REMINISCENCES
OF
JOSEPH, THE PROPHET,
AND THE COMING FORTH OF
THE BOOK OF MORMON.
BY ELDER EDWARD STEVENSON,
Of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
ILLUSTRATED.
SALT LAKE CITY:
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR.
1893.
[Image: Edward Stevenson, Born May 1st, 1820, at Gibraltar, Spain.]
PREFACE.
In presenting this pamphlet of Reminiscences to the public, the Author
desires to explain the circumstances that induced him to issue it.
While delivering a series of illustrated lectures in the various
tabernacles and public halls throughout the Territory--and which
were repeated on more than 200 different occasions--the Author was
earnestly solicited to publish the lectures, including engravings of
the paintings, in the form in which they now appear.
Having become convinced from the great interest taken in the lectures,
that they were productive of much good, the Author finally determined
to submit the lectures to the public.
The Author having been personally acquainted with the Prophet Joseph
Smith, and having been with him in many of his trying experiences,
desires to add his testimony to the truth of the work inaugurated by
him, under instructions from the Almighty, and hopes that the incidents
herein related will induce many to investigate this great and important
work; for he that judgeth without investigation is unwise.
Respectfully, THE AUTHOR.
REMINISCENCES OF JOSEPH THE PROPHET
CHAPTER I.
The Mighty Messenger of the Latter-day Dispensation.--A Brief Record of
a Life fraught with Matchless Heroism, under all manner of Persecution,
Trials, Imprisonment, Hardships and finally Martyrdom.
[Image: Joseph Smith, the Prophet.]
The picture herewith presented is one of the few produced of the
Prophet Joseph Smith. It is here reproduced from one published in
Harper's Pictorial many years ago and now makes its appearance for
the second time. Although it is only a wood cut, there are in it some
true lines and features of the Prophet when he was about the age of
twenty-six. At this early period the science of photography was but
in its infancy and pictures of prominent men were neither so correct
nor plentiful as at the present time. It is, indeed, very proper and
desirable to preserve the best pictures of those who have proven
themselves the benefactors of our country, and more especially so of
him who was chosen and ordained of God to give light and truth and
eternal blessings to mankind.
Of the few likenesses of our martyred Prophet placed before the public,
there has been one presented by his son (Joseph Smith, Jr.), which
purports to be a copy or fac simile of a painting which was evidently
taken when he was quite young. It is a front view and, in some
respects, bears a striking resemblance to the one we present to our
readers, notwithstanding that ours is a side view.
Many efforts have been made to obtain a good portrait, but, it is to be
regretted, without satisfactory results. Brother Nathan T. Porter, of
Centerville, Davis County, Utah, who first saw Joseph Smith in Jackson
County, Mo., in the year 1831, is very much pleased with this picture,
and so also is Aunt Zina D. H. Young, who sees in it many striking
features of the youthful Prophet.
I first saw him in 1834 at Pontiac and the impression made upon my
mind by him at that time causes me now much pleasure in presenting the
picture to his many friends. The love for him, as a true Prophet of
God, was indelibly impressed upon my mind, and has always been with me
from that time, although nearly sixty years have since passed away.
In that same year, 1834, in the midst of many large congregations, the
Prophet testified with great power concerning the visit of the Father
and the Son, and the conversation he had with them. Never before did
I feel such power as was manifested on these occasions, and, although
only a small percentage of those who saw and heard him accepted the
restored Gospel, there was not one who dared to dispute it. Many of
our neighbors were heard to say: "Well, if Mormonism is true, it will
stand; if not true, it will fall." Many of them lived to see it stand
and increase, and while they themselves passed away in death's embrace,
the work continued to flourish and prosper.
The fact that so few received his testimony caused me, for a time, to
greatly marvel. But when I looked back to the period when Jesus and
His chosen Twelve and Seventies labored, with all their might, for the
salvation of a fallen world, even with all manner of signs following
their labors, and saw how few believed in our embraced their testimony
in that day of mighty power, when even the grave was robbed of its
victims and the dead commanded to come forth and live, and that while
the dead lived the living were dead; yea, when I saw and meditated
upon these things, I became somewhat reconciled, and the words of
the Lord, through Jeremiah, recurred to my mind and I was satisfied.
The words were these, "And I will take you one of a city, and two of
a family, and I will bring you to Zion. And I will give you pastors
according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and
understanding."--Jer. 3. chap. 14, 15. After these lessons I learned
that while the Gospel was free to every one, yet every one was not free
to receive the Gospel.
While thus speaking of the Prophet's visit to Pontiac, Oakland County,
Michigan (then a Territory), I cannot pass by the predictions which he
then made and which were afterwards literally fulfilled as witnessed by
myself and many others. Joseph said, "If you will obey the Gospel with
honest hearts, I promise you in the name of the Lord, that the gifts as
promised by our Saviour will follow you, and by this you may prove me
to be a true servant of God."
I am, with others, a witness that these gifts did follow many in the
branch of the Church which was raised up in Pontiac. Among them were
Deacon Bent of the Presbyterian Church, who was the first one baptized
(and who afterwards became President of the High Council in Nauvoo).
His daughter Mary was the first one who spoke in tongues in this
branch. Besides Mary Curtis, Joseph Wood, Elijah Fordham and others
also enjoyed that gift. We felt that we were blessed above kings,
rulers and potentates of the earth and truly we were a happy branch of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Our souls were full of
joyous thanksgiving, and our songs of gladness rejoiced the heart by
day, dispelled the gloom of night and welcomed the coming morn. Those
only can realize our happiness and delight who sing with the soul and
understanding the beautiful song of Zion:
We thank Thee, O God, for a Prophet, To guide us in these latter days;
We thank Thee for sending the Gospel To lighten our minds with its
rays.
The above named Mary Curtis, who afterwards became Sister Reed, will be
remembered as the lady who spoke in tongues in the Logan Temple about
three years ago, on a fast day, and who, on that same day, after having
completed her day's work in the Temple, went home in the evening and
died. Lyman O. Littlefield, of Logan, as well as myself and my Sister
Mary Stevenson Clark, of Farmington, Davis Co., Utah, witnessed the
speaking in tongues by Mary Curtis in Michigan, sixty years ago, and
also on this occasion in Logan Temple.
These, however, were not the only blessings with which we were favored
in the Pontiac branch, for we enjoyed the presence of the venerable and
venerated father of the Prophet (Joseph Smith, Sen.), the Patriarch of
the whole Church of God on the earth. The writer was one of many who,
under his hands, received choice and rare blessings, when the power of
the Holy Ghost filled the house to such an extent that the tears flowed
down the cheeks of even those who lived and died outside of the pale of
the Church.
Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris were also heard by the
writer to testify that they, in open day, stood in the presence of
the God who ministered unto the Prophet. And indeed there was a power
accompanying these testimonies which was irresistible, and which made
deep and lasting impressions.
Although a mere humble widow's son, I felt proud and blessed of God,
when he honored us by coming under our roof and partaking of our
hospitality. Oh! how my heart swelled with delightful emotions of
heavenly love, as I selected and presented to him some of our choice
apples in exchange for the golden nuggets of celestial truth, which he
bestowed upon us as he partook of the humble but hearty hospitality
of a widow's table! We were proud, indeed, to entertain one who had
conversed with the Father and the Son, and been under the tuition of
an angel from Heaven, and who, under the immediate direction of the
Almighty, had organized the true church on the earth, after the exact
pattern of that organized by God, through Jesus Christ, eighteen
hundred years before.
In parting from under our roof the Prophet expressed a desire to have a
loan of a large English Book of Martyrs which we possessed, promising
to return it to us when he should meet us again in Zion, in the State
of Missouri, which he did, and on returning it he said, "I have, by the
aid of the Urim and Thummim, seen those martyrs, and they were honest,
devoted followers of Christ, according to the light they possessed, and
they will be saved."
For the benefit of those who have not been privileged to meet our
beloved martyred Prophet, I deem it a favor to present the picture,
with the incidents here narrated, for the pleasure and consideration of
all who may peruse them.
Joseph Smith was born December 23rd, 1805, in Sharon, Windsor County,
Vermont. At about the age of eight years, he passed through an ordeal
which gave remarkable evidence of heroic fortitude and indomitable
power of will, under intense bodily suffering. After recovering from a
severe typhus fever, a fever sore affected his leg and threatened him
with the loss of the limb. Under these circumstances, a consultation
of physicians was held, and after making an incision eight inches
in length, and examining the bone, they decided that, if his life
was to be saved, amputation of the member was absolutely necessary.
This operation, however, was so strongly opposed by both parents and
son that the doctors finally concluded to remove the affected parts
of the bone. Accordingly, they called for a strong cord to bind the
lad, and were intending to give him a stimulant; but to all this our
young hero most decidedly objected, saying, "I will not touch one
particle of liquor, neither will I be tied down; but I will have my
father sit on the bed and hold me in his arms, and then I will do
whatever is necessary to have the bone taken out." By drilling into
the bone on each side of the part affected, three pieces of bone
were extracted, the removal being made with a pair of forceps. The
manhood and willpower of this noble youth of eight years, under so
trying an ordeal, foreshadowed the story of his life--a life fraught
with matchless heroism, under all manner of persecution, trials,
imprisonments, hardships and finally martyrdom. The howlings of
murderous mobs, infuriated by infernal legions, the lying slanders of a
vile hireling priesthood, and the base treachery of loathsome traitors,
proved utterly powerless to cause him to swerve a single hair's
breadth from the cause of God and the interests of the downtrodden
and oppressed. To the transgressor and hypocrite he was a fierce lion
in the way, to injured innocence he was a tower of strength, and to
the poor and helpless he was ever a brother and a friend. He lived a
hero of heroes, and a Prophet of Prophets, and to save his brethren
from harm and bloodshed, he dauntlessly went to his death, and died
a Martyr of Martyrs. The world, in its wickedness and crime, may
treat his memory with derision and scorn; but when his defamers are
forgotten, the great and mighty Prophet of God who, under the name of
Joseph Smith, laid down his life for truth and his brethren, shall be
fondly enshrined in the heart of the universe and his life and actions
approved and applauded by the loving lips of eternity.
It has been truly said that "God moves in a mysterious way" in order
to perform His wonders, and the Scriptures lead us to believe that He
often leads us by a "way that we know not of." Seldom, or never, were
these expressions more fully verified than in the removal of the future
Prophet's father from Vermont and his settling in Palmyra in New York
state. Little did the good man dream of the fact, as he wended his
way from his former home, that he was being led by the Lord to the
very place where his son's great work was to be accomplished. Yet such
was certainly the fact. Every step of his journey was guided by the
controlling power and wisdom of God, and, although he knew it not, he
settled just where God wanted him and where He wanted his son, who was
to be like Joseph of old, the saviour of his father's house.
When between the ages of fourteen and fifteen, after earnestly calling
upon God, Joseph had his first vision, as set forth in another chapter.
When he was between seventeen and eighteen years old, he had his second
vision, which is likewise elsewhere described. And when he was between
twenty-one and twenty-two, after having been instructed by a heavenly
messenger for four years, in the year 1827 the golden records were
entrusted to the custody of the youthful Prophet. He had been married
just eight months and four days at this time. In the year 1827, by the
aid of the Urim and Thummim, or interpreters, the history of two lost
nations was translated, the one being the nation of the Jaredites and
the other that of the Nephites. The remnants of the latter of these
nations of the Nephites were the wild Indians of America, who were
first discovered by Columbus in the year 1492.
On the sixth day of April, 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints was organized. And on the twenty-seventh day of June,
1844, the Prophet sealed his testimony with his blood. Joseph Smith
was murdered in Carthage Jail when he was in the prime of his life,
being only thirty-eight years, six months and six days old. It was just
fourteen years, two months and twenty-one days after the Church was
organized. Strange as it may appear, our Lord and Saviour was murdered
when only a few years younger than Joseph, and both were put to death
for the same cause, namely, the establishing of the Church of Christ on
the earth, the one in the former and the one in the latter days.
Dark and solemn was that day when Illinois shed the innocent blood of
the two martyrs, Joseph and Hyrum Smith. They were at the time under
the protection of Governor Thomas Ford, who pledged his sacred honor
for their safety. But the pledge, which was never meant to be kept, was
most shamefully broken, and these two heroic spirits were given up to
a professed Christian mob of merciless demons, and they were cruelly
murdered in cold blood. These great and good men, servants of the Most
High God, of "whom the world was not worthy," were of one heart and one
mind throughout all their life, and in death they were not separated.
They fled together from the murderous mob to their destined home on
high. There, while they bask in the sunshine of eternal peace and love,
they testify by their blood to the horrid cruelties that reign in the
heart of a wicked and apostate world.
There were but four years, ten months and fourteen days between the
ages of these noble martyred brothers, Hyrum being the elder.
Joseph, on this occasion, voluntarily gave himself up to the strong arm
of the law, for he had ever been willing to be tried by the tribunals
of his country. At this time, our beloved Prophet was impressed with a
sad foreboding somewhat similar to that experienced in Gethsemane by
the Saviour just previous to the crucifixion, when he called upon the
Father and said: "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me:
nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done." The Prophet Joseph said,
while on his way to Carthage, "I am going like a lamb to the slaughter;
but I am calm as a summer's morning; I have a conscience void of
offence towards God and towards all men. I shall die innocent, and it
shall yet be said of me, 'he was murdered in cold blood.'" Elder Bates
Nobles, now living, authorizes me to say that he heard the Prophet
utter those very words. Well, this prophecy of our murdered Prophet
has been often fulfilled in the testimonies of the Saints, both among
themselves and before the world, as well as by the utterances of the
honorable and upright men of all lands, but to its bitter cost, it has
not yet been said by our nation. However, we will watch and wait. "God
is just is all we say."
"Our Patriarch and Prophet, too, Were massacred. They bled, To seal
their testimony, They were numbered with the dead."