the thinker

Vengeance


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Note: "Vengeance" refers to avenging the blood of the Prophet Joseph Smith as well as avenging the persecution the Mormon Church had received in various locations, particularly the Mormon experience in Missouri.

Hymns:

Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Scattered Saints

The blood of those who have been slain;
For vengeance cries aloud;
Nor shall its cries ascend in vain;
For vengeance on the proud.

- Sacred Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1871, quoted in Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power, p. 250

Wake, O Wake, the World From Sleeping

[T]he Lion's left his thicket;
Up, ye watchmen, be in haste,
The destroyer of the Gentiles
Goes to lay their cities waste,
We're the true born sons of Zion.

- Sacred Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1871, quoted in Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power, p. 250

Awake, Ye Saints of God, Awake!

Though Zion's foes have counseled deep,
Although they bind with fetters strong,
The God of Jacob will not sleep,
His vengeance will not slumber long.

- Sacred Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1871, quoted in Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power, p. 250

O! Ye Mountains High

God will strengthen thy feet,
On the necks of thy foes thou shalt tread...
Thy deliverance is nigh,
Thy oppressors shall die,
And the Gentiles shall bow ‘neath thy rod.

- Sacred Hymns and Spiritual Songs, 1871, quoted in Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Extensions of Power, p. 250

Others:

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.

He [Brigham Young] called upon the Lord to bless this place [winter quarters in Council Bluffs, Iowa] for the good of the Saints and curse every Gentile who should attempt to settle here, with sickness, rottenness and death. Also to curse the land of Missouri that it might cease to bring forth grain or fruit of any kind to its inhabitants, and that they might be cursed [with] sickness, rottenness and death; that their flesh might consume away on their bones. And their blood be turned to maggots, and that their torments never cease, but increase until they leave the land and it be blessed for possession of the Saints.

Diary of Mary Haskin Parker Richards, typescript, Sunday, May 14, 1848, Marriott Library, University of Utah, p. 69

... omit from the prayer circle all reference to avenging the blood of the prophets.

George F. Richards, Apostle, February 15, 1927, John Buerger, “The Development of the Mormon Temple Endowment Ceremony,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, Winter 1987, v. 20, no. 4, p. 55

I from this day declare myself the Avenger of the blood of those innocent men, and the innocent cause of Zion.

Danite pledge to the Prophet, Alanson Ripley to “Dear brethren in Christ Jesus,” with Joseph Smith, Hyrum Smith, Caleb Baldwin, Alexander McRae, and Lyman Wight identified by initials at end of letter, April 10, 1839, see Hill, Quest for Refuge, p. 100 and Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, p. 113

You and each of you do covenant and promise that you will pray, and never cease to pray, Almighty God to avenge the blood of the prophets upon this nation, and that you will teach the same to your children and your children's children unto the third and fourth generations.

U.S. Senate Document 486 (59th Congress, 1st Session) Proceedings Before the Committee on Privileges and Elections of the United States Senate in the Matter of the Protests Against the Right of Hon. Reed Smoot, a Senator from the State of Utah, to hold his Seat, pp. 6-7 (Oath was removed from temple ceremony on February 15, 1927)