Doctrine and Covenants Week 2: Joseph SmithHistory

1) Introduction. a) [SLIDE 2] Joseph SmithHistory is the canonized portion of Josephs 1838 history of the Church. b) It covers Joseph Smiths family background and childhood, and continues up to May 1829, when he and Oliver Cowdery received the Aaronic Priesthood from John the Baptist while translating the Book of Mormon at Harmony, Pennsylvania. c) Joseph was commanded by revelation to keep a historical record (D&C 21:1). He made several attempts to compose a formal Church history1 before compiling the previous ones into the narrative we have here. d) He began this project in April 1838 at Far West, Missouri;2 it was not completed until 1856, twelve years after his death. e) The completed portions, detailing Josephs early years, were published during his lifetime in serial format in Church periodicals.3 The brief excerpt that we now call Joseph SmithHistory was included in the first edition of the Pearl of Great Price, published in England in 1851 by [2.1] apostle Franklin D. Richards, and has remained in every edition since then.4

1 Like most of Joseph Smiths papers, this history was dictated to a scribe or compiled by a scribe from previous manuscripts. Joseph himself composed relatively few official documents in his own hand; even most of the entries in his personal journals were written by others. In keeping with common historiographical practice at the time, entries by his scribes were written in the first person, as if Joseph was writing himself, even when the scribe was working on his own without Joseph. The histories written during Joseph Smiths lifetime are in the process of being published as part of the Joseph Smith Papers project. One volume has been completed to date that includes the six official histories completed under Josephs direction: Histories, Vol. 1: Joseph Smith Histories, 18321844, edited by Karen Lynn Davidson, David J. Whittaker, Mark Ashurst-McGee, and Richard L. Jensen (Salt Lake City: The Church Historians Press, 2012). 2 On Friday, 27 April 1838 Joseph, Sidney Rigdon, and Hyrum Smith, with George W. Robinson as scribe, spent most of the day writing a history of this Church from the earliest period of its existance up to this date. History of the Church 3:25 (http://byustudies2.byu.edu/hc/3/4.html#25). They continued working on it the following week, and by 2 May they had composed the history up through the point of Josephs obtaining of the gold plates in September 1827 (JSH 1:60b). They may have gotten as far as the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood and the baptism of Joseph and Oliver on 15 May 1829; if so, this would mean that the extract we have in Joseph SmithHistory was written in April and May 1838. However, this original manuscript is now lost; what we do have are three drafts written by scribe James Mulholland at Nauvoo, Illinois, beginning on 22 April 1839. Its impossible to know what the relationship is between the 1838 history and Mulhollands work, but it seems likely that Mulholland had the earlier work in his possession: His first draft begins with Immediately upon our coming up out of the water after we had been baptized (see JSH 1:73), suggesting that he had the 1838 document and was picking up where it had left off. Mulhollands three drafts are available in Histories, Vol. 1, 186463 and online at http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSummary/history-1838%E2%80%931856-volume-a-1. 3 A serialized account of the history was published in Nauvoo over four years in the Times and Seasons (vol. 3 no. 10 [15 March 1842]vol. 6 no. 23 [15 February 1846]). It reached as far as in the historical record as the return of Zions Camp to Kirtland in August 1834. Publication of the history resumed in Salt Lake City in the Deseret News (vol. 2 no. 1 [15 November1851]vol. 7 no. 46 [20 January 1858]). It concluded with the account of the sustaining of Brigham Young and the Twelve as the leaders of the Church in August 1844, and a postscript bore testimony of Joseph Smith and the accuracy of the published history. Meanwhile, in England, The Latter Day Saints Millennial Star published the history from June 1842 (vol. 3 no. 2) through May 1845 (vol. 5 no. 12). The series was suspended until April 1852 (vol. 14 no. 8). A December 1852 supplement contained 56 pages of the history. The completed history was later edited by Elder B.H. Roberts and published as a seven-volume set under the title History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 190212). 4 The historical extract has been variously known as Extracts from the History of Joseph Smith (1851, 1879, 1902 editions), Joseph Smith 2 (1921), and is known today as Joseph SmithHistory (1981).

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f) This is not the only account Joseph left of his First Vision and other early experiences. 5 In our study today well look at other accounts as well and see what information we can learn from them. 2) Josephs family background.6 a) [SLIDE 3] New England roots. i) The Smiths were descendants of Robert Smith, who at age twelve sailed from England in 1638 at the height of the Puritan emigration. His descendants settled in Topsfield, Massachusetts, a farm village 10 miles north of Salem. ii) Roberts great-grandson, Asael Smith (17441830) was the father of eleven children with Mary Duty, including Joseph Smith (Sr.). He served in the Revolutionary War. [SLIDE 4] Facing difficult economic conditions, in 1791 he sold the family farm in Topsfield and moved his family to Turnbridge, Vermont, where he had purchased 83 acres of uncleared land. He became moderately prosperous there, and was able to give his seven sons their own farmland. iii) [SLIDE 5] Luck Mack was the youngest of eight children born to Solomon Mack and Lydia Gates. Her father was born in Connecticut and served in the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. Solomons life is an epic story of repeated fortune and success followed by total loss and destitution. He was severely injured several times. [SLIDE 6] Their family eventually settled in Gilsum, New Hampshire, where Solomon remained until his death in 1820. iv) It during a visit to her brothers home in Turnbridge when Lucy met Joseph Smith. They were married in January 1796. b) [SLIDE 7] Joseph Smith, Sr. was a very spiritual man, but not terribly religious. He believed firmly in prayer and was given to frequent prophetic dreams and spiritual impressions, but he hovered on the margins of the churches.7 c) Lucy Mack Smith, on the other hand, was very concerned about her spiritual state, and taught her children from the Bible. She investigated many different denominations, including Methodism and Presbyterianism. 3) The Smith family in Vermont and New Hampshire (17961816). a) Joseph, Sr. and Lucy had eleven children (JSH 1:4), two of whom died at childbirth.8 Joseph, Jr. was their fifth child and third surviving son.

5 Four of the six early histories overseen by Joseph include an account of the First Vision, with the earliest one recorded in his own hand in the summer of 1832 (Histories, Vol. 1, 1013). There are also other contemporary accounts written by individuals who were closely acquainted with Joseph. 6 Most of the information in this section is drawn from Richard Lyman Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005), 829. 7 Bushman, 23. In 1797 Joseph, Sr. had a brief flirtation with Universalism. 8 Joseph and Lucys children were: (unnamed son); B./D. 1797, Turnbridge, Vermont. Alvin; B. 11 Feb 1798, Turnbridge, Vermont; D. 19 Nov 1823, Palmyra, New York. Hyrum; B. 9 Feb 1800, Turnbridge, Vermont; D. 27 Jun 1844, Carthage, Illinois. Sophronia; B. 17 May 1803, Turnbridge, Vermont; D. 28 Oct 1876, Colchester, Illinois. Joseph, Jr.; B. 23 Dec 1805, Sharon, Vermont; D. 27 Jun 1844, Carthage, Illinois. Samuel H.; B. 13 Mar 1808, Turnbridge, Vermont; D. 30 Jul 1844, Nauvoo, Illinois. Ephraim; B. 13 Mar 1810, Royalton, Vermont; D. 24 Mar 1810, Royalton, Vermont. William Smith; B. 13 Mar 1811, Royalton, Vermont; D. 13 Nov 1894, Osterdock, Iowa. Catherine; B. 28 Jul 1813, Lebanon, New Hampshire; D. 1 Feb 1900, Fountain Green, Illinois. Don Carlos; B. 25 Mar 1816, Norwich, Vermont; D. 7 Aug 1841, Nauvoo, Illinois. Lucy Smith; B. 18 Jul 1821, Manchester, New York; D. 9 Dec 1882, Colchester, Illinois.

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b) [SLIDE 8] Joseph and Lucy had started their married life with a reliable farm. After six years they rented out their farm and opened a store in nearby Randolph, Vermont. c) They suffered a fateful loss in 1802: Joseph, Sr. put a large amount of money into a ginseng shipment that was stolen by a business associate. He lost everything and was financially ruined. He was forced to sell his farm to pay his debts, after which the Smiths crossed the boundary dividing independent ownership from tenancy and day labor. 9 d) Over the next fourteen years (18021816), the Smiths moved seven times, all within the area of central Vermont and New Hampshire. They were tenant farmers, renting land until it was sold out from under them or a better opportunity arose elsewhere. Joseph, Sr. taught school in the winter, and the family made and sold household items. Despite their misfortune, though, they managed to eke out a reasonably comfortable living, but never a secure one. e) [SLIDE 9] It was during this period when six-year-old Joseph, Jr. became ill and required surgery.10 i) There was an outbreak of typhoid fever in 181213 in the area of New Hampshire where the Smiths lived. A number of family members fell ill,11 and Joseph experienced a common complication where the typhoid bacteria infected the bone in Josephs case, his left shin bone. ii) This normally required amputation, but Lucy refused to allow it. One of New Englands most respected physicians, Dr. Nathan Smith,12 proposed an alternative: He had developed a surgical procedure that would remove the dead portion of the bone. iii) The surgery was performed without anesthetic or antiseptic. Josephs father held him while the surgeons bored holes on each side of his shin bone and removed three large pieces of infected bone. Joseph survived and eventually recovered, though he was either in bed or on crutches for three years, and he had a slight limp for the remainder of his life. f) [SLIDE 10] Medical bills and three successive years of crop failures13 forced the Smith family to leave Vermont entirely and migrate to western New York in late 1816.14 i) Creditors and dishonest traveling companions took everything they had left. When the family arrived in Palmya, New York, Lucy had only a few possessions and nine cents.15
Bushman, 19. LeRoy S. Wirthlin, Joseph Smiths Boyhood Operation: An 1813 Surgical Success, BYU Studies 21/2 (spring 1981), 13154 (https://byustudies.byu.edu/showTitle.aspx?title=5459). 11 Sophronia Smith was sick for three months, at the end of which she was motionless and believed to be dead. Joseph, Sr. and Lucy knelt and offered an urgent prayer, after which Lucy held Sophronia and paced the floor until the girl began to breathe again. Bushman, 20. 12 Nathan Smith was the founder or co-founder of four medical schools, including the ones at Dartmouth and Yale. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nathan_Smith_%28physician%29. 13 In April 1815 the Indonesian volcano Mount Tambora erupted. It was the most powerful volcanic eruption in recorded history, scattering ash high into atmosphere. This, combined with historic low in solar activity, lowered global temperatures and caused widespread crop failures and food shortages. Frost destroyed New England crops in May and June 1816, snow fell in June in Albany, New York, and lake and river ice were observed as far south as Pennsylvania in July and August. 1816 became known as the Year without a Summer. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_Without_a_Summer.) 14 Stories of New York land available on long credit gave them hope. They were not alone: Thousands of Vermonters left at this time, dealing a blow to the states [economic] prospects from which it did not recover for a century. Bushman, 2728. 15 Bushman, 29. Joseph, Jr., who had just recently stopped using crutches, was forced to walk most of the 300 mile journey.
9 10

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4) The Smith family in New York (181630). a) They settled in the small western New York town of Palmyra. At the time the construction of the Erie Canal was just getting underway.16 b) The Smith family lived in the town until 1819. They sold refreshments from a cart, hired out for farm work, and took odd jobs like gardening and digging wells. c) [SLIDE 11] Eventually they had saved enough money to purchase a 100-acre farm two miles south of town. i) [SLIDE 12] They built a small log cabin and began to clear the land. ii) [SLIDE 13] They soon began work on a more comfortable frame home, which they occupied in the spring of 1825.17 5) Religious climate in New York. a) Religious revivals.18 i) In his 1838 history Joseph recalled an unusual excitement on the subject of religion in the area near his home, which he says began around late 1817 or early 1818.19 This revival began among the Methodists, but soon spread to include the Baptist and Presbyterian denominations. (JSH 1:5.) ii) [SLIDE 14] What Joseph was describing is called by historians the Second Great Awakening. During this period (c. 18001860), church attendance and membership soared among Americans.20 iii) One area of particular commotion was western New York state, which was later called the burned-over district. This title was inspired by the notion that the area had been so heavily evangelized as to have no fuel (unconverted people) left over to burn (convert).21 iv) [SLIDE 15] Josephs recollection was that the revivals led to contention and bad feelings among the people who were evangelized to the various sects:
For, notwithstanding the great love which the converts to the different faiths expressed at the time of their conversion, and the great zeal manifested by the respective clergywhen the converts began to file off, some to one party and some to another, it was seen that the seemingly good feelings of both the priests and the converts were more pretended than real; for a scene of great confusion and bad feeling ensuedpriest contending against priest, and convert against convert;

16 The Erie Canal linked the Hudson River and New York State capital Albany in the east to Lake Erie in the west, permitting farmers and merchants to move their goods to market. It was built between 1817 and 1825; the Palmyra section was completed in 1822. Bushman, 31. 17 The Smith family lived in the frame home for four years. In the spring of 1829, they failed to make their final mortgage payment on the farm; the creditor foreclosed and forced them to vacate. They returned to the log cabin, where they lived for nearly two years, until they left for Ohio. 18 See Milton V. Backman, Jr., Awakenings in the Burned-over District: New Light on the Historical Setting of the First Vision, BYU Studies 9/3 (spring 1969), 30120 (https://byustudies.byu.edu/showtitle.aspx?title=4842). 19 Some time in the second year after our removal to Manchester, New York from Vermont (JSH 1:5a). Joseph turned twelve years old on 23 December 1817, so the 1838 account matches the age he gave in his 1832 recollection. 20 In 1800, about seven percent of Americans were active church members. By 1850 this had increased to 17 percent; by 1860 it was 23 percent. Backman, Awakenings, 301. 21 The term was coined by Charles Grandison Finney, a Presbyterian minister and revivalist who preached in New York in the 1820s. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Grandison_Finney.

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so that all their good feelings one for another, if they ever had any, were entirely lost in a strife of words and a contest about opinions. (1838; JSH 1:6.)22

b) His mother and siblings were converted to the Presbyterian faith (JSH 1:7), and Joseph said that he wanted to get Religion too[,] wanted to feel & shout like the Rest but could feel nothing (Neibaur 1844). i) [SLIDE 16] He expressed concern for his own sins, and turned to a study of the Bible in the hopes that it would help him find the truth:
At about the age of twelve years my mind become seriously imprest with regard to the all importent concerns of for the well fare of my immortal Soul which led me to searching the scripturesand I felt to mourn for my own sins and for the sins of the worldtherefore I cried unto the Lord for mercy for there was none else to whom I could go and obtain mercy. (1832.)

ii) His search of the scriptures would take two years.23 [SLIDE 17] He finally came to the famous passage in the epistle of James (1:5) that gave him the direction he was seeking.24 iii) [SLIDE 18] Believing the word of God I had confidence in the declaration of James I retired to a secret place in a grove and began to call upon the Lord (1842). iv) In all of his searching up to this point, he confesses in the 1838 account that he had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally (JSH 1:14).25 6) First Vision. a) It would be more accurate to refer to is as Josephs First Visitation: He didnt just see the Father and the Son in a vision; they came to him personally and stood in his presence. b) [SLIDE 19] Accounts.26 i) Joseph left four, firsthand written accounts of his vision: 1832, 1835, 1838, and 1842.27 (See appendix 1 on page 12, and this weeks handout.)
22 He put it more simply in his 1832 account: I discovered that they did not adorn their profession by a holy walk and Godly conversation agreeable to what I found contained in [the Bible]. Joseph Smith Letterbook 1, summer 1832, 12 (http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSummary/letterbook-1-1832%E2%80%931835#7). 23 Josephs mother, Lucy, later recalled that, as a young man, Joseph had never read the Bible through by course in his life for [he] was less inclined to the study of books than any child we had but much more given to reflection and deep study. Lucy Mack Smith, Lucys Book: A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smiths Family Memoir, Lavina Fielding Anderson, ed. (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2001) (http://signaturebookslibrary.org/?p=9209). Orson Hyde described the young Joseph: Nature had endowed him with a keen critical intellect and so he looked through the lens of reason and common sense (Hyde 1842). 24 Just prior to his death in 1893, Josephs brother, William Smith, identified Reverend George Lane, a Methodist minister, as the preacher whose sermon about James 1:5 introduced Joseph to the passage. See Larry C. Porter, Reverend George LaneGood Gifts, Much Grace, and Marked Usefulness, BYU Studies 9/3 (spring 1969), 32140 (https://byustudies.byu.edu/showTitle.aspx?title=4843). 25 In the 1835 account he also says that he called upon the Lord for the first time. 26 See Milton V. Backman, Jr., Joseph Smiths Recitals of the First Vision, Ensign, January 1985 (http://www.lds.org/ensign/1985/01/joseph-smiths-recitals-of-the-first-vision). John W. Welch and Erick b. Carlson, eds., Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press and Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2005), 175. 27 Two of these (the 1835 and 1842 accounts) were duplicated with essentially the same content in later manuscripts and publications, so, while there are technically eight First Vision accounts left by Joseph, only four of them are unique. (See appendix 1.) Based on the available evidence, it appears that Joseph Smith was hesitant to widely share his First Vision experience in the early days of his ministry. The exact reasons for this are not known, but the most common speculation is that (a) he saw it

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(1) The one were most familiar with is the 1838 account, which is part of Joseph SmithHistory in the Pearl of Great Price. ii) There are also five other detailed accounts from witnesses who heard Joseph relate his experience and reported what he said during his lifetime (see appendix 2 on page 15), as well as numerous references made in passing by others during Josephs lifetime and recollections made after his death by those who heard him.28 iii) Of the accounts we do have, each was given at a different time, under different circumstances, and to a different audience, which explains the differences in the details between them.29 By reading all of them, we get a fuller picture of what happened in the grove on that spring morning. c) [SLIDE 20] Date. i) Joseph said that he was between fourteen and fifteen years of age when he had his First Vision (1838; JSH 1:22).30 ii) He identified the approximate date and described the scene: It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty (1838; JSH 1:14b).31 d) Location. i) He retired to a secret place in a grove, but a short distance from [my] fathers house (Pratt 1840; cf. Hyde 1842). ii) My father had a clearing, and [I] went to the stump where I had stuck my axe when I had quit work, and I kneeled down, and prayed (White 1843).
as an intensely personal experience that involved forgiveness of his sins (the 1832 and 1835 accounts both document his concern for his sins and the Lords forgiveness), and (b) the antagonistic reaction and persecution he received when he did share his vision (JSH 1:22) made him hesitant to speak about it. Hence there are no early, written accounts of Josephs First Vision, and the typical Church histories published in the early 1830s begin with Moronis visit in 1823. There is, however, a possible passing reference in D&C 20:5 (written late 1829/early 1830), which declares that after it was manifested unto this first elder [Joseph] that he had received a remission of his sins, he was entangled again in the vanities of the world. The forgiveness may have come during the First Vision, followed by the type of poor personal behavior Joseph admitted to in JS H 1:28. Some critics have argued that, since there is not contemporary account written or published of Josephs vision (the earliest being 1832), that Joseph made up the story later. To this one could respond that there is also no contemporary account of Paul's vision on the road to Damascus (c. A.D. 3336); the earliest accounts are in the book of Acts (9:38; 22:611; 26:1218), which was written the mid-70s, forty years after the event. Even more, Paul himself never mentions his vision in his own writings, at least not directly (e.g. 1 Corinthians 9:1; 15:8). So if Josephs vision is false because he didnt write it down immediately, then Pauls must be doubly untrue. 28 Even accounts critical of Joseph Smith and his work affirmed that he had seen God. For example, in an anti-Mormon article published in a Palmyra newspaper in 1831, the Josephs followers were reported to affirm that he had seen God frequently and personally. Book of Mormon, The Reflector (Palmyra, New York) 2/13 (14 February 1831), 102 (http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/BOMP/id/542). 29 There are some minor differences in historical details between the accounts: For example, in the 1832 account Joseph reported that he was 12 years old when he began to be concerned about the well fare of my immortal Soul, which corresponds to the chronology in the 1838 account (JSH 1:3, 5); but in the 1842 account he said he was fourteen years of age when he began to reflect upon the importance of being prepared for a future state. Joseph did not make a written account of his vision when he had ithe didnt even write down the dateand so these discrepancies are to be expected from an account written by an adult reflecting on childhood memories. (See also footnote 30.) 30 In the 1832 account Joseph said he was in the 16th year of my age (i.e., 15 years old) when he had the vision. In the 1835 account he claimed to be about 14. years old, which is similar to his 1842 account (about fourteen years of age). In the 1838 accounts he definitively identified his age as 14 (I was at this time in my fifteenth year; JSH 1:7), and identified the approximate date of the vision (early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty; JSH 1:14). Compare Pratt 1840: Somewhere about fourteen or fifteen years old; Hyde 1842: When he had reached his fifteenth year; White 1843: When I was about fourteen years old. On the differences between these accounts, see footnote 29. 31 The 1838 account is the only one that includes an approximate date of the First Vision. This account the most factually detailed of the four personally written or dictated by Joseph. 2012, Mike Parker http://bit.ly/ldsarc For personal use only. Not a Church publication.

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e) [SLIDE 21] The experience of Satans power. i) Several things happened immediately as he began to pray: (1) I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me (1838; cf. Pratt 1840). (2) His tongue seemed to be swollen (1835) or bound (1838; JSH 1:15). It cleaved to the roof his mount (Neibaur 1844), so that he was unable to speak. (3) I heard a noise behind me like some person walking towards meI sprung up on my feet, and looked around, but saw no person or thing that was calculated to produce the noise of walking (1835). (4) He was tempted by the powers of darkness (Pratt 1840). The adversaryfilled his mind with doubts and brought to mind all manner of inappropriate images (Hyde 1842). (5) Experiencing all this, he was ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destructionnot to an imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world (1838; JSH 1:16). ii) He persevered and prayed more fervently,32 and was delivered from this dark power.33 f) [SLIDE 22] I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me (1838; JSH 1:16). i) There are several accounts that describe this light as fire. (1) In his earliest account (1832) he first wrote a piller of fire, and then immediately crossed out fire and wrote light, almost as if he was struggling to come up with the right word to describe what he saw. (2) In his second account (1835) he described it as a pillar of fire, and one secondhand account referred to it as a fire towards heaven (Neibaur 1844). (3) [SLIDE 23] Orson Pratt gave this vivid description:
The light appeared to be gradually descending towards him; and as it drew nearer, it increased in brightness and magnitude, so that, by the time that it reached the tops of the trees, the whole wilderness, for some distance around was illuminated in a most glorious and brilliant manner. He expected to have seen the leaves and boughs of the trees consumed, as soon as the light came in contact with them; but, perceiving that it did not produce that effect, he was encouraged with the hope of being able to endure its presence. (Pratt 1840.)

(4) Keep in mind that this was written in a time before electric lighting, when the brightest thing a person could conceive of was fire. (5) This brilliant light is the glory of Gods presence. We see it in many scriptural accounts of prophets who saw God personally: Moses burning bush (Exodus 3:2), the fiery pillar which led the Israelites through the wilderness (Exodus

32 There is indication that Joseph was assisted by the Spirit as he prayed for deliverance: He was enabled to pray in fervency of the spirit, and in faith (Pratt 1840); The overflowing mercy of God came to buoy him up and gave new impetus to his failing strength (Hyde 1842). 33 1835, 1838 (JSH 1:16), Pratt 1840.

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13:21), Lehis first vision of a pillar of fire [that] dwelt upon a rock before him (1 Nephi 1:6), and so forth.34 (a) This glory will either consume the wicked or purify the righteous.35 In Josephs case it was the latter: When the light rested upon him he was filled with the spirit of god (1832) and with joy unspeakable (1835). Like Moses, the glory of God was upon [him]; therefore [he] could endure [Gods] presence (Moses 1:2). g) [SLIDE 24] After this, he saw two Personages,36 one of whom pointed to the other and said, Joseph: This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him! (1838; JSH 1:17). i) Several accounts suggest that the Father appeared first and spoke, and then the Son appeared afterward (1835, White 1843, Neibaur 1844). ii) Two accounts tell us that the Father and the Son exactly resembled each other in features, and likeness (1842, Pratt 1840), and a third says they were also the identical in stature (Hyde 1842).37 iii) One account gives a very precise description of God the Father: light complexion[,] blue eyes[,] a piece of white cloth drawn over his shoulders[,] his right arm bear [bare] (Neibaur 1844).38 iv) In one account Joseph also indicated that he also saw many angels in this vision (1835). h) [SLIDE 25] The first thing the Lord told him was, Joseph my son thy sins are forgiven thee (1832, 1835, Pratt 1840). This had been his major personal concern going into the grove. i) Joseph then asked the Lord which of all the sects was rightand which I should join. (1838; JSH 1:18). i) Some, both inside and outside of our faith, have interpreted the answer Joseph received as being a harsh condemnation of other churches. A careful reading of what Joseph reported, however, reveals that the Lords criticism is more narrowly focused than that: the Personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt (1838; JSH 1:19). (1) The churches Joseph had investigated were not abominable; rather it was their creeds that were offensive. A creed is a statement of belief, specifically referring to the creeds that were formulated by Christians in the centuries following the New Testament. Formulations like the Nicene Creed, the Chalcedonian Creed, and the Athanasian Creed deviated from the revealed truths about the nature of God, and are false.
34 Other scriptural references include John the Revelators description of the presence of the Lord being like a sea of glass and fire (Revelation 15:2; cf. D&C 130:7), the Lords description of his second coming being in a pillar of fire (D&C 29:12) 35 See Isaiah 1:25; Malachi 3:3; D&C 29:9; 45:57; 63:34; 64:24; 101:2325. 36 In his earliest account of the First Vision (1832), Joseph simply wrote, and I saw the Lord, without any indication that a second personage was there. However, just because he said he saw the Lord doesnt mean he didnt see anyone else. For an examination of this issue (and a response to critics claims that Joseph later embellished his story), see http://en.fairmormon.org/Joseph_Smith%27s_First_Vision/Accounts/1832/Only_one_Personage_appears. 37 For a discussion of the implications of this, see Truman G. Madsen, Joseph Smith the Prophet (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1989), 12. 38 Its almost certainly an overstatement to claim that Joseph learned in the First Vision that God the Father has a physical body. Joseph didnt explicitly teach that doctrine until 1841, and there are statements on the subject in 1830s which are ambiguous at best (including Lectures on Faith 5:2). Well cover this in more detail in lesson 27.

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(2) A professor does not refer to a university teacher; rather it is one who makes open declaration of his sentiments or opinions; particularly, one who makes a public avowal of his belief in the Scriptures and his faith in Christ, and thus unites himself to the visible church.39 In other words, professors were other religious people, not just teachers and ministers. (a) Not the specific reference to those professors. The Lords criticism was for the people Joseph had encountered at the revivals near his home:
My intimate acquaintance with those of differant denominations led me to marvel excedingly for I discovered that they did not adorn their profession by a holy walk and Godly conversation agreeable to what I found contained in [the Bible]. (1832.)

(3) There are many sincere people who are searching for the truth; God does not condemn these individuals. Rather, he condemns those who are insincere and hypocritical in their Christian practice. ii) But despite the sincerity of many of the worlds Christians, the fact remained that, on the spring morning that Joseph Smith entered the grove, there was no church that had all of Gods truth:
They told me that all religious denominations were believing in incorrect doctrines, and that none of them was acknowledged of God as his church and kingdom. And I was expressly commanded to go not after them. (1842, Pratt 1840; cf. Hyde 1842.)

j) Finally, Joseph receive[ed] a promise that the fulness of the gospel should at some future time be made known unto me (1842, Pratt 1840, Hyde 1842). k) And many other things did he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time (1838). (1) As far as we know, he never did commit those other things to paper. l) The visitation ended, leaving his mind in a state of calmness and peace, indescribable (Pratt 1840; cf. Hyde 1842). Joseph described himself lying on his back, completely drained of physical strength. It was some time before he was able to recover enough to walk home. (1838 [JSH 1:20], White 1843, Neibaur 1844.) m) [SLIDE 26] The aftermath: My soul was filled with love and for many days I could rejoice with great Joy and the Lord was with me but could find none that would believe the hevnly vision (1832). i) Joseph told his vision to a few others, including a Methodist preacher,40 but received only negative reactions and persecution (1838 [JSH 1:20b25], Richards 1843, White 1843, Neibaur 1844). 7) For the next 3 years, there was only silence. a) Joseph wrote that, during this time, he continued to pursue my common vocations in life. As mentioned previously, 41 these included clearing land and working his fathers farm, building their new frame home, and making items for sale like maple syrup and barrels. Joseph and his brothers hired themselves out to other farmers in the area.
39 40 41

dictionary.com/d/search/word,professor).

Daniel Webster, American Dictionary of the English Language, 1828 ed., s.v. Professor (http://www.1828-

If William Smiths late recollection was correct, this may have been Reverend George Lane. See footnote 24. See page 4. http://bit.ly/ldsarc For personal use only. Not a Church publication.

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i) [SLIDE 27] One other practice that Josephs family was occasionally involved in was the common pastime of treasure-seeking.42 (1) It was widely believed by many respectable individuals that there was buried gold or lost silver mines left by Spaniards or pirates, and that these were just waiting to be discovered. Many people tried to search for these with the aid of supernatural objects like seer stones. (2) Joseph Smith, Jr. was sometimes called on by neighbors and acquaintances to help them find lost objects or dig for treasure. He had a reputation of being able to see hidden or missing things. (3) One of the incidents he describes in his 1838 history is being hired by Josiah Stowell43 to dig for a Spanish silver mine in Harmony, Pennsylvania in October 1825 (JSH 1:56). (a) He brought up this incident probably because Stowells wifes nephew, Peter Bridgeman, swore out charges against Joseph in South Bainbridge, New York, in 1826.44 Bridgeman accused Joseph of being a disorderly person, which, according to New York law, included people who pretended to have skill in discovering lost goods. (b) At a hearing to determine the validity of the charges, several witnesses including Josiah Stowelltestified that Joseph did, in fact, have the ability to see hidden things. (As the proceedings were simply an examination, and not an actual trial, and Stowell himself did not bring any charges, Joseph was released and there was no verdict.45) (4) This is important because the evidence leads to the conclusion that Joseph Smith really did have a supernatural gift of seeing that which was hidden.46 This gift was something that the Lord was able to put to good use, as well see next week. b) Joseph also confessed that, during the time following his First Vision, he frequently fell into many foolish errors, and displayed the weakness of youth, and the foibles of human naturenothing truly serious, but behavior that was not consistent with that character which ought to be maintained by one who was called of God (JSH 1:28). i) He was praying for forgiveness for these sins and follies on the night of 21 September 1823, when he received his second divine visitation. 8) [SLIDE 28] Moroni (JSH 1:3049). a) An angel appeared to Joseph in the upstairs bedroom of the Smith family log cabin.

42 For a comprehensive analysis of the culture of treasure-hunting in antebellum America, including the Smith familys involvement in this practice, see Brant A. Gardner, The Gift and Power: Translating the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: Greg Kofford Books, 2011), 3134. A briefer summary can be found in Bushman, 4852. 43 Joseph spelled his last name Stoal. 44 On the Bainbridge trial, see Gardner, 8490; Bushman, 5152; Russell Anderson, The 1826 Trial of Joseph Smith, address given at the August 2002 FAIR Apologetics Conference, Orem, Utah (http://www.fairlds.org/fair-conferences/2002fair-conference/2002-the-1826-trial-of-joseph-smith). 45 See Joseph I. Bentley, Legal Trials of the Prophet: Joseph Smiths Life in Court, address given at the August 2006 FAIR Apologetics Conference, Sandy, Utah (http://www.fairlds.org/fair-conferences/2006-fair-conference/2006-legal-trialsof-the-prophet-joseph-smiths-life-in-court). 46 At the hearing, Joseph himself testified that he did have the abilities he claimed, and had frequently used them, but, according to one witness, of late he had pretty much given it up on account of injuring his Health, especially his eyes, made them sore. He did not solicit business of this kind, and had always rather declined having anything to do with this business. Bushman, 52.

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i) Similar to the experience of his First Vision, the appearance of the angel was preceded by a light like that of day, only of a far purer and more glorious appearance, and brightness burst into the room, indeed the first sight was as though the house was filled with consuming fire (1842).47 b) The angel identified himself as Moroni (1838),48 told Joseph that his sins were forgiven (1832), that his name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, and prophesied of things that were to shortly to come to pass (1838; JSH 1:33). c) 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 of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants. (1838; JSH 1:34).49 d) The angel appeared to Joseph three times that night and once the next day, each time repeating the same message, with a few additions (1838; JSH 1:4449). 9) [SLIDE 29] The gold plates. a) The plates were concealed in a stone box in a hill, on the west side of [the] hill, not far from the top (1838; JSH 1:51).50 The hill is about two to three miles south of the Smith family farm. i) Joseph pried open the box and discovered the gold plates, two interpreters or seer stones with a breastplate (1838; JSH 1:52), and also very likely the sword of Laban and the Liahona.51 b) [SLIDE 30] Joseph tried to remove the plates, but was prevented from doing so by the sudden appearance of Moroni:
I immediately went to the place and found where the plates was deposited as the angel of the Lord had commanded me and straightway made three attempts to get them and then being excedingly frightened I supposed it had been a dreem of [or?] Vision but when I considred I knew that it was not therefore I cried unto the Lord in the agony of my soul why can I not obtain them behold the angel appeared unto me again and said unto me you have not kept the commandments of the Lord which I gave unto you therefore you cannot now obtain them for the time is not yet fulfilled therefore thou wast left unto temptation that thou mightest be made accquainted of
Joseph slept in the same bedroom with at least several of his brothers and sisters. He did not mention how this light or The angels name is given as Moroni in multiple accounts of the story that were published in the 1830s. In Times and Seasons 3/12 (15 April 1842), 753, the angels name was accidentally changed to Nephi (http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/NCMP1820-1846/id/9828). This error was perpetuated in several publications that were based on this issue of the Times and Seasons, before being eventually corrected in the historical record. Some critics have charged that Joseph Smith changed the name of the angel from Nephi to Moroni; for a response to this claim, see http://en.fairmormon.org/Moroni's_visit/Nephi_or_Moroni. 49 This is an important point, because it indicates (1) that there were actual gold plates, (2) that these plates contained a record of people who actually existed, and (3) the angel was himself one of these people in his mortal life. There is a small but vocal movement within the Church that wants to abandon the historical claims of the Book of Mormon, leaving it inspired, but not actual history (inspired fiction). Joseph Smiths account of meeting Moroni is extremely strong evidence that this movement is misguided and false. See Paul Y. Hoskisson, ed., Historicity and the Latter-day Saint Scriptures (BYU Religious Studies Center, 2001) (http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/rsc/id/50791); Louis Midgley, The Current Battle over the Book of Mormon: Is Modernity Itself Somehow Canonical?, FARMS Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 6/1 (1994), 20054 (http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/review/?vol=6&num=1&id=140). 50 Technically this hill is a drumlin, an elongated hill in the shape of an inverted spoon or half-buried egg formed by glacial ice acting on underlying unconsolidated till or ground moraine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drumlin). 51 Brett L. Holbrook, The Sword of Laban as a Symbol of Divine Authority and Kingship, FARMS Review of Books on the Book of Mormon 2/1 (1993), 3972 (http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/jbms/?vol=2&num=1&id=18).
47 48

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with the power of the advisary therefore repent and call on the Lord thou shalt be forgiven and in his own due time thou shalt obtain them for now I had been tempted of the advisary and saught the Plates to obtain riches and kept not the commandme[n]t that I should have an eye single to the Glory of God. (1832.)

i) Joseph, whose family was always not far from poverty, had seen the plates and desired them for their monetary value. He was chastened by Moroni and told to come back every year on the same day until he was ready to receive them. ii) He obtained the plates four years later, on 22 September 1827.52 10)
[SLIDE 31] Next week:

a) D&C 3, 5, 10, 17.

Appendix 1: Joseph Smiths accounts of the First Vision

Introduction There are four firsthand accounts from Joseph Smith that relate his First Vision: 1. Joseph Smith Letterbook 1, pp. 13 (http://bit.ly/JS1stV1832). Written in the summer of 1832, this was Josephs first attempt at creating an official history of the Church. This is the only existing First Vision account written in Josephs own hand. 2. Joseph Smith Journal, entry for 9 November 1835 (http://bit.ly/JS1stV1835). Joseph dictated to his clerk, Warren Parrish, an account of the visit of Robert Matthias, who went by the name Joshua and claimed to be a Jewish minister. It includes what Joseph told Matthias about his early visions. Warren Cowdery copied this journal entry into a manuscript history that was compiled between 1834 and 1836. 3. History, volume A-1, pp. 13 (http://bit.ly/JS1stV1838). This account was written between 27 April and 2 May 1838. The original is lost, but a copy in the hand of James Mulholland, written in July 1839, remains. This account is published in the 7-volume History of the Church, and is canonized in the Pearl of Great Price as Joseph Smith History. 4. The Wentworth Letter (http://bit.ly/JS1stV1842). In early 1842 John Wentworth, editor of the Chicago Democrat, requested that Joseph write a brief history of the Latter-day Saints. Joseph responded, and published his response in the 1 March 1842 issue of the Nauvoo paper Times and Seasons. In 1843 Joseph sent a similar version to historian Daniel Rupp, who published it as part of encyclopedia of American religious denominations. Each account was given at a different time, under different circumstances, and to a different audience, which explains the differences in the details between them. By reading all of them, we get a fuller picture of what happened in the grove on that spring morning. The following accounts are presented as they were written or published, with original spelling retained and with minimal editing.

52 For some background on the role Alvin Smith played in obtaining the plates, see Richard Lloyd Anderson, The Alvin Smith Story: Fact and Fiction, Ensign, August 1987 (http://www.lds.org/ensign/1987/08/the-alvin-smith-story-fact-andfiction). (This article is partly a response to stories about Alvin that had circulated based on documents that had turned out to be forgeries created by Mark Hofmann.)

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Joseph Smith Letterbook 1, summer 1832 At about the age of twelve years my mind become seriously imprest with regard to the all importent concerns of for the well fare of my immortal Soul which led me to searching the scriptures believeing as I was taught, that they contained the word of God thus applying myself to them and my intimate acquaintance with those of differant denominations led me to marvel excedingly for I discovered that they did not adorn their profession by a holy walk and Godly conversation agreeable to what I found contained in that sacred depository this was a grief to my Soul thus from the age of twelve years to fifteen I pondered many things in my heart concerning the sittuation of the world of mankind the contentions and divi[si]ons the wicke[d]ness and abominations and the darkness which pervaded the minds of mankind my mind become excedingly distressed for I become convicted of my sins and by searching the scriptures I found that mankind did not come unto the Lord but that they had apostatised from the true and liveing faith and there was no society or denomination that built upon the gospel of Jesus Christ as recorded in the new testament and I felt to mourn for my own sins and for the sins of the world for I learned in the scriptures that God was the same yesterday to day and forever that he was no respecter to persons for he was God for I looked upon the sun the glorious luminary of the earth and also the moon rolling in their magesty through the heavens and also the stars shining in their courses and the earth also upon which I stood and the beast of the field and the fowls of heaven and the fish of the waters and also man walking forth upon the face of the earth in magesty and in the strength of beauty whose power and intiligence in governing the things which are so exceding great and marvilous even in the likeness of him who created them and when I considered upon these things my heart exclaimed well hath the wise man said it is a fool that saith in his heart there is no God my heart exclaimed all all these bear testimony and bespeak an omnipotant and omnipreasant power a being who makith Laws and decreeeth and bindeth all things in their bounds who filleth Eternity who was and is and will be from all Eternity to Eternity and when I considered all these things and that that being seeketh such to worshep him as worship him in spirit and in truth therefore I cried unto the Lord for mercy for there was none else to whom I could go and obtain mercy and the Lord heard my cry in the wilderness and while in the attitude of calling upon the Lord in the 16th year of my age a piller of light53 above the brightness of the sun at noon day come down from above and rested upon me and I was filled with the spirit of god and the Lord opened the heavens upon me and I saw the Lord and he spake unto me saying Joseph my son thy sins are forgiven thee. go thy way walk in my statutes and keep my commandments behold I am the Lord of glory I was crucifyed for the world that all those who believe on my name may have Eternal life behold the world lieth in sin and at this time and none doeth good no not one they have turned asside from the gospel and keep not my commandments they draw near to me with their lips while their hearts are far from me and mine anger is kindling against the inhabitants of the earth to visit them acording to thir ungodliness and to bring to pass that which hath been spoken by the mouth of the prophets and Ap[o]stles behold and lo I come quickly as it [is] written of me in the cloud clothed in the glory of my Father and my soul was filled with love and for many days I could rejoice with great Joy and the Lord was with me but could find none that would believe the hevnly vision nevertheless I pondered these things in my heart.

53 The manuscript originally read a piller of fire. Immediately after he wrote fire, Joseph struck that word out and wrote light. His initial choice of wording appears in greater detail in Orson Pratts Remarkable Visions, where Pratt recounts that Joseph expected to have seen the leaves and bought of the trees consumed, as soon as the light came in contact with them. See page 7.

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Joseph Smith Journal, 9 November 1835 being wrought up in my mind, respecting the subject of religion and looking at the different systems taught the children of men, I knew not who was right or who was wrong and concidering it of the first importance that I should be right, in matters that involve eternal consequences; being thus perplexed in mind I retired to the silent grove and bowd down before the Lord, under a realising sense that he had said (if the bible be true) ask and you shall receive knock and it shall be opened seek and you shall find and again, if any man lack wisdom let him ask of God who giveth to all men libarally and upbradeth not; information was what I most desired at this time, and with a fixed determination I to obtain it, I called upon the Lord for the first time, in the place above stated or in other words I made a fruitless attempt to pray, my toung seemed to be swolen in my mouth, so that I could not utter, I heard a noise behind me like some person walking towards me, I strove again to pray, but could not, the noise of walking seemed to draw nearer, I sprung up on my feet, and looked around, but saw no person or thing that was calculated to produce the noise of walking, I kneeled again my mouth was opened and my toung liberated, and I called on the Lord in mighty prayer, a pillar of fire appeared above my head, it presently rested down upon me, and filled me with joy unspeakable, a personage appeard in the midst, of this pillar of flame which was spread all around, and yet nothing consumed, another personage soon appeard like unto the first, he said unto me thy sins are forgiven thee, he testifyed unto me that Jesus Christ is the son of God; and I saw many angels in this vision I was about 14. years old when I received this first communication. History, volume A-1, between 27 April and 2 May 1838 [See Joseph SmithHistory 1:520.] The Wentworth Letter, March 1842 When about fourteen years of age I began to reflect upon the importance of being prepared for a future state, and upon enquiring the plan of salvation I found that there was a great clash in religious sentiment; if I went to one society they referred me to one plan, and another to another; each one pointing to his own particular creed as the summum bonum [Latin: supreme good] of perfection: considering that all could not be right, and that God could not be the author of so much confusion I determined to investigate the subject more fully, believing that if God had a church it would not be split up into factions, and that if he taught one society to worship one way, and administer in one set of ordinances, he would not teach another principles which were diametrically opposed. Believing the word of God I had confidence in the declaration of James; [quotes James 1:5], I retired to a secret place in a grove and began to call upon the Lord, while fervently engaged in supplication my mind was taken away from the objects with which I was surrounded, and I was enwrapped in a heavenly vision and saw two glorious personages who exactly resembled each other in features, and likeness, surrounded with a brilliant light which eclipsed the sun at noon-day. They told me that all religious denominations were believing in incorrect doctrines, and that none of them was acknowledged of God as his church and kingdom. And I was expressly commanded to go not after them, at the same time receiving a promise that the fulness of the gospel should at some future time be made known unto me.

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Appendix 2: Contemporary accounts of the First Vision from those who heard it from Joseph Smith
There are five known accounts written by people who heard Joseph Smith relate his First Vision experience and wrote or published it during his lifetime: 1. Orson Pratt, A[n] Interesting Account of Several Remarkable Visions, and of the Late Discovery of Ancient American Records (Edinburgh, Scotland: Ballantyne and Hughes, 1840), 36 (http://bit.ly/JS1stV1840OP). Published as a tract in Great Britain, apostle Orson Pratts account was drawn from his personal acquaintance with Joseph Smith. There are similarities between Pratts account and the Wentworth Letter, above, which indicates that Joseph likely used Remarkable Visions when he wrote his letter to John Wentworth. 2. Orson Hyde, Ein Ruf aus der Wste, eine Stimme aus dem Schoose der Erde (A Cry from the Wilderness, a Voice from the Dust of the Earth) (Frankfurt, Germany: n.p., 1842; published in German), 1416 (http://bit.ly/JS1stV1842OH). Orson Hyde began writing his account during his mission to the Holy Land in the summer of 1841; he published it on his return trip through Germany. Hydes account bears similarities to Pratts, but it also includes details and minor changes which do not appear in Remarkable Visions. 3. Levi Richards, Journal, 11 June 1843 (http://bit.ly/JS1stV1843LR). Richards was a physician, a member of Nauvoo city council and Nauvoo Legion, and the older brother of Joseph Smiths secretary, Willard Richards. On the evening of Sunday 11 June 1843, he heard Joseph lecture and recorded what he heard in his journal. 4. David Nye White, The Prairies, Nauvoo, Joe Smith, the Temple, the Mormons, &c., Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette 58 (15 September 1843), 3 (http://bit.ly/JS1stV1843DNW). White was a non-Mormon newspaper editor who visited Joseph Smith in Nauvoo and reported what the Prophet told him. 5. Alexander Neibaur, Journal, 24 May 1844 (http://bit.ly/JS1stV1844AN). Neibaur was a German Jew who had converted to Christianity in England. He joined the Church in 1838 and moved to Nauvoo, where he practiced dentistry and taught Joseph Smith German and possibly Hebrew. On 24 May 1844 he visited Josephs home and recorded, in broken English, what the Prophet had said. Orson Pratt, Remarkable Visions, 1840 When somewhere about fourteen or fifteen years old, he began seriously to reflect upon the necessity 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 own mind. He perceived that it was a question of infinite importance, and that the salvation of his soul depended upon a correct understanding of the same. He saw, that if he understood not the way, it would be impossible to walk in it, except by chance; and the thought of resting his hopes of eternal life upon chance, or uncertainties, was more than he could endure. If he went to the religious denominations to seek information, each one pointed to its particular tenets, sayingThis is the way, walk ye in it; while, at the same time, the doctrines of each were in many respects, in direct opposition to one another. It also occurred to his mind that God was the author of but one doctrine, and therefore could acknowledge but one denomination as his church, and that such denomination must be a people, who believe and teach that one doctrine, (whatever it may be,) and build upon the same. He then reflected upon the immense number of doctrines, now in the world,
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which had given rise to many hundreds of different denominations. The great question to be decided in his mind, wasif any one of these denominations be the Church of Christ, which one is it? Until he could become satisfied in relation to this question, he could not rest contented. To trust to the decisions of fallible man, and build his hopes upon the same, without any certainty, and knowledge of his own, would not satisfy the anxious desires that pervaded his breast. To decide, without any positive and definite evidence, on which he could rely, upon a subject involving the future welfare of his soul, was revolting to his feelings. The only alternative, that seemed to be left him, was to read the Scriptures, and endeavor to follow their directions. He, accordingly commenced perusing the sacred pages of the Bible, with sincerity, believing the things that he read. His mind soon caught hold of the following passage;If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.James i.5. From this promise he learned, that it was the privilege of all men to ask God for wisdom, with the sure and certain expectation of receiving liberally; without being upbraided for so doing. This was cheering information to him; tidings that gave him great joy. It was like a light shining forth in a dark place, to guide him to the path in which he should walk. He now saw that if he inquired of God, there was not only a possibility, but a probability; yea, more, a certainty, that he should obtain a knowledge, which, of all the doctrines, was the doctrine of Christ; and, which, of all the churches, was the church of Christ. He therefore, retired to a secret place in a grove, but a short distance from his fathers house, and knelt down, and began to call upon the Lord. At first, he was severely tempted by the powers of darkness, which endeavored to overcome him; but he continued to seek for deliverance, until darkness gave way from his mind; and he was enabled to pray in fervency of the spirit, and in faith. And while thus pouring out his soul, anxiously desiring an answer from God, he, at length, saw a very bright and glorious light in the heavens above; which, at first, seemed to be at a considerable distance. He continued praying, while the light appeared to be gradually descending towards him; and as it drew nearer, it increased in brightness and magnitude, so that, by the time that it reached the tops of the trees, the whole wilderness, for some distance around was illuminated in a most glorious and brilliant manner. He expected to have seen the leaves and boughs of the trees consumed, as soon as the light came in contact with them; but, perceiving that it did not produce that effect, he was encouraged with the hope of being able to endure its presence. It continued descending slowly, until it rested upon the earth, and he was enveloped in the midst of it. When it first came upon him, it produced a peculiar sensation throughout his whole system; and immediately, his mind was caught away, from the natural objects with which he was surrounded; and he was enwrapped in a heavenly vision, and saw two glorious personages, who exactly resembled each other in their features or likeness. He was informed that his sins were forgiven, He was also informed upon the subjects, which had for some time previously agitated his mind, viz.that all the religious denominations were believing in incorrect doctrines; and consequently, that none of them was acknowledged of God, as his church and kingdom. And he was expressly commanded to go not after them; and he received a promise that the true doctrinethe fulness of the gospel, should, at some future time, be made known to him; after which, the vision withdrew, leaving his mind in a state of calmness and peace, indescribable. Orson Hyde, A Cry from the Wilderness, 1842 (English translation)54 When he had reached his fifteenth year, he began to think seriously about the importance of preparing for a future [existence]; but it was very difficult for him to decide how he should go

This translation is by Marvin Folsom, professor emeritus of German, Brigham Young University, and is copied from Welch and Carlson, Opening the Heavens, 2223.
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about such an important undertaking. He recognized clearly that it would be impossible for him to walk the proper path without being acquainted with it beforehand; and to base his hopes for eternal life on chance or blind uncertainty would have been more than he had ever been inclined to do. He discovered the world of religion working under a flood of errors which by virtue of their contradictory opinions and principles laid the foundation for the rise of such different sects and denominations whose feelings toward each other all too often were poisoned by hate, contention, resentment and anger. He felt that there was only one truth and that those who understood it correctly, all understood it in the same way. Nature had endowed him with a keen critical intellect and so he looked through the lens of reason and common sense and with pity and contempt upon those systems of religion, which were so opposed to each other and yet were all obviously based on the scriptures. After he had sufficiently convinced himself to his own satisfaction that darkness covered the earth and gross darkness [covered] the nations, the hope of ever finding a sect or denomination that was in possession of unadulterated truth left him. Consequently he began in an attitude of faith his own investigation of the word of God [feeling that it was] the best way to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. He had not proceeded very far in this laudable endeavor when his eves fell upon the following verse of St. James [1:5,l: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. He considered this scripture an authorization for him to solemnly call upon his creator to present his needs before him with the certain expectation of some success. And so he began to pour out to the Lord with fervent determination the earnest desires of his soul. On one occasion, he went to a small grove of trees near his fathers home and knelt down before God in solemn prayer. The adversary then made several strenuous efforts to cool his ardent soul. He filled his mind with doubts and brought to mind all manner of inappropriate images to prevent him from obtaining the object of his endeavors; but the overflowing mercy of God came to buoy him up and gave new impetus to his failing strength. However, the dark cloud soon parted and light and peace filled his frightened heart. Once again he called upon the Lord with faith and fervency of spirit. At this sacred moment, the natural world around him was excluded from his view, so that he would he open to the presentation of heavenly and spiritual things. Two glorious heavenly personages stood before him, resembling each other exactly in features and stature. They told him that his prayers had been answered and that the Lord had decided to grant him a special blessing. He was also told that he should not join any of the religious sects or denominations, because all of them erred in doctrine and none was recognized by God as his church and kingdom. He was further commanded, to wait patiently until some future time, when the true doctrine of Christ and the complete truth of the gospel would be revealed to him. The vision closed and peace and calm filled his mind. Levi Richards, Journal, 11 June 184355 attended Meeting at the Temple weather vary fine moderately warm, heard J. Smith preach from Math Oh Jerusalem Jerusalem &c, how oft would I have gathered you, as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings & Ye would not, behold your house is left unto you desolate &c

Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook, comps., The Words of Joseph Smith: The Contemporary Accounts of the Nauvoo Discourses of the Prophet Joseph (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Religious Studies Center, 1980), 215.
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Doctrine and Covenants: Joseph SmithHistory

Week 2, Page 18

Pres. J. Smith bore testimony to the same saying that when he was a youth he began to think about these things but could not find out which of all the sects were right he went into the grove & enquired of the Lord which of all the sects were right he received for answer that none of them were right, that they were all wrong, & that the Everlasting Covenant was broken==he said he understood the fulness of the Gospel from beginning to end& could Teach it & also the order of the priesthood in all its ramifications== Earth & hell had opposed him & tryed to destroy him, but they had not done it==& they never would. David Nye White, Pittsburgh Weekly Gazette, 15 September 1843 The Lord does reveal himself to me. I know it. He revealed himself first to me when I was about fourteen years old, a mere boy. I will tell you about it. There was a reformation among the different religious denominations in the neighborhood where I lived, and I became serious, and was desirous to know what Church to join. While thinking of this matter, I opened the [New] Testament promiscuously on these words, in James, Ask of the Lord who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not. I just determined Id ask him. I immediately went out into the woods where my father had a clearing, and went to the stump where I had stuck my axe when I had quit work, and I kneeled down, and prayed, saying, O Lord, what Church shall I join? Directly I saw a light, and then a glorious personage in the light, and then another personage, and the first personage said to the second, Behold my beloved Son, hear him. I then, addressed this second person, saying, O Lord, what Church shall I join. He replied, dont join any of them, they are all corrupt. The vision then vanished, and when I come to myself, I was sprawling on my back; and it was some time before my strength returned. When I went home and told the people that I had a revelation, and that all the churches were corrupt, they persecuted me, and they have persecuted me ever since. They thought to put me down, but they havnt succeeded, and they cant do it. Alexander Neibaur, Journal, 24 May 184456 Br Joseph tolt us the first call he had a Revival meeting his mother & Br & Sist got Religion, he wanted to get Religion too wanted to feel & sho shout like the Rest but could feel nothing, opened his Bible f the first Passage that struck him was if any man lack wisdom let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberallity & upbraidat not went into the Wood to pray kneelt himself down his tongue was closet cleavet to his roof could utter not a word, felt easier after a while = saw a fire towards heaven came near & nearer saw a personage in the fire light complexion blue eyes a piece of white cloth drawn over his shoulders his right arm bear after a wile a other person came to the side of the first Mr Smith then asked must I join the Methodist Church = No = they are not my people, all have gone astray there is none that doeth good no not one, but this is my Beloved son harken ye him, the fire drew nigher Rested upon the tree enveloped him [missing] comforted Indeavoured to arise but felt uncomen feeble = got into the house told the Methodist priest, [who] said this was not a age for God to Reveal himself in Vision Revelation has ceased with the New Testament.

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Welch and Carlson, Opening the Heavens, 2526. http://bit.ly/ldsarc For personal use only. Not a Church publication.

2012, Mike Parker