SECTION
2
[Book
of Commandments 2, Kirtland D&C 30, LDS D&C 3]
By
July 1828 a total of 116 pages of the Book of Mormon manuscript had
been translated. Martin Harris served as Joseph’s scribe at this
time and wrote most of the translation. To quiet the ridicule of some
of his relatives, Martin borrowed the manuscript, promising to
preserve it with the utmost care, but the foolscap sheets were stolen
from him and never recovered. Under these circumstances the following
instruction and rebuke were given to Joseph. The revelation was
received at Harmony, Pennsylvania, in July 1828.
1a.
The works, and the designs, and the purposes of God, cannot be
frustrated, neither can they come to naught, for God doth not walk in
crooked paths;
1b.
neither doth he turn to the right hand nor to the left;
1c.
neither doth he vary from that which he hath said; therefore his
paths are straight and his course is one eternal round.
2a.
Remember, remember, that it is not the work of God that is
frustrated, but the work of men;
2b.
for although a man may have many revelations, and have power to do
many mighty works, yet, if he boast in his own strength, and sets at
naught 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.
3a.
Behold, you have been intrusted with these things, but how strict
were your commandments;
3b.
and remember, also, the promises which were made to you, if you did
not transgress them; and, behold, how oft you have transgressed the
commandments and the laws of God, and have gone on in the persuasions
of men:
3c.
for, behold, you should not have feared man more than God, although
men set at naught the counsels of God, and despise his words, 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.
4a.
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, but remember God is merciful;
4b.
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;
4c.
except thou doest this, thou shalt be delivered up and become as
other men, and have no more gift.
5a.
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 who has set at naught 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;
5b.
and this is the reason that thou hast lost thy privileges for a
season, for thou hast suffered the counsel of thy director to be
trampled upon from the beginning.
6a.
Nevertheless, my work shall go forth, for, inasmuch as the knowledge
of a Savior has come unto the world, through the testimony of the
Jews, even so shall the knowledge of a Savior come unto my people,
and to the Nephites, and the Jacobites, and the Josephites, and the
Zoramites, through the testimony of their fathers;
6b.
and this testimony shall come to the knowledge of the Lamanites, and
the Lemuelites, and the Ishmaelites, who dwindled in unbelief because
of the iniquity of their fathers, whom the Lord has suffered to
destroy their brethren the Nephites, because of their iniquities and
their abominations;
6c.
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;
6d.
and that the Lamanites might come to the knowledge of their fathers,
and that they might know the promises of the Lord,
6e.
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.
