How is it that a barely-schooled farm boy of the early 1800s could have acquired the vocabulary that Joseph Smith possessed?  I have several observations about Joseph and his abilities.

One, is that Joseph Smith could not have written the Book of Mormon.  Many of the words used therein are not words that he would have used or have even been acquainted with.  During one reading of the Book of Mormon I began a list of the "big words" that it would have been unlikely for Joseph to have used.  It became an impressive, lengthy list, so much so, that I left off making it.

On one occasion an angel asked Nephi, "Knowest thou the condescension of God?"

I like Nephi's answer:  "I know that he loveth his children; nevertheless, I do not know the meaning of all things."  (1 Nephi 11:16-17).  What I think he was saying was, "I don't know what that means.  What's condescension?"

That could have been Joseph's answer.  He would have read the word "condescension" in the record, but wouldn't have understood  it.  He probably didn't even possess a dictionary so that he could look the word up.

My second observation is that Joseph became a highly educated man.  You can't read his later writings without realizing and admitting that.  Where did he receive that education?  The only possible answer is that God and angels taught him.  He obviously had a good mind, and was quick to learn from every spiritual encounter and teaching.

I'm not able to write like he did.  The thought that inspired this little article was a comment that my wife just made.  She said, "I just read a sentence written by Joseph Smith, and I had to look up three words."

Consider what Joseph wrote in D&C 121:45-46:

"Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall they confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.

"The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever."

Those thoughts and words are sublime, poetic, and perfectly placed.  They couldn't possibly have been written by an uneducated farm boy without heaven's help and dictation.

Joseph may have been an uneducated boy, but through heaven's teachings and his own diligence, study, and desire he became one of the greatest minds the world has ever known.

The Lord can do the same with you.