Selected from Joseph Smith’s March 1829 revelation
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Location Given: Harmony, Pennsylvania – Hale Farm
Background: After the loss of The Book of Lehi and Joseph Smith Jr.’s refusal or inability to recreate the work, there were three people who began to vocally seek jail time for Joseph Smith Jr. and Joseph Smith Sr.. The Harris family saw too many connections to the Smith’s treasure digging past for comfort, and believed the story of the Golden Plates was used to extort money out of people, namely Martin Harris. They tried to get as many people who would speak out against the Smith family as possible to speak at the hearing for this lawsuit.
Joseph Smith Jr. and Martin Harris had not seen each other since the summer of 1828 after the loss of The Book of Lehi. Martin Harris had never actually seen the Golden Plates while he worked with Smith on The Book of Lehi, and he traveled from Palmyra, New York to Harmony, Pennsylvania to ask Smith if he could see them. Harris’s family’s concerns were likely a large motivator for him to do so.
This revelation responded to Harris’s question about whether he could see the plates or not. It said that God would only show them to three people and they needed to publicly testify that they had seen them. This revelation promised Harris that he could be one of those people, but only if he “humbled himself”. The revelation also acknowledges the people who filed a lawsuit against the Smiths and made a vague prediction of misfortune for them if they were successful.
Martin Harris’s anxieties were alleviated and he even went on to defend Smith at the lawsuit’s hearing.
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1. This generation shall have my words. Yea, and the testimony of three of my servants shall go forth with my words unto this generation.
2. Yea, three shall know of a surety that these things are true, for I will give them power, that they may behold and view these things as they are, and to none else will I grant this power, to receive this same testimony among this generation.
3. And the testimony of three witnesses will I send forth and my word, and behold, whosoever believeth in my word, them will I visit with the manifestation of my Spirit, and they shall be born of me, and their testimony shall also go forth.
4. And thus, if the people of this generation harden not their hearts, I will work a reformation among them,
5. and I will put down all lyings, and deceivings, and priestcrafts, and envyings, and strifes, and idolatries, and sorceries, and all manner of iniquities, and I will establish my church, like unto the church which was taught by my disciples in the days of old.