Editing First Vision (section)

===1832 Smith account===
The earliest extant account of the First Vision was handwritten by Smith in 1832 in a letter book, but its existence was not known outside the Church History department until it was published in 1965.<ref>"One of the most significant documents of that period yet discovered was brought to light in 1965 by [[Paul R. Cheesman]], a graduate student at Brigham Young University. This is a handwritten manuscript apparently composed about 1833 and either written or dictated by Joseph Smith. It contains an account of the early experiences of the Mormon prophet and includes the story of the first vision. While the story varies in some details from the version presently accepted, enough is there to indicate that at least as early as 1833 Joseph Smith contemplated writing and perhaps publishing it. The manuscript has apparently lain in the L.D.S. Church Historian's office for many years, and yet few if any who saw it realized its profound historical significance." {{harv|Allen|1966|p=35}}</ref>  Sometime around 1930, the pages on which the account was written were torn from the letter book, removed from the Church Historian's collection and placed into a private safe in the custody of Apostle [[Joseph Fielding Smith]].  In 1952, General Authority [[Levi E. Young]] met with amateur historian LaMar Peterson and told him of a "strange account" in Joseph's handwriting that did not mention God the Father.  In 1964, Peterson told [[Jerald and Sandra Tanner]] about the account, and they subsequently asked permission from Joseph Fielding Smith to see it, but were denied.  In 1964, Smith authorized the showing of the account to Paul R. Cheesman, a BYU student working on his master's thesis.  The Tanners obtained a copy of the thesis transcript and the account was published for the first time in 1965.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/dialjmormthou.47.2.0037 Stan Larson "Another Look at Joseph Smith's First Vision"] ''[[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought]]'', Vol. 47, No. 2 (Summer 2014), pp. 37-62</ref>

<blockquote>[T]he Lord heard my cry in the wilderness and while in <the> attitude of calling upon the Lord <in the 16th year of my age> a pillar of fire light above the brightness of the sun at noon day come down from above and rested upon me and I was filled with the spirit of god and the <Lord> opened the heavens upon me and I saw the Lord and he spake unto me saying Joseph <my son> thy sins are forgiven thee. go thy <way> walk in my statutes and keep my commandments behold I am the Lord of glory I was crucifyed for the world that all those who believe on my name may have Eternal life <behold> the world lieth in sin and at this time and none doeth good no not one they have turned aside from the gospel and keep not <my> commandments they draw near to me with their lips while their hearts are far from me and mine anger is kindling against the inhabitants of the earth to visit them according to th[e]ir ungodliness and to bring to pass that which <hath> been spoken by the mouth of the prophets and Ap[o]stles behold and lo I come quickly as it [is] written of me in the cloud <clothed> in the glory of my Father ...."<ref>{{harvp|"Letterbook 1"|p=2}}. Angle brackets indicate insertions by Smith.</ref></blockquote>

Unlike Smith's later accounts of the vision, the 1832 account emphasizes personal forgiveness and mentions neither an appearance of God the Father nor the phrase "This is my beloved Son, hear him." In the 1832 account, Smith also stated that before he experienced the First Vision, his own searching of the scriptures had led him to the conclusion that mankind had "apostatized from the true and living faith and there was no society or denomination that built upon the Gospel of Jesus Christ as recorded in the new testament."<ref>Joseph Smith History, 1832, as found in {{harvp|Vogel|1996|p=28}}</ref>