Doctrine and Covenants 3:1–3

The Prophet Joseph Smith:

“[Martin] desired of me that I would inquire of the Lord, through the Urim and Thummim, if he might not [take the manuscript home and show it]. I did inquire, and the answer was that he must not. However, he was not satisfied with this answer, and desired that I should inquire again. I did so, and the answer was as before. Still he could not be contented, but insisted that I should inquire once more” (in History of the Church, 1:21).

Doctrine and Covenants 3:7

Elder D. Todd Christofferson:

“There are many places in the scriptures that counsel mankind to fear God. In our day we generally interpret the word fear as “respect” or “reverence” or “love”; that is, the fear of God means the love of God or respect for Him and His law. That may often be a correct reading, but I wonder if sometimes fear doesn’t really mean fear,as when the prophets speak of fearing to offend God by breaking His commandments. …

“… We should so love and reverence Him that we fear doing anything wrong in His sight, whatever may be the opinions of or pressure from others” (“A Sense of the Sacred” [CES fireside for young adults, Nov. 7, 2004], 6–7, LDS.org; see also speeches.byu.edu).

Doctrine and Covenants 3

Lucy Mack Smith recorded that Martin Harris’s wife, Lucy, “was a very peculiar woman, one that was naturally of a very jealous disposition … and when anything was said that she did not hear distinctly she suspected that it was some secret which was designedly kept from her.” Lucy Harris was suspicious of Joseph Smith and was intent on seeing the plates. When Martin went to see Joseph about the work of the translation, Lucy Harris went along and questioned Joseph about the plates, demanding to see them. He told her she could not, “for he was not permitted to exhibit them to any one except those whom the Lord should appoint to testify of them.”

The night after Joseph told Lucy Harris this, she had a dream, which she reported to the Smiths in the morning: “A personage appeared to her who told her that as she had disputed the servant of the Lord, … she had done that which was not right in the sight of God. After which he said to her, ‘Behold, here are the plates, look upon them and believe.’” Lucy then told Joseph that she wanted to help support the translation.

Unfortunately, Lucy Harris’s change of heart did not last long, and she soon demanded physical evidence of the plates again. Shortly after Joseph and Emma moved to Harmony, Pennsylvania, Martin followed without telling his wife that he was leaving. When she found out, she was angry that her husband was spending so much time away from her and was even more concerned that the Smiths were trying to defraud him.

Martin returned to New York shortly, but when he prepared to go to Harmony again, Lucy Harris insisted on going with him. When they arrived at Joseph and Emma’s home, she announced that she was not going to leave until she saw the plates. She ransacked the entire house, but did not find them. From then on, she claimed that her husband had been duped by “a grand imposter.” After two weeks, Martin took her home. Despite her attempts to dissuade him, he returned to Harmony to help Joseph. In Martin’s absence, Lucy continued going about “from house to house, telling her grievances, and declaring that Joseph Smith was practicing a deception upon the people.” (See History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, ed. Preston Nibley [1958], 114–22.)

Doctrine and Covenants 3

Shortly after Martin Harris left with the 116 pages of manuscript, Emma Smith bore a son, Alvin, who died the day he was born. Emma nearly died herself, and for two weeks Joseph stayed at her bedside. By this time, Martin had been gone for three weeks and they had heard nothing from him. Joseph worried about the manuscript but did not mention anything to Emma for fear of her fragile health.

“In a few days, however, [Emma] mentioned the subject herself, and desired her husband to go and get her mother to stay with her, while he should repair to Palmyra [New York], for the purpose of learning the cause of Mr. Harris’ absence as well as silence. At first Joseph objected, but seeing her so cheerful, and so willing to have him leave home, he finally consented.

“He set out in the first stage that passed for Palmyra, and, when he was left to himself, he began to contemplate the course which Martin had taken, and the risk which he (Joseph) had run in letting the manuscript go out of his hands … and that, by persisting in his entreaties to the Lord, he had perhaps fallen into transgression, and thereby lost the manuscript.”

After disembarking from the stage and walking the last 20 miles during the night, Joseph finally arrived at his parents’ home in Manchester. “When Joseph had taken a little nourishment, … he requested us to send immediately for Mr. Harris. This we did without delay. … We commenced preparing breakfast for the family; and we supposed that Mr. Harris would be there, as soon as it was ready, to eat with us, for he generally came in such haste when he was sent for. At eight o’clock we set the victuals on the table, as we were expecting him every moment. We waited till nine, and he came not—till ten, and he was not there—till eleven, still he did not make his appearance. But at half past twelve we saw him walking with a slow and measured tread towards the house, his eyes fixed thoughtfully upon the ground. On coming to the gate, he stopped, instead of passing through, and got upon the fence, and sat there some time with his hat drawn over his eyes. At length he entered the house. Soon after which we sat down to the table, Mr. Harris with the rest. He took up his knife and fork as if he were going to use them, but immediately dropped them. Hyrum, observing this, said ‘Martin, why do you not eat; are you sick?’ Upon which Mr. Harris pressed his hands upon his temples, and cried out in a tone of deep anguish, ‘Oh, I have lost my soul! I have lost my soul!’

“Joseph who had not expressed his fears till now, sprang from the table, exclaiming, ‘Martin, have you lost that manuscript? Have you broken your oath, and brought down condemnation upon my head as well as your own?’

“‘Yes; it is gone,’ replied Martin, ‘and I know not where.’ …

“Said Joseph, … ‘All is lost! all is lost! What shall I do? I have sinned—it is I who tempted the wrath of God. I should have been satisfied with the first answer which I received from the Lord; for he told me that it was not safe to let the writing go out of my possession.’ He wept and groaned, and walked the floor continually.

“At length he told Martin to go back and search again.

“‘No’; said Martin, ‘it is all in vain; for I have ripped open beds and pillows [looking for the manuscript]; and I know it is not there.’

“‘Then must I,’ said Joseph, ‘return with such a tale as this? I dare not do it. And how shall I appear before the Lord? Of what rebuke am I not worthy from the angel of the Most High?’ …

“The next morning, he set out for home. We parted with heavy hearts, for it now appeared that all which we had so fondly anticipated, and which had been the source of so much secret gratification, had in a moment fled, and fled forever” (Lucy Mack Smith, History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, ed. Preston Nibley [1958], 125–29).

Doctrine and Covenants 10:38–45

In the preface to the first edition of the Book of Mormon, Joseph Smith described the source from which the lost 116 manuscript pages were translated: “I [Joseph Smith] translated, by the gift and power of God, and caused to be written, one hundred and sixteen pages, the which I took from the Book of Lehi, which was an account abridged from the plates of Lehi, by the hand of Mormon; which said account, some person or persons have stolen and kept from me, notwithstanding my utmost exertions to recover it again” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [2007], 63).

Doctrine and Covenants 10:45

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland:

“It strikes me that there is a wiser purpose than that [compensating for the loss of the 116 pages], or, more accurately, a wiser purpose in that. The key to such a suggestion of a wiser purpose is in verse 45 of Doctrine and Covenants section 10. As the Lord instructs Joseph on the procedure for translating and inserting the material from the small plates into what had been begun as the translation of the abridged large plates, he says, ‘Behold, there are many things engraven upon the [small] plates of Nephi which do throw greater views upon my gospel’ (emphasis added).

“So, clearly, this was not a quid pro quo in the development of the final Book of Mormon product. It was not tit for tat, this for that—you give me 116 pages of manuscript and I’ll give you 142 pages of printed text. Not so. We got back more than we lost. And it was known from the beginning that it would be so. It was for a wiser purpose. We do not know exactly what we missed in the 116 pages, but we do know that what we received on the small plates was the personal declarations of three great witnesses, three of the great doctrinal voices of the Book of Mormon, testifying that Jesus is the Christ. …

“My, how we wish we had all of those plain and precious testimonies which have been stripped from the Biblical record. But at least as readers of the Book of Mormon, we have Nephi, Jacob, and Isaiah to speak to us immediately as personal eye-witnesses of the premortal Savior. They are recipients of marvelous revelations regarding his life and ministry and of God’s covenant relationship with the House of Israel, ancient and modern. …

“I think it would be exciting if the 116 pages of manuscript turned up some day, but if they were delivered to my office tomorrow I would never trade them for the material in the small plates of Nephi, for the ‘greater views’ given through the great prophetic sentinels who stand at the gate of the book. So tell your students to stop complaining and get reading—including Isaiah” (“A Standard unto My People” [address to CES religious educators, Aug. 9, 1994], 7–9, LDS.org).