Smith Farm Part 4

Okay it is time to continue forward talking about what happened once the Book of Mormon Plates were safely in the house. Now before I tell you anymore I want you to imagine what it must have been like to have such a large responsibility. Do you find yourself anywhere in that thought? I know that I sometimes find myself feeling that way but I want to remind you of the scripture that I quoted in the last post, “But, behold, it mattereth not—we trust God will deliver us, notwithstanding the weakness of our armies, yea, and deliver us out of the hands of our enemies.” (Alma 58:37) So just as we all sometimes face Joseph Smith needed to trust in God and do what he could so that the Plates would be protected and delivered from the hands of their enemies.

So Joseph Smith went forward trusting the promise of the Lord and as he did so the Lord’s promises were fulfilled. Joseph Smith came to the decision to hide the plates in the hearth of the fireplace in the parlor. The bricks were picked up, the dirt under was pushed away to leave a hole, the plates were put in the and the hearth was expertly relaid. Just after this was finished a large mob comes to the home and all the men in this family rushed the door and were able to scare away the mob. Just like it says in Alma 58:37 we will be delivered from our enemies as we put our trust in God. We also see that the Lord does keep his promises.

As we walk through the doorway into the back half of the home we see 2 small rooms to one side and a large kitchen taking up the greater part of the rest of the space. One of these 2 small rooms was the bedroom for Joseph Smith’s sisters. These brave young women continued to also exercise the same level of trust in God as their brother Joseph did. One night a family member saw a mob heading toward the home and Joseph quickly acted and took the plates wrapped them in a cloth and handed them to his sisters. The sisters pulled the plates into their bed and pulled the blankets over their heads and pretended to be asleep. The mob entered the home and searched all around but they did not find the plates safely hidden between the two young women. I love this story as I think that not Joseph had to put his faith in that promise but also his entire family needed to trust in God. I love though that we can also learn another lesson from these experiences. That lesson is explained with a scripture from the Book of Mormon, “For he will fulfil all his promises which he shall make unto you, for he has fulfilled his promises which he has made unto our fathers.” (Alma 37:17) I know that the Lord will fulfill all of the promises made to all of us so long as we live worthy of that promise and blessing.

Notes:

All of the above information unless noted otherwise came from Guide to Exhibits at the Joseph Smith Historic Farm Site,  Published by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2004

Hill Cumorah

If you remember my last post you will recall how I showed you one of my favorite places. That is the upstairs of the Smith Log Home. We are now at the Hill Cumorah in the Fall of 1823. Come with Joseph and me as we walk to the Hill Cumorah from the Joseph Smith Farm. This is how Joseph descibes the Hill Cumorah, ““Convenient to the village of Manchester, Ontario county, New York, stands a hill of considerable size, and the most elevated of any in the neighborhood. ” (Introduction to the Book of Mormon)  If you look at the picture above you can tell what he was talking about.  Although it looks just like any other hill in the area it is very special and different.

Here is why this hill is so different than any in the area. Joseph Smith says, ” On the west side of this hill, not far from the top, under a stone of considerable size, lay the plates, deposited in a stone box. This stone was thick and rounding in the middle on the upper side, and thinner towards the edges, so that the middle part of it was visible above the ground, but the edge all around was covered with earth.Having removed the earth, I obtained a lever, which I got fixed under the edge of the stone, and with a little exertion raised it up. I looked in, and there indeed did I behold the plates…The box in which they lay was formed by laying stones together in some kind of cement. In the bottom of the box … lay the plates.” (Introduction to the Book of Mormon)  So that is what happened near the top of the Hill Cumorah on September 22, 1823.

Joseph Smith continues, “I made an attempt to take them out, but was forbidden by the messenger, and was again informed that the time for bringing them forth had not yet arrived, neither would it, until four years from that time; but he told me that I should come to that place precisely in one year from that time, and that he would there meet with me, and that I should continue to do so until the time should come for obtaining the plates.Accordingly, as I had been commanded, I went at the end of each year, and at each time I found the same messenger there, and received instruction and intelligence from him at each of our interviews, respecting what the Lord was going to do, and how and in what manner His kingdom was to be conducted in the last days.” After all of this training the time finally came to retrieve the plates. Joseph Smith describes this event, “At length the time arrived for obtaining the plates…On the twenty-second day of September, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, having gone as usual at the end of another year to the place where they were deposited,  the same heavenly messenger delivered them up to me with this charge: That I should be responsible for them… by the wisdom of God, they remained safe in my hands, until I had accomplished by them what was required at my hand. When, according to arrangements, the messenger called for them, I delivered them up to him; and he has them in his charge until this day.” (Introduction to the Book of Mormon)

This ancient record would be translated by the Prophet Joseph Smith and published in the English Language in 1830 and has since been published in over 100 languages. I promise that if you read the Book of Mormon that you will have greater peace, joy, and happiness than you ever experienced before. The Book of Mormon is true and I know it because I have read it.