THE PROBABILITY OF JOSEPH SMITH'S STORY OF THE ORIGIN, TRANSLATION AND
FINAL DISPOSITION OF THE PLATES OF THE BOOK OF MORMON.
I.
_The Ministration of Angels is Neither Unscriptural nor
Unreasonable._
By the probability of Joseph Smith's story, I mean, of course, the
probability of Moroni revealing the existence of the Book of Mormon to
him; of Moroni's delivering to him the plates and the Urim and Thummim;
of the Prophet's translating the record by the gift and power of God,
by means of the Urim and Thummim; of his returning the plates to
Moroni, who to this day, doubtless, has them under his guardianship.
I am aware of the fact that the miraculous is usually regarded with
suspicion; that such a thing as the ministration of angels in what
are called these "hard and scientific times" is generally scouted by
most of those who make any pretensions to science; that a school of
writers has arisen whose main slogan in the search of truth is that the
miraculous is the impossible, and that all narratives which include
the miraculous are to be rigidly rejected, as implying credulity or
imposture; [1] that even professed believers in the Bible, who accept
as historically true the Bible account of the ministration of angels,
insists that the age in which such things occurred has long since
passed away, and that such ministrations are not to be expected now.
But on this subject the word of God stands sure. According to that
word there have been ministrations of angels in times past; and there
will be such ministrations to the last day of recorded time. As to the
ministration of angels in the past, according to holy scripture, the
reader will remember the circumstance of angels, together with the
Lord, visiting Abraham at his tent-home in the plains of Mamre, and
partaking of his hospitality; of the appearance of angels to direct
the flight of Lot from one of the doomed cities of the plain; of
Jacob's physical contact with the angel with whom he wrestled until the
breaking of the day; of the angel who went before the camp of Israel in
their march from bondage; and scores of other instances recorded in the
Old Testament where heavenly personages co-operated with men on earth
to bring to pass the holy purposes of God.
Of instances in the New Testament, the reader will recall the
ministration of the angel Gabriel to Zacharias, announcing the future
birth of John the Baptist; of the angel who appeared to Mary to make
known the high honor bestowed upon her in becoming the mother of our
Lord Jesus; of the appearance of Moses and Elias to the Savior and
three of his disciples, to whom they ministered; of the angel who
rolled away the stone from the mouth of the sepulchre, and announced
the resurrection of the Savior; of the men in white (angels), who were
present at the ascension of Jesus from the midst of his disciples, and
announced the fact that the time would come when that same Jesus should
come again to the earth in like manner as they had seen him go into
heaven; of the angel who delivered Peter from prison, and a dozen other
instances where angels co-operated with men in bringing to pass the
purposes of God in the dispensation of the meridian of time.
With reference to the angels who in ages future from that in which
the apostles lived ministering to men and co-operating to bring to
pass future purposes of God, the reader will recall the saying of the
Savior concerning the gathering together of the elect in the hour of
God's judgment: "And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a
trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds,
from one end of heaven to the other." [2] He will recall, also, the
promise in Malachi concerning the same times: "Behold, I will send you
Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of
the Lord: and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children,
and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite
the earth with a curse." [3] He will recollect the promised coming
of the angel to restore the gospel in the hour of God's judgment,
concerning whom John says: "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of
heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on
the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people,
saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him: for the hour
of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth,
and the sea, and the fountains of water." [4] Also the angel who will
declare the fall of Babylon: "And there followed another angel, saying,
Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all
nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. And the
third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, if any man worship
the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in
his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God." [5]
"And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven,
having great power; and the earth was lighted with his glory. And
he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is
fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold
of every foul spirit." [6] The reader of the scriptures, I say, will
readily recall all these ministrations of angels, future from the time
in which the sacred writer recorded them, as also the promise of the
ministration of many other angels, in bringing to pass the great things
of God in the last days, even to the gathering together in one all
things in Christ. [7]
It cannot be held to be unscriptural, then, when Joseph Smith claimed
that by the ministration of angels he received a revelation from God--a
dispensation of the gospel.
But what shall we say to that very large number of people who do not
believe the Bible? How shall we so appeal to them as to secure their
attention in these matters? Addressing himself to those who questioned
at least the likelihood of the resurrection, Paul asked: "Why should
it be thought a thing incredible with you, that God should raise the
dead?" So say I respecting those who do not believe in the Bible,
but pride themselves on accepting and believing all those things
established by the researches of men--by science.--Why should it be
thought a thing incredible by them that angels should visit our earth
in order to communicate knowledge not otherwise, perhaps, obtainable?
Our scientists live in the midst of ascertained facts respecting the
universe, so that interplanetary communication ought to be looked upon
as a thing so rational that to doubt its probability would be esteemed
as folly?
A word as to this proposition: Of the change of view respecting our
own earth and its relations in the universe, I have already spoken [8]
in some detail. I have considered the transition from the conception
of the earth as the center of the universe, with the sun, the moon
and all the stars brought into existence for its convenience, or
beauty, or glory, to the conception of the earth as one of the smaller
planets of a group moving regularly about the sun as their center,
and the probability of each fixed star being the center of such a
group of planets. The ascertained existence of millions of other suns
than ours, evidently the centers of planetary systems, being granted,
the view that these planets are the habitation of sentient beings
seems a concomitant fact so probable that one is astonished, if not
a little provoked, at that conservatism which hesitates to accept
a hypothesis so reasonable in itself, and so well sustained by the
analogy of the existence of sentient beings on our own planet. The
astronomers tell us some of these fixed stars--these suns that are
probably the centers of planetary systems--have existed for hundreds
of thousands of years, for so distant are they from us in space that
it would require that period of time for their light to reach our
earth, hence they must have existed all that time. It is evident, then,
that some of them may be many times older than our sun; so, too, are
the planets that encircle them. From this conclusion to the one that
the sentient beings that doubtless dwell upon these planets are far
in advance of the inhabitants of our earth, intellectually, morally,
spiritually and in everything that makes for higher development, and
more perfect civilization, is but a little step, and rests on strong
probability. From these conclusions, again, to the conceived likelihood
of the presiding Intelligences on some of these worlds to which our
earth may sustain peculiar relations of order or affinity--having
both the power and the inclination to communicate from time to time
by personal messengers, or other means, to chosen men of our own
race--is another step, not so large as the others, by which we have
been led to this point, and one that rests also upon a basis of strong
probability. And this is the phenomena of the visitation of angels
and revelation testified of in the scriptures. Such phenomena are
mistakenly considered supernatural. They are not so really. They are
very matter of fact realities; perfectly natural, and in harmony with
the intellectual order or economy of a universe where intelligence and
goodness govern, and love unites the brotherhood of the universe in
bonds of sympathetic interest and kinship.
In view of these reflections, why, I ask, should it be thought a thing
incredible with scientific men that there should be such phenomena
as the visitation of angels, or other means of interplanetary
communication among the many planets and planetary systems which make
up the universe? Surely it will not be argued that it is impossible for
sentient beings to pass from world to world, because man in his present
state is bound to earth by the force of gravitation, and that the same
force would doubtless operate upon the inhabitants of other worlds, and
bind them to their local habitation as we are bound to ours. The beings
whom we call angels, though of the same race and nature with ourselves,
may have passed through such physical changes as to render them quite
independent of the clogging force called gravitation. We may not,
therefore, place the same limitations upon their powers in this kind as
upon man's in his present physical state.
As for other means of communication from intelligences of other worlds
to our own, they will not be regarded as impossible in the presence of
the achievements of men in such matters. By means of magnetic telegraph
systems, man has established instant communication with all parts of
the world. Not the highest mountain ranges, not deserts, not even
ocean's wide expanse, have been sufficient to bar his way. He has made
the earth a net-work of his cables and telegraph lines, until nearly
every part of the earth is within the radius of instant communication.
In 1896, the National Electric Light association celebrated the
triumphs of electricity by holding a national electrical exposition in
New York City. The occasion was the completion of the electric works
at Niagara Falls. For ages, that great cataract had thundered out the
evidence of its mighty power to heedless savages and frontiersmen;
but modern man looked upon it, and by the expenditure of five million
dollars, harnessed it, applied its forces to his contrivances, made
it generate electric force which lights the cities, drives the street
cars, and turns the wheels of industry for many miles around; and even
transmitted its force to New York City, four hundred and sixty miles
distant! It was on that occasion that Governor Levi P. Morton, upon
the declaration being made that the exposition was open, turned a
golden key by which four cannons were instantaneously fired in the four
quarters of the republic, one in Augusta, Maine, one in San Francisco,
one in front of the public building at St. Paul, another in the public
Park in New Orleans. This discharge of cannon was accomplished by a
current of electricity generated at Niagara, and transmitted over the
lines of the Postal Telegraph Cable Company. Later, in the course of
the exposition, a message was sent all over the world, and returned to
New York within fifty minutes. The message read:
God created nature's treasuries; science utilizes electric power
for the grandeur of the nations and peace of the world.
The reply, also sent over the world, was:
Mighty Niagara, nature's wonder, serving men through the world's
electric circuit, proclaims to all people science triumphant and
the beneficent Creator.
The distance traversed by each of these messages was about twenty-seven
thousand five hundred miles, touching nearly all the great centers of
population in the world, and that within the almost incredible time of
fifty minutes!
Again, in 1898, on the occasion of California's Golden Jubilee, that
is, her semi-centennial celebration of the discovery of gold in the
state, William McKinley, then president of the United States, seated
in his office at the White House, in Washington, D. C., pressed an
electric button which rang a bell in the Mechanic's Pavilion in San
Francisco, and formally opened the mining exposition, though the
president was distant about three thousand miles! The press dispatches,
at the time of the advent, gave the following graphic description of
the event just related:
By an electric sensation, as indescribable as the thrill of the
discoverer's cry of "gold," the president of the nation sent from
Washington the signal which announced the opening of the fair.
As the bell clanged its clear note, and the Great West was for
an instant connected with the distant East, a hush fell on the
gathered thousands; then, moved by a common impulse, the vast
throng burst into cheers. Close following on the touch which
sounded the sweet-toned bell came the greeting of President
McKinley, announcing "the marking of a mighty epoch in the history
of California." About him, over three thousand miles away, stood
the representatives of the state in Congress, their thoughts flying
quicker even than telegraphic message to the people gathered in the
great pavilion. And so, united by the material ties of the electric
wire, and the subtle powers of thought, the East and the West were
held for a few brief moments by a community of good wishes.
Wonderful as all this is, it is now eclipsed by wireless
telegraphy--now passed beyond its experimental stages, and rapidly
coming into the practical commerce of the nations. Man is no
longer dependent upon a network of wires and cables for means of
communication. The atmosphere enveloping the world affords sufficient
means for conducting vibrations made intelligible by the instrument
of man's invention; and today, even across the surface of the broad
Atlantic, messages are transmitted by this means as easily as by
means of the cable lines. So delicate and perfect are the receiving
instruments, that from the roar of our great cities' traffic, the
message is picked out of the confusion and faithfully registered.
The argument based on all these facts, is this: If man with his limited
intelligence, and his limited experience, has contrived means by which
he stands in instant communication with all parts of the world, why
should it be thought a thing incredible that God, from the midst of
his glory, from the heart of the universe, is within instant means
of communication, with all parts of his creations? Especially since
it is quite generally conceded, by scientists, that all the fixed
stars and all the planetary systems encircling them, float in and
are connected by the ether, a substance more subtle and sensitive to
vibrations than the atmosphere which surrounds our planet, and suggests
the media of communication. To all this, however, I fancy that I hear
the reply of the men of science: "We do not deny the possibility or
even the probability of communication from superior Intelligences of
other planets, we simply say that up to the present time there is no
convincing testimony that such communications have been received."
This, however, is a miserable begging of the whole question; and an
unwarranted repudiation of the testimony of those who have borne
witness to the verity of such communications. The testimony of Moses
and the prophets, of Jesus and the apostles, of Joseph Smith and his
associates, may not thus be put out of the reckoning. The character
of these witnesses, their service to mankind, what they suffered and
sacrificed for their testimonies, make them worthy of belief; and,
since in the nature of things there is nothing which makes their
testimony improbable, but, on the contrary, much that makes it very
probable, is it not beneath the dignity of scientists to refuse to
accord to their statements a patient investigation and belief?
II.
_To Believe in Media for Ascertaining Divine Knowledge is Neither
Unscriptural nor Unreasonable._
Whatever the position of unbelievers in the Bible may be with reference
to Joseph Smith translating the Book of Mormon by means of Urim and
Thummim, or "Interpreters," as they were called by the Nephites,
surely believers in the Bible cannot regard such a claim as impossible
or improbable, since it is matter of common knowledge that the High
Priest in ancient Israel possessed Urim and Thummim, and by means of
them received divine communications. I am not unmindful of the fact
that a diversity of opinion obtains respecting Urim and Thummim of the
scriptures, of what they consisted, and the exact use of them, but this
I think may be set down as ascertained fact; they were precious and
doubtless transparent stones placed in the breast plate of the High
Priest, and were a means through which God communicated to him divine
knowledge--the divine will. [9]
Josephus' description of Urim and Thummim is as follows:
I will now treat of what I before omitted, the garment of the
high priest: for he [Moses] left no room for the evil practices
of [false] prophets; but if some of that sort should attempt to
abuse the divine authority, he left it to God to be present at his
sacrifices when he pleased, and when he pleased to be absent. And
he was willing this should be known, not to the Hebrews only, but
to those foreigners also who were there. For as to these stones,
which we told you before, the high priest bore on his shoulders,
which were sardonyxes, (and I think it needless to describe their
nature, they being known to everybody) the one of them shined out
when God was present at their sacrifices; I mean that which was in
the nature of a button on his right shoulder, bright rays darting
out thence, and being seen even by those that were most remote;
which splendor yet was not before natural to the stone. This has
appeared a wonderful thing to such as have not so far indulged
themselves in philosophy, as to despise divine revelation. Yet will
I mention what is still more wonderful than this: for God declared
beforehand, by those twelve stones which the high priest bore on
his breast, and which were inserted into his breastplate, when they
should be victorious in battle; for so great a splendor shone forth
from them before the army began to march, that all the people were
sensible of God's being present for their assistance. Whence it
came to pass that those Greeks who had a veneration for our laws,
because they could not possibly contradict this, called that breast
plate the Oracle. Now this breast plate, and this sardonyx, left
off shining two hundred years before I composed this book, God
having been displeased at the transgressions of his laws. [10]
Since this kind of _media_, then, was used by prophets in ancient
Israel, through which to obtain divine knowledge, it should not
be matter of astonishment, much less of ridicule, or regarded as
improbable that when a colony of Israelites were led away from the
main body of the people, a similar _media_ for obtaining the will of
the Lord, and for translating records not otherwise translatable,
should be found with them. So also respecting Joseph Smith's claim to
having found what he called a "Seer Stone," by means of which he could
translate. That cannot be regarded as an impossibility or even an
improbability by those who believe the Bible; for, in addition to the
Hebrew literature giving an account of Urim and Thummim in the breast
plate of the high priest, it is well known that other means were used
by inspired men of Israel for obtaining the word of the Lord. That
most excellent of Bible characters, Joseph, the son of Jacob, blessed
in his boyhood with prophetic dreams, and possessed of the divine gift
of interpreting dreams, the savior of Israel in a time of famine,
and a wise ruler for a time of Egypt's destinies, used such _media_.
When Joseph's cup was found in the mouth of Benjamin's sack, Joseph's
steward said to him: "Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, and
whereby, indeed, he divineth?" Joseph himself said, when his perplexed
brethren stood before him, "What deed is this that ye have done? Wot
ye not that such a man as I can certainly divine." [11] The fact of
ascertaining the word of the Lord by means of this "divining cup"
cannot be explained away by suggesting that Joseph merely referred to
an Egyptian custom of divining; or that the steward repeated the words
which Joseph had spoken to him merely in jest. [12] As remarked by a
learned writer on this subject: "We need not think of Joseph, the pure,
the heaven-taught, the blameless one, as adopting, still less as basely
pretending to adopt, the dark arts of a system of imposture." [13] I
agree with the view. It is a reality sustained by Bible authority that
there exists _media_ through which divine revelation may be obtained,
and hence to the Bible believers the claim of Joseph Smith concerning
"Urim and Thummim," and the "Seer Stone," by means of which, through
the inspiration of God, he translated the record of the Nephites, is
not impossible nor even improbable.
As in the matter of the visitation of angels, so also in relation to
Urim and Thummim and also the Seer Stone, I may say that our scientific
skeptics in such things live in the midst of such achievements of man's
ingenuity, and in the daily use of such marvelous instruments invented
by men for the ascertainment of truth, that men of science ought not
to stumble at accepting, at least as possible, and even as probable,
the existence of such _media_. Take for instance the telescope. For
ages, men believed that the whole of the universe consisted of sun,
moon, earth, and the few fixed stars within the radius of man's unaided
vision. Finally, however, a genius converted a handful of sand into
a lens, adjusted it in a tube, and turned it to the heavens when,
lo! the frontiers of the universe were pushed back to an infinite
distance, and millions of suns heretofore never seen by human eyes were
brought within the range of man's vision and consciousness. This first
telescope has been improved upon from time to time, until now we have
instruments of that kind so large and so perfect that our own planets
are brought comparatively near for our inspection, while the number
of fixed stars now within the range of our vision, by means of these
instruments, is quite generally conceded to be from forty to fifty
millions.
While viewing the starry heavens by the aid of the telescope, in search
of new facts, astronomers beheld at enormous distances from us hazy
patches of light, concerning the nature of which they could form no
definite idea. An improved telescope, however, at last resolved some
of these mists into groups of separate stars; then it was supposed
that all such mists were star groups, and that it only required
stronger telescopes to demonstrate the truth of that theory. Meantime,
however, another wonderful instrument was invented, the spectroscope,
an instrument which forms and analyzes the spectra of the rays emitted
by bodies or substances. Meantime Fraunhofer made the discovery
that the spectrum of an ignited gaseous body is non-continuous,
and has interrupting lines. Later, Professor John William Draper
discovered that the spectrum of an ignited solid is continuous with no
interrupting lines. With these facts established, the spectroscope was
turned upon the distant patches of nebulae and it was discovered that
some of them were positively of a gaseous nature and not congeries of
stars. Thus was another great truth concerning the universe discovered
by means of an instrument invented by man.
Nor is the end yet. The eye of man, perhaps, is the most wonderful
organ known; wonderful in its powers when unaided by instruments of
man's invention, but rendered infinitely more powerful and wonderful
when aided by telescope and microscope. Indeed, by these instruments
new and unthought of worlds are brought to the consciousness of man,
and his knowledge infinitely extended. Yet wonderful as is this organ
of man, and great as are its achievements when aided by the instruments
of man's invention, man's ingenuity has produced a more powerful eye
than man's! One that can look longer and see farther than the human
eye, even when aided by the most powerful telescope; and registers
upon its retina truths otherwise unattainable by man. This instrument
Camille Flammarion, the French astronomer and writer, calls "The
Wonderful New Eye of Science." It is merely a lens connected with a
photographic apparatus, and of it the writer just named says:
This giant eye is endowed with four considerable advantages over
ours; it sees more quickly, farther, longer; and, wonderful
faculty, it receives and retains the impress of what it sees.
It sees more quickly: in the half-thousandth of a second, it
photographs the sun, its spots, its vortexes, its fires, its
flaming mountains, and on an imperishable document. It sees
farther: Directed towards any point of the heavens on the darkest
night, it discerns stars in the depths of infinite space--worlds,
universes, creations, that our eye could never see by the aid of
any telescope. It sees longer: That which we cannot succeed in
seeing in a few seconds of observation we shall never see. The
photographic eyes has but to look long enough in order to see; at
the end of half an hour it distinguishes what was before invisible
to it; at the end of an hour it will see better still, and the
longer it remains directed towards the unknown object, the better
and more distinctly it will see it--and this without fatigue. And
it retains on the retinal plate all that it has seen. [14]
This photographic eye, used in what is called the kinetograph,
photographs the spokes of the sulky driven at full speed--which cannot
be discerned at all by the human eye--as if standing still. The bullet
discharged from the most powerful gun of modern invention, which
the human eye cannot follow in its flight, this instrument seems to
arrest in mid-air. The ripple waves on the surface of mercury, which
no human eye has ever seen--even when assisted by the most powerful
microscopes--it faithfully registers, and by its testimony alone we
know of the existence of mercury waves. This instrument registers on
sensitized tin foil, birds in their flight, express trains at full
speed, moving throngs on crowded streets, athletes at their sports,
the restless waves of ocean, the tempest's progress, the lightning's
flash--all of which, by means of another instrument called the
kinetoscope are reproduced to the life, though the actors in the
scenes represented may be dead, and rotting in their graves. As these
named instruments photograph and reproduce actions, so the phonograph
registers the intonations, inflections, and all the peculiarities of
voice entrusted to it, and as faithfully reproduces them, once, twice,
or a thousand times, so that friends may recognize the intonations
and all the peculiarities of inflection and voice, though he who thus
speaks has long since been dead or removed to other lands. What more
shall I say? Is not enough here presented concerning the instruments of
man's invention to justify a reasonable belief in the probability of
the existence of _media_ that can accomplish all that is ascribed to
Urim and Thummim and Seer Stone by Joseph Smith; especially when it is
remembered how far the knowledge, skill and wisdom of God surpass the
skill and ingenuity of man?
III.
_Of Returning the Plates of the Book of Mormon to Moroni_
The question is often asked--and it bears upon the probability of
Joseph Smith's statements respecting the Book of Mormon, because
the answer that has to be made gives rise to doubts, and sometimes
to sneers on the part of those receiving it--the question is often
asked, I repeat, "What became of the gold plates from which Joseph
Smith claims to have translated the Book of Mormon--can they be seen
now? Is the Church in possession of them?" The answer is, "No; the
Prophet returned them to the angel Moroni, and he, doubtless, now
has possession of them, and is their guardian." [15] This answer is
declared to be unsatisfactory, and often ridiculed; for worldly wisdom
fancies that the Prophet had a most direct means of establishing the
truth as to the existence and character of the plates, if only he had
retained them in his possession, or deposited them in some state or
national institution of learning or archaeology. Joseph Smith acted
under the direction of Moroni in the matter of the plates of the Book
of Mormon; why he was not permitted to keep the book of plates is
not, perhaps, positively known. Part of the record was sealed, as the
Prophet himself informs us; [16] and as the time had not come for that
part of it to be translated, it may be that that was one reason why it
should be still kept in the custody of the angel. Moreover, in this
life we are required by divine wisdom to walk by faith, not by sight.
It is part of our education that we learn to act with reference to
sacred things on probabilities. A veil of oblivion is stretched over
our past spirit-existence. The future is hidden largely from our view,
and we are required to perform this life's journey from the cradle to
the grave in the midst of uncertainties, except as we increase our
faith and establish assurance by the development of spiritual strength
from within. Why this should be so may not always seem clear to us;
but of the fact of it there can be no doubt. Nor can there be any
doubt as to the wisdom of it, and the benefit of it to mankind, since
our Father-God has so ordered it. Nor is it in "Mormonism" alone that
certain direct material evidences are denied to men concerning divine
things. Infidels refer to the opportunities which they think the
impudent challenges of the persecutors of the Son of God afforded him
to demonstrate his divine power, and prove the truth of his mission,
when they said, "If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross."
* * ** "If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the
cross, and we will believe him." [17] What an opportunity was afforded
him here to respond to their challenges and cover them with confusion
and fear! But the Son of God heeded them not, and infidels everywhere
entertain the opinion that he here missed the opportunity of his career
if, indeed, he was the Son of God--the Lord of Life--the Master of
Death.
Moses gave out the statement that the Law of Israel, the Ten
Commandments, were written by the finger of God on tables of stone.
[18] These, in his anger, Moses broke to pieces in their presence, when
he found that during his brief absence in the Mount, obtaining the law,
Israel had turned to the folly of idolatry. But a second set of tables
was prepared, and again on these God carved with his own hands the Ten
Commandments. Moses placed them in the ark of shittim wood, which, by
divine appointment, he provided, and this constituted the "Ark of the
Covenant." [19]
Again, when the children of Israel were disposed to rebel against the
priesthood of God's appointing, under divine direction, Moses called
upon each of the twelve princes of the house of Israel to present
before the Lord a rod with the name of his tribe upon it. Among these
was Aaron's rod, representing the tribe of Levi. All were placed in the
"Tabernacle of Witness" before the Lord. On the morrow, when Moses went
into the "Tabernacle of Witness" behold the rod of Aaron, of the house
of Levi, had brought forth buds, and yielded almonds, all in a single
night! Thus the Lord gave a palpable evidence to Israel of his choosing
the house of Aaron and the tribe of Levi to stand before him in the
priest's office; and the Lord said unto Moses, "Bring Aaron's rod again
before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels." [20]
The unbelieving world to whom Israel's message was afterwards sent,
might demand that the tables of stone and Aaron's rod that budded and
bore fruit should be displayed for their inspection, that faith might
take hold of the unbelieving; but there is no record that these sacred
things were ever exhibited for such a purpose. [21]
The infidels of our own day frequently remark that the prayer of Dives
to Abraham ought to have been graciously granted, and Lazarus sent to
bear witness to the relatives of the tortured nobleman that they might
escape his sad fate; but Abraham's answer was, "They have Moses and
the prophets; let them hear them!" "Nay, Father Abraham," answered
Dives, "but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent." But
Abraham said: "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will
they be persuaded though one rose from the dead." [22]
Referring again to the Savior: unbelievers marvel that Jesus confined
his visitations after his resurrection to a few of his faithful
followers only--to those who already believed on him. Why did he not
appear in all the majesty of his immortal life, after his resurrection,
before the high priests and the Sanhedrim of the Jews? Before the
court of Pilate? Before the rabble who had impiously clamored in the
streets for his blood to be upon them and upon their children--Why?
The only answer to this question exists in the fact apparent from the
whole course of God's dealings with the world in relation to sacred
things: viz., God has chosen certain witnesses for himself in relation
to sacred matters, and demands that his children shall walk by faith on
the words which his chosen servants declare unto them. Thus Peter, on
the matter of Christ showing himself to the world, says:
Him God raised up the third day, and showed him openly; not to all
the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God, even to us
who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he
commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is
he which was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and dead. [23]
Judas (one of the twelve, not Iscariot, but the brother of James) on
one occasion asked the same question that infidels have been asking
for many generations, "How is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto
us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a
man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and
we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me
not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine,
but the Father's which sent me. These things have I spoken unto you,
being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost,
whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things. *
* * * When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the
Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he
shall testify of me: and ye also shall bear witness because ye have
been with me from the beginning." [24] Such the statement of Peter;
such the doctrine of Jesus; and when coupled together one sees that
in addition to the special witnesses, the prophets, God has ordained
that the Holy Spirit shall be his universal witness for things divine.
God, in his wisdom, and for the accomplishment of his own wise purposes
with reference to us, has ordained that his children in this world's
probation shall walk by faith, not by sight. To produce the faith, he
sends forth special chosen servants, prophets, apostles, his own Son,
and through them announces the divine will. Then when drawn to God by
faith, when love-inspired towards God, the Lord gives the witness of
the Holy Spirit, by and through which man may know the truth, for he
becomes possessed by the very Spirit of divine intelligence and of
truth, by which power he is made to know the truth.
These principles obtain in this last dispensation of the gospel.
Joseph Smith comes as did Noah, Enoch, Moses, the Prophets, Christ
and the Apostles--he comes with a message from God--with a new volume
of scripture, whose express purpose is to enlarge the foundations of
faith. He and his associates bear witness of its truth, and those who
will give heed to that testimony, and will seek to God for further
knowledge, are expressly promised in the Book of Mormon itself, that
they shall receive a manifestation of its truth by the power of the
Holy Ghost; "And by the power of the Holy Ghost," says this Nephite
record, "ye may know the truth of all things." [25] Throughout, it will
be seen that in this matter of the Book of Mormon, the divine power is
acting in harmony with those great principles which have been operating
in the spiritual economy of this world from the beginning; which fact,
in reality, is at least an incidental testimony of the truth of the
work.
In the light of all these reflections, then, together with the fact
that part of the Book of Mormon was sealed, the time not then having
arrived for its translation, there is nothing remarkable in the
circumstance of the Nephite plates being returned to the care of the
angel-guardian of them. Certainly there is nothing unreasonable in
such a procedure, and surely nothing in the circumstance that warrants
the ridicule with which that statement has sometimes been received.
Moreover, human guardianship of such things is by no means as secure as
some may conceive it to be. Take, for example, the fate which befell
the Egyptian papyrus from which the Prophet translated the Book of
Abraham. It is an item of Church history that in 1835 the Saints in
Kirtland purchased, of one Michael H. Chandler, some Egyptian mummies;
in the sarcophagus they occupied certain rolls of papyrus were found,
beautifully engraved with Egyptian characters. Upon examination, Joseph
Smith found the papyrus to be the writings of Abraham and of Joseph,
the son of Jacob, who was sold into Egypt. Portions of these records
the Prophet translated into the English language, and the translation
was published in the _Times and Seasons_, vol. III, and subsequently
made part of the _Pearl of Great Price_. After the death of the Prophet
the mummies, together with the records on papyrus, were left in charge
of his mother, Lucy Smith. She afterwards parted with them, under what
circumstances is not positively known. Finally, the records and mummies
found their way into Wood's Museum, in Chicago, where, according to
the statement of the editors of the Plano edition of _Biographical
Sketches of Joseph Smith and his Progenitors_, by Lucy Smith, they
were destroyed in the Chicago fire of 1871. [26] Thus the writings
of Abraham, after being preserved for many generations in the linen
wrappings of Egyptian mummies, were consumed by fire in a modern city,
a circumstance which illustrates the uncertainty of human means to
preserve important documents, and justifies the angel-guardianship of
a record as sacred as are the plates from which the Book of Mormon was
translated.
IV.
_On the Loss of one Hundred and Sixteen Pages of Manuscript, Being
the Translation of the First Part of Mormon's Abridgment of the Nephite
Records._
Another incident connected with the probability of Joseph Smith's story
concerning the Book of Mormon, and which, like the circumstance of the
Prophet's returning the plates to the angel, meets with ridicule--is
the loss of the 116 pages of manuscript, through the unfaithfulness of
Martin Harris, a subject detailed at length in chapter v.
This incident lost to Joseph Smith, for a time, the gift of
translation, and also possession of the plates and Urim and Thummim;
but through sincere repentance, he was received again into the favor of
the Lord, and resumed his work.
On being permitted to resume the translation, however, the Prophet was
informed through divine communication that those who had stolen the
manuscript from Harris designed to hold it until he should translate
again that part which had fallen into their hands. If the Prophet's
second translation should be like the first, then it was the intention
of the conspirators to change the manuscript in their possession,
and claim that the translation was not obtained by divine aid, else
the second would be like the first; but since it would by this trick
be proved to be different, the claim of divine inspiration in the
translation of the book must fall to the ground, and Joseph Smith's
pretension to being a Seer and Prophet of God would fall with it;
and thus the work God designed to accomplish through him would be
destroyed. The Lord revealed this plot to Joseph Smith, and warned him
not to translate again Moroni's abridgment of the Book of Lehi--which
comprised so much of the manuscript as had been entrusted to Harris.
[27] On the contrary, he was commanded to translate what are called in
the Book of Mormon the "Smaller Plates of Nephi," and let that stand in
the place of the translation of the Book of Lehi which Harris had lost.
A word of explanation here: Two sets of plates were kept for a time
by the first Nephi and his successors. One set might be called the
secular, the other the sacred record of the Nephite people. They,
however, called them the "Smaller" and "Larger" Plates of Nephi. On
the former was recorded the ministry of the prophets, the word of the
Lord to them, and much of their teaching and preaching; on the latter,
the reigns of the kings, their wars and contentions, and the secular
affairs of the people generally. Still, even on the "Smaller Plates
of Nephi" there was a reasonably succinct account of the principal
events of Nephite history, from the time Lehi left Jerusalem until four
hundred years had passed away.
When Mormon found among the records delivered into his keeping the
"Smaller Plates of Nephi," he was so well pleased with their contents
that he placed the whole of them with the abridgment he had made from
the larger Nephite records. "And I do this," he informs us, "for a wise
purpose; for thus it whispereth me according to the workings of the
Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things;
but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he
worketh in me to do according to his will." [28] By the addition of the
Smaller Plates of Nephi to Mormon's abridgment of the Larger Plates, it
will be observed that there was a double line of history for a period
of about 400 years. Therefore, when, through carelessness and breaking
his agreement with the Prophet, Martin Harris lost the translation of
the first part of Mormon's abridgment, and those into whose hands the
manuscript had fallen designed to change it and destroy the claims of
the Prophet to inspiration in translating it--under divine direction
he translated the Smaller Plates of Nephi, and let that translation
take the place of the one which had been stolen, and thus the plan of
the conspirators against the work was thwarted. This statement of the
Prophet, however, comes in for its share of ridicule, and is generally
spoken of as a very clever escape for the Prophet out of what is called
a rather perplexing dilemma. The Prophet's statement of the incident
was published at the time the first edition of the Book of Mormon
issued from the press, and, in fact, stands as the preface to the book,
which I reproduce here:
PREFACE.
To the Reader--
As many false reports have been circulated respecting the following
work, and also many unlawful measures taken by evil designing
persons to destroy me, and also the work, I would inform you that I
translated, by gift and power of God, and caused to be written, one
hundred and sixteen pages, the which I took from the Book of Lehi,
which was an account abridged from the plates of Lehi, by the hand
of Mormon; which said account, some person or persons have stolen
and kept from me, notwithstanding my utmost exertions to recover it
again--and being commanded of the Lord that I should not translate
the same over again, for Satan had put it into their hearts to
tempt the Lord their God, by altering the words, that they did read
contrary from that which I translated and caused to be written;
and if I should bring forth the same words again, or, in other
words, if I should translate the same over again, they would
publish that which they had stolen, and Satan would stir up the
hearts of this generation, that they might not receive this work;
but behold, the Lord saith unto me, I will not suffer that Satan
shall accomplish his evil design in this thing: therefore thou
shalt translate from the plates of Nephi, until ye come to that
which ye have translated, which ye have retained; and behold ye
shall publish it as the record of Nephi; and thus I will confound
those who have altered my words. I will not suffer that they shall
destroy my work; yea, I will show unto them that my wisdom is
greater than the cunning of the Devil. Wherefore, to be obedient
unto the commandments of God, I have, through his grace and mercy,
accomplished that which he hath commanded me respecting this thing.
I would also inform you that the plates of which hath been spoken,
were found in the township of Manchester, Ontario country, New York.
THE AUTHOR.
Thus from the beginning the Prophet boldly declared that which the
Lord had revealed to him concerning this effort on the part of the
conspirators to destroy the work; and there was not one who rose to
contradict his statement, at the time, although some anti-"Mormon"
writers of later years assert--but without any warrant of proof--that,
enraged at the part her husband was taking in bringing forth the Book
of Mormon, Mrs. Martin Harris burned the manuscript. This, however,
she always denied. The first publication referring to this subject,
aside from what the Prophet published in the above preface, is Howe's
_History of Mormonism_, published at Painsville, Ohio, 1834. This is an
anti-"Mormon" book, and of the manuscript incident it says: "The facts
respecting the lost manuscripts we have not been able to ascertain.
They sometimes charged the wife of Harris with having burnt it, but
this is denied by her." [29]
Meantime, attention is called to the fact that there is nothing
improbable in the statement of Joseph Smith; but on the contrary all
the conditions obtaining in the neighborhood where he resided while
bringing forth the work favor the probability of such a conspiracy as
he charges: the unwarranted but repeated efforts made by his enemies
to wrest the plates from his possession; the home of his parents
repeatedly beset by mobs; the issue of warrants by justices of the
peace for searching his wagon for the plates; and subsequently the
actions of Mr. Grandin, his printer, who, after entering into contract
to print the book was certainly in honor bound to render him all the
assistance in his power in getting out the work in the best order
possible, and protecting him in his copyrights--the actions, I say, of
Mr. Grandin, in permitting Squire Cole [30] the use of his press on
nights and Sundays in order to secretly publish his _Dogberry Papers_,
in which was to appear a garbled edition of the Book of Mormon in
weekly installments; the mass meetings held in Palmyra and vicinity
in which resolutions were passed not to purchase the book should it
ever issue from the press (which action caused Mr. Grandin to suspend
the work of printing until the Prophet could be brought from Harmony,
in Pennsylvania, to give renewed assurance of his ability to meet the
price of printing); the confession of J. N. Tucker, one of the employees
of Grandin's printing establishment, that after setting up a sheet in
type, it was secreted and the story given out that it was lost, and
that manuscript for another sheet would have to be produced, which when
done is alleged to have been unlike the first [31]--these well-attested
circumstances establish the fact of a wide-spread and bitter opposition
to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon; and, failing in that, then
a determination to prevent its acceptance as revelation from God. All
these things make it very easy to believe that such a conspiracy as the
Prophet describes existed against the work.
Footnotes
1. See _Life of Jesus_, Renan. (E.T.) Introduction; also _New
Witnesses_, vol. I, ch. 1.
2. Matt. 24:31.
3. Malachi 4:5, 6.
4. Revelation 14:6, 7.
5. Rev. 14:8, 9, 10.
6. Rev. 18:1-3.
7. Ephesians 1:9, 10.
8. New Witnesses, Vol. I., chs. xxviii, xxix, xxx.
9. The reader will find the data for the foregoing view concerning Urim
and Thummim in the following passages: Exodus 28: 29, 30; Leviticus
8:8; Numbers 27:21; Deuteronomy 33:8; I Samuel 28:6; Ezra 2:63;
Nehemiah 7:65. He will also find an excellent article on the subject
in Smith's _Dictionary of the Bible_, (Hackett edition), vol. IV, pp.
3,356-3,363; also in Kitto's _Encyclopaedia of Biblical Literature_,
vol. II, pp. 900-903.
10. _Antiquities of the Jews_, bk. III, ch. 8.
11. Genesis 44:5-15.
12. Such is the Roman Catholic explanation of the matter; see note on
passage, Gen. 44:5-15 in Douay Bible.
13. Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, Art. Urim and Thummim.
14. The Cosmopolitan Magazine for September, 1896.
15. I soon found out the reason why I had received such strict charges
to keep them safe, and why it was that 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 second day of May, one thousand eight hundred and
thirty-eight. (Church History, vol. I, pp. 18, 19.)
16. These records were engraven on plates which had the appearance of
gold, each plate was six inches wide and eight inches long, and not
quite so thick as common tin. They were filled with engravings, in
Egyptian characters, and bound together in a volume as the leaves of
a book, with three rings running through the whole. The volume was
something near six inches in thickness, a part of which was sealed. The
characters on the unsealed part were small, and beautifully engraved.
The whole book exhibited many marks of antiquity in its construction,
and much skill in the art of engraving. Wentworth Letter, History of
the Church, vol. IV, p. 537.
17. Matt. 27:40, 42.
18. Deut. 9:8-11.
19. Deut. 10:1-5.
20. Numbers 17.
21. The late Robert G. Ingersoll, for instance, asks where now the
sword is with which the angel guarded "the tree of life" in Paradise;
and then sarcastically answers his own question as follows: "Some angel
has it in heaven!" Works, vol. 5, 372.
22. Luke 16:13, 31.
23. Acts 10:40-42.
24. John 15:26, 27.
25. Behold I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if
it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember
how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the
creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these
things, and ponder it in your hearts. And when ye shall receive these
things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the eternal Father,
in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall
ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he
will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.
And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.
(Moroni 10:3-5.)
26. See Plano edition of the above named work, 1880, note on page 91.
27. See preface to first edition of the Book of Mormon.
28. Words of Mormon, p. 158.
29. I quote from the first (1834) edition of Howe's work, page 22.
30. See pp. 77, 78 of part I, Y. M. M. I. A. Manual for 1903-4. It
is unthinkable that this effort to publish a garbled edition of the
Book of Mormon was unknown to Grandin and those employed in his
establishment.
31. See chapter VIII, where this incident is treated and the fact
pointed out that the Prophet's precautions had protected the work from
the effects of such tricks as this described by Tucker.