Joseph, called of God, presence continues
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In the early evening of June 27, 1844, Willard Richards, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, dispatched sobering news to the saints in Nauvoo: "Joseph and Hyrum are dead. . . . The job was done in an instant" (History of the Church 6:621-22).
Gunned down by a mob while in Carthage Jail awaiting trial, the Prophet Joseph Smith had given his life for the "cause of Christ."
John Taylor, who would become the third president of the Church and had been imprisoned with Joseph at Carthage and severely wounded, wrote in tribute: "Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it."
Joseph Smith Jr. is the great Prophet of the Restoration. His ministry did not end with his death but continues to influence all of God's children today as well as all those of previous generations. He was a prophet, seer, revelator, husband, father, teacher and revered leader whose sweeping imprint on all mankind cannot be credited to schooling, public acclaim or family privilege. He was called of God. Bold, even daring, by society's standards, he was sure of his inspiration and his charge. "I made this my rule," he told the saints, "when the Lord commands, do it" (History of the Church 2:170).
The year 2005 will mark the 200th anniversary of his birth. A fifth-generation American, Joseph was born Dec. 23, 1805. He came from hearty New England stock, hard-working, God-fearing people. This child of promise was born to small circumstances on a farm in Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont. His mother wrote, "We had a son, whom we called Joseph, after the name of his father" (Lucy Mack Smith, History of Joseph Smith by his Mother, p. 46).
It was a simple introduction for one who would fulfill his grandfather Asael's prediction that "there would be a prophet raised up in his family" who would do a work that would "revolutionize the world" (History of the Church 2:443; Journal of Discourses, 5:102).
The Smiths were living in New Hampshire when an epidemic of typhoid fever swept the community. The debilitating infection settled in the leg of 7-year-old Joseph. A skilled physician cut away the infected bone without administering anesthesia. Joseph had refused it stating with conviction, "The Lord will help me, and I shall get through it" (Lucy Mack Smith, p. 57).
That dependence upon God would define him in the years ahead.
In 1816, the Smiths moved to western New York where the fertile soil held more promise for farming. The community teemed with religious excitement. Revivalist preachers, some calling, "lo here" and others, "lo there," so confused young Joseph that he turned to the Bible for greater understanding and took to heart the counsel in James: "If any of ye lack wisdom let him ask of God" (James 1:5).
On a spring day in 1820 Joseph walked into a grove of trees near the family cabin, knelt in the solitude, and prayed to the Almighty for guidance. God the Eternal Father and His Son, the risen Lord Jesus Christ, "two Personages whose brightness and glory defy all description," appeared to Joseph and spoke with him face-to-face. (Joseph Smith-History 1:25).
It was the greatest event in the history of the world since the Resurrection of the Savior. When the vision withdrew, Joseph was left "in a state of calmness and peace, indescribable" (Orson Pratt, Remarkable Visions, 1842, p. 5).
He left the grove knowing the reality of our Father in Heaven and His Son Jesus Christ and feeling Their love. It was a glorious beginning to the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the next 24 years, Joseph Smith would lay the foundation of a work he described as "destined to bring about the destruction of the powers of darkness, the renovation of the earth, the glory of God, and the salvation of the human family" (Editorial, Times and Seasons 3 (2 May 1842: 774-776).
He would translate from ancient plates a new canon of scripture, The Book of Mormon, a second and profound witness of Jesus Christ. He would teach that man was created in the image of God and be given revelation and authority to speak in the name of God to a world "walking in darkness at noon day." He would receive priesthood keys and institute sacred ordinances including the eternal sealing of families and he would begin the great work of building temples. He would establish The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to help build the kingdom of God on earth, send missionaries to preach across the East and to England and organize the sisters in a Relief Society to "relieve the poor" and "to save souls" (History of the Church 5:24-25).
He "took heaven, figuratively speaking, and brought it down to earth," Brigham Young, second president of the Church and Joseph's close associate said, "and he took the earth, brought it up, and opened up, in plainness and simplicity, the things of God" (Journal of Discourses, 5:332).
The saints called him "Brother Joseph." The love they had for him was "inexpressible." William Clayton, clerk and scribe, wrote to his fellow converts in England of the Prophet, "Truly I wish I was such a man" (Letter from William Clayton to Edward Martin, 10 Dec. 1840, Nauvoo, Illinois; LDS Church Archives).
Yet, Joseph saw himself as simply a servant of God. "All I can offer the world," he said, "is a good heart and a good hand" (History of the Church 5:498).
Search your own hearts, he encouraged the people, for "if you wish to go where God is, you must be like God. For if we are not drawing towards God in principle, we are going from Him" (History of the Church 4:587-88).
Joseph Smith was a powerful presence in his day and today; the cause he espoused and defended counts millions of faithful across the globe. He was the man "who communed with Jehovah" and who fulfilled his singular calling to open the hearts of the people to God and Jesus Christ, the Redeemer.
"No unhallowed hand can stop this work from progressing," he prophesied of the rolling forth of the Restoration. "The truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done." (History of the Church 4:540).
Heidi Swinton is the author of American Prophet: The Story of Joseph Smith. She also wrote the script for the national PBS documentary which aired in the fall of 1999. A member of the University Ward, Salt Lake Central Stake, she is a member of the Relief Society general board.
