A Young Folks History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | Page 5

him of a record written on gold plates which were hidden in a hill not far away. This record was a history of the peoples who had lived on this continent, of whom the Indians were a part. With the plates was an instrument called the Urim and Thummim, which God had prepared for the translating of the records. After a time these things would be given to Joseph, but he must take great care of them and show them to no one except those to whom the Lord would direct. Then Moroni showed Joseph, by a vision, the place, where the plates were hidden.
After giving much other instruction, the light in the room began to gather in towards the person of the angel, leaving the room again in darkness, except just around the heavenly visitor, who soon disappeared in a shining path into heaven.
Three times that same night Moroni visited Joseph and told him nearly the same things over again. About the plates Joseph was further told that he would be tempted to get them for the purpose of getting rich, as the plates were of great value; but he must not yield to that spirit as they were sacred, and he must have no other purpose in view than to do the will of God and build up his kingdom; otherwise he would not get them. At the close of the third visit it was morning, and then Joseph knew that he had been talking with the angel nearly all the night.
That morning Joseph went as usual with his father to work in the field, but he was so weak that he could do but little. His father, seeing this, told him to go home.
On the way, as he was climbing over a fence, Joseph fell helpless to the ground. After that the first thing he knew was that some one was calling him by name. Looking up he again saw the angel Moroni, who once more told him all that he had related the night before. He then told Joseph to go back to the field and tell his father of the vision and the commandments which he had received.
Joseph obeyed at once, and went back and told all he had seen and heard. His father believed all he said, and told Joseph to obey the angel, as the teachings and commandments were surely from the Lord.
Topics.--1. Beginning of persecution. 2. Visit of the angel Moroni. 3. What Moroni told Joseph.
Questions and Review.--1. What did people say of Joseph's first vision? 2. Why did people persecute a young boy like Joseph? 3. Name the date of Moroni's visit. 4. What is an angel? (See Doc. and Cov. Sec. 129, also Key to Theology, Chap. 12.) 5. Describe the Angel Moroni. 6. Why did the angel repeat so often his instructions to Joseph? 7. How old was Joseph at this time?
CHAPTER IV.
THE SACRED PLATES.
About two miles south of Joseph's home, in Manchester, is a large hill, the highest in that part of the country. To this place Joseph went on the morning after the angel's visit, as this was the spot he had seen in his vision. On the west side of this hill, not far from the top, Joseph found a large, rounded stone, nearly covered with earth. Prying this up, he found it to be the lid of a stone box which was buried in the earth. Raising the lid, he looked in, and there indeed were the sacred treasures about which the angel had told him. As he stood looking at them in wonder, the angel Moroni came to his side, and Joseph was taught many things about the future. He was shown in a vision the glory of the good and the darkness of the evil.
[Illustration: THE HILL CUMORAH.]
Joseph was about to take the plates from the box, when the angel forbade him, telling him the time had not yet arrived, but that he should come to the hill in one year from that date when the angel would meet him. This he must do for four years, at the end of which time, if Joseph was faithful, the plates would be given to him to translate and publish to the world.
True to the angel's instructions, Joseph went to the hill Cumorah on the 22nd day of September of each year, at which time Moroni appeared to him and gave him many teachings about the word of God.
During all this time Joseph had to labor hard on the farm, sometimes hiring out to work for others. In October, 1825, he worked for a man by the name of Josiah Stoal, who took Joseph to the State of Pennsylvania, and set him with other men, digging for a silver mine which he thought he could