Jonathan Neville’s latest quote proves nothing
Always in search of quotations that will reinforce his assertion that the Book of Mormon took place in the American Midwest, on May 10, 2021, Jonathan Neville blogged a quotation from the early Latter-day Saint newspaper Times and Seasons, volume 6, number 20, page 1076. Here is an extract of the pertinent portion of the quotation:
The quote continues with one of the accounts of the discovery of the remains of Zelph, a story from Church history that is one of key articles of faith for Heartlanders.
Neville’s blog post includes an image from the page of the Times and Seasons where this quote appeared. He did not inform his readers who the author of the quote was, nor did he provide a link to that issue of the Times and Seasons so that readers could discover for themselves who wrote it. Without this context, an innocent reader could incorrectly assume that the quotation was from Joseph Smith.
The quotation was from a letter written by A. Sidney Gilbert, William W. Phelps, and Edward Partridge, all three of them great men of the Restoration, but none of them prophets, seers, and revelators.
Neville’s quote demonstrates nothing, other than early members of the Church believed in a hemispheric Book of Mormon geography, in which its events took place over the entirety of North and South America. It does not provide a shred of evidence for the Heartland theory.
—Peter Pan
Sunday, June 1st, 1834.…(The boldface type in Neville’s.)
Our enemies had threatened that we should not cross the Illinois river, but on Monday the 2nd we were ferried over without any difficulty. The ferryman counted and declared there were five hundred of us; yet our true number was only about one hundred and fifty. Our company had been increased since our departure from Kirtland, by volunteers from different branches of the church through which we had passed.
We encamped on the bank of the river until Tuesday the 3rd during our travels we visited several of the mounds which had been thrown up be the ancient inhabitants of this county, Nephites, Lamanites, &c., and this morning I went up on a high mound, near the river, accompanied by the brethren. From this mound we could overlook the tops of the trees and view the prairie on each side of the river as far as our vision could extend, and the scenery was truly delightful.
The quote continues with one of the accounts of the discovery of the remains of Zelph, a story from Church history that is one of key articles of faith for Heartlanders.
Neville’s blog post includes an image from the page of the Times and Seasons where this quote appeared. He did not inform his readers who the author of the quote was, nor did he provide a link to that issue of the Times and Seasons so that readers could discover for themselves who wrote it. Without this context, an innocent reader could incorrectly assume that the quotation was from Joseph Smith.
The quotation was from a letter written by A. Sidney Gilbert, William W. Phelps, and Edward Partridge, all three of them great men of the Restoration, but none of them prophets, seers, and revelators.Neville’s quote demonstrates nothing, other than early members of the Church believed in a hemispheric Book of Mormon geography, in which its events took place over the entirety of North and South America. It does not provide a shred of evidence for the Heartland theory.
—Peter Pan
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Ironically, Neville is like the ferryman in this quote who miscounted and distorted reality so grossly.
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