6. He was greatly perplexed, however, by the strife among the sects, and the divisions which existed. The Presbyterians were opposed to the Methodists and Baptists; and these last named sects, though not agreeing with each other, were equally opposed to the Presbyterians. Why should the church of {277} Christ be split up into fractions? Is God the author of confusion? Would he teach one society to worship one way, and administer one set of ordinances; and then teach another society quite a different system of worship, and another set of principles and ordinances different from those taught the first? Such were the questions Joseph Smith frequently asked himself when he reflected upon the confusion he witnessed. 7. In the midst of the war of words and tumult of opinion that accompanied this agitation, Joseph would often say to himself, What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right? 8. Joseph Smith's First Prayer and Vision.--While floundering in the midst of these difficulties he came to the following passage in the first chapter of the Epistle of James: If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. This passage impressed him with great force. It was the voice of God to him. If any man lacked wisdom he did; and here was counsel given directly how to obtain it, with a promise that he should receive it and not be unbraided for asking. He at last decided to follow the divine injunction. 9. It was in the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty, that Joseph put his resolution into effect. He selected a place in a grove near his father's house for that purpose. It was his first attempt to pray vocally, and he was somewhat timid; but finding himself alone he knelt down and began to offer up the desires of his heart to the Lord. He had scarcely began to pray when he was seized by some power which threw him violently to the ground, and it seemed for a time that he was doomed to a sudden destruction. It was no imaginary power but some actual being from the unseen world. His tongue for a time was bound that he could not speak; darkness gathered about him; but exerting all his powers he called upon God to deliver {278} him out of the hands of his enemy, and at the very moment he was ready to give up in despair and abandon himself to destruction, he beheld a pillar of light immediately over his head descending towards him. Its brightness was above that of the sun at noon-day, and no sooner did it appear than he was freed from the enemy which had held him bound. 10. When the light rested upon him he beheld within it two personages standing above him in the air, whose brightness and glory defy all description, but they exactly resembled each other in form and features. One of them, pointing to the other said: "JOSEPH, THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, HEAR HIM."