Carthage to face what they knew would be an imminent

martyrdom, Hyrum read these words of comfort to the heart

of his brother.

Thou hast been faithful, wherefore thou shalt be made

strong even under the sitting down in the place with which I

have prepared in the mansions of my father.

A few short verses from the 12th chapter of Ether in the

Book of Mormon.

Before closing the book, Hyrum turned down the corner of the

page from which he had read, marking it as part of the

everlasting testimony for which these two brothers were

about to die.

I hold in my hand that book, the very copy from which Hyrum

read, the same corner of the page

turned down still visible.

Later when actually incarcerated in the jail,

Joseph the prophet bore a powerful testimony of the

divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon.

Shortly thereafter, pistol and ball would take the lives of

these two testators.

In this their greatest and last hour of need, I ask you

would these men blaspheme before God by continuing to

fix their lives, their honor, and their own search for each

eternal salvation on a book, and by implication a church

and a ministry they had fictitiously created out of

whole cloth?

Never mind that their wives are about to be widows and

their children fatherless.

Never mind that their little band of followers will yet be

houseless, homeless, and friendless, and that their

children will leave footprints of blood across frozen rivers

and an untamed prairie floor.

Never mind that legions will die and other legions live

declaring in the four quarters of this earth that they know

the Book of Mormon and the Church which

espouses it to be true.

Disregard all of that, and tell me whether in this hour

of death these two men would enter the presence of their

Eternal Judge quoting from and finding solace in a book which

if not the very word of God would brand them as impostors

and charlatans until the end of time.

They would not do that.

They were willing to die rather than deny the divine

origin and the eternal truthfulness one

of the Book of Mormon.

The Book of Mormon is true, and was given to bring

happiness and hope to the faithful in the

travail of the last days.

Brothers and sisters, God always provides safety for the

soul, and with the Book of Mormon he has again done that

in our time.

Remember this declaration by Jesus himself.

Whoso treasureth up my word shall not be deceived, and in

the last days, neither your heart nor your

faith will fail you.

Of this I earnestly testify in the name of

Jesus Christ, amen.