country" to enjoy the greater liberty of worshiping God without molestation and according to the dictates of conscience. His progenitors were soldiers of the Revolution. They offered their lives freely upon the altar of liberty, for the freedom of the American colonies and their descendants for all generations to come. From such a line of ancestors came the Prophet Joseph Smith. If they were not popular, nor great, nor affluent, in the eyes of the world, neither were the immediate ancestry of Jesus and His apostles. If Joseph was poor and earned his bread by the sweat of his brow, so did most all of the prophets since the world began. He enjoyed the reputation, among those who knew him best, in every state in which he lived throughout life, of being an honest, industrious, virtuous, patriotic man. On trumped-up charges by the enemies of truth, he was arrested and tried thirty-nine times in courts not conducted by men of his own faith, and thirty-nine times he was honorably acquitted. The last time he was arrested, his enemies said, "If the law cannot reach him, powder and lead shall." How like the experience of Jesus before Pilate! Honorably acquitted by the judges, they cried out, "Let His blood be upon us and our children!" And so it has been; the same is true of those who shed the blood of the Prophet and Patriarch in these last days.

In view of the unpopularity of believing in angels and revelations in this age, what purpose could a man have in view, to make such a declaration, unless it was true? Joseph Smith gained no popularity or honors of men by it; he made no wealth of a worldly character by such a course. On the other hand, he suffered ignominy, scorn, and persecution in almost every form, including hunger, fatigue, exile, imprisonment and death at the hands of assassins. If it could be urged with the least propriety that when he announced his first vision he was so young—only about fifteen years of age (not much older than Samuel the prophet when God called him)—that he did not realize the terrible consequences of such a testimony, he certainly realized in a very short time and had every opportunity to correct his assertions had they been false.

Human nature is not such as to maintain known errors with such unwavering integrity and consistency against the bitter opposition of the world from boyhood to the grave. Yet with all his increasing trials and persecutions, which rolled upon him all his life like the angry waves of the ocean, driven by the winds against the peaceful shore, he never faltered. His testimony never wavered. He testified that he saw God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, and received of the ministrations of John the Baptist, Peter, James and John, Elijah and other prophets who lived in bygone ages. With an understanding of these circumstances and a knowledge of his character, the charge of fraud and dishonesty cannot be laid against him. If so, every prophet since the world began can be counted a dishonest man.

The question which naturally follows in this place is: Could Joseph Smith be mistaken? In answer we say: He was not a religious zealot. He was a young man of a practical turn of mind. While not a skeptic, he was reasonable, and thought that men professing to be the servants of the Lord should give proof of their calling similar to that given by the ancient prophets. If they had the true Gospel, with the gifts of the Holy Ghost, they should not be full of contradictions on doctrine, at least. This feature shows that Joseph was of a disposition not easily deluded by the unfounded theories of men. He belonged to no church, and like the ancient apostles, was free from preconceived dogmas and theories. He had no system to bolster up nor pet theory to maintain. His mind was free and of an order most likely to be selected for the great work which the Lord assigned him.

The circumstances which led to Joseph Smith's prayer offered in the grove near Palmyra, New York, in the spring of 1820, were these: A great religious revival had been in progress. He attended. It consisted of people who were Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, etc., represented in the pulpit by their respective ministers. When a convert joined the Baptists the other ministers would say: "This is the way; walk ye in it." And another: "This is right; follow this way." Yet their doctrines were in conflict. He could get no light from them. In this frame of mind he commenced to read the Scriptures. He came to the first chapter of James, fifth and sixth verses. This reads as follows: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed. For, let not that man think that he shall receive anything from the Lord." Joseph believed the promise. He put it to the test. He knelt in a grove of timber, and asked God which denomination was right. While thus engaged an unseen power seized him, tied his tongue, as it were, and apparently would have destroyed his life. Here are Joseph's words, quoted from the "Pearl of Great Price," page 59: "Just at this moment of great alarm I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spoke unto me, calling me by name, and said (pointing to the other), 'This is my beloved Son, Hear Him.' In answer to my question, which of the sects were right, He answered that none of them were, and I was forbidden of the Lord to join any of them."

This prayer was offered by an honest boy, seeking after truth, unable to get the whole truth from men. Would the Lord suffer such a prayer to go unanswered, or suffer this boy to be deceived by Satan? All reason, all Scripture answers, no. "Ask and ye shall receive; knock and it shall be opened unto you." If a son ask his father for bread "will he give him a stone?" "If he ask for fish will he give him a serpent?" The Savior answers, no. If it is argued that Joseph was alone and no one else present to corroborate his testimony, we have two answers: One is that those determined to reject such revelations will deny the veracity of two or three men as readily as the assertion of one; the other is that those who believe the Bible, to be consistent, if they doubt the testimony of Joseph because he was alone, must also doubt the testimony of Moses, who was alone when God spoke to him from the burning bush, and again when he stood in His presence on the mount and received the Ten Commandments. Will they doubt that Isaiah saw the Lord in the days of King Uzziah? (Isa. vi.). Because Stephen alone saw God and His Son in the last moments of His life, is his testimony false? Paul saw the Savior, but the men who were with him saw Him not. Yet the Christian world believes that Paul saw the Lord, even though other men in the presence of Paul did not see him.

While Joseph was alone on the occasion above related, he was not alone in all the manifestations which the Lord gave him. We have other honest witnesses who corroborate the testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and their testimony has not been impeached. They were men of good repute. On the 5th day of May, 1829, John the Baptist appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, laid his hands upon their heads and conferred upon them the Aaronic Priesthood, which holds authority to preach the principles of the Gospel and baptize in water for the remission of sins, but not authority to administer in the laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost. This Aaronic Priesthood was held by John the Baptist, by Philip, who baptized the Samaritans, and by others in the times of the apostles. Subsequent to this Peter, James and John presented themselves to the same men, Joseph and Oliver, conferring upon them the