After the angel Moroni appeared three times in one night to Joseph Smith Jr., the 17-year-old woke up the rest of his family and breathlessly told them of his marvelous visions.

But that is not what happened.

What actually happened the morning of Sept. 22, 1823, shows an aspect of Joseph's personality that may give insight into how he shared sacred experiences such as his First Vision.

The morning after Moroni appeared to Joseph, he went to work as usual. Even after his father noticed that he seemed tired (the visions took all night), Joseph did not tell anyone what he had seen. Not his father. Not his mother. Not his brothers or sisters.

It wasn't until the angel commanded him to tell his father that Joseph shared the story and what it meant.

Flash backward three years.



Joseph Smith went into a grove of trees near his home and received a vision of God the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. After this epiphany, he went home and ...

"(R)ight after he left the grove he seems to have been hesitant to tell his own mother the details of the manifestation -- perhaps because his family was divided over religious issues," historian Matthew B. Brown wrote in his new book "A Pillar of Light."

In Joseph's most familiar account of this vision, he wrote what he did: "I went home. And as I leaned up to the fireplace, mother inquired what the matter was. I replied, 'Never mind, all is well ? -- I am well enough off.' I then said to my mother, 'I have learned for myself that Presbyterianism is not true.'"

"Mother Smith's reaction to her teenaged son's bold statement is, unfortunately, not recorded," Brown wrote, "and it is not known if there was any further exchange of ideas between them."

The Prophet did not indicate that he said anything else to his mother about the manifestation, according to Brown. We do not even know, Brown wrote, if Joseph told her he had learned the information about Presbyterianism in a vision.

Joseph's mother's memoirs mentioned the First Vision, but she relied on Joseph's own account -- quoting it to tell the story.

Brown wrote that "fear of non-acceptance may have also played a role in his reticence."

Joseph did tell "one of the Methodist preachers" about his vision -- but the reaction was negative and may have confirmed or generated his "fear of non-acceptance."

When Joseph decided to tell his family about the First Vision is not clear from the historical records, according to Brown's book. There are a few statements remembered by his mother that had some of the themes present in the First Vision experience, but no direct references.

Joseph's younger brother William and sister Katherine leave behind sketchy remembrances due to their ages at the time. But, like Joseph, the family may have been reluctant to speak about something that brought disbelief and persecution.

"There is one published source that claims Joseph Smith Sr. was aware of the First Vision story by the fall of 1824 and was being cautious about providing details of the event to those who were not part of his family," Brown wrote. "If this report is accurate, then it (and all of the preceding evidence) suggests that Joseph told members of his family about the First Vision within about one year of making them aware of the angel Moroni visitations."

This caution about providing details to "those who were not part of his family" may also help in understanding why some of Joseph's accounts of the First Vision had more details than others.

Some critics have charged, according to Brown, that Joseph's account of the First Vision became more elaborate as time went on. "But close scrutiny of Joseph Smith's four main rehearsals of the story indicate that instead of becoming more elaborate or colorful over time just the opposite was true," Brown wrote.

A list in Brown's book showed 24 elements in Joseph's early 1832 account that do not show up in later retellings of the First Vision.

"(I)t seems that the core elements of the story remained the same while there were many details that could be included at the discretion of the storyteller," Brown wrote.

To understand the different accounts of the First Vision requires understanding the background information for each account, Brown wrote. For example, the 1832 account "does not represent the simple retelling of a story. This recital was constructed so that its details were connected with verses of the Bible. And not all of the details of the First Vision story that were publically circulated before this document was created were included within the 1832 recital."

In the 1832 recital, the visitation of the Son is mentioned directly. "(B)ut the Father's words during the visit are referred to only in an oblique manner in the introductory paragraph," Brown wrote.

Joseph didn't tell everything to everyone he met. He knew the consequences of too much disclosure. Joseph had the self-restraint to keep great spiritual experiences and their varying details private until he decided (or was commanded) to share them in part or in whole.

E-mail: mdegroote@desnews.com