This passage is reminiscent of two New Testament scriptures:
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matt 11:28)
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! (Matt 23:37)
1 Nephi 20:19 his name should not have been cut off nor destroyed from before me
As the saints mourned the martyrdom of the Prophet and Hyrum, they undoubtedly turned to the scriptures for solace. Two of the themes in this chapter are the Lord's love for his prophets and the rejection of their message by the people. Where can a greater example of these concepts be found than in the mission of Joseph Smith? Therefore, when the mourning saints of Nauvoo read this passage, they understood that it could apply to their beloved prophet, including his furnaces of affliction and eventual martyrdom:
"…we wish that 'An Observer' would read the following paragraph in the 6th chapter of the first book of Nephi, page 54, in said Book of Mormon. 'Come ye near unto me; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was declared, have I spoken; and the Lord God and his spirit hath sent me. And thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer, the holy One (Jesus Christ) of Israel; I have sent him; [Joseph Smith] the Lord thy God who teacheth thee to profit; who leadest thee by the way thou shouldst go, has done it. O that thou [the Gentiles] hadst hearkened to my commandments, then had thy peace been as a river, and righteousness as the waves of the sea; thy seed also had been as the sand; the offspring of thy bowls like the gravel thereof; his name [Joseph Smith's] should not have been cut off, nor destroyed from before me.'
"Perhaps Isaiah in the 48th chapter and other places, might have mentioned the fact that his name was 'cut off.' Read and reflect, for there are more true prophecies in the Bible and Book of Mormon, than the sects and sinners ever dreamed of. Remember that." (Reflections, Times and Seasons, vol. 5 (January 1844-January 1, 1845), No. 16. Nauvoo, Illinois, Sept. 2, 1844. Whole No. 100 635.)