Angels’ Visits

Angels' Visits By A. Ad. Ramsey er Why was Joseph Smith visited by the Father and the Son, in the spring of 1820?Because it was necessary to communicate to the boy prophet some important information which no books nor any man could impart, viz., that God lives, that he is in the form of man, and that Jesus Christ did not acknowledge as his any of the churches found on earth at that time. Why did the Angel Moroni appear, three years later, to this same young man? Because the Lord wanted to prepare the way for the founding of his Church, by revealing the Book of Mormon, wherein his gospel is recorded in simplicity and clearness such as is not found in any other book or record we know of. Joseph did not ask to be visited by the Father and the Son, or by an angel his mind was not bent upon receiving a vision or ; a visitation from the heavens; he was merely asking for knowledge, and he received the information asked for in such a way as to preclude all possibility of error. Had he thought, reasoned out, and balanced in his mind diverse opinions, he might or might not have found the truth, or part of the truth, and we would accord him as much credence as we do any thinker. But the divine manifestations he received left no doubt in his soul. Being thus convinced in an unmistakable way, he could, in all honesty, strive to convince others. He offered to our consideration some definite knowledge made doubly attractive by the fact that it was divinely revealed, and that it can be shown to agree with reason and with former revelations. By using their common sense and reasoning powers, as well as by calling upon our heavenly Father in faith, thousands and tens of thousands have received a testimonv by the Spirit of the truthfulness of Joseph Smith's claims, without being themselves visited of God, or by his angels. Yet, it does not follow that Joseph Smith was the only one who received angels' visits, as may be seen by the following story: A little over thirty vears ago, while in the city of Bern, Switzerland, a humble missionary whose veracity I have no reason to doubt, related to a few of us (we were three or four) that he knew a man who, when called to leave the farm to take a mission to the Swiss neople, keenly sensed his lack of knowledge; he wanted to know of a surety that this was the true Church of Christ, and he prayed very earnestly to the Lord for