2 Nephi 27:15-18

 ¹⁵ 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. ¹⁶ And now, because of the glory of the world and to get gain will they say this, and not for the glory of God. ¹⁷ And the man shall say: I cannot bring the book, for it is sealed. ¹⁸ Then shall the learned say: I cannot read it.

2 Nephi 27:15-18 (Emphasis mine)

11 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:

Isaiah 29:11 (Emphasis mine)

This is a well-known story:

⁶⁴ "I [Martin Harris] went to the city of New York, and presented the characters which had been translated, with the translation thereof, to Professor Charles Anthon, a gentleman celebrated for his literary attainments.  Professor Anthon stated that the translation was correct, more so than any he had before seen translated from the Egyptian.  I then showed him those which were not yet translated, and he said that they were Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac, and Arabic; and he said they were true characters.  He gave me 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.  I took the certificate and put it into my pocket, and was just leaving the house, when Mr. Anthon called me back, and asked me how the young man found out that there were gold plates in the place where he found them.  I answered that an angel of God had revealed it unto him.

⁶⁵ "He then said to me, 'Let me see that certificate.' I accordingly took it out of my pocket and gave it to him, when he took it and tore it to pieces, saying that there was no such thing now as ministering of angels, and that if I would bring the plates to him he would translate them.  I informed him that part of the plates were sealed, and that I was forbidden to bring them.  He replied, 'I cannot read a sealed book.' I left him and went to Dr. Mitchell, who sanctioned what Professor Anthon had said respecting both the characters and the translation."

JS-History 1:63-65 (Emphasis mine)

In later years, Professor Anthon denied that these events occur.  What’s the truth?

John W. Welch, Gordon C. Thomasson, and Robert F. Smith show how weak this denial really was.

“… [I]n 1831 W. W. Phelps wrote a letter in which he reported that Anthon had translated the Book of Mormon characters and declared them to be ‘the ancient shorthand Egyptian.’ This is a most telling clue, for where else, except from Anthon, would Harris and hence Phelps have gotten this precise phrase, the phrase shorthand Egyptian? It was not part of Harris's environment or education.  Indeed, the phrase is so singular that it appears only this one time in LDS history.

“Thus it becomes highly probable that Phelps indeed heard this peculiar phrase from Harris, who in turn got it from Anthon, the only person involved who was likely to have known it. Anthon probably mentioned shorthand Egyptian because he was struck by certain obvious similarities in the transcript to hieratic or demotic Egyptian. From this, what else can one conclude, except that Harris told the truth about what Anthon said on this point?

“Anthon's side of the story breaks down in other ways, as has long been pointed out. For example, on whether he gave Harris a written statement: Anthon's 1834 letter to Eber D. Howe says that he did not, while his 1841 letter to T. W. Coit says that he did. On how convincing he had been, Anthon's …  1841 letter claims that Harris left with the ‘express declaration’ that he would not mortgage his farm or have anything to do with printing the golden book. In fact, in light of Harris's subsequent conduct (which was totally supportive of Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon), Harris clearly left Anthon fully satisfied.

“Moreover, a motive for Anthon's 1834 and 1841 behavior is not hard to find. Protecting his prestigious standing among his peers must have been Anthon's primary concern. It turned out to be a professional liability for Anthon to have been linked with the Mormons and with Smith's notorious ‘roguery’—as Anthon termed it.” [1] (Emphasis mine)

For me, the fact Martin Harris returned to Palmyra, mortgaged his farm (over his wife’s objections), became one of the three witnesses and never denied his testimony, even after he left the Church tells me who was telling the truth.  The truth is that the Professor certified his words but had second thoughts.  (It also helps to tell the same story; denying it and later confirming it doesn’t help his credibility!)

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[1] What Did Charles Anthon Really Say? John W. Welch, Gordon C. Thomasson, and Robert F. Smith, Provo, Utah: Maxwell Institute, accessed January 3, 2012.