“Brothers and Sisters, do you know who has been in your midst this night?”

Here are a few more notes from Susan Easton Black and Larry C. Porter, Martin Harris: Uncompromising Witness of the Book of Mormon (Provo: BYU Studies, 2018).  The passage below is actually cited from Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, “Diary of Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner,” typescript, p 4, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah:

Mary Elizabeth Rollins had converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Kirtland, Ohio.  Years later, she  recalled an early 1831 meeting with a small group of Latter-day Saints, including Martin Harris, that occurred in the Joseph Smith home on the Isaac Morley farm there in Kirtland.  These are her words:

Mother and I went over to the Smith house.  We wanted to hear more about the Golden Bible.  They were not settled yet, but as there were other visitors, when the Prophet saw us he said, “We might as well have a meeting.”  I sat with others on a plank that had been provided, the ends resting on boxes.  After prayer and singing, Joseph began talking.  Suddenly he stopped and seemed almost transfixed.  He was looking ahead and his face outshone the candle which was on a shelf just behind him.  I thought I could almost see the cheek bones.  He looked as though a searchlight was inside his face.  After a short time he looked at us very solemnly and said, “Brothers and Sisters, do you know who has been in your midst this night?”  One of the Smith family said, “An angel of the Lord.”  Joseph did not answer.  Martin Harris was sitting at the Prophet’s feet on a box.  He slid to his knees, clasped his arms around the Prophet’s knees and said, “I know, it was our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”  Joseph put his hand on Martin’s head and answered, “Martin, God has revealed that to you.  Brothers and Sisters, the Savior has been in your midst.  I want you to remember it.  He cast a veil over your eyes for you could not endure to look upon him.  You must be fed with milk and not meat.  I want you to remember this as if it were the last thing that escaped my lips.”  (221-222)