Joseph Smith Man and Seer   The Book of Mormon Lecture 02 by Hyrum Andrus
Channel: Light and Truth
Date: 2016-05-29

Hyrum L Andrus
All rights reserved August 10-12, 1989
Lecture – 2 JOSEPH SMITH
I have always liked the words of Brigham Young, who said, "I feel like shouting 'Hallelujah' all day long when I think that I ever knew Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet!" [Journal of Discourses 3:51] There is also the inspired and accurate statement of evaluation by John Taylor, which has been placed in the Doctrine and Covenants, in which he said, "Joseph Smith the Prophet and Seer of the Lord has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world than any other man that ever lived in it." [D&C 135:3]
The Prophet Joseph stands at the head of the dispensation of the fulness of times, the dispensation into which all other dispensations must finally be gathered in order to make the fulness of times, or the fulness of dispensations, and in order to give the righteous of all ages a fulness of glory in the eternal world. When this is accomplished, then, as the Lord says in Section 29:30, "the last shall be first." The Prophet Joseph Smith will stand in proper status as he who has not only done most for the salvation of men on this earth, with the exception of Christ only, but he will stand next to Christ in the eternal worlds in relation to the Lord's work.
The Prophet Joseph Smith was seen and written about by many, many people. One of the most sophisticated observers was Josiah Quincy of the famous Quincy family. Josiah later became Mayor of Boston. He and Charles Francis Adams visited the Prophet Joseph Smith in May of 1844, just a little over a month prior to the martyrdom. Quincy later wrote a book called, "Figures of the Past," and the last chapter in it is called, "Joseph Smith at Nauvoo." He begins that chapter with these words:
"It is by no means improbable that some future textbook for the use of generations yet unborn will contain a question something like this: What historical American of the 19th century has exerted the most powerful influence upon the destinies of his countrymen? And it is by no means impossible that the answer to that interrogatory may be thus written: Joseph Smith the Mormon Prophet. And the reply, as absurd as it doubtless seems to most men now living, may be an obvious commonplace to their descendants. History deals in such surprises and paradoxes quite as startling as this. The man who established a religion in this age of free debate, who was and is today accepted by hundreds of thousands as a direct emissary from the Most High, such a rare human being is not to be disposed of by pelting his memory with unsavory epithets. Fanatic, imposter, charlatan, he may have been, but these hard names furnish no solution to the problem he presents us. Fanatics and impostors are living and dying every day, and their memory is buried with them. But the wonderful influence which this founder of a religion exerted and still exerts, throws him into relief before us, not as a rogue to be incriminated but as a phenomenon to be explained."
Then he goes on and talks about the Prophet. In the course of his article, he describes him. "A fine looking man is what the passerby would instinctively have murmured upon meeting this remarkable individual who has fashioned the mould which was to shape the feelings of so many thousands of his fellow-mortals. But Joseph Smith was more than this." And then he talks about great men with whom he has rubbed shoulders, those who exuded charisma, personality, character, all those things that make a human being great. He identifies a gentleman by the name of Elisha R. Potter of Rhode Island, and then he comments as follows. "Of all men I've ever met, these two, Potter and the Prophet Joseph Smith, seem best endowed with that kingly faculty which directs by intrinsic right the lives and the interests of other people."
An old gentleman who joined the Church in the early days of the Church and later settled in Logan, Utah, was interviewed one day by a reporter who asked him if he knew Joseph Smith. He said, "Did I know the Prophet Joseph? Well, I should think I did. I was one of his hired men for several years, and that simply means that I was a member of his family." "Well, what sort of man was he, anyway?" asked the inquirer. The old veteran looked keenly at his inquirer, and said, "He was the biggest-hearted, bravest, most whole-souled man I ever knew. That's what he was. If ever I loved a man, it was Joseph Smith. Outside of all his priestly connections, he was an admirable man, a good man. I tell you, at least that's the way I regarded him. He was a lover of a good horse, and there wasn't any better horses around that country than Old Charley and Joe Duncan, the two animals he rode. And there wasn't many better horsemen, either, about them parts than the Prophet. Joe Duncan was a chestnut sorrel and was a beauty, … Get the full transcription from www.hyrumandrus.com!