Under date of Saturday, August 6, 1842, Joseph wrote:
"I passed over the river to Montrose, Iowa, in company with General
Adams, Col. Brewer and others and witnessed the installation of
the officers of the Rising Sun Lodge of Ancient York Masons at
Montrose, by General James Adams, deputy grand master of Illinois.
While the deputy grand master was engaged in giving the requisite
instructions to the master elect, I had a conversation with a
number of brethren in the shade of the building on the subject of
our persecution in Missouri and the constant annoyance which had
followed us since we were driven from that State. I prophesied
that the Saints would continue to suffer much affliction and would
be driven to the Rocky Mountains; many would apostatize, others
would be put to death by our persecutors or lose their lives in
consequence of exposure or disease, and some of you will live to
go and assist in making settlements and build cities and see the
Saints become a mighty people in the Rocky Mountains." (_Historical
Record_, page 487.)
I need spend no time to prove the fulfilment of this remarkable
prophecy. All of you who are present in this hall tonight can testify
to its literal fulfilment. The Latter-day Saints have indeed become
a mighty people in these mountains, numbering as they do now about
two hundred thousand souls, organized into thirty-two Stakes of Zion,
or nearly five hundred wards and branches; and this does not include
the Saints in Mexico and Canada. It is also a matter of history {107}
that the Saints, for years after the prediction was uttered, continued
to suffer persecution and affliction from their enemies; that many
apostatized, while others, who proved faithful and true to their
covenants, were put to death for conscience sake, and the remainder
were driven by a ruthless mob from the beautiful city of Nauvoo into
the western wilderness in the year 1846.