Liberty Jail

We visited the Liberty Jail. This is the place where Joseph Smith was held for four months in the winter of 1838.

There was no trial. He had been accused of treason with out evidence. His family and friends were being forced from their homes by mobs at the same time that he sat in this freezing fortress. He entered here on December 1, 1838. A crowd had gathered to see the famed "Joe Smith" as he entered this door to the jail, he simply said to the crowd, "Good Afternoon, Gentlemen."

The walls are 4 feet thick. They were held in the dungeon of a basement. The ground was stone with only dirty straw to cover it. The ceiling was so low that most of the men could not stand fully erect. The food was dirty and the conditions were horrible.

It was here that he prayed to the Lord saying, "O God, where are thou? And where is the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place? How long shall thy hand be stayed, and thine eye, yea they pure eye, behold from the eternal heaven the wrongs of thy people and of thy servants, and thine ear be penetrated with their cries?" (Doctrine and Covenants 121:1-2)

He received the following answer from the Lord, "My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; And then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes. Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands." (Doctrine and Covenants 121:7-9).

I know the Lord will never abandon us. He will never leave us alone. If He can bring comfort and peace to a cold dark dungeon on the edge of what then was the western frontier, He can bring comfort and peace to all of us where ever we may be.