w naa mal ral w s c45 15

fi
AN

WIALYSIS OF THE MLYSIS

LATING patino S ebl ccoutws RSLATING eli ccot17 Rebipating

JOSEPH SMITH early smithis EMUY VISIONS

thesis submitted to the faculty of the

A

department of graduate studies in

religious instruction brigham

P

young youn

university

in partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the
educ education degree of master of religious deduc tion

fj
al

by

paul

cheeswn

BI F TABLE OF CONTENTS

page

CHAPTER

1 io I

introduction

survey of the problem time lapse aspect secrecy aspect problem of secondary sources
environment of joseph smith
lle lie 11 IIs II
FATHER AND SON

religious doctrines taught

visitation

23

age josephs gge

summary

an explanation of some obscure statements

one personage or two

ili

111 MORONIS III MORONIIS

1 I

visitation
nephi issue

43

moroni

s moronis vis it moroni visit

summary

analysis of Moro nils visit moronis

IV

conclusion conclusion

62

introduction to the appendix

environment importance of the story number of visitations claimed secondary accounts teachings of joseph smith testimonies of joseph smiths associates
summary

IV

pao e page C

appendices
appendix appendix
A
B
C

&

76 77
9 95

joseph smithes original manuscript history script

11anu 1

grakt pearl of grafrb price account frakt

orson

tp appendix pendix
appendix

prates publish pratts

account

112
126
133

undated manuscript
wentworth

appendix E appendix F
appendix appendix
G
H

letter

ts cowderyts cowderys Cowdery oliver Cow derys account

orson hydes account
n wi willian

138
157
0 0 0
0

smiths account
0

168
172

appendix 1 I

comparative chart

10

SELECTED SEISC

references

179

CHAPTER

ONE

introduction
survey of the problem

joseph smith prophet and founder of the church of jesus christ of snith

latterday saints stated that latter day

son

when he was

fourteen years old he had rethe father and the

was

ceived a visitation from two members of the godhead

he was alone when he went

into the

woods

to pray and

therefore also declared

the only witness to the manifestation of these personages

he

that

when he was seventeen

years old he

was

visited
a

by an angel named

moroni

again he

was

without witnesses

for

firsthand first hand

account of these

two experiences we must

rely

on a

single source joseph smith

ali all

other

sources of the story of his visions of moroni and the father and son are
secondary since they have been retold

after the authors

had hear

s josephs josepht

story
members

of the church of jesus christ of

the story of joseph smith as a foundation of

alysis of the events highly rents theerents thee

latterday saints rely upon latter day their faith details left by
.9 9

fp joseph himself however are only sketchy in nature making a historical himsel hinsel

an-

difficult

further problems arise

when

accounts by

other writers

who knew

joseph smith not only

fill

sp in a few missing details but detail

A

also

sometimes present some

conflicting details
helpful to

survey of these sources

and problems

together with an analysis of joseph smiths several efforts

would be
mormons cormons Mormons

to re tell the story retell

cormons imormons and non mormons

alike

st determining what consistent thready might run through thread in deter

all

the stories

pinpointing as well as pin pointing what historical problems

1

may

still

remain in

this thesis is not an effort to prove beyond telling all doubt that joseph smith was tell ine the truth for this cannot be done tellina teli lne teil ina by empirical methods it is simply an effort to analyze as objectively
as possible the various sources and to suggest possible reasons for some of the problems and conflicts it also shows that joseph smith

correlating various accounts

consistent in his recitation of the major aspects of his story over the years
was

for the

main

aspects of the visitations of the father and the son

mornia and mornip the following morni

narrative is in joseph smiths

where 1 had I

owns words

as

it

appears in the original written account

previously designed to go having looked around me and finding myself alone 1 kneeled I down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to god 1 had I so scarcely done sop when immediately 1 was seized upon by some power soj I which entirely overcame me and had such astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that 1 could not speak thick darkness I gathered around me and it seemed to me for a time as if 1 were doomed I to sudden destruction but exerting all my powert to call upon god to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me and at the very moment when 1 was ready to sink into despair and abandon I myself to destruction not to an imaginary ruin but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world who had unclear unclear words znclear word any being ioas loas ofis marvelofis marvel odis marvelous marvelods such marve lods power as 1 had never before felt in anybeinge just at I moment of great bun clear wore 1 saw a pillar of light fun funclear word I unclear wort this exactly over my head above the brightness of the sun which descended I alay gradually until it fell upon me it no sooner appeared than 1 found grsdually gaually gaually myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound when the light whose wor7 fmideor wojd me 1 saw two personages 4whose bright&clear worx mclear nojd I rested upon ness and glory defy all description standing above me in the air one of them spake unto me call1mg me by name and said pointing to the calling my beloved son hear him 911 my object in going to other this is join joiu inquire of the lord was to know which to joil no sooner therefore jorl boiu ird of myself so as to be able to speak than 1 I did 1 get possession I febove hbove personages asked the persona es who stood above me in the light which of all the was right at this time it had never entered into my heart sects for
had

after 1 aher I

retired into the place

giu

wrongf I join I wrong were wrongs and which 1 could joins 1 was answered that 1 I that all parsonage must join none of them for they were all wrong and the personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight that their professors were all corrupt that they draw near to me with their lips but their hearts are far from me they teach for menp nen mena commandments of men having a form of godliness but they doctrines the tj fl he again forbade me to join with any of them power thereof deny the I s more things did he say unto me which 1 cannot write at this thing and nane naoe thinas marfa thina yun fun jnmclear word time Jnmclear 0 funclear clean

clear

en the evening of the above mentioned twenty first of september I n3 9 ht I after 1 had retired to my bed for the night 1 betook myself to prayer 39 and supplication to almighty god for forgiveness of all my sins and follies and also for a manifestation to me that 1 night khow gid my now k I might know fit how state and standing before him nor 1 had fully confidence in obtaining ahn ror I ain kor a devine sic manifestation as 1 had previously had one 14hile 1 I ivhile I was thus in the act of calling upon god 1 discovered a light appeargodp I goda ing in the room which continued to increase untill sic the room was lighter than at noonday when immediately a personage appeared at my bedside standing in the air for his feet did not touch the floor he had on a loose robe of most exquisite whiteness whiteness hd it was aany beyond any earthly 1 had ever seenp nor do 1 believe that seen seena earthly I I thing could be made to appear so exceedingly white and brilliant his hands were naked and his arms also a little above the wrist so also were his feet naked as were his leggs a little above the angies a es angles his ankles head and neck were also bare 1 could discover that he had no other col I clothing on but this robe as it was open so that 1 could see into his ciothui clothul I bosom not only was his robe exceedingly white but his whole person was glorious beyohd description beyofad beyond uld nid his countenance truly like aid lightning the room was exceedingly idght but no so very bright as ly exceeding idlght immediately around his person when 1 first looked upon him 1 was I I afraid but the fear soon left me he called me by name and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of god to me and
.9 9

that his

name was

moroni1 moronic Moroni

teme

sipect sipert timelsbse a abse aspect

one of the problems

in connection with the storys authenticity

the events and the written accounts
joseph joseph smiths
sp times and seasons Season

tine is the time

14apse between lbapse

smith reported that the

journal story of

first vision took place in 1820 his visions was first published in the
15p 1842 15

the churchs official publication march

As

the narration

showup showsp shows

this story
and

was

may dictated epy

ap 2 2p

80 858

A much

shorter account by joseph

ap 1842 2p 2

was published publ i shed

just

two weeks

lyp previously march previous

in the

same

paper

is

known

as the Vl wentworth entworth

letter

some

accounts authored by those

p

joseph smith were published prior to 1842 although not prior other than

to

1840 9 and
.9

will

be

treated in the

body of the

thesis

and

listed in the

notable that joseph smith evidently attempted to appendix it is also experiences as early as approximately 1833 dictate an account of these

isee appendix see

ppe 7 12 pp 712 ap

this
D

was never

corrected completed or published

it is

found in appendix

of this thesis
ao wid john A Mid stoe a biographer of joseph smith and an apostle of the widstoe uld

church of jesus

christ of latterday s- ints latter day saints garding the time lapse problem timelapse
because

made

wlna wina the following follo wima

comment

re-

wes was this first vision mas not published by the prophet in printed form 1842 until after the prophet began his history 182 in 1838 the conclusion has been offered that the whole story is a fabrication that tint fiat flat did not occur that it was invented to bolster up the pro p hets prophet it bets claims to revelation it is much the same as to say that the doings revei revelationo of jesus are fiction because the gospels recounting them were not writjesus ten until after the death of jesusp or that abraham lincoln was not a jesusa railsplitter because the story of his youth was not printed until he rali rall splitter rail sputter was a mature man a new and astonishing historical dictum2 dictums 2 dictum it is
P

secrecy aspect
pokable reasons poaable posible
josephas why josephts ts joseph

story

was

rom not put into written ronn fonn

until eighteen years after its occurrence and then not published until four years later require attention it is recognized however that the followso only explanation ing are mily possible though logical explanations the fact

still

reeven

mains

that joseph smith recorded other revelations as they

1 I

happened

preparing some of them peepari prepari ng

for publication as early

the press in
1833

1831

the book of

com-

mandments mandments which came from

contained many of these revela-

tions and

it is

a question for speculation whether or not joseph smith

began to

apparent intended to publish the account which he apparently

dictate about

that year
joseph did not

tell

his story promiscuously in fact as he stated

fedory fetory in the beginning of his btoryp

it
felt

reas only because was beas

of the many rumors

which were

circulated that

he

compelled to write

it

placed in the first place3

2john A widstoe gospel interpretations ajohn ohn craftp 1947 p 118 crabb crafb 1947p crafto age appendix sge
A

city cites salt lake citys

boo

at the semi annual conference of the church at far west missouri october kt semiannual kest 25. 2 25 1831 the clerk of the conference paraphrased joseph smiths remarks 131 it was not intended tomormonthu world an the particulars of the tell ari ail all coming forth of the book of and also it was not expedient for him to relate these thifags tbjhags tajhgs4 thl thifags As a part of the dictated history of the beginning of the church joseph ks
.1 1

also stated

in the meantime we were forced to keep secret the circumstances of hairing fairing received the priesthood and our having been baptized owing haftng to a spirit of persecution which had already manifested itself in the
neighborhood5 neighborhoods neighborhood 5
by i lication implication libation
c

catlon cation this li

might also include other

by bv

spiritual manifestations
his mother includes her

the history of jsseph smith written

son sons story of the vision precisely as

he recorded

it at

the end of ac

account
0

next sunset the nezu day we were all seated and joseph commenced telling us the great and glorious things which god mob wob not had manifested to him but before proceeding he charged us mot to bot mention out of the family that which he was about to say to us as ached acked the world was so vdlcked that when they came to a knowledge of these things they would try to take our lives and that when we should obtain names bames piates the plates our aames would be cast as evil by all people hence banes the necessity of suppressing these things as much as possible until pogsiblej come for them to go forth to the world 0 the time should
counse cours ej these things of course pertain to experiences other than the visi-

following is the foilbming accordinglv accordingly by according lv

comment concerning

the importance of secrecy

tation

of the father and the son but they

smiths smith illustrate joseph smithts

apparent conviction that personal spiritual experiences should be kept

from the general public

this

could be a possible explanation for his

and sacred story of the

long hesitation in

telling tellihg the very special

ljoseph smith history of the church hereafter referred to as joseph latter day lake city church of jesus christ of latterday saints DHC salt
1948
1 I
2200 220

5jbd 5lbd

1 43 44 I 4344

6lucy mack smith history of joseph smith ed by preston nibley flucy smiths lucy 820 inca inc 19451 stevens and vitallis incj 1945 p 82 hallis city salt lake citys cites

appearance of the an ther and the son fn father

it is
he

possible that joseph smith kept this vision a secret because

felt that communications of this nature were to be treated as sacred and not to be made public at first this thought is reflected in an article dated tobe
june
15 18420 150 1842

on

the subject of the holy ghost in which the

mormon

prophet

man discussed his ideas on gods methods of communication between god and mans nan

the manifestations of the gift of the holy ghost the ministering of angels or the development of the power majesty or glory of god were very seldom manifested publicly and that generally when angels have come or god has revealed him self it haw been to individuals in prihaa has himself vate or their chamber in the wilderness or fields and that generally without noise or tumult the angel delivered peter out of prison in the dead of night came to paul unobserved by the rest of the crew appeared to mary and elizabeth without the knowledge of others spoke to john the kihen nhen baptist whilst the people around were ignorant of it when elisha saw the chariots of israel and the horsemen thereof it was unknown to others when the lord appeared to abraham it was at his tent door when the ivas case angels went to lot no person knew them but himself which was the ccase probably with abraham and his wife when the lord appeared to moses it was in the burning bush in the tabernacle or in the mountain top elijah was taken in a chariot of fire it was unobserved by the world bras rock and when he was in a cleft of a rocka there vias loud thunder but the rock2 the lord was not in the thunder there was an earthquake but bhe lord was volce voice not in the earthquake and then there was a still small voicep which was voiced heqr eiljah jah what heer the voice of the lord saying ifwhat doest thou heqrp elijah the lord cannot always be known by the thunder of his voice by the display of his glory or by the manifestation of his power and those are the least prepared to meet them and were the lord to manifest his power as he characters charadters did to the children of israel such charadters would be the first to say 7 anymmrep lest we his people die 117 not the lord speak anyromre fflet filet let

interpret certain biblical passages to suggest to you it is given to know importance of secrecy about some things the secrets of the kingdom of heaven christ told a few of his disciples the 118 1 have told you earthly again in john not given if I but to them it is I notp not ye believed noop said the lord how shall ye believe if 1 tell things and
there are also
some who
11
.1 1

you of heavenly things

gig 119 9

71oseph smithp joseph smith

djic ajic daic dhc1

VP

30 31 3031

batt 7 6 76
814att latt
0

9john ae ajohn 3212 012 3e

after eighteen years joseph

secrecy had passed
on

smith apparently

felt that the

some

need for
keep
S

no

1 effort I

was made from

that time forth to

silent ilent
known

the visitations

it is

toop conceivable too that

made

of the details of

the visions were never intended to be

only to joseph
problem of secondary sources

public and remained secretp secret secreta

an interesting note found in joseph smiths dictated writings under

date of

may 30

1838

states

the

presidency Pesi first pesl dency

grammar

were engaged

in writing
1110

the church history and in recitation of

lessons which recitations

at this period

were

usually attended each morning before writing

it

ijith w appears that men other than joseph smith had something to do ath i 1th
V
T

with writing the history of the church

dency and the clerk
known

the counselors in the

first presi-

having written part of the church history and having

sp visionsp the story of the visions would be in a position to correct any error vision that might have crept into the record the men who served as counselors to

joseph smith at
1837 1841 18371841

tine this time

were sidney rigdon

W

1833 1844 18331844

and hyrum smith

the clerk

was george

18381840 robinson 1838 1840

there is

no

evidence to indicate that these men varied from the story as published by

nephimoroni joseph smith except in the case of the nephi moroni problem which

is treated
after

in chapter 111 of this thesis III lii

josephs

account was dictated to his scribe on may

some

1838

this

account was printed print edp adcount eds

of the writers of the secondary accounts

as well as the information they received from continuous it john taylor one who was closely associated with wi th joseph smith association lt fjoseph smitch joseph snrua iti can tell you what he ajoseph smitjh told with joseph smith stated teil teli teh
had access

to

tel

10

joseph smithp DHC smith dho

ili lil lii iiii

111 26 iiiy III

8
me

about

it

visioqp7 till the zhe visions

1111

in the case of all retold stories there are some discrepancies in the various narrations these secondary sources are interesting since some of them contain details which joseph smith
As may be expected

did not incorporate into his

own
1

written account

it must

be assumed

that these details are either 0 additional facts that joseph told orally but did not incorporate into his written account or 2 embe sements shments embellishments by the authors which were original with them and not necessarily what
joseph related

skeptics have tried to

sonages
who

show

that the

names and number

of the per-

appeared were not made clear in the reports and accused joseph bade

and his family and friends of

fabricating the story

various detailed adby some

ditions in the secondary sources have been classified

changes
some

as intentional

accounts have been described as confusing

many

writers

josephs claim that joseph

dxperience was a result of environment and his youthful experience

imagination

accusations of fraud based on hypnosis acusations

hallucinations
on the other hand

dreams and pure prevarications havehbeen hurled at him dreans

joseph smith never seemed to have changed the essential elements of his

story during his lifetime and

was

martyrs called upon to die a martyr

death to

seal his witness

veny talu veny taluablee very ven tealuable ver verj of these secondary accounts are very valuablee the contributions published his account only in the times and seasons and in joseph smith

the wentworth

his story were true however it would be letter if natural for him to have spoken of those experiences to his close associates times tines joseph gave his story publicly only a few timesp these secondary since

et al journal of discourses hereafter referred 1854 1886 F D and S W richards 18541886 london discourseslondon to as journal of discourses IF igi igl 161 XXI 1610
young
0

li brigham librigham

sources add much valuable detail

more complete

IN

for the believer they

make

the story

in attempt will smiths story

pointed ointed P hinted
out that the

be made

in this thesis to prove or disprove joseph

an analysis will be made of the visions and

it

will

be

ry jyjgry

source joseph smith sid not va eld eid

9

ddgtvay in telling

his account and died without refuting or denying the association he had with heavenly messengers As to the secondary accounts the analysis will extend to comparing the retold fe fetories with the primary source pointing out btories stories tonies torles tories
sp shments embellishments the differences apparent embe sements and additions difference

this

should help

to determine
members

if

the story

is

supported by adequate testimony

enviornment of joseph smith

of the church of jesus christ of

your old
and 1 I

latterday saints interpret latter day

your young men

the following words of joel as pertaining to the environment of this day

and age when he maids saids said sald
men

shall

dream dreams

will shew wonders in the heavens and in the 2 02 As the first president of the church of jesus christ of latter earth tp prophe day saintsp joseph is acknowledged as a prophet seer and revelator saints shall see visions
to the mi ons millions
migrated in
embers who have become i4embers

of that church

the smith family consisting of the parents and eight children

wstern state of vermont to western new york they astern the twentyfive rap palmyra which had been settled for only twenty five years lived in Palmy raj first
181 1815 from

manchester noved they moved to Manches terp a nearby town later 1820ts the 1820 the life of the ordinary western american family in

centered

on

the

home and

if

religious the churchy churcho charcho the family were r

many

religion
12

seemed

to be the topic of conversation in

.9 9

gathering

joel 228

300 30

10

although less than fifteen percent of the population actually belohged to belonged
any church

the religious atmosphere became exciting and

some

of the dis-

cus sions resulted cussions

in the flaring of tempers

and even more

violent outbursts

in the words of joseph smiths smith

in the second year after our removal to manchester there was vie lived in the place where we livedp an unusual excitement on the subject of livedo sp religion it commenced with the methodists but soon became general Methodist among all the sects in that region indeed the whole district of our country seemed affected by ltv and great multitudes united themselves it esp which to the different religious parties created no small stir and dipartl parti vision amongst the people some crying 10 here and others 10 lo lo some were contending for the methodist faith some for the there falth presbyterian and some for the baptist for notwithstanding the great love which the converts to these different faiths expressed at the time of their conversion and the great zeal manifested by the respective clergy who were active in getting up and promoting this extraordinary scene of religious feeling rious relisious neil sious nell alous reli elous edp converted in order to have everybody convert as they were pleased to call it wh en them then let ghen join what sect they pleased yet when the converts began to let them join what sect they pleased yet when the converts began to another off offa file offp some to one party and some to anotherp it was seen that goodfeelings the seemingly good feelings of both the priests and the converts were tood more pretendedthan real for a scene of great confusioh and bad feelings confusion nore pretended than moreretgnded mr bot the pretests anfltthe converts were more pretended than ren tor prtests rem for p priests dffd bhe eboth tboth the real r riests a scene of great confusion and bad feelihgensued priest contending against priest and convert against convert BO that all their good feelings one for another if they ever had any were entirely lost opinions13 opinions 13 a strife of words and a contest about kopini ons13 opini ih
sometime
vre
.0 0

it di ff erent different efferent fferent

ations

should be observed

that

many

revivals of western
new york

new york were

in character

from some of

body twisting the violent bodytwisting demonstr-

typical of areas

such as kentucky

revivals were seldom

accompanied by extreme bodily contortions but were more refined in nature

and accompanied by much praying
so crossp a noted historian describes the conditions 0 condition whitney cross crossd

enthfasiasm period of revivals and entlihsiasm the great awakening of this 1790 and the religious fervor of the 1790s left lasting imthe 1740s Cs viar liar upon the country but after the war of 1812 t the religious pres sions pressions qoon it upheavals surpassed all previous experiences if appears that western new york was more intensively engaged in revivalism than
was a
13 Smith 13smith snith selth seith
D
H
C J

1 I

2 3 23

1 1 I

nI
1 14

were other

portions of the northeast

mormon

gustive larson a prominent

cording of mormon
ations

historian observes in his rehistoric beginnings that competition between religious denominan

resulted in

numerous camp meet 3mg s meetings

which drew thousands from the

many came

country sides countrysides

some

attended out of curiosity but

charged with

excitement expecting divine manifestations 15

lowry nelson boci ologist and historian describes the purpose of sociologist soci

these reivials reivials the essential idea in these revivals was the millennium and the second coming along with the restoration of pentecostal manifestations emotional instability literal acceptance of the bible as revelation sp renewed interest in the prophecies of the old and new testement testaments Testament ohio characterized the peoples of the sections of new york and chios in which ohios years 16 mormonism had its formative

that these revivals at times resulted in some it good many excellent men have traced their sincere piety which distinguished them through life to such an origin many revival enthusiasts
should be noted
howe verp however became verj

affected only during the life of the current meetings and there
was

then went back to their normal living

also the danger that the

enthusiamm genuine enthusiajan of some might provoke hypocrisy in others enthusiasm

it

was during one

of these revival periods that four of the smith joseoh joseph

family were influenced and united with the presbyterian church vith unit edWith unitedwith
says that in his early

life

he

f1became became becane

sect

07

he

also stated that he

was

partial to the methodist not able to decide which church was

somewhat
ip

14 Whitney cross scitney crosso the burned over district the social and intel14whitney dver sbitney york 18001850 western new yori 1800 1850 religion in 1 history of enthusiastic lectual prespp 1950 12 11120 1112 prespi university pres 1950p PP 11 120 cornell ithica 15 15gustive 0 larson outline history of utah and the mormons salt gustive e 1958p book company 1958 p 20 lake city deseret 16lowry nelson the mormon village salt lake city university of lowry press 1952 pp 33 34 ppe 3334 ap utah
0

17see appendix see

po 6 p 60

12

right
willard bean a historian who lived many years in vern new lew york tried to gain an insight into the environmental conditions of the people living at this time he wrote
the revival started the latter part of april before the rural people could get onto their land to begin spring plo kingo which gave the plowing pio wingo farmers a chance to attend the mee tinga even business and professional nee meeting men neglected their work and all but shut up shop by the first of may the revival was well under way with scores of people confessing religion and each new convert becoming a selfappointed missionary to self appointed neighborn neighbors solicit friend and neighborn the prevailing question among people of savedn waso what the neighborhood was ifwhat shall 1 do to be savedg saved I during the second week in may the revival began to show signs of up breaking upo and the many converts were solicited by the different preachers to join their respective churches this caused considerable rivalry and contention among the ministers so warm did this contention become that harsh accusations were hurled by certain of their numbers tiat tint james it was during this stage that one of the methodist ministers took his text from the first chapter of fifth and sixth verses which any of you lack wisdom let him ask of god that reads as follows if upbraidetiti upbraider giveth to all men liberally and upbraid et 2 not and it shall be given upbraidet unto him but let him ask in faith nothing waivering wai vering waitering the minister made a special appeal to those who were yet undecided those who could nisrfc make lap their minds and were procrastinating the day of the reabt trp lup tip nbt pentance it was rather effective and found ready response with a young pentance he felt more convlas vias 0 rias lad named joseph smith jr who was present cerned about salvation than ever before but could not account for the contention among the ministers joseph smith at this time was fourteen years of age and had never made thb teachings of the respective churches aht tht of the vicinity a minute study hence he did not know that there was concerned any particular difference in their doctrine but he felt much coneerned as to which church he should join the family bible and the christian almanac with the patent medicine recipes made up the principal ray rap Palmy reading matter of the average home during the pioneer days of palmyra and when he got home that evening he got the family bible and looked up he chapter of james and read the ministers text the first thk thh tah read it again and again and the more he read it ahk more it impressed he was worried and wanted to he lacked wisdom on his mind itself he know which of the churches was right and which he should join definitely made up his mind to take james who spoke for the lord at he could scarcely sleep word and carry out his instructions his during the night for thinking about it and even made up his mind where he would go put it to the test18

these were the times when the

.1

religion

was

taught constantly simply

18 Willard bean ae B C history of palmyra and the beginning of mor 18willard bo mtr 1 A illard 0 co coo incp 1938 coe inca 21249 24 2124 N Y inc PP 21 249 palmyra courier rap monism palmyra Palmy raj

13

and earnestly
nkind and many

the people became excited over the sinful condition of maof

their souls
to
be

yearned for religious satisfaction

A

religious

revolution

seemed

in the air

recent

work

in american Ihistory states

the following
mens minds had become unsettled visions of a
come down upon them dowg udon dawg 19 terors 7 derors
1 I

tradition

had

lost its hold

new moral world had

and

transition its

s joseph smiths mother recorded in her writings that the smith family smith

for

many

generations back had had independent natures which led them

co-

nstantly to seek

truth

joseph smiths paternal grandfather asael smith

topsfield tapsfield of Tops field massachusetts was very liberal in his views to his family
was

asael could
his advice

not reconcile the conflicting creeds of the sects with scripture

to search the scriptures and consult

sofa sound rea soha reasofa reasoh reasch

cey cep joseph smiths mother likewise maintained her independence despite independen

the efforts of the ministers

she refused to acknowledge any

spiritual
she also

authority greater than the scripture and her private convictions

said that spiritual manifestations and serious thought were part of her

ancestors everyday living

prior to joseph smith

god and the many teachings comprising the

among

gospel were an inspiring force

the smith family

many

generations prior

joseph smith senior the prophets father claimed

redorded redor ded to have visions which have been reworded and give indication of his spirit-

uality
my

20

william smith last surviving brother to joseph smith states

hnas bras mother 9 who was a very pious woman and much interested in the welboth here and hereafter made use of every means fare of her children sugges tp which her parental love could suggest to get us engaged in seeking

et al documentary history of american indudr H clark company 1910 V 20 arthur strial society cleveland arth 20Preston nibley joseph smith the prophet salt I ieke lake leke city preston ake eke 500 ap 150 news press 1946p pp 1500 50 1946 deseret
19john john
R

commons

for our souas salvation soul Is bouas she prevailed on us to attend the meetings and almost the whole family became interested inthe natter meeting matler malter in the matter natler and seekers after tmzfah tmrhh this extraordinary excitement prevailed not only in our neighborhood but throughout the whole country great neighbor oodp oodo 2
numbers were converted

14

difficult to determine the amount of influence all this had on joseph smith it is quite obvious from his own story that deep impressions
were made

it is

according to his mother joseph was nother

was he vaas aas ras iras i

much

less inclined to the

inclined
but rahter cheerful
by

reading of books than any of the other children

fetudy towards meditation and deep study ttudy
1

he was more vias bias

notjo botjo rbidp notjrorbid

and mature beyond

his years

he was

neither terrified

the threats of

revivalists into an acceptance of their dogmas nor driven by their divi eions divisions with i irith into unbelief in revealed religion the question veith him seemed to be eith rith
ifwhich which

of

all

christn22 the churches is the church of christ

F

joseph smiths boyhood was spent in clearing preparing and cultiacreage vating the acneal e of the familys acreaje acreal
chopped wood
A mormon

home

in manchester

he would

sell the

resulting from the clearing of their heavily timbered land environ boys Kirk hamp eirk francis kirkham adds his description to the boy is early enviroh

mental analysis

gods ood falth faith joseph smith grew to manhood among oods noblemen men of faiths self dours they worked twelve hours a day cep initiative and determination reliance cej retian relian tools to build their homes and supply food and clothing for with hand their families travel for pleasure was unknown the first railroad horseedrawn had not yet competed with the horeeedrawn vehicle roads were poor in addition to the and usually maintained by a tax or a toll cp few books home hone almana might blight homec biblep one night find in the homep the almanac and a fewbooks of bibie bible bibler went to school for about three months a year until travel children and cipher modern science was unknown persons they could read write water suffering with fever were denied watery and people were bled when blood children died from communicable would have saved their lives infusion people lived near to nature diseaseji ji 9 now prevented by inoculation disease and mercies of god23 and believed in the love
&

.9

21 21see

see appendix

p 2 pe
mew A new

22see appendix ee

A AP

in america indepenwitness for christ kirkham mt Kirkha co cooj and publishing coop zions printing dencep jackson county missouri dence dencel 36370 37 1942p ppe 36 370 3637 1942
23 Francis M 23francis we

15

these environmental influences must have had their affect upon young joseph youne youn smith in his impressionable years

religious doctrines taught in the religious excitement of the age

punded funded
As

many

doctrines were ex

george

tanner points out tamer

developed into mormon

religious issues later theology were major points of discussion among resome

ligious leaders
among mormon ideas which had their counterparts in other religious movements was the desire to restore the ancient organization and practices

men24 men 24
A

s williams had recognized the need of the church of christ even roger wi of apostles and had stated that until god set them there would not be the authority of god upon the earth the separate baptists in the south actually chose elder samuel harris as an apostle in 1774 and all the ministers present laid their hands on his head and ordained him to that office al&ut 1800p able M sargent founded a sect in alblut albut 1800 southern ohio and gathered around himself twelve apostles mostly wo-

latterday saint latter day

church publication the millennial

star further

points out
a in england between the years 1830 and 1835 si sect known as the Irving ites irvingites believed that twelve apostles among the gentiles were necessary in preparation for christs second coming and had appointed the sp tijelve by 1835 183 revelation twelve the irvingite leaders also received revelations pre- 25 tiieive dicted the future and had the gift of healing and the gift of tongues monolly t joseph smith never claimed to have a monoply on the truth it

appears howe verp that many of his religious teachings were unique certainhove verj however ly the concept of the godheadi with the father and son separate personages

of flesh
new

and bones and the holy ghost as a

third

member

as a spirit was

ijudgement judgement jud also the iud gement of three degrees of glory premortal existence eden edena temple work location of the garden of edenp salvation of the dead

24george shepherd tanner the unpublished masters monism arose 79 77790 1931 7779 PP 21 77 79o
25

religious environment in which moruniversity of chicago june thesis

stary star millennial starp july

18&3 1843 1863 1853

16

additional scripture other than the bibiel organization of the church scrijure bibie bible biblel fure
cept of zion gospel taught prior to christ were

con-

all singular features

made on

of the doctrine of joseph smith

the elaboration and clarification that joseph smith

pared but that

all

the
com-

could doctrines then expounded couldp of course be listed documented and

sufficient summarise to summarise by suggesting that mormons acknowledge the idea that a great summarist reat deal of revelation from god to man comes in response to mans needs and his nans majs kajs mais nais
would be

is

not the purpose of

this treatise

it

search for truth

and

s maars since factors in the environment influence majrs needs mant manf
come would ccmep cone

interests certainly revelatioh revelation

in

many

so instances as a reinstance

Bs factors sult of these factobs facto

mormons would argue

that

most of

the great revelations

have come to man because someone asked

according to the bible moses and

other spiritual leaders of ancient dayds raked for direction before the lord dadds eked revealed his will

the
he

way

the lord seems to function is to wait for

answer an swer right before the anaver
came

man

to

realize a need then

he had

reveals and instructs

joseph smith stated that

to ask

which church was

therefore

it

seems

to be mans need which opens the heavens and allows communication

man

to flow between god and

through inspiration dreams and even visions

almost with an attitude of prophecy in an adress delivered be-

fore the senior class of the divinity school of harvard university of july
15.9 15 159

1838

ruerson0 bnerson ralph waldo anerson one of the greatest minds of joseph smiths

religious conditions in the united states and yearned time described the for
modem modern

revelations

he

stated

never greater need was nevergreater for new revelation than now the 0 aj ethere has been a universal decay if not almost death of faith in here fthere 1 look for the hour when the supreme beauty which society I men nen neno souls of those eastern meno and chiefly of those hebrews ravished the lips spoke oracles to all times shall speak in the and through their 26 west also 0 0
26Frederick 1 Carpen terP emerson handbook enerson 26prederick I carpenter snerson 26frederick ppe 7988 house 1953 PP 79 88

new york a hendricks yonk s

17

orson pratt a convert to the church and one

who knew

joseph smith

intimately describes j8sephs situation 0 josephs situ jgsephs sliuationo

what were the circumstances that enabled him to have manifestations he was very anxious from heaven at that early period of his life as most of mankind are to be saved and he was also very anxious to ardrdous point understand how to be saved but on this po int he was at a loss he did ranner not understand the way to be saved he was a farmers boy he was farmer fanner not brought up and educated in high schools academies or colleges he I was merely a poor farmers boy 27 s farmer boy27
J

farner
1

CD

under

all

of these environmental influences joseph records that

was he wes moved to go into the woods to pray for an answer to his hes

religious

problems
by god

en fironments certainly joseph smiths environment whether natural or created became an important influence in establishing the mormon faith

theological importance of the visions

according to biblical history visions and dreams have constituted

in every dispensation of the priesthood the scrilhpvmes record that to adam the patriarch of the race scriijimes enoch spoke face to face with god revealed his will and gave commandments 28 according to the book of mormon account momon him coun selled counseller the lord who counselled
a means of communication between god and man
.1 1

the brother of jared

meno 29 mene nene men nen

was given a

vision of history and prophecy concerning

to
0 30

moses

god revealed his

was

will through

physical manifestation

of fire rire

lehi

instructed

by dreams

regarding his future in the land

lar1y s laray testament prophets were favored similarly now call the old we 38 33 jeremiah34 ezekiel35 daniel36 habakkuk 437 and zechariah38 34 Ezekiel 35 Daniel 36 jereniah134 Zechariah 134 jacobi jacob 32 job Jeremiah 934 Jereniah
3 america311 america3 americal America

27 journal 27journal

3553 353 of discourses XII 3530 discoursesxii 3533

gses ases 0118 ses

30Exodus 30exodus

627 62739
4 320 322

62027 61027 39 6102739

2bher

abher 28efaher 30

311 nephi

210 2 6

22 4 624 224
11

32genesis 46-420 32Genesis 462 32&enesis

34jeremiah 111116 0 34jeremiah 111 16 11 1116 lilillg iiiilig
36Daniel 7s 80 manlel a 7s
0

33job 421221 33 job 412210 4212 21o 412 21

35Ezekial 35e2ekial 35ezekial
37 Habakkuk 37habakkuk

naniel daniel

220 223

3 aze charlah 8ze 382echariah

8 811 1811 18 11
1 0

18

the dispensation of the meridian of time

when

christ

was upon

the

earth

waas was

characterized

by many examples of

the lord speaking inspiring

instructing in person
As

his birth and that of his cousin john the

ba-

ptist were prefaced by visitations from heavenly messengers ristp tistp

they review

all

of the communications that have been recorded

between god and man in the existing

histories there are

some who

state

that the experience of the greatest and

us examine the

which joseph smith reported could be considered one

most outstanding

siutiatoh to see

if

scriptural stories known to man let there is any credibility to hhis asserchis this

tion
smithy joseph snithy account smiths
the book of
mormon

is

unique in that the father and the son

appeared together and they both spoke

to those

who

accept the bible and

we have

as authentic nowhere in 0thes histories do invbhes

another example that parallels this experience in this respect

paul the
member

a1single alsingle only apostle had an experience J but he declared on Y that al single

of

deity

39 7 appeared

the apostle

peters relationship to the lord

was

sim-

respect40 johns revelation recorded in his book must respect 40 johs ilar in that ep experienc have been a unique experience but as far as the text states we learn that
god alone
A

revealed

it to

him

41

few

scriptural

examples of the appearance of two members of the theappearance appearanceof th

nr

godhead are as follows

straighway straig hway jesys jasys and jes ass when he was baptized went up straightway out of the vss him 10 water and lop the heavens were opened unto himp and he saw the loj lo god descending like a dove and lighting upon him and spirit of I heaven saying this is my beloved son in whom 1 10 a voice from k1aven lo ka
am

well pleased

this scriptural story

39acts 169 acts

was

repeated by mark and luke and was

40pcts 101016 acts 1010 16
42Matthew 3216 42matthew 316
17

mre 2 ORe orevelation 1461 ao 11 2o revelation 6120 112 velation

19

confirmed ih most
was

details in

each gospel

the savior of the world

since a threemembers sinceall three members ali ail all ire e

baptized in the water the voice of the father vas heard and a symbol ln eus kus das

dove the dovep gave representation of the holy ghost dovea

of the godhead were represented this event traas also unique and unparalwas

cl

leled in scriptural history

another outstanding example

is

seen in the description of the

a

transfiguration
mountain

jesus took peter james and john and ascended

high
communed

with this privacy jesus mth uth

4

left the apostles

vlas

andp alone and anda

with his father

As

result

wf

his prayer he

v was vias

that his countenance

snow

was

altered and his raiment glistened

earth can white them
edth idth
11

glorified

so much so

his face

did shine as the sun and his garments became shining

so as no

exceeding white as
was

fuller

on

thus jesus

trans

figured before the three disciples

and moses

ith jesus

were two personages

elijah

the lord conversed with these two glorified personages con-

cerning his death as the three apostles listened intently

peter entered
reverencing

into the conversation with a proposition to erect

a memorial 8

this

wonderful occasion

bright cloud overshadowed than and a voice

out of the cloud saidp sald said saida

hear ye him

this
to
be

was

edp pleased I this is my beloved son in whom 1 am well pleas edy the eternal father introducing and sanctioning the

manifestation

the apostles

fell prostrate
when

jesus touched them and

saw

told

them not

afraid

they looked they

mission

they were alone

with the savior

the whole experience was over and the

43

disciples

were

left

saviors with a greater understanding of the savior

in this exper-

ience the three

men

of the two members of the godhead witnessed evidences

but saw only one of them

recorded in
43 matthew 43matthew

book of mormon are the

details of the appearance of

171 8 1718

20

the savior to

some

of the ancient inhabitants of the american continent

made

in fulfi ent of promises fulfirbnent fulci

land of bountiful

christ appeared to the npehites in the

a

just prior to jesus1 appearance jesusa jesus

voice was heard

three times twice

unintelligible the third trune it was distinct time tine fl flbehold my beloved son behold ard in whom 1 am well pleased in whom 1 have gloriI arn I fied my name hear ye hime As the intent multitude gazed upwards they hine
ges gas pas jes jas i-

it

beheld the personage of the resurrected jesus christ their redeemer and christj christa

savior
sonages

he spoke and

inspired them so
we

much

that the multitude prostrated

body his body44

themselves before him 0 again

witness a scriptural story with two pershowing

evidence in evidences yet only the son

the only other instance that is available to us in religious

history is that of stephen the martyr histon to mortal

blood
man

As

stephen bore his last testimony

the persecutors threw stones at him and thirsted for his

moment

at this
man

ghosts stephen energized by the holy ghost looked

11b B

steadfastly
the son of

edp upward and exclaimed exclaim

ehold 1 see the heavens opened and behold I

standing on the right hand of god

d lord jesus receive lor
p

after this vision

.145 145 145

stephen prayed

my

sp 1 rit spirit

stephens thus in stephen

no speaking or

experiences experience two of the

deity

were shown

in vision with

personal message evidenced

smith1s smiths in joseph smithts experience
he

states that both the father

and

son manifested themselves and com communicated with cok riunicated the

his hii

upon god to deliver me out of 0 0 all power of this enemy which had seized upon me and at the very mothe ment when 1 was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to I not to an imaginary ruin but to the power of some actual destruction worlds I being from the unseen world who had such marvelous power as 1 had never alarm I any being just at this moment of great alarms 1 saw in before felt

exerting

my power

to call

head a pi r of light exactly over my heads above the brightness of the pillar fell upon me descended gradually until sun suna which sun2 myseld myself I no sooner appeared than 1 found myseldt delivered from the

it

it

11 third nephi me hird

45acts 725560 7055 7255 60 705560

21 2
11

the light rested upon me 1 saw two I perso nages whose brightness and glory defy all description standing personages pOrso above me in the air one of them spake unto me calling me by name nane naine and saidp pointing to the other sald said my beloved son hear hime 1146 saida this is him 46 hin
me bound
kihen lihen ihen l jhen

enemy which

held

following this the other personage jesus christ gave instructions to joseph smith joseph claimed that this was the first event in hnas the restoration of the fulness of the gospel to the earth in this dispenfalness
.9 9

sation

joseph smith told the world that he both saw and heard god the
and his son
B

eternal father

jesus christ

47

joseph smithy followers smithw smiths

46see appendix see

i

47there are two references in apocryphal literature alluding to there alSi aise alseuding the appearance of the father and the son the didache or teaching of the Didach eP twelve apostles is one of the most important discoveries of the second half of the nineteenth century there are several references in early vatn christian literature to a book with this or a similar title As it stands the didache may be described as a manual of church inspru chiono instruction instructiono ep in the last chapter of the didache the author describes the condDidach days itions that will exist in the last daysi
nany cone marw sjxall jarw then sjaall the creation of mankind come to the fiery trail and many shall be offended and be lostp but they will endure in their faith lost losta shall be saved by the curse itself and then shall appear the signs of sins truth first the sign spread out in the heaven then the sign of trumpeta tp trumpe the sound of the trumpet and thirdly the resurrection of the dead cone dead sald said but not of all the deadp but as it was saidp the lord shall cane and deada saida then shall the world see the lord coming his saints with him all on the clouds of heaven
einemann hinemann kirshopp lake the apostolic fatherpj trans william Hi nemann father pj Kir shopp ma london the macmillan co p 1912p p 333 iian lian llan cop 1912 po
i sts ats gives a prophecy of the future lists literature since this I the coming attractions in somewhat of an order 1 would like to further analyse the sign that the author listed as taking place first in the last heavenff ff this interpbteba interpebta tithe sign spread out in the heaven he states dayse the days agrees with the translation of the greek word ekpetasis found in tion vde vie lie greekenglish Howe verp when we look at the greek english lexicon we greek text however hove verj the 11an opening in the heaven ll combining find their interpretation as being an greek textp there is enough similarity to the text texts these two renditions of the event of the visions of joseph smith to merit consideration 0

apocryphal

and

1 I

11

op ic interesting situation reported in the efahiopic there is another christ galilean testament of our lord jesus christo in this manuscript the an interrogation takes place between the apostles and vrriting apocryphal writing discussion centers about the millennium the savior after his resurrection disciples ask christ about his second coming the resurrected ies and the disc ILP les ad
0

22

maintained that the knowledge obtained in the

first vision is
ordinances

the most

im-

portant Y information nformation

man

has received from god since the resurredtjon of the resurredtion resurrection

lord and that

it

became

the foundation of

all the

commandments

and blessings of former ages which were subsequently restored

in this age

joseph account suggests that the certainty he had of the reality of the

vision

was a main

factor in giving

him

the necessary strength to withstand

during his S short hort

all

obstacles and persecutions which

fell his lot

life

redeemer

states that his father will come during the passover time of the so year some translators go go far as to state that text reveals and the son will both come in that season of the year that father although some precautions have to be taken there is a relationship joseph smith claimed that he did have a may very apply here that and the son together he also claimed that it did oce vision of the father cur in the passover season of the year and it was the next appearance of et wrightp catalogue hippic nuscript hiopic manuscript aseer the ascension wrighta catologue of the bbhiopic 11a nu script right Cato logue deity adeer after abbadie museum trans 1877 1677 london 1877p P 270 antoine Abba diep in the british 100 nationalej ap Nati onale biblioteque Nationalej pp 60 loop 199 nationale nationals

ewo CHAPTER wro TOD TW

THE

visitation

OF THE FATHM AND THE SON FATHER AMD

josephs
1I

age xge 2ge i

joseph smith declared in his story that he was in his fifteenth 0

year

his first vision his story concerning his age remained consistent as seen in a journal entry dated november 14 1835 183
when he had

ne abury Newbur newburyo of newburyyo ohio called on me to inquire about the establishment of the church and to be instructed dd instructdd instruct ine inedoctrine more perfectly doctrine him a 1 gave y brief relation of my experience while in oy juI venile years say from six years old up to the time 1 received my I I first vision which was when 1 was about fourteen years old also the revelations that 1 received afterwards concerning the book of mormon I and a short account of the rise and progress of the church up to this dated 2 date date2
Ho loles holoien holoies ioles loies holmeso holmess

this afternoon erastus

joseph was born in december of

1805

if the

vision occurred in
fourteen years and

the spring of

1820 J he would have been approximately beve bave

three to five
visi&n Visi itai the visiitai vision vlsi

months of age

at the time

orson pratt confirms joseph josephs

age in his summary

3 history3 as does orson hydes account 4 accounts account4 hyde history

wi am smith a brother william

influenced by a sermon

smith to joseph smiths said that joseph was 5 minister5 minister given by reverend lane a methodist ministeri lane2 lanea
where he should ask god
11 p II
G GP

james passage part of his text the passcbee in jaines 15 lee iassc the minister chose for

the reader

is

informed that
A

if

he lacks

wisdom

joseph
312

aee 1ee ee iee lee

appendix

pa 59 p p9 5
2
p

2smith DHC asmith mith

asee appendix C p cp 3see see

asee appendix 4see see

11 po 110 lle lie ile P iio

p 2 pa 20 p9

newsy 1894 5deseret newsp jqnaary 20 18940 deseret news

26

24

did not record having heard reverend laneis sermon but did state that lanes passage in the biblep never did any passage of scripassage after reading this p bibie bible alsage file tlle tile passa bibler

ture
to

come
.6 6 it6 ita

with more power to the heart of

man

than this did at this time

mine

joseph stated that this stirring impression beca ame the motivating becc 4me became becane

influence which led

him

to the

woods

near his

home

to seekp in prayer seek seeka

the answer to his question

which church

that
of

he chose a morning of a

he continued shall 1 join I beautiful and clear day early in the spring

7 1820

after joseph

had

knelt and vocally expressed his desi resp uttering desires

was

his first oral prayer he claimed that his first feeling com lionly commonly tense depression con nionly associated with an evil force

that of in-

then in his

greatest

moment

of despair he saw a pi r of light descend until pillar

f feli it fell eli eil ell

that

8 6 orson upon him

pratt enlarged
like
a

upon

this description

by writing

the light the trees

was more

fire

and seemed capable of burning the tops of

that the leaves of the trees were not consumed by it although its brightness apparently was sufficient 2 as he at first thought though to consume everything before it but the trees were not c to consumed donsumed by it and it continued to descend antil it rested upon him dons umed antii tetil raysa and enveloped him in its glorious rays9
he beheld

the next sequence in the vision as recorded by joseph occurred

A

him re sed from the evil influence and standing above himp released apparently suspended in space were two personages whose brightness and sald glory dfifled all description one of the personages said pointing to the dfified
when he was

6seeappendi x ap see appendix A

obean 7bean 7beanj
opo op ope

po p 6

cite

p pa 25 p9

states that the vision probably took place

mav middle part of may the in A asee appendix aa p 79 8see A see a1

354 91ournal of discourses XII p 3549 journal

25

beloved son hear him this is the other personage then talked to the 14 year old boy and answered his question concerning the existence of the true church for josephs own account of this vision refer to appendix A

other

my

1110 0

one personage or two

in the grove when he experienced this visitation he apparently related his story to some of his close friends but did not declare it publicly at this time f&r this f6r far reason there was no story published at that time written accounts by joseph smiths associates which were published
was alone

it

must be remembered

that joseph

later

however
some

seem

to help substantiate the story

one such

he

told

critics

have taken exception

to certain statements from these

secondary sources

criticism is that not all accounts agree that

there were two personages present besides joseph

must be pointed out that nts nipps eipps stipp rtipp worth lettero daniel mipps letter

in considering this issue

it

the account of joseph Sn hydes orsonpratts orso Pratts orsoh hyde orsah history Orson prattis account and or

tent in his journal the wewritten and published

story were
durina the durins

all life

printed contemporary accounts

ie

indicated that of joseph smith and indicatedthat two personages appeared in

published which were publ i shed during the

vision the visi on

6

in addition to the printed sources

life

his smith of joseph smithp other writings and sermons of hi s close associates

eo prove va valuable orson

pratt for
.9 9

example

who knew

jgseph j8seph smith jaseph

many

years before he

was

killed in

24 a discourse dated february 240 1869

de-

clared
wolen woien he when toien

fire
1

.9 9

fioseph smit2h jioseph smitch was thus encircled about with this pillar of joseph smith snith him hin object was caught away from every objedt that surrounded himp mind his
ap p A

osee appendix isee

8
&

26

and he was

midst countenances shone with an exceeding great lustre to him saying while pointing to the other this 11 tili whom 1 am well pleased hear ye him 1111 I lim hin
1

filled with the visions of the almighty of this glorious pillar of filep two glorious firep fire

is

one of them spoke

my

personages whose

and he sawr saw

in the

beloved son in

to further investigate the declaration that there were two personages who appeared to joseph smithp some accounts not affiliated with the momon mormon smith sone snith church have been consulted A publication in england the bdinburg review dp edinburg Englan 1854 and a reprint in 1863 related this story of the vision and reported
1844 1 pamphlet published in 18 by an antimormon anti mormon I ts writer outlined the major parts of Joseph vision and wrote that two josephs
2 two personages appearing 12

personages appeared
a pamphlet published
As I ate late iate

13
1

forbesp another non momon writer forbes forbess

14

stated in

ingland tn england that awo personages appeared tbwo

as 1843 the year before joseph smiths assassination lie ile lle ie
new york

was

momon ep interviewed by the editor of the pittsburgh gazette a non mormon Gazett

the results of this interview appeared in the

23.9 23 239

spectator september

1843j joseph was quoted as follows 1843

the lord does reveal himself to me 1 know it he revealed himself lrd me when 1 was about fourteenIyears old a mere boy 1 will ard I I first to you about it there was a reformation among the different retell I ligious denominations in the neighborhood abene 1 lived and 1 became I serious and was desirous to know what church to join promiscuous while thinking of this matter 1 opened the testament promiscuously I 1 just determined to ask him 1 on these words in james I I I immediately went to the stump where 1 had struck my ame when 1 had I mediately edla ediately ediately 1 kneeled down and prayed saying UO axe iwhat church sh 0 lord that quit work and I C 1 join directly 1 saw a light and then a glorious personage I shall I ansln the light and then another personage and the first personage said nln4n
41

11

XII journal of discourses xiip kli kii xiii

pe 3540 p 354
L

noo noe 78 located edinburg review no CCII 0 april 184 PP 7 8 the L D so church historians office salt lake city utah do S the in 13Religious imposters En IDS located in the LDS england 1844p P 26 lahb religious glando 1844 utah utaho historian church historians office salt lake city itaho dp england birmingham Englan P W forbes M rmons of life in utah lathe mormons amons LOc sted odey po 3 edey idso located in the LDS church historians office salt lake zi diodes ziodes ad odes utah city utaha staha

12

the

27

then vanished

to the second behold my beloved sonp hear hin soap son 1 then addressed h4m ham itun I this second person saying 0 lord what church shall 1 join I join11 he replied q do not join any of them they are all corrupt the vision 15

will be observed that some of the details in this story vary from the jandard account by joseph smith aandard tandard landard young here the youn boy prays immediately after reading the biblical passage while in the earlier account
the impression

it

is left that

he continued

to ponder the problem for

some

time before he prayed

the standard account furthermore does not mention

that

he had been ch chopping with an axe opting

just before the vision

finally the

standard account suggests that both personages appeared together rather

than one following the other

it is

not known whether the embellishements

fp in the later account came from joseph smith himself or reflect the editorhimsel hinsel herep however ializing of the reporter the important point cerep howeverp is that the here verj ializing story is consistent insofar as the number of heavenly personages is concerned

all
first

those closely associated with joseph smith seem to substantiate

rewords edward stevenson redords
1834

the story which he told

saw

in his journal that

he
he

the controversial leader in

same

cp michigan Pontia michl in pontiac Michi gane after

became a member

1093 193s of the church he wrote the following in 1932

year 1834 in the midst of many large congregations the in that prophet testified with great power concerning the visit of the father son and the conversation he had with them never before did and the wres wras was 1 fehl such power as weas manifested on these occasions and although I fell feli only a small percentage of those who saw and heard him accepted the restored gospel there was not one who dare dispute it
ason on may 27 t 188 edward steveaqson wrote stevenson

in his journal

pointing to a separate personage intf the likeness of eternal father 0 how these my beloved son hear ye him himself said this is
15

joseph he jo seph smith said 1 I am a witness that 0 with uplifted hand 0 a god for 1 saw him in open day while praying in a silent I there is at 1t godo 1820 he further testified that god the spring of grove in the

new

preston hibley joseph smith the prophet salt lake city deseret press 1964 po 31 P
9

28

thrilled my entire system and filled me with joy unspeakable to behold one who like paul the apostle of olden time could with boldness testify that he had been in the presence of jesus chrsit16 chrsitl6
words
.0 0

john taylor

who was

was with him when he was

intimately acquainted iwith joseph smith and rith killed taylor himself was criticallywounded critically wounded
evv lvv

camthao carthao e in the carthage

jail

delivered a sermon in the 14th wand december ward uard tand land lard

1879

the report of the clerk john irvine quotes john taylor as saying
you what he joseph mithu told me about 1 can joseph mith7 mit2h I he said that purpqses he was very ignorant of the ways designs and purposes of god and sp purpbses design knew nothing about them he was a youth unacquainted with religious bath lath matters of the systems and theories of the day he went to the lordp lorap lord janest james janes having read jamest statement 0 he believed that statement and went to the lord and asked him and the lord revealed himself to him jesus anda together with his son jesusp and pointing to the latter said jesusa andp this soap son is my beloved sonp hear him he then asked in regard to the various religions with which he was surrounded he inquired which of them was ror he was right f or he wanted to know the right way and to walk in for told that none of them was right that they had all departed from the vr way god right vray that they had forsaken god the fountain of all living waters rod sp sp hewad and hemad them out cisterns broken cisterns that could hold no cistern cistern herld

tell

it

.0

it

aters

water

here was a report by a reputable

had

man who

said that joseph smith

told

him

the story of the first vision

june 27
1881

in a

sermon

delivered at
john taylor

Hoop erville Hooper hoopervilles hooperville

villes

F and reported by george fe

gibbs

further stated
restored the gospel for the purpose of bringing life and immorality to light and without the knowledge of life and immortality men cannot comprehend these principles only as they are made known for unto them and they cannot be revealed tonly through the medium of the then gospel and through obedience to the laws of salvation associated and tnd hence when the heavens were opened &nd the father therewith and son appeared and revealed unto joseph the principles of the gospel unt was vas when the holy priesthood aas restored and the church and kingdom and god established upon this generation which it was possible for man of recieves leveo cleve rec relieves leves ieves re cieve to recieve if they could comprehend ity it iwas the greatest blessing it he is sent his servants forth upor humanity then udog upo6 which god could confer upog humn ity gospel to the nations of the earth and he is now to proclaim this god goda gospel of the son of godp to deliver sending them f forth to preach the orth
god has
T

of edward stevenson unpublished malife 2022 library 1955 PP 20 22 brigham young university libraryp sters dissertation 17 journal of Discourse map p 161o igi 161 17journal sy XXI nar 1610 discourses naj
16 oseph grant stevenson 16j joseph

lif f e ii

29

the testimony that he has given unto us and speaking for the priesthood have we done it we have and we have done it in the name of Isra ells god and he has been with us and 1 know ita 18 eils israels I it

itj

year john taylor told the story in malad idaho reported by george F gibbs d report

on october 20th of

the

same

of the work the father and the son appeared to joseph smith and when they appeared to him the father pointing to pointipa the son said this is my beloved son hear him As much as to say 1 I have not come to teach and instruct you but 1 refer you to him I 19 as your redeemer your high priest and teacher hear him 109
commencement

in the

in a latter dated in 1903 benjamin F johnson who knew joseph smith well wrote to the assistant historian of the church and stated
joseph smith of lowly birth was a yean boy of common class poor feam fann fenn feen coniton terate illiterate and without distinction other than being religiously i aerate he vres s attended revivals and was in the aaz&uus circles honestly inclined ires seeking religion and to learn which was the right church and ca ng calling upon the lord in simple faith that he might know both the father and the son in a pillar of light descended 1 and in teaching him comno manded that he join n religious sect as their deeds were all an abo.9 9
19

.1

mination dinati on inati

k in his sight
e

alexander neibaur
and hebrew recorded

teacher

who

joseph smith in german instructed

may 24 1844 24s 1644

in his personal journal dated

the

story of the

first vision

as related to him by joseph after a period of

instruction fioseph smit2h ent jioseph smitch went into the joseph smitj

to pray kneels himself down saw a fire toward heaven come nearer and nearer saw a personage in a piece the fire light complexion blue eyes 2ajiece of white cloth drawn sp am sic after a while another over his shoulder his right arm bear sla shoulders sl7 21 person came to the side of the first21 first second hand As in the case of other secondhand accounts there are some
woods

18ibid ibid

2x11 po XXIIs p 218

XXVI

lake city

george F gibbs ass1t ass1 assi fe

191 igi 191bid ibid bid 20Letter 20letter

106

fo from benjamin F johnson

dated 1903 written to elder elst eist brians church historian church historians office salt
.9 9

21 alexander neibaurs office 21alexander Nei baurs journal church historians off ice no page under date of may 24 year undated

30

astonishing embellishments in this diary but the major point the appear appearance of two persons is still there
another interesting note is recorded in the diary of charles 10 L lo

eiker elker
1902
1893

w- alker a lker

faithful

member

of the church

who 1 1 ved lived I

between 1855 and

his statement

was made

at

fast

and testimony meeting

february

ap 2p 2

in southern utah

thursdays 1093.9 february thursday 10939 attended fast meeting dayl 1893 Thurs days 19939 1993 meetings bro br john alger said while speaking of the prophet joseph that when hep john was a small boy he heard the prophet joseph relate his he t ni nh soap son b igfty vision visioh of seeing the father and the sonp that god t qnhf d hig eves hia finger with his yinger and saidp Off oseph this is my beloved son hear him sald said joseph finder saida moseph As soon as the lord had touched his eyes with his yinger he imfinger finder mediately saw the savbior A savior yter meeting a few of us questioned him meetina ior after maetina about the matter and he told us at the bottom of the meeting house meetine steps that he was in the house of father smith in kirtland when joseph made this declaration and that joseph while speaking of it put his finger to his right eye suiting the action with the words so as the illustrate and at the same time impress the occurrence on the tho 22 spea minds of tho se unto whom he was aspea kings speaking those
2nd

lorenzo snow was the fourth president of the church

tyme ta me t3 time
As 1

when he was

seventeen years of age he met and listened to joseph smith for the

first

years

later

he recorded

his feelings in these words

edp I looked upon him and listened 1 thought to myself that a man did bearing such a wonderful testimony as he did2 and having such a dida H countenance as he possessed could hardly be a false prophet he certainly could not have been deceived it seemed to me and if he was a deceiver he was deceiving the people knowingly for when he conversati&nwith he had had a conversatiibnmith jesus the son of god testified that with god upon rith had talked with him personally as moses talked i and volce oice olce mount sinai and that he also heard the voice of the father he was something that he wither knew to be false or to be posielther either telling

listen

tively true
in

23

some of the foregoing secondary accounts sone sane

interesting inte restina sideD

lights
smithw smith snith

appeared which embellished the

original story as told

by joseph

obviously cannot be verified by reference to these additions

1855 1902 L waiker 22diary of charles 10 walker of date covering 18551902 in poslo diary young university faculty provo andrus of dr hyrum L andruss brigham session utah 83e xlp alp 231mprovement era article XL p 83 improvement

31
v momon the writings of the mormon prophet ha self tinas ri tines himself seif

nevertheless

all these
2

ac-

counts seems to be consistent with regard to certain basic points agree that 1 there were evvro personages who appeared to joseph tvv two tvo

all
the

father
and 3

spoke only a few words

after

son which the soy sod

instructed joseph

the two personages were separate distinct with bodies similar

to mans
an explanation of some obscure statements

in

some

sp sources of the secondary sourcesp isolated source

comments

or statewas one

ments give the impression

that

it is

not clear whether

and

it

or two

personages that

dame

to the
shows

or visitors

is uncertain

that the identity of his visitor an analysis of the vision assuming josephs
young boy

report to be correct

that the

communication centered on one

of the personages more than the other

the father is reported to have

many

said only seven words while the son conversed upon

subjects with

the youth
an example of

this confusion

surrounding the story of the

first

vision

comes from a

discourse by john taylor dated march

ap 18792 2p 1879 2

joseph ust just as it was when the prophet J 0 seph asked the angel which of the sects was right that he might join it the answer was that we will not stop what none of them no none of them are right jlin alin to argue that question the angel merely told him to jmin none of 24 them that none of them were right yet in december of the same year john taylor stated that there were
p

two personages and described

joseph the events as jqseph had

done many

years

before
A

2 25

problem of consistency

is

seen in the fact

that jon taylor

joseph smith on the snith

referred to the heavenly messenger as an angel

21journal of discourses XX p p9 xx3 pa journal
21

166

25 ibid 25bido bido bide

XXI ma m2

161 1610

32

other hand said that

it

was

the father and the son tha

who

appeared to him

in response to his inquiry concerning which church is right it is clear from other references howeverp that john taylor believed that however verj the father and the son had appeared and it is therefore safe to assume

that

he used

the

word angel

to refer to christ

that such use of

a
za

the word

was not without witl out ditl

precedent might be inferred from

sermon by

josenh joseph smith on a diggerent topic a joseah digerent dlf different

jesus christ became a ministering spirit while his body was lying in the sepulchre to the spirits in prison to fulfill an important part of his mission without which he could not have perfected his work or entered into his rest after his resurrection he appeared 26 as an angel to his dieci ples disciples pies anel
iniz another possible misunderstanding could be illustrated by the misunderstand

recorded sermon of heber

kimball an early authority of the church

delivered in

18572 1857

do you suppose that god in person called upon joseph smith our come cane prophet god called upon him but god did not cone himself and do you not see he sent peter but he sent peter to do call j and sent moroni to joseph and told him that had got the plates .27 27 27 no god come himself him he sent moroni and told hime hin did

it

in this situation the

understand the

whole sermon must be read

in order to
on

full
agod fgod god

mean inge meaning ingo

heber

G C

kimball took for his text

this

occasion

acts through agents

semon analysis of the sermon clearly

cates indicates that

kingdom
do

he

taught that god had designated certain resurrected

HLs

goverment persons to be responsible for certain aspects of the government of

heber

pointed out that god would not kimball

come down and

their

worh work since he had designated them borh he

to

do

it it

ep ivill therefore god will therefor

not

come down 4

will send his messengers ifill in this

po 4250 p 425

if it

seems evident

that
to

lp heber Co Kimbal hber c kimball

sermon

was speaking of events subsequent

26dhco DHC

IV

27journal of 27journal

26 sp VI po 280 discourses VII Discourse vij

33

the

first vision

of joseph smith snithe snith

some saine seine

sermon by a- ostle orson llyde p apostle or son hyde

in

1854 followed

this

line of reasoning

some one may say sey not the savior come

work of the last days be true why did himself to communicate the intelligence to the inte gence world because IS their angels was committed the power of rea pinia bd reapinia reapine realine was comjdtted to none else 28 earthy and the earth comndtted

if this

it

critics

who

use part of sermons to rel ute the story of the refute rei

first

abn vision must 3bn fairness present these statements in conteap relating them context in conteas

with previous and subsequent remajeks and thus learn their true intent remakks aad remakis
oyson opson ayson hyde published edo publish

in

1842

a complete account of the aecount

first vision
of the two per
men

wherein he presented very clearly the story of the

sovages sonages so nages
29

visit

it is

clear from the writings and sermons of all these

that they believed in the actual appearance of the father and the son isolated passages therefore must be especially interpreted in the light eP therefor
of what
we know

about these
who became

men and

john taylor

their philosophies the third president of the church of jesus

said he
on november 23 1882

philosophy philosophv christ of latterday saints has provided an insight into the philosoplxv latter day

of the followers of joseph smith

now

reason why the father to joseph smith why john the baptist conferred the aaronic priesthood Melchia edek why peter james and john conferred the melchizedek priesthood why gathering carne moses came to bestow the dispensation of the gathe ringo and why other rineo iihom whon manifestations have been given unto us as a people his elect whom
nihom

it is the rule of earth and this is the

god which

is desired to

be introduced upon and the son appeared

the

he has chosen from among

nations 30 the nations30

john taylor taught that

god on

it
was

wr s wals wrls

government to introduce the rule and go verment of god and his son had come

earth the order

kingdom were
VI VIP vij

that after
igho who

to usher

in

a dispensation

the messengers

aspects hold the keys to various appects

of the

sent to discharge certain responsibilities concerning

335
p
G p9 4 29see appendix gp pa 40 p see

28Ibid 28ibid bibid 2ibid

30journal 30journal of 3journal

sp discourses Discourse XXIII

323

34

their part of the government of god orson pratt emphasized this principle or son
0 10
1

when he

said

on december

1871 181

the lgrd first revealed to that little koy isprd oy boy lurd he was only between fourteen and fifteen years of age now can we imagine or suppose that a great imposter could be made out of a youth of that age and one that could reveal the doctrine of christ as he has revealed it to this generation would he stand forth and bear testimI i aht ony that he had seen with his own eyes a messenger of light and glory and that he heard the words of his mouth as they dropped from his lips and had received a message from the most high at that early age and then after having declared itp to have the finger of scorn ftp it pointed at him with exclamations there goes the visionary boy no gly ily and to have visions in our day imy he is deluded I he is a fanatic this scorn and derision and still continue to testify in the face and eyes of all this while hated and derided by his neighbors that god had sent bis angel from heaven can you imagine that a youth rlN bas his for
when
1
1

would do

thiap thisp this

I
1

it is evident that
of the lord in the

orson

patt att
P

was

talking about the visitation ta ng taikina

named him

first
may

instance since he

in the second

instance he

may

or

not be referring to the

ard lrd

this is confusing
on

idith and must be compared with his other statements about the story

order

to ascertain what pratt really believed

comparsi this quotation with

Com parmig comparing comparmi

his narrative in the appendix

one can begin cn

it

seems

that there is
clear

no

contradiction

however 2 the sermon could have been more

men nen mena semons to see that in the sermons of these menp certain representations must be read carefully to gain the correct meaning

orson pratt said on december

by and by an obscure

19

18690 1869

individual a young man rose up and in the proclaimed the startling news that god had midst of all christendom sent an angel to him that through his faith prayers and sincere repentance he had beheld a supernatural vision that he had seen a pillar of fire descend from heaven and saw two glorious personages clothed upon with this pillar of fire whose countenance irith i rith sun at noonday that he heard one of these personages shone like the soap son my beloved sonp hear ye him say pointing to the other this is age32 young man vms fifteen years of age IBS ims this occurred before this
.9 9

.9 9

31ibidj XIV 31lbid juve juvj

p 362 pe

321 321bid ibid bid

ppe pp 6566 XIII ap 65 66

JI

35

again

on september 22

1872 182
J CJ
C

orson pratt spoke on this same sub-

act jct nd ject and verified the story th t joseph irm z not yet fifteen years of age ws aht tht when he had his first vision that two glorious personages appeared to him and identified themselves and that later an angel appeared to him
5

in vision the gold plates nd explained their in st 111 another discourse orson pratt affirmed the visit of armed ali still affirmed 3 34 personages who identified themselves as the father and the son
and showed him

33 purpose

two

the problem of indentifying the personalities involved in the

v vision becomes more elsion lsion

first

intriguing in light of liht

15. 15
1

some

of the statements of

george

smith cousin to the prophet and an early apostle

1863

in

a sermon
comments 0

aake delivered in salt lake november iake

he made

the following

josephj the lord answered his prayer and revealed to joseph by the ministration of angels the true condition of the religious world when the holy angel appeared joseph inquired which of all these denominations was right and which he should jon and was told they vias were all wrong they had all gone astray transgressed the e laws changed the ordinances and broken the everlasting covenant and that the lord was about to restore the priesthood and establish hias kias his church which would be the only true and living church on the face of the whole earth joseph josepn feeling that to make known such a vision would be to subject himself to the ridicule of all around him knew not what to do sp tilflgp and in these repetitions i&wp repetition but the vision was xelle d several 1 repeated was instructed aas ras he vaas instrmuc ed to communicate that which he had seen to his i iras
L

of his father exemplary life his mother and brother hyrum were members of the presbyterian church joseph communicated what he had seen to his him who believed his testimony and told hirn to observe the infather hine him hin structions that had been given hime these visits led in a short time to the bringing forth of the mormon conic falness contained record known as the book of momon which contclined the fulness of the gospel as it had been preached by the savior and his apostles land also a history of the falling away to the inhabitants of this and the dealings of god of the people who dwelt on this continent

father

was not a member

of any church but was a

man

with them35

after

careful reading
pps XT ppa pp XVI ap a

it

seems evident

that the phrase

bid
XIV

these
140 141 140141

331bide ibid

180 181 180181

34 Ibid 34ibid

pp ap

35ibid yji3 p 334 35ibid XII 351bid3 yjih po 3349 tn

36

visits
boy

refers to the combination of all the visitations of the

young

joseph since he introduced his subject with the please

ministra-

tion of angels
another example of george
A

smiths smith

unique method of discussing

this subject is
he sought

sermon seen in a semon delivered on june 20p 1869 20

mormoh mordoh

vlas was the lord by day and by night and ilas enlightened by the i las anmei nhen vision of an holy angel when this personage appeared to him one of anel himl hinl inquiries his first inirles was which of the denominations of christians iries indries right he was iniries in the vicinity was taf that told thf t they had all gone astary they had wandered into darkness and that god was about to restore the gospel in its s IMP licity and purity to the earthy he was simplicity lacity ims earth consequently directed not to join any one of them but to be humble then and seek the lord with all heart and that from tjpjp time he ima lma to laa should be taught and instructed in relation to t e right way to serve the the lord time these visions continued from time to tune and 1830 he published tine to the world the translation of the book known as the book of torild 36

again george

smith used the phrase these visions to refer to

up

all

the manifestations given to joseph

to that time
same

it

should also

be observed

that

he seems

to

be using

the

identification for christ

referred to the savior as an

that joseph smith

angel
37

taylor and john taylon used when he

we

from

all

preceding prededing of the pre deding references

might conclude

that

it

is difficult to identify the

context quoted out of contexts given in that

meaning of spoken words which have been

it

might biso be remembered bido

that the

sermons

day were taken down by

clerks in longhand and could not be

corredato to cor redt absolutely corredto these things go far in accounting for alleged discorredt corned corred crepancies in the oftrepeated story of joseph smiths visions oft repeated

one
36

critic

ha u complained hau haa hae

that

brigham young hever mentioned the

ibid

p 78 XIII pe 780
IV p 425 IVP pe 4250

37dhgc 37dhcc

joun jour journal of discourses

XX xxj

p loge pa 1660 p9 166

37

first 1 never I

38 young vision in his discourses38 however brigham youn once scald discourses sald said
saw anyone

thing about the character

I until 1

or anything satisfactory about angels or the relationship of mafeer39 maker39 to his Maker 39
semonsp in other sermons brigham
young

met joseph snithy who could smithy smithp personality and dwelling place dwellingplace

tell

of god

met anynet melany nei man

said more specifically

anmei the lord sent forth his angel to this same obscure person anel joseph smith jr who afterwards became a prophet seer and revelator and informed him that he should not join any of the religious wong gong sects of the day for they were all wrong that they were following the precepts of men instead of the lord jesus that he had a work for him to perform inasmuch as he should prove faithful before him40 him hin

the lord chose joseph smith called upon him at fourteen years of age gave him visions and led him along guided and directed him hinl hini gsg sy gae hin gs6 in his obscurity until he brought forth the plates and translated i4 as them and martin harris was prevailed upon to sustain the printing mormon41 mormon 41 of the book of
ia

jpseph joseph lord called upon jqseph he was but a boy a child only about fourteen years of age he was not filled with traditions his 1 very well mind was not made up to this that or the other I reyo mation which took place in the country among the reformation recollect the refo matlon imow he did not amow what the know anh various denominations of Christi christianh christiana orned informed was iras lord inas going to do with him although he had inf ormed him that the christian churches were all wrong because they had not the holy 2 42 priesthood42 priesthood2 Priesthood
hen the
when

the

same men who knew

the philosophy of joseph smith referred

to

god

chirst

moroni

or other heavenly personages as angels they seem

to have been following an accepted pattern

tilis this

title

does not seem

to belittle the calling of the son Ac As joseph smith used the term angel
who

it

only describes a

special mission
C

is

chosen to be a messenger

that an angel is one visiting in this sense all of the vi s ing

he suggested
1 I

personages could be termed angels

38jerald tanner mormonism 38jerald

this is admittedly conjecture

.1 1

but
79

salt lake
46

tanner pamphlet
po 334 P

39 journal 39journal of discourses XVI p zvij pe zeij zvi

40ibid 40ibid
411 411bid ahl ibid bid

11 lly liy IIs II

po 171 p
1

41ibidj VIIIs ibid VIII vili vill

XII

670 67

38

since joseph smith did use this

some

title to

describe christ

it

may be

that

of his associates also thought along this line

who

the close e associates ssociates

of joseph smith
M nna moroni 1 nn3

used the word angel in reference to god christ ood cod

on

other occasions explicitly referred to the father lv explicit and son as separate personages who appeared in the first vision this
or

et ale also alo aie al

would suggest they were using

the term

anel in

the generic sense to

identify

any heavenly messenger messengers

.9 9

even god
a n int arview with E an interview erview i
C

jn illiajn smith joseph smithis brother in william smiths illia

gave briggs gae the following account of the vision of the boy joseph gake

william

was

six years younger than joseph

0

and was 72 years of age

at the

time of the interview

mid joseph eld eid you not doubt josephs did briggs

testimony sometimes

asked brother

we all had the most implicit fcluiajn smith tnie inie vii the reply by kli confidence in what he said he was a truthful boy father and mother believed him why should not the children 1 suppose if he I had told crooked stories about other things we might have doubted his word about the plates but joseph was a truthful boy that father and mother believed his report and suffered persecution for no noj sir that belief shows that he was truthful nop sirp we never doubted word for one minute ff his
na
IIMD n&

was

11

asked brother briggs

were your folks

religiously inclined before joseph

saw

the angel11 angel

11

always had family prayers since 1 can remember hyrum I samuel katherine and mother were members of the presbyterian churchy my father would not join he did not like it because reverend stockton had preached my brothers funeral sermon and intimated very member he had gone to hell for alvin was not a church members strongly that but he was a good boy and my father did not like it
we

yes

caused joseph to ask for guidance as to what church he ought to joani joint join joini asked brother briggs
irwhat what

joint revival in the neighborhood between the bathere Presbyte rians ptists Method sits and presbyterians and tihey had succeeded in stirtistsp methodsits up quite a feeling and after the meeting the question arose ring converts reverend stockton was the which church should have the meeting and suggested that it was their meeting and president of the ougjat and they had a church there and they ougfeb to join under their care did not like reverend stockton very Presbyte rians the presbyterians but as father
why
was a
.9 9

39

well our folks hesitated and the next evening a reverend M lane of 1141hat mfethodists mbthodists the methodists preached a sermon on atiat church shall 1 join and ftiat I joint the burden of his discourses was to ask god who giveth to all men liberally and of coursep when joseph went home and was loo kinte over course looking 100 kintz coursed text ivas the textp he was impressed to do just what the preacher had gaid texts gald said 91ing and gffiing out to the woods with childlike i simple trusting faith simpie SIMI les simlies sini lei believing that god meant just what he said he kneeled down and believina believine beil bell evina beli evine prayed and the time having come for the reorganization of his church god was pleased to show him that he should join none of these churches bubp if faithful he should be chosen to establish the true church43 butp 3 but church 43
C1

iiilliam here iiwiilliam gives us insight into the integrity of his brother ihsight illiam

joseph

since joseph stated he was alone

becomes a very important

when he when

witnessed

his veracity

factor

ni sion slon this vision considering the authe-

nticity of his reporte reportl reporti

considering besides consi derine the veracity of the story under discussion derina
and the correctness of the basic elements of the episodes

the reason for

these manifestations would also

george teasdale
one of the

seem

to

be of importance

apostles of the church that joseph thet

edp rounded smith founded spoke on the purpose of the found

first vision in

a sermon on semon

january

13

1884 6

10 who jgseph j8seph smith had a vision of the father and the son nho ever conjaseph necessity ceived of the nedessity of such a vision there was an absence of the being knowledge of god the world by wisdom knew not god the worshipped by so called christianity is a being without a socalled that is testator upon body parts or passions in order that he might have a test god revealed himself so that we might understand a little night unders hi the earth god 44 concerning the personality of

the significance of this vision

quested membership and baptism
and great persecution developed

seemed

to

dawn da vm

gradually upon the

minds of the many people who heard about

it
Q

hundreds of people renew

into this church

george

cities
18832 1883

were founded

cannon another apostle of CAnno nj

2

thfls this the church explained th&s condition on september

43 deseret news 43deseret

january 20 1894
XXV 1
.1

p
18

11 110 lie lle

44 journal 44journal of

discourses

40

scarcely upon the earth that had a true conception of god the densest ignorance prevailed and even ministers of religion could not conceive of the true idea and there was mystery associated assoc3 a ted with what is called the trinity that is veith the father with sonp son the soap and the holy ghost but all this was swept away in one a way ims moment by the appearance of the almighty himself by the appearance himselfby of god the fother and his son jesus christ to the boy joseph as father he kneeled in the forest beseeching god for knowledge concerning him and concerning the gospel of salvation in one moment all this darkness disappeared and onee more there was a mane manfbund on the manfcund bund cund manf earthp embodied in the flesh who had seen god who had seen jesus godp goda ood earth eartha and who could describe the personality of both faith vas again rehas hnas stored to the earth the true faith and the true knowledge concerning our oreatorp our father cand being from whence we derive our origin Crea creator and this revelation dissipated all misconceptions and all false ideas and removed the uncertainty that had existed respecting these mason sont tters the father came accompanied by the sons J thus showing that there we re two personages of the godhead two presiding personages whom we were worship and to whom we look the one the father and the other the son joseph saw that the father had a form that he had a head that orn forn f orm
was no man i s

there

he had arms that he had limbs that he had feet that he had a face bs and a tongue with which to express his thoughts for he said unto sonp son joseph this is my beloved soap pointing to the son hear him
11

other pertinent statements were

made by george

cannons cannon

here is the testimony of one who actually saw the father and the son they were as described by all who have seen them literal personages personages with tabernacles the son being the express image of the 6 father6 fa ther46 fathers Father the son of god himself condescended to come and minister unto 0 0 himp him the father having also shown himself unto itunj and these various hin him 7 having also ministered unto him47 hin angels the heads of dispensations arweis wels
june jun god the were two personages appeared unto joseph smith juno there what hat ever and his son jesus christ whatever errors had existed whau hatever father had prevailed up to that time concerning the being of god ever doubts were vere swept almy never to return from the minds of those who believed aisy time at that times god was then understood to be the tine in that revelation belne belna beine beina who walked in the garden of eden and spoke with a voice whose caine finger was to be the beine that he is this testimony came with power belna belne beina fiew firw er
v

on

this occasion
.9

45jbido ibid

XXIV 9 pp ap

371 372 3713720 371372

46 ibid 461bido 461 46ibid bido bide

xxvp XXV po 157

461bidop XXIIIP ibid XXIII

pO 3630 363 P

41

in the very outset of this work the father and the son were revealed alis tlis ineffable glory and they were seen by mortal man by the testimin an nan errable aiho effable vrho manj kanj viho have ony of others wghave since seen the lord jesus christ andwho are and who living witnesses mat rie lives and that he is indeed the son of god wat that ilves and one of the two personages that form the godhead 48
the foregoing treatise should represent the beliefs and feelings veith of those affiliated with the church of jesus christ of latterday saints latter day
during that period of time durina
arho who eiho aho therefore those mho believed in joseph smiths story pointed out eP Therefor

that subsequent to the visit of the father the son and

were other occasions when heavenly messengers

moroni

there

instructed joseph in the

presence of other witnesses and

we

have

io their testimonies to this

effect

49

thus these additional experiences would in the eyes of the

believer beile belleverj believerp tend to add credibility to the story of the first vision
summary

in the foregoing analysis an attempt was made to compare josephs account with secondary reports from people closely associated wa th him with
who

heardthis in all probability heard this story from his own particularly se sematics of semantics was of concern partic rly when accurate bartic aly matics
reip criptive term angelp which criptive tem anel reis
11

lips

the problem
vms was

recording re cordina

not

available at that time

of christ

an example was cited in thee use of the desbaas bras

was

defined in relation to the appearance

all
josephs

secondary accounts seemed to concur on two basic points of

own

story

josephs

age when he claimed his

visitation of

the father

and the son was confirmed by most of his associates as being

48george Q cannon gospel zlonis lake city zionts book zions truth salt quoting from pp 130 131 ap 130131 edo ede 19 newquists 19570 ed jerreld L newquist store 1957 6756 38 weekly april 7 1889 3 PP 675 6 deseret
p

latterday saints atter latter day christ of I

49 joseph smith 9 book 49joseph snith joeeph

.9

of

mormon

igho PIO 1940p pis VII 1940

lake city 4 church of jesus salt

42

in his fifteenth year

vri ari th agreement with the idea

careful study of the various accounts indicated

two personages were involved

that

in this visita-

tion
when

certain additional details

were a arided by some of added rided

the secondary

vra sources though not confirmed by joseph smithy since he ara s not alive was wes smith

these statements were published

quotations were included which cited reasons
why

believers con-

sidered josephs story significant

was
so indiVidual of these individuals

the theological purpose of the vision

pointed out and testimonies recited in order to indicate the sincerity

in the final analysis

alone
when he experienced

it is

admitted that unquestioned proof

on the other hand

vas joseph was of the actuality of this vision could not be provided since josephwas

it is this visitation st critics1 quite evident that the criticist attempts to disprove its occurrence is criticst critics critic
1

also inconclusive
and

one would not only have

to rely upon the character

the veracity of those
who

integrity of joseph smith but also

upon

provided additional testimony and secondary accounts of this unusual

actuality the only method by which one might arrive at a in as to the truth of falsity bf this story would seem to be through decision spiritual experience after thorough study one would have to an inner
story
do

exactly as the

did young boy claimed he dide e pray

ones and recel ve anels own receive onels

through the intangible power of god witness

CHAP CHAPTER THREE

MORONI S moronilIS coronil

visitation
of the godhead had appeared to him
he

joseph smith emphasized in his journal that he knew he had seen

a

vision and two vi si on

1 I

members

stated

that

he could not nor dared not deny

that not onzy had the father only moroni came to him in 1823
other heavenly personages
Moron moronis

and
he

this experience the son appeared to

he announced
him but

that an angel

also claimed that subsequent to this

made

visits
1873

its visit
joseph wrote that on the 21st of september
he

retired to

his
god

room

but before going to sleep he prayed ferverntly that his sins

be forgiven him and he

that

he be permit bed permitled permitted led

to learn of his status before

was

stated that during the three years previous he

sone sane has led some persons

led into

divers kinds of temptations to the gratification of

statement sfciifeement stktement

many

appetites

this

serious moral sins

to speculate that his statement indicated kolimribr in a letter to oliver cowdery joseph noun&r

explains that sins which concerned him were a light and too often
fo hh vain mind exhibiting a fo&liiah and

trifling conversation

til ill ili

1

joseph continued that on this particular september evening an

angel of the lord visited him

the details of this visitation are outsode of the historical problems as well as soe

lined in the

2 appendix

some

unusual aspects of his experience will be considered here

IDHC 1 I 1dhc1 ip

po p 10

2see 2see ee

11 A po ilo appendix ap p 110 ile

43

44

joseph declared that the angel I loroni appeared three times durloronia illoroniv ing the evening of september
noon of the 22nd
what he had said
21

1823

and again in the morning and aind eind

afterC

mononi each time moroni rehearsed to the young boy exactly

previously

regarding these visits joseph commented

fmoronji he jloromj quoted many

other passages of scripture and offered nary many mary nany

explanations which cannot be mentioned here

0
rise of the

oliver

cowdery

with the help of joseph smith prepared eight

letters
.34 1834 34 1834

concerning the appearance of the aneel moroni and the anhel anel

church and published them in the messenger and advocate

beginning october

in his version elder cowdery explained more completely what he 4 in analyzing cowdery cowderys thought moroni quoted to joseph smith account
we

on

that mommas interpretation of these scriptures brought new light ancient writings which had heretofore been a mystery to religious scholars
see

Moroni Nephi moroninephi

issue in the original manuscript

by joseph smith reads

one passage
krhen 1 when uhen

looked upon him 1 was afraid but the fear soon left I urald me he called me by name and said unto me that he was a messenger vias sent from the presence of god to me and that his name was thepresence mephi moro kephi moroni keahi

I first

it

is

observed that the name

13

NEPHI was bras

first written

by

the

asee appendix ap pe 3see A p see

asee appendix F pp 9 15 4see see ap 915

51n a discourse dated september 22y 1872 orson pratt described 22 182 in mor iia asp fla a above the size of common men at the is moronic personage as ila journal of present day and his arms and feet were partially bare andhis anahis Axt xvp po 182 XV advocate quoted a letter from ali vocate the messenger and axi xvi discourses inthe ifthe moroni the cowdery which includes the following concerning moronis oliver aove the common size of men in personage was a above stature of this was age his garment vaas perfectly white and had the appearance of being this Ip see appendix F pendix without seam

little

little

asee appendix 6see see

A 41

ppe pp ap

11 12t 12 1112

45

scribe
mormon

ne ohl was one of the ancient prophets described nephi ohi nhi
lias

in the
was ivas

book of

someone

later
0 s

wrote the name

MORONI RONI
ibo 140

rodl above

it

an asterisk was

placed also

at the bottom of the sheet of the manuscript kt

0 50 43

written
2

after the asterisk

mo rond 7 moroni

cov evidently a clerical error see doc and gov sec sec 106 par 20 also elders journal vol page
1

par

should be

critics of the story are quick to point

here and raise doubt that moroni appeared

out the apparent conflict

they even accuse joseph

smith of confusion assuming that the vision of the father and the son
and the moroni vision were one and the same
NAFM the apparent error of the use of NEEBI occurred in three published nerel

accounts

15 tunes the times and seasons march 15j tines

1842

vol

3 pp 30 ap

749

&

753

kugust Killen nial the millennial star august 1842 and the 1851 edition of the pearl of r 8 great price 0 these publications carried the story of the visit using

the

NEPHI name HEPHE

instead of

MORONI

exactly Exacty when

the correction in the original manuscript

was made

determine difficult to dete ne the note at the bottom of the manuscript page is 0 2 sp some help Covenant doctrine and covenants section 50 par 211 note the of is

refers to the 50th sec of the tions

the section

1835

edition and also

some

subsequent edi-

is

dated august 1830 and reads

behold

this that 1 will I

wherefore marvel not for the hour cometh is drink of the fruit of the vine with you on the earth
wisdom

in

me 9
.9

asee appendix 7see see

ap p 12 A po

8the mother of the prophet lucy mack smith quotes in her writings athe ker rhe the took her account from the times and seasons that nephi appeared since she lucy mack smith biographical sketches which contained the error article W orson pratt & S M richards 1853 po 79 P joseph smith liverpool of rp whitmere Whitme mary 04hitmerp wife of peter whitmerp hhitmer mitner aitmer Aitmer mer john C 1ihitmer grandson of aither altner aitner alt mary whitmer say on several lairmer laitmer lAit ner seap grandnuather grandmther grandmther UI senp senj sen stated 1 I have heard my grandmother of the book of mormon by an holy shown occasions that she was shonn the plates edo ed nephi tl the historical record edw always called brother angeio angelo whom she angel gait VIIs jenson galt lake city 1888 VII p 621 vil pub by andrew ait lindrew alt andrev and
11

46
t1 and trfith moroni v ta whom 1 have sent unto you to reveal the book of 11om I whon with mormon conta ining the fulness 0 1 my everlasting gospel to whom momon containing falness of I 1 have committed the keys of the record of the stick of ephraim I and also v vihon with elias to whom 1 have committed the keys of bringing whon I to pass the restoration of all things or the restorer of all spoken things spoked by the mouth of all the holy prophets since the spokeq world began 7

ith

on page 52 of the

original handwritten manuscript under the date

1830 of august 18300 there appears the revelation just quoted

was

this section

apparently

first written in
my after may
1838

august 1830 and copied into

nemes versena names nenes this versenanames versebanames
who

this man-

uscript sometime

moroni not only as the

personage that appeared but also as the man

Ephraimo ephraim ephrain raime record of ohs tick of ephraime raino ths
diamaly amtly dently

holds the keys of the

was

jook book

mormojn Mon noj monnoj monnot of mormoen this revelation nol

evi-

jou copied in the journal sometime

after

may 2

4
it

1838

the date of the

gs moronigs appearance but moronism moroniss appear anceo writing of the story of Mo Moroni roniSs

could not be too long

a- er arter after ft

since

it is

on page 52

the other reference in this footnote

it
ite

doctrine and covenants

1029 102

section

1060 20o 200 220 10620

an examination of the 1835 edition of the doctrine and

covenants shows that

it

goes only

to section

the

1844

edition goes

contain the 106th section of which the 20th verse reads as follows
and again what do we hear glad tidings from cumorah moroni declaring an angel from heaven dec bring the fulfillement of the prophets fulfill ement decbring 10 this appears as section 12820 in the the book to be revealed sP 1962 edition of the doctrine and covenants Covenant

this reference shows that the correction as

made during durina

made

at the

bottom

of the manuscript history and appearing as a footnote could have been

the lifetime of the prophet joseph smith

manuts clipt manuscript continuing continuinp the suggestion made by the footnote on the manues cript

alo aie smith et ale doctrine and covenants kirtland ohio al seco 5021 p 180 sece 502 co sec coo 1835 14 illiams & ooo also found in doctrine and WL lliams 1962 2700 sc 2755 covenants 1962s sec 2750 275
0

0 9

G F 0 ge .0

.6 6

10

ibid

2nd

edition

1844

seco sece sec

106200 10620

47
s the elders journal published in eiders eider elder
1838

records the follotring following iring

question ath how and chere did you obtain the book of 14ormon ihere mormon here 4th answer ansi er moroni the person who deposited the plates from whence the book of mormon was translated in a hill in manchester ontario county new york being dead and raised again therefrom appeared unto me and told me where they were and gave the directions how arim to obtain them 1 obtained shemp and the lipjjn and thummim with themp them urim then I them by the means of iwhich 1 translated the plates and thus thich I u came the book of mormon 11
.9 9

it
story

should be noted that joseph smith

was

jr

was

the editor and

that this statement

was

published just two months after the original

own

this statement seems to be clear wae waz was and concise this report indicates that it maz the angel moroni who kae appeared to the young prophet and told him about the plates of the book
of
mormon

written in his

journal

oliver
who

cowdery

one of

the three witnesses to the

book of mormon

declared that he saw the angel moroni said in a

1835

letter printed in
1 have been I

the messenger and advocate in

and 1 believe I

that the angel moroni

whose words

rehearsing who communicated the knowledge of the record of the Nep hites in this age nephites

the personage
witnesses

who was

designated to

show

the plates to the three special

p

is identified by oliver cowdery unquestionably as moroni his history of the church john corrill an early member of in

the church writes

some time in the fall of 1830 oliver cowdery parley P pratt sone sane tune peter whitmer and tiba sic peterson came through the county dp iray ohiop where 1 than resided on their way westward ohio I reside ohion of ashtabula godp goda messengers of the living god sent to they professed to be special as preach the gospel in its purity cas it was anciently preached by lvdth lodth they had ath them a new revelation which they dth the apostles had been translated from certain golden plates that had been said
vmay tmay

r edito elders journal joseph smith editor &3 ap 42430 1838p pp 42&3 42 43o 1838 4253
11
ip

.1 1

far

1 I 11

mo I lo st 1 10

july

12messenger

ep and advocate Advocat

up letter VI

1835

p pe 112

48

deposited in a hill anciently called carmoah sic in the township of manchester ontario county new york they were deposited nevi neir about 1400 years since by one moroni under the direction of heaven vath with a promise that in the lords own due tilep they should be timep time brought forth for the special benefit of the remnant of his people j peo ole oie the house of israel through joseph of egypt as well as for the salvation of the G e antiles upon this continent 13 ntiles john corrill who later left the church wrote the above as a

disaffected
record

member

in

1839. 1839 1639

and associates moroni veith the book of mormon with

john taylor a close associate of joseph smithp stated on october smith

20
1881

what next ivho icho then came men who had held the priesthood beforel ijho caine were they theyl moroni an ancient prophet who had lived upon this con corr coir tenent and who had charge of the records from which the book of tinent mormon was translated momon a fitting person to introduce the same ed transit transil

principles again
heber
.9

josephas joseph kimball another close friend of josephts ts stated on

november 8 9 1857 187 do you suppose that god in phet god called upon him but he sent peter to do moroni to joseph and told no he sent come himself

it

moroni

person called upon joseph smiths our prosmith callp but god did not come himself and calap cali cail call he sent peter and sent do you not see him that he had got the plates did god 11 9

monnon was given an additional aspect of j8s ephus visions wcas 91 ven by the momon ephts joseph
ovi oki pr ophe oil prophets brother william
.9 9

js

ts

who

published the following statement in

a 1883 6

joseph smith 9 at the age of 17 years with the moral training he had from strictly pious and religious parents could not have received ng pa conceived the idea in his mind of palming off a fabulous story such e as seeing angels etc sceiae andels sufficient age to efficient was not a singel member of the family of su sing el fficient there know right from wrong but what had implicit confidence in the
.9

13 john 13john corill A of latterday saints latter day

4
1

11

brief history of the church of jesus christ 7e 1839 john corrill 1839s po 7 P ae louls st louis
XXVI XMP

14 journal 14journal

of discourses
VI
po p 291

p 106 pe

ild idoa lid idop iid

1511. 1511

49

brother joseph concerning his vision and the ision knowledge he thereby obtained concerning the plates
made by my
1

statements

it
seems
1 te irle trie irie

must be remembered
by joseph smith

that the original manuscript history

was

dictated

to a scribe
was wab

from the evidence presented

it

that the scribe

made

the error of writing nephi inb begad of moroni iab instead inttead
since he did not identity himself in
we cr n can

do not know who

the scribe

the writings of the journal

since joseph had several scribes scrib esp

only speculate as to which one could have recorded

this significant story

was

analysis of later historical incidents suggest that george robinson 17 most likely the scribe
one would wonder why the name Ne phit was written in the nephi iihy not
bihy 11hy

first

place

sane lehi or some other

name

there

may be some

further evidence
proprietor of the
.0 0

which

will shed sane light hp at the request of mr john wentworth editor Wentwort lt

and

chicago democrat

joseph smith wrote a brief account of the rise progress

persecution and faith of the latterday saints latten day iatter latter
ddte jour his journal under the adte of march
1

this is referred to in

1842

wherein he wrote

morom tunes tines this angel fmoronji appeared to me three times the same night and unvisits folded the same things after having received many visita from the angels of god unfolding the majesty and glory of the events that sepq days on the morning of the 22nd of sepa should transpire in the last
827 tember 181 1827 tember1827 the angel of the lord delivered the records into hands
my

the foregoing statement suggests that after the time of joseph

smiths

fdwst f&rst vision he was farst

visited

by more than one angel

it is

true

referring to the visitation of the father and the that son but further analysis does not seem to indicate that this was josephs
he could have been
16

981 blue book 0127 no 9871

17see appendix ap p A see
20 2

nibley

op

cit

45 4

qutoting qutoting from quoting qubting

the historians library

IV p

18dehc1 HC

337 537

50

Li intention tention

orson pratt

who was ws

itoth associated itoch joseph during the recording 1th

19

of these events said in a discourse on december

youn smitch this young man joseph smitjh smit snit visited again by a holy angel
some

1869 0

god

four years ajpfcerwards was afterwz ads rds was not merely something spealcing it wrapped up mystery speaking gus mus was in the dark it wes not something with no in glory attending it but a glorious angel whose countenance shone like a vivid flash of lightning and who was arrayed in a white robe and stood before him this young man saw the countenance of the angel and he saw his person and his glory and rejoiced therein angel this cangel so revealed to him SOBBI great realities not mysterious or dark sayings covered up without any particular info mation light or knowledge information matlon but certain realities were made manifest to him concerning the ancient inhabitants of this land this angel told him that they were a branch of the house of israel that they kept sacred and holy records that those records were kept by prophets and inspired men that they were deposited some fourteen centuries ago after the nation had fallen into wickedness by one of their last prophets and that the time was pourer hbnd hhnd pouter at hhand for this record to be brought forth by the gift and power of
.9 9

here then was a reality something great and glorious and after having received from time to time visits from these glorious personrede ived ages and talking with them as one man would talk with ano therp face another to face beholding their glory he was permitted to go and take these records plates from the place of their deposit plates of gold record some st and marly mariy arly garly of which were made BM ariy six hundred years before christ lind then to mim thummim min Thum something eon arim show still further a reality Bom ething tangible the urim and thumm JMP w3 with a glorious instrument used by ancient seers was also obtained wa th record the recordp through which by the gift and power of the holy ghost and records god ood by the commandment of almighty gody he translated that record into our year 18300 19 1830 1630 fo depart language and the book was published in the forepart of the
1

bibs olfs 0 libs &lfs

aiso also liso

on two

other occasions orson pratt emphasized this concept of other

19p 1871 he 19

angels when on march

said

the present day until the time when the lgrd by the mouth of his 4rd ard him a knowledge by holy angels called joseph smith and gave unto vision of the place where the ancient records of a portion of the 20 deposited20 were deposited020 deposited 020 israelitish nation
on september 22
1872 1672

he declared

during these four years he was often that 1 will state I god odp ood to by the angels of G edp and received instruction ministered
howeverp however vens vers 19 journal 19journal 191ournal

of discourses XIII

660 66 pe gge

29ibido ibid

XIV po 1400 140 iho XIVI

51

concerning the work that was to be performed in the

latter

21 days21 days

parley

pratt in

a sermon delivered august 26p 1855 26

declared

joseph smith by the gift and power of god 1 say through that young I man and the ministration of holy angels to him that book came forth cane to the worldy and it has since that time been preached and read in our worldp world langauge and many others and we rejoice in itp and have borne testimlanauge ian gauge lan auge ftp lanauze it ony of it in the world

john taylor mentioned

this subject in

a sermon dated

april

qsf 8 1875 nsf

and when joseph smith was raised up as a prophet of god mormon moroni nephi and others ef the ancient prophets who formerly lived of on this continent and peter and john and others who lived on the an

asiatic continent

god23 ples pertaining to the gospel of the son of god 23 again on december
1 can I
ap 7p 7

came

to

him and communicated

to

him

certain princi-

l879j elder john taylor confirmed and added 1879

stronger testimony by further stating st oating

follows a description of the visit of the F ther and the sodt 0 dook afterwards the angel moroni cameto him and revealed to him the book of mormon with the history of which you are generally familiar and I also with the statements that 1 am now making pertaining to these sp prophets things and then came nephi one of the ancient prophet that had nepi cohdinent upon this co nzinent who had an interest in the welfare of the lived people that he had lived amongst in those days but how is it in relation to these people and in regard to some baere bene hene here abw of these matters why and hbw should these men that have lived haere upon the earth have anything to do with the people that now live
.9 9

tell

you what he

fioseph smitj .7 jioseph smith 7 joseph

told

me

about

it

ft son

mien nien then

upon
0

it

ely again who more likely than mormon and nephi and some of those who had ministered to the people upon this continent under prophets belv felv representa represents same gospel to operate again as its representa4iv the influence of the well now do 1 believe that joseph smith saw the several I tives U hin angels alleged to have been seen by him as described one after another 24 yes 1 doe why do 1 believe it because 1 obeyed this gospel yesp I dow khy I do desp I
.9 9

it
seem a
21

was

quite evident to those associated with joseph smith that

messengers other than moroni appeared

if nephi
22 Ibid 22ibid

did appear
made

it

does

little
ibidp ibid

more

logical for the clerk to have

bid

the mistake of
212

XV p xvv pai 185 evv pal 1850

IX p
XXI

23ibidep XVII pe 3740 ibid XVIII p 374

24ibid 24ibid

pp ap

161 164 161164

52

putting the wrong

name

in the manuscript before

a

it

pes pas corrected was

thomas bullick Bull Jck buli

once

smithp smi th scribe to joseph smithy recorded in his e

journals that he understood joseph to imply that the disciple nephi med appeared to him had ted in a special interview on may 20 1964 dr sidney 20p B sperry professor at brigham young univebsity vi university attested to the writer univebsit7l niter riter

that tl git

he saw thomas

bullocks journal

and

that the

above information was

contained in

it

the visitation of heavenly messengers other than moroni should

not be out of order prophet

if

one accepts acdepts

a

the idea that joseph smith

whomever god would

was a

i with irith for inith the calling of nith rith

prophet joseph would be eligible to

receive messengers and manifestations from thus in his capacity as a prophet

direct

it

would be

logical for joseph senith smith

two of

to converse with other angels

george
M DM p Mordm11 morned DEd ned

cannon adds

further testimony in

his

sermons 0 sermonso

ephraim ephrain held the keys of the record of the stick of Ephra imp bout less aiso boatless also iclsited joseph he had boutless alsop visits from nephi and it iflsited may be from alma and others but though they came and had authority holding the authority of the priesthood we have no account of their r thel thei 5 ordaining him 25

or

who

ajoseph smitj was visited constantly by angels moroni fjoseph snith joseph smith the beginning as you know to prepare him for his mission came in and ministered and talked to him from time to time and he had lon vision vi ion after vision in order that his mind might be fully saturated c know7e god goda ood omnrehend knowledge with a knowse 6 of the things of godp and that he might comprehend 20 the great and holy calling that god has bestowed upon him
he

testimonies of the

vg ricus ag ri&us v4ribus

s aspects of mor kspedts aspedts moronis visit repeated1 of moroni to joseph smith have been repeated
1

details of the
some

visit

sermon by various persons in sermonp sermond

ietter letter

and journal

wing following the follo ming are

of those

who were

close to joseph and could have received from

25lbid XIIII po 47 251bid1 XIII p

261bidt XXIIII ibid XXIII

pe p 3630

53

him

personally his story concerning moroni

in

a sermon on december 10

1871

orson pratt stated

cone comer shall come that we through the grace of god the father and our T lond jesus christ have seen the plates which contain this record tord lord ond ord and we testify with words of soberness that god sent forth an holy angel from heaven and he showed unto us the plates from which this record was takenp and he commanded us to bear record of the same and to be taken takena sane anto obedient unto the commandment of god 116 bear testimony of these e linto things and we do know if we are faithful in christ we shall rid our garments of the blood of all men tt and so forth 1 have repeated to you I part of the testimony of these three men now is there any chance for deception here an angel to be sent god goda cone down forth from godp an angel to come doin from heaven clothed in glory and anel cane domn brightness an angel to take these plates and turn them over leaf after leaf and show the engravings thereon an angel to proclaim to them that they must bear testimony of it to all people nations and tongues j and at the same time to hear the voice of god out of the tongues and at the same time to hear the voice of god out of the heavens procliaming that it had been translated correctly any chance ivene for deception here so far as they are concerned ikene they deceived sop you may as well say that peter gus deceived that paul was deTOS so ws soj if p james was deceived that all the writers of the new testadece IV edp ceived that dp ment were deceived that all the writers of the old T stament were deTI testament deceive ceived when they testify that they saw angels for one stands on as good and sound a foundation as the other and if the very nature of the impossibly ity impossibl testimony as recorded by the ancient writers shows the impoasiblity stetimony of their being deceived so does the nature of the stetimony revealed in the last days show the impossibility of these individuals being 27
work
176
1

bhe let us see whether they fthe three wit nesse could be deceived men athe witnesse vdtnesseis witnessed the and yet their testimony be given as it is here recorded they have sp whom whon testified to all nations kindred tongues and people unto ivhon this hom nation hon
iv

deceived

the following letter

another

from

elder

samuel

S 14

richards enclosing in the deseret

news march 21

letter from oliver mr cowdery by yx Cowder yp and be the last letter written 1884 this is believed to importance and significance it appears for that reason is of considerable
be a

yp cowdery appeared Cowder

to

plain

and pointed testimony concerning the

who

restoration of the holy

priesthood by heavenly messengers from one

ss lons estat ions manifestationss manifestations hanif estations those manif gestations manifestation

claimed participation in

editor deseret
1 I

news t

take the liberty to discourses

hand you the accompanying communication

2030 apo XIV ap 262 2630 xivp pp 2622630 xiva ppo

27 journal of 27journal

54

written by oliver cowdery as a direct testimony of the facts therein set forth by myself personally at the time indicated y the rate cate sate date affixed at that time he with his family was spending a few days say sty bay brith with me at my then residence in Ilis souri as he was on his way to visit missouri nay iday liay vfl ezo mlo david val whitmer and family in richmond mo j prior to his contemplated whitner atmer dtmer departure for salt lake city that coming spring to spend the remainder of his days with and in laboring for the church As he was about to semerc take his leave after severc i days of most interesting and familiar several conversation with me he penned with his ownhand and in my presence mej nej testamony testimony testAmony the testdlmony and statement therewith which 1 deem worthy of record I
samuel
W

richards

sliver boliver cowderys lette foliver letter ietter iette

kadie kadle darkness covered the earth and gross darkness the people long after the authority to administer in holy things had been taken away the lord opened the heavens and sent forth his word for the sal vation of israel in fulfillment of the sacred scridtur the ever scripture rozj lasting gospel was procliamed by the mighty angel yfororu who 0 rodj clothed with the authority of his mission gave glory to god in the highest this gosepie is the stone taken from the mountain without gosepl gosepi john the Baptis holding the keys to the aaronic priesthood tp hands baptist peter james and johnp holding the keys of the melchizedek priesthood johnj john have also ministered for those who shall be heirs to the same priest priesthoods sp now dowp hoods these priesthoodsp with their authority are nowp and must Priesthood Priest hoods continue to be in the body of the church of jesus christ of latterday latter day saints blessed is the elder who has received the same and thrice blessed and holy is he who shall endure to the end accept assurancesp dear brotherp of the unfeigned prayer of him who in connection ances brother ancess mi nistran lons nistrat ions with joseph the seer was blessed with the above ministrations and who earnestly and devoutly hopes to meet you in the celestial glory
C

oliver

28 0 cowdery0 cowdery

smithp snith stesenson edward stemensonp another associate of joseph smith gives furStesenson stefenson

ther testimony in his journal under the dates of

15

may 27. 1883 and 27 279

august

18940

the youne prophet further said that in 1823 three years after house 1 I have been his first vision while praying in his fathers so highly favored of the lord as to have been in the very house vervently prayin vervently praying pradin hen servant of god said he was fervently prayin 9 when sudwhere the sun sulp denly the house was filled with light brighter than the noon day sunp midst of which there stood an angel who said he was sent in the godp goda from the presence of god as a messenger to him the angel instrucregarding retarding him regardinga a marvelous work that god was about to bring to ted beogods beCSGod beO Gods bed who was selected to becsgod josephp was the one josephj pass and that he P joseph mouthpiece to bring about and establish the great and servant and mout hiece t 0 biece

aseret

28 Deseret newup march 21 1884 21p 28deseret nerup eseret new

55
it three tunese said the young man did this angel tunes1 tunesi times angi tines same night each angl continue his visits during the nirfrt time repeating the niaht same seme s me instructions only extending some a little and q sane sme quoting several quotina liotina passages of scripture relating to the great onk which was to come wonk work ork forth in closing the last visit the angel invited the boy to meet anmei anel him on a neighboring hill two miles alday from his fathers house away aid ald ay housep where he would give him still further instructions and permit him to see a book of gold plates containing a history of two nations who mho had previously inhabited this great land of america so plainly was iss this made known that on the next day joseph sadd he was able to find said scid the exact place and met the angel as reou ested tle requested weil well weli he reouested veil eeli zioseph smitch jioseph smit7 joseph smitjh did know for an angel from heaven had talked with him and giyen him promises which he neither doubted nor feared to degiygn gi 7 n clare

marvelous work

ins

it
made

is important to note that the three visits of the 1 angel ingel

on september
21

moroni

in the night

1823

were followed by daytime

visits t

daye day the following dayo

those

who would

would have

numnate to elwnriinate this as

classify the night visits as dreams succeeding with irith possibility leith the succedding

daytime

visits

the fourth and fifth visits could have given joseph the
from a messenger of god
TVI ivd ird

assurance that his experiences of the previous night were no dream but

in reality actual visits

25p 1855 25

Is mornnds message was summarized by wilford woodruff on february tilford mornni morani
7

when he
same

said

forp for organization and gospel that christ died corp and the that apsotels spilled their blood to vindicate is again established generation how did it come by the ministering of an in this man nan from rith malp holy arua el yron god out of heaven who held converse with manp fron arla anelfrom anel and revealed unto him the darkness that enveloped the world and unfolded unto him the gross darkness that surrounded the nations those scenes that should take place in this generation and would quick succession even unto the coming of follow each other in messiah the angel taught joseph smith those principles which the necessary for the salvation af the world and the lord gave him of ned essary are nedessary ga e gae sp and sealed upon him the priesthood and gave him power commandments commandment he told him adininister the ordinances of the house of the lord to administer organisak organisa menp nen was not among men and that there was not a true orga niza mena gospel the kingdom in the world that the people had turned away tion of his lilg true order changed the ordinances and broken the lils hig ilg jis from his ils
liv
1

29 stevenson 29stevenson

op ope

cit

pp pps ap

2122

21 22p 240 22 24

56

everlasting covenant and inherited lies and things wherfein there V hem n hea aas 3 no profit tas he told him the time had come to lay the foundation ias among for the establishment of the kingdom of god amon men for the least last tune preparatory time reparatory to the winding up scene J vlin ding oiin olin tine joseph trus strenn themed oseph iwas strengthened ras iras thened by the spirit and power of crod and was enabled to listen to the arod end ood cod teachings of the angel he told him he should be made an instrument in the hands of the londs if he kept his commandments in doing a lords lond lord good work upon the earth that his name should be held in honor by the honest in heart and in dishonor throughout the nations by the wicked he told him he should be an instrument in laying the foundation of a work that should gather tens of thousands of the children of men in the generation in which he lived from every nation under heaven who should hear the sound of it through his instrumentality he told him the nations were wrape in wickedness and abomination wrapt judgements and that the judgements of god were ready to be poured out upon them falness in their fulness that the angels were holding the vials of his fulness wrath in rec diness but the decree is that they shall not be poured readiness red out until the nations are warned tibt they may be left wit out an without that tiat ros pei excuse this man to whom the angel appeared obeyed the mos pel he gospel MEOW nee ss meeknass meekness received it in mee knass and humility and bowed down before the lord and worshipped him and did the best he could in his LU iterate state illiterate boye he laid hold of it with all plow boy he was as it were but a mere plowboy his heart though he saw he would have to wage war with sin and wickedness wickadness vdckadness and abominations and the oppositions of the people he wherever began to trust in the lord and what was the consequence h the words of the gospel which the angel revealed to him were 3b menp nen mena preached among the children of men it had its effects effect
mus mas

.1 1

1 I

71

john taylor also remarked concerning moronis message on septem-

ber

13

18572

proclamation made declaring that a holy angel from heaven it appeared had that he had revealed himself unto a young man that was yanmerts conj thout ziny phout a yarmeris sonj without any parfarmers farmerts son va farmer backwoods of america neris farner far born in the appeared ticular educational advantages that this angel having gave account unto him had revealed unto him an ancient record that gate an of the aboriginal inhabitants of this country that in this record there was an account of prophets having existed on this continent appear edp former days of jesus having appeared and of angels having adin unto them account of their having been in possesministered sion of the gospel having the same doctrines the same blessings welth urith with same privileges and powers that were associated weith the gospel the on the asiatic continent and that this record agreed with the bible 3 blessings311 blessings3 indoctrines ordinances teachings and blessings in doctrines
was a

josephs

mother wrote her own version of his experiences

where joseph had received
pp ap
196 197 196197

arter after

relating the portion of the story

moronis

3journal of discourses lir 11 30iournal II 311 311bido V p 239 bido VI po ibid

57

visitations the night before

day

and went

into the field to

work

the next

she wrote how he became i

ill
tree

and star bed starbed started

mrs
when

to return to the house but

A

stopped to

rest

by an apple

smith continues as follows

the messenger whom he saw the previous night visited him again and the first thing he said was imhy imay why did you not tell your father that which 1 commanded you to I him11 joseph replied 1 I was afraid my father would not behin tell him lieve me the angel rejoined he will believe every word you say

yias he was here but a wias vias

short time

to

him

ii

joseph then promised the angel that he would do as he had comanel upon this the messenger departed and joseph returned to manded the field where he had left my husband and alvin but when he got there his father had just gone to the house as he was somewhat unwell joseph then desired alvin to go straightway and see his something of great importance father and inform him that he had sa nething to communicate to him and that he wanted him to come out into the as field where they were at work alvin did as he was requested and when my husband got there joseph related to him all that had passed between him and the angel the previous night and that morning having heard this account 2 his father charged him not to fail in attending strictly to the instruction which he had received from this
heavenly messenger
he

zjoselh proceeded to relate further particulars concernjosep ing the work which he was appointed to do and we received them ourselves agreeable joyfully never mentioning them except among ourselvesagreeable to the instructions which we had received from him
from

ayery eyery from the lord and we continued to get the children together eery evening for the purpose of listening while he gave us a relation of sing luar singliar the same 1 presume our family presented an aspect as singluar as I any that ever lived upon the face of the earth all seated in a father mother sons and daughters and giving the most procircie circle found attention to a boy eighteen years of age who had never read the bible through in his life he seemed much less inclined to the IM a en bilt perusal of books than any of the rest of our children but far more given to meditation and deep study e

this

time forth joseph continued

to receive instructions

childr

1 I

IM

stihhiffsssswe

skas skfs

was were now confirmed in the opinion that god mas about to bring to light something upon which we could stay our minds or that would give us a more perfect knowledge of the plan of salvation and the cep cej caused us greatly to rejoice human family this redemption of the the sweetest union and happiness pervaded our house and tranquility reigned in our midst
yie we ice lie

rejoi

sp conversations during our evening conversation joseph would occasionally us some of the most amusing recitals that could be imagined give he would describe the ancient ihnabitants of this continent their mode of traveling and the animals upon which they rode dress

58

with as much easer seemingly cis ease as among thern thein than then
on

their cities their buildings with every particular their mode of warfare and also their religious worship this he would do belig ious beligious
5

if

he had spent

whole his whoie life

twbdty twadty the twaddy second of september 1824 joseph again visited the place where he found the plates the year previous and supposing yean yein at this time that the only thing required in order to possess them was until the time for their translation wets to be able to keep the command menta of god hae commandmenta commandments fhe keep and firmly believing fae could kee o every he keen commandment cammndment which has been given him expected to carry he fully ex oected them home with him therefore having arrived at the place unppt covering the plates he appt forth his hand and took them up but as vas he was taking them hence the unhappy thought darted through his mind that probably there was something else in the box besides the nd plates which would be of some pecuniary advantage to him so i in the moment of excitement he laid them down very carefully for the purpose of covering the box lest some one might happen to pass that way and get whatever there might be remaining in it covering after cover ng but turned around to it heand where he knewtake the record againknow behold it was c h wheres gone not neither ded he dad did the mans by which it had been taken from him
a natural consequence he was much alarmed he kneeled down and asked the lord why the record has been taken from him upon which the angel of the lord appeared to him and told him that he had not done as he had been commanded for in a former revelaates tion he had been commanded not to lay the lates down or put them depe for a moment out of his hands until he got into the house and d posited them in a chest or trunk having a good lock and key and contrary to this he had laid them down with the view of securing ede some fancied or imaginary treasure that remained binary ginary remain
11

at this as

jgseph jaseph of excitement j18seph was overcome by the powers imas iras of darkness and forgot the injunction that was laid upon him

in the

moment

occasi&n eel rei having further conversations with the an gel on this occasion anel eted joseph bras pe tted to raise the stone again when he beheld the hnas permitted as he had done before he immediately reached forth his hand plates them but instead of getting them as he anticipated he was to take hurled back upon the ground with great violence when he recovered angel was gone and he arose and returned to the house weeping the disappointment for grief and disappointments

that he we would expect him to bring the plates we mi g ht dj that w e might doubt him he was greatly troubled fearing t troubie trouble home with As soon as he entered the house my husband his having seen them no not asnwer was noy father the piates asked if he had obtained the plates
was As he iv as aware ivas

then 1 could not get them I

yes

it

sald said his father then scald

p

tfdid did
1

you see them

saw them
theno thene them than then but could to take themo

replied joseph
A

59
1

ness
know

if

would have take themy ll rejoined theny them bhan then 1 had been in your plade I
11

his father with

much

11

earnest-

would not

you ivyou returned joseph in quite a subdued toner jou do not tone ivyon 1 could not get them for the angel of the lord i what you say I hat
Irvi why irvilyp
11

lyP

let

me

joseph then related the circumstance in full which gave us much uneasiness as we were afraid that he might utterly fail of obtaining the record through some neglect an his part on in
0
0 0 0

O 0

10

fioseph smitch jioseph smit2h joseph smitjh7 smiled and said presently severest chastisement that 1 have ever had in my I he
my

tj

life

ni have taken the

supposing that it was from some of the neighbors was quite angry and observed 1 I would like to know what business you anybody has to find fault with youl
husband

stop father said n said joseph it was the angel of the lord As 1 passed by the hill of cumorah where the plates arel the angel ane are I met me and said that 1 had not been engaged enough in the work of the I tame lord that the time had come for the record to be brought f forth and orth god that 1 must be up and doing and set myself about the things which I had commanded me to do but father give yourself no uneasiness concerning the reprimand which 1 have received for 1 now know the course I I tart t I viell the thl veli veil t1rt 1 am to pursue so all will be well
1

11

timejtt timea time0

also made known to him at this interview that he should it twentysecond make another effort to obtain the plates on the twenty second of piates the following september but this he did not mention to us at that
was

it

joseph should be noted here that josephs

we have

mother brings

to light a
she

thedbory thesbory jory thedbory thestory different aspect of the sbory than

from received yran joseph fron fran

states stat bs that staths

moroni had

told joseph to failed to

do so

tell

his father of the night

we ibie ifie itle

visits
do

and joseph had

moroni admonished him again to

this story to verify this phase verity

story
was

when he appeared in his day

visit

rrs only have mrs rrb

smiths

and because joseph was not

ihen alive when her

published he could not substantiate

a

it
when he

also there is
mrs

difference with respect to obtaining the plates

jsseph smith implies that joseph expected to receive the plates

32lucy mack smithp ope smith op lucy snith

cit

j1 ja

pp ap

79 85 7985

100 101 100101

60

went

after the first visit in josephs account he is clear in stating that the angel told him the time for receiving the plates would not be until four years from the time of the 33 although the point of first visit difference is not so important it

to the hill

cumorah a year

is an example of how some aspects in are tics which a re unlike the original
summary

retold story

assume

characteris-

with in analyzing josephs account of moronis visit we are not u without problems from the testimonies cited it seems possible that joseph story of mornoi was believed by his family and close as1

socia tes sociates

others the three witnesses also testified that they

saw

an angel who

oliver

cowdery

identified

34 .134 3 134 moroni 134 as

there exist dif-

dates feren ces ferences of dates35

A 4

36 0 and circumstances36 plus problems of proper recording circumstances0 circumstances

nephi moroni the nephimoroni issue seemed to be a clerical error substantiated

by subsequent
on occasion

writings

confirm several persons conf1 rm that joseph stated I

momon of mormon prophets besides moroni appeared

that other
on

book

further thought
ment made

these experiences must also confirm the state-

end in this thesis concerning the visitation of the father and the bep son lep that an experience such as joseph claims can be verified lej iep

ie

only by a
human

spiritual

experience on

the part of the investigator

with kith ith

VJ

error existing in the mistakes of memory and a natural tendency isp best besta is to embellish the retold story asp at bestp a confirmation of only the
33see appendix
35
A

16

34messenger and Advocat 34messenger ep advocate

VI letter up

1835

po 112

see appendix

D dp

pp ap

4 5 45

36lucy mack smith op lucy

city

pp ap

101 loo lois loi 85s 100 1010 79 85 1001010 7985 100101

61

v eri vered a messageft nd gave him a record fijn eli angel moroni appeared to hijn eti elivered messagend slivered nessa himttelivered messa gend
c

points basic p eints of a story oints

of a group of people

The mesic p oint basic thebasic point tesic thetesic

of josephs story

is that the

all

sources seem to have confirmed this point and

joseoh himself remained consistent in his referral quotations

CHAPTER

FOUR

conclusion

introduction to the appendix

apperidix appendix the appeddix of this thesis

is

made up

of several accounts of the

first vision

and of the
was

accounts attention

visits of the angel moroni in selecting these given to their authenticity the date of publi-

cation and the authors proximity to the primary source joseph smith proC prokUnity
nu script nuscript first is the manuscript history as dictated by joseph smith to a clerk who wrote in longhand next is the story as it appears today in twpearl qgreat price an accepted scripture of the church exic is next exfc erub tre pearl f great pricco priceo trs peari

included

included the earliest account which appears to have been dictated by

joseph to a scribe but never finished
next orson listed opson prates is

sion which

vms was

england then the tentworth published in Di glando

5 1ientworth Tent worth wentworth

letter oliver

ryde cowdery s account orson hyde s pamphlet and the accounto hydes
s prophets the prophet brother
1 I

story by wil 1 iam smith william ull lan uil I ian

the appendix ends with a comparative chart of the

most commonly used published accounts

appendix
As

joseph dictated and the scribe wrote in longhand

several

words were not

clear and

some

handwritten corrections appeared

made

in the
these
2

typewritten form presented here an effort has been

notes that appeared

to

show

d-

etails and footnotes have been added to explain any additions changes or
on

the manuscript

only those notes that pertain to

this thesis

were analyzed and considered

62

63

pendix
1

Kp appendix B

the pearl of great price version of this story is perhaps the

which with wIilch members of the church are most familiar lich

one

it

contains certain

changes from the

original

document which changes were made by the

some

first

presidency for the sake of clarification

comparative chart of appendix 1 I

of these are shown in the

appendix

orson ppatt published a pamphlet in 1840 which became the opatt pratt

separately published account of the

first vision

and

first moronis visit

because

it

was

the first published account

D
D

it

was

placed next in the appendix

appendix

in discussing appendix
account of the
which

which appears to be the

earliest written
information given

first vision there is certain additional

is

not diredtly related to the thesis but directly

is nevertheless historically

important
and

in this particular narrative josephs scribe wrote down a number then wrote over it to the writer and others it looks like a 16 indi-

cating the year in which joseph had the

As he

first vision in his

16th year

writes briefly of the vision he does not mention the father as being present however this does not indicate that he was not present the date
of the appearance of the angel moroni
1822

is given as the

september 22nd day of Sept emberl

this date of course could or could not be an error since the recorded as lasting from the evening of the 21st day of vision is later
tember
22nd

sep-

the morning of the 22nd and again in the afternoon of the until account written by joseph smith at a the year does disagree with the

later date
joseph also related in

this early
instructions

account that the lord appeared to

he

martin harris

and gave him

also wrote that the lord

64 appecaalred to oliver cowdery with instructions and a vision appeared appellred ilith

another

new

item of history revealed by this document

thc4t that is jhcat

samuel

smithy josephs younger brother imas used as an assistant in the translasnithy was ras smith iras imas snith tion of the book of mormon

adcount this account was never published or referred to by any of the au thiD lAties of the church as far as the writer has been able to determine thidlaties thidrities latles
from the lack of recognition and importance given
docio docioment document docement cEment this do ment

it

seems

evident that ished

draft which was started but never corrected or fininstead of gong back over and revising joseph smith evidently
was ca a
we

it

dictated the story later as

appendix
E

have

it

in appendix

ientworth this account is commonly called the vint worth letter explanation lint of the origin is given in the beginning pages of appendix itself howevery this account also contained what is known to the members of the ever church of jesus christ of latterday saints as the articles of fa ith a latter day falth faith statement of thriteen doctrinal beliefs the wgntworth letter became the tntworth Tnt worth wintworth antworth int
11

first

published account of the

F
cowderyls ls cowdery

first vision

from joseph smith

appendix

this is oliver
more

version of moronis visitation and moronic

is

much

detailed than any of the other accounts that joseph approved of olivers writing this particular story is shown by his offer of assistance
and

is

noted in the appendix

many

wg we

are indebted to oliver cowderys recital

which otherwise would have been

of these incidents for

app bendix appendix endix
G

details

lost

orson hyde published a pamphlet in germany pertaining to the

first

vision

his source for the pamphlet

is

unknown

but since he was an

65

apostle and a close associate of jpseph he should have heard the story

directly

josephas from josephts ts joseph

lips
same

is highly it ishighly possible

publication

that

he would have had

a copy of the times and seasons account of the 11rentwroth wentwroth uentwroth

letter

or the

history that
ple
appendix
H

was bras

in the

on march 15th of 1842 1th

among

ath ith

orson hyde

published his account to be used as a missionary tool

the german peo-

jm smith william smithp brother to joseph wrote his story Millia snith

when he was 72

years of age and has confused

kp appendix 1 pendix I

some

of the details of the account

but some

of his contributions are nevertheless valuable

this final
sources of the

appendix gives us a comparison of the five most

utilized
piabli ca publica-

first

vision

As

is the

case in most

if

not

all

tions there are errors

these

may be on

the part of the writer published

chan gese or printer or they may be intentional changes

in the chart the writer

canions soon lons cations merely points out scon of the differences which appear in these publications son pull cat ions SOB scob

those

who made

these changes did not explain their reason

conclusion
soap son story of the visit of the father and the sonp and the account of the b6rmairopfeotbie the visit of moroni have caught the interest bermagyoptopike throughout the fro world certainly a claim of a visit fr 04j god to man deserves some attention

the reaction

was dramatic

some

considered

it

blasphemous

others treated

it

as gloriously sacred

the joseph had no witnesses to bhe original

V

visits

therefore all
him

sources of the story must P of necessity be traced back to

smiths true that in considering joseph smithes experiences with the is it brn soap and vrn th moroni one is obliged wither to accept or reject son aither alther brith vdth edth and the sonp father

the story

mmllie while uhlie

it is

agreed that the secondary sources add details that

and

may have been

rented in private
and the

left
on

out of

josephs published

ac-

counts the story must stand or

fall

the absis of joseph smiths charac abbis 0

young

ter

and

integrity

dr hugh

validity of the major claims made by him nibley professor of history and religion at brigham
1

univebsity compiled a series of articles on the first vision throughly university analyzing the antimormon writ erst criticism of josephs significant claims ts writers1 ersi writers anti mormon writerst Joseph iny publishedin publish edin Ju these articles were published in the improvement era periodically from july uly
1

to

november 1961

in his

summary

dr nibley states thatin every case chatin

.1 1

.9 9

without exception the

critic distorted

joseph smiths account while pro4

fessing to follow
smith

it
be made of

in appraising the remarks of various people associated with joseph

it

is important that careful analysis

words

the meaning of

certain frequently used

discoubses as these discouases discourses
men

it

should be remembered that in presenting

did they did not use forms from which they read

their sermons these men were guided by their feelings and acknowledged their weaknesses as finished speakers therefore if their remarks are to be critized by skeptics they should be read carefully and in context with the particular topic of the sermon or publication definition of words dd which were accepted in that time should be considered in determining the consider which A case in point is the term ft angel whi ch true meaning of certain remarks
we

have previously discussed

god godp goda

when wien uhen

the

men

associated with joseph smith re-

ferred to

christ

sp personage moroni or other heavenly personages

it

seems

that they

this title is not in any sometimes had joseph smith sinith snith way belittle their calling it only describes their mission term angel as a ministering personage and in fact names christ defined the using this definition anyone could have referred to christ angel as an
reason to refer to
5

them as angels

.9 9

11d9hcp IV p 425 po HC

67

as an angel

ep therefore the use of any term such as angel cannot Therefor

be defined

by using statements out of context

the reader must

know what

the writer of

speaker means by his use of the word

in regard to the issue of

sources which substantiate the

how many

personages appeared and when

coupled with other

we

again should use the primary source

first

reliable

first

the body of this work has been writmoroni and others

ten in an effoipt to effort effott

show

that the various accounts of the appearance of the

father

and the son plus the

visit of

agree in timep place time tilep tine

and number

even though some accounts present certain inconsistencies

it
was

has hopefully been shown how these may have crept in and that they may be

reconciled with the basic tenets of the story

joseph smithp at least smith snith

sttry stbry consistent in the retelling of the essential items of his sabry and only
nor minor discrepancies are found in the narratives of his associates
environment
sp envivvnment environment certainly in most situations the envidonment plays an important Certain lyp situation

part in the sequence of events lord

worked

in analyzing the consistency with

which the

it

seems

pian to be his plan in most instances to reveal his will

nas mans response to mans request along with the necessity of nans being ready mas mas in
to receive this revealed word the message which joseph smith claimed was given to him by jesus christ could not have been given to the people of the
world unless the environment of

their minds to receive these instructions members of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints claim that joseph smith was selected years before his birth to their
day had conditioned
gep parenta his particular day and time through his religious parentage forth in gods to meet god purposes in this environment god gave mankind the selec tod selected restorati&n restoration ty opportunity to accept the story of the restoratidm of his kingdom on the opp&rtunl
come

earth

68

importance of story

that this story is true

allowsp allows
we

and stands as the

greatest communication be-

tween god and man may be disputed

have no other story

but as far as our present history

C

declares that god

young man

to equall this in ulli aaspects the story lill ali ail all the eternal father and his son jesus christ appeared to a
Q

two personages of the godhead appeared

wer together wero seen towerb

gether in their glory and both spoke messages

even some writings

to the believer there are

forg told in forte fortetold foretold forttold fort

prophecy

telling that such a specific experience was prophecfefes propheclis plus other prophe chis foretelling the restoration of clis
Q

the gospel in

the last
number

3 days

of visitations claimed the events having taken

1820 and 1836

sabry joseph smith d stbry dictated his sfetory in 1838

place between

he was then
memory

1838

chrity in his thrity third year

and was seemingly

was vias hias

trusting to his

but being the only witness

and moroni

this
there

all

he could do

in addition to the father the son

jah eiljah elijah
among were prophets adlong the

were more than

ten personages involved in the manifestations according to

joseph smith moses and

israelites

john the 0

baptist

the dig distinction of introducing the christian dispensation and of dit tinction baptizing christ peter james and john were chosen to head that particular allowing christ dispensations Ollowing christs resurrection moroni and nephi were great
had

nephite leaders and the father and his son jesus christ are accepted as rather A 0 too to joseph smith claimed tow godhead by almost all christians members of the
have conversed with

all

I heavenly personages 1 i sted above plus others listed of these

each had a

particular
chapter

message
11
1

to deliver
47

and did not appear simply

pa 219 p9 21 P

to

as thesis 2thes athes 0

footnote no

3revelation 14 6p7 revelation 14s67

69

satisfy the curios ity of the recipient curiosity

L

joseph smith declared that the sneith snith

father and the son appeared to enlighten the world as to the being character 4 moroni and a butes of god and attr autes which knowledge had been lost attributes altr his associa tes sociates bridged the gap existing between the two continents and gave to

the world the vation the

book

of

Iff mormon lff lormon

scripture scrip ure additional scrippure necessary to mans salscri pure scriure
work was

mormon

leader also testified that this

the beginning

of the dispensation of the fulness of time falness

secondary accounts

the accounts which have been reproduced in the appendices confirm

and enlarge upon the basic aspects of the story as

first told

by joseph
human

smith

careful analytis of all sources quoted allowing for

shows

er-

ror manifested in certain of the conflicts

john taylor expressed his feelings in
9

r4uslity that the basic quality of

the testimonial evidence in sincere coherent and consistent

this

way

god has not spoken if the angel of god has not appeared smith to joseph smithp and 0 these things are not true of which we speak then the whole thing is an imposture from beginning to end there is no debter detter rf etter halfway house no middle path about the natter is either one thing itter

and

if

if

or the other
we have e

it

sP friend read from the testimonies of joseph smiths friends those

who were members

of the church and those

who

were not

each erch eich

man who

reads

accounts will have to determine for himself whether he will accept these

the story as true or false

anyone acquainted with the church of jesus

would have

christ its related teachings

of latterday latter day

saints

to

acknowledge

that this story

and

have affected the

303
XXI XXIP p
in

lives of millions

hec
4phcs hoc

jj

CI

5jo6rnal of Dwiscour ses jotirnal discourses iscour

1659 165

70

joseph smith had no witnesses in the sacred grove yet

have

many

thous nds thousands ads

141
1

testified that they

saw and

know

his story to be true substantiated by

the resultant book of resuit taht result tant resul atit

mormon were

visit of moroni and oroni witnesses who testified

the

that they
As
mormon

felt the

evidence

teachings of joseph smith

a

result of these experiences the teachings

who

expounded by

this

leader regarding mans salvation apparently revolutionized the rejoined his

movement
many

tjose ligious thinking of biose viose

of the doctrines

were new many were answers

to existing problems

and questions many of

most

partly known these problems developed from partlyknown truths then in existence
his
own making

was people associated with joseph never thought that this new doctrine mas of

or

that

he was capable of such

himself hin selfo invention of and by him selfe seife

joseph seemed to be the

when he

first to

god acknowledge godts

part and influence

vision of the
was immediately besieged

left the

annonnedd woods and annon nedd annoedd annoedd

that

he had a

father
years

and

soap son the sonp describing their personages he

with persecution which never ceased

until his

martyrdom

at the atre atte

age of 38

testimonies of joseph smiths close associates

john taylor third president of the church and associate of joseph
smith summarizes as follows
cane calme joseph smith came forward telling us that an angel had administered calne to him and had revealed unto him the principles of the gospel as they
addys ddys former didys9 and that god was going to set his hand to work existed in mp kingdo pun puuposes punposes pwposes accomplish days to toaccomplish his purposes and build up his kingdom in these last

sp error errors principle to introduce correct principles to overturn errorp evil and corruption earthe earth I and to establish his church and kingdom upon the eartho 1 have heard 1 have heard him tell over and I him talk about these things myself over again to myself and others the circumstances pertaining to these and the various ministrations of angels and the development of visions purposes of god towards the human family the
e

61bidep XIV p bid XIVO

3650 365

71

orson pratt another close compan on of joseph smith pratta pratt3 companion

testifies

god had again spoken from the heavens and that by holy doval angels sent down from heaven he had again revealed the everlasting gospel in all its fuljiess and for forty years past we have declared fulness falness igie ivie this to the world 1 e have also testified that many of the servants of god have been ordained by holy angels and sent forth to publish these tidings among the inhabitants of the earth and that others have been orda qed by those who received their ordination from heavenly messenordained ked f
.9 9

that

gers

in

1853

parley P pratt gave a discourse

man

on

the doctrine of revela-

comuni cation catlon tion communication with the heavens

and the necessity of

this contact in

the salvation of
what

he said

or any part of it or called the attention og the people towards it giving rise to the system now called mormonism it was the ministration of angels to certain indi vidualsj vidual sj or in other words certain individuals in this age enjoyed open vi duals viduals visuals
world

is it that first disturbed the

visions

patriarchs but where can we read under the government of the patr archs aichs before the flood or after it 5 before moses or after him before christ 0 or after christ where can we read in sacred history of a people of god by whom the doctrine of visions and ministering of angels would be dis8 erroneous8 carded or be considered erroneous
edward stevenson was present on one occasion when joseph

told the

story of his heavenly manifestation he related that he s manifestations

forgot the experience
he writes

was so An inspired by

spired

the experience and received such an emotional impact from

0

it that

he never

smitch smitj the prophet joseph smitjh stood at a table for the pulpit where he began relating his vision and before he got through he was in the do rland uplifted iland I 0 midst of the congregation with UP lifted hand 1 00o believe that there 0 am M 4m NM was nol 1 was not one person present who wag not lconvincejd of the truth of his 5t1511tacsince coming an angel fcomimo to him his countenance seemed to me to hin hi vision of assume a heavenly whiteness and his voice was so piercing and forcible my part it so impressed me as to become indelibly imprinted on for mind9 minda my mind 9 nind
0

11

we fedward stevenson sdward adward stevensons who had conversed with

of an angel from
71bide bid
XVI p xvi3 xvii

familo were proud indeed to entertain one soap son the father and the sonp and been under the tuition heaven and who under the immediate direction of the
790 79

8ibid bibid bid

1 I

299

9stevenson3 9sievenson
pp ap
lgb 18 igo 19o 18190 19 1819

op

citop q u otine edward stevensons autobiography citow quoting cit

72

almighty had organized the true church on the earth after the exact pattern of the organized by god through jesus christ eighteen hundred oy6anized 10 years before
we have

recited testimonies of
own
who

men who knew

the prophet and heard

from

the story from his

edward stevenson

lips

now

in this conclusion let us quote further

he

not only

testifies

concerning the heavenly manifesta-

tions but describes

1 am a I

so well the character of joseph smith

stated

fioseph jioseph pero nally living witness that 1 peronally heard this young prophet joseph I personally stoity testify in 1834 that jesusi words were true and that god had smit2h smitch testily feo establish tio reestablish this same order called upon him by heavenly vision tro re

although 1 was then only one year old in the church and felt as I though we were highly honored by entertaining a prophet of god who had stood in the presence of god the father and jesus christo his only bechrist gotten upon the earth and while we heard him tell in his plain simple way about this open vision and also of the visit of moroni the angel to him 1 had a testimony of the truth for the spirit of god witnessed f or I cords and the holy ghost sealed upon me his truthful words
0
9

joseph smith & hyrum smitjh in the ir smitj snit their mortal life in michigan in missouri and in illinois and to me it has proved that to know them well has proven to love them dearly 1 have I I written much concerning joseph of his sayings and doings as 1 have witintercoursel I nessed them and in all my inter cousee with them 1 testify that 1 intercousee I coursel have not either been taught anything or heard them publicly teach any principle but what was wholesome pure and calculated to elevate mortals to a higher degree of excellence and salvation both in this life and cone I knowthat eternal lives in the worlds to come and 1 know that they were prophets sent of god and that they opened up a gospel dispensation of salvation to all who obey and carry out their doctrine which still lives and will continue to spread and do just as theptophets left the work doieg gathering the people together building temples doihg temple work for for the living and for the dead which will increase f or at least one thousand years to come until every souls in the prison house shall be and redeemed and thus fulfill the great work of the redeemer who red Tred saved fill redtred fred 12 died for all
1 have been with men of god I

joseph smith claimed to have received many spiritual manifestations snith

in addition to those discussed here

11

belief in these things

were of such

josepho josephj qabid quoting edward stevensons reminiscences of joseph the qlbid 1oibid tp prophet Prophe p 46

168

11 11ibid ibid

jali jail jailp quoting liberty jaila

quoting autobiography

magazine IX Magazin ixp ej utah monthly magazined imp

pp ap
65 64654 258259 64 654 258 259 6465 25829 29

1893

121bid ibid

73
3

import to the church that orson inport

was

at least
charles

one

instance where
13

pratt relates that as early as 133 there 83 3 rejection of a vision was one of the reasons bras
1

for an excommunication
W

panrose p one of the members of the

first

presidency of

the church has declared

joseph F smith sixth president of the church in this dispensation
spoke

in the assembly hall july

1917

in salt lake delivering this

testimonial
the greatest event that has ever occurred in the world since the resurrection of the son of god from the tomb and his ascension on high was the coming of the father and of the son to that boy joseph smith to 6 prepare the way for the laying 66 the foundation of his kingdom not the kingdom of man never more to cease nor be overturned having accepted this truthp 1 find it easy to accept of every other truth that truth trutha I enurubitated he enunffi&ated and declared during his mission of fourteen years in the t1 world he never taught a doctrine ta at was not true he never practhat tiet ticed a doctrine that he was not commanded to practice he never adraas baas vocated error he was not deceived he saaw he heard he did as he was commanded to do and therefore god is responsible for the work accomplished by joseph amith not joseph smith the lord is responsismith lith ble for it and not man
.9 9

summary

foregoing in the foregoihg thesis

son and the angel

it

has been suggested that the question

saw

did joseph smith have visions where he actually

moronity moronitf moroni
tf

the father and the

can be answered only through individual exper-

ience

there is
130rson orson
14

no

physical evidence that this manifestation took

church historians office dec
29p 1833 29 133

pratt journal prattis Journ alp alj

general conference report church of jesus christ of latterday latter day s 91 94p 1921 1923 p 9 16 94 saints 9194 19211923 saint
15 nibley 15nibley op

cit

po 28 p 280

74

place

joseph smith had no witnesses to the

first manifestations
who

although

as was pointed out in later ex oeriences he did experiences

the thesis has been rather detailed in quoting people

were person-

ally acquainted with joseph smith

in the appendix the main in his story

in using these sources

and the accounts

theme involved

is

whether joseph was consistent

if

the investigator will analyze

contexts context s and

their take into consideration the apparent intention of their authors

sources quoted in

all the

it

that there would be no question as to the consistency of the story joseph smith storye t will be noted that most of the statements and acwould seem

counts used were made during the lifetime of the

had the opportunity to correct any misconception

mormon 11ormon

prophet so that he

one of the most outstanding

hlis hib tests of hils consistency hia hla

was wals

josephs
much sorrow

continuous stand on his original story when confronted by persecution

joseph no doubt had opportunity to deny his stories and save

eventually joseph
claims

was

willing to give

up

his life rather than deny his

problems of accuracy

brays al vrays in retold stories will always exist because of

hulan huian errors huan

these are not as serious as the critics would have us believe

an attempt has been made to point these out and show that despite the

prevailed ie sone sane errors in some of the details the basic aspect of the story preval led leeo separate sepa ate and the son appeared as two separ rAe personages and that ahe tte that the father
ilessengerp loroni another appearance of a heavenly ihessenger moroni
ly 1

did constitute the story

seem

as joseph dictated

it

jaseph jsseph sephs these basic points of J 0 sepas cilam

e

to
him

be

co-

nsistently repeated by those

we

who were more

closely associatedwith associated with

oils various rather than deny the vard otis here then humm turn suffered a mob to kill hurm his aspects of his spiritual manifestation arid arld close associates honored him by family believed him his friends and
who have a story by a man i4hov

75

confirming his claims

s ubry the authenticity of his subry must be traced back

to the history

man

himself

without witness Ilith illth out

he made a claim unequalled

in all

visitation of the father and the son and communication with both of them the integrity of this mormon prophet seems to have stood the n test during his lifetime he was persecuted to such an extent that many
a
timesp times tines

after beatings
through

and abuses

he was

left for

dead yet he never refuted

his story

it all

he remained

consistent in his declaration that

he received heavenly manifestations

criticism
members

and

insults

have been

heaped upon him yet his story remains

of the church of jesus

christ of latterday saints bear testimony that they have received a spiritual latter day smith1 smitha smiths assurance of the actuality of joseph smithts s first vision the principle of
revelation
grown

u-jon from heaven has become the rock upon which the organization has
i

thus the church of jesus christ of

latterday saints latter day

authenticity of the

ond and
C

the story

joseph slaith of jose h smith must stand or

fail

on the

first vision

zingel appe carance angel and the appearance of the fingel moroni

appendices

77

APPENDIX A APP ix

joseph smitht original manuscript history s smiths joseph smith realized the importance of record keeping
he did
we

because

series of seven volumes of church history the first six of which were taken from his journals which were kept until his death in
have a

lahb lahl

one of

josephs

many problems was

the unreliability of
was

some

of his

scribes and those

who were

appointed to be historians in the early period

of the churchs history

record keeping

stances but through josephs tenacity most

served

difficult under these circumof the details have been pre-

joseph smith started officially to write the history of the church

of jesus christ of
a scribe and

mints latterday pints letter ietter latter day saints eints

sometime near may 2

vae vie e

1838

he used

dictated most of the history

are also told that the

what

flett

presidency assisted in writing the hi storye history

we

this assistance

comprised

this handwritten copy of the history is in poss ession of the church historians office A microfilm has been made possession assion and from the original cand from this film the following copy was made
are

left to conjecture

the manuscript does not indicate the

the dictation the following
6

name

of the clerk

who

took

however

recorded in the minutes of the meeting of the

6 p 1838

general conference of the church at far west missouri april

john

is

correll

and

elias

higbee

historians

george li robinson
T

1dhc HC

lii lil ill

ILII

26 260

78 76

general church recorder and clerk to the

under the date of

first

presidency

april

2. 2 27

1838

joseph smith recorded in his journal

I this day 1 chiefly spent in writing a history of the church from the date3 existence earliest period of its e ds tence up to this dated 3 date dstence immediately following this entry under date of april 28 1838 was
were attended by joseph recorded the minutes of the high council which v

smith and sidney rigdon the

by george
M

first

presidency

these minutes were signed

may

pubbinson44 rmbinsons robinsons

we

josephas joseph continuing in josephts ts journal

ap 2 1p
1

find recorded under date of

ap and ap 183816 4p 1838 3p 3 4

the first presidency were engaged in church history and adsicka ministering to the sicki5 sick5
joseph in josephs
6

journal dated

may 19

18380 1838

he mentions

that

he went up
li

clerkp clerks the river accompanied by president rigdon and his clerk george
son

robin

jensen assistant church hiitovianp classified george h&stdrian andrew robinson as general church recorder from
law of sidney rigdon
by joseph smith august
1837

tel

to

1840

vaas he was the son in sonin

robinson
29

later
he

denied the fc ith and was denounced falth faith

1842

associated with john

Benne bt and bennett

left

nauvoo

in

7 1843

from

this

daba dala

it

seems

geore that george

ws robinson was the scribe for

the most important document

the following copy is the start of the

2ibid1 111 bide iiip III ili iiii 31bid 111 3lbid III lii ili
41 bid 41bid

pp ap

13 14 1314

p
pp ap

250 25 25p 26 2

51bidsp ibid

111 iiip III ill ili iiii iiip lii lil ill iiii

p 26 pe 26s

6ibidp 111 bid III ili lii ill

pa 35 p9

encyclopedia day 7andrew jensen latterday saint biographical encylopedia candrew andrew latter i gornpanyp company 1901 sompany 1901p 1p pe 253 oompany I Som jensen historical lake city andrew

salt

79

history which the prophet kept which resulted in seven printed volumes

and

is called the

documentary history of the church

80

owing

to the

many

reports which have been put in circulation

by

jesus christ of ori of the church of latter day saints

church and

evil disposed

and designing ipersons persons

in relation to the rise and progress

all

of which have been de-

signed by the authors thereof to militate against

its

character as a
enquirers

its

progress in the world 1 have been induced to write this I

mind

history

so as

to disabuse the publick

and put

all

after truth into possession of the facts as they lation both to myself and the church as far as 1 I
sess on session

have

transpired in re-

have such

facts in pos-

history I hutory in this h&story 1 will present the various events in relation to this church in truth and righteousness cas they have transpired as or as they at present exist being now the eighth year since the organap 1p

CD

ization of said church

1 wras born I was

in the year of our lord one

my

thousand eight hundred and five on the twenty chrid day of december thrid see note E page 2 addenda my father 2 town of sharon j widdsor county state of vermont windsor in the

joseph smith senior

father fat he r

left the state of

vermont and moved

to palmyra
he

ontario

vyne county in the state of new york tifiaen 1 was in my hen I tenth year on about four years after my fathers arrival at palmyra
now

moved with

his family into manchester in the

same
my

county of ontario

his family consisting of eleven souls namely

my

father joseph smith

1823

mother lucy smith whose name previous to her marriage was mack U
my

mack macip eack daughter of solomon mackp

who atho brothers alvin gtho died nov 14th

in the
don

25

year of his age

ury ray rry and my

hyrum
ap So sophona saphona sophon

myself samuel harrison william

carlos

sisters phona

cathrine and lucy lcy icy U

sometime

in

ithe the

words

jesus christ of were ii written above the line ritten

my

2itsee note ej page ap addenda 2p 2 E see

father

was

written above the

line

81

the second year gafter our removal to ilanchester er there msinchest gfter yfter
where we
corm nenced commenced fenced

was

in the

bace lace

lived an unusual excitement

on

the subject of religion

it
lia ila

Metho dista with the methodisty but soon became general among call the becane methodista cali cail ali ail all

fun clear wor7 funclear wor2d of country indeed the whole district unclear wore unclear of country seemed affected by it and fun clear funclear worz multitudes

sects in that

united themselves to the different religious parties which created

small

no

stir

and division among the people

some were contending aldee aidee
some

some

crying

10 here lo

and

some 10 lo

there

for the methodist faith

some

zor for lor

the presbyterian and

for the baptist for not withstanding the

and the great deal manifested by the respective
up and promoting

great love which the converts to these different faiths expressed at the
ime bime of time hine

their conversion

clergy

who were

active in getting

y this extraordinary extraordinaa

scene of religious feeling in order

were pleased to

to to

have every body converted as they

what
one

call it let

them

join

sect they please

yet when yetwhen yetchen

the converts began to file off

was s
WC

some

party and

some

to another

it

zun clear worjd that the seemingly good feelings of both the unclear wor7 wort Lun lunclear wore
and

priests

the converts were

more

pretended than real for a scene of

great confusion and bad feeling ensued priest contending against priest
and convert against convert so

another
arld arid and a

if tey

that all their good feelings one for ever had any were entirely lost in a strife of words
r7 my

contest about opinions

1 was I

at this time in w xe proselyter were proselyted in the presbyterian faith

nc nameiy namely

fifteenth year
bynum hynum hyrum

ty fathers family
my

and four of them joined

samu el harrison and sanu samuel
CL

that church

imely

my

mother lucy

my

brothers

my

sauter sophonia sluter

mat 7t great excitement my mind was called up to during this time of unez unea siness llo and great uneasiness but though my feelings were serious reflection

82

deep and often pungent puggent puggent

I still 1

kept myself aloof from

all these parties

though 1 attended I mit

their several meetings as often as occasion would perbut in process of time my mind became somewhat partial to the becane tine til tiivlie ie becar

methodist sect and 1 I

felt

some

desire to

be

united with them but so

1 was and so I
who

great

was

the confusion and strife amongst the different denominations

person
come

that
was

it

lyd was lynpossible eor a impossible iri men and

zumclear wor as ilnclear word nclear

unqcquanited with

things to
my

to any certain conclusion wore wor7 unclear wor2d wi clear worx

right and

vino who

was wrong

mind

at different times

was gre aly iras greatly

tly

excited the cry and tumult were so great and in

the presbyterians were most decided against the baptist and methodists

in their turn

equa 1liy zealous were equally ly

1

eav oring endeavoring in dndeavoring to establish their eavoring savoring

own

tenets and disprove all others

in the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions 1 I
often said to myself
v

hat

is to

be done
C

1 i ho iho t mho nho

of

all

these parties are

right or are they all

which

wrong

nd together and
know

if

any one of them be

right

is it

and how

I shall 1

it
V

vidile i vas vihile 1was laboring under the extreme ifhile I was ivas

the contests of their

day reading the

difficulties caused by zu sp wore wor7 religionist I mclear worjd of religionists 1 was one
ices

epistle of

james

reads
men

if

any of you lack wisdom

first let him

chapter and

fifth verse

which

ask of god

that giveth to all

never did
man

upbraideth liberally and upbraid eth not and

it

shall

hinl him be given hidu hin

any passage of

scrpure scri ure scriure

my

come

with more power to the heart of

that

this did at this time to

into every feeling of
knowing

mine

it

seemed

force to enter with great corce

hearty 1 reflected on hearte I heart

know and

it

again and again

1 I

that if zunclear wor2d amclear wore amilear wor7 Zun clear worx act 1 did not dun I
than
1 had 1 I I

any person needed wisdom from god

did for

unless 1 could get more wisdom I

could never know for the teachers of religion of the

62 83 da

different sects understood the same passage of scripture diff erent e sane passaly sme as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by to the bible kt length 1 came to the conclusion that 1 carre calne I carne I p
0

so
CL

differently brently diff erently

either

an an appeal

must

remain in darkness and confusion or else

sp as james directs that direct

nun fun mclear wortz I funclear worjz 1 must go 40 clear

came

is
I
1

ask of god

1 I

at last

tion to ask of

god

concluding that

if

he gave wisdom

to the de determine determina 4 termina to them that

wisdom wisdon lacked misdom and would give liberally and not up braide 1 might venture woud upbraider I upbraide

so in accordance writh with

this
J

my

god goda I determination to ask of godp 1 retired to

the
the

woods

to

make

the attempt

it

was iras

morning in the monning of

beautiful

clear day early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty

it

was

first
my liv

time in

my

I life that 1

made had ma cile such an attempt nade

i
1
1

for amidst

all

a dempt a eties 1 had never as yet made the a1rempt to pray vocal lyo0 attempt aempt vocally nade anxieties I aties ifo

I after 1
kneeled

had

retired into the place

me

where 1 had ppeviously depreviously I

looked around signed to go having lookedaround

down and began

and

along I finding myself alongo 1

my

to offer
me

up

the desires of

godp I goda heart to god 1

so had scarcely done sop when immediately 1 was siezed upon by some power siezer soj I

which

entirely
my

overcame

and had such astonishing influence over me

as to bind
around
me

tongue so that 1 could not speak I

thick darkness gathered

doomed

and

it

seemed

to

me

for a time as
powers to

I if 1 were
call

to sudden

destruction
me

but exerting

lil lii

&11 my

upon god

to deliver
and at the

out of the power of

moment when 1 was I
to

this

enemy which had

siezed upon siezer

me

very

abondon myself abandon ready to sink into despair and abonclon mys elf to eif

destruct lono destruction not iono

an imaginary ruin but to the power of some actual

who had

being from the unseen world

raar I marvelous such maarvelous power as 1 had never

moment
my

before mit in any being alt ait

wor word
1 saw a I

just at this

of great

dun clear fun funclear unclear

exactly mctly pillar of light ematly

over

head above the brightness

upon me

of the sun which descended gradually

until

it fell

it

no

84 04

61

sooner appeared than 1 found myself delivered from the enemy which held I
boundo me bound

when lihen uhen

the light rested upon

me

me 1

saw two personages peronages peronages

whose

brightness and glory defy

one of them spake unto

all description
calling
of
me
1

standing above

by name
my r

in the air and said pointing to the t

me

other

this is

my

soap son beloved sonp hear him

know which

object in going to inquire

was

of the lord was to

know which

to join

no sooner

all the sects therefore did 1 I

was

right that 1 might I

who

get possession of myself

stood above

so as
me

to

be able

to speak
into

trhan 1 asked I

the personages

in the light which of

had never entered

all
my

the sects

right

for at this time

and which 1 I

it

heart that

all

were wrong

should join
were

1 was answered I

I that 1

must

join none of them for they then than

all

wrong

and the personage who addressed

creeds were an abomination in his sight

all their that their professors were all

me

said that
but

corrupt that they draw near to

me

with

their lips
M

their hearts are

having a

far

from

me

they teach for doctrines the

commandments of men

form of godliness but they deny the power thereof

he again forbade me
me

to join with any of them

1 I

and many more

things did he say unto

C

which
my

cannot write

at this time
happened

cane when 1 carne I came

to myself again 1 found I

siht siar lying silt

had

on my back looking up

into

3 heaven

B 122 12.2 IT note p 13211 122 some few days after 1 I

I this vision 1
who was

to

be im company with one of the methodist

preachers

nun clear world7 act 1ve fun funclear word active unclear
him

religious excitement and conversing with

beforementioned forementioned in the be rib religion on the subject of rik ligion

had I to give him an account of the vision which 1 had hhd 1 took occasion I behaviour 1 was greatly surprised at his behaviourp he treated my communication I devlio devil only lightly but with great contempt saying it was all of the devilo not

that there

was no such
132
13211

days cr thing as visions or revelations in these dayse

311b note P ab 3b

written above the line after heaven

85

josephs explanation of the appearance of

gion and gi on
was

god created excitement in the re-

the cause of great persecution which continued to increase

and though 1 was an obscure boy only bethiyeen fourteen nd e I between betiireen obscu

fifteen years

of age aze

or thereabouts and

my diw div

circumstances in

life

such as to make a nake mke

boy of no consequence

in the world
was common among wias vias
me

yet

men

standing of high stcandin would take stcandin strandin

me

notice sufficient to excite the public persecution and this

persecute
since
me

mind

against

aa createau and createaa hot create

all

seats the sedtso sedts

all united to

if

has often caused

serious relfection both then and

how

very strange

it

teen years of a

e and one

that an obscure boy of a little over fourwom to whom was doomed to the necessity of obyc aning obtc dning won obtaining
vv

was as kas

a scanty maintainance by his maintaindnce maintain ance

daily labor should be thought a character

of sufficient importance to

attract the attention

so
cas

gret of the great ones of eret

the most popular sects of the day

ss to creat in them a spirit 03 the of

strange but str cange or not so
however

the bitterest persecution and reviling

Zun clear word dun cleer zunclear unclear
1 I

it

was
0

gras was and grus often cause of great sorrow to myself

it

was

felt

much

I I fact that 1 had had a vision 1 have thought since that t aggrippa and grippa like paul when he made his defence before Ag
a
ard

heard related the account of the vision he had when he saw a light and hec1rd
a voice
was

but

still

D ut 1 ew there were but a few who believed him I

1 I

some same sone

said he

ws dishonest others said he was

knew he had and

mad

and he was

ridiculed and reviled

he had s e en a seen
T

da but d1 1 dil

this did not destroy the reality of his vision

vision he
make

all
C

the persecution under heaven could not

yet
he had both seen a

it

and otherwise U nd though they should persecute him unto death

he knew and would know

to his latest breath that

light

a speaking and heard a voice spel king unto him and

all the

world could not

PA WW

make him

think or believe otherwise

so

it

was with me U
v

1 had I

actually

seen a light and in the midst of that light 1 sa two personages and sav sar nd I saw

they did in reality speak unto

pel secured persecuted hated and pei secuted for saying

me

or one of them did and though 1 waa waa was wab I oas

me

reviling

me

and speaking

all
my
a

manner

of evil against
why

me

falsely for

so saying

1 was I bras
1 have I

led to sayin

heart vision

persecute

me

for telling the truth

god

actually seen
a

am I and who arn 1

can iti I aq ili that 1 cq n iiiwithstand

1 have I

or ar

why does

the world think to

make deny

hat
what

actually seen for 1 I

had seen

I vision 1

knew

it
do

end I and 1 knew

that

god knew

it

and 1 could not deny I

it

neither dare 1 I

it

at least 1 I

knew chat by so doing 1 would offfend god and come under con voaid offbnd that I woald offend

demnation demnation demnition

1 had now got my mind I

satisfied

so

Sed tarian sedtarian far as the septarian world

was concerned

I tinue as 1 was
james

wes it was not my duty to join with any of them but conI flntill further directed 1 had found the testimony of antill tntill

that

to

truep be kruep true

that a

man who
1 I

god lacked wisdom might ask of godr and obmy common

tain

up braided upbraider and not be upbraided

continued to pursue

avocations

in life

untill the twenty

first

SLep ember sleptember enber of SIC ept tember one thousand eight hundred

and twenty three

11 of rall classes of ail ali
1

all
men

the time suffering severe persecutions at the hand

I both religious and irreligious because 1 continued

v during the space of time which inter-

to affirm that 1 had seen a vision I

and twenty three

vened between the time 1 had the vision and the year eighteen hundred I
01 having been forbidden to join any o the religious of ol coin havins sects of the day and being of very tender years and persecuted by those my who ought to have been my friends and to have treated mp kindly and if friend si
l

they supposed

me

to to

be deluded

to have endeavored in a proper and afclean fun clear funclear unclear unclean left to all society 1 frequently fell into I
1

fectionate

manner

have reclaimed me 1 was I cs

and mingling with 1 ng mingli I

wordis temptations

dingli

87 many

bayed foolish errors and displayed the weakness of youth and the corrup disp layed borrup eions of human nature which 1 am sorry to say led i- into divers tempta ne tions tempha terlipto I ain
CY
L

lions to the gratification of nany appe Utes offensive in teie sight of tele ratification many appetites 123 133 gode god in consequence of these things 1 often felt condemned for my oodo code ood I
jo C

see note

po p

weakness cand imperfections and

where on the evening of the above mentioned

of september after 1 had retired to my bed for the night I lv 1 betook myself to prayer and su ood supplication to almighty god for forgivecod I plication
CD

twenty

first
all

ness of

my

mam estation to efstation sins and follies and also for a nam f es manifestation tation
i

me

thala thal that

1 might show I

of

my

state

hilm hiim hlin hi im and standing before him hin

I for 1

had

full confi-

dence
14 hiie

obtaining in bbtaining
to

a devine manifestation as 1 had previously had onco one oneo once manifesto llon manifestolion tion lion I
1 di sc overed a I discovered 8 scovered

hi

uhlie 1 hile I

is

oroa as thus in act of calling u uon gocil ron docil

liht
zi

appearing the room which continued to increase inc recase

roon r0 ozuntill the room u

s
my

at lighter than cat

when imniediauely noonday i rhen imm then

ediauely

personage appeared at not touch the floor

bedside standing in the

air for his feet did

do 1 I

he

n a white nesso had an ca loose robe of most exquisite whitenesso

beyond any

it

IL was a whiteness

earthly 1 had ever seen nor I

made
E

believe thob cany earthly thol any thal that

V
1 I

thing could be

exceedingly hite aeed to appear so e ceed jlng17 i white and br illic nt his brilliant brillia brillic
a
C

arms arns nahed lands werg n ked and his ams also ands were naked nd
viere
fidis CIDLs

lit
e a

wrisu cle above the weisu wris lie lle aris littile
L

so also aiso iso

us were his feet naked as were lu s legs ies les

were vere i head and neck lere also bare ere

little

anies bove the an les ankles ies

his

ityl s

1 could I

discover that he had no other

1d nto thet I could that 1 cou ad see into his

clothing

on

but

this

robe as

it

ws
uras

open so

kras was not only wras his robe exceedingly white but his whole person was bosorio rosorio bosom boson

lightningo lightningo lightning iono lone descriptiono descriptions descript ione glorious beyond description and his countenance truly like lightnings trull the
vra was room ara s exceedingly

light but not

so very

bright as immediately

when I khen around his person 0 nhen 1

f arst first looked irst

me by name

upon hm 1 was I lupon

afraid but the that

he was

fear soon left

4

me meo neo

he

called

and said unto me

god oodo of godo ood

see note
11

po 123

133 fl 13311

sight written above the words 11sight is

88

a messenger sent from the i resence of god at 1t presence re sence cresence 110 roni moronic 110roni noni 5 liephikX nephi that god had a work for me to do
140

fro
evil

to

me izie lile

and

that his
my name
0

name sas was

ancl and

that

should be or that
he

had

for

good cand and end

among

all
evil

kindreds kndrcds nations kndreds and tongues anong spoken of among amlong amione

it

should be both good and

was a book

all

people 0

said

there

deposited written lipon gold plates giving an account kold told

C

fonner inhabitants of the former inhabit nt s of this continent and the source from whence forner

they sprang
aas jas irais ias

he

also

sc s

falness id that the fulness of the everlasting gospel

two s ti o
0

contained in

it

as delivered by the saviour to the ancient inhabit inhabi

vijc

tantao tant5o also that there tants

0

1ver stones in S-I aver iver sliver silver

J

bows cand and

these stones
urim and arim

a fastened to a breast plate constituted what

called the billed is cc illed

Thurmaim thurmaim thuiiimim thul

deposited wiah the plates and the possession and use of these with vath
booko translating the booke after book

stones was what constituted seers in ancient or former times and that
god had prepared them for the purpose of

telling me these things he commenced quoting the prophecies of the old testament he first c uoted part 0 f the third chapter of ilachi ana he nent quoted licila c rii end of thi rd doted ril test ment alachi and iii quoted also the forth or last chapter 0 the same prophecy though with of
T 7
1
.1 1

little

variation

from

the

vray way

it

diblesv biblese instead reads in our bibless instc d of

quoting the

first verse as reads in our books he quoted it thus for and behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven j cand all the proud yea shali shail dy dy cail cali and call th t do wickedly shall burn as stubble for the day that cometh ail all
C

shall

burn them then than

riat that saith the lord of hosts tiviat

11
LD

it

lne ine leave then ixe shall le axe them

brancho branche neither root nor branch

and aoain he quoted the acain aain

behold 1 I

will reveal unto

you the priesthood by

fifty verse thus the hand of elijah

prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the the
hephi written above the name hemphi with an asterisk is writl6n It evidently pale next to it referring to a note at the bottom of the pae itevidently log 106 doc dov see 0 par a clerical error see doco & covo sec 50 paro 2 sec 1060 par 50 n page 43 439 should be moroni oj7o idso elders journal volo 9207 liso 0370 also f207 aiso voi vol
moroni
ca

89

londo lordo lond lord

also quoted the next verse dira erently and he shall ant in nekl nerl dlent alent int diff brently dirl diri erent ly dlf dir dif lnt the hearts of the children the promise rilade to the fathers and the made nade
he
i

sp hearts of the children shall turn to their fathersp if it iwere not so ere fathers rathers rather father the whole earth would be utterly waisted at his comingo in addition to welsted walsted t coming

these he quoted the eleventh chapter of isaiah saying that it ITJ-S a IBS about las bout to be fulfilled he quoted elso the third chapter of ets swanty second twanty ols 0 eiso also els twaaty
1

1
1.

thwenty end t1hwenty

he said

third verses precisely as they stand in

was

our new testament e

that that prophet

christ but the

he

day had not yet come when

among

they

who would

not hear his voice should be cut off from

the

peopico people

also quoted the second chafer of joel from the twenty eighth to the last verse e he also said that this was
coneo soon cone but woon would come boon

als not yet fulfilled but was soon to be i ais zis

and he further stated the

he quoted many

full-

rrs was ness of the gentiles rms soon to

come in kno ino

other passages

of scripture and offered

ago in he again

many

explanations which cannot be mentioned here

told

me

that

when 1 got I

the plates of which he had spoken for

eui yet eul filled 1 should not dul flulfilled dulfilled I fulfilled

the tjjne that they should

show them

be obtained was not

m arim thumm tith i rith to any persons neither bhe breastplate wd th the urim and thummim the

only to those to

whom 1

I should

be commanded

to

show theiiie theia thela

me
1

if

llo I lio 1

did 1 I

i should be destroyed 1 hiie he w- s conversing with dest rovedo labile hile was

ith
4

about the plates the

vision

was opened

to

my wy r lind

plates

were deposited and

1dlace I that 1 could see the place where the I that so clearly and distinctly that 1 knew

commma catlon I un1 commmi uni a aln place aaen when 1 visited ito arter this conni una cation 1 saw the I after ain the it aain bus das ii mediately light dus the room begin to gather immediately around the person of him
who had been

speaking to

me

and

it

1 continued to do so until the room unti

was i jas

again
a

left

hitaj when I hi dark except just round hiiaj ithen instantly 1 saw as

it

were

up conduit open right ur into heaven and he ascended up was and the room hnas

till he
this

entirely disappeared

left as it

had been before

90

heavenly light had made

1 I

its

appe anceo appearancee appear appearances ancee rince

CL

lay musing

on

and the singularity of the scene cand marveling

greatly at

what had been

my

told

me

by

this extraordinary
in an instant as

messenger when hen

my

in the midst of

meditation 1 suddenly discovered that I

room was

aga ln beginning to get lighted and again

was heavenly messenger gas again by vas
my

it

were

the

same

bedsideo bedside

1 I

rie lle lie he commenced and

again

things which he had done at his first visit without the least variation which having done he informed me of great judge

stated the very

same

ments which were coming upon the earth which great desolations by yamine famine
sword

and

judge ments pestilence and that these grievous judgements

would come on

gener generationo generations generation the earth in this genenationo having related these things he again bener ascended as he had done beforeo before
by

to this time feo

beo

ampf essions deep were the impf sessions made on impressions impfessions

my

mind

that

sleep had fled from my eyes and 1 lay overwhelmed in astonishment at I nt

what 1 had both seen and heard but what was mlat malt I
my

surprise

when

again 1 I

beheld the same messenger at

my

bedside and hear him rehearse or

repeat over again to

me

the

same

things as before and added

a caution

to

me

te na telling

me

that satan
my

would

try to tempt
forbid
4

me

in 0

consequence of the

indigent circumstances of
purpose of getting richy rich
no

ls fathers father
he

aly ely family to get the lly raml rami

me

piates plates for the

this

saying that 1 must have I

other object in view in getting the plates but to glorify god and

must not be influenced by any other motive but bit

kingdom

that of building his

he

otherwise 1 could got get them I

again ascended up into heaven

chrid after this thrid visit as before and 1 was arain left to I

mess strange ness I ponder on the strangeness of what 1 had just experienced when almost

immediately

after the

hecavenly messenger had ascended from me heavenly

the

third time the

cock crowed

and 1 found I

that day

was approaching so

91

that our interviews

must have occupied

my

the whole of that night

1 I

shortly after arose from

found
my

bed

and as usual went to the necessary

labors of the day but in attempting to labor as at other times 1 timesp I

strength so exhausted as rendered labbiring along with labbiring

me me

me

entirely unable

my

father
with
me

who was

discovered something to be wrong

and

told
my nw

to

go home

1 I

started with the intention of going

CDDSS

to the house but in attempt i to attempting

where we were

the fence out of the field

me

strength entirely failed

was a

and 1 I

ground and for a time was quite unconscious of any

fell helpless on the thing the first

me

thing that 1 can recollect I

name 1 I

voice speaking unto

calling

me

by
my

looked up and beheld the same messenger standl nging over atandinging standinging standi
he

head

surrounded by light as before

he had

then again related unto

commanded me

me

all that
go

related to

me

the previous night and the vision and

to

to

my

father and
1 obeyed I

tell
to

him of

commandments which 1 had I

received

1 returned back I
him

to

my

father in the field and rehearsed the

me

whole matter

he

replied to

that
1 I

it

god was of godp and goda

to

go

mess engere and do as commanded by the messenger

left the field

and want

to the

place where the messenger had told

owing
knew

me

edo deposit the plates were deposited and

to the distinctness of the vision

ftp I which 1 had had concerning itp 1 I it

under a stone of con-

the place the instant that 1 arrived there I

ms boap box size erable sleep lay the plates deposited in a stone boxp this stone was siderable sleer sid

thick and rounding in the middle of the upper side and thinner towards aove the edges so that the middle part of it was visible above the ground
bhe the but ghe edge

all

earth round was covered with eartho having removed the earth
and

I and obtained a lever which 1 got fixed under the edge of the stone
with a

little

exertion raised

it

up

1 I

I tnd looked in and there indeed did 1

and the breast

arim piates behold the plates the urim and

mim Thummin thumnrun thummim

plate as statedd

92

by the messenger

the box in which they lay

was formed by

laying stones

together in

some

kind of cement the bottom of the box were laid two

1 made an I

stones cross ways of the boxp and on these stones lay the plates and boap box

other things the otherthings with them

attempt to take them out but was

forbidden by the messenger and was agin informed that the time for bring-

ing them forth had not yet arrived neither would

time tilep that timep but tine
one year from

untill four years

me

from

he

told

me

that 1 should I

come

to that place precisely in

meet with
come

that time

and

that

he would

ther

and

I that 1

should continue

to

do so

untill the

time should

ror obt ning the obtaining for abt

plates

accordingly as
j

1 had been commanded 1 went comanded I comanded I

same messenger

at the

end of each

year and at each time 1 found the I

there and received in his

kingdom

st struction striction ruction

what
who

and

intelligence

from him

at

each of our interviews respecting

wab lord was the borduas going to do and lorduas

how and

in

what manner

to

be conducted

in the last days

we were

As my

fatherty worldly circumfatherts father fatherts

we

stances were very limited

under the necessity of laboring with could get oppo-

our hands hiring by days works and otherwise as

rtunity sometimes

we

were

at

home and some

continued time abroad and by cont3mued

labor were enabled to get a comfortable maintenance

teen hundred and twenty four worx wora wor d wor7

ction af action affliction
month of october

my

ay 1y family met fathers

eighin the year fugh jfimclear fmclear with a

by the death of my

eldest brother alvin

1 I
who

in the

eighteen hundred and twenty five

name

hired with an old

mine having been

gentleman gentiemalp gentlemanp by the

etoal of josiah stoal

chenango lived in Chenango county

state

of new york

he had heardd something of a hearda

silver

harmony spaniards in HarMonys susquehanah county state of pennsylthe j prev ous 0 had previous to my hiring with him been digging in order vania and took vook took I possibleto to discover the mine after 1 went to live with him he pook jlf possible alf f

opened by ly

me

among th rest amongthprest of his hands to dig for the silver

mine

at

which 1 I

93

continuedto continued

to

work

for nearly a

month without success

in our undertaking

and

finally 1 prevailed with the gold gentleman to cease digging after I

hence arose the very prevalent story of
my

it

having been a money

digger during the time that 1 was thus employed 1 was put to board with I I
a mr isaac hale of e haie

that place
hale

it

was

there that 1 I

first

saw my wifep wife wifel

his daughter
service of
mr

roma boma

on the eighteenth of january eighteen jannary

hundred and twenty seven we were garfied while yet 1 was employed marfied martied I
sooalo stoalo stoal

in the

owing

to

had seen a vision persecution

alwert asert abert I still continuing to aswert that 1 rathers fathers rather still followed me and my wifes father
my

nas family was very familywas

much opposed

to our being married 1 I

we went

was

therefore under

the necessity of taking her elsewhere so

york
immediately edla edia tely mediately ediately

and were married

at
new

ep Bainbridg chenango the house of squire tarbill in south bainbridge Chenango county

after

my

marriage 1 I

fathers

and fanned with him famed

stoulp stoalp and went to my etoal stoal left tene tiue tine that season at length the time arrived
mr
T thummim

oata urim arim obtaining the epl4tes the urjlai and plates th piates for obta

ftxd ind

the breastplate on

the twenty second day of september one thousand eight hundred and
twenty seven having went as usual at the end of another year to the

place where they were deposited the

them up to
me

same heavenly messenger haavenly

delivered

thene them then with t hi 9 charge that 1 should be responsible for theme I this

that
them

I if 1

should

let

them go

throughany f carelessly or through any neglect gif mine

cut orf 1 should be cub offp but off offa I

that

if lri iri

1 would use I

all

say my nav niv

endeavors

to preserve

shouldbe thea themo call for them they should be until wby why I prot ected 1 soon found out the reason aby 1 had received such strict protected I acted messang messeng er charges to keep them safe and why it was that the messenger had said required when 1 had done what was require d at my hand he would call for I that
he the messenger

should

them

for

no sooner was

it

known

I that 1

had them than the most

94

strenuous strenous exertions were used st renous

to get

them from me

every stratagem that

could be invented
became more

was

resorted to for that purpose

them from me

the persecution
wisdom of

bitter

and severee than before

and multitudes were on the

continually continua ly alert continualy to get

god they remained safe

if

possible but by the

in

ray my iny lay

hands

I untill 1

had accomplished by them

tot tbt what was required bot my hand when according ht hands

to arrangement the

messen-

themp I them ger called for shemp 1 delivered them up to him and he has them in his

until this hundred and thirty eight

charge

day being the second day of may

one thousand eight

95

APPENDS APPMIX

pearl of great price account

visitation of moroni was published in the first edition of the pearl of great price in 1851 thee
and the

the story of the

first vision

story

was not voted on by 1880

the church as part of the standard works until

taimage talmage ta ae of the council of twelve was 9e assigned to make a revision of the paarl of great price including the caarl story of the first vision and moronis visit in the october conference of that year it was again voted on by the church and accepted as scrip turea tures scripture A fourth major edition of the pearl of great price was made in 1921 this
octobers october

in

1902 james E

was

revised by the

first

e marUy nake presidency primarny to make primarily

it a

reference work

eachedition in each edition minor errors of punctuation

been corrected and the following copy
copy using

grammar and mechanics have

is

made from

the 1963 published 193

1921

the format and general editorial changes of the

these editions and
more

revision
con-

more information concerning each of

details

behowl belowl cbagges chagges cerna cerning cerrang the chagdes made can be found in the source belowil

ijames mark ljames clarks the story of the pearl of great price james dark 186 221 186221 2219 1955p bookcraft citty utah Bookeraft inc 1955 PP 1862219 ciby city
1

salt lake

96
1

owing

to the

many

reports which have been put in circula-

tion

by

evildisposed evil disposed

and designing persons

in relation to the rise

christ of latterday saintsp all of latter day saints which have been designed by the authors thereof to militate against its character as a church and its progress inthe world 1 have been induced proftess prob oess prof in the I debs tess to write this history to disabuse the public mind and put all inquirers
rac tsas dp fac after truth in possession of the factsjppas they have transpired in transpire factsas relation both to myself and the church so far as 1 have such badts in fadts I
my

and progress of the church of jesus

possession
2

in this history 1 shall present the various events in relaI

and righteousness as they have transpired

church tion to this churchs in truth

or as they at present existp being now the eighth year since the organowthe exist lowthe exists
nization of the said churchy church
3

1 was born I mas

filep dred and fivep on five rive

windsor county

lord in the year of our i8rd on thousand eight huntwentythird the twenty third day of december in the town of sharon
my ny

state of vemont
vennont Venn ont of vemontp
and moved

sen senoa father rather joseph smith senop

P

left the state county in theadate of the state theatate tate thea
abouts s about moved

painayra palmyrap rap to palnayra ontario Palmy Palnavra raj davra

now wayne
.9

new york when 1 was in my tenth year 9 or there mw nev ny I

my

in about four years after

parmyras he palmyra fathers arrival in Pal

my

with his family into manchester in the same county of ontario

eon souls son consisting eonsisting sonsisting 4 his family gonsisting of eleven soulss nameiy souls namely

rather father
mar
who

joseph smith

.9 9

my

motherlucy smith mother lucy nother

name whose namep previous nameb

my

to her
hyrum

raige

was mack

daughter of solomon mack

.9

sp brothers brother alvin

died november 19th 9 1824

in the 27th year of his age 2th ath

my

myself

samuel harrlson william sanuel smuel harrison williamp don carlos and

Sophron id sisters sophronia cath-

erine and lucy

5

some time eme tine

in

manchester year after yea rafter second yearafter our removal to Manches terp the

97

there
among

was

in the place where

we

lived an unusual excitement

on

the subject

of religion

it

commenced

with the methodists but soon became general

all the sects in that

region of coultry coufabry coufabry coubtry coub try

indeed the whole

district of

country seemed affected by lit and great multitudes united

themselves to the different religious parties which created no ama sma aoa amail amali small
and division amongst the people
some

stir

loj here lop crying 10 heref1h and others 10 lop lo lo los

theret P some were contending for the methodist raith some for the there ralth faith faiths

presbyterian and
6

some

for the baptist

for notwithstanding the great love which the converts to these differ ant faiths expressed at the time of their conversion and the differbnt differant different
great zeal manifested by the respective clergy
who were

active in get-

ting

up and promoting

this extraordinary

scene of religious feeling ofreligious

in order to have everybody converted as they were pleased to call it convertsbegan let them join what sect they pleased j yet when the converts began to

file off

some

to

one

party and

some

to another

pl&bstg seemingly good feelings of bothsthe priebsts and priebs ts

that the gan re the converts gaa tore

was seen

it

ror a pretended than real foia scene of great confusion and bad feeling en for fora roia
priests suedspriest contending against priest and convert against convert sued spriest priest
so
good feelings their goodfeelings one for another if they ever had any were that all opinions bons hons entirely lost in a strife of words and a contest about op mons isy fathers rat hents fat herts 1 was at this time in my fifteenth year my rathers family 7 I hp P esbyterian falth esbyterian fait was proselyter to the presbyterian faith and four of them joined that proselyted terlan falt
1

church namely
and
my

my mothers mother

lucy

my

hyrum bwfahers kynan and samuel harrison bvhhers hynan

sister sophronia during this tiue of great tine

excitement

my mind was
my

called up to
these

serious relfection

and great andgreat uneasiness P but though

feelings were

dep and often poignant

still

1 I

kept myself aloof from

ali ail all

98
esp panties parties though 1 attended their several meetings as often as occasion panti I partl parti

would permit

in process of time

my

mind bedame somewhat

partial to

sect the methodist sectp and 1 felt some desire to be united with them but sects I so great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations

that
with

it

was impossible

for a person
come

young

as

1 was I

and so unacquainted
who was

men and

things to

to any certain conclusionwho conclusion

right and
wer

who was wrongs wronge wrong

ao 90 9o vy mind 9 my

at times

was

dp greatly excited the cry and tumult excitedp bryand cryand excite

so great and incessant

the presbyterians were most decided against the

baptiste baptists and Methodi step and used methodists stev

they were in error theywere
on bhe the

all the

powers of both reason and

make e

or sophistry to prove their errors orp at leastp to least leasta

the people think

own

baptiste other hand the baptists and methodists in

endeavoring in endeavoringto to establish their

their turn
10

were equally zealous

tenets and disprove all others ali ail

in the midst of this
war of words and tumult of opinions
0

1 I

wiat ofttefa oftteh said to myself what

to is ao

be done who of donet

all

these parties are

or right orp are they all wrong together which is ftp and how shall 1 know it itp I it
11

if

any one of them be

right

while 1 was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused wllie I uhlie

by ly the

religionlets contests of these parties of religionists

1 was one day rea 4 reading I

jamesp james janes epistle of jamesj the

arst
let
and

rtedss and fifth verse earst chapter andfifth versep which r eadst firth versea

if

any

of

you lack wisdom wisdon

him ask of god

that giveth to all

come

men

liberally liberal lyp

upbraid eth and upbraideth not

12 129

it

shali shail shall

be given him 0 hin

oei od never did any passage ofe scripture

with more power

to the heart of enter with great force into every feeling of

man

than this did at this time to mine

my

it
1 I

seemed

to
on

heart

reflected

it

again and again knowing

that

if

gods any person needed wisdom from god

99

1 did I

for

how

to act 1 did not I

know and
know

unless 1 could get more I

wisdom

than 1 then had 1 would never I I

for the teachers of religion of the

different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the
bible
13

at length 1 I

came

to the conclusion that 1 I

must

either re-

main in darkness and confusion

or else 1 must do as james directs that I

is

ask of god

god 1 at length came to the determination to ask of god11 I

concluding that

if

he gave wisdom

to them that lacked t6them then

wisdom and would

give liberally and not upbraid 1 might venture I ght aht

in accordance with this my determination to ask of god 1 retired to the woodston make the attempt woods to e t he woodsto onthe anthe I it was on the morning of a tenety spting beautiful clear day early in the epting of eighteen hundred and twnety SP ing
14

so

it

was

the

first
my

time in

my

I life that 1

had made such an attempt

made

for

amidst
15

ail all

anxieties
had

1 had never I

as yet

vocally caily the attempt to pray vo cally

I after 1

retired to the place

to offer
up

where 1 had previously I

designed to go 0 having looked around me and finding myself alone 1 mej 0 90 nej I
.0

kneeled

down

and began

the desire of

my

heart to god

1 had I

scarcely sear scar cely done so

ent riely overcame entriely
bind
my

ijnmediately I when immediately 1 was

me

khy by seized upin toy

some seme power which bome beme

and had such an astonishing influence over me as

to

I that 1 could not speak thick darkness gathered around tune doomedto destruction me and it seemed to me for a time as if 1 were doomed to sudden destructions I tine 16 but exerting all my powers to call upon god to deliver me out of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me and at the very moment when 1 was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to I binary not to an imaginary ruin but to the power of some actual i m ginary destruction
tongue so
un seen being from the unseen world
who had such

marvelous power as 1 had never I

100

before

felt in

any being

just at this
over
my

moment

of great alarm 1 I

saw a

pillar of light exactly

17

head above the brightness of the sunp sun sulp

which descended gradually

until

it fell
when

upon me

it

no sooner appeared than 1 found myself I

delivered from
me 1 saw

the

enemy which

held

me bound

the light rested upon

two

sp personages personage whose brightness and glory defy

all description

standing
name and

above me

in the air one of them spake unto me calling me by saidp pointing to the other this is my beloved son hear himl hinl him sald said saida hin S 18 my object in going to inquire ofthe lord was to know knem knew of the odthe
1

which

of the sects was right that 1 might I

1 asked I

know which

to join

no sooner

ep therefore did 1 get possession of myself so as to be able to speak than I therefor

the personages

who

stood aove above

me

in the light which of

shemp themp them

all the

sects

was
19

right

and which 1 should I

join join none of

me

1 was answered I

that 1 I

must

for they were

all

wrongs wrong and wrongj

the personage

who

addressed

said that

all their
were

creeds

were an abomination

in his sight that those professors

all sii sil corrupt

thatt they that

draw near

to

me

with

their lips but their hearts are far

commandments of men having a form c mens foru forn

me from nep they teach nej

for doctrines the

me

egl 811 wll oll godliness but they deny the power thereof 011 of

20

he

again forbade
me

to join with any of

many them and mamy other

things did he say unto

came

which 1 cannot write I

tiwe at this time

when 1 I

to myself again 1 found myself lying on my back looking up into I edp edv depart I heaven when the light had departed 1 had no strength but soon recoverdes gree I I ing in some desgree 1 went home and as 1 leaned up to the fireplace desaree
mother inquired what the matter was
1 I
dp replied never repile replie my

mind
tt

all is

well 1 I

am

orf off well enough off4ts 1 then said to I

mother nothen nother

seems

ni have learned
as though the

for myself that presbyterianism

is

not taue tune tane tvue9

it

101

mes ep adversary was aware at a very early period of ves vas awan

my

e I ilfe life that 1

was
why

destined to prove a disturber and an annoyer of his kingdom else

should the powers of darkness combine against
and persecution
21 2

me

why
my

the opposition

that arose against

me

a almost in

infancy

some few days

I after 1

had

I this vision 1

happened

to

be

in

company with one

of the methodist preachers

1 I

who was

very active in the

before mentioned religious excitement and conversing with him on the

subject of religion

took occasion to give him an account of the hin

1 was I

greatly surprised at his behavior he ny treated my communication not only lightly but with great contempt saying

vision which 1 had had I

it

was

all

devil of the devilp that there were devila

no such

things as visions or

rete lations in these days that all such things had ceased with the revelations retelations apost lesp and that there would never be any more of them apostles howeverp 22 1 soon found however that my telling the story had excited houeverj I
a great deal of prejudice against
me among

professors of religion and

was

the cause of great persecution which continued to increase and though

fifteen years of age and my circumstances in life such as to make a boy of no consequence in the worldy yet men of high standing would take notice sufficient to excite worldp world
the public mind against
was common among
23
how
me mej

1 was an obscure boy only between fourteen and I

and creat a

bitter persecution

and

this

it

11 all the sects all united to persecute me ail ali since then cause me serious reflection thenj and often has sincep sincee thena

very strange

it

was

that an obscure

boy

of a

little

over fourteen

mas vas onep too one years of age and gnep toop who was doomed

obtaa mng to the necessity of obtaining

a scanty maintenance by his daily labor

should be thought a character of

ones of the
them a

ortance sufficient importance to

attract the attention of the great

in
a manner to creat

most popular sects of the day and

in

spirit

102

of the most
was

bitter persecution
was

and

reviling

but strange or not j so

it

and
24

it

often the cause of the great sorrow to myself

Howeverp however verj

it

was

nevertheless a fact that

1 had beheld a I
when he made

vision

1 have thought since I

that 1 felt I

much

like paul

his defense before king agrippa and related the account of the vision
had when he saw a
who

he

light
some

and heardd avoice hearda aloice

but

still

there were but few

mad

him believed hun hin

said he

was

dishonest others said he was

but

and he was

ridiculed and reviled

all this

did not destroy the reality

of his vision

he had seen a visiinp ihn visiibn visiibn

he knew he hadj and had

all the

perse

e aake cution under heaven could not make

hp persecute him unto death yet he deat

it

otherwise and though they should

and would know

knew

to his latest

breath that he had both seen a light and heard a voice speaking unto
him and
25

all
so

the world could not

make him

or think ar believe otherwise

it

was with me

1 hadactually been a I had actually

light

and

in the
speak

midst of that light 1 saw two personages and they did in I

reality
me j

to
me mea

me

say3lngthat I and though 1 was hated and persecuted for saying that 1 had seen I

a vision yet visioni

it

was

persevting true and while they were persertrfcing

manner of
my

reviling

speaking and splvqzp

evil against
why W
who am 1

me
me

falsely for
1 can I

so saying

1 was led I

to say in

hearts

persecute

elling for t telling the truth

withstand god

1 have actually seen a vision and I

I that

or

why

does the world think

to

make me deny vaab 1 have talb I

actually seen

for

1 had seen a I

vision
.0 0

1 knew I

it iti

and 1 knew I
do

that

god knew
knew

it

and 1 I
by so

could not deny

it

I neither dared 1

it

at least 1 I

that

alfend god doing 1 would wrend gods and come under condemnation I

satisfied so far as the sectarian world themp them cone arned that was conc erned thab it was not my duty to join with any of shemp but concerned concernedthat teatimony edw 1 had found the testimony teb edo I was until further directed to continue as 1 direct I
26

1 had now got my mind I

I
1

1 I

1q3 ca c3

of james to be true that a

up braided obtain and not be upbraided upbraider
270 27 1

man who

lacked wisdom might ask of god and godp goda

continued to pursue
jq

my common

vocations in

life until

twentyfirst the twenty first of september one thousand eight hundred and twenty
thraep threep three

all the

time suffering severe persecution at the hands of

all

menp nen classes of men both religious and irreligious because 1 icontinued to mena I continued affirm that 1 had seen a vision I

28 during the space of time which intervened between the time tiue 1 had 1had the vision I
and the year eighteenhundred and twenty three eighteen hundred twentythree

having been forbidden to join any of the reli havingbeen religious sects of the day and reil rell
by being of very tender years and persecuted ty those yearb vert velt
my ny

who

ought

to
me

have been

ri ends and to have treated

3

me

kindly and

if

they supposed theysupposed

deluded to have endeavored

na in a proper and affectionate

all
reil reli fell f I into
ea 1 e3

manner

to be to have

reclaimed

me 1 mel I mei was left

to

kinds of temptations and mingling with

many

all

kinds of society 1 frequently I

foolish errors and

human

displayed the weakness of youth and the foibles of

1 am sorry I borry

nature which ure whichp whicha

eight sight into divers temptations offensive in the bight god rn making this confessions no one need suppose me guilty of any confession in of gnant great or malignant sins A disposition to commit such was never in my levityp nature but 1 was guilty of levity and sometimes associated with jovial I

to say led bay

me

company etcop not cansis t ent with etc consis consistent etcor
L

mainbe m bem character which ought to bew ain that

aa I was wash tained by one who mas called of god as 1 had been
seem

very strange to any one

my

who

this will not my youth ths recollects ay youohs and is acquainted

but

witli witi ritli biti

native cheery temperament

29
my

in

consequence of these things 1 often e I donsequenc

when on whens
6

felt

condemned

for

above mentioned the evening of the abovementioned eveni ng weakness and imperfections nigh ts twenty first of september after 1 had retired to my bed for the night I twentyfirst

104

1 betook myself to prayer and supplication I

god for godlor ood to almighty godlar forgiveme

ness of

all

my

sins and fo esp and also for a manifestation to follies

my

that 1 I

might know of

state

and standing before him for 1 had I

full

confidence in obtaining a divine manifestation as 1 previously had one I

godp I goda in the act of calling upon god 1 discovered a light appearing in my roo which continued to increase until roa roc vmm edla amm edia tely noonday er the room was lighter than at noondayp when immediately a personage apmediately ediately

30 while 1 was thus I

peared

at

vay bedside mwbedsidej luy luv

standing in the airp for his feet did not st air aira

touch

the floor
31

he had on a loose robe

was whiteness itwas of most exquisite whit enesse etwas it

a whiteness beyond anything earthly 1 had ever seen nor do 1 believe I I seeni

that any earthly thing bril brit ilumto his brilliant 60 the wrist so also
and above the ankles

c ould be made e

appear to pppear

axce so exce exceedingly white ly

hands were naked and his a nakeda alms aims also a ains
were
edp his feet naked as were his legs

ms

little above a little

so

Us

head and neck were also bare

1 could discover I

that

he no other clothing on but

robe this robev as

it

was upenp qpen epen

that

1 could see I

into his

bosom

32

not only was his robe exceedingly white but his whole
room was exceedingly

person was gloriously beyond description and his countenance truly like
ingo lightning the lightninge

light but

no so very

bright as

person immediately around his persone ediate3y bul but bla bia afraid btw the fear
33 he

when 1 wien I
me

first

looked upon him 1 was I

soon

left

called

name me by namep nameb

and said unto

me

that he

was a mes-

mej senger sent from the presence of god to me and that his name was moronic fron

thatgod that god

good and

had a work for me

to

do

and

that

my name

should be had for

evil

among

all

kindreds and tongues or that ndredso nations kin

it

should

gadd gaad be both gnad and

evil

spoken of among

ali leopla ail peohho all peopla

105

31 34

he

said

there

was a book

deposited written upon gold

plates giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent and the source from whence they sprang he also said that the fulness sprar falness sarar wer werlasting of the wenlasting gospel was contained in its as delivered by the savior rerhastin it to the ancient inhabitants
so two bows and aiso also that there were t wo stones in silver bowsand these stones fastened to a breastplate constituted what is called the urim arim
5 35
thummim depo lad with the ar deposited and th iad

plates and the possession

and use of

these stones were what constituted seerein ancient or former times seers in bee seerkin seerein
and

that
36

god lead pre red them leed hed had prepared

translating for the purpose of trans hating the

commenced

book

after telling

me

these things he

quoting the

prophecies of the 0 testaments he oid old testament

first

quoted part of the thard third

chapter of malachi and he quoted also the fourth Q last chapter of the or
wame prophecy same

although with a

little litte

variation varla variatito

rom froma

wey uey y the way

it

reads in

our bibles
he quoted
37

instead of quoting the f

first

verse as

it

books reads in our books

it

thus 8
day cometh

behold for beholds the

that shall burn as an

oven and aven

all

prouxy prowr7 the proucy yea and all that

do wickedly

shall burn as stubble for they

that cde shall burn

them
3& 3

theme themi thene them

balth baith the lord of hosts that saith mith with ird

it

shall leave

branche branch neither root nor branchy

and again he quoted the

reveal unto you

he

behold I will wll rieth verse thust beholds 1 wil fifth finh fish prophets eiljah elijah the priesthood by the hand of f3 jah the prophet fa

be-

coming fore the co g of the great and dreadful day of the lord
d also quoted the next verse differently and he shall ses promises irade proi beb trade plant in the hearts of the children the prot seb made to the fathers rathers t rather lather and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers s if it were

39

soy not so the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming soj

cue cle

106

40

in addition to thesep he quoted the eleventh chapter of these thesel

isaiah saying that it was about to be fulfilled he quoted also the chrid twentysecond ttrenty third tinrenty thrid chapter of acts twenty second and strenty thind verses precisely as they stand in our new testament he said that that prophet was as abs
christy christ but the
41

day had not yet come when they who would not hear his
among

voice should be cut off from

he

peopled peoplen the peop lep but soon would pieu pleu plen iea lea

come

seaidnd seoond also quoted the second chapter of joel from the twenty firs twentyfirs eighth verse to the last he also said that this was not yet fu fulfilled ifilled

but was soon

to

be

and he further stated

falness that the fulness of the

other passages of scrip-

gentiles

was soon

to

come

in

many he quoted m any

turep tarep and offered ture

42 9

many

explanations which cannot be mentioned here

me

again he told

that

when 1 I

got those plates of which

was not

he had spoken

for the time that they should be obtained timethat

not nob should nou show them
Thum mim thilmmim thummim ulm

yet

fulfilled 1 I
manded

to

any person neither the brea st breastwhom

arim plate with the urim and

only to those to

1 should be comI
was con-

to

show them
me

if

1 I

eds did 1 should be destroyed while he destroy uhlie I

versing with
1 could see I

places piates about the plates the vision was opened

to

my mind

that

arld and sd theplace where the plates were deposited arid that so the place clearly and distinctly that 1 knew the place again when 1 visited it visit edite I visitedito edito I c catlon cation I 43 after this communication 1 saw the light in the room begin

hin immediate to gather immediately around the person of him

me

ga sp who had been speaking

to

dark darka until the room was again left darkp except it cond&tfc open right enp ondlit hin when just around him wh eap instantly 1 saw as it were a c I entirety up into heaven and he ascended till he entirely disappeared and the before thib heavenly roma this roammas roan was left as it had been beforethisheavenly light had made its
and andit continued anait

to

do so

appearance
44 1 I

lay

musing on

he the

scenep scenes singularity of the scene

and marveling

107

told to me by this extraordinary messenger when in the midst of my meditation 1 suddenly discovered that my room was I again beg beginning to get lighted and in an instant as it werep the same were cerep
what had been

greatly at

heavenly messenger was again by

450 45 he commenced

my

bedside
same saine salae

and again

related the very

things which
which having

he had done

at his first visit without the least variation

judements which were judements of great judgments w

donep he informed me done dinep

coming upon

the earth

deboi debolatlo with great desolations by faminep sword and pestilence and that these desolations desolation famines desolatio famine

grievous judgements would judgements

come abn bn

the earth in this generation having

had done before

related these things he again ascended as he

46

by

this

time so deep were the impressions made on ny mind

and 1 I

noy toy nov that sleep had fled from my eyes at what 1 had both seen and hearde heard I

lay overwhelmed in astonishment

my

but what was

uhen surrpyise whenagain surrpzise when again

1 beheld the same messenger I

at

my b bedside adside edside

and heard him rehearse or

repeat over again to againto

me

the

same

things as before and added a caution

in consequence of the indigent circumstances of my rathers family to get the tatters f fathers me purpose of getting rich this he forbade mej saying that plates for the 1 must have no other object in view in getting the plates but to glorify I
to
me

telling

me

that satan

would

try to

tempt

me

god and must not be influenced by any other motive than

that of building

his hi s

kingdom
47p 47

thene them then otherwise 1 could not get theme I

this third visit he again ascended into heaven as after I before and 1 was again left to ponder on the strangeness of what 1 I edla ediately mediately experienced when almost immediately after the heavenly messenger experiincel ediately had just expertinced I time tilep from had ascended fram me for the third timep the cock crowed and 1 found frau
that
day was approaching approach
11

so

that our interviews

must have occupied

night the whole of that nighty

108

48 1 shortly I

after arose

from my bed and 9 as usual bedi

.9

went

to

the necessary labors of the day but in attempting to work as at other times 1 found my strength so exhausted as to render me entirely unI
able
my wy

father

who

was

laboring along with

me

discovered something
w

to

started with the intenhouse tion of going to the houses but in attempting to cross the fence out
and
me

be wrong with me

told

to

go home

1 I

of the field where

we

were my strength werej gerej

entirely failed

me mea

and 1 I

fell

helpless
hindee hinfee hir

on

the ground and for a time was unconscious of any

49

the

I first thing that 1

me

can

recollect

was a voice speaking sp

unto

me mev

ca ng calling

by name

1 looked up and beheld the same messenger I

he then ag again

san 4 stn standing over my head

surrounded by light as before

related unto
commanded me

me

he had hehad that chehad related to me the jhrevious night and ail ali all a nt s to go to my father and tell him of the vision and cckomandments fatherand ten teil teli
1

which 1 had received ahad ihad I

0 50 1 obeyed 1

returned to
he

my

father in the field and rehearsed

me

the
me

whole matter

to

him

replied to

that

it
1 I
me

was of god and

told
de-

to

nes senger go and do as cocanaded by the messenger bengen benger commanded

field left the fieldp fielda

the plates were

and

went

to the place where the messenger had told

4

posited and

I to the distinctness of the vision which 1 had concerning ftp 1 know the place the instant that 1 arrived there itp I knew I it manchester 51 Conveninet to the village of Man chesters ontario county 5 conveninet vi ge
owing

had

new york

size slee a hill stands ahill of considerable sleer and the most elevated

in plates top cosiderable from thetop9 under the stone of considerable size lay the piates the a stone box this stone was thick and rounding in the despoiled despoited in that on the upper side and thinner towards the edges so t hat the middle
of any

the neighborhood

on the west side of

fillp this hillp not far hill

109

middle part of

it

was

visible

above the ground but the edge

all

around

was covered with

earth

52 having removed

the earth 1 obtained a leverp which 1 got fixed I lever levera I

under the edge of the stonep and with a stone stoneb

little

exertion raised

it

up

1 I

looked in and there indeed did 1 behold the plates the urim and thum piates arim I
mim

and

the breastplate as stated by the messenger

some

the box in which

kind of cement
boxp box the boap and

they lay was formed by laying stones together in botton in the bottom of the
on

box were

laid

two stones cros sways of crossways

these stones lay the plates and the other things with them
53

1 made an attempt I

to take them out but

neither would
come

was

forbidden by
them

the messenger and

was again informed

that the time for bringing

forth

had not yet arrived

me

it until

four years from that

one

time but he told tine

that 1 should I

to that place precisely in

should
come

nep year from that time and that he would there meet with me and that 1 timep nes tilep I

should continue

to

do so

until the time

for obtaining the

plates
54

dj commande I accordingly as 1 had been commanded 1 went at the end of I

each year and

at

each time 1 found the same messenger there 9 and reI

.9

intelligence ceived instruction and inteligence from him at each of our interviews inteli gence

respecting what the lord was going to

dop and how and do

in

what manner

his

kingdom was
55

to be conducted in the last days

As my

ted circumstarmes were very limited r1a ircumstannes fatheraa fathers worldly c
as
we

we

handsp hands were under the necessity of laboring with our handsy hiring out by

day days were

work and otherwise

could get opportunity

some

times

we

at
56

homep and smetimes abroad home sometimes sme times hone tines homec

hnd bnd by continuous labor were end

enabled to get a comfortable maintenance

in the year 1824

my

fathers

family met with a great ly

110

affliction
who

by the death of
1 I

my

eldest brother alvin

new york

in the
name

month of

Oc tobery 1825 october

hiared with an old gentleman by the hilred

stoalp of josiah stoulp etoal stoal

chenango lived in Che nango county state of

he had heard something

8 of a silver mine having been opened by the spaniards in harmon sushamon

que hanna quehanna county

state of pennsylvania
him

and had

previous to

my

hiring

to

himp him been

gp digging diggin in order

if possible to

discover the mine

hands

after

1 went I

to live with

he took me with the

rest of his
work

to dig
month

mine dinep for the silver minep at which 1 continued to I

for nearly a

vaphout success without thout

in our undertaking

and

finally 1 prevailed with the old I

gentleman

to cease digging after

it

hence arose the very prevalent

story of
57

my

having been a money digger

edp during the time that 1 was thus employed 1 was put to board employ I I

balej haie with a mr isaac hale of that place

it

was

there 1 first I
1827

saw my
we

bif

e wife wif

his daughter
58

ema hale bana

on the 18bh of january 18th

were married

mre etoal while 1 was yet employed in the service of mr stoal I

owing

to

my

continuing to assert that 1 had seen a vision I

me

persecution
much opposed

still

followed

and

my

to our being married

so we went

of taking her elsewhere

wifes father family were very ep 1 was therefore under the necessity I wasp therefor and were married at the house of
immra mrs mr

squire

tarbill

chenango bainbridge Chenango county new york in south

my

mediately after

marriage 9 1 I
.9

left

stoal1 s and went to stoalsp

my

fathers

and farmed with him earned

590 59

that season
on

plates at length the time arrived for obtaining the piates the
a

me Thummin thummim urim and T mim and the breastplate arim

second twentysecond twentysec the twenty sec ond day of

septembers september 9

seven sevena one thousand eight hundred and twenty sevenp having gone as

usual asual at the

the end of another year

to the place

where they were

me

deposited

same heavenly messenger

delivered them up to

with this charge

lit ill lil

111

that 1 should I

be responsible

for them that

I if 1

should

let

them go

carelessly

amny any or through mny neglect of mine 1 should be cut of but that I

I would luse if 1 wouldluse

all

my

endeavors to preserve themo them then theno

until

he heo

the messenger should call for

received such

them themo then theno

they should protected

60 1 soon found out I

the reason
why

why 1 had I

strict
had said

hdm saft charges to keep them wenn and ahem went

it
at

was
my

that the messenger

most strenuous

that
for

when 1 had done what was requi red required aequi I

hand he would

call for

them

no sooner was

it

known

that 1 I

had them

that

exertions were
and severe

used to get them from

me

every stratagem that could be invented was re-

sorted to for that purpose

the persecution

became more

bitter

than before and multitudes were on the alert continually to get them from
me

if

possible

but by the wisdom of god 9 they remained safe in

.9

my
.9

hands

I until 1
up

had accomplished by them what was required

at ky

hand when 9 ac-

I cording to arrangements the messenger called for them 1 delivered them

to him and hlma hima hin
he kas them has

in his charge until this

day being

the second

may day of mapp

one thousand

fchrity eight eight hundred and thrityeight

112

APPENDIX C APPEMIX

orson orson prat

was

s plaits published accou4t platts publ i shed account

1 I

19. lg 19j 19 born september ig 1811

in hartford
he bas vas bras

new york

orson was converted to the restored gospel by his brother parley and
was

n baptized on his nineteenth birthday 1830

later ordained
he was

an elder and went on his

first

mission to colvsvilles new york Colwville colwville coil coll

he helped

ordained a high priest by sidney rigdon

Campa ampj

to organize zionts azios zios

amp cmp and was member of the high council 1n missouri in I

chosen
by the

in

1835 he was was

to

be one of

the

quorum of

the twelve apostles and

ordained
and

three witnesses

d he was ca called

to

go on a mission

to england

left far
in

west missouri on ip Missour

april

26 1839 26p

y assignment he labored by as sigment

in scotland

this mission orson pratt had ballantyne and dj interests interesting Inte hughes of edinburg publish his pamphlet entitled ijnt resti interesti account of entitle isnt sp visions several remarkable Vision and the late discovery of ancient american pamphlet hiet blet ords records he compiled this in england and the pamp biet became the first separately published account of the arst vision and moronis visit he irst only the section of this pamphlet which relaiarned to Ameri cain 1841 retrtarned americain
1840

while on

deals with the visitations is included here

113

mr dir

joseph smith jun smitho smitha

who made

the following important disfoll owing

on

I ndsor covery was born in the town of sharon 1 endsor county vermont bom windsor

the

Decea iber decembers 23d of decemberp deceaiber

ten years oldp his parents with their oid old olda family moved to palmyra new york in the vicinity of which he resided vict n 1ty ofwhich for about eleven years the latter part in the town of manchester
Av Do 18050 k d 1805

krhen uhen

aty

cultivating the earth for a livelihood

employed

was

his occupation in which

he

the most of his time

two or

his advantages for acquiring literary

hence his education was limited ted
common

knowledge

were exceedingly small

to a

slight acquaintance with

three of the

branches of learning

he could read without much

difficulty

and write a very imperfect hand

and had a very limited understanding of ted

the ground rules of arithmetic

common

these were his highest and only attainments while the rest of those

universally taught branchesp branches so universallytaught in the

united states were entirely
unknown

schools throughout the

when somewhare somewhere

to

him

about four-

teen or fifteen years old he began seriously to reflect upon the necessity of being prepared for a future
uay what way

but how state of existence buthowp or in

to prepare himself
he perceived

was a

question as yet undetermined in

was

his
and

own mind

that

it

a question of infinite importance

that the salvation of his souls depended upon a correct understanding wayo way saw same hw saws that if he understood not the vayo it would be hv baws of the impossible to walk in it except by change and the thought of resting his ltv uncertainities hopes of eternal life upon chance or uncertainitiesp was more than he could endure if he went to the religious denominations to seek information
ways way
p

each one pointed

walk ye

were

in

many

ih itj11 it respects in direct opposition to

mind

tthis this partic r to its particular tenets saying athis is the bartic while at the same time the doctrines of each
one another god was not od
G

occurred to his

that

the author of but one

it its also ep doctrines doctrine doctrin

114

and therefore could not acknowledge but one denomination as his church den OMI nation and

that such denomination

one

must be a people

who

believe and teachp teach teache

he
now nows nowd

that

doctrine

whatever

it

may be

and build upon the same

then reflected upon the immense number of doctrines esp doctrin

which had given

inthe worlds in the world

the

rise to

many hundreds

of different denominations
was

great question to be decided in his mindp mind minda

denominations be the church of

whiciz christ whicji become satisfied in relation to this question he could not rest man aan malp tented to trust to the decisions of fallible manp and build his

if any one of these one is it until he could

con-

hopes
would

upon

the

same

without any certainty and knowledge

of his

own

not satisfy the anxious desires that pervaded his breast satis fr

to decide decides

cep evidence without any positive and definite evidencep on which he could reply upon evidences eviden

coulp soui soul a subject involving the future welfare of his soulp was revolting to

his feelings
accordingly

the only alternative that seemed to be

hin left him

was

to

Scripturess read the scriptures and endeavor to follow their directions

commenced

he

perusing the sacred pages of the biblep with bibie bible bibler

reade read sincerity believing the things that he reado sincer itys

his mind soon caught hold

of the following passage

god

ulf if
men
5

any of you lack wisdom

let

him a sk of ask

that giveth to all

liberally i
from

upbraid eth and upbraideth not

and

it

shall
was

james Is i4ames I him be given himoff ijames 1

this

promise he learned that

it

the privilege of
doengi doingi doing

all

men

to ask

god for wisdom

with the sure and cer-

receive expectation of receiving liberally without being upbraided for so receivi ing tain

this

was cheering
was

h information to him tidings that gave him formation in

great joy

e like a light shining forth in a dark place to gude it ilke hep now saw that if he inhe nows walls n him to the path in which he should walko i god therelvasp not only a possi blityp but a probability possibility ewes eues therewas ther ewas quired of therevas i

yea more a certainty that

0

ep knowledge should he dhould obtain a knowledg which

of

all

115

the doctrines was the doctrine of christ and which of all the doctrines1 doctrinesolwas churches was the church of christ he therefore retired to a secret
1

place in a grove but a short distance from his fathers father

house

and

knelt

down

and began

to callupon the lord lupon cail cali call upon cai cal

at first

he was severely

by tempted ty the powers of darkness which endeavoured to overcome him

cep but he continued to seek for deliverance until darkness gave way from cej deliveran

his mind and he

was enabled

to pray in fervency of the spirit

saw a

and

in

faith

and while thus pouring beh his soul anxiously desiring an hat bet

rom answer nom god he from

at length

very bright and glorious light in

which above whichs the heavens abovep whicha at

first

seemed

to

be

at a considerable dis-

tance

he continued praying
.9

while the light appeared to be gradually

desceridigg desceming desce miNg towards him and 9 as hin

it

drewwmghbrri drewmighterr

it

increased in bright-

nessp and magnitude so tbatp ty the time that it reached the tops of ness that by nesip e h e greeso the whole wilderness ted bome the treeso for some distance around was illuminated t trees i

in a ir
1 I

most glorious and

brilliant

manners manner

he expected aacpected zxpected

to have seen the

came

consumed leaves and boughs of the trees consume dp as soon as the light

in

contact with them bubp perceiving that but

was encouraged with

it

effedt did not produce that effedtp he effert

the hopes of being able to endure

its

presence

it
he was

continued descending slowly

enveloped

until

it

rested upon the earth and

in the midst of

it

ieh when leh A

first

came upon him

jp

system and a peculiar sensation throughout his whole systems jand

mind was caught away

it produced immediately his ediatelys

was

from the

natural objects with which he

sur-

rounded

and he was enwrapped

who

a heavenly vision and saw two glorious in

personages

exactly resembled each other in their features or like.9

his sins were forgiven he was also informed that ness mindv minda subj ectro which had for some time previously agitated his mind upon the suba ectso subjects believing the religious denominations were bellev ing in incorrect viz that all
he was informed 9

116

doctrinesj and consequently that none of them doctrine sj doctrines

god as his church and kingdom gods

was acknowledged acknowledgedof of

and he was expressly commanded to go

he

not after them and he received a promise that the true doctrine

fulness of the gospel should at falness

him

some

time future times be

made known

to

after

whichp the vision withdrew leav which leaving whicha

ht

his

mind

in a state of

ca ess calmness and peace

indescribable

some time same sone saue

after

having received

manifestation this glorious manifestations

pented
and
1823

being young he was again entangeled in the

he afterwards

vanities of the world of which worlds

sincerely and truly reD do

it

god anthe on the pleased gods onthe evening of the 21st of september

to again hear his prayers

for he had retired to rest as usual resto

prayer in fervent prayers and his souls
was
f

only

that his
who

out mind was drawn oul outs

filled
gers ger er

with the most earnest desires desire

could communicate

to

commune

with

some

kind messen

to

him

the desired information of his acgir gif 6

god ceptance with god11 and cep ceP tance

also unfold the principles of the doctrine

forner remitted christs according to the promise which he had reca&fed in the former recitted christ

vision
of

while he thus continued to pour out his desires before the father
good

all

endeavouring
a

to exercise faith in his precious promises

days day

non a sudden on

light like that of

as though the house

only of a purer and

room

far

more

glorious appearance and brightness burst into the

indeed the

first

sight si ht 19

was

was

filled with

com suming comsuming consuming

fire

this

sudden appearance of a

light

so bright

exported as must naturally be expected

occasioned a shock or sensation

it

was however wass

followed with a

body visible to the extremities of the bodye ca ess and serenity of mind and an minds calmness

nap htire joy rap etire overwhelming rapture of joys rapttre

moment

and anda surpassed understanding andj in a that

a personage stood before him

notwithstanding the brightness of the light which previously

117

illumined the room yet there seemed to be an additional glory surroon coomo roomo
rounding or accompanying

this

pensonase which shone with an increased personage personape

degree of brillian cyp of which he was in the midst and though his brilliancy
countenance was as lightning yet

it

was of a

pleasing innocent and

was banished from

glorious appearance so
p

much so

that every fear

was a

the

calmness heart and nothing but ca ess pervaded the soul

the stature of this personage

little

above the common

had

size of

men

grajnent gracent grajnent in this age his grament

ll
11

was

perfectly white and

the
sent

appearance of being without seams seam

this glorious being declared himself to

forth
by commandment

be an angel of god

that his sins were forgiven sp prayers were hearda and that his prayerswere heard and also to bring the joyful tidings tiding
communicate
him

to

to

that covenant which god made with ancient israel concerning their tyO posterity was at hand to be fulfilled that the great preparatory work posteri cdc the sedond comming of the messiah was speedily to commence that the redond ftfr cdr falness fulness time was at hand for the gospel in its fulness to be preached in power
might preapred unto ali nations that a people mig ht be preapred with faith and righteous-

ness for the millennial reign of universal peace and joy

he was informed

that

he was

instrui called and chosen to be an inspru instru

some

god goda xands lands tent in the bands of godj to bring about kent

marvellous marcellous of his marv ellous purposes

him manifest to himo that the
when

in this glorious dispensation

emigrated to
Ameri cay amerl caj america

it

was

also

made

american indians were a remnant of

15

israel that

they

first

ceded teded they were an enlghteried people possessing a

knowledge of the

true god enjoying his favour and peculiar blessings among oug anong sp prophet from his hand that the prophets and inspired writers among them were required to keep a sacred history of the most important events transpiring
.9 9

among them

which

history

was handed down

for

many

generations

till at

118

length they

fell into great

were

wickedness most part of them were

conunandment commandment

sp destroyed and the record by records

godp goda ood of god to one of the last

prophets

among them

edp safely deposited to preserve them from the deposit

wkced hands of the wkeedp who sought

to destroy

them

he was informed

that

these records contained

many

sacred revelations pertaining to the gospel

events s of the kingdom as weil as prophecies relating to the great event of trell beil dell

the last days and that to fulfil his promises to the ancients
sp wrote the record and to accomplish his purposes records

who

in the restitution of

ac &c cone &cp the thelt children tcp they were to cane forth to the knowledge of the people if faithful he was to be the instrument who should be thus
ed highly favoured in inbringing these sacred things to light at the bringing favour infringing
same

time being expressly informed that

it

must be done with an eye

single

to the glory of
sp writings writing
who

god

that

no one could be

entrusted with those sacred

should endeavor to aggrandize himself by converting ly

sacred things to unrighteous and speculative purposes

many

after giving
which would be

him

instructions concerning things past and to

comep come comee

foreign to our purpose to mention here he disappeared and the halo

and glory of god withdrew leaving his mind in perfect peace while a

souie serenity ca ess serOnltv calmness and beron ity indescribable pervaded the soule soui soul
morning the vision was twice renewed

bubp butp but

before

instructing

him

further and
on

still
the

further concerning the great

eartha earthe earth
monring monring conring in the monringp

god goda work of godp about

to be performed perfo med aed

he went out

to his labour as usual but soon the

vision
by

was renewed

ihfomed the angel again appeared and having been ihfoimed

previous visions of the night concerning the place where those the

edp deposit records were deposited he was

instructed to

go immediately and view

them

descr&iption repatfeed lyp accordingly According he repafted to the place a brief descriliption of

199

which shall be given in the words of a gentleman by the name of shail shali shan shau

oliver

cowdery who has

spota spot visited the spoto

As you pass on

the mail road from palmyra

new york

wayne county

to

canandaiguap canandaigua

ontaiao county ontafto

before arriving at the

little
why

village of Manches terp say from three to fourp or about four miles manchester fram frcm foun fron four foura
rap from palmyra you pass a large Palmy raj
1 I

hill

on the

east side of the road

say large

is

because

it is

as large perhaps as any in that country

the north and rises quite suddenly until

it

assumes a
may

level

with the more southerly extremity and 1 think 1 I I

say an elevation

cep higher than at the mouths a short distance say half or three fourths of south cej souths threefourths distan

ue a mile mlle

As you

canandaiguap pass towards canandaigua

it

lyp lessens gradually until the gradual

by other sm leha smal lefa smallefa smallela scallela allela
am

surface assumes

its

common

level or is broken
1 I
some

hills
certain
northp north northa

watercourses or ridges water courses and ravines

h hial that this is highest hi&l for the

think 1 I

justified in saying
am

distance round and 1 I

rak&es rues that its appearance as it raknes so suddenly from a plain on the rles must attract the notice of the traveller as he passed by the endp which has been described as rising suddenly from the plain end enda

bythe north
.9 9

forms

a promontory without timber but covered with grass

southp you soon come to south southa
toy loy by

As you

pass to the

scattering timber the surface having been cleared

art

or wind and a short distance dTurther

common

left

you are surrounded

with the
even the

forest of the country

was only occupied

it

is

necessary to observe that

part klea reds cleared

for pasturage

its

steep ascentp ascent ascenti

admitting adriitting the plough of additting and narrow summit not ad

desgree of ease desaree

ditting of profit it was

to

husband mani the husbandman with any

at the
9

second mentioned place where

the

record was found

be deposited

on

far

from the top down

its

side and when

fillp hill the west side of the hillp not myself visited the place in the

year 1830 there were several trees standing enough to cause a shade in

120
summer but no so much as sumner sunner sumer
p

to prevent the surface being covered with

when

grassy which grassywhich grasst

how

was

also the case

the record

was

first

found

car ear below the surface these records fl bif anciently placed far mirbit wir olt 1 am unable to say but from the fact that they had been some fourteen I ain sone hundred years buried and that too on the side of a hill so steep one yearsburied
.9 9

is

ready to conclude that they were some feet below as the earth would one s ome sone
but

rAturally naturally wear more or lessp in that length of time niturally raturally wearp nitu less lessa

they being
much

placed toward the top of the fillp the ground would not remove as hillp hill

as

at

two

thirds perhaps
.9 9

another circumstance would prevent a wearing

all probability as soon as timber had time to grow coverett fiand coveredt and the hill was cove redt ffand the roots of the same would hold the surface however on this point 1 shall leave every man to draw his own conclusion I
of the earth in
p

and form his

was depth mas dug meb web wab

own

spectlation spectilation speculation spectlation

11

but

suffice to say siffice

a hole of

sufficient

at the

bottom of
smooth

surface the upper surrace being

of cement and into

size laid a laidal sizes this was laidaa stone of suitable slee at each edge was placed a large quantity

btone this atone were cement cements placed erect four others their bottom edges resting in the cementp at the shohe outer edges of the first stohe the four last named when placed erect

this

cement 0

.0

at the four

edges of

formed a box

comers the cornerss or where the edges of the four cornerss

came

in contact

fiarlyp were also cemented so fearly fiarly

that the

without1was from without 1 was prevented moisture

su sufraces suf to be observed also that the inner surraces of fraces from entering it is erect or side stones were smoot this box was sufficiently the four to admit a breastplate such as was used by the ancients to defend large

chest & the chestp ave chesta &ve

bottom of the
composed of

from the arrows and weapons of

boxp boap box

their
on

enemy

from the

from or ibrom the breastplate arose three small pillars

uued uaed description of cement aued

the

same

the edges P and upon

121

these three pillars were placed the recordsoll soll seli sell records record

this

anthis boap nthis boxp box

containing

the records

was covered with

ff

stone another stoner the bottom surface being

when

flat
on
was

ming JI crown ng and the upper crowning jing

it

was
1823.9 18239 1823

first visited
ila ita a

by mr

smith on

the morning of the 22nd of september

part of the crowning stone

visible
lt

ep above the surfacep whle the edges were concealed by the surface whie 1 surfac while surfaced I

soil

and grass

from which circumstance

it

may beb seenp ben seena bee seen

that

however deep

the box might have been placed at firstp the time had been sufficient to tine first firsta
wear the earth p so

that

it

was eas 1 ly aas I easily

discovered when once directed and

yet s not enough to

make a

perceivable differende to the passer by difference passerby differ ende

a

after arriving at the repository

of the top of the box and
contents
astonighment wonder and astonighments astonishment

little

exertion in removing the soil

baxp from the edges of the top of the babp and a box

edg4d light pry brought the edgd edge a light pry brought to his natural vision its

contemplating while viewing and contemplatingthis

this sacred treasure with

lordp beholds beholdl beholdt the angel of the lorap who had previously lord

visited
as

him

again stood in his presence and his soul was again enlightened
was

it

was

the evening before and he

filled

with the holy

spirit

and

the heavens were opened and the glory of the lord shone round about and ird rested upon him while he thus stood gazing and admiring the angel said
lookt looft
spake darkness and as he thus spakes he beheld the prince of dankness
surrounc surrounc surrounded surround bunro burro
sv associate train of associates all this passed before him and evil messenger saidp ifall this is shown the good and the evilp evila showns bald baid said saida ali the heavenly god darkness holy and impure the glory of gods and the power of dankness that the

by his innumerable

you may know

tty come by

powers hereafter the two powerss and never

onee one wicked oneo

be influenced or over-

that

beholds behold

what soever enticeth and leadeth to good whatsoever entice th

and
one

to

good do goods

is

notp not god and whatsoever doth noop of

is of that

wicked

menwith evila renwith evil the hearts of men with evilp to walk in falleth is that filleth it darkness and blaspheme god and you may learn from henceforth that his
he
.1 1

122
ways

are to destruction but the

way

of holiness

is

peace and

rest
of god

you cannot

at this time obtain this record for the tine

faithfulness in obeying the lord

commandment

is strict and if strict andif

by prayer and

ever these sacred things are obtaimedp they must be obta&ned obtained

they are not desposited des posited

here for the sake of accumulating gain and wealth for the glory of

this
menp men mena

world they were sealed by the prayer of

faith

and because of the

knowledge which they contain they are of no worth among the children of

their knowledge gospel of jesus christ as it

only for

on them onthem anthem then

was given

is

contained the fulness of the falness

on
d this land

to his poeple doeple

and

whun

it

shall

be brought
.9 9

forth

gods by the power of god

it

shall be carried
seed

to the gentiles of
those
who

whom many

will receive

it

and

after will the

of israel be brought into the fold of their redeemer by obeying

it

also

land kept the commandments of the lord on this landj desired this landa

at his

handj and through hand handa

the prayer of faith obtained the promise that

if their descendants
should be kept and

should transgress and

fall

away

that a record
these

in the last

days come

to their children
obtain them

so things are sacred and must be kept soo for the promise of the lord consoj

cerning them must be

impure

fulfilled
that

N NO

man can

if his hs

heart

is

because they contain

which

1 sacrest sacred1 sacredt sacred is sacredt

wisdom

by them

will

the lord work a great a marevllous work the ird

become

of the wise shall

as nought
power

tn and the understanding of the prudent understn bwee unders

shall

be hid and
know

because the

of god

shall

be displayed those

who

professsto profess sto

the

truth but walk in deceit

shall tremble with anger but with signs and gestations sp fe festations alth aith healing stations wonders with gifts and with healings with the manifestations of ith with god power of godr and with the holy ghost shall the hearts of the faiththe you have now beheld the power of god manifested and ful be comforted you see that there is nothing desirable in the works satana the power of satan

123

of darkness that they cannot bring happiness that those

come

who

are over-

therewith are miserable while on the other handj the righteous hand handa

are blessed with a place in the kingdom of god where joy unspeakable
theme thene surrounds them then

there they rest beyond the power of the

can

enemy

of truth

where no

evil

disturb them

themp the glory of god crowns shemp and they them then

continually feast upon his goodness and enjoy his smiles s

beholdp notbehold beholds

may
.9

withstanding you have seen this great dispaly of power by which you powe whi ch r
when

ever be able to detect the evil onepyet 1 give unto you another sign 9 and one yet I

it
go

comes

to pass then pabs

and

know

that the lord is

knowledge which

god

and

that

he

will

purposesp purpose sp fulfil his purposes

that the

this record contains

will

to every natloni nation ioni

dp esp and kindreds and tongues and people under the tongu kindred kindre

this is the sign when these things begin to be known that isj when it known that the lord has shown you these things the is isa workers of iniquity will seek your overthrow they will circulate falseci rc te hoods to destroy your reputation and also will seek to take your life but remember this if you are faithful and shall hereafter continue to ralth ruis faith fuis raith fulp
whole heaven

lordp keep the commandments of the lorap you lord

shall

be

preserved to bring these

commandment

time things forth for in due tune he will give you a tine

to

come

and

take them takethem ethem ethen tak

wolen woien when toien

edp they are interpreted the lord will give the holy priesthinterpret

proclaim scmep iain liin bone schep ood to some and they shall begin to proc ikin this gospel and baptized waterp and after thatp they shall have power to give the holy ghost by thaap walterp water that

by

the laying on of their hands for the iniquities of

upon the rock
men

then will persecution rage more and more

who

revealed shall be revealeds and those

are not built

will seek to overthrow the church but farther

and

it

will increase the

knowledge

opposed more oppose dp and spread

farther increasing in

inheritance ih heritance they shall be sanctified 9 and receive an ihheritance where the till C od arld arid takes god ood cod glory of ood will rest upon them and when this yakes place and all

ew dtf
124
u ings prepare things are prep acad the ten tribes 01 1 s rc prepacad alad of I ol isr

t duf X daf A
r

T
1

te

1 i

country I ither they coon countr north countr iwhither the

1

rill b ill bretl brctl

oc oC of
U

d M the n tlle tile

J I en hen 1
U

ha c C C 6 n ocen ceen
1

or for
J

season ml seaon end ci long shaon

this
t

is

fulfill

cd fulfilled

will

be brought brouel brauel

to

p ss that pass bhat

J saying saving savine

the prophet

and

ta e redeemer she 11 come t1 the

to zion and unto the t IT b urn from t hc ns froa nd dint 0 them that burn fron lfaans ro1 eol n gres slon J n jacob s th the lord egression in notij th gression sion but fotij thstanding the worker notwithstanding arith srith standing J workers torker i
U

0f of

il on inqukity sh ill s ck your destruction the arm of the lord will be inqmity shall seek r- ur destructil arn shali shail adm destruct
ali iii

e at end e d xt extended

and you

kull kuil vail

v
zi

b be

onquerero you borne off conquerenifyou keep

x

ment s dments nent dment

your name sll 11 be ie noin anong sit knovn among knoon shail shell shali lour

commancornia all his cornim nd the nations for the iwork iwhich ork
L

orn t h e 10 a iwill perr orm the lo lord lii perform

lind and

ill

b v your hands by bv hand

V

shali shail cause shall c C use the righteous to rejoice rirditeous

vri aked ari cked the wicked to rage vlith the race alith lith iith

one

it
11

ano with had ln and sheill be hc d in honor oano lith shali shail shall
7

jhb thfe thb

re other in reporach yet JT porach Y et with these lith

narv and marv ellous jonk marveubous jork i marvellous work marcellous wonk
now nov noi
V

the great

it aich vrhich jhc ll i shali shail shall hich shc

go

shall

be a

terror

because of 0 ccl3use

foznth follow the coming rom fl of

falness this fulness of the gospel

has done for theeb theec
n 11 vali vail vall deliver thee ll

uay remeraberin ircy thy way remembering i hat the lord

us cormliendrient keeping his commandments

and be

diligent zent dili gent in

and he

t6niptoations from temptations and

all the arts

and devices of

the

wicked one
when he

forget not to pray that thy mind

1

may become becane

strong that t tho tha thot that

shali shail shall manifest unto thee thou mayest that the
1 I

have power

to escape the
a

evil
T
T

and obtain these precious things

e here remark
C

above quotation

is

oan an

extract from

was cry ery vos vas cowdery elder oliver Cowd eny which w s published in one of betler letler advocc te fl er sairftst idlessenl iiltter latter the numbers of the wiltter day saints1 iiessenger and advocate many acan nany ziven siven although mcan v more instructions were given by the mouth of the fiven br

writt ben writ en written by

angel to lir smith

pir ru

which we do
4
1

not axi t C in write ixi krite 1

4
1

this

book

yet the rmost nost lost

during tii tile tlle til
L CL C

foregoing cont aimed n almed important L jortant items are contained in the fore oi ng relation
elod
L

ceived ins ruction refollowing years he frequently received in u ru ulon period of the four follo vvinf
geny veny venly hea veney mouth of the heavenly messenger nouth from the nouh

and on

u tig t ie tle tie

1

oll morning OJE the 22nd of mornine oil

septcmbera S of sept eriiberpke U

1827

delivered dei anggi of the angel 0 the lord del ivcxcd the records into enzel
AC

121k 12

his hi a hands
these records were engraved
of gold
each plate
was

on

piates plates which had the appearance

yar not f ar from seven by eight inches in width far

and length being not quite as thick as common

on both

tin
at

they were

filled
three

sp sp engravings sides with engraving in egytpian characters and bound together character
bookap bookp book

volume volumes in a volumep as the leaves of a rings running through the whole

and fastened

one edge with

this

vo volume was something near e

was

six inches in thickness a part of which

sealed

the characters or
the

letters
as
much

upon

s the unsealed part were small and beautifully engraved saali

whole book exhibited many marks of

antiquity in
with

its

construction as well

skill in the art of

engraving

te

a records was found na curthummimp Thum mim mimp thummim min

arim ious instrument called by the ancients the urim and

nsisted of two transparent stones

which

co-

crystal clear as cry stalp set in the

two r s rims

of a

bow

this

was

times in use in ancient ttmesp by persons called seers

it

was an

whichpthey which they instrument by the use of whichthey received revelation of

0
9 0

of things distant or ofthings past or future 0 things

e 0

126

APPENDIX APFENDIX D

undated manuscript

this account

was found

in a journal ledger in the church historiants ts historians historian

office salt lake city

the pages had been cut out but were matched

this was done in the presence and with agreement of earl olsen and laub itz peterson of laufcitz laut ite churda historians the churdh historiants ts office the first page of this ledger identified historian frederick G williams as the scribe and bore the date of 1833 subsewilliam quent pages in the journal contained copies of letters of oliver cowdery smithy joseph smith hyrum smithy wi smith william W phelps reynolds cahoon jared clark dank dark 14 sidney rigdon and john murdock the earliest letter was dated june 14p 1829 the latest august 4 1835
there
ments seem
was not

with edge of the journal to prove location

date nor indication of scribe of the account of the

manuscript which follows

the information provided in the above state-

vas vad to suggest that this account was written near 1833 since it recorded in the first person this would also suggest either that is joseph smith wrote it or he dictated it from handwriting comparisons it would appear that the latter supposition is the more likely one

127
A

history of joseph smith jr an account of his jre

mar vilous experiences and of marvilous marcilous

name

all

the mighty acts which he doeth in the boeth

whom

of jesus christ the son of the living god of

he beareth record bearett

gaven g1ven ven

and also an account of the

rise of the

church of

christ in the

of

time according as the lord brought forth and established by his hand

firstly
ood
by

he

receiving the testimony from

on high secondly nonea

none&

stering the ministering

of angels thirdly the reception of

ministering the theministering of

unclear word.7 the holy priesthworl 7 fxnclear Sn zunclear Zun clear wor 7angels snclear lun unclear wordlangels to a nister the 7 angels administer andels
commandments

letter of the gospel

were given unto him hin
0

zunelear worjd the law and wore wor7 unclear worx he

as they
a

nun clear worz and the ordinances unclear fun funclear

forthy

confirmation and reception of thehigh priesthood after the holy order shehigh the high

of the son of the living god power and ordinance from

on high

to preach

st administrations and demonstrations of the spirit the the gospel in the a strations stratiots rations
key of the kingdom of god conf ered upon him and the continuation of the confered conferee

etco blessings of god to him ecco

5unclear worji.7 1 unclear gorji 7 I word

who

was born

in the town

vercuont vemmnt of sharon in the state of vemont north america on the twenty third day

of december
me me

AD

1805

of goodly parents

spared no pains to instructing

my

in the christian religion at the age of about ten years

moved

father
new

joseph smith senior

to palmyra ontario county in the state of

york and being in indigent circumstances was obliged to labor hard for

liy lly ily support of a large family having nine children and as the
exertions of

it

required

thes 4 the

all that

were able
we were

to render any assistance for the support

benni deprived of the be fit of an education bennifit

fumily fgmily of the fgjnily therefore

suffice

it

say 1 was mearly instructed in reading and writing and the ground to I

arithmetic which constituted my whole literary acquire ground rules of age of twelve years my mind became seriously imprest mentse ments at about the
with regard to the

all

important concerns for the welfare of

my

immortal

128

soul which led

me

to searching the scriptures believing as 1 I

word of god

was taught baught

my

that they contained the

marvel exceedingly for
1 I

they applying myself to them and

me

intimate acquaintance with those of different denominations led

to

a discovered that they did not cadorn their prof

bession fession by a holy walk and godly conversation agreeable to what 1 found I contained in that sacred depository this was a grief to
from the age twelve years
my

souls thus
my

to fifteen 1 pondered I

many

things in

heart

d concerning the sittuations of the world of mankind the contentions and divi-

sions the wickedness and and abominations and the darkness which pervaded

the minds of mankind

convicted of
nkind
my

my

mind become indedingly incedingly inde dingly by searching

becanie becane distressed for 1 beganie I became

sins and

the scriptures 1 found that maI

did not

come

unto the lord but that they had apostatised from the

true and living faith and there was no society or denomination that built upon the gospel of jesus christ as recorded in the new testament
and 1 I

world

felt to mean for my own sins and for the sins of the ttet that for 1 learned in the scriptures th6t god was the same yesterday I
that
he was no
fhe fae he respecter to persons for hae

to

day and forever

was god

for 1 looked upon the sun the glorious luminary of the earth and also the I magesky moon rolling in their magesty through the heavens and also tjie stars the tte

I shining shin shihaing in their courses and the earth also upon which 1 stood and the beast of the field and the fowls of the heaven and the fish of the waters
and also
man

magesky walking forth upon the face of the earth in magesty and
whose power and

in strength of beauty

intlllgence intiligence intIligence in

governing the

marvilous marcilous exedding great and marvilous even in the likeness of ex exeda edding things which are so exedd who created them and when 1 considered upon these things my heart him I
exclaimed well hath the wise man said

it is

a fool that saith in his

thare heart there is

no god my

heart exclaimed

all all these

bear testimony

129

and bespeak an 0 potent and omnipreasant power a being who maketh laws omnipotent nd mabeth

falleth filleth ijas eternity who was and is and will be from all eternity to eternity and lias when 1 considered all these things and that that being seeketh such to I seebeth worship him as worship him in spirit and untruth therefore 1 cired unto i hin intruth I aired
who

and de decreeth and bindeth bendeth creeth

all

things in their bounds

the lord for mercy for there

was none
my

else to

whom

1 could go and I

to

obtain mercy and the lord hear

cry in the wilderness and while in the

my

attitude of calling
and rested upon
i me

upon the

lord in the 16th year of

age a

pillar

of light above the brightness of the sun at noon day

and 1 was I

come down from above

opened the heavens upon me

filled with the spirit of god and 1 saw the lord and he spake I
go

and the lord

unto

me
my

say-

ing joseph

my

son thy sins are forgiven thee

thy

way walk

in

SI statutes and keep my commandments behold 1 am I

the lord of glory 1 was I

on my name may have

ed cr crucify for the world that crucified

all

those

who

believe

eternal life behold

good no not one
commend ments commandments commendments comnendments

wont won1 he wona

lieth in sin at this

me

boeth time and none doeth

my

they have turned aside from the gospel and keep not
with

they draw near to

and mine agger

their lips while their hearts are

far
h that

from

me

earth to visit them

is kindling against the inhabitants of the ungold ungoodliness ungoldliness angol ness according acording to their ungol liness and to bring to pass
quickly as

which hathtbeen spoken by the mouth of the prophets and apostles

bel lo I behold and 10 1 come

my

it

was

written of

me

in the cloud clothed

father in the glory of days 1 could rejoice with great joy and the lord I 0
was and my souls w s

filled

with love and for many

was with me but could

I believe the heavenly vision nevertheless 1 pondered that my heart but after many days 1 fell into transgression I these things in rv wouad wouid many things keich brought gouid upon my soul and there kelch blich and sinned in
find none
would

were many things which

transpired that

cannot be vjriten and vwiten voiten

my

fathers

130

family have suffered many persecutions and afflictions and

he showed unto

it

came cane caine

to

pass when 1 was seventeen years of age 1 called again upon the lord and I I alain
me

a heavenly vision for behold an angel of the lord came

and stood before me and

he

it

was by

night and he called

no ye N Y

me

by name and

forg ived the lord had forgiven lrd forgived ard

me my

sins and he revealed unto that in there

was

the town of manchester ontaior county

upon which

plates of gold
his father
com-

there

was engravings which was engraved by moroni and

1i the servant of the living god in ancient days and deposited by the aivuxi9
mandments mandments

of god and kept by the power thereof and that 1 should go and I
many

get them and he revealed unto

things concerning the inhabitants

AD

comand ments comandments of the earth which since have been revealed in commandments and revila

lions and
me

it

was on

the

22 day

of step

1822 and

thus he appeared unto

deposited as the

e next times in one night and once on the nezu day and then 1 juoabbdiate I immdiat three

ly

went

to the place and found where the plates

commanded me and

was

angel of the lord had

attempts att6mpts straightway made three atfetopts

to get
fore
1 I

them and

I thus being exceedingly frightened 1 supposed

that
souls

it
I

had been

a dream of vision but when 1 coheidered 1 knew I cofasidered I

it was

not there-

cried unto the lord in the agony of

me

ray my iny lap

why can 1

not obtain
me

them behold the the angel appeared unto

again and said unto

you

I lord which 1 gave unto you therefore you cannot now obtain them for the time is not yet fulfilled therefore might est wasu left unto temptation that thous mightest be made acquainted lightest thous
have not kept the commandments of the

the adversary therefore repent and call on the lord thou with the then4 shait shail shall bbtain thena be forgiven and in his own due time thou shalt batain them for shalt advisory advisary tempted of the advisary and sought the plates to obtain now 1 had been I
power of

kppt riches and appt not the

commandment

I that 1 should

have an eye singled

to

glory of god the

therefore

1 was chastened and sought I

diligently to

131

obtain the plates and obtained them not until

age and
who
AD

1 was awty twaaty one I

twty

years of

in thisyear 1 this year I

on

was

enma ruma runa married to emma hale daughter of isaach hale

lived in
1827

harmony susquehanna county pennsylvania on susquehana

the 18th january euh

1

the 22nd day of sept of this

we moved

same

year 1 obtained the I

by

plates and in december following

of a
man by
me

susquehana to susquehanna

the assistance

the

name

of martin harris
deed the

who became

convinced of the vision

and gave and

fifty do rs to dollars
his marvelous
some sone

mye expenses bear myeexpenses and because of this faith uoito lord appeared unto u0to ulto

rrighteous this ndlghteous

him

in

a vision and
do and immediately

showed unto hin him

came

work which he was about

to

to susquehanna andsaid the lord and said sald andraid

had shown him

we

that

he must go

to

new york

city with

of the characters so

proceeded proceided to copy some

of them and he took his journey to the eastern city and to the learned
say ng read saying

I this 1 pray thee

me

and the 1 learned said 1 cannot but earned I

if

he would

bring the plates they would read

it

but the lord had forbid orbid f

it

and he

returned to
1 am I

and gave them

to

me

to translate and 1 said 1 cannot for I I

tand land and

not learned but the lord had prepared spectacles for to read the

book

I therefore 1
of isiah

commenced

translating the characters

which

thus the
chapter conern cobern

prophecy prophcy

was

fulfilled
came

briten is writen in the

29

to pass that after we had translated 116 it pages that he desired to carry them to read to his friends that peradventure I might convince them of the truth therefore 1 inquired of the lord and he
ing the book
and

the lord unto 4rd ard

me

that

he must not take them and 1 spake unto him I

again aga3 I of the lord and he said inquire agac n and 1 inquired martin the aga n and also the third time and the lord said unto me let him go with ag a again
word

them only he shall covenants with

that ht will not show them to only but four persons and he covenants with the lord that he would actoschis to&his cording to the word of the lord therefore he took them and todchis
me

132

palmra journey unto his friend to pa ra wayne county and state of new york palera
and he brake the covenant which he made before the

lord and the lord

suffered the writings to

was chastened

fall into the

me

hands of wicked men and martin

for

my

transgression for asking the lord the third tune time

by the power of god and iwas not
came

wherefore the plates was taken from

them for able to obtain themfor a season and then and

it

pasw after to pasv arter masv basw

much

humility

affliction of soul 1 obtained I

the
name

them againvwhen again when

lord appeared unto a urd platea piates the plates a

was ayoutt aboutt about

young man by

of oliver cowdry and

showed unto him

vision and also the truth of the visionand nand visio

through
me

work and what

the lord

t0

do

his unworthy servant therefore he

was

cone cane desirous to come and

me

write for

me

to translate
my
my

now my

wife had written some for

H

to trans-

late

and also

brother samuel

smith but

we had become
me

reduced in

property and

wives father was about to turn

out of doors 1 had I

me

not whereto go and 1 cried unto the lord and he would provide for I

to accomplish the

commanded me ked work where unto he had c aed 6ed

133

APPENDIX E APPMIX

wentworth

letter
summary

according accorda accardang to joseph smith mr hohn wentworth editor and proprietor
democrats of the chicago democrat requested him to write a

history of the

nise progreaso persecution and faith of the latterday saints mr wentsej rise latter day ri sep progress worth was to furnish a mr bastow his fiiendj with a copy of this summary friend

nw to be used in a history of new hampshire which mr bastow was to publish smalt Stait joseph smiths summary to mr wntworth has become known in church history wgntworbh antworth

ls

as the went worth Vent wentworth

letter

it is

dated march

1 ap 1842 j 1p

although there
1842
9

is indi-

2 aj cone cation that id did not come off the press until march 2j

the wentof volume

worth

letter

was

first

published in church literature in number

1

ili

111 III

of the times and seasons march

1842

sometime

the

same

year 1 daniel I

rupp of lanchester pennsylvania gathered information together and compiled

nan an

existing exista in original history of the religious denominations at present edistang 3 n

t

the united states tained in the

he published

this in

1844 and used

the information conjoseph

Ventworfch antworth ntworth

letter

which he received from joseph smith redeived rede ived

this brief history only W antworth ntworth the part of the wentworth letter that relates directly to this thesis is
chrity smith was thrity seven years old when he wrote
presented here

ID HsC idhsc HC

ap IV pp

335 535 36 33536 542 53536 0o 5420

134

1 was born I

in the
A

town of sharonp windsor county venmonto on vermont sharon Ver sharone vermonto vermonte
D do 1805

the

23d

of december

when

ten years old

my

parents removed to

palmy palay paian

my

new york where we yorko

hbout resided bbout four years and from thence bbott fron

we removed

to the

town

of manchester
taught
me

father

was a farmer and

the art of husbandry

wolen woien when toien

about fourteen years of age 1 began to rehect upon the impartance of importance reelect I rellect

being prepared for a future states and upon enquiring the plan of salvastate
found I round that tion 1 foundthat there
went
was a

great clash in religious sentiment

me

I if 1

to

one

society they refercd 6d ad refercd

own

to

one plans pian plan

and another

to another

particular creed as the summum bonum of pert he sumdum fection considering that all could not be right and that god could not fections factions be the author of so much confusion 1 determined to investigate the subI
each one pointing to his

ject

more up

fully believing that

into
and administer

split

church it would if sp factions and that if he taught one society to faction

god hada sod had a

not be
worship

one way

in

one

set of ordinances he would not teach

believing the

another principles which were diametrically opposed

word of god 1 had confidence I

in the declaration of james

giveth to
men

if

any man

lack

wisdom

let

him ask of god who

braidech not and br braideth aideth

pplication
my

it

shall

be given him11 upon

a grove and began to

call

the lord

liberally and up ail ali all 1 retired to a secret place in I while fervently engaged in su-

mind was taken away from

I the objects with which 1 was sur-

roundedpvaad 1 was enwrapped rounded wtttt I

a heavenly vision and saw two glorious in

personages

who

features exactly resembled each other in featuress and likeness

dayo day noon daye ant light which eclipsed the sun at noonday bri brilliant

surrounded with a

that all pect doc triness and that none of thatnone hect doctrines
they told
me

ancor reft incor incO denominations were believing in incoreft religious

them was acknowledged of god as

his

church and kingdom

and 1 was expressly commanded to go not I

then after them

135

at the at
some sone

same saine

time receiving a promise that the fulness of the gospel should tine falness
Is

future time be

made known unto me

on the evening of the 21 st of stepember As do 1823 stepemberp JL D penber 21st Stepember

was praying unto god

while 1 I

and endeavoring

promises of scripture on scriptuneo tureo

to exercise faith in the precious a sudden a light like that of day only of a
burst into the
was

far purer
com suming consuming

and more glorious appearance and brightness

room indeed the roomi

first sight

as though the house was filled with

surrounded with a glory

fire the
moment

appearance produced a shock that affected khe whole the

me

body

in a

a personage sthod before ethod sbod

was

yet greater than that with whidh 1 which I

already surrounded

this
was

messen-

ger proclaimed himself to be an angel of god sent to bring the joyful

gbd sp tidings that the covenant which gabd sbd tiding
hand
made

with ancient

israel

at

wonk work for eds fulfilled that the preparatory workfor the second coming of fulfill cxxnmence commence the messiah was speedily to cmmmence that the time was at hand for the

to

be

gospel in

falness all its fulness to

be preached

in

power unto

all nations that

in the

a people might be prepared eor tor for

the millennial reign

informed 1 was infomed infonned infonned I

that 1 I

was chosen

to

be an instrument

hands of god to bring about some of his purposes in

this glorious dis-

pensa tion pensation

1 was also informed concerning the aboriginal inhabitants of this I

contry cantry contr7p and

shown who

they were and from whence they

came

brief
.9 9

origin progress civilizaation laws governments of sketch of their and the blessings of god being finally their righteousness and iniquity
withdrawn from them
where

as a people
some

me e known unto mea was made

1 was I

also told
abridg-

there

was

deposited

plates

en graven on which were engraven an engraved

ment of

ancient prophets that had existed on this the records of the jines times tines iines angel appeared to be three t junes the same night and continent the

136 13

unfolded the same things saine

after
last
days

having rede ived many received

fran visits from

he the angels of god unfolding the majesty and glory of the events that

should transpire in the

abda AJD aada add
18270 1827

on

the morning of the 22d of september

my

the angel of the lord delivered the records into

on
was

hands

en graven these records were engraven engraved

plates which had the appearance

gold of golds each plate

wise six inches wide and eight inches long and not

quite so thick as
book with ething near

common

thin

they were

filled

with engravings in

egyptian characters and bound together in a volume as the leaves of a volumes

three rings running through the whole

on

the volume

scme was acme som-

baled six inches in thicknesw a part of which was ealed thickness

1

the

characters
and much

small smail the unsealed part were am 11 and beautifully engraved

many marks

the whole book exhibited

of antiquity in

its

construction
was found a
thummimpn which thummim11
bow

skill in the art of

engraving

with the records ith

urlin uriin triin curious instrument which the ancients called urim and

consisted of two transparent stones set in the rim of a

great plate greatplate breatplate to a breastplate
arim through the medium of the urim and
by
thummim 1

fastened

I translated the

record

the gift and power of god

in this important
america

and

interesting

book the

history of ancient
came from caine

is

unfolded from

its first

settlements by a colony that

babal the tower of babup at the confusion of languages to the beginning of babua tle tie century of the christian era we are informed by these records the fifth

that

america in ancient times has been inhabited by two

of people

Jaredites the first were called jaredites and

came

distinct races directly from the

directly from tige city of jerusalfron tjie tower of babel principally princl pail pali principale principall em about six hundred years before christ they were princi pally josepho Jared ites joseph the jaredites were destroyed esp of the descendants of josephe israelites Israelit
the second race
came

137

about the time

them

that the israelites

came from jersualemp jersualem

who

succeeded

in the inheritance oi the country of

the principal nation of the

the

sedond race redond

fell in battle

towards the close of the fourth century

now

remnant are the indians

that
he

inhabit this country

this

book

also
and

tells

us that our savior made his appearance upon

this continent after

fui fulness fulness falness all its fulnesss

resurrections his resurrection that

planted the gospel here in

same

richness and power and blessing that they had apost lesp prophets pastors apostles teachers and evangelists the
continents continent

order orders the same priesthood the

was enjoyed on

same

sp powers blessings ordinances gifts powerss and blessing as ordinance

the eastern

that the people

were cut

off in consequence of their transwho

gres sions gressions that the last of their prophets

commanded

existed

among them was

ac to write an abridgement of their jirophecies history &c ropheciess

up

and

to hide
days

it

in the earth

and

that

it

come should came forth and be united

with the bible for the accomplishment of the purposes of god in the last

for

a more

which can be

particular partic r account 1 would refer to the book of mormon 9 I bartic nauvoos purchased at nauvoo or from any of our traveling elders
.9

As soon as

the news of this discovery was

made known

false
wind

sp reports misrepresentation and s itter flew as slavitter report slaitter sia sla r

on

the wings of the

in every direction the house was frequently beset by mobs and evil sp person designing persons several times 1 was shot at and very narrowly escaped I
mes was meb and every device mas made use of

to get the plates

nep away from me but nej

the
my

h2asiing power and bkasiing of god attended me

monyo testimonyo testmiony testimonye

and several began to believe

the church of jesus christ of latter 100 130 loo manchester day saints was first organized in the town of Manches terp ontario yorks york county state of new yorke
on the 6th of april aprils ath

138

APPENDIX F APPEMIX

cowderys oliver Cowderys account

oliver in

cowdery had

the distinction of being the

first to
was

publish

any medium the story of moronis appearance

oliver

probably more

intimately acquainted with the prophet than any of his associates he telp so int tely associate
spent day
beccime becrime translating he becajne the second elder of the churchy an anassistant president and was with joseph when assistant

after

day with joseph when he was

many heavenly

visitors

came cane caine

including the angel moroni

oliver

cowdery wrote eight

letters to

phelps
mormon

primarily
these were origit

they concerned the angel moroni and the book of

inally published in the messenger

with included
one of the

ng beg i and advocate beginning in october

1834 134

i3tudey btudey the portions of these letters which are pertinent to this studey are here-

greatest contributions of these letters is that gives additional scripture quoted by moroni that does not appear oliver in any other writings this follows as part of this appendix As an introduction to his let terso oliver states letters iet letterso letterio
corrects be correct and particularly the introduction staith brother is proper to inform our patrons that our bro therp joseph smith it cono cone cor juip jun abe ae junp has offered to assist us indeed there are many items con hib his necked nected with the fore part of this subject that render Us labor indispensable with his labor and with authentic documents now in gnp our possession we hope to render this a pleasing and agreeable narposess3 onp j

that our narrative

may

rative

joseph smith sent a

letter to oliver

cowdery

in

which he wrote

that

he was acquainted with his

project of writing this history and

139 13

messenger and advocate october 1834 po ep lmessenger Advocat

139

suppi led suppl ied supplied him with some

details

.1 1

ft

bibid 2ibid 2lbid

as 6s november 6 1834

140
LETTER

ili

111 III

in part
MESSENGER NESSENGER AND ADVOCATE ADVOUTE

december

1834
youp yous you

you

will recollect that 1 informed I

the

first

number of

the messenger and

letter published in ep advocate in this history would Advocat

in
my

necessarily embrace the life and character of our esteemed friend and
brothers joseph smithy jmj brother ohs jr ths

information on
1 come I

of the presidents of this churchy and for church I that part of the subject 1 refer you to his communication
one 1 I

jrj

same publish sane 6d ad of the samed published in this paper

thatp that shail shall shali therefore pass over thaap

to the seventeenth year of his life till is necessary to premise this account by relating the situation it mre kanep lane mind relative to religion at this times one mr lanep a time of the public presiding elder of the methodist churchy visited palmyra and vicinity
elder lane
raised
on
was

a talented man possessing a good share of

literary

endow-

ments and apparent humility

there was a great

much

awkkeningp awldeening

or excitement

the subject of religion and

made mr

large additions were

churches
awaken

nqu3 ra inquiry for the world of life i r7 preb terian Pres terlan methodist pre lerian and baptist erlan erian to the preslerian

banels lene lane lanels

manner of communication was

peculiarly calculated to his discourses

on

h simen simer of the hearer and arouse the sinner to look about him the intellect
much good

for safety
awakened

instruction
common

was always drawn from

the scripture and in scri tures ip

9

with otherp our brothers mind became other othera

1ssvsr

IV

in part

141
NESSIMIGER MESSENGER AND ADVOCATE

february
you will
mentp ment menta

1835

alme recollect that 1 mentioned the time of a religious excitetlme I in palmyna and vicinity to have been to the 15th year of our brother

J smiths

jr

age

that

was an

error in the type

it

should have been in

the 17th 1th ath

this correction as sary for the full understanding of what will followir in wll follower fuli followir follow
down

ith

you will please remember

it will
time

be neces-

this

would

bring the date

to the year

1823

1 do not deem I

this excitement
priety with

it it is

to

be necessary to write

further

on

the subject of
good

doubted by many whether any

real or essential

ever resulted from such excitements while others advocate their proexcitements
warmth
up

the mind is easily called

deep importance
and

to refl edtion ref&edtion refledtion reflection

upon a matter of such

it

is just that it

should be but there

is

a regret

sp occupying the heart when we consider the deep anxiety of thousands who are thousand

lead

away with a

gination vaih imagination or a groundless hope gunation laih gination

no

better than the

idle

wind or the

spiders

web

but

if

others were not benefited our brother

and

was urged forward and

dettermination stemgthened sterngthened in the detbrmination to know for himself of the certainty and determination det termination
reg lity of pure and holy religion re&iity reglity reality
e

it is

only necessary for

me

excitemeht continue dt to say that while this excitement continued he continued to call upon forp for secret for a full manifestation of divine approbation and corp fuli the lord in

to

him

the

all

important inform ationo information

if

a supreme being did exist to

have an assurance

correct
mains

it

was

that right

hb was accepted of him hb

this

most assuredly was

said the lord has saidp long since and his word resaida lrd sald ard
him who knocks

steadfast that to
may come

will

shail shall be opened and whosoever I shai shal it shali and partake of the waters of ilfe freely

142

on the evening of the 21st of september

1823

previous to retiring to rest

our

brothers

mind was unusually wrought up on

the subject which had so

in fervent prayer and his whole soul was so lost to every things of a temporal natucem that earths to natuvem earth him had lost 1 ts charms and all he desired was to be prepared in heart to I its ail ali
commune

long agitated his mind

his heart

was drawn out

messenger with some kind mesi senger nesi

who

could communicate to him the desired in-

formation of his acceptance with god

dj at length the family retired retire
way and he as usual bent his ways though kay

silences in silence

where others might have

blocked locked rested their weary frames nlocked fast in

.9

sleepy ebbace ebrace sleeps ebrace11

but repost had fled 9 and accustomed slumber had spread

he continued

her refreshing hand over others beside him

still

to pray

his heart though once hard and obdurate hearts

had often

was

softened and that mind which

flirted flitted like the tteds flit ted

unwild nwild wild

gep passa bird of passage had settled upon a de-

delven termined basis not to be decoyed or driven from termined

its

purpose

in his situation hours passed

know not nots bots

unnumbered
me

how many

or few 1 I
must have been

neither is he able to inform

had long since ceased
some way

but supposes

it

eleven or twelve and perhaps later as the noise and bustle of the family ands baters laters

in retiring
ifestation in fe station

continuing in while conti nuing tn prayer for a mancuing

were forgiven

that his sins

endeavoring to exercise
days day

faith
indeed

im A

sp scripture the scriptures

on a sudden a

light like that of

only of a

room roon purer and far more glorious appearance and brightness burst into the roomy

to

use his

own

descriptions the description

first sight

was as though

the

appearance of a light so bright as must naturally be expected occasioned

to the extremities of the body it was howa shock or sensation visible a calmness and serenity of mind and an overwhelming ever followed with
understandings rapture of joy that surpassed understanding and in a
hine him hin stood before hime

moment a

personage

notwithstanding the room was previously filled with lihgt above the

143

brightness of the sun as 1 have before described yet there seemed to be an I additional glory surrounding or accompanying this personage which shone with an increased degree of brilliancy of which he was in the midst and though brillian cyp
1

his countenance

was as

lightning yet
much sop so soj

it

was of a

pleasing innocent and

was

appearanceo glorious appearance so

that every fear

banished from the heartp heart hearte

a messenger from

and nothing but calmness pervaded the soul

it is no
the skies
clays clay
who

easy task

to describe the appearance of

indeed 1 doubt there biking an individual clothed with perishable I habie hable

is

capable to do

this

work

to
we do

be sure

the lord appeared to his his

upoh patmos spoh

apostles after his resurrection and

ed least difficulted to look difficult
we

not learn as they were in the

upon him but from

most
we

johns g&scription gi giscription scription

have the

learn that

he

is there represented as
in the sacred scritpures

glorious in appearance and

from other items

fact recorded

where
on

men nen angels appeared and conversed with menp and there mena

was no

difficulty
where

the

sp part of the individuals to endure their presence and others individual

their

glory was so conspicuous that they could not endure the last description which I referp or appearance is the one to whidh 1 reyer when 1 say it is noe easy I refer referd

task to describe their glory

but

it

may be

well to relate the particulars as far as given

was a

the

stature of this personage

age

little

above the common size of men slae

and had

his garment

was

white perfectly whitep whlter

in this being withthe appearance of beingwith

seane seam out seame sean

heart though fear was banished from his heartp yet his surprise was no hearte

less
his

when he heard him

seiy sely declare himself to be a messenger sent by self

haess faess witness and to wit naess

command-

messuage messeage mes seage nes ment of the lorap to deliver a special messeagep lordp lord

to

him

that

sins were forgiven

might be

and

that his prayers

say

were heard

and

that the

scriptures

fulfill

edp fulfilled which

god has chosen the foolish which are mighty P and base

things of the world

d to confound the things confoun

144

things of the world and things which are despised has god chosen yea and things which are not to bring to nought things which a re that no flesh ane are
should glory in his presence
do a marev lous work among marevlous

therefore says the lord 1 will proceed to I

even a marvelous work and wonder

this people

the

wiwdom siwidom siwdom

of their wise shall perish and the understanding of their prudent

shall

be hid

for according to his covenant which he

come own

made

with his ancient

saints his people the house of israel must

gospel and

to a knowledge of the
P

that messiah
e

s fulness of the falness bulnes fulnes

G ntiles ge antiles

their fathers rejected and with them the gathered in to rejoice in one folduunder one
whom

shepherd

tt

inthis ifthis this

cannot be brought about

until first certain preparatory things

own mind

pmaposed are accomplished for so has the lord p obed in his

he has

therefore chosen you as an instrument in his hand to bring to light that

which
work
men

shall perform his act 9 his strange act and bring to pass a marvelous wondero wherever the soun ghail go it shall cause the ears of and a wonder hali hail Ahall hall sounahall
.9

to tingle

procliamedj and wherever ih shail be procliamed the pure in heart sh shali shall shail shali shall
who draw

it

rejoice

while those wllie

mouthsp near to god with their mouths and honor him

him hin with their lips while their hearts are far from himy will seek

its

over-

throw and the destruction of those by whose hands

forep marvel not fore forea
among such suchs

it is

carried

theregod of godo

if

your name

is

made a

by word ly derision and had as a byword

if

you are the instrument

ftp in bringing itp by the it

gift

to the

knowledge of

people the peoples

he then proceeded and gave a

general account of the promises

he

made

to the father rather

sp rathers fathers

and also gave a history of the aborigines of

this country
a correct

and said they were

literal

abraham abrahan descendants of ofabraham

represented them

as once being an enlightened and

intelligent people possessing

gospel and the plan of restoration and redemption he knowledge of the was written and deposited not far from that place and said this history

145

that

brothers privilege if obedient to the commandments of the lord to obtain and translate the same by the means of the urim and sane saine arim Thummim which were depos cited for that purpose with the redord thummim deposited ited bedord
was our
wegs weas
.0 0

it

yes

said he

the scripture must be fulfilled before

it is

trans-

lated

which says

that the

words of a bookap which were sealed were prebookp book

men

sented to the learned for thus has god determined to leave

excusep and show to the meek excuse excused

without

aim alm that his arm is not shortened that aln

it

cannot

save

it

part of the

book was sealed

and was not to be opened yet

same

the

he sealed part said hep contains the

revelation which

was given

to

john upon the isble of patmos and when the people of the lord are prepared e
and found worthy then
on

it
1

will

be unfolded unto then them than

bringing the subject of br 4nging to light the unsealed part of this th

record

it

may be

proper to say that our brother was expressly informed with an eye single to the glory of god

that

it

musu be done must

if this

con-

sideration did not wholly characterize all hns proceedings in relation to ail hs ali his

it

the adversary of truth would overcome

himp him

or at least prevent his

making

that proficiency in this glorious

work which he otherwise would

edp deposit while describing the place where the record was deposited he

gave a minute

at the

same

relation of it iti ili timep he was permitted to view time tilep

mind bahng baing nind being and the vision of his mindbaing opened

it

cri ttically and previously

being acquainted with the place he was able to follow the direction of
angela arigel afterward according to the voice of the angelp and obtain the vision

the book
present by subscribing myself as ever your brother everl 1 close for the I

in christ
OLIVER COWDERY

146

letter VI in parti
MESSENGER AND ADVOCATE

april apri
1 gave I

1835

in

my

last lastr

a few words on the subject of a few itemsp as items

knowledge of the record of and

spoken by the angel

at the time the

the

Nep hites was communicated nephites

to our brotherp brother

in

consequence of the

subject of the gospel and that of the gathering of

nected 1 found I

israels

being so con-

it
may

difficult to

speak of the one without mentioning the

other and this

not be Jmproper as improper

it is

evident that the lord has

decreed to bring forth the fulness of the gospel in the last days previous falness

jacob jacoba to gathering jacobp but a preparatory

quick succession

workp and wonk work worke

the others is to follow in

this being of so much importance and of so deep interest to the s detail saints 1 have thought best to give a farther deta 1 l of the heavenly mesI saint I words sage and if 1 do not give it in the precise wordsp shall strictly confine wordsw I
1

myself to the facts in substance

sald said david saidp Ps saida

lands that

make a

lordp joyful noise unto the lorap lord

all

ye
come

is all the earth

this

serve the lord with gladness

before

his presence with singing

not take place

he said in view of the glorious period

for which he often prayed and

or

was

anxious to behold which he knew could

the knowledge of the glory of god covered until again he says

all

lands

all
he

the earth
good

ise of 0 give
Ps
1

thanks unto the lord

endureth forever let the redeemed of for his mercy en dureth for is so lolhd say sop whom he has redeemed from the hand of the enemy and soj lotd the flotd 0 east ds gathered out of the lands from the easts and from the west from the they wandered in the wilderness in a solitary north and from the south

147
way

they found no city to dwell in

httogry ht6gry and

fainted in them

then they cried unto

vray way

thirsty thirstyO their souls the lord in their trouble and

might go

he

delivered them in the right

that they

to t0

the city of habita-

tion
most

clearly

was

it

shown

to the prophet that the righteous should prophe tj

he knew

be gathered from

all the earth

fgypts led from eigypt by the right hand

that the children of israel were of the lord and permitted to possess
the west the north
when he would

the land of canaan though they were rebellious in the desert but he far-

ther

knew

that they

were not gathered yron the east from fron

south and the southp southa

at that time for

it

was

clearly mentioned that the lord

lead
saw a promise

himself would prepare a habitation even as he saidp said sald saida

them

to a city of refuge in that david

144

righte ouss for the righteous

who

asee jaee ibee fsee isee jqee

pst ps7 psj

when

they should be delivered from those

oppressed

them and from the hand of strange children

or the enemies of the lord

that their sons should

palace

be

e ilke like plants

grown up

in their youth

and

their
men

e daughters like cormer stones polished after the similitude of a beautiful ilke cozmer

it is

then that the sons and daughters shall prophesy old

and young men see visions

at that time the garners of the righteous will be fullp affording all manner of store it was while contefillp fuli full mplating this time and viewing this happy state of the righteous that he zion says the lord shall reign forever even thy god 0 ziony unto further
dream dreams
V

all

generations

praise ye the lord

time tentribes the earth at the tune the ten tribes of israel

isaiah

who was on

were led away captive from the land of canaan was show not only

their

calamity and sff1 i action but the time when they were to be delivered ction affliction reproving them for their corruption and blindness he prophesies of after

their dispersion
burnt with

he says

your country

is desolate

your

cities are

fire

your land strangers devour

it

cep presence cej in your presen and

it

148

is thus

made

desolatep being overthrown by strangers desolate tej teP desolated desola

he

further says

while speaking of the iniquity of that people

and companions of thieves every one loves wards

thy princes are rebellious

and follows

gifts

after re-

they judge not the fatherless neither does the cause of the

widow come unto them

therefore says the lord of hosts the mighty one

me

easue of israel ah 1 will eas b aas I

of

my

adversaries and avenge

me

of

my

ene-

es mies

but

upon them 1 I

after the calamity has befallen israel and the lord has poured judgements his afflicting judgements as he said by the mouth of moses
upon them

mischiefs will keep mis chiefs

they shall be afflicted with hunger and

devoured with burning heat

and with

bitter destruction 1 will also I

he by

send

themp them the teeth of beasts upon shemp with the poison of the earth

will also
1 I

fulfill this further prediction uttered

turn
my

the mouth of isaiah

will win

hand upon thee and purely purge away thy dross theep

and take away

counselors as at the beginning afterward you shall be called the city

of righteousness the faithful city

saying of david
go

edy edp then will be fulfilled also the

fulfill
way

them and he led than forth by the then

right

that they might

to a city of habitation

what

isaiah continues his prophecy concerning israel and tells them would be done for them in the last days for thus it is written
word

the
and

that isaiah
come cone cane

jersualeme son of amos saw concerning judah and jersualem the

it

shall shall

to pass in the last days that mountain of the

and

lords loab loas lois

and many

house

be

established in the top of the mountains and shall be

exalted above the hills

people shall
go up

all

nations shall flow unto

it

to

mountain of the lord to the house of the god of the

walk ualk will wauk in his paths for the word of the lord from jerusalem
we

jacob and he will teach us of his ways and

out of zion shall go forth the law and
and he shall judge
among

sp nation the nations and shall rebuke

many people

and they

shall beat their

swords into plough shares and

into their spears anto pruning

149

hooks

nations shall not

lift

up

the sword against nation neither shall

fevery dwelling bvery will create avery due ng

they learn war any more

and the lord

place of his people in zionp and upon their assemblies a cloud and smoke zion ziona by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night for upon all the glory

shall

be a covering and a defense

and there shall be a tabernacle for a

and for a place of refuge 9 and
.9

shadow

daytime in the day time

from the heat

for

a convert from storm and from rain

and his people

shall dwell safely

was promised

they shall possess the land yoreverp even the land which foreverj forever

to

their fathers for fathersfor

by the mouth of

an everlasting inheritance for beholdp says the lord behold beholds

cone the day will come that
1 wa 1 1 sow will I w1 11

the prophet

the house

of

israel with the

down

man seed of manp and with the seed of beastp and beast malp beaste shemp have watched over themp them then

it

shall
and

come

e to pass that like as 1 ilke I

to pluck

upp up

to

break

and to destroy
s

and

to afflict

so

will 1 I

watch over them

to

build and to plant says the lord

for this

happy

situation and blessed state of israel did the pro-

looky phets look and obtained a promise tbatp though the house of israel and tint flat fiat

judah should violate the covenant the lord in the

make

last

days would

with them a new one not according to the one which he made with
by
my

their

fathers in the day that he took them

land of egypt
0

the hand to lead them out of the

covenant they broke

which

said the lord

them

although 1 was I

I this shall be the covenant that 1 I make falth the houseof israel faith after those days says the lord 1 kith will tith put my law in their inward parts and 1 will be their god and they I will
a husband and a

father unto

but

.9 9

shall

be my people
.9 9

I for thus says the lord 1 will bring again the captivity of jacobs tents and have mercy on his dwelling places and the city shall heapp heape upon her own heap and the palace shall remain after the manner be builded
thereof
and out of them
and
1 I

shall proceed thanksgiving

and the voice of them

that

make merry

thqy they thep multiply them and thay shall not be few will

150

1 I

will also glorify

them and they

shall not

be qalle si small balle snail snall

their children also

their congregation shall be established before me and 1 will punish all that oppress them I their nobles shall be of vesp themselves and their governor shall proceed from the midst of them themsel timep at the same time says the lord will 1 be the god of all the tilep I families of israel and they shall be my people 1 will bring them from I
and

shall

be as aforetime

the north country and gather them from the coasts of the earth 1 will I say to the northp give up and to the south keep not back bring my sons north northa
from and and

far

and

my
lp

daughters from the ends of the earth

and in those
have been driven
come weeping

at that time says the lord though israel and judah edp together scattered they shall come togetherp they shall even scatter
they shall ask the

for

with supplications will 1 lead them they shall go and seek the lord their I
god

say come and

let

way

to zion with their faces thit herwardt and thitherward

mount ephrain ephraim

us join ourselves to the lord in a perpetual covenant

w&tchmen watchmen forgotten and wkbchmen upon

that shall not

be

shall say

arise

and

let

us go up to zion unto the holy mount of the lord our god

nays for he will teach us of his ways and instruct us to walk in his paths

that they

way

for this to

be

fully accomplished

may be

prepare dp the lord prepared

egypt ian sea lan will utterly destroy the tongue of the egyptian seap and with his mighty sp stream strean wind shake his hand over the river and smite it in its seven streams shode dryshodo bmft1tefont1hthmsnant shod and make men go over dry shodo and there shall be a hfcgbyfotntlhhctttbant e ilke be left from assyria like as it was to israel people which shall of his
when

they

came up

eiygpt out of the land of by9pt

1 I

and thus shall shail shali shat shal

israel

come not a dark conner of the earth shall cone cane

unexplored remain une xplored nor an island of the seas be

left

without being visited

for as the lord

has removed them

into

all

corners of the earth he will

as abundantly manifested in their gathering as cause his mercy to be they are gathered according to his wrath in their dispersion until

151

the covenant
and they

he willp as he fillp will

said by the prophet send for

many
who

fishers

shall fish

hunt them

shall not as their enemies have to af et but with ffladtidings gladtigngs afflict

them and

after

send

for

many

hunters

of great joy with a message of peace and a call yor their return for f or and it will come to pass that though the house of israel has forsaken the lordp and bowed down and worship other gods which werezgods lorap lord werez gods were
and been cast out before the face of the worldp they worldy world

will

know

the voice

calls upon them this tite for soon his people will be willing to hearken to his counsel and even now are they already beginning to be stirred up in their hearts to search for these things and
when he

of the shepherd

are daily reading the ancient prophets and are marking the times and seasons of

fulfillment their fulfilment

thus god

is preparing the

way

for their re-

turn
but
be

it is

necessary that you should understand that what

days js

fulfilled in the last

is

not only

is to for the benefit of israel

but

the ggntiles gntilesp gentiles

be remembered

if

they will repent and embrace the gospel for they are to

sane saine also in the same covenant and are to be fellow heirs with yor god is no ror hamp inasmuch as they are so by faith Abra lor the seed of abraham respecter of persons this was shown to moses when he wrote rejoice
0 ye

nations with his people

in

consequence of the transgression of the jews

were

at the

coming

of

the lord the gentiles lor 4

mp kingdo called into the kingdom and for the obedience

e are to be favored with the gospel in

its
be

fulness firstp in the last days falness firsta first

for

it

is written

the

first shall

last and the last first lasts

there-

fore
upon

whejn ahe wheen whenth9

edp repent whall be delivered for they shall understand ahall shall dellver deliver will and restoration of israel as the lord manifested the plan of salvation

this firstp and first firsta

gospel as was preached by the righteous falness the fulness of the come forth it shall be declared to the gentiles landp shall land landa
whoso

152

to the ancients
they shall

they shall be baptized wat h water and with the spirit with wit
up

their hearts with joy and gladness for the time of their redemption shall also roll on and for their obedience to the faith they shall see the house of jacob come with great glory even with
songs of everlasting joy and with him partake of salvation

lift

therefore as the time draws near

the
moon

when

the sun 1 s to be darkened edp is dakken I

turn to blood and the stars fall from heaven the lord will
commandments and

knoiiuledge bring the knowledge of his people his knokledge knokledge

statutes that

they

may be
.9

prepared to stand when the earth reel to and fro as a

drunken man 9 earthquakes cause the nations to tremble P and the detar oyl ng destroying dettr boyl

angel goes forth to waste the inhabitants at noonday for so great are to noon day
be

the calamities which are to

come upon

the inhabitants of the earth

aen coining before the coming of niejten of t aon

be gathered with

man

JI iaeasecadiitiijttjtetwfaador&baiid JI wmad amad

.9

shall

prepared cannot abide but suck as are found faithful and remain 9 shall

his people and caught

up

to meet the lord in the cloud to our

and so

shall they inherit eternal lifee ilfe life

have now given you a rehearsal of what was communicated
.9 9

1
brother

when he was

directed to

acid go and

obtain the record of the ne

some
sp instances but the instance

philes phites

1 may have missed I

in arrangement in

preserve dP principle is preserved and you will be able to bring forward abundance ppon subject of corrobratinjt scripture apon the subjedt of the gospel and of the corrobratirt gathering
bat fact ptetvto the factp eblatleo give a minute rehearsal facto hat to L 11 la a lengthy interview with a heavenly messenger is very difficult unless of there is another math mith one is assisted immediately meth the gift of inspiration
1

you gou are ptou atou 11

aware of

l1

item 1 wish I

to notice

on

the subject of visions

the spirit you

knowp knoop know

searches

all things

even the deep things of god

when god manifests mien wien uhen

.1 1

cone cane comee servants those things that are to comep or those which have been to his he does

it

by unfolding them by

the

power of

that spirit

which comprehends

153

a yli aings allhings ali ail all hings

always and so much may be shown and madeperfectly plain made perfectly nade

to the understanding in a short time that to the world who are occupied all their life to igfn a littlep look at the relation of itj and are igan littlee learn ljttle ita it disposed to call it false you will understand then by this that while those glorious things were being rehearsed the vision was also opened
so

that our brother

was
am

permitted to see and understand

much more

full

act and pery ect than 1 perfect I

he conveyed

werl able to communicate in weriting meriting witingo teriting teri witinko

1 know much may I

to the understanding in writing

and many marv ellous marvellous marcellous

set forth with the pen but after

open
7

all it is

but a shadow

truths compared to an

se realizing eternal things and vision of seaimg hearing and realiz ing et realia thinq99 ernal
were known knownp

if the

facts
ations

it

would be found

that of all the heavenly

communic-

to the ancients
showed

we have no more bave

in comparison than the alphabet to

a quarto vocabulary

it is
day

saida and 1 believe the account that the saidp sald said I

lord

ioriancume aall s ll ali sii the brother of jared fmoriancumer7all things which were to sll

transpire

from

that
1 I

wel I weli weil well to the end of the earth as wet 1 as those

which

had taken place

believe that moses

was

permitted to see the

same as sames

hin the lord caused them to pass in vision before him as he stood upon the mount 1 believe that the lord jesus told many things to his apostles I ascension inf elded lon unfolded written and after his as cens ion unf olded all things unto lahip lehl lehi them 1 believe that nephi the son of lehip whom the lord brought out I I of jerusalem saw the same 1 believe that the twelve upon this continent
which are not
whom

the lord chose to preach this gospel

when he came down

to manifest

to this branch of the house of israel that

things transpire in vision before their eyes
moroni
whose words 1 have been rehearsing I

he had other sheep who

voice were also permitted to behold the same mighty should hear his
and 1 believe I
who communicated

that the angel

the knowledge

aiso also before he hid up alsos nephites the record of the Nep hites in this of marvellous marcellous great and marv ellous things which were to transpire unbothe same unto the lord untothe the tothe
ages
saw

154 when

sane the same should

upon u0on ubon

come

forth and 1 also believe that I

god

mili miil give will vill

xqadn apdn line precept apan precept to his saints wrbil all these unti untl antl things will be unfolded th thens and they finally sanctified and brought them then

line

into the celestial glory

where

tears will
VII

be wiped from fron

all

faces and

sighing and sorrowing flee away

letter

in part
MESSENGER AND ADVOCATE

july
you

1835

will

remember

that in

my

I last 1

brought
1823

my

subject

down

to the

everm ig or night of the 21st of september evening evera

and gave an

outline of the
9

conversation of the angel upon the important fact of the blessings promises and covenants to andcovenants

israel

and the great manifestations of favor to

worldy world falness the worldp in the ushering in of the fulness of the gospel to prepare

the

way

aho for the second advent of the messiah Messi

when he comes

in the glory

of the fatehr with the holy angels

A

remarkable fact

is to

be noticed with regard vith

to this vision
dream

in ancient time the lord

instance
young

sane warned some of

his servants in dreams for in a

to take the

josephp josephj joseph the husband of mary was warned

nother child and his mother and

warned of

the lord in a

dream
n

alsop aiso flee into egypt also the wise men were not to return to herod and when out of such were the manifestations to

egypt the son was called

the angel of the lord appeared in a dream to

turn aside into the parts of galilee

and in them the

joseph the favored descendant of the father of the

faithful in

dreams

lord fulfilled

I purposes 0 but the one of which 1 have his

vision called an open visioni and though
there is
no room

been speaking

is

what would have been

it

was

in the night yet

it

was

not a dream

for

155
F

c 0n conjecture
1I

in this matter and to talk of deception

sense of every
man who knows when he

would be
awake ai rake
nake

to sport with
sees and

the

common

is

when he

wh e i he when

does not see

he could not have been deceived

hum hem kind appeared to him and that hen

in the fact that a being of

some

it

was a heavenly one

fulfillment the fulfilment of

and wcr d ward wcrd bcr

his words
mormon

so minutely upp minute lyp

to this time in addition to the truth

of salvation which has been developed to this generation in the book of

ought to be conclusive evidence bo the mind of every man who
same

is

privileged to hear of the

you

he was awake
made

and

in solemn prayer as

bear will hear in

mind

when

the angel

his appearance from that

up

glory which surrounded him the

to a perfect brilliancy lit hearts so that darkness wholly disappeared he heard his words with hishearts his arbs hisearbs hise
room was

and received a joy and happiness indescribable by hearing

that his

own

sins were forgiven and his former transgressions to

him no more

be remembered

against
h

if

he thian continued chhn thlin thhn he

holy commandments

also

saw

to walk before the lord according to his ird him departs the light and glory withdraw depart
man

bhte bhb calmness leaving a ca ess and peace of soul past bab language of
imms

to paint

he deceived

far

from

this for the vision

was renewed twice before morning

farther the mysteries of godliness and those still things to come in the morning he went to his labor as usual but soon heavenly messenger was renewed insturcting him to go the vision of the
unfolding farther and
edp inform thihgs of which he had been informed with a immediately and velv those things

promise that

he should obtain them

if

he followed

the directions and

wen P went

with an eye single

to the glory of god accordingly he repaired to the place

which had thus been des-

necessary to give you more fully the express instruccribed but it is angels with regard to the obgetit of this work in which our obaett tions of the angel

156

brother had
house of

now engaged
1

he was

to

remember

that
made

it
to

was

the

work of

the

lord to fulfill certa in promises previously certain

a branch of the

israel of the tribe of joseph

be done expressly with an eye

and when andwhen

it

should be brought

forth must
you

as

1 I

said before single to

godp goda ood the glory of god and the welfare and restoration of the house of israel

will understand then that no motive of a pecuniary or earthly nature was fuffered to take the lead of the heart of the
.9 9

man

thus favored

the allurements of vice the contaminating influence of

eum d ance kum without the direct guidance of the holy wealth

spirit

.9 9

must have no
warm

fron fran place in the heart nor be suffered to take from

it

that

desire for

obtaining obta n lordo the glory and kingdom of the lord or instead of oata ining disappointment arid add reproof would most assuredly follow such was the instruction ardd and
iono lone caution this the caut lono

157
APPENDIX C APPRMIX
OBSON HYDE ORSON hyue HYDEIS ACCOUNT

orson hyde byde

was

born january 8 1805

at oxford connecticut

he

joined the methodist faith but becoming dissatisfied joined the campbe-

llite

movement and assumed a

position as pastor over three congregations

the book of
mormon and was

later
ptized
1835

he opposed and then ivestigatad ivestfegatad

bato dedifrom

in october

1831

he was appointed

to
go he

be an apostle

in february of e
1840

one of his missionary

calls

was

to

to jerusalem in

cate the land for the return of the jews

new york

left

on

that mission

city in february of 1841 after accomplishing the purpose of his mission he went to germany where he published an account of the
vision in the german language
concerning the publication joseph

first

smith records

elder hyde published a pamphlet elry G entitled A ory in the wilderness in the disep etc of shout 120 pages settling forth the risep progress and dorise latter day ctrines of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints
something

augusta month zkugust 1847 Ge many man language in germany

this

this entitled

pamphlet was published

A

in frankfurt

german

1842

and was

earths cry from the wilderness avvoice irom the dust of the eartha earth from eaith 0
was

the author orson hyde

tion into english 159 office about 1059

was made

erp erv also the publisher the following translapublish historians by justus ernst of the church historian

mc
dhow dhco daco

v po 142 vos p vej

158

joseph smitji smitkv smitke

was

jr to

whom

the angel of the lord

was
.1 1

sent
on

first

born in the town of sharon windsor county vermont Ilind sor

1805

the 23rd of

december
when uhen

ten years old his parents with their family

new york

moved

to

in the vicinity of which he resided for about eleven years the latter part in the town of manchester his only activity was to plow and cultivate the fieldsp As his parents were poor and had to take fields fieldse
palmyra

care of a large family his educ&tion was very limited eduaktion education ted

he could read

yp without much difficulty and write a very imperfect hand and had a very difficult

limited understanding of the elementary rules of arithmetic

these were
so

hgghest hghest his highest and only attainements while the rest of those branches

universally taught in the

were

common

schools throughout the united states

entirely

unknown

to

him

when somewhere about

fourteen or fifteen years old he began

necessity seriously to reflect upon the nedessity of being prepared for a future state of existence but how or in what way to prepare himself was a
question as yet undetermined in his
a question of
own mind

perceived perde ived he perdeived

that

it

was

infinite importance

he saw

that

if

he understood not

the

may way uay

it

would be impossible

to walk in

it

except by chance and the

upon chance or

thought of resting his hopes of eternal

life

uncertain-

ties

was more

than he could endure

religious world working under numerous errors through their contradicting nature and principles gave cause to which so many different sects and parties and whose the organization of
he disdovered a discovered

hatep hate each other were poisoned through hapep envy malace feelings against
and rage
who would

he

feit felt f eit elt

that there should be only one

truth

and
AL

that those
same

understand

it

correct lyp would understand correctly

it

iti ili ill the

159

manner

nature had gifted him with a strong discerning mind and so he

looked through the glaze of soberness and good sense upon these religious systems which all were so different but nevertheless all drawn from the

scripture of truth

after

he had
was

that darkness

sufficiently assured himself to his own satisfaction covering the earth and gross darkness the minds of
up hope fever

the people he gave

to find

a sect of party

that

was

in the

possession of the pure and unadulterated truth

he accordingly commenced perusing the sacred pages of ced

caen

the bible

with sincerity believing the things that he read

hold of the following passage

his

mind soon caught

if any
liberally
from

ofyou of you lack

wisdom

let
and

him ask

of god that giveth to

be given him

all

men

and upbraideth not upbraid eth

it

shall
the

james 125 15
men

this

promise he learned

that

it

was

privilege of all
and thus he

to ask

god

for

wisdom

with the sure and certain

doings lidber ally doi eraily brally expectation of receiving lidberally without being upbraided for so dox ng erally

started to send the burning desires of his soul with a faitheP ful determination he therefore retired to a secret place in a grove therefor
upon

but a short distance from his

to call
his

the lord

fathers house and knelt down and at first he was severely tempted by the
4

began powers

of darkness which endeavored to overcome him

mind with doubts

the adversary benighted

A

and brought
him

has to his souls all kinds of improper

sem
MMW

pictures and tried to hinder

in his efforts and the accomplishment gad gfed overblowing over1lowing overllowing however the overt lowing mercy of g&d came to buoy him overl of his goal soon new impulse and momentum to his dwindling strength up and gave
edv eds disappear dark clouds disappeared and light and peace the

heart

and again he

filled his troubled upon the lord uponthe called uponthelord with renewed faith and

spiritual strength

160

at this sacred

moment

his mind

was caught away from

the natural objects

with which he was surrounded and he was enwrapped in a heavenly vision edo surround
and saw two gim rious p erso nages glorious personages bim
who

exactly resembled each other in

their features or likeness

he was

they said him that his prayers had been

answered and that the lord had decided to grant him a special blessings biess bless ingv

told not to join any of the religious sects or any party

as they were

ail ali all

wrong

in their doctrines and none of them

should at
some

was

recog-

dome nized by god as his church and kingdom king domo

he received a promise

that the
mind

true doctrine
be made known

falness the fulness of the gospel

tune tene tilep future timep

to

him

after

which the

withdrew vision withdrews leaving his

in a state of calmness
some time

and peace

indescribable

after

having received the glorious manifestation manifestations

which world being young he was again entangled in the vanities of the worlds of whidh
he afterwards

repented tedo sincerely and truly repentede

300 ZL 31

and

it

pleased god on the evening of the 21st of september

96w

ra

adj
AD ada
was

1823

to again hear his prayers

was drawn out

for

he had

retired to rest as

usual s only that his mind

filled

with the most

who

in fervent prayer and his soul f1to comune to earnest desire fato commune with some kind

messenger

could communicate to him the desired information of his

11

gods acceptance with god ood oods

principles and also unfold the ppinciples of the doctrine

forner chrisop of christp according to the promise which he had received in the former christ

vision
while continuing in prayer for a manifestation in
were for givens endeavouring forgiven
some way

that

to exercise faith in the scriphis sins I a sudden a light 1 i ke that of day only of a purer and far ilke like tures on indeed the room indeedy more glorious appearance and brightness burst into
to use his
own

description

the

f1the fethe

first

sight

was as though the house

161
way waaa wa wab wai

leith irith filled with

consuming and unquenchable

fire

this

sudden appearance

of a light so bright as must naturally be e expected occasioned a shock qpected

or sensation he

felt through the extremities of his

body

it

was has

how-

ever followed with a calmness and serenity of mind and an overwhelming rapture of joy that surpassed understanding and in a moment a
personage stood before him

notwithstanding the room was previously

filled with light

above
seemed

the brightness of the sun as 1 have beforedescribedp yet there before described I

to

be an

gep persona additional glory surrounding or accompanying this personage

which shone with an increased degree of icreased

he was and though

brilliancy in the midst of

lightning yet
much sop so soj

which

his countenance

was as

it

was

of a

pleasing innocent and glorious appearance so

that every

fear
soul

was banished

calmness arm his heart and nothing but ca ess pervaded his fro fra frm

the stature of this personage

of
men
gammett garoient in this age his gamment

was a

little

above

the

common s axe stze lxe size

was

perfectly white and

had

the appear-

ance of being without seam

glorious being declared himself to be an angel of god sent this

forth by

commandment 2

to

communicate

to

him

that his sins

were forgiven

sp tidings prayers were heard and also to bring the joyful tiding and that his

that

covenant which god made with ancient the

was

israel

concerning

their

that the great preparatory posterity that work for the second coming of the messiah was speedily to commence yui yulness fulness falness ful tune was at hand for the gospel in its fulnessp to be preached in tine the time sp power unto all nations that a people might be prepared with faith and nation

at

hand

to

be

fulfilled

joy reign of universal peace and joye millennial righteousness for the
he was informed

that

he was

called and chosen to

be an instrument

162

in the hands of

god

to bring about

some

of his marv ellous purposes marvellous marcellous

made
P

in this glorious dispensation

it

was

also

manifest to him that

americoan amerl coan american the Ameri coen indians were a remnant of israel that when they first emigrated to america they were an enlightened people possessing a knowledge of the true god enjoying his favour and peculiar blessings

his hand that the prophets and inspired writers among them were required to keep a sacred history of themist important events transpirnost the most themost
from

ing

among shemp which themp them then

history

was handed down

for

many

generations

till at

at length they fell into great wickedness

edp were destroyed and the records destroy

the greatest part of them

by commandment of god

to

one

bf the last

prophets

among them

were

safely deposited to preserve them from the

hands of the wicked who sought

to destroy

them

he was informed

that

those records contained

many

sacred revelations pertaining to the gospel

of the kingdom as well as prophecies relating to the great events of the

sp to that co fulfill his promises to the ancients who wrote ancient the records and to accomplish his purposes in the restitution of their ace &c &ce children ac they were to come forth to the knowledge of the people

last

days and

.9 9

if

faithful

waas was he waes

to be the instrument

who

should be thus highly favored

in bringing these sacred things to light at the same time being expressly gody must be done with an single to the glory df god informed that it omed inf
that
no one could

entrusted with these sacred writings

.9

who

should

endeavor to aggrandize himself 9 by converting sacred things to unrighteous

and speculative purposes

hin after giving him

many

instructions concerning

things past and to

come

which would be foreign

to our purpose to mention

cerep he disappeared and the herep here

mind

light

withdrewi of and glory at god withdrew leaving

perfect peace while a calmness and serenity indescribable in his mo ngp nap morning the vision was twice renewed souie soule soui pervaded the soul but before

163

instructing him further and hin

god about

still

concer ning the further concerning t he great

work

of

to

be performed on the

earth

in the

morning he went out

to

h s work as his

usual but soon the vision was renewed

the angel again

appeared and having been informed by the previous visions of the night concerning the spot where these rewords were deposited he was instructed redords

to

go immediately and veiw than them seiw then was

accordingly he went to the place so

dp indicated which indicate

located not far from his fathers house

this

was on

september 22 AD
.9 9

1823

exertion in removing
a

yp repositor after arriving at the repository a little the soil from the edges of the top of the box and

brough trough light lever brought its contents to his natural sight uhlie viewing labile and contemplating his sacred treasure with wonder and astonishment behold trea bure Dure

the angel of the lord

before and he was

who

previously visited him again stood in

was

cep presence his presen and his souls cej

again enlightened as
holy

it

was

the evening
him

filled with

spirit

.9 9

and the heavens were

opened and the glory of the

lord shone round about and rested upon

by

while he thus stood gazing and admiring the angel said

kiff lookiff look and as leok Loo

Che thus spake he beheld the prince of darkness surrounded e th

innumerable train of associates innunt

his

all this

passed before him and the

heavenly messenger said

all this is

shown shoun

the good and the evil the

may

holy and the impure

know

the glory of god and power of darkness that you

two powers and never be influenced or overcome by

hereafter the

that

wicked one

behold whatever entirces and leads to good and to do good

is

godo of god and whatever does not

is of that
walk

wicked one

it is

he

that

fills
the

the hearts of
of holiness

men

with evilp to evil evila

darkness and blaspheme god in

ways

and you may

way

learn from henceforth that his

are to destruction but

and

is

peace and

rest

you now see why you could not

obtain this record that the

commandment was

strict

that

if

ever

164

these sacred things are obtained they must be by prayer and faithfulness in obeying the lord they are not deppetted here for the sake of acdeppe&ted deppetted
cumulating gain and wealth for the glory of
by

this

world

they were sealed

the prayer of faith and because of the knowledge which they contain they are of no worth among the children of men only for their knowledge

in

them

is

contained the fulness of the gospel of jesus christ as falness

it

was

this land and when it shall be brought forth by the power of god it shall be carried to the gentiles of whom many shall e recej ve it and after will the seed of israel be brought into the fold receive recek redeemer by of their redeemed ty obeying it also those who kept the commandments of the lord on this land desired this at his hand and through the prayer of faith obtained the promise that if their descendants should transway gey gress and fall away that a record might be kept and in the last days ley sop come to their children soj these things are sacred and must be kept so for no concerning them must be fulfilled mo man can promise of the lord the obtain them if his heart is impure because they contain tho which is
given to his people on
and sacred andp besides 4 should they be entrusted in unholy hands the knowanda

ledge would not

come

to the world because they cannot

be

interpreted

by

the learning of this generation consequently they would be considered of no worth only as precious metal therefore remember that they are
.9 9 .9 9
.9 9

to

be

work

translated marvellous marcellous a great and marv ellous

by the

gift

and power of god

work

by them

will the lord

become

the widdon of the wise shall

as

nought

and

understanding of the prudent shall hb his and because the

the

power of god

shall

edp be displayed those who displAy

profess to

know

the truth

but walk
wonders

shall tremble with anger but with signs and with in deceit with gifts and with healings with the manifestations of the
the holy
ghosty ghost

godp goda ood power of god and with

the hearts of the faithful be shall

165

comforted

you have now beheld the power of god manifested and the power you

of

that there is nothing that is desirable in the works of darkness that they cannot bring happiness that those who are overcome

etan stan

there with are miserable while

on

the other hand the righteous are

enemy

god blessed with a place in the kingdom of godp where joy unsepakable surgoda unseparable

rounds them
where no

there they rest beyond the power of the

them

of truth

evil dan disturb

crowns the glory of god cro vms them and they

continually feast upon his goodness and enjoy his smiles

behold not
may

withstanding you have seen this great display of power by which you witstanding wit standing

ever be able to detect the evil ohep yet 1 give unto you another sign ohe I
and when

it

comes

to pass then

know

that the lord is

and tongue

god and

that

he

will

fulfill
will
go

his purposes and that the knowledge which this record contains

to every nation

and kindred
a

and people under the

this is the signs when these things begin to be known shenit that is whenit is known that the lord has show you these things the workers of iniquity will seek your overthrow they will circulate falseto t hoods to destroy your reputation and also will seek tot ake your life tontinue tonti nue remember this if you are faithful and shall hereafter continue to but
whole heaven
command wants commandnants commandeents nants keep the commandments of the

lord

you

shall

be preserved to bring these

commandment

tijae things forth for in due mijae he will again give you a ta4e
come and

to

take them
by water

when

edp they are interpreted the lord will give the interpret

sane holy priesthood to some and they shall begin to proclaim

and baptize and

this gospel
to give the

after that they shall

on of

have power

their men shall be revealed and those who more and more for the iniquities of upon the rock will seek to overthrow this church but it are not built uon
holy ghost by the laying
hands

then will persecution rage

spread further and further increasing opposed will increase the more oppose dv and

166

in knowledge
and

till they

shall

be

sanctified and receive an inheritance

upon thew the

where the glory of god

this takes place all things are prepared the ten tribes of israel will be revealed
and when
and

will rest

in the north country whither they have been for a long season
when

mil wll this is fulfilled wil

be brought
come

to pass that saying of the proand unto them

t

phet
from

and the redeemer shall

to zion

that turn
the lord lrd ard

transgression in jacob saith the lord

be extended and you
commandments

but notwithstanding
arm of

the workers of iniquity shall seek your destruction the

will
his

will be borne off conquerer

if

you keep

all

your name shall be known among the nations for the sj nation

work which

the lord will perform by your hands shall cause the righteous

to rejoice and the wicked to rage with the one

and with the other in reproach yet with these

it it

shall
shall
way

hondorp be had in honorp honor

be a

terror t error

marv ellous marcellous because of the great and marvellous work which shall follow the coming

forth of
and he

falness this fulness of the gospel

now nowp go dowp

thy

remembering what
commandments

the lord has done for thee and be diligent in keeping his

will deliver thee

from temptations and

all the arts

and devices

of the wicked one

forget not to pray that thy mind

11

may become

strong

that

when he

thee manifest unto theep thou mayest have power to escape shall

the evil and obtain these precious things during the four following years he frequently received instruc-

tion

from

the

mouth of
A-

the heavenly messenger

and on the morning of

the angel of the lord delivered the records his hands these records were engraved on plates which had the into gold each plate was not far from seven by eight inches appearance of
22 september 22y
D

1827

length being not quite as thick as common tin they were in width and egyptian sp engraving on both sides with engravings in inegyptian characters and bound filled

16 167

together in a volume as the leaves of a

book

and fa stenek fastened stened

at

one edge

with three rings running through the whole

this

volume was something

near six inches in thickness a part of which was sealed vas iras
1

the characonstruction as

cters of1letters upon the unsealed part were small and beautifully engraved of letters

the whole book exhibited

well as
much

many marks

of antiquity in

its

engraving ahr art aht skill in the ar of engravings

with the records were found two transparent stones

clear as

crystal called

by

arim the ancients the urim and

thummimj Thum mim thummim nln nin

which were used

in

ancient times by persons called seers these were used in the following manner these two stones called
was excluded
thummim in urim and Thummim m diameter the size of an elgish crown coin only a arim elaish

little

thicker thickerp

were placed where

all light

the persons

prgyers using these offered their preyers to the lord and the answer became
arim visible p written in letters of light on the urim and
T Thummim thummim

but disap-

peared again soon after

thus
not
11

thej the light in darkness and the thed thea

in this
manner

danig ness comprehended danns daris darisness adar dess tdar ss

it

the sacred records were

she english trasnalted into engli sha

168
APPENDIX APPEMIX H
WILLIAM SMITHS ACCOUNT CCOUNT wllliam willlam k

mathis

vel vei vii william

smith

was

born march

13

1811

making him six years

when he was 72

younger than his brother

joseph

in

1883

ag e years of age

william published a book on the history of the church

he

in his preface

states that revelation is founded upon visions and dreams and angel sic visits to man and why should not god send angels to deliver messages to his servants in these latter days as well as in older times
proc edes with this premise william precedes to give his story of the rise of the
churche church

even though he confuses the

so visitations visitation

he

contributes to the
many

understainding of the environment of the time and the reaction of the tine understainding
family to the experiences

since this publication appeared

years

death after josephs deaths it does not contain the prophets correction of the details the following part of williams narrative is from pages

six through ten of his book

lamoni momonism iano nip moronism lano william smith william smith on Mo monism Iamo 4 office 1883 pi 4e steam book and job orfice 18831 po ae herald
.0 0

iowa

169

in

1822
up

and 18231 1823

the people in our neighborhood were very

much

stirred
mr

with regard to the religious matters by the preaching of a

elder of the methodist church and celebrated through the country as a great revival preachers
my

kanep lanep an lane

mother

who was

very pious

woman and much

interested in the
made use

welfare of her children both here and hereafter

means which her

of every

parental love could suggest to get us engaged in

salvation or as the
erm

seeking for our souls

then was

in getting

religion
1 I

she prevailed on us to attend the meetings

became

and almost

the whole family

interested in the matter

much

and seekers

resty nest attended the meetings with the nesty but being quite young rest
extradodinary this extradvdinarjr

after truth and in-

considerate did not take so

ones did
boyhood but throughout borhood

interest in the matter as the older

great numbers were con-

excitement prevailed not only in our neigh

the whole country

verted

it
and

sp then Baptist extended from the methodists to the baptists from them to

P esbyterians the presbyterians and so until finally Presbyte rians

all

the sects became engaged

ft

in

it

it

be came quite the fashion to get religion became cane becane

my hy

mother con-

nt erest nterest tinued her importunities and exertions to gnterest us in the importance interest
souls soulso of seeking for the salvation of our immortal coulso until almost

all

of

the family

became

either converted or seriously inclined

.9 9

the excitement has subsided in a measure each sect began after cone ifwe we are rightft come and iffe right up for volunteers each one saying to beat
oln join us J oin
O 0

11

twalk twala waik walk naik

with us and
my

we

will

do you good

etc the conseolder than 1 I

ap 1p

quence was

that presbyterian church joseph then about seventeen years of joined the unbrought brought dp age had become seriously inclined though not nbrought out as the incline
mother
my
.9 9

brothers

hyrum and samuel

phrase was

and began

to rel&ect and inquire which of all these sects reflect retlect

170
was

right

each one said that

it

was

right which

he knew could not be

the case and the question then hos which one of the whole taught the true was hns vos gospel of jesus christ and made known the plan of salvation if he went
.0 0

to

one he was

told they

were

right and
him

others all otherss

were wrong

if

to

anotherp the same was heard from them another

each professed to be the true

church

this did not satisfy

straight

as he was aware that there could be

n

but one way of entering into the kingdom of heaven and that there was but one
and narrow path

etc

all this

however was

beneficial

himp to him as hin

it

urged him forward and strengthened him in the determination

to

know

for himself of the certainty and reality of pure and holy religion

he continued

in secret to call

upon the

lord for a full manifestqtion of manifestation

his will the assurance that

6 6f he was accepted af him and

that

he might

have an understanding of the path of obedience

at length

he determined

to call

upon

the lord until he should get

a manifestation from him

he accordingly went out

into the

woods and

falling fa ng upon his knees called for a long time upon the lord for
and knowledge and descended

wisdom

while engaged in prayer a light appeared in the heavens uhlie

until it rested

upon

trees kreeb the krees where he

was

it

appeared
an
he
mmmm&

like fire
him

but to his great astonishment did hot burn the trees

many

angel then appeared to him and conversed with him upon

none of

things

the sects were right but that if he was faithful that told keeping the commandments he should receive the true way should be made in
known

to

him

that his sins

were forgiven

next day 1 was at work in the field together with joseph I the
and
my

eldest brother alvin

him

joseph looked pale and unwell so that

alvin told
by the

if

was sick he need not work he then went and he

sat

down

fence when

angel again appeared to him and told him to call the

171

heris his fat herts house together and fathers

received
p

communicate

to them the visions he had

which he had not yet

told

any aap say to sap one and promised him

if

he would do so they would

believe

it
to

he

that accordingly asked us to

us

come

to the house as
him as

he had something
how

tell

after

we were

all
short
.9 9

gathered he arose and bold us kold boid told

the angel appeared to

him

what he had
him a

told

ajgove written angove and that the angel had also given above
who

account of the inhabitants

formerly resided upon this continent a

full history
to us

of

whom

he said was engraved on some

plates

which were

hidden bidden and which the angel promised to show him

sometime
knowing

he continued

talking

bftlievyi aall aali the whole family were melted to tears and believa11 fill

he said

that

he was very young

that

he had not enjoyed the

advantages of a
C

common

education and knowing too his whole character

and disposition they were convinced ind

that

he was

totally incapable of
usp fuhere fore us fehere of asp therefore believed cumorah 9
.9

sp parents before his aged parent his brothers and sister and so solemnly arising

giving utterance to anything but the truth

him and anxiously awaited the result of his
i

all

visit to the hill

containing the record of which the angel told him ln in search of the plates

172
APPENDIX 1 ix

I
some
corm com nonly commonly comnonly cord of the most cormnonly used

comparative chart

the following chart compares

published sources of the account of the

first vision

and moronis

visi-

tation as follows the pgarl of great pice account which is accepted today ppice apice plarl ptarl etarl by the church of esus christ of latter day saints as part jsus
of

its scripture

2 20

missionary pamphlet published by the church of jesus of latterday saints which has been used for many christ christof latter day years
new pamphlet published conary mi s A onary tract missionary ra ct
A

3
40 4

in

1963 which

is

now

used as a

joseph smiths the church

own

account as published in the history of

ae 5e

joseph smithis account as published in the times and smith seasons and known as the wentworth letter

1 I
each

and

me

exhusbLETTER

glorious

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ON

LETTER

SEASONS

&
KENTTORTH IWTVJORTH

TIMES

P
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OF

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of

P
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P
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P
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31
116
2031

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of

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lost
pages

of

HISTORY

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as
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SEASONS

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HISTORY

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FJ

LETTER IWTER
SEASONS

AM

NTORTH

vaawraorth

JDUI
TIMES

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paragraph

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HISTORY HISMORY

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