Sunday, August 27, 2017

Doctrine & Covenants Lesson # 32 “To Seal the Testimony”

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:

  • ·      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


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