Mormon Quotes

Divining rods

Heber C. Kimball
Last nite I clothed my self and offered up the Sines [signs] of the Holy Preasthood and called one [on] the name of the Lord. He hurd me fore my heart was mad[e] comfortable. I inquired by the rod. It was said my family was well, that my wife would come to me in the East, and that Congress would not do anything fore us.
Heber C. Kimball, Heber C. Kimball diary, June 6, 1844, in Kimball, On the Potter's Wheel, p. 65
Joseph Smith Sr.
Joseph went to the town of Harmony, in the State of Pennsylvania, at the request of some one who wanted the assistance of his divining rod and stone in finding hidden treasure...
Joseph Smith Sr., Interview with the Father of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, p. 307
B. H. Roberts
In the revelation to Oliver Cowdery in May 1829 ... the gift which the Lord says he has in his hand meant a stick which was like Aaron's Rod. It is said Bro. Phineas Young got it from him [Cowdery] and gave it to President Young who had it with him when he arrived in this [Salt Lake] valley and that it was with that stick that he pointed out where the Temple should be built.
B. H. Roberts, Anthon H. Lund Journal, under July 5, 1901; quoted in Quinn, BYU Studies, Fall 1978, v. 18, p. 82
Marvin S. Hill
Many of the earliest Mormons, including [Oliver] Cowdery, Martin Harris, Orrin P. Rockwell, Joseph Knight and Josiah Stowel, were rodsmen or money diggers but became Mormons for religious reasons.
Marvin S. Hill, Mormon historian, Secular or Sectarian History: A Critique of No Man Knows My History, Church History, v. 43, p. 86, March 1974
Charles A. Shook
The 'rod' was almost as much of an essential part of paraphernalia of early Mormonism as the seer‑stone.
Charles A. Shook, The True Origin of The Book of Mormon, 1914, 16n1
Benson Whittle
Many of us Mormonites today, whether pious believers or critically objective students of history, are closer in mental outlook to the position of [1834 anti‑Mormon writer Eber D.] Howe than to that of the Prophet Joseph and his early followers... Would we rant and rave, walk penniless to Missouri, witch a trove with a hazel rod, or join a communistic society? Do we really want to know what was in and around that stone‑box/hole on 22 September 1823?
Benson Whittle, Benson Whittle, Mormon scholar, Whittle untitled review, 1987, p. 119, see Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, by D. Michael Quinn, p. 319‑320
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