My dear brethren and sisters and friends, I am deeply honored by the bestowal of the Alexander W. Doniphan award. This bust (the award) is an honor in its own right, but the even greater honor is to have my name mentioned in the same sentence with his!
This is such a challenging world! As our presence here, near Liberty, Missouri, powerfully reminds us, the course of the Church in navigating the waters of government forbearance has never been an easy one—not from the moment the young prophet, Joseph Smith, walked out of that grove of trees!
While we still face challenges from governments as we seek to establish the Church in every land, thankfully we have moved beyond the era of the government-condoned persecutions of the nineteenth century. It is so difficult for us, even with our best efforts, to imagine what it was like to be a Latter-day Saint on the frontier of western Missouri in the Fall of 1838. Palpable hostility from the so-called “old settlers”; beatings; tar and featherings; pillaging; privation; even molestation and murder—these were what being a “Mormon” entailed in those sun-less days and star-less nights.
The debt owed by Latter-day Saints to Alexander W. (or “Will”) Doniphan—as he was known to his associates—is virtually immeasurable. But for his courageous stand in the public square at Far West on a dark October day in 1838, the Prophet Joseph Smith would have been martyred six years earlier than he was. There was nothing personally to be gained by Will Doniphan in refusing the order of a superior militia officer to execute Joseph any more than there was to be gained in defending him in the arraignment hearing convened by Judge Austin A. King in Richmond a few days later. Will Doniphan was an ambitious young lawyer, entrepreneur, politician, and militia commander, who would seem by worldly standards to have everything to gain from a go-along-get-along attitude in such matters. But, as his long and storied life would demonstrate, above all else, he was a man of principle.
A hero in the Mexican War; the first commissioner of education of Clay County and a founding trustee of Jewell College; and one of the finest lawyers of his day; Doniphan has been described as the “Renaissance man of the western frontier”. Later, in those other dark days of December 1860, when one slave state after another was seceding from the union, Will Doniphan stood up courageously and argued eloquently—in a slave state!—for the preservation of the union. Perhaps the most significant compliment he ever received was from Abraham Lincoln, who said to him upon their first meeting, “You are the only man I ever met who in appearance came up to my previous expectation.”
Alexander W. Doniphan was a man of principle, but he was not the only man of principle in western Missouri that desperate fall of 1838. Tonight, I would speak to you of another. I would speak to you of Joseph Smith, the Prophet of the Lord.
I
In some respects—like a caterpillar entering its cocoon and emerging sometime later as a magnificent butterfly—the youthful prophet, who walked into the dark and filthy confines of the Liberty Jail dungeon on December 1, 1838, emerged four and one-half months later from that living sarcophagus as a more mature, more seasoned, more Christ-like prophet of the Lord. It is about that Liberty Jail experience—and its legacy of love, law and individual liberty—that I would speak this evening.
In fact, I have entitled these remarks Love, Law and Liberty. I draw that title from the experiences of the Prophet Joseph Smith while he was imprisoned in the Liberty Jail in the winter of 1838-39. Of all the challenging seasons in his eventful life, those wintery months in that dungeon may have been the bleakest for Joseph. But with faith and good cheer he looked Adversity in the eye and stared it down. And he did it with courage and grace. In so doing, he has left a legacy of love—a love of God, a love of righteousness and a love of the law that inspires us yet today some 175 years later. That love expressed in his epistles from those cramped, dismal, miserable quarters provides an exalting perspective on meeting life’s challenges. That love provides an entirely new meaning to the term, “Liberty Jail”; for an enriched understanding of the principle of true “liberty” flowed forth from it like the mighty Missouri River itself.
But that is not how it first appeared to Joseph and his five companions as they were thrust into those despicable quarters that cold December day. If ever there was an oxymoron, “Liberty Jail” has got to be it! Cold, filthy, cramped, dark, destitute of even the rudest implements of civilization, its guards vile and uncouth—in all outward respects that harsh cell was cruel and forbidding; its name—“Liberty”—about as inapt as any imaginable. But when considered in light of what shone forth from the depths of its privations, “Liberty” could not be a more appropriate name. Someone—I am not sure who—has said, “Only with his body captive could he truly liberate his mind.” The Liberty Jail has been called the “prison-temple” because of the inspired writings and teachings that emanated from within its forbidding walls.
II
Western Missouri in late October 1838 was not a happy place for the Latter-day Saints. Having been driven from Jackson County some five years earlier, their presence now in Daviess, Caldwell, Clay and Ray counties also had become precarious. Governor Lilburn W. Boggs had just issued his infamous “Extermination Order” to the state militia commanding it to either “exterminate” the Mormons, or drive them from the state. This order was instrumental in the massacre that occurred at Haun’s Mill on October 30, 1838.
And so it was that a large militia force under General Lucas converged on Far West, the Saints principal settlement, on the evening of that same day. The next day, under false assurances from a militia officer that General Lucas wished to negotiate, the Prophet Joseph Smith and a few others entered the camp of the militia, only to be taken prisoner. That first night they were held captive in the open, subject to a cold and constant rain. The next morning, Lucas issued his order to General Doniphan, another militia general, for the execution of the captives. But Doniphan flatly refused to obey it, declaring upon solemn oath that he would hold Lucas responsible before an earthly tribunal if he carried out such a despicable act. Lucas blinked. Joseph and his brethren were spared.
From Far West they were marched to Independence and eventually to Richmond. There, for twelve days during November 1838, Joseph Smith and his associates were tried in an arraignment hearing before Judge Austin A. King, himself a mobocrat. Witness after witness, spouting false accusations of treason and other crimes, were called by their persecutors. Joseph and his compatriots were not permitted to call any witnesses. Those they did ask to appear were themselves jailed or intimidated into silence. At the end of the hearing, Judge King consigned Joseph Smith and five others to Liberty Jail where they were to remain until spring when they would be taken to Daviess County and tried on these very charges with the penalty of death a likely outcome.
III
The conditions at the Liberty Jail were deplorable. The winter was bitterly cold. The food was coarse and filthy. The ceiling height in the basement of the jail where the prisoners were kept—literally a windowless dungeon—was so low that they could not stand upright. They were forced to sleep either on a bare stone floor or filthy straw mats; and through it all they were forced to put up with the reviling of their guards. These conditions would continue to exist through that long, frigid winter.
If ever there were circumstances to justify the nurturing of bitter, vengeful hatred on the part of those imprisoned, the Liberty Jail provided them. It was as close to a hell on earth as one could imagine, but it had none of those effects upon Joseph. Listen to the tone of one written communication from the Prophet to the suffering saints:
“Your humble servant, Joseph Smith, Jr., prisoner for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the Saints . . . in company with his fellow prisoners and beloved brethren . . . send unto you all greeting. May the grace of God the Father, and of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, rest upon you all, and abide with you forever.May knowledge be multiplied unto you by the mercy of God. And may faith and virtue, and knowledge and temperance, and patience and godliness, and brotherly kindness and charity be in you and abound, that you may not be barren in anything nor unfruitful. . . For our circumstances are calculated to awaken our spirits to a sacred remembrance of everything, and we think that yours are also, and that nothing, therefore, can separate us from the love of God and fellowship one with another, and that every species of wickedness and cruelty practiced upon us will only tend to bind our hearts together and seal them together in love . . . 1
And so, imprisoned though he was in the most wretched of circumstances, Joseph Smith, the Prophet of the Lord, resisted a very human temptation to hate and revile. Instead he reached upward to heaven and outward to his beloved saints in love and generosity; and in so doing, Joseph and the Master converted a filthy, squalid jail in an obscure frontier settlement into a sacred temple. From that temple came some of Joseph’s most treasured writings—sacred revelations that would inspire not only Joseph and his fellow prisoners, but generations of Latter-day Saints ever since, with courage and faith and reassurance, and the promise of redemption in the midst of life’s most difficult trials and challenges.
Truly it can be said that through the Liberty Jail experience, the Prophet Joseph Smith became more Christ-like despite all that he suffered so illegally and unfairly; and despite the terrible crimes perpetrated against the Latter- day Saints and the privations they suffered, the Liberty Jail experience had a broadening effect on his mind. Listen to these words in regards to tolerance that he penned from his cell:
“We ought always to be aware of the prejudices which sometimes so strangely present themselves, and are so congenial to human nature, against our friends, neighbors, and brethren of the world, who choose to differ from us in opinion and in matters of faith. Our religion is between us and our God. Their religion is between them and their God. There is a love from God that should be exercised towards those of our faith, who walk uprightly, which is peculiar to itself, but it is without prejudice; it also gives scope to the mind, which enables us to conduct ourselves with greater liberality towards all that are not of our faith, than what they exercise toward one another.”
In other words, the Prophet was teaching the people that the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which we profess to embrace, should make us kinder and more magnanimous toward those not of our faith (including those who persecute us!) than they are towards one another. What a stunning insight about love of God and others coming out of such wretched circumstances as presented by the Liberty Jail!
IV
Through it all, Joseph never lost faith in the sacredness, power, and legitimacy of the law, especially as written in the Constitution of the United States. Wrote he:
“Here is a principle also, which they are bound to be exercised with, that is, in common with all men, such as governments, and laws, and regulations in the civil concerns of life. This principle guarantees to all parties, sects, and denominations, and classes of religion, equal, inherent, and indefeasible rights; they are things that pertain to this life; therefore all are alike interested; they make up our responsibilities one towards another in matters of corruptible things, while the former principles respecting religion do not destroy the latter, but bind us stronger, and make up our responsibilities not only to another, but unto God also. Hence we say, that the Constitution of the United States is a glorious standard; it is founded in the wisdom of God. It is a heavenly banner; it is to all those who are privileged with the sweets of its liberty, like the cooling shades and refreshing waters of a great rock in a thirsty and weary land. It is like a great tree under whose branches men from every climb can be shielded from the burning rays of the sun. We brethren, are deprived of the protection of its glorious principles, by the cruelty of the cruel, by those who only look for the time- being for pasturage, like the beasts of the field, only to fill themselves; and forget that the Mormons, as well as the Presbyterians, and those of every other class and description, have equal rights to partake of the fruits of the great tree of our National liberty.”
This is a most remarkable declaration of the divine principles enshrined in the Constitution of the United States. The description of the significance of the Constitution outlined by Joseph Smith – from a jail cell! – have never been more relevant than they are this very day. We live in a time when there are those who strive to separate what is “constitutional” from what is “religious”. There are those who shout in the public square that those with religious views have no place in that very forum, some even suggesting that lawyers have no “ethical” right defending the law based on their perceptions of morality and religion! These are they who would deny the democratic voice to those who are motivated by religious and moral perspectives or otherwise disagree with them.
But Joseph Smith, living in the filth and degradation of a jail cell to which he had been cruelly and illegally consigned, asserted that the Constitution is like a great tree that extends its magnificent branches over all regardless of religion or other persuasion. It exists to protect the rights of all to be heard and for the interest of all to be properly considered in the halls of government. Joseph concluded this exposition on the Constitution with these words:
“We say that God is true; that the Constitution of the United States is true; that the Bible is true; that the Book of Mormon is true; that the Book of Doctrine and Covenants is true; that Christ is true; that the ministering angels sent forth from God are true; and that we know that we have an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens, whose builder and maker is God, a consolation which our oppressors cannot feel, when fortune, or fate, shall lay its iron hand on them as it has on us.”
And so it was as B. H. Roberts has observed, that “the eyes of the saints were turned [to Liberty Jail] as the place whence would come encouragement, counsel – the word of the Lord. It was more temple than prison, so long as the Prophet was there.”
V
If Joseph’s thoughts were turned to the Constitution and its vital role in governing among the affairs of men, he was also drawn by revelation to the basic principles underlying the government of the Church. These revelations were less about organization and structure than they were about the qualities of heart and mind that must characterize those who are called to minister in the Church and Kingdom of Jesus Christ. Who among us has not committed virtually to memory these words found in Doctrine and Covenants Section 121:
“Behold there are many called but few are chosen. And why are they not chosen? Because their hearts are set so much upon the things of this world, and aspire to the honors of men, that they do not learn this one lesson – that the rights of the Priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of Heaven, and that the powers of Heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness. That they may be conferred upon us, it is true; but when we undertake to cover our sins, or to gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to exercise control or dominion or compulsion upon the souls of the children of me, in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the Heavens withdraw themselves; the spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man . . . Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distill upon thy soul as the dews from Heaven. The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.”
Such writings and revelations are magnificent in their own right. However, what sanctifies them are the circumstances under which they were given and received. If Joseph was a great man and a prophet, he was also still a man. He was human. He shivered in the cold. His heart ached with the separation from family, friends, and his beloved Saints. And at his lowest point he could not help but wonder where his God had gone.
“Oh God, where art thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place? How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye, yea thy pure eye behold from the eternal Heavens the wrongs of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries?”
But then came this most comforting of replies:
“My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then if thou endure it well God shall exalt thee on high; and thou shalt triumph over all thy foes. . . Know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good. The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he; therefore, hold on thy way, and the priesthood shall remain with thee; for their bounds are set, they cannot pass. Thy days are known, and thy years shall not be numbered less; therefore, fear not what man can do, for God shall be with you forever and ever.”
None of us would ever wish for the challenges, heartaches disappointments and tribulations of this mortal sphere. The Prophet Joseph did not seek for them either, but they came to him anyway, just as they come to us. Not all of life’s prisons are made of concrete, mortar and steel. Who among us has not been hedged in—confined—by disappointment, ill health, loss of a loved one, failure, betrayal, financial reversal, wayward children, or any of the myriad other tragedies that inevitably befall us. So often they come as unfairly and undeservedly as they did to Joseph Smith, cast into a filthy cell on false accusations.
But in that experience Joseph came to appreciate the most fundamental reality of mortal life in a way that he had not—and perhaps could not—previously. He learned exquisitely to the depths of his soul the reality of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. More than he ever had before, Joseph learned to appreciate the depths to which Jesus had descended in order that he might lift us up, not only to eternal life, but even in the very moment of our deepest anguish here in this life. And in that moment, the door to Joseph’s prison was thrown open! Oh, he would remain incarcerated in the Liberty Jail for an additional time; but he had found true “Liberty” in that jail.
To you and me, the Savior also stands with hands outstretched, holding the key to whatever “prison” we, too, may find ourselves in. Life’s problems and challenges may not disappear any more rapidly for us than they did for Joseph in the wretched circumstances of his dungeon cell. Some must be shouldered daily, even for a lifetime. Mortal life is like that. It is repeatedly threatening us with “confinement” in some adverse circumstance or another. But when it does, may we think of a young man in a filthy prison and the Master, who descended below all things for us, and these profoundly comforting words, “The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he; therefore, hold on thy way…”
VI
In our admiration for Joseph and his magnificent ascendancy over his wretched circumstance, we must also remember his very human anguish, the tenderness of his feelings for his suffering family…and especially for his Emma. Being Valentine’s Day today, many of us will have exchanged cards and expressions of love. Brethren, the wisest among us will have presented some more tangible manifestation of endearment to our beloved! None such were available to Joseph in that cell. Scraps of paper and a quill were all he had. But on these scraps he has left for us another legacy of love—his love for her, his eternal companion. Those expressions endure as a timeless lodestar for every husband in the expression of his feelings for his eternal companion.
By March 1, 1839, Joseph had been in prison for more than three months. No prospect of release had yet appeared and the specter of a “kangaroo” trial and execution loomed very much before him. On that day, he penned these lines to Emma:
“Affectionate wife,
I have sent an epistle to the Church directed to you because I wanted you to have the first reading of it . . . I want to be with you very much but the powers of mobocracy [are] too many for me at present…My dear Emma, I very well know your toils and sympathize with you. If God will spare my life once more to have the privilege of taking care of you, I will ease your care and endeavor to comfort your heart. I want you to take the best care of the family that you can. I believe that you will do all you can . . . God ruleth all things after the council of his own will. My trust is in him. The salvation of my soul is of the most [importance] to me. For as much as I know for a certainty of eternal things, if the heavens linger, it is nothing to me. I must steer my bark safe, which I intend to do. I want you to do the same. Yours forever, Joseph.”
Then, these words just a month later, April 4 th , on the eve of his departure from the jail, perhaps to trial and death:
“Dear and affectionate wife,
“Thursday night I sat down just as the sun is going down . . . [in] this lonesome prison to write to you that I may make known to you my situation. It is, I believe, now about five months and six days since I have been under. . . guard night and day, and within the walls, grates and screaking iron doors of a lonesome, dark, dirty prison. With emotions known only to God, do I write this letter. The contemplations of the mind under these circumstances defy the pen or tongue or angels to describe or paint to the human being who never experienced what we experience. This night, we expect, is the last night we shall try our weary joints and bones on our dirty straw couches in these walls. . . as we expect to start tomorrow for Daviess County for our trial. . . We lean on the arm of Jehovah and none else for our deliverance. And if he [doesn’t] do it, it will not be done . . . My dear Emma, I think of you and the children continually. . . [I]f you want to know how much I want to see you, examine your feelings how much you want to see me and judge for yourself. I would gladly walk from here to you barefoot and bareheaded and half-naked to see you. And I [would] think it great pleasure and never count it toil. But do not think I am babyish, for I do not feel so. I bear with fortitude all my oppression, so do those that are with me. Not one of us has flinched yet. I want that you should not let those little fellows forget me. Tell them father loves them with a perfect love . . . Do teach them all you can that they may have good minds. Be tender and kind to them…Joseph”
No one who has been separated at length from beloved wife or husband, especially under the cloud of an uncertain future, can read or hear those words and not feel the ache in Joseph’s heart for the wife of his bosom. But notwithstanding, he was determined to see his ordeal through to its conclusion, whatever that might mean, even death.
When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply.
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.
The gold in Joseph’s noble soul was most certainly refined by the fiery trials of Liberty Jail. He would walk out of that prison to a happy reunion with Emma and the children. It would not always be thus for him; the martyrdom temporarily forestalled by the bravery of Will Doniphan would eventually be his lot. But the refined gold of Joseph’s Principle yet shines brilliantly—and will forever—in the legacy of love and law that glows from the dark shadows of a jail called Liberty…
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BH Roberts Comprehensive history of the church, Chapter 38