Defense of the Faith and the Saints (Volume 2 of 2)Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Religion
Defense of the Faith and the Saints (Volume 2 of 2)
Roberts, B. H. (Brigham Henry)
Latter Day Saint churches
This manuscript received by Hurlburt and given to Howe is the only
Spaulding manuscript written by Spaulding, making any reference to
the antiquities of America. It is the simon-pure and only "Manuscript
Found." Against this it is urged by Mr. Schroeder that "no such title
is discoverable anywhere upon or in the body of the manuscript in the
Oberlin library." [165] And yet with strange inconsistency he himself
a few pages further on admits--"It is even possible that this first
manuscript (meaning the one now at Oberlin), may at sometime have been
labeled "Manuscript Found." [166] But what is better than any "label"
on the manuscript inside or outside; better than any admission of Mr.
Schroeder's, is the fact that this manuscript is the one Mr. Spaulding
feigned to have found, and that he pretended to translate into English.
It is the "found" manuscript, and the only one that Spaulding pretended
or feigned to have found. It is the one that Mrs. McKinstry says she
had in her hands "many times" at Sabine's after 1816; and that "on the
outside of this manuscript were written the words, 'Manuscript Found.'"
[Footnote 165: _American Historical Magazine_, Sept., 1906, p. 386.
_Ante_ p. 20.]
[Footnote 166: Ibid. p. 390.]
Perhaps it was this positive statement that drove Mr. Schroeder to the
admission that it is possible that this manuscript at Oberlin may have
been so labeled. The descriptions of the Spaulding manuscript called
"Manuscript Found," by others, who had knowledge of it, agree very
nearly as to its size, and their descriptions fit the manuscript at
Oberlin and not at all such manuscript as would be required to make
the Book of Mormon. Thus, Mrs. McKinstry says that the manuscript she
had in her hands many times at Sabine's, and that was tied up with
some other stories, and had written on the outside of it, "Manuscript
Found," made the manuscript about "one inch thick." Mrs. (Spaulding)
Davidson in the Haven interview says her husband's manuscript was
"about one third as large as the Book of Mormon." (i.e., about one
third as much, Ms. as would be required to make the Book of Mormon).
The Davidson statement represents that John Spaulding was perfectly
familiar with the work of his brother, "Manuscript Found," _"and
repeatedly heard the whole of it read,"_ which might be possible with
the Spaulding manuscript, which, now that it is printed, makes 112
pages, but scarcely possible respecting a manuscript making a book of
about 600 such pages.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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