9 This
place you may obtain by hire. And inquire diligently concerning the more
ancient inhabitants and founders of this city;
10 For
there are more treasures than one for you in this city. (D&C 111:9-10)
These verses were part of the
instructions given to Joseph Smith and three other leaders as they visited
Salem, Massachusetts. They had come looking for sources of money to help pay
their debts, so they investigated that claim. But apparently the Lord wanted to
broaden their vision of value, by telling them to look into the history of the
place and its inhabitants.
It struck me that it might be
instructive to also look into that stuff too. After all, it is so much easier
to do today, what with the internet and Wikipedia, and various fabulous
resources there.
It was interesting to find this Salem
was a beginning colony of the Puritans and to find out the struggles and
controversies they were involved in. Although the Puritans sought religious
freedom for themselves, they did not want to extend the same privilege to
others. They penalized other “unorthodox” denominations with strong, cruel
penalties of banishment, physical maiming, and damaging punishments, and even
execution. In the end, this was part of what got their colony charter revoked.
And of course it was also the site of
the infamous Salem witch trials, with all the associated superstition, false
accusations, injustice, oppression, and paranoia that all involved.
How would it help the prophet Joseph
Smith in 1836 to know this history? It would give a lot of information about
the kinds of practices that would make a religious community odious to the
surrounding inhabitants or to those who wanted to live there but who weren’t
part of their faith. It would give a measuring stick against which to gauge the
accusations brought against the Saints in Missouri and elsewhere. It would definitely help form his ideas
about the importance of religious freedom. It had examples of both statesmanship and ignominious
tyranny.
Some links:
A short history of the First Church in Salem (Unitarian
Universalist)
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