Martin Harris had pledged to mortgage his farm to pay for the printing of the Book of Mormon. The printer, E. B. Grandin, decided that he wouldn’t begin the printing until the arrangements were formalized. This would require Martin to risk his home and most of his property to ensure payment. The Lord gave Joseph a revelation that broadened Martin’s perspective and gave him the needed confidence to move forward with the agreement. This lesson can help students follow the Savior’s example of sacrificing whatever Heavenly Father asks of us.
Possible Learning Activities
Martin Harris’s dilemma
Imagine that you live in 1829 and are one of the early believers in the calling of Joseph Smith. Your friend Martin Harris comes to you for advice. You know that he lives on a beautiful 240-acre farm. He tells you that if enough copies of the Book of Mormon are not sold, he will need to sell his home and most of his farm to pay for the printing. His wife and neighbors are against him risking his farm for Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He could lose his home and his relationships with his loved ones.
How might you feel if you were in Martin’s situation?
What advice could you give him?
How do you think the importance of printing the Book of Mormon compared with the importance of the Harris farm?
You might choose to create the following columns and lists on the board.
Draw a line down the middle of a sheet in your study journal. Label the first column “Sacrifices” and the second column “Counsel from God.”
Under the first column, write the sacrifices Martin Harris was asked to make.
Answers may include his money, home, and farm as well as his reputation and relationship with family and friends.
Next, in the same column, list sacrifices that the Lord has asked or may ask teenagers to make today.
Students may have already created a list with similar ideas in the lesson “Doctrine and Covenants 19:1–24, Part 1.” If so, you could remind them of that list and ask if they would like to add anything to it.
An eternal perspective
Open to the “Acquiring Spiritual Knowledge” section of the Doctrinal Mastery Core Document (2023). Read paragraph 8, looking for insights that could be helpful in Martin Harris’s situation or situations when the Lord asks us to make sacrifices today.
Invite students to list what they found in the “Counsel from God” column in their study journals and on the board.
Why is an eternal perspective so important when the Lord asks us to do difficult things?
Help students understand that when we view these sacrifices from a temporal perspective, they can seem overwhelming or unfair. This limited viewpoint can lead to decisions we later regret.
As students study the following verses, invite them to mark the insights they find and add them to the “Counsel from God” column.
Invite students to share the counsel they found as statements of truth. They might identify counsel such as the following:
We should not covet our own property but impart it freely to God’s work (see verse 26).
Ignoring what the Lord has counseled will eventually result in misery and destruction (see verses 32–33).
If we have the Spirit with us, our blessing is greater than the treasures of the earth (see verse 38).
How might the truths you found have helped Martin Harris?
How can God’s love for Martin be seen in this revelation?
President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency shared the following about Martin Harris’s response to this revelation:
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President Dallin H. Oaks
One of Martin Harris’s greatest contributions to the Church, for which he should be honored for all time, was his financing the publication of the Book of Mormon. In August 1829, he mortgaged his home and farm to Egbert B. Grandin to secure payment on the printer’s contract. Seven months later, the 5,000 copies of the first printing of the Book of Mormon were completed. Later, when the mortgage note fell due, the home and a portion of the farm was sold for $3,000. In this way, Martin Harris was obedient to the Lord’s revelation. (Dallin H. Oaks, “The Witness: Martin Harris,” Ensign, May 1999, 36)
How did Martin’s actions exemplify Christlike behavior?
From an eternal perspective, why was Martin’s sacrifice worth it?
You might invite students to reflect on what they learned in their study of the first half of section 19. Consider discussing with students how the Savior’s willingness to sacrifice Himself to do His Father’s will could have helped Martin be willing to sacrifice his property. You could invite students to think about how the Savior’s example of doing His Father’s will amid immense suffering could inspire them to submit to what Heavenly Father asks.
What the Lord may ask of me
Invite students to choose one thing written in the “Sacrifices” column that pertains to teenagers today and to select one or more of the Lord’s counsels in the “Counsel from God” column that might help someone to make that sacrifice. You could then divide students into pairs and invite them to explain to their partner how the counsel could help someone who is asked to make that sacrifice.
After students have had time to share with each other, you might ask for volunteers to share their responses with the class.
You could then display the following instructions and invite students to record their thoughts in their study journals.
In your study journal, record a situation in which the Lord may want you to submit to His will that may be difficult for you.
List obstacles you could face in striving to do His will.
Write how seeing your situation from God’s eternal perspective might help you to overcome any of these obstacles.