3a Voices of the Restoration: Joseph Smith's Family
Voices of the Restoration
Joseph Smith’s Family
The faith and religious experiences of
Joseph Smith’s parents helped him in his preparation as the prophet of the
Restoration. His experience with his leg surgery so young, also helped him to
learn to trust in both his earthly father and his Heavenly Father.
Joseph wrote, ““Words and language [are]
inadequate to express the gratitude that I owe to God for having given me so
honorable a parentage.”
Lucy Mack Smith
Lucy had been sick and was worried about
dying, leaving her husband and children without her and not being prepared to
meet God.
“I looked to the Lord and begged and
pled with the Lord that he would spare my life that I might bring up my
children and comfort the heart of my husband; thus I lay all night. … I
covenanted with God [that] if he would let me live I would endeavor to get that
religion that would enable me to serve him right, whether it was in the Bible
or wherever it might be found, even if it was to be obtained from heaven by
prayer and faith. At last a voice spoke to me and said, ‘Seek and ye shall
find, knock and it shall be opened unto you. Let your heart be comforted. Ye
believe in God; believe also in me.’ …
“From this time forward I gained
strength continually. I said but little upon the subject of religion although
it occupied my mind entirely, and I thought that I would make all diligence as
soon as I was able to seek some pious person who knew the ways of God to
instruct me in things of Heaven.”
Look back to lesson for more of the
quote.
William Smith
William’s account tells how his mother
encouraged all of her children to practice faith and seek salvation for their
own souls. “She prevailed on us to attend the [religious] meetings,
“We always had family prayers since I
can remember. I well remember father used to carry his spectacles in his vest
pocket, … and when us boys saw him feel for his specs, we knew that was a
signal to get ready for prayer, and if we did not notice it mother would say,
‘William,’ or whoever was the negligent one, ‘get ready for prayer.’ After the
prayer we had a song we would sing.”
The parents taught their children to
study the scriptures. It looks like they believed in holding a family
devotional at the end of each day.
Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith, Sr. was a great example of
a Christian man, and Lucy of a Christian woman.
“I now say, that [my father] never did a mean act that might be said was
ungenerous, in his life, to my knowledge. I loved my father and his memory; and
the memory of his noble deeds, rest with ponderous weight upon my mind; and many
of his kind and parental words to me, are written on the tablet of my heart.
Sacred to me, are the thoughts which I cherish of the history of his life, that
have rolled through my mind and has been implanted there, by my own observation
since I was born. … My mother also is one of the noblest, and the best of all
women.”
People, Places, Events
I have highlighted the following
sections, but I’m not currently taken notes.
- Lucy Mack Smith
Female Relief Society of Nauvoo, Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith Family, Departure from Nauvoo - The Sacred Grove
- Joseph Smith’s First Vision Accounts
You can come back to this section sometime to see these different sources:
“First Vision Accounts,” Gospel Topics, topics.lds.org.
First
Vision Accounts videos, josephsmithpapers.org.
“Primary
Accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision of Deity,” josephsmithpapers.org.
“Ask of God: Joseph Smith’s
First Vision,” history.lds.org.
Bibliography
The
following publications provide further information about this topic. By
referring or linking you to these resources, we do not endorse or guarantee the
content or the views of the authors.
Dean C.
Jessee, “The Earliest Documented Accounts of Joseph Smith’s First Vision,” in
John W. Welch, ed., Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine
Manifestations, 1820–1844 (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University
Press, 2005), 1–33.
James B.
Allen and John W. Welch, “The Appearance of the Father and the Son to Joseph
Smith in 1820,” in Opening the Heavens, 35–75.
Steven C.
Harper, Joseph Smith’s First Vision: A Guide to the Historical Accounts (Salt
Lake City: Deseret Book, 2012).
Related Topics: Awakenings
and Revivals, Palmyra
and Manchester, Sacred
Grove and Smith Family Farm
- Christian Churches in Joseph Smith’s Day
“Though Latter-day Saints forsook affiliation with their previous churches, they brought many traditions and beliefs with them as they joined the Saints. This rich Christian background contributed substantially to the culture of the early Church.”
Related Topics: Religious
Beliefs in Joseph Smith’s Day, Awakenings
and Revivals, Joseph
Smith’s First Vision Accounts
You can come back and study more here if you like.
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