Neither the Force of Logic nor the Logic of Force

I rejoice with you, my brethren and sisters, in having the opportunity this morning of listening to the remarks and testimonies of the brethren who have preceded me, and of listening to the sweet singing of our college choir, and of taking part in these meetings connected with the eightieth anniversary of the organization of the Church. Prof. Geo. Trumbull Ladd, professor of moral philosophy and metaphysics of Yale University, in the introductory preface of a recent work on Mormonism, makes the statement that "the rise and growth of Mormonism is one of the most remarkable phenomena of the nineteenth century," and that "it is deserving of thorough investigation whether the investigation be conducted from the point of view of the sociologist, the psychologist or the student of politics or of religion." Mormonism has been investigated, not only by those who are its friends and adherents, but also by those who have sought to find some satisfactory explanation of its origin other than the true one that it is of divine founding. Thus far, these counter theories or efforts to account for the introduction of Mormonism upon some hypothesis other than the one given by Joseph Smith, have not received any considerable number of adherents to any particular theory. There was the Spaulding theory, and that has been so thoroughly exploded that you can scarcely find any one, I apprehend, in this enlightened age who thinks the Spaulding theory satisfactorily accounts for the Book of Mormon and Mormonism. ¶

Then there is the theory that Sidney Rigdon was the author of the Book of Mormon, and the real genius and founder of Mormonism; and that, I suppose, has also very few adherents. Of course we Latter-day Saints know that as a matter of fact Sidney Rigdon had nothing to do with the origin of Mormonism, had no knowledge of it, and never met the Prophet or his followers until after the Book of Mormon had been published. ¶

Some one suggested that the success of early Mormonism was due to choice of men, that "as Harris had supplied the money, so Pratt supplied the eloquence, and Rigdon the brains," but no one believes such nonsense. The antithesis, though somewhat striking, receives the scoff of the investigator who realizes that Joseph Smith was a power, had established this work, and was directing it with a master hand, before making the acquaintance of Rigdon or the Pratts. ¶

I believe that the world is coming today to realize as never before the sincerity of the direct witnesses to the Book of Mormon. Truths are established either by direct or circumstantial evidence. It is no light task to fabricate or formulate a false theory, or a falsehood, and successfully palm it off as the truth. My reading of the history of human experience in this respect teaches me that it is a very difficult thing to fabricate even the smallest item and have it established as the truth; that it is even difficult to forge so much as a downward stroke of the pen or add a syllable to a word; for the reason that they do not conform to the truth, and are not in harmony with things as they exist. And so it would have been an impossibility for Joseph Smith, the Prophet to have acted a false and fictitious part for nearly a quarter of a century without his fellowmen being able to detect the imposture. As a recent illustration of the difficulty of a person palming off falsehood successfully upon the people for any considerable length of time, take the case of Dr. Frederick A. Cook. No doubt Dr. Cook thought it would be an easy matter to put forth the false statement that he had been to the north pole, and have it believed. It would not be expected that he would erect a monument at the north pole; a monument of rock, if you please, such as our surveyors sometimes place upon the summit of mountain tops which they scale. It would not be expected that he would leave any record there that other explorers might afterwards find to prove beyond all doubt that he had been there. It would not be expected that he would leave a trail in the snow or ice, that others might trace. And so Dr. Cook thought it would be an easy matter to mislead the world as to where he had traveled. Even the two representatives of a half-civilized race who were with him would not be able to determine, with any degree of certainty, how far north he went. They were not sufficiently acquainted with astronomy or astronomical observations to know just how far they had traveled or what ground they had covered. So no doubt he thought it would be an easy matter to deceive the public in that respect. But he was not able to deceive the one board of learned men in the north country to whom he presented the evidences of his trip; much less could he deceive the entire public. ¶

Mormonism has been before the world now for these eighty years, and thus far, as expressed by Ridpath, the historian, in his history of the world, "It has never succumbed to the force of logic nor to the logic of force." And today, men investigating it realize the sincerity of the direct witnesses to the founding of Mormonism. They know that the three witnesses would not have remained true to their testimony if it had been based upon fraud or collusion with the prophet, just as they know that the prophet would not have dared to break with the witnesses and expel them from the Church for their failure to live up to the strict requirements and discipline of the Church, if there had been any collusion between the witnesses and himself. And so with the eight witnesses. There were enough of them who failed to live according to the rigid discipline of the Church and who were disfellowshipped to demonstrate that there was no collusion between them and the prophet. A chance acquaintance of mine, in Idaho, had a theory with reference to our missionary system, and why thousands of our young men, at the call of the Church, would go upon missions. He thought they had been hypnotized. I soon convinced him of his error. You may examine so-called Mormonism in the light of mesmerism, hypnotism, or any other form of psychological phenomena, and still you will find no satisfactory explanation of Mormonism except that given by the Prophet Joseph Smith. In recent times Mormonism is being investigated from the point of view of the psychologist. We welcome such study as we have welcomed every other attempt to scrutinize and investigate to the fullest the claims of Mormonism. ¶

In addition to the testimony of the three and of the eight witnesses, we have an overwhelming array of circumstantial evidence in favor of the divine founding of Mormonism. We have the fact that the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants and the organization of the Church dovetail with all truth, are in harmony with the Jewish scriptures, with the -learning and revelations of the past; and the fact that the Book of Mormon is in harmony with the archaeology of the American continent, with the philology and the ethnology and all the other ologies that have any connection with these matters. All these sciences corroborate and dovetail and unite in support of the claim of the Book of Mormon to be a true history. It is useless to attempt to explain away the testimony of the dozen or more men, direct witnesses to the Book of Mormon, upon any of these modern hypotheses, because not one of these theories can be pursued satisfactorily for any length of time without disclosing the futility and the weakness of the same to account for the phenomena connected with the growth and establishment of our Church. ¶

I rejoice with you in the splendid growth that Mormonism has achieved in the few years of its existence, the largest part of that history being within the easy remembrance of the largest part of this audience. During this time it has grown from a Church composed of six individuals to an organization of 400,000 or more members. And if in the next eighty years there is a corresponding ratio of increase in membership in the Church, what a power Mormonism will be in the world. It is today a leaven that is working upon the lump of humanity. The doctrines of Mormonism of yesterday that were unpopular are becoming the popular doctrines of religious creeds today; and gradually the truth is being established, and truth and knowledge are being extended upon the face of the earth and established in the hearts and minds of the children of our Father. ¶

May the Lord bless us, my brethren and sisters, and enable us to be true and steadfast in this work, I ask in the name of Jesus. Amen. ¶