In his 1882 book, The Martyrs, Lyman O. Littlefield wrote the following about the perpetuity of the Church in this dispensation and made some comments on the terms “Mormon” and “Mormonism” similar to the recent guidelines from Russell M. Nelson (cf. my friend Stephen Smoot's A "Mormon" By Any Other Name):
Since the death of Joseph Smith about thirty-eight years have passed, and the doctrines he promulgated have been steadily gaining converts. Those who have embraced them have penetrated almost every country on the globe and carried the glad message to the honest-in-heart, whose ears have tingled with the welcome sound and their hearts been made to believe. Year after year has witnessed the fulfillment of prophecy, and editors, priests and people of the world, in alarm and astonishment, have repeatedly asked the question which Isaiah asked: “Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far.” “They that erred in spirit” have “come to understanding, and they that murmured” have “learned doctrine.”
The Book of Mormon has been published in many editions of the English language. It has also been translated and printed in seven or eight other languages, thus going far to bring to pass the words of Moroni, that “the knowledge which this record contains will go to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people under the whole heaven.”
The people of the world make a great mistake when they think the perpetuity of the gospel depends upon the life of any man. Men are mortal, and must die; but truth is eternal and consequently will live forever. (Daniel ii, 44.) “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms and it shall stand forever.”
If the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints be this kingdom, then will it stand, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it; but if it is not, then will it surely come to nought and fall.
When Joseph Smith was taken, the Lord had another man in readiness to take his place and lead His people. Brigham Young was that man, and the wonderful work that was performed during his leadership of about thirty-three years has astonished the whole civilized world. A recapitulation of what was accomplished during his presidency would be far too elaborate for the limits of this work. But the name of this champion of truth and justice is familiar to all men of reading and intelligence. The same spirit of persecution followed him that followed Joseph Smith, but he had the blessed privilege, at least, of dying in peace in his own house, surrounded by his friends, and amidst the endearments and consolations of home.
Many then entertained the idea that the success of “Mormonism,” as it is called by the world, depended upon him. But after he had gone the way of all flesh, the glorious truths of the gospel still lived. John Taylor stepped into his position, with ability and experience sufficient, with the blessings and favor of heaven, to conduct the work successfully. And thus will it be ad infinitum, from the leadership of one to another, until the kingdom is prepared to be delivered up to the Son of Man when He shall become the king and ruler of the whole earth.
These facts are calculated to inspire hope and confidence in the midst of the Saints and should disabuse the sectarian mind of the false idea that the success of the work of the Lord depends upon the lives of men. And if it be true that “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church,” it would be wise policy in them to change their mode of warfare against the Saints; throw down carnal weapons, and trust the success of their systems to the moral force of their principles.
What a shame in a professedly Christian country, that men should be treated with the violence and indignities that have hitherto been meted out to the Latter-day Saints . . . The reason is of easy solution, and was foretold by Moroni. It was revealed among the first utterances of the angel of God to Joseph Smith, when the two great powers were presented to him and the mission of each explained. The prince of darkness with his innumerable hosts began the work of antagonism the very hour the records of the Nephites were delivered to Joseph, and the opposition has grown stronger from that time in a corresponding ratio to the spread of the gospel. And as the sects are acting without authority, so far as the sanction of the heavens is concerned, they are ready to make common cause against the restored authority of the Son of Man. (Lyman O. Littlefield, The Martyrs; A Sketch of the Lives and a Full Account of the Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, together with A Concise Review of the Most Prominent Incidents Connected with the Persecutions of the Saints from the time the Church was Organized up to the Year 1846 (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1882], 117-18, 119)
