Brigham Young never mentioned First Vision

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Joseph Smith
Early Smith history
1820 Revival
Joined other churches?
Unsure of God in 1823?
Early understanding of God
All wrong?
Details added over time?
Personages were angels?
No ref in 1830s?
Fabricated to bolster
authority?
Changed by 1838 apostasy?
Without priesthood
can't see God?

1832 Account
No new dispensation?
Different age?
Different motivation?
No persecution?
No revival?
Not forbidden to convert?
Wicked destroyed?
Only one Deity?
In heaven or earth?
Unconditional salvation?
Struggle with Satan?

Others' accounts
George Q. Cannon
Cowdery version of 1834-5?
Orson Hyde
Andrew Jensen
Heber C. Kimball|
Orson Pratt
George A. Smith
Lucy Mack Smith
Orson Spencer
John Taylor
Brigham never spoke
of 1st vision?
Brigham claimed an angel?
Seldom published pre-1877
(short)?•(long)
LDS Father/Son pre-1838?
Non-LDS pre-1843?

D&C 121:28
Father: Spirit vs. Embodied
Nephi or Moroni in 1823?
Personages seen by Joseph

FAIR web site
Topical guide• Articles
FARMS web site
[Pending]
Additional reading
Online • In print
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Joseph Smith, Jr.

This article is a draft. FAIRwiki editors are currently editing it. We welcome your suggestions on improving the content.

Contents

Criticism

Critics claim, "Brigham Young never once mentioned the First Vision of God the Father and his Son in his 30 years of preaching as President of the Church."

Source(s) of the criticism

  • Christian Research and Counsel, "Documented History of Joseph Smith's First Vision," full-color pamphlet, 10 pages. [There is a notation within this pamphlet indicating that research and portions of text were garnered from Utah Lighthouse Ministry]

Response

This charge is not historically accurate and cannot be taken seriously. It can be plainly seen in the information provided below that Brigham Young was aware of the First Vision story during his tenure as President of the Church and not only shared it with non-Mormons in written form but also spoke to the Saints about it over the pulpit.

1835–36

Around 9 August 1835 Joseph Young (Brigham Young’s brother) was serving as a missionary with Burr Riggs and they were teaching the First Vision story (See Young Woman’s Journal, vol. 18, no. 12, December 1907, 537–39; Samuel W. Richards, Journal Book 2 of Travels To Nauvoo, BYU Special Collections, Writings of Early Latter-day Saints, 26; Andrew Jenson, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:187). In the Summer of 1836 Joseph Young and Brigham Young were together serving as missionaries (See Andrew Jenson, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:115).

1850

On 1 November 1850 Lorenzo Snow wrote a letter to Brigham Young and informed him that he had produced a tract called The Voice of Joseph which included information on “visions of Joseph Smith.” This tract talks about the Prophet’s First Vision experience. (Eliza R. Snow, Biography and Family Record of Lorenzo Snow [Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1884], 127–28).

1854

The Lucy Mack Smith autobiography called Biographical Sketches became available in Utah. Since Brigham Young protested vigorously against some of this book’s content he was more than likely aware of the 1838 Church history First Vision material printed within it (Lucy Mack Smith, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet and His Progenitors for Many Generations (Liverpool, England: S. W. Richards, 1853]; Scot F. Proctor and Maurine J. Proctor, eds., History of Joseph Smith, Revised and Enhanced [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1996], editor’s introduction).

1857

On 13 August 1857 Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Daniel H. Wells, John Taylor, Willard Richards, and Wilford Woodruff placed a copy of the Pearl of Great Price in the southeast cornerstone of the Salt Lake Temple. This volume contains the 1838 Church history First Vision account. (Brigham Young Journal, 13 August 1857, LDS Church Archives, Salt Lake City, Utah).

1858

On 20 January 1858 apostles Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith appended a statement to the published Church history stating that “since the death of the Prophet Joseph, the history has been carefully revised under the strict inspection of President Brigham Young, and approved of by him.” This history contains the 1838 First Vision account (Deseret News, vol. 7, 20 January 1858, 363).

1859

In the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City on 1 September 1859 Brigham Young referred to Joseph Smith’s published 1838 First Vision account. He asked, “[H]ave I yet lived to the state of perfection that I can commune in person with the Father and the Son at my will and pleasure? No . . . . [three sentences later] Joseph Smith in his youth had revelations from God. He saw and understood for himself. Are you acquainted with his life? You can read the history of it. I was acquainted with him during many years. He had heavenly visions; angels administered to him” (Journal of Discourses, 7:243-44; emphasis added).

1861

In the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City on 3 March 1861 Brigham Young said: “The Lord chose Joseph Smith, called upon him at fourteen years of age, gave him visions, and led him along, guided and directed him in his obscurity until he brought forth the plates and translated them” (Journal of Discourses, 8:354).

1864

On 1 September 1864 Brigham Young signed and dated a copy of the Pearl of Great Price and donated it to Harvard university. This volume contains Joseph Smith’s 1838 First Vision account (Rodney Turner, “Franklin D. Richards and the Pearl of Great Price,” in Donald Q. Cannon, ed., Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint History: British Isles [Provo, UT: BYU Department of Church History and Doctrine, 1990], 184).

1867

In the Bowery in Salt Lake City on 23 June 1867 Brigham Young said: “When the Lord called upon Joseph he was but a boy—a child, only about fourteen years of age. He was not filled with traditions; his mind was not made up to this, that, or the other. I very well recollect the reformation which took place in the country among the various denominations of Christians—the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, and others—when Joseph was a boy. Joseph’s mother, one of his brothers, and one, if not two, of his sisters were members of the Presbyterian Church, and on this account the Presbyterians hung to the family with great tenacity. And in the midst of these revivals among the religious bodies, the invitation, ‘Come and join our church,’ was often extended to Joseph, but more particularly from the Presbyterians. Joseph was naturally inclined to be religious, and being young, and surrounded with this excitement, no wonder that he became seriously impressed with the necessity of serving the Lord. But as the cry on every hand was, ‘Lo, here is Christ,’ and ‘Lo, there!’ Said he, ‘Lord, teach me, that I may know for myself, who among these are right.’ And what was the answer? ‘They are all out of the way; they have gone astray, and there is none that doeth good, no not one’” (Journal of Discourses, 12:68–69).

Conclusion

It cannot be denied that Brigham Young was aware of the official version of the First Vision as published by Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, Illinois. And it is almost beyond comprehension to believe that President Young was not aware of numerous First Vision story recitals (both in print and over the pulpit) by high Church authorities such as Orson Pratt, Lorenzo Snow, George Q. Cannon, Orson Hyde, John Taylor, Franklin D. Richards, and George A. Smith.

Endnotes

None


Further reading

FAIR wiki articles

First Vision wiki articles
Claims about the 1832 First Vision account
Claims about other members and the First Vision
Joseph Smith other visionary issues wiki articles
God wiki articles

FAIR web site

First Vision FAIR links
  • FAIR Topical Guide: The First Vision FAIR link
  • D. Charles Pyle and Cooper Johnson, "Did early LDS leaders really misunderstand the First Vision?" FAIR link
  • Craig Ray, "Joseph Smith's History Confirmed," (Mesa, Arizona: FAIR, August 2002) FAIR link (Key source)
Joseph Smith other visionary issues FAIR links
  • Craig Ray, "Joseph Smith's History Confirmed," (Mesa, Arizona: FAIR, August 2002) FAIR link

External links

First Vision on-line links

Primary sources

Articles about the First Vision

  • Richard L. Anderson, "Circumstantial Confirmation of the First Vision through Reminiscences," Brigham Young University Studies 9:3 (1969): 1–27. PDF link
  • Milton V. Backman Jr., "Awakenings in the Burned-over District: New Light on the Historical Setting of the First Vision," Brigham Young University Studies 9:3 (1969): 301. PDF link
  • Milton V. Backman, Jr., "Confirming Witnesses of the First Vision," Ensign (January 1986): 32. off-site
  • Milton V. Backman, "First Vision," Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 4 vols., edited by Daniel H. Ludlow, (New York, Macmillan Publishing, 1992), 2:515–516. ISBN 002904040X. off-site off-site off-site
  • Milton V. Backman, Jr., "Joseph Smith's Recitals of the First Vision," Ensign (January 1985): 8. off-site
  • Richard L. Bushman, "The First Vision Story Revived," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 4:1 (Spring 1969): 82–93. off-site
  • Eugene England, "Orson Scott Card: The Book of Mormon as History and Science Fiction (Review of Homecoming, vols. 1-5; A Storyteller in Zion: Essays and Speeches; by Orson Scott Card)," FARMS Review of Books 6/2 (1994): 59–78. off-site PDF link
  • Dean C. Jesse, "Early Accounts of Joseph Smith (1831–1839)," Brigham Young University Studies 9:3 (1969): 275–294. PDF link
  • Dean C. Jesse, The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, revised edition, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 2002), 9–20. ISBN 1573457876. off-site  (Key source)
  • Elden Watson, "Joseph Smith's First Vision—A Harmony";—complete text of all Joseph Smith's accounts on-line off-site  (Key source)
  • Elden Watson, "Joseph Smith's First Vision (introduction)" off-site
Joseph Smith other visionary issues on-line links
  • Dean C. Jesse, "Early Accounts of Joseph Smith (1831–1839)," Brigham Young University Studies 9:3 (1969): 275–294. PDF link
  • David L. Paulsen, "The Doctrine of Divine Embodiment: Resotration, Judeo-Christian, and Philosophical Perspectives," Brigham Young University Studies 35:4 (1995–96): 6–94. PDF link (Key source)

Printed material

First Vision printed works
  • James B. Allen, "The Emergence of a Fundamental: The Expanding Role of Joseph Smith’s First Vision in Mormon Thought," Journal of Mormon History 7 (1980): 437–461.
  • James B. Allen, "Eight Contemporary Accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision–What Do We Learn From Them?," Improvement Era (April 1970): 4–13. GospeLink
  • Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism (Urbana and Chicago, Illinois: University of Illinois Press; Reprint edition, 1987), 56–. ISBN 0252060121.
  • Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York: Knopf, 2005), 30–56. ISBN 1400042704
  • James B. Allen and John W. Welch, "The Apperance of the Father and the Son to Joseph Smith in 1820," in Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations 1820–1844 (Documents in Latter-day Saint History), edited by John W. Welch with Erick B. Carlson, (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press / Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 2005), 35–75. ISBN 0842526072. See also BYU Studies version: PDF link
  • Milton V. Backman, Joseph Smith’s First Vision: The first vision in its historical context (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1971).
  • Milton V. Backman Jr., Joseph Smith’s First Vision: Confirming Evidences and Contemporary Accounts, 2nd ed. (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1980).
  • Dean C. Jesse, "The Earliest Documented Accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision," in Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations 1820–1844 (Documents in Latter-day Saint History), edited by John W. Welch with Erick B. Carlson, (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press / Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 2005), 1–33. ISBN 0842526072. (Key source) See also BYU Studies version: PDF link
  • Dean C. Jesse, The Early Accounts of Joseph Smith's First Vision (Mormon Miscellaneous reprint series) (Mormon Miscellaneous, 1984).
  • Dean C. Jessee (editor), The Papers of Joseph Smith: Autobiographical and Historical Writings (Vol. 1 of 2) (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book Company, 1989), 6–7, 127, 272–73, 429–30, 444, and 448–49.. ISBN 0875791999
  • Dean C. Jesse, The Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, revised edition, (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 2002), 5–6, 75–76, 199–200, 213. ISBN 0877479747. Rev. ed. off-site
  • Hugh W. Nibley, Tinkling Cymbals and Sounding Brass: The Art of Telling Tales About Joseph Smith and Brigham Young (Vol. 11 of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley), edited by David J. Whittaker, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1991), 55–101. ISBN 0875795161. GospeLink
Joseph Smith other visionary issues printed works
  • Hugh W. Nibley, Tinkling Cymbals and Sounding Brass: The Art of Telling Tales About Joseph Smith and Brigham Young (Vol. 11 of the Collected Works of Hugh Nibley), edited by David J. Whittaker, (Salt Lake City, Utah : Deseret Book Company ; Provo, Utah : Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies, 1991), 1. ISBN 0875795161. GospeLink
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