Description

A Cohort of Angels

In the early decades of the nineteenth-century American’s did not celebrate Christmas according to the customs of our day. It was, however, a day to gather with family and friends. For the Prophet Joseph Smith, not every Christmas had been pleasant. In 1837, persecution mounted in Kirtland and within days, over Christmas, Joseph would have to flee for his life to Missouri. In 1838, Joseph and several of his friends had spent Christmas in the Liberty Jail. In 1839, he spent the holiday season in Washington, D.C., being spurned by politicians as he went there seeking compensation for church members who had lost their belongings to mobs in Missouri. Christmas of 1842, he met with Governor Ford about difficulties between Saints and their nonmember neighbors in Illinois.

Sometimes in this life, we are blessed with one of those perfect days that remains in our memories forever. Such was the kind of day Joseph Smith had on December 25, 1843 – his last Christmas on earth. He had just moved his family into the newly constructed Mansion House. All was quiet and at peace in Nauvoo. Then around 1:00 a.m. on Christmas morning, Joseph and Emma were awakened in the Mansion House by singing outside their bedroom window. Joseph recorded this in his journal:

“Christmas 1843: Monday, 25.–This morning, about one o’clock, I was aroused by an English sister, Lettice Rushton, widow of Richard Rushton, Senior, (who, ten years ago, lost her sight,) accompanied by three of her sons, with their wives, and her two daughters, with their husbands, and several of her neighbors, singing, ‘Mortals, awake! with angels join,’ which caused a thrill of pleasure to run through my soul. All of my family and boarders arose to hear the serenade, and I felt to thank my Heavenly Father for their visit and blessed them in the name of the Lord. They also visited my brother Hyrum, who was awakened from his sleep. He arose and went out of doors. He shook hands with and blessed each one of them in the name of the Lord and said that he thought at first that a cohort of angels had come to visit him, it was such heavenly music to him.”

Later that day Joseph and Emma Smith invited fifty couples to their home for a midafternoon meal. During the evening, many people stopped by for food, music, and even dancing. Christmas Day 1843 was a day which began with songs praising the Lord and continued in the company of family and friends who valued him the most.

It would be Joseph Smith’s last Christmas in mortality. Six months later, the Lord Jesus Christ whose special witness he was, called the prophet home.

Sources: Thanks to Jean Tonioli for her research on this story.

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/LZRW-8WW

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/KWJY-FP3