History of the Prophet Joseph, by His MotherSmith, Lucy
History
History of the Prophet Joseph, by His Mother
Smith, Lucy
Smith, Joseph, Jr., 1805-1844
"That book," replied I, "was brought forth by the power of God, and
translated by the gift of the Holy Ghost; and, if I could make my voice
sound as loud as the trumpet of Michael, the Archangel, I would declare
the truth from land to land, and from sea to sea, and the echo should
reach to every isle, until every member of the family of Adam should
be left without excuse. For I do testify that God has revealed himself
to man again in these last days, and set his hand to gather his people
upon a goodly land, and, if they obey his commandments, it shall be
unto them for an inheritance; whereas, if they rebel against his law,
his hand will be against them to scatter them abroad, and cut them off
from the face of the earth: and that he has commenced a work which will
prove a savor of life unto life, or of death unto death, to every one
that stands here this day--of life unto life, if you will receive it,
or of death unto death, if you reject the counsel of God, for every man
shall have the desires of his heart; if he desires the truth, he may
hear and live, but if he tramples upon the simplicity of the word of
God, he will shut the gate of heaven against himself." Then, turning to
our own company, I said, "Now, brethren and sisters, if you will all of
you raise your desires to heaven, that the ice may be broken up, and we
be set at liberty, as sure as the Lord lives, it will be done." At that
instant a noise was heard, like bursting thunder. The captain cried,
"Every man to his post." The ice parted, leaving barely a passage for
the boat, and so narrow, that as the boat passed through, the buckets
of the waterwheel were torn off with a crash, which, joined to the
word of command from the captain, the hoarse answering of the sailors,
the noise of the ice, and the cries and confusion of the spectators,
presented a scene truly terrible. We had barely passed through the
avenue, when the ice closed together again, and the Colesville brethren
were left in Buffalo, unable to follow us.
As we were leaving the harbor, one of the by-standers exclaimed, "There
goes the 'Mormon' company! That boat is sunk in the water nine inches
deeper than ever it was before, and, mark it, she will sink--there
is nothing surer." In fact, they were so sure of it, that they went
straight to the office and had it published that we were sunk, so that
when we arrived at Fairport, we read in the papers the news of our own
death.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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