Below are the quotes that were used in the video.
It was an American tragedy that Joseph Smith was martyred in Carthage Jail and that Thomas Ford, governor of Illinois, broke his pledge to keep Joseph safe. Section 135 announces the martyrdom of Joseph and his brother Hyrum. After their death, the saints continued to be threatened with violence and left Nauvoo on their journey to the Salt Lake Valley. On that journey, Brigham Young received Section 136.
Joseph Smith: On Sunday, 24 March 1844, “The lies that Higbee has hatched up as a foundation to work upon is, he says that I had men’s heads cut off in Missouri and that I had a sword run through the hearts of the people that I wanted to kill and put out of the way. I won’t swear out a warrant against them for I don’t fear any of them. They would not scare off an old setting hen.”
President Dallin H. Oaks: “The event that focused anti-Mormon hostilities and led directly to the Martyrdom was the action of Mayor Joseph Smith and the city council in closing a newly established opposition newspaper in Nauvoo.
“Mormon historians—including Elder B. H. Roberts—had conceded that this action was illegal, but as a young law professor pursuing original research, I was pleased to find a legal basis for this action in the Illinois law of 1844.
“The amendment to the United States Constitution that extended the guarantee of freedom of the press to protect against the actions of city and state governments was not adopted until 1868, and it was not enforced as a matter of federal law until 1931.
“We should judge the actions of our predecessors on the basis of the laws and commandments and circumstances of their day, not ours.” (President Dallin H. Oaks,
“Joseph, the Man and the Prophet” April 1996)
Conspiracy against the Prophet "In stark contrast to the righteousness of most of the Saints who lived in prospering Nauvoo was the spreading apostasy in their midst. William Law, second counselor to Joseph Smith, and his brother Wilson led the conspiracy against the Prophet. Throughout the early months of 1844 their followers gradually grew to approximately two hundred people. Other leaders included the brothers Robert and Charles Foster, Chauncey and Francis Higbee, and two influential non-Mormons—Sylvester Emmons, a member of the Nauvoo city council, and Joseph H. Jackson, a notorious criminal.
"On Sunday, 24 March 1844, Joseph Smith spoke at the temple about the conspiracy, having just learned of it from an informant. He revealed who some of his enemies were and added that “the lies that Higbee has hatched up as a foundation to work upon is, he says that I had men’s heads cut off in Missouri and that I had a sword run through the hearts of the people that I wanted to kill and put out of the way. I won’t swear out a warrant against them for I don’t fear any of them. They would not scare off an old setting hen.”4"
"At the April general conference, the conspirators sought the downfall of the Prophet. Confident that the majority of the Saints would oppose the principle of plural marriage, they planned to bring up the subject at the business session of the conference. They were also prepared to argue that Joseph Smith was a fallen prophet because few if any revelations had been published and circulated among Church members in the previous months. In an effort to thwart the conspirators, the Prophet testified at the beginning of the conference that he was not a fallen prophet, that he had never felt nearer to God than at that time, and that he would show the people before the conference closed that God was with him.5 The next day he addressed the conference for two hours in what became known as the King Follett Discourse. On that occasion, the faithful witnessed the majesty of their Prophet. (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/manual/church-history-in-the-fulness-of-times/chapter-twenty-two?lang=eng)
Thomas Sharp: “War and extermination is inevitable! Citizens ARISE, ONE and ALL!!!—Can you stand by, and suffer such INFERNAL DEVILS! To ROB men of their property and RIGHTS, without avenging them. We have no time for comment, every man will make his own. LET IT BE MADE WITH POWDER AND BALL!!!” (Warsaw Signal)
President Gordon B. Hinckley: "Because this is the sesquicentennial year of that tragic event, I wish to say a few words about the leading character on each side of that equation at Carthage. On the one side was Joseph the prophet-martyr; on the other, Thomas Ford, governor of Illinois, whose broken pledge culminated in the tragedies of that day.
"Joseph Smith and Thomas Ford were contemporaries. Governor Ford was born in Pennsylvania in 1800. Joseph Smith was born in Vermont in 1805. The governor was five years the Prophet’s senior. My information concerning the Prophet comes from sources with which all of you are familiar. That which I have concerning the governor comes from his own writings and for the most part from a historical introduction to those writings written by M. M. Quaife, as well as an introduction by General James Shields to the first edition of Ford’s History of Illinois. I am indebted to Mrs. Doris M. Davis of Peoria for research help. I give these details so that you may know that what I say comes from sources that may be regarded as reliable.
"Joseph Smith died at the age of 38 in 1844. He would have been 39 the following December.
"Governor Ford died in 1850, a month prior to his fiftieth birthday. He completed his term as governor in 1846, and moved to the farm of his wife’s parents, where he wrote his History of Illinois.
"In this history, he gives a rather detailed account of the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. He concludes with this summary statement: “Thus fell Joe Smith, the most successful impostor in modern times; a man who, though ignorant and coarse, had some great natural parts which fitted him for temporary success, but which were so obscured and counteracted by the inherent corruption and vices of his nature that he never could succeed in establishing a system of policy which looked to permanent success in the future” (A History of Illinois, 2 vols., Chicago: Lakeside Press, 1946, 2:213).
"Such the appraisal of Joseph Smith by Thomas Ford.
"I wish not to be critical of Governor Ford. I feel sorry for him. I regard him as one who sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind.
"In April of 1847, when our people began the long westward march from Winter Quarters on the Missouri to the valley of the Great Salt Lake, Governor Ford and his family moved to Peoria with the intent that he would there practice law. I now quote from Mr. Quaife:
"“The story of his three-years’ sojourn there is one of unrelieved poverty and defeat. Mrs. Ford, afflicted with cancer, died October 12, 1850, at the early age of thirty-eight. Three weeks later, on November 3, he followed her to the grave. Left behind were five orphan children, penniless and of tender years, to face the world as best they might. To the credit of common humanity all were taken in charge by considerate townsmen and reared in homes which were better than their own father could provide. In his closing weeks he had been an object of charity, and his funeral expenses were met by the gifts of a group of citizens” (ibid., 1:xxvi, xxvii).
"Both he and his wife were buried in the Peoria City Cemetery. Their remains were later moved to the Springdale Cemetery, where the grave remained unmarked until 1896, when the legislature provided an appropriation of $1,200 for the monument that now marks the site of his burial.
"I have stood before that monument and pondered the events and circumstances of which I speak.
"After the governor’s death and after his debts were paid, there remained the sum of $148.06 for distribution among his five children as their inheritance.
"In his introduction to Ford’s History, General James Shields relates: “In 1850 while the author of this work was on his death-bed, he placed in my hands a manuscript, with the contents of which I was then wholly unacquainted, with the injunction that after his decease I should have it published for the benefit of his family. He soon after departed this life, leaving his orphan children in a destitute condition.” The royalties from the sale of the book yielded $750, making it possible for each of his five children to receive $150 as their meager financial inheritance beyond the $29.61 left each by their father.
"The eldest daughter married; her husband died in 1878; she lived until 1910, the last few years cared for by others. The second daughter married, reared a family, and died in St. Louis. The younger daughter, born in 1841, died at the age of 21 of “consumption,” and was buried with her parents. Concerning the two sons, I quote again from Mr. Quaife:
“In the autumn of 1872 Thomas [the youngest son] was hung as a horse thief near Caldwell, Kansas, by a lynching party. Two years later, in 1874, Seuel [his brother] and two other outlaws were hung from the same branch of a tree near Wellington, Kansas, by another lynching party” (ibid., 1:xxxii). They were buried in unmarked graves on the Kansas prairie.
"I mention these things to say that there was tragedy on both sides of the Carthage problem. Joseph and Hyrum were murdered. Governor Thomas Ford, who had pledged the protection of the state of Illinois, and failed to provide it, fell upon tragic and sorrowful circumstances, dying in abject poverty and leaving a destitute family who for the most part also lived with disappointment and died with much of misery.
"While Governor Ford wrote his dismal appraisal of Joseph Smith, another contemporary, Parley P. Pratt, wrote one of his own. Speaking of Joseph Smith at that time, he said:
“His work will live to endless ages, and unnumbered millions yet unborn will mention his name with honor, as a noble instrument in the hands of God, who, during his short and youthful career, laid the foundation of that kingdom spoken of by Daniel, the prophet, which should break in pieces all other kingdoms and stand forever” (Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1979, p. 46).
"Parley Pratt wrote with a surer sense of prophecy than did Tom Ford. He wrote out of a spirit of love, yes, but also with something of a vision of this great millennial movement.
"The shadow of the events of June 1844 has now lengthened over a century and a half. That shadow has reached across a substantial part of the world. The history is clear, and it is wonderful to survey. It is a poignant and tremendous story, an epic without parallel. Two years after the martyrdom, while the governor was writing his history, most of our people left Nauvoo, their beloved city on the Mississippi. They left behind their beautiful and comfortable homes. They left their magnificent temple. Their exodus began in February of 1846 in the cold of winter, so cold that the Mississippi froze and some were able to cross on the ice. They did not leave out of a desire to go. They had to leave, driven by the bitter and unrelenting hatred of vicious mobs.
"They threaded their way across the Iowa prairie to the Missouri River at Council Bluffs, then named Kanesville. Here they established their Winter Quarters. The next spring they moved up the Elkhorn River and along the Platte, across what is now Nebraska and Wyoming, and on to the valley of the Great Salt Lake. Death marched beside them. Some six thousand were buried along that trail before completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869. Here in the valleys of the mountains they grubbed sagebrush, they fought crickets, they brought water from the canyon streams to make the desert blossom. From that time until this, the work has spread over the earth until today congregations in more than 165 different tongues and more than 140 nations sing of Joseph Smith the tribute given by W. W. Phelps:
"Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah!
"Jesus anointed that Prophet and Seer.
"Blessed to open the last dispensation,
"Kings shall extol him, and nations revere. (Conference Report, Apr. 1994, 96-97; or Ensign, May 1994, 73-74)
Thursday, 27 June, “Joseph requested Dan Jones to descend and inquire of the guard the cause of the disturbance in the night. Frank Worrell, the officer of the guard, who was one of the Carthage Greys, in a very bitter spirit said,
‘
We have had too much trouble to bring Old Joe here to let him ever escape alive, and unless you want to die with him you had better leave before sundown; … and you’ll see that I can prophesy better than Old Joe. …’ (History of the Church, 6:602–4.)
Wilford Woodruff: “When we landed in the city there was a deep gloom seemed to rest over the City of Nauvoo which we never experienced before.
“… We were received with gladness by the Saints throughout the city. They felt like sheep without a shepherd, as being without a father, as their head had been taken away.” (Wilford Woodruff Journals, 6-7 Aug 1844)
“Sidney Rigdon, First Counselor in the First Presidency, arrived [in Nauvoo] from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on 3 August 1844. In the year before this time, he had begun taking a course contrary to the counsel of the Prophet Joseph Smith and had become estranged [separated] from the Church.
“He refused to meet with the three members of the Twelve already in Nauvoo and instead spoke to a large group of the Saints assembled for their Sunday worship service.
“Sidney called for a special meeting to be held on Tuesday, August 6, so Church members could choose a guardian for the Church. It appeared as though he chose August 6 so that the meeting would be held prior to the return of most of the Apostles to Nauvoo from their missions to the eastern United States.
“Brother Rigdon claimed that because he had previously been called and ordained as a spokesman for Joseph Smith, it was his responsibility to “see that the church is governed in a proper manner”. He also claimed that he should “be a guardian to the people” and that in fulfilling this responsibility, he was doing what God had commanded him to do.” (History of the Church, 7:229-230).
James Strang, who had been baptized in February 1844, was exploring a possible location for the Saints in Wisconsin in the spring of 1844. After the martyrdom, Brother Strang claimed to have received a revelation in a letter from Joseph Smith stating that he had been appointed to be Joseph’s successor.
Brother Strang’s letter, which he showed to members of the Church, appeared to have Joseph Smith’s signature. Brother Strang claimed to be the next prophet and announced his position at a conference of the Church in Michigan on August 5, 1844.
Joseph Smith: “Where I am not, there is no First Presidency over the Twelve.” (History of the Church, 2:374).
Benjamin F. Johnson recalled: “President Brigham Young arose and spoke. I saw him arise, but as soon as he spoke I jumped upon my feet, for in every possible degree it was Joseph’s voice, and his person, in look, attitude, dress and appearance was Joseph himself, personified; and I knew in a moment the spirit and mantle of Joseph was upon him” (My Life’s Review [1947], 103–4).
William C. Staines described Brigham Young as speaking “with the voice like the voice of the Prophet Joseph. I thought it was he, and so did thousands who heard it” (History of the Church, 7:236).
Wilford Woodruff wrote, “If I had not seen him with my own eyes, there is no one that could have convinced me that it was not Joseph Smith, and anyone can testify to this who was acquainted with these two men.” (History of the Church, 7:236).
George Q. Cannon, who was 17 years old in 1844, remembered, “If Joseph had arisen from the dead and again spoken in their hearing, the effect could not have been more startling that it was to many present at that meeting; it was the voice of Joseph himself; and not only was it the voice of Joseph which was heard, but it seemed in the eyes of the people as if it were the very person of Joseph which stood before them. … The Lord gave his people a testimony that left no room for doubt as to who was the man chosen to lead them.” (History of the Church, 7:236).
Brigham Young: “I do not care who leads the church, … but one thing I must know, and that is what God says about it. I have the keys and the means of obtaining the mind of God on the subject. …
“Joseph conferred upon our heads [referring to the Twelve Apostles] all the keys and powers belonging to the Apostleship which he himself held before he was taken away. …
“How often has Joseph said to the Twelve, ‘I have laid the foundation and you must build thereon, for upon your shoulders the kingdom rests.’” (History of the Church, 7:230).
Thomas Ford: Opponents of the Saints in Warsaw and Carthage began to agitate for the expulsion from Illinois after the death of Joseph Smith. In October 1844, a great gathering was announced in Warsaw. Although it was purported to be a "wolf hunt", it was known that the "wolves" to be hunted were the Mormons. Governor Ford later recalled:
“The malcontents abandoned their design, and all the leaders of it fled to Missouri. The Carthage Greys fled almost in a body, carrying their arms along with them. During our stay in the county the anti-Mormons thronged into the camp and conversed freely with the men, who were fast infected with their prejudices, and it was impossible to get any of the officers to aid in expelling them.” (Ford, Thomas, A History of Illinois: From Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847, p. 365)
Nauvoo's population in 1845 was 12,000. Chicago’s population was 15,000.
The winter of 1845-46 the temple is used for ordinances. The saints make preparations for leaving Nauvoo. In early 1846, the majority of the Saints leave the city.
The temple was dedicated on 30 April 1846.
Winter Quarters - Council Bluffs
When the Saints crossed the Mississippi River into Iowa, they began a new quest for a home where they could build the kingdom of God without oppression. The way to this new refuge was not easy; it exacted toil, sacrifice, and death, and the first leg of the journey—the trek across Iowa territory—proved to be the hardest. The main “Camp of Israel” took 131 days to cover the 300 miles they traveled across Iowa.
The Pioneer Company a year later took only 111 days to cover 1,050 miles from Winter Quarters to the Great Salt Lake Valley. Inadequate preparation, lack of knowledgeable guides, delays, miserable weather, and difficult terrain made the Iowa journey one of the most trying in the Church’s history. Nevertheless, these hardy folk knew no such word as fail.
Brigham Young: “Now is the time for labor. Let the fire of the covenant which you made in the House of the Lord, burn in your hearts, like flame unquenchable.” (Journal History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 28 Sept. 1846, 5; emphasis added).
Principles of Preparation for Our Day in Section 136:
Counsel for Our Day:
Teaching Thoughts:
Addendum:
If you could talk to Joseph Smith and ask him any question, what you ask him?
In February 1846 the Prophet Joseph appeared to Brigham Young in a dream. Brigham told Joseph how much he missed his companionship. He asked the Prophet if he had a message for the saints.
Joseph Smith: On Sunday, 24 March 1844, “The lies that Higbee has hatched up as a foundation to work upon is, he says that I had men’s heads cut off in Missouri and that I had a sword run through the hearts of the people that I wanted to kill and put out of the way. I won’t swear out a warrant against them for I don’t fear any of them. They would not scare off an old setting hen.”
President Dallin H. Oaks: “The event that focused anti-Mormon hostilities and led directly to the Martyrdom was the action of Mayor Joseph Smith and the city council in closing a newly established opposition newspaper in Nauvoo.
“Mormon historians—including Elder B. H. Roberts—had conceded that this action was illegal, but as a young law professor pursuing original research, I was pleased to find a legal basis for this action in the Illinois law of 1844.
“The amendment to the United States Constitution that extended the guarantee of freedom of the press to protect against the actions of city and state governments was not adopted until 1868, and it was not enforced as a matter of federal law until 1931.
“We should judge the actions of our predecessors on the basis of the laws and commandments and circumstances of their day, not ours.” (President Dallin H. Oaks,
“Joseph, the Man and the Prophet” April 1996)
Conspiracy against the Prophet "In stark contrast to the righteousness of most of the Saints who lived in prospering Nauvoo was the spreading apostasy in their midst. William Law, second counselor to Joseph Smith, and his brother Wilson led the conspiracy against the Prophet. Throughout the early months of 1844 their followers gradually grew to approximately two hundred people. Other leaders included the brothers Robert and Charles Foster, Chauncey and Francis Higbee, and two influential non-Mormons—Sylvester Emmons, a member of the Nauvoo city council, and Joseph H. Jackson, a notorious criminal.
"On Sunday, 24 March 1844, Joseph Smith spoke at the temple about the conspiracy, having just learned of it from an informant. He revealed who some of his enemies were and added that “the lies that Higbee has hatched up as a foundation to work upon is, he says that I had men’s heads cut off in Missouri and that I had a sword run through the hearts of the people that I wanted to kill and put out of the way. I won’t swear out a warrant against them for I don’t fear any of them. They would not scare off an old setting hen.”4"
"At the April general conference, the conspirators sought the downfall of the Prophet. Confident that the majority of the Saints would oppose the principle of plural marriage, they planned to bring up the subject at the business session of the conference. They were also prepared to argue that Joseph Smith was a fallen prophet because few if any revelations had been published and circulated among Church members in the previous months. In an effort to thwart the conspirators, the Prophet testified at the beginning of the conference that he was not a fallen prophet, that he had never felt nearer to God than at that time, and that he would show the people before the conference closed that God was with him.5 The next day he addressed the conference for two hours in what became known as the King Follett Discourse. On that occasion, the faithful witnessed the majesty of their Prophet. (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/manual/church-history-in-the-fulness-of-times/chapter-twenty-two?lang=eng)
Thomas Sharp: “War and extermination is inevitable! Citizens ARISE, ONE and ALL!!!—Can you stand by, and suffer such INFERNAL DEVILS! To ROB men of their property and RIGHTS, without avenging them. We have no time for comment, every man will make his own. LET IT BE MADE WITH POWDER AND BALL!!!” (Warsaw Signal)
President Gordon B. Hinckley: "Because this is the sesquicentennial year of that tragic event, I wish to say a few words about the leading character on each side of that equation at Carthage. On the one side was Joseph the prophet-martyr; on the other, Thomas Ford, governor of Illinois, whose broken pledge culminated in the tragedies of that day.
"Joseph Smith and Thomas Ford were contemporaries. Governor Ford was born in Pennsylvania in 1800. Joseph Smith was born in Vermont in 1805. The governor was five years the Prophet’s senior. My information concerning the Prophet comes from sources with which all of you are familiar. That which I have concerning the governor comes from his own writings and for the most part from a historical introduction to those writings written by M. M. Quaife, as well as an introduction by General James Shields to the first edition of Ford’s History of Illinois. I am indebted to Mrs. Doris M. Davis of Peoria for research help. I give these details so that you may know that what I say comes from sources that may be regarded as reliable.
"Joseph Smith died at the age of 38 in 1844. He would have been 39 the following December.
"Governor Ford died in 1850, a month prior to his fiftieth birthday. He completed his term as governor in 1846, and moved to the farm of his wife’s parents, where he wrote his History of Illinois.
"In this history, he gives a rather detailed account of the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. He concludes with this summary statement: “Thus fell Joe Smith, the most successful impostor in modern times; a man who, though ignorant and coarse, had some great natural parts which fitted him for temporary success, but which were so obscured and counteracted by the inherent corruption and vices of his nature that he never could succeed in establishing a system of policy which looked to permanent success in the future” (A History of Illinois, 2 vols., Chicago: Lakeside Press, 1946, 2:213).
"Such the appraisal of Joseph Smith by Thomas Ford.
"I wish not to be critical of Governor Ford. I feel sorry for him. I regard him as one who sowed the wind and reaped the whirlwind.
"In April of 1847, when our people began the long westward march from Winter Quarters on the Missouri to the valley of the Great Salt Lake, Governor Ford and his family moved to Peoria with the intent that he would there practice law. I now quote from Mr. Quaife:
"“The story of his three-years’ sojourn there is one of unrelieved poverty and defeat. Mrs. Ford, afflicted with cancer, died October 12, 1850, at the early age of thirty-eight. Three weeks later, on November 3, he followed her to the grave. Left behind were five orphan children, penniless and of tender years, to face the world as best they might. To the credit of common humanity all were taken in charge by considerate townsmen and reared in homes which were better than their own father could provide. In his closing weeks he had been an object of charity, and his funeral expenses were met by the gifts of a group of citizens” (ibid., 1:xxvi, xxvii).
"Both he and his wife were buried in the Peoria City Cemetery. Their remains were later moved to the Springdale Cemetery, where the grave remained unmarked until 1896, when the legislature provided an appropriation of $1,200 for the monument that now marks the site of his burial.
"I have stood before that monument and pondered the events and circumstances of which I speak.
"After the governor’s death and after his debts were paid, there remained the sum of $148.06 for distribution among his five children as their inheritance.
"In his introduction to Ford’s History, General James Shields relates: “In 1850 while the author of this work was on his death-bed, he placed in my hands a manuscript, with the contents of which I was then wholly unacquainted, with the injunction that after his decease I should have it published for the benefit of his family. He soon after departed this life, leaving his orphan children in a destitute condition.” The royalties from the sale of the book yielded $750, making it possible for each of his five children to receive $150 as their meager financial inheritance beyond the $29.61 left each by their father.
"The eldest daughter married; her husband died in 1878; she lived until 1910, the last few years cared for by others. The second daughter married, reared a family, and died in St. Louis. The younger daughter, born in 1841, died at the age of 21 of “consumption,” and was buried with her parents. Concerning the two sons, I quote again from Mr. Quaife:
“In the autumn of 1872 Thomas [the youngest son] was hung as a horse thief near Caldwell, Kansas, by a lynching party. Two years later, in 1874, Seuel [his brother] and two other outlaws were hung from the same branch of a tree near Wellington, Kansas, by another lynching party” (ibid., 1:xxxii). They were buried in unmarked graves on the Kansas prairie.
"I mention these things to say that there was tragedy on both sides of the Carthage problem. Joseph and Hyrum were murdered. Governor Thomas Ford, who had pledged the protection of the state of Illinois, and failed to provide it, fell upon tragic and sorrowful circumstances, dying in abject poverty and leaving a destitute family who for the most part also lived with disappointment and died with much of misery.
"While Governor Ford wrote his dismal appraisal of Joseph Smith, another contemporary, Parley P. Pratt, wrote one of his own. Speaking of Joseph Smith at that time, he said:
“His work will live to endless ages, and unnumbered millions yet unborn will mention his name with honor, as a noble instrument in the hands of God, who, during his short and youthful career, laid the foundation of that kingdom spoken of by Daniel, the prophet, which should break in pieces all other kingdoms and stand forever” (Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1979, p. 46).
"Parley Pratt wrote with a surer sense of prophecy than did Tom Ford. He wrote out of a spirit of love, yes, but also with something of a vision of this great millennial movement.
"The shadow of the events of June 1844 has now lengthened over a century and a half. That shadow has reached across a substantial part of the world. The history is clear, and it is wonderful to survey. It is a poignant and tremendous story, an epic without parallel. Two years after the martyrdom, while the governor was writing his history, most of our people left Nauvoo, their beloved city on the Mississippi. They left behind their beautiful and comfortable homes. They left their magnificent temple. Their exodus began in February of 1846 in the cold of winter, so cold that the Mississippi froze and some were able to cross on the ice. They did not leave out of a desire to go. They had to leave, driven by the bitter and unrelenting hatred of vicious mobs.
"They threaded their way across the Iowa prairie to the Missouri River at Council Bluffs, then named Kanesville. Here they established their Winter Quarters. The next spring they moved up the Elkhorn River and along the Platte, across what is now Nebraska and Wyoming, and on to the valley of the Great Salt Lake. Death marched beside them. Some six thousand were buried along that trail before completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869. Here in the valleys of the mountains they grubbed sagebrush, they fought crickets, they brought water from the canyon streams to make the desert blossom. From that time until this, the work has spread over the earth until today congregations in more than 165 different tongues and more than 140 nations sing of Joseph Smith the tribute given by W. W. Phelps:
"Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah!
"Jesus anointed that Prophet and Seer.
"Blessed to open the last dispensation,
"Kings shall extol him, and nations revere. (Conference Report, Apr. 1994, 96-97; or Ensign, May 1994, 73-74)
Thursday, 27 June, “Joseph requested Dan Jones to descend and inquire of the guard the cause of the disturbance in the night. Frank Worrell, the officer of the guard, who was one of the Carthage Greys, in a very bitter spirit said,
‘
We have had too much trouble to bring Old Joe here to let him ever escape alive, and unless you want to die with him you had better leave before sundown; … and you’ll see that I can prophesy better than Old Joe. …’ (History of the Church, 6:602–4.)
Wilford Woodruff: “When we landed in the city there was a deep gloom seemed to rest over the City of Nauvoo which we never experienced before.
“… We were received with gladness by the Saints throughout the city. They felt like sheep without a shepherd, as being without a father, as their head had been taken away.” (Wilford Woodruff Journals, 6-7 Aug 1844)
“Sidney Rigdon, First Counselor in the First Presidency, arrived [in Nauvoo] from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on 3 August 1844. In the year before this time, he had begun taking a course contrary to the counsel of the Prophet Joseph Smith and had become estranged [separated] from the Church.
“He refused to meet with the three members of the Twelve already in Nauvoo and instead spoke to a large group of the Saints assembled for their Sunday worship service.
“Sidney called for a special meeting to be held on Tuesday, August 6, so Church members could choose a guardian for the Church. It appeared as though he chose August 6 so that the meeting would be held prior to the return of most of the Apostles to Nauvoo from their missions to the eastern United States.
“Brother Rigdon claimed that because he had previously been called and ordained as a spokesman for Joseph Smith, it was his responsibility to “see that the church is governed in a proper manner”. He also claimed that he should “be a guardian to the people” and that in fulfilling this responsibility, he was doing what God had commanded him to do.” (History of the Church, 7:229-230).
James Strang, who had been baptized in February 1844, was exploring a possible location for the Saints in Wisconsin in the spring of 1844. After the martyrdom, Brother Strang claimed to have received a revelation in a letter from Joseph Smith stating that he had been appointed to be Joseph’s successor.
Brother Strang’s letter, which he showed to members of the Church, appeared to have Joseph Smith’s signature. Brother Strang claimed to be the next prophet and announced his position at a conference of the Church in Michigan on August 5, 1844.
Joseph Smith: “Where I am not, there is no First Presidency over the Twelve.” (History of the Church, 2:374).
Benjamin F. Johnson recalled: “President Brigham Young arose and spoke. I saw him arise, but as soon as he spoke I jumped upon my feet, for in every possible degree it was Joseph’s voice, and his person, in look, attitude, dress and appearance was Joseph himself, personified; and I knew in a moment the spirit and mantle of Joseph was upon him” (My Life’s Review [1947], 103–4).
William C. Staines described Brigham Young as speaking “with the voice like the voice of the Prophet Joseph. I thought it was he, and so did thousands who heard it” (History of the Church, 7:236).
Wilford Woodruff wrote, “If I had not seen him with my own eyes, there is no one that could have convinced me that it was not Joseph Smith, and anyone can testify to this who was acquainted with these two men.” (History of the Church, 7:236).
George Q. Cannon, who was 17 years old in 1844, remembered, “If Joseph had arisen from the dead and again spoken in their hearing, the effect could not have been more startling that it was to many present at that meeting; it was the voice of Joseph himself; and not only was it the voice of Joseph which was heard, but it seemed in the eyes of the people as if it were the very person of Joseph which stood before them. … The Lord gave his people a testimony that left no room for doubt as to who was the man chosen to lead them.” (History of the Church, 7:236).
Brigham Young: “I do not care who leads the church, … but one thing I must know, and that is what God says about it. I have the keys and the means of obtaining the mind of God on the subject. …
“Joseph conferred upon our heads [referring to the Twelve Apostles] all the keys and powers belonging to the Apostleship which he himself held before he was taken away. …
“How often has Joseph said to the Twelve, ‘I have laid the foundation and you must build thereon, for upon your shoulders the kingdom rests.’” (History of the Church, 7:230).
Thomas Ford: Opponents of the Saints in Warsaw and Carthage began to agitate for the expulsion from Illinois after the death of Joseph Smith. In October 1844, a great gathering was announced in Warsaw. Although it was purported to be a "wolf hunt", it was known that the "wolves" to be hunted were the Mormons. Governor Ford later recalled:
“The malcontents abandoned their design, and all the leaders of it fled to Missouri. The Carthage Greys fled almost in a body, carrying their arms along with them. During our stay in the county the anti-Mormons thronged into the camp and conversed freely with the men, who were fast infected with their prejudices, and it was impossible to get any of the officers to aid in expelling them.” (Ford, Thomas, A History of Illinois: From Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847, p. 365)
Nauvoo's population in 1845 was 12,000. Chicago’s population was 15,000.
The winter of 1845-46 the temple is used for ordinances. The saints make preparations for leaving Nauvoo. In early 1846, the majority of the Saints leave the city.
The temple was dedicated on 30 April 1846.
Winter Quarters - Council Bluffs
When the Saints crossed the Mississippi River into Iowa, they began a new quest for a home where they could build the kingdom of God without oppression. The way to this new refuge was not easy; it exacted toil, sacrifice, and death, and the first leg of the journey—the trek across Iowa territory—proved to be the hardest. The main “Camp of Israel” took 131 days to cover the 300 miles they traveled across Iowa.
The Pioneer Company a year later took only 111 days to cover 1,050 miles from Winter Quarters to the Great Salt Lake Valley. Inadequate preparation, lack of knowledgeable guides, delays, miserable weather, and difficult terrain made the Iowa journey one of the most trying in the Church’s history. Nevertheless, these hardy folk knew no such word as fail.
Brigham Young: “Now is the time for labor. Let the fire of the covenant which you made in the House of the Lord, burn in your hearts, like flame unquenchable.” (Journal History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 28 Sept. 1846, 5; emphasis added).
Principles of Preparation for Our Day in Section 136:
- Covenants (v. 2, 4)
- Consecration (v. 10-11)
- Agency (v. 11)
- Accountability (v. 19)
- Promise of a promised land (v. 21-22)
- Stewardship (v. 27)
Counsel for Our Day:
- “Go thy way and do as I have told you, and fear not… (v. 17)
- “… cease to speak evil one of another” (v. 23)
- “…Let your words tend to edifying one another” (v. 24)
- “If thou art sorrowful, call on the Lord thy God with supplication, that your souls may be joyful” (v. 29)
Teaching Thoughts:
- What did Joseph Smith teach that brought you closer to Jesus Christ?
- How can we enable the fire of the covenant to burn in our hearts “like flame unquenchable?”
- How can the principles taught in section 136 help us in our ‘pioneer trek’ to the promised land?
Addendum:
If you could talk to Joseph Smith and ask him any question, what you ask him?
In February 1846 the Prophet Joseph appeared to Brigham Young in a dream. Brigham told Joseph how much he missed his companionship. He asked the Prophet if he had a message for the saints.