7. In the midst of the war of words and tumult of opinion that accompanied this agitation, Joseph would often say to himself, What is to be done? Who of all these parties are right?
8. Joseph Smith's First Prayer and Vision.—While floundering in the midst of these difficulties he came to the following passage in the first chapter of the Epistle of James:
If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
This passage impressed him with great force. It was the voice of God to him. If any man lacked wisdom he did; and here was counsel given directly how to obtain it, with a promise that he should receive it and not be unbraided for asking. He at last decided to follow the divine injunction.
9. It was in the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty, that Joseph put his resolution into effect. He selected a place in a grove near his father's house for that purpose. It was his first attempt to pray vocally, and he was somewhat timid; but finding himself alone he knelt down and began to offer up the desires of his heart to the Lord. He had scarcely began to pray when he was seized by some power which threw him violently to the ground, and it seemed for a time that he was doomed to a sudden destruction. It was no imaginary power but some actual being from the unseen world. His tongue for a time was bound that he could not speak; darkness gathered about him; but exerting all his powers he called upon God to deliver him out of the hands of his enemy, and at the very moment he was ready to give up in despair and abandon himself to destruction, he beheld a pillar of light immediately over his head descending towards him. Its brightness was above that of the sun at noon-day, and no sooner did it appear than he was freed from the enemy which had held him bound.
10. When the light rested upon him he beheld within it two personages standing above him in the air, whose brightness and glory defy all description, but they exactly resembled each other in form and features. One of them, pointing to the other said: "JOSEPH, THIS IS MY BELOVED SON, HEAR HIM."
11. Joseph's purpose in calling upon the Lord was to learn which of the sects was right, that he might know which to join. As soon, therefore, as he gained his self-possession, he addressed these questions to the personage to whom he was directed. To his astonishment he was told that none of the sects were right, and that he must join none of them. He was further told by the person who addressed him, that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight; that those professors were all corrupt; that they drew near to him with their lips, but their hearts were far from him; that they taught for doctrine the commandments of men; that they had a form of godliness, but denied the power of God. And he was commanded the second time to join none of them.
12. There were many other things which Jesus said to Joseph on this occasion, but the prophet never recorded them further than to say that he received a promise that the fullness of the gospel would at some future time be made known to him.
13. The Importance of the Vision.—This splendid revelation is of vast importance: First, it dispels the vagaries that men had conjured up in respect to the person of Deity. Instead of being a personage without body, parts or passions, it revealed the fact that he had both body and parts, that he was in the form of man, or rather, that man had been made in his image.[[5]] Second: It clearly proves that the Father and Son are distinct persons, and not one person as the Christian world believes. The oneness of the Godhead, so frequently spoken of in scripture, must therefore relate to oneness of sentiment and agreement in purpose. Third: It swept away the rubbish of human dogma and tradition that had accumulated in all the ages since Messiah's personal ministry on earth, by announcing that God did not acknowledge any of the sects of Christendom as his church, nor their creeds as his gospel. Thus the ground was cleared for the planting of the truth. Fourth: it showed how mistaken the Christian world was in claiming that all revelation had ceased—that God would no more reveal himself to man. Fifth: the vision created a witness for God on the earth: a man lived who could say to some purpose that God lived and that Jesus was the Christ, for he had seen and talked with them. Thus was laid the foundation for faith. We shall see anon, how the foundation was broadened.
14. The Interval of Three Years.—For three years after this first vision, Joseph received no other visitation or revelation; and as he had been forbidden to join any of the religious sects then existing he stood alone. It was a period of severe trial. A few days after his first vision, he related the circumstance to a Methodist minister who had been active in the religious agitation before mentioned. To the lad's surprise he treated his story with the utmost contempt; and declared it to be from the devil, as the Lord gave no revelations in these days, those things having ceased with the apostles. Making his vision public brought upon him the ridicule and indignation of the whole neighborhood, especially of the ministers. In this trying period of three years, according to his own statement, he was guilty of some youthful follies; but he was true to God, and continued in the face of all opposition to maintain that he had received a revelation from him.