Murray, Utah

November 4, 1973

Dear Lowry and Florence,

It has been a long time since I wrote you; in the meantime I have received three letters from you, which I really appreciated. In explanation of my neglect, all I can say is that since returning from the hospital I have had so much trouble with my stomach that I have not been able to bring myself to sit down to the typewriter and put my mind to writing.

. . .

One reason that I did not begin immediately to read your stories is that I am now reading a document that I have been looking for for many years, and which I shall only have in my hands for a few more days. You, no doubt, remember B. H. Roberts' comparison of the Book of Mormon with "A View of the Hebrews" by Ethan Smith, which he called "Parallels". I am not certain that you and I have ever mentioned this comparison, but it was first given to me by Guy C. Wilson while I was at BYU.

This Ethan Allen book was published near Joseph Smith's home town in 1823, and when B. H. saw and read it, he wrote this comparison and let some of his friends have copies. I have had my copy since I was at BYU, as I said, and when Antoine died I found three copies among his papers. In the meantime, I had learned from my friend Burton Musser that B. H. had written a more extensive discussion of this matter. Burton told me that Benjamin Roberts, B. H.'s son, had shown him this study, and that it was really something startling. Burton told me that Ben Roberts had intended to publish this second article about Ethan Smith's book, but the Church leaders, after a long argument, convinced him that it would not be the best thing to do.

Last week I called a lawyer here named Brigham E. Roberts, whom I supposed must be a grandson of B. H., and asked him if he had ever heard of this manuscript of his grandfather. To my surprise, he told me that he had heard of, in fact had it in his files at his office. I went up to visit with Brigham E., and he showed the manuscript to me. After about an hour of persuasion, he consented to let me have the manuscript with a promise that I would return it within a week or ten days, in the meantime not letting it out of my hands. I made him this promise and I now have it here and am reading it and taking notes on every chapter.

This book, if you may call it that, is an expansion of "The Parallels". While "The Parallels" is 13 pages, the new treatise is 246 pages, divided into 15 chapters. It is what I would call a sound, objective study of Ethan Smith's book as it might possibly be what Roberts called the "ground-plan" for the Book of Mormon. When the Church people talked Ben Roberts out of publishing this material, they told him that to publish would ruin his father's reputation as a historian and as a "defender of the Church." In my opinion, the reverse is true. This book would establish him as an honest historian, really seeking the truth, no matter what it did to his other works.

I sent a copy of "The Parallels" to Seth Shaw, and after he had read it he said, "I'm surprised that with his reputation as a historian he didn't revise his earlier writings or at least bring this evidence to light." I am sure that had B. H. Roberts lived he would have published this work. It certainly does justify our respect for him as a really honest historian.

In discussing the Ethan Smith book, B. H., in his opening chapter says, "At the time I made [?] for my New Witnesses for God the survey of the literature on American Antiquities, traditions, origins, etc., available to Joseph Smith and his associates, this work of Priest's (The Wonders of Nature and Providence) was unknown to me; as was also the work by Ethan Smith, 'View of the Hebrews', except by report of it, and as being in my hands but a few minutes." Later on in the same chapter, he says, "...that Joseph Smith was in contact with that one book, at least, with which he was acquainted, could have furnished structural outlines for the Book of Mormon: and that Joseph was possessed of such certain imaginative powers as would make it quite within [illegible] the lines of possibility that the Book of Mormon would have been produced in that way.

When I finish reading this book, I shall type up my notes and have them zeroxed so that some of my friends can see them. I am also going to try to convince Brigham E. that the material, if not published should, at least be zeroxed and placed in our libraries where students could see it.