In my post exploring the curious case of Thomas Marsh I imagine him spending his last days in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah scouting out for a hidden door to dwarves (who I also believe are the gentiles of the BoM) in order to fulfill the mission given to him in D&C 112.
While I still really like this idea I think there is a viable alternate ending to Marsh’s days. And possibly an ending that solves a few of the problems with my imagining of dwarves as gentiles. For one, the image of an old, infirm, and penniless Marsh wandering the high peaks (or low peaks, for that matter) of Spanish Fork Canyon is potentially a stretch too far. The only way around it is to assume Marsh was faking his physical limitations to curry sympathy and that he was actually fit and able for mountain climbing.
Or I guess you could assume he was endowed with some power from on high to accomplish this task. Both of those ideas work just fine but for this alternate ending, I’ll suggest that while the dwarves are gentiles, they were not still here in dwarfish bodies in the 1850s. Meaning, not as we would imagine them like Gimli or Thorin from the movies. Instead, they would be here as dwarves reborn as men.
This actually solves a pesky problem from D&C 109:60
Now these words, O Lord, we have spoken before thee, concerning the revelations and commandments which thou hast given unto us, who are identified with the Gentiles.
D&C 109:60
I’m pretty sure if there were LOTR style dwarves among the early Mormons, we would know about it, so in order to have dwarves as Gentiles I either need to say D&C 109 isn’t strictly accurate (which I don’t think is at all a stretch) or you have to say that those early Mormons were predominantly dwarves reborn as men.
And in fact, my first theory before I started blogging again recently was that Gentiles was just another word for Mormons. Meaning, whoever the Gentiles are as a group, they are here on this planet as Mormons. Maybe not every Mormon but I’d say the vast majority of the early ones and perhaps even still today.
So what we have in this alternate ending is a merging of my two theories: the gentiles are dwarves born as men and living mostly if not all as Mormons.
I’ll clarify that I don’t think every Mormon then or now is a dwarf reborn. But perhaps those who followed Brigham are more likely than not. I tend to think they would have stuck together and finding a natural home in an imposing mountain range is perhaps a dead giveaway. Those Utah Mormons were and likely still are mostly dwarves reborn as men.
So what about Marsh, then? Is he back to “pathetic loser” status? Not in my mind, no. William Wright makes a case that Marsh was there to get a new office amongst these gentile-dwarf-mormons that would still allow him to fulfill his original mission. The office of “doorkeeper” or “deacon” was what he requested. Here’s how he put it at the Bowery:
I have come here to get good society—to get your fellowship. I want your fellowship; I want your God to be my God, and I want to live with you forever, in time and eternity. I never want to forsake the people of God any more. I want to have your confidence, and I want to be one in the house of God. I have learned to understand what David said when he exclaimed, “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.” I have not come here to seek for any office, except it be to be a doorkeeper or a deacon; no, I am neither worthy nor fit; but I want a place among you as a humble servant of the Lord.
I did say once, when coming along, inadvertently, They may think that I am coming to get office, but if they offer it to me I will not have it, and that will show them I do not want any; but I took a second thought and said, I will say, The will of the Lord be done.
Marsh knows better than to seek to the presidency of the Twelve, but how can they deny him an office so petty as doorkeeper? Pretty savvy on Marsh’s part, and of course, directed as he was by dreams and visions from God, I think this suggests Marsh needed to get back in the good graces of the gentile-dwarf-mormons before dying so that he could be reborn again today to complete his mission and fulfill his doorkeeper/deacon office.
As an added benefit, Brigham got a chance to expose himself once again for the type of person he is, as we saw in his remarks to and about Marsh at the Bowery.
I guess we get to choose our adventure here. Either Marsh found actual dwarves in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah who boarded space ships, landed on the “sunk” half of Eressea (the “Promised Land” of the BoM) to scatter the Lehite remnant and are now waiting for the fullness of the gospel….OR….Marsh obtained the necessary office among the gentile-dwarf-mormons of the 1850s so that he could be reborn again today to finish his task of acting as doorkeeper/deacon to the gentile-dwarf-mormons. Marsh will be the usher who gets the gentile-dwarf-mormons from this planet to the Promised Land so they can scatter the Lehite remnant.
If we choose this alternate ending to explore, then I think we have to assume that today’s Utah Mormons are predominantly gentile-dwarf-mormons just like they were in the 1850s. Or at least that many of the Utah Mormons fit that designation and just like at Kirtland in 1836 they are “identified with the Gentiles”.
I definitely prefer the original idea, of actual dwarves being found by Marsh in the mountains but only because I think it’s a cool idea and it’s fun. But I have to admit that this alternate ending is probably more rational and solves some pesky problems from my original idea. I think moving forward I’ll probably choose this alternate ending for now as the framework through which to explore this idea.