Liberty Jail is truly a humbling experience. This is where Joseph Smith was imprisoned along with other church leaders
Hyrum Smith, Sidney
Rigdon, Lyman Wight, Alexander
McRae, and Caleb Baldwin. During the coldest part of the winter, they spent 4 long months in the small basement of the jail with conditions that were unendurable (in my opinion). But somehow the men managed. While Joseph was in jail he received revelations from the Lord that are now recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants (sections
121,
122, and
123), which can put life into perspective when going through trials.
The original jail no longer exists as it was torn down and a house was built over it. In 1939, the church bought the property and in 1963 began construction to make a partial re-construction of the jail and have it placed within the museum.
The original key was donated to the church after the death of a Liberty resident, Edgar Archer. The elder missionary that was giving us the tour of the jail jokingly said "The Community of Christ Church (
RLDS) has the original door to Liberty Jail, but our church has the 'keys'." Isn't that symbolic?
A replica of the door
Side view of the jail
Inside view of the jail
The upper floor
The basement where the 6 men stayed. The mannequin representing Joseph is on the far left.
I am so grateful that we were able to visit Liberty Jail. As I sat there looking at the mannequins in the jail and thought about what those men went through, I felt so small. Just days prior I was complaining to Nathan about things that I thought were unfair in my life. Boy did I feel selfish. I am reminded of the scripture from D&C 122:7
"...And if thou shouldst be cast into the pit...if thou be cast into the deep...if fierce winds become thine enemy; if the heavens gather blackness, and all the elements combine to hedge up the way; and above all, if the very jaws of hell shall gape open the mouth wide after thee, know thou, my son, that all these things shall give thee experience, and shall be for thy good."
Talk about a humbling experience.
1 comment:
this was a great reminder that I need to revisit Far West, Gary hasn't been there yet and I think it would be way cool to go again. Thanks for the reminder!
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