Ancient Book of Mormon Characters and Humility

A prophecy from Isaiah (2 Nephi 27:15-20) was fulfilled when Martin Harris carried a facsimile of some of the characters from the Book of Mormon to the "learned" professors in the East. The intent of Joseph and Martin were to see if these learned men could authenticate and translate these characters.

In the famous account from Martin Harris, he said,
"I went to the city of New York, and presented the characters which had been translated, with the translation thereof, to Professor Charles Anthon, a gentleman celebrated for his literary attainments. Professor Anthon stated that the translation was correct, more so than any he had before seen translated from Egyptian. I then showed him those which were not yet translated, and he said that they were Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyric, and Arabic; and he said they were true characters.

He gave me a certificate, certifying to the people of Palmyra that they were true characters, and that the translation of such of them as had been translated was also correct. I took the certificate and put it into my pocket, and was just leaving the house, when Mr. Anthon called me back, and asked me how the young man found out that there were gold plates in the place where he found them. I answered that an angel of God had revealed it unto him.

He then said to me, "Let me see that certificate." I accordingly took it out of my pocket and gave it to him, when he took it and tore it to pieces, saying, that there was no such thing now as ministering of angels, and that if I would bring the plates to him, he would translate them. I informed him that part of the plates were sealed and I was forbidden to bring them. He replied, "I cannot read a sealed book." 

And thus was an ancient prophecy fulfilled. A small piece of that facsimile carried by Martin is shown above.

There are several great lessons to be learned in this story. I'll share one of them here:

We're taught in 2 Nephi 9:29 that "To be learned is good if they hearken unto the counsels of God."
I read it exactly that way, when we hearken to the counsels of God and are truly humble before him, we can be the instruments to bring about his work. When we rely solely on our learning, rather than him, we are stuck and make no progress. To be instruments in his hands, it necessitates our humility before him, which comes from sincere prayer and a contrite heart!

A great example of this is found when Joseph could make no progress in translating the plates. I quote from David Whitmer as he recounted,
"At times when Brother Joseph would attempt to translate...he found he was spiritually blind and could not translate. He told us that his mind dwelt too much on earthly things, and various causes would make him incapable of proceeding with the translation. When in this condition he would go out and pray, and when he became sufficiently humble before God, he could proceed with the translation." 
David Whitmer went on to recount an experience when Joseph had a disagreement with Emma and immediately went upstairs to translate, but couldn't decipher a single letter. Joseph then went out and prayed for an hour in a grove, returned and asked Emma for forgiveness, and continued to translate.

Not only was this post an example of prophecy fulfilled, but the lessons contained should teach you and I a great lesson. We can be learned, and that is good, IF we hearken to the counsels of God. No man has ever accomplished the work of God by their learning alone, it was ONLY when they were humble and diligently sought his counsel in sincere prayer!