From Elder George Reynolds of the First Council of the Seventy in 1902: "It is written by a reverend gentleman named Ethan Smith, the pastor of a church in Poultney, Vermont, and its second edition, the one in our possession, was issued in April, 1825: that is before the sacred plates containing Mormon's record were placed in the Prophet Joseph Smith's hands by the Angel Moroni for translation; this latter important event having taken place in September, 1827. "Mr. Smith, also, in more than one place, refers to a tradition among the various tribes that in former times they possessed a book of great value, which they had lost, but which would at some time be restored to them. Speaking of these Indians he says: "'They tell you that Johewah (Jehovah) once chose their nation from all the rest of mankind, to be a peculiar people. That a book which God gave was once theirs, and then things were well with them. But other people got it from them, and then they fell under the displeasure of the Great Spirit: but that they shall at some time regain it. They inform you that some of their fathers once had a spirit to foretell future events, and to work miracles.' "This is exactly the story, from the Lamanite standpoint, which the Book of Mormon records." 227 pages
