New Witnesses for God (Volume 2 of 3)

by B. H. Roberts

PART II.

The Discovery of the Book of Mormon and its Translation. The Migrations, Lands, Inter-Continental Movements, Civilizations, Governments, and Religions of its Peoples.

CHAPTER IV.

HOW JOSEPH SMITH OBTAINED THE BOOK OF MORMON

The Book of Mormon was published in the town of Palmyra, Wayne County, State of New York. It issued from the press of Mr. Egbert B. Grandin; and was published for Joseph Smith, the Prophet. The exact date on which the book issued from the press cannot be ascertained. Most likely, however, it was some time in the month of March or of April, 1830; for in the Prophet's history we have him saying that, "During this month of April, I went on a visit to the residence of Mr. Joseph Knight, of Colesville, Broome county, New York." This Mr. Knight had been acquainted with the Smith family for some time. He had visited them at their home near Manchester, New York, on several occasions;^[[1]] and during the period occupied in translating the Book of Mormon, had rendered some material assistance to the Prophet by supplying him and Oliver Cowdery with provisions.^[[2]] Soon after this visit the Prophet informs us that he returned to Fayette, Seneca county,—evidently in the same month of April—and then adds:

"The Book of Mormon * * * had now been published for some time, and as the ancient prophets predicted of it, 'it was accounted a strange thing.'"^[[3]] In the Evening and Morning Star for April, 1833, published at Independence, Missouri—the first periodical published by the Church—occurs the following: "Soon after the Book of Mormon came forth, containing the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Church was organized, on the 6th of April, 1830."^[[4]] This fixes approximately the date for the publication of the book. It issued from the press either very early in April or in the month of March, 1830; most likely some time in March. The first edition was five thousand copies.

Naturally enough the book was "accounted a strange thing." Joseph Smith, for whom it was published, was an unlettered young man, who from the time he was ten years of age until the Book of Mormon was published—when he was twenty-four—had lived in the vicinity of Palmyra and Manchester townships. His father having met with a series of misfortunes in business ventures and land purchases, the family was in straitened circumstances through all these years, and Joseph had been under the necessity of working among the farmers in and around Manchester to aid his parents in the support of their large family. About the last thing to be expected of a young man reared under such circumstances would be that he become the publisher of a book. The fact that he had published one was of itself sufficient cause for astonishment; but it was not the fact that an unlettered youth, who had spent his life in toil among them, had published a book that was regarded as so strange a thing by the people. It was the account he gave of the book's origin, and the nature of the book itself that constituted it such a "marvel and a wonder." Joseph Smith disclaimed being its author^[[5]] in any other sense than that he was the translator of it by miraculous means. The original Book of Mormon, the translation of which he had published, was written, or rather engraven, upon gold plates, according to his representations; which plates had come into his possession in the following manner:

Early in the spring of 1820 Joseph Smith received a revelation from God in which the apostate condition of Christendom was made known to him, coupled with a promise that at some future time the gospel of Jesus Christ would be restored to the earth; and that he, if faithful, would be an instrument in the hands of God in accomplishing some of his great purposes in the last days.^[[6]]

After this first revelation, Joseph Smith was left for three years without any further direct manifestation from God. At the expiration of that time, however, being oppressed with a sense of loneliness and longing for further communication with the heavens, and burdened with an anxious desire to know of his standing before the Lord, on the evening of the 21st of September, 1823, after having retired for the night, he betook himself to prayer that he might receive once more a manifestation from God. The rest of the narrative is best told in his own words: