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The Myth of the "Manuscript Found," or the Absurdities of the "Spaulding Story": Eleventh Book of the Faith-promoting Series. Designed for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-day Saints.

History

The Myth of the "Manuscript Found," or the Absurdities of the "Spaulding Story": Eleventh Book of the Faith-promoting Series. Designed for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-day Saints.

Book of Mormon

"During the space of time which intervened between the time I had
    the vision and the year eighteen hundred and twenty-three (having
    been forbidden to join any of the religious sects of the day, and
    being of very tender years, and persecuted by those who ought to
    have been my friends, and to have treated me kindly, and if they
    supposed me to be deluded to have endeavored, in a proper and
    affectionate manner, to have reclaimed me), I was left to all kinds
    of temptations, and mingled with all kinds of society. I frequently
    fell into many foolish errors, and displayed the weakness of youth,
    and the corruption of human nature, which, I am sorry to say, led
    me into divers temptations, to the gratification of many appetites
    offensive in the sight of God. In consequence of these things I
    often felt condemned for my weakness and imperfections; when on the
    evening of the twenty-first of September, after I had retired to
    my bed for the night, I betook myself to prayer and supplication
    to Almighty God, for forgiveness of all my sins and follies, and
    also for a manifestation to me, that I might know of my state and
    standing before Him; for I had full confidence in obtaining a
    divine manifestation, as I had previously done."

The above is a simple, straightforward, artless statement of his
condition, in which he seeks to hide nothing, but at the same time
shows that the rebuffs he received, the persecutions he suffered from
those who should have been his guides and friends had sufficient
influence to cause him occasionally to give way to the weakness of
youth incidental to association with the rough and unrestrained society
he from his lowly position in life was naturally compelled to mingle
with.

When comparing the before-mentioned vile charges with the testimony
of those who knew the future Prophet's family best, we learn that
instead of being indolent, the family were "good workers;" instead of
being untruthful and vicious, they were honest, upright, religious and
veracious, good neighbors, kind in sickness, but very poor, and with
but little of the knowledge of this world. Their poverty, which some
uncharitable souls have transformed into "shiftlessness," or lack of
management, is one of the heaviest charges brought against them.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

History

The Myth of the "Manuscript Found," or the Absurdities of the "Spaulding Story": Eleventh Book of the Faith-promoting Series. Designed for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-day Saints.

Book of Mormon

"During the space of time which intervened between the time I had
    the vision and the year eighteen hundred and twenty-three (having
    been forbidden to join any of the religious sects of the day, and
    being of very tender years, and persecuted by those who ought to
    have been my friends, and to have treated me kindly, and if they
    supposed me to be deluded to have endeavored, in a proper and
    affectionate manner, to have reclaimed me), I was left to all kinds
    of temptations, and mingled with all kinds of society. I frequently
    fell into many foolish errors, and displayed the weakness of youth,
    and the corruption of human nature, which, I am sorry to say, led
    me into divers temptations, to the gratification of many appetites
    offensive in the sight of God. In consequence of these things I
    often felt condemned for my weakness and imperfections; when on the
    evening of the twenty-first of September, after I had retired to
    my bed for the night, I betook myself to prayer and supplication
    to Almighty God, for forgiveness of all my sins and follies, and
    also for a manifestation to me, that I might know of my state and
    standing before Him; for I had full confidence in obtaining a
    divine manifestation, as I had previously done."

The above is a simple, straightforward, artless statement of his
condition, in which he seeks to hide nothing, but at the same time
shows that the rebuffs he received, the persecutions he suffered from
those who should have been his guides and friends had sufficient
influence to cause him occasionally to give way to the weakness of
youth incidental to association with the rough and unrestrained society
he from his lowly position in life was naturally compelled to mingle
with.

When comparing the before-mentioned vile charges with the testimony
of those who knew the future Prophet's family best, we learn that
instead of being indolent, the family were "good workers;" instead of
being untruthful and vicious, they were honest, upright, religious and
veracious, good neighbors, kind in sickness, but very poor, and with
but little of the knowledge of this world. Their poverty, which some
uncharitable souls have transformed into "shiftlessness," or lack of
management, is one of the heaviest charges brought against them.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Myth of the "Manuscript Found," or the Absurdities of the "Spaulding Story": Eleventh Book of the Faith-promoting Series. Designed for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-day Saints.

The Myth of the "Manuscript Found," or the Absurdities of the "Spaulding Story": Eleventh Book of the Faith-promoting Series. Designed for the Instruction and Encouragement of Young Latter-day Saints.

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