OLIVER COWDERY.
57
the golden plates is hereafter known, and that he also shall bear witness to the truth.
Two days after the arrival of Oliver,[1] Joseph and he begin the work systematically, the former translating while the latter writes;[2] for Oliver has a vision, mean-
- ↑ Oliver Cowdery ‘is a blacksmith by trade, and sustained a fair reputation until his intimacy commenced with the money digger. He was one of the many in the world who always find time to study out ways and means to live without work. He accordingly quit the blacksmithing business, and is now the editor of a small monthly publication issued under the directions of the prophet, and principally filled with accounts of the spread of Mormonism, their persecutions, and the fabled visions and commands of Smith.’ He was ‘chief scribe to the prophet, while transcribing, after Martin had lost 116 pages of the precious document by interference of the devil. An angel also has shown him the plates from which the book of Mormon proceeded, as he says.’ Howe's Mormonism Unveiled, 15, 265; see also Pearl of Great Price, xiii. 54; Smucker's Hist. Mor., 28; Taylder's Mormons, xxxii.
- ↑ ‘Instead of looking at the characters inscribed upon the plates, the prophet was obliged to resort to the old peep-stone which he formerly used in money digging. This he placed in a hat, or box, into which he also thrust his face… Another account they give of the transaction is, that it was performed with the big spectacles,’ which enabled ‘Smith to translate the plates without looking at them.’ Howe's Mormonism Unveiled, 17–18. ‘These were days never to be forgotten,’ Oliver remarks, ‘to sit under the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration of heaven, awakened the utmost gratitude of this bosom! Day after day I continued, uninterrupted, to write from his mouth, as he translated with the urim and thummim, or, as the Nephites would have said, “interpreters,” the history or record called the “Book of Mormon,”’ Pearl of Great Price, 55. See also Mackay's The Mormons, 30–31; Millennial Star, iii. 148; Smucker's Hist. Mormons, 35; Pratt's Pamphlets, iv. 58–9; Ferris' Utah and the Mormons, 61–2. In relation to the peep-stone alluded to, Williard Chase says in his sworn testimony that he discovered a singular stone while digging a well in the year 1822. Joseph Smith was assisting him, and borrowed the stone from him, alleging that he could see into it. After he obtained the stone Smith published abroad the wonders that he could see in the stone, and made much disturbance among the credulous members of the community. See Howe's Mormonism Unveiled, 241. ‘This stone attracted particular notice on account of its peculiar shape, resembling that of a child's foot. It was of a whitish, glassy appearance, though opaque, resembling quartz… He (Joseph Jr) manifested a special fancy for this geological curiosity; and he carried it home with him, though this act of plunder was against the strenuous protestations of Mr Chase's children, who claimed to be its rightful owners. Joseph kept this stone, and ever afterward refused its restoration to the claimants. Very soon the pretension transpired that he could see wonderful things by its aid. The idea was rapidly enlarged upon from day to day, and in a short time his spiritual endowment was so developed that he asserted the gift and power (with the stone at his eyes) of revealing both things existing and things to come.’ Tucker's Mormonism, 19–20.
