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S3E18 · D&C 4 and 5 (formerly premium content from HPFOP)
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Standard of Truth · Season 3 · Episode 18 · 58:22

D&C 4 and 5 (formerly premium content from HPFOP)

D&C 4, the revelation so many missionaries quote, came when Joseph Smith Sr. asked what he could do to help, and soon after he shared the gospel with his boarder, a schoolteacher named Oliver Cowdery.

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What happened in Harmony after the lost 116 pages, and why do D&C 4 and 5 matter?

Richard

This Holy Places From Our Past episode, once premium, continues the story in Harmony, Pennsylvania, after the loss of the 116 pages. Gerrit explains how hard 1829 was for Joseph: poor, pressured by his father-in-law Isaac Hale, and at odds with Lucy Harris. D&C 4 answers Joseph Smith Sr.'s question about how he can help, and he shares the gospel with Oliver Cowdery, who soon becomes Joseph's full-time scribe and even pays to keep Joseph on his land. D&C 5 answers Martin Harris's wish to see the plates while he faced legal threats. Gerrit closes on how translating 3 Nephi taught Joseph and Oliver that baptism is essential, leading them to the woods by the Susquehanna where priesthood authority was restored.

Who comes upJoseph SmithJoseph Smith Sr.Oliver CowderyMartin HarrisLucy HarrisEmma SmithIsaac HaleLucy Mack Smith
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Intro Welcome to Holy Places from Our Past, a Standard of Truth podcast production. In each episode, host Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaat and Professor Richard LeDuc will take you to a different historic site from the latter-day Saint Past. They will talk about the history of the place and the miracles, manifestations, and revelations that occurred there. These holy sites will help you grow your own faith as you look back at those who came before you.
Gerrit Hi, welcome to another episode of Holy Places from Our Past, a Standard of Truth podcast production. I'm your host, Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaat, and I'm joined by my friend, Professor Richard LeDuc.
Richard Hello, Gerrit. In this week's podcast, we're gonna continue our discussion of Harmony and the events that took place there. I believe when we last left, we spoke about Doctrine and Covenants, Section Three, the Stolen 116 Pages, and a little bit more about the relationship with Joseph and Emma.
Gerrit So we're now into 1829 then. So Joseph has the loss of the pages, and remember the plates are taken from him, and then the angel brings them back. Now according to Joseph Smith history, even though he gets the plates back, he doesn't really do any translating after he gets them back. He says that he's basically required to go to labor for his family on the farm. So he's working the small farm that he has with Emma down there, trying to make ends meet. And so there's not a whole lot of translating that appears to be going on during that time period. Now, even though there's been a pretty massive setback, I mean, there is a hangover, not from the hard cider and ale that is frequently drunk by Americans at the time, but from the fact that so much of the work is gone. I mean, I can only imagine, Joseph doesn't speak to this, but even after he gets the plates back, I mean, have you ever been working on a big paper for a class, right?
Gerrit You've spent hours on it, you've typed it up, you've got it ready to go, and then you lose it all. Computer crashes, it's gone.
Richard Yeah, that's happened to me several times, and even then I'm like, you know what? I don't even care anymore.
Gerrit You end up actually not like, so the most logical thing to do, if you spent two hours writing a paper and it's gone, is to immediately begin rewriting it, because the freshest it's ever been in your mind is this second, right? But by human nature, what do we do? We say, well, that hard cider's looking pretty good. I mean, we instead, we kind of, we tend to shut down. Now, Joseph, of course, doesn't say that. And he says that he's working, but just imagine how much time and effort they have spent. Emma and Martin, as scribes, have literally spent dozens of hours, dozens and dozens, day after day after day, scribing as Joseph Smith translates. And it's all gone.
Richard What's the timeframe? How long does it take for some of the efforts to translate those 116 pages roughly?
Gerrit It's actually really difficult to tell. It's really easy to tell how they get the Book of Mormon from when Oliver Cowdery shows up to when it's ready to go to print, because we know the exact day Oliver Cowdery shows up. And then right after that, translation. After Joseph gets the plates, we know that there's a significant amount of time in between when he gets them and when he begins translating in earnest. But we don't know how often he's actually translating. And one of his major scribes is Martin Harris. Martin Harris doesn't live in Harmony. I mean, he comes down several times, but it's not like he comes down and stays for six months at a time. He's not like Oliver Cowdery. When Oliver Cowdery comes, he moves to Harmony. That's it, he picks up and now he's moving there. And then he moves on to Fayette with Joseph. And so Emma is serving as a scribe for part of the time. Martin Harris is serving as a scribe for part of the time.
Gerrit It's actually pretty hard to determine how quickly they get to that first manuscript. They seem to be translating pretty much in earnest in early 1828, so he gets the plates in September of 1827. In early 1828, he seems to be translating in earnest. And then by June, he's lost the plates because he asked three times if Martin Harris could take the pages. And the angel takes the plates away. And even though he gets the plates back shortly thereafter, after he gets, after he gets, receives Doctrine and Coven, Section 3, he says that he wasn't able to really go back to translating because he's working. And so you really have kind of like a February to June timeframe. So it's really not that long, you know, February, March, April, May. And my guess is as you get to the closer end of June, you know, to the beginning of June, there's a lot less going on because Emma is very pregnant at that point.
Gerrit And so once Martin Harris has gone, you know, I doubt that they're doing a ton of sitting and translating.
Richard But it still took a pretty decent amount of time. I've got to imagine that just added to the despair and just how much time and effort it took.
Gerrit Yeah, I think so. And I think that that's, I think all of that kind of added together. I don't know what's going on in Joseph's mind, but I know he doesn't go immediately back to it. And it's hard to tell when he really is going to, you know? We know that the next major thing that's going to happen is Martin Harris is going to come down, and that's going to be related to the translation of the plates. But before that, there's even another important thing that's going on. And that is Joseph Smith Sr. decides that he's going to come down to Harmony. They're going to come down and visit their son. Now, the last time they saw their son, his baby had just died. The entire translation project had just come to a screeching halt. Joseph was standing up in their breakfast nook, or whatever, I don't know what they called their little dining area, shouting to Martin Harris, have you brought condemnation upon yourself and upon me by breaking your oath?
Gerrit And Martin Harris sang, I've lost my soul, I've lost my soul. And the way that Lucy Smith describes it is that weeping and moaning fill the whole house. Everybody is just in this everything is gone idea. And then an incredibly despondent Joseph goes back, goes back home. And so I think that that might have motivated Father Smith to take this journey down. Now, this is going to be kind of a it's going to be an awkward family reunion in a sense, right? Because Isaac Hale, if you recall from our previous episodes, he is not a fan of the blessed marital union that has taken place. Now, the Smiths, as we talked about, they were overjoyed. Joseph was lonely since Alvin had died.
Gerrit He wanted to get married. He took a fancy to Emma, right? Emma wanted to marry him. But the Smiths were very poor and on the lowest end of the financial and social structure. The Hales, on the other hand, were very prominent. They were not rich, rich. It's not like Isaac Hale was like burning $20 bills every time he lights his pipe. But they are well off. They are well respected. They are well off. They are well thought of. And as much as, you know, your standing in society matters to people today, take whatever you think that is, multiply it by a million. And that's what it is back then. That what you are thought of, your honor, is so important in that culture. And so as the Smiths come down for a little visit, here's Isaac Hale.
Gerrit And of course has to be going through his mind. Not only are these the parents who raise this ne'er do well, you know, gold plate finding, running off and marrying my wife and Joseph. They obviously encouraged him to do it. I mean, where did they go right after they got married? They went to the Smiths house up in Palmyra. So we don't have any good details on this about what happens, but to the credit of the Hales, it appears that they were magnanimous, as you might expect a social better to be. In fact, they probably shouldn't be showing their eye. This is what Lucy says in her book. While on this visit, we became acquainted with Emma's father. And again, if you go to the Harmony Site, one of the great recreated homes there is the Isaac Hale home, and it is well acquainted and a nice place.
Gerrit We became acquainted with Emma's father, whose name is Isaac Hale, and also his family, which consisted of his wife, Elizabeth Lewis Hale, his sons, Jesse, David, Alva, Isaac W and Reuben, and his daughters, Phoebe and Elizabeth. This is a big family. Isaac Hale is not... He has had many children here. He's about to have the tribes of Israel at this point. They were an intelligent and highly respectable family. They were pleasantly situated and lived in good style in the town of Harmony on the Susquehanna River, within a short distance of the place where Joseph resided. This is a very interesting thing, just from a sociological perspective when you look at Lucy's book, because one thing that is certain when you read Lucy's book is that she does not like Lucy Harris. And I mean she really doesn't like Lucy Harris. And the situations are pretty similar here, right?
Gerrit You have the well-off, even more well-off, Martin Harris and his wife Lucy who do not accept, Lucy does not accept Joseph Smith's truth claims, fights against the work, says negative things about Joseph, and it seems like Lucy Smith just is never going to let that go. She is outraged at Lucy Harris, even as she's reflecting back all these years later. But what's so interesting is Isaac Hale, essentially threatens to kick Joseph out of doors, is what Joseph says, writes an affidavit, just like Lucy Harris did, attacking Joseph, attacking Joseph's character. This is all in 1833 and 34 that this will be published. And yet in her book, Lucy Smith still seems to remember this visit fondly and doesn't take this as an opportunity to take a shot at the Hales.
Gerrit She doesn't say, but they were never believers in Joseph. She says, they had some money. We stayed at a nice place. And then goes on to say, the time of our visit with them, we passed very agreeably. So there's no hint that there's this undercurrent of animosity. We return home, and this shows you what they were thinking about when they went. Relieved of a burden, which was almost insupportable, and our present joy far overbalanced all our former griefs. So before, they thought for sure, all was lost, the plates were gone, everything's a problem. They come down and they find out, you know what, actually, it's not that bad. Actually, I've got the plates back. Actually, the Lord has said, I can be forgiven. Now, of course, Joseph still doesn't have his son, but they really do rebound a little bit, both Lucy and Father Smith, as well as Joseph and Emma.
Gerrit One of the most famous revelations in the church, one of the ones well known, especially if you're a missionary, is Doctrine and Covenant, Section 4. And this is the first revelation that's received for someone else, right? Joseph received D&C 3, but that was God chastising him for allowing the plate. Now, there is a message for Martin Harris in there, which is Martin Harris is a wicked man because he broke his oath, but the revelation actually is for Joseph, and then Joseph, I'm sure, go tell Martin Harris, You're a wicked man. Hey, by the way, You broke your oath. Hey, could you pass the butter, you're a wicked man. What was that? I just, wicked man, probably, enemy of God. What was that? It's enemy of God. But Father Smith is gonna come down to Harmony, and he wants to be able to help his son out. What can I do to help you?
Gerrit I mean, think about this as a father, your son has just had the worst possible stretch of time. In a year's space of time, he has been uprooted from where he was living. He's been spending all kinds of time trying to work on this translation project for God, dealing with persecution, people trying to steal the plates, people trying to attack him, people trying to hurt him, only to have all those pages lost, to have his wife nearly die with her childbirth in which his son does die. I mean, this has been a rough time. This has been a terrible time in Joseph's life. And so you can almost see that Father Smith, when he comes down, he's saying, what can I do? What is it that I can do that can help you? And Joseph is going to receive the revelation for him. Interestingly, the way that the revelation is given a heading in the Book of Commandments and Revelations, which is this this revelation collection book, Martin Harris copies the revelations.
Gerrit And this is the heading that was on that on that revelation. This is section four of the Doctrine and Covenants. Now it was titled A Revelation to Joseph, the father of the seer. He desired to know what the Lord had for him to do. So Father Smith comes down. What can I do, Joseph? Well, look, he can't do what fathers normally do. So he can't bring some money to help Joseph out because Father Smith has no money, right? So he can't he can't just help out by bringing some money. He can't, you know, smooth things over with the locals. He maybe could offer to labor a little bit on the farm, but what can he actually do? Maybe he did. Maybe he said, you know what, Joseph, can I help labor on the farm? And maybe that's what prompts the phraseology of the actual Revelation, which everyone knows so well.
Gerrit And he said, it's so well known because so many missionaries quoted, Now behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men. Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God, see that you serve him with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that you may stand blameless before God at the last day. Therefore, if you have desires to serve God, you are called to the work. This is why I wonder, I wonder if Father Smith said, do you want me to help you on your farm? Because the Lord's response is, for behold, the field is white already to harvest. And lo, he that thrusteth in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to his soul. It makes me wonder if the Lord's using that phraseology. I don't know. I don't know. That's just speculation. But one thing that we know happens around the same time. Now, we don't know exact timelines on this. So this may not have been the catalyst.
Gerrit But what Joseph doesn't know, what Joseph Smith Jr. doesn't know, is that Joseph Smith Sr. had recently taken into his home up in Palmyra a border, a young school teacher by the name of Oliver Cowdery. Now, Oliver Cowdery, he is not in the Palmyra area long before people start, you know, as he meets people, oh, hey, how are you, stranger? I don't know Oliver Cowdery's voice, but I'm just assuming everyone moved from Maine. And he's like, how are you, stranger? And the response is, oh, I'm Oliver Cowdery, oh, where are you staying at? Oh, I'm boarding with the Smiths. The Smiths! You're boarding with the Smiths. I mean, how long do you think before someone said to him, zero seconds, you know that they've got a gold Bible over there, right?
Gerrit Right. Which is exactly what appears to happen. So Oliver Cowdery has multiple people say, oh yeah, you got to ask him about their gold Bible he found out in the Hill. And so he goes home and he starts asking, he starts asking Father Smith that. Now this is all taking place in Palmyra. So this is a little little bit different venue, but because this is the Harmony Revelation, I'm still going to talk about it. At first, Father Smith will not talk to him about it. And you can actually understand why. Every single person at this point in our story who has heard about Joseph Smith and the gold plates has rejected the story. Martin Harris being the sole exception. Now, right around this time, you're going to start getting the Knights as well in Colesville. But essentially everyone, certainly everyone in Palmyra, absolutely rejects the story, everyone.
Gerrit It's not like no one's heard the story of the angel or the plates by mid 1829 or early 1829. Joseph had the plates for two years now, right? The story of an angel appearing to him has been circulating before that, as far as we can tell. And as Joseph explains, he tells people of the First Vision, right? That there's some kind of negative mojo surrounding the Smith family by the Palmyra residents is almost a decade long at this point. So just imagine if you're Father Smith. I don't know how many people he tried to talk to about the plates, but I know how many people believed him. Zero people. So you could multiply the number of people Father Smith talked to about the plates, and you'll get the, you can multiply it by zero, because that's how many believed.
Gerrit Whatever missionary work he did was completely ineffective. No one believed in him.
Richard So is it just that Father Smith would be concerned that Oliver wouldn't believe him, or was there more to it?
Gerrit There's probably more to it. I mean, look, the Smiths are very poor, right? So one of your only sources of income is you have a person who's paying you room and board to stay at your house. So he's like, Hey, tell me about this gold Bible. And you finally break down and you tell him, well, now what? He might be like, there's a lot of places I can room and board. Thanks, blasphemer. Talk to you later, right? That you could see how it might even sever his relationship. But even then, I think everyone has had the experience of really sharing the gospel with a full purpose of heart with someone, desperately wanting them to believe. And not only do they not believe, they throw it back in your face. They take your sincerity and they treat you like you're an idiot. And this thing that's really beautiful to you, they treated like garbage.
Gerrit I mean, I would guess that most people listening who served a mission at some point felt a hesitancy about even bearing their testimony. Because the last ten times I did it, someone told me what part of hell I was going to and how few friends I'd have when I got there. Maybe not to people who served in the glorious baptizing riverside mission.
Richard I'm very acquainted with that approach.
Gerrit The approach of not talking to them?
Richard Well, no, the reception that you described. I'm very familiar.
Gerrit And so it causes people to be hesitant to say, Look, this is something that's really important to me. And it's not just that you're not accepting it. You're you're attacking my son over this. You know, I tell someone, you know what? Look, Joseph really found some place where your son's a liar then. And he's a blasphemer. And he's going to burn in hell. Top of the morning. You know, I mean, like my guess is it's become such a delicate, sore topic. I don't know exactly why Father Smith doesn't share the message with Oliver at first. But according to Lucy, he doesn't. That Oliver bugs him about it. Hey, hey, what about these plates? No pass. You know, I'll take the next phrase, Alex. You know, I mean, but right around the same time and again, chronology is a little bit difficult to tell here because no one's really giving us days and times.
Gerrit Right around the same time that Joseph is giving Father Smith this revelation, D&C4, Father Smith decides he's going to tell Oliver Cowdery. So I mean, at least the way I see it is that is doctrine covered section four is the impetus. Father Smith saying, What can I do to help? What can I do to help? What can I do to help? What can I do to help? And the Lord telling him to help in a way that he's not expecting. You want to help, go share this with people. Now, the crazy part about that is, well, not crazy. I mean, it is God, right? So I mean, it's almost like he knew what was going to happen. But Father Smith sharing the story with Oliver Cowdery changes everything for Joseph Smith. Father Smith wanted to help. And the answer he gets isn't, hey, you should go help me plow the back four acres of the farm.
Gerrit The answer he gets isn't, oh, you and Lucy should just pray more. The answer he gets is you should share the gospel. He shares the gospel with Oliver Cowdery. And Oliver Cowdery doesn't reject it, wrestles all night with the fact, comes to believe it and immediately goes down to serve as Joseph's scribe for the translation. Talk about what can I do to help Joseph? God's well aware what Father Smith could do to help. He can share the gospel with Oliver Cowdery. And when he did, it literally changes the entire trajectory of the church. And Joseph doesn't know any of this. Joseph, in April, one day, Oliver Cowdery just shows up at his door with Joseph's brother, Samuel. They both go down together. And so, you know, Joseph sees Samuel and there's just some guy there with him that he's never met before.
Gerrit Joseph doesn't know any of this story. Within a day of Oliver Cowdery arriving, he's already serving as a scribe for the translation. And so much of the translation of the Book of Mormon that we know is going to take place there in Joseph's home in Harmony. It had already taken place once before in Joseph's home in Harmony, and those pages had been stolen. Now again in April of 1829, that same breakfast table, that same area is going to come alive again with the power of God being manifested as these sacred stones that God had prepared are used as a medium through which these words appear and Joseph translates the Book of Mormon and the words of these prophets long gone, long buried, are once again being brought forth.
Gerrit And there's a manuscript of the record that will become the Book of Mormon. And over the space of just a few months, the entirety of this reconstituted project is going to be completed. While Cowdery is there, it's transformative. Suddenly, you have a full-time scribe, not Emma trying to scribe in between a pregnancy and housework and sickness and all other kinds of stuff, not Martin Harris who comes down a couple weeks at a time to help out, but someone who feels like they were called by God to come. And in fact, it happens at the most fortuitous time. Joseph is, seemingly, when Joseph reflects back on this time period, he seems to have gotten quite frustrated. I jumped over a story a little bit there because I wanted to finish the D&C4 story.
Gerrit But I also want to talk about Doctrine and Covenants Section 5. Because before Oliver Cowdery shows up down there, before Oliver Cowdery shows up and says, hey Joseph, I'm here to work for you, Martin Harris does go down again. Now, as far as we can tell, this is the first, first time that Martin Harris has seen Joseph since the Page Incident. And that's because there's something else that's afoot up in Palmyra, makes it sound like it's Sherlock Holmes. The game is afoot. There's another mystery brewing. Oh yes, Dr. Moriarty. No, what's going on is Lucy Harris has not stopped in her hatred. I think Lucy Harris probably thought, and you know what, pretty rationally thought, once the 116 pages were gone, once Joseph yelled at Martin and said, you have brought condemnation upon my soul as well as yours by breaking your oath, that would just be the end of it.
Gerrit I mean, you don't have your manuscript anymore. Martin and Joseph hate each other. This should be the end of, I mean, they don't actually hate each other, but this is what I think Lucy Harris thinks will be the case. And in March, Martin Harris goes down to visit Joseph again. This time, though, it's with an anxiety, because Lucy has put people up in Palmyra to try to charge Joseph, Joseph Sr. and Martin Harris with fraud. Now, it's actually difficult to tell because we don't have the legal, we don't have the court records for this, although we do. Lucy Smith tells us where this was adjudicated, when this happened. But it's hard to tell whether they are trying him criminally for fraud or whether they are trying in a civil litigation, that you owe us money because you committed fraud.
Gerrit In either case, that's what the claim is. Martin Harris himself will reflect on this, and he will say that what was told him was that there was enough evidence to put Joseph Smith and his father away or to convict them, and if I didn't testify against them, I would be a co-conspirator and they come after me too. So you can see this is a pretty delicate position, right? Because why would this be fraud? Well, Joseph says he has gold plates that he's translating. What if Joseph doesn't actually have gold plates? If he's taking money from people because he's producing the translation of gold plates that don't actually exist, well, then that's fraud. He's claiming that he has something he doesn't actually have. How do you remedy this? It's pretty hard to remedy because in order to prove that you have plates, you have to show people the plates, and God has commanded you not to show people the plates.
Gerrit So that's a pretty tough situation to be in. And I think that that's what spurs Martin Harris to come down to Harmony because he wants to see the plates because if he sees the plates, then if he's put on trial and someone says, you don't even know if plates exist, Martin's going to be able to say, I know plates exist. I saw them. And so the way that the heading is written in our earliest manuscript version of this revelation, which is Doctrine and Coven, Section 5, is Martin desired of the Lord to know whether Joseph had in his possession a record of the Nephites. And it seems like Joseph wants to show them. I mean, why wouldn't you? I mean, they're threatening me, they're threatening my dad, they're threatening you. And again, I still think even after the 116 page debacle, there is still that in the back of Joseph's mind.
Gerrit How in the world am I ever going to get this published? I don't have enough money to, I mean, very shortly, I won't have enough money to buy paper, let alone translate, let alone get this published. Martin Harris seems like the only, first of all, I'm loyal to him because he's the only person who believes. Think about that. If every person outside of your family rejects what you say, every single person on down the line, and there's one person who even though his family hates him for it, even though his kids, his in-laws, his wife, that one person still adamantly believes that you really have plates. I imagine that there's a special bond in that sense. There's one person who believes me outside my family, and it's Martin Harris. Of course, I want to show him the plates if I can. So Joseph asked God, can Martin Harris see the plates?
Gerrit And the answer he gets actually really wild, widely applicable to all of us. First and foremost, what Joseph was told by God is, well, no, he can't see the plates. But second of all, verse 7, behold, if they will not believe my words, they would not believe you, my servant Joseph, if it were possible that you should show them all these things which I've committed unto you. This is a really interesting teaching that God gives, that if you won't believe the revelations that Joseph has received when you read them, if you won't believe the words of the Book of Mormon that have been translated thus far when you read them, you aren't going to believe even if you saw gold plates. Martin's ever-present desire in the back of his mind that if he could just say, I saw the plates, and he'd be able to tell people that, that that would change everyone's mind, that suddenly his mother-in-law and his wife and everybody be like, oh, you saw the plates?
Gerrit Well, I guess this Joseph guy isn't a liar. God makes it very clear. If you don't believe the words that are coming from God's prophet, it doesn't matter what you see miraculously, because the same spirit in you that caused you to reject God's prophet is the same spirit that will cause you to reject whatever it is that you see, whether it's an angel, whether it's gold plates, Urim and Thummim, call the line. Now, at the same time, there is a foreshadowing that takes place, and that is Martin is told that if he will humble himself, if he will humble himself in mighty prayers, verse 24, in faith, in the sincerity of his heart, then I will grant unto him a view of the things which he desires to see. And then he shall say unto the people of this generation, Behold, I have seen the things that the Lord has shown unto Joseph Smith Jr. and I know of a surety that they are true. For I have seen them, for they have been shown to me by the power of God and not of man.
Gerrit Now think about that. Foreshadowing of that three witness experience that isn't going to happen for several months. He's not just going to see the plates. He's going to see them by the power of God and not of man. There's this is going to be a miraculous aspect to how and of course we know an angel brings them and a table and brings them and shows them to them. Well, again, very interesting. It's not that Martin isn't going to get to see the plates, but Martin isn't going to get to see the plates because he's worried about a lawsuit. He's not going to get to see the plates to convince his wife. He has to fully humble himself and bow to the will of God. And once he already has that, then he is going to get to see the plates, but not for the secular reasons that he's thinking. And it's honestly, it's a little bit similar to Joseph, right? I mean, Joseph wants to get the plates.
Gerrit 1823 wants to get them, goes to pick them up and can't get them because the thought on his mind is, look at how much those plates are worth. And it takes him four years to purge that out to where he can finally get the plates. Martin similarly has to get to a point where his eye is single to the glory of God. It doesn't, it's not single to the glory of God to come down to see the plates because there's a lawsuit that you might be implicated in. I realize that that's unfortunate and you feel bad about it. That's not the same thing as an eye single to the glory of God. That's, it's an eye single to, yeah, I care about God, but I also want to make sure Martin's okay. You know, it's frankly the way most Christians are today, including myself. We want to worship God, but we also want to make sure that we got our stuff taken care of. Like, I'll do this, but I really want to make sure that my stuff's taken care of.
Gerrit Well, it's shortly after this experience that Oliver Cowdery is going to show up, but you can tell. I think Joseph grows more frustrated after this revelation. Martin Harris, we don't know really what Martin Harris' state of mind is when he leaves, but I feel it almost seems like when you read Joseph Smith's 1832 history, that this is right in the moment where Joseph is, he's just about at a breaking point. Yeah, he had a good meeting with his dad, but he doesn't know that Oliver Cowdery is on the way. That hasn't happened yet. He met his family, saw his mom and dad, got a revelation for him, and that's it. In Joseph's world, he doesn't know what God is doing behind the scenes. I mean, Joseph might be praying every single day, God, I need some help here. Are you going to do something or what?
Gerrit I can't even make the payment on my father-in-law's farm that he sold to me, and he is threatening to evict his own daughter from that property. Think about that for a minute. You think you've got some rough in-law relations, those of you who are listening. Have you ever been threatened with eviction from your father-in-law not because you didn't ever pay him, but because you were late on a payment? Now, I can understand if you weren't married to their daughter anymore. That would make sense, right? Because they're looking for all kinds of... Literally, your daughter is there. Your daughter, who just about nearly died six or seven months earlier, and apparently, Isaac Hale is on the rampage. And I don't know what it is. It's possible that by this time, once Martin has come down, once Father Smith has come down, once it's clear that they're going to continue this translation project, rumors are starting to circulate in harmony.
Gerrit Word's starting to make it down there. Local preachers are starting to take notice that that blasphemer Joe Smith is in our neighborhood. Think about it if you're Isaac Hale. The stink that this puts on him, it's his daughter that married the blasphemer. They're living on his land. I think even though Isaac Hale was nice and kind to the Smiths when they came down, and it appears to be coming increasingly difficult, and we get this from Joseph Smith's earliest history that he writes. This is the 1832 history. It's the earliest account of the First Vision, earliest account of the translation, and it stops very abruptly. But this is how it ends, actually. It doesn't have a happy ending. It is, we had become reduced in property, and my wife's father was about to turn me out of doors.
Gerrit And I had not where to go, and I cried unto the Lord that He would provide for me to accomplish the work whereunto He had commanded me. And that's the end. I mean, talk about the cliffhanger, you know, I'm about to be evicted, we don't have any money, I can't do the work the way He wants me to do. That's it. The end. I mean, it's kind of like an M. Night Shyamalan movie, like, what's the twist there? I mean, and he's not able to make his payments, his father's threatening to, father-in-law is threatening to evict him, and wooden should know it, Joseph is thinking that God has abandoned him, and then down the lane shows up Oliver Cowdery. Now, we can't prove this. This is not provable, but it just so happens that right after Oliver Cowdery shows up, a payment is made on the farm for almost exactly the same amount of money that Oliver Cowdery received for teaching school in Palmyra.
Gerrit So it appears that when Oliver shows up, it's not just to the spiritual salvation that it aids Joseph, but that Oliver puts his money where his mouth is and immediately pays the money needed to stave off the eviction essentially to make the payment to Isaac Hill. So things are going to change rapidly once Oliver Cowdery is there. And at the same time, their time in harmony is growing very short. There's a lot that's going to happen. April and May in harmony are a flurry of revelations, of translations, of visitations as angelic beings come and restore keys that have been gone from the earth literally for 2000 years almost. I mean, for 1800 years, suddenly that authority is back. When you go to harmony, one of the places you can go is down by the river, down there by the Susquehanna, just down from where their houses are.
Gerrit You can see how close their houses are to the river. I mean, the river is, it's right there. I mean, Isaac Hale's got some beachfront property on the Susquehanna River, replete with leeches in it, by the way. If you ever decide, you know what, I'm going to wade in there because it looks like the river is a nice frothy brown. The leeches can still find you, if anyone's wondering. But there is the place of the baptism, right? Also on that property is the place that they call the sugar bush, which is where they believe that John the Baptist appears to give them this authority. So in many ways, when we talk about harmony, here is the place where I know it was weird that we started with harmony, because people are thinking, why in the world would you start not with Palmyra? And we could have started with Palmyra. Maybe you're not listening to these in order anyway, or frankly, you're probably not listening to them at all, which is kind of weird for me to say as you're hearing it.
Gerrit But it's in harmony that priesthood is restored to the earth. It's in harmony that the translation of what we actually have of the Book of Mormon takes place. It's in harmony where Joseph has his great wrestle with the horrors of this mortality, where he will bury his first baby and nearly bury his wife and still maintain true to the faith. So when you go to harmony, there is this, there is a special feeling that is there. Revelations from God are first unfurled there. The first revelation that's recorded is there. And really one of the most important for the unfolding of the church is as Joseph and Oliver are translating that, the Book of Mormon and they get to this incredible portion of the Savior speaking to people, there are a couple of things that stand out very quickly.
Gerrit Unlike the rest of the Protestant world, and I mean the rest of the Protestant world, Jesus is teaching in the Book of Mormon that baptism is not just what you do because I told you to do it. Protestants, they revered baptism. It's not like they didn't think baptism was important. It was incredibly important. You had entire sects of Christianity like the Baptists that made adult confessional baptism central to church membership. But even a Baptist, even though they are named Baptists, did not believe that baptism was an essential work that someone had to do to go to heaven. They believed, of course, if you have the gift of faith or if you are an Arminian Baptist, of course, if you've chosen to believe in Jesus, of course, you're going to get baptized.
Gerrit Who would choose to believe in Jesus? And at the same time, like, I love Jesus. He's my Savior. He wants me to get baptized. No. Well, obviously, you aren't really converted. So baptism is really a sign for adult converts to religion, especially among Baptists, that you really are a believer. Well, many others practice infant baptism. People are baptized immediately when they're infants. And again, they don't think that baptism saves them, but they think this is the declaration by the parents having that child baptized. I have faith. I want this child to have faith. That faith that they have is what will save them, not the baptism. I do the baptism because Jesus told me to, but the baptism has no saving power at all. Well, Mark 16 says, whosoever believeth and is baptized shall be saved, and whosoever believeth not shall be damned.
Gerrit That allowed Protestants to argue, as they had since the time of Martin Luther. Look, baptism is important, but the key part of that salvation for Mark 16 is faith. If you have faith, then you're saved. Because, of course, you're not going to get baptized without faith. I mean, no one's walking around trying to get baptized into a faith they don't believe in. Of course, you're going to get baptized because you have faith. But the baptism isn't what saves you. Your faith saves you. But as they read the words of the Lord as he speaks to the Nephites, this hits them pretty hard. Because the Lord isn't saying, you know what, you have to believe. That's how you're saved. He instead says, he expands upon Mark 16, 16, whosoever believe within his baptized shall be saved. I don't have it directly in front of me, but you know, and whosoever believe with not and is not baptized should not be saved. Right.
Gerrit That made baptism essential on both sides. It's not just, hey, of course, if you believe, you'll get baptized. If you don't, if you don't get baptized, you can't be saved. But that's not all they learn from the Lord, because the Lord doesn't just say, you know what? You have to get baptized. Find anyone who you know, you know, find a good friend of yours, have them dunk you in some water and let's go. Instead, the Lord very specifically gives authority to baptize to only a very select few people. So if you're Joseph and Oliver, I want you to kind of picture this for a minute. It's so hard to put ourselves in their situation, but think for me back to the first time you really read the Book of Mormon. And I don't mean, you know, read it for a scripture chase or, you know, pulled it out in family home evening while you were cursing your dad under your breath, because really you wanted to hang out with your friends.
Gerrit I mean, when you really read it, because you wanted to understand it. Remember how many times when you were reading it? Hopefully this still happens now, but how many times when you were reading it, you'd read something and it would just hit you hard. You'd read it and you'd stop and you'd look down at the page and you understood what Parley Pratt was talking about in the How Rare a Possession movie. If you ever watch that when he's reading the book and he's got that great voice over for that while he's reading it day and night, day and night, because it's borrowed from that Baptist deacon where he's like, eating was a burden to me. Sleep was a burden when the night came. All he wanted to do was read the book. If you remember what that was like, how many times when you were reading, that very first time, did things hit you where you were like, oh my goodness, that's why we believe that.
Gerrit That's where that is. I've always heard that. Now I know why we believe that. And that's you and I. Now look, some people listening, you might be a convert to the church, and so you can really speak to this. I was raised in the church, so I can't speak to it the same way you can. I'm sure you'll email and let me know. But for me, here I am reading this for the first time in earnest. And as the words are coming off the page at me, I'm stunned by what I'm reading. I'm like, wow. And that's with me having the benefit of going to primary and having scripture study in my home and having parents who are teaching the gospel. So even though I'm learning new concepts, none of the concepts are foreign to me. I'm just learning more about them. Now take Oliver and Joseph. There is no primary.
Gerrit There's no seminary. There's no Sunday school. Not that any Sunday school would actually help you get closer. I'm just kidding. All of our Sunday school teachers out there, you're doing a wonderful job. Please stop speculating on where co-op is. But we're pretty sure it's Alpha Centauri, because I did the calculations, and that's the one that would be a thousand years. Anyway, just think about that. All they have ever learned is about this reformed theology about God, that God is all-powerful, you are nothing, God created you out of nothing. Whether you were an Arminian who believed you could choose to have faith in Jesus, or whether you were a Calvinist who believed that God chose to give you faith and that's how you were saved. The reality was, you only understood that because that's all you would have ever been taught. Joseph Smith's religious worldview is at the mercy of the things that he's been taught his whole life.
Gerrit And suddenly, these two men, who their entire life have been taught, in any religion they went to, baptism is not essential. Unless they went to the Catholic Church, which they did not. Catholicism is the only thing approaching the thing is hated as Mormonism is in early America. There's other things too, but many early colonies, it's not even legal to practice Catholicism in most of the early colonies. Actually, you should listen to our condemned to repeat a podcast that might come up at some point where we're talking about the American colonies. So you have these guys who every sermon they have ever heard their entire life from every pastor of any religious persuasion. Whenever baptism has ever come up, this is how it came up in some fashion. Of course, we want to be baptized as a sign to Jesus that we love him.
Gerrit But let's remember, baptism does not save you. That's a Catholic heresy. Faith saves you. Only faith, right? And here they're reading these words. When I say reading them, what I mean is Joseph is dictating them as Oliver writes them down. And as the words are coming off of Joseph's mouth, you have to be baptized. What? Literally no one else believes this. What do you mean you have to be? Let's just go a little bit further. Not only do you have to be, you have to have authority given to you by Jesus, hands on head from Jesus, to do it. And not everyone has it. Only a few people in what you're reading in the Book of Mormon, only if Jesus gives certain people authority to baptize. Well, that, think about the question that suddenly arises.
Gerrit Okay, we got a real problem here in River City, and they're right by the Susquehanna, so it's good to call it that. Baptism is now essential. I have to be baptized to be saved. You might imagine, there might have been a little bit of fear, like, what if I choke on a breakfast roll tomorrow? I have to be baptized, but I also have to be baptized by proper authority. And as Joseph has learned thus far, well, I guess we just got to go pray about it. And he and Oliver go and pray, and they have this miraculous visitation from the John the Baptist. And for the first time since the apostasy, for the first time since the apostles were slaughtered and scattered, you have this authority restored to the earth. And that doesn't mean there weren't great people all throughout that time, and people who believed in Jesus and many martyrs fell by the sword and were killed defending the name of Jesus.
Gerrit But suddenly, once again, you have the authority to act in God's name on earth again. And that's part of this sacred aspect of Harmony, Pennsylvania. Here, out of all the places in the world, the key for salvation is once again brought back. When you go there and you stand somewhere in those woods, we don't know exactly where John the Baptist was. And you go down and you stand on the banks of that river somewhere again. We don't know exactly where they are. We have a pretty good idea, though. I doubt they were like, you know what? Let's hike 10 miles upriver. We want to get baptized. We want to get baptized as soon as possible. There's a river right here. But what if we just walked 10 miles and then did it, right? You have a pretty good idea right where it was once again that authoritative baptisms begin to start taking place.
Gerrit Harmony is a place of miracles, a place of revelation, a place of sorrow and sadness, but then restoration and triumph. And it is a central part of the restoration of the gospel in the latter days.
Intro Thank you for listening to the Standard of Truth podcast. Hosted by historian Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaat. If you know anybody that could benefit from the material in this episode, please share it with them. And for more resources, visit standardoftruth.com. Until next time.

Quote board

Make a share card from any line

Yeah, that's happened to me several times, and even then I'm like, you know what? I don't even care anymore.

RichardBanter

But by human nature, what do we do? We say, well, that hard cider's looking pretty good.

GerritBanter

It's not like Isaac Hale was like burning $20 bills every time he lights his pipe.

GerritBanter

Hey, could you pass the butter, you're a wicked man.

GerritBanter

The answer he gets is you should share the gospel.

GerritInsight

If you don't believe the words that are coming from God's prophet, it doesn't matter what you see miraculously

GerritInsight

We want to worship God, but we also want to make sure that we got our stuff taken care of.

GerritInsight

I mean, it's kind of like an M. Night Shyamalan movie, like, what's the twist there?

GerritBanter

Harmony is a place of miracles, a place of revelation, a place of sorrow and sadness, but then restoration and triumph.

GerritInsight

More from this episode

Claim checkThings people say, and what the episode shows.

Claim check

What critics say, and what the episode found
If people could just see the gold plates, they'd believe Joseph Smith.
Baptism has always been understood by Christians as essential for salvation.
Take it to classReady to use in a lesson or a talk.

Take it to class

Ready to copy into a lesson or a text

Joseph Smith Sr. asked how he could help. The Lord's answer in D&C 4 was to share the gospel, and he shared it with Oliver Cowdery.

D&C 5 teaches that people who won't believe God's words wouldn't believe even if they saw the plates.

Joseph's 1832 history ends with him broke and about to be evicted, crying to the Lord for help, right before Oliver Cowdery came down the lane.

Translating the Book of Mormon taught Joseph and Oliver that baptism is essential and needs authority. They prayed about it, and John the Baptist came.

Banter binThe funniest moments in this episode.

Banter bin

The running jokes, for people who skip ahead
The hard cider hangoverNot from the hard cider and ale everyone drank, but from losing so much work (1:11, 2:39).
Pass the butter, you're a wicked manGerrit imagines Joseph delivering D&C 3's message to Martin Harris over dinner (13:43).
Isaac Hale's tribes of IsraelLucy lists all the Hale children; Gerrit says he's about to have the twelve tribes (10:25).
How are you, stranger?Gerrit's Maine accent for Oliver Cowdery, who learns about the gold Bible in zero seconds (18:03).
The glorious baptizing Riverside missionGerrit's jab at Richard's mission; Richard says he's very familiar with the rejection anyway (22:23).
The game is afootLucy Harris's lawsuit plot in Palmyra gets the Sherlock Holmes treatment (28:13).
Kolob is in Alpha CentauriSunday School teachers, please stop speculating on where Kolob is ("co-op" in the transcript); Gerrit did the calculations (52:14).
Leeches in the SusquehannaIsaac Hale's beachfront property on a frothy brown river; the leeches can still find you (43:32).
The Phebe Draper Palmer Brown MailbagSend Gerrit and Richard your question.

The Phebe Draper Palmer Brown Mailbag

Your question could be next week’s episode
Questions from Litners drive a lot of episodes. Send yours. If it makes the show, Richard reads it on air.
General ConferenceGeneral Conference talks that cite a scripture read in this episode.

In General Conference

Talks from the latest General Conference that cite a scripture this episode reads or names on air
October 2026 General Conference · cites D&C 4The Hour of Your Mission Is ComeBishop Sean DouglasBishop Douglas thanks missionaries of every age and urges the rising generation to place full-time missionary service high on their list.

Summaries, themes and lessons for every talk are on What Did They Say?

Go deeperWhere to read more.

Go deeper

Deep dives the episode points toward
Read Joseph Smith's 1832 history, the earliest account of the First Vision and translation, and how it ends (40:01).
The Book of Commandments and Revelations, the manuscript where revelation headings like D&C 4 and 5 first appear (15:58).
Lucy Harris's 1829 fraud complaint against Joseph, Joseph Sr. and Martin Harris, and what Lucy Mack Smith says about it (29:18).
Visit the Priesthood Restoration Site in Harmony: the Isaac Hale home, the sugar bush and the banks of the Susquehanna (43:32).
SOT Litner · S3E18.