Read Ebook: Reminiscences of Joseph the Prophet and the Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon by Stevenson Edward

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ious sects were very much opposed to each other. In the midst of this tumult and war of words and opinions, Joseph felt grieved and asked himself, "What is to be done? Who of all these are right? And how shall I know?"

One day Joseph read in the first chapter of James as follows:

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him."

Using Joseph's own words, he said:

"Some time afterwards the vision was made known to a Methodist preacher, who treated it with contempt, saying it was all from the devil; that there was no such thing as visions or revelations in these days; that all such things had ceased with the Apostles, and that there never would be any more of them."

The ministers and others persecuted him, which caused him deep sorrow, although an obscure boy, and under the necessity of obtaining a scanty maintenance by his daily labor. But, strange to say, he became very prominent and conspicuous, and evil was spoken of him continually. Nevertheless, he had seen a vision, and, like Paul before King Agrippa, related the account of the vision he had, when he "saw a light and heard a voice." Still, there were a few who believed him. Some said he was dishonest; others said he was mad; and he was ridiculed and reviled; but all this did not destroy the reality of his vision. He had seen a vision--he knew he had--and all the persecution under heaven could not make it otherwise. Joseph Smith said:

"I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God? or why does the world think to make me deny what I have actually seen? for I had seen a vision. I knew it. I knew that God knew it; and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it; at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God, and come under condemnation."

For over three years Joseph continued his labors daily until the 21st of September, 1823. After retiring to his bed in quite a serious mood, he shortly betook himself to prayer and supplication to Almighty God for a manifestation of his standing before Him. While thus engaged he received the following vision, using his own words:

This vision was repeated three times during the night, and the angel each time instructed him of great events, such as famine, war, pestilence and grievous judgments, which were to come in this generation. He also reminded him that his name should be known for good and evil, and that wicked men would seek to destroy him, which was literally fulfilled.

In 1517, Mexico, then unknown to the world, though teeming with its millions of Lamanites, was discovered by Cortez; and the gold plates that Joseph Smith received contain their history, which I advise all men to read.

Furthermore, the angel said that the fulness of the everlasting gospel was contained in the record that was about to be delivered to him, which was the same as that taught by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Thus comes unto us knowledge unveiling the mystery surrounding the American Indians which has puzzled the most profound historians of our age to explain. For all this useful knowledge we are indebted to God, the giver of all good.

Although the Prophet was manifestly unlearned at this time, as evinced by the spelling written by him over the seven lines of characters, shown in another place in this pamphlet, he afterwards became proficient as a scholar, and studied the classic languages at the School of the Prophets in Kirtland, Ohio. This school was established, by command of the Lord, for the purpose of educating the Elders and others in the history of nations, countries and people; thus laying up treasures of knowledge and useful information.

The Prophet, however, was not dependent upon scholastic learning, for God revealed to him line upon line, here a little and there a little, enabling him to become efficient in organizing the Church in its perfect order; so much so, that the learned theologians and others of the present day are adopting many of the doctrines revealed to him.

The description of the breast-pate, as given by the mother of Joseph, is very interesting. She was favored with handling it, but it was covered with a thin muslin cloth, through which she could see the glittering gold. It was concave on one side and convex on the other. It would extend from the neck downwards as far as the center of the stomach of a man of extraordinary size. Attached to it were four straps of the same material, for the purpose of fastening it to the breast; two of these ran back so as to fasten over the shoulders, and the other two were designed to fasten to the waist. Mother Smith said the straps were the width of her two fingers, for she measured them. They had holes in the ends for convenience in fastening. Although the Urim and Thummim and breast-plate go together, it was not necessary for them always to remain attached to each other. Mother Lucy Smith also saw and handled the interpreters, and described them as "two diamonds set in silver bows, much like old-fashioned spectacles, only much larger." She also said that the breast plate was worth more than 0.

Soon after Joseph received the plates and other articles, the angel left him to manage the work entrusted to him, which responsibility he felt very seriously. He first concealed the secret treasure in a secluded place, excepting the Urim and Thummim, which he kept with him. Soon after Joseph arrived at home he explained to his parents the necessity of keeping the sacred relics under lock and key, and until such time as proper precaution was taken, he had hidden them away securely. Then said the mother:

"Order a chest at once."

"But we have not a dollar in the house to pay for it," said Joseph.

"God will provide, my son," said the confidential mother. "Go, promise part cash and part trade," which was done, and the same day Mrs. Wells, of Macedon, gave Joseph work at digging a well, promising cash for the work. The mother reminded the son of the Lord's providence, so soon fulfilled.

While Joseph was working for Mrs. Wells, to supply their daily wants and to pay for the chest in which the plates were to be secured, a mob of twelve men, headed by Mr. Willard Chase, a Methodist class leader, and a certain conjurer whose special business was to divine the hiding place of the gold plates, were heard to say:

"We will have that gold Bible in spite of all the devils in hell."

Father Smith, knowing that the plates were secreted away from home, felt deep anxiety concerning their safety, and he induced Emma, the Prophet's wife, who was living with the family, to go on horseback to give warning to Joseph of the intentions of the mob. From an impression Joseph had, he looked with the Urim and Thummim, which he had with him, after which, meeting his wife with a smile, he informed her that the plans of the mob would prove futile; that the plates were safe. However, he returned home with his wife, and in the evening, after procuring the chest, Joseph started for the plates, but as he was returning home with them, he was waylaid and attacked three times, but he finally escaped, although bruised and weary, bringing the plates home in safety.

This was one of his first lessons and a fulfillment of the angel's words to him.

Not long after this first experience, the Prophet was warned of a second attempt to rob him of the treasure.

On this occasion he remembered the angel's charge in regard to using every precaution, and the promise that if he was prayerful and careful he should not lose them. A stone of the old-fashioned hearth was removed and the plates and the breast-plate were concealed in a cavity under the hearth. The stone had just been replaced, when a large armed mob came rushing uproariously around the house. The door was thrown open and were in the house, Joseph at their head, rushed out, when the mob fled without their booty. A third attempt to obtain the plates was also unsuccessfully made. This time the treasures were hid in some flax in the loft of a cooper shop, and an empty box was hidden under the floor. It was said that a young woman, aided by a peepstone, pointed out the cooper shop as the repository of the "Gold Bible." During the night the place was rummaged, the floor torn up and the box broken to pieces. This was another experience, but the treasures were still safely preserved. It was manifested to the Prophet that a facsimile of characters must be copied and sent to the most learned professors of the country, and that Martin Harris should be the bearer of them. Before the Prophet could accomplish this desired object, however, he was compelled to seek peace in Pennsylvania, for the whole country around seemed determined to give Joseph no peace whatever. While the servant of God was on his way from his father's house, to seek a peaceful retreat, he was stopped on the highway twice by a mob of fifty men, but as the necessary precaution had been observed by hiding the plates in a barrel of beans, again they were preserved.

The trying scenes which this young man had to pass through, having been compelled to leave his home and country by reason of the persecutions heaped upon him in his young married life, were of a heart-rending character, besides the labor of translating the Book of Mormon, and organizing the Church, which he was instructed to do. It became all the more difficult to perform this great work because new revelation came so much in contact with the traditions of the different religious sects of the day, each one differing from the other, yet each one claiming to be the right Church. Just imagine this unlearned youth, possessing no funds only as he earned them by his daily labor, under these circumstances, with increasing responsibilities of family, and home. Without God's aid it would border on insanity to entertain a faint hope of success in so stupendous an undertaking. Had it not been that the Lord had promised to help him, his heart would have failed him by the way. But there was encouragement found in the words of the prophet Isaiah, 29th chapter, where the prophet, speaking of the very time and condition surrounding the youth, used these words:

"Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish ... They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine."

Tens of thousands have proven those words to be true. I was personally favored with many conversations with the three witnesses whom God raised up, one of whom was Martin Harris, a near neighbor of Joseph Smith. In 1871, while I was emigrating Martin Harris from Kirkland, Ohio, during our journey of over 2,000 miles, he related many little incidents which occurred in those early times.

One of the incidents that interested me most was when, on a certain occasion, Martin's neighbors prevailed upon him to drink some wine with them with the evident intention of getting him to deny his testimony to the Book of Mormon. Martin drank but little, while his neighbors partook more freely. When they were in high glee they asked him if he really believed that he saw the angel of which he had testified.

"No," said Martin, "I do not believe it."

"Now," said they, "we know you are an honest man."

"Stop a moment," said Martin, "and properly understand me. My reason for not believing it is that knowledge surpasses belief. Gentlemen, it was in open day when I saw the angel and I testify to you that I know my testimony is true. I do not believe it is true; I know it is."

The reader can imagine the chagrin that his neighbors felt at this unexpected outcome of their efforts to entrap him.

Martin told me that, knowing the indigent circumstances of the Prophet, he felt it was his duty to aid in the great work by giving Joseph fifty dollars to help advance the Lord's work. This occurred just prior to Joseph's leaving Manchester for Harmony, Penn. The Lord raised tip a friend in time of need. The Lord remembered Martin for the timely aid, although it was many days afterwards. Martin also stated that he had hired Joseph to work for him on his farm many times and paid him fifty cents per day, which was the usual price paid for hired help at that time. He also said that he had hoed corn with Joseph often, and that the latter was a good hand to work.

The Prophet found a short season of rest with his father-in-law at Harmony, Penn., where he succeeded in copying the seven lines of characters, which, by a previous arrangement, were taken to Professor Anthon, of New York, as explained in the next chapter.

Soon after Martin Harris returned from New York, he commenced to write for the Prophet while he translated from the gold plates. Martin often related to the writer the mode of translation. He said that the Prophet possessed a seer stone as well as the Urim and Thummim, by means of which he could translate the characters. On one occasion Martin placed in a hat a stone very much like the Prophet's seer stone, and after the Prophet had looked an unusual length of time, he raised his head, saying, "Martin, what in the world is the matter? all is dark as Egypt." Martin smiled, and confessed. Joseph said, "Martin, why did you do this?" Martin answered: "To stop the mouths of fools, who tell me you know all this by heart, and are deceiving me."

Father Sanford Porter, while living in Jackson County, Mo., in 1832, Was desirous to know how the Prophet translated the characters which were engraven on the gold plates, and made it a matter of prayer. While the Prophet was receiving a revelation in Jackson County, Missouri, Father Porter was present in the room and while observing that the Prophet would speak a sentence to be written by a scribe engaged for that purpose, the scribe would say, "It is written," and if written correctly the sentence before the Prophet would disappear and another sentence would appear likewise, but if not written correctly by the scribe the sentence would remain, and after the necessary correction had been made, the sentence would disappear.

Many years ago Father Porter related to me that it was shown unto him, that by the aid of the Urim and Thummim the Prophet could see a sentence as if in gold letters, which he would read, and when it was written another sentence would appear. Martin Harris stated to me as above that when he had written the sentence that was presented, if written correctly it would disappear and another sentence would appear, and so continue. At the conclusion of the revelation Joseph was receiving, Father Porter said that the Prophet remarked that he had never found such great faith as was manifested in that house on that occasion.

The writer is satisfied that there never was a greater prophet, seer and revelator on this earth than Joseph Smith, the Prophet of God.

The Seven Lines of Characters that were translated by Joseph Smith are taken by Martin Harris to Prof. Anthon, fulfilling the words of the Prophet Isaiah, 29th chapter: "Read this, I pray thee, but he says, I cannot, for it is sealed."

The seven lines of characters presented in the accompanying engraving were copied by the hand of Joseph Smith in Harmony, Pennsylvania, in the year 1827, he then being in the twenty-second year of his age. They were copied from a book of gold plates which he found hidden in a stone box, the box being nicely jointed together and set in cement. The six slabs of stone forming the box were so dressed that they were smooth and square on the inside, but rough on the outside. Indeed, they were so rough that the capstone, which was crowning, looked something like a cobblestone, for at the time of being found a small portion was laid bare and protruded from the hill side. No one, unless in possession of the knowledge of what was therein contained, would have paid any attention to the stone in passing.

Most certainly, it was very ingeniously constructed and hidden in a very choice spot of ground. It was first found in the spring of 1823, and the young man who found it was only in the seventeenth year of his age. He was too young and inexperienced at that time to receive so valuable a treasure, for it must be in weight about forty pounds or more of pure gold, and in sheets that were very thin like unto thin sheets of tin plate; and they were covered with engravings of a very curious workmanship, showing great skill by those who were the engravers. There were several different persons who did the work of engraving. The plates contained a history which reached out over a period of a thousand years, beginning 600 B. C., and continuing until 420 AD. The history had necessarily to be very brief, and when translated was called the Book of Mormon--that is, the portion which was translated, for there is a portion yet held in reserve, which was sealed with three extra rings, and which will yet, in the due time of the Lord, be revealed and translated.

All these plates were fastened together with three great rings, so that each plate could be turned over in the same manner as if hinged together. So we are led to see that these people were very skilled, and were also careful in preserving their history. That history brings to light who the people were that left so many ruined cities, towers, temples and other relics, many of which are found with hieroglyphics of a similar character to the seven lines presented. The Book of Mormon, translated from those plates, makes a book of 623 pages, and is at the present time printed in about fifteen different languages. In the box with the gold plates was a breast-plate made of gold and valued at about five hundred dollars. Attached to this breast-plate was a Urim and Thummim or interpreters. The latter was in form like unto an old-fashioned pair of spectacles, two clear stones set in rims of silver. I have conversed with Martin Harris, who handled them, and he said he had placed them as he would a pair of spectacles, but they were too large for him, as if they had been made for a larger race of people than the present generation.

This Urim and Thummim was similar to what we read of in the Bible of olden times and which only belonged to seers, revelators and prophets. These were hidden with the book, to help the one to whom they should be entrusted to translate them correctly.

The hill from whence those plates were taken is fully described in another chapter.

I will vouch for the correctness of the characters, as I have compared them with the original copy, which is still in existence, intact, just as it was when Martin Harris, as a messenger, took it with the translation Joseph Smith had made, to Professor Anthon of New York. The copy here presented was traced from the original copy, and this engraving, made by Mr. John Held, of Salt Lake City, is an exact reproduction of it.

In the year 1871 I was favored with the privilege of bringing Martin Harris from Kirtland, Ohio, to Utah. While on our journey, I had many opportunities of conversing with him upon this subject, as well as upon many other incidents which occurred at the early period of the translation. Soon after presenting the seven lines of characters to Professor Anthon, be aided the young Prophet by acting as scribe during a portion of the translation. The learned Professor Anthon, after having the lines of characters presented to him, examined them carefully, and gave a certificate stating that they were Egyptian characters and had been correctly translated. Mr. Harris, with the certificate, started to leave, but when he had advanced as far as the door, the Professor called to him, asking where he obtained those plates. Harris replied:

"In a hill near Palmyra, New York."

"Then bring the book to me and I will translate the plates for you."

"I can not do so," said Martin, "for a part of them is sealed."

"Then," replied Mr. Anthon, "I cannot read a sealed book," upon which he recalled the certificate and tore it up.

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