unto God, and endeavoring to exercise faith in the
precious promises of Scripture, on a sudden a light like that of
day, only of a far purer and more glorious appearance and
brightness, burst into the room; indeed, the first sight was as
though the house was filled with consuming fire; the appearance
produced a shock that affected the whole body In a moment, a
personage stood before me surrounded with a glory yet greater than
that with which I was already surrounded. This messenger
proclaimed himself to be an angel of God, sent to bring the joyful
tidings, that the covenant which God made with ancient Israel was
at hand to be fulfilled; that the preparatory work for the second
coming of the Messiah was speedily to commence; that the time was
at hand for the gospel, in all its fulness, to be preached, in
power, unto all nations, that a people might be prepared for the
millennial reign.

"I was informed that I was chosen to be an instrument in the hands
of God to bring about some of his purposes in this glorious
dispensation.

"I was also informed concerning the aboriginal inhabitants of this
country, and shown who they were, and from whence they came; a
brief sketch of their origin, progress, civilization, laws,
governments, of their righteousness and iniquity, and the
blessings of God being finally withdrawn from them as a people,
was made known unto me. I was also told where there were deposited
some plates, on which was engraven an abridgment of the records of
the ancient prophets that had existed on this continent. The angel
appeared to me three times the same night, and unfolded the same
things. After having received many visits from the angels of God,
unfolding the majesty and glory of the events that should
transpire in the last days, on the morning of the 22d of
September, A. D 1827, the angel of the Lord delivered the records
into my hands.

"These records were engraven on plates which had the appearance of
gold; each plate was six inches wide and eight inches long, and
not quite so thick as common tin. They were filled with
engravings, in Egyptian characters, and bound together in a
volume, as the leaves of a book, with three rings running through
the whole. The volume was something near six inches in thickness,
a part of which was sealed. The characters on