On the day that he was foully murdered, it was reported to the Prophet that the mob had solemnly determined to kill him before sundown. He retained, however, his serene composure. Above all, he remained to the last true to the trust God had reposed in him. It did not once occur to him that he could save his own life by denying his claims to divine inspiration. On the contrary, on this last day of their life upon earth, with the certainty of death apparent undoubtedly to both of them, "Joseph and Hyrum bore a faithful testimony to the Latter-day work, and the coming forth of the 'Book of Mormon,' and prophesied of the triumph of the Gospel over all the earth, exhorting the brethren present to faithfulness and persevering diligence in proclaiming the Gospel, building up the Temple, and performing all the duties connected with our holy religion."[F]Almost with his dying breath the Prophet testified to the truth. And when he fell, it was with a cry to his God, who had appointed him to labor and to suffer.
[Footnote F: "History of the Church," Vol. VI, p. 610.]
It was undoubtedly in the wise economy of God that Joseph Smith was called upon to sacrifice his life. The Prophet was tried to the uttermost. Let us suppose again for a moment that Joseph Smith was an imposter—that he was trying to foist upon the world a monstrous fraud. Undoubtedly he would have been willing to endure much for the success of his undertaking. He might have yielded willingly to imprisonment, and might have paid gracefully any penalty, short of death, imposed by courts of law. But it is only fair to assume that life would have been as dear to him as to anyone else. It is not probable that he would have laid down his life for a mere imposture. It is not probable that he would have been willing to make so rich a sacrifice, had it been possible for him to recant—to deny what was an untruth anyway. More probably, if he had been an imposter, Joseph Smith would have saved his life, at the last, by avowing the imposture he had attempted to establish. But Joseph Smith did not deny his divine, prophetic calling. On the contrary, in the very presence of death, he testified to the divinity of the great latter-day work which he had inaugurated. Neither death nor the fear of death could break the assertion he had made many years before, "I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it." This fact forms another link in the chain of cumulative evidence. It does not prove that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God; but it does prove that he was sincere, that he was no mere imposter. Added to what has gone before, it strengthens the evidence that there was something more than earthly inspiration in the life-work of Joseph Smith.
Moreover, through the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, the world is left without excuse. If the Prophet's mission had run smoothly; if there had been no opposition; if there had been no persecution; if there had been no imprisonments; if there had been finally no martyrdom,—then the world might have justly derided the claims of the Prophet. He could then never have been tried; his own conviction of his divinely appointed mission could never have been tested. It could not then have been known how the fervent testimonies of either the Prophet or his followers would have withstood trial and tribulation. But the mission of the Prophet did not run smoothly. Opposition began immediately when he revealed the fact of the first vision, and followed him to his death. Malignation and persecution pursued him relentlessly. Mobs wreaked vengeance upon him for his Godliness, in acts of violence. Perjured judges committed him to prison, not for any criminal act, but for testifying of the Lord Jesus. Finally, he sacrificed his life, not for any offense small or great against the law of the land, but for being a prophet of the living God. He sealed his testimony with his blood. Is there left to the world any excuse for not accepting his testimony?
It appears then, that, throughout the terrible strain of those last days of his life, Joseph Smith had a strange foreknowledge of the coming martyrdom. Throughout those days, he faced fearlessly the death he knew to be awaiting him. In the presence of that violent death, he bore an unwavering testimony to the divine authority of the Church he had been appointed by God to establish. He saw the chief executive of the state of Illinois become faithless to his pledge of protection. He saw the mob rush upon the prison where he was lodged. He saw his devoted brother, Hyrum, fall dead before him. He knew what death was. He knew that he had no power against it—unless it were to declare himself an imposter and to deny his divine calling. This he could not do. Through all the years his testimony had not been broken. It was not broken now even by the fear of death. Could he have been an imposter?
No!
The fame of him has spread the world over. His followers are numbered by the hundreds of thousands. Everywhere he is spoken of for good or for ill. Gradually his friends are increasing. The good that is said of him is growing; the evil is diminishing. Already many declare that he was murdered in cold blood. The evidence of his great life-work is fast establishing him in the hearts of men as a true Prophet of God.