The Prophet Isaiah in the Bible foretold of an 1828 AD event.
Charles Anthon and Reformed Egyptian
“And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed: And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.” (Isaiah 29:11-12)
The Book of Mormon, the Prophet Joseph Smith, Martin Harris and Charles Anthon fulfilled the prophecies in Isaiah 29:11-12.
Isaiah speaks of "the words of a book that is sealed" being delivered to "one that is learned".
1. The "Book" referred to is The Book of Mormon.
2. Part of the "Book" of Mormon plates were "sealed".
(The sealed portion of the Book of Mormon plates were never translated or read.)
3. Martin Harris was the one who "delivered" the "words of a book" to "one that is learned".
(Martin Harris brought the copied characters of Reformed Egyptian to Charles Anthon.)
4. Charles Anthon was the person that was "learned" even thought he was educated he could not read the words of the book because they were written in Reformed Egyptian.
5. Joseph Smith even though he was "not learned" he did translate the unsealed portion of the Book of Mormon plates.
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<< Charles Anthon (1797-1867) by 1828, he was well known for his knowledge of ancient languages. Anthon knew Latin, Greek, French, and German, and Mitchell could translate German and Latin and had a keen interest in many ancient languages. He was born, reared, and educated in or near New York City.
Charles Anthon graduated from Columbia College (now Columbia University in New York), with highest honors and later accepted a teaching position at Columbia Collage. His library in 1829 included recent works of hieroglyphic and demotic Egyptian.
During the 1820s, Professor Anthon well known for his knowledge of Greek and Roman languages and culture and for his interest in Egyptology and other specialized studies of the ancient world.
Scholars in America and other parts of the world could not read ancient Egyptian writings in 1828, so that even if the characters, which Martin Harris took to New York were Egyptian script, no one in America could have translated them.
Although Charles Anthon could not read ancient Egyptian in 1828, he was acquainted with this "mysterious" language. He owned books that contained many examples of Egyptian characters and he knew that scholars in Europe, aided by the Rosetta stone, (discovered in 1799) were beginning to translate Egyptian.
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<< Martin Harris
In February 1828, Martin Harris, a farmer from Palmyra, New York, visited the Prophet Joseph Smith, who was then residing in Harmony, Pennsylvania, where he had just begun to translate the Book of Mormon. Joseph Smith had earlier turned to Martin Harris for financial backing for the translation of the Book of Mormon.
Martin Harris came to Harmony to get a sample of the reformed Egyptian characters that were copied from the gold plates thereafter to obtain scholarly opinion about their authenticity. The Prophet Joseph Smith, gave Martin Harris a copy of some of the characters, along with a translation, which Martin Harris then presented them to Charles Anthon.
Joseph Smith copied the above-copied characters, off of the plates.
Martin Harris showed these characters to Professor Charles Anthon.
Following the death of David Whitmer, this transcript passed to members of the Whitmer family.
Eventually, it was given to the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
Martin Harris took the above copy of "Reformed Egyptian" characters and Joseph Smith's English translation of those characters to Charles Anthon.
After Charles Anthon examined the characters and read the accompanying translation, Professor Anthon "stated that the translation was correct, more so than any he had before seen translated from the Egyptian." Harris further stated that Charles Anthon gave him 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." Before leaving, Harris added, Professor Anthon asked him to explain the origin of the manuscripts. After Martin Harris told Anthon about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon through an angelic visitation and that a portion of the plates were sealed and were not to be translated at that time, Harris said that Anthon took the certificate, tore it to pieces, and said, "I cannot read a sealed book."
<< Samuel Latham Mitchill or "Dr. Mitchell" (1764-1831)
Harris also said that he showed the characters and the translation to a "Dr. Mitchell" who verified the opinion of Anthon regarding both the characters and the translation.
Martin Harris returned from this trip to New York City convinced that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, that he possessed a set of golden plates, and that by the power of God he was able to translate the sacred record. Fortified by this conviction, and learning from Joseph that his journey fulfilled a prophecy that had been recorded by Isaiah centuries before the birth of Christ, Martin Harris was prepared to give his time, his energy, and his material wealth to help Joseph Smith bring forth "a marvelous work and a wonder."
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"Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid." (Isaiah 29:14)
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The Prophet Nephi recorded this event.
"And it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall bring forth unto you the words of a book, and they shall be the words of them which have slumbered. But behold, it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall say unto him to whom he shall deliver the book: Take these words which are not sealed and deliver them to another, that he may show them unto the learned, saying: Read this, I pray thee. And the learned shall say: Bring hither the book, and I will read them. And the man shall say: I cannot bring the book, for it is sealed. Then shall the learned say: I cannot read it.
Wherefore it shall come to pass, that the Lord God will deliver again the book and the words thereof to him that is not learned; and the man that is not learned shall say: I am not learned. Then shall the Lord God say unto him: The learned shall not read them, for they have rejected them, and I am able to do mine own work; wherefore thou shalt read the words which I shall give unto thee." (2 Nephi 27:6) (2 Nephi 27:15) (2 Nephi 27:17-20) Between 559-545 BC
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Later Charles Anthon had this to say about the above meeting with Martin Harris and the characters that Martin Harris had showed him.
<< Charles Anthon
In a Letter from Charles Anthon to E. D. Howe, 17 February 1834, Charles Anthon wrote the following:
“It [Joseph’s transcription of characters from the plates] consisted of all kinds of singular characters disposed in columns, . . . Greek and Hebrew letters, crosses and flourishes; Roman letters inverted or placed sideways were arranged and placed in perpendicular columns, and the whole ended in a rude delineation of a circle, divided into various compartments, arched with various strange marks, and evidently copied after the Mexican calendar.” (Letter from Charles Anthon to E. D. Howe, 17 February 1834, as printed in B. H. Roberts, ed., A Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Provo, Utah: BYU Press, 1965), 1:100–101. The version of the letter published in Pomeroy Tucker, Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism (New York: D. Appleton, 1867), 44, contains slight variations.)
Charles Anthon wrote a letter to Rev. T. W. Coit, 3 April 1841.
Charles Anthon wrote the following:
“The characters were arranged in columns, like the Chinese mode of writing, . . . Greek, Hebrew and all sorts of letters, more or less distorted, . . . were intermingled with sundry delineations of half moons, stars, and other natural objects, and the whole ended in a rude representation of the Mexican zodiac [Calendar].” (Charles Anthon to Rev. T. W. Coit, 3 April 1841, as printed in B. H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of the Church, 1:101.)
<< This is the only “Mexican calendar” that was published at that time or that Charles Anthon could have seen.
Alexander von Humboldt published this drawing of the "Mexican Calendar" now known as the "Aztec Calendar" Stone, in 1814.
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A 1842 published article about the above event.
<< Times & Seasons, Newspaper, Vol. 3 May 2, 1842 p.772
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Additional Information:
"We have five accounts of this trip..." Did Charles Anthon Authenticate Joseph's Translation of Reformed Egyption Characters?
BYU Harold B. Lee Library
Why Did Martin Harris Consult with Scholars like Charles Anthon? (Book of mormon Central KnoWhy #514 (3:49 min.)