Joseph Smith: A Modern American Prophet

Joseph Smith By JOHN HENRY EVANS A Modern American Prophet ON the Smith farm in Man- chester is an apple tree with outspreading boughs, from which hang yellowing leaves that threaten to fall. It stands on the edge of a beautiful green, a little way from the rail fence that sep- arates the field from the orchard and the log house. Underneath this tree a young man lies prone on the grass. The mass of wavy blond hair, the oval face now paler than should be the case in the fresh country air, the jacket unbuttoned all the way, the rough shirt open at the collar, the trousers of coarse cloth, held up by a pair of primitive suspend- ers, the thick-soled shoes, the soft September sun meanwhile playing hide-and-seek on the face and on the body through the boughs — all this should make a picture any artist would be glad to transfer to his canvas. PRESENTLY the eyes open. They are blue. They stare cut strangely in a line that slants upward just a little. They look at a pair of bare feet and ankles, exquisitely white, directly in front. But they are not on the ground those feet. Quickly the gaze rises — up to an exquisitely white robe, up to the white bosom seen through an opening in the robe, up to the face of a man, up to the bare head. It is the angel Moroni. He speaks. "Joseph, why did you ;not tell your father, as I instructed you to do?" "I was afraid he would not be- lieve me," the youth answers. "He will believe every word you say. And then, for the fourth time, Moroni tells his story of the hid- den book, without variation of detail. He ends by repeating his command that Father Smith be told without delay. Whereupon he disappears suddenly. Young Smith rises. He looks in the direction of the field, where III his father and Alvin are reaping. He climbs over the rail fence and goes toward them. HTHE fact is, that a little while ago he was himself in the field working in the grain. But he worked very indifferently. For as he gathered the handful of grain stocks with which he intended to tie a sheaf together, he would pause languidly in the effort and gaze away abstractedly, without thinking of his work at all. And then, when Alvin shouted at him, he would recover himself, and set to work again with vigor, only to fall again into a state of ab- straction. Whereupon Alvin would say once more, but with some ir- ritation, "Joe, we'll never get this work done the way you're going. Hurry up, and let's have it over with." About this time the father thinks he should take a hand. Something must be the matter with Joseph. He is not in the habit of working this way. Several times he has glanced at the boy before, but now he looks at him. He notices his pallor — which is unusual. "Joseph," he says, "you look sick. You'd better go to the house and let your mother doctor you." And the boy, nothing loath, leaves the field and starts for the house to be "doctored." But as he is in the act of climbing that rail fence, he falls on the other side under the apple tree uncon- scious. (COMPLETELY absorbed in ^ their work, neither the father nor Alvin take any note of what occurred on that greensward be- yond the fence. The chances are, though, that they would not have seen all that went on there anyway, even if they had lifted their eyes in that direction. For that vision was only for Joseph. But they are surprised when the boy returns to the field. And Alvin is very much pleased, en account of the work which must be done at all hazards. Joseph goes up to his brother, who is nearest. "Alvin," he says, "I've got something to say to father. Will you ask him?" Alvin takes a swift glance at his younger brother, finishes binding the sheaf, and goes off in the direc- tion of the father. The two con- verse for a moment. Then Alvin goes back to gather another sheaf, while the father, after laying aside his cradle, motions to Joseph. The two go off together a little way from where Alvin is, and talk. Joseph tells his father the whole story of the four visits of Moroni. At the conclusion of the narrative the father says, "The vision is from the Lord; go and do all the angel asks you to do." 'The Angel told me to go to the hill, father, as soon as I had told you, so that I. might have a view of the plates and the other things." "Very well— you'd better do that." AND so the young man trudges off to see the sacred articles, of which the Angel has told him. And as he goes, thoughts come into his head. No longer is he tired and sleepy, as he takes the narrow lane west- ward to the Canandaigua road that goes south from Palmyra. He is light-hearted and free. He has done as the heavenly messenger requested him to do. That is off his mind. His father knows — and believes. Gold plates! A book with gold leaves! And it would very likely be a big book, too, if it contained the history of a whole nation for a thousand years. That would be a lot of gold. Wouldn't one be rich if one had all that gold ready to be made into money? XJ E turns out of the narrow lane ■*■ A that leads from the farm house and takes the Canandaigua road,

The Improvement Era for September, 1930 745 the one on which the mail. is car- ried. The book could be sold for a lot of money. Plenty of people of means would be glad to buy it — some because it could be melted up and made into five, ten, and twenty-dollar pieces; and some be- cause it had writing on it. He had heard of some one turning up a strip of metal with writing on it, while he was plowing, and selling it to the museum in New York. A big book would be valuable, if it had writing on it and was made of gold. How much would it sell for, anyway? A thousand dollars? That would be a great deal of money. Maybe you could get ten thousand dollars for it! That would be a fortune. If, after he got the gold book, he should sell it for, say, only five thousand dollars, the mortgage on the farm could be paid off and the new house Alvin had set his heart on for father and mother could be finished. And then neither father nor mother would have to work any more. Wouldn't that be grand! "PHAT mortgage was getting troublesome, he gathered from the conversation between his par- ents and Alvin. It was hard to get hold of any money. That was why Hyrum was not working with him and the others in the field this morning — he was away working for a neighbor to get some money to pay the interest. The mail-man passed him in a light wagon drawn by one horse. But he was going in the wrong direction, else Joseph would have asked for a ride. Who would buy the book? That would be a serious problem. Suppose he sold it to the museum? in New York City, and they tried to translate the writing on it. They would find that they could not do it, with all their learning. That is what the Angel had said. The Angel — ! Oh, he couldn't sell the book! That would be wicked. Moroni said he would be destroyed if he even thought seriously of getting rich by means of the ancient record. That would not do at all. And Moroni had warned him that the Devil would tempt him, on ac- count of- the indigence of his father's family, to dispose of the plates for other purposes than that for which they had been preserved. AND now he is approaching the hill. He can tell it and the location of the plates from having seen them on the previous night while the Angel was talking to him. He knows the hilj from the time the family first came to New York State from Vermont. It rises suddenly on the north, and then goes down very gradually, till it becomes a plain on the south. Reaching a point in the road opposite the hill, he turns east. He pushes his way up the side of the hill, through trees and brush, till he almost gets to the top. There, sure enough, is the rounded surface of a stone, with the edges buried in the earth. He looks about for a large stick with which to pry up the stone. There are plenty of them nearby — branches broken off from the trees and dry from having lain on the ground so long. He at last finds one that will do, a good lusty limb not too brittle. He clears away the earth round the edges, puts one end under the stone, places another stick, a short one, as a fulcrum, and presto! the stone moves. His two strong arms over- turn it. "INHERE, exposed to his very eyes, are the sacred treasures! Now he knows that his visions can not have been a dream or the result of a trick in his sight. For the Angel had told him he would find the relics here, and he has found them. That is proof enough, if any were needed. He kneels down and looks into the box. It is a stone box, con- sisting of four flat stones placed edgewise on another flat stone. The joinings have been cemented to keep out the moisture. In the bot- tom of the box are two stones laid crosswise, on which are the plates and the other things with them. JOSEPH evidently forgets he was told that he is not to get the plates at this time. For he reaches his hands down into the box to take the sacred book. He receives a shock. But he does not think any- thing of it, and tries again to get the record. And again he receives a shock, which is more severe this time. A third effort results in his being hurled back- wards to the ground. He gets up again to his knees, at the same time exclaiming, "Why can't I get this book, I wonder?" "Because you have not kept the commandments of the Lord," said a voice. And there stood Moroni, in a fifth visitation to the young man. Joseph then remembers what the Angel had told him about receiv- ing the plates. Also he recalls his thoughts on the way to the hill; and instantly he is ashamed, lyfORONI speaks again. "The ■*• time has not come," he says, "for you to obtain the plates. That will not be till four years have passed. Meantime, every year at this time you are to visit the hill, uncover the box, view the plates, and receive instruction from me. The reason for this is that you must take yourself in hand till you are able as well as willing to keep the commandments of God." Joseph in his soul prays, as he listens to the voice of the Angel, that the Lord will forgive him for his weakness and provide him strength to do His will in the future. "Look!" says the Angel. Joseph looks, and sees what he probably will never forget as long as he lives. TTHE heavens are opened to him, • the glory of God shines all around him, and the Holy Spirit fills his whole being. Then another scene, its opposite, is enacted before his eyes. He sees the prince of darkness, surrounded by his evil train, writhing in the regions of the damned. "All ithis is shown," explains his heavenly instructor, "the good and evil, the holy and the impure, the glory of God and the power of darkness, that you may know hereafter the two powers, and never be influenced or overcome by that wicked one. "Your name shall be known among the nations. For the work which the Lord will perform by your hands shall cause the righteous to rejoice and the wicked to rage. With one it shall be had in honor, and the other in reproach. Yet with these it shall be a terror, because of the great and marvelous work which shall follow the coming forth of this fulness of the Gospel." '"THEN the Angel suddenly disap- pears. Joseph replaces the stone on the {Continued on page 753)