Return To Questions
I was born in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
and five, on the twenty-third day of December, in the
town of Sharon, Windsor County, state of Vermont. My
father, Joseph Smith, senior, left the state of Vermont,
and moved to Palmyra, Ontario (now Wayne) County, in the
state of New York, when I was in my tenth year. In about
four years after my father's arrival at Palmyra, he moved
with his family into Manchester, in the same county of
Ontario. His family, consisting of eleven souls, namely:
My father, Joseph Smith, my mother, Lucy Smith, (whose
same, previous to her marriage was Mack, daughter of
Solomon Mack,) my brothers, Alvin, (who is now dead,)
Hyrum, myself, Samuel Harrison, William, Don Carlos, and
my sisters, Sophronia, Catherine, and Lucy. Some time in
the second year after our removal to Manchester, there
was in the place where we lived an unusual excitement on
the subject of religion. It commenced with the
Methodists, but soon became general among all the sects
in that region of country; indeed, the whole district of
country seemed affected by it, and great multitudes
united themselves to the
different religious parties, which created no small stir
and division amongst the people, some crying, "lo,
here," and some "lo, there;" some were
contending for the Methodist faith, some for the
Presbyterian, and some for the Baptists. For,
notwithstanding the great love which the converts for
these different faiths expressed at the time of their
conversion, and the great zeal manifested by the
respective clergy, who were active in getting up and
promoting this extraordinary scene of religious feeling,
in order to have everybody converted, as they were
pleased to call it, let them join what sect they pleased.
Yet, when the converts began to file off, some to one
party, and some to another, it was seen that the
seemingly good feelings of both the priests and the
converts were more pretended than real, for a scene of
great confusion and bad feeling ensued; priest contending
against priest, and convert against convert, so that all
the good feelings, one for another, if they ever had any,
were entirely lost in a strife of words, and a contest
about opinions. I was at this time in my fifteenth year.
My father's family was proselyted' to the Presbyterian
faith, and four of them joined that church, namely, my
mother Lucy, my brothers Hyrum, Samuel Harrison, and my
sister Sophronia. During this time of great excitement my
mind was called up to serious reflection and great
uneasiness; but though my feelings were deep and often
pungent, still I kept myself aloof from all those
parties, though I attended their several meetings as
often as occasion would permit. But in process of time my
mind became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect, and I
felt some desire to be united with them, but so great was
the confusion and strife among the different
denominations that it was impossible for a person, young
as I was and so unacquainted with men and things, to come
to any certain conclusion who was right and who was
wrong. My mind at different times was greatly excited,
the cry and tumult was so great and incessant. The
Presbyterians were most decided against the Baptists, and
Methodists, and used all their powers of either reason or
sophistry to prove their errors, or at least to make the
people think they were in error: on the other hand the
Baptists and Methodists in their turn were equally
zealous to establish their own tenets, and disprove all
others. In the midst of this war of words and tumult of
opinions, I often said to myself, What is to be done? Who
of all these parties are right? Or, are they all wrong
together? If any one of them be right which is it, and
how shall I know it? While I was laboring under the
extreme difficulties caused by the contests of these
parties of religionists, I was one day reading the
epistle of James, first chapter and fifth verse, which
reads, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of
God, that giveth unto all men liberally and upbraideth
not; and it shall be given him." Never did any
passage of Scripture come with more power to the heart of
man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to
enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I
reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any
person needed wisdom from God I did, for how to act I did
not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then
had would never know; for the teachers of religion of the
different sects understood the same passage so
differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the
question by an appeal to the Bible. At length I came to
the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness and
confusion, or else I must do as James directs, that is,
ask of God. I at length came to the determination to
"ask of God," concluding that if He gave wisdom
to them that lacked wisdom and would give liberally, and
not upbraid, I might venture. So in accordance with this
my determination, to ask of God, I retired to the woods
to make the attempt.
The Vision in the Grove
It was on the morning
of a beautiful clear day, early in the spring of eighteen
hundred and twenty. It was the first time in my life that
I had made such an attempt, for amidst all my anxieties I
had never as yet made the attempt to pray vocally. After
I had retired into the place where I had previously
designed to go, having looked around me and finding
myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the
desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so when
immediately I was seized upon by some power which
entirely overcame me, and had such astounding influence
over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak.
Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me
for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction. But
exerting all my powers to call upon God to deliver me out
of the power of this enemy which had seized upon me, and
at the very moment when I was ready to sink into despair
and abandon myself to destruction, not to an imaginary
ruin, but to the power of some actual being from the
unseen world who had such a marvelous power as I had
never before felt in any being. Just at this moment of
great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my
head, above the brightness of the sun; which descended
gradually until it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared
than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held
me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two
Personages (whose brightness and glory defy all
description) standing above me in the air. One
of them spake unto me, calling me by name, and said,
(pointing to the other,) "This is My beloved Son,
hear Him. "
My object in going to inquire 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 Personage who stood above me in the light, which of all the sects was right, (for at this time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong,) 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, "they draw near to me with their lips, bu their hearts are far from me; they teach for doctrine 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. Some few days after I had this vision, I happened to be in company with one of the Methodist preachers who was very active in the before mentioned religious excitement, and conversing with him on the subject of religion I took occasion to give him an account of the vision which I had had. I was greatly surprised at his behavior, he treated my communication not only lightly, but with great contempt, saying it was all of the devil, that there was no such thing as visions or revelations in these days: that all such things had ceased with the apostles, and that there never would be any more of them. I soon found however that my telling the story had excited a great deal of prejudice against me among professors of religion and was the cause of great persecution which continued to increase, and though I was an obscure boy only between fourteen and fifteen years of age and my circumstances in life such as to make a boy of no consequence in the world; yet men of high standing would take notice sufficient to excite the public mind against me, and create a hot persecution, and this was common among all the sects: all united to persecute me. It has often caused me serious reflection both then and since, how very strange it was that an obscure boy of a little over fourteen years of age, and one, too, who was doomed to the necessity of obtaining a scanty maintenance by his daily labor, should be thought a character of sufficient importance to attract the attention of the great ones of the most popular sects of the day, so as to create in them a spirit of the hottest persecution and reviling. But strange or not, so it was, and was often cause of great sorrow to myself. However, it was nevertheless a fact that I had had a vision. I have thought since that I felt much like Paul when he made his defense before King Agrippa and related the account of the vision he had when he "saw a light and heard a voice," but still there were but few who believed him; some said he was dishonest, others said he was mad; and he was ridiculed, and reviled; but all this did not destroy the reality of his vision. He had seen a vision, he knew he had, and all the persecution under heaven could not make it otherwise, and though they should persecute him unto death, yet he knew and would know unto his latest breath that he had both seen a light, and heard a voice speaking to him, and all the world could not make him think or believe otherwise. So it was with me; I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak unto me, or one of them did; 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 for telling the truth? I have actually seen a vision, and "who am I that I can withstand God," or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen, for I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dare I do it; at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God and come under condemnation. I had now got my mind satisfied so far as the sectarian world was concerned, that it was not my duty to join with any of them, but continue as I was until further directed; I had found the testimony of James to be true, that a man who lacked wisdom might ask of God, and obtain and not be upbraided. I continued to pursue my common avocations in life until the twenty first of September, one thousand eight hundred and twenty three, all the time suffering severe persecution at the hands of all classes of men, both religious and irreligious, because I continued to affirm that I had seen a vision.