{"id":104183,"date":"2024-03-10T18:58:07","date_gmt":"2024-03-11T00:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=104183"},"modified":"2024-03-11T07:37:35","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T13:37:35","slug":"one-investigators-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2024\/03\/one-investigators-story.html","title":{"rendered":"One Investigator’s Story"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Pres.<\/a>
Willard Richards (d. 1854)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For many years now, my most devoted atheist commenter here (never a Latter-day Saint) has repeatedly (and repetitiously) asserted that religious claims can neither be examined, tested, nor investigated. \u00a0(Which, I\u2019m guessing, is intended to show \u2014 in what might perhaps be a kind of folk echo or pop version of once-fashionable logical positivism \u2014 that such claims are nonsense. \u00a0He never actually formulates an argument, so I\u2019m left to speculate. \u00a0But that seems to be what\u2019s in the back of his mind.) \u00a0Let\u2019s call him \u201cgemli.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anyway, I\u2019ve lately been reading \u201cHere is Brigham . . .:: Brigham Young, the Years to 1844<\/em>, by S. Dilworth Young (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1964). \u00a0Elder Young (1897-1981) was a General Authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/a> from 1945 until his death. \u00a0He was also a great-great nephew of Brigham Young. \u00a0He wasn\u2019t a scholar, but he was a good writer. \u00a0And this particular book, which I had never read before, is both a pleasantly readable narrative and a richly informative one.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
Standing, during a break from work on the Interpreter Foundation\u2019s film \u201cSix Days in August,\u201d which is still in production: William Clayton (Gabe Casdorph), Willard Richards (Michael Pearson), Joseph Smith (Paul Wuthrich), George A. Smith (Noah Kershisnik), John Taylor (Chase Elwood), Mark Goodman (director\/producer), James Jordan (1st assistant director\/producer), Wilford Woodruff (Ted Bushman), Heber Kimball (Quinton Kappel), Brigham Young (John Donovan Wilson), and Lyman Wight (Paul Cartwright). Kneeling is Russell Richins (producer\/BTS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the light of recent exchanges with this ardent atheist, though \u2014 I won\u2019t call them a \u201cconversation\u201d \u2014 this passage struck me. \u00a0I read it earlier this afternoon:<\/p>\n

Brigham loved his family. \u00a0As the demands of his new calling [to the apostleship in 1836] allowed, he always tried his best to convert his cousins, his uncles and his aunts. \u00a0He had some success, but there were some of his kin who did not respond. \u00a0And at no time did any of them join without careful investigation.<\/p>\n

One of the most careful of these was Willard Richards, his first cousin. \u00a0Willard had always shown an independence of spirit in family affairs. \u00a0He had read a copy of the Book of Mormon and had been profoundly influenced by it. \u00a0Twice reading through it, with a strong spirit of testimony accompanying the reading, convinced him that he must know more about it and the people from which it came. \u00a0He commenced to arrange his affairs to visit Kirtland [the then headquarters of the Church, in Ohio], when he was stricken with palsy, which laid him low for a considerable period of time. \u00a0Finally he was sufficiently recovered to be able to begin his journey, and with his brother Levi as his physician he managed to arrive in Kirtland in October of 1836. \u00a0He sought out the house of Brigham and was promptly made welcome. \u00a0Not only must he enter the home, but he must stay there, Brigham insisted.<\/p>\n

Then followed nearly three months of most intense investigation. \u00a0Willard was well versed in the Bible and in the tenets of the Protestants of his day. \u00a0Every objection he raised was countered by Brigham; every doctrine was followed through and justified by the Bible; every error of doctrine common to the churches of the day was pointed out by Brigham, argued through, and the truth substituted in the mind of Willard. \u00a0Every night that Brigham could be at home the discussion continued. \u00a0And Willard talked to others. \u00a0He heard and measured the stories and arguments of the apostates. \u00a0He attended the services and heard the preaching of the brethren. \u00a0He gained close acquaintanceship with the new book, \u201cThe Doctrine and Covenants,\u201d having thus before his eyes the actual revelations of God and not just the \u201ctalk.\u201d \u00a0And he met Joseph Smith. \u00a0For his physical comfort it would have been easier for him had he been able to accept the Gospel immediately. \u00a0But that was not to be. \u00a0Brigham had taken a year or so to think things through. \u00a0Under Brigham\u2019s influence Willard was convinced in three months. \u00a0On December 30 he told Brigham he was ready for baptism.<\/p>\n

Physical comfort was not considered. \u00a0Heber C. Kimball with a few friends spent the afternoon cutting the ice on Chagrin Creek to prepare for the baptism and, once it was cleared, kept the water from freezing again. \u00a0In the late afternoon as soon as a large enough place had been cleared, Brigham led his cousin into the water, and between gasps for breath pronounced the required words: \u00a0\u201cWillard Richards, having been commissioned of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. \u00a0Amen.\u201d \u00a0Levi followed Willard into the waters of baptism. \u00a0If the usual custom was followed the two men were immediately confirmed members of the Church and ordained elders.<\/p>\n

Like Athena who sprang full grown from Zeus\u2019 head, so Willard Richards was in the work among the leaders almost overnight. \u00a0His ability and sincerity were immediately recognized. \u00a0He began to have responsibility almost at once. \u00a0He proved to be a powerful defender on the side of right. \u00a0(157-158)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"The<\/a>
A 19th-century depiction, by C.C.A. Christensen, of the martyrdom at Carthage Jail. Hyrum Smith lies already dead on the floor. Joseph Smith is at the left, in white. John Taylor (with a beard) and Willard Richards use their walking sticks in a vain attempt to ward off the guns of the mob who are rushing the door. \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I would like, though, to offer a little further information on Willard Richards.<\/p>\n

He was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, on June 24, 1804.<\/sup> At the age of four, he was injured in a fall and suffered some relatively minor but permanent physical disabilities. \u00a0(The \u201cpalsy\u201d that later delayed his journey to Kirtland, Ohio, for approximately a year was very possibly related to the persistent \u201ctremors\u201d that he suffered after his fall).<\/p>\n

Young Willard was very inquisitive and a voracious reader, and this, too, had its aftereffects. \u00a0For example, the local congregational minister resided in his parents\u2019 household for roughly six months \u2014 and Willard was denied admission to that church because of his tendency to ask apparently unwelcome questions.<\/sup><\/p>\n

He earned a teacher\u2019s certificate at age sixteen and taught school in both Chatham, New York, and Lanesborough, Massachusetts. \u00a0He also pursued studies in physical mechanics and science, and learned to play the clarinet. \u00a0At the age 27, he became an itinerant lecturer, traveling throughout New England in order to give lectures on various scientific subjects.<\/sup><\/p>\n

At the age of thirty, following the death of a sister, Willard decided to become a medical doctor. He studied at the Thomson Infirmary in Boston, where he focused on medications and herbal preparations. He then settled in Holliston, Massachusetts, where he practiced medicine.<\/sup><\/p>\n

Wikipedia says that Willard Richards was baptized on 31 December 1836, rather than on 30 December, and that he was ordained an elder on 6 March 1837.<\/p>\n

In any event, he was one of the first Latter-day Saint missionaries to Great Britain, where he served for a total of four years. \u00a0It was during his mission that he first married, and it was in England that he and his wife, Jennetta, welcomed (and lost) their firstborn child. \u00a0It was also in England that he was ordained an apostle on 14 April 1840, under the hands of Brigham Young (though at the direction of Joseph Smith).<\/p>\n

In Nauvoo, Illinois, Willard became both Joseph Smith\u2019s private secretary and Nauvoo Temple recorder in December 1841. \u00a0Twelve months later, in December 1842, he was appointed Church Historian and Recorder, a position that he held until his death. \u00a0He wrote a total of 1,884 pages of Joseph Smith\u2019s history, and what he wrote has been largely preserved in the so-called \u201cDocumentary History of the Church\u201d \u2014 more properly The History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints<\/em>, edited by B. H. Roberts.<\/p>\n

Willard Richards was with Joseph and Hyrum Smith at Carthage Jail, in Illinois, when they were murdered by an anti-Mormon mob and his fellow apostle, the Englishman John Taylor (the future third president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), was gravely wounded.<\/p>\n

On 27 December 1847, at Council Bluffs, Iowa, Elder Richards was called as second counselor in the newly reorganized First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. \u00a0He served in the First Presidency until his death in 1854, at only forty-nine years of age.<\/p>\n

In Utah Territory, Elder Richards served as the first editor-in-chief of the Deseret News<\/em><\/a>, as well as territorial secretary and president of the territorial council and postmaster of Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n

Willard Richards was clearly, it seems to me, an unusually bright and capable man and, despite another oft-repeated claim of my atheist commenter, he doesn\u2019t seem (despite being a theist) to have been obviously unaware of the reality of the world around him.<\/p>\n

Nor does he seem to have accepted the claims of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints without thought or investigation. \u00a0One might retort that his examination of those claims was insufficient, or that it didn\u2019t involve sufficiently fundamental questions, or that it wasn\u2019t informed by herpetology and other modern sciences. \u00a0But to pretend that he (and his cousin Brigham Young before him, who investigated for a year) simply swallowed whatever assertions were served up to them uncritically and without thought is plainly contradictory to their genuine history.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 For many years now, my most devoted atheist commenter here (never a Latter-day Saint) has repeatedly (and repetitiously) asserted that religious claims can neither be examined, tested, nor investigated. \u00a0(Which, I\u2019m guessing, is intended to show \u2014 in what might perhaps be a kind of folk echo or pop version of once-fashionable logical positivism […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":104192,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[292,5445,2905,55,37349,27579],"class_list":["post-104183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-brigham-young","tag-england","tag-latter-day-saint","tag-mormonism","tag-s-dilworth-young","tag-willard-richards"],"yoast_head":"\nOne Investigator's Story<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"For many years now, my most devoted 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