Martin Harris was “one of the most respected farmers in Wayne County,” a prosperous, property-owning Palmyran since 1808. In summer 1829, Martin and Joseph agreed to terms with a Palmyra printer named Egbert Grandin to publish the Book of Mormon. It was a controversial book and they wanted to print a large run of five thousand copies.
[“Martin Harris, the Prophet’s Scribe.” From T. B. H. Stenhouse, The Rocky Mountain Saints: A Full and Complete History of the Mormons, . . . (New York, 1873), 22.]
Martin led the negotiations and planned to pay for the printing, but he balked when Grandin refused to begin work until he had security for the entire payment. They worked out an agreement in which Grandin would print and bind all five thousand copies of the book for $3,000, with Martin putting up more than 150 acres of land as collateral. That’s when Martin “staggered in his confidence.” He would have to mortgage all the land he owned outright. The marvelous work halted for most of the summer.
Martin worried that no one would buy the books and he would lose his farm. “I want a commandment,” he told Joseph, “I must have a commandment.” So Joseph asked and the Lord gave a commandment, section 19. In a word, the commandment was “repent.” Frequent, intense repetition of “I command” and “repent” dominate this text. It offers astonishing autobiographical insight into the Savior’s Atonement. It begins in the voice of the Almighty Christ. First, he clarifies a mystery, or a common debate at the time, about whether God’s punishment would last forever or not. Didn’t the word eternal obviously mean “never-ending,” proponents might argue? Not necessarily, the Lord answers. Consider that it can be a qualitative measure as well as a quantitative one. The acts of Christ’s suffering and being resurrected didn’t last forever, and yet they have eternal consequences. Punishment, perhaps, can be limited in duration and yet lasting in effect. Moreover, Christ says, eternal “is more express” than other words (Doctrine and Covenants 19:7).
With that, the Savior begins to make his intended point powerfully. He repeatedly commands Martin to repent because Christ suffered exquisitely so that he could. This is the best autobiographical description of the Savior’s atoning suffering in the scriptures. It is wrenching, beautiful, and powerful. Compare section 18, for example, where the Savior speaks briefly and modestly in the third-person voice to describe how he suffered the pain of all so that all might repent (Doctrine and Covenants 18:10–13). It’s the same doctrine declared by the same Christ but in an entirely different voice and tone. Section 19 is adapted to Martin’s present predicament, which Christ knows how to address.
Throughout section 19 there is subtle allusion in which Christ compares himself to Martin implicitly. As Martin wrestles with whether he should keep his promises, and whether the sacrifice asked of him is too great, the Savior declares his character: he keeps promises. He made the infinite sacrifice. Where Martin is concerned with carnal security, the Savior shows contempt for covetousness. Where Martin is coveting his own property, the Lord compares it to the priceless testament of Jesus Christ, the “Book of Mormon, which contains the truth and the word of God” (Doctrine and Covenants 19:26).
This revelation reoriented Martin Harris. He grasped what the Lord was saying so expressly. He learned to let this commandment suffice and not ask again (Doctrine and Covenants 19:32). He obeyed the Lord’s command to “not covet thine own property, but impart it freely to the printing” (Doctrine and Covenants 19:26). He mortgaged his farm on August 25, paying Grandin in full. Once the paperwork was finished, Grandin’s employees began printing. The marvelous work was back on track.
