Without Disclosing My True Identity
Although Joseph’s final dating of the beginning of his mission was fixed at
1820, there is evidence that his mother and brothers, Hyrum and Samuel,
apparently did not stop going to the Presbyterian Church until September- Lucy Smith, when writing to her brother in 1831 the full details of the
Book of Mormon and the founding of the new church, said nothing about the
“first vision.” The earliest published Mormon history, begun with Joseph’s
collaboration in 1834 by Oliver Cowdery, ignored it altogether, stating that
the religious excitement in the Palmyra area occurred when he was seventeen
(not fourteen). Cowdery described Joseph’s visionary life as beginning in
September 1823, with the vision of an angel called Moroni, who was said to
have directed Joseph to the discovery of hidden golden plates. Significantly,
in later years some of Joseph’s close relatives confused the “first vision” with
that of the angel Moroni.
When Joseph began his autobiography, in 1838, he was writing not of his
own life but of one who had already become the most celebrated prophet
of the nineteenth century. And he was writing for his own people.
Memories are always distorted by the wishes, thoughts, and, above all, the
obligation of the moment.If something happened that spring morning in 1820, it passed totally
unnoticed in Joseph’s home town, and apparently did not even fix itself in
the minds of members of his own family.^36Publishing the Visit by Moroni
Joseph published the continuation of the official account of meeting God, the Father,
and his Son, Jesus Christ^37 on April 1, 1842—but what about his meeting with Moroni after the
“First Vision?” Again, he wondered how much of that event he was supposed to tell the
people and was not sure what kind of “stumbling block” he was supposed to give them
about the event. Therefore, Joseph ended the Times and Seasons issue once again with “To be
continued.”^38 In this way, he could ponder it further and receive guidance to make sure he
was doing what was expected of him in setting up stumbling blocks for a rebellious people.
Once more, Joseph inquired as to the proper way to give the people the “lesser
portion of the word,” as he had been commanded. In the next issue of Times and Seasons,
April 15, 1842, Joseph was allowed to describe what occurred between Moroni and himself
when he was introduced to the existence and purpose of the Book of Mormon (as he had
originally penned it in 1838). He presented this story with greater accuracy and truth than
that of his previous account of the “First Vision.”
Hiding the Truth Within the Stumbling Blocks
When Joseph put together the history that he thought the people should have, he
wanted to give the LDS people a subtle but powerful hint as to the relevance of the Book of
Mormon and what it was all about. He wrote: