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Difference between revisions of "Joseph Smith's First Vision/Published references"
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*"There is no reference to the 1838 canonical First Vision story in any published material from the 1830s." | *"There is no reference to the 1838 canonical First Vision story in any published material from the 1830s." | ||
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===Newspapers in Palmyra took no notice of the First Vision?=== | ===Newspapers in Palmyra took no notice of the First Vision?=== | ||
This claim by critics borders on the absurd. We are apparently to believe that the newspapers of the area would consider a claim from a 14-year-old boy as newsworthy. We know that Joseph didn't even tell his family about the vision at the time that it occurred—when his mother asked him, all he said to her was that he had found that Presbyterianism was not true. | This claim by critics borders on the absurd. We are apparently to believe that the newspapers of the area would consider a claim from a 14-year-old boy as newsworthy. We know that Joseph didn't even tell his family about the vision at the time that it occurred—when his mother asked him, all he said to her was that he had found that Presbyterianism was not true. | ||
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:1838 - "I saw two personages . . . One of them spake unto me calling me by name and said (pointing to the other) 'This is my beloved Son, Hear him'" | :1838 - "I saw two personages . . . One of them spake unto me calling me by name and said (pointing to the other) 'This is my beloved Son, Hear him'" | ||
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The claim that no mention of Joseph's vision occurred prior to 1838 is not sustainable. This clearly demonstrates that Joseph Smith's critics have not made a serious enough attempt to understand Mormonism's past. The historical documents do not lend support to the detractors of the Restoration. | The claim that no mention of Joseph's vision occurred prior to 1838 is not sustainable. This clearly demonstrates that Joseph Smith's critics have not made a serious enough attempt to understand Mormonism's past. The historical documents do not lend support to the detractors of the Restoration. | ||
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#{{note|bushman.41}}{{RSR1 | start=41}} | #{{note|bushman.41}}{{RSR1 | start=41}} | ||
#{{note|abanes.338}}Regarding the reference in the ''Palmyra Reflector'', Richard Abanes, in his anti-Mormon work ''Becoming Gods'', boldly declares in the main body of his text on page 34 that "[n]ot a single piece of published literature" mentions the First Vision, yet in an endnote at the back of the book on page 338 acknowledges this newspaper account. He attempts to dismiss this by claiming that the reference is "vague," yet acknowledges that "as early as 1831 Smith ''might'' have been starting to privately tell select persons that he had at some point seen God." | #{{note|abanes.338}}Regarding the reference in the ''Palmyra Reflector'', Richard Abanes, in his anti-Mormon work ''Becoming Gods'', boldly declares in the main body of his text on page 34 that "[n]ot a single piece of published literature" mentions the First Vision, yet in an endnote at the back of the book on page 338 acknowledges this newspaper account. He attempts to dismiss this by claiming that the reference is "vague," yet acknowledges that "as early as 1831 Smith ''might'' have been starting to privately tell select persons that he had at some point seen God." | ||
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{{FirstVisionFAIR}} | {{FirstVisionFAIR}} | ||
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| − | ===Printed material=== | + | ==={{Printed material label}}=== |
{{FirstVisionPrint}} | {{FirstVisionPrint}} | ||
[[Category:First Vision]] | [[Category:First Vision]] | ||
[[fr:First Vision/No reference to First Vision in 1830s publications]] | [[fr:First Vision/No reference to First Vision in 1830s publications]] | ||
Revision as of 03:14, 4 May 2010
==Contents
Questions
== Critics claim:
- "There is no reference to the 1838 canonical First Vision story in any published material from the 1830s."
- "Not a single piece of published literature (Mormon, non-Mormon, or anti-Mormon) from the 1830s mentions Smith having a vision of the Father and Son."
- Critics claim that if Joseph Smith's First Vision actually occurred, then it would have been mentioned in the local newspapers at the time. Since no such record exists, the vision must not have actually occurred.
To see citations to the critical sources for these claims, click here
==Detailed Analysis
==
Newspapers in Palmyra took no notice of the First Vision?
This claim by critics borders on the absurd. We are apparently to believe that the newspapers of the area would consider a claim from a 14-year-old boy as newsworthy. We know that Joseph didn't even tell his family about the vision at the time that it occurred—when his mother asked him, all he said to her was that he had found that Presbyterianism was not true.
Joseph did, however, make mention of his vision to a Methodist preacher. According to Richard Bushman, Joseph's perceived persecution for telling his story may not have actually been because it was a unique claim, but rather because it was a common one. According to Bushman,
- The clergy of the mainline churches automatically suspected any visionary report, whatever its content...The only acceptable message from heaven was assurance of forgiveness and a promise of grace. Joseph's report of God's rejection of all creeds and churches would have sounded all too familiar to the Methodist evangelical, who repeated the conventional point that "all such things had ceased with the apostles and that there never would be any more of them."[1]
LDS references
Several LDS commentators - including one member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles - agree that D&C 20:5 (part of the Articles and Covenants of the Church) is the earliest published reference to the First Vision story.
SEE:
- Hyrum M. Smith, Doctrine and Covenants Commentary (Liverpool: George F. Richards, 1919), 139.
- Robert L. Millet and Kent P. Jackson, eds., Studies in Scripture, Volume 1: The Doctrine and Covenants (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1989), 110–11.
- Grant Underwood, “First Vision,” in Daniel H. Ludlow, ed., Encyclopedia of Mormonism (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 2:410.
- Stephen E. Robinson and H. Dean Garrett, A Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2000), 1:130.
The Articles and Covenants of the Church were presented to the Church membership and then published in the following order.
- The Articles and Covenants of the Church are first verbally presented by Joseph Smith for approval at a Church conference held in Fayette, New York on 9 June 1830 (see Cannon and Cook, Far West Record, 1). The following sequence is found in the Articles and Covenants: (1) forgiveness of sin, (2) entanglement in vanities of the world, (3) visit of an angel with regard to the Book of Mormon plates. This is the exact same sequence presented in the Prophet's unpublished 1832 history and the forgiveness of sins comes during the First Vision event in that document.
- The Articles and Covenants of the Church were read out loud by Oliver Cowdery during a Church conference on 26 September 1830 (see Cannon and Cook, Far West Record, 3).
- The Articles and Covenants of the Church were published in a non-LDS newspaper in Painesville, Ohio (Telegraph, 19 April 1831).
- The Articles and Covenants of the Church were published in an LDS newspaper in Independence, Missouri (Evening and Morning Star, vol. 1, no. 1, June 1832).
- The Articles and Covenants of the Church were published in an LDS newspaper in Independence, Missouri (Evening and Morning Star, vol. 2, no. 13, June 1833).
- The Book of Commandments—which contained the Articles and Covenants—was published in July 1833 in Independence, Missouri (chapter 24, verses 6-7, page 48).
- January 1835 Kirtland, Ohio reprint of an Evening and Morning Star article containing the “Articles and Covenants” (reprint of Evening and Morning Star, vol. 1, no. 1, June 1832, 2; reprinted by Frederick G. Williams).
- The first edition of the Doctrine and Covenants - which contained the Articles and Covenants - was published in September 1835 in Kirtland, Ohio (part 2, section 2, verse 2, pages 77-78).
- June 1836 Kirtland, Ohio reprint of an Evening and Morning Star article containing the “Articles and Covenants” of the Church (reprint of Evening and Morning Star, vol. 2, no. 1, June 1833, 1; reprinted by Oliver Cowdery).
Other references
There are several other significant references to the First Vision in published documents from the 1830s.
- LDS missionaries were teaching that Joseph Smith had seen God "personally" and received a commission from Him to teach true religion (The Reflector, vol. 2, no. 13, 14 February 1831).[2]
- LDS missionaries were teaching with regard to Joseph Smith: "Having repented of his sins, but not attached himself to any party of Christians, owing to the numerous divisions among them, and being in doubt what his duty was, he had recourse [to] prayer" (The Fredonia Censor, vol. 11, no. 50, 7 March 1832).
- Oliver Cowdery published the beginning elements of the First Vision story as part of a history of the Church (Messenger and Advocate, vol. 1, no. 3, December 1834, 43).
- William W. Phelps published a reference to the First Vision in October 1835 in the Church's newspaper (Messenger and Advocate, vol. 2, no. 13, October 1835, 208).
- The First Vision reference by William W. Phelps was republished as part of hymn #26 in the Saints' first hymnal—March 1836 (see Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1176).
When the published 1830s fragments of the First Vision story are compared to the as-yet-unpublished 1838 recital, it becomes apparent that the Prophet's account of things stayed steady during this time frame and was probably known among a wider cross-section of the contemporary LDS population than has been previously acknowledged.
- 1834 - "the 15th year of his life" [Cowdery]
- 1838 - "I was at this time in my fifteenth year"
- 1834 - "There was a great awakening, or excitement raised on the subject of religion" [Cowdery]
- 1838 - "there was in the place where we lived an unusual excitement on the subject of religion"
- 1834 - "our brother's mind became awakened" [Cowdery]
- 1838 - "my mind was called up to serious reflection"
- 1834 - "his mother, one sister, and two of his natural brothers, were persuaded to unite with the Presbyterians" [Cowdery]
- 1838 - "My Fathers family were proselyted to the Presbyterian faith"
- 1834 - "his spirit was not at rest day nor night" [Cowdery]
- 1838 - "great uneasiness . . . extreme difficulties . . . my anxieties"
- 1832 - "not attached himself to any party of Christians, owing to the numerous divisions among them" [Missionaries]
- 1838 - "I kept myself aloof from all these parties"; "no small stir and division"
- 1834 - "he was told they were right, and all others were wrong" [Cowdery]
- 1838 - "who was right and who was wrong"
- 1834 - "a general struggle was made by the leading characters of the different sects" [Cowdery]
- 1838 - "priest contending against priest"
- 1834 - "Large additions were made to the Methodist, Presbyterian, and Baptist churches" [Cowdery]
- 1838 - "multitudes united themselves to the different religious parties"
- 1835 - "the world in darkness lay" [Phelps]
- 1838 - "I came to the conclusion that I must either remain in darkness"
- 1835 - "he sought the better way" [Phelps]
- 1838 - "I was one day reading the Epistle of James"
- 1832 - "being in doubt what his duty was" [Missionaries]
- 1838 - "I often said to myself, what is to be done?"
- 1832 - "he had recourse [to] prayer" [Missionaries]
- 1838 - "I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God"
- 1831 - "he had seen God . . . personally" [Missionaries]
- 1838 - "I saw two personages . . . One of them spake unto me calling me by name and said (pointing to the other) 'This is my beloved Son, Hear him'"
Answer
==
The claim that no mention of Joseph's vision occurred prior to 1838 is not sustainable. This clearly demonstrates that Joseph Smith's critics have not made a serious enough attempt to understand Mormonism's past. The historical documents do not lend support to the detractors of the Restoration.
== Notes ==
- [note] Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling (New York: Knopf, 2005), 41.
- [note] Regarding the reference in the Palmyra Reflector, Richard Abanes, in his anti-Mormon work Becoming Gods, boldly declares in the main body of his text on page 34 that "[n]ot a single piece of published literature" mentions the First Vision, yet in an endnote at the back of the book on page 338 acknowledges this newspaper account. He attempts to dismiss this by claiming that the reference is "vague," yet acknowledges that "as early as 1831 Smith might have been starting to privately tell select persons that he had at some point seen God."