The Story of the Mormons, from the Date of Their Origin to the Year 1901 — John Shaqi
The Story of the Mormons, from the Date of Their Origin to the Year 1901Linn, William Alexander
History
The Story of the Mormons, from the Date of Their Origin to the Year 1901
Linn, William Alexander
Latter Day Saints -- History; Utah -- History
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."*
* "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, at his 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."*
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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