It was, according to this later account, when he was in his
fifteenth year, and when his father's family were "proselyted to
the Presbyterian church," that he became puzzled by the divergent
opinions he heard from different pulpits. One day, while reading
the epistle of James (not a common habit of his, as his mother
would testify), Joseph was struck by the words, "If any of you
lack wisdom, let him ask of God. "Reflecting on this injunction,
he retired to the woods" on the morning of a beautiful clear day
early in the spring of 1820, and there he for the first time
uttered a spoken prayer. "As soon as he began praying he was
overcome by some power, and "thick darkness" gathered around him.
Just when he was ready to give himself up as lost, he managed to
call on God for deliverance, whereupon he saw a pillar of light
descending upon him, and two personages of indescribable glory
standing in the air above him, one of whom, calling him by name,
said to the other, "This is my beloved Son, hear him."
Straightway Joseph, not forgetting the main object of his going
to the woods, asked the two personages: "which of all the sects
was right. "He was told that all were wrong, and that he must
join none of them; that all creeds were an abomination, and that
all professors were corrupt. He came to himself lying on his
back.

The effect on the boy of this startling manifestation was not
radically beneficial, as he himself concedes. "Forbidden to join
any other religious sects of the day, of tender years, "and badly
treated by persons who should have been his friends, he admits
that in the next three years he "frequently fell into many
foolish errors, and displayed the weakness of youth and the