It was Friday morning, June 28, 1844, and already the summer sun in Illinois was hot. Since 8 o'clock that morning Dr. Willard Richards, Samuel H. Smith, and nine others had plodded along the dusty road between Carthage and Nauvoo, Ill. Moving along the road with the solemn procession were two wagons heaped with bushes to protect their cargo from the blistering heat of the sun.

Laid out on the wagons were the lifeless bodies of Joseph Smith, age 38, over 6 feet tall, and Hyrum his brother, age 44, even larger in stature than Joseph.Wearily, Dr. Richards, and Samuel Smith, brother to the two murdered men, pressed toward Nauvoo. They talked of the events just the day before during which Joseph and Hyrum were gunned down by an armed mob with painted faces. The two victims, along with Dr. Richards and John Taylor were lodged in Carthage Jail, supposedly for their protection, when the mob numbering from 150 to 200 marauders stormed the jail and shot to death their intended victims.

Word of the deaths had reached Nauvoo, headquarters for the Church that had been restored by Joseph Smith. As the wagons and their foot-weary guardians entered the city several thousand citizens greeted the procession with the most solemn lamentations and wailings that ever ascended on high.

The blood-soaked bodies were tenderly removed from the wagons at the Nauvoo Mansion where Dimick B. Huntington, William Marks and William D. Huntington carefully washed the bodies from head to foot. The various wounds were filled with cotton, soaked in camphor, likely the only process available in the frontier America of 1844.

Death masks were impressed on each face, and fine, plain clothing was placed on each body. When these preparations were completed the bodies were viewed that night by the bereaved widows and children of the two men, along with many of their closest associates. Then on Saturday, June 29, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., more than 10,000 Saints viewed the remains of their beloved Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum the Patriarch.

To guard against molestation, coffins filled with sandbags were taken to the cemetery for burial that evening. Later, the remains of the two martyrs were carefully buried in the basement of the Nauvoo House, then under construction.

The enemies of the Church exulted in their murderous deeds and boldly proclaimed that the Church restored by Joseph Smith, and for which he had given his life, would die with him.

But to the surprise of its enemies the Church did not die, nor did the work of Joseph Smith cease with his mortal death. What has transpired in the 153 years since his martyrdom bears eloquent testimony to the eternal nature of the work restored through this singularly remarkable man, Joseph Smith.

The Church restored by Joseph Smith has had dramatic growth in many parts of the world. It has produced an unparalled missionary system and an unmatched welfare program. Its governing system makes available priesthood power and authority from God to all worthy male members, at the same time recognizing the exalted status of women as being equal to men. The Church has an inspired law of health and temporal well-being far ahead of its time. By revelation from God the Church also possesses those saving principles and ordinances that will bring exaltation to mankind.

Because of these, and other reasons, millions of people have become members of the Church. But to each true Latter-day Saint there must ultimately and finally come a conviction that Joseph Smith was a revealer of truth, even a Prophet of God. Each member must have his or her own witness of the Prophet Joseph in order to stand firm in the Church. Each must be convinced that God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ did appear to Joseph Smith and did commission him to re-establish the true Church of Christ upon the face of the earth.

Following the death of Joseph Smith, his successor as prophet and leader of the people was the practical and able Brigham Young. His conviction of Joseph is reflected in these words: "When I first heard him preach, he brought heaven and earth together; and all the priests of the day could not tell me anything correct about heaven, hell, God, angels, or devils; they were as blind as Egyptian darkness. When I saw Joseph Smith, he took heaven, figuratively speaking, and brought it down to earth; and he took the earth, caught it up, and opened up, in plainness and simplicity, the things of God; and that is the beauty of his mission." (Discourses of Brigham Young, 5:332.)

As the years pass since the life and death of Joseph Smith his history will be analyzed, picked at, criticized, challenged, and pored over. But the evidences of the truthfulness of his work will continue to mount. The devotion and commitment of those who accept the restored gospel will continue to be tested. Their faith will be tried, as has been the case with so many in the past. But like Joseph himself millions will live and die faithful to the gospel he restored. As time moves on the stature of Joseph Smith will loom ever larger. No honest person will be able to deny that there is a divine source to the message he taught and an eternal purpose to the work which he began on earth.