D&C 10 - The Devil's Plan for the 116 Pages

D&C 10:1-3

“I continued my supplications to God, without cessation,” Joseph explained, “and on the twenty-second of September [1828], I had the joy and satisfaction of again receiving the Urim and Thummim, with which I have again commenced translating, and Emma writes for me, but the angel said that the Lord would send me a scribe, and I trust that it will be so. The angel was rejoiced when he gave me back the Urim and Thummim, and he told me that the Lord was pleased with my faithfulness and humility, and loved me for my penitence and diligence in prayer, in the which I had performed my duty so well as to receive the Urim and Thummim and was able to enter upon the work of translation again.” (History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, 1996, 176.)

D&C 10:43

“Before he wrote his Messiah series, Dad made it a point to read everything that Elder James E. Talmage had read on the subject. He asked Sam Weller at Zion’s Book Store to find copies of a list of long-out-of-print books. While returning from a conference assignment, he was reading one of those books while waiting for a plane and discovered some material by a sectarian scholar that harmonized perfectly with the restored gospel. As he boarded his flight, he met Marion G. Romney, then a member of the First Presidency, who was also returning from an assignment. He said, ‘President Romney, I have got to read this to you. This is really good stuff,’ and proceeded to share his newfound treasure. When he was finished, President Romney said, ‘Bruce, I have to tell you a story. A few years ago I found something that I thought was remarkable confirmation of Mormonism written by one of the world’s great scholars. I read it to J. Reuben Clark, and he said, ‘Look, Marion, when you read things from the great scholars of the world and they don’t agree with us, so what? And when you read something like that and you find they are right on the mark and they agree with us, so what?’” (Joseph Fielding McConkie, The Bruce R. McConkie Story: Reflections of a Son, 252)

D&C 3 - The Loss of the 116 Pages

D&C 3:9

Because of transgression, if thou art not aware thou wilt fall. When Martin informed Joseph that he had lost the manuscript, Lucy Mack Smith said that Joseph clinched his hands together and exclaimed:

“‘All is lost, is lost! What shall I do? I have sinned. It is I who tempted the wrath of God by asking him for that which I had no right to ask, as I was differently instructed by the angel.’ And he wept and groaned, walking the floor continually.

“At last he told Martin to go back to his house and search again. ‘No,’ said Mr. Harris, ‘it is all in vain, for I have looked in every place in the house. I have even ripped open beds and pillows, and I know it is not there.’

“‘Then must I,’ said Joseph, ‘return to my wife with such a tale as this? I dare not do it lest I should kill her at once.’

[Keep in mind that during this 2 week time period Joseph and Emma had had their first child, a son named after Alvin, die. Only those who have lost a child can know how he felt.]

“‘And how shall I appear before the Lord? Of what rebuke am I not worthy from the angel of the Most High?’

“I besought him not to mourn so, for it might be that the Lord would forgive him, after a short season of humiliation and repentance on his part. But what could I say to comfort him, when he saw all the family in the same situation of mind that he was? Our sobs and groans, and the most bitter lamentations filled the house. Joseph, in particular, was more distressed than the rest, for he knew definitely and by sorrowful experience the consequence of what would seem to others to be a very trifling neglect of duty. He continued walking backwards and forwards, weeping and grieving like a tender infant until about sunset, when we persuaded him to take a little nourishment.” (History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, 1996, 165-66.)

D&C 3:12-14

“After I arrived here, I commenced humbling myself in mighty prayer before the Lord, and as I poured out my soul in supplication to him, that if possible I might obtain mercy at his hands and be forgiven of all that I had done which was contrary to his will, an angel stood before me, and answered me, saying, that I had sinned in delivering the manuscript into the hands of a wicked man, and as I had ventured to become responsible for this man’s faithfulness, I would of necessity suffer the consequences of his indiscretion, and I must now give back the Urim and Thummim into his (the angel’s) hands.

“This I did as I was directed, and as I handed them to him he remarked, ‘If you are very humble and penitent, it may be you will receive them again; if so, it will be on the twenty-second of next September.’” (History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, 1996, 173-74.)

Podcast Available!

A good friend of mine is hosting the podcast for class. Click here to download. If you use iTunes, and want to subscribe to the podcast that way, simply open iTunes (if you don't already have it, you will want to download and install it on your computer), go to Advanced>Subscribe to Podcast. A new window will appear and copy and paste this into that window--without the quotation marks: "http://joeysmith.com/podcasts/fullness/" Click ok. It should work now. Everytime a new file is uploaded the podcast will automatically update and iTunes will download the mp3 for you. It's a pretty slick technology. If there is something that is not working, let me know.

D&C 2: Promies Made to the Fathers

Here is a list of a few of the scriptural references you can go to about the promises made to the fathers:

• Genesis 12:1-3
  
• Genesis 13:16
  
• Genesis 15:2-6
  
• Genesis 16:2-4
  
• Genesis 17:2-7
  
• Genesis 21:12-13
  
• Genesis 22:18
  
• Genesis 24:60
  
• Genesis 25:23
  
• Genesis 28:1-4
• Abraham 2:8-11
  

D&C 1 and 67: The Voice of Warning

Here are the quotes & statements that were referred to in class:

The Isaiah Connection

This is a scan of the page from the Geneva Bible I brought into class of Isaiah 49. The page was printed in a bible sometime between 1566 and 1640.

You can click on it for a larger image.

Pre-Quiz: Profile of God’s Servant

You are invited to test your knowledge by identifying the servant of God described with the following clues:

1. His family was often in trouble and moved about a good deal.
2. His parents were described as being of the lowest social class and having the loosest morals.
3. As a young man he said things that astonished and disturbed people.
4. Local ministers stirred up trouble and spread scandalous reports about him and his family.
5. He claimed to be the agent of God chosen to restore the gospel in its purity.
6. He preached to those who professed to already having the way to salvation, not to the heathen who professed no belief in God.
7. The greater part of the people of his day rejected him and his message while claiming a belief in the prophets of past ages.
8. He was rejected in the name of God and by the use of scriptures.
9. The most bitter opposition against him was incited by the religious leaders of his day
10. He was eventually killed by those who were angry and bitter with him for his teachings and what he professed to be.

(Joseph Fielding McConkie and Robert L. Millet, Sustaining and Defending the Faith, p. 13-14)

D&C 67 and the “Folly of William McLellin”:

“After the foregoing was received [D&C 1], William E. M’Lellin, as the wisest man, in his own estimation, having more learning than sense, endeavored to write a commandment like unto one of the least of the Lord’s, but failed; it was an awful responsibility to write in the name of the Lord. The Elders and all present that witnessed this vain attempt of a man to imitate the language of Jesus Christ, renewed their faith in the fulness of the Gospel, and in the truth of the commandments and revelations which the Lord had given to the Church through my instrumentality; and the Elders signified a willingness to bear testimony of their truth to all the world.” (Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1:226.)

D&C 67:10:

“This principle ought (in its proper place) to be taught, for God hath not revealed anything to Joseph, but what He will make known unto the Twelve, and even the least Saint may know all things as fast as he is able to bear them, for the day must come when no man need say to his neighbor, Know ye the Lord; for all shall know Him (who remain) from the least to the greatest. How is this to be done? It is to be done by this sealing power, and the other Comforter spoken of, which will be manifest by revelation.” (Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.149.)