"I refer to the awesome
experience of Joseph Smith when he beheld God the Father and
his Son, Jesus Christ, in the spring of 1820. There has been
no event more glorious, more controversial, nor more
important in the story of Joseph Smith than this vision. It
is possibly the most singular event to occur on the earth
since the Resurrection. Those who do not believe it happened
find it difficult to explain away. Too much has happened
since its occurrence to summarily deny that it ever took
place. . . .
"Since no one was with
Joseph when this great vision took place in the wooded grove
near Palmyra, a testimony concerning its reality can come
only by believing the truthfulness of Joseph Smith's own
account or by the witness of the Holy Ghost, or both. I have
such a conviction. It is a sure conviction that lies deep in
my soul. As a special witness of the same Christ who
appeared with the Father and instructed the boy Joseph
Smith, I bear witness of the truthfulness of the magnificent
First Vision near Palmyra. I declare this in all soberness
and in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ."
