DIRECT EXTERNAL EVIDENCES--REFLECTIONS UPON THE TESTIMONIES OF THE
THREE WITNESSES.
The direct evidence of the truth of the Book of Mormon found in the
testimony of the Three Witnesses is now before the reader. The trying
circumstances under which the Witnesses persisted in maintaining the
truth of that testimony is also known. Neither separation from Joseph
Smith as a companion and associate, nor excommunication from the body
religious, brought into existence as a sequence, one may say, of the
coming forth of the Nephite Record, affected them as Witnesses. In
the Church and while out of it they steadfastly maintained what they
first published to the world respecting the Book of Mormon. The plates
existed, they saw them, and the engravings upon them. An angel of God
appeared before them, and laid the records before their eyes. The
record was translated by the gift and power of God; for his voice had
declared it unto them, hence they knew it. No evidence exists that
they ever denied that testimony. They never attempted to resolve the
appearance of the angel, the exhibition of the plates, or hearing the
voice of God into hallucination of the mind; nor did they ever attempt
to refer this really great event to some jugglery on the part of Joseph
Smith. They never allowed even the possibility of their being mistaken
in the matter. They saw; they heard; the splendor of God shone about
them; they felt his presence. Joseph Smith could never have produced
such a scene as that which they beheld. They were not deluded. The
several incidents making up this great revelation were too palpable
to the strongest senses of the mind to admit of any doubt as to their
reality. The great revelation was not given in a dream or vision of the
night. There was no mysticism about it. Nothing unseemly or occult.
It was a simple, straightforward fact that had taken place before
their eyes. The visitation of the angel was in the broad light of day.
Moreover it occurred after such religious exercises as were worthy to
attend upon such an event, viz.: after morning devotional exercises
common to all really Christian families of that period--the reading
of a scripture lesson, singing a hymn, and prayer; and after arriving
at the scene of the revelation, devout prayer again by the Prophet
and each of the then-to-be Witnesses. The revelation then followed
under the circumstances already detailed, which circumstances were of
such a nature that the Witnesses could not be mistaken. There exists
no possibility of resolving their testimony into delusion or mistake.
Either they spoke the truth in their published Testimony to the world,
or they were wilful, conscious liars, bent upon a wicked scheme of
deception relative to a subject--religion--which, as it is the most
sacred, so should it also be the furthest removed from the practice of
deceptions.
Since, then, the possibility of mistake or delusion, is eliminated from
the revelation to the Three Witnesses, let us consider the likelihood
of conscious, intentional fraud; a deliberately planned deception,
through the collusion of Joseph Smith and the Three Witnesses, by which
the Book of Mormon was to be palmed off upon mankind as a volume of
ancient scripture, and a new Church organization brought into existence.
_First_. It must occur to every unbiased reflector upon the subject
that every circumstance is against the likelihood of collusion. The
very youthfulness of the men, the Prophet and the Three Witnesses, is
against such a hypothesis. Joseph Smith, at the time of the publication
of the Book of Mormon, was about twenty-five years old; Oliver Cowdery
and David Whitmer were also of that age, all having been born in
the year 1805-6. Martin Harris was older, it is true, having been
born in the year 1783; but he, as an exception to the youthfulness
of the group, will not affect the argument based on this score of
youthfulness, as his influence with the rest held no proportion to
the difference of age between himself with the other members of the
group. Indeed, though the oldest, he was the least influential of the
number; and withal so simple-minded in his honesty, that the world,
if it knew him, would acquit him of guile, and regard him as a wholly
impossible factor in practicing such a monumental delusion upon mankind
as foisting the Book of Mormon upon the world as a revelation from God
would have been had not the book been true.
I would not argue that young men are incapable of practicing deception,
or formulating delusions. My argument is, merely, that they are less
likely to be guilty of it than older men. Youth is essentially the
period of honesty in men's lives. Youth is not hardened in sin; is
not so capable of the grosser wickedness, especially such wickedness
as would be involved in the deliberate deception of their fellows.
Neither has unholy ambitions fired the soul in youth. The hopes, the
aspirations, the ambitions of youth are generally pure and noble.
Unholy ambitions as a rule come later. The practice of religious
deception is one of the grossest forms of wickedness, and requires
the deepest depravity of the human heart to make one capable of it:
and since youth is the period of men's lives in which they are least
desperately wicked, it follows that the very youthfulness of this
group of men we are considering stands against the likelihood of their
combining to deceive mankind in this matter of the revelations of God
to them about the Book of Mormon.
_Second_. The persistence of these Witnesses in adhering to their
testimony after their connection with Joseph Smith and the Church
was severed is strong evidence against the presumption of collusion
among these young men to deceive the world. Suppose, for a moment,
however, that such a collusion did exist. In that event, if the Three
Witnesses fell into transgression--as they evidently did--and violated
Church discipline ever so flagrantly, would Joseph Smith dare to break
friendship with them by excommunicating them? Would he not, on the
contrary, say in his heart: It matters not what these men may do, I
dare not raise my hand against them; for if I do they will divulge our
secret compact, and I shall be execrated as a vile imposter by the
whole world, I shall be repudiated by my own people, and driven out
from all society a vagabond. At whatever cost I must cover up their
iniquity, lest I myself by them be exposed to shame. Such, doubtless,
would have been his course of reasoning; and had he with them conspired
to deceive mankind, such, doubtless, is what would have taken place;
for I maintain that men who would be base enough to concoct such a
deception would also be base enough to expose it and become traitors
when they became disaffected towards each other. But nothing of the
kind took place. When these men violated the law of God and would not
repent and forsake the evil they did, neither Joseph Smith nor the
Church would any longer fellowship them, but boldly excommunicated them.
By the act of excommunication, Joseph Smith virtually said to the Three
Witnesses: Gentlemen, God has made you witnesses for himself in this
age of spiritual darkness and unbelief, but you refuse to keep his
laws, therefore we must withdraw the hand of fellowship from you. This
may fill you with anger and malice; you may raise your hand against
me and the work of God to destroy it; Satan may put it into your
hearts to deny the testimony you have borne; but I know you received
that witness from God, I was with you when you received it, I saw the
glorious messenger from heaven show you the plates; I, myself heard
the voice of God bear record to you that the translation was correct
and the work true--now deny that testimony if you dare--this work is
of God, and he can sustain it even if you should turn against it;
therefore we will not fellowship you in your wickedness--you are cut
off from our association--do your worst! That is what, in effect, that
action said; but though Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer became the
pronounced enemies of Joseph Smith, and sought his overthrow, yet they
never denied the testimony they bore to the truthfulness of the Book of
Mormon. Through all the vicissitudes of life they remained true to that
trust committed to them of God. In my opinion they dared not deny that
which God had revealed; it drew with it consequences too weighty for
them to meet.
Nor should it be matter for wonderment that the Three Witnesses, after
receiving such a marvelous revelation from God, and beholding the
demonstration of such almighty power, turned away from the Church,
and lost their places. Their case does not stand alone. They are
not the first servants and witnesses for God that wandered from the
path direct, and fell into error and perhaps sin. Seeing a heavenly
messenger or hearing the voice of God, by no means places men beyond
the power to do evil, nor does it give them immunity from the
temptations of the adversary. Noah received revelations from God, and
yet after being preserved from the flood, and enjoying other special
favors, he so far forgot himself as to get drunk. David, a man after
God's own heart, after enjoying sweet communion with God, and receiving
many revelations from him, was at last guilty of the heinous sin of
defiling another man's wife, and deliberately planning the injured
man's murder! Peter, after going into the mountain and witnessing the
glorious ministrations of Moses and Elias to the Messiah, and hearing
the voice of God declare that Jesus was his beloved Son, was so weak,
under the influence of fear, that he denied having any knowledge of
him, and emphasized his denial by cursing and swearing. I do not refer
to these incidents in the lives of these characters to weaken the
esteem any one may have for them, but to show that neither a revelation
from God nor the visitation of angels takes from man the power of
doing wrong. It was so in the case of Oliver Cowdery, and his fellow
witnesses. They transgressed the laws of God, and the Church was in
duty bound to withdraw fellowship from them, and did so, confident
that God was able to preserve his work though these men should turn
traitors, and deny the truth. I repeat that this circumstance--the
fact that the Three Witnesses persisted in their testimony, though
excommunicated from the Church, and their relations with Joseph Smith
disrupted, is strong presumptive evidence that there was no collusion
among these men to deceive the world by their solemn testimony to the
Book of Mormon.
_Third_. The fact that two of the Witnesses, Oliver Cowdery and Martin
Harris, returned to the Church after long years of separation from
it--the former eleven, the latter thirty-three years--is another
evidence against the theory of collusion among the witnesses. Surely
had they been parties to a wicked scheme of deception in their
youth, after separating themselves from it for years, they would not
return to it in old age. This suggestion is strengthened when it is
remembered that the religious organization which may be said to have
come into existence as a consequence of the coming forth of the Book
of Mormon--the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints--neither
did nor could hold out to them any worldly advantage as a reward for
their returning to the body religious. When Oliver Cowdery returned
to the Church, in 1848, the great body of the Latter-day Saints were
enroute for the west. They were a people scattered and peeled. They
were but recently expatriated from their country. They were exiled
for conscience sake from a country that boasts of its guarantees of
religious freedom. They were wandering in the wilderness, in a solitary
way--hungry and thirsty, their souls fainting in them, and they had as
yet no certain abiding place. Surely a people thus situated was not a
people to come to for worldly advantage. Yet such was the condition of
the Church when Oliver Cowdery once more cast his fortune with theirs,
humbly confessing all his errors that he might have fellowship with
them.
When Martin Harris returned to the Church in 1870, the condition of the
Saints had improved somewhat when compared with what the conditions
were when Oliver Cowdery returned, but even then the Saints were
under the ban of the world's displeasure; as of old, they were the
people everywhere spoken against; while throughout the United States,
of which the lands the Saints had redeemed from desert wastes was
now an integral part, there was arising that storm of vexation which
subsequently crystalized into congressional enactments which not only
menaced but disturbed the peace of the Saints. To become once more
connected with such a people surely promised no worldly advantage; and
besides, when Martin Harris returned to the Church the sands of his
life had so well nigh run their course--he was then eighty-seven years
of age--that worldly considerations could have but little or no effect
upon his actions. Thus the return of these men to the Church, the
circumstances considered under which they returned, is certainly strong
evidence against the theory of collusion or deception among these
Witnesses.
_Fourth_. There is a harmony in things bad as well as in things that
are good. As men do not work righteousness that evil may come; so they
do not plan evil that good may come. Now, these young men who bear
witness to the truth of the Book of Mormon spent the greater part of
their lives--especially when actively promulgating the Book of Mormon
and the principles it teaches--in bringing to pass righteousness.
They were exhorting men to keep the commandments of God; to cease
doing evil and to learn to do well. It is admitted on all sides of the
controversy that the Book of Mormon is not a bad book in the sense that
it approves evil deeds, canonizes the vicious, lauds immorality, or in
any way gives countenance or sanction to sin. No; its bitterest enemies
are forced to admit that it stands for righteousness absolutely,
that everywhere, and in all men it condemns sin. What motive, then,
prompted these Witnesses to enter into a wicked collusion to deceive
mankind in a matter so grave? Did they become villains that they might
preach righteousness? Did they wickedly conspire to deceive mankind in
order that they might spend their lives in toil, and suffering; and
invite the opposition of the world as expressed in ridicule, scorn,
vituperation, to say nothing of actual violence through malicious
prosecutions before courts, illegal imprisonment, repeated acts of mob
violence, ending in house-burning, in drivings, in cruel whippings,
in other brutal assaults, and often in outright murder--if not of the
Witnesses themselves, then of their dearest friends and neighbors;
and, of course, with reference to the Prophet Joseph and his brother
Hyrum (who must have been necessarily members of the conspiracy, if one
existed), their persecutions ended in their martyrdom. [1] I refer to
the well-known history of these men and to the history of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for proof that the results just
enumerated followed the testimony of the Three Witnesses; that they
endured all these things in consequence of their testimony. I refer to
the whole body of doctrine held by the Church, brought into existence,
under God, by Joseph Smith and these Witnesses; to the Book of Mormon
in particular; to the periodicals published by the Church, and to
the letters and other writings of these men, in proof of the facts
that their motives were pure, their purposes honest, their efforts
praiseworthy, and having for their sole object the attainment of
righteousness by themselves and by their fellowmen. Why, I ask again,
should they become rogues and villains only to pursue a course that
makes for righteousness, for a more exalted morality, for a higher
spiritual life than at the time was known among men? It is incumbent
upon those who insist that there was a collusion among these Witnesses
to deceive mankind, to prove that the subsequent career of these men
was in harmony with that theory; for men do not become rogues that they
may establish virtue; nor do wicked men become candidates for martyrdom
that righteousness might be established: the harmony existing in things
evil, as in things good, forbids us believing such a theory. [2]
It will be no valid answer to this contention to say that if the Three
Witnesses cannot be proven to be conscious frauds and deceivers they
may yet be relegated to that very large class known as the mistaken. We
have already seen that such was the nature of the revelation vouchsafed
to these Witnesses in attestation of the truth of the Book of Mormon
that it cannot possibly be resolved into delusion or mistake, and it
is not necessary to further discuss that proposition here. There is no
middle ground on which one may place these Witnesses; inexcusable liars
or true witnesses they must be; they never can be classed among the
mistaken.
The possibility of their being mistaken set aside, every circumstance
connected with their relationship to the Book of Mormon favors the
theory of their being true witnesses, their testimony standing not
only unimpeached but unimpeachable; it must follow that they are God's
solemn Witnesses of a great truth--the verity of the Book of Mormon.
Footnotes
1. The argument in this paragraph is suggested by a similar one in
_Paley's Evidences for Christianity_; and indeed it may be said to be
for the most part, a paraphrase of it.
2. For a fuller treatise of the ideas and the force of the argument
here presented the reader is referred to vol. I of _New Witnesses_, ch.
17.