SCRIPTURE READING EXERCISE.^[1]

SPECIAL TEXT: And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father, I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."—FIRST NEPHI.

NOTES.

1. Moroni's Visit to the Prophet Joseph: "On the evening of the 21st of September, A. D. 1823, while I was praying unto God, and endeavoring to exercise faith in the previous promises of Scripture, on a sudden a light like that of day, only of a far purer and more glorious appearance and brightness, burst into the room, indeed the first sight was as though the house was filled with consuming fire; the appearance produced a shock that affected the whole body; in a moment a personage stood before me, surrounded with a glory yet greater than that with which I was already surrounded. This messenger proclaimed himself to be an angel of God, sent to bring the joyful tidings that the covenant which God made with ancient Israel was at hand to be fulfilled, that the preparatory work for the second coming of the Messiah was speedily to commence; that the time was at hand for the Gospel in all its fulness to be preached in power, unto all nations, that a people might be prepared for the Millennial reign. I was informed that I was chosen to be an instrument in the hands of God to bring about some of His purposes in this glorious dispensation.

2. Ancient America Revealed: "I was also informed concerning the aboriginal inhabitants of this country and shown who they were, and from whence they came; a brief sketch of their origin, progress, civilization, laws, governments, of their righteousness and iniquity, and the blessings of God being finally withdrawn from them as a people, was made known unto me; I was also told where were deposited some plates on which were engraven an abridgement of the records of the ancient Prophets that had existed on this continent. The angel appeared to me three times the same night and unfolded the same things. After having received many visits from the angels of God unfolding the majesty and glory of the events that should transpire in the last days, on the morning of the 22nd of September, A. D. 1827, the angel of the Lord delivered the records into my hands." (Wentworth's Letter—Joseph Smith, 1842.)

3. The Wentworth Letter: The letter so designated, and from which the foregoing notes of this lesson are taken, was written at the request of Mr. John Wentworth, editor and proprietor of the Chicago Democrat. A friend of his, Mr. Bastow, was engaged in writing a history of New Hampshire and evidently desired to make some mention of the rise of Mormonism, and hence he enlisted the good offices of Mr. Wentworth to get a statement from the Prophet Joseph himself on that subject; and hence this letter was written. It is one of the most valuable of our original historical documents, and gives in concise form the very best statement possible of the rise, progress and doctrines of the Church up to the time it was written; namely, March, 1842. In addition to the statements concerning the Book of Mormon quoted in the foregoing notes, it was in that document that the summary of doctrines believed in by the Church appears, commonly known as the "Articles of Faith." The Wentworth letter entire is to be found in the Millennial Star, Vol. 19, pp. 117-120.

4. Precautions taken in Printing the Book of Mormon: Nothing is said by the Prophet in his History of the difficulties that arose whilst the Book of Mormon was in the hands of the printer; nor of the care that was taken to prevent the manuscript falling into the hands of enemies of the work. It is proper, however, that these matters should be stated at this point. It appears that when the arrangements were completed with Mr. Grandin for printing the Book of Mormon, the Prophet went down to Harmony, in Pennsylvania. Before taking his departure, however, it was arranged:

First: that Oliver Cowdery transcribe the whole manuscript; hence it came about that there were two manuscript copies of the Book of Mormon, the original, which was taken in charge by the Prophet after the publication of the book, and the copy made by Oliver Cowdery for the printer's use, and which finally was given by him into the custody of David Whitmer, with whose family it remains to this day (1901.) (Since the above was written the custodian of the Whitmer family has placed the Ms. in the care of Joseph Smith, son of the Prophet Joseph.)

Second: that the copy made by Cowdery from the original manuscript only should be taken to the printer's, so that if that should be destroyed the original would remain in the hands of the Prophet and his associates, from which it could be replaced; and even this copy was supplied the printer in small quantities at a time, usually enough only for a single day's work of the printer.

Third: that in going to and from the office whoever carried the manuscript—usually it was Oliver Cowdery—should always have a guard to attend him.

Fourth: that a guard should be kept constantly upon the watch, both night and day, about the house, to protect the manuscript from malicious persons, who might seek to destroy it. (The authorities for the above are: Lucy Smith's "History of the Prophet Joseph," ch. xxxi; the statements of Stephen S. Harding, who a number of times visited Grandin's establishment while the Book of Mormon was being printed; his statement is published in "The Prophet of Palmyra," by Thomas Gregg, pp. 34-56.) (History of the Church, Vol. I, p. 75.)

5. The Wisdom of the Prophet's Precautions Vindicated: Notwithstanding all the precautions taken by the little group of brethren engaged in publishing the book, the Nephite record, mutilated by interlineations of human invention, omissions, and added vulgarisms intended to destroy the work, came nearly being given to the world before the Book of Mormon itself was published. This was the work of one Esquire Cole, ex-justice of the peace, who undertook to publish the Book of Mormon, in instalments, in a weekly periodical called Dogberry Paper on Winter Hill. Cole obtained the use of Grandin's press nights and on Sundays, and surely must have obtained the advanced sheets of the printed forms of the Book of Mormon, which he was using, with the knowledge of Mr. Grandin; at least it is difficult to conceive how he could obtain and use them without his knowledge. Hyrum Smith, feeling uneasy concerning the security of that part of the Book of Mormon in the hands of the printer, induced Oliver Cowdery one Sunday to go with him to the printer's to see if all was well, and there they found Squire Cole at work on his Dogberry paper, and publishing mutilated extracts from the Book of Mormon. He refused to desist from his unlawful course; but Joseph was sent for and came up during that week from Harmony, and by firmly asserting his rights under the copyright law, and by threatening to prosecute those who infringed them, Cole was induced to abandon his intention of publishing the Book of Mormon in his paper. This difficulty past, another arose. The people of Palmyra and vicinity held a mass meeting and passed a resolution pledging themselves not to purchase the Book of Mormon when published, and to use their influence to prevent others from purchasing it. This had the effect of causing Mr. Grandin to suspend printing until he could obtain renewed assurances of receiving the amount agreed upon for printing the edition of five thousand. Again the Prophet was sent for, and again he made the journey from Harmony to Palmyra, quieted the fears of Mr. Grandin by renewed assurances on the part of himself and Martin Harris that the amount agreed upon would be paid. The work proceeded, and at last issued from the press, notwithstanding all the difficulties it had encountered. (See Lucy Smith's "History of the Prophet Joseph," ch. xxxiii.) (History of the Church, Vol. 1, pp. 75-6.)

6. The Manner of Translating the Book of Mormon: The sum of the whole matter, then, concerning the manner of translating the sacred record of the Nephites, according to the testimony of the only witnesses competent to testify in the matter is: With the Nephite record was deposited a curious instrument, consisting of two transparent stones, set in the rim of a bow, somewhat resembling spectacles, but larger, called by the ancient Hebrews "Urim and Thummim," but by the Nephites "Interpreters." In addition to these "Interpreters" the Prophet Joseph had a "Seer Stone," possessed of similar qualities to the Urim and Thummim; that the prophet sometimes used one and sometimes the other of these sacred instruments in the work of translation; that whether the "Interpreters" or the "Seer Stone" was used the Nephite characters with the English interpretation appeared in the sacred instrument; that the Prophet would pronounce the English translation to his scribe, which when correctly written would disappear and the other characters with their interpretation take their place, and so on until the work was completed. It should not be supposed, however, that this translation though accomplished by means of the "Interpreters" and "Seer Stone," as stated above, was merely a mechanical procedure; that no faith, or mental or spiritual effort was required on the prophet's part; that the instruments did all, while he who used them did nothing but look and repeat mechanically what he saw there reflected. * * * * I repeat, then, that the translation of the Book of Mormon by means of the "Interpreters" and "Seer Stone," was not merely a mechanical process, but required the utmost concentration of mental and spiritual force possessed by the Prophet, in order to exercise the gift of translation through the means of the sacred instruments provided for that work. This might be inferred from the general truth that God sets no premium upon mental and spiritual laziness; for whatever means God may have provided to assist man to arrive at the truth, he has always made it necessary for him to couple with those means his utmost endeavor of mind and heart." (Y. M. M. I. A. Manual, 1903-5, pp. 68-9.)

Footnotes

1. Let the selection be from the Book of Mormon throughout the Book of Mormon section of the year's work.2. This is a new work by Elder B. H. Roberts, just issued from the Deseret News press, and the question of the manner in which the Book of Mormon was translated is discussed at great length.