Transcript O God, where art thou? [email protected] Big Lou as a child Pioneer Day 1887

O God, where art thou?
[email protected]
Big Lou as
a child
Pioneer Day 1887
Liberty Jail
Emma Smith
March 6th, 1839
"I shall not attempt to write my feelings altogether, for the
situation in which you are, the walls, bars, and bolts, rolling
rivers, running streams, rising hills, sinking vallies and
spreading prairies that separate us, and the cruel injustice that
first cast you into prison and still holds you there, with many
other considerations, places my feelings far beyond
description…
No one but God, knows the reflections of my mind and the feelings of my heart
when I left our house and home, and allmost all of every thing that we
possessed excepting our little children, and took my journey out of the State of
Missouri, leaving you shut up in that lonesome prison. But the recollection is
more than human nature ought to bear. . . . The daily sufferings of our brethren
in travelling and camping out nights, and those on the other side of the river
would beggar the most lively description. The people in this state (Quincy,
Illinois) are very kind indeed, they are doing much more than we ever
anticipated they would;
I have many more things I could like to write but have not time and you may be
astonished at my bad writing and incoherent manner, but you will pardon all
when you reflect how hard it would be for you to write, when your hands were
stiffened with hard work, and your heart convulsed with intense anxiety. But I
hope there is better days to come to us yet.
March 20th, 1839
Joseph’s Response
… but oh! the unrelenting hand the inhumanity and murderous disposition of this
people it shocks all nature it beggers and defies all discription.
it is a tail of wo, a lamentable tail, yea a sorrifull tail too much to tell, too much for
contemplation, too much to think of for a moment, to much for human beings
it cannot be found among the hethans, it cannot be found among the nations
where Kings and tyrants are inthroned it cannot be found among the savages
of the wilderness yea and I think it cannot be found among the wild and
ferocious beasts of the forist that a man should be mangled for sport women
be violated of all that they have their last morsel for subsistance, and then be
violated to gratify the hell[i]sh desires of the mob and finally left to perish with
their helpless ofspring clinging around their necks …
They practise <these> things upon the saints who have done them no rong who
are inocent and virtuous who loved the Lord their god and were willing to
forsaik all things for his <Christ> sake
these things are awfull to relait but they are verily true it must needs bee that
offences come, but WO! to them by whom they come.
O God where art thou and where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place…
The Answer:
"The floodgates of our hearts were lifted and our eyes were a fountain of
tears, but those who have not been enclosed in the walls of prison
without cause or provocation, can have but little idea how sweet the
voice of a friend is;
one token of friendship from any source whatever awakens and calls into
action every sympathetic feeling; it brings up in an instant everything
that is passed; it seizes the present with the avidity of lightning; it
grasps after the future with the fierceness of a tiger; it moves the mind
backward and forward, from one thing to another,
until finally all enmity, malice and hatred, and past differences,
misunderstandings and mismanagements are slain victorious at the
feet of hope; and when the heart is sufficiently contrite, then the voice
of inspiration steals along and whispers,
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; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes; thy friends do stand
by thee, and they shall hail thee again, with warm hearts and friendly
hands
Question:
Do we have our own “prison
experiences”?
How critical are friends during
our own “prison experiences”?
Is there anything we shouldn’t
expect from friends?
Tale of two Cities
Mosiah 4:1 People of King Benjamin
And now, king Benjamin thought it was
expedient… that he should take the
names of all those who had entered into
a covenant with God.
2 And it came to pass that there was not one
soul, except it were little children, but
who had entered into the covenant …
Alma 23:5 [Anti-Nephi-Lehi’s]
And thousands were brought to the
knowledge of the Lord, …
6 And as sure as the Lord liveth, … as many
of the Lamanites as believed in their
preaching, and were converted unto the
Lord, never did fall away.
Alma 27:11 And it came to pass that Ammon
went and inquired of the Lord, and the
Lord said unto him:
12 Get this people out of this land, that they
perish not…
14 And they gathered together all their
people, yea, all the people of the Lord,
and did gather together all their flocks
and herds, and departed out of the land
Mosiah 26:1 Now it came to pass that there
were many of the rising generation …
and they did not believe the tradition of
their fathers.
2 They did not believe what had been said …
and their hearts were hardened.
Alma 53:21 Yea, [the stripling warriors] were
men of truth and soberness, for they had
been taught to keep the commandments
of God and to walk uprightly before him
Section 121
Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
From the Latin vir
The radical sense is strength, from
straining, stretching, extending.
45 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 distil upon thy soul as the dews from
heaven.
46 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
Prophet’s commentary on verse 45
Virtue is one of the most prominent principles that
enables us to have confidence
in approaching our Father who
is in heaven in order to ask
wisdom at his hand
Therefore if thou wilt cherish this
principle in thine heart thou
mayest ask with all Confidence
before him and it shall be
poured out upon thine head
and thou shalt not lack any
thing that thy soul desires in
truth.
(Cottle and Cottle, Liberty Jail, p. 81)
Receive Answers
To Prayers
Let Virtue Garnish
our thoughts
Pray with
Confidence
President Hinckley
President Joseph F. Smith had the following
dream while serving as missionary in Hawaii:
“
…I dreamed [one night] that I was on a journey, and I
was impressed that I ought to hurry—hurry with all my might, for fear I might
be too late. I rushed on my way as fast as I possibly could, and I was only
conscious of having just a little bundle, a handkerchief with a small bundle
wrapped in it. I did not realize just what it was, when I was hurrying as fast as I
could; but finally I came to a wonderful mansion. … I thought I knew that was
my destination.
As I passed towards it, as fast as I could, I saw a notice, ‘Bath.’
I turned aside quickly and went into the bath and washed
myself clean. I opened up this little bundle that I had, and
there was a pair of white, clean garments, a thing I had
not seen for a long time, because the people I was with
did not think very much of making things exceedingly clean.
But my garments were clean, and I put them on. Then I
rushed to what appeared to be a great opening, or door.
I knocked and the door opened, and the man who stood
there was the Prophet Joseph Smith. He looked at me a
little reprovingly, and the first words he said: ‘Joseph,
you are late.’ Yet I took confidence and replied:
‘Yes, but I am clean—I am clean!’
President Hinckley Continues…
The Lord has given a commandment in our time that
applies to each of us. He has said, “Let virtue garnish thy
thoughts unceasingly.” And with this He has given a
promise, “Then shall thy confidence wax strong in the
presence of God” ( D&C 121:45).
I believe He is saying that if we are clean in mind and body,
the time will come when we can stand confidently before
the Lord just as Joseph F. Smith stood before the
Prophet Joseph and said, “I am clean.” There will be a
feeling of confidence and there will also be smiles of
approval