Loading summary
Transcript137 lines
- [00:02]
Narrator
Welcome to Search these Commandments a Standard of Truth podcast production. In this podcast, Dr. Garrett Dirkmot and Dr. Richard Leduc review each section of the Doctrine and Covenants and the revelations received by the prophet Joseph Smith to strengthen your faith and deepen your understanding. They approach the Doctrine and Covenants with faith expertise and humor.
- [00:26]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Foreign.
- [00:34]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Welcome to another episode of Search these Commandments a Standard of Truth podcast production. I'm your host, Dr. Garrett Dirkmont, and I'm joined by my friend, Dr. Richard Leduc.
- [00:43]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Hello, Garrett. In this week's episode, we're going to talk about Doctrine Covenants, Section three.
- [00:48]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
That's right. And doctrine of section three is. This is a little counterintuitive because it is the third section of the Doctrine and Covenants, but it's actually the earliest recorded revelation that Joseph Smith receives. Now, depending on what you define a revelation as, I mean, obviously every time Moroni is visiting, you could call that a revelation. Of course, when Joseph. And when Joseph is visited by the Father and the Son, you could easily call that a revelation if you want to call the vision a revelation. What do I mean by that? I mean that this was the earliest revelation that was written down at the time that it was received, July of 1828. So we are almost two years away from the Book of Mormon being published and the church being organized. We are early, early in Joseph's attempts to do what the Lord wants him to do. So I think it's important to recognize that. That as you get to Doctrine and Covenants, Section three, even though it is section three, it really is our earliest recorded revelation that demonstrates this interaction with Joseph and the divine. And the context of it is. Is pretty heavy. There's. There's a lot going on. This is not one of those easy, you know, like all of the others. You know how the others are just like the two minutes of context.
- [02:26]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Yeah, just.
- [02:28]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
He just showed up in Palmyra and boom, that's what, that's what all of our other contexts will be. But this one is super heavy. And it's because it comes at perhaps the time of the greatest crisis that Joseph Smith will ever experience, certainly as a young seer. And you could easily put these months, I mean, if Oliver Cowdery is going to call, you know, the next April, these are the days never to be forgotten. Well, these are the months always to be forgotten for Joseph and for Emma. First and foremost, we need to move them down to harmony. If you listen on some of our other podcasts, we do talk a little bit about that. But to give you the brief summary. Joseph and Emma get the plates. They are staying in Joseph Smith's family home there in Manchester, Palmyra area. And the opposition has started to become so stark that Joseph believes they need to get out of Dodge, that they've got to get out of there in order for him to actually begin translating the plates in earnest. So Emma writes to her father, who, as you might recall, was not super happy they got married in the first place. And she asks him, you know, is there any way that Joseph and I can come down there and live because of this persecution? And in fact, Isaac hail, you know, he's going to get into heaven because of this? Well, I guess because Latter Day Saints believe everyone goes to heaven. He's going to get in, he allows them to come down and they. They move to Harmony, Pennsylvania. So if you're ever wondering in early church history, why are we bouncing back and forth from New York to Pennsylvania, what's going on? Why is the earliest recorded revelation in Pennsylvania? I mean, I thought Joseph was in Palmyra. Why is D and C3 in Pennsylvania? It's because after early 1828, Joseph is living with Emma down in Harmony, Pennsylvania. They move into a piece of property adjacent to Emma's father, Isaac Hale's property, into a home that was already existing. Now Joseph will do some additions onto it and 13 and a half acres that are the property that that little farm encompasses. He buys it from his father in law for $200, and his father in law has regular payments that need to be made. So this is actually the first home that Emma and Joseph could call theirs. They actually live for a brief time. When they first get down there, they live in. In Isaac Hale's home. And then they move into this separate home as Joseph buys the property. And Joseph begins to do the things that a young married father does. He has to go out and get those fields planted and he has to, you know, put up fences and he has to find ways to make ends meet.
- [05:53]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Yeah, tell me about it. When I first got married, very similar.
- [05:56]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Richard had no idea how many fences he'd be putting up, how many fences he'd be mending. Just. He's constantly mending fences.
- [06:04]
Dr. Richard Leduc
As a slight aside, there is the Great Western Museum or something or other in Oklahoma City. And my wife was there and we went through. She spent over a half hour in the barbed wire exhibit.
- [06:18]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Oh, there's so many different types of barbed wire.
- [06:21]
Dr. Richard Leduc
I was stunned at how much she enjoyed. Now, she grew up on a dairy farm at a ranch, and it meant More to her.
- [06:26]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Barbed wire is one of the most important inventions for ranchers that has ever been created.
- [06:31]
Dr. Richard Leduc
I did not expect that response from you.
- [06:34]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Well, I mean, as a man of history, I can only state you, you.
- [06:39]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Got to come with us back to this place that you would love it.
- [06:41]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
I would love barbed wire. Barbed wire. The fact that they were able to manufacture it meant that ranchers were able to close off miles and miles square miles of territory, whereas before, if you were to do it, you'd have to do it with rail fencing. Can you imagine the amount of time and labor to put up rail fencing that has to be high enough that a cow's not getting over it.
- [07:10]
Dr. Richard Leduc
So when was it? It was invented by, I assume, Jim Barb.
- [07:13]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
I assume his name's Barb. He always had a lot of really biting comments to people. So they called it barbed wire. It's invented in the 1800s. I mean, I don't know the exact, but it would be in the latter, probably in the 1860s and 70s, when it really starts to get going. You know what?
- [07:33]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Look at you. 1874, Joseph Barb. Joseph Barb Glydon, farmer in Illinois.
- [07:40]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Joseph the Barb, he's like a luchador.
- [07:43]
Dr. Richard Leduc
He really. He really popularized that. So there you go.
- [07:47]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Well, so they find a way to machine manufacture it, and so you can buy spools of wire. Whereas before, I mean, one of the biggest problems that ranchers have, especially the further west you get, is how easy it is for people to steal your cattle. It's easy to lose them, it's easy to steal them. How do you mark the territories? So anyway, barbed wire important enough? Boy, I just.
- [08:08]
Dr. Richard Leduc
I didn't see that coming.
- [08:09]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Joseph Smith did not have access to barbed wire.
- [08:12]
Dr. Richard Leduc
This is true. He did not.
- [08:13]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
So if he's building fences, he's building stone ones. He's building, you know, rail fences. We don't know that they own a lot of livestock, so maybe it's not as big a deal for them, but he's certainly working on this farm, and Emma is going to be pregnant with their first child. And so all throughout early 1828, Emma is going to be getting increasingly larger as her time nears, and Joseph is going to be struggling through the early process of trying to translate the Book of Mormon. At this point in Joseph's life, there's a grand total of nobody outside of his family. And Martin Harris, who believes what he has been saying now, look, maybe there's other people, and we just don't know who they are. And other people will come along later. You know, you'll have people like the Knight family, which will become staunch defenders of Joseph. And you will have other people who do believe the Whitmer family eventually. But in early 1828, you don't really have any of those people. What you have is Martin Harris who has embraced the work. He actually helped pay some of the expenses to move Joseph down to harmony. And Martin Harris will come down to harmony. It's quite a journey to get down there. It's a long drive in a bus today, I'll tell you that.
- [09:48]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Yeah, that's a good plug for the Standard of Truth tour.
- [09:52]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Yeah.
- [09:52]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Although that tour is sold out.
- [09:54]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
But you know, we do them every year.
- [09:55]
Dr. Richard Leduc
That's right. Yeah. We'll see you in 2026.
- [09:57]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Yeah, in 2029. It's, it's beckoning you. Who doesn't want to be there in the, in, you know, the, the 200 year anniversary?
- [10:07]
Dr. Richard Leduc
We're going to kill it in 2030.
- [10:09]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
We're going to do like 19 tours to Palmyra in 2030. But he comes down and primarily during this early time period, as Joseph is learning how the translation goes, Emma is the one who is serving as his primary scribe. This is a part of the translation of the Book of Mormon history that we don't think of very often. Whenever we think about the translation in our minds, probably with the help of some art, we generally think of Oliver Cowdery sitting there as the scribe and Oliver Cowdery will serve as the primary scribe of the Book of Mormon we have today. But there, as you all know, were 116 other pages that were intended to be part of the translation of the Book of Mormon but were lost. And so it's this early period of translation where they're working on the Book of Lehi, where Emma is the primary scribe. She writes most of it according to Martin Harris. But then Martin Harris comes down to help out with the translation. And so there Martin Harris is with Joseph day after day translating and writing down these words. Martin Harris, you know, we don't get this great eloquent explanation from him the way you do from Oliver Cowdery. You know, these are the days never to be forgotten. But you have to think that if you're Martin Harris, you know better than anyone does Joseph Smith's family in Palmyra and how poor and how uneducated they are. And, and I can only assume that the words that Mormon wrote that made up the Book of Lehi sounded a lot like the other things that Mormon wrote and that as Joseph spoke those words, it must have been a pretty powerful experience. To Martin Harris. It's probably during this time period. We don't know, because he doesn't really provide a date for it. But it's probably during this time period that people begin claiming, well, what's really going on is that Joseph Smith, he's not having words appear to him on these sacred stones on the Urim and Thummim stones. He's actually got a manuscript in his hat, and he just kind of looks down at it. And I think people envision Joseph the way that all of us are in a gospel doctrine class where we're trying to look like we're not looking at our phone. While we're totally looking at our phone. We just got to glance down a little bit, you know, and your eyes going. 1. Eyes up and the. No, no, no. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. Let's talk more about fast offerings and then. Right. I mean. Yeah, yeah. That's what people.
- [13:03]
Dr. Richard Leduc
That's why I got a. I got a privacy screen protector. So I just tell people I'm looking at the script.
- [13:07]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
You're like, oh, yeah. And then you have to look like you have a stupor of thought, like, oh, that is profound. I can't believe that Lamar Jackson already has two touchdowns in the first half, because that's what we're all really doing at church. So people start to actually say, well, I think what's going on is the reason why Joseph's able to say those words is he already has a manuscript that he's put in his hat, and he's not looking at the words that are appearing on the stone in that hat. He's reading that manuscript. So Martin Harris says that he goes in when they take a break from translating, and they go down to the. To the river to skip rocks. Which is, I can only assume, the early 19th century equivalent of watching a Netflix series. It's. You know, there's some violence involved. There's some. There's a lot of anxiety about whether or not it's gonna skip more than once.
- [13:59]
Dr. Richard Leduc
It's funny, actually.
- [14:00]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
We.
- [14:00]
Dr. Richard Leduc
We went. You take the tour down when we're in harmony, and you do the same thing on the river.
- [14:06]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Yeah, I come.
- [14:07]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Yeah.
- [14:08]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Skip rocks. Skip rocks.
- [14:09]
Dr. Richard Leduc
We have a competition.
- [14:10]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
I said, can anyone see a seer stone? But that's exactly what. It's exactly what Martin Harris does. He finds a stone that looks like the stone that Joseph is using for the translation, and he goes back and secretly changes out the stone and puts in his own, this own stone that he found. The argument being, well, if Joseph's just reading from a manuscript in his hat, well then obviously he's just going to start reading again from the manuscript in his hat, since the stone is, you know, it's just a prop, has nothing to do with it. And of course, the way Martin Harris recounts it that Joseph comes back to translate and says, you know, that it's all dark in the hat that he's not able to see. And for Martin Harris, that was proof that the words really are appearing on the stone. And that's why the sacred stone was needed. The sacred Urim and Thummim stone or Seer stone or whatever you want to refer to it as. That's why it was needed to work with the seer. And it wasn't just Joseph having memorized hundreds and hundreds of lines like he's some kind of Shakespearean actor making the circuit along the eastern seaboard. Instead he really is reading these words as God places them on the stone. So Martin is heavily involved in the translation process. Now when I say that Joseph didn't have a whole lot of friends, it's not like the whole Harris family is on board. Martin Harris's wife, Lucy Harris, who is, you know, I wish she was named something other than Lucy. Not only for all of our friends and family members named Lucy, who, who wish their name not to be tainted with Lucy Harris, but especially because our only other major source for this early time period is Lucy Smith. And so I wish I could just say so. Lucy said, and if I just did that, you'd have no idea. You know, there's a big difference between Elon Musk and Elon the university. And if you don't point that out. Right. I mean, yeah, yeah, if I were Elon Musk, I think I would buy Elon University.
- [16:27]
Dr. Richard Leduc
You know what, let me say what it's worth.
- [16:29]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Yeah, I would. It seems like almost a no brainer actually. And then he could name it X.
- [16:35]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Oh, that'd be good. Yeah, yeah, rebrand it X University. Yeah, I like that a lot.
- [16:39]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Yeah, let's, let's get in touch with our people who can get in touch with his people and we'll see, we'll see where that goes. So Lucy Harris is desperately opposed at the very, very, very beginning of Joseph saying that he had plates. Lucy Harris is actually very on board with it and says she wants to see the plates and if she can see them, that she would actually pay for them to be translated and published because she has her own money. She's. She's well off. And of course she's not able to see them. Joseph tells her you can't see them. And from that point on, she becomes just a dyed in the wool adversary to Joseph and frankly to her hus. I mean, Joseph has characters copied off the plates. Everyone knows the story of Martin Harris taking those characters on the plates to the scholars in the East. Well, that happens in February of 1828. So just a few months before this revelation that we're talking about, Martin Harris is taking the characters to those scholars in the East. Well, Martin uses the copy of these characters to try to prove that Joseph really is saying what really is telling the truth about what he's saying in his world. Well, you can't show people the plates, but we can show people characters from the plates and the characters prove that there are plates. Where do you think these characters come from? Well, Lucy Harris is so opposed to Joseph Smith and so opposed to Martin that she. Well, it's a little bit of a. It's kind of a sordid tale, actually. There is a young man by the name of Flanders Dyke. And now everyone's envisioning Ned Flanders from the Simpsons in their minds, right?
- [18:35]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Richard is right.
- [18:36]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Yeah.
- [18:36]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Right. In some sort of a dutch shoe.
- [18:38]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Yeah. And he's like, hi de li ho, Lucy Harris. Areno. Flanders Dyke is sweet on Martin and Lucy's daughter, who's also named Lucy, just to make things even more problematic. But according to Lucy Smith, Martin's fine with him. But Lucy Harris, this guy's not good enough for my daughter. And so she actually tells Flanders Dyke, you want to marry my daughter. This is what you're going to do. You're going to wait till my husband's gone, you're going to sneak into his drawer, you're going to steal his copy of those Book of Mormon characters, you're going to make a copy of those characters and you're going to bring them to me. And then you're going to go put those characters back in the drawer and then I'll drop my opposition to you dating and then marrying my daughter. So at least according to Lucy Smith, Lucy Harris did not think this guy was a good fit for her daughter. Now, probably just because he didn't have enough money, although he wasn't destitute. But either way, she was totally opposed to their marriage right up until she, you know, essentially hired this guy. If you want to date my daughter, I mean, who hasn't in the course of courtship been forced to Break into their future father in law's bureau to steal something that he has. I know. I have been.
- [20:16]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Yes. I also had to do the same thing.
- [20:18]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Yeah. I actually think it's almost a rite of passage of young men. The mother in law comes to you and says, I don't want to marry you. In your case, I can only assume that the mother in law said, you're going to break in and find barbed wire. That's from the 1870s, and you're gonna bring that sample back to me.
- [20:37]
Dr. Richard Leduc
By the way, Elon University, the endowments worth about 322 million, and the tangible and intangible assets, depending on how you would value them, between 1 and 1 and a half billion. For him to purchase the entire university.
- [20:48]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
That would be tough.
- [20:49]
Dr. Richard Leduc
But he could do it.
- [20:51]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Yeah, he could. Totally. Yeah. Yeah. You leverage Twitter?
- [20:54]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Yeah, absolutely. He bought Twitter for what, 44 billion something.
- [20:58]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Yeah. So. So you're saying he could just buy the university?
- [21:01]
Dr. Richard Leduc
I'm saying he should buy the university.
- [21:03]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
He wouldn't have to change its name. No, just Elon University. And just put pictures of himself up everywhere.
- [21:09]
Dr. Richard Leduc
It's in North Carolina. It's beautiful.
- [21:11]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Yeah.
- [21:11]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Yeah, let's do it.
- [21:12]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
You know, if we have any Elon University alumni listening, you can let us know what a great plan this is. But Lucy Harris is so opposed to the work that once she gets her copy from Flanders dyke, who does then marry her daughter. So that's. That's how that marriage got arranged. She then will pull it out to show other people to kind of mock Martin Harris showing people the characters. So when Martin Harris, like, no, he really does have the plates and goes to show them to people, Lucy will pull her own character out and be like, oh, well, I have my copy of the characters too. I don't know exactly what she. She says, but she does it to undercut Martin's entire claim. Well, as Martin is spending more and more time down in harmony.
- [22:01]
Dr. Richard Leduc
By the way, it sounds like a great marriage. You mean to tell me it doesn't last?
- [22:05]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
It's surprising. You know, most marriages built on trying to undermine the other spouse are. They are recorded as great marriages. But in this one instance, undermining spouses was not the best way.
- [22:21]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Okay, all right. So this is. I mean, this is a little foreshadowing that. That they don't have to worry about DNC132.
- [22:28]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Well, by the time Doctrine Covenant Section 132 is received, Lucy Harris will have passed away. Oh, no.
- [22:35]
Dr. Richard Leduc
And Martin Harris, I didn't even know she was sick. I'm. Oh, too soon.
- [22:38]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Yeah. But you knew Martin Harris would have apostatized.
- [22:41]
Dr. Richard Leduc
I did know that, yeah. But he came back.
- [22:42]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Well, we won't tell people yet. There's a whole world, for all you know. Martin Harris is fine. Everything's fine.
- [22:48]
Dr. Richard Leduc
He's fine now.
- [22:49]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Of course, everyone's fine now. Everyone's okay now. So Martin is spending more and more time down there working on the translation. And yet in the back of his mind is this desperate, angry spouse of his who isn't just talking to Martin and saying, hey, what are you doing? She's telling everybody my husband has been deceived by the Smiths. The Smiths are committing a fraud against my husband. She. She thinks that Martin is going to liquidate all of their assets to give it to Joseph Smith, who she considers to be a fraud. Now, in some ways, she's. She's right. Because eventually Martin Harris is going to liquidate most of his assets in order to pay for the printing of the Book of Mormon. But Joseph, of course, isn't a fraud. Her refusal to be a part of the process of translation and publication of the Book of Mormon is one in which she refused to exercise faith. The really interesting part about it is, while she's telling everyone that Joseph must be a fraud, she also comes down to Harmony, desperate to find the plates. And when I say desperate, what I mean is, I don't know how it went, but apparently, you know, Emma answers the door. Oh, Lucy, so good to see you. Would you like to rest from your journey? And Lucy Harris begins ransacking Emma's home. She begins going through every cupboard, opening every trunk, dumping everything out in a search to try to find the plates. I mean, who's the lower class person now? You know what I mean? Especially in a 19th century home, a woman was the absolute master of the inside of that home, culturally. And here comes another woman into it. You think that you've seen some fireworks when your, you know, great aunt Edna and, And, And. And Zelda were fighting over who carves the turkey in their kitchen on Thanksgiving. Did you?
- [25:13]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Oh, yeah. Well, I. And Zelda. Yeah, for sure.
- [25:15]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Yeah. Well, she does that.
- [25:16]
Dr. Richard Leduc
She does, Yeah.
- [25:17]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
I mean, ever since she was saved by Link, I feel like she's never quite come back from.
- [25:23]
Dr. Richard Leduc
She has not.
- [25:23]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Yeah. Anyway, but in the 19th century, it was that the domain of a woman was her home, especially her kitchen. And here, this is Emma's first home. And the next thing you know, you have this angry rich woman barging through the door and ransacking all of her belongings to try to find the gold plate.
- [25:51]
Dr. Richard Leduc
So do we have any of her journal or any of her private correspondence to know? Because it seems like while she, she also knows Joseph Smith, she also knows the Smith family. And so my, my assumption is that a person doesn't do that unless they really believe that these things exist and are beyond any capacity of him to be able to come up with or to do so. Publicly she's mocking him, but privately it sure seems like she believes it.
- [26:19]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
It's kind of weird for anyone who has any money at all to spend a day and a half looking for something that they know doesn't exist. I've always found that to be weird. Like, like I don't enter into the NFL season looking for the Raiders to go to the Super Bowl. I don't spend every weekend going, oh, maybe, maybe somehow all the other teams in the NFL will die and the Raiders will end up getting to the playoffs. I don't do that because I already know they're not going to go to the playoffs. It's a, and I'm not even a wealthy person. It's, it's a weird thing to believe that plates don't exist, but then to really commit the worst of all kinds of social faux pas in your desperation to find them. Because once she can't find him in the house, she starts going around their yard and digging holes in their yard everywhere, trying to find where the plates must be buried outside because they aren't in the house. I mean, frankly, it's almost laughable, right, that she's looking everywhere she can. This is part of how Lucy Smith describes it. She. The next day, she was compelled to. Joseph was compelled to take them out of the house and to bury both the breastplate and the record. For Lucy Harris began ransacking every nook and corner, the house, chest, cupboard, trunk, et cetera. And the day after she went out and hunted the ground over adjacent to the house. She kept up the search till 2 o'clock in the afternoon for an entire day and almost all of the next day day she has been searching their house and digging up the yard trying to find the gold plates. To Richard's point, that's not the actions of someone who doesn't believe that Joseph has plates. It's the actions of someone who's almost certain that he does have plates. For Lucy Harris, it seems far more the case that she couldn't see the plates, that she couldn't have her experience with the plates on her own terms. And so because of that she rejected the work and prevented Joseph Martin from fully participating. This is actually where Lucy Harris tells the story that as she's trying to find the plates that she runs into a snake that scared her and she ran off. And that's so for Lucy Harris she's like that must have been where the plates were buried. That snake was guarding them. Which kind of follows a traditional, you know, treasure guardian folklore of New England. But for the rest of the time she's there, she is doing everything she can't. So she can't find the plates. The way that Lucy Harris, way that Lucy Smith describes Lucy Harris's actions is that while she remained in Harmony doing all that her ingenuity could contrive to injure Joseph in the estimation of his neighbors, she told them that he was a grand imposter and that he deceived her husband with his specious pretensions and was exerting all of his deceptive powers in order to induce Mr. Harris to give his property into Joseph's hands that he might, by robbing her husband, make himself rich. When she returned home, which was in about two weeks from the time she arrived in Harmony, she endeavored to dissuade Mr. Harris from having anything further to do with the writing or translating of the record. But Martin paid little attention to her and he agreed to go back and write for a season. What is, what does Lucy Harris do? She went from place to place telling her grievances to everyone she met. But. But particularly bewailing that the deception which Joe Smith was practicing upon the people was about to strip her of all that she possessed. But the said woman, I know how. But. But said the woman, I know how to take care of my property. I'll let them see that pretty shortly. So she came, carried away her furniture, her linen and bedding and other movable articles until she was well nigh divested of the premises of everything which could conduce to comfort or convenience. These things she deposited with her friends where she reposed sufficient confidence to assure her of their safety of their property. So does this sound like a rational person? She comes home after having dug up the yard and ransacked every cupboard to find the plates. She then spends the next two weeks talking about what a horrible liar, imposter Joseph Smith is. And then she goes home and again they are well off and she begins hauling furniture out of her house and, and putting it in her friends houses. So that when Martin Harris pledged his farm to Joseph, that couch wasn't going you know, you know, where's the Davenport? Oh, it's at the, it's at the Johnsons. You know, where's the, where's the duvet cover? Oh, that's over at the Jensen's house. I mean, I'm sure they're using 19th century terms for things.
- [31:57]
Dr. Richard Leduc
I'm sure that they are. And I'm sure that that's just getting through the Jays.
- [32:01]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Yeah, yeah. Where's the Chesterfield?
- [32:02]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Yeah, that's in, yeah, that's in the Thompsons. Getting down to the T's.
- [32:05]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Yeah. Where, where, where are you going to put all of these?
- [32:09]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Yeah, that it is interesting because is it that she assumes that they actually don't exist or that she couldn't find them? Either way, she's frustrated. And is there any, is there any guess as to what her real state is other than what we have from, from Lucy?
- [32:29]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
I, I, I don't know. I mean, frankly, she doesn't really tell us. She does give an affidavit to Mormonism unveiled.
- [32:39]
Dr. Richard Leduc
So you can take that to the bank.
- [32:41]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Well, first of all, I guess she probably gave an affidavit to Mormonism unveiled. I don't know whether or not she did because they're such liars. But that's the first anti Mormon book that's written and in it she, she just claims that her husband has been deceived. And then she also claims that her husband's really bad person. So he's both been deceived and that he's a bad person.
- [33:01]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Okay.
- [33:02]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
But she of course isn't like. And I was off my rocker. Speaking of rocker, I gave that to the Robinsons because I was worried that people would come and take my stuff. So this the reason why I tell this story. And you're thinking, can we talk about the revelation? No, we can't. And that's what you signed up for. You wanted this. Unless you're a missionary and you didn't sign up for it and you just are being forced to listen to it by your companion, in which case you signed up for a mission and you knew, you knew when you picked it up. Yeah, why do I spend time on that? Because in order to understand what happens next, you have to understand how, how horrible Martin Harris's home life was. Was. Think of it. His wife is telling everyone my husband's been deceived. And her husband's a well respected person in the Palmyra area. She is carrying off furniture and clothing and giving it to the neighbors because she said, yeah, he's going to he's going to dispossess me of everything I own. She absolutely refuses to believe, even though, of course, he tells her that the plates are real. He hasn't seen the plates, but he knows the plates are there when they're translating. So she's not willing to accept his word for it. And, and this obviously means that they, they are in a very desperate way because it's not just their marriage that's on the rocks. She is telling all of his friends and family that Martin's crazy, Martin's been deceived, Martin's had a fraud perpetrated upon him. And so, you know, this is affecting him much more personally than even just, you know, a problem in his marriage. And so he is going to ask Joseph, as they are translating, he's going to ask him if he can take the pages that they have translated, the recorded pages, which we now call the 116 pages, the book of Lehigh, if he could possibly take that home and show various people the actual words. And for Martin Harris, thinking, you know, look, okay, so you don't believe the characters came from plates. You think that Joseph made those up? Where do you think these words came from? Now, again, we don't know what the words said, but we can only imagine if you read Mosiah and if you read Alma, that Mormon is an incredible writer and that I'm sure the book of Lehi contains many other incredible phrases. Teaching stories, prophecies. And so for Martin, he's thinking, if I can just show people our finished product. How could anyone deny that this comes from God? They know Joseph Smith. They know that he can barely craft a well worded letter, let alone, let alone write something like this. And so that's his thinking on it. Joseph, Lucy, you know, talks about this relationship with Martin. One of the things she says is that Joseph was very partial to Mr. Harris on account of the friendship which he had manifested. If you think about that again, Joseph doesn't have any other friends. I mean, I'm sure he has some friends, but he doesn't have any other friends in the work yet, as Lucy says in an hour that there seemed to be no other earthly friend to succor or to sympathize with him. Under these circumstances. Joseph felt a great desire to gratify the man's feelings as far as it was justifiable to do so. So, you know, she is relating just how much Joseph wants to be able to give him these, these pages.
- [37:18]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Of all things in church history, this is one where I feel the most Empathy with Joseph Smith as it relates to Boy. There are. I haven't been asked, obviously, to do anything even remotely close to anything.
- [37:32]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
You weren't even asked to do this podcast.
- [37:33]
Dr. Richard Leduc
I wasn't. I just showed up. And you're like, hey, let's do it.
- [37:36]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
I've been trying to get other people in here for four years.
- [37:38]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Five. But at the same time, there are times at work, specifically at work, where I'm having to massage things a certain way for a host of reasons, sometimes for financial. And where he believes that there's no other way to get this thing done. He believes he's been commanded by God to do it and that this is the way to get it done. I. I can. I can very much empathize with Boy. I can't lose Martin Harris. I cannot lose him.
- [38:11]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Right. For Joseph, I mean, again, what's Joseph Smith's world? He is from an incredibly poor, despised family. He's from a family that's so poor that they're going to lose their farm while he's translating the Book of Mormon because they can't make the payments on it. He is grown up in poverty and working as a day laborer trying to get to make it on top of what they do on their own piece of property. He knows. Joseph knows that the. The first great temptation that Joseph had was when he first saw those plates. There's a reason why he didn't start translating the Book of Mormon until 1827 and 28. It's because when he first saw the plates, he tried to get them for himself. Or at least he had the thought in his mind, I am going to be rich. And he's not allowed to get them. And year after year after year after year, he goes back to the spot and he's still not ready to get them. He still hasn't purified his motives until finally, in 1827, he's finally able to get the plates. And so the fact that Joseph is poor is probably one of the most constant ideas on Joseph throughout this entire period. He knows he doesn't even know how to make the payment on his farm to his father in law. In fact, it's another basically miracle that Oliver Cowdery will show up in the next year with his teaching salary to help make the payment on Joseph's farm. So Joseph's farm, 13 and a half acres, has a house on it, some outbuildings on it, probably some rail fencing, but not barbed wire fencing.
- [40:08]
Dr. Richard Leduc
No, no, not till 1874.
- [40:10]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Yeah. And even then, it's right by the river, so they don't do it. But Joseph doesn't even own his own form. He can't make the payments on his own farm. His farm is worth $200. Even if Joseph liquidated every asset he had, the cost of printing the Book of Mormon was 15 times Joseph's entire net worth. If he owned his own farm, which he didn't own his own farm. What does that mean? Well, God has commanded me to translate this book. God has commanded me to have it published to the world. If you are Joseph in the spring of 1828, that might as well be asking you to cross the Red Sea on dry ground. It might as well be asking you to to pick up that mountain and remove hither. It would take Joseph somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 years to save up enough money to be able to pay for the printing of the Book of Mormon if he had to do it on his own. And nobody believes him. Nobody. And it just so happens the one person who does believe him that isn't a member of his family is someone who's well off. So yeah, like you said, Richard, it's the most for two reasons. One, the emotional reason that Lucy gives here. Martin Harris is the only friend Joseph's got. Martin Harris is the only person who hears the story of the gold plates and says, you know what? He's got plates. Can I see them? No, you can't. All right, he's still got them. He's the only person who ridiculed and mocked and marital problems. Still, I'm going to believe that Joseph has the plates. Of course, Joseph desperately wants to let him take the pages. Why wouldn't he? This is what Lucy Smith says happened next. He insisted upon taking that which he had written home with him, that he might show his family what he had been employed in doing in his absence from that, from them. He also hoped that it would be. It might have a salutary effect upon his wife's feelings to read what was written. I mean, this is the first attempt really to try to convince someone with the written words of the Book of Mormon. If she were to read this, she would feel the spirit and she would change. Joseph, for a long time, resisted every entreaty of this kind. At last, however, he begged the privilege of obliging Mr. Harris by allowing his last request. So as we know, Joseph asks three separate times, and the Lord keeps telling him, no, he can't take it. Then finally, the third time, the Lord says, okay, you can take it, but you have to make a covenant. That you will only show it to these certain people and that you'll keep it safe. As Lucy Smith describes this, my son was willing to do as he could not conceive it possible for so kind a friend to betray the trust that he reposed in him. But there is no doubt that this indulgence being given to Joseph in order to show him by another lesson of bitter experience, how vain are all human calculations. And also to learn him to not put his trust in man nor make flesh his arm. Mr. Harris now took the most solemn oath that he would not show the manuscript to any save five individuals who belonged to his household for the. For the. The hope that it might be the means of carrying the truth home to their hearts and affecting a union of sentiment in his family animated him very much. Now, again, talk about Martin Harris's desires. He's already sacrificed some money, he's sacrificed weeks of time, he has sacrificed his reputation and he has promised to sacrifice whatever it takes to get the book printed. So if you're Martin Harris, you are not just, you know, casually doing a drive by of Emma's cupboards looking for the gold plates. You have invested all of yourself into this. And what does he want? He wants to both be fully committed to the gospel and have his family and friends believe and to stop, you know, attacking his character. He wants to heal the rift in his marriage. He wants the Gospel to fix the things in his life. He wants people reading the pages of the. Of the translation to end the negative things being said about him. He's very much animated, as she said. His anxious desires were now gratified as to the means which he wished to make use of an instrument to affect this much wished for object. Accordingly, he was now fully prepared to set out for home, which he did, carrying with him 116 pages of the record in manuscript. This was in July, man. Why, why did he have to take it all? I have long, long. Why?
- [46:16]
Dr. Richard Leduc
I mean, just a couple chapters would have done it, wouldn't it?
- [46:21]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
I think for Martin Harris it's this idea of the weight of evidence.
- [46:28]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Now, we don't want 116. Like a chapter is not likely. 116 pages? Impossible.
- [46:33]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Yeah, like, like, oh, look, here's 100 words that Joseph wrote. Whatever. You wrote those, right? Here's 116 pages of it. Okay, so you don't think the first 30 are from God? What about the next 60? What about the next 50?
- [46:48]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Well, honestly, it's kind of your argument about the Book of Mormon, isn't it? Yeah, like okay, so he stole everything from the Late War. Everything.
- [46:57]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Okay. And that's why Martin Harris took all 116 pages, is he wanted to bring it home and show that it was actually what they'd copied from the book the Late War.
- [47:05]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Well, no, I mean, like, so what?
- [47:07]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
No, you haven't heard this argument. We put it in our last. Did you put it on the link?
- [47:12]
Dr. Richard Leduc
I put the link to it, yeah.
- [47:13]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Yeah. It's such a terrible, terrible argument that antagonists make about the origin of the Book of Mormon. But I do think that's what's going.
- [47:22]
Dr. Richard Leduc
On because you say, all right, so let's say that Joseph stole all this and stole all this and stole all this. Okay? That's 50 pages. That's 100 pages. Where did the other. 430.
- [47:32]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
There are some pages of the manuscript that he doesn't take. We know that the Lord even says that. That there are some pages that have been retained is what the Lord says in doctrine covenants, section 10.
- [47:42]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Yeah, like Mosiah, chapter three.
- [47:44]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Yes.
- [47:45]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Or one.
- [47:46]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Well, whatever, whatever. We don't know exactly how much was retained, but he doesn't take every page. But, boy, it is crazy that he takes as much as he does. I mean, look, in hindsight, everything. It's really easy to say, you know, what's going on. Every one of us, every one of us take for a moment and think about what you consider to be the worst mistake you've ever made in your life. Now, that's a painful thing, and I'm going to lose listeners as you. As you stop to think about it. When you think about it, there are all kinds of ways you could have avoided that mistake if you had the knowledge you have now, if you knew how bad it was going to be to make that mistake. But that's not how life is lived. In Joseph's world. There's one person, a rich man, who happens to be willing to help him do what God commanded him to do. And that man is desperate, because of his family situation, to prove to them that the plates really exist through the means of the. Of the translated pages. And so Joseph lets him go. Now he's going to take these. These pages, and Joseph is going to be, I think, a little bit distracted because immediately after these pages are taken, Emma is going to give birth to their firstborn son. Only the delivery is filled with complications. And in fact, shortly after the child is born, the baby dies. So here's Joseph, who has himself sacrificed everything to try to do what the Lord wants him to do. The One thing that Emma and Joseph want more than anything else is their little baby. And I have often thought that this must have been incredibly difficult for Joseph and Emma. Remember, they live in a world where God is kind of like an intergalactic Santa Claus, that if you are getting good blessings, it's because God chose to save you and that's why he's bestowing his wealth upon you. How many people saw Emma's baby die and said, well, that's what happens when you follow that heresy. You know that Joe Smith been claiming God speaking to him and angels and translating a new book. God punished him by killing their baby. Now that sounds incredibly horrific to say those words out loud. I have no doubt that someone said something like that because that's how they thought of God in the 19th century Christian context.
- [50:51]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Well, Garrett, I mean as terrible thing as that would be to say, people say the opposite thing now all the time. That the blessing is because of, I mean it's just the inverse of that. But it's equally as offensive to me.
- [51:05]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Yeah. That, that people are poor and suffering in, you know, rural parts of Peru just because they aren't righteous enough. If only they just, you know, if only they just decide to live the Ten Commandments, then they could have, you know, the H2 that, that, well, I don't have one, but that other people have.
- [51:22]
Dr. Richard Leduc
I wonder if, if Joseph and Emma growing up in that same time have a similar sentiment.
- [51:28]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
I, I, I would guess so. I mean they do have different religious upbringings because Emma's family is very Methodist and they are quite active in the Methodist Church. And remember, the Methodist church is Arminian in nature. So they believe that salvation is a lifelong process that you can fall from grace and then be renewed to grace. Joseph's family is primarily Presbyterian in their upbringing, or at least that's the church that most of his members belong to. It's most likely the church that Joseph would have attended most as a child. And the Presbyterian faith is very Calvinist in its nature, meaning mankind doesn't have free will. God has already chosen who he will save and who he will damn. And, and salvation is not of yourself. It's of God deciding to give you the gift of faith that you don't deserve. And that that faith gives you this grace that saves you through the Lord Jesus, but you didn't do anything to get it. And so it was a very common thing to look at someone who was poor, who was down on their luck and to ascribe to that person a lack of God's favor. God must not have chosen you to be saved if he had. Why is it that every single thing you do is a failure? You must not have God's favor because God would bless you if you had God's favor. So I don't know what people said. I know what people say now when horrible tragedies happen and they try to assign some kind of blame for them. But imagine that you are Joseph and you are Emma. Your entire young lives have been thrown into the whirlwind because you are going to follow the commandments of God. And that same God, who has the power over all the earth, who has the power to heal, who has the power to raise from the dead, who has the power to prevent all sickness and all disease, did not intervene to save their child. I have often thought if there was a time when Joseph and Emma came face to face with their faith crisis, it would have to be that summer of 1828. Not only does the baby die, Emma is so weakened by the delivery. I mean, women dying in childbirth is one of the leading causes of women under the age of 50 in the United States in the 19th century dying. In fact, it happens so often that it is a very common occurrence for women to pass away in childbirth. And the way that Emma. Sorry, the way that Lucy writes about it is that Emma was so ill after the delivery that many thought that she was on the verge of going to the silent home of her infant, is how she puts it. That's.
- [54:54]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Wow.
- [54:55]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
It's. It's quite. It's poetic and bleak all at the same time. She says that Joseph spent two weeks at her side and never slept one hour in undisturbed quiet. At the end of this time, his anxiety became great about the manuscript that he determined, as his wife was now somewhat better, that as soon as she gained a little bit more strength, he would make the trip up to New York and see after the same. But he did not mention the subject to Emma for fear of agitating her mind too much for the health of her body. What's really interesting is in the 19th century because they don't have any idea what causes disease and sickness. They. They really believe that your mental state can actually cause your health to decline. We understand that to a certain degree, right? Positive mental attitude is wonderful. But, you know, no one's like, you know, getting shot by a gun and going like, just think good about it and things will be fine, you know. But they really do believe that if you're sick and then you become really worried about something that'll actually make you more sick. Because the reason why you're sick is your humors are out of alignment. And then you being anxious or upset further puts them out of alignment. For those of you doctors that are listening, I apologize for the 19th century medical community. You know what, you should be apologizing to me. These are your forebears and they think that if we just use enough leeches, everything's going to be fine. So this. Joseph's really worried that if he even tells her that he's afraid about the manuscript that it might push Emma over the edge. Because remember, Emma has spent her time working as the scribe for this translation. But the way that, the way that Lucy writes it is great actually. I love it. Showing how much investment Emma has in this holy work. Emma soon manifested that she was not without her thoughts on the subject, notwithstanding the debilitated state which she was in. She called her husband to her and asked him what he thought about the manuscript. I feel so uneasy, he said She. I feel so uneasy, said she. Sorry that I cannot rest and shall not be at ease until I know something about what Mr. Harris is doing with it. Do you not think it would be advisable for you to go and inquire into the reason of his not writing or sending any word back to you since he left us? Joseph begged her to be quiet and not worry herself as he could not leave her just then, as he should not dare be absent from her even one hour while her situation was so precarious. I will, said Emma, send for my mother and she will stay with me until while you are gone. After much persuasion, he concluded to leave his wife in the care of her mother for a few days and set out on the before mentioned journey. So it's actually, it's one of those things that makes you love Emma Smith here that Joseph is trying to take care of Emma. Emma wants to take care of what God wants them to take care of. That I'm going to be fine. I'll find. I'll get my mother over here. But where is the translation of the plates? That's what we really should be worried about. And on the heels of the tragic passing of her baby and near death experience herself, you would think that Emma would be saying, you know what, let's take a little me time. Instead it's Emma that basically tells Joseph, I don't care what you want to do. You go up and you go find those pages. We all know that that doesn't have the happiest of endings. In fact, Joseph really, those words really start to work on Joseph because it has been weeks. Where is Martin? It doesn't take weeks to get up to Palmyra and back to Harmony. Well, if you took them up there to show the pages, then why didn't you come back down with them? And Lucy, her, Lucy Smith will also tell the story of when Joseph is, is going up there. He, he actually is so worried that even though they are so poor, he hires a stagecoach to take him up there there. Because if you go up normally it's going to take you several days to get there. But the great thing about being on a stagecoach is you just stop at different stage intervals and you get on a new stage or you get new horses and the horses can go through the night, you know, so you can, you can cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time by using the stage. This is what Lucy says of this experience that I think is possibly a not very well known miracle in the early church. She says that, that Joseph found himself seated on the stagecoach and left to the solitude of his own imagination. There was but one passenger beside himself inside the vehicle and this individual did not seem inclined to conversation. So we've all sat next to that person on the plane.
- [60:23]
Dr. Richard Leduc
Yes.
- [60:23]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Yeah. Anyone who sits next to Richard is that person on the plane. Richard's the most friendly person you've ever met. If you've ever wanted to go to, you know, any establishment on earth and have the cashier laughing and joking with you and knowing what your first name is on the way out, you take Richard with you.
- [60:45]
Dr. Richard Leduc
That's right.
- [60:46]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
It's what he does, he sell it. He has nothing to say. He just loves people. And so he loves to get to know people and he just disarms people. And I can only imagine when he gets on a plane, he's like, how you doing?
- [60:57]
Dr. Richard Leduc
And then the noise canceling earphones go on and away we are.
- [61:01]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
And then we land. And then they try not to make eye contact. Yeah, you can. It cannot be imagined by one who reads this, for they have not been in circumstances like this. And of course they cannot be correctly described. There were various causes acting upon his mind which were calculated to have a very particular effect upon him. In the first place was the consideration of the calling that he received at the hand of God many years previous as a thing unlooked for by the generation in which he lived. He cast his eyes abroad upon the age present now upon the earth and reflected that he stood alone, an unlearned youth opposed to all the Casuistry and learning and ingenuity of the combined world, whose business was to tear open the bowels of the earth and drag to light the precious things of the earth beneath, and then extend his search up to the throne of God and bring down the precious of heaven above into the midst of the sons of men. Despite all their preconceived opinions and prejudices, which were so great that in order to gratify a pride of popularity, sustain a fashionable religion, they would and did strive even before this to take away his life to prevent the truth from coming forth. At least their own opinions receive less. Less their own opinions receive injury thereby. But this he did not regard. While he was sure of the strong support of the the arm of the Almighty, ruler of men and every other power which was and is to come, there remained another item of consideration of tenfold weight and more vital importance than any of these. He had not now that feeling of justification which assured him of the special favor of God. For he awfully feared that he'd ventured too far in vouching for the safety of the manuscript after it was out of his possession. And should this be the case, the consequence must which must ensue was inevitable. Which was, he would not be permitted to retain the plates and until he should be able to translate them. And perhaps he might not. He might never have the privilege of touching a finger to the work which until now he had been the blessed instruments in the hands of God of bringing to the knowledge of mankind. Nor was this the worst apprehension that disturbed his mind. The hot displeasure of the Almighty would be kindled against him for turning aside the injunctions which were laid upon him and calling upon his heavenly Father to grant him an indulgence that was not according to the instructions of the angel of the Lord. For it now appeared to him, upon reflection, that he had acted hastily in an inconsiderate manner, and that he had regarded man more than his Maker. So she lays out what's going on inside his head here. No doubt from having a conversation with Joseph. There's all kinds of things. The one of them is this miracle that I've been participating in. This might be taken from me if these pages are gone. Which, of course, he already knows he's incurred the displeasure of God, right? So he felt like he had God's favor. He knows he doesn't have God's favor already, and it's not because his child passed away. The angel actually comes to Joseph after Joseph, sends the pages with Martin Harris and takes the plates and the stones that the sacred stones from Joseph in consequence of him having asked over and over and over. So Joseph already knows whatever goes on with the pages. I am not 100% right with God right now. Oh man. But.
- [65:17]
Dr. Richard Leduc
And then it's about to get so much worse.
- [65:20]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
To get so much worse. And I think we'll break here and move to the second episode where I'll tell you what happens on that stagecoach and then we'll talk about what happens when he finally does find Martin Harris. And again, you're thinking, I couldn't possibly care about this. Please just use the Scripture Mastery scriptures of Doctrine Covenant Section three. I think Doctrine Covenant Section three can be one of the most powerful revelations you will ever read if you fully understand the background behind it. And so I have weaved quite a web here, but there is some kind of method to the madness. So thank you so much for joining us.
- [66:08]
Narrator
Thank you for listening to Search these Commandments, a Standard of Truth podcast production of the revelations found in the Doctrine and Covenants host, hosted by historian Dr. Garrett Dirkmont. If you know anybody that could benefit from the material in this episode, please.
- [66:24]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Share it with them.
- [66:25]
Narrator
And for more resources, visit standardoftruth.
- [66:28]
Dr. Garrett Dirkmont
Com.