I found an article in LDS Living that gives some great summary:
https://www.ldsliving.com/3-ways-the-re ... 20brighter.
The religious culture of this time period produced many visionaries who published their manifestations in newspapers and pamphlets. Susan Juster, a non-LDS scholar, identified over 300 people who claimed visionary experiences during the time of Joseph Smith's parents (See Susan Juster, Doomsayers: Anglo-American Prophecy in the Age of Revolution. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2003) ... Indeed, Joseph Smith Sr. was a visionary man himself. His wife Lucy recorded at least seven heavenly manifestations he had received years prior to their son's First Vision in 1820.
1. God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to many people in Joseph Smith's day.
At least 20 people besides Joseph Smith saw God and/or Christ as a man, and a majority reported that the vision came in response to a prayer during a period of trial. Half were given specific instruction (four of which were told that no true church currently existed), and eight reported an evil presence just before the vision opened.
One notable individual was the well-known Protestant minister, Charles G. Finney, who saw the Lord face to face in 1821 while praying for forgiveness. Another individual, Norris Stearns of Greenfield, Massachusetts, reported seeing God the Father and Christ together in vision in 1815. This occurred during a time of deep reflection and intense depression of the soul. As he lay struggling with darkness, he saw a vision filled with light that grew brighter and brighter. He saw two personages, each in the form of a man.
Similar to Joseph Smith, another visionary, Nathan Culver, recorded in 1791 that his room gradually got brighter until he saw two personages, God the Father and Christ, at the Father's right-hand side.
I am seeing multiple people having visions. Some saw God, some saw Christ, and some saw both. There was also a movement of seekers that were having revelations predicting a restoration of a true church.2. Several people published visions containing messages about the Restoration of the everlasting gospel.
Several people who published their visionary experiences related the messages they received from the heavenly personages. For example, in 1810 an angelic personage appeared to Chloe Willey from Goshen, New Hampshire, and told her that the day would shortly come when the restoration of Christ's church would be established and would be accompanied by miracles and many healings.
When God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Norris Stearns in 1815, They told him that "a greater work . . . will soon be manifest; for the Angel that has the Everlasting Gospel to preach is coming" (The Religious Experience of Norris Stearns. Greenfield, MA: n.p. 1815). One year later, an angel appeared to Solomon Chamberlin from Old Canaan, Connecticut, and told him that all churches were corrupt and God would "soon raise up a church that would be after the apostolic order" (Solomon Chamberlain, "Short Sketch of the Life of Solomon Chamberlain, Written 11 July 1858," LDS Church Archives).
Another individual published his vision just 10 days after Moroni first appeared to Joseph Smith. In this vision, the Lord told Asa Wild of West Fairlee, Vermont, that every Christian denomination had become corrupt and that He was now raising up a "class of persons" that would receive the everlasting gospel.
The vision of Norris Stearns is only touched upon in the article above. The more full account is as follows:
“At length, as I lay apparently upon the brink of eternal woe, seeing nothing but death before me, suddenly there came a sweet flow of the love of God to my soul, which gradually increased. At the same time, there appeared a small gleam of light in the room, above the brightness of the sun, then at his meridian, which grew brighter and brighter: As this light and love increased, my sins began to separate, and the Mountain [of sin] removed towards the east. At length, being in an ecstasy of joy, I turned to the other side of the bed, (whether in the body or out I cannot tell, God knoweth) there I saw two spirits, which I knew at the first sight. But if I had the tongue of an Angel I could not describe their glory, for they brought the joys of heaven with them. One was God, my Maker, almost in bodily shape like a man. His face was, as it were a flame of Fire, and his body, as it had been a Pillar and a Cloud. In looking steadfastly to discern features, I could see none, but a small glimpse would appear in some other place. Below him stood Jesus Christ my Redeemer, in perfect shape like a man-His face was not ablaze, but had the countenance of fire, being bright and shining. His Father’s will appeared to be his! All was condescension, peace, and love!! I was filled with the sacred flame, and the glory of God; I thought one spark more in my soul would have destroyed this mortal frame!! I was happy!!! happy!!! happy!!! I wanted ten thousand tongues to sing their sweet, their glorious praise!! It was a heaven here below for the space of half an hour!! But how infinitely short must I come of describing their glory, for want of language to paint my feelings! For the joys of Heaven so far surpass all bounds of description, or human conception, that christians here below come infinitely short of forming a competent idea of the joys that await the righteous: ‘Eye hath not seen, Ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive of those good things, the Father hath prepared for them that love him.'”
