D&C Lesson 4: Another miraculous preservation of the Book of Mormon

One example of the miraculous preservation of the Book of Mormon occurred when Martin Harris lost 116 pages of the translated manuscript. Martin worked as scribe for a couple months – April through June 1828. Joseph had completed 116 pages that Martin had written on foolscap paper. You know the rest of the story. Martin asked Joseph to let him take the transcription and show it to a number of his friends; Joseph said ‘no’. Martin begged Joseph to inquire of the Lord through the Urim and Thumim – which he did, but was also denied. Martin asked Joseph to ask again, which he did, with the same answer. Then once more Martin pleaded with Joseph:

Joseph Smith: “After much solicitation, 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, his wife, his father and mother, and Mrs. Cobb, a sister of his wife… 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 he had been directed. He did so. He bound himself as I required of him, took the writings and went his way.” (Comprehensive History of the Church, Vol 1, Chapter IX by B. H. Roberts)

After Martin departed, Emma gave birth to their first son – but he lived only a few hours. Emma’s life hung in the balance for a couple weeks. Joseph agonized over the reluctant consent he’d received from the Lord after multiple refusals – and now there was no word from Martin. When it was clear that Emma would fully recover, Joseph headed back to Palmyra – and upon arriving sent at once for Martin Harris, who reluctantly came to the Smith home.

B. H Roberts: He had broken his solemn covenant with the Prophet. In fact he recklessly disregarded that covenant and exhibited the manuscript not only to those named in the agreement, but to others, and that quite freely. As a result the manuscript was stolen from him and he was never able to recover it, nor has it ever been found to this day. (Ibid.)

After the 116 pages of manuscript were lost, the Lord chastened Joseph for fearing man more than God.


D&C 3:1-3, 7 The works, and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught. 2 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. 3 Remember, remember that it is not the work of God that is frustrated, but the work of men; … 7 For, behold, you should not have feared man more than God. Although men set at naught the counsels of God, and despise his words—

What’s particularly interesting to me is that even before Joseph learned that the plates had been lost, Moroni was instructed to take back the plates and the Urim and Thumim. Moroni then returned the Urim and Thumim long enough for Joseph Smith to receive the revelation in Section 3, and possibly Section 10 as well as it was also given in the summer of 1828. (Although the D&C is generally in chronological order, that is the revelations are in the order they were given, for some reason Section 10 follows several revelations given in 1829.)

The Lord, however, showed tremendous love towards Joseph following the chastisement.

D&C 3:9–10 Behold, thou art Joseph, and thou wast chosen to do the work of the Lord, but because of transgression, if thou art not aware thou wilt fall. 10 But remember, God is merciful; therefore, repent of that which thou hast done which is contrary to the commandment which I gave you, and thou art still chosen, and art again called to the work;

If Joseph had retranslated the lost material, whoever stole the manuscript would have altered the words. They would have compared the altered original to the retranslation, trying to show that the two versions contradicted each other.

D&C 10:10–14 And, behold, Satan hath put it into their hearts to alter the words which you have caused to be written, or which you have translated, which have gone out of your hands. 11 And behold, I say unto you, that because they have altered the words, they read contrary from that which you translated and caused to be written; 12 And, on this wise, the devil has sought to lay a cunning plan, that he may destroy this work; 13 For he hath put into their hearts to do this, that by lying they may say they have caught you in the words which you have pretended to translate. 14 Verily, I say unto you, that I will not suffer that Satan shall accomplish his evil design in this thing.

However, about 2,400 years earlier, the Lord inspired Nephi, who was writing a secular history of the Nephites, to prepare a second set of records. The second set contained an account of the Nephites’ ministry during the same period of time and had greater doctrinal value than the first. Later, Mormon was inspired to add to his abridgement the Small Plates he discovered, which had included the abridgement of the Book of Lehi. The interesting thing is that as a result of this, many scholars believe that we actually have the record that the Lord intended us to have.