In the May 12, 1888 issue of the RLDS periodical, The Saints’ Herald, we read the following scathing denouncement of the claim Joseph Smith used a seer stone to translate the plates:
Some of those who claim to be the
friends of Joseph Smith and to believe in his mission as a prophet, Seer, and
translator, would have us believe that, after surrendering the Urim and
Thummim, a “Seer Stone” was given to him to supply the place thereof. . . .
This, when boiled down, would stand about thus:—Joseph Smith obtained a Seer
stone by which the Book of Mormon, as we now possess it, was translated; that
after the translation was completed, Joseph Smith gave the Seer stone to Oliver
Cowdery; that, upon the death of Oliver Cowdery, the Seer stone passed into the
possession of the president of the Utah Mormon Church.
The radical opposers of the Book
of Mormon, who are constantly engaged in trying to prove the whole business of
so-called Mormonism, to be a cheat, a humbug and a fraud, tell us that, while a
Mr. Chase was digging a well, a 'Peep stone' was found, and that Joseph Smith,
stole it from Mr. Chase's child. Was I compelled to believe in one or the other
of these stories, I think I should prefer the 'Peep stone,' in lieu of the Seer
stone. But I have said, and now say, if it can be established that the Book
of Mormon was translated by any other means than the Urim and Thimmim, through
and by the gift of God, then I would abandon the book and have nothing more to
do with it. Do not be startled, my reader, for this is no hasty conclusion,
but the result of diligent, careful and prayerful research during the past
twenty-two years and also of having met in public discussion several able
ministers upon the question of the divine authenticity of the book. All these
have led me to the conclusions I now hold to. (R.M. Elvin, "Nephite
Record.—No. 2," The Saints' Herald 35, no. 19 [May 12, 1888]:
298, emphasis in bold added)
Such struck me of interest as it mirrors the attitude of Joseph Fielding Smith, Joseph Fielding McConkie, and Craig Ostler, and others within the LDS tradition who, too, reject(d) the seer stone in the hat method of translating. It was not a case that LDS were mistaken about this; many RLDS, too, were opponents of this concept.