[MUSIC PLAYING] When Joseph Smith and
his brother Hyrum started for Carthage to face what
they knew would be an imminent martyrdom, Hyrum read these
words of comfort to the heart of his brother: "Thou hast
been faithful; wherefore ... thou shalt be made strong,
even unto the sitting down in the place which
I have prepared in the mansions of my Father." A few short verses from
the 12th chapter of Ether in the Book of Mormon. Before closing the
book, Hyrum turned down the corner of the page
from which he had read, marking it as part of
the everlasting testimony for which these two
brothers were about to die. I hold in my hand that
book, the very copy from which Hyrum read, the same
corner of the page turned down, still visible.
Later, when actually
incarcerated in the jail, Joseph the Prophet bore
a powerful testimony of the divine authenticity
of the Book of Mormon.
Shortly thereafter
pistol and ball would take the lives
of these two testators.
In this their greatest
and last hour of need, I ask you: would these
men blaspheme before God by continuing to fix
their lives, their honor, and their own search
for eternal salvation on a book (and by implication
a church and a ministry) they had fictitiously
created out of whole cloth?
Never mind that their wives
are about to be widows and their children fatherless. Never mind that their
little band of followers will yet be houseless,
homeless, and friendless and that their children will
leave footprints of blood across frozen rivers and
an untamed prairie floor. Never mind that legions will
die and other legions live declaring in the four
corners of this earth that they know
the Book of Mormon and the Church which
espouses it to be true. Disregard all of
that, and tell me whether in this hour
of death these two men would enter the presence
of their Eternal Judge quoting from and finding
solace in a book which, if not the very word of
God, would brand them as impostors and charlatans
until the end of time? They would not do that!
They were willing to
die rather than deny the divine origin and
the eternal truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. The Book of Mormon
is true and was given to bring
happiness and hope to the faithful in the
travail of the last days. Brothers and sisters, God always
provides safety for the soul, and with the Book of
Mormon, He has again done that in our time. Remember this
declaration by Jesus Himself: "Whoso treasureth up
my word, shall not be deceived." And in the last days neither
your heart nor your faith will fail you. Of this I earnestly testify in
the name of Jesus Christ, amen. [MUSIC PLAYING]
