"After much solicitation," says the Prophet, in his account of this affair, "I again inquired of the Lord, and permission was granted him to have the writings on certain conditions; which were, that he should show them only to his brother, Preserved Harris, his own wife, his father and his mother, and a Mrs. Cobb, a sister of his wife. In accordance with this last answer, I required of him that he should bind himself in a covenant to me in the most solemn manner that he would not do otherwise than had been directed. He did so. He bound himself as I required of him, took the writings, and went his way;" [9] and the Prophet took advantage of the absence of Harris, who had acted as his scribe, to visit his parents at Manchester. The solemn engagement which Martin Harris made with the Prophet he broke. He showed the writings to other persons than those named in his agreement with the Prophet, and these stole the precious manuscript from him, and he was never able to recover it. This circumstance also went hard with Joseph as to his standing with the Lord. He had allowed himself to be over-persuaded by the importunities of Martin Harris, and that after he had twice learned that it was not the will of the Lord that Harris should have the manuscript. He learned that Harris had lost the one hundred and sixteen pages of manuscript while he was yet in Manchester visiting with his parents; and immediately returned to Harmony, where he humbled himself in prayer before God that he might obtain forgiveness for his error; but apparently to no immediate purpose, for Moroni appeared to him and demanded the plates and also the Urim and Thummim. These were surrendered, with what anguish of soul one may readily understand. Exactly what length of time they were withheld from him cannot be determined, but evidently not long; for in July of the same year the angel guardian of the record, Moroni, appeared to him again and presented the plates and Urim and Thummim to him. The Prophet, through the medium of the holy instrument, obtained the following revelation which bears the date of July, 1828: [10] "The works, and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught. For God doth not walk in crooked paths, neither doth he turn to the right hand, nor to the left, neither doth he vary from that which he hath said, therefore his paths are straight, and his course is one eternal round. "Remember, remember, that it is not the work of God that is frustrated, but the work of men; for although a man may have many revelations, and have power to do many mighty works, yet if he boasts in his own strength, and sets at naught the counsels of God, and follows after the dictates of his own will and carnal desires, he must fall and incur the vengeance of a just God upon him.