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Since ordinary means were beyond his power, how did he acquire his knowledge? How was he able to look into the future, and reveal its secrets? "Ah," says a new philosopher, "I have it, he was epileptic, and had trances, during which his visions appeared;" and the philosopher proceeds to write a book proving his theory to be correct.[A] What a pitiful attempt to push the question into the region of the unknown; and at the same time, what a splendid acknowledgment of the fact that the life and labors of Joseph Smith transcend ordinary human explanations! Do epileptics, in their phantasms, see orderly systems of truth, which are carried into effect in their days of health and sanity? Does the epileptic see the truth that shall be revealed in the coming ages, and teach it with a stately soberness of language which admits of no uncertainty? If so, then might the race well long for the time when the great gift of healthful, reasoning imagination shall be exchanged for the ghastly disease of epilepsy. Folly of follies! The life, writings and works of Joseph Smith are healthy, above all else; no trace of physical, or mental, or spiritual disease can be found in them. His teachings are given as eternal truths revealed by the God of nature; and they rise loftily above the vague theorizings of the investigator, or the uncertain gibberish of the diseased intellect. Clearness, reason, logic in method and execution, characterize the teachings and works of Joseph Smith. Have such qualities ever indicated disease?Share
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