built four temples in this land, and we built two temples in the
eastern country before we came here. During the lifetime of the Prophet
Joseph Smith one of the two was built and dedicated, and the foundation
of the other was laid and the walls had well progressed when he was
martyred. It was finished by the efforts of the people under the most
trying circumstances, and in poverty, and was dedicated unto the Lord.
The ordinances of the house of God were administered therein as they
had been taught to the leading authorities of the Church by the Prophet
Joseph Smith himself. The same gospel, the same ordinances, the same
authority and blessings, that were administered {594} by the Prophet
Joseph Smith and taught by him to his associates are now being enjoyed
by and taught to the Latter-day Saints in the four temples that have
been built in these valleys of the mountains. When you hear anybody
say that we have changed the ordinances, that we have transgressed
the laws, or have broken the everlasting covenants which were entered
into under the personal administration of the Prophet Joseph Smith,
tell them for me, tell them for President Snow, for President Cannon,
and for all those who are living today who received blessings and
ordinances under the bands of the Prophet Joseph Smith, that they are
in error. The same gospel prevails today, and the same ordinances
are administered today, both for the living and for the dead, that
were administered by the Prophet himself, and delivered by him to the
Church.--_Oct. C. R.,_ 1900, pp. 46, 47.
CARE AND NEED OF TEMPLES. We feel that an effort should be made to
preserve the temples of God, those houses that have been erected for
the purpose of administering the ordinances of the gospel therein,
for the living and the dead. We desire that these buildings shall be
preserved and kept in repair and in a wholesome condition, so that
the Spirit of the Lord may dwell in them, and that those who minister
therein may feel the presence and influence of his Spirit. We also feel
that when the time shall come and our hands shall be free from the
obligations that now rest upon us, other places should be prepared for
the convenience of the Latter-day Saints in more distant stakes, in
order that those who are living at great distances from the center may
have the privilege of receiving the ordinances of the gospel without
being put to the great expense and loss of time that is necessary now
in journeying from 500 to 1,000 miles in order to reach the houses of
God. We hope to see the day when we shall have temples built in the
various parts of the land where they are needed for the convenience
{595} of the people; for we realize that one of the greatest
responsibilities that rests upon the people of God today is that their
hearts shall be turned unto their fathers, and that they shall do the
work that is necessary to be done for them in order that they may be
joined together fitly in the bond of the New and Everlasting Covenant
from generation to generation. For the Lord has said, through the
Prophet, that this is one of the greatest responsibilities devolving
upon us in this latter day.--_Oct. C. R.,_ 1902, pp. 2, 3.
PREACHING THE GOSPEL IN THE SPIRIT WORLD. Never has there been a name
brought to the intelligence of the human race since the foundation of
the world that has cost so much, that has accomplished so much, that
has been revered and honored so much as the name of Jesus Christ, once
so hated, and persecuted, and then crucified. The day will come, and it
is not far distant either, when the name of the Prophet Joseph Smith
will be coupled with the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the Son of
God, as his representative, as his agent whom he chose, ordained and
set apart to lay anew the foundations of the Church of Jesus Christ,
possessing all the powers of the gospel, all the rites and privileges,
the authority of the holy priesthood and every principle necessary
to fit and qualify both the living and the dead to inherit eternal
life and to attain to exaltation in the kingdom of God. The day will
come when you and I will not be the only ones who will believe this,
by a great deal, but there will be millions living and dead who will
proclaim this truth. This gospel revealed to the Prophet Joseph is
already being preached to the spirits in prison, to those who have
passed away from this stage of action into the spirit world without the
knowledge of the gospel. Joseph Smith is preaching that gospel to them.
So is Hyrum Smith. So is Brigham Young, and so are all the faithful
apostles that lived in this dispensation under the administration of
the Prophet Joseph. They are there, having carried with them {596} from
here the holy priesthood that they received under authority, and which
was conferred upon them in the flesh; they are preaching the gospel to
the spirits in prison; for Christ, when his body lay in the tomb, went
to proclaim liberty to the captives and opened the prison doors to them
that were bound. Not only are these engaged in that work but hundreds
and thousands of others; the elders that have died in the mission field
have not finished their missions, but they are continuing them in the
spirit world. Possibly the Lord saw it necessary or proper to call them
hence as he did. I am not going to question that thought, in the least,
nor dispute it. I leave it in the hand of God, for I believe that all
these things will be overruled for good, for the Lord will suffer
nothing to come to his people in the world that he will not overrule
eventually for their greater good.--M. I. A. Conference, June 5, 1910;
_Young Woman's Journal,_ Vol. 21, pp. 456-460.
VISION OF THE REDEMPTION OF THE DEAD. On the third of October, in the
year nineteen hundred and eighteen, I sat in my room pondering over
the Scriptures and reflecting upon the great atoning sacrifice that
was made by the Son of God for the redemption of the world, and the
great and wonderful love made manifest by the Father and the Son in the
coming of the Redeemer into the world, that through his Atonement and
by obedience to the principles of the gospel, mankind might be saved.
While I was thus engaged, my mind reverted to the writings of the
Apostle Peter to the primitive saints scattered abroad throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, and other parts of Asia where the gospel
had been preached after the crucifixion of the Lord. I opened the
Bible and read the third and fourth chapters of the first epistle of
Peter, and as I read I was greatly impressed, more than I had ever been
before, with the following passages:
"For Christ also bath once suffered for sins, the just {597} for the
unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit:
"By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison;
"Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God
waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few,
that is, eight souls were saved by water." (I Peter 3:18-20)
"For, for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are
dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live
according to God in the spirit." (I Peter 4:6)
As I pondered over these things which are written, the eyes of my
understanding were opened, and the Spirit of the Lord rested upon me,
and I saw the hosts of the dead, both small and great. And there were
gathered together in one place an innumerable company of the spirits of
the just, who had been faithful in the testimony of Jesus while they
lived in mortality, and who had offered sacrifice in the similitude of
the great sacrifice of the Son of God, and had suffered tribulation in
their Redeemer's name. All these had departed the mortal life, firm
in the hope of a glorious resurrection, through the grace of God the
Father and his Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
I beheld that they were filled with joy and gladness, and were
rejoicing together because the day of their deliverance was at hand.
They were assembled awaiting the advent of the Son of God into the
spirit world, to declare their redemption from the bands of death.
Their sleeping dust was to be restored unto its perfect frame, bone to
his bone, and the sinews and the flesh upon them, the spirit and the
body to be united never again to be divided, that they might receive a
fulness of joy.
While this vast multitude waited and conversed, rejoicing in the hour
of their deliverance from the chains of {598} death, the Son of God
appeared, declaring liberty to the captives who had been faithful, and
there he preached to them the everlasting gospel, the doctrine of the
resurrection and the redemption of mankind from the fall, and from
individual sins on conditions of repentance. But unto the wicked he
did not go, and among the ungodly and the unrepentant who had defiled
themselves while in the flesh, his voice was not raised, neither did
the rebellious who rejected the testimonies and the warnings of the
ancient prophets behold his presence, nor look upon his face. Where
these were, darkness reigned, but among the righteous there was peace,
and the saints rejoiced in their redemption, and bowed the knee and
acknowledged the Son of God as their Redeemer and Deliverer from death
and the chains of hell. Their countenances shone and the radiance from
the presence of the Lord rested upon them and they sang praises unto
his holy Name.
I marveled, for I understood that the Savior spent about three years
in his ministry among the Jews and those of the house of Israel,
endeavoring to teach them the everlasting gospel and call them unto
repentance; and yet, notwithstanding his mighty works and miracles and
proclamation of the truth in great power and authority, there were
but few who hearkened to his voice and rejoiced in his presence and
received salvation at his hands. But his ministry among those who were
dead was limited to the brief time intervening between the crucifixion
and his resurrection; and I wondered at the words of Peter wherein
he said that the Son of God preached unto the spirits in prison who
sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in
the days of Noah, and how it was possible for him to preach to those
spirits and perform the necessary labor among them in so short a time.
And as I wondered, my eyes were opened, and my understanding quickened,
and I perceived that the Lord went {599} not in person among the
wicked and the disobedient who had rejected the truth, to teach
them; but behold, from among the righteous he organized his forces
and appointed messengers, clothed with power and authority, and
commissioned them to go forth and carry the light of the gospel to them
that were in darkness, even to all the spirits of men. And thus was
the gospel preached to the dead. And the chosen messengers went forth
to declare the acceptable day of the Lord, and proclaim liberty to
the captives who were bound; even unto all who would repent of their
sins and receive the gospel. Thus was the gospel preached to those
who had died in their sins, without a knowledge of the truth, or in
transgression, having rejected the prophets. These were taught faith in
God, repentance from sin, vicarious baptism for the remission of sins,
the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, and all other
principles of the gospel that were necessary for them to know in order
to qualify themselves that they might be judged according to men in the
flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.
And so it was made known among the dead, both small and great, the
unrighteous as well as the faithful, that redemption had been wrought
through the sacrifice of the Son of God upon the cross. Thus was it
made known that our Redeemer spent his time during his sojourn in the
world of spirits, instructing and preparing the faithful spirits of the
prophets who had testified of him in the flesh, that they might carry
the message of redemption unto all the dead unto whom he could not go
personally because of their rebellion and transgression, that they
through the ministration of his servants might also hear his words.
Among the great and mighty ones who were assembled in this vast
congregation of the righteous, were Father Adam, the Ancient of Days
and father of all, and our glorious Mother Eve, with many of her
faithful daughters who {600} had lived through the ages and worshiped
the true and living God. Abel, the first martyr, was there, and his
brother Seth, one of the mighty ones, who was in the express image of
his father Adam. Noah, who gave warning of the flood; Shem, the great
High Priest; Abraham, the father of the faithful; Isaac, Jacob, and
Moses, the great law-giver of Israel; Isaiah, who declared by prophecy
that the Redeemer was anointed to bind up the broken hearted, to
proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them
that were bound, were also there.
Moreover, Ezekiel, who was shown in vision the great valley of dry
bones which were to be clothed upon with flesh to come forth again in
the resurrection of the dead, living souls; Daniel, who foresaw and
foretold the establishment of the kingdom of God in the latter days,
never again to be destroyed nor given to other people; Elias, who was
with Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration; Malachi, the prophet who
testified of the coming of Elijah--of whom also Moroni spake to the
Prophet Joseph Smith--declaring that he should come before the ushering
in of the great and dreadful day of the Lord, were also there. The
prophet Elijah was to plant in the hearts of the children the promises
made to their fathers, foreshadowing the great work to be done in the
temples of the Lord in the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times, for
the redemption of the dead and the sealing of the children to their
parents, lest the whole earth be smitten with a curse and utterly
wasted at his coming.
All these and many more, even the prophets who dwelt among the Nephites
and testified of the coming of the Son of God, mingled in the vast
assembly and waited for their deliverance, for the dead had looked
upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage.
These the Lord taught, and gave them power to come forth, after his
resurrection from the dead, to enter into his Father's kingdom, there
to be crowned with immortality and eternal life, and {601} continue
thenceforth their labors as had been promised by the Lord, and be
partakers of all blessings which were held in reserve for them that
love him.
The Prophet Joseph Smith, and my father, Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young,
John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and other choice spirits who were
reserved to come forth in the fulness of times to take part in laying
the foundations of the great Latter-day work, including the building
of the temples and the performance of ordinances therein for the
redemption of the dead, were also in the spirit world. I observed that
they were also among the noble and great ones who were chosen in the
beginning to be rulers in the Church of God. Even before they were
born, they, with many others, received their first lessons in the world
of spirits, and were prepared to come forth in the due time of the Lord
to labor in his vineyard for the salvation of the souls of men.
I beheld that the faithful elders of this dispensation, when they
depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of
the gospel of repentance and redemption, through the sacrifice of the
Only Begotten Son of God, among those who are in darkness and under
the bondage of sin in the great world of the spirits of the dead. The
dead who repent will be redeemed, through obedience to the ordinances
of the house of God, and after they have paid the penalty of their
transgressions, and are washed clean, shall receive a reward according
to their works, for they are heirs of salvation.
Thus was the vision of the redemption of the dead revealed to me, and I
bear record, and I know that this record is true, through the blessing
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, even so. Amen.--_Joseph F. Smith_.
This _Vision of the Redemption of the Dead_ was submitted October
31, 1918, to the Counselors in the First Presidency, the Council
of the Twelve and the Patriarch, {602} and by them unanimously
accepted.--_Improvement Era,_ Vol. 22, December, 1918, pp. 166-170.
MODERATION IN BURIAL DISPLAYS. A good friend who is often called upon
to attend to the proprieties on behalf of the dead, calls attention
in a letter to the indulgence of extravagance in the laying away of
our departed friends and relatives. She believes that the Lord is not
pleased with the profusion of flowers, the expensive dress, and even
with the ornaments of gold in the form of rings and other jewelry used
in decorating the dead.
We certainly recommend moderation and wisdom in the use of flowers, the
hire of carriages, and the purchase of caskets. In the old scriptures
we have numerous examples of simplicity in burials. While we are not
called upon literally to follow these, they should be a lesson to us
to avoid ostentations, and to attend to these matters with only such
displays and preparations as will show due respect for the departed,
and proper consideration for the living.
Relating to dress, the Latter-day Saints burial clothes are all
sufficient for our day. Anything more is unnecessary, which good,
common sense would clearly suggest; while the burial of jewelry with
the dead can serve no good purpose. It savors of vanity, and might
prove a temptation to grave robbers,--a naturally horrible thought. In
like manner with carriages and caskets, only the necessary and modest
should be used.--_Improvement Era,_ Vol. 12, December, 1908, p. 145.
WHO CANNOT BE REACHED BY THE GOSPEL? And he that believes, is baptized,
and receives the light and testimony of Jesus Christ, and walks well
for a season, receiving the fulness of the blessings of the gospel
in this world, and afterwards turns wholly unto sin, violating his
covenants, he will be among those whom the gospel can never reach in
the spirit world; and all such go beyond its saving power, they will
taste the second death, and be banished from the presence {603} of God
eternally.--_Oct. C. R., Deseret Weekly News,_ Vol. 24, 1875, p. 708.
PRINCIPLE OF BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD. Here will come in the principles
of baptism for the dead, and of proxy and heirships, as revealed
through the Prophet Joseph Smith, that they may receive a salvation
and an exaltation, I will not say a fulness of blessing and glory, but
a reward according to their merits and the righteousness and mercy
of God, even as it will be with you and with me. But there is this
difference between us and the antediluvians--they rejected the gospel,
consequently they received not the truth nor the testimony of Jesus
Christ; therefore they did not sin against a fulness of light, while we
have received the fulness of the gospel; are admitted to the testimony
of Jesus Christ, and a knowledge of the living and true God, whose
will it is also our privilege to know, that we may do it. Now if we
sin, we sin against the light and knowledge, and peradventure we may
become guilty of the blood of Jesus Christ, for which sin there is no
forgiveness, neither in this world nor in the world to come.--_Oct. C.
R., Deseret Weekly News,_ Vol. 24, 1875, p. 708.
{604}
CHAPTER XXV
JOSEPH SMITH THE PROPHET
THE REALITY OF JOSEPH'S VISION. Our critics say it was an apparition
that the Prophet Joseph saw, but he did not say so. He said the
personages who appeared to him were real men, and there is nothing more
improbable in his statement than in the recital in the Bible of the
conception and birth of Christ, and of John the Baptist. To us has come
the account of the birth, life and work of Christ, and there is nothing
in the narrative to cause us to believe it more readily than that story
of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Christ walked and talked and counseled
with his friends when he came down from heaven over 1900 years ago. Is
there any reason why he could not come again, why he should not visit
this earth once more and talk with men today? If there is I should be
glad to hear it.
The thing I want to impress upon you is that God is real, a person of
flesh and bones, the same as you are and I am. Christ is the same, but
the Holy Ghost is a person of spirit.
If Joseph Smith's teachings were untrue, then those of the Great
Nazarene fall to the ground, for they are one and the same. You can't
philosophize the truths of the gospel away, nor explain them by saying
the prophet was a victim of apparitions, for they are real, tangible
facts behind which stand a great mass of proof as good as has ever been
offered to substantiate any statement. It is a comfort, a blessing,
a delight to me, and I pray that it may ever be so to you.--_Logan
Journal,_ March 14, 1911.
SERVICE OF JOSEPH SMITH. Our faith in Jesus Christ lies at the
foundation of our religion, the foundation of our hope for remission of
sins, and for exaltation after death, {605} and for the resurrection
from death to everlasting life. Our faith in the doctrines that have
been restored through the instrumentality of the Prophet Joseph Smith
confirms and strengthens us and establishes beyond a question or doubt,
our faith and belief in the divine mission of the Son of God. Joseph
Smith was the instrument chosen of God and endowed with his authority
to restore the holy priesthood, the power of God to bind on earth
and in heaven,--the power of the priesthood by which men may perform
ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ for the salvation of mankind.
Through Joseph Smith the gospel of repentance, baptism in water for
the remission of sins, the baptism of the Holy Ghost and by fire have
been restored, and the knowledge that Jesus is the Christ, the Only
Begotten Son of God, is made manifest through the spirit of truth. We
are obligated to this humble servant that the Lord chose to lay the
foundation of this work for the ordinances of the gospel of the Son of
God, then and still unknown to the world, by which we may become united
together as families, as kindreds, under the bonds of the new and
everlasting covenant, for time and for all eternity. We are obligated
to the Prophet Joseph Smith, as an instrument in the hand of the Lord,
for the knowledge that we possess of the work which is necessary to
be done in the house of God, for the salvation of the living and
the redemption of the dead, and for the eternal union of souls who
are united in this life by the power of God, under the bond of the
everlasting covenant. We are indebted, or obligated at least, to the
Prophet Joseph Smith, as the instrument in the hands of God, for the
knowledge we now possess that a man cannot be exalted into the presence
of God and the full enjoyment of his glory, alone. It was not designed
for the man to be alone, for the man is not without the woman, neither
the woman without the man, in the Lord.--_Oct. C. R.,_ 1916, p. 3.
JOSEPH SMITH'S NAME WILL NEVER PERISH. God {606} lives, and Jesus is
the Christ, the Savior of the world. Joseph Smith is a prophet of
God--living, not dead; for his name will never perish. The angel that
visited him and declared God's message unto him, told him that his
name should be held for good and for evil throughout the world. This
prediction was made in the days of his youth, before the Church was
organized, and before there was any prospect of that which has since
been accomplished. The declaration was made, notwithstanding it then
seemed an absolute impossibility; but from the day it was spoken until
this moment, and from now on until the winding-up scene, the name of
Joseph Smith, the prophet of the nineteenth century, has been, is
being, and will be heralded abroad to the nations of the earth, and
will be held in honor or contempt by the people of the world. But the
honor in which it is now held by a few will by and by he increased that
his name shall be held in reverence and honor among the children of men
as universally as the name of the Son of God is held today; for he did
and is doing the work of the Master. He laid the foundations in this
dispensation for the restoration of the principles that were taught by
the Son of God, who for these principles lived, and taught, and died,
and rose from the dead. Therefore I say, as the name of the Son of God
shall be held in reverence and honor, and in the faith and love of men,
so will the name of Joseph Smith eventually be held among the children
of men, gaining prestige, increasing in honor and commanding respect
and reverence, until the world shall say that he was a servant and
Prophet of God. The Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. Peace on earth, good
will to men, is the proclamation that Joseph the Prophet made, and that
is the same as his Master, the Lord Jesus Christ, made to the world.
That is the mission we are trying to fulfil, and the proclamation we
are seeking to make to the world today. It is the mission that these
young men have been chosen to proclaim, and be {607} witnesses of to
the nations of the earth. It is their duty to see to it that this
proclamation and this gospel of peace and good will shall be sent to
every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, under the whole
heavens. God bless Israel, is my earnest prayer in the name of Jesus.
Amen.--_Oct. C. R.,_ 1907, pp. 125-126.
THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH. Brother Woodruff, in the course of his
remarks, made the assertion that Joseph Smith was the greatest prophet
that has ever lived, of whom we have any knowledge, save and except
Jesus Christ himself. The world would say that he was an impostor; and
the Lord said that his name should be had for good and for evil among
all the nations of the earth; and this much, at least, so far as his
name has become known, has been fulfilled. This prediction was made
through the Prophet Joseph Smith himself, when he was an obscure youth,
and when there was but little prospect of his name ever becoming known
beyond the village where he lived. It was at an early period of his
life, and at the beginning of the work that this prophecy or revelation
was given, and it has been truly verified. Today there is not another
man, perhaps, who has figured in religion, whose name is so wide-spread
among the nations, as that of Joseph Smith. In connection with the
work of which he was the instrument in the hands of God of laying the
foundation, his name is spoken of in nearly every civilized nation upon
the globe, for good or for evil. Where it is spoken of for good, it is
by those who have had the privilege of hearing the gospel which has
come to the earth through him, and who have been sufficiently honest
and humble to receive the same. They speak of him with a knowledge
which they have received by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, through
obedience to the principles which he taught, as a prophet and as an
inspired man. They speak to his praise, to his honor, and they hold his
name in honorable remembrance. They revere him, and they love {608}
him, as they love no other man, because they know he was the chosen
instrument in the hands of the Almighty in restoring the gospel of life
and salvation unto them, of opening their understandings of the future,
of lifting the veil of eternity, as it were, from before their eyes.
Those who have received the principles which he promulgated know they
pertain not only to their own salvation, happiness and peace, spiritual
and temporal, but to the welfare, happiness, salvation and exaltation
of their kindred who have died without a knowledge of the truth.
The work in which Joseph Smith was engaged was not confined to this
life alone, but it pertains as well to the life to come, and to the
life that has been. In other words, it relates to those who have
lived upon the earth, to those who are living and to those who shall
come after us. It is not something which relates to man only while he
tabernacles in the flesh, but to the whole human family from eternity
to eternity. Consequently, as I have said, Joseph Smith is held in
reverence, his name is honored; tens of thousands of people thank God
in their hearts, and from the depths of their souls, for the knowledge
the Lord has restored to the earth through him, and therefore they
speak well of him and bear testimony of his worth. And this is not
confined to a village, nor to a state, nor to a nation, but extends to
every nation, kindred, tongue and people where the gospel, up to the
present, has been preached--in America, Great Britain, Europe, Africa,
Australia, New Zealand and upon the islands of the sea. And the Book of
Mormon, which Joseph Smith was the instrument in the hands of God in
bringing forth to this generation, has been translated into the German,
French, Danish, Swedish, Welsh, Hawaiian, Hindustani, Spanish, and
Dutch languages, and this book will be translated into other languages,
for according to the predictions it contains, and according to the
promises of the Lord through Joseph Smith it is to be sent unto {609}
every nation, and kindred, and people under the whole heavens, until
all the sons and daughters of Adam shall have the privilege of hearing
the gospel as it has been restored to the earth in the dispensation of
the fulness of times.
The world presume that we have not received a knowledge of the truth.
Those who are in ignorance in regard to the character, life, and labors
of Joseph Smith, who have never read his revelations or studied or
investigated his claims to divine authority, and are ignorant of his
mission, revile him, sneer at his name, and ridicule his claims to
prophetic inspiration, and called him an impostor in his day, except a
few who hearkened to his instruction, and believed his testimony. The
great majority of mankind then living who knew of Christ, deemed him an
impostor, and considered him worthy to be put to death; precisely the
same feeling existed towards Joseph Smith.
* * * *
Let us return to the Prophet Joseph Smith. He was accused of nearly
everything that was vile, by his enemies, who, as is well known by
the Latter-day Saints, were generally entirely ignorant of his true
character and mission. What did Joseph Smith do? Was human blood found
upon his hands? No, verily no. He was innocent. Was he a slanderer and
vilified? No, verily, he was not. Did he wrongfully and unjustly accuse
men of wickedness? No, he did not. Did he institute an order of things
that has proved injurious to the human family? Let the people who have
become acquainted with his doctrines, and with the institutions which
he established upon the earth, and his own life's labor, answer.
He was born December 23, 1805, in the state of Vermont. His parents
were American citizens, as had been their ancestors for generations.
In the spring of 1820, he received the first supernatural or heavenly
manifestation. {610} He was then fourteen years of age. Ordinarily we
do not expect a very great deal from a boy who is only fourteen years
of age, and it is not likely that a boy of that tender age could have
become very vicious or wicked, especially when he was born and reared
on a farm, apart from the corrupting vices of great cities, and free
from contact with the debasing influence of vile associations. It is
not likely that he spent many idle moments during the working years of
his life, up to fourteen years of age; for his father had to labor for
his living and earn it from the soil by the labor of his hands, being a
poor man with a large family to support.
In 1820, as I have said, Joseph Smith received a revelation in which he
claimed that God had declared that he was about to restore the ancient
gospel in its purity, and many other glorious things. In consequence
of this, Joseph Smith became very notorious in the neighborhood where
he resided, and people began to regard him with a great deal of
suspicion. He was at once called an impostor, and a few years later
he was styled by his enemies, "old Joe Smith." His fame became known
throughout the United States. He was called a "money digger," and many
other contemptuous things. If you will look at his history, and at the
character of his parents, and surroundings, and consider the object
of his life, you can discover how much consistency there was in the
charges brought against him. All this was done to injure him. He was
neither old nor a "money digger," nor an impostor, nor in any manner
deserving of the epithets which they applied to him. He had never
injured anybody, nor robbed anybody--he never did anything for which he
could be punished by the laws under which he lived.
When he was between 17 and 18 years of age, he received another
heavenly manifestation, and some great and glorious things were
revealed to him, and for four years subsequently he received
visits from a heavenly messenger. {611} He did not claim he was in
communication with wicked men or demons from the lower regions. He
claimed he was in communication with Moroni, one of the ancient
prophets who lived upon this continent. He was a good man when he lived
here, and it is not likely that he had become wicked since he went
away. This personage, he claimed, revealed to him the mind and will of
the Lord, and showed him the character of the great work that he, in
the hands of God was to be instrumental in establishing in the earth
when the time should come. This was the labor that was performed by the
angel Moroni, during the four years intervening between 1823 and 1827.
In 1827 he received from the hands of the angel Moroni, the gold plates
from which this book (Book of Mormon) was translated by him through the
inspiration of the Almighty, and the gift and power of God unto him.
I heard it read when I was a child. I have read it many times since,
and I have asked myself, scores of times, have you ever discovered one
precept, doctrine, or command, within the lids of that book, that is
calculated to injure anybody, to do harm to the world, or that is in
contradiction to the word of God as contained in the Bible? And the
answer invariably came, No, not one solitary thing, every precept,
doctrine, word of advice, prophecy, and indeed every word contained
within the lids of that book, relating to the great plan of human
redemption and salvation, are calculated to make bad men good and good
men better.
Did Joseph Smith during the three years intervening between 1827 and
1830, while he was laboring with his hands for a scanty subsistence,
dodging his enemies, and trying to evade the grasp of those who
sought to destroy him and prevent the accomplishment of his mission,
struggling all the while against untold obstacles and depressing
embarrassments to complete the translation of this book, have much
{612} chance of becoming wicked or corrupt? I do not think he had. When
he had finished translating the Book of Mormon he was still only a boy,
yet in producing this book he developed historical facts, prophecies,
revelations, predictions, testimonies and doctrines, precepts and
principles that are beyond the power and wisdom of the learned world
to duplicate or refute. Joseph Smith was an unlearned youth, so far
as the learning of the world is concerned. He was taught by the angel
Moroni. He received his education from above, from God Almighty, and
not from man-made institutions; but to charge him with being ignorant
would be both unjust and false; no man or combination of men possessed
greater intelligence than he, nor could the combined wisdom and cunning
of the age produce an equivalent for what he did. He was not ignorant,
for he was taught by him from whom all intelligence flows. He possessed
a knowledge of God and of his law, and of eternity, and mankind have
been trying, with all their learning, wisdom and power--and not content
with that, they have tried with the sword and cannon--to extirpate from
the earth the superstructure which Joseph Smith, by the power of God,
erected; but they have signally failed, and will yet be overwhelmed by
their efforts to destroy it.
Again, the world say that Joseph Smith was an indolent person. The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized April 6,
1830. Joseph Smith was martyred in Carthage, Illinois, on the 27th
day of June, 1844--fourteen years after the organization of the
Church. What did he accomplish, in these fourteen years? He opened
up communication with the heavens in his youth. He brought forth the
Book of Mormon, which contains the fulness of the gospel; and the
revelations contained in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants; restored
the holy priesthood unto man; established and organized the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, an organization which has no
parallel in all {613} the world, and which all the cunning and wisdom
of men for ages has failed to discover or produce and never could have
done. He founded colonies in the states of New York, Ohio, Missouri
and Illinois, and pointed the way for the gathering of the Saints into
the Rocky Mountains; sent the gospel into Europe and to the islands of
the sea; founded the town of Kirtland, Ohio, and there built a temple
that cost scores of thousands of dollars; he founded the city of Nauvoo
in the midst of persecution; gathered into Nauvoo and vicinity some
20,000 people, and commenced the building of the temple there, which
when completed cost one million dollars; and in doing all this he
had to contend against the prejudices of the age, against relentless
persecution, mobocracy, and vile calumny and slander, that were heaped
upon him from all quarters without stint or measure. In a word, he did
more in from fourteen to twenty years for the salvation of man than any
other man, save Jesus only, who ever lived, and yet he was accused by
his enemies of being an indolent and worthless man!
Where shall we go to find another man who has accomplished a
one-thousandth part of the good that Joseph Smith accomplished? Shall
we go to the Rev. Mr. Beecher, or Talmage, or any other of the great
preachers of the day? What have they done for the world, with all their
boasted intelligence, influence, wealth, and the popular voice of
the world in their favor! Joseph Smith had none of their advantages,
if these are advantages. And yet, no man in the nineteenth century,
except Joseph Smith, has discovered to the world a ray of light upon
the keys and power of the holy priesthood, or the ordinances of the
gospel, either for the living or the dead. Through Joseph Smith, God
has revealed many things which were kept hidden from the foundation of
the world in fulfilment of the prophets--and at no time since Enoch
walked the earth has the Church of God been organized as perfectly
as it is today, not excepting the dispensation of {614} Jesus and
his disciples,--or, if it was, we have no record of it. And this is
strictly in keeping with the objects and character of this great
latter-day work, destined to consummate the great purposes and designs
of God concerning the dispensation of the fulness of times.
The principle of baptism for the redemption of the dead, with the
ordinances appertaining thereto, for the complete salvation and
exaltation of those who have died without the gospel, as revealed
through Joseph Smith, is alone worth more than all the dogmas of the
so-called Christian world combined.
Joseph Smith is accused of being a false prophet. It is, however,
beyond the power of the world to prove that he was a false prophet.
They may so charge him, but you who have received the testimony of
Jesus Christ, by the spirit of prophecy, through his administrations,
are my witnesses that they have not the power to prove him false, and
that is why they are so vexed about it. In my humble opinion many of
our enemies know that they lie before God, angels and men, when they
make this charge, and they would only be too glad to produce proof to
sustain their accusations, but they cannot. Joseph Smith was a true
prophet of God. He lived and died a true prophet, and his words and
works will yet demonstrate the divinity of his mission to millions of
the inhabitants of this globe. Perhaps not so many that are now living,
for they have in a great measure rejected the gospel, and the testimony
which the elders of this Church have borne to them; but their children
after them, and generations to come, will receive with delight the
name of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the gospel which their fathers
rejected. Amen.--Discourse delivered in Assembly Hall, Salt Lake City,
Oct. 29, 1882. _Journal of Discourses,_ Vol. 24, 1884, pp. 8-16.
PREDICTION OF JOSEPH SMITH FULFILLED. As the time remaining is so
short, I think I could not do better than devote {615} it to continuing
the subject dwelt upon by Brother Cannon.
The Doctrine and Covenants, as well as the Book of Mormon, contains
indisputable evidence of the divine calling and mission of Joseph
Smith. For instance, I will refer the congregation to the revelation
given December 25, 1832, in relation to the great war of the Rebellion,
with which all are more or less familiar (Doc. and Cov. 87). A portion
of that revelation has been literally fulfilled, even to the very place
indicated in the prediction where the war should commence; which, as
was therein stated, was to terminate in the death and misery of many
souls.
Again, in the revelation given in March, 1831, to Parley P. Pratt and
Lemon Copley, the following remarkable prediction is found:
"But before the great day of the Lord shall come, Jacob shall flourish
in the wilderness, and the Lamanites shall blossom as the rose. Zion
shall flourish upon the hills and rejoice upon the mountains, and shall
be assembled together unto the place which I have appointed." (Doc. and
Cov. 49:24, 25)
Who, let me ask, unless he was inspired of the Lord, speaking by the
gift and power of God, at that remote period of the Church's history,
when our numbers were few, when we had no influence, name or standing
in the world--who, I would ask, under the circumstances in which We
were placed when this prediction was made, could have uttered such
words unless God inspired him? Zion is, indeed, flourishing on the
hills, and it is rejoicing on the mountains, and we who compose it are
gathering and assembling together unto the place appointed. I now ask
this congregation if they cannot see that this prediction (which was
made many years before the idea prevailed at all among this people that
we should ever migrate and gather out to these mountain valleys) has
been and is being literally fulfilled? If there {616} were no other
prophecy uttered by Joseph Smith, fulfillment of which could be pointed
to, this alone would be sufficient to entitle him to the claim of being
a true prophet.
Again, in the revelation given February, 1834, this remarkable promise
and prophecy is found:
"Verily I say unto you, I have decreed a decree which my people shall
realize, inasmuch as they hearken from this very hour, unto the counsel
which I, the Lord their God, shall give unto them. Behold they shall,
for I have decreed it, begin to prevail against mine enemies from
this very hour, and by hearkening to observe all the words which I,
the Lord their God, shall speak unto them, they shall never cease to
prevail until the kingdoms of the world are subdued under my feet, and
the earth is given unto the Saints, to possess it for ever and ever."
(Doctrine and Covenants 103:5-7)
Is there a person within the sound of my voice, or anywhere else upon
the face of the wide earth, who can say that this promise has failed,
that this prediction is not founded in truth, that so far it has not
been fulfilled? I stand before this vast congregation, and am at the
defiance of any human being to say that this was not pronounced by
the spirit of truth, by the inspiration of the Almighty, for it has
been fulfilled, and is being fulfilled, and that, too, in the face
of opposition of the most deadly character; and what remains will be
fulfilled literally and completely. And it is the fear in the heart
of Satan that this will be the case that causes him to stir up his
emissaries to oppose the kingdom of God and seek, if possible, to
destroy this great and glorious work. For it is a living fact, a fact
that fills the hearts of the righteous and God-fearing with unspeakable
joy, and the hearts of the wicked and ungodly with consternation and
jealous fear, that this work of God, this work of redemption and
salvation in which we are engaged, is moving forward and is destined to
continue in its onward march until the kingdoms of the world shall be
subdued and brought {617} under the law of Almighty God. And that this
will come to pass, I can assure you, the enemy of all righteousness
comprehends as well as we do. Yes, he knows that this will eventually
be the case, better than many who profess to have received the Holy
Spirit in their hearts; and, therefore, he is diligently seeking to
stir up the hearts of the wicked to fight against the Saints of God,
until they are discomfited, and Zion is free.
These predictions concerning the triumph of the cause of God over the
wicked who contend against them, were uttered by Joseph Smith in his
youth, in the early rise of the Church when, to all human appearance,
their fulfillment was absolutely impossible. At that time there were
but few who could believe, that dared to believe the truth of these
predictions. The few, comparatively, that did believe when they heard,
were those whose minds had been enlightened by the Holy Spirit of
Promise and who, therefore, were prepared to receive them. As these
predictions have been fulfilled, so those not yet fulfilled will come
to pass in the due time of the Lord; and as this latter-day work has so
far grown and assumed force and power in the earth, so it will continue
to do, and there is no power beneath the celestial kingdom that can
prevent its growth, or the consummation of all that has been predicted
concerning it.--_Apr. C. R., Journal of Discourses,_ Vol. 25, 1884, pp.
97-101.
JOSEPH SMITH, THE BOY. To me there is a sweet fascination in the
contemplation of his childhood and youth. I love to contemplate the
innocence and the artless simplicity of his boyhood. It bears record
that he was honest, that he was led by the Spirit of God to perform his
wonderful mission. How could a child at his age be impelled by other
than honest motives in the accomplishment of his high and holy calling?
What he did he was led to do by the inspiration and guidance of his
Heavenly Father, of this I feel assured.
{618} He was much like other children; his play was like that of his
companions; his thoughts, like those of most children, were innocent,
and consequently he was incapable of the knavery and connivance that
his enemies declared he practiced. Though poor, his parents were
honest and good; they delighted in the truth, and it was their honest
desire to live according to the best light within them. Love and good
will to all found expression in their hearts and actions, and their
children were imbued with like sentiments. They were firm believers
in God, and trusted in his watchcare over his children. They had
frequently received manifestations of his loving kindness, in dreams,
visions, and inspirations, and God had healed their little ones, in
answer to prayer, when they were nigh unto death. It was in such an
atmosphere that the boy was reared. Joseph was a remarkably quiet and
well-disposed child who gave his parents little or no trouble. As early
as the age of eight, he gave proof that besides being thoughtful,
easily governed, and of sweet and loving disposition, he possessed the
foundation principles of good character--filial affection, patience,
endurance, courage.
Concerning his spiritual manifestations, is it reasonable to suppose
that there could have been premeditated deceit on the part of the boy,
and such a boy, in his simple statement of what he saw and heard? No;
neither could the answer which the heavenly messenger gave to him,
have been composed in the child's own mind. Joseph Smith's testimony
concerning his heavenly manifestation, in later life, was as simple,
straight-forward, plain, and true, as it had been in childhood; the
fidelity, courage, and love implanted in and characteristic of his life
in boyhood neither faltered nor changed with maturity. His wisdom came
in revelations of God to him.
One marked illustration of his character was his love for children.
He never saw a child but he desired to take it up and {619} bless it
and many he did so bless, taking them in his arms and upon his knee.
I have myself sat upon his knee. He was so fond of children that he
would go far out of his way to speak to a little one, which is to me a
striking characteristic of true manhood. He had a like true love for
the human race. I know, and have known from my childhood, that he was a
prophet of God, and I believe in his divine mission with all my heart;
and in the authenticity and inspiration of the revelations which he
received, and the Book of Mormon which he was instrumental in bringing
forth.--_Improvement Era,_ Vol. 21, December, 1917, p. 167.
JOSEPH SMITH, A RESTORER. I think it is wrong to count Joseph the
Prophet one who fought old forms, in the sense that he established
new principles and doctrines. He fought existing religious forms,
it is true, but he merely became the means, in God's providence, to
restore the old truths of the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ, the
plan of salvation, which is older than the human race. It is true,
also, that his teachings were new to the people of his day because
they had apostatized from the truth--but the principles of the
gospel are the oldest truths in existence. They were new to Joseph's
generation, as they are in part to ours, because men had gone astray,
been cast adrift, shifted hither and thither by every new wind of
doctrine which cunning men--so-called progressives--had advanced. This
made the Prophet Joseph a restorer, not a destroyer, of old truths.
And this does not justify us in discarding the simple, fundamental
principles of the gospel and running after modern doctrinal ads and
notions.--_Improvement Era,_ Vol. 15, June, 1912, p. 737.
PLURAL WIVES OF JOSEPH SMITH, THE PROPHET. I can positively state, on
indisputable evidence, that Joseph Smith was the author, under God,
of the revelation on plural marriage. On this subject, we have the
affidavit of William Clayton, private secretary of Joseph Smith, that
he wrote {620} the revelation as it was given through the lips of the
prophet and that he himself sealed to Joseph Smith as a plural wife,
Lucy Walker, at Joseph Smith's own residence, on May 1, 1843. This
lady is still living, in Salt Lake City, and is willing to testify
at any moment to this fact. Following are some of the names of young
ladies who were sealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, as
testified to under oath by themselves--this during the lifetime of
the prophet: Eliza R. Snow, Sarah Ann Whitney, Helen Mar Kimball,
Fanny Young (sister to Brigham Young), and Rhoda Richards (sister to
Willard Richards who was with the prophet at his martyrdom in Carthage
jail). All these noble women have testified, under oath, giving names
and dates, that they were sealed during his lifetime, to the Prophet
Joseph Smith. These facts have been published in Jenson's _Historical
Record,_ and in the _Deseret News,_ in years past; and I know, by the
established and virtuous character of these noble women, that their
testimonies are true.
A careful reading of the revelation on plural marriage should convince
any honest man that it was never written by Brigham Young, as it
contains references to Joseph Smith himself, and his family, which
would be utterly nonsensical and useless if written by President Young.
The fact is, we have the affidavit of Joseph C. Kingsbury, certifying
that he copied the original manuscript of the revelation within three
days after the date on which it was written. I knew Joseph C. Kingsbury
well. Furthermore, the revelation was read by Hyrum Smith to a majority
of the members of the High Council, in Nauvoo, at about the time it was
given, to which fact we have the sworn statements of the members of the
High Council.--_Improvement Era,_ Vol. 5, October, 1902, p. 988.
WHAT DOES THE MARTYRDOM OF JOSEPH AND HYRUM TEACH US? What does the
martyrdom teach us? The great lesson that "where a testament is there
must also of {621} necessity be the death of the testator" (Heb.
9: 16) to make it of force. Moreover, that the blood of martyrs is
indeed the seed of the Church. The Lord permitted the sacrifice, that
the testimony of those virtuous and righteous men should stand as a
witness against a perverse and unrighteous world. Then, again, they
were examples of the wonderful love of which the Redeemer speaks:
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for
his friends." (John 15:13) This wonderful love they manifested to
the Saints and to the world; for both realized and expressed their
conviction, before starting on the journey to Carthage, that they were
going to their death. They might have escaped; in fact, had but a few
days before made the start for the Rocky Mountains, but were recalled
by the groundless fears of false friends who made the accusation that
they were fleeing from dangers that were equally as great towards the
peace and happiness of the members of the Church as they could possibly
be towards themselves.
Satan said to Job: "All that a man hath will he give for his life."
Of the true servant, and where perfect love abides, that is not true!
Joseph and Hyrum Smith returned and calmly went to their death, feeling
that their lives were of no value to themselves if unvalued by their
friends, or if they were needed as a sacrifice for the protection of
their worthy followers. Their courage, their faith, their love for the
people were without bounds, and they gave all that they had for their
people. Such devotion and love left no doubt in the minds of those who
enjoyed the companionship of the Holy Spirit that these good men and
true were indeed the authorized servants of the Lord.
This martyrdom has always been an inspiration to the people of the
Lord. It has helped them in their individual trials; has given them
courage to pursue a course in righteousness and to know and to live the
truth, and must ever be held in sacred memory by the Latter-day Saints
who {622} have learned the great truths that God revealed through his
servant Joseph Smith.--_Juvenile Instructor,_ Vol. 51, June, 1916, p.
381.
DIVINE AUTHORITY OF JOSEPH SMITH AND HIS SUCCESSORS. I bear my
testimony to you and to the world that Joseph Smith was raised up by
the power of God to lay the foundations of this great latter-day work,
to reveal the fulness of the gospel to the world in this dispensation,
to restore the priesthood of God to the world, by which men may act
in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, and
it will be accepted of God; it will be by his authority. I bear my
testimony to it; I know that it is true.
I bear my testimony to the divine authority of those who have succeeded
the Prophet Joseph Smith in the presidency of the Church. They were men
of God; I knew them; I was intimately associated with them and as one
man may know another, through the intimate knowledge that he possesses
of him, so I can bear testimony to the integrity, to the honor, to the
purity of life, to the intelligence, and to the divinity of the mission
and calling of Brigham, of John, of Wilford and of Lorenzo. They were
inspired of God to fill the missions to which they were called, and
I know it. I thank God for that testimony, and for the spirit that
prompts me and impels me toward these men, toward their mission, toward
this people, toward my God and my Redeemer. I thank the Lord for it,
and I pray earnestly that it may never depart from me--worlds without
end.--_Improvement Era,_ Vol. 14, Nov., 1910, p. 74.
GOD'S GUIDING HAND SEEN IN CHURCH HISTORY. In connection with this
thought it may be proper, consistent and timely, for me to remark that
each individual member of the Church assembled here this morning is
a free man or a free woman, possessing to the utmost degree all the
qualifications and characteristics of freedom, independent with {623}
reference to individual action and choice, of every other man and of
every other woman present. This being a fact, which is a fact, the
unanimity exhibited on the part of the audience, with reference to the
actions that have been taken, vindicate the belief and the assertion
which I make, that the members of this congregation are certainly in
harmony with the will of the Father. They are united; they see eye
to eye; their sympathy is with one another and with the cause they
represent. Their hearts are in the work in which they are engaged,
and that because of their choice, because they have fully weighed all
matters connected with their standing in the Church, and with regard
to the course which they have taken today; they have, voluntarily,
without coercion, without compulsion, without any restraint, except the
restraint of their own consciences, shown that they see eye to eye,
that they are one and are therefore entitled to be acknowledged of the
Master as his own and as of him. I believe that there is not a freer,
more independent nor a more intelligent people to be found anywhere in
the world, who are more independent in choosing the course which they
pursue, in the work that they perform and in everything that they have
to do with, than the Latter-day Saints.
There is not a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, in good standing, anywhere in all the world today that is not
such by reason of his independence of character, by reason of his
intelligence, wisdom and ability to judge between right and wrong and
between good and evil. There is not a member of the Church of Jesus
Christ anywhere, in good standing, living a proper life, that would
not hold up his hand against evil, against wrong, against sin, against
the transgression of the laws of God, against unrighteousness or vice
of any kind, with as much freedom and independence and with as firm
determination as any other man or woman in the world.
I am thankful to have the privilege, this moment, of expressing {624}
this my view and firm belief and my knowledge of the real character of
the Latter-day Saints throughout the world. And, when I say Latter-day
Saints, I mean members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints founded by God, through the instrumentality and agency of the
Prophet Joseph Smith, who was chosen of God and ordained and qualified
and authorized to lay the foundations of the Church of Jesus Christ,
never more to be destroyed nor left to other people, never more to
cease but to continue until the purposes of God shall ripen and be
accomplished for the salvation of the children of men and for the
redemption of the living, and of the dead who have died without a
knowledge of the plan of life and salvation. In stating this I state
results of my experience in associations with such men as those who
laid the foundations of the Church of Jesus Christ, from the Prophet
Joseph Smith down to this moment.
As a child I knew the Prophet Joseph Smith. As a child I have listened
to him preach the gospel that God had committed to his charge and
care. As a child I was familiar in his home, in his household, as I
was familiar under my own father's roof. I have retained the witness
of the Spirit that I was imbued with, as a child, and that I received
from my sainted mother, the firm belief that Joseph Smith was a prophet
of God; that he was inspired as no other man in his generation, or for
centuries before, had been inspired; that he had been chosen of God
to lay the foundations of God's Kingdom as well as of God's Church;
that by the power of God he was enabled to bring forth the record of
the ancient inhabitants of this continent, to revive and to reveal to
the world the doctrine of Jesus Christ, not only as he taught it in
the midst of the Jews, in Judea, but as he also taught it, and it was
also recorded, in greater simplicity and plainness upon this continent,
among the descendants of Lehi. As a child I was impressed, deeply,
{625} with the thought, and firmly with the belief, in my soul that the
revelations that had been given to and through Joseph the Prophet, as
contained in this book, the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, were the
word of God, as were the words of the ancient disciples when they bore
record of the Father and of the Son. That impression made upon me in
my childhood has followed through all the vicissitudes of more than
sixty years of actual and practical experience in the mission field,
throughout the nations of the world, and at home in the midst of the
authorized servants of God, who officiated in the name of the Father
and of the Son to propagate, to build up, and to push forward the work
inaugurated by the instrumentality of the boy Joseph Smith.
In my childhood, too, I was instructed to believe in the divinity
of the mission of Jesus Christ. I was taught by my mother, a Saint
indeed--that Jesus Christ is the Son of God; that he was indeed no
other than the Only Begotten of God in the flesh, and that, therefore,
no other than God the eternal Father is his Father and the author of
his existence in the world. I was taught it from my father, from the
Prophet Joseph Smith, through my mother who embraced the gospel because
she believed in the testimony of Joseph Smith, and she believed in the
honor, integrity and truthfulness of her husband; and all my boyhood
days and all my years in the world I have clung to that belief; indeed,
I have never had any serious dubiety in my mind, even in childhood; and
when I could only imperfectly understand things with reference to the
divinity of the mission of the Son of God, I accepted it as being true
in the sense in which only it can be true; for in no other than the
literal sense, as it is described in the scriptures of divine truth and
in the testimonies of the prophets, can it be true that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. I believe it. I have believed it all my life; but I owe
to the Prophet Joseph Smith the fixed and unalterable confirmation of
that belief, until it has come to be, {626} in my soul, a knowledge of
the truth; and in so far as I have continued in the word of the Lord,
I believe, I have been led to know the truth. I believe that I possess
that freedom that comes from a knowledge of the truth, which teaches
all men righteousness, virtue, honor, faith, charity, forgiveness,
mercy, longsuffering patience and devotion to that which is good, and
abstinence from that which is evil.
"The truth will make you free." Free from what? From error, free from
doubt, and uncertainty, free from unbelief, free from the powers of
darkness, free from the possibility of being tempted beyond your
strength; but to resist error and to shun even the appearance of sin.
This truth makes a man a Latter-day Saint. This knowledge of the truth
makes you free to worship God and to love him with all your heart and
mind and strength, and to do the next best thing--to love your neighbor
as nearly as you possibly can as you love yourselves.
The truth that I have received teaches me that Joseph Smith was a
prophet of God, teaches me to accept without recourse, other than the
full and free acceptance of that truth, that God Almighty, the Father
of Jesus Christ, the Father of our spirits, the maker of heaven and
earth, condescended to come down to this our mother earth, in person,
in company with his beloved Son, and show themselves to Joseph Smith.
I believe it. The truth has made me feel that this must be true. It
cannot be error, for the Lord God Almighty could never build the
structure that he has built upon the testimony of the Prophet Joseph
Smith, if it had been founded in error or untruth. This people never
could have combined and adhered together, never could have been
united, never could have seen eye to eye, never could have been one,
in order that they might be acknowledged of God as his own, if we had
been building upon error. If our foundations were laid in untruth
and unrighteousness this could not be. But the Lord is at the bottom
of this. Joseph {627} Smith was not at the foundation of it. He was
not responsible, only so far as he was obedient to the will of the
Father. God is responsible for this work. The Lord Almighty has made
the promises concerning this work, not Joseph Smith, not Hyrum Smith.
No other man has made true promises with reference to the future of
Zion and to the building up of the kingdom of God in the earth, except
God inspired him to do it. Not of himself has man ever done anything
of that kind. The Lord is at the bottom; the Lord is at the top; the
Lord is all the way through this work, and every fibre of it is in his
keeping and is moved by his magic power and by the inspiration of his
Holy Spirit. That is my testimony to you.
I believe in the divinity of Jesus Christ, because more than ever I
come nearer the possession of the actual knowledge that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of the living God, through the testimony of Joseph
Smith contained in this book, the Doctrine and Covenants, that he saw
Him, that he heard Him, that he received instructions from Him, that he
obeyed those instructions, and that he today stands before the world
as the last great, actual, living, witness of the divinity of Christ's
mission and His power to redeem man from the temporal death and also
from the second death which will follow man's own sins, through
disobedience to the ordinances of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank God
for Joseph Smith. I believe in his mission, having accepted this great
truth and his narration of it.
The greatest event that has ever occurred in the world, since the
resurrection of the Son of God from the tomb and his ascension on high,
was the coming of the Father and of the Son to that boy Joseph Smith,
to prepare the way for the laying of the foundation of his kingdom--not
the kingdom of man--never more to cease nor to be overturned. Having
accepted this truth, I find it easy to accept of every other truth that
he enunciated and declared during {628} his mission of fourteen years
in the world. He never taught a doctrine that was not true. He never
practiced a doctrine that he was not commanded to practice. He never
advocated error. He was not deceived. He saw; he heard; he did as he
was commanded to do; and, therefore, God is responsible for the work
accomplished by Joseph Smith--not Joseph Smith. The Lord is responsible
for it, and not man.
I am happy to express to this audience my knowledge of the successors
of Joseph Smith. They reared me, in part, so to speak. In other words,
with them I journeyed across the deserts, by the side of my ox-team,
following President Brigham Young and his associates to these barren
wastes, barren as they were when we first entered this valley. I
believed in him then, and I know him now! I believed in his associates,
and I know them now; for I lived with them; I slept with them; I
traveled with them; I heard them preach and teach and exhort, and I saw
their wisdom which was not the wisdom of man but the wisdom of Almighty
God. When President Young set his foot down here, upon this desert
spot, it was in the midst of persuasion, prayers and petitions on the
part of some Latter-day Saints who had gone forward and landed upon
the coast of California, that beautiful, rich country, semi-tropical,
abounding in resources that no inland country would possess, inviting
and appealing for settlers at that time, and just such settlers as
President Brigham Young could have taken there--honest people, people
who were firm in their faith, who were established in the knowledge of
truth and righteousness, and in the testimony of Jesus Christ, which is
the spirit of prophecy, and in the testimony of Joseph Smith which was
a confirmation of the spirit of Christ and of his mission.
These people pleaded with President Young: "Come with us," they said,
"and go to the coast. Go where roses bloom all the year round, where
the fragrance of flowers {629} scents the air, from May until May;
where beauty reigns; where the elements of wealth are to be found, and
only need to be developed. Come with us."
"No," said President Young, "we will remain here, and we will make
the desert blossom like the rose. We will fulfil the Scriptures by
remaining here."
I heard him tell one of the Battalion boys who came back from
California with a little buckskin sack of gold nuggets, and who shook
them in the face of President Young, and said to him: "Look what we
could get if we were to go to California! The land is full of gold;"
but President Young pointed his finger (I was there and saw and heard
it), and he said: "Brother --------, you may go to California, if
you will. Those who want to go there can go, but we will remain here;
and I want to tell you that those who remain here and obey counsel,
in a few years will be able to buy out every one of you who go to
California--ten-fold over."
(Bishop George Romney: "That is true; I know the man.")
Why, bless your soul, what did President Young know about Utah, at
that early day? We did not know that there was even a lump of coal in
existence in the land. I myself passed the first fall and winter after
our entrance into this valley hauling wood out of Mill Creek canyon and
Parley's canyon; and during that fall and winter I hauled forty loads
of wood with my oxen and wagon out of these canyons. Every load I cut
and hauled diminished the supply of wood for fuel for the future; and I
said to myself: What will we do when the wood is all gone? How will we
live here when we can't get any more fuel, for it is rapidly going? I
followed that pursuit until it took me three days in the mountains with
my ox-team and wagon, to get a load of wood for winter fuel; and what
were we to do? Yet President Young said, "This is the place."
Well, ordinarily, our judgment and our faith would {630} have been
tried, in the decision of the president, if we had not implicit
confidence in him. If we had not known that he was the mouthpiece of
God, that he was the real and legitimate successor of the Prophet
Joseph Smith in the Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints, we would have doubted his wisdom and we would have
faltered in our faith in his promise and word; but no, we believed
him, and we stayed; and so far as I am concerned, I am here yet; and I
propose to remain here as long as the Lord wants me to stay. And what
has developed?
Our good friends from the east used to come out here in the early days,
and upbraid us. They said: "Why, it is the fulfilment of the curse of
God upon you. You have been driven away from the rich lands of Illinois
and Missouri into a desert, into a salt land."
I said: "Yes, we have salt enough here to save the world, thank God,
and we may find use for it by and by."
Well, before the wood gave out entirely in the mountains, we discovered
coal up here in Summit county, and then we began to discover it all
along the mountains here, and we kept on discovering it, until at last
we have learned that we have coal enough in Utah to furnish fuel for
the whole world for a hundred years, if they want to come and get it.
We have it right here, any amount of it; and they haven't got that in
California; they come up here to get their coal.
We have discovered that this country was really the gold-mine country
of the world; that here abounded silver as well as gold in greater
abundance than in California. We have discovered now that some of our
mountains here are practically made of copper, and men are hewing
copper out of the mountains by millions of tons, so to speak, and
coining it in the way of business into money; and thank the Lord, we do
not have to go to Liverpool for the salt we use in making butter. We
have it right here, just as good and {631} pure as the best they can
fetch from England or anywhere else in the world; and this salt land
has proven to be a boon, a consolation and a blessing beyond all power
of description.
When the army came out here, in 1858, we wanted some bullets to go out
and meet General Johnston and his forces that were coming in--not to
kill them; we did not want the bullets to kill them; we just wanted the
bullets to scare them with. Some of the boys went out here into the
mountains with a pick and shovel, and they dug up lead, impregnated
somewhat with silver. They brought it in, improvised a little furnace
and ran out a few tons of lead. I had the honor of being associated
with that little company of men, and I brought home with me some thirty
or forty pounds of lead that we just quarried out of the hill with a
pick and shovel.
When I rode up to the office here, to report to President Young my
return from my mission over three years, the army was approaching, and
he said to me: "Well, Joseph, have you got a horse?"
I said, "Yes, sir."
"Have you got a gun?"
I said, "Yes, sir."
"Have you got any ammunition?"
I said, "No, sir."
"Well," he said, "you report to Brother Rockwood, at the commissary
office, and he will furnish you with ammunition, and you take your gun
and go out to the front."
So I went home and sat up all that night, running bullets out of my
mountain lead; reported the next day to Brother Rockwood, received a
chunk of Mother Cadbury's cheese and some crackers, and started on my
horse, with a brother-in-law, for the front. I spent part of the winter
of 1858, and all of the spring and a portion of the summer of 1859,
guarding Uncle Sam's troops; and we never hurt one of them, not one.
We never molested a single individual of them; but we hedged up their
way, and they camped out at {632} Fort Bridger all winter long, and we
sent them salt to save them; and they rejected it, because they were
afraid there was something in the salt, more than the savor of it. But
I assure you the salt was pure and good.
Now, just before that time, I was a farmer. I had to plow my land and
farm it, but I did not have a spear of grass or hay to feed my team,
and how was I going to do my spring work? This valley produced mighty
little hay at that time. I hitched up my team, my brother and I, and
we drove sixty miles to the north and bought a couple of loads of wild
grass hay, and carted that hay down sixty miles to feed our teams in
order to plow our land. I used to think, how in the world are we going
to live in Utah without feed for our teams. Just then the Lord sent
a handful of alfalfa seed into this valley, and Christopher Layton
planted it, watered it, and it matured; and from that little beginning,
Utah can now produce a richer crop of hay than Illinois or Missouri
can do. So the hay question was settled, and the coal question was
settled. Then the question of producing food from the land. Why, it was
a marvel. One good man cultivated his little farm for thirty years,
without a change, and raised from fifty to sixty bushels of wheat per
acre each year on his farm, during that entire period. So the soil is
rich, and everything is favorable for Zion here where President Young
determined that he would stay; if we had not stayed here, it is clear
we would have been overwhelmed and swallowed up by the multitudes who
rushed to California.
Now, my brethren and sisters, I know whereof I speak with reference
to these matters, for I have come down through every atom of it, at
least from the expulsion from the city of Nauvoo; in February, 1846,
I stood upon the bank of the river and saw President Young and the
Twelve apostles, and as many of the people of Nauvoo as had teams or
could possibly migrate, cross the Mississippi {633} river on the ice.
The river froze within a day or two, because of heavy frost, which
enabled them to cross as they did, and thus the first real marvel and
manifestation of the mercy and the power of God was manifest, in making
a roadway across the Mississippi a mile wide at that place by which
our people could go on their journey to the West. I saw them go. My
brother was with them, and I wondered if I would ever see him again.
We remained there in Nauvoo until September, 1846, when the city was
besieged, at the mouth of the cannon and musket, and my mother and
her family were compelled to take all that they could move out of the
house--their bedding, their clothing, the little food they possessed,
leaving the furniture and everything else standing in the house, and
fled across the river, where we camped without tent or shelter until
the war was over. The city was conquered, and the poor people that were
left there were compelled to seek shelter somewhere else. From that
moment on, I have been in the conflict. I have seen it and experienced
it all the way through; and I am satisfied with my experience.
I bear record to you of the divinity of the work in which you are
engaged, and, I bear record to you and testify that it has been the
power of God, not that of President Young or of his associates, that
has kept the people together and united them. By that power you have
been able to come here this morning and with one united voice, and
uplifted hands, sustain in the positions to which they have been chosen
the men who have been called and appointed and ordained by virtue of
authority from God, to preside over you and teach you things that are
good to be taught and good to be known and observed, which will bring
life and salvation to those who will hearken and be obedient.
The Lord bless you; the Lord bless the pure in heart throughout the
world. May the Lord have mercy upon the suffering nations that are
afflicted by this terrible calamity {634} of war. May he save the poor
and the needy and the honorable among the children of men, to come
eventually to a knowledge of his truth, that they may be saved in his
kingdom.
Much could be said. Joseph Smith taught the building of temples. I
can scarcely quit. Joseph Smith was the instrument in the hand of God
in revealing the ordinances of the house of God that are essential to
the salvation of the living and the dead. Joseph Smith taught these
principles, and his brethren to whom he taught them have carried out
his views. They have put his doctrine to the test. They have obeyed his
counsel, and they have honored him and his mission and sustained him as
man has never been sustained by any other people under God's heavens.
So we will continue to sustain Joseph the prophet, and his work that he
has accomplished among the children of men, and we will abide in the
truth forever, by the help of God. Even so. Amen.--_Sermon, Salt Lake
Assembly Hall,_ July 8, 1917.
{635}
CHAPTER XXVI
PERSONAL TESTIMONIES AND BLESSINGS
A TESTIMONY. I declare unto you in all candor, and in all earnestness
of soul, that I believe with all my heart in the divine mission of
Joseph Smith, the Prophet, that I am convinced in every fiber of my
being that God raised him up to restore to the earth the gospel of
Christ, which is indeed the power of God unto salvation. I testify
to you that Joseph Smith was instrumental in the hand of the Lord in
restoring God's truth to the world, and also the holy priesthood, which
is his authority delegated unto man. I know this is true, and I testify
of it to you. To me it is all-in-all; it is my life, it is my light;
it is my hope, and my joy; it gives me the only assurance that I have
for exaltation, for my resurrection from death, with those whom I have
loved and cherished in this life, and with whom my lot has been cast
in this world--honorable men, pure, humble men, who were obedient unto
God and his commands, who were not ashamed of the gospel of Christ,
nor of their convictions or knowledge of the truth of the gospel; men
who were made of the stuff of which martyrs are made, and who were
willing at any moment to lay down their lives for Christ's sake, and
for the gospel, if need be, which they had received with the testimony
of the Holy Spirit in their hearts. I want to be reunited with these
men when I shall have finished my course here. When my mission is done
here, I hope to go beyond into the spirit world where they dwell, and
be reunited with them. It is this gospel of the Son of God that gives
me the hope that I have of this consummation, and of the realization
of my desire in this direction. I have staked all on this gospel, and
I have not done it in vain. I know {636} in whom I trust. I know that
my Redeemer lives, and that he shall stand upon the earth in the latter
days, and, as Job has expressed it, "Though after my skin worms destroy
this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God."--_Oct. C. R.,_ 1907, pp.
4, 5.
THIS IS GOD'S WORK--A TESTIMONY. My brethren and sisters, I desire to
bear my testimony to you; for I have received an assurance which has
taken possession of my whole being. It has sunk deep into my heart; it
fills every fiber of my soul; so that I feel to say before this people,
and would be pleased to have the privilege of saying it before the
whole world, that God has revealed unto me that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of the living God, the Redeemer of the world; that Joseph Smith
is, was, and always will be a prophet of God, ordained and chosen to
stand at the head of the dispensation of the fulness of times, the keys
of which were given to him, and he will hold them until the winding up
scene--keys which will unlock the door into the kingdom of God to every
man who is worthy to enter and which will close that door against every
soul that will not obey the law of God. I know, as I live, that this is
true, and I bear my testimony to its truth. If it were the last word
I should ever say on earth, I would glory before God my Father that I
possess this knowledge in my soul, which I declare unto you as I would
the simplest truths of heaven. I know that this is the kingdom of God,
and that God is at the helm. He presides over his people. He presides
over the president of this Church, and has done so from the Prophet
Joseph down to the Prophet Lorenzo, and he will continue to preside
over the leaders of this Church until the winding--up scene. He will
not suffer it to be given to another people, nor to be left to men. He
will hold the reins in his own hands; for he has stretched out his arm
to do this work, and he will do it, and have the honor of it. At the
same time God will honor and magnify his servants in the sight of the
people. He will sustain them in righteousness. He will {637} lift them
on high, exalt them into his presence, and they will partake of his
glory forever and ever.
It is the Lord's work, and I plead with you not to forget it. I implore
you not to disbelieve it; for it is true. All that the Lord said
concerning this latter-day work will come to pass. The world cannot
prevent it. The blind that will not see, the deaf that will not hear,
cannot prevent the work from going on. They may throw blocks before
the wheels, they may ridicule, they may malign, they may stir up the
spirit of persecution and bitterness against the Saints, they may do
all in their power to deceive the people and lead them astray; but God
is at the helm, and he will lead his people to victory. Men and women
may be deceived by the craftiness of the adversary and by the spirit
of darkness that is in the world; they may be deceived with Christian
Science, with hypnotism, with animal magnetism, with mesmerism, with
spiritualism, and with all the other man-made and demon-stimulated isms
which exist in the world; but the elect of God shall see and know the
truth. They will not be blind, because they will see; they will not be
deaf, because they will hear; and they will walk in the light, as God
is in the light, that they may have fellowship with Jesus Christ and
that his blood may cleanse them from all their sins.
May God help us to realize this. May he deliver us from secret
combinations, and from the snares that are set to entrap our feet and
to win our affections from the kingdom of God. I repeat what I have
said scores of times, the kingdom of God is good enough for me. This
organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints meets
all my wants, and I have no need to fly to organizations that are
gotten up by men for the purpose of making money. I pray God that his
kingdom may be sufficient for you, that you may abide in the truth, and
not be led away {638} by those deceptive spirits that have gone forth
in the world to lead men astray.
Spiritualism started in the United States about the time that Joseph
Smith received his visions from the heavens. What more natural than
that Lucifer should begin revealing himself to men in his cunning
way, in order to deceive them and to distract their minds from the
truth that God was revealing? And he has kept it up pretty well ever
since. May God bless Israel, and preserve us in the truth. May he
bless our president, prolong his years, and continue unto him the
strength of body and mind that he possesses this day, and even more
vigor as the years roll by. May the Lord have mercy upon our beloved
brother, President Cannon, who is absent from us, and return him once
more to his home, and to the bosom of the Church, if he has not willed
otherwise. This is my humble prayer, in the name of Jesus. Amen.--_Apr.
C. R.,_ 1901, pp. 72,73.
A TESTIMONY. There is no salvation but in the way God has pointed out.
There is no hope of everlasting life but through obedience to the law
that has been affixed by the Father of life, "with whom there is no
variableness, neither shadow of turning;" and there is no other way by
which we may obtain that light and exaltation. Those matters are beyond
peradventure, beyond all doubt in my mind; I know them to be true.
Therefore, I bear my testimony to you, my brethren and sisters, that
the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth, that he lives and that his Son lives,
even he who died for the sins of the world, and that he arose from the
dead; that he sits upon the right hand of the Father; that all power
is given unto him; that we are directed to call upon God in the name
of Jesus Christ. We are told that we should remember him in our homes,
keep his holy name fresh in our minds, and revere him in our hearts; we
should call upon him from time to time, from day to day; and, in fact,
every moment of our lives we should live so that the desires {639} of
our hearts will be a prayer unto God for righteousness, for truth, and
for the salvation of the human family. Let us guard ourselves so that
there may not come into our souls a single drop of bitterness, by which
our whole being might be corroded and poisoned with anger, with hatred,
envy and malice, or any sort of evil. We should be free from all these
evil things, that we may be filled with the love of God, the love of
truth, the love of our fellowmen, that we may seek to do good unto all
men all the days of our lives, and above all things be true to our
covenants in the gospel of Jesus Christ.--_Apr. C. R.,_ 1909, p. 6.
THE PLEDGE OF MY LIFE. I feel happy, this morning, in having the
privilege to say to you that in the days of my childhood and early
youth, I made a pledge with God and with his people that I would be
true to them. In looking over the experiences of my life, I cannot
now discern, and do not remember a circumstance, since the beginning
of my experience in the world, where I have felt, for a moment, to
slacken or relax in the pledge and promise that I made to God and to
the Latter-day Saints, in my youth. And if there is a man, or a woman,
in the world that can point out to me an instance, in all my life,
where I have been untrue to my pledge, or promise, or covenant, I
shall be glad to receive that information from that man or woman. As
an elder in Israel I tried to be true to that calling; I tried to my
utmost to honor and magnify that calling. When I became a seventy, I
felt in my heart to be true to that calling, and I strove, with all
the intelligence and fervor of my soul, to be true to it. I have no
knowledge nor recollection of any act of mine, or any circumstance in
my life where I proved untrue or unfaithful to these callings in the
priesthood of the Son of God. Later in my life, when I was called to
act as an apostle, and was ordained an apostle, and set apart to be one
of the Twelve, I strove to honor that calling, to be true to it, and to
my brethren, to the household of faith, and to {640} the covenants and
obligations involved in receiving this holy priesthood which is after
the order of the Son of God. I am not aware that I ever violated one
of my obligations or pledges in these callings to which I have been
called. I have sought to be true and faithful to all these things. I
have endeavored to be true to my family; and if ever I have violated
one pledge or promise, or neglected one obligation that rests upon me
in these relationships, I do not know it. And when I have made pledges
to the people of God, or to the world, if ever I have violated those
pledges I do not know it. Furthermore, I do not believe there is a man
living who does know it, who can truthfully testify that I ever did
violate those pledges.
I stand before you today, my brethren and sisters and friends, on
the ground that I have tried to be true to God, to the utmost of my
knowledge and ability; that I have tried to be true to my people,
to the utmost of my knowledge and ability; and I have been true to
the world in every pledge and promise that I have made to the world,
notwithstanding there have been men who have shown a disposition to
make it appear that I was a hypocrite, that I was two-faced; that I
was one thing to the world and another thing in secret. I want it
distinctly understood that those who have conveyed such an idea as this
to mankind have been wilfully injuring me, wronging me, and falsifying
me and my character before the people, and I want it distinctly
understood those things must stop. They must stop at least among men
who profess to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. I can endure to be maligned and persecuted by my enemies,
who are also enemies of the Kingdom of God, but I do not want to be
maligned and belied by men who profess to be members of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, neither intentionally nor otherwise.
Now, I trust that you understand clearly what I mean. I do not know
how I can make it much plainer or clearer, with the knowledge {641}
that I have of language. Then, I repeat, as the Lord has helped me in
the past to be true to my covenants, that I have entered into with him
and with you, with my brethren, and with, the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints, so by his help and by his blessing I propose to
be true throughout the future of my life, whether I am permitted to
live long or short; it matters not to me. While I live, I hope to be a
true man, an honest man, a man who can face all mankind and, at last,
who can stand before God, the judge of the quick and the dead, and not
quail for what I have done in the world.--_Oct. C. R.,_ 1910, pp. 2,3.
A BLESSING. I bless you with all my soul, because you love the truth,
and you manifest it. There is nothing in God's world that draws men
and women so near to my heart as that they love the truth and that
they love God, that they love the cause of Zion and are devoted to the
interests of the Church. This endears men and women to my heart; I love
them when they love this work and when they show their interest in it.
It lifts my soul to heaven and fills it with joy unspeakable.--_Oct. C.
R.,_ 1908, p. 97.
A TESTIMONY. My brethren and sisters, I know that my Redeemer lives. I
know, as I know I live, that in person he has visited man in our time
and day, and that we are not now dependent alone on the history of the
past for the knowledge that we possess, of which record is borne by
the Spirit of God, shed abroad in the hearts of all who enter into the
covenant of the gospel of Christ. But we have the renewed and later
witness and manifestation of heavenly visions and of the visitation
of God the Father and Christ the Son to this their footstool; and
they have in person declared their entity, their being, and they have
manifested their glory. They have stretched forth their hands to
accomplish their work--the work of God, and not the work of man--and
while those who have been faithful shall be crowned with glory and
honor in the presence of God, the {642} honor and the glory, the credit
and the praise, for the continuance and for the advancement and growth
of the kingdom of God in the earth, will be due to the Father and the
Son and the Holy Spirit, whose power and whose agency, whose influence
and purpose, have been behind the work of God every moment since it was
first given to man. It is by his power that it has grown and continued,
and has become what it is, and it will continue to grow and spread,
until it shall fill the earth with the glory of God, and with the
knowledge of the Father and of the Son, whom to know is life eternal.
This is my testimony to you, my brethren and sisters, and I bear
witness of it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.--_Improvement
Era,_ Vol. 12, September, 1909, p. 914.
I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES. I know that my Redeemer lives. We have
all the testimony and all the evidence of this great and glorious
truth that the world has, that is, all that the so-called Christian
world possesses; and in addition to all that they have, we have the
testimony of the inhabitants of this western continent, to whom the
Savior appeared and delivered his gospel, the same as he delivered it
to the Jews. In addition to all this new testimony, and the testimony
of the holy scriptures from the Jews, we have the testimony of the
modern prophet, Joseph Smith, who saw the Father and the Son, and who
has borne record of them to the world, whose testimony was sealed with
his blood and is in force upon the world today. We have the testimony
of others, who witnessed the presence of the Son of God in the Kirtland
temple, when he appeared to them there, and the testimony of Joseph,
and of Sidney Rigdon, who declared that they were the last witnesses of
Jesus Christ. Therefore I say again, I know that my Redeemer lives; for
in the mouths of these witnesses this truth has been established in my
mind.
Besides these testimonies, I have received the witness {643} of the
Spirit of God in my own heart, which exceeds all other evidences,
for it bears record to me, to my very soul, of the existence of my
Redeemer, Jesus Christ. I know that he lives, and that in the last day
he shall stand upon the earth, that he shall come to the people who
shall be prepared for him, as a bride is prepared for the Bridegroom
when he shall come. I believe in the divine mission of the Prophet
Joseph Smith, and I have every evidence that I need--at least enough to
convince me, of the divinity of his mission.
I am proud to say that I have accepted, and have tried to keep and
honor, every word that has proceeded from the mouth of God through him.
As it is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," no one will dare to accuse
me of side-tracking from or refusing to obey any doctrine taught by or
revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith.--_Improvement Era,_ Vol. 14,
1910, p. 73.
TESTIMONY. Now, there are many other things, but I cannot tell them all
to you. I begin to feel that I am getting to be an old man, or rather
a young man in an old body. I think I am just about as young as I ever
was in my life in spirit. I love the truth today more than I ever did
before, because I see it more clearly, I understand it better from day
to day by the promptings and inspiration of the Spirit of the Lord that
is vouchsafed to me; but my body gets tired, and I want to tell you,
sometimes my poor old heart quivers considerably.--_Oct. C. R.,_ 1917,
pp. 6, 7.
{644}
PRESIDENT JOSEPH F. SMITH
AN APPRECIATION
President Joseph Fielding Smith, sixth and beloved President of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has without question
seen longer service in the Church than has any other living man. For
sixty-five years he has been in the active ministry, under a great
variety of callings; for fifty-one years he has held the apostolic
calling; since 1867 he has been one of the general authorities of the
Church; during seventeen years he has been President of the Church.
No other man is so beloved in the Church. To advertise that President
Smith will be at a meeting is to warn the people that standing room
will be at a premium. His words are accepted as of inspired authority;
his acts as of an honest man, tried long and severely in the crucible
of life.
The confidence of the people in their President, Prophet, Seer and
Revelator, has not come alone from the exalted positions he has so long
occupied. The Latter-day Saints have been gathered from all comers of
the earth, and from all walks, after they had become convinced that
the gospel as restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith is of certain
truth. Intelligence rules in the earthly Zion. The leaders of the
people are subjected to searching consideration by the people, and
the confidence given them is in proportion to their deserts. It is,
therefore, a noble tribute to the worthiness of the man Joseph F. Smith
that he is the synonym for all that the people respect and hold dear.
Surely, this man who presides over the Church, and {645} whose life is
an open book, has been prepared for his labor. If weakness were in him
he would have had ample opportunity to fall. From his birth, the spirit
of the great latter-day work has hovered over him; and with every
passing year he has been immersed in the history of the Church.
When he was born, in Far West, on November 13, 1838, apostasy,
jealousy, persecution and the beckoning hands of untruth were shaking
the Church. The Church did not fall, but the hearts of the faithful
were sorely tried, and even the baby, Joseph F., must have assimilated
some of the solemnity of those days when the Church was being purified
for its future work It was a preparation of noble extent to sit, in
those early years, on the knees of his patriarch father or of his
prophet uncle, even though the wide import of their conversation was
not understood by the boy. It was a training in steely strength, even
for the child, to witness the homecoming of the bodies of his murdered
father and uncle. For such robbery of the dearest in life the human
breast naturally and instinctively clamors for revenge. Yet, the whole
life of the boy, grown to manhood, has been that of forgiving and
loving, so that all may be made to see the truth. Who knows at what
cost the man within has been conquered? The Church has suffered such
unjust yet persistent opposition from the beginning that one wonders
that it retains its gentle love for all the children of men.
It was splendid preparation for the man who was to be in God's harness
all the years of a long life to witness the exodus of Nauvoo. Home and
lands, household property and trinkets of sentiment--all had to be left
behind. The driven people were in the desert with their God, and lo!
their faith waxed strong. It was during the exodus that President Smith
learned lessons of faith that never have been forgotten. Their cattle
were lost and their hope was gone, but the praying mother, in communion
with the Source of Truth, arose and went directly to the place where
the {646} oxen had strayed. Though only eight years old, the boy drove
an ox team across Iowa.
"In 1848, when nine years old, I drove a four-ox team across the plains
to Salt Lake City," writes President Smith, in an album of a friend.
That was training for the boy! From the days of that blistering, dusty
journey there was no relapse to a longing for the easy things of life.
After the arrival in the valley came the toilsome conquest of Widow
Smith's farm. The father was gone and the children were young. Our
President, from his own life, can understand the lot of the widow and
the fatherless.
Then the mother died. The strong spirit and wise mind could no longer
guide the boy. The father had been murdered in cold blood because he
was fearless in the cause of truth; the mother had died from the strain
and sorrow of a life tossed in the furious storm of those days; no
material wealth was his. Thus stood the fourteen-year-old boy who was
to become the leader of his people. Men are shorn of earthly support
that they may grow strong in Godly ways!
The training had been severe, but of infinite value. When the boy was
only fifteen years old he was called to go on a mission to the Sandwich
Islands. By the labor of his hands he worked his way to California; by
more labor, earned his passage to the islands. To object or to question
was not possible for one who had survived his training. During that
first mission the spirit of the work came upon him. In sermon, by
visit, through his quiet influence, he led men and women into the way
of everlasting truth. By the power of the priesthood he held, he healed
the sick, drove out evil spirits, and brought peace to the souls of
those who were heavy laden.
After nearly five years he was allowed to return home. Again he had to
work his way. At last he was again with the body of his people in Salt
Lake City, but penniless. The Lord does not always reward in gold and
silver. He was not {647} permitted to remain home long, for mission
succeeded mission. From the Sandwich Islands he was called to England
for three years; then from England again to the Sandwich Islands. To
preach the gospel without purse and scrip became the order of his life.
Joseph F. Smith's ceaseless devotion to the gospel did not escape the
notice of the watchful, keen-eyed leader, Brigham Young, who loved
with a mighty love the memory of the martyrs Joseph and Hyrum Smith.
It was a joy to the Prophet Brigham Young to find one of the blood
of the martyrs giving himself to the cause for which they died. In
various ways did President Young test the materials of which Joseph
F. Smith was made. However, the long and hard training of boyhood and
the insistent discipline in the mission field had not been in vain.
President Young found him loyal to his family, his country, his Church
and his God. Not even his bitterest enemy will deny that President
Smith is loyal.
After some years, on July 1, 1866, a beautiful and solemn day,
President Brigham Young ordained Joseph F. Smith to the apostleship.
A year later, in October, 1867, he was admitted to the quorum of the
Twelve. If there can be any talk in the Church of Christ of earning a
position, Joseph F. Smith had earned his place in the apostolic quorum,
by his purity, his intelligence, his integrity and his activity in
behalf of the Church. Moreover, the people of the Church delight to
honor the blood of the Prophet who was God's instrument in the mighty
work of the restoration of the gospel. Welcome was he, when he entered
upon his work as one of the general authorities of the Church.
As a member of the quorum of the Twelve, Joseph F. Smith showed the
same activity that had so emphatically characterized his former labors.
From settlement to settlement he traveled, to counsel, to preach and
to take active part in the building of the West, which was yet in its
swaddling {648} clothes of conquest. Vigorous were his words wherever
he went. Without doubt was his faith. His testimony of the gospel was
as the highest knowledge. He was then as now a fearless champion of
truth.
At the time Apostle Smith assumed a place among the general authorities
of the Church, Utah conditions were rapidly changing. Many non-members
of the Church, who had come in to share in the bounties of the desert
made to blossom by the Saints, could not content themselves with
their rich material harvest, but must needs take up arms against the
Church. When the leaders of the Church were charged with disloyalty
to the country, when their motives were painted as those of devils,
when the whole system of "Mormon" faith was branded as the rottenest
immorality, the people who remembered the days of Carthage and Nauvoo
had difficulty to keep down the cry of vengeance. Across the weary
desert they had trailed, leaving many by the way; in the sweat of their
brows they had won the wilderness to their use, and all this that they
might serve unmolested their holy God, in a worship founded on purity
and truth. It was then that the clear-visioned, clear-thinking leaders
raised their voices in protest against further injustice. Apostle
Smith, a man of deep affections, had fought away from himself the
desire for revenge for the beastly murder of his manly father; but,
being a man of strength, he could not submit indifferently to the new
injustice that was proposed. The Fighting Apostle they called him,
as he hurled back the untruths about "Mormonism," and his relentless
watchfulness became a deterrent power among those who planned evil for
a good and peaceful people.
A fighting apostle he has always been--fighting for the cause of truth.
Yet, Joseph F. Smith is temperamentally a man of peace. Gentle and kind
are his ways. A gentleman, is the instinctive appellation bestowed
upon him by all who meet him. In character, voice and manner he is
{649} the dignified peace maker. Nevertheless, his loyalty is such,
and his convictions are so firmly established, that evil may not be
spoken about truth without arousing the lion within him. To measure
the ground; to give the foe full place and warning, to try strength
according to the laws of decency, but never to give quarter to evil or
untruth or injustice--that is the method of Joseph F. Smith.
In time, the years of toil wore upon President Brigham Young, who asked
that more counselors, to act as assistants, be given him. Among those
whom he chose for this purpose was Joseph F. Smith. This indicated that
during his apostolic career he had not forfeited the confidence of the
president which he had won earlier in his life. When, at length, the
great founder of Utah passed away, and the first presidency was again
reorganized, the abilities and character of Apostle Smith made him,
under God's inspiration, a counselor to President John Taylor. Under
the administrations of Presidents Taylor, Woodruff, and Snow, for
twenty-one years, President Smith remained as a counselor in the first
presidency, until at length, in the providence of God, he became the
president of the Church.
The vast gathering in the great Tabernacle, November 10, 1901, will
ever be remembered by those present. The priesthood of the Church
were seated according to their offices in the priesthood. One by one
the quorums arose, elders, seventies, high priests and the others,
and voted to sustain the appointment of Joseph Fielding Smith to the
Presidency. In his vigorous, later manhood, his eye clear, his voice
distinct, his spirit compelling, he was vividly the greatest among
the thousands of able men, the flower of a vigorous people, who had
assembled there that day.
The day was the fulfilment of prophecy, for, many years before, his
attainment of the exalted position of the Presidency had been predicted
with the voice of authority.
Of the administration of the affairs of the Church under {650} Joseph
F. Smith's presidency nothing need be said--for we live in it and
know its eloquent message. The stakes at home, the missions in Europe
and in the islands of the sea, have been visited by the President in
his official capacity. Prosperity, good will, spiritual power and
growth, overshadow the Church. The stakes of Zion have been increased,
the wards multiplied, hundreds of beautiful meeting-houses have been
constructed, the priesthood has risen to a fuller recognition of its
place in the Church, the temples have become crowded, new temples are
being built, new converts have been added in mighty numbers, and in a
thousand other ways has the Church prospered; and above all, in the
face of a most bitter persecution, which has been heralded throughout
the world, the faith of the people has increased until it is nigh unto
impregnable. If any doubt all this, let him journey over the Church
then visit one of the general conferences of the Church. There is faith
in Israel!
Not only long but varied has been the experience of this great man
who presides over the Church. True to the genius of "Mormonism," he
has been closely identified with all the affairs of the community in
which he has lived. For seven successive terms he was a member of the
Utah legislature. When the Johnston army pantomime was in progress,
President Smith joined the militia and assisted in making preparations
to protect the homes of the people. He has helped to locate settlements
and to find ways for bringing water upon the thirsting land. He has
encouraged all legitimate business and, as far as time has permitted,
has taken part in it. From his earliest life he has managed his farm,
and even today, with his sons, has built one of the most modern
livestock farms in the West, as an example to others.
Education, guided in schools, was largely denied him, but educated
is President Smith. He has read widely, spoken with many men of many
minds, and has thought deeply. {651} Of broad and generous sympathies
with everything that is noble and good, he has acquired a culture,
which none dares question. Schools, the public press, the theater,
music and the fine arts have been encouraged by him. As a most
illuminating sidelight upon his wisdom is the fact that if not all of
a family can be educated, he insists that the girls must be given the
first chance, for they are the mothers and makers of men.
To those who do not know President Smith, it must seem strange that
the honors that have almost overwhelmed him have all come unsought.
President Smith is a modest man. Like all truly great men he is not
immersed in thoughts of his own greatness. Rather does he admiringly
place the power he observes in other men above his own. Nevertheless,
and most naturally, position after position involving trust has come to
him, though he has never sought one. Those who must find flaws in the
Church point out that President Smith is officially connected with many
business enterprises. Yet, those who find fault with this condition
will not realize that men who can be absolutely trusted to guard the
affairs of others as they would their own, are everywhere sought after.
President Smith's demonstrated integrity has brought many offices which
no doubt he would gladly relinquish to others. But "Mormon," Jew, and
Gentile know that as far as President Smith can control things, only
honor and justice and simple honesty will prevail wherever he is found.
During the Smoot investigations it seemed as if the whole United
States was arrayed against the relatively few people who, during half
a century, had given themselves to the conquest of the Great American
Desert. The charges filed against this people, if sustained, would make
the "Mormon" people unfit to dwell in the "land of the free and the
home of the brave." To face the investigating Committee on Privileges
and Elections, composed of the best minds of the Senate and House
of {652} Representatives of the United States Congress, many were
subpoenaed. The first witness was President Smith. Fortunately, the
hearing is preserved and printed so that all may read it. Matching
mind and will and heart and sense against the great ones of the land,
President Smith was easily their compeer. Read it. Who has ever heard
of that hearing used as a campaign document against "Mormons"? When
Joseph F. Smith's history is written, his mighty contest with the most
authoritative body in the land will make his figure stand out in noble
relief. Among the men of earth, high or low, President Smith is never
at a disadvantage.
Those who had even slight acquaintance with President Smith were not
surprised at the evidence of his power among men. In all his public
work he is masterful. He is endowed with high physical attractiveness,
his musical voice is compelling, his language chaste and correct, and
his thoughts appeal to the intellect as well as to the emotions. Those
who have seen him before the ten thousand, at the great Tabernacle in
Salt Lake City, have no fear that he may not be measured with the men
he meets.
Perhaps the best evidence of the high intellect of President Smith is
shown in his clear understanding and explanation of the principles of
the gospel. Men often sink to oblivion in quagmires of theological
vagueness. In matters of theological doctrine the President is lucid
as the noon-day light. Some few years ago, certain men, loving to
conjecture the improbable, insisted on knowing what would happen if
all the men holding the priesthood were to die, save one elder. At
one of the great conferences (general), before ten thousand assembled
Saints, President Smith, in one-half dozen sentences cleared up the
whole subject. It would be the privilege and duty of the one remaining
elder to organize again the whole Church with apostles, prophets,
etc., according to the revelation. The powers and purpose and duty
of the priesthood were thus driven into the understandings {653} of
the people, as they never had been before. His sermons abound in such
clarifying statements, backed by a simple, unfailing faith that looks
for simplicity rather than mystery in the things of God.
Perhaps enough has been said. The man of whom we write is tender and
gentle, and withal does not love much praise. To him and his families
many children have been born. To them he is loyal with all his power,
for he well knows that loyalty, with all other virtues, begins at home.
Over his families he watches with tender solicitude. They in turn
love him with an invariable love. It is common knowledge that when
the children were young, his rest was not easy if he had not seen the
little ones properly tucked away for the night. The same father-heart
beats for the people whose accepted leader he is. The hearts of the
people ache over the long hours he spends in the office working out the
affairs of the Church, especially now that he is no longer as young as
he once was. But, he is not to be dissuaded. He must see his people
tucked away for the night, before his heart will be at peace. So works
love! and who shall say him nay, whose care from boyhood has been the
welfare of his people?
"Has this man no faults?" asks the green-eyed critic. To be sure he
has, for he is mortal. But, this writing is not to show his faults;
and indeed, the writer does not know them, any more than he knows the
full virtue of this man who for eighty long years has lived his life
openly among his people, and who is the freest from adverse criticism
in his community. Men are not measured by their faults, but by their
worthy deeds and qualities. In the scales of eternal justice the main
requirement is that our virtues outweigh our failings. Curiously
enough, the only current criticism of President Smith, among those who
oppose him, is that he is too loyal to his people, his friends, his
convictions. Is not that the eternal cry of the enemy who reaches out
for deserters? {654} In every manly quality, friend and foe agree that
he reaches above the majority of men.