# The Rocky Mountain Saints/Chapter 49

* THE PRIESTHOOD IN ZION
* Its Organizations, Apostolic, Judicial, and Political
* The Prayers of the Saints
* The Surveillance of the Teachers
* The Eyes of the Priesthood over all
* The Missionaries abroad
* The Elders travel "without Purse or Scrip"
* How Mormonism is introduced among the Gentiles
* Foreign Missions
* His Satanic Majesty attacks the Apostles in England
* "Devils" attack Brother Heber
* Success in Britain
* The Emigration to Zion
* Baptizing Converts in the Atlantic
* The Journey through the States.
In the Mormon Church there are two priesthoods, the Melchisedec and the Aaronic—the latter an appendage to the former. The lowest rank in the Priesthood is the office of "Deacon:" his duties, without anything sentimental, are somewhat menial. In all "the branches" of the Church, outside of Zion, the deacon is expected to look after the public halls or places of preaching; he "keeps the door," sees that no disorderly persons enter to disturb the meeting, takes up the collections, and is the treasurer on a small scale for "the branch;" besides which he inquires into the necessities of the widows and the fatherless, and renders them what aid he can. The deacon should physically be a strong man, not on account of the weight of the pennies that he carries home, but on account of the practical manner in which he has frequently to "cast out devils." The Author well remembers attending a "council meeting" of the Mormon priesthood, in Birmingham, England, when one of the brethren proposed that a number of the heaviest men among the Saints should be that evening ordained deacons. The proposer of that motion set forth that they were all strong men; one of them used a forge-hammer in a smithy, another was a drayman, a third had been on the police force, and there were two carpenters. Others were also named whose strength was equal to the office. The presiding officer ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/595 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/596 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/597 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/598 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/599 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/600 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/601 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/602 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/603 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/604 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/605 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/606 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/607 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/608 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/609 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/610 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/611 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/612 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/613 ​But this number of emigrants gives no idea of the aggregate of those who have, at one time or another, been baptized into the Mormon Church in Europe. Probably not one person in twenty who receives the faith "endures to the end," and many of those who are "faithful" are so very poor that they are unable to pay the expenses of their emigrating to Zion, and they linger on in the old homes of their fathers. Brigham has made a vigorous effort to gather all the foreign Saints, and has laid the Rocky Mountain Saints under very heavy contributions to that end. To some of the foreign disciples emigration has been a great blessing; to others it has been the ruin of everything of earthly value.
The reader, however, must not suppose that Brigham has heedlessly distributed the wealth of the disciples in Utah for the suffering poor among the Saints. The prophet thinks himself a financier, and he loves to boast of that qualification.
A resolution was taken by the Mormons in Nauvoo, who had wealth enough to lead the van in the exodus to the Rocky Mountains, that they would never cease their efforts to assist the poor whom they had left behind, till every deserving soul was gathered to the body of the Church. The exiles honoured their word, and, as the pioneers found resting-places in the West, teams were sent back to Iowa and Illinois, and the poor were assisted forward to the Missouri river.
During this exodus, the emigration from Europe to the States was entirely closed; but, stimulated by the apostles, the British Saints memorialized her Majesty the Queen to provide them transportation to Vancouver's Island or Oregon, and to grant them the means of subsistence till they could produce it from the soil. The memorial has been severely criticised by those who charge the Mormon leaders with disloyal sentiments to the Republic, and there is a paragraph in it that quite admits of that construction; but Brigham has enough sins to account for without being responsible for that. In 1846 the distress in England among the poorer classes was sorely felt by the Mormons, and justified their seeking deliverance at the hands of royalty, even though their presence, 30,000 strong, in the Territory of Oregon, might have been prejudicial to American interests during the boundary debate. The British treas​ury, however, was represented at the time as unable to favour the prayers of the thirteen thousand persons who signed the memorial, and the Saints had no alternative but to "bide their time."
In the spring of 1848 immigration was reopened, via New Orleans, up the Mississippi river to St. Louis, thence by the Missouri to Council Bluff's and "Winter-Quarters on the opposite bank of the river. During the October Conference of the following year, the resolution for gathering the poor from Nauvoo was extended to the poor of all countries, and a "Perpetual Fund" was created. A liberal contribution was made, and some of the leading elders, under the direction of the chief bishop, were sent East to first gather up the Saints left on the Missouri river, and from that time the operation of the fund was to be extended to Europe.
The funds, of course, like everything else, were, and are under the direction of the First Presidency, and the immigrants assisted were usually met by the clerks of the Trustee-in-Trust one day before they entered Salt Lake City, and signed their obligations to refund the money with ten per cent. per annum, added till paid. Contributions have been continually called for, and the fund has increased to a pretty large sum. During the present summer Brigham announced that the immigrants owed the fund nearly a million of dollars! As the fund is a general receptacle for contributions, loses nothing, and gains annually ten per cent, upon its entire capital, it is destined to be a great institution, and a rod in pickle for the disobedient.
The opponents of Brigham are usually very severe upon him for "the bondage" in which he holds his poor debtors; but he has his defence. Many of those immigrants can never return the funds unless they apostatize, and if that dreadful deed is done, his agent is instantly after the rebel. One of the elders who had been on mission for several years in England, and who had, in addition, been a liberal contributor with his pen to the Church organ there, had to be assisted to Zion by the fund. He thought they had no right to expect his "obligation" after all those years of service; but he was obliged to give it. Three years ago he apostatized, and gave promise of being a magnificent rebel. He was tried before the ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/616 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/617 ​Page:The Rocky Mountain Saints.djvu/618