Come Follow Me Podcast: The Martyrdom: a Day of Tears, Sections 135-136

Scot

Maurine and I lead a church history tour every year. We’ve done this for 30 years. We take our many participants through two days of Revolutionary War and the foundations of freedom. Then we go to Sharon, Vermont and begin Joseph Smith’s life chronologically and naturally we end the two weeks in the Carthage Jail. It’s an unbelievable experience. We always have a testimony meeting that last day after the emotional experience of the Carthage Jail. I’ll never forget one year, one of the brothers on the tour, who had been especially attentive throughout that two-week period, said emphatically in his testimony, while still on the Jail grounds, “I’m so angry. I’m just so angry!” Since we had never heard that as part of a testimony before and he gave a rather long pause, I cut in and asked aloud, “Why?” He said, “Because they killed him. They killed Joseph Smith. It was unjust. It was wrong. It was so wrong. I’m just so angry.” And that was his final testimony. And it stuck with me. Let’s explore the historical, emotional and passionate ending of Joseph and Hyrum Smith’s lives today.

Maurine

Welcome to Meridian Magazine’s Come Follow Me podcast. We are Scot and Maurine Proctor and we are delighted to be with you again today and share our witnesses and testimonies of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Will you share this podcast with your family and friends? It’s easy, just tell them to go to latterdaysaintmag.com/podcast or tell them to go to any of their favorite podcast platforms and just search for Meridian Magazine Come Follow Me.

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Scot

It’s hard to believe that through all these podcasts this year, we are coming to the end of our studies of the Doctrine and Covenants, well, or the end of this year’s study of this sacred volume of scripture.  And that naturally leads us to the Carthage Jail. How can we possibly describe in 30 or 40 minutes all the events that led to the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith? It’s impossible. But we do take our people to the Carthage Jail. And when we’re there, we do give about a 20-30 minute lecture which is full of emotion and passion and power, as we bear our testimonies of the Prophet Joseph.

We hope that through these past 48 podcasts this year on the Doctrine and Covenants, that you have come to know that we know that this great work is true. We love the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We love the Prophet Joseph Smith, and his wife, Emma and his family. We love those early heroes of the restoration. We love Brigham Young and Mary Ann Angell. We love John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff and Parley P. Pratt and Eliza R. Snow and Mary Fielding Smith and Mercy Fielding Thompson. These are our friends and our heroes.

Maurine

And it makes us emotional to think of coming to the end of this year of study. But what are all the things that led to Joseph’s martyrdom in Carthage? There are so many things that go into this and most of the time people think that Joseph was brought to Carthage because of plural marriage. That just isn’t the case. It was hardly known publicly by that time, but among the apostates who participated in the conspiracy to kill Joseph, it certainly may have played a role, but it wasn’t the major role.

By this point, Joseph Smith had known for some time that his life was coming close to an end. He knew at least as early as March 1829 that the possibility of the martyrdom was there. In Doctrine and Covenants, Section Five, Verse 22, it says:

22 And that you be firm in keeping the commandments wherewith I have commanded you; and if you do this, behold I grant unto you eternal life, even if you should be slain. (Doctrine and Covenants 5:22)

So, this is 15-plus years before the martyrdom. I think Joseph always had a sense that he would have to seal his testimony with his blood. And to get some personal insight into Joseph. He had one fear about dying, and that is he did not want to be hanged.

Scot

I think each one of us has some particular way of dying that we would not like to face. I know for you Maurine, you would not like to be burned to death. And I have a particular aversion to drowning because I witnessed my own brother drown and that was a very traumatic experience for me. But I think all of us have some kind of fear, but Joseph’s fear was to be hanged. He just did not want to be hanged. We will keep that in mind.

For the last two years of Joseph’s life, from the spring of 1842 on until June of 1844. Joseph was revealing things as fast as he possibly could. I think he had a sense that he needed to download all of his knowledge, all of the revelations, everything that he knew, so that he would leave no pages unturned, and no i’s undotted and no t’s uncrossed. Of course, among those things, was the organization of the Relief Society on March 17 1842.

Maurine

This was critical, and by May the 4^th, 1842, just 48 days after the Relief Society was organized, Joseph revealed the temple endowment for the first time. By the spring of 1844, he was meeting with the Twelve in the red brick store in Nauvoo , and there he gave them instructions, and he gave them all the keys that had been given to him by all the angelic ministers who had come to him. He wanted to lay clearly and squarely upon the shoulders of the Twelve all of the keys so that he did not carry them alone. And if he were to be slain, which he would be in a matter of about two months, all the keys would be borne off by the Twelve apostles. So, this was critically important that these meetings took place, and we actually have a recording of Wilford Woodruff’s voice on a brand-new technology which used wax drums to record voices. This was near the end of his life and it is fantastic to listen to. The recording is more than 120 years old and is very crackly and hard to understand but it is very discernable.

Scot

And I think it is fantastic that we get to hear his actual voice that he gave us his eyewitness, in-person testimony of Joseph Smith in those meetings. Now, when I was growing up, I always liked to imitate sounds and voices. My brother, Kirk, was much better at voices, but my specialty was sounds. I have a variety of things that I can do. I’m not sure my ability to imitate sound is a great gift, but it does allow me to have perfect pitch and to hear and understand languages very quickly. When we’re on the church history tour and I’m speaking over a microphone or in our little headphones, I give that particular imitation of Wilford Woodruff and that recording and it goes something like this:

“I bear my testimony that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God to lay the foundation of His Church and Kingdom in the last dispensation and the fulness of time. The Prophet Joseph Smith laid down his life for the word of God. In all his testimony to us the power of God was visibly manifest in the Prophet Joseph.”

Joseph laid his hands upon each member of the Twelve at this time in April 1844 and gave each of them ALL of the keys that he held. He gave them the charge that they were to bear off the kingdom on their shoulders now or they would be damned.

Maurine

Now, the enemies of the church thought if they could kill Joseph, they would kill what was then called “Mormonism.” They would kill the progress of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints altogether. Nauvoo had become a bustling city in Western Illinois to rival Chicago in size. The people were industrious and they, the enemies of the Church had to shut the Saints down. And of course, they were very much wrong, but they pursued that Satan-inspired course anyway. A number of things happened in rapid succession, and one of the most notable was on Friday, June 7^th, 1844. A series of apostates got together, including most notably William Law, former counselor in the First Presidency, and his brother Wilson Law, Charles and Robert Foster and Francis and Chauncey Higbee—all of whom were disaffected from the Church and in full-blown apostasy—and they began a newspaper, the Nauvoo Expositor, in the heart of the city of Nauvoo.

That first issue was over 12,500 words, most of which were lying and slanderous, charging Joseph with a series of abominations. The apostate board hoped to whip up hatred toward the prophet as they charged him with deceptive practices, whoredoms and pretended celestial marriage, false doctrines, evil doings, and political power mongering in his bid for President of the United States.

The apostates who published the Nauvoo Expositor hoped to political and socially destroy Joseph Smith by exposing him to public outrage and legal jeopardy. Their newspaper was desiged to strip him of credibility, portray him as a religious tyrant and ignite statewide fury—especially by denouncing plural marriage, condemning the Nauvoo courts, attacking the Council of Fifty, and accusing Joseph of abusing civil and ecclesiastical authority.  In short, the Expositor was created as a deliberate instrument to break Joseph’s political influence, destroy his prophetic authority, and set in motion events that would lead to his arrest and downfall.

 

Scot

Now, Joseph was the mayor of Nauvoo at this time. So, on Saturday, June 8 and Monday, June 10, Joseph gathered the city council together to discuss this nuisance in the city limits. They spent hours in those two days of meetings  deliberating what to do. In their Nauvoo city charter, there was a directive that said that if there was a nuisance inside the city limits, and that nuisance was dangerous to the safety of the community or of its citizens, that that nuisance could be removed.

Remember, these very Saints had experienced the violence in Missouri and Ohio and, with tensions now escalating in Nauvoo, the council members were concerned about the Expositor’s potential to incite further violence against both the Saints and the owners of the press. “Additionally, in the honor culture of 19th-century America, men were expected to respond to public attacks on their character, a social norm that made it difficult to let offenses pass.

With the sanction of the city council, Joseph Smith ordered a marshal, with the assistance of the Nauvoo Legion, to destroy the printing press. On Monday evening, June 10, the marshal and his posse of approximately 100 men removed the press, scattered the type, and burned the remaining copies of the newspaper.

The Nauvoo City Council had reason to believe their actions were legal. The First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which prohibits government interference with the press, applied only to the federal government, not state and local governments, until after the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868.” (Article, Nauvoo Expositor, Church of Jesus Christ website: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/nauvoo-expositor?lang=eng)

Maurine

Many legal scholars have concluded that the Nauvoo City Council acted legally to destroy copies of the newspaper but may have exceeded its authority by destroying the press itself.

Now the destruction of the Expositor fanned the flames of controversy and would not pass without answer. In neighboring Warsaw, Illinois, just about 17 miles to the south, a leading anti-Mormon newspaper editor named Thomas Sharp seized this opportunity to rally and mobilize Hancock County citizens against the Saints. Mr. Sharp had always had a chip on his shoulder since the beleaguered Latter-day Saints arrived on the eastern shores of the Mississippi River and they would not take advantage of his offers to sell them large tracts of land in and around Warsaw. His newspaper published this call to action on Wednesday, June 12:

“War and extermination is inevitable! Citizens ARISE, ONE and ALL!!!—Can you stand by, and suffer such INFERNAL DEVILS! TO ROB men of their property and RIGHTS, without avenging them. We have not time for comment, every man will make his own. LET IT BE MADE WITH POWDER AND BALL!!!” (Warsaw Signal, June 12, 1844, p. 2)

One note here, Scot. I think it’s fascinating that Joseph Smith was a candidate for President of the United States at this time and he sent ten of the Twelve apostles out on missions, campaigning for him and proselyting, but mainly, I think Joseph was getting them out of the way so they, too, would not be harmed or killed.

Scot 

At this crucial and fever-pitched juncture, Illinois Governor Thomas Ford stepped in to try to prevent a civil war. He reviewed the Nauvoo City charter and the city council’s justifications for putting this newspaper to an end. He decided to charge Joseph and Hyrum on a charge of inciting a riot and said they needed to stand trial at Carthage, the county seat for Hancock County and claimed by some to be “the only safe place in Hancock County for Joseph Smith.” Governor Ford gave Joseph his sacred word of honor and personal promise that he would assure Joseph’s safety.

Joseph could see what all this was leading to. So, while legal preparations were being made, Joseph was making his own plans. Joseph said, “The way is open. It is clear to my mind what to do. All they want is Hyrum and myself…We will cross the river tonight and go away to the west.” (History of the Church, 6: 545-46) Joseph had prophesied years before that “the Saints would continue to suffer much affliction…and some of you will live to go and assist in making settlements and build cities and see the Saints become a mighty people in the midst of the Rocky Mountains.” (Ibid, 5:85)

On Monday, June 17, an affidavit was signed by Stephen Markam, a faithful, trusted friend and bodyguard of the Prophet Joseph, that mobs were gathering from Warsaw and potentially from Missouri to imminently launch an all-out attack on Nauvoo.

Maurine

On Tuesday, June 18, Joseph issued this official statement as mayor of Nauvoo:

From the newspapers around us, and the current reports as brought in from the surrounding country, I have good reason to fear that a mob is organizing to come upon this city, and plunder and destroy said city, as well as murder the citizens; and by virtue of the authority vested in me as Mayor, and to preserve the city and the lives of the citizens, I do hereby declare the said city, within the limits of its incorporation, under martial law. The officers, therefore, of the Nauvoo Legion, the police as well as all others, will strictly see that no persons or property pass in or out of the city without due orders.

On June 20, Robert Foster wrote to John Proctor, one of your relatives, Scot, the following:  “There are thousands of armed men ready now and thousands more coming from Missouri and the country around.” (Ibid, 6:520)

Later that evening Joseph said to a number of friends present: “I advised my brother Hyrum to take his family on the next steamboat and go to Cincinnati. Hyrum replied, “Joseph, I can’t leave you.” Whereupon I said to the company present, “I wish I could get Hyrum out of the way, so that he may live to avenge my blood, and I will stay with you and see it out.” (Ibid, 6:520)

As many of you know, Hyrum was not only the Patriarch of the Church at that time, but he had been ordained on January 25, 1841 as Assistant President of the Church, a position only truly held by Hyrum and Oliver Cowdery before him.

Scot

That’s right. Biographer Edward Tullidge gives us some interesting insight here:

Concerning the statement in the text about the Prophet’s desire to have Hyrum live, and the purpose of it, Tullidege recorded it this way: “I want Hyrum to live to lead the Church, but he is determined not to leave me” (Tullidge, p. 491)…[T]here is evidence in addition to his statement that the Prophet did desire Hyrum Smith to succeed him in the presidency of the Church, and even “ordained” him to take that place. At the October conference following the martyrdom of the two brothers, President Brigham Young said: “Did Joseph ordain any man to take his place? He did. Who was it? It was Hyrum. But Hyrum fell a martyr before Joseph did” (Times and Seasons Vol. 5, page 683; see also History of the Church, 6:546, footnote 2)

With all of this going on, during the late evening of Saturday, June 22, Hyrum determined to never leave Joseph’s side, Joseph and Hyrum made their way to the river. Aaron Johnson lived a few hundred yards to the west of Joseph and Emma, right on the Mississippi River bank, and he loaned the brethren a leaky skiff to row across the river to the island near the Iowa side. Ever Joseph’s loyal friend, Porter Rockwell took the oars and Willard Richards, a member of the Twelve and secretary/scribe to Joseph, volunteered to come with them.

Maurine

During that very night when they were hiding out on that island and were making plans to go to the west, messages were being sent across the river by rowboat such as, “Joseph. Don’t leave us now.”  “Joseph, you are a coward for leaving.” “Joseph, why would you leave us at this most critical hour?”

On Sunday, June 23 a sheriff’s posse arrived in Nauvoo to arrest Joseph, but they could not find him.

On the island, “Joseph said to [Porter] Rockwell [his most trusted bodyguard], “What shall I do?” Rockwell replied, “You are the oldest and ought to know best; and as you make your bed, I will lie with you.” Joseph then turned to Hyrum, who was talking with [Reynolds] Cahoon, and said, “Brother Hyrum, you are the oldest, what shall we do?” Hyrum said, “Let us go back and give ourselves up, and see the thing out.” After studying a few moments, Joseph said, “If you go back, I will go with you, but we shall be butchered.” Hyrum said, “No, no; let us go back and put our trust in God, and we shall not be harmed. The Lord is in it. If we live or have to die, we will be reconciled to our fate.” (History of the Church, 6:549-50) Joseph said to Hyram, if my life is of no worth to my friends, it is of no worth to me.” They then made the fateful decision to return to Nauvoo and give themselves up to “the law.”

Scot

Now, even though Joseph and Hyrum were the only ones under arrest, many of the other brethren went with them to Carthage, including Willard Richards, and John Taylor, with Steven Markham, Dan Jones, John Fullmer and Cyrus Wheelock coming thereafter.  At 6:30 AM on Monday, June 24, Joseph said goodbye to his family. Both Joseph and Emma wept as he departed. They had been through this kind of thing together many times before. Joseph stopped by the temple construction site, where the temple was about nine feet above the ground, looked out over the beautiful city and that view of the horseshoe bend of the river and said, “This is the loveliest place and the best people under the heavens; little do they know the trials that await them.”

When they were 4 miles outside of Nauvoo, they were stopped and word had come from the Governor to ask Joseph to return to Nauvoo and give orders to have the Nauvoo Legion give up all their state arms. At this point, the Nauvoo Legion may have numbered upwards of 5,000. To put this in perspective, the standing army of the United States at that time was only 8,573 men. This was a formidable force in Nauvoo and the governor was trying to avert an all-out war—and—more importantly for him, to make the way easier for the murder of the Prophet and his brother.

Joseph returned and gave orders for the Legion to disarm, which they did. Joseph was able to say farewell to his family one last time. He hugged four-months pregnant Emma and their four other children. They had now lost six of their children. Emma said to Joseph through her tears, “You will return, won’t you Joseph?” He could not answer her. As he got up on his horse she held his leg and said, “YOU WILL RETURN, won’t you Joseph?” Both began to weep—and Joseph turned his face towards Carthage.

Maurine

As they were heading towards Carthage on the 26 1/2 mile journey from Nauvoo, Joseph stopped at one point, and he looked out over a beautiful parcel of land and fields. And the men said, “Come, why are we waiting here? Let’s be going on.” And Joseph said, “”If some of you had got such a farm and knew you would not see it any more, you would want to take a good look at it for the last time.” (Ibid, 6:558)

As they continued on, Joseph said ““I am going like a lamb to the slaughter, but I am calm as a summer’s morning. I have a conscience void of offense toward God and toward all men. If they take my life I shall die an innocent man, and my blood shall cry from the ground for vengeance, and it shall be said of me ‘He was murdered in cold blood!’ ” We sometimes speculate that he may have intimated: “I am going like THE lamb to the slaughter.” Either way, he truly was going to be slaughtered and he knew it. They finally arrived at Carthage just before midnight, and over fourteen hundred Illinois militia had gathered there, drinking and brawling a good portion of the day as they awaited for the arrival of their prey.

Now the charge of causing a riot would allow for bail and many of the brethren were charged with this for a total bail of $7,500. The money was gathered quickly. Then, on Tuesday, June 25, the diabolical apostate, Wilson Law, was able to get the charge for Joseph and Hyrum changed to treason. This offense did not allow for bail and was punishable by hanging. Joseph did not like this at all.

Scot

Now Joseph, Hyrum, Willard Richards and John Taylor, the latter two the only members of the Twelve in Nauvoo, were in the jail together. A few others came to be with them, Stephen Markham, John Fullmer, Cyrus Wheelock and Dan Jones.

Both Joseph and Hyrum bore a faithful testimony to the Latter-day work, and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and prophesied of the triumph of the Gospel over all the earth, exhorting the brethren present to faithfulness and persevering diligence in proclaiming the Gospel, building up the Temple, and performing all the duties connected with our holy religion. (Ibid, 6:610)

During that last night, Wednesday, June 26 into Thursday, June 27, the brethren had been moved to the jailer’s bedroom in the southeast corner upstairs of the building. The jailer, knowing these were not dangerous or guilty men, thought they would be safer upstairs above the ground and away from close visual examination from the outside.

Late that evening Joseph said, “I would like to see my family again,” and “I would to God that I could preach to the Saints in Nauvoo once more.”

Dan Jones and John Fullmer lay next to Joseph Smith on the floor of the bedroom. Joseph whispered to Dan, “Are you afraid to die?” Dan said, “Has that time come, think you? Engaged in such a cause I do not think that death would have many terrors.” Joseph replied, “You will yet see Wales, and fulfill the mission appointed you  before you die.” (Ibid, 6: 601)

Maurine

Dan Jones left the jail the next morning to seek legal counsel for Joseph for the trial coming on Saturday. As he went through the south door of the jail to exit, he passed Frank Worrell, the head of the Carthage Greys. Worrell said, “We have had too much trouble to bring old Joe here to let him ever escape alive, and unless you want to die with him you better leave before sundown…you’ll see that I can prophesy better than Old Joe.” (Letter from Dan Jones to Thomas Bullock, January 20, 1855, as quoted in “The Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith,” BYU Studies, Winter 1984, p. 102)

Dan Jones was never allowed back in the jail. It saved his life. He was even chased by a mob with balls flying all around him but he was never hit. He did go on to fill many missions to Wales and brought many thousands of his fellow Welsh into the Church.

Joseph was writing letters that morning, seeking help and sending his final farewell to Emma:

June 27, 1844. 8:20 AM.

… Dear Emma, I am very much resigned to my lot, knowing I am justified, and have done the best that could be done. Give my love to the children and all my friends, Mr. Brewer, and all who inquire after me; and as for treason, I know that I have not committed any, and they cannot prove anything of the kind, so you need not have any fears that anything can happen to us on that account. May God bless you all. Amen.” (History of the Church, 6:605)

Scot

Governor Ford had visited the brothers in the jail that day and reassured them of his commitment and promise of their safety. Of course, he was in on the conspiracy. Of course, he knew what was about to happen that very day. He left with his own men and headed for Nauvoo so that he could be out of the way of the violence.

The jailer suggested they might want to move into the dungeon for safety. Joseph asked Willard Richards if he would go with him into the dungeon. Willard responded:

“Brother Joseph you did not ask me to cross the river with you—you did not ask me to come to Carthage—you did not ask me to come to jail with you—and do you think I would forsake you now? But I will tell you what I will do; if you are condemned to be hung for treason, I will be hung in your stead, and you shall go free.” Joseph said “You cannot.” The doctor replied, “I will.” (Ibid, 6:616) Willard knew of Joseph’s fear of hanging and was willing to be hanged in his place. That is so tender.

Now that day, had worn on and the men were feeling rather depressed. It was very hot in the jail. The windows were open. Joseph and Hyrum and Willard and John were the only ones left in the jail. Joseph said, Brother John, sing for me that new hymn that’s been circulating in Nauvoo, the new hymn that was Joseph’s favorite, A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief. And so, John Taylor with his beautiful British tenor voice, sang all seven verses of  that hymn. At the end of that Joseph said, Oh, brother, John, sing it for us again. John said, “I don’t feel much like singing.” Hyrum said, “Start singing and you’ll feel like singing.” And so he did. He sang all seven verses again, and this really buoyed the spirits of Joseph and Hyrum and I’m sure Willard Richards as well and even John Taylor.

Maurine

But now, it was just past five o’clock on Thursday, June 27 1844, as a mob of between 150 and 200 men started towards the jail. Their faces were painted black as if they could disguise themselves so that they would not be known, but they were known of God. Some of them were apostates from the Church and had once sat in sweet counsel with the Prophet himself. Worrell and his Carthage Greys put up no resistance. They fired some shots up into the air, and then many of the mob ran up the stairs and the slaughter began.

The first shot that was fired was to destroy the latch on the door that was already not working. Joseph and Hyrum braced themselves against the door pushing with all their might to hold it shut. The second shot that was fired came right through the door and struck Hyrum in the left bridge of the nose near his left eye. He was also hit in the chest and again in the throat and in his leg. He fell back and cried, “I am a dead man.” Joseph cried out, “Oh, my dear brother Hyrum!” Now, remember, Hyrum was the assistant president of the Church and if he would have died second, he would have been, according to their understanding, the president of the Church for a few seconds.

Scot

Willard Richards and John Taylor were on either side of the Smiths with hickory canes or what Willard Richards called his rascal beater. And there they thought they could beat the rifles barrels down as best they could and parry them off.  As John Taylor was trying to parry the rifles, he could see that this was not helping enough. And so. John went towards the window directly across the room from the door, and there, I think he was trying to make an escape through the window or see if that was possible and draw fire away from Joseph. As he got to the window, he was hit once in the wrist and then again, this time in the chest as he was in the window. This ball hit and pulverized his pocket watch and the force of that ball hitting him knocked him back into the room. He was hit again in the thigh, which, as he reported, dropped him like a bird that had been shot. While on the floor, he was hit again in the hip and took a chunk out the size of a man’s hand and blew blood all over the eastern wall of the jail. In that condition, he rolled under the bed to try to escape further injury.

Maurine

Now at this point, the most interesting thing happens. Joseph turned calmly. I think that says a lot about Joseph. He knew of course what was going to happen but in the midst of all this, he turned calmly. How could that possibly be? That is astounding. He went for the window, perhaps to draw fire away from Willard Richards. Of course, the balls were flying around in every direction, and hitting everywhere but Joseph came to the window. And he was hit once from behind in the back once in the shoulder blade, and once in the front in the sternum and once in the chest on the right side. And as he fell through the window, or leaped, he cried out, “Oh, Lord, my God!” This was a clarion call for help to any who were of the Masonic order. There were many Masons in the mob and obviously they broke their covenants that day.  Joseph fell the 15 ½ feet to the ground. A cry went out, “He’s leaped the window!” The mob hurried out of the landing and down the stairs.  Willard Richards looked out the window and saw him as his eyes closed, and he saw his beloved prophet for the last time on this earth. The mob fired on Joseph and shot him in a brutal manner many times after he was dead.

Willard Richards was trying to escape at this point or go out of the room and as he began to leave the room he heard Brother Taylor say, “Take me with you.” He carried Brother Taylor and brought him into the dungeon and covered him with a straw mattress. He said, ‘Brother John, I want you to live so that you can tell the world what happened here.” You have to understand, Willard Richards was the largest target in the jail. He weighed 300 pounds. But Joseph had told him two years before “the time would come when the balls would fly around him like hail, and he should see his friends fall on the right side and on the left, but that there should not be a hole in his garment.” (Ibid, 6:619) Miraculously, Willard Richards was spared with only his earlobe grazed by a ball.

Scot

At this point, right as the mob came back up the stairs and they were looking around the jailer’s bedroom for the others so they can kill the witnesses, a lone horseman came riding into town at breakneck speed crying at the top of his lungs, “The Mormons are coming! The Mormons are coming.” And we know from the Smith family records that this was Joseph and Hyrum’s brother, Samuel Harrison Smith! He had ridden the 26 ½  miles from Nauvoo to Carthage and had out ridden the mob, but during that chase, he had received an injury in his side and he said to his mother, Lucy Mack Smith, “I have a dreadful distress in my side ever since I was chased by the mob.” Thirty-three days later, Samuel Harrison Smith died as well.

With Samuel’s warning, the mob scattered. It was not true, however, as the Saints would not seek revenge. A note was sent to Nauvoo from Elder Richards, “Joseph and Hyrum are dead. Taylor wounded…I am well. Our guard was forced, as we believe, by a band of Missourians from 100 to 200. The job was done in an instant, and the party fled towards Nauvoo…the citizens are afraid of the Mormons attacking them. I promise them no!” (Ibid, 6:621-622)

Maurine

John Taylor wrote:  “I felt a dull, lonely, sickening sensation at the news. When I reflected that our noble chieftain, the Prophet of the living God, had fallen, and that I had seen his brother in the cold embrace of death, it seemed as though there was a void or vacuum in the great field of human existence to me, and a dark gloomy chasm in the kingdom, and that we were left alone. Oh, how lonely was the feeling! How cold, barren and desolate! In the midst of difficulties he was always the first in motion; in critical positions his counsel was always sought. As our Prophet he approached our God, and obtained for us his will; but now our Prophet, our counselor, our general, our leader, was gone, and amid the fiery ordeal that we then had to pass through, we were left alone without his aid, and as our future guide for things spiritual or temporal, and for all things pertaining to this world, or the next, he had spoken for the last time on earth.” (See John Taylor, Martyrdom Account, pp. 48–53, Joseph Smith Papers)

Now you think about this from the perspective of a mother, from this precious Lucy Mack Smith. By the time Samuel died a few weeks later, she had lost seven of her eight sons. She had lost her husband. She had lost three daughters-in-law. She had lost three sons-in-law, and she had lost 15 grandchildren! Her heart was truly broken.

Scot

Lucy recorded: “After the corpses were washed and dressed in their burial clothes, we were allowed to see them. I had for a long time braced every nerve, roused every energy of my soul, and called upon God to strengthen me, but when I entered the room and saw my murdered sons extended both at once before my eyes and heard the sobs and groans of my family and the cries of “Father! Husband! Brothers!” from the lips of their wives, children, brothers, and sisters, it was too much; I sank back, crying to the Lord in the agony of my soul, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken this family!” A voice replied, “I have taken them to myself, that they might have rest.” Emma was carried back to her room almost in a state of insensibility…

“Oh! at the moment how my mind flew through every scene of sorrow and distress which we had passed, together, in which they had shown the innocence and sympathy which filled their guileless hearts. As I looked upon their peaceful, smiling countenances, I seemed almost to hear them say, “Mother, weep not for us, we have overcome the world by love; we carried to them the gospel, that their souls might be saved; they slew us for our testimony, and thus placed us beyond their power; their ascendancy is for a moment, ours is an eternal triumph.”

“I then thought upon the promise which I had received in Missouri, that in five years Joseph should have power over all his enemies. The time had elapsed and the promise was fulfilled.”

Maurine

We testify with every fiber of our beings that Joseph Smith was and is a prophet of God. We testify that He did indeed see God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ in the grove. We testify that Joseph was the instrument that brought forth the Book of Mormon and through whom the holy priesthoods were restored to the earth. We testify that the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been brought back to the earth and that we have a living Prophet today, even Russell M. Nelson. We testify that this great book of Doctrine and Covenants is true. We blessed beyond measure to live in these latter days.

Scot

That’s all for today. We’ve loved being with you. Next week we will talk about the last sections in the Doctrine and Covenants, Sections 137 and 138, with the lesson, “The Vision of the Redemption of the Dead.” Thanks to Jenny Oaks Baker for the music and to Michaela Proctor Hutchins for producing this show. Have a wonderful week and see you next time.

“Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” Performed by Jenny Oaks Baker. Used with permission © 2003 Shadow Mountain Records

 

 

 

 

How Joseph Smith was Given the Spirit and Power of all the Prophets

Joseph Smith was a unique individual, differing from every other religious leader in Christian history. Joseph’s brother, Hyrum Smith, once observed, “There were prophets before, but Joseph has the spirit and power of all the prophets” (History of the Church, 6:346).

President George Q. Cannon later explained why this is so. As head of the final dispensation—which Paul described as the “dispensation of the fullness of times in which God would gather together in one all things in Christ” (Ephesians 1:10)—it was Joseph Smith’s right and privilege to be visited and tutored by every former prophet who held priesthood authority and keys.

“He was visited constantly by angels,” President George Q. Cannon said of Joseph Smith. “These various angels, the heads of dispensations, . . . ministered unto him. . . . He had vision after vision in order that his mind might be fully saturated with a knowledge of the things of God, and that he might comprehend the high and holy calling that God had bestowed upon him” (Journal of Discourses, 23:362).

President Cannon further noted: “He, therefore, received the ministration of divers angels—heads of dispensations—from Michael or Adam down to the present time; every man in his time and season coming to him, and all declaring their dispensation, their rights, their keys, their honors. Joseph, the head of this dispensation, Prophet, Seer and Revelator, whom God raised up, received from all these different sources, according to the mind and will of God, and according to the design of God concerning him; he received from all these different sources all the power and all the authority and all keys that were necessary for the building up of the work of God in the last days, and for the accomplishment of His purposes connected with this dispensation. He stands at the head. He is a unique character, differing from every other man in this respect, and excelling every other man” (Journal of Discourses, 23:361).

President John Taylor similarly testified that Joseph received from the leading prophets of all previous gospel dispensations “authority and keys and priesthood power for the carrying out of the great purposes of the Lord in the last days.” Those prophets were “sent and commissioned specially by the Almighty to confer upon him those keys and this authority” (Journal of Discourses, 20:174-175).

President Taylor also noted that the Prophet Joseph was not only conversant with every prophet who officiated at the head of each gospel dispensation, but also with many other angelic ministrants as well: “When Joseph Smith was raised up as a prophet of God, Mormon, Moroni, Nephi and others of the ancient Prophets who formerly lived on this Continent, and Peter and John and others who lived on the Asiatic Continent, came to him and communicated to him certain principles pertaining to the Gospel of the Son of God. Why? Because they held the keys of the various dispensations, and conferred them upon him, and he upon us” (Journal of Discourses, 17:374).

Through the ministry of former apostles and prophets, Joseph Smith came to know the place and role of his ministry in world history. On 12 May 1844, just a few weeks before his death, the Prophet Joseph taught that he “was chosen [to be] … the last and greatest prophet to lay the foundation of God’s work of the seventh dispensation” (The Words of Joseph Smith, comp. and ed. Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook, 1980, 370). He learned that “In the days of Noah, God destroyed the world by a flood, and He has promised to destroy it by fire in the last days” (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 1938, 337). Lorenzo Snow once overheard the Prophet respond to the question, “Who are you?” with the reply, “Noah came before the flood. I have come before the fire” (Diary of Abraham H. Cannon, entry for 1 January 1892; as cited in An Apostle’s Record: The Journals of Abraham H. Cannon, 2004, 229).

Not only did ancient prophets know of Joseph Smith and prophesy of his mission, he also knew them personally and intimately. Church member Joseph Bates Noble recalled: “I went to Kirtland….where I saw for the first time Joseph

Smith. I went with him to a field and helped him mow some hay. While

There, he gave me much information in relation to the Book of Mormon, etc. He told me that the voices of the angels became so familiar that he knew their names before he saw them” (A Journal or Diary of Joseph Bates Noble 1810-1834, BYU Special Collections Library, typescript, 3).

It’s one thing to read the Bible, and another thing entirely to know and meet its authors. The Prophet Joseph Smith had that privilege. Several different researchers have compiled lists of personages who appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith, or who were seen by Him in vision. Here is one such list compiled by Brian L. Smith, of heavenly messengers who taught the Prophet Joseph. (Sources for additional lists of personages to who appeared to the Prophet are provided below.)

The following is a list of many of the personages who appeared to Joseph Smith and restored keys or delivered divine instructions.

Personage	Selected References	Keys given or nature or appearance
God the Father	JS-H 1:17; HC 1:5; D&C 76:2	Opened this dispensation introduced the Son.
Jesus Christ	JS-H 1:17; HC 1:5–6; D&C 76:20–24; 110:2–10	Called Joseph as a prophet; accepted the temple.
Moroni	JS-H 1:30–49, 59; JD 17:374	Tutored Joseph; gave him keys of stick of Ephraim
John the Baptist	D&C 13:1; HC 1:39–42	Restored Aaronic Priesthood and its keys.
Peter, James, John	D&C 27:12; 128:20; JD 18:326; HC 1:40–42	Restored Melchizedek Priesthood and apostleship and keys.
Moses	D&C 110:11; JD 21:65; 23:48	Restored keys of gathering and leading the ten tribes.
Elias	D&C 27:6; 110:12; JD 23:48	Committed the “gospel of Abraham”
Elijah	D&C 110:13–16	Conferred the sealing power.
Adam (Michael)	HC 2:380; 3:388; D&C 128:21; JD 18:326; 21:94; 23:48	Restored keys (perhaps of the presidency over the earth).
Noah (Gabriel)	D&C 128:21; JD 21:94; 23:48	Restored keys (perhaps of the power to preach the gospel).
Raphael	D&C 128:21	Restored keys (perhaps of the dispensation of Enoch’s day).
Various angels	D&C 128:21	Restored keys (all declaring their individual dispensation).
Lehi	JD 16:265–66	Ministered to him.
Nephi	JD 21:161; 16:266; 17:374	Tutored Joseph; gave him keys.
Mormon	JD 17:374	Tutored Joseph; gave him keys.
Unnamed angel	D&C 27; HC 1:106	Taught concerning use of wine in the sacrament.
Unnamed angel	Life of Heber C. Kimball; Temples of the Most High	Sent to accept dedication of the Kirtland temple.
Unnamed angel	Biography and Family Records of Lorenzo Snow	Visited Joseph three times; commanded him to practice plural marriage, as previously revealed by the Lord.

 

Although keys, instructions, or information may have been given by some of the personages in the following list, they are generally noted as simply having been seen by Joseph.

Abel	JD 18:325; HC 3:388
Seth	JD 21:94; D&C 107:53–57; HC 3:388
Enos	HC 3:388; D&C 107:53–57; HC 3:388
Cainan	HC 3:388; D&C 107:53–57
Mahalaleel	JD 18:325; D&C 107:53–57; HC 3:388
Jared (Bible)	HC 3:388; D&C 107:53–57
Enoch	HC 3:388; D&C 107:53–57; JD 21:65
Methuselah	JD 18:325; D&C 107:53–57; HC 3:388
Lamech	JD 18:325
Eve	Oliver B. Huntington diary
Abraham	D&C 27:10; JD 21:94; 23:48
Isaac	D&C 27:10; JD 21:94
Jacob	D&C 27:10; JD 21:94
Joseph, son of Jacob	D&C 27:10
Twelve Jewish Apostles (Peter, James, and John already counted above)	JD 21:94 (Names in Matthew 10:1–4, Luke 6:13–16)
Twelve Nephite Apostles (Includes the Three Nephites)	JD 21:94 (Names recorded in 3 Nephi 19:4)
Zelph the Lamanite	Times & Seasons, 6:788
Alvin Smith (Joseph’s deceased brother)	HC 2:380
Paul	TPJS 180
Alma	JD 13:47
“I saw many angels”	Warren Cowdery’s account of the First Vision
Satan and his associates	JSH 1:15–16; D&C 128:20; JD 3:299–30

Additional Sources for lists of Personages who appeared to the Prophet:

• Brian L. Smith, “Taught from on High”: The Ministry of Angelic Messengers to the Prophet Joseph Smith, in Joseph Smith and the Doctrinal Restoration, BYU Religious Studies Center, 2005, 332–45.
• H. Donl Peterson, in Moroni: Ancient Prophet, Modern Messenger, Cedar Fort Inc., 138-140.
• H. Donl Peterson, Appendix B, in Joseph Smith: The Prophet, The Man, BYU Rel. Studies Center, 1993, 184-186.
• Wayne J. Lewis, Jana Lee Cox, Lee Nelson, 500 Little-Known Facts about Joseph Smith, Cedar Fort Inc., 33-38.
• Hyrum Andrus, Joseph Smith, the Man and the Seer, Deseret Book, 95.

Come Follow Me Podcast #2: “I Saw a Pillar of Light”, Joseph Smith History 1: 1-26

Scot

In every dispensation of the world a witness is called to testify to the people of that day and age that he has seen God and has talked with Him and has received instructions and guidance from Him.  That witness is called to testify in his day that God lives, that He is real, that He cares about His children, that He hears and answers our prayers and that He has a work for us to do. Faith comes and is increased by listening to and heeding the testimony of that witness.  In our day, in this, the dispensation of the fulness of times, that witness is Joseph Smith.

Maurine

Welcome to Meridian Magazine’s Come Follow Me Podcast, we are Scot and Maurine Proctor and we love being with you each week and discussing with you the sacred truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  In this year’s lessons we are immersing ourselves in the Doctrine and Covenants, the early history of the Church and naturally in the lives of Joseph Smith and his family and associates.  Today we have the immense privilege of exploring and reflecting upon the First Vision and our scriptural text is Joseph Smith History, chapter 1, verses 1-26.

To better understand the First Vision, we need to have some historical and family context for the young boy Joseph and his family.

Scot

We had the great blessing of going back into the Prophet Joseph’s mother’s writings and original dictation of her history.  Lucy Mack Smith’s record is one of the great treasures of the Church.  Imagine any world leader or spiritual giant having a biography written by his or her mother!  We have this in the History of Joseph Smith by His Mother: Lucy Mack Smith.

As we did this project many years ago and became intimately acquainted with Lucy’s turn of phrase or her approach to telling her story, we learned that as we got to know Lucy Mack Smith, we got to know, more personally and more intimately, her prophet son Joseph.  Like Mother, like son.

Maurine

All the Mack sisters had a disposition towards lung issues—two of Lucy’s sisters died of consumption, or tuberculosis.  Lucy always struggled with her lungs.

In 1802, Joseph Smith, the father of the Prophet and Lucy Mack and their two little sons, Alvin and Hyrum, moved to Randolph, Vermont.  They had only lived there six months when Lucy took, in her own words, “a heavy cold, which caused a severe cough. A hectic fever set in which threatened to prove fatal and the physician believed my case to be confirmed consumption. My mother attended me day and night with much anxiety, sparing herself no pains in administering to my comfort, yet I grew so weak that I could not bear the noise of a footfall except in stocking feet, nor a word to be spoken in the room except in whispers.

“One Mr. Murkley, a Methodist exhorter, heard of my afflictions and came to visit me. When he came to the door, he knocked in his usual manner, not knowing that I was so very weak and that the noise would disturb me. This agitated me so much that it was some time before my nerves were settled again. My mother stepped to the door and motioned him to a chair, informing him of my weakness in a whisper.

“He seated himself and for a long time seemed pondering in his mind something he wished to say. I thought to myself, “He will ask me if I am prepared to die.” I dreaded to have him speak to me, for said I to myself, “I am not prepared to die, for I do not know the ways of Christ,” and it seemed to me as though there was a dark and lonely chasm between myself and Christ that I dared not attempt to cross.

Scot

Twenty-six-year-old Lucy continues her record:

“I thought as I strained my eyes towards the light (which I knew lay just beyond the gloomy veil before me) that I could discover a faint glimmer.

“Mr. Murkley left, and my husband came to my bed and caught my hand and exclaimed as well as he could amidst sobs and tears, “Oh, Lucy! My wife! You must die. The doctors have given you up, and all say you cannot live.”

“I then looked to the Lord and begged and pled that he would spare my life that I might bring up my children and comfort the heart of my husband. Thus, I lay all night, sometimes gazing gradually away to heaven, and then reverting back again to my babies and my companion at my side, and I covenanted with God that if he would let me live, I would endeavor to get that religion that would enable me to serve him right, whether it was in the Bible or wherever it might be found, even if it was to be obtained from heaven by prayer and faith. At last, a voice spoke to me and said, “Seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Let your heart be comforted. Ye believe in God, believe also in me.”

“In a few moments my mother came in and looked upon me and cried out, “Lucy, you are better.” My speech came and I answered, “Yes, Mother, the Lord will let me live. If I am faithful to my promise which I have made to him, he will suffer me to remain to comfort the hearts of my mother, my husband, and my children.”

Maurine

“From this time forward I gained strength continually. I said but little upon the subject of religion, although it occupied my mind entirely. I thought I would make all diligence, as soon as I was able, to seek some pious person who knew the ways of God to instruct me in the things of heaven…

“In the anxiety of my soul to abide by the covenant which I had entered into with the Almighty, I went from place to place to seek information or find, if possible, some congenial spirit who might enter into my feelings and sympathize with me.

“At last, I heard that one noted for his piety would preach the ensuing Sabbath in the Presbyterian church. Thither I went in expectation of obtaining that which alone could satisfy my soul–the bread of eternal life. When the minister commenced, I fixed my mind with breathless attention upon the spirit and matter of the discourse, but all was emptiness, vanity, vexation of spirit, and fell upon my heart like the chill, untimely blast upon the starting ear ripening in a summer sun. It did not fill the aching void within nor satisfy the craving hunger of my soul. I was almost in total despair, and with a grieved and troubled spirit I returned home, saying in my heart, there is not on earth the religion which I seek. I must again turn to my Bible, take Jesus and his disciples for an example. I will try to obtain from God that which man cannot give nor take away. I will settle myself down to this. I will hear all that can be said, read all that is written, but particularly the word of God shall be my guide to life and salvation, which I will endeavor to obtain if it is to be had by diligence in prayer.” (Scot Facer Proctor and Maurine Jensen Proctor, Revised and Enhance History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, Bookcraft, Salt Lake City, 1996, pp. 47-50)

Scot, you can see from Lucy’s account that she was going to do everything in her power to find that true religion, the way back to God that was like the original gospel Jesus had organized in His ministry.

Scot

That’s right. In her day, Lucy would have been called a “seeker”, one who was searching for the original New Testament Church and gospel of Jesus Christ. I love how she said in her covenant with the Lord that “I would endeavor to get that religion that would enable me to serve him right, whether it was in the Bible or wherever it might be found, even if it was to be obtained from heaven by prayer and faith.”  Remember, this brush with death for Lucy was in 1802 in pursuit of that true religion would be in her mind and her course for the next 18 years.

Maurine

Let’s take a look inside the Smith home in the times before the First Vision. We get a great sense from Lucy and from her children that this was a home of faith, a home of prayer, a home of scripture reading and a home of love.

From Joseph’s younger brother, William, we get this wonderful view of their home life:

“My father’s religious habits were strictly pious and moral. … I was called upon to listen to prayers both night and morning. … My…father and mother, poured out their souls to God, the donor of all blessings, to keep and guard their children and keep them from sin and from all evil works. Such was the strict piety of my parents.”

William also said: “We always had family prayers since I can remember. I well remember father used to carry his spectacles in his vest pocket, … and when us boys saw him feel for his specs, we knew that was a signal to get ready for prayer, and if we did not notice it mother would say, ‘William,’ or whoever was the negligent one, ‘get ready for prayer.’ After the prayer we had a song we would sing; I remember part of it yet.”

Scot

And the words of that hymn were these (remember, this is being sung nearly every night in the Smith home as the children were growing up):

The day is past and gone,
The evening shades appear;
O may we all remember well
The night of death draws near.
We lay our garments by,
Upon our beds to rest;
So death shall soon disrobe us all
Of what is here possessed.
Lord, keep us safe this night,
Secure from all our fears;
May angels guard us while we sleep,
Till morning light appears.

(Hymn from John LeLand)

This gives us such a view into this faithful Smith family, who by 1820 had 8 living children in their home from ages 22 to 4. Lucy had kept her promise from that night in Randolph when she was 26—and was still seeking with all of her heart that religion that Jesus taught.

Maurine

To understand how refreshing and redefining the First Vision would be, look at the “plain and precious” parts of Christianity which had fallen away. It wasn’t just that God had a body that had been lost in prevailing church doctrines of the sects..  His character and nature had been transformed—almost mutiliated–from being a God of love, our eternal parent deeply invested in our well-being, to formless being of wrath and vengeance.

Jonathan Edwards, in a sermon he gave often in the 18^th century, said of sinners, “The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you and is dreadfully provoked. His wrath towards you burns like a fire; he looks at you as nothing else, but to be cast into the fire.” It is not surprising the Lord in Joseph’s vision said all of the sects were “wrong” and that their creeds were an “abomination in his sight.”

Scot

Now while Edwards is expressing very harsh Calvinism, similar ideas about the nature of God permeated religion and changed the landscape for centuries. God was a force of terror, unyielding judgment, and disdain for his creatures—not sons and daughters. With that loss, people only saw themselves in a mirror dimly.

According to Fiona and Terryl Givens in their recent book, “All Things New”, two essential pieces of the story were lost that changed everything else, 1) premortality and its purposes and 2) the parental nature of God and the reasons why such passionate, unfailing love is turned to each soul’s development. Lost was the idea that mortality was an experience meant to educate His children.

Maurine

Fatal developments followed. If you don’t know the beginning of the story, you don’t understand the end of the story either, nor the God at the story’s center. By the fourth century, the Athanasian Creed, read:

“We worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; neither confounding the Persons: nor dividing the Substance. For there is one Person of the Father; another of the Son: another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is all one.. The Father incomprehensible: the Son incomprehensible; and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible,”

This was the doctrine of the Trinity and it became heresy not to believe this. Once disembodied, God lost all emotional connection to humanity. He could not feel with them or be touched by their misery. He is turned to stone.

Scot

Augustine, who lived from 354-430 AD became a powerful voice in the Christian tradition. He believed that human nature is “so trapped in sin that both body and spirit are twisted up claustrophobically without any escape.’

As a consequence of this new focus on universal sinfulness, Augustine diverted the entire stream of Christian thought, which went from a belief in a gradual process of growth in which one cooperates with God, to the opposite belief in which God decrees who is saved and who is damned independent of our choices.

Thus it went century after century. Martin Luther said, “the only free will humankind possessed…was the freedom to sin.”

So the Christian inheritance when Joseph went into that grove carried some heavy errors that diminished both God and humanity.

Maurine

Now, around 1818 and 1819, there was in the area of Palmyra, as Joseph records, “an unusual excitement on the subject of religion.” (JS History 1: 5) Joseph specifically mentions the Methodists, Presbyterians and the Baptists—all contending for converts and all in an uproar about who was right and who was wrong.

Young Joseph was 12 years old when all this commotion was happening around Palmyra.  He was a serious boy, not given to a lot of reading books but much more disposed to deep thought and pondering.

He said, “my mind become seriously impressed with regard to the all-important concerns for the welfare of my immortal soul.” (1832 Account)

And listen to these next words because he sounds so much like his mother: “My mind became exceedingly distressed, for I became convicted of my sins, and by searching the scriptures I found that mankind did not come unto the Lord but that they had apostatized from the true and living faith, and there was no society or denomination that was built upon the gospel of Jesus Christ as recorded in the New Testament.” (1832 Account)

Scot

Joseph had at least three things on his young mind:

The welfare of his eternal soul.

How to obtain forgiveness for his sins, and

Which of the churches he should join.

Joseph recorded:

“During this time of great excitement my mind was called up to serious reflection and great uneasiness; but though my feelings were deep and often poignant, still I kept myself aloof from all these parties, though I attended their several meetings as often as occasion would permit. In process of time my mind became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect…” (JS-History 1:8)

At least one of the preachers or ministers at that time took a special interest in Joseph and we think it was probably Reverend George Lane. He was a Methodist circuit preacher—that meant that he had a number of congregations in the region that he would come around to and preach to them.  Joseph was striving to find which Church to join, and likely, because of this interest from Reverend Lane, Joseph became somewhat partial to the Methodists.

Maurine

Joseph’s brother William recalled this:

“Rev. Mr. Lane of the Methodists preached a sermon on ‘What church shall I join?’ And the burden of his discourse was to ask God, using as a text, ‘If any man lack wisdom let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally.’ And of course, when Joseph went home and was looking over the text, he was impressed to do just what the preacher had said and going out in the woods with child-like, simple trusting faith believing that God meant just what He said, kneeled down and prayed.” (Deseret Evening News, January 20, 1894, 11.)

I love what Joseph says about that particular scripture, James 1:5:

“Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know.” (JS-History 1:12)

Isn’t that a great view into scripture study and paying attention to the promptings of the Spirit?

Scot

Yes, I love this insight into the workings of young Joseph’s heart. And I love the whole approach for us to pay attention to what I call trigger scriptures.  James 1:5 was a trigger scripture for Joseph to prompt him to go to the woods to pray.

Let’s look at two more trigger scriptures.

You remember Joseph F. Smith in 1918?

1 On the third of October, in the year nineteen hundred and eighteen, I sat in my room pondering over the scriptures;

2 And reflecting upon the great atoning sacrifice that was made by the Son of God, for the redemption of the world;

6 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…

11 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. (D&C 138:1-2, 6, 11)

Those verses in 1 Peter were trigger scriptures for Joseph F. Smith. They prompted him to further pondering and reflection which then opened the window and then the door for revelation.

Maurine

The same thing happened for the Prophet Joseph as he was translating the Bible:

15 For while we were doing the work of translation, which the Lord had appointed unto us, we came to the twenty-ninth verse of the fifth chaper of John…

18 Now this caused us to marvel, for it was given unto us of the Spirit.

19 And while we meditated upon these things, the Lord touched the eyes of our understandings and they were opened, and the glory of the Lord shone round about. (D&C 76: 15, 18-19)

Here is that same pattern—a trigger scripture that led to the reception of Section 76—the great vision of the three degrees of glory.

The pattern is clear and we need to pay attention to this in our personal scripture studies.  As you read and study and ponder the scriptures each day, pay close attention to your heart and your spirit, your feelings inside of you.  You’ll come across verses that will bring the Spirit of the Lord into your heart as never before. You’ll read something that will cause you to see things differently or open your minds to new vistas of understanding. These are trigger scriptures.

Scot

For those of you who listened to my own personal story on this podcast three times ago, of how I obtained a testimony of the Book of Mormon, you’ll know that Doctrine and Covenants, Section 17, verse 6 was a trigger scripture for me, and, in fact, it changed my whole life.

Joseph used to look up in the heavens at night and ponder.  “I looked upon the sun…and…the moon…and the stars shining in their courses,” (1832 Account) and he thought, “if there is so much order in the heavens, why is there not order among man? Why so much confusion in religion?”

Young Joseph was now determined to make the attempt to obtain knowledge from God. Remember, he is concerned about the welfare of his soul, and how to obtain forgiveness for his sins and to know which Church to join.

It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of 1820 that Joseph made this attempt. You have to know that our imagination of this Sacred Grove in the early spring is of that unique spring green and a full canopy of trees completely decked out with foliage, but in reality, the trees were barely budding or not budding at all, there would have been no leaves yet—the deciduous leaves in western New York come out all at once in mid to late May.

Now, Maurine, as you know well, I grew up on a wooded farm in Missouri, 220 acres of woods and meadows and streams and fields.  In the early spring, long before the forest buds would emerge as leaves, we had beautiful blossoms, the dogwood, the redbuds, the wild cherry.  We could look out from our house on the hill and see these beautiful blossoms like fireworks exploding all over our wooded acres.

Maurine

And so it would have been for Joseph in the woods on his family’s farm.  No leaves. No or very few buds, but the hophornbeam, the cherry, the elm, the beech and the shagbark hickory blossoms could have been plentiful! The cherry blossoms which are bright white and sometimes tinged in pink would have been at the top of the canopy—perhaps 100 feet above the forest floor.

The shagbark hickory has a unique blossom with a crimson red outside and spring green inside. The elms have white with beautiful red accents.  The hophornbeams (or they are called ironwoods) have clusters of blossoms in the form of hops, looking something like an upside-down ice cream cone.  So, even though there were no leaves in the early spring, Joseph would have come into a beautiful forest, under a canopy of vibrant blossoms, each signifying a new beginning—the hope of a newness of life.  It was a glorious scene, but soon to be made glorious beyond description by the Visitors from on high.

Scot

Joseph went to a place he had previously designed to go to. He wanted to be away from where he could be seen. Stafford Road ran right through their farm.  There would have been standing water in the low parts of the grove, so he certainly is not going to kneel in that area.  He’s likely to go to a higher point of ground, far enough back from the road and fields of the farm that he will be quite alone.  He says he went to a place where he had left his axe in a stump the previous day of work.

He says the most curious thing in one account, that “It was the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally.”  Clearly, the pattern in the Smith home was for the father or the mother to pray.

As he opened his mouth, he heard a stick crack from behind him, then as the sound of footsteps coming toward him.  He sprang to his feet to see who was there. Thick darkness surrounded Joseph and he was filled with fear and inappropriate images, and his tongue grew thick and clave to the roof of his mouth so that he could not speak. He felt like he was doomed to utter destruction.  Joseph was under attack from Satan himself.

Maurine

He recorded:

“…at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction—not to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being…

…just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.” (JS-History 1: 16)

There is no question that Satan knew who Joseph was. He looked like a young, 14-year-old inconsequential farm boy from a poor family, but here was the great and mighty prophet Joseph, the fore-ordained head of the dispensation of the fulness of times—and Satan was determined to destroy him before Joseph saw the Lord and was given his mission in mortality.

Scot

I do love the word that pierced the veil and opened this great dispensation.  It was simply, “Joseph!” In so many grand spiritual visions and visitations, the supplicant is called by name and hearing your name seems to dispel all fear.  “Joseph, This is my Beloved Son! Hear Him!”

Now, there are four primary accounts of the First Vision and five secondary accounts of people who recorded what they heard Joseph say. We’ll be quoting a bit from all of them.

The Father introduced Jesus Christ and then gave instructions not only for Joseph, but for all in this dispensation to “Hear Him!”  We are all to hearken to the voice of Jesus Christ and truly Hear Him!

I love the first words that Jesus said to Joseph, “Joseph, my son, thy sins are forgiven thee. Go thy way, walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments. Behold, I am the Lord of glory. I was crucified for the world, that all those who believe on my name may have eternal life.”

Now, the Lord had seen to the forgiveness of Joseph’s sins and He had assured Joseph of the welfare of his eternal soul.

Maurine

Jesus said of the current religious setting, “Behold, the world lieth in sin at this time, and none doeth good, no, not one. They have turned aside from the gospel and keep not my commandments. They draw near to me with their lips while their hearts are far from me.” (1832 Account)

Jesus also “said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that: “…they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.”

20 He again forbade me to join with any of them. (JS-History 1:19,20)

So, Joseph now had the answers to his three questions.

Now, I have a question: Do we have a full record of the First Vision?  Are we getting a clear picture of all that took place that spring day in 1820?  Is there more?

Scot

Maurine, I think the 16 words that have nearly driven me mad from the 1838 account are these:

“…and many other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time.” (JS-History 1: 20)

There is the main part of the vision. There is the depth and the breadth and the width of this grand theophany!

Now, many have cried out in criticism of Joseph that we have four primary source accounts—those accounts that were either written by or dictated by Joseph himself—of  the First Vision, each of which is a little different from the other, and five secondary source accounts—those accounts given by contemporaries of the Prophet Joseph, who heard him talk about it and wrote it down.

I say, “Oh! I wish we had five or ten more accounts of the First Vision! I’m hungry to learn everything I can about this most important event since the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I hope with all my heart that someday other accounts will come forth from people’s attics, from antique letters from a paper tucked into an old family Bible. I would be thrilled to learn more.

Maurine

As we said at the beginning of the podcast, Scot, Joseph was to become the witness of Jesus Christ for the whole world in this last dispensation. He saw Him, he saw Heavenly Father, and Joseph boldly testified of this for all the world to hear.  And I, too, know that there is so much more Joseph didn’t share about the First Vision.  Yet, we do see a pattern from the great heads of dispensations that they are shown in vision the history of the world from the beginning to the ending thereof. They are shown worlds without end. They are shown every inhabitant of the earth who has lived, is living or will ever live upon the earth. They are shown the great plan of salvation, including the Grand Council in heaven. They are show the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  And they are shown much, much more!  Do you think Joseph was shown less than the other heads of dispensations?  We don’t know, of course, but the pattern is clear.  And can you see why it is so important, then, that we have our witness and testimony of the Prophet Joseph?

Scot

One of our favorite moments in teaching institute class was getting to the First Vision and then seeing what some of the things are that we learn from this experience of the Prophet Joseph.  As students raised their hands, it was surprising that there answers went on and on and filled the blackboard. Let’s review some of those things now. Oh, before we do, I am going to run a beautiful photo essay about the Sacred Grove and the First Vision this week on Meridian Magazine.  You can come and see it starting on Monday, at: latterdaysaintmag.com I’ll show you some angles and scenes you will have never seen before.

Okay, so we learn that God our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ hear us when we pray and they answer our prayers!

Maurine

We learn that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are separate and distinct beings with glorified and perfect bodies of flesh and bones.

Scot

We learn that they are not only glorious beyond description, but they exactly resemble each other in features and likeness.

Maurine

We know of the reality of Satan.  We know that he is an actual being and that he can exercise great negative and destructive power and that he will stop at nothing to destroy the work of God.

Scot

We learn that God’s power is greater than that of Satan. We see that when that pillar of light came, Joseph was immediately freed from that destructive force and was filled with joy.

Maurine

We learn that we are to Hear Him! That we are to listen to the words of Jesus Christ and heed them in every particular.

Scot

We know that none of the churches then on the earth was true and that their creeds were false.

Maurine

We know that Joseph Smith was the chosen instrument to bring back the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ back to the earth in these latter days.

Scot

We know that many angels attended Joseph in the vision. (1835 Account)

Maurine

We know that the promise of James is true, that we can ask of God our questions and he will give liberally in response.

Scot

We know that we can be forgiven of our sins.  That is very comforting.

Maurine

We know that God still speaks in our day—that His voice did not end at the end of the Bible.

Scot

We learn that simple faith is productive, that it really works.

Maurine

And with that we learn that at the darkest moment, when it seems like all is lost or we are lost, there is that pillar of light that comes and saves us.

Scot

Of course, there are numerous other lessons but I can’t help but conclude with my testimony of Joseph Smith and the First Vision and a pattern that President Nelson teaches us.

I have been going to the Sacred Grove since 1969—more than 50 years. I have carefully studied all the accounts, I have prayed and studied and pondered and fasted about the First Vision. I have read everything I can about Joseph Smith since I was a teenager.  I have my own witness that Joseph saw God the Eternal Father and His Son Jesus Christ and that he, Joseph, was called to be the mighty head of the dispensation of the fulness of times.  This I absolutely know to be true. I will continue to teach and testify of the Prophet Joseph all my days.  Joseph said: “I am going to inquire after God, for I want you all to know Him, and to be familiar with Him. … You will then know that I am His servant; for I speak as one having authority.” (History of the Church 6:305.)

Maurine

Who was the God that Joseph found in that Sacred Grove? One who would refresh and renew and revitalize the failing hearts of so many. It was the God of love. In fact Joseph said, “My soul was filled with love, and for many days I could rejoice with great joy.” (1832 account)

I love your love for the Prophet Joseph—in fact, I have to tell you listeners that when Scot asked me to marry him, he took me to Temple Square and he was leaning against the statue of Joseph Smith and I was leaning against Hyrum Smith. This was truth in advertising.

President Russell M. Nelson taught:

“Brothers and sisters, how can we become the men and women—the Christlike servants—the Lord needs us to be? How can we find answers to questions that perplex us? If Joseph Smith’s transcendent experience in the Sacred Grove teaches us anything, it is that the heavens are open and that God speaks to His children.

“The Prophet Joseph Smith set a pattern for us to follow in resolving our questions. Drawn to the promise of James that if we lack wisdom we may ask of God, the boy Joseph took his question directly to Heavenly Father. He sought personal revelation, and his seeking opened this last dispensation.

Scot

President Nelson continues, “In like manner, what will your seeking open for you? What wisdom do you lack? What do you feel an urgent need to know or understand? Follow the example of the Prophet Joseph. Find a quiet place where you can regularly go. Humble yourself before God. Pour out your heart to your Heavenly Father. Turn to Him for answers and for comfort.

Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses—yes, the very longings of your heart. And then listen! Write the thoughts that come to your mind. Record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take. As you repeat this process day after day, month after month, year after year, you will “grow into the principle of revelation.”

“Does God really want to speak to you? Yes!” (Nelson, Russell M., Revelation for the Church, Revelation for our Lives, General Conference, April 2018)

Maurine

That’s all for today. Oh! How we have loved being with you.  Thanks for listening and please share the podcast with your family and friends. Invite them to go to: latterdaysaintmag.com/podcast that’s latterdaysaintmag.com/podcast. You can also find the transcripts there. Next week the podcast will cover Doctrine and Covenants, Section 2 and Joseph Smith History 1, verses 27-65 and lesson is entitled: “The Hearts of the Children Shall Turn to Their Fathers”

As always, thanks to Paul Cardall for the beautiful music that accompanies this podcast and thanks to our producer, Michaela Proctor Hutchins.  Have a wonderful week and see you next time.

Come Follow Me Podcast #45: “I Speak unto You as if Ye were Present”, Mormon 7-9

Maurine 

As we start our studies today on Mormon 7-9, Moroni has taken over the record from his father and is in a tragic position. He has seen his culture destroyed and he is the last survivor of what was once a thriving world. Could anything be sadder than this?

Scot

Hello, we are Scot and Maurine Proctor and this is Meridian Magazine’s Come Follow Me podcast, where today we study a lesson called “I Speak unto You as if Ye were Present.”

For many years now at Christmas time, I have created a wall calendar featuring my photography of significant spiritual sites associated with the Come Follow Me lessons. This year I have created one of my favorite calendars yet. It all started one early morning on the Smith family farm just outside of Palmyra, New York. How can you capture photos that begin to tell the story of all that happened on that farm where Joseph grew up? How can you use your camera to paint sacred space in a grove, or a night when Moroni visited three times? To take stunning photos, you have to be given special weather conditions, and this particular morning, we were up before sunrise, and saw a low-lying fog. We knew that when the sun rose, there would be minutes where we could capture this look of a landscape lit and aglow with morning light. I ran from place to place and captured the best light show I’ve ever seen at the Smith farm. I have been taking photos for 50 years of this farm, and these are my best.

So, for Christmas, share this Church History Come Follow Me calendar. Each spread is beautiful. It features the Come Follow Me reading materials for the week, other significant days, and squares big enough to write your own upcoming events. You can get this calendar at latterdaysaintmag.com/2025, that’s latterdaysaintmag.com/2025.

Some people are giving it to their ministering sisters and brothers. Some to their family members. Some to their neighbors as a Christmas remembrance. At $15 you couldn’t find a less expensive, but more meaningful gift.

Now, as Moroni takes over his father’s record and we begin reading in Mormon 7, it is about 400 AD , and this is 15 years after the battles at Cumorah. Those Nephites who had survived these wars had escaped to the south , but the Lamanites were determined to track them down and kill every one of them. Moroni’s plight could not have been more difficult. He was in constant danger and he was utterly alone. He describes it:

3 And my father also was killed by them, and I even ^aremain ^balone to write the sad tale of the destruction of my people. But behold, they are gone, and I fulfil the commandment of my father. And whether they will slay me, I know not.

4 Therefore I will write and ^ahide up the records in the earth; and whither I go it mattereth not.

5 Behold, my father hath made ^athis record, and he hath written the intent thereof. And behold, I would write it also if I had room upon the ^bplates, but I have not; and ore I have none, for I am alone. My father hath been slain in battle, and all my kinsfolk, and I have not friends nor whither to go; and ^chow long the Lord will suffer that I may live I know not (Mormon 8)

Scot

Loneliness is one of the diseases of our time, but this is something on a different scale. There are last survivors of a community, a nation, even an animal species that is about to go extinct and there is something so shattering about it. There were the last of certain Indian tribes that no longer exist in the United States like the book The Last of the Mohicans.

We can scarcely imagine what Moroni would have seen as the last survivor of his people. Carnage. Bloodshed. The loss of his family. Certainly his mission to protect the record that would become the Book of Mormon must have been one of the most difficult of any, and no one would have been expected to undertake such a difficult mission if the Book of Mormon were not so important to save a people and prepare them for the second coming of the Savior.

Maurine

What fascinates me is that in Mormon 7,  where Moroni begins recording, his first message is to the Lamanites, whom he calls “a ^aremnant of the seed of Jacob; therefore ye are numbered among the people of the first covenant”. He is giving them all the instructions they need to come unto Christ and return to the covenant again. When you consider all the destruction that he has seen at the hands of the Lamanites, when you consider that the Lamanites have murdered all his kin including his beloved father, what a magnificent soul Moroni has to seek to bring them covenant blessings.

If Moroni were a natural man instead of a son of God, he would be thinking about revenge . He would be boiling in anger and hatred, but instead he is addressing a message of love to the Lamanites.  Remember that old movie, Princess Bride, where one of the characters always said my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father . Prepare to die.’ And he went around with sword in hand hoping to kill his father’s murderer. I only bring that up to showcase the contrast between how a Prophet of God acts and what the world teaches us.

Scot

The Savior taught in his Sermon on the Mount.

43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt ^alove thy ^bneighbour, and hate thine enemy.

44 But I say unto you, ^aLove your ^benemies, ^cbless them that ^dcurse you, do ^egood to them that ^fhate you, and ^gpray for them which despitefully use you, and ^hpersecute you (Matthew 5).

Surely this is one of the litmus tests of Christianity, for it is not sufficient to love those who love you or who are like you or who agree with you politically or in any other way. We are to love those who are our enemies–that means even if they are threatening to us or our point of view or look entirely different than we do. They may not only be our enemies but also people we just consider to be others, the ones we are indifferent to. What an important lesson Moroni teaches us in his care for the Lamanites and the covenant

Maurine

And it is not just Moroni who sought to bring covenant blessings to the Lamanites who were the sworn enemies of the Nephites. We see that this was a concern for other prophets in the Book of Mormon.

Enos, for example wrote of his prayer.

15 Wherefore, I knowing that the Lord God was able to ^apreserve our records, I cried unto him continually, for he had said unto me: Whatsoever thing ye shall ask in faith, believing that ye shall receive in the name of Christ, ye shall receive it.

16 And I had faith, and I did cry unto God that he would ^apreserve the ^brecords; and he covenanted with me that he would ^cbring ^dthem forth unto the Lamanites in his own due time (Enos 1).

Moroni, in preserving these records in part for the Lamanites, is an answer to the Book of Mormon prophet’s prayers, including Enos.

Scot

This reminds me of a woman we spoke to when we went to the Helsinki, Finland temple dedication. She had been a child in Vyborg which at the time was part of Finland, but it is in an area between Russia and Finland that had long been contested.  When she was little, the Russians attacked and her mother had to  grab her  small children, holding a baby, and run through the woods to escape, with soldiers, bent on destroying them, not far behind. They never were able to return to their beautiful farm and from then forward lived in various other towns in Finland feeling like wanderers far from home.

What was so remarkable about her story, is that just as the Finnish temple was to open , she was diligently studying Russian, because it was her dearest hope to help the Russian Saints receive their temple work and make sacred covenants.  She particularly loved helping the Russian Saints and felt a special spirit about it . How easy it would have been for her to carry resentment and even hatred for all she had lost, but she had no trace of that. Indeed she loved them. So it is still possible and also required to love our enemies today.

Maurine

Moroni in his lonely plight was also carrying forth one of the purposes of the Book of Mormon that we learn on the title page. This book is not only to bring people to Christ but is specifically to the Lamanites as well as the Jew and Gentile, “which is to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever.”

Now let’s go back to that phrase that the ^aremnant of the seed of Jacob…are numbered among the people of the first covenant”. Moroni says in Mormon 9 “I will show unto you a God of ^amiracles, even the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob (Mormon 9:11).

Scot

Truman Madsen said, “There is a Biblical and Talmudic admonition never to speak of God as ”the God of Abraham , Isaac , and Jacob,” but rather as the “God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” thus to underline that each patriarch and matriarch came directly to God . Each found him in the same way and at the same sacrificial cost.”

Moroni tells us what that sacrifice entails in Mormon 7:

3 Know ye that ye must come unto repentance, or ye cannot be saved.

Maurine

Note how our prophet, President Russell M. Nelson has asked us to repent, which gives us more access to the saving, protective, delivering power of the covenant. He said, “The word for repentance in the Greek New Testament is metaneo. The prefix meta means ‘change.’ The suffix noeo Is related to Greek words that mean mind, knowledge, spirit, and breath.

“Thus, when Jesus asks you and me to repent , he is inviting us to change our ‘mind’, our ‘knowledge’, our ‘spirit’–even the way we breathe.” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2019/04/36nelson?lang=eng

Scot

Moroni continues:

4 Know ye that ye must lay down your weapons of war, and delight no more in the shedding of blood, and take them not again, save it be that God shall ^acommand you.

Now, we may think that weapons of war our axes, swords and scimitars , but in fact all those attitudes we carry that divide us from others in enmity are our weapons, and we must also lay them down as part of our covenant responsibilities.

Maurine

5 Know ye that ye must come to the ^aknowledge of your fathers, and repent of all your sins and iniquities, and ^bbelieve in Jesus Christ, that he is the Son of God, and that he was slain by the Jews, and by the power of the Father he hath risen again, whereby he hath gained the ^cvictory over the grave; and also in him is the sting of death swallowed up (Mormon 7)

So Moroni is telling them what they must know to be part of the covenant, but he also points out what they have forgotten–and this could not be more critical. They have forgotten who they are. They have forgotten their fathers, their identity, and their foundation.

This is why Moroni begins here: “Know ye that ye are of the ^ahouse of Israel.”

To lose yourself is to lose your destiny. Isn’t it ironic that life should have this affect upon us? We have become amnesiac and have forgotten who we are. Satan loves to help us forget.

Scot

As we came to earth, leaving our premortal home, there is no question that the privileges and responsibilities of having the covenant was key to our identity, but here we are distracted , caught up in the thick of thin things and we just forget. We think our career or our neighborhood or our social club is our identity . These are all passing things, but the covenant is with us forever.

President Nelson told us in this last conference, “The very name of Israel refers to a person who is willing to let God prevail in his or her life. That concept stirs my soul!

“The word willing is crucial to this interpretation of Israel. We all have our agency. We can choose to be of Israel or not . We can choose to let God prevail in our lives, or not we can choose to let God be the most powerful influence in our lives, or not.

Maurine

He continued, “As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or “latter-day covenant Israel,” we have been charged to assist the Lord with this pivotal work.“ (Russell M. Nelson, “Let God Prevail”.

Don’t you love that term “latter day covenant Israel?” It seems to perfectly describe our identity as we are in a covenant with the Lord and have taken upon ourselves His name. We also know that our sacred responsibility before the Second Coming of the Savior is to gather Israel on both sides of the veil, and we are to use the very instrument that Moroni was protecting to do that– the Book of Mormon.

It is important to note that every book of scripture we have is centered on Jesus Christ and the covenant. We have the Old Testament and the New Testament, but another word for testament is covenant. They could be called the old covenant and the new covenant.

Scot

One writer said, “The covenant is a bond, an alliance, an agreement, a compact, a treaty, a pact, a contract. Its essential idea is union between God and man. God offers man partnership with himself. It is a union and partnership based on a binding legal contract. While the covenant is a fellowship between God and man, it is a fellowship with a legal basis.”

It is like testifying in court.

Maurine

The Doctrine and Covenants is clearly about covenants and, as we have said today, the purpose of the Book of Mormon is to gather Israel to participate in the covenant

Scot

Now the last battle at Cumorah took place in AD 385 and the last book of Moroni is written in AD 421, which means Moroni was wandering for some 36 years. Undoubtedly, he was shown exactly the place he should bury the sacred record, so that some 1400 years later it would be proximate to the place Joseph Smith would live. He describes the times as “one continual round of murder and bloodshed; and no one knoweth the end of the war”. The original purpose of the war seemed to be to decimate the Nephites, but now that they’re gone, it is Lamanites against Lamanites, and Lamanites against the robbers. What is so clearly demonstrated is that the final battle between the Nephites and Lamanites did not accomplish anything. The Lamanites saw their enemies, the Nephites, destroyed but the war goes on, futilely and uselessly. It seems to have become nothing but the bloodlust of a people without God.

Maurine

Moroni, of course, was not carrying all the sacred records and artifacts of the Nephites with him during his journeys. This would have involved several wagonloads and been impossible.  He is, however, carrying some sacred things that you may not have known he had.

We have interesting artists conceptions of the box that Joseph Smith was led to on the west side of the Hill Cumorah not far from the top. Some show a very small, rectangular opening, just large enough for the gold plates to fit, but is that accurate? What was in the box? More to the point what is it the Moroni had put in the box and therefore had carried with him?  We know the answer to this because we know what the three witnesses were shown them by the Angel Moroni.

Scot

Let’s make a list:

1 The Gold Plates.

2 The Breastplate. This breastplate came from the Jaredites, which is something that you fasten onto your chest and hook in the back with some sort of straps It also has some kind of attachment, and what is that for?

3 Bows. What are these bows? They are attached to the breastplate, and apparently, they swing across to come together. What do they hold?

4 The Urim and Thummim.

5 The Liahona. They were sometimes referred to as the sacred directors.

Maurine

Also in the box:

6 The Plates of Brass. They were in the box. Isn’t that exciting.

7 The Sword of Laban. Now, that kind of throws us off because we always see that box in artists’ conceptions (as mentioned above) where the plates fit perfectly in that little rectangular hole. No, there is the sword of Laban in there. So that’s a pretty good-sized box.

In fact, the early Brethren, including David Whitmer specifically, called it ‘a casket.’ “Three times [David Whitmer] has been at the Hill Cumorah and seen the casket that contained the tablets and seerstone. Eventually the casket has been washed down to the foot of the hill, but it was to be seen when he last visited the historic place.”

Scot

There’s more:

8 The rod of Aaron. We know very little about the rod of Aaron. But as I have studied this, it was a rod that came up and on the end of that rod you could place a seer stone, and it was another way of holding a stone so you could see the things of God (as far as I understand). All these things were shown to the Three Witnesses.

So we know that Moroni at least had these items with him but we know much less about where he went.

Dr. John L. Lund, in his book “Mesoamerica and the Book of Mormon Is this the Place?” has collected some interesting accounts of brethren who heard Joseph Smith talk about the Saints’ trek to the Rocky Mountains and Moroni’s trek to upstate New York to bury the gold plates.

Maurine

Dr. Lund wrote: “Two maps showing Moroni’s travels from Central America to Palmyra, New York were produced by two contemporaries of the prophet who said that their information came from Joseph Smith himself. Patriarch Wm. McBride and Brother Andrew M. Hamilton, both of whom settled in the Richfield, Utah area credited Joseph Smith with teaching them…that Moroni had dedicated several temple sites during his long journey.   Moroni carried with him what Joseph Smith referred to as the ‘other things’ which were found buried with the gold plates.”

Scot

Dr. Lund said, “The temple sites credited to Moroni’s dedications are the St. George and Manti, Utah temples, plus Nauvoo, Independence and Kirtland, and, according to Patriarch McBride, ‘others we know not of yet.’  McBride wrote that Joseph ‘marked with his cane in the sand the track the Saints would take to the Rocky Mountains’ and also drew a map of Moroni’s travels.”

Maurine

1. Donl Peterson, professor emeritus of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University wrote:

At a conference held in Ephraim, Sanpete County, June 25th, 1875, nearly all the speakers expressed their feelings to have a temple built in Sanpete County, and gave their views as to what point and where to build it,..  At 4 p.m. that day President Brigham Young said: “The Temple should be build on Manti stone quarry.” Early on the morning of April 25, 1877, President Brigham Young asked Brother Warren S. Snow to go with him to the Temple hill. Brother Snow says: ‘We two were alone: President Young took me to the spot where the Temple was to stand; we went to the southeast corner, and President Young said: “Here is the spot where the prophet Moroni stood and dedicated this piece of land for a Temple site, and that is the reason why the location is made here, and we can’t move it from this spot; and if you and I are the only persons that come here at high noon today, we will dedicate this ground.’” http://www.bmaf.org/articles/joseph_rocky_mountains__christensen

Now these original sources could be stronger and some dismiss them, but it is interesting that these records exist among us.

Scot

Moroni gives us a witness of who he is and the mission that he has been entrusted with. “I am the son of Mormon, and my father was a ^adescendant of Nephi. And I am the same who ^ahideth up this record unto the Lord” (Mormon 8:13) He wants there to be no question about the provenance of this book. If part of the covenant is to remember your fathers, Moroni is living that commandment. He is remembering his father, Mormon, by carrying out his command to protect the plates and bury them for a future generation. This is both devotion to his earthly father as well as his Heavenly Father.

Though the plates are of a precious metal Moroni also tells us “The plates thereof are of no worth, because of the commandment of the Lord. For he truly saith that no one shall have them ^bto get gain; but the record thereof is of ^cgreat worth; and whoso shall bring it to light, him will the Lord bless.”

Maurine

As we know, Joseph Smith made five trips to the Hill Cumorah in order to obtain the plates, but was not successful until the last time. On his second visit on 22 September, 1824, he dislodged the stone lid and as he took up the plates, it crossed his mind that there might be something else of material worth in the box, so he laid the plates down to check. This seems quite natural in some ways because the Smiths were impoverished and had to work hard for their living. However, this was contrary to what he had been told. Joseph had been instructed in a former revelation, according to his mother’s account, “not to lay the plates down, or put them for a moment out of his hands, until he got into the house and deposited them in a chest or trunk, having a good lock and key.” But “contrary to this he had laid them down with the view of securing some fancied or imaginary treasure that remained.” Anything in this box, but particularly the plates, as we learn in Mormon 8 were not for gain. He was not able to obtain the plates that year.

Scot

The record was of great worth, inestimable worth And the Lord would bless whoso should bring it to light

“For none can have power to bring it to light save it be given him of God; for God wills that it shall be done with an ^aeye single to his glory, or the welfare of the ancient and long dispersed covenant people of the Lord”(Mormon 8:15), Moroni tells us. “ It shall be ^bbrought out of darkness unto light…by the power of God (Mormon 8:16).

Do you think as Moroni buried those plates that he wondered what might become of them?

Maurine

Of course not. This is what Moroni absolutely knew:

22 For the eternal ^apurposes of the Lord shall roll on, until all his promises shall be fulfilled (Mormon 8).

Those who had come before and kept this record had prayed in behalf of their brethren, and their faith was so mighty that ”in his name they could remove mountains and in his name could they cause the earth to shake, and by the power of his word did they cause prisons to tumble to the earth; yeah, even the fiery furnace could not harm them, comment either wild beast or poisonous serpents, because of the power of his word” (Mormon 8:24)

Scot

25 And behold, their ^aprayers were also in behalf of him that the Lord should suffer to bring these things forth.

26 And no one need say they shall not come, for they surely shall, for the Lord hath spoken it (Mormon 8:24)

God cannot be stopped in his course. He is all powerful and all knowledgeable and unchanging , and Moroni could know that his sacrifice and love in guarding these plates and burying them up for another day would not be in vain.

Maurine

Don’t you love this immovable and firm foundation upon whom our universe is built? It is God that we can completely count on. If he says it will be, it will be. If he says it is true, it is true.

We learn in the first section of the Doctrine and Covenants:

38 What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my ^aword shall not pass away, but shall all be ^bfulfilled, whether by mine own ^cvoice or by the ^dvoice of my ^eservants, it is the ^fsame.

Scot

As mortals we live in a world that is unpredictable. Things change. Political administrations change. The philosophes of men cannot be counted on. What’s trending on social media today may be out of favor tomorrow. The popular idea of yesterday looks quaint a few years later. Yesterday’s high styles look ridiculous. Even our own bodies are not the same one day to the next.  How confusing it all is! Where can you stand on really solid ground?

We are blessed to know that in the heavens there are no administrative changes.  Commandments are not revised nor rewritten. God’s personality and presence is not erratic, fickle, or changeable.

Maurine

Once, reading these verses, I was so overcome with gratitude that beyond this world that feels like a rollercoaster that sometimes plunges you into darkness, there stands our Lord who is an unshakable source of light and love.

I often pray in gratitude: thank thee for being there, unchanging and unchangeable. Thank thee that thy love is sure and that thy word cannot be moved from its course.  When I just thank him for being at the foundation of all things a steadying force , I have some of my sweetest prayers.

Scot

We are told in Mormon 9:

9 For do we not read that God is the ^asame ^byesterday, today, and forever, and in him there is no ^cvariableness neither shadow of changing?

10 And now, if ye have imagined up unto yourselves a god who doth vary, and in whom there is shadow of changing, then have ye imagined up unto yourselves a god who is not a God of miracles.

11 But behold, I will show unto you a God of ^amiracles, even the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; and it is that same ^bGod who created the heavens and the earth, and all things that in them are.

Maurine

15 And now, O all ye that have imagined up unto yourselves a god who can do ^ano miracles, I would ask of you, have all these things passed, of which I have spoken? Has the end come yet? Behold I say unto you, Nay; and God has not ceased to be a God of miracles.

16 Behold, are not the things that God hath wrought marvelous in our eyes? Yea, and who can comprehend the marvelous ^aworks of God?

If God did miracles in the past, of course He does them today, otherwise he would be a changing God. If He parted the Red Sea in the past of course he could do it today. If He healed the lame and the sick and the blind yesterday, of course He can do it today . It all depends on our faithfulness.

Scot

If we have eyes to see, we will see those miracles in our own life.  They may look quiet and unobtrusive to those who cannot hear or see, but for faithful covenant keepers, Red Seas part and mountains move in our lives often. These may be mountains of discouragement or opposition . There may be problems that look too big to solve. They may be seas we cannot cross to find our own way home, but miracles happen and we are blessed when we can see them.

Maurine

Here’s a small one from our lives. We were taking photographs for a book on the Book of Mormon and had to travel to the best candidate for Nephi’s Bountiful where he had built the ship in the country of Oman. Warren Aston had found this place on the Arabian Sea that met all the criteria that Nephi gives us in the Book of Mormon for where his ship was built. Warren had written a paper on it for an organization called FARMS, that included a small hand-drawn map of its location on the border of Oman and Yemen.  It was in a place only accessed by dirt roads and well off the beaten path. We were sure we would have a hard time finding it with only the rough map that we had.

Scot

Before we left Cairo , we had a special prayer that we would be able to get a map that would get us to this location. We knew, of course, that there would be no map that said Nephi’s Bountiful on it, But we needed a map that would show us the surroundings and give us some small sense of how to get to this obscure beach that had no direct roads in . So our prayers we’re very intent that we could find a map.

When we arrived in our hotel in Oman , we went to a car rental desk and asked for a map of the country. We were given a tourist map that showed only about five or six main roads in the country and also some hand drawn pictures of wildlife.

Maurine

Of course, this map would not be helpful to get us to this most obscure spot down a series of dirt roads at the other end of the country.  We knew that we had prayed for a good map and this was not the answer, and so we asked again. ”Do you have any other more detailed map of the country?” Suddenly the man who was helping us seemed to get an idea, and he put his finger across his lips as if to be quiet, saying shhh. “I do have another map, but it is a secret military map and you cannot tell anyone you have it.”  He reached into a desk door and pulled out this map that was only of the region we needed to go to. The map spelled out the area where we were heading in great detail, including giving us the contours of the mountains that lead down to the sea.

It was an invaluable map, exactly what we needed to travel to Nephi’s Bountiful. It was a prayer answered.

Scot

Was that a miracle? No question. What are the chances that we would end up in a hotel that would have that map and that the man behind the desk would be so willing to give it to us? We see miracles as part of our lives as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Our lives are full of them.

Moroni knew that this sacred record that he hid up in the earth would come forth and he knew who the record was for. It was for us, a people living in a time when Satan would be raging on the earth. He says, “But behold, Jesus Christ hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing (Mormon 8:35).

Maurine

This book could not be more pointed and directed at us. It is about a people preparing for the coming of the Lord. It is about a people who are tempted by materialism and disbelief. It is about a people who are proud and don’t want to be taught. It is about the people who are blessed when they keep their covenants no matter how difficult the world is around them. It teaches us about the disagreements that lead to tribalism. It teaches us about standing up for freedom, family, and our God when they are threatened. Most of all it teaches us about the sacred mission of Jesus Christ and his atonement and our opportunity to awaken to our privileges.

When I have taught institute classes on the Book of Mormon, I have my students look at this Mormon chapter 8 right at the beginning. I want them to know how relevant every story and every teaching and every event is to this time now.

Scot

Moroni has seen our day, and it is a day when it is said that miracles are done away. It is a day when secret combinations and the works of darkness in high places are powerful. It is a day when the power of God is denied, and, in fact, people have flown from him. It is a day when people and their institutions are lifted up in pride. It is a day of fires and tempests and vapors of smoke in foreign lands. It is a day of wars, rumors of wars, and earthquakes. It is a day of great pollutions upon the face of the earth and murders and deceptions and lusting for power . It is a day when people no longer believe that there is truth, so they say do this or do that and it matters not. (See Mormon 8)

If we want to know how to negotiate all the challenges of our time, there is a simple and profound answer. Read the Book of Mormon. In its pages we will find what we need.

Maurine

That’s all for today. This has been Scot and Maurine Proctor with Meridian Magazines Come Follow Me podcast. Next week we will be studying Ether chapters one through five called “Rend that Veil of Unbelief”. Special thanks to Paul Cardall, who supplied the music for this podcast and to Michaela Proctor Hutchins who is our producer. See you next time.

Understanding Brigham Young’s Spiritual Depth: A Fresh Perspective

To read more from Daniel, visit his blog: Sic Et Non. 

Cover image is a still from the upcoming film Six Days in August.

For many of us, the image of Brigham Young that holds sway in our minds is that of a stern, unsmiling man in his seventies.  But that dour image owes more, perhaps, to the techniques and technology of early portrait photography than to the real character of the man.  Moreover, he wasn’t always seventy-six.  He wasn’t always in poor health and suffering from dental pain.

Brigham Young wasn’t yet thirty-five years of age when he was ordained an apostle, and he was barely forty-four when leadership of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints fell to him as the president and senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve.

By that time, he had established a reputation as a skilled craftsman and valued employee in western New York, where he had married, joined the Restored Church, lovingly tended a wife who was desperately ill with tuberculosis, and then, as a young widower, cared for his motherless children.  With his longtime friend Heber C. Kimball—in whose home his twenty-six year-old wife had drawn her last breath—he had led impoverished refugees out of Missouri and presided over the spectacularly successful mission of the Twelve to England.  There is no question that Brigham Young was a remarkably able leader and organizer.

But he was much more than that.  The late Eugene England, a Stanford-educated student of literature and himself a very fine writer, wrote that “Brigham Young eventually became the most voluminous, wide-ranging, and, in my judgment, the most conceptually powerful orator the Mormon Church has produced, and he is certainly one of the most original, entertaining, and personally expressive of all those who have used the English language.”

Of more fundamental importance, after spending a great deal of time with Brigham Young’s surviving diaries Professor England declared that, “Together with the fairly large number of surviving holograph letters written after 1840, they reveal a man of tenderness, spiritual warmth, and insight, as well as the more commonly known Brigham of great energy and devotion.”

“One of the recurring themes in non-Mormon biographies of President Brigham Young,” wrote the late historian D. Michael Quinn (and, I would add, a common misconception even among Latter-day Saints ), “is the idea that he was not a very “spiritual” man. Such interpretations, however, not only misrepresent his character, they also totally disregard the evidence, both published and unpublished, that refutes such a stereotype.”

The new Interpreter Foundation theatrical film “Six Days in August,” however, will depict a Brigham Young who was a deeply religious seeker even before he encountered Joseph Smith and the Restoration.  For instance, although probably few today are aware of it, he spoke in tongues on more than one occasion.

Something that the film will not show, since its story extends only into August 1844, is Brother Brigham’s familiarity with the world beyond the veil.  But this is an important facet of his character.

Brent L. Top, now retired as a professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University, where he also served as the dean of Religious Education, has written, “I am convinced, as are some other scholars, that Brigham Young had near-death experiences, one of which happened right before the Saints entered the Salt Lake Valley in July of 1847. That may be one of the reasons he talked so much about the spirit world.”

“I can say with regard to parting with our friends, and going ourselves,” Brother Brigham remarked, “that I have been near enough to understand eternity so that I have had to exercise a great deal more faith to desire to live than I ever exercised in my whole life to live. The brightness and glory of the next apartment is inexpressible. It is not encumbered with this clog of dirt we are carrying around here so that when we advance in years we have to be stubbing along and to be careful lest we fall down. . . . But yonder, how different! . . .

“Here, we are continually troubled with ills and ailments of various kinds, . . . but in the spirit world we are free from all this and enjoy life, glory and intelligence.”

On another occasion, he told his audience, “I would like to say to you, my friends and brethren, if we could see things as they are, and as we shall see and understand them, this dark shadow and valley is so trifling that we shall turn round and look about upon it and think, when we have crossed it, why this is the greatest advantage of my whole existence, for I have passed from a state of sorrow, grief, mourning, woe, misery, pain, anguish and disappointment into a state of existence, where I can enjoy life to the fullest extent as far as that can be done without a body.

“My spirit is set free, I thirst no more, I want to sleep no more, I hunger no more, I tire no more, I run, I walk, I labor, I go, I come, I do this, I do that, whatever is required of me, nothing like pain or weariness, I am full of life, full of vigor, and I enjoy the presence of my heavenly Father, by the power of his Spirit. I want to say to my friends, if you will live your religion, live so as to be full of the faith of God, that the light of eternity will shine upon you, you can see and understand these things for yourselves.”

“We have more friends behind the veil,” he taught, “than on this side, and they will hail us more joyfully than you were ever welcomed by your parents and friends in this world; and you will rejoice more when you meet them than you ever rejoiced to see a friend in this life; and then we shall go on from step to step, from rejoicing to rejoicing, and from one intelligence and power to another, our happiness becoming more and more exquisite and sensible as we proceed in the words and powers of life.”

The film “Six Days in August” will also illustrate how the famously successful and “practical” Brigham Young put spiritual things first in his life—things that, to a non-believer, must surely seem transparently impractical distractions from urgent this-worldly needs.  For instance, Brigham and his colleagues in the Twelve were deeply committed to Joseph Smith’s emphasis, during the last years of his ministry, on the completion of the Nauvoo Temple.  At the same time, in seeming contradiction to that, they were just as committed to planning the removal of the Saints to beyond the Rocky Mountains.  (In this, they differed from the priorities of most of those who failed to accept their leadership, including Sidney Rigdon and those who eventually coalesced to form the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, now known as the Community of Christ.  Most early dissenting groups, to a greater or lesser degree, disapproved of the teachings and practices of Joseph Smith’s Nauvoo.)

A practical man, yes.  A highly successful man in terms of this world.  But Brigham Young and the apostles devoted many hours, well into the night, at the end of their time in Nauvoo to something with little if any apparent mundane practical value:  They performed the ordinances of the temple endowment for hundreds of Latter-day Saints who did not want to leave Nauvoo without them.  These Saints yearned to receive those ordinances before their departure for the perilous trek beyond the western frontier and over the Rocky Mountains.  Those who watch “Six Days in August” will see this.  And, just a few days after the first pioneer company of Latter-day Saints entered the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, President Young struck the ground with his walking stick and proclaimed, “Here we will build the temple of our God.”

“What,” asked Joseph Smith, “was the object of gathering the Jews, or the people of God in any age of the world? . . . The main object was to build unto the Lord a house whereby He could reveal unto his people the ordinances of his house and the glories of his kingdom, and teach the people the way of salvation; for there are certain ordinances and principles that, when they are taught and practiced, must be done in a place or house built for that purpose.”

Brigham Young understood this.  LaJean Purcell Carruth, an expert in nineteenth-century shorthand who has devoted innumerable hours to reconstructing the actual words of Brigham Young from surviving documents—words that have sometimes been inaccurately represented—offers an insightful perspective on the second president of the Church.  She has, she says, come to see the term “American Moses,” which is often applied Brigham as an honorific and a tribute, as an unfortunate misrepresentation.  Moses, she points out, led a single large group of rebellious people to political freedom. But he never entered the promised land, never founded a city, and could not establish the gospel among them.  The word “Zion,” she notes, was not in his vocabulary.  By contrast, Brigham Young often compared his people to the people of Enoch.  In fact, he aspired to be not an American Moses but an American Enoch.  It was his goal, insofar as he could, to establish Zion.   And he put his entire heart, mind, and will into that effort.

As his descendant and biographer Elder S. Dilworth Young wrote, “It is quite evident that after 1832 Brigham Young was moved by one motive: Determination to obey the will of God as spoken thru the Prophet, and to support that Prophet with all that he possessed of time, talent, and means.[1]

**

The official website of “Six Days in August” is located at https://witnessesfilm.com.  Those who are interested can watch the film trailer there, and they can also request that the movie be screened in a theater near them.  The film’s Facebook page offers scenes from the movie and interviews with its actors and creators and is frequently refreshed with new material:  https://www.facebook.com/people/Six-Days-in-August-Film/100078782109737/.

For Brigham Young’s comments on the spirit world, see “Discourses of Brigham Young,” 379-380 and “Teachings of Brigham Young,” chapter 38.

I’ve enormously enjoyed the admiring portraits of President Young given in Eugene England, “Brother Brigham” (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980), and Hugh Nibley, “Brother Brigham Challenges the Saints” (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1994).  I also like S. Dilworth Young, ““Here is Brigham . . .” Brigham Young . . . the years to 1844” (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1964.

Of very great importance is Ronald K. Esplin, “Joseph, Brigham and the Twelve: A Succession of Continuity,” “BYU Studies” 21/3 (1981): 301-341.  Along the same lines, I heartily recommend the remarks given by Prof. Gerrit Dirkmaat at the Interpreter Foundation’s eleventh birthday party in August 2023.  A 48-minute video of Prof. Dirkmaat’s remarks is available here:  “‘Sweeter Than Honey’: Brigham Young’s Devotion to Joseph Smith’s Teachings After the Martyrdom.”

[1] S. Dilworth Young, “Here is Brigham . . .” Brigham Young . . . the years to 1844 (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1964), Introduction.

Hearing Wilford Woodruff’s Testimony in His Own Voice

Cover image via ChurchofJesusChrist.org.

Bound within the January 1972 issue of the youth magazine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, then called “The New Era,” was a flexible plastic record that could be played on a phonograph.  It contained a testimony from President Wilford Woodruff, recorded by him roughly a year and a half before his death in 1898 at the age of ninety-one.

I was about to put in my mission papers at the time, and I still remember how thrilling it was to see that little plastic record and to listen to it.  I was simply stunned to hear the voice of a man who, as an adult—and, in fact, as an ordained apostle—had known the Prophet Joseph Smith personally and well.  I still find that amazing.  But I’ve also come to appreciate, much more than I did as a teenager, the actual content of what President Woodruff had to say.  It’s remarkable and very important.  Here are his words:

“I bear my testimony that in the early spring of 1844, in Nauvoo, the Prophet Joseph Smith called the Twelve Apostles together and he delivered unto them the ordinances of the church and kingdom of God; and all the keys and powers that God had bestowed upon him, he sealed upon our heads, and he told us that we must round up our shoulders and bear off this kingdom, or we would be damned. I am the only man now living in the flesh who heard that testimony from his mouth, and I know that it was true by the power of God manifest to him. At that meeting he stood on his feet for about three hours and taught us the things of the kingdom. His face was as clear as amber, and he was covered with a power that I had never seen in any man in the flesh before.

“I bear testimony that Joseph Smith was the author of the endowments as received by the Latter-day Saints. I received my own endowments under his hands and direction, and I know they are true principles. I not only received my own endowments under his hands, but I bear my testimony that Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards, George A. Smith, John Taylor and other brethren received their endowments under the hands and direction of the Prophet Joseph; and also my wife Phoebe, Bathsheba Smith, Leonora Taylor, Mary Smith and others whose names I cannot recall now.

“The Prophet Joseph laid down his life for the word of God and testimony of Jesus Christ, and he will be crowned as a martyr in the presence of God and the Lamb.

In all his testimonies to us the power of God was visibly manifest with the Prophet Joseph.

“This is my testimony, spoken by myself into a talking machine on this the 19th day of March, 1897, in the 91st year of my age.

“Wilford Woodruff.”

Such a testimony, from a man who was closely associated with Joseph Smith in the leadership of the Church, carries a great deal of weight with me.

So do some of the details of what he had to say.

President Woodruff bore testimony of the “endowments” that he and others had received from Joseph Smith.  This was enormously important to him.  He had, for example, sometimes led ceremonies in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City after it was built in 1855; from 1867 into 1868, he had officiated there every Saturday in both sealings and endowments.

He had presided over the St. George Utah Temple from its dedication in 1877 until 1884. This was not only the first temple to have been dedicated after the migration of the Saints to the Rocky Mountain West but the first in which the ordinances of the endowment were performed for the dead as well as for the living. Under the direction of Brigham Young, he set about to standardize the ceremonies—with the help of John D. T. McAllister, his first counselor and eventually the second president of the temple, he committed the ordinances to writing—and delivered numerous sermons to encourage a broader understanding of temple work.  In February 1877, he received a revelation indicating that church members could act as proxies in the temple not only for their own relatives, but for anyone they could identify by name.

In September 1877, President Woodruff indicated that he had been visited by the departed spirits of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and by others of the American Founding Fathers.  Accordingly, although proxy baptisms for many of the Founding Fathers had been performed previously in Nauvoo and in the Endowment House, vicarious endowments for these men were done in the St. George Temple.

In 1894, under President Woodruff’s direction, the Genealogical Society of Utah was established.  It was the forerunner of the Church’s Family History Department and FamilySearch, the largest genealogical organization in the world.  So, it’s not surprising that, given the chance, he testified of the “endowments.”

President Woodruff’s recollection of the pivotal meeting in which Joseph Smith gave his “final charge” to the Twelve is also interesting:  The Prophet’s face, he testified, “was as clear as amber, and he was covered with a power that I had never seen in any man in the flesh before.”  Many other contemporaries are on record as testifying to the illumination or transparency that would come upon the Prophet while he was receiving revelation.  It’s difficult not to think, in this context, of biblical testimony that Moses’s face shone when he descended from Mt. Sinai with the tablets of the Law (Exodus 34:29-35) and that Christ’s face “did shine as the sun” on the Mount of Transfiguration (Matthew 17:2-3; Luke 9:29-31).

But I want to focus here upon President Woodruff’s vitally important testimony that, in Nauvoo in the early spring of 1844, Joseph Smith called the Twelve Apostles together and bestowed upon them the keys of the Kingdom.  This fact is of pivotal importance in understanding what happened after Joseph and Hyrum Smith were murdered while imprisoned in the jail at Carthage, Illinois.  It is essential for understanding the assumption of Church leadership by the Quorum of the Twelve the following August.

Like the ancient apostles in the time of Jesus, who—so says the New Testament gospels—were repeatedly warned by the Savior that he would soon depart from them, the Twelve in 1844 had been warned of Joseph’s pending departure.  But they weren’t ready to be deprived of the leader who had called their quorum into existence and who had transformed their lives.  His personality was too vivid; his teachings were essential to them; his absence was unthinkable.  And then he was gone.

On 27 June 1844, the day that Joseph and Hyrum were killed, Brigham Young was in Boston.  Without knowing why, he felt himself overcome by a deep and dark depression.  It wasn’t until 16 July, nearly three weeks later, that he received detailed confirmation of the martyrdom.

“The first thing that I thought of,” he remembered later, “was whether Joseph had taken the keys with him from the earth.  Brother Orson Pratt sat at my left; we were both leaning back in our chairs.  Bringing my hand down on my knee, I said, ‘the keys of the Kingdom are right here with the Church’” (Comprehensive History of the Church 4:213)

It is because of those keys, bestowed upon Brigham Young and the Twelve in the early spring of 1844 and transmitted from them down to the apostles of our own day, that we are authorized to build genuine temples to the Most High God in which the ordinances of salvation and exaltation can be administered.  Without those keys, we could not receive our endowments or be sealed to our loved ones.  We could not perform ordinances on behalf of our kindred dead. All those who have died without receiving the fulness of the Gospel, without having received baptism from an authorized officiator, would be in eternal jeopardy.

The medieval Italian Catholic poet Dante Alighieri provides an idea in his Divine Comedy of just what that jeopardy entailed throughout most of Christian history:

Upon entering (fictionally) into the next world, he was astonished by what he saw:  “I should never have believed,” he wrote in his Inferno, “that death could have unmade so many souls.”^[ Strikingly, despite his obvious admiration for Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, the great Islamic philosophers Avicenna and Averroes, and the chivalrous Muslim military hero Saladin, Dante felt obliged to place them all in Hell. Even his deeply-admired guide, companion and “kindly master,” the Roman poet Virgil, was eternally barred from heaven.  Virgil explains the reason to Dante as follows:

“I’d have you know, before you go ahead,
they did not sin; and yet, though they have merits,
that’s not enough, because they lacked baptism,
the portal of the faith that you embrace.
And if they lived before Christianity,
they did not worship God in fitting ways;
and of such spirits I myself am one.
For these defects, and for no other evil,
we now are lost and punished just with this:
we have no hope and yet we live in longing.”  (Inferno 4:33-41)

The importance of the keys of priesthood authority cannot be overstated.  Especially in this great period of temple-building.  It is, therefore, a wonderful thing, and perhaps not coincidental, that we still possess a recording of the voice of Wilford Woodruff testifying to that all-important transmission of authority—“the only man now living in the flesh,” he could say in 1891, who was present when Joseph Smith “called the Twelve Apostles together and . . . delivered unto them the ordinances of the church and kingdom of God; and all the keys and powers that God had bestowed upon him.”

**

Wilford Woodruff will play a prominent role—along with his fellow apostles George A. Smith and Heber C. Kimball—in the forthcoming Interpreter Foundation film Six Days in August (https://witnessesfilm.com).  For dramatic purposes, those three will largely represent the other members of their quorum.  Brigham Young, of course, will be the central focus.

The Wilford Woodruff Papers Foundation is currently spearheading an effort to make the voluminous surviving records relating to President Woodruff publicly available:  https://wilfordwoodruffpapers.org.

The background of the Woodruff recording is given in Richard Neitzel Holzapfel and Stephen H. Smoot, “Wilford Woodruff’s 1897 Testimony,” in Banner of the Gospel: Wilford Woodruff, ed. Alexander L. Baugh and Susan Easton Black (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2010), 327–64.

Ronald K. Esplin’s research on the topic continues, and more is forthcoming, but perhaps the best single treatment thus far, the essential discussion, of Joseph Smith’s conferral of leadership and priesthood keys upon the apostles is Esplin’s article “Joseph, Brigham and the Twelve: A Succession of Continuity,” BYU Studies 21/3 (1981), which is available online at https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol21/iss3/5/.

Members of the Twelve recounted their reception of the keys of priesthood authority from Joseph Smith on multiple occasions.   But Dennison Lott Harris is important as the only independent—that is, the only non-apostolic—witness to the events immediately surrounding Joseph Smith’s “Last Charge” to the Twelve, as the Prophet prepared to “roll the kingdom off [his] shoulders” onto theirs. His story is documented in Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, Emer Harris & Dennison Lott Harris: Owner of the First Copy of the Book of Mormon, Witness of the “Last Charge” of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Eborn Books, 2023).

For some additional thoughts on priesthood authority, see Daniel C. Peterson, “Who Holds the Keys?” Interpreter: A Journal of Latter-day Saint Faith and Scholarship 61 (2024): vii-xx (https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/who-holds-the-keys/).