Robert B. Neal
Newspapers

(Kentucky, early 1900s)

  • The Helper (1902-05)
    vol. 1  vol. 2   vol. 3  vol. 4  

  • Sword of Laban (1908-12)
        vol. 1  vol. 2  vol. 3  vol. 4  

  • The Highlander 1910-11

  • Neal's Pamphlets   Neal's Leaflets
  • Transcriber's Comments





  • Christian Standard   |   1897 Bays book   |   1914 Shook book   |   1900s J. D. Nutting

     

    Vol. 1                                     Olive Hill,  Ky.  August, 1902                                   No. 1


    (numbers 1-3 under construction)





     


    Vol. 1                                     Olive Hill,  Ky.  December, 1902                                   No. 4



    The National Anti-Mormon Missionary Association
    __________

    Of the Churches of Christ
    __________

    Jas. W. Darby, President: McArthur, Ohio
    W. T. Hilton, Treasurer: Omaha, Neb.
    John T. Bridwell, Gen. Sec., Trimble, Ohio.

    BOARD:

    J. F. Ghormley, - Portland, Ore.
    D. H. Bays, - Collins, Iowa.
    L. H. Keller, - Carrolton, Mo.
    R. B. Neal, - Grayson, Ky.
    Jno. T. Bridwell, - Trimble, Ohio.

    __________


    Constitution.
    ______

    1. The name of this organization shall be the National Anti-Mormon Association of the Churches of Christ.

    2. Its object shall be to carry on the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in every community where the Mormon delusion has obtained a foothold, or is likely to do so.

      By the distribution of Christian literature;
      By lectures and addresses;
      By discussions;

    And by the work of itinerant and other missionaries. We shall endeavor in every way to assist our congregations and missionary societies, and promote the general interests of the cause of Christ.

    3. The membership of this Association shall consist of all persons interested in the overthrow of Mormonism who contribute to its general or other funds.

    4. The general oversight of the work shall be entrusted to a Board consisting of five members, together with such ex-officio members, as shall be herein provided for. This board shall serve for one year and shall be selected at the time and place of the International Conventions of the Churches of Christ.

    5. A President and a Treasurer shall be selected at the same session, each to serve for one year, and perform the duties usually pertaining to such offices. They shall be ex-officio members of the general Board.

    6. There shall be also a general Secretary selected by the Board. t shall be the duty of the Board to assign his duties and provide for his salary.

    7. The Board shall select a Corresponding Secretary for each State and Territory of the United States, for each Province of the Dominion of Canada and other countries. In the United States each State Secretary shall select an Assistant Secretary for each Missionary District where his State or Territory is so divided, and each District Secretary shall in turn select a correspondent for each congregation of the district. If the State or Territory is not divided into districts, the State Secretary shall select such correspondents in counties or congregations as he may think proper. These Secretaries and Correspondents are to act under the direction of the Board and General Secretary.


    (under construction)



    Notes: (forthcoming)


     


    Vol. 1                     Olive Hill, Ky. January, 1903                     No. 5

     
     

    The editor of the Saints Herald, Lamoni, Iowa, conferred a favor on the editor of The Helper by "proof-reading" our last issue and calling attention to what Charlie Mehan would call "box errors." His sheet was shown to our typos, mountain school boys who are "learning to set type." Joseph 3rd, Seer of the Reorganized church and editor of the Saints Herald can rest in the assurance that his criticisms will be heeded along the line.   Thanks,



     

    Why Did the Mormons Divide into Factions?

    To answer this question, places us at a view poit of Mormonism, from which the Josephites (Reorganized Church) least wish to be viewed. The Josephites unceasingly insist, that the real differences between them and the Salt Lake Mormons, or Brighamites, is that the Josephites do not teach and practice polygamy; and that Joseph Smith, Jr., Seer and Prophet, was not responsible for that corrupt, soul-destroying and woman degrading practice; but that Brigham Young originated it. While so far as I am acquainted with the Josephites, they do not practice polygamy, yet in this they have erred from the faith. Polygamy began at Kirtland, O., the sealing of Nancy Rigdon [sic] to Joseph Smith, the being among the first (see Appendix C., evidence of William Smith, Braden and Kelley Debate) and was practiced beyond question at Nauvoo, (as has been proven over and over again) before the death of Joseph Smith, and by the prophet himself, under a pretended revelation received by him on the 12th day of July 1843, (Encyclopedia Britannica, art. Mormonism.) But what gave rise to about a dozen factions of Mormonism, the more prominent of which are Brighamites, Josephites, Strangites, Hedrickites, Rigdonites and Whitmerites, was the one burning question, that arose on the death of Joseph Smith, Seer, in 1844; Who shall succeed to the Presidency of the church? Quite a number came forward, claiming that God had revealed to him, that he was to be the successor. Each one pressed his claims; among these were Brigham Young, Sidney Rigdon, James J. Strang and some of the Smiths; but Brigham Young secured the successorship by having each claimant ex-communicated. Brigham wasin the saddle and he unhorsed all comers, notwithstanding God's revelation especially given to each one. This created the divisions, each had his followers and they organized. The true Mormon church however went to Salt Lake, headed by Brigham Young, where they would still practice polygamy openly in accordance with the pretended revelation given to the founder; if it were not for the strong arm of the United States.

    Quite a faction of Mormons insisted that the only rightful successor was the oldest son of the Prophet; this oldest son Joseph who is now the President of the Reorganized Church, was then a mere boy; this faction had its first meeting about 1851, and in 1860 Joseph Smith became the President of the Reorganized Church.

    It is remarkable that for many years after this faction arose it did not deny, that polygamy was practiced and taught by the founder; and another remarkable thing is that they now deny it in the face of all proofs.

    Each of the dozen factions, created twelve apostles, each claiming Divine appointment, and at one time there were 144 apostles, and I concede that one twelve was just as good as another. Some of these factions have become defunct and quit business, but we still have, if I am correctly informed, 72 apostles; some do more business than others, but certainly this is sufficient.

    The true followers of the founder, Joseph Smith are the Brighamites with their polygamy, Adam-God worship and their right to shed the blood of apostates.

    These factions are all organized in exactly the same way except the Strangites, they all cling to Joseph Smith with all his filth as a true prophet of God. The inspired translation of the Bible by Joseph Smith, the founder is preferred above any other translation; on an equality with the Bible, they place the Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrines and Covenants as divinely inspired books. Let us not be deceived by any faction of the followers of Joseph Smith, the pretended prophet, who was the greatest deceiver of modern times.
                 Very Respectfully,
                              JAMES W. DARBY.

    (under construction)



    Notes: (forthcoming)

     


    Vol. 1                     Olive Hill, Ky. February, 1903                     No. 6



    The Mormon Christian War.

    Our series of articles are creating a marked sensation in Mormon camps and headquarters.

    To "Reply" before one has heard the argument is not wise. It is simply "a flank movement" on their part. We are not to be diverted from the main issue. The battle is between Mormons. It is a family fight and promises to be the Kilkenny Cat kind. Hard words hurled at us will avail nothing. As sure as "grass grows and water flows," Joseph Smith Jr. was the author of that infernal "revelation" on polygamy. This we will prove by Mormons.

    Our first article (Dec. issue of The Helper) closed with this query and assertion: "Is there anything to confirm Kingsbury's statement? Yea, verily, very much.

    We have a copy of Eld. Wm. Clayton's oath made statement before us.

    He was clerk in the office of Joseph Smith, Jr., and it was his duty to write the revelations (?) made by the so-called "prophet." The statement was made in Sal Lake City, Utah, on February 16, 1874, and is as follows:

    "On May 1, 1843, I officiated in the office of elder by marrying Lucy Walker to the prophet Joseph Smith at his own residence. During this period the prophet took several other wives. Among the number I well remember Eliza Partridge, Emily Partridge, Sarah Ann Whitney, Helen Kimball and Flora Woodworth. All these, he acknowledged to me were his lawfully wedded wives, according to the celestial order.

    "On the morning of July 12, 1843 Joseph and Hyrum came into the office in the upper story of the brick store on the bank of the Mississippi river. They were talking on the subject of plural marriage. Hyrum said to Joseph: 'If you will write the revelation of celestial marriage, I will take it and read it to Emma; and I believe that I can convince her of its truth, and you will hereafter have peace. Joseph smiled, and remarked" 'as well as I do.' Hyrum replied 'The doctrine is so plain that I can convince any reasonable man or woman of its truth, purity and heavenly origin,' -- or words to that effect. Joseph then said, 'Well, I will write the revelation and we will see.' Joseph then requested me to get paper and prepare to write. Hyrum very urgently requested Joseph to write the revelation by means of the Urim and Thummim, but Joseph said he did not need to, for he knew the revelation perfectly from beginning to end. Joseph and Hyrum then sat down and Joseph commenced to dictate the revelation on celestial marriage, and I wrote it, sentence by sentence, as he dictated. After the whole truth was written, Joseph asked me to read it thru, slowly and carefully, which I did, and he pronounced it correct. The revelation was read to several of the authorities during the day. Toward evening Bishop Newel K. Whitney asked Joseph if he had any objection to his taking a copy of the revelation. Joseph replied that he had not, and handed it to him it was carefully copied on the following day by Joseph C. Kingsbury. The copy made by Joseph C. Kingsbury is a true and correct copy of the original in every respect.

    Clayton confirms Kingsbury and Kingsbury confirms Clayton.

    We have certainly traced by high Mormon testimony, and sworn testimony at that, the "Revelation(?)" to Joseph Smith Jr.

    These Elders testify to questions of fact, about which they could not have been deceived. It is beyond conception that they should swear falsely about such a matter.

    We have more testimony as strong as this, if not stronger. When through with our affirmative work we will carefully examinr all our "Josephite" friends can urge against our proofs. Be patient gentlemen.


    Notes: (forthcoming)


     


    Vol. 1                     Olive Hill, Ky. March, 1903                     No. 7.



    (issues 7-9 under construction)



    Notes: (forthcoming)

     


    Vol. 1                   Morehead & Olive Hill, Ky., June, 1903                   No. 10

     

    A  RARE  BOOK.

    R. B. NEAL

    I not only "fished for" but "caught" another copy of E. D. Howe's rare and valuable old book. It is now before me... Mormonism Unveiled... by E. D. Howe, Painesville: Printed and published by the author, 1834.

    This is the third copy of this rare old book that I have seen and handled.

    The copy before me is complete and is "a loan." It could not be bought perhaps for any price, reasonable or unreasonable.

    The first copy I ever got hold of after years of effort belonged to a daughter of E. D. Howe. Nro. Frank E. Ferris, of Painesville, O., located it for me at Columbus. My efforts "to beg, buy or borrow it" fell to the ground. I reported to Bro. Ferris. He took the cars for that city and soon had it borrowed for self, Soon after the express brought it to me. It was a perfect copy.

    I had it copied from the first to the last pages by a careful hand and a good penman before I returned it.

    While I had it a friend in Philadelphia found a copy a little mutilated, a few of the front pages being minus, and sent it to me. Presented it to me. It was a genuine copy. I compared it with the complete copy. That book is now in the hands of J. W. Darby, McArthur, O., our President. No doubt our Gen. Sec'y, Jno. T. Bridwell, has copied it by this time.

    It is our purpose to reprint this work soon as possible. In any event we have secured, by copying, against its loss. Since then I borrowed another complete copy, one of the first editions and have it before me,

    Recently Bro. A. B. Wade went on a hunt for a copy in Ohio and got it. He usually gets what he goes after. It is minus one or two pages only. So we now are prepared to verify any quotations for polemics. It will be useless to try to borrow the book.

    How many are ready to pledge one dollar for a copy of this book if I have it reprinted? Money to be paid when book is ready. Speak promptly,

    (under construction)



    Notes: (forthcoming)

     


    Vol. 1                     Morehead, Ky. July, 1903                     No. 11



    (under construction)



    Notes: (forthcoming)

     


    Vol. 1                    Morehead, Ky., August, 1903                    No. 12


    What Say You?

    This issue closes Vol. 1, of THE HELPER. Haven't space to recite its struggles. What say you to doubling, yes trebling, the size, and charging 25 cents per year? Will you stand by us? If [5 hundred] will respond, we will launch it next month. Promptly roll in your postals.
     


    Next issue we commence Vol. 2 -- No. 1. Renewals are in order. Naturally, the office work, in view of the field work of the editor, has been neglected. With next issue the whole office work passes into hands that will have time and take a delight in attending to it.

    (under construction)



    Notes: (forthcoming)

     


    Vol. 2                    Morehead, Ky., October, 1903                    No. 1




    (issues 1 & 2 under construction)



    Notes: (forthcoming)

     


    Vol. 2                    Morehead, Ky., December, 1903                    No. 3



    Booth's Bombs Bursted, Backward Killing the Sender

    R. B. Neal, evangelist, Grayson, Kentucky, sends out Anti-Mormon Tract No. 6, containing the letters written by Rev. Ezra Booth to Rev. Ira Eddy. He calls them "Booth's Bombs," etc. To begin the tract, we have this remarkable information:

    "Years of experience among them affords him (Booth) unusual opportunities to detect their wily schemes, and thus to expose them at their every move."

    The reader will note that Booth went in among them for the purpose of "detecting their wily schemes" -- went in a hypocrite and came out a "circus rider." ... Suppose he joined the church in September, 1830; he left them in August, 1831. During those "few months" he had "years of experience among them!"

    The above is from The Watchman, whose stupidity wiull soon pass into a proverb.

    Not another man, woman or child on earth would bracket the name of (Booth) in that clause in Fred L. Rowe's Introduction to the tract.

    Read the following and then cast a vote for a long pair of ears for the editor of The Watchman.

    The author of this series of tracts (Neal's Anti-Mormon tract. He is introducing No. 6.) neither slumbers nor sleeps in his determined effort to manacle this hideous monster. If the Christian world is not enlightened regarding the ins and outs and numerous deceitful practices of the Mormon Church, it will not be the fault of the author. Years of experience among them afford him unusual opportunities to detect their wily schemes and thus to expose them at their every move....

    In his successful search for the records contained in these pages Bro. Neal deserves the vigorous applause of the Christian world, and this applause can take no better form than in a hearty co-operation on the part of all foes of iniquity in scattering these pamphlets and thus purifying the atmosphere against all contagion from Mormonism. A few thousands of Booth's Bombs thrown into the camp of the enemy will annihilate this dangerous doctrine.
                                                    F. L. Rowe

    It is truly ludicrous. The College of Apostles of the L.D.S. ought to meet and "fire the Editor of the Watchman." He can't see even a little bit...


    (under construction)



    Notes: (forthcoming)

     


    Vol. 2                    Morehead, Ky., January, 1904                    No. 4


     

    Mormon against Mormon
    _______

    J. W. DARBY.

    Elder B. H. Roberts of the "Brighamites" wrote a book entitled "Succession in the Presidency of the Church" against which Heman C. Smith of the "Josephites" wrote a book entitled "True Succession in Church Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints." The first labors to show that Brigham Young and his successors were the rightful Presidents after the death of Joseph, the Prophet; and the second to show that the present Joseph Smith, son of the Prophet is the rightful President and that the "Reorganized Church is the only and true Latter Day Church.

    These two books when read side by side are very interesting: they show the rottenness of the Mormon fabric...

    (under construction)



    Notes: (forthcoming)

     


    Vol. 2                     Morehead, Ky., Feb. & March, 1904                     Nos. 5 & 6


    Mormon vs Mormon

    (James W. Darbey.)

    True Succession in Church Presidency by Heman C. Smith tells a good many interesting things on the Brighamites: he gives us the language of Brigham Young setting forth Blood-Atonement...

    (under construction)



    Notes: (forthcoming)

     


    Vol. 2                     Morehead, Ky., Apr. & May, 1904                     Nos. 7 & 8



    (under construction)



    Notes: (forthcoming)

     


    Vol. 2                    Morehead, Ky., June & July, 1904                    Nos. 9 - 10


     

    Smithianity

    A friend, when he saw the above word, which we coined to meet the emergencies of the case, quaintly remarked: "It ought to be Smith-insanity." It looks as if the amendment ought to be accepted, in view of the following facts: Brigham Young is, next to Joseph Smith, Jr., the highest authority in all Mormonism. The "Josephites" may deny it, but two to one of Mormonism will affirm it. I have before me the "Journal of Discourses," Vol. XI (1856). It is full of richness. Brigham Young quotes Joseph Smith, Jr., as proof. Twine the two together -- Brigham Young and Joseph Smith, Jr. -- and it is the top notch of proof. Brigham Young declares that only persons with Jewish blood, the royal blood, will be called. He says that in a family of ten children, nine will be pure Gentiles and one will be "purity of the blood of Ephraim." He says: "If a pure Gentile firmly believes the gospel of Jesus Christ and yields obedience to it, in such a case I will give you the words of the prophet Joseph: 'When the Lord pours out the Holy Ghost upon that individual, he will have spasms, and you would think that he was going into fits.'" Joseph Smith, Jr., said that the Gentile blood was actually cleansed out of the veins and the blood of Jacob made to circulate in them, and the revolution and change in the system were so great that it caused the beholder to think they were going into fits. Thus they account for the scenes at the modern mourners' benches and sanctifcation altars. They contend that Jesus "looked on his seed from the cross." Of course this "pure blood of Ephraim" means literal flesh and blood kinship to Jesus. They state that he had a plurality of wives. Had children by them all. Will pull the curtain clear up on this question soon.

    (under construction)



    Notes: (forthcoming)

     


    Vol. 2                         Morehead, Ky., August, 1904                         No. 11


     

    R. B. NEAL.

    The accompanying picture fairly represents our mountain evangelist, R. B. Neal. The following outline will give some idea of this remarkably active and useful worker.

    R. B. Neal is a Kentucky preacher. He was born in Georgetown, Ky., in 1847; was married in Louisville in 1876; moved to the mountains of Kentucky in 1893; is a vigorous, contenuous fighter of saloonism, Calvinism, Mormonism and devilism of any sort or kind. He publishes THE HELPER, a monthly;

    an eight-page paper, only 25 cents per year. His paper is the official organ of the National Anti-Mormon Missionary Association of the Churches of Christ. It is a sledge-hammer hitter. Send to him, at Grayson, Ky., for a sample copy.

    The foregoing is the very briefest outline of a life which, if written in full, would make a book which would read like a romance. He spent his early years as a city evangelist in Cincinnati, O., and Louisville, Ky. From overwork and accidents he became broken in health. He went to the mountains of eastern Kentucky to recuperate, and found it so helpful that he has remained there.

    He has his own "bungalow," as he calls it, at Grayson, Ky. Here his faithful, devoted wife resides, and to this place he comes to rest, and from it goes out to win new victories for the Lord.

    He is in splendid health, and rides on horseback over rough, long journeys in the mountains. "Daisy," his splendid steed, is very useful, but sometimes spreads the gospel in an unexpected way.

    Bro. Neal works for the Morehead mountain mission school, organizes C. W. B. M. auxiliaries, and does much else which we have not the space to mention in this brief sketch of a long and fruitful lige. --- H. C. B. in the Watch Tower.



    (under construction)



    Notes: (forthcoming)

     


    Vol. 2                         Morehead, Ky., September, 1904                         No. 12




    (under construction)



    Notes: (forthcoming)

     


    Vol. 3                         Morehead, Ky., October, 1904                         No. 1


     

    Shades of Whitsitt.

    Listen to this from a Mormon elder in a Mormon paper:

                                          Hickman, Ky., June 17, 1904.
      Editors Herald: -- After I came here and preached a few times for the Baptist, Rev. H. H. Milburn, he liked me so very much that he begged of me to stay here and preach for him about ten days while he went to St. Louis. I was very glad to get the chance to preach the doctrine of Christ to the people. To date he has been gone four weeks -- a very long ten days indeed. So I still hold the fort. Some of the members say I am the best preacher they ever heard in their lives. This is pretty good to start out on. The Same people started to build a Baptist church here just before the minister left for St. Louis; have done very well. I expect to preach in it this coming Sunday. I am working very carefully with the people. I received a letter a few days ago from Bro. T. C. Kelley which cheered me up very much. He said in his letter: "Bro. Graves, when you are received among the people and get a good chance to preach among them, do not be in too big a hurry to get away. Stay by them as long as you see one spark of light." I think that to be true; for the longer I stay the better the people can see the light. Pray for me, dear Saints, that God may bless me while here in Hickman. Should the elders see this letter in the Herald and desire to write to me I will be very glad to receive their letter. In gospel bonds.
                                          G. H. Graves.

    A Mormon elder, PASTOR of a Kentucky Baptist Church, will dedicate the new church house -- is stealing the hearts of Millburn's flock.

    Where is J. W, Hall? What is the matter with the American Baptist Flag? Give them hot shot at Hickman. Blaze away.


    (under construction)



    Note: It is unclear what Rev. Robert B. Neal meant by titling his reprint of the Kentucky RLDS Elder's letter, with "Shades of Whitsitt." Rev. Neal may have been making an oblique reference to Dr. William H. Whitsitt having been viewed as a heretic by many Southern Baptists, and Neal was perhaps subtly painting Rev. H. H. Milburn with the same derogatory brush. Although William H. Whitsitt's ideas on the origins of Mormonism and the Book of Mormon paralleled those of R. B. Neal in some respects, Neal is not known to have ever quoted from Whitsitt as an anti-Mormon source, or to have extended the beleaguered former President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary even the courtesy of a passing mention of Whitsitt's labors in furnishing the world a biography of Sidney Rigdon. etc. Other than this one, minimal reference to Whitsitt in his Oct. 1904 issue of The Helper, R. B. Neal appears to have ignored Whitsitt (a fellow Kentuckian and a well known religious figure in his day), almost totally.

     


    Vol. 3                         Morehead, Ky., November, 1904                         No. 2


     

    An Important Query.

    "Bro. Neal: -- Do you think that the so-called 'Manuscript Found,' or 'Manuscript Story,' published by the Josephites, is n reality the writing of Solomon Spaulding?

    "The evidence printed with it is as follows: 'The writings of Solomon Spaulding, by Aaron Wright, Oliver Smith, John N. Miller and others. The testimonies of the above gentlemen are now in my possession.     (Signed) D. P. Hurlburt.'

    "How did they prove that Spaulding wrote it? This might be a copy of something else. Bro. Bays thinks this is Spaulding's story. I seriously doubt it.

    We believe that the Honolulu find, published by both the "Brighamites" and the "Josephites," is a manuscript of Solomon Spaulding's. We have the clearest kind of proof for this apsart from "the evidence printed with it."

    Bro. Bays thinks it is the "Manuscript Found." You have a right to doubt that. Bays is wrong and has no proof for his position. If he thinks he has, we want it.

    The very proof that the Mormons must rely on to prove this "Roman Story" a production of Solomon Spaulding's, proves that it is not "The Manuscript Found," and also proves beyond a doubt that the "Manuscript Found" of Solomon Spaulding is the basis of the Book of Mormon.

    We are preparing a tract along that line. In the meanwhile, we are rather anxious for some one to test our conclusions in THE HELPER. As sure as the sun shines, grass grows and water flows, a manuscript of Solomon Spaulding was the nest egg for the Book of Mormon. The proof is abundant, of easy access and conclusive.


    (under construction)



    Note 1: Elder Davis H. Bays (March 1839-Oct.? 1905) was an RLDS missionary who defected to the ranks of the Disciples of Christ during the 1890s. In his 1897 book, Doctrines and Dogmas of Mormonism, Bays discounted the viability of the Solomon Spaldings claims for Book of Mormon authorship and appeared to favor the notion that Oliver Cowdery had something to do with writing the book. Rev. R. B. Neal, on the other hand, was a firm supporter of the Spalding authorship conclusions drawn by numerous investigators over the previous 70 years. Rev. R. B. Neal's 1905 partial publication of the purported "Oliver Cowdery Defence" pamphlet may have swayed Bays' beliefs in this matter, however.

    Note 2: Rev. Neal says this in his 1906 tract publication of the Cowdery "Defence": "D. H. Bays, in his excellent work "The Doctrines and Dogmas of Mormonism," page 25, holds to Judge Lang's view about Cowdery working over Spaulding's "Manuscript Found" and evolving the Book of Mormon." In fact, in his 1897 book Bays did NOT "hold to" anybody "working over Spaulding's Manuscript Found" to produce the Mormon scriptures. However, Elder Bays and Rev. Neal were both prominent members of the National Anti-Mormon Missionary Organization; probably were in at least occasional correspondence with each other; and Bays shortly before his death, may have communicated some private thoughts to Neal -- regarding the "working over" of a Spalding manuscript. This appears to be the most logical explanation for why Rev. Neal spoke so assuredly in 1906 of the late Elder Bays' support for the notion of "Cowdery working over Spaulding's 'Manuscript Found' and evolving the Book of Mormon."


     


    Vol. 3                         Morehead, Ky., Dec. - Jan., 1904-5                         Nos. 3, 4


     

    Translating (?) The Book of Mormon

    1. Time Occupied. -- We take the following from the pen of Eld. George Reynolds, a very high authority in Mormonism. It is found on page 71 of "The Myth of the Manuscript Found":

    " Objection has been made to the divinity of the Book of Mormon on the ground that the account given in the publications of the church, of the time occupied in the work of translation is far too short for the accomplishment of such a labor, and consequently it must have been copied or transcribed from some work written in the English language, most probably from Spaulding's 'Manuscript Found.' But at the outset it must be recollected that the translation was accomplished by no common method, by no ordinary means. It was done by divine aid. There were no delays over obscure passages, no difficulties over the choice of words, no stoppages from the ignorance of the translator; no time was wasted in investigation or argument over the value, intent or meaning of certain characters, and there were no references to authorities. These difficulties to human work were removed. All was as simple as when a clerk writes from dictation. The translation of the characters appeared on the Urim and Thummim, sentence by sentence, and as soon as one was correctly transcribed the next would appear. So the enquiry narrows down to the consideration of this simple question, how much could Oliver Cowdery write in a day?..."

    "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." (p. 91)

    "The tablets or plates were translated by Smith, who used a small oval or kidney-shaped stone, called Urim and Thummim, that seemed endowed with the marvelous power of converting the characters on the plates, when used by Smith, into English: who would then dictate to Cowdery what to write. Frequently one character would make two lines of manuscript while others made but a word or two words. Mr. Whitmer emphatically asserts, as did Harris and Cowdery, that while Smith was dictating the translation he had no manuscript notes or other means of knowledge, save the seer stone and the characters as shown on the plates, he being present and cognizant how it was done." (p. 83.)

    There are some remarkable contradictions here. One says he used the "Urim and Thummim," another that he used a "seer stone." One says that they were the same, another that they were different.

    Strange that God would hide up for years the Urim and Thummim that Smith might be able "to translate the plates" when a small stone stolen from the children of Willard Chase, which Smith called the "seer stone," could do the work as well and with more convenience.


    (under construction)



    Notes: (forthcoming)

     


    Vol. 3                         Morehead, Ky., Feb. - Mar., 1905                         Nos. 5, 6




    (under construction)



    Notes: (forthcoming)

     


    Vol. 3                         Morehead, Ky., Apr. - May, 1905                         Nos. 7, 8



    THE  MORMON  PROBLEM.

    [Z.] H. GURLEY.

    NO. I.

    There are four bodies of people, out of possibly twenty odd formerly, claiming more or less the divine call of Joseph Smith: The "Brighamites" of Utah; the "Josephites" of Lamoni, Ia.; the "Whitmerites" of Richmond, Mo.; the "Hedrickites" of Independence, Mo.

    The Brighamites carried off church archives, "High Council" proceedings about all the "apostles." most of the "high priests," when they emigrated from Nauvoo, Ill., to Utah.

    The Whitmerites claimed to have the "original MSs. of the Book of Mormon."

    The Hedrickites were awarded the "Temple Lot" by decree of court. Said "Lot" in Independence, Mo. It was supposed to be the "center spot of Zion." Zion construed as the whole U. S., which the saints are to possess "by and by."

    The Josephites" with open arms received "Little Joseph," the oldest son of the "prophet" and founder of Mormonism. "Little Joseph" at once becomes their "Prophet, Seer, Revelator," and I think "Translator." If the latter is inappropriate, or not claimed, then the reader will please omit; but counting the other three, add, "President over the high priesthood of the church," "apostle" and an "elder." He has at least six cognomens. His father had "seven" -- heads in English; besides others, of some imported language. See "Doctrine and Covenants," Peter had two -- "apostle" and "an elder;" but Joseph had several at least.' Each one had a "horn" or two, of "power."

    Thus we may see by the above how at least their "inheritances were divided by lot." In November, 1851, Jason W. Briggs, of Beloit, Wis., made the prime move for the organization of the Josephites -- in a revelation. He had accepted the "Law'' given by the prophet Joseph as the premise, and being strongly logical, he built accordingly. Ere death claimed him, he renounced it all, alleging that "inspiration usually follows the antecedent thought," and his own revelation was now so construed. But the premise he rejected as anti-Christian;

    Zenas H. Gurley, Sr. (deceased), my father, accepted the revelation some months later, just after a fifteen-year old girl had declared that "Joseph Smith, the son of Joseph Smith, is the successor of the prophet Joseph Smith. It is his right by lineage, saith the Lord." A perusal of "Doctrines and Covenants" will confirm this idea. Joseph had made provision for his son, i. e., in the "Law" -- while yet some fifty, perhaps, had claimed! special ordination. to "Moses' Seat" by the prophet, and David Whitmer was one. This Josephite Church was our heritage.

    I was born in the same State -- Wisconsin; the same year -- 1852, as was the Josephite Church, they holding their first conference in June, 1852. I thank God that my children are free from its doctrinal influences. We read ourselves out of the body in 1886. I had been a member eleven years. Ordained a priest in 1878, and an elder in 1881. THE HELPER is certainly absolutely correct in insisting that there is but "one issue" viz.: "Was Joseph Smith a prophet of God?" I do not read any where of a "fallen prophet" of God continuing to guide a people. Moses sinned, but God took him. Jonah was perhaps the nearest approach to the thought; but as a friend and brother, B. F. Bonnell, a critical reader, remarked, "He got 'whaled,' and so came out all right." If Joseph Smith was indeed a prophet of God, then his "words" and "works" were of God, and the strong statement of D. and C. (Doctrine and Covenants), Sec. 19, Par. 2, is proper. But if he was not a prophet of God, than the whole superstructure of the ism must perforce be of the devil. He and all his followers claim supernatural power. They disclaim to be of human origin; Their object was to overturn all things human. The very nature of the claim for Joseph Smith removes him from. the line of the "Reformers." He was either a "Restorer" or a "Revolutionist." No normal human would claim to be a "prophet of God," an "apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ," the divinely inspired founder of the "only true church," "ordained by an angel of God," etc. It must be apparent to all thinkers that no middle ground can possibly or consistently be taken.

    We are commanded to judge a "tree by its fruit;" a "fountain" by its waters. Let any one candidly judge the record of Joseph's followers from 1829 to 1905, and answer; With-all classes did the "tree" produce good or bad fruit? The late J. W. Briggs; whose knowledge of all was greater than mine, wrote me years ago that there were mare tares than wheat. There were the Brighamites, Strangites, Rigdonites, Lyman Wightites, Brooksites, Thompsonites, Brewsterites, Wm. B. Smithites -- the latter claiming only for a time to be a "protector of the heir apparent," Cromwell-like -- and other ites -- and mites. Many of them inculcating polygamy, in some form or other; all of them claiming the power of Moses, promise to lead; all making a call for the faith in "Zion" land -- "temple" building, "high priests," etc., etc. Carrying a piece of the exploded shell of Nauvoo with them. All shouting their praise of the dead prophet, no doubt. Brigham was the smartest for the hour. He secured the greater following. I believe he was nearer in accord with the prophet, both in moral and mental acumen, as the cause of his success he mimicked his voice, I'm told. The people shouted, "Bro. Joseph's mantle has fallen upon him." The evil in the record of Mormons is directly traced to the prophet as the evil genius, instituting the evil practice. In this letter I will content myself with the statement. The evidence may be had if desired The elder of the Whitmerite Church from Lamoni, Ia, on "A 'Translator, not a Prophet," did quite well considering his environments, especially in his assertion "that an acceptance of the Book of Mormon is by no means indispensable to spiritual regeneration and acceptance with Christ " Ye editor did well to "Amen" the truth. That was an advance step. The need of the hour is to feel after all such, that maybe God's grace will reach them to step out for the whole truth of the fullness" of the mission of Christ, who came to earth in the "fullness" of time, some nineteen hundred years ago. The great mass of the members of these best factions, are, and were, as we were, unlearned, untutored in the Bible, Bible history, and for the most part in the history of the prophet Joseph Smith and his churches. Here lies the secret of church success, with the appeal to the element of credulity: "First, apostles; secondary, prophets." The claim of modern "apostles of Jesus Christ" is ample for the rejection of Joseph's claims. How much greater, then, to add to that the claim of "high priests" -- when the "Church of Christ never had but one -- even Jesus the Christ, who made the sacrifice "once for all." Then add the item of that "angel," (John the Baptist)" ordaining Joseph and Oliver to the Aaronic priesthood, claiming powers for this priesthood never held with it in the days of Moses and Aaron. The unchristianlike claim of a "Moses and Aaron." The claim of two priesthoods in the church so much at war with Heb. vii. 11, 12, for as with the priesthood so with the "law," a "change" had been wrought, a complete exchange of both the "priesthoods" and "law." The doubling-up process of the two priesthoods would necessitate the doubling up to laws. As with the one, so with the other. Then the Seventh-day Sabbath folks are right. Ah! yes. And the woman with two husbands would be right also. See Rom. vii. 1-4. :But not so. The whole Testament is the antithesis of Joseph Smith.


    TESTIMONIAL

    Of Daniel B. Turney, D. D., the Polemic of the Methodist Protestant Church.

    R. B. Neal, of Grayson, Ky., has been rendering a valuable service to truth and righteousness, by his useful series of anti-Mormon tracts. His exposures of the imposture are authentic and trenchant. In fighting the delusion, he furnishes a full quiver of arrows barbed with the evidence to produce clear conviction as to the true inwardness of the basest fraud that ever hocus-pocussed any portion of humanity. The most effective method for meeting Mormon misrepresentations has certainly been taken by Bro. Neal, and a community properly vaccinated with his little anti-Mormon wasps will be positively immune from the delusion of Mormonism.     DANIEL B. TURNEY.
       Effingham, Ill.



    "THE BOOK OF COMMANDMENTS."

    CLARK BRADEN.

    Unless the facts in regard to "The Book of Commandments" are put in better shape, Mormons will baffle and nullify all use of it, by the demand: "Prove the authorities of the church published the book, or accepted or sanctioned it."

    Smith, or rather Rigdon, through Smith, began to give "revelations" in August, 1828. In the last Lamoni edition of "The Book of Doctrine and Covenants," Sec. LXX., p. 175, by revelation, Joseph Smith, Jr., Sidney Rigdon, Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery, John Whitmer and W. W. Phelps are made "stewards" over the revelations and their publication. They are ordered to have them taken to Zion, Independence, Mo., and published. (Sec. LXXXIII., p. 211.) Money is provided for their publication. (Sec. LXVII., p. 170.) The Lord challenges Smith's critics to produce a revelation equal to the least of Smith's revelations in "The Book of Commandments."

    Sec. I., p 7, was "preface" to the "Book of Commandments," and is called "My Preface to the Book of Commandments."

    All of these revelations were given years before the publication of the present "Book of Doctrines and Covenants," and refer to another, an earlier book, "The Book of Commandments." In the Kirtland edition, the first edition of "The Book of Doctrines and Covenants," published in 1835, on page 38 "The Book of Commandments" is quoted as revelation. Two quotations, with chapter, paragraph and line; exactly as they are in the "Book of Commandments" and in no other book.

    There was a book, "The Book of Commandments," printed by authority of revelation and of a committee appointed by revelation. The revelations were printed in the columns of the Evening and Morning Star; the official organ of the church, published in Independence, Mo. The type used in the columns of the paper was arranged in book form, and in forms of sixteen pages each, 160 pages, were printed for an edition of 3,000 copies, ordered by the authorities of the church. When the tenth form had been printed, and before the rest of the revelations had been printed, a mob wrecked the office, and threw the sheets into the street. It was dangerous for Mormons to be on the street. They hired boys to bring to them all the sheets they could collect. When they had arranged them, they had the pages: for twelve or thirteen copies of the 160 pages printed. These were bound at different places, and there are now in existence eight or ten copies. "The Book of Commandments" was not all printed, and never was published, except as stated above. But the printing that was done, was in obedience to the action of the authorities of the church, and by authority of revelation; and was done by authority of a committee appointed by revelation, in the official organ of the church, in the Evening and Morning Star (2490) quoted by. R. M. Elvin in the Saints' Herald, the official organ of the Josephites, Aug. 30, 1884. The First Presidency, Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon and F. G. Williams, the highest authority in the church, the prophet himself, declare that the revelations as printed in the Star were correct, just as the Lord gave them, except four unimportant words. This settles all dispute in regard to the accuracy of "The Book of Commandments" and the sanction of the churches.

    It was quoted in the first edition of the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants" as a book, giving chapter, paragraph and line, and as a revelation.

    As all copies of "The Book of Commandments" were in the hands of Mormons, they felt safe in so changing the "revelations" in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants" that the Mormon god would not know his own progeny. After doing this with tedious iteration and reiteration, the different quorums of the Mormon hierarchy, in convention in 1835, declared that the revelations are as the Lord gave them.

    But by apostasy, copies of the "Book of 'Commandments" are in the hands of Gentiles, and the lies and frauds detected.

    (The above is quite a valuable contribution to our war fund. The reprint copy of "The Book of Commandments" is printed from one of the very few original copies saved from the mob. Our reprint is advertised and sold by the Evening and Morning Star, Independence, Mo., the same Mormon sheet in which the text of the revelations was first printed. This branch of the Mormon Church is known as Hedrickites.

    This impresses the value of the reprint copy we handle. Send in your dollar for a copy of this reprint of a rare old book. Better send now, for the copies are going and there were only 500 copies printed. These mostly for polemics,

    In our next we will give some other facts, from Mormon pens, in addition to the above. -- EDITOR.)




    "PRONOUNCE IT GOOD"

    Bro. Neal; -- I have just read Bro. Darby in your last issue, and pronounce it good. One of the best criticisms seen. He writes in a good form. The candid manner courts candid facts from the opposition, if they have any.

    I used to think that "Baldwin's Ancient America" gave quite similar coincidents. But when I learned in the "early '80's" of the absence of the language of any Oriental nation, the absolute inability of any modern scholars to read the "caractors," it gave me a very severe chill and I've grown more chills since.

    While not able to account for the "Book of Mormon" -- I do not need to do that -- I regard the whole thing a fraud played upon gullible humanity. The chief object to-day with interested ones is to use humanity to make honorable an otherwise dishonorable name -- the name of Joseph Smith.

    I have lately learned that the Josephites have the manuscript copy of the Book of Mormon, the copy held by David Whitmer. I hear direct, evidently good authority, that they paid a large sum to get it.

    I consider one of the strong points against the Book of Mormon, is the absence of "Oriental language" in its composition.

    There is also the peculiar fact that the whole Mormon fraternity, barring the Whitmer class, did not order their church lines in harmony with that book.

    "Joseph" became "Pope," and his words were its laws. Yes, and are yet, in the main.

    They can not answer, never did answer, the logical output in the comparison of "Doctrine and Covenants" with New Testament Scriptures. Joseph Smith's revealments, as a whole, were antichrist.   Yours for truth,
                                [Z.] H. GURLEY

    LOS ANGELES, Cal.

    (The fact that Bro. Gurley is of royal Mormon stock, and his family preeminent in Mormon affairs, gives additional charm and weight to his pen-work. We say of his letter what he said of Bro. Darby's article: "It is good." -- ED.



    Read what Bro. Clark Braden and the Christian Companion, of Louisville say about "The Book of Commandments," and send for a copy. Send us the names of eight subscribers and two dollars, and we will send you a copy gratis.



    David [sic, Daniel?] B. Turney, Effingham, Ill., writes: "I have mentioned you and THE HELPER favorably in our church papers. I couldn't do otherwise."

    Thanks. We wish that other scribes would push the interest of THE HELPER in both church and county papers. Why keep us struggling for a foothold when favorable mention in papers would soon place the paper on a solid rock foundation, financially? Send us in long lists to whom to send specimen copies.



    D. B. Turney, Effingham, Ill., sends for a copy of "Book of Commandments." He is a "prince among polemics," and is anxious to enter the lists against a Josephite elder. Drop him a card if there is an elder with warpaint on in your vicinity. He will care for him with pleasure.




    OLIVER  COWDERY'S
    RENUNCIATION  OF  MORMONISM.

    Bear in mind that Cowdery was the first person baptized into the Mormon Church. Joseph Smith, Jr., was the second person. Joseph baptized Oliver, and then Oliver baptized Joseph. John the Baptist, "he whom Herod beheaded," came down from heaven, gave them the right to baptize; i. e., "the keys of the Aaronic priesthood."

    More, no man now on earth has the right to baptize, from a Mormon viewpoint, who has not had the hands of a man laid on his head, who had the hand of a man laid on his head, and the lines traced back unbroken to Joseph Smith or Oliver Cowdery. Cowdery was made an elder with Joseph. He wrote most of the Book of Mormon as Smith dictated.

    Cowdery is one of the "Three Witnesses" to the divinity of the Book of Mormon. He claimed to have seen John the Baptist, Peter, James and John. The evangelist came down and laid hands on him, giving him the power of the Melchisedec priesthood; viz.: the power to impart the Holy Spirit by the laying on of his hands. He also said he saw angels who testified to him the truth of Mormonism.

    These facts will season the following

    RENUNCIATION.

                               State of Ohio, s.s.
                               County of Seneca.

    Personally appeared before me, the undersigned, a Notary Public within and for said county, G. J. Keen, a resident of said county, to me well known, and being sworn according to law, makes oath and says:

    "I was well acquainted with Oliver Cowdery who formerly resided in this city, that sometimes in the year 1840 Henry Cronise, Samuel Waggoner and myself, with other Democrats of this county, determined to establish a Democratic newspaper in this city to aid in the election of Martin Van Buren to the Presidency, and we authorized Henry Cronise, Esq., to go East and purchase a suitable press for that purpose. Mr. Cronise went East, purchased a press and engaged Oliver Cowdery to edit the paper. Mr. Cowdery arrived in Tiffin (O.) some time before the press arrived. Some time after Mr. Cowdery's arrival in Tiffin, we became acquainted with his (Cowdery's) connection with Mormonism.

    "We immediately called a meeting of our Democratic friends, and having the Book of Mormon with us, it was unanimously agreed that Mr. Cowdery could not he permitted to edit said paper.

    "Mr. Cowdery opened a law office in Tiffin, and soon effected a partnership with Joel W. Wilson.

    "In a few years Mr. Cowdery expressed a desire to associate himself with a Methodist Protestant church of this city.

    "Rev. John Souder and myself were appointed a committee to wait on Mr. Cowdery and confer with him respecting his connection with Mormonism and the Book of Mormon.

    "We accordingly waited on Mr. Cowdery at his residence in Tiffin, and there learned his connection, from him, with that order, and his full and final renunciation thereof.

    "We then inquired of him if he had any objection to making a public recantation.

    "He replied that he had objections; that, in the first place, it could do no good; that he had known several to do so and they always regretted it. And, in the second place, it would have a tendency to draw public attention, invite criticism, and bring him into contempt.

    "'But,' said he, 'nevertheless, if the church require it, I will submit to it, but I authorize and desire you and the church to publish and make known my recantation.'

    "We did not demand it, but submitted his name to the church, and he was unanimously admitted a member thereof.

    "At that time he arose and addressed the audience present, admitted his error and implored forgiveness, and said he was sorry and ashamed of his connection with Mormonism.

    "He continued his membership while he resided in Tiffin, and became superintendent of the Sabbath-School, and led an exemplary the while he resided with us.

    "I have lived in this city upwards of fifty-three years, was auditor of this county, was elected to that office in 1840.

    "I am now in my eighty-third year, and well remember the facts above related.

                   (Signed)    G. J. KEEN.

    Sworn to before me and subscribed in my presence, this 14th day of April, A. D. 1885.
                            FRANK L. EMICH,
                           Notary Public in Seneca, O.


    G. J. Keen, Esq., is one of our oldest citizens, is a respectable man, and is very highly esteemed.
                   (Signed)    O. T. LOCK.
                                  Postmaster.

    We have confirmatory evidence to hand out. This act of Cowdery in joining the M. P. Church, recounting his connection with Mormonism with shame and sorrow, simply brands all he said about seeing John the Baptist, Peter, James, John, Moses, Elijah, angels, Sword of Laban, gold plates of the Book of Mormon, etc., as false.

    The church then and there should have demanded of him a full and true account of his connection with the fraud, and the part he played, even if he did have the "fear of the Danites before his eyes." He well knew that that order was no myth. We have an account of Brigham Young visiting him in his law office at Tiffin.

    Copy this article in every religious weekly, in every daily and county paper. It will do much to destroy Mormonism. The facts to which Keen makes oath are such as not to admit of mistake on his part. Note how the elders will try to evade their weight.

    The chief assistant founder of Mormonism renounced all his stories of the Book of Mormon and the foundation of that church, and joined the Methodist Church and lived and worked with that church for years.

    Sound it out along the line.


    Note 1: In the comments he appended to "Oliver Cowdery's Recantation," Rev. Neal says "We have confirmatory evidence to hand out." His readers would have to wait until the next issue of The Helper to appear, in June of 1905, to see exactly what the "confirmatory evidence" was that Neal here so cryptically refers to. However, the modern reader, skipping ahead to the June-July issue can there read the purported words of Oliver Cowdery, as reportedly first published in an 1839 pamphlet, entitled Defence in a Rehearsal of My Grounds for Separating Myself From the Latter Day Saints. Speaking on this same topic, Neal says in the July 8, 1905 issue of the Christian Standard: "I have been able to locate but one copy of this rare pamphlet in all the earth." This "one copy" he procured from a correspondent during the late spring of 1905. See also Neal's letter of June 3, 1905, as published in Wingfield Watson's Prophetic Controversy No. 6: Facts for the Anti-Mormons. There Neal is quoted as saying, "I have before me 'Oliver Cowdery's Defence;' just got it yesterday...."

    Note 2: Prior to his actually procuring the "one copy" of this dubious 1839 production, Rev. R. B. Neal evidently had already obtained hand written extracts from his correspondent in Effingham Co., Illinois (also cited as living in Goreville, Johnson, Co., Illinois), "Bro. D. B. Turney." This first extracts from this new, "confirmatory evidence," -- obtained from Daniel B. Turney -- appear in the June-July issue of The Helper, on pages 5, 6, and 7, and Turner himself provides the readers a short note on page 8 of that issue. In his 7th "Sword of Laban Leaflet" article, Neal says he is handing out "another sample" from the Cowdery Defence. Probably the first "sample" was the excerpt he published in The Helper issue for June-July and in his 11th Leaflet. Rev. Neal also published the entire alleged Cowdery text, as his early 1906 pamphlet, Anti-Mormon Tracts, No. 9.

    Note 3: Dr. Daniel Braxton Turney (1848-1926) was a well educated Illinois politician and a clergyman-turned-polemicist in the Methodist Protestant Church. He was ordained in 1873 and in later years sometimes served as President of annual conferences of that church. Turney was a U. S. Presidential candidate for the "United Christians" in the campaigns of 1908 and 1912. He authored numerous articles and tracts; his pamphlets include: "The Mythifying Theory," Metropolis, IL, 1872. 8 p.; "A Peep into Psychomancy," Mansfield, OH, 1878. 13 p.; "Garfield or Hancock?" 1880, 25 p.; "Baptismal Chain," c. 1885; Was Abraham Lincoln a Myth? c. 1885, 18 p.; and Mode of Baptism According to the Scriptures, 1887, 1894. The first mention of Dr. Turney in the pages of Rev. Neal's The Helper came in this Apr.-May, 1905 issue, where Neal is still so newly acquainted with his lately acquired correspondent that he calls him "David." It seems likely that the acquaintance of Turney and Neal strengthened significantly during the late spring of 1905 -- to the point that D. B. Turney was soon sending Rev. Neal extracts from his "one copy" of the so-called "Cowdery Defence." See also notes accompanying the June-July issue, below.


     


    Vol. 3                         Morehead, Ky., June - July, 1905                         Nos. 9, 10



    SPECIAL.

    At a recent conference held at McArthur, O., the National Anti-Mormon Missionary Association of the Churches of Christ was merged into The American Anti-Mormon Association. This widens our field of work. Will take in men and women of all denominations and of no denomination. A demand came upon us for just such an organization, and we met it more than half way. The Association will be incorporated under the laws of the State of Ohio.



    We are anxious to get out our monthly on time. It is in the hands of our readers to gratify our desire. Every dollar helps. Will you not send us one dollar this day and have your name entered for four years on our books? Pur paper is "edited in the saddle," published at Cincinnati, and mailed at Morehead. When copy leaves our hands we never see it again until the paper greets us.



    Always address the editor at Grayson, Ky. This has proven to be the most direct route to him. Grayson is a money-order office.

     


    OLIVER COWDERY AND THE CANADA REVELATION.

    We are indebted to Bro. D. B. Turney, Goreville, Ill., for the following extract from "Cowdery's Defence" made in 1839. He says:

    I am well aware that a rehearsal of these things at this day will be unpleasant reading to the First Elder; yet so it is, and it is wisdom that it should be so. Without rehearsing too many things that have caused me to lose my faith in Bro. Joseph's seership, I regard his frequent prediction that he himself shall tarry on the earth till Christ shall come in glory, and that neither the rage of devils nor the malice of men shall ever cause him to fall by the hand of his enemies until he has seen Christ in the flesh at his final coming, as little short of a piece of blasphemy; and it may be classed with that revelation that some among you will remember which sent Bro. Page and me so unwisely to Toronto with a prediction from the Lord by Urim and Thummim that we would there find a man anxious to buy the First Elder's copyright. I well remember we did not find him, and had to return surprised and disappointed. But so great was my faith, that, in going to Toronto, nothing but calmness pervaded my soul, every doubt was banished, and I as much expected that Bro. Page and I would fulfill the revelation as that we should live. And you may believe without asking me to relate the particulars, that it would be no easy task to describe our desolation and grief.

    Note:
    1. Even Oliver, the "Second Elder" and the first man baptized into the Mormon Church, "loses faith in Bro. Joseph's seership."

    2. Smith, like "Live Forever Jones," predicted that he would stay on earth, like John the beloved, and the three Nephites, until the Saviour comes to judgment -- would never die.

    3. That Canada Revelation "was written down on paper but never published." So says David Whitmer, in his "Address," and he knew all about it. We will let him tell, in his own words, about the Canada Revelation.

    When the Book of Mormon was in the hands of the printer, more money was needed to finish the printing of it. We were waiting on Martin Harris who was doing his best to sell a part of his farm, in order to raise the necessary funds. After a time Hyrum Smith and others began to get impatient, thinking that Martin was too slow and under transgression for not selling his land at once, even if at a great sacrifice. Brother Hyrum thought they should not wait any longer on Martin Harris, and that the money should be raised in some other way. Brother Hyrum was vexed with Brother Martin, and thought they should get the money by some means outside of him, and not let him have anything to do with the publication of the Book, or receiving any of the profits thereof if any profits should accrue. He was wrong in thus judging Bro: Martin, because he was doing all he could toward selling his land. Brother Hyrum said it had been suggested to him that some of the brethren might go to Toronto, Canada, and sell the copyright of the Book of Mormon for considerable money: and he persuaded Joseph to inquire of the Lord about it. Joseph concluded to do so. He had not yet given up the stone. Joseph looked into the hat in which he placed the stone, and received a revelation that some of the brethren should go to Toronto, Canada, and that they would sell the copyright of the Book of Mormon. Hiram Page and Oliver Cowdery went to Toronto on this mission, but they failed entirely to sell the copyright, returning without any money. Joseph was at my father's house when they returned. I was there also, and am an eye witness to these facts. Jacob Whitmer and John Whitmer were also present when Hiram Page and Oliver Cowdery returned from Canada. Well, we were all in great trouble; and we asked Joseph how it was that he had received a revelation from the Lord for some brethren to go to Toronto and sell the copyright, and the brethren had utterly failed in their undertaking. Joseph did not know how it was, so he enquired of the Lord about it, and behold the following revelation came through the stone: "Some revelations are of God: some revelations are of men: and some revelations are of the devil."

    These "Gold Bible speculators" were in a bushel of trouble. Poor old Martin was doing the best he could "to foot the bill" and "to reap large profits." Though the Lord (?) had said to him, "Pay the printer," and that he would, Joe and Hyrum didn't believe he would. Oliver says above that Joe made this Canada revelation by "Urim and Thummim," and David says it was by the "stone in the hat." It is hard to get these Mormons to agree. However, they both, two of the "three witnesses," bear witness that Joseph's revelation was a fraud.

     


    A TOGO BLOW.
    _______

    DEFENCE

    IN A

    REHEARSAL OF MY GROUNDS

    FOR

    SEPARATING MYSELF

    FROM THE

    LATTER-DAY SAINTS

    BY OLIVER COWDERY,

    Second Elder of the Church of Christ.

    This "Defence" is not protected by a copyright, as I wish no man to be confined alone to my pernission in printing what is meant for the eyes and knowledge of the nations of the earth.

    "God doth not walk in crooked paths: neither doeth he turn to the right hand nor to the left: neither doth he vary from that which he hath said."

    PRESSLEY'S JOB OFFICE,

    NORTON, O.

    1839

    The above is the title-page of a most rare and valuable pamphlet. Strange to say, ye modern Mormon elder and editor does not quote from it, though it is by the "Second Elder" of their church. The reason will be evident to those who read it. We want and need funds to reprint it and scatter it by the tens of thousands among Mormon camps.

     


    OLIVER  COWDERY'S  REVELATION.

    David Whitmer says that Oliver "revelated" occasionally.

    No doubt that he was ambitious and promised to excell Joseph, Jr., in this line.

    Something was astir in the Mormon camp. The Lord (?) had "to take a hand" in the matter:

    "But, behold, verily, verily, I say unto thee (Oliver), no one shall be appointed to receive commandments and revelations in this church, excepting my servant Joseph Smith, Jr., for he receiveth them even as Moses...

    "And now, behold, I say unto you (Oliver), that you shall go unto the Lamanites (Indians) and preach my gospel unto them: and inasmuch as they receive thy teachings, thou shalt cause my church to be established among them; and thou shalt have revelations, but write them not by way of commandment." -- Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 28.

    Note the usual confusion:

    1. No one but Joseph, Jr., should receive revelations in this church.

    2. Oliver, "thou shalt have revelations," but don't you "write them."

    Well, Oliver did write some of them. Here's one in his ["Defence" ---- ------ --] tight papers -- oh Joseph the seer and his whole church:

    THE  REVELATION.

    I had a message from the Most High, as from the midst of eternity; for the vail was parted and the Redeemer Himself, clothed in glory, stood before me. And He said: After reproving the Latter-day Saints for their corruption and blindness in permitting their president, Joseph Smith, Jr., to lead them forth into errors, where I led him not, not commanded him, and saying unto them, Thus saith the Lord, when I said it not unto him, thou shalt withdraw thyself from among them. And I testify that Jesus, whose words I have been rehearsing, hath even so commanded me in an open vision."

    Whitmer's "Address" and Cowdery's "Defence" are two good works to have. We can supply a few copies of the "Address," and we are after a copy of the "Defence" to republish it.

    Here the Lord says Joseph, Jr., was a liar, and commanded Oliver to withdraw from the Latter-day Saints. What Josephite dare deny this revelation?
     


    A  GOOD  SUGGESTION.

    One that we meet half way and to carry out, we will gladly give 50 percent discount to those who subscribe as much as one dollar to aid to republish the book.

    "Why would not a republication of Oliver Cowdery's 'Defence, in a Rehearsal of My Grounds for Separating Myself from the Latter-day Saints,' be of very material service just now? Many of the younger generation of "Saints" have not been told anything about Oliver's 'open vision,' and they are told that he never denied any part of his testimony, and, on the contrary, always reaffirmed it. May God bless THE HELPER It is a "helper."
                                      Your friend,
                                      DANIEL B. TURNEY.


    (under construction)



    Note 1: This issue marked one of the last appearances of The Helper. The periodical was absorbed into the Christian Weekly at the end of 1905. Although there may have been several reasons for the demise of The Helper, the primary problem appears to have been the termination of support from the Disciples of Christ denomination. In his introductory "Special" notice, editor R. B. Neal attempts to candy-coat this bitter pill by saying that the National Anti-Mormon Missionary Association of the Churches of Christ had been "merged into The American Anti-Mormon Association," as though the latter organization was an existing entity of some renown. Following this announced development, the "American Anti-Mormon Association" suddenly appears on the scene -- with practically the same leadership as its Disciples of Christ predecessor, but obviously without that denomination's continuing support. The Helper, and then also the Christian Weekly, died shortly thereafter. The latter half of 1905 was a time of crisis for the Rev. R. B. Neal and his faltering anti-Mormon crusade. It was a time when he must have been rather deperately reaching out, looking for new supporters, new sources of funding and dramatic new documentary fuel for his fiery zeal.

    Note 2: Rev. Neal's "Togo Blow" article may be compared with his lengthier article of the same name, as published in the July 8, 1905 issue of the Christian Standard and as Neal himself printed in his "Sword of Laban Leaflets," first series, No. 7. The odd title is taken from the recently publicized "death-blow" of the Japanese Admiral Tojo (Togo) upon the Russian Pacific Fleet. Tojo's victory over a vastly more powerful enemy was as dramatically unexpected as it was effective. Neal obviously expected that the newly published words from the "Cowdery Defence" would effect his own "death-blow" to Mormonism. Oddly enough, Daniel B. Turney (with his extraordinary new contribution to R. B. Neal's anti-Mormon efforts) is nowhere mentioned in later published versions of the Togo Blow." However, in August of 1908, when Rev. Neal renewed his periodical publishing labors by founding The Sword of Laban, the name of "D. B. Turney" of "Effingham, Illinois" appeared among the "Vice-Presidents" of the American Anti-Mormon Association, as listed on the front page of the new publication. See notes accompanying the Sept. 1908 issue of The Sword of Laban, for speculation regarding Turney's role in supplying various suspect anti-Mormon documents for publication in R. B. Neal's periodicals.


     



    Vol. I.                                   Morehead, Kentucky, August, 1908                                  No. 1





    THE AMERICAN ANTI MORMON ASSOCIATION
    NATIONAL OFFICERS

    James W. Darby, President -- McArthur, O.
    F. C. Button, Vice President, -- Morehead, Ky.
    Mrs. Lucy Neal, Treasuere, -- Pikesville, Ky.
    R. B. Neal, General Secretary, -- Pikesville, Ky.

    VICE PRESIDENTS

    D. B. Turney,   Effingham, Ill.
    S. A. Donahoe,   Ashland, Ky.
    C. C. Parker,   Gorman, Tex.
    E. P. Woodward,   Westbrook, Me.
    Ira C. Moore,   Barrscksville, W. Va.
    S. A. Phillips,   Platte, S. D.



     

    A Foreward

    This monthly will be an authority on the Mormon issue. We bring a rich, rare and ripe experience to the tripod. Also we have at command the best pens of the nation. The cause we plead demands this organ. It is our desire to gradually increase the number of pages until ultimately we have a thirty two page paper.

    Each issue, from the start, will contain a ten cent tract article. To a polemic, each one of those tracts will be worth more than the cost of the paper for one year....



    Sword of Laban

    The history of the Sword as given in the Book of Mormon and the Book of Doctrine and Covenants will indicate why I have selected it as the name for my monthly.

    When Lehi fled from Jerusalem, with his family, into the wilderness, he went in such a hurry that he forgot something he needed. Laban, who lived in the city had "some plates of brass" that had, among other things, the genealogy of Lehi's forefathers.

    He sent his boys, Nephi, Lemuel, Laman and Sam back to the city to get the plates. Laban would not let the boys have the plates. He ran them out of town. The rest of the boys hid by the walls after night, while Nephi crept into the city. As he neared the house of Laban he saw Laban lying dead drunk on the ground. He says:

    "And I beheld his sword, and drew it forth from the sheath thereof, and the hilt thereof was of pure gold, and the workmanship thereof was exceeding fine, and I saw that the blade thereof was of the most precious steel * * *

    "Therefore I did obey the voice of the Spirit, and took Laban by the hair of the head and I smote off his head with his own sword." I Nephi 4:9-18.

    The "ism" starts off with a murder committed in the name of the Holy Spirit and by his direction.

    According to his own testimony the killing of Laban was needless. Nephi could have taken his sword, put on his clothes and gone to his house and robbed him of his plates and servant as he did without murdering him. From the account the killing of Laban was a cold-blooded unnecessary murder, then followed by a robbery.

    Nephi took the sword and plates back to Lehi. The years passed by. They wandered on. Lehi dies. The people called Lamanites (Indians) his brothers, children and grand children had it in for the Nephites. And he said:

    "And I Nephi, did take the Sword of Laban and after the manner of it did make many swords, lest by any means the people who were now called Lamanites should come upon us and destroy us, for I knew their hatred toward me and my children, and those who were called my people."

    He, Nephi, made many "Swords of Laban" with hilts of pure gold and blades of pure steel. Wonder where he got the material from in the wilderness? Fifty-five years after Lehi left Jerusalem, Jacob tells us:

    "The people loved Nephi exceedingly, he having been a great protector for them, having weilded the Sword of Laban in their defence, &c." Jacob 1:10.

    "About four hundred years had passed; King Benjamin handed to his son, Mosiah to keep among other things the "Sword of Laban." Mosiah 1:16.

    It is preserved until the coming of Christ, 600 years after Lehi left Jerusalem. About 400 years after Christ Moroni buries it, the Gold Plates, &c., in the hill of Cumorah near Manchester, N. Y. They stay there until 1829 when Smith gets the "Sword of Laban" and the "Directors of Lehi," or "Liahona."

    He said he gave the "plates" back to Moroni. What became of Laban's Sword he testifieth not.

    The Mormons have found the "Liahona." and have named their leading weekly after it.

    We have found "The Sword of Laban" and propose to cut off the heads of their doctrines with the

    "Sword of Labanco"

    That is what Solomon Spaulding called it in his book. I have the proof. If the brethren will help us multiply the "Sword of Labanco" by the tens of thousands we promise great results for spreading truth and slaying error. Selah


    (under construction)


    Notes: (forthcoming)


     


      


    Vol. I.                                   Morehead, Kentucky, September, 1908                                  No. 2





    Editorial Note.

    ... I, R. B. Neal, was general Secretary and field agent of the National Anti-Mormon Association of the Churches of Christ. I served without a cent as salary and in addition published The Helper, a monthly and official organ of the Association and footed all the bills for it and several tracts published and sent out.

    I am now in the same position in the American Anti-Mormon Association, without a cent salary and have shouldered the publication of this "The Sword of Laban" monthly. The outlook is good to enlarge it in the near future. These Burdens are not light and financial aid has tardy steps. The fight is hotter than ever. Subscribe for our paper, join our association. Do both and do now.



    The Book of Mormon.

    Dr. Cephas Dodd was Solomon Spaulding's physician. He was with Spaulding in his last sickness, in 1816. Soon after the Book of Mormon was published in 1830, Dr. Dodd procured a copy, read it, and then wrote this on the fly-leaf:

    This work, I am convinced by facts related to me by my deceased patient, Solomon Spaulding, has been made from the writings of Spaulding, probably by Sidney Rigdon, who was suspicioned by Spaulding with purloining his manuscript from the publishing-house to which he had taken it; and I am prepared to testify that Spaulding told me that his work was entitled "The Manuscript Found in the Wilds of Mormon; or, Unearthed Records of the Nephites."

    From his description of the contents, I fully believe this Book of Mormon is mainly and wickedly copied from it.     CEPHAS DODD,
                      June 6, 1831.


    This is a sample of the testimony we have in hand to show that the "Oberlin MS" is not the "Manuscript Found," and that the Book of Mormon was [based?] upon the "Manuscript Found."


    (under construction)


    Note 1: The Rev. R. B. Neal gives no supporting evidence for the existence of this purported "June 6, 1831" Cephas Dodd statement. Neal again reproduced the dubious text in the 12th issue of his Sword of Laban. The same text was reprinted by Charles A. Shook, in 1914, but Shook, too, fails to tell where, when and how this alleged fly-leaf testimony was obtained. Joseph W. White accepted the text, on authority of Shook, and reproduced it on page 77 of his 1947 Thesis, "The Influence of Sidney Rigdon..." In their 1977 book, Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon?, on page 101, authors Cowdrey, Davis, and Scales also reproduce Shook's printing of the supposed 1831 Dodd statement, without at all questioning its authenticity.

    Note 2: To their credit, in 2000, authors Mr. Cowdrey and his associates later paid more critical attention to the Dodd piece -- on pages 1086-88 of their Spalding Enigma CD-ROM, the authors effectively demonstrate that the purported 1831 Dodd note is a forgery, probably made during the first years of the 20th century (cf. pp. 47, 166-70, 656-58). They cite a letter written by Dodd to Col. Thomas Ringland, Mar. 2, 1857, in which Dodd says he has "no knowledge" on the assertion of Solomon Spalding having written the Book of Mormon, "which would be of any avail." The Enigma authors make no mention of the purported statement's two printings in the 1908-09 issues of the Sword of Laban, but they do cite other "equally suspicious items" derived from anti-Mormon sources during the early 20th century.

    Note 3: After discussing the Dodd statement forgery at some length the Enigma authors say: "Because the appearance of this supposed inscription roughly coincides with that of two other equally suspicious items, a document relating to Oliver Cowdery known as the 'Overstreet Confession,' and a pamphlet allegedly by Cowdery entitled 'Defence in a Rehearsal of my Grounds for Separating Myself from the LDS,' it does not seem unreasonable to speculate that this may have derived from the same source." In other words, the Enigma authors believe that the Rev. Robert B. Neal, or one of his associates, forged all three of these documents and provided them (along with a Lorenzo Saunders letter and other American Anti-Mormon Association "documents") to the unwary Charles A. Shook, as "damning" anti-Mormon "evidence" for his 1914 book. While Charles A. Shook popularized the spurious 1839 Cowdery "Defence" and the Dodd statement from R. B. Neal's publications, it should be kept in mind that Neal says he obtained the one known copy of the "Defence" from his "associate editor," Daniel B. Turney. According to his list in this issue of the Sword of Laban, "D. B. Turney, of Effingham, Ill.," was still an associate editor at the time R. B. Neal first published the forged Dodd statement.

    Note 4: The Rev. R. B. Neal's role in procuring this probable forgery for publication in 1908 has yet to be adequately explained. Perhaps the forger was inspired to carry out his secretive work after first coming across a somewhat similar piece of marginalia (also indirectly supportive of the Spalding authorship claims) in an 1830 Book of Mormon on file at the Darlington Library in Pittsburgh. Whether or not the bogus Cowdery and Dodd texts can be attributed to anti-Mormon forgery efforts by Neal's associate, Daniel B. Turney, remains to be determined. Turney made an unusual refrence to a phrase from the so-called Dodd item in the Aug.-Sept. 1910 issue of the Sword of Laban. There, in his "The Testimony Examined," Turney quotes from the forged 1831 text in order to call Solomon Spalding's lost novel "The Manuscript Found in the Wilds of Mormon," a title which occurred nowhere in the development of the Spalding claims until R. B. Neal published the bogus Dodd statement in 1908. Turney's 1910 reference to this otherwise unknown Spalding title helps link him to the 1909 forgery. See also Turney's suspicious 1910 texts for an 1832 Martin Harris letter and an 1843 Nauvoo hymn, both of which appear have been a products of an over-active, early 20th century imagination.



     



    Vol. I.                                   Morehead, Kentucky, October, 1908                                  No. 3



    Joseph Smith as an Etymologist.
    or
    The Origin of the Word "Mormon."


    I propose to call up Joseph Smith and have him give an account of the origin of Mormonism...

    (under construction)


    Brother [E. L.] Dix, our Office Editor and my right had man in this work has been down sick for weeks with fever. The glad news reaches me in my far off Sanctum that he is convalescing nicely. He will be on his feet O. K. for our November issue.

     

    Chas. A. Shook, Mich. will write an article on the "Israelitish origin of the Indians, examined."

    If the Indians did not originally live in Jerusalem then the Book of Mormon is false. Bro. Shook's pen is without a peer among the lines of Archaeology. His article on the above topic will be worth a year's subscription to our paper.


    (under construction)


    Note: The above mention of Charles A. Shook may have marked the first appearance of Shook's name in anti-Mormon literature. Like Elder Davis H. Bays before him, Shook left the Reorganized LDS and eventually ended up working as a clergyman for the Disciples of Christ. The Disciples' Standard Publishing Company published Shook's first anti-Mormon book, Cumorah Revisited in 1910. In his August 19, 1908 "Preface" to that work, Shook credits "R. B. Neal, of Pikeville, Kentucky" as one of those "who have rendered valuable help in various ways." Thus, it appears that Rev. Neal had read at least part of Shook's manuscript by the summer of 1908 and had solicited an excerpt from the author for advance publication in the Sword of Laban.


     



    Vol. I.                                   Pikeville, Kentucky, November, 1908                                  No. 4




    Origin of Mormonism
    ________

    This ism is growing. It challenges the world, Its "Elders" are trained polemics. They seek debate. Their success is largely due to the fact that preachers of the Protestant Churches are not, as a rule, posted on the issues the ism presents. The first thing to learn, if it is possible to do so, is the origin of the ism...

    (under construction)


    Notes: (forthcoming)


     



    Vol. I.                          Pikeville, Kentucky, Dec., 1908, Jan. 1909                        Nos. 5, 6




    Book of Mormon "Caractors" vs.
    A Pious Forgery
     R. B. NEAL

    My article in The Christian Standard of April 18, 1908 created quite a commotion in Mormon camps. This I desired and expected...

    (under construction)





    Are the American Indians of Jewish
    Descent?
     C. A. SHOOK

    The theory that the American Indians are of Jewish descent was long profoundly entertained by some of the most learned and pious men of this country. It was first suggested by some of the Spanish priests of Mexico and was afterwards advocated by such English and American writers as Thorowgood, Perin, Beatty, Adair, Boudinot, Smith, Priest, and Lord Kingsborough...

    (under construction)





    "MORMONISM UNVEILED."

    Bro C. A. Shook, Michigan, writes: "I am of the opinion that the American Anti-Mormon Association ought, in some way, to raise money enough to reprint Howe's 'Mormonism Unveiled' and John C. Bennett's 'Expose.' The first especially. Such a reprint would be invaluable in the fight,"

    In "Booth's Bombs," our Tract No. 6, we have reprinted about one-fourth of Howe's "Mormonism Unveiled." We regarded this as the most valuable part. Booth was a man of scholarly attainments, of fine brain and a good, honest heart. He was a Methodist minister, and he went into Mormonism with all the strength of his heart and head. He was one of the band that made the pilgrimage to Missouri to locate Zion and the site for a Temple, to which the Saviour would cme when it was erected. He was thrown in close contact with Smith, Rigdon, Cowdery, and all the leaders. When their perfidity and duplicity dawned upon him he was shocked beyond expression. Humiliated, feeling keenly his disgrace, he tells the story of that trip and opens up, with trenchant pen, the "true inwardness" of Mormonism. "Prophet Joe" had the Lord denounce him as an apostate. This is the best commendation he could have of the truthfulness of his letters. This tract makes interesting reading to every student of the early days of Mormonism. While the price of this tract of 60 pages is 15 cents, we are sending it postpaid for only ten cents.

    Soon we will reprint the letters and affidavits in Howe's book, of Smith's neighbors and kinsfolk by marriage. That will make a tract of about 50 pages. Tract will retail for one dime. To those who pledge in advance one dollar to aid in printing it we will send twenty copies, receiver to pay postage. No better document can be put in the field. I have a copy of Howe's book, and can verify everything in the tract.

    If you donate $2, will send you 40 copies; for $5, will send you 100 copies. You can get your money back on half of them and send the rest into Mormon camps. Respond promptly, if you wish to lend a hand in this important matter.



    Charles A. Shook, Buchanan, Mich., an ex-Mormon elder and the strongest man in the field on archaeology, to whom I sent a copy of Tract No. 9, replies: "You asked me for a word of commendation on 'Cowdery's Defense.' I have read it carefully, and consider it a valuable addition to the anti-Mormon arsenal. The way the 'elders' try to get around these evidences is pitiable in the extreme. There is no honesty about them. The only way that they meet the evidences against Smith's character is by simple denial without one bit of trustworthy evidence to back their denial up. I know them. I was raised among them. Their chief weapon is trickery."

    (under construction)


    Notes: (forthcoming)


     



    Vol. I.                             Pikeville, Kentucky, February, 1909                             No. 7




    That "Honolulu Find" versus
    The Manuscript Found.
      R. B. Neal.

    ________


    A  FOREWORD.

    "History of Mormonism," by E. D. Howe, 1834, is a rare and valuable work. Mr. O. D. Howe, Nebraska, son of E. D. Howe, has a copy of it. His sister in Ohio has another. He thought these two were the only copies in existence. The writer has a copy of it. It was found in an old bookstore in Philadelphia. These are the only copies I know of. I had his sister's copy for months -- have a manuscript copy of it. At this writing I have Mr. Howe's and mine on my desk. I will reprint it in installments.

    ________

    INTRODUCTION.

    Some one has said that hetrodoxy is your "doxy" and orthodoxy my "doxy." Those who have had the pleasure of reading one of Bro. R. B. Neal's strong tracts do not need to be told that the Mormons' "doxy" is not R. B. Neal's "doxy." Perhaps no one realizes this more than the Mormons themselves. In his anti-Mormon tracts he not only hits hard, but he keeps on hitting till there is nothing left to hit.

    There are some errors that ought to be ignored, others that ought to be exposed. Among the latter class is Mormonism. By deception and hypocrisy they insinuate themselves into the good graces of the ignorant and the unsuspecting, and ere their victims are aware, lead them astray. Their methods need to be exposed, and no man is doing this more effectively than Bro. Neal.

    I most cordially recommend his series of tracts to those who desire to see this hateful and harmful sect driven from the land. &mnsp;   E. A. FOX,
                                      Gen. Sec. Ky. S. S. Assn.
    Louisville, Ky.

    THE VITAL ISSUE.

    Is clearly stated by the pen of a Mormon author:

    The Book of Mormon, being true, then Joseph Smith, Jr., is a prophet of God, and Mormonism is the everlasting gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ; but if it were a forgery, as our enemies assert, then would all our hopes be vain and our faith worthless. -- Eld. George Reynolds.

    Mormon seers, elders and editors make their hardest fight along the issues presented by this article. The reason is evident.

    If the "Book of Mormon" is true, then, as Eld. George Reynolds saysin the "Preface" to his book, "The Myth of the Manuscript Found'," "Joseph Smith, Jr., IS A PROPHET OF GOD, and Mormonism is the everlasting gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ."

    If the "Book of Mormon" is a forgery, then it follows "as night follows day" that Joseph Smith, Jr., >i>was a false prophet;
    "Mormonism" anything wlse but "the everlasting gospel of Jesus, and the Mormon's hope vain and faith worthless."

    Hence the great rejoicing in Mormon camps, of all denominations, when Pres. J. H. Fairchild, of Oberlin (O.) College, found a "Spalding Manuscript" at Honolulu, Sandwich Islands, in 1885.

    This MS. is so unlike the "Book of Mormon" that they can well afford "to flutter flags, burn bonfires and blow brass bands," if they can prove that this "Honolulu find" is Spalding's "Manuscript Found."

    Both the "Brighamites" and "Josephites" hurried the MS. into print, assuming. in most blatant words, the very point upon which all their claims depend.

    Here is the heading of the preface to the Lamoni (Ia.) print, in 1885 -- no time was lost -- of the "Honolulu find:"
     

    THE

    "MANUSCRIPT FOUND."

    A Verbatim Copy from the Original.

    And now that this veritable "Manuscript Found," with an unbroken chain of evidence proving its identity and running back * * * to the very pen of Solomon Spalding, has by the providence of God been furnished us, and that, too, by those not of the church, we take pleasure in exhibiting in the sunlight of solid facts, this hob-goblin of the pulpit, this "nigger in the woodpile" of the press and the forum, that with which they have fooled and frightened the masses and blinded those inquiring into the origin and character of the Book of Mormon * * * This newly found "missing link" completes the chain of evidence which proves that the "Manuscript Found" never was and never could be made the occasion, cause, or germ of the Book of Mormon.
    Even President Fairchild, finder of this manuscript, said in an article, that was published in a number of papers and magazines, and the Mormons delight to republish it:

    The theory of the origin of the Book of Mormon in the traditional manuscript of Solomon Spalding will probably have to be relinquished. The manuscript is doubtless now in the possession of Mr. L. L. Rice, of Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands.

    Mr. L. L. Rice says: "My opinion is, and from all I have seen and learned, that this is the only writing of Spalding * * * It devolves upon their opponents [opponents of the Mormons. -- R. B. N.] to show that there are, or were, other writings of Spalding, since it is evident that this writing is not the original of the Book of Mormon."

    The following endorsement was on the "Honolulu Find": "The writings of Solomon Spalding proved by Aaron Wright, Oliver Smith, John N. Miller and others. The TESTIMONIES of the above gentlemen are now in my possession.
            "Signed                 D. P. HURLBUT."



    1. Bear in mind that the "testimonies" of these men are the only proof, and ALL THE PROOF, that either the Mormons or their opponents have that this "Honolulu find" is a manuscript of Spalding's

    2. I admit, without controversy, that it is a "Spalding manuscript," but deny with all my strength that it is the MS. of Spalding's known by him, and others who read, and heard it read, as "The Manuscript Found."

    Right here the battle will be fought to a finish, and won or lost. We enter it, without a particle of doubt as to the issue. The Port Arthur of Mormonism must surrender.

    We are wide awake to the full size of the contract we undertake. Even Brother D. H. Bays, an ex-Mormon, and author of a splendid book against the system says on pages 24-25:

    The long-lost Spalding story has at last been unearthed, and is now on deposit in the library of Oberlin College at Oberlin, O., and may be examined by anyone * * * The Spalding story is a failure. Do not attempt to rely upon it; it will let you down.

    Neither Bays, Fairchild, Rice, nor any of these Mormon elders, ever read the "testimonies," held by D. P. Hurlbut, of the very witnesses by which they prove this to be a Spaulding manuscript.

    We hand out this testimony, and "we take pleasure in exhibiting in the sunlight of solid facts," this "Honolulu find" of the Mormons as a "hobgoblin" of their elders and a "nigger in the woodpile" of their press which they have, so far, "fooled the masses and blinded those inquiring into the origin and character of the Book of Mormon."

    We hand out from Howe's History of Mormonism," published in 1834, just after the ism was born, when the truth could easily be gotten at, the famous "CHAPTER XIX." (Howe's pp. 278-298 follow).
     


    So much for this chapter. Mr. Howe goes on and devotes two pages to the consideration of how Smith got hold of the manuscript, and winds up Chapter XIX, and his book with:

    We therefore, must hold out Sidney Rigdon to the world as being the original "author and proprietor" of the whole Mormon conspiracy, until further light is elicited upon the lost writings of Solomon Spalding.   FINIS.


    Reader, the "testimonies of Aaron Wright, Oliver Smith, and John N. Miller" are before you, what is your verdict? Before handing it in read and consider the following affadavit. I have the original before me. The printed form can be easily verified and sworn to, if denied. It comes at this point with terrific force against the Mormon editor's statements about the "Honolulu Find." It is a most valuable document.

    THE STATE OF OHIO.
      Lake County, ss.

    Before me, a notary public in and for said county personally appeared J. H. Britton, who, being duly sworn, on his oath says:

    That he is now a resident of Painesville in said county, and is now of the age of seventy-two years; was born in the town of Van Buren, Onondaga Co., N. Y., and he further says: "I was living in my father's gome in the township of Richmond, Ashtabula Co., O., from about 1836 until about 1848, and during that time I became and was acquainted with Aaron Wright and Henry Lake, two of the persons who have furnished statements as to the origin of the Book of Mormon, which statements are published in E. D. Howe's "History of Mormonism," or "Mormonism Unveiled," published at Painesville, O., in 1834; that I knew said Wright and Lake well, that they were men of good reputation for truth and veracity, and were in every way well esteemed and respected in the community where they lived. Mr. Wright then lived in the village of Conneaut, in said county, and was one of the pioneers of the vicinity, and a large owner of realestate and owned a flouring-mill which was reported to be the first mill of its kind built in that vicinity. Mr. Lake also lived near Mr. Wright, [and] was also one of the first settlers of the vicinity. And further affiant sayesth not.
                                      J. H. BRITTON.
    Subscribed in my presence and sworn to before me this 22nd day of June, 1905
        {SEAL}           G. N. TUTTLE,
                                Notary public in and for said county.

    The following letter to Mr. O. D. Howe, son of the author of "History of Mormonism," from the librarian of Oberlin College, throws light on the issues over the "Honolulu Find" and exposes the tactics of the Mormons in their claims that it is "The Manuscript Found."
     

    THE  LETTER.

    Dear Sir: -- Your letter to President King has been referred by him to me for reply.

    I do not see how there can be much question that the manuscript in our [possession] is by Solomon Spalding. Whether, however, the manuscript we have is the same which friends of Spalding declare to be the original of the Mormon Bible seems to me a very uncertain question. There is no resemblance between this manuscript and the Book of Mormon, and it seems difficult to suppose that anybody, having heard this manuscript read, could even after a lapse of years regard it as resembling in any way the Book of Mormon when that appeared. I presume that President Fairchild never saw "Howe's History of Mormonism." I myself never saw it, as it is a very scarce book and is not in the possession of this library.

    I should be very glad to see it and to note the words of the book with reference to other manuscripts of Spalding.

    I shall be very glad indeed to accept your offer to send Howe's book for examination.

    Of course you understand that President Fairchild has nowhere said that this MS. was the original of the Book of Mormon.
                                Very truly Yours,
                                                    AZARIAH ROOT,
    Oberlin O., March 23, 1905.               Librarian.

    Readers you are "the jury." There can be but one verdict:

    1. That the Honolulu find is a manuscript of Solomon Spalding.

    2. That it is not the MS. that he called "The Manuscript Found."

    3. That the Mormons are guilty of perjury, or literary polygamy, or something like unto that, when they bill this "Fairchild Find" without one particle of proof, either from within or without the document, as "The Manuscript Found."



    This tract will be followed by one on "THE BOOK OF MORMON" alias "THE MANUSCRIPT FOUND."

    This will "shoe the horse all around" and clench every nail" in proof of Howe's contention that Spalding furnished the basis for the Book of Mormon and that Sidney Rigdon was "the Iago" of the whole conspiracy.


    THE ANGELIC MINISTRY OF MORMONISM WEIGHED IN THE BALANCE.

    The above is the title of a fifty page pamphlet by C. S. Towne. He weighs carefully, conscientiously, concisely and finds it wanting.

    Here is a "sample" of it:

    The religion built upon the Book of Mormon lacks the two marks that the Spirit of God himself has placed upon the true religion. It refuses the divine creed that Jesus is the Son of God; and it refuses to hear the apostles as the only divinely accredited witnesses; and instead, calls for continuous revelations from a present indwelling spirit; and we see that the experiences of the church of the Latter-day Saints coming through continuous revelation, have flatly contradicted and brought to naught all the confident assertions of Orson Pratt, the chief defender of the Mormon faith. Pratt says the scheme of Joe Smith is so perfect that no one can detect the delusion. But we have brought positive and undeniable testimony to prove that Joe Smith's angels were imposters and liars; that the alleged voice from heaven could not have been the voice of God; and that the seer stone was a fraud, and just as unreliable as devils and designing men could make it. If the scheme was so perfect, why were so many gaps left down, giving the whole thing away as the crude attempt of ignorant and illiterate men who could not see either two steps ahead or two steps behind, so as to have all the steps harmoniously linked together. A skillful schemer, imbued with ordinary human wisdom, to say nothing of divine wisdom, would never have left such fatal gaps in the testimonies of a new and pure revelation from heaven. The Spirit of God certainly could not do such a foolish thing.

    Send 15 cents to this office for a copy. It strikes dumb the argument for present day revelations.

    (under construction)


    Note: Rev. R. B. Neal promised, in the very first issue of his Sword of Laban, to include a full length anti-Mormon polemic tract in each number of the periodical he issued. The contents of this seventh tract: "That Honolulu Find..." evidently corresponds with material Neal published in his Anti-Mormon Tracts No. 7: The Manuscript Found vs. The Book of Mormon, part I and Tract No. 8... part II. Copies of those two tracts have not, so far, come to light. See Rev. Neal's 12th issue of the Sword of Laban for more of this same kind of "tract" material, devoted to elucidating the old Spalding authorship claims.


     



    Vol. I.                             Pikeville, Kentucky, March, 1909                             No. 8




    "A Book of Commandments" versus
    "The Book of Doctrines and Covenants."


    (under construction)




    HOW  MORMONISM  GROWS.

    The following is from the pen of R. Bruce Brown, of Mich., is timely and is commended especially to those preachers who hinder my work and help the Mormons by the cry, that Mormonism is not making headway.

    Since taking up this special work I have held four public debates of from eight to twelve nights each with the Latter Day Saints (or Mormons) who have entered this new field and have already a number of churches and a great many members that they have converted to their faith in Joseph Smith.

    While I, like others, waited and hoped for someone to take up this work, many of our people united with the Mormons, also others who might have been disciples of Christ. One who is an elder in their church told me that he would have been a disciple had he heard our preaching at one time. Surely the King's business requires haste.

    Mormonism is increasing very rapidly in our State of Michigan. We have nearly 5,000 of the reorganized branch. D. B. McMillan, of Mikado, Mich., in "Bivle Search Light Thrown Into Mormonism" makes the following statement: "The Presbyterian Church is advancing every year and gaining ground rapidly in our land; but it was stated at the late general assembly that the increase of Mormonism during the past year has exceeded that of the Presbyterian, Congregational and Baptist churches combined. And its poisonous seeds have been carried to the ends of the earth."

    We quote from the Spokesman Review in regard to increase of Mormonism: "While it is commonly believed that polygamy has been stamped out in this country, the fact should not lead people to believe that the Mormons are growing fewer. Quite the contrary is the case. In the last ten years, according to the late census report, the number of Mormons in this country has more than doubled, something that cannot be said of any of the orthodox churches of the land."



    THE AMERICAN ANTI MORMON ASSOCIATION

    NATIONAL OFFICERS

    James W. Darby, President -- McArthur, O.
    F. C. Button, Vice President, -- Morehead, Ky.
    Mrs. Lucy Neal, Treasuere, -- Pikesville, Ky.
    R. B. Neal, General Secretary, -- Pikesville, Ky.

    VICE PRESIDENTS

    S. A. Phillips,   Platte, S. D.
    Ira C. Moore,   Barrscksville, W. Va.
    E. P. Woodward,   Westbrook, Me.
    C. C. Parker,   Gorman, Tex.
    D. B. Turney,   Effingham, Ill.
    S. A. Donahoe,   Ashland, Ky.



    Our Tract No. 1,
    "WAS JOE SMITH A PROPHET?"
    In August Issue. Price 10 cts.
    Clear, Convincing, Conclusive.

    Our Tract No. 2,
    "THE NAUVOO EXPOSITOR."
    In September Issue. Price 10 cts.
    Worth a Year's Subscription.

    Our Tract No. 3,
    "JOE SMITH AS AN ETYMOLOGIST."
    In October Issue. Price 10 cts.
    Rich, Rare and Racy.

    Our Tract No. 4,
    "ORIGIN OF MORMONISM"
    In November Issue. Price 10 cts.
    Cuts the Tap-Root of Mormonism.

    Our Tract No. 5,
    "BOOK OF MORMON "CARACTORS"
    Versus
    "A PIOUS FORGERY."
    In Dec.-Jan. Issue. Price 10 cts.
    Goes after the very Foundation of the "ism."

    Our Tract No. 6,
    "ARE THE AMERICAN INDIANS
    OF JEWISH DESCENT?"
    In Dec.-Jan. Issue. Price 10 cts.
    A strong paper, by C. A. Shook, that digs up
    the foundation of the Book of Mormon.

    Our Tract No. 7,
    "THAT HONOLULU FIND"
    Versus
    THE MANUSCRIPT FOUND.
    In February Issue. Price 10 cts.
    A Hot Shot of Heavy Calibre.

    Our Tract No. 8,
    "THE BOOK OF COMMANDMENTS"
    Versus
    "THE BOOK OF DOCTRINES AND COVENANTS"
    In This Issue.



    ANTI-MORMON TRACT NO. 9.

    Here's what the editor of the Christian Weekly has to say of our latest tract"

    R. B. Neal has recently issued No. 9 of his anti-Mormon tracts, which embraces Mr. Cowdery's RENUNCIATION of Mormonism, and his DEFENSE of the same. This tract is of very great use to those who are engaged in opposing the great and monstrous fraud of Mormonism. It shows that there was a conspiracy among the original promoters of Mormonism, led by Joseph Smith, Jr., to palm off a stupendous fraud upon the public. It shows, as has been shown time and again by other means, that those men were a lot of conscienceless falsefiers, and that their original purpose was to make money by selling the Book of Mormon. Modern promoters and defenders of Mormonism are, with perhaps a few exceptions, as corrupt, unscrupulous and conscienceless as were its originators and first promoters.

    They are vile deceivers and they should be met and exposed at every turn in the road that they pursue in carrying on their diabolical work. This tract will be of great service to any who may be engaged in the laudable work of exposing the false pretensions of Mormons and Mormonism, and its sale in large numbers will enable Bro. Neal to get out other tracts along the same line. It sells at ten cents per copy.

    We have a few copies, in sheet form, of our discussion with Elder Kelley over Cowdery's joining the M. P. Church, at Tiffin, O. It is a lively tilt. Will send one free, as long as they last to every one sending in ten cents for Tract No. 9.



    Bro. A. M. McVey, Swift, O., is one of the foremost students of Mormonism. He has debated with their leading champions and has written a book on the subject. Hence what he says of Tract No. 9 should be weighty:

    TRACT NO. 9.

    Bro. Neal: -- I have given tract No. 9 a careful reading. It certainly is a death-blow to Mormonism. The evidence given in this tract is truly unanswerable. It forever sets aside one of the most important witnesses in favor of Mormonism. All that the advocates of this false system can do is to raise the cry of persecution and slander. zto meet and set aside the evidence is something which never can be done by any fair and honorable means. When Oliver Cowdery is set apart as a witness, one of the main props supporting Mormonism is knocked down. Each of the other witnesses who stand in support of Mormonism can just as easily be set aside as Oliver Cowdery has been. And as you are abundantly able to do this work, I hope that you will give it your attention. Mormonism comes to us with no greater force than there is in the testimony of the witnesses who stand in support of it. So knock down the fabricated system by taking away the props which support it.

    Yours for truth and for battle with Mormonism.






    JOE  SMITHISM.

    I have finished reading "Cowdery's Defense and Renunciation of Mormonism," a tract brought out and published by R. B. Neal, of Grayson, Ky., Price, 10 cents.

    It is a sledge-hammer, and more, it is a battering ram. It shows that Syd was the holy goose that inspired Cowdery, for he said that it came to his mind afterwards that the voice sounded very much like Syd's squawk, and Joe said: "some revelations are of God, some of men, and some of the devil." No one could speak with more certain knowledge on the Devil's work than Joe, for he was in close touch with his Satanic mascot, but Satan and Joe both failed when they sent their servants to Canada to make money off the sale of the copyright to the "Book of Mormon." Strange that Joe would give up to a suggestion of the devil when it came to getting money. Preacher, better buy it, and help in the fight for the purity of the home and for the cause of Christ.
     l Vienna, Ill.                 J. F. HIGHT.

    The above appeared in the columns of the Leader-Way, of Cincinnati. Bro. Hight is a student of the "ism," and one of the best equipped men we have for debates with "the elders."




    "THE BIGGEST LITTLE TRACT OUT."

    The Christian Conservator Huntington, Ind., a splendid church and family paper issued by the United Brethren in Christ, has the following to say about Tract No. 9:

    Rev. R. B. Neal, of Grayson, Ky., has recently issued a tract on the renunciation of Mormonism bu Joe Smith's "second elder and apostle," Oliver Cowdery, the first person baptized in the Mormon Church, and one of the three original witnesses who claimed to have seen the original plates of the Book of Mormon. This little tract enters into the origin of Mormonism, and reveals the manner of its origin as being of the complex character of fraud, ignorance, selfishness, brazenness and conscienceless cunning as no other tract of its size has done. Send ten cents to Rev. Mr. Neal for a copy of the tract, and you will not regret obtaining the information that it conveys.





    We appreciate the following from the pen of Bro. A. A. Brunner, in the Christian Leader and the Way of Cincinnati. He has no small renown as an anti-Mormon warrior himself

    Bro. R. B. Neal, of Grayson, Ky., the great leader in the fight against Mormonism, has favored the writer with a copy of his latest and best against the Mormon heresy. The title of this tract is: "Oliver Cowdery's Defense and Renunciation," and after examining it, I must say that it is indeed and in truth "a scorcher." In the compilation of this tract Bro. Neal has conferred a lasting favor upon all who are contending against this foul blot upon the moral escutcheon of our fair land and nation, in that he has placed in their hands a two-edged sword that will cut its way through Mormonism, both "a-going and a-coming." Send to R. B. Neal, and buy it by the thousands, and scatter it broadcast everywhere.


    Note: The above excerpts from various Disciple newspapers, publiczing R. B. Neal's "Tract No. 9," probably come from early 1906 issues of those publications. Three years later, in 1909, Neal seems to have made a special effort to sell more copies of the tract. Perhaps he reprinted it more than once, for, of all the numbers in his original 9 tract "Anti-Mormon" series, after 1906, he advertised the sale of this one pamphlet, almost exclusively.



     



    Vol. I.                             Pikeville, Kentucky, April, 1909                             No. 9




    Are the American Indians of Jewish
    Descent?
     C. A. SHOOK,  Part II.

    In the first part of this article, published in the "Sword of Laban" of December 1908-January 1909, I briefly examined the evidences which have been presented by the Latter Day Saints to prove their theory of the Jewish descent of the American Indians. In this I shall set before the reader a number of reasons for rejecting this theory as unscientific.

    FIRST -- The Physical Characteristics of the American Indians Disprove the Theory of their Jewish Descent.

    The origin of the American Indians, as given in the Book of Mormon...

    (under construction)



    "A WATERLOO FOR MORMONISM."

    B. H. Roberts as an advocate and defender of Mormonism is "head and shoulders" taller than any other polemic they have.

    Mormonism stands or falls with the Book of Mormon. The old account of the "gold plates," "reformed Egyptian characters," "Urim and Thummim" origin of the Book of Mormon is the one that the Elders had to defend. True, it was a hard job. With them it was "Hobson's choice."

    Now here comes B. H. Roberts with a "white flag" on this line of battle, making an "unconditional surrender."

    Hear him:

    That old theory cannot be successfully maintained; that is, that Urim and Thummim did the translating, the prophet nothing beyond repeating what he saw reflected in that instrument; that God directly or indirectly is responsible for the verbal and grammatical errors of translation. To advance such a theory before intelligent and educated people is to necessarily invite ridicule and make those who advocate it candidates for contempt." -- Defense of the Faith and the Saints, p. 306.

    He substitutes what is called the "Manual Theory" for the old mechanical theory of the origin of the Book of Mormon. About the "Manual" later. With the "Mechanical" theory out of the way, and Roberts is removing it, the only solution of the origin of the Book is "The Manuscript Found," by Solomon Spalding.


    Notes: (forthcoming)


     



    Vol. I.                             Pikeville, Kentucky, May, 1909                             No. 10




    The Character and Reputation of
    the Mormon Prophet.

    In issue No. 2 of the SWORD OF LABAN we handed out a reprint of a number of leading articles from Vol. 1, No. 1, of the NAUVOO EXPOSITOR. Smith and his henchmen broke down the press, pied the type and destroyed, as they thought, all the papers. Fortunately, a few of the copies were preserved. They are worth their weight in diamonds to the seeker after truth...

    (under construction)




    A  CHALLENGE.

    BY R. B. NEAL.

    And I "strike his shield with the point of my spear." That means "a fight to the finish," a bear-hug over the issue.

    Sometime ago the editor of Zion's Ensign, Independence, Mo., "butted in" into a "scrap" between the writer and the editor of the Religio-Record. Both are Mormon sheets; the Ensign, the most representative of the "Josephite" wing of Mormondom.

    The Record had handed out the following:

    The good ministers of Amity, Pa., have erected a monument to Rev. Solomon Spaulding, and inscribed thereon, "The man who wrote The Book of Mormon."

    Perhaps these reverend gentlemen are as yet unapprised of the fact that the "Spaulding story" is now in the library of Oberlin College at Oberlin, O., and that the librarian of that college, Azariah S. Root, declares there is absolutely no resemblance between the Spaulding story and the Book of Mormon. If ignorance is bliss, there is a number of ministers in Amity, Pa., who must be in the seventh heaven of delight.
    I clipped the paragraph and commented upon it thusly:

    That inscription is right. I have "the Honolulu find" as published by both the "Josephites and the "Brighamites."

    The above editorial in the Religio-Record indicates that its editor is either not posted on the "Manuscript Found," or is an "artful dodger."

    The same proof that proves the manuscript a Spaulding manuscript, proves that it is not "the Manuscript Found," and also proves that the last was the basis of the Book of Mormon. It is this editor who is ignorant, and not the Amity ministers.


    The editor of the Ensign could not wait on the edtior to fight his own battles. He clips my comments and says:

    The comments are presumably from the pen of R. B. Neal, of Grayson, Ky.

    I plead guilty, and am more than rejoiced that the editor of the Ensign has seen fit to "shy his cap into the ring" on this the most vital issue of Mormonism.

    Note the fire in his eye and the red on his cheeks as he pours forth::

    That assertion that there are other works of Solomon Spalding, yet undiscovered in the original, of which the much-vaunted "Manuscript Found" is one, is an old dodge of Clark Braden, to escape the dilemma in which he and his superiors were placed by the production of the original writing of Spaulding, which had so long been exploited by Howe, and all the furious opposers of the church of Christ, since Howe's day.

    Again:

    But when that identical manuscript was finally located with Mr. L. L. Rice, a printer in Honolulu, and its possession traced directly from Howe to him, he having bought the Painesville (O.) Telegraph from Howe, the transfer including a large number of books, manuscripts, etc., among which was this one in question -- they were dumbfounded.

    But soon the fertile brain of Braden solved the difficulty. "There were other manuscripts of Spalding, and the one from which the Book of Mormon was taken, was among those other writings." That is all there was to it. Not a thing except the bare assertion of Braden; and that seemed to be all that is necessary with these "Antis." In former days, the saying was "anything to beat Grant." Now it is "anything to beat the 'Mormons.'" It's the same with Neal. Anything, just so it's sensational, is greedily seized upon, regardless of facts. His imagination is very largely developed, if his writings are to be used as witness.

    But that last paragraph is a gem in logic! The trouble with these men is, that the "same proof that proves the manuscript at Oberlin a Spalding manuscript," also proves it the original Spalding "Manuscript Found," to which reference has been made all these years. Of course, it don't read just as these men would like to have it read, but that was precisely the fault that Howe found with it, too. Bro. Neal fixed it up nicely: This don't read as it should, ergo, some other writing of Spaulding's is the basis of the Book of Mormon. Isn't that fine logic for you? Yea, verily.

    The late Davis H. Bays gave this "Anti" society some good advice and truthful advice, too, which it would have been to their credit to have accepted. But they are wise in their own conceits, and will run on until they are overwhelmed with confusion at the accounting time. He warned them that they were making a mistake in clinging to that old, exploded Spalding theory of the origin of the Book of Mormon. That it never could be proved. He knew, as do all who candidly examine into the matter, that it is not true, and only shows the veriest bigotry and prejudice, as well as lack of integrity, to set up such a claim. It is unworthy the consideration of intelligent men and women, after they have once looked into the matter, It is not the editor of the Religio-Record, therefore, but these rampant "Antis," who are not posted, and we are inclined to the opinion that they themselves know they can not make that story prove out: but if they can get others to believe it, who have not the opportunity or desire to investigate for themselves, they can make a point until the truth has an opportunity. But they seem willing to take the chances of that ever happening in the neighborhood where they work.


    The above presents the issue clearly. There is no chance for dust throwing on either side. If he accepts my challenge one or the other must go to the wall.

    Long ago, I had occasion to write this:

    We are aware of what D. H. Bays says in his book, "The Doctrines and Dogmas of Mormonism." He states:

    "The long-lost Spalding story has at last been unearthed, and is now on deposit in the library of Oberlin College at Oberlin, O., and may be examined by any one ... The Spalding manuscript is a failure. Do not attempt to rely upon it -- it will let you down."

    We, too, have examined that document, carefully and critically, and say "in small caps," THE SPALDING STORY IS A SUCCESS
    . The Honolulu find verifies it in every detail. It is another case of cutting off Laban's head with his own sword.
    There will either be a fight or a foot race with the "Ensign" man over this matter. He dare not affirm "that the Honolulu manuscript found by President Fairchild, of Oberlin College, now on exhibition in Oberlin, O., is the manuscript known as the 'Manuscript Found,' written by Solomon Spalding."

    I'll deny it in every form that a denial can assume. More, I'll agree to take the only proof he has that the paper is a manuscript of Spaulding's and prove that it is not the "Manuscript Found."

    I'll agree to publish his articles and my replies in the "Sword of Laban" if he will do the same in the Ensign.

    Again, we must agree that the debate be put in tract form and put on the market.

    The Ensign can issue its own tracts, and I do the same, but each will be in honor bound to say no more and no less on the issue in the tract.

    When he is through affirming "The Honolulu Manuscript the Manuscript Found," of Solomon Spalding, I'll agree to prove:

    That the MS. of Solomon Spalding, known as the 'Manuscript Found,' is the basis of the Book of Mormon."

    We'll prove it in front of his pen. This will show how "willing" we are for "truth to have an opportunity" in our "neighborhood."

    I'm only afraid this challenge, fair and direct will prove the Ensign editor is a composition of brag and bluster and that he is "unwilling that truth have an opportunity" in his "neighborhood."

    We have a fresh pen, a new bottle of ink and are more than anxious to begin the battle. We are perfectly confident as to the result if he dare "pick up our glove."

    We touch his shield with "the point of our spear." That means "a fight to the finish."



    Bro. Shook's article, in last issue, is alone worth the full price of the paper for one year. We have just read the ms. of his work, "Cumorah Revisited," and predict that when printed it will become a classic. It plows up and "sows with salt" the foundations that Mormonism attempts to build on Archaeology and Ethnology. It is great. Every preacher of every Church will need, and, we trust, will want, a copy.



    THE BRAINS OF THE MORMON FRAUD

    Was without a dount Sidney Rigdon. The following editorial on his death, from the pen of Isaac Errett, appears in The Standard of August 5, 1876. Bro. Errett knew Rigdon well and his "write up" of him can be relied upon for both fact and fairness. In the same issue appears a lengthy article gooing into the details of Rigdon's life. We will republish it soon.



    DEATH OF SIDNEY RIGDON.

    This somewhat notorious man died recently, at Friendship, Allegany county, N. Y., in the eighty-fourth year of his age. He was a native of Western Pennsylvania; entered the ministry of the Baptist church when a young man, and, in Pittsburgh, gained considerable reputation as a pulpit orator. Living the Baptists, he came among the Disciples when they were a feeble folk, and was for a time the associate of Alexander Campbell and Walter Scott. Mr. Campbell, however, never fully gave him his [confidence], but looked upon him as a man of restless ambition who sought to conceal his motives under an affected zeal for reformation. Mr. C. several times told us that he never would feel that Mr. Rigdon was frank and candid with him, as a co-worker ought to be. We had it, long ago, from the oldest members of the church in Pittsburg, that Rigdon, while with them, did his best to convert them to communism and to the doctrines that miracles and new revelations ought to be found in the church. It is thus evident that, at that time, he was concocting the Mormon scheme, and this, in connection with what was afterwards ascertained of the existence of Mr. Spalding's manuscript in a Pittsburg printing office where Mr. R. could have access to it, early satisfied us that he had much to do in the creation of the Mormon imposture. In Ohio, he was somewhat known among our churches, but his success in leading away the disciples when he went over publicly to Mormonism, was not what he anticipated. He afterwards figured largely among the Mormons at Kirtland, O., in Missouri, and at Nauvoo, Ill. Failing to obtain the leadership after the deah of Joseph Smith, he next attempted, we believe, the organization of a separate church; but faiing in this, went into retirement, spending the rest of his days mostly in the Genesee valley, N. Y. From his neighbors we have several times learned that he was a quiet citizen, much esteemed for his social virtues, and altogether reticent concerning his Mormon adventures. It is said he devoted himself mainly to the study of Geology and to lecturing on that science. Whether he has left anything behind him, revealing to the inside history of Mormonism; we do not know; but presume from his persistent reticence during life, that he has carried his secret knowledge with him to the grave. He was wrecked through an insane ambition. Let all self-seekers take notice.

    (under construction)


    Note 1: Rev. R. B. Neal made essentially the same offer to Zion's Ensign in a version of his "Challenge" article, originally published in the Aug. 11, 1906 issue of the Christian Standard. There he offered to debate via the pages of that Disciple newspaper. In 1909, having his own paper, Neal moved the offer to the pages of the Sword of Laban.

    Note 2: Additional 1876 Rigdon obituaries may be found in the Friendship Register of July 18, 1876, in the Friendship Standard, (where he is remembered as "a compound of ability, versatility, honesty, duplicity, and mystery"), in the Aug. 15th Saints Herald, (which says very little), and in the July 18th issue of the Pittsburgh Telegraph, (where he is said to have taken a Spalding mansucript in his youth).



     



    Vol. I.                             Pikeville, Kentucky, June, 1909                             No. 11




    The Champion Hoaxer Hoaxed,

    R. B. NEAL.



    THE  KINDERHOOK  PLATES

    So called from the place, Kinderhook, Ill., where they were found in 1843. Mormon hosts rejoiced. Here was a confirmation of the finding of the "gold plates" by joseph Smith, Jr., prophet, seer and translator...

    (under construction)




    OUR  ASSOCIATE  EDITORS

    C. A. Shook is well known as a writer to our readers. He is a minister in the Advent Church and leads the vanguard as a writer against Mormonism.

    A. O. Hooton is a member of the Church of Christ, a close student of Mormonism with a ready and clear pen. His articles show what he can do.

    Gen. M. Bogard is editor of the Arkansas Baptist and leading polemic for his people. He has met the Mormon Elders in debate and his pen work ranks high,

    J. E. Mahaffey is a minister of the M. E. Church South and for years he has been a most able and earnest writer of tracts and pamphlets against the False Prophet of the XIX century.

    D. B. [T]urney is the world-wide-known polemic of the M. P. Church. He is dreaded by the Mormons next, perhaps, to Clark Braden. He was candidate for President of the U. S. on the American Ticket and polled a good vote in the Middle States. He is up on Mormonism and no man has a sharper or more logical pen.

    With the aid of the above men we can make a monthly that will rank promptly with the leading monthlies of the work. This demands that we soon enlarge our paper. We must have subscribers to do this. Let each one renew promptly and send in a new subscriber and we can more than double our size next volume.



    Our  Post  Office

    J. E. Mahaffey, Clinton, S. C., a Saul among the Anti-Mormon warriors, writes:

    "I have been doing a great deal of Anti-Mormon newspaper work recently and was just thinking of starting a paper through which to carry on the work, having never heard of such a paper already in existence. I shall be glad to render any assistance I can. Hope you are making good use of the recent concessions and repudiations which are creating such a stir in Mormon circles and likely to create much greater commotion when generally known and the significance rightly estimated."

    We are glad to take Bro. M. on our tripod. His pen products are fore-shadowed in that splendid Pamphlet, "Positive Proof that Mormonism is a Fraud." Send 15 cents for a copy.



    E. F. Metcalfe, S. D., writes: "I understand the Mormons have $10,000 to spend in evangelizing S. D. I am fitting myself to meet them. If we get into it, it will be a fight to the finish. I am now in a debate with a Romish Priest."

    We surely ought to raise one-tenth that amount to put into S. D. to head off their effort.



    Dear Bro. Neal:
      In your "Sword of Laban" for Feb., in which you show that the Honolulu Find is vs. the "Manuscript Found," you knock Mormonism and its advocates right and left. It is a tremendous blow from which they cannot recover. Push your advantage and make the world see the infamous origin of that miserable system of fraud and imposture. May the Lord bless you and your noble work. I wish I had the health to stand by you in the great fight for truth and righteousness. I find myself growing less able, day by day, to do work of any kind on account of this asthmatic bronchitis. My coughing spells are more frequent and exhausting, making my breathing shorter at times and all exercise tires me. I ask an interest in your prayers.
                          Yours most fraternally,
                                        I. B. GRUBBS.
    Lexington, Ky.

    We so highly appreciate the letter from our veteran brother Prof. I. B. Grubbs that we give it in full. We know that hundreds will join us in an earnest prayer for his restoration to health. He is one of the really useful men of our day and age.



    R. B.  NEAL'S  MINT.

    The Saints' Herald of March 24th has a report of a debate held at Akin, Ill. An attempt was made to rule out the "Sword of Laban" leaflets.

    The Mormon writer says:

    We appealed to the Chair to exclude them, but were overruled on the ground that it was proper evidence and admissable.

    He then adds:

    It is needless to detail any more refarding the negative. It was throughout a rehash of Braden, Bullock and Bays, with a few additional, brand new arguments, from R. B. Neal's mint.

    Neal's Leaflets can be banked on. Every quotation is verified, and the most important have been sworn to. Polemics need not be timid about using these leaflets in debate. One or two denials by "elders" called for such roastings that others are deferred, even if disposed to.

    For one dime we will send 100 of these Leaflets, 16 kinds, and throw in a copy of "Cowdery's Defence." This tract alone sells for a dime.


    Notes: (forthcoming)



     



    Vol. I.                             Pikeville, Kentucky, July, 1909                             No. 12




    Spalding vs Smith

    OR

    Spaldingism and Mormonism Examined and Compared.

    A. O. HOOTON

    Is there any resemblance between the "Spalding Story" found at Honolulu and the teachings of Joseph Smith? This question can very easily be answered by a comparison of the Spalding Story with the "Book of Mormon" and the "Doctrine and Covenants." In a statement accompanying the "verbatim" copy of the Spalding story, published by the "Josephites" under the title of "Manuscript Found," will be found the following assertions:

    And now that this veritable "Manuscript Found," with an unbroken chain of evidence proving its identity and running back to E. D. Howe, D. P. Hurlbut, Spalding's "old trunk," and so back to Pittsburg, Conneaut, and to the very pen of Solomon Spalding, has by the providence of God been furnished us, and that, too, by those not of the Church, we take pleasure in exhibiting in the sunlight of solid facts, this hobgoblin of the pulpit, this "nigger-in-the-woodpile" of the press and the forum, that with which they have fooled and frightened the masses and blinded those inquiring into the origin and character of the Book of Mormon. This seeming huge hindrance and insurmountable obstacle which is always thrown in the way of the investigator with all the skill and power that craft and cunning and malice and fear and blind zeal can invent and command, vanishes from the presence of this original witness in the case; for when it speaks it reveals the flimsiness and falsity of the claim that it was in any way or in any sense the origin of the Book of Mormon, or that there is the least likeness between the two. This newly found "missing link" completes the chain of evidence which proves that the "Manuscript Found" never was and never could be made the occasion, cause, or germ of the Book of Mormon.

    It is very evident to anyone seeking for truth, who reads the above assertions and then reads the Spalding story, that there is a "nigger in the woodpile;" a lying nigger at that, and that he makes his home in the Lamoni woodpile.

    Why name the Honolulu find the "Manuscript Found," when all the evidence points to its not being the story of that name, but only one of the writings of Spalding? Why publish a "verbatim" copy and then print a falsehood on the title page?

    A careful reading and comparison will convince any fair-minded and reasonable person that there is considerably more than the "least likeness" between the Spalding story and the Book of Mormon and the circumstances surrounding the finding of the two ancient (?) records, and that the cry of "nigger-in-the-woodpile" is all bluff -- merely a makeshift to keep the truth hidden. That all may judge for themselves, I give a number of quotations showing the points of similarity between the "records" of the "novel writer" and the self-styled "Prophet of God."

    1. Each of the "records" was covered with a "stone."
    Spalding says:

    Near the west bank of the Conneaught River there are the remains of an ancient fort. As I was walking and forming various conjectures respecting the characterization and numbers of those people who far exceeded the present Indians in works of art and inginuity, I hap'ned to tread on a flat stone. -- Man. Story p. 11.
    Joseph says:

    On the west side of this hill, (Cumorah) not far from the top, under a stone of considerable size lay the plates deposited in a stone box. This stone was thick and rounding in the middle on the upper side, and thinner towards the edges... -- His. L.D.S. p. 13.

      [p. 2]

    2. Each of them raised the "stone" with a "lever."
    With the assistance of a leaver I raised the stone. But you may easily conjecture my astonishment when I discovered that its ends and sides rested on stones and that it was designed as a cover to an artificial Cave * * * Observing one side to be perpendicular nearly three feet from the bottom * * * a big flat stone fixed in the form of a door. I immediately tore it down * * * found an earthen box * * * when I had removed the cover I found that * * * twenty-eight rolls of parchment -- M.S. p. 11-12. Having removed the earth and obtained a lever, which I got fixed under the edge of the stone and with a little exertion raised it up, I looked in and there indeed did I behold the plates, the Urim and Thummim, and the Breastplate, as stated by the messenger -- His. L.D.S. p. 16.


    3. Each translated only a part of the "records."
    To publish a translation of every particular circumstance mentioned by our author would produce a volume too expensive for the general class of readers. But should this attempt * * * meet the approbation of the public, I shall then be happy to gratify the more inquisitive and learned part of my readers by a more minute publication. -- M.S. p. 13. Touch not the things which are sealed, for I will bring them forth in mine own due time; for I will show unto the children of men that I am able to do mine own work. Wherefore, when thou hast read the words which I have commanded thee * * * then shalt thou seal up the book again, and hide it up unto me, that I may preserve the words which thou hast not read, until I shall see fit in mine own wisdom to reveal all things unto the children of men. ... -- II Nephi 11-18.


    4. Each of the "records" states that storms arose while parties were on the ocean.
    The vessel * * * had now arrived near the coast of Britain when a tremendous storm arose and drove us into the midst of the boundless Ocean -- M.S. p. 15. And it came to pass that after they had bound me, insomuch that I could not move, the compass, which had been prepared of the Lord, did cease to work; wherefore, they knew not whither they should steer the ship, insomuch that there arose a great storm, yea, a great and terrible tempest ... -- I Nephi 5:38.


    5. Each of the "records" states that after prayer the storm did cease.
    Then it was that we felt our absolute dependence on that Almighty and gracious Being who holds the winds & floods in - - - hands. * * * Prostrate and on bended nees we poured forth incessant supplication and even Old Ocean appeared to sympathize in our distress by returning the echo of our vociferos cries and lamentations. * * * On the sixth day after, the storm wholly subsided... -- M.S. p. 15. And it came to pass after they had loosed me, behold, I took the compass, and it did work whither I desired it. And it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord; and after I had prayed the winds did cease, and the storm did cease, and there was a great calm. -- I Nephi 5:42.


    6. Each "record" states that the parties found horses on their arrival in America.
    The ground was plowed by horses M.S. p. 37 .

    The horses were managed in the same way & the people tho't their meat to be a savoury dish. M.S. p. 38.
    And it came to pass that we did find * * * that there were beasts in the forests of every kind, both the cow and the ox, and the ass and the horse ... -- I Nephi 5:45.


    7. Each of the "records" states that burnt offerings were offered for sin.
    Look steadfastly on the black dogs and let not your eyes be turned away, when they are thrown on the sacred pile and the flames are furiously consuming their bodies, then let your earnest prayer assend for pardon and your transgressions will flee away like shadows and your sins will be carried by the smoke into the shades of oblivion. -- M. S. p. 25. And they also took of the firstlings of their flocks, that they might offer sacrifice and burnt offerings according to the law of Moses; and also that they might give thanks to the Lord their God, who had brought them out of the land of Jerusalem ... -- Mos. 1:5.


    8. Each of the "records" states that Judges were appointed to rule over the people.
    Having secured all our property, we then found it necessary to establish some regulations for the government of our little society. The Captain whose name was Lucian and myself were appointed Judges in all matters of controversy and managers of the public property to make bargains with the natives... -- M.S. p. 19. And it came to pass that they did appoint judges to rule over them, or to judge them according to the law; and this they did throughout all the land. And it came to pass that Alma was appointed to be the first chief judge, he being also the high priest, -- Mos. 1:5.


    9. Each of the "records" states that there were three different peoples in this land.
    1. White people who came from Rome, -- M. S. p. 15.

    2. The copper-colored Delewans. -- p. 22, 23.

    3. The olive-colored Ohons. -- p. 36.
    1. Nephites from Jerusalem -- I Nephi 5:4.

    2. People of Zarahemla. -- Mos. 11:8.

    3. Jaredites from the [tower]. -- Ether 3:3.

      [p. 3]

    10. Each of the "records" refers to the motion of the planets,
    This scheme will represent the solar system as displaying the transcendant wisdom of its Almighty architect, for in this we behold the Sun suspended by Omnipotence and all the planets moving round him as their common center in exact order and harmony. -- M.S. p. 30. The scriptures are laid before thee, you in all things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth and all things that are upon it, yea, and its motion, yes, and also the planets which move in their regular form, doth witness that there is a Supreme Creator ... -- Alma 16:7.


    11. Each of the "records" states that caractors were used to represent words.
    They had characters which represent words and all compound words had each part represented by its appropriate character -- M.S. p. 42. And now behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge of the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, ... -- Mormon 4:8.


    12. Each of the "records" states that sacred writings were kept separate from other records.
    In all their large towns and cities they have deposited under the care of a priest a sacred Roll which contains the tenets of their Theology and a description of their religious ceremonies. -- M.S. p. 43. Nevertheless, I have received a commandment of the Lord that I should make these plates for the special purpose that there should be an account engraven of the ministry of my people. Upon the other plates should be engraven an account of the reign of the kings, and the wars and contentions of my people -- 1 Nephi 2:28.


    13. Each of the isms received the word of man as divine.
    Under the pretense that this system was revealed to him in several interviews which he had been permitted to have with the second son of the great and good Being, the people did not long hesitate, but received as sacred and divine truth every word which he taught them. -- M.S. p. 55. Wherefore, meaning the church, thou shalt give heed unto all his words and commandments which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them, walking in all all holiness before me; for his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith, for by doing these things the gates of hell shall not prevail against you... -- D. & C. 19:2 Lamoni Ed.


    14. Each of the isms teaches sinners will be saved after death.
    But the wicked are denied ethereal bodies. Their souls naked and incapable of seeing light, dwel in darkness and are tormented with the keenest anguish. Ages roll away and the good Being has compassion upon them. He permits them to take possession of ethereal bodies and they arise quick to the abodes of delight and glory. -- M.S. p. 47. And again, we saw the glory of the telestial, which glory is that of the lesser, even as the glory of the stars differs from that of the glory of the moon in the firmament. These are they who received not the gospel of Christ, neither the testimony of Jesus, these are they who deny not the holy spirit. These are they who are thrust down to hell. These are they who shall not be redeemed from the Devil until the last resurrection ... -- D. & C. 76:7


    15. Each of the isms requires an oracle.
    He still continued his useful Labors and was considered the great Oracle of both Empires. His advice and sentiments were taken upon all important subjects and no one ventured to controvert his opinions. -- M.S. p. 69. Verily I say unto you the keys of this kingdom shall never be taken from you, while thou art in the world, neither in the world to come, nevertheless, though you shall the oracles be given, yea, even unto the church. -- D. & C. 87-2.


    16. Each of the isms must have counselors.
    At the head of this Empire shall be placed, with the title of Emperor, Labamack the oldest son of Lobaska. The office shall be hereditary in the eldest male of his family * * * He shall have four counsellors. -- M.S. p. 65. I give unto you my servant Joseph, to be a presiding elder over all my church, to be a translator, a revelator, a seer and prophet. I give unto him for counselors my servant Sidney Rigdon and my servant William Law ... -- D. & C. 107:39


    17. Each of the "records" refers to the same plan of constructing fortifications.
    The ramparts or walls were formed of dirt which was taken in front of the fort. A deep canal or trench would likewise be formed. This would still increase the difficulty of surmounting the walls in front. In addition to this they inserted sticks pieces of Timber on the top of the Ramparts. These pieces were about seven feet in length from the ground to top, which was sharpened. -- M.S. p. 80. ... Moroni * * * caused that his armies should commence * * * digging up heaps of earth round about all the cities * * * and upon the top of these ridges of earth he caused that there should be timbers, yea, works of timbers built up to the height of a man, round about the cities. And he caused that upon those works of timbers there should be a frame of pickets built upon the timbers round about. -- Alma 22:1.


    18. Each of the "records" states that property was held in common.
    Our community might be said to be one family, tho' we lived in seperate houses situate near each other. The property was common stock; what was produced by our labor was likewise to be common. -- M.S. p. 21. ... and they had all things in common among them, therefore there were no rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift ... -- IV Nephi 1:2

    (Concluded on Page 6.)

      [p. 4]

    THAT  HONOLULU  FIND.

    Read Brother Hooton's splendid article showing the similarity between the "Find" and the Book of Mormon.

    Then read the brazen declaration of the publishers of the Utaj edition of the "Find." It reflects much upon the claimed "careful perusal," by him of both books. The publishers owe Brother Hooton a vote of thanks. Here's the

    PUBLISHER'S  PREFACE:

    For the last fifty years the "Manuscript Found" has been the Staple Stock in trade of almost every objector to the genuineness of the Book of Mormon. When every other imaginable theory and hypothesis were overthrown, this romance was the unfailing refuge to which they fled. It could not be found, so their baseless assertions could not be disproved by an appeal to itself. But unfortunately for all such who make lies their refuge, this long-lost treasure has, at last, most unexpectedly to all parties, been brought to light, and is now given to the world with all its inanities, absurdities and inaccuracies.

    After carefully perusing both books, we believe we can truthfully assert that there is not one sentence, one incident, or one proper name common to both, and that the oft boasted similarity in matter and nomenclature is utterly false. No two books could be more unalike; in fact Mr. Spaulding's "Manuscript Story" no more resembles the Book of Mormon than "Gulliver's Travels" is like the Gospel of St. Matthew.

    In the first place the "Find" is not the "Manuscript Found of Spalding's."

    These editors take for granted the very vital point under discussion.

    None of them dare to undertake the job of proving it. We defy one and all.

    In the second place, Brother Hooton's article is a complete and final answer to the assertion that there is nothing in this "Find" similar to the Book of Mormon



    Was Joseph Smith a Polygamist? Is answered by our Leaflet No. 10, New Series. We prove by both bride and preacher that he was. It is "sworn proof." Send 5 cents for 10 copies. This is the first of a million telling leaflets

      [p. 5]

    C. A. Shook, who has moved to Palmer, Ill., will prepare an article for our paper on "THE FAIR GOD." This paper will be of especial value to students of Mormonism and especially to Mormon elders, if they will profit by it.


      [p. 6]

    19. Each of the "records" mentions miraculous means of obtaining knowledge; one by a "stone," the other by the "interpreters."
    Hamack then arose and in his hand he held a stone which he pronounced transparent. Through this he could view things present and things to come, could behold the dark intrigues and cabals of foreign courts, and discover hidden treasures secluded from the eyes of other mortals. He could behold the galant and his mistress in their bed-chamber, account all their moles warts and pimples. Such was the clearness of his sight, when this transparent stone was placed before his eyes. -- M.S. p. 107. ... now Ammon said unto him: I can assuredly tell thee, O king, of a man that can translate the records; for he has wherewith that he can look, and translate all records that are of ancient date; and it is a gift from God. And the things are called interpreters * * * and by them shall all things be revealed, or, rather, shall secret things be made manifest, and hidden things shall come to light, and things which are not known shall be made known by them, and also things shall be made known by them which otherwise could not be known. -- Mos. 5:10

    Reader, you have been shown nineteen points of identity between the "Manuscript Story" of Solomon Spalding, and the system of religion (?) as promulgated by the self-styled prophet of God, Joseph Smith. Can you believe the Mormon story that there is no "likeness" between them?

    Solomon and Joseph, they each found a "record,"
      And each of the "records," was very, very old.
    Solomon's was in "Latin," and written on "parchment,"
      Joseph's "Reformed Egyptian," "engraved" on "plates" of "gold."

    'Twas just under a "stone," which he raised by a "lever,"
      That each found his "record," each dry, safe and sound.
    Solomon's in a "box," in a cave "artificial,"
      Joseph's in a "box," near the surface of the ground.

    Of each of the "records," only part was "translated,"
      Each one gave his reasons, why, a part was reserved.
    Solomon's was a novel, while Joseph's was "more bible,"
      For many centuries, hidden miraculously preserved.

    The "record" each tell us, while parties crossed the ocean
      Tremendous storms arose, surging billows everywhere,
    Yet all were safely landed, and not one life was lost,
      They were saved from destruction, in answer to prayer.

    Each "record" mentions horses, that were found upon the land,
      "Burnt offerings" people offered, to cleanse them from all sin.
    Judges were appointed, that justice might be done,
      And different peoples three, this land were dwelling in.

    Each "translator" must have "planets" that move in regular form,
      And "Oracles" their words received, as coming from above.
    "Sacred" writings kept separate, and "characters" used for words,
      The wicked punished for awhile, then saved by redeeming love.

    Each builds his forts of "earth" thrown up with timbers placed on top,
      Has property held in "common," and counselors four or two.
    Has a man whose words, accepted, as coming from above,
      Just so he calls it "revelation," that's enough to them 'tis true.

    But the thing that was dearest, to each "translator's" heart,
      Was the magical "interpreters" or "transparent stone" so clear;
    With them nothing could be hidden, all things came to view,
      Moles and pimples, warts and wrinkles, all things far and near.

    There's no "likeness" shouts the "nigger" 'neath the "wood-pile" of the saints,
      This "missing link" of "evidence" at last completes the "chain."
    Yet Spalding wrote his "manuscript," before Smith found his "book,"
      And there's nineteen points of identity. Will Mormons please explain.

    Bridge, Oregon.


      [p. 7]

    DR.  DODD'S  DIAGNOSIS.

    This work, I am convinced by facts related to me by my deceased patient, Solomon Spaulding, has been made from writings of Spaulding, probably by Sidney Rigdon, who was suspicioned by Spaulding with purloining his manuscript from the publishing-house to which he had taken it; and I am prepared to testify that Spaulding told me that his work was entitled, "The Manuscript Found in the Wilds of Mormon; or Unearthed Records of the Nephites." From his description of its contents, I fully believe that this Book of Mormon is mainly and wickedly copied from it.
                                   CEPHAS DODD.
    June 2, 1831.

    No doubt whatever about the correctness of this diagnosis. The "Honolulu Find" or "Oberlin Maniscript" fully confirms it.


    Note 1: On pp. 164-66 of his 1914 True Origin of the Book of Mormon, author Charles A. Shook closes off his own list of thematic similarities between Spalding and Mormonism with some "verses from the pen of A. O. Hooten, of Bridge, Oregon." He quotes Hooton's final stanza. Like Mr. Shook, James E. Mahaffey was one of R. B. Neal's associate editors during this period: Mahaffey came up with his own short list of similarities in 1902. Mahaffey was still advertising for sale copies of his 1902 booklet in the pages of the Sword of Laban, as late as the summer of 1909 (the current issue).

    Note 2: The Rev. R. B. Neal first printed the text of "Dr. Dodd's Diagnosis" in the second issue of his Sword of Laban, (in Sept., 1908). See notes appended to texts of that issue for a discussion of this dubious text.

    Note 3: Almost lost in the text on page 4 is R. B. Neal's announcement of "the first of a million telling leaflets." This is his "Sword of Laban Leaflets," new series, no 10. Why the Rev. R. B. Neal began his second series of "Sword of Laban Leaflets" with #10, rather than #1, he does not say. This lack of disclosure on his part has led to almost ubiquitous cataloging errors in those few libraries that hold copies of both his first and second series of these leaflets. Probably in Neal's "second series," leaflets #1-9 were simply composed of loose pages, informally removed from his "tract" sections of the first nine issues of the Sword of Laban.




     



    Vol. II.                                   Pikeville, Kentucky, August, 1909                                  No. 1



    [title and contents unknown]


    (under construction)




     



    Vol. II.                                   Pikeville, Kentucky, September, 1909                                  No. 2




    The  Fair  God: Was  He  Jesus Christ?




    (under construction)




    Notes: (forthcoming)



     



    Vol. II.                                   Pikeville, Kentucky, October, 1909                                  No. 3



    Did  Oliver  Cowdery  Renounce  Mormonism
    - - - and  join  the - - -
    Methodist  Protestant  Church  at  Tiffin,  Ohio?


    THE importance of the issue presented and the value of the facts given in this article ought to and surely will win for it a place in every paper whose editor is in favor of suppressing error and of spreading truth.

    Who Was Oliver Cowdery?

    We permit this distinguished Mormon to introduce himself to our readers. Hear what he says:

    I wrote with my own pen the entire "Book of Mormon" (save a few pages) as it fell from the lips of the Prophet Joseph Smith as he translated it by the gift and power of God, by means of Urim and Thummim, or, as it is called by that book, "Holy Interpreters." I beheld with my eyes and handled with my hands the gold plates from which it was translated. I also saw with my eyes and handled with my hands the Holy Interpreter. That book is true.

    The Holy Priesthood is here. I was present with Joseph when an holy angel of God came down from Heaven, conferred on us or restored the lesser, or Aaronic Priesthood and said to us at the same time that it should remain upon earth while the earth stands. I was aLso present with Joseph when the higher, or Melchisedek Priesthood was conferred by the holy angel from on high. This priesthood was then conferred on each other by the will and commandment of God. This priesthood as was then declared is also to remain upon the earth until the last remnant of time.

    Here's a sample of the revelations(?) he received:

    Behold, thou art Oliver, and I have spoken unto thee because of thy desires: therefore treasure up these words in thy heart. Be faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments of God and I will encircle thee in the arms of my love. Behold, I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God. I am the same that came unto my own and my own received me not.

    *   *   *   *   *   *   *

    Behold the wounds which pierced my side, and also the prints of the nails in my hands and feet; be faithful, keep my commandments, and ye shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. Amen.
                          -- Sec. 6, Book of D. and C.

    Oliver Cowdery was the first person baptized into the Mormon Church. Joseph Smith, the Prophet, baptized him and he then baptized Joseph. He is one, and the main one, of the Three Witnesses whose names go out with every Book of Mormon to prove its divinity. He was nearer to Joseph Smith in this work of planting Mormonism than John, the beloved, was to the Savior when the Lord's Supper was instituted. He was the Second Elder, Joseph was the First Elder and both were equal in power in the Priesthoods.

    He claimed that "Peter, James and John" ordained him and Joseph Smith to the Melchisedek Priesthood. Also that "the Angel John" (the Baptist) came down and ordained both him and Joseph to the Aaronic Priesthood, laid his hands on their heads, saying:

    Upon you, my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah, I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering angels, and of the gospel of repentance and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins; and this shall never be taken again from the earth, until the sons of Levi do offer again an offering unto the Lord in righteousness.
                          -- Sec. 13, B. of D. and C.

    These young "Elders" of Mormonism who today
     
    [p. 2]
    travel up and down the earth with "grip" in hand preaching the "Gospel of Nephi," trace their authority to preach, to teach, to baptize, to "lay on hands" back to Oliver Cowdery, equally with Joseph Smith.

    How important that they should be posted on the facts we hand out in this document. The right conclusion would force itself upon their minds. It is unthinkable that a man who saw Christ and to whom He talked, a man who had the hands of John the Baptist laid on him, telling him that baptism was by "immersion" and "for the remission of sins" should join a church that denies both statements. It is unthinkable that the man who nearly wrote the Book of Mormon, who said he saw an "Angel of God" with the "gold plates," and that when the angel showed him the "gold plates" the voice of God declared that Joseph Smith had correctly translated them in the "Book of Mormon," if he believed his own story, that he could join, live in and labor for years with a church that denied all such claims.

    Every Mormon Elder and Editor denies that Oliver joined the M. P. Church at Tiffin, O. They have to deny it, and to maintain the denial, or lose their cause. When I first sent this affirmation into all their camps it caused consternation and created quite a commotion. The "Reorganized Church" sent out its best henchmen to persons and places I had mentioned in hopes of gathering information that would confute my statements.

    Their "Church Historian," H. C. Smith, started an article on the rounds of Mormon papers, based upon his report. This article was to have been revised, put in tract form and scattered among the faithful. It "died a borning."

    "The Saints' Herald," Lamoni, Ia., official organ of the "Reorganized Church," has an article of over eight pages reviewing my Tract. "The Evening and Morning Star," Independence, Mo., official organ of the Hedrickite Mormon church, quotes largely from it with hearty approval. "Pilate" and "Herod" join hands to battle me over this, to them, a life or death issue.

    The article winds up with the following flourish:

    We submit the foregoing to the careful consideration of those who wish to know the truth; to those who are seeking for the opposite we have nothing to offer.

    After I make manifest how their trusted men hunt for truth and juggle the facts they find, the public will conclude, and justly so, if Mormon papers refuse to publish this article, that the Editors and Elders are not honest, and brand them deeply as among those who are "seeking for the opposite of the truth."

    All that class has to do is to read the Church Historian's article based upon Bishop Kelley's report.

    The Saints' Herald says:

    At our request, Bishop E. L. Kelley called at Tiffin, Ohio, on February 7 and 8, 1907, to look up the records on this point, and after examining all the records that he could find in the hands of the custodian of the records, Mr. C. J. Yingling, writes in a letter dated Independence, Missouri, February 11, 1907, as follows:

    "Mr. C. J. Yingling, who had in charge the records of the Methodist church, thought before examination that it showed that Cowdery was a member of the church, but upon examination I discovered that it simply contained his work as an attorney, and pointed out the fact to Mr. Yingling, which he readily assented was the fact."

    I promptly wrote to Mr. Yingling asking if the above statement was true. Here is the reply I received:

    Tiffin, O., April 12, '07.      

    R. B. Neal,
        Grayson, Ky.

    Dear Sir: Your favor of April 1st came duly to hand and contents noted. Mr. E. L. Kelley called to see me in February. He asked me if I knew anything about Oliver Cowdery. I showed him the minute book of the church. Mr. Kelley told me he was a lawyer. I did not know he was a Mormon. He seemed like a very nice gentleman. I enclose you a copy of all the minutes recorded in the Minute Book of the Methodist Protestant Church, of Tiffin, that contains anything about Mr. Cowdery, and all that Mr. Kelley saw. After Mr. Kelley had left Tiffin, I found something in Lang's history of Seneca county about Cowdery. I copied it and sent it to Mr. Kelley. I also enclose you a copy of the same. The copies of the minutes and what is in Lang's History is all I know about Oliver Cowdery, and all I showed Mr. Kelley.

    The minutes of the church written up by Oliver Cowdery, January 18, 1844, should be conclusive evidence that Oliver Cowdery was a member of the Methodist Protestant Church. Every word of the minutes of the copies that I enclose was written by Oliver Cowdery except the names which I have underscored; the affixes, ec. and Treas." are in Oliver Cowdery's handwriting.

    Yours respectfully,          
    C. J. YINGLING.      


    COMMENTS.

    Mr. Kelley did not reveal himself as a Mormon Bishop sent out by his church to gather facts for "the careful consideration of those who wish to know the truth."

    This has a dishonest look. His concealing this fact that he was a Mormon on an honest hunt for facts prepares us to suspect a dishonest handling of facts found. The sequel confirms our suspicion. He wilfull and deliberately misrepresents Mr. Yingling.

    Read the following
    Deadly Parallel

    Bishop Kelley.

    Before reading the records Mr. Yingling thought that Cowdery was a member of the Church. After examination of the records he readily assented to my statement that Mr. Cowdery was not a member of the Church, but was simply acting as an attorney for it.
    Mr. Yingling.

    The minutes of the Church written up by Oliver Cowdery Jan. 11, 1844, should be conclusive evidence that Oliver Cowdery was a member of the Methodist Protestant Church.

     
    [p. 3]
    Mr. Yingling not only denies that he assented to Kelley's statement that Cowdery was "simply acting as an attorney for the church" but he affirms that the church book "is conclusive evidence that Oliver Cowdery was a member of the Methodist Protestant Church."

    This first round gives a very black eye to Bishop Kelley as a fair handler of facts.

    When we look at "the Minutes of the Church written up by Oliver Cowdery, Jan. 18, 1844," every candid man and woman will agree with Mr. Yingling that the evidence is conclusive that Apostle, Second Elder Oliver Cowdery, of the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" renounced that church and joined he M. P. Church at Tiffin, O.

    Here we rest until next issue.



    Mormon  Changes  to  Its  Revelations  and  Literature.

    CLARK  BRADEN.

    More than 3,500 changes of words and sentences in the Palmyra edition of "The Book of Mormon," were made in the second edition, The "Book of Commandments" was so changed that unless the Mormon god made the changes himself, he would not recognize his own revelations in the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants." In reprinting the Evening and Morning Star, it was changed to agree with the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants," and in many other particulars. In reprinting the first six volumes of The Saints' Herald, it was changed, and all confession of Smith's polygamy suppressed. Persons have taken the first volumes of the Herald to the office in Lamoni to have them bound, and found, on examination, that all confession of Smith's polygamy had been suppressed. From Spaulding to the present hour, the system has been a lying fraud.
     
    [p. 4]

    "Sword of Labanco"

    That is what Solomon Spaulding called it in his book. I have the proof. If the brethren will help us multiply the "Sword of Labanco" by the tens of thousands we promise great results for spreading truth and slaying error.




    "The Fair God: Was He Jesus Christ?" Unintentionally the name of our associate, C. A. Shook, was not given in our September number as the writer of the leading editorial under the above caption. The article is exceptionally able and is a great hekp to those who want to get at the truth in these issues.




    (under construction)




    Notes: (forthcoming)



     



    Vol. II.                                   Pikeville, Kentucky, November, 1909                                  No. 4



    Did Oliver Cowdery Renounce Mormonism
    - - - and  join  the - - -
    Methodist Protestant Church at Tiffin, Ohio?


    We continue with increasing interest this investigation. Mr. Yingling desiring to aid Bishop Kelley to find out "the whole truth and nothing else but the truth," in regard to Oliver Cowdery, referred him to the aged widow of Judge Lang, as one likely to know the facts in the case.

    Kelley interviewed her and here's his report:

    Mrs. W. Lang, the widow of Judge Lang, of Tiffin, was referred to as a witness who would know with reference to Cowdery's connection with the church. She was an aged lady, but of good memory, found at her residence and that of her niece, Miss Lang, at Tiffin, and upon inquiry with reference to Oliver Cowdery's connection with the Methodist church or any church society at Tiffin during his residence there. She stated that he was not a member of any church society there. She thought his wife might have attended the Methodist church and that the girl who lived with them, Adeline Fuller, did attend the Methodist church, but she was certain that Oliver Cowdery was never a member of the Methodist church at Tiffin. She said on the contrary he was a "Mormon."

    I promptly wrote to Mrs. Judge Lang.

    As death had claimed her, since her interview with Kelley, her son, Frank H. Lang, a prominent business man of Tiffin, replied. Here are extracts from his letter:

    "TIFFIN, O., May 15, 1907.      

    "R. B. NEAL,
       "Grayson, Ky.

    "DEAR SIR:

      "I called upon Mr. Yingling and we together looked over the Church Records of January 18,1844. * * * I will try and have a photograph taken of the page and send to you.

    "Now, Mr. Neal, I wish you would send me a copy of Mr. Kelley's statement, or tract, in which he states his interview with my mother. Mr. Yingling had one but I do not like to ask him for it.

    "Mr. Kelley has undeniably misquoted my mother, for I spoke to her about her conversation with Mr. Kelley within an hour after he had been there and she said that she told him that she did not know whether the Cowdery family were members of the Methodist church or not.

    "He says that mother stated to him that she was positive they were not. He also misrepresented Mr. Yingling in his statement. And I am quite sure that he has also misrepresented Mrs. Joel W. Wilson in her statement. I may have to go to Toledo in a few days and if I do I will call on her."


    We again call up the

    DEADLY  PARALLEL.

    BISHOP KELLEY

    "Mrs. Lang told me that Oliver Cowdery was never a member of any Church Society at Tiffin. That she was certain that he was never a member of the Methodist Church at Tiffin, that on the contrary, he was a Mormon."
    FRANK H. LANG

    "Mr. Kelley has undeniably misquoted my mother, for I spoke to her about her conversation with Mr. Kelley within an hour after he had been there and she said she told Kelley that she did not know whether the Cowdery family were members of the Methodist Church or not."

    This, the second round, blacks Kelley's other eye. Note what he says about Adeline Fuller, the girl who lived with the Cowdery family. We have her testimony and will present it at the right time. It
     

    [p. 2]
    presents another issue and we do not wish this one clouded by another just now.

    I have before me an old letter written in 1881 by Mr. J. H. Gilbert, Palmyra, N. Y. He is the man who set the type and got out the first issue of the Book of Mormon.

    Bishop Kelley interviewed him and made his report in this same Saints' Herald. Gilbert gets holds of a copy and his letter will have a bearing to put Mr. Kelley before the public in his true light. Gilbert says:

    Kelley's report of the conversation with me is full of misrepresentations. The long paragraph in relation to Mr. Cobb and Lorenzo Saunders is a mixed mess of truth and falsehood. What he charges me with saying about Smith's and Tucker's book is all his own coining. Mr. Jackway tells me he did not tell Kelley that Joe and his father got drunk on cider, but on whiskey.

    I do know that Kelly has misrepresented me in his report of my answers and statements, and I have no doubt he has misrepresented others also. What his object was I can not divine. He may think it will strengthen the faith of Mormons a little. Well, if people are fools enough to believe in it, let them; it is no worse than some other humbugs.

    If you have any Mormon friends in your vicinity who have read Kelley's report in the Saints' Herald, you can say to them that he is a great falsifier, and I consider him the champion liar of America.

    Yours truly,        
    J. H. GILBERT.   

    This was in 1881. In 1907, this same Bishop Kelley, twenty-six years older, is still hunting for truth (?) about Mormonism, and reporting the same old "Saints' Herald" and misrepresenting interviews in the same old way.

    From what we have presented, and are about now to present, the public will conclude that Bishop Kelley still wears the belt as the "C. L. of A."

    The Deadly Parallels above confirm his title to the belt, but they are weak documents for that purpose, compared to the way he doctors church records, to hand out to a public he thinks will never see the original copies.


    How Kelley Handles Church Records.

    We have type-written copies of the "records" he had on which to base his articles. We also have his article in print. This makes the task of comparison very easy.

    Bishop Kelley says:

    The first reference to the work of the First Methcdist Protestant Church of Tiffin, contained in the record book, bears date of January 19, 1843. This was of a meeting called at that date of the male members of said church to form a society and obtain charter of such society. At the conclusion of the record of this meeting there is entered upon the record in the handwriting of Oliver Cowdery, which is marked in brackets, the following:

    (See Vol. 41, Ohio Local Laws, pages 31 and 32, where the above act may be found. O. Cowdery.)

    Kelley evidently designs to make three impressions upon the minds of his readers by the above comments.

    1. That the "male members" of the church met to form some sort of society "for men only," separate from the church and to get a charter for it.

    2. That this kind of work demanded the presence of a lawyer to advise, and that Cowdery, the great Mormon apostle, was there simply as an attorney.

    3. That all. that Cowdery wrote of the minutes of this meeting was the appendix contained in the brackets.

    Here is a copy of the document he had before him:

    Whereas, The General Assembly of the State of Ohio, in accordance with a petition previously presented to that body, on the Nineteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord, one thousand, eight hundred and forty-three, passed the following act to incorporate the several persons therein named, in the words and figures following, to-wit:

    An act to incorporate the Methodist Protestant Church of Tiffin, in the county of Seneca.

    Sec. (1). Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio, that John Souder, Joseph Walker, William Campbell and William Patterson, their associates and successors, be, and they are hereby created a body politic and corporate by the name and style of the Methodist Protestant Church, of Tiffin, in the County of Seneca and as such shall be entitled to all the rights, privileges and immunities granted by, and be subject to all the restrictions of, the act entitled "an act in relation to incorporated religious societies," passed March the fifth, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.

    Sec. (2.) That said Corporators shall give at least ten days' notice of the time and place of their first meeting under this act, by posting up advertisements in three of the most public places in said Town.

    Sec. (3.) The private and individual property of the corporators shall be held responsible for the payment of the debts of said Church, after the corporate property shall have been exhausted.

                        JOHN CHANEY,
    Speaker of the House of Representatives.

                       JAMES J. FAREN,
          Speaker of the Senate.
    Jan. 19, 1843.

    (See Volume 41, Ohio Local Laws, pages 31, 32, where the above Act may be found. O. Cowdery).


    Comments.

    Note 1. That the male members of the church met to accept an act of incorporation of their church, as a whole, both males and females, not to "form a society" in the modern use of that term either within or without the church.

    This act of incorporation was their "charter" to create "a body politic and corporate by the name and style of the METHODIST PROTESTANT CHURCH OF TIFFIN, O."

    2. The meeting was for male members. Members of the church, of course. Oliver Cowdery was present and just as sure as that he was a male he was a member of that church.

    3. Oliver Cowdery wrote every word of the minutes of that page. Wrote the whole thing, appendix
     

    [p. 3]
    and all. Mr. Yingling says: "Every word of the minutes of the copies that I enclose was written by Cowdery, except the names I have underscored."

    Mr. Cowdery was a ready writer and a good scribe. That is the reason Joseph Smith had him write the Book of Mormon. This the reason, now that he was a "male member" of the Methodist Church, that he was called upon to write so much. He wrote everything on that page and Bishop Kelley knew it. He saw the original page. His "attorney idea" demanded that he suppress the whole truth about Cowdery's hand-writing upon that page. In fact there is nothing here, or in any of these records, to indicate that Oliver Cowdery was even a lawyer, much less acting as an attorney for the church.

    The way he handles the next "Record" is even more dishonorable than the way he handles this one. About that in our next issue.



    Maul or Sheep, Which?

    The following is too good to be lost. Hence we will preserve it in "THE SWORD OF LABAN."

    Sometime ago a brother (?) writing from Scottsboro, Ala., "give me fits" in the Gospel Advocate, of Nashville, Tenn. He did not "sign his name" -- it was a bushwhack. I found out by inquiry at the Advocate's office that his name is Scott and that by profession he is a lawyer. I am glad that he is not a preacher for the sake of the cloth. He wrote:

    I notice in the Gospel Advocate of January 29, that Bro. R. B. Neal is laid up with a lame leg, and that he will devote more time to the anti-Mormon department of his work; and in the Christian Standard of January 17, he says that he has led a class-meeting for the Methodists and organized a Christian Endeavor society. I find as much authority in the Bible for Mormonism as I do for class-meeting and Christian Endeavor societies. I suppose the poor old brother has to write against something, and as the Mormons have very few friends in the country where he lives, it is safe to fight them. No doubt that, when he is able to be out again, he will go to work organizing societies and attending class-meetings. Such people will do very little good or very little harm, whether in the house with a lame leg or out of it with a lame mind.


    I, with a band of youngsters, of Willard, Ky., went to the Baptist Church to organize a C. E. We run in on a class-meeting of the Methodists. After the meeting was opened the class leader politely and earnestly asked me to speak. Under protest I took the chair and developed the point that if we would talk more of what we were doing for Jesus rather than what God had done for us, that the meeting would be more interesting and profitable. Methodists, Baptists and all, seemed to enjoy the meeting. I know I did.

    But to resume: Only those on the "firing line," fronting and battling a common foe, can fully appreciate an ambush and an attack in the rear "by false brethren." A Mormon elder was so gratified that he copied it, and put it in the Saints Herald, of Lamoni, Iowa, with the following addenda:

    The above reminds us of the fable of a farmer who had a combative sheep, which was making him much trouble by fighting everything that came its way. So as fighting was his Alpha and Omega, he determined that he should have it. He got a hickory maul, tied it to a limb and started it swinging. The old pest, thinking it was a banter, bucked and took it a tilt. The farmer, satisfied that the sheep had found his match, said he would return next morning to see how he was making it with his opponent. On his return he found the old sheep had butted himself all away except about two inches of his tail and that he was still in motion. The analogy: Campbellism has had its sway, tearing down and trampling under foot, but at last it has struck the maul of Mormonism, and has completely demolished itself, all but its tail, R. B. Neal and the "antis." R. B. Neal has better success in leading class-meetings than in fighting Mormonism.
            Galena, Ind.             Yours in Christ,
                                                M. R. SCOTT, SR.


    Soon after seeing the above, I received an earnest letter from M. R. Scott, Jr., asking for books, papers, tracts, bearing on the Mormon issues. He stated that he had been an "elder for fifteen years," was one of the "seventy;" in fact, he was high up in the Mormon Israel. He stated that last April he had "gotten out of the woods" and was now a member of the Church of Christ.

    When I sent the literature I asked him a question. His answer was: "Yes, M. R. Scott, Sr., of Galena is my father. Roast him!"

    When the old man called R. B. N. the "tail" of Campbellism he was not expecting that the "tale," and a true one, that he son would renounce the "faith of his father" and become one of the so-called sect that Scott, Sr. despises.

    We are not mauling the old Mormon sheep but we are taking into our fold most promising lambs of their flocks.

    M. R. Scott, Sr. is to be congratulated on his fine son, M. R., Jr.

    Hope the are no kin to that Alabama Scott.



    Dr. Josiah Strong, New York City, writes:

    I am glad that a society has been formed to fight this pernicious religion which is Christian only in name, and in character essential heathenism. Wishing you all success in your endeavor to enlighten the people.

    In this battle with Mormonism we need not only strong words, but strong, helping hands. The best way to successfully enlighten the people is by the printing and circulating freely pointed, pertinent tracts and leaflets. All recognize these facts, but the "ninety and nine" seem somehow to rely upon the "one" to "pay the printer" and furnish stamps necessary for the circulating.
     

    [p. 4]


    (under construction)




    Notes: (forthcoming)


     



    Vol. II.                                   Pikeville, Kentucky, December, 1909                                  No. 5



    [Did Oliver Cowdery Renounce Mormonism?]
    (part 3)


    We resume our task of handling "Bishop Kelly" without gloves. In handling Church Records" he makes an unsavory record that smells to the skies.

    He continues his comments:

    On January 6, 1844, the society was called together again with John Souders, chairman; William Campbell, secretary; but from the proceedings it seems they did not have sufficient to form a quorum, and their proceedings were not legal. At the conclusion of this record for January 6, 1844, there is inserted by O. Cowdery the following:

    "(The account of March 5, 1836, referred to in the charter of this society, ~corded on page 1, may be found in the collated acts of 1841, chapter 97, pages 32, 783, 784. O. Cowdery.)"

    Comments.

    Note 1. He again says it was the "society" called together.

    2. That Cowdery wrote the conclusion of the record. The implication is that that is all he wrote of the minutes. It would hurt the "attorney idea" to say that he wrote the whole thing except the "names of the chairman and secretary." That he even wrote the "affixes," "chairman" and "secretary," to which they prefixed their names. Here is the document. Each reader can judge for himself as to Kelley's perversion of plain facts:

    And whereas, the said corporators, in pursuance with, and according to, the foregoing act of incorporation, on the twenty-first day of December in the year of our Lord, one thousand, eight hundred and forty-three, at Tiffin, in said county of Seneca, posted up in three of the most public places therein, a notice in the records and figures following, to-wit:

    "Notice: -- A meeting of the Male members of the Methodist Protestant Church of Tiffin, Seneca county, Ohio, will be held on the 6th day of January next at their brick church in Tiffin, in said county, for the purpose of organizing under the act of incorporation of said Society, passed January 19, 1843. The meeting will be organized at 2 o'clock P. M. of said day.

    "Joseph Walker,
    "John Souder,
    "W. M. Patterson,
    "Wm. Campbell.
    "Dec. 21, 1843

    Whereupon, in pursuance of said notice, last aforesaid, to-wit: On the sixth day of January, A. D. 1844, a meeting was held accordingly, as will fully appear from the following minutes and records thereof:

    "Minutes of a meeting of the male members of the Methodist Protestant Church of Tiffin, Seneca county, Ohio, held on the 6th day of January, A. D. 1844, at their brick church in said Tiffin, according to notice previously given.

    "2 o'clock P. M. -- The meeting came to order, John Souder was chosen chairman and William Campbell secretary. And it appearing that two-thirds of the Male Members of this society are not in attendance, on motion it is

    Resolved, That this meeting do adjourn to meet again at this place on the 18th inst., at half past 6 o'clock P. M., for the purpose of fully carrying out the objects specified in the notice of Dec. 21st A. D. 1843, and such other business as the meeting may see proper to transact.

    "Resolved, That the minutes of this meeting be signed by the Chairman and Secretary.

    "John Souder, Chairman,
    Wm. Campbell, Secretary."
    "Jan. 6, 1844.

    "(P.S. -- The act of March 5th, 1836, referred to in the charter of this Society recorded on page first may be found in the Collated Statute of 1811, Chapter 97, Pages 782, 783, 784. O. Cowdery.)"


    Comments.

    1. He, Kelley, knew that it was a body corporate by the name and style of the Methodist Protestant Church of Tiffin, O." that was called together again. Yet he says it was the "society."

    2. He knew that the notice was extended and limited to the "Male Members" of that church. Oliver Cowdery was present. ERGO he was a member of the church.

    3. He knew that though Oliver Cowdery was not the secretary elect of that meeting that he wrote every word of the minutes except the name of the chairman and secretary. He even wrote the affixes "chairman" and "secretary."

    How did he know it? He read the page; knew Cowdery's handwriting. He saw that Cowdery "inserted the conclusion" of the page, and he knew that he wrote the whole page. Why did he not say so?

    He handles the third document still more recklessly. He writes:

    January 18, 1844, the members of the society convened again, Rev. Thomas B. Cushman elected chairman and Oliver Cowdery secretary of the meeting. In this meeting the following named parties were elected trustees: John Souder, Joseph Walker, William Campbell and John Nye. The following resolutions were passed:

    "Resolved, That the first meeting of the trustees of this society, elected by this meeting, be held in the office of O. Cowdery on Tuesday, the 23rd inst., at half past six o'clock, p.m.

    "Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be signed by the chairman and secretary."

    On motion adjourned the meeting without delay. Thomas B. Cushman, chairman; Oliver Cowdery, secretary. January 18, 1844.

    Bishop Kelley then gravely draws the following conclusions:

    This furnishes all the reference in the record to Oliver Cowdery. It will be seen from an examination of the facts that Oliver Cowdery acted as the attorney [for] these parties, hence the association of his name. It has been claimed that he was a trustee of the church, but the record does not so disclose, and had he been a trustee, that would not necessarily make him a member of the society, for [neither] the law of the church at the time nor the law of the land made it necessary [for] a party, in order to be a trustee of property, to be a member of the society.

    This is the page we want photographed for a cut. It will convince every man who sees it, as it did Messrs. Yingling and Lang, that Oliver Cowdery was a member of the M. P. church at Tiffin, O.

    A man who can even fancy that he sees a shadow of a fact in any of these words that indicates in the remotest degree, that Oliver Cowdery, the Mormon apostle, Second Elder in that church, holding the two priesthoods, the keys of Aaron and Melchisedek both, who believed, if he was still a Mormon, that the Methodists worshipped a false God, had no right to baptize and were bound, as the crow flies, for hades; that he was there simply as an attorney after Methodist money, and was elected and acted as secretary, is the man to send out to find the records that Cook and Peary left at the North Pole, or the grave of Moses, or an [instance] where Bishop Kelley ever fairly reported an interview or fairly represented a document.

    I risk the statement, without the least fear of contradiction, that he never heard a man, woman or child at Tiffin, O., or anywhere else on this earth, say or claim that Oliver Cowdery was a "trustee" of the church at Tiffin, O. It is not likely that the great Mogul of Mormonism, an Elder, Bishop, Apostle and High Priest of the Mormon church would have accepted the position of "a trustee" of a small M. P. church property. Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Orson Pratt and others would have put the "Danites" on his track for such a prostitution of his position as that. Nor is it likely that a Methodist Protestant church, a church that battles "the bishop idea," would elect the next great Mormon to Joseph Smith a trustee of their property. It would be like putting a fox to guard a chicken coop and putting him on the inside.

    (under construction)




    Notes: (forthcoming)


     



    Vol. II.                                   Pikeville, Kentucky, January, 1910                                  No. 6



    [Did Oliver Cowdery Renounce Mormonism?]
    (part 4)


    We promised last month to conclude this series of articles in this paper. But such is the growing interest taken in them, and having "other proof" in hand, never before used, we will "make haste leisurely," knowing that "our friends the foe" will hear the statement with everything else but joy.

    We now hand out

    The Convincing Document:

    Minutes of a meeting of the Male Members of the Methodist Protestant Church of Tiffin, Seneca County, Ohio, held pursuant to adjournment.

    The meeting came to order by appointing Rev. Thomas Cushman Chairman, and Oliver Cowdery Secretary. On ascertaining and it appearing that more than two-thirds of the male members of said Society were present, it was on motion,

    Resolved, that we accept the Charter for the legal organization of said Society passed by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio January l9th, 1843, and that we become and now are organized under and in accordance with the provisions of the same.

    On motion, it was further resolved that John Souder, Joseph Walker, William Campbell, John Shinefelt and Benjamin Nye be, and they are hereby appointed and chosen Trustees for said Society for and during the term of one year and until their successors are chosen and accept said office.

    Resolved, That the annual meeting of the male members of this Society be held at this place one year from this date at half past 6 p.m. for the purpose of electing five Trustees for said society, unless previously called by a vote of twothirds of the male members of this Society to be held at another time.

    Resolved, That the Trustees appointed by this meeting be authorized to call a special meeting of this Society for the purpose of adopting such By-laws as may be necessary for the well being of the same.

    Resolved, That the first meeting of the Trustees of this Society, elected by this meeting, be held at the office of O. Cowdery on Tuesday, the 23rd inst., at half ast 6 o'clock p.m.

    Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be signed by the Chairman and Secretary.

    On motion the meeting adjourned without delay.

    Thos. B. Cushman, Chairman.     

    Oliver Cowdery, Secretary.
    Jan. 18, 1844.


    Comments.

    1. Kelley says: "The members of the Society convened again."

    The record says: "The male members of the Methodist Protestant Church, Tiffin, O., met pursuant to adjournment."

    2. Oliver Cowdery was there and was elected secretary and accepted and wrote and signed the minutes.

    3. "As sure as the sun shines, grass grows and water flows," he was a member of that church.

    4. The idea is absurd that a Mormon apostle, one who had the hands of John the Baptist placed upon his head and who was baptized by the Seer and Prophet of Mormonism, could be elected secretary by a M. P. Church board, or that he would accept if elected.

    5. The only explanation is: Cowdery has renounced Mormonism and embraced Methodism. On no other ground can it be explained.

    A photographic reproduction of this page ought to be scattered all over the earth. It is enough to convince even a "Digger Indian" that Oliver Cowdery joined the M. P. Church at Tiffin, O., and was an active and respected member of it.

    Bishop Kelley, and those whom he serves, knows full well what that fact means. It sounds the doom of Mormonism. Hence his compromise with his conscience and his petty juggling of plainest facts.


    Affirmative Proof.

    I now present the positive and direct proof of my proposition. The first witness I introduce is Judge W. Lang, of Tiffin, O.

    The Saints' Herald says:

    Mr. Yingling also sent to Bishop Kelley a copy of what is contained in the History of Seneca Co., Ohio, on Oliver Cowdery, which is as follows, a transcript of which has been sent to us.

    Then follows over a column of quoted matter. At the conclusion the Saints' Herald says:

    We produce this extract because it was written by one who was intimately acquainted with Oliver Cowdery.

    Neither Kelley nor the church historian were honest enough to tell the public that the writer was Judge W. Lang. He read law with Cowdery and was intimate with him from the time he moved to, and until he left, Tiffin. Judge Lang says in his article:

    Cowdery entirely abandoned and broke away from all his connections with Mormonism.

    I have two letters of Judge Lang's. I published one in full in Tract No. 9, entitled "Oliver Cowdery's Defence." He says in it:

    In the second year of his (Cowdery's) residence here (Tiffin, O.,) he and the family attached themselves to the Methodist Protestant church, where they held fellowship to the time they left for Elkhorn, Wis.

    This certainly ought to end the controversy. But I have more evidence and equally as good.

    My next witness is Judge W. H. Gibson, of Tiffin, O. He was a personal friend of Cowdery. They traveled together, practiced law in the same courts, as well as lived in the same city.

    I have two of his letters written in August, 1882. He says:

    Oliver Cowdery was an able lawyer, a fine orator, a ready debater and led a blameless life while living in this city. He united with the Methodist Protestant Church and was a consistent member.

    *   *   *   *   *   *   *

    Members of his church inform me that in all his intercourse with the members, he never alluded to Mormonism.

    Judge Lang was a student with Oliver Cowdery and is a most reliable gentleman.


    In his letter of August 8, Judge Gibson says:

    I have just conversed with a very old and esteemed citizen, G. J. Keen, who besides being a personal and political friend of Oliver Cowdery belonged to the same church.

    There is nothing ambiguous about these statements. If we can find out what church Mr. Keen belonged to we can locate Cowdery's membership.

    I have two letters of Mrs. Adeline M. Bernard (nee Fuller), "the girl who lived with the Cowderys."

    In her letter of March 4, 1881, she was loth to give information along certain lines because, she says: "Mr. Cowdery adopted me as his own child."

    In spite of this feeling she states some things that the public has a right to know. They will come out in good time, but just now it is not in order to divert attention from the main issue before us. In her letter of October 3, 1881, she says:

    I know that Mr. Cowdery joined the Methodist Protestant Church. He joined the church in 1841, and you can write to Judge W. Lang, of Tiffin, O., and he will search the church records and send you transcript of his (Oliver Cowdery's) membership.

    While the above proof proves, we have some still stronger for our next issue.

    (under construction)


     

    PLAGIARISM  IN  MORMONISM.

    by Clark Braden


    ... The Book of Mormon is "The Manuscript Found" of Solomon Spaulding, revamped by Sidney Rigdon. The argument based on appeal to the Bible, in the "Voice of Warning," a Mormon classic, was plagiarized from "The Israelites in America," of Ethan Smith, or a synopsis of that work, published in "The Wonders of Nature and Providence," by Josiah Priest...


    Note 1: See R. B. Neal's first series of Sword of Laban Leaflets, number 5, for the initial publication of this short notice by the Rev. Clark Braden. Although cited by one later writer, its appearance in the Jan. 1910 Sword of Laban remains uncertain.

    Note2: While the above pronouncement from the Rev. Clark Braden is not a direct application of the Ethan Smith "theory" for Book of Mormon origins, it does show that Braden realized by this time (1906-9) that Mormon religious teachings overlapped significantly with doctrines expressed the writings of the Rev. Ethan Smith. This realization had already been expressed among the "Campbellite" preachers of that day, by Braden's co-religionist, the Rev. John T. Birdwell. Birdwell, in turn, picked up his ideas from reading I. Woodbridge Riley. All of this foreshadows the slightly later application of the Ethan Smith "theory" among Mormon intellectuals, like Elder Brigham H. Roberts. Braden only went so far as matching up Ethan Smith's ideas with those expressed by Parley P. Pratt, but he must have understood that Pratt derived a good deal of his "Warning" directly from the Book of Mormon. If Ethan Smith was generally compatible with Pratt he was also generally compatible with the Book of Mormon. Braden, ever a faithful upholder of the Spalding claims, was not ready to admit a solid connection between Ethan Smith and the Book of Mormon. In his 1884 debate with Bishop Edmund L. Kelley, Braden had already made the claim that some of the contents of the Book of Mormon could be traced to a plagiarism of Josiah Priest -- his 1909 statement, saying that Pratt also plagiarized Priest is practically an admission that "Rigdonite" Parley P. Pratt may have been involved at some point in the production of the Book of Mormon.




     



    Vol. II.                               Pikeville, Kentucky, February-March 1910                               No. 7



    [Did Oliver Cowdery Renounce Mormonism?]
    (part 5)

    Here's the promised "stronger proof," for it proves the proof, thus making certainty doubly sure.

    Our readers have the records in full. Kelley's have them so mutilated that the writer, Oliver Cowdery, himself, could not recognize them.

    In conclusion, I "clinch every nail" of this proof with extracts from an affidavit made by G. J. Keen, to whom Judge Gibson refers in complimentary terms and [stated] that he and Cowdery belonged to the same church. This affldavit is given in full in tract No. 9 of the anti-Mormon series. I quote only the points that bear directly upon our issue. He states:

    Mr. Cowdery opened a law office in Tiffln, and soon effected a partnership with Joel W. Wilson.

    In a few years Mr. Cowdery expressed a desire to associate himself with a Methodist Protestant church of this city.

    Rev. John Souder and myself were appointed a committee to wait on Mr. Cowdery and confer with him respecting his connection with Mormonism and the Book of Mormon.

    We accordingly waited on Mr. Cowdery at his residence in Tiffln, and there learned his connection, from him, and his full and final renunciation thereof.

    We then inquired of him if he had any objection to making a public recantation. He replied that he had objections; that, in the first place, it could do no good: he that had known several to do so and they always regretted it. And, in the second place, it would have a tendency to draw public attention, invite criticism and bring him into contempt.

    'But," said he, "nevertheless, if the church require it I will submit to it, but I authorize and desire you and the church to publish and make known my recantation."

    We did not demand it, but submitted his name to the church, and he was unimously admitted a member thereof.

    At that time he arose and addressed the audience present, admitted his error and implored forgiveness, and said he was sorry and ashamed of his connection with Mormonism.

    We continued his membership while he resided in Tiffin, and became superindent of the Sabbath school, and led an exemplary life while he resided with us. I have lived in this city upwards of fifty-three years, was auditor of this county, was elected to that offlce in 1840.

    I am now in my eighty-third year, and well remember the facts above related.

    (Signed.)                G. J. Keen.

    Sworn before me and subscribed in my presence, this 14th day of April, A. D.

                                   Frank L. Emich,
                             Notary Public in Seneca, O.

    G. J. Keen, Esq., is one of our oldest citizens, is a respectable man, and is highly esteemed.
    (Signed.)                O. T. Lock, Postmaster.

    This locks the argument and establishes the fact forever that Oliver Cowdery was a member, and a good member, of the Methodist Protestant Church at Tiffin, O.

    Only Joseph Smith, the Prophet and Seer, could have hit Mormonism a deadlier blow by renouncing it and becoming an active and honored member of a Methodist church.

    This act speaks louder against the "high-falutin'" claims of Mormonism about angels, gold plates, etc., than all his words do for it. It is a coffln nail for the ism, for Cowdery's testimony has done, and is doing more to build it up than any other man's, excepting possibly Joseph Smith's.

    Aid me in putting this tract on "the wings of the wind" and sounding out the fact to all the earth that Oliver Cowdery renounced Mormonism and embraced Methodism.

    The proposition is established and it sounds the knell of the ism.


    ADDENDA.

    The following correspondence is self-explaining and confirmatory. It proves the proof.

    Grayson, Ky., 5-18, 1907.      

    Frank H. Lang, Tiffin, O.

    Dear Sir: -- I submit to you the original of a letter purporting to be from your father, Judge Wm. Lang. I published this letter in full in my anti-Mormon tract No. 9, entitled "Oliver Cowdery's Defence." You have a copy of the tract. I ask you three questions with a view of handing out your answer to the public.

    "1. Is the letter correctly published in the tract?"

    "2. Was the original written by your father?"

    "3. Do you know that he was in a position to know that what he states about Oliver Cowdery joining the Methodist church at Tiffin, and living for years a consistent member, was a fact?"

    Yours truly,          
    R. B. Neal.   




    Tiffin, O., May 30,1907.   

    R. B. Neal, Grayson, Ky.

    Esteemed Sir: -- Pardon my delay in answering your letter. Sickness in the family the cause.

    In answer to your question No. 1, I would say that father's letter is correctly published in your Tract No. 9.

    No. 2. That the letter is unquestionably written by father. He wrote a peculiar hand, easy to read but hard to counterfeit I recognized it at a glance.



    No. 3. I know that my father was Oliver Cowdery's confidential friend. Father [studied?] law with him and was in touch with him in every phase of life, both public and private. And if father said that Cowdery joined the Methodist church you can rely upon it as being the truth. Any one knowing father would vouch for his veracity.

    The church records here plainly show that he was amember of the Methodist church, and not only a member, but an officer of the church. The records will verify my father's statement.

    Very truly yours,          
    Frank H. Lang   


    We submit the foregoing to a careful consideration of Bishop Kelley and the Historian of the "Reorganized Church." If they are among those "who wish to know the truth" and desire their readers also "to know the truth," they will read and publish these articles in "The Saints Herald." If they refuse, our reading public will brand them as among those "who are seeking for the opposite of truth" and trying to deceive the public. (R. B. Neal, Pikeville, Ky.)


    (under construction)




    Notes: (forthcoming)




     



    Vol. II.                               Pikeville, Kentucky, April-May 1910                               No. 8



    TRUTH  MADE  MANIFEST

    ROBERT  E.  GRANT


    Dare the Elders of the Reorganized Church of the later-day Saints any longer deny the fact that Joseph Smith, the founder of their church, both taught and practiced the false doctrine of polygamy in the church at Nauvoo, Illinois.

    The following statement of William Marks, the man who ordained the now pretended prophet of the Reorganized church on April 6, 1860, is taken from their own church paper, The Saints Herald, published January 27, 1904. Says this William Marks, who lived and died as the second highest elder of the Reorganized church, in his written statement:

    "I was a member of the church some ten years before the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. I was appointed president of the [Stake] in Kirtland, Ohio, in 1837, and continued in that office at Kirtland until the fall of 1838, when I was called by revelation to Far West Mo.; but before I arrived there, the Saints were ordered to leave the State; and when the stake was organized at Nauvoo in the fall of 1839, I was appointed president thereof and continued in that office up to the death of Joseph the prophet. Therefore, when the doctrine of polygamy was introduced into the church as a principle of exaltation, I took a decided stand against it; which stand rendered me quite unpopular, with many of the leading ones of the church."
      Saints Herald, January 27, 1904.


    Will the elders of the Reorganized Church any longer go before the world with the blasphemous lie in their mouth telling the false doctrine of polygamy as a principle of exaltation was not introduced into the church at Nauvoo, under the leadership of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, with the above statement written in their own church paper, The Saints Herald?

    Do the elders of the Reorganized Church want to claim that William Marks, the very man who ordained their present prophet to his pretended high office, was a blasphemous liar? If so, what becomes of the sacred ordination of their pretended prophet, Seer, revelator and translator, Joseph Smith, now of Independence, Mo.?

    If the said William Marks was a blasphemous liar when he penned the above statement as was afterwards published in the Saints Herald, wherein he positively states that the doctrine of polygamy was first introduced as a principle of exaltation under the leadership of Joseph and Hyram Smith, at Nauvoo, Ill., why did the Son Joseph, now pretended prophet of the Reorganized Church, seek the only ordination he has ever claimed to have under the hands of such a blasphemous liar?

    Remember it was after the said William Marks had penned and caused to be published and republished the above statement, that he laid his hands on the head of the now prophet of the Reorganized Church, ordained him to the pretended high office he now claims to hold.

    Did William Marks ever retract the above statement? He did not; although he lived and died the second highest elder of the Reorganized Church.

    Instead of the son Joseph, now prophet of the Reorganized Church, compelling William Marks to correct what is now claimed by the blind elders of the church, to be [a] blasphemous lie against his father, after he was ordained by the said William Marks at the Amboy conference, April 6, 1860, he immediately accepted Mr. Marks as his counselor and coadjutor, making William Marks second elder to himself in the church, in which high standing William Marks continued to hold in the Reorganized church up to the time of his death.

    If William Marks is penning so black a statement against the father of the present prophet had in any manner told a lie, why did not the son there and then convict him of his lie and put him out of fellowship with himself and the Reorganized Church?

    Let these blind superstitious and bigoted elders who dare not meet R. E. Grant with his truth in open

     
    [pg. 2]

    (under construction)



     
    [pg. 3]

    (under construction)



     
    [pg. 4]

    (under construction)



     
    [pg. 5]

    (under construction)



     
    [pg. 6]

    (under construction)



     
    [pg. 7]

    (under construction)



     
    [pg. 8]
    against the Holy Ghost there is no repentance for him, he has got to say that the sun does not shine while he sees it, he has got to deny Jesus Christ when the heavens were open to him, and from that time they begin to be enemies, like many of the apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. When a man begins to be an enemy, he hunts me. They seek to kill me; they thirst for my blood; they never cease. He has the same spirit that they had who crucified the Lord of Life; the same spirit that sins against the Holy Ghost. You cannot bring them to repentance...

    I have intended my remarks to all, both rich and poor, bond and free, great and small. I have no enmity against any man. I love you all. I am your best friend, and if persons miss their mark, it is their own fault. If I reprove a man and he hates me, he is a fool for I love all men, especially these my brethren and sisters. I rejoice in hearing the testimony of my aged friends. You never knew my heart; no man knows my history; I cannot tell it: I shall never undertake it; if I had not experienced what I have I should not have known it myself. I never did harm any man since I have been born in the world. My voice is for peace, I cannot lie down until my work is finished, I never think any evil, nor anything to the hurt of my fellow man. When I am called at the trump of the archangel, and weighed in the balance, you will all know me then, add no more.   God bless you all.   Amen

    The choir sang a hymn at half past five o'clock and dismissed with a benediction.


    *    *    *

    AN  INCIDENT  THAT  INSTRUCTS.

    Sidney Rigdon as all can know, "was the fine Italian hand" behind the Mormon scheme when it was "in the shell." The following from the pen of the venerable Wm. Rhodes, Roswell. N. M., is of interest. He writes: "I read with interest and profit your contributions to the 'Standard.' I had a fact furnished me which may we worthy of record. In the summer of 1875 I was preaching in Carbondale, Ill., and bought an interest in a hardware store. A few days after that when I was in the store, a tall grey-bearded man came in for some article and my partner introduced him as Mr. Rogers. I asked, 'any relation to Sidney Rigdon of Mormon notoriety?' He said, 'Yes, an own cousin.' I asked, 'were you familiar with him and his Mormon career?' He said, 'Yes, I knew him well. He came to me one day to enlist me in his Mormon enterprise and said there was big money in it: I fully expect to make $1,000,000 and if you will go into it I will help you to make as much as I do, and begged me to go into it. I looked at him and gave him the most complete course of abuse I was able to, left him and saw him no more."

    If others, who read this, have any like facts bearing on the characters of the preachers of Mormonism we request that it be sent in, as facts count.


    Notes: (forthcoming)




     



    Vol. II.                               Pikeville, Kentucky, June-July 1910                               No. 9




    JOSEPH  SMITH  JUNIOR  D. D.


    The Mormon Prophet had more titles, perhaps, than any man that ever lived on earth. He was Prophet, Seer, Revelator, First Elder, Mayor, etc., etc.

    (under construction)




    The following from Clark Braden, of Carbon, Cal., is highly appreciated, for he "leads the van" in the battle against Mormonism. He says:

    "I have received your packages of "The Sword of Laban and of The Highlander. Have read them with great interest. You are onto your job now, and get to business. KEEP IT UP. Give it to them hot."


    Notes: (forthcoming)




     



    Vol. II.                               Pikeville, Kentucky, Aug.-Sept. 1910                               No. 10




    THE  TESTIMONY  EXAMINED
    BY DANIEL  BRAXTON  TURNEY


    Mormons do very often complain of our lack of attention to the external testimony presented as evidence for the Book of Mormon and their Mormonism. Let me remove that source of complaint. On May 8, 1838, Joseph Smith, Jr., issued this testimony:

    "Moroni, who deposited the plates (from whence the book of Mormon was translated) in a hill in Manchester, Ontario County, New York, being dead and raised therefrom, appeared unto me, and told me where they were, and gave me direction how to obtain them. I obtained them, and Urim and Thummim with them, by means of which I translated the plates. And thus came the Book of Mormon."

    Was that a true testimony? The Mormons say yes; the Gentiles say, No. Was this Moroni a real person? The Gentiles say, No; the Mormons say, Yes. But when did he live? The Mormons claim he was slain, (starved to death) several hundred years ago; the English was not spoken till long after his death. Is it claimed that Joseph knew any language but English, when this Moroni did thus appear unto him? And both the Mormons and the Gentiles say, No. When and where did Moroni learn how to speak and to converse in a very difficult language that he had never known? Can we assume that Moroni arose from the dead, speaking in a language which had not even existed until long subsequent to his own demise? If even so, he would have translated his own plates surely. Did Joseph have such plates in his possession?

    He told Peter Ingersoll "that the whole affair was a hoax, that he had no such book, and did not believe there was such a book in existence; 'but,' said he, 'as I have got the damned fools fixed, I shall carry out the fun.'"

    He told Henry Harris that he could not obtain the plates until he was married, and that no one was to see them but himself and wife."

    He old parson N. C. Lewis that he was "commanded to exhibit the plates to all the world at a certain time, then about eighteen months distant," and promised him a sight of the plates. When the time came, he said he had "been deceived."

    He told Isaac Hale, his father-in-law, "that a young child was to be the first to see the book of plates."

    Sophia Lewis heard Smith say, "the book of plates could not be opened by another person than his first-born, which was to be a "male;" and he assured Levi Lewis, "that God had deceived him, and that this was the reason that he did not show them."

    He broke his word with Alva Hale about showing him the plates.

    When these and other statements involving Joseph's veracity were placed in affidavits, he simply moved away from that part of the country. His statements did not agree with themselves and many persons testified to his want of veracity. His reputation was such, that a jury in a justice's court did not believe him under oath, and discarded his testimony, Facts do beat all else. These are in evidence.

    He declared Nauvoo, May 19, 1843:

    "There was no Greek and Latin upon the plates from which I, through the grace of God, translated the Book of Mormon."

    He was trying to get out from under the even awful fact -- "Mormon" in the Greek, means "a phantom, hobgoblin, a hideous spectre, a bugbear." It was by Mr. Spaulding chosen as very appropriate. Rigdon has by ignorance left it in. I suppose everybody knows that Alpha and Omega are Greek; and to show how truthful Joseph was in his testimony, I will agree to find those Greek words in the Book of Mormon. They are in Plano edition, published by the Reorganized, on page 440; and in the Chicago, published by the Brighamites, on p. 498. And the idea is a little steep, that Jesus Christ would, come over here to the Nephites, who knew no Greek, and tell them, "I am Alpha and Omega." There was no Greek on the plates, and there is some Greek in the Book of Mormon, and therefore, the Book of Mormon was not translated from the plates. Can words which are Greek, cease to be Greek by getting into the Book of Mormon? If Joseph took Alpha and Omega from the plates, he bore false testimony when he declared there was no Greek upon the plates; and of he bore true testimony when he declared "There was no Greek and Latin upon the plates," he bore false testimony in declaring that he translated "the Book of Mormon" from the plates. And either form of the dilemma leaves Joseph's testimony in a bad shape. There are several Greek words in the Book of Mormo, and several Latin words, too, and every such word is a proof that the prophet's testimony was wisely rejected by the jury of his acquaintances. Facts do beat all else.

    In March, 1829, Smith pretends that God said: "I will give unto these three witnesses power that they may behold these things as they are, and to none other will I give this power to receive this same testimony among this generation." Yet in 1830 he made his God a liar, by allowing eight others "to receive this same testimony among this generation," by seeing and handling the plates, etc. W. Fugate, Bridge Whitton and Robert Wiley played off on him the hoax of the Kinderhook plates made out of copper, and the prophet Joseph could easily enough have worked a prior hoax, by providing himself with copper plates which would to the very ignorant, have the appearance of gold, and characters could be placed thereon in the manner the Kinderhook trio subsequently employed; and Joseph would be sly enough to pick the victims for appropriate testimony, and to keep the plates where no real scientist would ever get a glimpse of them; for he was less fool than knave, or more knave than fool

    The testimony of the three witnesses may be studied in the light of hypnotism, or deliberate deception, or of collusion and fraud, or in the light of really not being their testimony. It was a testimony which failed to bind the three witnesses themselves, all of whom subsequently apostatized, and only one of whom ever re-affirmed his testimony, according to any real proof. Besides, many reliable persons gave contrary testimony, averring that on examining the Book of Mormon they found that it contains names, incidents and language read to them by Solomon Spaulding twenty years previously. There is much unimpeached testimony to show that one of his numerous productions, "The Manuscript Found in the Wilds of Mormon," was revamped in the Book of Mormon; and so sorely have the Mormons felt the weight of this testimony that they have tried to confuse the case by publishing as "The Manuscript Found" one of his other works which hasn't even a name in common.

    I now proceed to the testimony of the three witnesses; and find,

    1st. That it was written by Joseph himself, and by neither of the three whose names are appended to it. The testimony was drawn up by Mr. Smith himself, and carried all of his earmarks.

    2nd. That it docs not consist of three separate affidavits, corroborating without collusion, but of a single paper drawn up by Joseph, and not given under oath or legal pains of perjury.

    3d. That it is dateless and spaceless.

    4th. That it is vague, and obscure, and inconclusive, and did not carry conviction to the supposed witnesses themselves -- at least, not permanent conviction.

    5th. That it is superceded, to all intents and purposes, by later testimony of the three witnesses, such as that issued by Oliver Cowdery in his "Defence," and by David Whitmer in his "Address," and by Martin Harris in his "Prophetic Letters." As these letters have not all seen the daylight of publicity, I take great pleasure in subjoining one of them which Mr. Harris sent to a friend of his:

                            Palmyra, N. Y., Sept. 1, 1832.
      Dear Will: Your letter has been put under my eyes and I do hereby assert and declare that you do Joseph Smith Jr., a gross injustice when you charge him with deceiving Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and myself. It is entirely true that he wrote the testimony affixed to the book, but we three authorized him to write it and to put our names to it; and I shall give you a sign by which to test that the testimony is true; that within four years from the date of this letter, within four years from September, 1832, there will not be one wicked person left in the United States, that the righteous will be gathered to Zion and that there will be no president over these United States after that time.
                                     Martin Harris.
    "Direct your next letter to me to Waverly."


    Mr. Harris, who knew, says: "We three authorized him to write it and to put our names to it."

    In view of that testimony I do not believe that the three witnesses personally signed the paper: and as the "sign" which Mr. Harris gave "by which to test that the testimony is true," did not "come to pass," I do not wonder that Martin Harris became an apostate.

    It wasn't very long after Oliver Cowdery had issued his Defence," that he too, totally apostatized.

    I now examine the alleged testimony. "Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, unto whom this work shall come, that we, through the grace of god the father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which contain this record, which is a record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites, their brethren, and also of the people of Jared, who came from the tower of which hath been spoken; and we also know that they have been translated by the gift and power of God, for his voice hath declared it unto us; wherefore we know of a surety, that the work is true. And we also testify that we have seen the engravings which are upon the plates; and they have been shewn unto us by the power of God, and not of man. And we declare with words of soberness, that an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon; and we know that it is by the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, that we beheld and bear record that these things are true; and it is marvelous in our eyes, nevertheless, the voice of the Lord commanded us that we should bear record of it; wherefore, to be obedient unto the commandments of God, we bear testimony of these things. And we now that if we are faithful in Christ, we shall rid our garments of the blood of all men, and be found spotless before the judgment seat of Christ, and shall dwell with him eternally in the heavens. And the honor be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, which is one God. Amen.
    OLIVER COWDERY,
    DAVID WHITMER,
    MARTIN HARRIS."
    The testimony says, "We have seen the plates which contain this record;" but as the witnesses did not claim the ability to understand the contents of the plates, and did not claim to have compared the same with the record made, they could not know what they affirm that "the plates contain this record." That would invalidate the testimony and throw it out of court. They may have seen plates which Joseph Smith, Jr., told them contained this record.

    The testimony says, "And we also know that they have been translated by the gift and power of God, for his voice hath declared it unto us."

    They could not know that the plates had been translated at all, since any ability to read the same was not claimed by either of them; and neither could they know that they "have been translated by the gift and power of God," but only that Joseph had told them so, and they regarded him as a prophet who spoke with God's voice. Without either the opportunity or the ability to read the inscription on the plates, they could not know that there had been any translation whatever. But they say: "For his voice hath declared it unto us." If that voice came through Joseph Smith, Jr., it was very sure to deceive. And if it came through Elder Sidney Rigdon, it was equally deceiving. The testimony fails to disclose the needed information by which to convince us that it was really God's voice that declared it. They do not say that the voice of God was heard by them while awake or asleep, individually or collectively, literally or figuratively; and in view of the penchant of the insane and the deluded folks to think that God's voice has declared things to them, the statement discredits their testimony instead of confirming it. When God does declare a mission by revelation to anybody, he gives with the declaration verifying evidence here entirely unshown. "And we also testify that we have seen the engravings which are upon the plates." To be sure. What is wonderful about that? "And they have been shown unto us by the power of God, and not of man." Here is either inanity, imposture or false witness under stress of religious delusion. No court would take that statement as sane and credible, no matter who made it nor what words of soberness were used: for engravings upon plates which are real, can be shown by the power of man, and every court knows it. Did not Joseph Smith, Jr., have the plates? Hadn't he obtained them? Listen: "And we declare, with words of soberness, that an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes that we beheld and saw the plates and the engravings thereon." And I "declare with words of soberness" and sincerity, that the testimony quoted does not tell me what the "angel" brought, and how they knew him to be "an angel of God" or knew that he "came down from heaven." Maybe he did, and maybe he didn't; but in this particular case, more likely than not he didn't; for Joseph Smith, Jr., did not believe one word of this testimony, although he wrote it and attached their names to it. In the very teeth of the testimony, he applied for a copyright on the Book of Mormon as its "Author and Proprietor," a claim duly inserted in the certificate of copyright under the hand and seal of R. R. Lansing, clerk of the Northern district of New York. Moreover, he had his name placed on the title page of the first edition as "Author and Proprietor." Sidney Rigdon remonstrated in behalf of the three witnesses, and the prophet confessed the "error" and agreed to put it in subsequent editions. "Translated by Joseph Smith, Jr. This was just as untrue as the other "error," but Solomon Spaulding couldn't kick. He was dead. And Joseph Smith had "obtained" the copyright on another man's writings as "Author and Proprietor," and he hung on to the copyright, notwithstanding that "error" in it. He never sent it back to be corrected. So, if we believe the testimony of the three witnesses, we believe more than the "prophet" did; and for the reason shown, that testimony is unworthy of credence.

    But there is another testimony yet, with eight names to it; but I do not find the testimony of any of the eight, that they told him to write it and put their names to it. He wrote it. His earmarks are on it and nobody else has been accused of writing it. It seems to have been written to show that Joseph Smith, Jr., was a bit superior to God and the angels of God. These could show the plates and the engravings to three and no more; but Joseph could show them to almost three times as many. God and his angels couldn't let the precious plates be touched; but Joseph could allow them to be handled and hefted. The testimony of the eight contradicts the testimony of the three. Men chosen of God had to see, but touch not; but men not chosen of God might both see and touch, handle and heft. "Thebook of gold plates." Mr. Smith said. "was bound by three rings passing through the back edge, and a part of them was sealed." But his eight witnesses, introduced to confirm his claim of having this ring-bound book, do not testify that he showed them any such. What did they say in the certificate which he himself drew up for them? That Joseph Smith, Jr., has shown unto us the plates "of which hath been spoken," which have the appearance of gold. Were they in the form claimed, "bound by three rings passing through the back edge," and a part of them sealed? The testimony fails to so state. It does say, "And as many of the leaves as the said Smith translated, we did handle with our hands; and we also saw the engravings thereon, all of which has the appearance of ancient work, and of curious workmanship." They couldn't know that "the said Smith" had translated any of it, nor how many leaves had been translated by him; and they give themselves dead away, as witnesses, when they profess to have handled "as many of the leaves as the said Smith has translated." They were evidently taking his word as to that. How could they handle just those leaves and not the whole? All they had was Smith's bare word -- a word that, even on oath, was not believed by a jury of his acquaintances. How could they tell whether the leaves which Smith had or had not translated? How could they tell that the plates were the plates which have been spoken of, as many as translated? Were these plates bound by three rings? Did those rings pass through the bacl edge of the book of plates? Were some of them sealed? How could they handle part and not the whole? The eight witnesses fail to identify to us the ring-bound book of plates which Smith claimed that he had. Their statement that the engravings bore "the appearance of ancient workmanship," is gorgeously ridiculous, coming from men unfitted to pass judgment on how ancient work would look.

    The eight witnesses were four Whitmers, three Smiths, and Hiram Page; and their testimony in a nutshell shows that Smith had provided himself with some "plates." "And this we bear record with words of soberness, that the said Smith has shown unto us, for we have seen and hefted, and know of a surety that the said Smith has got the plates of which we have spoken." He could easily enough, have borrowed the material necessary -- a few plates of copper, acid and beeswax. He took care to make his plates unfindable immediately after roping in the eight witnesses, and reported that the plates "were given back to the angels." But one thing is certain, there is nothing in the testimony of the eight witnesses to confirm his claim of having obtained the ring-bound book of plates with part of them sealed; and the overwhelming probability is that he never obtained any such book of plates in his life.

    If the eight saw the book, they never said so, and their testimony does not so describe the plates as to identify them as the ringed book of plates. Neither individually nor collectively do they sustain the prophet on the point at issue; and I am convinced that he made them say all he could get them to say, and that, therefore, their testimony instead of proving that he had a ringed book of ancient gold plates from the unsealed portion of which he translated the Book of Mormon, proves that he did not have any such thing. The prophet's own father, and two brothers of the seer, were among the eight, and not one of the outfit, according to the testimony of their neighbors, were endowed with either superior wisdom or pre-eminent honesty, and they even could have fibbed about seeing and hefting any plates at all. But to acknowledge the whole of their testimony, will add no weight to the Mormon cause. Here it is:

    Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, unto whom this work shall come, that Joseph Smith, Jr., the translator of this work, has shewn unto us the plates of which hath been spoken, which have the appearance of gold; and as many of the leaves as the said Smith has translated, we did handle with our hands: and we also saw the engravings thereon, all of which has the appearance of ancient work, and of curious workmanship. And this we bear record with words of soberness, that the said Smith has shewn unto us, for we have seen and hefted, and know of a surety, that the said Smith has got the plates of which we have spoken. And we give our names to the world, to witness unto the world that which we have seen; and we lie not, God bearing witness of it.

    Christian Whitmer
    Jacob Whitmer
    Peter Whitmer, Jr.
    John Whitmer
    Hiram Page
    Joseph Smith, Sr.
    Hyrum Smith
    Samuel H. Smith

    If these eight tell the truth, they certainly have knocked out the so-called testimony of the three. As D. P. Kidder said in 1842: "That Smith showed them plates, which to ignorant men had the appearance of gold, is easy enough to be believed; and if he manufactured the same, it would have been no great stretch of ingenuity. But how could they know that they had handled and hefted as many of the leaves as said Smith translated? Certainly on no other ground than his 'say so,' which is good for nothing. But if of a surety Jo had 'got' these plates, and, as he pretended, had had them two or three years in a box, how could they have got up to heaven, whence Cowdery and Harris aver than an angel came to bring them, and lay before their eyes?"

    The three witnesses, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris, all lost faith in the prophetic pretenses of Joseph Smith, Jr., and all [sic] died out of the church of the Latter Day Saints. Oliver became a Methodist Protestant, after openly renouncing Mormonism, and expressing deep repentance for his connection therewith, and was a contributing member of the Methodist Protestant Church to the day of his death. David slashed around and became the leading light of a little band of his own, lamming both the Brighamites and the Josephites; Martin reached the conclusion that all the pretensions of Joseph Smith, Jr., were fraudulent. It isn't much wonder that the three chosen witnesses of the Lord were a little sore at finding that God found it more of a task to show them the plates than Joseph did to show those plates to eight whom the Lord had not chosen.

    Neither testimony verified what Joseph Smith, Jr., had said of his plates or records, so I quote his own report:

    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 in 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. With the records was found a curious instrument, which the ancients called the 'Urim and Thummim,' which consisted of two transparent stones set in the two rims of a bow fastened to a breastplate. Through the medium of the 'Urim and Thummim' I translated the records, by the gift and power of God."

    Nobody verifies or confirms any of that. It rests upon the word of a person whose oath could not be taken and whose word was utterly unreliable. Such a volume of plates, if found, would undountably have been placed upon proper exhibition; and if the characters had been Egyptian, the certificates of savants versed in Egyptian lore would have been sought and secured. It was a bold, blasphemous fabrication, to bedazzle the dupable and "carry out the fun."

    The professed testimonies are replete with doleful humbugery, crude illiteracy and an assumed sanctimoniousness that ought to disgust any mind of proper intelligence; and the book for which the testimonies are given is worse still, abounding in self-evident plagiarisms and a style sinking it below the dignity of criticism. The Mormon prophet is beneath contempt. As Thomas Gregg well says: "A petty theft, by himself or one of his co-workers, placed the Spaulding 'Manuscript Found' in his hands; and then it was that the idea of a new sect, a new creed, a new and deeper play upon popular ignorance and credulity, and consequent power, and place, and fortune, were gradually developed and boldly and persistently and most wickedly carried forward -- aided by confederates as bad as himself and with similar purposes in view."

    Before leaving Pittsburgh for Amity, Mr. Spaulding secured a return of his manuscript, and after moving to Amity made a second submission of it to the publisher in a revised transcription of the same. This is the document which was so strangely missing from the office when wanted, and which Sidney Rigdon was supposed to have "swiped." He took it; for it was in his possession in 1822-3, when he exhibited it to Rev. John Winter, M. D., stating that Spaulding wrote it, but that he (Rigdon) had gotten it from the printer to read as a curiosity. The witnesses of Winter's statements are Rev. J. A. Bonsell, of Rochester, Pa., Rev. A. G. Kirk, of New Brighton, Pa., and Miss Mary W. Irwin, of Sharon Pa.

    The testimony of the eight witnesses as originally given, may be seen in the original Palmyra edition of the Book of Mormon, and is quoted in Gregg's Prophet of Palmyra, p. 98. It certifies "that Joseph Smith, Jr., the author and proprietor of this work, has shown unto us the plates of which hath been spoken," etc. It was, as Mr. Gregg notes, p. 101, "subsequently altered, long after signature and after the publication of the book, to make it conform to the new claim that he was the only translator, and not the author and proprietor." But I quoted it as it now stands. Joseph was simply an arrant fraud, and the Book of Mormon a product of fraud. The testimony shows. Decatur, Ill.




    A Bit of Mormon History.

    I submit the following certificate to the FLAG for the benefit of its many readers. Since the Mormons are divided into several sects, that brand whose headquarters is at Lamoni, Ia., deny that Joseph Smith, Jr. taught the doctrine of polygamy or practiced it. They also deny any vital connection with the Salt Lake Mormons, or the Brighamites, but acknowledge Joseph Smith, Jr., as their inspired prophet.

    Here is the certificate. Read and preserve it for future reference if you are troubled with those Latter-day Saint fellows:

    "This is to certify that I, the undersigned, was born Jan. 13, 1815, and lived with my father, D. C. Goode, and family, in the State of Illinois, in the county of Christian, in the days of Joseph Smith, Jr., and during our residence in said county and state, said Joseph Smith, Jr. came into the community preaching Mormon doctrine, and upon one occasion he preached in my father's house, but was forbidden to do so again. I also heard him preach several times besides, and also witnessed some of his baptisms. My second cousin, Evan Smith was killed in the battle with Joe Smith and his followers at Nauvoo, Ill. I furthermore certify that I heard said Joseph Smith teach publicly the doctrine of polygamy, or a plurality of wives. He also taught that he was the prophet that was to open the seven seals of Revelations. (Rev. v.)
      "Signed, Dec. 31, 1905. Mary A. Morrel."

    "I hereby certify that the above signee is my mother, and although now nearly eighty-five years of age, she still retains her usual mental vigor, and the ability to transact the business of life.
      "Signed, Dec. 31, 1905. J. B. Stevens."

    Grandma Morell has been a member of the Baptist Church for a long number of years and she seems to take great pleasure in telling her experiences in early life and the kind and loving providences of her heavenly Father during her long, eventful life. Brother Stevens is a deacon of the Baptist Church and very active in many ways.

    I mention these facts for the benefit of the reader.

    Yours in the Master's service,
                              J. F. SHUM.

    I clip the above from the Baptist Flag, Jan. 25, 1906. It confirms what every student of Joe Smithism knows, viz.: that Smith not only taught polygamy, but that he practised it on somewhat of a large scale.


    Note: Compare the alleged Martin Harris letter of Sept. 1, 1832, cited by D. B. Turney, with a Martin Harris text published by Eber D. Howe, in 1834: "Within four years from September, 1832, there will not be one wicked person left in the United States; that the righteous will be gathered to Zion, (Missouri,) and that there will be no President over these United States after that time." Turney's letter reads more like a modern writer's expansion of Howe's text than it does like an original from which Howe might have abridged his quotation. The part not in Howe's book appears to have some thematic affinities with those portions of the spurious "Cowdery Defence" in which Oliver is made to inadvertently reveal Mormon secrets in his faux, innocuous eye-witness reporting of the LDS past.




     



    Vol. II.                               Pikeville, Kentucky, Oct.-Nov. 1910                               No. 11




    (issue 11 under construction)





    Notes: (forthcoming)




     



    Vol. II.                         Pikeville, Kentucky, Dec. 1910 - Jan. 1911                         No. 12




    (issue 12 under construction)





    Notes: (forthcoming)




     



    Vol. III.                               Pikeville, Ky., February, 1911                               No. 1



    [title and contents unknown]


    (under construction)






    Notes: (forthcoming)



     



    Vol. III.                               Pikeville, Ky., March, 1911                             No. 2




    The Canada Revelation
    ________

    This revelation is denied bitterly by Mormon polemics. And "there's a reason for it."

    We have private information that some Mormons have said: "If Neal cam prove 'the Canada revelation' to be a fact, we are ready to renounce Mormonism."

    That is an easy task, and all who assent to that proposition might as well begin "to pack their traps" for a final move ...

    (under construction)





    ON  THE  CREDIBILITY  OF  WITNESSES

    By
    Theodore Schroeder, of the Utah Bar.

    When discussing with Mormons the existence of esoteric Mormon doctrines, or any specific allegations as to their character, of a controverted point of Mormon history, one is almost certain to be met with emphatic and sometimes with the most vehement denials.

    (under construction)






    Notes: (forthcoming)



     



    Vol. III.                               Pikeville, Ky., April, 1911                             No. 3




    CHARACTER OF JOSEPH SMITH.
    ________

     

    (under construction)





    THE  MORMON-CHRISTIAN  WAR.

    The following skirmish will open the eyes of some, we hope of many, to the magnitude of this war with Mormonism.

    No matter how one plans it seems that some one will "let the cat out of the wallet." Perhaps that "Iowa editor" worked a "rabbits foot" charm on the "Seer Editor" and his two associate editors, all three "Smiths," who hold down the tripod of "The Saints' Herald." The following appears in their issue of February 15th, 1911.

    On the part of the officers and members of "The American Anti Mormon Association" we extend our thanks to that "Iowa editor" and to the Saints Herald and the Saints "Seer" for the help they render us in our warfare. Surely it was not by "revelation."

    Here's the editorial:

    NOTES  AND  COMMENTS.

    The editor of an Iowa newspaper sends us a letter which he received from Pikeville, which shows some of the inner workings of R. B. Neal's scheme for making money out of "Mormonism." We reproduce the letter as it came to us:

                  Pikeville, Ky., August 8, 1910.
          Dear Brother Editor: Mormonism is a menace to both church and state. It seemingly can command both men and money without limit to push its claims.

    The issues presented are of the greatest interest to the public. We realize that the county paper must be enlisted to battle the "elders" of the Mormon prophet.

    We will furnish you one page of a six column folio, single column matter for $1.25 per page. If it has any two column cuts, cost will be $1.75 per page.

    To be able to make this offer we must hear favorably from at least fifty editors.

    Will you be one of the fifty? An early answer will oblige.
                                Yours,
                                R. B. NEAL.

    From the beginning, the Anti-Mormon League and men of the type of those who promoted it, have cared more for the money to be made than for the principle involved. At the very first meeting of the League it was announced that anyone could join who would contribute to the finances of the undertaking. These gentlemen do not actually wish to destroy "Mormonism," because if they did their income would be cut off and they would be obliged to go to work. The men who have denounced Joseph Smith as a "money-digger" have ever been the ones who have sought to make money without digging -- candor suggests that they are indolent, charity suggests the "hook worm" theory.


    R E P L Y.

    Umph! It is our understanding that every Mormon "contributes to the finances" of that system to make it a go.

    No movement can go without it is financiered. As to the "income," well, maybe the "Saints' Herald" solves the problem why many of our members and some of our officials have quit the undertaking. They have "made their pile" and "retired" from business.

    Such men as Darby, Donahoe, Lusby, Button, Bogard have reputations that such mud-slingers can no more deface than they can wet a duck's back.

    Knowing that the aggregate county newspaper is the greatest factor on earth to educate and make sentiment we are out to enlist the county editors on our side though we know our "income" will go, if we are successful.

    With only fifty editors we can start this ball rolling. The "plate maker" and the "country editor" deal directly with each other. We won't see a penny of that money.

    Our part is simply to furnish copy, every month, for a page of Anti-Mormon matter. This we will do "hook worm" or no "hook worm."

    We were working this matter "on the quiet." Now that the secret is out concerning one way we want to battle this American monstrosity, called Mormonism, we thank the Saints' Herald for giving it publicity, marked copies of this paper will be sent to scores of editors with request that they publish it. We hope to enlist ten times fifty. Each will save money and aid a good and needed work.

    Dare the Saints Herald deny that Joseph Smith, Jun., was a money digger? We will undertake to prove that he was. We take no pleasure in fastening this charge upon their so-called Prophet and if it is not true we want to know it.

    We will publish their reply in "The Sword of Laban" and will bear half the expense of publishing ten thousand of the articles in tract form for free distrivution. If this is not a fair proposition we are open to the consideration of one along this line.

    We predict that The Saints' Herald will develop a fine fat "hook-worm" that will hinder it from meeting an issue it slanderously sprung.



    SIDNEY  RIGDON  WAS  SCRIBE.

    Polemics can rest in the statement that Sidney Rigdon was Joseph Smith's scribe in the Translation of the Holy Scriptures.

    Proof. "After Oliver Cowdery and John Whitmer had departed from Jackson County Missouri, I resumed the translation of the Scriptures and continued to labor in this branch of my calling WITH ELDER SIDNEY RIGDON AS MY SCRIBE."   Times and Seasons Vol. 5, p. 513.




    Notes: (forthcoming)



      



    Vol. I. (New Series)                           Grayson, Kentucky, January, 1912                           No. 1



    [title and contents unknown]


    (under construction)






    Notes: (forthcoming)



     



    Vol. I. (New Series)                           Grayson, Kentucky, February, 1912                           No. 2



    [title and contents unknown]


    (under construction)






    Notes: (forthcoming)



     



    Vol. I. (New Series)                           Grayson, Kentucky, March, 1912                           No. 3



    [title and contents unknown]


    (under construction)






    Notes: (forthcoming)



     



    Vol. I. (New Series)                           Grayson, Kentucky, April, 1912                           No. 4



    [title and contents unknown]


    (under construction)






    Notes: (forthcoming)



     



    Vol. I. (New Series)                               Grayson, Kentucky, May, 1912                              No. 5


    MORMON  FRAUD

    To the Editor of The Nation:

    Sir: -- The Nation for January 28, 1892, contained two communications from Prof. Morris Jastrow and myself in regard to certain archaeological forgeries which had recently come to light in a sparsely-settled region northwest of Lansing, Mich. These consisted chiefly of caskets and tablets of clay, on which a medley of ancient writing, with cuneiform and Egyptian, as well as Greek characters had been stamped before drying. They were taken seriously by many people, who found in them evidence of an early colonization of the region from the Orient. Particular interest was manifested in a tablet on which scenes from the deluge were depicted. The workmanship was of the crudest sort, and the clay contained so much sand that the objects were easily broken. The forger had evidently no acquaintance with the things which he had tried to copy, but was translating into substance designs which he had found in printed form. Publicity destroyed the market for the relics, and, after a time, nothing more was heard of them.

    In 1898 a new series of forgeries appeared. The maker had learned from the critics and was improving in technique. The clay was baked hard and slate also was utilized for designs and symbols of writing. Gaining confidence, the forger fashioned a winged clay figure measuring, with the base, twenty two inches in height: leaning against it in front was a clay tablet. This image and a number of smaller objects were taken about as an itinerant exhibit, which was advertised as "the finest collection of prehistoric relics ever exhibited in the United States." The venture proved unsuccessful pecuniarily, and the collection was left in charge of the museum of the University of Michigan.

    Three years ago the forger again became active. He had turned his hand to copper. Marvelous were the designs and hodge-podge of strange characters incised not only on tablets, but also on a rude crown of copper. The surface of the metal had been treated to give it the appearance of antiquity. Here, too, was a deluge tablet; the pictorial design was almost identical with that previously worked out in clay. The copper objects had the advantage of being free from danger of breakage, easy to work, and last, but not least, more marketable. The center of distribution was now Detroit. Many collectors were skeptical, yet sales were made and men of high standing were duped. Again the newspapers gave warning of the true character of the "finds," which continued to be solemnly dug out of mounds in the presence of witnesses. An article presenting the important types of illustrations and pointing out their fraudulent character was published in the first number of The American Anthropologist for 1908. Nevertheless, since then, letters of inquiry from various parts of the United States have borne witness to the activity with which the sale of the bogus relics have been passed; and, finally, a volume of plates has been published in order "to arouse the interest of students of philology or those engaged in historical and archaeological research."

    This brochure, which is obviously designed for foreign as well as domestic consumption, bears the title, "Engravings of Prehistoric Specimens from Michigan, U. S. A.," and on the title page stands, "Copyright, 1910, by Rudolph Etzenhouser, Proprietor," with a certification by the engravers "that the half-tones are accurate reproductions of the prehistoric originals." With unconscious humor the

     
    [pg. 2]
    compiler placed next to the title page the portrait of a former Secretary of State of Michigan, who is represented as comfortably seated in an arm chair. To him, we are told, "belongs the credit of having been for several years the moving spirit in the investigation of these prehistoric relics, one of which apparently, he holds in his hand. The claims of those who believe in the relics are thus set forth:

    Students of American archaeology will find in the following pages, reproductions of the monuments of a race of primitive Americans, monuments of a people whose existence has hitherto been involved in an obscurity as complete as that which envelops their history. They have been unearthed, for the most part, through the efforts of amateur investigators, and represent the contents of hundreds of mounds scattered over the lower peninsula of Michigan. The language inscribed on these tablets has not yet been interpreted, but will doubtless, some day, succumb to the advance of philology and they will, perhaps. yield an interesting chapter to the ancient history of this continent.


    Thirty-four plates of objets of copper, slate and clay make a pitiable showing. They reveal such paucity of design, crudeness of execution, and fantastic incongruity that it is amazing that persons of average intelligence, not to speak of experts, should be deceived. Yet it must be acknowledged that for nearly two decades the forger with cunning, persistence, and a brazen face has been on the alert to entrap the guileless; and so long as human nature remains the same it may be presumed that men will he ready to believe what they wish to believe, and that no hoax will be too preposterous to be without a following.

    The early forgeries of clay, and the later objects of copper and slate have in common one cuneiform character, which the maker seems to have adopted as his sign manual. A reporter for the Detroit News in 1908 directed attention to the fact that, while a number of persons were engaged in the exploitation of either the first or the third series of forgeries, one man was connected with both. This is James O. Scotford a sign painter, who formerly lived in the region where the first discoveries were made, and afterward moved to Detroit.

    While this Scotford was still living in Edmore, Prof. Charles A. Davis, who is now on the staff of the United States Geological Survey in Washington, heard of the wonderful discoveries he had made and called at his house to see him. He was not at home, but his wife was and while Mr. Davis and another gentleman were waiting she showed them the relics which were on hand; then, to indicate how remarkable these were, she brought out an encyclopedic volume, "which had a full-page plate, giving in parallel vertical columns various alphabets of the ancient languages, pointing out from the pictures that this character was like the Greek and that was Egyptian or Assyrian. The resemblances were certainly remarkable, so much so that they actually seemed to have been copied."

    The origin of the spurious relics is easily accounted for; but for the suggestion of a Biblical element in them they would probably have failed to attract attention and the maker would long, ere this, have ceased his operations from lack of encouragement.
                          FRANCIS W. KELSEY.
    Ann Arbor Mich., May 31.


    ooo


    Tinkering With the Text.


    CONCLUDED  FROM  APRIL.

    A copy of this extra of the Nauvoo Neighbor is framed and hangs on the wall of the City Hotel at Nauvoo Illinois, where I saw it on the 27th of last June.

    Again in his journal, Joseph Smith has made other statements which plainly confute the position of the Josephites. I give three of them:

    Gave instructions to try those persons who were preaching, teaching or practicing the doctrine of plurality of wives; for according to the law, I hold the keys of this power in the last days, for there is never but one on the earth at a time on whom the power and its keys are conferred, and I have constantly said no man shall have but one wife at a time, unless the Lord directs otherwise. -- Millennial Star, V. 22, p. 214.

    Can this be construed to teach anything else than that Joseph Smith himself had exclusive power to preach, teach and practice polygamy, and that any one who usurped this power would be in danger of a church trial?

    Except a man and his wife enter into an everlasting covenant and be married for eternity, while in this probation, by the power and authority of the holy priesthood, they will cease to encrease when they die; that is, they will not have any children after the resurrection; but those who are married by the power and authority of the priesthood in this life and continue without committing the sin against the Holy Ghost will continue to increase and have children in the celestial glory -- Millennial Star V. 21

    Does this not sound somewhat like priesthood? But here is the best of all:

    Wednesday 12th July 1843. -- I received the following revelation in the presence of my brother Hyrum and Elder William Clayton: (Here follows the revelation on celestial marriage just as it appears in the Brighamite Book of Doctrine and Covenants.) Hyrum took the revelation and read it to Emma. -- Millennial Star V. 21, pp. 715 and 731.

    Does not this admission of Joseph Smith forever settle the question of the authorship of the celebrated Revelation on Celestial Marriage?

    The three foregoing quotations I have copied myself from the journal of Joseph Smith as published in The Millennial Star. In order to escape the force of these damaging articles, the Josephites claim that this journal of Smith was taken by the Brighamites to Utah, and that, as it comes to us through a Brighamite source, it is very questionable.

     
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    The Three Nephite Apostles

    The Book of Mormon is our only source of information about these apostles. Here again, as I will make evident, "Smithianity," or "Mormonism," receives a solar plexus blow.

    Soon after the resurrection of Jesus from the dead he appeared in America, right here at Grayson, for aught we know, preached, taught, worked miracles after the manner he did in Palestine, only more fully. He selected twelve apostles for the church in America. Here are their names: "Nephi, Timothy, Jonas, Muthoni, Muthoniah, Kumen, Kumenonhi, Jeremiah; Shemnon, Jonas, Zedekiah, Isaiah." (B of M., page 520.)

    These rank in Mormon minds with "Peter, James and John," etc., as apostles of Jesus. After selecting this band of twelve, the Savior made long addresses to them.

    And it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words unto Nephi; and to those who had been called, now the number of them who had been called and received power and authority to baptize, were twelve, and behold he stretched forth his hand unto the multitude, and cried unto them, saying: Blessed are ye if ye shall give heed unto the words of these twelve whom I have chosen... And unto them (the twelve) l (Jesus) have given power that they may baptize you with water. (B. of M., p. 504.)

    This fact is settled, that this twelve had what Mormons could call "the keys of the Aaronic priesthood on earth," viz.: the right to preach the gospel of repentance and to baptize with, or in water. Stick a pin here.

    We are told that just before his ascension to heaven he gave this twelve the power to 'impart the Holy Ghost," or, as Mormondom would phrase it, "the keys of the Melchizedek priesthood."

    But the disciples (the twelve) bear record that he (Jesus) gave them power to give the Holy Ghost. And I will show you hereafter that this record is true. (3 Neph., xviii. 37.)

    Nephi proposes to prove that the twelve had given to them the power 'to give the Holy Ghost."

    He proves it by Moroni. Good proof to Mormons.

    The words of Christ which he spake unto his disciples, the twelve, whom he had chosen, as he laid his hands upon them.

    And he called them by name, saying, Ye shall call on the Father in my name, in mighty prayer, and after ye have done this ye shall have power that on him whom ye shall lay your hands ye shall give the Holy Ghost, and in my name shall ye give it, for thus do mine apostles. (Book of Mormon, p. 609.)

    No doubt can hover over the statements that the twelve Nephite apostles had the right to "baptize and to impart the Holy Ghost." They held the keys of both Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods. Stick a pin here.

    That John the beloved had the keys to both priesthoods even a Mormon cannot deny. For "thus do mine apostles," and John was an apostle.

    Jesus just before ascending to the Father said to the twelve Nephite apostles:

    "What is it that ye desire of me after that I am gone to the Father?"

    All except three desired the usual length of days, a happy death and a glorious eternity.

    The Savior then said to nine of them: "Each should live to be seventy and two years old," and then "ye shall come unto me in my kingdom, and with me ye shall find rest."

    Here were nine men that knew they could not die before they reached threescore ten and two years; knew that they could not live a minute after that time. This is a legitimate inference.

    The Savior then turned to the three silent ones and asked:

    "What will ye that I shall do unto you when I am gone unto the Father?"

    The three dared not speak unto him the thing they desired.

    He said: "Behold, I know your thoughts and ye have desired the thing which John, my beloved, who was with me in my ministry before I was lifted up by the Jews, desired of me; therefore, more blessed are ye, for ye (the three) shall never taste of death, but ye shall live to behold all the doings of the Father unto the children of men, even until all things shall be fulfilled, according to the will of my Father, when I shall come in my glory with the powers of heaven," etc.

    "Ye (the three) shall not have pain, while ye shall dwell in the flesh, neither sorrow, save it be for the sins of the world."

    Mormon says: 'Behold, I was about to write the names of those (the three) who were never to taste of death, but the Lord forbade, therefore, I write them not, for they are hid from the world." That is, their names were hid. True, Mormon and all of that generation knew their names, of course. Why hide "names" and reveal the "men" is an enigma that Mormons must solve.

    We are told further that when the Savior went to heaven he took the three who were to tarry on earth with him. He sent them back, of course. Mormon tells us why he took them: the three had to have 'a change wrought upon their bodies that they might not suffer pain nor sorrow save it were for the sins of the world."

    He assures us "this change was not equal to that which should take place at the last day, but there was a change wrought on them, insomuch that Satan could have no power over them, that he could not tempt them, and they were sanctified in the flesh, that they were holy, and that the powers of the earth could not hold them; and in this state they were to remain until the judgment day of Christ." (B. of M., p. 542.)

    That certainly was a "change.'' A new and a good "state" for one in the flesh to be in. The Savior himself was tempted. Here were three men who were to live in the flesh on earth from the time of Christ till the knell of time without the pain of hunger or thirst; could eat what they pleased, and

     
    [pg. 7]
    never an ache of any kind. No temptation to appetite or ambition made any impression upon them. Satan was no more feared by them than a tree toad is by an African warrior. Disease could never touch them with a pain or an ache. The fears of injury or death never got hold of them. Jails could not hold them. Wild beasts could not rend them. The powers of earth combined could not "hold them" in durance vile. They could laugh in the mouth of a cannon and play with Mauser bullets as with snowflakes. They "were sanctified in the flesh." This is the reason given. Modern "sanctificationists" would do well to make a note here of how far short they are from a real "Book of Mormon" sanctification.

    From the above we have the following array of facts, if we admit the testimony. A Mormon must admit it.

    1. That there are four apostles now on earth, viz.: John the beloved and three nameless Nephites.

    2. That they have been on earth ever since before Christ ascended on high.

    3. That they will be on earth till the death of time and the dawn of eternity.

    4. That they have "the keys of both the Aaronic and Melchizedek priesthoods,' or the right to baptize and the power to impart, by impact of hands, the Holy Ghost.

    5. Their mission was, and is, and ever will be, to preach, teach, baptize and give the Holy Spirit to heirs of salvation on earth.

    oooo

    They Did Not "Swear."

    We clip the following from an article on the "History of the Mormons," by Bishop Milton Wright, in The Christian Conservator of April 24:

    These original plates were seen by three men, Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris. They swore to the fact of having seen them, but afterward swore they never saw them.

    He has reference to the "gold plates," from which it is claimed, by the Mormons, that the Book of Mormon was translated.

    A look at the "testimony" of the "three witnesses," above named, which every copy of the book carries, reveals the fact that they did not "swear" that they had seen the plates.

    In view of the importance of the claim, it is very strange they did not. It is evident that Joseph Smith, Jr. wrote the statement and that they signed it, though all three did not see the plates at the same time. Wonder he did not have them make oath before a notary! Would have given weight to their testimony.

    We have no record that they "swore" they did not see the plates. Didn't swear either way; hence Bishop Wright is wrong in his statement...

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    The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ
    of L. D. S. "The Mormon Church."


    CHARLES  A.  SHOOK

    The members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints object to being called "Mormons" and to their church being called "the Mormon Church." In The Saints' Herald of October 4, 1911, there appears the following news-item, clipped from The London (Canada) Free Press:

    Hamilton, September 18. -- Hiram Dickhout, the labor candidate in West Hamilton, has instructed the Masten legal firm in Toronto to issue a writ for damages against the Herald. He complains that it describes him as a Mormon. He is a member of the Church of Latter-Day Saints.

    The editor of The Saints' Herald adds:

    Elder Hiram Dickhout, mentioned in the clipping above, is a prominent figure among the Canadian eldership, well known and thoroughly respected in the city of Hamilton, where he was nominated as the labor candidate in the recent general elections. He figured in the celebrated "marriage suit" of about twenty years ago, when his right as a priest in the Latter-Day Saints Church to officiate in the marriage ceremony was brought in question in the courts, and he was fined; but, upon appeal to the Supreme Court of Ontario, the judgment was reversed and the right of Latter-Day Saint ministers to conduct marriage ceremonies in Ontario was sustained. We shall look with interest for further developments in the present case.

    If this suit comes off, it is probable that Mr. Dickhout will not fare so well as he did in the other, provided the attorneys for The Herald are sharp enough to introduce as evidence the early literature of the Reorganized Church, unless the Herald has charged him with something more than being "a Mormon." The following from the pen of the president of the Reorganized Church I copy from the True Latter Day Saints' Herald of July, 1860, p. 169:

    A CARD FROM BRO. JOSEPH SMITH.

    In taking the head of the Mormon Church I am running counter to the opinions of many people, but believing that "there is a destiny which shapes our ends I am contented to let those who are astonished and opposed to such a measure stand the test of time and an opportunity for reflection, satisfied that investigation will result in my favor." &c.

    Here Mr. Smith speaks of the church, which three months before he had taken the leadership of, as "the Mormon Church." In the same paper, p. 172, there is a letter from his Uncle William, in which the latter says:

    As I have told you, I am your friend, and shall sustain your present position as the lawful head and leader of the Mormon Church.

    One who belongs to the Methodist Church is a Methodist, one who belongs to the Baptist Church is a Baptist, and one who belongs to "the Mormon Church" is "a Mormon," although in fairness, a distinction should be made between a Josephite Mormon and a Brighamite Mormon.


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    Vol. I. (New Series)                           Grayson, Kentucky, June, 1912                           No. 6



    [title and contents unknown]


    (no issues from June 1912 forward yet located)






    Notes: (forthcoming)



     



    Vol. I.                                   Pikeville, Ky., February, 1910                                   No. 1.



    A Face-to-Face Talk With My Readers
    ____________

    I have several reasons for launching THE HIGHLANDER in February, 1910. One is that I am only three score and three years young on the 19th day of this month The side cut is an `'up-to-now" picture, not one taken ten, fifteen or twenty years ago. That's the back number kind of cut used by the men who are growing old.

    Two score and four years ago March 4th, I866, -- it was a Lord's day -- I was "buried" with my Saviour in baptism in the Big Spring Branch at Georgetown, Ky. Elder J. B. McGinn, a princely man and preacher, was the Baptist.

    My! how short the time seems when "a look back" is taken. I have no time to muse and retrospect. While I regret that " between then and now" has not been filled with a better and more useful life, I can rejoice that I have, under God, accomplished some few things for His honor and glory and for the uplift of humanity.

    "The Sword of Laban" is sanctified wholly to battling Mormonism. It must be limited to that work.

    My Mountain Mission work needs an organ. THE HIGHLANDER will meet that want. I propose to make it a power for evangelistic and educational work in the Appalachian region. My experience equips me for a better work than ever. About twenty years' labor in Eastern Kentucky and West Virginia acquaints me fully with the needs of the field.

    THE HIGHLANDER will contend for New Testament doctrine and polity -- wants nothing more, and nothing less will satisfy us or meet the demands of one of the neediest and most promising mission fields on the earth.

    I expect my list to grow by leaps and bounds. I feel sure I can count on every mountain preacher who has cast off sectarian shackles to aid me. As for my "boys and girls," I know that they will come to the help of their "chum" in this work.

    We launch THE HIGHLANDER with an earnest prayer to God for success and an earnest plea to every reader to " lend a helping hand.



    Dr. J. A. Livingstone Smith, York, Pa., a man of talent and large experience with Mormonism, writes:

    You have done some very effective work in your paper and tracts by way of preventing the Mormon missionaries from deluding the people with their monstrous system of doctrines.

    In thirty years experience, however, I have never known a genuine "Mormon" to be capable of recognizing the least inconsistency, or absurdity, or difficulty in any Mormon doctrine, or any virtue in Christian conception or doctrine.

    The above indicates most emphatically the sound old doctrine that "prevention is better than cure." The line of work our association is doing is by far the most effective way to work.



    We have a copy of the affidavit of Melissa Schindle, wife of Col. Geo. Schindle, published in the Sangamon Journal, July 15, 1842, that is tough on the Mormon prophet, Joseph Smith. It is almost unprintable, but it must and will be. The cause of truth and fact demands that the public know the whole truth about the great pretender of the XIX century.



    I have come into possession of a bound copy of "TIMES AND SEASONS for 1844, published at Nauvoo, Ill., when Joseph Smith and his associates were at the top-notch of their success. It has up this ticket:

    FOR PRESIDENT
    GEN. JOSEPH SMITH
    NAUVOO, ILL.

    We are going over the above work very carefully and will soon hand out something rich, rare and racy from the pens of the Mormon leaders. Mormonism, like a poisonous snake, can be made to sting itself to death. We are getting hold of the documents that will prove that to be true.



    The "Josephites" Repudiate King James' Bible.

    I have before me the following typewritten document:

                       Lamoni, Iowa, Apr. 27th, 1886.
    Eld. Z. H. Gurley, Pleasanton. Iowa:

    The following is the resolution passed at the District Conference held in Lamoni Feb. 28th, 1885:

    "Resolved. That this conference, representing the Decatur District of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ, hereby declares that it recognizes the Holy Scriptures, the Book of Mormon and the revelations of God contained in the Book of Doctrine and Covenants as the standard of authority in church government and doctrines, and, together with the revelations that may hereafter be given of God and accepted by the church, as the final standard of reference in all controversies that may arise.

    "And, be it further Resolved, That we sustain the action of the general conference of June 13th, 1852, April 12th. 1870, and September 13th, 1878, in so declaring for the whole church."
                       Henry A. Stebbins, District President.

    l he original document is before me, It has printed on the paper:

    Office of

    CHURCH SECRETARY AND RECORDER
    Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ
    Henry A. Stebbins, Secretary and Recorder

    The document was sent to me by Eld. Z. H. Gurley, now of Canton, Mo., to whom it was written. He says:

    I enclose official copy by Henry A. Stebbins, then District President, also the General Church Recorder. You are [aware] that the "Holy Scriptures" is the title of Joseph Smith's translation (?) of the Bible.

    I am aware of it, and in our next issue will show the public what that resolution binds them to.

    I will also have this printed copy compared with the original and sworn to before a notary public as a correct copy.



    The veteran, D. R. Ellis, of Iowa, writes:

    I received the last numbers of The Sword of Laban and Leaflets Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and never stopped reading until I had read every word of them. They are good. They are sledge-hammer blows. You certainly are "on your job." The more I read from your pen on Mormonism the more I hate the ism. It is a greater fraud than I supposed it could be.

    He proves his faith by his works. He sends in five dollars, orders works and tracts and the "balance of the five use as you think best."



    A Stanza From a Nauvoo Hymn.

    That Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saints, was a bilk instead of a prophet, is one of the clearest of propositions. During his lifetime the old Mormons at Nauvoo sung enthusiastically:

    We've found the way the Prophets went,
      Who lived in the days of yore;
    Another prophet now is sent
      This knowledge to restore;
    And he shall live to see Christ come,
      For so the Lord doth say;
    And tarry in his fleshly home
      E'en till the judgment day.

    That enthusiastic song was rendered in Smith's presence and with his approving sanction; but after he was slain, to the amazement and discomfiture of his deluded votaries, Brigham Young claimed that the hymn containing that stirring stanza was the devil's revelation instead of God's and ordered it to be suppressed. Many of the Nauvoo people had awakened to the deception by which they were victimized, and that stanza had much to do in awakening them. But the founder himself had endorsed the hymn and encouraged the singing of it. Never mind that. Just as soon as the old folks who sang it are all removed by death, we may confidently anticipate that the newer generation of Mormons will deny that the Nauvoo saints ever sang that stanza. All that hinders them from denying it now is that a few of the singers of it still survive.

                         Daniel Braxton Turney.



    Note 1: Dr. Daniel Braxton Turney (c.1850-aft.1912), of Illinois and Lorenzo S. Coffin, of Iowa, were the 1908 U. S. Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates on United Christian ticket. William H. Taft and James S. Sherman received 7,678,908 votes that year; Turney and Coffin received 400.

    Note 2: Turney was a lay advocate for the Protestant Methodist Church and was something of a biblical scholar. As early as the 1870s he was engaged in public debates over fine points of Christian doctrine. In 1903, five years before his failed presidential bid, Turney could be found debating such Disciples of Christ adepts as the Rev. Clark Braden. But three years later Turney joined forces with some of his former Disciples antagonists to become a "Vice President" in the American Anti Mormon Association. He is so listed on page 25 of R. B. Neal's Anti-Mormon Tracts #9. Turney's quotation of the last four lines of the 1843 "hymn" are highly suspect. They do not appear in the poem's initial publication in the Times and Seasons, nor are they so quoted by any known source, other than Turney's undocumented assertion. It may not be coincidental that R. B. Neal said in 1905, that Dr. Turney was the source for one known copy of the spurious 1839 "Cowdery Defence" -- another text known only from Turney and one in which the writer accuses Joseph Smith, Jr. of frequently predicting "that he himself shall tarry on the earth till Christ shall come in glory." Although Joseph Smith, Jr. apparently did state that Mormon Elders would see Christ face to face at Kirtland, Smith is not known to have predicted his own "tarrying on the earth till Christ shall come." This 1839 (?) assertion is as highly suspect as is Turney's 1910 quotation of the Nauvoo hymn.



     



    Vol. I.                                 Pikeville, Ky., Mar.-Apr., 1910                                 No. 2 - 3.



    The Murder of Gen. Joseph Smith, Jr.
    ____________
    We have before us a copy of the "Times and Seasons." ("Truth Will Prevail" -- City of Nauvoo, Ill., July 15, 1844. Vol. V., No 13, -- Whole No. 97). It has editorial comments on the killing of "Gen. Joseph Smith" and his brother, Hyrum, at Carthage, Ill., on June 27 1844. The editor says (page 585) that "Gen. Smith" said, on his way to Carthage: "I am going like a lamb to the slaughter." Mormon writers from then to now make much of that saying as a prediction that puts a "prophet's feather" in the cap of Gen. Smith and a basis for points of comparison between Gen. Smith's death and that of Jesus, the "Man of Galilee," who died on a Roman cross.

    Who Killed Gen. Smith?

    The editor says:

    False brethren, or to call them by their right name, "apostates," have retarded the work more and combined more influence to rob him of life than all christiandom, for they, having mingled in his greatness, knew where and when to take advantage of his weakness.

    That confirms our contention that Smith was killed by his own followers -- men whom he had betrayed and outraged. In view of his edict and tyranny of only a few days before in breaking the presses and pi-ing the type and destroying "The Nauvoo Expositor," a paper owned, edited and published by Mormons and leading intelligent men. At that it time did not take much of a prophet to tell that Gen. Smith was "digging his own grave" and would fill it in the near future.

    But to the claim that he "went like a lamb to the slaughter." In the issue of "Times and Seasons" for August 1, 1844, there is an account, from the pen of one of the three men who were with Smith in the jail when he was killed. This is a valuable paper. We give it in full:


    Two  Minutes  in  Jail.

                              "Carthage, June 27,1844.
    "A shower of musket balls were thrown up the stairway against the door of the prison in the second story, followed by many rapid footsteps. while Generals Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Mr. Taylor and myself, who were in the front chamber, closed the door of our room against the entry at the head of the stairs and placed ourselves against it, there being no lock on the door and no latch that was usable. The door is a common panel, and as soon as we heard the feet at the stairs head a ball was sent through the door, which passed between us, and showed that our enemies were desperadoes and we must change our position. Gen. Joseph Smith, Mr. Taylor and myself sprang. back to the front part of the room and Gen. Hyrum Smith retreated two-thirds across the chamber directly in front of and facing the door. A ball was sent through the door, which hit Hyrum on the side of his nose, when he fell backward, extended at length without moving his feet. From the holes in his vest (the day was warm and no one had their coats on but myself), pantaloons, drawers and shirt, it appears that a ball must have been thrown from without through the window, which entered his back on the right side and lodged against his watch, which was in his right vest pocket, completely pulverizing the crystal and face, tearing off the hands and smashing the whole body of the watch, at the same instant the ball from the door entered his nose. As he struck the floor he exclaimed emphatically, "I am a dead man!" Joseph looked toward him and responded, "O, dear! Brother Hyrum!" and opening the door two or three inches with his left hand, discharged one barrel of a six-shooter (pistol) at random in the entry, from whence a ball grazed Hyrum's breast, and, entering his throat, passed into his head, while other muskets were aimed at him and some balls hit him. Joseph continued snapping his revolver round the casing of the door into the space, as before, three barrels of which missed fire while Mr. Taylor, with a walking stick, stood by his side and knocked down the bayonets and muskets, which were constantly discharging through the doorway, while I stood by him, ready to lend any assistance -- with another stick -- but could not come within striking distance without going directly before the muzzles of the guns. When the revolver failed we had no more firearms, and, expecting an immediate rush of the mob and the doorway full of muskets -- half-way in the room -- and no hope but instant death from within, Mr. Taylor rushed into the window, which is some fifteen or twenty feet from the ground. When his body was nearly on a balance a ball from within entered his leg, and a ball from without struck his watch, a patent lever, in his breast pocket near the left breast, and smashed it in "pie" leaving the hands standing at 5 o'clock, i6 minutes and 26 seconds. The force of the ball threw him back on the floor and he rolled under the bed, which stood by his side, where he lay motionless. the mob from the door continuing to fire upon him, cutting away a piece of flesh from his left hip as large as a man's hand, and were hindered only by my knocking down their muzzles with a stick, while they continued to reach their guns into the room, probably left-handed, and aimed their discharges so far around as to almost reach us in the corner of the room, to where we retreated and dodged, and then I recommenced the attack with my stick again. Joseph attempted, as a last resort, to leap the same window from whence Mr. Taylor fell, when two balls pierced him from the door, and one entered his right breast from without, and he fell outward, exclaiming, "O Lord, my God!" As his feet went out of the window my head went in, the balls whistling all around. He fell on his left side a dead man. At this instant the cry was raised, "He leaped the window!" and the mob on the stairs and in the entry ran out. I withdrew from the window, thinking it of no use to leap out on a hundred bayonets then around Gen. Smith's body. Not satisfied with this I again reached my head out of the window and watched some seconds to see if there were any signs of life, regardless of my own, determined to see the end of him I loved. Being fully satisfied that he was dead, with a hundred men near the body and more coming around the corner of the jail, and, expecting a return to our room, I rushed toward the prison door, at the head of the stairs, and through the entry from whence the firing had proceeded, to learn if the door into the prison were open. When near the entry Mr. Taylor called out "Take me!" I pressed my way till I found all the doors unbarred, returning instantly, I caught Mr. Taylor under my arm and rushed by the stairs into the dungeon, or inner prison, stretched him on the floor and covered him with a bed in such a manner as not likely to be perceived, expecting an immediate return of the mob. I said to Mr. Taylor: "This is a hard case to lay you on the floor, but, if your wounds are not fatal, I want you to live to tell the story." I expected to be shot the next moment and stood before the door awaiting the onset.
                                      WILLARD RICHARDS.


    The editor, on page 585, tells us that Joseph and Hyrum Smith "were Masons in good standing." Also, that they both "gave such signs of distress as would have commanded the interposition and benevolence of savages and pagans."

    In other words, Gen. Joseph Smith, to escape death, gave "signs of distress, called on Masons" to save him, called in such a way that every Mason who saw or heard him was in obligation bound to risk his life to save Smith. This destroys the lamb-likeness of his death.

    Jesus could have made "signs of distress" to angels and "legions" would have come to his rescue.

    Note that military title, "GENERAL" Smith; the word "lamb" cannot be framed from its letters. It is against every attribute of the meek and lowly animal that was made a type of Jesus.

    Note, also, that General Smith had a pistol -- a six-shooter -- and used it. It is claimed by some that he took a life or two and wounded others before he was killed. He died with vengeance in his heart and perhaps blood on his hands. What a comparison with the gentle Savior and his earnest cry to the Father to forgive his enemies!

    When this document gets into circulation we opine that the "elders" will cease to contend that General Smith was a true prophet in his last prediction that he would "be led like a lamb to the slaughter." There was nothing lamb-like in his death -- using a pistol, trying to kill all he could, perhaps killing some, and making "signs of distress" to his Masonic friends to save him, no matter how many lives they lost or took in the effort. His death was more like that of a wolf fighting for life than of a lamb meek and submissive to death.

    Since writing the above, we find in the Deseret Semi-Weekly News, Dec. 25, 1911, the following confirmatory paragraph:

    "The Prophet turned from the prostrate form of his murdered brother to face death-dealing guns and bravely return the fire of his assailants, 'bringing down his man every time' and compelling the late Secretary of State, John Hay, who, but reluctantly, accords the Prophet any quality of virtue, to confess that he made a handsome fight in the jail."

    (This is the late Secretary of State, John Hay, in the Atlantic Monthly for December 1869: "Joe Smith died bravely. He stood by the jamb of the door and fired four shots bringing his man down every time. He shot an Irishman named Willis, who was in the affair from his congenial love of a brawl, in the arm; Gallagher, a Southerner from the Mississippi bottom, in the face, Voorhees, a half-grown hobbledehoy from Bear creek, in the shoulder, and another gentleman, whose name I will not mention, as he is prepared to prove an alibi, and besides, stands six feet two in his 'moccasins.' In a later paragraph he refers to the 'handsome fight in the jail.'")

    A man who can see "lamb-like" qualities in the Prophet's death at Carthage can weave moonbeams into rugs of solid gold.



    King Follett's Funeral Sermon
    By Joseph Smith

    [The President having arrived, the choir sang a hymn. Elder A. Lyman offered prayer. The President then arose and called the attention of the congregation to the subjects which were contemplated in the forepart of the conference.]

    Because the wind blows very hard, it will hardly be possible for me to make you all hear unless I have your profound attention. I approach a matter of the greatest importance and the most solemn of any that can occupy our attention -- that is, the subject of the dead. I have been requested to speak by friends and relatives of Brother Follett, who was crushed to death in a well; and inasmuch as there are a great many in this congregation who live in this city as well as elsewhere who have lost friends, I feel disposed to speak on the subject in general and offer you my ideas so far as I have ability and so far as I shall be inspired by the Holy Spirit to dwell on this subject.

    I want your prayers and faith, the instruction of Almighty God, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, that I may set forth things that are true and easily comprehended and that will carry the testimony to your hearts. Pray that the Lord may strengthen my lungs and stay the winds; let the prayers of the Saints enter into the ear of the Lord of Sabaoth, for the prayers of the righteous availeth much.

    Before entering fully into the investigation of the subject, I wish to pave the way with a few preliminaries in order that you may understand everything. I do not intend to please your ears with superfluity of words or oratory or with much learning, but rather to edify you with the simple truths from heaven.

    In the first place, I wish to go back to the beginning -- to the Creation. That is the starting point if we are to be fully acquainted with the mind, the purposes, and the decrees of the great Elohim who sits in yonder heavens. We must have an understanding of God himself in the beginning. If we start right, it is easy to go right all the time; but if we start wrong, it is a hard matter to get right.

    There are very few beings in the world who understand rightly the character of God. They do not comprehend that which is past or that which is to come; and consequently they know but little above the brute beast. If a man learns nothing more than to eat, drink, and sleep and does not comprehend any of the designs of God, he is equal only to the beast, who comprehends the same things: it eats, drinks, sleeps, and knows nothing more; yet it knows as much as we, unless we are able to comprehend by the inspiration of Almighty God.

    I want to go back to the beginning and so lift your minds into a loftier sphere, a more exalted understanding than what the human mind generally understands. I want to ask this congregation, every man, woman and child, to answer the question in his own heart what kind of a being God is. What kind of a being is God? Does any man or woman know? Have any of you seen him, heard him, communed with him? Here is the question, perhaps, that will from this time forth occupy your attention. The apostle [John] says, "This is life eternal" -- to know God and Jesus Christ, whom he has sent. If any man, not knowing what kind of a being God is, inquires to know if the declaration of the apostle is true -- and searches diligently his own heart -- he will admit that he has not eternal life; for there can be no eternal life on any other principle.

    My first object is to find out the character of the only wise and true God, and if I should be the man to comprehend him and to explain or convey his principles to your hearts so that the spirit seals it upon you, let every man and woman henceforth put his hand on his mouth and never say anything against the man of God again. But if I fail, it becomes my duty to renounce all my pretensions to revelations and inspirations. And if all [religious teachers] pretend to know God, they will be as bad off as I am, at any rate. There is not a man but who would breathe out an anathema if he knew I was a false prophet....But if any man is authorized to take away my life because he says I am a false teacher, then upon the same principle I am authorized to take away the life of every false teacher, and where would be the end of blood? And who would not be the sufferer? But no man is authorized to take away life because of a difference of religion, which all laws and governments ought to tolerate, right or wrong....

    I want you all to know God, to be familiar with him. And if I can bring you to him, all persecutions against me will cease; you will know that I am his servant, for I speak as one having authority. What sort of a being was God in the beginning? Open your ears and hear all ye ends of the earth; for I am going to prove it to you by the Bible, and I am going to tell you the designs of God for the human race and why he interferes with the affairs of man.

    First, God himself, who sits enthroned in yonder heaven, is a man like one of you. That is the great secret. If the veil were rent today and you were to see the great God who holds this world in its orbit and upholds all things by his power, you would see him in the image and very form of a man; for Adam was created in the very fashion and image of God. He received instruction from and walked, talked, and conversed with him as one man talks and communes with another.

    In order to understand the subject of the dead for the consolation of those who mourn for the loss of their friends, it is necessary they should understand the character and being of God; for I am going to tell you how God came to be God. We have imagined that God was God from all eternity. [That he was not is an idea] incomprehensible to some. But it is the simple and first principle of the gospel-to know for a certainty the character of God, that we may converse with him as one man with another. God himself, the Father of us all, dwelt on an earth the same as Jesus Christ himself did, and I will show it from the Bible.

    I wish I had the trump of an archangel; I could tell the story in such a manner that persecution would cease forever. What did Jesus say? (Mark it, elder Rigdon!) Jesus said, "As the Father hath power in himself, even so hath the Son power." To do what? Why, what the Father did. The answer is obvious -- in a manner to lay down his body and take it up again. Jesus, what are you going to do? To lay down my life as my Father did, and take it up again. If you do not believe it, you do not believe the Bible. The scriptures say it, and I defy all the learning and wisdom, all the combined powers of earth and hell together, to refute it.

    Here, then, is eternal life -- to know the only wise and true God. And you have got to learn how to be Gods yourselves -- to be kings and priests to God, the same as all Gods have done -- by going from a small degree to another, from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, until you are able to sit in glory as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting power.

    And I want you to know that in the last days, while certain individuals are proclaiming his name, God is not trifling with you or me; it is the first principle of consolation. How consoling to the mourner when he is called to part with a husband, wife, father, mother, child, or dear relative, to know that although the earthly tabernacle shall be dissolved that dear one shall rise in immortal glory, not to sorrow, suffer, or die any more but shall be God's heirs and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. What is it? It is to inherit the same glory, the same power, and the same exaltation until you ascend the throne of eternal power the same as those who are gone before. What did Jesus do? Why, I do the things I saw my Father do when worlds came rolling into existence. I saw my Father work out his kingdom with fear and trembling, and I must do the same; and when I get my kingdom I shall present it to my Father so that he obtains kingdom upon kingdom, and it will exalt his glory. And so Jesus treads in his tracks to inherit what God did before. It is plain beyond disputation.

    Thus you learn some of the first principles of the gospel, about which so much hath been said.

    (to be continued)


    Notes: (forthcoming)



     



    Vol. I.                                 Pikeville, Ky., May-June, 1910                                 No. 4 - 5.



    After this issue we change our place of publication from Grayson to Ashland. "The Sword of Laban" and The Highlander will be published by the Globe Printing Company. Its manager assures us not only of good work, but that the papers will be issued regularly. This is absolutely essential to their success. After this issue no anti-Mormon articles will appear in this paper. It will hold strictly to its mission of aiding to educate the boys and girls of the mountain region.



    BEST  OF  WEAPONS.

    We have a few thousand copies, broken sets, of Vol. I of Sword of Laban. They ought to be out in the field at work. Nothing better ever printed to halt the advances of Mormonism. We are disposing of these at less than cost and paying postage. Send for a dollar's worth.



    Harrah! We have at last secured a copy of that rare and valuable old pamphlet:

    POLYGAMY:  OR  THE  VEIL  LIFTED.
    By John K. Sheen

    The copy came direct from the hands of the author to me.

    It has evidence that we have found in no other book, and it puts us on the track of other documents that will deal death blows to the "Josephites" especially. As sure as the sun shines and the grass grows, Joseph Smith, Jr., was the author and promoter of modern polygamy.



    C. A. Shook will soon have his book on "Mormon Polygamy" ready for the public. It will meet a "long-felt want" on the part of the anti-Mormon world He establishes "beyond the shade of a shadow of a doubt" that it originated with Joseph Smith, Jr., the Mormon Prophet. He has some proof, of the kind that proves, never before published.



    King Follett's Funeral Sermon

    (Continued from last month.)

    "When you climb a ladder, you must begin at the bottom and go on until you learn the last principle; it will be a great while before you have learned the last. It is not all to be comprehended in this world; it is a great thing to learn salvation beyond the grave. I suppose I am not allowed to go into an investigation of anything that is not contained in the Bible. And I think there are many "wise men" here who would put me to death for treason; so I shall turn commentator today.

    I shall comment on the very first Hebrew word in the Bible, Berosheit. I want to analyze the word; baith -- in, by, through, and everything else. Rosh--the head. Sheit -- grammatical termination. When the inspired man wrote it, he did not put the baith there. A man, a Jew without any authority, thought it too bad to begin to talk about the head. It read first, "The head one of the Gods brought forth the Gods"; that is the true meaning of the words. Baurau signifies to bring forth. If you do not believe it, you do not believe the learned man of God. No man can teach you more than what I have told you. Thus the head God brought forth the Gods in the grand council. I will simplify it in the English language. Oh, ye lawyers and ye doctors who have persecuted me, I want to let you know that the Holy Ghost knows something as well as you do. The head God called together the Gods, and they sat in grand council. The grand councilors sat in yonder heavens and contemplated the creation of the worlds that were created at that time. When I say doctors and lawyers, I mean the doctors and lawyers of the scripture. I have done so hitherto to let the lawyers flutter and everybody laugh at them. Some learned doctor might take a notion to say, "The scriptures say thus and so and are not to be altered." But I am going to show you an error. I have an old book of the New Testament in the Hebrew, Latin, German, and Greek. I have been reading the German and find it to be the most [nearly] correct, and to correspond nearest to the revelations I have given for the last fourteen years. It tells about Jachobod the son of Zebedee. It means Jacob. In the English New Testament it is translated James. Now if Jacob had the keys, you might talk about James through all eternity and never get the keys. In the 21st verse of the fourth chapter of Matthew, the German edition gives the word Jacob instead of James. How can we escape the damnation of hell except God reveal to us? Men bind us with chains. Latin says Jachobod means Jacob; Hebrew says it means Jacob; Greek says Jacob; German says Jacob. I thank God I have got this book, and I thank him more for the gift of the Holy Ghost. I have the oldest book in the world, but I have the oldest book in my heart. I have all the four testaments. Come here, ye learned men, and read if you can. I should not have introduced this testimony were it not to back up the word Rosh, the head, Father of the Gods. I should not have brought it up except to show that I am right.

    When we begin to learn in this way, we begin to learn the only true God and what kind of a being we have got to worship. When we know how to come to him, he begins to unfold the heavens to us and tell us all about it. When we are ready to come to him, he is ready to come to us.

    Now I ask all who hear me why the learned men who are preaching salvation say that God created the heavens and the earth out of nothing. The reason is they are unlearned. They account it blasphemy to contradict the idea; they will call you a fool....The Holy Ghost within me comprehends more than all the world, and I will associate with him. The word create came from the word baurau; it does not mean to create out of nothing; it means to organize, the same as a man would organize materials to build a ship. Hence we infer that God had materials to organize the world out of chaos -- chaotic matter, which is element, and in which dwells all the glory. Element had an existence from the time He had. The pure principles of element are principles that can never be destroyed; they may be organized and reorganized but not destroyed.

    I have another subject to dwell upon. It is impossible for me to say everything I would like to say about it, but I shall touch upon it; time will not permit me to say all. I am referring to the resurrection of the dead -- that is, the soul, the mind of man, the immortal spirit. All men say God created it in the beginning. The very idea lessens man in my estimation. I do not believe the doctrine; I know better. Hear it all ye ends of the world, for God has told me so. Before I get through, I will make a man appear a fool if he doesn't believe it. I am going to tell of things more noble.

    We say that God himself is a self-existing God. Who told you so? It is correct enough, but how did it get into your heads? Who told you that man did not exist in like manner upon the same principles? (Refers to the old Bible.) How does it read in the Hebrew? It doesn't say so in the Hebrew; it says God made man out of the earth and put into him Adam's spirit, and so he became a living body.

    The mind of man is as immortal as God himself. I know that my testimony is true; hence, when I talk to these mourners, what have they lost? Their friends and relatives are separated from their bodies for only a short season; their spirits existed coequal with God, and they now exist in a place where they converse together, the same as we do on the earth. Is it logic to say that a spirit is immortal and yet has a beginning? Because if a spirit has a beginning, it will have an end. That is good logic. I want to reason further on the spirit of man, for I am dwelling on the spirit and body of man -- on the subject of the dead. I take my ring from my finger and liken it unto the mind of man, the immortal spirit, because it has no beginning. Suppose I cut it in two; as the Lord lives, because it has a beginning, it would have an end. All the fools and learned and wise men from the beginning of creation who say that man had a beginning prove that he must have an end. If that were so, the doctrine of annihilation would be true. But if I am right, I might with boldness proclaim from the house tops that God never did have power to create the spirit of man at all. God himself could not create himself. Intelligence exists upon a self-existent principle; it is a spirit from age to age, and there is no creation about it. Moreover, all the spirits that God ever sent into the world are susceptible to enlargement.

    The first principles of man are self-existent with God. God found himself in the midst of spirits and glory, and because he was greater, he saw proper to institute laws whereby the rest could have the privilege of advancing like himself -- that they might have one glory upon another and all the knowledge, power, and glory necessary to save the world of spirits. I know that when I tell you these words of eternal life that are given to me, you taste them, and I know you believe them. You say honey is sweet, and so do I. I can also taste the spirit of eternal life; I know it is good. And when I tell you of these things that were given me by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, you are bound to receive them as sweet, and I rejoice more and more.

    I want to talk more of the relation of man to God. I will open your eyes in relation to your dead. All things whatsoever God in his infinite wisdom sees proper to reveal to us while we are dwelling in mortality in regard to our mortal bodies are revealed to us in the abstract -- independent of affinity to this mortal tabernacle -- revealed to us as if we had no bodies at all. And those revelations which will save our dead will save our bodies; God reveals them to us in view of no eternal dissolution of the body. Hence the responsibility, the awful responsibility, that rests upon us in relation to our dead; for all the spirits who have not obeyed the gospel in the flesh must either obey it in the spirit or be damned. Solemn thought; dreadful thought. Is there nothing to be done? No salvation for our fathers and friends who have died and not obeyed the decrees of the Son of Man? Would to God that I had forty days and nights to tell you everything! I would let you know that I am not a fallen prophet.

    What kind of characters are those who can be saved although their bodies are decaying in the grave? When his commandments teach us, it is in view of eternity. The greatest responsibility in this world that God has laid upon us is to seek after our dead. The apostle says, "They without us cannot be made perfect" [Hebrews 11:40]. Now I will speak of them: I say to you Paul, you cannot be perfect without us. It is necessary that those who have gone before and those who will come after us should have salvation in common with us, and thus hath God made it obligatory to man. Hence God said he should send Elijah.

    I have a declaration to make as to the provisions which God hath made to suit the conditions of man-made from before the foundation of the world. What has Jesus said? All sins and all blasphemies, every transgression, except one, that man can be guilty of may be forgiven either in this world or the world to come. Hence God hath made a provision, that every spirit in the eternal world can be ferreted out and saved unless he has committed that unpardonable sin, which cannot be remitted to him. God has wrought out a salvation for all men, unless they have committed a certain sin. Every man who has a friend in the eternal world can save him unless he has committed the unpardonable sin, and so you can see how far you can be a savior. A man cannot commit the unpardonable sin after the dissolution of the body, and there is a way possible for escape. Knowledge saves a man, and in the world of spirits a man cannot be exalted except by knowledge. So long as a man will not give heed to the commandments, he must abide without salvation. A man is his own tormenter and his own condemner. Hence the saying, "They shall go into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone." The torment of the mind of man is as exquisite as a lake burning with fire and brimstone. So is the torment of man.

    I know the scriptures; I understand them. I said that no man can commit the unpardonable sin after the dissolution of the body, but he must do it in this world. Hence the salvation of Jesus Christ was wrought out for all men in order to triumph over the devil; for if it did not catch him in one place, it would in another, for he stood up as a Savior.

    The contention in heaven was this: Jesus said there would be certain souls that would not be saved, and the devil said he could save them all. The grand council gave in for Jesus Christ. So the devil rebelled against God and fell, with all who put up their heads for him.

    All sins shall be forgiven except the sin against the Holy Ghost. After a man has sinned against the Holy Ghost there is no repentance for him. He has got to say that the sun does not shine while he sees it. He has got to deny Jesus Christ when the heavens have been open to him. And from that time he begins to be an enemy to this work, like many of the apostates of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When a man begins to be an enemy, he hunts me; he seeks to kill me; he thirsts for my blood; he never ceases. He has the same spirit of them who crucified the Lord of Life-the same spirit that sins against the Holy Ghost. You cannot bring him to repentance. Awful is the consequence.

    I advise all of you to be careful what you do, or by-and-by you may find that you have been deceived. Stay yourselves; do not give way. You may find that someone has laid a snare for you. Be cautious; await! When you find a spirit that wants bloodshed -- murder -- the same is not of God but is of the devil. Out of the abundance of the heart a man speaketh. The man that tells you words of life is the man who can save you. I warn you against all evil characters who sin against the Holy Ghost, for there is no redemption for them in this world or in the world to come.

    I can enter into the mysteries; I can enter largely into the eternal worlds. For Jesus said, "In my Father's house are many mansions." Paul says, "There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars." We have reason to have the greatest hope and consolation for our dead, for we have aided them in the first principles; we have seen them walk in our midst and have seen them sink asleep in the arms of Jesus. And hence is the glory of the sun.

    You mourners have occasion to rejoice [speaking of the death of Elder King Follett] for your husband and father is gone to wait until the resurrection; and your expectations and hopes are far above what man can conceive. For why has God revealed it to us? I am authorized to say by the authority of the Holy Ghost that you have no occasion to fear, for he is gone to the home of the just. Don't mourn; don't weep. I know it by the testimony of the Holy Ghost that is within me. Rejoice O Israel! your friends shall triumph gloriously, while their murderers shall welter for ages. I say this for the benefit of strangers. I have a father, brothers, and friends who are gone to a world of spirits. They are absent for only a moment.

    They are in the spirit; and when we depart, we shall hail our mothers, fathers, friends, and all whom we love. There will be no fear of mobs, but all will be an eternity of felicity.

    Mothers, you shall have your children, for they shall have eternal life. Their debt is paid; no damnation awaits them, for they are in the spirit....

    In the German, the text bears me out the same as the revelations which I have given for the last fourteen years. I have the testimony to put in their teeth; my testimony has been true all the time. You will find it in the declaration of John the Baptist [reads from the German]. John says, "I baptize you with water, but when Jesus comes, who has the power, he shall administer the baptism of fire and the Holy Ghost." Where is now all the sectarian world? And if this testimony is true, they are all damned as clearly as anathema can do it. I know the text is true. I call upon all you Germans who know that it is true to say aye (loud shouts of "Aye.") Alexander Campbell, how are you going to save them with water alone? For John said his baptism was nothing without the baptism of Jesus Christ. There is one God, one Father, one Jesus, one hope of our calling, one baptism (all these three baptisms only make one). I have the truth and am at the defiance of the world to contradict me if they can. I have now preached a little Latin, a little Hebrew, Greek, and German; and I have fulfilled all. I am not so big a fool as many have taken me to be. The Germans know that I read the German correctly.

    Hear it all ye ends of the earth -- all ye sinners, repent! Repent! Turn to God, for your religion won't save you, and you will be damned. I do not say how long, but those who sin against the Holy Ghost cannot be forgiven in this world or in the world to come; they shall die the second death. As they concoct scenes of bloodshed in this world, so they shall rise to that resurrection which is as the lake of fire and brimstone. Some shall rise to the everlasting burning of God, and some shall rise to the damnation of their own filthiness -- as exquisite as the lake of fire and brimstone.

    I have intended my remarks for all, both rich and poor, bond and free, great and small. I have no enmity against any man. I love you all. I am your best friend, and if persons miss their mark, it is their own fault. If I reprove a man and he hates me, he is a fool; for I love all men, especially these my brethren and sisters. I rejoice in hearing the testimony of my aged friends. You never knew my heart; no man knows my history; I cannot tell it. I shall never undertake it. If I had not experienced what I have, I should not have believed it myself. I never did harm any man since I have been born into the world. My voice is always for peace, I cannot lie down until all my work is finished. I never think any evil nor do anything to the harm of my fellowman. When I am called at the trump of the archangel and weighed in the balance, you will all know me then. I add no more. God bless you all. Amen.

    The choir sang a hymn at half past five o'clock and dismissed with a benediction.


    Notes: (forthcoming)



     



    Vol. I.                                 Pikeville, Ky., Jul.-Aug., 1910                                 No. 6 - 7.



    MORMONISM  AGAINST  ITSELF.

    Is the title of a book by S. W. Traum, just presented yo the public. The Standard Pub. Co. has done the mechanical work in a splendid manner.

    The book is well worthy of the first setting. It is just the thing the Anti-Mormon polemic has been looking for, especially those who meet the "Josephite Elders." There is no one book, known to me, that has as much dynamite in it for Mormonism as this.

    It was born of a debate with one of their finest polemics. The author has done a work with head and pen worthy of the oldest polemic.


    Note: It is supposed that Rev. R. B. Neal's Highlander survived into 1911, but no issues from that year have been located. Although Neal said that the production of his newsletters would be moved to Ashland, the town of publication for the Sword of Laban continued to be Pikeville throughout 1911. By 1912 he had moved his publication venture had been moved back to Grayson.



     

    Transcriber's Comments

    Rev. Robert B. Neal's Newspapers





    Rev. Robert Burns Neal
    (1847-1925)


    (under construction)




     
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