Produced by the Mormon Texts Project
(http://mormontextsproject.org), with thanks to Renah
Holmes.
THE LATTER-DAY PROPHET
HISTORY OF
JOSEPH SMITH
WRITTEN FOR YOUNG PEOPLE
BY GEORGE Q. CANNON
PUBLISHED AT
JUVENILE INSTRUCTOR OFFICE
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
1900
PREFACE.
In sending out this little work, the author hopes with all his heart
that he has made interesting and instructive a subject that has been a
source of inspiration to him. The book was called forth mainly by the
need of the Sunday Schools for such a publication. In many schools the
author's _Life of Joseph Smith_ is being used, but that book was not
written as a text-book for children. This little volume can be put to
such a use, and can be placed in the hands of the children themselves.
Teachers may gather new material to give them from any source they
desire, but the children have a foundation furnished here.
In this book there may be words that a child of ten or twelve years
will not understand; but the child's vocabulary would never grow if
he met no new words. However the author believes there are few if any
places where an intelligent child cannot gather the meaning from the
context. The work is purposely arranged in forty chapters, as that is
the number of Sundays, fast-days excluded, in the year; but if possible,
a little time once a month should be given to review work. Special
attention is called to the chapter headings, which may be used as the
topics on which different members of the class may prepare to talk. The
maps and illustrations will be found valuable in aiding the child's
understanding. While these suggestions apply to the use of this volume
as a text-book, it has also been the aim to have the history suitable
for general reading as well.
It has been the author's desire through life to aid in giving the young
Latter-day Saints so much that is good and pure in literature that they
will have no excuse for reading that which is trashy or improper. Good
books, if not the strongest outside influence, are at least very strong
in the building of character. The story of life upon the earth is
beautiful and has absorbing interest if that life is natural, that is,
in harmony with the will of our Father in Heaven. The real experiences
of a bold missionary of Truth should be and are of the highest interest
to all right-minded Mormon children of either sex. Hence the author
has seen fit to regard this little work as the beginning of a series
of biographies of the Presidents of the Church, which he has under
contemplation. He believes that the data of the history of the Church
can be given as completely in the lives of the men who have led it as
in any other way. There are some additional advantages: a biography
has greater unity and consequently children can grasp it better; they
obtain a deeper understanding, too, of the Church and its principles,
when they see the life-history and growth of a man under the influence
of the Gospel; and they become intimately acquainted with the noblest
characters that have ever lived upon the earth. Besides this, the
history of the Church is divided into periods that correspond with the
time that each man has been President. Each may almost be considered
an epoch. The Church was organized and its members grew to be a strong
people in the life of Joseph Smith; they became pioneers and colonizers
in the life of Brigham Young; John Taylor's presidency was marked by
the dark struggles which threatened the very existence of the Church
itself. Wilford Woodruff's by the wonderful progress of the Saints
when given liberty. Lorenzo Snow's already promises to mark a new and
eventful period.
THE LATTER-DAY PROPHET is now sent forth, with the fervent prayer that
it may create in the hearts of the children of Zion a greater love for
the man who made of human life a thing so nearly divine, and help them
to go bravely forward with the work he was chosen to begin.
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Birthplace of the Prophet Joseph Smith--His Ancestors--Removal to New
York State--A Religious Revival
CHAPTER II.
Joseph Inclined to Think Seriously upon Religion--Undecided as to which
Church to Join--Gets Light from the Bible--His First Prayer--Answered
by a Glorious Vision
CHAPTER III.
How the Account of his Vision was Received--His Further Inquiry for
Light--Another Vision
CHAPTER IV.
The Morning Vision--Joseph Tells his Father--Visits Cumorah--The Plates
Found--Moroni's Command
CHAPTER V.
The Four Years of Waiting--Joseph Works in Pennsylvania--Marriage--The
Last Visit to the Hill--Outruns the Robbers
CHAPTER VI.
Persecution--Martin Harris Comes to Joseph's Aid--Anthon Fulfills a
Prophecy--Martin becomes Scribe--Strange Book-Writers
CHAPTER VII.
Martin Harris Impatient--The Manuscript Lost--God's Wisdom
Shown--Joseph Repents--Slow Progress of Translation
CHAPTER VIII.
Oliver Cowdery Becomes Scribe--Joseph and Oliver Pray for New
Light--The Priesthood Restored--The First Baptisms--Kindness of Joseph
Knight
CHAPTER IX.
David Whitmer Takes the Prophet to Fayette--Many Believe and are
Baptized--Eleven Witnesses See the Plates and Bear Record--The Higher
Priesthood Restored--The Translation Finished
CHAPTER X.
The Church Organized--Joseph Accepted as Leader--The Holy Ghost
Conferred--Joseph Casts the Devil from Newel Knight--The First
Conference
CHAPTER XI.
Baptisms at Colesville--Joseph Arrested--Davidson and Reid on the
Defense--Suffering Like the Master--Narrow Escape from Mods
CHAPTER XII.
Fighting the Evil One--The Mob Blinded--President Alone to Receive
Revelation for the Church--First Missionary Movement--Working in the
West
CHAPTER XIII.
The Westward Move Begins--Kirtland--The High Priesthood
Conferred--Joseph Goes to Missouri--Zion Dedicated
CHAPTER XIV.
The Two Stakes--Joseph Lives at Hiram--McLellin Tries to Write a
Revelation and Fails--The Apostate Booth Stirs up Hatred--Joseph
Tarred and Feathered
CHAPTER XV.
The Visit to Missouri--Joseph Poisoned--Brigham Young and Heber C.
Kimball come to Kirtland--Prophecy of Civil War--First Presidency
Organized
CHAPTER XVI.
Trouble Begins in Missouri--The Elders Pray, the Mob Gets Drunk--July
Mob Destroys Printing Office and Tar and Feather the Brethren--The
Saints Promise to Leave--Appeal to Governor
CHAPTER XVII.
The Missouri Saints Hire Lawyers and the Mob Forms--Night Attack on Big
Blue Branch--Two Days of Cruelty and Plunder--The Battle--Saints Give
up Arms
CHAPTER XVIII.
New Struggle of Old War--Mob Turned loose on Saints--The Terrible
Driving--Appeals to Dunklin and Jackson--Mob and Saints Hold Conference
CHAPTER XIX.
Foundation of the Kirtland Temple Laid--Joseph Goes on Mission to
Canada--First High Council Formed--Zion's Camp Gathered--Wilford
Woodruff a Member
CHAPTER XX.
Zion's Camp on the Way--Miracle of Bringing Forth Water--Zelph, the
White Lamanite--Rebellion in the Camp--Stop for the Night on Fishing
River--Campbell's Threat--The Mob Aroused
CHAPTER XXI.
The Terrible Tempest on Fishing River--Visit of Col. Sconce--Cholera in
Camp--Joseph Smitten--Sidney Gilbert's Death--Prophet Visits Zion
CHAPTER XXII.
A Time of Peace Begins--Building the Temple at Kirtland--The Twelve
Apostles Chosen--First Quorum of Seventy Organized--Joseph Translates
Pearl of Great Price--William Smith's Sin
CHAPTER XXIII.
The Prophet's Growth in Knowledge--Glorious Visions in
the Temple--Dedication--Keys of this Dispensation Conferred--Elders go
out to Preach
CHAPTER XXIV.
The Saints in Clay County--Citizens Ask them to Leave--Caldwell County
Formed--John Taylor--Lorenzo Snow--Willard Richards
CHAPTER XXV.
The Spirit of Speculation--Kirtland Safety Society Begins and
Fails--Many Apostatize--The English Mission Opened--Satan Strikes Heber
C. Kimball, but Fails to Stop the Work
CHAPTER XXVI.
Joseph Visits Canada--Carries Sidney Through Swamps to Escape Mob--Men
Fall from High Places--Prophet Escapes to Missouri--David Whitmer and
Oliver Cowdery Cut off the Church
CHAPTER XXVII.
The Last Missouri Persecution Begins--Fifteen Brave Men Defeat One
Hundred and Fifty Cowards--Penniston and Black Swear Falsehoods--Joseph
and Lyman Wight Put Under Bonds--Mob Gathers
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Mob Attacks De Witt--Joseph Tries in Vain to Save the
Town--Mob Driven Away from Adam-ondi-Ahman--Apostle Patten Killed in
Battle of Crooked River--Extermination Begins at Haun's Mill--Alma
Smith's Wound and his Mother's Faith
CHAPTER XXIX.
Hinkle Betrays Joseph and Brethren to Mob-Militia--Court-Martial
Orders them to be Shot--Soldiers Sack Far West--Joseph Preaches in
Independence--Brethren taken to Richmond for Trial--Clark Finishes
Terrible Work at Far West and Adam-ondi-Ahman--Mock Trial and
Imprisonment
CHAPTER XXX.
Petition the Legislature for Justice--John Taylor and John E. Page
Ordained Apostles--Preparations to Leave Missouri--Treatment of Joseph
and his Fellow-Prisoners--Illinois the next Gathering Place of the
Saints
CHAPTER XXXI.
Prisoners in Liberty Jail Seek their Liberty--Taken to Gallatin for
Trial--Ordered to be Taken to Boone County--Their Escape from the
Guards--Conference at Far West--A Prophecy Fulfilled--Last of the
Saints Leave Missouri
CHAPTER XXXII.
Saints Locate at Commerce, Afterwards called Nauvoo--An Unhealthy
Place--A Day of Miraculous Healings--Apostles set out upon Missions to
England--Their Labors in that Land
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Joseph and Companions Depart for the National Capital--The
Prophet's act of Heroism--Visits President Van Buren--The Latter's
Cowardice--Apostle Hyde's Mission to Jerusalem--Boggs' Demand for
the Prophet and his Brethren--Death of the Prophet's Father--Nauvoo
Chartered as a City--Nauvoo University and Legion
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Carlin sends out the old Order for Arrest--Joseph Nurses the
Sheriff--The Trial--Don Carlos Smith Dies--Visit from Sac and Fox
Indians--Baptism for Dead Begun--First Relief Society Organized
CHAPTER XXXV.
Bennett's Plots to Destroy the Prophet--A Prophecy--Joseph Charged with
Being an Accessory to the Attempted Assassination of Boggs--His Arrest
and Trial--Set at Liberty
CHAPTER XXXVI.
A Bloody War Predicted--The Prophet's Interview with Stephen A.
Douglas--A Prophecy--The Celestial Order of Marriage--Joseph Kidnapped
and Abused--He Entertains the men who sought to take his Life
CHAPTER XXXVII.
The Prophet a Model of Perfect Manhood--Apostasy of Men who had been
his Friends--Christmas Day--The Prophet a Candidate for the Presidency
of the United States--Prediction Concerning the Saints--The Work of his
Enemies
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
The Plot of an Apostate--The Publication of the Nauvoo
"Expositor"--Declared a Nuisance and Abated as such--Joseph's Last
Public Speech--He and his Brother Hyrum leave Nauvoo--Return to the
City--"I am Going Like a Lamb to the Slaughter"
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Under the Governor's Pledge of Protection Joseph and His Brethren go
to Carthage--Arrested and Imprisoned--Occurrences at Carthage--Plot to
Murder the Prophet--Governor Ford's Cowardice and Treachery
CHAPTER XL.
The Prisoners in Carthage Jail--Surrounded by a Mob with
Painted Faces--The Martyrdom--The Return to Nauvoo--Funeral and
Burial--Conclusion
THE LATTER-DAY PROPHET.
YOUNG PEOPLE'S
HISTORY OF JOSEPH SMITH.
CHAPTER I.
1805-20.
BIRTHPLACE OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH--HIS ANCESTOR--REMOVAL TO NEW
YORK STATE--A RELIGIOUS REVIVAL.
It was two days before Christmas in the year eighteen hundred and five,
and cold winter had already set in. The Green Mountains of Vermont were
white with the snow that had fallen, and now it lay also in the valleys
and upon the level land. It was the season when men celebrate the birth
of our Savior, and they felt in their hearts the gladness and peace
that come with Christmas tide.
Twenty miles east of the Green Mountains, on the White River, a branch
of the Connecticut, lies the little town of Sharon. To a humble family
living there, came additional joy that day. A son was born, and, though
they knew it not, he was destined to be very great. He was not the
first-born, two sons and a daughter had come before; but none the less
did his parents welcome him. They gave him his father's name--Joseph
Smith--a good name and never tarnished by an evil deed, but one to be
known for both good and evil through all the world.
The boy came of goodly parentage. The Smiths, since Robert and Mary
settled in Essex, Massachusetts, a century and a half before, had
been honorable farmers. Lucy Mack, the mother, was also of a family
of industrious land-owners. Members of both families had fought for
their country. The father and mother of the boy, Joseph and Lucy, when
they were married in 1796, and for a few years afterward, had been
well-to-do, but had lost all in paying the debts brought upon them by
the fraud of a trusted agent. They had left their home in Tunbridge,
Vermont, and moved to Sharon in the adjoining county of Windsor. Here
the father farmed in the summer and taught school in the winter. But
little success came as the reward of his industry. He tried other
places and at length, in the year 1815, he left the Green Mountain
state entirely and moved his family to New York.
It seems as though the Lord must have had a hand in the misfortunes of
Joseph Smith, Senior, and his wife Lucy. He was teaching them and their
children humility. They all had their share of hard work and of the
sacrifices that poverty brings. But hard work strengthened their bodies
and sacrifice strengthened their souls. They had no time to dream away
their lives. They were taught rather to be industrious and to do their
duty.
The father was a large, vigorous man, and the younger Joseph and his
brothers inherited his strength. They worked at his side in the fields
and helped him provide for the family wants. He taught them while at
work, and when at rest by the fireside, to be truthful, honest and
virtuous, and to love God. He gave them also lessons in reading and
writing, but they had no such chance to learn these things as have
children now-a-days.
The Lord doubtless directed the family in their journey westward to
New York. It was there that His latter-day work must begin. Joseph,
the instrument of that work, was nine years old at the time. The
family first came to Palmyra, Wayne County, a little town lying twelve
miles south of Lake Ontario. Here for about four years they labored
in clearing the land and making themselves a home. Then they moved a
mile or two south to Manchester, Ontario County, and took up land for
a farm. There were now eight children in the family: Alvin, Hyrum,
Sophronia, Joseph, Samuel, William, Catherine and Don Carlos.
In the second year after they had come to Manchester the Methodists of
that region began a religious revival. The Presbyterians and Baptists
soon joined. A revival is caused by holding frequent meetings where
those who attend preach, sing and pray, and try by all means to stir up
religious enthusiasm. Sometimes they go to great extremes, and scream
and groan and dance until nearly exhausted. These actions are of course
not directed by the Spirit of the Lord. In Manchester there was great
excitement and many were converted or at least joined themselves with
one or other of the sects. As the people began to divide up, much
strife arose, and so much bad feeling was shown that one could hardly
believe they were true followers of Jesus.