"During my
college studies at BYU, I was introduced to the
History
of the Church, an edited compilation of the
writings of Joseph Smith and others. After I graduated from
law school, I carefully read all seven volumes. I also
pursued personal research in original records in
Illinois, where the Prophet Joseph lived the last five
years of his life.
"The man I came
to know in this way was not the man I had imagined.
When I was a boy, growing up in the Church, I imagined the
Prophet Joseph to be old and dignified and distant.
But the Joseph Smith I met in my reading and personal
research was a man of the frontier—young,
emotional, dynamic, and so loved and approachable by his
people that they often called him 'Brother Joseph.' My
studies strengthened my testimony of his prophetic
calling. What a remarkable man! At the same time, I
could see that he was mortal and therefore subject to sin
and error, pain and affliction."
