Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Nauvoo Polygamy/Chapter 2a

Chapter 2

A FAIR Analysis of: Criticism of Mormonism/Books A work by author: George D. Smith

Chapter 3

Claims made in "Chapter 2a: Comfort me now"

Page	Claim	Response	Author's sources
108	"Sarah Pratt told…Wyl…'There was an old Woman called Durfee…to keep her quiet, he admitted her to the secret blessings of celestial bliss—she boasted here in Salt Lake of having been one of Joseph Smith's wives."	The author here follows Compton in misreading the Wyl data. Richard Anderson and Scott Faulring argue that In Sacred Loneliness misleads the reader by claiming that “Sarah Pratt mentions that she heard a Mrs. Durfee in Salt Lake City profess to have been one of Smith’s wives.” But this changes the actual report of Sarah’s comments on Mrs. Durfee: “I don’t think she was ever sealed to him, though it may have been the case after Joseph’s death. . . . At all events, she boasted here in Salt Lake of having been one of Joseph’s wives.” If anything these data argue that Durfee was aware of and involved in promoting and teaching plural marriage but was not necessarily sealed to Joseph in life. Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Misrepresentation of sources  [needs work] Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)	Wyl, Mormon Portraits, 54.
110-111	"When Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798 and exposed the world to then-indecipherable ancient writings, Europe and the United States became fascinated with Egyptian artifacts. Egyptian hieroglyphics, like the origin of Native American tribes, were mysteries of the times, sometimes regarded as clues to Indian Origins." "Joseph Smith had grown up…during the time when public interest in the enigmatic Egyptians was burgeoning. The Manchester, New York, rental library, within five miles of the Smith family farm, had acquired a volume on Napoleon."	Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Napoleon's Egyptian discoveries	Egyptian influence? (edit) Environmental explanations (edit)
111	"This is not to suggest that Smith necessarily visited the library…."	So why mention it if not to give that impression? It is irrelevant to Joseph Smith's thought or career.	Joseph Smith and the Manchester (New York) Library," BYU Studies 22 (Summer 1982): 333-56.
111	"…but from the age of ten…to about age twenty-two (December 1827) when he began dictating the Book of Mormon, published accounts of Napoleon and his foray into Egypt would have been available in books, periodicals, and possibly tracts."	The author offers us only speculation, with no evidence that Joseph paid any attention to such matters. This is the fallacy of probability. Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Napoleon's Egyptian discoveries	No source provided. Fallacy of probability (edit)
110 – 111 n. 150	[Of the Chandler papyri] Joseph "translated some of the hieroglyphics by means of his white seer stone to produce 'an alphabet…[and] grammar of the Egyptian language' through July 1835."	The author here acts as if a highly debated matter is settled. It is not at all clear that Joseph's seer stone was used "to produce" the alphabet and grammar. Rather, the alphabet and grammar may have been an attempt by some (possibly including Joseph) to 'reverse-engineer' a translation of Egyptian from the divine translation given of the Book of Abraham. Kirtland_Egyptian_Papers	History of the Church 2:235-36, 238.
112	A scholar in 1823 "rightly concluded that these American [Indian] symbols 'appear to have had little or nothing in common with those of the Egyptians.'"	This is of no relevance to Joseph Smith unless we are to assume that Joseph taught that American writing could be used to illuminate ancient Egyptian. The Book of Mormon explicitly rejects any such idea, saying that "we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech…. none other people knoweth our language; and because that none other people knoweth our language, therefore he hath prepared means for the interpretation thereof" (Mormon 9꞉31,34). The author should also consider consulting scholarship more recent than 1823 if he wishes to know whether there are any links between Old World and New World languages. Hebrew_and_Native_American_languages	Thomas Young, An Account of Some Recent Discoveries in Hieroglyphic Literature and Egyptian Antiquities (London: John Murray, 1823).
112	"As we consider Joseph Smith's new religious texts in early 1842, we should review what was known of the language of ancient Egyptian, not only in 1823 when Smith began to anticipate the Book of Mormon's 'reformed Egyptian records,' but later in the 1830s and 1840s when he prepared his second Egyptian scripture, the Book of Abraham."	The author is again presuming that studies of ancient Egyptian would have had any relevance for the Book of Mormon records—yet the Book of Mormon explicitly says they would not. Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Assumptions and presumptions	No source provided.
112	"Joseph Smith… [made] the association of Native American pictographs with 'reformed Egyptian.'"	What evidence is there of this?	No source provided.
112	"Smith's association of these unrelated cultures [Egypt and the New World] simply reflected the prevailing misperceptions of the pre- to mid-nineteenth century."	Joseph's scriptural texts associated only a small group from the Old World with the New. His 1842 scriptures had nothing at all to do with the New World. That Joseph's own personal opinions may have reflected his time is irrelevant, unless we presume at the outset (as the author does) that the Book of Mormon was a fabrication by Joseph. If it was not, then his personal views are irrelevant. Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Assumptions and presumptions	No source provided. Environmental explanations (edit)
113	"The first ancient scripture Smith presented since the Book of Mormon was the Book of Abraham."	This claim is false. Joseph had also produced a Book of Moses and a Book of Enoch (begun June 1830) as part of his revision of the King James Bible. These materials, however, did not rely on a modification of any extant Bible text. See: here, here, and here.	No source provided.  History unclear or in error
113 n. 157	The JST "altered over 3,400 verses but left the deities singular and in a Trinitarian format."	Since the original Bible has no Nicene Trinitarian format, it would be difficult to Joseph to leave it there. If The author does not mean a Nicene Trinity, then it would be strange for Joseph to alter it, since the Book of Mormon and Book of Abraham all teach a non-Nicene trinitarianism. Godhead_and_the_Trinity The Book of Moses (Moses 1꞉3,6,13,24,32-33, Moses 2꞉1, Moses 4꞉2-3,28) also described the distinction between Father and Son in non-Nicene terms, as did the Enoch material (Moses 5꞉57, Moses 6꞉51-52,57,59,66, Moses 7꞉27,39), long pre-dating the Book of Abraham (Summer-Winter 1830). Joseph was also teaching a non-Nicene Trinitarianism long before 1842: 1830 statement about seeing "God" Only one Personage appears in the 1832 account Lack of contemporary Father and Son vision until 1838? The author wants to display an evolution in Joseph's views, but he has not done the necessary legwork. He merely presumes, rather than demonstrates. Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Assumptions and presumptions	Quinn, Mormon Hierarchy: Origins, 620.
114	"The prophet coalesced astronomy, biblical mystery, ancient Egyptian writing, and Masonic ritual into portentous ceremony for his followers."	The author presumes that all these were sources for the temple endowment, and that Joseph combined them. Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Loaded and prejudicial language Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mind reading Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Napoleon's Egyptian discoveries	No source provided. Temple (edit) Environmental explanations (edit) Egyptian influence? (edit)
114	"The spring of 1842 was also the time when John C. Bennett began to separate himself from Smith…."	Bennett did not separate himself, Joseph forced Bennett out because of his crimes. John C. Bennett	No source provided.  History unclear or in error John C. Bennett (edit)
116	Marinda Johnson "met Joseph while he was retranslating the Bible with Sidney Rigdon in her parents' home in 1831."	The author again does not tell us that Marinda testified against the version of Joseph's mobbing which he pushes on p. 44. Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)	No source provided. Womanizing & romance (edit)
117-118	Orson Hyde "was reportedly 'furious'" with Joseph's plural marriage doctrine.	Cites Ann Eliza Young, but fails to tell the reader there are three other versions, each of which is different and hostile. Ann Eliza’s report of anger is also suspect. Later in the same work cited by the author, she describes Hyde “in a furious passion” because “he thought it no harm for him to win the affection of another man’s wife, . . . but he did not propose having his rights interfered with even by the holy Prophet whose teachings he so implicitly followed.” Yet Orson did not begin practicing plural marriage until after he knew of Marinda’s sealing to Joseph. Despite the hostile reports of Orson Hyde’s anger, there are no contemporary accounts of problems between Orson and Joseph, who repeatedly dined with the Hydes following Orson’s return from Palestine. While it is possible that his initial reaction was heated, this perspective derives entirely from authors writing scandalous exposés of the Mormons long after the fact. Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)	Ann Eliza Young, Wife Number Nineteen, 324–26.
119	"[A]fter John C. Bennett's disagreement with Smith, the record of his celestial marriages was apparently expunged."	The author is arguing from negative evidence—he claims that the absence of any record of Bennett's "marriages" is proof that the Church or Joseph suppressed them! He is presuming that Bennett's "marriages" were at one time sanctioned by Joseph. All the evidence indicates that Joseph was upset whenever Bennett's behavior came to his attention. John C. Bennett Censorship_and_revision_of_LDS_history Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Censorship	No source provided. John C. Bennett (edit) Censorship of Church History (edit)
119	"Smith told Bennett he could not withdraw from the church because he had been 'disfellowshipped' two weeks before on May 11. This apparent backdating was an attempt to discredit Bennett."	The author has mentioned this before. He has now adopted Bennett's version completely, with no hint that there is more to the story. [Already addressed above, see pp. 65, 70, 72-73.]	No source provided.  History unclear or in error John C. Bennett (edit)
122	"In Bennett's first letter…he reported that Smith 'attempted to seduce Miss Nany Rigdon,'…."	John C. Bennett	Bennett to Sangamo Journal, June 27, 1842. John C. Bennett (edit)
123-125	Bennett's version of the Sarah Pratt episode	John C. Bennett	John C. Bennett (edit)
129-134	Emma Smith pushing Eliza Snow down the stairs	Emma, Eliza, and the stairs Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)	Emma, Eliza & stairs (edit)
131-132	"…historian Fawn M. Brodie thought the documentation was strong enough to include it in her biography of Smith."	Fawn Brodie's evidentiary standard was often depressingly low. She was certain that Oliver Buell was Joseph's son (based on photographic evidence) but DNA evidence has resoundingly refuted her. Emma, Eliza, and the stairs Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)	Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 470–71. ( Index of claims ) Emma, Eliza & stairs (edit) Presendia Buell (edit)
131 n. 195	Smith cites BYU Studies on Emma and Eliza, but does not disclose that those authors find that the story is not plausible.	"“But where are we? Faced with a folk legend, with genuine documents that tell no tales, and dubious ones that contradict themselves and the contemporary accounts, perhaps it is best for us to respond as we must to many paradoxes of our history: consider thoughtfully and then place all the evidence carefully on the shelf, awaiting further documentation, or the Millennium, whichever should come first." – citation at right. Emma, Eliza, and the stairs Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)	Maureen Ursenbach Beecher et al., “Emma and Eliza and the Stairs,” BYU Studies 22/1 (Fall 1982): 86–96. Emma, Eliza & stairs (edit)
132	Smith cites Newel and Avery, Mormon Enigma without acknowledging or engaging their arguments against the story of Emma and Eliza.	The statement that Eliza carried Joseph’s unborn child and lost it [due to an attack by Emma] is brought into question by Eliza’s own journal. While her Victorian reticence probably would have precluded mention of her own pregnancy, if she were indeed carrying Joseph’s child, other evidence in the journal indicates that she may not have been pregnant. Eliza’s brother Lorenzo indicated that by the time she married Joseph, she was “beyond the condition of raising a family.” Also if she was “heavy with child” as the Rich account states, she would not have been teaching school, for even legally married women usually went into seclusion when their pregnancies became obvious. Eliza continued to teach school for a month after her abrupt departure from the Smith household. Her own class attendance record shows that she did not miss a day during the months she taught the Smith children, which would not have been probable had she suffered a miscarriage. Emma, Eliza, and the stairs Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)	Newell and Avery, Mormon Enigma, 134. Emma, Eliza & stairs (edit)
133	"Most convincing of all is to think that these stories [about Emma] were circulating widely and Eliza never bothered to clarify or refute them."	Uncorrected rumor or gossip is more convincing than the absence of diary or behavioral evidence for a pregnancy as outlined by Newel and Avery (see previous)? If I do not rebut an unfounded rumor, does this mean I give it my consent? This seems a strange standard. Joseph and the members of the church tried to rebut the rumors spread by the Hurlbut-Howe affidavits, yet the author treats them as valuable insights. The Saints, it seems, are damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Emma, Eliza, and the stairs Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)	No source provided. Emma, Eliza & stairs (edit)
137	"The History of the Church reports the day's activities…without a hint of a wedding" to Sarah Ann Whitney.	Censorship_and_revision_of_LDS_history Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Censorship	No source provided. Censorship of Church History (edit)
138	"Three weeks after the wedding, Joseph took steps to spend some time with his newest bride."	Again, The author fails to acknowledge that Joseph wanted Sarah Ann and her parents with her. Joseph Smith and polygamy/"Love letters" Misrepresentation of sources—Letter to Whitneys Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Loaded and prejudicial language Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mind reading Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Romance Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)	No source provided. Whitney "love letter" (edit)
139	"In an extraordinary move, the Nauvoo City Council issued an ordinance limiting the power of state courts and claiming the right to review and dismiss future writs."	Nauvoo city charter	Roberts, Comprehensive History 2:468-69. Nauvoo city charter (edit)
142	"It was the ninth night of Joseph's concealment, and Emma had visited him three times, written him several letters, and penned at least one letter on his behalf…For his part, Joseph's private note about his love for Emma was so endearing it found its way into the official church history. In it, he vowed to be hers 'forevermore.' Yet within this context of reassurance and intimacy, a few hours later the same day, even while Joseph was still in grave danger and when secrecy was of the utmost urgency, he made complicated arrangements for a visit from his fifteenth plural wife, Sarah Ann Whitney."	Joseph’s behavior is then pictured as callous toward Emma and also as evidence of an almost insatiable sexual hunger. Yet again, The author does not acknowledge that Joseph wants all the Whitneys there. Joseph Smith and polygamy/"Love letters" Misrepresentation of sources—Letter to Whitneys Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Loaded and prejudicial language Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mind reading Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Romance Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)	Whitney "love letter" (edit)
142-143	"Smith urged his seventeen-year-old bride to 'come to night' and 'comfort' him—but only if Emma had not returned….Joseph judiciously addressed the latter to 'Brother, and Sister, Whitney, and &c."	Despite mentioning (finally!) that the letter is addressed to all three Whitneys, the author continues to insist that Sarah Ann is the one who is to "come" and "comfort" him. He here (p. 143) reproduces the letter's full text (having used it at least four times to push his reading of Joseph needing Sarah to "comfort" him), but does not address the reason why Joseph sought a visit with his plural wife and her parents: to “tell you all my plans . . . [and] to git the fulness of my blessings sealed upon our heads, &c.” Joseph Smith and polygamy/"Love letters" Misrepresentation of sources—Letter to Whitneys Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Loaded and prejudicial language Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mind reading Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Romance Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review) Small wonder that Joseph didn’t want a hostile Emma present while trying to administer what he and the Whitneys regarded as sacred ordinances. And, it is unsurprising that he considered a single private room sufficient for the purposes for which he summoned his plural wife and her parents. Smith commonly exploits the presentist fallacy in the matter of Joseph's wives' ages. Age of wives Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Presentism	Whitney "love letter" (edit) Ages of wives (edit)
147	"Invites Whitneys to visit, Sarah Ann to 'comfort me' if Emma not there. Invitation accepted."	Having just reproduced the letter, Smith again insists that Sarah Ann is the one to "comfort" Joseph, even though the letter says nothing of the sort. Smith does not indicate how he knows the invitation was accepted. We do know that the Whitneys were sealed in eternal marriage three days later. But, The author does not tell us that either. Joseph Smith and polygamy/"Love letters" Misrepresentation of sources—Letter to Whitneys Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Loaded and prejudicial language Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mind reading Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Romance Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)	No source provided. Whitney "love letter" (edit)
147–154	Nancy Rigdon episode	John C. Bennett	John C. Bennett (edit)
149	[Sidney Rigdon] "was in many ways a mentor to Joseph."	What evidence is there of this? Joseph was always in charge and always the senior partner, though he was happy to make use of Rigdon's skills as an orator. Joseph had published the Book of Mormon and had the Church well established before Rigdon appeared. He did not need Sidney to "mentor" him at all.	No source provided.
149	Sidney Rigdon "was not someone Joseph felt comfortable approaching to ask for his daughter's hand in polygamy. So Joseph appealed to the young woman directly."	Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mind reading John C. Bennett	No source provided. John C. Bennett (edit)
149	"For some reason, Marinda [Johnson Hyde] stayed [in the same house as] Apostle Willard Richards, whose wife, Jennetta, was in Massachusetts….Although the two may have lived in separate parts of the building…their living arrangements seemed to be an open scandal."	Maybe wiki this?	Citation error History of the Church 4:467 Bennett, History of the Saints, 241; [error! The correct page is 243 for the claim of scandal.] Ebenezer Robinson, The Return (Oct 1890): 347 [actually most is on p. 346]. (Did he copy these from Van Wagoner, Sidney Rigdon, who uses the same page numbers?)
154	"…both Nancy [Rigdon] and Martha [Brotherton] were…isolated in a locked room during the persuasive effort."	Joseph Smith and polygamy/Women locked in a room John C. Bennett	No source provided.
155	"As if Sarah Ann Whitney's liaison were not enough…another marriage took place…."	The author persists with Sarah Ann Whitney and "liaison" fiction. Joseph Smith and polygamy/"Love letters" Misrepresentation of sources—Letter to Whitneys Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Loaded and prejudicial language Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mind reading Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Romance Gregory L. Smith, A review of Nauvoo Polygamy:...but we called it celestial marriage by George D. Smith. FARMS Review, Vol. 20, Issue 2. (Detailed book review)	No source provided. Whitney "love letter" (edit)