Farewell Unto the Gentiles

Joseph Smith recorded this about a heavenly messenger who came to him in his bedroom on the night of September 21, 1823: “He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people. He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang” (JSH 1:33-34). A powerful witness to me of the truthfulness of this account is the fact that as he and his brother were on the verge of being slaughtered, this story with this angel and this book were still at the center of their focus and hearts.

It was just over 20 years after Moroni’s first visit that Hyrum and Joseph were taken to Carthage where they were killed. John Taylor recorded that in those final days Hyrum read in that book—the Book of Mormon—the words of that very angel, Moroni. He recorded, “The same morning, after Hyrum had made ready to go—shall it be said to the slaughter? yes, for so it was—he read the following paragraph, near the close of the twelfth chapter of Ether, in the Book of Mormon, and turned down the leaf upon it: And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord that he would give unto the Gentiles grace, that they might have charity. And it came to pass that the Lord said unto me: If they have not charity it mattereth not unto thee, thou hast been faithful.” These words that Hyrum read from Moroni had become their words: “And now I … bid farewell unto the Gentiles; yea, and also unto my brethren whom I love, until we shall meet before the judgment-seat of Christ, where all men shall know that my garments are not spotted with your blood” (Doctrine and Covenants 135:4-5). Joseph and Hyrum, like Moroni had done, were bidding farewell to a wicked world, knowing that they had rid their garments of the blood of their generation. These brothers not only still affirmed the reality of his heavenly visitor Moroni and the book he delivered to Joseph, but he even found comfort in the very words of that heavenly being which Joseph himself had translated.

The Saints book records this about those final hours in Carthage Jail: “That evening, Hyrum read aloud from the Book of Mormon and Joseph bore powerful witness of its divine authenticity to the guards on duty. He testified that the gospel of Jesus Christ had been restored, that angels still ministered to humanity, and that the kingdom of God was once more on the earth.” Here he was, upon the verge of death, still bearing witness of angels and the Book of Mormon which had been given to him by an angel. His situation was evidence of the truthfulness of Moroni’s first words to him that his name would be had for evil, and he left this world still testifying of angels and holy scripture and the gospel of Jesus Christ which they revealed. In Moroni’s words that Hyrum read, that last Nephite prophet promised us that he would be present at the judgment-seat of Christ where we would all know the truthfulness of his account. He alluded to this again in his final chapter when he wrote, “The time speedily cometh that ye shall know that I lie not, for ye shall see me at the bar of God; and the Lord God will say unto you: Did I not declare my words unto you, which were written by this man, like as one crying from the dead, yea, even as one speaking out of the dust?” (Moroni 10:27) I believe that Joseph too could speak those words to us, and at some future day we will see him as well before the bar of God and we will be responsible for how we have received his words. Like Moroni, he now speaks to us as “one crying from the dead, yea, even as one speaking out of the dust” ever since he gave his life and literally let his body fall to the dust at Carthage. I hope that I can live my life in such a way that when I see those two at my judgment—Moroni and Joseph—I will not be ashamed of how I received their words.