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When Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum started
for Carthage to face what they knew would be an imminent
martyrdom, Hyrum read these words of comfort to the heart
of his brother: "Thou hast been faithful; wherefore ...
thou shalt be made strong, even unto the sitting down
in the place which I have prepared
in the mansions of my Father."
A few short verses from the 12th chapter of Ether
in the Book of Mormon.
Before closing the book, Hyrum turned down
the corner of the page from which he had read,
marking it as part of the everlasting testimony
for which these two brothers were about to die.
I hold in my hand that book, the very copy
from which Hyrum read, the same corner of the page turned down,
still visible.
Later, when actually incarcerated in the jail,
Joseph the Prophet bore a powerful testimony
of the divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon.
Shortly thereafter pistol and ball
would take the lives of these two testators.
In this their greatest and last hour of need,
I ask you: would these men blaspheme before God
by continuing to fix their lives, their honor,
and their own search for eternal salvation
on a book (and by implication a church and a ministry)
they had fictitiously created out of whole cloth?
Never mind that their wives are about to be widows
and their children fatherless.
Never mind that their little band of followers
will yet be houseless, homeless, and friendless
and that their children will leave footprints of blood
across frozen rivers and an untamed prairie floor.
Never mind that legions will die and other legions live
declaring in the four corners of this earth
that they know the Book of Mormon
and the Church which espouses it to be true.
Disregard all of that, and tell me
whether in this hour of death these two men
would enter the presence of their Eternal Judge
quoting from and finding solace in a book which,
if not the very word of God, would brand them
as impostors and charlatans until the end of time?
They would not do that!
They were willing to die rather than deny
the divine origin and the eternal truthfulness
of the Book of Mormon.
The Book of Mormon is true and was
given to bring happiness and hope
to the faithful in the travail of the last days.
Brothers and sisters, God always provides safety for the soul,
and with the Book of Mormon, He has again
done that in our time.
Remember this declaration by Jesus
Himself: "Whoso treasureth up my word, shall not be deceived."
And in the last days neither your heart nor your faith
will fail you.
Of this I earnestly testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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