Life of Joseph the prophet

Preface

In' presenting this work to the reading public, it has been the aim of the publishers to place within the reach of those who cared to know, a more correct standard from which to determine the character and work of Joseph Smith, the founder, under divine direction, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It is with the consciousness that the work is not so complete nor perfect as desirable, owing to the imperfect facilities for obtaining dates and facts that were at the disposal of the publishers, that it is offered; but the determination to place in the hands of friends of the Church, something from friendly authentic sources, has hastened its preparation and publication.

The author, Edward W. Tullidge, :n the preface to the edition published by him, states:

"In the subjoined 'Life of Joseph the Prophet,' I have not attempted to give an exhaustive record of his acts and sayings. Rather have I attempted to present those matters only of wide and general

IV PREFACE.

significance — those gems of thought and deed that best exhibit the prophet-nature of the man.

Whenever I have had occasion to incorporate any portion of his many and voluminous revelations, the endeavor has been to set them in their proper historical connections and surroundings, as only in such a presentation are some of them clear to the general reader.

In its compilation I have been placed under obligations to many friends in Utah and elsewhere, to whom I hereby express my thanks.

Its production has been both a work of duty and affection. Its kind acceptance by the Saints, and fair consideration by the world at large will be my ample reward."

The condensed history of the Reorganization, and the Autobiography of Joseph Smith, the present President of the Church, together with the fact set forth in the following- extract from the decision of the Court of Common Pleas of Lake county, Ohio, in regard to the right of succession, will make it acceptable to the reader.

" And the Court do further find that the Plaintiff, the P-eorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is the True and Lawful continuation of, and Successor to the said original Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, organized in 1830, and is entitled to all its rights and property."

"The Life of Joseph, the Prophet," from chapter

PREFACE.

one to chapter forty-seven inclusive, was purchased from the Author, and was revised by him for the Publishers. The additional chapters, with the exception of the Autobiography of -Joseph Smith, were written and compiled by the Author, after the purchase.

The publishers ask that a patient reading be accorded the work, that the lack long felt may be at least partially supplied.

Contents

Chapter I. — The Family, and Early Days of the Prophet. Religious Revival in the region of Palmyra. Joseph, in doubt, enquires of the Lord. The answer. "This is my Beloved Son." He tells his vision, and is persecuted for having heard the word of the Lord.

Chapter II. — The Heavens Rest. Joseph left to Mature. His youthful Experience. Error and Repentance. He again seeks for a Manifestation from God. The Angel Moroni visits him. The wondrous Interview. His mission foreshadowed. Shown in vision* where the Sacred Book is hid.

Chapter III.— Realistic Character of the Visitation. Incidents from Oliver Cowdery's narrative of the event. The Angel's visit to Joseph in the field. He tells his Father of the Vision and is charged by him to obey the Angel.

Chapter I. The Family, And Early Days, Of The Prophet

RELIGIOUS REVIVAL IN THE REGION OF PALMY- RA JOSEPH, IN DOUBT, ENQUIRES OF THE LORD

THE ANSWER " THIS IS MY BELOVED SON "

HE TELLS HIS VISION, AND IS PERSECUTED FOR HAVING HEARD THE WORD OF THE LORD.

" I was born," says the Prophet Joseph, "in the year of our Lord 1805, on the 23d of December, in the town of Sharon, Windsor Co., Vt.

" My father, Joseph Smith, Sen., left the State of Vermont and moved to Palmyra, Ontario Co. (now Wayne Co.), N. Y., when I was in my tenth year. About four years afterward he moved, with his family, into Manchester, in the same county.

"Some time in the second year after our removal to Manchester, there was in that place 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 seemed affected by it, and great numbers united themselves to the different religious parties, which created no small stir and division among the people; some crying 'Lo, here!' and some ' Lo, there!' * * * A scene of bad feeling ensued ; priest against priest ; convert against convert ; so that all of the good feeling entertained, one for another, was entirely lost in a strife of words and a contest of opinions.

"I was at this time in my fifteenth year. My father's family was proselyted to the Presbyterian faith, four members of it joining that church ; namely, my mother, my brothers Hyrum and Samuel H., and my sister Sophronia.

"During this time of great excitement my mind was called up to serious reflection and great uneasiness ; but although 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 time my mind became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect, and I felt some desire to unite 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 in the matter. * * * *

" 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 did this to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. * * * I at length came to the determination to 'ask of God,' concluding that if he gave to them who lacked wisdom, and would not upbraid, I might venture. Accordingly I retired to the woods to make the attempt.

" It was on the morning of a beautiful clear day. early in the Spring of 1820. 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- mvself alone, I knelt down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so. when immediately I was seized by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed for a time as if I was 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 me ; and at the verv moment when I was readv 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 — just at this moment of great alarm I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which gradually descended until it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemv 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 to me, calling me by name, and said, pointing to the other, ' This is my beloved son ; hear him ! '

" My object in going to enquire of the Lord was to know which of all these 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 — for at that time it had never entered into my heart that all were wrong — and which I should join. I was answered that I should 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 me with their lips, but 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 any of them. * * * 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 beforementioned religious excitement, and conversing with him upon 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 were no such things as visions or revelations in these days ; that all such things had ceased with the Apostles, and that there never would be anymore 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."

What that Methodist preacher then said to Joseph, churches still say: "It is all of the devil." " There are no visions or revelations in these days ; all such things ceased with the Apostles ; there never will be any more of such." And this in the very face of revelation sweeping over the bosom of the age like a mighty ocean ! Notwithstanding that since 1820, perhaps twenty-five million souls, outside of churches, and the majority of them from the intellectual classes, have accepted a dispensation of revelation in some form, churches stand do-day where they stood then. All Christendom, still remaining without a present revelation of Jesus, yet this Jesus the supreme revelator of his Fathers kingdom!

Chapter II. The Heavens Rest Joseph Left To Mature His

YOUTHFUL EXPERIENCE ERROR AND REPENT- ANCE HE AGAIN SEEKS FOR A MANIFESTATION

FROM GOD THE ANGEL MORONI VISITS HIM

THE WONDROUS INTERVIEW HIS MISSION FORE- SHADOWED SHOWN IN VISION WHERE THE

SACRED BOOK IS HID.

The great work of opening the dispensation thus accomplished by the august administration of the Father and Son, the heavens rested for a season. There was divine wisdom in this. Joseph was too young at that time to be sent forth with the wondrous proclamation to all nations, kindreds and tongues, that God had called him to be the prophet of a new civilization; too young, at fourteen, to seek out from the multitude strong apostolic men, saying unto them, " Leave your nets and follow me."

" My mind had now become satisfied," says Joseph, "so far as the sectarian world was concerned, that it was not my duty to join with any of them, but to 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 21st of Sept. 1823, all the time suffering persecution at the hands of all classes of men, both religious and irreligious, because I continued to affirm that I had seen a vision."

Philosophically reviewing this period of Joseph's life, the divine wisdom is easily discerned. His mind had received an extraordinary spiritual birth, and it was now necessary that his character should mature to prepare him for his great work. Perchance had the administration of angels been constant, and daily with him, from the age of fourteen, it would have unbalanced his mind, and stunted the physical majesty with which nature so liberally endowed him.

Thus may be seen a scientific reason underscoring the divine purpose. The method is at once profound and simple. The grand overture of the " Dispensation of the Fullness of Times" was given; presently will be seen the second divine movement It is the revelation of the " New and Everlasting Covenant " which Jesus and his Father came to make with Earth.

Meantime Joseph fell into some improprieties of youth ; which fact Anti-Mormon writers have dwelt upon with great relish. But let us hear his own confession :

" During the time which intervened between the vision and the year 1823 (having been forbidden to join any of the religious sects of the day, and being of very tender years, and persecuted by those who ought to have treated me kindly, and, if they supposed me to be deluded, ought to have endeavored in a proper and affectionate manner to have reclaimed me), I was left to all kinds of temptations, and mingled with all kinds of society. I frequentlyfell into many foolish errors, and displayed the weakness of youth and the corruption of human nature, which,. I am sorry to say, led me into divers temptations to gratify appetites offensive in the sight of God. In consequence of these things I often felt condemned for my weakness and imper fections."

An ingenuous and touching confession ; quite gratuitous ; a recompense to his own conscience, — not an answer or apology before an earthly tribunal; for he swept away all human judgments that conflicted with his sense of right, and knelt only at the judgment seat of the Great Jehovah.

Singularly, yet naturally enough, this very experience of being left, for a time, in his youth, without the visible hand of his divine guide, was the providential way that led him to his extraordinary mission; for just here occurred his second grand vision. He says:

''On the evening of the above-mentioned 21st of Sept., after I had retired to my bed for the night, I betook myself to prayer and supplication to Almighty God for forgiveness of all my sins and follies, and also for a manifestation to me, that I might know of my state and standing before him ; for I had full confidence in obtaining a divine manifestation, as I had previously had one.

" While I was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered a light appearing in the room, which continued to increase until the room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a personage appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor. He had on a loose robe of most exquisite whiteness. It was a whiteness beyond anyth'ing earthly I had ever seen ; nor do I believe that any earthly thing could be made to appear so exceedingly white and brilliant ; his hands were naked, and his arms also, a little above the wrists ; so, also, were his feet naked, as were his legs, a little above the ankles. His head and neck were also bare. I could discover that he had no other clothing on but this robe, as it was open so that I could see into his bosom. Not only was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person was glorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like lightning. The room was exceedingly light, but not so very bright as immediately around his person. When I first looked upon him I was afraid, but the fear soon left me. He called me by name and said unto me, that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God, and that his name was Moroni. That God had a work for me to do, and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues ; or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people. He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprung. He also said that the fullness of the everlasting gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Saviour to the ancient inhabitants. Also, that there were two stones in silver bows (and these stones, fastened to a breastplate,

IO LIFE OF JOSEPH THE PROPHET.

constituted what is called the Urim and Thummini) deposited with the plates, and the possession and use of these stones was what constituted seers in ancient or former times, and that God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book. * * He told me that when I got those plates of which he had spoken (for the time that they should be obtained was not yet fulfilled) I should not show them to any person, neither the breastplate with the Urim and Thummini, only to those to whom I should be commanded to show them ; if I did, I should be destroyed. While he was conversing with me about the plates, the vision was opened to my mind that I could see the place where the plates were deposited, and that so clearly and distinctly, that I knew the place again when I visited it.

" After this communication, I saw the light in the room begin to gather immediately around the person of him who had been speaking to me, and it continued to do so, until the room was again left dark, except just around him, when instantly I saw, as it were, a conduit open right up into heaven, and he ascended up till he entirely disappeared, and the room was left as it had been before this heavenly light had made its appearance.

11 I lay musing on the singularity of the scene, and marveling greatly at what had been told me by this extraordinary messenger, when, in the midst of my meditation, I suddenly discovered that my room was again beginning to be lighted, and in an instant, as it were, the same heavenly messenger was again by my bedside. He commenced, and again related the very same things which he had done at his first

LIFE OF JOSEPH THE PROPHET. II

visit, without the least variation, which having done, he informed me of great judgments which were coming upon the earth, with great desolations by famine, sword, and pestilence, and that these grievous judgments would come on the earth in this generation. Having related these things, he again ascended as he had done before.

" By this time, so deep were the impressions made on my mind, that sleep had fled from my eyes, and I lay overwhelmed in astonishment at what I had both seen and heard ; but what was my surprise when again I beheld the same messenger at my bedside, and heard him rehearse or repeat over again to me the same things as before, and added a caution to me, telling me that Satan would try to tempt me (in consequence of the indigent circumstances of my father's family) to get the plates for the purpose of getting rich. This he forbid me, saying, that I must have no other object in view in getting the plates but to glorify God, and must not be influenced by any other motive but that of building his kingdom, otherwise I could not get them. After this third visit, he again ascended into heaven as before, and I was again left to ponder on the strangeness of what I had just experienced, when almost immediately after the heavenly messenger had ascended from me the third time, the cock crew, and I found that day was approaching, so that our interviews must have occupied the whole of that night."

Chapter III

REALISTIC CHARACTER OF THE VISITATION INCI- DENTS FROM OLIVER COWDERY's NARRATIVE OF

THE EVENT THE ANGELS VISIT TO JOSEPH, IN

THE FIELD HE TELLS HIS FATHER OF THE

VISION, AND IS CHARGED BY HIM TO OBEY THE ANGEL.

All night had the angel been with Joseph. 'Till the dawn of morn had he tarried. Thrice had he descended and thrice ascended, with all the circumstances of reality in his appearing.

Nor let it be thought that the physical is the only real, and that the spiritual and immortal are unreal. A wrong classification this of the ideas of the two moods of existence, as well as an inadequate and improper wording. The spiritual and immortal are the very adamant of being. Indeed, the demonstration of immortality is in the fact that it is the real, and not the unreal, of existence. It is the physical that, through dissolution, passes away, and in that passing away Nature is confounded, for a moment, in the midnight of death, — the midnight of existence, in fact, for the moment thereafter is the dawn of the everlasting. There cannot be anything more certain than the fact that the intellectual world has either to give up all affirmation of the spiritual, or else treat it as the very essence of reality.

Now it is this realistic character of Joseph Smith's visions and experiences that makes him to be such a valuable problem for the age. He is of more value to the scientist than to the mere visionary disciple ; and he may yet become a very solid subject of study for the skeptical intellect.

It is not now as in 1823; not now as in the lifetime of this extraordinary man. To-day a newfound spiritual sense is awaking in all society, insomuch that those who possess it most, if also endowed with intellectual acumen, fear greatly that the world is becoming spiritually insane.

Positively refreshing and restful, to intellect, is it to find a prophet so sound, so strong, so large in mind and robust in physique as Joseph Smith. There is no more insanity in him than in the giant oak of the forest. He dwelt in the very glare and illumination of a spiritual existence, and yet was the founder, organizer, and leader of a Latter-day Israel. It is this which makes him so rare a study. Not better was Moses, — he who, in the solidity of his physical and mental strength, turned aside to investigate the burning bush, and then conversed with Jehovah, in an extraordinary business-like way, about the deliverance of Israel. Not more real was Jacob's angel, with whom he wrestled all night, than were the angels of our times to Joseph.

# And mark how circumstantial was the business of the angel with Joseph. Oliver Cowdery, who was his scribe in translating the Book of Mormon, tells us that the angel, on the above-mentioned occasion, gave a general history of the Ancients of the American Continent. In fact his narrative was a sketch of the Book of Mormon, with oracular interspersions and personal charges to Joseph ; so that during the interviews of that night he was made well acquainted with the Lord's business, in its opening views and purposes.

An incident, worthy of note, in the interesting narrative, is that of the angel showing Joseph in vision the place where the plates were deposited. It illustrates the seeric scope, and one phase of the seeric gift.

But perhaps the greatest marvel of that night's experience was the angel's deliberate ascensions and repeated returns to rehearse his subject, giving, by the intervals of Joseph's personal self-possession, an absolute sense of the reality of the whole. There is such a realistic character about this that it is made to be one of the chief features of that remarkable night. It is, moreover, quite ancient in its method and style. Those familiar with Homer will remember how exact were the messengers from the skiesin rehearsing their messages from the Gods. Joseph, however, simply records the returns and repetitions of the angel as an incident that astonished him, and is seemingly not at all conscious of the antique forms of the visit. The personage was decidedly an ancient.

And the angel gathered the mantle of his glory around him. The description which Joseph giv*es of this phenomenon is as beautifully suggestive for the idealist as exact for the scientist : " I saw the light in the room begin to gather immediately around the person of him who had been speaking to me," etc.

Then crew the cock as the angel ascended the third time, and the morning dawned. Truly a poetic fitness this to the dawn of the great spiritual day of Messiah's coming.

And as the narrative continues the realistic increases. Says Joseph:

" I shortly after arose from my bed, and, as usual, went to the necessary labors of the day, but, on attempting to labor as at other times, I found my strength so exhausted as to render me entirely unable. My father, who was laboring along with me, discovered something to be wrong with me, and told me to go home. I started, with the intention of going to the house, but, in attempting to cross the fence out of the field where we were, my strength entirely failed me, and I fell helpless on the ground, and for a time was quite unconscious of anything. The first thing that I can recollect, was a voice speaking unto me, calling me byname; I looked up and beheld the same messenger standing over my head, surrounded by light as before. He then again related all that he had related unto me the previous night, and commanded me to go to my father, and tell him of the vision and commandments which I had received. I obeyed. I returned to my father in the field and rehearsed the whole matter to him. He replied to me that it was of God, and bade me go and do as commanded by the messenger."

Chapter IV. The Prophet's First Visit To The Hill Cumorah

HE ATTEMPTS TO TAKE THE RECORDS, BUT IS

PREVENTED BY THE ANGEL MORONI APPEARS

TO HIM GREAT VISION OF THE POWERS OF DARK- NESS AND OF LIGHT THE ANGEL'S CHARGE AND

INSTRUCTION DESCRIPTION OF MOUNT CUMORAH.

The first visit of the youthful prophet to the hill Cumorah, where the angels of the Western Hemisphere guarded the records of their ancient nations, was a circumstance that well might awe the imagination of the reader. To Joseph, with his quickened spiritual sense, it was an actual visit to the solemn domain of the mighty dead, who, whether visible or invisible, he knew would meet him there.

Having been charged by his father to obey the heavenly messenger, Joseph left the field and wended his way to the hill Cumorah, where the angel awaited him. During his walk of from two to three miles, — the distance from his fathers house to this spot around which such a volume of ancient history clusters, — it seemed, to use Joseph's own words, as though two invisible powers were striving to obtain the controlling influence over him.

The hour of temptation had come !

LIFE OF JOSEPH THE PROPHET. I J

The one power sought to allure his mind with worldly ambitions and prospect of gain, through possession of the golden plates upon which was written the history of the ancient races of America; for very naturally he thought that the world would be astonished at the coming to light of so ^reat a treasure, and by his instrumentality. The other power strove to bring his youthful mind to the integrity and comprehension of the mission opening before him, and to a realization that the sacred book could only be obtained for the glory of God and the special purposes of which the angel had spoken.

Thus contended the invisible powers, and such the conflicting state of Joseph's mind as he wended his way to the sacred hill.

Arriving at the spot where the records had been buried, ages before, by Moroni, he recognized it at the instant, " owing," he says, " to the distinctness of the vision which I had concerning it."

"On the west side of this hill Cumorah," he continues, " not far from the top, under a stone of considerable size, lay the plates, deposited in a stone box; this stone was thick and rounding in the middle on the upper side, and thinner towards the edges, so that the middle part of it was visible above the oround, but the ed^e all round was covered with earth. Havino- removed the earth and obtained a lever, which I fixed under the edge of the stone, with a little exertion I raised it up. I looked in, and there indeed did I behold the plates, the Urim and TJuimmim, and the breastplate, as stated by the messenger. The box in which they lay was formed by laying stones together in some kind of cement. In the bottom of the box were laid two stones crossways, and on these stones lay the plates and the other things with them."