- Dale R. Broadhurst's SPALDING RESEARCH PROJECT -
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The Dale R. Broadhurst "Spalding Papers" |
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Paper #11: The Secular and the Sacred...
A New Basis For the Spalding Theory (this paper's precursor) | Book of Solomon Battles
title-page | historical sketch | textual study | comments | endnotes | appendices | conclusion
1830 Book of Mor. | 1830 Book of Mor. (narrative) | Oberlin MS mark-up | Oberlin MS e-text
(Note: This web-document is still under construction)
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The Secular and the Sacred An Examination of Selected Parallels in The Writings of Solomon Spalding and The Book of Mormon Working Paper No. 11 by: Dale R.Broadhurst May 7, 1982 Rev. 1: January 1999 (e-text) Rev. 2: March 2007 (html) |
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- 1 - HISTORICAL SKETCH Since those early days when it was first rumored in and around the New York Finger Lakes area that a new scripture -- a Golden Bible -- had lately been discovered, people have been faced with the phenomenon of the Book of Mormon. This marvelous work has evolved from a modest printing peddled along the dusty roads of Wayne county and the flag-stops of the Erie Canal in 1830, to a morocco-bound sheaf of gilt-edged India leaves occupying prominent shelf space in hundreds of thousands of homes and libraries around the world. This fascinating volume is generally accepted as special divine revelation within all the several "Mormon" denominations which have over the years sprung up from the church founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1830. Skeptical neighbors of the first "Mormonites" distributing this new book were most often unimpressed with its purported revelation. Before long newspaper articles appeared condemning the book as "diabolical" and a "delusion;" the creation of the Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr. or of "an ex-parson from Ohio."(1) The early Saints could usually ignore such accusations; they were to be expected from an unbelieving public and they did not materially endanger the believers themselves. But in the last days of 1833 a short notice appeared which signaled a new and more serious turn in this opposition to the new revelation. The opening salvo in this new battle against the Saints first appeared in Joseph Smith's home town paper and was quickly circulated in the new Mormon promised land of northeastern Ohio. This was the initial published announcement of what soon came to be known as the Solomon Spalding Theory for the Authorship of the Book of Mormon: The original manuscript of the Book was written some thirty years since, by a respectable clergyman, now deceased, whose name we are not permitted to give. It was designed to be published as a romance, but the work has been superadded by some modern hand -- believed to be the notorious Rigdon. These particulars have been derived by Dr. Hurlbert from the widow of the author of the original manuscript.(2) A related newspaper notice appeared a few days later in Ohio, announcing Mr. Hurlbut's intention to "prove the Book of Mormon to be a work of fiction and imagination, and written... . in Salem, Ashtabula County, Ohio, by Solomon Spalding...(3) So began the claim that the Mormons had converted an eccentric Congregationalist preacher's writings into their sacred book.(4) Eber D. Howe's 1834 book, Mormonism Unvailed, expanding upon earlier renditions of the Spalding authorship claims, told readers that Hurlbut had recovered a Spalding manuscript and offered Howe's summary of the story told in that manuscript. As I have previously outlined some of the external complexities of the Spalding theory.(5) I will provide only a brief outline of the relevant history on this subject and limit most of my current reporting to a consideration of the alleged similarities in Spalding's writings and the Mormon book. Amid all the reports claiming that he wrote the Book of Mormon and the many counter-claim declarations that he didn't, the textual aspects of the theory have been sadly neglected. Beyond Howe's brief story synopsis no Spalding texts were accessible for study until 1885 when what came to be known as the Oberlin Spalding manuscript (the same one recovered by Hurlbut) was printed as a booklet.(6) A second alleged Spalding manuscript, "The Romance of Celes..." was also available for publication that year but it received no public attention and was never printed.(7) Those investigators who first examined the Oberlin manuscript in the 1880s knew little about the Book of Mormon story, but their statements saying that it bore little resemblance to Spalding's work appeared to settle the question in favor of the traditional Mormon viewpoint.(8) Nearly two decades passed by before anyone appears to have noticed that the printed Oberlin Spalding MS bore anything but the most superficial of resemblances to the Nephite record. A few writers eventually printed claims stating that there were some similarities, but with few exceptions those claims received little popular notice or acceptance.(9) Between 1935 and 1942 two investigators developed these previously neglected claims to a terminal stage of presentation by preparing compilations of the similarities they each found in the two works. The first compilation remained unpublished and the second received little attention until it was revised and reprinted some years later.(10) LDS scholar Hugh Nibley examined the revamped tabulation in 1959 and found it an unconvincing argument for the Spalding theory. His major criticism was that any two writings may share random similarities without necessarily having come from a common author. This approach to the matter assumes that unless such parallels can be shown to be substantial they remain insignificant, no matter how large the number of their total might be.(11) Following the failure of these mid-century attempts to connect the Book of Mormon with Spalding few writers on the subject of Mormon scriptures and origins have advocated the old authorship theory. Instead, there stands today what appears to be nearly a consensus belief that the Mormon book and the Oberlin document share little more than the superficial resemblance of recounting their respective bloody war stories and ancient American colonizations by transoceanic travelers. The historic disagreement on whether such similarities point to common authorship continues sporadically, but Spalding theory champions are few and far between in these latter days.(12) A COMPARATIVE TEXTUAL STUDY In continuing my own ongoing study of the Book of Mormon, I have examined that book's text and the known Spalding writings to determine the scope and depth of several already identified thematic parallels. In pursuing this study I used the 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon in conjunction with occasional reference to its two preserved manuscripts. For the Spalding readings used my previously prepared a verbatim transcript of the Oberlin manuscript coupled with a personal inspection of that holograph. I supplemented this well-known source with a photocopy and transcript of the alleged second Spalding work, "The Romance of Celes..." After a thorough rereading of the 1830 Book of Mormon I selected four narrative segments from its pages for closer study. These selections cover the ocean crossing and bloody battle stories which previous observers noticed as resembling Spalding's writings.(13) For reference purposes I titled these: "The Stormy Voyage to the New World" (I Nephi 47:21 - 50:04); "The Nephite-Amlicite War" (Alma 224:35 - 225:20); and "The Night-time Stratagems of Teancum" (Alma 369:33 - 370:23 & 403:32 - 404:22). All citations make use of the 1830 edition chapter and line numbers. In my comparative investigation I noted any specimens of phraseology in the Mormon texts which were suggestive in my mind to the phraseology I had encountered in my reading of Spalding. I also noted any evidence of thematic parallelism which I encountered in the Mormon texts, marking for special reference those which were expressed in wording identical (or very nearly identical) with that used by Solomon Spalding. Finally, I marked for reference all words in the selected Mormon texts which occur in Spalding's Oberlin story and all words in that text which it shared with the Book of Mormon. With the completion of these tasks and the accumulation of a considerable amount of relevant information, I was able to tabulate numerous points of identity in the selected texts. By consulting that tabulation I am able to offer some informed comments regarding the scope and depth of my observed identifications in the Nephite record with reference to themes and vocabulary found in Spalding's writings. Before presenting my findings, I'll comment briefly on the concept of resemblance and how my understanding of that term affected my study methodology. In one sense, two items resemble each other if one copies or imitates the other. A dollar bill resembles a one hundred dollar bill and is printed upon the same paper by the same press as is the hundred dollar bill, but these bank-notes are not identical. In another sense, two items have resemblance if they possess comparable attributes. A chunk of iron pyrite resembles gold ore (and may even be mistaken for gold by some observers) but that supposed resemblance fades in the eye of the trained mineralogist. What appear to be points of resemblance or even identity at first glance may diminish greatly under careful scrutiny and analysis. My task has been to separate textual similarities of the fool's gold variety from those which are substantial. In performing this work I have not professionally utilized the tools of the grammarian or statistician to meet some predetermined standard for measuring substantiality, but I have tried to gain some appreciation of how those skills and tools might be applied an enlargement of my study. In approaching my task I have relied primarily upon my training as an academic researcher and cartographer. Rather than providing definitive statements based upon a comprehensive examination of all the collectible data, I have sought to provide a useful map others can follow in conducting their own textual explorations. Although this methodology is largely intuitive I believe that in documenting several instances of shared phraseology within shared thematic parallelism accomplishes that task.(14) THE STORMY VOYAGE TO THE NEW WORLD The Book of Mormon opens with a story of a party's journey from the Old World, They are commanded to sail out into the open ocean and, following their providential salvation from a near disasterous storm at sea, they sail to a divinely appointed landing in the unknown New World. Those familiar with the Book of Mormon will not be surprised to find that this description also summarizes the Jaredite voyage related in that work; but they might be surprised to discover that it describes equally well yet a third story: Spalding's Roman ocean voyage as told in the opening pages of his Oberlin manuscript. Except for its being framed in "King James" biblical English and using different story characters, the Lehite stormy ocean voyage is substantially the same as the Roman one. I base this statement not only upon the phenomenon of numerous common and sequential thematic parallels, but also upon the fact that both works utilize this episode for a specific theological purpose. Both texts borrow significantly from the New Testament for their storm sequence wording and use this borrowing to facilitate their polemics for a prayer-answering God who controls the natural elements in favor of the pious.(15) The episode serves to create an archetypical baptismal experience for divinely guided voyagers who must sever connections with a past life and give themselves over absolutely to God's direction. The thematic commonalities (my term for significant similarities) in the two stormy ocean voyage episodes are so apparent that they have repeatedly drawn the attention of investigators, Mormon and non-Mormon alike.(16) What has not been generally recognized is the fact that the Lehite passage shares considerable phraseology with the Roman episode. The Book of Mormon says, "after that we had been driven forth before the wind for the space of many days" (048:10-11), while Spalding says: "After being driven five days with incredible velocity before the furious wind" (008:05-07). The Book of Mormon says, "they were near to be cast into a watery grave" (049:15-16); while Spalding tells of his mariners' fear of being cast into "the insatiable jaws of a watery tomb"(007:17). The Mormon ocean voyage text being filled with Spalding's words and expressions when telling a similar story is a phenomenon mirrored in the Oberlin manuscript's telling a parallel ocean voyage story which is filled with words and expressions characteristic of the Book of Mormon. Spalding tells that the storm had a "furious wind" (008:07) which "drove" the voyagers upon "the face of the raging deep" (007:14); while the Book of Mormon tells that its voyagers went forth across the "raging deep"(543:39) "driven" by a "furious wind... upon the face of the waters" (548:34-35). Viewed individually, these short corresponding word sets are perhaps not so impressive as is their remarkable tendency to cluster conspicuously in those sections of the two texts where major thematic parallels occur.(17) Because of this double phenomenon the Lehites' stormy voyage is a major highpoint in the Mormon book's resemblance to the Spalding writing style.(18) Likewise the Romans' stormy voyage marks a major highpoint in the Oberlin manuscript's correspondence to the Book of Mormon, for exactly the same reasons.(19) Contrary to popular belief, the stormy voyage to the New World told in the first part of the Book of Mormon bears not a superficial similarity to Spalding, rather it has a substantial textual correspondence to that work. The resemblance is not one of the "fool's gold variety" which disappears after close study; rather, it reaches past numerous sequential details to the very words selected to convey the same important thoughts and sentiments. This remarkable correspondence of the Book of Mormon to the writings of Solomon Spalding is typified in the words both use to convey the chilling threat of a death at sea during the great storm. Lehi and Sariah were on the verge of falling into "a watery grave," while Spalding's Fabius and crew were faced with "a watery tomb." In a third parallel text (attributed to Spalding) that precise term from the Book of Mormon, "a watery grave," appears as a death threat to voyagers upon the deep during a terrible storm.(20) THE NEPHITE - AMLICITE WAR Near the middle of the Book of Mormon is the story of the war between the Nephites and their brethren, the Amlicites and Lamanites.(21) This war is only one of many in the Mormon book, but it is the first told in any great detail and it deserves special attention because of its resemblance to a war in the Oberlin Spalding manuscript. In the Mormon story a wicked, ambitious man who holds the Nephite religion in derision struggles to gain popular support so that he can realize his own selfish ambitions. He is successful in much of his effort, is recognized as a king by one faction of the people, and uses this position to initiate a great war between them and their brethren. For a time it appears that his side might win the bloody struggle, but the defender forces rally to a victory after this ambitious king is killed in single combat with their heroic general. The story is that of Amlici of the Order of the Nehors (224-228). If the initial portion of this description is changed to read "a wicked, ambitious king who holds the Sciotan religion in derision," the words essentially describe the major war story in the Oberlin manuscript.(22) In that story the king is named Sambal rather than Amlici and he is killed in the sword-fight by military leader Elseon rather than by military leader Alma. But if Spalding's names were changed to Nephite names, a few of his purple passages abridged, and some "King James" English added in, few readers could detect where the Mormon story ends and Spalding begins. Both kings engage in priestcraft and the political manipulation of their people, initiating a terrible civil war among what were the civilized and happy fair-skinned inhabitants of ancient America. The Oberlin Spalding manuscript ends abruptly before the foreshadowed extinction of its fair-skinned people can be detailed, but it is evident that civil warfare destroyed them long ago. As in the two texts' stormy voyage episodes already examined, these battle stories direct a special message to the modern reader. They witness that when the people remain moral and God-fearing, they conquer and live in peace; but when they fall into unbelief and wicked priestcraft -- killing their brethren in an avaricious struggle to "get gain" -- they are vanquished and threatened with divine destruction. Here the two works present essentially the same message, including the concept of divine intervention in warfare, a realization that the cancer of priestcraft leads the pious astray and brings divine retribution, and the fact that those who have thus wandered away from the divine commandments could have found the true path in their own sacred scriptures.(23) As in the two stormy ocean voyage texts, these war stories contain significant and far-reaching instances of common theme and phraseology. Here again may be found same pattern of word groups characteristic of the first text clustering together within thematic parallels in the second text. In terms of religious correspondence these two war stories depart somewhat from the patterns of parallelism observable in comparing the stormy voyage texts. The Lehites and Romans in the voyage texts are Christians, albeit each of a type not recorded in the history books. The religious implications of the stormy voyages are framed in terms applicable to primitive Christianity, Borrowings from the New Testament are apparent as is primitive Christianity's appreciation for visions and special divine revelation through seers and revelators. In the case of the two war stories, however, only the Book of Mormon characters are stamped with the Judeo-Christian die. Spalding's Ohians hold to a religion created in the eccentric Congregationalist preacher's own imagination. Spalding used their fictional worship of the "Great and Good Being" as a mask to partly obscure his parody of contemporary organized religion; but for comparison's sake we should accept the non-Christian facade he has provided. So while both war stories present theological messages, they do so in the context of rather different religions. The its initial civil war sequence the tone of the Spalding story is decidedly less religious than it was when it told of the stormy ocean voyage. The Book of Mormon retains something more of a religious character at this point in its story development, principally in its reference to "the Church of God." It is not appreciable from the text whether or not the Nephites are Christians in this war story, but that fact is confirmed by its contextual relationships with other, more "Christian" narratives in the book. Thus, while both texts at this point show less of a concern for the Christian religion than they did earlier, the Book of Mormon has not lost an explicitly Christian basis as has Spalding's story. His thematic emphasis now shifts noticeably from the sacred towards the secular. Though his earlier polemic for a rational, moral, and pious life remains supposedly in place, Spalding now plays the romantic satirist by relating accounts intended to arouse human sensibility and passion. It is always a bit difficult to separate Spalding the parodist from Spalding the moralist, but it is safe to say that at this point in the text he has placed his religious concerns temporarily out of sight. THE NIGHT-TIME STRATAGEMS OF TEANCUM The Book of Mormon war stories are a rich source of parallels in theme and vocabulary with Solomon Spalding. Where a series of these occur almost back-to-back in the book of Alma, that singular section represents the longest sustained Spalding-like narrative in the entire Nephite record.(24) Many of these book of Alma war texts provide good examples for correspondence with Spalding, but perhaps the best of these examples are to be found in the Teancum stories. In two related episodes in Teancum series the semi-heroic Nephite warrior with this memorable name manages to carry out night-time exploits of stratagem crippling to his Lamanite foe. In the first of these stories (369:33-370:23) Teancum takes advantage of a night-time lull in a battle to cross over enemy lines and slay the sleeping leader Amalickiah. In the second episode (403:32-404:22) Teancum again crosses over enemy lines and slays the sleeping leader Ammoron. At the end of the second exploit the fleeing Teancum is detected, pursued, and slain by the Lamanites. There are six other somewhat similar night-time exploit tales in the Book of Mormon, the events of which generally parallel activities in the two Teancum assassination stories. Taken together, the eight stories sound very much like a re-telling in various dress of an archetypical night-time stratagem story.(25) As might be expected, Solomon Spalding also wrote a night-time exploit of stratagem into his Oberlin manuscript.(26) Its resemblance to the two Teancum night-time stratagem stories is considerable, both in theme and phraseology; but the correspondence that Spalding's stratagem story shares with the eight member Book of Mormon set of night-time stratagem accounts is extraordinary. Spalding's story almost appears to belong with the episodes in that book as the ninth member of the set.(27) As in the previously examined texts, the resemblance between the stratagem episodes in each book extends past superficiality to include sequential thematic parallels and significant instances of common word sets used for the same story plot purposes. At one point in the Book of Mormon, the good guys of the story sneak past the enemy Lamanites in a night-time stratagem; they are able to do this because the enemies were lying "in a profound sleep" (206:39-40). At one point in the Oberlin manuscript story the good guys sneak past the enemy Sciotans in a night-time stratagem; they are able to do this because those enemies were "lying in a profound sleep" (155:08).(28) If this strange identity of words did not occur within the context of significant parallels in theme and in connection with clusters of similar vocabulary in both works, it might possibly be dismissed as a random coincidence. Appearing as it does, within a parallel episodic branch off from the main story, and enveloped by a cluster of concomitant textual parallels, it cannot be so easily dismissed. Points of textual identity such as this one do not arise through random chance; they result from phraseology borrowing, either directly from a related text, indirectly from a third written source pre-dating sister texts, or from a common literary tradition that gives rise to indirectly related texts. When previously comparing the two stormy voyage sequences I stated that each stands respectively as a major high-point of that text's resemblance to the other text. A more exact statement can be made in reference to the night-time stratagem stories in the two works. The Teancum stories especially stand as the major high-point of textual correspondence between the Book of Mormon and the Oberlin Spalding manuscript. The night-time exploit found on pages 154 and 155 stands as the major high-point in that work's textual correspondence to the Book of Mormon. In short, the two texts at this point so resemble each other in so many different ways that their respective high-points of similarity actually meet to form the kind of common ground one might expect in two accounts written by the same author. It is practically impossible to differentiate the two texts in terms of theme and writing style in this instance. Only the Nephite record's "King James" English and economical "abridgment" prose serve to separate them at all.(29) The resemblance I'm pointing out here is not only one of common theme and vocabulary; it is also one of parallel theological development. The same message is implicit in both texts: the murder of a sleeping, helpless enemy, even if for a supposedly noble purpose, is divinely punishable with death. In both texts the assassination stratagem episode serves to personalize and typify an otherwise largely impersonal account of nameless warriors being slain in needless warfare. And in both texts the parallel accounts show how the circumstances of bloody battling degrade the intended heroism of resourceful warriors. The unbelievable exploits of Teancum and his compeers in Spalding certainly do not measure up in terms of nobility to the antecedent night-time heroism of Ulysses and Diomed in Homer's Iliad nor to that of Nissus and Euryalus in Virgil's Aeneid. If anything, the Spalding and Mormon pericopes both inversely mirror the equally improbable night-time exploits of Ossian and Gaul in James MacPherson's purposefully overly chivalrous Lathmon story. At this point in Spalding and in the Book of Mormon the truly heroic theme is lost, along with the truly religious theme. There are no spiritual elements left in either text; no mention or churches, prayers, God's guidance, or even of God. God disappears from the scene, leaving only fate behind to see to the murderer's own death. Theologically speaking, God is dead, not only in the absence of the divine presence from the narrative but equally so in its absence from the hearts of even would-be heroes.(30) The tragic wars related in both works will eventually lead to a culmination in total destruction of the civilized people. Despite periods of divine favor, the people have shown n incorrigible disposition to fall away from the spirit and commandments their sacred religion to the point slaughtering of their brethren wholesale in bloody-handed massacres of even innocent women and children . The price of this falling away will be their extinction. All they will leave behind will be their bones, their records, and surviving tribes of barbaric savages(31) COMMENTS There is no question that the Book of Mormon resembles the Oberlin Spalding manuscript to a point far beyond that of probable coincidence. It resembles Spalding generally and in numerous specific instances, even though it is clearly a different story with different characters. In the past those who examined the two works from the personal perspective of a faith relationship with the Book of Mormon were reluctant, perhaps unable, to admit this truth. Perhaps the facts elluded their determinations due to their ignorance or intransigence; but more likely it was because they could not bring themselves to admit even the remote possibility of such things.(32) Those who conducted only superficial examinations, of course, saw only superficial resemblances. They were then left to their own imaginations and the reassuring arguments of their co-religionists in assessing the possible relationship of the texts. There were others who studied the works and made their shallow comparisons the works out of a desire to somehow prove the Book of Mormon "false." Perhaps some of these felt that to discredit the book was to remove the keystone of Latter Day Saintism. With this accomplished, the faith experiences of those who treasured the book would be shown to be falsifications and the Latter Day Saint movement would disintegrate. Unfortunately it was this latter group which adopted the Spalding authorship theory as its own. This intentionally destructive use of the theory in their hands has rather discredited the theory itself among the Saints and disinterested onlookers alike.(33) The damage already wrought in these ideological battles continues to impede what could be enlightening objective analysis of the Latter Day Saint scriptures. Attention to the patterns of textual resemblance in the Book of Mormon to other, prior writings in English could have long ago provided valuable insights into the structure and contents of this marvelous work. Hopefully, the time has now arrived when serious students of the Book of Mormon can begin to determine objectively just why it contains such strong parallels to Spalding and certain other old writings. It is still not too late for modern students to conduct productive research into the historical context relevant to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. In hopes of enabling and supporting this research I seriously suggest that the various historical details comprising the Spalding theory for Book of Mormon authorship be reexamined, and that the new investigation make use of all the tools and resources available to modern scholarship. The external particulars arguing in favor of certain claims of the Spalding theory have yet to be investigated in a competent and comprehensive manner, while the texts themselves announce problems too weighty to be ignored any longer. Perhaps such study and whatever findings it might bring forth will eventually justify those who have argued against the Spalding theory claims. Or, perhaps exactly the opposite may come to pass. In anticipation of either eventuality, we must now begin to determine why the texts speak so loudly for a common origin from the pen of Solomon Spalding. |
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- 11 - ENDNOTES Rather than providing a complete outline of the complex debate over the Spalding authorship claims and a listing of the major bibliographic sources documenting that debate and Spalding authorship theory's development, I direct the reader to Dialogue, A Journal of Mormon Thought X:4 (Autumn 1977) which contains just such an outline and encapsulated bibliography in the two articles published there: Lester E. Bush, Jr., "The Spalding Theory Then and Now," (pp. 40-69) and Charles H. Whittler and Stephen W. Stathis, "The Enigma of Solomon Spalding," (pp. 70-73); electronic texts of these articles can be found on the New Mormon Studies CD-rom published by Signature Books Software (Salt Lake City 1997) and at the Dialogue web-site. A less reliable presentation of the Spalding theory details can be found in Wayne L. Cowdrey and Howard A. Davis' book: Who Really Wrote the Book Mormon? (Santa Ana, CA: 1977). The Spalding-Rigdon authorship theory is also briefly reviewed and some bibliographic material provided in Rex C. Reeve, Jr., "Introduction," Kent P. Jackson (editor), Manuscript Found, The Complete Original "Spaulding Manuscript," Provo: 1996; an electronic text of this work can be found on the GospeLink CD-ROM published by Deseret Books Software (Salt Lake City: 1998). My citations in the current paper deal primarily with the topic of Spalding's MSs, especially the Oberlin Spalding MS. A more comprehensive bibliography of my compilation (largely supplemental to Bush's 1977 citations) may be derived from the Notes section of Dale R. Broadhurst "A New Basis For The Spalding Theory," (unpublished paper read before the John Whitmer Historical Association, Sept, 26 1980; revised as "Working Paper No. 10," Methodist Theological School in Ohio, April, 1980; these several reports are hereinafter cited as: Broadhurst, "Papers"). 1 Before the book was even fully printed, selections from it were circulated in western New York, both in the form of off-print sheets and pirated published excerpts. The editor of these illegal excerpts later called the "Gold Bible" translation "diabolical" in his Palmyra Reflector of Feb. 28, 1831. Upon publication the book was termed "blasphemy" in the Rochester Daily Advertiser of Apr. 2, 1830. While some subsequent reviews were not so harsh as these, the opposition was forcefully renewed by Alexander Campbell in his Millennial Harbinger II:2 (Bethany VA) of Feb. 7, 1831, where the book and Mormonism are condemned as a "delusion" and "the snare of the Devil." This criticism undoubtedly came in direct response to Sidney Rigdon's formal defection from the ranks of Campbell's "Reformed Baptists" into the Mormon fold in Ohio on Nov. 8, 1830 and his journey to meet with Joseph Smith, Jr., in New York the following month. According to Parley P. Pratt, Rigdon's journey to New York generated the first rumors that Rigdon "was the author of the Book of Mormon;" see Pratt's pamphlet, Mormonism Unveiled... (NYC: 1838), p. 42. The fact that such rumors were in circulation in western New York at an early date wass confirmed by James Gordon Bennett in his "Mormon Religion..." in the New York Morning Courier And Enquirer, Sept. 1, 1831, reprinted along with Bennett's personal journal entries in Leonard J. Arrington, "James Gordon Bennett's 1831 Report on 'The Mormonites,'" BYU Studies X:3 (Spring, 1970) pp. 353-364. Campbell (who maintained intimate communication with his followers in northern Ohio) likely knew of these claims for a Rigdon authorship as early as Dec. 1830. If not, he certainly heard of them soon after that and was certainly able to see that the Mormon book supplied the very same revelation and doctrines (adult baptism by immersion for the remission of sins, etc.) Elder Rigdon presupposed were available or forthcoming when he initiated his break with Campbell in 1829-30. In his Feb. 1831 review Campbell chose to ignore these circumstantial implications from the book itself (along with any Rigdon authorship rumors then in circulation which may have come to his attention) in order to credit the book directly to Joseph Smith, Jr. Beyond what he said in his 1831 book review, Campbell's reasons for doing this were never openly stated. The "Sage of Bethany" must have avoided mentioning his former close associate, Sidney Rigdon, for some purpose having to do to their personal relationship, in hopes of not alienating Rigdon's congregations in Ohio, or in order to avoid having the Campbellite "restoration movement" accused of having given rise to the Mormons' own "restoration movement." Quite likely all three factors played a role in his not speaking openly about his former protege, Sidney Rigdon. If this is the case, then Campbell's hopes for respite and reconciliation must have been short lived. Many of the initial Mormon converts in Ohio were his own "Reformed Baptist" coreligionists who never returned to Campbell's emerging Disciples of Christ denomination. Rather, his disciples and the Mormons became bitter religious enemies in the Western Reserve and Campbellism was not able to breath easily in that region until after Smith and Rigdon's departure for Missouri at the end of 1837. Following the Nov. 1834 publication of Eber D. Howe's Mormonism Unvailed, (Painesville, OH 1834), Campbell wrote a notice in his Millennial Harbinger, V (1835) op. cit., p. 44, in support of the Spalding authorship claims, though he again avoided mentioning that Rigdon's name figured prominently in those allegations. In fact, Campbell did not publicly mention Rigdon's name in this connection until four years later, Millennial Harbinger, ns. VII (1839)op. cit., p. 267. In 1844, Campbell admitted what must have been on his mind for many years, when he finally accused Rigdon of writing Campbellite teachings into the Mormon book and foretelling its appearance, Millennial Harbinger, ns. XII (1844) op. cit., pp. 9-10. For a discussion of the possible problems related to Campbell's evolution of published views on Rigdon's alleged secret involvement with the Book of Mormon see Brigham H. Roberts. "The Origin of the Book of Mormon," American Historical Magazine IV:1 (Jan. 1909) pp. 41-44, also my own comments in a 2007 review of Richard L. Bushman's Joseph Smith biography. 2 "The Mormon mystery developed," the Wayne (Co., NY) Sentinel, Dec. 20, 1833. By the time this notice was printed Hurlbut was likely on his way back to Ohio and making preparations to lecture on his recent findings. These public appearances he appears to have begun in the Kirtland area during the last half of December. Reports of his allegations began to appear in the local newspapers about a month later. The first of these articles was a reprint published in the Chardon Spectator and Geauga Gazette on Jan. 18, 1834. As cited in Marvin S. Hill, Quest for Refuge... (Salt Lake City: 1989), p. 24 fn. 49, the Chardon piece reproduced Hurlbut's Wayne Sentinel notice, prefaced with the remark that Hurlbut searched in New York "on behalf of his fellow townsmen" in the Kirtland area. Also on Jan. 18, 1834 the Guernsey County Register [Times] in Cambridge, Guernsey Co., Ohio reprinted the same notice. It was again reprinted by the Ohio Repository, Canton, Stark Co., Ohio, Feb. 28, 1834. Hurlbut's activities were further detailed in the Cleveland Herald, Mar. 22, 1834, cit. Hill, Quest, loc. cit., "where it is affirmed that Hurlbut was sent from Kirtland by a committee appointed during a 'public meeting;'" cf. note 3. 3 "To the Public," Painesville (OH) Telegraph, Jan. 31 and Feb. 7, 1834. 4 Solomon Spalding (1761-1816) has variously been reported as a Congregationalist preacher, a Presbyterian minister, and an atheist. According to George Chapman he was licensed to preach by the Windham, CT Congregationalist Association on Oct. 9, 1787 and was later ordained as an evangelist, Sketches of the Alumni of Dartmouth College, (Cambridge, MA: 1867), p. 39. An acquaintance of Spalding's remembered hearing that he became "a clergyman of the Presbyterian order, and for a time a settled pastor in the city of New York," see "Abner Jackson's Statement," Daily Evening Reporter (Washington PA), Jan. 7, 1881; cf. letter from "Clericus" in the Boston Christian Register of Dec. 24, 1836. Spalding's switch from Congreationalism to a theologically akin Presbyterianism is confirmed by a mention of him as being the ruling elder of a struggling new congregation in Cherry Valley, Otsego Co., NY in 1796. Spalding's ministerial assistance there was likely both unofficial and irregular. He was replaced the following year by the celebrated Rev. Eliphalet Nott, though the latter had not yet received his ordination; see Royden Woodward Vosburgh (editor) Records of the First Presbyterian Church of Cherry Valley, in Otsego County, N.Y. (NY Genealogical & Biographical Society, May 1920). Eber D. Howe deducted that Spalding was "in the latter part of his life, inclined to infidelity." Mormonism Unvailed, op. cit., p. 288. Howe came to this conclusion after reading an undated draft letter written by Spalding, which is now bound with the Spalding manuscript in the Oberlin College Archives. A close reading of that letter (assuming that it truly represents his views later in life) along with an interpretive reading of his fiction, indicates that Solomon Spalding was moving away from Calvinism in the direction of skeptical Universalism or Deism. Although Spalding may have held various views on Christian orthodoxy at various periods during his life, his Oberlin manuscript story indicates that he was cynical of organized religion and had no qualms about making up accounts of divine encounters or offering thinly veiled parodies of Christian beliefs and practices. While some contemporary liberal Christian clergy and reformers expressed similar ideas now and then, the publication of such views by an ordained Calvinist minister two hundred years ago would have been scandalous. For speculation on Spalding's theological views see George B. Arbaugh, "Evolution of Mormon Doctrine," Church History IX (1940) pp. 157ff. Whatever his private views may have been at the time, Spalding was a member of the Presbyterian congregation in Goodwill (later Amity), PA during the last years of his life and was buried in the church cemetery. A young boarder at his "temperance inn" there remembered Spalding as "a moral man, a strict observer of the Sabbath, and an attendant upon public worship... a true believer." Letter of Redick McKee to Arthur B. Deming, dated Jan. 25, 1886; original in the Arthur B. Deming file, Mormon Collection, Chicago Historical Society (hereinafter cited as: Deming, "MSs"). Given Spalding's religious vacillation and the peculiar religious satire manifest in his writings, the term "eccentric," which was early applied to him, seems appropriate. 5 Exactly what Spalding manuscript material was recovered by Hurlbut in 1833 and was subsequently exhibited in his 1833-34 anti-Mormon lectures remains debatable. It is certain that he recovered the Spalding manuscript and the accompanying letter now in the Oberlin College Archives. The summary on page 288 of Howe's book matches the essentials, if not all the particulars, of the Oberlin holograph. This is clearly the same story (if not the exact same document) read by Spalding's brother Josiah in 1812 and described by him in his letter to George Chapman, dated Jan. 6, 1855, cit. Samuel J. Spalding, The Spalding Memorial (Boston 1872), pp. 160-162. The story remembered by Josiah after more than forty years differs greatly from one recalled by Solomon's friends and relatives as little as twenty years after their encountering it. Others who read or heard Spalding's story, whether in Ohio or later in Pennsylvania, recalled a tale of Israelite colonization of ancient America which read very much like parts of the Book of Mormon and contained similar or identical character names. A Kirtland Justice of the Peace, John C. Dowen, claimed that Hurlbut recovered this Spalding Israelite story and exhibited it during his first lecture in Kirtland following his late December 1833 return from the east. This lecture appears to have been given at the Kirtland Methodist Church a few days before the end of the year. Dowen further claimed to have personally compared this Israelite colonization story to the Book of Mormon and to have found their historical narratives to have been essentially the same, Statement of J[ohn] C. Dowen, Jan. 20, 1885, Willoughby, Ohio; original in Deming, MSs op. cit. Another witness to Hurlbut's 1833 acivities in Ohio, James A. Briggs, Esq., confirmed Dowen's testimony in a letter to John Codman dated March, 1875. Briggs claimed to have seen Hurlbut exhibit a Spalding manuscript with some names and features identical with those in the Book of Mormon, cit. John Codman "Mormonism," The International Review XI (Sept. 1881) pp. 222-223. Briggs expanded this testimony in an open letter to Joseph Smith III dated March 22, 1886, adding that Hurlbut initially exhibited both the manuscript summarized by Howe and a second manuscript that greatly resembled the Book of Mormon, at the home of Warren Corning, Jr. in Mentor, following that investigator's return from the east, cit. Arthur B. Deming, Naked Truths About Mormonism, (Oakland CA; hereinafter cited as: Deming, Naked Truths) Jan. 1, 1888. The sequence of events related by Dowen and Briggs was likely this: first, Hurlbut's return from the east in the last two weeks of Dec. 1833; second, the meeting at Mr. Corning's house, shortly thereafter; and third, Hurlbut's first lecture exhibiting his findings, presented near the beginning of the last full week in 1833. Briggs reaffirmed his earlier testimony in two subsequent letters, saying Hurlbut recovered at least two Spalding works and that the one he gave to Howe was not the same as the one that greatly resembled the Book of Mormon, Letter in the New York Tribune of Jan. 31, 1886, and Letter to the New York Watchman, cit. Chicago Daily Tribune, Oct. 2, 1886, p. 10. Aron Wright's unsigned draft letter of Dec. 31, 1833 confirms that the Spalding manuscript Hurlbut gave to Howe was not the same as the one that allegedly greatly resembled the Book of Mormon, Unsigned Letter of Dec. 31, 1833 in the 1914 Mrs. Hiram Wright donation of Lake family papers, New York Public Library. Another Ohio resident claimed to have heard Hurlbut lecture in the Willoughby town hall late in 1833 or early in 1834, and there to have been invited to examine a manuscript exhibited by Hurlbut which contained a historical narrative identical to that in the Book of Mormon; soon afterward he attended a similar Hurlbut lecture in Painesville where the same Spalding manuscript was again shown to the public, Charles Grover's Statement of March 5th, 1885, cit. Naked Truths 2, (Apr. 1888) op. cit.; cf. statement of Miss M. A. Grover, Lamoni, IA Independent Patriot of Aug. 6, 1891. Finally, a fourth witness remembered attending a Hurlbut lecture at the Presbyterian church in Kirtland (presumably late in 1833 or early in 1834) at which Hurlbut publicly compared the Book of Mormon to a Spalding manuscript containing the same historical narrative, Jacob Sherman's Statement of Feb. 24, 1885, cit. Naked Truths 2, op. cit.; cf. reference and supporting testimony in "Braden-Kelley Debate: First Proposition," Lamoni, IA Independent Patriot of June 25, 1891; cit. Matthew B. Brown, Plates of Gold, (American Fork, UT: Covenant, 2003) pp. 194-196. On problems concerning the reliability both of the statements collected by Hurlbut for Howe's book and those collected by Arthur B. Deming for his Naked Truths newspaper. see Richard L. Anderson, "Joseph Smith's New York Reputation Reappraised," BYU Studies X:3 (Spring 1970) pp. 283-314, and Rodger I. Anderson, "Joseph Smith's Early Reputation Revisited," Journal of Pastoral Practice IV:3 (Fall 1980) pp. 71-108 and IV:4 (Winter 1980) pp. 72-105; cf. same author: Joseph Smith's New York Reputation Reexamined, (SLC: Signature, 1990). 6 Solomon Spaulding, The "Manuscript Found," or "Manuscript Story..." (Lamoni, IA 1885). The following year saw the publication of The "Manuscript Found"... (Salt Lake City, 1886. reprint Liverpool 1910). Both the RLDS and LDS editions remain in print through various reproductions made recent years; one of the more easily obtainable copies is a partial reprint of the 1885 edition in Robert L. and Rosemary Brown, They Lie in Wait to Deceive II (Mesa, AZ 1984, 3rd rev. ed. 1993) pp. 393-428. Neither the 1885 nor the 1886 edition is an accurate transcription of the Oberlin document. The "Manuscript Found" appearing in the titles of both of these editions is not based upon any wording found in the original holograph. A faint notation, "Manuscript Story -- Conneaut Creek," was penciled upon the paper wrapper for the Oberlin MS at some date before it came into the possession of Lewis L. Rice, according to his statement in a letter to James H. Fairchild dated June 12, 1885, original in the Fairchild Papers, Oberlin College Archives. RLDS Elder (later Presiding Bishop) William H, Kelley, attributed the penciled note to D. P. Hurlbut who had added another example of his handwriting to the reverse of MS's final written page at the end of Dec., 1885, while exhibiting the work to Spalding's old neighbors at Conneaut, Letter of William H, Kelley to W. W. Blair, cit. Saints' Herald Aug. 8, 1885, Solomon Spaulding, Holograph Manuscript, Oberlin College Archives, Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, op. cit. p. 288, and Wright, draft letter op. cit. It is most accurate to refer to the 167 page document recovered by Hurlbut as: "the Oberlin Spalding manuscript." 7 In a little known letter from Bay City, MI printer, Fred VanCampen, to James H. Fairchild, dated June 3, 1885, Fairchild was informed of this alleged Spalding MS; see Letter in Fairchild Papers, Oberlin College Archives. There is no record of Fairchild ever examining this work or even of his mentioning it in his various writings on Spalding. The MS remained in the Spalding family until 1946 when it was donated to the Library of Congress. Its full title reads: "The Romance of Celes, or The Florentine Heroes and The Three Female Knights of the Chasm." It is a religious romance of 498+ pages, probably in the handwriting of Arvilla Ann Harris Spalding. The author indicated on its title page was her husband, Dr. Solomon Spalding (1747-1862), a physician in Lorain Co., OH in the early 19th century and a cousin (one generation removed) of Solomon Spalding (1761-1816). The VanCampen letter and the Library of Congress both attribute the MS authorship to Solomon Spalding (1761-1816) and internal evidence seems to affirm him as its originator of at least a certain part of the work. What additions and interpolations were added after 1816 is unknown. The work is best referred to as: "The Library of Congress Spalding Manuscript (alleged)." 8 When the Oberlin MS was recovered in Aug. of 1884 near Honolulu it was examined by its possessor, Lewis L. Rice and soon after by three Christian ministers: James H. Fairchild, Sereno E. Bishop, and C. M. Hyde; all three eventually wrote articles on the discovery. The fiirst to appear was Fairchild's "Solomon Spaulding and the Book of Mormon," Bibliotheca Sacra XLII:1 (Jan. 1885) pp. 173-174. This was followed by Hyde's "Who wrote the Book of Mormon? Solomon Spaulding Not Its Author," The Congregationalist, Boston, July 30, 1885. Finally came Bishop's article, written in 1884 but delayed in publication, "Solomon Spaulding's Manuscript Found at Honolulu," The Independent (Syracuse NY) Sept. 10, 1885. A Fairchild letter on this subject dated Feb. 27, 1885 to Joseph Smith III was printed in the Saints' Herald Mar. 21, 1885. Fairchild later expanded and refined his opinions on Spalding and the Book of Mormon in "Mormonism And The Spaulding Manuscript," Bibliotheca Sacra XLIII:1 (Jan. 1886) pp. 167-174 and "Manuscript of Solomon Spaulding and the Book of Mormon," (paper read Mar. 8 and 23, 1886 before the Northern Ohio and Western Reserve Historical Society; this paper was printed in The Magazine of Western History IV (May-Oct. 1886) pp. 30-39 and was issued as subsequently issued as Tract No. 77 by the Northern Ohio and Western Reserve Historical Society (Cleveland, OH 1886). Two Lewis L. Rice letters to Joseph Smith III were published: Letter of Mar. 28, 1885, Saints' Herald, May 16, 1885 and Letter of May l4, 1885, Saints' Herald, Aug. 8, 1885. A third Rice letter (to Fairchild) appeared in the Saints' Herald, Aug. 23, 1885. Excerpts from LDS Apostle Joseph F. Smith's interviews with Rice in Hawaii appeared in the Deseret Evening News, July 14, 1885. Further excerpts from these Rice interviews appeared in the same newspaper a few days later, cit. Saints' Herald Aug. 8, 1885. All of these early reports equated the Hawaii discovery with the alleged Spalding work, "Manuscript Found," and all the reporters (except Bishop) initially saw the MS found in Hawaii as providing proof against the Spalding authorship claims. Both Rice and Fairchild later modified their views to incorporate or allow for some elements of the Spalding theory. None of these early investigators shows any evidence of having conducted a critical textual comparison; of all the reporters only Joseph F. Smith is known to have had any significant knowledge of the Book of Mormon. Although Smith examined the texts relatively carefully he relied upon Rice's statements in his reports and never issued his own analysis. Smith's negative opinions concerning textual resemblance and other Spalding authorship claims can be found throughout his three-part article, "The Manuscript Found," Improvement Era, III:4, 5, 6 (1900). 9 Some writers making claims for such similarities were: Theodore A. Schroeder The Origin of The Book of Mormon Reexamined . . . (Salt Lake City 1901), J. E. Mahaffey Found at Last! "Positive proof" that Mormonism is a Fraud . . . (Augusta, GA 1902), T. C. Smith The Book of Mormon and Mormonism II (Denver, Sept. 1912), Charles A. Shook The True Origin of The Book of Mormon, (Cincinnati 1914) and George Arbaugh Revelation in Mormonism, (Chicago 1932). Of these writers only Shook and Arbaugh received appreciable public attention; neither was especially influential in re-establishing the Spalding theory, although Arbaugh's findings inspired M. D. Bown's studies (see n. 10 infra). Schroeder's work was occasionally noticed by some contemporary writers addressing the subject, but his thoughts on the Spalding theory appear to have substantially influenced only Mahaffey and Shook. When Fawn M. Brodie's No Man Knows My History (NY 1945) appeared, her superficially researched but convincingly presented rebuttal of the Spalding authorship claims induced most subsequent writers on Mormonism to follow her lead and abandon the Spalding theory. 10 See M.D. Bown "One Hundred Similarities Between the Book of Mormon and the Spaulding Manuscript," (unpublished paper 1937? in Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, call no.: BX 8622.01.B68o) and James D. Bales "The Book of Mormon and Spaulding Manuscripts," The Christian Soldier lV:9 (Aug. 14, 1942) reprinted in expanded format in James D. Bales The Book of Mormon? (Rosemead, CA 1958) pp. 138-147. Of the two compilations the Bown work is by far the most complete and better constructed. Although they both fall short of providing exhaustive lists of thematic resemblances, these two works represent the termination of noteworthy attempts at such compilation. Without the application of augmentative textual analysis there was little to be gained in simply adding to the Bown and Bales tabulations. Vernal Holley Book of Mormon Authorship: A Closer Look, (Roy, UT 1983, 2nd rev. ed. 1989, 3rd rev. ed. 1992) attempts to present such analysis to accompany his review of numerous points of thematic similarity. Holley also provides a short list of phraseology parallels, but his essentially non-critical examination (though it usefully points out items worthy of closer study) basically adds little to what Bown and Bales have already accomplished. Other than Ted Chandler's 1998 on-line tabulations of some phraseology resemblances (http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/chatm/spauth.htm), there is little recent evidence of any incentive to extend these kinds of lists. 11 Hugh Nibley "The Comparative Method," Improvement Era, Oct., 1959, p. 741ff., revised as chapter 8 (The Prophetic Book of Mormon) in: Hugh Nibley The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley: Volume 8: The Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City 1989). 12 Writers advocating the Spalding theory after 1945 include: Joseph Welles White "The Influence of Sidney Rigdon Upon the Theology of Mormonism," (unpublished thesis, University of Southern California, 1947), Edward G. Miner "The Book of Mormon," The University of Rochester Library Bulletin, V:1 (Autumn 1949) pp. 1-12, Bales, op. cit., Walter Martin The Maze of Mormonism (Santa Ana, CA 1962, rev. 2nd ed. 1978) and The Kingdom of the Cults (Minneapolis, rev. 2nd ed. 1977), and Howard A. Davis op. cit. This does not include writers presenting the theory as a mere possibility or those simply quoting the work of others. 13 Even those writers who saw the Spaldingish sections of the Book of Mormon as being only coincidental and superficial oddities have usually at least noticed the ocean crossing and battle story resemblances. Reporters mentioning these thematic similarities include Josiah Spalding in his letter of Jan. 6, 1855 to George Chapman, cit., Samuel J. Spalding, The Spalding Memorial, op. cit. pp. 160-162, Sereno E. Bishop op. cit., George R. Gibson "The Origin of a Great Delusion," New Princeton Review II (July-Sept. 1886) pp. 203-222, Schroeder op. cit., Mahaffey op. cit., Brigham H. Roberts. "The Origin..." I op. cit., III:5 (Sept. 1908) pp. 441-468, T. C. Smith op. cit., Charles A. Shook op. cit., George B. Arbaugh op. cit., Letter, M. Wilfred Poulson Collection, bx. 10, f. 21, Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University (undated and unsigned, but possibly written by Frank Wipper, c. 1927), M. D. Bown op. cit., Cecil E. McGavin Cumorah's "Gold Bible" (Salt Lake City 1940) pp. 175-177, Bales op. cit., Brodie op. cit., pp. 144-149, Mario S. DePillis "The Development of Mormon Communitarianism, 1826-1846" (unpublished thesis, Yale University, 1960, p. 43, Marvin S. Hill "The Role of Christian Primitivism . . ." (unpublished thesis, University of Chicago, 1968), p. 96, Bruce D. Blumell "I Have a Question" The Ensign VI:9 (Sept. 1976) pp. 84-86, and Lester E. Bush "The Spalding Theory..." op. cit., pp. 42-43. 14 See Appendix I and Appendix II infra for details. 15 This describes well the God who saves both Jonah and St. Paul in maritime biblical stories. Spalding's Christian God overlaps somewhat with the Roman's Neptune at this point in his Oberlin MS story. Both Spalding and the Book of Mormon writer appear to draw some of their story elements and vocabulary from John Dryden's English translation of Virgil's Aeneid, which also tells of a similar storm at sea and the divine rescue of the colonizing voyagers. However, both Spalding and the Mormon book's narrator set their probable Virgilian borrowings into a Judeo-Christian context. For a detailed discussion of this and other points of textual correspondence see Appendix II, Part I, infra pp. 10-13. 16 See note 13 supra. The best examples of Mormon writers noticing this are Roberts and Blumell. 17 For charts showing the distribution of Spalding-like narratives in the Book of Mormon see my "A New Basis..." Broadhurst "Papers" op cit., 2, Figure V. For a partial list of such major thematic parallels see my "A Compilation of Similarities..." Broadhurst "Papers" op cit. 3. 18 ibid. 19 Broadhurst, "Papers" op. cit., 10, p. 7 and loc. cit. 3. 20 The alleged Spalding story is "The Romance of Celes..." op. cit. see Appendix II, Part I infra. 21 The Lehites give rise to all the later peoples in the Americas (in so far as the Book of Mormon tells of those inhabitants). Thus the Nephites, Amlicites and Lamanites are all the descendants of brethren. This of course does not take into account the extinct Jaredites of former times. The Nephites merged with the Zarahemla Mulekites, a related Hebrew people who were "brethren" in a larger sense. In Spalding's Oberlin MS the Kentucks and Sciotans are political divisions of the Ohian people and thus are also brethren in the larger sense. As in the Book of Mormon, the founding leaders of these warring peoples are brothers from the same family of ancient travelers. Both works make use of the terms "brethren" or "brothers" to describe these related peoples. (OSMS 079:24, cf. 1830 BoM 291:39-43, 399:34-38, 538:20-22 etc.) The 1886 LDS printing of the Oberlin MS has "the Blood of Brethren," Spaulding "Manuscript Found"... op. cit., p. 40; while the 1885 RLDS printing has "the Blood of Brothers," Spaulding "Manuscript Found," or "Manuscript Story..." op. cit., p. 56. The RLDS reading of Spalding's holograph is the correct one, but that fact in no way diminishes the thematic and vocabulary parallels centering around the terms "the blood of brethren" and "the blood of brothers" in the two texts' war stories. 22 Both Sambal in Spalding's story and Amlici in the Book of Mormon sponsor priestcraft. This is implied on the part of Amlici, a leader in the apostate Order of the Nehors; it is explicit in the case of Sambal, who manipulates his people through false prophets, seers, and revelators who are sponsored by a self-righteous and hypocritical high priest; see Appendix II, Part E infra. 23 Spalding fabricated a set of divinely revealed scriptures for his mound-builder societies in the Oberlin MS story. He provides excerpts from these sacred records on MS pp. 055-064. Interestingly these pages occur in the MS at a point roughly paralleled in the Book of Mormon's respective presentation of its own excerpts from "the plates of brass." 24 See Broadhurst, "Papers," op. cit., 10, charts and text. 25 The assassination theme in the Teancum tales bears an obvious similarity to the recurring biblical motif of slaying an incapacitated (sleeping, drunken, etc.) enemy leader. Like Teancum, the young David twice has an opportunity to slay the incapacitated King Saul (I Sam 24 & 26). The fact that he does not murder the sovereign under such circumstances makes David a more heroic character than Teancum. In the Bible only women (Jael, JG 4:17-24, 5:24-27, and Judith, JD 12 & 13) assassinate incapacitated leaders. While the Teancum stratagem stories stand out from the full set of eight such accounts in the Book of Mormon (largely because of the Teancum accounts' thematic ties to parallel biblical and classical episodes), they are, nevertheless, solid members of that book's night-time stratagem genre. For a full identification and discussion of these stories see Appendix II, Part III infra. 26 OSMS 154-155. There are also other accounts of night-time stratagems in the Oberlin MS, scattered throughout its major war story. Note especially the very rapid, undetected night-time troop movements used to surprise the enemy. Similar impossible tactical troop movements are detailed in the Book of Mormon war stories. Each work presents night maneuvers that, while semi-believable for small groups, verge on being ridiculous when applied to "bands" numbering in the "thousands," moving silently through overgrown wilderness terrain in the dark. 27 See note 25 supra. Also see Broadhurst, "Papers" op. cit., 1, pp. 52-68. 28 ibid. 29 For what is probably a Spalding viewpoint on the power of biblical English to influence people in religious ways, see "The Romance of Celes . . ." op. cit., (003:02-08). Occasional examples of archaic and scriptural English can be found both in the "Celes" story and in Spalding's Oberlin MS, but neither work is especially typified by such usage. 30 Two types of "heroes" can be found in the war stories of Book of Mormon and Spalding's military accounts. Teancum is a semi-heroic figure who has his counterpart in Spalding heroes like Helicon (OSMS 167: 05-25), a lieutenant who attempts an exploit more rash than his commander would ever authorize. In the case of Teancum the more heroic figure is his commander Moroni who does not kill a sleeping enemy even when he has the opportunity. Other examples of more truly heroic characters are Nephites Alma the son of Alma and Mormon, while Spalding's non-military Lobaska parallels both Alma and King Benjamin in their Washingtonian aversion to assuming permanent political power. 31 Both the Book of Mormon and Spalding tell of an extinct American civilization, the records of which are preserved for the benefit of the modern reader. Spalding's story ends before this extinction is related but he gives hints to the reader concerning this in MS pp. 001-005. 32 There have been writers among the Saints who have come close to admitting this possibility however. See John H. Evans One Hundred Years of Mormonism (Salt Lake City 1905) pp. 102-103, Brigham H. Roberts "Manuscript of Parallels" (n.d., c. 1920, copy in RLDS Library and Archives), Howard R. Driggs "The Spaulding Manuscript" Juvenile Instructor L:10 (Oct. 1915) p. 634, Bown op. cit., and Broadhurst, "Papers," op. cit. 33 This destructive use is typified by such writers as Howe op. cit. and Mahaffey op. cit. It would be naive to think that the Spalding theory would have ever been well received in the official Mormon church circles in the past, but it might have at least achieved the near respectability generally extended to the Ethan Smith authorship theory among some scholars, had it not been associated with anti-Mormon attacks from its very beginning. |
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- 0 - The Secular and the Sacred ABSTRACT The theory that a former Congregationalist preacher named Solomon Spalding authored a manuscript that became a major source for the Book of Mormon was first popularized in 1833. Since that early date a heated debate in regard to the merits of this theory has been carried on among various interested writers. When in 1885 one of Spalding's manuscripts was made available and compared by investigators with the Book of Mormon, reporters on this important event announced that the two works had no significant resemblance; the entire matter appeared to be decided in favor of the traditional Mormon viewpoint. In following years however, several other investigators reported finding many points of thematic and textual similarity between the Book of Mormon and this same "Oberlin" Spalding manuscript. These generally undistinguished reports of significant resemblances between the two works were almost always ignored or dismissed by subsequent writers addressing the subject. So, today the popular opinion among those knowledgeable of such things is that the Book of Mormon resembles Spalding's work only in their sharing of those extremely superficial and common features any two ancient American histories might be expected to possess. In a recent reexamination of the Spalding texts and that of the 1830 Book of Mormon it became apparent that there was considerable merit in the old claims for significant thematic and textual correspondence. This fact becomes evident in a careful review of their similar stories relating a storm-tossed ocean crossing and the bloody wars carried on between the descendants of ancestral brethren. The resemblance in these selected texts from both sources is not merely superficial and therefore inconsequential; it is, rather, substantial and extends past coincidental generalities to sequential thematic development. The stories sharing this sequential thematic development are told using significantly comparable vocabulary and at some points contain specimens of nearly identical phraseology apparently derived from English language texts published prior to Spalding's death in 1816. While clearly fictional in their origin and nature, the Spalding writings are not a purely "secular" literary creation. The narratives and stories he composed also contain pseudo-scriptural decrees and exhortations concerning morality and piety which are not totally unrelated to teachings in the "sacred" Book of Mormon. The two works share some parallel religious concerns and manifest a significant correspondence in some of their sacred sections as well as in many of their secular segments. Similar structural patterns in the two texts occur in parallel with some of their respective theological and religious developments. These textual patterns are typified by the same relative locations of concurrent thematic and phraseology affinities within the two works. In short, the Book of Mormon and the writings of Solomon Spalding share significant textual relationships that almost certainly did originate by chance. |
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The Secular and the Sacred: Appendices I: Annotated Outlines of Selected Book of Mormon Texts Text 1: The Stormy Voyage to the New World (Outline 1) II: Thematic Parallels in Selected Book of Mormon Texts and Spalding Compilation 1: The Stormy Voyage to the New World |
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(see also annotated outline for the narrative of this text) - A 05 - 
Text 1a: Page 47 from the 1830 Book of Mormon (green = biblical parallels; red/magenta = Spalding words; blue = non-Spalding) 
Text 1b: Page 48 from the 1830 Book of Mormon (green = biblical parallels; red/magenta = Spalding words; blue = non-Spalding) 
Text 1c: Page 49 from the 1830 Book of Mormon (green = biblical parallels; red/magenta = Spalding words; blue = non-Spalding) |
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APPENDIX I PART II The Nephite-Amlicite War Links to 1830 Alma Chapter I (p. 224-228) Text 1830 edition: tops of pages: p. 224 p. 225 p. 226 p. 227 p. 228 Modern LDS edition: chapter and verse: ALM 01:27 ALM 01:28 ALM 01:29 ALM 01:30 ALM 01:31 ALM 01:32 ALM 01:33 ALM 02:01 ALM 02:02 ALM 02:03 ALM 02:04 ALM 02:05 ALM 02:06 ALM 02:07 ALM 02:08 ALM 02:09 ALM 02:10 ALM 02:11 ALM 02:12 ALM 02:13 ALM 02:14 ALM 02:15 ALM 02:16 ALM 02:17 ALM 02:18 ALM 02:19 ALM 02:20 ALM 02:21 ALM 02:22 ALM 02:23 ALM 02:24 ALM 02:25 ALM 02:26 ALM 02:27 ALM 02:28 ALM 02:29 ALM 02:30 ALM 02:31 ALM 02:32 ALM 02:33 ALM 02:34 ALM 02:35 ALM 02:36 ALM 02:37 ALM 02:38 ALM 03:01 ALM 03:02 ALM 03:03 ALM 03:04 ALM 03:05 ALM 03:06 ALM 03:07 ALM 03:08 ALM 03:09 ALM 03:10 ALM 03:11 ALM 03:12 ALM 03:13 1830 Alma Chapter I (p. 224-228) Text according to his strength; and they did impart of their substance every man according to that which he had, to the poor, and the needy, and the sick, and the afflicted; and they did not wear costly apparel, yet they were neat and comely: and thus they did establish the affairs of the Church: and thus they began to have continual peace again, notwithstanding all their persecutions. And now because of the steadiness of the Church, they began to be exceeding rich; having abundance of all things whatsoever they stood in need; an abundance of flocks, and herds, and fatlings of every kind, and also abundance of grain, and of gold, and of silver, and of precious things; and abundance of silk and fine twined linen, and all manner of good homely cloth. And thus in their prosperous circumstances they did not send away any which was naked, or that was hungry, or that was athirst, or that was sick, or that had not been nourished; and they did not set their hearts upon riches; therefore they were liberal to all, both old and young, both bond and free, both male and female, whether out of the Church or in the Church, having no respects to persons as to those who stood in need; and thus they did prosper and become far more wealthy, than those who did not belong to their Church. For those who did not belong to their Church, did indulge themselves in sorceries, and in idolatry or idleness, and in bablings, and in envyings and strife; wearing costly apparel; being lifted up in the pride of their own eyes; lying, thieving, robbing, commiting whoredoms, and murdering, and all manner of wickedness; nevertheless, the law was put in force upon all those who did transgress it, inasmuch as it were possible. And it came to pass that by thus exercising the law upon them, every man suffering according to that which he had done, they became more still, and durst not commit any wickedness, if it were known; therefore, there was much peace among the people of Nephi, until the fifth year of the reign of the judges. And it came to pass in the commandment of the fifth year of their reign, there began to be a contention among the people, for a certain man, being called Amlici; he being a very cunning man, yea, a wise man, as to the wisdom of the world; he being after the order of the man that slew Gideon by the sword, who was executed according to the law. Now this Amlici had, by his cunning, drawn away much people after him; even so much that they began to be very powerful; and they began to endeavor to establish Amlici to be a king over the people. Now this was alarming to the people of the Church, and also to all those who had not been drawn away after the persuasions of Amlici: for they knew that according to their law that such things must be established by the voice of the people; therefore, if it were possible that Amlici should gain the voice of the people, he being a wicked man, would deprive them of their rights and privileges of the Church, &c: for it was his intent to destroy the Church of God. And it came to pass that the people assembled themselves together throughout all the land, every man according to his mind, whether it were for or against Amlici, in separate bodies, having much dispute and wonderful contentions one with another; and thus they did assemble themselves together, to cast in their voices concerning the matter: and they were laid before the judges. And it came to pass that the voice of the people came against Amlici, that he was not made king over the people. Now this did cause much joy in the hearts of those which were against him; but Amlici did stir up those which were in his favor, to anger against those which were not in his favor. And it came to pass that they gathered themselves together, and did consecrate Amlici to be their king. Now when Amlici was made king over them, he commanded them that they should take up arms against their brethren; and this he done, that he might subject them to him. Now the people of Amlici were distinguished by the name of Amlici, being called Amlicites; and the remainder were called Nephites, or the people of God; therefore the people of the Nephites was aware of the intent of the Amlicites, and therefore they did prepare for to meet them; yea, they did arm themselves with swords, and with cimeters, and with bows, and with arrows, and with stones, and with slings, and with all manner of weapons of war, of every kind; and thus they were prepared to meet the Amlicites at the time of their coming. And there was appointed captains, and higher captains, and chief captains, according to their numbers. And it came to pass that Amlici did arm his men with all manner of weapons of war, of every kind; and he also appointed rulers and leaders over his people, to lead them to war against their brethren. And it came to pass that the Amlicites came up upon the hill Amnihu, which was east of the river Sidon, which ran by the land of Zarahemla, and there they began to make war with the Nephites. Now Alma, he being the chief judge, and the governor of the people of Nephi therefore he went up with his people, yea, with his captains, and chief captains, yea, at the head of his armies, against the Amlicites to battle; and they began to slay the Amlicites upon the hill east of Sidom. And the Amlicites did contend with the Nephites with great strength, insomuch that many of the Nephites did fall before the Amlicites; nevertheless the Lord did strengthen the hand of the Nephites, that they slew the Amlicites with a great slaughter, that they began to flee before them. And it came to pass that the Nephites did pursue the Amlicites all that day, and did slay them with much slaughter, insomuch that there was slain of the Amlicites twelve thousand five hundred thirty two souls; and there was slain of the Nephites, six thousand five hundred sixty and two souls. And it came to pass that when Alma could pursue the Amlicites no longer, he caused that his people should pitch their tents in the valley of Gideon, the valley being called after that Gideon which was slain by the hand of Nehor with the sword; and in this valley the Nephites did pitch their tents for the night. And Alma sent spies to follow the remnant of the Amlicites, that he might know of their plans and their plots, whereby he might guard himself against them, that he might prepare his people from being destroyed. Now those which he had sent out to watch the camp of the Amlicites, were called Zeram, and Amnor, and Manti, and Limher; these were they which went out with their men to watch the camp of the Amlicites. And it came to pass that on the morrow they returned into the camp of the Nephites, in great haste, being greatly astonished, and struck with much fear, saying, Behold, we followed the camp of the Amlicites, and to our great astonishment, in the land of Minon, above the land of Zarahemla, in the course of the land of Nephi, we saw numerous hosts of the Lamanites; and behold, the Amlicites have joined them, and they are upon our brethren in that land; and they are fleeing before them with their flocks, and their wives, and their children, towards our city; and except we make haste, they obtain possession of our city; and our fathers, and our wives, and our children be slain. And it came to pass that the people of Nephi took their tents, and departed out of the valley of Gideon towards their city, which was the city of Zarahemla. And behold, as they were crossing the river Sidon, the Lamanites and the Amlicites, being as numerous almost, as it were, as the sands of the sea, came upon them to destroy them; nevertheless the Nephites being strengthened by the hand of the Lord, having prayed mightily to him that he would deliver them out of the hands of their enemies; therefore the Lord did hear their cries, and did strengthen them, and the Lamanites and the Amlicites did fall before them. And it came to pass that Alma fought with Amlici with the sword, face to face; and they did contend mightily, one with another. And it came to pass that Alma, he being a man of God, being exercised with much faith, and he cried, saying, O Lord, have mercy and spare my life, that I may be an instrument in thy hands, to save and preserve this people. Now when Alma had said these words, he contended again with Amlici; and he was strengthened, insomuch that he slew Amlici with the sword. And he also contended with the king of the Lamanites; but the king of the Lamanites fled back from before Alma, and sent his guards to contend with Alma. But Alma, with his guards, contended with the guards of the king of the Lamanites, until he slew and drove them back; and thus he cleared the ground, or rather the bank, which was on the west of the river Sidon, throwing bodies of the Lamanites which had been slain, into the waters of Sidon, that thereby his people might have room to cross and contend with the Lamanites and the Amlicites, on the west side of the river Sidon. And it came to pass that when they had all crossed the river Sidon, that the Lamanites and the Amlicites began to flee before them, notwithstanding they were so numerous that they could not be numbered; and they fled before the Nephites, towards the wilderness which was west and north, away beyond the borders of the land; and the Nephites did pursue them with their might, and did slay them; yea, they were met on every hand, and slain, and driven, until they were scattered on the west, and on the north, until they had reached the wilderness, which was called Hermounts; and it was that part of the wilderness which was infested by wild and ravenous beasts. And it came to pass that many died in the wilderness of their wounds, and were devoured by those beasts, and also the vultures of the air; and their bones have been found, and have been heaped up on the earth. And it came to pass that the Nephites, which were not slain by the weapons of war, after having buried those which had been slain: now the number of the slain were not numbered because of the greatness of their number; and after they had finished burying their dead, they all returned to their lands, and to their houses, and their wives, and their children. Now many women and children had been slain with the sword, and also many of their flocks and their herds; and also many of their fields of grain were destroyed, for they were trodden down by the hosts of men. And now as many of the Lamanites and the Amlicites which had been slain upon the bank of the river Sidon, were cast into the waters of Sidon; and behold, their bones are in the depths of the sea, and they are many. -- And the Amlicites were distinguished from the Nephites, for they had marked themselves with red in their foreheads, after the manner of the Lamanites; nevertheless they had not shorn their heads like unto the Lamanites. Now the heads of the Lamanites were shorn; and they were naked, save it were skin, which was girded about their loins, and also their armour, which was girded about them, and their bows, and their arrows, and their stones, and their slings, &c. And the skins of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which was set upon their fathers, which was a curse upon them because of their transgression and their rebellion against their brethren, which consisted of Nephi, Jacob, and Joseph, and Sam, which were just and holy men. And their brethren sought to destroy them; therefore they were cursed; and the Lord God set a mark upon them, yea, upon Laman and Lemuel, and also the sons of Ishmael, and the Ismaelitish women: and this was done, that their seed might be distinguished from the seed of their brethren, that thereby the Lord God might preserve his people, that they might not mix and believe in incorrect traditions, which would prove their destruction. And it came to pass that whosoever did mingle his seed with that of the Lamanites, did bring the same curse upon his seed; therefore whomsoever suffered himself to be led away by the Lamanites, were called under that head, and there was a mark set upon him. And it came to pass that whosoever would not believe in the tradition of the Lamanites, but believed those records which were brought out of the land of Jerusalem, and also the tradition of their fathers, which were correct, which believed in the commandments of God, and kept them, were called the Nephites, or the people of Nephi, from that time forth; and it is they which have kept the records which are true of their people, and also the people of Lamanites. Now we will return again to the Amlicites, for they also had a |
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(see also annotated outline for the narrative of this text) - A 15 - 
Text 2a: Page 224 from the 1830 Book of Mormon (green = biblical parallels; red/magenta = Spalding words; blue = non-Spalding) - A 16 - 
Text 2b: Page 225 from the 1830 Book of Mormon (green = biblical parallels; red/magenta = Spalding words; blue = non-Spalding) - A 17 - 
Text 2c: Page 226 from the 1830 Book of Mormon (green = biblical parallels; red/magenta = Spalding words; blue = non-Spalding) |