Investigation
must begin at the beginning and not begin in the middle to determine the whys,
what, and how something or someone is, what it or he/she is and the reasons as
to why they became what they became. That may be a bit convoluted so let me
then begin at the beginning. The above blogs set forth some very important
information as to the history and culture of the times before and at the birth
and growth of Joseph Smith Jr. Character is a sum total of those things
mentioned above and Joseph Smith Jr. is no exception: heredity, environment
both in the home, and in the area lived, in the nation, and Character only
changes if it so necessary to cause a change. I begin: Joseph Smith, Jr. born
December 23, 1805 and died June 27, 1844 in Sharon Vermont, to Lucy Mack Smith
and Joseph Smith, Sr., a merchant and farmer.[1]
Joseph Smith, Jr. fell ill to a crippling bone infection at the age of seven
and used crutches for three years.[2]
The father of Joseph Smith, Jr. fill in a business venture and after three years
of crop failures the family move to Palmyra in Western New York and there he
took a mortgage on a 100 acre farm in Manchester. In the previous blogs it was
pointed out about the “Burned Out District” especially in the area of Palmyra,
and Western New York and his parents with all the religious excitement, the
camp meeting created religious enthusiasm.[3]
During this time called the Second Great Awakening Joseph Smith, Jr. became
interested in religion and even attended some Bible classes and read the Bible.
Joseph Smith, Jr., along with his parents and relatives participated in religious
folk magic a practice that was common during this period.[4]
Folk religion is a term to describe various methods and expressions of religion
as distinct from Orthodox doctrines and practices.[5]
Folk Christian religion is Christianity impacted by superstition and practiced
by certain “Christian groups.[6]
The revivals and interest in Christianity came about as a reaction to the
secular Age of Enlightenment that preceded it. The Age of Enlightenment was an
age whereby Western philosophy and intellectual scientific, and cultural life
that centered in the eighteenth century when reason was advocated as the
primary source for legitimacy and authority. The reaction against the Age of Enlightenment
and the religious fervor and revivalism caused many people to surrender to one
religious craze after another.[7]
Outside
influence such as culture, the occurrence happenings of the time, the political
environment, and religion all help to shape character. A factor of influence
for a person is their immediate family, mother, father, siblings, and also
relatives such as aunts and uncles all have a part in shaping character. The parents
of Joseph Smith, Jr., disagreed about religion and caught up in folk religion,
vision, dreams that they believed they communicated with God and were given
messages from God.[8] The religious
fervor, camp meetings, new innovations about Christianity by such men as
Charles Finney (August 29, 1792 – August 16, 1875) a fiery preacher who
gained national attention through a spectacular series of revival meetings in
cities in New York along the Erie Canal, Rome, Utica, Troy, and Rochester from
the years 1825-1830 who became called the forerunner of modern revivalism and
was influential in the beginnings of urban evangelism. The various religious
beliefs especially the belief held against orthodox Christianity was a cause of
concern for Joseph Smith, Jr. causing him to be concerned about his soul and
much confusion over the various denominations. The Smith family had little if
anything to do with organized religion although were in private a religious people
accepting prophecies, and visions. The paternal grandfather Ansel Smith, a
Universalist Christian. Universalism is also called universal salvation a
belief that people will be saved by the love and mercy of God. Universalism
deals with hell that no one will be left in hell forever and in time all will
receive salvation. Joseph Smith, Jr., apparently learned from an early age
about his grandfather’s religious view Universalism so that when Joseph Smith,
Jr., began the Later Day Saints hell is taught in two senses. First, it is the
temporary abode in the spirit world for those who were disobedient in
mortality. In this sense, hell has an end. The spirits there will be taught the
gospel, and sometime following their repentance they will be resurrected to a
degree of glory of which they are worthy. Those who will not repent, but are
nevertheless not sons of perdition, will remain in hell throughout the
Millennium. After these thousand years of torment, they will be resurrected to
a telestial glory (D&C
76:81–86; 88:100–101).
Second, it is the permanent location of those who are not redeemed by the
atonement of Jesus Christ. In this sense, hell is permanent. It is for those
who are found “filthy still” (D&C
88:35, 102). This is the place where Satan, his angels, and the sons
of perdition—those who have denied the Son after the Father has revealed
him—will dwell eternally (D&C
76:43–46). It must be pointed out what it means “telestial” as
Joseph Smith, Jr., taught that there are different degrees of glory within the
celestial kingdom (D&C 131:1-4). I do not find the word “telestial” in my
Random House Webster’s Dictionary 1997 edition and found this on the internet: This
word doesn't usually appear in our free dictionary, but we’ve shared just a bit
of the information that appears in our premium Unabridged Dictionary. There’s more definition detail there.
Character having
as its developing source the environment especially from family and friends
often has life-long effects on a person views and exercise of life. This would
be true of Joseph Smith, Jr., and as the family goes so does his early
development was one of poor economics, view of religion, and of Christianity
that was outside the normal Orthodoxy so that it seems possible that his views
that developed Mormonism finds this development having as it foundation those
early views and development of character. The life of visions, and dreams all
religious in nature and the desire to find money, treasure led Joseph Smith,
Jr., to become a treasure hunter. Joseph Smith, Jr. and the use of a Seer Stone
to find treasure is well documented. In fact a sandy colored seer stone used by
Joseph Smith, Jr., passed on by his widow Emma to relatives of her second
husband, Lewis Bidamen (Wilford Wood Museum). Joseph Smith, Jr., had more than
one stone in his lifetime. In 1819 he borrowed a seer stone from a friend to
find a “whitish” seer stone” in an iron kettle 25 feet underground. To put this
depth in context the depth of 25 feet is more than two stories high and one would
wonder how Joseph Smith, Jr., dug this depth and did so without support to keep
the well from caving. A stone found by Joseph Smith, Jr., in 1822 while digging
a well for Willard Chase (Quinn 1987, 39-41). By this stone Joseph Smith, Jr.,
would state that he could see wondrous sights in it, “ghosts, infernal spirits,
mountains of gold and silver.” Along with his father, Joseph Smith, Jr., often sought
for buried treasure using a seer stone to locate treasure. A man named Josiah
Stowel who would later become his father-in-law who came to believe in Joseph
Smith, Jr., and his detail about “house and outhouses” in th sicty South Bainbridge
so Stowel hired Joseph Smith, Jr., and his father to help find treasure. The daughter
of Josiah Stowel, Emma, would become the wife of Joseph Smith, Jr., but in time
using the money to finance his search by Stowel, Stowel due to his failures
become disillusioned and become contemptuous of Joseph Smith, Jr., efforts.
Later, some nine years later, Joseph Smith, Jr., had become his son-in-law
wrote:
"His appearance at this time, was
that of a careless young man - not very well educated, and very saucy and
insolent to his father…Young Smith gave the 'money-diggers' great encouragement,
at first, but when they arrived in digging to near the place where he had
stated an immense treasure would be found - he said the enchantment was so
powerful that he could not see. They then became discouraged, and soon after
dispersed. This took place about the 17th of November, 1825."[9]
It is important that this trial in
1826 when Joseph Smith, Jr., now 21 years of age in Bainbridge, New York, on a
charge of being “a disorderly person and an imposter,” took place six years
after he had his first vision. It is not know who brought the charges against
Joseph Smith, Jr., and if he was convicted but what we do know that is
consistent all the witnesses describe Joseph Smith, Jr., a user of a seer
stone.
The
character having now developed by his early upbringing can be seen in his
exercise of life and according to W.D. Purple’s account in 1877, Joseph Smith,
Jr., testified in court that he found his seer stone by looking into a stone of
a girl that lived some three miles from him. Joseph Smith, Jr., went to this
girl’s house that appeared in the girl’s stone, Joseph Smith, Jr., found his
own stone.
"He borrowed an old ax and a hoe, and repaired to
the tree. With some labor and exertion he found the stone, carried it to the
creek, washed and wiped it dry, sat down on the bank, placed it in his hat, and
discovered that time, place and distance were annihilated; that all the
intervening obstacles were removed, and that he possessed one of the attributes
of Deity, an All-Seeing-Eye…
The
Court requested to see the stone and it was produced and seen as a stone the
size of a small hen’s egg and in the shape of a high-instepped shoe. The composition
of the stone was layers of different colors passing through diagonally, and was
hard and smooth, smoothness consistent with having been carried in a pocket.[10]
The Court account was reported by Fraser’s Magazine and can be read:
"Prisoner brought before Court March 20,1826,
Prisoner examined: says that he came from the town of Palmyra, and had been at
the house of Josiah Stowel in Bainbridge most of time since; had small part of
time been employed in looking for mines, but the major part had been employed
by said Stowel on his farm, and going to school. That he had a certain stone
which he had occasionally looked at to determine where hidden treasures in the
bowels of the earth were; that he professed to tell in this manner where gold
mines were a distance under ground, and had looked for Mr. Stowel several
times, and had informed him where he could find these treasures, and Mr. Stowel
had been engaged in digging for them. That at Palmyra he pretended to tell by
looking at this stone where coined money was buried in Pennsylvania, and while
at Palmyra had frequently ascertained in that way where lost property was of
various kinds; that he had occasionally been in the habit of looking through
this stone to find lost property for three years, but of late had pretty much
given it up on account of its injuring his health, especially his eyes, making
them sore; that he did not solicit business of this kind, and had always rather
declined having anything to do with this business."[11]
Furthermore,
in 1831 Joseph Smith, Jr., was said by A.W. Benton:
"…was about the country in the character of a
glass-looker: pretending, by means of a certain stone, or glass, which he put
in a hat, to be able to discover lost goods, hidden treasures, mines of gold
and silver, &c.... At length the public,... had him arrested as a
disorderly person, tried and condemned before a court of Justice."[12]
A
discovery by Wesley P. Walters from records he claims to have found in the
basement of the Sheriff’s office in Norwich, New York was a bill of costs that
was presented to authorities by Justice Albert Neely in 1826 that identified
Joseph Smith, Jr., as “The Glass Looker.” A copy of that bill is presented here
to show that the trial of 1826 showed that Joseph Smith, Jr., used seer stones
and this makes clear that he used those stones in his hunt for treasure. ( I have a picture of that bill but cannot paste it in this blog).
A testimony that may be suspect, but
there is no confirmation that it is by Peter Ingersoll on December 2, 1833
stated:
"In the month of August, 1827, I was hired by Joseph
Smith, Jr. to go to Pennsylvania, to move his wife's household furniture up to
Manchester, where his wife then was. When we arrived at Mr. Hale's, in Harmony,
Pa. from which place he had taken his wife, a scene presented itself, truly
affecting. His father-in-law (Mr. Hale) addressed Joseph, in a flood of tears:
"'You have stolen my daughter and
married her. I had much rather have followed her to her grave. You spend your
time in digging for money - pretend to see in a stone, and thus try to deceive
people.'
"Joseph wept and acknowledged he
could not see in a stone now, nor never could; and that his former pretensions
in that respect, were all false. He then promised to give up his old habits of
digging for money and looking into stones."[13]
The
promise to give up his “old habits” apparently was a false promise. Joseph
Smith, Jr., used a seer stone to assist him in his translation of the Book of
Mormon, in fact, Emma, his wife, stated that Joseph Smith, Jr., used the Urim
and Thummin for the first 116 pages of the Book of Mormon, the seer stone for
the remainder:
"Now the first that my husband translated, was
translated by the use of the Urim and Thummim, and that was the part that
Martin Harris lost, and that he used a small stone, not exactly black, but was
rather a dark color…"[14]
This
story that Joseph Smith, Jr. used seer stones is confirmed by the following:
This
was confirmed by David Whitmer in 1885:
"By fervent prayer and by otherwise humbling
himself, the prophet however, again found favor, and was presented with a
strange, oval-shaped, chocolate-colored stone, about the size of an egg, only
more flat, which, it was promised would serve the same purpose as the missing
Urim and Thummim…With this stone all of the present Book of Mormon was
translated"[15]
Also by George Q. Cannon
in 1888:
"One of Joseph's aids in searching out the truths
of the [Book of Mormon] was a peculiar pebble of rock which he called a
seer stone, and which was sometimes used by him in lieu of the Urim and
Thummim."[16]
B.H. Roberts published his classic series A Comprehensive
History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints wherein he
wrote:
"...the Prophet possessed a Seer Stone, by which he
was enabled to translate as well as with the Urim and Thummim, and for
convenience he sometimes used the Seer Stone. Martin said further that the Seer
Stone differed in appearance entirely from the Urim and Thummim that was
obtained with the plates, which were two clear stones set in two rims, very
much resembling spectacles, only they were larger.
"The Seer Stone referred to here was
a chocolate-colored, somewhat egg-shaped stone which the Prophet found while
digging a well in company with his brother Hyrum, for a Mr. Clark Chase, near
Palmyra, N. Y. It possessed the qualities of Urim and Thummim, since by means
of it-as described above-as well as by means of the Interpreters found with the
Nephite record, Joseph was able to translate the characters engraven on the
plates."[17]
It is apparent that
Joseph Smith, Jr., believed in the power of seer stones, in fact he declared
that all men wee entitled to such stones. In a record by Brigham Young in
December 1841 said that Joseph Smith, Jr., showed his seer stone to the Twelve
Apostles and told them:
"Every man who lived on earth was entitled to a
seer stone, and should have one, but they are kept from them in consequence of
their wickedness, and most of those who do find one make evil use of it."[18]
[1] Bushman (2005,
pp. 9, 30); Smith (1832,
p. 1).
[2] Bushman (2005,
p. 21).
[3]
Bushman (2005,
pp. 36–37) (noting the great revival of 1816 and 1817); Vogel (2004,
pp. 27, 30) (noting Palmyra revivals in 1817 and 1824–5); Quinn (1998,
p. 136) (evidence of religious revivals during 1819–20 in Palmyra and
surrounding communities).
[4]
Quinn (1998,
pp. 30–31) ("Joseph Smith's family was typical of many early
Americans who practiced various forms of Christian folk magic."); Bushman (2005,
p. 51) ("Magic and religion melded in the Smith family
culture."); Shipps (1985,
pp. 7–8); Remini (2002,
pp. 16, 33); Hill (1977,
p. 53) ("Even the more vivid manifestations of religious experience,
such as dreams, visions and revelations, were not uncommon in Joseph's day,
neither were they generally viewed with scorn.")
[5] Rock, Stella (2007). Popular
religion in Russia. Routledge ISBN
0-415-31771-1, p. 11. Last accessed July 2009.
[6]
Snape, Michael Francis (2003). The Church of
England in industrialising society. Boydell Press, ISBN
1-84383-014-0, p. 45. Last accessed July 2009
[7] Yoder 1974,
p. 9.
[8]
Bushman (2005,
pp. 38–9) ("He had two questions on his mind: which church was right,
and how to be saved."); Vogel (2004,
p. 30) (saying Smith's first vision was "preceded by Bible
reading and a sudden awareness of his sins"); Quinn (1998,
p. 136) (saying that Smith was concerned with obtaining a forgiveness of
sins); Brodie (1971,
p. 21) (Smith wrote that he was troubled by religious revivals and went
into the woods to seek guidance of the Lord); Remini (2002,
p. 37) ("He wanted desperately to join a church but could not decide
which one to embrace.")
[9] (Stowel's
Testimony in Bainbridge court trial of 1826. See also History of the Church,
Vol. 3, p. 29).
[10]
W.D. Purple: Joseph Smith, the Originator of Mormonism Historical reminiscences
of the Town of Afton: Thursday, May 3, 1877, Norwich, N.Y.
[11]
Fraser's Magazine, Feb. 1873, p. 229; see an identical court account in New
Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, .
[12] Evangelical
Magazine and Gospel Advocate, April 9, 1831, p. 120.
[13] E. D. Howe, Mormonism Unveiled, p. 234-235.
[14] Letter
dated March 27, 1876 from Emma to Mrs. Pilgrim, now in the library of the
Reorganized Church.
[15]
(David Whitmer Interview, January 14,
1885, by Zenos H. Gurley. Archives, Historical Department, LDS church, Salt
Lake City, Utah)
[16] George Q.
Cannon, Life of Joseph Smith, 1888, p. 56.
[17] B. H.
Roberts, A Comprehensive History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, 1:129.
[18] Millennial
Star 26 (February 20, 1864): 118-19.
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