THE PROPHET. Chosen of the Lord to usher in the last dispensation...
the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times. Excelled by none other, save it be
Jesus Christ Himself. Ranked with Adam and Abraham as among the Noble and Great
Ones in the preexistence. His life and mission were prophesied with joy by the
prophets of ancient times.
There is perhaps no one who can tell the story of Joseph Smith as well as
the prophet himself:
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1 OWING to
the many reports which have been put in circulation by evil-disposed and
designing persons, in relation to the rise and progress of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, all of which have been designed by the authors
thereof to militate against its character as a Church and its progress in the
world--I have been induced to write this history, to disabuse the public mind,
and put all inquirers after truth in possession of the facts, as they have
transpired, in relation both to myself and the Church, so far as I have such
facts in my possession.
2 In this history I shall present the various events in relation to this
Church, in truth and righteousness, as they have transpired, or as they at
present exist, being now [1838] the eighth year since the organization of the
said Church.
3 I was born in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and five, on
the twenty-third day of December, in the town of Sharon, Windsor county, State
of Vermont... My father, Joseph Smith, Sen., left the
State of Vermont, and moved to Palmyra, Ontario (now Wayne) county, in the State
of New York, when I was in my tenth year, or thereabouts. In about four years
after my father's arrival in Palmyra, he moved with his family into Manchester
in the same county of Ontario--
4 His family consisting of eleven souls, namely, my father, Joseph
Smith; my mother, Lucy Smith (whose name, previous to her marriage, was Mack,
daughter of Solomon Mack); my brothers, Alvin (who died November 19th, 1823, in
the 26th year of his age), Hyrum, myself, Samuel Harrison, William, Don Carlos;
and my sisters, Sophronia, Catherine, and Lucy.
5 Some time in the second year after our removal to Manchester, there was in
the place where we lived an unusual excitement on the subject of religion. It
commenced with the Methodists, but soon became general among all the sects in
that region of country. Indeed, the whole district of country seemed affected by
it, and great multitudes united themselves to the different religious parties,
which created no small stir and division amongst the people, some crying, "Lo,
here!" and others, "Lo, there!" Some were contending for the Methodist faith,
some for the Presbyterian, and some for the Baptist.
6 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 clergy, who were active in getting up and promoting this
extraordinary scene of religious feeling, in order to have everybody converted,
as they were pleased to call it, let them join what sect they pleased; yet when
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
ensued--priest contending against priest, and convert against convert; 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.
7 I was at this time in my fifteenth year. My father's family was proselyted
to the Presbyterian faith, and four of them joined that church, namely, my
mother, Lucy; my brothers Hyrum and Samuel Harrison; and my sister Sophronia.
8 During this time of great excitement my mind was called up to serious
reflection and great uneasiness; but though my feelings were deep and often
poignant, still I kept myself aloof from all these parties, though I attended
their several meetings as often as occasion would permit. In process of time my
mind became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect, and I felt some desire to be
united with them; but so great were the confusion and strife among the different
denominations, that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so
unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was
right and who was wrong.
9 My mind at times was greatly excited, the cry and tumult were so great and
incessant. The Presbyterians were most decided against the Baptists and
Methodists, and used all the powers of both reason and sophistry to prove their
errors, or, at least, to make the people think they were in error. On the other
hand, the Baptists and Methodists in their turn were equally zealous in
endeavoring to establish their own tenets and disprove all others.
10 In the midst of this war of words and tumult of opinions, I often said to
myself: What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right; or, are they all
wrong together? If any one of them be right, which is it, and how shall I know
it?
11 While I was laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the
contests of these parties of religionists, I was one day reading the Epistle of
James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: 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.
12 Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of
man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into
every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if
any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and
unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; 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 I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness
and confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is, ask of God. I at
length came to the determination to "ask of God," concluding that if he gave
wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally, and not upbraid, I
might venture.
14 So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to
the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day,
early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my
life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never as
yet made the attempt to pray vocally.
15 After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go,
having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to
offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when
immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had
such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not
speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I
were doomed to sudden destruction.
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 I was
ready to sink into despair and abandon myself to destruction--not to an
imaginary ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the unseen world, who
had such marvelous power as I had never before felt in any being--just at this
moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the
brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.
17 It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which
held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose
brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of
them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other--This is
My Beloved Son. Hear Him!
18 My object in going to inquire of the Lord was to know which of all the
sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I
get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the Personages
who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right (for at this
time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)--and which I should
join.
19 I was answered that I 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 those professors were all corrupt; that: "they
draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach
for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny
the power thereof."
20 He again forbade me to join with any of them; and many other things did
he say unto me, which I cannot write at this time. When I came to myself again,
I found myself lying on my back, looking up into heaven. When the light had
departed, I had no strength; but soon recovering in some degree, I went home.
And as I leaned up to the fireplace, mother inquired what the matter was. I
replied, "Never mind, all is well--I am well enough off." I then said to my
mother, "I have learned for myself that Presbyterianism is not true." It seems
as though the adversary was aware, at a very early period of my life, that I was
destined to prove a disturber and an annoyer of his kingdom; else why should the
powers of darkness combine against me? Why the opposition and persecution that
arose against me, almost in my infancy?
21 Some few days after I had this vision, I happened to be in company with
one of the Methodist preachers, who was very active in the before mentioned
religious excitement; and, conversing with him on the subject of religion, I
took occasion to give him an account of the vision which I had had. I was
greatly surprised at his behavior; he treated my communication not only lightly,
but with great contempt, saying it was all of the devil, that there were no such
things as visions or revelations in these days; that all such things had ceased
with the apostles, and that there would never be any more of them.
22 I soon found, however, that my telling the story had excited a great deal
of prejudice against me among professors of religion, and was the cause of great
persecution, which continued to increase; and though I was an obscure boy, only
between fourteen and fifteen years of age, and my circumstances in life such as
to make a boy of no consequence in the world, yet men of high standing would
take notice sufficient to excite the public mind against me, and create a bitter
persecution; and this was common among all the sects--all united to persecute
me.
23 It caused me serious reflection then, and often has since, how very
strange it was that an obscure boy, of a little over fourteen years of age, and
one, too, who was doomed to the necessity of obtaining a scanty maintenance by
his daily labor, should be thought a character of sufficient importance to
attract the attention of the great ones of the most popular sects of the day,
and in a manner to create in them a spirit of the most bitter persecution and
reviling. But strange or not, so it was, and it was often the cause of great
sorrow to myself.
24 However, it was nevertheless a fact that I had beheld a vision. I have
thought since, that I felt much like Paul, when he made his defense before King
Agrippa, and related the account of the vision he had when he saw a light, and
heard a voice; but still there were but few who believed him; some said he was
dishonest, others said he was mad; and he was ridiculed and reviled. But all
this did not destroy the reality of his vision. He had seen a vision, he knew he
had, and all the persecution under heaven could not make it otherwise; and
though they should persecute him unto death, yet he knew, and would know to his
latest breath, that he had both seen a light and heard a voice speaking unto
him, and all the world could not make him think or believe otherwise.
25 So it was with me. I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that
light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I
was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true;
and while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil
against me for so saying, I was led to say in my heart: Why persecute me for
telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can
withstand God, or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually
seen? For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I
could not deny it, neither dared I do it; at least I knew that by so doing I
would offend God, and come under condemnation.
26 I had now got my mind satisfied so far as the sectarian world was
concerned--that it was not my duty to join with any of them, but to continue as
I was until further directed. I had found the testimony of James to be
true--that a man who lacked wisdom might ask of God, and obtain, and not be
upbraided.
27 I continued to pursue my common vocations in life until the twenty-first
of September, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three, all the time
suffering severe persecution at the hands of all classes of men, both religious
and irreligious, because I continued to affirm that I had seen a vision.
28 During the space of time which intervened between the time I had the
vision and the year eighteen hundred and twenty-three--having been forbidden to
join any of the religious sects of the day, and being of very tender years, and
persecuted by those who ought to have been my friends and to have treated me
kindly, and if they supposed me to be deluded to have endeavored in a proper and
affectionate manner to have reclaimed me--I was left to all kinds of
temptations; and, mingling with all kinds of society, I frequently fell into
errors, and displayed the weakness of youth, and the foibles of human nature;
which, I am sorry to say, led me into divers temptations, offensive in the sight
of God. In making this confession, no one need suppose me guilty of any great or
malignant sins. A disposition to commit such was never in my nature. But I was
guilt of levity, and sometimes associated with jovial company, etc., not
consistent with that character which ought to be maintained by one who was
called of God as I had been. But this will not seem very strange to any one who
recollects my youth, and is acquainted with my native cheery temperament.
29 In consequence of these things, I often felt condemned for my weakness
and imperfections; when, on the evening of the above-mentioned twenty-first of
September, after I had retired to my bed for the night, I betook myself to
prayer and supplication to Almighty God for forgiveness of all my sins and
follies, and also for a manifestation to me, that I might know of my state and
standing before him; for I had full confidence in obtaining a divine
manifestation, as I previously had one.
30 While I was thus in the act
of calling upon God, I discovered a light appearing in my room, which continued
to increase until 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.
31 He had on a loose robe of most exquisite whiteness. It was a whiteness
beyond anything earthly I had ever seen; nor do I believe that any earthly 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 legs, a little above the ankles. His head and neck were also
bare. I could discover that he had no other clothing on but this robe, as it was
open, so that I could see into his bosom.
32 Not only was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person was
glorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like lightning. The room
was exceedingly light, but not so very bright as immediately around his person.
When I first looked upon him, I was afraid; but the fear soon left me.
33 He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from
the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; that God had a work for
me to do; and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations,
kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among
all people.
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 of the everlasting Gospel was
contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants;
35 Also, that there were two stones in silver bows--and these stones,
fastened to a breastplate, constituted what is called the Urim and
Thummim--deposited with the plates; and the possession and use of these stones
were what constituted "seers" in ancient or former times; and that God had
prepared them for the purpose of translating the book.
36 After telling me these things, he commenced quoting the prophecies of the
Old Testament. He first quoted part of the third chapter of Malachi; and he
quoted also the fourth or last chapter of the same prophecy, though with a
little variation from the way it reads in our Bibles. Instead of quoting the
first verse as it reads in our books, he quoted it thus:
37 For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud,
yea, and all that do wickedly shall burn as stubble; for they that come shall
burn them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor
branch.
38 And again, he quoted the fifth verse thus: Behold, I will reveal unto you
the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the
great and dreadful day of the Lord.
39 He also quoted the next verse differently: And he shall plant in the
hearts of the children the promises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the
children shall turn to their fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would
be utterly wasted at his coming.
40 In addition to these, he quoted the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, saying
that it was about to be fulfilled. He quoted also the third chapter of Acts,
twenty-second and twenty-third verses, precisely as they stand in our New
Testament. He said that that prophet was Christ; but the day had not yet come
when "they who would not hear his voice should be cut off from among the
people," but soon would come.
41 He also quoted the second chapter of Joel, from the twenty-eighth verse
to the last. He also said that this was not yet fulfilled, but was soon to be.
And he further stated that the fulness of the Gentiles was soon to come in. He
quoted many other passages of scripture, and offered many explanations which
cannot be mentioned here.
42 Again, he told me, that when I got those plates of which he had
spoken--for the time that they should be obtained was not yet fulfilled--I
should not show them to any person; neither the breastplate with the Urim and
Thummim; only to those to whom I should be commanded to show them; if I did I
should be destroyed. While he was conversing with me about the plates, the
vision was opened to my mind that I could see the place where the plates were
deposited, and that so clearly and distinctly that I knew the place again when I
visited it.
43 After this communication, I saw the light in the room begin to gather
immediately around the person of him who had been speaking to me, and it
continued to do so until the room was again left dark, except just around him;
when, instantly I saw, as it were, a conduit open right up into heaven, and he
ascended till he entirely disappeared, and the room was left as it had been
before this heavenly light had made its appearance.
44 I lay musing on the singularity of the scene, and marveling greatly at
what had been told to me by this extraordinary messenger; when, in the midst of
my meditation, I suddenly discovered that my room was again beginning to get
lighted, and in an instant, as it were, the same heavenly messenger was again by
my bedside.
45 He commenced, and again related the very same things which he had done at
his first visit, without the least variation; which having done, he informed me
of great judgments which were coming upon the earth, with great desolations by
famine, sword, and pestilence; and that these grievous judgments would come on
the earth in this generation. Having related these things, he again ascended as
he had done before.
46 By this time, so deep were the impressions made on my mind, that sleep
had fled from my eyes, and I lay overwhelmed in astonishment at what I had both
seen and heard. But what was my surprise when again I beheld the same messenger
at my bedside, and heard him rehearse or repeat over again to me the same things
as before; and added a caution to me, telling me that Satan would try to tempt
me (in consequence of the indigent circumstances of my father's family), to get
the plates for the purpose of getting rich. This he forbade me, saying that I
must have no other object in view in getting the plates but to glorify God, and
must not be influenced by any other motive than that of building his kingdom;
otherwise I could not get them.
47 After this third visit, he again ascended into heaven as before, and I
was again left to ponder on the strangeness of what I had just experienced; when
almost immediately after the heavenly messenger had ascended from me for the
third time, the cock crowed, and I found that day was approaching, so that our
interviews must have occupied the whole of that night.
48 I shortly after arose from my bed, and, as usual, went to the necessary
labors of the day; but, in attempting to work as at other times, I found my
strength so exhausted as to render me entirely unable. My father, who was
laboring along with me, discovered something to be wrong with me, and told me to
go home. I started with the intention of going to the house; but, in attempting
to cross the fence out of the field where we were, my strength entirely failed
me, and I fell helpless on the ground, and for a time was quite unconscious of
anything.
49 The first thing that I can recollect was a voice speaking unto me,
calling me by name. I looked up, and beheld the same messenger standing over my
head, surrounded by light as before. He then again related unto me all that he
had related to me the previous night, and commanded me to go to my father and
tell him of the vision and commandments which I had received.
50 I obeyed; I returned to my father in the field, and rehearsed the whole
matter to him. He replied to me that it was of God, and told me to go and do as
commanded by the messenger. I left the field, and went to the place where the
messenger had told me the plates were deposited; and owing to the distinctness
of the vision which I had had concerning it, I knew the place the instant that I
arrived there.
51 Convenient to the village of Manchester, Ontario county, New York, stands
a hill of considerable size, and the most elevated of any in the neighborhood.
On the west side of this hill, not far from the top, under a stone of
considerable size, lay the plates, deposited in a stone box. This stone was
thick and rounding in the middle on the upper side, and thinner towards the
edges, so that the middle part of it was visible above the ground, but the edge
all around was covered with earth.
52 Having removed the earth, I obtained a lever, which I got fixed under the
edge of the stone, and with a little exertion raised it up. I looked in, and
there indeed did I behold the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate,
as stated by the messenger. The box in which they lay was formed by laying
stones together in some kind of cement. In the bottom of the box were laid two
stones crossways of the box, and on these stones lay the plates and the other
things with them.
53 I made an attempt to take them out, but was forbidden by the messenger,
and was again informed that the time for bringing them forth had not yet
arrived, neither would it, until four years from that time; but he told me that
I should come to that place precisely in one year from that time, and that he
would there meet with me, and that I should continue to do so until the time
should come for obtaining the plates.
54 Accordingly, as I had been commanded, I went at the end of each year, and
at each time I found the same messenger there, and received instruction and
intelligence from him at each of our interviews, respecting what the Lord was
going to do, and how and in what manner his kingdom was to be conducted in the
last days.
55 As my father's worldly circumstances were very limited, we were under the
necessity of laboring with our hands, hiring out by day's work and otherwise, as
we could get opportunity. Sometimes we were at home, and sometimes abroad, and
by continuous labor were enabled to get a comfortable maintenance.
56 In the year 1823 my father's family met with a great affliction by the
death of my eldest brother, Alvin. In the month of October, 1825, I hired with
an old gentleman by the name of Josiah Stoal, who lived in Chenango county,
State of New York. He had heard something of a silver mine having been opened by
the Spaniards in Harmony, Susquehanna county, State of Pennsylvania; and had,
previous to my hiring to him, been digging, in order, if possible, to discover
the mine. After I went to live with him, he took me, with the rest of his hands,
to dig for the silver mine, at which I continued to work for nearly a month,
without success in our undertaking, and finally I prevailed with the old
gentleman to cease digging after it. Hence arose the very prevalent story of my
having been a money-digger.
57 During the time that I was thus employed, I was put to board with a Mr.
Isaac Hale, of that place; it was there I first saw my wife (his daughter), Emma
Hale. On the 18th of January, 1827, we were married, while I was yet employed in
the service of Mr. Stoal.
58 Owing to my continuing to assert that I had seen a vision, persecution
still followed me, and my wife's father's family were very much opposed to our
being married. I was, therefore, under the necessity of taking her elsewhere; so
we went and were married at the house of Squire Tarbill, in South Bainbridge,
Chenango county, New York. Immediately after my marriage, I left Mr. Stoal's,
and went to my father's, and farmed with him that season.
59 At length the time arrived for obtaining the plates, the Urim and
Thummim, and the breastplate. On the twenty-second day of September, one
thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, having gone as usual at the end of
another year to the place where they were deposited, the same heavenly messenger
delivered them up to me with this charge: that I should be responsible for them;
that if I should let them go carelessly, or through any neglect of mine, I
should be cut off; but that if I would use all my endeavors to preserve them,
until he, the messenger, should call for them, they should be protected.
60 I soon found out the reason why I had received such strict charges to
keep them safe, and why it was that the messenger had said that when I had done
what was required at my hand, he would call for them. For no sooner was it known
that I had them, than the most strenuous exertions were used to get them from
me. Every stratagem that could be invented was resorted to for that purpose. The
persecution became more bitter and severe than before, and multitudes were on
the alert continually to get them from me if possible. But by the wisdom of God,
they remained safe in my hands, until I had accomplished by them what was
required at my hand. When, according to arrangements, the messenger called for
them, I delivered them up to him; and he has them in his charge until this day,
being the second day of May, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.
61 The excitement, however, still continued, and rumor with her thousand
tongues was all the time employed in circulating falsehoods about my father's
family, and about myself. If I were to relate a thousandth part of them, it
would fill up volumes. The persecution, however, became so intolerable that I
was under the necessity of leaving Manchester, and going with my wife to
Susquehanna county, in the State of Pennsylvania. While preparing to
start--being very poor, and the persecution so heavy upon us that there was no
probability that we would ever be otherwise--in the midst of our afflictions we
found a friend in a gentleman by the name of Martin
Harris, who came to us and gave me fifty dollars to assist us on our
journey. Mr. Harris was a resident of Palmyra township, Wayne county, in the
State of New York, and a farmer of respectability.
62 By this timely aid was I enabled to reach the place of my destination in
Pennsylvania; and immediately after my arrival there I commenced copying the
characters off the plates. I copied a considerable number of them, and by means
of the Urim and Thummim I translated some of them, which I did between the time
I arrived at the house of my wife's father, in the month of December, and the
February following.
63 Sometime in this month of February, the aforementioned Mr. Martin Harris
came to our place, got the characters which I had drawn off the plates, and
started with them to the city of New York. For what took place relative to him
and the characters, I refer to his own account of the circumstances, as he
related them to me after his return, which was as follows:
64 "I went to the city of New York, and presented the characters which had
been translated, with the translation thereof, to Professor Charles Anthon, a
gentleman celebrated for his literary attainments. Professor Anthon stated that
the translation was correct, more so than any he had before seen translated from
the Egyptian. I then showed him those which were not yet translated, and he said
that they were Egyptian, Chaldaid, Assyriac, and Arabic; and he said they were
true characters. He gave me a certificate, certifying to the people of Palmyra
that they were true characters, and that the translation of such of them as had
been translated was also correct. I took the certificate and put it into my
pocket, and was just leaving the house, when Mr. Anthon called me back, and
asked me how the young man found out that there were gold plates in the place
where he found them. I answered that an angel of God had revealed it unto him.
65 "He then said to me, `Let me see that certificate.' I accordingly took it
out of my pocket and gave it to him, when he took it and tore it to pieces,
saying that there was no such thing now as ministering of angels, and that if I
would bring the plates to him he would translate them. I informed him that part
of the plates were sealed, and that I was forbidden to bring them. He replied,
`I cannot read a sealed book.' I left him and went to Dr. Mitchell, who
sanctioned what Professor Anthon had said respecting both the characters and the
translation."
66 On the 5th day of April, 1829, Oliver Cowdery
came to my house, until which time I had never seen him. He stated to me that
having been teaching school in the neighborhood where my father resided, and my
father being one of those who sent to the school, he went to board for a season
at his house, and while there the family related to him the circumstances of my
having received the plates, and accordingly he had come to make inquiries of me.
67 Two days after the arrival of Mr. Cowdery (being the 7th of April) I
commenced to translate the Book of Mormon, and he began to write for me.
68 We still continued the work of translation, when, in the ensuing month
(May, 1829), we on a certain day went into the woods to pray and inquire of the
Lord respecting baptism for the remission of sins, that we found mentioned in
the translation of the plates. While we were thus employed, praying and calling
upon the Lord, a messenger from heaven descended in a cloud of light, and having
laid his hands upon us, he ordained us, saying:
69 Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer the
Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of
the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins;
and this shall never be taken again from the earth until the sons of Levi do
offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.
70 He said this Aaronic Priesthood had not the power of laying on hands for
the gift of the Holy Ghost, but that this should be conferred on us hereafter;
and he commanded us to go and be baptized, and gave us directions that I should
baptize Oliver Cowdery, and that afterwards he should baptize me.
71 Accordingly we went and were baptized. I baptized him first, and
afterwards he baptized me--after which I laid my hands upon his head and
ordained him to the Aaronic Priesthood, and afterwards he laid his hands on me
and ordained me to the same Priesthood--for so we were commanded.*
72 The messenger who visited us on this occasion and conferred this
Priesthood upon us, said that his name was John, the same that is called John
the Baptist in the New Testament, and that he acted under the direction of
Peter, James and John, who held the keys of the Priesthood of Melchizedek, which
Priesthood, he said, would in due time be conferred on us, and that I should be
called the first Elder of the Church, and he (Oliver Cowdery) the second. It was
on the fifteenth day of May, 1829, that we were ordained under the hand of this
messenger, and baptized.
73 Immediately on our coming up out of the water after we had been baptized,
we experienced great and glorious blessings from our Heavenly Father. No sooner
had I baptized Oliver Cowdery, than the Holy Ghost fell upon him, and he stood
up and prophesied many things which should shortly come to pass. And again, so
soon as I had been baptized by him, I also had the spirit of prophecy, when,
standing up, I prophesied concerning the rise of this Church, and many other
things connected with the Church, and this generation of the children of men. We
were filled with the Holy Ghost, and rejoiced in the God of our salvation.
74 Our minds being now enlightened, we began to have the scriptures laid
open to our understandings, and the true meaning and intention of their more
mysterious passages revealed unto us in a manner which we never could attain to
previously, nor ever before had thought of. In the meantime we were forced to
keep secret the circumstances of having received the Priesthood and our having
been baptized, owing to a spirit of persecution which had already manifested
itself in the neighborhood.
75 We had been threatened with being mobbed, from time to time, and this,
too, by professors of religion. And their intentions of mobbing us were only
counteracted by the influence of my wife's father's family (under Divine
providence), who had become very friendly to me, and who were opposed to mobs,
and were willing that I should be allowed to continue the work of translation
without interruption; and therefore offered and promised us protection from all
unlawful proceedings, as far as in them lay.
===================================================
With the
visitation from our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, Joseph's life was
changed forever. He was called to become the great prophet of the last days. He
would receive angelic visitors. He would bring forth scripture which had been
hidden from the world for millennia. He would be the instrument through which
Jesus Christ would restore His Church. Joseph would become the first to receive
the Holy Priesthood and all its keys in this dispensation. He became the First
Elder of the newly restored church. He became an Apostle of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the First Presiding High Priest of the Church. He was tarred and
feathered. He would found cities... and build temples. He would become the mayor
of a city. He was commissioned a Lieutenant General in a unit of the Illinois
Militia at the time when that commission made him the senior commissioned
officer in the entire United States. He would become a candidate for the
Presidency of the United States. And ultimately, he would seal his testimony of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ when his life's blood was shed by a godless mob of
blasphemous murderers.
Joseph Smith was martyred, along with his brother, Hyrum Smith, on 27 June 1844 at Carthage, Illinois. The
world has not seen his like since and seldom before.