Doctrine & Covenants Lesson # 32
“To Seal
the Testimony”
Introduction
The question was asked in Stake Conference last week—leveled
I think at teachers—why Sunday School was a lecture and not a discussion. Sis.
Roundy rallied a defense of teachers saying that we were learning in the 3rd
Sunday council to be better at sharing rather than lecturing, but it all comes
down to preparation. Not only preparation by the teachers but by all who come
to Sunday School. Aren’t we all teachers? If we all come to our meetings,
whichever they are, prepared for those meetings, then aren’t we all able to
contribute and help each other learn? Very few of you read this blog before the
lesson. Typically there are 7, with perhaps another 20 or so accessing it
during or after the lesson. Now the reason for my creating this blog some 3
years ago was to help me prepare the lesson, but also for those who are not
able to attend as well as hopefully give some insights to those who do. Whether
or not anyone reads it, or gets anything from it, I have found it valuable as I
study and meditate on the topic given us for the coming Sunday. And I am
determined to continue it, perhaps for selfish reasons. Rant over.
Leah Grow was on a mission in that area and will be
sharing with us some of her feelings about the martyrdom of Hyrum and Joseph
Smith, so that is definitely something to look forward to. I know when I first
taught this course in Seminary, not long after I joined the Church, that I
dreaded coming to Section 135. But in the end it was a good experience
hopefully for my students as well as me. Mostly I reflected on all the
wonderful things that are ours as a result of Joseph’s constancy and worthiness
to be a Prophet of God and to restore the true Church of Jesus Christ.
The additional material is definitely worth reading, this
week as always. One tends to think of the events in Carthage from the point of
view of those in the jail, but here we have some accounts from those who were
in Nauvoo. Besides the assigned reading in Our Heritage, you might also
like to read an Ensign article, “Martyrdom at Carthage” by BYU
Professor, Reed Blake from 1994[1]
1. The Prophet Joseph Smith sealed his testimony with his
blood.
Elder Hales said:
Joseph Smith sealed his testimony with
his own blood. The Prophet’s martyrdom was a voluntary acceptance of death to
seal the testimony of the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants (see D&C
135:1) and to bear holy witness of Jesus Christ and his gospel in this
dispensation. We do not give our testimony and life in the manner that Joseph
Smith, the martyred Prophet, gave his life. Rather, we give testimony by
devoted service in our lives each day to lift and strengthen others.[2]
Hyrum was reading from Ether on the day they left for
Carthage and Joseph declared that he was “calm as the summer’s day” (D&C
135:4–5) —what scripture would you choose to read knowing that your life was
coming to an end? Would you feel that you had done everything you could to be a
disciple of Christ? Stake Conference certainly made me very introspective as to
where I was on my path of discipleship. Maybe we could do an inventory now and
see if we are able to be more positive about it in a month’s time when we again
have the opportunity to listen to our prophet and general authorities and
auxiliary leaders?
Here is an excerpt from the Ensign article I cited
above, detailing the last moments of the Carthage ordeal
Immediately, there was a clamor in the
yard below, the crash of men on the stairs, a shout of “Surrender!” John
Taylor, at the window, saw a force of armed men scrambling across the yard. He
jumped to the door, only to find the others already braced against it.
Reaching the top of the stairs and
assuming the door locked, the mobbers fired at the latch, shattering the door’s
edge. Inside, the Prophet, Willard Richards, and John Taylor jumped back to the
wall. Almost at the same time, a ball came through the door and hit Hyrum in
the face. From the outside, a second ball hit him in the back. He fell full
length to the floor, face up. “I am a dead man,” he murmured.
The Prophet dropped to his brother.
“Oh! my poor, dear brother Hyrum,” he groaned. The deep look of sympathy on
Joseph’s face fastened itself to Elder Taylor’s mind. The Prophet then stood,
and with a firm step he went to the door, pulled the pepperbox from his pocket,
and, reaching around the door casing, fired blindly into the hallway. He
snapped all six shots. Half discharged, striking three men.
There was much shouting and cursing on
the landing. The smoke from the powder flashes clouded everything and added to
the confusion as those who had shot their round tried to push back to ram in a
new load and those who had yet to fire pushed forward. Those pressing the
doorway followed their bayonets, and Elder Taylor, using the rascal-beater,
beat down the arms. As he did so, he felt his death was imminent: “Streams of
fire as thick as my arm passed by me as these men fired, and it looked like
certain death … ,” he later wrote. “But I do not know when, in any critical
position, I was more calm, … and acted with more promptness and decision.”
From behind him, the Prophet said,
“That’s right, Brother Taylor, parry them off as well as you can.” They were
the last words he heard the Prophet speak.
When it became impossible to beat down
the arms any longer, Elder Taylor crossed the room, hoping to find some safety
by jumping to the yard below. As he reached the window, a ball from the door
struck him in his thigh. He fell across the window sill, unable to move. “I am
shot!” he exclaimed. Suddenly he was lifted back into the room by the force of
a ball fired up from the yard. The ball hit the watch in his breast pocket,
stopping the works. Thus the time of the martyrdom was set: 16 minutes, 26
seconds past five.
Elder Taylor found his animation
restored when he hit the floor. He took three more balls as he crawled beneath
the bed: one below the left knee; a second in the left arm, which traveled
through his wrist and lodged in the fleshy part of his hand; and a third in his
left hip, which splattered blood and flesh and left a hole the size of a cup. When
Elder Taylor left the door, Elder Richards took his place and continued beating
with the smaller walking cane. The Prophet—in an attempt to draw the mobbers’
attention away from the room—dropped his pistol and went quickly to the window
and jumped to the ledge. He was hit simultaneously in the back by two balls
fired from the door, and in the chest by a third ball fired from the outside.
Joseph poised momentarily on the sill. “Oh Lord, my God!” he cried, then fell
dead to the yard below.
No sooner did the Prophet fall than
the mobbers yelled, “He’s leaped the window!” and rushed downstairs, leaving
Elders Taylor and Richards behind. Stealing to the window, Elder Richards
looked out, determined to see the end of him whom he loved. Seeing the Prophet
dead, Elder Richards retreated to the landing to see if the cell was open.
“Take me!” a voice called. It was then
that Elder Richards realized Elder Taylor was still alive. Grabbing him beneath
the arms, Elder Richards dragged the wounded man into the cell, placing him on
a pile of straw and covering him with a dirty mattress. “This is a hard case to
lay you on the floor,” Elder Richards said, anticipating the mobbers’ return,
“but if your wounds are not fatal, I want you to live to tell the story.” He
then went to the metal door that opened to the landing, closed it, and “stood …
awaiting the onset.” Again mobbers rushed up the stairs.
Thankfully a shout went up “The Mormons are coming” and
that was sufficient for the mob to scatter.
2. The Prophet Joseph Smith did more for the salvation of
men in this world than anyone except Jesus.
How do you feel about this statement from D&C 135:3? Bruce
R. McConkie said:
When the Lord needed an Enoch to build
Zion, a city of holiness, Enoch was there. When he needed a Moses to stand as
the great lawgiver in Israel, Moses was there. When the time arrived for the
promised Messiah to give his life a ransom for many, the Great Deliverer was
there. And thanks be to God, when the hour arrived to usher in the dispensation
of the fulness of times, there was Joseph Smith, the mighty prophet of
latter-days.[3]
I’d like you to think about this and come with ideas to
our lesson on 3rd September. There is a long list, but perhaps you could let us
know which mean most to you and why. Despite the challenges inherent in being a
shift coordinator at the temple, everything that the temple represents remains
for me the greatest gift that came through Joseph, because it enables the
continuation of the love and so very strong ties I have to my family.
I took pity on you and appended the list:
I took pity on you and appended the list:
- ·
Truths about the Godhead
- ·
The authority of the priesthood
- ·
Truths about our origin and relationship to God
- ·
Scriptures
- ·
Truths about the plan of salvation
- ·
Truths about the salvation of the dead
- ·
The building of temples and the performance of temple
ordinances
- · The Church was restored through him.
- · He began the work in this dispensation of taking the gospel
to all nations and gathering Israel.
- · The law of consecration was revealed through him.
- · The Word of Wisdom was revealed through him.
- · Information about the building of the latter-day Zion was
revealed through him.
- · He wrote the Articles of Faith.
Additional resources for this lesson
- “Remembering
the Martyrdom”: This article discusses the Saints’ early responses to
the deaths of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.
- “Ministry
of Joseph Smith: Sealed His Testimony with His Blood”: This one-minute
video introduces Joseph Smith’s imprisonment in Carthage Jail and his
martyrdom.
- “Who
Killed Joseph Smith?”: This article discusses events leading up to the
martyrdom.
- “Hyrum Smith:
A Man of Mildness and Integrity”: This article discusses Hyrum Smith
and includes a photo of the clothes he wore in Carthage Jail.
