History of Utah, 1540-1886 - Brigham Young University

44 THE STORY OF MOEMONISM.
mini, 4 and the breastplate. 5 But when he was about to
take them out Moroni stood beside him and said, "Not
yet; meet me here at this time each year for four years,
and I will tell you what to do." Joseph obeyed.
The elder Smith was poor, and the boys were sometimes
obliged to hire themselves out as laborers. It
was on the 22d of September, 1823, that the plates
were found. The following year Alvin died, and in
October 1825 Joseph went to work for Josiah Stoal,
in Chenango county. This man had what he supposed
to be a silver mine at Harmony, Pennsylvania,
said to have been once worked by Spaniards. Thither
Joseph went with the other men to dig for silver, 6
as much skill in the art of engraving.' In the introduction to the Book of Mormon
(New York ed.), viii., is given essentially the same description. See
also Bonwick's Mormons and Silver Mines, 61; Bert rand, Mem. d'un Mor., 25;
Olshausen, Gesch. d. Morm., 12-29; Ste.nhouse, Le.t Mormons, i.-vii. ; Ferris'
Utah and The Mormons, 5S; Mackay's The Mormons, 15-22; Smucker's Hist.
Mormons, 18-2S. For fac-simile of writing on golden plates, see Beadle's
Life in Utah, 25. For illustrations of the hill, rinding the plates, etc., see
Mackay's The Mormons, 15; Smucker's liixt. Mormons, 24; Tucker's Origin
and Prog. Mor., frontispiece. When sceptics ask, Why are not the plates
forthcoming? believers ask in turn, Why are not forthcoming the stone tables
of Moses? And yet the ten commandments are to-day accepted.
4 'With the book were found the urim and thummim, two transparent
crystals set in the rims of a bow. These pebbles were the seer's instrument
whereby the mystery of hidden things was to be revealed !
' Introduction
to Book of Mormon (New York ed.), viii. 'The best attainable definition
of the ancient urim and thummim is quite vague and indistinct. An
accepted biblical lexicographer gives the meaning as "light and perfection,"
or the "shining and the perfect." The following is quotedfrom Butterworth's
Concordance: "There are various conjectures about the urim and thummim,
whether they were the stones in the high-priest's breastplate, or something
distinct from them; which it is not worth our while to inquire into, since
God has left it a secret. It is evident that the urim and thummim were
appointed to inquire of God by, on momentous occasions, and continued in
use, as some think, only till the building of Solomon's temple, and all conclude
that this was never restored after its destruction.'" Tucker's Uri