Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1909-12-07
AMERICANA.

ment OF History OF the Mormon
Church." by President B. H. Roberts
This part is devoted to the testimony
of the witnesses who have declared tc
the world that they examined the or
igInal plates of the Book of Mormon
Beautiful engravlngs of portraits o.
oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer anc
Martin Harris illustrate this part o.
the history.
The testimony, first of the three. an6
then of the eight witnesses. forms g
rock against which the waves of un-
belief, as regards the Book of Mormon,
break In vain. Their statements arc
irrefutable. Before any impartial jury
their combined force would compel n
unanimous verdict In favor of the rec
ords If Cook the explorer, had had
one small part of such direct and
positive evidence in support of his
claim to having reached the North
Pole. no one would have expressed any
doubt on that subject. The entire
world would have hailed him as the
first to actually reach the geographical
point that has been the goal of so many
Arctic sailors The testimony is so
strong, that IL 1t is rejected, all SIM
ilar testimony many be rejected, on
equally good grounds. and what can
then be established? What becomes OF
human knowledge, since most of what
is accepted as fact rests on testimony?
There would be no certainty in history,
and even the testimony of our own
senses would have TO be rejected on
the ground that we may be deceived
by -hypnotsm, or what not? We
could never be sure that we see what
we see, or hear what we hear, If the
witnesses 10 the Book of Mormon are
TO be rejected as deceived and de-
ceivers. For their testimony is still
more fortified by the fact that they
\ continued to assert the truth of their
Statements. even when they were out
side the Church and when denial
might have been, seemingly, an ad-
vantage to them. from more than one
point of view
In this connection we may refer to
an incident which Judge C. NJ. Nielsen
has frequently related. in public and
private Mr.. Nielsen, while OH his mis-
sion in the eastern states, met a GEN
tlcman who knew Oliver Cowdery at
the time he was outside the Church.
Cowdery was practicng law, and on
one occasion, the opposing lawyer en-
deavored TO prejudice the jury against
him. by referring to his connection
with the Book of Mormon do you be-
lieve." he was asked. that your tes-
timony was true?" Oliver Cowdery
slowly and deliberately rose I'm the
courtroom, in which the deepest silence
prevailed, and said Il do not believe
il; 1 know It. 1t Is not a matter of
belief with me; 1t is knowledge" The
gentleman who related this to Mr. Mel
sen said 1t made an indelible impress
Sion on his mind, and he never forgot
that scene in the courtroom, This ad-
herence to the testimony by all the
witnesses. In the Church or outside the
Cnurch, precludes the supposition of
caiiusion, or fraud-a point that is
made very clear in the part of the
history before US In this number of the
Americana magazine
we are aware that recent anti
Mormon" writer's claim that Oliver
Cowdery joined the Methodist church
at Tlfin, Ohio. and that he was a re-
corder OF that church in 1874. We are
not prepared to discuss that question
fully just now. Bishop e. l.. Kelly
who went to Tiffin I'm 1907, to examine
presence of Mr.. c. j. Yingling, who
mad charge of them says he discov-
cred that the record simply contained
Oliver Cowdery's work as an attorney.
and that Mr.. Yingling himself readily
hssented to that proposition when the
TACT was pointed out to him. But Mr.
1ingilng has later changed his opinion
on this point. In a letter to r, e.
Neal. of Plkeville, Ky. he says the
minutes should be conclusive evidence
that Oliver Cowdery was a member of
the Methodist Protestant church" That
is not very positive. But be that as
1t may II Oliver Cowdery was a
Methodist at the time lie gave his testI-
mony In the courtroom. the fact sim
ply proves that not even church afIllia-
ton could make him deny the mirac-
ulous manifestations to which he had
testified as one of the three witnesses
And the fact that he returned to the
Church at time when the end of 1t
seemed 10 be In sight. settles all con-
troversy as TO his real conviction with
regard to that testimony. II he had
not known 1t TO be true. he would not
have joined the Church
There are many other excellent pa
pers in this number We notice.
Ancient Abodes of Annapolis" by
Catherine Frances Cavanaush; The
Genesis of Thanksgiving" by Helen
Harcourt; Rise of the United Empire
Loyalists.' concluded. by viscount dc
Fronsac; "a Famous American
Church" by Henry Waterman; His
tory of Slavery" by Mrs. c. F. Nc
Lean: THE Men Behind the chisel"
by Henry Wilson Carlisle: civil War
"Reminiscences" by Andrew NJ. Sher
man; Folklore OF our Hcarthstones -
BY Miriam Cruiishank; Hawthorne
Ind Lincoln" by Charles Oscar Paul