Church History

While working for Church Historian Paul Thomas Smith in the summer of 2007, I came across this little-known dream of Joseph Smith. Few pieces of literature have ever touched my mind and soul as deeply as this has and I’ve longed to share this dream with others.

After years of waiting, and months of working, here is “Joseph Smith’s Last Dream.”

For the sake of timing in the video I had to edit the dream down. To read the FULL Account of the Dream (and see digital photographs of the original pages it was printed on) you can click here.  

Is Joseph Smith’s Last Dream a Valid Account?

Before we can talk about anything else in the dream, we have to ask ourselves: is this account, written by W. W. Phelps, true? Is it reliable? In an interview with Paul Thomas Smith, I asked him that very question.

To read the full account of the other dream that Paul Smith mentioned, please click here. 

But apart from the points that Brother Smith mentioned, there are at least three other factors that make this account reliable and trustworthy.

• In June of 1844, Joseph Smith had been feeling strong premonitions of his impending death. At about midnight on June 22 (June 23), Joseph and his brother Hyrum attempted to escape Nauvoo and go to the Rocky mountains. According to History of the Church: “About midnight, Joseph, Hyrum and Dr. Richards called for Orrin P. Rockwell at his lodgings, and all went up the river bank until they found Aaron Johnson’s boat, which they got into, and started about 2 a. m to cross the Mississippi river. Orrin P. Rockwell rowed the skiff, which was very leaky, so that it kept Joseph, Hyrum and the doctor busy baling out the water with their boots and shoes to prevent it from sinking.”
• In the dream, Joseph Smith said “while I was at Jordan’s in Iowa the other night…” Jordan’s is not a town, but the home of William Jordan. “Joseph, Hyrum and Dr. Richards walked up to Captain John Killien’s house, where they arrived at sunrise; but he not being at home, they went from thence to Brother William Jordan’s.”

• Joseph was at the home of William Jordan for a few hours (enough time to sleep and have the dream) before he was interrupted when at “About 9 a. m. Dr. Bernhisel came over the river to visit Joseph; also Reynolds Cahoon, who made some explanations respecting Governor Ford’s letter.” After receiving the letter, Joseph also heard reports  of his friends essentially calling him a coward for leaving them. The Prophet then made the now infamous statement, “If my life is of no value to my friends, it is of none to myself.” He then decided to go back to Nauvoo and give himself up to the Governor.

Do you remember how in the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy has experiences in her real life that she later puts into her dream? Joseph Smith’s dream is much like that.

Joseph and his brother Hyrum are leaving the world behind them as they go West across the Mississippi. The boat (or skiff) is leaky and so there’s a chance that the boat might sink. When they make it to the other side, I’m certain that Joseph felt a sense of relief in believing that he and his brother Hyrum might have made it to safety.

As Joseph dreams, these things are embellished. The leaky skiff becomes a large steamboat that catches fire, the Mississippi becomes a great ocean and as they move Westward they feel like they’re leaving all of their troubles behind them. In the dream, Joseph Smith is welcomed into the presence of God, symbolic of their future homecoming into Heaven after the horrors of Carthage Jail.

To put it bluntly, these are sublime details that W. W. Phelps (who wasn’t there) knew little about.

What Does the Dream Mean?

Frankly, I have a hard enough time interpreting my own dreams, let alone the dreams of a Prophet! But over the years I’ve had a few thoughts concerning this dream. These are only my own interpretations, so take it for what it is worth.

• This is clearly a prophecy about Joseph and Hyrum’s eventual martyrdom. Joseph and Hyrum leap from the steamboat (the world) and leave the land (the world or civilization) behind.
• Joseph and Hyrum walk on the water. In the scriptures, water can be a cleansing element, but it often symbolizes chaos, doubt, sin, confusion, death and fear (just think of the story of Peter walking on the water). The fact that Joseph and Hyrum are walking on the water is significant because it says that they have conquered life through their faith in God.
• Joseph and Hyrum walk westward. West is often symbolic of death.
• Joseph and Hyrum are met by their brother Samuel [Click here to watch the video] . Samuel died of unknown causes (perhaps a hernia or internal bleeding) about a month after Joseph and Hyrum died. When Samuel learned that Joseph and Hyrum were in Carthage Jail, Samuel sold his horse and bought a racehorse and galloped to Carthage as fast as he could in order to be with Joseph and Hyrum. He was one of the first Mormons on the scene after Joseph and Hyrum were killed. Some have speculated that his ride into Carthage scared off the mob (“the Mormons are coming!”) and others have speculated that his hard riding caused internal bleeding which eventually killed him. The fact that Samuel meets Joseph and Hyrum in the dream is prophetic, to say the least.
• Joseph, Hyrum and Samuel see a great city and are greeted by music “such as is not on earth.” Many who have had near death experiences will describe heaven as being filled with music; that even the plants emit a kind of music.
• Joseph and Hyrum are then reunited with their friends and family and feel the “light of God himself.” This scene of God’s light runs parallel to Joseph Smith’s First Vision.

Conclusion

As a whole, Joseph Smith’s Last Dream is a beautiful bookend to his mission as a Prophet. It tells the story of his martyrdom not as a horrifying tragedy but as a beautiful triumph.

The first time I read it, I wept.

Source:

History of the Church,: 1843-1844. S.l.: [s.n.], 1991. Print.