- The works, and designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught, for God does not walk in crooked paths, neither does he turn to the right hand nor to the left, neither does vary from that which he has said; therefore, his paths are straight and his course is one eternal round.
- Remember, remember that it is not the work of God that is frustrated, but the works of men, for although a man may have many revelations and have power to do many mighty works, yet if he boast in his own strength, and sets at naught the counsels of God, and follows after the dictates of his will and carnal desires, he must fall to the earth and incur the vengeance of a just God upon him.
- Behold, you have been entrusted with those things, but strict was your commandment, and remember also the promises which were made to you if you transgressed them. And behold how often you have transgressed the laws of God and have gone on in the persuasions of men; for behold, you should not have feared men more than God. Although men set at naught the counsels of God and despise his words, yet you should have been faithful, and he would have extended his arm and supported you against all the fiery darts of the adversary, and he would have been with you in every time of trouble.
- Behold, you are Joseph and you were chosen to do the work of the Lord, but because of transgression you may fall. But remember God is merciful; therefore, repent of that which you have done and he will only cause you to be afflicted for a season, and you are still chosen and will again be called to the work. And except you do this, you shall be delivered up, and become as other men, and have no more gift.
- And when you delivered up that which God had given you right to translate, you delivered up that which was sacred into the hands of a wicked man who has set at naught the counsels of God, and has broken the most sacred promises which was made before God, and has depended upon his own judgment, and boasted in his own wisdom. And this is the reason that you have lost your privileges for a season, for you have suffered that the counsel of your directors to be trampled upon from the beginning.
- For as the knowledge of a Savior has come to the world, so shall the knowledge of my people the Nephites, and the Jacobites, and the Josephites, and the Zoramites, come to the knowledge of the Lamanites, and the Lemuelites, and the Ishmaelites, which dwindled in unbelief because of the iniquities of their fathers, who have been suffered to destroy their brethren because of their iniquities and their abominations. And for this very purpose are these plates prepared which contain these records — that the promises of the Lord might be fulfilled which he made to his people, and that the Lamanites might come to the knowledge of their fathers, and that they may know the promises of the Lord, that they may believe the gospel and rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ, and that they might be glorified through faith in his name, and that they might repent and be saved. Amen.
SECTION 2
Revelation given at Harmony, Pennsylvania, July 1828, to Joseph the Seer after he had lost certain writings which he had translated by the gift and power of God [See also jsh 10:1-6], saying: