REV. ADAMSON BENTLEY ET AL.
Adamson Bentley was a Campbellite preacher, also, a brother-in-law to Sidney Rigdon, having married Rigdon's wife's sister. It appears that the parents of Mrs. Rigdon had settled upon her, or expressed intention of doing so, some considerable property; but the Rev. Bentley, by his influence with the Brooke family, diverted the inheritance designed for Mrs. Rigdon to his own wife;[53] so that in addition to the bitterness which ever attends on sectarian controversies, there must be added in the case of Mr. Bentley the bitterness of family feud; and if the claim of Sidney Rigdon be true, viz., that he was the injured party, in this controversy, there would be intensity of bitterness on the part of Bentley, since it is strangely true that men may forgive those who injure them, but they never forgive the innocence of those whom they wilfully injure. The Reverend Bentley was one of the bitterest of anti-Mormons and a warm supporter and advocate of the Spaulding theory of the origin of the Book of Mormon.[54] Of Mr. Alexander Campbell, Dr. Storrs and Dr. Austin we shall have occasion to speak later, when considering certain evidence Mr. Schroeder introduces from them. The point now contended for respecting these men who stand as sponsors for the Spaulding theory of the origin of the Book of Mormon, is simply this: that being ardent sectarian priests zealous for their particular brand of orthodoxy, which Mormonism opposed as false doctrine;[55] and adding to this cause of bitterness the further fact that in some instances these men felt the sense of personal grievance against Joseph Smith and the Mormon Church—renders them incompetent to be reliable witnesses on the questions at issue. All history, and the well known facts respecting human nature, warrant the conclusion that under such circumstances sectaries in support of their orthodoxy, and by way of reprisal for wrongs, real or imaginary, will stoop to invention of adverse testimony; to misrepresentation; to the creation of a case, or a hurtful theory; will distort facts; in a word will bear false witness. Such false or incompetent witnesses I declare, those parties to be on whom Mr. Schroeder relies for the support of his case.
[Footnote 53: Messenger and Advocate, p. 334-5. Also Evening and Morning Star, p. 301.]
[Footnote 54: See Millennial Harbinger, for 1844, p. 38, et seq. Also "Braden-Kelly Debate," pp. 124-5. ]
[Footnote 55: "Pearl of Great Price," "Writings of Joseph Smith," p. 85, (edition of 1902); also "History of the Church," Vol. I, pp. 5, 6. For an exposition and defense of this position see the present writer's "Defense of the Faith and the Saints," Vol. I, p. 26-27 and note.]
Let us take first this group of Conneaut witnesses, eight of them, used by Hurlburt, Howe, Bentley et al., and chiefly relied upon by Mr. Schroeder as supplying the "clinching"[56] evidence for the plagiarism of Spaulding's "Manuscript Found" by the author or authors of the Book of Mormon. They are the most important witnesses on the side of the Spaulding theory of the origin of the Book of Mormon; yet, by the application of the principle that recognizes the untrustworthiness of witnesses interested in opposing religious innovation; that recognizes the zeal of witnesses interested in supporting orthodoxy; that recognizes the bitterness which characterizes sectarian strife; as also the necessary vagueness of the state of mind of these witnesses in respect of those things of which they testify; as also by the consideration of many other things that will bear upon their statements—for the evidence and argument is to be cumulative—I hope to prove quite conclusively that these witnesses are incompetent, and their statements untrue.
[Footnote 56: See sub-heading in American Historical Magazine, Vol. II, No. 1, p. 70 et seq.]