Douglas was deeply interested, and strongly condemned the conduct of Missouri. He was very friendly with the Prophet, who, continuing the conversation, predicted trouble for the Nation unless those wrongs were righted. Then, addressing Douglas, he said: "Judge, you will aspire to the Presidency of the United States; and if you ever turn your hand against me or the Latter-day Saints, you will feel the weight of the hand of the Almighty upon you. And you will live to see and know that I have testified the truth to you, for the conversation of this day will stick to you through life." [7] God's Hand Against Him.--Judge Douglas reaped the full fruition of those fateful words. The prophecy concerning him was first published in the Deseret News, at Salt Lake City, September 24, 1856, and on February 26, 1859, it appeared in the Millennial Star, at Liverpool. Between those dates, Stephen A. Douglas, then a United States Senator--made such by the aid of "Mormon" votes in Illinois--turned his hand against his old-time friends and supporters. Joseph Smith was dead, but his followers, driven from the confines of civilization, were out in the wilderness, laying the foundations of the State of Utah. In a political speech, at Springfield, Illinois, June 12, 1857, Senator Douglas, basing a reference to the "Mormons" upon certain wild rumors afloat concerning them, virtually accused them of all manner of crimes and abominations. The speech was looked upon as a bid for popular favor. Then came the Senator's race for the Presidency. His prospects at the outset were favorable. His party held the preponderance of the national vote, and he was the idol of his party. In June, 1860, he was enthusiastically nominated by the Democratic Convention at Baltimore. Men shouted for him, worked for him, and on election day voted for him; but all in vain, God's hand was against him! His party, torn by dissension, divided its strength among three candidates, and was overwhelmingly defeated. "The Little Giant" was "snowed under," and his great rival, Abraham Lincoln, elevated to the Presidential chair. A few months later Senator Douglas died at his home in Chicago. He was only in the prime of life--aged forty-eight--but he had lived long enough to realize that God's prophets do not speak in vain. Footnotes 1. Hist. Ch. Vol. 1, pp. 11, 12. 2. Isa. 29:14. 3. D. and C. 87. 4. Ib. 130:12, 13. 5. Josiah Quincy, who visited Joseph Smith at Nauvoo shortly before the martyrdom, says of him and his views on slavery: