JOSEPH SMITH AS A MAN.

BY PROFESSOR WILLARD DONE.

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In viewing the lives and labors of men, we are prone to regard them wholly or chiefly from the standpoint of their special calling, rather than the characters of the men themselves. are inclined to allow the official capacity in which a man labors to hide the man himself from us, as in a mist. By his work and calling he is usually placed on an eminence, where he is but dimly seen and therefore but poorly appreciated, in his capacity as a As Moses' face was hidden by a veil, so do we allow the personality of our friends, especially those who attain to prominence, to be hidden from us by the official position in which they stand. And this is unfortunate; for the lovable and admirable traits of men, the moods and impulses of "the human heart which faints and trembles," are among the most precious heritages God has given to the world. To love a man is much better than merely to respect the position he holds; and we cannot love him unless we know him. It has often occurred to me that the unfaltering love and stanch devotion of the women who followed Christ, may be largely attributed to the fact that they, more than the men who knew him, understood and appreciated his personal glory and goodness, and did not think and dispute so much as the men, of his claims to Messiahship. And it is one of the strongest incentives to right living, for us to become closely familiar with the righteous lives of others. If to know certain men is a liberal education, then to love and emulate them is a much more valuable discipline, and we cannot emulate unless we know.

Joseph Smith, like all other men of strong character, plainly manifested his personality in the work he did. It would be as

well not to look for the imprint of the die on the newly issued coin, as not to expect to see the imprint of the prophet's personality on the work he was called to do. He was strongly human, and therefore his life and character as a man appeal most forcibly to our human sympathies. And he stood remarkably well the test to which, in the end, we must all be subjected-those who knew him best loved him most. This test he stood, it may truthfully be said, as well as any man whose history we have, an exception being made in the case of the one Divine Person who has lived a mortal life on the earth, the Lord Jesus Christ. To my unworthy pen has been submitted the task of treating this phase of the life ́of our great prophet, his personality as a man.

A brief description of his personal appearance would perhaps not be out of place. He is described as a symmetrically built man, fully six feet in height, and weighing about two hundred pounds. His eyes were blue, and very clear. Of his features, his friend and close associate, Parley P. Pratt has written:

His countenance was ever mild, affable, beaming with intelligence and benevolence; mingled with a look of interest and an unconscious smile or cheerfulness, and entirely free from all restraint or affectation of gravity; and there was something connected with the serene and steady penetrating glance of his eye, as if he would penetrate the deepest abyss of the human heart, gaze into eternity, penetrate the heavens, and comprehend all worlds.

His complexion was remarkably clear, due to the uniform tint of his skin, and the absence of a beard. His hair was light brown, and of a glossy smoothness, waving, and of fine texture. Those who met him, both friends and strangers, unite in referring to him as a handsome man; and one person has said that the portraits of him extant fall so far short of doing him justice, that they should be called mere caricatures. His physical strength and activity were in keeping with his size; and through a temperate and abstemious life he retained and fostered his bodily powers.

In keeping with his great physical strength, were the feats of skill and endurance which he performed. He excelled in running, wrestling, jumping, and manly games. He indulged in these pastimes when occasion offered, and was always ready for a goodnatured frolic. And I think it may be safely said that no one of his acquaintance cared to challenge him more than once to a con

test in any of these directions. Yet, with all his physical strength and agility, he manifested in his actions the tenderness and gentleness which, going with such strength, softens it and sanctifies it to the good of mankind. He exemplified the words of Shakespeare, "O, it is excellent to have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant." No one has ever accused the Prophet Joseph Smith, no matter what his provocation may have been at times, of using his physical superiority to gain undue advantage over others. With such strength he would be expected to possess strong human nature. With it would naturally go a fondness for physical exercise, for athletic sports, and for the good things of life. He was no pale ascetic, mortifying the body, and wasting it away by long fasts and secret vigils. Such was not his work, and such was not his nature. He was destined to mingle with men, to. partake of their joys and sorrows, not to keep himself aloof from them and from the stirring, momentous events of the day. He could be abstemious all the time, and could endure fasts and other privations when necessary; but with him it was a duty to look to his health and to preserve his body by proper nourishment and care. He knew that the lawful appetites were given to men to be lawfully enjoyed. In accordance with this knowledge, he partook of physical enjoyment, and allowed each appetite its legitimate indulgence. On this account, he has been called by some of his enemies a sensualist-a man who broke through all restraint to pamper his bodily appetites. How far from the truth this accusation is, will be seen at once when we look at the work he did, the spirituality he manifested, and the influence for goodness and morality he exerted on his associates. And it may be well to remark that the same accusation was hurled against the purest One that ever lived. Messiah, himself, was called a wine-bibber and a glutton, because he did not manifest the same asceticism that John the Baptist and others displayed.

Yet it has now come to be admitted, by those who are not extremists, that asceticism is not religion. Abstemiousness is a part of true religion, but so also is the proper use of the physical appetites with which man is endowed. Joseph Smith understood this matter fully, and ordered his life along the lines of proper abstemiousness and temperance. He enjoyed life in all its legitimate

phases, but he did not pamper the appetites or misuse the powers of his physical organism.

He was possessed of strong feelings. Yet these feelings and his strong temper were under perfect control. With his strength he combined, when necessary, the mildness of a lamb. When the rights of his people were assailed, he manifested the strength of a lion in their defense. Yet there was no one who could endure longer, when necessary, personal wrong. Two instances will serve to illustrate this characteristic. When he was approaching his death, and his prophetic foresight had apparently told him it was imminent, his thought was all for his people and the preservation of their rights. During his last public address, standing before the people of Nauvoo in the strength of his splendid personality, he drew his sword and uttered the words:

I call God and angels to witness that I have unsheathed my sword with a firm and unalterable determination that this people shall have their legal rights, and be protected from mob violence, or my blood shall be spilt upon the ground like water, and my body consigned to the silent tomb. While I live I will never tamely submit to the dominion of cursed mobocracy!

The other incident, as related by the prose-poet, Parley P. Pratt, serves to illustrate how long he would endure personal insult and discomfort before rebuking his tormentors; and how he arose in his wrath even then, not so much on account of his own accute sufferings, as because the wrongs of his people were being brutally recounted. He and his associates were in a jail in the small village of Richmond, in Ray County, Missouri. The guard was composed of mobocrats who had committed unmentionable crimes against the Saints at Far West. In their brutal way they told of the terrible things they had done, mentioning all the revolting details. Night after night their vile language had assaulted the ears of the prisoners, and yet Joseph Smith and the others had endured it. But as they continued to particularize the deeds they had committed, and the prophet became aroused beyond endurance, he asserted the magnificent manliness of his nature. Apostle Pratt's account of the incident is so striking, that I insert it:

On a sudden he arose to his feet and spoke in a voice of thunder, or as the roaring lion, uttering, as near as I can recollect, the following words:

"Silence, ye fiends of the infernal pit! In the name of Jesus Christ, I rebuke

you and command you to be still; I will not live another minute and hear such language. Cease such talk, or you or I die this instant."

He ceased to speak. He stood erect in terrible majesty. Chained, and without a weapon, calm, unruffled, and dignified as an angel, he looked down upon the quailing guards, whose knees smote together, and who, shrinking into a corner, or crouching at his feet, begged his pardon, and remained quiet until exchange of guards.

I have seen ministers of justice, clothed in ministerial robes, and criminals arraigned before them, while life was suspended upon a breath, in the courts of England; I have witnessed a congress in solemn session to give laws to nations; I have tried to conceive of kings, of royal courts, of thrones and crowns, and of emperors assembled to decide the fate of kingdoms; but dignity and majesty have I seen but once, as it stood in chains, at midnight, in a dungeon, in an obsure village in Missouri.

It has been said that a strong temper is an excellent thing to have, if one can only keep it. A temper commensurate with his strength Joseph Smith certainly had. His ability to keep it, even under the most trying circumstances, was frequently illustrated. And the true test of a man's greatness is found, not so much in the possession of will power, temper, physical or mental strength, and appetites and passions, as in his ability to control them. No man was ever great without these; yet no man can ever be great who does not control them. And the mastery over self shows greatness commensurate with the powers of the self that is brought under control. Judged by this standard, with the knowlege that he was one of the strongest of men in feelings, will, and physical power, Joseph Smith, in his mastery over these elements of self, looms far above the average man.

Joseph Smith had a great mission to perform. He stood, by Divine appointment, at the head of the greatest Gospel Dispensation in the history of the world. A man of smaller caliber might have felt unduly the greatness of his calling, and assumed a certain superiority or affected an unwarranted solemnity. In such a case he would have made himself ridiculous. In this day and age of the world, the man who is not natural, is never taken seriously. A sense of humor is a prime requisite even for the man of pre-eminently serious affairs. In this respect Joseph Smith was not wanting. Skillful as he was in physical bouts, he was not less so in tests of wit and repartee. This characteristic was a part, and a most important one, of his strong human nature. He may have