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
"Martin Harris related an instance that occurred during the time
that he wrote that portion of the translation of the Book of
Mormon, which he was favored to write direct from the mouth of the
Prophet Joseph Smith. He said that the Prophet possessed a seer
stone, by which he was enabled to translate as well as from the
Urim and Thummim, and for convenience he then used the seer stone.
Martin explained the translation as follows: By aid of the seer
stone, sentences would appear and were read by the prophet and
written by Martin, and when finished he would say, 'Written,' and
if correctly written, that sentence would disappear and another
appear in its place, but if not written correctly it remained until
corrected, so that the translation was just as it was engraven
on the plates, precisely in the language then used. Martin said,
after continued translation they would become weary and would
go down to the river and exercise by throwing stones out on the
river, etc. While so doing on one occasion, Martin found a stone
very much resembling the one used for translating, and on resuming
their labor of translation, Martin put in place the stone that
he had found. He said that the Prophet remained silent unusually
and intently gazing in darkness, no traces of the usual sentences
appearing. Much surprised, Joseph exclaimed, 'Martin! What is the
matter? All is as dark as Egypt.' Martin's countenance betrayed
him, and the prophet asked Martin why he had done so. Martin said,
to stop the mouths of fools, who had told him that the Prophet had
learned those sentences and was merely repeating them, etc.
Martin said further that the seer stone differed in appearance
entirely from the Urim and Thummim that was obtained with the
plates, which were two clear stones set in two rims, very much
resembled spectacles, only they were larger. Martin said there
were not many pages translated while he wrote; after which Oliver
Cowdery did the writing.
In concluding this portion of our subject we desire to draw attention
to the entire agreement between the witnesses as to the manner in which
the plates were translated. If any fraud had been practiced, or there
had been a conspiracy to deceive, these witnesses in the lapse of so
many years would doubtless have told conflicting stories, especially in
regard to minor details. But as it is their statements are harmonious
one with the other, their testimony unchangeable and the whole
consistent with the narrative of the Prophet Joseph and the condition
of things by which they were then surrounded.
CHAPTER XIV.
INTERNAL EVIDENCES OF THE BOOK OF MORMON.
We will now consider for a short time a few of the internal evidences
of the genuineness of the Book of Mormon, or the proofs in itself that
it is what it claims to be, a record of God's dealings with the former
inhabitants of this continent.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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