THE WORDS OF THE ANGEL.
On the 22nd of September, 1823, Joseph Smith, after spending the previous night under the tutorship of the angel Moroni, was again visited by that holy personage on the hill Cumorah in the western part of the State of New York, and was shown the plates, which were delivered to him four years later and from which he translated the Book of Mormon. While standing on this historic hill, with the angel at his side, he again received glorious instructions and warnings, and among other things was told that when he should bring forth the Book of Mormon, the workers of iniquity would seek his overthrow. Says the angel:
"They will circulate falsehoods to destroy your reputation, and also will seek to take your life; but remember this, if you are faithful, and shall hereafter continue to keep the commandments of the Lord, you shall be preserved to bring these things forth; for in due time he will give you a commandment to come and take them. When they are interpreted, the Lord will give the holy Priesthood to some, and they shall begin to proclaim this Gospel and baptize by water, and after that they shall have power to give the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands. Then will persecution rage more and more; for the iniquities of men shall be revealed, and those who are not built upon the rock will seek to overthrow the Church; but it will increase the more opposed, and spread further and further."
The angel further told him:
"Your name shall be known among the nations; for the work which the Lord will perform by your hands shall cause the righteous to rejoice and the wicked to rage; with the one it shall be had in honor and with the other in reproach." (Historical Record, page 362.)
These prophetic sayings have had so literal a fulfilment that no further explanation is necessary. If the predictions here made were Joseph's own productions, and no angel of God had a part in it, is it not strange that every word of it should prove true?