Essentials in Church History: A History of the Church from the Birth of Joseph Smith to the Present Time (1922), with Introductory Chapters on the Antiquity of the Gospel and the "Falling Away"Smith, Joseph Fielding
History
Essentials in Church History: A History of the Church from the Birth of Joseph Smith to the Present Time (1922), with Introductory Chapters on the Antiquity of the Gospel and the "Falling Away"
Smith, Joseph Fielding
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- History
On the 15th day of January, 1832, a conference was held at Amherst,
Loraine County, Ohio. At this conference much business was transacted
in harmony and in the spirit of fellowship. Joseph Smith was sustained
as President of the High Priesthood. The revelation known as Section
75 in the Doctrine and Covenants was also given in which a number of
elders were called to take missions, two by two, in several directions
throughout the land.
The Vision of the Glories
At the close of this conference, Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon again
took up their work of revising the scriptures. While doing so, "it
appeared self-evident," they declared, "from what truths were left,
that if God rewarded every one according to the deeds done in the
body, the term 'Heaven' is intended for the Saints' eternal home, must
include more kingdoms than one." Accordingly on the 16th of February,
1832, while revising St. John's Gospel, and in answer to their prayer,
they saw the heavens opened and beheld the Father and the Son. The
account of this vision, as it is given in Section 76 of the Doctrine
and Covenants, is one of the choicest bits of literature, and one
of the greatest revelations ever given to man. It throws a flood of
light upon eternity and the destiny of the human race and teaches
the mercy of a loving Father, who saves all the workmanship of his
hands, save it be the sons of perdition, who sin against the light and
crucify their Redeemer again unto themselves. That every man shall be
rewarded according to his works, and that a place has been prepared
for each individual somewhere in the mansion of the Father, after he
is purged from sin, is a glorious and merciful provision in the plan
of salvation, which this vision declares, as it was provided before
the world began. It would be folly to attempt to comment on this most
wonderful revelation of the power and loving kindness of the Lord,
which the words of man cannot adequately express.
The Prophet's Views on the Vision
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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