[The Saints] are to receive an everlasting inheritance in ‘the land of Missouri,' where the Savior will make his second appearance; at which place the foundation of the temple of God, and the City of Zion, have been laid, and are soon to be built. It is also to be a city of Refuge, and a safe asylum when the storms of vengeance shall pour upon the earth, and those who reject the Book of Mormon, shall be swept off as with the besom of destruction. Then shall the riches of the Gentile be consecrated to the Mormonites; they shall have lands and cattle in abundance, and shall possess the gold and silver, and all the treasures of their enemies.
Ezra Booth, “Letter II,” Ohio Star, in Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, p. 180
Within four years from September 1832, there will not be one wicked person left in the United States; that the righteous will be gathered to Zion (Missouri,) and that there will be no President over these United States at that time…. I do hereby assert and declare that in four years from the date thereof [1832], every sectarian and religious denomination in the United States, shall be broken down, and every Christian shall be gathered unto the Mormonites, and the rest of the human race shall perish.
Martin Harris, quoted in Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 1834, p. 14
We are daily told [by the Mormons]… that we, (the Gentiles,) of this county are to cut off, and our lands appropriated by them for inheritance. Whether this is to be accomplished by the hand of the destroying angel, the judgments of God, or the arm of power, they are not fully agreed among themselves.
Western Monitor (Fayette, Missouri), August 2, 1833; quoted in Brodie, No Man Knows My History, 1945, p. 131
If gentiles (Missourian Old Settlers) did not wish to live among the Mormons, they would be forced to sell out to them and most likely at a loss…. On the other hand, if the gentiles attempted to remain in Jackson County, Mormon immigration ensured the Saints would soon make up the majority of the population, which would thereby permit them to oust the old settlers through ostensibly legal methods.
Kenneth Winn, Exiles in a Land of Liberty, p. 93
The people of the Lord… have already commenced to gather together to Zion, which is in the state of Missouri; therefore I declare unto you the warning which the Lord has commanded me to declare unto this generation,…. ‘[T]he hour of His judgment is come.'… Flee to Zion, before the overflowing scourge overtake you, for there are now those living upon the earth whose eyes shall not be closed in death until they see all these things, which I have spoken, fulfilled.
Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., History of the Church, v. 1, pp. 315-316
Mormon leaders consistently expressed their feelings that the war had been brought on by the wickedness of the United States, which had rejected Mormonism and permitted the death of the prophet of God and his servants…. Although the waste of lives was lamentable, a war between states would avenge the death of Joseph Smith. The Saints seemed especially gratified that Jackson County was a war zone and that Missouri would suffer the penalty of its cruelties to the Mormons. Besides avenging the blood of the innocent, the Lord would also prepare the way before his coming, which Mormons believed would occur in Jackson County, Missouri…. William Clayton wrote that such a spirit seemed to operate on Brigham Young's mind: ‘All Latter-day Saints will not stay here [in Utah] forever. He [Young] talks much and frequently about Jackson County, Missouri.
Eugene E. Campbell, Establishing Zion: The Mormon Church in the American West, 1847-1869, 1988, p. 235
... there are many – hundreds and hundreds within the sound of my voice – that will live to go back to Jackson County and build a holy temple to the Lord our God.
Prophet Lorenzo Snow, Conference Report, April 10, 1898, pp. 14, 64; quoted in Marvin W. Cowan, Mormon Claims Answered, 1997, online at http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/mclaims5.htm
… the land of Missouri, which is the land which I have appointed and consecrated for the gathering of the saints. Wherefore, this is the land of promise, and the place for the city of Zion. And thus saith the Lord your God, if you will receive wisdom here is wisdom. Behold, the place which is now called Independence is the center place.
Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr. revelation, Doctrine and Covenants 57:1-3
The main reason why the printing press was destroyed was because they published the Book of Commandments. It fell into the hands of the world, and the people of Jackson county, Missouri, saw from the revelations that they were considered by the church as intruders upon the land of Zion, as enemies to the church, and that they should be cut off out of the land of Zion and sent away. The people seeing these things in the Book of Commandments became the more enraged, tore down the printing press, and drove the church out of Jackson county.
David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, 1887, p. 54
How is the Lord going, to empty the earth? Will it be done in a week or a year? No. He has begun to do it. President Lincoln called out soldiers for three months, and was going to wipe the blot of secession for the escutcheon of the American Republic…. Now they are beginning to enlist men for three years…. They have begun to empty the earth, to cleanse the land, and prepare the way for the return of the Latter-day Saints to the center Stake of Zion…. When I left the State of Missouri, I had a deed for five pieces of as good land as any in the State, and I expect to go back to it…. There are also a few others in the Territory who received theirs. A few will remain and receive their inheritance. Will we return and receive an inheritance there? Many of the Saints will return to Missouri, and there receive an inheritance.
Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 9, p. 142, July 28, 1861
The Missourians have robbed, plundered and murdered our people. We should take our revenge on them as thoroughly as possible, and regain what we have lost in Missouri. The simplest way would be if our people would go to Missouri and buy their horses and cattle on credit, and then not pay for them; and our merchants would go to St. Louis and take their large quantities of goods on credit and then, when the notes become due, simply not pay them.
Attributed to Hyrum Smith, by William Law in an interview with Dr. Wyl, Salt Lake Tribune, July 31, 1887.
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