The most
comforting of LDS doctrine is one of family eternal bond, especially when it
comes to death of children. There is no greater sorrow. It’s the unknown of
what could have been had they lived.
The Prophet
Joseph Smith and his wife, Emma, who had six of their eleven children die, had
reason to ask why. The Prophet said: “I have meditated upon the subject, and
asked the question, why is that infants, innocent children, are taken away from
us, especially those that seem to be the most intelligent and interesting. The
strongest reasons that present themselves to my mind are these: This world is a
very wicked world…..The Lord takes many away, even in infancy, that they may
escape the envy of man, and the sorrows and evils of this present world; they
were too pure, too lovely, to live on earth; therefore, if rightly considered,
instead of mourning we have reason to rejoice as they are delivered from evil,
and we shall soon have them again. (Teachings of Presidents of the Church:
Joseph Smith (2007), 177)
Emma
lived almost 35 years after the martyrdom of her prophet-husband. A few days
before she died she told her nurse, Elizabeth Revel, that Joseph had come to
her in a vision and said: "'Emma, come with me, it is time for you to come
with me'.
As
Emma related it, she said, 'I put on my bonnet and my shawl and went with him;
I did not think that it was anything unusual. I went with him into a mansion,
and he showed me through the different apartments of that beautiful mansion'.
And one room was the nursery.
In
that nursery was a babe in the cradle. She said, 'I knew my babe, my Don Carlos
that was taken from me'. She sprang forward, caught the child up in her arms
and wept with joy over the child. When Emma recovered herself sufficiently, she
turned to Joseph and said, 'Joseph, where are the rest of my children?'
He
said to her, 'Emma, be patient and you shall have all of your children'. Then
she saw standing by his side a personage of light, even the Lord Jesus
Christ." (Gracia N. Jones, My Great-Great-Grandmother, Emma Hale
Smith, Ensign Aug 1992)
And this is
the most comforting doctrine of all:
“President
Joseph F. Smith (1838-1918) lost many children to early deaths. He was
comforted by the doctrine that little children would be resurrected as little
children and raised to maturity by their righteous parents after the
Resurrection. President Smith once shared the following: “Joseph Smith taught
the doctrine that the infant child that was laid away in death would come up in
the resurrection as a child; and, pointing to the mother of a lifeless child,
he said to her: “You will have the joy, the pleasure and satisfaction of
nurturing this child, after its resurrection until it reaches the full stature
of its spirit.”
“There is
restitution, there is growth, there is development, after the resurrection from
death. I love this truth. It speaks volumes of happiness, of joy and gratitude
to my soul. Thank the Lord he has revealed these principles to us.” (Teachings
of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith (1998), 132)
Not only
will little children reach full maturity, but they will also reach full exaltation.
Abinadi taught that “little children also have eternal life” (Mosiah 15:25).
The Prophet Joseph Smith taught that “you shall have your children, for they shall
have eternal life, for their debt is paid.” (Teachings of Presidents of the
Church: Joseph Smith (1998), 177)
We owe the
payment of this debt to one man: our Creator, our God, our Saviour Jesus
Christ. Gethsemane was not only the place of sweat but a place of tears. The
payment for the Fall and the sins of the world was paid by the sweat and blood
of Him who satisfied the law of justice but His tears flowed in the Garden of
sorrow for all the broken hearts of grieving parents to this day.
- CATHRYNE ALLEN
