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
It has been a theory among some that Joseph Smith himself secured the
Spaulding manuscript from the house of William H. Sabine of Onondaga
Valley, N.Y., for whom Smith worked as a teamster in 1823. [37]
According to another theory, Sidney Rigdon, while the "Manuscript
Found" was at the printing office, copied it, the original being
returned to Spaulding. A third theory supposes Smith to have copied
it while working for Sabine about 1823, leaving the original there. A
fourth theory makes Spaulding copy his story for the publisher while
keeping the duplicate at home to be afterward cared for by the family.
Under all of these theories, the original of Spaulding's rewritten
story was delivered in 1833 to D. P. Hurlburt to be used by E. D. Howe
in his then forthcoming book, "Mormonism Unveiled," but, according
to the Spaulding family, was by Hurlburt sold to the Mormons, and,
according to the Mormons, destroyed by Hurlburt because wholly unlike
the Book of Mormon. These theories can claim for themselves no greater
weight than that, in the opinion of their several non-Mormon advocates,
they furnish a possible explanation as to the connecting link between
Spaulding and Smith, but upon all essentials, except one, are without
any evidence which involves the conclusion deduced from it, and not one
of these theories is necessary as an explanation for the established
facts. The one element which has direct evidence in its support is the
allegation that Spaulding's rewritten story of the "Manuscript Found"
was, after Spaulding's death, in the possession of his widow. That
allegation rests upon the following statement of Spaulding's daughter,
Mrs. McKinstry, and the family belief in it without any additional
evidence upon which to base that belief. She says:
[Footnote 37: "Hand Book on Mormonism," 3; "Braden-Kelly Debate," 47 and
118.]
"In 1816 my father died at Amity, Pa, and directly after his death
my mother and myself went to visit my mother's brother, William H.
Sabine, at Onondaga Valley, Onondaga County, N Y. * * * We carried
our personal effects with us, and one of these was an old trunk in
which my mother had placed 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 old at this time." [38]
[Footnote 38: "New Light on Mormonism," 238; _Magazine of American
History,_ June, 1882; _Scribner's Monthly,_ August, 1880.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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