| July 1828, Harmony, Pennsylvania. |
| God's work cannot fail though prophets may fall.
Joseph feared man more than God and transgressed God's law. Watch out or
fall. Rebuke for entrusting pages from the Book of Mormon manuscript to
"a wicked man" (Martin Harris) §. Plates
were preserved so the testimony of the Nephites might convert the Lamanites
§. Eight months later, Martin pressures Joseph to
show him the plates (D&C 5). |
| Book of Commandments 2 heading: A Revelation given to Joseph, in Harmony, Pennsylvania, July, 1828, after Martin had lost the Manuscript of the forepart of the book of Mormon, translated from the book of Lehi, which was abridged by the hand of Mormon, saying: |
| 1835 Doctrine and Covenants 30 heading: ON
PRIESTHOOD AND CALLING, / Revelation to Joseph Smith, jr.
given July, 1828, concerning certain manuscripts on [sic] the
first part of the book of Mormon, which had been taken from the possession
of Martin Harris. |
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Book of Commandments 2 |
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| God can't fail |
1 |
[1] The works, and the
designs, and the purposes of God can not be [f]rustrated, neither can
they come to nought, |
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BC verse numbers are in brackets. |
| Unchangeable |
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 strait, and his course
is one eternal round. |
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| Men fail, God can't |
3 |
[2] Remember, remember that it is not
the work of God that is frustrated, but the work of men: |
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| Prophets may fall |
4 |
for although a man may have many revelations, and have power
to do many mighty works, yet, if he boasts in his own strength, and sets
at nought the counsels of God, and follows after the dictates of his own
will, and carnal desires, he must fall and incur the vengeance of a just
God upon him. |
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| Remember commandments |
5 |
[3] Behold, you have been intrusted
with these things, but how strict were your commandments; and remember,
also, the promises which were made to you, if you did not transgress them; |
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| Joseph transgressor |
6 |
and behold, how oft you have transgressed the commandments
and the laws of God, and have gone on in the persuasions of men: |
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| Feared men |
7 |
for behold, you should not have feared man
more than God, although men set at nought the counsels of God, and despise
his words, |
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| Should have trusted God |
8 |
yet you should have been faithful and he would have extended
his arm, and supported you against all the fiery darts of the adversary;
and he would have been with you in every time of trouble, |
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| Watch out or fall |
9 |
[4] 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, |
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| God is merciful, so repent |
10 |
but remember God is merciful: Therefore, repent of that which thou hast
done, and he will only cause thee
to be afflicted for a season which is contrary
to the commandment which I gave you, and thou art still chosen,
and wilt
again be art again called to the
work;
and |
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Blue: dropped
in 1835
Red: added in 1835 |
| Otherwise lose gift |
11 |
except thou do this, thou shalt be delivered up and become
as other men, and have no more gift. |
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| Shouldn't have given pages to Martin |
12 |
[5] And when thou deliveredst up
that which God had given thee sight and power to translate, thou deliveredst
up that which was sacred into the hands of a wicked man, |
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| Martin ignored God's advice, broke promises |
13 |
who has set at nought the counsels of God, and has broken the most sacred
promises, which were made before God, and has depended upon his own judgment,
and boasted in his own wisdom, |
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14 |
and this is the reason that thou hast lost thy privileges for a season, |
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| Joseph let him get away with it |
15 |
for thou hast suffered the counsel of thy director to be trampled upon
from the beginning.. [sic] |
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| But book will go forth |
16 |
[6] Nevertheless, my work
shall go forth and accomplish my purposes, for inasmuch
as the knowledge of a Savior has come into
unto the world, through
the testimony of the Jews, even so shall the knowledge of my
people, a Savior come unto my people— |
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| Testimony of Nephites, etc. |
17 |
And to the Nephites, and the Jacobites, and
the Josephites, and the Zoramites, through the testimony
of their fathers— |
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| To the Lamanites, etc. |
18 |
And this testimony shall come to the knowledge
of the Lamanites, and the Lemuelites, and the Ishmaelites, which
who dwindled in unbelief because of the iniquity
of their fathers, who
whom the Lord has
have been suffered to destroy their brethren, the
Nephites, because of their iniquities, and
their abominations: |
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| Plates preserved for this purpose |
19 |
and for this very purpose are these plates preserved,
which contain these records, that the promises of the Lord might
be fulfilled, which he made to his people; |
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| That Lamanites might know and believe |
20 |
and that the Lamanites might come to the knowledge of
their fathers, and that they might know the promises of the Lord, and
that they may believe the gospel and rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ,
and be glorified through faith in his name; and that through their repentance
they might be saved: Amen. |
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Book of Mormon purpose: convert Lamanites
¶ D&C 10:48 |
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D&C 4
D&C 2
New York–Pennsylvania Revelations
Doctrine and Covenants
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