CHAPTER VI.
TRANSLATION AND PUBLICATION OF THE
BIBLE
Martin Harris's Connection with the Work--Smith's Removal to Pennsylvania --How the Translation was carried on--Harris's Visit to Professor Anthon--The Professor's Account of his Visit--The Lost Pages--The Prophet's Predicament and his Method of Escape--Oliver Cowdery as an Assistant Translator--Introduction of the Whitmers--The Printing and Proof--reading of the New Bible--Recollections of Survivors
The precise date when Joe's attention was first
called to the possibility of changing the story about his alleged golden
plates so that they would serve as the basis for a new Bible such as was
finally produced, and as a means of making him a prophet, cannot be
ascertained. That some directing mind gave the final shape to the scheme is
shown by the difference between the first accounts of his discovery by means
of the stone, and the one provided in his autobiography. We have also evidence
that the story of a direct revelation by an angel came some time later than
the version which Joe gave first to his acquaintances in Pennsylvania.
James T. Cobb of Salt Lake City, who has given
much time to investigating matters connected with early Mormon history,
received a letter under date of April 23, 1879, from Hiel and Joseph Lewis,
sons of the Rev. Nathaniel Lewis, of Harmony, Pennsylvania, and relatives of
Joseph's father-in-law, in which they gave the story of the finding of the
plates as told in their hearing by Joe to their father, when he was
translating them. This statement, in effect, was that he dreamed of an iron
box containing gold plates curiously engraved, which he must translate into a
book; that twice when he attempted to secure the plates he was knocked down,
and when he asked why he could not have them, "he saw a man standing over the
spot who, to him, appeared like a Spaniard, having a long beard down over his
breast, with his throat cut from ear to ear and the blood streaming down, who
told him that he could not get it alone." (He then narrated how he got the box
in company with Emma.) In all this narra tive there was not one word about
visions of God, or of angels, or heavenly revelations; all his information was
by that dream and that bleeding ghost. The heavenly visions and messages of
angels, etc., contained in the Mormon books were afterthoughts, revised to
order."
In direct confirmation of this we have
the following account of the disclosure of the buried articles as given by
Joe's father to Fayette Lapham when the Bible was first published: --
"Soon after joining the church he
{Joseph} had a very singular dream.... A very large, tall man appeared to him
dressed in an ancient suit of clothes, and the clothes were bloody. This man
told him of a buried treasure, and gave him directions by means of which he
could find the place. In the course of a year Smith did find it, and, visiting
it by night, "I by some supernatural power" was enabled to overturn a huge
boulder under which was a square block of masonry, in the centre of which were
the articles as described. Taking up the first article, he saw others below;
laying down the first, he endeavored to secure the others; but, before he
could get hold of them, the one he had taken up slid back to the place he had
taken it from, and, to his great surprise and terror, the rock immediately
fell back to its former place, nearly crushing him {Joseph} in its descent.
(While trying in vain to raise the rock again with levers, Joseph felt
something strike him on the breast, a third blow k nocking him down; and as he
lay on the ground he saw the tall man, who told him that the delivery of the
articles would be deferred a year because Joseph had not strictly followed the
directions given to him. The heedless Joseph allowed himself to forget the
date fixed for his next visit, and when he went to the place again, the tall
man appeared and told him that, because of his lack of punctuality, he would
have to wait still another year before the hidden articles would be confided
to him. "Come in one year from this time, and bring your oldest brother with
you," said the guardian of the treasures, "then you may have them. "Before the
date named arrived, the elder brother had died, and Joseph decided that his
wife was the proper person to accompany him." (Mr. Lapham's report proceeds as
follows:)
"At the expiration of the year he
{Joseph} procured a horse and light wagon, with a chest and pillow-case, and
proceeded punctually with his wife to find the hidden treasure. When they had
gone as far as they could with the wagon, Joseph took the pillow-case and
started for the rock. Upon passing a fence a host of devils began to screech
and to scream, and make all sorts of hideous yells, for the purpose of
terrifying him and preventing the attainment of his object; but Joseph was
courageous and pursued his way in spite of them. Arriving at the stone, he
again lifted it with the aid of superhuman power, as at first, and secured the
first or uppermost article, this time putting it carefully into the
pillow-case before laying it down. He now attempted to secure the remainder;
but just then the same old man appeared, and said to him that the time had not
yet arrived for their exhibition to the world, but that when the proper time
came he should have them and exhibit them, with the one he had now secured;
until that time arrived, no one must be allowed to touch the one he had in his
possession; for if they did, they would be knocked down by some superhuman
power. Joseph ascertained that the remaining articles were a gold hilt and
chain, and a gold ball with two pointers. The hilt and chain had once been
part of a sword of unusual size; but the blade had rusted away and become
useless. Joseph then turned the rock back, took the article in the
pillow-case, and returned to the wagon. The devils, with more hideous yells
than before, followed him to the fence; as he was getting over the fence, one
of the devils struck him a blow on the side, where a black and blue spot
remained three or four days; but Joseph persevered and brought the article
safely home. "I weighed it," said Mr. Smith, Sr., "and it weighed 30 pounds.
In answer to our question as to what it was that Joseph had thus obtained, he
said it consisted of a set of gold plates, about six inches wide and nine or
ten inches long. They were in the form of a book."1
1 Historical Magazine, May, 1870.
We may now contrast these early accounts of the disclosure with the version given in the Prophet's autobiography (written, be it remembered, in Nauvoo in 1838), the one accepted by all orthodox Mormons. One of its striking features will be found to be the transformation of the Spaniard-with-his-throat-cut into a messenger from Heaven.2
2 Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, Supt.
It was, according to this later account, when he
was in his fifteenth year, and when his father's family were "proselyted to
the Presbyterian church," that he became puzzled by the divergent opinions he
heard from different pulpits. One day, while reading the epistle of James (not
a common habit of his, as his mother would testify), Joseph was struck by the
words, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. "Reflecting on this
injunction, he retired to the woods" on the morning of a beautiful clear day
early in the spring of 1820, and there he for the first time uttered a spoken
prayer. "As soon as he began praying he was overcome by some power, and "thick
darkness" gathered around him. Just when he was ready to give himself up as
lost, he managed to call on God for deliverance, whereupon he saw a pillar of
light descending upon him, and two personages of indescribable glory standing
in the air above him, one of whom, calling him by name, said to the other,
"This is my beloved Son , hear him. "Straightway Joseph, not forgetting the
main object of his going to the woods, asked the two personages: "which of all
the sects was right. "He was told that all were wrong, and that he must join
none of them; that all creeds were an abomination, and that all professors
were corrupt. He came to himself lying on his back. The effect on the boy of
this startling manifestation was not radically beneficial, as he himself
concedes. "Forbidden to join any other religious sects of the day, of tender
years, "and badly treated by persons who should have been his friends, he
admits that in the next three years he "frequently fell into many foolish
errors, and displayed the weakness of youth and the corruption of human
nature, which, I am sorry to say, led me into diverse temptations, to the
gratification of many appetites offensive in the sight of God. "It was during
this period that he was most active in the use of his "peek-stone."
On the night of September 21, 1823, to proceed
with his own account, when again praying to God for the forgiveness of his
sins, the room became light, and a person clothed in a robe of exquisite
whiteness, and having "a countenance truly like lightning," called him by
name, and said that his visitor was a messenger sent from God, and that his
name was Nephi. This was a mistake on the part of somebody, because the
visitor's real name was Moroni, who hid the plates where they were deposited.
Smith
"He said there was a book deposited,
written upon golden plates, giving an account of the former inhabitants of
this continent and the source from whence they sprang. He also said that the
fulness of the Everlasting Gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the
Saviour to the ancient inhabitants. Also, there were two stones in silver bows
(and these stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted what is called the
Urim and Thummim) deposited with the plates; and the possession and use of
these stones was what constituted seers in ancient or former times, and that
God had prepared them for the purpose of translating the book."
The messenger then made some liberal
quotations from the prophecies of the Old Testament (changing them to suit his
purpose), and ended by commanding Smith, when he got the plates, at a future
date, to show them only to those as commanded, lest he be destroyed. Then he
ascended into heaven. The next day the messenger appeared again, and directed
Joseph to tell his father of the commandment which he had received. When he
had done so, his father told him to go as directed. He knew the place (ever
since known locally as "Mormon Hill") as soon as he arrived there, and his
narrative proceeds as follows: --
"Convenient to the village of
Manchester, Ontario Co., N. Y., stands a hill of considerable size, and the
most elevated of any in the neighborhood. On the west side of this hill, not
far from the top, under a stone of considerable size, lay the plates,
deposited in a stone box; this stone was thick and rounded in the middle on
the upper side, and thinner toward the edges, so that the middle part of it
was visible above the ground, but the edge all round was covered with earth.
Having removed the earth and obtained a lever, which I got fixed under the
edge of the stone, and with a little exertion raised it up, I looked in, and
there, indeed, did I behold the plates, the Urim and Thummim and breastplate,
as stated by the messenger. The box in which they lay was formed by laying
stones together in a kind of cement. In the bottom of the box were laid two
stones crosswise of the box, and on these stones lay the plates and the other
things with them. I made an attempt to take them out, but was forbidden by the
messenger. I was again informed that the time for bringing them out had not
yet arrived, neither would till four years from that time; but he told me that
I should come to that place precisely one year from that time, and that he
would there meet with me, and that I should continue to do so until the time
should come for obtaining the plates."
Mother Smith gives an explanation of Joe's
failure to secure the plates on this occasion, which he omits: "As he was
taking them, the unhappy thought darted through his mind that probably there
was something else in the box besides the plates, which would be of pecuniary
advantage to him.... Joseph was overcome by the power of darkness, and forgot
the injunction that was laid upon him. "The mistakes which the Deity made in
Joe's character constantly suggest to the lay reader the query why the Urim
and Thummim were not turned on Joe.
On
September 22, 1827, when Joe visited the hill (following his own story again),
the same messenger delivered to him the plates, the Urim and Thummim and the
breastplate, with the warning that if he "let them go carelessly" he would be
"cut off," and a charge to keep them until the messenger called for them.
Mother Smith's story of the securing of the
plates is to the effect that about midnight of September 21 Joseph and his
wife drove away from his father's house with a horse and wagon belonging to a
Mr. Knight. He returned after breakfast the next morning, bringing with him
the Urim and Thummim, which he showed to her, and which she describes as "two
smooth, three-cornered diamonds set in glass, and the glasses were set in
silver bows that were connected with each other in much the same way as
old-fashioned spectacles. "She says that she also saw the breastplate through
a handkerchief, and that it "was concave on one side and convex on the other,
and extended from the neck downward as far as the stomach of a man of
extraordinary size. It had four straps of the same material for the purpose of
fastening it to the breast.... The whole plate was worth at least $500." The
spectacles and breastplate seem to have been more familiar to Mother Smith
than to any other of Joseph's contemporaries and witnesses.
The substitution of the spectacles called Urim
and Thummim for the "peek-stone" was doubtless an idea of the associate in the
plot, who supplied the theological material found in the Golden Bible. Tucker
considers the "spectacle pretension" an afterthought of some one when the
scheme of translating the plates into a Bible was evolved, as "it was not
heard of outside of the Smith family for a considerable period subsequent to
the first story."3 This is confirmed by the elder Smith's early
account of the discovery. It would be very natural that Rigdon, with his Bible
knowledge, should substitute the more respectable Urim and Thummim for the
"peek-stone" of ill-repute, as the medium of translation.
3 "Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism," p. 33.
The Urim and Thummim were the articles named by the Lord to Moses in His description of the priestly garments of Aaron. The Bible leaves them without description;4 and the following verses contain all that is said of them: Exodus xxviii. 30; Leviticus viii. 8; Numbers xxvii. 21; Deuteronomy xxxiii. 8; Samuel xxviii. 6; Ezra ii. 63; Nehemiah vii. 65. Only a pretence of using spectacles in the work of translating was kept up, later descriptions of the process by Joe's associates referring constantly to the employment of the stone.
4 "The Hebrew words are generally
considered to be plurales excellentia, denoting light (that is, revelation)
and truth.... There are two principal opinions respecting the Urim and
Thummim. One is that these words simply denote the four rows of precious
stones in the breastplate of the high priest, and are so called from their
brilliancy and perfection; which stones, in answer to an appeal to God in
difficult cases, indicated His mind and will by some supernatural
appearance.... The other principal opinion is that the Urim and Thummim were
two small oracular images similar to the Teraphim, personifying revelation and
truth, which were placed in the cavity or pouch formed by the folds of the
breastplate, and which uttered oracles by a voice.... We incline to Mr. Mede's
opinion that the Urim and Thummim were 'things well known to the patriarchs'
as divinely appointed means of inquiries of the Lord, suited to an infantile
state of religion. "Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature," Kitto and Alexander,
editors.
Joe says that while the plates were in his possession "multitudes" tried to get them away from him, but that he succeeded in keeping them until they were translated, and then delivered them again to the messenger, who still retains them. Mother Smith tells a graphic story of attempts to get the plates away from her son, and says that when he first received them he hid them until the next day in a rotten birch log, bringing them home wrapped in his linen frock under his arm.5 Later, she says, he hid them in a hole dug in the hearth of their house, and again in a pile of flax in a cooper shop; Willard Chase's daughter almost found them once by means of a peek-stone of her own.
5 Elder Hyde in his "Mormonism" estimates that "from the description given of them the plates must have weighed nearly two hundred pounds."
Mother Smith says that Joseph told all the family
of his vision the evening of the day he told his father, charging them to keep
it secret, and she
"From that time forth Joseph continued
to receive instructions from the Lord, and we continued to get the children
together every evening for the purpose of listening while he gave us a
relation of the same. I presume our family presented an aspect as singular as
any that ever lived upon the face of the earth -- all seated in a circle,
father, mother, sons, and daughters, and giving the most profound attention to
a boy eighteen years old, who had never read the Bible through in his life....
We were now confirmed in the opinion that God was about to bring to light
something upon which we could stay our mind, or that would give us a more
perfect knowledge of the plan of salvation and the redemption of the human
family."
The only one of his New York neighbors who seems to have taken a practical interest in Joe's alleged discovery was a farmer named Martin Harris, who lived a little north of Palmyra. Harris was a religious enthusiast, who had been a Quaker (as his wife was still), a Universalist, a Baptist, and a Presbyterian, and whose sanity it would have been difficult to establish in a surrogate's court. The Rev. Dr. Clark, who knew him intimately, says, "He had always been a firm believer in dreams, visions, and ghosts."6 Howe describes him as often declaring that he had talked with Jesus Christ, angels, and the devil, and saying that "Christ was the handsomest man he ever saw, and the devil looked like a jackass, with very short, smooth hair similar to that of a mouse." Daniel Hendrix relates that as he and Harris were riding to the village one evening, and he remarked on the beauty of the moon, Harris replied that if his companion could only see it as he had, he might well call it bea utiful, explaining that he had actually visited the moon, and adding that it "was only the faithful who were permitted to visit the celestial regions." Jesse Townsend, a resident of Palmyra, in a letter written in 1833, describes him as a visionary fanatic, unhappily married, who "is considered here to this day a brute in his domestic relations, a fool and a dupe to Smith in religion, and an unlearned, conceited hypocrite generally." His wife, in an affidavit printed in Howe's book (p. 255), says: "He has whipped, kicked, and turned me out of the house." Harris, like Joe's mother, was a constant reader of and a literal believer in the Bible. Tucker says that he "could probably repeat from memory every text from the Bible, giving the chapter and verse in each case. "This seems to be an exaggeration.
6 "Gleanings by the Way."
Mother Smith's account of Harris's early connection with the Bible enterprise says that her husband told Harris of the existence of the plates two or three years before Joe got possession of them; that when Joe secured them he asked her to go and tell Harris that he wanted to see him on the subject, an errand not to her liking, because "Mr. Harris's wife was a very peculiar woman, "that is, she did not share in her husband's superstition. Mrs. Smith did not succeed in seeing Harris, but he soon afterward voluntarily offered Joe fifty dollars "for the purpose of helping Mr. Smith do the Lord's work. "As Harris was very "close" in money matters, it is probable that Joe offered him a partnership in the scheme at the start. Harris seems to have placed much faith in the selling quality of the new Bible. He is said to have replied to his wife's early declaration of disbelief in it: "What if it is a lie. If you will let me alone I will make money out of it."7 The Rev. Ezra Booth s aid: "Harris informed me {after his removal to Ohio} that he went to the place where Joseph resided {in Pennsylvania}, and Joseph had given it {the translation} up on account of the opposition of his wife and others; and he told Joseph, 'I have not come down here for nothing, and we will go on with it.'"8
7 Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled," p.
254.
8 Ibid., p. 182.
Just at this time Joe was preparing to move to the
neighborhood of Harmony, Pennsylvania, having made a trip there after his
marriage, during which, Mr. Hale's affidavit says, "Smith stated to me that he
had given up what he called 'glass-looking,' and that he expected to work hard
for a living and was willing to do so. "Smith's brother-in-law Alva, in
accordance with arrangements then made, went to Palmyra and helped move his
effects to a house near Mr. Hale's. Joe acknowledges that Harris's gift or
loan of fifty dollars enabled him to meet the expenses of moving.
Parley P. Pratt, in a statement published by
him in London in 1854, set forth that Smith was driven to Pennsylvania from
Palmyra through fear of his life, and that he took the plates with him
concealed in a barrel of beans, thus eluding the efforts of persons who tried
to secure them by means of a search warrant. Tucker says that this story rests
only on the sending of a constable after Smith by a man to whom he owed a
small debt. The great interest manifested in the plates in the neighborhood of
Palmyra existed only in Mormon imagination developed in later years.
According to some accounts, all the work of
what was called "translating" the writing on the plates into what became the
"Book of Mormon" was done at Joe's home in New York State, and most of it in a
cave, but this was not the case. Smith himself says: "Immediately after my
arrival {in Pennsylvania} I commenced copying the characters off the plates. I
copied a considerable number of them, and by means of the Urim and Thummim I
translated some of them, which I did between the time I arrived, at the house
of my wife's father in the month of December {1827} and the February
following."
A clear description of the work of
translating as carried on in Pennsylvania is given in the affidavit made by
Smith's father-in-law, Isaac Hale, in 1834.9 He says that soon
after Joe's removal to his neighborhood with his wife, he (Hale) was shown a
box such as is used for the shipment of window glass, and was told that it
contained the "book of plates;" he was allowed to lift it, but not to look
into it. Joe told him that the first person who would be allowed to see the
plates would be a young child.10 The affidavit continues: --
"About this time Martin Harris made his
appearance upon the stage, and Smith began to interpret the characters, or
hieroglyphics, which he said were engraven upon the plates, while Harris wrote
down the interpretation. It was said that Harris wrote down 116 pages and lost
them. Soon after this happened, Martin Harris informed me that he must have a
greater witness, and said that he had talked with Joseph about it.
Joseph informed him that be could not, or durst not, show him the plates, but
that he {Joseph} would go into the woods where the book of plates was, and
that after he came back Harris should follow his track in the snow, and find
the book and examine it for himself. Harris informed me that he followed
Smith's directions, and could not find the plates and was still dissatisfied.
"The next day after this happened I went to
the house where Joseph Smith, Jr., lived, and where he and Harris were engaged
in their translation of the book. Each of them had a written piece of paper
which they were comparing, and some of the words were, I my servant seeketh a
greater witness, but no greater witness can be given him.... I inquired whose
words they were, and was informed by Joseph or Emma (I rather think it was the
former), that they were the words of Jesus Christ. I told them that I
considered the whole of it a delusion, and advised them to abandon it. The
manner in which he pretended to read and interpret was the same as when he
looked for the money-diggers, with the stone in his hat and his hat over his
face, while the book of plates was at the same time hid in the woods.
"After this, Martin Harris went away, and
Oliver Cowdery came and wrote for Smith, while he interpreted as above
described....
"Joseph Smith, Jr., resided near
me for some time after this, and I had a good opportunity of becoming
acquainted with him, and somewhat acquainted with his associates; and I
conscientiously believe, from the facts I have detailed, and from many other
circumstances which I do not deem it necessary to relate, that the whole Book
of Mormon (so-called) is a silly fabrication of falsehood and wickedness, got
up for speculation, and with a design to dupe the credulous and
unwary."
9 Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled," p.
264.
10 Joe's early announcement was
that his first-born child was to have this power, but the child was born dead.
This was one of the earliest of Joe's mistakes in prophesying.
Harris's natural shrewdness in a measure overcame his fanaticism, and he continued to press Smith for a sight of the plates. Smith thereupon made one of the first uses of those "revelations" which played so important a part in his future career, and he announced one (Section 5, "Doctrine and Covenants"11), in which "I, the Lord" declared to Smith that the latter had entered into a covenant with Him not to show the plates to any one except as the Lord commanded him. Harris finally demanded of Smith at least a specimen of the writing on the plates for submission to experts in such subjects. As Harris was the only man of means interested in this scheme of publication, Joe supplied him with a paper containing some characters which he said were copied from one of the plates. This paper increased Harris's belief in the reality of Joe's discovery, but he sought further advice before opening his purse. Dr. Clark describes a call Harris made on him early one morning, greatly excited, requesting a private interview. On hearing his story, Dr. Clark advised him that the scheme was a hoax, devised to extort money from him, but Harris showed the slip of paper containing the mysterious characters, and was not to be persuaded.
11 All references to the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants" refer to the sections and verses of the Salt Lake City edition of 1890.
Seeking confirmation, however, Harris made a trip
to New York City in order to submit the characters to experts there. Among
others, he called on Professor Charles Anthon. His interview with Professor
Anthon has been a cause of many and conflicting statements, some Mormons
misrepresenting it for their own purposes and others explaining away the
professor's accounts of it. The following statement was written by Professor
Anthon in reply to an inquiry by E. D. Howe: --
"NEW YORK, February 17,
1834.
"DEAR SIR: I received your favor of the 9th,
and lose no time in making a reply. The whole story about my pronouncing the
Mormon inscription to be 'reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics' is perfectly false.
Some years ago a plain, apparently simple-hearted farmer called on me with a
note from Dr. Mitchell, of our city, now dead, requesting me to decypher, if
possible, the paper which the farmer would hand me, and which Dr. M. confessed
he had been unable to understand. Upon examining the paper in question, I soon
came to the conclusion that it was all a trick -- perhaps a hoax. When I asked
the person who brought it how he obtained the writing, he gave me, as far as I
can recollect, the following account: A 'gold book' consisting of a number of
plates fastened together in the shape of a book by wires of the same metal,
had been dug up in the northern part of the state of New York, and along with
the book an enormous pair of 'spectacles'! These spectacles were so large
that, if a person atte mpted to look through them, his two eyes would have to
be turned toward one of the glasses merely, the spectacles in question being
altogether too large for the breadth of the human face. Whoever examined the
plates through the spectacles, was enabled, not only to read them, but fully
to understand their meaning. All this knowledge, however, was confined to a
young man who had the trunk containing the book and spectacles in his sole
possession. This young man was placed behind a curtain in the garret of a
farmhouse, and being thus concealed from view, put on the spectacles
occasionally, or rather, looked through one of the glasses, decyphered the
characters in the book, and, having committed some of them to paper, handed
copies from behind the curtain to those who stood on the outside. Not a word,
however, was said about the plates being decyphered 'by the gift of God.'
Everything in this way was effected by the large pair of spectacles. The
farmer added that he had been requested to contribute a sum of money toward
the publication of the 'golden book,' the contents of which would, as he had
been assured, produce an entire change in the world, and save it from ruin. So
urgent had been these solicitations, that he intended selling his farm, and
handing over the amount received to those who wished to publish the plates. As
a last precautionary step, however, he had resolved to come to New York, and
obtain the opinion of the learned about the meaning of the paper which he had
brought with him, and which had been given him as part of the contents of the
book, although no translation had been furnished at the time by the young man
with the spectacles. On hearing this odd story, I changed my opinion about the
paper, and, instead of viewing it any longer as a hoax upon the learned, I
began to regard it as a part of a scheme to cheat the farmer of his money, and
I communicated my suspicions to him, warning him to beware of rogues. He
requested an opinion from me in writin g, which, of course, I declined giving,
and he then took his leave, carrying his paper with him. "This paper was in
fact a singular scrawl. It consisted of all kinds of crooked characters,
disposed in columns, and had evidently been prepared by some person who had
before him at the time a book containing various alphabets. Greek and Hebrew
letters, crosses and flourishes, Roman letters inverted, or placed sideways,
were arranged and placed in perpendicular columns; and the whole ended in a
rude delineation of a circle, divided into various compartments, decked with
various strange marks, and evidently copied after the Mexican Calendar, given
by Humbolt, but copied in such a way as not to betray the source whence it
was, derived. I am thus particular as to the contents of the paper, inasmuch
as I have frequently conversed with my friends on the subject since the
Mormonite excitement began, and well remember that the paper contained
anything else but' Egyptian Hieroglyphics.'
"Some time after, the farmer paid me a second
visit. He brought with him the golden book in print, and offered it to me for
sale. I declined purchasing. He then asked permission to leave the book with
me for examination. I declined receiving it, although his manner was strangely
urgent. I adverted once more to the roguery which had been, in my opinion,
practised upon him, and asked him what had become of the gold plates. He
informed me that they were in a trunk with the large pair of spectacles. I
advised him to go to a magistrate, and have the trunk examined. He said 'the
curse of God' would come upon him should he do this. On my pressing him,
however, to pursue the course which I had recommended, he told me he would
open the trunk if I would take 'the curse of God' upon myself. I replied I
would do so with the greatest willingness, and would incur every risk of that
nature provided I could only extricate him from the grasp of the rogues. He
then left me. "I have thus given you a ful l statement of all that I know
respecting the origin of Mormonism, and must beg you, as a personal favor, to
publish this letter immediately, should you find my name mentioned again by
these wretched fanatics.
"Yours
respectfully,
"CHARLES
ANTHON."12
12 "Mormonism Unveiled," pp. 270-272. A letter from Professor Anthon to the Rev. Dr. Coit, rector of Trinity Church, New Rochelle, New York, dated April 3, 1841, containing practically the same statement, will be found in Clark's "Gleanings by the Way," pp. 233-238.
While Mormon speakers quoted Anthon as vouching for
the mysterious writing, their writers were more cautious. P. P. Pratt, in his
"Voice of Warning" (1837), said that Professor Anthon was unable to decipher
the characters, "but he presumed that if the original records could be
brought, he could assist in translating them. Orson Pratt, in his "Remarkable
Visions" (1848), saw in the Professor's failure only a verification of Isaiah
xxix. 11 and 12: --
"And the vision of
all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men
deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith,
I cannot, for it is sealed: and the book is delivered to him that is not
learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not
learned."
John D. Lee, in his "Mormonism Unveiled," mentions
the generally used excuse of the Mormons for the professor's failure to
translate the writing, namely, that Anthon told Harris that "they were written
in a sealed language, unknown to the present age." Smith, in his
autobiography, quotes Harris's account of his interview as follows: --
"I went to New York City and presented
the characters which had been translated, with the translation thereof, to
Prof. Anthon, a man quite celebrated for his literary attainments. Prof.
Anthon stated that the translation was correct, more so than any he had before
seen translated from the Egyptian. I then showed him those which were not yet
translated, and he said they were Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac, and Arabic,
and he said they were the true characters."
Harris declared that the professor gave him a
certificate to this effect, but took it back and tore it up when told that an
angel of God had revealed the plates to Joe, saying that "there were no such
things as ministering angels. "This account by Harris of his interview with
Professor Anthon will assist the reader in estimating the value of Harris's
future testimony as to the existence of the plates.
Harris's trip to New York City was not
entirely satisfactory to him, and, as Smith himself relates, "He began to
tease me to give him liberty to carry the writings home and show them, and
desired of me that I would enquire of the Lord through the Urim and Thummim if
he might not do so. "Smith complied with this request, but the permission was
twice refused; the third time it was granted, but on condition that Harris
would show the manuscript translation to only five persons, who were named,
one of them being his wife.
In including Mrs.
Harris in this list, the Lord made one of the greatest mistakes into which he
ever fell in using Joe as a mouthpiece. Mrs. Harris's Quaker belief had led
her from the start to protest against the Bible scheme, and to warn her
husband against the Smith family, and she vigorously opposed his investment of
any money in the publication of the book. On the occasion of his first visit
to Joe in Pennsylvania, according to Mother Smith, Mrs. Harris was determined
to accompany him, and he had to depart without her knowledge; and when he went
the second time, she did accompany him, and she ransacked the house to find
the "record" (as the plates are often called in the Smiths' writings).
When Harris returned home with the translated pages
which Joe intrusted to him (in July, 1828), he showed them to his family and
to others, who tried in vain to convince him that he was a dupe. Mrs. Harris
decided on a more practical course. Getting possession of the papers, where
Harris had deposited them for safe keeping, she refused to restore them to
him. What eventually became of them is uncertain, one report being that she
afterward burned them.
This should have caused
nothing more serious in the way of delay than the time required to retranslate
these pages; for certainly a well-equipped Divinity, who was revealing a new
Bible to mankind, and supplying so powerful a means of translation as the Urim
and Thummim, could empower the translator to repeat the words first written.
Indeed, the descriptions of the method of translation given afterward by
Smith's confederates would seem to prove that there could have been but one
version of any translation of the plates, no matter how many times repeated.
Thus, Harris described the translating as follows: --
"By aid of the seer stone {no mention
of the magic spectacles} sentences would appear and were read by the prophet
and written by Martin, and, when finished, he would say 'written'; and if
correctly written, that sentence would disappear, and another appear in its
place; but if not written correctly, it remained until corrected, so that the
translation was just as it was engraven on the plates, precisely in the
language then used."13
13 Elder Edward Stevenson in the Deseret News (quoted in Reynold's "Mystery of the Manuscript Fund," p. 91).
David Whitmer, in an account of this process written in his later years, said: --
"Joseph would put the seer stone into a hat {more testimony against the use of the spectacles} and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the translation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to O. Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to brother Joseph to see if it were correct, then it would disappear and another character with the interpretation would appear."14
14 "Address to Believers in the Book of Mormon."
But to Joseph the matter of reproducing the lost
pages of the translation did not seem simple. When Harris's return to
Pennsylvania was delayed, Joe became anxious and went to Palmyra to learn what
delayed him, and there he heard of Mrs. Harris's theft of the pages. His
mother reports him as saying in announcing it, "my God, all is lost! all is
lost!" Why the situation was as serious to a sham translator as it would have
been simple to an honest one is easily understood. Whenever Smith offered a
second translation of the missing pages which differed from the first, a
comparison of them with the latter would furnish proof positive of the
fraudulent character of his pretensions.
All
the partners in the business had to share in the punishment for what had
occurred. The Smiths lost all faith in Harris. Joe says that Harris broke his
pledge about showing the translation only to five persons, and Mother Smith
says that because of this offense "a dense fog spread itself over his fields
and blighted his wheat. "When Joe returned to Pennsylvania an angel appeared
to him, his mother says, and ordered him to give up the Urim and Thummim,
promising, however, to restore them if he was humble and penitent, and "if so,
it will be on the 22d of September."15 Here may be noted one of
those failures of mother and son to agree in their narratives which was excuse
enough for Brigham Young to try to suppress the mother's book. Joe mentions a
"revelation" dated July, 1828 (Sec. 3, "Doctrine and Covenants"), in which
Harris was called "a wicked man, "and which told Smith that he had lost his
privileges for a season, and he adds, "After I had obtained the above
revelation, both the plates and the Urim and Thummim were taken from me again,
but in a few days they were returned to me."16
15 "Biographical Sketches," by
Lucy Smith, p. 125.
16 Millennial
Star, Vol. XIV, p. 8.
For some ten months after this the work of translation was discontinued, although Mother Smith says that when she and his father visited the prophet in Pennsylvania two months after his return, the first thing they saw was "a red morocco trunk lying on Emma's bureau which, Joseph shortly informed me, contained the Urim and Thummim and the plates." Mrs. Harris's act had evidently thrown the whole machinery of translation out of gear, and Joe had to await instructions from his human adviser before a plan of procedure could be announced. During this period (in which Joe says he worked on his father's farm), says Tucker, "the stranger {supposed to be Rigdon} had again been at Smith's, and the prophet had been away from home, maybe to repay the former's visits."17
17 "Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism," p. 48
Two matters were decided on in these consultations,
viz., that no attempt would be made to retranslate the lost pages, and that a
second copy of all the rest of the manuscript should be prepared, to guard
against a similar perplexity in case of the loss of later pages. The proof of
the latter statement I find in the fact that a second copy did exist. Ebenezer
Robinson, who was a leading man in the church from the time of its
establishment in Ohio until Smith's death, says in his recollections that,
when the people assembled on October 2, 1841, to lay the corner-stone of
Nauvoo House, Smith said he had a document to put into the corner-stone, and
Robinson went with him to his house to procure it. Robinson's story proceeds
as follows: --
"He got a manuscript
copy of the Book of Mormon, and brought it into the room where we were
standing, and said, 'I will examine to see if it is all here'; and as he did
so I stood near him, a this left side, and saw distinctly the writing as he
turned up the pages until he hastily went through the book and satisfied
himself that it was all there, when he said, 'I have had trouble enough with
this thing'; which remark struck me with amazement, as I looked upon it as a
sacred treasure."
Robinson says that
the manuscript was written on foolscap paper and most of it in Oliver
Cowdery's handwriting. He explains that two copies were necessary, "as the
printer who printed the first edition of the book had to have a copy, as they
would not put the original copy into his hands for fear of its being altered.
This accounts for David Whitmer having a copy and Joseph Smith having
one."18
18 The Return, Vol. II, p. 314. Ebenezer Robinson, a printer, joined the Mormons at Kirtland, followed Smith to Missouri, and went with the flock to Nauvoo, where he and the prophet's brother, Don Carlos, established the Times and Seasons. When the doctrine of polygamy was announced to him and his wife, they rejected it, and he followed Rigdon to Pennsylvania when Rigdon was turned out by Young. In later years he was engaged in business enterprises in Iowa, and was a resident of Davis City when David Whitmer announced the organization of his church in Missouri, and, not accepting the view of the prophet entertained by his descendants in the Reorganized Church, Robinson accepted baptism from Whitmer. The Return was started by him in January, 1889, and continued until his death, in its second year. His reminiscences of early Mormon experiences, which were a feature of the publication, are of value.
Major Bideman, who married the prophet's widow, partly completed and occupied Nauvoo House after the departure of the Mormons for Utah, and some years later he took out the cornerstone and opened it, but found the manuscript so ruined by moisture that only a little was legible.
In regard to the missing pages, it was decided to
announce a revelation, which is dated May, 1829 (Sec. 10, "Doctrine and
Covenants"), stating that the lost pages had got into the hands of wicked men,
that "Satan has put it into their hearts to alter the words which you have
caused to be written, or which you have translated, "in accordance with a plan
of the devil to destroy Smith's work. He was directed therefore to translate
from the plates of Nephi, which contained a "more particular account" than the
Book of Lehi from which the original translation was made.
When Smith began translating again, Harris was
not reemployed, but Emma, the prophet's wife, acted as his scribe until April
15, 1829, when a new personage appeared upon the scene. This was Oliver
Cowdery.
Cowdery was a blacksmith by trade,
but gave up that occupation, and, while Joe was translating in Pennsylvania,
secured the place of teacher in the district where the Smiths lived, and
boarded with them. They told him of the new Bible, and, according to Joe's
later account, Cowdery for himself received a revelation of its divine
character, went to Pennsylvania, and from that time was intimately connected
with Joe in the translation and publication of the book.
In explanation of the change of plan
necessarily adopted in the translation, the following preface appeared in the
first edition of the book, but was dropped later: --
"TO THE
READER.
"As many false reports have been circulated
respecting the following work, and also many unlawful measures taken by evil
designing persons to destroy me, and also the work, I would inform you that I
translated, by the gift and power of God, and caused to be written, one
hundred and sixteen pages, the which I took from the book of Lehi, which was
an account abridged from the plates of Lehi, by the hand of Mormon; which said
account, some person or persons have stolen and kept from me, notwithstanding
my utmost efforts to recover it again -- and being commanded of the Lord that
I should not translate the same over again, for Satan had put it into their
hearts to tempt the Lord their God, by altering the words; that they did read
contrary from that which I translated and caused to be written; and if I
should bring forth the same words again, or, in other words, if I should
translate the same over again, they would publish that which they had stolen,
and Satan would stir up the hearts of this generation, that they might not
receive this work, but behold, the Lord said unto me, I will not suffer that
Satan shall accomplish his evil design in this thing; therefore thou shalt
translate from the plates of Nephi until ye come to that which ye have
translated, which ye have retained; and behold, ye shall publish it as the
record of Nephi; and thus I will confound those who have altered my words. I
will not suffer that they shall destroy my work; yea, I will show unto them
that my wisdom is greater than the cunning of the Devil. Wherefore, to be
obedient unto the commandments of God, I have, through His grace and mercy,
accomplished that which He hath commanded me respecting this thing. I would
also inform you that the plates of which hath been spoken, were found in the
township of Manchester, Ontario County, New York. -- THE AUTHOR."
In June, 1829, Smith accepted an invitation to
change his residence to the house of Peter Whitmer, who, with his sons, David,
John, and Peter, Jr., lived at Fayette, Seneca County, New York, the Whitmers
promising his board free and their assistance in the work of translation.
There, Smith says, they resided "until the translation was finished and the
copyright secured."
As five of the Whitmers
were "witnesses" to the existence of the plates, and David continued to be a
person of influence in Mormon circles throughout his long life, information
about them is of value. The prophet's mother again comes to our aid, although
her account conflicts with her son's. The prophet says that David Whitmer
brought the invitation to take up quarters at his father's, and volunteered
the offer of free board and assistance. Mother Smith says that one day, as Joe
was translating the plates, he came, in the midst of the words of the Holy
Writ, to a commandment to write at once to David Whitmer, requesting him to
come immediately and take the prophet and Cowdery to his house, "as an evil
designing people were seeking to take away his {Joseph's} life in order to
prevent the work of God from going forth to the world." When the letter
arrived, David's father told him that, as they had wheat sown that would
require two days' harrowing, and a quantity of plaster to spread, he could not
go "unless he could get a witness from God that it was absolutely necessary."
In answer to his inquiry of the Lord on the subject, David was told to go as
soon as his wheat was harrowed in. Setting to work, he found that at the end
of the first day the two days' harrowing had been completed, and, on going out
the next morning to spread the plaster, he found that work done also, and his
sister told him she had seen three unknown men at work in the field the day
before: so that the task had been accomplished by "an exhibition of
supernatural power."19
19 "Biographical Sketches," Lucy Smith, p. 135.
The translation being ready for the press, in June,
1829 (I follow Tucker's account of the printing of the work), Joseph, his
brother Hyrum, Cowdery, and Harris asked Egbert B. Grandin, publisher of the
Wayne Sentinel at Palmyra, to give them an estimate of the cost of
printing an edition of three thousand copies, with Harris as security for the
payment. Grandin told them he did not want to undertake the job at any price,
and he tried to persuade Harris not to invest his money in the scheme,
assuring him that it was fraudulent. Application was next made to Thurlow
Weed, then the publisher of the Anti-Masonic Inquirer, at Rochester,
New York. "After reading a few chapters," says Mr. Weed, "it seemed such a
jumble of unintelligent absurdities that we refused the work, advising Harris
not to mortgage his farm and "beggar his family." Finally, Smith and his
associates obtained from Elihu F. Marshall, a Rochester publisher, a definite
bid for the work, and with this they appl ied again to Grandin, explaining
that it would be much more convenient for them to have the printing done at
home, and pointing out to him that he might as well take the job, as his
refusal would not prevent the publication of the book. This argument had
weight with him, and he made a definite contract to print and bind five
thousand copies for the sum of $3000, a mortgage on Harris's farm to be given
him as security. Mrs. Harris had persisted in her refusal to be in any way a
party to the scheme, and she and her husband had finally made a legal
separation, with a division of the property, after she had entered a complaint
against Joe, charging him with getting money from her husband on fraudulent
representation. At the hearing on this complaint, Harris denied that he had
ever contributed a dollar to Joe at the latter's persuasion.
Tucker, who did much of the proof-reading of
the new Bible, comparing it with the manuscript copy, says that, when the
printing began, Smith and his associates watched the manuscript with the
greatest vigilance, bringing to the office every morning as much as the
printers could set up during the day, and taking it away in the evening,
forbidding also any alteration. The foreman, John H. Gilbert, found the
manuscript so poorly prepared as regards grammatical construction, spelling,
punctuation, etc., that he told them that some corrections must be made, and
to this they finally consented.
Daniel Hendrix, in his recollections, says in
confirmation of this: --
"I helped to
read proof on many pages of the book, and at odd times set some type.... The
penmanship of the copy furnished was good, but the grammar, spelling and
punctuation were done by John H. Gilbert, who was chief compositor in the
office. I have heard him swear many a time at the syntax and orthography of
Cowdery, and declare that he would not set another line of the type. There
were no paragraphs, no punctuation and no capitals. All that was done in the
printing office, and what a time there used to be in straightening sentences
out, too. During the printing of the book I remember that Joe Smith kept in
the background."
The following letter
is in reply to an inquiry addressed by me to Albert Chandler, the only
survivor, I think, of the men who helped issue the first edition of Smith's
book: --
"COLDWATER, MICH., Dec. 22,
1898.
"My recollections of Joseph Smith, Jr. and of
the first steps taken in regard to his Bible have never been printed. At the
time of the printing of the Mormon Bible by Egbert B. Grandin of the
Sentinel I was an apprentice in the book-bindery connected with the
Sentinel office. I helped to collate and stitch the Gold Bible, and
soon after this was completed, I changed from book-binding to printing. I
learned my trade in the Sentinel office.
"My recollections of the early history of the
Mormon Bible are vivid to-day. I knew personally Oliver Cowdery, who
translated the Bible, Martin Harris, who mortgaged his farm to procure the
printing, and Joseph Smith Jr., but slightly. What I knew of him was from
hearsay, principally from Martin Harris, who believed fully in him. Mr.
Tucker's 'Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism' is the fullest account I
have ever seen. I doubt if I can add anything to that history.
"The whole history is shrouded in the deepest
mystery. Joseph Smith Jr., who read through the wonderful spectacles,
pretended to give the scribe the exact reading of the plates, even to
spelling, in which Smith was woefully deficient. Martin Harris was permitted
to be in the room with the scribe, and would try the knowledge of Smith, as he
told me, saying that Smith could not spell the word February, when his eyes
were off the spectacles through which he pretended to work. This ignorance of
Smith was proof positive to him that Smith was dependent on the spectacles for
the contents of the Bible. Smith and the plates containing the original of the
Mormon Bible were hid from view of the scribe and Martin Harris by a screen.
"I should think that Martin Harris, after
becoming a convert, gave up his entire time to advertising the Bible to his
neighbors and the public generally in the vicinity of Palmyra. He would call
public meetings and address them himself. He was enthusiastic, and went so far
as to say that God, through the Latter Day Saints, was to rule the world. I
heard him make this statement, that there would never be another President of
the United States elected; that soon all temporal and spiritual power would be
given over to the prophet Joseph Smith and the Latter Day Saints. His
extravagant statements were the laughing stock of the people of Palmyra. His
stories were hissed at, universally. To give you an idea of Mr. Harris's
superstitions, he told me that he saw the devil, in all his hideousness, on
the road, just before dark, near his farm, a little north of Palmyra. You can
see that Harris was a fit subject to carry out the scheme of organizing a new
religion.
"The absolute secrecy of the whole
inception and publication of the Mormon Bible stopped positive knowledge. We
only knew what Joseph Smith would permit Martin Harris to publish, in
reference to the whole thing."
The issuing of
the Book of Mormon scarcely made a ripple of excitement in Palmyra.
ALBERT CHANDLER."20
20 Mr. Chandler moved to Michigan in 1835, and has been connected with several newspapers in that state, editing the Kalamazoo Gazette, and founding and publishing the Coldwater Sentinel. He was elected the first mayor of Coldwater, serving several terms. He was in his eighty-fifth year when the above letter was written.
The book was published early in 1830. On paper the
sale of the first edition showed a profit of $3250 at $1.25 a volume, that
being the lowest price to be asked on pain of death, according to a "special
revelation" received by Smith. By the original agreement Harris was to have
the exclusive control of the sale of the book. But it did not sell. The local
community took it no more seriously than they did Joe himself and his family.
The printer demanded his pay as the work progressed, and it became necessary
for Smith to spur Harris on by announcing a revelation (Sec. 19, "Doctrine and
Covenants"), saying, "I command thee that thou shalt not covet thine own
property, but impart it freely to the printing of the Book of Mormon. "Harris
accordingly disposed of his share of the farm and paid Grandin.
To make the book "go," Smith now received a
revelation which permitted his father, soon to be elevated to the title of
Patriarch, to sell it on commission, and Smith, Sr., made expeditions through
the country, taking in pay for any copies sold such farm produce or "store
goods" as he could use in his own family. How much he "cut" the revealed price
of the book in these trades is not known, but in one instance, when arrested
in Palmyra for a debt of $5.63, he, under pledge of secrecy, offered seven of
the Bibles in settlement, and the creditor, knowing that the old man had no
better assets, accepted the offer as a joke.21
21 "Origin, Rise, and Progress of
Mormonism," Tucker, p. 63.