by elder b. h. roberts, in the contributor, 1890.
among those who may be accounted the benefactors of our race, we claim for the prophet joseph smith, the second place. to him who died that man might live, upon whom was laid the iniquity of us all; by whose stripes we are healed; who brought life and immortality to light through the gospel; who by way of pre-eminence is called the son of god, the only begotten of the father—to him must be assigned, forever, the first place among the benefactors of mankind. and next to him is the prophet, who was chosen to stand at the head of the dispensation of the fullness of times.
born in obscurity—in the western wilds of the state of new york, and of humble parents, without the advantages of worldly education; with no knowledge of ancient languages or history to begin with; untutored in the sciences, and unlearned in theology, joseph smith has done more for the salvation of the children of men than any reformer, theologian or ecclesiastic that has lived since the days of the earthly ministry of the son of god. it is to prove his right and title to the high place we have assigned him in the roll of honor—in the list of the benefactors of humanity—that this paper is written, rather than to give a biographical sketch of his well known career.
notwithstanding the very explicit revelation, which god had given of himself; of his person, his attributes, his powers, through his son jesus christ; for in him dwelt all the fullness of the god-head bodily, the world had gone far astray, in its conception and knowledge of god. men had conjured up to themselves a being without body, without parts and passions, and worshiped it for god—a being that never was, nor is, nor ever shall be. of the absurdity of such a description of god, however, we need not speak.
another idea equally false and equally baneful in its effects on true religion, and as universally accepted as the above conception of the being and character of deity, was the doctrine that the volume of revelation was closed.
such was the state of the world in respect to these matters, when joseph smith announced that he had received a {142} new revelation; that he had seen both the father and the son, and had conversed with them in a glorious vision, in the full light of day. his testimony was that both father and son possessed a body, parts, organs, dimensions in form like man, and each resembled the other. this revelation was soon followed by the visitation of an angel, moroni, one of the ancient prophets of the american continent, who made known the existence of the book of mormon; a volume of scripture compiled from the voluminous records kept by that enlightened people, who anciently inhabited america, the ruins of whose civilization are the astonishment of the archaeologists of today. joseph smith translated the book of mormon, by the means of the urim and thummim, from the ancient and now unknown language in which it was written, into english, and thus gave the world a new volume of scripture, equal in bulk and equal in importance to the new testament. thus, since faith is bottomed on evidence, the foundation of faith was widened. the world now had two volumes of scripture instead of one; the testimony of each sustaining the other. that volume of scripture is not the voice of one witness merely, but like the bible it contains the testimony of many witnesses for god. who can estimate the value of this work, that comes in a day when unbelief is prevalent in the earth, to renew and sustain the sinking faith of humanity!
while yet the work of translating this valuable book was in progress, the prophet and oliver cowdery were visited by john the baptist, whom god had raised from the dead, and he conferred upon them an aaronic priesthood, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels; of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins. this ordination, therefore, gave the prophet and his fellow laborer the authority to preach repentance and baptism. they began by baptizing each other.
subsequently they were ordained to the apostleship under the hands of the apostles peter, james and john. this gave them the right and power to build up the church and kingdom of god in all the world. accordingly on the 6th of april, 1830, the prophet organized the church. the gospel began to be publicly proclaimed; those who believed were baptized for the remission of sins; received the laying on of hands for the reception of the holy ghost; and the gifts and powers of that spirit were manifested among the saints by speaking in tongues, prophecy, revelation, visions, inspired dreams, healing the sick, and all those gracious gifts and powers enjoyed by the ancient saints. high priests, elders, bishops, {143} priests, teachers and deacons, were ordained as the work of the ministry increased. branches of the church were organized, and men holding proper authority set to preside over them. finally these branches were grouped together and organized into stakes of zion, with a presidency of three high priests to preside over them. high councils, consisting of twelve high priests, with the presidency of the stake, as the presidency thereof were organized, forming courts possessing both original and appellate jurisdiction in the ecclesiastical affairs of the stakes, in which they were respectively established.
in 1835 he organized a quorum of the twelve apostles, men who are chosen especially to be witnesses for the lord jesus christ, and who constitute a traveling high council, with authority to regulate all the affairs of the church in all the world. at the same time quorums of seventy were organized to be their helps in the ministry, this being an order of the priesthood designed to travel and preach the gospel in all the nations of the earth. thus he organized the church and all the quorums thereof. but he did more than that.
in the book of mormon it is predicted that a splendid city called zion, or new jerusalem shall be built upon this continent, a city noted not for its manufactories, nor for commerce; but for its temples and sanctuaries for worship and learning; a city on which the glory of god will shine. the place where this city and where the chief temple is to be built was indicated by the prophet, and the temple site dedicated under his direction. this was at independence, jackson county, missouri. between twelve and fifteen hundred of the saints gathered to that place to lay the foundation of the city of zion, but their enemies prevented them by driving them away from the lands they had purchased, and burning their houses thus the work was hindered for the time being, but the location of zion was pointed out, a commencement was made, and eventually the design of the lord will be accomplished.
a temple was designed by the prophet and built by the united efforts of the saints at kirtland, ohio. in it the lord jesus appeared to the prophet joseph and oliver cowdery, and declared his acceptance of the house which had been built to his name. on the same occasion moses the great leader and law giver to ancient israel, appeared to them and committed upon them the keys of the gathering of israel from the four quarters of the earth, and the leading of the ten tribes from the land of the north. thus the power to restore {144} israel to their lands, from which they have long been exiled, was given to him; and the work of the gathering which ultimately will result in the restoration of all the tribes of israel to their possessions has begun.
while he was in nauvoo he translated from the rolls of egyptian papyrus, obtained from the catacombs of egypt, the book of abraham, containing an account of the patriarch's sojourn in egypt, and many important principles relative to the work of god in the salvation of man. he also made an inspired translation, or, what would be more properly called an inspired revision of the jewish scriptures—the bible. that work, however, was not published during his life time, and is practically lost to the world, because it is questionable if those into whose hands his manuscript fell have preserved the integrity of his work.
we should fall very short of stating the extent of the great work of the prophet joseph, if we stopped with what he did for the children of men this side of the grave. his work did not stop there. it reached beyond. at the time moses visited him and committed to him the keys of the gathering of israel, the prophet elijah came also, and revealed those principles of which the prophet malachi speaks, which are to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers. the principles then revealed brought to light the doctrine of salvation for the dead.
thus the work accomplished through the prophet joseph effects two worlds—the spiritual world as well as the one in which we dwell; and already the work in the former exceeds that which has been done in the latter. salvation has been carried to those who sit in darkness in the spirit world; their hearts have been made glad and have been turned to their children, who can administer in the ordinance of salvation for them. a perfect flood of light has been thrown upon the sentence uttered by one of the prophets of old, who in speaking of the fathers, said: "they without us cannot be made perfect."
nor must we omit to mention the new light which the prophet shed upon the relationship of husband and wife. under the darkness of an apostate christianity, men and women were content to be united together, as husband and wife, until death did them part; but the prophet joseph brought forth the principle that the union of man and wife was designed in the economy of god to be eternal; that it was the means through which the race of the gods was {145} multiplied and new kingdoms added to the dominions of the great eloheim; and that as long as there was room in infinite space, or elements in the exhaustless store-house of nature, or as long as the bosom of the gods glowed with affection, just so long would new worlds be created and peopled with the ever increasing offspring of the righteous.[a]
[footnote a: the substance of the latter part of this paragraph is taken from p. p. pratt's key to theology.]
nor did he merely teach this principle as a theory; a beautiful thing to be contemplated at a distance; but qualified with the possession of that god-given power which binds on earth and in heaven, and so directed of the lord, he established this order of marriage in the church—an order in which tens of thousands rejoice, as they look forward with joyful anticipation, to an eternal union, with the families they have raised up in this life, in the midst of hopes and fears, poverty and toil, sickness and tears.
such are the chief things accomplished by this great prophet. we have given but an outline of his work. a volume would scarce suffice to point out its importance, or trace out its relationship to the general designs of the lord in respect to the redemption of our earth and its inhabitants. it cannot be expected that we shall undertake it in this brief article. let it be sufficient here to say that even our imperfect enumeration of what he did will prove what was claimed in the outset, viz.: that joseph smith, despised as he was by the world, has done more than any other man, save jesus christ, for the salvation of our race.
that the work he accomplished during his brief, but glorious career, was wonderful, goes without saying. the wonder grows upon us as we take into account the circumstances under which he did it. his life's labor was performed in the midst of stupendous difficulties. opposition met him at every turn. religious bigotry now ridiculed him for a fool, and now denounced him a knave; now claiming that he was beneath contempt; and now that he was the most dangerous imposter that had arisen since mohammed, and invoked all powers at its command for his destruction. poverty, hardship, and the hatred of his fellow men, dogged his footsteps through all his life. he was waylaid by assassins, beaten by mobs, cast into prisons, robbed of his property, worried with vexatious law suits, dragged before judges and betrayed by false brethren. he himself said in speaking of his life: "i have waded in tribulation neck-deep, but every {146} wave that has struck me has but wafted me nearer to deity."
such were the circumstances under which he stood forth as a witness for god; brought forth new volumes of scripture; restored to earth the gospel of the son of god, with authority to administer the ordinances thereof; organized the church; set in order the quorums of the priesthood, and defined their duties and powers; sent the gospel into every state of the union, into canada and england; laid the foundation for the gathering of israel; opened the door for the salvation of the dead; commenced the work of building up zion; founded kirtland, far west and nauvoo, with its magnificent temple—a work accomplished under circumstances which give him a fame and name that cannot be slain, but which will grow brighter as time on silent wheels rolls by.
so soon as we discover ourselves in a fault, we should repent of that wrong doing and as far as possible repair or make good the wrong we may have committed.
—lorenzo snow.
there is nothing that will lead to damnation and destruction quicker than self-justification of sin.
—brigham young.
