--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 9 number: 2 published: 1905-12 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "Joseph Smith, the Prophet of the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times," *Improvement Era* 9, no. 2 (December 1905): 81.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0902unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0902unse start_page: 81 end_page: 81 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1905-12) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0902unse publication_year: 1905 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1905, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Joseph Smith, the Prophet of the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times JOSEPH SMITH, THE PROPHET OF THE DISPENSATION OF THE FULNESS OF TIMES, Son of Joseph Smith and Lucy Mack Smith, born in Sharon, Windsor county, Vermont, December 23, 1805, received his first vision, in which he saw the Father and the Son, in the spring of 1820; obtained the plates of the Book of Mormon, under the direction of the angel Moroni, September 22, 1827 was ordained to the ; Aaronic Priesthood by John the Baptist, May 15, 1829, and soon thereafter, to the Melchizedek Priesthood, by the ancient apostles, Peter, James and John published ; the Book of Mormon, which he had previously translated from the plates by the means of Urim and Thummim, and the power and inspiration of God, early in 1830; organized the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by revelation of God, April 6, 1830; established the British Mission in 1837, founded Nauvoo in 1839, and gathered thousands of the Saints; preached the Gospel; received at various times, from 1823 to 1844, the revelations of the Lord for the building up of the Church, which are found in the Doctrine and Covenants, and, at last, having laid the secure foundations of God's "marvelous work and a wonder," sealed the testi- mony of his mission and laJjors by his blood, in Carthage jail, June 27, 1844, where he and his brother Hyrum, the patriarch, were brutally murdered by a mob. Previous to his assassination he said: "I am going like a lamb to the slaughter but I am calm as a summer's morning; I have a conscience void of offense towards God, and towards all men. I shall die innocent, and it shall yet be said of me— he was murdered in cold blood." "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, thatgiveth to all men liber- ally, and upbraideth not and ; it shall be given him." —James 1: 5.