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
It appears then, that, throughout the terrible strain of those last
days of his life, Joseph Smith had a strange foreknowledge of the
coming martyrdom. Throughout those days, he faced fearlessly the death
he knew to be awaiting him. In the presence of that violent death, he
bore an unwavering testimony to the divine authority of the Church he
had been appointed by God to establish. He saw the chief executive of
the state of Illinois become faithless to his pledge of protection.
He saw the mob rush upon the prison where he was lodged. He saw his
devoted brother, Hyrum, fall dead before him. He knew what death was.
He knew that he had no power against it--unless it were to declare
himself an imposter and to deny his divine calling. This he could not
do. Through all the years his testimony had not been broken. It was not
broken now even by the fear of death. Could he have been an imposter?
No!
The fame of him has spread the world over. His followers are numbered
by the hundreds of thousands. Everywhere he is spoken of for good or
for ill. Gradually his friends are increasing. The good that is said of
him is growing; the evil is diminishing. Already many declare that he
was murdered in cold blood. The evidence of his great life-work is fast
establishing him in the hearts of men as a true Prophet of God.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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