Mother Smith Recalls Joseph Smith's Foreknowledge After His Washington Appeals Failed — 'These Cases Are Recorded in Heaven' (1845 Conference)

During the General Conference held on October 8, 1845, on the temple grounds in Nauvoo, Illinois, Lucy Mack Smith requested the podium to address the Saints regarding their upcoming exodus. Amidst her discourse, she recalled the profound struggles she witnessed her son, Joseph Smith, endure after his return from Washington, D.C., where he had sought justice from President Martin Van Buren and other government officials regarding the persecution of the Saints. She recounted that after failing to receive justice, Joseph preached to the brethren and sisters in the space between Mr. Durfee’s house and the Mansion House in Nauvoo. In that address, he testified that he had done all he could to obtain justice for them, but concluded that the civil authorities were determined to deny the Latter-day Saints justice while they remained in Nauvoo. He encouraged the Saints to keep good courage, promising that they would never again suffer for bread as they had in the past. Emphasizing the spiritual reality of their situation, he stated three times that their cases were recorded on earth, and because what is recorded on earth is recorded in heaven, he was going to take the case of the theft of their property and their ongoing suffering before the highest court in heaven. Mother Smith noted that at the time, she did not fully understand he was speaking of his own impending departure, but she later looked back on his words as a prophetic foreknowledge of his martyrdom. She concluded that they never could get justice until Joseph took their cause directly to heaven.