



Produced by McKayla Hansen, Mormon Texts Project Intern
(http://mormontextsproject.org)






THE MYTH OF THE

"MANUSCRIPT FOUND,"

OR THE

ABSURDITIES OF THE

"SPAULDING STORY."

* * * * *

ELEVENTH BOOK OF

THE FAITH-PROMOTING SERIES.

* * * * *

BY ELDER GEORGE REYNOLDS.

* * * * *

Designed for the Instruction and Encouragement of young Latter-day
Saints.

* * * * *

JUVENILE INSTRUCTOR OFFICE,

Salt Lake City, Utah.

1883.



PREFACE

The previous numbers of the FAITH-PROMOTING SERIES have consisted
largely of the personal narratives of men of God living in these days,
in which it has been shown how the Lord preserves, protects, guides,
inspires and directs His servants in this dispensation, and reveals
His word and will to them after the manner and by like methods to
those by which He manifested himself to the righteous in the ages of
the past, demonstrating His unchangeableness and the validity of our
claim that we are His acknowledged people. With feelings of intense
joy, deep devotion and profound gratitude to Him, the previous numbers
of this Series have been read by thousands of Latter day Saints. This
little volume takes a somewhat new departure. It treats of a book--a
divine record, the true story of its discovery and translation, and of
the falsehoods that have been invented, nourished and sown broadcast
throughout Christendom to blind men's eyes to its real import. For the
Book of Mormon being true then Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and
"Mormonism" is the everlasting gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; but if
it were a forgery, as our enemies assert, then would all our hopes be
vain and our faith worthless.

The so-called "Spaulding story" has been for many years past the last
refuge of those who have undertaken to prove that the Book of Mormon
is not what it claims to be. All other hypothesis have long since been
committed to limbo as too silly, too outrageous or too inconsistent
even for a gullable anti-"Mormon" public. In this short treatise we
have endeavored to prove the utter untenability of this theory. We have
shown that the upholders of this myth are not only at variance with
each other, but that all their assertions are inconsistent with the
well-known facts associated with its discovery; and when we proceed
further to examine the internal evidence of the book we very soon
discover that the conglomeration of conjectures, guesses, suppositions,
etc., of which this "Spaulding story" is formed is "as unstable as
water" and utterly unworthy of belief.

The individual testimonies of the three witnesses gathered from many
authentic sources are an important feature of this little work. With
true Latter-day Saints they must inevitably be a source of joy and
consolation, and none who are honest, be they "Mormons" or not, can
rise from the perusal of their simple statements without realizing a
marked effect therefrom. They bear the impress of truth, sincerity and
genuineness in every paragraph.

In conclusion we dedicate these pages to God, to His people and to all
who love the right, trusting that their mission will not be without
effect in the spread of His righteousness and the dissemination of His
truth.

G. R.

SALT LAKE CITY,

August 7th, 1883.



CONTENTS.

The History of the Manuscript

The Originator of the "Spaulding Story"

The Bogus Affidavit

Mrs. Dickenson's Speculations

What the Book of Mormon Really is

Utter Disagreement of the Two Histories

Joseph Smith's Early Life

Joseph's Account of the Discovery of the Plates

Time Occupied in Translating the Book of Mormon

The Three Witnesses

Oliver Cowdery

David Whitmer

Martin Harris

Internal Evidences of the Book of Mormon

The Prophecies of the Book of Mormon

Appendix



THE MYTH OF THE MANUSCRIPT FOUND.

CHAPTER I.

THE HISTORY OF THE MANUSCRIPT.

Time and again, at recurring intervals of unequal length, the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is assailed with a rehash of
the notorious "Spaulding story," which from frequent repetition has
become as familiar in the mouths of many of the Saints as household
words. True, the story in its details is not always identical, it is
altered, re-arranged, or "cooked" to suit the necessities of the story
teller, but in its essential particulars it remains the same. Its
burden is that a certain "reverend" gentleman of Conneaut, Ohio, named
Solomon Spaulding, in the early part of the present century, wrote
a historical romance which he entitled the "Manuscript Found," that
in some unexplained and unexplainable way, but generally imagined to
have been through Sidney Rigdon, the youthful Joseph Smith obtained
access to this manuscript and from its scanty pages elaborated the
Book of Mormon, which he afterwards palmed upon the world as a divine
revelation.

This is the substance of the "Spaulding story." It is a frantic
effort to prove the Book of Mormon a forgery and a fraud, for it is
very evident that if the Book of Mormon is not of God then the whole
superstructure of "Mormonism" is of necessity a gross imposture, the
cruelest of religious deception that for many centuries has misled
humanity. All other theories advanced to prove this record false having
long since failed, the "Spaulding story" is the last and only resort
of those who oppose the divine mission of Joseph Smith, and though
many a time refuted and proved an impossibility, yet, it is that or
nothing; and the malignant hatred of the wicked not permitting the Book
of Mormon to stand on its own intrinsic merits, or be judged by its
own internal evidences, this story has to be again and again revamped
as the last hope of a hopeless cause which perceives in the triumph of
"Mormonism" the seal of its own destruction. To consider this story,
its origination and history, its claims on the credulity of mankind,
and the weight of evidence for and against it, will be topic of the
following pages.

Attention has been drawn and interest created anew in Mr. Spaulding
and his unpublished romance by the appearance in the public prints of
articles and affidavits by members of his family, in which the story
of the "Manuscript Found" is given, and efforts made to connect it
with the Book of Mormon. Among the most important of these papers is
an affidavit of Mrs. McKinstry the daughter of Mr. Spaulding, which
gives a history of the manuscript from the time it was written until it
passed out of the hands of the family. We will first draw attention to
the various points made by Mrs. McKinstry from her actual knowledge,
leaving out those reflections, suppositions and vain imaginings in
which she indulges when she wanders from the path of her actual
knowledge; but lest it should be asserted that we have not fairly
represented her statements, we insert the affidavit in full as an
appendix to this little volume.

According to Mrs. McKinstry's affidavit she resided with her father,
Mr. Solomon Spaulding, at Conneaut, Ohio, in 1812, she then being a
child in her sixth year.

About this time her father was very much interested in the antiquities
of this continent, and wrote a romance on the subject, which he called
the "Manuscript Found," in which she believes the names of Mormon,
Moroni, Nephi and Lamanite appear.

This was not the only work of Mr. Spaulding, he was a man of literary
tastes and wrote a number of tales etc., which he was in the habit of
reading to his family, to his little daughter, now Mrs. McKinstry,
among the rest.

From Conneaut the family removed to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where
they had a friend named Patterson, a bookseller. To this gentleman,
her mother states, the "Manuscript Found" was loaned and by him read,
admired and returned to the author.

The stay of the family in Pittsburg was very brief, for they shortly
removed to Amity, Pennsylvania, where Mr. Spaulding died in 1816.
Immediately afterwards she and her widowed mother paid a visit to the
latter's brother Mr. William H. Sabine, at Onondaga Valley, Onondaga
Co., New York. A trunk containing all the writings of the deceased
clergyman was taken with them and in this trunk was the "Manuscript
Found." While here Mrs. McKinstry saw and handled the manuscript and
describes it as closely written and about an inch thick.

Afterwards her mother went to reside with her father (Mrs. McKinstry's
grandfather) at Pomfret, Connecticut, but she did not take the trunk
of manuscript with her. In 1820 she again married and became the wife
of a Mr. Davison, of Hardwicks, near Coopertown, New York. After her
marriage she sent for her things left at her brother's, among the rest
the old trunk of manuscript. These reached her in safety.

In 1828, Mrs. McKinstry was herself married, and resided in Monson,
Hampton Co., Mass. Very soon after her marriage her mother joined her
there, and was with her most of the time until the latter's death,
which took place in 1844.

Mrs. Davison when she went to reside with her daughter left the trunk
of manuscript at Hardwicks, in care of Mr. Jerome Clark.

In 1834, one Hurlburt visited her. He bore a letter from her brother,
Mr. Sabine, and requested the loan of the "Manuscript Found." She
reluctantly gave him a letter addressed to Mr. Clark, at Hardwicks, to
deliver him the manuscript; Hurlburt having made repeated promises to
return it.

The family afterwards heard that Hurlburt received the manuscript from
Mr. Clark, but from that time the Spaulding family never again had it
in their possession, though they repeatedly wrote to Hurlburt about the
matter.

In the above we have the history of the notorious manuscript from the
time it was written until it fell into the hands of D. P. Hurlburt, who
was the first man who endeavored to connect it with the Book of Mormon.
Its history may be thus summed up:

Written in 1812 at Conneaut, Ohio.

Taken to Pittsburg shortly after. (1814.)

Thence to Amity, where it was in the possession of its author when he
died in 1816.

In 1816 taken to Onondaga Valley, New York.

In 1820 removed to Hardwicks, New York, where it remained until 1834,
when it was handed to Hurlburt.

Here we have an unbroken history of its wanderings until years after
the Book of Mormon was published.

How then is it presumed that Joseph Smith obtained possession of it?
This is an unanswered question. Was Joseph in any of those places at
the time the manuscript was there? No, there is not the least proof
that he ever was, all the testimony and evidence is directly to the
contrary. Was Sidney Rigdon ever in these places? Not at the same time
as the "Manuscript Found," as we shall presently show.

The Prophet Joseph Smith was born in Vermont, December 23rd, 1805, and
was consequently in his sixth year when the romance was written. He was
only fifteen when it was taken to Hardwicks. It would be preposterous
to imagine that before that age any such labor as the changing of the
"Manuscript Found" into the Book of Mormon could be accomplished by one
so young, so inexperienced, and withal so ignorant. For all admit, both
friend and foe, that his education at that time was very limited. In
1820, he received his first vision, and began his prophetic work, being
then a resident of Manchester, New York.

In 1823 he still resided with his parents at Manchester, and it was
in that year that he first began bearing testimony with regard to the
coming forth of what we now call the Book of Mormon, and that he had
seen the plates from which it would be translated. Manchester is from
80 to 100 miles from Hardwicks in a direct line, and in the last-named
place the "Manuscript" still remained hidden in an old trunk in a
garret, no one knowing or expecting that recourse would be had to it
for such a base purpose.

Joseph continued to live with his father's family. It is not until
1825, that we have any account of his leaving home for any length of
time; until then, when not employed on the farm, he hired out by the
day to his neighbors in Manchester and vicinity.



CHAPTER II.

THE ORIGINATOR OF THE SPAULDING STORY.

Doctor Philastus Hurlburt was the originator or inventor of the
"Spaulding Story."

He was not a doctor by profession, but his mother gave him that name
because he was the seventh son, a very common custom in some parts at
the time he was born.

Those who adopt his fabrication with regard to the authorship of the
Book of Mormon would have people believe that he really was a doctor.
It gives an air of respectability to their tale, and tends to make the
public think that he must have been a man of good education, though he
really was not.

We will now give some statements with regard to his life, and the
causes that led to the invention of the desperate lie, regarding the
Book of Mormon, which has tended to deceive so many people. These
statements are, for the most part, abridged from the writings of one
who was intimately acquainted with him.

Hurlburt embraced the gospel in 1832. Previous to this he had been a
local preacher in the Methodist church, but had been expelled therefrom
for unchaste conduct. Soon after his baptism he went to Kirtland,
where he was ordained an Elder. In the Spring of 1833, he labored and
preached in Pennsylvania. Here his self-importance, pride and other
undesirable traits of conduct soon shook the confidence of the members
of the Church in him as a man of God; and before long his unvirtuous
habits were so plainly manifested that he was cast off from the Church,
and his license taken from him by the conference.

Some may here ask, "How is it that men who leave the Church of Christ
and come out in opposition to its truths are so often proven to have
previously been men of immoral lives?" The answer is plain and simple:
pure, honest, virtuous men do not apostatize and turn against the
principles of the gospel. They remain faithful. But men who have been
wicked, and who do not sincerely repent when they enter the Church,
though they may profess to do so, are very apt to turn aside and
fight against God's cause. It is for this reason that so many men of
Hurlburt's stamp have, unfortunately for them, been proven to have
led very wicked lives before their baptism. Had their repentance been
sincere, their after lives would have been different.

Hurlburt went to Kirtland, the seat of the government of the
Church, and appealed to the general conference. His case was there
reconsidered, and because of his confession and apparent repentance his
license was restored to him.

On his way back to Pennsylvania he stopped in Ohio. There he attempted
to seduce a young lady, but his design was frustrated. For this crime
he was expelled from the Church. Finding he would be tolerated by the
Saints no longer, he determined to be revenged by injuring them to the
utmost extent of his power. He went to Springfield, Pennsylvania, and
commenced to preach against "Mormonism." Here he was received with open
arms by those who were vainly endeavoring to stay the progress of God's
work in that region, and churches, chapels and meeting houses were
crowded to hear him.

He was now dubbed the Rev. Mr. Hurlburt, and was petted and patronized
by priest and people; but for all that he did very little in staying
the progress of the truth. As an anti-"Mormon" lecturer he was a
failure.

During his stay in Pennsylvania, Hurlburt formed many acquaintances,
and mingled with all sorts of people. While in a small settlement
called Jackson, he became familiar with a family of the same name,
(possibly the persons who had given the name to the settlement). Some
of this family had been acquainted with the now widely-known Mr.
Solomon Spaulding, and from them Hurlburt learned that that gentleman
had once written a romance called the "Manuscript Found," which
professed to recount the history of the ancient inhabitants of this
continent.

Hurlburt had now given himself up to the work of opposing "Mormonism."
He quickly perceived that this romance could be used as a weapon to
carry on the warfare. If he could obtain possession of it and find any
points in common between it and the Book of Mormon he could exaggerate
those seeming resemblances and falsify other statements. If he found
no agreement between the two he could contrive to have the "Manuscript
Found" accidentally (?) destroyed and then claim that its contents were
almost identical with the record of Mormon. He found it necessary to
pursue the latter course.

In carrying out his design he repaired to Kirtland, and there made an
appointment to deliver a lecture, calling upon all who were opposed to
"Mormonism" to attend. They did so in force. At this lecture Hurlburt
told his audience that in his travels in the State of Pennsylvania,
lecturing against "Mormonism," he had learned that one Mr. Spaulding
had written a romance, and the probability was that it had by some
means fallen into the hands of Sidney Rigdon, and that he had
transformed it into the Book of Mormon. Hurlburt further stated that he
intended to write a book, and call it "Mormonism Unveiled," in which he
would reveal the whole secret.

His anti-"Mormon" hearers were delighted. One mobocrat, a Campbellite,
advanced the sum of $300 towards the prosecution of the work. Others
contributed for the same purpose, and Hurlburt, being thus provided
with funds, at once proceeded to hunt up the manuscript.

With this view he journeyed to New Salem or Conneaut Ohio, the place
where Mr. Spaulding formerly resided. There he called a meeting and
made known his intentions. His harangues created quite a stir. He
told the same story about the manuscript and Sidney Rigdon that he
had told in Kirtland. The idea was new to his hearers, but as it was
something which was to destroy "Mormonism," they did not object to it,
and some helped him with more money. He was here advised to visit Mrs.
Davison, formerly the wife of Mr. Spaulding, who now resided at Monson,
Massachusetts. This he determined to do.

It should here be mentioned that the gospel had already been preached
with considerable success in the neighborhood of New Salem; and
though it was the place where the "Manuscript Found" was written, the
Spaulding story was never dreamed of there until Hurlburt mentioned
it. But it was too good a thing for those who had rejected the truth
to let pass. It afforded them some slight excuse for not receiving
the doctrines of "Mormonism." Such persons clutched at it eagerly, as
drowning men are said to grasp at straws. Nevertheless the work of
the Lord did not stand still in those parts. Numbers were afterwards
baptized in that very section, so little effect had Hurlburt's
fabrication upon the minds of the people.

Hurlburt at once carried out the advice given to him by his New Salem
acquaintances. He proceeded to Monson, called on Mrs. Davison, and by
representing his wishes in his own unscrupulous and untruthful manner
obtained from her the writings of her former husband. Further she told
him that there was a trunk somewhere in the state of New York that also
contained papers which he might have, if they were found to suit his
purpose, and according to the latest version of the story it was from
that trunk that Hurlburt obtained the "Manuscript Found."

Mrs. Davison positively asserts that she gave Hurlburt the original of
the "Manuscript Found,'" either directly, or through her order to Mr.
Clark, and that he promised to publish it, which however he never did.
He claimed that _it did not read as he expected_, or he found nothing
that _would suit his purpose_. In this he for once undoubtedly told the
truth. Quite lately, however, he has made the following affidavit.

    "GIBSONBURG, OHIO,

    January 10th, 1881.

    "_To all whom it may concern_:

    "In the year eighteen hundred and thirty-four (1834), I went from
    Geauga county, Ohio, to Monson, Hampden county, Mass., where I
    found Mrs. Davison, late widow of the Rev. Solomon Spaulding,
    late of Conneaut, Ashtabula county, Ohio. Of her I obtained a
    manuscript, supposing it to be the manuscript of the romance
    written by the said Solomon Spaulding, called the 'Manuscript
    Found,' which was reported to be the foundation of the 'Book
    of Mormon.' I did not examine the manuscript till I got home,
    when upon examination I found it to contain nothing of the kind,
    but being a manuscript upon an entirely different subject. This
    manuscript I left with E. D. Howe, of Painsville, Geauga county,
    Ohio, now Lake county, Ohio, with the understanding that when he
    had examined it he should return it to the widow. Said Howe says
    the manuscript was destroyed by fire, and further the deponent
    saith not.

    (Signed)

    "D. P. HURLBURT."

Mrs. Davison says Hurlburt obtained the "Manuscript Found." He, in the
above, says it was nothing of the kind, but _was a manuscript upon an
entirely different subject_. What was that subject? Hurlburt in his
original statement says, (these are his own words,) "It is a romance,
purporting to have been translated from the Latin, found on twenty-four
rolls of parchment, in a cave, but written in modern style--giving a
fabulous account of a ship being driven upon the American coast, while
proceeding from Rome to Britain, a short time previous to the Christian
era; this country then being inhabited by the Indians."

Such is his description of the manuscript he received. No wonder it
did not suit his purpose. No work treating on the ancient inhabitants
of America could be more unlike the Book of Mormon than this. But Mrs.
Davison says this was the original of the "Manuscript Found." We regard
it altogether more probable that this was the plot of Mr. Spaulding's
romance than the ten tribe version, which we consider to be a later
invention, manufactured by some ignorant anti-"Mormon," who really
imagined that the Book of Mormon conveyed that idea. We have nothing
more than unauthenticated gossip for the assertion that Mr. Spaulding
ever believed that the American Indians were of Israelitish descent. In
fact, it is stated that during the later years of that gentleman's life
he was strongly inclined to infidelity.

If the papers given to Hurlburt contained the "Manuscript Found," as
stated by Mrs. Davison, we know what became of it, if we can believe
D. P. Hurlburt. It was burned so that it might never be brought up to
confront those who claim that in it is to be found the origin of the
Book of Mormon. If Hurlburt did not receive it, Mrs. Davison must have
retained it. Then what became of it? Solomon Spaulding's family could
have no possible motive for not publishing it. To them it would have
been a mine of wealth; at least they thought so, as evidenced by the
agreement between Mrs. Davison and Hurlburt, that she was to have half
of the profits accruing from its publication, as hereafter shown in her
interview with Mr. Haven.

There is another fact that strongly bears out Mrs. Davison's statement.
It is this, that it is highly improbable that Mr. Spaulding would write
two entirely distinct and varying romances on the ancient inhabitants
of America. We never hear of him writing more than one on this subject.
If then the Roman story was not the "Manuscript," what was it? It
certainly in many particulars agrees with the statements of those who
profess to know something about Mr. Spaulding's writings. Both (if
there were two) are said to have been written in the Latin language;
both were found, supposedly, in a cave near Conneaut, Ohio. This is
altogether unlikely. The evidence, we believe, to be overwhelming that
Hurlburt did receive the "Manuscript Found," and not finding it what he
wanted, he destroyed it or had it destroyed.

We have previously referred to the Jacksons of Jackson settlement,
Pennsylvania, from whom Hurlburt first heard of Mr. Spaulding's
writings. In justice to Mr. Jackson it must be stated that on one
occasion Hurlburt called on him and asked him to sign a document which
testified to the probability of Mr. Spaulding's manuscript having been
converted into the Book of Mormon. This he indignantly refused to do.
He had read both books and knew there was no likeness between them.
He then and there stated that there was no agreement between the two;
adding that Mr. Spaulding's manuscript was a very small work in the
form of a novel, which said not one word about the children of Israel,
but professed to give an account of a race of people who originated
from the Romans, which Mr. Spaulding said he had translated from a
Latin parchment that he had found. The Book of Mormon, Mr. Jackson
continued, purports to be written by a branch of the house of Israel;
it is written in a different style, and is altogether different. For
this reason he refused to lend his name to the lie, and expressed his
indignation and contempt at Hurlburt's base and wicked project to
deceive the public.

Mr. Jackson's recollection of the plot of the "Manuscript Found"
tallies exactly with Hurlburt's description of the contents of the
manuscript he received from Mrs. Davison, and is confirmatory evidence
of the truth of her statement, that she gave the work to Hurlburt. It
is also the strongest kind of testimony in favor of the theory that
Spaulding's romance had nothing Israelitish in its narrative, but was
Roman from beginning to end, in detail, incident, language, writing,
parchment and all.

To return to Hurlburt's work; those who were anxious that it should
be published, discovered that it would be better that it should not
appear in his name, his reputation having grown too bad. The manuscript
was therefore sold to Mr. Howe of Painesville, Ohio, for $500 and was
published by him. It did not prove a financial success, its circulation
was but small. Mr. Howe eventually offered the copies at half price,
but they would not sell even at that reduction. Hurlburt rapidly
spent his ill-gotten gains in drink, and for many years bore a most
undesirable reputation. He is now an old man, residing at Gibsonburg,
Ohio.

The following remarks regarding D. P. Hurlburt, are from the writings
of the late Elder Joseph E. Johnson.

    "In the year A. D. 1833, then living in Kirtland, Ohio, I became
    acquainted with a man subsequently known as Dr. Hurlburt. He
    was a man of fine physique, very pompous, good looking and very
    ambitious, with some energy, though of poor education. Soon after
    his arrival he came to my mother's house to board, where he
    remained for nearly a year. While there he made an effort to get
    into a good practice of medicine, sought position in the Church,
    and was ever striving to make marital connection with any of the
    'first families.'

    "Finally in 1834, he was charged with illicit intercourse
    with the other sex; was tried and cut off the Church. He
    denied, expostulated, threatened, but of no use, the facts
    were too apparent, and he at once vowed himself the enemy of
    the Church--threatened to write a book that would annihilate
    'Mormonism,' and went to Painesville, ten miles, and allied himself
    to a publisher there, who agreed to print his book if he would
    furnish the matter. A fund was raised by the anti-"Mormons" in the
    village around, and enough means raised to send Hurlburt east to
    hunt up and obtain the writings of Solomon Spaulding, called the
    'Manuscript Found', which had already become famous as the alleged
    matter from which the Book of Mormon was written.

    "Hurlburt went east and was absent some two or three months--and
    on his return publicly declared that _he could not obtain it_, but
    instead brought several affidavits from persons who claimed to
    have heard Solomon Spaulding read his 'Manuscript Found' in 1812,
    and believed, as well as they could remember, that the matter and
    story were the same as printed in the Book of Mormon. And these
    were published in his book of 'Mormonism Exposed,' in that or the
    subsequent year, but not a sentence from the 'Manuscript Found,'
    which it appears that _he did really obtain_, but finding no
    similarity between the two, suppressed the Spaulding manuscript,
    while he publicly announced in his book that he had entirely
    failed to obtain it. Hurlburt proved himself to be a man of gross
    immorality and was untruthful and unreliable."



CHAPTER III.

THE BOGUS AFFIDAVIT.

The next noteworthy person who entered upon the crusade against
the Book of Mormon was a Congregationalist minister of Holliston,
Massachusetts, named Storrs.

This man was greatly annoyed at the loss of some of the best members of
his congregation through the preaching of the everlasting gospel, and
in his anger published to the world what he asserted was the affidavit
of the widow of Solomon Spaulding, but which she afterwards repudiated,
as shown from the following article published in the Quincy (Illinois)
_Whig_ shortly after the appearance of the bogus affidavit:

    "A CUNNING DEVICE DETECTED.

    "It will be recollected that a few months since an article appeared
    in several of the papers, purporting to give an account of the
    origin of the Book of Mormon. How far the writer of that piece has
    effected his purposes, or what his purposes were in pursuing the
    course he has, I shall not attempt to say at this time, but shall
    call upon every candid man to judge in this matter for himself, and
    shall content myself by presenting before the public the other side
    of the question in the form of a letter, as follows:

    "Copy of a letter written by Mr. John Haven, of Holliston,
    Middlesey Co., Massachusetts, to his daughter, Elizabeth Haven, of
    Quincy, Adams Co., Illinois.

    "Your brother Jesse passed through Monson, where he saw Mrs.
    Davison and her daughter, Mrs. McKinstry, and also Dr. Ely, and
    spent several hours with them, during which time he asked them the
    following questions, viz.:

    Question.--'Did you, Mrs. Davison, write a letter to John Storrs,
    giving an account of the origin of the Book of Mormon?'

    Answer.--'I did not.'

    Q.--'Did you sign your name to it?'

    A.--'I did not, neither did I ever see the letter until I saw it in
    the _Boston Recorder_, the letter was never brought to me to sign.'

    Q.--'What agency had you in having this letter sent to Mr. Storrs?'

    A.--'D. R. Austin came to my house and asked me some questions,
    took some minutes on paper, and from these minutes wrote that
    letter.'

    Q.--'Have you read the Book of Mormon?'

    A.--'I have read some in it.'

    Q.--'Does Mr. Spaulding's manuscript and the Book of Mormon agree?'

    A.--'I think some few of the names are alike.'

    Q.--'Does the manuscript describe an idolatrous or a religious
    people?'

    Q.--'An idolatrous people.'

    A.--'Where is the manuscript?'

    A.--'D. P. Hurlburt came here and took it, said he would get it
    printed and let me have one half of the profits.'

    Q.--'Has D. P. Hurlburt got the manuscript printed?'

    A.--'I received a letter stating that it did not read as he
    expected, and he should not print it.'

    Q.--'How large is Mr. Spaulding's manuscript?'

    A.--'About one-third as large as the Book of Mormon.'

    Q.--To Mrs. McKinstry: 'How old were you when your father wrote the
    manuscript?'

    A.--'About five years of age.'

    Q.--'Did you ever read the manuscript?'

    A.--'When I was about twelve years old I used to read it for
    diversion.'

    Q.--'Did the manuscript describe an idolatrous or a religious
    people?'

    A.--'An idolatrous people.'

    Q.--'Does the manuscript and the Book of Mormon agree?'

    A.--'I think some of the names agree.'

    Q.--'Are you certain that some of the names agree?'

    A.--'I am not.'

    Q.--'Have you read any in the Book of Mormon?'

    A.--'I have not.'

    Q.--'Was your name attached to that letter, which was sent to Mr.
    John Storrs, by your order?'

    A.--'No, I never meant that my name should be there.'

    'You see by the above questions and answers, that Mr. Austin,
    in his great zeal to destroy the Latter-day Saints, has asked
    Mrs. Davison a few questions, then wrote a letter to Mr. Storrs
    in his own language. I do not say that the above questions and
    answers were given in the form that I have written them, but these
    questions were asked, and these answers given. Mrs. Davison is
    about seventy years of age, and somewhat broke.'

    "This may certify that I am personally acquainted with Mr. Haven,
    his son and daughter, and am satisfied they are persons of truth.
    I have also read Mr. Haven's letter to his daughter, which has
    induced me to copy it for publication, and I further say, the above
    is a correct copy of Mr. Haven's letter.

    A. BADLAM."

Notwithstanding the above refutation and _expose_ the opponents of
"Mormonism" have continually from the time of its publication, copied,
re-published and harped upon this forged affidavit of Mrs. Davison.
Their ears have been ever deaf and their eyes blind when the refutation
of the slander has been presented to them. They did not then, and do
not now want it; they prefer the lie which one of their number has
concocted and spread broad-cast through the world.

We must now turn to Sidney Rigdon who by many is regarded as the agent
or go-between by and through whom Joseph Smith came into possession
of the "Manuscript Found," and who was, in fact, the chief instrument
in converting that romance into the Book of Mormon. It is urged that
Joseph had neither the learning, ability nor industry to perform so
arduous a literary work, but that Rigdon had the audacity, cunning and
education necessary to perpetrate such a fraud, and that Joseph Smith
was his willing tool, whom he used as a screen to protect himself
from public observation and through whom he palmed his imposture on
the world. None of those who accept this theory have yet been able to
explain what possible motive Rigdon could have had in taking such a
course, were such an arrangement possible; but we have most trustworthy
and reliable testimony that it could not be so for two altogether
sufficient reasons:

First: Sidney Rigdon never was at Pittsburg or any other place at the
same time as Mr. Spaulding's manuscript was there and therefore he
could not have seen or read it, it being remembered that it never was
out of the possession of the author's family only during the short time
it is said to have been in the hands of Mr. Patterson.

Second: Sidney Rigdon never saw Joseph Smith until years after the
latter received the sacred plates, indeed, not until after the Book of
Mormon had been printed and the Church of Jesus Christ organized.

Let us consider the first of the above propositions. Mr. Spaulding
resided in Pittsburg only for a short time between 1812, when he lived
at Conneaut, and 1816 when he died a Amity. The general opinion is that
he moved to the last named place in 1814. It was then, between 1812 and
1814, that, if ever, the manuscript was in the hands of Mr. Patterson;
Sidney Rigdon was then a youth of not more than twenty years of age,
residing on and working his deceased father's farm at St. Clair,
Pennsylvania. To make this point more clear, we will here give a short
sketch of Rigdon's early life:

Sidney Rigdon was born in St. Clair township, Alleghany Co., Pa., on
the 19th of February, 1793. In his twenty-fifth year he connected
himself with a society, which in that country was called Regular
Baptists. In March, 1819, he received a license to preach in that
society, and in the following May he left Pennsylvania and went to
Trumbull Co., Ohio, where he was afterwards married. In 1821 he was
called to the pastoral charge of the first Baptist church of Pittsburg,
which invitation he accepted early in the following year, and soon
became a popular minister. After ministering in that position for two
and a half years he withdrew from that sect, because he considered its
doctrines were not altogether in accord with the scriptures. With Mr.
Alexander Campbell he founded the "Campbellite" or "Disciples" church;
but having retired from the ministry he for two years worked as a day
laborer in a tannery; after which he removed to Bainbridge, Geauga Co.,
Ohio, where the people solicited him to preach. He complied with their
request and soon grew quite popular. He advocated the doctrines of
repentance and baptism for the remission of sins, and baptized numbers
from all the country round. During this time he removed from Bainbridge
to Mentor, some thirty miles distant, and it was there that Parley P.
Pratt and other Elders found him, in the Fall of 1830.

We will now give the testimony of a number of persons who were most
intimately acquainted with Sidney Rigdon during his youth. These
testimonies we copy from a work lately published by Mr. Robert
Patterson, of Pittsburg, son of Mr. Patterson, the printer, to whom the
Spaulding romance is said to have been taken. He is the person called
"the present writer" in these extracts, which in his work follow a
short account of Sidney's early life:

"1. Rigdon's relatives at Library, Pa., Carvil Rigdon (his brother) and
Peter Boyer (his brother-in-law), in a written statement dated Jan.
27th, 1843, certify to the facts and dates as above stated in regard to
his birth, schooling, uniting with the church, licensure, ordination
and settlement in Pittsburg in 1822. Mr. Boyer also in a personal
interview with the present writer in 1879 positively affirmed that
Rigdon had never lived in Pittsburg previous to 1822, adding that they
were boys together and he ought to know. Mr. Boyer had for a short time
embraced Mormonism, but became convinced that it was a delusion and
returned to his membership in the Baptist church.

"2. Isaac King, a highly-respected citizen of Library, Pa., and an
old neighbor of Rigdon, states in a letter to the present writer,
dated June 14th, 1879, that Sidney lived on the farm of his father
until the death of the latter, in May, 1810, and for a number of years
afterwards, farming with very indifferent success; 'it was said he was
too lazy and proud to make a good farmer;' received his education in a
log school-house in the vicinity; 'began to talk in public on religion
soon after his admission to the church, probably at his own instance,
as there is no record of his licensure;' went to Sharon, Pa, for a
time, and was there ordained as a preacher, but soon returned to his
farm, which he sold (June 28th, 1823) to James Means, and about the
time of sale removed to Pittsburg.

"3. Samuel Cooper, of Saltsburg, Pa., a veteran of three wars, in a
letter to the present writer, dated June 14th, 1879, stated as follows:
'I was acquainted with Mr. Lambdin, was often in the printing-office;
was acquainted with Silas Engles, the foreman of the printing-office;
he never mentioned Sidney Rigdon's name to me, so I am satisfied he was
never engaged there as a printer. I was introduced to Sidney Rigdon
in 1843; he stated to me that he was a Mormon preacher or lecturer;
I was acquainted with him during 1843-45; never knew him before,
and never knew him as a printer; never saw him in the book-store or
printing-office; your father's office was in the celebrated Molly
Murphy's Row."

"4. Rev. Robert P. Du Bois, of New London, Pa., under date of Jan.
9th, 1879, writes: 'I entered the book-store of R. Patterson & Lambdin
in March, 1818, when about twelve years old, and remained there until
the Summer of 1820. The firm had under its control a book-store on
Fourth Street, a book-bindery, a printing-office (not newspaper, but
job-office, under the name of Butler & Lambdin), entrance on Diamond
Alley, and a steam paper-mill on the Allegheny (under the name of R. &
J. Patterson). I knew nothing of Spaulding (then dead) or of his book,
or of Sidney Rigdon."

"5. Mrs. R. W. Lambdin, of Irvington, N. Y., widow of the late J.
Harrison Lambdin, in response to some inquiries as to her recollection
of Rigdon and others, writes under date of Jan. 15th, 1882: 'I am sorry
to say I shall not be able to give you any information relative to the
persons you name. They certainly could not have been friends of Mr.
Lambdin.' Mrs. Lambdin resided in Pittsburg from her marriage in 1819,
to the death of her husband, Aug. 1st, 1825. Mr. Lambdin was born Sep.
1st, 1798."

In addition to this we have the testimony of Sidney Rigdon's mother.
She informed one gentleman, who published her statement years ago, long
before the Spaulding story was concocted, and therefore with no design
to mislead on that matter, that her son lived at home and worked on the
farm until the twenty-sixth year of his age; and was never engaged in
public life until after that period, either politically or religiously.
Thus, according to his mother's statement which is sustained by these
other testimonies, he did not leave home until 1819. He did not go
to Pittsburg until 1822; eight or nine years after the manuscript of
Spaulding's romance had been returned to its author (if, indeed, it had
ever been out of his hands), and that author had removed from Pittsburg
and died.

Again it is asserted that Sidney Rigdon was associated with the
printing-office of Patterson and Lambdin during his stay in Pittsburg.
The testimony above given is very strong evidence to the contrary. In
addition to which we have Rigdon's own refutation of the falsehood,
made at the time that Mrs. Davison's bogus affidavit was first given
to the world. He asserts in effect, most positively, that when he went
to Pittsburg he did so as a minister of the gospel at the call of a
religious congregation, and was never in any way directly or indirectly
connected with any printing office during his stay there; and if he had
been associated with a Pittsburg printing office nobody claims that the
"Manuscript Found" was in that city at that late date (1822). According
to Mrs. McKinstry's already quoted affidavit it was then hid up in an
old trunk at a small village called Hardwicks, in the state of New
York, hundreds of miles from Pittsburg. To tide over this difficulty
someone has suggested that probably Spaulding made a copy of his
romance for the printer, and it was this copy that Rigdon afterwards
found. But this is a baseless supposition; until lately such an idea
was never thought of, and it loses all its force from the fact that
those best acquainted with the history of that manuscript say that the
copy Spaulding gave to Patterson was returned to him; it was not left
in the office to be found by Rigdon, or anyone else in after years.

It may be asked, is there no conflicting testimony? Do not some persons
assert that Rigdon was in Pittsburg and acquainted with Patterson and
Lambdin years before 1822? Yes, but their testimony is of little value
for many reasons. It is, in the first place, almost invariably second
hand. They do not testify of what they themselves actually knew on
these points, but of what somebody else knew, or said, or told them. In
the second place, they are made, as a rule, by very aged persons, whose
memory, when we consider the mass of trash that has been published on
this subject, cannot be trusted. They, where desiring to be truthful,
have mixed up what they really knew and what they have since heard
and read. A third class are "divines," men with "reverend" tacked on
their names, whose testimony, it is a sad fact but it is a truth, can
scarcely ever be trusted on anything pertaining to "Mormonism." One
very aged lady, whose father and husband kept the post office from
1804 to 1833, says that Rigdon and Lambdin used to come together to
the post office for mail matter as early as 1815, if not earlier, and
that as youths they were very intimate. But it must be remembered that
there was a difference of six or seven years in the ages of these two
young men, Rigdon being the elder, and Mr. Lambdin's wife asserts of
him and others that "they certainly could not have been friends of Mr.
Lambdin." Again it is altogether inconsistent to believe that a young
man of Rigdon's ambition would associate with a boy so many years
his junior; the supposition is altogether more consistent that this
lady has mixed her names and dates, and that young Lambdin having a
companion who came with him for letters, she has in the course of many
years confused this companion with Rigdon who doubtless often visited
the post office at a later period, and at a time when his name would be
well known through all Pittsburg.

But it is an open question whether Mr. Patterson ever had the
"Manuscript Found" in his possession. The Spaulding family say that he
had, he asserts that he had not. On being interrogated on the subject,
soon after the publication of Mrs. Davison's bogus affidavit, he said
that he knew nothing of any such manuscript.[A] Even Hurlburt states
that "he called on Mr. Patterson who affirmed _his entire ignorance
of the whole matter_." Here is evidently a grand mistake or a gross
falsehood. To us, it seems from the evidence, that the story of Mr.
Patterson having received the manuscript was first invented by Priest
Storrs on purpose to connect Sidney Rigdon with the "Manuscript
Found" and the ladies of the Spaulding family have heard it so often
reiterated that in their old age they have imagined that they have
some recollection of such an incident, when, in truth, it is only the
confused remembrance of what has been ding-donged into their ears by
over-anxious opponents of "Mormonism" for the last forty years. It is
a well-known fact that the human mind is so constituted that after
brooding over imaginary circumstances for a lengthened period it will
frequently grow to regard such fables as facts. This peculiarity of
the human mind has often been commented upon. A laughable incident in
this connection is related regarding King George IV., of England. He
got it into his head that he was present at the battle of Waterloo, and
was especially fond of referring to the circumstance in the presence
of the Duke of Wellington, and then requiring the aged warrior to back
up his statement. It is said that the duke, with the true instinct of
the courtier, would reply on such occasions, "I have heard your majesty
mention that circumstance before." So Mrs. Davison and her daughter
have so frequently heard the statement that the Book of Mormon was
taken from the "Manuscript Found," that the "Manuscript Found" related
to the lost ten tribes, that Mr. Patterson borrowed it in Pittsburg,
and that Sidney Rigdon had something inexplicable to do with it, that
these ladies actually came to believe that these assertions were all
truths, and in their old age were willing to make affidavit to their
belief in many things about which in earlier days they were nothing
like so sure.

[Footnote A: The gentleman to whom he made this statement is understood
to have been Mr. Ephraim S. Green, of Philadelphia.]

With regard to the second point, as to when Joseph Smith first saw
Sidney Rigdon, we draw attention to the two following extracts from the
writings of Elder Parley P. Pratt:

    * * * * *

    "THE MORMONITES.

    "_To the Editor of the New York Era_:

    "Sir.--In yours of the 20th inst., there is an article copied from
    the _Boston Recorder_, headed, 'Mormon Bible,' and signed, 'Matilda
    Davison,' which, justice to our society and to the public requires
    me to answer, and I trust that a sense of justice will induce you,
    sir, to give your readers both sides of the question.

    "I am one of the society who believe the Book of Mormon, and as
    such I am assailed in the statement professing to come from Matilda
    Davison.

    "In the first place, there is no such thing in existence as the
    'Mormon Bible.' The 'Mormons,' as they are vulgarly called, believe
    in the same Bible that all Christendom profess to believe in, viz.:
    the common version of the Old and New Testament. The Book of Mormon
    is not entitled a Bible, except by those who misrepresent it. It is
    entitled the 'Book of Mormon.'

    "The religious sect alluded to in your paper, are there accused of
    knavery and superstition. Now we are not sensible of being guilty
    of knavery, and we do not know wherein we are superstitious, but
    very much desire to know in order that we may reform. If some good
    minister or editor will condescend to particulars and point out our
    superstitions, we will take it as a great kindness, for we are the
    declared enemies to knavery and superstition.

    "If a firm believer in the gospel of a crucified and risen
    Redeemer, as manifested to all nations, and as recorded in their
    sacred books, amounts to superstition, then we are superstitious.
    If preaching that system to others and calling them to repentance
    is superstition, then we are superstitious. If refusing to
    fellowship the modern systems of sectarianism which are contrary
    to the pure doctrines of the Bible be superstition, then we are
    superstitious, for we hereby declare our withdrawal from all the
    mysticism, priestcraft and superstitions, and from all the creeds,
    doctrines, commandments, traditions and precepts of men, as far as
    they are contrary to the ancient faith and doctrine of the Saints;
    and we hereby bear our testimony against them.

    "We do not believe that God ever instituted more than one religious
    system under the same dispensation, therefore we do not admit
    that two different sects can possibly be right. The Churches of
    Jesus Christ, in any age or country, must be all built upon the
    same faith, the same baptism, the same Lord, the same Holy Spirit,
    which would guide them into all truth, and consequently from all
    error and superstition. The Book of Mormon has never been placed
    by us in the place of the sacred scriptures, but, as before said,
    the sacred scriptures stand in their own place, and the Book of
    Mormon abundantly corroborates and bears testimony of the truth of
    the Bible. Indeed there is no society, within our knowledge, whose
    members adhere more closely to the Bible than ours. For proof of
    this we appeal to the multitudes who attend our religious meetings
    in this city and in all other places.

    "The piece in your paper states that 'Sidney Rigdon was connected
    in the printing office of Mr. Patterson' (in Pittsburg), and that
    'this is a fact well known in that region, and as Rigdon himself
    has frequently stated. Here he had ample opportunity to become
    acquainted with Mr. Spaulding's manuscript (romance) and to copy
    it if he chose.' This statement is utterly and entirely false. Mr.
    Rigdon was never connected with the said printing establishment,
    either directly or indirectly, and we defy the world to bring proof
    of any such connection. Now the person or persons who fabricated
    that falsehood would do well to repent and become persons of truth
    and veracity before they express such acute sensibility concerning
    the religious pretensions of others. The statement that Sidney
    Rigdon is one of the founders of the said religious sect is also
    incorrect.

    "The sect was founded in the state of New York, while Mr. Rigdon
    resided in Ohio, several hundred miles distant. Mr. Rigdon embraced
    the doctrine through my instrumentality. I first presented the Book
    of Mormon to him. I stood upon the bank of the stream while he
    was baptized, and assisted to officiate in his ordination, and I
    myself was unacquainted with the system until some months after its
    organization, which was on the 6th of April, 1830, and I embraced
    it in September following.

    "The piece further states that 'a woman preacher appointed a
    meeting at New Salem, Ohio, and in the meeting read and repeated
    copious extracts from the Book of Mormon.' Now, it is a fact well
    known, that we have not had a female preacher in our connection,
    for we do not believe in a female priesthood. It further says that
    the excitement in New Salem became so great that the inhabitants
    had a meeting and deputed Doctor Philastus Hurlburt, one of their
    members, to repair to Spaulding's widow, and obtain from her the
    original manuscript of the romance, etc. But the statement does
    not say whether he obtained the manuscript, but still leaves
    the impression that he did, and that it was compared with the
    Book of Mormon. Now who ever will read the work got up by said
    Hulburt, entitled: 'Mormonism Unveiled,' will find that he there
    states that the said manuscript of Spaulding's romance was lost
    and could nowhere be found. But the widow is here made to say
    that it is carefully preserved. Here seems to be some knavery or
    crooked work; and no wonder, for this said Hurlburt is one of
    the most notorious rascals in the western country. He was first
    cut off from our society for an attempt at seduction and crime,
    and secondly he was laid under bond in Geauga county, Ohio, for
    threatening to murder Joseph Smith, Jr., after which he laid a
    deep design of the Spaulding romance imposition, in which he has
    been backed by evil and designing men in different parts of the
    country, and sometimes by those who do not wish to do wrong, but
    who are ignorant on the subject. Now what but false-hood could be
    expected from such a person? Now if there is such a manuscript in
    existence, let it come forward at once and not be kept in the dark.
    Again, if the public will be patient, they will doubtless find that
    the piece signed 'Matilda Davison' (Spaulding's widow) is a base
    fabrication by Priest Storrs, of Holliston, Mass., in order to
    save his craft, after losing the deacon of his church, and several
    of its most pious and intelligent members, who left his society
    to embrace what they considered to be truth. At any rate, a judge
    of literary productions, who can swallow that piece of writing as
    the production of a women in private life, can be made to believe
    that the book of Mormon is a romance. For the one is as much like a
    romance as the other is like a woman's composition.

    "The production signed 'Matilda Davison,' is evidently the work of
    a man accustomed to public address, and the Book of Mormon I know
    to be true, and the Spaulding story, as far as the Book of Mormon
    is connected with it, I know to be false.

    "I now leave the subject with a candid public, with a sincere
    desire that those who have been deluded with such vain and foolish
    lies, may be undeceived.

    "Editors, who have given publicity to the Spaulding story, will do
    an act of justice by giving publicity to the foregoing.

    "P. P. PRATT.

    "New York, Nov. 27th, 1839."

The following explicit statement is also copied from the earlier
writings of Elder Parley P. Pratt:

    "About A. D. 1827, Messrs. A. Campbell, W. Scott, and S. Rigdon,
    with some others, residing in Virginia, Ohio, etc., came off
    from the Baptist, and established a new order, under the name of
    Reformed Baptist, or Disciples. And they were termed by their
    enemies, Campbellites, Rigdonites, etc. This reformation as to its
    doctrine, consisted principally of the baptism of repentance, for
    the remission of sins, etc. And Mr. Rigdon in particular held to a
    literal fulfillment, and application of the written word, and by
    this means he was an instrument to turn many from the false notions
    of sectarianism, to an understanding of the prophecies, touching
    the great restoration of Israel, and the mighty revolutions of the
    last days. Many hundred disciples were gathered by his ministry,
    throughout the lake country of Ohio, and many other preachers stood
    in connection with him in these principles. I was then pursuing
    agricultural life, and mostly occupied in converting the wilderness
    into a fruitful field. But being a member of the Baptist church,
    and a lover of truth, I became acquainted with Mr. Rigdon, and a
    believer in, and teacher of the same doctrine. After proclaiming
    those principles in my own neighborhood, and the adjoining country,
    I at length took a journey to the state of New York, partly on a
    visit to Columbia county, N. Y.; my native place, and partly for
    the purpose of ministering the word. This journey was undertaken
    in August, 1830; I had no sooner reached Ontario county, N. Y.,
    than I came in contact with the Book of Mormon, which had then
    been published about six months, and had gathered about fifty
    disciples, which were all who then constituted the church of
    Latter-day Saints. I was greatly prejudiced against the book, but
    remembering the caution of Paul, 'Prove all things, hold fast
    that which is good,' I sat down to read it, and after carefully
    comparing it with the other scriptures, and praying to God, He gave
    me the knowledge of its truth, by the power of the Holy Ghost, and
    what was I, that I could withstand God? I accordingly obeyed the
    ordinances and was commissioned by revelation, and the laying on of
    hands, to preach the fulness of the gospel. Then, after finishing
    my visit to Columbia county, I returned to the brethren in Ontario
    county, where, for the first time, I saw Mr. Joseph Smith, Jr.,
    who had just returned from Pennsylvania to his father's house in
    Manchester. About the 15th of October, 1830, I took my journey
    in company with Elders O. Cowdery and Peter Whitmer, to Ohio. We
    called on Elder S. Rigdon, and then for the first time his eyes
    beheld the Book of Mormon, I, myself, had the happiness to present
    it to him in person. He was much surprised, and it was with much
    persuasion and argument, that he was prevailed on to read it, and
    after he had read it, he had a great struggle of mind, before he
    fully believed, and embraced it; and when finally convinced of its
    truth, he called together a large congregation of his friends,
    neighbors and brethren, and then addressed them very affectionately
    for nearly two hours during most of which time, both himself and
    nearly all the congregation were melted into tears. He asked
    forgiveness of everybody who might have had occasion to be offended
    with any part of his former life; he forgave all who had persecuted
    or injured him in any manner, and the next morning, himself and
    wife were baptized by Elder O. Cowdery. I was present, it was a
    solemn scene, most of the people were greatly affected, they came
    out of the water overwhelmed in tears. Many others were baptized by
    us in that vicinity, both before and after his baptism, insomuch
    that during the Fall of 1830, and the following Winter and Spring,
    the number of the disciples was increased to about one thousand,
    the Holy Ghost was mightily poured out, and the word of God grew
    and multiplied, and many priests were obedient to the faith. Early
    in 1831, Mr. Rigdon having been ordained under our hands, visited
    Elder J. Smith, Jr., in the state of New York, for the first time,
    and from that time forth rumor began to circulate that he, Rigdon,
    was the author of the Book of Mormon.

    "The Spaulding story never was dreamed of until several years
    afterwards, when it appeared in 'Mormonism Unveiled'--a base
    forgery, by D. P. Hurlburt and others of similar character, who
    strove to account for the Book of Mormon in some other way than
    the truth. In the west, whole neighborhoods embraced Mormonism,
    after this fable of the Spaulding story had been circulated among
    them: indeed, we never considered it worthy of an answer, until it
    was converted, by the ignorant and impudent religious editors of
    this city, into something said to be positively certain, and not
    to be disputed. Now, I testify that the forgers of the Spaulding
    lie (concerning S. Rigdon and others), are of the same description
    as those who forged the lie against the disciples of old, accusing
    them of stealing the body of Jesus, etc."

We also insert, at this point, the affidavit of the only surviving
sister of Joseph Smith, which conclusively shows that Sidney Rigdon
had no communication with the Prophet or any other of the family until
months after the Book of Mormon was published.

    "STATE OF ILLINOIS, Kendall county. ss.

    "I, Katherine Salisbury, being duly sworn, depose and say, that I
    am a resident of the state of Illinois, and have been for forty
    years last past; that I will be sixty-eight years of age, July
    28th, 1881.

    That I am a daughter of Joseph Smith, Senior, and sister to Joseph
    Smith, Jr., the translator of the Book of Mormon. That at the time
    the said book was published, I was seventeen years of age; that at
    the time of the publication of said book, my brother, Joseph Smith,
    Jr., lived in the family of my father, in the town of Manchester.
    Ontario county, New York, and that he had, all of his life to this
    time made his home with the family.

    "That at the time, and for years prior thereto, I lived in and
    was a member of such family, and personally knowing to the
    things transacted in said family, and those who visited at my
    father's house, and the friends of the family, and the friends and
    acquaintances of my brother, Joseph Smith, Jr., who visited at or
    came to my father's house.

    "That prior to the latter part of the year A. D. 1830, there was no
    person who visited with, or was an acquaintance of, or called upon
    the said family, or any member thereof to my knowledge, by the name
    of Sidney Rigdon; nor was such person known to the family, or any
    member thereof, to my knowledge, until the last part of the year A.
    D. 1830, or the first part of the year 1831, and some time after
    the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ, by Joseph Smith,
    Jr., and several months after the publication of the Book of Mormon.

    "That I remember the time when Sidney Rigdon came to my father's
    place, and that it was after the removal of my father from
    Waterloo, N. Y., to Kirtland, Ohio. That this was in the year 1831,
    and some months after the publication of the Book of Mormon, and
    fully one year after the Church was organized, as before stated
    herein.

    "That I make this statement, not on account of fear, favor, or hope
    of reward of any kind; but simply that the truth may be known with
    reference to said matter, and that the foregoing statements made by
    me are true, as I verily believe.

    "KATHERINE SALISBURY.

    "Sworn before me, and subscribed in my presence, by the said
    Katherine Salisbury, this 15th day of April, A. D. 1881.

    "J. H. JENKS, _Notary Public_."

Has it ever entered into the thoughts of our opponents that if Sidney
Rigdon was the author or adapter of the Book of Mormon how vast and
wide spread must have been the conspiracy that foisted it upon the
world! Whole families must have been engaged in it. Men of all ages and
various conditions in life, and living in widely separate portions of
the country must have been connected with it. First we must include in
the catalogue of conspirators the whole of the Smith family, then the
Whitmer's, Martin Harris and Oliver Cowdery; further, to carry out this
absurd idea, Sidney Rigdon and Parley P. Pratt must have been their
active fellow-conspirators in arranging, carrying out and consummating
their iniquitous fraud. To do this they must have traveled thousands
of miles and spent months, perhaps years, to accomplish--what? That
is the unsolved problem. Was it for the purpose of duping the world?
They, at any rate the great majority of them, were of all men most
unlikely to be engaged in such a folly. Their habits, surroundings,
station in life, youth and inexperience all forbid such a thought. What
could they gain, in any light that could be then presented to their
minds, by palming such a deception upon the world? This is another
unanswerable question. Then comes the staggering fact, if the Book be
a falsity, that all these families, all these diverse characters, in
all the trouble, perplexity, persecution and suffering through which
they passed, never wavered in their testimony, never changed their
statements, never "went back" on their original declarations, but
continued unto death (and they have all passed away save a very few),
proclaiming that the Book of Mormon was a divine revelation, and that
its record was true. Was there ever such an exhibition in the history
of the world of such continued, such unabating, such undeviating
falsehood? if falsehood it was. We cannot find a place in the annals
of their lives where they wavered, and what makes the matter more
remarkable is that it can be said of most of them, as is elsewhere
said of the three witnesses, they became offended with the Prophet
Joseph, and a number of them openly rebelled against him; but they
never retracted one word with regard to the genuineness of Mormon's
inspired record. Whether they were friends or foes to Joseph, whether
they regarded him as God's continued mouthpiece or as a fallen Prophet,
they still persisted in their statements with regard to the book and
the veracity of their earlier testimonies. How can we possibly with our
knowledge of human nature make this undeviating, unchanging, unwavering
course, continuing over fifty years consistent with a deliberate,
premeditated and cunningly-devised and executed fraud!



CHAPTER IV.

MRS. DICKENSON'S SPECULATIONS.

We next invite attention to one of the latest versions of the
"Spaulding story." It appeared in _Scribner's Magazine_ for August,
1880, and purports to be written by Mrs. Ellen E. Dickenson, a
grand-niece of Mr. Spaulding. It is conspicuous for its inexactness,
but is valuable as containing the affidavit of Mrs. M. S. McKinstry
already considered.

Referring to the discovery by Mr. Spaulding of bows and other relics in
a mound near his home at Conneaut, Mrs. Dickenson writes:

    "This discovery suggested to him the subject for a new romance,
    which he called a translation from some _hieroglyphical writing_
    exhumed from the mound. This romance purported to be a history
    of the peopling of America by the _lost tribes of Israel_, the
    tribes and their leaders _having very singular names_, among them
    Mormon, Moroni, Lamanite, Nephi. The romance the author called
    'Manuscript Found.' This all occurred in 1812, when to write a
    book was a distinction, and Mr. Spaulding read his manuscript from
    time to time to a circle of _admiring friends_. He determined
    finally to publish it and for that purpose carried it to Pittsburg,
    Pennsylvania, to a printer by the name of Patterson. After keeping
    it awhile, Mr. Patterson returned it, declining to print it. _There
    was at this time in this printing office a young man named Sidney
    Rigdon_, who twenty years later figured as a preacher among the
    Saints."

In the above extract we have printed in italics those statements to
which we wish to draw special attention.

Mrs. Dickenson says Mr. Spaulding called his romance "a translation
from some hieroglyphical writing." This is an entirely new version
of the old fiction. According to the original story it was written
in Latin, but now after fifty years the writing is changed to
hieroglyphics to make the theory agree better with the Book of Mormon
which was translated from plates engraved in reformed Egyptian. We are
told by earlier writers, before the matter was so entirely befogged as
it is now by anti-"Mormon" speculations, assumptions and hypothesis,
that the author's idea was to palm off his romance as a reality,
and when he wrote it he expected the masses would believe it when
published. Now it would be quite consistent for a graduate of Dartmouth
College (as was Mr. Spaulding) to translate a Latin Parchment--that
would appear to be an every day matter for a recognized clergyman of
an orthodox sect, but to translate hieroglyphics would be entirely
another thing; for it must not be forgotten that it was not until
nearly thirty years after Mr. Spaulding wrote his "Manuscript Found"
that the first dictionary and first grammar of Egyptian hieroglyphics
were published.[B] Egyptiology being now a science, Mrs. Dickenson
has outraged all consistency by claiming that Mr. Spaulding pretended
to translate from hieroglyphics of which none at that time had any
definite understanding. Mr. Spaulding as an educated man who wished his
work to receive credence would know better than to start off with an
evident, tell-tale impossibility.

[Footnote B: Those of M. Champolleon published between 1836 and 1844.]

Mrs. Dickenson calls the names in the Book of Mormon "very singular."
This is because she has not read the book. A large number of
the names in Mormon's sacred record are also found in the Holy
Bible; as examples: Jacob, Joseph, Aaron, Noah, Jeremiah, Isaiah,
Ishmael, Lemuel, Timothy, Shem, etc. Are these singular? Another
large percentage finish with the Hebrew termination: iah (Jah) an
abbreviation of Jehovah. One scribbler asserts that "the real author
of the Book of Mormon was well acquainted with the classics; the names
of most of his heroes have the Latin termination of i, such as Nephi,
Lehi, Moroni." This ignoramus was evidently not himself acquainted with
the classics or he would have known that the most frequent termination
of the masculine singular in the Latin language is _us_ not i; and of
names ending in _us_ there are but very few in the Book of Mormon,
probably half a dozen. Mrs. Dickenson gives an example of some of
these "singular names:" "Mormon, Moroni, Lamanite and Nephi." Surely
neither Laman or Moroni are singular names. There are, at any rate,
more than one river of this name in South America running through the
region where, according to Book of Mormon history, the Nephite general,
Moroni, carried on his campaigns and held military control. Nephi is an
ancient Egyptian name, and a title of Osiris, one of the gods of that
people; its meaning is "the benevolent one." That it was common among
the Israelites of the age of Nephi (B. C. 600) is shown from the fact
that the word Nephites in the original Hebrew plural form occurs twice
in the Bible, in Ezra ii., 50, and Nehemiah vii., 52. Lehi is also a
Bible proper name.

Regarding the circle of "admiring friends" who heard the "Manuscript
Found" read by its author, is it not a little singular that they so
loudly praised it when the Book of Mormon, which is said to have been
copied from it "word for word," is berated as uninteresting, dull,
dry, stupid and everything else that is not commended or admired in
literary productions? Neither is the style of the Book of Mormon that
of a man educated in modern English; it is incomprehensible that a
student in the literature of this age would express himself in the
phraseology and style of this record. And again it is not written in
the language of either Joseph Smith or Sidney Rigdon. If we compare
the revelations given through Joseph Smith at the time the plates were
being translated, we find an altogether different diction; or let us
compare it with the Lectures on Faith in the Book of Doctrine and
Covenants and then with the acknowledged writings of Sidney Rigdon,
and we shall find there is nothing common in any of these with the
peculiarities of grammatical construction and verbal idiosyncracies of
the Book of Mormon. Judging then by the usual and accepted methods of
criticism on which some rely so strongly, and throwing out the direct
evidence as to its origin, this book could not be the creation of
either Solomon Spaulding, Sidney Rigdon or Joseph Smith. Again, how is
it that when the manuscript of the Book of Mormon was presented to the
printer (see Mr. Gilbert's statement) it was misspelled and without
punctuation. Did neither the graduate of Dartmouth College nor the
minister of a flourishing religious congregation, who, by the way,
according to some accounts, had formerly worked in a printing office,
know anything of punctuation? This is the extreme of folly. But if they
did, what conceivable reason could there be for leaving the punctuation
out of the copy taken to the printer. Mr. Gilbert's statement of the
great care shown by Hyrum Smith to have the book printed exactly
as written, his extreme solicitude regarding the manuscript, his
ignorance of the use of commas, colons, etc., and his one unwavering
and unchanging testimony regarding the discovery and translation of the
plates are all strong corroborative evidence that no educated man had
anything to do with the production of the book; and how inconsistent
with the stories of Joseph Smith's confirmed laziness is the idea that
he would go to the trouble of copying out a manuscript which makes more
than six hundred pages of closely printed matter! The promoters of the
"Spaulding story" are terribly inconsistent in the various parts of
their theory.

The statement that Mr. Spaulding took his romance to Mr. Patterson
may be true or it may not, individually we do not believe it, but the
assertion that Sidney Rigdon worked in that gentleman's printing office
we have elsewhere shown to be utterly false. We will let Mr. Howe,
who purchased Hurlburt's manuscript, give his version of this affair;
simply reminding our readers that his book, "Mormonism Unveiled," was
published in 1834, when the exact facts would be much fresher in the
memory of the participants than in 1880. Speaking of the "Manuscript
Found," he writes:

    "It was inferred at once that some light might be shed upon this
    subject and the mystery revealed by applying to Patterson and
    Lambdin, in Pittsburg. But here again death had interposed a
    barrier. That establishment was dissolved and broken up many years
    since, and Lambdin died about eight years ago. Mr. Patterson says
    he has no recollection of any such manuscript being brought there
    for publication, neither would he have been likely to have seen it,
    as the business of printing was conducted wholly by Lambdin at that
    time. He says, however, that many manuscript books and pamphlets
    were brought to the office about that time, which remained upon the
    shelves for years without being printed or even examined."

Mark how strangely this statement disagrees with the assertions of
the ladies of the Spaulding family with regard to Mr. Patterson's
friendship and intimate acquaintance with Mr. Spaulding, and the
latter's admiration of the "Manuscript Found."

Now notice the insincerity and actual dishonesty of the next passages,
in view of the fact that Hurlburt had received the "Manuscript Found"
from the Spaulding family, and according to his account had given the
document that he had received to Howe, the publisher of the work from
which we are quoting:

    "Now as Spaulding's book can no where be found, or anything heard
    of it after being carried to this establishment, there is the
    strongest presumption that it remained there in seclusion till
    about the year 1823 or 1824, at which time Sidney Rigdon located
    himself in that city. We have been credibly informed that he was on
    terms of intimacy with Lambdin, being seen frequently at his shop."

Here is a desperate attempt to connect Rigdon with the affair. Lambdin
was dead so he could not contradict any statement about his intimacy
with Rigdon; but the whole hypothesis amounts to nothing in view of the
positive statements of the Spaulding family that the "Manuscript Found"
was in their undisturbed possession, hundreds of miles from Pittsburg,
from 1814 to 1834. One thing, however, it shows that in those days
Sidney Rigdon's life was too well known for Howe to write other than
the truth regarding the time he first visited Pittsburg, for when Mrs.
Dickenson wildly imagines and falsely asserts he was working in the
office of Patterson and Lambdin, all trustworthy authorities, including
his mother, assert that he was laboring upon his father's farm at St.
Clair, Alleghany Co., Pennsylvania, which he did not leave until he
was in his twenty-sixth year, when he went to Ohio and afterwards to
Pittsburg.

Possibly doubting the Spaulding story herself Mrs. Dickenson suggests
another solution, yet still more ridiculous. She writes: "Smith,
however, could easily have possessed himself of the manuscript if he
had fancied it suitable to his purpose, for it is understood that he
was a servant on the farm, or teamster for Mr. Sabine (Mrs. Spaulding's
brother) in whose house the package of manuscript lay exposed in an
unlocked trunk for several years."

Prodigious! Let us examine this wonderful suggestion. According to Mrs.
McKinstry's affidavit the "Manuscript Found" was at Mr. Sabine's from
1816 to 1820. Joseph Smith was born in the latter part of December
1805, consequently he was not fifteen years old when the manuscript
was removed from Mr. Sabine's. A boy of his age would make a rather
youthful teamster or farm-hand. And then how preposterous the thought
that an illiterate boy of eleven, twelve, or thirteen should conceive
the idea of converting that old romance into something very like the
Bible, and of founding a religious society on its principles! Then
again calculate how much spare time a hired man or boy had on a farm in
western New York fifty years ago; from sun up to sun down he was kept
at work, often with chores to do after dark. How long would it take an
ignorant boy under these circumstances, and lazy in the bargain, to
transcribe a book that makes more than 600 pages of printed matter and
contains, at a rough estimate, more than 300,000 words? Oh consistency!
whither art thou fled?

But unfortunately for Mrs. Dickenson's very original theory, the
testimony of all, friends and enemies alike, is positive that during
this time Joseph was living with his father's family at Palmyra and
other places. It is during this period of his life that the foes of
divine revelation falsely charge him with confirmed idleness, vagabond
habits, etc., and on this charge base their arguments that such a youth
would never have been chosen by the Almighty as His servant. But should
there be any doubt on this matter we extract a few lines from the
already quoted affidavit of his sister, Mrs. Katherine Salisbury. When
speaking of the publication of the Book of Mormon, she avers: "At the
time the said book was published, I was seventeen years of age; that
at the time of the publication of said book, my brother, Joseph Smith,
Jr., lived in the family of my father, in the town of Manchester,
Ontario county, New York, and that he had, all his life to this time
made his home with the family." To which we may add during the latter
years of this period occasionally hiring out for short intervals, but
never at the early age and for the lengthened period necessary to give
consistency to Mrs. Dickenson's suppositions. We shall pass by several
other outrageous misstatements of this lady, and simply refer to one
which purports to be from the veteran journalist, Thurlow Weed, simply
to show how utterly unreliable many persons memories become where
"Mormonism" is concerned.

Mr. Weed states that Joseph Smith called on him in 1825, desiring to
get his manuscript printed, and spoke of finding the plates (Joseph did
not obtain the plates until September, 1827, and the translation was
not finished until June or July, 1829). That in a few days he brought
Martin Harris (Harris was not associated with Joseph until after the
plates were found). Seemed about thirty years of age (Joseph was not
twenty until December 23rd of that year). Was about 5 feet 8 inches
high (Joseph was fully 6 feet). Thus it appears in every detail Mr.
Weed's memory was at fault; dates, age, height, etc., are all wrong,
very wrong, and his statement is untrustworthy from beginning to end.

In passing we draw attention to the difference between the size of the
"Manuscript Found" and the Book of Mormon. The former, according to
Mrs. McKinstry, was about one inch thick of _written_, not printed,
matter. According to Hurlburt, the manuscript which he obtained from
Mrs. Davison's chest, which she states was the "Manuscript Found,"
contained _about one quire of paper_. And this was the only manuscript
book in the trunk. Mrs. Davison stated in her interview with Mr. Haven
that the manuscript was about _one third_ the size of the Book of
Mormon; while Mr. Jackson said the romance was a very small work. All
agree that it was much smaller than the Book of Mormon, while Hurlburt
had evidently a motive in making out that it was less than it really
was. He desired to make it appear that there must have been some other
writings than the one he obtained. In any case it is a consistent
question, who manufactured all the rest of the Book of Mormon?



CHAPTER V.

WHAT THE BOOK OF MORMON REALLY IS.

The Book of Mormon is the record of God's dealings with the people of
ancient America from the era of the building of the Tower of Babel to
four hundred and twenty-one years after the birth of Christ. It is
the stick of Ephraim spoken of by Ezekiel--the Bible of the western
continent. Not that it supersedes, or in any way interferes with the
Bible, any more than the history of Mexico supersedes or interferes
with the history of Rome; but on the other hand, in many places it
confirms Bible history, demonstrates Bible truths, sustains Bible
doctrine, and fulfils Bible prophecy.

* * * * *

The Book of Mormon contains the history of two distinct races. The
first came from the Tower of Babel and was destroyed a little less
than six hundred years before Christ. The story of their national life
is given very briefly, but sufficient is said to prove that they were
one of the mightiest nations of antiquity, and in the days of their
righteousness a people highly blessed of the Lord. Their fall and final
destruction were the result of their gross wickedness and rejection of
God's prophets. These people were called the Jaredites, their history
in the Book of Mormon is contained in "the Book of Ether." Ether was
one of their last prophets who wrote his account on twenty-four plates
of gold. Moroni, the last prophet of the Nephites, abridged Ether's
history and it is his abridgment that has been translated and published
in this generation, and which forms a portion of the Book of Mormon.

The next race that inhabited this continent were of Israelitish origin,
the descendants of Joseph and Judah. The Nephites, the ruling branch,
were principally the descendants of Manasseh. By divine guidance their
first prophet and ruler, Lehi, was brought out of Jerusalem with a
small company of his relatives and friends, eleven years before the
Babylonian captivity (B. C. 600). They sailed from southeastern Arabia
across the Indian and Pacific oceans, and landed on the American shore
not far from where the city of Valparaiso now stands. In the first
year of the captivity another small colony was led out from Jerusalem,
Mulek, one of the sons of King Zedekiah, being their nominal leader.
This party landed in North America some distance north of the Isthmus
of Darien, and soon after migrated into the northern portion of the
southern continent, where for nearly four centuries they grew in
numbers, but not in true civilization.

In the meantime the descendants of the colonists under Lehi had also
grown numerous. Early in their history they had separated into two
nationalities; the first, called Nephites, observing the laws of
Moses, the teachings of the prophets, and developing in the decencies
and comforts of civilized life; the others, called Lamanites (after
the cruel, rebellious elder brother of Nephi), sank into barbarism
and idolatry. These latter gradually crowded the Nephites northward
until the latter reached the land occupied by the descendants of
Mulek's colony, now called the people of Zarahemla, with whom they
coalesced and formed one nation. From their national birth to B. C.
91, the Nephites had been ruled by kings, but at that time the form
of government was changed and a republic founded. The nation was then
ruled by judges elected by the people. This portion of the history
of the Nephites is a very varied one. One third of their time they
were engaged in actual war with the Lamanites, and at other times
they were distracted with internal convulsions and rebellions. About
A. D. 30, the republic was overthrown and the people split up into
numerous independent tribes. At the crucifixion of the Savior this
continent was the scene of terrible natural convulsions, which resulted
in a great change in the face of nature and an immense loss of human
life. Shortly after these days of terror the Redeemer appeared to the
surviving remnants, taught them His gospel and organized His Church. A
lengthened period of blessed peace followed in which all men served the
Lord. Gradually, however, the old evils again crept in, many returned
to the sins of their forefathers, the spirit of darkness and bloodshed
again held sway, and finally the whole Nephite race was overpowered
and destroyed (A. D. 384) by the other faction who had assumed the old
name of Lamamites. The descendants of these Lamanites are found in the
American Indians, not of the United States alone, but as the aborigines
of the whole continent from Patagonia to the Arctic ocean.

The records of this people, engraved on various plates were hid by the
last of the Nephite prophets, Mormon, and his son Moroni. A portion
thereof has, by God's grace, been restored to the knowledge of mankind
in this age, and translated into many languages, that the truths
contained therein, whether they be history, doctrine, or prophecy, may
be known by all men.



CHAPTER VI.

UTTER DISAGREEMENT OF THE TWO HISTORIES.

It is our purpose in this chapter to demonstrate, from the Book
of Mormon itself, the absurdity of the "Spaulding Story," and the
utter impossibility of the Prophet Joseph Smith ever having used Mr.
Spaulding's reputed romance, the "Manuscript Found," as the groundwork
for that divine record.

At different times since the publication of the Book of Mormon various
writers have undertaken to explain the plot and contents of the
"Manuscript Found," and to show how remarkable is the resemblance
between it and the Book of Mormon.

We are told by one clerical author that when the Book of Mormon was
read to Solomon Spaulding's widow, brother and six other persons,
all well acquainted with Mr. Spaulding's writings, they immediately
recognized in the Book of Mormon the same historical matter and names
as composed the romance, although this reading took place some years
after they had read the latter work. The writer further states that
they affirmed that the Book of Mormon was with the exception of the
religious matter, copied almost _word for word_ from Spaulding's
manuscript.

Another writer affirms that the romance of Spaulding was _similar in
all its leading features_ to the historical portions of the Book of
Mormon. A third writer maintains that the historical part of the Book
of Mormon was immediately recognized by all the older inhabitants of
New Salem, Ohio, as _the identical work_ of Mr. Spaulding, in which
they had been so interested twenty years before.

Those who claim to have been acquainted with the writings of Mr.
Spaulding, differ materially as to the incidents and plot of the
"Manuscript Found." According to their widely different statements,
his romance was based upon one of two theories. The first on the idea
of the landing of a Roman colony on the Atlantic seaboard shortly
before the Christian era. The second (now the most generally known and
accepted) on the supposition that the present American Indians are the
descendants of the ten tribes of Israel, who were led away captive out
of their own land into Media, where historically the world loses sight
of them, but where Mr. Spaulding's romance finds them and transports
them to America. It is upon this idea of the transportation of this
great and numerous people from the land of their captivity to the
western world that this gentleman's novel is generally said to have
been founded.

We will examine this statement first, and strive to discover how nearly
it agrees with the historical narrative of the Book of Mormon, which we
are told was immediately recognized as being _identical_ and _copied
almost word for word_ from the pages of the "Manuscript Found."

In the first place, it is well to remark that the Book of Mormon
makes but very few references to the ten tribes, and in those few, it
directly, plainly and unequivocally states that the American Indians
are not the descendants of the ten tribes, and further, that the ten
tribes never were in America, or any part of it, during any portion of
their existence as a nation.[C] On the other hand, the Book of Mormon
as directly informs us from whom the aborigines, or natives, of this
continent are descended. This being the case, how is it possible for
the two works to be identical?

[Footnote C: Our crucified Redeemer, in His teachings to the Nephites,
thus refers to the ten tribes of the house of Israel:

"And behold this is the land of your inheritance, and the Father
hath given it unto you. And not at any time hath the Father given me
commandment that I should tell it unto your brethren at Jerusalem;
neither at any time hath the Father given me commandment, that I should
tell unto them concerning the other tribes of the house of Israel, whom
the Father hath led away out of the land" (_III. Nephi, xv_. 13-15).

"That they" (the Jews) "may receive a knowledge of you by the Holy
Ghost, and also of the other tribes whom they know not of" (_III.
Nephi, xvi_. 4).

"The other tribes hath the Father separated from them" (_III. Nephi,
xv_. 20).

"But now I go unto the Father, and also to show myself unto the lost
tribes of Israel, for they are not lost unto the Father, for He knoweth
whither He hath taken them" (_III. Nephi, xvii_. 4).]

But admitting, for the sake of argument, that Joseph Smith might have
changed the statement of the author of the "Manuscript Found" in this
one particular, we will proceed to show that such a supposition is
utterly impossible; for to have retained the unities of the work and
the consistencies of the story (for the story of the Book of Mormon
is consistent with itself), he must have altered not only the leading
features but also the minor details of the whole historical narrative.
He must have altered the place of departure, the circumstances of the
journey, the route taken by the emigrants, the time of the emigration
and every other particular connected with such a great movement. We
must recollect that the Book of Mormon gives the account of a small
colony (perhaps of about thirty or forty souls) being led by the Lord
from the city of Jerusalem through the wilderness south and east of
that city, to the borders of the Red Sea, thence for some distance
in the same direction near its coast, and then across the Arabian
peninsula to the sea eastward. What insanity could have induced Mr.
Spaulding to propose such a route for the ten tribes? For of all
out-of-the-way methods of reaching the American continent from Media,
this would be one of the most inaccessible, difficult, round-about and
improbable, and would carry them along the two sides of an acute angle
by the time they reached the shore where the ship was built. It would
almost certainly have taken these tribes close to, if not through a
portion of their own ancient homes, where it is reasonable to suppose
nearly all would have desired to tarry, when we consider how great was
the love that ancient Israel bore for that rich land given to them by
divine power.

Mr. Spaulding, as a student of the Bible, would have made no such
blunder. But even supposing that he was foolish enough in his romance
to transport the hosts of Israel from the south-western borders of
the Caspian Sea (where history loses them) by the nearest route, most
probably over the Armenian mountains, across the Syrian desert, and by
way of Damascus through the lands of Gilead, Moab and Edom into the
wilderness of the Red Sea, where, we ask, is there an account of such
a journey in any portion of the Book of Mormon? There is none, for the
Book of Mormon opens with the description of Lehi's departure from
Jerusalem, with the causes that led thereto, he having been a resident
of that city all his days, and never a captive in Media. Therefore we
are justified in asking, at the very outset of this inquiry, where,
from the opening pages onward, is there any identity between the two
books?

Then, again, is it not obvious to every thinking person that the moving
of a nation, such as the ten tribes were, must have had associated
with it events and circumstances entirely inconsistent and at
variance with the simple story of the journey of Lehi and his family
as given, frequently with minute detail, in the Book of Mormon? How
numerous were the host of the captive Israelites we have no means of
definitely ascertaining. We learn, however, that in one invasion alone,
Shalmaneser, king of Assyria, carried off two hundred thousand captives
from the kingdom of Israel. Even admitting that in their captivity
these two hundred thousand did not increase in numbers, and entirely
ignoring all the other thousands that were led away captives in other
invasions, we should necessarily expect that Spaulding, in his account
of the moving of this mass of humanity--men, women and children, with
their flocks, herds and supplies--would write a narrative consistent
with the subject and not one such as the Book of Mormon contains. But
whether he did or did not, the Book of Mormon contains nothing whatever
of the kind. In that work no vast armies are led out of Media by any
route whatever to the American continent.

We have there an entirely different story, more dissimilar indeed from
Spaulding's supposed narrative than the history of the deliverance of
Israel out of Egypt, under Moses, is from the story of the departure
from the old world, the voyage across the Atlantic and the landing
on this continent of the Pilgrim Fathers, of revered memory. In the
narrative that the Book of Mormon gives of the journeyings of Lehi and
his little colony, all the incidents related are consistent with the
idea of a small people and entirely inconsistent with that of a vast
moving multitude.

For instance, let us take as an example, the story of Nephi breaking
his bow by which the little caravan was placed in danger of starvation.
If there had been a vast host, numbering nearly a quarter of a million
souls, such an incident could have had no weight; for surely Mr.
Spaulding never wrote that one hunter alone supplied such a multitude
with all the necessary food, and it would be equally absurd to imagine
that that gentleman would tell such an improbable story as that all
the hunters broke all their bows at the same time. Again, the Book of
Mormon tells us that Lehi and his companions depended on the chase for
their entire food. Where, we would ask, in the midst of the Arabian
desert, could game enough be found to supply the entire wants of
the migrating ten tribes? And further, what would they do for water
for such a company in the trackless Arabian desert without divine
interposition and the manifestation of miraculous power? But the Book
of Mormon hints at no such contingency.

Again, the story of the building of the ship by Nephi must have been
entirely altered, for no one ship, though it had been twenty times
as large as the _Great Eastern_, could have carried Mr. Spaulding's
imaginary company and their effects across the wide waters of the
Indian and Pacific oceans.

We must now draw attention to the time when the Book of Mormon states
Lehi and his company were led out of Jerusalem. There is no ambiguity
on this point. It is repeatedly stated that this event took place six
hundred years before the advent of our Savior; that is, it was previous
to the Babylonish captivity. The ten tribes were not lost sight of at
that time; they were undoubtedly still in the land of their captivity,
and if Mr. Spaulding was foolish enough in his romance to set a date to
his exodus, he certainly would not have placed it during the lifetime
of Jeremiah, the prophet, and of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon; for
not only would such a date have marred the consistency of the story,
but it is also utterly impossible for us to conceive, as an historical
probability, that the mighty king of Babylon would have permitted the
ten tribes to escape from their captivity at that time, and above all
things to have taken such a route as would have brought them near the
borders of the Red Sea. If they escaped at all, it necessarily would
have been to the uninhabited regions northward. From a political
standpoint it would have been suicidal and utterly inconsistent with
the polity of the king of Babylon to allow the captive Israelites to
march forth in the supposed direction; for it would have placed them
in immediate contact with the kingdom of Judah and enabled them to
have formed an alliance with their former brethren antagonistic to his
interest and policy.

To pursue the subject still further: when the colony reached the land
of promise, which we call America, the incidents related in the Book
of Mormon are entirely consistent with the story of the voyage and of
the peopling of the land by a small colony and not by a vast host. If
Joseph Smith, as some claim, had changed Mr. Spaulding's romance, he
must have still continued to alter the narrative throughout the entire
volume, for the story still maintains its consistency, and through
it from beginning to end there runs a thread, possible only on the
theory that it was a single family with their immediate connections
through marriage that first founded the nations of the Nephites and
Lamanites. The entire history hinges on the quarrels of the sons of
Lehi and the results growing therefrom; for from the division of this
family into two separate and distinct peoples grew all the wars,
contentions, bloodshed, troubles and disasters that fill the pages of
this sacred record; while on the other hand, the blessings flowing to
both nations almost always resulted from the reconciliation of the two
opposing peoples and the inauguration of a united and amicable policy
beneficial alike to both. Had the American continent been peopled at
the commencement by a vast host, the whole current of the story must
have been vastly different, not only in the events that took place,
but also in the motives that controlled the hearts of the actors
who took part in those events, and in the traditions of the masses.
In the case of the Nephites and Lamanites, these traditions had an
overwhelming influence in the shaping of public affairs, which shape
they never could have received by any set of traditions incidental to
Mr. Spaulding's story.

What, too, shall we say of the Jaredites? From whence did Joseph
Smith beg, borrow or steal their history? Did Mr. Spaulding bring his
ten tribes from the tower of Babel, and give them an existence ages
anterior to the lifetime of their great progenitor, Jacob? If not,
will somebody inform us how this portion of the Book of Mormon was
manufactured?

From the above it is evident that if Mr. Spaulding's story was what its
friends claim, then it never could have formed the ground work of the
Book of Mormon, for the whole historical narrative is different from
beginning to end. And further, the story that certain old inhabitants
of New Salem, who, it is said, recognized the Book of Mormon, either
never made such a statement, or they let their imagination run
away with their memory into the endorsement of a falsehood and an
impossibility. Either way there is a lie; if they asserted that the
Book of Mormon is identical with the "Spaulding story," then they
are guilty of having violated the truth; if they did not make this
statement, then the falsehood is with those who, in their hatred to
modern revelation, have invented their testimony. The same statement
applies to those who assert that the Book of Mormon was copied almost
word for word from the "Manuscript Found." A book that is entirely
dissimilar in its narrative cannot be exact in its wording. As well
might we say, and be just as consistent and every way as truthful,
that the history of England was copied from the adventures of Robinson
Crusoe. So it is with the Book of Mormon and the Spaulding romance.

If then the resemblance is so small between the Book of Mormon and
the "Manuscript Found," when we consider the ten tribe version of the
latter work, where is it possible there can be the shadow of similarity
when we examine the Roman colony theory? For instance:

Lehi left Jerusalem; Spaulding's heroes sailed from Rome.

Lehi started on his journey not knowing whither the Lord would lead
him; the Romans were bound for Britain.

Lehi and his companions wandered for several years on land; the Roman
party made the entire journey by water.

Lehi traveled by way of the Arabian peninsula and the Indian and
Pacific oceans; Spaulding's imaginary characters sailed by way of the
Mediterranean sea and the Atlantic ocean.

The travels of one party were considerably south of east; the voyage of
the others west or north-west.

One party landed on the South Pacific shore;[D] the other on the North
Atlantic.

[Footnote D: Regarding the route taken by Lehi and his company, the
Prophet Joseph Smith states:

"They traveled nearly a south, south-east direction until they came to
the ninteenth degree of north latitude; then, nearly east to the sea
of Arabia, then sailed in a south-east direction, and landed on the
continent of South America, in Chili, thirty degrees south latitude."]

Mormon's record was written in reformed Egyptian; the imaginary
"Manuscript Found" in Latin.

Mormon's record was engraved on plates of metal; Spaulding's pretended
manuscript was written on parchment.

The original of the Book of Mormon was hid in the hill Cumorah, state
of New York; Mr. Spaulding's manuscript is claimed to have been
discovered in a cave near Conneaut, state of Ohio.

The Book of Mormon gives an account of a religious people, God's
dealings with whom is the central dominant idea; Spaulding's romance
tells the story of an idolatrous people. Such is the positive statement
of his widow and daughter.

There is another point worthy of our thought: If Joseph Smith did
make use of the "Manuscript Found," it must have been for one of two
reasons: Either because he was not able to write such a work himself,
or that he might save himself trouble and labor. In the first place
he could not have done this for the lack of ability; for any one who
could have so adroitly altered a history of the ten tribes so that it
now reads as a distinct, detailed and consistent history of a small
company of the tribe of Joseph, most assuredly could have written such
a history for himself if he had felt so disposed. Then again, he could
not have done it to save himself work, for to so change a long history
from one end to the other, until it contradicted all it had previously
asserted, and became the harmonious history of another people, would
save no man trouble. Then, again, in considering these points, we must
remember what an "idle vagabond" Joseph was, according to some people's
stories. What could have possibly possessed him to do such an enormous
amount of copying, when, as illiterate as he was, such an operation
would have been immensely hard work? Though it must be remembered all
this time he was loafing round the street corners, telling fortunes and
doing everything but honest toil--that is, if some people's tales are
to be believed.

And, again, to show the weakness of our opponents' arguments, supposing
for a moment that Joseph was an impostor, then he ran the risk of
detection by copying another man's work, he ran that risk without a
single motive, except it was the privilege of toiling for nothing, or
the pleasure of being exposed, when by writing it himself he need have
no risk at all.



CHAPTER VII.

JOSEPH SMITH'S EARLY LIFE.

The supposed bad character of Joseph Smith when a youth has been made
the text for many a tirade against the gospel that he, by God's grace,
restored to the earth. How is it possible, it is asked, that we can
believe that God would choose such an instrument for His work? We
answer in the first place, God's ways are not as man's ways, and He has
a perfect right to choose whomsoever He will. But further we assert,
knowing we speak the truth, that the stories about Joseph Smith's bad
character are false, and were never whispered until after God called
him, and he had commenced the work that heaven assigned him. Until
that time he and his parents with their entire family enjoyed a good
reputation among their neighbors.

No sooner had Joseph borne his simple testimony of angelic visitations,
than the evil one commenced to vilify his character, to destroy the
effect of his testimony. Evil reports spread far and wide, growing
as they went, as lies always do, until the days of D. P. Hurlburt,
who, when going east to obtain the "Manuscript Found," made it his
business to visit the neighborhood of Joseph's early home, and gather
for publication all the floating scandal that had been in circulation
from the beginning. He also procured an affidavit, or affidavits,
which he asserted numbers of the old neighbors of the Smith family
signed. Some of the persons whose names were attached to those papers
have since repudiated all knowledge thereof, and make statements with
regard to Joseph Smith's character entirely at variance with the tenor
of the affidavits. Others signed from hearsay and rumor and not from
actual knowledge. Others are said to have been themselves men of such
disreputable character that to be traduced by them was a compliment.
The names of entire strangers were also added to swell the list. These
fraudulent and untruthful affidavits have been reprinted time and
again, and others have followed in Hurlburt's footsteps, inventing
other statements with regard to Joseph Smith, and attached the names
of well-known residents of Palmyra, Manchester, etc., thereto without
their knowledge and consent, and putting into their mouths statements
entirely at variance with their sentiments and expressions. We regret
to have to say that this dirty work has generally been done by
professed ministers of the gospel.

The affidavits gathered by Hurlburt make the signers thereto complain
that the Smith family, especially Joseph, was indolent, intemperate,
untruthful, "entirely destitute of moral character and addicted to
vicious habits." These charges are not only false, but they also
manifest all the bitter hatred of religious bigotry and all the
exaggeration of envy and revenge.

Joseph was undoubtedly not perfect--none of us are--but he was far
superior in almost every respect to his neighbors and associates. In
his own account of his youth, between the time of his first vision and
the visit of the angel Moroni, he in the humility of his repentance
fully confesses his youthful follies, and, as is natural with sensitive
and consciencious natures, such as his, evidently applies the strongest
language to his shortcomings, and exaggerates rather than extenuates
his youthful misdeeds.

He writes:

    "During the space of time which intervened between the time I had
    the vision and the year eighteen hundred and twenty-three (having
    been forbidden to join any of the religious sects of the day, and
    being of very tender years, and persecuted by those who ought to
    have been my friends, and to have treated me kindly, and if they
    supposed me to be deluded to have endeavored, in a proper and
    affectionate manner, to have reclaimed me), I was left to all kinds
    of temptations, and mingled with all kinds of society. I frequently
    fell into many foolish errors, and displayed the weakness of youth,
    and the corruption of human nature, which, I am sorry to say, led
    me into divers temptations, to the gratification of many appetites
    offensive in the sight of God. In consequence of these things I
    often felt condemned for my weakness and imperfections; when on the
    evening of the twenty-first of September, after I had retired to
    my bed for the night, I betook myself to prayer and supplication
    to Almighty God, for forgiveness of all my sins and follies, and
    also for a manifestation to me, that I might know of my state and
    standing before Him; for I had full confidence in obtaining a
    divine manifestation, as I had previously done."

The above is a simple, straightforward, artless statement of his
condition, in which he seeks to hide nothing, but at the same time
shows that the rebuffs he received, the persecutions he suffered from
those who should have been his guides and friends had sufficient
influence to cause him occasionally to give way to the weakness of
youth incidental to association with the rough and unrestrained society
he from his lowly position in life was naturally compelled to mingle
with.

When comparing the before-mentioned vile charges with the testimony
of those who knew the future Prophet's family best, we learn that
instead of being indolent, the family were "good workers;" instead of
being untruthful and vicious, they were honest, upright, religious and
veracious, good neighbors, kind in sickness, but very poor, and with
but little of the knowledge of this world. Their poverty, which some
uncharitable souls have transformed into "shiftlessness," or lack of
management, is one of the heaviest charges brought against them.

The charge of intemperance can be simmered down to the fact that on one
or two occasions, in the harvest field, Joseph drank rather more cider
than did him good. All the witnesses declare that "everybody drank in
those days." It was before the age of temperance societies, and all
classes of people considered it perfectly right to take a little strong
drink occasionally. Drunkenness was the besetting sin of that era among
the English race. Joseph was not a "teetotaler," because there were
none. He was also very fond of wrestling, as many of his friends of
later years know, and doubtless when stimulated with cider was on hand
for a bout, or for any other athletic game or trial of strength that
might be suggested. From this exuberance of animal spirits, the enemies
of God's latter-day work have built up the story of Joseph's inebriety
and vagabond character.

Again, he is charged with the grave offense of being a "money-digger."
In one sense this is true. The whole country round about western
New York was in those days affected with a mania to discover hidden
treasures in the earth. Most marvelous stories are told of the
interposition of unseen beings when some of these treasures were
disturbed. The public mind was greatly troubled on this subject, and
Joseph Smith was employed by a man at one time to dig for him in the
hope of discovering some of these buried riches, or an ancient Spanish
mine. Joseph worked for him as he would for any other man, or for
the same man if he engaged him to plant potatoes or hoe corn. From
this grew the story of Joseph being a money-digger. Even if he dug
for treasure on his own responsibility, we do not know that there is
anything degrading, dishonest or criminal in such an action.

The following is Joseph's own account of the manner in which he became
saddled with the title of "Money-digger:"

    "As my father's worldly circumstances were very limited, we were
    under the necessity of laboring with our hands, hiring by day's
    work and otherwise as we could get opportunity; sometimes we were
    at home and sometimes abroad, and by continued labor we were
    enabled to get a comfortable maintenance.

    "In the year 1824, my father's family met with a great affliction,
    by the death of my eldest brother, Alvin. In the month of October,
    1825, I hired with an old gentleman by the name of Josiah Stoal,
    who lived in Chenango county, State of New York. He had heard
    something of a silver mine having been opened by the Spaniards,
    in Harmony, Susquehanna county, state of Pennsylvania, and had,
    previous to my hiring with him, been digging, in order, if
    possible, to discover the mine. After I went to live with him he
    took me among the rest of his hands to dig for the silver mine, at
    which I continued to work for nearly a month without success in
    our undertaking, and finally I prevailed with the old gentleman to
    cease digging after it. Hence arose the very prevalent story of my
    having been a money-digger."

Somewhere about this time, or possibly rather later, Joseph worked for
Mr. Joseph Knight, of Colesville, New York.

Of Joseph, Mr. Knight's son, Newel, writes in his private manuscript
journal, as follows:

    "The business my father was engaged in, often required him to have
    hired help, and among the many he, from time to time, employed
    was a young man by the name of Joseph Smith, Jun., to whom I was
    particularly attached. His noble deportment, his faithfulness, and
    his kind address could not fail to win the esteem of those who had
    the pleasure of his acquaintance. One thing I will mention which
    seemed to be a peculiar characteristic with him in all his boyish
    sports and amusements: I never knew anyone to gain advantage over
    him, and yet he was always kind and kept the good will of his
    playmates."

In March, 1881, two gentlemen, named Kelley, residing in Michigan, for
their own satisfaction, visited the neighborhood where Joseph spent
his youth, and questioned the older residents who were acquainted with
the Smith family as to their knowledge of the character of Joseph, his
parents and his brothers and sisters. Their interviews with numerous
parties who claim to have known Joseph were afterwards published. Among
those visited were the families, and sometimes the identical persons
whose names had been appended, often without their knowledge, to former
scurrilous affidavits regarding the reputation of the Smith family. In
several cases these parties stated that they did not so much as know
that any statement of theirs had ever been published; that they never
uttered the sentiments or made the assertions attributed to them, and
in some instances that they had been abused because they would not make
the damaging statements regarding Joseph's character that those who
visited them required. In many cases where they spoke disparagingly of
the Prophet's family to the Messrs. Kelley, these gentlemen found that
they spoke _from hearsay_, and _not from actual knowledge_; while those
who knew Joseph best spoke of him the most highly. We here append a few
extracts from these interviews, at the same time remarking (to put the
feeling in the mildest language), that some of these gentlemen were no
friends of the Smith family.

    "What did you know about the Smiths, Mr. Gilbert?"

    "I knew nothing myself; have seen Joseph Smith a few times, but not
    acquainted with him. Saw Hyrum quite often. I am the party that set
    the type from the original manuscript for the Book of Mormon. They
    translated it in a cave. I would know that manuscript to-day if I
    should see it. The most of it was in Oliver Cowdery's handwriting.
    Some in Joseph's wife's; a small part though. Hyrum Smith always
    brought the manuscript to the office; he would have it under his
    coat, and all buttoned up as carefully as though it was so much
    gold. He said at the time that it was translated from plates by
    the power of God, and they were very particular about it. We had a
    great deal of trouble with it. It was not punctuated at all. They
    did not know anything about punctuation, and we had to do that
    ourselves."

    "Well; did you change any part of it when you were setting the
    type?"

    "No, sir; we never changed it at all."

    "Why did you not change it and correct it?

    "Because they would not allow us to; they were very particular
    about that. We never changed it in the least. Oh, well; there
    might have been one or two words that I changed the spelling of; I
    believe I did change the spelling of one, and perhaps two, but no
    more."

    "Did you set all the type, or did some one help you?"

    "I did the whole of it myself, and helped to read the proof, too;
    there was no one who worked at that but myself. Did you ever see
    one of the first copies? I have one here that was never bound. Mr.
    Grandin, the printer, gave it to me. If you ever saw a Book of
    Mormon you will see that they changed it afterwards."

    "They did! Well, let us see your copy; that is a good point. How is
    it changed now?"

    "I will show you (bringing out his copy). Here on the title page
    it says (reading), 'Joseph Smith, Jr., author and proprietor.'
    Afterwards, in getting out other editions they left that out, and
    only claimed that Joseph Smith translated it."

    "Well, did they claim anything else than that he was the translator
    when they brought the manuscript to you?"

    "Oh, no; they claimed that he was translating by means of some
    instruments he got at the same time he did the plates, and that the
    Lord helped him."

The Messrs. Kelley also called upon Dr. John Stafford, at Rochester,
N. Y. He is now a retired physician, being too aged and infirm to
practice. Answering a question as to the character of Joseph Smith, he
said:

    "He was a real clever, jovial boy. What Tucker said about them"
    (the Smith family) "was false, absolutely. My father, William
    Stafford, was never connected with them in any way. The Smiths,
    with others, were digging for money before Joe got the plates. My
    father had a stone, which some thought they could look through,
    and old Mrs. Smith came there for it one day, but never got it.
    Saw them digging one time for money; (this was three or four years
    before the Book of Mormon was found) the Smiths and others. The old
    man and Hyrum were there, I think, but Joseph was not there. The
    neighbors used to claim Sally Chase could look at a stone she had,
    and see money. Willard Chase used to dig when she found where the
    money was. Don't know as anybody ever found any money."

    "What was the character of Smith, as to his drinking?"

    "It was common then for everybody to drink, and to have drink in
    the field; one time Joe, while working for some one after he was
    married, drank too much boiled cider. He came in with his shirt
    torn; his wife felt bad about it, and when they went home, she put
    her shawl on him."

    "Had he been fighting and drunk?"

    "No; he had been scuffling with some of the boys. Never saw him
    fight; have known him to scuffle; would do a fair day's work if
    hired out to a man; but were poor managers," (the Smiths.)

    "What about that black sheep your father let them have?"

    "I have heard that story, but don't think my father was there at
    the time they say Smith got the sheep. I don't know anything about
    it."

    "You were living at home at the time, and it seems you ought to
    know if they got a sheep, or stole one, from your father?"

    "They never stole one, I am sure; they may have got one sometime."

    "Well, doctor, you know pretty well whether that story is true or
    not, that Tucker tells. What do you think of it?"

    "I don't think it is true. I would have heard more about it, that
    is true. I lived a mile from Smith's; am seventy-six years old.
    They were peaceable among themselves. The old woman had a great
    deal of faith that their children were going to do something great.
    Joe was quite illiterate. After they began to have school at their
    house, he improved greatly."

    "Did they have school in their own house?"

    "Yes, sir; they had school in their house, and studied the Bible."

    "Who was their teacher?"

    "They did not have any teacher; they taught themselves."

    * * * * * * * *

    "If young Smith was illiterate as you say, doctor, how do you
    account for the Book of Mormon?"

    "Well, I can't; except that Sidney Rigdon was connected with them."

    "What makes you think he was connected with them?"

    "Because I can't account for the Book of Mormon any other way."

    "Was Rigdon ever around there before the Book of Mormon was
    published?"

    "No; not as we could ever find out. Sidney Rigdon was never there,
    that Hurlburt, or Howe, or Tucker could find out."

    "Well; you have been looking out for the facts a long time have you
    not, doctor?"

    "Yes; I have been thinking and hearing about it for the last fifty
    years, and lived right among all their old neighbors there most of
    the time."

    "And no one has ever been able to trace the acquaintance of Rigdon
    and Smith, until after the Book of Mormon was published, and Rigdon
    proselyted by Pratt, in Ohio?"

    "Not that I know of."

    * * * * * * *

    "Were you acquainted with them" (the Smiths) "Mr. Saunders?"

    "Yes, sir, I knew all of the Smith family well; there were six
    boys: Alvin, Hyrum, Joseph, Harrison, William and Carlos, and there
    were two girls; the old man was a cooper; they have all worked for
    me many a day; they were very good people. Young Joe (as we called
    him then), has worked for me, and he was a good worker; they all
    were. I did not consider them good managers about business, but
    they were poor people; the old man had a large family."

    "In what respect did they differ from other people, if at all?"

    "I never noticed that they were different from other neighbors;
    they were the best family in the neighborhood in case of sickness;
    one was at my house nearly all the time when my father died; I
    always thought them honest; they were owing me some money when they
    left here; that is, the old man and Hyrum did, and Martin Harris.
    One of them came back in about a year and paid me."

    "How were they as to habits of drinking and getting drunk?"

    "Everybody drank a little in those days, and the Smiths with the
    rest; they never got drunk to my knowledge."

    * * * * * * * *

    "How well did you know young Joseph Smith?"

    "Oh! just as well as one could very well; he has worked for me many
    a time, and been about my place a great deal. He stopped with me
    many a time, when through here, after they went west to Kirtland;
    he was always a gentleman when about my place."

    "What did you know about his finding that book, or the plates in
    the hill over here?"

    "He always claimed that he saw the angel and received the book; but
    I don't know anything about it. Have seen it, but never read it as
    I know of; didn't care anything about it."

    "Well; you seem to differ a little from a good many of the stories
    told about these people."

    "I have told you just what I know about them, and you will have to
    go somewhere else for a different story."

    * * * * * * * *

    "To our inquiries if he, Mr. Thos. H. Taylor, was acquainted with
    the Smiths, and the early settlers throughout that part, sometimes
    called Mormons, he said:"

    "Yes; I knew them very well; they were very nice men, too; the only
    trouble was they were ahead of the people; and the people, as in
    every such case, turned out to abuse them, because they had the
    manhood to stand for their own convictions. I have seen such work
    all through life, and when I was working with John Brown for the
    freedom of my fellowman, I often got in tight places; and if it had
    not been for Gerritt Smith, Wendell Phillips and some others, who
    gave me their influence and money, I don't know how I would ever
    have got through."

    "What did the Smiths do that the people abused them so?"

    "They did not do anything. Why! these rascals at one time took
    Joseph Smith and ducked him in the pond that you see over there,
    just because he preached what he believed, and for nothing else.
    And if Jesus Christ had been there, they would have done the same
    to Him. Now I don't believe like he did; but every man has a right
    to his religious opinions, and to advocate his views, too; if
    people don't like it, let them come out and meet him on the stand,
    and show his error. Smith was always ready to exchange views with
    the best men they had."

    "Why didn't they like Smith?"

    "To tell the truth, there was something about him they could not
    understand; some way he knew more than they did, and it made them
    mad."

    "But a good many tell terrible stories, about them being low
    people, rogues and liars, and such things. How is that?"

    "Oh! they are a set of d--d liars. I have had a home here, and been
    here, except when on business, all my life--ever since I came to
    this country, and I know these fellows, they make these lies on
    Smith, because they love a lie better than the truth. I can take
    you to a great many old settlers here who will substantiate what I
    say, and if you want to go, just come around to my place across the
    street here, and I'll go with you."

    "Well, that is very kind, Mr. Taylor, and fair; and if we have time
    we will call around and give you the chance; but we are first going
    to see these fellows who, so rumor says, know so much against them."

    "All right; but you will find they don't know anything against
    those men when you put them down to it; they could never sustain
    anything against Smith."

    "Do you think Smith ever got any plates out of the hill he claimed
    to?"

    "Yes; I rather think he did. Why not he find something as well as
    anybody else? Right over here, in Illinois and Ohio, in mounds
    there, they have discovered copper plates since, with hieroglyphics
    all over them; and quite a number of the old settlers around here
    testified that Smith showed the plates to them--they were good,
    honest men, and what is the sense in saying they lied? Now, I
    never saw the Book of Mormon--don't know anything about it, nor
    care; and don't know as it was ever translated from the plates.
    You have heard about the Spaulding romance; and some claim that it
    is nothing but the books of the Bible that were rejected by the
    compilers of the Bible; but all this don't prove that Smith never
    got any plates."

We close this chapter with an extract from the writings of Elder Oliver
Cowdery, published in a very early day of the Church's history:

    "But in consequence of certain false and slanderous reports which
    have been circulated, justice would require me to say something
    upon the private life of one whose character has been so shamefully
    traduced. By some he is said to have been a lazy, idle, vicious,
    profligate fellow. These I am prepared to contradict, and that,
    too, by the testimony of _many_ persons with whom I have been
    intimately acquainted, and know to be individuals of the strictest
    veracity and unquestionable integrity. All these strictly and
    virtually agree in saying, that he was an honest, upright, virtuous
    and faithfully industrious young man. And those who say to the
    contrary can be influenced by no other motive than to destroy the
    reputation of one who never injured any man in either property or
    person."



CHAPTER VIII.

JOSEPH'S ACCOUNT OF THE DISCOVERY OF THE PLATES.

We will now give the Prophet Joseph's own narrative of the finding of
the plates from which he, by divine aid, translated the Book of Mormon,
with the causes that led thereto. It is a simple, unvarnished statement
of facts that bears on its face the evidence of its truth.

On the evening of September 21st, 1823, Joseph went to bed with
a strong feeling of regret for his youthful follies, and with a
determination to seek the Lord for forgiveness and for a manifestation
of his standing before heaven. With this desire, in strong faith, he
betook himself to prayer and supplication. He then says:

    "While I was thus in the act of calling upon God, I discovered a
    light appearing in the room, which continued to increase until the
    room was lighter than at noonday, when immediately a personage
    appeared at my bedside, standing in the air, for his feet did
    not touch the floor. He had on a loose robe of most exquisite
    whiteness. It was a whiteness beyond anything earthly I had ever
    seen; nor do I believe that any earthly thing could be made to
    appear so exceedingly white and brilliant; his hands were naked,
    and his arms also, a little above the wrist; so, also, were his
    feet naked, as were his legs, a little above the ankles. His head
    and neck were also bare. I could discover that he had no other
    clothing on but this robe, as it was open, so that I could see into
    his bosom.

    "Not only was his robe exceedingly white, but his whole person
    was glorious beyond description, and his countenance truly like
    lightning. The room was exceedingly light, but not so very bright
    as immediately around his person. When I first looked upon him I
    was afraid, but the fear soon left me. He called me by name and
    said unto me that he was a messenger sent from the presence of
    God to me, and that his name was Moroni. That God had a work for
    me to do, and that my name should be had for good and evil among
    all nations, kindreds, and tongues; or that it should be both good
    and evil spoken of among all people. He said there was a book
    deposited, written upon gold plates, giving an account of the
    former inhabitants of this continent, and the source from whence
    they sprang. He also said that the fulness of the everlasting
    gospel was contained in it, as delivered by the Savior to the
    ancient inhabitants. Also, that there were two stones in silver
    bows (and these stones, fastened to a breastplate, constituted what
    is called the Urim and Thummim) deposited with the plates, and the
    possession and use of these stones were what constituted Seers in
    ancient or former times, and that God had prepared them for the
    purpose of translating the book.

    "Again, he told me that when I got those plates of which he had
    spoken (for the time that they should be obtained was not yet
    fulfilled) I should not show them to any person, neither the
    breastplate with the Urim and Thummim, only to those to whom I
    should be commanded to show them; if I did, I should be destroyed.
    While he was conversing with me about the plates, the vision was
    opened to my mind that I could see the place where the plates were
    deposited, and that so clearly and distinctly, that I knew the
    place again when I visited it.

    "After this communication, I saw the light in the room begin to
    gather immediately around the person of him who had been speaking
    to me, and it continued to do so, until the room was again left
    dark, except just around him, when instantly I saw, as it were,
    a conduit open right up into heaven, and he ascended up till he
    entirely disappeared, and the room was left as it had been before
    this heavenly light had made its appearance.

    "I lay musing on the singularity of the scene, and marveling
    greatly at what had been told me by this extraordinary messenger,
    when, in the midst of my meditation, I suddenly discovered that
    my room was again beginning to get lighted, and in an instant, as
    it were, the same heavenly messenger was again by my bedside. He
    commenced, and again related the very same things which he had
    done at his first visit, without the least variation, which having
    done, he informed me of great judgments which were coming upon the
    earth, with great desolations by famine, sword, and pestilence,
    and that these grievous judgments would come on the earth in this
    generation. Having related these things, he again ascended as he
    had done before.

    "By this time, so deep were the impressions made on my mind, that
    sleep had fled from my eyes, and I lay overwhelmed in astonishment
    at what I had both seen and heard; but what was my surprise when
    again I beheld the same messenger at my bedside, and heard him
    rehearse or repeat over again to me the same things as before, and
    added a caution to me, telling me that Satan would try to tempt
    me (in consequence of the indigent circumstances of my father's
    family) to get the plates for the purpose of getting rich. This
    he forbid me, saying that I must have no other object in view in
    getting the plates but to glorify God, and must not be influenced
    by any other motive but that of building His kingdom, otherwise
    I could not get them. After this third visit, he again ascended
    up into heaven as before, and I was again left to ponder on the
    strangeness of what I had just experienced, when almost immediately
    after the heavenly messenger had ascended from me the third time,
    the cock crew, and I found that day was approaching, so that our
    interviews must have occupied the whole of that night. I shortly
    after arose from my bed, and, as usual, went to the necessary
    labors of the day, but, in attempting to labor as at other times,
    I found my strength so exhausted as rendered me entirely unable.
    My father, who was laboring along with me, discovered something
    to be wrong with me, and told me to go home. I started with the
    intention of going to the house, but, in attempting to cross the
    fence out of the field where we were, my strength entirely failed
    me, and I fell helpless on the ground, and for a time was quite
    unconscious of anything. The first thing that I can recollect, was
    a voice speaking unto me calling me by name; I looked up and beheld
    the same messenger standing over my head, surrounded by light, as
    before. He then again related unto me all that he had related to me
    the previous night, and commanded me to go to my father, and tell
    him of the vision and commandments which I had received.

    "I obeyed, I returned back to my father in the field and rehearsed
    the whole matter to him. He replied to me that it was of God, and
    to go and do as commanded by the messenger. I left the field and
    went to the place where the messenger had told me the plates were
    deposited, and owing to the distinctness of the vision which I had
    had concerning it, I knew the place the instant that I arrived
    there. Convenient to the village of Manchester, Ontario county, New
    York, stands a hill of considerable size, and the most elevated of
    any in the neighborhood. On the west side of this hill, not far
    from the top, under a stone of considerable size, lay the plates,
    deposited in a stone box; this stone was thick and rounding in the
    middle on the upper side, and thinner towards the edges, so that
    the middle part of it was visible above the ground, but the edge
    all round was covered with earth. Having removed the earth and
    obtained a lever which I got fixed under the edge of the stone, and
    with a little exertion raised it up; I looked in, and there indeed
    did I behold the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the breastplate
    as stated by the messenger. The box in which they lay was formed by
    laying stones together in some kind of cement. In the bottom of the
    box were laid two stones crossways of the box, and on these stones
    lay the plates and the other things with them. I made an attempt to
    take them out, but was forbidden by the messenger, and was again
    informed that the time for bringing them forth had not yet arrived,
    neither would arrive until four years from that time; but he told
    me that I should come to that place precisely in one year from that
    time, and that he would there meet me, and that I should continue
    to do so until the time should come for obtaining the plates.

    "Accordingly as I had been commanded, I went at the end of each
    year, and at each time I found the same messenger there, and
    received instruction and intelligence from him at each of our
    interviews, respecting what the Lord was going to do, and how and
    in what manner His kingdom was to be conducted in the last days.

    "At length the time arrived for obtaining the plates, the Urim and
    Thummim, and the breastplate. On the 22nd day of September, 1827,
    having gone, as usual, at the end of another year, to the place
    where they were deposited, the same heavenly messenger delivered
    them up to me with this charge, that I should be responsible for
    them; that if I should let them go carelessly or through any
    neglect of mine, I should be cut off; but that if I would use all
    my endeavors to preserve them, until he, the messenger, should call
    for them, they should be protected.

    "I soon found out the reason why I had received such strict charges
    to keep them safe, and why it was the messenger had said, that when
    I had done what was required at my hand, he would call for them;
    for no sooner was it known that I had them, than the most strenuous
    exertions were used to get them from me; every stratagem that could
    be invented was resorted to for that purpose; the persecution
    became more bitter and severe than before, and multitudes were on
    the alert continually to get them from me if possible; but, by
    the wisdom of God, they remained safe in my hands, until I had
    accomplished by them what was required at my hand; when according
    to arrangements, the messenger called for them, I delivered them up
    to him, and he has them in his charge until this day, being the 2nd
    day of May, 1838.

    "The excitement, however, still continued, and rumor, with her
    thousand tongues, was all the time employed in circulating tales
    about my father's family, and about myself. If I were to relate a
    thousandth part of them, it would fill up volumes. The persecution,
    however, became so intolerable that I was under the necessity of
    leaving Manchester, and going with my wife to Susquehanna county,
    in the state of Pennsylvania. While preparing to start (being
    very poor, and the persecution so heavy upon us, that there was
    no probability that we would ever be otherwise), in the midst of
    our afflictions we found a friend in a gentleman, by the name
    of Martin Harris, who came to us and gave me fifty dollars to
    assist us in our afflictions. Mr. Harris was a resident of Palmyra
    township, Wayne county, in the state of New York, and a farmer of
    respectability. By this timely aid was I enabled to reach the place
    of my destination in Pennsylvania, and immediately after my arrival
    there, I commenced copying the characters of the plates. I copied a
    considerable number of them, and by means of the Urim and Thummim
    I translated some of them, which I did between the time I arrived
    at the house of my wife's father in the month of December, and the
    February following.

    "Some time in this month of February, the afore-mentioned Mr.
    Martin Harris came to our place, got the characters which I had
    drawn off the plates, and started with them to the city of New
    York. For what took place relative to him and the characters, I
    refer to his own account of the circumstances as he related them to
    me after his return, which was as follows:

    "'I went to the city of New York, and presented the characters
    which had been translated, with the translation thereof, to
    Professor 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, Assyraic, and
    Arabic, and he said that they were the 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.

    "'He then said unto 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.'

    "On the 15th [5th] day of April, 1829, Oliver Cowdery came to
    my house, until then I had never seen him. He stated to me that
    having been teaching school in the neighborhood where my father
    resided, and my father being one of those who sent to the school,
    he went to board for a season at his house, and while there, the
    family related to him the circumstance of my having the plates, and
    accordingly he had come to make inquiries of me.

    "Two days after the arrival of Mr. Cowdery (being the 17th [7th]
    of April), I commenced to translate the Book of Mormon, and he
    commenced to write for me."


The foregoing is the Prophet Joseph's own account of the discovery of
the plates, with some details as to the manner of their translation.
We will now insert the testimony of the witnesses, who, by divine
permission, saw, handled and examined these sacred records, and
afterwards draw attention to the value of this testimony, more
especially to that of the three witnesses, whose lives for so long a
period were estranged from the Church and people to whom their words
are of most value.

    * * * * *

    THE TESTIMONY OF THREE WITNESSES.

    Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues and people unto
    whom this work shall come, that we, through the grace of God the
    Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which
    contain this record, which is a record of the people of Nephi, and
    also of the Lamanites, their brethren, and also of the people of
    Jared, who came from the tower of which hath been spoken; and we
    also know that they have been translated by the gift and power of
    God, for His voice hath declared it unto us; wherefore we know of a
    surety that the work is true. And we also testify that we have seen
    the engravings which are upon the plates; and they have been shown
    unto us by the power of God, and not of man. And we declare with
    words of soberness, that an angel of God came down from heaven, and
    He brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the
    plates, and the engravings thereon; and we know that it is by the
    grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, that we beheld
    and bear record that these things are true; and it is marvelous
    in our eyes, nevertheless the voice of the Lord commanded us that
    we should bear record of it; wherefore, to be obedient unto the
    commandments of God, we bear testimony of these things. And we know
    that if we are faithful in Christ, we shall rid our garments of the
    blood of all men, and be found spotless before the judgment-seat
    of Christ, and shall dwell with Him eternally in the heavens. And
    the honor be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost,
    which is one God. Amen.

    OLIVER COWDERY,

    DAVID WHITMER,

    MARTIN HARRIS.

    * * * * *

    AND ALSO THE TESTIMONY OF EIGHT WITNESSES.

    Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues and people unto
    whom this work shall come, that Joseph Smith, Jun., the translator
    of this work, has shewn unto us the plates of which hath been
    spoken, which have the appearance of gold; and as many of the
    leaves as the said Smith has translated, we did handle with our
    hands; and we also saw the engravings thereon, all of which has the
    appearance of ancient work, and of curious workmanship. And this we
    bear record with words of soberness, that the said Smith has shewn
    unto us, for we have seen and hefted, and know of a surety that the
    said Smith has got the plates of which we have spoken. And we give
    our names unto the world, to witness unto the world that which we
    have seen; and we lie not, God bearing witness of it.

    CHRISTIAN WHITMER

    JACOB WHITMER

    PETER WHITMER

    JOHN WHITMER, JUN.

    HIRAM PAGE

    JOSEPH SMITH, SEN.

    HYRUM SMITH

    SAMUEL H. SMITH.



CHAPTER IX.

TIME OCCUPIED IN TRANSLATING THE BOOK OF MORMON.

Objection has been made to the divinity of the Book of Mormon on the
ground that the account given in the publication of the Church, of
the time occupied in the work of translation is far too short for the
accomplishment of such a labor, and consequently it must have been
copied or transcribed from some work written in the English language,
most probably from Spaulding's "Manuscript Found." But at the outset it
must be recollected that the translation was accomplished by no common
method, by no ordinary means. It was done by divine aid. There were
no delays over obscure passages, no difficulties over the choice of
words, no stoppages from the ignorance of the translator; no time was
wasted in investigation or argument over the value, intent or meaning
of certain characters, and there were no references to authorities.
These difficulties to human work were removed. All was as simple as
when a clerk writes from dictation. The translation of the characters
appeared on the Urim and Thummim, sentence by sentence, and so soon as
one was correctly transcribed the next would appear. So the enquiry
narrows down to the consideration of this simple question, how much
could Oliver Cowdery write in a day? How many of the printed pages of
the Book of Mormon could an ordinary clerk transcribe from dictation in
a day? When that is determined, divide the total number of pages in the
Book of Mormon by that number and you have the answer in days.

It now becomes important to discover when the translation was commenced
and when it was finished. This cannot be determined to a day, but
enough is known for our purpose.

When Oliver first visited Joseph some little had been translated,
exactly how much is not known. The next question is: When did that
visit occur? We will let Oliver answer. He writes (_Times and Seasons
Vol. I., page_ 201): "Near the time of the setting of the sun, Sabbath
evening, April 5th, 1829, my natural eyes, for the first time,
beheld this brother. He then resided in Harmony, Susquehanna county,
Pennsylvania. On Monday, the 6th, I assisted him in arranging some
business of a temporal nature, and on Tuesday, the 7th, commenced to
write the Book of Mormon."

In the history of Joseph Smith, we read: "During the month of April I
continued to translate and he (Oliver) to write with little cessation,
during which time we received several revelations." And again: "We
still continued the work of translation, when, in the ensuring month
(May 1829) we, on a certain day went into the woods to pray." Oliver
also states: "These were days never to be forgotten--to sit under
the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven awakened
the utmost gratitude of this bosom! Day after day I continued,
uninterrupted, to write from his mouth, as he translated with the Urim
and Thummim, or, as the Nephites would have said, 'Interpreters,' the
history or record called the Book of Mormon."

Thus we see these two young men bent the whole energy of their souls
towards the accomplishment of this most important work. They united
their youthful zeal "day after day, uninterrupted" and "with little
cessation" to the labor of translation. It requires very little
imagination to understand how diligently and earnestly they toiled,
how they permitted nothing to interfere with their labor of love, how
they devoted every hour, until fatigue overcame them, to the divinely
imposed task (and young and vigorous as they were it was not a little
that would tire them out), while curiosity and other far worthier
feelings would give zest and inspiration to their labors; as they
progressed we can well imagine how their interest in the narrative
increased until they could scarcely tear themselves away from their
inspired labors even when their minds and bodies called for food and
rest. The enthusiasm with which Oliver speaks of those days shows
plainly that this was the case, and we cannot reasonably think that
Joseph was any less interested than he.

Now let us examine when these two brethren commenced their marvelous
work. Two series of dates have been given. Oliver's given above, and
another in the history of Joseph Smith, which gives the dates as the
15th and 17th of April, or ten days later. Oliver's has this evidence
of its correctness, that, as he states, the 5th, 6th and 7th of April,
1829, fell on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, which, of course, those ten
days later would not. Again, the event being of more importance in his
life than in Joseph's, he was more likely to recollect the details,
besides, being a better scholar and penman, it is more probable that if
any record of the circumstance was made at that time he made it. But
really there is no discrepancy. The dates 15th and 17th in the Pearl of
Great Price, in Joseph's history, etc., are unfortunately typographical
errors, or mistakes in printing. In the original manuscript in
the Historian's Office the dates are the same as those of Oliver
Cowdery--the 5th and 7th. But the mistake having once been printed it
has been copied out of one journal or book into another until nearly
all our works have perpetuated the blunder. Of course it is impossible
to tell now whether the mistake was first made by a copyist in the
Historian's Office or by a compositor at the printer's.

From Joseph's and Oliver's narrative we learn how far they had
progressed in the work of translation at the time of the visit of the
angel, John the Baptist, and their baptism. This took place on May 15th
of the same year. It was because they found in the teachings of the
risen Redeemer to the Nephites certain instructions regarding baptism
that they were led to enquire of the Lord regarding this ordinance,
and their inquiry led to the angel's visit. Where are these teachings
found? In the third book of Nephi; some, probably the very ones that so
deeply impressed the minds of these young men, on page five hundred and
three of the Book of Mormon (latest edition). Then it is evident that
between April 7th and May 15th they had translated as much as makes
five hundred and three pages of the printed Book of Mormon. How much
is this a day? Between these two dates, including April 7th but not
May 15th, there are thirty-eight days, which would make about thirteen
pages a day, if we allow nothing for what was previously transcribed. A
swift writer copying from dictation could write four such pages in an
hour, as we have demonstrated experimentally, an ordinary writer about
three. But allowing that Oliver Cowdery might be a very slow writer,
and that he only copied at the rate of a page in half an hour, even
then he would only have had to work six and one half hours each day to
accomplish the task; and if they rested entirely on Sundays about one
hour more. So we see, making no allowance for the work already done,
allowing Oliver Cowdery to be a slow penman for his profession--a
schoolmaster--and admitting that they ceased from their labor on the
Sabbath, still it was only necessary for them to do a short day's work,
especially for two young men in the prime and vigor of life; and yet
allow ample time for the reception of revelations (which were given
through the Urim and Thummim) and the performance of other duties that
possibly occasionally called for their attention.

To show how easy such an effort would be we will state that President
George Q. Cannon has informed us that when he translated the Book of
Mormon into the language of the Sandwich Islanders, he frequently
translated as many as eight or ten pages a day. This was far heavier
work to do alone, and without the assistance of the Urim and Thummim,
than it was for Joseph and Oliver together to translate from twelve to
fifteen pages with the all-important assistance of the "Interpreters."

After the date of their baptism, the brethren appear to have worked
more leisurely. Early in June they moved to Mr. Peter Whitmer's, at
Fayette, Seneca county, New York, who had kindly offered them a house.
Here the work was continued, John Whitmer, one of the sons, assisting
them very much by writing. Joseph states: "Meanwhile our translation
was drawing to a close, we went to Palmyra, Wayne county, New York,
secured the copyright and agreed with Mr. Egbert Grandin to print five
thousand copies for the sum of three thousand dollars." The copyright
was secured on June 11th, so it appears that between May 15th and the
last-named date, or twenty-six days, they had not quite translated
one hundred and twenty pages--not five pages a day--or they would
have finished their work. The exact date the translation was entirely
completed is not known, at least we have not been able to discover it.

Thus we see between the dates given, Joseph and Oliver had ample time
to do the work claimed by and for them, the objection falls to the
ground, and the truth is again vindicated.



CHAPTER X.

THE THREE WITNESSES.

In the investigation of the genuineness of the Book of Mormon we must
consider the nature of the direct evidence that we have with regard
to its origin. And in this respect the testimony is strong, clear,
complete and unimpeachable. The existence of the plates is testified to
in a most solemn and sacred manner by eleven witnesses in addition to
Joseph Smith. Eight of these witnesses actually handled, lifted, and
carefully examined the plates, satisfying themselves in a manner beyond
all dispute that the plates were real and tangible. It is altogether
unlikely that Joseph Smith could have imposed upon these eight
witnesses by giving into their hands something different from metallic
plates. So, at any rate, we have the evidence of eight men that they
handled certain plates and that they had the appearance of very ancient
workmanship. If these plates were not the plates from which the Book
of Mormon was translated, what were they? where did Joseph Smith get
them? and what did he do with them? are all pertinent inquiries. That
he had plates in his possession of the kind and description from which
he states he translated the Book of Mormon is strong _prima facie_
evidence in favor of his story. And the fact that he only showed them
to certain few individuals is another evidence of the truthfulness of
his statement; for if he, as is claimed, was an ignorant impostor, he
would have naturally argued that to the more persons he showed his
spurious plates, the wider would grow his influence and the greater
would be the number of believers in his story. To keep the plates
hidden from the multitude would naturally appear in the average mind
to be the surest way of retarding his success and blocking his own
progress; and assuredly if Joseph Smith had the cunning and dexterity
to invent the story of the discovery of the plates and to manufacture
a set of plates to agree with the story, he would have had cunning
enough to present them to the public, surrounded by so much mystery and
glamour that while they saw them they would not be able to examine them
critically.

But we have greater and stronger evidence than that of these eight
witnesses. We have the testimony of three other men that the plates
from which the Book of Mormon was translated were shown to them by
an angel of the Lord, and not the plates only, but the engravings
upon them; and still further they declare that they know that these
plates were translated by the gift and power of God, for His voice
had declared it unto them. Here, then, we not only have testimony of
the existence of the plates, but also to their genuineness and to the
truthfulness of the translation, which translation we have in the
shape of the Book of Mormon. And it must be remembered that not one of
these three witnesses has ever denied his testimony, or contradicted
it in the least particular, but under all circumstances and upon every
occasion all have in the strongest and most decided language declared
that their testimony was true. Again, there is one very note-worthy
fact with regard to these three men. They were all severed from the
communion of the Church during the life-time of the Prophet Joseph. If
Joseph Smith had been an impostor, he was in the power of each of these
"three witnesses;" for any one of them, whenever he pleased, could have
exposed the conspiracy, if conspiracy there had been, and shown to the
world how the testimony had been manufactured; but none of them have
ever done so. Although, at certain periods of their lives, they smarted
under the denunciations and reproofs they received from the Prophet and
entertained towards him the most bitter feelings for the course he took
towards them, going so far as to denounce him as a fallen prophet, yet
with all their acrimony and hatred they never once deviated from the
testimony that is printed above their names at the commencement of the
Book of Mormon. We appeal to all reasonable minds, and ask if it is
possible to suppose that, if the Book of Mormon were a fraud, Joseph
Smith would have dared to have treated these men in the resolute and
uncompromising manner that he did. To use a common expression, he would
have been under their thumb and would have had to conciliate them and
retain their silence by concessions, by flattery and by trimming his
course to their requirements. This the Prophet never did; he was as
independent of them as of any other men. He rebuked unrighteousness in
them as strongly as he did in others; and when their conduct could no
longer be tolerated in the Church of God, he and the Saints withdrew
fellowship from them. This is not the way of an impostor, but of an
honest, fearless man, who knows his cause is just and puts his trust
in God. Neither did any one of the eight witnesses ever turn from his
testimony and deny its truthfulness. They ever maintained that their
statement was the truth and nothing but the truth. They have all gone
beyond the vail now, to receive their reward; and all but one died
faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In considering the nature and value of the testimony of the Prophet
Joseph and the three witnesses, the following remarks by Elder Orson
Pratt are most pertinent: "No reasonable person will say that these
four persons were themselves deceived; the nature of their testimony
is such that they must either be bold, daring impostors, or else the
Book of Mormon is true. They testify that they saw the angel descend,
they heard his voice, they saw the plates in his hand, they saw the
engravings upon them as the angel turned them over leaf after leaf,
at the same time they heard the voice of the Lord out of the heavens.
What greater evidence could they have? They could have had nothing that
would have given them greater assurance. If they were deceived there is
no certainty in anything. If these four men could be deceived in seeing
an angel descend from heaven, on the same grounds the apostles may have
been deceived in seeing the Savior ascend up to heaven."

Then in answer to the suggestion that it is probable that these four
men had conspired together to deceive mankind, Brother Pratt asks:

"Is it probable that four men who were, for the most of their days,
strangers to each other, residing in three or four different counties,
should combine together to testify that they had seen an angel and
heard his voice, and also the voice of God, bearing testimony to the
truth of the Book of Mormon, when no such thing had happened? Three
of these witnesses, namely, Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery and David
Whitmer, were young men from twenty to twenty-five years of age; they
were men who had been accustomed from their childhood to the peaceful
vocations of a farmer's life. Unacquainted with the deceptions, which
are more or less practiced in large towns and cities, they possessed
the open honesty and simplicity so generally characteristic of country
people. Is it, in the least degree, probable that men so young and
inexperienced, accustomed to a country life, and unacquainted with
the world at large, would be so utterly abandoned to every thing that
was good, so perfectly reckless as to their own future welfare, so
heaven-daring and blasphemous as to testify to all nations that which,
if false, would forever seal their damnation? We are not aware
that there ever were three, or four, or five impostors who originated
an imposition, and succeeded in palming it upon the world as a message
from God. Such a thing might barely be possible, but such a thing would
be highly improbable."[E]

[Footnote E: From "Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon"]



CHAPTER XI.

OLIVER COWDERY.

Oliver Cowdery is the first of the three witnesses. He was severed from
the Church for immoral conduct during the time that the Saints were
in Missouri. Often after his separation from the Church efforts were
made to prevail upon him to deny his testimony, but always without
effect. At all times, in all places, before all people he continually
bore record when the subject of the Book of Mormon was introduced,
"Gentlemen, I saw an angel, and I know who that angel was." No amount
of cross-questioning could weaken his testimony or confuse his
statements on this point. We now copy, from the _Deseret News_, a very
interesting episode that occurred during the last few months of his
life:

    "At a special conference at Council Bluffs, Iowa, held on the 21st
    of October, in the year 1848, Brother Oliver Cowdery, one of the
    three important witnesses to the truth of the Book of Mormon, and
    who had been absent from the Church, through disaffection, for
    a number of years, and had been engaged in the practice of law,
    was present and made the remarks here annexed. Brother Orson Hyde
    presided at the said conference. Brother Reuben Miller, now Bishop
    of Mill Creek Ward [since deceased] was also present at the time
    and noted what he said, and has furnished us, what he believes to
    be a verbatim report of his remarks, which we take pleasure in
    laying before our readers:

    "Friends and brethren, my name is Cowdery--Oliver Cowdery. In the
    early history of this Church I stood identified with her, and one
    in her councils. True it is that the gifts and callings of God
    are without repentance. Not because I was better than the rest
    of mankind was I called; but, to fulfill the purposes of God, He
    called me to a high and holy calling. I wrote, with my own pen,
    the entire Book of Mormon (save a few pages), as it fell from the
    lips of the Prophet Joseph Smith, as he translated it by the gift
    and power of God, by the means of the Urim and Thummim, or, as it
    is called by that book, 'holy interpreters.' _I beheld with my
    eyes and handled with my hands the gold plates from which it was
    translated_. I also saw with my eyes and handled with my hands the
    'holy interpreters.' That book is _true_. Sidney Rigdon did not
    write it. Mr. Spaulding did not write it. I wrote it myself as it
    fell from the lips of the Prophet. It contains the everlasting
    gospel, and came forth to the children of men in fulfillment of the
    revelation of John, where he says he saw an angel come with the
    everlasting gospel to preach to every nation, kindred, and people.
    It contains principles of salvation; and if you, my hearers, will
    walk by its light and obey its precepts, you will be saved with
    an everlasting salvation in the kingdom of God on high. Brother
    Hyde has just said that it is very important that we keep and walk
    in the true channel, in order to avoid sand-bars. This is true.
    The channel is here. The holy Priesthood is here. I was present
    with Joseph when an holy angel from God came down from heaven and
    conferred on us or restored the lesser or Aaronic Priesthood, and
    said to us, at the same time, that it should remain upon the earth
    while the earth stands. I was also present with Joseph when the
    higher or Melchisedek Priesthood was conferred by the holy angel
    from on high. This Priesthood was then conferred on each other,
    by the will and commandment of God. This Priesthood, as was then
    declared, is also to remain upon the earth until the last remnant
    of time. This holy Priesthood or authority we then conferred upon
    many, and is just as good and valid as though God had done it in
    person. I laid my hands upon that man--yes, I laid my right hand
    upon his head (pointing to Brother Hyde), and I conferred upon him
    this Priesthood, and he holds that Priesthood now. He was also
    called through me, by the prayer of faith, an Apostle of the Lord
    Jesus Christ.'"



CHAPTER XII.

DAVID WHITMER.

David Whitmer, the second of the three witnesses, still lives. His home
is in Richmond, Ray Co., Missouri. He left the Church during the dark
days of persecution in Missouri and has never returned to the communion
of the Saints. He even to this day holds some very bitter feelings
toward the Prophet Joseph, whom he wrongfully imagines endeavored to
injure him. But notwithstanding these feelings and the fact that he is
not a member of the Church he has all the days of his life testified to
the divine origin of the Book of Mormon. His word in this respect has
never wavered.

Of late various testimonies given to visitors or written by David
Whitmer have been widely published in the public newspapers. We
subjoin extracts from one or two of these. The first is a portion of a
statement signed by himself and dated at Richmond, March 19th, 1881:

    _"Unto all Nations, Kindreds, Tongues and People, unto whom these
    presents shall come_:

    "It having been represented by one John Murphy, of Polo, Caldwell
    county, Missouri, that I, in a conversation with him last Summer,
    denied my testimony as one of the three witnesses to the 'Book of
    Mormon:'

    "To the end, therefore, that he may understand me now, if he did
    not then; and that the world may know the truth, I wish now,
    standing as it were, in the very sunset of life, and in the fear of
    God, once for all to make this public statement:

    "That I have never at any time, denied that testimony or any part
    thereof, which has so long since been published with that book, as
    one of the three witnesses. Those who know me best well know that
    I have always adhered to that testimony. And that no man may be
    misled or doubt my present views in regard to the same, I do again
    affirm the truth of all my statements as then made and published.

    "'He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear;' it was no delusion;
    what is written, is written, and he that readeth, let him
    understand."

The following are portions of a letter to the Chicago _Times_,
detailing the visit of one of its correspondents to Mr. Whitmer, on
October 14th, 1881. The statements are given as those of David Whitmer,
and though exceedingly correct as a whole, sometimes, owing to the
correspondent's want of familiarity with the subject, they make the
speaker fall into slight blunders on historical and other points. He
writes:

    "The plates from which the book was translated, supposed to be
    gold, were found in the latter part of the year 1827 or 1828, prior
    to the acquaintance on Mr. Whitmer's part, with Joseph Smith, and
    he was loth to believe in their actuality, notwithstanding the
    community in which he lived (Ontario county, New York), was alive
    with excitement in regard to Smith's finding a great treasure, and
    they informed him that they knew that Smith had the plates, as
    they had seen the place that he had taken them from, on the hill
    Cumorah, about two miles from Palmyra, N. Y. It was not until June,
    1828, that he met the future Prophet, who visited at his father's
    house, and while there completed the translation of the Book of
    Mormon, and thus he became conversant with its history, having
    witnessed Smith dictate to Oliver Cowdery the translation of the
    characters that were inscribed on the plates, said by Mr. Anthon,
    our Egyptian scholar, to resemble the characters of that ancient
    people. Christian Whitmer, his brother, occasionally assisted
    Cowdery in writing, as did Mrs. Joseph Smith, who was a Miss Hale
    before she was married.

    "In regard to finding the plates, he was told by Smith that they
    were in a stone casket, and the place where it was deposited, in
    the hill Cumorah, was pointed out to him by a celestial personage,
    clad in a dazzling white robe, and he was informed by it that
    it was the history of the Nephites, a nation that had passed
    away, whose founders belonged to the days of the tower of Babel.
    The plates which Mr. Whitmer saw were in the shape of a tablet,
    fastened with three rings, about one-third of which appeared to be
    loose, in plates, the other solid, but with perceptible marks where
    the plates seemed to be sealed, and the guide that pointed it out
    to Smith very impressively reminded him that the loose plates alone
    were to be used, the sealed portion was not to be tampered with.

    "After the plates had been translated, which process required about
    six months, the same heavenly visitant appeared and reclaimed the
    gold tablets of the ancient people informing Smith that he would
    replace them with other records of the lost tribes that had been
    brought with them during their wanderings from Asia, which would
    be forthcoming when the world was ready to receive them. At that
    time Mr. Whitmer saw the tablets, gazed with awe on the celestial
    messenger, heard him speak and say: "Blessed is the Lord and he
    that keeps His commandments;" and then, as he held the plates and
    turned them over with his hands, so that they could be plainly
    visible, a voice that seemed to fill all space, musical as the
    sighing of a wind through the forest, was heard, saying: "What you
    see is true; testify to the same." And Oliver Cowdery and David
    Whitmer, standing there, felt, as the white garments of the angel
    faded from their vision and the heavenly voice still rang in their
    ears, that it was no delusion--that it was a fact, and they so
    recorded it. In a day or two after, the same spirit appeared to
    Martin Harris while he was in company with Smith, and told him also
    to bear witness to its truth, which he did, as can be seen in the
    book. Harris described the visitant to Whitmer, who recognized it
    as the same that he and Cowdery had seen.

    "The tablets or plates were translated by Smith, who used a small
    oval or kidney shaped stone, called Urim and Thummim, that seemed
    endowed with the marvelous power of converting the characters
    on the plates, when used by Smith, into English, who would then
    dictate to Cowdery what to write. Frequently one character would
    make two lines of manuscript while others made but a word or
    two words. Mr. Whitmer emphatically asserts, as did Harris and
    Cowdery, that while Smith was dictating the translation he had _no
    manuscript notes or other means of knowledge_, save the Seer stone
    and the characters as shown on the plates, he being present and
    cognizant how it was done.

    "In regard to the statement that Sidney Rigdon had purloined the
    work of one Spaulding, a Presbyterian preacher, who had written a
    romance entitled the 'Manuscript Found,' Mr. Whitmer says there
    is no foundation for such an assertion. The 'Book of Mormon' was
    translated in the Summer of 1829, and printed that Winter at
    Palmyra, New York, and was in circulation before Sidney Rigdon knew
    anything concerning the Church of Christ, as it was known then.
    His attention was specially brought to it by the appearance at his
    church, near Kirtland, Ohio, in the Fall of 1830, of Parley Pratt
    and Oliver Cowdery, he being at that time a Reformed or Christian
    preacher, they having been sent west by the Church in New York
    during that Summer as evangelists, and they carried with them the
    printed book, the first time that he knew such a thing was in
    existence.

    * * * * * * *

    Mr. Whitmer emphatically asserts that he has heard Rigdon, in the
    pulpit, and in private conversation, declare that the 'Spaulding
    story,' that he had used a book called the 'Manuscript Found' for
    the purpose of preparing the 'Book of Mormon,' was as false as were
    many other charges that were then being made against the infant
    Church, and he assures me that the story is as untruthful as it is
    ridiculous.

    "In his youth Joseph Smith was quite illiterate, knew nothing of
    grammar or composition, but obtained quite a good education after
    he came west; was a man of great magnetism, made friends easily,
    was liberal and noble in his impulses, tall, finely-formed and full
    of animal life, but sprang from the most humble circumstances. The
    first good suit of clothes he had ever worn was presented to him by
    Christian Whitmer, brother of David.

    * * * * * * * *

    "Mr. Whitmer's beliefs have undergone no change since his early
    manhood; he has refused to affiliate with any of the various
    branches that have sprung up through false teachings, and rests
    his hopes of the future in the teachings of Christ, the apostles
    and the prophets, and the morals and principles enunciated in the
    scriptures; that the Book of Mormon is but the testimony of another
    nation concerning the truth and divinity of Christ and the Bible,
    and that is his rock, his gospel and his salvation.' Seeing, with
    him, is believing. He is now as firm in the faith of the divinity
    of the book that he saw translated as he was when the glory of the
    celestial visitant almost blinded him with the gleam of his glowing
    presence, fresh from the Godhead; and the voice, majestic, ringing
    out from the earth to the mighty dome of space, still lingers in
    his ears like a chime of silver bells."

The _Deseret Evening News_ at the time of the publication of his letter
corrected some of the errors of this correspondent. We cannot do better
than use its language:

    "The first [error] is that the founders of the Nephites 'belonged
    to the tower of Babel.' The Nephites sprang from Nephi, the son
    of Lehi, who came to this land from Judea, in the reign of King
    Zedekiah. The Jaredites, whose history is briefly given in the
    Book of Mormon, were a distinct and preceding race; they descended
    from a colony that peopled this country after the dispersion from
    Babel. The term 'lost tribes' is also incorrect, as the Nephites
    had no identity with the lost tribes of Israel, being descendants
    of Joseph, the son of Jacob.

    "The next mistake is that 'In a day or two after David Whitmer
    and Oliver Cowdery saw the angel and the plates, the same spirit
    appeared to Martin Harris.' The truth is that it was shortly after,
    on the same day. Martin Harris was with Joseph, Oliver and David,
    but there was no answer to their prayers, until Martin, who felt
    that his lack of faith was a hindrance, withdrew. Then the angel
    appeared, and after the vision closed, Joseph Smith went to the
    place where Martin Harris was, a little distance off, and joined
    with him in prayer, when the angel again appeared, and Martin
    rejoicingly bore testimony that he had seen and heard as the others.

    "The next error is that the seer stone which Joseph used in the
    translation 'was called Urim and Thummim.' The instrument thus
    denominated was composed of two crystal stones 'set in the two rims
    of a bow.' The seer stone was separate and distinct from the Urim
    and Thummim. The latter was delivered to the angel as well as the
    plates after the translation was completed; the former remained
    with the Church and is now in the possession of the President."

A still later interviewer gives the following as David Whitmer's
testimony to the party of visitors of which the writer was one:

    "We asked him if his testimony was the same now as it was at the
    time the Book of Mormon was published regarding seeing the plates
    and the angel. He rose to his feet, stretched out his hands and
    said: 'These hands handled the plates, these eyes saw the angel,
    and these ears heard His voice; and I know it was of God.'"

Our concluding extract is a statement made by David Whitmer to Elders
Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith, when these brethren visited him at his
home in September, 1878.

In answer to Elder Pratt's question, if he remembered the date he saw
the plates, he answered:

    "It was in June, 1829--the latter part of the month, and the eight
    witnesses saw them, I think, the next day or the day after. Joseph
    showed them the plates himself, but the angel showed us [the
    three witnesses] the plates, as I suppose to fulfill the words of
    the book itself. Martin Harris was not with us at this time; he
    obtained a view of them afterwards [the same day]. Joseph, Oliver,
    and myself were together when I saw them. We not only saw the
    plates of the Book of Mormon but also the brass plates, the plates
    of the Book of Ether, the plates containing the records of the
    wickedness and secret combinations of the people of the world down
    to the time of their being engraved and many other plates. The fact
    is, it was just as though Joseph, Oliver and I were sitting just
    here on a log when we were overshadowed by a light. It was not like
    the light of the sun nor like that of a fire, but more glorious and
    beautiful. It extended away around us, I cannot tell how far, but
    in the midst of this light about as far off as he sits (pointing
    to John C. Whitmer, sitting a few feet from him), there appeared,
    as it were, a table with many records or plates upon it besides
    the plates of the Book of Mormon; also the sword of Laban, the
    directors--_i. e_. the ball which Lehi had, and the Interpreters. I
    saw them just as plain as I see this bed (striking the bed beside
    him with his hand), and I heard the voice of the Lord as distinctly
    as I ever heard anything in my life, declaring that the records of
    the plates of the Book of Mormon were translated by the gift and
    power of God.'

    "Elder Pratt then asked, 'Did you see the angel at this time?'

    "David Whitmer answered, 'Yes; he stood before us. Our testimony
    as recorded in the Book of Mormon is strictly and absolutely true,
    just as it is there written.'"



CHAPTER XIII.

MARTIN HARRIS.

It is probable that many of our readers have seen Martin Harris.[F]
It is but a few years since he died in our midst. Though his name is
signed last to the testimony of the three witnesses he was considerable
older than the other two.

[Footnote F: Brother M. Harris, accompanied by Elder E. Stevenson
reached Ogden on the 29th of August, 1870; he afterwards resided until
his death at the home of his son in Smithfield, Cache county.]

Martin Harris was the instrument used by the Lord to enable Joseph to
print the Book of Mormon. He supplied the funds necessary to pay the
printer. All of this was repaid to him, by Joseph, and as he said,
"more too." We mention this because it has been falsely asserted that
Joseph made Martin Harris his dupe and never paid back the money he
borrowed of him.

Brother Harris was a well-to-do farmer at the time he became
acquainted with the Prophet Joseph. He was respected and esteemed by
his neighbors, but like all the others who had anything to do with
the publication of the Book of Mormon, he was assailed with savage
bitterness, and accused of numerous sins as soon as it was known
that he was a believer in that holy book. He was charged with being
visionary, cruel and untruthful, and with having beaten his wife and
turned her out of doors.

We will now refer to the testimony of the Kelley brothers, which we
quoted when we considered the character of Joseph the Prophet. We found
they asked the old residents of Manchester some questions with regard
to the reputation of Martin Harris. Those who knew him, invariably
spoke well of him. One said, "He was an honorable farmer; he was not
very religious before the Book of Mormon was published." Another stated
"Harris was an industrious, honest man." A third affirmed "He was an
honorable man. He was one of the first men of the town." And so on, one
after another denied the calumnies that had been heaped upon the head
of this inoffensive, though somewhat peculiar gentleman, whose worst
act in the eyes of these neighbors was that he helped Joseph Smith to
give the Book of Mormon to the world.

It will be remembered that the testimony of the three witnesses, with
regard to the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated,
is to the effect that "We also know that they have been translated
by the gift and power of God, for His voice hath declared it unto
us; wherefore we know of a surety that the work is true. And we also
testify that we have seen the engravings which are upon the plates; and
they have been shown unto us by the power of God and not of man. And we
declare with words of soberness, that an angel of God came down from
heaven, and He brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw
the plates and the engravings thereon." But it must be remembered that
this was not the only time that Martin Harris saw the plates. He states
that on one occasion he held them on his knee for an hour and a half,
and also affirms that "as many of the plates as Joseph Smith translated
I handled with my hands, plate after plate." This testimony was given
when Harris was not a member of the Church.

Early in the history of the Latter-day Saints Martin Harris became
disaffected. He committed grave errors and gave way to a very
unchristian-like spirit. The communion of the Saints was withdrawn
from him and he became an outcast to the blessings of the gospel. Thus
he remained many years, or more than a third of a century, but in his
old age he returned as a wandering sheep to the true fold, and again
became a partaker of the gifts and blessings of the everlasting gospel.
We will now insert an interview had with him when he was not a member
of the Church (in 1853?) and two letters written by him nearly twenty
years afterwards, after he had renewed his covenant with the Lord at
the waters of baptism.

    September 15th, 1853.

    "Be it known to all whom this may concern that I, David B. Dille,
    of Ogden City, Weber county, Salt Lake, _en route_ to Great
    Britain, having business with one Martin Harris, formerly of the
    Church of Latter-day Saints, and residing at Kirtland, Lake county,
    Ohio, did personally wait upon him at his residence, and found him
    sick in bed; and was informed by the said Martin Harris that he had
    not been able to take any nourishment for the space of three days.
    This, together with his advanced age, had completely prostrated
    him. After making my business known to Mr. Harris, and some little
    conversation with him, the said Martin Harris started up in bed,
    and, after particularly inquiring concerning the prosperity of the
    Church, made the following declaration:

    'I feel that a spirit has come across me--the old spirit of
    Mormonism; and I begin to feel as I used to feel; and I will not
    say--'I won't go to the valley.' Then addressing himself to his
    wife, he said--'I don't know but that, if you will get me some
    breakfast, I will get up and eat it.'

    "I then addressed Mr. Harris relative to his once high and exalted
    station in the Church, and his then fallen and afflicted condition.
    I afterwards put the following questions to Mr. Harris, to which
    he severally replied with the greatest cheerfulness: 'What do you
    think of the Book of Mormon? Is it a divine record?'

    "Mr. Harris replied: 'I was the right hand man of Joseph Smith,
    and I know that he was a prophet of God. I know the Book of Mormon
    is true--_and you know that I know that it is true_. I know that
    the plates have been translated by the gift and power of God, for
    His voice declared it unto us; therefore I know of a surety that
    the work is true; _for did I not at one time hold the plates on
    my knee an hour and a half_, while in conversation with Joseph,
    when we went to bury them in the woods, that the enemy might not
    obtain them? Yes, I did. _And as many of the plates as Joseph Smith
    translated, I handled with my hands, plate after plate_.' Then,
    describing their dimensions, he pointed with one of the fingers of
    his left hand to the back of his right hand and said: 'I should
    think they were so long,' or about eight inches, 'and about so
    thick,' or about four inches; 'and each of the plates was thicker
    than the thickest tin.'

    "I then asked Mr. Harris if he ever lost 3,000 dollars by the
    publishing of the Book of Mormon?

    "Mr. Harris said, 'I never lost one cent. Mr. Smith paid me all that
    I advanced, and more too.' As much as to say he received a portion
    of the profits accruing from the sale of the books.

    "Mr. Harris further said: 'I took a transcript of the characters
    of the plates to Dr. Anthon, of New York. When I arrived at the
    house of Professor Anthon, I found him in his office and alone, and
    presented the transcript to him, and asked him to read it. He said
    if I would bring the plates, he would assist in the translation. I
    told him I could not, for they were sealed. Professor Anthon then
    gave me a certificate certifying that the characters were Arabic,
    Chaldaic and Egyptian. I then left Dr. Anthon, and was near the
    door, when he said, 'How did the young man know the plates were
    there?' I said an angel had shown them to him. Professor Anthon
    then said, 'Let me see the certificate!' Upon which, I took it from
    my waistcoat pocket and unsuspectingly gave it to him. He then tore
    it up in anger, saying, there was no such things as angels now, it
    was all a hoax. I then went to Dr. Mitchell with the transcript,
    and he confirmed what Professor Anthon had said.'

    "Mr. Harris is about fifty-eight years old, and is on a valuable
    farm of ninety acres, beautifully situated at Kirtland, Lake
    county, Ohio."--_Millennial Star_.

    * * * * *

    "SMITHFIELD, UTAH,

    "Nov. 23, 1870.

    "_Mr. Emerson_,

    SIR:--I received your favor. In reply I will say concerning
    the plates, I do say that the angel did show to me the plates
    containing the Book of Mormon. Further, the translation that I
    carried to Professor Anthon was copied from these same plates;
    also, that the professor did testify to it being a correct
    translation. I do firmly believe and do know that Joseph Smith
    was a prophet of God; for without, I know he could not had that
    gift; neither could he have translated the same. I can give, if
    you require it, one hundred witnesses to the proof of the Book of
    Mormon. I defy any man to show me any passage of scripture that I
    am not posted on or familiar with. I will answer any question you
    feel like asking to the best of my knowledge, if you can rely on
    my testimony of the same. In conclusion, I can say that I arrived
    in Utah safe, in good health and spirits, considering the long
    journey. I am quite well at present, and have been, generally
    speaking, since I arrived. With many respects,

    "I remain your humble friend,

    "MARTIN HARRIS."

    * * * * *

    "SMITHFIELD, CACHE CO., UTAH.

    "January, 1871.

    "_To H. Emerson_,

    DEAR SIR:--Your second letter, dated December, 1870, came duly
    to hand. I am truly glad to see a spirit of inquiry manifested
    therein. I reply by a borrowed hand, as my sight has failed me too
    much to write myself. Your questions:

    "Question 1. 'Did you go to England to lecture against Mormonism?'

    "Answer. I answer emphatically, No, I did not. No man ever heard me
    in any way deny the truth of the Book of Mormon, the administration
    of the angel that showed me the plates; nor the organization
    of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, under the
    administration of Joseph Smith, Jun., the prophet whom the Lord
    raised up for that purpose in these latter days, that He may show
    forth His power and glory. The Lord has shown me these things by
    His Spirit, by the administration of holy angels, and confirmed
    the same with signs following, step by step, as the work has
    progressed, for the space of fifty-three years.

    The Lord showed me there was no true church upon the face of the
    earth, none built upon the foundation designed by the Savior, the
    rock of revelation, as declared to Peter. (_See Matt., xvi_.,
    16-18.) He also showed me that an angel should come and restore the
    holy Priesthood again to the earth, and commission His servants
    again with the holy gospel to preach to them that dwell on the
    earth. (_See Revelation, xiv_., 6, 7.) He further showed me that
    the time was nigh when He would 'set His hand again the second time
    to restore the kingdom of Israel, when He would gather the outcasts
    of Israel and the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the
    earth,' when He would bring the record of Joseph which was in the
    hand of Ephraim, and join with the record of Judah, when the two
    records should become one in the hand of the Lord to accomplish His
    great work of the last days. (_See Ezekiel, xxxvi, xxxvii; also
    Isaiah, xxix.,; also Isaiah, lviii. to the end of the book; also
    Psalms_ .)

    "Question 2. 'What became of the plates from which the Book of
    Mormon was translated?'

    "Answer. They were returned to the angel, Moroni, from whom they
    were received, to be brought forth again in the due time of the
    Lord; for they contain many things pertaining to the gathering
    of Israel, which gathering will take place in this generation,
    and shall be testified of among all nations, according to the old
    prophets; as the Lord will set His ensign to the people, and gather
    the outcasts of Israel. (_See Isaiah, xi_.)

    "Now, dear sir, examine these scriptures carefully; and should
    there still be any ambiguity relative to this great work of the
    last days, write again and we will endeavor to enlighten you on any
    point relative to this doctrine.

    "I am, very respectfully,

    "MARTIN HARRIS, SEN."

The following interesting statement is an extract from a letter written
to the _Deseret News_, by Elder Edward Stevenson:

    "Martin Harris related an instance that occurred during the time
    that he wrote that portion of the translation of the Book of
    Mormon, which he was favored to write direct from the mouth of the
    Prophet Joseph Smith. He said that the Prophet possessed a seer
    stone, by which he was enabled to translate as well as from the
    Urim and Thummim, and for convenience he then used the seer stone.
    Martin explained the translation as follows: By aid of the seer
    stone, sentences would appear and were read by the prophet and
    written by Martin, and when finished he would say, 'Written,' and
    if correctly written, that sentence would disappear and another
    appear in its place, but if not written correctly it remained until
    corrected, so that the translation was just as it was engraven
    on the plates, precisely in the language then used. Martin said,
    after continued translation they would become weary and would
    go down to the river and exercise by throwing stones out on the
    river, etc. While so doing on one occasion, Martin found a stone
    very much resembling the one used for translating, and on resuming
    their labor of translation, Martin put in place the stone that
    he had found. He said that the Prophet remained silent unusually
    and intently gazing in darkness, no traces of the usual sentences
    appearing. Much surprised, Joseph exclaimed, 'Martin! What is the
    matter? All is as dark as Egypt.' Martin's countenance betrayed
    him, and the prophet asked Martin why he had done so. Martin said,
    to stop the mouths of fools, who had told him that the Prophet had
    learned those sentences and was merely repeating them, etc.

    Martin said further that the seer stone differed in appearance
    entirely from the Urim and Thummim that was obtained with the
    plates, which were two clear stones set in two rims, very much
    resembled spectacles, only they were larger. Martin said there
    were not many pages translated while he wrote; after which Oliver
    Cowdery did the writing.

In concluding this portion of our subject we desire to draw attention
to the entire agreement between the witnesses as to the manner in which
the plates were translated. If any fraud had been practiced, or there
had been a conspiracy to deceive, these witnesses in the lapse of so
many years would doubtless have told conflicting stories, especially in
regard to minor details. But as it is their statements are harmonious
one with the other, their testimony unchangeable and the whole
consistent with the narrative of the Prophet Joseph and the condition
of things by which they were then surrounded.



CHAPTER XIV.

INTERNAL EVIDENCES OF THE BOOK OF MORMON.

We will now consider for a short time a few of the internal evidences
of the genuineness of the Book of Mormon, or the proofs in itself that
it is what it claims to be, a record of God's dealings with the former
inhabitants of this continent.

Among the more prominent internal evidences of its genuineness may be
mentioned:

1st. Its historical consistency.

2nd. The entire absence of all anachronisms, or confusion in its
chronology, and of conflicting statements with regard to history,
doctrine or prophecy.

3rd. The purity of its doctrines, and their entire harmony with the
teachings of our Savior and His inspired servants as recorded in the
Bible.

4th. Its already fulfilled prophecies.

5th. Its harmony with the traditions of the Indian races.

6th. Its entire accord with scientific truth; none of its geographical,
astronomical or other statements being contrary to what is positively
known in these sciences.

There is nothing in the entire historical narrative of the Book of
Mormon that is inconsistent with the dealings of the Almighty with
mankind, or conflicting with history as far as the history which has
been handed down to us in other records deals with events referred to
in the Book of Mormon. On the other hand, the whole scheme of human
salvation, as developed in the dealings of the Lord with the Jaredites,
Nephites and Lamanites, gives us the most exalted ideas of His love
for His mortal children and His condescension towards the erring sons
and daughters of Adam. Even if the Book of Mormon were not true, it
deserves to be so, from the sublimity of the ideas that it conveys
with regard to God's providences and His ways and methods of leading,
directing and preserving His children. No nobler monument to the glory,
the mercy and the long-suffering of our Heavenly Father than this
wonderful book was ever presented for the consideration of mankind.

It requires a great deal more credulity to believe it possible that
any author, ignorant or learned, be he Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon or
Solomon Spaulding, could, without the inspiration of the Almighty,
bring forth such a work as the Book of Mormon, than to believe that it
is a revelation from the Almighty.

Hengstenberg, in his work on the Pentateuch, says:

"It is the unavoidable fate of a spurious historical work of any length
to be involved in contradictions." This is obviously true. No thinking
person will deny that it would be one of the most difficult of all
literary feats to compose a historical work extending over thousands of
years and dealing with hundreds of individuals without introducing some
blunders as to time, place or circumstance, or permitting egregious
contradictions to pass unnoticed. But the Book of Mormon is entirely
free from all blunders of such a kind. This alone stamps it as of
more than human origin. For more than fifty years, the bigoted and
skeptical have been endeavoring to find errors, inconsistencies or
impossibilities within its contents. But in this they have utterly
failed. Not one of all their pretended discoveries of errors has stood
the test of investigation. It has been found, without exception, that
in such cases the objector has either dishonestly garbled the text,
put an impossible construction on good, plain English, or presented
his own private interpretation of the words of the book instead of the
words themselves. The writer of this having perused the Book of Mormon
many times, confidently asserts that there is no conflict of dates,
no contradiction of details, no discordant doctrine, no historical
inconsistency, from the commencement of the first Book of Nephi to the
end of Moroni. All is a plain, simple narrative, occasionally somewhat
unpolished in its style, and here and there at variance with the strict
rules of grammar, but throughout maintaining its unities and harmonies,
and bearing upon its face indelible marks of its divine origin.

We now come to the doctrinal portions of the work:

It is readily admitted on all hands that no sectarian preacher like Mr.
Spaulding would write doctrines, such as the Book of Mormon contains,
these doctrines being at variance with the creed that he professed;
and, indeed, in many respects different to those of every creed then
extant upon the face of the earth. The Book of Mormon, be it human or
divine, is a new revelation on religious matters to this generation,
and its entire accord with the revelations of the Almighty contained in
the Bible is a proof so strong of its divinity that none have been able
to gainsay it. It is utterly ridiculous to imagine that Joseph Smith,
unlettered as he was, could have written a work in such entire harmony
with the holy scriptures and entering into many new particulars, as it
frequently does, with regard to doctrines only slightly touched upon in
the Old or New Testaments: it not only harmonizes with the scriptures,
but it explains them, makes clear the meaning of many an obscure
passage, and while it never conflicts with, it often develops, truths
of the utmost importance to humanity.

How wonderful a miracle!--much greater than the discovery of the
records in the hill Cumorah--that an uneducated youth, (and neither
friend nor foe claims he was educated), could produce a work pregnant
with principles connected with the most vital interests of the human
family, and treating on subjects that concern man's temporal and
eternal welfare, which cannot be refuted by all the learned of the
world. Would not this be much more wonderful, calling for a much
greater strain on our credulity than to believe that God had again
spoken and brought to light this long-hidden treasure? And if it be
inconsistent to believe that neither Joseph Smith nor Solomon Spaulding
was the author of the religious portions of the Book of Mormon, wherein
is it more consistent to ascribe the authorship to Sidney Rigdon? He
was as utterly ignorant of many of the doctrines and principles made
plain in the Book of Mormon as was Solomon Spaulding or any other
uninspired priest of fifty or more years ago. There was no system
of philosophy, ethics or religion then known to mankind from which
he could have drawn the inspiration to write many of the doctrinal
precepts in the Book of Mormon.

To tide over this difficulty, persons unacquainted with the contents of
the Book of Mormon (which unfortunately the greater portion of mankind
are) have suggested that Solomon Spaulding wrote the historical portion
(an impossibility, as we have heretofore shown) and that Joseph Smith
or somebody else added the religious portion. To those who have read
the Book of Mormon, this hypothesis is supremely ridiculous.

An objector to the Bible might, with equal consistency, assert that
somebody wrote the historical portion of the Old and New Testaments,
and somebody else, after the historical portion was all written,
introduced the religious teachings. One is as impossible as the other.
Every one who knows anything of the Book of Mormon knows that the
narrative of events grows out of and is inseparably connected with
the religious idea. The book opens with the statement that Lehi was
a prophet, bearing Jehovah's unwelcome message of destruction to
the inhabitants of the sin-seared city of Jerusalem. They rejected
and persecuted him. By divine command he fled with his family into
the wilderness and was led by that same inspiration to the American
continent. The reason why the Lord thus delivered him was, that he
might raise up to Himself a people that would serve Him. He covenanted
to give Lehi and his posterity this most precious land as their
inheritance if they kept His commandments. How they fulfilled His law,
how they prospered when obedient, how they suffered when disobedient,
is the burden of the story of the writers of the Book of Mormon. It
is the main idea to which all others are incidental, the controlling
thought around which all others concentrate; it is the life of the
whole record, the golden thread running through all its pages, which
gives consistency to all its parts. A man might just as well attempt
to write the gospel of St. Matthew and leave out all references to the
Lord Jesus Christ, as write the Book of Mormon without its religious
theory and teachings.

The creature who invented the idea of the dual authorship of this book
must have imagined that the doctrinal portion was dropped in by lumps
or clumsily inserted between different historical epochs. It is true
there are places where liberal extracts from the Bible are quoted, and
if these were all, there might be some semblance of consistency in the
supposition. But it is not so, the doctrinal and historical portions
are, as a general thing, so intermingled and blended that neither could
be withdrawn without destroying the sense of the other. If it were
possible to conceive of the amalgamation of two separate documents--one
religious and the other historical--it would be much easier to believe
that the doctrinal portions were written first and that the historical
ideas were afterwards filled in; for, as before mentioned, the
historical narrative is but secondary and tributary to the religious
idea. But this would not support the theory of the Spauldingites; it
would, in fact, entirely upset all their arguments for the reason that
they claim that the "Manuscript Found," a historical romance of an
idolatrous people, be it remembered, was written by Spaulding not later
than 1812, while the Book of Mormon was not published by Joseph Smith
until 1830, consequently such an arrangement would be fatal to their
hypothesis.

We next glance at the prophecies of the Book of Mormon, a number of
which are already fulfilled. These are among the most irrefutable
evidences of the divinity of the work; the facts are patent to all
the world, they are within the reach of all mankind. Ever since the
year 1830, men have had the opportunity of testing the contents of the
Book of Mormon, as it has not been hidden in a corner, but has been
published in all the dominant languages of Christendom. To say that
many of its prophecies have not been fulfilled is to deny history. And
it cannot be asserted that these prophecies are happy guesses, as, at
the time when the Book of Mormon was published, they appeared most
improbable, none more so than those which foretell the results that
would follow its own publication. For it must be remembered that when
it was published there was no Church of Jesus Christ organized upon the
earth, and there was no remote probability of the then non-existent
church producing the results in itself and to the world that the Book
of Mormon declares should follow its establishment, which have been
fulfilled, year by year, from the time of its publication to the
present. If the Book of Mormon be not true, then these prophecies
originated with Joseph Smith, and, as they have been fulfilled, he was
a true prophet; further, as they were declared in the name of the Lord
and the Lord has recognized them by permitting their fulfillment in
so many wondrous ways and by such direct manifestations of His divine
power, therefore the conclusion is inevitable that the Lord owned and
acknowledged Joseph Smith as His servant. On the other hand, if they
did not originate with Joseph Smith, then the record is genuine, for
the prophecies are true, and they were uttered by the men to whom they
are ascribed. If so, Joseph's account of his discovery of the plates is
true and he was a seer and a revelator, especially called of God to lay
the foundation of the mighty work of the last days.

Those who are so strongly opposed to "Mormonism" can accept whichever
horn of the dilemma they choose. But to our mind the first supposition
is utterly untenable, as it is impossible for us to conceive that God,
who hatch a lie, would choose for His servant a man who made such a
science of falsehood; or that the Divine One would add the seal of His
approbation to a forgery and an imposture, such as the Book of Mormon
would be under these circumstances. To believe such a thing, would be
as consistent as to believe that if there were prophecies contained
in "Gulliver's Travels" the Lord would move heaven and earth to bring
about their fulfillment; for if the Book of Mormon be not what it
claims, then it is as much a romance as the celebrated work of Dean
Swift, and one is as worthy of credence as the other.



CHAPTER XV.

THE PROPHECIES OF THE BOOK OF MORMON.

Let us now consider a few of the fulfilled prophecies of the Book of
Mormon. On page 581 it is stated: "And behold ye [the translator] may
be privileged that ye may shew the plates unto those who shall assist
to bring forth this work; and _unto three shall they be shewn by the
power of God_; wherefore they shall know of a surety that these things
are true. And in the mouth of three witnesses shall these things be
established; and the testimony of three and this work shall stand as
a testimony against the world at the last day" (_ Ether v_. 2-4.)

In the above we have the statement that three witnesses are to be
raised up by the power of God to testify to the truth and genuineness
of the book. At the commencement of the Book of Mormon we have the
testimony of these three witnesses--Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and
Martin Harris--to the fulfillment of the above prophecy. They declare
that an angel of God came down from heaven, who brought the plates and
laid them before their eyes. "Ah, but," says our opponent, "what an
easy matter it would be for an impostor like Joseph Smith to conspire
with three other men to fulfill the prophecy?" Such a thing is quite
supposable to ignorant persons unacquainted with the matter, but
very improbable under the circumstances as already shown. Or Joseph
Smith might even have deceived three men had he shown them the plates
himself; but not all the impostors in the world could bring an angel
down from heaven, or cause the Lord to declare with His own voice
that the plates were translated by His gift and power. In this is the
utter impossibility. As we have before shown these three men under all
circumstances have borne one continuous, undeviating testimony that
they saw the angel and heard the voice, and that their testimony in the
Book of Mormon is true. No amount of sophistry can persuade the sincere
investigator into these matters that Joseph Smith had sufficient
cunning and dexterity, even if he had appliances, to deceive these
three men into the belief that they had actually seen an angel descend
from heaven and present them the plates for their examination. This is
altogether too great a stretch for the imagination of an ordinarily
sane person.

It is more difficult to select isolated passages from the prophecies of
the Book of Mormon than from those of the Bible; for as a general thing
they are so intimately associated with the context that their force,
power and meaning are surprisingly weakened when quoted alone. Among
the prophecies of Mormon's record that are partially fulfilled or are
now in process of fulfillment may be mentioned those relating to--

The carrying of the Book itself to the Indians, and their acceptance of
its truths.

The beginning of the gathering of the Jews to their ancient home in
Canaan.

The establishment of Christ's Church, and the spilling of the blood of
the Saints by the wicked.

The great increase of corruption among those who reject the gospel
message.

The formation of numerous powerful secret societies for the purpose of
murder, plunder and gain, and for the overthrowal of governments and
nations.

We append a few of these prophecies:

    "And now behold, I say unto you, that when the Lord shall see
    fit, in His wisdom, that these sayings shall come forth unto the
    Gentiles, according to His word then ye may know that the covenant
    which the Father hath made with the children of Israel, concerning
    their restoration to the lands of their inheritance, is already
    beginning to be fulfilled" (_III. Nephi xxix_. 1).

    "And then shall the work of the Father commence at that day, even
    when this gospel shall be preached among the remnant of this people
    [the Indians]. Verily I say unto you, at that day shall the work of
    the Father commence among all the dispersed of my people; yea, even
    the tribes which have been lost, which the Father hath led away out
    of Jerusalem. Yea, the work shall commence among all the dispersed
    of my people, with the Father, to prepare the way whereby they may
    come unto me, that they may call on the Father in my name. Yea, and
    then shall the work commence, with the Father among all nations, in
    preparing the way whereby His people may be gathered home to the
    land of their inheritance. And they shall go out from all nations;
    and they shall not go out in haste, nor go by flight, for I will go
    before them, saith the Father, and I will be their rearward" (_III.
    Nephi xxi_. 26-29).

    "And there are also secret combinations, even as in times of
    old, according to the combinations of the devil, for he is the
    foundation of all these things; yea, the foundation of murder, and
    works of darkness, yea, and he leadeth them by the neck with a
    flaxen cord, until he bindeth them with his strong cords for ever"
    (_II. Nephi xxvi_. 22).

    "And whatsoever nation shall uphold such secret combinations,
    to get power and gain, until they shall spread over the nation,
    behold, they shall be destroyed, for the Lord will not suffer that
    the blood of His Saints, which shall be shed by them, shall always
    cry unto Him from the ground for vengeance upon them, and yet He
    avenge them not;

    "Wherefore, O ye Gentiles, it is wisdom in God that these things
    should be shewn unto you, that thereby ye may repent of your sins,
    and suffer not that these murderous combinations shall get above
    you, which are built up to get power and gain, and the work, yea,
    even the work of destruction come upon you, yea, even the sword
    of the justice of the eternal God shall fall upon you, to your
    overthrow and destruction, if ye shall suffer these things to be;

    "Wherefore the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things
    come among you, that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful
    situation, because of this secret combination which shall be among
    you, or wo be unto it, because of the blood of them who have been
    slain; for they cry from the dust for vengeance upon it, and also
    upon those who built it up.

    "For it cometh to pass that whoso buildeth it up, seeketh to
    overthrow the freedom of all lands, nations, and countries; and it
    bringeth to pass the destruction of all people, for it is built up
    by the devil, who is the father of all lies; even that same liar
    who beguiled our first parents; yea, even that same liar who hath
    caused man to commit murder from the beginning; who hath hardened
    the hearts of men, that they have murdered the prophets, and stoned
    them, and cast them out from the beginning" (_Ether viii_. 22-25).

    "And no one need say, They shall not come, for they surely shall,
    for the Lord hath spoken it; for out of the earth shall they come,
    by the hand of the Lord, and none can stay it; and it shall come
    in a day when it shall be said that miracles are done away; and it
    shall come even as if one should speak from the dead.

    "And it shall come in a day when the blood of the Saints shall cry
    unto the Lord, because of secret combinations and the works of
    darkness;

    "Yea, it shall come in a day when the power of God shall be denied,
    and churches become defiled, and shall be lifted up in the pride
    of their hearts; yea, even in a day when leaders of churches, and
    teachers, in the pride of their hearts, even to the envying of them
    who belong to their churches" (_Mormon viii_ 26-28).

    "Yea, why do you build up your secret abominations to get gain, and
    cause that widows should mourn before the Lord, and also orphans
    to mourn before the Lord; and also the blood of their fathers and
    their husbands to cry unto the Lord from the ground, for vengeance
    upon your heads?

    "Behold, the sword of vengeance hangeth over you; and the time soon
    cometh that He avengeth the blood of the Saints upon you, for He
    will not suffer their cries any longer" (_Mormon viii_. 40-1).

For further information on this subject we refer our readers to
President George Q. Cannon's admirable "Life of Nephi," wherein the
prophecies of that ancient worthy are considered in much detail, and
with great care and plainness.

In conclusion to sum up the internal evidence, we will adopt the words
of Elder Orson Pratt:

    "If the historical parts of the Book of Mormon be compared with
    what little is known from other sources concerning the history of
    ancient America, there will be found much evidence to substantiate
    its truth; but there cannot be found one truth among all the
    gleanings of antiquity that clashes with the historical truth of
    the Book of Mormon.

    "If the prophetical part of this wonderful book be compared with
    the prophetical declarations of the Bible, there will be found much
    evidence in the latter to establish the truth of the former. But
    though there are many predictions in the Book of Mormon, relating
    to the great events of the last days, which the Bible gives us no
    information about, yet there is nothing in the predictions of the
    Bible that contradict in the least, the predictions in the Book of
    Mormon.

    "If the doctrinal part of the Book of Mormon be compared with
    the doctrines of the Bible, there will be found the same perfect
    harmony which we find on the comparison of the prophetical parts of
    the two books. Although there are many points of the doctrine of
    Christ that are far more plain and definite in the Book of Mormon
    than in the Bible, and many things revealed in relation to doctrine
    that never could be fully learned from the Bible, yet there are not
    any items of doctrine in the two sacred books that contradict each
    other or clash in the least.

    "If the various books which enter into the collection, called the
    Book of Mormon, be carefully compared with each other, there will
    be found nothing contradicting in history, in prophecy, or in
    doctrine.

    "If the miracles of the Book of Mormon be compared with the
    miracles of the Bible, there cannot be found in the former any
    thing that would be more difficult to believe, than what we find in
    the latter.

    "If we compare the historical, prophetical and doctrinal parts of
    the Book of Mormon with the great truths of science and nature,
    we find no contradictions, no absurdities, nothing unreasonable.
    The most perfect harmony therefore exists between the great truths
    revealed in the Book of Mormon and all known truths, whether
    religious, historical, or scientific."



APPENDIX.

MRS. MATILDA SPAULDING MCKINSTRY'S STATEMENT REGARDING THE "MANUSCRIPT
FOUND:"

WASHINGTON, D. C. April 3rd, 1880.

So much has been published that is erroneous concerning the "Manuscript
Found," written by my father, the Rev. Solomon Spaulding, and its
supposed connection with the book called the Mormon Bible, I have
willingly consented to make the following statement regarding it,
repeating all that I remember personally of this manuscript, and all
that is of importance which my mother related to me in connection with
it, at the same time affirming that I am in tolerable health and vigor,
and that my memory, in common with elderly people, is clearer in regard
to the events of my earlier years, rather than those of my maturer life.

During the war of 1812, I was residing with my parents in a little
town in Ohio called Conneaut. I was then in my sixth year. My father
was in business there, and I remember his iron foundry and the men he
had at work, but that he remained at home most of the time, and was
reading and writing a great deal. He frequently wrote little stories,
which he read to me. There were some round mounds of earth near our
house which greatly interested him, and he said a tree on the top of
one of them was a thousand years old. He set some of his men to work
digging into one of these mounds, and I vividly remember how excited he
became when he heard that they had exhumed some human bones, portions
of gigantic skeletons, and various relies. He talked with my mother
of these discoveries in the mound, and was writing every day as the
work progressed. Afterward he read the manuscript which I had seen him
writing, to the neighbors, and to a clergyman, a friend of his who came
to see him. Some of the names that he mentioned while reading to these
people I have never forgotten. They are as fresh to me to-day as though
I heard them yesterday. They were _Mormon, Maroni, Lamenite, Nephi_.

We removed from Conneaut to Pittsburg while I was still very young,
but every circumstance of this removal is distinct in my memory. In
that city my father had an intimate friend named Patterson, and I
frequently visited Mr. Patterson's library with him, and heard my
father talk about books with him. In 1816 my father died at Amity,
Pennsylvania, and directly after his death my mother and myself went
to visit at the residence of my mother's brother, William H. Sabine,
at Onondaga Valley, Onondaga county, New York. Mr. Sabine was a lawyer
of distinction and wealth, and greatly respected. We carried all our
personal effects with us, and one of these was an old trunk, in which
my mother had placed all my father's writings which had been preserved.
I perfectly remember the appearance of this trunk, and of looking
at its contents. There were sermons and other papers, and I saw a
manuscript about an inch thick, closely written, tied with some of the
stories my father had written for me, one of which he called "The Frogs
of Wyndham." On the outside of this manuscript were written the words,
"Manuscript Found." I did not read it, but looked through it and had it
in my hands many times, and saw the names I had heard at Conneaut, when
my father read it to his friends. I was about eleven years of age at
this time.

After we had been at my uncle's for some time, my mother left me there
and went to her father's house at Pomfret, Connecticut, but did not
take her furniture nor the old trunk of manuscript with her. In 1820
she married Mr. Davison, of Hartwicks, a village near Cooperstown,
New York, and sent for the things she had left at Onondaga Valley,
and I remember that the old trunk, with its contents, reach her in
safety. In 1828, I was married to Dr. A. McKinstry, of Hampden county,
Massachusetts, and went there to reside. Very soon after my mother
joined me there, and was with me most of the time until her death in
1844. We heard, not long after she came to live with me--I do not
remember just how long--something of Mormonism, and the report that
it had been taken from my father's "Manuscript Found;" and then came
to us direct an account of the Mormon meeting at Conneaut, Ohio, and
that, on one occasion, when the Mormon Bible was read there in public,
my father's brother, John Spaulding, Mr. Lake and many other persons
who were present, at once recognized its similarity to the "Manuscript
Found," which they had heard read years before by my father in the same
town.[G] There was a great deal of talk and a great deal published at
this time about Mormonism all over the country. I believe it was in
1834 that a man named Hurlburt came to my house at Monson to see my
mother, who told us that he had been sent by a committee to procure
the "Manuscript Found" written by the Rev. Solomon Spaulding, so as
to compare it with the Mormon Bible. He presented a letter to my
mother from my uncle, Wm. H. Sabine, of Onondaga Valley, in which he
requested her to loan this manuscript to Hurlburt, as he (my uncle) was
desirous "to uproot" (as he expressed it) "this Mormon fraud." Hurlburt
represented that he had been a convert to Mormonism, but had given it
up, and through the "Manuscript Found" wished to expose its wickedness.
My mother was careful to have me with her in all the conversations she
had with Hurlburt, who spent a day at my house. She did not like his
appearance, and mistrusted his motives, but having great respect for
her brother's wishes and opinions, she reluctantly consented to his
request. The old trunk, containing the desired "Manuscript Found," she
had placed in the care of Mr. Jerome Clark, of Hartwicks, when she
came to Monson, intending to send for it. On the repeated promise of
Hurlburt to return the manuscript to us, she gave him a letter to Mr.
Clark to open the trunk and deliver it to him. We afterward heard that
he had received it from Mr. Clark, at Hartwicks, but from that time we
have never had it in our possession, and I have no present knowledge
of its existence, Hurlburt never returning it or answering letters
requesting him to do so. Two years ago I heard he was still living in
Ohio, and with my consent he was asked for the "Manuscript Found." He
made no response, although we have evidence that he received the letter
containing the request. So far I have stated facts within my knowledge.
My mother mentioned many other circumstances to me in connection with
this subject which are interesting, of my father's literary tastes,
his fine education and peculiar temperament. She stated to me that she
had heard the manuscript alluded to read by my father, was familiar
with its contents, and she deeply regretted that her husband, as she
believed, had innocently been the means of furnishing matter for a
religious delusion. She said that my father loaned this "Manuscript
Found" to Mr. Patterson, of Pittsburg, and that when he returned it to
my father, he said: "Polish it up, finish it, and you will make money
out of it." My mother confirmed my remembrances of my father's fondness
for history, and told me of his frequent conversations regarding a
theory which he had of a prehistoric race which had inhabited this
continent, etc., all showing that his mind dwelt on this subject. The
"Manuscript Found," she said, was a romance written in Biblical style,
and that while she heard it read she had no special admiration for it
more than other romances he wrote and read to her. We never, either
of us, ever saw, or in any way communicated with the Mormons, save
Hurlburt, as above described; and while we have no personal knowledge
that the Mormon Bible was taken from the "Manuscript Found," there are
many evidences to us that it was and that Hurlburt and others at the
time thought so. A convincing proof to us of this belief was that my
uncle, William H. Sabine, had undoubtedly read the manuscript while it
was in his house, and his faith that its production would show to the
world that the Mormon Bible had been taken from it, or was the same
with slight alterations. I have frequently answered questions that have
been asked by different persons regarding the "Manuscript Found," but
until now have never made a statement at length for publication.

(Signed)

M. S. McKINSTRY.

Sworn and subscribed to before this 3rd day of April, A. D. 1880, at
the city of Washington, D. C.

CHARLES WALTER, Notary Public.

[Footnote G: A gentleman who resided near Conneaut at that time stated,
soon after the first publication of this story regarding Mr. John
Spaulding, that he (J. S.) never lived in Conneaut to the writer's most
positive knowledge.]






End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Myth of the "Manuscript Found", by 
George Reynolds

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