First, as always, we started with some history of how Joseph, Hyrum Smith, John Taylor and Willard Richards came to be in Carthage Jail. Rather than read the sanitized version from Our Heritage (they were put in jail for no reason! Imagine!), I had us read from Making Sense of the Doctrine and Covenants: A Guided Tour Through Modern Revelations, courtesy of Mormon Stories Sunday School. Usually Our Heritage isn't too bad but in this section its position as a publication of the Church came through loud and clear. Not only did the reading I use mention the destruction of the printing press, but there were a couple of shout outs to polygamy (also, Joseph Smith's ill-conceived run for the presidency and his desire for a theo-democracy. So much for inspired Constitution drafters. Let's talk about some real history!)
Unable to persuade government officials to redress the wrongs committed against the Latter-day Saints in Missouri, Joseph Smith ran for the office of president of the United States. His campaign platform circulated far and wide in the early months of 1844. Dozens of campaigning missionaries stumped across the country. "There is not a nation or dynasty, now occupying the earth, which acknowledges Almighty God as their lawgiver," Joseph declared. "I go emphatically, virtuously, and humanely for a THEO-DEMOCRACY, where God and the people hold the power to conduct the affairs of men in righteousness." In Nauvoo, meanwhile, Joseph continued to offer the temple ordinances to a few prepared Saints, and in March he gave the apostles the priesthood keys to perform the ordinances and a commission to carry on after his death. He also secretly practiced plural marriage. Joseph's growing political power ignited deep-seated resentment against him among non-Mormons, and a faction of alienated Mormons opposed the revelation on plural marriage. Apostates published a dissenting paper, the Expositor, on June 7, that publicized Joseph's private life and attacked his religious and political leadership. As mayor, Joseph led the Nauvoo city council to a decision to destroy the press as a public nuisance. The action seemed despotic to antagonists inside and outside of Nauvoo, and it gave Joseph's enemies an opportunity to denounce and prosecute him. As a result, Illinois governor Thomas Ford summoned Joseph to Carthage, the Hancock County seat, to answer charges of inciting a riot.
Although I don't think Joseph and Hyrum deserved to die, the fact is, there was a reason they were in jail.
Then we read Willard Richards's account of what happened that fateful night from the lesson manual:
A shower of musket balls were thrown up the stairway against the door of the prison in the second story, followed by many rapid footsteps. …A ball was sent through the door, which passed between us, and showed that our enemies were desperadoes. … Joseph Smith, Mr. Taylor and myself sprang back to the front part of the room, and … Hyrum Smith retreated two-thirds across the chamber directly in front of and facing the door. A ball was sent through the door which hit Hyrum on the side of his nose, when he fell backwards, extended at length, without moving his feet. From the holes in his [clothing], it appears evident that a ball must have been thrown from without, through the window, which entered his back on the right side, and passing through, lodged against his watch. … At the same instant the ball from the door entered his nose. As he struck the floor he exclaimed emphatically, ‘I am a dead man.’
Joseph looked towards him and responded, ‘Oh, dear brother Hyrum!’ and opening the door two or three inches with his left hand, discharged one barrel of a six shooter (pistol) at random in the entry. … A ball [from the musket of one of the mob] grazed Hyrum’s breast, and entering his throat passed into his head, while other muskets were aimed at him and some balls hit him. Joseph continued snapping his revolver round the casing of the door into the space as before … , while Mr. Taylor with a walking stick stood by his side and knocked down the bayonets and muskets which were constantly discharging through the doorway. …
When the revolver failed, we had no more firearms, and expected an immediate rush of the mob, and the doorway full of muskets, half way in the room, and no hope but instant death from within. Mr. Taylor rushed into the window, which is some fifteen or twenty feet from the ground. When his body was nearly on a balance, a ball from the door within entered his leg, and a ball from without struck his watch … in his vest pocket near the left breast, … the force of which ball threw him back on the floor, and he rolled under the bed which stood by his side. …
Joseph attempted, as the last resort, to leap [from] the same window from whence Mr. Taylor fell, when two balls pierced him from the door, and one entered his right breast from without, and he fell outward, exclaiming, ‘Oh Lord, my God!’ … He fell on his left side a dead man” Elder John Taylor was shot four times but recovered from his wounds.
I let the class ponder that for a moment and discussed how devastating this must have been for these early Saints who had given up so much, been driven from place to place, and then ultimately lost their prophet who they had followed this far.
Next we read D&C 135, John Taylor's eulogy for the brothers Smith.
In the spirit of a eulogy, I told the class we were going to talk about all of the doctrines that Joseph Smith established and all of the things he did to create the Church as we know it today.
(As a side note, it's a hard balance to talk about "doctrines" and "restoration" and such when I'm at such a place of questioning the Church in my own mind. I am very careful about how I say things, and try my best not to say anything I don't believe. For instance, I might say something like "Joseph Smith said..." or "Joseph Smith taught...", rather than "Joseph Smith restored..." It's tricky, but I'm trying to be honest.)
We read and discussed the following scriptures and quotes related to specific doctrines:
- Nature of the Godhead (D&C 130:22-23)
- Restoration of the Priesthood (D&C 107:6)
- Scriptures
While serving in the Quorum of the Twelve, Elder Gordon B. Hinckley said: “[Joseph Smith] translated and published the Book of Mormon, a volume of 522 pages which has since been retranslated into [many] languages and which is accepted by millions across the earth as the word of God. The revelations he received and other writings he produced are likewise scripture to these millions. The total in book pages constitutes the equivalent of almost the entire Old Testament of the Bible, and it all came through one man in the space of a few years.
- Baptism for the dead and other temple ordinances (D&C 128:18)
- Word of Wisdom (D&C 89:1-3)
- Articles of Faith
Because no matter what my feelings are about the Church, there is no doubt that this one man's actions have dramatically impacted my life. Several class members shared their feelings about the Church, and what they have gained from the Church, and it wound up being a nice period of sharing.
Finally, from Making Sense of the Doctrine and Covenants, I read the following:
That is Joseph Smith's significance and his appeal: he revealed the answers to the ultimate questions. Why am I here? Where did I come from? Where am I going? Is there purpose in life? What is the nature of the Fall? Are individuals accountable agents or are their actions predetermined? What is the nature of Christ's atonement? What about those who do not hear the gospel in mortality? And perhaps above all, what is the nature of God? He thus died as a testator—a witness—and Doctrine and Covenants 135 declares that though a testator can be killed, his testimony endures forever.
ITNOJC, Amen.
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