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| East side of Hill Cumorah in Manchester, New York |
About 3 miles south of the Smith Family farm lies a a small hill. On September 22nd, 1823 in the Log Home on the Smith Farm, Joseph Smith was visited by an angel whose name was Moroni. That night, Joseph Smith Jr. went to bed pondering upon the vision he had witnessed 3 years previous. Wondering about what the Lord expected of him next, he offered up a prayer to God. In Joseph Smith's own words, he says "While I was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered a light appearing in my room, which continued to increase until the room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a personage appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did not touch the floor."
"He called me by name, and said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of God to me, and that his name was Moroni; that God had a work for me to do; and that my name should be had for good and evil among all nations, kindreds, and tongues, or that it should be both good and evil spoken of among all people.
He said there was a book deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the fullness of the everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants;" (Joseph Smith History 1:30, 33-34
Joseph Smith Jr was given much instruction by Moroni that night. Moroni visited Joseph 3 separate times that night, each time delivering the same message exactly as the first, each time though adding further council and direction. Joseph got no sleep that night, and his mind still was bewildered about what he had been shown and told.
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| Hill Cumorah in early 1900's |
By the time Moroni had delivered his message for a third time and left, morning had come. Joseph then proceed to go about his morning chores and duties on his father's farm. He said his strength was utterly gone and his father noticed his son was not well and told Joseph to return to the house. As he climbed over the fence from the field, he lost all energy and collapsed on the ground. As he awoke, he saw the same personage, Moroni, standing above him. He then again for a fourth time received the same message he had been given by Moroni the night before. As he finished, he was commanded to go and tell his father about what he had seen and heard. In obedience to that direction, Joseph did and told his father all the events of that night. His father listened and said that the vision was of God and that he should go to the place the angel directed him.
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| Joseph with Moroni at Hill Cumorah |
So, back to Joseph Smith's account. "On the west side of this hill, not far from the top, under a stone of considerable size, lay the plates, deposited in a stone box. This stone was thick and rounding in the middle on the upper side, and thinner towards the edges, so that the middle part of it was visible above the ground, but the edge all around was covered with earth."
"Having removed the earth, I obtained a lever, which I got fixed under the edge of the stone, and with a little exertion raised it up. I looked in, and there indeed did I behold the plates,....."
"I made an attempt to take them out, but was forbidden by the messenger, and was again informed that the time for bringing them forth had not yet arrived, neither would it, until four years from that time; but he told me that I should come to that place precisely in one year from that time, and that he would there meet with me, and that I should continue to do so until the time should come for obtaining the plates.
Accordingly, as I had been commanded, I went at the end of each year, and at each time I found the same messenger there, and received instruction and intelligence from him at each of our interviews, respecting what the Lord was going to do, and how and in what manner his kingdom was to be conducted in the last days"
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| Statue of Angel Moroni on Hill Cumorah |
On September 22, 1827, Joseph Smith and his wife Emma traveled to the Hill Cumorah. There, Joseph was finally entrusted with care of the plates, to be translated into The Book of Mormon.
In 1928, The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints purchased the Hill and the surrounding land. In 1935 they built a granite monument upon the top of the Angel Moroni holding the gold plates.
Today, a visitor's center is at the base of the Hill, giving visitor's tourist information about the Church and the surrounding Church sites. Every summer, the Hill Cumorah Pageant begins, a huge outdoor theatrical event where scenes from the Book of Mormon are acted out. Each showing is free and is open to all visitors.
