JOSEPH AND MORONI T HE 7 PRINCIPLES MORONI TAUGHT JOSEPH SMITH LEGRAND L. BAKER EBORN BOOKS 2006 This book is the opinion of the author and does not represent the official views of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. © Copyright 2006 by LeGrand Baker First Edition, First Printing Library of Congress Control Number: 2006929938 ISBN: 1-890718-99-8 This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or copied in any form whatsoever—graphic, electronic, visual, microfilm, filming, any type of sound recording, or in any other manner— without written permission. For that permission contact Eborn Books. Only very brief passages included in critical reviews or articles may be used without permission. Eborn Books Salt Lake City, Utah [email protected] www.ebornbooks.com Printed in the United States of America To the Memory of Dr. Robert Andrew 1934 - 1984 of Madison, Wisconsin -iii- TABLE OF CONTENTS List of Illustrations by Jared Merrill . vii Acknowledgments .................................. viii Introduction by Beverly Campbell . x Joseph Smith and Moroni ............................. 1 First Principle: One Does Not Speak Too Openly About Sacred Things .......................... 3 An Extraordinary Friendship ........................ 3 The First Vision ................................. 4 Joseph Learns Not to Talk Too Openly About Sacred Thing...........................12 Second Principle: One Must Learn How to Recognize The Feeling That Identifies the Holy Ghost . 15 Joseph Meets Moroni .............................15 Who Was Moroni? ...............................16 Moroni’s Message to Joseph........................19 Moroni’s Fourth Visit .............................21 Joseph Finds the Plates ............................22 Moroni Shows Joseph the Difference Between Good and Evil ...............................25 Third Principle: Integrity Is Keeping One’s Covenants With God...................................34 Joseph Teaches His Family about the People of The Book of Mormon .........................34 Joseph Goes to the Hill Cumorah the Second Time . 35 Another Lesson about Obedience . 37 -iv- Fourth Principle: Sometimes Prophets must Make Their Own Decisions ..........................41 Joseph Finds Emma ..............................41 A Prophet Is Not a Puppet . 42 Joseph’s Final Preparations to Receive the Plates . 44 Joseph Receives the Plates . 46 Joseph and Emma Move to Harmony, Pennsylvania . 49 Fifth Principle: Friendships, However Important, Are Not As Important as Keeping God’s Commandments . 52 Joseph Begins to Translate the Plates . 52 Trouble with Lucy Harris ..........................54 Martin Harris and Professor Charles Anthon . 57 More Trouble from Mrs. Harris .....................60 The Loss of the 116 Pages . 62 What Happened to the 116 Pages? . 67 Joseph’s Final Lesson about Obedience . 68 Sixth Principle: The Lord Has Already Planned For His Children’s Success . 75 Joseph Is Told to Translate the Small Plates of Nephi . 75 Oliver Cowdery Comes to Help Joseph . 79 The Restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood . 80 The Whitmers Prepare to Receive Their Guests . 82 Moroni Carries the Plates for Joseph . 86 Seventh Principle: The Lord Provides Whatever Help He Understands We Need . 88 Mary Whitmer Sees Moroni and the Plates . 88 The Testimony of Sarah Conrad . 89 Angels Help Joseph Translate . 91 The Testimony of the Three Witnesses . 99 The Testimony of the Eight Witnesses . 106 -v- Conclusion: Joseph Had Learned to Be a Prophet . 108 What Happened to the Gold Plates? . 108 Joseph Had Learned to Be a Prophet . 110 Bibliography ......................................111 Endnotes .........................................114 Index............................................129 -vi- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS BY JARED MERRILL Joseph Smith Jr. ............................ Frontispiece Joseph Liked to Relax by Wrestling . 4 “Never Mind, All Is Well.” ........................... 13 Joseph Sees Moroni................................. 15 “Why Did You Not Tell Your Father?” . 21 Using a Lever, He Lifted the Lid . 23 He Returned, Laid the Plates Down . 36 Joseph Married Emma Hale ........................... 44 Professor Anthon Ripped it into Pieces . 59 Its Coiling, Hissing Maneuvers Frightened Her . 60 He Stopped, Climbed upon the Rail Fence . 65 He Ordained Them to the Aaronic Priesthood . 80 His Horses Did Not Tire ..............................85 In His Hands He Held the Plates . 102 Joseph Had Learned to Be a Prophet . 110 Jared Merrill was born in Provo, Utah in 1987. He graduated from Woods Cross High School in 2005. There, he was chosen Student Body Artist, and the Art Sterling Scholar. He has completed one year at Brigham Young University, and is currently serving an L.D.S. mission. -vii- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS It began more than thirty years ago, just after I received a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and just before my family moved to Arkansas where I had a teaching position. Two of our dearest friends, Robert and Emy Andrew, invited my wife and I, and our children to share a few days of their vacation with them and their children on Strawberry Island, in the finger of Lake Michigan near Green Bay, Wisconsin. When Sunday evening came, Robert asked me to tell the children a story about Joseph Smith. I told them about Joseph and Moroni. The amazing thing was that they all listened—they didn’t wiggle and they didn’t fall asleep—and because they were listening, the story lasted much longer than any of us expected. Robert and Emy later urged me to write the story as I had told it. We remained in Arkansas for two years before we came to BYU. During our stay in Arkansas, I wrote this history of the friendship between Joseph and Moroni. My wife Marilyn read and proofread it; then we sent it to Robert and Emy who polished its language to make it more appropriate for teenagers. Several drafts passed back and forth this way. Over the years at BYU, I added chapters and changed it to fit the interests and language of my friends who were students at the university. I asked some of them to have a go at making it sound more sophisticated and grown up. Then, after I retired, I met Bret Eborn who published my book, The Murder of the Mormon Prophet. I told Bret about this manuscript and he asked to see it. That presented a major challenge! Before I could give it to him, I had to take out some, but not all, of the things my friends and I had added, and put the manuscript back into its original language. Christopher J. Coleman translating the text into Spanish, and while doing so, adding footnotes, and finding and correcting errors in the original text. Besides my wife Marilyn, Robert and Emy, Bret Eborn, and Beverly Campbell (who wrote the introduction), there are many -viii- Joseph and Moroni ______________________________________________________ other friends to whom I am grateful for their interest in this little history. I thank them for their friendship as much as for their interest, and for helping to keep the story alive. I also thank Jared Merrill, who drew the illustrations. Most of all, I thank the children—my children and the Andrew children—who were the inspiration that caused me to write the story, and whom I love very much. LeGrand Baker Orem, Utah -ix- INTRODUCTION BY BEVERLY CAMPBELL LeGrand Baker has been my friend and associate for more than 20 years. I am constantly astounded at his abilities—and through this book I think you will find a joy in a journey that will please and enlighten you. This is a story about a boy and the angel who taught him how to be a prophet—but it is not a story just for boys, it is for every- one, male, female—young, old. As Joseph’s epic journey comes to life in these pages, narrated by a great story teller and a careful researcher into truth, one is moved, informed, instructed and enlightened. There is no one in the church who should not know this story in all its nuances and who would not benefit from a careful reading of this book. For those not of our faith, it provides exceptional insight into the workings of a loving and benevolent God. Importantly, this is our story—our reality—our truth. It brings to light, with amazing clarity and urgency, facts not commonly known and presents significant and important new insights. It focuses on seven principles that Moroni taught Joseph. These principles are fundamental to the spiritual well-being of every Latter-day Saint Certainly Joseph’s life, the authority and revelations he received, and the courageous and heroic acts he performed are the most important of this the Last Dispensation before the second coming of our Savior. At a very personal level, one finds in Joseph’s story a mirror into one’s own grand journey, which helps enormously as we seek to make sense of all that life demands of us. In these pages you become acquainted, in a most personal way, with struggle—an intense and sometimes disappointing struggle—as Joseph tries to live to the standard that would mold him into the individual that -x- Joseph and Moroni ______________________________________________________ God needs him to be to complete his foreordained mission. As you are further drawn into Joseph’s training in heavenly counsels, and learn of his assignments you are led to a clearer understanding of your own pre-mortal training and are caused to ponder what it is that you might have agreed and committed to. Watching Joseph being prepared, step by necessary step, one realizes more fully that each of us also made covenants which we do not now remember but which the Holy Ghost will teach us how to fulfill as we struggle in this world. True to the story as Joseph lived it, the book carries with it the implicit understanding that none of this is designed to be easy, and that there always will be mistakes, but if one listens to the Spirit and lets the Lord use one’s mistakes to teach and inform us, the ultimate reward is spiritual success.