"an indolent, worthless young vagabond," are, in all probability, somewhat exaggerated, for it is hardly possible that the vast energy and benevolence of his after life could have developed from any such roots.
After Joseph's announcement of his prophetic mission, the neighbours of his parents who were opposed to his claims remembered, with wonderful facility, that the Smith family had always been "dreamers and visionary persons," and applied these terms in their most offensive meaning. In a work published after Joseph's death,[1] his mother tells her story in an artless, guileless way, and narrates the incidents of his boyhood as a loving, tender mother alone can speak of a darling son. Her recital leads to the conclusion that his progenitors had been highly favoured, and that the heavens had showered upon him their highest honours and choicest gifts. Whatever may be thought of the claims of the Smith family to miraculous powers, there can be no doubt that the modern prophet came of a stock which transmitted to him moral, mental, and religious qualities, well adapted to the after-work of his life. With such predisposition and support in his father's family, and from the impulses of his own singular nature,[2] he was fairly prepared for the "ministering of angels," with which the history of his religious life begins.
He relates in his autobiography how, introductory to his first vision, his mind had been prepared, by the accidental reading of a portion of the New Testament during the excitement of a revival, to ask for heavenly wisdom, with the expectation of receiving an answer. This revival commenced with the Methodists and extended to other denominations, and a time of general conversion ensued. "While the Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists made a general rush among the sinners, and preached to them only Christ and Him crucified, there was harmony; but when the converts began to choose churches, discussion arose upon the relative superiority of the creeds of these denominations, and the confusion of claims perplexed the
- ↑ Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and his progenitors for many generations. By Lucy Smith, mother of the Prophet.
- ↑ Before the dissenting Mormons asserted that Joseph was "nothing more than a highly developed medium," in the spiritualistic sense of the word, Brigham Young was in the habit of saying of Joseph that "he was a natural-born seer."
