Mr. Spencer informs his readers that B. H. Roberts "eventually concluded that Joseph Smith . . . produced [the Book of Mormon] ... by drawing upon his own natural talent and materials like Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews." Really? We shall discuss Elder Roberts's opinion of the origins of the Book of Mormon in a moment, but it is important to say that the link between that book and View of the Hebrews is, at best, weak. There are many, many differences between the Book of Mormon and Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews-<me widely available essay comments upon 84 striking and fundamental disagreements between the two texts—and the similarities are vague and unimpressive.

Clearly, B. H. Roberts should not have fallen into serious doubt over five questions such as these. They do not constitute serious objections to the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. Nor does Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews represent a plausible source from which Joseph Smith could have stolen the book. The quest ion remains, however. Did B. H. Roberts, relying on the inadequate knowledge of the "experts" of his day, lose his faith?

Mr. Spencer writes, throughout his brochure, as if B. H. Roberts's loss of trust in the Book of Mormon after the early 1920s were an unambiguous, established fact. He mentions, without qualification, Roberts's supposedly "waning confidence in the Book of Mormon." "Roberts eventually concluded," says Mr. Spencer, "that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon himself ... that the Book of Mormon was not of divine origin ...[but] of obvious human origin." He "had to admit the evidence proved Joseph Smith was a plagiarist." Roberts, says Mr. Spencer, "now knew [the Book of Mormon] was a fraud." It should be noted, though, that, in each and every case, these words are Mr. Spencer's, and not Elder Roberts's. This is very important. If Elder Roberts had explicitly declared his supposed loss of belief, Mr. Spencer would eagerly have included so damning a statement. He did not, because no such statement exists.