The above named Mary Curtis, who afterwards became Sister Reed, will be remembered as the lady who spoke in tongues in the Logan Temple about three years ago, on a fast day, and who, on that same day, after having completed her day’s work in the Temple, went home in the evening and died. Lyman O. Littlefield, of Logan, as well as myself and my Sister Mary Stevenson Clark, of Farmington, Davis Co., Utah, witnessed the speaking in tongues by Mary Curtis in Michigan, sixty years ago, and also on this occasion in Logan Temple.
These, however, were not the only blessings with which we were favored in the Pontiac branch, for we enjoyed the presence of the venerable and venerated father of the Prophet (Joseph Smith, Sen.), the Patriarch of the whole Church of God on the earth. The writer was one of many who, under his hands, received choice and rare blessings, when the power of the Holy Ghost filled the house to such an extent that the tears flowed down the cheeks of even those who lived and died outside of the pale of the Church.
Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris were also heard by the writer to testify that they, in open day, stood in the presence of the God who ministered unto the Prophet. And indeed there was a power accompanying these testimonies which was irresistible, and which made deep and lasting impressions.
Although a mere humble widow’s son, I felt proud and blessed of God, when he honored us by coming under our roof and partaking of our hospitality. Oh! how my heart swelled with delightful emotions of heavenly love, as I selected and presented to him some of our choice apples in exchange for the golden nuggets of celestial truth, which he bestowed upon us as he partook of the humble but hearty hospitality of a widow’s table! We were proud, indeed, to entertain one who had conversed with the Father and the Son, and been under the tuition of an angel from Heaven, and who, under the immediate direction of the Almighty, had organized the true church on the earth, after the exact pattern of that organized by God, through Jesus Christ, eighteen hundred years before.
In parting from under our roof the Prophet expressed a desire to have a loan of a large English Book of Martyrs which we possessed, promising to return it to us when he should meet us again in Zion, in the State of [p.6] Missouri, which he did, and on returning it he said, “I have, by the aid of the Urim and Thummim, seen those martyrs, and they were honest, devoted followers of Christ, according to the light they possessed, and they will be saved.”
For the benefit of those who have not been privileged to meet our beloved martyred Prophet, I deem it a favor to present the picture, with the incidents here narrated, for the pleasure and consideration of all who may peruse them.
Joseph Smith was born December 23rd, 1805, in Sharon, Windsor County, Vermont. At about the age of eight years, he passed through an ordeal which gave remarkable evidence of heroic fortitude and indomitable power of will, under intense bodily suffering. After recovering from a severe typhus fever, a fever sore affected his leg and threatened him with the loss of the limb. Under these circumstances, a consultation of physicians was held, and after making an incision eight inches in length, and examining the bone, they decided that, if his life was to be saved, amputation of the member was absolutely necessary. This operation, however, was so strongly opposed by both parents and son that the doctors finally concluded to remove the affected parts of the bone. Accordingly, they called for a strong cord to bind the lad, and were intending to give him a stimulant; but to all this our young hero most decidedly objected, saying, “I will not touch one particle of liquor, neither will I be tied down; but I will have my father sit on the bed and hold me in his arms, and then I will do whatever is necessary to have the bone taken out.” By drilling into the bone on each side of the part affected, three pieces of bone were extracted, the removal being made with a pair of forceps. The manhood and willpower of this noble youth of eight years, under so trying an ordeal, foreshadowed the story of his life—a life fraught with matchless heroism, under all manner of persecution, trials, imprisonments, hardships and finally martyrdom. The howlings of murderous mobs, infuriated by infernal legions, the lying slanders of a vile hireling priesthood, and the base treachery of loathsome traitors, proved utterly powerless to cause him to swerve a single hair’s breadth from the cause of God and the interests of the downtrodden and oppressed. To the transgressor and hypocrite he was a fierce lion in the way, to injured innocence he was a tower of strength, and to the poor and helpless he was ever a brother and a friend. He lived a hero of heroes, and a Prophet of Prophets, and to save his brethren from harm and bloodshed, he dauntlessly went to his death, and died a Martyr of Martyrs. The world, in its wickedness and crime, may treat his memory with derision and scorn; but when his defamers are forgotten, the great and mighty Prophet of God who, under the name of Joseph Smith, laid down his life for truth and his brethren, shall be fondly enshrined in the heart of the universe and his life and actions approved and applauded by the loving lips of eternity.
It has been truly said that “God moves in a mysterious way” in order to perform His wonders, and the Scriptures lead us to believe that He often leads us by a “way that we know not of.” Seldom, or never, were these expressions more fully verified than in the removal of the future Prophet’s father from Vermont and [p.7] his settling in Palmyra in New York state. Little did the good man dream of the fact, as he wended his way from his former home, that he was being led by the Lord to the very place where his son’s great work was to be accomplished. Yet such was certainly the fact. Every step of his journey was guided by the controlling power and wisdom of God, and, although he knew it not, he settled just where God wanted him and where He wanted his son, who was to be like Joseph of old, the saviour of his father’s house.
When between the ages of fourteen and fifteen, after earnestly calling upon God, Joseph had his first vision, as set forth in another chapter. When he was between seventeen and eighteen years old, he had his second vision, which is likewise elsewhere described. And when he was between twenty-one and twenty-two, after having been instructed by a heavenly messenger for four years, in the year 1827 the golden records were entrusted to the custody of the youthful Prophet. He had been married just eight months and four days at this time. In the year 1827, by the aid of the Urim and Thummim, or interpreters, the history of two lost nations was translated, the one being the nation of the Jaredites and the other that of the Nephites. The remnants of the latter of these nations of the Nephites were the wild Indians of America, who were first discovered by Columbus in the year 1492.
On the sixth day of April, 1830, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized. And on the twenty-seventh day of June, 1844, the Prophet sealed his testimony with his blood. Joseph Smith was murdered in Carthage Jail when he was in the prime of his life, being only thirty-eight years, six months and six days old. It was just fourteen years, two months and twenty-one days after the Church was organized. Strange as it may appear, our Lord and Saviour was murdered when only a few years younger than Joseph, and both were put to death for the same cause, namely, the establishing of the Church of Christ on the earth, the one in the former and the one in the latter days.