The Restoration of the GospelWidtsoe, Osborne J. P.
Religion
The Restoration of the Gospel
Widtsoe, Osborne J. P.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
In this remarkable vision, then, are revealed again seven remarkable
truths:--a great work is appointed for the young man, Joseph Smith,
to do, and his name is to become known the world over for good or for
ill; a book of golden plates containing an account of the ancient
inhabitants of America is to be given him to translate; this book,
moreover, will contain a fulness of the everlasting gospel which
he will be required to teach to the nations; the priesthood will
be revealed to him by the hand of Elijah, the prophet; through the
operation of the power thus to be committed to the Prophet Joseph,
the hearts of the children will be turned to the fathers; in these
days, strange signs will appear in heaven and in earth; and, finally,
the great and terrible day of the Lord will then speedily come, when
judgments of sword, and of famine, and of pestilence, shall visit the
earth.
Thus did the angel bear a wonderful message to the eighteen-year-old
boy, and thus was the great prediction of an angel flying, in part
fulfilled.[E] The far-reaching character of the visions will appear as
the story proceeds. Already the boy has received in brief something
of most of the great saving principles that distinguish the Gospel of
Christ.
[Footnote E: Rev. 14:6, 7.]
VI.
HIDDEN GOSPEL RECORDS.
On Monday, the twenty-second of September, 1823, Joseph Smith was weary
from the vigil of the night before. He went into the field to work
with his father, but was too nearly exhausted to carry on his part of
the labor. The father observed that Joseph was ill, and advised him
to return to the house to rest. On the way, however, while climbing a
fence, the boy fell helpless to the ground, and remained so for some
time. "The first thing that I can recollect," wrote the Prophet later,
"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."[A]
[Footnote A: "History of the Church," Vol. I, pp. 39-42.]
Joseph obeyed. He returned to his father and related the whole matter
to him. Joseph Smith, Sr., was himself a serious and spiritual man. He
recognized the ring of truth in the words of his son. "It is of God,"
he said; and thereupon he advised his son to go and do as the angel
commanded him. Immediately, therefore, Joseph departed for the sacred
hill that had been shown him in vision.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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