g words of instruction and
caution. On the next day Moroni appeared to the young man again, and
directed him to inform his father of the visitations and commandments he
had received. Joseph's father instructed him to obey the messenger's
instructions and testified that they were given of God. Joseph then went
to the locality specified by the angel, on the side of a hill called in
the record Cumorah, and immediately identified the spot that had been
shown him in vision. By the aid of a lever he removed a large stone,
which proved to be the cover of a stone box wherein lay the plates and
other articles described by Moroni. The angel appeared at the place, and
forbade Joseph to remove the contents of the box at that time. The young
man replaced the massive stone lid and left the spot.

Four years later, the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate
were delivered into Joseph's keeping by the angel Moroni. This Moroni,
who now came as a resurrected being, was the last survivor of the
Nephite nation; he had completed the record, and then shortly before his
death had hidden away the same in the hill Cumorah, whence it was
brought forth through his instrumentality and delivered to the modern
prophet and seer, Joseph Smith, September 22, 1827. That record, or,
strictly speaking a part thereof, is now accessible to all; it has been
translated through divine instrumentality and is now published in many
languages as the Book of Mormon.[1530]

THE AARONIC PRIESTHOOD CONFERRED BY JOHN THE BAPTIST.

On the 15th of May, 1829, Joseph Smith and his scribe in the work of
translating the Nephite record, Oliver Cowdery, retired to a secluded
glade to pray. Their special purpose was to inquire of the Lord
concerning the ordinance of baptism for the remission of sins, some
account of which they had found on the plates. Joseph writes:

"While we were thus employed, praying and calling upon the Lord,
a messenger from heaven descended in a cloud of light, and
having laid his hands upon us, he ordained us, saying:

"_Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer
the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering
of angels, and of the Gospel of repentance, and of baptism by
immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be
taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer
again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness."_[1531]

The angelic vis