JOSEPH COPIES AND TRANSLATES FROM THE PLATES—MARTIN HARRIS AGAIN COMES OPPORTUNELY—PROFESSOR ANTHON AND THE CHARACTERS—MARTIN'S LABOR AS A SCRIBE—HIS BROKEN TRUST—THE TRANSLATION LOST TO JOSEPH—THE PROPHET PUNISHED FOR WILFULNESS.  
Joseph's first labor with the plates was in obedience to the general command given to him through Moroni. The particular means by which the translation was to be effected and given to the world had not been made known; and this young, untaught, impoverished man was at that hour unable, within his own resources of education and purse, to arrange for the consummation of the work. He devoted every available moment, however, to his sacred task, constantly praying to the Almighty for aid; and yet the progress was slow.
 
In every step which Joseph took as the chosen messenger of God, human struggle and sacrifice, to overcome perplexing difficulties and delays, seemed necessary. In this way more than any other was he taught a patient trust, and was sanctified for the exalted destiny which awaited him. Though he had been instructed by Moroni that Jehovah designed the record to be translated for the edification and blessing of the race, he did not experience the direct interposition of God in the accomplishment of the work—except only as the power of the Heavens was manifested through the Urim and Thummim. And much he marveled that the Lord should permit His holy purposes to depend upon weak and slow-moving man. But the Prophet lived to learn and to demonstrate that God commits His decrees to His earthly children for fulfilment; and though he may often work miracles in their behalf, yet are they required to give their best endeavor—even though weak and human—to the appointed deed; and out of their trials, their stumblings, their failures and their ultimate successes, will he bring the triumph of their devotion and His word.
 
Joseph had leisure and safety, after establishing himself at the house of Isaac Hale, in Harmony, Susquehanna County, State of Pennsylvania, in the month of December, 1827, to examine the sacred history and treasure which had been committed to his ward. And he very soon began a somewhat desultory labor of copying the different styles of strange characters found upon the plates and translating some of them by the aid of the Urim and Thummim. He thus prepared a considerable number of characters on sheets; some of them being accompanied by translations and others being alone. It does not appear that he had any more definite object in this superficial work than to seek, half-blindly, to fulfill the command delivered by the lips of Moroni, the angel of the record. But the purpose, wisely ordained, was latter apparent.
 
Joseph continued his efforts until some time in the month of February, 1828. Then the man, Martin Harris, who had once before befriended him, appeared at the Hale homestead.
 
Martin Harris had been deeply affected by his former intercourse with Joseph; and he had come in the depth of winter from his home near Lake Ontario, to seek out the young Prophet and to learn more of his wondrous mission. Harris tarried a brief time with Joseph at the house of Isaac Hale; and then in this same month of February, 1828, with the Prophet's permission, he carried away some of the various copies and translations which Joseph, laboriously and patiently, had made. It was the purpose of Martin Harris to submit the characters to scientists and linguists; and possibly by their verdict to decide to establish or withdraw his half-yielded faith. In pursuance of this plan, he went to New York City, and there visited Charles Anthon, a professor of languages at Columbia College.
 
Anthon examined first a sheet of characters accompanied by Joseph's translation; and declared that the characters were Ancient Egyptian and that the interpretation was correct—more complete and perfect than any other translation of that language which he had ever seen. He then looked at the other sheets, not accompanied by translations, and pronounced the characters to be genuine specimens of various ancient written languages. He wrote a certificate which embodied the foregoing assertions and presented it to Martin Harris.
 
Afterward, Anthon made inquiry of Martin regarding the origin of the characters; and then for the first time the learned professor discovered what endorsement he had bestowed upon an unlearned youth who had received from the hands of an angel a golden record filled with these ancient writings. Anthon hastily demanded the certificate which he had given to Harris; implying in his request that he wished to give the paper a final examination or to add something to it. And as soon as the professor received it again into his hands, he destroyed it, saying: "There is no such thing in these days as ministering of angels."
 
He asked that "the book which the young man had dug up" might be brought to him; and stated that out of his worldly learning he would translate the whole work. Harris replied that a considerable portion of the record was sealed and might not be opened to human gaze. Then Anthon contemptuously responded.
 
"I cannot read a sealed book!"
 
And thus was fulfilled the word of Isaiah who wrote twenty-six centuries ago:
 
"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."
 
When the conference with Professor Anthon was ended, Martin Harris carried his manuscripts to one Doctor Mitchell, who claimed a knowledge of some of the characters; and learning what Anthon had said concerning their genuineness, the learned doctor endorsed the statements of the other scholar.
 
Harris returned to the Prophet's home, fully convinced. This man—generous, skeptical naturally, but honest—was seized upon by the spirit of the work. When he met Joseph he related the convincing occurrences of his visits to the learned men, and he proffered his services as a writer for the Prophet, in the great work of translation.
 
The proposal was gladly accepted; and Martin proceeded to Palmyra to arrange for a long absence from home. It was the 12th day of April, 1828, when he returned to Harmony, prepared to serve as a scribe.
 
From this time forward until the 14th day of June, 1828, Joseph dictated to Martin Harris from the plates of gold; as the characters thereon assumed through the Urim and Thummim the forms of equivalent modern words which were famil............