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Show Co., in 1867, and endorsed by that great editor and statesman, Thurlow Weed. The merit of this history is that it is written by a man whose home was at Palmyra, N. Y., where he lived during all the time that Joseph Smith lived in Palmyra, and in the miles south. For fourteen years prior to the publication of the Book of Mormon in 1830, Mr. Tucker was personally acquainted with Joseph Smith, the pretended prophet, and the whole Smith family. He also knew personally Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris, two of the "three witnesses," and "most of the earlier followers of Smith." Mr. Tucker was editor and proprietor of the Wayne Sentinel, on whose press the first edition of the Book of Mormon was printed, and he, himself, did much of the reading of the proof sheets. If Mr. Tucker had any prejudice in the matter it would naturally be in favor of Joseph Smith and his followers, who brought so much patronage to his printing office. But here is the historic record as given by Mr. Tucker on page 16: "At this period (between 1816 and 1830) in the life and career of Joseph Smith Jr., or ‘Joe Smith,' as he was universally named, and the Smith family, they were popularly regarded as an illiterate, whisky-drinking, shiftless, irreligious race of people-the first-named, the chief subject of this biography being unanimously voted the laziest and most worthless of the generation. From the age of twelve to twenty years, he is distinctly remembered as a dull-eyed, flaxen-haired, prevaricating boy-noted only for his indolent and vagabondish character, and his habits of exaggeration and untruthfulness. * * * He could utter the most palpable exaggeration or marvelous absurdity with the utmost apparent gravity." Mr. Tucker says the whole Smith family, notwithstanding their pretensions, were practically atheists, and appropriately asks: "Can their mockeries of Christianity, their persistent blasphemies be accounted for upon any other hypothesis?" <br> Confirming this history by Pomeroy Tucker, is William A. Linn's historical "Story of the Mormons," published by the Macmillan Co., N. Y., in 1902. The distinguishing merit of this history is the fact that it depends for its authority almost exclusivelv [sic] upon Mormon sources of information. On page 11 the historian says: "While classing themselves as farmers the Smiths were regarded by their neighbors as shiftless and untrustworthy." He says the father and several of the boys could not read, and much of the time of the younger sons was spent in hunting, fishing, and lounging around the village. The son, Joseph, did not rise above the social standing of his brothers. After following the pretended prophet through his entire career, until his death, the historian sums up his character in the following conservative sentence, page 309: "It is difficult for the most fair-minded critic to find in the character of Joseph Smith anything to commend, except an abundance of good nature, which made him personally popular with the body of his followers." <br><br> The Documentary Evidence. <br> Notice, now, in the third place, how personal testimony and the historic record are confirmed by documentary evidence. In 1833, when the false prophet was doing immense harm by his deception, sixty-two of his neighbors in Palmyra, N. Y., felt it to be their duty to warn the people against the deceiving pretensions of Joseph Smith as a prophet by signing their names to the following affidavit: "We, the undersigned, have been acquainted with the Smith family for a number of years, while they resided near this place, and we have no hesitation in saying that we consider them destitute of that moral character which ought to entitle them to the confidence of any community. They were particularly famous for visionary prophets. * * * Joseph Smith, sr., and his son, Joseph, were in particular considered entirely destitute of moral character, and addicted to vicious habits." <br> That affidavit of itself is sufficient to show that Joseph Smith was a wicked man, "addicted to vicious habits." And never since the world began has God appointed any such immoral man as Joseph Smith to be prophet. One or two of God's prophets did go astray temporarily, but they repented and reformed. They were good men, however, when appointed. The defenders of the false prophet try to break the force of all this testimony by saying that good men have often been opposed and maligned, and point to Christ as an example. But it was the ecclesiastical officials who opposed and maligned him, and not the common people, from whose ranks come these opponents of Joseph Smith. <br> [Continues on next page.] <br><br> |
