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On precisely the day that marks the end of summer and the beginning of fall, seventeen-year-old Joseph Smith learned of the Book of Mormon from the angel Moroni. It is appropriate that the book, destined to be the restored church’s greatest missionary and a primary sign of the gathering of Israel, would first be made known on the day that officially begins the harvest season.

On that day, 21 September 1823, Moroni showed to Joseph Smith in vision the Nephite and Lamanite civilizations and gave a brief sketch of their origin, culture, and history. He told the youthful prophet about a box buried in a hill, containing engravings on plates of gold written by ancient American prophets that gave an account of those civilizations. The angel also informed Joseph Smith of two stones fastened to a breastplate, which God had prepared to help translate the book. (See JS—H 1:27–47.)

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Joseph Smith, the Mormon prophet, was little understood by the people of the nineteenth century and may be even more of an enigma to those who live at the end of the twentieth. “No man knows my history,” he said once. “I cannot tell it: I shall never undertake it. I don’t blame any one for not believing my history. If I had not experienced what I have, I would not have believed it myself” (History of the Church, 6:317).

Like his Master, Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith was called upon to endure a certain kind of loneliness in life. This farm boy who grew to become a prophet’s prophet could bear a personal witness of the divine Redeemer, for, like Jesus, Joseph was also, to some degree at least, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief (see Isa. 53:3). His life was characterized not only by persecution and suspicion, but also by an isolation known only to those who walk in the glorious rays of the noonday sun and yet must minister among others content to walk in the fading light of dusk.

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On this beautiful Easter Sunday, I have chosen to speak about the Prophet Joseph Smith, and to emphasize some lesser-known aspects of his life that further affirm his prophetic calling.

During my college studies at BYU, I was introduced to the History of the Church, an edited compilation of the writings of Joseph Smith and others. After I graduated from law school, I carefully read all seven volumes. I also pursued personal research in original records in Illinois, where the prophet Joseph lived the last five years of his life.

The man I came to know in this way was not the man I had imagined. When I was a boy, growing up in the Church, I imagined the Prophet Joseph to be old and dignified and distant. But the Joseph Smith I met in my reading and personal research was a man of the frontier—young, emotional, dynamic, and so loved and approachable by his people that they often called him “Brother Joseph.” My studies strengthened my testimony of his prophetic calling. What a remarkable man! At the same time, I could see that he was mortal and therefore subject to sin and error, pain and affliction.

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The words of William W. Phelps’s great hymn always stir me: “Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah! Jesus anointed that Prophet and Seer. Blessed to open the last dispensation, Kings shall extol him, and nations revere” (“Praise to the Man,” Hymns, no. 27).

The life and ministry of the Prophet Joseph Smith are indeed the substance of great things and remarkable events. They have created a legacy that will continue to increase among mankind. He was the Lord’s latter-day servant who was chosen to bear witness anew of the resurrected Christ.

To a world plagued with doubt over the actuality of the Resurrection, Joseph Smith testified unequivocally of the risen, living Christ. That testimony was spoken in many ways and under many circumstances.

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