TESTIMONY OF EZRA T• CLARK

I bear you this my testimony:

Before I left Nauvoo, I heard the Prophet Joseph say he would give the Saints a key whereby they would never be led away or deceived, and that was: the Lord would never suffer the majority of this people to be led away or deceived by imposters, nor would he allow the records of this Church to fall into the hands of the enemy. I heard Joseph say this, and I also heard him say that he would roll the burden of the Apostleship upon the quorum of the Twelve. I heard Joseph preach many times, heard him the last sermon he ever delivered, bear testimony to the truth of the work that God had called him to. He also said that the Lord had never suffered him to be slain by his enemies because his work had not been done until a short time ago. He had now laid the foundation of this work and rolled the burden of the priesthood upon the Twelve, and having given them their washings and annointings they would now bear off the work triumphantly, and it would roll on faster than ever before, and if the Lord was willing to accept of him, he was willing to go. This he spoke to the people. I was one who heard his voice and know that he spoke like an angel from Heaven. I never heard him speak with more Power than then and I have heard him many times. I was satisfied. I know him to be a prophet of God. I had heard him prophesy many times and had seen his prophecies fulfilled, and also shook hands with him and he had blessed me and I felt the influence and power of the Lord upon him and upon me, and I have never forgotten that blessing from that day to this, and I never shall. Two days later the Prophet was martyred, and two or three weeks later, when the saints held a conference and Brigham Young arose as leader of the Church, I want to bear record that he spoke as Joseph used to speak, and to all appearances, the same voice, the same gesture, the same stature, and I bear this record to all the world and to my children, and to my children's children, and also bear record that this work is God's work, and that it will roll on as it has done from that day to this.

I have never turned my face away and have always had delight in keeping the counsel of His servants and in every particular. I have had many privations and been in many trying scenes traveling on the plains and on the desert, and I know that those men who have stood at the head of His Church are men of God, and also the men who stand at the head, and they will bear off this work triumphantly, and let me say to my children and to my grandchildren, if they will do right and keep the commandments of God, no good things shall be withheld from them, and they shall have a testimony that God set up this work, and it will roll forth and those who help it will stand, and those who fight against it will fall and crumble with the wicked. I want to bear this testimony and leave jt for the benefit of my children and my children's children, for I realize I have but a short time to live upon this earth. I have passed my seventy-seventh year, and it has been a pleasure to me to be associated during that time with the Prophet and apostles and those whom I know were men holding the Holy Melchisedek Priesthood. 

I bear this testimony and wish it written that my children and my children's children may know that I have finished my work and bear this testimony before them and all the world in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, even so, Amen.

EZRA T. CIARK
July 24, 1901

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