"Sword of Laban" Leaflets, No. 11.
R. B. NEAL, GRAYSON, KY.
OLIVER COWDERY'S DEFENSE.
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No more important document has been unearthed since I have been engaged in this warfare than the following from Oliver Cowdery.
He was the first man baptized into the Mormon Church. Joseph Smith, Jr. baptized him and he then baptized Joseph. He was the second elder in the church, Joseph, of course, being the first. His pen and testimony have done much more than Joseph Smith's to make the claims of Mormonism hold good.
He was one of the "three witnesses" to the golden plates, "visions," and other things.
It is my desire to "dress up" this this "Defence" with all I can gather about Cowdery, both good, bad and indifferent, and scatter it world-wide. I know of nothing that will counteract the baneful delusions of the "ism" like this production of the pen of Oliver. Donations are in order for this work. At least fifty dollars is needed to pay for first edition and plates.
After that it is simply a question of paper, presswork and postage.
DEFENCE
IN A
REHEARSAL OF MY GROUNDS
FOR
SEPARATING MYSELF
FROM THE
LATTER DAY SAINTS,
BY OLIVER COWDERY,
Second Elder in the Church of Christ.
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This "Defence" is not protected by a copyright, as I wish no man to be confined alone to my permission in printing what is meant for the eyes and knowledge of the nations of the earth.
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"God doth not walk in crooked paths; neither doth he turn to the right hand, nor to the left; neither doth he vary from that which he hath said."
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PRESSLER'S JOB OFFICE,
NORTON, O.
1839.
This is a most rare and most valuable pamphlet, Strange to say, ye modern Mormon elder and editor does not quote from it, though it is by the "second elder" of their church. The reason will be evident to those who read it.
COWDERY'S INTRODUCTION.
DEAR PEOPLE OF GOD: -- I offer you a "Defence" which I am grieved to make, but my opposers have put me to the necessity, and so far as my memory serves, I pledge my veracity for the correctness of the account. I deny that I have ever conspired with any, or ever exerted any influence, to destroy the reputation of the "First Elder," although evidence which is to be credited, assures me that he has done everything he could to injure my standing, and his influence has been considerably exerted to destroy my reputation, and, I fear, my life.
You will remember, in the meantime, that those who seek to villify my character have been constantly encouraged by him.
There was a time when I thought myself able to prove, to the satisfaction of every man, that the translator of the "Book of Mormon" was worthy of the appellation of a "Seer" and a "prophet of the Lord," and in which he held over me a
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mysterious power which, even now, I fail to fathom, but I fear I may have been deceived, and especially so fear since knowing that Satan has led his mind astray
When the Church of Christ was set up by revelation, he was called to be the "First Elder," and I was called to be the "Second Elder," and whatever he had of priesthood (about which I am beginning to doubt), also had I. But I certainly followed him too far when accepting and reiterating that none had authority from God to administer the ordinances of the gospel, as I had then forgotten that John, the beloved disciple, was tarrying on the earth and exempt from death.
I am well aware that a rehearsal of these things, at this day, will be unpleasant reading to the "First Elder." Yet so it is, and it is wisdom that it should be so.
Without rehearsing too many things that have caused me to lose my faith in Bro. Joseph's SEERSHIP, I regard his frequent predictions that he himself shall tarry on the earth till Christ shall come in glory, and that neither the rage of devils nor the malice of men shall ever cause him to fall by the hand of his enemies until he has seen Christ, in the flesh at his final coming, as little short of a piece of blasphemy; and it may be classed with that revelation that some among you will remember which sent Bro. Page and me so unwisely to Toronto with a prediction from the Lord, by "Urim and Thummim," that we would there find a man anxious to buy the "First Elder's" copyright. I well remember we did not find him, and had to return surprised and disappointed. But so great was my faith, that, in going to Toronto, nothing but calmness pervaded my soul. Every doubt was banished, and it was as much expected that Bro. Page and I would fulfill the revelation as that we should live. And you may believe, without asking me to relate the particulars, that it would be no easy task to describe our desolation and grief.
Bro. Page and I did not think that God would have deceived us through "Urim and Thummim," exactly as came the "Book of Mormon;" and I well remember how hard I strove to drive away the foreboding which seized me, that the "First Elder" had made tools of us, where we thought, in the simplicity of our hearts, that we were divinely commanded. And what served to render the reflection past expression in its bitterness to me, was, that from his hand I received baptism, by the direction of the angel of God, whose voice, as it has since struck me, did most mysteriously resemble the voice of Elder Sidney Rigdon, who, I am sure, had no part in the transactions of that day.
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THE BOOK OF MORMON
This book has been published in about every language spoken on earth. We understand that it has been translated into Modern Hebrew and into Hindustanee, the manuscripts to be published.
Every reader ought to own a copy of this book. Very few copies of the first (or Palmyra) edition are to be found.
Next best is "The Nephite Records." This is the most elegant Book of Mormon as to print and finish that we have seen. It is a beautiful reprint; "Printed from the Palmyra edition, which edition was printed from the original manuscript."
It was published by a denomination of Mormons who call themselves "The Church of Christ," with headquarters at Davis City, Ia. The Independence branch is called "Hedrickites." The Davis City branch is called "Whitmerites." One George Adams of Lamoni, Ia., died and willed his wealth to "the Church of Christ, commonly called the Whitmerite Church... to be used for the benefit of the church as my executors may deem best calculated to spread the gospel and advance the cause of Christ in the earth."
This money was used to get out this reprint of the Palmyra edition of the Book of Mormon, copies of David Whitmer's "Address to All Believers," and two pamphlets by John J. Snyder. In a letter before us, John, who by the way, is a cousin by marriage, says, "one of my pamphlets is especially to the Lamanites." By that he means the Indians of our country. He made a mistake by not writing them both especially to the Indians.
It appears that this denomination (Whitmerites) has about "gone to pieces." They seem to be the frankest and fairest? of them all, judging by those with whom we have in contact in this work.
This reprint, "The Nephite Records," is very scarce. It is as valuable as scarce. While it reproduces the Palmyra edition, pimples and all, it has the references of the Utah publication. This makes it more valuable. With its correctness attested or verified as it has been, we wouldn't give our copy for an original copy of the Palmyra edition, valued at $300, without we could duplicate the copy.
The value to a Mormon fighter is this: Modern copies of a professed infallibly translated book have over two thousand changes from the book taken direct from the "gold plates."
We have a few copies of this rare and valuable Book of Mormon. Will send a copy postpaid as long as they last, to those three new subscribers to The Christian Weekly. Send to R. B. Neal, Grayson, Ky.
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Note 1: The Rev. Robert B. Neal's supposed excerpt from the so-called "Cowdery Defence" (as provided in the above leaflet), should be read in sequence after his similar excerpt in "Sword of Laban Leaflet" no. 11. Probably the excerpts featured in Leaflets 6, 7 and 11 were initially printed in Neal's Christian Weekly during the second half of 1906. From that original source the purported excerpts were scattered promiscuously through Neal's 1906 leaflets as he published those occasional offprints, resulting in the Leaflet 11 text being published out of proper sequence. Neal published the entire "Defence" as his Anti-Mormon Tracts No. 9, near the end of 1906.
Note 2: Rev. Neal's purported reproduction of the first half of a previously unknown 1839 Oliver Cowdery pamphlet was initially published by him in a late 1906 issue of the Christian Weekly. Then, just prior to the appearance of this Sword of Laban Leaflet No. 11, Rev. Neal published the full text of the alleged 1839 pamphlet as his Anti-Mormon Tracts, No. 9.
This is the same late 1906 tract Neal mentions on the backside of his Leaflet No. 6, where he says that it "ought to be in every preacher's library." When photocopies were later made of pages from this tract "No. 9" (leaving out or obscuring Neal's 1906 publication notice) the impression was conveyed to some unwary readers that they were viewing photocopies of actual pages from an 1839 brochure. Some of these incomplete copies ended up in library collections and were listed as being from 1839 in the library catalogs. In fact, no original of this purported 1839 brochure has ever been found and no pre-1906 mention of such an old original has ever been located, in published form or otherwise. There is every reason to assume that the publication had its genesis in Neal's own Grayson, Kentucky office. Whether he was the author of the forgery or was simply duped by some unnamed counterfeiter of old publications, remains debatable.
Note 3: The RLDS Historian and Apostle, Heman C. Smith, reproduced and negatively reviewed the "Tract No. 9" version of this text, in the Mar. 20, 1907 issue of the Saints'Herald. Smith was uncertain whether he should credit the text as originating with Oliver Cowdery or not. In 1914 the former RLDS author, Charles A. Shook, reproduced "Tract No. 9" on pages 50-54 of his The True Origin of the Book of Mormon. Shook accepted the text as having come from Cowdery.
Note 4: Rev. R. B. Neal devoted an inordinate amount of space in his anti-Mormon tracts to the purpose of attempting to show that Oliver Cowdery renounced his early Mormon beliefs and admitted that the Book of Mormon was not an ancient Nephite record. Clearly Rev. Neal had some special purpose in mind throughout this journalistic campaign. A hint a what Neal's primary objective in all of this may have been may be found in the fact that his fellow Disciples of Christ minister, the Rev. Davis H. Bays, said in 1897 that Oliver Cowdery was the probable author of the Book of Mormon. As Bays put it: "The entire theory connecting Sidney Rigdon and the Spaulding romance with Joseph Smith in originating the Book of Mormon must be abandoned. We have something better. All Mormon history and biography agree in connecting Oliver Cowdery... directly with Joseph Smith in every stage of the development of Mormonism. It was Oliver Cowdery -- not Sidney Rigdon -- who... was in the woods with Smith when the angel -- John the Baptist -- is said to have laid his hands upon their heads and ordained them..." In taking this particular stand, Rev. Bays abandoned the old Spalding-Rigdon explanation for Book of Mormon origins. He was joined in this departure from traditional anti-Mormon views by the Rev. John T. Bridwell and a few other "Campbellite" preachers. The Rev. Clark Braden, Charles A. Shook, and the Rev. R. B. Neal were left to champion the traditional Campbellite viewpoint, crediting Rigdon with revamping a Solomon Spalding text to produce the Mormon book. It is unclear whether or nor Rev. Bays ever conceded the possibility of a pre-1830 Rigdon-Cowdery connection, but it appears that R. B. Neal would have been very happy to see Bays make that concession. Notice where Neal chooses to break of quoting the purported Cowdery confession in this leaflet -- just at the point that Oliver Cowdery supposedly admits that Sidney Rigdon had acted as "the angel of God" at the time of his baptism!
Note 5: Elder Bays' c. 1895 defection from the RLDS ranks was cheered by the Disciples, but his retention of the RLDS notion that the Spalding "theory" had been disproved was unsettling to some of his new co-religionists (like C. A. Shook and R. B. Neal). Bays' profession and actions in this respect foreshadowed the 1946 defection of biographer Fawn M. Brodie from the Utah Mormon ranks. Like Bays before her, Brodie carried the anti-Spalding indoctrination of her earlier Latter Day Saint days with her when she crossed over into the domain of anti-Mormonism.
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