The Restoration of the GospelWidtsoe, Osborne J. P.
Religion
The Restoration of the Gospel
Widtsoe, Osborne J. P.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
During the last night in Carthage jail, the brethren testified again
of the divinity of their missions. There were present in the prison
that night Willard Richards, John Taylor, John S. Fullmer, Stephen
Markham, Dan Jones, Hyrum Smith, and Joseph Smith. Elder John Taylor
prayed. After the prayer, Patriarch Hyrum Smith read from the "Book of
Mormon." He selected certain passages relating cases of imprisonment of
the servants of God for the Gospel's sake, and telling how they were
miraculously delivered. Evidently, Hyrum still entertained hope that he
and his brother would be delivered from their enemies. When Hyrum had
finished his comments on the passages he had read, the Prophet himself
addressed his friends and the guards. This address in Carthage jail was
in the nature of a sermon--the last sermon delivered by the Prophet in
mortal life. He bore a powerful testimony to the divine authenticity of
the "Book of Mormon." He testified to the actuality of the restoration
of the Gospel, with all its authorities and blessings. He alarmed
solemnly that the restoration of the Gospel had been effected through
the ministration of angels. He declared that the kingdom of God was
again established upon the earth. He claimed that it was for the
Gospel's sake that he was imprisoned, and not because he had violated
any law either of God or of man. Thus devotedly, fearlessly, did the
great Prophet, with the certain foreknowledge of death in his heart,
testify to the divinity of his mission to earth.
On the day that he was foully murdered, it was reported to the Prophet
that the mob had solemnly determined to kill him before sundown. He
retained, however, his serene composure. Above all, he remained to
the last true to the trust God had reposed in him. It did not once
occur to him that he could save his own life by denying his claims to
divine inspiration. On the contrary, on this last day of their life
upon earth, with the certainty of death apparent undoubtedly to both
of them, "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."[F] Almost with his dying breath the Prophet
testified to the truth. And when he fell, it was with a cry to his God,
who had appointed him to labor and to suffer.
[Footnote F: "History of the Church," Vol. VI, p. 610.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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