Part I: Out of the Frying Pan [Continued]
(Ohio: Part II): ZION, THE UNITED ORDER & DAVID THE KINGThe New Jerusalem & The GatheringIn September 1830, five months after Joseph Smith, Jr. organized his ‘restored’ Church of Christ, one of the eight witnesses to the Book of Mormon, (a man named Hiram Page) claimed to receive revelations "concerning the upbuilding of Zion" and other matters through a certain peepstone. (Manuscript History of the Church, Book A-1 [written in 1839], archives of the historical department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, (hereafter cited as LDS archives), A-1:54)
"Finding, however, that many [in his newly formed church], especially the Whitmer family and Oliver Cowdery “were believing much in the things set forth by this stone" Smith consulted his own peepstone about it, and Page was told by Smith that what had been written by Page was “not of God”. (Ibid. See also BOC 30:11, also Doctrine and Covenants, section 28:11. Hereafter D&C).
Originally published in 1835 as
Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God, editions of the book continue to be printed mainly by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and the Community of Christ (formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church). The book originally contained two parts: a sequence of lectures setting forth basic church doctrine, (authorized by Joseph Smith & The First Presidency, & voted as binding doctrine by the church in 1835) followed by a compilation of important revelations, or "covenants" of the church: thus the name Doctrine and Covenants. The "doctrine" portion of the book, however, has been removed by both the LDS Church and the Community of Christ. The remaining portion of the book contains many “revelations” on numerous topics, most of which were dictated by Joseph Smith, Jr., (with and without the use of his peepstone) supplemented by materials periodically added by each denomination.
Smith then dictated a “revelation” to Oliver Cowdery informing him to take Hiram Page aside and tell him that the revelations that he had received though his stone were from Satan. (BOC XXX:11, D&C 28:11). In verse 12 Smith tells Cowdery that what Page had revealed had “not been appointed unto him” and that nothing would be “appointed unto any of this church contrary to church covenants”. Smith then (in verse 13) gives this reason for the rejection of Page’s revelation, that “all things must be done in order, and by common consent in the church, by the prayer of faith.”
It is apparent from this “revelation” to Oliver Cowdery that Page had presumed to reveal the location of Zion. (ibid, See verse 8 which reads, “And now, behold, I say unto you that it is not revealed, and no man knoweth where the city Zion shall be built, but it shall be given hereafter”), and that the reason
Page’s revelations were to be rejected was because they were “contrary to church covenants” and had not been “done by common consent in the church, by the prayer of faith.”(ibid) What is ironic is that Smith would violate this "law" over and over again in the next 15 years, especially with his Spiritual Wife System, and so, according to Smith himself, it must have come from Satan.
Smith also included in this “revelation” to Oliver Cowdery that “no one shall be appointed to receive commandments and revelations in this church excepting my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., for he receiveth them even as Moses.” (BOC XXX:2, D&C 28:2.)
Cementing his status as the only one to receive commandments and revelations “in this church”, the young “prophet” would soon have “revelations” of his own concerning Zion, and would ironically use the same method to receive them that he had condemned Page for. John Whitmer wrote that Smith was still using his stone a month after his “revelation” to Oliver Cowdery about Hiram Page. Years later it was reported that,
…at Peter Whitmer Sr.'s residence he [Orson Pratt] asked Joseph whether he could ascertain what his mission was, and Joseph answered him that he would see, & asked Pratt and John Whitmer to go upstairs with him, and on arriving there Joseph produced a small stone called a seer stone, and putting it into a Hat soon commenced speaking and asked Elder P[ratt]. to write as he would speak, but being too young and timid and feeling his unworthiness he asked whether Bro. John W[hitmer]. could not write it, and the Prophet said that he could: Then came the revelation to the Three named given Nov. 4th 1830.(James R. B. Vancleave to Joseph Smith III, 29 September 1878, "Miscellaneous Letters and Papers," Community of Christ Archives. See H. Michael Marquardt and Wesley P. Walters, Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record ([San Francisco:] Smith Research Associates, 1994), 188).
While still at Fayette, New York, he told Oliver Cowdery, to "go unto the Lamanites [Indians] and preach" the gospel, and cause the church to be “established among them”. (BOC XXX:7; D&C 28:8)
Concerning the city he called the New Jerusalem Cowdery was told that "it is not revealed, and no man knoweth where the city shall be built, but it shall be given hereafter. Behold I say unto you, that it shall be on the borders by the Lamanites.” (BOC XXX:8-9, September 1830.)
Smith at this time also told his Church:
“ Wherefore the decree hath gone forth from the Father that they [the Church] shall be gathered in unto one place upon the face of this land, to prepare their hearts and be prepared in all things against the day when tribulation and desolation are sent forth upon the wicked. For the hour is nigh and the day soon at hand when the earth is ripe; and all the proud and they that do wickedly shall be as stubble; and I will burn them up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that wickedness shall not be upon the earth; For the hour is nigh, and that which was spoken by mine apostles must be fulfilled; for as they spoke so shall it come to pass; For I will reveal myself from heaven with power and great glory, with all the hosts thereof, and dwell in righteousness with men on earth a thousand years, and the wicked shall not stand.” (BOC XXIX:8-11, Doctrine and Covenants 29:8-11, September 1830).
Three others (including Peter Whitmer, Jr.) were called to accompany Oliver Cowdery on this mission. Cowdery, a month later, himself stated that he was going "to rear up a pilar as a witness to where the Temple of God shall be built, in the glorious New-Jerusalem." ( Statement signed by Oliver Cowdery and dated 17 October 1830, cited in a letter of Ezra Booth to Rev. Ira Eddy, dated 24 November 1831 and published in (Ravenna) Ohio Star 2, 8 December 1831:3).
Ezra Booth had this to say about Cowdery’s mission to the ‘Lamanites’:
“From Kirtland, Cowdery & Co. were directed by the spirit to Sandusky, where they contemplated opening their mission, and proselyting the Indians residing at that place. But neither Cowdery, nor the spirit which directed him, was able to open the way to, or make any impressions upon their minds. Being frustrated in this, his first attempt to convert the natives, he turned his attention and course to Missouri, and when near the eastern line of that state, he halted for several days, for the purpose of obtaining, by inquiry, information respecting the Indians, still further west. It appears that he was fearful that his infallible guide, (the spirit,) was incapable to direct him, while proceeding further to the west; consequently, he applied to men more capable of giving instruction than the spirit, by which he was influenced.
When he arrived at the western line of Missouri, he passed it into the Indian territory, where he continued but a short time, before he was notified by the U. S. Agent, that he must either re-pass the line, or be compelled to take his residence in the garrison, forty miles up the Arkansas river. As there was no other alternative, the former seemed to him the most expedient; and he never possessed courage sufficient to pass the line, or visit the residence of the Indians since.
Thus you behold a man, "called and commanded of the Lord God, to go forth unto the Lamanites," and establish his Church among them; but no sooner is he set down in the field of his mission, and surrounded by his anticipated converts, than he is driven by a comparative nothing, from the field, and obliged to relinquish his contemplated harvest. —
This is the person commissioned by the Lord to proceed the western wilds, and as he himself stated, "to the place where the foot of a white man never trod," ["]to rear up a pillar for a witness, where the Temple of God shall be built in the glorious New-Jerusalem." But alas! he was arrested by man in his course, and by the breath of man the mighty undertaking was blown into the air, and Cowdery was thrown back among the Gentiles, to wait for the spirit to devise some new plans in the place of those which had been frustrated.
But as the city and temple must be built, as every avenue leading to the Indians was closed against the Mormonites, it was thought that they should be built among the Gentiles, which is in direct opposition to the original plan—as foreign from the design of the spirit, expressed in several commandments, as it would have been, had the Directors, who were appointed to build the court-house in Ravenna, built it in Trumbull county, foreign from the design of those who intrusted them with the business.
Though their plans had hitherto failed, they were unwilling to abandon the Indian enterprise; and in a commandment it was stated, that Cowdery and others should receive a written recommendation, signed by the Elders, for the purpose of presenting it to the Indian agent, in order to obtain permission to visit the Indians in their settlements. —
The recommendation was written according to commandment, and frequent opportunities occurred in which it might have been presented to the agent, but it never was presented, and of course was useless; he was censured by some for not presenting it, but I suppose the spirit directed him not to do it.
Another method has been invented, in order to remove obstacles which hitherto had proved insurmountable. "The Lord's store-house," is to be furnished with goods suited to the Indian trade, and persons are to obtain license from the government to dispose of them to the Indians in their own territory; at the same time they are to disseminate the principles of Mormonism among them. From this smugling method of preaching to the Indians, they anticipate a favorable result.
In addition to this, and to co-operate with it, it has been made known by revelation, that it will be pleasing to the Lord, should they form a matrimonial alliance with the Natives; and by this means the Elders, who comply with the thing so pleasing to the Lord, and for which the Lord has promised to bless those who do it abundantly, gain a residence in the Indian territory, independent of the agent.” (Ezra Booth Letters, Letter 9, Published in the Ohio Star (Ravenna, Ohio), Dec. 8, 1831, I will have more on Ezra Booth in subsequent posts)
While the mission to the Indians was in progress Smith continued his revision of the Bible, (which he was ‘re-translating’) working on the book of Genesis. During the month of December 1830 he dictated what was called the "Prophecy of Enoch" which contained a story about another holy city (know as the city of Enoch) built in Old Testament times and taken from the earth into heaven.
Smith's revision of the Bible, has come to be known variously as the Inspired Version, Joseph Smith Translation (hereafter as JST) and the Joseph Smith Revision. In the summer of 1830 Smith began a study of the Bible, and from June to December of 1830 began writing down what he claimed was the vision that Moses received when he wrote the Book of Genesis. This work was called The Book of Moses, and Smith used four different scribes to write the first eight chapters, beginning with Oliver Cowdery. It began with what was termed the Vision of Moses, (began in June 1830) and included the Book of Enoch (dictated in December 1830).
When Cowdery left on his mission to the Lamanites, he was replaced by John Whitmer, and then briefly by Emma Smith. In July of 1830 Smith received a “revelation” which said that his time should “be devoted to the studying of the scriptures”. (BOC XXVII:1) After Sidney Rigdon arrived in Fayette in December, he took over as scribe for the remaining “translation” of the Bible. After a brief halt in the “translation” during the move from Colesville to Hiram, Ohio, Smith & Cowdery resumed their work on the Old Testament. This was interrupted in March of 1831 when Smith wrote a “revelation” that he must “translate” the New Testament:
And now, behold I say unto you, it shall not be given unto you to know any farther than this, until the new testament be translated, and in it all things shall be made known; Wherefore I give unto you that ye may now translate it, that ye may be prepared for the things to come” (BOC XLVIII:54-55)
After finishing the New Testament, Smith & Rigdon returned to the Old Testament and finished “translating” it on July 2, 1833. “Zion” was described by Smith in this way:
“And the Lord called his people, Zion, because they were of one heart and of one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there were no poor among them. And Enoch continued his preaching in righteousness unto the people of God. And it came to pass in his days, that he built a city that was called the city of Holiness, even Zion.” (Genesis 7:23-25 in The Holy Scriptures (Independence, Missouri: Herald Publishing House, 1991), published by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints; see, The Pearl of Great Price, Moses 7:18-19).
Smith claimed that Enoch beheld in vision that "Zion in [the] process of time was taken up into heaven."
The elect were to be gathered "from the four quarters of the earth, unto a place which I shall prepare; an holy city, that my people may gird up their loins, and be looking forth for the time of my coming; for there shall be my tabernacle, and it shall be called Zion; a New Jerusalem."(Genesis 7:27, 70 (JST); LDS Moses 7:21, 62; RLDS D&C 36:3d, 12f-g; compare with Book of Commandments XXVIIII:8-9.)
In addition, the promise was made that in the last days Enoch's city of Zion "should again come on the earth." (Genesis 9:21 (JST). The coming together of the city of Enoch (Zion) and the New Jerusalem is further described in a revelation to Joseph Smith: "The Lord hath brought down Zion [of Enoch] from above. The Lord hath brought up Zion [the New Jerusalem] from beneath" (LDS D&C 84:100).
On December 7, 1830 the following appeared in the New York Painesville Telegraph:
“Those who are the friends and advocates of this wonderful book [the Book of Mormon], state that Mr. Oliver Cowdry has his commission directly from the God of Heaven, and that he has credentials, written and signed by the hand of Jesus Christ, with whom he has personally conversed, and as such, said Cowdry claims that he and his associates are the only persons on earth who are qualified to administer in his name. By this authority, they proclaim to the world, that all who do not believe their testimony, and be baptized by them for the remission of sins, and come under the imposition of their hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and stand in readiness to go to some unknown region, where God will provide a place of refuge for his people, called the "New Jerusalem," must be forever miserable, let their life have been what it may.” (Painesville Telegraph, N.S. Vol II. Painesville, Tues., Dec. 7, 1830. No. 25).
Some Mormon apologists try and use this statement as proof for Smith’s claimed 1820 vision. But Cowdery had always insisted that if one is called an apostle of Jesus Christ, that one must personally have seen him. Cowdery was called an apostle by Joseph Smith first in June 1830:
“I speak unto you, even as unto Paul mine apostle, for you are called even with that same calling with which he was called” (BOC XV:11, D&C 18:9)
Further in this “revelation” Smith defines those who he had called “apostles”:
And now behold, there are others which are called to declare my gospel, both unto Gentile and unto Jew: Yea, even unto twelve: And the twelve shall be my disciples, and they shall take upon them my name: And the twelve are they which shall desire to take upon them my name, with full purpose of heart: And if they desire to take upon them my name, with full purpose of heart, they are called to go into all the world to preach my gospel unto every creature: And they are they which are ordained of me to baptize in my name, according to that which is written; and you have that which is written before you: Wherefore you must perform it according to the words which are written.
And now I speak unto the twelve: Behold my grace is sufficient for you: You must walk uprightly before me and sin not. And behold you are they which are ordained of me to ordain priests and teachers to declare my gospel, according to the power of the Holy Ghost which is in you, and according to the callings and gifts of God unto men: And I Jesus Christ, your Lord and your God, have spoken it. These words are not of men, nor of man, but of me: Wherefore you shall testify they are of me, and not of man; for it is my voice which speaketh them unto you: For they are given by my Spirit unto you: And by my power you can read them one to another; and save it were by my power, you could not have them: Wherefore you can testify that you have heard my voice, and know my words.
And now behold I give unto you, Oliver, and also unto David, that you shall search out the twelve which shall have the desires of which I have spoken; and by their desires and their works, you shall know them: And when you have found them you shall show these things unto them. (BOC XV:27-43)
The “twelve” mentioned here, that Cowdery and Whitmer were to choose, were actually called “disciples”, and the only qualification for them was to “ take upon them my name, with full purpose of heart”. Smith actually affirms that it was he who ordained Cowdery an Elder in the Articles and Covenants of the Church of Christ, (BOC XXIV, D&C 20) in which he called himself and Cowdery apostles,
Joseph . . . was called of God, and ordained an apostle of Jesus Christ, an elder of this church; And also to Oliver, who was called of God an apostle of Jesus Christ, an elder of this church, and ordained under his [Joseph Smith’s] hand: and this according to the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (BOC XXIV:3-4, D&C 20:2–3 changes the wording of this “revelation”, adding “first” and “second” elder.).
In verse 6-7 Smith writes,
For, after that it truly was manifested unto the first elder that he had received remission of his sins, he was entangled again in the vanities of the world, but after truly repenting, God visited him by an holy angel, whose countenance was as lightning, and whose garments were pure and white above all whiteness, and gave unto him commandments which inspired him from on high, and gave unto him power, by the means which was before prepared that he should translate a book;
Some Mormon apologists claim that verse 6 is a cryptic reference to Smith’s claimed 1820 vision, because it states that it was “manifested unto the first elder that he had received a remission of sins” and that afterwards he was “entangled again in the vanities of the world but after truly repenting, God visited him by an holy angel,” gave him commandments and the power and means to translate the Book of Mormon.
This appears to be a good argument, except for a couple of points. In Oliver Cowdery’s 1834 History, he states that Joseph was 17 when he experienced the religious excitement that led him to first “call upon the Lord in secret for a full manifestation of divine approbation, and for, to him, the all important information, if a Supreme being did exist, to have an assurance that he was accepted of him.” (Messenger & Advocate, Vol. No. 1834)
Cowdery then relates that in answer to this prayer, an angel appeared to him and told Smith he was “sent by commandment of the Lord, to deliver a special message, and to witness to him that his sins were forgiven, and that his prayers were heard.”(ibid)
Oliver Cowdery then relates that after this first vision of Moroni Smith goes to obtain the record, but that when he sees it he briefly sets down the plates they have vanished and then re-appear in the stone box. His mother would later write that the angel told Smith he could not have them, for Smith had set the record down to look for more treasure and that it was not “to get gain”. (Lucy Mack Smith, unpublished manuscript, in Anderson, Lucy's Book, 335—36) After this happened, Cowdery relates,
While he thus stood gazing and admiring, the angel said, "Look!" and as he thus spake he beheld the prince of darkness, surrounded by his innumerable train of associates. All this passed before him, and the heavenly messenger said, "All this is shown, the good and the evil, the holy and 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. Behold, whatever entices and leads to good and to do good, is of God, and whatever does not is of that wicked one: It is he that fills the hearts of men with evil, to walk in darkness and blaspheme God; and you may learn from henceforth, that his ways are to destruction, but the way of holiness is peace and rest. You now see why you could not obtain this record; that the commandment was strict, and that if ever these sacred things are obtained they must be by prayer and faithfulness in obeying the Lord. They are not deposited here for the sake of accumulating gain and wealth for the glory of this world: they were sealed by the prayer of faith, and because of the knowledge which they contain they are of no worth among the children of men, only for their knowledge. (M&A 1834)
Smith is then instructed that he must return to that spot the next year, but it would be four years (until 1827) before he can get the plates. During the period when Smith was waiting to obtain the record, he continued his moneydigging, and in 1826 was brought up on charges of disturbing the peace. Oliver Cowdery writes that,
From this time to September, 1827, few occurrences worthy of note, transpired. As a fact to be expected, nothing of importance could be recorded concerning a generation in darkness. -- In the mean time our brother of whom I have been speaking, passed the time as others, in laboring for his support. But in consequence of certain false and slanderous reports which have been circulated, justice would require me to say something upon the private life of one whose character has been so shamefully traduced. By some he is said to have been a lazy, idle, vicious, profligate fellow. These I am prepared to contradict, and that too by the testimony of many persons with whom I have been intimately acquainted, and know to be individuals of the strictest veracity, and unquestionable integrity. All these strictly and virtually agree in saying, that he was an honest, upright, virtuous, and faithfully industrious young man. And those who say to the contrary can be influenced by no other motive than to destroy the reputation of one who never injured any man in either property or person. While young, I have been informed he was afflicted with sickness; but I have been told by those for whom he has labored, that he was a young man of truth and industrious habits. And I will add further that it is my conviction, if he never had been called to the exalted station in which he now occupies, he might have passed down the stream of time with ease and in respectability, without the foul and hellish tongue of slander ever being employed against him. (ibid)
Cowdery then affirms the good character of the Smith family in general, then returns to Joseph:
Soon after this visit to Cumorah, a gentleman from the south part of the State, (Chenango County,) employed our brother as a common laborer, and accordingly he visited that section of the country: and had he not been accused of digging down all, or nearly so, the mountains of Susquehannah, or causing others to do it by some art of nicromancy, I should leave this, for the present, unnoticed. You will remember, in the mean time, that those who seek to vilify his character, say that he has always been notorious for his idleness. This gentleman, whose name is Stowel, resided in the town of Bainbridge, on or near the head waters of the Susquehannah river. Some forty miles south, or down the river, in the town of Harmony, Susquehannah county, Pa. is said to be a cave or subterraneous recess, whether entirely formed by art or not I am uninformed, neither does this matter; but such is said to be the case, -- where a company of Spaniards, a long time since, when the country was uninhabited by white settlers, excavated from the bowels of the earth ore, and coined a large quantity of money; after which they secured the cavity and evacuated, leaving a part still in the cave, purposing to return at some distant period. A long time elapsed and this account came from one of the individuals who was first engaged in this mining business. The country was pointed out and the spot minutely described. This, I believe, is the substance, so far as my memory serves, though I shall not pledge my veracity for the correctness of the account as I have given. -- Enough however, was credited of the Spaniard's story, to excite the belief of many that there was a fine sum of the precious metal lying coined in this subterraneous vault, among whom was our employer; and accordingly our brother was required to spend a few months with some others in excavating the earth, in pursuit of this treasure.
Cowdery again diverges from Joseph to his in-laws, claiming that Isaac Hale and others of Emma’s family slandered Joseph because he eloped with Emma. He then writes,
Though you may say, this is a digression from the subject proposed, I trust I shall be indulged, for the purpose of satisfying many, who have heard so many slanderous reports that they are lead to believe them true because they are not contradicted; and besides, this generation are determined to oppose every item in the form or under the pretence of revelation, unless it comes through a man who has always been more pure than Michael the great prince; and as this is the fact, and my opposers have put me to the necessity, I shall be more prolix, and have no doubt, before I give up the point, shall prove to your satisfaction, and to that of every man, that the translator of the Book of Mormon is worthy the appellation of a seer and a prophet of the Lord. In this I do not pretend that he is not a man subject to passion like other men, beset with infirmities and encompassed with weaknesses; but if he is, all men were so before him, and a pretence to the contrary would argue a more than mortal, which would at once destroy the whole system of the religion of the Lord Jesus; for he anciently chose the weak to overcome the strong, the foolish to confound the wise, (I mean considered so by this world,) and by the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe.
On the private character of our brother I need add nothing further, at present, previous to his obtaining the records of the Nephites, only that while in that country, some very officious person complained of him as a disorderly person, and brought him before the authorities of the county; but there being no cause of action he was honorably acquited. From this time forward he continued to receive instructions concerning the coming forth of the fulness of the gospel, from the mouth of the heavenly messenger, until he was directed to visit again the place where the records was deposited.
Smith himself references his trial for disorderly conduct (gross and outrageous violations of the peace) and the verse written in the Articles and Covenants in a letter written to Oliver Cowdery in 1834:
At the age of ten my father's family removed to Palmyra, N.Y. where, and in the vicinity of which, I lived, or, made it my place of residence, until I was twenty one the latter part, in the town of Manchester. During this time, as is common to most, or all youths, I fell into many vices and follies; but as my accusers are, and have been forward to accuse me of being guilty of gross and outrageous violations of the peace and good order of the community, I take the occasion to remark, that, though, as I have said above, "as is common to most, or all youths, I fell into many vices and follies," I have not, neither can it be sustained, in truth, been guilty of wronging or injuring any man or society of men; and those imperfections to which I allude, and for which I have often had occasion to lament, were a light, and too often, vain mind, exhibiting a foolish and trifling conversation. This being all, and the worst, that my accusers can substantiate against my moral character, I wish to add, that it is not without a deep feeling of regret that I am thus called upon in answer to my own conscience, to fulfill a duty I owe to myself, as well as to the cause of truth, in making this public confession of my former uncircumspect walk, and unchaste conversation: and more particularly, as I often acted in violation of those holy precepts which I knew came from God. But as the "Articles and Covenants" [D&C 20] of this church are plain upon this particular point, I do not deem it important to proceed further. I only add, that (I do not, nor never have, pretended to be any other than a man "subject to passion," and liable, without the assisting grace of the Savior, to deviate from that perfect path in which all men are commanded to walk!) By giving the above a place in your valuable paper, you will confer a lasting favor upon myself, as an individual, and, as I humbly hope, subserve the cause of righteousness. By giving the above a place in your valuable paper, you will confer a lasting favor upon myself, as an individual, and, as I humbly hope, subserve the cause of righteousness. I am, with feelings of esteem, your fellow laborer in the gospel of our Lord.
JOSEPH SMITH jr.
Unchaste conversation according to the 1828 Webster's Dictionary would be "lewd behavior".
Therefore, Smith is not referencing any claimed 1820 vision when he first received a remission of sins, it was in 1823 when the angel Moroni first appeared to him. Then he was caught up in moneydigging, arrested for disturbing the peace, but by 1827 he had truly repented and then the angel gave him the power and means to translate the Book of Mormon. It is not without precedent for Joseph to claim forgiveness each time he went before the Lord, in fact the Book of Commandments records many instances where God supposedly tells Smith that his sins are forgiven. (See, BOC XXIX:3, LXII:2, LXIII:4, LXV:5, 1835 Doctrine & Covenants, LXX:2, LXXXIV:1) and therefore it would not be without precedent for the Angel Moroni to inform Joseph that his sins had been forgiven him in 1827.
Missionaries in 1832 were teaching:
Joseph Smith, then an inhabitant of the state of New-York, county of Ontario, and town of Manchester. Having repented of his sins, but not attached himself to any party of Christians, owing to the numerous divisions among them, and being in doubt what his duty was,
he had recourse prayer. After retiring to bed one night, he was visited by an Angel and directed to proceed to a hill in the neighborhood where he would find a stone box containing a quantity of Gold plates. (The Fredonia Censor 11 (March 7, 1832):, Fredonia, New York. Reprinted from the Franklin Venango Democrat, Online here, courtesy of H. Michael Marquardt,
https://user.xmission.com/~research/central/resth1b.htm).
Susan Easton Black writes,
Receiving the word of God through a physical medium such as the Urim and Thummim was common in this dispensation and in others. The most well-known use of seer instruments was Joseph Smith’s use of both the Nephite interpreters and the seer stone in which he translated the Book of Mormon “by the gift and power of God.”[5] By means of the Urim and Thummim, both Joseph and Oliver were told in 1829 that a “marvelous work is about to come forth unto the children of men,” and “the field is white already to harvest.” They were also admonished to “keep my commandments, and seek to bring forth and establish the cause of Zion.” By so doing, the promise given was a knowledge of the mysteries of God, the gift to translate holy writ, and an opportunity to do much good in this generation (D&C 6:1, 3, 5).
To accomplish the expected good, Oliver learned that the Lord knew his thoughts and the intents of his heart and that he encircled him in arms of love. He was reminded of the night that he cried unto the Lord. “Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter?” asked God, “What greater witness can you have than from God? . . . [Therefore] perform with soberness the work which I have commanded you” (D&C 6:23, 35). As the revelation continued, Joseph and Oliver recorded, “Behold the wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of the nails in my hands and feet” (D&C 6:37). Was it a literary phrase or did Joseph and Oliver—through the Urim and Thummim—actually see Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, the Holy One of Israel? Perhaps.
http://rsc.byu.edu/archived/days-never- ... -covenants
But in reality, Oliver never did "translate" anything, and when he tried, was told that he had just expected God to provide the translation. He was told that he must "study it out in his mind", but one has to wonder how that would work when one is "translating" a language one had never seen before? There is also no evidence that Cowdery had the plates with him when he tried to "translate". When Joseph put his head into his hat and looked in his stone, what was he "studying out in his mind"? For most of the Book of Mormon "translation", the plates weren't even in the room so wasn't God just giving it to Smith because he asked? How else would the "gift and power of God" work?
Yet, we are to believe that Oliver saw Jesus in Smith's peepstone? Yet, this did not deter those like Cowdery, they continued to believe and accept Smith's "revelations", even when they put their own lives in serious danger.
(Continued below...)