History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

42 THE STORY OF MORMONISM.
And he was told to join none of them, that all were
corrupt, all were abomination in the eyes of the Lord.
When he came to himself he was still gazing earnestly
up into heaven. This was in the spring of 1820, and
Joseph was yet scarcely fifteen.
When the young prophet began to proclaim his
vision, the wise men and preachers of the several sects
laughed at him; called him a silly boy, and told him
that if his mind had really been disturbed, it was the
devil's doing. "Signs and revelations," said they,
"are of by-gone times; it ill befits one so young to
lie before God and in the presence of his people."
"Nevertheless," replied Joseph, "I have had a vision."
Then they reviled him, and the boy became disheartened
and was entangled again in the vanities of the
world, under the heavy hand of their oppression.
But the spirit of the Lord could not thus be
quenched. The young man repented, and sought and
found forgiveness. Retiring to his bed, midst prayer
and supplication, on the night of September 21, 1823,
presently the room grew light, and a figure robed in
exceeding whiteness stood by the bedside, the feet
not touching the floor. And a voice was heard, saying,
" I am Moroni, and am come to you, Joseph, as a
messenger from God." Then the angel told the youth
that the Lord had for him a great work to do, that his
name should be known to all people, and of him should
be spoken both good and evil. He told him of a book
written on plates of gold, and containing an account
of the early inhabitants of this continent, and the
gospel as delivered to them by Christ. He said that
deposited with those plates were two stones in silver
bows, which, fastened to a breastplate, constituted the
Urim and Thummim ; and that now as in ancient times
the possession and use of the stones constituted a seer,
and that through them the book might be translated.
After offering many scriptural quotations from both
the old and the new testament, and charging the young
man that when the book and the breastplate were de-