"My object in going to enquire of the Lord was to know which of all the sects was right, that I might know which to join. No sooner, therefore, did I get possession of myself, so as to be able to speak, than I asked the personages who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right--and which I should join. I was answered that I must join none of them, for they were all wrong, and the personage who addressed me said that all their creeds were an abomination in His sight: that those professors were all corrupt; that 'they draw near me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof.' He again forbade me to join with any of them: and many other things did He say unto me, which I cannot write at this time. When I came to myself again, I found myself lying on my back, looking up into heaven. When the light had departed, I had no strength; but soon recovering in some degree, I went home. And as I leaned up to the fireplace, mother inquired what the matter was. I replied, 'Never mind, all is well--I am well enough off.' I then said to my mother, 'I have learned for myself that Presbyterianism is not true.'" Such was the first vision--a vision of the Father and the Son. It was the first act in the great drama of the Restoration. Of course, Joseph's friends could scarcely believe that anything so wonderful had happened to him. He related the strange experience to the ministers; but they scoffed at the suggestion of a new revelation. Moreover, they became suddenly possessed of a bitter and inexplicable hatred of the young seer. They made him a public butt of ridicule; they maligned him in their discourses; and they persecuted him when he came among them. For having exercised a remarkable "capacity for individual self-control"; for having sought from the Lord Himself to know the truth; for testifying that he had received the truth in a vision--the boy seer was cast off by his fellow-men and doomed to stand alone. But "I had actually seen a light," he wrote in after years, "and in the midst of that light I saw two personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true; and while they were persecuting me, reviling me, and speaking all manner of evil against me falsely for so saying, I was led to say in my heart. Why persecute me for telling the truth? * * * For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it, at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God, and come under condemnation."[B] [Footnote B: "History of the Church," Vol. I, pp. 6-8.]