i love it when i get to teach relief society... and this time was definitely no exception. this weeks topic was the power of the book of mormon, a talk given at general conference in april of this year, by president thomas s monson. it's only a three minute talk, so obviously i had to do something to make up the rest of the time... and i ended up with more than enough! so here it is!
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My lesson today is based on the April
2017 Sunday morning session conference talk by President Monson, entitled the
Power of the Book of Mormon. During the last conference, he spoke just twice,
with both talks being less than 3 minutes each. All that did for me was to
emphasise that he obviously had something very important to say, which he did!
He dedicated his entire Sunday morning talk to the importance of reading and
gaining a testimony of the Book of Mormon! We could easily read it, but I love
to listen to our prophet speak, so we’ll watch it now. You can do so here!
I love President Monson’s simple
invitation. If you are not reading the Book of Mormon each day, PLEASE DO SO.
The word Mormon means “more good” and
that’s what the Book of Mormon will bring to our lives.
The Book of Mormon was first published
187 years ago in March 1830 and the first edition of the Book of Mormon was
made by hand. Please allow me to tell you over the next few minutes how this
was done.
The Prophet Joseph Smith had made
several visits to newspaper editors and publishers prior to the printing of the
book. Letters indicate that his appearance was engaging, but his business
proposition was unusual and refused. His request for 5,000 copies of a book
from newspaper publishers was a far cry from a request to produce 5,000
newspapers. He was twenty years beyond the scope of his generation. The large
quantity would have been more readily feasible to publishers after 1847, when
the rotary press was introduced. In 1830 book publishers in the United States
were not producing books in large editions, either. In fact, until 1820 seventy
percent of the books circulating in America had been printed in Great Britain. The
size of first editions of books in America varied. While religious and staple
books led with large editions, usual editions ran from 500 or 600 to 2,000
copies. The Bible, the most salable book, was on occasion printed in a
10,000-copy edition. But most printers felt that it was better business “to be
forced to reprint a successful book than to carry on … their shelves a large
remainder of a volume that had failed to make its way.”
“The most tedious and difficult task
that confronted a colonial printer,” writes Wendell J. Ashton, “was the
production of a book of a considerable number of pages.” The huge amount of work involved in
production was due to the state of the materials and presses, which at the time
caused the publishers to keep edition sizes small. When they did produce a
large edition, selling it out often became a problem. To illustrate what was
considered a “large quantity,” John Wilson, the son of a famous Cambridge
printer, had apprenticed on an iron press in 1843. One extremely large order of
his involved the production of a sixteen-page octavo (eight pages cut from one
sheet of paper) tract of 100,000 copies. He considered 2,000 copies of the
tract as being a good day’s work. It took fifty days to print this edition. In
his words, “this was a formidable number to print on a hand press.” Since the Book of Mormon involved 185,000
copies of octavo layout printed on both sides, it represented a doubly
formidable quantity of printed material.
When we understand the circumstances
surrounding mass publication in that era, the somewhat overwhelming nature of
Joseph Smith’s request for 5,000 copies becomes more apparent. A newspaper in
Rochester NY, the Gem, published
information about the visit of Joseph and Martin in an article dated September
5, 1829: “A man by the name of Martin Harris was in this village a few days
since endeavouring to make contract for printing a large quantity of a work
called the Golden Bible … now in press in Palmyra, Wayne County.”
Finally, in August 1829, in a building
housing the printing equipment of the Wayne Sentinel, the Book of Mormon went to
press. Mr. Grandin and his associates had taken on the unpopular task of
printing this book when other nearby newspaper editors refused. Grandin (whose
name you will notice showing on the copy I’ll pass around shortly) consented to
produce the book only as a “business matter,” with the understanding among his
friends and associates that he was in no way related to the religion that the
book represented.
Outwardly, the building of the Wayne Sentinel reflected
the image of any small, country printing establishment of that period in the
United States. But the spirit of a few excited men gathered within this
particular building at this time reflected something very different. To them,
the dawning of a new dispensation seemed imminent. When John H. Gilbert, main
compositor for the Book of Mormon, showed those present the galley sheet of the
first few pages of the book, including the title page, three onlookers—Martin
Harris, Oliver Cowdery, and Joseph Smith—were delighted with this first
impression of the book in print. Two others, however—Pomeroy Tucker and Stephen
S. Harding—did not share the feeling of anticipation and joy that filled the
hearts of the others.
Still, the business transaction had been
made, although it was unusual from its inception. The usual procedure was for
the printer to completely examine the manuscript and make plans for the form of
the book. But Mr. Grandin and his associates had to make their decisions from a
few pages of manuscript, taking Joseph Smith’s word on the number of “folios”
that the manuscript would make. From these few specimen pages, Grandin had to
decide the cost of composing and setting the type, the choice of the proper
type size, the book size, the amount of ink, paper, leather, and binding
materials needed, and the time and cost of printing and bookbinding. These were
all figured out with hardly any knowledge of the manuscript that he proposed to
set into book form. The chief compositor, Gilbert, also began his job under
unusual circumstances. The manuscript was only given to him by a guard; because
some of the translated material had been lost, Joseph Smith was constrained to
have a guard accompany the small batches of copy to be set each day. It was
then composed, set in galley and page forms, checked out, and proofread. The
manuscript was always withdrawn each evening by Oliver Cowdery and a guard, who
was sometimes the Prophet’s own brother, Hyrum Smith. Aside from this slightly
disquieting procedure, the printing office soon hummed with normal activity.
Once the first proof sheets had been readied, printing on the press could
proceed simultaneously with the typesetting, galleying, paging, and
proofreading. Gilbert wasted no time, after he received Joseph Smith’s approval
on the first proof sheets, in finishing the first signature (large sheet of
printed pages) of the Book of Mormon.
This is a copy of the first “signature”
that appeared in the original printing of the Book of Mormon. You can see when
it’s opened up that it’s printed in an order that works when it is folded, then
cut to size, to make the first 16 pages of the Book of Mormon. The Book of
Mormon consisted of all of these signatures printed and joined together over
and over until it was complete. Once each side was dry, the second side would
be printed.
As Mr Gilbert composed the type for the
Book of Mormon, he would read the manuscript sentence by sentence, memorizing
the wording, spelling, and punctuating exactly as he proceeded. At the end of
each word, he would add a small space, with the thumb of his left hand holding
each new letter in position at the end of the growing line of letters. When he
finished a line, he would either hyphenate the word, fit one more small word
in, or end the line and respace the words. In any case, the line was justified
by spacing it until it had a firm fit. Sometimes this involved removing all the
spaces between the words and inserting wider or smaller ones. When the measure
of his composing stick was finally full, Major Gilbert would pause to read the
lines that he had just set. To a layman the face of the type would be upside
down and reversed, but to a man skilled in this profession, this reading was
done as easily as is normal reading. The whole Book of Mormon was given its
first proofreading this way.
We cannot be sure how fast Gilbert set
the type for the book, but words cannot be composed as quickly as they can be
written. For four centuries composing a book meant picking up each letter
singly and assembling it with other letters in a composing stick. Compositors
achieved great dexterity in this work, but there is a limit to the speed of the
fingers. As the typesetting progressed, Gilbert’s nimble fingers kept up a regular
pace while his eyes scanned the manuscript copy. This was the typical
typesetting scene that Oliver Cowdery and his companions watched as they
guarded the manuscript during the months of printing. The printing also
progressed rapidly during this time. The busy office never knew a moment’s
silence for eleven hours a day, six days a week, after work on the Book of
Mormon commenced. As good pressmen were known for their regular rhythm and
consistent production, Mr. Grandin and his associates at the Wayne Sentinel were no
doubt proud to print with very little time lost or wasted, printing slightly
over four sheets a minute. By their printing standards, they produced the Book
of Mormon in good time on that Washington press—especially considering the fact
that the print shop continued to publish the Wayne Sentinel each week.
While we offhandedly state that the Book
of Mormon came to press during the last part of August 1829 and the printing
ended in March 1830, we often forget the bookbinding part of the work. Yet this
ancient process was an important one in making the Book of Mormon. After the
printed signatures (folded into bundles of eight leaves) were placed in order
according to their numbers, they were placed on a sewing frame and cords were
sewn through the spinal fold with a special stitch called the kettle stitch. Then
they were hammered down the spine to tighten the folds, screwed into a standing
press, and glued along the spine to hold them together permanently. When this
glue reached the right elasticity, the spine was tapped to give each book the
necessary rounded shape at the back for the addition of the cover. The covers
were cut from cardboard and a thin white sheet of paper was pasted onto one
side. This caused the board to draw slightly in and curve into the proper shape
for a book cover as the paste dried. The ends of the cords previously sewed
through the spinal fold of the book were glued into these covers. To give the
covers their final dress, dampened leather was carefully drawn over the
cardboard, smoothed over the spine, pared down at the corners, and glued to the
cardboard frames. When all the edges were tightly glued down and the corners
squared, the books were left to dry.
In this busy atmosphere during the
binding of the Book of Mormon, none of these craftsmen could know that they
were making history. When Grandin and his small crew had finished the first few
copies of the Book of Mormon and set them up for sale in the small bookstore in
Palmyra, they had little realization of the consequences and far-reaching
effects to come because of this handcrafted product they had made. As they
tooled and lettered the name of the book on the leather cover with gold that
would not tarnish, they little knew that it would be untarnished over a hundred
years later and that the book itself contained a message far more untarnishable
than the letters on its cover—a message of truth for all the world.
Thankfully the printing process is
nowhere near as difficult in our day and in 2011 the church reported that more
than 150 million copies had been printed since 1830.
Isn’t that amazing! To hear how the
pages of the Book of Mormon came to be! We know the Book of Mormon was
specifically written for OUR DAY. Mormon Chapter 8 speaks of the prophesied coming
forth of the Book of Mormon and there are a few verses that I’d specifically
like to cover:
Mormon: 8:14-15
14 And I am the
same who hideth up this record unto the Lord; the plates thereof are
of no worth, because of the commandment of the Lord. For he truly saith that no
one shall have them to get gain; but the record thereof is
of great worth; and whoso shall bring it to light, him will the Lord
bless.
15 For none can
have power to bring it to light save it be given him of God; for God wills that
it shall be done with an eye single to his glory, or the welfare of
the ancient and long dispersed covenant people of the Lord.
(this
scripture mentions that the plates would be of no worth to anyone other than
those who would “bring it to light” and the only way they could come forward
would be through the power of God)
Mormon 8:25
25 And behold,
their prayers were also in behalf of him that the Lord should suffer
to bring these things forth.
This verse says that ancient prophets
knew and prayed for the prophet Joseph Smith, knowing he would one day bring
this record forward to the world. This is such a great chapter of the Book of
Mormon, seriously read it when you get home! There are many detailed prophecies
made by Moroni that stand as a witness to prove the truth of the book.
Moroni then tells us that he has seen
our day in Mormon 8:35.
35 Behold, I speak
unto you as if ye were present, and yet ye are not. But behold, Jesus Christ
hath shown you unto me, and I know your doing.
The
Book of Mormon was truly brought forth from the earth “for our day” in this
final dispensation. I like to imagine the joy Moroni felt as he personally
passed his writings to Joseph Smith to be brought forward.
I have said multiple times in lessons,
if you are too busy to pray and ready your scriptures, you are busier than the
Lord ever intended you to be. Please take the time to read from the Book of
Mormon each day as our dear prophet has asked us to. You will find strength and
safety in the words of the ancient prophets who were inspired to know what we
needed to hear.
I know there are plenty of meme lovers in our RS here, so
here’s one for you. We know from the verses of the Book of Mormon that often
there was war raging as someone had to take the time to gather and prepare the
ore required for the pages, then engrave their writings because the Lord had
commanded them to write and they were obedient and did so. We need to MAKE the
time to read it.
I remember one of the greatest pieces of
advice I received was to put myself in the story, much as Nephi said in 1 Nephi
19:23
23 And I did read
many things unto them which were written in the books of Moses; but
that I might more fully persuade them to believe in the Lord their Redeemer I
did read unto them that which was written by the prophet Isaiah; for I
did liken all scriptures unto us, that it might be for
our profit and learning.
I received a copy of a “Book of Mormon
challenge” many years ago (you can find something similar here - basically explaining what would be required to write
your own – and believe me it’s a lot!) that I would love to share a few points
of with you:
§
Joseph
Smith was just 23 years old had no more than 3 years of formal education
§
At
no stage was the translation of the Book of Mormon ever read back. Other than
grammatical and punctuation changes, the first copy has stood forever as first
released.
§
Many
styles of writing were included in the Book, relating to each individual
author.
§
All
mentions of Christ and his ministry agree perfectly with the Bible, without
exception.
§
The
Book of Mormon was published at the expense of Joseph Smith, who along with
others gave his own money/ mortgaged his own land to see it published. He never
received any monetary gain, in fact he lost all that he had, submitting himself
to the most vile persecution, imprisonment and finally giving his life to seal
his testimony of the truthfulness of the Book.
It was impossible that the book has been
“made up”. It simply could not have been done. I am would have been so easy to
give up and walk away time and time again, rather than watching his family and
friends and his people suffering for the truth, but Joseph knew of the truth of
the book, as do we and to this day, thousands of missionaries leave their
families each year at their own expense, to share the book of Mormon with the
world. Why would we bother if it wasn’t true.
Over time many theories and ideas have
arisen as to the origin of the Book of Mormon, but all have been proven wrong
when tested. Joseph’s Smith claim that the Book came from a divine origin has
stood strong as the only possible explanation despite efforts by many to show
otherwise. Its strength has increased to the point where is has become the only
logical explanation. Scholars and
professors have testified to its divinity, because there is NO other
explanation, it MUST BE REAL, meaning it MUST BE TRUE.
Bruce R. McConkie said, “There are …
millions of sincere and devout persons who disbelieve, oppose, and openly fight
the Book of Mormon. … What is it about some words on a printed page—all of
which are clean and uplifting and pertain to historical and doctrinal
matters—that arouses such violent antagonism?
“Men ordinarily
do not rise up to fight the Bible; they do not organize mobs and incite them to
shed the blood of others because such persons believe in the scripture of the
Old World. … The violent opposition to the Book of Mormon is one of the great
evidences of its divinity. If it were not of God, Lucifer would not overly
concern himself with it.”
I love to hear Elder Holland bear testimony of the Book of Mormon, so let's do that too! (you can find that here)
As you can see from these pictures, (on the board, showing the three witnesses and the eight witnesses of the Book of Mormon) many people saw and held the plates and witnessed of their existence. These people never changed their witness. Never retracted it, never denied what they had seen. Joseph Smith didn't just "make it all up." He simply couldn't have.
It doesn't matter which cover, it doesn't matter what language. (See display above!) It is the Book of Mormon and it is true!
"The Book of Mormon is the most correct of any book on this Earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book. - Joseph Smith Jnr.
I KNOW of the truth of the Book
of Mormon. I KNOW Joseph Smith saw Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know
these words were written for US. PLEASE make time to read the Book of Mormon
daily. It will change your life.
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information regarding printing etc sourced
here
