[3]. Most likely the first part of the chapter; as that deals with the coming of a messenger to prepare the way for the glorious coming of Messiah.

[4]. The following description of Cumorah is from the pen of Oliver Cowdery:

You are acquainted with the mail road from Palmyra, Wayne county, to Canandaigua, Ontario county, New York, and also, as you pass from the former to the latter place, before arriving at the little village of Manchester, say from three to four, or about four miles from Palmyra, you pass a large hill on the east side of the road. Why I say large, is because it is as large perhaps, as any in that country. To a person acquainted with this road a description would be unnecessary, as it is the largest and rises the highest of any on that route. The north end rises quite sudden until it assumes a level with the more southerly extremity, and I think I may say an elevation higher than at the south a short distance, say half or three-fourths of a mile. As you pass toward Canandaigua it lessens gradually until the surface assumes its common level, or is broken by other smaller hills or ridges, water-courses and ravines. I think I am justified in saying that this is the highest hill for some distance round, and I am certain that its appearance, as it rises so suddenly from the plain on the north, must attract the notice of the traveler as he passes by.—Messenger and Advocate, 1834.

[5]. A genealogy of the Prophet's family in the Church records gives the date of Alvin's death, November 19, 1825. Lucy Smith's History of the Prophet agrees with the text above.—1824, November 19.

[6]. Emma Hale was born in the town of Harmony, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, July 10, 1804. It will therefore be observed that Emma Hale was in her twenty-third year at the time of her marriage with the Prophet; hence of age; hence, under the law, mistress of her own actions. This is remarked because the Prophet, in works written against him, is charged with having abducted his wife.

Chapter III.

The Nephite Record Delivered to Joseph—the Angel's Warning—the Work of Translation.

The Prophet Receives the Plates.