While the Saints were in mourning, a thirteen year old girl by the name of Mary Ann Broomhead cut her long hair, took the individual strands, and with a sewing needle stitched in fabric the following words:

“Sacred to the Memory of Joseph, and Hyrum Smith
who fell, as Martyrs, for the Gospel, of Jesus Christ.
…Zion’s noblest sons are weeping;
See her daughters bathed in tears,
Where the prophets now are sleeping,
Nature’s sleep—the sleep of years;
When the earth shall be restored,
They will come with Christ the Lord”
(Found on display in the Museum of Church History and Art)

And Today we sing:

“Hail to the Prophet, ascended to heaven!
Traitors and tyrants now fight him in vain.
MIngling with Gods, he can plan for his brethren;
Death cannot conquer the hero again.”
(Hymns, #27)

“Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer of the Lord, has done more, save Jesus only, for the salvation of men in this world, than any other man that ever lived in it” (D&C 135: 3). The Lord Himself testified: “…I did call upon [Joseph Smith] by mine angels…and by mine own voice out of the heavens, to bring forth my work; Which foundation he did lay, and was faithful; and I took him to myself. Many have marveled because of his death; but it was needful that he should seal his testimony with his blood, that he might be honored and the wicked might be condemned” (D&C 136: 37-39).

Brigham Young declared, “I feel like shouting hallelujah, all the time, when I think that I ever knew Joseph Smith, the Prophet….He was God’s servant….He…prepared the way for the people to walk in, and no [one] should be deprived of going into the presence of the Father and the Son…if they would walk in the path he had pointed out” (Journal of Discourses, vol. 3, p. 51; vol. 4, p. 297; vol. 1, p. 132).

“He lived great, and he died great in the eyes of God and his people” (D&C 135: 3). And while the Latter-day Saints reverence Joseph Smith for his greatness as an instrument in the hands of God, they have never proclaimed that he was anything more than a prophet given to them of the Lord.

Joseph was asked on more than a few occasions: “Do you, ‘Joe’ Smith profess to be Jesus Christ?” To which the Prophet replied: “No, but I profess to be His brother, as all other Saints have done and now do. [For Jesus] stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold…my brethren! for whosoever shall do the will of my father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother” (History of the Church, vol. 3, pp. 29-30; also see Matthew 12:49-50). “[If we] wish to go where God is, [we] must be like God….Search your hearts, and see if you are like God. I have searched mine, and feel to repent of all my sins” (Ibid., vol. 4, p. 588). “[And] the nearer we get to our heavenly Father, the more we are disposed to look with compassion on perishing souls; we feel that we want to take them upon our shoulders, and cast their sins behind our backs” (Ibid., vol. 5, p. 24). “[Fellow Saints, we]…must enlarge [our] souls towards each other, if [we] would do like Jesus, and carry [our] fellow-creatures to Abraham’s bosom” (Ibid., vol. 4, p. 606). “[We must] feed the hungry…clothe the naked…provide for the widow…dry up the tear of the orphan…[and] comfort the afflicted, whether in this church, or in any other, or in no church at all, wherever [we find] them” (Times and Seasons, 15 Mar. 1842, p. 732). “We don’t ask any people to throw away any good they have got; we only ask them to come and get more” (History of the Church, vol. 5, p. 259). “I hope the Lord will grant that I may see you all again, and above all that we may overcome, and sit down together in the kingdom of our Father” (Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 442-43).

The Lord hath said: “I have sent forth the fulness of my gospel by the hand of my servant Joseph” (D&C 35: 17). “Wherefore…give heed unto all his words…For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth” (D&C 21: 4-5).