15. The First Visit of Moroni.—On the 21st of September, 1823, having retired for the night, he betook himself to prayer to obtain the forgiveness of his sins, and a manifestation that would enable him to know his standing before the Lord. While thus engaged, the room began to be filled with light, and presently a personage appeared by his bedside, standing in the air. [See note 3, end of section.] He said that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God, and that his name was Moroni. He announced to Joseph Smith that the Lord had a work for him to do; and that his name would be had for good and evil among all nations.
16. The Book of Mormon.—The angel informed Joseph of the existence of the Book of Mormon, a record engraven upon golden plates, giving an account of the ancient inhabitants of the American continent and their origin. He said, also, that it contained the everlasting gospel as taught by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants of this Western hemisphere. Deposited with the record was a Urim and Thummim, consisting of two stones fastened in silver bows, attached to a breast-plate. The Lord had prepared this instrument for the purpose of translating the record. A vision of the hill where the sacred plates were hidden was given to the prophet.
17. Ancient Prophecies Quoted by Moroni.—After relating these things, the angel began quoting from the prophecies of the Old Testament. He first quoted part of the third chapter of Malachi;[[6]] and then the fourth chapter. The first verse of the fourth chapter he quoted as follows:
For, behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall burn as stubble; for they that come shall burn them, saith the Lord of hosts; that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.
The fifth and sixth verses he quoted:
Behold, I will reveal unto you the priesthood by the hand of Elijah, the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promise made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers; if it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at his coming.[[7]]
18. Moroni also quoted the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, and said the predictions in it were about to be fulfilled. They relate to the glorious restoration of the house of Israel from their long dispersion, and the reign of peace and righteousness on the earth. He quoted also the twenty-second and twenty-third verses of the third chapter of Acts:
For Moses truly said unto the fathers, a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.
Moroni explained that the prophet here spoken of was Jesus Christ; but the day when they who would not hear his voice should be cut off from among the people had not yet come, but it would soon come.
19. The angel quoted from the twenty-eighth verse to the end of the second chapter of Joel; and said that it was soon to be fulfilled. It predicts the outpouring of God's Spirit upon all flesh; the signs in the heavens and the earth which are to precede the glorious coming of Messiah; and foretells the safety which shall be found in Mount Zion and Jerusalem in those troublous times.