Show MARTIN TIN HARRIS martin M artin harris who departed this ilfe life e on the tho 10 loth th dinst ins was in a very pecullar peculiar manner a man highly favored of god a man favored with beholding an angel from heaven in his glory holding in his hands ancient sacred records on plates of gold he was wag an american by birth born on orf the of May 1783 in East town saratoga co coy new now york ho he removed to palmyra NY where he became acquainted with joseph smith jr the translator of the book of mormon this haver great eat prophet of the last days having baving haver baver er g copied some of the ancient characters from gold plates which he had founds found and translated them presented them lo 10 martin har harnis harris r Is who made a visit to new wow york city and showed the characters to the celebrated professor anthon skilled Inan in ancient clent and modem modern lan grages the learned professor after his hish examination spoke favorably of the characters and of the translation and proffered his assistance si stance brif but on learning etora ar harrns harris that the book was discovered to joseph smith by an angel add that a part of the book was sealed and that the finder was forbidden to td let the book go into the hands of the pil public blib hiie he sarcastically remarked marked that lle ile lie he could not notreab read a sealed book mr harris returned and reported to mr smith the results of hl his interview with the learned after which mr smith being 0 commanded of the bord lord commenced translating the B book ook by the aid of the arim and dud thuei thum mim mini martin harris wai was waa his jils first art scribe and wrote pages of manuscript from the prophets mouth thus was fulfilled that which was ads predicted by isaiah 11 14 also book of mormon p par 18 in the year 1829 martin harris in company with the prophet and oliver cowdery and david whitmer retired to a grove not far from mr Whit memi meri farmhouse farm house in eay fay ay ette ong seneca county new york and called upon the lord one oab by one after which an angel descended from heaven in great glory and showed them the plates and the engravings bilg brig ravings upon the same and at the same time they heard the voice of the llord lord out of the heavens bearing witness ef of the correctness of the translation and commanding them to bear testimony of the ame same to all nations bor ion or their testimony see all the edicio editions li s of the book pf af mormon in defrere different nt language an thus was fulfilled the predictions of nephi and moroni book odmor of mormon pago page par 17 also niso p I 1 wen xen the prophet finished the translation ran martin all JEI harris harnis arris furnished towards the he the first finst edition i when by the commandment pi of the lj luord oid old the church was organized in april Arll 1530 1630 martin harris was among the first to identify himself with the baptized saints when wehen jackson Jac lison ilson co mo in I 1 1851 al WAS designated as a gathering place for the saints as the land upon which the new Se jerusalem should be built and where a 9 full fuli consecration of all properties should be required and the holy united order derd of god fOod should be established martin artin artia harris was the first one called of god by liy name to set an example before the church in laying his bontly monfry before the bishop notwithstanding these great favors Vors kors shown to this remarkable kable man 6 he had bad like all bf adams race his imperfections ho he did not follow up his brethren in all their perse buttons in the states of missouri and Illinois but t remained for many mahy years in ohio this aavo rise to many any conjectures that mr harris had apostatized but it can truly frilly be said sald id that mr harris never faltered nor swerved in tho least leat degree f from rom the great testimony given in the book of mormon mr harris a few years ago em emigrated I 1 to utah and like all other emigrating saints saints lie he in this territory renewed his covenants by te rebaptism baptism and also went into the font and was baptized for and in behalf of many mandof of his kindred who were dead he ire located in cache co aud and anu anc continued to bear a faithful testimony to the divinity bf the book mook of mormon up to his last moments being nearly 93 years of age it may truly be said he fell asleep of old age A few hours before his death when prostrated with great weakness bishop simon smith came in mr air harris stretched forth his hands bands to salute him and said fB ishop bishop 1 I 1 am going his son SOB says the bishop told father that he adson had something of imp importance to tell him bin in relation to the publishing in of ti the 0 book of mormon in the r spanish u a n ish language by the request of the indians in central america upon learning this father brightened up and his pulsation improved and although very weak he began to talk as he formerly had done previous to his sickness and I 1 think that he spoke about two hours so that you may see by this that the mere mention of the book of mormon seemed to put new life into him his son writes we had a good attendance and a large turn out for a small town like clarkston every respect that could be paid to him was manifested by the people k we put the boos BOOK of mormon in his right hand and the book lbook of covenants in hi his left hand we had a very good coffin and finished very nicely we inscribed on od the head board the following his name and birth and age and place of birth and also his death with the words one of the thred witnesses of the book of mormon also their testimony there were 16 teams or wagons well filled with the people who entertained a kind regard for old brother martin |