One of the best parts of the scriptures revealed in the latter-days is found at the end of Joseph Smith-History in the Pearl of Great Price. It is Oliver Cowdery's account of the restoration, beautifully written, but unversed and printed in a small type-setting at the end of the JSH.
But it is a worthwhile read, as Oliver's testimony confirms Joseph's testimony.
Let's take a paragraph-by-paragraph look at this writing.
PARAGRAPH 1: “These were days never to be forgotten—to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven, awakened the utmost gratitude of this bosom! Day after day I continued, uninterrupted, to write from his mouth, as he translated with the Urim and Thummim, or, as the Nephites would have said, ‘Interpreters,’ the history or record called ‘The Book of Mormon.’
I love how Oliver puts this. His days as the scribe for the Book of Mormons "were days never to be forgotten." This hints of the joy Joseph and Oliver both must have felt, as they read/heard the words of God for the first time in that Great Book of Mormon. And, really, I can understand that joy because it must have been similar to the joy I get now when I read the Book of Mormon, even though I've read it many times before.
And how did Oliver feel when he first heard God's words in the Book of Mormon? Oliver writes that it "awakened the utmost gratitude of this bosom." Oliver's description is perfect. He didn't feel just gratitude. He felt the "utmost" gratitude--he couldn't have been more grateful. And where did that gratitude originate? His bosom. In other words, in his heart. As he heard and transcribed the Book of Mormon, his heart recognized truth and was grateful that God's truths had made their way to Oliver.
PARAGRAPH 2: "No men, in their sober senses, could translate and write the directions given to the Nephites from the mouth of the Savior, of the precise manner in which men should build up His Church, and especially when corruption had spread an uncertainty over all forms and systems practiced among men, without desiring a privilege of showing the willingness of the heart by being buried in the liquid grave, to answer a ‘good conscience by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.’"
Oliver is bearing his testimony of the Book of Mormon hear. If you read Christ's words in the Book of Mormon, how can you doubt, is essentially what Oliver is saying. Oliver sees Christ's beautiful directions to the righteous Nephites, who withstood the filth of their society to build a mighty kingdom of God. Oliver tells us that the people were so wicked in Nephite times that they refused to be baptized (or enter a "liquid grave" as Oliver calls it) and ignored the need to have a clear conscience when resurrected. Oliver admired, as do I, the Nephites' steadfastness living in such circumstances. To Oliver who lived in a day when men, even the wicked ones, all chose to get baptized, the fact that some would refuse baptism must have been a very foreign idea--and Oliver rightly noted the evil in refusing baptism for remission of sins.
PARAGRAPH 3: “After writing the account given of the Savior’s ministry to the remnant of the seed of Jacob, upon this continent, it was easy to be seen, as the prophet said it would be, that darkness covered the earth and gross darkness the minds of the people. On reflecting further it was as easy to be seen that amid the great strife and noise concerning religion, none had authority from God to administer the ordinances of the Gospel. For the question might be asked, have men authority to administer in the name of Christ, who deny revelations, when His testimony is no less than the spirit of prophecy, and His religion based, built, and sustained by immediate revelations, in all ages of the world when He has had a people on earth? If these facts were buried, and carefully concealed by men whose craft would have been in danger if once permitted to shine in the faces of men, they were no longer to us; and we only waited for the commandment to be given ‘Arise and be baptized.’"
Here, Oliver tells us that as he and Joseph read about the Savior giving authority to his disciples on the American continent, they realized that no one had authority on the Earth at that time. Oliver explains it beautifully: The priesthood is an authority built on revelation, and if the churches of the day were denying revelation, then how could they have the priesthood? If you deny there's revelation, then how could you bless the sick or give a blessing to the downtrodden in heart? Moreover, if God has given revelations to his people in all ages, then why would he stop now? I love the way Oliver says it: "His [God's]religion [is] based, built, and sustained by immediate revelations." Oliver points us that these true facts about the priesthood were buried by those priests who sought to profit from false doctrines.
PARAGRAPH 4: "This was not long desired before it was realized. The Lord, who is rich in mercy, and ever willing to answer the consistent prayer of the humble, after we had called upon Him in a fervent manner, aside from the abodes of men, condescended to manifest to us His will. On a sudden, as from the midst of eternity, the voice of the Redeemer spake peace to us, while the veil was parted and the angel of God came down clothed with glory, and delivered the anxiously looked for message, and the keys of the Gospel of repentance. What joy! what wonder! what amazement! While the world was racked and distracted—while millions were groping as the blind for the wall, and while all men were resting upon uncertainty, as a general mass, our eyes beheld, our ears heard, as in the ‘blaze of day’; yes, more—above the glitter of the May sunbeam, which then shed its brilliancy over the face of nature! Then his voice, though mild, pierced to the center, and his words, ‘I am thy fellow-servant,’ dispelled every fear. We listened, we gazed, we admired! ’Twas the voice of an angel from glory, ’twas a message from the Most High! And as we heard we rejoiced, while His love enkindled upon our souls, and we were wrapped in the vision of the Almighty! Where was room for doubt? Nowhere; uncertainty had fled, doubt had sunk no more to rise, while fiction and deception had fled forever!"
Oliver tells us that the Lord responded to their prayers for priesthood authority quickly. In this paragraph, Oliver tells us about how the Lord answers prayers: "The Lord, who is rich in mercy, and ever willing to answer the consistent prayer of the humble." The nature of the Lord, Oliver says, is to be rich in mercy, and as such, he is always there to answer the prayers of the humble. Oliver tells us that the answer to their prayers started with the voice of Christ speaking to him and Joseph; the veil parted, and an angel (John the Baptist) came down to answer their prayer--or, as Oliver eloquently puts it: the angel "delivered the anxiously looked for message."
I love how Oliver responds to receiving his priesthood authority: "What joy! what wonder! what amazement!" Well, Oliver was excited! And can you blame him? The priesthood authority, absent from Earth, for over a thousand years, had now been restored to him and his friend, Joseph. Oliver didn't miss the significance. He tells us that while the rest of the world's inhabitants were like the blind groping for the wall, he and Joseph could see in a light as bright as the blaze of day. It's a stirring contrast, but a true one. The light that was to be beamed to mankind through the restoration of the priesthood has in millions of lives given people the direction they need to get through the darkness. In that sense, this is an appropriate and deeply profound metaphor.
Oliver tells us the thrill he had when John the Baptist addressed he and Joseph as his fellow servants: "We listened, we gazed, we admired! ’Twas the voice of an angel from glory, ’twas a message from the Most High! And as we heard we rejoiced, while His love enkindled upon our souls, and we were wrapped in the vision of the Almighty! Where was room for doubt? Nowhere; uncertainty had fled, doubt had sunk no more to rise, while fiction and deception had fled forever!"
Can you imagine what that moment must have been like for Oliver and Joseph?! Do be called a "fellow servant" by John the Baptist? Do hear the voice of the Redeemer? To receive the Holy Priesthood? To feel God's love? To hear a message from an angel?
No wonder Oliver says what he does in the next paragraph:
PARAGRAPH 5: “But, dear brother, think, further think for a moment, what joy filled our hearts, and with what surprise we must have bowed, (for who would not have bowed the knee for such a blessing?) when we received under his hand the Holy Priesthood as he said, ‘Upon you my fellow-servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer this Priesthood and this authority, which shall remain upon earth, that the Sons of Levi may yet offer an offering unto the Lord in righteousness!’"
I love what Oliver says here: "Who would not have bowed the knee for such a blessing?" More than that, Oliver wants us to ponder what this moment was like for he and Joseph. He wants us to consider the joy they must have felt on this occasion.
PARAGRAPH 6: “I shall not attempt to paint to you the feelings of this heart, nor the majestic beauty and glory which surrounded us on this occasion; but you will believe me when I say, that earth, nor men, with the eloquence of time, cannot begin to clothe language in as interesting and sublime a manner as this holy personage. No; nor has this earth power to give the joy, to bestow the peace, or comprehend the wisdom which was contained in each sentence as they were delivered by the power of the Holy Spirit! Man may deceive his fellow-men, deception may follow deception, and the children of the wicked one may have power to seduce the foolish and untaught, till naught but fiction feeds the many, and the fruit of falsehood carries in its current the giddy to the grave; but one touch with the finger of his love, yes, one ray of glory from the upper world, or one word from the mouth of the Savior, from the bosom of eternity, strikes it all into insignificance, and blots it forever from the mind. The assurance that we were in the presence of an angel, the certainty that we heard the voice of Jesus, and the truth unsullied as it flowed from a pure personage, dictated by the will of God, is to me past description, and I shall ever look upon this expression of the Savior’s goodness with wonder and thanksgiving while I am permitted to tarry; and in those mansions where perfection dwells and sin never comes, I hope to adore in that day which shall never cease.”
After asking for us to ponder what it was like, Oliver tells us it was an indescribable moment. Oliver says it so well: "I shall not attempt to paint to you the feelings of this heart, nor the majestic beauty and glory which surrounded us on this occasion." He tells that no man can match the eloquence of the words John the Baptist used on that occasion, nor can man comprehend the wisdom of his words. That must have been some visit!
Then Oliver tells us the sum effect of this visit:
"Man may deceive his fellow-men, deception may follow deception, and the children of the wicked one may have power to seduce the foolish and untaught, till naught but fiction feeds the many, and the fruit of falsehood carries in its current the giddy to the grave; but one touch with the finger of his love, yes, one ray of glory from the upper world, or one word from the mouth of the Savior, from the bosom of eternity, strikes it all into insignificance, and blots it forever from the mind."
I read so much hope into that one sentence. No matter how much evil is promulgated against me in quest to follow the Savior; it will all be worth it, if I am proven worthy of his grace and love at that last day. Oliver, who had endured much, tells us that one touch with the finger of his love--or one ray of glory from heaven, makes all the persecutions he suffered insignificant.
No wonder that Oliver concludes with these words:
"The assurance that we were in the presence of an angel, the certainty that we heard the voice of Jesus, and the truth unsullied as it flowed from a pure personage, dictated by the will of God, is to me past description, and I shall ever look upon this expression of the Savior’s goodness with wonder and thanksgiving while I am permitted to tarry; and in those mansions where perfection dwells and sin never comes, I hope to adore in that day which shall never cease."
What a beautiful testimony; it is one worth studying and understanding. How grateful I am to be the beneficiary of the work the Lord did through his great servants Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. How grateful I am for my testimony of the restored church, this gospel, the priesthood restored, which I am blessed to hold. Most of all, how grateful I am for Christ. May his atonement be applied to my sins, that I may be washed clean and found worthy to stand. I pray in His Holy name. Amen.
