by Myron J. Fogde

In 1850, the recently arrived pioneer Swedish Lutheran pastor, Lars Paul Esbjorn, commented in a report to his patron, the American Home Missionary Society, "We have among us, especially in Galesburg, a large number of those who earlier had been Janssonists who left Bishop Hill though they still are Janssonists in heart, still perfectionists (In the spirit of Joseph Smith)." Esbjorn's linking of the teachings of the Bishop Hill Prophet and Founder with the Nauvoo Prophet and Founder challenges us to examine the theological underpinnings that served as the basis for these two distinctive west central Illinois communities in the 1840's, giving us a partial insight into the character of these two groups as manifested at that time and in those places.

This street scene in Bishop Hill shows the Steeple Building, the carpentry shop, and the blacksmith shop around the turn of the twentieth century. Courtesy of the Bishop Hill Heritage Association.

The Saints had arrived at Commerce in 1839, while fleeing persecution in Missouri, and renamed the community they established on the site "Nauvoo," meaning "beautiful place." They then witnessed the very rapid development of the community, particularly under the leadership of their Prophet, Joseph Smith, until his death in June 1844. Then many abandoned the city in 1846, heading westward, until outside the United States they built a new Nauvoo in the valley of the Wasatch Mountains near the Great Salt Lake. In a period of seven years, the Biblical number for perfection, the Saints attempted their City of God in western Illinois.

Some seven months after the start of the departure from Nauvoo, a group of Swedish immigrants, also fleeing persecution in their homeland, walked from Chicago to Henry County, and under the leadership of their Prophet, Eric Jansson, established the town of Bishop Hill on a rise by the Edwards River, naming it after the Swedish birthplace of their Prophet. For fourteen years, twice the Biblical number for perfection, a utopia on the prairie was attempted, with the decision to dissolve being made in 1860.

Both of these communities were favored with charismatic leaders who led them in leaving scenes of persecution to establishing homes in new locations. A driving force in sustaining them under these conditions and presenting them with their vision of their future was a deep commitment to the religious doctrine of perfection. Smith and Jansson were clearly perfectionists; and to both, this was an individual objective that could only be pursued by living in a disciplined community of fellow believers.

Nauvoo historian Robert Bruce Flanders notes that "from the summer of 1839 until his death in June 1844, the Prophet urged the gathering of the Saints to Nauvoo as a religious duty and made the teaching of this doctrine a responsibility of other Church officials and of the lay ministry." The Prophet's insistence is illustrated by a statement of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-

22| ILLINOIS HERITAGE

Nauvoo, from its inception on the banks of the Mississippi River, was to be a well ordered city, both in its planning and in the detailed execution of that plan for the purpose of building the prosperous City of God, that inhabited by the Saints of God would lead all toward perfection.

day Saints issued on January 8, 1841:

"The greatest temporal and spiritual blessings which always come from faithfulness and concerted effort, never attended individual exertion or enterprise. The history of all past ages abundantly attests this fact. In addition to all temporal blessings, there is no other way for the Saints to be saved in these last days, [than by the gathering] as the concurrent testimony of all the holy prophets clearly proves, for it is written — 'They shall come from the east, and be gathered from the west; the north shall give up, and the south shall keep not back.' The sons of God shall be gathered from afar, and his daughters from the ends of the earth."

This then becomes the principal to guide the community in seeking perfection, to be truly the City of God. This exemplified the directive laid down by the Prophet when he had addressed the Church Conference in Nauvoo on October 19, 1840, accenting the necessity of comprehensive and detailed town planning:

"I would likewise observe, that inasmuch as this place has been appointed for the gathering of the Saints, it is necessary that it should be attended to in the order that the Lord intends it should. To this end I would say, that as there are great numbers of the Saints in England who are extremely poor, and not accustomed to the farming business, who must have certain preparations made for them before they can support themselves in this country, therefore to prevent confusion and disappointment when they arrive here, let those men who are accustomed to make machinery, and those who can command capital, though it be small, come here as soon as convenient, and put up machinery, and make such other preparations as may be necessary, so that when the poor come on, they may have employment to come to. This place has advantages for manufacturing and commercial purposes, which but very few can boast of; and the establishing of cotton factories, foundries, potteries, etc., would be the means of bringing in wealth, and raising it to a very important elevation."

Nauvoo, from its inception on the banks of the Mississippi River, was to be a well ordered city, both in its planning and in the detailed execution of that plan for the purpose of building the prosperous City of God, that inhabited by the Saints of God would lead all toward perfection. In the year following the Prophet's death, Orson Hyde expressed how this attitude toward community building reflected the development of perfection.

"[Mormons] call everything an ordinance of religion that can tend to man's perfection and happiness; whether it be to plow and sow the fields, to buy and sell goods, wares and merchandise, houses or lands, to go to the polls and vote, to the prayer meeting, or to the sacrament of the Lord's supper...whatever we do we wish to do all to the glory of God."

Marvin Hill interprets this, writing, "Seen in this context, everything that occurred in Nauvoo of a social or political nature was to the Saints essentially religious." And the object of this was "to see salvation in terms

The Colony Church served as a center of life in Bishop Hill. Today,
the Church has been restored and is open to visitors.

of prescribed procedures that would lead them to a higher level of achievement and power. Power to become a god...." Thus in Nauvoo there appeared to be no distinction between the secular and the sacred, as individuals in community achieved their highest level of potential in a well ordered and prosperous way of life leading towards a perfection now defined as becoming a god. Nauvoo was indeed the City of God, or potentially the city of gods.

"God himself was once as we are now, and is I an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret..."

The specifically theological interpretation of the significance of this "gathering" at Nauvoo and the development of the individual therein toward godhood was forcefully articulated by the Prophet during a funeral oration at the Church Conference in April 1844, only two months before his martyrdom and some five years after Nauvoo had been established and had experienced phenomenal growth. He comforts the bereaved in the midst of this enormously successful venture:

"God himself was once as we are now, and is an exalted man, and sits enthroned in yonder heavens! That is the great secret. If the veil were rent today, and the great God who holds this world in its orbit, and who upholds all worlds and all things by his power, was to make himself visible, — I say, if you were to see him today, you would see him like a man in form — like yourselves in all the person, image, and very form as a man; for Adam was created in the very fashion, image and likeness of God, and received instruction from, and walked, talked and conversed with him, as one man talks and communes with another."

What an opportunity awaited the Saints living in Nauvoo. In articulating a very "humanized" portrayal of how we can communicate with God and come to understand the Divine, Smith drives home the point. "It is the first principle of the Gospel to know for a certainty the Character of God, and to know that we may converse with him as one man converses with another, and that he was once a man like us; yea, that God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth, the same as Jesus Christ himself did."

From this developing perspective Smith holds forth the future for the Saints.

"Here, then, is eternal life — to know the only wise and true God; and you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves, and to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done before you, namely, by going from one small degree to another, and from a small capacity to a great one; from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you attain to the resurrection of the dead...and sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power."

To the vast audience gathered in Nauvoo for the Church Conference only some five years after the marshland was first drained, Smith holds forth the great potential of life both in earthly prosperity and in eternal development in terms that are readily understandable and comforting. To support this he gives an even more comprehensible illustration.

"When you climb up a ladder, you must begin at the bottom, and ascend step by step, until you arrive at the top; and so it is with the principles of the Gospel — you must begin with the first, and go on until you learn all the principles of exaltation. But it will be a great while after you

"Big Brick" served as a communal residence for many members of the
Bishop Hill Colony. Courtesy of the Bishop Hill Heritage Association.

24| ILLINOIS HERITAGE

have passed through the veil before you will have learned them. It is not all to be comprehended in this world; it will be a great work to learn our salvation and exaltation even beyond the grave."

Then when you realize that "the mind or the intelligence which man possesses is co-eternal with God himself," the Prophet's challenge is clear; "All the minds and the spirits that God ever sent into the world are susceptible of enlargement."

He then reviews his thought that "the first principles of man are self-existent with God. God himself, finding he was in the midst of spirits and glory, because he was more intelligent, saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have a privilege to advance like himself. The relationship we have with God places us in a situation to advance in knowledge." Finally he makes the point that "knowledge saves a man; and in the world of spirits no man can be exalted but by knowledge.... If a man has knowledge, he can be saved." He can order his own life, the life of his family, the life of the community. He can bring order to the environment in which he lives.

In this theology articulated at Nauvoo, "it [was] understood, of course, that the knowledge acquired must be applied intelligently to the problems of life. And, since knowledge increases but gradually, we are therefore saved gradually, instead of at once." The Prophet conveyed this in the revelation he received on July 12, 1843, recording it in Doctrine and Covenants that "whatever principle of intelligence we attain unto in this life, it will rise with us in the resurrection. And if a person gains more knowledge and intelligence in this life through his diligence and obedience than another, he will have so much the advantage in the world to come."

"Salvation is, therefore, a process, not an end; an achievement, not a sudden acquisition." All this then can be summed up as a "man is a god in embryo, as God is a perfected man." This "has made the idea of God a little less incomprehensible...and it has enhanced the value of man in his own eyes by revealing his potentialities."

Thus Nauvoo was indeed the City of God where in working together, disciplined Saints could progress along the pathway to Godhood while enjoying a very ordered, prosperous, and satisfying life here on earth. But this was just the beginning of what was in fact an eternal progression. B. H. Roberts stated that "progress, then, for intelligence, to which movement and change are necessary — is the purpose of God's creations; and progress can only come through change from good to better; from lower to higher, and ever higher; but never highest; for in the scheme of progress in the infinite there are no ultimates." Thus a Saint is ever perfecting, an eternal progression. This was first articulated in Nauvoo.

Less than a hundred miles northeast of Nauvoo was the location to which a group of Swedish immigrants, under the leadership of Eric Jansson, came in the fall of 1846. This, however, was to be not only a perfecting society, but a perfectionist community. Anna Soderblom, the wife of the Swedish archbishop, commented on a visit she made to the Bishop Hill site in 1923: "Eric Jansson had heard about the rich, free America, and decided to bring his faithful there to create a pure congregation," that is, a perfect community. She also comments on what he perceived his role in this endeavor to be: "the Apostle as he called himself saw himself as the Savior." As early as 1844, while still in Sweden, Jansson "had begun to identify himself, not only as a prophet of God, but as a corporal brother of Christ and the only legitimate purveyor of religious truth."

In this capacity he wished to not only instill perfection in individuals but also develop a perfectionist community in the frontier wilderness of the Mississippi River Valley. In his Farewell Address to the citizens of his homeland, he trumpeted: "I have come in the place of Christ to offer salvation to all people." And then in a judgmental tone he proclaimed, "If you despise me, you also despise God." In the psalm book that he prepared, he translated a verse in Psalm 5 to read: "Light and perfection have I, since I own God's Perfection." The ninth verse of Psalm 11 reads, "we sin no more, and shed not tears for sin which is buried in its grave. We are washed clean, and taken in God's care, by the thousands."

Bishop Hill was to be a pure community, emphasizing perfect individuals. Unlike Nauvoo, this was to happen immediately not progressively. When Cleng Peerson, the

Panoramic drawing of Nauvoo. Courtesy of Nauvoo Restoration, Incorporated.

Norwegian pathfinder, came to settle in Bishop Hill, Jansson appointed him foreman for the construction of the colony church. After noting the design of the pulpit, containing a large shelf for the Bible and hymnbook, Jansson retorted that such a shelf was not necessary, saying "I don't need any written words to base my sermons on; for the words leap as if inspired from my heart, filled with light and truth as the Holy Spirit so graciously apportions them." This then interprets the comment Jansson made to Peerson that "I speak in every way as the voice of God. If anyone is obstinate, then he shall be banished from the encampment of the Lord, as in the days of yore." The imperfect would not be allowed to remain.

Andrew Berglund, his immediate successor in Bishop Hill, said that Jansson "made such success, ...became so bold and self confident as to consider himself the one true spirit." From such a vantage point he could then interpret the Scriptural tradition, as he did in a catechism he prepared when he put forth this question: "Can you who say you are free from all uncleanness and free of all sins, be in need of forgiveness for trespass or death?" His interesting answer and its logic was "yes, the Lord's Prayer refers to the sins of other people, as Jesus himself used it." In another entry he wrote, "since God does not hear sinners, but only those who are perfect; ...we pray for our neighbors, or for those who have been born again, so that their sins shall be forgiven.... God must forgive all those sins which we, like Jesus Christ, take upon ourselves, as if they were our own transgressions." Again the accent on the City of God, where the perfect now dwell.

In seeking to make the proper Lutheran distinction between Law and Gospel, Jansson departed significantly from Luther's conclusion that we are at the same time a sinner and a saint. Jansson taught that by faith, and faith alone, we rise above sin and the need for the law, and dwell only in the realm of the gospel where there is no sin. This state then allowed for no temptation from within, but allowed for external temptation; and to this a Janssonist could fall victim. But it need not be so, and it was not only the believer who was now sinless from within, this then broke the chain of being born in original sin. Jansson rejected inherited sin and insisted the children of Janssonists were born sinless. These children were a "holy seed" accepted immediately into the love of Christ. He did continue the practice of infant baptism, but only as a symbolic act, like the example of Jesus' baptism.

Here is a connection between Jansson at Bishop Hill and Smith at Nauvoo. In a Pentecost sermon delivered while still living in Sweden, Jansson declared, "if you owned God's Kingdom and Power, you could never feel temptation to evil...you must be either completely good or evil, according to Matthew 12:33-34." The difference between the two Prophets is also inferred in this quotation. To Smith this was a goal to gradually attain, but not in this life. For Jansson this was to be achieved in this life, as he also declared, "I am perfect as God is perfect. The Father's life is mine as well." Thus in Bishop Hill, "Eric Jansson is as good as God."

It is in this fashion that the Bishop Hill Colony was founded.

The Nauvoo Temple as shown in a daguerreotype circa 1846-1848.
Although destroyed/allowing the Mormon exodus, the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints is currently rebuilding the Temple, Courtesy of
the Cedar City, Utah, Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museum and Nauvoo Restoration, Incorporated.

26| ILLINOIS HERITAGE

Ruins of the Mormon Temple at Nauvoo circa 1850. Courtesy of Nauvoo Restoration, Incorporated.

However, the Prophet was not able to convince everyone that a strong faith eliminated all sins and the fruits of sin, including illness and death, especially as waves of cholera decimated the settlement. As Esbjorn noted, many new arrivals at Bishop Hill moved to nearby Galesburg, but they tended to retain their perfectionist posture. In May 1850, Jansson was, like Smith, also martyred; but an earnest attempt was made to continue his teaching in the communal colony.

His first and most able convert, Jonas Olsson, had gone to the California gold fields hoping to bolster the colony's economic fortunes. In the spring of 1850, he had been involved in the care of a fellow colonist and gold seeker who had become seriously ill and subsequently died. In reporting the incident he concluded his letter, "what was the reason it cost so much and we still lost a life? It was obvious that Blombergsson and his wife had denied the goodness which the Lord had once revealed to us in Bishop Hill." Upon learning of the Prophet's martyrdom, he returned and assumed leadership of the colony and attempted to preserve the Janssonist perfectionist teaching.

In 1853, Anders Wiberg, a Swedish Baptist preacher, heard Olsson at the colony church and observed, "the sermon was largely a description of the suffering of Erik Jansson and his followers in Sweden and America and an attack against those who denied their teaching of sinless perfection."

The difference in the understanding of perfection in these two communities is seen in the response to the deaths of the Prophets. When Eric Jansson was shot to death at the Henry County courthouse in May 1850, his body was returned to Bishop Hill where it lay in state, according to colony legend, without being embalmed. In the warm weather, and after the third day with there being no resurrection, the decision was made to inter the remains. Nonetheless, the devotion of some was represented in the engraving on the tombstone, which according to Ripley, is the only grave marker with the designations "born" and "murdered." Jansson never really "died." Some would argue that this is an eloquent testimony on the part of some colonists as to the perfection of this man, who taught that because of faith in God there would be no illness or death. Clearly the community never lived up to that standard of faith.

No strong figure emerged at Bishop Hill in the wake of Jansson's death.

In Nauvoo, the scene four years earlier had been different. When Joseph Smith was shot to death in the Hancock County jail at Carthage, his body was returned to Nauvoo to lie in state at the Mansion House until burial. Fearing desecration, the body was secretly buried, and then later moved to its present location. There was no question that the Prophet had died. On April 9, 1842, at the funeral of Ephraim Marks, he had spoken of his own mortality, saying "some have supposed that Brother Joseph could not die; but this is a mistake. It is true there have been times when I have had the promise of my life to accomplish such and such things, but having now accomplished those things, I have not at present any lease on my life. I am as liable to die as other men."

No strong figure emerged at Bishop Hill in the wake of Jansson's death. Olsson was no Brigham Young. Efforts were made to keep the colony going but proved futile, and by 1860 the decision was made to dissolve the colony; by that time the religious teaching of the Founder had almost completely dissipated. Nauvoo survived under the leadership of Brigham Young but not in Illinois. Instead the vision continued at the second Nauvoo near the Great Salt Lake.

Bishop Hill was an impatient place, where the Prophet proclaimed the immediacy of perfection and dismissed those who did not measure up to his standards. Many more realized

Panoramic photograph of Nauvoo. Courtesy of Nauvoo Restoration, Incorporated.

that they did not measure up to Jansson's expectations and left. Nonetheless for a period of fourteen years, a community was promoted that hopefully would become a major center for the children of God to enjoy. In Nauvoo, the Prophet realized that while an organized attempt could be made to promote the life of the Saints, it would take a long time for such perfection to be actualized, and the seven years at Nauvoo became only a prelude to the continuation of the vision at Salt Lake City.

In spite of the time frame in which perfection was to be accomplished, or the location where this was to occur, the commonalty of the goal toward which the Prophets in both Cities of God sought to lead their followers was perfectionism. Alan Swanson's definition of this religious teaching is "the view that, first, denies that humanity is inherently sinful (original sin) and sees all sin as originating outside mankind and that, second, draws, as a consequence of this, the conclusion that human beings are free of sin and that to acknowledge otherwise is to accept sin." This accurately reflects Jansson at Bishop Hill. However, Smith saw sin more as the perverse exercise of free will leading to a violation of good order. In Nauvoo, the accent developed by Smith was on the unfolding of knowledge as a person gained power by incarnating the principle of order implanted by God. This was to be a never-ending development and was an adaptation of Deism, which influenced many of the Founding Fathers' thoughts. In Bishop Hill, it was by an unfailing faith in the revelation of God that removed any other influence from a person's life — a seriously flawed interpretation of Luther, whose thought had greatly influenced Swedish life. Theoretically in the earlier City of God, a Saint lived in a perfecting community. In the later City of God, an individual dwelt in a perfected community. Alan Swanson wrote that "since the 1820's western Illinois...had been attracting people devoted to social experiments" some of whom sought to demonstrate perfection. Bishop Hill and Nauvoo are today the best remembered communities in the western part of the Prairie State which sought in promoting religious perfectionism to establish their particular interpretations of the City of God.

28| ILLINOIS HERITAGE