The Story of the Mormons:

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President Fairchild, in his paper on the Spaulding manuscript
already referred to, while admitting that "it is perhaps
impossible at this day to prove or disprove the Spaulding
theory," finds any argument against the assumption that Rigdon
supplied the doctrinal part of the new Bible, in the view that "a
man as self-reliant and smart as Rigdon, with a superabundant
gift of tongue and every form of utterance, would never have
accepted the servile task of mere interpolation; "there could
have been no motive to it." This only shows that President
Fairchild wrote without knowledge of the whole subject, with
ignorance of the motives which did exist for Rigdon's conduct,
and without means of acquainting himself with Rigdon's history
during his association with Smith. Some of his motives we have
already ascertained: We shall find that, almost from the
beginning of their removal to Ohio, Smith held him in a
subjection which can be explained only on the theory that Rigdon,
the prominent churchman, had placed himself completely in the
power of the unprincipled Smith, and that, instead of exhibiting
self-reliance, he accepted insult after insult until, just before
Smith's death, he was practically without influence in the
church; and when the time came to elect Smith's successor, he was
turned out-of-doors by Brigham Young with the taunting words,
"Brother Sidney says he will tell our secrets, but I would say, `
'O don't, Brother Sidney! Don't tell our secrets--O don't.' But
if he tells our secrets we will tell his. Tit for tat! President
Fairchild's argument that several of the original leaders of the
fanaticism must have been "adequate to the task" of supplying the
doctrinal part of the book, only furnishes additional proof of
his ignorance of early Mormon history, and his further assumption
that "it is difficult--almost impossible--to believe that the
religious sentiments of the Book of Mormon were wrought into
interpolation" brings him into direct conflict, as we shall see,
with Professor Whitsitt,* amuch better equipped student of the
subject.

* Post, pp. 92. 93.

If it should be questioned whether a man of Rigdon's church
connection would deliberately plan such a fraudulent scheme as
the production of the Mormon Bible, the inquiry may be easily
satisfied. One of the first tasks which Smith and Rigdon
undertook, as soon as Rigdon openly joined Smith in New York
State, was the preparation of what they called a new translation
of the Scriptures. This work was undertaken in conformity with a
"revelation" to Smith and Rigdon, dated December, 1830 (Sec. 35,
"Doctrine and Covenants") in which Sidney was told, "And a
commandment I give unto thee, that thou shalt write for him; and
the Scriptures shall be given, even as they are in mine own
bosom, to the salvation of mine own elect. The "translating" was
completed in Ohio, and the manuscript, according to Smith, "was
sealed up, no more to be opened till it arrived in Zion."* This
work was at first kept as a great secret, and Smith and Rigdon
moved to the house of a resident of Hiram township, Portage
County, Ohio, thirty miles from Kirtland, in September, 1831, to
carry it on; but the secret soon got out. The preface to the
edition of the book published at Plano, Illinois, in 1867, under
the title, "The Holy Scriptures translated and corrected by the
Spirit of Revelation, by Joseph Smith, Jr., the Seer," says that
the manuscript remained in the hands of the prophet's widow from
the time of his death until 1866, when it was delivered to a
committee of the Reorganized Mormon conference for publication.
Some of its chapters were known to Mormon readers earlier, since
Corrill gives the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew in his
historical sketch, which was dated 1839.

* Millenial Star, Vol. XIV, p. 361.

The professed object of the translation was to restore the
Scriptures to their original purity and beauty, the Mormon Bible
declaring that "many plain and precious parts" had been taken
from them. The real object, however, was to add to the sacred
writings a prediction of Joseph Smith's coming as a prophet,
which would increase his authority and support the pretensions of
the new Bible. That this was Rigdon's scheme is apparent from the
fact that it was announced as soon as he visited Smith, and was
carried on under his direction, and that the manuscript
translation was all in his handwriting.*

* Wyl's "Mormon Portraits," p.124.

Extended parts of the translation do not differ at all from the
King James version, and many of the changes are verbal and
inconsequential. Rigdon's object appears in the changes made in
the fiftieth chapter of Genesis, and the twenty-ninth chapter of
Isaiah. In the King James version the fiftieth chapter of Genesis
contains twenty-six verses, and ends with the words, "So Joseph
died, being an hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him,
and he was put in a coffin in Eygpt." In the Smith-Rigdon version
this chapter contains thirty-eight verses, the addition
representing Joseph as telling his brethren that a branch of his
people shall be carried into a far country and that a seer shall
be given to them, "and that seer will I bless, and they that seek
to destroy him shall be confounded; for this promise I give unto
you; for I will remember you from generation to generation; and
his name shall be called Joseph. And he shall have judgment, and
shall write the word of the Lord."

The twenty-ninth chapter of Isaiah is similarly expanded from
twenty-four short to thirty-two long verses. Verses eleven and
twelve of the King James version read:--

"And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book
that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying,
Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed.

"And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying,
Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned."

The Smith-Rigdon version expands this as follows:-- "11. And it
shall come to pass, that the Lord God shall bring forth unto you
the words of a book; and they shall be the words of them which
have slumbered.

"12. And behold, the book shall be sealed; and in the book shall
be a revelation from God, from the beginning of the world to the
ending thereof.

"13. Wherefore, because of the things which are sealed up, the
things which are sealed shall not be delivered in the day of the
wickedness and abominations of the people. Wherefore, the book
shall be kept from them.

"14. But the book shall be delivered unto a man, and he shall
deliver the words of the book, which are the words of those who
have slumbered in the dust; and he shall deliver these words unto
another, but the words that are sealed he shall not deliver,
neither shall he deliver the book.

"15. For the book shall be sealed by the power of God, and the
revelation which was sealed shall be kept in the book until the
own due time of the Lord, that they may come forth; for, behold,
they reveal all things from the foundation of the world unto the
end thereof."

No one will question that a Rigdon who would palm off such a
fraudulent work as this upon the men who looked to him as a
religious teacher would hesitate to suggest to Smith the scheme
for a new Bible. During the work of translation, as we learn from
Smith's autobiography, the translators saw a wonderful vision, in
which they "beheld the glory of the Son on the right hand of the
Father," and holy angels, and the glory of the worlds,
terrestrial and celestial. Soon after this they received an
explanation from heaven of some obscure texts in Revelation.
Thus, the sea of glass (iv. 6) "is the earth in its sanctified,
immortal, and eternal state"; by the little book which was eaten
by John (chapter x) "we are to understand that it was a mission
and an ordinance for him to gather the tribes of Israel."

It may be added that this translation is discarded by the modern
Mormon church in Utah. The Deseret Evening News, the church organ
at Salt Lake City, said on February 21, 1900:--

"The translation of the Bible, referred to by our correspondents,
has not been adopted by this church as authoritative. It is
understood that the Prophet Joseph intended before its
publication to subject the manuscript to an entire examination,
for such revision as might be deemed necessary. Be that as it
may, the work has not been published under the auspices of this
church, and is, therefore, not held out as a guide. For the
present, the version of the scriptures commonly known as King
James's translation is used, and the living oracles are the
expounders of the written word."

We may anticipate the course of our narrative in order to show
how much confirmation of Rigdon's connection with the whole
Mormon scheme is furnished by the circumstances attending the
first open announcement of his acceptance of the Mormon
literature and faith. We are first introduced to Parley P. Pratt,
sometime tin peddler, and a lay preacher to rural congregations
in Ohio when occasion offered. Pratt in his autobiography tells
of the joy with which he heard Rigdon preach, at his home in
Ohio, doctrines of repentance and baptism which were the "ancient
gospel" that he (Pratt) had "discovered years before, but could
find no one to minister in"; of a society for worship which he
and others organized; of his decision, acting under the influence
of the Gospel and prophecies "as they had been opened to him," to
abandon the home he had built up, and to set out on a mission
"for the Gospel's sake"; and of a trip to New York State, where
he was shown the Mormon Bible. "As I read," he says, "the spirit
of the Lord was upon me, and I knew and comprehended that the
book was true."

Pratt was at once commissioned, "by revelation and the laying on
of hands," to preach the new Gospel, and was sent, also by
"revelation" (Sec. 32, "Doctrine and Covenants"), along with
Cowdery, Z. Peterson, and Peter Whitmer, Jr., "into the
wilderness among the Lamanites." Pratt and Cowdery went direct to
Rigdon's house in Mentor, where they stayed a week. Pratt's own
account says: "We called on Mr. Rigdon, my former friend and
instructor in the Reformed Baptist Society. He received us
cordially, and entertained us with hospitality."*

* "Autobiography of P. P. Pratt," p. 49.

In Smith's autobiography it is stated that Rigdon's visitors
presented the Mormon Bible to him as a revelation from God, and
what followed is thus described:--

"This being the first time he had ever heard of or seen the Book
of Mormon, he felt very much prejudiced at the assertion, and
replied that 'he had one Bible which he believed was a revelation
from God, and with which he pretended to have some acquaintance;
but with respect to the book they had presented him, he must say
HE HAD SOME CONSIDERABLE DOUBT' Upon which they expressed a
desire to investigate the subject and argue the matter; but he
replied, 'No, young gentlemen, you must not argue with me on the
subject. But I will read your book, and see what claim it has
upon my faith, and will endeavor to ascertain whether it be a
revelation from God or not'. After some further conversation on
the subject, they expressed a desire to lay the subject before
the people, and requested the privilege of preaching in Elder
Rigdon's church, TO WHICH HE READILY CONSENTED. The appointment
was accordingly published, and a large and respectable
congregation assembled. Oliver Cowdery and Parley P. Pratt
severally addressed the meeting. At the conclusion Elder Rigdon
arose and stated to the congregation that the information they
that evening had received was of an extraordinary character, and
certainly demanded their most serious consideration; and, as the
apostle advised his brethren 'to prove all things and hold fast
that which is good,' so he would exhort his brethren to do
likewise, and give the matter a careful investigation, and NOT
TURN AGAINST IT, WITHOUT BEING FULLY CONVINCED OF ITS BEING AN
IMPOSITION, LEST THEY SHOULD POSSIBLY RESIST THE TRUTH."

* Millennial Star, Vol. XIV, p. 47.

Accepting this as a correct report of what occurred (and we may
consider it from Rigdon's pen), we find a clergyman who was a
fellow-worker with men like Campbell and Scott expressing only
"considerable doubt" of the inspiration of a book presented to
him as a new Bible, "readily consenting" to the use of his church
by the sponsors for this book, and, at the close of their
arguments, warning his people against rejecting it too readily
"lest they resist the truth"! Unless all these are misstatements,
there seems to be little necessity of further proof that Rigdon
was prepared in advance for the reception of the Mormon Bible.

After this came the announcement of the conversion and baptism by
the Mormon missionaries of a "family" of seventeen persons living
in some sort of a "community" system, between Mentor and
Kirtland. Rigdon, who had merely explained to his neighbors that
his visitors were "on a curious mission," expressed disapproval
of this at first, and took Cowdery to task for asserting that his
own conversion to the new belief was due to a visit from an
angel. But, two days later, Rigdon himself received an angel's
visit, and the next Sunday, with his wife, was baptized into the
new faith.

Rigdon, of course, had to answer many inquiries on his return to
Ohio from a visit to Smith which soon followed his conversion,
but his policy was indignant reticence whenever pressed to any
decisive point. To an old acquaintance who, after talking the
matter over with him at his house, remarked that the Koran of
Mohammed stood on as good evidence as the Bible of Smith, Rigdon
replied: "Sir, you have insulted me in my own house. I command
silence. If people come to see us and cannot treat us civilly,
they can walk out of the door as soon as they please."* Thomas
Campbell sent a long letter to Rigdon under date of February 4,
1831, in which he addressed him as "for many years not only a
courteous and benevolent friend, but a beloved brother and
fellow-laborer in the Gospel--but alas! how changed, how fallen."
Accepting a recent offer of Rigdon in one of his sermons to give
his reasons for his new belief, Mr. Campbell offered to meet him
in public discussion, even outlining the argument he would offer,
under nine headings, that Rigdon might be prepared to refute it,
proposing to take his stand on the sufficiency of the Holy
Scriptures, Smith's bad character, the absurdities of the Mormon
Bible and of the alleged miraculous "gifts," and the objections
to the "common property" plan and the rebaptizing of believers.
Rigdon, after glancing over a few lines of this letter, threw it
into the fire unanswered.**

* "Mormonism Unveiled," p. 112.

** Ibid., p. 116-123.

CHAPTER IX. "THE EVERLASTING GOSPEL"

Having presented the evidence which shows that the historical
part of the Mormon Bible was supplied by the Spaulding
manuscript, we may now pay attention to other evidence, which
indicates that the entire conception of a revelation of golden
plates by an angel was not even original, and also that its
suggestor was Rigdon. This is a subject which has been overlooked
by investigators of the Mormon Bible.

That the idea of the revelation as described by Smith in his
autobiography was not original is shown by the fact that a
similar divine message, engraved on plates, was announced to have
been received from an angel nearly six hundred years before the
alleged visit of an angel to Smith. These original plates were
described as of copper, and the recipient was a monk named Cyril,
from whom their contents passed into the possession of the Abbot
Joachim, whose "Everlasting Gospel," founded thereon, was offered
to the church as supplanting the New Testament, just as the New
Testament had supplanted the Old, and caused so serious a schism
that Pope Alexander IV took the severest measures against it.*

* Draper's "Intellectual Development of Europe," Vol. II, Chap.
III. For an exhaustive essay on the "Everlasting Gospel," by
Renan, see Revue des Deux Mondes, June, 1866. For John of Parma's
part in the Gospel, see "Histoire Litteraire de la France"
(1842), Vol. XX, p. 24.

The evidence that the history of the "Everlasting Gospel" of the
thirteenth century supplied the idea of the Mormon Bible lies not
only in the resemblance between the celestial announcement of
both, but in the fact that both were declared to have the same
important purport--as a forerunner of the end of the world --and
that the name "Everlasting Gospel" was adopted and constantly
used in connection with their message by the original leaders in
the Mormon church.

If it is asked, How could Rigdon become acquainted with the story
of the original "Everlasting Gospel," the answer is that it was
just such subjects that would most attract his attention, and
that his studies had led him into directions where the story of
Cyril's plates would probably have been mentioned. He was a
student of every subject out of which he could evolve a sect,
from the time of his Pittsburg pastorate. Hepworth Dixon said,
"He knew the writings of Maham, Gates, and Boyle, writings in
which love and marriage are considered in relation to Gospel
liberty and the future life."* H. H. Bancroft, noting his
appointment as Professor of Church History in Nauvoo University,
speaks of him as "versed in history, belles-lettres, and
oratory."** Mrs. James A. Garfield told Mrs. Dickenson that
Rigdon taught her father Latin and Greek.*** David Whitmer, who
was so intimately acquainted with the early history of the
church, testified: "Rigdon was a thorough biblical scholar, a man
of fine education and a powerful orator."**** A writer,
describing Rigdon while the church was at Nauvoo, said, "There is
no divine in the West more learned in biblical literature and the
history of the world than he."***** All this indicates that a
knowledge of the earlier "Everlasting Gospel" was easily within
Rigdon's reach. We may even surmise the exact source of this
knowledge. Mosheim's "Ecclesiastical History, Ancient and Modern"
was at his disposal. Editions of it had appeared in London in
1765, 1768, 1774, 1782, 1790, 1806, 1810, and 1826, and among the
abridgments was one published in Philadelphia in 1812. In this
work he could have read as follows:--

"About the commencement of this [the thirteenth] century there
were handed about in Italy several pretended prophecies of the
famous Joachim, abbot of Sora in Calabria, whom the multitude
revered as a person divinely inspired, and equal to the most
illustrious prophets of ancient times. The greatest part of these
predictions were contained in a certain book entitled, 'The
Everlasting Gospel,' and which was also commonly called the Book
of Joachim. This Joachim, whether a real or fictitious person we
shall not pretend to determine, among many other future events,
foretold the destruction of the Church of Rome, whose corruptions
he censured with the greatest severity, and the promulgation of a
new and more perfect gospel in the age of the Holy Ghost, by a
set of poor and austere ministers, whom God was to raise up and
employ for that purpose."

* "Spiritual Wives," p. 62.

** "Utah," p. 146.

*** Scribner's Magazine, October, 1881.

**** "Address to All Believers in Christ;" p. 35.

***** Letter in the New York Herald.

Here is a perfect outline of the scheme presented by the original
Mormons, with Joseph as the divinely inspired prophet, and an
"Everlasting Gospel," the gift of an angel, promulgated by poor
men like the travelling Mormon elders.

The original suggestion of an "Everlasting Gospel" is found in
Revelation xiv. 6 and 7:--

"And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the
everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth,
and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, "Saying
with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour
of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and
earth, and the sea, and the fountains of water."** "Bisping
(after Gerlach) takes Rev. xiv. 6-11 to foretell that three great
events at the end of the last world-week are immediately to
precede Christ's second advent (1) the announcement of the
'eternal' Gospel to the whole world (Matt. xxiv. 14); (2)the Fall
of Babylon; (3)a warning to all who worship the beast.... Burger
says this vision can denote nothing but a last admonition and
summons to conversion shortly before the end."--Note in
"Commentary by Bishops and Other Clergy of the Anglican Church."

This was the angel of Cyril; this the announcement of those
"latter days" from which the Mormon church, on Rigdon's motion,
soon took its name.

That Rigdon's attention had been attracted to an "Everlasting
Gospel" is proved by the constant references made to it in
writings of which he had at least the supervision, from the very
beginning of the church. Thus, when he preached his first sermon
before a Mormon audience--on the occasion of his visit to Smith
at Palmyra in 1830--he took as his text a part of the version of
Revelation xiv. which he had put into the Mormon Bible (1 Nephi
xiii. 40), and in his sermon, as reported by Tucker, who heard
it, holding the Scriptures in one hand and the Mormon Bible in
the other, he said, "that they were inseparably necessary to
complete the everlasting gospel of the Saviour Jesus Christ." In
the account, in Smith's autobiography, of the first description
of the buried book given to Smith by the angel, its two features
are named separately, first, "an account of the former
inhabitants of this continent," and then "the fulness of the
Everlasting Gospel. "That Rigdon never lost sight of the
importance, in his view, of an "Everlasting Gospel" may be seen
from the following quotation from one of his articles in his
Pittsburg organ, the Messenger and Advocate, of June 15, 1845,
after his expulsion from Nauvoo: "It is a strict observance of
the principles of the fulness of the Everlasting Gospel of Jesus
Christ, as contained in the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Book of
Covenants, which alone will insure a man an inheritance in the
kingdom of our God."

The importance attached to the "Everlasting Gospel" by the
founders of the church is seen further in the references to it in
the "Book of Doctrine and Covenants," which it is not necessary
to cite,* and further in a pamphlet by Elder Moses of New York
(1842), entitled "A Treatise on the Fulness of the Everlasting
Gospel, setting forth its First Principles, Promises, and
Blessings," in which he argued that the appearance of the angel
to Smith was in direct line with the Scriptural teaching, and
that the last days were near.

* For examples see Sec. 68, 1; Sec. 101, 22; Sec. 124, 88.

CHAPTER X. THE WITNESSES TO THE PLATES

In his accounts to his neighbors of the revelation to him of the
golden plates on which the "record" was written, Smith always
declared that no person but him could look on those plates and
live. But when the printed book came out, it, like all subsequent
editions to this day, was preceded by the following
"testimonies":--

"THE TESTIMONY OF THREE WITNESSES

"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 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 marvellous 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 know 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 honour be to the Father, and to
the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, which is one God. Amen.

"OLIVER COWDERY,DAVID WHITMER, MARTIN HARRIS.

"AND ALSO THE TESTIMONY OF THE EIGHT WITNESSES

"Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people unto
whom this work shall come, that Joseph Smith, Jun., 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 unto the world, to witness unto the
world that which we have seen; and we lie not, God bearing
witness of it.