THE TESTIMONY OF INCIDENTAL WITNESSES.
In addition to the testimony of the Three Witnesses and the testimony
of the Eight Witnesses to the fact that Joseph Smith was in possession
of the Nephite plates, the Urim and Thummim and the breast plate, I
present also the testimony of persons who may be said to have become
acquainted with these facts in an incidental way.
When the strong sympathy and mutual confidence subsisting between the
Prophet and his mother, Lucy Smith, is taken into account, it would
be more than passing strange if she did not in some substantial way
have personal knowledge of her son being in possession of the Nephite
plates, and the things found with them. That she had this knowledge
appears in the sequel. In 1845, while residing at Nauvoo "Mother
Smith," as she was affectionately called by the Saints, dictated her
memoirs to Mrs. Martha Jane Knowlton Coray, which are now published
under the title _History of the Prophet Joseph, by his Mother, Lucy
Smith_. [1] In her account of her son's movements on the night of the
21st, and the morning of the 22nd of September, 1827--the day Joseph
Smith obtained possession of the Nephite record--Lucy Smith states that
in consequence of having visitors at their home--these visitors were
Mr. Joseph Knight and Mr. Josiah Stoal--she was detained until past
midnight of the 21st, in her domestic duties; that while so engaged
Joseph came to her and asked if she had a chest with a lock and key.
She surmised instantly for what use he wanted it, for evidently the
family knew the appointed time had come to secure the plates. A few
minutes after this Emma Smith, the Prophet's wife, passed through
the room, dressed for riding, and a few minutes later she and Joseph
departed with the horse and wagon of one of their guests, Mr. Joseph
Knight. The family was astir early in the morning and Mr. Knight was
somewhat exercised on finding his horse gone, and Mother Smith did
not feel at liberty to say who had taken him. Meantime the Prophet
Joseph returned with the horse and wagon. And now the statement of the
Prophet's mother:
I trembled so with fear, lest all might be lost in consequence of
some failure in keeping the commandments of God, that I was under
the necessity of leaving the room in order to conceal my feelings.
Joseph saw this, and said, "Do not be uneasy, mother, all is
right--see here I have got a key." I knew not what he meant, but
took the article of which he spoke into my hands, and examined
it. He took it again and left me, but said nothing respecting the
record. * * * * That of which I spoke, which Joseph termed a key,
was indeed, nothing more nor less than the Urim and Thummim, and it
was by this that the angel showed him many things which he saw in
vision; by which also he could ascertain, at any time, the approach
of danger, either to himself or the record, and on account of which
he always kept the Urim and Thummim about his person. [2]
After relating the particulars about the Prophet bringing home the
plates and securing them, she makes the following statement:
Soon after this, he came in from work, one afternoon, and after
remaining a short time, he put on his great coat, and left the
house. I was engaged at the time, in an upper room, in preparing
some oilcloths for painting. [3] When he returned, he requested
me to come down stairs. I told him that I could not leave my work
just then; yet, upon his urgent request, I finally concluded to go
down and see what he wanted, upon which he handed me the breast
plate spoken of in his history. It was wrapped in a thin muslin
handkerchief, so thin that I could feel its proportions without any
difficulty. It was concave on one side and convex on the other,
and extended from the neck downwards, so far as the center of the
stomach of a man of extraordinary size. It had four straps of the
same material, for the purpose of fastening it to the breast, two
of which ran back to go over the shoulders, and the other two were
designed to fasten to the hips. They were just the width of two of
my fingers, (for I measured them), and they had holes in the end
of them, to be convenient in fastening. After I had examined it,
Joseph placed it in the chest with the Urim and Thummim. [4]
I next call attention to a statement made by Parley P. Pratt concerning
an item of experience when performing a brief mission among some
branches of the Church in western New York, in company with the Prophet
Joseph. He says:
Arriving in Geneseo, we met with the other elders who had started
from Kirtland on the same mission, and with others who were local,
and held a general conference. Among those whose hospitality we
shared in that vicinity (Geneseo) was old Father Beaman and his
amiable, interesting family. He was a good singer, and so were
his three daughters; we were much edified and comforted in their
society, and were deeply interested in hearing the old gentleman
and Brother Joseph converse on their early acquaintance and
history. He [Beaman] had been intimate with Joseph before the first
organization of the Church; and assisted him in preserving the
plates of the Book of Mormon from the enemy, and had at one time
had them concealed under his own hearth. [5]
In consequence of the worldly circumstances of his father, the Prophet
was under the necessity, at times, of finding employment away from
home. In the month of October, 1825, he hired with an old gentleman by
the name of Josiah Stoal, who lived in Chenango county, in the state of
New York, and was put to work, with other hands, by the old gentleman,
to search for a silver mine which the traditions of the neighborhood
said had been opened by the Spaniards near Harmony, Susquehanna
county, state of Pennsylvania. It was here that the Prophet made the
acquaintance of the Knights, who were well-to-do-farmers and millers
in that neighborhood. It appears from all the circumstances that the
Prophet took Josiah Stoal and Joseph Knight into his confidence, [6] as
to the time when he was to receive the plates of the Book of Mormon,
and hence their presence at the Smith residence on the morning of the
22nd of September, 1827. Messrs. Knight and Stoal had business at
Rochester, New York, and in leaving their home in Chenango county, so
timed their journey that they arrived at the Smith residence on the
20th of September and remained there for a number of days; [7] and
were not only present when Joseph Smith obtained the records, but were
there when he brought them to the house a day or two later. And now the
testimony of Mr. Stoal. Under date of December 19, 1843, a Mrs. Martha
L. Campbell, writing to the Prophet Joseph Smith, at the request of Mr.
Stoal, and for him, says:
Brother Smith:--
By request of Brother Stoal I now sit down to write you. He is
quite unwell, and is sometimes fearful that he cannot stand it
through the winter, and wishes me to say to you that he wants your
prayers and the prayers of all the Saints for the recovery of his
health to enable him to gather among the Saints; and he also wishes
to know if you could receive him as a brother. He says he shall
come out [to Nauvoo] next spring if he lives and has health to
endure the journey. He says if he remains as well as [at] present
he shall venture to start. He says he has never staggered at the
foundation of the work, for he knew too much concerning it. If I
understood him right he was the first person that took the plates
out of your hands the morning you brought them in, and he observed,
Blessed is he that sees and believeth, and more blessed is he that
believeth without seeing, and he says he has seen and believeth. He
seems anxious to get there [to Nauvoo] to renew his covenants with
the Lord. [8]
The whole letter is of interest, but this is the only part bearing upon
the Book of Mormon, and is referred to as testimony for this reason: It
is a wholly undesigned incident in connection with the coming forth of
the work, and is one which occurs under circumstances that render it
of first rate importance as testimony. It is a fact directly stated in
the history of Mother Lucy Smith that Josiah Stoal and Joseph Knight
were guests at the homestead of the Smiths from the 20th to the 24th,
or 25th of September, 1827; and now a letter written on December 19,
1843, sixteen years later, without any design whatever of corroborating
the fact of Lucy Smith's statement, also says that Josiah Stoal was at
the Smith residence, and that he received the plates from the hands of
the Prophet, on the occasion of his bringing them home, remarking at
the time, "Blessed is he that seeth and believeth, and more blessed is
he that believeth without seeing." So there can be no question but what
Josiah Stoal had the most palpable evidence that Joseph Smith had the
Nephite record; and sixteen years afterwards, though he had neglected
his privileges as a member of the Church, and had not followed her
fortunes, yet he reaffirms his faith in the work which the Book of
Mormon may be said to have inaugurated, and declares that he has
"never staggered at the foundation of the work, for he knew too much
concerning it." That is, he had too strong evidence of the reality of
those facts in which the work had its origin to doubt their truth.
I have laid much stress, but not without good reason, upon the direct
testimony of the Three Witnesses and the Eight Witnesses to the truth
of the Book of Mormon; and, of course, their testimony must forever
stand as of first importance in the direct external evidences of
the book, but I confess also that this incidental testimony appeals
strongly to me, and when I think how in harmony it all is with the
circumstances surrounding the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, to
my mind it wonderfully strengthens the direct statements of the other
Witnesses.
Footnotes
1. See _Improvement Era_, vol. V. Mother Smith's Memoirs were first
published by Orson Pratt in Liverpool, England, in 1853, under the
title _Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and His
Progenitors for Many Generations_. As "Mother Smith" dictated chiefly
from memory, there were some inaccuracies in her work, as first
published by Elder Orson Pratt. Afterwards the work was corrected by
a committee of which the late George A. Smith, Church Historian, was
chairman. It is this revised copy from which the _Era_ edition was
published in 1902, and which is cited in these notes.
2. _History of the Prophet Joseph_, by Lucy Smith, ch. 23.
3. Lucy Smith followed the business of hand painting oilcloth covers
for tables, stands, etc., see her _History of the Prophet Joseph_, ch.
17.
4. _History of the Prophet Joseph_, by Lucy Smith, ch. 24.
5. _Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt_, p. 117.
6. The fact that the Prophet took these two men into his confidence
is supported by the testimony of Mr. John Reid, Esq., in a speech
before the state convention held in Nauvoo, at which Joseph Smith was
nominated to be president of the United States. Mr. Reid had known the
Prophet in an early day when he was working for Mr. Stoal in Chenango
county, and thus speaks of him: "After living in that neighborhood
about three years, enjoying the good feelings of his acquaintances,
as a worthy youth, he told his particular friends that he had had
a revelation from God to go to the west about eighty miles, to his
father's, in which neighborhood he would find hid in the earth an old
history written on golden plates, which would give great light and
knowledge concerning the destiny of all nations, kindreds, and tongues;
he said that he distinctly heard the voice of him that spoke. Joseph
Knight, one of the fathers of your church, a worthy man and my intimate
friend, went with him. * * * In a few days his friends returned with
the glad news that Joseph had found the plates and had gone down to his
father-in-law's for the purpose of translating them." _History of the
Church_, vol. I, p. 94.
7. _History of the Prophet Joseph_, by Lucy Smith, ch. 23.
8. The original of Mrs. Campbell's letter is on file at the Church
Historian's Office, package 4.