But behold, at

baptisms shall be acceptable unto me. the end of this appointment, your baptisms shall not be acceptable unto me; and if you do not these things at the end of the appointment, ye shall be rejected as a Church with your dead, saith the Lord your God. For verily I say unto you, that after you have had sufficient time to build a house to me, wherein the ordinance of baptizing for the dead belongeth, and for which the same was instituted from before the foundation of the world, your baptisms for your dead can not be acceptable unto me; for therein are the keys of the holy priesthood, ordained, that you may receive honor and glory."

It was quite as essential that the Mormon prophet should be provided for as the Mormon Deity. Accordingly, this same revelation provides for the erection of a tavern, in which Joseph was to have his head-quarters.

"Therefore let my servant Joseph, and his seed after him, have place in that house from generation to generation, forever and ever, saith the Lord; and let the name of that house be called the Nauvoo House; and let it be a delightful habitation for man, and a restingplace for the weary traveler," &c.

This change in the character of the prophet's residence is significant of his growing habits of intemperance and licentiousness-it was only two years subsequent that his revelation in favor of polygamy was concocted—and a tavern, with its bar, and multiplicity of rooms, closets, and passages, would seem to be a fit and characteristic residence for the chief of Mormondon at this period. But alas for the prediction! In a few

years from this time, the prophet slept in a bloody grave, and his family and followers were driven from the place which he and his seed, from generation to generation, were to occupy "forever and ever."

Under the influence of fanaticism, fiercely stimulated by persecution, the gathering Saints were active in all départments of industry, and soon became a thriving community. Buildings were erected, farms cultivated, the tavern was built, the temple progressed apace, and Nauvoo rapidly increased. The free people of Illinois, indignant that so peaceable, industrious, and virtuous a community should have been persecuted and driven into exile by the slaveholders of Missouri, extended to them a friendly and fostering hand. Nauvoo received from the Legislature a charter with extraordinary privileges, among which was the power to organize a military force, armed by the state, and under the command of the prophet as lieutenantgeneral. A formidable band, amounting, ultimately, to 4000 men, called the Nauvoo Legion, was organized, armed, and drilled, ready for any emergency, however desperate, to which the ambition or necessities of their leader might give rise.

Reviews were held from time to time, and flags presented, and Joseph appeared on all those occasions with a splendid staff, in all the pomp and circumstance of a full-blown military commander. The singular spectacle was presented of an independent military power growing and perfecting itself within the state, and rendered fierce and dangerous by religious fanaticism, and the recollections of persecutions suffered. This legion is described by an officer of the U. S.

army, in September, 1842, as approximating, in regard to appointments and discipline, "very closely to our regular forces." The Mormons at this time, in the United States and Great Britain, were supposed to number about one hundred and fifty thousand, and were on the increase; and this standing army was capable of an indefinite increase. Why was the military organization necessary? The idea of playing the part of Mohammed, and marching back in triumph to the Mecca of the Saints in Jackson county, which had already floated through the brain of the prophet, had probably never been abandoned. Joseph, as the mouthpiece of the Mormon Deity, had predicted, that unless justice were speedily done to his persecuted followers, "the Lord God himself would arise and come forth out of his hiding-place, and in his fury vex the nation ;" and the idea of being the executioner of the celestial vengeance may furnish a reason for the organization of so formidable a band. But, fortunately, he was too much engaged in pandering to his animal propensities to be capable of using efficiently the means of mischief within his grasp. To. organize and conduct a violent and treasonable revolution in this country requires a larger reach of intellect, greater self-denial, and more determined energy than belonged to the Mormon chief.

Joseph was a skillful tactician. Among the ways and means by which he and his community became favorably known to the world was that of newspaper correspondence, which forms so large a portion of the journals of the day. Strangers would suddenly appear at Nauvoo, and the columns of the widely-circu