This prayer was offered by an honest boy, seeking after truth, unable to get the whole truth from men. Would the Lord suffer such a prayer to go unanswered, or suffer this boy to be deceived by Satan? All reason, all Scripture answers, no. "Ask and ye shall receive; knock and it shall be opened unto you." If a son ask his father for bread "will he give him a stone?" "If he ask for fish will he give him a serpent?" The Savior answers, no. If it is argued that Joseph was alone and no one else present to corroborate his testimony, we have two answers: One is that those determined to reject such revelations will deny the veracity of two or three men as readily as the assertion of one; the other is that those who believe the Bible, to be consistent, if they doubt the testimony of Joseph because he was alone, must also doubt the testimony of Moses, who was alone when God spoke to him from the burning bush, and again when he stood in His presence on the mount and received the Ten Commandments. Will they doubt that Isaiah saw the Lord in the days of King Uzziah? (Isa. vi.). Because Stephen alone saw God and His Son in the last moments of His life, is his testimony false? Paul saw the Savior, but the men who were with him saw Him not. Yet the Christian world believes that Paul saw the Lord, even though other men in the presence of Paul did not see him. While Joseph was alone on the occasion above related, he was not alone in all the manifestations which the Lord gave him. We have other honest witnesses who corroborate the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and their testimony has not been impeached. They were men of good repute. On the 5th day of May, 1829, John the Baptist appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, laid his hands upon their heads and conferred upon them the Aaronic Priesthood, which holds authority to preach the principles of the Gospel and baptize in water for the remission of sins, but not authority to administer in the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. This Aaronic Priesthood was held by John the Baptist, by Philip, who baptized the Samaritans, and by others in the times of the apostles. Subsequent to this Peter, James and John presented themselves to the same men, Joseph and Oliver, conferring upon them the holy apostleship, which included authority to organize the Church in its fullness and to open the door of the Gospel to all nations.