Fulfill What You Have Got
The Historical Background to Doctrine and Covenants 19
D&C 19 contains one of Lord’s sternest rebukes and some of the most intimate personal details about His suffering. The background for this section helps us to better understand why the revelation was given and what we can learn from it.
The background information to this section that is recorded in Revelations in Context is helpful, but insufficient for understanding the reasons for the revelation:
“Thou Shalt Not Covet Thine Own Property”
Bolstered by this miraculous and faith-affirming experience, Martin recommitted to provide financial support for the Book of Mormon publication. Joseph Smith had talked to several printers in Palmyra and Rochester, New York. He hoped to convince Egbert B. Grandin of Palmyra to print the book, and Martin took up the negotiations. Grandin’s price was $3,000 for the unusually large printing of 5,000 copies, but he would not buy the type or begin the job until Joseph or Martin had “promised to insure the payment for the printing.”20 Martin would have to impart essentially all the property to which he had a legal right.
This moment of decision would sound the depth of Martin Harris’s trust in Joseph Smith and his faith in the Book of Mormon. Seeking guidance, he spoke with Joseph, who received yet another revelation. Known today as Doctrine and Covenants 19, the revelation admonished Martin, “Thou shalt not covet thine own property, but impart it freely to the printing of the book of Mormon.”21 On August 25, 1829, he mortgaged his property to Grandin as payment for the publication. His neighbors were amazed that their sensible friend would “abandon the cultivation of one of the best farms in the neighborhood”22 to underwrite the publication.
Initially, Martin hoped to redeem his mortgaged farm by selling copies of the Book of Mormon. In January, Joseph Smith signed an agreement with Martin, giving him “equal privilege”23 to sell copies of the Book of Mormon until he had fully recouped the cost of printing. He began selling the book as soon as it was available in March 1830. Unfortunately, sales did not go as well as he had hoped.
Joseph Smith reportedly spotted a distraught Martin Harris late in March 1830 near Palmyra. According to Joseph Knight, Martin was carrying several copies of the Book of Mormon. He said, “The Books will not sell for no Body wants them,” and told Joseph, “I Want a Commandment.” Joseph’s reply referred Martin to the previous revelation: “Fulfill what you have got.” “But I must have a commandment,” repeated Martin.24
He received no further commandment.25 However, in compliance with the earlier revelation, Martin eventually sold enough of his property to pay the debt. By so doing, he secured his place as the most significant financial supporter of the Book of Mormon and thus the early Church. None among Joseph Smith’s younger and poorer friends could have provided this critical contribution.
The rest of the story gives us more data points for understanding Martin Harris’ character, and why such a stern rebuke from the Lord was required. It seems to me that many LDS materials downplay the truth about Martin’s character. While we must certainly be charitable toward Martin Harris, we can also remember why Martin lost the 116 pages, why Joseph had to pray with him separately in order for him to obtain his witness of the Gold Plates and other sacred objects, and why the Lord Himself called him a wicked man.
I’m not trying to be hard on Martin Harris, because he was also, in many ways, a good man. But there is more to the story of Martin Harris’ sacrifice to pay for the printing of the Book of Mormon:
When the translation of the Book of Mormon was nearly completed, Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and Martin Harris solicited Egbert B. Grandin, manager and principal owner of the Wayne Sentinel, a newspaper printed in Palmyra, to print the manuscript. Grandin declined the request as did Thurlow Weed of Rochester when confronted with the proposition. The Prophet and his associates finally prevailed upon E.B. Grandin, and Martin Harris later signed a mortgage (25 August 1829) that bound Harris to pay Grandin $3,000 within eighteen months for the printing of 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon or forteit sufficient of his 240-acre Palmyra farm to pay the $3,000. In March 1830, prior to the completion of the printing of the Book of Mormon, a group of townspeople near Palmyra voted not to purchase the book if it were published. Fearful that he might lose his farm if the book did not sell, Harris approached the Prophet Joseph Smith regarding the matter, and requested a revelation. Joseph Knight, Sr., remembering the occasion, made the following remarks:
“[Martin Harris] Came to us and after Compliments he says, ‘The Books will not sell for no Body wants them. Joseph says, ‘I think they will sell well.’ Says he, ‘I want a Commandment [revelation].’ ‘Why,’ says Joseph, ‘fulfill what you have got.’ ‘But,’ says he, ‘I must have a Commandment.’ Joseph put him off. But he insisted three or four times he must have a Commandment. [The following day] he got up and said he must have a Commandment to Joseph and went home. And along in the after part of the Day Joseph and Oliver Received a Commandment which is in the Book of Covenants [section 19].”
My purpose is not to judge or to cast aspersions upon Martin Harris. Who knows what any one of us would have done in his place? I am merely trying to point out that this was not the first time that Martin Harris repeatedly petitioned Joseph and the Lord for something when he ought to have been content to fulfill, or obey, the revelations that he had already received. I believe that we can learn a lot more from the Doctrine and Covenants when we better understand the true context and purpose of each revelation.
Martin Harris mortgaged 240 acres of his farm to Mr. Grandin and agreed to pay him three thousand dollars within eighteen months to insure the payment for publishing five thousand copies of the Book of Mormon. The deal seemed secure at the outset, but opposition to “The Gold Bible” increased during the publishing process. The Prophet Joseph Smith’s mother, Lucy Mack Smith, recorded more interesting details about these events (see also Joseph Smith and the Doctrine and Covenants, pp. 24-25) :
Joseph, after disposing of this affair, returned to Pennsylvania; but not long to remain there, for, when the inhabitants of the surrounding country perceived that the work still progressed, they became uneasy, and again called a large meeting. At this time, they gathered their forces together, far & near; and organizing themselves into a committee of the whole they resolved, as before, never to purchase one of our books when they should be printed. They then appointed a committee to wait upon E. B. Grandin, and inform him of the resolution which they had passed; and also, to explain to him the evill consequences which would result to him therefrom. The men who were appointed to do this errand fulfilled there mission to the letter; and urged upon Mr. Grandin the necessity of his putting a stop to the printing as the Smiths had lost all their property; consequently would be unable to pay him for his work, except by the sale of the books. And this they would never be able to do, for the people would not purchase them. This information caused Mr Grandin to stop printing; and we were again compelled to send for Joseph. These trips back and forth exhausted nearly all our means; yet they seemed unavoidable.
When Joseph came, he went immediately with Martin Harris to E. B. Grandin; and succeeded in removing his fears, so that he went on with the work untill the books were printed which was in the spring of 1830 [p. 168]
Naturally, Martin Harris was concerned that he might lose his farm as a result of the boycott against the Book of Mormon, and he wanted reassurance. What he received, however, was more than reassurance. After repeatedly badgering the Prophet Joseph Smith (even after his prior experience when he lost the 116 pages), and after repeatedly petitioning the Lord for a “commandment” or a revelation, the Lord revealed “a commandment of God and not of man, to Martin Harris, given by him who is Eternal.” This revelation was given through the Prophet Joseph Smith, at Manchester, New York, likely in the summer of 1829.
The translation of the Book of Mormon was completed in Fayette Township, New York, in early July of 1829, and on August 25, 1829, Martin Harris pledged his farm to assure payment to E. B. Grandin for printing 5,000 copies of Book of Mormon in Palmyra, New York.
Of course we are all grateful to Martin Harris for his sacrifice and his contribution to the work of the Lord. We are also grateful to Martin Harris for his repeated badgering of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his repeated petitions to the Lord for a “commandment” or a revelation, because now we can read and study Doctrine and Covenants 19. It seems to me that there is a distinct difference between the petitions of the importuning widow in Christ’s parable and Martin Harris’ repeated insisting for a “commandment” or a revelation.