Sunday, December 27, 2020

The late 19th-century Latter-day Saint Belief in the On-Going Role of Joseph Smith in Salvation History

The following comes from Diary Excerpts of Abraham H. Cannon, Internally Dated/Paginated

Vol. 8, 1886 (taken from The New Mormon CD-ROM):

 

                                                      Thursday, Oct. 14th: The following are words spoken by Apostle Moses Thatcher at Lewiston, Cache Co., Utah, 1886. (Original in the hands of W. S. Burton.) "It is my belief that every city, county, precinct and territorial office in this Territory will be in the hands of our enemies; that we shall be so burdened with taxes that it will be almost more than human nature can endure. That we shall cry to the Lord by night and by day for deliverance. That when our hearts are sufficiently subdued that our entire trust will be in the Lord, then shall that man like unto Moses be raised up, and shall lead us out of bondage back to Jackson County in the state of Missouri. There will be no hesitation; everything will be decisive and prompt. The mountains shall tremble before him and if there be a tree or anything else in the way of their progress, it shall be plucked up by the power of God. Then is the time the scriptures will be fulfilled that says: `One shall chase a thousand and two shall put ten thousand to flight.'"

 

                                                      "It is my belief that the time of our deliverance will be within five years, the time indicated being February 14th, 1891. (See Mill. Star, Vol. XV, Page 205) And that the man raised up will be no other than the Prophet Joseph Smith in his resurrected body. The power to lead Israel in the latter days as Moses led them anciently having been sealed upon his head by his father, Joseph Smith, the Patriarch of the Church at that time. If Father Smith had the power to bless, and that he had the power is most certain from the fact that he was ordained to this office and calling by his son, the Prophet, before the above blessing was pronounced upon the head of Joseph, no other man can perform this mission but the Prophet Joseph Smith. (See Mill. Star, Vol. XV, page 620) I do not say all the people of the nation will be destroyed within the time mentioned, but I do say, that in consequence of the wickedness and corruption of the officers of the nation, the government will pass into the hands of the Saints, and that within five years. There will not be a city in the Union that will not be in danger of disruption by the Knights of Labor, who are becoming a formidable power in the land. You people in quiet Lewiston need not be surprised if within the next four years the rails are torn up from Ogden to the Missouri River and to San Francisco and into Montana in the North, leaving us as isolated as we were when we first came to this Territory. There is a power to do this and a disposition to--meaning the Knights of Labor." (A servant of God, holding the power and keys of the Holy Apostleship does not speak in this manner for mere pastime. There is more in these utterances than we are apt to attach to them, unless we are aided by the Spirit of God.)

 

 Further Reading


Joseph Smith Worship? Responding to Criticisms of the Role and Status of the Prophet Joseph Smith in Latter-day Saint Theology




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