Many there were who said to the Prophet Joseph Smith, "Show unto me, or ye shall be smitten," demanding thereby to see the Gold Plates themselves from which God's Prophet, the promised Seer, translated the ancient Record. They threatened the Prophet, abused and sought to intimidate him that by any chance they might force him to show unto them the Plates. By them he was "smitten." He was arrested, tried, beaten, scourged, imprisoned; he was brought before their courts and accused of false crimes by witnesses suborned for that purpose. They imagined in their hearts that to destroy the Prophet, would be to get rid of the very idea of Mormonism. To this end they lost no time, nor left a thing undone. In consequence, the Prophet died as a Martyr. He sealed his testimony with his own blood. "Now," they said, "Mormonism must surely die." They thought that the heart-beats in the Prophet's breast, were the great heart-throbs of Mormonism. But in this they were mistaken! Mormonism is immortal. The Sacred Record is immortal. It will live on forever, because it has God for its author, Omnipotence for its Shield, and Eternity for its glorious life. Thanks, be to God, it like the Bible, will go on and on, to help the helpless and those who have no other helper but the Lord.
The Prophet's enemies, as we have said, threatened him that if he did not show the Plates unto them, they would "smite" him; nevertheless, and in spite of their openly expressed intentions to inflict evil upon him, he remained firm in not doing that which the Lord had forbidden. (v. 18)