Joseph Smith — "If I had not actually got into this work and been called of God, I would back ou…"
If I had not actually got into this work and been called of God, I would back out. But I cannot back out: I have no doubt of the truth.
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More from Joseph Smith
"I am a man of peace, and hate contention."
"I am a friend to the poor, and I have always been so."
"I have been called of God to lay the foundation of a great work."
"Come on! ye prosecutors! ye false swearers! All hell, boil over! Ye burning mountains, roll down your lava! for I will come out on the top at last."
"There is an infinite number of holy personages, drawn from worlds without number, who have passed on to exaltation and are thus gods."
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Understanding this quote
What it means
When facing overwhelming opposition and hardship, the speaker admits the work is so difficult that any rational person might quit. But his certainty about his divine calling makes retreat impossible. His conviction isn't stubbornness but an unshakeable internal knowledge — the kind that overrides fear, logic, or self-preservation. He's not trapped; he's anchored.
Relevance to Joseph Smith
Smith founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1830 amid relentless persecution, mob violence, imprisonment, and eventual assassination in 1844. He was tarred and feathered, driven from Missouri at gunpoint, and watched followers die. This quote captures his defining trait: he never claimed the work was easy, only that he couldn't abandon what he believed God had specifically chosen him to build.
The era
In 1830s–40s America, new religious movements faced intense hostility from established Protestant communities and frontier vigilante justice. Smith's movement was viewed as heretical, politically threatening, and socially disruptive. States like Missouri issued extermination orders against Latter-day Saints. Religious conviction was also a powerful cultural currency — claiming divine mandate was the highest possible justification for persisting against impossible odds in that era.
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