---
title: Times and Seasons
description: Issues of 1845 to 1846.
authors:
  - Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
editors:
  - Ebenezer Robinson
  - Don Carlos Smith
  - Smith, Joseph, Jr.
  - Taylor, John
collections:
  - periodicals
tags:
  - newspaper
  - times-and-seasons
  - nauvoo
  - nineteenth-century
periodical: Times and Seasons
volume: 6
number: 23
published: 1846-02-15
publisher: E. Robinson and D. C. Smith; later John Taylor
publisher_place: Commerce and Nauvoo, Illinois
language: en
type: article
reference: "“Title from Scripture,” *Times and Seasons* 6, no. 23 (February 15, 1846): 1131–1134."
printed_title: TITLE FROM SCRIPTURE.
source:
  url: https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1846-02-15_6_23
  transcription: Text from the Centerplace.org transcription (https://www.centerplace.org/history/ts/v6n23.htm), with its page breaks; this Internet Archive scan is the reference copy (its OCR was used only as a witness for OCR repair)
  identifier: per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1846-02-15_6_23
start_page: 1131
end_page: 1134
curator_note: A Mormon newspaper published by the church in Nauvoo; included for historical study. Inclusion does not imply endorsement.
rights:
  status: public-domain
  basis: US publication 1846 (Nauvoo, Illinois); published before 1931, so public domain in the United States
  source: https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_times-and-seasons_1846-02-15_6_23
  publication_year: 1846
---

# Title from Scripture

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Prone as our excellent compatriots are to believe themselves the chosen people, whom providence has substituted for Israel, as the recipients of his special bounty, it is to be doubted whether any of them had believed, until the recent Congressional discussion, that our title to Oregon was based on an express grant from on high. The Hon. John Q. Adams, however, whose extensive acquirements justify the expectation of new views from him on every question, has recently demonstrated our right to "the whole or none" to be celestial as well as terrestrial, and there is besides, a passage in Mr. Allen's speech, which is supposed to hint at the same doctrine-inasmuch as it refers, obscurely, to certain "siderial" centres [centers] of constellations"-the precise meaning of which cannot be arrived at, upon any other hypothesis. We prefer to discuss the question, as Mr. Adams puts it, because we cannot say that we precisely understand Mr. Allen's mode of presenting it, and because moreover, there is always a great deal of importance attached to any notion which is carefully covered.

"With old odd ends, stol'n forth of holy writ"-a species of logic which Mr. Adams has plentifully applied, in support of what may properly be called the Mosaic view of the subject. Let us hear Mr. Adams. Speaking of the Bible, he says:

"If the book was there, he would thank the clerk to read from it what he considers as the foundation of our title to Oregon. If he would turn to the 26th, 27th, and 28th verses of the first chapter of Genesis, the Committee would see what Mr. A. considered the foundation of the title of United States to the Oregon territory."

[The clerk here read as follows: "And God said, Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over overy [every] creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image: in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."]

That, (said Mr. A.) "in my judgment, is the foundation of our title to Oregon, and of all the title we have to any of the territory we possess. It is the foundation of the title by which you, sir, occupy that chair, and by which we are now called on to occupy Oregon."

Now, without entering into any discussion, as to the particular part of the text quoted, which applies to the speaker's chair, and leaving it to the scientific to decide whether that admirable specimen of cabinet makership and upholstery, can properly, be considered a 'creeping thing merely because it has legs, we cannot but admit that it passes our ingenuity to divine the mode in which Genesis can be reasonably connected with Oregon. Is it because we are men and women, and because we are to be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, that we are proprietors, indefensibly, up to parallel 54 (symbol of degrees) 40? Surely our British friends were created male and female as well as we, and we call the whole "Native American" party to witness, that they increase and multiply and replenish our part of the earth, to an extent which some people have thought both awful and dangerous. Is not the wretched Indian, whose only dominion is over the fish and the fowl, a man as well as we-made like us in the image of his Maker-placed, like us, upon this earth, with rights as potent and as dear as ours? And, if we own the land we tread-as the honorable speaker holds his chair, in virtue only of our occupation as sons of Adam-is not the Flat Head or the Shoshonee a proprietor, under the same title, holding by the same tenure, at the will of the same God? Not only that-but is not the Indian in a state of civilization, much nigher to that of the patriarchs, and still more nigh to that of Adam, than are the citizens of our excellent republic, with all its vaunted institutions? Can Mr. Adams mean, that because God commanded man to 'subdue' the earth, he has therefore a right to all he can 'subdue?' Because, as he afterwards says, it is a 'characteristic' of our people to 'go ahead,' have we a necessary right to 'go ahead,' whenever we can? If these questions be answered affirmatively, what prevents the Briton also

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from 'subduing' and 'going ahead,' to the extent of his inclination and ability?

To this Mr. Adams has his answer-

"There is the difference between the British claim and ours; we claim Oregon that we may improve the country and make its desert to blossom as the rose. We claim it that we may establish laws, till the ground: that we may 'subdue the earth,' as has been commanded by God Almighty. She claims to keep it open as a hunting ground-that she may hunt wild beasts in it; she claims it of course, for the benefit of the wild beasts [a laugh] as well as the savage nations who roam over it.'

Now in the first place, there is not the slightest evidence, on the face of the earth, of any intention of Great Britain to keep the Oregon territory in a state of perpetual barbarism. On the contrary her surplus population is immense, while we have none and her necessities demand large territories and wide scope, which our broad republic, for an hundred years, will have no need of. And, second, what proof is there of our disposition to make the wilderness blossom as the rose? Does any one pretend to say that we want Oregon, for the sake of Oregon, and not for our sakes? Have we been behind hand with England, in hunting the wild beasts-aye and the wild men too, whenever we have had an opportunity? Have we not room enough within our borders, to exercise all our civilizing and 'subduing' propensities for a century? Can the honorable member from Massachusetts have forgotten the millions of acres conceded to be ours-lying within the limits of our recognised [recognized] states and territories-which are as far removed from roses and blossoming as the wildest sands in the great Sahara? Can he believe that without 'subduing' or tilling the bountiful lands that God has given us-without replenishing the half of that portion of the earth in which we dwell-we have an indefeasible 'right' to emigrate where we please-drive out aboriginal inhabitants from all the fat places of the earth-appropriate to ourselves its pleasantness, every where-make land and sea our bloody battle grounds in the support of such a 'right'-and then heal and make whole our iniquities, by quoting a chapter of Genesis? If blossoming and roses and horticultural inclinations, generally, be the only justification necessary for the appropriation of territory to ourselves why have we not a right to march into all the untilled and the 'unsubdued' parts of the whole earth? Why should we not march into Canada-capture Mexico-annex Cuba, and publish our claim 'to the whole or none' of South America generally? Surely if we are to bless the earth with our dominion there is no reason for our preferring the savages of Oregon to the people of other countries, whose inferior state of blossoming entitles them to that blessing. Above all, why should we not announce to the Russian Autocrat that our title extends over what he calls his own, and the part of Oregon which we now concede to be his shall be retained for hunting and the peltry trade no longer? Why should we not nail our flag to the north pole itself, in order that the 'unborn infants,' whom Mr. Allen spoke of in his speech, may rejoice under its star-spangled folds, when they wake up 'from the lap of the past?' If our rule is a good one it works well throughout, and it is neither logical nor honest to make 'fish' of one nation and 'fowl' of the other. If we sincerely believe ourselves the most 'subduing' nation in the world, consistency requires us to go forth, at once, to replenish the countries that please us, and vouch Moses for our title! Such doctrines are comfortable in the highest degree, and they have the sanction of the remotest antiquity. From Sesostrics to Gen. Houston, all the great annexers of territory-including Alexander, Genghiskan, and Attila the Hun-have preached or practiced just such things. History, it is true, has called some of them by hard names-and some rude spoken men have said that their principles were the essence of heathenism and rapacity. Perhaps Mr. Adams' speech may have the effect of changing the world's opinion, and convincing it that

"Things are not what they seem."

It is to be feared, however, that plain people-hearing the book of our faith appealed to, in support of doctrines, to all appearance so abominable-may remember that there is in the Bible, also, something called the Decalogue, and that not to murder, nor steal, nor covet our neighbor's goods, are commands, which explain more fully the divine intention, as to nations no less than individuals.

But Mr. Adams finds still further support in Biblical quotation, which he ostensibly applies to the Papal claim of dominion over savage lands-but which was, evidently, meant to fortify the pretensions which he formed for us upon Genesis:

"I will ask the clerk to read another short extract from that same book; he will please to read the 8th verse of the second Psalm."

[The clerk here read as follows: "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession."]

Mr. A. "Will the clerk read one or two verses which precede that passage-showing to whom it refers."

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[The clerk here read as follows: "Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou are my Son: this day have I begotten thee."]

And again:

"All power is given to me in heaven and in earth: Go, ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptising [baptizing] them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world."

It is a favorite theory of many that we have a right to conquer, in order to civilize and Christianize, and upon the passage thus quoted that pretensions rests. But it is calculating rather largely upon public credulity to suppose that common sense can be hoodwinked thus in the present controversy, and that any one is weak enough to believe the propagation of Christianity to be one of our objects in setting up our claim so steadily to the territory in dispute. Does the language of Holy Writ, thus pressed into the service, designate us, more than any other people, as the exclusive proprietors of 'the heathen,' and the 'uttermost parts' that they inhabit? Are we commissioned, any more than English, Russians, Frenchmen, to teach and baptize? And what have naval stations, trading stations, block houses and the fur trade, harbors and islands to do with the teaching of the gospel. What is there of religion in the pretended rights given by discovery and exploration? What above all-in threats of war-in angry contention-in blood? If the strife is to be for the bringing in of the heathen within the pale of the church of Christ, why diplomatic controversies-why notices, war speeches, preparing the heart of the nation for violence and sin? There is the territory. Ignorance, debasement and barbarity are all over it. Does any one say nay to the devoted missionaries who may be anxious to win their benighted brethren to God? Who stays them? Not England-not America. Two thousand Mormons have recently taken up their line of march to Oregon, as the papers tell us. Do the heathen and their possessions belong to them too? If the book of Joe Smith has free ingress, who prohibits it to the Holy Gospel?

The truth is that the more we probe the attempts which public men are making to conceal, under specious pretexts, and to sanctify by sacred appellations, what is and can be made no more than a wild thirst for territorial aggrandizement, the deeper must grow our conviction of the utter emptiness of all the 'right' which is so vociferously claimed. Among the most unworthy of all the plans for popular delusion on the subject it is submitted that there is none less worthy than the attempt to give to the Oregon land-squabble the character of a religious dispute-a holy war. It is impossible to see scripture quoted and perverted to such ends, without applying the anecdote told of the late excellent cardinal Cheverus, when bishop of Boston. That amiable prelate had been worried by a pestilent polemic, who had endeavored to provoke him into a controversy, and whose chief weapons were sentences from scripture, selected at random, and strung together, odd and even, to suit the exigencies of the argument. Worn out at last, the bishop's patience yielded: 'Is it not written,' said he, 'that Judas went out and hanged himself?' 'It is,' was the reply. 'Then it is also written, 'Go thou and do likewise!'

W.

At a camp meeting lately held in Connecticut, a preacher, delivered himself of the following: "I would that the gospel were a wedge, and I a beetle, I would whack it into every sinner's heart among you."-Exchange Paper.

Just so; if the Devil handles the beetle and wedge; "The gospel is the power of God unto salvation."

(->) A slip from the Salem Register office, gives the following account of the capture of a slave vessel, supposed to be from Philadelphia-and the dreadful sufferings of the slaves:

Capture of an American Slaver, with 900 Slaves,-Captain Ryder, of the Otho, from Port Praya, has furnished us with Monrovia papers to December 10, and a Circular from the Methodist Missionaries at Monrovia, dated Dec. 17. The Circular gives the particulars of the capture of the bark Pons, of Philadelphia, with 900 slaves, on the 1st of December, by the United States ship Yorktown, Captain Bell, in latitude 3 south, three days out from Cadunda, bound to Rio Janeiro. When the Pons was first seen, she raised American colors, supposing the Yorktown was a British cruiser; but discovering the mistake, immediately hoisted the Portuguese flag. On boarding her, and demanding her papers of the Portuguese captain, he replied, "I have thrown them overboard." On being asked what was his cargo, he said "about 900 slaves." On further examination it was found that she had shipped 913, between the ages of 8 and 30, and 47 of them females, and left at the factory 4 or 500 more, which they had intended to have taken in the same vessel, but

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were prevented by the proximity of a British cruiser, from which they narrowly escaped.-The Pons was put under the charge of Lieut. Cogdell, and was 14 days in getting up to Monrovia, during which time about 150 of the poor wretches died-some of them jumping overboard in a fit of desperation-and on her arrival at Monrovia, several of the slaves were in a dying state, and many were so emaciated that their skin literally cleaved to their bones, and the stench of the crowded hold was almost suffocating. The recaptured slaves were landed at Monrovia, and measures were adopted for taking care of them, by the United States Agent for liberated Africans-300 of them by the Methodist Mission establishment there, who have issued a Circular, appealing to the Christian public for aid, The Pons had sailed for the United States, (supposed for Philadelphia,) under charge of Lieutenant Cogdell. A letter from one of the Methodist Missionaries gives a horrid account of the sufferings of the slaves, and says it is utterly impossible for language to convey an appropriate idea of the horrors of their situation-the living and the dying were huddled together with less care than is bestowed upon the brute creation-the thermometer at 100 to 120 in the hold. Most of the slaves were in a state of nudity, and many had worn their skin through, producing putrid ulcers, which fed swarms of flies."

JEWISH COLONIZATION.-The present extraordinary agitation among the Jews, with the reference to a return to the land of their fathers, cannot but be regarded with interest by the Christian community-especially by those who believe in their literal restoration to the Holy Land:

"At a meeting of gentlemen feeling deeply interested in the welfare of the Jewish people, recently held in London," says the London Watchman, "it was resolved, that a society be formed, under the title of the 'British and Foreign Society for promoting Colonization of the Holy Land.' The Society is to be rastricted [restricted] to the making of all necessary preparations to facilitate the realization of the gradual colonization of Palestine, and the present protection and promotion of the civil and religious rights and liberties of the Jewish people in every part of the world; the committee to consist alike of Jews and Christians, Englishmen and Foreigners. The co-operation of politicians and good men, of every sect, country and rank, is invited, it being a fundamental rule of the Society, that it shall be entirely silent and neutral as to every point of religious controversy."

DREADFUL EFFECTS OF THE STORM.-The Norfolk Courier, of the afternoon of the 7th ult. says:-

"We learn that a very respectable resident of the vicinity of Nott's Island, (Currituck county,) N. C., arrived in our city this morning, who state that the effects of the late storm were most awfully experienced on that part of the coast. He says, that fifty families were drowned on Nott's Island, and one thousand head of cattle destroyed. The wild fowl suffered most severely-wild geese might be taken in almost any quantity-some killed, others so much crippled as to be easily seized, being unable to escape."

THE CHURCHES AND POLITICS.-The N. York Evangelist has come out in favor of leaving the Oregon controversy to arbitration, and abuses the administration with more than Whig rancor and bitterness for declining the offer of the British Government. It thinks the time has come when the Christian Churches should act in the matter, and unite their influence to put down the administration of Mr. Polk. All we have to say, is, that if the "Churches" show no more moderation, good sense, and Christian spirit than the reverend editor of the Evangelist, they will put themselves down instead of the administration, and make themselves the laughing stock of all reasonable men.-Barre (Mass.) Gaz.)