Exact Word Count 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, ass=hlgree>as they have transpired, in relation both to myself and the Church, so far ass=hlgree>as I have such facts in my possession. they have transpired, or ass=hlgree>as they at present exist, being now [1838] the eighth year since the organization of the said Church. 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 wass=hlblue>as 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-- 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. 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. 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 wass=hlblue>as 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. at this time in my fifteenth year. My father's family wass=hlblue>as 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. 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 ass=hlgree>as often ass=hlgree>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 wass=hlblue>as impossible for a person young ass=hlgree>as I wass=hlblue>as, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who wass=hlblue>as right and who wass=hlblue>as wrong. 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. laboring under the extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these parties of religionists, I wass=hlblue>as one day reading the Epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which reads: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ass=hlblue>ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible. James directs, that is, ass=hlblue>ask of God. I at length came to the determination to "ass=hlblue>ask of God," concluding that if he gave wisdom to them that lacked wisdom, and would give liberally, and not upbraid, I might venture. k of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It wass=hlblue>as on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty. It wass=hlblue>as the first time in my life that I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I had never ass=hlgree>as yet made the attempt to pray vocally. seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an ass=hlblue>astonishing influence over me ass=hlgree>as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time ass=hlgree>as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. 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 ass=hlgree>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. to know which of all the sects wass=hlblue>as right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so ass=hlgree>as to be able to speak, than I ass=hlblue>asked the Personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects wass=hlblue>as right (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong)-- and which I should join. 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." I leaned up to the fireplace, mother inquired what the matter wass=hlblue>as. 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 ass=hlgree>as though the adversary wass=hlblue>as aware, at a very early period of my life, that I wass=hlblue>as 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? 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 wass=hlblue>as greatly surprised at his behavior; he treated my communication not only lightly, but with great contempt, saying it wass=hlblue>as all of the devil, that there were no such things ass=hlgree>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. the cause of great persecution, which continued to increase; and though I wass=hlblue>as an obscure boy, only between fourteen and fifteen years of age, and my circumstances in life such ass=hlgree>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 wass=hlblue>as common among all the sects-- all united to persecute me. since, how very strange it wass=hlblue>as that an obscure boy, of a little over fourteen years of age, and one, too, who wass=hlblue>as 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 wass=hlblue>as, and it wass=hlblue>as often the cause of great sorrow to myself. 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 wass=hlblue>as dishonest, others said he wass=hlblue>as mad; and he wass=hlblue>as 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. 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 wass=hlblue>as hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it wass=hlblue>as true; and while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, I wass=hlblue>as 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. the sectarian world wass=hlblue>as concerned-- that it wass=hlblue>as not my duty to join with any of them, but to continue ass=hlgree>as I wass=hlblue>as until further directed. I had found the testimony of James to be true-- that a man who lacked wisdom might ass=hlblue>ask of God, and obtain, and not be upbraided. left to all kinds of temptations; and, mingling with all kinds of society, I frequently fell into many foolish 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 wass=hlblue>as never in my nature. But I wass=hlblue>as guilty of levity, and sometimes ass=hlblue>associated with jovial company, etc., not consistent with that character which ought to be maintained by one who wass=hlblue>as called of God ass=hlgree>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. I previously had one. thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered a light appearing in my room, which continued to increase until the room wass=hlblue>as lighter than at noonday, when immediately a personage appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor. 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, ass=hlgree>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, ass=hlgree>as it wass=hlblue>as open, so that I could see into his bosom. his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person wass=hlblue>as glorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like lightning. The room wass=hlblue>as exceedingly light, but not so very bright ass=hlgree>as immediately around his person. When I first looked upon him, I wass=hlblue>as afraid; but the fear soon left me. a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name wass=hlblue>as 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. 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 wass=hlblue>as contained in it, ass=hlgree>as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants; it reads in our books, he quoted it thus: an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall burn ass=hlgree>as stubble; for they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. about to be fulfilled. He quoted also the third chapter of Acts, twenty-second and twenty-third verses, precisely ass=hlgree>as they stand in our New Testament. He said that that prophet wass=hlblue>as 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. not yet fulfilled, but wass=hlblue>as soon to be. And he further stated that the fulness of the Gentiles wass=hlblue>as soon to come in. He quoted many other passages of scripture, and offered many explanations which cannot be mentioned here. 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 wass=hlblue>as conversing with me about the plates, the vision wass=hlblue>as 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. again left dark, except just around him; when, instantly I saw, ass=hlgree>as it were, a conduit open right up into heaven, and he ass=hlblue>ascended till he entirely disappeared, and the room wass=hlblue>as left ass=hlgree>as it had been before this heavenly light had made its appearance. again beginning to get lighted, and in an instant, ass=hlgree>as it were, the same heavenly messenger wass=hlblue>as again by my bedside. cended ass=hlgree>as he had done before. tonishment at what I had both seen and heard. But what wass=hlblue>as 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 ass=hlgree>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. cended into heaven ass=hlgree>as before, and I wass=hlblue>as again left to ponder on the strangeness of what I had just experienced; when almost immediately after the heavenly messenger had ass=hlblue>ascended from me for the third time, the cock crowed, and I found that day wass=hlblue>as approaching, so that our interviews must have occupied the whole of that night. usual, went to the necessary labors of the day; but, in attempting to work ass=hlgree>as at other times, I found my strength so exhausted ass=hlgree>as to render me entirely unable. My father, who wass=hlblue>as 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 wass=hlblue>as quite unconscious of anything. a voice speaking unto me, calling me by name. I looked up, and beheld the same messenger standing over my head, surrounded by light ass=hlgree>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. of God, and told me to go and do ass=hlgree>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. thick and rounding in the middle on the upper side, and thinner towards the edges, so that the middle part of it wass=hlblue>as visible above the ground, but the edge all around wass=hlblue>as covered with earth. stated by the messenger. The box in which they lay wass=hlblue>as 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. forbidden by the messenger, and wass=hlblue>as 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. 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 wass=hlblue>as going to do, and how and in what manner his kingdom wass=hlblue>as to be conducted in the last days. 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, ass=hlgree>as we could get opportunity. Sometimes we were at home, and sometimes abroad, and by continuous labor were enabled to get a comfortable maintenance. thus employed, I wass=hlblue>as put to board with a Mr. Isaac Hale, of that place; it wass=hlblue>as there I first saw my wife (his daughter), Emma Hale. On the 18th of January, 1827, we were married, while I wass=hlblue>as yet employed in the service of Mr. Stoal. sert 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 wass=hlblue>as, 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. 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. that the messenger had said that when I had done what wass=hlblue>as required at my hand, he would call for them. For no sooner wass=hlblue>as it known that I had them, than the most strenuous exertions were used to get them from me. Every stratagem that could be invented wass=hlblue>as 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 wass=hlblue>as required at my hand. When, according to arrangements, the messenger called for them, I delivered them up to him; and he hass=hlblue>as them in his charge until this day, being the second day of May, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight. 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 wass=hlblue>as 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 wass=hlblue>as 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 ass=hlblue>assist us on our journey. Mr. Harris wass=hlblue>as a resident of Palmyra township, Wayne county, in the State of New York, and a farmer of respectability. 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. he related them to me after his return, which wass=hlblue>as ass=hlgree>as follows: 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, Chaldaic, ass=hlblue>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 ass=hlgree>as had been translated wass=hlblue>as also correct. I took the certificate and put it into my pocket, and wass=hlblue>as just leaving the house, when Mr. Anthon called me back, and ass=hlblue>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. no such thing now ass=hlgree>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 wass=hlblue>as 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." 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 wass=hlblue>as on the fifteenth day of May, 1829, that we were ordained under the hand of this messenger, and baptized. 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. far ass=hlgree>as in them lay. |