ABOUT THE BOOK OF MORMON.
INTERESTING ACCOUNT OF ANOTHER INTERVIEW WITH THE ONLY SURVIVING WITNESS WHO BEHELD THE ANGEL AND HEARD THE VOICE OF GOD TESTIFYING TO THE TRUTH OF THE RECORD.
ANOTHER VISIT TO DAVID WHITMER.
NEW YORK, March 18th, 1884.
Editor Deseret News:
En route to this city I called on David Whitmer, who had invited me to visit him again and examine the manuscript copy of the Book of Mormon, etc. On the 10th inst., I had a pleasant interview, a few items of which may not be without interest to many of your readers. He greeted me with a happy smile as he remembered my former visit and the lines written commemorating the interview, which he endorsed as a correct expression of his sentiments.
MANUSCRIPT COPY OF THE BOOK OF MORMON.
Knowing the object of my visit, he brought the manuscript, which was carefully wrapped and tied, and with evident satisfaction and modest pride unwrapped and spread it before me. Considering the fifty odd years since it was in the hands of Major Gilbert, the printer, it is well preserved. It is written closely on foolscap of a poor quality, of which there is fully one half ream and perhaps more, being written closely from side to side. There is no blank margin. It is singularly free from corrections and has no erasures nor interlineations so far as I could discover. Quite a number of the sheets had been cut in three pieces or "takes," obviously for the use of the printers; they were replaced in position, small pieces of blank paper placed over and pinned together. Observing two or three styles of writing and the certificate from the clerk of the court of Wayne County that it had been copyrighted there in June, 1829, I remarked that it looked very much as though it was the original copy, and it would in fact take considerable more evidence than I had seen to convince me that it was not the original and only written copy. Mr. Whitmer said: "I know positively that it is so. Why, look at this." He remarked, "Here is some of my poor old mother's yarn that was used to fasten the sheets together," and sure enough there was the gray yarn that fastened a certain number of sheets together in several divisions. As this is a disputed question, I simply submit the foregoing, leaving each person to judge for himself.
THE SPECIMEN HIEROGLYPHICS.
I was shown the reformed Egyptian hieroglyphics that were copied from the plates by the Prophet Joseph and taken by Martin Harris to Professors Anthon and Mitchell of New York city in February, 1828. They are written on paper about three and a half inches by seven and fill up seven lines, making about thirty-five inches of writing. They remind me very much of Egyptian hieroglyphics I have seen in the British Museum, London, and in other collections.
COINCIDENTAL EVIDENCE.
The New York Tribune in an article published a few days ago, commenting on a discovery said to have been made recently by the Rev. Father Damazo Soto, of Concordia, in the State of Vera Cruz, Mexico, of the key to the Aztec writings, says it may be that the discovery refers not to the Aztec but to the Toltec writings, and if this be the case it may lead to interesting developments. The Toltecs, who were the precursors of the Aztecs in Mexico and who flourished in Central America, where they left marvelous relics—Palenque, Copan, Yucatan—were of a higher civilization than the people who succeeded them, and they had a pure system of hieroglyphics of which unfortunately few specimens are known to exist, the most acceptable being in the Dresden Museum. So the fragments of Toltec writing which have been preserved, however, are sufficient to justify the conclusion that this people were accustomed to employ for their religious and astrological writings a special hieroglyphic corresponding in some respects to the Egyptian hieratic script. We are not aware that any of this priestly text has been deciphered fully. Could this hieratic writing be deciphered, the writer remarks, it is probable that new light would be thrown upon the religion and science of that ancient and interesting people, and such information would be particularly welcome in this era of analytic inquiry.
The writer of the Tribune article may learn from this correspondence that the hieroglyphics of the ancient and interesting people who built the cities of Central America that are the most acceptable are not those in Dresden, but those that were shown by your correspondent the other day in Richmond, Ray County, Missouri. He may learn moreover that over 600 pages have been fully translated from such hieroglyphics he has mentioned, which constituted the record called the Book of Mormon, which throws a flood of light upon the religion, science and history of the ancient interesting and enlightened people who have dwelt upon this continent during the ages of antiquity.
It may be interesting to the critical student to compare the statement of the Tribune writer, which I have quoted verbatim from said journal, which refers to "their pure system of hieroglyphics," "their special hieroglyphics corresponding in some respects to the Egyptian hieroglyphic script," with the following quotation from the Book of Mormon: "And now behold we have written this record according to our knowledge in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us according to our manner of speech." (Page 538, last edition.) When we take into consideration the fact that this was written in the year 1829, and published in 1830, which was many years before the ruined cities of Palenque, Copan and Yucatan were discovered, or anything was known concerning the hieroglyphics that were subsequently discovered by Stevens and Catherwood and other travelers, it is simply marvelous that an unlettered boy should be the first to publish these things to the world, and can be accounted for on no other principle than that he and his friends have claimed from the first, namely, that they were translated by the gift and power of God.
HOW MR. WHITMER FIRST HEARD OF IT.
Mr. Whitmer said the first he heard concerning the Prophet Joseph and the golden bible, as it was then called, was from Oliver Cowdery, who was then quite a young man, about his own age, who went to the neighborhood where Joseph had lived and where his parents and family still lived, and taught school. Oliver promised, if he could find out anything definite and reliable, he would let me know. Soon after this Oliver told me that certain young men, about Joseph's age, who had been raised with him in the neighborhood, were very angry against Joseph and complained against him bitterly, saying he had not kept his word with them, for he had promised to give them some of the golden plates when he obtained them, whereas he had got them and had not given them any as he had promised. When Oliver suggested to them that perhaps Joseph had not got them, they replied angrily, "We know he has, for we have seen the place on the hill where he got them."
Mr. Whitmer, continuing his narrative, said: "Soon after this Oliver concluded to go and see Joseph and learn all he could about the matter, and promised to write and tell me the result of his inquiries. About the beginning of April, 1829, he went to Harmony, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, where Joseph had gone to get away from his enemies and to escape those who were trying to get the plates from him; for he was told by the personage who gave him charge of said plates that if he should let them go carelessly or through negligence he should be cut off. Soon after Oliver's arrival in Harmony he wrote to me and said that Joseph had inquired of the Lord concerning him and had told him secrets of his life that he knew could not be known to any person but himself in any other way than by revelation from the Almighty. Some little time after this he wrote asking me to take a team and fetch Joseph and himself to my father's house in Fayette, Seneca County, New York, where they would continue the translation. I consulted with my father, who consented that I should take a team as requested and bring them home. I was a little over two and a half days going, and traveled over 40 miles the first day, and met them on the third day at the head of Cayuga Lake. Oliver told me they knew just when I started, where I put up at night, and even the sign-board on the hotel where I stayed each night, for he had asked Joseph to look in the seer-stone, that he did so and told him all these particulars of my journey, which Oliver carefully noted in his book. Oliver asked me when I first met them, when I left home, where I stayed on the road, and the names of the persons keeping the hotels. I could not tell the names, but as we returned I pointed out the several houses where I had stopped, when he pulled out his book and found it to be correct even to the names."
THE TRANSLATION.
"In regard to the translation," said Mr. Whitmer, "it was a laborious work, for the weather was very warm, and the days were long, and they worked from morning till night. But they were both young and strong and were soon able to complete the work.
"The way it was done was thus: Joseph would place the seer-stone in a deep hat, and placing his face close to it, would see, not the stone, but what appeared like an oblong piece of parchment, on which the hieroglyphics would appear, and also the translation in the English language, all appearing in bright luminous letters. Joseph would then read it to Oliver, who would write it down as spoken. Sometimes Joseph could not pronounce the words correctly, having had but little education; and if by any means a mistake was made in the copy, the luminous writing would remain until it was corrected. It sometimes took Oliver several trials to get the right letters to spell correctly some of the more difficult words, but when he had written them correctly, the characters and the interpretation would disappear, and be replaced by other characters and their interpretation.
"When the seer-stone was not placed in the hat, no characters or writing could be seen therein, but when so placed then the hieroglyphics would appear as before described. Some represented but one word, or name, some represented several, and some from one to two lines.
"Emma, Joseph's wife, came to my father's house a short time after Joseph and Oliver came, and she wrote a little of the translation, my brother Christian wrote some, but Oliver wrote the greater portion of it."
TRUE TO THEIR TESTIMONY.
Mr. Whitmer felt very indignant while speaking of certain statements published recently to the effect that he and Oliver had denied their statement as published in the Book of Mormon. This he denounced as false in every particular. He said: "Oliver never wavered in his testimony, and when he was on his death bed I was there with many of his friends until he passed away. He bore the same testimony on his dying bed that he had always borne through life, and earnestly called upon all to cleave to the truth revealed through the Prophet Joseph and to serve the Lord. As for myself, I have never denied the testimony that is published in the Book of Mormon, for I know that God has revealed these things for the salvation of the children of men, and to him belongs all the honor, the power and the glory."
Many other interesting items were given by Mr. Whitmer during our interview, but I have already extended this communication much longer than I intended.
JAMES H. HART.