Thank you very much, President,
for such a wonderful opening.
Brothers and sisters, two
hundred fifteen years ago,
a little boy was born to Joseph
and Lucy Mack Smith in Vermont
in a region known as New England
in the northeastern United
States.
Joseph and Lucy Mack
believed in Jesus Christ,
studied the holy
scriptures, sincerely
prayed, and walked
with faith in God.
They named their new
baby son Joseph Smith Jr.
Of the Smith family,
Brigham Young
said: "The Lord had his
eye upon [Joseph Smith],
and upon his father, and
upon his father's father,
and upon their
progenitors clear back
to Abraham, and from
Abraham to the flood,
from the flood to Enoch
and from Enoch to Adam.
He has watched that
family and that blood
as it has circulated
from its fountain
to the birth of that man.
[Joseph Smith] was
foreordained in eternity."
Beloved by his
family, Joseph Jr.
was particularly close
to his older brother
Hyrum, who was six years of
age when Joseph was born.
Last October, I sat
by the hearthstone
that was in the small Smith
home in Sharon, Vermont,
where Joseph was born.
I felt Hyrum's love
for Joseph and thought
of him holding his baby
brother in his arms
and teaching him how to walk.
Father and Mother Smith
experienced personal setbacks,
forcing them to move their
family numerous times
before finally giving
up on New England
and making the courageous
decision to move
farther west in New York state.
Because the family was united,
they survived these challenges
and together faced
the daunting task
of starting over again on
a hundred-acre wooded tract
of land in Manchester,
near Palmyra, New York.
I am not sure that many
of us realize the physical
and emotional challenges
that starting over presented
the Smith family--clearing land,
planting orchards and fields,
building a small log home
and other farm structures,
hiring out as day laborers,
and making home goods to sell
in town.
By the time the family
arrived in western New York,
the area was ablaze with
religious fervor--known
as the Second Great Awakening.
During this time of debate and
strife among religious parties,
Joseph experienced
a wondrous vision.
Known today as the
First Vision, we
are blessed to have four
primary accounts from which I
will draw.
Joseph recorded, "During this
time of great [religious]
excitement my mind was called
up to serious reflection
and great uneasiness; but though
my feelings were deep and often
poignant, still I kept myself
aloof from all these parties,
though I attended their several
meetings as often as occasion
would permit.
...
[Yet] so great were the
confusion and strife
among the different
denominations,
that it was impossible
for a person young
as I was, and so unacquainted
with men and things,
to come to any certain
conclusion who was right
and who was wrong."
Joseph turned to the Bible to
find answers to his questions
and read James 1:5: "If
any of you lack wisdom,
let him ask of God, that
giveth to all men liberally,
and upbraideth not; and
it shall be given him."
He noted, "Never did
any passage of scripture
come with more power
to the heart of man
than this did at
this time to mine.
It seemed to enter
with great force
into every feeling of my heart.
I reflected on it
again and again."
Joseph came to realize
that the Bible did not
contain all the answers
to life's questions;
rather, it taught men and women
how they could find answers
to their questions by
communicating directly
with God through prayer.
He added, "So, in accordance
with this, my determination
to ask of God, I retired to
the woods to make the attempt.
It was on the morning of
a beautiful, clear day,
early in the spring of
eighteen hundred and twenty."
Soon thereafter, Joseph said
that "[a pillar of] light
rested upon me [and]
I saw two Personages,
whose brightness and glory
defy all description,
standing above me in the air.
One of them spake unto me,
calling me by name and said,
pointing to the other--[Joseph],
This is My Beloved Son.
Hear Him!"
THE SAVIOR THEN SPOKE:
"Joseph, my son,
thy sins are forgiven thee.
Go thy way, walk in my statutes,
and keep my commandments.
Behold, I am the Lord of glory.
I was crucified for the
world, that all those who
believe on my name may
have eternal life."
Joseph added, "No
sooner, therefore,
did I get possession of myself,
so as to be able to speak,
than I asked the
Personages who stood
above me in the light, which
of all the sects was right."
He recalled, "They told me that
all religious denominations
were believing in
incorrect doctrines,
and that none of them
was acknowledged of God
as his church and kingdom.
And ... at the same time [I]
receive[d] a promise that
the fulness of the gospel should
at some future time be made
known unto me."
Joseph also noted, "I saw
many angels in this vision."
Following this
glorious vision, Joseph
wrote: "My soul was filled
with love, and for many days
I could rejoice with great joy.
...
The Lord was with me."
He emerged from the Sacred
Grove to begin his preparation
to become a prophet of God.
Joseph also began to learn
what ancient prophets
experienced--rejection,
opposition, and persecution.
Joseph recalled sharing
what he had seen and heard
with one of the ministers
who had been active
in the religious revival:
"I was greatly surprised
at his behavior;
he treated my communication
not only lightly,
but with great contempt,
saying it was all of the devil,
that there were no such things
as visions or revelations
in these days; that all
such things had ceased
with the apostles, and
that there would never
be any more of them.
"I soon found, however, that my
telling the story had excited
a great deal of prejudice
against me among professors
of religion, and was the
cause of great persecution,
which continued to increase; ...
and this was common among all
the sects--all united
to persecute me."
Three years later,
in 1823, the heavens
opened again as part
of the continuing
Restoration of the gospel of
Jesus Christ in the last days.
Joseph noted that an angel named
Moroni appeared to him and said
"that God had a work
for me to do ...
[and that] there was
a book deposited,
written upon gold plates"
that contained "the fulness
of the everlasting Gospel ...
as delivered by the Savior
to the ancient inhabitants
[of the Americas]."
Eventually, Joseph
obtained, translated,
and published the ancient
record, known today
as the Book of Mormon.
His brother Hyrum, who had
been his constant supporter,
especially following his
painful and life-threatening leg
operation in 1813, was
one of the witnesses
of the gold plates.
He was also one
of the six members
of the Church of Jesus Christ
when it was organized in 1830.
During their lives,
Joseph and Hyrum
faced mobs and
persecution together.
For example, they languished
in the most wretched conditions
in the Liberty Jail in
Missouri for five months
during the cold
winter of 1838-39.
In April 1839, Joseph
wrote his wife Emma
describing their
situation in Liberty Jail:
"I believe it is now about
five months and six days
since I have been under the
grimace of a guard, night
and day, and within the walls,
grates, and screeching iron
doors of a lonesome,
dark, dirty prison.
...
We shall be moved from
this [place] at any rate,
and we are glad of it.
Let what will become of us, we
cannot get into a worse hole
than this is. ...
We shall never cast a
lingering wish after Liberty
in Clay County, Missouri.
We have enough of
it to last forever."
In the face of
persecution, Hyrum
exhibited faith in
the Lord's promises,
including a guarantee to escape
his enemies if he so chose.
In a blessing Hyrum
received in 1835
under the hands of
Joseph Smith, the Lord
promised him: "Thou shalt
have power to escape
the hand of thine enemies.
Thy life shall be sought with
untiring zeal, but thou shalt
escape.
If it please thee,
and thou desirest,
thou shalt have the power
voluntarily to lay down
thy life to glorify God."
In June 1844, Hyrum was
presented the choice to live
or to lay down his life to
glorify God and to "seal his
testimony with his blood"--side
by side together with his
beloved brother Joseph.
A week before the
fateful trip to Carthage,
where they were
murdered in cold blood
by an armed mob of
cowards who had painted
their faces to avoid
detection, Joseph
recorded that "I
advised my brother Hyrum
to take his family
on the next steamboat
and go to Cincinnati."
I still feel great emotion
as I remember Hyrum's reply:
"Joseph, I can't leave you."
So Joseph and Hyrum
went to Carthage,
where they became martyrs
for Christ's cause and name.
The official announcement of the
martyrdom stated the following:
"Joseph Smith, the Prophet
and Seer of the Lord, ...
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.
...
And like most of the Lord's
anointed in ancient times,
[Joseph] 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!"
Following the martyrdom,
Joseph's and Hyrum's bodies
were returned to Nauvoo, washed,
and dressed so the Smith family
could see their loved ones.
Their precious mother recalled:
"I had for a long time braced
every nerve, roused
every energy of my soul,
and called upon God
to strengthen me;
but when I entered the room, and
saw my murdered sons extended
both at once before my eyes,
and heard the sobs and groans
of my family [and] the cries ...
from the lips of their wives,
children, brothers, and
sisters, it was too much.
I sank back crying to the
Lord in the agony of my soul,
'My God!
My God!
Why hast thou forsaken
this family?'"
At that moment of
sorrow and distress,
she recalled them
saying, "Mother,
weep not for us; we have
overcome the world by love."
They had indeed
overcome the world.
Joseph and Hyrum Smith, like
those faithful Saints described
in the book of Revelation,
"came out of great tribulation,
and have washed their robes,
and made them white in the blood
of the Lamb [and] are ...
before the throne of God,
and serve him day and
night in his temple:
and he that sitteth on the
throne shall dwell among them.
"They shall hunger no more,
neither thirst any more;
neither shall the sun light
on them, nor any heat.
"For the Lamb which is in
the midst of the throne
shall feed them, and shall
lead them unto living fountains
of waters: and God shall
wipe away all tears
from their eyes."
As we celebrate this joyous
occasion, the 200th anniversary
of the First Vision,
we should always
remember the price Joseph
and Hyrum Smith paid,
along with so many other
faithful men and women
and children, to establish the
Church so you and I could enjoy
the many blessings and all
of these revealed truths
that we have today.
Their faithfulness should
never be forgotten!
I have often wondered why Joseph
and Hyrum and their families
had to suffer so much.
It may be that they came to
know God through their suffering
in ways that could not
have happened without it.
Through it, they
reflected on Gethsemane
and the cross of the Savior.
As Paul said, "For
unto you it is
given in the behalf of Christ,
not only to believe on him,
but also to suffer
for his sake."
Before his death in 1844,
Joseph wrote a spirited letter
to the Saints.
It was a call to action, which
continues in the Church today:
"Brethren [and
sisters], shall we not
go on in so great a cause?
Go forward and not backward.
Courage, brethren [and sisters];
and on, on to the victory!
...
"...
Let us, therefore, as
a church and a people,
and as Latter-day Saints,
offer unto the Lord
an offering in righteousness."
As we listen to the Spirit
during this 200th anniversary
celebration this
weekend, consider
what offering you will
present to the Lord
in righteousness
in the coming days.
Be courageous--share it
with someone you trust,
and most importantly, please
take the time to do it!
I know that the
Savior is pleased
when we present Him an
offering from our hearts
in righteousness,
just as He was pleased
with the faithful offering
of those remarkable brothers,
Joseph and Hyrum Smith, and
all other faithful Saints.
Of this I solemnly testify
in the sacred and holy name
of our Lord, Jesus Christ, amen.
