"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 inquiries after truth in possession of the facts, as they have
transpired, in relation both to myself and to 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 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, Senior, 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 consisted 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, 1824, in the 27th 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 these
different faiths expressed at the time of their conversion, and the
great zeal manifested by the respective clergy, who were active {12}
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, it 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, Samuel Harrison;
and my sister Sophronia.
"8. During this time of great excitement, my mind was called up to
serious reflection and great 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 either reason or
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 passage 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 {13}
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--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.
"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 converging 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 {14} 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, falsely 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; and 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 many foolish errors,
and displayed the weakness of youth, {15} and the foibles of human
nature; which I am sorry to say, led me into divers temptations,
offensive in the sight of God.
"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, stand 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 where 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 {16}
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 {17} 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 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 box 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 to bring 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, {18}
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 out 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 1824 my father's family met with a great affliction in
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 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 arrangement, the messenger called for
them, I delivered them up to him; and he has them in charge until
this day, being the second day of May, one thousand eight hundred and
thirty-eight.
{19} "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
Anthop, a gentleman celebrated for his literary attainments. Professor
Anthop 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, Chaldaic,
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 {20} 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, 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 over 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 Melchisedek, 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 {21} time,
and this, too, by professors of religion. And their intentions of
mobbing us were only counteracted by the influence of my wife's fathers
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."
Such is the simple story of the divine calling of the Prophet of the
nineteenth century, as told by Joseph Smith himself. He testified of
these glorious things, and a few believed his words and were baptized.
Thus were the initiatory steps for the establishment of the Church of
Christ in completeness of power, gifts and ordinances established.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized on the
sixth day of April, 1830, at Fayette, Seneca county, State of New
York, and its history has been thrillingly eventful. From the time
of its establishment the work has been spread abroad, the faithful
Elders going forth, like the ancient disciples, proclaiming the Gospel,
raising up and organizing branches. The gifts and power of God have
been made manifest, the word being confirmed by signs following the
believers.
In 1831, by revelation through Joseph the Seer, the few believers were
directed to gather to the State of Ohio, the town of Kirtland being
the headquarters of the Church. In the summer of the same year, Joseph
Smith and a number of other Elders, by divine command, visited Jackson
county, Missouri, which was designated as "Zion."
On April 3rd, 1836, in the Temple erected at Kirtland, the Prophet
Joseph and Oliver Cowdery were blessed with a glorious vision of the
Savior, whose appearance they described. He signified His acceptance
of the Holy House, that had been erected to His name, promising many
glorious blessings upon His people, on condition that the Holy Temple
be kept free from pollution. They were also visited by Moses, who
committed to them the keys of the gathering of Israel and the bringing
of the Ten Tribes from the North country. Elias also appeared and
bestowed upon them the dispensation of the Gospel of Abraham; and,
lastly, there appeared Elijah the Prophet who, in fulfillment of the
prediction of Malachi, conferred upon Joseph Smith the keys to turn
the hearts of the children to their fathers, informing them that the
great and dreadful day of the Lord was near; and by virtue of the
authority conferred upon them at that time, the hearts of those living
are turning towards their dead progenitors, and a sympathetic search
for genealogy is going on among the Latter-day {22} Saints, to be used
by them in the great temples of the Church; where the living perform a
work of salvation for the dead.
To follow the believers in the divine mission of Joseph Smith through
the terrible storms of persecution, to which they were subjected, would
consume volumes. Wherever they established themselves they were beset
on very side by mobs, who burned or despoiled their homes, in many
cases murdered them in cold blood, and committed upon helpless women
revolting crimes against chastity. This was particularly the case in
Missouri, in which state they subsequently settled, and where they were
driven from county to county, and abused with such merciless cruelty,
that nothing short of the power of God saved them from annihilation,
as an organized body. In fact, the Governor of the state, a wretched
person named Boggs, issued an order for the extermination of the
Saints, and several thousand volunteers were raised and sent to execute
this execrable decree. Joseph Smith and numbers of the leading Elders
were thrown into prison where they were offered for food the flesh of
their brethren who had been murdered by the mobs. A council of the
Volunteer Militia Mobocrats was held in relation to the disposal of
Joseph Smith and his brethren. Seventeen sectarian priests, who took
part in the murderous work, were urgent in the demands that they be
shot. The commission of this cold-blooded deed was only prevented by
General Doniphan threatening to withdraw his regiment and free himself
from such devilish doings.
Being driven by ruthless, relentless persecution, having been expelled
from their homes and last refuge in Missouri, the Saints wended their
weary steps to Illinois. Hundreds of them perished during the winter
from hunger, cold, and general exposure. They built the beautiful
city of Nauvoo, with a population of over 20,000, in Hancock county,
Illinois, on the banks of the Mississippi, where they also erected
a beautiful temple. They flourished for a time, their numbers being
greatly swelled by inflowing immigration from different parts of the
Union and from Great Britain.
Again the fierce winds of persecution began to howl, as if the
infernal regions had let loose their imps and commissioned them to
take possession of the enemies of the people of God. Nothing seemed
to satisfy them but the blood of the Prophet, and he seemed to realize
it, for on his way to Carthage, Illinois, where he was murdered in cold
blood, he said: "I am going like a lamb to the slaughter, but I am as
calm as {23} a summer's morning. I have a conscience void of offense
towards God, and towards all men; I shall die innocent, and it shall
yet be said of me, 'he was murdered in cold blood.'" Fifty times had he
been arrested on trumped-up charges, and forty-nine times had he been
acquired by the courts of the land, innocent of any crime. Desperate
and maddened by being continually foiled in their wicked designs, the
mob finally declared that, "if law couldn't reach them, powder and
ball should." On the 27th of June, 1844, while in jail, in the town
of Carthage, and under the protective pledge of the governor of the
State, Joseph Smith the Prophet, and his brother Hyrum, the Patriarch,
were cruelly murdered by a furious mob, led by religious fanatics.
Appended to the book containing the revelations received from the Lord
by the Prophet Joseph, known as the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, is
published the following narrative of the "Night of Martyrdom:"