Extract from the John Wentworth Letter (The 1842 Account)

And here is the last of the primary sources, the 1842 account, or, as it is better known, an extract from the Wentworth Letter.  Dr. Milt Backman has written:  “At the request of John Wentworth, editor of the Chicago Democrat, Joseph Smith was invited to write a history of the Latter-day Saints for one of Wentworth’s friends, George Barstow, who was preparing a history of New Hampshire. After writing a brief history of the Church, Joseph inserted thirteen unnumbered statements of belief that are known as the Articles of Faith. Although the manuscript of this history has not been located, the account was published in the 1 March 1842 issue of the Times and Seasons, the issue that immediately preceded Joseph’s publication of his manuscript history in serial form.” [1]

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Light bursting forth all through the Sacred Grove.

Following is the part of the Wentworth Letter that refers directly to the First Vision:

“My father was a farmer and taught me the art of husbandry.  When about fourteen years of age I began to reflect upon the importance of being prepared for a future state, and upon enquiring the plan of salvation I found that there was a great clash in religious sentiment; if I went to one society they referred me to one plan, and another to another; each one pointing to his own particular creed as the summum bonum of perfection:

Prophets often receive communications from the Lord in forests, deserts, mountain tops and solitary places.

“considering that all could not be right, and that God could not be the author of so much confusion I determined to investigate the subject more fully, believing that if God had a church it would not be split up into factions, and that if he taught one society to worship one way, and administer in one set of ordinances, he would not teach another principles which were diametrically opposed.

Untold hundreds of thousands of Latter-day Saints have walked through this sacred place.

“Believing the word of God I had confidence in the declaration of James; ‘If any man [sic] lack wisdom let him ask of God who giveth [sic] all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him.’

Rocks stacked for hundreds of yards in a row along the western border of the Sacred Grove were placed there by the Smiths.

“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, and I was enwrapped in a heavenly vision and saw two glorious personages who exactly resembled each other in features, and likeness, surrounded with a brilliant light which eclipsed the sun at noon-day.

Light beam rests upon the modern trail through the Sacred Grove.

“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,’ at the same time receiving a promise that the fullness of the gospel should at some future time be made known unto me.” [2]

From the moment young Joseph walked through the trees and back to the small cabin at the north end of the 100 acres, the world would never be the same.

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All photographs are copyrighted 2003 by Scot Facer Proctor and are protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America and International Copyright laws.  All rights reserved.  No pictures can be used from this essay without express written permission from Meridian Magazine.