The "exodus to greatness" of President Brigham Young and the Pioneers in 1847 was compared in a speech July 24 by Elder John K. Carmack of the Seventy to the exodus of Moses and the children of Israel from Egypt to the Promised Land.

Elder Carmack spoke at the annual Days of '47 Sunrise Service in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, a principal event in the city's Pioneer Day observance. He is Church Historian and president of the Utah Central Area.He referred to a trip he and others took 10 days previously in which they boarded a ferry at Nauvoo, Ill., to cross the Mississippi River.

"We were about to retrace very nearly the route of the first and many other pioneer wagon trains and handcart companies on their way to the promised land," he said.

The expression "exodus to greatness" is on a monument at Nauvoo, where Elder Carmack's party began its journey.

The exodus of Moses and his followers is observed and recounted with the Passover celebration and rehearsed more than annually so rising generations will never forget the event which shaped their destiny, Elder Carmack noted.

"I come, therefore, not with a new tale, but in the Old Testament mode of rallying a people to its epic event by celebrating it, recalling it for all, but especially the rising generation, and with a desire to retell the story in a way we can all feel once again and thus gain meaning in our being here."

The Mormon people at Nauvoo believed passionately in the U.S. Constitution and in freedom under law, he pointed out. "Ironically, however, Illinois was the third state which had failed to protect them in their rights as citizens."

Nauvoo had become their gathering place after they were driven from Missouri, Elder Carmack said, and they appeared to have found freedom and civil protection in Illinois. They reclaimed land from swamps and built beautiful brick homes and a temple.

But as members of the Nauvoo City Council, Joseph Smith, his brother Hyrum, and other leaders were arrested after abating what they perceived as a nuisance, a newspaper called the Nauvoo Expositor which incited neighbors to mob action, Elder Carmack recounted.

"Gov. Thomas Ford had promised protection, but arresting Joseph, Hyrum and others for their involvement in an action taken under the color of law, whether or not it was right, gave the saints a sense of impending doom," he explained. "They had experienced the so-called protection of the Missouri militia and had spent many months in jail there. Their sense of tragedy proved well founded, as the governor's promise of protection yielded to mob violence and then to murder of these two prophet brothers."

Brigham Young and the Council of the Twelve "rose to grasp the leadership vacuum," Elder Carmack said. He recounted the saints' hasty effort to complete the Nauvoo Temple and administer ordinances to thousands of Church members, driven by the growing sense that there would not be sufficient legal protection for the Mormons to live much longer in Illinois or even the United States.

"Brigham Young became a Moses-like figure for the Saints," Elder Carmack observed. "He organized the large group of men, women and children for an orderly migration to the West. . . . Along the way they established farms, temporary settlements for the emigrants, communities to house and welcome them, and built a trail separate from, but paralleling the Oregon trail most of the way. Perhaps 60,000 followed their trail, in whole or in part, to the Great Basin where we now celebrate. Along the way, many died and were buried - perhaps 600 at Winter Quarters, Neb., alone."

He quoted the account of Col. Thomas L. Kane, "a sorely needed friend and advocate for the Saints" who described the orderly but deserted Nauvoo as it appeared soon after the saints' departure.

Kane's Old Testament counterpart was perhaps Moses' father-in-law, Jethro, Elder Carmack observed. Some years after the saints had settled Salt Lake Valley, the colonel obtained semi-official authority from the president of the United States to mediate a dispute and avert a pending armed conflict between the Mormons and U.S. forces arising from biased and one-sided reports about conditions in Utah, Elder Carmack said.

As soon as he could after arriving in the valley, President Young and other leaders climbed to the top of Ensign Peak, which he had seen in vision, and from that vantage point identified the places where the temple, Church offices and Tabernacle would be built, Elder Carmack said.

"Ensign Peak is our Mount Sinai in the analogy I am suggesting," he noted.

"You know the story, but we should never tire of telling it. There is in its telling a Moses, the Miracle of the Quails among the poor and hungry Saints in Iowa, and the Miracle of the Ice Highway across the Mississippi. It was a miracle, too, that a permanent settlement survived in the mountains. The seagulls were a part of the survival.

"We today observe the `exodus to greatness' and re-enact its history, not only here but all across the world where Latter-day Saints meet."

The Salt Lake Institute Concert Choir provided music, and the Mormon Battalion chapter of the Sons of Utah Pioneers conducted the flag ceremony.