This week, for the Come, Follow Me curriculum, we
study Nephi’s prophetic interpretation and commentary (2 Nephi 25–30) on the
Isaiah chapters he just quoted (2 Nephi 12–24). As part of this prophecy, Nephi
draws on additional words of Isaiah (Isaiah 29), adapting and expanding on them
to prophecy
of events in the restoration. In
particular, Nephi prophetically described an incident in which a man took some
of the words from the Book of Mormon to the “learned” who asked for him to
bring the book so they could read (translate) it. When the learned is informed
that the book is sealed, he responds “I cannot read it,” or as it appears in
Isaiah, “I cannot read it; for it is sealed” (2 Nephi 27:15–18; Isaiah
29:11–12).
This is widely believed to be referring to the incident in
which Martin Harris went and visited Charles Anthon. In the most popular version
of this story, Martin appeared to Charles Anthon and showed him characters copied
from the plates, and Anthon gave Martin a certificate “certifying to the people
of Palmyra that they were true characters.” Upon learning from Martin that the book
was revealed by an angel of God, however, Anthon tore up the certificate and
asked Martin to bring him the plates. Martin remembered, “I informed him that part
of the plates were sealed, and that I was forbidden to bring them,” to which
Anthon replied, “I cannot read a sealed book.”[1]
As noted in the Come,
Follow Me Sunday School manual
(quoting from Revelations
in Context), “Anthon later denied the details of Martin’s account of
their meeting.” Indeed, we have a few sources from Anthon and others who heard
Anthon talk about the incident, and unsurprisingly they tell a bit of a
different story—specifically denying having given any kind of positive identification
of the characters.
So who should we believe? What really happen? Well, as tends
to happen in history, the truth is somewhere in the middle, but in my view there
are several reasons for accepting the gist of Martin’s version of events. To facilitate
further study for those with questions or who may be interested in learning
more about Martin’s visit to Charles Anthon and other scholars, I’ve put
together the following list of resources.
Church Resources
“Martin
Harris’s Consultations with Scholars,” Church History Topics
“All
is Lost,” in Saints: The Story of the Church of Jesus Christ in the
Latter Days, vol. 1—The Standard of Truth, 1815–1846 (Salt Lake City, UT: The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2018), 46–48.
McBride, Matthew. “The
Contributions of Martin Harris,” in Revelations in Context: The Stories
Behind the Sections of the Doctrine and Covenants, ed. Matthew McBride and James
Goldberg (Salt Lake City, UT: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
2016), 3–4.
KnoWhys (from Book of Mormon Central)
“Why
Does Nephi Use Isaiah 29 as Part of His Own Prophecy?” KnoWhy 52,
March 11, 2016
“Why Did Martin Harris Consult with Scholars like Charles Anthon?” KnoWhy
514, May 7, 2019
“What
Do We Know About the ‘Anthon Transcript’?” KnoWhy 515, May 9, 2019
Primary Sources
Morris, Larry E., ed., A Documentary History of the Book
of Mormon (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2019), 224–249.
In-Depth Historical Analysis
Bennett, Richard E. “‘Read This I Pray Thee’: Martin Harris
and the Three Wise Men of the East,” Journal of Mormon History 36, no. 1
(Winter 2010): 178–216.
Bennett, Richard E. “‘A
Nation Now Extinct,’ American Indian Origin Theories as of 1820: Samuel L.
Mitchill, Martin Harris, and the New York Theory,” Journal of the
Book of Mormon and Other Restoration Scripture 20, no. 2 (2011):
30–51.
Bennett, Richard E. “Martin
Harris’s 1828 Visit to Luther Bradish, Charles Anthon, and Samuel Mitchill,” in The
Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon: A Marvelous Work and a Wonder, ed.
Dennis L. Largey et al. (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret Book and
Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2015), 103–115.
Bennett, Richard E. “‘A
Very Particular Friend’—Luther Bradish,” in Approaching
Antiquity: Joseph Smith and the Ancient World, edited by Lincoln H.
Blumell, Matthew J. Grey, and Andrew H. Hedges (Provo, UT: Religious Studies
Center; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2015), 63–82.
Black, Susan Easton and Larry C. Porter. Martin
Harris: Uncompromising Witness of the Book of Mormon (Provo, UT: BYU
Studies, 2018), 88–101.
Bradley, Don. The Lost 116 Pages: Reconstructing the Book
of Mormon’s Missing Stories (Salt Lake City, UT: Greg Kofford Books, 2019),
15–35.
Bushman, Richard Lyman. Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling
(New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005), 63–66.
Cloward, Robert A. “Isaiah 29 and the Book of Mormon,” in Isaiah in the
Book of Mormon, ed. Donald W. Parry and John W. Welch (Provo, UT: FARMS,
1998), 191–247.
FARMS Staff. “Martin
Harris’s Visit with Charles Anthon: Collected Documents on the Anthon
Transcript and ‘Shorthand Egyptian’,” FARMS Preliminary Report (1990).
Kimball, Stanley B. “The Anthon Transcript:
People, Primary Sources, and Problems,” BYU Studies 10,
no. 3 (1970): 325–352.
MacKay, Michael Hubbard. “‘Git
Them Translated’: Translating the Characters on the Gold Plates,” in Approaching
Antiquity: Joseph Smith and the Ancient World, ed. Lincoln H. Blumell,
Matthew J. Grey, and Andrew H. Hedges (Salt Lake City and Provo, UT: Deseret
Book and Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2015), 83–116.
MacKay, Michael Hubbard, Gerrit J. Dirkmaat, and Robin Scott
Jensen. “The
‘Caractors’ Document: New Light on an Early Transcription of the Book of Mormon
Characters,” Mormon Historical Studies 14, no. 1 (2013):
131–152.
MacKay, Michael Hubbard and Gerrit J. Dirkmaat. From
Darkness unto Light: Joseph Smith’s Translation and Publication of the Book of
Mormon (Provo and Salt Lake City, UT: Religious Studies Center,
Brigham Young University and Deseret Book, 2015), 39–59.
[1] See
Larry E. Morris, ed., A Documentary History of the Book of Mormon (New
York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2019), 240–241 for the full account.
Thanks Stephen! I wanted to spend some time talking about this subject in my upcoming Sunday school lesson, and this list of resources is very helpful.
ReplyDeleteD. Marlowe