--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Widtsoe, Osborne collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 10 number: 3 published: 1907-01 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Widtsoe, Osborne, "The Test of Section Sixty-Seven," *Improvement Era* 10, no. 3 (January 1907): 161–165.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1003unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera1003unse start_page: 161 end_page: 165 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1907-01) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera1003unse publication_year: 1907 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1907, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Test of Section Sixty-Seven IMPROVEMENT ERA. Vol. X. JANUARY. 1907. No. 3 THE TEST OF SECTION SIXTY-SEVEN. BY OSBORNE WIDTSOE, A. M., LATTER-DAY SAINTS' HIGH SCHOOL. Whatever Joseph Smith was or was not, he was certainly fear- less in all his assertions of divine inspiration. At a time when high religious excitement proclaimed belief in an immaterial God, and in the actual unity of an immaterial trinity, the boy-prophet declared that he had beheld a vision in which the Father and the Son had appeared to him, as two separate beings, and as beings of material existence in the form of man. Greatly elated over this incomparable vision, the young boy hastened to communicate the things he had learned to a distinguished friend, a sectarian min- ister; but to his utter astonishment, the boy was ridiculed and called a fool, then maligned and persecuted. Yet he had teen a vision, and fearlessly he remained true to that assertion. Again, not many years after, an angel visited him. Angels were, in Christian theology, however, supernatural beings of a bygone age. No one believed in them when Moroni came to Joseph. Yet, Joseph declared in soberness that an angel had visited him, and had restored the gospel of Christ. And for that fearless assertion, the young man was further persecuted. 162 IMPROVEMENT ERA. Then Joseph published a book in his young manhood. He called it the Book of Mormon, and said it was a translation of cer- tain ancient American records, revealed to him by divine power. The world stood aghast at his audacity. It tried to prove the book of spurious authorship. It tried to prove the book merely a feeble effort of a literary quack. It tried in every way to throw discredit upon the book. But Joseph Smith remained undaunted. The world could not intimidate him, and so it persecuted him. Then, in his maturity, this remarkable man declared himself to be a prophet of God. He claimed to hold divine communion with the Creator of the world, and issued revelation upon revela- tion to the Church and to its individual members. Unbelievers laughed in derision; enemies protested indignantly against such blasphemy; and even followers of the daring prophet began to doubt his inspiration. But intrepid as ever, the prophet main- tained that he was divinely called, and fearlessly gave to all the world an infallible test by which his revelations could be tried to the uttermost. It was in the year 1831. A conference had been convened to consider the advisability of compiling and publishing the numerous revelations—professedly given by God to Joseph Smith—which had hitherto been preserved only in manuscript form. The conference deemed it proper, and even necessary, to publish these revelatiors; but a discussion arose concerning the language in which they were expressed. Joseph Smith was not a master of elegant English. His education had not trained him in artistic expression. There were some men in the Church far better educated than the prophet. They criticized his language, and thought, apparently, that the revelations ought to be revised and expressed in a more nearly correct, and certainly a more lofty, style. Then the prophet again declared that he had received divine direction from God. 'And now I, the Lord," said the great I Am, "give unto you a testimony of the truth of these commandments which are lying before you. Your eyes have oeen upon my servant, Joseph Smith, Jr., and his language you have known, and his imperfections you have known; and you have sought in your hearts knowledge that you might express beyond his language; this you also know. Now seek ye out of the book of commandments, even the least, that is among them, and appoint him that is the most wise among you ; if there be any among you that shall make THE TEST OF SECTION SIXTY-SEVEN. 163 one like unto it, then ye are justified in saying that ye do not know that they are true; but if ye cannot make one like unto it, ye are under condemnation, if ye do not bear record that they are true." It was a daring revelation to give to a body of enlightened followers. It was even a hazardous thing to throw such a gauntlet before men like Oliver Cowdery, Sidney Rigdon and William E. M'Lellin. Think of Joseph Smith—the poor son of an impoverished farmer, who had learned in school little more than to read common print and to write his own name—daring William E. M'Lellin—who had taught school successfully in five states of the Union, and who was noted for a ready flow of good language—to write a single section like the least of the revelations in the book of command- ments! Was it unparalleled conceit and presumption that prompted such fearlessness, or was it implicit confidence in the unique quality of the revelations dictated by divine inspiration? Would not so bold a declaration tempt even men of superior wisdom to pit them- selves against the reputed man of God? Certainly, one man, at least, was brought low in the dust of humiliation because he presumed to apply the test and write a revelation in the name of the Lord: "After the foregoing was received," writes the Prophet, "William E. M'Lellin, as the wisest man, in his own estimation, having more learning than sense, endeavored to write a commandment like unto one of the least of the Lord's, but failed; it was an awful responsibility to write in the name of the Lord. The Elders and all present that witnessed this vain attempt of a man to imitate the language of Jesus Christ, renewed their faith in the fulness of the Gospel, and in the truth of the commandments and revelations which the Lord had given to the Church through my instrumentality; and the elders signified a willingness to bear testimony of their truth to all the world." Thus was the test applied in the lifetime of Joseph, and thus was his declaration of divine inspiration vindicated. No one since the day of William E. M'Lellin has seen fit to make an attempt like his. Yet, the test was not for M'Lellin's day only. When the book of Doctrine and Covenants was finally printed, in 1835, the revelation prescribing the divinely appointed test was included as Section Sixty-seven. And the section has retained its place from that day to this. Not a word has been changed; not one element of the meaning has been altered. As a test, it is just as 16 IMPROYEMENT ERA. applicable at present, and just as forceful, as in the time of William E. M'Lellin. Any one who doubts may apply the test to-day, to- morrow, or at any time; though, as the author of our new manual very wisely says, "it is a most dangerous thing to do." As a revelation containing an applicable test, section sixty- seven is, then, of especial interest and value to us. And the value is evident and important, even without making an actual applica- tion of the test. Let us suppose for a moment that Joseph Smith was never at any time divinely inspired—that he was nothing bet- ter than an unscrupulous impostor. It must be conceded then that he was a man of remarkable ability, though his education was limited. The Book of Mormon alone is a monumental work. In .all its pages, from the lesser plates of Nephi, from Mormon's abridgement of the greater plates, from the record of Zeniff, from the story of Jared and his brother, and from other interpolated parts, there is not a single contradiction, not a single absurd doc- trine or conclusion. On the other hand, the book shows a steady growth and development of the story; it reveals a philosophic system of theulo^y; it displays perfect harmony between it and the Holy Bible. Again, in the many revelations contained in the book of Doctrine and Covenants, there are no contradictory statements there is no obscuration of the doctrine of the Christ, there is no confusion in the duties of officers or members. On the contrary, the book is so clear that the whole Church is built up after its directions. There is no essential point of Church doctrine that was not revealed by Joseph Smith; there is no point of Church organization or discipline that was not provided for by Joseph Smith. Certainly then, if he were an impostcr, he must have been a man of clear insight, of remarkable analytical power; of wonder- ful executive ability. Now, if an impostor possessed the capability of successfully producing a work so complicated as the Book of Mormon, and of foisting upon the world a system of philosophy so nearly perfect as "Mormonism, " and further, of effecting a Church organization far more perfect than that of the German army, —is it credible that he would throw into the face of the world a test of his labors so simple, and yet so infallible, as that contained in section sixty- seven of the Doctrine and Covenants? Consider again the fact THE TEST OF SECTION SIXTY-SEVEN. 165 that Joseph Smith was an unlettered man, that he had little skill in literary art. Remember further, that many of his followers, in his own day, vere far more highly gifted in the way of the world than he. Would he then dare these men of superior literary ability to write a single revelation equal to the least of his? Remember also that we of t"day have better educ itional advantages than even the most favorably situated of Joseph's day. Would then an im- postor, so farsighted as Joseph Smith seems to have been, have left on record a challenge for all succeeding generations to write a single revelation equal to the least of his? Would not, rather, an intelligent impostor refrain from calling undue attention to his purported revelations? Would he not certainly exercise the ut- most care not to prescribe any test whereby those revelations might be detected as false? And if by any chance some foolish test had been allowed to creep into the would-be sacred word, would not the impostor or his friends eagerly seize the first op- portunity to expunge that test, and even the whole revelation in which it was contained? Certainly, a man who had planned his work so well as Joseph Smith—were he an impostor—planned his, would not be guilty of so gross an oversight as to leave among his printed revelations so easy a test as that in section sixty-seven. The conclusion of the whole matter has, of course, been long self-evident. We are grateful to Joseph Smith for fearlessly giving the unbelieving world a test that may be applied to his work at any time. But the fair-minded man will see that an application of the test is unnecessary. The very fearlessness of Joseph's asser- tion that no uninspired man can write a revelation equal to the least of his, is evidence of his good faith and of his divine assurance. No mere impostor would dare place so unqualified a challenge be- fore all the world. Salt Lake City, Utah.