Without Disclosing My True Identity
If Joseph were to “perform a great miracle, such as cutting off an arm or some other
member of the body and restore it, so that the people [would] know that he...[came] with
power,” he would have taken away a person’s free will to not believe in him.^67 Furthermore,
if they chose not to believe in him, how would they then act? Would they become angry
with him because his beliefs were different than theirs? Would they hate him, persecute
him, and despitefully use him, because he presented no empirical evidence that his claims
were real? Belief is a free-willed choice; and the individual act that is based on a belief is a
demonstration of that person’s true humanity. The way Joseph hid up the tools that he had
been provided by “God” to do his work guaranteed that he never violated the free will or
“days of probation” of those with whom he was associated.
The Harris’ Involvement With the Manuscript
One of the women whom Lucy Smith attempted to gain value from was Martin
Harris’ wife, also named Lucy. As mentioned, Joseph’s mother was continually a thorn in her
son’s side and the cause of much of his persecution—something he unconditionally forgave
her of and never mentioned throughout his life. Lucy Smith visited Mrs. Harris and bragged
about the special assignment her son had received.^68 An enthusiast for self-importance herself,
Lucy Harris became excited at the chance of becoming a part of such a spectacular event.
Being quite literate and an exceptional writer, Lucy Harris asked Joseph’s mother to use her
influence on him to allow her to be part of the translation process, offering to donate whatever
time and means were necessary for the project. Excitedly, Lucy Smith came to her son with
this zealous and generous offer, thinking her efforts would surely be appreciated.
Had Joseph acquiesced to his mother’s insistence, not only would Lucy Smith have
had a new devoted friend, but also a possible source of a much-needed loan to help the
Smith family pay their increasing debts. When Joseph outrightly rejected his mother’s
proposal, he had two very unhappy women on his hands. The rejection caused Lucy Harris
to harden her heart against Joseph for the rest of her life. Soon thereafter, because of Lucy
Harris’ betrayal of her husband and Joseph, her hardened heart led to the loss of the 116-
page manuscript containing the book of Lehi.
The impact of Lucy Harris’ actions, of course, were known ahead of time by the
advanced monitors of Joseph’s work, who knew that the Book of Lehi might serve to impair
the free will of those who read Lehi’s account of the “dominant religion” of Jerusalem. The
similarities between the dominant religion then—the Jews—and that of their counterpart
today—the LDS/Mormons—might have impaired the full development of modern-day
Mormonism and the full testing of the humanity of its members. Nevertheless, the loss of
this manuscript brought much pain to both Joseph and Martin Harris.
The Visit to Professor Charles Anthon
Martin eventually left his wife and traveled wherever he could to be close to Joseph
and the translation. He undertook the task of being scribe, replacing Emma, in the early part
of 1828. The account of Martin taking a few transcribed characters from the plates to an
expert is presented well enough in other biographies. The synopsis was that Charles
Anthon, a professor of Greek and Latin at Columbia College, looked at the characters and
was intrigued by them; but when he learned where they came from, he wanted nothing to
do with authenticating them.