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Date: 22 Jun 1997 10:49:55 -0600

Doctrine and Covenants 71-75; 77
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Lesson 21

Scriptural Highlights

1. Confounding false stories spread by apostates 2. A second bishop called
and instructed 3. Joseph Smith to resume the translation of the Bible 4.
Clarifications of prophecies in the book of Revelation
While translating the Bible, Joseph Smith frequently asked the Lord to
clarify passages. Many revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants are the
Lord's answers to these questions. Invite class members to tell of how the
Holy Spirit has helped them gain a clearer understanding of the scriptures.
Discussion and Application Questions

* Why would the promise in D&C 71:9 have been important to Joseph Smith and
Sidney Rigdon when it was revealed? (See the headings to D&C 71 and 73; see
also the Class Member Study Guide for this lesson.) How has this promise
been fulfilled in this dispensation? (See the quotation from the Prophet
Joseph Smith.)

* In D&C 72 the Lord speaks of stewardships. What is a stewardship? (See
the quotation from the Guide to the Scriptures.) How do we account for our
stewardships today? (D&C 72:3-5.) In what sense does obtaining a temple
recommend involve an accounting of our stewardships?

* In D&C 73 the Lord directed Joseph and Sidney to resume translating the
Bible. What is the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible? (See the LDS
Bible Dictionary, p. 717; and the first quotation from Robert J. Matthews.)
What blessings do we enjoy because of Joseph Smith's inspired translation
of the Bible? (See the second quotation from Robert J. Matthews.)

* Seventy-seven of the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants were
received during the three-year period when the Prophet was translating the
Bible. How might the translating experience have helped Joseph Smith in his
calling as Prophet? (The experience provided a systematic approach to
learning gospel truths.)

* One role of the Comforter is to teach us "all things that are expedient"
(D&C 75:10). What has the Comforter taught you during your personal study
of the scriptures this year? What has the Comforter taught you as you have
discussed the scriptures in Sunday School class?

* Many of the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants came when the
Prophet asked questions. What questions led to the revelation in D&C 77?
What experiences have you had when seeking divine answers to questions
about the gospel or personal matters?

* How does D&C 77 help us understand some of the prophecies in the book of
Revelation?

* Who are the two witnesses that will be raised up to the Jews in the last
days? (See D&C 77:15 and the quotation from Elder McConkie.)

Quotations

The Prophet Joseph Smith: "No unhallowed hand can stop the work from
progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble,
calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and
independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime,
swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God
shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done"
(History of the Church, 4:540).

Guide to the Scriptures ("Steward, Stewardship"): A steward is "a person
who takes care of the affairs or property of another. That which a steward
cares for is called a stewardship. All things on earth belong to the Lord;
we are his stewards. We are accountable to the Lord, but we may report on
our stewardship to=20
God's authorized representatives. When we receive a calling of service from
the Lord or his authorized servants, that stewardship may include both
spiritual and temporal affairs."

Robert J. Matthews: "When the Prophet Joseph Smith translated the Bible, he
was not limited to what was found on the working page in front of him....
The spirit of revelation was always an additional source of information. In
the case of the Bible translation, the manuscript source was the King James
Version. This suggested certain ideas, but the spirit apparently suggested
many enlargements, backgrounds, and additional concepts not found on the
page. Thus the term 'translation,' when referring to Joseph Smith's
translation of the Bible, differs somewhat from that normally used when one
thinks of translating languages. To a prophet, a revelation is a more vital
and dependable source than a written text" (in Studies in Scripture: The
Pearl of Great Price, p. 37).

Robert J. Matthews: "It was Joseph Smith's study and translation of the
Bible that set the stage for the reception of many revelations on the
doctrines of the gospel" (Joseph Smith's Translation of the Bible, p. 256).

Elder Bruce R. McConkie: "Who will these witnesses be? We do not know,
except that they will be followers of Joseph Smith; they will hold the holy
Melchizedek Priesthood; they will be members of The Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints. It is reasonable to suppose, knowing how the Lord has
always dealt with his people in all ages, that they will be two members of
the Council of the Twelve or of the First Presidency of the Church" (The

Millennial Messiah, p. 390).

Next Week's Reading Assignment Doctrine and Covenants 76; 137
Page 41

Class Member Study Guide

Lesson 21

In late Npvember 1831, Joseph Smith resumed work on his inspired
translation of the King James Version of the Bible. On 1 December the Lord
revealed D&C 71, in which he told Joseph and Sidney Rigdon to temporarily
stop their work on the Bible and go on a mission to Kirtland, Ohio. There,
Ezra Booth, a former Church member, was publishing a series of letters in
the Ohio Star attacking the Church. The letters were causing bitter
feelings against the Church.

Ezra Booth had been a Methodist minister. He had joined the Church in 1831
after seeing the Prophet Joseph Smith heal the lame arm of Mrs. John
Johnson. But he did not remain faithful. The Prophet said of him, "When he
actually learned that faith, humility, patience, and tribulation go before
blessing, and that God brings low before He exalts; . . . then he was
disappointed" (History of the Church, 1 :216).
Joseph and Sidney traveled to Kirtland and were able to resolve many of the
problems caused by Ezra Booth's apostasy.
* How can the Lord's promise to these brethren give us comfort when people
attack the Church today? (D&C 71 :7-10.)
On 10 January 1832 the Lord told Joseph to begin translating again (see D&C
73). As the Prophet encountered questions in his work with the Bible, the
Lord gave him the revelations contained in D&C 74, 76, and 77.

As time progressed, the organization of the Church became more complete.
When the Church was organized in 1830, Joseph Smith presided as its "first
elder" (D&C 20:2). Edward Partridge was called as the first bishop in
February 1831 (see D&C 41 :9), and the first high priests were ordained in
June of that same year (see the heading to D&C 52). In December 1831 Newel
K. Whitney became the Church's second bishop (see D&C 72:1-8), and in
January 1832 Joseph Smith was sustained as President of the High Priesthood
(see the heading to D&C 75).

* According to D&C 72, what were the principal roles of the bishops in Ohio
and Missouri?

* One role of the Comforter is to teach us "all things that are expedient"
(D&C 75:10). What has the Comforter taught you during your personal study
of the scriptures this year?
Original manuscript of the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible. Courtesy
Library-Archives,=20
Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Auditorium,
Independence, Missouri.

Page 42
Andrew Jenson, Encyclopedic History of the Church=85, p.338
HIRAM, a township in Portage Co., Ohio, about 35 miles southeast of
Kirtland, was the home of the Johnson family and a number of other early
members of the Church in 1831 and 1832. On the invitation of Father
Johnson, Joseph Smith, the Prophet, removed with his family to Hiram Sept.
12, 1831, and there continued the revision of the Bible, Elder Sidney
Rigdon assisting him as scribe. A few days after his arrival a conference
of Elders was held at Hiram, at which Wm. W. Phelps was instructed to
purchase a press and type at Cincinnati, Ohio, for the purpose of
establishing a periodical (Evening and Morning Star) at Independence,
Jackson County, Mo. While residing at Hiram, Joseph Smith received 13 of
the revelations contained in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, among
which is the revelation known as "The Vision". They are sections 65, 67,
68, 69, 71, 73, 74, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80 and 81 of the Doctrine and
Covenants. The Prophet also held meetings on the Sabbath and in the
evenings and baptized a number of people. Persecution soon began to rage
against him and the new converts, which ended in an attempt to murder the
Prophet and Sidney Rigdon on the night of March 24=9625, 1832. Both Joseph
and Sidney received brutal treatment and were both tarred and feathered by
the infuriated mob. During the attack, a little child, Joseph Smith
Murdock, was exposed to the night air, being sick with the measles, and
died in consequence. That little baby boy is sometimes called the first
martyr of the Church.
Benjamin Johnson Ltr to Gibbs, 1903 in E. Dale LeBaron (1967), p.343
"President Brigham Young." Of Brigham Young as President of the Church, I
will again bear this as a faithful testimony that I do know and bear record
that upon the head of Brigham Young as chief, with the Apostleship in full,
was by the voice of the Prophet Joseph in my hearing, laid the full
responsibility of bearing of the kingdom of God to all the world. And I do
further bear as a testimony, faithful and true, to the Church and to all
the world, that at a conference of the whole Church, at Nauvoo, subsequent
to the Prophet's death and return of the absent Apostles, that I sat in the
assembly near to President Rigdon, closely attentive to his appeal to the
conference to recognize and sustain his claim as "Guardian for the Church."
And I was perhaps, to a degree, forgetful of what I knew to be the rights
and duties of the apostleship, and as he closed his address and sat down,
my back was partly turned to the seat occupied by Apostle Brigham Young and
other Apostles, when suddenly, and as from Heaven, I heard the voice of the
Prophet Joseph, that thrilled my whole being, and quickly turning around I
saw in the transfiguration of Brigham Young, the tall, straight and portly
form of the Prophet Joseph Smith, clothed in a sheen of light, covering him
to his feet; and I heard the real and perfect voice of the Prophet, even to
the whistle, as in years past caused by the loss of a tooth said to have
been broken out by the mob at Hyrum. This view, or vision, although but for
seconds, was to me as vivid and real as the glare of lightning or the voice
of thunder from the heavens, and so deeply was I impressed with what I saw
and heard in this transfiguration, that for years I dare not publicly tell
what was given me of the Lord to see. But when in later years I did
publicly bear this testimony, I found that others would testify to having
seen and heard the same. But to what proportion of the congregation who
were present I could never know. But I do know that this, my testimony is
true.

The Prophet's lost tooth, to which I alluded was, as generally understood,
broken out by the mob at Hyrum while trying to pry open his mouth to
strangle him with acid, which from time, until the tooth was replaced by a
dentist neighbor, a year or so previous to his death, there had a
whistle-like sound to accompany all his public speaking which I again
plainly heard at the time of which I write.
Benjamin Johnson Ltr to Gibbs, 1903 in E. Dale LeBaron (1967), p.343 - p.344
--------------------------
With his conviction strengthened by this spiritual manifestation, Benjamin
became one of the foremost in testifying that Brigham Young was the true
successor of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Benjamin declared:
=20
I will again bear this as a Faithful Testimony that I do know and bear
Record that upon the head of Brigham Young as Chief with the Apostleship in
full was by the voice of the prophet Joseph in in [sic] my hearing Laid the
full Responsibility of bearing off the Kingdom of God to all the world.
61(Johnson to Gibbs, 53.)

Knowing that President Brigham Young was now the Lord's prophet, Benjamin
found that "new confidence and joy continued to spring up within me, and
the subject of our finding a new home in the wilderness of the great West
was one that occupied much of my thoughts."
62 (Johnson, My Lif's Review, 104.)
E. Dale LeBaron; BYU Studies Vol. 32, No. 1, pg.189
Richard Van Wagner, presented a Sunstone, a bit back that showed the
transfiguration of Brigham Young to be more than likely a Mormon Myth. For
example years later Orson Hyde testified in General Conference  that he was
there that day in when Brigham spoke with the voice of Joseph Smith.  This
is the most blatant example of Mormon Myth making, as according to Orson
Hyde's own Journal he had not yet returned to Nauvoo from a mission trip.
His Journal or do other Journals contain entries that day to any
transfiguration event.  The story evolved with time, from children saying
that Brigham Young spoke just like Joseph Smith, to adults most 20 or 3
years later claiming to have heard Joseph Smith's voice, and his visage,
but they did not record this at the time it happen.
Also folio's family history suite, contains many journals, but the only
references to Joseph's whistle, is that made by Johnson.
-------------------------




-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Perry L. Porter" <[e-mail]>
Subject: ---> Lesson 22
Date: 23 Jun 1997 22:05:25 -0700

Doctrine and Covenants 76; 137

Lesson 22

Scriptural Highlights

1. The greatness of the Lord and his blessings to the faithful

2. A vision of Jesus Christ

3. Visions of Satan and the sons of perdition

4. Visions of the celestial, terrestrial, and telestial kingdoms
Prayerfully consider how these revelations can meet the needs of class
members.

Discussion and Application Questions

* What circumstances led to Joseph Smith's receiving the revelations that
are recorded in D&C 76 and 137? (See the headings to these sections; D&C
76:15-21; and the Class Member Study Guide for this lesson.) How is the
information in these visions important to our salvation? How have you been
blessed as you have pondered the scriptures?

* Imagine yourself in the position of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon as
they received D&C 76. What are your impressions as you read this
revelation? How does this vision affect your understanding and appreciation
of the Savior?

* What do we learn about Satan from Joseph Smith's vision of him in D&C
76:25-30? What do we learn about the sons of perdition? (See D&C 76:31-38,
44-48; 132:27; and the quotation from the Prophet Joseph Smith.)

* What does the Lord mean when he says that the wicked will be cast into
the lake of fire and brimstone? (D&C 63:17-18; 76:36-38, 44; 2 Nephi
9:15-16; Mosiah 2:38.)

What is required for us to come forth in the resurrection of the just and
inherit the celestial kingdom? (D&C 76:50-53.) What does it mean to be
"sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise"? (D&C 76:53; see also D&C 88:3-4;
132:7; and the quotation from the Guide to the Scriptures).

* What blessings does God promise to those who inherit the celestial
kingdom? (D&C 76:58-70, 92-96.) What does it mean to receive a fulness of
the Father's glory? (D&C 93:16-17.) Why is it important for you to know
that you have the potential to become like God? (D&C 76:58-59, 95; 132:20;
Psalm 82:6.)

* What did Joseph Smith see in his vision of the celestial kingdom? (D&C
137:1-5.) What did he learn about people who died without receiving the
gospel but would have received it if they had heard it? (137:7-9.) What did
he learn about children who die before the age of accountability? (137:10.)

* What people will inherit the terrestrial kingdom? (D&C 76:71-80.)

* How are honorable people sometimes "blinded by the craftiness of men"?
(D&C 76:75). How can we keep ourselves from being blinded or deceived?

* What people will inherit the telestial kingdom? (D&C 76:81-89.) What is
the "hell" into which these people are cast before they inherit the
telestial kingdom? (D&C 76:84; see D&C 76:85; 2 Nephi 9:12; and the
quotation from Elder McConkie).

* How does our testimony of Jesus determine which kingdom we will inherit
after we die? (Celestial: D&C 76:51-53; terrestrial: D&C 76:79; telestial:
D&C 76:82, 101; perdition: D&C 76:31, 35.) What does it mean to be "valiant
in the testimony of Jesus"? (D&C 76:79; see 2 Nephi 31 :20; Moroni 10:32;
James 1 :22; and the quotation from President Benson).

* In the hereafter, how will the glory we inherit affect our access to God?
(Celestial: D&C 76:62; terrestrial: D&C 76:76-77; telestial: D&C 76:86-88,
112.)

* Contrast some of the traditional Christian concepts of heaven with the
vision of the three degrees of glory (D&C 76). Why are the differences
important?

Quotations

The Prophet Joseph Smith responded as follows to a question about who will
become sons of perdition: "What must a man do to commit the unpardonable
sin? He must receive the Holy Ghost, have the heavens opened unto him, and
know God, and then sin against Him. After a man has sinned against the Holy
Ghost, there is no repentance for him. He has got to say that the sun does
not shine while he sees it; he has got to deny Jesus Christ when the
heavens have been opened unto him, and to deny the plan of salvation with
his eyes open to the truth of it" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith,
p. 358).
Guide to the Scriptures ("Holy Spirit of Promise"): "The Holy Ghost is the
Holy Spirit of Promise. He confirms as acceptable to God the righteous
acts, ordinances, and covenants of men. The Holy Spirit of Promise
witnesses to the Father that the saving ordinances have been performed
properly and that the covenants associated with them have been kept."

Elder Bruce R. McConkie: "That part of the spirit world inhabited by wicked
spirits who are awaiting the eventual day of their resurrection is called
hell" (Mormon Doctrine, p. 349).

President Ezra Taft Benson: "Not to be valiant in one's testimony is a
tragedy of eternal consequence. These are members who know this latter-day
work is true, but who fail to endure to the end. Some may even hold temple
recommends, but do not magnify their callings in the Church. Without valor,
they do not take an affirmative stand for the kingdom of God. Some seek the
praise, adulation, and honors of men; others attempt to conceal their sins;
and a few criticize those who preside over them" (Ensign, May 1982, p. 63).

Next Week's Reading Assignment Doctrine and Covenants 78-83; 104
Page 43

Class Member Study Guide

Lesson 22

Doctrine and Covenants 76 and 137 record marvelous visions about the
eternal destiny of mankind. As Joseph Smith and his scribe, Sidney Rigdon,
were translating the Bible, it became clear to them that "if God rewarded
every one according to the deeds done in the body the term 'Heaven,' as
intended for the Saints' eternal home must include more kingdoms than one"
(History of the Church, 1 :245). After translating John 5:29, they
meditated upon the meaning of the passage (see D&C 76:15-19) and received
the vision known as D&C 76.

As you study D&C 76, consider the following:
* Imagine yourself in the position of Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon as
they received D&C 76. How does this vision affect your understanding and
appreciation of the Savior?

* How does our testimony of Jesus determine which kingdom we will inherit
after we die? (Celestial: D&C 76:51-53; terrestrial: D&C 76:79; telestial:
D&C 76:82, 101; perdition: D&C 76:31, 35.) What does it mean to be valiant
in the testimony of Jesus? (2 Nephi 31 :20; Moroni 10:32.)

* What blessings does God promise to those who inherit the celestial
kingdom? (D&C 76:58-70, 92-96.) What does it mean to inherit a fulness of
the Father's glory?
Joseph Smith received D&C 137 nearly four years later on 21 January 1836 in
the Kirtland Temple.

* What does D&C 137:7-9 teach about people who died without receiving the
gospel but would have received it if they had heard it? What does D&C
137:10 teach about the inheritance of children who die before the age of
accountability?
A room in the restored John Johnson home in Hiram, Ohio. The Prophet Joseph
received Doctrine and
Covenants 76 while he resided in this home.

Page 44

[commentary: This vision complete the evolutionary understanding of the
Godhead for Joseph Smith, from what it was from his various accounts of the
first vision and early vagueness and inconsistency of documents such as
Lectures on faith.  Accepting Joseph Smith's evolution of do the God hood
is the only way to deal with criticisms as below.  I do not have any
references that frankly deal with JS's changing understanding of the
Godhood from a faith promoting point of view, if anyone has them I'll be
glad to pass them along.]

----------------------------

Fawn M. Brodie was one of the first to cast serious doubt upon the
authenticity of Joseph Smith's story of the First Vision: "The description
of the vision was first published by Orson Pratt in his Remarkable Visions
in 1840, twenty years after it was supposed to have occurred. Between 1820
and 1840 Joseph's friends were writing long panegyrics; his enemies were
defaming him in an unceasing stream of affidavits and pamphlets, and Joseph
himself was dictating several volumes of Bible-flavored prose. But no one
in this long period even intimated that he had heard the story of the two
gods. At least, no such intimation has survived in print or manuscript....
The first published Mormon history, begun with Joseph's collaboration in
1834 by Oliver Cowdery, ignored it altogether,...Joseph's own description
of the first vision was not published until 1842, twenty-two years after
the memorable event....

"If something happened that spring morning in 1820, it passed totally
unnoticed in Joseph's home town, and apparently did not even fix itself in
the minds of members of his own family. The awesome vision he described in
later years may have been the elaboration of some half-remembered dream
stimulated by the

"If something happened that spring morning in 1820, it passed totally
unnoticed in Joseph's home town, and apparently did not even fix itself in
the minds of members of his own family. The awesome vision he described in
later years may have been the elaboration of some half-remembered dream
stimulated by the early revival excitement and reinforced by the rich
folklore of visions circulating in his neighborhood. Or it may have been
sheer invention, created some time after 1834 when the need arose for a
magnificent tradition to cancel out the stories of his fortune-telling and
money-digging." (No Man Knows My History, New York, 1957, pp. 24-25)

Dr. Hugh Nibley, of Brigham Young University, was very disturbed with Mrs.
Brodie's statements, but he admitted that Joseph Smith did not publish the
story until 1842:  "Joseph Smith's 'official' account of his first vision
and the visits of the angel Moroni was written in 1838 and first published
in the Times and Seasons in 1842." (Improvement Era, July 1961, page 490)
1987 - MORMONISM--SHADOW OR REALITY?
SUNSTONE 12:2/29 (Mar 88)          ARTICLE
    Let it not be concluded, though, that the accounts of the First Vision are
just fabricated to buttress the ongoing personal struggles of Joseph Smith,
Jr.  As Milton Backman has pointed out, in some versions of the vision
certain aspects merely could have been emphasized over others.34 This in no
way indicates that all of the aspects of the vision were not experienced in
the actual event.  In no way would it invalidate the vision in its
complexity and intricacy as a psychic datum, answering the needs of Joseph
Smith in a personal way.
SUNSTONE 5:4/21 (Jul 80)           ARTICLE
    Later research has confirmed these conclusions.  We now know that there
are eight separate versions of the First Vision.  We know that the
canonical version is one of the latest.  Most significantly, we know that
all eight versions differ in ways that are highly significant and sometimes
theologically crucial.  We also know that the early Church was largely
ignorant of any of these versions.  It was not until the publication of the
canonical account in 1838 that any attention was paid to the experience.
Even after that time it was used to buttress Joseph's prophetic authority
and not, as presently, to demonstrate the existence of God and Christ as
separate material beings.

    Given so many primary sources, the historian does not, of course, throw up
his hands in disgust.  He analyzes each document to see if it is obviously
spurious.  He checks the handwriting.  Is it Joseph's or that of a known
and trusted scribe or simply that of someone to whom Joseph told the story?
Are some versions more accurate in describing confirmable details than
others? Are others less so?

    The critical question, however, is where does such study lead? It leads
finally to a probable conclusion about the precise character of the event.
The historian gives his best judgment that one of the versions is better
than another, that there are irreconcilable differences among them, etc.
His judgment is based on skill, training, and experience, but it is,
nevertheless, a human judgment.  No matter how certain he may be, he cannot
declare one of these versions to be definitive in the life and faith of the
Church.
S. Dilworth Young, Conference Report April 1957,  p.118
Elder S. Dilworth Young

Of the First Council of the Seventy

I cannot remember the time when I have not heard the story, quoted by
Brother Bennion, concerning the coming of the Father and the Son to the
Prophet Joseph Smith. I am convinced as I grow older and become
proportionately wiser that if boys and girls in our Church could keep that
story uppermost in their hearts, believing it, having a testimony of it,
much of the ills of our youth which President Richards so graphically
portrayed this morning would not be.

I am concerned however with one [p.119] item which has recently been called
to my attention on this matter. There appears to be going about our
communities some writing to the effect that the Prophet Joseph Smith
evolved his doctrine from what might have been a vision, in which he is
supposed to have said that he saw an angel, instead of the Father and Son.
According to this theory, by the time he was inspired to write the
occurrence in 1838, he had come to the conclusion that there were two Beings.

This rather shocked me. I can see no reason why the Prophet, with his
brilliant mind, would have failed to remember in sharp relief every detail
of that eventful day. I can remember quite vividly that in 1915 I had a
mere dream, and while the dream was prophetic in its nature, it was not
startling. It has been long since fulfilled, but I can remember every
detail of it as sharply and clearly as though it had happened yesterday.
How then could any man conceive that the Prophet, receiving such a vision
as he received, would not remember it and would fail to write it clearly,
distinctly, and accurately?

It seems to me, too, that had he evolved such a thing, his enemies would
have used it against him. In 1838 there was a crisis in the Church. Men
were falling away. It was at that time that Oliver Cowdery became
disaffected. If any man in this Church had ever heard that story of the
first vision, Oliver Cowdery must have heard it. Yet his reasons for
disaffection were never given as an evolution of the first vision. Other
men of that time did not use it as their excuse. In 1844, when the final
conspiracy was concocted to murder Joseph Smith, the reasons given by those
men were not discrepancies in his story of the first vision, but rather
other matters far removed from it.

When Joseph wrote the story in 1838, men and women who had known him ever
since he had started this work took the story in their stride; that is, it
was common enough knowledge from the beginning that no one took an
exception to it. Everybody knew it; everybody had heard it; not exactly in
the words in which he wrote it I believe no man will speak extemporaneously
in the same manner that he will write something but essentially the same,
and when the Saints read it, it merely confirmed what they had heard over
and over again.

His mother should have known something about it. You will remember, he
walked into her house that morning and told her that the church to which
she had given allegiance was not true. To my way of thinking, he must have
told her all about the vision. When she chose to write the story of her
son's experience, she did not put it in her own words. I suspect that she
must have felt that so nearly was what he had written the way he had
described it to her, that she quoted his written statement.

All of these things seem to me to add up to irrefutable evidence, although
not said exactly, that Joseph Smith, in 1838, told the correct story of his
vision of 1820.

Recently I made some slight investigation, although not enough, trying to
find the testimonies of some of those who had heard Joseph say these things
before 1838. I did not find much I did not have time to look far but I have
one, which I should like to give you.

Edward Stevenson told how in 1834 the Prophet came to Pontiac, Michigan,
Stevenson's home town, and there held a series of meetings, attended by
Brother Stevenson. Brother Stevenson wrote that the following was the
Prophet's testimony on that occasion:

"I am witness that there is a God, for I saw him in open day, while praying
in a silent grove in the spring of 1820." Then Brother Stevenson wrote: "He
further testified that God the Eternal Father, pointing to a separate
Personage in the likeness of himself, said, 'This is my beloved Son. Hear
Him.'"

I submit this excerpt as enough like the story that the Prophet wrote to
bear witness that he wrote it accurately and correctly.

I am of the fifth generation. I can remember the second generation. My
grandchildren are of the seventh generation. Likely in their day, they will
remember not only my generation, but will see also, before they die, the
tenth or the eleventh generation. It is just possible that some of them may
be [p.120] interested enough to want to know what their grandfather thought
about these things, and they will investigate the conference reports. I
should like them to have in my words what I believe about this great event.

So will you indulge me while I talk a moment to my grandchildren and to my
great-great-grandchildren, to Loraine, to Parkie, to Charlotte, to Annette,
and Wendy, and any that may come hereafter. (I hope there will be many of
them.) I want you to know that I know that Joseph Smith walked into a grove
in 1820, inspired of the Lord to do so, knelt down, as he said, among the
silent trees, offered up a prayer, and there he was given a vision in which
he saw God the Eternal Father, who in his turn introduced to Joseph his
beloved Son. The Son told Joseph many things which would transpire but of
which he was not allowed to speak. Beginning with that vision, which gave
us our first knowledge since the time of the Savior of the true
relationship of our Father and his Son to us, has grown this Church. That
is my solemn and humble testimony to those of my house who in the future
will want to know what I thought and believed.

In order that they will have no doubt, and that no carping critic may read
into my words things that are not there, I should like to repeat for their
benefit what the Prophet said when he wrote his vision:

...I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of
the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me.

...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! (Joseph Smith 2:16-17.)

I will stand on that witness and add mine that I know by the Spirit of the
Holy Ghost that it is true, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
President David O. McKay:

The Congregation will join with the Choir now in singing "We Thank Thee, O
God, for a Prophet." The last speaker, the one to whom we have just
listened, is Elder S. Dilworth Young of the First Council of Seventy.

The Choir and congregation joined in singing the hymn, "We Thank Thee, O
God, For A Prophet."
President David O. McKay:

Bishop Joseph L. Wirthlin, Presiding Bishop of the Church, will now address
us. He will be followed by Elder Marion D. Hanks of the First Council of
Seventy.