Which version of the First Vision do you prefer?
jeremy-valentinerI think the most interesting account comes from Oliver Cowdery in an 1835 letter to W.W. Phelps published in the Church’s official newsletter “Latter Day Saint’s Messenger and Advocate” where it discusses Joseph Smith praying to know “if a Supreme Being did exist”, the year of “religious excitement” was 1823 not 1820, and the time Joseph was given his prophetic mandate, i.e. it was his first vision of the divine, but it was with an “angel” - which can be assumed to be sourced to Joseph Smith since it relates Joseph’s personal experience (Oliver Cowdery, "Latter Day Saint's Messenger and Advocate", BYU Harold B. Lee Library Digital Collections, February 1835, Vol. I, No. 5, Letter IV, Pgs. 77-80) - on the right hand side of the webpage is a "content drop-down", maximize "Vol. 1 No. 5, February 1835", click on "Letter IV" (the eighth item down under "Vol. 1 No. 5"), available at: contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/NCMP1820-1846/id/…