What words or phrases inspire you to be faithful to Christ to the end, like Joseph and Hyrum were?
"A few days after the baby’s burial, Joseph returned to the work despite his grief. Following the Lord’s commandment, he set out for Missouri on April 1 with Newel Whitney and Sidney, who was still weak from the attack but had recovered enough to travel. The Lord had recently called Newel to serve as a bishop of the Saints in Ohio and directed him to consecrate surplus money from his profitable businesses to help support the store, printing office, and land purchases in Independence.
The Lord wanted the three men to go to Missouri and covenant to cooperate economically with leaders in Zion to benefit the church and better care for the poor. He also wanted them to strengthen the Saints so they would not lose sight of their sacred responsibility to build the city of Zion.
When they arrived in Independence, Joseph convened a council of church leaders and read a revelation that called on him, Edward Partridge, Newel Whitney, and other church leaders to covenant with each other to manage the church’s business concerns.
“I give unto you this commandment, that ye bind yourselves by this covenant,” the Lord declared, “every man seeking the interest of his neighbor, and doing all things with an eye single to the glory of God.” Bound thus together, they called themselves the United Firm.
While he was in Missouri, Joseph also visited members of the old Colesville Branch and others who had settled in the area. Church leaders seemed to be working well together, the new printing office was preparing to publish the first issue of The Evening and the Morning Star, and many church members were eager to build up the city.
But Joseph sensed hard feelings toward him from some of the Saints, including a few of their leaders. They seemed to resent his choice to stay in Kirtland rather than move permanently to Missouri. And some still seemed upset about what had happened on his last visit to the area, when he and some of the elders had disagreed about where to establish Zion in Missouri.
Their resentment surprised him. Did they not realize he had left his grieving family and traveled eight hundred miles just to help them?" (14 Visions and Nightmares; Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the Latter Days, Volume 1, The Standard of Truth, 1815–1846)
"Announcement of the martyrdom of Joseph Smith the Prophet and his brother, Hyrum Smith the Patriarch, at Carthage, Illinois, June 27, 1844. This document was included at the end of the 1844 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, which was nearly ready for publication when Joseph and Hyrum Smith were murdered.
1–2, Joseph and Hyrum martyred in Carthage Jail; 3, The preeminent position of the Prophet is acclaimed; 4–7, Their innocent blood testifies of the truth and divinity of the work.
1 To seal the testimony of this book and the Book of Mormon, we announce the martyrdom of Joseph Smith the Prophet, and Hyrum Smith the Patriarch. They were shot in Carthage jail, on the 27th of June, 1844, about five o’clock p.m., by an armed mob—painted black—of from 150 to 200 persons. Hyrum was shot first and fell calmly, exclaiming: I am a dead man! Joseph leaped from the window, and was shot dead in the attempt, exclaiming: O Lord my God! They were both shot after they were dead, in a brutal manner, and both received four balls.
2 John Taylor and Willard Richards, two of the Twelve, were the only persons in the room at the time; the former was wounded in a savage manner with four balls, but has since recovered; the latter, through the providence of God, escaped, without even a hole in his robe.
3 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. In the short space of twenty years, he has brought forth the Book of Mormon, which he translated by the gift and power of God, and has been the means of publishing it on two continents; has sent the fulness of the everlasting gospel, which it contained, to the four quarters of the earth; has brought forth the revelations and commandments which compose this book of Doctrine and Covenants, and many other wise documents and instructions for the benefit of the children of men; gathered many thousands of the Latter-day Saints, founded a great city, and left a fame and name that cannot be slain. He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord’s anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood; and so has his brother Hyrum. In life they were not divided, and in death they were not separated!
4 When Joseph went to Carthage to deliver himself up to the pretended requirements of the law, two or three days previous to his assassination, he said: “I am going like a lamb to the slaughter; but I am calm as a summer’s morning; I have a conscience void of offense towards God, and towards all men. I shall die innocent, and it shall yet be said of me—he was murdered in cold blood.”—The same morning, after Hyrum had made ready to go—shall it be said to the slaughter? yes, for so it was—he read the following paragraph, near the close of the twelfth chapter of Ether, in the Book of Mormon, and turned down the leaf upon it:
5 And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord that he would give unto the Gentiles grace, that they might have charity. And it came to pass that the Lord said unto me: If they have not charity it mattereth not unto thee, thou hast been faithful; wherefore thy garments shall be made clean. And because thou hast seen thy weakness, thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down in the place which I have prepared in the mansions of my Father. And now I … bid farewell unto the Gentiles; yea, and also unto my brethren whom I love, until we shall meet before the judgment-seat of Christ, where all men shall know that my garments are not spotted with your blood. The testators are now dead, and their testament is in force.
6 Hyrum Smith was forty-four years old in February, 1844, and Joseph Smith was thirty-eight in December, 1843; and henceforward their names will be classed among the martyrs of religion; and the reader in every nation will be reminded that the Book of Mormon, and this book of Doctrine and Covenants of the church, cost the best blood of the nineteenth century to bring them forth for the salvation of a ruined world; and that if the fire can scathe a green tree for the glory of God, how easy it will burn up the dry trees to purify the vineyard of corruption. They lived for glory; they died for glory; and glory is their eternal reward. From age to age shall their names go down to posterity as gems for the sanctified.
7 They were innocent of any crime, as they had often been proved before, and were only confined in jail by the conspiracy of traitors and wicked men; and their innocent blood on the floor of Carthage jail is a broad seal affixed to “Mormonism” that cannot be rejected by any court on earth, and their innocent blood on the escutcheon of the State of Illinois, with the broken faith of the State as pledged by the governor, is a witness to the truth of the everlasting gospel that all the world cannot impeach; and their innocent blood on the banner of liberty, and on the magna charta of the United States, is an ambassador for the religion of Jesus Christ, that will touch the hearts of honest men among all nations; and their innocent blood, with the innocent blood of all the martyrs under the altar that John saw, will cry unto the Lord of Hosts till he avenges that blood on the earth. Amen." (Doctrine and Covenants 135)
"37 Therefore, marvel not at these things, for ye are not yet pure; ye can not yet bear my glory; but ye shall behold it if ye are faithful in keeping all my words that I have given you, from the days of Adam to Abraham, from Abraham to Moses, from Moses to Jesus and his apostles, and from Jesus and his apostles to Joseph Smith, whom I did call upon by mine angels, my ministering servants, and by mine own voice out of the heavens, to bring forth my work;
38 Which foundation he did lay, and was faithful; and I took him to myself.
39 Many have marveled because of his death; but it was needful that he should seal his testimony with his blood, that he might be honored and the wicked might be condemned." (Doctrine and Covenants 136 37-39)
"21 And now I command you, my servant Joseph, to repent and walk more uprightly before me, and to yield to the persuasions of men no more;
22 And that you be firm in keeping the commandments wherewith I have commanded you; and if you do this, behold I grant unto you eternal life, even if you should be slain." (Doctrine and Covenants 5: 21-22)
And here's the commentary entitled: "Joseph and Hyrum Smith sealed their testimonies with their blood." :
"Imagine how you might have felt if you had been living in Nauvoo when Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed (see Saints, 1:554–55). How would you have made sense of this tragic event? Doctrine and Covenants 135, published three months later, may have helped. As you search this section, consider what would have brought you understanding and reassurance. What would you say to someone who asks, “Why would God allow His Prophet to be killed?” (see Doctrine and Covenants 136:37–39).
You could also search section 135 for words or phrases that inspire you to be faithful to Christ to the end, like Joseph and Hyrum were.
See also Doctrine and Covenants 5:21–22; “Remembering the Martyrdom,” in Revelations in Context, 299–306; Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith (2011), 522–23, 529–40; “Testimony of the Book of Mormon” (video), Gospel Library."
It would have been difficult for me to make sense of the tragic event when Joseph and Hyrum Smith were killed if I had been living in Nauvoo myself. If someone asks: "“Why would God allow His Prophet to be killed?”, I would say, "God would allow His Prophet to be killed for a purpose under His divine plan. In the case of Joseph Smith, "it was needful that he should seal his testimony with his blood, that he might be honored and the wicked might be condemned".
The words and phrases here in Doctrine and Covenants 135: 3 inspire me to be faithful to Christ to the end, like Joseph and Hyrum were:
"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. In the short space of twenty years, he has brought forth the Book of Mormon, which he translated by the gift and power of God, and has been the means of publishing it on two continents; has sent the fulness of the everlasting gospel, which it contained, to the four quarters of the earth; has brought forth the revelations and commandments which compose this book of Doctrine and Covenants, and many other wise documents and instructions for the benefit of the children of men; gathered many thousands of the Latter-day Saints, founded a great city, and left a fame and name that cannot be slain. He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people; and like most of the Lord’s anointed in ancient times, has sealed his mission and his works with his own blood; and so has his brother Hyrum. In life they were not divided, and in death they were not separated!"
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