Mormon Identity THE FIRST VISION, PART 1

Episode 14 Mormon Identity THE FIRST VISION, PART 1 [BEGIN MUSIC] HOST: Welcome to Mormon Identity. A 30 minute talk radio program that addresses Church topics important to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Our host is Robert L. Millet, professor of Religious Education at Brigham Young University. [END MUSIC] ROBERT MILLET: We welcome you once again to this episode of Mormon Identity. I m Bob Millet, professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University. I m here with my colleague and friend Kent Jackson who is the Associate Dean of Religious Education and also professor of ancient scripture. Welcome Kent. Thank you, Bob. Glad to be here. ROBERT MILLET: Today we want to discuss the matter of Joseph Smith s First Vision. It s a subject that is so significant that we want to devote two periods to this particular topic. The first period we ll talk about the different accounts of the First Vision; something that many Saints have come to understand and perhaps something that many of you have not. We ll talk about the different accounts and what they contribute to our understanding. And then the second segment of this whole episode, the second period, we ll talk about the doctrinal significance of the First Vision. What place, what role it plays in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. So part one, let s talk about the four accounts. Kent, it s inevitable that our critics should over time to begin to notice things such as Joseph Smith s description of his First Vision experience and to notice that there were more than one, as I recall more than one account. As I recall, in the 1960s our friend, now deceased, Brother Paul Chesman, as part of his master s thesis, began to discover that there was more than one account. We have, of course, had the Pearl of Great Price account, what we call the 1838 account. But Paul began to discover some others and some of the critics of the Church really picked up on this. Do you want to talk about that? Yes, there s really not much to pick up on. Really in terms of criticism against the Church it s true the prophet told his story on different occasions and that he in doing so he didn t choose the exactly the same words to tell the story much like you and I telling something that happened to us. If we tell it to one group and express in some terms and when we tell it to another group we ll express it in other words. So there s nothing remarkable about that. Each of these accounts was done on different occasions perhaps with different audiences in mind. And that helps explain points of emphasis that differ between one and the other. 1

ROBERT MILLET: I thought about experiences I ve had with my own journal. Some years ago I was browsing journal entries from the 1980s and happened upon an experience that was pretty personal and sacred to me and as I read it through I felt that same feeling I had felt in the 1980s, but I found myself wanting to add some things and say, By this I m sure it meant that. Here I am 20 plus years, 25 years removed from it and I had some perspective on it that I didn t have in the 1980s. So I think Joseph Smith would have had much the same experience with the First Vision. And over the course of time you understand better things that happen in your life than you did when they took place. ROBERT MILLET: You know it s not uncommon for people outside the Church who are critical of the Church to talk about a difference in accounts signaling fraudulent accounts. How do we respond to that Kent? They. ROBERT MILLET: You ve mentioned, you ve mentioned, of course, different audiences and different occasions. Sure. Just one example would be some of these accounts were written expressively for the purpose of location. The 1842 account was written for publication to non LDS audience, the 1838 account--the Pearl of Great Price--was written for Latter-day Saints, and the 1835 account was a journal entry. So the anticipated audience is going to determine to some degree how you re going to express it. I think one thing that needs to be pointed out, it appears that the prophet was reticent for many years to even talk about the First Vision. Aside from these accounts that we know of, we don t even have diary accounts of people saying Joseph Smith told me how God appeared to him when he was 14 years old. And there s evidence in that the prophet wanted to emphasize and telling the story of the restoration coming forth the Book of Mormon which represented the heavens being opened, new doctrines being revealed, God speaking today. ROBERT MILLET: A physical evidence of the restoration. A physical evidence. And then he did tell the story of the coming of John the Baptist, especially because that represented the restoration of authority from God. It s interesting that after he comes back from the First Vision itself he goes into the house. He s exhausted from the experience, leans up on the fireplace and his mother asks him, What happened to you? And do you remember his answer? I ve learned for myself that Presbyterian is not true. ROBERT MILLET: Which would have been very, very strong element in society at that time. Sure and, and none the less that was a dramatic understatement. This is his response after the First Vision: I ve learned for myself that Presbyterian is not true. ROBERT MILLET: It s a very specific statement isn t it? Rather then saying, I ve learned that all the churches are wrong. 2

Yeah, or that God came to me and Jesus came to me and they talked to me and the devil tried to kill me. He didn t tell any of those. ROBERT MILLET: I think you would have had some hesitation too, Kent. Because after his first experience he s clearly climbed on by the Methodist minister who rebukes him and tells him such things do not come from God. And again this is a 14-year-old boy. Yes, and even to his mother that answer was tailor made for her because that was the big question. The question wasn t just which church should I join, but it was should I join the Presbyterian Church like my mother and some of my siblings. ROBERT MILLET: And three other his siblings had. You know Kent, I want to come back in just a moment and talk about scriptural parallels where we find things in the Bible for example. Were there differences, but we ll come to that in a moment. Let s just note for the benefit of our listeners that this is not an unusual thing that Joseph Smith s great and significant First Vision, it began things for him and as Kent has suggested appropriately for sometime the First Vision wasn t the, the lead item in the preaching of the gospel. It probably was the Book of Mormon. Because here as we ve said, here was a physical That they could put in there hands. ROBERT MILLET: Something as President Hinckley used to say, you hold in your hands, you can turn the pages. In other words you have to do something with this. We ll be back in just a moment. Welcome back to Mormon Identity. I m Bob Millet I m joined by Kent Jackson of the Department of Ancient Scripture. We re discussing the First Vision and particularly the fact that the prophet Joseph Smith seems to have dictated at least four accounts of the First Vision through the years from 1830 to through 1842. Ken, you know I m thinking of biblical things. If we were to look for parallels from the Bible, what do you think of? On the terms of big parallels we have first and second Samuel, first and second Kings, first and second Chronicles that overlap there corresponding retelling of the same stories. ROBERT MILLET: Such as, when did, for example, when did David meet Saul? If you read the different account you re not quite sure. And then in the New Testament, of course, we have in terms of big things we have four gospels. And they don t always deal with same things but there s a number of places where there s many, many places where Matthew, Mark, and Luke tell the same stories, but there s even some places where Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all tell the same stories and they re not in the same words. Sometimes they approach it a little bit differently so there s nothing odd about that. ROBERT MILLET: I was thinking, you know, on the resurrection. One of the gospel writers may say that there was one angel, another will say there was two angels. I think most of us aren t too troubled by that. Whoever was there it was, it was a true resurrection and I don t think any of us would think to question the veracity of the resurrection. 3

No. ROBERT MILLET: And so it was, I think, with Joseph Smith. I was thinking too, in the book of Acts in chapters 9, 22, and 26 we have differing accounts of Paul s First Vision if you will. In the same book. ROBERT MILLET: Yes, in the same book of Acts. Written by the same author. ROBERT MILLET: We have chapters 9 and 22. We have some little differences is to who saw the light on the road to Damascus, and who heard the voice. And then you get some more detail in Acts chapter 26. I think it s the same thing, Kent, that Luke is writing the story of what happened to Saul on the road to Damascus, and 9:22 Paul is giving a defense before the Jews, and 26 it s Paul before King Agrippa that we all know so well. And each just a little different in their own way. Sure. ROBERT MILLET: So we have biblical parallels for this. Let s dive in. Let s talk about the earliest of account, the 1832 account that s contained in Joseph Smith s History. The 1832 account was the first attempt that we know of Joseph Smith himself writing the history of the Church. When the Church was organized we were instructed by the Lord that records shall be kept and the prophet had a hard time with John Whitmer, for example, who was supposed to write a history of the Church. Turned out to be problematic about that, so in 1832 he writes himself in his own hand the history of the First Vision. This history that he wrote in 1832 only goes from the First Vision through the arrival of Oliver Cowdry and then history ends and it was set aside. The first part of it is in his own hand writing, the rest he dictated to scribe Frederick G. Williams. ROBERT MILLET: So it would be 1820 to 1829. Right. This is one is the most intimate in some ways, the most introspective of any of the accounts. Joseph Smith is concerned about the wickedness he sees in the world around him. He perceives that the world has gone astray and he asks questions concerning his own worthiness as well and so in this account all these feelings are tide up into the question of where can I find truth. Is there truth to be found in the world? Where can I find it? So that s the emphasis in this account. ROBERT MILLET: You know, I was looking at some of the words. It s a very rough account of the words. The words are quite beautiful. From the age of 12 years to 15, I pondered many things in my heart. Concerning the situation of the world mankind. The contentions and divisions, the wickedness and abominations and the darkness which pervaded the minds of mankind. My mind became exceedingly distressed. For I became convicted of my sins and by searching the scriptures I found that mankind did not come unto the Lord. But that they had apostatized from the true and living faith and there was no society or 4

denomination that built upon the gospel of Jesus Christ as recorded in the New Testament. I felt a mourn for my own sins. There you go. For my own sins and therefore for the sins of the world. Like you say Kent, a very personal, very intimate, very poignant and searching account; feelings very real here. Right after that passage he goes on to say in some of the most poetic language that he wrote. You look around the world and all around you see what you see evidence of God s creation. And at the end of that he says, I consider upon these things my heart exclaimed, well hath the man said and then he quotes from Psalms. He s a fool that saith in his heart there is no God. ROBERT MILLET: Yes, it s as if he s gained a witness that there is a God, by being completive and reflective on life and nature and the world. And that actually leads to what happens next. Since he knows there is a God. He s seen evidence that there s a God. He assumes God then will answer his quest to find true religion. ROBERT MILLET: Let s pick up in that 1832 account with his description specifically of the First Vision. I cried unto the Lord for mercy, he said. For there is none else to whom I could go and obtain mercy and the Lord heard my cry in the wilderness and while in the attitude of calling upon the Lord. Then he says, Kent, in the 16th year of my age critics have tended to jump on that. What do you make of that? His memory is better then mine. I can t remember a thing back at that age. I think this is like many other things that we experience. We call up mom and say, What year was that? ROBERT MILLET: What grade was I in? Yes. And this case this is something that he wrote in one sitting. He never went back and edited it. It s clear later on he had more time to ask his mother or siblings, How old was I when this took place? So that shouldn t bother anybody. ROBERT MILLET: A reminiscent thing that anyone of us would likely be to mistake. We ll come back and consider more of the 1832 account more in just a moment. We welcome you back to Mormon Identity. I m Robert Millet and with me is my colleague and friend Kent Jackson, both of us from the Department of Ancient Scripture, Brigham Young University. We re discussing today in two separate sessions the First Vision. This first session we ll talk about the four accounts of the First Vision and our second session we ll talk about the doctrinal significance of the First Vision. Kent, we had begun reading from the first account that we have dictated by Joseph Smith the 1832. Why don t you pick up and read a bit and then let s talk about it. Well the prophet said, A pillar of light above the brightness of the sun at noon day came down from above and rested upon me and I was filled with the Spirit of God. It s 5

interesting to me that in all of these accounts, Bob, that he can only liken it to the brightest thing that he had experienced in his life, which was the sun at noon day. ROBERT MILLET: Yes, yes. It s so indescribable. But by the 1838 account, the Pearl of Great Price, he s finally able to say, Above the brightness of the sun. What else could he say? It s the brightest thing he d seen. And the Lord opened the heavens up to me and I saw the Lord and he spake unto me saying, Joseph my son, thy sins are forgiven thee. Go thy way. Walk in my statutes and keep my commandments. It s interesting there that once again this goes to the need that he felt for understanding his own worthiness in the context of the whole world which he sees as being in a state of apostasy. ROBERT MILLET: Yes, it appears that that for him in recording this particular event in 1832 that perhaps the remission of his own sins is as important as anything. The fact that there is a God he has come to gain the witness from the testimony of the cause most bearing witness of a God and that he that he gains remission of his own sins. What do we make of the fact that he doesn t mention the two beings appeared? The Lord came. The Lord appeared unto me. Well. ROBERT MILLET: I saw the Lord. Sure. Again this was a rough draft written in one sitting. He never went back and edited. His other accounts are more specific about this. He simply says, I saw the Lord and he spake to me. And we know it s Jesus Christ he s talking about. He says, Thy sins are forgiven thee. Go thy way, walk in my statutes, keep my commandments. Behold I am the Lord of glory as crucified for the world. That all those that might believe in my name may have eternal life. Which, by the way, answers his other question about the wickedness of the world. He s not the only one who s in need of redemption here. I don t think we need to make much of this. You and I are both aware that in anti-mormon literature some people are saying, Well, Joe Smith claimed that only one person appeared to him in 1832 and then later on he claimed that 2 people appeared to him. That s, that s simply ROBERT MILLET: Well, I think the other way of looking at this is that early on Joseph Smith is trying to write a history. I don t think he s trying to enter into a deep doctrinal discussion here on the Godhead. No. ROBERT MILLET: I think by the time of 1838 he wants to make clear that two members of the Godhead appeared. ROBET MILLET: Sure. But for now it s just the Lord came, and He taught me. 6

And the Lord gave him an answer to his question. And it was the question that he wanted to record in this account and the answer that came. The Lord goes on and talks in familiar terms about the world. Lying in sin. They ve drawn away from me. They draw nearer to me with their lips. Their hearts are far from me and so on and so forth. ROBERT MILLET: You know what I like, Kent? I like down here where he says, My soul was filled with love, Joseph writes. And for many days I could rejoice with great joy, and the Lord was with me. But then he adds this little caveat, but could find none that would believe the heavenly vision. Probably why he didn t talk about it a great deal. Right, nevertheless I pondered these things in my heart. It s interesting to me, Bob, the prophet mentions joy and love being the fruit of this experience. I think anyone who s had a genuine spiritual experience, experiences both those things. ROBERT MILLET: Yes. It s impossible for somebody who has been in a spiritual experience to recall all the grievances that they have against their neighbors. You can t do that, because love is one of the fruits of the spirit that comes through spiritual experiences. ROBERT MILLET: Well, you encounter the Lord and you re going to feel the spirit of the Lord. Yes. And so and that convinces me. That s evidence this is a genuine experience because this is not somebody, this is not something that somebody who hasn t experienced this could have made up or could have articulated in these terms. I ve pondered these things in my heart. He really didn t have people he could talk to about this, because nobody in the world had experienced such a thing. ROBERT MELLET: Yes. Who would you talk to that could understand? Let s turn to the 1835 account. The 1835 recital of the First Vision. Kent, what can you tell us about it? Backgrounds. The background here is that this is a diary entry from November of 1835. A well-known religious eccentric by the name of Joshua the Jewish minister had heard about Joseph Smith, and he came to Kirtland to visit him, and so the prophet entertained him for the day. Told him his story, fed him breakfast the next morning, and dismissed him, but the night of his visit the prophet apparently dictated to his scribe, Warren Parish, this account. So this is a diary entry of how he told the story. ROBERT MILLET: You know, he begins this 1835 account by talking a little bit about the situation with the, his estranged visitor. But then you begin saying, Being perplexed in mind, he s saying back in 1820, I retired to the silent grove and there bowed down before the Lord under a realizing sense if the Bible be true, Ask and you shall receive. Knock and it shall be opened. And notice what he adds, Seek and you find and again any man lack wisdom let, the accounts says, of God let him ask of God who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not. So again quoting that James passage. Notice he goes on. This is this is a section I think those who perhaps watch the movie the First Vision. 7

ROBET MILLET: The old movie. The old movie. The one that we used to watch and seen some things in it and wondered if perhaps it was just Hollywood. He says this, Information is what I most desired at this time and with a fixed determination to obtain it. I called on the Lord for the first time in the place above stated. Or other words I made a fruitless attempt to pray. My tongue seemed to be swollen in my mouth so I could not utter. And here s the part. I heard a noise behind me like someone walking towards me. I strove again to pray but could not the noise of walking seemed to draw nearer. Let s pause there. We ll be right back. We welcome you back to the final segment of the first segment of discussion of the First Vision in Mormon Identity. I m Bob Millet. I m joined by my colleague Kent Jackson. Kent, we ve been reading and discussing the 1832 account and now the 1835 account. Why don t you pick up there, Kent, where he talks about a pillar of fire. Something we know well. Well, it s interesting that the prophet describes in considering detail the fact that he was being attacked by an unseen force. ROBERT MILLET: Yes. Tongue was swollen in his mouth. Yes. And so he s trying to cry out, but he can t even do that and suddenly a pillar of fire appeared above my head, he says. And then a personage appeared in the pillar of flame which was spread all around yet nothing consumed. Another personage soon appeared likened to the first. ROBERT MILLET: Very interesting way of putting it, isn t it? Yes. ROBERT MILLET: Almost like one came, and then right on his heels another came. One comes, then the other comes and what are the first words? Thy sins are forgiven. ROBERT MILLET: There it is again. Yes. ROBERT MILLET: There it is again. Then he testified unto me that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. So again, affirming the redemption through Jesus Christ and the very first moments of the restoration. ROBERT MILLET: As the 32 account had said, as this one says that among the first thing from the Savior s mouth, Your sins are forgiven. I am Jesus Christ the Savior and the Redeemer. And as this one ends with this remarkable phrase, And I saw many angels. ROBERT MILLET: Fascinating. 8

And that reinforces the fact that there s much about these things we don t know. The prophet tells us in his other accounts that he s not at liberty to tell us everything he knows about these things. But, why wouldn t there be angels there. ROBERT MILLET: Of course. Pretty significant moment. He just adds at the end, I was about 14 years old when I received this first communication. Yes. ROBERT MILLET: So, the 1832, the 1835. Let s talk about for just a moment. We don t have to go into great detail, but let s talk a bit about the one that s in our Pearl of Great Price what we call the 1838 account. Give us some background Kent. Well, in the summer of 1838 the prophet could see that his attempts to get other people to write history of the Church were not working very well, so he undertakes it and continues with it through the rest of his life. He begins by dictating what we now have as the Joseph Smith History and Pearl of Great Price. This account was written with great care. It was most deliberate, longest, was the most detailed and the most formal of any of his accounts and before he published it he went back and made revisions and put in some things that he had left out the first time. This one was one was carefully done. It was published in the Church s newspaper, The Times and Seasons in 1842. ROBERT MILLET: So some four years after it was written it was published. Right. And then when the Pearl of Great Price was first created by Elder Franklin D. Richards in England in 1851, he included it and the Pearl of Great Price was canonized. It became part of our standard works in 1880. Since then it s been our scriptural account of. ROBERT MILLET: I m not literary minded myself, but I talk with people who are. I remember hearing Henry Author King, great professor at BYU for many years, who had such a keen insight into literature say that for him reading Joseph Smith s History was one of the most powerful converting moments in his life because it had such a significant feeling about it. It s so beautifully stated. I think one of things that I love about it is Joseph Smith is appropriately and prophetically Mr. Understatement in this. Sure. ROBERT MILLET: He doesn t say any more then he has to say. He says what needs to be said and moves on. Yes. ROBERT MILLET: So I think we all know about the 1838. Let s go to the 1842 account. 1842, Kent tell us about the background. KETN JACKSON: Well, John Wentworth who was a big time politician and newspaper publisher writes to the prophet and asks him to write an article about the Church. He had a friend who was writing a book. ROBERT MILLET: I think it was the history of New Hampshire, wasn t it? 9

Right, and thought it would be nice to have a chapter on Mormonism in there. So the prophet writes it, sends it to Wentworth. We know Wentworth used it as resource in his own newspaper for background information about the Mormons, but he didn t publish it himself as far as we know. But the prophet did publish it. It was published once again in Nauvoo and the Times and Seasons in 1842. In fact it was the first of any of Joseph Smith s own account of the First Vision to be published and this document covers the First Vision, coming forth of the Book of Mormon, and history of the Church. Mostly emphasizes persecution, sins, Missouri, and then it ends up with a list of unnumbered paragraphs describing beliefs of the Church. ROBERT MILLET: The Articles of Faith. The Articles of Faith. ROBERT MILLET: You know, let s turn to the text itself, Kent. The prophet at a certain point begins talking. By the way this 1842 history has some magnificent history for us on the coming forth of the Book of Mormon Oh yes. ROBERT MILLET: And the Nephites and as he says, apostles among the Nephites. But then he finally quotes from the declaration of James, If any man lacks wisdom and then he says, I retired to a secret place in a grove and began to call upon the Lord, while fervently engaged in supplication, my mind was taken away from the objects with which I was surrounded. I think that s so beautiful. Yes. And then I was enrapt in a heavenly ROBERT MILLET: Isn t that powerful? Yes. Just wrapped up in heavenly vision. Two glorious personages who exactly resembled each other in features and likeness. ROBERT MILLET: Great statement isn t it? Yes, wonderful. ROBERT MILLET: Surrounded with a brilliant light which eclipsed the sun at noon day. And I think this is this is a little softer description than the Church s. Don t you find that? Absolutely. In fact this was written for non-latter-day Saint audience and he does he does put the language regarding the other churches in this document very, very carefully. ROBERT MILLET: They told me that all religious denominations were believing in incorrect doctrines and that none of them was acknowledged of God as His Church and kingdom and I was expressly commanded to go not after them. Here s the only place that I know of that this concept comes through. It may have been implied, by the other accounts but I think the only account is the 42 account that contains this thought. At the same time receiving a 10

promise that the fullness of the gospel should at some future time be made known unto me. Yes. And we don t know exactly what that means. Did he understand that to be that it would be made known unto me or that I would find out about it? ROBERT MILLET: Yes, yes. I wish he told us more. But this is the only one where he mentions that. ROBERT MILLET: You know Kent, for me, and I want to hear how you feel, for me there s nothing more soul stirring then reading the words of Joseph Smith. Whether it be the dictated words or the written words. And I m one not only isn t troubled by the fact that there are four accounts, I m excited because they provide details in each account that fill out that First Vision so beautifully. Absolutely and each one is faith firming as any of the other ones. I rejoice that we have one. ROBERT MILLET: Let me just close with a marvelous thought from Orson Pratt who himself wrote an early account of the First Vision as Joseph Smith had recounted it to him. Brother Pratt said, Now here was a certainty, here was something that he saw and heard. Here were personages capable of instructing him in of telling him which was the true religion. How different this was from going to an uninspired man. One minute s instruction from personages clothed with the glory of God coming down from the eternal worlds is worth more then all the volumes that ever were written by an inspired man. Thank God for the First Vision. [BEGIN MUSIC] HOST: You ve been listening to Mormon Identity. Thanks for tuning in. We hope you join us next time. [END MUSIC] 11