Sacred Grove

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This article is about a particular sacred grove of the Latter Day Saint movement. For other uses, see Sacred grove.

The Sacred Grove Photo by Connor Boyack

In the Latter Day Saint movement, the Sacred Grove is a forested area in Upstate New York near the adolescent home of Joseph Smith, Jr. Latter-day Saints consider this area sacred as the first place in recent times that God has appeared to a prophet, which theophany is known as the First Vision.

1 History
2 Other Occurrences
3 Today
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] History

According to Joseph Smith’s 1838 history, which is considered canonical by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the First Vision occurred in 1820, during the Second Great Awakening. While Smith was in his adolescence, he was living in an area in New York which later would be called the Burned-over district because of the intense religious excitement which was experienced over an extended period of time.

Attending the revivals which were contending for converts, he began to question which of the churches he should join. At the age of 14, while studying the Bible for direction, he came across a verse in the New Testament which states: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him” (James 1:3). He stated that “Never did any passage of scripture come with more power to the heart of man than this did at this time to mine. It seemed to enter with great force into every feeling of my heart. I reflected on it again and again, knowing that if any person needed wisdom from God, I did; for how to act I did not know, and unless I could get more wisdom than I then had, I would never know; for the teachers of religion of the different sects understood the same passages of scripture so differently as to destroy all confidence in settling the question by an appeal to the Bible” [1].

Joseph Smith’s 1838 history records this as his experience:

Stained glass depiction of the first vision of Joseph Smith, Jr., completed in 1913 by an unknown artist (Museum of Church History and Art).

So, in accordance with this, my determination to ask of God, I retired to the woods to make the attempt. It was on the morning of a beautiful, clear day, early in the spring of eighteen hundred and twenty... After I had retired to the place where I had previously designed to go, having looked around me, and finding myself alone, I kneeled down and began to offer up the desires of my heart to God. I had scarcely done so, when immediately I was seized upon by some power which entirely overcame me, and had such an astonishing influence over me as to bind my tongue so that I could not speak. Thick darkness gathered around me, and it seemed to me for a time as if I were doomed to sudden destruction... just at this moment of great alarm, I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head, above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other—This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!

Smith states that he was then told by Christ not to join any of the churches, for “they draw near to me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me, they teach for doctrines the commandments of men, having a form of godliness, but they deny the power thereof” [2].

For Latter-day Saints, the event marks Smith’s calling as a prophet, as well as the beginning of the Dispensation of the Fullness of Times, initiating the restoration of the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth.

[edit] Other Occurrences

In June of 1829, nine years after Joseph Smith Jr’s First Vision, Smith “gathered a small group of his family and friends to the Sacred Grove to show them the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated. He allowed each of the eight participants to hold the ancient record, turn its pages and examine its characters. They prepared a written testimony, which was published in the Book of Mormon” [3].

[edit] Today

Located in Palmyra, New York, the Sacred Grove is often visited as part of the Smith Family Farm, a historical site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints located at 843 Stafford Rd., Palmyra, NY. The church operates a welcome center on the farm, which, in addition to the Sacred Grove, also includes a replica of the log home built in 1818 by Joseph Smith, Sr. and his wife Lucy Mack Smith, as well as the original frame home built by the Smith’s seven years later.

Other historic sites close to the Smith Farm are the Hill Cumorah Visitors Center, where Smith claims to have been given the records that he translated the Book of Mormon from, as well as the Book of Mormon Historic Publication Site, located at the EB Grandin Printing Shop in Palmyra.