DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS 3,10JOSEPH SMITH—HISTORY 1:55–65

“For a wise purpose”

DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS 3,10

Joseph Smith’s mother recorded what occurred as he later retrieved the plates from his hiding place and brought them home:“Joseph, on coming to them, took them from their secret place, and, wrapping them in his linen frock, placed them under his arm and started for home.“After proceeding a short distance, he thought it would be more safe to leave the road and go through the woods. Traveling some distance after he left the road, he came to a large windfall, and as he was jumping over a log, a man sprang up from behind it and gave him a heavy blow with a gun. Joseph turned around and knocked him down, then ran at the top of his speed. About half a mile farther he was attacked again in the same manner as before; he knocked this man down in like manner as the former and ran on again; and before he reached home he was assaulted the third time. In striking the last one, he dislocated his thumb, which, however, he did not notice until he came within sight of the house, when he threw himself down in the corner of the fence in order to recover his breath. As soon as he was able, he arose and came to the house. He was still altogether speechless from fright and the fatigue of running” (in Lucy Mack Smith, History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, ed. Preston Nibley [1958], 108).

Charles Anthon(1797-1867)

Professor of Greek and Latin at Columbia University

Published 36 books

Martin Harris(1783-1875)

One of Three Witnesses

Mortgaged his farm to print Book of Mormon

Anthon Transcript

David Whitmer indicated that as the Prophet used the divine instrumentalities provided to help him, ‘the hieroglyphics would appear, and also the translation in the English language … in bright luminous letters.’ Then Joseph would read the words to Oliver (quoted in James H. Hart, “About the Book of Mormon,” Deseret Evening

News, 25 Mar. 1884, 2). Martin Harris related of the seer stone: ‘Sentences would appear and were read by the Prophet and written by Martin’ (quoted in Edward Stevenson, “One of the Three Witnesses: Incidents in the Life of Martin Harris,”Latter-day Saints’

Millennial Star, 6 Feb. 1882, 86–87). Joseph Knight made similar observations (see Dean Jessee, “Joseph Knight’s Recollection of Early Mormon History,” BYU Studies 17 [Autumn 1976]: 35).

The Translation Process

The Translation Process

“Oliver Cowdery is reported to have testified in court that the Urim and Thummim enabled Joseph ‘to read in English, the reformed Egyptian characters, which were engraved on the plates’ (“Mormonites,” Evangelical Magazine and

Gospel Advocate, 9 Apr. 1831). If these reports are accurate, they suggest a process indicative of God’s having given Joseph ‘sight and power to translate’ (D&C 3:12).“If by means of these divine instrumentalities the Prophet was seeing ancient words rendered in English and then dictating, he was not necessarily and constantly scrutinizing the characters on the plates—the usual translation process of going back and forth between pondering an ancient text and providing a modern rendering.“The revelatory process apparently did not require the Prophet to become expert in the ancient language. …

“Whatever the details of the process, it required Joseph’s intense, personal efforts along with the aid of the revelatory instruments. The process may have varied as Joseph’s capabilities grew, involving the Urim and Thummim but perhaps with less reliance upon such instrumentalities in the Prophet’s later work of translation. Elder Orson Pratt of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said Joseph Smith told him that he used the Urim and Thummim when he was inexperienced at translation but that later he did not need it, which was the case in Joseph’s translation of many verses of the Bible (see Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, 11 Aug. 1874, 498–99)” (“By the Gift and Power of God,” Ensign, Jan. 1997, 39).

The Translation Process

116 LOST PAGES

Who can tell us the story?

April 1828-June 1828Martin Harris

He was born in 1783 at Eastown, New YorkHe was a prosperous farmer and businessman named Martin Harris was acting as scribe to Joseph while he translated. He was 22 years older than Joseph He had given Joseph and Emma $50 (which was a substantial amount of money at that time) to help them move to Harmony, Pennsylvania (where Emma’s family lived), thus helping to support Joseph while he translated the plates. In February 1828, Joseph encouraged Martin to take copies of characters from the plates to professors in New York

She became increasingly concerned about Martin’s interest and financial involvement in the translation of the plates.

She and others began to press Martin for evidence of the plates’ existence.

To appease their concerns, in mid-June Martin requested that Joseph allow him to take the 116 pages of manuscript they had completed to show as evidence.

Lucy HarrisShe was born on May 1, 1792 at Swift’s Landing (later Palmyra), Ontario Co., New York.

She is the daughter of Rufus Harris and Lucy Hill, who were affiliated with the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers).

Lucy married her first cousin Martin Harris on March 27, 1808, in Palmyra, New York.

She had become partially deaf by the year 1827.

She separated from her husband in June 1830, and died in Palmyra in 1836.

“[Martin] desired of me that I would inquire of the Lord, through the Urim and Thummim, if he might not [take the manuscript home and show it]. I did inquire, and the answer was that he must not. However, he was not satisfied with this answer, and desired that I should inquire again. I did so, and the answer was as before. Still he could not be contented, but insisted that I should inquire once more.”

Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 1:21

“After much solicitation I again inquired of the Lord, and permission was granted him to have the writings on certain conditions; which were, that he show them only to his brother, Preserved Harris, his own wife, his father and his mother, and a Mrs. Cobb, a sister to his wife.”

“I required of him that he bind himself in a covenant to me in a most solemn manner that he would not do otherwise than he had been directed.”

Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 1:21

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?

•Martin takes the manuscript to New York.

•Emma gives birth to their first child, Alvin, who dies shortly thereafter.

•Emma nearly dies and Joseph stays by her bed for 2 weeks.

•After 3 weeks without hearing from Martin, Emma persuades Joseph to go to New York.

•Martin tells Joseph that he has lost the manuscript.

•Joseph loses the gift to translate and Moroni takes the Urim and Thummim off Joseph.

•Eventually, D&C 3 is received.

WHICH WORD BEST DESCRIBES MARTIN?

Forgetful

Wicked

Impatient

Foolish

Careless

D&C 3:12-13 and D&C 10:6-10

D&C 10:6-10 DEFINITION OF “WICKED MAN” (MARK THAT PHRASE)

Anyone who wants to…

Destroy

Take away

Alter

…the sacred things in your life.

What things have we been entrusted with and told to protect because they are sacred?

Treating our bodies with reverence

Baptismal and temple covenants

Priesthood authority and duties

Church callings

Our responsibility to nourish our minds and spirits

Family responsibilities and relationships

Testimonies

What phrases in Doctrine and Covenants 3:1–8 could comfort someone who damaged something sacred?

DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS 3,10

Lucy Mack Smith recorded that Martin Harris’s wife, Lucy, “was a very peculiar woman, one that was naturally of a very jealous disposition … and when anything was said that she did not hear distinctly she suspected that it was some secret which was designedly kept from her.” Lucy Harris was suspicious of Joseph Smith and was intent on seeing the plates. When Martin went to see Joseph about the work of the translation, Lucy Harris went along and questioned Joseph about the plates, demanding to see them. He told her she could not, “for he was not permitted to exhibit them to any one except those whom the Lord should appoint to testify of them.”

The night after Joseph told Lucy Harris this, she had a dream, which she reported to the Smiths in the morning: “A personage appeared to her who told her that as she had disputed the servant of the Lord, … she had done that which was not right in the sight of God. After which he said to her, ‘Behold, here are the plates, look upon them and believe.’” Lucy then told Joseph that she wanted to help support the translation.

Jacob 4:1…So why 2

records??? 1 Nephi 9:5–6.(mark these

verses)

PRINCIPLE? The works of God cannot be frustrated!

The Lord’s Council:

D&C 10:5

“Satan has a powerful tool to use against good people. It is distraction. He would have good people fill life with

"good things" so there is no room for the essential ones.” -Richard G. Scott, CR May. 2001, pg. 7

“Satan is a master at making sin appealing to the undecided.” Richard G. Scott, Ensign, November 2003, p. 42

“We all have an inner braking system that will stop us before we follow Satan too far down the wrong road. It is the still, small voice which is within us. But once we have

succumbed, the braking system begins to leak brake fluid and our stopping mechanism becomes weak and

ineffective.” James E. Faust, Ensign, November 1987

WHICH STATEMENT RESONATES WITH YOU?

THE WORK OF GOD (13:26)

What is the lord most concerned with?

Manuscripts?

Time?

Covenants?

 

 

DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS 3,10

1. When have you (or someone you know) received the Lord’s protection and help as you diligently sought to be true to a sacred trust from the Lord?

2. When have you been obedient to the Lord or followed a particular impression without completely understanding the reasons?

3. Why is it helpful to know that “the Lord knoweth all things from the beginning”? How can this doctrine influence the way you live?

DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS 3,10

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (audio)

http://spanport.byu.edu/classes/SpanLS/Holland_Standard.pdf

DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS 3,10

DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS 3,10

“Be wise with what the Lord gives you. It is a trust. …“Rather than drifting into carelessness, may your life be one of increasing exactness in obedience. I hope you will think and feel and dress and act in ways that show reverence and respect for sacred things, sacred places, sacred occasions” (“A Sense of the Sacred” [Church Educational System fireside for young adults, Nov. 7, 2004], 9, 10; speeches.byu.edu).

DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS 3,10JOSEPH SMITH—HISTORY 1:55–65

“For a wise purpose”