On the 22nd of September, 1823, Joseph Smith, after spending the
previous night under the tutorship of the angel Moroni, was again
visited by that holy personage on the hill Cumorah in the western
part of the State of New York, and was shown the plates, which were
delivered to him four years later and from which he translated the
Book of Mormon. While standing on this historic hill, with the angel
at his side, he again received glorious instructions and warnings, and
among other things was told that when he should bring forth the Book
of Mormon, the workers of iniquity would seek his overthrow. Says the
angel:
"They will circulate falsehoods to destroy your reputation, and
also will seek to take your life; but remember this, if you are
faithful, and shall hereafter continue to keep the commandments of
the Lord, you shall be preserved to bring these things forth; for
in due time he will give you a commandment to come and take them.
When they are interpreted, the Lord will give the holy Priesthood
to some, and they shall begin to proclaim this Gospel and baptize
by water, and after that they shall have power to give the Holy
Ghost by the laying on of hands. Then will persecution rage more
and more; for the iniquities of men shall be revealed, and those
who are not built upon the rock will seek to overthrow the Church;
but it will increase the more opposed, and spread further and
further."
The angel further told him:
"Your name shall be known among the nations; for the work which
the Lord will perform by your hands shall cause the righteous to
rejoice and the wicked to rage; with the one it shall be had in
honor and with the other in reproach." (_Historical Record, page_
362.)
These prophetic sayings have had so literal a fulfilment that no
further explanation is necessary. If the predictions here made were
Joseph's own productions, and no angel of God had a part in it, is it
not strange that every word of it should prove true?