Brigham Young — Prophesies Joseph Smith's Deliverance from Missouri Imprisonment (1838-1839)

“I will ask those brethren, and those sisters, if they believe Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God? if they believe that he magnified his calling? I will ask them if Joseph lived and died a Prophet of God, and what would they answer? All men and women know, by the power of the Holy Ghost, by the spirit they know it, by the light that is in them, for light cleaveth to light, and truth embraces truth. These pure attributes, as I told you here a few Sabbaths ago, stand upon their own basis—the fabric sustains itself, but falsehood, and that which is built upon it, will, sooner or later, fall. They would tell you; and they would sound it so that all the world might hear, if they could, that Joseph Smith was a man called of God to build up His kingdom in the last days, preparatory to the coming of the Son of Man. There are many witnesses here, not only witnesses of Joseph and his career, but witnesses of the disaffected spirits that have come into this Church, and gone out again. Are there witnesses of men trying to rise up and usurp Joseph's place in his day? Yes, there are many witnesses, that many men tried it. Are there witnesses here, of the rise and fall of men in this kingdom? Yes, plenty of them. I have witnessed more than has been pleasing to me. It delights me to see men come into the Church, and magnify the Holy Priesthood, but it is a grievous matter to see men turn away from the holy commandments delivered unto them, gather to themselves false spirits, follow after a phantom, and be duped by the devil—be ensnared by the power of the enemy, and give way to it until they fall. It is a source of regret, but we witness it, we could name many of this class. Let me ask this congregation, that portion of it that was in Jackson county; and again that portion that was in Kirtland in the days of Joseph, and in leaving Kirtland; then those that were in Caldwell and Davis counties, Missouri; then ask those who were in Nauvoo in his day, and after he was slain; these portions of my congregation which I have mentioned, know that Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God. When he was in jail in Missouri, and no person expected that he would ever escape from their hands, I had the faith of Abraham, and told the brethren, "As the Lord God liveth, he shall come out of their hands." I knew it as well as I knew that I was alive, and he did come out of their hands. I have seen him in the midst of his enemies, and I have seen him when he was surrounded by those who were thirsting for his blood, and I have seen the power of God upon him, and I have seen him deliver himself from their hands, and go on his way rejoicing in the truth.”

— Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 1:361-362