During the last week in May I went on a visit to Fayette and was baptized by David Whitmer. On the first day of June, 1830, the first conference was held by the Church. Our number consisted of about thirty, besides many others who came to learn of our principles, or were already believers, but had not been baptized. Having opened the meeting by singing and prayer, we partook of the emblems of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. A number were confirmed who had lately been baptized, and several were called and ordained to various offices in the Priesthood. Much good instruction was given, and the Holy Ghost was poured out upon us in a marvelous manner. Many prophesied, while others had the heavens opened to their view. It was a scene long to be remembered. I felt my heart filled with love, with glory, and with pleasure unspeakable. I could discern all that was going on in the room and a vision of futurity also suddenly burst upon me, and I saw, represented, the great work, which, through the instrumentality of Joseph Smith, was to be accomplished. I saw the heavens opened, I beheld the Lord Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of the Majesty on High, and it was made plain to my understanding that the time would come when I should be admitted into His presence, to enjoy His society for ever and ever.
Such scenes as these were calculated to inspire the hearts of the Saints with joy unspeakable, and fill us with awe and reverence for that Almighty Being, by whose grace we had been called and made the happy partakers of such glorious blessings as were poured out upon us–to find ourselves engaged in the very same order of things as were observed and practiced by the holy apostles of old. To realize the importance and solemnity of the great work which had fallen upon our young friend Joseph, and to witness and feel with our natural senses the like glorious manifestations of the power of the Priesthood, the gifts and blessings of the Holy Ghost and the goodness and condescension of a merciful God unto such as obey the everlasting gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, combined to create within us sensations of rapturous gratitude and inspire us with fresh zeal and energy in the cause of truth, and also to confirm our faith in Joseph Smith being the instrument in the hands of God to restore the Priesthood again to man on earth and to set up the kingdom of God, which shall never more be overcome.
Notes
“Newel Knight’s Journal,” Scraps of Biography, p. 52-53. See also: Autobiography (1800-1846) “Newel Knight’s Journal,” Classic Experiences and Adventures (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1969), pp. 46-104.