Eliza R. Snow, General Relief Society President, 1866–1887
Now Zion mourns—she
mourns an earthly head;
The Prophet and the
Patriarch are dead!
The blackest deed that
men or devils know
Since Calv'ry's scene,
has laid the brothers low!
One in their life, and
one in death—they prov'd
How strong their
friendship—how they truly lov'd
True to their mission,
until death, they stood,
Then seal'd their
testimony with their blood.
In Glen M. Leonard, Nauvoo, (2002), 380.
Joseph Smith himself, only fourteen years after the Church was organized, was martyred. He had his blood shed, as a testimony of the truth of his mission. I have traveled with Joseph Smith many hundred miles. I have also traveled with Brigham Young and the Apostles, and I have never had any doubts with regard to the truth and final triumph of this work. I have none today.
Deseret News, Aug. 17, 1889, 225–26.
