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A Sealed Book and a Lost Manuscript
September 1827 to April 1829

And thou shalt be brought down . . . and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust. . . . And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned. . . .Behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. (Isaiah 29:4, 11-12, 14 and 2 Nephi 27:6-10.)

After waiting four years, Joseph Smith rode to the Hill Cumorah, and on September 22, 1827, the twenty-one-year-old prophet obtained the Urim and Thummim and a set of plates containing a religious history of ancient America. Upon securing this record, persecution intensified, and in December of that year Joseph and his wife, Emma, decided to move to Harmony, Pennsylvania. There he began a serious translation of a new witness for Christ.

During the eighteen month period that commenced with Joseph Smith's securing the plates, two major developments occured which centered around the activities of Martin Harris. The first of these was Martin Harris' journey to New York City where he met scholars who were unable to translate characters which Joseph had copied from the plates. The other major development was the loss of 116 pages of the Book of Mormon manuscript and the subsequent loss of the power to translate. Even though an unlearned young man was beginning to accomplish a marvelous work, this work proceeded slowly, so that in April 1829, the translation was still in a preliminary stage.

Many contemporary accounts which describe this eighteen month period were written by members of Joseph Smith's family and other close associates. All of them substantiate the Prophet's history. Joseph's contemporaries have stated that persecution intensified in the fall of 1827, and that after Joseph had secured the record on September 22, 1827, some of them assisted him in hiding the plates. Contemporaries also believed Martin Harris when he told them about his journey to New York City, and they accepted his account of losing 116 pages of the manuscript. Although no one except Joseph Smith claimed to have seen the plates during these months, others said they felt the plates (which were wrapped in cloth) and examined the Urim and Thummim. There are no primary sources which suggest that prior to the fall of 1827 Joseph Smith possessed metal plates, a Urim and Thummim, a script containing characters that appeared like ancient writing, nor a manuscript containing a religious history of ancient America. Nor are there any primary sources which indicate that before or during these eighteen months Joseph Smith was composing (by writing and rewriting) a history or studying scholarly publications that might have aided him in writing about the past.