The Latter-Day Prophet: History of Joseph Smith Written for Young People

by George Q. Cannon

Orrin P. Rockwell was captured by the Missourians and thrown into prison in the month of March, and when the Prophet heard it, he prophesied in the most positive terms that Brother Rockwell would get away honorably from his captors.

One night about the same time Joseph, Wilford Woodruff and Willard Richards saw a great streak of light in the sky in the shape of a sword with the hilt downward. The Prophet told them that as sure as God sits on a throne in heaven, so sure would there be a bloody war, and the flaming sword was a certain sign thereof. A short time after this he repeated the prophecy that the bloodshed should begin in South Carolina.

On the eighteenth of May, Joseph passed through Quincy, and on the invitation of Stephen A. Douglas, stopped and dined with him. Judge Douglas asked for an account of the Missouri persecutions, and when Joseph finished it, Douglas spoke in the strongest terms against Boggs and the other officials and said that they should be punished. After dinner Joseph said to his host:

Judge, you will aspire to the presidency of the United States, and if you ever turn your hand against the Latter-day Saints, you will feel the weight of the hand of the Almighty upon you; and you will live to see and know that I have testified the truth to you, for the conversation of this day will be with you through life.

The prophecy was fulfilled. Douglas did turn his hand against the Latter-day Saints, in the hope of winning favor thereby, and when he ran for president against Abraham Lincoln in the fall of 1860, he was defeated, and soon after died.

A great trial came to the Prophet in the latter part of his life and a very severe test was made of his willingness to obey the word of God unto him. The Lord revealed that He wished his faithful servants to take more than one wife, as did the patriarchs and righteous men of old. This was so new and strange a practice that the Prophet hesitated and did not at once obey. He put it off from time to time until at length an angel of God appeared before him with a drawn sword, and said that unless he obeyed the command to teach this doctrine and establish it his priesthood would be taken from him and he would be destroyed.

Of course two warnings of this kind were not needed, and Joseph at once began to teach Hyrum and other faithful, true men the will of the Lord. He told Emma, his wife, but at first she looked at it as he had done. After a struggle she consented that her husband take other wives and she herself gave them unto him. Even then Joseph did not think it wise to make the revelation public, and not until the twelfth day of July was it written down. Just one month later it was read before the High Council at Nauvoo, by Hyrum Smith. In speaking on the principle Hyrum declared that those who accepted it would be blessed with the Spirit of God and the confidence of the Saints, while those who rejected it should lose their faith and power, and this proved true.

The Prophet was not engaged entirely in spiritual matters during the first half of 1843. He had been elected mayor of Nauvoo, and gave much attention to his various duties. He was full of life and vigor and kept up his athletic practices. It was during this time that he met William Wall, a champion wrestler of Ramus, Illinois, and had a friendly bout with him. It must have been a fine thing to see those two powerful men struggling with all the skill they had for the mastery, but Wall had met a match and Joseph came off victor.

In the month of June a plot was laid for Bennett, the apostate, and Samuel Owens, the old leader of the Jackson county mobs, to bring Joseph back to Missouri. They worked upon Governors Reynolds and Ford; and two men, Sheriff Reynolds of Jackson county and Sheriff Wilson of Hancock county, were sent to capture him. The Prophet was visiting near Dixon, about one hundred and fifty miles from Nauvoo, when the two officers, disguised as Mormon missionaries, came to the house where he was staying and said, "We want to see Brother Joseph." As soon as he came to the door they drew their pistols and threatened, with many curses, to kill him. He told them to shoot, he was not afraid to die, but he demanded that they show some writ on which they made the arrest.

They had no writ to show, but they struck him with their pistols, dragged him to the wagon and tried to drive away. Stephen Markham, however, held the horses although the officers swore they would shoot him, until Emma brought Joseph's coat and hat. It was eight miles to Dixon, and on the way these bad men kept striking him and punching him in the sides with their pistols. When they reached the tavern, where they changed horses, the Prophet was almost fainting. A great spot on each side was black and blue from their blows.