On p. 150 of Mormonism: Shadow or Reality?, the Tanners wrote that
In 1816 a minister by the name
of Elias Smith published a book in which he told of his conversion. Notice how
similar it is to Joseph Smith’s first account:
. . . I went into the
woods...after a stick of timber; after taking it on my shoulder . . . as I
walked along on a large log . . . my foot slipped . . . the timber fell one end
on the log and the other on the snow, and held me, . . . While in this
situation, a light appeared from heaven, . . . My mind seemed to rise in that
light to the throne of God and the Lamb, . . . The Lamb once slain appeared to
my understanding, and while viewing him, I felt such love to him as I never
felt to any thing earthly. . . . It is not possible for me to tell how long I
remained in that situation, . . . (The Life, Conversion, Preaching, Travels,
and Sufferings of Elias Smith, Portsmouth, N.H., 1816, pp. 58-59)
As part of my research on 19th-century Christological debates, I read this book. For those curious, here is Elias Smith’s fuller
account of his conversion:
.
. . I went into the woods one morning after a stick of timber; after taking it
on my shoulder to bring it to the house, as I walked along on a large log that
lay above the snow, my foot slipped and I fell partly under the log, the timber
fell one end on the log and the other on the snow, and held me, so that I found
it difficult at first to rise from the situation I was then in. While in this
situation, a light appeared to shine from heaven, not only in my head, but into
my heart. This was something very strange to me, and what I had never experienced
before. My mind seemed to rise in that light to the throne of God and the Lamb,
and while thus gloriously led, what appeared to my understanding was expressed
in Rev. xiv. 1. “And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with
him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in
their foreheads.” The Lamb once slain appeared to my understanding, and while
viewing him, I felt such love to him as I never felt to any thing earthly. My
mind was calm and at peace with God through the Lamb of God, that taketh away
the sin of the world. The view of the Lamb on mount Sion gave me joy
unspeakable and full of glory. It is not possible for me to tell how long I
remained in that situation, as every thing earthly was gone from me for some
time. After admiring the glory of the Lamb for some time, I began to think of
the situation my body was in, and rose up to return home. Looking around me,
every object was changed and a bright glory appeared on every thing around me.
All things praised God with me. As I went towards the house, this thought came
into my mind, “why do I feel so different from what I did a short time past; I
am unspeakably happy and shall never see trouble again.” As I walked along, these
lines came into my mind, and appeared peculiarly pleasing:
“Come
we who love the Lord,--And let our joys be known;
“Join in a song with sweet accord,--And thus surround the throne
“Let sorrows of the mind,--Be banish’d from the place;
“Religion never was design’d—To make our pleasure less.”
I
sung the words in a tune called Little Marlborough, and sung them with
such pleasure as was never known by me before. This thought passed through my
mind: “Surely religion was never designed to lessen our pleasures, for I never
before knew real happiness. While about my work, there was a pleasure enjoyed,
in viewing the works of God around me, and in meditating on the things of God and
Christ. Notwithstanding all these things, I did not then think that what I had
received, was regeneration, or passing from death to life. Regeneration
appeared to me something else; for regeneration had been imagined before, and I
had concluded how I should feel, it should ever be experienced by me. What I
experienced this day, appeared to me something else, as it came in an unthought
of way, and was something wholly unknown to me till that day. (Elias Smith, The
Life, Conversion, Preaching, Travels, and Sufferings of Elias Smith [Portsmouth,
N.H., n.p., 1816], 1:58-60)
