One of the first declarations made by Joseph Smith, when he was
only a boy between fourteen and fifteen years of age, was, that the
whole Christian world had gone astray, and that the true Church
of Christ was not to be found upon the earth. What a startling
declaration! Could anything be more presumptuous on the part of a
common uneducated farmer's boy than such as assertion? Preachers of
the various denominations in the neighborhood where the boy resided
became exasperated and at once denounced him as an impostor or a fraud.
This boy had seen nothing of the world, save the tract of country in
Vermont, where he was born, and the western wilds of the State of New
York, where he now resided with his parents. He had perhaps never been
even introduced to any of the prominent divines of the day, who had
never crossed the threshold of any important institution of learning,
who had never thoroughly examined the creed of any one denomination,
much less having a knowledge of them all, who had never crossed the
ocean to acquaint himself with the great learning of Europe, with
its thousands of preachers and its universities and institutions of
learning. What did he know {94} about the creeds and organizations
existing among the millions of Christians in Europe and America, thus
to denounce them all without further ceremony. Why, even Luther, the
great reformer of the sixteenth century, with his profound learning
and thorough knowledge of the Catholic creed, did not denounce the
Roman Catholic Church in such a manner as that. He did not say it
was rejected as a whole and that it was not the Church of Christ; he
simply contended that it had incorporated into its system, doctrines,
sacraments and ordinances which were not true and not warranted in the
Bible. Luther simply desired to reform the Church, to purge it and
remove from it erroneous doctrines and wicked practices. But Joseph
Smith, without any more knowledge of the religions of the world than
what opportunities his attendance of the numerous revival meetings
held in his immediate neighborhood had given him, denounced them all
as false. Whence, then, his authority for the sweeping declaration
he made as to the condition of the so-called Christian churches? His
story is a simple, plain and unembellished one. He tells in his own
straightforward manner how, after attending the different revival
meetings without being able to conclude which of the denominations was
the right one for him to join, he went into the woods to pray to the
Lord for that wisdom which the Apostle James promises shall be given
the honest believer. The result was an attack of the power of darkness
which threatened him with destruction, then a light far above him in
the sky, then an envelopment in that light which descended upon him,
then a vision of two glorious personages standing above him in the
air, one of whom speaking to him, while pointing to the other, said:
"This is my beloved son, hear him." Here, then, was Jesus Christ being
introduced by His Father to Joseph Smith, the praying boy, who next
was informed by the Great Redeemer Himself, that all the sects of
the day were wrong, that all their creeds were an abomination in His
sight, that the modern professors and teachers taught for doctrine the
commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but denying the power
thereof; that he (Joseph) should join none of these churches, but that
the true church should be revealed to him at some future time. This,
then, was Joseph's authority, Jesus Christ himself, the Redeemer of the
world, the Son of God, He that was crucified and put to death on Mount
Calvary, but who arose triumphant from the grave, the founder, the
organizer, the head, the President of the Christian Church, explained
to Joseph Smith the condition of the world. There is no higher
authority than He. If anyone in heaven or earth has a right to {95} say
what is true Christianity, and what is not, Christ himself, the founder
of the church, has that right. With that authority to back him, Joseph
Smith had no fear that his declarations would be met with successful
contradiction. There is only one question that can present itself to
our minds in that connection, and that is: Did the boy tell the truth?
Did he really converse with Jesus Christ, or was it an imagination
of a bewildered and excited mind? We shall see as we proceed. I will
first introduce the Prophet's own testimony, concerning this his first
vision. He says in his history:
"It has often caused me serious reflections, both then and
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, so as to create in them a spirit of the hottest persecution
and reviling. But strange or not, so it was, and was often cause
of great sorrow to myself. However it was, nevertheless, a fact,
that I had had 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 unto his last
breath, that he had both seen a light and heard a voice speaking
to him, and all the world could not make him think or believe
otherwise.
"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
unto me, or one of them did; 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 against me,
falsely, for so saying, I was led to say in my heart, Why persecute
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 have seen a vision. I knew
it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither
dare I do it, at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God
and come under condemnation."
Since the time Joseph had this vision the Elders of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints have traversed the globe, they have visited
all the so-called Christian nations of the earth; they have examined
the creeds and organizations of the Christian sects of every land and
every clime, and have learned beyond doubt that the true Church of
Christ was not upon the earth at the time Joseph made his sweeping
declaration, and that it does not exist outside of the Church organized
{96} under the direction and authority of the Redeemer Himself by
Joseph Smith.