For many years anti-Mormon writers have claimed that B. H. Roberts became disturbed because of parallels he discovered between View of the Hebrews (a book published in the 1820's) and the Book of Mormon. It was discovered that he had prepared a manuscript in which these parallels are listed. Copies of Roberts' list of parallels were "privately distributed among a restricted group of Mormon scholars," and in January 1956 Mervin B. Hogan had them published in The Rocky Mountain Mason. A careful reading of B. H. Roberts' work leads one to believe that he had serious doubts about the Book of Mormon. Roberts listed eighteen parallels between View of the Hebrews and the Book of Mormon. In his fourth parallel he stated: "It is often represented by Mormon speakers and writers, that the Book of Mormon was the first to represent the American Indians as the descendants of the Hebrews; holding that the Book of Mormon is unique in this. The claim is sometimes still ignorantly made" (p.18).

A number of years after Robert's parallels were printed the rumor began to circulate that he had written a large manuscript concerning the same subject. We subsequently learned that a few scholars had read this manuscript but were not allowed the privilege of copying it.

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In 1977 Brigham E. Roberts allowed H. Michael Marquardt to borrow the secret manuscripts, although he was strictly instructed not to copy them. Mr. Marquardt later returned the documents together with a report concerning them to Brigham E. Roberts. Mr. Marquardt recommended that the manuscripts be preserved and made available in published form. About seven months later a Mormon scholar who had learned of the manuscripts asked Brigham E. Roberts if he could borrow them. He was allowed the privilege, and, although we do not know whether restrictions were imposed, he made photocopies of the manuscripts. Subsequently, both Mormon and non-Mormon scholars obtained copies.

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While there is no evidence that B.H. Roberts publicly repudiated the Book of Mormon, a careful reading of his manuscript, "A Book of Mormon Study." leads one to believe that he was in the process of losing faith in its divine origin. Although he may have started out merely playing the part of the "Devil's Advocate," we feel that he played the role so well that he developed grave doubts about the authenticity of the Book of Mormon.