The Lost 116 Pages

The Lost 116 Pages

The family watched as Martin picked up his utensils, as if ready to eat, then dropped them. “I have lost my soul!” he cried, pressing his hands on his temples. “I have lost my soul.”

Joseph jumped up. “Martin, have you lost that manuscript?”

“Yes,” Martin said. “It is gone, and I know not where.”

“Oh, my God, my God,” Joseph groaned, clenching his fists. “All is lost!”

He started pacing the floor. He did not know what to do. “Go back,” he ordered Martin. “Search again.”

“It is all in vain,” Martin cried. “I have looked every place in the house. I have even ripped open beds and pillows, and I know it is not there.”

“Must I return to my wife with such a tale?” Joseph feared the news would kill her. “And how shall I appear before the Lord?”

Saints Volume 1

https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/saints-v1/05-all-is-lost

Several months after Moroni came and took the golden plates away the Lord speaks to Joseph again through revelation. 

D&C 3

The works, and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught.

Behold, you have been entrusted with these things, but how strict were your commandments; and remember also the promises which were made to you, if you did not transgress them.

For, behold, you should not have feared man more than God. Although men set at naught the counsels of God, and despise his words—

Behold, thou art Joseph, and thou wast chosen to do the work of the Lord, but because of transgression, if thou art not aware thou wilt fall.

But remember, God is merciful; therefore, repent of that which thou hast done which is contrary to the commandment which I gave you, and thou art still chosen, and art again called to the work;

Farther along we'll know all about it
Farther along we'll understand why
So cheer up my brothers, live in the sunshine
We'll understand this, all by and by

Tempted and tried, I wondered why
The good man dies, the bad man thrives
And Jesus cries because he loves em' both
We're all cast-aways in need of ropes
Hangin' on by the last threads of our hope
In a house of mirrors full of smoke
Confusing illusions I've seen

Where did I go wrong, I sang along
To every chorus of the song
That the devil wrote like a piper at the gates
Leading mice and men down to their fates
Some will courageously escape
The seductive voice with a heart of faith
While walkin' that line back home

There's so much more to life than we've been told
It's full of beauty that will unfold
And shine like you struck gold my wayward son
That deadweight burden weighs a ton
I go down to the river and let it run
Wash away all the things you've done
Forgiveness alright

D&C 3

And when thou deliveredst up that which God had given thee sight and power to translate, thou deliveredst up that which was sacred into the hands of a wicked man,

Who has set at naught the counsels of God, and has broken the most sacred promises which were made before God, and has depended upon his own judgment and boasted in his own wisdom.And this is the reason that thou hast lost thy privileges for a season—

For thou hast suffered the counsel of thy director to be trampled upon from the beginning.

Nevertheless, my work shall go forth, for inasmuch as the knowledge of a Savior has come unto the world, through the testimony of the Jews, even so shall the knowledge of a Savior come unto my people—

And for this very purpose are these plates preserved, which contain these records—that the promises of the Lord might be fulfilled, which he made to his people;

And that the Lamanites might come to the knowledge of their fathers, and that they might know the promises of the Lord, and that they may believe the gospel and rely upon the merits of Jesus Christ, and be glorified through faith in his name, and that through their repentance they might be saved. Amen. 

And the wheels are turning for someone out there is praying and seeking and coming into Joseph’s life that will help him.