Inspired Prophetic Warnings To All Inhabitants of the Earth

About four hundred and ninety-one persons held claims against Missouri. These Joseph had presented to Congress. These claims amounted, in all, to $1,381,044.51. But they were not all. There was a multitude of similar bills which were to be presented, and respecting which Joseph said: "if not settled immediately, they will ere long amount to a handsome sum, increasing by compound interest." Becoming satisfied that there was very little use for him to tarry to press the just claims of the Saints on the attention of the President and Congress, he left Washington in company with Brother O. P. Rockwell and Dr. Foster, and started on the homeward journey February 6, 1840. Brother Elias Higbee stayed at Washington to have further interviews with the congressional committee, and for several years he labored faithfully, introducing additional testimony concerning the Missouri persecution. The committee reported against Congress doing anything about the business; and that redress could only be had in the Missouri courts and legislature.

Wednesday, March 4, 1840, writes Joseph, "I arrived safely at Nauvoo, after a wearisome journey through alternate snows and mud, having witnessed many vexatious movements in government officers, whose sole object should be the peace and prosperity and happiness of the whole people; but instead of this, I discovered that popular clamor and personal aggrandizement were the ruling principles of those in authority; and my heart faints within me when I see, by the visions of the Almighty, the end of this nation, if she continues to disregard the cries and petitions her virtuous citizens, as she has done, and is now doing.

In speaking about the refusal of the government to grant the Saints redress for the wrongs they had suffered, he says: "Since Congress has decided against us, the Lord has begun to vex the nation, and he will continue to do so, except they repent; for they now stand guilty of murder, robbery and plunder, as a nation, because they have refused to protect their citizens and to execute justice according to their own Constitution. (Historical Record, pp. 474, 475, 476, 477)

In passing through Carthage on his return from a preaching mission to Ramus, May 18, 1843, Joseph dined with Judge Stephen A. Douglas, who was there holding court. After dinner, Joseph, at the judge's request, occupied three hours in giving him a minute history of the persecutions of the Saints in Missouri. The judge listened attentively, and spoke warmly in condemnation of the conduct of Governor Lilburn W. Boggs and the authorities of Missouri, and said that any people who had acted as the mobs of Missouri had done ought to be punished. Joseph, in conclusion, said: "I prophesy, in the name of the Lord God of Israel, unless the United States redress the wrongs committed upon the Saints in the State of Missouri and punish the crimes committed by officers, that in a few years the government will be utterly overthrown and wasted, and there will not be so much as a potsherd left for their wickedness in permitting the murder of men, women and children, and the wholesale plunder and extermination of thousands of her citizens to go unpunished, thereby perpetrating a foul and corroding blot upon the fair fame of this great republic, the very thought of which would have caused the high-minded and patriotic framers of the Constitution of the United States to hide their faces with shame.

Judge, you will aspire to the Presidency of the United States, and if you ever turn your hand against me or the Latterday Saints, you will feel the weight of the hand of the Almighty upon you; and you will live to see and know that I have testified the truth to you, for the conversation of this day will stick to you through life." (Historical Record, p. 514)

In order to prove the fulfillment of the prophetic words of Joseph Smith the Prophet in relation to Stephen A. Douglas the following paragraphs are copied from the able pen of Eider B. H. Roberts as found on pages 146 to 149 of his work entitled: "Succession in the Presidency of the Church," this being a reply to the Reorganized Church of Latter-day Saints. The part that is herein quoted is entitled: "A Sufficient Answer to Josephites."

This should be a sufficient reply to any person or group, but with respect to the ministry of the Reorganized Church, they are, for the most part, a trained class of "jack carpenters," who love contention, debate, argument, ill-feeling and the spirit of hell in general. They do not want the truth, no matter whether God, angels or inspired men would deliver it to them. The Compiler of this and other books was one of them for years in Montana, and he knows much about their history and doctrines. Elder Roberts' reply, of course, would not have the slightest effect upon them.

This prophecy was first published in Utah, in the Deseret News of September 24, 1856; it was afterwards published in England, in the Millennial Star, February, 1859 (Vol. 21, No. 9). In both instances it is found in the History of Joseph Smith, then being published in sections in those periodicals. Stephen A. Douglas did aspire to the presidency of the United States, and was nominated for that office by the Democratic Convention, held in Charleston, on the 23rd of June, 1860. When in the convention he was declared the regular nominee of the Democratic party, "The whole body rose to its feet, hats were waved in the air and many tossed aloft; shouts, screams, and yells and every boisterous mode of expressing approbation and unanimity, were resorted to." (See Cooper's American Politics, Book 1, p. 86). When Mr. Douglas aspired to the presidency, no man in the history of American politics had more reason to hope for success. The political party of which he was the recognized leader, in the preceding presidential election had polled 174 electoral votes as against 122 cast by the other two parties which opposed it; and a popular vote of 1,838,169, as against 1,215,798 votes for the two parties opposing.

It is a matter of history, however, that the Democratic party in the election of 1860 was badly divided; and fractions of it put candidates into the field with the following result: Mr. Abraham Lincoln, candidate of the Republican party, was triumphantly elected. He received 180 electoral votes; Mr. Breckinridge received 72 electoral votes; Mr. Bell, 39; and Mr. Douglas, 12. "By a plurality count of the popular vote, Mr. Lincoln carried 18 states; Mr. Breckinridge 11; Mr. Bell 3 and Mr. Douglas but 11" (See. tables in American Politics, Book 7, pp. 22, 26; also History U.S. by Alexander H. Stephens, p. 559).

Twenty days less than one year after his nomination by the Charleston convention, while yet in the prime of manhood--forty-eight years of age -- Mr. Douglas died at his home in Chicago, a disappointed, not to say heart-broken man. Let us now search out the cause of his failure. Fourteen years after the interview containing the prophecy had been published in the Deseret News, Mr. Douglas was called upon to deliver a speech in Springfield, the capitol of Illinois. His speech was delivered on the 12th of June, 1857, and published in the Missouri Republican of June 18th, 1857. It was a time of much excitement throughout the country concerning the Mormon Church in Utah. Falsehoods upon the posting winds seemed to have filled the air with the most outrageous calumny. Crimes the most repulsive-murders, robberies, rebellion, and high treason -- were falsely charged against its leaders. It was well known that Mr. Douglas had been on terms of intimate friendship with the Prophet Joseph Smith; and was well acquainted with the other church leaders. He was therefore looked upon as one competent to speak upon the "Mormon Question," and was invited to do so in the speech to which reference is here made.

Mr. Douglas responded to the request. He grouped the charges against the Mormons which were then passing current, in the following manner: First, that nine-tenths of the inhabitants are aliens by birth who have refused to become naturalized, or to take the oath of allegiance, or do any other act recognizing the government of the United States as a paramount authority in the territory (Utah). Second, that the inhabitants, whether native or alien born, known as Mormons (and they constitute the whole people of the territory) are bound by horrible oaths, and terrible penalties, to recognize and maintain the authority of Brigham Young, and the government of which he is head, as paramount to that of the United States, in civil as well as in religious affairs; and they will in due time, and under the direction of their leaders, use all the means in their power to subvert the government of the United States and resist its authority. Third, that the Mormon government, with Brigham Young at its head, is now forming alliance with Indian tribes in Utah and adjoining territories--stimulating the Indians to acts of hostility--and organizing bands of his own followers under the name of Danites or destroying angels, to prosecute a system of robbery and murders upon American citizens who support the authority of the United States, and denounce the infamous and disgusting practices and institutions of the Mormon government.

Now, unto what shall I liken the children of Zion? I will liken them unto the parable of the woman and the unjust judge, for men ought always to pray and not to faint, which saith; There was in a city a judge which feared not God, neither regarded man. And there was a widow in that city, and she came unto him, saying: "Avenge me of mine adversary." And he would not for a while, but afterwards he said within himself: "Though I fear not God; nor regard man, yet because this widow troubleth me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me." Thus will I liken the children of Zion. Let them importune at the feet of the judge; And if he heed them not, let them importune at the feet of the governor; And if the governor heed them not, let them importune at the feet of the president; And if the president heed them not, then will the Lord arise and come forth out of his hiding place, and in his fury vex the nation; And in his hot displeasure, and in his fierce anger, in his time, will cut off those wicked, unfaithful, and unjust stewards, and appoint them their portion among hypocrites, and unbelievers. Even in outer darkness, where there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth. Pray ye, therefore, that their ears may be opened unto your cries, that I may be merciful unto them, that these things may not come upon them. What I have said unto you must needs be, that all men may be left without excuse; That wise men and rulers may hear and know that which they have never considered. (D. & C. Sec. 101:81-94)