How Glorious Are Faithful, Just, and True friends

One such friend was Willard Richards, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, who was jailed with Joseph and Hyrum Smith and John Taylor in Carthage, Illinois. While being held in the jail, the men were allowed to move from a cell on the first floor to a more comfortable bedroom on the second floor of the jailhouse. Then, shortly before the martyrdom, the jailer suggested that the prisoners would be safer in an iron-barred cell next to the bedroom. Joseph asked Elder Richards, who was called "doctor" by his friends because he had practiced medicine: " 'If we go into the cell, will you go in with us?' The doctor answered, 'Brother Joseph, you did not ask me to cross the river with you -- you did not ask me to come to Carthage -- you did not ask me to come to jail with you -- and do you think I would forsake you now? But I will tell you what I will do; if you are condemned to be hung for treason, I will be hung in your stead, and you shall go free.' Joseph said, 'You cannot.' The doctor replied, 'I will.'

• True friends ease one another's sorrows and remain faithful even in times of adversity.

"...I hope I shall see [my friends] again, that I may toil for them, and administer to their comfort also. They shall not want a friend while I live; my heart shall love those, and my hands shall toil for those, who love and toil for me, and shall ever be found faithful to my friends. Shall I be ungrateful? Verily no! God forbid!"

• Friendship unites the human family, dispelling hatred and misunderstanding.

"...Friendship is like Brother [Theodore] Turley in his blacksmith shop welding iron to iron; it unites the human family with its happy influence."

• Saints of God are true friends to one another.

"I would esteem it one of the greatest blessings, if I am to be afflicted in this world, to have my lot cast where I can find brothers and friends all around me."

(For the full lesson, click here)