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According to Latter Day Saint theology, seer stones were stones used by Joseph Smith to receive revelations from God. Some other early Latter Day Saints also possessed and used seer stones, including one of Smith's self-professed successors, James Strang. Smith owned at least two seer stones, which he had earlier employed for treasure seeking before he founded the church.〔For a survey of Smith's use of seer stones by a respected scholar and LDS patriarch, see Richard Lyman Bushman, ''Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005), pp. 45–52. "Joseph had discovered two stones, one in 1822, while digging a well with Willard Chase a half mile from the Smith farm. The source of the other stone is uncertain." (48) Smith may have also acquired another, a green stone, while he was living in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. D. Michael Quinn, ''Early Mormonism and the Magic World View'' (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998), pp. 43–44.〕 Other early Mormons, such as Hiram Page, David Whitmer, and Jacob Whitmer, also owned seer stones.〔Jessee, ''Papers of Joseph Smith'', 1: 322–23; D. Michael Quinn, ''Early Mormonism and the Magic World View'' (Salt Lake City: Signature, 1998), pp. 239–40, 247–48. A contemporary recalled that in Kirtland, "Mormon elders and women often searched the bed of the river for stones with holes caused by the sand washing out, to peep into." Quoted in Quinn, p. 248.〕 Seer stones are mentioned in the Book of Mormon and in other Latter Day Saint scriptures, usually by the term "Urim and Thummim". James Strang, who claimed to be Smith's successor, also unearthed what he said were ancient metal plates, known as the Voree plates, and translated them using a seer stone. ==Seer stones and treasure-hunting== Some early-nineteenth-century Americans used seer stones in attempts to gain revelations from God or to find buried treasure.〔See Ronald W. Walker, "The Persisting Idea of American Treasure Hunting," ''BYU Studies'', 24 (1984): 429–59.〕 From about 1819, Smith regularly practiced scrying, a form of divination in which a "seer" looked into a seer stone to receive supernatural knowledge.〔"When Joseph Smith first began to use his seer or "peep" stone he employed the folklore familiar to rural America. The details of his rituals and incantations are unimportant because they were commonplace, and Joseph gave up money-digging when he was twenty-one for a profession far more exciting." 〕 Smith usually practiced crystal gazing by putting a stone at the bottom of a white stovepipe hat, putting his face over the hat to block the light, then divining information from the stone.〔; . According to an account of an interview with Joseph Smith, Sr., the 14-year-old Joseph borrowed a stone from a person working as a local crystal gazer which reportedly showed him the underground location of another stone near his home, which he located at a depth of about twenty-two feet. According to another story, in either 1819 or 1822 , while the older Smith males were digging a well for a Palmyra neighbor, they found an unusual stone , described as either white and glassy and shaped like a child's foot or "chocolate-colored, somewhat egg-shaped." . Smith then used this stone as a seer stone..〕 Smith and his father achieved "something of a mysterious local reputation in the profession—mysterious because there is no record that they ever found anything despite the readiness of some local residents to pay for their efforts."〔.〕 In late 1825, Joseiah Stowell, a well-to-do farmer from South Bainbridge, Chenango County, New York, who had been searching for a lost Spanish mine near Harmony Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania with another seer, traveled to Manchester to hire Smith "on account of having heard that he possessed certain keys, by which he could discern things invisible to the natural eye."〔.〕 Smith worked with the Stowell-Hale team for approximately one month, attempting, according to their contract, to locate "a valuable mine of either Gold or Silver and also...coined money and bars or ingots of Gold or Silver".〔.〕 According to an unsupported account by Hale, Smith attempted to locate the mine by burying his face in a hat containing the seer stone; however, as the treasure hunters got close to their objective, Smith said that an enchantment became so strong that Smith could no longer see it. The failed project disbanded on November 17, 1825;〔.〕 however, Smith continued to work for Stowell on other matters until 1826. In 1826 Smith was arrested and brought to court in Bainbridge, New York, on the complaint of Stowell's nephew who accused Smith of being "a disorderly person and an imposter."〔.〕 Court records show that Smith, identified as "The Glass Looker," stood before the court on March 20, 1826, on a warrant for an unspecified misdemeanor charge,〔; .〕 and that the judge issued a ''mittimus'' for Smith to be held, either during or after the proceedings.〔.〕 Although Smith's associate Oliver Cowdery later stated that Smith was "honorably acquitted,"〔.〕 the result of the proceeding is unclear, with some claiming he was found guilty, others claiming he was "condemned" but "designedly allowed to escape," and yet others (including the trial note taker) claiming he was "discharged" for lack of evidence.〔 Martin Harris said that Smith once found a pin in a pile of shavings with the aid of a stone.〔Harris interview with Joel Tiffany, 1859, in Vogel, ed., ''Early Mormon Documents'', 2: 303.〕 Smith's procedure was to place the stone in a white stovepipe hat, put his face over the hat to block the light, and then "see" the necessary information in the stone's reflections.〔;; ; ; ;.〕〔David Whitmer, one of the Three Witnesses, described Smith's method of translation: "Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man." David Whitmer, ''Address to All Believers in Christ'' Part 1 (1886)〕 Smith had at least two seer stones, including a white stone that he found in about 1819, and a chocolate-colored stone that he found in 1822.〔:. The stone was found in either 1819 (, ), 1820 or 1822 in a well he was helping to dig.〕〔..〕〔In 1826, Smith was brought before a court in South Bainbridge, Chenango County, New York, accused of pretending to "discover where lost goods may be found." ; . The result of the proceeding remains unclear. For a survey of the primary sources see Dan Vogel, ("Rethinking the 1826 Judicial Decision" ), ''Mormon Scripture Studies''.〕 His favored stone, chocolate-colored and about the size of an egg, was found in a deep well he helped dig for one of his neighbors. In 1827, Smith said he obtained the "Urim and Thummim" which was composed of two white stones, different from the previous two. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Seer stone (Latter Day Saints)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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