Behold, thus saith the Lord unto my servant, William E. McClellan.

Blessed are you, inasmuch as you have turned away from your iniquities,

and I have received my truth, saith the Lord, your Redeemer, the Savior of the world,

even of as many as believe on my name.

Hey, listeners, this is Avery from Book of Mormon Central, and today's podcast addresses the question,

Why did William E. McClellan call the Book of Mormon the apple of my eye?

William E. McClellan joined the church in Illinois in the summer of 1831,

and was called as one of the original members of the Quorum of the Twelve in 1835.

But McClellan was inconsistent, Stephen C. Harper observed. His determination wavered. As a result,

eventually, he broke with his leaders in the wake of the Curtland Financial difficulties of 1837

and was excommunicated in May 1838. Decades later, anti-Morman writer James T. Cobb contacted

McClellan as part of his efforts to establish the falsity of the Book of Mormon through an extensive examination of its origins.

McClellan probably seemed like someone who would be sympathetic to Cobb's agenda.

After all, not only was he excommunicated, but he also quickly became an active, even irascible opponent of the church,

and personally hostile, to the point apparently of seeking to do violence, to Joseph Smith.

By 1880, when Cobb contacted him, McClellan had also become estranged from the various Restoration Splinter groups.

Yet the response Cobb received likely came as a bit of a shock to him.

When I thoroughly examine a subject and settle my mind, McClellan explained,

then higher evidence must be introduced before I change.

I have set my seal that the Book of Mormon is a true, divine record,

and it will require more evidence than I have ever seen to ever shake me relative to its purity.

McClellan had read the arguments of critics like Cobb, but insisted instead,

...