Although disguised as fiction, this story recounts the true events of an angel appearing in Missouri to an Elder of the Church. The angel then offers the man a spy glass, which allows him to see far across the state and beyond and contemplate the future. This manuscript was read in Nauvoo, in a Council of the Church, in the presence of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and it became at once the admiration of all the Saints who had the privilege of its perusal.