The Reverend Dr. Prentis

The Reverend Dr. George Lewis Prentis

The Reverend Dr. Prentis stated that the holiest face he ever looked on belonged to whom?

a.                  Joseph Smith

b.                  Lorenzo Snow

c.                   Lucy Mack Smith

d.                  Eliza R. Snow

Yesterday’s answer:

D   The radiance in his face when receiving revelation

The Prophet’s physical appearance often surprised those who met him. Many people coming to Nauvoo expected to find a solemn prophet with a long white beard, but they found instead a very “jolly fellow.” He considered himself “one of the last persons on earth whom God would have raised up as a prophet or priest,” being “so diametrically opposite” what one would expect a prophet to be. Physically “he was more than six feet in height, with expansive chest and clean-cut limbs—a staunch and graceful figure. His head, crowned with a mass of soft, wavy hair, was grandly poised.” One observer said, “But the Prophet’s most remarkable feature is his eye. . . . The hue light hazel, and it is shaded, and, at time, almost veiled by the longest, thickest light lashes you ever saw belonging to a man. The brows ware also light and thick indeed.”

But most impressive about the descriptions of Joseph Smith are the continual references to the near transparency of his being and to the light his face radiated at the times when he communed with heaven. George Q. Cannon said, “His face possessed a complexion of such clearness and transparency that the soul appeared to shine through.” Mary Elizabeth Rollins, who was present at a meeting where the prophet spoke, wrote: “After prayer and singing, Joseph began talking. Suddenly he stopped and seemed almost transfixed, he was looking ahead and his face outshone the candle which was on a shelf just behind him. I thought I could almost see the cheek bones, he looked as though a searchlight was inside his face and shining through every pore.” And Wilford Woodruff described the magnificent last speech he gave to the Quorum of the Twelve: “He was clothed upon with the Spirit and power of God. His face was clear as amber. The room was filled as with consuming fire. He stood three hours upon his feet.”

Flake, Lawrence R., Prophets and Apostles of the Last Dispensation, (Provo, Utah: Religious Study Center, Brigham Young University, 2001), 14-15.