1827-28.
PERSECUTION--MARTIN HARRIS COMES TO JOSEPH'S AID--ANTHON FULFILLS A
PROPHECY--MARTIN BECOMES SCRIBE--STRANGE BOOK-WRITERS.
The spirit of lying, robbery, and murder is awful when it comes upon
men, for it makes them seek to destroy the truth and to hinder the work
of God. Mobs filled with this spirit were aroused against Joseph. They
continually sought to steal the holy plates, and in doing this they
would willingly have murdered him, but he was very careful and the Lord
helped him. Ministers, who ought to have been teaching the people to be
honest and pure, were most prominent in spreading lies and stirring up
hate against the young Prophet. He had never harmed them, but he had
been brave enough to declare that the Lord had spoken to him, though
the world turned his enemy.
Moroni had directed Joseph to translate the record, but his enemies
were so cunning and so violent that he had to hide it to keep it out
of their hands. At one time they would suddenly break into the house
and tear up the hearth, at another they would climb into the attic
and search; but in every case Joseph had removed the treasure before
they came, and they hunted in vain. This of course kept him from
translating, and at length he decided that he would leave Manchester
and go to his wife's home in Pennsylvania, hoping to be able to work
there in peace. Joseph had received low wages while working for Mr.
Stoal and the year of farming had not brought him much money. But
Harmony, where Mr. Hale lived, was about one hundred and fifty miles
from Manchester and it was impossible for him to move without aid.
Sometimes the Lord inspires men to do strange things to help His work.
Martin Harris, a well-to-do farmer, came to Joseph at this time, and in
spite of all the lies he had heard, gave him fifty dollars. Joseph was
now able to reach Pennsylvania. On the way, there was some excitement,
for twice men came with search warrants and hunted for the plates.
These were hidden in a barrel of beans and the men who would have liked
to steal them failed.
It was December when he came to the home of his father-in-law, and
for two months he worked at copying the characters from the plates to
sheets of paper, and writing beneath the translation made by means of
the Urim and Thummim. In February, 1828, Martin Harris came down to
Pennsylvania and Joseph gave him the sheets. Martin took them to New
York City to find out whether the characters would be accepted as real
by learned men.
He showed them first to Prof. Charles Anthon of Columbia College.
Mr. Anthon examined them carefully and said that the translation was
correct and the best he had ever seen of Egyptian characters. He wrote
a certificate to this effect, and gave it to Martin. He asked how the
young man happened to find the plates, and when Martin said that an
angel had shown him where they lay, he asked for the certificate again.
Martin returned it and Mr. Anthon tore it to pieces, saying that there
was no such thing as the ministering of angels.
Although Mr. Anthon was too cowardly to let his name go before the
public connected with what an angel was said to have revealed, yet he
would have liked to obtain worldly praise by translating the record
himself, and asked Martin to bring it to him. When told that this could
not be done and that part of it was sealed, he replied, "I cannot read
a sealed book." If you read the twenty-ninth chapter of Isaiah you will
find that the prophet spoke of this circumstance two thousand five
hundred years ago.
Martin Harris carried the characters to Dr. Mitchell, another learned
man, and he also said they were genuine. This convinced Martin, and
he returned to Pennsylvania. He now arranged with Joseph to become
his scribe and to write at his dictation, but first it was necessary
to return home that he might prepare for a long stay. He came back to
Harmony about the middle of April ready to work.
Joseph had very little education at this time; he could not spell so
well as the ordinary school-boy can now; his time had been spent in
work, and he had had few opportunities to learn. But now a book lay
before him written long ago in a strange tongue and he was to translate
it into English. Isaiah said that the sealed book should be given to
one that was not learned, and certainly it had now been done. Joseph
could not take honor to himself as the translator of it; he was only a
humble instrument in the hands of God in bringing it forth.
When Martin came the second time he immediately began service with
Joseph, and no writer of books ever worked as did they. A screen
divided the room in which they sat. On one side of this was the young
Prophet--a tall, manly fellow, dressed in working clothes that had seen
long use, his serious, handsome face bronzed by the sun and wind, and
his hands hardened by toil. Before him lay a pile of golden leaves in
book form, worth a fabulous sum from a worldly standpoint, and yet too
sacred to be looked on even, except by the one chosen to bring them
forth. Before his eyes he held large spectacles with thick, bright
stones as glasses. Slowly he read aloud in simple English from the
strange figures on the metal pages. On the other side sat a somewhat
older man, well-dressed, but plainly a country-man, busily writing down
the words that were spoken.