church history comes from George Reynolds, who states that in Kirtland, Reynolds Cahoon asked the Prophet Joseph to bless his newborn son. Joseph did so and gave him the name of Mahonri Moriancumer. The Prophet indicated that this was the name of the brother of Jared in the Book of Mormon. (See
Juvenile Instructor
27 [1 May 1892]: 282.)

Chapter Seventeen

The details of the laying of the foundation for the first house in Kaw Township and the dedication of the land of Zion on 2 August 1831 come from Joseph’s history (see HC 1:196) and from John Whitmer’s history (cited in a footnote in the same reference).

Chapter Eighteen

Nathan’s letter to Lydia reflects a blend of missionary experiences drawn from the journals or personal histories of several missionaries serving on different missions. For example, the “breakfast cursing” comes from Wilford Woodruff (see Richard L. Anderson, “Jackson County in Early Mormon Descriptions,”
Missouri Historical Review,
April 1971, p. 279); the “drum and egg” band comes from Parley P. Pratt (see PPP Auto., p. 107); and some of the language and phrasing used by Nathan comes from the missionary journals of Noah Packard (see “The Life and Travels of Noah Packard,” in
Voices from the Past,
BYU Campus Education Week, pp. 1-7).

In Jessica’s letter, the account of what conditions were like for the Saints in Jackson County during that first winter comes from Parley P. Pratt’s autobiography (see
PPP
Auto., p. 56).

In Joseph’s letter, the challenge to the wording of some of the revelations is described pretty much as it happened; the resulting revelation is now section 67 in the Doctrine and Covenants (see CHFT, p. 119).

The “vision,” as it was called (now section 76 in the Doctrine and Covenants), was given in response to Joseph and Sidney’s work on the translation of the New Testament (see HC 1:245). The details of Sidney’s exhaustion and how the revelation was received are from an account by Philo Dibble, who was present at the time (see J. Christopher Conkling, A
Joseph Smith Chronology
[Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1979], pp. 30-31; hereafter cited as
JS Chrono.).

The petty reasons for apostasy listed in Joseph’s letter to Nathan are not fictional, though some of the incidents mentioned in this regard occurred elsewhere and not in Hiram (see CHFT, p. 113).

The tarring and feathering of Joseph and the mistreatment of Sidney come almost word for word out of Joseph’s history (see HC 1:261-65).

Chapter Nineteen

Lydia’s retelling of the details of the meeting that occurred two days before the beginning of the School of the Prophets is correct. Joseph reported that all present, including some women (who are not named), spoke, sang, and preached in tongues (see HC 1:322-23).

Chapter Twenty

The fact that the First Presidency saw the Kirtland Temple in vision is reported by Truman O. Angell, who was one of the construction supervisors on the project (see
CHFT,
pp. 162-63).

Joseph’s disastrous experience with the store and the Saints who demanded credit is a matter of record (see
JS Chrono.,
p. 36).

The events of July twentieth (and the incidents leading up to them) are recorded in much detail in Joseph’s history (see HC 1:372-400) as well as in other places, and the novel generally follows those recorded accounts. Having Joshua Steed present is, of course, a fictional embellishment, as are some of the dialogue segments, but every attempt has been made to keep the subject matter of such dialogue accurate and appropriate to the events of the day. Lilburn W. Boggs, lieutenant governor of Missouri, was present on that day and was supportive of the activities. He later became governor of Missouri and issued the infamous “extermination order” of 1838, when the Saints were driven from the state.