but after many days I fell into
transgressions and sinned
in many things which brought a wound upon my soul and there
were many things which transpired that cannot be writ[t]en and
my Fathers family have suffered many persicutions
[persecutions] and afflictions
and it came to pass when I was
seventeen years of age I
called again upon the Lord and he shewed unto me a heavenly
vision for behold an angel of the Lord came and stood before
me and it was by night and he called me by name and he said
the Lord had forgiven me my sins and he revealed unto me that
in the Town of Manchester Ontario County N.Y. there was plates
of gold upon which there was engravings which was engraven by
Maroni [Moroni] & his fathers the servants of the living God
in ancient days and deposited by the commandments of God and
kept by the power thereof and that I should go and get them
and he revealed unto me many things concerning the inhabitants
of the earth which since have been revealed in commandments &
revelations
and it was on the 22d day of
Sept. AD 1822 and thus he
appeared unto me three times in one night and once on the next
day and then I immediately went to the place and found where
the plates was deposited as the angel of the Lord had
commanded me and straightway made three attempts to get them
and then being exce[e]dingly frightened I supposed it had been
a dreem [dream] of Vision but when I consid[e]red I knew it
was not
therefore I cried unto the Lord
in the agony of my soul
why can I not obtain them behold the angel appeared unto me
again and said unto me you have not kept the commandments of
the Lord which I gave unto you therefore you cannot now obtain
them for the time is not yet fulfilled therefore thou wast
left unto temptation that thou mightest be made acquainted
with the power of the advisary therefore repent and call on
the Lord thou shalt be forgiven and in his own due time thou
shalt obtain them
for now I had been tempted of
the advisary and saught
[sought] the Plates to obtain riches and kept not the
commandment that I should have an eye single to the glory of
God therefore I was chastened and saught [sought] diligently
to obtain the plates and obtained them not untill I was twenty
one years of age
(Joseph Smith Letterbook, 1:3-5, LDS archives)
1835 Account
The following is an account of
what Joseph Smith told Robert
Matthews. It was recorded by Warren Parrish, a scribe to Joseph
Smith.
When I was about 17 years old
I saw another vision of angels
in the night season after I had retired to bed I had not been
a sleep, but was meditating upon my past life and experience,
I was verry concious [conscious] that I had not kept the
commandments, and I repented hartily for all my sins and
transgression, and humbled myself before Him <whose eyes are
over all things>, all at once the room was il[l]uminated above
the brightness of the sun an angel appeared before me, his
hands and feet were naked pure and white, and he stood between
the floors of the room, clothed with purity inexpressible, he
said unto me I am a messenger sent from God, be faithful and
keep his commandments in all things, he told me of a sacred
record which was written on plates of gold, I saw in the
vision the place where they were deposited, he said the
Indians were the literal descendants of Abraham he explained
many of the prophesies to me, one I will mention which is in
Malachi 4 chapt[er]. behold the day of the Lord cometh &c.
also that the Urim and Thum[m]im, was hid up with the record,
and that God would give me power to translate it, with the
assistance of this instrument he then gradually vanished out
of my sight, or the vision closed, while meditating on what I
had seen, the angel appear[e]d to me again and related the
same things and much more, also the third time bearing the
same tidings, and departed; during the time I was in this
vision I did not realize any thing around me except what was
shown me in this communication: after the vision had all
passed, I found that it was nearly day-light, the family soon
arose, I got up also:--on that day while in the field at work
with my Father he asked me if I was sick I relyed, I had but
little strenght [strength], he told me to go to the house, I
started and went part way and was finally deprived of my
strength and fell, but how long I remained I do not know; the
Angel came to me again and commanded me to go and tell my
Father, what I had seen and heard, I did so, he wept and told
me that it was a vision from God to attend to it I went and
found the place, where the plates were, according to the
direction of the Angel, also saw them, and the angel as
before; the powers of darkness strove hard against me. I
called on God, the Angel told me that the reason why I could
not obtain the plates at this time was because I was under
transgression, but to come again in one year from that time,
I did so, but did not obtain them also the third and the
fourth year, at which time I obtained them, and translated
them into the english language, by the gift and power of God
and have been preaching it ever since.
(Joseph Smith 1835-26 Journal, entry of 9 Nov. 1835, 24-26, LDS
archives)
1838-39 Account
The initial draft of this history
was written during a four-day period by George W. Robinson in 1838. In 1839 it was copied by
James Mulholland, another of Smith's scribes, into what is known
today as the Manuscript History of the Church, Book A-1. The A-1
book was revised before and after its first publication and is now
considered to be Smith's official narrative. It incorporates an
account of Smith's early religious calling and has served as the
basis for virtually all later official and semi-official histories
of the church.
We present the following
extract from the Manuscript History
written in 1839 by Mulholland before it was edited for publication
in the Times and Seasons.
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 endeavoured 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 and
the corruption of human nature which I am sorry to say led me
into divers temptations to the gratification of many appetites
offensive in the sight of God.
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 had
previously had one.
While I was thus in the act of
calling upon God, I
discovered a light appearing in the room which continued to
increase untill 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. He had on a
loose robe of most exquisite whiteness. It was a whiteness
beyond any<thing> earthly I had ever seen, nor do I believe
that any earthly thing could be made to appear so
exceedin[g]ly white and brilliant, His hands were naked and
his arms also a little above the wrists. 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. 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.
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 Nephi. 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.
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 fullness of the everlasting Gospel was contained in
it as delivered by the Saviour to the ancient inhabitants.
Also that there were two stones in silver bows and these (put
into a breast plate) which constituted what is called the Urim
& Thummim deposited with the plates, and that was what
constituted seers in ancient or former times and that God
<had> prepared them for the purpose of translating the book.
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 reads in our books he quoted it thus, "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 cometh shall burn them saith the Lord of
hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch."
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." 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." 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.
He also quoted the second
chapter of Joel from the twenty
eight to the last verse. He also said that this was not yet
fulfilled but was soon to be. And he further stated the
fullness of the gentiles was soon to come in. He quoted many
other passages of scripture and offered many explanations
which cannot be mentioned here. 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.
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 untill the room
was again left dark except just round him, when instantly I
saw as it were a conduit open right up into heaven, and he
ascended up till he entirely disappeared and the room was left
as it had been before this heavenly light had made its
appearance.
I lay musing on the singularity
of the scene and
marvelling greatly at what had been told 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. 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 judgements which were coming upon the
earth, with great desolations by famine, sword, and
pestilence, and that these grievous judgements would come on
the earth in this generation: Having related these things he
again ascended as he had done before.
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 bed side, 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 forbid 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 but that of building his
kingdom, otherwise I could not get them.
After this third visit he again
ascended up 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 crew, and I found that day was approaching so that our
interviews must have occupied the whole of that night. I
shortly after arose from my bed, and as usual went to the
necessary labors of the day, but in attempting to labor as at
other times, I found my strength so exhausted as rendered 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 any thing. 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.
I obeyed. I returned back to my
father in the field and
rehearsed the whole matter to him. He replyed to me, that it
was of God, and 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.
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 round was covered with earth. Having removed
the earth and 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. 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 untill 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 untill the time should
come for obtaining the plates.
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.
(Manuscript History, Book A-1:4-7, LDS archives)
NOTE
A week after it was recorded
that the personage's name was
Nephi, Smith spent the afternoon "in answering the questions
proposed in the Elders Journal" (Scriptory Book of Joseph Smith,
39, entry for 8 May 1838, LDS archives). Question number four was,
"How, and where did you obtain the book of Mormon?" Smith answered,
"Moroni, the person who deposited the plates, from whence the book
of Mormon was translated, in a hill in Manchester, Ontario County,
New York, being dead, and raised again therefrom, appeared unto me,
and told me where they were; and gave me directions how to obtain
them. I obtained them, and the Urim and Thummim with them; by the
means of which, I translated the plates; and thus came the book of
Mormon" (Elders' Journal 1 [July 1838]: 42-43, Far West, Missouri).
Some writers have concluded
that both Moroni and Nephi visited
Smith, others feel that the name Nephi was a clerical error in the
manuscript, though it was never corrected by Smith. The current
version in the Pearl of Great Price says it was Moroni who appeared
in the bedroom.
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