youth who thus testified of facts, which though vehemently
denounced, produced an effect that alarmed them the more. And
such a spectacle has ofttimes presented itself before the
world--men who cannot tolerate one another in peace swear
fidelity and mutual support in strife with a common opponent.
The importance of this alleged revelation from the heavens to the
earth is such as to demand attentive consideration. If a fact,
it is a full contradiction of the vague theories that had been
increasing and accumulating for centuries, denying personality
and parts to Deity.

In 1820, there lived one person who knew that the word of the
Creator, "Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness,"
had a meaning more than in metaphor. Joseph Smith, the youthful
prophet and revelator of the nineteenth century, knew that the
Eternal Father and the well-beloved Son, Jesus Christ, were in
form and stature like unto perfect men; and that the human family
was in very truth of divine origin. But this wonderful vision
was not the only manifestation of heavenly power and personality
made to the young man, nor the only incident of the kind destined
to bring upon him the fury of persecution. Sometime after this
visitation, which constituted him a living witness of God unto
men, and which demonstrated the great fact that humanity is the
child of Deity, he was visited by an immortal personage who
announced himself as Moroni, a messenger sent from the presence
of God. The celestial visitor stated that through Joseph as the
earthly agent the Lord would accomplish a great work, and that
the boy would come to be known by good and evil repute amongst
all nations. The angel then announced that an ancient record,
engraven on plates of gold, lay hidden in a hill near by, which