The Mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith

THE MISSION OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH. BY EDWARD H. ANDERSON, IN "MANUAL FOR JUNIOR CLASSES,'1 1908-9. Joseph Smith was not quite thirty-nine year? of age, when he was called upon to lay down his life for the cause that he was instrumental in the hands of God in establishing upon the earth. His life is a wonderful example of progress and action. Think Joseph Smith the Prophet was born in Sharon, Windsor county, Vermont, December 23, 1805. Tne pond below the cottage at his birth-place is here shown. of what he learned and achieved in those years ! His whole career teaches the value and nobility of work. But it teaches also that the work we do should be agreeable to the will of our Father in heaven; also that his will can be known by every one of us, if we do as Joseph did, — ask the Lord in faith.

THE MISSION OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH 115 While Joseph Smith was still a boy, he sought God in prayer and found him; as a result he startled all the world with the knowledge that God is in the likeness of man ; and that he can and will reveal himself to men in answer to prayer; just as well today as in Bible times. As a youth, Joseph was shown heavenly visions which taught many precious truths, among them the hidden resting place of a wonderful record of the old inhabitants of America, containing the fulness of the gospel, and which he later obtained, translated by the gift and power of God, and published in his poverty, to the world. Hundreds of thousands of copies of the Book of Mormon have since been distributed, in many languages, and in many nations of the earth, and read with profit by the people. As Joseph ripened into young manhood, and when he was less than twenty-five years of age, he organized, by command of God, the Church of Jesus Christ, and, by appointment, stood at the head of the greatest gospel dispensation in the history of the world. As a man, Joseph laid the foundation of the Church, God's "marvelous work and a wonder," so broad and strong that those laborers who have followed after find in it no defects; but, on the General view of the birth-place of Joseph Smith the Prophet, Sharon, Vermont. The Green Mountains in the distance.

116 IMPROVEMENT ERA. contrary, ample room and scope to erect a magnificent superstructure. He revealed the most complete, strong, admirable and perfect organization for the government of the Church, ever known among men. No other has ever equaled it. Then, in the revelations he received, he pointed out to coming generations the way for the growth and advancement of that organization. He was a philosopher, and as such he laid bare eternal truths that were far in advance of the thought of the day and time in Asael Smith was the grandfather of the Prophet. He was born March 8, 1744, and died at this place, Winthrop, St. Lawrence County, New York. which he lived; and that even yet direct the way to fields unexplored by men of great learning. As a writer, he added to literature some of the loftiest, most powerful, and most beautiful poems of the age. The Book of Mormon, the Pearl of Great Price, the Doctrine and Covenants, and his autobiography, contain sublime thoughts that invite the careful study of every seeker after truth. Witness the "Three Glories," the "Prophecy of Enoch," the "Prayer in Liberty Jail," — proclaiming universal salvation; the glory of ancient and modern Zion; the mystery of human suffering and the evils of unrighteous dominion. "I affirm," says Orson F. Whitney, (Improvement Era,

THE MISSION OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH SMITH. 117 Vol. 9, page 143), "that the mind which could grasp such splendid and exalted principles, and utter them in a manner so powerful, was essentially a literary mind, the mind of a prophet and a poet, than whom none mightier, save the very Son of God, ever struck the harp of truth, and made it vibrant with the music of the spheres." As a prophet Joseph Smith penetrated the vistas of unborn years, and placed the view of the future before men of today, for their edification and salvation. He made the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ so plain, so simple, so fascinating, that thousands go out by authority received through him, without price, as did the disciples of old, to proclaim the glad message anew: ''The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the poor have the gospel preached to them;" and the Lord works with them, "confirming the word with signs following." He proclaimed the coming of Elijah to "Turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to the fathers " He founded temples and revealed their ordinances. He taught I -, '■':■:/: -^ ■ »«" M If 1; .«MMPteMl~w -- , * — i— »^ - ." K :'"... '■ ■'.'■ * rr , [ Photo hy George Albert Smith] German E." Ellsworth and Mrs. George Albert Smith are standiug upon the spot where stood the old home of Peter Whitmer, Fayette, Seneca County, N. X., where the Church was organized, April 6, 1830.

118 IMPROVEMENT ERA. the doctrine of the gathering of Israel in the last days, and aided in the gathering of many thousands of the Saints; he founded a great city; and foretold the migration of the Saints to the Rocky Mountains where, he prophetically announced, they were to become a great and mighty people. He received and gave authority to bind and to loose on earth, that it might be bound and loosed in heaven. He taught the sacredness and the eternity of the marriage [Photo by George Albert Smith] The old home of John Smith, father of President George A. Smith, and the birthplace of the last named — Pottsdam, St. Lawrence County, New York. covenant; proclaimed the pre-existence of man; and made known humanity's close relationship to God, by declaring that in man the germ of Godhood lies concealed. At length, while budding into the prime and strength of full manhood, even as the Savior before him, he sealed his mission with his blood. He died a martyr — but his works live on and grow in magnitude as the years roll by, and mankind will yet recognize that in the truths which God revealed to him, lie all the foundation principles of man's eternal progress.