{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_59951/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_59951","id":"gutenberg_59951","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/59951","summary":null,"tags":["Book of Mormon","Category: History - American","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Latter Day Saints","Smith, Joseph, Jr., 1805-1844"],"text":"Produced by the Mormon Texts Project\n(MormonTextsProject.org), with thanks to Renah Holmes and\nDiane Evans.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nNEW WITNESSES FOR GOD\n\nII.\n\nTHE BOOK OF MORMON\n\nBy B. H. Roberts,\n\nAuthor of \"The Gospel,\" \"Outlines of Ecclesiastical History,\" \"Mormon\nDoctrine of Deity,\" \"Defense of the Faith and the Saints,\" \"The\nProphet-Teacher,\" etc., etc. IN THREE VOLUMES\n\nVOL. III.\n\nTHE DESERET NEWS\n\nSalt Lake City\n\n1909\n\n\n\nTABLE OF CONTENTS.\n\nPART III. (Continued).\n\nTHE EVIDENCES OF THE TRUTH OF THE BOOK OF MORMON, (CONTINUED)\n\nCHAPTER XXX.\n\nIndirect External Evidences (Continued).--American Traditions 3\n\nI. The Signs of Messiah's Birth\n\nII. The Signs of Messiah's Death\n\nCHAPTER XXXI.\n\nIndirect External Evidences--American Traditions (Continued)\n\nI. Messiah in the Western Hemisphere\n\nII. The Culture-Heroes of America\n\nIII. The Peruvian Tradition of the Messiah\n\nIV. Topilitzen Quetzalcohuatl\n\nCHAPTER XXXII.\n\nExternal Evidences--The Hebrew Origin of the Native American\nRaces--Hebrew Relics\n\nI. Garcia\n\nII. Lord Kingsborough's Views\n\nIII. Adair's Evidences\n\nThe Discovery of Hebrew Relics\n\nI. The Pittsfield Hebrew Parchment\n\n11. The Newark Hebrew Tablet\n\nCHAPTER XXXIII.\n\nThe Discovery of Relics Other Than Hebrew\n\nI. Cincinnati Gold Plate\n\nII. The Kinderhook Plates\n\nIII. The Tuccabatchey Plates\n\nCHAPTER XXXIV.\n\nExternal Evidence--Minor Coincidences--Race Unity\n\nI. Central and Western New York an Ancient Battle Field\n\nII. Miscellaneous Book of Mormon Historical Incidents and Nephite\nCustoms Found in the Native American Traditions\n\nIII. Human Sacrifices. Cannibalism\n\nIV. Burying the Hatchet\n\nV. Hagoth's Marine Migrations Preserved in Native Legends\n\nVI. Native American Race Unity\n\nVII. Did the Book of Mormon Antedate Works in English on American\nAntiquities Accessible to Joseph Smith and His Associates\n\nVIII. The Value of the Evidence Supplied by American Antiquities\n\nCHAPTER XXXV.\n\nExternal Evidences (Continued).--Evidence of the Bible\n\nI. The Place of the Patriarch Joseph in Israel.--The Promises to Him\nand His Seed\n\nII. The Prophecies of Isaiah on the Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon\n109\n\nIII. The Prophecy of Messiah in Relation to \"Other Sheep\" than Those in\nPalestine that Must Hear His Voice\n\nCHAPTER XXXVI.\n\nExternal Evidences (Continued.)--The Evidence of the Church to the Book\n\nCHAPTER XXXVII.\n\nInternal Evidences--The Book of Mormon, in Style and Language, is\nConsistent with the Theory of its Construction\n\nI. Of the Unity and Diversity of Style\n\nII. Characteristics of an Abridgement\n\nIII. Originality in Book of Mormon Names\n\nIV. Of the Nephite Custom in Naming Cities and Provinces Being Ancient\n139\n\nV. Of the Nephites, Like the Jews, Being a Mononymous People\n\nCHAPTER XXXVIII.\n\nInternal Evidences (Continued).--The Book of Mormon Forms of Government\nConsistent with the Times and Circumstances under which they Existed\n\nI. Monarchies\n\nII. Reign of the Judges--Republic\n\nIII. Ecclesiastical Government\n\nIV. The Events to which Importance is Given in the Book of Mormon are\nin Harmony with the Character of the Writers\n\nV. Complexity in the Structure of the Book of Mormon in Harmony with\nthe Theory of its Origin\n\nCHAPTER XXXIX.\n\nInternal Evidences (Continued).--The Originality of the Book of Mormon\nan Evidence in Support of its Claims\n\nI. Originality of Structure\n\nII. Originality in Names\n\nIII. In the Manner of its Coming Forth\n\nIV. Its Accounting for the Peopling of America\n\nV. The Nativity of Ancient American Peoples\n\nVI. Accounting for the Existence of Christian Ideas in America\n\nCHAPTER XL.\n\nInternal Evidences (Continued).--The Originality of the Book of Mormon\nan Evidence in Support of its Claims. (Continued)\n\nVII. The Fall of Adam--The Purpose of Man's Earth Existence--Adam fell\nthat men might be; Man an Immortal Spirit; Men are that they might have\njoy...\n\nVIII. The Agency of Man\n\nIX. The Atonement\n\nX. The Doctrine of Opposite Existences\n\nCHAPTER XLI.\n\nInternal Evidences (Continued).--The Evidence of Prophecy:\n\nI. A Testimony Shall be Given by the Holy Ghost....\n\nII. \"They Shall Have the Gift and Power of the Holy Ghost.\"\n\nIII. \"Three Witnesses\" Shall Behold the Book \"By the Gift and Power of\nGod.\"\n\nIV. The Blood of Saints Shall Cry from the Ground\n\nV \"Because My Word Shall Hiss Forth, Many Shall say 'A Bible! A Bible'\"\n153\n\nVI. The Lost Books of the Bible\n\nVII. No Gentile Kings in America\n\nCHAPTER XLII.\n\nInternal Evidences (Continued.)--The Evidence of Prophecy (Continued)\n281\n\nI. Many Shall Believe the Words of the Book\n\nII. The Book of Mormon to be Taken to the American Indians\n\nIII. The Jews Shall Begin to Believe in Christ, and to Gather to Their\nLands\n\nIV. The Work of the Lord to Commence Among all Nations to Bring About\n'the Restoration of His People Israel, and a Universal Reign of Peace\nand Righteousness\n\nV. The Sign of the Modern World's Awakening\n\nVI. Conditional Prophecies--The Evidence of Things Worthy of God to\nReveal\n\nCHAPTER XLIII\n\nInternal Evidences (Continued).--The Spirit of the Book\n\nI. The Poetry the Book of Mormon has Inspired\n\nII. Summary of Internal Evidences\n\nPART IV.\n\nOBJECTIONS TO THE BOOK OF MORMON.\n\nCHAPTER XLIV.\n\nCounter Theories of Origin\n\nI. Alexander Campbell's Theory\n\nII. The Spaulding Theory of Origin\n\nIII. The Sidney Rigdon Theory\n\nIV. I. Woodbridge Riley's Theory of the Origin of the Book of Mormon\n\nCHAPTER XLVI.\n\n(Erratum.--The numeral II is repeated in this chapter, as also in this\ntable in order to correspond with the number in the chapter.)\n\nObjections to the Book of Mormon\n\nI. Errors in Style and Grammar\n\nII. Objections Based Upon the Existence of Passages in the Book of\nMormon Which Follow King James' Translation\n\nII. Miscellaneous Objections Based on Literary Style and Language\n\nIII. The Difficulty of Passages from Isaiah Being Quoted by Nephite\nWriters, that Modern Bible Criticism Holds were not Written Until the\nTime of the Babylonian Captivity--and not Written by Isaiah at all\n\nCHAPTER XLVII.\n\n(Erratum.--After using numerals in this chapter from IV to VII, by an\nerror, the printer began again at V and ran to X. There is no break in\nthe order of the subjects, however, in the chapter, and the numerals in\nthis table are made to correspond with those in the text.)\n\nObjections to the Book of Mormon (Continued)\n\nIV. Pre-Christian Era Knowledge of the Gospel\n\nV. The Unlawfulness of Establishing the Priesthood with Others than the\nTribe of Levi\n\nVI. Nephite Knowledge of the \"Call of the Gentiles.\"\n\nVII. The Difficulty of the Three Days of Darkness\n\nV. The Birth of Jesus \"at Jerusalem.\"\n\nVI. The Settlement of Modern Controversies\n\nVII. The Book Contains Nothing New\n\nVIII. Modern Astronomy in the Book\n\nIX. The Geography of the Book\n\nX. Of the Objection that the Transcript of Characters Made from\nthe Nephite Plates by Joseph Smith, Bear no Resemblance to the\nHieroglyphics and Language Characters Discovered in Central America on\nStone Tablets, Maya Books and Mexican Picture Writing\n\nCHAPTER XLVIII\n\nObjections to the Book of Mormon (Continued)\n\nI. Alleged Plagiarisms of Historical and Biblical Events.\n\nII. The Absence of Book of Mormon Names Both of Places and Persons in\nNative American Language\n\nIII. Nephi's Temple\n\nIV. The Difficulty of Iron and Steel Among the Nephites\n\nV. The Horse and Other Domestic Animals of the Book of Mormon\n\nVI. The Barges of the Jaredite Colony\n\nVII. The Marvels of Liahona--\"Compass.\"\n\nVIII. The Weight of the Plates\n\nVIII. The Death of Shiz\n\nIX. Concluding Reflections\n\n\n\nPART III.\n\nThe Evidences of the Truth of the Book of Mormon, Continued.\n\n\n\nNEW WITNESSES FOR GOD\n\nII.\n\nTHE BOOK OF MORMON.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXX\n\nINDIRECT EXTERNAL EVIDENCES (Continued)--AMERICAN TRADITIONS.\n\nI.\n\n_The Signs of Messiah's Birth._\n\nThe impressive signs given in the western world, according to the Book\nof Mormon, of the birth and death of Messiah were of such a character\nthat they would doubtless obtain a fixed place in the traditions of\nthe native American people, though, as in the case of all legends, the\nevents are more or less distorted.\n\nThe signs of Messiah's birth, both as prophetically promised and\nhistorically described, are as follows:\n\n And behold, this will I give unto you for a sign at the time of\n his (Messiah's) coming; for behold, there shall be great lights in\n heaven insomuch that in the night before he cometh there shall be\n no darkness, insomuch that it shall appear unto man as if it were\n day, therefore there shall be one day and a night, and a day as if\n it were one day, and there were no night; and this shall be unto\n you for a sign; for ye shall know of the rising of the sun, and\n also if its setting; therefore they shall know of a surety that\n there shall be two days and a night; nevertheless the night shall\n not be darkened; and it shall be the night before he is born. And\n behold there shall a new star arise, such an one as ye never have\n beheld; and this also shall be a sign unto you. [1]\n\n And it came to pass that the words which came unto Nephi were\n fulfilled, according as they had been spoken; for behold at the\n going down of the sun, there was no darkness; and the people began\n to be astonished, because there was no darkness when the night\n came. * * * * * * And it came to pass also, that a new star did\n appear, according to the word. [2]\n\nAnd now the native legends on this subject. From the native Central\nAmerican documents compiled and followed by Fuentes y Guzman, quoted by\nJuarrors, whom Bancroft follows, it is learned that a certain Quiche\nprince, Acxopil, the son of Nimaquiche, observing that his people had\ngreatly increased in number and influence, divided his empire into\nthree kingdoms. And now Bancroft, who is quoting Juarrors:\n\n Retaining for himself the first, he gave the second to his oldest\n son, Jiutemal, and the third to his second son, Acxiquat; and this\n division was made on a day when three suns were seen, which has\n caused some to think that it took place on the day of the birth of\n our Redeemer, a day on which it is commonly believed that such a\n meteor was observed. [3]\n\nThe \"day when three suns were seen\"--\"the day of the birth of our\nRedeemer\"--easily accords with the two days and a night of the\ncontinuous light of the Book of Mormon, especially when considered in\nconnection with the appearance of a \"new star\" (the \"meteor\" of the\nquotation) as a sign to the Nephites of the birth of Messiah.\n\nReferring to the traditions of the primitive Nahua period, after\ndealing with the events of the first age, which treats of the creation,\nflood, dispersion of mankind, the migration of a colony of seven\nfamilies to a new land, etc., Bancroft, following the native writer\nIxtilxochiti, deals with the second Nahua age, as follows:\n\n The second age, the \"sun and air,\" terminated with a great\n hurricane which swept away trees, rocks, houses and people,\n although many men and women escaped, chiefly such as took refuge\n in caves which the hurricane could not reach. After several days\n the survivors came out to find a multitude of apes living in the\n land; and all this time they were in darkness, seeing neither the\n sun nor the moon. The next event recorded, although Veytia makes it\n precede the hurricane, is the stopping of the sun for a whole day\n in his course, as at the command of Joshua as recorded in the Old\n Testament, [4]\n\nLet no one confound these cataclysms attended with darkness to the\nflood period of the first Nahua age--which is identical with Noah's\nflood; they relate to disasters subsequent to that period; they\ncorrespond in time and character to the disasters described in the Book\nof Mormon as taking place in the western hemisphere during the time of\nthe crucifixion and interment of Messiah in Judea. This, I believe,\nwill be established as reasonably clear as we proceed.\n\nConcerning the foregoing passage, I also call attention to the fact\nthat Veytia is said to place before the tempest and the darkness of\nthe tradition the stopping of the sun for a whole day in his course,\nas at the command of Joshua. Instead of having reference to the Joshua\nincident, however, may not the incident of the American tradition have\nreference to the Book of Mormon sign of Messiah's birth, these two days\nand a night through which there was continuous light? [5] The apparent\n\"stopping of the sun a whole day in his course\" would certainly give\nthe period of uninterrupted light required by the Book of Mormon sign\nof Messiah's birth; and the fact that so noted an authority as Veytia\n [6] places that singular event before the fierce tempest attended by\ndarkness, restores the order of the events required by the Book of\nMormon account of those matters.\n\nDe Roo, quoting Bastian, [7] says:\n\n Another circumstance of the Savior's death seems to be remembered\n in Mexico, for it is related in its traditions that, at the\n disappearance of Topiltzin or Quetzalcohuatl, [a native culture\n hero most nearly resembling, as we shall see, the appearance and\n character of Messiah in the western world], both sun and moon were\n covered in darkness, while a single star appeared in the heavens.\n [8]\n\nHere, clear enough, is allusion to the darkness that covered the land\nat Messiah's death; may not the star, which here appears out of order,\naccording to Book of Mormon statements, really have been the one which\nappeared to the Nephites as the sign of Messiah's birth?\n\nII.\n\n_The Signs of Messiah's Death._\n\nThe signs which were to be given to the inhabitants of the western\nhemisphere of Messiah's death were foretold by a Lamanite prophet as\nfollows:\n\n Behold, in that day that he shall suffer death, the sun shall be\n darkened and refuse to give his light unto you; and also the moon,\n and the stars; and there shall be no light upon the face of this\n land, even from the time that he shall suffer death, for the space\n of three days, to the time that he shall rise again from the dead;\n yea, at the time that he shall yield up the ghost, there shall be\n thunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours, and the\n earth shall shake and tremble, and the rocks which are upon the\n face of this earth; which are both above the earth and beneath,\n which ye know at this time are solid, or the more part of it is\n one solid mass, shall be broken up; yea, they shall be rent in\n twain, and shall ever after be found in seams and in cracks, and in\n broken fragments upon the face of the whole earth; yea, both above\n the earth and beneath. And behold, there shall be great tempests,\n and there shall be many mountains laid low, like unto a valley,\n and there shall be many places which are now called valleys, which\n shall become mountains, whose height is great. And many highways\n shall be broken up, and many cities shall become desolate, and many\n graves shall be opened, and shall yield up many of their dead;\n and many saints shall appear unto many. And behold thus hath the\n angel spoken unto me; for he said unto me, that there should be\n thunderings and lightnings for the space of many hours; and he\n said unto me that while the thunder and the lightning lasted and\n the tempest, that these things should be, and that darkness should\n cover the face of the whole earth [9] for the space of three days.\n [10]\n\nThis prediction was literally and awfully fulfilled. Mormon's condensed\naccount of it being as follows:\n\n And it came to pass in the thirty and fourth year, in the first\n month, in the fourth day of the month, there arose a great storm,\n such an one as never had been known in all the land; and there was\n also a great and terrible tempest; and there was terrible thunder,\n insomuch that it did shake the whole earth as if it was about to\n divide asunder; and there were exceeding sharp lightnings, such as\n never had been known in all the land. And the city of Zarahemla\n did take fire; and the city of Moroni did sink into the depths of\n the sea, and the inhabitants thereof were drowned; and the earth\n was carried up upon the city of Moronihah, that in the place of\n the city there became a great mountain; and there was a great and\n terrible destruction in the land southward. But behold, there\n was a more great and terrible destruction in the land northward;\n for behold, the whole face of the land was changed, because of\n the tempest, and the whirlwinds, and the thunderings, and the\n lightnings, and the exceeding great quaking of the whole earth;\n and the highways were broken up, and the level roads were spoiled,\n and many smooth places became rough, and many great and notable\n cities were sunk, and many were burned, and many were shaken till\n the buildings thereof had fallen to the earth, and the inhabitants\n thereof were slain; and the places were left desolate; and there\n were some cities which remained; but the damage thereof was\n exceeding great, and there were many in them who were slain; and\n there was some who were carried away in the whirlwind; and whither\n they went, no man knoweth, save they know that they were carried\n away; and thus the face of the whole earth became deformed, because\n of the tempests, and the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the\n quaking of the earth. And behold, the rocks were rent in twain;\n they were broken up upon the face of the whole earth, insomuch,\n that they were found in broken fragments, and in seams, and in\n cracks, upon all the face of the land. And it came to pass that\n when the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the storm, and the\n tempest, and the quakings of the earth did cease--for behold, they\n did last for about the space of three hours; and it was said by\n some that the time was greater; nevertheless, all these great and\n terrible things were done in about the space of three hours; and\n then behold, there was darkness upon the face of the land. And it\n came to pass that there was thick darkness upon all the face of the\n land, insomuch, that the inhabitants thereof who had not fallen,\n could feel the vapour of darkness; and there could be no light\n because of the darkness; neither candles, neither torches; neither\n could there be fire kindled with their fine and exceedingly dry wood,\n so that there could not be any light at all; and there was not any\n light seen, neither fire, nor glimmer, neither the sun, nor the\n moon, nor the stars, so great were the mists of darkness which were\n upon the face of the land. And it came to pass that it did last for\n the space of three days, that there was no light seen; and there\n was great mourning, and howling, and weeping among all the people\n continually; yea, great were the groanings of the people, because\n of the darkness and the great destruction which had come upon them.\n [11]\n\nFrom the Book of Mormon we learn that it was in the morning that these\nterrible cataclysms began, and then were followed by the three days of\ndarkness: for in giving an account of the passing away of this terrible\ncalamity, Mormon says: \"Thus did the the three days pass away. And it\nwas in the morning, and the darkness dispersed from all the face of the\nearth and the earth did cease to tremble.\" [12] On this matter of the\nsigns of Messiah's crucifixion taking place \"in the morning,\" according\nto American time, the late Orson Pratt made the following valuable\ncomment:\n\n This book, the Book of Mormon, informs us that the time of day\n at which Jesus was crucified, I mean the time of day here in\n America, was in the morning; the New Testament tells us that\n Jesus was crucified in Asia in the afternoon, between the sixth\n and ninth hour according to the Jews' reckoning. They commenced\n their reckoning at six o'clock in the morning, and consequently\n the sixth hour would be twelve o'clock at noon, and the ninth hour\n three o'clock in the afternoon. Jesus, from the sixth to the ninth\n hour, in other words from twelve o'clock to three, was hanging\n on the cross. Now the Book of Mormon, or the historians whose\n records it contains, when relating the incidents that transpired\n at the time of the crucifixion--the darkness that was spread over\n the face of the land, the earthquakes, the rending of rocks, the\n sinking of cities and the whirlwinds--say these events occurred\n in the morning; they also say that darkness was spread over the\n face of the land for the space of three days. In Jerusalem it was\n only three hours. But the Lord gave them a special sign in this\n country and the darkness lasted three days, and at the expiration\n of three days, and three nights of darkness, it cleared off, and it\n was in the morning. That shows that, according to the time of this\n country, [America] the crucifixion must have taken place in the\n morning.\n\nSays one, \"Is not this a contradiction between the Book of Mormon\nand the New Testament?\" To an unlearned person it would really be a\ncontradiction, for the four Evangelists place it [the time during which\nJesus was on the cross] from twelve to three in the afternoon, while\nthe Book of Mormon says in the morning. An unlearned person, seeing\nthis discrepancy, would say, of course, that both books cannot be true.\n\nIf the Book of Mormon be true the Bible cannot be; and if the Bible be\ntrue the Book of Mormon cannot be.\n\nI do not known that anybody ever brought up this objection, for I do\nnot think they ever thought of it. I do not think that the Prophet\nJoseph, who translated the book, ever thought of this apparent\ndiscrepancy. \"But,\" says one, \"how do you account for it being in\nthe morning in America and in the afternoon in Jerusalem?\" Simply by\nthe difference in longitude. This would make a difference of time of\nseveral hours; for when it would be twelve at noon in Jerusalem it\nwould only be half-past four in the morning in the north-west part\nof South America, where the Book of Mormon was then being written.\nSeven and a half hours difference in longitude would account for\nthis apparent discrepancy; and if the Book of Mormon had said the\ncrucifixion took place in the afternoon we should have known at once\nthat it could not be true. This is incidental proof to learned or\nscientific men that they cannot very well reason away, and especially\nwhen the instrument [i. e. Joseph Smith] who brought forth the Book of\nMormon is considered. It must be remembered that he was but a youth,\nand unlearned; and, when he translated this work, I presume that he was\nunaware that there was any difference in the time of day, according to\nthe longitude, in different parts of the earth. I do not suppose that\nJoseph ever thought about it to the day of his death. I never heard him\nor any other person bring forth this as confirmatory evidence of the\ndivine authenticity of the Book of Mormon. I never thought of it myself\nuntil years after Joseph's death; but when I did reflect upon it, I\ncould see the reason why the Lord, through his servants, has said in\nthe Book of Mormon, that the crucifixion took place in the morning. [13]\n\nIn addition to the passages already quoted, giving the native\ntraditions which, doubtless contain references to the cataclysms at the\ndeath of Messiah, as well as to the signs of his birth, Bancroft gives\na Toltec tradition directly bearing on the subject, as follows:\n\n The sun and moon were eclipsed, the earth shook, and the rocks were\n rent asunder, and many other things and signs happened, though\n there was no loss of life. This was in the year Ce Calli, which,\n the chronology being reduced to our system, proves to be the same\n date when Christ our Lord suffered, 33 A. D. [14]\n\nThe statement in the foregoing that there was no loss of life resulting\nfrom this cataclysm is the only item that mars its perfect agreement\nwith the Book of Mormon incident.\n\n Bouturini, commending the exact chronology of the ancient Mexicans\n says: \"No pagan nation refers primitive events to fixed creation of\n the world, of the deluge, of the confusion of tongues at the time\n of the Tower of Babel, of the other epochs and ages of the world,\n of their ancestors' long travel in Asia, with the years precisely\n distinguished by their corresponding characters. They record in\n the year of Seven Rabbits the great eclipse which happened at the\n crucifixion of Christ our Lord. [15]\n\nThe date assigned for this eclipse of sun and moon (darkness), and the\nattendant earthquakes in the foregoing quotations, is corroborated in\na very remarkable manner by the native Peruvian historian Montesinos,\nquoted by Rivero and Tschudi. In giving a list of the Peruvian\nmonarchs, when reaching the sixtieth, Manco-Capac III., our authors say:\n\n According to the Amautas [Peruvian \"wise men,\" or philosophers]\n this prince reigned in the year two thousand nine hundred and fifty\n after the deluge, and consequently at the birth of Jesus Christ, an\n epoch when Peru had reached her highest elevation and extension.\n [16]\n\nFollowing this sixtieth monarch came Cayo-Manco-Capec III., who reigned\ntwenty years. He was followed by Sinchi-Ayar-Manco, who reigned seven\nyears. He, by Huamantaco-Amauta, who reigned five years; which brings\nus to the year thirty-two A. D., and then follows this statement by\nour authors, which corroborates the date cited by Bancroft for the\ncataclysm under consideration, viz:\n\n During his reign [thirty-two or thirty-three A. D.], [17] they\n experienced earthquakes that lasted several months. [18]\n\nBrasseur de Bourbourg, [19] to whom Bancroft gives high praise as an\nauthority on the languages and traditions of Central America, speaks\nof physical cataclysms which, according to the native traditions, took\nplace in that part of America, and which are undoubtedly the imperfect\naccounts of those cataclysms which occurred at the death of Messiah,\nas recorded in the Book of Mormon. Brasseur became infatuated with the\nAtlantis theory, and regarded the native American traditions concerning\nthe physical convulsions in nature as describing the submergence of\nthe ancient Atlantis. With the theory of the learned Frenchman I have\nnothing to do. He may have made a wrong application of the facts of\nthe native traditions. I think he did. But what I am interested in\nis the fact that so highly commended an authority draws from native\nsources the tradition of physical cataclysms which so nearly accord\nwith the statements of fact in the Book of Mormon. [20] After relating\nBrasseur's connection with the Atlantis theory, Baldwin says:\n\n In the first place, Brasseur de Bourbourg claims that there is in\n the old Central American books a constant tradition of an immense\n catastrophe of the character supposed [i. e., the convulsions which\n submerged Atlantis]; that this tradition existed every where among\n the people when they first became known to Europeans; and that\n recollections of the catastrophe were preserved in some of their\n festivals, especially in one celebrated in the month of Izcalli,\n which was instituted to commemorate this frightful destruction\n of land and people, and in which \"princes and people humbled\n themselves before the divinity, and besought him to withhold a\n return of such terrible calamities.\" This tradition affirms that\n a part of the continent extending into the Atlantic was destroyed\n in the manner supposed, [submerged] and appear to indicate that\n the destruction was accomplished by a succession of frightful\n convulsions. Three are constantly mentioned, and sometimes there\n is mention of one or two others. \"The land was shaken by frightful\n earthquakes, and the waves of the sea combined with volcanic fires\n to overwhelm and ingulf it.\" Each convulsion swept away portions\n of the land, until the whole disappeared, leaving the line of the\n coast as it is now. Most of the inhabitants, overtaken amid their\n regular employments, were destroyed; but some escaped in ships,\n and some fled for safety to the summits of high mountains, or\n to portions of the land which, for the time, escaped immediate\n destruction. Quotations are made from the old books in which this\n tradition is recorded which appear to verify his report of what is\n found in them. To criticise intelligently his interpretation of\n their significance, one needs to have a knowledge of those books\n and tradition equal at least to his own. [21]\n\nNadaillac also refers to the native traditions collected by Brasseur on\nthis subject and quotes him as follows:\n\n If I may judge from allusions in the documents that I have been\n fortunate enough to collect, there were in these regions, at that\n remote date, convulsions of nature, deluges, terrible inundations,\n followed by the upheaval of mountains, accompanied by volcanic\n eruptions. These traditions, traces of which are also met with in\n Mexico, Central America, Peru, and Bolivia, point to the conclusion\n that man existed in these various countries at the time of the\n upheaval of the Cordilleras, and that the memory of that upheaval\n has been preserved: [22]\n\nTreating of a number of old Central American traditions on his own\naccount, Nadaillac says:\n\n Other traditions allude to convulsions of nature, to inundations,\n and profound disturbances, to terrible deluges, in the midst of\n which mountains and volcanoes suddenly rose up. [23]\n\nNothing, perhaps, connected with the signs of Messiah's death would\nbe more impressive than the awful fact of the three days' darkness,\nand nothing would be more likely to be preserved in the traditions of\nthe people than this singular fact. From generation to generation it\nwould be remembered with terror. It is beyond question the traditional\nremembrance of that event which so terrorized the native Americans\nat every recurrence of an eclipse of the sun. Of this fact Bancroft\nremarks:\n\n The Mexicans were much troubled and distressed by an eclipse of\n the sun. They thought that he was much disturbed and tossed about\n by something, and that he was becoming seriously jaundiced. This\n was the occasion of a general panic, women weeping aloud, and men\n howling and shouting and striking the hand upon the mouth. There\n was an immediate search for men with white hair and white faces,\n and these were sacrificed to the sun, amid the din and tumult of\n singing and musical instruments. It was thought that should the\n eclipse become once total, there would be an end of the light, and\n that in the darkness the demons would come down to the devouring of\n the people. [24]\n\nIt was also the traditional remembrance of the terror of darkness,\nconnected with the death of Messiah, which undoubtedly created the\nanxiety concerning the renewal of fire at the conclusion of each cycle\nof fifty-two years recognized in the Mexican chronology. The Mexicans,\nas represented in some of the notes we have quoted from different\nauthors, hold the tradition of the destruction of the world at four\nsuccessive epochs. And, says, Prescott:\n\n They looked forward confidently to another such catastrophy, to\n take place like the preceding, at the close of a cycle, when the\n sun was to be effaced from the heavens, the human race from the\n earth, and when darkness of chaos was to settle on the habitable\n globe. The cycle would end in the latter part of December, and,\n as the dreary season of the winter solstice approached, and the\n diminished light of day gave melancholy presage of its speedy\n extinction their apprehensions increased; and on the arrival\n of the five unlucky days which close the year, they abandoned\n themselves to despair. They broke in pieces the little images of\n their household gods, in whom they no longer trusted. The holy\n fires were suffered to go out in the temples, and none were lighted\n in their own dwellings. Their furniture and domestic utensils\n were destroyed; their garments torn in pieces; and everything\n was thrown into disorder, for the coming of the evil genii who\n were to descend on the desolate earth. On the evening of the last\n day, a procession of priests, assuming the dress and ornaments of\n their gods, moved from the capital towards a lofty mountain, about\n two leagues distant. They carried with them a noble victim, the\n flower of their captivities, and an apparatus for kindling the\n new fire, the success of which was an augury of the renewal of\n the cycle. On reaching the summit of the mountain, the procession\n paused till midnight; when, as the constellation of the Pleiades\n approached the zenith, the new fire was kindled by the friction of\n the sticks placed on the wounded breast of the victim. The flame\n was soon communicated to a funeral pile, on which the body of the\n slaughtered captive was thrown. As the light streamed up towards\n heaven, shouts of joy and triumph burst forth from the countless\n multitudes who covered the hills, the terraces of the temples and\n the house-tops, with eyes anxiously bent on the mount of sacrifice.\n Couriers, with torches lighted at the blazing beacon, rapidly bore\n them over every part of the country; and the cheering element was\n seen brightening on altar and hearthstone, for the circuit of many\n a league, long before the sun, rising on his accustomed track,\n gave assurance that a new cycle had commenced its march, and that\n the laws of nature were not to be reversed for the Aztecs. The\n following thirteen days were given up to festivity. [25]\n\nWhence this terror of the darkness? Whence this rejoicing at the\nassurance of continued light, unless back of both terror and rejoicing\nsomewhere in the history of the people there was some such circumstance\nas described in the Book of Mormon which gave cause for this terror\nof darkness on the one hand, and the rejoicing at the assurance of a\ncontinuation of light on the other?\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Helaman xiv: 3, 5.\n\n2. III. Nephi i: 15, 21.\n\n3. Native Races, Bancroft, Vol. V., p. 566.\n\n4. Native Races, Bancroft, Vol. V., pp. 209, 210.\n\n5. See Helaman xiv: 3, 4, 5; and III. Nephi 1: 15-21.\n\n6. Don Mariano Veytia was born of an ancient and highly respected\nfamily at Puebli, Mexico, 1718. After finishing his academic education\nhe went to Spain where he was kindly received at court. He visited\nseveral other countries of Europe, made himself acquainted with\ntheir languages and returned home and devoted the rest of his life\nchiefly to the illustration of the national history and antiquities\nof his country. He composed various works, but his \"Antiquities of\nMexico\" is the only one which went to press. His history covers the\nwhole period from the first occupation of Aauhuac to the middle of\nthe fifteenth century, at which time his labors were unfortunately\nterminated by his death, which occurred in 1780. In the early portion\nof his \"Antiquities\" he endeavored to trace the migratory movements\nand historic annals of the race who entered the country. \"Every page,\"\nremarks Prescott, \"bears testimony of the extent and fidelity of his\nresearches.\" (Conquest of Mexico, Vol. I., p. 40.) The author of the\nhistory of the \"Antiquities of Mexico,\" tom. I., chapter ii, dates\nthe first migration of the Nahuas from the year 2,237, after the\ncreation\" quoted by Nadaillac \"Prehistoric America,\" p. 261. This date\nis somewhat in agreement with the time at which the Book of Mormon\nrepresents the Jaredites as arriving in the western world.\n\n7. Adolf Bastian was born in June, 1826. He was a Prussian ethnologist\nof note, being professor of that science at Berlin, and demonstrator\nof the ethnological museum. He succeeded Virchow as president of the\nBerlin Anthropological society. He traveled in Peru, Columbia and\nCentral America in 1851-66. It is from his works that De Roo quotes the\nabove tradition.\n\n8. History of America Before Columbus, p. 431.\n\n9. \"Darkness cover the face of the whole earth,\" etc. This expression\nshould be understood as limited by one that precedes it in the\nquotation, viz., \"there should be no light upon the face of this land,\"\nmeaning America. Nothwithstanding the \"face of the whole earth\" the\ndarkness was limited to the western hemisphere.\n\n10. Helaman xiv: 20-27.\n\n11. III. Nephi viii: 5-23.\n\n12. III. Nephi x: 9 and note 'f.'\n\n13. Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses, Vol. XIII., pp. 128, 129.\n\n14. Native Races, Vol. V., p. 210.\n\n15. Kingsborough's Mexican Antiquities, Vol. VI., p. 176, note.\nBouturini is an authority frequently quoted by Prescott, who has an\nextended note upon the valuable collection of native memorials of\nprimitive civilization of America made by Bouturini. (See \"Conquest\nof Mexico\" Vol. I., p. 126). He was a Milanese by birth, and came to\nAmerica in 1735 on some business of the Countess Santibanez, a lineal\ndescendant of Montezuma. While in America he traveled extensively in\nMexico and Central America, and made the before mentioned collection\nof memorials. Baldwin also mentions him with approval. (See \"Ancient\nAmerica,\" p. 195.)\n\n16. Peruvian Antiquities, Tschudi, p. 59.\n\n17. Peruvian Antiquities, Tschudi, p. 60. Compare III. Nephi, chap.\nviii.\n\n18. I say the year A. D. 32, or 33, for the reason that we do not\nknow how long the reign of Manco-Capac III--who is represented in\nthe foregoing quotation as reigning \"at the time of the birth of\nChrist\"--continued after the birth of Messiah; not long evidently; but\nsufficiently long to make up the difference between A. D. 32 and the\ntime of Messiah's death. Baldwin also refers to the same event, Ancient\nAmerica, p. 266.\n\n19. Born in France, 1814. Died at Nice, 1874. A French clergyman,\nethnologist and author. He was teacher and priest in Canada and the\nUnited States 1845-48. From 1854-1863 he traveled extensively in Mexico\nand Central America studying Indian antiquities and ancient manuscripts.\n\n20. Native Races, Vol. V., pp. 127, 129.\n\n21. Ancient America, pp. 176, 177.\n\n22. Pre-Historic America, pp. 16, 17.\n\n23. Pre-Historic America, p. 527.\n\n24. Native Races, Vol. III., p. 110.\n\n25. Conquest of Mexico, Vol. I., pp. 105, 106.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXI\n\nINDIRECT EXTERNAL EVIDENCES--AMERICAN TRADITIONS. (Continued.)\n\nI.\n\n_Messiah in the Western Hemisphere._\n\nThe appearance of Messiah in the western hemisphere, no less than the\nsigns of his birth and death, is a circumstance that would undoubtedly\nfind lodgment in the tradition of the native Americans. The manner of\nit, as described in the Book of Mormon, was as follows: It appears that\na short time after the cataclysms which were the sign to the western\nworld of Messiah's death, a number of people in the land Bountiful--a\ndistrict of country in South America where the isthmus of Panama joins\nthe south continent, and most likely including some part of that\nisthmus--were in the vicinity of a temple that had escaped destruction,\nand were conversing upon the many physical changes which had taken\nplace in the land, and also of this same Jesus, of whose death they had\nreceived such appalling evidences, when--but let me quote the account\nof the event from the Book of Mormon:\n\n And it came to pass that while they were conversing one with\n another, they heard a voice as it came out of heaven; and they cast\n their eyes round about, for they understood not the voice which\n they heard; and it was not a harsh voice, neither was it a loud\n voice; and notwithstanding it being a small voice, it did pierce\n them that did hear to the centre, insomuch that there was no part\n of their frame that it did not cause to quake; yea, it did pierce\n them to the very soul and did cause their hearts to burn. And it\n came to pass that again they heard the voice, and they understood\n it not; and again the third time they did hear the voice, and did\n open their ears to hear it; and their eyes were towards the sound\n thereof; and they did look steadfastly towards heaven, from whence\n the sound came; and behold the third time they did understand the\n voice which they heard; and it said unto them, \"Behold my beloved\n son, in whom I am well pleased, in whom I have glorified my name:\n hear ye him.\" And it came to pass as they understood, they cast\n their eyes up again towards heaven; and behold, they saw a man\n descending out of heaven; and he was clothed in a white robe, and\n he came down and stood in the midst of them, and the eyes of the\n whole multitude were turned upon him, and they durst not open their\n mouths, even one to another, and wist not what it meant, for they\n thought it was an angel that had appeared unto them. And it came to\n pass that he stretched forth his hand and spake unto the people,\n saying, Behold, I am Jesus Christ, whom the prophets testified\n should come into the world; and behold, I am the light and the life\n of the world; and I have drunk out of that bitter cup which the\n Father hath given me, and have glorified the Father in taking upon\n me the sins of the world, in the which I have suffered the will of\n the Father in all things from the beginning. And it came to pass\n that when Jesus had spoken these words, the whole multitude fell to\n the earth, for they remembered that it had been prophesied among\n them that Christ should shew himself unto them after his ascension\n into heaven. [1]\n\nThe task before us now is to ascertain if there is anything in the\nnative American traditions which sustain the probability of this\nhistorical incident. Of course the reader must not be surprised if he\nfinds the native traditions on such a subject very much confused. All\nsuch traditions, as I have before remarked, are so confused. Besides\nit must be remembered that there were several great characters among\nthe inhabitants of the western world, according to the Book of Mormon,\nwho would likely be confounded with Messiah in the native traditions;\nsuch as Moriancumr and Coriantumr among the Jaredites, the first and\nthe last great leaders, respectively, of that ancient people. Then\nthere is the first Nephi, Mulek, the first Mosiah, and several of the\nLord's apostles chosen from among the Nephites that are likely to be\nconfounded with Messiah and their mission with his ministry among\nthe people. But notwithstanding this confusion, I think evidences\nof this advent of Messiah in the western world are traceable in the\nnative traditions; and I should be much disappointed if I had found it\notherwise, for of all incidents in Book of Mormon history, the advent\nof Messiah is the most important.\n\nII.\n\n_Of the Culture-Heroes of America._\n\nSpeaking of American \"culture-heroes\" in general, Bancroft says:\n\n Although bearing various names and appearing in different\n countries, the American culture-heroes all present the same general\n characteristics. They are all described as white, bearded men,\n generally clad in long robes; appearing suddenly and mysteriously\n upon the scene of their labors, they at once set about improving\n the people by instructing them in useful and ornamental arts,\n giving them laws, exhorting them to practice brotherly love and\n other Christian virtues, and introducing a milder and better form\n of religion; having accomplished their mission, they disappear\n as mysteriously and unexpectedly as they came; and finally,\n they are apotheosized and held in great reverence by a grateful\n posterity. In such guise or on such mission did Quetzalcohuatl\n appear in Cholula, Votan in Chiapas, Wixepecocha in Ojaca, Zamna,\n and Cukulcan with his nineteen disciples, in Yucatan, Gucumatz in\n Guatemala, Viracocha in Peru, Sume and Paye-Tome in Brazil, the\n mysterious apostle mentioned by Rosales, in Chili, and Bochica in\n Colombia. Peruvian legends speak of a nation of giants who came by\n sea, waged war with the natives, and erected splendid edifices,\n the ruins of many of which still remain. Besides these, there are\n numerous vague traditions of settlements or nations of white men,\n who lived apart from the other people of the country, and were\n possessed of an advanced civilization. [2]\n\nI suggest, in passing, that the part of the tradition which relates to\nthe existence \"of settlements or nations of white men who lived apart\nfrom the other people of the country, and were possessed of an advanced\ncivilization,\" refers to those conditions that prevailed when the\nNephites and Lamanites occupied the land; the former an industrious,\ncivilized race, the latter an idle, savage race, conditions frequently\nreferred to in the Book of Mormon, in describing the status of the\nNephites and Lamanites, respectively.\n\nObserve also that Bancroft, in the foregoing statement, says of some\nof the characters that, having accomplished their mission, they\nmysteriously disappeared. There are several such characters spoken\nof in the Book of Mormon. Such was the case with the second Alma, a\nnoted Nephite character of the first half of the century immediately\npreceding the advent of Messiah. He was the first president or \"judge\"\nof the Nephite republic, also high priest of the Church, uniting in his\nperson the two offices--a thing not unusual among the Nephites, [3]\nnor among the native Americans, if their annals may be trusted. [4]\nAfter completing his life's mission, and making a remarkable prediction\nconcerning the destruction of the Nephite people, Alma departed out\nof the land, \"and it came to pass that he was never heard of more; as\nto his death or burial we know not of. Behold, this we know, that he\nwas a righteous man; and the saying went abroad in the church that\nhe was taken by the Spirit, or buried by the hand of the Lord.\" [5]\nIn a similar manner, Nephi, the father of Nephi, the apostle, a very\nnoted Nephite leader and prophet, departed out of the land in the same\nmysterious manner. [6]\n\nThe quotation just made from Bancroft on the culture-heroes of\nAmerica represents them as quite numerous; we shall see, however, as\nwe proceed, that a number of them are the same person remembered in\ndifferent countries under different names and titles, and that in\nthe character and mission of each there is much similarity. Because\nof this similarity, however, it must not be supposed that it is my\nintention to claim each of these \"culture heroes\" as a more or less\ntradition-distorted representation of Messiah; and the life and\nmission of the culture-hero a distorted account of Messiah's advent\nand mission among the Nephites. Quite to the contrary, I believe that\nthe traditions concerning some of these \"culture-heroes\" more nearly\nrepresent other Book of Mormon characters than they do Messiah. Such,\nfor instance, is Votan, the supposed founder of the Maya confederation.\nSome things in his character and career make him more nearly resemble\nMoriancumr, the leader of the Jaredite colony, than Messiah. Bancroft,\nin one summary of the legends respecting him, says:\n\n Votan, another mysterious personage, closely resembling\n Quetzalcohuatl in many points, was the supposed founder of the\n Maya civilization. He is said to have been a descendant of Noah and\n to have assisted at the building of the Tower of Babel. After the\n confusion of tongues he led a portion of the dispersed people to\n America. There he established the kingdom of Xibalba and built the\n city of Palenque. [7]\n\nThen again, in some respects, Votan resembles the first Nephi. He\nis said to have come to America one thousand years B. C.; [8] Nephi\ncame early in the sixth century B. C.; Votan brought with him seven\nfamilies; the Nephite colony, as nearly as may be estimated, on\nreaching America, consisted of eight families. [9] Votan came to\nAmerica by divine commandment; so, too, did the Nephite colony. [10]\nVotan wrote a book, in which he inscribed a complete record of all he\nhad done; [11] so, also, did Nephi. [12] Votan united in his person the\nqualities of high priest and king; so, also, did Nephi.\n\nAfter saying all this, however, it has to be admitted that there are\nsome things in the legends concerning Votan which do not run parallel\nwith the career of Nephi. Such, for instance, as his alleged visit to\nSpain, Rome, Jerusalem, where, in the latter place, he saw the temple\nof Solomon building; also his visit to the Euphrates valley, where\nhe saw the unfinished Tower of Babel. The part of his story which\ndescribes his finding in America a colony of the same race as his\nown people, reminds one of the first Mosiah, who found the people of\nZarahemla, in the valley of the Sidon. It will be remembered that these\npeople came from Jerusalem, were Jews, and are known as the colony of\nMulek. These varied legends concerning Votan resembling in the respects\nhere pointed out the several Book of Mormon characters, lead one to\nregard as reasonable the supposition advanced by nearly all writers who\nspeak of him, that Votan is a generic name; and that the legends which\ncenter about this name represent the exploits of several of America's\nculture-heroes, [13] and, as I believe, of several Book of Mormon\ncharacters.\n\nIII.\n\n_The Peruvian Tradition of the Messiah._\n\nThe natives of Chili have the following tradition concerning one\nof their culture-heroes, which closely resembles Messiah as he was\nrevealed to the Nephites:\n\n Rosales, in his inedited (i. e. unpublished) History of Chili,\n declares that the inhabitants of that extremely southern portion\n of America, situated at the distance of so many thousand miles\n from New Spain, and who did not employ paintings to record\n events, accounted for their knowledge of some of the doctrines of\n Christianity by saying, \"that in former times, as they had heard\n their fathers say, a wonderful man had come to that country,\n wearing a long beard, with shoes, and a mantle such as the Indians\n carry on their shoulders, who performed many miracles, cured the\n sick with water, caused it to rain, and their crops and grain\n to grow, kindled fire at a breath, and wrought other marvels,\n healing at once the sick, and giving sight to the blind; and that\n he spoke with as much propriety and elegance in the language of\n their country as if he had always resided in it, addressing them\n in words very sweet and new to them, telling them that the Creator\n of the universe resided in the highest place of heaven, and that\n many men and women who were resplendent as the sun dwelt with him.\n They say that he shortly afterwards went to Peru, and that many, in\n imitation of the habit and shoes which that man used, introduced\n among themselves the fashion of wearing shoes, and the loose mantle\n over the shoulders, either fastened with a clasp at the breast, or\n knotted at the corners, whence it may be inferred that this man was\n some apostle whose name they do not know.\" [14]\n\nThe points of comparison between the character referred to in the\nforegoing quotation and the Messiah in his ministry among the Nephites,\nare:\n\nFirst: In personal appearance, if due allowance be made for the\nimperfect description in the legend.\n\nSecond: In the character of the work performed, especially in\nthe matter of healing of the sick. While in their midst Jesus is\nrepresented as saying to the Nephites:\n\n Have ye any that are sick among you, bring them hither. Have ye\n any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or\n that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in\n any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them, for I have\n compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy; for I\n perceive that ye desire that I shew unto you what I have done unto\n your brethren at Jerusalem, for I see that your faith is sufficient\n that I should heal you. And it came to pass that when he had thus\n spoken, all the multitude, with one accord, did go forth with their\n sick, and their afflicted, and their lame, and with their blind,\n and with their dumb, and with all them that were afflicted in any\n manner; and he did heal them every one as they were brought forth\n unto him. [15]\n\nThird: In relation to the graciousness of his language, the third Nephi\nrepresents the Savior as praying for the Nephites in this manner:\n\n And the things which he prayed cannot be written, and the multitude\n did bear record who heard him. And after this manner did they\n bear record: \"The eye hath never seen, neither hath the ear heard\n before, so great and marvelous things as we saw and heard Jesus\n speak unto the Father, and no tongue can speak, neither can there\n be written by any man, neither can the heart of man conceive so\n great and marvelous things as we both saw and heard Jesus speak;\n and no one can conceive of the joy which filled our souls at the\n time we heard him pray for us unto the Father.\" [16]\n\nFourth: Relative to teaching the people, that many men and women were\nresplendent in their glory and were already dwelling with God, the Book\nof Mormon mentions the circumstance of Jesus taking very great pains to\nhave recorded in the Nephite annals the fact that many of the ancient\nSaints arose from the dead and appeared unto many and ministered\nunto them; [17] and from the whole tenor of his instructions to the\nNephites, as found in III. Nephi, it is clear that there was ever\npresent in his thought the fact of redeemed and glorified immortals\ndwelling with God in his kingdom.\n\nFifth: The reference in the quotation to the departure of the man-God\nfor another land is paralleled in the Book of Mormon account of Jesus,\nwhere he is represented as declaring the existence of the lost tribes\nof the house of Israel, and the declaration of his intention to visit\nthem. \"Now,\" said he, \"I go unto the Father, and also to show myself\nunto the lost tribes of Israel, for they are not lost unto the Father,\nfor he knoweth whither he hath taken them.\" [18]\n\nIV.\n\n_Topilitzen Quetzalcohuatl._\n\nThis personage appears under different names in the native traditions\nof various countries of America. In the Popol Vuh of the Quiches he is\nknown under the title of Gucumatz; [19] in Yucatan he appears under\nthe name of Cukulcan; [20] in Oajaca (despite some difficulties and\ncontradictions) as Huemac; and in Mexico, par excellence, as Toplitzin\nQuetzalcohuatl. Respecting this character, various opinions are held.\nBy some he is regarded as the Apostle St. Thomas, whom they credit with\ncoming to America and preaching the Christian religion. \"In support\nof their opinion,\" says Bancroft, \"that he [Quetzalcohuatl] was no\nother than the apostle, they allege that the hero-god's proper name,\nTopilitzen Quetzalcohuatl, closely resembles in sound and signification\nthat of 'Thomas, surnamed Didymus;' for 'to' in the Mexican name,\nis an abbreviation of Thomas, to which 'pilcin,' meaning 'son' or\n'disciple,' is added; while the meaning of Quetzalcohuatl (in the Aztec\nlanguage) is exactly the same as that of the Greek name 'Didymus,' 'a\ntwin,' being compounded of 'quetzalli,' a 'plume of green feathers,'\nmetaphorically signifying anything precious, and 'coatl,' a serpent,\nmetaphorically meaning one of two twins.\" [21]\n\nLord Kingsborough, it is well known, is the foremost among those who\nhave identified this traditionary personage (Quetzalcohuatl) with the\nHebrew Messiah--Jesus of Nazareth; and to this subject he devoted\nan incredible amount of labor and research. [22] As Kingsborough's\ninterpretation of the name, Topilitzin Quetzalcohuatl, as also the\nsubstance of his argument will appear in quotations from his works,\nit is not necessary to make a statement of them here. Let it suffice,\nat this point, to say that native American traditions assign too many\nof the qualities of Deity to Quetzalcohuatl to regard him merely as\na man; and while many things are ascribed to him that are not in\nharmony with the character and mission of Messiah as set forth in\nthe Book of Mormon, still one may trace the outlines of Messiah's\nadvent and labors among the Nephites in the career of Quetzalcohuatl,\nas also the qualities of his divinity in what tradition ascribes to\nthe Aztec deity. As for those adventures and human qualities found\nin Quetzalcohuatl not properly ascribable to Messiah, they arise,\ndoubtless, out of the fact that the native traditions have confounded\nsome of the exploits and characteristics of other great personages who\nhave figured in their history with those of Messiah.\n\nIn order that the reader may have a fairly full account of what is said\nof this American man-divinity, I shall quote what several reliable\nauthorities have said of him, beginning with Prescott:\n\n A far more interesting personage in their [i. e. the Mexicans]\n mythology was Quetzalcohuatl, god of the air, a divinity, during\n his residence on earth, instructed the natives in the use of\n metals, in agriculture, and in the arts of government. He was one\n of those benefactors of their species, doubtless, who have been\n deified by gratitude of posterity. Under him, the earth teemed\n with fruits and flowers, without the pains of culture. An ear of\n Indian corn was as much as a single man could carry. The cotton,\n as it grew took of its own accord, the rich dyes of human art. The\n air was filled with intoxicating perfumes and the sweet melody of\n birds. In short, these were the halcyon days, which find a place\n in the mythic systems of so many nations in the Old World. It\n was the golden age of Anahuac. From some cause, not explained,\n Quetzalcohuatl, incurred the wrath of one of the principal gods,\n and was compelled to abandon the country. On his way, he stopped at\n the city of Cholula, where a temple was dedicated to his worship,\n the massy ruins of which still form one of the most interesting\n relics of antiquity in Mexico. When he reached the shores of the\n Mexican Gulf, he took leave of his followers, promising that he and\n his descendants would visit them hereafter, and then, entering his\n wizard skiff, made of serpents' skins, embarked on the great ocean\n for the fabled land of Tlapallan. He was said to have been tall in\n stature, with a white skin, long, dark hair, and a flowing beard.\n The Mexicans looked confidently to the return of the benevolent\n deity; and this remarkable tradition, deeply cherished in their\n hearts, prepared the way. * * * * * * for the future success of the\n Spaniards. [23]\n\nAfter referring to the numerous, lengthy, intricate and even\ncontradictory legendary statements of the American aborigines which\nin full may only be learned from the elaborate works of Brasseur de\nBourbourg, Lord Kingsborough, and H. H. Bancroft--P. De Roo remarks:\n\n It is the universal opinion of the learned that Quetzalcohuatl is\n identically the same personage with the contemporary religious and\n civil reformer whom various nations have deified under different\n names; that he is the same with Huemac or Vemac, as the Mexicans\n also called him; with Topilitzin, as he was more anciently known\n in Tulla by the Toltecs; with Wixipecocha, under whose name he was\n venerated by the Zapotecs; with Zamna, Cozas, or Cukulcan, the\n theocratic ruler of Yucatan; nay, with Bochica, the civilizer of\n Cundinamarca of New Granada, and with Viracocha of Peru.\n\nIn the remainder of the quotation from our author, he speaks of this\none person under his various names and titles:\n\n Quetzalcohuatl arrived at Tulla, the Toltec capital, from Panuco,\n a small place on the Gulf of Mexico, where he had first landed.\n Duran likewise relates that Topilitzin was a foreigner, but could\n not learn from what parts he had come. His name, given him by the\n natives, signified \"Beautiful feathered serpent.\" Culkulcan, his\n Maya or Yucatec appellation, had exactly the same meaning. It was\n the name of princes and Toltec kings, and probably designates\n some honorable title, which, if we should make a few learned\n considerations, might be found to be the Great or the Glorious\n man of the country. * * * * * * The Indians remembered well that\n their god Quetzalcohuatl had not been like one of themselves. They\n described him as a white or pale faced man, of portly person, with\n broad forehead, great eyes, long black hair, and a heavy rounded\n beard. The Zapotecan Wixipecocha was also a white-skinned apostle,\n and the Toltecan Topilitzin is described as having all the same\n features, to which Duran adds that his beard was of a fair color\n and his nose rather large. He was very reserved in his manners,\n plain and meek with those who approached him, passing most of his\n time in meditation and prayer in his cell, and showing himself but\n seldom to the people. * * * * * * * * Very abstemious at all times,\n Topilitzen often observed long and rigorous fasts, practicing\n severe penances and even bloody self-chastisements, as is likewise\n stated of the homologous Quetzalcohuatl.\n\n De las Casas testifies that Quetzalcohuatl lived a most honest and\n chaste life; Sahagun, that he never married nor ever was in the\n company of a woman, except in the act of auricular confession.\n While, according to traditional report, he was born of a virgin\n mother. Herrea states that he remained a virgin himself. The\n Yucatec legends also notice the celibacy of Cukulcan and his\n general purity of morals. * * * Quetzalcohuatl is described as\n having worn during life, for the sake of modesty, a garment that\n reached down to his feet. * * * * * For shoes, Cukulcan wore\n sandals, walked along bare-headed; nor is it said that his mantle\n was, like that of his equivalent Wexipecocha, provided with a\n monk's cowl for head-gear. From the Mexican traditions we learn\n that Quetzalcohuatl, also, wore a cloak, which Bancroft calls a\n blanket over all, in one place, and a long white robe, in another;\n adding that, according to Gormara, it was decorated with crosses.\n [24]\n\nIt would be impossible within the proposed limits of this work to\nquote at length what has been written of this mysterious personage of\nthe western world; whose character and career in so many respects are\nlike that of the Hebrew Messiah, as he appeared in the western world.\nFrom this point I can only summarize and quote briefly respecting him,\nleaving the reader interested in the subject to make larger research in\nthe works cited in the margins. [25]\n\nAnd now first as to the personal appearance of Quetzalcohuatl:\n\n He was a white man, of portly person, broad brow, great eyes, long\n black hair, and large round head, or exceedingly chaste, and quiet\n life, and of great moderation in all things. [26] * * * * * * * *\n Quetzalcohuatl is said to be a white man (some gave him a bright,\n red face), with a strong formation of body, broad forehead, large\n eyes, black hair, and a heavy beard. He always wore a long white\n robe; which, according to Gomara, was decorated with crosses. (J.\n G. Muller quoted by Bancroft, Native Races, Vol. III., pp. 273,\n 274.)\n\nIn the Book of Mormon account of the advent of Messiah among the\nNephites there is no description given of his features or person. This,\nupon first thought, may seem singular; and yet it is in strictest\nharmony with human conduct in the presence of such an event. Over-awed\nby the fact of the presence of a heavenly personage men are liable to\ntake no note of features or color of the eyes or hair or any details\nof personal appearance. It is not until men are removed from the\nawe-inspiring circumstance itself that they begin to think of details\nconnected with a heavenly apparition. I think it probable, therefore,\nthat not until after the Nephite accounts were written of the personal\nministrations of Jesus did those who beheld him begin to think out the\ndetails of his personal appearance; hence we have no description of him\nin their written annals, but we find it preserved--but perhaps with\nmore or less of error in it--in the traditions of the people.\n\nAs to his general character while on earth the following is of\nimportance:\n\n This Quetzalcohuatl was god of the air, and as such had his temple,\n of a round shape and very magnificent. He was made god of the air\n for the mildness and gentleness of all his ways, not liking the\n sharp and harsh measures to which the other gods were so strongly\n inclined. It is to be said further that his life on earth was\n marked by intensely religious characteristics; not only was he\n devoted to the careful observance of all the old customary forms\n of worship, but he himself ordained and appointed many new rites,\n ceremonies, and festivals [27] for the adoration of the gods;\n [28] and it is held for certain that he made the calendar. [29]\n He had priests who were called Quequetzalcohua, that is to say\n \"priests of the order of Quetzalcohuatl.\" [30] The memory of him\n was engraved deeply upon the minds of the people, and it is said\n that when barren women prayed and made sacrifices to him, children\n were given them. [31] He was, as we have said, god of the winds,\n and the power of causing them to blow was attributed to him as well\n as the power of calming or causing their fury to cease. It was said\n further that he swept the road, so that the gods called Tlaloques\n could rain; this the people imagined because ordinarily a month\n or more before the rains began there blew strong winds throughout\n all New Spain. Quetzalcohuatl is described as having worn during\n life, for the sake of modesty, garments that reached down to the\n feet, with a blanket over all, sown with red crosses. The Cholulans\n preserved certain green stones that had belonged to him, regarding\n them with great veneration and esteeming them as relics. * * * *\n * * He also arranged the calendar, and taught his subjects fit\n religious ceremonies; preaching specially against human sacrifices,\n and ordering offerings of fruits and flowers only. He would have\n nothing to do with the wars, even covering his ears when the\n subject was mentioned. His was a veritable golden age, as in the\n time of Saturn; animals and even men lived in peace, the soil\n produced the richest harvests without cultivation, and the grain\n grew so large that a man found it trouble enough to carry one ear;\n no cotton was dyed, as it grew of all colors, and fruits of all\n kinds abounded. Everybody was rich and Quetzalcohuatl owned whole\n palaces of gold, silver and precious stones. The air was filled\n with the most pleasant aromas, and a host of finely feathered birds\n filled the world with melody. [32]\n\nSo, too, the following:\n\n Only Quetzalcohuatl among all the gods was pre-eminently called\n Lord; in such sort, that when any one swore, saying, By our Lord,\n he meant Quetzalcohuatl and no other; though there were many other\n highly esteemed gods. For indeed the service of this god was\n gentle, neither did he demand hard things, but light; and he taught\n only virtue, abhorring all evil and hurt. Twenty years this good\n deity remained in Cholula, then he passed away by the road he had\n come, carrying with him four of the principal and most virtuous\n youths of that city. He journeyed for a hundred and fifty leagues,\n till he came to the sea, in a distant province called Goatzacoalco.\n Here he took leave of his companions and sent them back to their\n city, instructing them to tell their fellow citizens that a day\n should come in which the white men would land upon their coasts,\n by the way of the sea in which the sun rises; brethren of his and\n having beards like his; and that they should rule that land. [33]\n The Mexicans always waited for the accomplishment of this prophecy,\n and when the Spaniards came they took them for the descendants of\n their meek and gentle prophet, although, as Mendieta remarks with\n some sarcasm, when they came to know them and to experience their\n works, they thought otherwise. [34]\n\nRelative to Quetzalcohuatl in his capacity of Deity I shall quote the\nfollowing passage from Lord Kingsborough's great work as representing\nthe sum of his extensive research upon the subject and its elaborate\npresentation:\n\n How truly surprising it is to find the Mexicans, who seem to\n have been quite unacquainted with the doctrines of the migration\n of the soul and the metempsychosis, should have believed in the\n incarnation of the only son of their supreme god Tonacatecutle.\n For Mexican mythology speaking of no other son of that God except\n Quetzalcohuatl, who was born of Chimalman, the virgin of Tula,\n without connection with man, and by his breath alone, (by which\n may be signified his word or his will, announced to Chimalman by\n word of mouth of the celestial messenger, whom he dispatched to\n inform her that she should conceive a son), it must be presumed\n that Quetzalcohuatl was his only son. [35] Other arguments might\n be adduced to show, that the Mexicans believed that Quetzalcohuatl\n was both god and man, that he had previously to his incarnation,\n existed from all eternity, [36] that he had created both the world\n and man, [37] that he descended from heaven to reform the world by\n penance, that he was born with the perfect use of reason, that he\n preached a new law, and, being king of Tula, was crucified for the\n sins of mankind, as is obscurely insinuated by the interpreter of\n the Vatican Codex, plainly declared in the traditions of Yucatan,\n and mysteriously represented in the Mexican paintings. [38]\n\n It would be a useless repetition of facts already stated in the\n preceding pages of the present volume, to undertake separately to\n prove all these points; and we shall confine ourselves in this\n place to the three first very important articles. The reflection\n must have suggested itself to those who have perused the New\n Testament, that Christ is as frequently distinguished there by\n the appellation of the \"Son of Man,\" as by that of the \"Son of\n God,\" in reference no doubt to his humanity, and to the famous\n prophecy contained in the ninth verse of the ninth chapter of\n Isaiah: \"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given:\"\n which Christians, on the authority of many passages in the four\n Gospels, apply to Christ, although the Jews some times interpret\n it of the Messiah, and some times of King Hezekiah. The Mexicans\n bestowed the appellation of Topilitzin on Quetzalcohuatl, the\n literal signification of which is \"our son,\" or \"our child,\"\n the proper name being compounded of \"to,\" \"our,\" and \"piltzin,\"\n defined by Alonso de Molina in his rare and copious vocabulary of\n the Mexican and Spanish languages to be mino o nina, \"a boy or a\n girl,\" and associated by him with the cognate terms of \"piltontli\"\n and \"pilzintia;\" and it may not be unreasonably assumed, since\n analogies, which are numerous and not isolated, as their number\n increases, increase also their ratio of probability, not only that\n the Mexicans were acquainted with Isaiah's famous prophecy, but to\n mark their belief of the accomplishment of that prophecy, in the\n person of Quetzalcohuatl, that they named him Topiltzin; no less\n account of his having been born from a virgin of the daughters of\n men, then because another equally celebrated prediction of the\n same prophet declared that he should receive a name from that very\n circumstance: \"Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign,\n Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his\n name Immanuel.\" And the proper name Topilitzin does in fact bear\n a signification corresponding, if not literally, yet entirely in\n substance with that of Immanuel: since \"God with us,\" which is the\n interpretation of the Hebrew name, means God domiciliated amongst\n men; and the full force of the expression is preserved in the term\n Topilitzin, which might be interpreted the Son of Man, or God on a\n level with men; for the Mexicans believed that Quetzalcohuatl took\n human nature upon him, partaking of all infirmities of man, and\n was not exempt from sorrow, pain, or death, and that he suffered\n voluntarily to atone for the sins of mankind. [39]\n\nAs already remarked, there is much attributed to this Deity of native\nAmerican tradition that seems incompatible with the character of\nMessiah, and with his labors while in the western hemisphere; but for\nall that one may see in outline here the leading truths respecting the\nSon of God as made known to the Nephites through prophecies and the\nChrist's advent among them, all of which is set forth in the Book of\nMormon; while that which is not congruous to Messiah and his mission to\nthe Nephites, results--as already pointed out--from the confusion of\na number of traditions concerning several other great characters who\nhave figured in native American history, and of whom the Book of Mormon\nspeaks. But, in the foregoing excerpts from the works of those skilled\nin the lore of ancient America, we have the account of \"The great or\nthe glorious Man of the country,\" [40] that can be no other than the\nHebrew Messiah--the Jesus Christ of the Book of Mormon. There are the\nsigns of his birth: the signs of his death; his sudden advent among the\npeople; his personal appearance--not incompatible with the personal\nappearance of Messiah, but rather in harmony with it; his birth of a\nvirgin; his being the only son of God; his name signifying \"God with\nman;\" his being the creator of heaven and earth; his crucifixion for\nthe sins of the world; his being peculiarly \"the Lord\" to whom men\nprayed; his love of peace, his hatred of war; his respect for existing\nreligion, yet his enlargement of it and the addition of religious\nrites and ceremonies; his teaching the people perfectly in their own\ntongue, yet also in new and honied words; his compassion for the sick,\nand healing them; his choosing special disciples to teach his religion\nand making them priests of the same order as himself; the beauty and\ngentleness of his religion that stands in such marked contrast to the\nsubsequent harsh and sanguinary superstition that darkened the lives of\nthe natives; his instructions as to historical records; his taking with\nhim on his departure from the country four of the principal and most\nvirtuous youths of the city of Cholula to the sea where he separated\nfrom them and sent back messages to his followers by them, promising\nto return; [41] his prediction of other and white races to come and\noccupy the western world and rule it; his mysterious departure from the\nland, and his promise to return. All this, which so perfectly agrees\nboth with the character and ministry of Messiah among the Nephites,\nas described in the Book of Mormon, is set forth in such clearness\nthat it cannot be discredited because of some evident fantasies and\nincongruities in other parts of the traditions.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. III. Nephi xi: 3-12.\n\n2. Native Races, Bancroft, Vol. V., pp. 23, 24.\n\n3. Such was the case with I Nephi and also Mosiah II. (Omni v: 12-22).\nAlso King Benjamin, (Mosiah i: 2). In fact all the Nephite kings seem\nto have performed priestly functions; while under the Republic Alma\nwas made president of the state and high priest of the Church, (Mosiah\nxxix: 42), and in the fifty-third year of the Republic Nephi, the son\nof Helaman, was, for a time, both president of the Republic and high\npriest of the Church. (Helaman iii: 37 and chapter iv.)\n\n4. The Mexicans believed that Quetzalcohuatl united in his own person\nthe character of king, priest and prophet. (Kingsborough, Vol. VI.,\np. 213). Prescott speaking of Montezuma says: \"He had been elected\nto the regal dignity in preference to his brothers for his several\nqualification both as a ruler and a priest, a combination of offices\nsometimes found in the Mexican candidates, as it was, more frequently,\nin the Egyptian.\" (Conquest of Mexico, Vol. I., p. 215). The same\nauthor speaking of the Incas of Peru says: \"As the representative of\nthe sun he stood at the head of the priesthood and presided at the\nmost important of the religious festivals.\" (Conquest of Peru, Vol.\nI., p. 41). In a note on this passage Mr. Prescott takes exception to\nwhat he calls the \"sweeping assertion\" of Carli to the effect that\nthe royal and sacerdotal authority were blended together in Peru; yet\nin another passage Prescott himself compares the ancient Peruvian\ngovernment with that of the Jews and says: \"The Inca was both the law\ngiver and the law. He was not merely the representative of divinity, or\nlike the pope, its vicegerant, but he was divinity itself.\" (Conquest\nof Peru, Vol. I., p. 135). Tschudi emphatically states the union of\nking and priest in the Incas as follows: \"Moreover, the monarchs of\nPeru, as children of the sun, and descendants, in a direct line, from\nManco-Capac, were the high priests and oracles in religious matters.\nThus uniting the legislative and executive power, the supreme command\nin war, absolute sovereignity in peace, and a venerated high priesthood\nin religious feasts, they exercised the highest power ever known to\nman--realized in their persons the famous union of the pope and the\nemperor, and more reasonably than Louis XIV., might have exclaimed: \"I\nam the state!\" (Peruvian Antiquities, Tschudi, pp. 74, 75).\n\n5. Alma xlv: 18, 19.\n\n6. III. Nephi i: 1-3.\n\n7. Native Races, Vol. V., pp. 27, 28. Our author here follows Claviergo.\n\n8. The chronology of legends, or even traditions, is very uncertain;\nand the variation of a few hundred years or so is not serious. The main\npoint in the above case is that Votan came to America some hundreds of\nyears B. C.\n\n9. Of Lehi's family there were himself and wife, and four sons. Zoram,\nthe servant of Laban; he married one of the daughters of Ishmael. Of\nIshmael's family there was himself and wife, two married sons and five\ndaughters. If, as it is supposed, the four sons of Lehi married the\nfour daughters of Ishmael then there were nine families that formed\nthe colony. Ishmael, however, died during the colony's wanderings in\nArabia, and hence there were eight families that reached America in the\nNephite colony. (For above facts see I. Nephi ii, vi, vii, xvi: 34).\n\n10. I. Nephi ii.\n\n11. Bancroft, Native Races, Vol. V., p. 166.\n\n12. I. Nephi i, and I. Nephi ii.\n\n13. Those who would have further information concerning Votan are\nreferred to Bancroft's Native Races, Vol. III., pp. 450, 455. Also Vol.\nV., pp. 159, 160. Also to Donnelley's Atlantis, chapter iv, and the\npast notes in these several works.\n\n14. Mexican Antiquities, Kingsborough, Vol. VI., p. 419.\n\n15. III. Nephi xvii: 7, 9.\n\n16. III. Nephi xvii: 15-17.\n\n17. III. Nephi xxiii.\n\n18. III. Nephi xvii: 4, see also chapter xvi: 1-3.\n\n19. Bancroft, Native Races, Vol. V., p. 621.\n\n20. Bancroft, Native Races, Vol. III., pp. 135, 260, 451\n\n21. Bancroft, Native Races, Vol. V., p. 25\n\n22. Those who desire to follow the researches of the noble author on\nthis point can do so by consulting Vol. VIII. of his elaborate work,\npp. 5-51; also his explanations of plates 3, 10, 41 of the Vatican\nCodex with accompanying notes, Vol. VI. This is by no means all that\nhis lordship writes upon the subject, but from these passages one\nmay learn the substance of his theory, and the argument by which he\nsustains it.\n\n23. Conquest of Mexico, Prescott, Vol. I., p. 64.\n\n24. History of America Before Columbus, P. De Roo, Vol. I., pp. 540-544.\n\n25. Perhaps the fullest and most accessible work on the subject is\nBancroft's Native Races, Vol. III., pp. 248, 287; and P. De Roo's\nAmerica Before Columbus, Vol. I., chapters xxii, xxiii.\n\n26. Native Races, Bancroft, Vol. III., p. 250.\n\n27. See II. Nephi xv: 2, 10.\n\n28. See III. Nephi xi: 21, 28, also III. Nephi xviii: 1, 25. Compare\nthese several passages from Nephi with the statement in the text.\n\n29. This may simply be the traditional remembrance of the fact that the\nsign of the birth of Jesus was made an epoch from which the Nephites\nthenceforward reckoned their time. See III. Nephi ii: 4-8.\n\n30. \"Priests after the order of Quetzalcohuatl.\" The Book of Mormon\nteaches that the Nephites had the high Melchizedek priesthood among\nthem. That is to say, the priesthood of their high priests was after\nthe same order of priesthood as that held by the son of God. Hence\nwe have Alma saying: \"I am called to speak after this manner [he was\npreaching obedience to the people] according to the holy order of God,\nwhich is in Christ Jesus. * * * * * And now I say unto you that this\nis the order after which I am called, yea to preach unto my beloved\nbrethren.\" (Alma v: 44, 49). \"I would that ye should remember that the\nLord God ordained priests after his holy order, which was after the\norder of his Son, to teach these things unto the people.\" (Alma xii:\n1). The whole chapter deals with this subject of the priesthood, and\nshould be considered as part of the reference. Jesus when instructing\nthe twelve he had chosen from among the Nephites, said to them: \"Ye\nshall be judges of this people according to the judgement which I shall\ngive unto you, which shall be just; therefore what manner of men ought\nye to be? Verily I say unto you, even as I am.\" (III. Nephi xxvii:\n27). It is fairly clear, that Jesus appointed priests after his own\norder even as the traditions of the Mexicans teach that their deity\nQuetzalcohuatl appointed priests after his own order. The coincident of\nthe tradition and the Nephite record is remarkable, and affords an item\nof incidental evidence of considerable importance.\n\n31. Compare this statement with the following passage: \"Behold, verily,\nverily, I say unto you, ye must watch and pray always, lest ye enter\ninto temptation. * * * * * Therefore ye must always pray unto the\nFather in my name; and whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name,\nwhich is right, believing that ye shall receive, behold it shall be\ngiven unto you. Pray in your families unto the Father, always in my\nname, that your wives and your children may be blessed.\" (III. Nephi\nxviii: 12, 21).\n\n32. Native Races, Bancroft, Vol. III., pp. 259, 260, 274. For a\ndescription of the Nephite \"golden age,\" whence comes this \"golden age\"\nof the tradition, see III. Nephi, chapter xxiv, xxviii.\n\n33. With this statement compare III. Nephi xvi: 6, 16; also III. Nephi\nxx: 14, 20, 27, 28; also III. Nephi xxi: 12, 25. Where the Savior\npredicts the coming of the Gentiles to the promised land, and their\nprivileges and responsibilities respecting it.\n\n34. Bancroft, Native Races, Vol. III., p. 251.\n\n35. Compare I. Nephi xi: 12-21; I. Nephi x: 4-6. Also I. Nephi xi: 21;\nEther iii: 6-16.\n\n36. Mosiah iii: 4, 5.\n\n37. Helaman xiv: 12; Ether iii: 14-16.\n\n38. III Nephi xi: 6-12.\n\n39. Kingsborough's Mexican Antiquities, Vol. VI., p. 507.\n\n40. The happy suggestion of title is De Roo's Ante, p. 298.\n\n41. Readers of the Book of Mormon will find in this circumstance a\nresemblance to the fact of Jesus granting to three of the twelve\ndisciples chosen from among the Nephites the privilege of remaining on\nearth without tasting death until he should return in glory. And when\nit is remembered that in granting this request to the three Nephites\nJesus coupled the name of John, the beloved disciple, in Judea, to whom\nhad been granted the same privilege (St. John xxi), sufficient ground\nwork was laid for the tradition of the \"four\" \"most virtuous youths\"\nwho were given a special mission by Quetzalcohuatl to his followers.\nThe incident concerning the three Nephite disciples and the mention of\nJohn in connection with them will be found in III. Nephi xxviii.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXII\n\nEXTERNAL EVIDENCES--THE HEBREW ORIGIN OF THE NATIVE AMERICAN\nRACES--HEBREW RELICS.\n\nI next call attention to the evidences of the Hebrew origin of the\nnative Americans, which origin, of course, if established beyond\nreasonable doubt, will be one more item of evidence--one, too, of very\ngreat weight in the volume of cumulative evidence here being compiled,\nsince the Hebrew origin of the native American races is fundamental\nas testimony to the truth of the Book of Mormon. The Hebrew origin of\nthose races in our book is so unequivocally stated and so emphasized\nthat if the said American races could be proven beyond doubt to be of\nother than Hebrew origin, the claims of the Book of Mormon would be\nshattered.\n\nThe chief sources of information on this subject are the writings of\nGregoria Garcia, Edward King (Lord Kingsborough), and James Adair. The\nfirst is a Spanish Dominican author, born about 1560; he died 1627. He\nspent some twelve years in Central American countries as a missionary\namong the natives, during which time he gathered his materials for his\nchiefest work, \"Origin de los Indios.\" While contending for the theory\nthat the Indians are descendants of the Ten Tribes, Garcia collected\nevidences on both sides of the question, though both his evidences and\narguments tend to prove the theory of Hebrew origin.\n\nLord Kingsborough was born in 1795, and died at Dublin in 1837. His\n\"Antiquities of Mexico,\" ten volumes, imperial folio, were published in\nLondon between 1830-48, consequently, since he died in 1837, some of\nthe volumes were issued after his death. His theory is that the Indians\nare descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel, and to the establishment\nof this view he bends all his energies. He is open to the charge of\nbeing over zealous for his theory, and doubtless has been somewhat\nextravagant in his assumptions of proofs--in matters of detail, at\nleast; but, after all proper discount is made for the over-zeal of an\nenthusiast--fanatic, if you will,--there remains a body of evidence\nin his works for the Hebrew origin of native American races which has\nnever been successfully disposed of by those who dispute his theory.\nEven Bancroft, who holds his theory in contempt, is forced to admit\nthat his \"enthusiasm is never offensive,\" and further says of him,\n\"There is a scholarly dignity about his work which has never been\nattained by those who have jeered and railed at him.\" [1]\n\nAdair's work, \"History of the North American Indians,\" is included in\nthe eighth volume of Kingsborough's works. James Adair was an English\ntrader among the North American Indians from 1735 to 1775--forty years.\nIt was in 1775 that his work was published. His observations were\nconfined to the North American Indians; hence these three authors may\nbe said to cover the entire field of our investigation. I shall give\nextracts from all these writers, making use of Bancroft's abridgment of\ntheir works as being at once accurate and most accessible to the reader.\n\nI.\n\n_Garcia._\n\nI begin with Garcia:\n\n The opinion that the Americans are of Hebrew origin is supported by\n similarities in character, dress, religion, physical peculiarities,\n condition, and customs. The Americans are at heart cowardly, and\n so are the Jews; the history of both nations proves this. The Jews\n did not believe in the miracles of Christ, and for their unbelief\n were scattered over the face of the earth, and despised of all\n men; in like manner the people of the New World did not readily\n receive the true faith as preached by Christ's Catholic disciples,\n and are therefore persecuted and being rapidly exterminated.\n Another analogy presents itself in the ingratitude of the Jews for\n the many blessings and special favors bestowed on them by God.\n * * * * * * Both Jews and Americans are noted for their want of\n charity and kindness to the poor, sick and unfortunate; both are\n naturally given to idolatry; many customs are common to both such\n as raising the hands to heaven when making a solemn affirmation,\n calling all near relatives brothers, showing great respect and\n humility before superiors, burying their dead on hills and high\n places without the city, tearing their clothing on the reception\n of bad tidings, giving a kiss on the cheek as a token of peace,\n celebrating a victory with songs and dances, casting out of the\n place of worship women who are barren, drowning dogs in a well,\n practicing crucifixion. * * * * * * * * The dress of the Hebrew\n was in many points like that of the Americans. * * * * * * The\n Jews preferred the flesh-pots of Egypt and a life of bondage to\n heavenly manna and the promised land; the Americans liked a life of\n freedom and a diet of roots and herbs, better than the service of\n the Spaniards with good food. The Jews were famous for fine work\n in stone, as is shown by the buildings of Jerusalem, and a similar\n excellence in this art is seen in the American ruins. The Mexicans\n have a tradition of a journey undertaken at the command of a god,\n and continued for a long time under the direction of certain high\n priests, who miraculously obtained supplies for their support, this\n bears a striking resemblance to the Hebrew story of the wandering\n in the desert. [2] * * * * Moreover, many traces of their old laws\n and ceremonies are to be found among them at the present day.\n For instance, both Jews and Americans gave their temple into the\n charge of priests, burned incense, anointed the body, practiced\n circumcision, kept perpetual fires on their altars, forbade women\n to enter the temple immediately after giving birth, and husbands\n to sleep with their wives for seven days during the period of\n menstruation, prohibiting marriage or sexual intercourse between\n relatives within the second degree, made fornication with a slave\n punishable, slew the adulterer, made it unlawful for a man to dress\n like a woman, or a woman like a man, put away their brides if they\n prove to have lost their virginity, kept the ten commandments.\n\nAnswering the objection that the American Indians do not speak Hebrew,\nGarcia says:\n\n But the reason for this is that the language has gradually changed,\n as has been the case with all tongues. Witness the Hebrew spoken\n by the Jews at the present time, which is much corrupted and very\n different from what is originally was. There do actually exist,\n besides, many Hebraic traces in the American languages. [3]\n\nII.\n\n_Lord Kingsborough's Views._\n\nThe main items of Lord Kingsborough's evidences and arguments are thus\nsummarized by Bancroft:\n\n The religion of the Mexicans strongly resembled that of the Jews,\n in many minor details, as will be presently seen, and the two were\n practically alike, to a certain extent in their very foundation;\n for, as the Jews acknowledged a multitude of angels, arch-angels,\n principalities, thrones, dominions, and powers, as the subordinate\n personages of their hierarchy, so did the Mexicans acknowledge\n the unity of the deity in the person of Tezcatlipoca, and at the\n same time worship a great number of other imaginary beings. Both\n believed in a plurality of devils subordinate to one head, who was\n called by the Mexicans Mictlantecutli, and by the Jews Satan. * *\n * * * * It is probable that the Toltecs were acquainted with the\n sin of the first man committed at the suggestion of the woman,\n herself deceived by the serpent, who tempted her with the fruit of\n the forbidden tree, who was the origin of all our calamities, and\n by whom death came into the world. We have seen in this chapter\n that Kingsborough supposes the Messiah and his story to have\n been familiar to the Mexicans. There is reason to believe that\n the Mexicans, like the Jews, offered meat and drink offerings\n to stones. There are striking similarities between the Babel,\n flood, and creation myths of the Hebrews and the Americans. Both\n Jews and Mexicans were fond of appealing in their adjurations to\n the heaven and the earth. Both were extremely superstitious, and\n firm believers in prodigies. * * * * It is very probable that the\n Sabbath of the seventh day was known in some parts of America.\n The Mexicans applied the blood of sacrifices to the same uses as\n the Jews; they poured it upon the earth, they sprinkled it, they\n marked persons with it, and they smeared it upon walls and other\n inanimate things. No one but the Jewish high priest might enter the\n Holy of Holies. A similar custom obtained in Peru. Both Mexicans\n and Jews regarded certain animals as unclean and unfit for food.\n Some of the Americans believed with some of the Talmudists in a\n plurality of souls. That man was created in the image of God was\n a part of the Mexican belief. It was customary among the Mexicans\n to eat the flesh of sacrifices of atonement. There are many points\n of resemblance between Tezcatlipoca and Jehovah. Ablutions formed\n an essential part of the ceremonial law of the Jews and Mexicans.\n The opinions of the Mexicans with regard to the resurrection of the\n body, accorded with those of the Jews. The Mexican temple, like the\n Jewish, faced the east. \"As amongst the Jews the ark was a sort of\n portable temple in which the deity was supposed to be continually\n present, and which was accordingly borne on the shoulders of the\n priests as a sure refuge and defense from their enemies, so amongst\n the Mexicans and the Indians of Michoacan and Honduras an ark was\n held in the highest veneration, and was considered an object too\n sacred to be touched by any but the priests. * * * * * The Yucatec\n conception of a trinity resembles the Hebrews. It is probable that\n Quetzalcohuatl whose proper name signifies \"feathered serpent,\"\n was so called after the brazen serpent which Moses lifted up in\n the wilderness, the feathers perhaps alluding to the rabbinical\n tradition that the fiery serpents which god sent against the\n Israelites were of a winged species. The Mexicans, like the Jews,\n saluted the four cardinal points, in their worship. There was much\n in connection with sacrifices that was common to Mexicans and Jews.\n * * * * * * In various religious rites and observances, such as\n circumcision, confession, and communion, there was much similarity.\n Salt was an article highly esteemed by the Mexicans, and the Jews\n always offered it in their oblations. Among the Jews, the firstling\n of an ass had to be redeemed with a lamb, or if unredeemed, its\n neck was broken. This command of Moses should be considered in\n reference to the custom of sacrificing children which existed in\n Mexico and Peru. The spectacle of a king performing a dance as an\n act of religion was witnessed by the Jews as well as by Mexicans.\n As the Israelites were conducted from Egypt by Moses and Aaron who\n were accompanied by their sister Miriam, so the Aztecs departed\n from Astlan under the guidance of Huitziton and Tecpatzin, the\n former of whom is named by Acosta and Herrera, Mexi, attended\n likewise by their sister Quilaztli, or, as she is otherwise named,\n Chimalman or Malinalli, both of which latter names have some\n resemblance to Miriam, as Mexi has to Moses. * * * * * * * It is\n impossible, on reading what Mexican mythology records of the war\n in heaven and of the fall of Tzontemoc and the other rebellious\n spirits; of the creation of light by the word of Tonacatecutli, and\n of the division of the waters; of the sin of Ytztlacoliuhqui, and\n his blindness and nakedness; of the temptation of Suchiquecal, and\n her disobedience in gathering roses from a tree, and the consequent\n misery and disgrace of herself and her posterity--not to recognize\n scriptural analogies. Other Hebrew analogies Lord Kingsborough\n finds in America, in the dress, insignia, and duties of priests;\n in innumerable superstitions concerning dreams, apparitions,\n eclipses, and other more common-place events; in certain festivals\n for rain; in burial and mourning ceremonies; in the diseases most\n common among the people; in certain regularly observed festivals;\n in the dress of certain nations; in established laws; in physical\n features; in architecture; in various minor observances, such as\n offering water to a stranger that he might wash his feet, eating\n dust in token of humility, anointing with oil, and so forth; in\n the sacrifice of prisoners; in manner and style of oratory; in\n the stories of giants; in respect paid to God's name; in games\n of chance; in marriage relations; in childbirth ceremonies; in\n religious ideas of all sorts; in respect paid to kings; in uses of\n metals; in treatment of criminals, and punishment of crimes; in\n charitable practices; in social customs; and in a vast number of\n other particulars. [4]\n\nIII.\n\n_Adair's Evidences._\n\nFollowing is the summary of Adair's evidences and arguments:\n\n The Israelites were divided into tribes and had chiefs over them,\n so the Indians divided themselves: each tribe forming a little\n community within the nation. And as the nation hath its particular\n symbol, so from nation to nation among them we shall not find one\n individual who doth not distinguish himself by his family name.\n Every town has a state house or synedrion, the same as the Jewish\n Sanhedrim, where almost every night the head men meet to discuss\n public business. The Hebrew nation were ordered to worship Jehovah\n the true and living God, who by the Indians is styled Yohewah. The\n ancient heathens, it is well known worshiped a plurality of gods:\n but these American Indians pay their religious devoir to Loak\n Ishtohoollo Aba, The Great Beneficent Supreme Holy Spirit of Fire.\n They do not pay the least perceptible adoration to images. Their\n ceremonies in their religious worship accord more nearly with the\n Mosaic institutions, which could not be if they were of heathen\n descent. * * * * * Their opinion that God chose them out of all the\n rest of mankind as his peculiar and beloved people, fills both the\n white Jew and the red American, with that steady hatred against\n all the world, which renders them hated and despised by all. We\n have abundant evidence of the Jews believing in the ministration\n of angels, during the Old Testament dispensation, their frequent\n appearances and their services on earth, are recorded in the\n oracles, which the Jews themselves receive as given by divine\n inspiration, and St. Paul in his epistle addressed to the Hebrews\n speaks of it as their general opinion that \"angels are ministering\n spirits to the good and righteous on earth.\" The Indian sentiments\n and traditions are the same. They believe the higher regions to\n be inhabited by good spirits, relations to the Great Holy One,\n and that these spirits attend and favor the virtuous. The Indian\n language and dialects appear to have the very idiom and genius of\n the Hebrew. Their words and sentences are expressive, concise,\n emphatical, sonorous, and bold, and often both in letters and\n signification synonymous with the Hebrew language. They count time\n after the manner of the Hebrews, reckoning years by lunar months\n like the Israelites who counted by moons. The religious ceremonies\n of the Indian Americans are in conformity with those of the Jews,\n they having their prophets, high priest, and others of religious\n order. As the Jews had a sanctorum or most holy place, so have all\n the Indian nations. The dress also of their high priests is similar\n in character to that of the Hebrews. The festivals, feasts, and\n religious rites of the Indian Americans have also great resemblance\n to that of the Hebrews. The Indian imitates the Israelite in\n his religious offerings. The Hebrews had various ablutions and\n anointings according to the Mosaic ritual--and all the Indian\n nations constantly observe similar customs from religious motives.\n Their frequent bathing, or dipping themselves and their children\n in rivers, even in the severest weather, seems to be as truly\n Jewish as the other rites and ceremonies which have been mentioned.\n The Indian laws of uncleanliness and purification, and also the\n abstaining from things deemed unclean are the same as those of\n the Hebrews. The Indian marriages, divorces and punishments of\n adultery, still retain a strong likeness to the Jewish laws and\n customs on these points. Many of the Indian punishments resemble\n those of the Jews. Whoever attentively views the features of the\n Indian, and his eye and reflects on his fickle, obstinate, and\n cruel disposition will naturally think of the Jews. The ceremonies\n performed by the Indians before going to war, such as purification\n and fasting, are similar to those of the Hebrew nation. The\n Israelites were fond of wearing beads and other ornaments, even as\n early as the patriarchal age and in resemblance to these customs\n the Indian females continually wear the same, believing it to be\n a preventive against many evils. The Indian manner of curing the\n sick is very similar to that of the Jews. Like the Hebrews, they\n firmly believe that diseases and wounds are occasioned by divine\n anger, in proportion to some violation of the old beloved speech.\n The Hebrews carefully buried their dead, so on any accident they\n gathered their bones, and laid them in tombs of their forefathers;\n thus all the numerous nations of Indians perform the like friendly\n office to every deceased person of their respective tribes. The\n Jewish records tell us that the women mourned for the loss of their\n deceased husbands, and were reckoned vile by the civil law if they\n married in the space of at least ten months after their death. In\n the same manner all the Indian widows, by an established strict\n penal law, mourn for the loss of their deceased husbands; and among\n some tribes for the space of three or four years. The surviving\n brother by the Mosaic law, was to raise seed to a deceased brother,\n who left a widow childless, to perpetuate his name and family. The\n American law enforces the same rule. When the Israelites gave names\n to their children or others they chose such appellatives as suited\n best their circumstances and the times. This custom is a standing\n rule with the Indians.\" [5]\n\nThere are writers upon the subject of American Antiquities who hold,\nfirst: that not all the foregoing points of comparison between native\nAmerican races and the Hebrews are clearly established; and second:\nthat if they were all clearly established it would not necessarily\nprove identity of race. This much, however, can be insisted upon by\nthose who accept the Book of Mormon as true; namely, that since no\ncounter theory of origin for our native American races has yet been\nconclusively proven, (and as matters now stand, seems impossible of\nbeing proven), and as the Book of Mormon makes bold to so definitely\nannounce the Hebrew origin of the people whose history in outline\nit gives, so much in the foregoing summary of points of comparison\nbetween the American races and the Hebrews as may not be successfully\ncontradicted stands as evidence of no mean order for the truth of our\nNephite record.\n\nThe Discovery of Hebrew Relics.\n\nIn addition to these summaries of evidence on the Hebrew origin of the\nnative American races there are several special discoveries bearing on\nthe subject that I think should be mentioned. One is related by Ethan\nSmith, author of \"Views of the Hebrews,\" a work in which he undertakes\nto prove that the American Indians are descendants of the Ten Lost\nTribes of Israel. While preparing his work for a second edition, he\nheard of the discovery in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, of a parchment,\nsupposed to be of native American origin, covered with Hebrew\ncharacters. Mr. Smith went to Pittsfield to investigate the matter, and\nfound the facts to be as follows, the information being given by the\nman who found the parchment:\n\nI.\n\n_The Pittsfield Hebrew Parchment._\n\n This [the discoverer of the parchment] was Joseph Merrick, Esq.,\n a highly respectable character in the church of Pittsfield, and\n in the county, as the minister of the place informed [me]. Mr.\n Merrick gave the following account; that in 1815, he was leveling\n some ground under and near an old wood shed standing on a place of\n his, situated on Indian Hill, (a place in Pittsfield, so called,\n and lying, as the writer was afterward informed, at some distance\n from the middle of the town where Mr. Merrick is now [about 1825]\n living). He ploughed and conveyed away old chips and earth, to\n some depth, as the surface of the earth appeared uneven. After the\n work was done, walking over the place, he discovered, near where\n the earth had been dug the deepest, a kind of black strap, about\n six inches in length, and one and a half in breadth, and something\n thicker than a draw leather [tug] of a harness. He perceived it had\n at each end a loop of some hard substance, probably for the purpose\n of carrying it. He conveyed it into his house, and threw it in an\n old tool box. He afterward found it thrown out of doors, and again\n conveyed it to the box. He attempted to cut it open, and found it\n was formed of pieces of thick raw hide, sewed and made water tight\n with the sinews of some animal; and in the fold it contained four\n folded leaves of old parchment. These leaves were of a dark yellow,\n and contained some kind of writing. Some of the neighbors saw and\n examined them. One of these parchments they tore in pieces; the\n other three he saved, and delivered them to Mr. Sylvester Larned,\n a graduate then in town, who took them to Cambridge, and had them\n examined. They were written in Hebrew with a pen, in plain and\n intelligible writing. The following is an extract of a letter sent\n to Mr. Merrick by Mr. Larned, upon this subject:\n\n Sir:--I have examined the parchment manuscript, which you had the\n goodnesss to give me. After some time and with much difficulty and\n assistance I have ascertained their meaning, which is as follows:\n (I have numbered the manuscripts.)\n\n No. 1, is translated by Duet. vi: 4-9 verses inclusive.\n\n No. 2, by Deut, xi: 13-21 verses inclusive.\n\n No. 3, Exod. xiii: 11-16 verses inclusive.\n\n I am, etc. [Signed] SYLVESTER LARNED. [6]\n\nII.\n\n_The Newark Hebrew Tablet._\n\nAnother discovery of Hebrew writing--the Ten Commandments engraved on a\nstone tablet--was made in Ohio; and was seen by Mr. A. A. Bancroft, the\nfather of H. H. Bancroft, author of \"Native Races.\" The latter relates\nthe circumstances of finding this relic as follows:\n\n About eight miles southeast of Newark there was formerly a large\n mound composed of masses of free stone, which had been brought from\n some distance and thrown into a heap without much placing or care.\n In early days, stone being scarce in that region, the settlers\n carried away the mound piece by piece to use for building purposes,\n so that in a few years there was little more than a large flattened\n heap of rubbish remaining. Some fifteen years ago, the county\n surveyor (I have forgotten his name), who had for some time been\n searching ancient works, turned his attention to this particular\n pile. He employed a number of men and proceeded at once to open\n it. Before long he was rewarded by finding in the centre and near\n the surface a bed of the tough clay generally known as pipe-clay,\n which must have been brought from a distance of some twelve miles.\n Imbedded in the clay was a coffin, dug out of a burr-oak log,\n and in a pretty good state of preservation. In the coffin was a\n skeleton, with quite a number of stone ornaments and emblems, and\n some open brass rings, suitable for bracelets or anklets. These\n being removed, they dug down deeper, and soon discovered a stone\n dressed to an oblong shape, about eighteen inches long and twelve\n wide, which proved to be a casket, neatly fitted and completely\n water-tight, containing a slab of stone of hard and fine quality,\n and an inch and a half thick, eight inches long, four inches wide\n at one end, and tapering to three inches at the other. Upon the\n face of the slab was the figure of a man, apparently a priest with\n a long flowing beard, and a robe reaching to his feet. Over his\n head was a curved line of characters, and upon the edges and back\n of the stone closely and neatly carved letters. The slab, which I\n saw myself, was shown to the Episcopalian clergyman of Newark, and\n he pronounced the writings to be the Ten Commandments in ancient\n Hebrew. [7]\n\nMr. Bancroft, referring to these circumstances, says that in neither of\nthem \"is it certain or even probable that the relic existed in America\nbefore the conquest,\" though he gives no reason for the rather dogmatic\nstatement. For my own part, and especially in the latter case, I see\nno reason to doubt the existence of these relics in America before the\nadvent of the Spaniards. According to the Book of Mormon the ancient\ninhabitants of America, the Nephites, had the writings of Moses. The\nTen Commandments were regarded as the summing up, the crystallization\nof the law of God [8] to the people, pending the advent of Messiah\nwith the more perfect law of the gospel. What could be more natural\nthan that they should multiply copies of these scriptures, or parts\nof them, especially such parts as related to particular promises or\nwarnings to Israelites, as do the passages on the parchment found\nin Pittsfield, Massachusetts? Or such summaries of the law of Moses\nas the Ten Commandments constitute? That the Nephites did multiply\ncopies of the scriptures they had in their possession (and doubtless\nalso copies of striking passages of those scriptures) is evident from\nwhat is said upon the subject by Mormon when giving an account of\nthe transfer of the Nephite records from one Shiblon to Helaman, the\nson of Helaman: \"Now, behold, all those engravings which were in the\npossession of Helaman, were written and sent forth among the children\nof men throughout all the land, save it were those parts which had been\ncommanded by Alma should not go forth.\" [9]\n\nThe part here prohibited transcription and circulation related to the\noaths and constitutions of the secret societies from the record of the\nJaredites; [10] but for the rest, there was perfect liberty to multiply\ncopies of the scriptures, and that it was done is further evidenced\nfrom the fact that missionaries from the Nephites to the Lamanites are\nfound to be in possession of copies of the scriptures which Lehi's\ncolony brought with them from Jerusalem, and from which they read for\nthe instruction of their hearers. [11] It is not difficult to believe,\nin the light of these facts, that noted personages among native\nAmericans should have engraved on stone or parchment in Hebrew or in\nother characters passages of the holy scriptures; nor is it incredible\nthat these should be buried with them--since to bury one's personal\neffects with him was a custom of the natives--and that afterwards the\nrelics should be discovered as in the two instances cited. The fact\nof the discoveries is beyond question: the nature of them is strong\nincidental proof of the claims of the Book of Mormon.\n\nOf this Newark discovery, the late Orson Pratt, who examined the\nengraved stone in the city of New York, and which at the time was\nin possession of the \"Ethnological Society\" of that city, makes\nthe following very valuable and convincing statement and argument\nrespecting the find. It should also be remembered that Elder Pratt's\nknowledge of the Hebrew language makes his comments all the more\nconclusive; while the fact that he points out in his statement that\nthere is in this Newark Tablet none of the modern \"points\" and\n\"characters\" that have been introduced into the Hebrew \"during the last\ntwo thousand four hundred years,\" proves conclusively that the Newark\nTablet is an ancient, not a modern production.\n\n Thirty years after the Book of Mormon was put in print, giving the\n history of the settlement of this country, one of the great mounds\n south of the great lakes near Newark, in Ohio, was opened. What\n was found in it? A great many curiosities, among which were some\n copper pieces, supposed to be money. After digging down many feet,\n and carrying off many thousand loads of stone, they at length found\n a coffin in the midst of a hard kind of fire clay. Underneath this\n they found a large stone that appeared to be hollow; something\n seemed to rattle inside of it. The stone was cemented together\n in the middle, but with some little exertion they broke it open,\n when another stone was found inside of it, of a different nature\n entirely from its covering. On the stone taken from the inside was\n carved the figure of a man with a priestly robe flowing from his\n shoulders; and over the head of this man were the Hebrew characters\n for \"Moshe,\" the ancient name of Moses; while on each side of this\n likeness, and on different sides of the stone, above, beneath, and\n around about were the Ten Commandments that were received on Mount\n Sinai, written in the ancient Hebrew characters. Now recollect\n that the Book of Mormon had been in print thirty years before this\n discovery. And what does this discovery prove? It proves that\n the builders of these mounds, south of the great lakes in the\n great Mississippi Valley in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, New York,\n etc., must have understood the Hebrew characters; [12] and not\n only that, but they must also have understood the law of Moses.\n Otherwise how happened it that they should write on this stone\n the Ten Commandments almost verbatim as they are now contained in\n King James's translation of the Bible. It proves that the builders\n of these mounds were Israelites, and that their illustrious dead,\n buried in these mounds, had these commandments buried with them\n in accordance with the custom of many of the ancient nations,\n especially the Egyptians, who were in the habit of consigning their\n written sacred papyrus to their great tombs. In Egypt many of these\n ancient manuscripts have been exhumed and, in many instances,\n pretended to be translated. So the Israelites followed the customs\n of these Eastern nations, and buried that which they considered\n most sacred, namely, the Ten Commandments, thundered by the voice\n of the Almighty in the midst of flaming fire on Mount Sinai in the\n ears of all the congregation of Israel.\n\n I have seen that sacred stone. It is not a hatched up story. I\n heard tell of it [the stone] as being in the Antiquarian Society,\n or rather, as it is now called, the Ethnological Society, in the\n City of New York. I went to the Secretary of that Society, and he\n kindly showed me this stone, of which I have been speaking, and\n being acquainted with modern Hebrew, I could form some kind of\n an estimate of the ancient Hebrew, for some of the modern Hebrew\n characters do not vary much in form from the ancient Hebrew. At\n any rate we have enough of ancient Hebrew, that has been dug up in\n Palestine and taken from among the ruins of the Israelites east\n of the Miditerranean Sea, to form some kind of an estimate of the\n characters, and comparing them, I could see and understand the\n nature of the writings upon these records. They were also taken to\n the most learned men of our country, who, as soon as they looked at\n them, were able to pronounce them to be not only ancient Hebrew,\n but they were also able to translate them and pronounced them to be\n the Ten Commandments. This, then, is external proof, independent of\n the Scriptural proofs to which I have alluded, in testimony of the\n divine authenticity of the Book of Mormon.\n\n Now, our modern Hebrew has many points; it has also many\n additional characters that have been made since these colonies\n left Jerusalem. Do you find on these ancient writings any of these\n modern characters that have been introduced during the last two\n thousand four hundred years? Not one. Do you find any Hebrew points\n representing vowels? Not one; and all the new consonants that have\n been introduced during the last two thousand four hundred years\n were not found upon this stone to which I have referred, showing\n plainly that it must have been of very ancient date. [13]\n\nIn connection with his comments on this Newark Tablet Elder Pratt also\nmakes the following statement:\n\n\"HAVE MERCY ON ME A NEPHITE.\"\n\n Five years after the discovery of this remarkable memento of the\n ancient Israelites on the American continent, [the Newark Tablet],\n and thirty-five years after the Book of Mormon was in print,\n several other mounds in the same vicinity of Newark were opened,\n in several of which Hebrew characters were found. Among them was\n this beautiful expression, buried with one of their ancient dead,\n \"May the Lord have mercy on me a Nephite.\" It was translated a\n little differently, viz., \"Nephel.\" Now we well know that Nephi,\n who came out of Jerusalem six hundred years before Christ, was\n the leader of the first Jewish [Israelitish--Lehi's colony was\n made up of families from the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim. See\n Vol. I., pages 167-8.] colony across to this land, and the people,\n ever afterwards, were called \"Nephites,\" after their inspired\n prophet and leader. The Nephites were a righteous people and had\n many prophets among them; and when they were burying one of their\n brethren in these ancient mounds, they introduced the Hebrew\n characters signifying \"May the Lord have mercy on me, a Nephite.\"\n This is another direct evidence of the divine authenticity of\n the Book of Mormon, which was brought forth and translated by\n inspiration some thirty-five years before this inscription was\n found. [14]\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Native Races, Vol. V., p. 84.\n\n2. But, it might be suggested, more closely resembles the story of\nLehi's colony at its departure from Jerusalem and its journey to\nAmerica.\n\n3. Bancroft, Native Races, Vol. V., pp. 79-83.\n\n4. Native Races, Vol. V., pp. 84, 85, 86, 87, 88, 90, 91.\n\n5. Bancroft, Native Races, Vol. V., pp. 91, 92, 93 and notes.\n\n6. View of the Hebrews; or the Tribes of Israel in America, pp. 219,\n220. The above account is also quoted by Josiah Priest, American\nAntiquities, pp. 68, 69. Also by Bancroft, Native Races, Vol. V., pp.\n93, 94.\n\n7. Bancroft, Native Races, Vol. V., pp. 94, 95.\n\n8. See especially the teachings of the prophet Abinadi in Mosiah,\nchapter xii and xiii, where the Ten Commandments are expounded as the\nsum of the law of Moses, and its relation to the whole plan of God for\nthe salvation of men defined.\n\n9. Alma lxiii: 12. Orson Pratt in a foot note on the passage suggests:\n\"Those innumerous copies of sacred books were undoubtedly transcribed\ndirectly from or compared with, the records on the original metallic\nplates.\"\n\n10. See Alma xxxvii.\n\n11. Alma xii: 12-15; xxiii: 4-5; xxxiii: 12-15.\n\n12. It may be objected that this Newark Tablet with the Ten\nCommandments written upon it in ancient Hebrew, can be of no value\nas evidence for the Book of Mormon, since that book was engraved in\ncharacters called \"reformed Egyptian.\" That is to say, it was written\nin Egyptian characters somewhat altered by the Nephites in the course\nof time--such changes take place in all written languages. But the\nNephites also wrote, to a limited extent, at least (and it would\nmost probably be in such cases as making a transcript of the Ten\nCommandments), in Hebrew (See Mormon ix, 32, 33). Hence the importance\nof the Newark Tablet as an ancient Nephite relic.\n\n13. Journal of Discourses, Vol. XIII., p. 131, the discourse was\ndelivered April 10th, 1870, Salt Lake City.\n\n14. Journal of Discourses, Vol. XIII., p. 131.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIII\n\nOF THE DISCOVERY OF RELICS OTHER THAN HEBREW.\n\nI.\n\n_The Cincinnati Gold Plate._\n\nOther discoveries of ancient American records, though evidently not\nof Hebrew origin, should also be recorded, since they bear important\ntestimony to the fact that the ancient Americans did engrave records\non metallic plates. One of these records was found in the state of\nOhio, the other in Illinois. The first is the discovery of a gold plate\nwith raised characters engraven upon it, near Cincinnati, under the\nfollowing circumstances:\n\n Mr. Benjamin E. Styles of Cincinnati, Ohio, while excavating the\n earth for a cistern, in the year 1847, found, a few feet above\n high water mark on the Ohio river, a gold plate. It was thrown\n out with the loose earth while excavating about nine feet beneath\n the surface. Said plate is of fine gold, three or four inches in\n length, averaging about three-fourths of an inch in width, about\n one-eighth of an inch in thickness, with the edges scolloped. In\n the face of which was beautifully set another plate of the same\n material, and fastened together by two pins, running through both.\n This latter plate is full of ancient raised characters, beautifully\n engraved upon its surface; the whole exhibiting fine workmanship.\n The plate was examined by Dr. Wise, a very learned Rabbi of the\n Jewish synagogue in Cincinnati, and editor of a Hebrew paper there,\n who pronounced the characters to be mostly ancient Egyptian.\n\nSuch was the description of the circumstances under which the discovery\nwas made, and of the plate itself, by Elder Parley P. Pratt, to whom\nMr. Styles exhibited the plate, and related the circumstances of\nits discovery. Elder Pratt communicated the facts to the \"Mormon,\"\npublished in New York, in a letter bearing date of January 1st, 1857.\n [1] A cut of the relic was afterwards made and published by Drake and\nCo., of St. Louis, printers, and with it the following certificate was\ngiven:\n\n We do hereby certify that we did print from a gold plate, the above\n fac-simile, handed to us by Mr. Benjamin Styles, which he said he\n found while digging for a cistern in Cincinnati, Ohio.\n\n No. 1 is a frame of gold containing a thin plate, No. 2, and\n appears to have been executed by a very superior workman.\n\n DRAKE AND CO., PRINTERS,\n\n Saint Louis, Missouri. [2]\n\nII.\n\n_The Kinderhook Plates._\n\nThe Illinois discovery is summarized as follows from the \"Quincy Whig,\"\na paper published in Quincy, Illinois:\n\n SINGULAR DISCOVERY. MATERIAL FOR ANOTHER MORMON BOOK.\n\n A young man by the name of Wiley, a resident in Kinderhook, Pike\n county, went by himself and labored diligently one day in pursuit\n of a supposed treasure, by sinking a hole in the centre of a\n mound. Finding it quite laborious, he invited others to assist\n him. A company of ten or twelve repaired to the mound and assisted\n in digging out the shaft commenced by Wiley. After penetrating\n the mound about eleven feet, they came to a bed of limestone\n that had been subjected to the action of fire. They removed the\n stones, which were small and easy to handle, to the depth of two\n feet more, when they found six brass plates, secured and fastened\n together by two iron wires, but which were so decayed that they\n readily crumbled to dust upon being handled. The plates were so\n completely covered with rust as almost to obliterate the characters\n inscribed upon them, but, after undergoing a chemical process,\n the inscriptions were brought out plain and distinct. There were\n six plates, four inches in length, one inch and three-quarters\n wide at the top and two inches and three-quarters wide at the\n bottom, flaring out to points. There are four lines of characters\n or hieroglyphics on each. On one side of the plates are parallel\n lines running lengthways. By whom these plates were deposited there\n must ever remain a secret, unless some one skilled in deciphering\n hieroglyphics may be found to unravel the mystery. Some pretend to\n say that Smith, the Mormon leader, has the ability to read them.\n If he has, he will confer a great favor on the public by removing\n the mystery which hangs over them. A person present when the plates\n were found remarked that it would go to prove the authenticity of\n the Book of Mormon, which it undoubtedly will. In the place where\n these plates were deposited were also found human bones in the last\n stage of decomposition. There were but a few bones found; and it is\n believed that it was but the burial place of a person or family of\n distinction in ages long gone by, and that these plates contain the\n history of the times, or of a people that existed far, far beyond\n the memory of the present race. But we will not conjecture anything\n about discovery, as it is one which the plates alone can reveal.\n The plates above alluded to were exhibited in this city last week,\n and are now, we understand, in Nauvoo, subject to the inspection of\n the Mormon Prophet. The public curiosity is greatly excited; and if\n Smith can decipher the hieroglyphics on the plates, he will do more\n towards throwing light on the early history of this continent than\n any man now living. [3]\n\nIn a communication to the \"Times and Seasons\" (Nauvoo, Illinois), the\nfollowing testimony concerning the discovery was given:\n\n On the 16th of April last, a respectable merchant, by the name of\n Robert Wiley, commenced digging in a large mound near this place:\n He excavated to the depth of ten feet and came to rock. About that\n time the rain began to fall, and he abandoned the work. On the\n 23rd, he and quite a number of the citizens, with myself, repaired\n to the mound; and after making ample opening, we found plenty of\n rock the most of which appeared as though it had been strongly\n burned; and after removing full two feet of said rock, we found\n plenty of charcoal and ashes; also human bones that appeared as\n though they had been burned; and near the encophalon a bundle was\n found that consisted of six plates of brass of a bell shape, each\n having a hole near the small end, and a ring through them all, and\n clasped with two clasps. The rings and clasps appeared to be iron\n very much oxydated. The plates appeared first to be copper, and\n had the appearance of being covered with characters. It was agreed\n by the company that I should cleanse the plates. Accordingly I\n took them to my house washed them with soap and water and a woolen\n cloth, but, finding them not yet cleansed, I treated them with\n dilute sulphuric acid, which made them perfectly clean, on which it\n appeared that they were completely covered with hieroglyphics that\n none as yet have been able to read. Wishing that the world might\n know the hidden things as fast as they come to light, I was induced\n to state the facts, hoping that you would give it an insertion in\n your excellent paper; we feel anxious to know the true meaning\n of the plates, and publishing the facts might lead to the true\n translation.\n\n They were found, I judged, more than twelve feet below the surface\n of the top of the mound. I am, most respectfully, a citizen of\n Kinderhook.\n\n W. P. HARRIS, M. D.\n\n We the citizens of Kinderhook, whose names are annexed, do certify\n and declare that on the 23rd of April, 1843, while excavating a\n large mound in this vicinity, Mr. R. Wiley took from said mound six\n brass plates of a bell shape, covered with ancient characters. Said\n plates were very much oxydated. The bands and rings on said plates\n mouldered into dust on a slight pressure.\n\n ROBERT WILEY, GEORGE DECKENSON,\n\n W. LONGNECKER, G. W. F. WARD,\n\n J. R. SHARP, IRA A. CURTIS,\n\n FAYETTE GRUBB, W. P. HARRIS,\n\n W. FUGATE. [4]\n\nSince these plates were sent to Nauvoo for the inspection of the\nProphet Joseph, it will be of interest to know what view he took of\nthem. The following occurs in his journal under date of Monday, May\n1st, 1843:\n\n I insert fac-simile of the six brass plates found near Kinderhook,\n in Pike county, Illinois, on April 23, by Mr. R. Wiley and others,\n while excavating a large mound. They found a skeleton about six\n feet from the surface of the earth, which must have stood nine feet\n high. The plates were found on the breast of the skeleton, and were\n covered on both sides with ancient characters. I have translated a\n portion of them, and find they contain the history of the person\n with whom they were found. He was a descendant of Ham, through the\n loins of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom\n from the ruler of heaven and earth. [5]\n\nIt is proper here to call attention to the fact that the genuineness\nof this discovery of the Kinderhook plates is questioned by some\nanti-Mormon writers, among them Professor William A. Linn, in his late\nwork, \"The Story of Mormonism,\" where he says:\n\n But the true story of the Kinderhook plates was disclosed by\n an affidavit made by W. Fugate of Mound station, Brown county,\n Illinois, before Jay Brown justice of the peace, on June 30,\n 1879. In this he stated that the plates were a humbug, gotten up\n by Robert Wiley, Bridge Whitton, and myself. Whitton (who was a\n blacksmith) cut the plates out of some pieces of copper; Wiley\n and I made the hieroglyphics by making impressions on beeswax\n and filling them with acid, and putting it on the plates. When\n they were finished, we put them together with rust made of nitric\n acid, old iron and lead, and bound them with a piece of hoop iron,\n covering them completely with rust. He describes the burial of the\n plates and the digging up, among the spectators of the latter being\n two Mormon Elders, Marsh and Sharp. Sharp declared that the Lord\n had directed them to witness the digging. The plates were borrowed\n and shown to Smith, and were finally given to one Professor\n McDowell of St. Louis, for his museum. [6]\n\nOf this presentation of the matter it is only necessary to say that it\nis a little singular that Mr. Fugate alone out of the three said to be\nin collusion in perpetrating the fraud should disclose it, and that he\nshould wait from 1843 to 1879--a period of thirty-six years--before\ndoing so, when he and those said to be associated with him had such an\nexcellent opportunity to expose the vain pretensions of the Prophet--\nif Fugate's tale be true? For while the statement in the text of the\nProphet's Journal to the effect that the find was genuine, and that he\nhad translated some of the characters and learned certain historical\nfacts concerning the person with whose remains the plates were found,\nmay not have been known at the time to the alleged conspirators to\ndeceive him, still the editor of the _Times and Seasons_--John Taylor,\nthe close personal friend of the Prophet--took the find seriously, and\nexpressed at once explicit confidence in an editorial in the _Times and\nSeasons_, of May 1st, 1843, that the Prophet could give a translation\nof the plates. And this attitude the Church, continued to maintain; for\nin _The Prophet_, (a Mormon weekly periodical, published in New York)\nof the 15th of February, 1845, there was published a _fac-simile_ of\nthe Kinderhook plates, together with the _Times and Seasons_ editorial\nand all the above matter of the text. How easy to have covered Joseph\nSmith and his followers with ridicule by proclaiming the hoax as soon\nas they accepted the Kinderhook plates as genuine! Why was it not done?\nThe fact that Fugate's story was not told until thirty-six years after\nthe event, and that he alone of all those who were connected with the\nevent gives that version of it, is rather strong evidence that his\nstory is the hoax, not the discovery of the plates, nor the engravings\nupon them.\n\nIII.\n\n_The Tuccabatchey Plates._\n\nIn further evidence that the native Americans engraved records on\nmetallic plates I quote the following from Adair's \"History of the\nNorth American Indians.\" The passage is a footnote on the custom of the\nIndians burying a dead person's treasures with him:\n\n In the Tuccabatches on the Tallapoose river, thirty miles above the\n Allabahamah garrison are two brazen tables, and five of copper.\n They (the Indians) esteem them so sacred as to keep them constantly\n in their holy of holies, without touching them in the least, only\n in the time of their compounded first-fruit offering, and annual\n expiation of sins; at which season, their magus carries one under\n his arm, ahead of the people, dancing round in sacred armor; next\n to him their head warrior carries another; and those warriors who\n choose it carry the rest after the manner of the high priest;\n all the other carry white canes with swan-feathers at the top.\n Hearing accidentally of these important monuments of antiquity,\n and inquiring pretty much about them, I was certified of the\n truth of the report by four of the southern traders, at the most\n eminent Indian trading house of all English America. One of the\n gentlemen informed me, that at my request he endeavored to get the\n liberty of viewing the aforesaid tables, but it could not possibly\n be obtained, only in the time of the yearly grand sacrifice, for\n fear of polluting their holy things, at which time gentlemen of\n curiosity may see them. Old Bracket, an Indian, of perhaps one\n hundred years old, lives in that old beloved town, who gave the\n following description of them:\n\n The shape of the five copper plates: One is a foot and a half long\n and seven inches wide, the other four are shorter and narrower.\n\n The shape of the two brass plates was circular, about a foot and a\n half in diameter.\n\n He [Bracket] said that he was told by his forefathers that those\n plates were given to them by the man we call God; that there had\n been many more of other shapes, some as long as he could stretch\n with both his arms, and some had writing upon them which are buried\n with particular men; and that they had instructions given with\n them, viz., they must only be handled by particular people, and\n those feasting [fasting?]; and no unclean woman must be suffered to\n come near them or the place, where they are deposited. He said none\n but his own town's people had any such plates given them, and that\n they were a different people from the Creeks. He only remembered\n three more which were buried with three of his family and he was\n the only man of the family now left. He said, there were two copper\n plates under the king's cabin which laid there from the first\n settling of the town.\n\n This account was taken in the Tuccabatchey square, 27th July, 1759,\n per Will. Bolsover. [7]\n\nThe foregoing account of engraven records on gold and copper plates\nis important as evidence to the truth of the Book of Mormon only this\nfar; the Book of Mormon repeatedly declares that such was the manner\nof keeping records among the Nephites and the Jaredites, Mormon's\nabridgment of the larger Nephite records being engraven in this manner\non plates of gold. And the discoveries related above, all of which were\nunknown to Joseph Smith, prove that in ancient America records were so\nkept, and constitutes at least important incidental evidence to the\ntruth of that part of the Book of Mormon statement.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Mill. Star, Vol. XIX., p. 103.\n\n2. A fac-simile of the plate is to be found in Mill. Star, Vol. XIX.,\np. 632.\n\n3. Mill. Star, Vol. XXI., p. 44.\n\n4. Mill. Star, Vol. XXI., p. 44.\n\n5. Mill. Star, Vol. XXI., p. 40.\n\n6. \"The Story of the Mormons,\" Linn, p. 87.\n\n7. Lord Kingsborough's Mexican Antiquities, Vol. VIII., pp. 356, 358.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIV\n\nEXTERNAL EVIDENCE--MINOR COINCIDENCES--RACE UNITY\n\nI.\n\n_Central and Western New York an Ancient Battle Field._\n\nAccording to the Book of Mormon the Hill Cumorah of the Nephites--the\nRamah of the Jaredites--must be regarded as a natural monument\noverlooking ancient and extensive battle fields. Around it early in\nthe sixth century B. C., the Jaredites were destroyed. Here, also, a\nthousand years later, at the close of the fourth century A. D., the\nNephites met with practical annihilation in a battle which, whether\njudged by the importance of the changes it wrought in the affairs of\none of the world's continents, or the number slain, [1] ranks as one of\nthe world's great battles. In view of these Book of Mormon facts one\nwould naturally expect to find some evidences in this section of the\ncountry for such wonderful historical events. Here one has a right to\nexpect the evidences of military fortifications; for, though a thousand\nyears had elapsed between the destruction of the Nephites and the\ndiscovery of America by the Europeans, still some military monuments\nwould doubtless survive that length of time. Fortunately we are not\nwithout kind of evidences that may be reasonably expected. We find such\nhistorical monuments described in the \"American Antiquities\" of Josiah\nPriest, published in Albany, New York. Before quoting, however, I call\nattention to the fact that Mr. Priest regarded the fortifications\nand other evidences of great battles fought south of lake Ontario as\nmarking the struggle between the descendants of Tartar races (our\nAmerican Indians, in his view) and Scandinavians, whom he assumes had\npenetrated into middle New York during the first half of the tenth\ncentury A. D. Of course, I am of the opinion that both the Tartar\ntheory of the origin of some of our American Indians, and Mr. Priest's\nassumption that Scandinavians had pushed their way into the interior\nof New York, are both improbable; but his theories do not vitiate the\nfacts of which he is the compiler and witness; but these facts, I am\nsure, better fit the statements of the Book of Mormon than they do his\nspeculations. The reader will therefore bear in mind that it is the\nfacts of Mr. Priest that are of value to us, not his theories; and here\nare the facts: [2]\n\n There are the remains of one of those efforts of Scandinavian\n defense, situated on a hill of singular form, on the great\n sandplain between the Susquehannah and Chemung rivers, near their\n junction. The hill is entirely isolated, about three-fourths of\n a mile in circumference, and more than one hundred feet high. It\n has been supposed to be artificial, and to belong to the ancient\n nations to which all works of this sort generally belong. In the\n surrounding plain are many deep holes, of twenty or thirty rods\n in circumference, and twenty feet deep--favoring a belief that\n from these the earth was scooped out, to form the hill with. It\n is four acres large on its top, and perfectly level, beautifully\n situated to overlook the country to a great distance, up and down\n both rivers; there is on its top the remains of a wall, formed of\n earth, stone and wood, which runs round the whole, exactly on the\n brow. The wood is decayed and turned to mould, yet it is traceable,\n and easily distinguished from the natural earth: within is a deep\n ditch or entrenchment, running around the whole summit. [3] From\n this it is evident that a war was once waged here; and were we to\n conjecture between whom, we should say between the Indians and\n Scandinavians, and that this fortification, so advantageously\n chosen, is of the same class of defensive works with those about\n Onondaga, [4] Auburn, [5] and the lakes Ontario, Cayuga, Seneca,\n Oneida [6] and Erie. * * * * * * * In Pompey, [Onondaga county]\n [7] on lot No. 14, is the site of an ancient burying ground,\n upon which, when the country was first settled, was found timber\n growing, apparently of the second growth, judging from the old\n timber reduced to mould, lying round, which was one hundred years\n old, ascertained by counting the concentric grains. In one of these\n graves was found a glass bottle about the size of a common junk\n bottle, having a stopple in its nozzle, and in the bottle was a\n liquid of some sort, but was tasteless. But is it possible that the\n Scandinavians could have had glass in their possession at so early\n a period as the year 950 and thereabout, so as to have brought it\n with them from Europe when their first settlements were made in\n this country? We see no good reason why not, as glass had been\n known three hundred years in Europe before the northern Europeans\n are reputed to have found this country, the art of making glass\n having been discovered in A. D. 664. But in other parts of the\n world, glass had been known from time immemorial, even from the\n flood, as it has been found in the Tower of Babel [8] * * * * *\n * In the same grave with the bottle was found an iron hatchet,\n edged with steel. The eye, or place for the helve, was round, and\n extended or projected out, like the ancient Swiss or German axe.\n On lot No. 9, in the same town, [Pompey] was another aboriginal\n burying ground, covered with forest trees, as the other. In the\n same town, on lot No. 17, were found the remains of a blacksmith's\n forge; at this spot have been ploughed up crucibles, such as\n mineralogists use in refining metals. These axes are similar, and\n correspond in character with those found in the nitrous caves on\n the Gasconade river, which empties into the Missouri, as mentioned\n by Professor Beck's Gazetteer of that country. In the same town\n [Pompey] are the remains of two ancient forts or fortifications,\n with redoubts of a very extensive and formidable character.\n Within the range of these works have been found pieces of cast\n iron, broken from some vessel of considerable thickness. These\n articles cannot well be ascribed to the era of the French war, as\n time enough since, then, till the region round about Onondaga was\n commenced to be cultivated, had not elapsed to give the growth of\n timber found on the spot, of the age above noticed; and, added to\n this, it is said that the Indians occupying that tract of country\n had no tradition of their authors. [9] * * * * * * The hatchets or\n iron axes found here were likely of the same origin with the pieces\n of cast iron. In ploughing the earth, digging wells, canals, or\n excavating for salt waters, about the lakes, new discoveries are\n frequently made, which as clearly show the operations of ancient\n civilization here, as the works of the present race would do, were\n they left to the operations of time for five or six hundred years;\n especially were this country totally to be overrun by the whole\n consolidated savage tribes of the west, exterminating both the\n worker and his works, as appears to have been done in ages past. In\n Scipio, [10] on Salmon creek, a Mr. Halsted has, from time to time\n during ten years past, ploughed up, on a certain extent of land on\n his farm, seven or eight hundred pounds of brass, which appeared to\n have once been formed into various implements, both of husbandry\n and war; helmets and working utensils mingled together. The finder\n of this brass, we are informed as he discovered it carried it to\n Auburn, and sold it by the pound, where it was worked up, with as\n little curiosity attending as though it had been but an ordinary\n article of the country's produce: when, if it had been announced\n in some public manner, the finder would have doubtless been highly\n rewarded by some scientific individual or society, and preserved it\n in the cabinets of the antiquarian, as a relic of by-gone ages of\n the highest interest. On this field, where it was found, the forest\n timber was growing as abundantly, and had attained to as great age\n and size, as elsewhere in the heavy timbered country of the lakes.\n [11] * * * * * * In Pompey, [12] Onondago county, are the remains,\n or outlines, of a town, including more than 500 acres. It appeared\n protected by three circular or eliptical forts, eight miles distant\n from each other; placed in such relative positions as to form a\n triangle round about the town, at those distances. It is thought,\n from appearances, that this stronghold was stormed and taken on the\n line of the north side. In Camillus, [13] in the same county, are\n the remains of two forts, one covering about three acres, on a very\n high hill; it had gateways, one opening to the east, and the other\n to the west, toward a spring, some rods from the works. Its shape\n is eliptical; it has a wall, in some places ten feet high, with a\n deep ditch. Not far from this is another, exactly like it, only\n half as large. There are many of these ancient works hereabouts;\n one in Scipio, two near Auburn, three near Canandaigua, [14] and\n several between the Seneca and Cayuga lakes. [15] A number of such\n fortifications and burial places have been discovered in Ridgeway,\n [16] on the southern shore of lake Ontraio. There is evidence\n enough that long bloody wars were waged among the inhabitants. *\n * * * * * From the known ferocity of the ancient Scandinavians,\n who with other Europeans of ancient times we suppose to be the\n authors of the vast works about the region of Onondaga, dreadful\n wars with infinite butcheries, must have crimsoned every hill and\n dale of this now happy country. [17] * * * * * * In the fourteenth\n township; fourth range of the Holland Company's lands in the state\n of New York, near the Ridge road leading from Buffalo to Niagara\n Falls [18] is an ancient fort, situated in a large swamp; it covers\n about five acres of ground; large trees are standing upon it. The\n earth which forms this fort was evidently brought from a distance,\n as the soil of the marsh is quite another kind, wet and miry, while\n the site of the fort is dry gravel and loam. The site of this\n fortification is singular, unless we suppose it to have been a last\n resort or hiding place from an enemy. The distance to the margin\n of the marsh is about half a mile, where large quantities of human\n bones have been found, on opening the earth, of an extraordinary\n size: the thigh bones, about two inches longer than a common\n sized man's; the jaw or chin bone will cover a large man's face;\n the skull bones are of an enormous thickness; the breast and hip\n bones are also very large. On being exposed to the air they soon\n moulder away, which denotes the great length of time since their\n interment. The disorderly manner in which these bones were found\n to lie, being crosswise, commixed and mingled with every trait of\n confusion, show them to have been deposited by a conquering enemy,\n and not by friends, who would have laid them, as the custom of\n all nations always has been, in a more deferential mode. There\n was no appearance of a bullet having been the instrument of their\n destruction, the evidence of which would have been broken limbs.\n Smaller works of the same kind abound in the country about lake\n Ontraio. [19] But the one of which we have just spoken is the most\n remarkable. * * * * * * North of the mountain, or great slope\n towards the lake, [Ontraio], there are no remains of ancient works\n or tumuli, which strongly argues, that the mountain or ridgeway\n once was the southern boundary or shore of lake Ontario; the waters\n having receded from three to seven miles from its ancient shore,\n nearly the whole length of the lake, occasioned by some strange\n convulsion in nature, [20] redeeming much of the lands of the west\n from the water that had covered it from the time of the deluge.\"\n [21]\n\nThese described fortifications and burial mounds make it clear that\nCentral and Western New York at some time have been the scenes of\ndestructive battles; and the fact constitutes strong presumptive\nevidence of the statements of the Book of Mormon that great battles\nwere fought there. The only thing which leads modern writers to ascribe\na comparatively recent date to the wars whereof central and western\nNew York was the battlefields is the discovery of glass, iron and\nbrass within these fortifications. It is assumed that these metals and\nglass were unknown to the ancient Americans, hence Mr. Priest sets\nforth the theory that the battles were fought between wild tribes of\nIndians and Scandinavians. Instead of taking this view of the case,\nhowever, I shall rely in part upon the finding of these implements made\nof iron and brass as sustaining the statement of the Book of Mormon\nthat the Nephites were acquainted with and used these metals; but of\nthis I shall have more to say later, when considering the objections\nurged against the Book of Mormon. Meantime I merely call attention to\nthe fact which here concerns me, namely, that central and western New\nYork constitute the great battle fields described in the Book of Mormon\nas being the place where two nations met practical annihilation, the\nJaredites and Nephites; and of which the military fortifications and\nmonuments described by Mr. Priest are the silent witnesses.\n\nII.\n\n_Miscellaneous Book of Mormon Historical Incidents and Nephite_\nCustoms Found in the Native American Traditions.\n\nBesides what has already been set forth on the confirmation of Nephite\nhistorical incidents in native American traditions and mythologies,\nthere remains several other Lamanite and Nephite historical incidents\nand customs, mentioned in the Book of Mormon, that are preserved in\nthe traditions of the native Americans, and which ought to receive\nconsideration here.\n\n_Blood Drinking._\n\nOne of the customs of the Lamanites, in the matter of eating raw flesh\nand drinking the blood of animals, is mentioned in the book of Enos,\nwhere a description is given of the barbarity of the Lamanites as\nfollows:\n\n And I bear record that the people of Nephi did seek diligently to\n restore the Lamanites unto the true faith in God. But our labors\n were vain; their hatred was fixed, and they were led by their evil\n nature that they became wild, and ferocious, and a bloodthirsty\n people; full of idolatry and filthiness: feeding upon beasts of\n prey; dwelling in tents, and wandering about in the wilderness with\n a short skin girdle about their loins and their heads shaven, and\n their skill was in the bow, and in the cimeter, and the axe. And\n many of them did eat nothing save it were raw meat. [22]\n\nJarom mentions substantially the same thing:\n\n And they were scattered upon much of the face of the land; and the\n Lamanites also. And they were exceeding more numerous than were\n they of the Nephites; and they loved murder and would drink the\n blood of beasts. [23]\n\nSuch the statement of the Book of Mormon. And now the native American\ntradition bearing on this from Bancroft. Speaking of the Toltecs as an\nenlightened race of native Americans, who are credited with the first\nintroduction of agriculture in America, our author says:\n\n But even during this Toltec period hunting tribes, both of\n Nahua and other blood, were pursuing their game in the forests\n and mountains, especially in the northern region. Despised by\n their more civilized, corn-eating brethren, they were known as\n barbarians, dogs, Chichimecs, \"suckers of blood,\" from the custom\n attributed to them of drinking blood and eating raw flesh. [24]\n\nIII.\n\n__Human Sacrifices. Cannibalism.__\n\nAnother statement in the Book of Mormon with reference to a Lamanite\ncustom concerning their treatment of prisoners taken in war is as\nfollows. Speaking of an invasion of the Lamanites into Nephite\nterritory the Book of Mormon says:\n\n And they did also march forward against the city of Teancum,\n and did drive the inhabitants forth out of her, and did take\n many prisoners both women and children, and did offer them up\n as sacrifices unto their idol gods. And it came to pass that\n in the three hundred and sixty and seventh years, [A. D.], the\n Nephites being angry because the Lamanites had scattered their\n women and their children, that they did go against the Lamanites\n with exceeding great anger, insomuch that they did beat again the\n Lamanites, and drive them out of their lands. [25]\n\nLater, referring to a second invasion of the Nephite lands, Mormon also\nsays:\n\n And when they had come the second time, the Nephites were driven\n and slaughtered with an exceeding great slaughter; their women and\n their children were again sacrificed unto idols. [26]\n\nSome years later, Mormon, in an epistle to his son Moroni, speaking of\nthe awful depravity which characterized both Nephites and Lamanites,\nsays of them: \"They thirst after blood and revenge continually.\" [27]\nOf the treatment of certain prisoners taken from one of the cities he\nalso says:\n\n And the husbands and fathers of those women and children they have\n slain; and they feed the women upon the flesh of their husbands,\n and the children upon the flesh of their fathers; and no water,\n save a little, do they give unto them. [28]\n\nHe describes how the Nephites defiled the daughters of Lamanite\nprisoners, and then continues:\n\n And after they had done this thing, they did murder them in a most\n cruel manner, torturing their bodies, even unto death; and after\n they have done this, they devour their flesh like unto wild beasts,\n because of the hardness of their hearts; and they do it for a token\n of bravery. [29]\n\nThis, doubtless, was the beginning--in the later part of the fourth\ncentury A. D., \"not early in the fourteenth century,\" as held by\nPrescott [30]--of those horrible human sacrifices and acts of\ncannibalism found among the Aztecs at the time of the Spanish invasion\nof Mexico, and which so shocked even the cruel Spaniards. Bancroft, in\ntelling of the treatment of prisoners taken in war among the Aztecs,\ndescribes an unequal battle for life that was sometimes accorded the\nmale prisoners, and then adds:\n\n Those who were too faint-hearted to attempt this hopless combat,\n had their hearts torn out at once, whilst the others were\n sacrificed only after having been subdued by the braves. The\n bleeding and quivering heart was held up to the sun and then thrown\n into a bowl, prepared for its reception. An assistant priest sucked\n the blood from the gash in the chest through a hollow cane, the\n end of which he elevated towards the sun, and then discharged\n its contents into a plume-bordered cup held by the captor of the\n prisoner just slain. This cup was carried round to all the idols in\n the temples and chapels, before whom another blood-filled tube was\n held up as if to give them a taste of the contents; this ceremony\n performed, the cup was left at the Palace. The corpse was taken\n to the chapel where the captive had watched and there flayed, the\n flesh being consumed at a banquet as before. The skin was given to\n certain priests, or college youths, who went from house to house\n dressed in the ghastly garb, with the arms swinging, singing,\n dancing, and asking for contributions; those who refused to give\n anything received a stroke in the face from the dangling arm. [31]\n\nPrescott, referring to the chief object of war among the Aztecs, and\nthe treatment of prisoners taken, says:\n\n The tutelary deity of the Aztecs was the god of war. A great object\n of their military expeditions was, to gather hecatombs of captives\n for his altars. * * * * * * At the head of all, [i. e., all the\n Aztec deities] stood the terrible Huitzilopotchli. * * * * * * *\n This was the patron deity of the nation. His fantastic image was\n loaded with costly ornaments. His temples were the most stately\n and august of the public edifices; and his altars reeked with the\n blood of human hecatombs in every city of the empire. * * * * * The\n most loathsome part of the story--the manner in which the body of\n the sacrificed captive was disposed of--remains yet to be told. It\n was delivered to the warrior who had taken him in battle, and by\n him, after being dressed, was served up in an entertainment to his\n friends. This was not the coarse repast of famished cannibals, but\n a banquet teeming with delicious beverages and delicate viands,\n prepared with art, and attended by both sexes, who, as we shall see\n hereafter, conducted themselves with all the decorum of civilized\n life. Surely, never were refinement and the extreme of barbarism\n brought so closely in contact with each other. [32]\n\nSuch are the depths of depravity to which a people may sink when\nonce the Spirit of God is withdrawn from them. It is not to excite\nreflections upon this condition of refined barbarism, however, that\nthese quotations are made. I am interested here only in pointing out\nthe fact that these revolting customs found among the native Americans\nconfirms the statement made in the Book of Mormon, that such horrible\ncustoms had their origin among their Nephite and Lamanite ancestors.\n\nIV.\n\n_Burying the Hatchet._\n\nDoubtless the native American custom of \"burying the hatchet\" (that\nis, in concluding a war, it is the native custom, as a testimony\nthat hostilities have ceased, and as a sign of peace, to bury the\nwar-hatchet or other weapons of war), had its origin in the following\nBook of Mormon incident: Early in the first century B. C., a number of\nNephites, sons of King Mosiah II., succeeded in converting a number of\nLamanites to the Christian religion; and such became their abhorrence\nof war, which aforetime had been one of their chief delights, that they\nentered into a covenant of peace and determined no more to shed the\nblood of their fellow men. In token of this covenant they buried their\nweapons of war, their leader saying:\n\n And now, my brethren, if our brethren seek to destroy us, behold,\n we will hide away our swords, yea, even we will bury them deep in\n the earth, that they may be kept bright. * * * * And now it came\n to pass that when the king had made an end of these sayings, and\n all the people were assembled together, they took their swords, and\n all the weapons which were used for the shedding of man's blood,\n and they did bury them up deep in the earth; and this they did, it\n being in their view a testimony to God, and also to men, that they\n never would use weapons again for shedding a man's blood. [33]\n\nThis circumstance of burying weapons of war in token of peace is\nseveral times afterwards alluded to in the Book of Mormon.\n\nV.\n\n_Hagoth's Marine Migrations Preserved in Native Legend._\n\nAnother historical event very apt to live in the native traditions is\nthe first Nephite migration in ships after their landing in the western\nhemisphere. This event took place in the latter half of the century\nimmediately preceding the birth of Christ. One Hagoth, described in the\nBook of Mormon as \"an exceedingly curious man,\"\n\n Went forth and built a large ship on the borders of the land\n Bountiful, by the land Desolation, and launched it forth in the\n west sea, by the narrow neck which led into the land northward.\n And behold, there were many of the Nephites who did enter therein\n and did sail forth with much provisions, and also many women and\n children; and they took their course northward. [34]\n\nSubsequently other ships were built and the first returned, and\nmigration by this method of travel was kept up for some time. Finally\ntwo of the vessels conducting this migration by the way of the west\nsea, were lost; and the Nephites supposed them to have been wrecked\nin the depths of the sea. [35] So marked a circumstance as this, I\nrepeat, occurring as it did among a people that can not be considered\nas a sea-faring people, would be apt to live in the traditions of their\ndescendants. Such a tradition, I believe, exists. Bancroft, speaking\nof a war of conquest waged by the Miztec and Zapotec kings against\na people inhabiting the southern shores of Tehuantepec, called the\nHuaves, says:\n\n The Huaves are said to have come from the south, from Nicaragua,\n or Peru, say some authors. The causes that led to their migrations\n are unknown; but the story goes that after coasting northward, and\n attempting to disembark at several places, they finally effected\n a landing at Tehuantepec. Here they found the Mijes, the original\n possessors of the country; but these they drove out, or, as some\n say, mingled with them, and soon made themselves masters of the\n soil. * * * * * * * But the easy life they led in this beautiful\n and fertile region soon destroyed their ancient energy, and they\n subsequently fell an unresisting prey to the Zapotec kings. [36]\n\nA tradition which locates the landing of a similar maritime expedition\nstill further north is related by Nadaillac. Speaking of the\n\"Kitchen-Middens\" or shell-heaps found here and there on the Pacific\ncoast, and which our author takes as indicating the location of the\nformer homes of numerous tribes, says:\n\n When the Indians were questioned about them [the shell-heaps]\n they generally answered that they are very old, and are the work\n of people unknown to them or to their fathers. As an exception to\n this rule, however, the Californians attributed a large shell heap\n formed of mussel shells and the bones of animals, on Point St.\n George, near San Francisco, to the Hohgates, the name they give to\n seven mythical strangers who arrived in the country from the sea,\n and who were the first to build and live in houses. The Hohgates\n killed deer, sea-lions, and seals; they collected the mussels\n which were very abundant on the neighboring rocks, and the refuse\n of their meals became piled up about their homes. One day when\n fishing, they saw a gigantic seal; they managed to drive a harpoon\n into it, but the wounded animal fled seaward, dragging the boat\n rapidly with it toward the fathomless abysses of the Charekwin.\n At the moment when the Hohgates were about to be engulfed in the\n depths, where those go who are to endure eternal cold, the rope\n broke the seal disappeared, and the boat was flung up into the air.\n Since then the Hohgates, changed into brilliant stars, return no\n more to earth, where the shell heaps remain as witness of their\n former residence. [37]\n\nThe word \"Hohgates,\" I believe is but a variation of the word \"Hagoth,\"\nthe name of the man who started these maritime expeditions, and it\nwould be altogether in keeping with Nephite customs [38] for those who\nsailed away in his vessels to be called \"Hagothites\" or \"Hohgates.\"\nThe vessel of this tradition may be one of those lost to the Nephites,\nwhich finally found its way to the Californian coast where its\noccupants landed with their ideas of Nephite civilization, and lived\nas described in the tradition. One is tempted to smile at the childish\nending of the tradition; but under it may not one see that it is but\nthe legendary account of the fact that the vessel sailed away from the\nCalifornia shores and was lost, or, at least, was heard of no more by\nthe natives of those shores.\n\nVI.\n\n_Native American Race Unity._\n\nThe subject of American antiquities should not be closed without a\nbrief reference, at least, to the unity of the American race. Barring\nsuch migrations of other races to America as may have taken place since\nthe fall of the Nephites at Cumorah, at the close of the fourth century\nA. D., and such as to a limited extent may have been going on in the\nextreme north via Behring Strait at an earlier date, the Book of Mormon\nrequires substantial unity of race in the later native American people.\nThat is to say, they ought to be of Israelitish descent, a mixture of\nthe tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh and Judah--but chiefly, if not all, of\nHebrew descent; and even the Jaredites were but a more ancient branch\nof the same stock. [39]\n\nOn this subject, as upon all others pertaining to American antiquities\nand peoples, writers are divided; yet it is not difficult to marshal in\nsupport of race unity for native Americans the very highest authority;\nand what is of most importance is the facts are beyond question behind\ntheir theory.\n\nCiting the facts on which certain authors rely to establish the unity\nof the American race, Bancroft says:\n\n It was obvious to the Europeans when they first beheld the natives\n of America, that these were unlike the intellectual white-skinned\n race of Europe, the barbarous blacks of Africa, or any nation or\n people which they had hitherto encountered, yet were strikingly\n like each other. Into whatsoever part of the newly discovered\n lands they penetrated, they found a people seemingly one in color,\n physiognomy, customs, and in mental and social traits. Their\n vestiges of antiquity and their languages presented a coincidence\n which was generally observed by early travelers. Hence physical\n and psychological comparisons are advanced to prove ethnological\n resemblances among all the peoples of America. * * * * * * Morton\n and his confreres, the originators of the American homogeneity\n theory, even go so far as to claim for the American man an origin\n as indigenous as that of the fauna and flora. They classify all the\n tribes of America, excepting only the Esquimaux who wandered over\n from Asia, as the American race, and divided it into the American\n family and the Toltecan family. Blumenbach classifies the Americans\n as a distinct species. The American Mongolidae of Dr. Latham are\n divided into Esquimaux and American Indians. Dr. Morton perceives\n the same characteristic lineaments on the face of the Fuegian and\n the Mexican, and in tribes inhabiting the Rocky mountains, the\n Mississippi valley, and Florida. The same osteological structure,\n swarthy color, straight hair, meagre beard, obliquely cornered\n eyes, prominent cheek bones, and thick lips, are common to them\n all. * * * * * * Humboldt characterizes the nations of America\n as one race, by their straight glossy hair, thin beard, swarthy\n complexion and cranial formation. [40]\n\nDr. Daniel G. Brinton, professor of American archaeology and\nlinguistics in the University of Pennsylvania--than whom no higher\nauthority upon the subject can be quoted--says:\n\n On the whole, the race is singularly uniform in its physical\n traits, and individuals taken from any part of the continent could\n easily be mistaken for inhabitants of numerous other parts. * * * *\n * * The culture of the native Americans strongly attests the ethnic\n unity of the race. This applies equally to the ruins and relics of\n its vanished nations, as to the institutions of existing tribes.\n Nowhere do we find any trace of foreign influence or instruction,\n nowhere any arts or social systems to explain which we must evoke\n the aid of teachers from the eastern hemisphere. * * * * American\n culture, wherever examined, presents a family likeness which the\n more careful observers of late years have taken pains to put in a\n strong light. This was accomplished for governmental institutions\n and domestic architecture by Lewis H. Morgan, for property rights\n and the laws of war by A. F. Bandelier, for the social condition\n of Mexico and Peru by Dr. Gustav Bruhl, and I may add for the\n myths and other expressions of the religious sentiment by myself.\n * * * The psychic identity of the Americans is well illustrated\n in their languages. There are indeed indefinite discrepancies in\n their lexicography and in their surface marphology; but in their\n logical sub-structure, in what Willhelm von Humboldt called the\n \"inner form,\" they are strikingly like. The points in which this is\n especially apparent are in the development of pronominal forms, in\n the abundance of generic particles, in the overweening preference\n for concepts of action (verbs) rather than concepts of existence\n (nouns), and in the consequent subordination of the latter to the\n former in the proposition. [41]\n\nFollowing the same general line of thought Nadaillac says:\n\n The Indians, who were successively conquered by foreign invaders,\n spoke hundreds of different dialects. Bancroft estimates that there\n were six hundred between Alaska and Panama. Ameghino speaks of\n eight hundred in South America. Most of these, however, are mere\n derivatives from a single mother tongue like the Aymara and the\n Guarani. We quote these figures for what they are worth. Philology\n has no precise definition of what constitutes a language, and\n any one can add to or deduct from the numbers given according\n to the point of view from which he considers the matter. As an\n illustration of this, it may be mentioned that some philologists\n estimate the languages of North America at no less than thirteen\n hundred, whilst Squier would reduce those of both continents to\n four hundred. These dialects present a complete disparity in\n their vocabulary side by side with great similarity of structure.\n \"In America,\" says Humboldt, \"from the country of the Esquimaux\n to the banks of the Orinoco, and thence to the frozen shores\n of the Straits of Magellan, languages differing entirely in\n their derivation have, if we may use the expression, the same\n physiognomy. Striking analogies in grammatical construction have\n been recognized, not only in the more perfect languages, such as\n those of the Incas, the Aymara, the Guarani, and the Mexicans, but\n also in languages which are extremely crude. Dialects, the roots\n of which do not resemble each other more than the roots of the\n Slavonian and Biscayan, show resemblances in structure similar to\n those which are found between the Sanscrit, the Persian, the Greek,\n and the Germanic languages.\" [42]\n\nThe fact that the different dialects, or languages, as some call them,\n\"are mere derivatives from a single mother tongue,\" argues strongly, of\ncourse, for ultimate race unity.\n\nThe following summary of evidences on the substantial unity of race in\nAmerican peoples is from Marcus Wilson, and will be found valuable:\n\n Nor indeed is there any proof that the semi-civilized inhabitants\n of Mexico, Yucatan, and Central America, were a race different\n from the more savage tribes by which they were surrounded; but,\n on the contrary, there is much evidence in favor of their common\n origin, and in proof that the present tribes, or at least many of\n them, are but the dismembered fragments of former nations. The\n present natives of Yucatan and Central America, after a remove of\n only three centuries from their more civilized ancestors, present\n no diversities, in their natural capacities, to distinguish them\n from the race of the common Indian. And if the Mexicans and the\n Peruvians could have arisen from the savage state, it is not\n impossible that the present rude tribes may have remained in it;\n or, if the latter were once more civilized than at present, as\n they have relapsed into barbarism, so others may have done. The\n anatomical structure of the skeletons found within the ancient\n mounds of the United States, does not differ more from that of\n the present Indians than tribes of the latter, admitted to be of\n the same race, differ from each other. In the physical appearance\n of all the American aborigines, embracing the semi-civilized\n Mexicans, the Peruvians, and the wandering savage tribes, there is\n a striking uniformity; nor can any distinction of races here be\n made. In their languages there is a general unity of structure, and\n a great similarity in grammatical forms, which prove their common\n origin; while the great diversity in the words of the different\n languages, shows the great antiquity of the period of peopling\n America. In the generally uniform character of their religious\n opinions and rites, we discover original unity and an identity of\n origin; while the diversities here found, likewise indicate the\n very early period of the separation and dispersion of the tribes.\n Throughout most of the American tribes have been found traces of\n the pictorial delineations, and hieroglyphical symbols, by which\n the Mexicans and the Peruvians communicated ideas, and preserved\n the memory of events. The mythological traditions of the savage\n tribes, and the semi-civilized nations, have general features\n of resemblance--generally implying a migration from some other\n country--containing distinct allusions to a deluge--and attributing\n their knowledge of the arts to some fabulous teacher in remote\n ages. Throughout nearly the whole continent, the dead were buried\n in a sitting posture; the smoking of tobacco was a prevalent\n custom, and the calumet, or pipe of peace, was everywhere deemed\n sacred. And, in fine, the numerous and striking analogies between\n the barbarous and the cultivated tribes, are sufficient to justify\n the belief in their primitive relationship and common origin. * * *\n * * * With regard to the opinion entertained by some, that colonies\n from different European nations, and at different times, have been\n established here, we remark, [43] that, if so, no distinctive\n traces of them have ever been discovered; and there is a uniformity\n in the physical appearance of all the American tribes, which\n forbids the supposition of a mingling of different races. [44]\n\nThe well established fact, of race unity, is one more evidence for the\ntruth of the Book of Mormon to be added to that cumulative mass of\nevidence we are here compiling, since unity of race is what the Book of\nMormon requires for the peoples of America.\n\nVII.\n\n_Did the Book of Mormon Antedate Works in English on American_\nAntiquities, Accessible to Joseph Smith and His Associates.\n\nIn the presence of so many resemblances between native American\ntraditions and Book of Mormon historical incidents and Nephite customs,\nI can understand how the question naturally arises in some minds\nwhether the ancient historical incidents, and the customs of American\npeoples--purported to be recorded in the Book of Mormon,--whence the\ntraditions come, or is it from the native American traditions that the\nalleged historical incidents and customs of the Book of Mormon come.\nThat is to say, was it possible for Joseph Smith or those associated\nwith him in bringing forth the Book of Mormon to have possessed such\na knowledge of American antiquities and traditions that they could\nmake their book's alleged historical incidents, and the customs of\nits peoples, conform to the antiquities and traditions of the native\nAmericans? The question may appear foolish to those acquainted with the\ncharacter and environment of the Prophet; but to those not acquainted\nwith him or his environment the question may be of some force, and for\nthat reason it is considered here.\n\nIn the first place, then, it must be remembered how great the task\nwould be to become sufficiently acquainted with American antiquities\nand traditions to make the Book of Mormon story and the alleged customs\nof its people agree with the antiquities and traditions of the American\nnatives, in the striking manner in which we have found them to agree.\nIn the second place the youthfulness of the Prophet must be taken into\naccount--he was but twenty-five years of age when the Book of Mormon\nwas published, and it is the concensus of opinion on the part of all\nthose competent to speak upon the subject, that he was not a student of\nbooks. But what is most important of all, and what settles the question\non this point (whether Joseph Smith, Solomon Spaulding, or Sidney\nRigdon be regarded as the author) is the fact that the means through\nwhich to obtain the necessary knowledge of American antiquities, the\nbody of literature in English now at one's command on the subject, was\nnot then (1823-1830) in existence. The Spanish and native American\nwriters previous to 1830 may be dismissed from consideration at\nonce, since their works could not be available to Joseph Smith and\nhis associates because written in a language unknown to them, and\nsuch fragmentary translations of them as existed were so rare as to\nbe inaccessible to men of western New York and Ohio. About the only\nworks to which Joseph Smith could possibly have had access before the\npublication of the Book of Mormon would have been:\n\nFirst, the publications of the \"American Antiquarian Society,\nTranslations and Collections,\" published in the \"Archaeoligia\nAmericana,\" Worcester, Massachusetts, 1820; but this information was\nso fragmentary in character that it could not possibly have supplied\nthe historical incidents of the Book of Mormon, or the customs of its\npeoples, even could it be proven that Joseph Smith had been familiar\nwith that collection.\n\nSecond, the little work of Ethan Smith, published in Vermont--second\nedition 1825--in which the author holds the native American Indian\ntribes to be descendants of the ten lost tribes of Israel. In fact his\nwork bears the title, \"View of the Hebrews; or the Tribes of Israel in\nAmerica.\"\n\nThird, \"The History of the American Indians,\" by James Adair, published\nin England, 1775. Mr. Adair confines the scope of his work to the North\nAmerican Indians.\n\nFourth. The translation of some parts of Humboldt's works on New Spain,\npublished first in America and England between the years 1806 and 1809,\nand later Black's enlarged translation of them in New York, 1811.\n\nThese are the only works, so far as I can ascertain, that could at\nall be accessible to Joseph Smith or any of his associates; and there\nis no evidence that the Prophet or his associates ever saw any one\nof them. Moreover, notwithstanding some of these writers advance the\ntheory that the native Americans are descendants of the ten lost\ntribes of Israel, and their books contain fragmentary and disconnected\ninformation concerning American antiquities--no one acquainted with\nthese works could possibly regard them as being the source whence Book\nof Mormon incidents or customs of Book of Mormon peoples were drawn,\na fact which will be more apparent after we have considered--as we\nshall later consider--the originality of the Book of Mormon. Since,\ntherefore, from the very nature of all the circumstances surrounding\nthe coming forth of the Book of Mormon, neither Joseph Smith nor his\nassociates could possibly have become acquainted with the location of\nthe chief centers of ancient American civilizations, nor with native\nAmerican traditions and customs, it must be evident that Book of Mormon\nhistorical incidents and the customs of Book of Mormon peoples were not\nderived from works on American antiquities and traditions.\n\nVIII.\n\n_The Value of the Evidence Supplied by American Antiquities_\n\nThe evidence I have to offer from American antiquities is now before\nthe reader. Not all the evidence that could be massed upon the subject,\nbut all that my space in this work will permit me to present. I do not\nclaim that the evidence is either as full or perfect as one could wish\nit to be, nor that it is free from what some will regard as serious\ndifficulties; but this much I feel can be insisted upon:\n\nThe evidence establishes the fact of the existence of ancient\ncivilizations in America; that the said civilizations are successive;\nthat their monuments, overlay each other, and are confused by a\nsubsequent period of barbarism; that the monuments of the chief centers\nof American civilizations are found where the Book of Mormon requires\nthem to be located; that the traditions of the native Americans\nconcerning ancient Bible facts, such as relate to the creation, the\nflood, the Tower of Babel, and the dispersion of mankind, etc., sustain\nthe likelihood of the forefathers of our American aborigines, in\nvery ancient times, being cognizant of such facts either by personal\ncontact with them, or by having a knowledge of them through the Hebrew\nscriptures, or perhaps through both means. All this is in harmony with\nwhat the Book of Mormon makes known concerning the Jaredite and Nephite\npeoples; for the forefathers of the former people were in personal\ncontact with the building of Babel, the confusion of languages and\nthe dispersion of mankind; while the Nephites had knowledge of these\nand many other ancient historical facts through the Hebrew scriptures\nwhich they brought with them to America. The evidences presented\nalso disclose the fact that the native American traditions preserve\nthe leading historical events of the Book of Mormon. That is, the\nfacts of the Jaredite and Nephite migrations; of the intercontinental\nmovements of Book of Mormon peoples; of the advent and character of\nMessiah, and his ministrations among the people; of the signs of his\nbirth and of his death; of the fact of the Hebrew origin and unity of\nthe race. All these facts so strong in the support of the claims of\nthe Book of Mormon--whatever else of confusion may exist in American\nantiquities--I feel sure can not be moved. It should be remembered, in\nthis connection, that it is not insisted upon in these pages that the\nevidences which American antiquities afford are absolute proofs of the\nclaims of the Book of Mormon. I go no further than to say there is a\ntendency of external proof in them; and when this tendency of proof\nis united with the positive, direct external testimony which God has\nprovided in those Witnesses that he himself has ordained to establish\nthe truth of the Book of Mormon, the Three Witnesses and the Eight,\nthis tendency of proof becomes very strong, and is worthy of most\nserious attention on the part of those who would investigate the claims\nof this American volume of scripture.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. There were slain of the Nephites alone 230,000; see Mosiah vi: 10-15.\n\n2. I quote from the 1838 edition. Mr. Josiah Priest's work, \"American\nAntiquities,\" first edition, was published A. D. 1833, three years\nafter the publication of the Book of Mormon. See Charles Tompson's\n\"Evidence and Proof of the Book of Mormon,\" also I. Woodbridge Riley's\n\"Founder of Mormonism,\" page 126, where in foot note 32 he says of\nPriest's work: \"the first edition appeared in 1833, two other editions\nfollowed in that year.\"\n\n3. The hill here described near the junction of the Susquehannah and\nChemung river is about ninety-five miles in a direct line southeast of\nCumorah.\n\n4. Onondaga, about fifty-five miles due east of Cumorah.\n\n5. Auburn, thirty miles east of Cumorah.\n\n6. The lakes Cayuga, Seneca and Oneida, as is well known, lie a little\nto the south and east of Cumorah. Ontraio is a short distance to the\nnorth and Erie to the west.\n\n7. Sixty miles east of Cumorah.\n\n8. From this showing, then, there can be no objection to saying that\nthe glass vessel was of Jaredite origin. In describing how the brother\nof Jared melted from the rock sixteen small stones it is said they were\nwhite and clear \"even as transparent glass\" of which the late Orson\nPratt in a foot note says: \"From this it is evident that the art of\nmaking glass was known at that early period.\" Ether iii: 1, and note\n\"a.\"\n\n9. The absence of traditions among the natives concerning these\nmonuments rather inclines one to the belief that they must have been\nearlier than any possible Scandinavian occupancy of the country.\n\n10. Scipio in Cayuga country, about forty-five miles east of Cumorah.\n\n11. American Antiquities, pp. 259, 260, 261, 262.\n\n12. Pompey between sixty and seventy miles east of Cumorah.\n\n13. Less than fifty miles east of Cumorah.\n\n14. Canandaigua, some ten or twelve miles south of Cumorah.\n\n15. Both bodies of water but a short distance from Cumorah.\n\n16. Less than seventy miles northwest from Cumorah.\n\n17. The desperate ferocity of Nephite and Lamanite as described in\nthe Book of Mormon is as good and even better explanation of the\n\"infinite butcheries\" here alluded to. See this volume, pp. 74-76, for\ndescription of this ferocity.\n\n18. Less than one hundred miles due west from Cumorah.\n\n19. The southern shore of lake Ontario runs due east and west about ten\nto twelve miles north of Cumorah for a distance of one hundred miles.\n\n20. Was this convulsion in nature which changed the shore along\nlake Ontraio connected with those mighty cataclysms which shook the\ncontinent during the crucifixion of Messiah?\n\n21. American Antiquities, Josiah Priest, pp. 324, 327, 328.\n\n22. Enos i: 20.\n\n23. Jarom i: 6.\n\n24. Native Races, Bancroft, Vol. II., p. 344.\n\n25. Mormon iv: 14, 15.\n\n26. Mormon iv: 21.\n\n27. Moroni ix: 5.\n\n28. Moroni ix: 8.\n\n29. Moroni ix: 10.\n\n30. Conquest of Mexico, Vol. I., p. 73.\n\n31. Native Races, Vol. II., pp. 310, 311.\n\n32. Conquest of Mexico, Prescott, Vol. I., pp. 54, 63, 75, 76.\n\n33. Alma xxiv: 16-18.\n\n34. Alma lxiii: 5, 6.\n\n35. Alma lxiii: 8.\n\n36. Native Races, Vol. V., pp. 529, 530.\n\n37. Pre-Historic America, pp. 64, 65.\n\n38. Those who followed Nephi were called Nephites; those who followed\nLaman, Lamanites; Zoram, Zoramites, the people of Jared, Jaredites; and\nso on throughout the Book of Mormon.\n\n39. See Vol. I., pp. 167, 168 and note.\n\n40. Bancroft, Native Races, Vol. I., pp. 20-21.\n\n41. The American Race, Daniel G. Brinton, pp. 41, 43, 44, 45, 55, 56.\n\n42. Pre-Historic America, pp. 5, 6.\n\n43. The remark of Mr. Wilson against the probability of colonies from\ndifferent European nations at different times having established\ncolonies in America may raise the question for a moment, \"Is not\nsuch a contention against the Book of Mormon theory of the origin of\nAmerican peoples, since that book distinctly accounts for the peopling\nof America by migration of colonies, from the eastern hemisphere?\" The\nseeming difficulty is overcome at once when it is remembered that the\nseveral colonies of the Book of Mormon migrations are all of one race.\nLehi's colony was made up of two families and the man Zoram, servant\nof Laban. Lehi, it is well know, was an Israelite of the tribe of\nManasseh; Ishmael, the head of the other family, was an Israelite of\nthe tribe of Ephraim. Zoram was an Israelite, but his tribe is unknown.\nMulek's colony were undoubtedly Jews. So that from the repeopling of\nAmerica after the destruction of the Jaredites early in the sixth\ncentury B. C.--so far as Book of Mormon migrations are concerned--the\ncolonies were all of one race. And we have also seen that even the\nJaredites were an earlier branch of the same race.\n\n44. History of the United States (Marcus Wilson) Book I chapter iii.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXV\n\nEXTERNAL EVIDENCES (CONTINUED.)--EVIDENCE OF THE BIBLE.\n\nI.\n\n_The Place of the Patriarch Joseph in Israel.--The Promises to Him_\nand His Seed.\n\nIt is no part of my purpose to deal at length with any argument that\nmay be based upon Bible evidences to the truth of the Book of Mormon.\nThat field is already occupied by others. Indeed from the commencement\nit has been one of the chief sources drawn upon by the Elders of the\nChurch in proof of the claims of the Book of Mormon. [1] I shall treat\nthat evidence, however, in merely an incidental way, and as deriving\nits importance chiefly from the circumstances of its blending in with\nthe enlarged and general scheme of things pertaining to Israel, and the\nwork of Messiah brought to light by the Book of Mormon.\n\nIn pursuance of this treatment I call attention to the blessing of\nJacob upon the head of his grand sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. It should\nbe remembered that to Joseph, the son of Jacob, a double portion of\nhonor was granted in Israel. While no tribe is especially called by\nhis name, yet two tribes are his through his sons, viz., the tribe of\nEphraim and the tribe of Manasseh. This came about in the following\nmanner: Reuben, the first born of Jacob, defiled his father's wife,\nBilhah. For which awful crime he lost his place as a prince in the\nhouse of Israel, which place was given indirectly to Joseph. Why I say\nindirectly, is because Ephraim, Joseph's younger son, was the one who\nreceived the blessing of the first born, and was placed as the first of\nthe tribes of Israel. It is for this reason that the Lord was wont to\nsay, \"I am a Father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first born.\" [2] In\nproof of the things here set forth I quote the following:\n\n Now the sons of Reuben, the first born of Israel, (for he was the\n firstborn; but, forasmuch as he defiled his father's bed, his\n birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel:\n and the genealogy is not to be reckoned after the birthright. For\n Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief\n ruler, but the birthright was Joseph's. [3]\n\nThat is, not after the natural birthright, but after the birthright\nappointment made by the patriarch Jacob to Ephraim. Ephraim, then, will\ntake the place of Reuben--the place of the firstborn. But there was\nalso a tribe of Manasseh in Israel, as well as of Ephraim, and thus\nwas a double portion given unto Joseph in that from him are two tribes\nin Israel. And now as to further blessings conferred upon Joseph and\nhis sons. When Jacob and his son Joseph were restored to each other\nin Egypt, the old patriarch rejoiced to see the two sons of Joseph,\nEphraim and Manasseh--and now the Bible narrative:\n\n And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed\n himself with his face to the earth. And Joseph took them both,\n Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh\n in his left hand towards Israel's right hand, and brought them near\n unto him. And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it\n upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon\n Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the\n firstborn.\n\n And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers\n Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long\n unto this day, the angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the\n lads and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers\n Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst\n of the earth. And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right\n hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; and he held up\n his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's\n head. And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father; for\n this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head. And his\n father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it; he also\n shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his\n younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become\n a multitude of nations. And he blessed them that day, saying, In\n thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as\n Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh. [4]\n\nAgain when the patriarch Jacob gave his final blessing to his sons, of\nJoseph he said:\n\n Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose\n branches run over the wall: The archers have sorely grieved him,\n and shot at him, and hated him: but his bow abode in strength, and\n the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mightily\n God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel):\n Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the\n Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above,\n blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts,\n and of the womb; the blessings of thy father have prevailed above\n the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bounds of the\n everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the\n crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. [5]\n\nMoses also seems to have been impressed with the idea that Joseph was\nto receive a portion above his brethren; for in blessing the tribes of\nIsrael, when coming to Joseph, he said:\n\n Blessed of the Lord be his land, for the precious things of heaven,\n for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for the\n precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious\n things put forth by the moon, and for the chief things of the\n ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting\n hills, and for the precious things of the earth and fullness\n thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let\n the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the\n head of him that was separated from his brethren. His glory is like\n the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of\n unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends\n of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they\n are the thousands of Manasseh. [6]\n\nA comparison of the blessings of the other tribes with the blessings of\nJoseph's will convince him who makes it how much greater are to be the\nblessings of Joseph than those of his brethren, especially in respect\nof the extent and the fruitfulness of the lands that his descendants\nshall occupy. Furthermore, in view of all that is said in these\nprophetic utterances, there can be no question but what the descendants\nof Joseph, the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, are to be very prominent\nin the affairs of Israel and take an important part in God's great\ndrama in which he will work out the restoration of his people, Israel,\nand the redemption of the world.\n\nSummarizing these prophetic blessings we may say, that to the tribe of\nEphraim is given the place and honor of the first born in Israel; that\nto him pertains the \"pushing of the people together\"--Ephraim's part\nin the gathering of Israel in the last days; that the seed of Manasseh\nis to become a great people, while Ephraim is to become a multitude\nof nations--greater than Manasseh, as is becoming to the tribe of the\nfirst born--\"they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the\nthousands of Manasseh;\" that the land possessed by Joseph's posterity\nis to be peculiarly great and fruitful, blessed with the precious\nthings of heaven, with the precious fruits brought forth by the sun,\nfor the chief things of the ancient mountains, for the precious things\nof the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth and the\nfullness thereof; that Joseph is as a fruitful bough whose branches run\nover the wall (i. e., his possessions extend in some way beyond the\nrecognized boundaries of Israel's Palestine inheritance); that Joseph's\narms and hands shall be made strong by the hands of the mighty God of\nJacob; that the God of Israel shall help Joseph and bless him with the\nblessings of heaven above, of the deep, of the breasts, and of the womb\n(i. e., he shall be blessed in his posterity); that the blessings of\nJacob had prevailed above the blessings of his progenitors, \"unto the\nutmost bounds of the everlasting hills,\" (perhaps a greater territorial\ninheritance); that these blessings of Jacob which had \"prevailed\" above\n(i. e., exceeded) the blessings of his progenitors, should be realized\nby Joseph.\n\nThese are the promises of God to Joseph. But where are the evidences\neither from the Bible history or from secular history that the\ndescendants of Joseph have ever attained to the fulfillment of these\nvery gracious and very remarkable promises? As a matter of fact are not\nJoseph's tribes and descendants practically lost in Israel, so far as\nany knowledge is obtainable from the Bible, or other Hebrew literature,\nor general history? The tribe of Judah became the dominating power in\nthe history of Israel in Palestine, and is the only tribe in Israel\nthat has retained any distinctive existence in modern times. What,\nthen, have the promises of God to Joseph, uttered by Jacob, in his\ninspired patriarchal blessings, and solemnly repeated by the great\nprophet Moses, failed of their fulfillment? If not, where is the\nevidence of their fulfillment? It is not to be found unless men turn\nto and receive it from Joseph's record, the Book of Mormon. But the\nBook of Mormon once accepted--a book that is a history, in the main,\nof the descendants of Joseph, [7] behold what a fulfilment of the\nprophetic blessings upon Joseph's seed is there revealed! Here in\nAmerica Joseph's descendants indeed became a multitude of nations;\nhere, indeed, they possessed a land blessed with the precious things\nof heaven, for through Nephite prophets was made known the mind and\nwill of God, the coming of Messiah, and the redemption of man that\nshould be wrought out by Him; nay, the Son of God, in person, came\nin his glorious resurrected state and taught them at first hand and\nface to face the great things concerning man's salvation; inspired\napostles took up the same great theme and for centuries held a great\npeople closely to the path of both truth and righteousness, until the\nharvest of souls in America exceeded such harvests among any other\npeople whatsoever. In America Joseph's descendants indeed possessed a\nland noted for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for\nthe chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things\nof the lasting hills--the gold, the silver, the iron, the coal fields,\nthe oil fields, and all things else of which the mountains and hills of\nAmerica yield their rich store; a land noted for the precious things of\nthe earth and the fullness thereof--a land embracing all the climates\nfrom earth's torrid equatorial regions, thence shading off both toward\nthe north and the south through temperate climates into the frigid\nzones; a land of wonderous wealth in fertile plains and valleys, and\nextensive forest tracts; a land that produces all vegetables and fruits\nand fiberous growths essential to the feeding and clothing of man; a\nland whose grandeur and very beauty holds the senses entranced with\nits magnificence; a land sufficient for empires surrounded by fruitful\nseas; a land consecrated to free institutions and to righteousness--in\na word, _the land of Joseph_.\n\nBy the descendants of Joseph migrating to this land, Joseph is truly\na fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well whose branches\nrun over the wall; and while his descendants in this land had their\nvaried fortunes, dark days in which sin, both individual and national,\nmade dark their annals, still they had also remarkable periods of\nrighteousness, during which periods there were added many names to the\nworld's great list of warriors, statesmen and prophets, that deserve\nto be remembered with the world's greatest and best characters. Of\nwarriors, such names as Alma, [8] Moroni, the hero of the Nephite\nrepublic [9] (100 B. C. 56 B. C.), Mormon, Helaman, Teancum; and\nthough engaged in a bad cause, Amlici and Amalickiah, and many others\namong the Lamanites. Of statesmen such names as the first Nephi, King\nBenjamin, Mosiah II, Alma the younger, Nephihah, and Pahoran. Of the\nprophets, Lehi, the first Nephi, Jacob, Mosiah I, Abinadi, Ammon, the\nson of Mosiah, Alma the elder, also Alma the younger, Samuel, the\nLamanite, Nephi, the son of Helaman (last half of the century preceding\nthe Christian era), Nephi, the chief of Messiah's apostles, Mormon, the\nauthor of the abridged record known as the Book of Mormon, Moroni, the\nson of Mormon, and others.\n\nJoseph's descendants in America established and maintained for a\nthousand years what may be properly called a Christian civilization;\nfor, instructed by their prophets during the six hundred years that\nthey occupied the land of America, preceding the coming of Messiah,\nthey believed implicitly in the Christ that was to come, and looked\nforward to the redemption of the human race through his atonement,\nholding the reasonable view that there was as much virtue in looking\nforward to the atonement of Christ and accepting in their faith his\nredeeming power, as looking back upon it would have after it had become\nan accomplished fact [10] For four centuries following the advent of\nChrist the Nephites had, of course, the evidence of his appearing among\nthem and his personal instructions in the gospel, which affected the\ncharacter of their civilization.\n\nDuring the time range mentioned, kingdoms, republics and Christian\necclesiastical governments obtained. Such science and arts as might\nnaturally develop from a colony of enlightened Hebrews migrating from\nPalestine to America six hundred years B. C., flourished; and the\nruined monuments of civilization seen in America were reared in part\nby their hands; the extent of these monuments of civilization, and the\ndegree of civilization they represent are questions that have already\nbeen considered. [11]\n\nThe Book of Mormon is also big with the promise of future events\nconcerning the redemption and glorification of the descendants of\nJoseph in this promised land of America--the land of Joseph, for so\nit is declared to be by the Lord Jesus himself. Addressing the twelve\ndisciples whom he had called to the ministry in the western world he\nsaid:\n\n Ye are my disciples; and ye are a light unto this people, who are\n a remnant of the house of Joseph. And behold, this is the land of\n your inheritance; and the Father hath given it unto you. [12]\n\nThe Book of Mormon makes known the fact that upon this land of Joseph\nis to be founded a great city called Zion, or a New Jerusalem. The\nrisen Messiah, while still teaching the gospel in person to the\nNephites, and speaking upon this subject, said:\n\n And it shall come to pass that I will establish my people, O house\n of Israel. And behold, this people will I establish in this land,\n [referring to the continents of America], unto the fulfilling of\n the covenant which I made with your father Jacob; and it shall be\n a New Jerusalem. And the powers of heaven shall be in the midst of\n this people; yea, even I will be in the midst of you. [13]\n\nContinuing his discourse he said:\n\n For it shall come to pass, saith the Father, that at that day\n whosoever will not repent and come unto my beloved Son, them will I\n cut off from among my people, O house of Israel; and I will execute\n vengeance and fury upon them, even as upon the heathen, such as\n they have not heard. But if they repent, and hearken unto my words,\n they shall come in unto the covenant, and be numbered among this\n the remnant of Jacob, unto whom I have given this land for their\n inheritance, and they shall assist my people, the remnant of Jacob,\n and also, as many of the house of Israel as shall come, that they\n may build a city, which shall be called the New Jerusalem; and then\n shall they assist my people that they may be gathered in, who are\n scattered upon all the face of the land, in unto the New Jerusalem.\n And then shall the power of heaven come down among them; and I will\n also be in their midst. [14]\n\nMoroni, however, is still more explicit. He represents that the\nJaredite prophet Ether saw the days of Christ, and he spake concerning\na new Jerusalem upon the land of America.\n\n And he spake also concerning the house of Israel, and the Jerusalem\n from whence Lehi should come; after it should be destroyed, it\n should be built up again a holy city unto the Lord, wherefore it\n could not be a New Jerusalem, for it had been in a time of old, but\n it should be built up again, and become a holy city of the Lord;\n and it should be built unto the house of Israel; and that a New\n Jerusalem should be built up upon this land, unto the remnant of\n the seed of Joseph, for which things there has been a type; for\n as Joseph brought his father down into the land of Egypt, even so\n he died there; wherefore the Lord brought a remnant of the seed\n of Joseph out of the land of Jerusalem, that he might be merciful\n unto the seed of Joseph, that they should perish not, even as he\n was merciful unto the father of Joseph, that he should perish not;\n wherefore the remnant of the house of Joseph shall be built upon\n this land; and it shall be a land of their inheritance; and they\n shall build up a holy city unto the Lord, like unto the Jerusalem\n of old; and they shall no more be confounded, until the end come,\n when the earth shall pass away. [15]\n\nThe continents of America, then, according to this passage, are the\ninheritance of Joseph, and here a holy city is to be built unto\nthe Lord that shall be the capital of the western world, a New\nJerusalem--Zion. This city is to be founded and glorified by the\nmultitudinous descendants of Joseph, who will be gathered into the\nland, and also those who will unite with them in righteousness--in so\ngreat a work--especially the Gentile races; and together they shall\nbe established in peaceful possession of the land to the end of the\nworld. The exaltation and glory of this predicted future empire for\nthe descendants of Joseph and the Gentile races--the grandeur of its\ncivilization and the security of its righteousness; the brilliancy\nof its achievements; the excellence of its physical comforts and the\nbeauty and simplicity of both its individual and community life, may\nnot yet be apprehended, though they may be partly seen in the light\nof modern civilized life; sufficiently seen by aid of that light to\nestablish confidence that realization will outrun the dreams of the\nancient prophets, all glorious as they seem.\n\nThe Book of Mormon throughout is true to this Josephic idea; it is\nimpregnated with it. Joseph is the central figure throughout. His\nspirit runs through the whole scheme of the book. We learn from\nthe Book of Mormon of a great Seer that is to arise from among the\ndescendants of this Patriarch Joseph, to bring forth the word of the\nLord to them, a thing quite in keeping with the important part to be\ntaken by Joseph and his seed in the affairs of the western world in\nthe last days. The matter is mentioned by Lehi in connection with a\nblessing he was giving his own son Joseph, born to him while in the\nwilderness, enroute from Palestine to America:\n\n And now, Joseph, my last born, whom I have brought out of the\n wilderness of mine afflictions, may the Lord bless thee forever,\n for thy seed shall not utterly be destroyed. For behold, thou art\n the fruit of my loins; and I am a descendant of Joseph, who was\n carried captive into Egypt. And great were the covenants of the\n Lord, which he made unto Joseph; wherefore, Joseph truly saw our\n day. And he obtained a promise of the Lord, that out of the fruit\n of his loins, the Lord God would raise up a righteous branch unto\n the house of Israel; not the Messiah, but a branch which was to\n be broken off; nevertheless to be remembered in the covenants of\n the Lord, that the Messiah should be made manifest unto them in\n the latter days, in the spirit of power, unto the bringing of them\n out of darkness unto light; yea, out of hidden darkness and out of\n captivity unto freedom. For Joseph truly testified, saying: a Seer\n shall the Lord my God raise up, who shall be a choice Seer unto the\n fruit of my loins. Yea, Joseph truly said, Thus saith the Lord unto\n me: A choice Seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins;\n and he shall be esteemed highly among the fruit of thy loins. And\n unto him will I give commandment, that he shall do a work for the\n fruit of thy loins, his brethren, which shall be of great worth\n unto them, even to the bringing of them to the knowledge of the\n covenants which I have made with thy fathers. And I will give unto\n him a commandment, that he shall do none other work, save the work\n which I shall command him. And I will make him great in mine eyes;\n for he shall do my work. And he shall be great like unto Moses,\n whom I have said I would raise up unto you, to deliver my people, O\n house of Israel. And Moses will I raise up out of the fruit of thy\n loins; and unto him will I give power to bring forth my word unto\n the seed of thy loins; and not to the bringing forth my word only,\n saith the Lord, but to the convincing them of my word, which shall\n have already gone forth among them. Wherefore, the fruit of thy\n loins shall write; and the fruit of the loins of Judah shall write;\n and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also\n that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah,\n shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines, and\n laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit\n of thy loins, and bringing them to the knowledge of their fathers\n in the latter days; and also to the knowledge of my covenants,\n saith the Lord. And out of weakness he shall be made strong, in\n that day when my work shall commence among all my people, unto the\n restoring thee, O house of Israel, saith the Lord.\n\n And thus prophesied Joseph, saying: Behold, that Seer will the Lord\n bless; and they, that seek to destroy him, shall be confounded; for\n this promise, which I have obtained of the Lord, of the fruit of my\n loins, shall be fulfilled. Behold, I am sure of the fulfilling of\n this promise. And his name shall be called after me; and it shall\n be after the name of his father. And he shall be like unto me; for\n the things which the Lord shall bring forth by his hand, by the\n power of the Lord shall bring forth my people unto salvation. [16]\n\nThe reader will observe that this ancient prophecy is fulfilled in\nthe person of the Prophet Joseph Smith, who, both in his name, his\ncharacter and his work, meets completely the terms of the prophecy. [17]\n\nOne other matter in connection with the Patriarch Joseph I would\nmention, insignificant perhaps in comparison of the greater things we\nhave been considering, yet really important for that it is made up of\nthose details so apt to be overlooked by an imposter who would attempt\nto palm off upon the world, as a revelation, such a work as the Book of\nMormon.\n\nIt will be remembered that after Lehi's colony had journeyed some days\nin the wilderness, the prophet-leader sent his sons back to Jerusalem\nto obtain a copy of the Hebrew scriptures, and the genealogies of his\nfathers. This copy of the scriptures and genealogies the sons of Lehi\nobtained from one Laban, a man evidently of some considerable influence\nin Jerusalem. This record was written in Egyptian characters. And now\nto the point where these facts touch the Josephic idea of the Book of\nMormon.\n\nJoseph, it must be remembered, attained the position of a prince in\nEgypt, when that nation was doubtless the first political power of\nthe world, and in the kingdom was made second only to the Pharaoh\nhimself, so that he was a man of very high dignity, a fact not likely\nto be forgotten by his posterity. He unquestionably was deeply learned\nin all things Egyptian, including the written language, most likely\nthat form of it called the hieratic,--which, as well as the old\nhieroglyphics, was used in the Egyptian sacerdotal style of writing.\nI think I am justified in the conclusion that Joseph was learned in\nthis writing since he took to wife Asenath, daughter of the high\npriest of Heliopolis, or On, and thus became closely associated with,\nif not actually identified with, the priestly caste of Egypt. The\ndeeply religious character of the Patriarch and of his race would\nalso naturally interest him in the religious lore of so profoundly a\nreligious country as Egypt. Is it not possible that these facts would\nbe an incentive to his posterity to keep alive among them this Egyptian\nlearning of their great ancestor?\n\nTo Joseph, be it remembered, was given the birthright in Israel,\nthrough Ephraim. Laban, of whom the sons of Lehi obtained the Egyptian\nrecords, was a descendant of Joseph, [18] doubtless in line of the\nelder sons since he kept the genealogies and also this Egyptian copy of\nthe holy writings.\n\nLehi was an Egyptian scholar [19] and was enabled to read this version\nof the Hebrew scriptures and his genealogy recorded in Egyptian\ncharacters.\n\nThis Egyptian record became the foundation of Nephite sacred\nliterature, that is, for the most part, their sacred records were\nengraven in Egyptian characters, modified somewhat by them and called\nthe \"reformed Egyptian.\" [20]\n\nLet us consider these facts in condensed and succinct form:--\n\n(1) Joseph, son of Jacob, he becomes a prince in Egypt, marries a\ndaughter of the prince On, doubtless becomes learned in Egyptian lore.\n\n(2) Undoubtedly these facts would prove an incentive to his posterity\nto perpetuate among them the Egyptian learning of their great ancestor.\n\n(3) To Joseph is given the birthright in Israel through his younger\nson, Ephraim.\n\n(4) Laban, of whom the sons of Lehi obtained the Egyptian copy of the\nHebrew scriptures and genealogies was a descendant of Joseph, doubtless\nin the line of the elder sons since he kept the genealogies and the\nEgyptian copy of the holy writings.\n\n(5) Lehi is an Egyptian scholar and is able to read this version of the\nHebrew scriptures.\n\n(6) This Egyptian copy of the Hebrew scriptures becomes the foundation\nof the Nephite literature.\n\nThus we have a series of facts that coalesce remarkably with the claims\nmade for the Nephite record, that it was written in \"reformed,\" that\nis, changed, Egyptian character, yet these circumstances are only\nmentioned in an obscure, incidental way. They would never be worked out\nby an imposter; and were never referred to by Joseph Smith or any of\nhis immediate associates as being valuable evidences in support of the\nclaims of the book. I cannot help thinking, however, that they are so,\nand for that reason call attention to them here.\n\nII.\n\n_The prophecies of Isaiah on the Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon._\n\nIn the Book of Isaiah's prophecy is found the following remarkable\nprediction:\n\n Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken\n but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. For the\n Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath\n closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he\n covered. And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of\n a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned,\n saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it\n is sealed: and the book is delivered to him that is not leaned,\n saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I am not learned.\n Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with\n their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed\n their hearts far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the\n precept of men: therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous\n work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder: for\n the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding\n of their prudent men shall be hid. Woe unto them that seek deep\n to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works are in the\n dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? Surely your\n turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's\n clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not?\n or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had not\n understanding? Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall\n be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be a\n forest? And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book,\n and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of\n darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and\n the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the\n terrible one is brought to naught, and the scorner is consumed,\n and all that watch for iniquity are cut off: that make a man an\n offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the\n gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of naught. Therefore\n thus saith the Lord, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of\n Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now\n wax pale. But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands,\n in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the\n Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel. They also that\n erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured\n shall learn doctrine. [21]\n\nIn the Book of Mormon we have a Nephite version of this prophecy taken\nfrom the writings of Isaiah which, it will be remembered, were included\nin those scriptures which Lehi's colony brought from Jerusalem. The\nfirst Nephi applies this prophecy to the record of his own people, the\nBook of Mormon, and the circumstance attendant upon its coming forth in\nthe last days; all of which will be found in the 27th chapter of second\nNephi. In the Nephite version of the prophecy it is made clear that the\nreasons for keeping the original book from the world is the fact that\na portion of it was sealed. The opening verses of the 27th chapter of\nII Nephi shift the scene of this prophecy to the land inhabited by the\nNephites, that is, to America, and describes the spiritual darkness\nboth in that land and in all the nations of the earth, after which the\nrecord says:\n\n And it shall come to pass, that the Lord shall bring forth unto you\n the words of a book, and they shall be the words of them which have\n slumbered. And behold the book shall be sealed: and in the book\n shall be a revelation from God, from the beginning of the world to\n the end thereof. Wherefore, because of the things which are sealed\n up, the things which are sealed shall not be delivered in the day\n of the wickedness and abominations of the people. Wherefore the\n book shall be kept from them. But the book shall be delivered unto\n a man, and he shall deliver the words of the book, which are the\n words of those who have slumbered in the dust; and he shall deliver\n these words unto another; but the words which are sealed he shall\n not deliver, neither shall he deliver the book. For the book shall\n be sealed by the power of God, and the revelation which was sealed\n shall be kept in the book until the own due time of the Lord, that\n they may come forth; for behold, they reveal all things from the\n foundation of the world unto the end thereof. And the day cometh\n that the words of the book which are sealed shall be read upon the\n house tops; and they shall be read by the power of Christ: and all\n things shall be revealed unto the children of men, and which ever\n will be, even unto the end of the earth. [22]\n\nThen follows the declaration that there shall be Three Special\nWitnesses to behold the book by the power of God, and a Few other\nWitnesses that shall view it according to the will of God. Following\nthe description of the coming forth of this book is a description\nalso of the spiritual awakening among men in much the same order and\nphraseology as the latter part of Isaiah's prophecy.\n\nOf course this prophecy was fulfilled in the several events we have\nalready noted which resulted in the coming forth of the Book of Mormon\nand the accompanying testimony of the Witnesses thereof. [23] That is\nto say, it was fulfilled in the Nephite record being brought forth,\nafter so many ages, and becoming, to those who receive it, as the words\nof those who have slumbered--the speech out of the ground--the familiar\nvoice from the dust; by Joseph Smith and Martin Harris delivering the\ntranscript of characters from the Nephite record to Dr. Samuel Mitchell\nand Professor Anthon, \"the words of the book that was sealed\" were\ndelivered by men to those that were learned, saying, read this, I pray\nyou; by the answer of these learned men to the effect--mockingly, on\nincidentally learning that the book was sealed--that they could not\nread a sealed book; by the book being delivered to the one that was\nnot learned, Joseph Smith, who marveled that one not learned should be\nrequired to translate the book; by the Lord disdaining those who draw\nnear to him with their mouths, and with their lips honored him, while\ntheir hearts were far removed from him, and their fear toward him was\ntaught by the precepts of men; by the Lord proceeding to do a marvelous\nwork and a wonder, by which the wisdom of the world's wise men became\nas naught; by exalting the wisdom of God above the wisdom of men; by\nmaking the deaf to hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the\nblind to see out of obscurity; by increasing the joy of the meek in\nthe Lord, and making the poor among men to rejoice in the Holy One of\nIsrael; by expressing his scorn for those who make a man an offender\nfor a word--(does he have in mind those who would reject the Book of\nMormon because of the imperfections of its language?); by declaring the\nspeedy redemption of the House of Israel--by the return of the favor of\nthe Lord to Jacob, whose face shall no more wax pale; by making those\nwho erred in spirit come to understanding, and they that murmured to\nlearning doctrine--all of which events have followed or are in process\nof developing as a sequence to the coming forth of this American\nvolume of scripture, the record of Joseph, by which the world is being\nenlightened upon the enlarged glory of Israel, both passed and that\nwhich is yet to be.\n\nThe great difficulty concerning this prophecy being made to apply to\nthe Nephite record and its coming forth will be in the transference of\nits scenes from Palestine to America. The opening verse of the chapter\nbegins with a reference to Jerusalem:\n\n Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year\n to year; let them kill sacrifices. Yet I will distress Ariel, and\n there shall be heaviness and sorrow. [24]\n\n\"Ariel, the city where David dwelt,\" too plainly designates Jerusalem\nto admit of any doubt; and it would seem that all that immediately\nfollows would be related to David's city, Jerusalem, that is, the\nsiege--the destruction--the humiliation--the speaking low out of the\ndust--the terrible ones that shall become as chaff--and the destruction\nthat shall come upon those nations that fight against \"Ariel\"--all\nthis, I say, at first glance seems to relate to Jerusalem, or \"Ariel,\"\nand makes the transference of the remaining prophetic parts of the\nchapter to America and the coming forth of the Nephite record somewhat\ndifficult. Still, in the second verse of the chapter there is a sudden\ntransition from \"Ariel\" to another place that shall be unto the Lord\n\"_as_\" Ariel; and on this point the late Orson Pratt was wont to say:\n\n The prophet [Isaiah] predicts, first, the distress that should come\n upon Ariel, and, secondly, predicts another event that should be\n unto the Lord \"as Ariel.\" This last event is expressed in these\n words, \"And it shall be unto me AS Ariel.\" How was it with Ariel?\n Her people was to be distressed and afflicted with \"heaviness and\n sorrow.\" How was it to be with the people or nations who should be\n \"as Ariel,\" is clearly portrayed in the 3rd and 4th verses: \"And\n I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against\n thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee; and thou\n shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy\n speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be as of\n one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech\n shall whisper out of the dust.\" Now, we ask, What nation upon the\n earth has been visited with a distress resembling that of Ariel\n or Jerusalem? We answer that the Book of Mormon informs us that\n the nation of Nephites who were a remnant of Joseph inhabited\n ancient America, were brought down to the ground by their enemies.\n Hundreds of thousands were slaughtered in their terrible wars.\n Their distress truly may be said to be \"as Ariel.\" Ariel was sorely\n distressed from time to time, and forts and other fortifications\n raised against her--similar judgments happened to the remnant of\n Joseph. Isaiah does not say that Ariel shall speak out of the\n ground, but he clearly shows that the nation which should be\n distressed \"as Ariel,\" after being brought down, should speak out\n of the ground. The words of the prophets of Jerusalem or Ariel,\n never spoke from the ground, their speech was never \"low out of\n the dust.\" But the words of the prophets among the remnant of\n Joseph have spoken from the ground, and their written \"speech\" has\n whispered out of the dust. [25]\n\nTo this also may be added the further reflection that the coming forth\nof the Nephite record, the circumstances attendant upon that event, the\nresults of enlarged knowledge concerning doctrine and the enlightenment\nof the world concerning Israel in America, and the future glory that\nwill attend upon the restoration of that ancient people--all this\nblends with the remaining prophecies of Issiah's 29th chapter, and of\nwhich, nowhere else, have we any account of their fulfillment. We must,\ntherefore, say either that these remarkable prophecies of Isaiah have\nnot yet been fulfilled, or that they are fulfilled in connection with\nthe experiences of the Nephites in America, and the coming forth of\ntheir abridged scriptures, the Book of Mormon.\n\nIII.\n\n_The Prophecy of Messiah in Relation to the_ \"_Other Sheep_\"_ than_\nThose in Palestine that Must Hear His Voice.\n\nIn St. John's gospel we have the following statement and prophecy from\nthe lips of Messiah himself:\n\n I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As\n the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father; and I lay down my\n life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this\n fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and\n there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. [26]\n\nThe usual explanation of the prophetic part of this passage is that\nJesus here makes reference to the Gentiles as being the other sheep.\nOne great commentary says:\n\n He means the perishing gentiles already his \"sheep\" in the love of\n his heart and the purpose of his grace to \"bring them\" in due time.\n\nThen again the phrase \"they shall hear my voice\" is explained to mean:\n\n This is not the language of mere foresight that they [the Gentiles]\n would believe, but the expression of a purpose to draw them to\n himself by an inward and efficacious call, which would infallibly\n issue in their spontaneous accession to him. [27]\n\nAgainst this exposition, however, there stands out the fact that\nwhen Jesus was importuned by his apostles to heed the prayers of the\nCananitish woman, in the coasts of Tyre, he said to them: \"I am not\nsent but unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel.\" [28] Therefore,\nwhen he says in John, \"Other sheep I have which are not of this fold;\nthem also I must bring and they shall hear my voice and there shall\nbe one fold and one shepherd,\" he certainly had reference to some\nbranch of the House of Israel and not to the Gentiles. When the Messiah\nappeared among the Nephites who, it will be remembered, were a branch\nof the House of Israel, and a very great branch, too, as we have seen\nsince they are descendants of Joseph,--Messiah declared that it was in\nthat visit to the Nephites that the terms of his New Testament prophecy\nwere fulfilled. The occasion of his making known this truth to the\nNephites was when he chose the Twelve Disciples in the western world,\nand gave them their commission. The passage follows:\n\n And now it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words, he\n said unto those twelve whom he had chosen, ye are my disciples;\n and ye are a light unto this people, who are a remnant of the\n house of Joseph. And behold, this is the land of your inheritance;\n and the Father hath given it unto you. And not at any time hath\n the Father given me commandment that I should tell it unto your\n brethren at Jerusalem; neither at any time hath the Father given\n me commandment, that I should tell unto them concerning the other\n tribes of the house of Israel, whom the Father hath led away out\n of the land. This much did the Father command me, that I should\n tell unto them, that other sheep I have, which are not of this\n fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice;\n and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd. And now because\n of stiffneckedness and unbelief, they understood not my word:\n therefore I was commanded to say no more of the Father concerning\n this thing unto them. But, verily, I say unto you, that the Father\n hath commanded me, and I tell it unto you, that ye were separated\n from among them because of their iniquity; therefore it is because\n of their iniquity, that they know not of you. And verily, I say\n unto you again, that the other tribes hath the Father separated\n from them; and it is because of their [the Jews'] iniquity, that\n they knew not of them. And verily, I say unto you, that ye are they\n of whom I said, other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them\n also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be\n one fold, and one shepherd. [29]\n\nIn view of the fact already pointed out that Jesus could not have had\nreference to the Gentiles in this prophecy concerning \"other sheep,\"\nI may say of this prophecy as I did of those in the 29th chapter of\nIsaiah, that either we must say that we have no knowledge of the\nfulfillment of this very remarkable New Testament prediction, or else\nwe must say that it had its fulfillment as the Book of Mormon teaches,\nin the advent and ministry of Jesus to the branch of the House of\nIsrael in America.\n\nI have pursued the matter of evidence and argument from the Jewish\nscriptures to the truth of the Book of Mormon as far as it was my\noriginal purpose to do so, referring those who care to enter more\nminutely into this branch of the subject to the treatment of other\nElders who have devoted their works to it. [30]\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. One of the earliest writers in the Church in support of the claims\nof the Book of Mormon was Elder Charles Thompson. He published a work\nat Batavia, N. Y., in 1841 consisting of 250 pages. The title of the\nbook was \"Evidences in Proof of the Book of Mormon Being a Divinely\nInspired Record, Written by the Forefathers of the Natives Whom we Call\nIndians.\" It dwells at length on the scripture proofs of the divine\nauthenticity of the book, the nature of which may be judged from the\nfollowing statement of what the author expects to prove:\n\n\"In treating on this subject, I shall observe the following order, viz:\nI shall first prove by the Prophets, that God will literally gather\nIsrael, the literal seed of Jacob, from all nations, unto their own\nland, which God gave unto their fathers, by promise.\n\n\"Second: When he shall set his hand to bring to pass this gathering,\nhe will first lift up an ensign on the mountains for the nations--set\nup his standard to the people, and set a sign among them. And then\nimmediately he will commission officers and send them to the nations,\nbearing this ensign, to declare his glory among the Gentiles, and to\nfish out and hunt up Israel, and bring them to their own land for an\noffering unto the Lord.\n\n\"Third: The ensign, standard, and sign, consists of a book--a record of\nthe tribe of Joseph, taken by the Lord and put with the Bible (that is,\npublished to the nations as the Bible now is).\n\n\"Fourth: This record of Joseph is to come out of the earth in America\nbecause Ephraim's seed dwell there.\n\n\"Fifth: America is a promised land to Joseph, and God brought a remnant\nof his seed here to possess it.\n\n\"Sixth: God will make use of men as instruments in bringing this book\nforth.\n\n\"Seventh: This generation is the time when this gathering is to take\nplace; consequently the time when this book is to come forth.\n\n\"Eighth: The Book of Mormon is this book, and the Elders of the Church\nof Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are the officers commissioned to\nbear this sign to the nations, and to declare God's glory among the\ngentiles and gather Israel.\" (Evidences in Proof of the Book of Mormon,\npp. 7, 8).\n\nThe writings of Elders Parley P. Pratt (who preceded Elder Thompson in\nthis field by three or four years), and Orson Pratt upon this subject,\nthe first in the Voice of Warning, 1837; the second in his work on\nDivine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon, England, 1850-1, are too\nwell known to require any summary as their works are still current.\n\n2. Jeremiah xxxi: 9.\n\n3. I. Chronicles v: 1, 2.\n\n4. Genesis xlviii: 12-20.\n\n5. Genesis xlix: 22-26.\n\n6. Deut. xxxiii: 13-18.\n\n7. I have already, at pages 167-8, and note, called attention to the\nfact that the colony of Lehi was made up of families from the tribes of\nEphraim and Manasseh respectively. Orson Pratt also says, \"The American\nIndians are partly of the children of Manasseh though many of them are\nof Ephraim through the two sons of Ishmael who came out of Jerusalem\n600 B. C., and some of Judah through the loins of David and the kings\nthat reigned over Jerusalem.\" Pratt's Works, pp. 92; see also chapter\nXXXIX and footnotes.\n\n8. The reason that Alma, born late in the second century B. C., is\nthe first one mentioned of the Nephite warriors is not because he\nwas the first distinguished member of that class among the Nephites,\nbut because the secular history of the Nephites for the first four\ncenturies of their annals was lost through the criminal carelessness of\nMartin Harris when he lost the 116 pages of manuscript which was the\ntranslation of the first part of Mormon's abridgment of that Nephite\nsecular history. We have its place occupied by the translation of the\nSmaller Plates of Nephi which record gives prominence to spiritual\nthings and to spiritual characters. (I. Nephi xix: 3, 4). But as\n\"there were brave men before Aggamemnon,\" so also doubtless there were\nwarriors among the Nephites before Alma, but in consequence of not\nhaving a translation of the part of the record which dealt with the\naffairs of government and of wars, they remain for the present, unknown\nto us.\n\n9. Not Moroni, the son of Mormon.\n\n10. Alma xxxix: 17-19, I. Nephi xxv: 23-26, Mosiah iii: 13.\n\n11. Chapters xxvi and xxvii.\n\n12. III. Nephi xv: 12, 13.\n\n13. III. Nephi xx: 21, 22.\n\n14. III. Nephi xxi: 20-25.\n\n15. Ether xiii: 5-8.\n\n16. II. Nephi iii: 3-15.\n\nI am not unmindful of the fact that the objector, with some show of\nreason, could say that it would be an easy matter for an imposter to\nset down such a prophecy as this--one that would coalesce with the\nfacts of his own life and claim it as a fulfillment of prophecy, and\nhence an evidence of his calling. The shallowness of such a position\nis, of course, apparent, but it is not in this way that I refer to the\ncircumstance, but to call attention to the fact that it is in harmony\nwith this Josephic idea of the Book of Mormon, and I am not at all\nrelying upon it in my argument as being a fulfillment of prophecy.\n\n17. Compare I. Nephi i: 1-2. Mosiah i: 1-4. Mormon ix: 32-33.\n\n18. \"And thus my father, Lehi, did discover the genealogy of his\nfathers; and Laban also was a descendant of Joseph, wherefore he and\nhis fathers had kept the records.\" I. Nephi v: 16.\n\n19. I. Nephi i: 2. Mosiah i: 4.\n\n20. Mormon ix: 32, 33.\n\n21. Isaiah xxix: 9-24.\n\n22. II. Nephi xxvii: 6-11.\n\n23. See Vol. II, chapters iv and v.\n\n24. Isaiah xxix: 1-2.\n\n25. Orson Pratt's Works, p. 11.\n\n26. St. John x: 14-16.\n\n27. Commentary, Critical and Explanatory of the Old and New Testaments,\nby Rev. Jamieson, Fausett and Brown, on St. John, ch. x. See also\nEidersheim's Life of Jesus, Vol. II., p. 192, where substantially the\nsame view is held.\n\n28. Matt. xv: 24.\n\n29. III. Nephi xv: 11-21.\n\n30. For reference to such works see footnote, pp. 93-94.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVI\n\nEXTERNAL EVIDENCES.--THE EVIDENCE OF THE CHURCH.\n\nThe evidence of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the\nBook of Mormon grows out of the relation of the book to the Church.\nThat is to say, the Church is a sequence of the coming forth of the\nbook. Not that a description of the Church organization as we known it\nis found in the book, or that its officers or their functions are named\nin it, much less that the extent and limitations of their authority\nare pointed out in it. All that pertains to the Church organization,\nand largely to the development of its doctrines, all that pertains\nto the Church, in fact, comes of a series of direct revelations to\nJoseph Smith subsequent to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon.\nThese revelations were given for the specific purpose of bringing\ninto existence the Church as it now exists, the depository of the\ndivine authority, in the new dispensation, and the instrumentality\nfor proclaiming the truth to the world, and perfecting the lives of\nthose who receive it. The Church, in other words, is the after-work\nof the inspired Prophet who translated the Nephite record into the\nEnglish language. Bringing into existence the Church and developing\nits doctrines was the continuation of the work that began with the\nfirst vision of Joseph Smith, the visitation of the angel Moroni,\nand the translation and publication of the Nephite record. Does this\ncontinuation of the work as seen in the organization of the Church and\nthe development of its doctrines justify the expectations awakened by\nthe Book of Mormon, and the manner of its coming forth? Has anything\nworth while come because of the revelation of the Book of Mormon?\nThe principle, \"By their fruits ye shall know them\" may have a wider\napplication than making it a mere test of ethical systems or of\nreligious teachers. It may be applied as a test to anything claiming to\nbe a truth. So that what has resulted from the coming forth of the Book\nof Mormon, is a question of importance. The answer to that question\nmay do much either for the book's vindication or its condemnation; may\nestablish its truth or prove it to be utterly unworthy of its claim to\ndivine origin. I hold it to be a self-evident truth that a revelation\nfrom God must not only contain matter within itself that concerns\nmen to know and that is worthy of God to reveal, but it must lead to\nresults worthy of revelation and worthy of God. It is here therefore\nthat the Church becomes a witness to the truth of the Book of Mormon;\nfor while neither the Church organization nor all its doctrines come\nimmediately from a description of either of these in the book's pages,\nyet the Church is an outgrowth of that movement of which the Book of\nMormon may be said to be an important factor. The Book of Mormon cannot\nbe true and the Church of Christ fail to come into existence as an\naccompanying fact. Indeed, several predictions in the Book of Mormon\nclearly indicate the establishment of the Church as a sequence to the\ncoming forth of that record, as witness the following:\n\n And it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall commence his work\n among all nations, kindred, tongues and people, to bring about the\n restoration of his people upon the earth. [1]\n\nThe Savior, also, in predicting the accomplishment of his work in the\nlast days, when the Nephite record should come forth, in speaking of\nthe Gentiles among whom it should be brought forth, says:\n\n If they will repent, and hearken unto my words, I will establish my\n church among them, and they shall come in unto the covenant, and be\n numbered among this the remnant of Jacob, unto whom I have given\n this land for their inheritance. [2]\n\nTo the first Nephi, also, it was given to behold the establishment of\nthe church of Christ in the last days, for he said:\n\n I beheld the church of the Lamp of God, and its numbers were few. *\n * * * nevertheless, I beheld that the church of the Lamb, who were\n the Saints of God, were also upon all the face of the earth; and\n their dominions were small, because of the wickedness of the great\n whore whom I saw. [3]\n\nMoreover, side by side with the unfolding of the successive facts\nwhich brought the Book of Mormon into existence, there was a series\nof revelations given predicting and making for the establishment of\na Church organization. In evidence of which statement I refer to the\nfirst visions of Joseph Smith as described by the Prophet himself in\nthe first volume of the Church History, [4] and especially as related\nby him in the letter written to Mr. John Wentworth in 1842; also the\nProphet's account of the several visits of Moroni to him, and the\nprophecies of that angel concerning the coming forth of the work of\nthe Lord, \"and how and in what manner his kingdom was to be conducted\nin the last days;\" [5] also the eighteen sections of the Doctrine and\nCovenants from the 2nd section to the 20th, inclusive, being those\nrevelations given between September, 1823, to the fore part of April,\n1830--the period during which the Book of Mormon was being revealed\nand translated--and in which prophetic declarations concerning the\ncoming forth of the Church are frequently made. The last revelation of\nthe series--section twenty--is the one in which the first practical\ndirections are given towards effecting the organization of the Church.\n\nWho ever will look through these writings, to say nothing of frequent\nallusions to the same matter throughout the Book of Mormon itself, will\nbe convinced that the coming forth of the book must result in bringing\ninto existence the Church.\n\nThe Church so brought into existence, cannot be true and the Book of\nMormon false. If the book be not true, Joseph Smith is an imposter,\na false prophet, and an imposter and false prophet cannot found a\ntrue Church of Christ; therefore, if the Church be the true Church of\nChrist, it is evidence quite conclusive that the book so inseparably\nconnected with it, so vitally related to it, is also true. Of course,\nthe conception is possible that both the Church and the book may\nbe false, but it is inconceivable that one could be true and the\nother false. It follows therefore that whatever facts exist in the\norganization and doctrines of the Church which tend to establish it as\nbeing of divine origin, tend also to establish the divine authenticity\nof the Book of Mormon.\n\nHere we have a field of evidence and argument well nigh inexhaustible;\nbut much of it, I may say all of it with which I care to deal, has\nalready been used in volume one of New Witnesses, as follows:\n\nChapter XIV: \"Fitness in the Development of the New Dispensation.\"\n\nChapter XV: \"The Evidence of Scriptural and Perfect Doctrine.\"\n\nChapter XXIV: \"The Church Founded by Joseph Smith, a Monument to His\nInspiration.\"\n\nChapters XXV-XXVI: \"Testimony of the Inspiration and Divine Calling\nof Joseph Smith, Derived from the Comprehensiveness of the Work He\nIntroduced.\"\n\nChapter XXVII: \"Evidence of Inspiration Derived from the Wisdom in the\nPlan Proposed for the Betterment of the Temporal Condition of Mankind.\"\n\nChapters XXVIII, XXIX, XXX: \"Evidence of Divine Inspiration in Joseph\nSmith Derived from the Prophet's Doctrines in Regard to the Extent of\nthe Universe, Man's Place in It, and His Doctrine Respecting God.\"\n\nThe evidences and the arguments in all these chapters, then, must be\nconsidered as appropriated here, and made part of my argument for the\ntruth of the Book of Mormon, as well as for the divine origin of the\nChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After thus appropriating\nall this body of evidence and argument from these chapters in the first\nvolume of New Witnesses, I feel justified in saying: It is the Church\nthat bears witness to the truth of the Book of Mormon rather than the\nBook of Mormon which bears witness to the Church. Nor is this said in\ndisparagement of the Book of Mormon. It is only saying that what comes\nof the book is greater than the book itself, that the stately oak is\ngreater than the acorn from which it grew--a giant tree; that the whole\nis greater than a part; that the work in all its fullness is greater\nthan one of the incidents in which that work had its origin.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. II. Nephi xxx: 8.\n\n2. III. Nephi xxi: 22.\n\n3. I. Nephi xiv: 12.\n\n4. Chapter i.\n\n5. History of the Church, Vol. I., ch. ii.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVII\n\nINTERNAL EVIDENCES.--THE BOOK OF MORMON, IN STYLE AND LANGUAGE, IS\nCONSISTENT WITH THE THEORY OF ITS CONSTRUCTION.\n\nI.\n\n_Of the Unity and Diversity of Style._\n\nAs already set forth in previous pages, the Book of Mormon, with\nreference to the original documents from which it was translated, is\nmade up of two classes of writings:\n\n1. Original, unabridged Nephite records;\n\n2. Mormon and Moroni's abridgment of Nephite and Jaredite records.\n\nThe translation of the unabridged Nephite records comprises the first\n157 pages of current editions of the Book of Mormon. The rest of the\n623 pages--except where we have the words of Mormon and Moroni at\nfirst hand, or here and there direct quotations by them from older\nrecords--are Mormon's abridgment of other Nephite records, and Moroni's\nabridgment of a Jaredite record. It is quite evident that there would\nbe a marked difference in the construction of these two divisions of\nthe book. How there came to be unabridged and abridged records in\nMormon's collection of plates has been explained at length in previous\npages, [1] so that it is now only necessary to say that when Joseph\nSmith lost his translation of the first part of Mormon's abridgment of\nthe Nephite records, comprised in the 116 pages of manuscript which he\nentrusted to Martin Harris, he replaced the lost part by translating\nthe smaller plates of Nephi which make up the first 157 pages of the\nBook of Mormon before referred to. Now, if there is no difference in\nthe style between this part of the Book of Mormon translated from\nthe small plates of Nephi, and Mormon's abridgment of the larger\nplates, that fact would constitute very strong evidence against the\nclaims of the Book of Mormon. On the other hand, if one finds the\nnecessary change in style between these two divisions of the book,\nit will be important incidental evidence in its support. Especially\nwill this be conceded when the likelihood that neither Joseph Smith\nnor his associates would have sufficient knowledge of things literary\nto appreciate the importance of the difference of style demanded in\nthe two parts of the record. Fortunately the evidence on this point\nis all that can be desired. The writers whose works were engraven on\nthe smaller plates of Nephi employ the most direct style, and state\nwhat they have to say in the first person, without explanation or\ninterpolations by editors or commentators or any evidence of abridgment\nwhatsoever, though, of course, they now and then make quotations from\nthe Hebrew scriptures which the Nephite colony brought with them from\nJerusalem. The following passages illustrate their style.\n\n THE FIRST BOOK OF NEPHI.\n\n CHAPTER I.\n\n 1. I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was\n taught somewhat in all the learning of my father; and having seen\n many afflictions in the course of my days--nevertheless, having\n been highly favored of the Lord in all my days; yea, having a great\n knowledge of the goodnesss and the mysteries of God, therefore I\n make a record of my proceedings in my days.\n\n 2. Yea, I make a record in the language of my father, which\n consists of the learning of the Jews, and the language of the\n Egyptians.\n\n 3. And I know that the record which I make is true; and I make it\n with mine own hand; and I make it according to my knowledge. etc.\n\n THE BOOK OF JACOB. [The brother of Nephi.]\n\n CHAPTER I.\n\n 1. For behold, it came to pass that fifty and five years had passed\n away, from the time that Lehi left Jerusalem; wherefore, Nephi gave\n me, Jacob, a commandment concerning the small plates, upon which\n these things are engraven.\n\n 2. And he gave me, Jacob, a commandment that I should write upon\n these plates, a few of the things which I considered to be most\n precious; that I should not touch, save it were lightly, concerning\n the history of this people which are called the people of Nephi,\n etc.\n\n THE BOOK OF ENOS.\n\n CHAPTER I.\n\n 1. Behold, it came to pass that I, Enos, knowing my father that he\n was a just man: for he taught me in his language, and also in the\n nurture and admonition of the Lord. And blessed be the name of God\n for it.\n\n 2. And I will tell you of the wrestle which I had before God,\n before I received a remission of my sins:\n\n 3. Behold, I went to hunt beasts in the forest; and the words which\n I had often heard my father speak concerning eternal life, and the\n joy of the saints, sunk deep into my heart, etc.\n\n And so it continues with each of the nine writers in this division\n of the Book of Mormon. But now note how marked the difference is\n when we come to Mormon's abridgment of the Nephite record which\n begins with the book of Mosiah:\n\n THE BOOK OF MOSIAH.\n\n CHAPTER I.\n\n 1. And now there was no more contention in all the land of\n Zarahemla, among all the people who belonged to King Benjamin, so\n that king Benjamin had continual peace all the remainder of his\n days.\n\n 2. And it came to pass that he had three sons; and he called their\n names Mosiah, and Helorum, and Helaman. And he caused that they\n should be taught in all the language of his fathers, that thereby\n they might become men of understanding; and that they might know\n concerning the prophecies which had been spoken by the mouths of\n their fathers, which were delivered them by the hand of the Lord.\n\n So also in the abridgment of the book of Alma:\n\n THE BOOK OF ALMA.\n\n CHAPTER I.\n\n 1. Now it came to pass that in the first year of the reign of the\n judges over the people of Nephi, from this time forward, king\n Mosiah having gone the way of all the earth, having warred a good\n warfare, walking uprightly before God, leaving none to reign in his\n stead; nevertheless he established laws, and they were acknowledged\n by the people; therefore they were obliged to abide by the laws he\n had made.\n\n 2. And it came to pass that in the first year of the reign of Alma\n in the judgment seat, there was a man brought before him to be\n judged; a man who was large, and was noted for his much strength,\n etc.\n\nAnd so throughout the abridgment this style continues as pointed out\nin chapter IX of this work. Had the style which is followed in the\nabridgment found its way into the translation of the unabridged part\nof the record, the reader can readily see how strong an objection it\nwould have constituted against the claims of the Book of Mormon. As to\nstyle in other respects there is marked uniformity in the translation.\nI have already pointed out the fact that the style of the translation\nof the Book of Mormon is influenced, of course, by the translator; the\nstatements and ideas of the Nephite writers being set forth in such\nEnglish and in such literary style as Joseph Smith, with his limited\nknowledge of language, could command; he, in his turn, of course, being\ninfluenced in his expressions by the facts and ideas made known to him\nfrom the Nephite record through Urim and Thummim, and the inspiration\nof God under which he worked. It is useless to assert a diversity of\nstyle where it does not exist, and that it does not exist in the Book\nof Mormon except as to the matter of a distinction between Jaredite\nand Nephite proper names, hereafter to be noted, and the distinction\nbetween the abridged records and those unabridged--to the extent just\npointed out--it would be easy, though unnecessary, to demonstrate;\nsince any one may satisfy himself by even a casual inspection of the\nBook of Mormon itself.\n\nThe demand for diversity of style in the various parts of the\ntranslation of the Book of Mormon is urged too strongly. It is\nsometimes represented, even by believers in the Book of Mormon, that\nthe volume contains the compiled writings of a long line of inspired\nscribes extending through a thousand years, written not only at\ndifferent times but under varying conditions, and that unity of style\nunder such circumstances is not to be expected, and did it occur it\nwould be fatal to the claims made for the Book of Mormon! Now, as a\nmatter of fact, there is great unity of style in the translation of\nthe Book of Mormon which any one can verify who will read it; and\nproperly so, I insist; for the reason that general unity of style\nis not incompatible with the theory of the work's construction and\ntranslation. First of all this long line of inspired writers that\nshould give to us diversity of style in their writings is reduced\nreally to a very small matter when the facts in the case are\nconsidered. We have already seen, in chapter IX, that all told there\nare but eleven writers in the Book of Mormon. The work of nine of these\nruns through only 400 years of Nephite history--from the time Lehi's\ncolony left Jerusalem to the time when the Nephites, under Mosiah I.,\njoined the people of Mulek, some 200 years B. C. Then we have the works\nof no Nephite writer until we come to Mormon, who makes his abridgment\nof the Nephite records in the closing years of the 4th century A. D.\nSo that 600 years of the 1,000 through which the long line of Nephite\nwriters is supposed to run is lifted bodily from the \"time range.\" I\nsay we have no Nephite writings between the works of the first group\nof nine Nephite writers (600-200 B. C.) to the writings of Mormon\n(400 A. D.) I should say, we have no such writings except where here\nand there Mormon, in his abridgment, makes a direct quotation from\nsome intervening writer between those two periods. Such quotations,\nhowever, are neither numerous nor long, and in many instances one is\nleft in doubt as to whether supposed quotations are verbatim or merely\nthe substance of the original documents given by Mormon. What has led\nto confusion in these matters is that the books of \"Mosiah,\" \"Alma,\"\n\"Helaman,\" \"III Nephi,\" etc., are not really the books of these men\nwhose names respectively they bear, but are Mormon's abridgment of\nthose books to which abridgment he has given the name of the book he\nabridged. Then, again, of these eleven writers we have already shown\n(chapter IX) that the first group of nine writers supplied but 157\npages of the book. Of these Nephi writes 127 1/2 pages; and his brother,\nJacob, 21 1/2; making in all 149 of the 157; leaving but 8 pages for\nthe other seven writers; and as Enos, who follows Jacob, writes 2 1/2\npages of the remaining 8, there is left but 5 1/2 pages for the remaining\nsix writers. It should be kept in mind, too, that the whole nine\nauthors were writing in the first 400 years of Nephite times; that\nJacob and Nephi lived much of their lives together, therefore, in the\nsame period of time, under similar conditions, with the same little\ncolony of people. Hence there was not much to give diversity of style\nto their writings, and the few paragraphs left for the remaining seven\nwriters could not be sufficient to develop very much diversity of style\nin composition. So that the diversity of style clamored for, so far as\nthis group of nine writers is concerned, is not very insistent.\n\nTurning now to the writers of the Book of Mormon who come six hundred\nyears later, Mormon and Moroni, they are contemporaries, father and\nson. They lived in the same age. One abridged the history of the\nNephites, the other a brief history of the Jaredites. So that their\nwork is similar in character, is wrought in the same age, and hence\ngreat diversity of style is not to be expected.\n\nAnother factor in the question of style is that in the \"time range\" of\n1,000 years through which it is assumed the Book of Mormon is being\ncomposed, there is not much change in the manners or customs of the\npeople--not very widely varying conditions. It must be remembered that\nthe colonies which came to America in the sixth century B. C. were\nmade up of men and women who were civilized. They brought with them a\nknowledge of the civilization in the midst of which they had lived.\nThey also had some Hebrew literature with them, although written in\nEgyptian characters; also the Hebrews ideas of government and law,\nand these ideas were promulgated among the people as they increased\nin numbers and grew into a nation. The before mentioned \"time range\"\nof 1,000 years was a period in the world's history when there was no\nsuch revolutions taking place in manners, customs, and progress in\ncivilization as is known to our own age. In the western world, as in\nthe eastern, in the period under consideration, human affairs in the\nmatter of developing civilization, were well nigh stationary. The same\nmethods and implements of warfare were employed at the close of the\nperiod as were used at its beginning. So in agriculture, commerce, and\nin the sciences and arts. Not nearly so many changes took place in\nthat thousand years as have taken place within the last hundred years.\nHence, so far as changing conditions affecting style of composition\nduring the time limit of 1,000 years is concerned, there is nothing\nwhich demands great diversity of style.\n\nAnother item at this point should be considered with reference to a\nmisapprehension of the character of the Book of Mormon. It has been\nfrequently urged by writers against the Book of Mormon that it pretends\nto be the national or racial literature of the peoples of the western\nhemisphere, and that in the light of such pretentions it is utterly\ncontemptible. Such a conception of the Book of Mormon, however, is\nentirely unwarranted, since no such claims are made for it by those\nat all acquainted with its character. No one acquainted with the book\ncould for a moment hold it up as the national literature of either the\nJaredite empire or of the Nephite monarchy or republic, any more than\nhe could regard the single work of Josephus on the \"Antiquities of\nthe Jews\" as the national literature of the Hebrew race or nation; or\nDoctor William Smith's \"Condensed History of England\" (less than four\nhundred pages) as the national literature of the British empire.\n\nThe Book of Mormon was constructed in this manner: Let us suppose\nthat a writer has before him the national literature of the old Roman\nempire; the works of Livy, Sallust, Virgil, Caesar, Terrance, Cicero,\nand the rest. The account of the chief events mentioned in these\nseveral volumes he condenses in his own style into a single volume.\nComing to the annals of Tacitus, however, he is so well pleased with\nsome portions of them that notwithstanding the events Tacitus narrates\nparallel some parts of his own abridgment of the history, he places\nthem, without editing or changing them in the least, with his own\nwritings. This work, upon his death, falls into the hands of his son,\nwho is also a writer. In the course of the second writer's researches\nhe accidentally, or providentially, as you will, discovers the works\nof the Greek historian, Xenophon. He considers this writer's history\nof Greece of such importance--especially his history of the \"Retreat\nof the Ten Thousand\"--that he condenses into a few pages the events\nrelated by Xenophon and binds them in with his father's work, with such\ncomments of his own as he considers necessary. As the first writer's\nabridgment of some of the Roman books would not be the national\nliterature of Rome, so also the abridgment of Xenophon's writings\nwould not be the national literature of Greece; and as this supposed\ncase exactly illustrates the manner in which the Book of Mormon was\nconstructed by Mormon and Moroni, the absurdity of regarding the book\nso produced as the national or racial literature of the peoples who\nhave inhabited the western world, will be apparent.\n\nII.\n\n_Characteristics of an Abridgment._\n\nIn addition to the changes from the first to the third person already\nnoted between the first group of Nephite authors, whose writings are\nunabridged, and Mormon and Moroni's abridgment, there is one other item\nwhich further exhibits the consistency between the style and language\nof the book with the theory of its construction, viz: The style of\nMormon and Moroni's part of the work is pronouncedly the style of an\nabridgment. Its general characteristics have already been considered in\nchapter ix., and it only remains here to say that the body of the work\nis Mormon's abridgment of the chief events from the Nephite annals,\nwith occasional verbatim quotations from those works, and his own\nrunning comments upon the same. In the progress of the work one may\nalmost see the writer with a number of the Nephite records about him\nengaged at his task. He has just recorded the thrilling events of a few\nyears rich in historical instances, and in closing says:\n\n \"And thus endeth the 5th year of the reign of the Judges.\"\n\nThen he strikes a period where there are but few important events in\nthe annals, so he passes over them lightly in this manner:\n\n Now it came to pass in the sixth year of the reign of the Judges\n over the people of Nephi, there were no contentions nor wars in the\n land of Zarahemla. * * * * * And it came to pass in the seventh\n year of the reign of the Judges, there were about three thousand\n five hundred souls that united themselves to the Church of God, and\n were baptized. And thus endeth the seventh year of the reign of the\n Judges over the people of Nephi; and there was continual peace in\n all that time. [2]\n\nHe closes another eventful period, in a similar manner:\n\n But behold there never was a happier time among the people of\n Nephi, since the days of Nephi, than in the days of Moroni; yea,\n even at this time, in the twenty and first year of the reign of the\n Judges. And it came to pass that the twenty and second year of the\n reign of the Judges also ended in peace; yea, and also the twenty\n and third year. [3]\n\nThe following is a similar example:\n\n And it came to pass that there was peace and exceeding great joy\n in the remainder of the forty and ninth year; yea, and also there\n was continual peace and great joy in the fiftieth year of the reign\n of the Judges. And in the fifty and first year of the reign of the\n Judges there was peace also, save it were the pride which began to\n enter into the church. [4]\n\nAgain in Helaman:\n\n And it came to pass that the seventy and sixth year did end in\n peace. And the seventy and seventh year began in peace; and the\n church did spread throughout the face of all the land; and the\n more part of the people, both the Nephites and the Lamanites, did\n belong to the church; and they did have exceeding great peace in\n the land, and thus ended the seventy and seventh year. And also\n they had peace in the seventy and eighth year, save it were a few\n contentions concerning the points of doctrine which had been laid\n down by the prophets. [5] * * * * * * * And thus ended the eighty\n and first year of the reign of the Judges. And in the eighty and\n second year, they began again to forget the Lord their God. And in\n the eighty and third year they began to wax strong in iniquity. And\n the eighty and fourth year, they did not mend their ways. And it\n came to pass in the eighty and fifth year, they did wax stronger\n and stronger in their pride, and in their wickedness; and thus they\n were ripened again for destruction. And thus ended the eighty and\n fifth year. [6]\n\nMoroni's abridgment of the Jaredite record--the Book of Ether--fails\nto exhibit this particular characteristic of an abridgment, owing\ndoubtless to the brevity of the original record he abridged--there\nwere but twenty-four plates in the record of Ether, and \"the hundredth\npart,\" says Moroni, \"I have not written;\" [7] but otherwise that book\nof Ether bears all the marks of being an abridgment that the work of\nMormon does, except perhaps that the running comments of Moroni are\nmore frequent than Mormon's.\n\nIII.\n\n_Originality in Book of Mormon Names._\n\nThere is another gratifying distinction between Mormon's abridgment of\nthe Nephite record and Moroni's abridgment of the Jaredite record that\nis also of first rate importance as an evidence of consistency in the\nwork. That is the quite marked distinction between Nephite and Jaredite\nproper names as given in these respective parts of the record. Take for\ninstance the list of names of Jaredite leaders and kings and compare it\nwith a list of prominent Nephite leaders.\n\n JAREDITE NAMES.\n\n Jared\n Pagag\n Jacom\n Gilgah\n Mahah\n Oriah\n Esrom\n Corihor\n Shim\n Cohor\n Corom\n Noah\n Nimrah\n Nimrod\n Kib\n Shule\n Omer\n Coriantumr\n Emer\n Com\n Heth\n Shez\n Lib\n Hearthom\n Aaron\n Amnigaddah\n Shiblom\n Seth\n Ahah\n Ethem\n Moron\n Coriantor\n Shared\n Gilead\n Shiz\n Ether\n Riplakish\n Morianton\n Kim\n Levi\n Corum\n Kish\n\n NEPHITE NAMES.\n\n Nephi\n Lehi\n Laman\n Zoram\n Chemish\n Abinadom\n Amaleki\n Mosiah\n Benjamin\n Ammon\n Alma\n Amlici\n Nephihah\n Gideon\n Amulek\n Giddonali\n Giddianhi\n Aminadi\n Zeniff\n Zeezrom\n Lamoni\n Aaron\n Helaman\n Limhi\n Heloram\n Mormon\n Moroni\n Aminadab\n Moronihah\n Ammoron\n Pacumeni\n Gadianton\n Kishkumen\n Shiblon\n Pahoran\n Paanchi\n Pachus\n Cezoram\n Limher\n Limhah\n Mathoni\n Mathonihah\n Lehonti\n Gidgiddonah\n Muloki\n Abinadi\n Corihor\n Gidgiddon\n Amalickiah\n Zemnarihah\n Hagoth\n Helam\n Hearthom\n Sherrizah\n\nAn inspection of these two lists of names discloses the fact that the\nJaredite names, with the single exception of \"Shule\" and \"Levi,\" end\nin consonants, while very many of the Nephite names end in a vowel;\nand while many of the Nephite names also end in consonants, yet the\npreponderance of Nephite names that end in vowels over Jaredite names\nis considerable. I am not able to say what value attaches to this\ndistinction, I can only point it out as a marked distinction, and it\nmay be an important one.\n\nAnother distinction may be discerned in the fact that there are\nmore simple, and evidently root-words among the Jaredite names than\namong the Nephite names; that is, there are not so many derivatives\nin the former as in the latter, though in the former there are a\nfew. \"Corihor,\" may have come from \"Cohor;\" \"Coriantumr,\" from\n\"Coriantor,\" though it may be merely a variation of the more ancient\nname \"Moriancumer.\" \"Nimarah\" may have come from \"Nimrod;\" and \"Akish\"\nfrom \"Kish.\" But this about exhausts the derivatives among the\nJaredite names. As illustrations merely of the Nephite derivatives,\nand not with a view of exhausting the list, I give the following:\n\"Nephihah,\" evidently comes from \"Nephi,\" \"Amalickiah,\" from \"Amaleki,\"\n\"Gidgiddoni,\" \"Gidgiddonah,\" \"Giddonah,\" and \"Gideon,\" from \"Gid,\"\n\"Helaman\" from \"Helam;\" \"Ammoron,\" from \"Ammon;\" \"Moronihah,\"\nfrom \"Moroni;\" \"Mathonihah,\" from \"Mathoni.\" This is enough for\nillustration, and inspection will show the percentage of derivatives\nin the Nephite names of the Book of Mormon to be not only greatly but\nvery greatly in excess of derivatives in the Jaredite names. And this\nis what consistency demands of the Book of Mormon. The more ancient\npeople the simpler and fewer compound names--more root names, fewer\nderivatives. William A. Wright, M. A., Librarian of Trinity College,\nCambridge, writing for the Hackett edition of Smith's Dictionary of the\nBible, says:\n\n Glancing a moment at the history of names and name-giving among\n the Hebrews, we readily distinguish many of those changes which\n characterize popular customs and habits in this particular among\n all peoples. In their first or ruder age their names are simple\n and \"smell of nature.\" In the period of their highest national and\n religious development we find more compound and more allusions to\n artificial refinements. [8]\n\nThat law is found operating at least between the more ancient people\nof the Book of Mormon, the Jaredites, and the more modern people, the\nNephites. While the list of names obtainable from the abridgment of the\nvery small fragment of a Jaredite record of the Book of Mormon does\nnot give sufficient data to warrant a positive conclusion, yet I think\nthere is discernable a tendency even in that list from the more simple\nto derivative names; [9] while as between the earlier and later Nephite\ntimes the translation from the simple to an increase of compound names\nis quite marked. [10] I do not mean by this that the simpler names are\nnot found throughout the whole Nephite period, but that the percentage\nof derivative names greatly increase in the latter times.\n\nReferring again to the marked distinction between Jaredite and Nephite\nnames, I desire to call attention to the fact that the demands for this\ndistinction are imperative, since these peoples though they occupied\nthe same continent did so successively and at periods of time widely\nseparated. The Jaredites occupied the north continent from soon after\nthe dispersion of mankind from Babel until the opening of the 6th\ncentury B. C. About the time the Jaredites were destroyed the Nephite\ncolony arrived in South America, and Mulek's colony in North America.\nBut the only person connecting the two peoples was Coriantumr (the last\nof the Jaredites) through some nine months of association with the\ncolony of Mulek. Whether or not his race was perpetuated by marriage\ninto Mulek's colony is merely a matter of conjecture. [11] So far as\nthe Nephite connection with the Jaredites is concerned it exists only\nthrough the Jaredite records discovered by the people of Zeniff (B. C.\n123), and translated soon afterwards by Mosiah II. This translation of\nthe Jaredite record making known, in outline merely, the history of the\nJaredites to the Nephites, might give to the Nephites some Jaredite\nnames, as in the case of the noted warrior among the Nephites bearing\nthe name Coriantumr. [12] Still from the fact that the connection\nbetween the Nephites and the Jaredites is so slight; and the occupancy\nof the North Continent by the respective peoples separated by so long\na period of time, it could not be otherwise than that there would\nbe a marked distinction in proper names between the two peoples, a\ndistinction that will be quite apparent to the reader when he compares\nthe respective lists of Jaredite and Nephite names here presented\nat radom; and which, had it been wanting, would have been a serious\nobjection to the consistency, and consequently to the claims, of the\nBook of Mormon.\n\nWhen the general unity of style found in the Book of Mormon is taken\ninto account, this distinction in proper names becomes all the more\nremarkable. But it is a case where the circumstances emphatically\ndemand a distinction; just as the circumstances emphatically demand\na marked distinction at the transition from the unabridged writings\nof the Nephite authors--written in the first person, and in so simple\nand direct a style--to the abridged record of Mormon--written in the\nthird person and in so complex, not to say confusing, a style. Had\nthe Prophet Joseph's translation of the Book of Mormon failed to have\nshown the distinctions at these points where such distinctions are so\nimperatively demanded--in a word, had the style and language of the\nbook failed to be consistent with the theory of its construction--how\nserious an objection the failure would have been considered! But since\nthe consistency of the style and language of the book with the theory\nof the work's construction is established, how strong the evidence is\nwhich that fact constitutes! And more especially when it is remembered\nthat neither Joseph Smith nor his associates had sufficient knowledge\nof literature, to cause them to appreciate the importance of such a\nconsistency. The evidence that they were unconscious of the point here\nmade is to be found in the fact that they never alluded to it in their\nlife time, nor was the foregoing argument ever made by any one else\nwithin their life time.\n\nIV.\n\n_Of the Nephite Custom in Naming Cities and Provinces Being Ancient._\n\nIt should be remarked that both Jaredites and Nephites named cities,\nplains, valleys, mountains and provinces after the names of prominent\nmen, especially the men who were identified in some way with the\nsettlement or history of said places; so that it often happens that\nnames of places take on the names of men or some variation of their\nnames; and hence the frequent identity and more frequently the likeness\nbetween the names of places and the names of men. Both people also\nfollowed the custom of ancient nations, not only in naming cities\nafter the men who founded them or who were prominently connected with\ntheir history, but also in giving the district of country surrounding\na city the same name as the city. Thus among the Jaredites there is\nNehor the city, and \"the land [or province] of Nehor,\" meaning the\ndistrict of country surrounding the city of Nehor. [13] I believe\nalso that there was a Jaredite city of Moron, as well as a land of\nMoron, although there is no specific reference to a city of that name,\nbut frequent references to the \"land of Moron,\" [14] which I take to\nmean the district of country surrounding the city of Moron. [15] That\nthis custom obtained among the Nephites is so commonly understood\nthat illustration is scarcely necessary, yet by way of illustration I\ninstance the following: The city of Bountiful, [16] and the land of\nBountiful; [17] the city of Zarahemla, [18] and the land of Zarahemla;\n [19] the city of Moroni; [20] and the land of Moroni; [21] the city of\nNephihah, [22] and the land of Nephihah; [23] the city of Manti, and\nthe land of Manti. [24]\n\nThat the customs here referred to are in harmony with the customs of\nancient nations I cite the following as illustrations of my statement:\nNineveh takes its name from Ninus, the son of Nimrod. Nimrod founded\nthe city and gave to it a variation of his son's name. [25] M. Rollin\nalso identifies Nimrod with Belus, the first king whom the \"people\ndeified for his great actions,\" and after whom, some authorities\naffirm, the noted temple of Belus within the city of Babylon was named;\nand from which the city itself, as some affirm, took its name. [26] Of\ncourse we have the statement of holy writ that Babylon received its\nname from the circumstances of the Lord confounding the language of the\nbuilders of the city, [27] \"Babel\" in the Hebrew meaning confusion.\nProfessor Hackett, however, in his contribution on the subject to\nSmith's Dictionary of the Bible, while nothing the statement in\nGenesis, says: \"But the native (i. e. Chaldean) etymology is Ba-il 'the\ngate of the god 'Il;' or perhaps more simple, 'the gate of god;' and\nthis no doubt was the original intention of the appellation as given\nby Nimrod, though the other sense (i. e. the Bible sense) came to be\nattached to it after the confusion of tongues.\" Hence one may say that\n\"Babylon\" has taken its name from both circumstances. That is, from\nthe \"Nimrod\" of the Chaldeans it takes its name from its founder,\n\"Belus,\" who is Nimrod, while to the Hebrew mind it owes its name to\nthe circumstance of the confusion of languages.\n\nProfessor Campbell, according to Osborn, thinks that the name \"Jebez,\"\nof Chronicles ii: 55, is \"Thebes;\" which originally was \"Tei Jabez,\"\nthe city named from \"Jabez,\" and which is written without the \"T\" in\nthe hieroglyphics, that letter being only the article. [28]\n\nPlato in his Timaeus, where he introduces the story of Atlantis, says:\n\"At the head of the Egyptian Delta, where the river Nile divides,\nthere is a certain district which is called the district of Sais,\nand the great city of the district is also called Sais, and is the\ncity from which Amasis the king was sprung.\" [29] This is an incident\nwhere the district of country takes its name from the city. Other\ninstances in support of the ancient custom here referred to will be\nfound in the case of \"Rome,\" so called after \"Romulus;\" \"Alexandria;\nafter Alexander;\" \"Constantinople,\" after \"Constantine.\" The names of\ncountries and sections of country,\" says Professor W. A. Wright, \"are\nalmost universally derived from the name of their first settlers or\nearliest historic populations.\" [30]\n\nV.\n\n_Of the Nephites, Like the Jews Being a Mononymous People._\n\nStill another singular and fortunate circumstance for the claims of the\nBook of Mormon with reference to names should be noted. \"Unlike the\nRomans,\" says Professor Wright, already quoted, \"but like the Greeks,\nthe Hebrews were a mononymous people. That is, each person received but\na single name. [31] The Nephites, it must be remembered, were Hebrews,\nand therefore would very likely follow the custom of their race with\nreference to this practice of giving but one name to a person. This\nthey did; for throughout the Nephite part of the Book of Mormon, there\nis not a single instance where a person receives more than one name.\nIn other words, the Nephites, like the whole Hebrew race, were a\nmononymous people. So, too, the Jaredites, a more ancient branch of the\nsame race, are a mononymous people.\n\nNow, as neither Joseph Smith nor his associates would likely be\nacquainted with this singular custom of the Hebrew race, I take the\nfact of agreement of Nephite practice with this Hebrew custom, as an\nincidental evidence of some weight in favor of the claims of the Book\nof Mormon. To appreciate the value of it, I will ask the reader to\nthink what importance would be given to an objection based upon the\nviolation of this custom by a branch of the Hebrew race. That is,\nsuppose the Book of Mormon had been full of double names, applied to\nthe same person, what then? Could it not be claimed with some force\nthat here would be the violation of a very universal custom of the\nHebrew people? I think such a claim, if the facts warranted it, would\nbe both forceful and consistent. Instead of the violation of the Hebrew\ncustom, however, there is a singular accordance with it; and the fact\nof agreement, I suggest, is entitled to as much weight in favor of the\nbook as the supposed disagreement would have been against it.\n\nThis circumstance also sustains the claims of the Book of Mormon to\nbeing an ancient record; for if it was of modern origin, having for its\nauthors Joseph Smith and his associates, it would not very likely have\nfollowed so absolutely this ancient Hebrew custom, since Joseph Smith\nand his associates lived in a time and among a people where it was\ncommon at least, if not actually customary, to give to persons double\nnames, a custom that would likely have influenced them in any creation\nof names which they would have attempted.\n\nBut very few Jaredite and Nephite proper names with their\ninterpretation, and but few original common names, with their\ninterpretation have found their way into the translation of the\nJaredite and Nephite records. Of the first class--proper names with\ninterpretations--I instance the Jaredite word \"Ripliancum,\" [32] which\nby interpretation means \"large,\" or \"to exceed all.\" It is employed in\nconnection with describing the arrival of the army of Coriantumr in\nthe region of the great lakes, between the present countries of Canada\nand the United States. It is most probably a proper name carrying with\nit the signification equivalent to the phrase we use in describing the\nsame waters, viz: \"the Great Lakes,\" or, as the implied Book of Mormon\ninterpretation stands, bodies of water that exceed in size all others\nof their kind.\n\nThen there is the Jaredite common name \"deseret,\" meaning honey bee.\n [33] In passing I call attention to the fact that the Hebrew proper\nname, \"Deborah\" also means \"bee,\" that is, honey bee; [34] and it is\nquite likely that the proper name \"Deborah\" is derived from the same\nroot whence comes \"Deseret.\" The only other common names from the\nJaredites are the words \"cureloms\" and \"cumoms.\" [35] These are the\nnames of domestic animals said to have been especially useful to the\nJaredites, hence most likely used either for draft or pack animals, or\nperhaps both.\n\nTurning to the Nephite record we have the name of \"Irreantum,\" [36]\nmeaning the sea, or \"many waters.\" Also the word \"Liahona,\" [37]\nmeaning \"compass,\" or perhaps more properly, \"director,\" since, unlike\nthe modern compass, it indicated a variant direction rather than a\npermanent one; and was made useful to the person possessing it through\nthe principle of faith rather than the magnetic polar force; hence\nit could only be explained by the term \"compass\" in that it was an\n\"indicator,\" or \"director.\" The word \"Gazelem\" is also a Nephite word,\nmeaning \"a stone,\" that is, a seer stone, since it is spoken of as\na means of ascertaining knowledge through it by revelation. [38] In\naddition to these words we have also a number of names of Nephite coins\nand the names of fractional values of coins, as follows:\n\nThe names of the gold coins, commencing with the one of lowest value,\nare: a senine, a seon, a shum and a limnah.\n\nA seon was twice the value of a senine; a shum was twice the value of a\nseon; and a limnah was equal to the value of all the other gold coins.\n\nThe silver coins were, a senum, an amnor, an ezrom and an onti.\n\nTheir relative value is stated as follows: an amnor of silver was twice\nthe value of a senum; an ezrom four times the value of a senum; an onti\nwas equal in value to all the other silver coins.\n\nThe fractional values are represented as follows: A shiblom is half a\nsenum; a shiblum is one half a shiblom; a leah is one half of a shiblum.\n\nWe have no means of obtaining specifically the value of these coins in\nmodern terms, nor am I interested in that matter here. I only desire to\ncall attention to the fact that these are Nephite names brought over\ninto our language by the translation of the Nephite records, though\nreference to the passage [39] where the tables are given will plainly\nindicate to the interested enquirer that there is stated a system of\nrelative values in these coins that bears evidence of its being genuine.\n\nAlluding to this matter of names in a general way I suggest that there\nis nothing more difficult in literature than to originate new names.\nAs a matter of fact names do not suggest things, but things suggest\nnames. Men do not bring into existence names and then fasten them upon\nthings, but they see an object, they hear a sound, or become acquainted\nwith an idea, and the object, the sound or the idea suggests a name. So\nthat names, speaking generally, arise from things already existing and\nare not formed arbitrarily. The names in the Book of Mormon could come\ninto existence in one of two ways only. Either Joseph Smith arbitrarily\ncreated them, or else he found them in the Nephite record. Since\noriginating new names is so extremely difficult, the probability in\nthe case lies on the side of Joseph Smith finding them in the Nephite\nrecord. If any one should doubt of the difficulty of originating new\nnames I would invite him to make the experiment. In this connection I\nremember with what ease an old teacher of mine in English put down a\nsomewhat presumptuous class mate. The teacher had expatiated on the\nexcellence of the Proverbs of Solomon, when the aforesaid class mate\nexpressed his contempt of things so simple. \"Proverbs,\" exclaimed he,\nto those sitting near him, \"why, it's easy enough to write proverbs.\"\nThe good Doctor who was our teacher happened to overhear the remark\nand said to the speaker, \"Suppose you write us a few.\" My class mate\ntried: and the more he tried the farther from proverbs he got. He had\nnot learned that proverbs were the \"pure literature of reason:\" the\nstatement of \"absolute truths without qualification;\" \"the sanctuary\nof the intuitions of humanity.\" And so with this matter of originating\nnames. It may seem a simple thing, but those who entertain such an idea\nlet them give us a few new names. Now, the Book of Mormon has a number\nof proper names that are not new. These are chiefly Bible names and are\nfound in Nephite writings because the Nephites brought with them to the\nwestern hemisphere copies of so many of the sacred books of the Jews\nas were in existence at the time of their departure from Judea, 600 B.\nC., parts of which were multiplied by copying and helped form part of\nthe Nephite literature; hence they sometimes used Bible names. But the\nBook of Mormon also gives us a long list of absolutely new names, both\nof men and of places, though in many in stances, as already pointed\nout, the names of cities and the districts or country surrounding them\ntook the name of some noted person in some way or other prominently\nconnected with the history of the place. I have already pointed out\nthat a marked distinction exists between Nephite names and Jaredite\nnames, so that we may see that the Book of Mormon gives us two lists of\nnew names, one Jaredite, the other Nephite, which fact, when coupled\nwith the well recognized difficulty of originating names, renders the\nperformance all the more remarkable. It not only demonstrates the\noriginality of the Book of Mormon, but must be admitted to be either a\nstriking demonstration of wonderful genius on the part of the Prophet\nJoseph Smith, or else a very strong evidence in support of the claims\nof the Book of Mormon. And since the list of new names is quite too\nlarge to refer to the genius of one single writer for their origin, I\nthink the latter conclusion represents the truth in the case.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Vol. II., chapter viii.\n\n2. Alma iv: 1-5.\n\n3. Alma i: 23, 24.\n\n4. Helaman iii: 32, 33.\n\n5. Helaman iii: 32, 33.\n\n6. Helaman xi: 21-24\n\n7. Ether xiv: 33.\n\n8. Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, Hackett edition Vol. III., p. 2062.\n\n9. In the first chapter of Ether there is given a list of names of\nJaredite kings, twenty-six in all. In the first thirteen names--half\nof the number--representing the most ancient Jaredite times, there\nare only four that could possibly be derivatives; these are Oriah,\nCoriantumr, Riplakish, Morianton, while in the latter half of the list\nof names there are at least six derivatives. Beginning with the most\nancient they are--Hearthom, Amnigaddah, Coriantumr, Shiblon, Ethem,\nCoriantor.\n\n10. It is not until we reach the middle and later period of Nephite\ntimes that we meet with such names as Amlici, Antiomno, Amalickiah,\nNephiah, Moronihah, Kishkuman, Pecumeni, Lachoneus, Giddianhi,\nGidgiddoni, Zemnarihah, Ammaron, Ammonihah, and many others that are\nplainly derivative names.\n\n11. While there can be no more than conjecture upon this point the\nlikelihood of the thing, I am inclined to believe, is all on the side\nof his marriage and the perpetuation of his race. Coriantumr had\ndoubtless every reason to believe that he was the sole survivor of his\npeople, and he could have no greater anxiety than that his race should\nbe perpetuated. In support of this theory it may be urged that in the\nNephite history, about 41 B. C., we learn of a very strong and mighty\nleader in war, bearing the name \"Coriantumr,\" who was a descendant of\nZarahemla (Helaman i: 15: 32), the leader of the descendants of Mulek's\ncolony when discovered by Mosiah I, about 200 B. C. It was Mulek's\ncolony, it will be remembered, who found Coriantumr, the Jaredite,\nand with whom he lived some nine months. May it not be reasonably\nsupposed that this noted man among the Nephites, bearing the name of\nthe old Jaredite chieftain was a descendant of his, since we find that\nchieftain's name strangely appearing among the Nephites? And may it\nnot be urged that here we have one of those obscure instances in the\nhistory of a great people unlikely to be provided for by conspirators\nconstructing a book to be imposed up the world as a revelation from God?\n\n12. It is quite possible also that the word Shiblon among the Nephites\ncame from the Jaredites. Unfortunately the orthography of this name\nis given in two ways in the translation of the Jaredite abridgment,\n\"Shiblom\" and \"Shiblon;\" but if the Jaredite name is Shiblon, it may\nbe that the name among the Nephites was taken from the Jaredites as\nsuggested.\n\n13. Ether vii: 4-9.\n\n14. Ether vii: 6, 16, 17; also xiv: 6-11.\n\n15. Helaman v: 14.\n\n16. Alma li: 30.\n\n17. Helaman i: 22.\n\n18. Helaman i: 23.\n\n19. Alma l: 14.\n\n20. Alma lxii: 32.\n\n21. Alma lxii: 30.\n\n22. Alma lxii: 30.\n\n23. Alma lvi: 14.\n\n24. Alma lvi: 14.\n\n25. Rollin's Ancient History, Vol. I., pp. 266, 227.\n\n26. Ibid.\n\n27. Genesis xi: 9.\n\n28. Osborn, Ancient Egypt and the light of Modern Discoveries, p. 205.\n\n29. Plato (Jowett), Vol. II., p. 517.\n\n30. Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, Hackett Ed., Vol. III., p. 2060.\n\n31. Ibid.\n\n32. Ether xv: 8.\n\n33. Ether ii: 3.\n\n34. Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, article \"Names,\" Vol. III., p.\n2061.\n\n35. Ether ix: 19.\n\n36. I. Nephi xvii: 5.\n\n37. Alma xxxvii: 38-40. I. Nephi xvi: 10-30. I. Nephi xviii: 12-21. II.\nNephi v: 12.\n\n38. Alma xxxvii: 23.\n\n39. Alma xi.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXVIII\n\nINTERNAL EVIDENCES--THE BOOK OF MORMON FORMS OF GOVERNMENT CONSISTENT\nWITH THE TIMES AND CIRCUMSTANCES UNDER WHICH THEY EXISTED.\n\nIn the Book of Mormon three forms of government are said to have\nexisted among the various peoples inhabiting the western world. These\nare, first, a Monarchial form; second, a sort of Republic or rule of\nJudges; third, an Ecclesiastical government, or rule of priests, ending\nfinally in the rule of military chieftains. The Book of Mormon giving\nas it does, though only in an incidental way, a description of these\nseveral forms of government, presents a crucial test of its claims to\nbeing a translation of an ancient record. For if in describing any\none of these forms of government it should be out of harmony with\nwell known facts concerning ancient forms of government, or if it\nascribes to them qualities or powers out of harmony with the times\nor circumstances under which they existed, then doubt is thrown upon\nthe claims of the book to being a translation of an ancient record.\nTo illustrate the proposition now laid down: It is well known that to\nthe ancients the only form of monarchy was what we call a \"simple\" or\n\"absolute\" monarchy; that is, a form of government in which all powers\nof government are centered in one person. Such a thing as a division of\nthe powers of government into co-ordinate branches, relegating several\nfunctions to distinct persons or groups of persons, was unknown to\nthe ancients. The ideas prevailing in modern times which have brought\ninto existence our \"mixed\" or \"constitutional monarchies\" had not\nas yet been discovered by the ancients; hence if such modern ideas\nconcerning monarchy should be found in the Book of Mormon governments,\ninvolving the existence of cabinets, parliaments or distinct judiciary\ndepartments it would at least be very prejudical to the claims of the\nbook to being an ancient record.\n\nAgain in respect of democratic forms of government: the only form\nknown to the ancient was \"simple\" democracy. The form of government\nby which the people acted directly upon governmental affairs. The\nprinciple of representation in democracies was not as yet discovered\nin times contemporary with the Book of Mormon republic, therefore\nif in the Nephite republic, or the \"reign of the Judges,\" as that\nform of government is sometimes called in the Book of Mormon, there\nshould be found the representative principle, which is really a modern\nrefinement in government, that fact too would be prejudicial to its\nclaims being an ancient record. Per contra, if these modern ideas\nrespecting monarchial and democratic forms of government are absent\nfrom the kingdoms and republics described in the book, then it would\nbe at least presumptive evidence of the genuineness of its claims;\nfor if the Book of Mormon had been the product of a modern author, or\nauthors, there would very likely be found in it some of the modern\nideas of government, both in its monarchies and in its republics, and\nespecially would this be probable if its authors were illiterate men\nand not acquainted with these facts concerning government among ancient\npeoples. Under those circumstances the ancient and modern forms would\ninevitably be confounded because modern illiterate authors would not\npossess sufficient discretion to keep them separated.\n\nMonarchies.\n\nI am aware that the Book of Mormon account of the Jaredite monarchy\nis so very limited that we can form but little idea as to its nature;\nbut the little there is said of it is strictly in harmony with the\nancient forms of monarchy. That is, the kings were absolute, the source\nof all law and the center of all political power. They were inducted\ninto their office by formal anointing, according to ancient custom.\n [1] They are sometimes associated with them on the throne the son who\nhad been selected to succeed in the kingly authority, which is also in\naccordance with ancient custom. [2]\n\nRespecting the nature of the Nephite kingdom also but little can be\nlearned from the Book of Mormon because matters concerning government\nare only mentioned in an incidental way, but from what little is said\nwe are justified in forming the same conclusions regarding it as in\nregard to the Jaredite Monarchy. That is, it was \"simple\" or \"absolute\"\nmonarchy. The remarks of Mosiah II in relation to the power of a king\nfor good or evil leads to the conclusion that the power of a Nephite\nking was most absolute; and that with the Nephite monarch as with the\nJaredite, the king was the source of all laws and the center of all\npolitical authority. The remarks referred to are as follows:\n\n And behold, now I say unto you, ye cannot dethrone an iniquitous\n king, save it be through much contention, and the shedding of much\n blood. For behold, he has his friends in iniquity, and he keepeth\n his guards about him; and he teareth up the laws of those who have\n reigned in righteousness before him; and he trampleth under his\n feet the commandments of God; and he enacteth laws, and sendeth\n them forth among his people; yea, laws after the manner of his\n own wickedness; and whosoever does not obey his laws, he causeth\n to be destroyed; and whosoever doth rebel against him, he will\n send his armies against them to war, and if he can he will destroy\n them; and thus an unrighteous king doth pervert the ways of all\n righteousness. [3]\n\nThis certainly is a description of arbitrary powers vested in the\nking. And what is true of the Nephite monarchy is equally true of the\nLamanite kingdoms--judging from those rare and brief glimpses one\ngets of Lamanite governments in the Book of Mormon. Among all three\npeoples--Jaredites, Nephites, Lamanites--wherever kingly government\nis described it is the same--it is \"simple,\" \"absolute,\" \"ancient\"\nmonarchy. [4] There is no indication anywhere of the existence of\ncabinets or parliaments; or of the division of political authority into\nexecutive, legislative or judicial co-ordinate branches. Nor is there\nany indication that there was ever an attempt to blend the various\nprimary forms of government--monarchy, aristocracy, democracy--into\na mixed government, a government embracing elements from all three\nof these recognized primary forms. Such mixed governments are modern\ncreations; refinements in the science of government unattempted by\nthe ancients. The ancients, in fact, held them to be impossible, mere\nvisionary whims, solecisms. Even a man of the excellent understanding\nof Tacitus declared that if such a government were formed it could\nnever be lasting or secure.\n\nReign of the Judges--Republic.\n\nIt is however in the matter of the Nephite \"reign of the Judges\" or the\n\"Nephite Republic\" that an illiterate, modern writer would most likely\nhave betrayed himself. Especially an American writer strongly imbued\nwith the excellence, to say nothing of the sanctity, of the American\nform of government.\n\nThat Joseph Smith, as also his early and later associates, were imbued\nwith such opinions concerning the American system of government is\nnotorious. Joseph Smith declared the constitution of the United States\nto have resulted from the inspiration of God: \"And again I say unto\nyou, those who have been scattered by their enemies, it is my will\nthat they should continue to importune for redress, and redemption, by\nthe hands of those who are placed as rulers, and are in authority over\nyou, according to the laws and constitution of the people which I have\nsuffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and\nprotection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles, that\nevery man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity,\naccording to the moral agency which I have given unto them, that every\nman be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment. Therefore,\nit is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another. And\nfor this purpose have I established the constitution of this land, by\nthe hands of wise men whom I raised up unto this very purpose, and\nredeemed the land by the shedding of blood.\" [5]\n\nOn another occasion the Prophet said: \"Hence we say, that the\nconstitution of the United States is a glorious standard; it is founded\nin the wisdom of God. It is a heavenly banner; it is to all those who\nare privileged with the sweets of its liberty, like the cooling shades\nand refreshing waters of a great rock in a thirsty and weary land. It\nis like a great tree under whose branches men from every clime can be\nshielded from the burning rays of [oppression's] sun.\" [6]\n\nStill more especially would an illiterate modern writer be likely to\nbetray himself if the American system of government was practically\nthe only one of which he had any definite knowledge. If then his\ndescription of a \"reign of judges,\" based upon democratic principles,\namong an ancient people, escape not only some but all modern\nrefinements of democratic government--some of which were unknown until\nemployed in the establishment of the republic of the United States\n [7]--then indeed are we well within the realm of the marvelous. And\nthis we may claim for the Book of Mormon description of the \"reign of\nthe judges,\" viz. that while it outlines a government based upon the\ncentral principle of democracy--government by the people [8]--yet there\nis nothing modern in that republic. The principle of representation\nno where appears; a division of the political power into co-ordinate\nand independent departments no where appears; there is no indication\nof a federation even, much less any of those modern refinements which\ndistinguish modern federated republics from more ancient federated\nrepublics.\n\nOf course democratic government existed from very ancient times\nand there have also been from of old confederated republics, but\nthe government of the United States rests upon some principles\nthat are recognized as entirely modern. The principal differences\nbetween the modern republics and the ancient are these: first, the\nmodern republics recognize the principle of representation: that is,\nmasses of the people delegate authority to act for them to selected\nrepresentatives; second, the powers of government are lodged in three\ndistinct co-ordinate departments, the law making, the law executing,\nand the law determining departments; third, the federal government\nhas the same division of political power as the respective states,\nviz., legislative, executive and judicial; and also has conferred upon\nit power, within the limits prescribed by the constitution, to act\ndirectly through its own instrumentalities upon the citizens of the\nrespective states. The last item the French philosopher De Tocqueville,\nin speaking of the republic of the United States, declared to be a\nwholly novel theory which he characterizes as a great discovery in\nmodern political science. \"In all the confederations which precede\nthe American constitution of 1789,\" he says, \"the allied states,\nfor a common object, agree to obey the injunctions of a federal\ngovernment; but they [the respective states] reserve to themselves\nthe right of ordaining and enforcing the execution of the laws of the\nunion. The American states which combined in 1789, agreed that the\nfederal government should not only dictate but should execute its own\nenactments. In both cases the right is the same but the exercise of the\nright is different; and this difference produced the most momentous\nconsequences. The new word which ought to express this novel thing does\nnot yet exist.\" (De Tocqueville, U. S. Constitution, Vol. I.)\n\nEcclesiastical Government.\n\nThe government which obtained in the era following the advent of\nMessiah in the western world was also in harmony with the conditions\nprevailing in those days. That is, the ecclesiastical government\nsupplied by the Church founded by Messiah appears to have superseded\nall other form of government through the two hundred years which\nsucceeded that event; nor, indeed, up to the close of the Book of\nMormon period, 420 A. D., except here and there a reference made\nto \"kings\" among that division of the people who styled themselves\nLamanites; but I take it that even these \"kings\" among the Lamanites\nmore nearly resembled military chieftains than monarchs at the head\nof settled governments. In the division of the people called Nephites\nthere is no reference either to a reign of judges or of kings or other\nform of government than this Church or Ecclesiastical government, so\nthat what I have previously said upon this subject [9] will be found\ncorrect, viz., the people after the establishment of the Church of\nChrist among them found its institutions and authority sufficient, as\nwell in secular as in spiritual affairs. That such a government as\nthis should take the place of governments formerly existing, I repeat,\nwas in harmony with conditions that obtained after the advent of\nMessiah. I have already called attention to the fact that government\nbecomes necessary because of the vices and injustice of men. That\nits chief function is to restrain men from injuring one another and\nthus give security to society. When all the people are righteous\ngovernment becomes well nigh unnecessary, or operates at least in a\nvery limited sphere, and the form of government becomes a matter of\nmore or less indifference. Now it will be remembered that in the awful\njudgments of God which had swept over the western world at Messiah's\ncrucifixion the more ungodly part of the people were destroyed, and\nthose who survived were afterwards thoroughly converted to the gospel\nof Jesus Christ by his advent and the ministry of his servants, so\nthat there was inaugurated an era of peace and perfect righteousness.\nFor two centuries at least there was a veritable golden age in the\nAmerican continents, during which time the simple laws of righteousness\npromulgated by the gospel were all sufficient as a rule of conduct, and\nmen practically forgot the reign of kings and the reign of judges. When\nwickedness once more began to stalk through the land it may be that the\nhitherto prevailing ecclesiastical governments gave way to the rule\nof military chieftains, both among the Nephites and Lamanites, though\namong the later such chieftains were sometimes called \"kings.\"\n\nThat the monarchial and republican forms of government described in\nthe Book of Mormon should be in harmony with the principles of those\nancient political systems, and that the kind of government which\nobtained after the advent of Messiah among the Nephites should be in\nsuch perfect harmony with the conditions that obtained in that period,\nis internal evidence of marked significance in support of the claims\nof the Book of Mormon. To see it in its full strength one should ask\nhimself what would be the state of the case if the descriptions of\nmonarchial and democratic government were not in harmony with the\nrestricted ideas of ancient governments, but were full of modern ideas\nand refinements of government; and if the facts existing after the\nadvent of Messiah and the introduction of the Nephite golden age were\nutterly at variance with the kind of government that we are ready to\nbelieve then obtained. It should be remembered that if inconsistencies\nin the Book of Mormon forms of government would be so damaging against\nits claims to being an ancient record, then consistency in its forms of\ngovernment should be allowed equal weight in support of its claims to\nbeing an ancient record.\n\nThe Events to which Importance is Given in the Book of Mormon are in\nHarmony with the Character of the Writers.\n\nIn considering this subject we must bear in mind the purposes for which\nthe Book of Mormon was written. The purposes are set forth in detail in\nchapter III.\n\nHere it will be sufficient to say that the main purpose of the Book of\nMormon is to be a witness for Jesus, the Christ; for the truth of the\nGospel as the power of God unto salvation.\n\nNotwithstanding these purposes are adhered to throughout the work it\nis very noticeable, and indeed one cause of complaint against the\nbook, that it gives great prominence, at least in the parts made up\nof Mormon and Moroni's abridgments, to wars; to minute descriptions\nof battles, the construction of fortifications, and the affairs of\nwar in general. This doubtless arises from the fact that Mormon and\nMoroni were both military chieftains, and notwithstanding their general\npurpose was to make prominent the religious events which happened\namong the Nephites and Jaredites, and the hand-dealings of God with\nthose peoples, yet when these writers came to give an account of wars,\nit is but to be expected, by the very nature of things, that they\ncould not refrain from recording those events which would have such\na powerful attraction for them. Involuntarily they were drawn into a\ndescription of those events, and unconsciously gave them prominence in\ntheir narratives. So I say the events to which importance is given in\nthe Book of Mormon are in harmony with the character of the writers,\na fact which is still further emphasized by the nature of the first\npart of the volume. We have seen that 149 of the 157 pages constituting\nthat first part is written by the first Nephi and his brother Jacob,\nprophets and priests of God. In their writings wars are mentioned only\nin the most incidental way, but there is an abundance of religious\nteaching, and prominence is given to visions, dreams and revelations,\nand that because those writers were, in the main, prophets and priests\nof God. It should also be noted, of course, that the time in which\nthese earlier writers lived was not so much a period of warfare as\nsubsequent centuries among the Nephites. It is to be observed, then,\nin conclusion upon this point, that the very prominence given to wars\nand battle-movements in Mormon's and Moroni's part of the volume is\nbut in keeping with the nature of things--an additional evidence of\nconsistency in the work--the events to which importance is given are in\nharmony with the character of the writers.\n\n_Complexity in the Structure of the Book of Mormon in Harmony with\nthe Theory of its Origin._\n\nI hesitated some time before adopting the above as a heading for this\ndivision of the subject, because I was aware, and am still aware of the\nfact that it scarcely presents the thought I would have considered;\nand I know how easily, by a slight variation, it could be made subject\nto the smart retort that the complexity of the structure of the Book\nof Mormon is in harmony with the theory of its merely human origin\nsince it is simplicity, not complexity, which is the sign manual of\nthings divine. Still, for all that, I have concluded to make use of\nthis faulty title, for want of a better, confident that when my whole\nthought under it is developed it will result in producing evidence for\nthe truth of the claims of the book.\n\nThat the structure of the Book of Mormon is complex all who read it\nknow. The first part of it is made up of the translation of unabridged\nrecords, the small plates of Nephi. The second part is made up of the\ntranslation of abridged books (Mormon's abridgment), Mormon, however,\nretaining for the several parts of his abridgment the title of the\nrespective books he abridged.\n\nI have already pointed out the fact [10] that Mormon's condensed\nnarrative from the original Nephite records makes up the body of his\nwork; with occasional direct quotations from the original records, and\nthe whole more or less confused by his running comments, unseparated\nfrom the body of his work save by the sense of the text. All this is\ncomplex enough surely, but the end is not yet; for within the old\nNephite records Mormon had at hand while doing the work of abridgment,\nthere were still other books. That is, books within books; as, for\ninstance, the Book of Zeniff within the Book of Mosiah, which see.\n [11] Also the account of the church founded by the first Alma,\nlikewise within the book of Mosiah. Also the account of the missionary\nexpedition to the Lamanites by the young Nephite princes, sons of\nKing Mosiah II., within the book of Alma, which see. [12] Mormon,\ncoming to these books within books, followed that order also in his\nabridgment; so that as in the original Nephite records, we have books\nwithin books, so within Mormon's abridgment we have abridged records\nwithin abridged records. Then, as if to cap the climax of complexity\nin structure, Mormon writes a book of his own to which he gives his\nown name. That is, calls it the Book of Mormon; the last two chapters\nof which, however, are written by Moroni. Then follows what may be\ncalled the third part of the Book of Mormon--Moroni's abridgment of the\ntwenty-four plates of Ether, which gives us so much of the history as\nwe have of the Jaredites. By this arrangement the history of the first\npeople to occupy the western hemisphere, (after the flood), comes last\nin the Book of Mormon; and Moroni's abridgment of the Jaredite record\nhas much of the complexity of his father's abridgment of the Nephite\nrecords.\n\nNow, with all this before the mind of the reader--whether he regards\nJoseph Smith, Solomon Spaulding, or Sidney Rigdon as the author of the\nBook of Mormon--I submit to him the question: Would either ingenuity or\nstupidity in a modern author suggest such complexity in the structure\nof a book as this? Can a parallel case be pointed to in the modern\nmaking of books?\n\nIf the Book of Mormon were modern in structure and its author or\nauthors had the conception that this western world was peopled by a\ncolony coming from the Euphrates valley, in very ancient times, and\nsubsequently by two other colonies from Judea, one leaving 600 B.\nC. and the other shortly afterwards, in giving the history of those\npeople, would not the modern author have begun with the most ancient\ncolony and treated the history of the respective peoples in the order\nof their occupancy of the western continents? Then, again: If the Book\nof Mormon is mere fiction, the idle coinage of an inventive, modern\nauthor, why three migrations?\n\nIf the object of the modern author was merely to convey an idea how\na civilized race in ancient times occupied the western world, why\nwould not the first migration--the Jaredite--have answered all his\npurposes? Or why not take the second migration--the Nephite--for the\naccomplishment of such a purpose? Why complicate it by bringing in the\nmigration of Mulek's colony, when the simple treatment of developing\nthe Nephite colony into national proportions would have been sufficient\nfor the purpose of a work of fiction? One other question I would submit\nrelative to the Jaredite record and the strange place it occupies in\nthe Book of Mormon. The plates of Ether were found by an expedition\nsent out from Zeniff's colony about 123 B. C., and were translated\nshortly afterwards by Mosiah II., who was a seer; that is, he was able\nto use Urim and Thummim in the translation of strange languages. Now,\nwhy did not Mormon include an abridgment of Mosiah's translation of\nthe plates of Ether in his abridgment of Nephite records, allowing it\nto stand in his collection of plates as his abridgment of the Book of\nZeniff stands within his abridgment of the Book of Mosiah, instead\nof passing the matter by and leaving it for his son Moroni to make a\ntranslation direct from the Book of Ether, thus throwing the history\nof the first inhabitants of the western world, after the flood, to the\nvery last part of the record? Candidly, does the complex structure of\nthe Book of Mormon appeal to one as at all modern in its arrangement?\nAre modern books so constructed? And yet, notwithstanding all the\ncomplexity in the structure of the book, each part is so in harmony\nwith every other part, and with the whole, that really, after all, it\nis a very simple book, and one readily understood. It is clear that the\nvery peculiar circumstances under which the Book of Mormon was compiled\nby the original Nephite writers, and that neither the ingenuity nor\nthe stupidity of Joseph Smith, nor of any other modern writer, is\nresponsible for this peculiar structure of the book. And, moreover,\nsince the book in its details retains harmonious consistency with\nthe plan of its structure, must not such a fact be conceded to be an\nincidental evidence in favor of its claims?\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Ether vi: 27. Ibid. ix: 15-22. Ibid. x: 10 et. seq.\n\n2. Ether ix: 14, 15, 21, 22. Ibid. x: 13.\n\n3. Mosiah xxix: 21-23. See also remarks, chapters x, and xiii.\n\n4. Perhaps it may be thought that an exception should be made in the\nmatter of Lamanite kingdoms, of which I have spoken (chapter xiii) as\nconstituting at one period of Lamanite history, a sort of confederacy\nof kingdoms; but this does not affect the statement of the text which\nis dealing with the form of government. I believe myself justified in\nsaying that whether reference is made to the petty Lamanite kingdoms\nor the central kingdom to which they were tributary, the principle\nin government will be found the same--the king is the source of all\npolitical power, the monarchy is \"simple,\" the kingly power absolute.\n\n5. Doc. & Cov., Sec. ci: 76-80.\n\n6. Letters of Joseph Smith, from Liberty Prison, under date of March\n25, 1839--to the Church of the Latter-day Saints. History of the\nChurch, Vol. III., p. 304.\n\n7. See De Tocqueville's Constitution of the U. S., Vol. I.\n\n8. See Chapter xiii.\n\n9. Ante pp. 216-7.\n\n10. See Ante Chapter xxxvii.\n\n11. Book of Mosiah, p. 181 (current edition).\n\n12. Book of Mormon, p 283 (current edition).\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXXIX\n\nINTERNAL EVIDENCES--THE ORIGINALITY OF THE BOOK OF MORMON AN EVIDENCE\nIN SUPPORT OF ITS CLAIMS.\n\nHow far originality may be insisted upon as a necessary element in a\nbook avowedly containing a revelation from God is an open question;\njust as how far originality in a prophet may be insisted upon is.\nIn both cases, however, it cannot be doubted but that originality\nwould be regarded as evidence of considerable weight in favor of the\ndivinity of the message of either prophet or book. Somehow men look for\noriginality in any thing that purports to be a revelation from God,\ncome how it will. They look for a word \"from the inner fact of things\"\nin a revelation. A new word that shall add somewhat to the sum of known\nthings, and spoken in a way to attract anew the attention of men. And\nyet it must not be forgotten that \"every scribe which is instructed\nunto the kingdom of heaven * * * bringeth forth out of his treasure\nthings new and old\" [1]--the old, mark you, as well as the new--and one\nof olden time doubted even if there really was any new thing under the\nsun. \"The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that\nwhich is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing\nunder the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, see, this is\nnew? It hath been already of old time, which was before us.\" [2]\n\nFrom all which I conclude that while in a way originality may be\nregarded as affording some evidence in favor of the claims of a prophet\nand his message, or of a book and its revelation, still originality is\nnot an indispensable quality in either prophet or book. Contemporary\nprophets, or prophets living in succession, may come burdened with the\nsame word of the Lord, with the same divine message; but the one who\nspeaks secondly or thirdly, and hence with all claim to originality\ngone, is none the less God's messenger; and the word he speaks may not\nwith safety be rejected for that it lacks the quality of originality.\nSo, too, with books. It would be a senseless manner of handling the\nscriptures to reject the books called first and second Chronicles\nbecause they chiefly duplicate the matter of the books called first\nand second Kings, and have little originality to commend them to our\nacceptance. So with the books of the New Testament. Accepting for our\npurpose here the order in which they stand in the commonly received\nversions of the New Testament, as the order in which the books were\nwritten, shall the book of Mark be rejected because in the main it\ndeals with the same matter that engages the attention of Matthew,\nand there is but little on the score of its originality of matter to\ncommend it as an inspired book? The same question could be asked in\nrelation to the book of Luke. The truth is that God in books as in\nprophets sometimes requires more than one for a witness to his message,\nand hence repeats the revelation in a number of inspired books, in\nwhich case the books merely repeating the revelation are as truly\ninspired, as truly scripture as the one in which the message first\nappeared, although it could be said that the quality of originality is\nwholly wanting.\n\nSince the Book of Mormon feigns the introduction of no new religion,\nbut gives merely an account of the introduction of the Christian\nreligion in the western hemisphere, by inspired teachers, both before\nand after the coming of Messiah, and by the personal ministry of\nMessiah after his resurrection; and as the Christian religion is always\nthe same, in all times and in all lands, it must have been the same\nwhen introduced into America as when taught in Judea--where is room\nfor originality? Is not originality by the very nature of the claims\nof the Book of Mormon excluded? The reader, I believe, will recognize\nthe force of the question; and I take occasion here to remark that\nthe point in the question exhibits the weakness of those objections\nthat are sometimes urged against the Book of Mormon on the score of\nsameness of matter in it and the New Testament; and also it exhibits\nhow senseless is the clamor for the existence of some new moral or\nreligious truth [3] in the Book of Mormon, not to be found in the Old\nor New Testaments.\n\nSince, then, the Book of Mormon, so far as it treats of religion,\ntreats of the Christian religion, it is comparison not contrast that\nshould be made; sameness, not difference that should be looked for;\nidentity of moral and religious truths, not differences; accordance\nwith old truths, rather than the existence of new ones. The Christian\nreligion may not be contrasted with itself; and as the fullness of the\ngospel was revealed in the proclamation of it in Judea, it would be\nsufficient if a dispensation of the same gospel proclaimed in America\nis in strict accordance with that taught in Judea. In fact this is\nall that the nature of the case strictly requires. Still, after the\nreasonableness of all this is established, there may be claimed for the\nBook of Mormon an originality in the fact of the existence of new and\nimportant Christian truths in its pages; as, also an originality of\nemphasis placed on certain other Christian truths.\n\nThis much that a proper estimate may be formed of the value of\noriginality as an evidence of the divine authenticity or inspiration of\na book; neither giving an exaggerated value to it on the one hand, nor\naccounting it of little or no importance on the other.\n\nI.\n\n_Originality of Structure._\n\nIn enumerating the several particulars in which the Book of Mormon\nmanifests originality, I would name its peculiar structure--so at\nvariance with all modern ideas of book making--pointed out in the\ntreatment of the last subdivision of chapter xxxviii, and ask the\nreader to consider that treatise brought over into this subdivision,\nand the peculiar structure of the Book of Mormon made one, and the\nfirst, of the evidences of its originality.\n\nII.\n\n_Originality in Names._\n\nSo also as to names; so far as they are original, I would have that\nfact considered as another, the second, evidence of the originality\nof the Book of Mormon; and so much of that treatise as deals with the\noriginality of the names, (see chapter xxxvii) considered as brought\nover into this subdivision.\n\nIII.\n\n_In the Manner of its Coming Forth._\n\nIn the manner of its coming forth no less than in its structure and\nits names, the Book of Mormon is original. It must be remembered that\nat the time of the coming forth of the Book of Mormon such a thing\nas a new revelation from God was utterly unlooked for. Indeed it was\nthe consensus of Christian opinion and teaching that the time of\nrevelation had passed; that the days of miracles were over; that God\nin the Christian dispensation to mankind (the dispensation in which\nMessiah ministered in person) spoke the final word; that no more divine\ncommunication would be given. Speculating upon this very subject in\nconnection with the desirability for knowledge respecting the ancient\ninhabitants of America, Ethan Smith, in his \"View of the Hebrews; or\nthe Tribes of Israel in America,\" says, most emphatically:\n\n We are to expect no new revelation from heaven, and the days of\n miracles are thought to be past. We probably must look for just\n such evidence to exhibit to the world that people so long lost [as\n the ten Tribes of Israel], as is in fact exhibited by the natives\n of America. [4]\n\nIt is well to remember that this was said some years before the\nBook of Mormon was published, and I repeat that it represents the\ngenerally accepted Christian idea concerning revelation and miracles.\nFurthermore, it is notorious that the prime objection urged against\nthe Book of Mormon was the fact that it claimed to be a new revelation\nfrom God; and the arguments found in the discourses and writings of\nthe early Elders of the Church clearly prove that the chief contention\nover the Book of Mormon in those early days was on this point. [5] It\nfollows, therefore, that Joseph Smith's account of the manner in which\nthe Book of Mormon was brought forth and translated was a very original\none; for it involved a revelation from God to make known its existence,\nand what men call a miracle to secure its translation. Here, then, was\nnot only originality, but a bold contradiction of what was supposed to\nbe the most completely settled doctrine of modern Christendom, _viz_.\nthat the age of revelations and miracles had forever passed away. It\nis scarcely probable that imposters would move along such lines as\nthese. The proclamation of a new revelation making known the existence\nof a new volume of scripture was the most remarkable innovation upon\nChristian opinion that the world had ever witnessed. Orthodoxy stood\naghast at the presumption as they called it; and seemed for a time to\nforget all other points of controversy in order to concentrate their\nattack upon this innovation of their most cherished idea. They thought\nthe very claim that the Book of Mormon involved a new revelation from\nGod was sufficient to justify its rejection. Yet never was opposition\nso completely demolished in controversy as this sectarian argument\nagainst new and continual revelation. So completely was it overthrown\nthat we to-day scarcely ever hear it mentioned. With this, however, I\nhave nothing further to do. My only point at present is that there was\na bold originality in Joseph Smith's account of the coming forth and\ntranslation of the Book of Mormon, which, in addition to contravening\nthe accepted Christian opinion of the times on the subject of\nrevelation and miracles, carried with it much weight in support of the\nclaims made for this American volume of scripture; for surely imposters\nseeking to foist a book upon the world either for obtaining fame or\nmoney would never be found moving along lines so diametrically opposite\nto accepted opinions.\n\nIV.\n\n_Its Accounting for the Peopling of America._\n\nIn its account of peopling America no less than in its structure and\nthe manner in which its existence was made known and its translation\naccomplished, the Book of Mormon is original. All the books on\nAmerican antiquities that could possibly have been accessible to\nJoseph Smith and his associates favored the theory of migrations from\nnortheastern Asia by way of Behring Straits where the Asiatic and\nAmerican continents approach each other. See Josiah Priest's American\nAntiquities, preface. Ethan Smith, referring to the authorities that he\nwas acquainted with on this subject, says:\n\n All seem to agree that the Indians came from the northwest, and\n overspread the continent to the south. * * * * * I forbear to\n offer any further remarks upon these testimonies incidentally\n afforded by this most celebrated author, [meaning Humboldt]. Let\n them be duly weighed by the judicious reader; and he surely cannot\n doubt but that the natives of America came from the north over\n Behring's Straits; and descended from a people of as great mental\n cultivation, as were the ancient family of Israel. [6]\n\nNot only were such the prevailing views at the time Ethan Smith wrote,\n1825, but even to this day the same general opinion prevails among\nauthorities; [7] that is, that America was peopled from Asia by way\nof Behring Straits. The migrations of the Book of Mormon, however,\ncontravene this quite generally accepted theory. While it is supposed\nthat the Jaredites passed out of the Euphrates valley and wandered\nseveral years eastwardly through Asia, they crossed the Pacific and\nlanded in the south part of the north continent of America and settled\nin a district of country they afterwards called Moron, near what was\nafterwards the Nephite province called Desolation, which was in the\nregion of country known to us as the Central American States. [8]\nThe Nephite colony, as we have seen [9], landed on the west coast of\nSouth America about thirty degrees south latitude; and Mulek's colony\nis supposed to have landed somewhere in the south part of the North\nAmerican continent. These Book of Mormon accounts of migrations to\nthe American continents constitute the widest possible departure from\nusually accepted theories upon the subject.\n\nV.\n\n_The Nativity of Ancient American Peoples._\n\nThe Book of Mormon is original with reference to the facts it presents\nrespecting the nativity of its peoples. On this point, more is\nsometimes claimed by believers in the Book of Mormon than is warranted\nby the facts in the case. For example, it is sometimes stated that the\nIsraelitish origin of the native Americans was first asserted by the\nBook of Mormon. That is not true. Long before the advent of the Book\nof Mormon James Adair, whose work was published in 1775, advanced the\ntheory that the native American Indians were the Lost Ten Tribes of\nIsrael, and argued for the truth of his theory at great length. [10]\nEthan Smith, in his work we have several times quoted, advances the\ntheory that the native Indians were the \"Ten Lost Tribes of Israel,\"\nthe very title of his book--\"View of the Hebrews; or the Tribes of\nIsrael in America\"--is the evidence of his holding that theory.\n\nIt is therefore a mistake to say that the idea of Israelitish descent\nof the native American Indians originated with the Book of Mormon.\nIndeed the theory that the native Americans were the Ten Lost Tribes\nof Israel found many advocates both in Europe and the United States,\nespecially, I may say, in the New England states, before 1830. Wherein\nthe Book of Mormon is original in respect of this matter is that while\ndeclaring the Israelitish descent of the ancient people of America,\nit directly contravenes the idea that the native Americans, are the\nTen Lost Tribes of Israel, by incidentally declaring those tribes to\nbe in another part of the world, and Jesus announcing to the Nephites\nhis intention to appear unto them, and administer among them. [11] Of\ncourse reference to Israelitish descent is here made to the two last\nmigrations only, that is, to the colony of Lehi, and the colony of\nMulek. The colony of Jared were doubtless of the same race, but of\nearlier ancestors, among whom the patriarch Shem. The Book of Mormon\nrefers to Lehi's colony as made up of descendants of Manasseh [Lehi]\nand Ephraim [Ishmael] [12] while the colony of Mulek were Jews.\n\nFrom this it appears that the Book of Mormon is as boldly original\nin declaring the nativity of these colonies that peopled America\nwith teeming millions of their descendants, as it is in its account\nof the course of their migrations or the manner in which the Book of\nMormon came forth. For, in limiting the nativity of these colonies to\nthe descendants of Joseph and of Judah, it as radically contravenes\nexisting opinions upon the subject as it does in respect of the manner\nin which the book came forth, and the course of migration.\n\nVI.\n\n_Accounting for the Existence of Christian Ideas in America._\n\nThe Book of Mormon is original in the matter of accounting for the\nexistence of Christian ideas and doctrines among the native Americans.\nI would have this statement so understood as to include all Bible\nideas, since right conceptions of Christianity in its fullness includes\nthe Old Testament and the dispensation of God to the children of men\ndescribed therein as part of the Christian heritage, as well as the\nspecific Christian dispensation which is described in the New Testament.\n\nThe manner in which the Book of Mormon accounts for Christian ideas\nand doctrines among native Americans is, first, by detailing the facts\nof direct revelation of Christian truths to the ancient inhabitants\nof America, as, for instance, in the case of the Prophet Moriancumer\namong the Jaredites, where that great prophet is represented as being\npermitted to stand in the revealed presence of the preexisting spirit\nof Jesus Christ, and to hear the proclamation that in him should all\nmankind have life and that eternally; and that as he appeared unto\nthat prophet in the spirit, so would he appear unto his people in the\nflesh; and that those who would believe on his name should become\nhis sons and daughters. [13] Also the revelation of Christian truths\nvouchsafed to the first Nephi; who, in vision, some hundreds of years\nbefore the advent of Christ, was permitted to foresee the birth of\nthe Redeemer, the labors of his forerunner, John the Baptist, who\nprepared the way before him, and much of the Judean ministry of Christ,\nincluding his crucifixion, his resurrection, and the establishment\nof his ministry through twelve Apostles; so also his advent and\nministry among the inhabitants of the western world, [14] ending in\nthe establishment of the Christian sacraments, and of the Christian\nChurch, as the sacred depository of Christian truths. Secondly, the\nBook of Mormon accounts for the existence of Christian ideas and\ndoctrines among native American races by declaring the Nephites to be\nin possession of the Hebrew scriptures extant among that people from\nthe beginning up to 600 B. C., including the five books of Moses, some\nof the writings of Isaiah and Jeremiah. [15] And also ascribing to\nthe Jaredites the knowledge of most ancient events through scriptures\nin their possession, dealing with events from the Tower of Babel back\nto the very days of Adam. [16] It is, then, by most direct means of\nthe revelations of God to the ancient inhabitants of America and the\npersonal ministration of Jesus Christ among them and the knowledge\nimparted by these several volumes of very ancient scripture that the\nBook of Mormon accounts for the existence of Christian ideas and\nChristian truths among the native Americans.\n\nThere is nothing like this in the theories of men to account for the\nexistence of these truths in America. In the first place let the\nreader be assured that it is quite generally conceded by the very best\nauthorities that ideas closely analogous to Christian truths are found\nin the traditions of the native Americans. \"Most ancient and modern\nauthors,\" says De Roo, \"agree in saying that the Christian religion\nhas been taught on our [the American] continent at an epoch not so\nvery much anterior to the Columbian discovery. Bastian establishes the\nlatter opinion by the numerous analogies he points out between the\nreligious belief and practices of the Christians and those of American\naborigines. Von Humboldt admits the parity to be so striking as to\nhave given the Spanish missionaries a fine opportunity to deceive the\nnatives by making them believe that their own was none other than the\nChristian religion. 'Not a single American missionary who has, until\nthis day, left any writing has forgotten to notice the evident vestiges\nof Christianity which has in former time penetrated even among the most\nsavage tribes,' says Dr. de Mier, commenting on Sahagun's History.\nQuite a number of ancient writers, such as Garcilasso de la Vega,\nSolorzano, Acosta, and others are equally explicit in asserting that\nseveral Christian tenets and practices were found among our aborigines;\nbut they deny their introduction by Christian teachers, giving, strange\nto say, to the devil the honor of spreading the light of Christianity,\nin spite of his hatred of it.\" [17] Later he says:\n\n No modern student of American antiquity fails to notice the close\n and striking resemblances between several leading particulars\n of Christian faith, morals, and ceremonies and those of ancient\n American religions. Sahagun, who wrote in Mexico about the middle\n of the sixteenth century, and took such great pains to be correctly\n informed in regard to all religious rites of our aborigines, states\n already that all the Spanish missionaries who wrote in America\n before him had pointed out the numerous vestiges of Christianity to\n be found even among the savage Indian tribes. [18]\n\nDevil propaganda of Christianity was quite a favorite theory with many\nof the early Spanish writers, while others advanced the theory that\nChristian apostles had evangelized the western hemisphere. Among the\nlatter was the Archbishop of San Domingo, Davilla Padilli, a royal\nchronicler who wrote a book to prove that Christian apostles had\nformerly preached in the West Indies. So also Torquemada holds the same\nopinion, although he admits of the possibility of the devil teaching\nChristianity. More modern writers seek to account for the existence of\nthese Christian analogies in other ways. Prescott for instance, in his\nConquest of Peru, says:\n\n In the distribution of bread and wine at this high festival, [the\n feast of Raymi] the orthodox Spaniards who first came into the\n country saw a striking resemblance to the Christian communion;\n as in the practice of confession and penance, which, in a most\n irregular form indeed, seems to have been used by the Peruvians,\n they discerned a coincidence with another of the sacraments of the\n Church. The good fathers were fond of tracing such coincidences,\n which they considered as the contrivance of Satan, who thus\n endeavored to delude his victims by counterfeiting the blessed\n rites of Christianity. Others, in a different vein, imagined that\n they saw in such analogies the evidence that some of the primitive\n teachers of the gospel, perhaps an apostle himself, had paid a\n visit to these distant regions and scattered over them the seeds of\n religious truth. But it seems hardly necessary to invoke the Prince\n of Darkness, or the intervention of the blessed saints to account\n for coincidences which have existed in countries far removed from\n the light of Christianity, and in ages, indeed, when its light had\n not yet risen on the world. It is much more reasonable to refer\n such casual points of resemblance to the general constitution of\n man and the necessities of his moral nature. [19]\n\nOf which I think De Roo very justly remarks: \"The Christian mysteries\nadmitted by the ancient Peruvians and Mexicans could hardly find\ntheir origin in man's constitution; nor are religious practices, like\nbaptism, fasting, celibacy, and a cloistered life, to be considered\nas necessities of man's moral, yet corrupt nature. More reasonable and\nbetter historical causes should be found to account for the presence of\nChristian faith and Christian rites in ancient America.\" [20]\n\nH. H. Bancroft also concedes the existence of rites among native\nAmericans analogous to those existing among Jews and Christians, but\nregards them as mere coincidences. He says:\n\n Many rites and ceremonies were found to exist among the civilized\n nations of America that were very similar to certain others\n observed by the Jews and Christians in the old world. The\n innumerable speculators on the origin of the aboriginal inhabitants\n of the new world, or at least on the origin of their civilization,\n have not neglected to bring forward these coincidences--there is\n no good reason to suppose them anything else--in support of their\n various theories. [21]\n\nOn which De Roo remarks: \"Coincidences, so many, so striking, in faith,\nin morals, and liturgy! Coincidences, indeed, little short of wonders!\"\n\nNadaillac also would refer these \"coincidences\" to natural causes. He\nsays \"No dissemination of merely Christian ideas, since the conquest\n[by the Spaniards] is sufficient to account for these myths [having\nin mind the traditions of the creation, flood, migrations, Christian\nanalogies, etc.], which appear to have their root in the natural\ntendencies of the human mind in its evolution from a savage state.\" [22]\n\nAnd so in these various ways men would account for the existence of\nChristian ideas and doctrines; but it was reserved for Joseph Smith,\nthe Prophet of the dispensation of the fullness of times, through the\nBook of Mormon, to announce the boldly original idea that knowledge\nof Christian truths and doctrines had their origin among native\nAmerican peoples in direct revelation to them from God; in the personal\nministration of the Lord Jesus Christ, after his resurrection from\nthe dead; and from being in possession of ancient scriptures which\nto the Nephites, no less than to the Jews, made known God's plan of\nredemption for mankind through the personal suffering and resurrection\nof his Son Jesus Christ. I hold that the very originality and boldness\nof these assertions respecting the direct means by which the people of\nAmerica in ancient times received their knowledge of Christian truths,\nand which so far transcend the timid and tentative speculations of\nmen, even of the most intelligent and courageous, have about them an\natmosphere of truth that is most convincing; moreover, I cannot help\nbut believe that originality in respect of such things as are here set\ndown; structure, names, the manner of coming forth, in its account of\npeopling America, the nativity of American people, and lastly this\naccounting for the existence of Christian ideas among native American\nraces, is of a vastly greater importance than originality in mere\nphraseology or style of composition.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Matt. xiii: 52.\n\n2. Ecclesiastes i: 9, 10.\n\n3. For this clamor see a brief discussion on the Book of Mormon\nbetween the writer and an \"Unknown\" writer in \"The Salt Lake Tribune,\"\nimpressions of Nov. 22, 29; and December 6, 13, 1903. See also \"The\nGolden Bible\" (Lamb), Edition of 1887, p. 207-213. Also the views of\nthe Rev. Dr. Wm. M. Paden, of the First Presbyterian Church; Salt Lake\nCity, quoted by the writer in a discourse on \"The Fifth Gospel\"--Third\nNephi--\"Defense of the Faith and the Saints,\" Vol. I, pp. 373-399.\n\n4. View of the Hebrews, 2nd Edition, (1825) pp. 168, 169.\n\n5. See the works of Orson and Parley P. Pratt; John Taylor's Discussion\nwith three ministers in France; early volumes of Millennial Star,\nSpencer's Letters--in fact all the early Church literature. Of late\nopponents of the Book of Mormon have not pressed this point of\ncontroversy, since the sectarian arguments respecting it have been\nutterly demolished. For a brief consideration of the various points of\nthat argument see \"New Witnesses for God,\" Vol. I., Ch. viii.\n\n6. View of the Hebrews, pp. 187, 188\n\n7. See chapter xxix, especially taking account of foot note references.\n\n8. Dictionary of the Book of Mormon, Reynolds, p. 168. And Vol. II, pp.\n139-40.\n\n9. Vol. II, pp. 157-8.\n\n10. See this volume, pp. 46-48.\n\n11. See III. Nephi xv, xvi, xvii.\n\n12. The statement here that Ishmael was of Ephraim is set down upon\nthe authority, first, of inference. The inference is based upon the\nfact as already stated that there are promises in the Hebrew scriptures\nrespecting Ephraim which cannot be realized so far as we know, except\nthrough the seed of Ephraim dwelling upon the land of America, as\nwe have seen in considering the evidence of the Bible for the truth\nof the Book of Mormon; and as Lehi and his family were of the tribe\nof Manasseh, and Mulek's colony being Jews, it leaves the family of\nIshmael, and perhaps Zoram, the servant of Laban to introduce the\ndescendants of Ephraim into the western world. Second, a number of\nLatter-day Saints, familiarly acquainted with the Prophet Joseph\nSmith, declare that in conversation they had known him to say that in\nMormon's abridgment of the book of Lehi (which supplied the 116 pages\nof manuscript lost by Martin Harris) it was plainly stated that Ishmael\nwas of the tribe of Ephraim. Among those who heard such remarks was\nthe late Elder Franklin D. Richards, of the Council of the Apostles\nand Church Historian, who records his recollection of the Prophet's\nstatement in the following manner:\n\n\"One day in the autumn of that year, (1843) as I was passing near,\n(the \"Nauvoo Mansion\") it being in warm weather, I observed the door\nstanding open and the Prophet Joseph inside conversing with one of\nthe brethren, leaning against the counter. It being a public house, I\nventured to walk in, and scarcely had more than time to exchange usual\ncivilities, when this brother said: 'Brother Joseph, how is it that we\ncall the Book of Mormon the Stick of Joseph, in the hands of Ephraim,\nwhen the book itself tells us that Lehi was of the lineage of Manasseh?\nI cannot find in it about the seed of Ephraim dwelling on this land at\nall.' Joseph replied: 'You will recollect that when Lehi and his family\nhad gone from Jerusalem out into the wilderness, he sent his son Nephi\nback to the city to get the plates which contained the law of Moses and\nmany prophecies of the prophets, and that he also brought out Ishmael\nand his family, which were mostly daughters. This Ishmael and his\nfamily were of the lineage of Ephraim, and Lehi's sons took Ishmael's\ndaughters for wives, and this is how they have grown together, 'a\nmultitude of nations in the midst of the earth.'\n\n\"'If we had those one hundred and sixteen pages of manuscript which\nMartin Harris got away with, you would know all about it, for Ishmael's\nancestry is made very plain therein. The Lord told me not to translate\nit over again, but to take from Nephi's other plates until I came to\nthe period of time where the other translation was broken off, and\nthen go on with Mormon's abridgment again. That is how it came about\nthat Ishmael's lineage was not given in the Book of Mormon, as well as\nLehi's.\"'--Frankling D. Richards, \"The Contributor,\" Vol. XVII, p. 425.\n\n13. Ether iii.\n\n14. I. Nephi x: 11, 12.\n\n15. See I. Nephi v: 11.\n\n16. Ether i: 3-6.\n\n17. History of America Before Columbus, P. De Roo, Vol. I., 423, 424.\n\n18. Ibid. p. 517.\n\n19. Conquest of Peru, Vol. I., pp. 96, 97.\n\n20. History of America Before Columbus, Vol. I., pp. 523-4.\n\n21. Native Races, Vol. III., pp. 438-9\n\n22. Prehistoric America, p.531.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XL\n\nINTERNAL EVIDENCES.--THE ORIGINALITY OF THE BOOK OF MORMON AN EVIDENCE\nIN SUPPORT OF ITS CLAIMS. (Continued.)\n\nVII.\n\n_The Fall of Adam--The Purpose of Man's Earth Existence._\n\nIn the matter of some Christian truths, it sets forth, as well as in\nsome it emphasizes, the Book of Mormon is original; and in none more so\nthan in dealing with the doctrine of Adam's fall, and the purpose of\nman's existence.\n\nIn the second book of Nephi, chapter ii, occurs the following direct,\nexplicit statement:\n\n Adam fell that men might be: and men are that they might have joy.\n\nThis sentence is the summing up of a somewhat lengthy discussion\non the atonement, by the prophet Lehi. It is a most excellent and\nimportant generalization, and is worthy to be classed with the\ngreat generalizations of the Jewish scriptures, such for instance\nas that in the closing chapter of Ecclesiastes, \"Fear God and keep\nhis commandments, for this is the whole duty of man;\" Paul's famous\ngeneralization: \"As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be\nmade alive:\" or the Apostle James' summing up of religion: \"Pure\nreligion, and undefiled before God and the Father, is this, To visit\nthe fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep one's self\nunspotted from the world.\" Or of Messiah's great summing up of the\nwhole law and gospel; \"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God, with all thy\nheart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first\nand great commandment, and the second is like unto it, Thou shalt\nlove thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the\nlaw and all the prophets.\" I care not whether you regard the literary\nexcellence of this Book of Mormon generalization or the importance of\nthe great truths which it announces, I repeat, it is worthy in every\nway to stand with the great generalizations quoted above. It deals with\ntwo of the mightiest problems of theology:\n\n1st, The reason for Adam's fall;\n\n2nd, The purpose of man's existence.\n\nBefore entering into a consideration of these doctrines, however,\nI must establish the fact of their Book of Mormon originality; for\nI fancy there will be many who at first glance will be disposed to\nquestion their being original with that book. It must be conceded, of\ncourse, that the fact of man's fall is frequently mentioned in the\nBible. The story of it is told at length in Genesis. [1] It is the\nsubject of some of Paul's discourses; [2] and, indeed, it underlies the\nwhole Christian scheme for the redemption and salvation of mankind.\nYet, strange to say, there is not to be found a direct, explicit, and\nadequate statement in all the Jewish scriptures as to _why_ Adam fell.\nThe same may be said with reference to the second part of this passage.\nThat is, there is nowhere in Jewish scriptures a direct, explicit,\nadequate statement as to the _object_ of man's existence.\n\nThese statements with reference to the absence of anything in Holy\nscripture on these two important points, will, I know, be regarded as\nextremely bold; and especially when made with reference to so large a\nbody of literature as is comprised in the Bible. Yet I make them with\nconfidence; and am helped to that conclusion from the fact that nowhere\nin the creeds of men, based upon Jewish and Christian scripture, is\nthere to be found a direct statement upon these two subjects that has\nin it the warrant of explicit, scriptural authority. Nowhere in the\ncreeds of men--the creeds of men! those generalizations of Christian\ntruths as men have conceived those truths to be; those deductions from\nthe teachings of Holy scripture--nowhere in them, I repeat are these\ntwo great theological questions disposed of on scriptural authority.\n\nThe Westminister Confession of Faith, which embodies the accepted\ndoctrine of one of the largest sects of Protestant Christendom, while\nit indeed has a word, in fact several sections on the subject of Adam's\nfall and its consequences, it contents itself with stating the fact of\nit, the manner of it, as also, that God permitted it, \"having purposed\nto order it to his own glory,\" yet in such manner as himself not to be\nchargeable with the responsibility of the sin; but nowhere is there\nan explanation of _why_ Adam fell. With reference to the purpose of\nman's creation--included in the treatment of the purpose of creation in\ngeneral--the creed ascribes the purpose of all the creative acts of God\nto be \"The manifestation of the glory of his eternal power, wisdom and\ngoodness.\" [3] and in an authoritative explanation of this part of the\ncreed it is said, \"The design of God in creation was the manifestation\nof his own glory.\" And again: \"Our confession very explicitly takes the\nposition that the chief end of God in his eternal purposes and in their\ntemporal execution in creation and providence is the manifestation of\nhis own glory. The scriptures explicity assert that this is the chief\nend of God in creation. [4]. * * * * * The manifestation of his own\nglory is intrinsically the highest and worthiest end that God could\npurpose to Himself.\" [5]\n\nThe only business I have here with this declaration of the purpose of\nGod in creation--including the creation of man, of course--is simply to\ncall attention to the fact that it nowhere has the direct warrant of\nscripture.\n\nThe creed of the \"Episcopalian Church,\" whose chief doctrines are\nembodied in \"The Book of Common Prayer,\" is silent upon the two\nsubjects in question, viz., \"why\" Adam fell; the \"object\" of man's\nexistence. The \"Articles of Faith,\" it is true, speak of the \"fall\" of\nAdam, and its effects upon the human race, but nowhere is it said \"why\"\nAdam fell; or a \"reason\" given for man's existence. The creed proclaims\nfaith in God, \"the Maker and Preserver of all things, both visible and\ninvisible;\" but nowhere declares the purpose of that creation, and\nconsequently has no word as to the \"object\" of man's existence.\n\nThe exposition of the Catholic creed on the same points, as set forth\nin the Douay Catechism is as follows--and first as to the fall:\n\nMan was created in \"the state of original justice, and perfection\nof all natural gifts;\" this \"original justice\" was lost \"by Adam's\ndisobedience to God in eating the for-bidden fruit;\" but nowhere is\nthere anything said as to the reason for this fall from the state of\n\"original justice.\"\n\nAs to the purpose of man's creation, the Catechism has the following:\n\n Ques. What signify the words creation of heaven and earth?\n\n Ans. They signify that God made heaven and earth and all creatures\n in them of nothing, by his word only.\n\n Ques. What moved God to make them?\n\n Ans. His own goodnesss, so that he may communicate himself to angels\n and to man for whom he made all other creatures. [6]\n\nSpeaking of the creation of the angels, the same work continues:\n\n Ques. For what end did God create them (the angels).\n\n Ans. To be partakers of his glory and to be our guardians.\n\nReferring again to man's creation the following occurs:\n\n Ques. Do we owe much to God for creation?\n\n Ans. Very much, because he made us in such a perfect state,\n creating us for himself, and all things else for us. [7]\n\nFrom all which it may be summarized that the purposes of God in the\ncreation of man and angels, according to Catholic theology, is--\n\nFirst, that God might communicate himself to them; Second, that they\nmight be partakers of his glory.\n\nThird, that he created them for himself, and all things else for them.\n\nWhile this may be in part the truth, and so far excellent, it has no\nhigher warrant of authority than human deduction, based on conjecture,\nnot scripture; and it certainly falls far short of giving to man--as\nwe shall see--that \"pride of place\" in existence to which his higher\nnature and his dignity as a son of God entitles him.\n\nIf in these creeds of the greater divisions of Christendom there is\nfound no clear and adequate explanation of the reason of Adam's fall,\nor the purpose of man's existence, it may be taken for granted that\nnone of the minor divisions of Christendom have succeeded where these\nhave failed, since these larger divisions of Christendom embody in\ntheir creeds the hived theological wisdom and the highest scholarship\nof the Christian ages.\n\nThe originality of these two Book of Mormon Doctrines established, let\nus now consider if they are true and of what value they are, and what\neffect they will probably have upon the ideas of men. I shall treat\nthem separately first, and in relation afterwards.\n\n\"Adam fell that men might be.\"\n\nI think it cannot be doubted when the whole story of man's fall is\ntaken into account that in some way--however hidden it may be under\nallegory--his fall was closely associated with the propagation of the\nrace. Before the fall we are told that Adam and Eve were in a state of\ninnocence; [8] but after the fall \"The eyes of them both were opened\nand they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together\nand made themselves aprons,\" [9] and also hid from the presence of the\nLord.\n\nIn an incidental way Paul gives us to understand that Adam in the\nmatter of the first transgression \"was not deceived,\" but that the\nwoman was. [10] It therefore follows that Adam must have sinned\nknowingly, and perhaps deliberately; making choice of obedience between\ntwo laws pressing upon him. With his spouse, Eve, he had received a\ncommandment from God to be fruitful, to perpetuate his race in the\nearth. He had also been told not to partake of a certain fruit of\nthe Garden of Eden; but according to the story of Genesis, as also\naccording to the assertion of Paul, Eve, who with Adam received\nthe commandment to multiply in the earth, was deceived, and by the\npersuasion of Lucifer induced to partake of the forbidden fruit. She,\ntherefore, was in transgression, and subject to the penalty of that\nlaw which from the scriptures we learn included banishment from Eden,\nbanishment from the presence of God, and also the death of the body.\nThis meant, if Eve were permitted to stand alone in her transgression,\nthat she must be alone also in suffering the penalty. In that event\nshe would have been separated from Adam, which necessarily would have\nprevented obedience to the commandment given to them conjointly to\nmultiply in the earth. In the presence of this situation, therefore,\nit is to be believed that Adam was not deceived, either by the cunning\nof Lucifer or the blandishments of the woman, deliberately, and with a\nfull knowledge of his act and its consequences, and in order to carry\nout the purpose of God in the existence of man in the earth, shared\nalike the woman's transgression and its effects, and this in order\nthat the first great commandment he had received from God, viz.--\"Be\nfruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it\"--might\nnot fail of fulfillment. Hence \"Adam fell that man might be.\"\n\nThe effect of this doctrine upon the ideas of men concerning the great\nPatriarch of our race will be revolutionary. It seems to be the fashion\nof those who assume to teach the Christian religion to denounce Adam\nin unmeasured terms; as if the fall of man had surprised, if, indeed,\nit did altogether thwart, the original plan of God respecting the\nexistence of man in the earth. The creeds of the churches generally\nfail to consider the \"fall\" as part of God's purpose regarding this\nworld, and, in its way, as essential to the accomplishment of that\npurpose as the \"redemption\" through Jesus Christ. Certainly there would\nhave been no occasion for the \"redemption\" had there been no \"fall;\"\nand hence no occasion for the display of all that wealth of grace and\nmercy and justice and love--all that richness of experience involved\nin the gospel of Jesus Christ, had there been no \"fall.\" It cannot be\nbut that it was part of God's purpose to display these qualities in\ntheir true relation, for the benefit and blessing and experience and\nenlargement and ultimate uplifting of man; and since there would have\nbeen no occasion for displaying them but for the \"fall,\" it logically\nfollows that the \"fall,\" no less than the \"redemption,\" must have been\npart of God's original plan respecting the earth-probation of man. The\n\"fall,\" undoubtedly was a fact as much present to the fore-knowledge\nof God as was the \"redemption;\" and the act which encompassed it must\nbe regarded as more praise-worthy than blame-worthy, since it was\nessential to the accomplishment of the divine purpose. Yet, as I say,\nthose who assume to teach Christianity roundly denounce Adam for his\ntransgression. An accepted teacher of Catholic doctrine says:\n\n The Catholic Church teaches that Adam, by his sin, has not only\n caused harm to himself, but to the whole human race; that by it\n he lost the supernatural justice and holiness which he received\n gratuitously from God, and lost it, not only for himself, but also\n for all of us; and that he, having stained himself with the sin of\n disobedience, has transmitted not only death and other bodily pains\n and infirmities to the whole human race, but also sin, which is the\n death of the soul. [11]\n\nAnd again:\n\n Unhappily, Adam, by his sin of disobedience, which was also a sin\n of pride, disbelief, and ambition, forfeited, or, more properly\n speaking, rejected that original justice; and we, as members of the\n human family, of which he was the head, are also implicated in that\n guilt of self-spoliation, or rejection and deprivation of those\n supernatural gifts; not, indeed, on account of our having willed\n it with our personal will, but by having willed it with the will\n of our first parent, to whom we are linked by nature as members to\n their head. [12]\n\nStill again, and this from the Catholic Douay Catechism:\n\n Q. How did we lose original justice?\n\n A. By Adam's disobedience to God in eating the forbidden fruit.\n\n Q. How do you prove that?\n\n A. Out of Rom. v: 12, \"By one man sin entered into the world, and\n by sin death; and so into all men death did pass, in whom all have\n sinned.\"\n\n Q. Had man ever died if he had never sinned?\n\n A. He would not, but would live in a state of justice and at length\n would be translated alive to the fellowship of the angels. [13]\n\nFrom a Protestant source I quote the following:\n\n In the fall of man we may observe: (1) The greatest infidelity. (2)\n Prodigious pride. (3) Horrid ingratitude. (4) Visible contempt of\n God's majesty and justice. (5) Unaccountable folly. (6) A cruelty\n to himself and to all his posterity. [14]\n\nAnother Protestant authority says:\n\n The tree of knowledge of good and evil revealed to those who ate\n its fruit secrets of which they had better have remained ignorant;\n for the purity of man's happiness consisted in doing and loving\n good without even knowing evil. [15]\n\nFrom these several passages as also indeed from the whole tenor of\nChristian writings upon this subject, the fall of Adam is quite\ngenerally deplored and upon him is laid a very heavy burden of\nresponsibility. It was he, they complain, who,\n\n Brought death into the world, and all our woe.\n\nOne great division of Christendom in its creed, it is true, in dealing\nwith the fall, concedes that \"God was pleased according to his wise and\nholy counsel, to permit [the fall] having purposed to order it to his\nown glory.\" [16]\n\nAnd in an authoritative explanation of this section they say, \"That\nthis sin [the fall] was permissively embraced in the sovereign purpose\nof God.\" And still further in explanation:\n\n Its purpose [i. e., of the fall] being God's general plan, and one\n eminently wise and righteous, to introduce all the new created\n subjects of moral government into a state of probation for a time\n in which he makes their permanent character and destiny depend upon\n their own action.\n\nStill, this sin, described as being permissively embraced in the\nsovereign purpose of Deity, God designed \"to order it to his own\nglory;\" but it nowhere appears according to this confession of faith\nthat the results of the fall are to be of any benefit to man. The\nonly thing consulted in the theory of this creed seems to be the\nmanifestation of the glory of God--a thing which represents God as a\nmost selfish being--but just how the glory of God can be manifested\nby the \"fall\" which, according to this creed, results in the eternal\ndamnation of the overwhelming majority of his \"creatures,\" is not quite\napparent.\n\nThose who made this Westminister Confession, as also the large\nfollowing which accept it, concede that their theory involves them at\nleast in two difficulties which they confess it is impossible for them\nto overcome. These are, respectively: First, \"How could sinful desires\nor volitions originate in the soul of mortal agents created holy like\nAdam and Eve;\" and, second, \"how can sin be permissively embraced in\nthe eternal purpose of God and not involve him as responsible for the\nsin?\" \"If it be asked,\" say they, \"why God, who abhors sin, and who\nbenevolently desires the excellence and happiness of his creatures,\nshould sovereignly determine to permit such a fountain of pollution,\ndegradation, and misery to be opened, we can only say, with profound\nreverence, 'Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight.\"' [17]\n\nThese difficulties, however, are the creed's and those who accept it,\nnot ours, and do not further concern our discussion at this point.\n\nInfidels--under which general term (and I do not use it offensively)\nI mean all those who do not accept the Christian creeds, nor believe\nthe Bible to be a revelation--infidels, I say, quite generally deride\nthe fall of man as represented both in the creeds of Christendom and\nin the Bible. They regard the tremendous consequences attendant upon\neating the forbidden fruit as altogether out of proportion with the act\nitself, and universally hold that a moral economy which would either\ndesign or permit such a calamity as the fall is generally supposed to\nbe, as altogether unworthy of an all-merciful and just Deity. Thomas\nPaine referring to it says:\n\n \"Putting aside everything that might excite laughter by its\n absurdity, or detestation by its profaneness, and confining\n ourselves merely to an examination of the parts, it is impossible\n to conceive a story more derogatory to the Almighty, more\n inconsistent with his wisdom, more contradictory to his power, than\n this story is. [18]\n\nIn their contentions against the story of Genesis, no less than in\ntheir war upon \"the fall\" and \"original sin\" in the men made creeds of\nChristendom, infidels have denounced God in most blasphemous terms as\nthe author of all the evil in this world by permitting, through not\npreventing, the fall; and they as soundly ridicule and abuse Adam for\nthe part he took in the affair. He has been held up by them as weak and\ncowardly, because he referred his partaking of the forbidden fruit to\nthe fact that the woman gave to him and he did eat; a circumstance into\nwhich they read an effort on the part of the man to escape censure,\nperhaps punishment, and to cast the blame for his transgression upon\nthe woman. These scoffers proclaim their preference for the variations\nof this story of a \"fall of man\" as found in the mythologies of various\npeoples, say those of Greece or India. [19] But all this aside. The\ntruth is that nothing could be more courageous, sympathetic, or nobly\nhonorable than the course of our world's great Patriarch in his\nrelations to his wife Eve and the \"fall.\" The woman by deception is\nled into transgression, and stands under the penalty of a broken law.\nBanishment from the presence of God; banishment from the presence\nof her husband, if he partakes not with her in the transgression;\ndissolution of spirit and body--physical death--all await her!\nThereupon, the man, not deceived, but knowingly (as we are assured by\nPaul), also transgresses. Why? In one aspect of the case in order that\nhe might share the woman's banishment from the dear presence of God,\nand with her die--than which no higher proof of love could be given--no\nnobler act of chivalry performed. But primarily he transgressed that\n\"Man might be.\" He transgressed a less important law that he might\ncomply with one more important, if one may so speak of any of God's\nlaws. The facts are, as we shall presently see, that the conditions\nwhich confronted Adam in his earth-life were afore time known to him;\nthat of his own volition he accepted them, and came to earth to meet\nthem.\n\nMan an Immortal Spirit.\n\nMan is an immortal spirit. By saying that, I mean not only a never\nending existence for the \"soul\" of man in the future, through the\nresurrection, but a proper immortality that means the eternal existence\nof the \"ego\"--interchangeably called \"mind,\" \"spirit,\" \"soul,\"\n\"intelligence.\" I mean existence before birth as well as existence\nafter death. I believe that an \"immortality\" which refers to continued\nexistence after death only is but half a truth. A real immortality is\nforever immortal, and includes an existence before life on earth as\nsurely as an existence after death. [20] This view of the intelligence\nor spirit of man is supported by the Bible. Without going into the\nsubject at length I call attention to the fact that Jesus himself had\nvery clear conceptions of his own spirit-existence before his birth\ninto this world; a fact which is evident from the declaration he made\nto the Jews when he said, \"Verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was,\nI am.\" [21] (i. e. existed). And again, in his prayer in Gethsemane, \"O\nFather, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had\nwith thee before the world was.\" [22] This spirit pre-existence extends\nalso to all the children of men; who, in their physical structure\nand even in faculties of mind, so nearly resembled Jesus, though, of\ncourse, immeasurably below him in the developed excellence of those\nqualities. We read of the \"sons of God shouting for joy\" in heaven\nwhen the foundations of the earth were laid; [23] of the war in heaven\nwhen Michael and his angels fought against the dragon (Satan), and the\ndragon and his angels fought, and he with them was cast out into the\nearth. [24] These were the angels which kept not their first estate,\nbut left their own habitation, and who are reserved in everlasting\nchains unto the judgment of the last days. [25] \"Before I formed thee\nin the belly I knew thee,\" said the Lord to Jeremiah, \"and sanctified\nthee and ordained thee a prophet unto the nations;\" [26] \"We have had\nfathers of the flesh, and we give them reverence,\" said Paul to the\nHebrews, \"Shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of\nspirits and live?\" [27] All of which passages tend to prove that not\nonly Jesus but the spirits of all men existed before they tabernacled\nin the flesh. This of course is but a brief glance at the question as\nsupported by the Jewish scriptures. [28]\n\nThe Book of Mormon while not in any formal manner teaching this\ndoctrine of the pre-existence of the spirits of men, does so very\neffectually in an incidental way. For example: the Lord Jesus, long\nages before his advent into earth-life, revealed himself to the Book of\nMormon character known as the Brother of Jared, and in doing so he said:\n\n Behold I am he who was prepared from the foundation of the world\n to redeem my people; * * * and never have I showed myself unto man\n whom I have created, for never has man believed in me as thou hast.\n Seest thou that ye are created after mine own image [likeness]?\n Yea, even all men were created in the beginning after mine own\n image. Behold this body which ye now behold, is the body of my\n spirit; and man have I created after the body of my spirit; and\n even as I appear unto thee to be in the spirit, will I appear unto\n my people in the flesh. [29]\n\nHere a great doctrine is revealed. Not only the fact of the\npre-existence of the spirit of Jesus, the Christ, that is, the\nexistence of his spirit in tangible, human form before his earthly\nexistence, but a like existence for the spirits of all men is\nproclaimed. Moreover, it is made known that as Jesus appeared in the\nspirit to this Jaredite prophet, so would he appear unto his people\nin the flesh. That is to say, the bodily form of flesh and bone would\nconform in appearance to the spirit form; the earthly would be like\nunto the heavenly, the human, to the divine. And so with all men.\n\nChristian theologians are thought to have discovered a great truth\nwhen in the preface of St. John's Gospel they found the doctrine of\nthe co-eternity and co-divinity of the Father and the Son in the holy\ntrinity; namely,\n\n In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the\n Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. * * * And the\n Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory,\n the glory as of the only begotten of the Father) full of grace and\n truth. [30]\n\nThe identity between the \"Word\" of this passage and Jesus--the\n\"Word made flesh\" is complete. And he was in the beginning with\nGod--co-eternal with him; and the \"Word was God.\"--that is, he was\ndivine, he was more, he was Divinity--he was Deity.\n\nIn a revelation to Joseph Smith this same truth is repeated and more is\nadded to it, as follows:\n\n Verily, I say unto you, I was in the beginning with the Father,\n and am the first-born. * * * Ye [referring to the Elders in whose\n presence the revelation was given] were also in the beginning with\n the Father; that which is spirit [that is, that part of man which\n is spirit, that was in the beginning with the Father]. * * Man [i.\n e., the race, the term is generic] was also in the beginning with\n God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made,\n neither indeed can be. [31]\n\nThe doctrine in the foregoing quotation is in harmony with the Book of\nMormon and with the Bible; but goes beyond them in that it gives us\nthe understanding \"that intelligence was not created or made, neither\nindeed can be.\" That is to say, the individual intelligence in all men\nwas not created, or made, \"neither indeed can be\"--it is not only not\ncreated but is _uncreatable_.\n\nThere is something in man, then, that is eternal, uncreate. Just what\nthat is, the form of it, or the mode of its existence, we may not know,\nsince it has not pleased God so far to reveal these aspects of it. But\nhe has revealed the fact of its existence, the fact of its eternity,\nthe fact that it is an intelligence. One must needs think, too, that\nthe name of this eternal entity--what God calls him--conveys to the\nmind some idea of his nature. He is called an \"Intelligence;\" and this\nI believe is descriptive of him. That is, intelligence is the entity's\nchief characteristic. If this be a true deduction, then the entity must\nbe conscious; conscious of self and of other things than self. He must\nhave the power to distinguish himself from other things--the \"me\" from\nthe \"not me.\" He must have power of deliberation, by which he sets over\none thing against another; with power also to form a judgment that this\nor that is a better thing or state than some other thing or state.\nAlso there goes with this idea of intelligence a power of choosing one\nthing instead of another, one state rather than another--the power to\nwill to do this or that, else existence is meaningless, worthless,\nmockery. These powers are inseparably connected with any idea that may\nbe formed of an intelligence. One cannot conceive of an intelligence\nexisting without these qualities any more than he can conceive of an\nobject existing in space without dimensions. The phrase, \"the light of\ntruth.\" is given in the revelation above quoted as the equivalent of an\n\"Intelligence\" here discussed; by which it is meant to be understood,\nas I think, that intelligent entities perceive truth, are conscious of\ntruth, they know that which is, hence \"the light of truth,\" that which\ncognizes truth--\"intelligences.\" These intelligences are begotten [32]\nspirits that exist in human form. They exist so before they tabernacle\nin the flesh. In this manner, first, and eternally, as an individual\nintelligence, and secondly as a begotten spirit in human form, Jesus\nexisted; so the spirits of all men existed; so Adam existed, a Son of\nGod, for so the scriptures declare him to be. [33]\n\nIn addition to teaching the doctrine of the pre-existence of man's\nspirit, the Book of Mormon teaches also the indestructibility of the\nspirit. The prophet Alma expressly says, that \"the soul would never\ndie;\" [34] which, according to Orson Pratt, in a foot note on the\npassage, means that the \"soul\" could \"never be dissolved, or its\nparts be separated so as to disorganize the spiritual personage;\" and\nsince the Book of Mormon teaches the pre-existence of this \"soul,\"\nor \"spirit,\" and also teaches its continued existence between death\nand the resurrection, [35] as also its indestructibility after the\nresurrection, [36] it is very clear that the Book of Mormon teaches\nwhat I have called \"proper immortality of the soul;\" an immortality\nthat extends pastward as well as foreward in time; or, in other words,\ndeclares its essential, its eternal existence; hence its necessary\nexistence, hence that it is a self-existing entity.\n\nIn thinking then upon this earth career of Adam's, it must be thought\nof in connection with that pre-existence of his, of that eternal\nexistence of his, and of his knowledge of what would befall him when\nhe came to the earth. He came on no fool's errand, to be betrayed by\nchance happenings. If redemption through Jesus Christ was a foreknown\ncircumstance,--and it was--and he was appointed as the \"Lamb slain from\nthe foundation of the world,\" [37] to bring to pass man's redemption,\nthen surely the circumstance of man's fall was known, doubtless\npre-determined upon, and in some way essential to the accomplishment of\nthe purposes of God; not an accidental or even a temporary thwarting\nof them; but as much a part of God's plan with reference to man's\nearth-existence, as any circumstance whatsoever connected with that\nexistence.\n\nLet us now consider the second part of Lehi's Generalization:\n\nMen are that they might have joy.\n\nThat is to say, the purpose of man's earth-life is in some way to be\nmade to contribute to his \"joy,\" which is but another way of saying,\nthat man's earth-life is to eventuate in his advantage.\n\n\"Men are that they might have joy!\" What is meant by that? Have we\nhere the reappearance of the old Epicurean doctrine, \"pleasure is the\nsupreme good, and chief end of life?\" No, verily! Nor any other form of\nold \"hedonism\" [38]--the Greek ethics of gross self-interest. For mark,\nin the first place, the different words \"joy\" and \"pleasure.\" They are\nnot synonymous. The first does not necessarily arise from the second,\n\"joy\" may arise from quite other sources than \"pleasure,\" from pain,\neven, when the endurance of pain is to eventuate in the achievement\nof some good: such as the travail of a mother in bringing forth her\noffspring; the weariness and pain and danger of toil by a father, to\nsecure comforts for loved ones. Moreover, whatever apologists may say,\nit is very clear that the \"pleasure\" of the Epicurean philosophy,\nhailed as \"the supreme good and chief end in life,\" was to arise from\nagreeable sensations, or what ever gratified the senses, and hence\nwas, in the last analysis of it--in its roots and branches--in its\ntheory and in its practice--\"sensualism.\" It was to result in physical\nease and comfort, and mental inactivity--other than a conscious,\nself-complacence--being regarded as \"the supreme good and chief end\nof life.\" I judge this to be the net result of this philosophy since\nthese are the very conditions in which Epicureans describe even the\ngods to exist; [39] and surely men could not hope for more \"pleasure,\"\nor greater happiness than that possessed by their gods. Cicero even\ncharges that the sensualism of Epicurus was so gross that he represents\nhim as blaming his brother, Timocrates, \"because he would not allow\nthat everything which had any reference to a happy life was to be\nmeasured by the belly; nor has he,\" continues Cicero, \"said this once\nonly, but often.\"\n\nThis is not the \"joy,\" it is needles to say, contemplated in the Book\nof Mormon. Nor is the \"joy\" there contemplated the \"joy\" of mere\ninnocence--mere innocence, which say what you will of it, is but a\nnegative sort of virtue. A virtue that is colorless, never quite\nsure of itself, always more or less uncertain, because untried. [40]\nSuch a virtue--if mere absence of vice may be called virtue--would\nbe unproductive of that \"joy\" the attainment of which is set forth\nin the Book of Mormon as the purpose of man's existence; for in the\ncontext it is written, \"They [Adam and Eve] would have remained in a\nstate of 'innocence.' Having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing\nno good, for they knew no sin.\" From which it appears that the \"joy\"\ncontemplated in our Book of Mormon passage is to arise from something\nmore than mere innocence, which is, impliedly, unproductive of \"joy.\"\nThe \"joy\" contemplated in the Book of Mormon passage is to arise out\nof man's rough and thorough knowledge of evil, of sin; through knowing\nmisery, sorrow, pain and suffering; through seeing good and evil\nlocked in awful conflict; through a consciousness of having chosen\nin that conflict the better part, the good; and not only in having\nchosen it, but in having wedded it by eternal compact; made it his\nby right of conquest over evil. It is a \"joy\" that will arise from a\nconsciousness of having \"fought the good fight,\" of having \"kept the\nfaith.\" It will arise from a consciousness of moral, spiritual and\nphysical strength. Of strength gained in conflict. The strength that\ncomes from experience; from having sounded the depths of the soul; from\nexperiencing all emotions of which mind is susceptible; from testing\nall the qualities and strength of the intellect. A \"joy\" that will come\nto man from a contemplation of the universe, and a consciousness that\nhe is an heir to all that is--a joint heir with Jesus Christ and God;\nfrom knowing that he is an essential part of all that is. It is a joy\nthat will be born of the consciousness of existence itself--that will\nrevel in existence--in thoughts of and realizations of existence's\nlimitless possibilities. A \"joy\" born of the consciousness of the\npower of eternal increase. A \"joy\" arising from association with the\nIntelligences of innumerable heavens--the Gods of all eternities. A\n\"joy,\" born of a consciousness of being, of intelligence, of faith,\nknowledge, light, truth, mercy, justice, love, glory, dominion, wisdom,\npower; all feelings, affections, emotions, passions; all heights and\nall depths! \"Men are that they might have joy;\" and that \"joy\" is based\nupon and contemplates all that is here set down.\n\nWe may now consider the \"fall of man\" and the \"purpose of his\nexistence\" as related subjects--as standing somewhat in the\nrelationship of means to an end. We shall now be able to regard the\n\"fall of man,\" not as an accident, not as surprising, and all but\nthwarting, God's purposes, but as part of the divinely appointed\nprogram of man's earth-existence.\n\nHere, then, stands the truth so far as it may be gathered from God's\nword and the nature of things: There is in man an eternal, uncreate,\nself-existing entity, call it \"intelligence,\" \"mind,\" \"spirit,\"\n\"soul\"--what you will, so long as you recognize it, and regard its\nnature as eternal. There came a time when in the progress of things,\n(which is only another way of saying in the \"nature of things\") an\nearth career, or earth existence, because of the things it has to\nteach, was necessary to the enlargement, to the advancement of these\n\"intelligences,\" these \"spirits,\" \"souls.\" Hence an earth is prepared;\nand one sufficiently advanced and able, by the nature of him to bring\nto pass the events, is chosen, through whom this earth-existence,\nwith all its train of events--its mingled miseries and comforts, its\nsorrows and joys, its pains and pleasures, its good, and its evil--may\nbe brought to pass. He comes to earth with his appointed spouse. He\ncomes primarily to bring to pass man's earth life. He comes to the earth\nwith the solemn injunction upon him: \"Be fruitful and multiply, and\nreplenish the earth, and subdue it.\" But he comes with the knowledge\nthat this earth-existence of eternal \"Intelligences\" is to be lived\nunder circumstances that will contribute to their enlargement, to their\nadvancement. They are to experience joy and sorrow, pain and pleasure;\nwitness the effect of good and evil, and exercise their agency in the\nchoice of good or of evil. To accomplish this end, the local, or earth\nharmony of things must be broken. Evil to be seen, and experienced,\nmust enter the world, which can only come to pass through the violation\nof law. The law is given--\"of the tree of the knowledge of good and\nevil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day thou eatest of it thou\nshalt surely die.\" The woman forgetful of the purpose of the earth\nmission of herself and spouse is led by flattery and deceit into the\nviolation of that law, and becomes subject to its penalties--merely\nanother name for its effect. But the man, not deceived, but discerning\nclearly the path of duty, and in order that earth-existence may be\nprovided for the great hosts of spirits to come to earth under the\nconditions prescribed--he also transgresses the law, not only that\nmen might be, but that they might have that being under the very\ncircumstances deemed essential to the enlargement, to the progress of\neternal Intelligences. Adam did not sin because deceived by another.\nHe did not sin maliciously, or with evil intent; or to gratify an\ninclination to rebellion against God, or to thwart the Divine purposes,\nor to manifest his own pride. Had his act of sin involved the taking\nof life rather than eating a forbidden fruit, it would be regarded\nas a \"sacrifice\" rather than a \"murder.\" This to show the nature of\nAdam's transgression. It was a transgression of the law--\"for sin is\nthe transgression of the law\" [41]--that conditions deemed necessary to\nthe progress of eternal Intelligences might obtain. Adam sinned that\nmen might be, and not only \"be,\" but \"be\" under conditions essential\nto progress. But Adam did sin. He did break the law; and violation\nof law involves the violator in its penalties, as surely as effect\nfollows cause. Upon this principle depends the dignity and majesty of\nlaw. Take this fact away from moral government and your moral laws\nbecome mere nullities. Therefore, notwithstanding Adam fell that men\nmight be, in his transgression there was at bottom a really exalted\nmotive--a motive that contemplated nothing less than bringing to pass\nthe highly necessary purposes of God with respect to man's existence\nin the earth--yet his transgression of law was followed by certain\nmoral effects in the nature of men and in the world. The harmony of\nthings was broken; discord ruled; changed relations between God and\nmen took place, darkness, sin and death stalked through the world,\nand conditions were brought to pass in the midst of which the eternal\nIntelligences might gain those experiences that such conditions have to\nteach.\n\nNow as to the second part of the great truth--\"men are that they might\nhave joy\"--viewed also in the light of the \"Intelligence\" or \"spirit\"\nin man being an eternal, uncreated, self-existing entity. Remembering\nwhat I have already said in these pages as to the nature of this \"joy\"\nwhich it is the purpose of earth-existence to secure, remembering\nfrom what it is to arise--from the highest possible development--the\nhighest conceivable enlargement of physical, intellectual, moral\nand spiritual power--what other conceivable purpose for existence\nin earth-life could there be for eternal Intelligences than this\nattainment of \"joy\" springing from progress? Man's existence for the\nmanifestation alone of God's glory, as taught by the creeds of men,\nis not equal to it. That view represents man as but a thing created,\nand God as selfish and vain of glory. True, the Book of Mormon idea of\nthe purpose of man's existence, is accompanied by a manifestation of\nGod's glory; for with the progress of Intelligences there must be an\never widening manifestation of the glory of God. It is written that\nthe \"glory of God is Intelligence;\" and it must follow, as clearly as\nthe day follows night, that with the enlargement, with the progress\nof Intelligences, there must ever be a constantly increasing splendor\nin the manifestation of the glory of God. But in the Book of Mormon\ndoctrine, the manifestation of that glory is incidental. The primary\npurpose is not in that manifestation, but in the \"joy\" arising from the\nprogress of Intelligences. And yet that fact adds to the glory of God,\nbut our book represents the Lord as seeking the enlargement and \"joy\"\nof kindred Intelligences, rather than the mere selfish manifestation\nof his own, personal glory. \"This is my work and my glory,\" says the\nLord, in another \"Mormon\" scripture, \"to bring to pass the immortality\nand eternal life of man, as man;\" [42] and therein is God's \"joy.\" A\n\"joy\" that grows from the progress of others; from bringing to pass\nthe immortality and eternal life of \"man.\" Not the immortality of the\n\"spirit\" of man, mark you, for that immortality already exists, but to\nbring to pass the immortality of the spirit and body in their united\ncondition, and which together constitutes \"man.\" [43] And the purpose\nfor which man is, is that he might have \"joy;\" that \"joy\" which, in\nthe last analysis of things, should be even as God's \"joy,\" and God's\nglory, namely, the bringing to pass the progress, enlargement, and\n\"joy\" of others.\n\nIt is gratifying to know that this Book of Mormon definition of life\nand its purpose, so far as it affects the human race, is receiving\nunconscious support from some of the first philosophers of modern\ndays, among whom I may mention Lester F. Ward, author of \"Outlines of\nSociology\" and other scientific and philosophical works; a Lecturer\nin the School of Sociology of the Hartford Society for Education\nExtension. His \"Outlines of Sociology\" was published in 1904, and\nin the chapter of that work, in which he discusses the relation of\nsociology to psychology, (chapter v), he deals with the question of\nlife and its object. For the purpose of clearly setting forth his\nthought, he says:\n\n\"The biological [i. e. that which pertains merely to the life] must be\nclearly marked off from the psychological [i. e. as here used, that\nwhich pertains to feeling] standpoint. The former,\" he continues,\n\"is that of function, the latter that of feeling. It is convenient,\nand almost necessary, in order to gain a correct conception of these\nrelations to personify Nature, as it were, and bring her into strong\ncontrast with the sentient [one capable of perception is here meant]\ncreature. Thus viewed, each may be conceived to have its own special\nend. The end of Nature is function, i. e. life. It is biological.\nThe end of the creature is feeling, i. e. it is psychic. From the\nstandpoint of Nature, feeling is a means to function. From the\nstandpoint of the organism, function is a means to feeling. Pleasure\nand pain came into existence in order that a certain class of beings\nmight live, but those beings, having been given existence, now live in\norder to enjoy.\"\n\nThroughout the chapter he maintains that the purpose of man's existence\nis for pleasure, but of course, holds that this pleasure is that of\nthe highest order, and not merely sensual pleasure. Finally, applying\nthe principles he lays down to the human race, its existence, the\npurpose of that existence, and the means through which the end is to be\nobtained--he adopts the following formula:\n\n The object of nature is function [i. e., life].\n\n The object of man is happiness.\n\n The object of society is effort.\n\nNow, with very slight modifications, this formula may be made to\nexpress the doctrine of Lehi in the Book of Mormon, as representing the\ndivine economy respecting man:\n\n Earth-life became essential to the progress of intelligences.\n\n Adam fell that man's earth-life might be realized.\n\n The purpose of man's existence is that he might have joy.\n\n The purpose of the gospel is to bring to pass that joy.\n\nIn condensed form it may be made to stand as follows:\n\n The object of God in man's earth-life is progress.\n\n The object of man's existence is joy.\n\n The object of the gospel and the church is effort.\n\nA formula which so closely resembles this philosopher's--and his\nphilosophy is that of many other advanced modern thinkers--that it\njustifies me in making the claim that the trend of the best modern\nthought on these lines is coming into harmony with the truths stated in\nthe Book of Mormon.\n\nVIII.\n\n_The Agency of Man._\n\nRespecting the \"free agency\" of man the Book of Mormon is quite\npronounced as to the fact of it, as the following quotations attest:\n\n I know that he granteth unto men according to their desire, whether\n it be unto death or unto life; yea, I know that he allotteth unto\n men, according to their wills; whether they be unto salvation or\n unto destruction. [44]\n\nAgain,\n\n The Lord God gave unto man that he should act for himself. Men are\n free according to the flesh; and all things are given them which\n are expedient unto man. And they are free to chose liberty and\n eternal life, through the great mediation of all men, or to choose\n captivity and death, according to the captivity and power of the\n devil; for he seeketh that all men might be miserable like unto\n himself. [45]\n\nThe doctrine of the free agency of man could scarcely be more strongly\nset forth than it is in these passages.\n\nA word in relation to this question of free agency. Of course it is\nrecognized as one of the great theological questions that has puzzled\nmankind. By the phrase, free agency is here meant to represent that\npower or capacity of the mind or spirit to act freely and of its own\nvolition, with reference to these matters, that are within the power\nof its achievement. That is to say, it is not meant that by an act of\nwill man may overcome the force we call gravitation, and leave the\nearth at his pleasure; or that he can pluck down the moon by an act of\nwill; or influence a mass of people at his will and against theirs; or\ncreate two mountains without a valley between them; but what is meant\nis, that man possesses the quality of determining his own actions, his\nown course with reference to things that are within the realm of the\npossibility of his achievement, and more especially, with reference to\nmoral questions; that man has the power to take a course in harmony\nwith those moral ideals that he has created by his own intellectual\nforce or that have been created for him by his education, or the\nenvironment in which he has lived; that he can decide for himself to\nwalk in harmony with these ideals, or that wontingly, and against all\nthat he conceives to be to his best interest, he can violate them and\nwalk contrary to what in his heart he knows to be right and true. This\nconstitutes his freedom, his agency, and it is because of this fact\nthat he is morally responsible for his conduct.\n\nI have nowhere else found a statement of the facts involved in free\nagency so clearly set forth as in Guizot's \"History of Civilization,\"\nfrom which I summarize the following:\n\n 1. _Power of Deliberation_--The mind is conscious of a power of\n deliberation. Before the intellect passes the different motives\n of action, interests, passions, opinions, etc. The intellect\n considers, compares, estimates, and finally judges them. This is a\n preparatory work which precedes the act of will.\n\n 2. _Liberty, Free Agency or Will_--When deliberation has taken\n place--when man has taken full cognizance of the motives which\n present themselves to him, he takes a resolution, of which he looks\n upon himself as the author, which arises because he wishes it and\n which would not arise unless he did wish it--here the fact of\n agency is shown; it resides in the resolution which man makes after\n deliberation; it is the resolution which is the proper act of man,\n which subsists by him alone; a simple fact independent of all the\n facts which precede it or surround it.\n\n 3. _Free Will, or Agency Modified_--At the same time that man\n feels himself free, he recognizes the fact that his freedom is not\n arbitrary, that it is placed under the dominion of a law which will\n preside over it and influence it. What that law is will depend upon\n the education of each individual, upon his surroundings, etc. To\n act in harmony with that law is what man recognizes as his duty; it\n will be the task of his liberty. He will soon see, however, that he\n never fully acquits himself of his task, never acts in full harmony\n with his moral law. Morally capable of conforming himself to his\n law, he falls short of doing it. He does not accomplish all that he\n ought, nor all that he can. This fact is evident, one of which all\n may give witness; and it often happens that the best men, that is,\n those who have best conformed their will to reason, have often been\n the most struck with their insufficience.\n\n 4. _Necessity of External Assistance_--This weakness in man leads\n him to feel the necessity of an external support to operate as\n a fulcrum for the human will, a power that may be added to its\n present power and sustain it at need. Man seeks this fulcrum on\n all sides; he demands it in the encouragement of friends, in the\n councils of the wise; but as the visible world, the human society,\n do not always answer to his desires, the soul goes beyond the\n visible world, above human relations, to seek this fulcrum of which\n it has need. Hence the religious sentiment develops itself; man\n addresses himself to God, and invokes his aid through prayer.\n\n 5. _Man Finds the Help He Seeks_--Such is the nature of man that\n when he sincerely asks this support he obtains it; that is, seeking\n it is almost sufficient to secure it. Whosoever, feeling his will\n weak, invokes the encouragement of a friend, the influence of wise\n councils, the support of public opinion, or who addresses himself\n to God by prayer, soon feels his will fortified in a certain\n measure and for a certain time.\n\n 6. _Influence of the Spiritual World on Liberty_--There are\n spiritual influences at work on man--the empire of the spiritual\n world upon liberty. There are certain changes, certain moral events\n which manifest themselves in man without his being able to refer\n their origin to an act of his will, or being able to recognize the\n author. Certain facts occur in the interior of the human soul which\n it does not refer to itself, which it does not recognize as the\n work of its own will. There are certain days, certain moments in\n which it finds itself in a different moral state from that which\n it was last conscious of under the operations of its own will. In\n other words, the moral man does not wholly create himself; he is\n conscious that causes, that powers external to himself, act upon\n and modify him imperceptibly--this fact has been called the grace\n of God, which helps the will of man.\n\nAfter giving full weight to all the facts here set forth--and certainly\neach one enters as a factor into the question of man's freedom--the\nBook of Mormon doctrine stands true. There is such a quality of man's\nmind. He is conscious of it. Conscious of the power of deliberation;\nconscious of the existence of moral obligation pressing upon him;\nconscious of his own weakness that makes him feel unable to rise to\nthe high level of his full duty; conscious of his need of external\nassistance; conscious of his will being made stronger by appealing\nto the counsel of his friends, and appealing to God for help through\nprayer; conscious of the fact that he is in different states of moral\nfeeling at different times, owing, doubtless, to this appeal that he\nmakes to external aids--yet, in the last analysis of it all, he remains\nconscious of the fact that what he does, not only can be, but is, a\nself-determining act, and he remains conscious of the power that he\ncould do otherwise if he would. This consciousness and this freedom\nare the most stupendous facts in human existence, and upon their\nreality--upon their truth--depends all the glory of that existence.\nArriving here the outlook concerning man's possibilities for the future\nis immense. Sir Oliver Lodge speaking of man, after arriving at this\npoint in his development, the attainment of consciousness and free\nwill, recently said:\n\n On this planet man is the highest outcome of the process so far (i.\n e., the process of development), and is, therefore, the highest\n representation of Deity that here exists. Terribly imperfect as\n yet, because so recently evolved, he is nevertheless a being which\n has at length attained to consciousness and free-will, a being\n unable to be coerced by the whole force of the universe, against\n his will; a spark of the divine Spirit, therefore, never more to be\n quenched. Open still to awful horrors, to agonies of remorse, but\n to floods of joy also, he persists, and his destiny is largely in\n his own hands; he may proceed up or down, he may advance towards\n a magnificent ascendency, he may recede towards depths of infamy.\n He is not coerced: he is guided and influenced, but he is free to\n choose. The evil and the good are necessary correlatives; freedom\n to choose the one involves freedom to choose the other. [46]\n\nThis is the doctrine then of the Book of Mormon: the existence in\nman as a quality of his mind or spirit freedom and power to will, to\ndetermine for himself his course. He may choose good or evil. The\nfreedom of righteousness, or the bondage of sin. If man finds his will\nstrengthened in favor of choosing the good by appealing for help to\nexternal aids, to God through prayer, and that help comes in the form\nof the grace of God, and becomes a factor in helping man into a state\nof righteousness, it should be remembered that the act of appealing for\nexternal help was the exercise of man's free agency. He willed to do\ngood and sought help to carry out his determination; and the assistance\nof the grace of God so obtained in no way operates to destroy the\nfreedom of man's will. In concluding this subject, it may be said that\nthe Book of Mormon in an authoritative way settles conclusively the\ngreat theological question of the free agency of man.\n\nW. H. Mallack, in his work on \"The Reconstruction of Religious Belief\"\n(1905), has a most fascinating chapter on human freedom [47] in\nwhich he illustrates on broad lines the universal though unconscious\nassumption of the fact of human freedom in both literature and history.\nOf the characters created by the great poets, he remarks: \"They\ninterest us as born to freedom, and not naturally slaves, and they pass\nbefore us like kings in a Roman triumph. Once let us suppose these\ncharacters to be mere puppets of heredity and circumstance, and they and\nthe works that deal with them lose all intelligible content, and we\nfind ourselves confused and wearied with the fury of an idiot's tale.\"\nOn the criticism of historical characters he says: \"All this praising\nand blaming is based on the assumption that the person praised or\nblamed is the originator of his own actions, and not a mere transmitter\nof forces.\" And further, all debating on the value of historical\ncharacters would be meaningless, \"if it were not for the inveterate\nbelief that a man's significance for men resides primarily in what he\nmakes of himself, not in what he has been made by an organism derived\nfrom his parents, and the various external stimuli to which it has\nautomatically responded.\" Our author also points out the truth that\nforgiveness itself among men (and he might well have extended his\nargument to the forgiveness God imparts to men also) assumes the fact\nof human freedom--else what is there to be forgiven! The believer in\nfreedom says to the offending party, \"I forgive you for the offense of\nnot having done your best.\" The assumption is that the offender could\nhave refrained from giving one offense--he had freedom and power to\nhave done otherwise. One not believing in human freedom would say to\nthe offending party: \"I neither forgive nor blame you; for, although\nyou have done your worst, your worst was your best also\" & having\nno freedom, he was under no obligation; his action was indifferent,\nneither good nor bad; there was no blame or praise possible; he is\nneither a subject for mercy nor justice to act upon.\n\nIn the course of the discussion to which attention is called, our\nauthor has contributed an idea worthy of all acceptation and is\nvaluable for the reason that it goes outside the beaten paths followed\nin the free will controversy: \"When most people talk of believing in\nmoral freedom, they mean by freedom a power which exhausts itself in\nacts of choice between a series of alternative courses; but, important\nthough such choice, as a function of freedom is, the root idea of\nfreedom lies deeper still. It consists in the idea, not that a man is,\nas a personality, the first and the sole cause of his choice between\nalternative courses, but that he is, in a true, even if in a qualified\nsense, the first cause of what he does, or feels, or is, whether\nthis involves an act of choice, or consists of an unimpeded impulse.\nFreedom of choice between alternatives is the consequence of this\nprimary faculty. It is the form in which the faculty is most noticeably\nmanifested; but it is not the primary faculty of personal freedom\nitself.\"\n\nI believe this fact in relation to man's freedom; that it is a quality\ncapable of manifesting itself in other modes than choice between\nalternatives; that it may project an unimpeded line of conduct, and yet\nin this world its chief manifestations are in a choice between things\nopposite and we shall see later, according to the Book of Mormon,\nthat conditions in this world are so ordained in the existence of\nopposites--antinomies--that man may exercise this quality of freedom in\nthe choice of alternatives.\n\nIX.\n\n_The Atonement._\n\nAfter giving an account of the fall of man, substantially as found in\nGenesis, the Nephite prophet Alma, is represented in the Book of Mormon\nas teaching his son Corianton the doctrine of the atonement, as follows:\n\n ###_Alma's Doctrine of Atonement_.\n\n And now we see by this, that our first parents were cut off, both\n temporally and spiritually, from the presence of the Lord; and thus\n we see they became subjects to follow after their own will.\n\n Now, behold, it was not expedient that man should be reclaimed\n from this temporal death, for that would destroy the great plan of\n happiness;\n\n Therefore, as the soul could never die, and the fall had brought\n upon all mankind a spiritual death as well as a temporal; that is,\n they were cut off from the presence of the Lord, it was expedient\n that mankind should be reclaimed from this spiritual death;\n\n Therefore, as they had become carnal, sensual, and devilish, by\n nature, this probationary state became a state for them [in which]\n to prepare; it became a preparatory state.\n\n And now remember, my son, if it were not for the plan of redemption\n (laying it aside), as soon as they were dead, their souls were\n miserable, being cut off from the presence of the Lord.\n\n And now there was no means to reclaim men from this fallen state\n which man had brought upon himself, because of his own disobedience;\n\n Therefore, according to justice, the plan of redemption could not\n be brought about, only on conditions, of repentance of men in this\n probationary state; yea, this preparatory state; for except it were\n for these conditions, mercy could not take effect except it should\n destroy the work of justice. Now the work of justice could not be\n destroyed; if so, God would cease to be God.\n\n And thus we see that all mankind were fallen, and they were in the\n grasp of justice; yea, the justice of God, which consigned them\n forever to be cut off from his presence.\n\n And now the plan of mercy could not be brought about, except an\n atonement should be made; therefore God himself atoneth for the\n sins of the world, to bring about the plan of mercy, to appease the\n demands of justice, that God might be a perfect, just God, and a\n merciful God also.\n\n Now repentance could not come unto men, except there were a\n punishment, which also was eternal as the life of the soul should\n be, affixed opposite to the plan of happiness, which was as eternal\n also as the life of the soul.\n\n Now, how could a man repent, except he should sin? How could he\n sin, if there was no law, how could there be a law, save there was\n a punishment?\n\n Now there was a punishment affixed, and a just law given, which\n brought remorse of conscience unto man.\n\n Now, if there was no law given--if a man murdered he should die,\n would he be afraid he would die if he should murder?\n\n And also, if there was no law given against sin, men would not be\n afraid to sin.\n\n And if there was no law given if men sinned, what could justice do,\n or mercy either; for they would have no claim upon the creature?\n\n But there is a law given, and a punishment affixed, and a\n repentance granted; which repentance, mercy claimeth; otherwise\n justice claimeth the creature, and executeth the law, and the law\n inflicteth the punishment; if not so, the works of justice would be\n destroyed, and God would cease to be God.\n\n But God ceaseth not to be God, and mercy claimeth the penitent, and\n mercy cometh because of the atonement; and the atonement bringeth\n to pass the resurrection of the dead; and the resurrection of the\n dead bringeth back men into the presence of God; and thus they are\n restored into his presence, to be judged according to their works;\n according to the law and justice;\n\n For, behold, justice exerciseth all his demands, and also mercy\n claimeth all which is her own; and thus, none but the truly\n penitent are saved.\n\n What! do ye suppose that mercy can rob justice? I say unto you,\n nay! Not one whit. If so, God would cease to be God.\n\n And thus God bringeth about his great and eternal purposes, which\n were prepared from the foundation of the world. And thus cometh\n about the salvation and the redemption of men, and also their\n destruction and misery;\n\n Therefore, O my son, whosoever will come, may come, and partake of\n the waters of life freely; and whosoever will not come, the same is\n not compelled to come; but in the last day, it shall be restored\n unto him, according to his deeds. [48]\n\nSummarizing the foregoing we have the following as the result: The\neffect of Adam's transgression was to destroy the harmony of things\nin this world. As a consequence of his fall man is banished from the\npresence of God--a spiritual death takes place and man becomes sensual,\ndevilish, unholy, is cursed, we say, with a strong inclination to\nsinfulness. Man is also made subject to a temporal death, a separation\nof the spirit and body. Much might have been gained by this union of\nhis spirit with his body of flesh and bone could it have been immortal,\nbut that is now lost, by this temporal death, this separation of\nspirit and body. These conditions would have remained eternally fixed\nas the result of the operation of law--inexorable law, called \"the\njustice of God,\" admitting of nothing else; for the law was given to\neternal beings and by them violated, and man is left in the grasp of\neternal justice, with all its consequences upon his head and the head\nof his progeny. And the justice of the law admitted the conditions,\nadmitted that the penalties affixed should be effective, but this is\njustice--stern, unrelenting justice; justice untempered by mercy.\nBut mercy must in some way be made to reach man, yet in a way also\nthat will not destroy justice; for justice must be maintained, else\nall is confusion--ruin. If justice be destroyed--if justice be not\nmaintained--. \"God will cease to be God.\" Hence mercy may not be\nintroduced into the divine economy of this world without a vindication\nof the broken law by some means or other, for divine laws as well as\nhuman ones are mere nullities if their penalties be not in force.\n\nThe penalty of the law then, transgressed by Adam, must be executed,\nor else an adequate atonement must be made for man's transgression.\nThis the work of the Christ. He makes the atonement. He comes to earth\nand assumes responsibility for this transgression of law, and gathers\nup into his own soul all the suffering due to the transgression of\nthe law by Adam. All the suffering due to individual transgression of\nlaw--the direct consequences of the original transgression--from Adam\nto the end of the world. The burden of us all is laid upon him. He\nwill bear our griefs and carry our sorrows. He will be wounded for our\ntransgressions, and be bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of\nour peace will be upon him; on him is laid the iniquity of us all; by\nhis stripes shall we be healed. [49] That is to say, having gathered\ninto himself all the suffering and sorrows due to all the sinning that\nshall be in the world, he is able to dictate the terms upon which man\nmay lay hold of mercy--by which mercy may heal his wounds--and these\nterms he names in the conditions of the gospel, the acceptance of which\nbrings complete redemption. The Christ brings to pass the resurrection\nof the dead. The spirit and the body are eternally re-united; the\ntemporal death--one of the effects of Adam's trangression--is overcome.\nThere is no more physical death; the \"soul\" [50]--the eternally united\nspirit and body are now to be immortal as spirit alone before was\nimmortal. The man so immortal is brought back into the presence of God,\nand if he has accepted the terms of the gospel by which he is redeemed\nfrom the effects of his own, as well as from Adam's transgression, his\nspiritual death is ended, and henceforth he may be spiritually immortal\nas well as physically immortal--eternally with God in an atmosphere of\nrighteousness--the spiritual death is overcome.\n\nSuch I make out to be the Book of Mormon doctrine of the atonement, and\nthe redemption of man through the gospel.\n\nX.\n\n__The Doctrine of Opposite Existences_._\n\nClosely connected with the doctrine of the agency of man, the purpose\nof his existence and his redemption from the fallen state, is what I\nshall call the Book of Mormon doctrine of \"opposite existences,\" what\nthe scholastics would call \"antinomies.\" The doctrine as stated in\nthe Book of Mormon--the time of its publication--1830--remembered,\nespecially when taken in connection with the consequences it supposes\nin the event of abolishing the existence of evil, is strikingly\noriginal and philosophically profound; and reaches a depth of thought\nbeyond all that could be imagined as possible with Joseph Smith or any\nof those associated with him in bringing forth the Book of Mormon.\n\nThe statement of the doctrine in question occurs in a discourse of\nLehi's on the subject of the atonement. The aged prophet represents\nhappiness or misery as growing out of the acceptance or rejection of\nthe atonement of the Christ, and adds that the misery consequent upon\nits rejection is in opposition to the happiness which is affixed to its\nacceptance:\n\n For it must needs be [he continues] that there is an opposition\n in all things. If [it were] not so * * * righteousness could not\n be brought to pass; neither wickedness; neither holiness nor\n misery; neither good nor bad. Wherefore [that is, if this fact\n of opposites did not exist] all things must needs be a compound\n in one; wherefore, if it [the sum of things] should be one body,\n it must needs remain as dead, having no life, neither death, nor\n corruption nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense\n nor insensibility. Wherefore, it must needs have been created for a\n thing of naught; wherefore there would have been no purpose in the\n end of its creation. Wherefore, this thing [i. e., the absence of\n opposite existences which Lehi is supposing] must needs destroy the\n wisdom of God, and his eternal purposes; and also the power, and\n the mercy, and the justice of God. [51]\n\nThe inspired man even goes beyond this, and makes existences themselves\ndepend upon this law of opposites:\n\n And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no\n sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is\n no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness, there is no\n happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness, there\n be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not there is\n no God. And if there is no God, we are not, neither the earth: for\n there could have been no creation of things; neither to act nor to\n be acted upon, wherefore, all things must have vanished away. [52]\n\nThis may be regarded as a very bold setting forth of the doctrine of\nantinomies, and yet I think the logic of it, and the inevitableness of\nthe conclusion unassailable. In his work, \"Origin and Development of\nReligious Beliefs\" S. Baring-Gould says:\n\n The world presents us with a picture of unity and distinction;\n unity without uniformity, and distinction without antagonism. * * *\n Everywhere, around us and within us, we see that radical antinomy.\n The whole astronomic order resolves itself into attraction and\n repulsion--a centripetal and a centrifugal force; the chemical\n order into the antinomy of positive and negative electricity,\n decomposing substances and recomposing them. The whole visible\n universe presents the antinomy of light and darkness, movement and\n repose, force and matter, heat and cold, the one and the multiple.\n The order of life is resumed in the antinomy of the individual\n and the species, the particular and the general; the order of our\n sentiments in that of happiness and sorrow, pleasure and pain; that\n of our conceptions in the antinomy of the ideal and the real; that\n of our will in the conditions of activity and passivity. [53]\n\nThe existence of evil in the world has ever been a vexed problem\nfor both theologians and philosophers, and has led to the wildest\nspeculations imaginable. It will be sufficient here, however, if I\nnote the recognition by high authority of the difficulties involved in\nthe problem. Of those who have felt and expressed these difficulties,\nI know of no one who has done so in better terms than Henry L. Mansel\nin his contribution to the celebrated course of \"Bampton Lecturers,\"\nin \"The Limits of Religious Thought\" (1858), in the course of which he\nsays:\n\n The real riddle of existence--the problem which confounds all\n philosophy, aye, and all religion, too, so far as religion is a\n thing of man's reason, is the fact that evil exists at all; not\n that it exists for a longer or a shorter duration. Is not God\n infinitely wise and holy and powerful now? and does not sin exist\n along with that infinite holiness and wisdom and power? Is God to\n become more holy, more wise, more powerful hereafter; and must evil\n be annihilated to make room for his perfections to expand? Does the\n infinity of his eternal nature ebb and flow with every increase\n or diminution in the sum of human guilt and misery? Against this\n immovable barrier of the existence of evil, the waves of philosophy\n have dashed themselves unceasingly since the birthday of human\n thought, and have retired broken and powerless, without displacing\n the minutest fragment of the stubborn rock, without softening one\n feature of its dark and rugged surface. [54]\n\nThis writer then proceeds by plain implication to make it clear\nthat religion no more than philosophy has solved the problem of the\nexistence of evil:\n\n But this mystery [i. e., the existence of evil], vast and\n inscrutable as it is, is but one aspect of a more general\n problem; it is but the moral form of the ever-recurring secret\n of the Infinite. How the Infinite and the finite, in any form of\n antagonism or other relation, can exist together; how infinite\n power can coexist with finite activity; how infinite wisdom can\n coexist with finite contingency; how infinite goodnesss can coexist\n with finite evil; how the Infinite can exist in any manner without\n exhausting the universe of reality--this is the riddle which\n Infinite Wisdom alone can solve, the problem whose very conception\n belongs only to that Universal Knowledge which fills and embraces\n the Universe of Being. [55]\n\nIn the presence of these reflections it cannot be doubted, then, that\nthe existence of moral evil is one of the world's serious difficulties;\nand any solution which the Book of Mormon may give of it that is really\nhelpful, will be a valuable contribution to the world's enlightenment,\na real revelation--a ray of light from the \"inner fact of things.\" Let\nus consider if it does this.\n\nIn view of the utterances of the Book of Mormon already quoted I am\njustified in saying that evil as well as good is among the eternal\nthings. Its existence did not begin with its appearance on our earth.\nEvil existed even in heaven; for Lucifer and many other spirits sinned\nthere; \"rebelled against heaven's matchless King,\" waged war, and were\nthrust out into the earth for their transgression. [56]\n\nEvil is not a created quality. [57] It has always existed as the\nback ground of good. It is as eternal as goodnesss; it is as eternal\nas law; it is as eternal as the agency of intelligence. Sin, which\nis evil active, is transgression of law; [58] and so long as the\nagency of intelligences and law have existed, the possibility of the\ntransgression of law has existed; and as the agency of intelligences\nand law have eternally existed, so, too, evil has existed eternally,\neither potentially or active and will always so exist.\n\nEvil may not be referred to God for its origin. He is not its creator,\nit is one of those independent existences that is _uncreate_, and\nstands in the category of qualities of eternal things. While not\nprepared to accept the doctrine of some philosophers that \"good and\nevil are two sides of one thing.\" [59] I am prepared to believe\nthat evil is a necessary antithesis to good, and essential to the\nrealization of the harmony of the universe. \"The good cannot exist\nwithout the antithesis of the evil--the foil on which it produces\nitself and becomes known.\" [60] As remarked by Orlando J. Smith, \"Evil\nexists in the balance of natural forces. * * * * * * It is also the\nbackground of good, the incentive to good, and the trial of good,\nwithout which good could not be. As the virtue of courage could not\nexist without the evil of danger, and as the virtue of sympathy could\nnot exist without the evil of suffering, so no other virtue could\nexist without its corresponding evil. In a world without evil--if such\na world be really conceivable, all men would have perfect health,\nperfect intelligence, and perfect morals. No one could gain or impart\ninformation, each one's cup of knowledge being full. The temperature\nwould stand forever at seventy degrees, both heat and cold being\nevil. There could be no progress, since progress is the _overcoming\nof evil_. A world without evil would be as toil without exertion, as\nlight without darkness, as a battle with no antagonist. It would be a\nworld without meaning.\" [61] Or, as Lehi puts it, in still stronger\nterms--after describing what conditions would be without the existence\nof opposites:--\n\n Wherefore, all things must needs be a compound in one; wherefore,\n if it [i. e. the sum of things] should be one body [i. e.,\n of one character--so called good without evil] it must needs\n remain as dead, having no life, neither death, nor corruption,\n nor incorruption, happiness nor misery, neither sense nor\n insensibility. Wherefore, it [the sum of things] must needs have\n been created for a thing of naught; wherefore there would have been\n no purpose in the end of its creation. Wherefore, this thing [the\n absence of opposites] must needs destroy the wisdom of God, and\n his eternal purposes; and also, the power, and the mercy, and the\n justice of God. [62]\n\nAs there can be no good without the antinomy of evil, so there can be\nno evil without its antinomy, or antithesis--good. The existence of one\nimplies the existence of the other; and, conversely, the non-existence\nof the latter would imply the non-existence of the former. It is from\nthis basis that Lehi reached the conclusion that either his doctrine of\nantinomies, or the existence of opposites, is true, or else there are\nno existences. That is to say--to use his own words--\n\n If ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no\n sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is\n no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness, there be no\n happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness, there\n be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not, there is\n no God, and if there is no God, we are not, neither the earth; for\n there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to\n be acted upon: wherefore, all things must have vanished away. [63]\n\nBut as things have not vanished away, as there are real existences,\nthe whole series of things for which he contends are verities. \"For\nthere is a God,\" he declares, \"and he hath created all things, both the\nheavens and the earth, and all things that in them is; both things to\nact, and things to be acted upon.\" [64]\n\nAfter arriving at this conclusion, Lehi, proceeding from the general to\nthe particular, deals with the introduction of this universal antinomy\ninto our world as follows:\n\n To bring about his [God's] eternal purposes in the end of man,\n after he had created our first parents * * * it must needs be that\n there was an opposition; even the forbidden fruit in opposition\n to the tree of life; the one being sweet and the other bitter;\n Wherefore, the Lord God gave unto man that he should act for\n himself. Wherefore man could not act for himself, save it should\n be that he was enticed by the one or the other. [65] And I, Lehi,\n according to the things which I have read, must needs suppose that\n an angel of God, according to that which is written, had fallen\n from heaven; wherefore he became a devil, having sought that which\n was evil before God. And because he had fallen from heaven, and\n had become miserable forever, he said unto Eve, yea, even that old\n serpent, who is the devil, who is the father of all lies; wherefore\n he said, Partake of the forbidden fruit, and ye shall not die, but\n ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil. And after Adam and Eve\n had partaken of the forbidden fruit they were driven out of the\n garden of Eden, to till the earth. And they have brought forth\n children; yea, even the family of all the earth.\n\nThen follows Lehi's treatise upon the reason for the fall, the purpose\nof man's existence, which have already been noticed.\n\nSummary of the Foregoing Doctrines.\n\nThis then is the order of things--(though in this summary the order\nin which the various doctrines have been presented is not strictly\nfollowed, but one more in harmony with the proper order of the related\nthings; but which order could not well be set forth until the foregoing\ndiscussion of them was had):--\n\n1. The intelligent \"Ego\" in man, which we have called an\n\"Intelligence,\" meaning, however, not a quality but the \"Ego\" itself,\nis an eternal entity; uncreate and uncreatable--an essential, a\nnecessary, self-existent being.\n\n2. These \"Intelligences\" the begotten of God, spirits; so that men are\nof the same race with God, are of the same \"essence\" or \"substance,\"\nand are the sons of God by virtue of an actual relationship.\n\n3. There came a time in the course of the existence of these spiritual\npersonages when an earth-existence, a union of the spiritual personage\nwith a body of flesh and bone, became necessary for his further\ndevelopment, for his enlargement; an existence where good and evil were\nin actual conflict, where the mighty and perhaps awful lessons which\nsuch conditions have to teach could be learned.\n\n4. There are eternal opposites in existences, light--darkness;\njoy--sorrow; pleasure--pain; sweet--bitter; good--evil; and so\nfollowing. Evil is an eternal existence, the necessary co-relative of\nthe good, uncreate and may not be referred to God for its origin.\n\n5. The spirits of men came to earth primarily to obtain bodies through\nwhich their spirits may act through all eternity. They came to effect a\nunion of spirit and element essential to all their future development\nand their joy and their glory; [66] secondly they came to obtain such\nexperiences as this earth-life has to give--to be taught by the things\nwhich they suffer; learning the lessons that sorrow and sin and death\nhave to teach, finding both the strength and weakness of their own\nnatures--proving the fidelity, valor and honor of their own spirits;\nmaking proof of their worthiness for that exceeding great and eternal\nweight of glory which God has designed for those who overcome and in\nall things prove faithful.\n\n6. To lead the way in this great work, one sufficiently developed for\nsuch a task--Adam--is appointed to come to earth to open the series\nof dispensations designed of God for man in his earth-probation. He\nintroduced those changes in the harmony of things necessary to the\naccomplishment of the purposes of God in the earth-life of man--he fell\nthat man might be; and not only \"be,\" but have that being, under the\nvery conditions that have since prevailed.\n\n7. Evil was introduced into this world through the transgression of\nAdam, and man falls under the censure of eternal and inexorable justice.\n\n8. Through the Atonement of Christ, however, man is freed from the\neffects of Adam's trangression. The resurrection redeems him from\nthe temporal death--the separation of the spirit and body, and he is\nbrought back into the presence of God.\n\n9. Through the Atonement of Christ mercy also has been brought into\nthe world's moral economy; and, as well as justice, operates upon\nman. God's righteous law has been given to man. Man is a free moral\nagent and may choose to obey the law, or may choose to follow after\nwickedness. If he choose the latter, he falls under the justice of the\nlaw.\n\n10. Through the Atonement the privilege of repentance is granted,\nand mercy claims the truly penitent, rescuing him from the otherwise\ninexhorable claims of the law, and setting him in the way of salvation\nthrough obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel.\n\nSuch, in brief is the outline of the gospel of Christ in the Book of\nMormon so far as it relates to the nature and eternal existence of\nman, the purpose of his earth-existence, the fall, the atonement, the\nexistence of good and evil, and the development that shall come of\ncontact with these forces.\n\nIn concluding this chapter, apart from the matter of originality in\nthe doctrines set forth, which originality, be it remembered is one of\nthe evidences here sought to be established as a sort of proof for the\ndivinity of the book, I desire to call attention to another argument\nwhich these doctrines are capable of bearing; namely the nature of\nthe doctrines themselves, the order in which they are set forth, and\ntheir deep philosophical character; and to the candid reader I submit\nthis question: Was the unaided native intelligence of Joseph Smith, or\nthe intelligence or learning of any of those associated with him in\nbringing forth the Book of Mormon, equal to the task of formulating\nthe principles of moral philosophy and theology that are found in that\nbook and discussed in this chapter? Was the intelligence or learning of\nSolomon Spaulding, or any other person to whom the origin of the book\nis ascribed, equal to such a task? There can be but one answer to that\nquestion, and the nature of it is obvious.\n\nBeyond controversy neither the native intelligence nor learning of\nJoseph Smith can possibly be regarded as equal to such a performance\nas bringing forth the knowledge which the Book of Mormon imparts upon\nthese profound subjects; nor can the intelligence or learning of those\nwho assisted him in translating the book be regarded as sufficient\nfor such a task. Nor was the intelligence and learning of any one\nto whom the origin of the book has ever been ascribed equal to such\nan achievement. Indeed the book sounds depths on these subjects not\nonly beyond the intelligence and learning of this small group of men\nreferred to, but beyond the intelligence and learning of the age\nitself in which it came forth. Therefore it is useless to ascribe\nthe knowledge it imparts on these subjects to human intelligence or\nlearning at all. What is said by it on these subjects, so full of\ninterest to mankind, is a word truly from the \"inner fact of things\"--a\nmessage written by ancient prophets of America inspired of God to bear\nwitness to the truth of these great things which it most concerns man\nto know.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Genesis iii.\n\n2. I. Cor. xv: 21, 22; Romans v: 12-17.\n\n3. Westminster Confession, chapter iv--of Creation--Section i.\n\n4. In proof of this last declaration the expounder cites Col. i: 16:\n\"All things were created by him [Christ] and for him.\"\n\nAlso Proverbs xvi: 4: 'The Lord hath made all things for himself; yea,\neven the wicked for the day of evil.'\n\nAlso Rev. iv: 11: \"For thou [the Lord] hast created all things, and\nfor thy pleasure they are and were created;\" and Rom. xi: 36: \"For of\nhim, and through him, and to him are all things.\" See Commentary on\nthe \"Confession of Faith,\" with questions for theological students and\nBible classes, by the Reverend A. A. Hodge, D. D., Chapter iv. The\nreading of the passages will convince any one that if this is all the\nscripture proof that may be adduced in the way of an explanation of the\npurposes of God in creation, that what I have said in the text, that\nthere is no direct, explicit, and adequate statement of the object of\nman's existence in holy writ is sufficiently vindicated.\n\n5. Commentary on the Confession (Hodge), chapter iv.\n\n6. Douay Catechism, chapter iii.\n\n7. Ibid.\n\n8. Gen. ii: 25.\n\n9. Ibid iii: 7.\n\n10. \"Adam was not deceived, but the woman, being deceived, was in the\ntransgression.\"--Tim. ii: 14.\n\n11. Catholic Belief, p. 6. (Joseph Faa Di Bruno is the author.)\n\n12. Catholic Belief, p. 330.\n\n13. Douay Catechism, p. 13.\n\n14. Buck's Theological Dictionary, p. 182.\n\n15. Old Testament History (William Smith, LL. D.), chapter ii.\n\n16. Westminster Confession, chapter vi, section 1.\n\n17. Commentary on the Confession of Faith (A. A. Hodge), pp. 105-108.\n\n18. Paine's Theological Works, \"Age of Reason,\" p. 12.\n\n19. See Ingersoll's Lectures, \"Liberty of Man, Woman and Child,\" where\nthe great orator, contrasts the story of the Fall given in the Bible\nwith that of Brahma in the Hindoo mythology, and extravagantly praises\nthe latter to the disparagement of the former.\n\n20. See \"A Short View of Great Questions\" (Orlando J. Smith), chapter\n10; also his work on \"Eternalism.\"\n\n21. John viii: 58.\n\n22. John xvii.\n\n23. Job xxxiii: 4-7.\n\n24. Revelation xii.\n\n25. Jude vi.\n\n26. Jeremiah i: 5.\n\n27. Heb. xii.\n\n28. Those who wish to extend their investigation on the subject are\nreferred to the author's work on \"The Gospel,\" especially the section\nof Man's Relationship to Deity, found in both the second and third\nedition.\n\n29. Ether iii.\n\n30. John i: 2-14.\n\n31. Doc. & Cov., section xciii.\n\n32. I use the term \"begotten\" instead of \"create\" advisedly. I do\nnot believe the spirit of man is \"created\" by God; I believe it is\n\"begotten\" of him, and in addition to its own native, underived\ninherent qualities, partakes also somewhat of the qualities or nature\nof him who begets it, hence an intelligence begotten of a spirit is a\nson of God by being begotten by a divine parent; by the nature of it\nalso, since somewhat of the nature of the parent has been imparted to\nit. The distinction between a \"created\" thing and a being begotten is\nthus very clearly set forth by the Christian Father Athanasius: Let it\nbe repeated that a created thing is external to the nature of the being\nwho creates; but a generation (a begetting, as a Father begets a son)\nis the proper offspring of the nature. (Footnote, Shedd's \"History of\nChristian Doctrine,\" Vol. I, p. 322.)\n\n33. Luke iii: 38.\n\n34. Alma xiii: 9.\n\n35. Alma xi.\n\n36. Alma xi: 9.\n\n37. Rev. viii: 80. What means the scripture here: \"The Lamb slain from\nthe foundations of the world\"--if it does not mean that the Savior's\nmission and work of atonement, and the mode of it, were known before\nthe foundation of the world?\n\n38. \"Hedonism is the form of eudemonism that regards pleasure (including\navoidance of pain) as the only conceivable object in life, and teaches\nthat as between the lower pleasures of sense and the higher enjoyments\nof reason, or satisfied self-respect, there is no difference except\nin degree, duration, and hedonic value of the experience, there being\nin strictness, no such thing as ethical or moral value.\"--Standard\nDictionary.\n\n39. In Cicero's description of the Epicurean conception of the gods\nhe says: \"That which is truly happy cannot be burdened with any\nlabor itself, nor can it impose any labor on another, nor can it be\ninfluenced by resentment or favor, because things which are liable to\nsuch failings must be weak and frail. * * * Their life [i. e., of the\ngods] is most happy and the most abounding with all kinds of blessings\nwhich can be conceived. They do nothing. They are embarrassed with no\nbusiness; nor do they perform any work. They rejoice in the possession\nof their own wisdom and virtue. They are satisfied that they shall ever\nenjoy the fulness of eternal pleasure. * * * Nothing can be happy that\nis not at ease.\" (Tusculan Disputations, The Nature of the Gods.)\n\n40. II. Nephi ii: 23.\n\n41. I. John iii: 4.\n\n42. Pearl of Great Price, Book of Moses, ch. i: 39.\n\n43. Or \"the soul;\" for, in the revelations of God in this last\ndispensation, the spirit and the body are called the \"soul.\"\n\"Through the redemption which is made for you is brought to pass the\nresurrection from the dead. And the spirit and the body is the soul of\nman. And the resurrection from the dead is the redemption of the soul.\"\n(Doc. & Cov. Sec. 88: 14-16.)\n\n44. Alma xxix: 4.\n\n45. II. Nephi. ii: 27.\n\n46. Hibbert Journal, April, 1906, p. 656.\n\n47. Chapter iv.\n\n48. Alma 42. The same subject is treated in II. Nephi ii.\n\n49. Isaiah liii.\n\n50. Doc. & Cov., Sec. xxxviii: 15.\n\n51. II. Nephi ii. It is a pleasure to note that this process of\nreasoning, remarkable as it is, and startling as it is in its\nconclusion, is in harmony with modern thought. Mr. Lester F. Ward,\nwhose works I have already quoted in this chapter, by a closely\nanalogous order of reasoning, reaches the same conclusion. This the\npassage: \"The pleasure of 'doing good' is among the most delicious\nof which the human faculties are capable, and becomes the permanent\nstimulus to thousands of worthy lives. It is usually looked upon as\nthe highest of all motives, and by some as the ultimate goal toward\nwhich all action should aspire. It should first be observed that the\nvery act of doing good presupposes evil, i. e., pain. Doing good is\nnecessarily either increasing pleasure or diminishing pain. Now, if all\ndevoted themselves to doing good, it is maintained that the sufferings\nof the world would be chiefly abolished. Admitting that there are\nsome evils that no human efforts could remove, and supposing that by\nunited altruism all removable evils were done away, there would be\nnothing left for altruists to do. By their own acts they would have\ndeprived themselves of a calling. They must be miserable since the\nonly enjoyment they deemed worthy of experiencing could be no longer\npossible, and this suffering from ennui would be among those which\nlie beyond human power to alleviate. An altruistic act would then\nalone consist in inflicting pain on one's self for the sole purpose\nof affording others an opportunity to derive pleasure from the act of\nrelieving it. I do not put the matter in this light for the purpose\nof discouraging altruism, but simply to show how short sighted most\nethical reasoning is.\"\n\n52. II. Nephi ii.\n\n53. \"Origin and Development of Religious Belief,\" Vol. II., pp. 22, 23.\n\n54. Limits of Religious Thought, Mansel, p. 197.\n\n55. Ibid. pp. 197-8.\n\n56. See Rev. xii: 7. Jude 6.\n\n57. Lest some text-proofer should retort upon me and cite the words\nof Isaiah--\"I make peace and create evil\"--the only text of scripture\nascribing the creation of evil to God--I will anticipate so far as to\nsay that it is quite generally agreed that no reference is made in\nthe words of Isaiah to \"moral evil;\" but to such evils as may come\nas judgments upon people for their correction, such as famine or\ntempest or war; such an \"evil\" as would stand in natural antithesis to\n\"peace,\" which word precedes, \"I create evil,\" in the text--\"I make\npeace and create\"--the opposite to peace, \"The evil of afflictions\nand punishments, but not the evil of sin\" (Catholic Comment on Isaiah\n45:7). Meantime we have the clearest scriptural evidence that moral\nevil is not a product of God's: \"Let no man say when he is tempted,\nI am tempted of God; for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither\ntempteth he any man.\" That is to say, God has nothing to do with the\ncreation of moral evil; \"But every man is tempted when he is drawn\naway of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived,\nit bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth\ndeath.\" (James i: 13-15). \"The evil and the good are necessary\nco-relatives.\" (Sir Oliver Lodge in Hibbert Journal, April, 1906, p.\n657.)\n\n58. I. John iii: 4.\n\n59. Eternalism, Orlando J. Smith, p. 205-6.\n\n60. Scotus Erigena, quoted by Neander, \"Hist. Christian Religion and\nChurch,\" Vol. III. p. 465.\n\n61. Eternalism, pp. 30, 31.\n\n62. II. Nephi ii: 11.\n\n63. II. Nephi ii: 13.\n\n64. Ibid. ii: 14.\n\n65. On such a proposition Dr. Jacob Cooper, of Rutgers College, at\nthe head of an article on \"Theodicy\" (the justification of the divine\nprovidence by the attempt to reconcile the existence of evil with the\ngoodnesss and sovereignty of God), says (August, 1903), \"There must be\nan alternative to any line of conduct, in order to give it a moral\nquality. We have to deal with, not an imaginary, but a real world; not\nwith a state of things wholly different from those by which character\nis developed. If there are to be such qualities as righteousness,\nvirtue, merit, as the result of good action, there must be a condition\nby which these things are possible. And this can only be where there\nis an alternative which may be embraced by a free choice. If the\nwork of man on earth is to build up character, if his experience is\ndisciplinary, by which he constantly becomes better fitted for greater\ngood and a wider sphere of action, then he must have the responsibility\nof choosing for himself a course different from one which appeals to\nthe lower qualities in his nature.\"\n\n66. Doc. & Cov., Sec. xciii: 33, 35.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLI.\n\nINTERNAL EVIDENCES,--THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECY.\n\nI have already, in volume one of the New Witnesses, called attention\nto the value of fulfilled prophecies as evidence of a prophet's being\ndivinely commissioned with a message to the world. [1] It is there\npointed out that fulfilled prophecy has ever been regarded as a species\nof miracle; that the Lord himself refers to it as a test by which true\nprophets may be distinguished from false ones; that, therefore, the\npower to foresee and foretell future events is a power that God has\nreserved to himself and to those whom he especially inspires--hence\nthe power of prophecy is the surest sign of divine inspiration--of\ndivine authority. [2] Consequently it is only necessary here to say that\nsuch evidence is equally strong in support of a book claiming a divine\norigin; provided, of course, that it contains prophecies by which it\nmay be tested. The Book of Mormon contains such prophecies. Here it\nis necessary to explain, however, that many of the prophetic parts of\nthe Book of Mormon are not available as such a test, for the reason\nthat very many of its prophecies relate to matters that had their\nfulfillment in ancient times. For example: the Jaredites, who preceded\nthe Nephites in occupying North America, were told by their prophets\nthat except they repented the Lord would bring another people, as he\nhad their fathers, to occupy the land in their stead. The Jaredites\ndid not repent; and in due time the colony of Lehi was brought to\nAmerica much as the original Jaredite colony had been; and thus the\nprophecy was fulfilled; but such is the nature of the prophecy and its\nfulfillment that it affords us no means by which we can test the divine\ninspiration of the book containing it, the prediction and the account\nof its fulfillment being found within the book itself; and we are in\npossession of no outside means independent of the Book of Mormon by\nwhich to test this prophecy or its fulfillment. Of like nature is the\nprediction that Ether made to Coriantumr, to the effect that except he\nrepented his people should be destroyed and he alone should survive\nthem, but only to see another people come upon the goodly land to\npossess it. [3] All this came to pass in due time [4]--since Coriantumr\ndid not repent; but this affords us no means by which we may test the\nprophetic claims of the book containing such a prophecy, because both\nprophecy and the account of its fulfillment are within the book itself.\nSo also with the prediction concerning the advent of the Messiah on\nthe American continent; the signs at his birth and death and his\nministry, all of which events were foretold in great clearness to the\nNephites; but these like the other prophecies alluded to, are of such\na nature that they afford us no means of testing the prophetic claims\nof the book. Only those prophecies in the Book of Mormon which have\nhad their fulfillment since the book was published, or that are yet to\nbe fulfilled, are available--at least they are the only ones that will\nappeal to unbelievers--as evidence of the book's claims to a divine\nauthenticity. Of these, fortunately, there are enough for a test such\nas is proposed; a test, which as it is among the most crucial that\ncan be applied, so also is it among the most valuable of the internal\nevidences of the book's divine origin.\n\nHere the reader should be reminded [5] that several conditions\nshould exist respecting prophecies to be used as evidence of divine\ninspiration either in book or prophet: first, that prediction antedates\nthe events which fulfill it; second, that the events must be of a\nnature that no merely human foresight, or judgment, unaided by divine\ninspiration or revelation, could have foretold them; third, the events\nthat fulfill the prophecy must be of a nature that they cannot be\nbrought about by the natural powers of the prophet himself, or agencies\nunder his control. Such conditions unquestionably prevail in respect of\nall the prophecies here adduced in evidence.\n\nI begin by reference to two prophetic passages in which the Holy\nGhost must necessarily be the agency through which the fulfillment is\nrealized. I start with these because it must be evident that if the\npredictions are fulfilled through the agency of the Holy Ghost there\ncan be no deception charged or doubt remain either of the genuineness\nof the prophecies or of the reality of their fulfillment.\n\nI.\n\n_A Testimony Shall be Given by the Holy Ghost._\n\nFirst, then, the prophecy that a testimony to the truth of the Book\nof Mormon shall be given by the Holy Ghost. In closing up the Nephite\nrecord which had been given into his charge by his father Mormon,\nMoroni in a final word to those to whom the work in after ages would\ncome, says:\n\n And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye\n would ask God, the eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these\n things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with\n real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of\n them unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost; and by the power of\n the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things. [6]\n\nI do not hesitate to pronounce this one of the boldest prophecies of\nHoly Writ, and certainly one which no imposter would dare place in\na book he was palming off upon the world as a revelation from God,\nsince it affords such immediate means of testing the truth of his\npretentions. It is the same character of test as that boldly supplied\nby the Son of God himself for testing the truth of the whole Christian\nscheme when he said:\n\n My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do\n his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God or\n whether I speak of myself. [7]\n\nThere can be no question as to the prophetic character of the passage\nfrom the Book of Mormon--When you receive this record, ask God in\nthe name of Christ, if it be true, and he will manifest the truth of\nit unto you by the power of the Holy Ghost. The only question to be\nconsidered after this is, has the prophecy of a promised testimony\nbeen fulfilled. Hundreds of thousands are ready to answer in the\naffirmative; scores of thousands who have died in the faith have left\non record their testimony that the prophecy has been fulfilled in their\nexperience; and back of the testimony of these thousands is their\nlife of sacrifice, toil, suffering; together with the contumely and\npersecution which they have endured for that testimony. Some of the\nwitnesses to the fulfillment of this prophecy have even sealed their\ntestimony with their blood--can evidence of a higher or more solemn\ncharacter be pointed to in attestation of any truth? [8]\n\nIn passing it may be well to call attention to the fact that the Book\nof Mormon in this prophetic promise that its truth shall be made known\nby the power of the Holy Ghost, as also its assertion \"that by the\npower of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things\"--hits\nupon a great general, spiritual truth, viz., that the Holy Ghost is\nGod's especial witness of revealed truth. It was the Holy Ghost in its\nbeautiful sign of a dove that bore witness to John that the peasant\nNazarene was indeed the Christ. [9] Paul says that \"no man speaking by\nthe Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed, and that no man can say that\nJesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost.\" [10] John represents Jesus as\nsaying, \"But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from\nthe Father, even the Spirit of Truth, which proceedeth from the Father,\nhe shall testify of me.\" [11] Again, the Comforter is called the very\n\"Spirit of Truth,\" and of it Jesus says: \"The Comforter, which is the\nHoly Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you\nall things.\" [12] Also: \"When the Spirit of Truth [the Holy Ghost] is\ncome, he will guide you into all truth.\" [13] And so one might continue\nto multiply passages to the same effect, but enough is here set, down\nto establish the point suggested, viz., that the Book of Mormon hits\nupon a very beautiful and universal principle to establish its own\ntruth by a Divine Witness, viz., the Holy Ghost. Observe also that this\ngreat doctrine is not introduced by way of argument nor as a deduction.\nIt is mentioned, one might say, in a purely incidental manner. Nothing\nespecially is made of it by Moroni who sets it down. No appeal is made\nto its strength or reasonableness. One feels that it is the statement\nof a great truth purely as a matter of fact that has been verified in\nthe experience of Moroni, without any special consciousness of how it\ninterlocks with and is supported by all the scriptures that treat of\nthe same subject. On the theory of the Book of Mormon not being what it\nclaims to be, but regarding it for a moment as the work of \"imposters,\"\nI ask the upholders of that theory this question: How comes it that in\nspeaking of the chief source of evidence for its truth, the \"imposters\"\nhit upon this universal principle by which revealed truths can be\nknown? And, indeed, desiring to cover the whole subject involved in\nthis prophetic promise of a Divine Witness to the truth of the Book of\nMormon, I ask how dare they promise a Divine Witness to an \"imposture\"\nat all?\n\nII.\n\n_\"They Shall Have the Gift and Power of the Holy Ghost_.\"\n\nThe second prophecy to which reference has been made, and which must\nnecessarily be filled through the agency of the Holy Spirit, was\ngiven under these circumstances: The Lord made it known to the first\nNephi that many precious truths of the gospel would be subverted by\nthe wickedness of men-made churches in the last days, but the Lord\ngives a promise that he would manifest himself unto the descendants\nof Nephi, and that they should write many things which he, the Lord,\nwould minister unto them. Things which would be plain and precious:\n\"And after thy seed shall be destroyed and dwindle in unbelief,\" said\nthe Lord, \"behold these things shall be hid up to come forth unto\nthe Gentiles by the gift and power of the Lamb; and in them shall be\nwritten my gospel, saith the Lamb, and my rock and my salvation:\"--\n\n And blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that\n day, for they shall have the gift and power of the Holy Ghost. [14]\n\nIn the presence of this prophecy I stand perplexed, not however for\nwant of material to prove the prophecy true. A volume might be compiled\nof instances from the experiences of Elders who have sought to bring\nforth the Zion of God in the last days, who have clearly worked under\nthe power and influence of the Holy Ghost; but this is out of the\nquestion here. All that can be done is to select instances of a typical\ncharacter that will illustrate what is meant by the prophecy, and also\nprove its fulfillment. I shall select these quite at random, beginning\nwith some related by the late President Wilford Woodruff, describing\nthe circumstances under which he first heard of Mormonism, 1833.\n\n The whisperings of the Spirit of the Lord for a space of three\n years taught me that the Lord was about to set up his Church and\n Kingdom in the earth in the last days, in fulfillment of promises\n made by ancient prophets, and apostles, who spoke as they were\n moved upon by the inspiration of Almighty God. While in this state\n of mind I went with my brother Azmon to Richland, Oswego county,\n New York. We bought a farm and commenced business. In December,\n 1833, two Mormon Elders, viz., Ezra Pulsipher and Elijah Cheney,\n came into our town and stopped at our house. Elder Pulsipher said\n he was commanded by the spirit of the Lord to go into the north\n country, and he and Elder Cheney had walked from Favins, via\n Syracuse, nearly sixty miles, through deep snows, and our house was\n the first place he felt impelled to stop at. He appointed a meeting\n at the school house which I attended, and on hearing him preach I\n felt that his sermon was the first gospel sermon I had ever heard\n in my life. I invited these Elders home and spent the night in\n conversation and in reading the Book of Mormon. I was thoroughly\n convinced it was a true record of the word of God. My brother Azmon\n and myself offered ourselves for baptism, and on the thirty-first\n day of December, 1833, Elder Pulsipher went with us to the creek\n and baptized us.\n\nThe circumstances under which he was called to the ministry he gives as\nfollows:\n\n I was still holding the office of a Teacher, and knowing for myself\n that the fulness of the Gospel of Christ, which God had revealed\n to Joseph Smith, was true, I had a great desire to preach it to\n the inhabitants of the earth, but as a Teacher I had no authority\n to preach the gospel to the world. I went into the forest near\n Lyman Wight's [in Daviess county, Missouri, to which place Brother\n Woodruff had meantime removed] one Sunday morning, aside from the\n abodes of men, and made my desire known unto the Lord. I prayed\n that the Lord would open my way and give me the privilege of\n preaching the gospel. I did not make my request expecting any honor\n from man, for I knew that the preaching of the gospel was attended\n with hard labor and persecution. While I was praying, the Spirit\n of the Lord rested upon me, and testified to me that my prayer was\n heard, and that my request would be granted. I arose to my feet\n and walked some three hundred yards into a broad road, rejoicing.\n As I came into the road I saw Judge Elias Higbee standing before\n me. As I walked up to him he said, \"Wilford, the Lord has revealed\n to me that it is your duty to go into the vineyard of the Lord and\n preach the gospel.\" I told him if that was the will of the Lord I\n was ready to go. I did not tell him that I had been praying for\n that privilege. I had been boarding at Lyman Wight's with Judge\n Higbee for months, and it was the first time he had ever named such\n a thing to me.\n\nSoon after this Elder Woodruff was ordained a Priest, and sent on a\nmission to Arkansas and Tennessee.\n\nDuring the ministry of Elder Woodruff in England, after he had become\nan Apostle in the Church, he records the following item of his\nexperience, which was published by him in a little work called \"Leaves\nfrom My Journal:\"\n\n March 1st, 1840, was my birthday [anniversary], when I was\n thirty-three years of age. It being Sunday, I preached twice\n through the day to a large assembly in the City Hall, in the town\n of Hanley, and administered the sacrament unto the Saints. In\n the evening I again met with a large assembly of the Saints and\n strangers, and while singing the first hymn the Spirit of the\n Lord rested upon me, and the voice of God said to me: \"This is\n the last meeting that you will hold with people for many days.\"\n I was astonished at this, as I had many appointments out in that\n district. When I arose to speak to the people, I told them that it\n was the last meeting I should hold with them for many days. They\n were as much astonished as I was. At the close of the meeting four\n persons came forward for baptism, and we went down into the water\n and baptized them. In the morning I went in secret before the Lord,\n and asked him what his will was concerning me. The answer I got\n was, that I should go to the south, for the Lord had a great work\n for me to perform there, as many souls were awaiting for the word\n of the Lord. [15]\n\nObedient to the instructions of the Spirit, Elder Woodruff went south\ninto Herefordshire, where he \"found a society called 'United Brethren,'\nnumbering about six hundred members and fifty preachers. They were\nprepared for the reception of the Gospel, so that upon hearing Elder\nWoodruff's testimony, they came forward and in thirty days he baptized\none hundred and sixty persons, forty-eight of whom were preachers,\nincluding their presiding Elder, Thomas Kingston. Three clerks of\nthe Church of England were sent by their ministers to see what he\nwas doing, and he baptized them; also a constable who came to arrest\nhim.\" [16] Subsequently the field of labor widened and through the\nblessings of God Elder Woodruff was enabled in the course of eight\nmonths to bring into the Church over eight hundred souls, including all\nof the six hundred United Brethren; also some two hundred preachers of\nvarious denominations. [17]\n\nElder Woodruff also relates the following incident, among many others,\nas illustrating the operations of the Spirit of the Lord upon his mind\nfor his bodily preservation:\n\n In 1848, after my return to Winter Quarters from our pioneer\n journey, I was appointed by the Presidency of the Church to take my\n family and go to Boston to gather up the remnant of the Latter-day\n Saints and lead them to the valleys of the mountains. While on my\n way east I put my carriage into the yard of one of the brethren in\n Indiana, and Brother Orson Hyde set his wagon by the side of mine,\n and not more than two feet from it. Dominicus Carter, of Provo,\n and my wife and four children were with me. My wife, one child and\n I went to bed in the carriage, the rest sleeping in the house. I\n had been in bed but a short time when a voice said to me: \"Get\n up, and move your carriage.\" It was not thunder, lightning nor an\n earthquake, but the still, small voice of the Spirit of God--the\n Holy Ghost. I told my wife I must get up and move my carriage.\n She asked, \"What for?\" I told her I did not know, only the Spirit\n told me to do it. I got up and moved my carriage several rods, and\n set it by the side of the house. As I was returning to bed the\n same Spirit said to me, \"Go and move your mules away from that oak\n tree,\" which was about one hundred yards, north of our carriage. I\n moved them to a young hickory grove and tied them up. I then went\n to bed. In thirty minutes a whirlwind caught the tree to which my\n mules had been fastened, broke it off near the ground, and carried\n it one hundred yards, sweeping away two fences in its course, and\n laid it prostrate through that yard where my carriage stood, and\n the top limbs hit my carriage as it was. In the morning I measured\n the trunk of the tree which fell where my carriage had stood, and\n found it five feet in diameter. It came within a foot of Brother\n Hyde's wagon, but did not touch it. Thus, by obeying the revelation\n of the Spirit of God to me I saved my life and the lives of my wife\n and child, as well as my animals. In the morning I went on my way\n rejoicing. [18]\n\nThe following is a statement from the biography of Elder Heber C.\nKimball, one of the members of the first quorum of the Twelve in this\nlatter-day dispensation, and afterwards for some years Counselor to\nPresident Brigham Young, speaking of the time when he first heard the\ngospel preached, in 1831:\n\n The glorious news of a restored gospel and a living priesthood,\n commissioned of and communicating with the heavens; the promise\n of the Holy Ghost, with signs following the believer, as in days\n of old; the wondrous declaration of angels revisiting the earth,\n breaking the silence of ages, bringing messages from another\n world--all this fell upon the heart of this God-fearing man, and\n on the hearts of his friends and companions, like dew upon thirsty\n ground. As the voice of a familiar spirit, it seemed an echo from\n the far past--something they had known before. Both Heber [C.\n Kimball] and Brigham [Young] received the word gladly, and were\n impelled to testify of its divinity. Then the power of God fell\n upon them. \"On one occasion,\" says Heber, \"Father John Young,\n Brigham Young, Joseph Young and myself had come together to get up\n some wood for Phineas H. Young. While we were thus engaged we were\n pondering upon those things which had been told us by the Elders,\n and upon the Saints gathering to Zion, when the glory of God shone\n upon us, and we saw the gathering of the Saints to Zion, and the\n glory that would rest upon them; and many more things connected\n with the great event, such as the sufferings and persecutions that\n would come upon the people of God, and the calamities and judgments\n that would come upon the world.\" [19]\n\nThe year 1848 in Utah--the year following the advent of the pioneers\ninto Salt Lake Valley--was a very trying one. The people were\nthreatened with famine, and it was only by the exercise of the most\nrigid economy and putting the people on scant rations that they could\nhope to make the meager supplies of provisions last until the next\nharvest. The settlers were but half clad as well as half fed, and such\nclothing as they had was in tatters, and in many cases consisted of the\nskins of wild animals. It was in the midst of these conditions that\nHeber C. Kimball in a congregation of the saints made the following\nremarkable prophecy:\n\n It will be but a little while, brethren, before you shall have food\n and raiment in abundance, and shall buy it cheaper than it can be\n bought in the cities of the United States.\n\n\"I do not believe a word of it,\" said Elder Charles C. Rich, a member\nof the Council of the Apostles; and perhaps nine-tenths of those who\nhad heard the astounding declaration were of the same opinion. Even\nthe prophet Heber himself was heard to say \"that he was afraid he had\nmissed it this time.\" His biographer, however, relates the fulfillment\nof the prophecy in the following passage:\n\n The occasion for the fulfillment of this remarkable prediction\n was the unexpected advent of the gold-hunters, on their way to\n California. The discovery of gold in that land had set on fire, as\n it were, the civilized world, and hundreds of richly laden trains\n now began pouring across the continent on their way to the new\n Eldorado. Salt Lake Valley became the resting-place, or \"halfway\n house\" of the nation, and before the Saints had had time to recover\n from their surprise at Heber's temerity in making such a prophecy,\n the still more wonderful fulfillment was brought to their very\n doors. The gold-hunters were actuated by but one desire: to reach\n the Pacific Coast; the thirst for mammon having absorbed, for the\n time, all other sentiments and desires. Impatient at their slow\n progress, in order to lighten their loads, they threw away or \"sold\n for a song\" the valuable merchandise with which they had stored\n their wagons to cross the plains. Their choice, blooded, though\n now jaded stock, they eagerly exchanged for the fresh mules and\n horses of the pioneers, and bartered off, at almost any sacrifice,\n dry goods, groceries, provisions, tools, clothing, etc., for the\n most primitive outfits, with barely enough provisions to enable\n them to reach their journey's end. Thus, as the Prophet Heber had\n predicted, \"States goods\" were actually sold in the streets of\n Great Salt Lake City cheaper than they could have been purchased in\n the City of New York. [20]\n\nIt has already been pointed out that the gift of prophecy, involving as\nit does the power to foresee future events, is peculiarly the power of\nGod's inspired servants. It is the direct influence of the Holy Ghost\nupon the human mind that enables men to foretell future events. \"How\nbe it when he, the Spirit of Truth, is come [i. e. the Holy Ghost], he\nwill guide you unto all truth. * * * * * * And he will show you things\nto come.\" [21]\n\nSo that man possessed of the spirit of prophecy as this man, Elder\nHeber C. Kimball was possessed of it, has, in fulfillment of God's\npromise to his servants in the last days, the \"gift and power of the\nHoly Ghost.\"\n\nThe late Elder George Q. Cannon relates the following as his experience\nwhen on a mission to the Hawaiian Islands. The company of missionaries\nof which he was a member had become disheartened in their labors, but\nElder Cannon had resolved to stay there, \"master the language and warn\nthe people of those Islands if he had to do it alone.\" And now his own\naccount of the incident:\n\n My desire to learn to speak [the Hawaiian language] was very\n strong; it was present with me night and day, and I never permitted\n an opportunity of talking with the natives to pass without\n improving it. I also tried to exercise faith before the Lord to\n obtain the gift of talking and understanding the language. One\n evening, while sitting on the mat conversing with some neighbors\n who had dropped in, I felt an uncommonly great desire to understand\n what they said. All at once I felt a peculiar sensation in my ears;\n I jumped to my feet, with my hands at the side of my head, and\n exclaimed to Elders Bigler and Keeler who sat at the table, that\n I believed I had received the gift of interpretation! And it was\n so. From that time forward I had but little, if any, difficulty in\n understanding what the people said. I might not be able at once to\n separate every word which they spoke from every other word in the\n sentence; but I could tell the general meaning of the whole. This\n was a great aid to me in learning to speak the language, and I felt\n very thankful for this gift from the Lord. [22]\n\nA similar instance is related by President Joseph F. Smith, also\nconnected with the Hawaiian mission, to which he was called in 1854.\nThe following is his own narrative:\n\n I * * * was set apart * * * under the hands of Parley P. Pratt and\n Orson Hyde, Parley being mouth. He declared that I should obtain a\n knowledge of the Hawaiian language \"by the gift of God, as well as\n by study.\" Up to this time my schooling had been extremely limited.\n My mother taught me to read and write, by the camp fires, and\n subsequently by the greater luxury of the primeval tallow-candle in\n the covered wagon and the old log cabin, 10x12 feet in size, when\n first the soles of our feet found rest, after the weary months of\n travel across the plains. When I say, therefore, that within four\n months after my arrival on the Sandwich Islands--two weeks of which\n time were consumed by the most severe sickness I had ever known--I\n was prepared to enter upon the duties of my ministry, and did so\n with a native companion, with whom I made a tour of the Island of\n Maui, visiting, holding meetings, blessing children, administering\n the sacrament, etc., all in the Hawaiian language, it may be\n inferred that Parley's promise upon my head was literally fulfilled.\n\nAs remarked at the outset of this subdivision it would be no difficult\nmatter to compile a volume of incidents of such manifestations of\nthe spirit and power of God from the experiences of Elders of the\nChurch in illustration of, and in proof of, this Book of Mormon\nprophetic-promise; but the foregoing must be relied upon as typical\nincidents, and I shall trust to them also to indicate what the force\nwould be of a very large volume of such evidence, which, I am sure,\nfrom personal experience, from observation and knowledge of our Church\nannals, could be compiled.\n\nI shall ask the reader, however, to consider in this connection,\nthe very great body of religious truth which is developed in the\nrevelations given in these latter days to the Church of Christ (chiefly\ncompiled in the book called The Doctrine and Covenants), in which\n\"Mormonism,\" so called, had its origin, and all of which are the result\nof the inspired visions to Joseph Smith, or due to the operations of\nthe Holy Spirit upon the mind of that prophet. I therefore invoke this\nbody of doctrine as demonstrating the truth of the prophecy-promise--\n\n Blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that\n day, for they shall have the gift and power of the Holy Ghost.\n\nI invoke in its support the chapter on \"the Manner of the Prophet's\nTeaching\" in volume I of the New Witnesses; [23] I invoke the chapter\non \"Miracles--the Evidence of Fulfilled Promises;\" [24] also the\nchapters on \"The Evidence of Prophecy;\" [25] as also the chapter on \"The\nChurch Founded by Joseph Smith a Monument to His Inspiration;\" [26]\nlet all this in the mind of the reader, be brought in at this point\nand made part of the argument in support of the fulfillment of the\nprophecy that those who seek to bring forth the Zion of God in the\nlast days, shall have the gift and power of the Holy Ghost; and he\nwill begin to see how invincibly strong the argument must be upon this\nhead. In addition to all this, however, I also call attention to the\nevidence of inspiration that may be found in the operation of Church\nleaders since the martyrdom of the first Prophet of the Church. The\nevidence of inspiration in Brigham Young and his associates in the\nmatter of conducting that marvelous Exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois,\nthrough a thousand miles of wilderness to the Rocky Mountains. The\nevidence of Divine inspiration manifested also in the establishment of\nsettlements in the inter-Rocky Mountain region--which in time grew into\ncommonwealths of the American Union. The evident inspiration in the\npolicies adopted by these leaders--all essential to the preservation of\nthe Saints in their organized capacity--necessary to the preservation\nof the Church of Christ, and now too universally recognized and\napplauded to need particularization. Men assign these achievements\nto the genius of Brigham Young; they establish his reputation in the\neyes of the world as a leader of men. He is recognized as among the\nmost remarkable men of the age, and is ranked as being among the first\nAmericans. But to the Saints, these achievements merely establish the\ntruth of one of the predictions of the Book of Mormon, viz.,\n\n Blessed are they who shall seek to bring forth my Zion at that\n day, for they shall have the gift and power of the Holy Ghost.\n\nIII.\n\n_Three Witnesses Shall Behold the Book \"By the Gift and Power of God_.\"\n\nIn the writings of the first Nephi the following prediction with\nreference to Three Witnesses who should testify to the truth of the\nBook of Mormon is found:\n\n Wherefore, at that day when the book shall be delivered unto the\n man of whom I have spoken, the book shall be hid from the eyes of\n the world, that the eyes of none shall behold it save it be that\n Three Witnesses shall behold it, by the power of God, besides him\n to whom the book shall be delivered; and they shall testify to the\n truth of the book and the things therein. And there is none other\n which shall view it, save it be a few, according to the will of\n God, to bear testimony of his word unto the children of men. [27]\n\nA similiar prediction is made in Ether:\n\n And unto three shall they [the Nephite plates] be shown by the\n power of God; wherefore they shall known of a surety that these\n things are true. [28]\n\nOf course I am prepared to hear it said that it would be an easy matter\nfor an imposter to make such a prophecy as this with reference to a\nwork which he was bringing forth; but would it be within the power of\nan imposter to cause an angel to come from heaven and stand before\nthese Witnesses in the broad light of day and exhibit the Nephite\nplates and the Urim and Thummim? Could he cause the glory of God more\nbrilliant than the light of the sun at noon-day to shine about them?\nCould he cause the voice of God to be heard from the midst of the glory\nsaying that the work was true, the translation correct, and commanding\nthese witnesses to bear testimony to the world of its truth? Certainly\nall this would be beyond the power of an imposter to achieve however\ncunning he might be. Yet this is what the Three Witnesses declare was\ndone. Of course it could still be urged that the Three Witnesses were\nin collusion with the Prophet, but all probabilities of that matter\nhave been considered at great length in volume II., chapters fourteen\nto twenty-two inclusive, and the weight of evidence is against any such\ntheory, and therefore their testimony bears witness to the fulfillment\nof the remarkable prophecy here considered.\n\nIV.\n\n_The Blood of Saints Shall Cry From the Ground to be Avenged When\nthe Book of Mormon Shall Come Forth_.\n\nThe first Nephi, fifth century B. C., writing of the conditions which\nwould obtain when the Nephite record should come forth to the world\nsays:\n\n The things which shall be written out of the book shall be of great\n worth unto the children of men and especially unto our seed, which\n is a remnant of the house of Israel. For it shall come to pass in\n that day, that the churches which are built up, and not unto the\n Lord, when the one shall say unto the other, Behold I, I am the\n Lord's; and the others shall say, I, I am the Lord's. And thus\n shall every one say that hath built up churches, and not unto the\n Lord. And they shall contend one with another; and their priests\n shall contend one with another, and they shall teach with their\n learning, and deny the Holy Ghost, which giveth utterance. And they\n deny the power of God, the Holy One of Israel: and they say unto\n the people, Hearken unto us, and hear ye our precept; for behold\n there is no God today for the Lord and the Redeemer hath done his\n work, and he hath given his power unto men. Behold, hearken ye unto\n my precept; if they shall say, There is a miracle wrought, by the\n hand of the Lord, believe it not; for this day he is not a God of\n miracles; he hath done his work. Yea, and there shall be many which\n shall say, Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it\n shall be well with us. There shall also be many which shall say,\n Eat, drink, and be merry; nevertheless, fear God, he will justify\n in committing a little sin, yea, lie a little, take the advantage\n of one because of his words, dig a pit for thy neighbor; there is\n no harm in this. And do all these things, for tomorrow we die:\n and if it so be that we are guilty, God will beat us with a few\n stripes, and at last we shall be saved in the kingdom of God. Yea,\n and there shall be many which shall teach after this manner, false,\n and vain, and foolish doctrines, and shall be puffed up in their\n hearts, and shall seek deep to hide their counsels from the Lord;\n _and their works shall be in the dark, and the blood of the Saints\n shall cry from the ground against them_. [29]\n\nThis prophecy in substance is repeated by Mormon, including the\nsingular prediction that the Book of Mormon should come forth, \"In a\nday when the blood of the saints shall cry unto the Lord, because of\nsecret combinations and works of darkness.\" [30]\n\nA more vivid description of Christendom in the early part of the 19th\ncentury could scarcely be written than that given in these passages.\nI shall be told, however, that it is a description which even an\nimposter could easily give circumstanced as was Joseph Smith. His\nexperience through announcing his first revelation was sufficient\nto test the manner in which Christendom was prepared to receive an\nalleged new revelation, and he was sufficiently familiar with the\nprevailing \"Christian\" notion that the days of miracles were past,\nto formulate the part of the foregoing arraignment dealing with that\nsubject. He also knew something of the pride and haughtiness of\nChristian sects, and with this knowledge as a foundation it can with\nsome reason be urged that he could easily write the description of\nChristendom found in these quotations from the Book of Mormon. There\nis one item within the prophecy, however, both in the first Nephi's\nwritings and also Mormon's that Joseph Smith could not know except\nthrough the inspiration of God, viz., that \"the blood of the Saints\nshall cry from the ground\" against this corrupted Christendom. The\npeople of the great American Republic, would as soon have been brought\nto believe in the return of the age of miracles as to believe that the\ntime would come when the blood of Saints would cry from their soil to\nthe God of Sabaoth for vengeance against any of them. Had not the day\nof religious persecution, at least within the enlightened republic\nof the new world, forever passed away? Had not the great government\nof the United States, destined to dominate by its influence the\nAmerican continents--had it not been founded upon the broad principles\nof religious and civil freedom? Were not the rights of conscience\nguaranteed by specific provisions both in the national constitution and\nin the state constitutions? Was not America in those days especially\nheralded as the asylum for the oppressed of every land? Was it not the\nboast of our statesmen that a nation had at last been founded where\nreligious freedom was recognized as the chief corner stone in the\ntemple of liberty? How bold indeed must that man be who would--while\nthe people were yet enjoying this very feast of liberty--rise up\nand say that the blood of Saints should cry from American ground to\nGod for vengeance! Yet such is the prediction of these old Nephite\nwriters, whose words were translated into the English language by\nJoseph Smith. And the only question to be considered here is--since\nthe reality of the prophecy cannot be questioned--has the prophecy\nbeen fulfilled? Let the blood of those Saints who were killed and who\ndied from the effects of exposure during the expulsion from Jackson\ncounty, in 1833, answer. [31] Let the blood of David W. Patten, one of\nthe twelve Apostles in this last dispensation, together with the blood\nof young Patrick O'Banion and Gideon Carter, slain at Crooked River,\nMissouri, in 1838, answer. [32] Let the blood of the innocent men, and\nchildren martyred at Haun's Mills, in Missouri, answer; [33] let the\ninnocent blood of all those whose lives were sacrificed at DeWitt and\nin and about Far West and during the expulsion of some twelve thousand\nLatter-day Saints from the state of Missouri in 1839, answer. Let the\ninnocent blood of the Prophet Joseph Smith himself and that of his\nbrother Hyrum slain at Carthage prison, in June, 1844--while under the\nplighted faith of the state of Illinois for their protection--let their\nblood answer. Let the blood of many others that were slain in Nauvoo\nand vicinity during the two years following, and also the martyrdom of\nmany who died from exposure and want in the enforced exodus from Nauvoo\nto the Rocky mountains--the victims of \"Christian\" tolerance--answer.\nLet the blood of Elder Joseph Standing, killed by a mob in the state\nof Georgia, 1879,--answer. Let the blood of Elders John F. Gibbs and\nWilliam Berry who were murdered in Tennessee while in the very act of\nopening a meeting for the preaching of the gospel, answer; as also the\nblood of their two friends, the Condor brothers, who were shot down in\ntheir father's house while trying to protect these Elders from their\nassailants. Let all these instances of martyrdom testify of the truth\nof this prophecy of the Book of Mormon; for these martyrdoms were\nendured for the word of God which it contains, and not for any crime\nalleged against those who suffered. Nay, in nearly all these cases\ncrime was not even alleged.\n\nA singular thing connected with these martyrdoms is the fact that in\nno instance have the perpetrators of these murders been brought to\njustice. Perhaps it is fitting that it should be so. It seems to make\nthe martyrdom more complete; and more fully meets the terms of the\nprophecy since, according to that prophecy, the blood of Saints in the\nday when the Nephite scriptures should be brought to light, was to cry\nunto the Lord from the ground for vengeance, clearly foreshadowing the\nfact that man would not avenge it.\n\nV.\n\n_Because my Word Shall Hiss Forth, Many Shall say \"A Bible! A\nBible_!\"\n\nAnother item of interest in the coming forth of the Book of Mormon is\nthe predicted clamor that should be raised against it. Here follows the\nprophecy--the Lord is speaking to the first Nephi:\n\n Behold, there shall be many at that day when I shall proceed to\n do a marvelous work among them; * * * when I shall remember the\n promises which I have made unto thee, Nephi; * * * that the words\n of your seed shall proceed forth out of my mouth unto your seed;\n and because my words shall hiss forth many of the Gentiles shall\n say, A Bible, A Bible, we have got a Bible, and there cannot be any\n more Bible. [34]\n\nIt is notorious that this cry was raised--and even now is raised at\ntimes--against the Book of Mormon. It was relied upon not only as\nthe chief but also the all-sufficient argument against accepting the\nbook, as is abundantly proved by reference to the arguments of the\nElders in answer to the objections urged against it. [35] For example\nin Orson Pratt's most excellent work, \"Divine Authenticity of the Book\nof Mormon,\" there are such headings as these--and in the body of this\nwork under the respective topics he meets and entirely overthrows all\nsectarian argument that the Book of Mormon ought to be rejected because\nit claims to be a new revelation: \"To Expect More Revelation is not\nUnscriptural;\" \"To Expect More Revelation is not Unreasonable;\" \"More\nRevelation is Indispensably Necessary.\"--(a) for Calling the Officers\nof the Church--(b) To Point out the Duties of the Officers in the\nChurch--(c) To Comfort, Reprove and Teach the Church--(d) To Unfold\nto the Church the Future; \"The Bible and Traditions Without Further\nRevelation an Insufficient Guide.\" From these topics may be gathered\nthe class of objections urged against the Book of Mormon; and as Elder\nPratt so admirably treats that subject, I do not deem it necessary to\nenter into that field, since all may inform themselves how complete\nthe victory of the Elders has been in that controversy by reference to\nElder Pratt's works. I am interested in the matter here only to the\nextent of pointing out the fact that the prophecy that the Book of\nMormon would be met with the cry--\"A Bible, a Bible, we have a Bible\nand there cannot be any more Bible,\" has been fulfilled. [36]\n\nClosely associated with the sectarian notion of the cessation of\nrevelation and miracles is also the idea that the Hebrew scriptures\ncomprised all the records in which God had vouchedsafed a revelation\nto man. That is, the Hebrew volume comprised the whole of sacred\nscripture. In 1829 at the city of Cincinnati, during the very great\ndebate which there took place between Alexander Campbell and Robert\nOwen--an unbeliever in the Bible,--on the Evidences of Christianity,\nthe following very positive question was submitted in writing to Mr.\nCampbell:\n\n Are the books composing the Old and New Testaments the only books\n of divine authority in the world?\n\nTo this question Mr. Campbell gave this very emphatic answer--and up\nto that time at least, I do not hesitate to say that he voiced the\nsentiments of all Christendom; and this was the answer of Mr. Campbell:\n\n \"I answer, emphatically yes.\" [37]\n\nThe \"yes\" Mr. Campbell writes in italics.\n\nThe foreging should be modified by this explanation, viz: all divisions\nof Christendom are not agreed upon all the books that comprise what\nis called the Bible. It is well known that the Catholics regard as\ncanonical some books which the Protestants hold to be apocryphal,\nand in addition to the written word of God, I am mindful that the\ngreat Roman Catholic church adds the unwritten word of God. In other\nwords, the traditions of the church are regarded as the word of God.\nThe Protestants generally accept the books of the English authorized\nversion of the Holy Scriptures, translated in 1611, and known as\nKing James' Translation, pointing out by name those books which were\nregarded as of doubtful origin and which for that reason they call the\napocrypha. The Roman Catholic church accepts the books enumerated in\nwhat is known as the Douay edition of the Bible, of 1609; revised and\ncorrected in 1750. It would therefore be proper to say that each of\nthese great divisions of Christendom would claim that the list of books\ncomprised within the respective editions of the Bible which they accept\nare the only books of divine authority in the world.\n\nThe answer which the Lord in the Book of Mormon is represented as\nmaking to this sectarian view of revelation; as also to this clamor\nagainst the Book of Mormon, is in every way worthy of him:\n\n Thou fool, that shall say, a Bible, we have got a Bible, and we\n need no more Bible. * * * Know ye not that there are more nations\n than one? Know ye not that I, the Lord your God, have created all\n men, and that I remember those who are upon the isles of the sea;\n and that I rule in the heavens above, and in the earth beneath;\n and I bring forth my word unto the children of men, yea, even upon\n all the nations of the earth? Wherefore murmur ye, because that ye\n shall receive more of my word? Know ye not that the testimony of\n two nations is a witness unto you that I am God, that I remember\n one nation like unto another? Wherefore, I speak the same words\n unto one nation like unto another. And when the two nations shall\n run together, the testimony of the two nations shall run together\n also.\n\n And I do this that I may prove unto many that I am the same\n yesterday, today, and forever; and that I speak forth my words\n according to mine own pleasure. And because that I have spoken one\n word, ye need not suppose that I cannot speak another; for my work\n is not yet finished; neither shall it be, until the end of man;\n neither from that time henceforth and forever. Wherefore, because\n that ye have a Bible, ye need not suppose that it contains all my\n words; neither need ye suppose that I have not caused more to be\n written; for I command all men, both in the east and in the west,\n and in the north and in the south, and in the islands of the sea,\n that they shall write the words which I speak unto them: for out\n of the books which shall be written, I will judge the world, every\n man according to his works, according to that which is written. For\n behold, I shall speak unto the Jews, and they shall write it; and\n I shall also speak unto the Nephites, and they shall write it; and\n I shall also speak unto the other tribes of the house of Israel,\n which I have led away, and they shall write it; and I shall also\n speak unto all nations of the earth, and they shall write it. And\n it shall come to pass that the Jews shall have the words of the\n Nephites, and the Nephites shall have the words of the Jews; and\n the Nephites and the Jews shall have the words of the lost tribes\n of Israel; and the lost tribes of Israel shall have the words of\n the Nephites and the Jews. And it shall come to pass that my people\n which are of the house of Israel shall be gathered home unto the\n lands of their possession; and my word also shall be gathered in\n one. [38]\n\nI say this answer is worthy of God to utter, and worthy of man to heed.\nIt lifts us entirely out of narrow, sectarian views of revelation,\nand breathes a universal spirit of interest and love for mankind. It\ncarries within itself the evidence of a divine inspiration. Its very\nworthiness of God is a testimony of its truth. How petty and unworthy\nin contrast with it is that sectarian Christian view that would limit\nGod's revealed word to the few books contained in the Bible! How\npartial and unjust does that same sectarian view of revelation make\nGod appear! If there is one doctrine more emphasized in the teachings\nof the New Testament that another, it is that God is no respecter\nof persons; \"but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh\nrighteousness, is accepted with him.\" [39] With this fact in mind let us\ntest the two conceptions of God's dealings with man in the matter of\nrevelation. The narrow, sectarian, \"Christian\" view, and the Book of\nMormon view; and this for the purpose of ascertaining which would be\nthe more worthy of God, which most like him.\n\nWe have learned in the previous chapters of this work that America\nwas inhabited by highly civilized races before the discovery of it by\nEuropeans; that in the western world there flourished civilizations\nequal to those of the same period in the eastern hemisphere; cities\nthat, judging from their ruins, equalled in greatness Tyre and Sidon\nand Nineveh and Babylon; and empires that rivalled in power and extent,\nEgypt, Persia and Macedonia. Millions of God's children through\nsuccessive generations lived in them and died and were buried. The\nsectarian view of revelation would ask us to believe that God sent\nprophets and holy men to teach and instruct his children in the eastern\nhemisphere; that he revealed to them something of his own character\nand attributes; that by revelation direct from heaven, accompanied\nby demonstrations of his own marvelous power, he made known to them\nsomething of the object of their existence, and gave them the hope of\neternal life; that in the meridian of time he sent his Only Begotten\nSon among them, in order that life and immortality might be more\nclearly brought to light; that the matchless Son of God by example as\nwell as by precept taught the inhabitants of the old world the way of\nlife--the divine will--in a word, taught the Gospel--organized a Church\nto perpetuate his doctrines--commissioned apostles and others to carry\non the work of salvation; and thus made ample provisions for carrying\nthe Gospel throughout Asia, Africa and Europe--for the Church of\nChrist in the East was organized where these natural divisions of the\nold world center--yet, while the Lord made all these efforts for the\ninstruction and salvation of his children in the eastern hemisphere,\nthis sectarian idea that the Bible contains all the revelation God has\never given would compel us to believe that he altogether neglected\nhis children of the western world! No prophet was sent to them with a\nmessage to explain the mystery of existence, to let them know whence\ntheir origin, the object of their existence, or bid them indulge the\npleasing hope of immortality. No angel from the bright worlds on high\ncame to reveal the splendor of heaven, or show the path which leads\nto endless bliss; no messenger came even from the wilderness crying\nrepentance to them, and making the announcement that the kingdom of\nheaven was at hand; no Messiah of gentle mien, yet of serene majesty,\ntaught them the mystery of the divine love which works out man's\nredemption, healed their sick, raised their dead, or even so much\nas blessed their children. No; according to the sectarian Christian\ntheory of the extent of revelation, God neglected them entirely--left\nthem to perish in darkness and ignorance and unbelief; unknowing and\nunknown! Is such a view as this worthy of God? Does it comport with\nthe attributes of impartial love towards his children? Is it not a\ntravesty upon the qualities of justice and mercy as we believe those\nqualities to exist in God? Does it not smack rather of man's bigotry\nand narrowness, and above all, of human ignorance?\n\nTurn now to the Book of Mormon theory of revelation as set forth in the\nwords just quoted from the writings of the first Nephi, and couple with\nthem the words of another Nephite prophet:\n\n Behold, the Lord doth grant upon all nations, of their own nation\n and tongue, to teach his word; yea, in wisdom, all that he seeth\n fit that they should have; therefore we see that the Lord doth\n counsel in wisdom, according to that which is just and true.\n\nWhat a contrast in the sectarian and Book of Mormon view of revelation!\nThe one so narrow, and so contracted to limits unworthy of God! The\nother so world-embracing, noble, generous, and worthy of God! The one\nso exclusive as to limit divine inspiration to the prophets of the\nHebrew race; the other so broad as to include all the great teachers of\nmankind--\n\n \"The Bactrian, Samian Sage, and all who taught the right.\"\n\nIn these Book of Mormon passages we have the grandest conception\nrespecting God's dispensations of his word found in human speech. They\nrecognize God's obligation--born of his Fatherhood and love--to make\nknown his word and will in some form to all nations and races of men.\nThey recognize as constituting a noble brotherhood of God-inspired\nmen, the sages of all races and ages, who have taught their fellow men\nbetter things than they knew before. The wise men among Assyrians and\nEgyptians as well as the shepherd-patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,\nare to be regarded as inspired of God. Jethro, the priest of Midian,\nthough not of Israel, as well as Moses, possessed divine wisdom; and\neven counseled the Hebrew prophet-prince, to the latter's advantage.\nThe sages of Greece, from Thales to Socrates, Plato and Aristotle,\nbelong to the same glorious band. So also the great teacher of India,\nSiddhartha, Buddah--the enlightened; Kongfutse, the teacher of God's\nchildren in China; Mohammed, the prophet of Arabia; the teachers of\nphilosophy and reformers of Europe--some professed Christians, some\nnot, some even making war upon apostate Christendom; but I include all\nthose within the honored band of the God-inspired who have come with\nsome measure of the truth to bless mankind, to alleviate somewhat the\nhard conditions in which men struggle, and who have raised the thoughts\nand hopes of man to higher and better things. \"The path of sensuality\nand darkness,\" says a profound modern teacher of moral philosophy, \"is\nthat which most men tread; a few have been led along the upward path;\na few in all countries and generations have been wisdom-seekers or\nseekers of God; they have been so because the Divine Word of wisdom\nhas looked upon them, choosing them for the knowledge and service of\nhimself.\" [40] Not that these teachers, sages, prophets have each come\nwith a fullness of truth; or that they possessed the gospel of Jesus\nChrist with divine authority to administer its sacred ordinances; not\nso. Such truths as they possessed were often fragmentary, and mingled\nwith them was much that was human, hence imperfect, and confusing.\nBut so much of truth as they possessed was God-given, and they but\ninstruments of God to set it free that the truth might bless mankind.\nOur Book of Mormon passages only require us to believe concerning this\nworld-band of inspired teachers, that they come with that measure of\nGod's word which in the divine wisdom it is fitting that men among whom\nthey are called to labor should receive; and this doctrine in relation\nto the dispensation of God's word to man is so generous and noble\nin its scope, so far above the narrow, sectarian conceptions of the\nage and vicinity where the Book of Mormon was brought forth, that it\nconstitutes a striking evidence in support of its claims.\n\nVI.\n\nTHE LOST BOOKS OF THE BIBLE.\n\nClosely connected with this matter of the world's clamor against the\nBook of Mormon, and their protestations in favor of the Bible, is\nthe declaration of I Nephi as to the treatment of that same Bible by\nChristendom. In one of the great visions granted to this Nephi, and\nexpounded by an angel, he beholds a book, the Bible, go forth from the\nJews to the Gentiles. Now Nephi's account of the matter:\n\n And the angel of the Lord said unto me, Thou hast beheld that the\n book proceeded forth from the mouth of a Jew; and when it proceeded\n forth from the mouth of a Jew, it contained the plainness of the\n gospel of the Lord, of whom the twelve apostles bear record; and\n they bear record according to the truth which is in the Lamb of\n God; wherefore, these things go forth from the Jews in purity, unto\n the Gentiles, according to the truth which is in God; and after\n they go forth by the hand of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, from\n the Jews unto the Gentiles, thou seest the foundation of a great\n and abominable church, which is most abominable above all other\n churches; for behold, they have taken away from the gospel of the\n Lamb many parts which are plain and most precious; and also many\n covenants of the Lord have they taken away; and all this have they\n done that they might pervert the right ways of the Lord; that\n they might blind the eyes and harden the hearts of the children\n of men; wherefore, thou seest that after the book hath gone forth\n through the hands of the great and abominable church, that there\n are many plain and precious things taken away from the book, which\n is the book of the Lamb of God: and after these plain and precious\n things were taken away, it goeth forth unto all the nations of the\n Gentiles, yea, even across the many waters which thou hast seen\n with the Gentiles which have gone forth out of captivity: thou\n seest because of the many plain and precious things which have been\n taken out of the book, which were plain unto the understanding of\n the children of men, according to the plainness which is in the\n Lamb of God; because of these things which are taken away out of\n the gospel of the Lamb, an exceeding great many do stumble, yea,\n insomuch that Satan hath great power over them. [41]\n\nIt is disputed, by some, that any such thing as here described has\ntaken place with reference to the Bible, and labored arguments are made\nto prove that contention. [42]\n\nInto that contention it is not necessary to enter at length. It will be\nsufficient to show that there are many books referred to in the several\nbooks comprising the Old and New Testaments that are not to be found in\nthat collection. Books that are spoken of as containing revelations;\nbooks written by prophets and apostles, and evidently as much entitled\nto a place in the canon of scriptures as those that are now there. What\nhas become of them? Who is responsible for their absence? Pointing\nto the excellence of those books we have is no compensation for the\nabsence of those we have not. So long as the books of scripture we\nhold in reverence, as containing the word of God, speak of other books\nand epistles that contained revelations from the Spirit of God that\nare not in the Bible, it is useless to contend that our collection of\nsacred books, called the Bible, contains the whole word of God. These\nabsent books may, as Nephi declares they do, contain many precious and\nplain parts of God's truth, which would have preserved the Christian\nworld from many of the doctrinal errors into which it has been plunged\nfor want of knowledge. Again I ask, who is responsible for the absence\nof these books? Nephi declares that \"a great and abominable church\"\nis responsible for their absence, that that church took them away. I\ndo not believe that Nephi here had reference to any one of the many\ndivisions of Christendom. Nephi, in fact, recognized the existence of\ntwo churches only. One he styles, \"the church of the Lamb of God;\" and\nthe other he bluntly calls \"the church of the devil.\" [43] \"And whoso\nbelongeth not to the church of the Lamb of God, belongeth to that\ngreat church which is the mother of abominations; the whore of all the\nearth.\" [44]\n\nThe church then that withheld from the world the part of the word of\nGod, as developed in the teachings and writings of the apostles, was\nundoubtedly apostate Christendom; massed under the general title of\nthe \"great and abominable church,\" without reference to any of its\ndivisions of sub-divisions; and that is the power that withheld and\ndestroyed some parts of the scriptures. In proof of which I cite the\nfollowing references to sacred books and writings both in the Old and\nNew Testaments, which are not to be found in it.\n\nFirst, books of the Old Testament:\n\nThe scriptures that existed in the days of Abraham, older than the five\nbooks of Moses, for Abraham was before Moses. These scriptures are\nreferred to by Paul as follows: \"And the scriptures foreseeing that God\nwould justify the heathen through faith, preached before the Gospel\nunto Abraham.\" (Gal. iii: 8).\n\nThe book of the covenant, through which Moses instructed Israel. (Exo.\nxxiv: 7).\n\nThe book of the wars of the Lord. (Num. xxi: 14).\n\nThe book of Jasher. (Josh. x: 13, and Sam. i: 18).\n\nThe book of the manner of the kingdom. (Sam. x: 25).\n\nBooks containing three thousand proverbs, a thousand and five songs, a\ntreatise on natural history by Solomon. (I. Kings iv: 32, 33).\n\nThe acts of Solomon. (I. Kings xi: 41).\n\nThe book of Nathan the prophet. (I. Chron. xxix: 29).\n\nThe book of Gad the Seer. (I. Chron. xxix: 29).\n\nThe book of Nathan the prophet. (I. Chron. xxix: 29 and II. Chron. ix:\n29).\n\nThe prophecy of Ahijah, the Shilonite. (II. Chron. ix: 29).\n\nThe visions of Iddo the Seer. (II. Chron. ix: 29).\n\nThe book of Shemaiah the prophet. (II. Chron. xii: 15).\n\nThe story of the prophet Iddo. (II. Chron. xiii: 22).\n\nThe book of Jehu. (Chron. xx: 34).\n\nSecond, books of the New Testament.\n\nIt is evident from the preface of St. Luke's Gospel, that \"many\"\nwho were eye witnesses of the things most surely believed among the\nChristians, took it in hand by means of writing books to set them forth\nin order. (Luke 5: 1-4). But of the writings of those eye witnesses, it\ncan scarcely be said that we have the works of \"many\" of them.\n\nJude, speaking of some characters which he likens unto \"raging waves\nof the sea foaming out their own shame,\" says, \"And Enoch, the seventh\nfrom Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with\nten thousand of his saints, to execute judgment upon all, and to\nconvince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds\nwhich they have ungodly committed, and all of their hard speeches which\nungodly sinners have spoken against him.\" (Jude 15, 16). From this it\nappears that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, was favored with a vision\neven of the second coming of the Son of God, and prophesied of judgment\novertaking the ungodly at that coming. This prophecy of Enoch's was\nin existence in the days of Jude, \"the servant of Christ,\" or else he\nwould not be able to quote from it. May not this prophecy of Enoch's\nhave been among the \"scripture\" with which Abraham was acquainted,\nmentioned above?\n\nThere should also be another epistle of Jude. That writer says, \"When\nI gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it\nwas needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should\nearnestly contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints.\" (Jude\n3). We have but one epistle of Jude yet he wrote another epistle to\nthe saints on a very important subject, \"The common salvation,\" and he\n\"gave all diligence\" in writing upon it. Would not the epistle on the\n\"common salvation\" be as important as that one we have from Jude's pen?\n\nPaul, in writing to the Ephesians, states that God made known unto him,\nby revelation, a certain mystery; \"as,\" says he, \"I wrote afore in\nfew words whereby when ye read ye may understand my knowledge in the\nmystery of Christ.\" (Eph. iii: 3, 4). Here Paul evidently refers to\nanother epistle which he had written to the Ephesians, but of which the\nworld today has no knowledge. This epistle contained a revelation from\nGod.\n\nWhen the great apostle to the Gentiles wrote to the Colossians, he\ngave them these directions: \"When this epistle is read among you, cause\nthat it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans, and that ye\nlikewise read the epistle from Loadicea.\" (Col. iv: 16). Here, then,\nis another epistle of Paul's, the Epistle to the Laodiceans, which he\nhimself refers to, but of which the world knows nothing, except this\nreference to it--it is not in the Bible.\n\nIn the first letter to the Corinthians you find this statement: \"I\nwrote unto you in an epistle, not to keep company with fornicators.\"\n(Cor. v: 9). That book, then, which the world has so long regarded as\nthe first epistle to the Corinthians, is not really the first epistle\nwhich Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, for in the quotation given\nabove, taken from the so-called First Epistle to the Corinthians, the\nwriter speaks of an epistle which he previously had written to them,\nin which he counseled them \"not to keep company with fornicators.\"\nDoubtless many other instructions and important principles were\ncontained in this other Epistle to the Corinthians.\n\nHow many other books and epistles, written by inspired men of those\ndays, were suppressed by \"the great and abominable church\"--apostate\nChristendom--we may not know, but these here incidentally mentioned\nhave certainly been suppressed. Moreover, I have not mentioned all that\nare spoken of. I have carefully avoided referring to any about which\ndoubts can be entertained, or which could be said to form parts of the\nbooks we have. Deeming it better that the list of absent books should\nbe shorter than to mention any of which it could be said they are to\nbe found as fragments, or portions of the books now in the Bible, but\nknown by other names. [45]\n\nIt may be urged, with reference to the Old Testament at least, that\nit came from the Jews to the Gentiles in its present form, and that\nit was not the Gentiles, not the apostate church of the third and\nfourth century of the Christian Era that mutilated in any form the\nOld Testament scriptures. But let us not take too narrow a view of\nNephi's vision-prophecy, concerning the corruption of the word of God,\nor the power which he saw corrupting it. It may be that he had in\nmind in his vision as much the apostate Jewish church as the apostate\nChristian church, and looking upon the question from that view point\nwe know this: that a century or two before the advent of Christ the\nJews apparently had grown weary of the honorable mission which God had\ngiven to them; namely, that of being his witnesses among the nations\nof the earth; and their leading teachers, especially in the two\ncenturies preceding the coming of the Messiah, were taking every step\nthat their ingenuity could devise for harmonizing the truths which God\nhad made known to them with the more fashionable conceptions of God\nas entertained by one or the other of the great sects of philosophy\namong the Romans. The way had been prepared for the achievement of this\nend, in the first place, by the translation of the Hebrew scriptures\ninto the Greek language (the first great instance of the \"Book that\nproceedeth forth from the mouth of a Jew\" going to the Gentiles), which\nversion of the Old Testament is usually called the Septuagint, or the\nLXX. This latter name is given to it because of a tradition that the\ntranslation was accomplished by seventy, or about seventy, elders of\nthe Jews. The most generally accepted theory concerning it, however,\nis that it was a work accomplished at various time between 280 B. C.\nand 150 B. C. The books of Moses being first translated as early as the\ntime of Ptolemy Philadelphus, 284-264 B. C., while the Prophets and\nPsalms were translated somewhat later. It is not, however, the time or\nmanner in which the translation was accomplished that we are interested\nin, but the character of the translation itself; and of this, Alfred\nEdersheim, in his \"Life and Times of Jesus, the Messiah,\" in the\ndivision of his work which treats of the preparation for the Gospel,\nsays of this Greek translation:\n\n Putting aside clerical mistakes and misreadings, and making\n allowance for errors of translation, ignorance, and haste, we note\n certain outstanding facts as characteristic of the Greek version.\n It bears evident marks of its origin in Egypt, in its use of\n Egyptian works and references, and equally evident traces of its\n Jewish composition. By the side of slavish and false literalism\n there is great liberty, if not license, in handling the original;\n gross mistakes occur along with happy renderings of very difficult\n passages, suggesting the aid of some able scholars. Distinct\n Jewish elements are undeniably there, which can only be explained\n by reference to Jewish tradition, although they are much fewer\n than some critics have supposed. This we can easily understand,\n since only those traditions would find a place which at the early\n time were not only received, but in general circulation. The\n distinctly Grecian elements, however, are at present of chief\n interest to us. They consist of allusion to Greek mythological\n terms, and adaptations of Greek philosophical ideas. However few,\n even one well-authenticated instance would lead us to suspect\n others, and in general give to the version the character of Jewish\n Hellenising. In the same class we reckon what constitutes the\n prominent characteristics of the LXX version, which, for want of\n better terms, we would designate as rationalistic and apologetic.\n Difficulties--or what seemed such--are removed by the most bold\n methods, and by free handling of the text; it need scarcely be\n said, often very unsatisfactorily. More especially, a strenuous\n effort is made to banish all anthropomorphisms, as inconsistent\n with their ideas of the Deity. [46]\n\nLater the same authority points out the fact that the Septuagint\nversion of the Hebrew scriptures became really the people's Bible to\nthat large Jewish world through which Christianity was afterwards to\naddress itself to mankind. \"It was part of the case,\" he adds, \"that\nthis translation should be regarded by the Hellenists as inspired like\nthe original. Otherwise it would have been impossible to make final\nappeal to the very words of the Greek; still less to find in them a\nmystical and allegorical meaning.\" [47]\n\nThe foundation thus laid for a superstructure of false philosophy there\nwas not wanting builders who were anxious to place a pagan structure\nupon it. About the middle of the second century B. C., one Aristobulus,\na Hellenist Jew of Alexandria, sought to so explain the Hebrew\nscriptures as \"to bring the Peripatetic philosophy out of the law of\nMoses, and out of the other Prophets.\" Following is a sample according\nto Edersheim, of his allegorizing:\n\n Thus, when we read that God stood, it meant the stable order of\n the world; that he created the world in six days, the orderly\n succession of time; the rest of the Sabbath, the preservation of\n what was created. And in such manner could the whole system of\n Aristotle be found in the Bible. But how was this to be accounted\n for? Of course, the Bible had not learned of Aristotle, but he and\n all other philosophers had learned from the Bible. Thus, according\n to Aristobulus, Phythagoras, Plato, and all the other sages, had\n really learned from Moses, and the broken rays found in their\n writings were united in all their glory in the Torah. [48]\n\nFollowing Aristobulus in the same kind of philosophy was Philo, the\nlearned Jew of Alexandria, born about the year 20 B. C. He was supposed\nto be a descendant of Aaron, and belonged to one of the wealthiest\nand most influential families among the merchant Jews of Egypt; and\nhe is said to have united a large share of Greek learning with Jewish\nenthusiasm. He followed most earnestly in the footsteps of Aristobulus.\nAccording to him, all the Greek sages had learned their philosophy from\nMoses, in whom alone was all truth to be found. \"Not indeed, in the\nletter,\" says Edersheim, \"but under the letter of Holy Scripture. If in\nNumbers xxiii: 19 we read 'God is not a man,' and in Deut. i:31 that\nthe Lord was 'as a man,' did it not imply on the one hand revelation\nof absolute truth by God, and on the other, accommodation to those who\nwere weak? Here then, was the principle of a two-fold interpretation\nof the word of God--the literal and the allegorical. * * * * * * To\nbegin with the former: the literal sense must be wholly set aside,\nwhen it implies anything unworthy of the Deity--anything unmeaning,\nimpossible, or contrary to reason. Manifestly this canon, if strictly\napplied, would do away not only with all anthropomorphisms, but cut the\nknot where difficulties seemed insuperable. Again, Philo would find an\nallegorical, along with the literal, interpretation indicated in the\nreduplication of a word, and in seemingly superfluous words, particles,\nor expressions. These could, of course, only bear such a meaning on\nPhilo's assumption of the actual inspiration of the Septuagint version.\"\n\nWhen one thinks of the mischief that may arise from such perversions of\nscripture by the application of Philo's principles of interpretation,\nwe do not marvel that some of the Jews regarded the translation of the\nSeventy \"to have been as great a calamity to Israel as the making of\nthe golden calf.\" \"The Jews who remained faithful to the traditions\nof their race,\" says Andrew D. White, \"regarded this Greek version\nas profanation, and therefore there grew up the legend that on the\ncompletion of the work there was darkness over the whole earth during\nthree days. This showed clearly Jehovah's disapproval.\" [49]\n\nReferring to the Talmudic canon of interpretation of the Greek\nversions, Edersheim says, \"they were comparatively sober rules of\nexegesis.\" But \"not so,\" he remarks, \"the license which Philo claimed,\nof freely altering the punctuation of sentences and his notion that, if\none from among several synonymous words was chosen in a passage, this\npointed to some special meaning attaching to it. Even more extravagant\nwas the idea that a word which occurred in the Septuagint might be\ninterpreted according to every shade of meaning which it bore in the\nGreek, and that even another meaning might be given it by slightly\naltering the letters.\"\n\nIn all this one may see only too plainly the effort to harmonize Jewish\ntheology with Greek philosophy--an effort to be rid of the plain\nanthropomorphism of the Hebrew scriptures, for the incomprehensible\n\"being\" of Greek metaphysics.\n\nThus not only is it evident that books are omitted from the Hebrew\nscriptures, but by faulty translations and by false interpretations the\npure stream of God's revelation has been corrupted. In pointing out the\npurposes for which the Book of Mormon was written, I said, among other\nthings, that its purpose was to restore to the knowledge of mankind\nplain and precious truths concerning the Gospel which men have taken\nout of the Jewish scriptures, or obscured by their interpretations.\nAnd this I insist it does, and in proof of the assertion refer to the\nmany great truths mentioned in the preceding chapter; those truths\nconcerning the purpose of Adam's fall; the object of man's earth-life,\nthe doctrine of opposite existences and the whole scheme of the\nGospel. To these I may add, also, that the Book of Mormon reaffirms\nand by reaffirming authoritatively restores the great truth of the\nanthropomorphism of God. That is, it affirms that in form God is like\nman; or, in other words, and in a better form of the comparison man was\ncreated in the image or likeness of God. It restores also the great\ntruth of the anthropopathy of God. That is to say, in mental, moral,\nand spiritual attributes God is like man; or, more correctly speaking,\nman is the offspring of Deity, and possesses the mind attributes of\nGod, differing only in the degree of their development. Man is of the\nsame race as God--the offspring of Deity. This is not taught in any\nformal manner, but is to be learned from the whole tenor of the book.\n\nWith reference to the form of God, the Book of Mormon has two very\nimportant and very emphatic passages on the subject. The first Nephi,\nin a great vision given to him of the future, was attended by a spirit\nwho gave him explanations, as the several parts of his vision passed\nbefore him. And now Nephi's account:\n\n And it came to pass that the Spirit said unto me, Look! and I\n looked, and beheld a tree; * * * and the beauty thereof was far\n beyond, yea, exceeding all beauty, and the whiteness thereof did\n exceed the whiteness of the driven snow. And it came to pass after\n I had seen the tree, I said unto the Spirit, I behold thou hast\n shown unto me the tree, which is precious above all. And he said\n unto me: What desirest thou? And I said unto him: To know the\n interpretation thereof; for I spake unto him as a man speaketh; for\n I beheld that he was in the form of a man; yet, nevertheless, I\n knew that it was the Spirit of the Lord; and he spake unto me as a\n man speaketh with another. [50]\n\nThe second passage alluded to is found in the book of Ether. The\nprophet Moriancumr, the brother of Jared, when about to depart with his\ncolony in barges across the great deep, had prepared certain stones\nwhich he prayed the Lord to make luminous, that they might have light\nin the barges while on their journey. He had approached the Lord with\ngreat faith, and expressed full confidence in the power of God to do\nthe thing for which he prayed; and now the Book of Mormon statement of\nthe matter:\n\n And it came to pass that when the brother of Jared had said these\n words, behold the Lord stretched forth his hand and touched the\n stones, one by one with his finger; and the veil was taken from\n off the eyes of the brother of Jared, and he saw the finger of the\n Lord; and it was as the finger of a man, like unto flesh and blood;\n and the brother of Jared fell down before the Lord, for he was\n struck with fear. * * * And the Lord said unto him, Arise, why hast\n thou fallen? And he said unto the Lord, I saw the finger of the\n Lord, and I feared lest he should smite me; for I knew not that the\n Lord had flesh and blood. And the Lord said unto him, Because of\n thy faith thou hast seen that I shall take upon me flesh and blood;\n and never has man come before me with such exceeding faith as\n thou hast; for were it not so, you could not have seen my finger.\n * * * And when he had said these words, behold, the Lord shewed\n himself unto him, and said, Because thou knowest these things you\n are redeemed from the fall; therefore you are brought back into my\n presence; therefore I shew myself unto you. Behold, I am he who\n was prepared from the foundation of the world to redeem my people.\n Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall\n all mankind have light, and that eternally, even they who shall\n believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters.\n And never have I shewed myself unto man whom I have created, for\n never has man believed in me as thou hast. Seest thou that thou art\n created after mine own image? Yea, even all men were created in\n the beginning, after mine own image. Behold, this body, which you\n now behold, is the body of my spirit; and man have I created after\n the body of my spirit; and even as I appear unto thee to be in the\n spirit, will I appear unto my people in the flesh. [51]\n\nThe following passages, when combined, may be regarded as a further\nrevelation of the truth here set forth: III. Nephi xi: 24, 25, xxvii:\n27, xxviii: 10, I. Nephi xi: 8-11, and Ether iii: 6-16. [52]\n\nVII.\n\n_No Gentile Kings in America_.\n\nThe prophet Jacob, brother of the first Nephi, addressing himself to\nthe Nephites, said:\n\n Behold, this land, saith God, shall be a land of thine inheritance,\n and the Gentiles shall be blessed upon the land. And this land\n shall be a land of liberty unto the Gentiles, and there shall be\n no kings upon the land, who shall raise up unto the Gentiles;\n and I will fortify this land against all other nations; and he\n that fighteth against Zion shall perish, saith God; for he that\n raiseth up a king against me shall perish, for I, the Lord, the\n King of heaven, will be their king, and I will be a light unto them\n forever, that hear my words. [53]\n\nThere are many decrees of God concerning America as a choice\nland, which will be noted in the place I have assigned for their\nconsideration, but here I am concerned only with this remarkable\nprophecy, viz., that the land of America (both continents) is\nconsecrated to liberty, and there shall be no kings upon the land \"who\nshall rise up unto the Gentiles.\" Note the limits of the prophecy. It\nis not extended to the native races of America, but to the Gentiles who\nshall inhabit the land. That is to say, there shall be no kings upon\nthe land \"who shall rise up unto the Gentiles.\"\n\nA rather bold prediction this, whether the utterances he accredited to\nJacob, in the first half of the 5th century B. C., or to Joseph Smith\nin 1830. In any event the prophecy, so far, has been fulfilled; and\ntoday from the frozen north, Alaska, to the straits of Magellan in the\nsouth continent, the \"new world\" under the consecration of God, is\nblessed with freedom, and republican, not monarchial, institutions,\nobtain.\n\nIt may be objected that this prophecy has failed because of two\nnotable attempts to establish monarchies in the New World by European\ngovernments, one in Brazil, the other in Mexico. Let us investigate\nthese two attempts.\n\nBy an accidental discovery along the east shore of South America, by\nCabral, a Portuguese navigator, (1500 A. D.,) that section of the south\ncontinent now known to us as Brazil, became a colony of the kingdom of\nPortugal. It remained so until 1822, when Dom Pedro, the son of King\nJohn VI., of Portugal, sided with the people of Brazil in declaring the\nindependence of the country, and was crowned Emperor under the title of\nDom Pedro I.\n\nHis rule, however, was tyrranical, and the people at length rose against\nhim, in 1831, dragged him to the public square of Rio de Janeiro and\nforced him to remove from his head the imperial crown, and thus his\nreign ended in public disgrace.\n\nHis son became emperor under the title of Dom Pedro II. As he was a\nchild of but six years when his father abdicated in his favor, Brazil\nwas governed by regents until 1841, when the Prince, having attained\nhis majority, was proclaimed emperor. It is said of him that from the\nfirst he proved himself an intelligent, liberal and humane ruler, and\nduring his reign Brazil made great advancement in civilization and\nmaterial prosperity. He was so strongly attached to constitutional\nforms, and governed so entirely through his ministers, that he can\nscarcely be regarded as a monarch at all. In November, 1889, he\nacquiesced in the wishes of the people, abdicated his throne in favor\nof a republican form of government, and retired to Portugal. Since that\ntime Brazil has remained a republic.\n\nThe attempts to establish monarchy in Mexico arose under the following\ncircumstances: In 1862, France, Great Britain, and Spain sent a joint\nmilitary expedition to Mexico to enforce payment of certain claims.\nWhen their ostensible object was attained Great Britain and Spain\nwithdrew; but Napoleon III, Emperor of France, confident that the war\nbetween the states of the American Union would end in dissolution of\nthe Union, regarded the conditions as favorable to the establishment\nof a Latin empire in the Western world which he hoped would be a\ncounterpoise to the Anglo Saxon republics; and invited Archduke\nMaximilian, brother of the Austrian Emperor, to accept the crown of\nthe proposed new government, Napoleon promising to maintain an army\nof twenty-five thousand French soldiers for his protection. This\nproposition the Archduke accepted, and was hailed emperor of Mexico.\n\nMeantime the United States government refused to recognize any\nauthority in Mexico except that of the deposed President of the\nRepublic, Juarez; but in consequence of the civil war then at its\nheighth was unable to resist this flagrant violation of the Monroe\nDoctrine. [54] The civil war closed, however, notice was served upon the\nFrench emperor that his soldiers must be withdrawn from Mexico, and\nhe judged it expedient to comply, though it was a dastardly desertion\nof Maximilian, whose situation at once became precarious. In vain his\nfaithful consort, Carlotta, journeyed from court to court in Europe\nintreating assistance for her husband, and denouncing Napoleon's\ndissertion of him. Her successive disappointments finally overthrew her\nreason. No hand in Europe was raised to maintain monarchy in Mexico.\nJuarez, the deposed President of the republic of Mexico, made short\nwork of the empire. He captured Maximilian, and had him shot as a\nusurper, June 19, 1867. The event cast a gloom over all Europe, but no\nking nor potentate sought to avenge the execution. May it not be that\nthose nations were as much awed, though unconsciously, by the spirit of\nthe decree of God concerning the land of America, as by the policy of\nthe government of the United States laid down in the Monroe Doctrine?\nAnd, indeed, may not the Monroe Doctrine itself be regarded as a\nheaven-inspired decree by a competent national agency to make of effect\nthe old Nephite prophecy, \"there shall be no kings on this land?\"\n\"The French empire,\" says Ekwin A. Grosvenor, professor of European\nHistory in Amherst College, and author of \"Contemporary History of\nthe World\"--\"The French empire never recovered from the shock of this\nMexican failure.\"\n\nThe Emperor, Napoleon III, engaged in a war with Germany in 1870, in\nwhich himself and France suffered the most humiliating defeat ever\ninflicted on a modern state or its ruler. He himself was captured at\nthe surrender of Sedan and imprisoned for sometime at Wilhelmshohe,\nnear Cassel. Meantime he was deposed by the French people who\nestablished a Republican form of government, in place of the Empire.\nSome two years after his imprisonment he died an exile at Chiselhurst,\nEngland. The Empress, Eugenie, was also forced into exile and was for\nsame years the guest of England. On June 1, 1879, Napoleon's son,\nImperial, the only son of the Emperor, was killed by the Zulus in south\nAfrica, thus blotting out, we may say, the entire family of the French\nMonarch, and fulfilling in a marked manner the terms of this prophecy:\n\"And he that raiseth up a King against me shall perish.\"\n\nThe foregoing attempts in Brazil and Mexico to found monarchies in the\nNew World cannot properly be regarded as proving the failure of the\nBook of Mormon prophecy. The monarchies existed for a short time only,\nand were so precarious while they lasted, and ended so disastrously\nfor those making the attempt to establish them, that they emphasize\nthe force of the prophecy rather than prove its failure. They are as\nslight exceptions tending to prove a rule. It is not said in the Book\nof Mormon that attempts would not be made to set up kings, but that\nsuch attempts should end disastrously for those making them; and that\nno kings should be established, that is permanently established, in the\nnew world. Surely no candid mind will read this prophecy and consider\nall the facts involved in the attempts to establish monarchies in\nAmerica, but will say that they have ended disastrously, and that this\nprophecy has been verily fulfilled.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Vol. I, Chapter xx.\n\n2. \"There is more solid proof in favor of a prophet being divinely sent\nwhen his words are fulfilled than in all the miracles he can work.\"\n(Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Vol. X., 194.) \"Prophecies\nare permanent miracles, whose authority is sufficiently confirmed by\ntheir completion, and are therefore solid proofs of the supernatural\norigin of a religion, of whose truth they were intended to testify:\nsuch are those to be found in various parts of the scriptures relative\nto the coming of the Messiah, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the\nunexampled state in which the Jews have ever since continued--all\nso circumstantially descriptive of the events that they seem rather\nhistories of past than predictions of future transactions,\" Soame\nJenyns, \"A View of the Internal Evidence of the Christian Religion,\" p.\n313.\n\n3. Ether xiii.\n\n4. Omni i: 19-22.\n\n5. The matter is dealt with more at length in Volume I., Chapter xx.\n\n6. Moroni x: 4, 5.\n\n7. John vii: 16, 17.\n\n8. So confident was President Brigham Young in the matter of the Holy\nSpirit bearing witness to the truth of the Book of Mormon that on one\nocassion he said: \"Nothing short of the Holy Ghost will do us any\nlasting good. I told you, in the beginning of my remarks, the truth as\nit is in heaven and on earth, as it is with angels, and with prophets,\nwith all good people, and with every sinner that dwells upon the earth.\nThere is not a man or woman who on hearing the report of the Book of\nMormon but the spirit of the Almighty has testified to them of its\ntruth; neither have they heard the name of Joseph Smith but the spirit\nhas whispered to them, 'He is the true Prophet.' It is the spirit\nwhich is invisible to the natural mind of man, that produces effects\napparently without causes, and creates mysteries, marvels, and wonders\nin the earth. These things we behold, but we cannot with the natural\nmind account for them, nor divine their ultimate end.\" (A discourse by\nPresident Young, delivered in the Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, June 13,\n1852, \"Deseret News.\" Vol. 4, No. 6.)\n\n9. Matt. iii: 16; John i: 32-34.\n\n10. I. Cor. xii: 3.\n\n11. John xv: 26.\n\n12. John xiv.\n\n13. John xvi.\n\n14. I. Nephi xiii: 35-37.\n\n15. \"Leaves from My Journal,\" Edition of 1909, pp. 84, 85.\n\n16. F. D. Richards, Church Historian, in a sketch of the life of\nWilford Woodruff, \"Improvement Era,\" Vol. I, p. 871.\n\n17. \"Leaves from My Journal,\" Edition of 1909, pp. 88, 89.\n\n18. \"Leaves from My Journal,\" Edition of 1909, pp. 95, 96.\n\n19. \"Life of Heber C. Kimball,\" Orson F. Whitney, p. 402, 403.\n\n20. \"Life of Heber C. Kimball\" (Whitney), pp. 34, 35.\n\n21. St. John xvi: 13.\n\n22. \"My First Mission,\" p. 23.\n\n23. Chapter xvi.\n\n24. Ibid, chapter xviii.\n\n25. Ibid, chapters xx, xxi, xxii, xxiii of \"New Witnesses,\" Vol. I.\n\n26. Ibid, chapter xxiv.\n\n27. II. Nephi xxvii: 12, 13.\n\n28. Ether v: 3.\n\n29. II. Nephi xxviii: 2-14.\n\n30. Mormon viii.\n\n31. Church History, Vol. I, chapter xxxi.\n\n32. History of the Church, Vol. III, chapter xii.\n\n33. Ibid, chapter xiii. Seventeen were killed outright, twelve were\nsavagely wounded. All that were killed had to be hurriedly thrown into\nan old well and buried without ceremony.\n\n34. II. Nephi xxix: 1-3.\n\n35. See New Witnesses, Vol. I, chapter viii; also Vol. II., ch. xxxvii,\nand notes.\n\n36. Those who would have further evidence upon the subject are\nreferred to all the early controversial literature of the Church, and\nespecially to a Public Discussion between Elder John Taylor and three\nsectarian ministers in France, which \"Discussion\" is published with\nthe early editions of Orson Pratt's works, and in which, among other\nsimilar passages occurs the following: \"Rev. Mr. Carter. But the great\nconsideration is, that these persons (Mormon Elders) pretend to add to;\nand supercede the Word of God. Now the Bible is the sheet-anchor of\nChristians, and it neither needs the Book of Mormon nor any other book,\nnor the assistance of Joe Smith or any other Joe. The awful voice of\nprophecy has spoken for the last time, and the cause of inspiration is\nclosed.\"\n\n37. Evidences of Christianity, p. 352.\n\n38. II. Nephi xxix: 7-14.\n\n39. Acts x: 34, 35.\n\n40. The teacher alluded to is Frederick Denison Maurice, Professor of\nModern Philosophy in the University of Cambridge. I feel much indebted\nto this teacher myself, and cannot recommend too highly, I am sure, his\n\"History of Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy,\" two volumes, London,\nMacmillan & Co., 1872.\n\n41. I. Nephi xiii: 24-29.\n\n42. See \"Golden Bible\" (Lamb), Appendix \"A,\" pp. 323-340.\n\n43. I. Nephi xiv: 10.\n\n44. Upon this subject I have elsewhere said: \"The church of the\ndevil\" here alluded to, I understand to mean not any particular\nchurch among men, or any one sect of religion, but something larger\nthan that--something that includes within its boundaries all evil\nwherever it may be found; as well in schools of philosophy as in\nChristian sects; as well in systems of ethics as in systems of\nreligion--something that includes the whole empire of Satan--what I\nshall call \"The Kingdom of Evil.\" * * The question was once submitted\nto me, \"Is the Catholic church the church here referred to--the church\nof the devil?\" \"Well,\" said I, in answer, \"I would not like to take\nthat position, because it would leave me with a lot of churches on\nmy hands that I might not then be able to classify.\" So far as the\nCatholic church is concerned, I believe that there is just as much\ntruth, nay, personally I believe she has retained even more truth\nthan other divisions of so-called Christendom; and there is just as\nmuch virtue in the Roman Catholic church as there is in Protestant\nChristendom; and I am sure there is more strength. I would not like,\ntherefore, to designate the Catholic church as the church of the\ndevil. Neither would I like to designate any one or all of the various\ndivisions and subdivisions of Protestant Christendom combined as such\nchurch; nor the Greek Catholic church; nor the Buddhist sects; nor the\nfollowers of Confucius; nor the followers of Mohammed; nor would I\nlike to designate even the societies formed by deists and atheists as\nconstituting the church of the devil. The Book of Mormon text ought to\nbe read in connection with its context--with the chapter that precedes\nit and the remaining portions of the chapter in which the expression is\nfound--then, I think, those who study it in that manner will be forced\nto the conclusion that the prophet here has in mind no particular\nchurch, no particular division of Christendom, but he has in mind, as\njust stated, the whole empire of Satan, and perhaps the thought of the\npassage would be more nearly expressed if we use the term \"the Kingdom\nof Evil\" as constituting the church of the devil. \"(Defense of the\nFaith and the Saints,\" Vol. I, pp. 30-31.)\n\n45. Such is Lamb's argument on this point. \"Golden Bible,\" p. 325.\n\n46. \"Jesus, the Messiah,\" By Edersheim, Vol. I., pp. 27-8, eighth\nedition.\n\n47. Ibid, p. 29.\n\n48. Ibid, p. 36.\n\n49. \"A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology,\" Vol. II, pp.\n289, 290. By the way, may not this tradition about the three days'\ndarkness over the whole earth at the completion of this regarded\nprofanation of the Jewish scriptures, when they thus went forth for the\nfirst time to the Gentiles, be a misapplication of the prediction which\nNephi declares was spoken of by the old Jewish prophet Zenos--whose\nworks Lehi's colony carried with them into the wilderness--whom Nephi\ndeclares \"spake concerning the three days of darkness which should\nbe a sign of his [Messiah's] death unto those who should inhabit the\nisles of the sea\" (I. Nephi xix: 10)? May not the matter referred to\nby Professor White be an interpretation of this old Jewish prophecy\nconcerning the three days of darkness?\n\n50. I. Nephi xi: 8-11.\n\n51. Ether iii: 6-16.\n\n52. See collection of passages in the author's \"Mormon Doctrine of\nDeity,\" pp. 213-217.\n\n53. II. Nephi x: 10-14.\n\n54. This \"Monroe Doctrine\" derives its name from a message sent to\nCongress by President James Monroe, in 1823, in the course of which he\nsaid: \"The American continents, by the free and independent condition\nwhich they had assumed and maintained, are henceforth not to be\nconsidered as subjects for future colonization by any European power.\"\nHe further declared that any attempt by a European power to oppress\nor control an independent American nation would be regarded as \"the\nmanifestation of an unfriendly disposition towards the United states.\"\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLII.\n\nINTERNAL EVIDENCES--THE EVIDENCE OF PROPHECY, (Continued.)\n\nThe first Nephi, speaking of his people in the fifth century B. C.,\nmakes a number of prophecies respecting things that shall take place\nin the last days, following the coming forth of the scriptures of his\npeople [i. e. the Book of Mormon] to the Gentiles. These predictions\nare found on one page of the Book of Mormon; and are at once so\nnumerous and of such high import as to make that page unique in\nprophetic literature. With one exception, viz., the vision of Daniel,\nrecorded in the second chapter of his prophecies, which deals with the\nsuccession of the several great earth-empires, I do not believe an\nequal number of prophecies of such high importance can be found within\nthe whole range of prophetic literature in the same amount of space,\nand I here reproduce that page as it stands in the current editions of\nthe Book of Mormon:\n\nII NEPHI.\n\n 3. And now, I would prophesy somewhat more concerning the Jews and\n the Gentiles. For after the book of which I have spoken shall come\n forth, and be written unto the Gentiles and sealed up again unto\n the Lord, there shall be many which shall believe the words which\n are written; and they shall carry them forth unto the remnant of\n our seed.\n\n 4. And then shall the remnant of our seed know concerning us, how\n that we came out from Jerusalem, and that they are descendants of\n the Jews.\n\n 5. And the gospel of Jesus Christ shall be declared among them;\n wherefore, they shall be restored unto the knowledge of their\n fathers, and also to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which was had\n among their fathers.\n\n 6. And then shall they rejoice; for they shall know that it is\n a blessing unto them from the hand of God; and their scales\n of darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes; and not many\n generations shall pass away among them, save they shall be a white\n and a delightsome people.\n\n 7. And it shall come to pass that the Jews which are scattered,\n also shall begin to believe in Christ; and they shall begin to\n gather in upon the face of the land; and as many as shall believe\n in Christ shall also become a delightsome people.\n\n 8. And it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall commence his\n work among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and peoples, to bring\n about the restoration of his people upon the earth.\n\n 9. And with righteousness shall the Lord God judge the poor, and\n reprove with equity, for the meek of the earth. And he shall smite\n the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his\n lips shall he slay the wicked;\n\n 10. For the time speedily cometh, that the Lord God shall cause a\n great division among the people; and the wicked will he destroy:\n and he will spare his people, yea, even if it so be that he must\n destroy the wicked by fire.\n\n 11. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and\n faithfulness the girdle of his reins. [1]\n\nA few lines extending on the next page completes the picture of peace\nand happiness that shall ultimately be diffused over the earth in that\nday:\n\n 12. And then shall the wolf dwell with the lamb, and the leopard\n shall lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young lion, and\n the fatling, together; and a little child shall lead them.\n\n 13. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie\n down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.\n\n 14. And the suckling child shall play on the hole of the asp, and\n the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice's den.\n\n 15. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for\n the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters\n cover the sea. [2]\n\nLet us now consider this prophetic page item by item.\n\nI.\n\n_Many Shall Believe the Words of the Book_.\n\n For after the book of which I have spoken [i. e. the Book of\n Mormon] shall come forth and be written unto the Gentiles and\n sealed up again unto the Lord, there shall be many which shall\n believe the words which are written.\n\nWhether this declaration be accredited to the first Nephi, five hundred\nyears B. C., or allowed no other authorship than Joseph Smith, and no\ngreater antiquity than 1830, when the Book of Mormon was published,\nit is equally prophetic in character. And if it be insisted upon that\nit had no earlier origin than Joseph Smith's utterance of it, then\nit becomes all the more remarkable as a prophecy; for by the time it\nwas put forth by him, he had very good reason--human reason--to doubt\nif the Book of Mormon would be extensively believed, or believed in\nat all; for by this time such opposition had appeared against it,\nand such ridicule and derision heaped upon himself and associates;\nand everywhere there had been such a manifestation of opposition to\nthe forth-coming book, that naturally one would wonder if it would\nbe overwhelmed by a universal ignoring of it. Still there stands the\nprediction:\n\n There shall be many which shall believe the words which are written.\n\nThe only question is, Has it been fulfilled? In answer we have only\nto point to the present membership of the Church in all the world,\nsay three hundred thousand people. But to the number of those who now\nbelieve it, and hold it to be a volume of sacred scripture, there must\nbe added all those who have died in the faith; and again those who once\naccepted it in their faith and afterwards, by transgression, lost the\nspirit of the work and departed from the Church; but who, singularly\nenough, in the majority of cases, still continued to assert their faith\nin the truth of the Book of Mormon. And then to all those numbers there\nmust be added that still greater number of people who have been brought\nto a belief in the Book of Mormon, but who have not had sufficient\nmoral courage to forfeit their good standing among their fellows, and\nmake other sacrifices involved in a public profession of their faith.\n\nLet the numbers of these several classes be added together and beyond\nquestion the prophecy has been fulfilled. Many have believed in the\nNephite scriptures.\n\nAs a further instance of the wide acceptation of the Book of Mormon,\nit should be mentioned that it has passed through many editions in\nthe English language, both in America and England; and has also been\ntranslated into and published in the following languages: French,\nGerman, Danish, Italian, Dutch, Welch, Swedish, Spanish, Hawaiian,\nMaori, Greek and Japanese.\n\nII.\n\n_The Book of Mormon to be Taken to the American Indians--\"and They\nShall Rejoice_.\"\n\nFollowing the declaration that \"many shall believe the words which are\nwritten\" is the statement, \"and they shall carry them forth [the words\nof the ancient Nephites] unto the remnant of our seed.\" That is to the\nremnant of the seed of Lehi, the American Indians. And then follows\nthis:\n\n And then shall the remnant of our seed know concerning us, how that\n we came out from Jerusalem, and that they are descendants of the\n Jews. [3]\n\n And the gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be declared among them,\n wherefore, they shall be restored unto the knowledge of their\n fathers, and also to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, which was had\n among their fathers.\n\n And then shall they rejoice; for they shall know that it is a\n blessing unto them from the hand of God; and their scales of\n darkness shall begin to fall from their eyes; and many generations\n shall not pass away among them, save they shall be a white and\n delightsome people.\n\nHere we stand in the midst of prophecies. By which I mean that some of\nthe predictions have been fulfilled, and others are yet to be fulfilled\nin the future, and involve the coming to pass of very remarkable\nevents. Before calling attention to the parts that have been fulfilled\nI cite the prophecies under this subdivision as evidence against the\nclaim that is sometimes made against the Book of Mormon, that all its\nprophetic parts end about the time the Book of Mormon came forth, viz.,\nin 1830. The prophecies that many shall believe the book; that they\nshall carry its messages to the American Indians; that the Indians\nshall rejoice in the things the book makes known to them; that not\nmany generations from that time the Indians shall become \"a white and\ndelightsome people\"--as also indeed the prophecies relating to the\nJews--all concern events that are to take place subsequent to the year\n1830.\n\nBut now to take up the several prophecies being treated together under\nthis sub-title II.\n\nThe \"many\" who believe the Book of Mormon, according to the prophecy,\nare to carry it forth unto the remnant of Lehi's people, the American\nIndians. It is notorious that they have done so. The Church had been\norganized but six months when in fulfillment of a divine appointment [4]\na mission was sent to the Lamanites consisting of Oliver Cowdery, Peter\nWhitmer, Jun., Parley P. Pratt, and Ziba Peterson. On returning from\nthat mission Elder Pratt, after recounting their travels through the\nwestern states of the American Union, gives the following summary of\nwhat was done: \"Thus ended our first mission in which we had preached\nthe Gospel in its fulness and distributed the records of their\nforefathers among three tribes, viz., the Catteraugus Indians, near\nBuffalo, N. Y.; the Wyandots, of Ohio; and the Delawares, west of the\nMissouri.\" [5]\n\nSince that time numerous missions have been undertaken among the\nIndians which have met with more or less success. Since the Church\nhas been located in the Rocky Mountains various tribes have been\nvisited by the Apostles and other Elders, and some success has been\nattained in colonizing Indians and teaching them the ways and arts\nof civilization. Some success has also attended the preaching of the\nGospel among the natives in Mexico; and similar efforts, though as yet\nunfruitful, have been made in some of the states of Central America.\nIt is more than likely that the Sandwich Islanders are descendants of\nNephite colonists who went from America to the Hawaiian Islands, about\nthe time of Hagoth's migrations in ships from the shores of the land\nBountiful--near where the isthmus of Panama joins the South American\ncontinent. Their traditions and racial peculiarities all favor this\nview; and if our supposition be true, then the success of preaching\nthe gospel to the descendants of the Nephites has been considerably\naugmented, for a number of thousands of these islanders have embraced\nthe gospel, some of whom have gathered to the stakes of Zion, and\nothers have been established in a prosperous colony in their own land.\n\nWhile success in bringing the native American race to a knowledge of\ntheir forefathers and an acceptance of the written work of God revealed\nto their forefathers has been limited, yet it has been sufficiently\nextensive to fulfill the terms of the Book of Mormon prophecies, and\ncertainly sufficient to create the most sanguine belief in a further\nfulfillment of it.\n\n\"Then shall they rejoice.\" This declaration, of course, indicates that\nthe native American races would believe the message of the Book of\nMormon; and so indeed they have, as is witnessed by the fact of many of\nthem joining the Church of the Latter-day Saints.\n\nIn his account of the first mission to the Indians, Elder Parley P.\nPratt gives the substance of an address of Oliver Cowdery's to the\nchief of the Delaware tribe of Indians, and the leading men of the\ntribe, who had assembled to hear the message which the missionaries had\nto deliver; Elder Pratt also gives the substance of the chief's reply,\nin which the latter especially expresses his gladness [6] at the message\ndelivered to them. Elder Pratt represents the Chief as saying:\n\n We feel truly thankful to our white friends who have come so far\n and been at such pains to tell us good news, and especially this\n new news concerning the Book of our forefathers; it makes us glad\n in here\"--placing his hand on his heart. \"It is now winter; we\n are new settlers in this place; the snow is deep; our cattle and\n horses are dying; our wigwams are poor; we have much to do in the\n spring--to build houses and fence and make farms; but we will build\n a council house and meet together, and you shall read to us and\n teach us more concerning the Book of our fathers, and the will of\n the Great Spirit. [7]\n\nDuring the sojourn of the Church at Nauvoo representatives of several\ntribes of Indians called upon the Prophet Joseph from time to time. One\nnotable instance was the visit of a number of Pottawatamie chiefs in\nthe summer of 1843, of which visit the Prophet in his journal gives the\nfollowing brief account:\n\n I had an interview with several Pottawatamie chiefs, who came to\n see me during my absence. [8]\n\nElder Woodruff's journal gives the following more elaborate account of\nthis event:\n\n The Indian chiefs remained at Nauvoo until the Prophet returned\n and had his trial. During their stay they had a talk with Hyrum\n Smith, in the basement of the Nauvoo House. Wilford Woodruff and\n some others were present. They were not free to talk, and did not\n wish to communicate their feelings until they could see the great\n Prophet.\n\n At length, on the 2nd day of July, 1843, President Joseph Smith\n and several of the Twelve met those chiefs in the courtroom with\n about thirty of the Elders. The following is a synopsis of the\n conversation which took place as given by the interpreter:\n\n The Indian orator arose and asked the Prophet if the men who were\n present were all his friends. Answer, \"Yes.\"\n\n He then said: \"As a people we have long been distressed and\n oppressed. We have been driven from our lands many times. We have\n been wasted away by wars, until there are but few of us left. The\n white man has hated us and shed our blood, until it has appeared\n as though there would soon be no Indians left. We have talked with\n the Great Spirit, and the Great Spirit has talked with us. We have\n asked the Great Spirit to save us and let us live, and the Great\n Spirit has told us that he had raised up a great Prophet, chief,\n and friend, who would do us great good and tell us what to do; and\n the Great Spirit has told us that you are the man (pointing to the\n Prophet Joseph). We have now come a great way to see you, and hear\n your words, and to have you tell us what to do. Our horses have\n become poor traveling, and we are hungry. We will now wait and hear\n your words.\"\n\n The Spirit of God rested upon the Lamanites, especially [upon]\n the orator. Joseph was much affected and shed tears. He arose and\n said unto them: \"I have heard your words. They are true. The Great\n Spirit has told you the truth. I am your friend and brother, and I\n wish to do you good. Your fathers were once a great people. They\n worshiped the Great Spirit. The Great Spirit did them good. He was\n their friend; but they left the Great Spirit, and would not hear\n his words or keep them. The Great Spirit left them, and they began\n to kill one another, and they have been poor and afflicted until\n now.\n\n \"The Great Spirit has given me a book, and told me that you will\n soon be blessed again. The Great Spirit will soon begin to talk\n with you and your children. This is the book which your fathers\n made. I wrote upon it (showing them the Book of Mormon). This tells\n me what you will have to do. I now want you to begin to pray to the\n Great Spirit. I want you to make peace with one another, and do not\n kill any more Indians; it is not good. Do not kill white men; it is\n not good; but ask the Great Spirit for what you want, and it will\n not be long before the Great Spirit will bless you, and you will\n cultivate the earth and build good houses, like white men. We will\n give you something to eat and [something] to take home with you.\"\n\n When the Prophet's words were interpreted to the chiefs, they all\n said it was good. The chief asked, \"How many moons it would be\n before the Great Spirit would bless them?\" He [the Prophet] told\n them, \"Not a great many.\"\n\n At the close of the interview, Joseph had an ox killed for them,\n and they were furnished with some more horses, and they went home\n satisfied and contented. [9]\n\nOne other thing in these several prophecies should be observed, the\nvery emphatic implication that the native American race will persist.\nThe prevailing idea, however, is quite to the contrary. I may say\nit is the universal opinion that the native American race is doomed\nto extinction; and, in fact, that it is now on the high way to that\nfinality. Against such general opinion, however, the Book of Mormon\nutters the surprising declaration not only that the American race shall\nnot become extinct, but that fallen as its fortunes are, and degraded\nas it is, yet shall it become, and that before many generations pass\naway, \"a white and delightsome people!\" Than this declaration I can\nthink of nothing more boldly prophetic, nor of any inspired utterance\nwhich so squarely sets itself against all that is accepted as the\nprobabilities in the case. But with complete confidence we await the\ntime of the fulfillment of God's decree; of its signal triumph over the\nopinions of men.\n\nIII.\n\n_The Jews Shall Begin to Believe in Christ, and to Gather_.\n\n And it shall come to pass that the Jews which are scattered also\n shall begin to believe in Christ; and they shall begin to gather in\n upon the face of the land; and as many as shall believe in Christ\n shall also become a delightsome people.\n\nThere was nothing in the affairs of the Jews in the early decades of\nthe 19th century that would lead any one to suppose that there was to\nbe any marked change in the sentiments of that people towards Jesus of\nNazareth; or that the time had come when there would be any disposition\non their part to assemble upon the land of their forefathers--which is\nevidently meant by part of the prophecy just quoted. Yet the prophecy\nimmediately before us makes both these astounding predictions; and,\nwhat is more to the point, both are now in progress of fulfillment.\nFirst let us consider the change which the Jewish mind is undergoing\nrespecting Jesus of Nazareth.\n\nTo show the sentiment quite prevalent among the Jews during the life\ntime of the Prophet Joseph, and to show that he was quite aware of its\nexistence, I quote an entry from his journal under date of May, 1839.\n\n\"Tuesday, May 21, 1839.--To show the feeling of that long scattered\nbranch of the House of Israel, the Jews, I here quote a letter\nwritten by one of their number, on hearing that his son had embraced\nChristianity:\n\n RABBI LANDAU'S LETTERS TO HIS SON.\n\n Breslau, May 21st, 1839. My Dear Son--I received the letter of the\n Berlin Rabbi, and when I read it there ran tears out of my eyes in\n torrents; my inward parts shook, my heart became as a stone! Now do\n you not know that the Lord sent me already many hard tribulations?\n That many sorrows do vex me? But this new harm which you are about\n to inflict makes me forget all the former, does horribly surpass\n them; as well respecting its sharpness as its stings! I write you\n lying on my bed, because my body is embraced not less than my\n soul, at the report that you were about to do something which I had\n not expected from you. I fainted; my nerves and feelings sank, and\n only by the help of a physician, for whom I sent immediately, am I\n able to write these lines to you with a trembling hand.\n\n Alas! you, my son, whom I have bred, nourished and fostered; whom I\n have strengthened spiritually as well as bodily, you will commit a\n crime on me! Do not shed the innocent blood of your parents, for no\n harm have we inflicted upon you; we are not conscious of any guilt\n against you, but at all times we thought it our duty to show to\n you, our first born, all love and goodnesss. I though I should have\n some cheering account of you, but, alas! how terribly I have been\n disappointed!\n\n But to be short; your outward circumstances are such that you\n may finish your study or [suffer] pain. Do you think that the\n Christians, to whom you will go over by changing your religion,\n will support you and fill up the place of our fellow believers? Do\n not imagine that your outward reasons, therefore, if you have any,\n are nothing. But out of true persuasion, you will, as I think, not\n change our true and holy doctrine, for that deceitful, untrue and\n perverse doctrine of Christianity.\n\n What! will you give us a pearl for that which is nothing, which\n is of no value in itself? But you are light-minded; think of the\n last judgment; of that day when the books will be opened and hidden\n things will be made manifest; of that day when death will approach\n you in a narrow pass; when you cannot go out of the way! Think of\n your death bed, from which you will not rise any more, but from\n which you be called before the judgment seat of the Lord!\n\n Do you not know, have you not heard, that there is over you an\n all-hearing ear and an all-seeing eye? That all your deeds will be\n written in a book and judged hereafter? Who shall then assist you\n when the Lord will ask you with a thundering voice, Why hast thou\n forsaken that holy law which shall have an eternal value; which was\n given by my servant Moses, and no man shall change it? Why hast\n thou forsaken that law, and accepted instead of it lying and vanity?\n\n Come, therefore, again to yourself, my son! remove your bad and\n wicked counselors; follow my advice, and the Lord will be with you!\n Your tender father must conclude because of weeping.\n\n A. L. LANDAU, Rabbi.\n\nThat the sentiments of this letter respecting Jesus and Christianity\nare not peculiar to Rabbi Landau, but are representative of the\nsentiments of the Hebrew race at that time, I may quote the words of\nDr. Isadore Singer, editor of the \"Jewish Encyclopaedia,\" written in a\nletter to George Croly, author of \"Tarry Thou Till I Come\"--a version\nreally of the legend of the \"Wandering Jew\" published in 1901. The\nletter here quoted was received from Dr. Singer in reply to one from\nthe author of \"Tarry Thou,\" asking the question, \"What is the Jewish\nthought today of Jesus of Nazareth?\" Dr. Singer, answered:\n\n I regard Jesus of Nazareth as a Jew of the Jews, one whom all\n Jewish people are learning to love. His teaching has been an\n immense service to the world in bringing Israel's God to the\n knowledge of hundreds of millions of mankind. The great change\n in Jewish thought concerning Jesus of Nazareth, I cannot better\n illustrate than by this fact:\n\n When I was a boy, had my father, who was a very pious man, heard\n the name of Jesus uttered from the pulpit of our synagogue, he and\n every other man in the congregation would have left the building,\n and the rabbi would have been dismissed at once. Now, it is not\n strange, in many synagogues, to hear sermons preached eulogistic of\n this Jesus, and nobody thinks of protesting--in fact, we are all\n glad to claim Jesus as one of our people.\n\n ISADORE SINGER. New York, March 25, 1901.\n\nThe question submitted by Mr. Croly to Jewish theologians, historians\nand orientalists resulted in quite a large collection of Jewish\nopinions of Christ, all of which are published in the appendix of\n\"Tarry Thou;\" and of which the following communications are thoroughly\ncharacteristic:\n\n The Jew of today beholds in Jesus an inspiring ideal of matchless\n beauty. While he lacks the element of stern justice expressed\n so forcibly in the law and in the Old Testament characters, the\n firmness of self-assertion so necessary to the full development of\n manhood, all those social qualities which build up the home and\n society, industry and worldly progress, he is the unique exponent\n of the principle of redeeming love. His name as helper of the poor,\n as sympathizing friend of the fallen, as brother of every fellow\n sufferer, as lover of man and redeemer of woman, has become the\n inspiration, the symbol and the watchword for the world's greatest\n achievements in the field of benevolence. While continuing the work\n of the synagogue, the Christian church with the larger means at her\n disposal created those institutions of charity and redeeming love\n that accomplished wondrous things. The very sign of the cross has\n lent a new meaning, a holier pathos to suffering, sickness and sin,\n so as to offer new practical solutions for the great problems of\n evil which fill the human heart with new joys of self-sacrificing\n love.\n\n KAUFMAN KOHLER, Ph. D., Rabbi of Temple Beth-El.\n\n If the Jews up to the present time have not publicly rendered\n homage to the sublime beauty of the figure of Jesus, it is because\n their tormentors have always persecuted, tortured, assassinated\n them in his name. The Jews have drawn their conclusions from the\n disciples as to the Master, which was wrong, a wrong pardonable\n in the eternal victims of the implacable, cruel hatred of those\n who called themselves Christians. Every time that a Jew mounted to\n the sources and contemplated Christ alone, without his pretended\n faithful, he cried with tenderness and admiration: \"Putting aside\n the Messianic mission, this man is ours. He honors our race and we\n claim him as we claim the gospels--flowers of Jewish literature and\n only Jewish.\"\n\n MAX NORDAU, M. D., Critic and Philosopher. Paris, France.\n\n The Jews of every shade of religious belief do not regard Jesus\n in the light of Paul's theology. But the gospel of Jesus, the\n Jesus who teaches so superbly the principles of Jewish ethics, is\n revered by all the expounders of Judaism. His words are studied;\n the New Testament forms a part of Jewish literature. Among the\n great preceptors that have worded the truths of which Judaism is\n the historical guardian, none, in our estimation and esteem, takes\n precedence of the rabbi of Nazareth. To impute to us suspicious\n sentiments concerning him does us gross injustice. We know him to\n be among our greatest and purest.\n\n EMIL G. HIRSCH, Ph. D., LL. D., L. H. D. Rabbi of Sinai\n Congregation, Professor of Rabbinical Literature in Chicago\n University, Chicago, Ill., January 26, 1901.\n\nLater, viz. 1905, Dr. Isadore Singer, himself made such a collection of\nJewish opinions on Jesus, which were published by the \"New York Sun,\"\nand of which the following are typical:\n\n It is commonly said that the Jews reject Jesus. They did so\n in the sense in which they rejected the teachings of their\n earlier prophets, but the question may be pertinently asked, Has\n Christianity accepted Jesus? The long hoped-for reconciliation\n between Judaism and Christianity will come when once the teachings\n of Jesus shall have become the axioms of human conduct.\n\n DR. MORRIS JASTROW, Professor of Semitic Languages in the\n University of Pennsylvania.\n\n I look upon him as a great teacher and reformer, one who aimed\n at the uplifting of suffering humanity, whose every motive was\n kindness, mercy, charity, and justice, and if his wise teaching and\n example have not always been followed the blame should not be his,\n but rather those who have claimed to be his followers.\n\n SIMON WOLF, President of the Independent Order B'nia B'rith.\n\n If he had added to their [the Jewish prophets'] spiritual bequests\n new jewels of religious truth, and spoken words which are words of\n life because they touch the deepest springs of the human heart, why\n should we Jews not glory in him? The crown of thorns on his head\n makes him only the more our brother, for to this day it is borne by\n his people. Were he alive today who, think you, would be nearer his\n heart--the persecuted or the persecutors?\n\n DR. GUSTAV GOTTHEIL\n\nThe foregoing sentiments do not indicate the acceptance of Jesus by the\nJews at his full value as the Messiah, or as the express revelation\nof God to man, or as God manifested in the flesh; but they do give\nevidence of a very marked change of sentiment among the Jews toward\nJesus of Nazareth--and surely mark a \"beginning\" of belief in Christ,\nwhich has but to enlarge to become an acceptance of him as Messiah,\nso long expected by their race; and surely they indicate in quite a\nremarkable manner the _beginning_ of the fulfillment of the part of the\nprophecy here being considered, that declares that \"the Jews which are\nscattered shall also _begin_ to believe in Christ.\"\n\nMoreover some few families of Jews have believed the gospel as\npresented by the elders of the Church in this dispensation, and are\nidentified with the Latter-day Saints; among them Alexander Neibaur,\nwho joined the Church in England in 1840. He afterwards emigrated to\nNauvoo, and the family came with the saints to Utah. Several of his\nsons and grand-sons have filled honorable missions for the Church in\npreaching the gospel. He is the author of the following well known\nhymn, published in the \"Times and Seasons,\" in May, 1841:\n\n Come, thou glorious day of promise,\n Come and spread thy cheerful ray;\n When the scattered sheep of Israel\n Shall no longer go astray;\n When Hosannas\n With united voice they cry.\n\n Lord, how long wilt thou be angry?\n Shall thy wrath for ever burn?\n Rise, redeem thine ancient people,\n Their transgressions from them turn.\n King of Israel,\n Come and set thy people free.\n\n O that soon thou would'st to Jacob\n Thine enliv'ning spirit send;\n Of their unbelief and misery\n Make, O Lord, a speedy end.\n Lord, Messiah,\n Prince of Peace, o'er Israel reign.\n\n Glory, honour, praise and power,\n Be unto the Lamb for ever;\n Jesus Christ is our Redeemer,\n Hallelujah! Hallelujah!\n Praise ye the Lord!\n Hallelujah! Praise the Lord.\n\n Again:\n\n And the Jews which are scattered * * * shall begin to gather in\n upon the face of the land.\n\nOf course the idea that the Jews will sometime be gathered to the lands\npossessed by their forefathers is no new thought. It is not presented\nhere as such. The Old Testament scriptures are full of predictions\nconcerning the return of the Jews to Palestine of which the following\nare samples:\n\n And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and\n they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them. [10]\n\n The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. [11]\n\n For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God; the Lord they\n God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all\n people that are upon the face of the earth. [12]\n\n The Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and\n shall choose Jerusalem again. [13]\n\n For the Lord will have mercy on Jacob and will yet choose Israel,\n and set them in their own land. [14]\n\n Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I will take the children of Israel\n from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them\n on every side, and bring them into their own land; and I will\n make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel;\n and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more\n two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any\n more at all: * * * and David, my servant, shall be king over them;\n and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my\n judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. * * * Moreover I\n will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting\n covenant with them: and I will place them and multiply them,\n and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. My\n tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and\n they shall be my people. [15]\n\nThe fulfillment of these predictions has been the hope of scattered\nIsrael, and from time to time societies have been formed to keep\nalive such hope as the promises inspired. It may be thought that said\nJewish societies have accomplished but little. But really that little\nwas much. They nourished in secret and through ages of darkness that\nspark of hope, the fire of which, when touched by the breath of God\nshall burst forth into a flame that not all the world shall be able to\nstay. These efforts in the past have made possible a larger movement\nwhich is now attracting the attention of the world, known as the\n\"Zionite Movement.\" In reality this is but the federation of all Jewish\nsocieties that have had for their purpose the realization of the hopes\nof scattered Israel.\n\nThe Zionite movement proper, however, may be said to have arisen within\nvery recent years, since it was in 1896 that it held its first general\nconference. This at Basel, Switzerland, in August 1896. Since then its\nconferences have been held annually and have steadily increased both\nin interest and the number of delegates representing various Jewish\nsocieties until now (1905) it takes on the appearance of one of the\nworld's great movements. It is not so much a religious movement as a\nracial one; for prominent Jews of all shades of both political and\nreligious opinions have participated in it. After saying through so\nmany centuries at the feast of the Pass Over, \"May we celebrate the\nnext Pass Over in Jerusalem,\" the thought seemed to have occurred\nto some Jewish minds that if that hope was ever to be realized some\npractical steps must be taken looking to the actual achievement of the\npossibility--hence the \"Zionite Movement.\"\n\nThe keynotes of that movement are heard in the following utterances of\nsome of the Jewish leaders in explanation of it:\n\n We want to resume the broken thread of our national existence; we\n want to show to the world the moral strength, the intellectual\n power of the Jewish people. We want a place where the race can be\n centralized.\n\n LEON ZOLTOKOFF.\n\n It tries to restore the old solidarity, the old unity, of Israel;\n not with a view to any mere monetary aggrandizement, but for the\n purpose of securing the right and the opportunity for the Jews to\n live and to develop. It believes that this is possible only if\n there is some spot on earth which the Jews can call their own, and\n which can be a place of refuge, legally secured by international\n obligations, to which the oppressed of Israel may flee whenever\n necessity arises.\n\n RICHARD J. H. GOTTHEIL.\n\n It is for these Jews (of Russia, Roumania and Galicia) that the\n name of their country (Palestine) spells \"Hope.\" I should not be a\n man if I did not realize that for these persecuted Jews, Jerusalem\n spells reason, justice, manhood and liberty.\n\n RABBI EMIL G. HIRSCH.\n\n Jewish nationalism on a modern basis in Palestine, the old home of\n the people.\n\n MAX NORDAU.\n\n Palestine needs a people; Israel needs a country. Give the country\n without a people to the people without a country.\n\n ISRAEL ZANGWILL.\n\n To find for the Jews a legally established home in Palestine.\n\n BASEL PLATFORM.\n\nIn a word, it is the purpose of \"Zionism\" to redeem Palestine, and give\nit back to Jewish control, create, in fact, a Jewish state in the land\npromised to their fathers.\n\nA few years ago negotiations were entered into with the Sultan of\nTurkey, within whose political dominions Palestine is included, for\nthe purchase of the Holy Land for the Jews, and some announcements in\nthe press by Dr. Herzel, of Austria, just previous to the assembling\nof the Zion conference in 1902, for a time justified the high hopes\nthat were entertained of securing the promised land by purchase. These\nhopes, however, were doomed to disappointment by reason of a sudden\nchange coming over the ruler of Turkey with reference to the matter.\nIt is more than likely that his advisors persuaded him that the\nestablishment of a Jewish state under his suzerainty would be adding\none more perplexing feature in the administration of that heterogeneous\ncollection of such states which already constitute the loose-jointed\nempire over which the Sultan presides, by the sufferance of the\nEuropean powers. The matter of the Sultan's present refusal to grant,\nor sell Palestine to Jews is not a serious difficulty in the progress\nof such a wide spread movement as Zionism, however, for ere now the\nLord has changed the hearts of rulers in order to bring to pass his\ngreat purposes, and may do so again. So Israel Zangwill, one of the\nmost enthusiastic leaders in the movement, views that subject; and in\nlike spirit also he views the difficulty of obtaining the necessary\nmillions to purchase the land. On this subject he says:\n\n It matters little that the Zionists could not pay the millions,\n if suddenly called upon. They have collected not two and a half\n million dollars. But there are millions enough to come to the\n rescue once the charter was dangled before the Zionists. It is\n not likely that the Rothschilds would see themselves ousted from\n their family headship in authority and well-doing. Nor would the\n millions left by Baron Hirsch be altogether withheld. The sultan's\n present refusal is equally unimportant, because a national policy\n is independent of transcient moods and transcient rulers. The only\n aspect that really matters is whether Israel's face be or be not\n set steadily Zionward--for decades, and even for centuries.\n\nAn interesting feature at the last Zion conference held in August of\n1904, was the tender by the British foreign minister, Lord Landsdowne,\non behalf of the British government of a tract of fertile territory\nin Uganda, British East Africa, for the establishment of the Jewish\ncolony. It is an elevated tract of country extending some two hundred\nmiles along the Uganda railway, between Man and Nairobi. It is said\nto be well watered, fertile, cool, covered with noble forests, almost\nuninhabited and as healthful for Europeans as Great Britain. This\ntender on the part of the British government was a cause of some\nconfusion in the Basle conference, and is now a cause of great anxiety\nto the Zionists. It is a Jewish state in Palestine, not a colony in\nEast Africa that the great body of Zionists are looking forward to;\nand when it was moved in the conference that a commission of nine be\nappointed to look into details and decide upon the advisability of\nsending an expedition to investigate the proposed site of the colony,\neven this preliminary step was so opposed by the Russian delegates\nthat they arose en masse and left the conference hall, in protest\nagainst such a movement. The commission, however, was appointed and the\ninvestigation is in progress. Since the close of the Basel conference\nmany of those interested in the proposition have been searching their\nscriptures and some claim to have found prophetic warrant for such a\nmovement and come to regard the settlement in Africa as a preliminary\nto the final movement into Palestine. The prophecies supposed to\njustify this view are to be found in the following from Isaiah:\n\n In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the\n language of Canaan, and swear to the Lord of Hosts; and shall be\n called, the city of destruction.\n\n In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the\n land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the Lord.\n\n And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts\n in the land of Egypt; for they shall cry unto the Lord because of\n the oppressors, and he shall send them a savior, and a great one,\n and he shall deliver them.\n\n And the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know\n the Lord in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea,\n they shall vow a vow unto the Lord, and perform it. [16]\n\nWhatever many come of this proposed colony scheme in Africa it can\nnever be regarded as more than an incident in progress of this great\nmovement among the Jews. [17] The land of their final inheritance is\nPalestine, not Africa, nor Egypt; and if the Jews shall halt for a\ntime in the land of Uganda, under the benign protection of the British\ngovernment, it will be only a temporary abiding place, where, however,\nthey may obtain a very necessary experience in controlling a state and\nbringing their people to a unity of faith and practice under the old\nlaw of Israel.\n\nWhat I am concerned with in this strange movement among the Jews,\nhowever, is not the details of it, but the fact of it; and the further\nfact that \"Zionism\" is doubtless the inauguration of a series of\nmovements that shall culminate in the complete fulfillment of this\ngreat Book of Mormon prophecy.\n\nIn addition to the prediction of the Book of Mormon which brought the\nsubject of the gathering of the Jews to their land vividly before the\nProphet Joseph's mind, he claims that in the Kirtland Temple, in 1836,\nMoses, the great Hebrew prophet, appeared to himself and Oliver Cowdery\nand conferred upon them the keys of the gathering of Israel, and the\npower of restoring the tribes to the lands of their fathers. [18] Acting\nunder the divine authority thus received, Joseph Smith sent an apostle\nof the Lord Jesus Christ to the land of Palestine to bless it and\ndedicate it to the Lord for the return of his people. This apostle was\nOrson Hyde, and he performed his mission in 1840-2. Again in 1872 an\napostolic delegation consisting of the late President George A. Smith\n(cousin of the Prophet) and the late President Lorenzo Snow were sent\nto Palestine. The purpose of their mission in part is thus stated in\nPresident Young's letter of appointment to George A. Smith.\n\n When you get to the land of Palestine we wish you to dedicate\n and consecrate that land to the Lord that it may be blessed with\n fruitfulness preparatory to the return of the Jews in fulfillment\n of prophecy and the accomplishment of the purposes of our heavenly\n Father. [19]\n\nActing, then, under the divine authority restored to earth by the\nProphet Moses, this Apostolic delegation--as well as the Apostle first\nsent--from the summit of Mount Olivet blessed the land, and dedicated\nit for the return of the Jews. It is not strange, therefore, to those\nwho look upon such a movement as Zionism with faith in God's great\nlatter-day work to see the spirit now moving upon the minds of the Jews\nprompting their return to the land of their fathers. To them it is but\nthe operation of the Spirit of God in their souls, turning their hearts\nto the promises made to the fathers.\n\nMeantime, and quite apart from the Zionite movement, changes are taking\nplace in the promised land that augur well for the fulfillment of this\nBook of Mormon prophecy. For instance, the British Consul reports\nfor 1876 give the number of Jews in Judea at from fifteen to twenty\nthousand. Twenty years later, viz. in 1896, the same authority gives\nthe number of Jews at from sixty to seventy thousand; and what was more\npromising for the future both for the people and the country inhabited,\nthis new Jewish population was turning its attention to the cultivation\nof the soil, which but requires the blessings of God unto it to restore\nit to its ancient fruitfulness, and which will make it possible for it\nto sustain once more a numerous population. [20]\n\nThus in the preparations evidently being made for the return of the\nJews to the land of their forefathers, and their beginning to believe\nin Jesus, this remarkable Book of Mormon prophecy is in the way of\nfulfillment.\n\nIV.\n\n_The Work of the Lord to Commence Among all Nations to Bring About\nthe Restoration of His People Israel, and a Universal Reign of Peace\nand Righteousness_.\n\n And it shall come to pass that the Lord God shall commence his work\n among all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, to bring about\n the restoration of his people upon the earth.\n\nThe 19th century of the Christian era, especially the last three\nquarters of it, will be regarded as a most wonderful period of human\nprogress. [21] An age of inventions and discoveries in all departments\nof human knowledge and human activities. During that time, through\nhuman invention, machinery was so multiplied and made to serve the\nindustrial requirements of man that we may say that the race was\nemancipated from the drudgery under which it had sweltered for ages. In\nfield and factory machinery was made to perform the labor which in ages\nhitherto had been done by human hands. Husbandry, by reason of so much\nmachinery being applied to agricultural pursuits, became a gentlemanly\noccupation as compared with the farm drudgery of former years. The\nincreased product in all lines of manufactures multiplied comforts and\nplaced them within the reach of all, so that the standard of living\namong the common people was immensely improved.\n\nThis period also witnessed great advancement in the matter of\ntransportation. On land it developed from the ox team and horse\ncarriage to the automobile and lightning express train, capable of\ncovering from fifty to seventy and now ninety miles per hour. It saw\nEurope and America converted into a net work of railroads, binding all\nparts of the respective continents together with easy, safe, and swift\nmeans of traffic, and carried to the markets of every city the various\nproducts of all the countries of the globe.\n\nWater transportation within the same period developed from the slow\nsailing vessel, dependent on the winds and ocean currents to the modern\n\"ocean greyhound\" capable of making its way against both ocean current\nand winds at a speed never realized by the sailing vessel with both\nwind and ocean currents in its favor. The stormy Atlantic, to cross\nwhich in the early years of the century was a tedious and dangerous\njourney of many weeks, by the close of the 19th century was a matter\nof five days pleasure trip. All mystery and dread of \"old ocean\" had\ndisappeared, and men no longer mourned the fate of \"those who go\ndown to the sea in ships,\" since ocean travel is far less dangerous\nthan overland travel, and the oceans so far from being regarded any\nlonger with the old time awe and mystery are now looked upon as merely\nconvenient highways for the commerce of the world. By the speed of\nocean travel we may say that all the continents and islands of the\nglobe are married.\n\nRunning parallel with this development of transportation on land and\nsea, is what may be called the growth of our instantaneous means of\ncommunication. At the opening of the period we are considering the pony\nexpress and mail coach were our most rapid means of communication,\nand looking back to those days such means of communication seem\nmarvellously inadequate to civilized life. At the close of the century,\nhowever, by means of ocean cables and telegraph lines, and telephone\ninstrumentalities--to say nothing of the more wonderful wireless\ntelegraphy now coming into use--we are in instant communication with\nall the great centers of civilization, and each morning may read the\nworld's daily history gathered by these agencies for our instruction.\n\nIn the same period, in the matter of illumination, we went from the\ntallow dip and farthing rush light to gas and electricity. From the\nslow working hand press to the lightning Hoe multicolor printing press,\ncapable of printing, in different colors, folding, pasting and counting\nfrom twenty-four thousand to one hundred thousand impressions per hour!\nWithin our period improvements in telescopes have revealed new wonders\nof the universe. Improvement in microscopes have revealed wonders\nundreamed of in former times both in organic and inorganic nature.\nIn the laboratories of the world new mysteries of light and heat and\nother elementary forces of nature were revealed. Substances which\naforetime had been regarded as opaque were found in some lights to be\ntransparent. Indeed in all the arts and sciences such progress was\nmade as had not before been made in a period of a thousand years. [22]\nThere seemed to have come an awakening of intellectual power in men,\nand the whole world was transformed by means of it. Political liberties\nwere enlarged, old tyrannies were rendered for the present and future\nimpossible in many countries, because of the consciousness of inherent\npower in the people.\n\nOur period witnessed also the rise and progress of the peace movement.\nA movement whose chief purpose is to substitute peaceful arbitration\nas a method of settling international differences for the dreadful\narbitrament of war. The first peace society was formed in America\nearly in the century--1815--and while not attracting much attention at\nfirst, the movement gradually increased in importance until at last it\narose from a merely national movement to an international one, as is\nevidenced from the fact that at its great conference at the Hague in\n1899 there were accredited representatives from the following nations:\nUnited States, Great Britain, Russia, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary,\nBelgium, China, Denmark, Holland, Italy, Japan, Sweden, Norway, Persia,\nPortugal, Roumania, Servia, Siam, Switzerland, and Turkey. It was this\nconference of 1899 that finally established the world's permanent court\nof arbitration at the Hague, to which several important international\nquestions have already been referred and settled. And while the peace\nmovement and arbitration has not yet relieved the world from recurrence\nof dreadful wars, still the establishment of the permanent court for\ninternational arbitration is a mighty stride in the interest of the\nworld's peace. It gives more than hope. It establishes confidence that\nthe time will come when there will be a disarmament of the nations,\nand the old prophet's dream figured forth in his vision of the nations\nbeating their spears into pruning hooks and their swords into plow\nshares will be realized, and the nations shall learn war no more.\n\nIt cannot be that this wonderful transformation of the world within our\nperiod has no significance. A new era has certainly dawned upon the\nworld. Old things are passing away. All things are becoming new. Surely\nsuch changing conditions in material things prophesy corresponding\nchanges in men as individuals and in their community life. These\nmaterial improvements will doubtless be met by corresponding\nimprovements in moral and spiritual wellbeing. There is undoubtedly\na close connection between this influx of intellectual light and\nthe splendid opening of the great new dispensation of the gospel of\nJesus Christ. When the Lord renewed divine communication to man in\nthe visions and revelations granted to Joseph Smith, there seemed\nto have accompanied this influx of spiritual light the intellectual\nlight of which I have been speaking, and which has accomplished such\ntransformations in the affairs of men and nations as are here noted. To\nthe spirit which is in man the Spirit of the Lord has given inspiration\nto some purpose. It is not difficult to believe--nay to conceive the\ncontrary seems impossible--that the Lord, according to the Book of\nMormon prophecy, has commenced to bring about the restoration of his\npeople Israel upon the earth, and to usher into the world that blessed\nreign of truth, peace and righteousness so long hoped for; so long the\ntheme of poets, sages, statesmen and prophets; when with righteousness\nthe Lord shall judge the pure and reprove with equity for the meek of\nthe earth; when the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard\nshall lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion, and the\nfatling together, and a little child shall lead them; when the cow and\nthe bear shall feed, and their young ones shall lie down together; when\nthe lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the suckling child shall\nplay on the hole of the cockatrice's den; when they shall not hurt nor\ndestroy in all God's holy mountain; when the earth shall be full of\nthe knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea; when man shall\nknow how sweet and pleasant it is for men to dwell together in unity\nand peace; and when, to correspond with these moral and spiritual\nconditions of the world, the material forces and resources of the earth\nshall be developed; distance annihilated; all the ends of the earth\nbrought together in instant communication; poverty and crime banished;\nwhen labor shall have its own and the idler shall not sit in the lap\nof luxury, a burden to labor, but all shall contribute by intelligent\nindustry to an enlightened world's necessities. The realization of the\ndream has long been deferred, but we are taught by scripture that if\nthe vision tarry, wait for it, for it will come. Surely we may wait in\nconfidence when in such a marked manner as here indicated the hand of\nGod is to be seen fashioning and directing those events which shall\nculminate in the perfect realization of all the good that has been\ndecreed for the earth and the inhabitants thereof.\n\nV.\n\n_The Sign of the Modern World's Awakening_.\n\nAn interesting feature in the awakening of the world, considered in the\nlast subdivision of this chapter, is the fact that not only did this\nawakening begin about the time the Book of Mormon was published to the\nworld, but it is one of the prophecies of the book that it should be\nso. That is to say, the spiritual and intellectual awakening of the\nmodern world, and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon were to be\ncontemporaneous events.\n\nIn the course of his ministry among the Nephites, the Messiah directed\nespecial attention to, and laid great stress upon one of the prophecies\nof Isaiah, which follows:\n\n Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall\n they sing, for they shall see eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring\n again Zion. Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of\n Jerusalem, for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed\n Jerusalem. The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all\n the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation\n of God.\n\nLater in Messiah's ministry, when referring again to this prophecy, he\nremarked:\n\n When they [the foregoing words of Isaiah] shall be fulfilled,\n then is the fulfilling of the covenant which the Father hath made\n unto his people, O house of Israel. And then shall the remnants\n which shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth, be\n gathered in from the east, and from the west, and from the south,\n and from the north; and they shall be brought to the knowledge of\n the Lord their God, who hath redeemed them. * * * And behold, this\n people will I establish in this land, unto the fulfilling of the\n covenant which I made with your father Jacob; and it shall be a New\n Jerusalem. And the powers of heaven shall be in the midst of this\n people; yea, even I will be in the midst of you. Behold, I am he of\n whom Moses spake, saying, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise\n up unto you of your brethren, like unto me, him shall ye hear in\n all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to\n pass that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be cut\n off from among the people. * * * And I will remember the covenant\n which I have made with my people, and I have covenanted with them\n that I would gather them together in mine own due time, that I\n would give unto them again the land of their fathers, for their\n inheritance, which is the land of Jerusalem, which is the promised\n land unto them forever, saith the Father. And it shall come to\n pass that the time cometh when the fulness of my gospel shall be\n preached unto them. And they shall believe in me, that I am Jesus\n Christ, the Son of God, and shall pray unto the Father in my name.\n Then [referring to Isaiah] shall their watchmen lift up their\n voice, and with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall\n see eye to eye. [23]\n\nAnd now as to the sign which he gave by which the branch of the\nhouse of Israel in the American continents might know that this work\nof restoring the house of Israel to the land of their inheritance,\ntogether with the spiritual and intellectual awakening that should\nattend upon that event--of this Jesus said:\n\n And, verily, I say unto you, I give unto you a sign, that ye may\n know the time when these things shall be about to take place, that\n I shall gather in from their long dispersion my people, O house of\n Israel, and shall establish again among them my Zion. And behold,\n this is the thing which I will give unto you for a sign, for verily\n I say unto you, that when these things which I declare unto you,\n and which I shall declare unto you hereafter of myself, and by\n the power of the Holy Ghost, which shall be given unto you of the\n Father--[when these things] shall be made known unto the Gentiles,\n that they may know concerning this people who are a remnant of\n the house of Jacob, and concerning this my people who shall be\n scattered by them.--Verily, verily, I say unto you, when these\n things shall be made known unto them of the Father, and shall come\n forth of the Father, from them unto you--* * when these works,\n and the works which shall be wrought among you hereafter, shall\n come forth from the Gentiles, unto your seed [through publishing\n the Book of Mormon] * * * it shall be a sign unto them that they\n may know that the work of the Father hath already commenced unto\n the fulfilling of the covenant which he [God] hath made unto the\n people who are of the house of Israel. * * * And then shall the\n work of the Father commence at that day, even when this gospel\n shall be preached among the remnant of this people--verily I say\n unto you, at that day shall the work of the Father commence among\n all the dispersed of my people; yea, even the tribes which have\n been lost, which the Father hath led away out of Jerusalem. Yea,\n the work shall commence among all the dispersed of my people *\n * * to prepare the way whereby they may come unto me, that they\n may call on the Father in my name; yea, and then shall the work\n commence, with the Father, among all nations, in preparing the\n way whereby his people may be gathered home to the land of their\n inheritance. [24]\n\nThat is to say, the coming forth of the Book of Mormon was to be\nthe signal for this modern world awakening; and the \"sign\" of the\ncommencement of the work of the Lord among all nations, kindreds,\ntongues, and people, to bring to pass the restoration of his people and\nthe accomplishment of his purposes in all the earth. The facts already\nset forth establish the fulfillment of this no less venturesome--i. e.\nventuresome for an imposter to make--than remarkable prophecy.\n\nVI.\n\n_Conditional Prophecies--The Evidence of Things Worthy of God to\nReveal_.\n\nIn closing these chapters on the prophecies of the Book of Mormon, I\ndirect attention to what I shall call conditional prophecies. Not for\nthe purpose of referring to their fulfillment, either accomplished or\nprospective, as evidence of the truth of the book, but as exhibiting\nthe fact that the Book of Mormon has a prophetic message for the\npresent generation worthy of God to reveal, and one that it concerns\nthe Gentile races now occupying the continents of America to know.\nThese prophecies deal with the terms upon which the Gentile races\nmay maintain for themselves and perpetuate to their posterity the\ninheritance they have secured in the goodly land of Joseph--the\nAmerican continents. First let it be remembered that these continents,\naccording to the Book of Mormon, are a promised land, especially to the\nseed of Joseph, son of the Patriarch Jacob, and also to the Gentiles\nwhom God shall lead hither. To the leader of the Nephite colony the\nLord said:\n\n And in as much as ye shall keep my commandments ye shall prosper,\n and shall be led to the land of promise. Yea, even a land which I\n have prepared for you; yea, a land which is choice above all other\n lands.\n\nSubsequently, as is well known, the Nephite colony arrived in America,\nrepeatedly referred to by them and their descendants as \"the land of\npromise.\"\n\nBefore his demise the prophet Lehi, who lived to arrive with his colony\nupon the promised land, made the following prophecy concerning the\noccupancy of the land by his people:\n\n Notwithstanding our afflictions, we have obtained a land of\n promise, a land which is choice above all other lands; a land which\n the Lord God hath covenanted with me should be a land for the\n inheritance of my seed. Yea, the Lord hath covenanted this land\n unto me, and to my children forever; and also all those who should\n be led out of other countries by the hand of the Lord. Wherefore,\n I, Lehi, prophesy according to the workings of the Spirit which\n is in me, that there shall none come into this land save they\n shall be brought by the hand of the Lord. Wherefore, this land is\n consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that\n they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath\n given, it shall be a land of liberty unto them; wherefore, they\n shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be\n because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound, cursed shall\n be the land for their sakes; but unto the righteous it shall be\n blessed forever. And behold, it is wisdom that this land should be\n kept as yet from the knowledge of other nations; for behold, many\n nations would overrun the land, that there would be no place for\n an inheritance. Wherefore, I, Lehi, have obtained a promise, that\n inasmuch as those whom the Lord God shall bring out of the land of\n Jerusalem shall keep his commandments they shall prosper upon the\n face of this land; and they shall be kept from all other nations,\n that they may possess this land unto themselves. And if it so be\n that they shall keep his commandments they shall be blessed upon\n the face of this land, and there shall be none to molest them, nor\n to take away the land of their inheritance; and they shall dwell\n safely forever. But, behold, when the time cometh that they shall\n dwindle in unbelief, after they have received so great blessings\n from the hand of the Lord; having a knowledge of the creation of\n the earth, and all men, knowing the great and marvelous works of\n the Lord from the creation of the world; having power given them\n to do all things by faith; having all the commandments from the\n beginning, and having been brought by his infinite goodnesss into\n this precious land of promise; behold, I say, if the day shall come\n that they will reject the Holy One of Israel, the true Messiah,\n their Redeemer and their God, behold the judgment of him that is\n just shall rest upon them; yea, he will bring other nations unto\n them, and he will give unto them [the incoming nations] power, and\n he will take away from them [the remnants of the Nephites] the\n lands of their possessions; and he will cause them to be scattered\n and smitten. Yea, as one generation passeth to another, there shall\n be bloodshed, and great visitations among them. [25]\n\nThis prophecy was fulfilled in the experiences of Lehi's descendants.\nThough in the course of their history they had some long periods, and\nsome intermittent seasons of righteousness, they eventually, even after\nthe personal ministrations of the Son of God among them, departed from\nrighteousness, rejected Jesus Christ, and the decreed judgment fell\nupon them to the uttermost. The Gentile races finally came to the land,\nand took possession of it, while the descendants of the once favored\nrace that occupied it were dispossessed and broken, and scattered.\n\nThe promises made to the Nephites had also been given to the Jaredites\nwho preceded them in possession of the land. To the brother of Jared,\nthe leader of the Jaredite colony, the Lord said: \"I will go before thee\ninto a land which is choice above all the lands of the earth.\" [26]\n\nMoroni, while abridging the records of the Jaredites, which give an\naccount of that people's migration to America, refers to the decrees of\nGod concerning the land in the following passage:\n\n And the Lord would not suffer that they should stop beyond the\n sea in the wilderness, but he would that they should come forth\n even unto the land of promise, which was choice above all other\n lands, which the Lord God had preserved for a righteous people; and\n he had sworn in his wrath unto the brother of Jared, that whoso\n should possess this land of promise, from that time henceforth and\n forever, should serve him, the true and only God, or they should\n be swept off when the fulness of his wrath should come upon them.\n And now we can behold the decrees of God concerning this land,\n that it is a land of promise, and whatsoever nation shall possess\n it, shall serve God, or they shall be swept off when the fulness\n of his wrath shall come upon them. And the fulness of his wrath\n cometh upon them when they are ripened in iniquity; for, behold,\n this is a land which is choice above all other lands; wherefore\n he that doth possess it shall serve God, or they shall be swept\n off; for it is the everlasting decree of God. And it is not until\n the fulness of iniquity among the children of the land, that they\n are swept off. And this cometh unto you, O ye Gentiles, that ye\n may know the decrees of God, that ye may repent, and not continue\n in your iniquities until the fulness come, that ye may not bring\n down the fulness of the wrath of God upon you, as the inhabitants\n of the land hath hitherto done. Behold, this is a choice land, and\n whatsoever nation shall possess it shall be free from bondage, and\n from captivity, and from all other nations under heaven, if they\n will but serve the God of the land, who is Jesus Christ, who hath\n been manifested by the things which we have written.\n\nJesus also in the course of his ministry among the Nephites refers to\nthese same decrees concerning the land; or, better say, makes them,\nsince he is the \"God of the land.\" His words follow:\n\n The Father hath commanded me that I should give unto you [the\n Nephites] this land, for your inheritance. And I say unto you that\n if the Gentiles do not repent, after the blessing which they shall\n receive after they have scattered my people, then shall ye who are\n a remnant of the house of Jacob go forth among them; and ye shall\n be in the midst of them, who shall be many; and ye shall be among\n them, as a lion among the beasts of the forest, and as a young lion\n among the flocks of sheep, who, if he goeth through, both treadeth\n down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. Thy hand shall be\n lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be\n cut off. And I will gather my people together, as a man gathereth\n his sheaves into the floor, for I will make my people with whom the\n Father hath covenanted, yea, I will make thy horn iron, and I will\n make thy hoofs brass. And thou shalt beat in pieces many people;\n and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance\n unto the Lord of the whole earth. And behold, I am he who doeth it.\n And it shall come to pass, saith the Father, that the sword of my\n justice shall hang over them at that day; and except they repent,\n it shall fall upon them, saith the Father, yea, even upon all the\n nations of the Gentiles. [27]\n\nThen follows an explanation of how, through the seed of Abraham, all\nthe kindreds of the earth are blessed:\n\n Unto the pouring out of the Holy Ghost through me [Jesus Christ]\n upon the Gentiles, which blessing upon the Gentiles shall make\n them mighty above all, unto the scattering of my people, O house\n of Israel; and they shall be a scourge unto the people of this\n land. Nevertheless, when they shall have received the fulness of my\n gospel, then if they shall harden their hearts against me, I will\n return their iniquities upon their own heads, saith the Father. [28]\n\nSpeaking further of the \"great and marvelous work\" which the Lord\nshould bring forth in the last days, he again refers to the Gentiles\nupon the promised land, in the following words:\n\n Therefore it shall come to pass that whosoever will not believe in\n my words, who am Jesus Christ, whom the Father shall cause him to\n bring forth unto the Gentiles, and shall give unto him power that\n he shall bring them forth unto the Gentiles, (it shall be done\n even as Moses said), they shall be cut off from among my people\n who are of the covenant. And my people who are a remnant of Jacob\n shall be among the Gentiles, yea, in the midst of them as a lion\n among the beasts of the forest, as the young lion among the flock\n of sheep, who, if he go through both treadeth down and teareth to\n pieces, and none can deliver. Their hand shall be lifted up upon\n their adversaries, and all their enemies shall be cut off. Yea, wo\n be unto the Gentiles, except they repent, for it shall come to pass\n in that day, saith the Father, that I will cut off thy horses out\n of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots, and I will\n cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strongholds;\n and I will cut off witchcrafts out of thy hand, and thou shalt\n have no more soothsayers; thy graven images I will also cut off,\n and thy standing images out of the midst of thee, and thou shalt\n no more worship the works of thy hands; and I will pluck up thy\n groves out of the midst of thee; so will I destroy thy cities. And\n it shall come to pass that all lying, and deceiving, and envying,\n and strifes, and priestcrafts, and whoredoms, shall be done away.\n For it shall come to pass, saith the Father, that at that day\n whosoever will not repent and come unto my beloved Son, them will\n I cut off from among my people. O house of Israel; and I will\n execute vengeance and fury upon them, even as upon the heathen,\n such as they have not heard. But if they [the Gentiles] will\n repent, and hearken unto my words, and harden not their hearts, I\n will establish my church among them and they shall come in unto the\n covenant, and be numbered among this remnant of Jacob, unto whom I\n have given this land for their inheritance. And they shall assist\n my people, the remnant of Jacob, and also, as many of the house of\n Israel as shall come, that they may build a city, which shall be\n called the New Jerusalem; and then shall they assist my people that\n they may be gathered in, who are scattered upon all the face of the\n land, in unto the New Jerusalem. And then shall the power of heaven\n come down among them; and I also will be in the midst. [29]\n\nHere then is the conditional prophecy that it concerns the proud\nGentile races now inhabiting the American continents to know. These\ncontinents are a promised land; they are given primarily to the\ndescendants of the Patriarch Joseph as an inheritance, but the Gentile\nraces are also given an inheritance in them with the descendants\nof Joseph. The whole land, however, is dedicated to righteousness\nand liberty, and the people who possess it, whether of the house of\nIsrael or Gentiles, must be a righteous people, and worship the \"God\nof the land, who is Jesus Christ.\" In that event God stands pledged\nto preserve the land and the people thereof from all other nations,\nand to bless them with very great and peculiar blessings guaranteeing\nto them freedom and peaceful possession of the land forever. If the\nGentile races shall observe these conditions they and their children\nare to share in the blessings of the land in connection with the\ndescendants of the Patriarch Joseph. If they depart from justice,\nreject righteousness and Jesus Christ, then the judgments decreed will\novertake them until they are wasted away. This is the decree of God\nrespecting the Western hemisphere, and is one of the important messages\nthat the Book of Mormon has to deliver to the present generation.\n\nNor is it the Book of Mormon alone that bears this message. So far as\nthe people of the United States are concerned, I might say, if not\none of their own prophets, at least their greatest statesman, gave\nsubstantially the same warning to the people of that nation, and I\nbelieve his utterances are equally applicable to the people occupying\nthe other parts of the American continents. Read the following\nquotation from the speech delivered a few months before its author's\ndeath, and tell me if the American statesman, Daniel Webster, did not\ncatch the same glow of inspiration when predicting the terms upon which\nthe people now occupying our country may hold their heritage, as that\nwhich warmed the hearts of the Book of Mormon writers and speakers,\nwhose words are quoted in the preceding passages. Mr. Webster's speech\nwas delivered before the \"New York Historical Society,\" on February\n22nd--Washington's birthday--1852; as the great American died in\nOctober following, the address was one of his last speeches.\n\n Unborn ages and visions of glory crowd upon my soul, the\n realization of all which, however, is in the hands and good\n pleasure of Almighty God; but, under his divine blessing, it will\n be dependent on the character and the virtues of ourselves, and of\n our posterity. If classical history has been found to be, is now,\n and shall continue to be, the concomitant of free institutions, and\n of popular eloquence, what a field is opening to us for another\n Herodotus, another Thucydides, and another Livy!\n\n And let me say, gentlemen, that if we and our posterity shall be\n true to the Christian religion--if we and they shall live always\n in the fear of God, and shall respect his commandments, if we and\n they shall maintain just, moral sentiments, and such conscientious\n convictions of duty as shall control the heart and life--we may\n have the highest hopes of the future fortunes of our country;\n and if we maintain those institutions of government and that\n political union, exceeding all praise as much as it exceeds all\n former examples of political associations, we may be sure of one\n thing--that, while our country furnishing materials for a thousand\n masters of the historic art, it will afford no topic for a Gibbon.\n It will have no Decline and Fall. It will go on prospering and to\n prosper.\n\n But, if we and our posterity reject religious instruction and\n authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the\n injunctions of morality, and recklessly destroy the political\n constitution which holds us together, no man can tell how sudden\n a catastrophe may overwhelm us, that shall bury all our glory in\n profound obscurity. Should that catastrophe happen, let it have no\n history! Let the horrible narrative never be written! Let its fate\n be like that of the lost books of Livy, which no human eye shall\n ever read; or the missing Pleiad, of which no man can ever know\n more, than that it is lost, and lost forever!\n\nI think my statement will be within reasonable limits when I say that\nthis sublime doctrine and warning of Mr. Webster's has the same source\nof inspiration as the utterances of the Book of Mormon writers. I\nbelieve that all who read and compare these passages will conclude\nthere is something more than mere coincidence in their agreement.\n\nAs before stated, it is not my purpose in calling attention to\nthese conditional prophecies to point to their fulfillment, either\naccomplished or prospective, in evidence of the truth of the Book of\nMormon. Their worth as evidence to the truth of the book rests solely\nupon the importance of the matter with which they deal. The demand\nof the world is, and it is a reasonable one, that a book purporting\nto be a revelation from God should deal with subjects that it is\nimportant for men to know, and I regard the terms that constitute\nthe conditions upon which the American continents may be securely\nheld by the people who possess them, as a matter of the highest\nimportance for the people to know, and hence worthy to be found in a\nbook purporting to be a revelation from God. Such knowledge is no less\nimportant than to know the source whence the continents of America are\npeopled; the providences of God in dealing with them; and the fact\nthat the Son of God visited the western hemisphere, and taught to the\ninhabitants thereof the gospel, and established here his church for the\nperpetuation of the truth and for the salvation of men. All this is\nrevealed in the Book of Mormon, and makes up a mass of knowledge that\nit concerns mankind to know, and hence is worthy of God to reveal. Had\nthe Book of Mormon dealt with light or trivial things--things unworthy\nof God to reveal, mankind would require no further evidence that its\nclaims to a divine origin were baseless; and conversely: if the book\nreveals a mass of knowledge--worthy of God to reveal and important for\nman to know--then it is evidence of considerable weight that the book\nis of God.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. II. Nephi xxx: 3-11.\n\n2. II. Nephi xxx: 12-15.\n\n3. \"Descendants of the Jews.\" This expression, I believe, is used in\nthis instance as equivalent to \"Descendants of the house of Israel.\"\nThat is, the American Indians will know they are Israelites. This sense\nof the phrase \"the Jews\" is used in other parts of the Book of Mormon:\nfor instance, \"That the father may bring about * * * his great and\neternal purposes, in restoring the Jews, or all the House of Israel,\nto the land of their inheritance.\" We have already pointed out in\nprevious foot notes that according to the Book of Mormon the American\nIndians are a mixture of the tribes of Manasseh, Ephraim and Judah (see\npp. 95, 325-6); and therefore we think the phrase \"descendants of the\nJews,\" does not mean to confine native American race descent to the\nJews alone, but merely to say that they are descendants of the House of\nIsrael, for which \"Jews\" here stands as equivalent.\n\n4. See Doc. & Cov. Section xxix and Section xxxii.\n\n5. History of the Church, Vol. I, p. 185, note. Aut. P. P. Pratt, pp.\n56-61.\n\n6. It may be suspected that Elder Pratt colored his account of this\nspeech to fit the prophecy of the Book of Mormon, but if that were so\nsome reference to its fulfillment of the prediction--\"then shall they\nrejoice\"--would naturally be looked for; but it is a singular thing\nthat nowhere in the early literature of the Church is reference made to\nthis prophetic page. The full account of this first Indian mission will\nbe found in the \"History of the Church,\" Vol. I, pp. 111-120, and pages\n182-185.\n\n7. \"History of the Church,\" Vol. I, pp. 184-5.\n\n8. \"History of the Church,\" Vol. V., Chapters xxiv and xxv. The prophet\nhad been visiting relatives in Dixon, and while there fell into the\nhands of his enemies, who sought to take him to Missouri. He escaped\nthem, however, by a writ of habeas corpus, on which he was tried and\nacquitted at Nauvoo.\n\n9. \"Millennial Star,\" Vol. XXI, pp. 634-5.\n\n10. Amos ix: 14.\n\n11. Obadiah i: 17.\n\n12. Deut. vii: 6.\n\n13. Zechariah ii: 12.\n\n14. Isaiah xiv: 1.\n\n15. Ezekiel xxxvii: 21-27.\n\n16. Isaiah xix: 21.\n\n17. \"In the opinion of some, it may become a training-ground for those\nwho are eventually to go to Zion. * * * Whatever solution the East\nAfrican scheme may find, it can be but a temporary one. The eye of the\npeople's soul cannot be turned from the object upon which it has rested\nfor centuries and centuries. * * * The soul of Israel has always felt,\nand when occasion offered has always said, that such a concentration at\nsuch a rallying-point, can be induced only in the ancient home of the\nchildren of Israel, in Palestine.\"--Richard J. H. Gottheil.\n\n18. See Doc. & Cov., Sec. 110.\n\n19. \"Biography of Lorenzo Snow,\" p. 496.\n\n20. Since the foregoing was written the following press dispatch from\nJerusalem, under date of July 28th, 1906, appeared in the daily papers\nof the United States: Jerusalem, July 28--The Zionist movement--the\nreturn of the Jews to Palestine--is being carried actively on, and\nduring the last few months there has been a remarkable influx of\nIsraelites into the Holy Land.\n\nA fertile region, east of the Jordan, toward Kerak, has been inspected\nby a party of Jewish financiers, with the idea of colonizing it. * *\n* * * * The intending colonists are negotiating with the government\nfor the purchase of land and for guarantees of protection against the\nBedouins. Five thousand Jewish emigrants from Russia and the Balkan\nStates recently landed at Jaffa. They will be distributed among the\nvarious Jewish colonies, which are to be found in all the fertile\ndistricts of Palestine. It looks as if the Chosen People are literally\ncoming to their own again.\n\n21. \"A mighty dawn of ideas is peculiar to our own age (nineteenth\ncentury).\"--Victor Hugo.\n\n22. \"No previous century ever saw anything approaching to the increase\nin social complexity which has been wrought in America and Europe\nsince 1789. In science and in the industrial arts the change has been\ngreater than in the ten preceding centuries taken together. Contrast\nthe seventeen centuries which it took to remodel the astronomy of\nHipparchus with the forty years which it has taken to remodel the\nchemistry of Berzelius and the biology of Cuvier. * * * How small\nthe difference between the clumsy wagons of the Tudor period and the\nmailcoach in which our grandfathers rode, compared to the difference\nbetween the mail-coach and the railway train! How rapid the changes\nin philosophic thinking since the time of the Encyclopedistes, in\ncomparison with the slow though important changes which occurred\nbetween the epoch of Aristotle and the epoch of Descartes! In morality,\nboth individual and national, and in general humanity of disposition\nand refinement of manners, the increased rapidity of change has been no\nless marked.\"--Cosmic Philosophy (Fiske), Vol. IV., p. 54, 55.\n\n23. III. Nephi 20.\n\n24. III. Nephi, chapter 21.\n\n25. II. Nephi i: 5-12.\n\n26. Ether i: 42.\n\n27. III. Nephi 20: 14-20.\n\n28. III. Nephi 20: 27, 28.\n\n29. III. Nephi xxi: 11-25.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLIII.\n\nINTERNAL EVIDENCES.--THE SPIRIT OF THE BOOK.\n\n\"I can no more remember the books I have read than the meals I have\neaten,\" said Emerson, \"but they have made me.\" In this way the American\nphilosopher recognizes the simple truth that the reading of books\nhas something to do with the making of a man--that they affect the\nmind. A book has a spirit as distinctly as a painting or of a piece\nof sculpture has \"feeling\"--of course I mean a real work of art into\nwhich something from the soul of the artist has passed. The best\nthing about a painting or piece of sculpture is said to be that which\ncannot be described; so also the best part of a book is the spirit of\nit, which may not always be describable. And that elusive, mysterious\nquality we call its spirit may arise from something quite apart from\nits rhetoric, or logic or diction. It may be even as the voice of God:\nnot in the strong wind, that rends the mountains and breaks in pieces\nthe rocks before the Lord; not in the earthquake nor in the fire; but\nin the still, small voice which follows the wind and earthquake and\nfire. [1] So with a book: its spirit may owe its existence to its simple\ntruth--to the spirit of truth in them that made it.\n\n\"Do you ever think,\" said a writer in one of our popular magazines--\"Do\nyou ever think what is the effect of a book on your mind? * * * * Is\nyour mind purer for it, or clearer? Has it filled your mind with good\nor bad images? Has it raised your standard or lowered it? * * * * *\nEvery book you read and understand affects you for better or worse. It\nhas some effect upon you, and if you are sane you are bound to find out\nwhat that is.\"\n\nIn common with all books the Book of Mormon has its spirit, produces\nits effects upon the minds of men; and as it claims to be a work\noriginally written and also translated through the inspiration of God,\nand deals primarily with sacred things, it is to be expected that\nthe spirit of this book will have not only a good, but even a divine\ninfluence; that it will be of a faith-promoting, doubt-dispersing,\ncomfort-bringing character. Its effects upon the minds of men,\ntherefore, may be another test of its claims to a divine origin; and to\nthat test I now submit it.\n\nIn his work entitled \"My First Mission,\" the late President George\nQ. Cannon makes the following statement respecting the influence\nexerted over his spirit by reading the Book of Mormon under the trying\nconditions in which he was placed while serving as a missionary in the\nHawaiian Islands:\n\n Some of my readers may be placed in circumstances similar to those\n which surrounded me a part of the time on the Sandwich Islands, and\n it may be profitable to tell them how I kept from losing courage\n and becoming home-sick. My love for home is naturally very strong.\n For the first year after I left home I could scarcely think about\n it without my feelings getting the better of me. But here I was\n in a distant land, among a people whose language and habits were\n strange to me. Their very food was foreign to me, and unlike\n anything I had ever before seen or tasted. I was much of the time\n separated from my companions, the Elders. Until I mastered the\n language and commenced preaching and baptizing the people, I was\n indeed a stranger among them.\n\n Before I commenced holding regular meetings I had plenty of time\n for meditation and to review all the events of my short life, and\n to think of the beloved home from which I was so far separated. It\n was then I found the value of the Book of Mormon. It was a book\n which I always loved. If I felt inclined to be lonely, to be low\n spirited, or home-sick, I had only to turn to its sacred pages to\n receive consolation, new strength and a rich outpouring of the\n Spirit. Scarcely a page that did not contain encouragement for\n such as I was. The salvation of man was the great theme upon which\n its writers dwelt and for this they were willing to undergo every\n privation and make every sacrifice.\n\n What were my petty difficulties compared with those afflictions\n which they had to endure? If I expected to share the glory for\n which they contended, I could see that I must labor in the same\n Spirit. If the sons of King Mosiah could relinquish their high\n estate, and go forth among the degraded Lamanites to labor as they\n did, should not I labor with patience and devoted zeal for the\n salvation of these poor red men, heirs of the same promise?\n\n Let me recommend this book, therefore, to young and old, if they\n need comfort and encouragement. Especially can I recommend it to\n those who are away from home on missions. No man can read it,\n partake of its spirit and obey its teachings, without being filled\n with a deep love for the souls of men and a burning zeal to do all\n in his power to save them.\n\nIn the experience and sentiments expressed in the foregoing passage,\nElder Cannon but voices the experience and sentiments of very many\nLatter-day Saints, including thousands of missionaries who have felt\nall that he has described with reference to the effects of the Book of\nMormon upon his spirit. The experiences of this host of believers may\nbe properly appealed to as evidence for the effect of the book upon\ntheir minds; and I cannot believe but that it is also an evidence of\nits truth. Men have gone to the Book of Mormon in despondency, and\nhave come away cheered; they have gone to it in sorrow, and have come\naway comforted; they have gone to it at times when overwhelmed for the\nmoment by the mists which the speculations of men sometimes throw over\ntruth, and have come away from it enlightened--with faith and hope\nand charity renewed. It created for them a firmer faith in God. In\nthe presence of its spirit doubt took wings. Its moral and spiritual\nstandards they find to be the highest and noblest. Indeed so perfect is\nits morality that no one has yet been able to bring a complaint against\nit on the ground of moral defect; and it was doubtless a consciousness\nof its moral excellence that led the Prophet Joseph Smith himself to\ndeclare on one occasion, when in council with the Twelve Apostles,\nthat the Book of Mormon was the most correct of any book on earth, and\nthat a man could get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than by\nfollowing any other book whatsoever. [2] If in its historical parts\nbelievers find it dealing with events that exhibit selfishness, unholy\nambitions, and all the follies and crimes common to all times and all\nnations and races of men, they never find its treatment of such things\nof the kind that blazons evil deeds, or consecrates crime, much less\nof the kind that cannonizes the vicious. In its pages they see things\nin their true light. There is no shuffling, but evil deeds receive\ntheir proper condemnation in the simple, straightforward language of\nits inspired men. For believers the Book of Mormon differs from the\nbooks of men, as the works of nature differ from the works of men. And\nwith what relief men of deep spiritual natures turn from the works of\nmen to the works of nature! From artistic parks, to nature's jumbled\nwilderness; from well kept gardens, to even desert plains or wild\nvalleys; from grass-lined, men-made lakelets to some huge waterbody,\nmountain rimmed, of unknown depths and wonderous coloring; from crowded\ncities with their din and strife to mountain tops, or lonely ocean's\nshore, where the freed soul in solitude can hold communion with his\nGod--where deep may call to deep, and inspiration gather for life's\nbattles!\n\nAll this and more believers find in the pages of the Book of Mormon,\nand the book that breathes such a spirit must surely have somewhat of\ndivinity in it; and the existence of the divine spirit in the book must\nbe somewhat of evidence that its claims are honest, and its contents\ntrue. This, or else we must believe that men gather grapes of thorns,\nand figs of thistles; that impure fountains send forth pure streams!\n\nI shall be told, however, that the class of witnesses here appealed\nto, viz., those believers in the Book of Mormon who receive from its\npages this spiritual comfort, are for the most part simple folk, who\nbring little or nothing in the way of scholarship to the examination\nof the book; and few of them ever stop to consider it in a thoroughly\nanalytical manner at all. I shall not deny the charge, in truth,\nI rather rejoice in the fact; and I think I am justified in such\nrejoicing since I must needs think it takes on some of the coloring of\nthat joy which Jesus expressed when he said, on the occasion of some\nof his simple minded disciples exulting in the possession of certain\nspiritual graces--\"I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth,\nthat thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast\nrevealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in\nthy sight.\" [3] The fact that this spiritual grace and comfort from the\nvolume of American scripture is enjoyed chiefly by people of humble\nspirit, is an evidence to me that a certain truth expressed by ancient\napostles is universal in its nature--good in all ages and among all\npeople, viz. \"God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the\nhumble.\" [4]\n\nWhen men speak of pride, their hearers have in mind, chiefly, the\n\"purse-proud\"--the pride of the rich made haughty by the power which\nwealth gives; or else they think of \"birth-pride\"--the distinction that\ncomes from the accident of birth; or of \"political-pride,\" that comes\nfrom civic position; or perhaps the \"pride of the brave and strong,\"\ngratified by recognition in high martial stations. But there is another\npride more offensive to God perhaps, than pride in any one of the\nforms mentioned. I mean \"intellectual pride,\" the pride of knowledge,\nof opinion, the pride which so often attends upon the worldly learned\nman who has not as yet progressed so far in learning as to bring to\nthe mind that humility of spirit which rightly belongs to, and will\nat last be found with, profound learning. For my own part I can think\nof nothing that could be a greater offense against the majesty of God\nthan for a man with his limited intellectual power presuming to pass\njudgment upon and reject the things of God, because, forsooth, these\nthings do not conform to his opinion of what the things of God should\nbe like; or because the way in which they are revealed does not conform\nto the manner in which he thinks God should impart his truths. Such\npride always has and always will separate men from receiving knowledge\nby divine communication. While the meek and humble of spirit, borne\ndown with the sense of their own limitations, find grace and spiritual\nenlightenment and comfort in the things which God reveals; and often\narrive at hidden treasures of knowledge, and even of wisdom, unknown to\nthe intellectually proud whom God resisteth.\n\nIn this connection, too, it should be remembered the class of people\nfor whom the Book of Mormon was especially prepared. While a revelation\nto all the world, and containing profound truths the depths of which\nman by human wisdom has not yet sounded, it is primarily designed\nfor the benighted, native American races, fallen from the high\nstation their forefathers once held in God's favor; and its simple\nplainness and faith-promoting power will yet constitute it a mighty\ninstrumentality in bringing those races to a knowledge of God, and a\ntrue understanding of their relationship to him. Hence I say, it is\npre-eminently fitting that this book should be of such character as to\nappeal to the understanding of the simple, and those who are willing\nand happy to be taught of God. And then, in any event, religion is\nand ought to be a simple business, since among even highly civilized\nnations there are many unlearned people who can understand only that\nwhich is simple, and religion concerns alike the ignorant and the\nlearned, the poor and the rich. But plain to the point of being simple\nas the Book of Mormon is, when men are made aware of its power to\nrest the mind, to cheer the heart, to uplift the soul, they go to its\npages for help as the lame and blind and sick were wont to go to old\nBethsaida's pool, to whose waters an angel's touch had imparted healing\nvirtues.\n\nThe spirit of the Book of Mormon, then, its beneficent influence upon\nmen's minds, are among the strongest evidences of its truth. This will\nappear all the more if the reader will call to mind the fact that this\ninfluence does not arise from the cleverness of its construction; for\nits structure, as men view books, is complex, confusing and clumsy. Its\nspirit and influence do not arise from its strictly logical treatment\nof historical events, much less from its philosophical treatment of\nthem; compared in these particulars with the works of Hume, Macaulay,\nGibbon, Hallan or George Bancroft, it could be esteemed contemptible.\nNor do the beneficent effects of the book upon the minds of men arise\nfrom its rhetoric, its beauty of diction, or the pleasing correctness\nof its language; in all these particulars it is admitted to be faulty;\nit has few or none of these merely human excellencies for which it may\nbe desired. Whatever power it possesses to cheer, comfort and encourage\nmen; whatever power to build up hope, create faith or promote charity,\nexists not by virtue of its human excellencies, but in spite of their\nabsence; therefore such influence for good as it possesses must be\nattributed to the Spirit of God in which it was written, and by which\nit is permeated; and by reason of the presence of that spirit in it,\nthe book itself must be accorded a divine origin.\n\n_The Poetry the Book of Mormon has Inspired_.\n\nAs might be expected, the Book of Mormon has inspired considerable\npoetry among those who have accepted it as a revelation from God; and\nas some idea of its influence upon minds of poetic temperament may be\nrevealed by these effusions, I present some of them.\n\nI first quote Parley P. Pratt, one of the earliest poets of the New\nDispensation, and one of its most zealous Apostles. In his Key to\nTheology, one of the most luminous works yet published by the Church,\nwhen treating of the \"Rise, Progress and Decline of the Science of\nTheology in the Western Hemisphere\"--he opens that chapter with the\nfollowing:\n\n The spirit world is moved, the silence broken,\n The ancient Seers from out the ground have spoken.\n The appointed years on time's fleet wings have fled,\n And voices whisper from the ancient dead.\n Volumes of truth the sacred archives yield,\n The past, the glorious future, stand revealed.\n\nIt was the revelation of the Book of Mormon and the historical truths\nwhich it reveals respecting the blessings of the Lord upon Israel that\ninspired the following hymn:\n\n The morning breaks, the shadows flee;\n Lo! Zion's standard is unfurled!\n The dawning of a brighter day\n Majestic rises on the world.\n\n The clouds of error disappear\n Before the rays of truth divine;\n The glory, bursting from afar,\n Wide o'er the nations soon will shine.\n\n The Gentile fulness now comes in,\n And Israel's blessings are at hand;\n Lo! Judah's remnant, cleansed from sin,\n Shall in their promised Canaan stand.\n\n Jehovah speaks! let earth give ear,\n And Gentile nations turn and live;\n His mighty arm is making bare,\n His cov'nant people to receive.\n\n Angels from heaven and truth from earth\n Have met, and both have record borne;\n Thus Zion's light is bursting forth,\n To cheer her children's glad return.\n\nThe following hymn was also inspired by the Book of Mormon:\n\n An angel from on high,\n The long, long silence broke,\n Descending from the sky,\n These gracious words he spoke:\n Lo! in Cumorah's lonely hill,\n A sacred record lies concealed.\n\n Sealed by Moroni's hand,\n It has for ages lain,\n To wait the Lord's command,\n From dust to speak again.\n It shall again to light come forth,\n To usher in Christ's reign on earth.\n\n It speaks of Joseph's seed,\n And makes the remnant known\n Of nations long since dead,\n Who once had dwelt alone.\n The fulness of the gospel, too,\n Its pages will reveal to view.\n\n The time is now fulfilled,\n The long expected day;\n Let earth obedient yield.\n And darkness flee away;\n Open the seals, be wide unfurled\n Its light and glory to the world.\n\n Lo, Israel filled with joy,\n Shall now be gathered home,\n Their wealth and means employ\n To build Jerusalem;\n While Zion shall arise and shine,\n And fill the earth with truth divine.\n\nAlso the following on the destruction of the Nephites and the glory\nthat is yet to come to their posterity.\n\n O, who that has seen o'er the wide spreading plain,\n And read o'er the last scenes of woe?\n Four-and-twenty with Mormon were left to behold\n Their nation lie mould'ring below.\n\n The Nephites destroyed, the Lamanites dwelt\n For ages in sorrow unknown,\n Generations have passed till the Gentiles at last,\n Have divided their lands as their own.\n\n O, who that has seen o'er the wide spreading plain,\n The Lamanites wander forlorn,\n While the Gentiles in pride and oppression divide\n The land they could once call their own;\n\n And who that believes does not long for the hour\n When sin and oppression shall cease,\n And truth, like the rainbow, display through the shower,\n That bright written promise of peace?\n\n O, thou sore afflicted and sorrowful race,\n The days of thy sorrow shall end!\n The Lord has pronounced you a remnant of His,\n Descended from Abra'm His friend.\n\n Thy stones with fair colors most glorious shall stand.\n And sapphires all shining around,\n Thy windows of agates, in this glorious land,\n And thy gates with carbuncles abound.\n\n With songs of rejoicing to Zion return,\n And sorrow and sighing shall flee,\n The powers of heaven among you come down,\n And Christ in the centre will be.\n\n And then all the watchmen shall see eye to eye,\n When the Lord shall bring Zion again,\n The wolf and the kid down together shall lie,\n And the lion shall dwell with the lamb.\n\n The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of God,\n And nothing shall hurt nor destroy,\n And these are the tidings we have to proclaim,\n Glad tidings abounding with joy.\n\nAfter Elder Pratt the most prolific of the early poets in the Church,\nand one who perhaps caught most truly the genius of the work and\nreduced it to poetic expression, was W. W. Phelps. He contributes the\nfollowing inspired by the Book of Mormon.\n\n O, stop and tell me, Red Man,\n Who are you, why you roam,\n And how you get your living;\n Have you no God, no home?\n\n With stature straight and portly,\n And decked in native pride,\n With feathers, paints and brooches,\n He willingly replied:\n\n \"I once was pleasant Ephraim,\n When Jacob for me prayed,\n But O, how blessings vanish,\n When man from God has strayed!\n\n Before your nation knew us,\n Some thousand moons ago,\n Our fathers fell in darkness,\n And wandered to and fro.\n\n And long they've lived by hunting\n Instead of work and arts,\n And so our race has dwindled\n To idle Indian hearts.\n\n Yet hope within us lingers,\n As if the Spirit spoke,\n He'll come for your redemption,\n And break your Gentile yoke,\n\n And all your captive brothers,\n From every clime shall come,\n And quit their savage customs,\n To live with God at home.\n\n Then joy will fill our bosoms,\n And blessings crown our days,\n To live in pure religion,\n And sing our Maker's praise.\"\n\nOf our later poets Elder Orson F. Whitney, of the Council of the\nTwelve, has most celebrated the Nephite volume of scripture in his\ngreat poem \"Elias.\" One canto (VI) is wholly devoted to the Book of\nMormon under the caption \"From Out the Dust.\" In this Canto Elder\nWhitney treats the whole theme of America as a land of promise--\n\n The Old World, not the New,--this soil misnamed;\n Cradle of man and grave of nations vast,\n Whose glory, wealth, and wisdom had outfamed\n The mightiest of known empires, present, past;\n The land where Adam dwelt, where Eden cast\n Forth from her flaming gate the fateful pair\n Who fell that man might be; a fall still chaste,\n Albeit they sinned, descending death's dread stair\n To fling life's ladder down, Love's work and way prepare.\n\nOf the decrees of God respecting the land, he writes.\n\n The God of freedom, God of justice, swore\n No tyrant should this chosen land defile;\n And nations here, that for a season bore\n The palm of power, must righteous be the while,\n Or ruin's avalanche ruin on ruin pile.\n * * * * * * * * * * * * * *\n\n Race upon race has perished in its pride,\n And nations lustrous as the lights of heaven\n Have sinned and sunk, in reckless suicide,\n Upon this soil, since that dread word was given.\n Realms battle-rent and regions tempest-riven;\n The wrath-swept land for ages desolate;\n A wretched remnant blasted, crust, and driven\n Forth by the furies of revengeful fate;\n Till wonder asks in vain, What of their former state?\n\n Wouldst know the cause, the upas-tree that bore\n The blight of desolation? 'Tis a theme\n To melt Earth's heart, and move all Heaven to pour\n With sorrow's heaving flood, as when supreme\n O'er fallen Lucifer, the generous stream\n Of grief half quenched the joy of victory.\n Mark how the annals of the ages teem\n With repetition? Time, eternity,\n The same have taught; but, few, alas! the moral see.\n\n There is a sin called self, which binds the world\n In fetters fell, than all save truth more strong;\n A sin most serpentine, round all men curled,\n And in its fatal fold earth writhes full long;\n Crime's great first cause, the primal root of wrong,\n Parent of pride and tree of tyranny.\n To lay the axe doth unto thee belong.\n Strike, that the world may know of liberty,\n And Zion's land indeed a land of Zion be!\n\nThe poet treats successively the Jaredite and Nephite occupancy of\nthe western world in the same noble strain of poetry. He closes the\nJaredite period with these verses, celebrating the last acts of the two\nsurvivors of the Jaredite nation, Ether the Prophet, and Coriantumr the\nlast of the Jaredite kings.\n\n Usurping treason seized the civic helm,\n Wrong trampled right, and justice, judgment, fled.\n Then strife, division, hosts to battle led;\n The prophets, mocked, lift warning voice in vain;\n A blood-soaked continent, a sea, of dead,\n And of that mighty nation, fallen, self-slain.\n A prophet and a king, a solitary twain.\n\n That prophet saw the coming of the Lord\n Unto the Old, the New, Jerusalem;\n Saw Israel returning at His word\n From wheresoever His will had scattered them;\n The realm's wide ruin saw, and strove to stem.\n That king, sole scion of a slaughtered race,\n Casting his blood-stained sword and diadem,\n Lived but to see another nation place\n Firm foot upon the soil, then vanished from its face.\n\nThe advent of the Nephite colony is told in the following manner.\n\n Again athwart the wilderness of waves,\n Surging old East and older West between,\n Where the lone sea the flowery Southland laves,\n And crowns o'er many climes the Chilean queen,\n Braving the swell, a storm-tossed bark is seen.\n From doomed Jerusalem, to Jacob dear,\n Albeit a leper, groping, blind, unclean,\n Goes forth Manasseh's prophet pioneer,\n Predestined to unveil the hidden hemisphere.\n\n His lot to reap and plant on this far shore\n The promise of his fathers. Joseph's bough,\n From Jacob's well, the billowy wall runs o'er.\n Abides in strength the archer-stricken bow,\n Unto the utmost bound prevailing now,\n Of Hesper's heaven-inviting hills. Bend sheaves\n Of Israel, as branches bend with snow,\n Unto his sheaf as mightiest; and as leaves\n For multitude, the son the great sire's glory weaves.\n\nThe cataclysms which took place in this western world during the\ncrucifixion and entombment of Messiah and His subsequent advent in the\nwestern world, His teaching the gospel here, and the establishment of\nHis Church is told by our poet in the following strains.\n\n All this and more the prescient monarch saw;\n Messiah's self, Jehovah, Him beheld;\n The Lamb of God, in whom was found no flaw,\n Though Hate's black billows round Him surged and\n swelled;\n Life's deathless tree--deathless, though demon-felled;\n The crash resounding to this far-off shore,\n Whose winnowed remnant welcomed Him revealed\n In risen glory, when had ceased the roar\n And raging of the tempest heralds sent before.\n\n At whose rebuke the haughty mountains bowed,\n Shorn by the whirlwind, sunk, or swept away,\n No more their frown the lowly valleys cowed,\n Rising like billows 'mid the wrathful fray,\n And dashing 'gainst the skies their dusty spray.\n Rocks, boulders, hills, no Titan strength could lift,\n Hurtle as pebbles in the storm-fiend's play.\n Earth opes her jaws, and through the yawning rift,\n Cities, peoples, vanish, of hope, of life, bereft.\n\n Three hours of tempest and three days of night;\n Thick darkness, thunder-burst, and lightning flash;\n Millions engulfed, millions in prostrate plight,\n Grovelling as slaves that feel or fear the lash,\n Mingling their groans and cries with grind and crash\n Of crags the cyclone's catapult impels,\n Whose shrieking flails the fields and forests thrash.\n Wild o'er the land roused Ocean's anger swells;\n Fierce Flame's prophetic tongue the final doom foretells.\n\n Three hours of stormful strife;--then all is still.\n Save for a Voice that universe might hear,\n Proclaiming what hath happed as Heaven's high will,\n Dispensing pardon and dispelling fear,\n Drawing the righteous nearer and more near.\n Anon He lifts the curtain of the sky!\n The midday sun no more their minister;\n Greater hath arisen; and glories multiply\n As angels in their gaze earthward and heavenward fly.\n\n He greets them as a shepherd greets his flock;\n Shows them His wounded side, His hands, His feet;\n Then builds His Church upon the stricken Rock,\n Where flow life's healing waters, limpid, sweet,\n As infant innocence, that joys to meet\n Its great Original. With holy hand\n He ministers, bids death and hell retreat,\n And singles twelve from out the sainted band\n To sow with gospel light the furrowed, tear-worn land.\n\nThen follows the story of the Nephite golden age, and this by a period\nof apostasy from God and the final overthrow of the people, concluding\nwith the coming of the Gentile races to the promised land and the\nadvent of the Seer, Joseph Smith, who shall make known through the Book\nof Mormon the otherwise unknown history of the western world.\n\n The Gentile comes, as destiny decrees,\n To Joseph's land of wonders held in store.\n Freedom his watchword, sons of Freedom these,\n Like to the favored bands that long before\n A refuge found upon this sheltering shore.\n But champions of right oft wrong the right;\n Oppressed become oppressors in an hour;\n And now, as day that pushes back the night,\n The strong the weak assail, enslave, and put to flight.\n\n Nor yet can fate forsake them. Japheth's hand\n 'Gainst Jacob's wrath-doomed remnant still prevails.\n Tyrants oppress him from the motherland;\n The Lord of hosts a champion arms and mails,\n To match whose might no human power avails;\n Nor grander cause or chieftain e'er came forth.\n Him as its sire a new-born nation hails,\n And fain would crown him, spite his will, his birth,\n Did Heaven vouchsafe such king to shame most kings\n of earth--\n\n Real though oft recreant sons of Deity,\n Builders, o'erthrowers, of imperial thrones,\n In wrongful act of rightful agency\n Drenching with blood, paving with human bones\n The path to power, gruesome with tears and groans.\n Their lives a failure? God a failure? Nay;\n What'er betide, the soul that sins atones;\n And He who casts the parts all mortals play,\n Succeeds He ever, His the night, and His the day.\n\n Thine antecedents, thy forerunners, these,\n Prophet of Ephraim, Joseph's namesake seer!\n More than those ancient bridgers of the seas,\n Unveiler of the long-hid hemisphere,\n Whose secret 'tis lies booked and buried here.\n Bring forth that word of Joseph, now to join\n With Judah's word, Messiah's throne to rear;\n That high may rise and holily may shine\n God's house, the pure-in-heart, kingdom of King divine.\n\nThe whole Canto, and indeed the whole poem, should be read in order to\nget the full beauty and power of the poet's theme, in which the Book of\nMormon is so large a factor of inspiration.\n\n_Summary of Internal Evidences_.\n\nThis is all I intend to say directly on the subject of the Internal\nEvidences of the truth of the Book of Mormon; what else remains that\ncould properly fall under this division of the subject will be said in\nconnection with the answers to objections to the claims of the book.\nBefore leaving the subject, however, I ask the reader to recall in one\nview the various internal evidences considered up to this time, that it\nmay be remembered how numerous they are, and how strong and conclusive\nthey are when massed.\n\nThe Internal Evidences of the Book of Mormon consist in the following\nfacts:\n\nThe book in style and language is consistent with the theory of its\nconstruction;\n\nIt responds to the demands both of unity and diversity in its style,\nunder the theory of its structure;\n\nIt has all the characteristics of an abridgment;\n\nIt meets all the requirements of the circumstances in the matter of\nnames, originality in names, differences between Jaredite and Nephite\nnames, and the custom of Hebrew peoples with reference to names;\n\nIts governments are in harmony with the political principles of the age\nin which those governments are said to have existed;\n\nThe events to which importance is given are such as would be expected\nfrom the character of its writers;\n\nThe complexity of its structure is in harmony with the theory of its\norigin;\n\nIt meets the requirements in originality of structure, manner of\ncoming forth, theory of peopling America, the nativity of its peoples,\naccounting for Christian truths in America, and in its doctrines;\n\nIts prophecies, so many and important, so far as the wheels of time\nhave brought them due, are fulfilled, and others are in course of\nfulfillment;\n\nIt deals with subjects worthy of God to reveal, and important for man\nto know;\n\nIt has an atmosphere about it, a spirit, that bears witness of its\ntruth.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. See I. Kings xix.\n\n2. The Prophet's Journal, November 28, 1841.\n\n3. Luke x: 21.\n\n4. James iv: 6. Peter v: 5.\n\n\n\nPART IV.\n\nObjections to the Book of Mormon\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLIV.\n\nCOUNTER THEORIES OF ORIGIN.\n\n\"_No sane man dreams of maintaining that a religion is true because of\nthe difficulties which it involves; the utmost that can reasonably be\nmaintained is that it may be true in spite of them_.\" [1]\n\nThe necessity for a counter theory of the origin of the Book of Mormon\nwas early recognized. Sectarian Christendom felt that Joseph Smith's\nstory of the book's origin must be overthrown, else what would come\nof this new revelation, this new dispensation of God's word? Joseph\nSmith's account of the origin of the book was a direct challenge to\nthe teachings of modern Christendom that revelation had ceased; that\nthe awful voice of prophecy would no more be heard; that the volume of\nscripture was completed and forever closed; and that the Bible was the\nonly volume of scripture. Hence Christendom must find some other origin\nfor this book than that given by Joseph Smith. The first objection then\nto be considered is the objection to the book's origin by examining the\ncounter theories.\n\nI.\n\n_Alexander Campbell's Theory_:\n\nAlexander Campbell, founder of the sect of the \"Disciples,\" or\n\"Campbellites,\" as they are more commonly called, was the first who in\nany formal, public manner assailed the Book of Mormon, and proposed a\ncounter theory of its origin than that given by Joseph Smith.\n\nAlexander Campbell was born in Ireland, 1788, but educated at Glasgow\nUniversity, Scotland, where he graduated with the title of Doctor of\nDivinity. He came to the United States in 1809, settling in Bethany,\nVirginia, and for some time filled the position of pastor of the\nPresbyterian church at that place. He soon parted from this communion,\nhowever, and began religious work on independent lines; and organized\na society whose doctrine was that the Bible should be the sole creed\nof the church. This led to the establishment of a \"Reformed Baptist\nChurch,\" which finally took the name of \"Disciples\" or \"Christians.\"\nMr. Campbell has generally been accounted--and indeed was--one of the\nmost learned divines of the country and century in which he lived. He\nfounded a college at Bethany, Virginia; and was also the founder of the\n\"Christian Baptist,\" which finally merged (1830) into the \"Millennial\nHarbinger,\" both as their titles indicate being religious periodicals.\nHe was the author of a number of works on religious subjects, but is\ngenerally remembered through his public debates with Robert Owen, the\ncelebrated English Deist and social reformer; Archbishop Purcell, of\nthe Roman Catholic Church, whose diocese was Cincinnati and vicinity;\nRev. N. L. Rice, of the Presbyterian Church; and the Rev. William\nMcCalla.\n\nIt will be seen from the foregoing sketch of this celebrated man, that\nso far as scholarship and trained ability in religious controversy is\nconcerned, he was competent to analyze and make a severe criticism of\nthe Book of Mormon. Before going into that, however, I think there\nis one other fact bearing on his career that should be noted. It\nwill perhaps be remembered that Walter Scott and Sidney Rigdon were\nassociated with Mr. Campbell in his reform operations in the state\nof Pennsylvania and Ohio. Up to 1830, the last named gentleman was\nas energetic in the interests of the \"Disciples\" as Mr. Scott or Mr.\nCampbell.\n\nCardinal points in the reformation proposed by these gentlemen were,\nfirst: the recognition of the Bible as the only creed of the church;\nand after that faith in God and Christ, and the Holy Spirit; repentance\nof sin, and baptism in water by immersion for the remission of sins.\nIt will be seen at once that in these doctrines the reformers were\nreally preaching a number of the first principles and ordinances of\nthe gospel; and when Sidney Rigdon became interested in Mormonism and\nvisited the Prophet Joseph in New York, December, 1830, a revelation\nwas given through the Prophet to Sidney Rigdon, in which the Lord\nclaimed this reform work, in a way, as his:\n\n Behold, verily, verily, I say unto my servant Sidney, I have looked\n upon thee and thy works. I have heard thy prayers and prepared\n thee for a greater work. Thou art blessed, for thou shalt do great\n things. Behold, thou wast sent forth, even as John, to prepare\n the way before me, and before Elijah which should come, and thou\n knewest it not. Thou didst baptize by water unto repentance,\n but they received not the Holy Ghost. But now I give unto thee\n a commandment, that thou shalt baptize by water, and they shall\n receive the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, even as the\n apostles of old. [2]\n\nFrom this it appears that Sidney Rigdon was unconsciously inspired of\nGod in teaching faith, repentance, and baptism for the remission of\nsins. In evidence that the work of these reformers was a preparatory\nwork to the coming forth of the fullness of the gospel, I may say that\nperhaps more people joined the Church in an early day from this sect of\n\"Disciples\" than from any other denomination whatsoever. But if Sidney\nRigdon was inspired of God in this work, and was sent forth even as\nJohn the Baptist to prepare the way for the incoming of a still greater\nwork, may it not also be true that Alexander Campbell was inspired of\nGod, and in like manner sent forth to prepare the way for the coming\nforth of the greater work? Undoubtedly; for if Sidney Rigdon could be\nthus sent forth, one could easily believe that Alexander Campbell,\nwith his larger knowledge and greater capacity, would more likely be\nsent forth on such a mission. When, however, the new dispensation of\nthe gospel was brought to his attention, and he came in contact with\nthe Book of Mormon, instead of accepting it, as Sidney Rigdon did, he\nrejected it; pride of opinion, pride of intellectual attainments, pride\nas a leader of men, and the founder of a sect are doubtless the causes\nwhich induced the spiritual darkness that prevented him from seeing the\ntruth; or, if he saw it, prevented him from accepting it; and hence he\nchose to reject it, and assail it, and for a number of years was its\nmost pronounced antagonist.\n\nI have already remarked upon the educational and intellectual abilities\nof Mr. Campbell as fitting him for the work of thorough analysis and\ncriticism of the Book of Mormon; but when one compares his criticism\nof the book with his debate with Robert Owen, in which he makes a most\nmasterful defense of historic Christianity; or with his debate with\nArchbishop Purcell which, at the time it took place, was called \"The\nBattle of the Giants\"--one can but feel that his performance with\nreference to the Book of Mormon was wholly unworthy of him. Unworthy\nboth of his great intellect and high character. In his assault upon\nthat book there is a bitterness, and even a vulgarity, entirely\nabsent from his other works, and utterly unaccountable for, unless\none can think that in the background of his consciousness there was a\nrealization that the work he assailed was true, and hence his assault\nis tinged with a bitterness likely to result from such a circumstance.\n\nI shall have occasion to refer to several, in fact to all of Mr.\nCampbell's objections, in the course of this division of my treatise,\nbut at present I shall confine myself to his theory of the Book of\nMormon's origin.\n\nHis theory respecting the origin of the book was that Joseph Smith was\nits author. This he repeats at various places in his criticism.\n\n\"Smith,\" he says, \"its real author, as ignorant and as impudent a knave\nas ever wrote a book, betrays the cloven foot in basing his whole book\nupon a false fact, or a pretended fact, which makes God a lair,\" etc.\n\nAgain:\n\n The book proposes to be written at intervals and by different\n persons during the long period of 1020 years, and yet for\n uniformity of style, there never was a book more evidently written\n by one set of fingers, nor more certainly conceived in one cranium\n since the first book appeared in human language, than this same\n book. If I could swear to any man's voice, face, or person,\n assuming different names, I could swear that this book was written\n by one man. And as Joseph Smith is a very ignorant man, and is\n called the \"author\" on the title page, I cannot doubt for a single\n moment but that he is sole author and proprietor of it. [3]\n\nFrom this it appears that the reasons which induced Alexander Campbell\nto conclude that Joseph Smith was the \"sole author and proprietor\" of\nthe Book of Mormon, are,\n\nFirst: that he is called the Author and Proprietor of it on the title\npage, [4] and\n\nSecond: that there is a uniformity of style throughout the book.\n\nThe reason for Joseph Smith calling himself \"Author and Proprietor\"\nof the Book of Mormon is easily accounted for. The copyright law of\nthe United States, in force at the time of the publication of the\nBook of Mormon, secured the rights to copies of maps, charts, and\nbooks, \"to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the\ntimes therein mentioned,\" but the law said nothing respecting the\nrights of translators of books, hence Joseph Smith adopted the legal\nphraseology of the law, and secured the copyright to the Book of Mormon\nas \"author and proprietor,\" since he could not obtain the copyright as\n\"translator.\" [5]\n\nThat Joseph Smith from the first claimed only to be the translator of\nthe Book of Mormon is evident from the preface to the first edition,\nwhere he says:\n\n\"I would inform you that I '_translated_' by the gift and power of God,\nand caused to be written 116 pages [of manuscript] which I took from\nthe Book of Lehi, which was an account abridged from the plates of Lehi\nby the hand of Mormon,\" etc.\n\nThroughout the preface he speaks of his work as a \"translation.\" So\nthat it cannot be said that Joseph Smith claimed at any time to be\nother than a translator of the work, hence any argument based upon\nJoseph Smith announcing himself as \"author and proprietor\" of the Book\nof Mormon merely to comply with the phraseology of the copyright law,\nis technical and without force. [6]\n\nAs to the argument based upon the uniformity of literary style\nthroughout the book, I have already called attention to the\nrequirements both of unity and diversity of style, resulting in the\nconclusion that the construction of the book does not require a wide\ndiversity of literary style, because of the fact that it is composed\nchiefly of four writers, two living in the sixth century B. C., and the\nother two living 400 A. D. [7]\n\nMoreover, it is conceded in these pages that the translation by Joseph\nSmith was made in such language and literary style as he was competent\nto execute, and hence uniformity in literary style is to be looked for\nin the translation since the English is his. [8]\n\nCampbell's theory of the origin of the Book of Mormon, nothwithstanding\nhis learning and acknowledged literary ability, failed to be\nconvincing; the evidence of the fact is seen in this that his theory\nwas soon abandoned for another, hence it can be concluded that it was\nentirely unsatisfactory--that is, failed. Indeed Mr. Campbell himself,\nas soon as the \"Spaulding Theory\" of the book's origin was launched,\nabandoned his own and gave to that his support. [9]\n\nII.\n\n_The Spaulding Theory of the Origin of the Book of Mormon._\n\nTaking its source in Erie county, Pennsylvania, and flowing generally\nin a north-westerly course into Ohio, thence northward through\nAshtabula county, Ohio, until it empties into Lake Erie, is Conneaut\nCreek. It meanders through a country somewhat rich in mounds and other\nevidences of the existence of civilized races that anciently inhabited\nAmerica. Very naturally the people inhabiting that section of the\ncountry were interested in these subjects. Here resided in the early\nyears of the nineteenth century one Solomon Spaulding, a graduate,\nit is said, of Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire. According\nto those who have recorded his history, he was born in Ashford,\nConnecticut, 1761, and graduated at Dartmouth in 1785 with the degree\nof A. B. He subsequently studied theology, and began preaching in 1800,\nbut on account of failing health he went into the merchandise business\nat Cherry Valley, New York. He failed in merchandising, and moved to\nNew Salem, Ashtabula county, Ohio, 1807 or 1808.\n\nNew Salem is on the banks of the Conneaut Creek, and sometimes is\ncalled \"Conneaut.\" Here Spaulding went into the iron foundry business,\nbut failed in that also. In 1809 he began writing a religious romance,\nincited to the undertaking by reason of the numerous evidences of the\ncivilized races by which he was surrounded at Conneaut. This work,\nfrom the concensus of the recollections of those who claimed to have\nheard portions of it read, he called the \"Manuscript Found,\" from the\ncircumstance of his romance being based upon the pretended finding of\nthe manuscript of it in a cave in the vicinity of New Salem. It feigned\nalso to give an account of the migration of a colony to America in\nancient times.\n\nMr. Spaulding continued to live in New Salem until 1812, when he\nremoved from that place to Pittsburg, Penn., where it is supposed that\nhe resided some two years. It is claimed that while living here Mr.\nSpaulding placed his manuscript story in the hands of a Mr. Patterson,\na printer and publisher of Pittsburg, who retained it for some time;\nread it and urged Mr. Spaulding to write a title page and preface for\nit, saying that he would publish it, and that it might be \"a source of\nprofit.\" This, for some unaccountable reason, Mr. Spaulding refused\nto do. At length the manuscript was returned to its author, \"and soon\nafter,\" said Mrs. Spaulding in a narrative attributed to her, \"we moved\nto Amity, Washington county, Penn., where Mr. Spaulding in 1816 died.\"\n\nIt is claimed, by the advocates of this Spaulding theory of the origin\nof the Book of Mormon, that Sidney Rigdon, through a Mr. Lambdin, an\nemploye of Patterson's publishing establishment, became acquainted\nwith this manuscript story; \"borrowed\" it and copied it, as some say;\n\"stole\" it according to the theory of others. Afterwards by some\nmeans unexplained, and as I think unexplainable, Sidney Rigdon, it\nis claimed, became associated with Joseph Smith living in Manchester\nTownship, New York, or in Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania--from 250\nto 300 miles distant from any point where Sidney Rigdon resided during\nthose years when the Book of Mormon was coming forth,--collaborated\nwith him, and published Spaulding's romance, with religious doctrinal\nmatter added by Rigdon, as the Book of Mormon. This is the theory\nmost generally accepted by those who recognize the importance of\noverthrowing the account of the book's origin given by Joseph Smith.\n\nI wish now to call attention to the circumstance under which this\ntheory came to be substituted for the much more tenable, though\ninadequate one, advanced some years earlier by Alexander Campbell.\n\nThis settlement on Conneaut Creek, called New Salem, was on the route\nusually traveled by the Saints and Elders in their journey from New\nYork to Kirtland, Ohio, and from Kirtland, Ohio, to the branches of the\nChurch, established in Canada, New York, and Pennsylvania, hence the\npeople of that neighborhood were frequently brought in contact with\nMormonism, and the story of its origin was often before them.\n\nIn the fall of 1833, a number of affidavits were taken from the\nformer neighbors and friends of Solomon Spaulding, and one was given\nby his brother, John Spaulding, and one by the latter's wife, Martha\nSpaulding. They at the time were residing at Crawford, Pennsylvania,\nand both testified they had \"recently read the Book of Mormon,\" and\nrecognized in it the general outlines of Solomon Spaulding's story,\nclaiming especially to remember the names \"Nephi and Lehi;\" the words\n\"Nephites and Lamanites;\" and also the ancient scriptural style and the\nfrequent use of the phrase \"and it came to pass;\" and that the American\nIndians are descendants of the Jews, or \"lost tribes of Israel.\"\n\nMr. Henry Lake, an associate in business with Mr. Spaulding, living\nat Conneaut in the fall of 1833, in connection with others that will\nbe named, living in the same neighborhood, testified that Solomon\nSpaulding read to him the \"Manuscript Found;\" that it represented the\nAmerican Indians as the descendants of the \"lost tribes\" of Israel, and\nthat he suggested to Mr. Spaulding that the frequent use of the phrase\n\"and it came to pass\" rendered the book ridiculous.\n\nJohn N. Miller testified substantially to the same things saying in\naddition that Spaulding's story landed his colony near the \"Straits of\nDarien,\" which he was confident he called \"Zarahemla.\"\n\nAaron Wright testified to substantially the same things as the\nforegoing. That the American Indians, according to Spaulding's story,\nwere descendants of the \"lost tribes\" of Israel, and claims especially\nthat the historical part of the Book of Mormon is substantially what he\nheard read from the \"Manuscript Found,\" though he excepts out of the\nwork, as not being Spaulding's, the religious matter.\n\nOliver Smith testified substantially to the same things, saying in\neffect that on reading the Book of Mormon he at once recognized it as\nthe writings of Solomon Spaulding.\n\nNahum Howard, testified that he had recently read the Book of Mormon,\nand believed that all but the religious part of it was the same as that\nwritten by Spaulding.\n\nArtemas Cunningham, living in Perry, Geauga county, Ohio, testified\nthat in 1811 he waited upon Solomon Spaulding at his home in New Salem,\nto collect debts, and that the latter read to him on that occasion some\nparts of his manuscript story, partially examining the Book of Mormon\nhe became convinced that Spaulding had written its outlines before he\nleft Conneaut. [10]\n\nIt is upon the testimony of these parties that the Spaulding theory\nrests. Subsequently many others claimed to have information upon the\nsubject, and gave statements to newspapers almost _ad infinitum_,\nconstantly varying the claims and adding items that so burdened the\ntheory with inconsistencies and contradictions that it breaks down, as\nwe shall see, under the accumulation. But now as to the manner in which\nthis theory came to be exploited.\n\nAs in former dispensations of the gospel, so in this last dispensation,\nthe gospel net gathers of all kinds. Some are fit for the Master's\nuse, and some fit only to be cast back into the world, as worthless\nfish are cast back into the sea. Of such was one \"Doctor\" Philastus\nHurlburt. He made his first appearance in Kirtland in the early\nspring of 1833, where, after investigating Mormonism, he accepted\nit, and on the 18th of March of that year was ordained an Elder.\nSoon afterwards he went on a brief mission to the east, where he was\nguilty of unchristianlike conduct in his deportment with women. On\nhis return to Kirtland he was confronted with this charge, and at a\nconference of High Priests was deprived of his license as an Elder,\nand excommunicated from the Church. From this decision he appealed to\nthe Council of the First Presidency, and because of his confession and\napparent repentance he was restored. Shortly afterwards, however, he\nboasted of having deceived both the Prophet and the council, and he was\nagain excommunicated from the Church, after which he avowed himself the\nenemy of the Prophet Joseph and of Mormonism, and sought by all means\nwithin his power to destroy both. His threats against the Prophet's\nlife became so violent that he was arraigned before the court in\nChardon, the county seat of Geauga county, and bound over in the sum of\ntwo hundred dollar bonds, to keep the peace, and to pay the cost of the\nproceedings. [11]\n\nThe title of \"Doctor\" given to this man, and which when rightfully held\ngives evidence of respectability as well as of professional standing,\ndid not grow out of the fact that he was a physician, nor was it a\nlittle of honor at all with him, but was given to him because he was\nthe \"seventh son\" in his family, who, according to the old folklore,\nshould be made a physician, hence he was called \"Doc\" or \"Doctor.\"\nAccording to the statement of Joseph E. Johnson, who was acquainted\nwith him at Kirtland, Hurlburt was a man of fine physique, very good\nlooking but pompous and ambitious, which lead him to seek position in\nthe Church and solicit marriage with the \"first families;\" but his evil\ncharacter thwarted all such efforts.\n\nIt is this man who is chiefly responsible for the Spaulding theory\nof the origin of the Book of Mormon. Having heard of Spaulding's\n\"Manuscript Found\" on Conneaut Creek, he immediately entered into\nnegotiations with the Prophet's enemies in and about Kirtland, and by\nthem was employed to gather up the statements to which reference has\nbeen made, as also, if possible, to secure the Spaulding manuscript for\nthe purpose of comparing it with the Book of Mormon. He also went to\nthe former home of the Prophet, for the purpose of collecting all the\nscandal and rumors that could be gathered up or manufactured against\nthe Smith family; as also all the stories and neighborhood gossip which\nbecame current about the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. Meantime,\nhowever, the true character of Hurlburt became so generally known\nand was so unsavory, that those who had employed him to gather this\nmaterial for the contemplated anti-Mormon book found it necessary to\ndrop Hurlburt, and leave the publication in the hands of others.\n\nAmong those who had interested themselves in these plans for the\ndestruction of the Book of Mormon and the Church, was E. D. Howe, of\nPainsville, Ohio. Painsville is but a few miles distant northwest of\nKirtland. One of Mr. Howe's reasons for anger against the Church was\nthe fact that both his wife and sister had become converts to the new\nfaith. He purchased the materials that had been gathered for Hurlburt's\nAnti-Mormon book, and published them under the title of \"Mormonism\nUnveiled,\" (1834). It is the first Anti-Mormon book of any pretentions,\nand has been the chief source of \"information\" for all the Anti-Mormon\npublications which have followed it, that pretend to relate at all the\nearly events connected with the coming forth of the great latter-day\nwork. It took some six years to dispose of the first edition, as the\nsecond edition was not issued until 1840. So little influence, however,\ndid \"Mormonism Unveiled\" have that many people in the very region of\nits origin continued to accept the Book of Mormon, and became members\nof the Church of the Latter-day Saints.\n\nAfter the publication of Howe's book in 1834, there were no further\ndevelopments in the Spaulding Theory until May, 1839, when attention\nwas again called to it through the publication of what purported to be\neither an affidavit or signed statement [12] by Mrs. Matilda Davison.\nThis lady was formerly Solomon Spaulding's wife, and lived with him\nuntil his death in 1816. Four years later she married Mr. Davison,\nand at the time of the publication of the signed statement here\nreferred to, was living with her daughter, Mrs. M'Kenstry, at Monson,\nMassachusetts. Her statement follows:\n\n ALLEGED STATEMENT OF MRS. DAVISON, FORMERLY THE WIFE OF SOLOMON\n SPAULDING.\n\n As the Book of Mormon, or Golden Bible (as it was originally\n called) has excited much attention, and is deemed by a certain new\n sect of equal authority with the Sacred Scriptures, I think it a\n duty which I owe to the public to state what I know touching its\n origin.\n\n That its claims to a divine origin are wholly unfounded needs no\n proof to a mind unperverted by the grossest illusions. That any\n sane person should rank it higher than any other merely human\n composition is a matter of the greatest astonishment; yet it is\n received as divine by some who dwell in enlightened New England,\n and even by those who have sustained the character of devoted\n Christians. Learning recently that Mormonism had found its way\n into a church in Massachusetts, and has impregnated some with its\n gross delusions, so that excommunication has been necessary, I am\n determined to delay no longer in doing what I can to strip the mask\n from this mother of sin, and to lay open this pit of abominations.\n\n Solomon Spaulding, to whom I was united in marriage in early life,\n was a graduate of Dartmouth College, and was distinguished for a\n lively imagination, and a great fondness for history. At the time\n of our marriage he resided in Cherry Valley, New York. From this\n place we removed to New Salem, Ashtabula county, Ohio, sometimes\n called Conneaut, as it is situated on Conneaut Creek. Shortly after\n our removal to this place, his health sunk, and he was laid aside\n from active labors. In the town of New Salem there are numerous\n mounds and forts supposed by many to be the dilapidated dwellings\n and fortifications of a race now extinct. These ancient relics\n arrest the attention of the new settlers, and become objects of\n research for the curious. Numerous implements were found, and\n other articles evincing great skill in the arts. Mr. Spaulding\n being an educated man, and passionately fond of history, took a\n lively interest in these developments of antiquity; and in order\n to beguile the hours of retirement and furnish employment for his\n lively imagination, he conceived the idea of giving an historical\n sketch of this long lost race. Their extreme antiquity led him to\n write in the most ancient style, and as the Old Testament is the\n most ancient book in the world, he imitated its style as nearly as\n possible. His sole object in writing this imaginary history was\n to amuse himself and his neighbors. This was about the year 1812.\n Hull's surrender at Detroit occurred near the same time, and I\n recollect the date well from that circumstance. As he progressed\n in his narrative the neighbors would come in from time to time to\n hear portions read, and a great interest in the work was excited\n among them. It claimed to have been written by one of the lost\n nation, and to have been recovered from the earth, and assumed the\n title of \"Manuscript Found.\" The neighbors would often inquire\n how Mr. Spaulding progressed in deciphering the manuscript; and\n when he had sufficient portion prepared, he would inform them,\n and they would assemble to hear it read. He was enabled, from his\n acquaintance with the classics and ancient history, to introduce\n many singular names, which were particularly noticed by the people,\n and could be easily recognized by them. Mr. Solomon Spaulding had\n a brother, Mr. John Spaulding, residing in the place at the time,\n who was perfectly familiar with the work, and repeatedly heard\n the whole of it read. From New Salem we removed to Pittsburg, in\n Pennsylvania. Here Mr. Spaulding found a friend and acquaintance, in\n the person of Mr. Patterson, an editor of a newspaper. He exhibited\n his manuscript to Mr. Patterson, who was very much pleased with it,\n and borrowed it for perusal. He retained it for a long time, and\n informed Mr. Spaulding that if he would make out a title page and\n preface, he would publish it, and it might be a source of profit.\n This Mr. Spaulding refused to do. Sidney Rigdon, who has figured so\n largely in the history of the Mormons, was at that time connected\n with the printing office of Mr. Patterson, as is well known in\n that region, and as Rigdon himself has frequently stated, became\n acquainted with Mr. Spaulding's manuscript, and copied it. It was a\n matter of notoriety and interest to all connected with the printing\n establishment. At length the manuscript was returned to its author,\n and soon after we removed to Amity, Washington county, etc., where\n Mr. Spaulding deceased in 1816. The manuscript then fell into my\n hands, and was carefully preserved. It has frequently been examined\n by my daughter, Mrs. M'Kenstry, of Monson, Mass., with whom I now\n reside, and by other friends.\n\n After the Book of Mormon came out, a copy of it was taken to New\n Salem, the place of Mr. Spaulding's former residence, and the very\n place where the \"Manuscript Found\" was written. A woman preacher\n appointed a meeting there; and in the meeting read and repeated\n copious extracts from the Book of Mormon. The historical part\n was immediately recognized by all the older inhabitants, as the\n identical work of Mr. Spaulding, in which they had all been so\n deeply interested years before. Mr. John Spaulding was present\n and recognized perfectly the work of his brother. He was amazed\n and afflicted that it should have been perverted to so wicked a\n purpose. His grief found vent in a flood of tears, and he arose\n on the spot, and expressed to the meeting his sorrow and regret\n that the writings of his deceased brother should be used for a\n purpose so vile and shocking. The excitement in New Salem became so\n great that the inhabitants had a meeting and deputed Dr. Philastus\n Hurlburt, one of their number, to repair to this place and to\n obtain from me the original manuscript of Mr. Spaulding, for the\n purpose of comparing it with the Mormon Bible, to satisfy their\n own minds, and to prevent their friends from embracing an error so\n delusive. This was in the year 1834. Dr. Hurlburt brought with him\n an introduction and request for the manuscript, which was signed\n by Messrs. Henry Lake, Aaron Wright, and others, with all of whom\n I was acquainted, as they were my neighbors when I resided at\n New Salem. I am sure that nothing would grieve my husband more,\n were he living, than the use which has been made of his work.\n The air of antiquity which was thrown about the composition,\n doubtless suggested the idea of converting it to the purposes of\n delusion. Thus an historical romance, with the addition of a few\n pious expressions, and extracts from the sacred Scriptures, has\n been construed into a new Bible, and palmed off upon a company of\n poor deluded fanatics as divine. I have given the previous brief\n narration that this work of deep deception and wickedness may be\n searched to the foundation and the authors exposed to the contempt\n and execration they so justly deserve.\n\n (Signed) MATILDA DAVISON.\n\nThis statement was published at the instance of Dr. John Storrs, a\nCongregational minister of Holliston, Massachusetts. The incentive for\nhis action was the fact that a number of his congregation had become\nconverts to the Mormon faith and he was angry. [13] Mrs. Davison,\nhowever, denied ever having given such a signed statement, as appears\nfrom the following communication published in the \"Quincy Whig,\" at\nQuincy, Illinois. It was published in the Illinois paper shortly after\nthe \"Davison Statement\" appeared in the \"Boston Recorder,\" under the\nfollowing title:\n\n A CUNNING DEVICE DETECTED.\n\n It will be recollected that a few months since an article appeared\n in several of the papers, purporting to give an account of the\n origin of the Book of Mormon. How far the writer of that piece has\n effected his purposes, or what his purposes were in pursuing the\n course he has, I shall not attempt to say at this time, but shall\n call upon every candid man to judge in this matter for himself, and\n shall content myself by presenting before the public the other side\n of the question in the form of a letter, as follows:\n\n Copy of a letter written by Mr. John Haven, of Holliston, Middlesex\n Co., Massachusetts, to his daughter, Elizabeth Haven, of Quincy,\n Adams Co., Illinois.\n\n Your brother Jesse passed through Monson where he saw Mrs. Davison\n and her daughter Mrs. McKenstry and also Dr. Ely and spent several\n hours with them, during which time he asked them the following\n questions, viz.:\n\n \"Question.--Did you, Mrs. Davison, write a letter to John Storrs,\n giving an account of the origin of the Book of Mormon?\n\n Answer.--I did not.\n\n Q.--Did you sign your name to it?\n\n A.--I did not, neither did I ever see the letter until I saw it in\n the \"Boston Recorder,\" the letter was never brought to me to sign.\n\n Q.--What agency had you in having this letter sent to Mr. Storrs?\n\n A.--D. R. Austin came to my house and asked me some questions, took\n some minutes on paper, and from these minutes wrote that letter.\n\n Q.--Is what is written in the letter true?\n\n A.--In the main it is.\n\n Q. Have you read the Book of Mormon?\n\n A.--I have read some in it.\n\n Q.--Does Mr. Spaulding's manuscript and the Book of Mormon agree?\n\n A.--I think some few of the names are alike.\n\n Q.--Does the manuscript describe an idolatrous or a religious\n people?\n\n A.--An idolatrous people?\n\n Q.--Where is the manuscript?\n\n A.--D. P. Hurlburt came here and took it, said he would get it\n printed and let me have one-half the profits.\n\n Q.--Has D. P. Hurlburt got the manuscript printed?\n\n A.--I received a letter stating that it did not read as he\n expected, and he should not print it.\n\n Q.--How large is Mr. Spaulding's manuscript?\n\n A.--About one-third as large as the Book of Mormon.\n\n Q.--To Mrs. McKinstry: How old were you when your father wrote the\n manuscript?\n\n A.--About five years of age.\n\n Q.--Did you ever read the manuscript?\n\n A.--When I was about twelve years old I used to read it for\n diversion.\n\n Q.--Did the manuscript describe an idolatrous or a religious people?\n\n A.--An idolatrous people.\n\n Q.--Does the manuscript and the Book of Mormon agree?\n\n A.--I think some of the names agree.\n\n Q.--Are you certain that some of the names agree?\n\n A.--I am not.\n\n Q.--Have you read any in the Book of Mormon?\n\n A.--I have not.\n\n Q.--Was your name attached to that letter, which was sent to Mr.\n John Storrs, by your order?\n\n A.--No, I never meant that my name should be there.\n\n You see by the above questions and answers, that Mr. Austin, in his\n great zeal to destroy the Latter-day Saints, has asked Mrs. Davison\n a few questions, then wrote a letter to Mr. Storrs, in his own\n language. I do not say that the above questions and answers were\n given in the form that I have written them, but these questions\n were asked, and these answers given. Mrs. Davison is about seventy\n years of age, and somewhat broke.\"\n\n This may certify that I am personally acquainted with Mr. Haven,\n his son and daughter, and am satisfied they are persons of truth.\n I have also read Mr. Haven's letter to his daughter, which has\n induced me to copy it for publication, and I further say, the above\n is a correct copy of Mr. Haven's letter.\n\n (Signed) A. BADLAM. [14]\n\nThe foregoing statement from the \"Quincy Whig\" is considerably\nstrengthened by a work published by \"Funk & Wagnalls\" (1885), by Mrs.\nEllen E. Dickinson, a grand daughter of Willian H. Sabine, a brother\nof Mrs. (Spaulding) Davison. Mrs. Dickenson, whose work is called\n\"New Light on Mormonism,\" devotes a number of her chapters to the\nelaboration of the Spaulding theory, and in an appendix publishes\ntwenty-seven documents bearing upon the subject of the Spaulding\nmanuscript; but nowhere, either in the body of her work or in this\nappendix, publishes the alleged statement of Mrs. Davison, which is\npretty clear evidence that the statement was never given by Mrs.\nDavison nor authorized by her. Mrs. Dickinson from the amount of\nresearch she devoted to the subject could not have been ignorant of\nits existence, and more especially as she was a relative of Mrs.\nDavison--grand-niece--and wrote her book as the representative of the\nSpaulding relatives to set forth the Spaulding theory in its proper\nlight. [15] Of course had Mrs. Davison done her full duty in the\npremises as an author, she would have made reference to this forged\nstatement credited to her grand-aunt and repudiated it in her name;\nbut this she failed to do. However, her silence with reference to this\nstatement and her failure to place it in her collection of documents on\nthe subject, amounts to the same thing--a repudiation of it.\n\nBut even if Mrs. Davison's repudiation of the article, to which her\nname was attached by others, did not exist, and if the repudiation of\nit by her grand-niece by refusing it admission into her collection of\ndocuments on the Spaulding theory did not exist, there is enough in the\nstatement itself to establish its utter unreliability. These are:\n\nFirst: The description of the manner in which John Spaulding, brother\nof Solomon Spaulding, learned of the identity between the Book of\nMormon and his brother's \"Manuscript Found.\" According to the \"Davison\nstatement,\" he was at New Salem when a public speaker read excerpts\nfrom the Book of Mormon, and immediately recognized the work of his\nbrother. Whereupon, his amazement and grief found vent in \"a flood\nof tears,\" and he rose \"on the spot\" and expressed his sorrow and\nregrets that his brother's writings should be used for a purpose so\n\"vile and shocking.\" In the statement of John Spaulding, published in\nHowe's \"Mormonism Unveiled,\" there is nothing of all this dramatic\ncircumstance. In that statement [16] there is no agony of grief; no\nflood of tears; no denunciation on the spot; no reference to a purpose\n\"vile and shocking;\" just a plain statement that he had \"recently\nread the Book of Mormon;\" and the claim that he found nearly the same\nhistorical matter in it as in his brother's writings; some names that\nwere alike, and that the \"Manuscript Found\" held to the theory that the\nAmerican Indians were descendants of the \"lost tribes;\" and evidently\nsupposes that the Book of Mormon held the same theory. Had any such\ncircumstance as described in the \"Davison Statement\" occurred, it would\nundoubtedly have appeared in John Spaulding's statement published by\nHowe five years before this second version was put forth. Had such\nincidents really taken place, they would have been too rich in dramatic\nincident to have escaped the publishers of \"Mormonism Unveiled.\"\n\nSecond: The \"Davison Statement\" represents that it was through a \"woman\npreacher\" that the Book of Mormon was represented at the public meeting\nat New Salem, where John Spaulding denounced it on the spot. It is well\nknown that the Church of the Latter-day Saints at that time had no\n\"woman preacher,\" hence no such circumstance could have occurred. [17]\n\nThird: The \"Davison Statement\" represents Sidney Rigdon as being\nconnected with the printing office of Mr. Patterson, of Pittsburg, but\nstrangest of all it represents that gentleman as having frequently\nadmitted that connection, whereas, as we shall see later, Sidney Rigdon\nevery where and at all times expressly denied any such connection.\n\nThese inconsistencies of the \"Davison Statement\" with the well known\nfacts in the case reveal its utterly fraudulent character; and here\nwe may pause just long enough to remark the desperate straits the\nopponents of the Book of Mormon were driven to in those days, when they\nmust needs resort to such methods of opposition as are apparent in this\nbogus statement. Does it not cast suspicion upon the whole Spaulding\ntheory? A suspicion which not all the supposed respectability that goes\nwith titles of \"Doctor of Divinity,\" \"Reverend,\" \"Ministers of the\nGospel,\" etc., can remove?\n\nAfter this attempt to galvanize into life the Spaulding theory by the\nReverend John Storrs,--by methods, as we have seen, that were infamous!--it\nslumbered until the year 1880, when Mrs. Ellen E. Dickinson, the\ngrand-niece of Mrs. Davison, again revived it by the publication of an\narticle in \"_Scribner's Magazine_\" for August of that year. The chief\nitem of interest in Mrs. Dickenson's publication was an affidavit by\nMrs. M. S. McKenstry, the daughter of Solomon Spaulding, who claimed to\nhave some childhood recollections of her father's manuscript story. Her\naffidavit follows:\n\n MRS. MATILDA (SPAULDING) M'KENSTRY'S STATEMENT REGARDING \"THE\n MANUSCRIPT FOUND.\"\n\n Washington, D. C., April 3, 1880.\n\n So much has been published that is erroneous concerning \"The\n Manuscript Found,\" written by my father, the Rev. Solomon\n Spaulding, and its supposed connection with the book called the\n Mormon Bible, I have willingly consented to make the following\n statement regarding it, repeating all that I remember personally\n of this manuscript, and all that is of importance which my mother\n related to me in connection with it, at the same time affirming\n that I am in tolerable health and vigor, and that my memory, in\n common with elderly people, is clearer in regard to the events of\n my earlier years rather than those of my maturer life.\n\n During the war of 1812 I was residing with my parents in a little\n town in Ohio called Conneaut. I was then in my sixth year. My\n father was in business there, and I remember his iron foundry and\n the men he had at work, but that he remained at home most of the\n time, and was reading and writing a great deal. He frequently\n wrote little stories, which he read to me. There were some round\n mounds of earth near our house which greatly interested him, and\n he said a tree on the top of one of them was a thousand years old.\n He set some of his men to work digging into one of these mounds,\n and I vividly remember how excited he became when he heard that\n they had exhumed some human bones, portions of gigantic skeletons,\n and various relics. He talked with my mother of these discoveries\n in the mound, and was writing every day as the work progressed.\n Afterwards he read the manuscript which I had seen him writing,\n to the neighbors, and to the clergyman, a friend of his who came\n to see him. Some of the names that he mentioned while reading to\n these people I have never forgotten. They are as fresh to me today\n as though I heard them yesterday. They were \"Mormon,\" \"Maroni,\"\n \"Lamenite,\" [18] \"Nephi.\"\n\n We removed from Conneaut to Pittsburg while I was still very young,\n but every circumstance of this removal is distinct in my memory. In\n that city my father had an intimate friend named Patterson, and I\n frequently visited Mr. Patterson's library with him, and heard my\n father talk about books with him. In 1816 my father died at Amity,\n Penn., and directly after his death my mother and myself went to\n visit at the residence of my mother's brother, William H. Sabine,\n at Onondaga Valley, Onondaga Co., N. Y. Mr. Sabine was a lawyer of\n distinction and wealth, and greatly respected. We carried all our\n personal effects with us, and one of these was an old trunk, in\n which my mother had placed all my father's writings which had been\n preserved. I perfectly remember the appearance of this trunk, and\n of looking at its contents. There were sermons and other papers,\n and I saw a manuscript about an inch thick, closely written, tied\n with some of the stories my father had written for me, one of which\n he called \"The Frogs of Wyndham.\" On the outside of this manuscript\n were written the words, \"Manuscript Found.\" I did not read it,\n but looked through it, and had it in my hands many times, and saw\n the names I had heard at Conneaut, when my father read it to his\n friends. I was about eleven years of age at this time.\n\n After we had been at my uncle's for some time my mother left me\n there and went to her father's house at Pomfret, Conn., but did\n not take her furniture nor the old trunk of manuscripts with\n her. In 1820 she married Mr. Davison, of Hartwicks, a village\n near Cooperstown, N. Y., and sent for the things she had left\n at Onondaga Valley, and I remember that the old trunk with its\n contents, reached her in safety. In 1828 I was married to Dr. A.\n McKinstry, of Monson, Hampden Co., Mass., and went there to reside.\n Very soon after my mother joined me there, and was with me most of\n the time until her death, in 1844. We heard, not long after she\n came to live with me--I do not remember just how long--something of\n Mormonism, and the report that it had been taken from my father's\n \"Manuscript Found;\" and then came to us direct an account of the\n Mormon meeting at Conneaut, Ohio, and that, on one occasion, when\n the Mormon Bible was read there in public, my father's brother,\n John Spaulding, Mr. Lake and many other persons who were present,\n at once recognized its similarity to \"The Manuscript Found,\" which\n they had heard read years before by my father in the same town.\n There was a great deal of talk and a great deal published at this\n time about Mormonism all over the country. I believe it was in 1834\n that a man named Hurlburt came to my house at Monson to see my\n mother, who told us that he had been sent by a committee to procure\n \"The Manuscript Found,\" written by the Rev. Solomon Spaulding, so\n as to compare it with the Mormon Bible. He presented a letter to\n my mother from my uncle, William H. Sabine, of Onondaga Valley,\n in which he requested her to loan this manuscript to Hurlburt, as\n he (my uncle) was desirous \"to uproot\" (as he expressed it) \"this\n Mormon fraud.\" Hurlburt represented that he had been a convert\n to Mormonism, but had given it up, and through \"The Manuscript\n Found\" wished to expose its wickedness. My mother was careful to\n have me with her in all the conversations she had with Hurlburt,\n who spent a day at my house. She did not like his appearance, and\n mistrusted his motives; but having great respect for her brother's\n wishes and opinions, she reluctantly consented to his request.\n The old trunk, containing the desired \"Manuscript Found,\" she had\n placed in the care of Mr. Jerome Clark, of Hartwicks, when she came\n to Monson, intending to send for it. On the repeated promise of\n Hurlburt to return the manuscript to us, she gave him a letter to\n Mr. Clark to open the trunk and deliver it to him. We afterwards\n heard that he did receive it from Mr. Clark at Hartwicks, but from\n that time we have never had it in our possession, and I have no\n present knowledge of its existence, Hurlburt never returning it or\n answering letters requesting him to do so. Two years ago I heard\n he was still living in Ohio, and with my consent he was asked for\n \"The Manuscript Found.\" He made no response, although we have\n evidence that he received the letter containing the request. So far\n I have stated facts within my own knowledge. My mother mentioned\n many other circumstances to me in connection with this subject\n which are interesting, of my father's literary tastes, his fine\n education, and peculiar temperament. She stated to me that she had\n heard the manuscript alluded to read by my father, was familiar\n with its contents, and she deeply regretted that her husband, as\n she believed, had innocently been the means of furnishing matter\n for a religious delusion. She said that my father loaned this\n \"Manuscript Found\" to Mr. Patterson, of Pittsburg, and that, when\n he returned it to my father, he said: \"Polish it up, finish it, and\n you will make money out of it.\" My mother confirmed my remembrances\n of my father's fondness for history, and told me of his frequent\n conversations regarding a theory which he had of a prehistoric\n race which had inhabited this continent, etc., all showing that\n his mind dwelt on this subject. \"The Manuscript Found,\" she said,\n was a romance written in Biblical style, and that while she heard\n it read she had no especial admiration for it more than for other\n romances he wrote and read to her. We never, either of us, ever\n saw, or in any way communicated with the Mormons, save Hurlburt, as\n above described; and while we had no personal knowledge that the\n Mormon Bible was taken from \"The Manuscript Found,\" there were many\n evidences to us that it was, and that Hurlburt and others at the\n time thought so. A convincing proof to us of this belief was that\n my uncle, William H. Sabine, had undoubtedly read the manuscript\n which was in his house, and his faith that its production would\n show to the world that the Mormon Bible had been taken from it, or\n was the same with slight alterations. I have frequently answered\n questions which have been asked me by different persons regarding\n \"The Manuscript Found,\" but until now have never made a statement\n at length for publication.\n\n (Signed) M. S. McKENSTRY.\n\n Sworn and subscribed to before me this 3rd day of April, A. D.\n 1880, at the city of Washington, D. C. CHARLES WALTER, Notary\n Public.\n\nThe items to be noted in this affidavit are: First: That Mrs. McKenstry\nwas in her sixth year (i. e., five years old) in 1812, the year that\nthe Spaulding family left Conneaut, Ohio, for Pennsylvania. Four years\nlater, in 1816, her father died, so that she was in her tenth year\nwhen that event took place, hence all her recollections concerning the\nmatter were those of a child between the ages of five and nine years.\nWhen it is remembered how the half recollections of childhood blend\nin with, and are modified by--or half made up--of things that one\nhears about such days, no very great importance can be attached to the\nstatements she makes from personal knowledge of what \"Manuscript Found\"\ncontained.\n\nSecond: When about eleven years of age, when living at her uncle's in\nOnondaga Valley, New York, (to which place she had removed with her\nmother) she finds in an old trunk the writings of her father, and among\nthem a manucript about an inch thick, closely written, and entitled\n\"Manuscript Found.\" She did not read it, but had it in her hands many\ntimes, and saw the names she claims to have heard at Conneaut.\n\nThird: The visit of Hurlburt many years later, 1834, to herself and\nmother then residing at Monson, Massachusetts, who presented a letter\nfrom her uncle, W. H. Sabine, in which he requested Mrs. Davison\n(formerly wife of Spaulding, it will be remembered) to loan the\nmanuscript of Spaulding's to Hurlburt for the purpose of \"uprooting\nMormonism.\"\n\nFourth: That Mrs. Davison gave an order to Hurlburt on Mr. Jerome Clark\nof Hartwicks, New York, with whom she had left the trunk containing the\nmanuscript.\n\nFifth: That Hurlburt obtained \"Manuscript Found\" upon this order, and\nthat Mrs. Davison could never afterwards obtain any information from\nhim concerning it.\n\nThe interest created by Mrs. Dickenson's article in Scribner's, lead to\nher making a more ambitious effort, and in 1885 she published a book\nof some 275 pages under the title, \"New Light on Mormonism,\" (which by\nthe way, is a sad misnomer, since it is but a rehash of all the stale,\nAnti-Mormon stories in existence) which failed of making any great stir\nin the world, just as all Anti-Mormon books up to date, by the way,\nhave failed.\n\nThe last phase in the development of the Spaulding theory is a\ndenouement; namely, the discovery and publication of Spaulding's\n\"Manucript Found,\" which determines forever the fact that it was not\nthe source whence the Book of Mormon was derived.\n\nIn 1839 or 1840, a Mr. L. L. Rice purchased the \"Painesville\nTelegraph,\" a newspaper, of Mr. E. D. Howe, the publisher of \"Mormonism\nUnveiled.\" The transfer of the printing department, types, press, etc.,\nwas accompanied with a large collection of books and manuscripts, and\nundoubtedly the Spaulding manuscript, which Hurlburt had delivered to\nHowe, was with the rest. Some years afterwards, Mr. Rice closed up his\nbusiness affairs in Painesville and finally made his home in Honolulu,\nSandwich Islands, taking with him his books, papers, etc. In 1884 Mr.\nJames H. Fairchild, President of Oberlin College, Ohio, visited Mr.\nRice, and suggested that the latter look through his numerous papers\nfor the purpose of finding among them anti-slavery documents (slavery\nbeing a subject in which Mr. Rice had been much interested when living\nin Ohio) that might be of value. Mr. Rice accepted the suggestions and,\nin his search discovered a package marked in pencil on the outside\n\"Manuscript Story, Conneaut Creek;\" and on the last page of the\nmanuscript the following inscription:\n\n The Writings of Solomon Spaulding Proved by Aaron Wright, Oliver\n Smith, John Miller and Others, the Testimonies of the Above\n Gentlemen are Now in My Possession.\n\n D. P. HURLBURT.\n\nThis document proved to be the long lost romance of Solomon Spaulding.\nPresident Fairchild gave the following account of the document and its\ndiscovery in the January number, 1885, of the \"Bibliotheca Sacra,\"\npublished at Oberlin, Ohio:\n\n The theory of the origin of the Book of Mormon in the traditional\n manuscript of Solomon Spaulding will probably have to be\n relinquished. That manuscript is doubtless now in the possession\n of Mr. L. L. Rice, of Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands, formerly an\n anti-slavery editor in Ohio, and for many years state printer at\n Columbus. During a recent visit to Honolulu, I suggested to Mr.\n Rice that he might have valuable anti-slavery documents in his\n possession which he would be willing to contribute to the rich\n collection already in the Oberlin College library. In pursuance of\n this suggestion Mr. Rice began looking over his old pamphlets and\n papers, and at length came upon an old, worn, and faded manuscript\n of about one hundred and seventy-five pages, small quarto,\n purporting to be a history of the migrations and conflicts of the\n ancient Indian tribes which occupied the territory now belonging\n to the states of New York, Ohio, and Kentucky. On the last page of\n this manuscript is a certificate and signature giving the names of\n several persons known to the signer, who have assured him that,\n to their personal knowledge, the manuscript was the writing of\n Solomon Spaulding. Mr. Rice has no recollection how or when this\n manuscript came into his possession. It was enveloped in a coarse\n piece of wrapping paper and endorsed in Mr. Rice's handwriting, \"A\n Manuscript Story.\"\n\n There seems to be no reason to doubt that this is the long-lost\n story. Mr. Rice himself and others compared it with the Book of\n Mormon and could detect no resemblance between the two, in general\n or in detail. There seems to be no name or incident common to the\n two. The solemn style of the Book of Mormon, in imitation of the\n English scriptures, does not appear in the manuscript. The only\n resemblance is the fact that both profess to set forth the history\n of lost tribes. Some other explanation of the origin of the Book of\n Mormon must be found if any explanation is required.\n\n JAMES H. FAIRCHILD.\n\nThe means now of ascertaining whether the Book of Mormon came from\nSpaulding's manuscript was completed. A _verbatim et literatim_\ntranscript was obtained from Mr. L. L. Rice by President Joseph F.\nSmith, who in 1884 and 1885 was residing in the Sandwich Islands.\nThis, in 1886, was published by the \"Deseret News\" exactly according\nto the transcript, with all its errors of grammar and orthography, as\nalso with all the alterations, erasures, etc., made by its author,\nindicated. After a careful examination of it, I think everybody will\ncome to the same conclusion that President Fairchild did: namely, that\nthere is \"no resemblance between the two, in general or in detail.\nThere seems to be no name or incident common to the two--a fact that\ncompletely explodes the theory that Spaulding's manuscript was the\norigin of the Book of Mormon. Mr. Rice is of the same opinion as\nPresident Fairchild, though more emphatic in the expression of it. He\nsays:\n\n I should as soon think the Book of Revelation was written by the\n author of \"Don Quixote,\" as that the writer of this manuscript was\n the author of the Book of Mormon.\n\nThen in a postscript to the letter from which the above is a quotation,\nhe says:\n\n Upon reflection, since writing the foregoing, I am of the opinion\n that no one who reads this manuscript will give credit to the story\n that Solomon Spaulding was in any wise the author of the Book of\n Mormon. It is unlikely that any one who wrote so elaborate a work\n as the Mormon Bible would spend his time in getting up so shallow\n a story as this, which at best is but a feeble imitation of the\n other. Finally I am more than half convinced that this is his only\n writing of the sort, and that any pretense that Spaulding was in\n any sense the author of the other is a sheer fabrication. It was\n easy for anybody who may have seen this, or heard anything of its\n contents, to get up the story that they were identical.\n\nSubsequently and in another letter he said:\n\n My opinion is, from all I have seen and learned, that this is the\n only writing of Spaulding, and there is no foundation for the\n statement of Deming and others that Spaulding made another story,\n more elaborate, of which several copies were written, one of which\n Rigdon stole from a printing office in Pittsburg, etc. [19]\n\nMr. Rice finally deposited the original Spaulding manuscript with the\nOberlin College, where it now lies secure for the inspection of the\ncurious, and a standing refutation to the extravagant claims that have\nbeen made respecting the part it played in the origin of the Book of\nMormon.\n\nLet us now review the course of those who originated this Spaulding\ntheory, and foister it upon the world. It was evidently conceived\nby \"Doctor\" Philastus Hurlburt, the enemy of the Prophet Joseph and\nof Mormonism. He had heard of Spaulding's writings in Pennsylvania,\nalso at Conneaut, Ohio, and in his hatred of Mormonism determined to\nshow some connection between the writings of Spaulding and the Book\nof Mormon, in the hope of destroying faith in the divine origin of\nthe latter. He appealed to other enemies of the Prophet, and with\ntheir financial assistance started out to collect affidavits and\nstatements that would prove his theory. Hurlburt, under Mrs. Davison's\norder, as already seen, obtained Spaulding's story \"The Manuscript\nFound,\" undoubtedly the identical story which Spaulding had read to\nhis neighbors on Conneaut Creek. This is proved by the fact that the\ndocument which Hurlburt turned over to Howe [20] corresponds with every\ndescription that is given concerning the size and character of the\nmanuscript.\n\nMrs. Davison, in her conversation with Jesse Haven, declares that\nthe manuscript would be \"about one-third as large as the Book of\nMormon\" [21] (that is, would produce about one-third of the printed\nmatter in that book.)\n\nMrs. McKinstry, in describing \"Manuscript Found\" which she had in\nher hands many times, says that the manuscript was \"about one inch\nthick, and closely written.\" This agrees closely with the statement\nof Mrs. Davison on the subject. Mr. Howe, in his book, declares that\nthe \"Manuscript Found\" in Mrs. Spaulding Davison's trunk was \"in\nSpaulding's hand writing, containing about one quire of paper.\" [22]\n\nAll witnesses who came in contact with this manuscript story declare\nthat the title of it was \"The Manuscript Found;\" or \"Manuscript Found.\"\nThis is the statement of nearly all the witnesses on Conneaut Creek,\nwhose testimony appears in Howe's \"Mormonism,\" and that it contained\nthe names of \"Nephi,\" \"Lehi,\" \"Mormon,\" \"Lamanites,\" etc., and was\nbased on the theory that the American Indians were the \"Lost tribes\nof Israel.\" But when Hurlburt returned to Conneaut with this precious\n\"Manuscript Found,\" according to Howe's own statement, it was not at\nall what it had been represented to be. Howe says of the manuscript:\n\n This is a romance purporting to have been translated from the\n Latin found on 24 rolls of parchment in a cave on the banks of\n Conneaut Creek, but written in modern style, and giving a fabulous\n account of a ship's being driven upon the American coast while\n proceeding from Rome to Britain a short time previous to the\n Christian era; this country then being inhabited by the Indians.\n This old manuscript has been shown to several of the foregoing\n witnesses, [23] who recognize it as Spaulding's.\n\nThe foregoing accurately describes the \"Manuscript Found,\" since\nobtained of Mr. L. L. Rice and published; and by both its title and\nits size is identified to be the manuscript read by Spaulding to his\nneighbors.\n\nThis manuscript must have been a very great disappointment to the\nconspirators against the Book of Mormon. They had staked their all on\nthe fact of Spaulding's \"Manuscript Found\" being the foundation matter\nof the Book of Mormon, but when found it proved to be so dissimilar\nthat they could not, with any face, undertake to maintain that this\nmanuscript was the source whence the Book of Mormon was derived. What\nmust be done to meet this dilemma? That those who had gone this far in\nopposing the work of God would repent of their folly, and admit their\ndefeat would be too much to expect. No; instead of doing that they\nresorted to the following subterfuge. I quote Howe:\n\n This manuscript has been shown to several of the foregoing\n witnesses who recognize it as Spaulding's, he having told them that\n he had altered his first plan of writing, by going farther back\n with dates, and writing in the old scripture style, in order that\n it might appear more ancient. They say that it bears no resemblance\n to the \"Manuscript Found.\" [24]\n\nTwo things, in this statement, are extremely unfortunate for the\nreputation of Mr. Howe, and those who have been beguiled into accepting\nthe theory of his book respecting the origin of the Book of Mormon:\n\nFirst: The fact that in none of the statements of the witnesses who\nheard Mr. Spaulding read his manuscript is there any account of his\nhaving made two drafts of his story, one which he found too modern\nto suit the antiquities of America, and written in modern style; and\nthe other going farther back in time and written in the old scripture\nstyle, in order to make it appear more ancient. All this seems to have\nbeen an after thought, a subterfuge, when it was learned that \"The\nManuscript Found\" did not warrant the theory that it was the foundation\nof the Book of Mormon. The things it is here claimed were said by these\nConneaut witnesses concerning a second Spaulding Manuscript on American\nantiquities, are not said _by_ them, but _for_ them by Mr. Howe.\n\nSecond: That Mr. Howe himself wickedly conceals the fact that this\nold Roman story of Spaulding's was labeled \"Manuscript Found;\" and in\naddition to concealing that fact declares that the witnesses say \"that\nit bears no resemblance to the \"Manuscript Found,\" when, as a matter of\nfact, this Roman story itself was the \"Manuscript Found.\" Comment is\nunnecessary; a bare statement of the facts expose the villainy of these\nconspirators. [25]\n\nRelative to the manner in which it is supposed the Spaulding manuscript\ncame into the hands of Joseph Smith, the theories differ. Howe supposes\nthat Lambdin, alleged partner of Patterson in the printing business at\nPittsburg, placed in the hands of Sidney Rigdon the \"Manuscript Found,\"\nto be \"embellished, altered, and added to as he might think expedient\"\nto transform it into what is now the Book of Mormon. [26] When Howe put\nforth this theory, Lambdin had been dead some eight years. [27]\n\nQuery: Did Howe select this dead man as the medium through which the\nSpaulding manuscript reached the hands of Sidney Rigdon, and thence\nto Joseph Smith, for the reason that the dead man could not arise to\ncontradict it? We shall see that Patterson contradicted it when that\ngentleman was appealed to in order to confirm his connection with\nSidney Rigdon.\n\nThe Rev. John Storrs, in the bogus signed statement he put forth as\ncoming from Mrs. Davison, represents her as saying that Rigdon became\nacquainted with Spaulding's manuscript \"and copied it,\" and that this\nwas a \"matter of notoriety and interest to all connected with the\nprinting establishment.\" According to this \"Davison Statement,\" the\nmanuscript was returned to Mr. Spaulding before he left Pittsburg\nfor Amity (where he died), and that the manuscript after this was\n\"carefully preserved\" by Mrs. Spaulding, until delivered to Hurlburt,\nin 1834.\n\nRev. Clark Braden, a Campbellite minister, in a protracted debate on\nthe Book of Mormon in Kirtland, 1884, declares that Sidney Rigdon stole\nthe Spaulding manuscript and that Mrs. (Spaulding) Davison--he should\nhave said rather the Rev. John Storrs, the real author of the \"Davison\nStatement\"--was mistaken in saying that Rigdon \"copied it\" and returned\nthe original to Mr. Spaulding. [28]\n\nMrs. McKenstry's affidavit on the subject, published in Scribner's for\nAugust, 1880, says he (Solomon Spaulding) loaned the manuscript to Mr.\nPatterson; that he read it and returned it to its author, with the\nsuggestion that he \"polish it up and finish it,\" and that he might make\nmoney out of it; but when Mr. Patterson was appealed to for information\non the subject he said he had \"no recollection of any such manuscript\nbeing brought there (i. e., to his establishment in Pittsburg) for\npublication.\" [29]\n\nMrs. Ellen E. Dickinson, grand-niece of Solomon Spaulding and the\nauthor of \"New Light on Mormonism,\" holds that the Spaulding manuscript\nremained safely in the hands of the family until turned over to\nHurlburt. At this point she thinks several things may have befallen\nthe manuscript. One, that Hurlburt \"sold the manuscript to the Mormons\nfor a sum of money which he used in purchasing a farm near Gibonsburg,\nOhio, where he now [1880] resides; and that the Mormons burned the\nmanuscript at Conneaut.\" Another, that \"Hurlburt sold it with a sworn\nagreement that it should not be given to the world until after his\ndeath.\" Then she concludes:\n\n There are circumstances which support both theories; but the\n author's opinion, after a careful study of the matter, is, that\n Hurlburt made a copy of the original manuscript, which he sold to\n E. D. Howe, of Painsville, to use in writing the book \"Mormonism\n Unveiled,\" and sold the original to the Mormons, who destroyed it.\n The life of Hurlburt since his return from his errand of duplicity\n to Munson shows conclusively that he wishes to hide himself from\n the world, and that he is burdened with a secret which he does not\n intend shall come to light through any act or revelation of his\n own. [30] * * * Beyond a shadow of doubt Hurlburt, after getting\n the genuine Spaulding romance at Munson, destroyed it or saw it\n destroyed by the Mormons at Conneaut, in 1834, after his being paid\n for his share of this transaction. [31]\n\nThis theory Mrs. Davison maintains throughout her book with something\nmore than a half hysterical style meant to be very sensational.\n\nThus these originators and promulgators of the Spaulding theory,\nhaving started with conjecture and falsehood, go on varying, changing,\nand patching up their story until they are involved in innumerable\ninconsistencies and contradictions, which constantly makes more\napparent the absurdity of this attempt to construct a counter theory\nfor the origin of the Book of Mormon to that given by Joseph Smith.\nThe theory, however, fails by dint of its own inconsistencies, and\nby the discovery and publication of the manuscript with which the\ntheory started; and that in another way, and in addition to the fact\nthat there is no incident, or name, or set of ideas, common to the\ntwo productions. The publication of the \"Manuscript Found\" not only\ndemonstrates that this particular manuscript was not the foundation\nof the Book of Mormon, but it demonstrates, also, that no other\nwritings of Solomon Spaulding's could possibly be the Book of Mormon.\nSpaulding's manuscript, as published, makes a pamphlet of some 112\npages, of about 350 words to the page, enough matter to give a clear\nidea of his literary style. I am sure that no person, having any\nliterary judgment will think it possible for the author of \"Manuscript\nFound\" to be the author of the Book of Mormon. Composition in writers\nbecomes individualized as distinctly as the looks, or appearance, or\ncharacter, of separate individuals; and they can no more write in\nseveral styles than individuals can impersonate different characters.\nTrue, by special efforts this latter may be done to a limited extent\nby a change of tone, costume and the like, but underneath these\nimpersonations is to be seen the real individual; and so with authors.\nOne may sometimes affect a light, and sometimes a serious vein, in\nprose and poetry. He may imitate a solemn scriptural style or the\ndiction of some Greek or Roman author, but underneath it all will be\nseen the individuality of the writer from which he cannot separate\nhimself any more than he can separate himself from his true form,\nfeatures, or character. Since we have in this \"Manuscript Found\" enough\nof Mr. Spaulding's style to determine its nature, if this manuscript of\nhis was used either as the foundation or the complete work of the Book\nof Mormon, we should be able to detect Spauldingisms in it; identity\nof style would be apparent; but these things are entirely absent from\nevery page of the Book of Mormon. Mr. Rice does not overstate the\nmatter when he says: \"I should as soon think the Book of Revelation\nwas written by the author of \"Don Quixote,\" as that the writer of this\nmanuscript was the author of the Book of Mormon.\" And again, he is\nright when he says: \"It is unlikely that any one who wrote so elaborate\na work as the Mormon Bible would spend his time in getting up so\nshallow a story as this\"--the Spaulding Story.\n\nAnother point at which the Spaulding theory goes to pieces is in the\nutter inability of its advocates to bring together the parties to\nthe conspiracy in which the Book of Mormon is supposed to have had\nits origin. They fail even to bring Joseph Smith in contact with the\nSpaulding manuscript; they also fail to connect Sidney Rigdon with\nthe manuscript; they fail to bring together Joseph Smith and Sidney\nRigdon, previous to the publication of the Book of Mormon. In all these\nthings, vital to the maintenance of their theory, they fail. Joseph\nSmith and Sidney Rigdon, until after the publication of the Book of\nMormon, are from 200 to 300 miles apart, with no means of communication\nor of collaboration, which would be necessary if the Spaulding theory\nwere correct. Of the necessary extent and greatness of this conspiracy,\nElder George Reynolds justly remarks:\n\n Whole families must have been engaged in it. Men of all ages and\n various conditions in life, and living in widely separate portions\n of the country must have been connected with it. First, we must\n include in the catalogue of conspirators the whole of the Smith\n family, then the Whitmers, Martin Harris and Oliver Cowdery;\n further, to carry out this absurd idea, Sidney Rigdon and Parley\n P. Pratt must have been their active fellow-conspirators in\n arranging, carrying out and consummating their iniquitous fraud.\n To do this they must have traveled thousands of miles and spent\n months, perhaps years, to accomplish--what? That is the unsolved\n problem. Was it for the purpose of duping the world? They, at any\n rate the great majority of them, were of all men most unlikely to\n be engaged in such a folly. Their habits, surroundings, station\n in life, youth and inexperience all forbid such a thought. What\n could they gain, in any light that could be then presented to\n their minds, by palming such a deception upon the world? This is\n another unanswerable question. Then comes the staggering fact,\n if the book be a falsity, that all these families, all these\n diverse characters, in all the trouble, perplexity, persecution\n and suffering through which they passed, never wavered in their\n testimony, never changed their statements, never \"went back\" on\n their original declarations, but continued unto death, and they\n have all passed away (save a very few), proclaiming that the Book\n of Mormon was a divine revelation, and that its record was true.\n Was there ever such an exhibition in the history of the world of\n such continued, such unabating, such undeviating falsehood if\n falsehood it was? We cannot find a place in the annals of their\n lives where they wavered, and what makes the matter more remarkable\n is that it can be said of most of them, as is elsewhere said of\n the three witnesses, they became offended with the Prophet Joseph,\n and a number of them openly rebelled against him; but they never\n retracted one word with regard to the genuineness of Mormon's\n inspired record. Whether they were friends or foes to Joseph,\n whether they regarded him as God's continued mouthpiece or as a\n fallen Prophet, they still persisted in their statements with\n regard to the book and the veracity of their earlier testimonies.\n How can we possibly, with our knowledge of human nature, make\n this undeviating, unchanging, unwavering course, continuing\n over fifty years consistent with a deliberate, premeditated and\n cunningly-devised and executed fraud! [32]\n\nIII.\n\n_The Sidney Rigdon Theory_.\n\nIt will be seen, by those who have followed us through the treatise on\nthe Spaulding Theory, that Sidney Rigdon is considered a factor in that\nsupposed scheme. It is generally thought that it was he who supplied\nthe religious matter of the book, and who determined the parts of the\nHebrew scripture that should be interwoven in its alleged historical\nparts. Such prominence, in fact, is given to Sidney Rigdon in bringing\nforth the Book of Mormon that I decided to consider his connection with\nit under this separate heading.\n\nMr. Sidney Rigdon always, and most emphatically, denied the story of\nhis connection with Patterson and his printing establishment. In the\nJanuary number (1836) of the \"Latter-day Saints Messenger and Advocate\"\nhe denounces Howe's book and those who advocated it. Referring to Mr.\nScott, Mr. Campbell and other professed ministers of the gospel, he\nsaid:\n\n In order to avoid investigation this brotherhood will condescend\n to mean, low subterfuges, to which a noble-minded man would never\n condescend; no, he would suffer martyrdom first. Witness Mr.\n Campbell's recommendation of Howe's book, while he knows, as well\n as every person who reads it, that it is a batch of falsehoods.\n\nLater, in a letter to Messrs. Bartlett and Sullivan, written from\nCommerce (afterwards Nauvoo), May 27, 1839, in a communication called\nforth by the publication of the bogus statement purporting to come from\nMrs. Davison and published by the Rev. John Storrs, Elder Rigdon said:\n\n Commerce, May 27, 1839. Messrs. Bartlett and Sullivan:--In your\n paper of the 18th instant, I see a letter signed my somebody\n calling herself Matilda Davison, pretending to give the origin of\n Mormonism, as she is pleased to call it, by relating a moonshine\n story about a certain Solomon Spaulding, a creature with the\n knowledge of whose earthly existence I am entirely indebted to this\n production; for, surely, until Dr. Philastus Hurlburt informed\n me that such a being lived, at some former period, I had not the\n most distant knowledge of his existence; and all I know about his\n character is the opinion I form from what is attributed to his wife\n in obtruding my name upon the public in the manner in which she is\n said to have done, by trying to make the public believe that I had\n knowledge of the ignorant, and, according to her own testimony, the\n lying scribblings of her deceased husband; for if her testimony is\n to be credited, her pious husband, in his lifetime, wrote a bundle\n of lies for the righteous purpose of getting money. How many lies\n he had told for the same purpose, while he was preaching, she has\n not so kindly informed us; but we are at liberty to draw our own\n conclusions, for he that would write lies to get money, would also\n preach lies for the same object. This being the only information\n which I have, or ever had, of the said Rev. Solomon Spaulding, I,\n of necessity, have but a very light opinion of him as a gentleman,\n a scholar, or a man of piety, for had he been either, he certainly\n would have taught his pious wife not to lie, nor unite herself with\n adulterers, liars, and the basest of mankind.\n\n It is only necessary to say, in relation to the whole story about\n Spaulding's writings being in the hands of Mr. Patterson, who was\n in Pittsburg, and who is said to have kept a printing office, and\n my saying that I was concerned in the said office, etc., is the\n most base of lies, without even a shadow of truth. There was no man\n by the name of Patterson, during my residence at Pittsburg, who had\n a printing office; what might have been before I lived there I know\n not. Mr. Robert Patterson, I was told, had owned a printing office\n before I lived in that city, but had been unfortunate in business,\n and failed before my residence there. This Mr. Patterson, who was a\n Presbyterian preacher, I had a very slight acquaintance with during\n my residence in Pittsburg. He was then acting under an agency, in\n the book and stationery business, and was the owner of no property\n of any kind, printing office or anything else, during the time I\n resided in the city. [33]\n\nOne can but regret the tone and coarseness of this letter of Sidney\nRigdon's, but it cannot be denied but that it is a very emphatic\ncontradiction of the charge that he was connected with the Spaulding\nmanuscript theory of the Book of Mormon's origin, and it is very\nnatural that a man of the nervous, irritable temperament of Sidney\nRigdon would be very much vexed at connecting him with such a theory.\n\nOn the matter of Sidney Rigdon not being connected with the origin\nof the Book of Mormon we have also the statement of Oliver Cowdery,\nmade on his return to the Church at Kanesville (now Council Bluffs),\nin October, 1848, a statement that was made in the presence of 2,000\nSaints. In the course of his remarks, Oliver Cowdery then said:\n\n I wrote, with my own pen, the entire Book of Mormon (save a few\n pages) as it fell from the lips of the Prophet Joseph Smith, as he\n translated it by the gift and power of God, by means of the Urim\n and Thummim, or, as it is called by that book, \"Holy Interpreters.\"\n I beheld with my eyes, and handled with my hands the gold plates\n from which it was transcribed. I also saw with my eyes and handled\n with my hands the \"holy interpreters.\" That book is true. Sidney\n Rigdon did not write it. Mr. Spaulding did not write it. I wrote it\n myself as it fell from the lips of the Prophet. [34]\n\nParley P. Pratt, who, with Oliver Cowdery, was the first to present the\nBook of Mormon to Sidney Rigdon some six months after its publication,\nis also on record as denying the story of Sidney Rigdon's connection\nwith the origin of the Book of Mormon. When the \"Davison Statement\"\nwas copied from the \"Boston Recorder\" into the \"New York Era,\" Elder\nPratt promptly denied the falsehood. The \"Era\" published the \"Davison\nStatement\" on the 20th, and in its issue of the 27th Elder Pratt\npublished a somewhat exhaustive treatise in which the following occurs:\n\n The piece in your paper states that \"Sidney Rigdon was connected\n in the printing office of Mr. Patterson\" (in Pittsburg), and that\n this is a fact well known in that region, and as Rigdon himself\n has frequently stated. Here he had ample opportunity to become\n acquainted with Mr. Spaulding's manuscript (romance) and to copy\n it if he chose. This statement is utterly and entirely false. Mr.\n Rigdon was never connected with the said printing establishment,\n either directly or indirectly, and we defy the world to bring proof\n of any such connection. * * The statement that Sidney Rigdon is one\n of the founders of the said religious sect is also incorrect.\n\n The sect was founded in the state of New York, while Mr. Rigdon\n resided in Ohio, several hundred miles distant. Mr. Rigdon embraced\n the doctrine through my instrumentality. I first presented the Book\n of Mormon to him. I stood upon the bank of the stream while he\n was baptized, and assisted to officiate in his ordination, and I\n myself was unacquainted with the system until some months after its\n organization, which was on the 6th of April, 1830, and I embraced\n it in September following.\n\nAgain, in 1840, in a work entitled \"Late Persecutions of the Church of\nJesus Christ of Later-day Saints,\" referring to the persecutions in\nMissouri, in the course of which he also gave an account of the rise\nand progress of the doctrine of the Church, Elder Pratt says, relative\nto this Spaulding story:\n\n There is one story, however, which I will notice, because some\n religious journals have given some credit to it. It is the story\n of Solomon Spaulding writing a romance of the ancient inhabitants\n of America which is said to be converted by Mr. Sidney Rigdon into\n the Book of Mormon. This is another base fabrication got up by the\n devil and his servants to deceive the world. Mr. Sidney Rigdon\n never saw the Book of Mormon until it had been published more than\n six months; it was then presented to him by the author of this\n history. [35]\n\nFrom another source there is also an emphatic denial of Sidney Rigdon's\nconnection with the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. This is the\nstatement of Mr. Rigdon's son, John W. Rigdon. This gentleman wrote\na somewhat extended biography of his father, Sidney Rigdon, which he\nplaced in its manuscript form in the Church Historian's office, at\nSalt Lake City, where it is now on file. Mr. John W. Rigdon's account\nof his father's connection with the Book of Mormon agrees with the\nstatement of Elder Pratt; and then, near the close of his narrative,\nhe relates his own experience in connection with Mormonism, and his\nattempt to learn the truth from his father respecting the latter's\nearly connection with the Book of Mormon. John W. Rigdon tells of his\nown visit to Utah, in 1863, where he spent the winter among the Mormon\npeople. He was not favorably impressed with their religious life, and\ncame to the conclusion that the Book of Mormon itself was a fraud. He\ndetermined in his own heart that if ever he returned home and found\nhis father, Sidney Rigdon, alive, he would try and find out what he\nknew of the origin of the Book of Mormon. \"Although,\" he adds, \"he had\nnever told but one story about it, and that was that Parley P. Pratt\nand Oliver Cowdery presented him with a bound volume of that book in\nthe year 1830, while he (Sidney Rigdon) was preaching Campbellism\nat Mentor, Ohio.\" What John W. Rigdon claims to have seen in Utah,\nhowever, together with the fact that Sidney Rigdon had been charged\nwith writing the Book of Mormon, made him suspicious; and he remarks:\n\n I concluded I would make an investigation for my own satisfaction\n and find out, if I could, if he had all these years been deceiving\n his family and the world, by telling that which was not true,\n and I was in earnest about it. If Sidney Rigdon, my father, had\n thrown his life away by telling a falsehood and bringing sorrow and\n disgrace upon his family, I wanted to know it and was determined\n to find out the facts, no matter what the consequences might be. I\n reached home in the fall of 1865, found my father in good health\n and (he) was very much pleased to see me. As he had not heard\n anything from me for some time, he was afraid that I had been\n killed by the Indians. Shortly after I had arrived home, I went to\n my father's room; he was there and alone, and now was the time for\n me to commence my inquiries in regard to the origin of the Book\n of Mormon, and as to the truth of the Mormon religion. I told him\n what I had seen at Salt Lake City, and I said to him that what I\n had seen at Salt Lake had not impressed me very favorably toward\n the Mormon Church, \"and as to the origin of the Book of Mormon I\n had some doubts.\" \"You have been charged with writing that book\n and giving it to Joseph Smith to introduce to the world. You have\n always told me one story; that you never saw the book until it was\n presented to you by Parley P. Pratt and Oliver Cowdery; and all you\n ever knew of the origin of that book was what they told you and\n what Joseph Smith and the witnesses who claimed to have seen the\n plates had told you. Is this true? If so, all right; if it is not,\n you owe it to me and to your family to tell it. You are an old man\n and you will soon pass away, and I wish to know if Joseph Smith, in\n your intimacy with him for fourteen years, has not said something\n to you that led you to believe he obtained that book in some other\n way than what he had told you. Give me all you know about it, that\n I may know the truth.\" My father, after I had finished saying what\n I have repeated above, looked at me a moment, raised his hand\n above his head and slowly said, with tears glistening in his eyes:\n \"My son, I can swear before high heaven that what I have told you\n about the origin of that book is true. Your mother and sister,\n Mrs. Athalia Robinson, were present when that book was handed to\n me in Mentor, Ohio, and all I ever knew about the origin of that\n book was what Parley P. Pratt, Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Smith and\n the witnesses who claimed they saw the plates have told me, and in\n all of my intimacy with Joseph Smith he never told me but the one\n story, and that was that he found it engraved upon gold plates in\n a hill near Palmyra, New York, and that an angel had appeared to\n him and directed him where to find it; and I have never, to you or\n to any one else, told but the one story, and that I now repeat to\n you.\" I believed him, and now believe he told me the truth. He also\n said to me after that that Mormonism was true; that Joseph Smith\n was a Prophet, and this world would find it out some day. [36]\n\nIn addition to these solemn denials of Sidney Rigdon's connection with\nthis Spaulding theory, we have another means of testing whether or\nnot Sidney Rigdon was the author of the Book of Mormon. That test is\nthe one already referred to when considering the difference of style\nbetween Spaulding's manuscript story, and the Book of Mormon. We have\nenough of Sidney Rigdon's writings before us to determine his literary\nstyle; namely, in the Historian's office we have in manuscript his\ndescription of the land of Zion, Jackson County, which he was commanded\nof the Lord to write. We have a number of his communications published\nin the \"Evening and Morning Star,\" and also the \"Messenger and\nAdvocate.\" In these two publications also there are thirteen articles\non the subject of the \"Millennium\" from his pen, and after careful\ncomparison of his style with that of the Book of Mormon, I do not\nhesitate to say that Sidney Rigdon, not only never did, but never could\nhave written the Book of Mormon. There are no phrases or conceptions\nin the Book of Mormon that are Sidney Rigdon's. There is nothing in\ncommon between his style and that of the Book of Mormon. There can be\nno doubt about it; Sidney Rigdon as the author of the Book of Mormon is\nimpossible.\n\nIV.\n\n_The \"Joachim\" fragment of the Spaulding-Rigdon Theory_.\n\nIt was reserved for William Linn, author of the \"Story of the\nMormons,\" [37] a pretentious work of nearly 650 pages, to go \"a far\nway\" for an additional item which, in the full pride of an author who\nhas made a new discovery, he adds to the Spaulding-Rigdon theory of\nthe Book of Mormon's origin. This new item I have called the \"Joachim\nFragment of the Spaulding-Rigdon Theory.\" Mr. Linn, with evident pride,\nmakes this mention of it in the preface of his book: \"The probable\nservice of Joachim's 'Everlasting Gospel,' as suggesting the story of\nthe revelation of the plates, has been hitherto overlooked.\" [38] In the\nbody of his work he thus sets forth his idea of the part played by the\n\"Everlasting Gospel,\" sometimes called by other writers, \"The Eternal\nGospel,\" and in the thirteenth century, when it was supposed to be in\ncirculation among the Franciscan order of monks, it is spoken of as\n\"The Book of Joachim.\"\n\n That the idea of the revelation (i. e., of the existence of the\n Book of Mormon) as described by Smith in his autobiography was\n not original is shown by the fact that a similar divine message,\n engraved on plates, was announced to have been received from an\n angel nearly six hundred years before the alleged visit of an angel\n to Smith. These original plates were described as a copper, and\n the recipient was a monk named Cyril, from whom their contents\n passed into the possession of the Abbot Joachim, whose \"Everlasting\n Gospel,\" founded thereon, was offered to the church as supplanting\n the New Testament, just as the New Testament had supplanted the\n Old, and caused so serious a schism that Pope Alexander IV took the\n severest measures against it. [39]\n\nThis description of the origin of Joachim's \"Everlasting Gospel\"\nrests upon the respectable authority of Draper, in his \"Intellectual\nDevelopment of Europe.\" [40]\n\nLinn's argument is to the effect that this origin of the \"Everlasting\nGospel\" suggested the origin of the Book of Mormon because of the\nresemblance between the celestial announcement of both, and also\nbecause that both, according to his idea of them, were declared to\nhave the same purport--each was to be \"a forerunner of the end of the\nworld.\" He also urges the frequent use of the phrase, \"Everlasting\nGospel,\" in the discourses of the early Elders of the Church as\nevidence that there was some connection between these two things,\nthe Book of Mormon and \"The Book of Joachim.\" He further holds that\nSidney Rigdon, in the course of his ecclesiastical reading would come\nin contact with the story of Joachim's \"Everlasting Gospel;\" that it\nwould be just such a story as would be attractive to one of Sidney\nRigdon's temperament. Linn throughout his work assumes a connection\nand collaboration between Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, and claims\nthat the latter suggested the story of the \"Book of Joachim,\" as the\nground-work of Joseph Smith's account of the origin of the Book of\nMormon. Our author thinks that Rigdon may even have found sufficient\nmatter in relation to Joachim's \"Everlasting Gospel,\" in Mosheim's\n\"Ecclesiastical History,\" to suggest the account he induced Joseph\nSmith to give of the origin of the Book of Mormon, and makes the\nfollowing quotation from Mosheim in proof of his contention:\n\n About the commencement of this [the thirteenth] century there were\n handed about in Italy several pretended prophecies of the famous\n Joachim, Abbot of Sora, in Calabria, whom the multitude revered\n as a person divinely inspired, and equal to the most illustrious\n prophets of ancient times. The greatest part of these predictions\n were contained in a certain book entitled, \"The Everlasting\n Gospel,\" and which was also commonly called the Book of Joachim.\n This Joachim, whether a real or fictitious person we shall not\n pretend to determine, among many other future events, foretold the\n destruction of the Church of Rome, whose corruptions he censured\n with the greatest severity, and the promulgation of a new and more\n perfect gospel in the age of the Holy Ghost, by the set of poor and\n austere ministers, whom God was to raise up and employ for that\n purpose\n\nIt is to be observed of this passage, as indeed of all that is said by\nMosheim upon the subject, that there is no account here of an angel\nrevealing the existence of the Book of Joachim to Cyril, or to any one\nelse, which is the chief item of resemblance between Joseph Smith's\nstory of the origin of the Book of Mormon and the alleged origin of\n\"The Everlasting Gospel,\" as related by Draper and Linn. Indeed, in the\nclosing lines of the very paragraph from Mosheim which Linn quotes as\nbeing the possible source of Sidney Rigdon's knowledge of the \"Book of\nJoachim,\" it is stated that the Franciscans who accepted Joachim's book\nmaintained that Saint Francis, the founder of their Order, had \"spoken\nto mankind the true gospel, and that he was the angel whom Saint John\nsaw flying in the midst of heaven;\" which is quite a different account\nof this matter than that given by Draper. Whether or not Sidney Rigdon\nhad access to the same source of information as Draper had, is, of\ncourse, not known; but certainly Draper did not obtain the account of\nthe angel appearing to Cyril from Mosheim. As a matter of fact, there\nis much confusion and uncertainty among authorities respecting the\norigin of this \"Everlasting Gospel,\" and some question whether such a\nbook was ever put forth by Joachim. The work used at the time it was\ncurrent in the thirteenth century was very often confounded with an\nintroduction to the so-called \"Everlasting Gospel,\" written, as Draper\nsays, by John of Parma; and as others say by Gerhard, a Franciscan\nfriar. The celebrated Dr. Augustus Neander, in his \"General History of\nthe Christian Religion and Church,\" holds to this same theory. He says:\n\n A great sensation was now created by a commentary on the \"eternal\n gospel,\" which after the middle of the thirteenth century the\n Franciscan Gerhard, who, by his zeal for Joachim's doctrines,\n involved himself in many persecutions and incurred an eighteen\n years' imprisonment, published under the title of \"Introduction\n to the Eternal Gospel.\" Many vague notions were entertained about\n the \"eternal gospel\" of the Franciscans, arising from superficial\n views, or a superficial understanding of Joachim's writings, and\n the offspring of mere rumor of the heresy-hunting spirit. Men spoke\n of the \"eternal gospel\" as of a book composed under this title,\n and circulated among the Franciscans. Occasionally, also, this\n \"eternal gospel\" was confounded perhaps with the above-mentioned\n \"Introduction.\" In reality, there was no book existing under this\n title of the \"Eternal Gospel;\" but all that is said about it\n relates simply to the writings of Joachim. * * * The whole matter\n of this work also seems to have consisted in an explanation of the\n fundamental ideas of the Abbot Joachim, and in the application of\n them to the genuine Franciscan order. [41]\n\nThis exhibits much confusion and uncertainty concerning the story of\nJoachim and his book. Of course, it may be argued that this story of\nthe Book of Joachim, as told by Draper and repeated by Linn, would\nfurnish equally well the suggestion of the origin of the Book of\nMormon, whether it was the statement of an historical fact or only the\nwild invention of a fanatical Franciscan, but it would be incumbent\nupon those who make such an argument to prove that Sidney Rigdon had\nknowledge of such a story.\n\nAnother suggestion may be argued that would tend to break down the\nprobability of the origin of the \"Everlasting Gospel\" suggesting the\norigin of the Book of Mormon; and that is: Had Sidney Rigdon or any\none else taken the story of the revelation of the Book of Joachim to\nCyril and from it invented the account of the coming forth of the Book\nof Mormon, he would very likely have taken other ideas attributed to\nthis very worthy but over-zealous and weak-minded man of the thirteenth\ncentury. As, for example, Linn himself declares that the \"Everlasting\nGospel was offered to the Church as supplanting the New Testament,\njust as the New Testament had supplanted the Old,\" etc., a theory that\nwould very likely have caught the fancy of such a man as Linn conceives\nRigdon to have been. Yet Mormonism is as far removed from any such\nconception as this, as the east is from the west; for Mormonism gives\nfull force to the present authority of both the Old and New Testaments\nas containing the word of God, and the Book of Mormon nowhere supplants\nthese existing scriptures. Neander presents a more elaborate view of\nsome of the theories of this same Joachim, and represents him as\nteaching the following:\n\n The times of the Old Testament belong especially to God the\n Father; in it, God revealed himself as the Almighty, by signs\n and wonders; next, followed the times of the New Testament, in\n which God, as the Word, revealed himself in his wisdom, where\n the striving after a comprehensible knowledge of mysteries\n predominates; the last times belong to the Holy Spirit, when the\n first of love in contemplation will predominate. As the letter\n of the Old Testament answers to God the Father, the letter of\n the New Testament more especially to the Son, so the spiritual\n understanding, which proceeds from both, answers to the Holy\n Spirit. As all things were created by the Father through the Son;\n so in the Holy Spirit, as love, all were to find their completion.\n To the working of the Father--power, fear, faith, more especially\n correspond; to the working of the Son--humility, truth, and wisdom;\n to the working of the Holy Spirit--love, joy, and freedom. [42]\n\nIn like manner he takes up the Apostles Peter, James, and John as in\na way representing in the earth, respectively, the three periods in\nthe process of the development of the Church. I insist that if Sidney\nRigdon had become acquainted with that story of the \"Everlasting\nGospel,\" as it is told by Draper, he would unquestionably also have\ncome to the knowledge of these theories of Joachim's; and if Sidney\nRigdon was the kind of character that Linn represents him to be, he\nwould unquestionably have taken up some of these vagaries and exploited\nthem, either in the Book of Mormon or in the subsequent development\nof the Church and its system of doctrine. It is scarcely necessary to\nsay that none of these ideas of the thirteenth century man is to be\nfound in Mormonism, nor are any other of Joachim's ideas found in the\nLatter-day dispensation of the Gospel. The mere matter of using the\nphrase, \"Everlasting Gospel,\" by the early Elders of the Church--and\nfor matter of that by the present ministry of the Church--in their\ndiscourses and books, scarcely rises to dignity of a coincidence,\nsince we have the phrase suggested in the remarkable prophecy on the\nrestoration of the Gospel in the Revelations of St. John, [43] without\nreferring to any circumstance of the thirteenth century and the obscure\nliterature concerning the Book of Joachim.\n\nThis whole theory of the suggested origin of the Book of Mormon\nfrom the story of the Book of Joachim, however ingenious it may be\nregarded, breaks down as the Spaulding-Rigdon theory does, under the\nabsolute inability of all these speculators to show any connection,\nor collaboration, between Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon previous to\nthe publication of the Book of Mormon. Their inventions fail; their\nspeculations amount to nothing. It is impossible to show any contact\nbetween Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon before the Book of Mormon was\npublished, therefore, whatever opportunity Sidney Rigdon may have had\nto become acquainted with the story of Joachim's \"Everlasting Gospel,\"\nthat knowledge could play no part whatever in the coming forth of the\nBook of Mormon.\n\nV.\n\n_Woodbridge Riley's Theory of the Origin of the Book of Mormon_.\n\nThis theory may be said, in a way, to be a reversion to that of\nAlexander Campbell's; that is, a return to the theory that Joseph\nSmith was the \"author\" of the Book of Mormon. Mr. Riley's book, of 446\npages, is a well written thesis on the \"Founder of Mormonism.\" It was\npublished by Dodd, Mead & Company, 1902. It is a psychological study of\nJoseph Smith the Prophet. The purpose of the work is set forth in the\nauthor's preface, as follows:\n\n The aim of this work is to examine Joseph Smith's character and\n achievements from the standpoint of recent psychology. Sectarians\n and phrenologists, spiritualists and mesmerists have variously\n interpreted his more or less abnormal performances--it now remains\n for the psychologist to have a try at them.\n\nThe work also has an introductory preface by Professor George Trumbull\nLadd, of Yale University, in which Mr. Riley's essay is very highly\npraised. Indeed the work was offered to the Philosophical Faculty of\nYale University as a thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, and\nbefore this the matter of the essay had been utilized in 1898 for a\nMaster of Arts thesis, under the title of \"Metaphysics of Mormonism,\"\nso that from these circumstances we may venture the remark that Mr.\nRiley's book is of highly scientific character, at least in its\nliterary structure, and has already attracted some considerable notice\nin the world.\n\nTo the Latter-day Saints it will be interesting, and of value at least\nin this, that they may accept it as one of many manifestations that\nthe other theories accounting for the origin of the Book of Mormon are\nregarded as inadequate, if not exploded, since the learned find it\nnecessary to set forth now a new theory, both for the origin of the\nBook of Mormon, and the life work of the Prophet Joseph.\n\nMr. Riley's conclusions, after patient consideration of what he regards\nas the elements entering into the composition of the Book of Mormon,\nare thus stated:\n\n In spite of a continuous stream of conjectural literature, it is\n as yet impossible to pick out any special document as an original\n source of the Book of Mormon. In particular the commonly-accepted\n Spaulding theory is insoluble from external evidence and disproved\n by internal evidence. Joseph Smith's \"Record of the Indians\" is a\n product indigenous to the New York \"Wilderness,\" and the authentic\n work of its \"author and proprietor.\" Outwardly, it reflects the\n local color of Palmyra and Manchester, inwardly, its complexity\n of thought is a replica of Smith's muddled brain. This monument\n of misplaced energy was possible to the impressionable youth\n constituted and circumstanced as he was. [44]\n\nAs for the process by which the book was produced, our author conceives\nit thus:\n\n It was in western New York that the son of an obscure farmer gazed\n in his magic crystal, automatically wrote \"a transcription of gold\n plates,\" dictated the Book of Mormon, and after strange signs and\n wonders, started his communistic sect. [45]\n\nOur author makes an extended pathological study of the prophet's\nancestry, and arrives at the conclusion that their mental peculiarities\nand defects, culminate in epilepsy in Joseph Smith the Prophet. So\nthat we may say, roughly speaking, that Mr. Riley's explanation of\nthe origin of the Book of Mormon, and Mormonism, is that it has its\nsource in an epileptic, whose-hallucinations are honestly mistaken\nfor inspired visions, and who possesses partly conscious and partly\nunconscious hypnotic power over others. And this theory is presented\nseriously to one of the first institutions of learning in America as a\nrational explanation of \"Mormonism!\"\n\nUnfortunately for Mr. Riley's theory, however, another writer, an\nauthority in his chosen field of investigation, a writer of text books\nfor higher institutions of learning on this very subject, has spoken\nwith marked emphasis not only with reference to epilepsy in general and\nthe milder forms of its manifestation under the head of Paranoia, but\nhas spoken of it with special reference to Joseph Smith, and distinctly\nseparates him from such class of persons. Following are passages from\nMr. Dana's works upon the subject:\n\n A certain rather small per centage of epileptics become either\n demented or insane. True epilepsy is not compatible with\n extraordinary intellectual endowments. Caesar, Napoleon, Peter the\n Great and other geniuses may have had some symptomatic fits, but\n not idispathic [primary] epilepsy. [46]\n\nAgain:\n\n Paranoia is a chronic psychosis characterized by the development\n gradually and soon after maturity of systematized delusion,\n without other serious disturbances of the mind and without much\n tendency to dementia. * * * With some the systematized idea takes a\n religious turn, and the patient thinks he has some divine mission,\n or has received some inspiration from God; or the idea may take\n a devotional turn and the patient become an acetic. It is not,\n however, to be assumed that all promoters of new religious and\n novel social ideas are paranoics. Many of these are simply the\n natural developments of ignorance and a somewhat emotional and\n unbalanced temperament. The characteristics of the paranoic is\n that his work is ineffective, his influence brief and trivial, his\n ideas really too absurd and impractical for even ignorant men to\n receive. _I do not class successful prophets and organizers like\n Joseph Smith, or great apostles of social reforms like Rousseau as\n paranoics_. Insane minds are not creative, but are weak and lack\n persistence in purpose or power of execution. [47]\n\nIt is not possible in this writing to enter into an extended\nconsideration of this theory. Neither indeed is it necessary. One\nconsideration alone is sufficient to overthrow these fanciful\nspeculations of Mr. Riley. \"Hitherto,\" says Renan in his Life of\nChrist, \"it has never been given to aberration of mind to produce a\nserious effect upon the progress of humanity.\" [48] As stated by Dana,\nthe work of the paranoic is ineffective, his influence brief and\ntrivial, his ideas impractical and absurd. I believe that doctrine.\nThe dreams and hallucinations of the epileptic end in mere dreams and\nhallucinations; they never crystallize into great systems of philosophy\nor into rational religious institutions. They never result in great\norganizations capable of perpetuating that philosophy and that religion\nin the world. No matter how nearly genius may be allied to madness, it\nmust remain genius and not degenerate to madness if it exercises any\npermanent influence over the minds of men, such as Mormonism has done\nover a large body of people, and resulted in permanent institutions.\nThere is much glamor of sophistry, which may be taken by some for\nprofound reason and argument, in Mr. Riley's book, but one word answers\nthis so called philosophical accounting for our Prophet: The work\naccomplished by him, the institutions he founded, destroy the whole\nfabric of premises and argument on which this theory is based. Great\nas was the Prophet Joseph Smith--and he was great; to him more than to\nany other man of modern times was it given to look deep into the things\nthat are; to comprehend the heavens, and the laws that obtain there; to\nunderstand the earth, its history, and its mission. He looked into the\ndeep things of God, and out of the rich treasure of divine knowledge\nthere, he brought forth things both new and old for the instruction\nof our race, the like of which, in some respects, had not been known\nin previous dispensations. But great as Joseph Smith was, rising up\nand towering far above him is the work that he accomplished through\ndivine guidance; that work is infinitely greater than the Prophet,\ngreater than all the prophets connected with it. Its consistency, its\npermanency, its institutions, contradict the hallucination theory\nadvanced to account for its origin. [49]\n\nThis theory of Mr. Riley's may be said to now occupy the attention of\nmen, but as the theories of Campbell, the Spaulding theory, and the\nRigdon theory of origin have one by one been discarded as untenable,\nand inadequate for the purposes for which they were invoked, so,\ntoo, will this epilepsy and hallucination theory of Mr. Riley's be\ndiscarded, since it will fail to give an adequate accounting for\nthe Book of Mormon, which, so long as the truth respecting it is\nunbelieved, will remain to the world an enigma, a veritable literary\nSphinx, challenging the inquiry and speculations of the learned. But to\nthose who in simple faith will accept it for what it is, a revelation\nfrom God, it will minister spiritual consolation, and by its plainness\nand truth draw men into closer communion with God.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. \"Limits of Religious Thought,\" Mansel, Preface.\n\n2. Doctrine and Covenants, Sec. 35.\n\n3. Mr. Campbell's criticism of the Book of Mormon was published in the\n\"Millennial Harbinger,\" Vol. II, pp. 86-96, February, 1831.\n\n4. The same phrase appears in the testimony of the Eight Witnesses, as\npublished in the first edition of the Book of Mormon, and the preface\npublished in the first edition, but omitted in all other editions, is\nsigned \"The Author.\"\n\n5. See announcement of copyright privileges in first edition of the\nBook of Mormon 1830. It is also copied into the History of the Church,\nVol. I, pp. 58, 59.\n\n6. Yet, in a work as late as 1902, on the subject of Mormonism,\npublished by Dodd, Mead & Co., great importance is attached to this\n\"author and proprietor\" phrase, and indeed much of the force of the\nauthor's argument is based upon it. See \"Founder of Mormonism\" I,\nWoodbridge Riley, chapter iv.\n\n7. See Vol. II., chapter ix.\n\n8. See Vol. II., chapter vii.\n\n9. See \"Latter-day Saints Messenger and Advocate,\" Vol. II, p. 242,\nwhere Mr. Campbell is represented as recommending Howe's \"Mormonism\nUnveiled,\" which first set forth and was mainly devoted to the\nSpaulding theory of the origin of the Book of Mormon.\n\n10. Mormonism Unveiled, (Howe), pp. 278-287.\n\n11. See Church History, Vol. I., chapter xxv; Vol. II., chapter iv.\n\n12. By some, it is claimed that Mrs. Davison's statement was put forth in\nthe \"Boston Recorder\" as an affidavit, but I have never seen it in the\nform of an affidavit. All versions of it that have fallen into my hands\nare merely in the form of a signed statement.\n\n13. See Thompson's \"Evidences,\" pp. 176-7.\n\n14. Times and Seasons, Vol. I., p. 47.\n\n15. See Preface to \"New Light on Mormonism.\"\n\n16. See \"Mormonism Unveiled,\" pp. 278-280.\n\n17. When this fact was brought to light in the early controversy over\nthe subject, it was claimed by Messrs. Austin--Storrs--Clark, who\nwere responsible for this forgery, that \"Woman\" in the text was a\ntypographical error and should be \"Mormon.\" See Clark's Gleanings \"By\nthe Way.\"\n\n18. The orthography is the affidavit's.\n\n19. See letters of Mr. Rice to Mr. Joseph Smith, President of the\n\"Reorganized Church,\" \"History of the Church of Jesus Christ,\"\n[Reorganized] Vol. IV., pp. 471-473.\n\n20. This is confirmed by a letter written by Hurlburt himself, in 1881,\nat the request of Mrs. Ellen E. Dickenson, as follows:\n\nGibsonburg, Ohio, January 10, 1881.\n\nTo all whom it may concern:\n\nIn the year eighteen hundred and thirty-four (1834) I went from Geauga\nCo., Ohio, to Munson, Hampden Co., Mass., where I found Mrs. Davison,\nlate widow of the Rev. Solomon Spaulding, late of Conneaut, Ashtabula\nCo., Ohio. Of her I obtained a manuscript, supposing it to be the\nmanuscript of the romance written by the said Solomon Spaulding, called\n\"The Manuscript Found,\" which was reported to be the foundation of the\n\"Book of Mormon.\" I did not examine the manuscript until I got home,\nwhen, upon examination, I found it to contain nothing of the kind, but\nbeing a manuscript upon an entirely different subject. This manuscript\nI left with E. D. Howe, of Painsville, Geauga Co., Ohio, now Lake Co.,\nOhio., with the understanding that when he had examined it he should\nreturn it to the widow. Said Howe says the manuscript was destroyed by\nfire, and further the deponent saith not.\n\n(Signed) D. P. HURLBURT.\n\n21. \"New Light on Mormonism,\" p. 245.\n\n22. Howe's \"Mormonism,\" p. 288.\n\n23. He refers to the witnesses living at Conneaut Creek, the substance\nof whose testimony is previously quoted in his book, pp. 357-8.\n\n24. Howe's \"Mormonism,\" p. 288, (first edition, 1834).\n\n25. Howe's \"Mormonism,\" pp. 289, 290. \"This manuscript received by\nHurlburt and by him given to Howe is the only Spaulding manuscript\nwritten by Spaulding, making any reference to the antiquities of\nAmerica. It is the simon-pure and only \"Manuscript Found.\" Against\nthis it is urged by our opponents that \"no such title is discoverable\nanywhere upon or in the body of the manuscript in the Oberlin library.\n(American Historical Magazine, Sept. 1906, p. 386). And yet with\nstrange inconsistency the writer himself a few pages further on\nadmits--\"It is even possible that this first manuscript [meaning the\none now at Oberlin], may at sometime have been labeled \"Manuscript\nFound.\" But what is better than any \"label\" on the manuscript inside\nor outside; better than any admission of our opponent, is the fact\nthat this manuscript is the one Mr. Spaulding feigned to have found,\nand that he pretended to translate into English. It is the \"found\"\nmanuscript, and the only one that Spaulding pretended or feigned to\nhave found. It is the one that Mrs. McKenstry says she had in her\nhands \"many times\" at Sabine's after 1816; and that \"on the outside of\nthis manuscript were written the words, \"Manuscript Found.\" (American\nHistorical Magazine, March, 1909, pp. 190, 191.)\n\n26. Howe's \"Mormonism,\" pp. 289-290.\n\n27. Ibid p. 289. Lambdin died 1826.\n\n28. \"Braden and Kelly Debate,\" p. 44.\n\n29. Howe's \"Mormonism,\" p. 289.\n\n30. \"New Light on Mormonism,\" p. 62.\n\n31. Ibid p. 71.\n\n32. Myth of the \"Manuscript Found\" (1883), pp. 35, 36. See also an\nexhaustive treatise on the \"Origin of the Book of Mormon\", in the\n\"American Historical Magazine,\" published in New York by the American\nHistorical Society, during the years 1906-7; 1908-9. The articles in\nsupport of the Spaulding theory are by Mr. Theodore Schroeder; and\nthe answer to these papers are by the author of this work, who hopes\nto publish the discussion in his second volume on the \"Defense of the\nFaith and the Saints,\" now in course of preparation.\n\n33. \"Boston Journal.\" See also Smucker's \"History of the Mormons,\"\nwhere the letter is given in full, pp. 45-8.\n\n34. New Witnesses, Vol. II., pp. 250, 251.\n\n35. \"Late Persecutions,\" etc., Introduction, p. xi, xii.\n\n36. \"Church History,\" Vol. I., p. 122, 123.\n\n37. Published by McMillan Co., 1902.\n\n38. \"The Story of the Mormons,\" Preface, p. vi.\n\n39. \"Story of the Mormons,\" Chapter ix, p. 74.\n\n40. Vol. II, chapter iii.\n\n41. Neander's \"General History of the Christian Religion and Church,\"\nVol. IV, pp. 618-20.\n\n42. Neander's \"General History of the Christian Religion and Church,\"\nVol. IV, p. 227.\n\n43. Revelations xiv: 6,7.\n\n44. \"The Founder of Mormonism,\" p. 172.\n\n45. Ibid, p. 11.\n\n46. \"Nervous Diseases, Text Book on\" (third edition), p. 408.\n\n47. \"Text Book of Nervous Diseases and Psychiatry\" (sixth edition), pp.\n649-50.\n\n48. \"Life of Christ,\" p. 105.\n\n49. During the October conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of\nLatter-day Saints, held in Salt Lake City, October, 1903, this writer\nthen made some remarks in criticism of Mr. Riley's book, at the close\nof which remarks President Joseph F. Smith said:\n\n\"I have been delighted with the most excellent discourse that we have\nlistened to; but I desire to say that it is a wonderful revelation to\nthe Latter-day Saints, and especially to those who were familiar with\nthe Prophet Joseph Smith, to learn in these latter days that he was\nan epileptic! I will simply remark, God be praised, that there are so\nmany still living who knew the Prophet Joseph well, and who are in a\nposition to bear testimony to the truth that no such condition ever\nexisted in the man.\"\n\nSee also \"Defense of the Faith and the Saints.\" pp. 42-61.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLVI.\n\nOBJECTIONS TO THE BOOK OF MORMON (Continued).\n\nI.\n\n_Errors of Style and Grammar_.\n\nOne of the chief objections to the Book of Mormon from the first has\nbeen the uniformity of its literary style, and the defects in its\nlanguage--errors in grammar, New York Yankee localisms, and the use\nof modern words--unwarranted, it is claimed, in the translation of an\nancient record. Alexander Campbell, in his attack upon the Book of\nMormon, 1831, on this subject, said:\n\n The book proposes to be written at intervals and by different\n persons during the long period of 1020 years, and yet for\n uniformity of style there never was a book more evidently written\n by one set of fingers, nor more certainly conceived in one cranium\n since the first book appeared in human language, than this same\n book. If I could swear to any man's voice, face, or person,\n assuming different names, I could swear that this book was written\n by one man. And as Joseph Smith is a very ignorant man and is\n called the \"Author,\" on the title page, I cannot doubt for a single\n moment but that he is sole \"Author and Proprietor\" of it.\n\nHe then proceeds to point out the same idioms of speech in the preface\nto the first edition--the Prophet's own composition, of course--in\nthe testimony of the witnesses, and in various parts of the Book of\nMormon proving, as he claims, unity of style and identity of authorship\nfor the various books that make up the volume. He points out a large\nnumber of errors in grammar, also, a number of supposed anachronisms,\nmodernism, etc., giving the pages where the defects occur. Indeed, so\nample was Mr. Campbell's criticism on this point, that he has furnished\nthe materials for this argument against the Book of Mormon which has\nbeen repeated by nearly all subsequent writers. Howe, for instance,\ntakes up the refrain in this manner:\n\n The style of the Book of Mormon is _sui generis_, and whoever\n peruses it will not have doubt but that the whole was framed and\n written by the same individual hand. [1]\n\nThen follows quotations which he regards as justifying the conclusion.\n\nProfessor J. B. Turner of Illinois College, Jacksonville, Illinois, in\nhis \"Mormonism in All Ages\" follows in the same strain and uses like\nillustrations. [2]\n\nSo also John Hyde in his \"Mormonism.\" He perhaps is more elaborate in\nhis criticism on this point than any other Anti-Mormon writer excepting\nCampbell. [3]\n\nSamuel M. Smucker, also criticises in the same kind. [4]\n\nSo also Rev. M. T. Lamb devotes a chapter to the same kind of\ncriticism. [5]\n\nLinn, adopts the same argument, and with some manifestations of glee,\nquite unbecoming in a sober historian who professes to write at least a\nserious history of Mormonism; but who, while he points to these defects\nin grammatical construction, etc., he nowhere considers in any spirit\nof fairness the evidences that tend to support the truth of the Book of\nMormon. [6]\n\nThe things to be considered in these objections, are:\n\nFirst: does the uniformity of style exist: do the errors in grammar\nexist; are there modernisms and localisms in the book, and more\nespecially in the first edition, since it was with this edition\nthat this criticism began? These questions must be answered in the\naffirmative. The existence of uniformity of style, errors in grammar,\nmodernisms and localisms cannot be denied, as all know who have\ninvestigated the matter. A comparison of current editions with the\nfirst edition will disclose the fact that many of the most flagrant\nverbal and grammatical errors have been corrected, besides many\nunimportant changes, such as \"which\" and \"that,\" to \"who\" and \"whom,\"\nand vice verse, to conform to modern usage; [7] and many more such\ncorrections, without changing the slightest shade of statement or\nthought, could still be made to advantage.\n\nMany of these changes, perhaps most of them, were effected under the\nsupervision of the Prophet Joseph himself. In the preface to the second\nedition published in Kirtland, 1837, the following occurs:\n\n Individuals acquainted with book printing are aware of the numerous\n typographical errors which always occur in manuscript editions.\n It is only necessary to say, that the whole has been carefully\n re-examined and compared with the original manuscript by Elder\n Joseph Smith, Jr., the translator of the Book of Mormon, assisted\n by the present printer, Brother Cowdery, who formerly wrote the\n greatest portion of the same as dictated by Brother Smith.\n\nIn the third edition published at Nauvoo, 1840, this occurs on the\ntitle page:\n\n \"_Carefully Revised by the Translator_.\"\n\nOf course the fact that the Book of Mormon was published in a country\ntown, on a hand press, and by persons unfamiliar with book making, and\nthe proofs read by Oliver Cowdery, who was entirely without experience\nin such work, will account for many errors verbal and grammatical. The\nfurther fact that the employees at the printing establishment where the\nbook was published, where unfriendly to it, and were more anxious to\nmake it appear ridiculous than to turn out a good job, may account for\nother errors that appear in the first edition. But after due allowance\nis made for all these conditions, the errors are too numerous, and\nof such a constitutional nature, that they cannot be explained away\nby these unfavorable conditions under which the work was published.\nBesides, examination of the fragment of the original manuscript, now\n(1909) in possession of President Joseph F. Smith, discloses the fact\nthat many of the verbal errors in grammar are in the manuscript,\nwritten as the Prophet dictated it.\n\nSecond: How are these errors in language to be accounted for? How is\nit that errors in grammar are found in a work said to be translated\nby the \"gift and power of God, through the medium of the Urim and\nThummim?\" Are these errors in language to be assigned to the Urim and\nThummim, or to God? Is it true, as stated by Professor Turner, that\nsuch is the description of the manner in which the Book of Mormon was\ntranslated, that all accounts \"agree in making the Lord responsible not\nonly for the thought, but also for the language of the book, from the\nnecessity of the case, for they [those who have described the manner\nof translation] all claim that the words passed before Smith's eyes\nwhile looking through the pellucid stones?\" [8] Must we remember, as the\nprofessor admonishes us to \"remember,\" that according to Smith's story\n\"the Lord is responsible not only for the thought, but also for the\nlanguage of this new translation? The words of the translation being\nread off through the stone spectacles?\" [9]\n\nFor one, I refuse to accept this statement of the case. I do not\nbelieve that the Lord is responsible for any defect of language that\noccurs in the Book of Mormon, or any other revelation. On the contrary,\nI stand with Moroni here: \"And now, if there be faults [i.e. in the\nNephite record], they are the mistakes of men.\" [10] Also with Mormon:\n\"If there be faults, they be the faults of a man.\" [11]\n\nIf the Lord should speak directly to man without any intermediary\nwhatsoever, it is reasonable to conclude that his language would\nbe perfect in whatever tongue he spoke. If, however, he elected an\nintermediary through whom to communicate his message to the world, the\nlanguage in which that message would be couched might, or might not, be\nperfect, according as the intermediary was learned or unlearned in the\nlanguage through which the Lord communicated the revelation.\n\nThird: Can these verbal errors, and errors in grammar, these modernisms\nand localisms arise from equivalent defects in the original Nephite\nrecords? That is to say, can these errors have been transferred from\nthe ancient Nephite language into our English idioms? I know how\nunreasonable such a proposition as that will seem to readers in any\nway familiar with translations. I speak of it, however, because there\nare those friendly to the Book of Mormon who contend that such is the\ncase. Those who take this view believe that because the Prophet used\nUrim and Thummim in the translation of the Nephite record, therefore,\nthe process of translation was a word for word bringing over from\nthe Nephite language into the English; that the instrument did the\ntranslating rather than the Prophet, the latter merely looking into\nUrim and Thummim as one may look into a mirror and tell what he sees\nthere reflected; and that, therefore, the translation was really an\nabsolutely \"verbatim et literatim\" translation of the record. They\nfurther believe that since the instrument was of divine appointing it\ncould make no mistakes, and therefore if errors in the translation into\nEnglish occur it is because these errors were in the Nephite language\nas recorded by Mormon.\n\nAs already remarked, to those at all acquainted with translation, this\nwill be recognized as impossible. They know that such a thing as an\nabsolute literal translation, or word for word bringing over from one\nlanguage into another is out of the question; that for the most part\nsuch a literal translation would be meaningless, I give as examples the\nfollowing from the Latin:\n\n 1. \"_Aversum hostem-videre_\"--original. \"Turned away--foe--to\n see\"--word for word. \"To see a foe in flight\"--translation. 2.\n \"_Non satis commode_\"--original. \"Not--enough--conveniently\"--word\n for word. \"Not very conveniently\"--translation. 3. \"_Ad eas se\n applicant_\"--original. \"To--these--themselves--attach\"--word\n for word. \"They lean up against these\"--translation. 4. \"_Impii\n est virtutem parvi estimare_\"--original. \"Of an impious man--it\n is--virtue little--to value\" word for word. \"It is the mark\n of an impious man to think little of virtue\"--translation.\n 5. \"_Christiani est quam plurimis prodesse_\"--original. \"Of\n a Christian--it is--as very many--to do good\" word for word.\n \"It is the duty of a Christian to do good to as many as\n possible\"--translation.\n\nFourth: Granting, as preforce we must, that there are verbal and\ngrammatical errors, together with modernisms and localisms, in the\nEnglish translation of the Nephite record; that the thought is\nexpressed not only in English idioms, but also, at times, in Western\nNew York localisms; that the whole body of phraseology is of the time\nand place where the work of translation was done; and all the errors\nare such as would be made by one circumstanced as Joseph Smith was as\nto knowledge of the English language; and that these local idioms and\nerrors in grammar were not found in equivalent terms in the Nephite\nlanguage and brought over into English by a process of word for word\nbring over--granting all these things, is there any way by which this\ncriticism, based upon the faulty English of the translation, may be\neffectually met, and the truth still maintained that the translation of\nthe Book of Mormon was made by a man inspired of God, and aided by an\ninstrument of divine appointment?\n\nI firmly believe that all these requirements can be met; that, as\na matter of fact, the defects in English in the Book of Mormon\nconstitute no real difficulty; that the difficulties, so far as they\nexist, are of our own creation (I speak of those who accept the\nBook of Mormon as a divine record); that our trouble arises through\nhaving accepted too literally the necessarily second-hand accounting,\ngiven by Martin Harris and David Whitmer, of the manner in which the\ntranslation was done. Because it has been said that the Prophet saw\nthe Nephite characters in the Urim and Thummim; that the translation\nwould appear in English under these characters; that the Prophet\nwould read the translation to the scribe and that both characters and\ntranslation would remain in Urim and Thummim until written--because\nof this description of the manner of translation, our opponents have\ninsisted--and we by our silence have conceded to some extent--that\nJoseph Smith had nothing to do with the translation except to see what\nthe instrument revealed and parrot-like repeat it; therefore it has\nbeen concluded by our opponents that the translation must be attributed\nentirely to the Urim and Thummim; and as it is unreasonable to think\nthat God, or a divine instrument provided by him for the purpose of\ntranslating unknown languages--that is, that God directly or indirectly\ncould be charged with these errors in English--they have argued that\nthe translation was not inspired; that God had nothing to do with it;\nthat Joseph Smith's pretentions were blasphemous, and the Book of\nMormon untrue.\n\nTo this contention of our opponents we have either made no reply, being\nquite generally of the opinion that there was little or no force in the\nargument (a mistake in my judgment), or else have lamely and vainly\nargued that the errors were in the original Nephite records, and were\nbrought over bodily into the translation, which is an absurdity.\n\nThe foundation for the answer to this objection and the argument by\nwhich it is sustained was laid in Vol. I, chapter VII of this work,\nwhere it is argued that the translation of the Book of Mormon was not\nmerely a mechanical process in which the instrument Urim and Thummim\ndid all and the Prophet nothing, except to give out to the scribe the\ntranslation said to have appeared in the divine instrument. The Lord's\ndescription of the manner of translating, by means of Urim and Thummim,\nis cited there in proof that the translation was not mechanical; that\non the contrary it required deep thought, the employment, in fact, of\nall the mental and spiritual powers of the translator; that it was\nnecessary for him to be in an exalted state of mind to get the meaning\nof the Nephite characters at all. The thought, however, and the ideas\nhe obtained by concentrated mental effort, under the inspiration of\nGod; but the language in which the translation was thought out was\nin such words and forms of expression as Joseph Smith could use; and\nthis mental translation in language was doubtless reflected in the\nUrim and Thummim, where it remained until written by the scribe. And\nnow, as the Prophet Joseph was uneducated at the time of translating\nthe Nephite record, the language of his translation was in the faulty\nEnglish of one circumstanced as he was, and was of the period and place\nwhen and where the translation took place. This I regard as a complete\nanswer to all the objections that can be urged upon the score of the\nBook of Mormon's faulty English, and it is the only answer that can be\nsuccessfully made to it. Such faults as exist are the faults of men,\nnot of God. Such is the answer to this class of objections wherever\nmade against the scriptures, for this sort of objection is not confined\nto the Book of Mormon. It has been urged with well nigh equal force\nagainst the Bible. In fact, there are not wanting those who claim that\nhuman speech, oral or written, is inadequate to convey a revelation\nfrom God. [12]\n\n\"The human language,\" says one of these, \"whether in speech or in\nprint, cannot be the vehicle of the word of God. The word of God exists\nin something else. Did the book called the Bible excel in purity of\nideas and expression all the books now extant in the world, I would not\ntake it for my rule of faith, as being the word of God, because the\npossibility would nevertheless exist of my being imposed upon.\" [13]\n\nAgain, the same author says:\n\n Human language, more especially as there is not an universal\n language, is incapable of being used as an universal means of\n unchangeable and uniform information, and therefore it is not the\n means that God useth in manifesting himself universally to man. It\n is only in the Creation that all our ideas and conceptions of a\n word of God can unite. The creation speaketh an universal language,\n independently of human speech or human language, multiplied and\n various as they be. It is an ever-existing original, which every\n man can read. [14]\n\nThis writer may be objected to on account of the ribald nature of his\ncriticism of the Bible, but nevertheless, in the foregoing paragraph he\nrepresents the views of a very large class of people--a class that I\nfear is increasing rather than diminishing in numbers.\n\nThis author attacks the Book of Isaiah in the following fashion:\n\n Whoever will take the trouble of reading the book ascribed\n to Isaiah will find it one of the most wild and disorderly\n compositions ever put together; it has neither beginning, middle,\n nor end; and, except a short historical part, and a few sketches of\n history in two or three of the first chapters, is one continued,\n incoherent, bombastical rant, full of extravagant metaphor without\n application, and destitute of meaning; a school-boy would scarcely\n have been excusable for writing such stuff; it is (at least in\n translation) that kind of composition and false taste that is\n properly called prose run mad. [15]\n\nReferring to the entire volume of Hebrew scripture our author says:\n\n For my own part, my belief in the perfection of the Deity will not\n permit me to believe that a book so manifestly obscure, disorderly,\n and contradictory can be his work. I can write a better book\n myself! [16]\n\nOther authors of the same school, and in like spirit attack the Hebrew\nscriptures. What is the reply to such attacks? Fortunately, on this\npoint, I have at hand the views recently set forth of a very learned\nman, and one of high character, the Reverend Joseph Armitage Robinson,\nD. D., Dean of Westminister and Chaplain to King Edward VII of England.\nIn a recent lecture delivered in Westminster Abby on the subject, \"How\nthe Bible Was Written,\" he says:\n\n The message of the Old Testament was not written by the Divine\n hand, nor dictated by an outward compulsion; it was planted in the\n hearts of men, and made to grow in a fruitful soil. And then they\n were required to express it in their own language, after their\n natural methods, and in accordance with the stage of knowledge\n which their time had reached. Their human faculties were purified\n and quickened by the Divine Spirit; but they spoke to their time\n in the language of their time; they spoke a spiritual message,\n accommodated to the experience of their age, a message of faith in\n God, and of righteousness as demanded by a righteous God. [17]\n\nSo, also, Lyman Abbot, in a series of lectures on \"The Bible as\nLiterature:\"\n\n Neither in ancient nor in modern theology is there a simpler, a\n more comprehensive statement of the origin and character of the\n Bible than in the single sentence with which the Second Epistle\n of Peter describes it: \"Holy men of God spake, moved by the Holy\n Ghost.\" * * * According to this definition the Bible is written\n by good men, and it is written by good men under the inspiration\n or on-breathing of the Spirit of God. * * * * These men are not\n amanuenses who write by dictation; they embody in their writings\n their own experience, their own thought, their own life. Thus,\n we should expect to find in the Bible the personal equation of\n the writers strongly marked. We should expect, as the sunshine\n developes each seed after its kind, so the shining of God on the\n human soul would develop each germinant soul after its kind * * *\n We see not men writing as clerks write, embodying only the work\n of a dictator; we find in each one the stream, the current, the\n color of his own personality. We shall expect, also, to find all\n these men writing as Paul says he wrote: \"We know in part, and we\n prophesy in part,\" and \"We see in a glass darkly.\" [18]\n\nViews similar to those were entertained by the late Henry Drummond,\nthe author of \"Natural Law in the Spiritual World.\" Referring to the\nwriters of the Hebrew scripture he said:\n\n These men when they spoke were not typewriters. They were authors.\n They were not pens. They were men; and their individuality comes\n out in every page they wrote. Sometimes they write a better style\n than they do at other times. Sometimes their minds are clearer and\n their arguments more condensed and consecutive and logical. [19]\n Look at some of the envolved theological statements in the\n New Testament, and contrast them with the absolutely pellucid\n utterances of the same author written on a different occasion, when\n he was in a different mood. Those men were not mere pens, I repeat;\n they were authors, and it is not the book that is inspired, so much\n as the men. God inspired men to make an inspired book. * * * Just\n as a scientific man in communication with nature reads its secrets,\n drinks in its spirit, and writes it down, so a man who walks with\n God catches the mind of God and gets revelations from God and\n writes them down; religion is not the result of this, but the cause\n of it. [20]\n\nJenyns in his treatise on the \"Internal Evidences of the Christian\nReligion\" says:\n\n Others there are who allow that a revelation from God may be\n both necessary and credible; but allege that the Scriptures,\n that is, the books of the Old and New Testament, cannot be\n that revelation--because in them are to be found errors and\n inconsistencies, fabulous stories, false facts, and false\n philosophy; which can never be derived from the fountain of all\n wisdom and truth. To this I reply that I readily acknowledge that\n the Scriptures are not revelations from God, but the history of\n them [i.e., the history of the revelations]. The revelation itself\n is derived from God; but the history of it is the production of\n men, and therefore the truth of it is not in the least affected\n by their fallibility, but depends on the internal evidence of its\n own supernatural excellence. If in these books such a religion as\n has been here described actually exists, no seeming or even real\n defects to be found in them can disprove the divine origin of this\n revelation, or invalidate my argument. * * * If any one could show\n that these books were never written by their pretended authors, but\n were posterior impositions on illiterate and credulous ages--all\n these wonderful discoveries would prove no more than this, that\n God, for reasons to us unknown, had thought proper to permit a\n revelation by him communicated to mankind, to be mixed with their\n ignorance, and corrupted by their frauds from its earliest infancy,\n in the same manner in which he has visibly permitted it to be\n mixed and corrupted from that period to the present hour. If in\n these books a religion superior to all human imagination actually\n exists, it is of no consequence to the proof of its divine origin,\n by what means it was there introduced, or with what human errors\n and imperfections it is blended. A diamond, though found in a bed\n of mud, is still a diamond, nor can the dirt which surrounds it\n depreciate its value or destroy its lustre.\n\nThe point of Jenyns' argument is, that both in doctrine and ethics\nthe New Testament is so far superior, so far surpasses in sublimity\nof idea and beauty of moral precept, all that is known amongst men\noutside of the New Testament, and is so far removed from the uninspired\nutterances of men that he claims the conclusion to be irresistible that\nthe Christian Scriptures derive their origin immediately from God; that\nthe knowledge which they teach is divine, no matter what faults may be\ncharged to the expression of this knowledge. From this view point he\nbecomes almost reckless in the admission of errors and defects in the\nwriters of the New Testament. He has been much criticized, in fact,\nby the professional Christian ministry--for he was a layman as to his\nrelation with the church, a member of the British parliament--for the\nadmission of errors in the New Testament in the passage I have quoted\nabove, but I think unjustly so. What is needed, both as to the New\nTestament scriptures and the Nephite scriptures, is a thoroughgoing\nrecognition of the fact that the truth is of more consequence than the\nform in which it is expressed. The wheat is of more importance than the\nchaff in which it grows, and which holds it until the thrashing and the\nwinnowing. The question is not so much is all the mine-ledge gold, but\nis there gold in the ledge. [21]\n\nThe inspiration of God falls upon a prophet as a white ray of light\nmay fall upon a prism, which separates the white ray of which it is\ncomposed--blue, orange, red, green, etc. The clearness of these several\nrays and the sharpness with which they are defined will depend upon\nthe purity, and perhaps the position, of the prism through which the\nwhite ray passes. So with the white ray of God's inspiration falling\nupon men. It receives different colorings or expressions through them\naccording to their personal characteristics. While it is true that the\ninspiration of God may be so overwhelming in its force at times that\nthe prophet may well nigh lose his individuality, and become merely\nthe mouth-piece of God, the organ through which the Divine speaks, yet\nthe personality of the prophet is not usually so overwhelmed; hence\neach prophet preserves even under the inspiration of God his agency\nand his personal idiosyncrasies. Thus Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Amos,\nNephi, Mormon, Moroni, all preserve their individuality in conception\nof ideas and in the expression of them, though inspired by the same\nspirit. So also Joseph Smith imparted certain characteristics to his\ntranslation of the Nephite record, notwithstanding the use of Urim\nand Thummim and the inspiration of the Lord that rested upon him.\nJust in what manner the Urim and Thummim was of assistance to him may\nbe beyond human power to at present explain, but of this we may be\ncertain, it was by no means the principal factor in the work; its place\nmust forever be regarded as secondary; it was an aid to the Prophet,\nnot he an aid to it; wonderful as it may be as a divine instrument\nit could not be so marvelous as the mind of man, especially as the\nmind of this man, Joseph Smith, this Seer, by way of pre-eminence; it\nis Joseph the \"Seer\" who translated the Book of Mormon aided by Urim\nand Thummim. This his statement: \"Through the medium of the Urim and\nThummim I translated the record by the gift and power of God.\" [22] Mark\nthese words--\"_I_ translated the record,\"--not the Urim and Thummim. Of\ncourse the Prophet recognizes in this, as he did in all his prophetic\nwork and his seership work, his obligation to the inspiration of\nGod, and surely I do not wish to detract from the inspiration of God\nas a factor in his work. I merely desire to emphasize here that it\nwas the Prophet under the inspiration of God that did the work, and\nthat the divine instrument, Urim and Thummim, however wonderful,\nwas merely an aid to the Prophet, as \"glasses\" may be an aid to the\ndim-sighted. But notwithstanding this aid provided by man's ingenuity,\nit is the eye after all that does the seeing, though this contrivance\ncalled \"spectacles\" helps the vision, and makes it more perfect. So,\nanalogously, but in some way unknown to us, the Urim and Thummim aided\nthe Prophet in his work of translation.\n\nThe defense of written revelation then against the existence of human\nelements in it--evident limitations in the knowledge of prophets\nconcerning things other than the immediate matters on which they are\ninspired of God; unequal expression of ideas, falling sometimes from\nthe sublime to the commonplace; lack of clearness and directness in\nexpression, circumlocution; [23] grammatical blunders; tautology;\nsometimes long suspension of thought (a frequent fault of both Old and\nNew Testament writers), and some thought never completed at all--all\nthese and many other faults of mere construction,--disarrangement of\nthe mere garments of thought--are to be attributed to the weaknesses\nof men and their limitations in knowledge, rather than to any fault\nin the inspiration supplied of God. It is the body that is defective,\nnot the soul; the expression that is defective, not the inspired truth\nstruggling for utterance through the faulty diction of prophets,\nancient or modern--\"If there be faults, they are the faults of men;\ntherefore, condemn not the things of God because of the faults of men,\"\nwill yet come to be regarded as a golden text in defense of written\nrevelation.\n\nII.\n\n_Objections Based Upon the Existence of Passages in the Book of\nMormon Which Follow King James' Translation of the Bible Verbatim_.\n\nIt is objected to the Book of Mormon that there are found in it whole\nchapters, besides many minor quotations, from King James' English\ntranslation of the Bible. Since these chapters and passages in some\ncases follow the \"authorized English version\" verbatim, and closely\nresemble it in others; and as it is well known that in translating\nfrom one language into another almost infinite variety of expression\nis possible, the question arises, how is it that Joseph Smith in\ntranslating from the Nephite plates by divine assistance follows so\nclosely an independent translation made in the ordinary way, by dint\nof scholarship and patient labor, and by diligent comparison of former\ntranslations. [24] This King James' translation was made by scholars of\nthe sixteenth century. It is well known that no two translations of the\nsame matter from one language to another, by different scholars, would\never be alike, hence these passages from the Hebrew scriptures found\nin the Book of Mormon, so closely resembling and in places following\nword for word the language of the King James' translation, constitute a\ndifficulty, and what is regarded by some as an insurmountable objection\nto the claims of the Book of Mormon. Nearly all the Anti-Mormon writers\nraise this objection, though perhaps John Hyde, [25] 1857, makes the\nmost of it. Following him the Rev. M. T. Lamb, [26] 1887, and last, but\nnot least, Linn, [27] 1902.\n\nThis objection was most carefully and intelligently stated recently\n(October 22, 1903), by Mr. H. Chamberlain, of Spencer, Iowa, U. S. A.,\nin a letter of inquiry on the subject to President Joseph F. Smith, of\nSalt Lake City, in the course of which he said:\n\n I find that Christ in quoting to the people on this side of the\n water, the third and fourth chapters of Malachi, quotes, according\n to the Book of Mormon, in the identical text of King James'\n version, not missing a word. I find chapters of Isaiah quoted\n practically in the same way. I find that in many instances, in\n his talks with the people, and to his disciples here, he used\n the identical language of King James' version, not omitting the\n words supplied by the translators. Now, I know that no two parties\n will take the same manuscript and make translations of a matter\n contained therein, and the language of the two translators be\n alike; indeed, the language employed by the two parties will widely\n differ. These translations are from different manuscripts, and from\n different languages, and still it appears in the Book of Mormon as\n King James' translation. I can conceive of no other way in which\n such a coincidence could have occurred, within the range of human\n experience, except where one writing is copied from another, and\n then it takes the utmost care to get them exactly alike, word\n for word, and letter for letter as this is. * * * Now, what I\n want to know is, how do you as a Church account for these things\n appearing in the Book of Mormon in the identical language of King\n James' version, when we know his version is faulty, and the same\n translators could not have made it twice alike themselves? Did\n Joseph copy it from the Bible, or did the Lord adopt this identical\n language in revealing it to Joseph? [28]\n\nThis communication was referred to the writer by President Smith for an\nanswer, which was written, and from which I quote:\n\n\"The difficulty which you point out of course has been recognized by\nbelievers in the Book of Mormon, but I do not know that I can say that\nthe Church as yet has settled upon any explanation which could be\nregarded as an authoritative view on the subject. Each one has been\nleft to settle the matter upon the lines which seem most reasonable\nto him. As a matter of fact, though our opponents have frequently\ncalled attention to the difficulty in question, it has not occasioned\nany particular anxiety in the minds of our own people. Accepting the\noverwhelming evidences that exist for the truth of the Book of Mormon,\nwe have regarded that difficulty, with some others, as of minor\nimportance, which would in time be satisfactorily settled. Still, I\nrealize the reasonableness of the objection that may be urged against\nthe Book of Mormon from the point of view from which you present the\nsubject, and realize that it constitutes a real difficulty; and one,\ntoo, in which we have no word from the Prophet Joseph Smith, or those\nwho were immediately associated with him in bringing forth the Nephite\nrecord, to aid us in a solution of the matter. We are left, therefore,\nvery largely to conjecture, based on the facts in the case, which facts\nare most tersely put in your esteemed communication, viz:\n\n\"First. It is a fact that a number of passages in the Book of Mormon,\nverses and whole chapters, run closely parallel in matter and\nphraseology with passages in Isaiah, Malachi, and some parts of the New\nTestament.\n\n\"Second. It is a fact that no two persons will make translations of the\nsame matter from one language into another, and the language of the two\ntranslations be alike.\n\n\"Third. It is a fact that the translations of the words of Isaiah,\nof Malachi, and the words of the Savior, in the Book of Mormon, are\ngenerally supposed to be independent translations from different\nmanuscripts or records and from different languages.\n\n\"Then, of course, comes your question: how can the strange fact be\naccounted for, viz., that the translations in the Book of Mormon\ncorresponding to Isaiah, Malachi and the words of the Savior, are in\nthe language of King James' translation?\n\n\"Of course, you will remember that according to the Book of Mormon,\nthe Nephite colony carried with them to America so much of the Old\nTestament as was in existence at the time of their departure from\nJerusalem (600 years B. C.). The prophecy of Malachi, chapters 3 and 4\nquoted in the Book of Mormon was supplied by the Savior. The Nephites\nengraved portions of these scriptures in their records, and this\nboth in the Hebrew, and what the Nephites called the reformed--i.e.,\naltered--Egyptian. I simply mention this in passing, that you may\nremember afresh how these passages came to be in the Nephite record,\nand that you may remember that the Nephites had the Jewish scriptures\nin much the same form as they were to be found in Judea, 600 B. C. When\nthe Savior came to the western world and appeared to the Nephites,\nhe had the same message to present to them that he had presented in\nPalestine; the same ordinances of the gospel to establish, a similar\nchurch organization to found, and the same ethical principles to\nteach. The manner of the Savior's teaching would doubtless lead him to\npresent these great truths in the same forms of expression he had used\nin teaching the Jews, so that in substance what he had taught as his\ndoctrines in Judea he would repeat in America. This is mentioned also,\nby the way, that it may appear reasonable to you that in a general\nmanner the Savior must have taught the people in the western hemisphere\nsubstantially the same things that he taught the people in Palestine.\nWith this remembered, I think we find a solution of the difficulty you\npresent in the following way: When Joseph Smith saw that the Nephite\nrecord was quoting the prophecies of Isaiah, of Malachi, or the words\nof the Savior, he took the English Bible and compared these passages as\nfar as they paralled each other, and finding that in substance, they\nwere alike, he adopted our English translation; and hence, we have the\nsameness to which you refer.\n\n\"It should be understood also, in this connection, that while Joseph\nSmith obtained the facts and ideas from the Nephite characters through\nthe inspiration of God, he was left to express those facts and ideas,\nin the main, in such language as he could command; and when he found\nthat parts of the Nephite record closely parallel passages in the\nBible, and being conscious that the language of our English Bible\nwas superior to his own, he adopted it, except for those differences\nindicated in the Nephite original which here and there made the Book of\nMormon version of passages superior in sense and clearness. Of course,\nI recognize the fact that this is but a conjecture; but I believe it\nto be a reasonable one; and indeed the only one which satisfactorily\ndisposes of the difficulty you point out.\n\n\"There exists, however, another difficulty; and that is, while the\nforeging explanation may account for the sameness in phraseology\nbetween these Book of Mormon passages and King James' translation,\nthere remains to be accounted for the differences that exist between\nthese Book of Mormon passages and those which parallel them in King\nJames' translation. I am led to believe that you have been so absorbed,\nperhaps, in tracing out the sameness in the expression that you have\nfailed to note the differences to which I allude, for you make the\nclaim of strict identity between the Book of Mormon and King James'\ntranslation too strong when you say that there is used the \"identical\nlanguage of King James' [29] version, not even omitting the words\nsupplied by the translators.\" Throughout the parallel passages, there\nare here and there differences (with the single exception, perhaps, in\nthe chapters from Malachi, and even in these is a slight difference),\nand a close comparison of these differences will show that in the\nmatter of supplied words by King James' translators, there are very\nfrequent changes, and in all the changes that appear, the Book of\nMormon passages are far superior in sense and clearness. I quote you a\nfew passages in illustration:\n\n BOOK OF MORMON. BIBLE.\n\n Thou hast multiplied the nation Thou hast multiplied the nation\n and increased the joy; _and not_ increased the joy:\n they joy before thee according they joy before thee according\n to the joy in harvest, and to the joy in harvest, and\n as men rejoice when they divide as men rejoice when they divide\n the spoils!--II. Nephi xxix: 3. the spoil!--Isaiah ix: 3.\n\nHere you will find the Book of Mormon passage more in harmony with the\nfacts in the case. How inconsistent the passage is in Isaiah, \"Thou\nhas multiplied the nation and not increased the joy!\" And yet that\nstatement is followed by this one--\"they joy before thee according to\nthe joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil!\"\nBut in the Book of Mormon it is perfectly consistent, for there it\nsays \"Thou hast multiplied the nation, _and increased the joy_.\" The\nfollowing passages also indicate the superiority of the Book of Mormon\nversion:\n\n BOOK OF MORMON. BIBLE.\n\n And when they shall say unto And when they shall say unto\n you, Seek unto them that you, Seek unto them that\n have familiar spirits, and unto have familiar spirits, and unto\n wizards that peep and mutter; wizards that peep and mutter;\n should not a people seek unto should not a people seek unto\n their God, for the living to their God? for the living to\n hear from the the dead.--Isaiah viii: 19.\n dead?--II. Nephi xvii: 19.\n\nAs an illustration of my statement that Book of Mormon version of\npassages is sometimes markedly different from our common English\nversion in the matter of supplied words, I quote you the following\npassages. The supplied words in the Bible text are written in _italics_.\n\n BOOK OF MORMON. BIBLE.\n\n Say unto the righteous Say unto the righteous that\n that it is well with them; for _it shall be_ well _with him_: for\n they shall eat the fruit of their they shall eat the fruit of their\n doings. doings.\n\n Woe unto the wicked! for Woe unto the wicked! _it shall\n they shall perish; for the reward be_ well _with him_: for the reward\n of their hands shall be upon of his hands shall be\n them.--II. Nephi xxiii: 10, 11. given him.--Isaiah iii: 10, 11.\n\nIf you will carefully compare the passages in the Book of Mormon,\nand some of the chapters in Matthew, say the 12th chapter of III.\nNephi, with Matthew v; the 13th chapter of III. Nephi with Matthew 6th\nchapter; the 14th chapter of III. Nephi, with Matthew 7th chapter, you\nwill also find throughout that there are differences between the two,\nas much so as between the Catholic Bible (generally called the Douay\nBible) and King James' translation, which, of course, are independent\ntranslations by different scholars. I give the following passages by\nway of illustration:\n\n KING JAMES' BIBLE. BOOK OF MORMON. DOUAY BIBLE.\n Matt. ch. v: verse 3. III. Nephi ch. xii: Matt. ch. v: verse 3.\n verse 3.\n Blessed are the Yea, blessed are Blessed are the\n poor in spirit: for the poor in spirit poor in spirit; for\n theirs is the kingdom who come unto me [30] theirs is the kingdom\n of heaven. for theirs is the of heaven.\n kingdom of heaven.\n\n KING JAMES' BIBLE. BOOK OF MORMON. DOUAY BIBLE.\n Verse 4. Verse 4. Verse 5. [31]\n Blessed are they And again, blessed Blessed are they\n that mourn: for they are they that mourn, that mourn: for\n shall be comforted. for they shall be they shall be comforted.\n comforted.\n\n Verse 6. Verse 6. Verse 6.\n Blessed are they And blessed are all Blessed are they\n which do hunger and they who do hunger that hunger and\n thirst after and thirst after thirst after justice:\n righteousness: for righteousness, for for they shall have\n they shall be filled. they shall be filled their fill.\n with the\n Holy Ghost. [32]\n\n Verse 7. Verse 7. Verse 7.\n Blessed are the And blessed are Blessed are the\n merciful for they the merciful, for merciful for they\n shall obtain mercy. they shall obtain shall obtain mercy.\n mercy.\n\n Verse 10. Verse 10. Verse 10.\n Blessed are they And blessed are Blessed are they\n which are persecuted all they who are that suffer persecution\n for righteousness persecuted for my for justice's\n sake: for theirs is name's sake, for sake: for theirs is\n the kingdom of theirs is the the kingdom of\n heaven. kingdom of heaven. heaven.\n\n KING JAMES' BIBLE. BOOK OF MORMON. DOUAY BIBLE.\n Verse 12. Verse 12. Verse 12.\n Rejoice, and be For ye shall have Be glad and rejoice,\n exceeding glad: for great joy and be for your reward\n great is your reward exceeding glad, for is very great\n in heaven: for so great shall be your in heaven; for so\n persecuted they the reward in heaven, they persecuted the\n prophets which were for so persecuted prophets that were\n before you. they the prophets before you.\n who were before you.\n\n Chapter vi: verse 25. Chapter xiii: verse 25. Chapter vi: verse 25.\n Therefore I say And now it came Therefore I say\n unto you, take no to pass that when unto you, be not solicitous\n thought for your Jesus had spoken for your\n life, what ye shall these words, he life, what you shall\n eat, or what ye shall looked upon the eat nor for your\n drink; nor yet for twelve whom he had body what you shall\n your body, what ye chosen, and said unto put on. Is not the\n shall put on. Is them, [33] Remember life more than the\n not the life more the words which meat: and the body\n than meat, and the I have spoken. For more than raiment?\n body than raiment? behold, ye are they\n whom I have chosen\n to minister unto\n unto this people.\n Therefore I say unto\n you, take no thought\n for your life, what ye\n shall eat, or what ye\n shall drink; nor yet\n for your body, what\n ye shall put on. Is\n not the life more\n than meat, and the\n body than raiment?\n\n KING JAMES' BIBLE. BOOK OF MORMON. DOUAY BIBLE.\n Verse 26. Verse 26. Verse 26.\n Behold the fowls Behold the fowls Behold the birds\n of the air: for they of the air, for they of the air, for they\n sow not, neither do sow not, neither do neither sow nor do\n they reap, nor gather they reap, nor gather they reap, nor gather\n in barns; yet your into barns; yet into barns; and\n heavenly Father your heavenly Father your heavenly Father\n feedeth them. Are feedeth them. Are feedeth them.\n ye not much better ye not much better Are not you of\n than they? than they? much more value\n than they?\n\n KING JAMES' BIBLE. BOOK OF MORMON. DOUAY BIBLE.\n Verse 27. Verse 27. Verse 27.\n Which of you by Which of you by Which of you by\n taking thought can taking thought can taking thought can\n add one cubit unto add one cubit unto add to his stature\n his stature? his stature? one cubit?\n\n Verses 28, 29. Verses 28, 29. Verses 28, 29.\n And why take ye And why take ye And for raiment\n thought for raiment? thought for raiment? why are you solicitous\n Consider the lilies Consider the lilies Consider the\n of the field, how of the field, how lilies of the field,\n they grow; they they grow; they toil how they grow; they\n toil not, neither do not, neither do they labor not, neither\n they spin: and yet spin; and yet I say do they spin. But I\n I say unto you, that unto you, that even say unto you, that\n even Solomon in all Solomon, in all his not even Solomon,\n his glory was not glory was not arrayed in all his glory, was\n arrayed like one of like one of arrayed as one of\n these. these. these.\n\n Verse 30. Verse 30. Verse 30.\n Wherefore, if God Wherefore, if God And if the grass\n so clothe the grass so clothe the grass of the field, which is\n of the field, which of the field, which today, and tomorrow\n today is, and tomorrow today is, and tomorrow is cast into the\n is cast into the is cast into the oven, God doth so\n oven, _shall he_ not oven, even so will clothe: how much\n much more _clothe_ he clothe you, if you more you, O ye of\n you, O ye of little are not of little little faith?\n faith? faith?\n\n KING JAMES' BIBLE. BOOK OF MORMON. DOUAY BIBLE.\n Verses 31, 32, 33. Verses 31, 32, 33. Verses 31, 32, 33.\n Therefore take no Therefore, take no Be not solicitous\n thought, saying thought, saying therefore, saying:\n What shall we eat? What shall we eat? What shall we eat:\n or, what shall we or, what shall we or what shall we\n drink? or Wherewith drink, or wherewith drink, or wherewith\n shall we be shall we be clothed? shall we be clothed?\n clothed? for after For your heavenly For after all these\n all these things do Father knoweth that things do the heathens\n the Gentiles seek: ye have need of all seek. For your\n For your heavenly these things. But Father knoweth that\n Father knoweth that seek ye first the you have need of all\n ye have need of all kingdom of God and these things. Seek\n these things. But his righteousness, ye therefore first the\n seek ye first the and all these things kingdom of God,\n kingdom of God and shall be added unto and his justice: and\n his righteousness, you. all these things shall\n and all these things be added unto you.\n shall be added unto\n you.\n\n Verse 34. Verse 34. Verse 34.\n Take therefore no Take therefore no Be not therefore\n thought for the thought for the solicitous for tomorrow.\n morrow: For the morrow, for the For the morrow\n morrow shall take morrow shall take will be solicitous\n thought for the thought for the for itself; sufficient\n things of itself. things of itself. for the day is\n Sufficient unto the Sufficient is the day the evil thereof.\n day is the evil unto the evil\n thereof. thereof. [34]\n\nBut how are these differences to be accounted for? They unquestionably\narise from the fact that the Prophet compared the King James'\ntranslation with the parallel passages in the Nephite records, and when\nhe found the sense of the passage of the Nephite plates [35] superior\nto that in the English version he made such changes as would give\nthe superior sense and clearness. This view is sustained by the fact\nof uniform superiority of the Book of Mormon version wherever such\ndifferences occur. It is also a significant fact that these changes\noccur quite generally in the case of supplied words of the English\ntranslators, and which in order to indicate that they are supplied\nwords, are printed in Italics. * * * * * I fancy to all this, however,\nanother inquiry will arise in your mind and that is since Joseph\nSmith translated the Book of Mormon by means of the Urim and Thummim,\nwhy is it that he did not give throughout a translation direct from\nthe Nephite plates, instead of following our English Bible, where\nit paralleled passages on the plates, since translation by means of\nthe Urim and Thummim must have been so simple and so easy? It is at\nthis particular point where, in my opinion, a very great mistake is\nmade, both by our own people, and our friends in the world. That is,\ntranslation by the Urim and Thummim is not so simple and easy a thing\nas it might at first glance appear. Many have supposed that the Prophet\nJoseph had merely to look into the Urim and Thummim, and there see,\nwithout any thought or effort on his part, both the Nephite characters\nand the translation in English. In other words, the instrument did\neverything and the Prophet nothing, except merely to look in the Urim\nand Thummim as one might look into a mirror, and then give out what he\nsaw there. Such a view of the work of the Urim and Thummim I believe to\nbe altogether incorrect. I think it caused the Prophet the exercise of\nall his intellectual and spiritual forces to obtain the translation;\nthat it was an exhausting work, one that taxed even his great powers to\ntheir uttermost limit; and hence, when he could ease himself of those\nlabors by adopting a reasonably good translation already existing, I\nthink he was justified in doing so.\"\n\nSuch was the answer made to Mr. Chamberlain's inquiries, and as the\nreader will doubtless be interested to know how this answer was\nreceived by this unprejudiced gentleman, I quote the following from his\nletter in response to the explanation. [36]\n\n Of course, I realize that if the Book of Mormon was not just what\n it purported to be, the whole fabric [of Mormonism] must fall\n to the ground, so far as being an inspired religion, and would\n then only be worth what good one could get out of it as the best\n organization or controlled religion on earth. * * * Upon studying\n the Book of Mormon, I, of course, found these portions of King\n James' version of our Bible, and judging it by the applied law of\n human experience, as we lawyers learn to judge everything, I could\n account for it in on other way, than that Joseph Smith copied it\n therefrom, and I am free to say that your reasons for his so doing\n are not only probable, but the only solution that can be given. * *\n * I believe and think that your suggestion is the only theory upon\n which it is possible to advocate its divine character. It seems to\n me that God, so far as I know, has never supplied man with what he\n already possessed, and Joseph Smith already had language with which\n to express his ideas, and all that was required in addition from\n God was, that he furnish him with the thought, and then let him\n express it in his own language. I never could for a moment believe\n that God is interested in placing his approval on King James'\n translators' style of translating, nor upon the composition of the\n English language therein adopted. I do not see wherein your theory\n detracts in any manner from the value of the Book of Mormon, as\n an inspired work acknowledged by God as authentic, nor makes more\n impracticable the manner of its introduction.\n\nII.\n\n_Miscellaneous Objections Based on Literary Style and Language_.\n\nThe theory established that the language of the translation of the\nBook of Mormon is Joseph Smith's, and that at least for extended\nquotations from Isaiah and the New Testament writers he turned to the\ncommon English version of the Bible and adopted it, the answer to all\nobjections based upon errors in literary style and grammar, and the\nfinding of many passages from the Hebrew prophets and New Testament\nwriters transcribed from King James' translation--is obvious:\n\n(1) The language is Joseph Smith's; the errors in style and grammar are\ndue to his very limited education, for which the lack of educational\nopportunities alone is responsible.\n\n(2) To relieve himself somewhat of the mental strain in the work of\ntranslation when he came to matter transcribed from the Hebrew prophets\ninto the Nephite record, or to instructions of the Messiah that\nparalled his teachings to the people of Judea--of which there already\nexisted a reasonably good English translation--the Prophet adopted that\ntranslation. [37]\n\nThe ideas underlying this explanation once adopted, it is equally easy\nto meet the objections to the Book of Mormon based on the existence of\nmodern words and phraseology found in it; of provincialisms of the time\nand place in which the translation was wrought; of phrases and words\nfrom modern poets and religious exhorters. These words and phrases\nmade up the vocabulary of Joseph Smith; and his mode of expressing his\nthought is that of the period and place in which he lived; and hence\nthe ideas obtained from the Nephite plates he couched in those modern\nwords, phrases and modes of expression familiar to him.\n\nSometimes, however, more is claimed for the existence of these\nmodern words, phrases and alleged quotations from modern poets than\nis warranted. [38] For example: Campbell, Hyde, Lamb, Linn, and many\nothers, sarcastically remark that the words of Shakespeare are quoted\nin a passage in the Book of Mormon accredited to Lehi, 2200 years\nbefore Shakespeare was born! Linn puts it in this form:\n\n Shakespeare is proved a plagiarist by comparing his words with\n those of the second Nephi, who, speaking twenty-two hundred years\n before Shakespeare was born, said, \"Hear the words of a trembling\n parent, whose limbs you must soon lay down in the cold and silent\n grave, from whence no traveler can return.\" [39]\n\nThe theory already advanced as an explanation of the existence of\nmodern words and phraseology in Joseph Smith's translation of the\nNephite record is adequate as an explanation of such instances of\nmodernisms as this. [40] Through school books extant, or through\nlistening to itinerant preachers, the Prophet might have become\nacquainted with such phraseology as this alleged quotation from\nShakespeare, and employed it where it would express some Nephite idea\nor thought found in the Nephite record. Still, this alleged quotation\nfrom the British poet, at least, is susceptible of another explanation.\n\nIn the book of Job I find two passages either of which, and surely both\nof them combined, would furnish the complete thought, and for that\nmatter largely, the phraseology to both Lehi and Shakespeare. I quote\nJob's language, and afterwards that of Lehi's and Shakespeare's, that\nthe reader may compare them:\n\n 1. _Job_, \"Let me alone that I may take comfort a little before I\n go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the\n shadow of death.\" [41]\n\n \"When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall\n not return.\" [42]\n\n 2. _Lehi_, \"Hear the words of a parent whose limbs you must soon\n lay down in the cold and silent grave, from whence no traveler can\n return.\"\n\n 3. _Shakespeare_, \"That undiscovered country from whose bourne no\n traveler returns.\"\n\nIt will be observed that the passage from the Book of Mormon follows\nJob more closely than it does Shakespeare, both in thought and diction;\nand this for the reason, doubtless, that Lehi had been impressed with\nJob's idea [43] of going to a land whence he would not return; and\nJoseph Smith being familiar with Job, and very likely not familiar with\nShakespeare, when he came to Lehi's thought he expressed it nearly in\nJob's phraseology; and undoubtedly Shakespeare paraphrased his now\ncelebrated passage from Job.\n\nIt is also objected that many of the prophecies of the Book of Mormon\nrespecting the earth-career of Messiah, especially the prophecies found\nin first Nephi, are given sometimes in the language of accomplished\nfact. [44] \"Lehi,\" says Campbell, \"was a greater Prophet than any of the\nJewish prophets, and uttered all the events of the Christian Era and\ndeveloped the records of Matthew, Luke, and John 600 years before John\nthe Baptist was born.\" He follows the general statement with a number\nof passages illustrative of it.\n\nThis circumstance of writing prophecy in the language of accomplished\nfact, however, ought not to appeal to orthodox Christians as a very\nserious objection to the prophecies in the Book of Mormon, since they\nhave on their hands the fifty third chapter of Isaiah to account\nfor. This chapter by a consensus of opinion of orthodox Christian\nscholarship is regarded as a wonderful prophecy, outlining the earth\nlife, character and redemptive mission of the Christ; and for the most\npart this prophecy is given in the language of accomplished fact. I\nquote part of the chapter conceded to refer to the Christ:\n\n He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is\n no beauty that we should desire him.\n\n He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and\n acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from him; he\n was despised, and we esteemed him not.\n\n Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we did\n esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.\n\n But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our\n iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with\n his stripes we are healed.\n\n All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his\n own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.\n\n He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his\n mouth; he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep\n before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.\n\n He was taken from prison and from judgment; and who shall declare\n his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living:\n for the transgression of my people was he stricken.\n\n And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his\n death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in\n his mouth. (Isaiah, LIII: 2-10.)\n\nSurely after this it is not worth while for orthodox Christians to be\nobjecting to prophecies in the Book of Mormon on the ground that they\nare written in the language of accomplished fact. So far from this\npeculiarity of Isaiah's having brought him into disrepute as a prophet,\nit seems to have added to his glory, because so writing his prophecy,\nit is claimed, has given a vividness to his predictions, an exactness\nthat made the messianic prophecies all the more valuable. \"The\nprophecies regarding the Messiah's birth, passion, glory, rejection by\nthe Jews, and acceptance by the Gentiles are so exact as to have earned\nhim the name of the 'Gospel Prophet.' \"--(Oxford Bible Helps--Isaiah).\nIt should be remembered, too, in this connection, that the Book of\nIsaiah's prophecies carried by the colony of Lehi into the Western\nhemisphere with them became a powerful influence among the Nephite\nwriters. His book is quoted from more extensively than any other book\nof the Jewish scriptures possessed by the Nephites; and that because\nof the plainness with which Isaiah spoke of the coming and mission of\nMessiah. The first Nephi, commenting upon Isaiah and the esteem in\nwhich he held his writing, said:\n\n And now I, Nephi, write more of the words of Isaiah, for my soul\n delighteth in his words. For I will liken [apply] his words unto\n my people, and I will send them forth unto all my children, for he\n verily saw my Redeemer, even as I have seen him. And my brother\n Jacob also has seen him as I have seen him, wherefore I will send\n their words forth unto my children, to prove unto them that my\n words are true.\n\nSmall wonder then if a prophet held in such large esteem, as was\nIsaiah, and so extensively quoted, influenced prophetic Nephite\nliterature, and led to the habit of writing prophecies referring to the\nChrist in the language of accomplished fact.\n\nThe Rev. M. T. Lamb, in his \"Golden Bible\" makes practically the\nsame charges as Mr. Campbell, saying, in addition that many of the\nquotations from the Jewish scriptures found in the Book of Mormon, are\nwritten \"in the exact language of the New Testament.\"\n\nIt is sufficient to say to this objection that Joseph Smith having a\nfull knowledge of the facts of the Christian story, as related in the\nNew Testament, clothed the ideas caught from the Nephite record in New\nTestament phraseology; and it has been suggested that he may have done\nso in places in stronger terms than a rigidly strict translation might\nhave warranted. [45]\n\nIt is not necessary to go into detail in considering this\nobjection, [46] or of objections of similar nature, for the reason\nthat this whole class of objections is met completely by the theory\nsuggested in these pages concerning the translation of the Book of\nMormon.\n\nIII.\n\n_The Difficulty of Passages from Isaiah Being Quoted by Nephite\nWriters, that Modern Bible Criticism (Higher Criticism) Holds Were Not\nWritten Until the Time of the Babylonian Captivity--586-538 B. C., and\nnot Written by Isaiah at all_.\n\nIt is held that Isaiah's historical period--the period of his\nministry--runs through the reign of four kings of Judah--Uzziah,\nJotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. Some extend his ministry over into the reign\nof Manasseh, by whose edict, it is said, he was sawn asunder. In any\nevent Isaiah would be a very aged man at the close of the reign of\nHezekiah, 698 B. C.; and he would have been between eighty and ninety\nat the accession of Manesseh. So that it is safe to say that life\nended soon after the close of Hezekiah's reign. Now if it be true that\nthe latter part of the Book of Isaiah, from chapter forty to chapter\nsixty-six, inclusive, was not written until and during the Babylonian\nCaptivity, 586-538 B. C.--as assumed by modern criticism--then of\ncourse the prophet Isaiah did not write that part of the book which\nbears his name as author.\n\nAgain: If it be true that these chapters 40-66 were not written until\nand during the Babylonian captivity, then Lehi could not have taken\nthat part of the book of Isaiah with him into the wilderness and\nsubsequently brought it with him to America, where his son Nephi copied\npassages and whole chapters into the record he engraved upon plates\ncalled the plates of Nephi, [47] since Lehi left Jerusalem 600 years B.\nC.\n\nThe difficulty presented by the Higher Criticism is obvious, viz: If\nJoseph Smith is representing the first Nephi as transcribing into his\nNephite records passages and whole chapters purporting to have been\nwritten by Isaiah, when as a matter of fact those chapters were not\nwritten until a hundred and twenty-five or a hundred and fifty years\nafter Isaiah's death; and not until fifty years after Lehi's colony\nhad departed from Jerusalem, then Joseph Smith is representing Nephi\nas doing that which is impossible, and throws the whole Book of Mormon\nunder suspicion of being fraudulent. This, therefore, becomes a very\ninteresting as well as a very important objection; and many among the\nHigher Critics will say a fatal one. Here it can only be treated in\noutline; it is undoubtedly worthy of exhaustive analysis.\n\nThe Book of Isaiah divides into two parts: first, chapters 1-39,\nuniversally allowed to be the work of the prophet Isaiah, whose\nministry extended through the reigns of the four kings mentioned\nin Isaiah i:1; second, chapters 40-66, written by an unknown\nauthor, nearly one hundred and fifty years after Isaiah, sometimes\ncalled Isaiah II. It is claimed that these chapters 40-66; \"form a\ncontinuous prophecy, dealing throughout with a common theme, viz,\nIsrael's restoration from exile in Babylon. * * Jerusalem and the\ntemple have been for long in ruins--the 'old waste places;' Israel\nis in exile.\" [48] It is to these conditions that the unknown prophet\naddresses himself. His object is to awaken faith in the certainty of an\napproaching restoration.\n\nThree independent lines of argument are said to establish this theory\nof the authorship of chapters 40-66 in the Book of Isaiah:\n\n (1) The internal evidence supplied by the prophecy itself points\n to this period [time of the captivity] as that at which it\n was written. It alludes repeatedly to Jerusalem as ruined and\n deserted; to the sufferings which the Jews have experienced, or\n are experiencing, at the hands of the Chaldaeans; to the prospect\n of return, which, as the prophet speaks, is imminent. Those whom\n the prophet addresses, and, moreover, addresses in person--arguing\n with them, appealing to them, striving to win their assent by\n his warm and impassioned rhetoric--are not the men of Jerusalem,\n contemporaries of Ahaz and Hezekiah, or even of Manasseh, they are\n the exiles in Babylonia. Judged by the analogy of prophecy, this\n constitutes the strongest possible presumption that the author\n actually lived in the period which he thus describes, and is not\n merely (as has been supposed) Isaiah immersed in spirit in the\n future, and holding converse, as it were, with the generations\n yet unborn. Such an immersion, in the future would be not only\n with parallel in the O. T., it would be contrary to the nature of\n prophecy. The prophet speaks always, in the first instance, to his\n own contemporaries: the message which he brings intimately related\n with the circumstances of his time; his promises and predictions,\n however far they reach into the future, nevertheless rest upon the\n basis of the history of his own age, and correspond to the needs\n which are then felt. The prophet never abandons his own historical\n position, but speaks from it. [49]\n\n (2) The argument derived from the historic function of prophecy\n is confirmed by the literary style of c. 40-66, which is very\n different from that of Isaiah 1-39. Isaiah 1-39 shows strongly\n marked individualities of style; he is fond of particular images\n and phrases, many of which are used by no other writer of the O.\n T. Now, in the chapters which contain evident allusions to the\n age of Isaiah himself, these expressions occur repeatedly; in the\n chapters which are without such allusions, and which thus authorize\n prima facie the inference that they belong to a different, age,\n they are absent, and new images and phrases appear instead. This\n coincidence cannot be accidental. The subject of c. 40-66 is not\n so different from that of Isaiah's prophecies (e.g.) against the\n Assyrians, as to necessitate a new phraseology and rhetorical form.\n The differences can only be reasonably explained by the supposition\n of a change of author. [50]\n\n (3) The theological ideas of c. 40-66 (in so far as they are\n not of that fundamental kind common to the prophets generally)\n differ remarkably from those which appear, from c. 1-39, to be\n distinctive of Isaiah. Thus, on the nature of God generally, the\n ideas expressed are much larger and fuller. Isaiah, for instance,\n depicts the majesty of Jehovah: in c. 40-66 the prophet emphasizes\n his infinitude; He is the Creator, the Sustainer of the universe,\n the Life-Giver, the Author of history, the First and the Last, the\n Incomparable One. This is a real difference. And yet it cannot\n be argued that opportunities for such assertions of Jehovah's\n power and Godhead would not have presented themselves naturally\n to Isaiah whilst he was engaged in defying the armies of Assyria.\n But, in truth, c. 40-66 show an advance upon Isaiah, not only in\n the substance of their theology, but also in the form in which it\n is presented; truths which are merely affirmed in Isaiah being here\n made the subject of reflection and argument. [51]\n\nThese arguments when expressed in these general terms seem quite\nformidable; but they are much stronger in general statement than when\none follows the advocates of them through all the references cited by\nthem in support of the theory; for then one is impressed with the very\nheavy weights which the Higher Criticism hangs on very slender threads.\nAs before remarked, however, I may not go beyond outline treatment of\nthe matter here.\n\nThe first thing those of us who believe Isaiah to be the author of\nthe whole book through so many ages accredited to him, both by Jews\nand Christians--the first thing we have a right to demand of these\ninnovators is: If Isaiah the prophet is not the author of the last\ntwenty-seven chapters of the book that bears his name, who is the\nauthor? Confessedly chapters 40-66 of Isaiah are the most important\npart of the book. How is it that chapters 1-39 can be assigned an\nauthor, but the more important chapters 40-66 have to be assigned to\nan \"unknown\" author? Was knowledge in those antique times so imperfect\nthat the author of such a remarkable production as Isaiah 40-66 could\nnot be ascertained?\n\nSecond, there is no heading to this second division of Isaiah 40-66;\nand it is not true that this second part is unconnected with the first\npart. Allowing something to the spirit of prophecy in Isaiah, by which\nI mean a power to foresee events, which carries with it a power in the\nprophet to project himself into the midst of those things foreseen, and\nto speak from the midst of them as if they were present--as indeed they\nwere to his consciousness--and there is an immediate connection between\nthe two parts. Chapter 39 predicts the Babylonian captivity. Hezekiah\nhas just been made to hear the word of the Lord--\n\n Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that\n which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be\n carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, saith the Lord.\n\n And thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget,\n shall they take away; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of\n the king of Babylon. (Isaiah 39:6-7.)\n\nIn the opening chapter of the supposed second division of Isaiah,\nchapter 40, the prophet launches out upon that series of prophecies\nthat treat, first, of the deliverance of Israel from this captivity\njust spoken of through Cyrus, king of Persia; and, second, a larger\ndeliverance of Israel through the redemption brought to pass by the\nChrist. Because of this close and logical connection between the\nsupposed divisions of the book, one is justified in holding that the\ninscription of chapter i:1, applies to the whole book, and implies that\nIsaiah is the author of the second part, 40-66, as well as of the first\npart, 1-39. \"Nor do the words concerning Judah and Jerusalem,\" says an\neminent authority, \"oppose the idea that the inscription applied to the\nwhole; for whatever he [Isaiah] says against other nations, he says on\naccount of their relation to Judah.\" [52]\n\nSecond, the Higher Critics must deal with some facts of history before\ntheir claims can be allowed. According to Josephus, the Jews showed\nthe prophecies of Isaiah (chapter 44:28; 45:1-13)to Cyrus the king, to\ninduce him to return the Jews to Jerusalem and order the building of\nthe temple, upon which Cyrus issued the following decree:\n\n Thus saith Cyrus the king, Since God Almighty hath appointed me\n to be king of the habitable earth, I believe that he is that God\n which the nation of the Israelites worship, for indeed he foretold\n my name by the prophets, and that I should build him a house at\n Jerusalem, in the country of Judea.\n\n This was known to Cyrus by his reading the book which Isaiah left\n behind him of his prophecies; for this prophet said, that God had\n spoken thus to him in a secret vision; \"My will is, that Cyrus,\n whom I have appointed to be king over many and great nations, send\n back my people to their own land, and build my temple.\" This was\n foretold by Isaiah one hundred and forty years before the temple\n was demolished. Accordingly, when Cyrus read this, and admired the\n divine power, an earnest desire and ambition seized upon him, to\n fulfill what was so written. [53]\n\nThe above is confirmed also by Ezra i:2. Now the value of this\nexhibition of the word of the Lord to Cyrus grew out of the\ncircumstance that it was a prophecy uttered by Isaiah one hundred and\nfifty years before it came to the knowledge of Cyrus. It was the fact\nthat it was \"foreknowledge\" that caused Cyrus to admire the divine\npower thus displayed; it was this that stirred him with the ambition to\nfulfill what was so written. Now either we must believe that the pious\nJews, anxious to return to the land of their fathers, rebuild their\ntemple and resume the thread of their national existence, deceived by\na wretched subterfuge the king of Persia, and induced him to make this\nproclamation by such means; or else they really exhibited to him the\nwritings of Isaiah, and this real prophecy respecting himself, fraught\nwith such mighty consequences to a people chosen of God to stand as his\nwitness among the nations of the earth. I cannot think that this action\nso important in the development of God's purposes respecting his people\nwas founded in fraud; nor do I believe such mighty results were brought\nabout by disclosing the prognostications of some \"unknown\" contemporary\nwhose \"eye had marked Cyrus in the distance as the coming deliverer of\nhis nation;\" such cause would be inadequate to the results.\n\nAgain, Luke represents the Christ as reading a passage from this second\ndivision of Isaiah (chapter 61:1, 2), and reading it as coming from\nIsaiah; and also as being fulfilled in his own person:\n\n And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up; and as his\n custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and\n stood up for to read.\n\n And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias\n [Isaiah]. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where\n it was written.\n\n The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed\n me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal\n the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and\n recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are\n bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.\n\n And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and\n sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were\n fastened on him.\n\n And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled\n in your ears.\n\n And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which\n proceeded out of his mouth. (Luke iv: 16-22).\n\nOne can scarcely think of Jesus being mistaken in respect of the\nauthorship of the scripture from which he read, especially respecting\na prophecy relating to himself. Furthermore, whoever wrote Isaiah 61:\n1, 2, whether Isaiah, the admitted author of Isaiah chapters 1-39, or\nsome other author a hundred and fifty or two hundred years later, and\nin the midst of the scenes of the Babylonian captivity, this much is\ntrue: he projected himself forward some several hundreds of years into\nthe times of the beginning of the Christ's mission, (if we may believe\nthe Christ when he applies the prophecy to himself and proclaims the\nfulfillment of it in the happenings of that day), speaks in the present\ntense, as if pleading with the men of his own day. So that if this\npower is admitted as being possessed by the supposed \"unknown\" author\nof chapters 40-66, it might as well be accorded to Isaiah as to him;\nand if that power be accorded to a prophetic writer, then all the\ndifficulties conjured up by our modern critics, and to overcome which\ntheir theories were invoked, meet with easy solution.\n\nAs to the difference of literary style between the first and second\ndivision of Isaiah's book, urging as necessary the belief in different\nauthors for the two parts. I am disposed to give considerable weight\nto such evidence, since I know how strong the tendency in expression\ntowards individuation is, but those more competent to judge of that\nsubject than I am, hold that of all the prophetic writers, Isaiah\npossesses the widest range of literary style, the largest richness in\ncoloring and forms of expression. And this when the view of his style\nis confined to that part of his book of which all allow he is the\nauthor. As for example, the one author most assured that Isaiah did not\nwrite chapters 40-66 of the book that bears his name, the author of\n\"An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament,\" speaking of\nIsaiah, and of course limiting his comment to the author of chapters\n1-39, says:\n\n Isaiah's poetical genius is superb. His characteristics are\n grandeur and beauty of conception, wealth of imagination, vividness\n of illustration, compressed energy and splendor of diction. * * *\n * * * Examples of picturesque and impressive imagery are indeed\n so abundant that selection is difficult. These may be instanced,\n however: the banner raised aloft upon the mountains; the restless\n roar of the sea; the waters rising with irresistible might; the\n forest consumed rapidly in the circling flames, or stripped of\n its foliage by an unseen hand; the raised way; the rushing of\n many waters; the storm driving or beating down all before it; the\n monster funeral pyre; Jehovah's hand \"stretched out,\" or \"swung,\"\n over the earth, and bearing consternation with it. Especially\n grand are the figures under which he conceives Jehovah as \"rising\n up,\" being \"exalted,\" or otherwise asserting His majesty against\n those who would treat it with disregard or disdain. * * * * * The\n brilliancy and power of Isaiah's genius appear further in the\n sudden contrasts, and pointed antitheses and retorts, in which he\n delights.\n\n Isaiah's literary style shows similar characteristics. It is\n chaste and dignified: the language is choice, but devoid of\n all artificiality or stiffness, every sentence is compact and\n forcible; the rhythm is stately; the periods are finely rounded;\n Isaiah indulges occasionally--in the manner of his people--in\n tone-painting, and sometimes enforces his meaning by an effective\n assonance, but never to excess, or as a meretricious ornament.\n His style is never diffuse: even his longest discourses are not\n monotonous or prolix; he knows how to treat his subject fruitfully,\n and, as he moves along, to bring before his reader new and varied\n aspects of it; thus he seizes a number of salient points, and\n presents each singly in a vivid picture. * * * * No prophet has\n Isaiah's power either of conception or of expression; none has the\n same command of noble thoughts, or can present them in the same\n noble and attractive language.\n\nImmerse such a writer as this into the spirit of the future, give him\nthe theme of Israel's deliverance from Babylonian captivity, or the\nlarger deliverance of Israel and the world from sin and death through\nthe mission of the Christ; and what new coloring may he not give to\nhis style? What greater depths of truth respecting God and man may he\nnot sound, calling for new phraseology, new words and combinations to\nexpress the deeper knowledge of the enlarged \"vision?\" This I believe\nis what happened to the prophet. He was so immersed; and his style\nunder the inspiration of God rose to meet the new environment and the\nenlarged views given by the wider vision.\n\nOne of the most forceful passages on this subject that I have yet\nfound is one written by Professor Daniel Smith Talcott, D. D., of the\nTheological Seminary, Bangor, Maine. He contributes the Article on\n\"Isaiah\" to Hackett's edition of Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, and\nin the course of his treatise, referring to the diversity of style\nbetween the two alleged parts of Isaiah, says:\n\n The array of linguistic evidence in proof of a diversity of\n authorship, which has gradually grown within the last century into\n the formidable proportions in which it meets us in the pages of\n Knobel and others, rests very largely upon an assumption which\n none of these critics have the hardihood distinctly to vindicate,\n namely, that within the narrow compass of the Hebrew literature\n that has come down to us from any given period, we have the means\n for arriving at an accurate estimate of all the resources which the\n language at that time possessed. When we have eliminated from the\n list of words and phrases relied upon to prove a later date than\n the time of Isaiah, everything the value of which to the argument\n must stand or fall with this assumption, there remains absolutely\n nothing which may not be reasonably referred to the reign of\n Hezekiah. Indeed, considering all the circumstances of the times,\n it might justly have been expected that the traces of foreign\n influence upon the language would be far more conspicuous in a\n writing of this date than they actually are in the controverted\n portions.\n\n It is to be remembered that the ministry of the prophet must have\n extended through a period, at the lowest calculation, of nearly\n fifty years; a period signalized, especially during the reigns\n of Ahaz and Hezekiah, by constant and growing intercourse with\n foreign nations, thus involving continually new influences for\n the corruption of public morals and new dangers to the state, and\n making it incumbent upon him who had been divinely constituted at\n once the political adviser of the nation and its religious guide,\n to be habitually and intimately conversant among the people, so as\n to descry upon the instant every additional step taken in their\n downward course and the first approach of each new peril from\n abroad, and to be able to meet each successive phase of their\n necessities with forms of instruction, admonition, and warning, not\n only in their general purport, but in their very style and diction,\n accommodated to conditions hitherto unknown, and that were still\n perpetually changing.\n\n Now when we take all this into the account, and then imagine to\n ourselves the prophet, toward the close of this long period,\n entering upon what was in some respects a novel kind of labor,\n and writing out, with a special view to the benefit of a remote\n posterity, the suggestions of that mysterious _Theopneustia_\n to which his lips had been for so many years the channel of\n communication with his contemporaries, far from finding any\n difficulty in the diversities of style perceptible to the different\n portions of his prophecy, we shall only see fresh occasion to\n admire that native strength and grandeur of intellect, which have\n still left upon productions so widely remote from each other,\n in the time and circumstances of their composition, so plain an\n impress of one and the same overmastering individuality.--Smith's\n Bible Dictionary, Vol. II., p. 1165.\n\nBelievers in the Book of Mormon have no occasion of uneasiness because\npassages from the latter part of Isaiah's book are found transcribed\ninto the Nephite record. The theories of modern critics have not\ndestroyed the integrity and unity of the Book of Isaiah. And after the\noverwhelming evidences for the truth of the Book of Mormon are taken\ninto account; and it is found that on the plates of Nephi there were\ntranscripts from the latter part of Isaiah's writings, taken from a\ncopy of his prophecies carried by a colony of Jews from Jerusalem to\nthe western hemisphere, six hundred years before Christ--men will\ndiscern in this discovery new evidence for the Isaiah authorship of the\nwhole book of Isaiah.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Howe's \"Mormonism,\" p. 56.\n\n2. \"Mormonism in All Ages\" (1842), p. 200.\n\n3. See Hyde's \"Mormonism\" (1857), chapters 9, 10.\n\n4. Smucker's \"History of the Mormons\" (1881 edition), p. 49.\n\n5. \"The Golden Bible\" (1887), chapter 7.\n\n6. \"The Story of the Mormons\" (1902), chapter 11.\n\n7. Linn says that there are more than 3,000 such changes.\n\nThis, I think, is an exaggeration. \"Story of the Mormons,\" p. 89. In\n1889, Lamoni Call, formerly a Mormon, published a treatise on the\nsubject which he entitled \"Two Thousand Changes in the Book of Mormon,\"\neven this I think is an exaggeration; but there have been many changes\nas conceded in the text.\n\n8. \"Mormonism in All Ages,\" p. 19.\n\n9. Ibid, p. 200.\n\n10. Moroni's Preface, title page Book of Mormon.\n\n11. Mormon viii: 17.\n\n12. There is some justification for such a view as this, if we have in\nmind the idea of God making a full and perfect revelation to man. When\nGod gives a revelation it necessarily has to be such an one as man can\ncomprehend, and in terms with which he is familiar--in man's language;\nand as man's language is inadequate to express truth in its perfection,\nit follows that any revelation which God deigns to give to the children\nof men will fall somewhat below the perfect truth, hence the Apostle\nof the Gentiles declared, notwithstanding the existence of revelations\nin the scriptures which were extant in Paul's time, \"We know in part,\nand we prophesy in part; we see [as] through a glass, darkly.\" This\ncondition arises not out of any lack of power on the part of God to\nmake a perfect revelation of truth, but out of man's inability to\ncomprehend such a revelation; and hence God graciously condescends to\nmeet man's somewhat narrow limitations by giving such a revelation of\ntruth in the scriptures, as man by faith and diligence may comprehend.\n\n13. \"The Age of Reason,\" Paine, p. 19.\n\n14. Ibid, p. 25.\n\n15. \"The Age of Reason,\" Part II, p. 98.\n\nThat Joseph Smith appreciated how inadequate human language is to\nexpress divine thought is evident from the following prayer of his,\nuttered when writing to his friend, W. W. Phelps: \"Oh Lord God, deliver\nus in due time from the little, narrow prison, almost, as it were,\ntotal darkness of paper, pen and ink--and a crooked, broken, scattered\nand imperfect language.\"--History of the Church, Vol. I, pp. 227-8.\n\n16. Ibid p. 252.\n\n17. The lecture was published in the \"St. Louis Globe-Democrat,\" of\nSunday, March 19, 1905.\n\n18. Dr. Abbott delivered these lectures in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn,\nduring the winter of 1896.\n\n19. This is also true of the translation of the Book of Mormon. Some of\nits passages rise to heights of sublimity, and then again descending to\nlevels that are commonplace and labored.\n\n20. \"The Evolution of Bible Study\" (Henry Drummond, 1901).\n\n21. Replying to this criticism of the Book of Mormon some time ago\n(June, 1904), wherein the critic insisted that the question concerning\nthe Book of Mormon was not where men say they got it, but \"is it\ngold\"--he insisted that the \"assay test\" must be applied--to which the\nwriter made the following reply:\n\n\"I declare my willingness, as one of the believers in the Book of\nMormon to see it submitted, as perforce it must be, to the 'assay\ntest.' Is it gold? Are these important truths we have been considering\nthis evening, wherein the welfare of half the world is concerned, gold\nor dross? Is the light which the Book of Mormon throws upon the word of\nGod contained in the four (New Testament) Gospels of importance? (See\nthis Vol. ch. 42: vi for the items here referred to). Is the fact that\nJesus visited this western world and announced the saving power of his\nGospel in such a manner that millions finally came to the knowledge of\nsalvation a golden truth? Is the solemn warning to the Gentile nations\ninhabiting the western world (See chapter 42.) Worth while considering?\nMay not these prophecies be golden, especially if needed? I shall\nleave you to answer that. But I want to suggest an improvement on the\ngentleman's simile--to this 'assay test.' I think it could be improved.\nThe question is not so much as to whether in the four (New Testament)\nGospels or in the fifth (i.e., the Book of III Nephi in the Book of\nMormon) all is gold, but is there gold in them. I do not think the\nfour Gospels are without alloy. In other words I do not think the four\nGospels are perfect. I believe there are imperfections in them in forms\nof expressions and in the fact that they do not convey all that Jesus\nboth taught and did; at best they are but fragmentary. St. John informs\nus in his Gospel that if all the things that Jesus had done were\nwritten, the world itself would hardly contain the books. We have not\nthe full reports of Messiah's discourses. The full and absolutely pure\nworld of God just as it fell from the lips of the Savior, is not in the\nfour Gospels. For the most part we have but the recollections of the\nevangelists of what Jesus said and did. Only those who read the Greek,\nand unfortunately they are very few, may read even the four Gospels in\nthe language in which the Apostles wrote them. We have translations of\nthese records, and each time they are translated dilution takes place.\nThe force of what is said becomes in the translation somewhat abated. *\n* * So with the book of III Nephi, that comes to us in abridged form.\nIt is not the original book of Nephi; it is Mormon's abridgment of\nthat book. He has condensed it, and in doing so has doubtless given us\nless perfect accounts of Christ's mission to the Nephites [than would\nhave been found in the unabridged book of III Nephi]. That is to say,\nwe have not all the surrounding circumstances or all the utterances\nof the Savior, or of the men the book represents as speaking. Then we\nhave not even Mormon's original abridgment of Nephi's book--the real\nfifth Gospel--but only the Prophet Joseph's translation of Mormon's\nabridgment, and that it is admitted in his imperfect English. So that\nthe whole five Gospels are fragmentary and tainted with imperfections\nand limitations, as all things are that pass through human hands; but\nthey contain nevertheless, God's precious truths [the gold of the\nmine]; and some of these are found in the fifth Gospel as well as in\nthe four Hebrew Gospels; and to me the truths of the fifth or Nephite\nGospel are as precious and important as are those of the other four\nGospels.\" (Discourse by the writer, \"The Fifth Gospel,\" \"Deseret\nEvening News,\" June 11, 1904). The whole discourse will be found in\n\"Defense of the Faith and the Saints,\" Vol. I, pp. 373-399.\n\n22. \"Millennial Star,\" Vol. XIX, p. 118.\n\n23. One Anti-Mormon writer--the Rev. M. T. Lamb--devotes two chapters\nto this subject of circumlocution alone--\"The Golden Bible,\" chapters\ni and ii. He brings into contrast passages from the Book of Mormon,\nlacking in directness of expression, with passages from the Bible\ncelebrated for their directness, and thereby is most unfair in his\nargument; because he compares the best of the Bible with the worst\nof the Book of Mormon, a proceeding which might be reversed with\ndisastrous results to the Bible, if the comparison were to end with\nthis comparison of the worst in the one with the best in the other.\nNow let it be understood that I am not contending that the English\ntranslation of the Book of Mormon compares as literature with the\nEnglish translation of the Hebrew scriptures. The latter is a\ntranslation by the most finished scholarship of the time in which it\nwas accomplished--I refer to the authorized version, the translation\ncompleted 1611 A. D.--while the Book of Mormon is translated by an\nunlearned youth limited in educational opportunities, without even the\nadvantage of a common school education. True, it is claimed for him\nthat he was assisted by a divine inspiration. That, however, insures\nonly the accuracy of the facts, the statement of the truth as contained\nin the Nephite record, not directness, accuracy, or charm of literary\nstyle. As for circumlocution in the expression of thought, that is but\nnatural to one possessed of only a limited vocabulary. The existence\nof circumlocution, therefore, in the Book of Mormon is in harmony with\nand helps to illustrate what in these pages has been contended for, as\nto the manner in which the Book of Mormon was translated, and the fact\nthat the Prophet Joseph was left to express the thought he received\nfrom the Nephite record in such language as he could command; which\ntheory of translation once accepted, I here repeat, makes easy an\nanswer to all the objections urged upon the ground of literary defects\nin the Book of Mormon.\n\n24. See translator's preface and title page of the \"Authorized English\nVersion.\"\n\n25. Hyde's \"Mormonism,\" chapters ix, x, xi.\n\n26. \"Golden Bible,\" chapter vii.\n\n27. Linn's \"Story of the Mormons,\" chapter xi.\n\n28. \"Improvement Era,\" Vol. VIII (1904), pp. 180, 181.\n\n29. When the translators of our English Bible found it necessary to\nsupply words to make clear the meaning in English, they printed those\nwords in italics, and it is to these words that reference is made in\nthe above.\n\n30. The addition of the words in this verse, \"who come unto me,\" are\nimportant. Surely, it is not enough for man to be merely poor in\nspirit. Not on that hinges salvation. A man can be poor in spirit and\nstill fail of salvation; but \"blessed are the poor in spirit 'who\ncome unto me,' for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,\" is a reasonable\ndoctrine.\n\n31. Verses four and five in the \"Douay\" version are transposed, hence\nverse 5 here.\n\n32. The addition of the words, \"with the Holy Ghost\" are important to\nthis passage, for they make the statement of Messiah more definite, and\ntake the passage out of all controversy as to what those who hunger and\nthirst after righteousness shall be filled with. They shall be filled\nwith the Holy Ghost, the spiritual power that makes for righteousness.\n\n33. Observe that this and the remaining passages quoted from the Book\nof Mormon are addressed directly to the Twelve Apostles, to whom\nespecially they apply, not to the multitude. May it not be that when\nJesus gave the same instructions in Judea he made a like distinction?\nIf so, it was to the Twelve that he said: \"Take no thought for the\nmorrow; for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself.\nSufficient is the day unto the evil thereof.\" That is a passage of\nscripture against which infidels have leveled their sarcasms ever\nsince it was written. They have denounced it as instruction utterly\nimpractical; as false in theory, as it would be impossible to practice;\nand as giving the evidence that Jesus was a mere idle dreamer, not a\npractical reformer. For, say they, this doctrine of taking no thought\nof the morrow, and taking no thought respecting food and raiment, if\napplied to the world's affairs, would turn the wheels of progress\nbackward, and plunge the world into a state of barbarism. There could\nbe no civilization under such conditions, they argue; and man would go\nback to the condition of the savage. I have never heard a Christian\nargument against that assault that has been an answer to it. But I find\nthe key to the situation in this Book of Mormon version of the passage.\nIt throws a flood of light upon this matter that makes the defense of\nthe doctrine of Christ not only possible but easy against the assaults\nof the infidel world. This instruction about taking no thought for the\nmorrow was not addressed to the multitude, nor is it to be followed\ngenerally by the members of the Church, nor by the people of the world\nat large. Jesus confines his instructions on this head, according to\nthis Book of Mormon version, to the twelve men whom he chose among his\ndisciples, and especially commissioned to go and preach the gospel; he\nadmonishes them to so completely dedicate themselves unto the Lord that\nthey would give no thought to these temporal things, but put heart, and\nsoul into the work of their ministry; and promises that their Father\nin heaven, who knew they had need of food and raiment, would open the\nway for them; and by his bounty and grace would clothe them even as he\nclothed the lilies of the field; and care for them as he cared for the\nbirds of the air. Thus limited to the twelve men especially dedicated\nto God's service, the doctrine is reasonable and practical, and subject\nto no objection that may not be successfully answered.\n\n34. \"Sufficient is the day unto the evil thereof.\" I suggest a\ncomparison here to that found in the other two versions, the\nProtestant, the Catholic. The Protestant: \"Sufficient unto the day is\nthe evil thereof;\" the Catholic: \"Sufficient for the day is the evil\nthereof.\" In the Protestant and Catholic versions you will observe that\nthe evil is made sufficient for the day; in the Book of Mormon version\nthe day is made sufficient for the evil. Three learned commentators\nin collaboration--Jamieson, Fausett, Brown--say of that sentence as\nit stands in the Protestant version: \"An admirable, practical maxim,\nbetter rendered in our version than in any other, not excepting\nthe preceding English ones. Every day brings its own cares, and to\nanticipate is only to doubt them.\" If these learned commentators can\nthus speak in high praise of the saying of the Savior as it stands in\nMatthew, how much more reason they would have for praising it as it is\nfound in the Book of Mormon!\n\n35. Or it may be that the changes occurred to the inspired mind of the\nProphet when reading the English version, without referring to the\nNephite plates. In this connection it is to be remembered that the\nProphet, 1831-1833, was engaged in such an inspired \"revision\" of the\nOld and New Testament, sometimes miscalled a \"New Translation\" of the\nBible. It is more proper, however, to speak of it as a \"revision,\"\nas the Prophet did not at any time pretend to the knowledge of the\nancient languages that would enable him to translate from the Hebrew\nor Greek, as translation is commonly understood. What he did was to\nrevise the English text of the Bible under the inspiration of God, and\nthat led him not only to give different renderings of various passages,\nbut also to supply missing parts made known to him by the inspiration\nof God. The fact that he thus made a \"revision\" of the scriptures\nrather inclines one to the belief that when he turned from the Nephite\nrecords, to what must have been substantially parallel passages in the\nEnglish version, the changes were suggested to him in this manner;\nthat is, by the inspiration of the Lord operating in his mind when\nreading the English text. And indeed, may it not be possible that these\nchanges suggested by the Spirit when reading the English text, during\nthe translation of the Book of Mormon, led him finally to attempt the\nrevision of the whole body of the Hebrew scriptures from the English\ntext? It is interesting to note that it was by such an inspiration in\nrelation to the 29th verse of the 5th chapter of John's Gospel, that\nled not only to a different reading of the text, but also to that\nmarvelous vision of the future state of man, and the different degrees\nof glory that he will inherit. The text in the English version stands,\n\"And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection\nof life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of\ndamnation.\" To the Prophet it was given, \"and shall come forth, they\nwho have done good in the resurrection of the just; and they who have\ndone evil in the resurrection of the unjust;\" then followed the vision.\n\n36. The correspondence in full is to be found in the \"Improvement Era\"\nfor January, 1904, pp. 179-196.\n\n37. For confirmation of the likelihood of his taking such a course, see\nhis letter to the saints in Nauvoo on the subject of baptism for the\ndead (Doc. & Cov., Sec. 128: 17, 18). He quotes the 5th and 6th verses\nof the last chapter of Malachi, precisely as it reads in the authorized\nEnglish version, and then adds: \"I might have rendered a plainer\ntranslation to this, but it is sufficiently plain to suit my purpose as\nit stands.\" Long before Moroni had given him a different rendition as\nfollows:\n\n BIBLE. MORONI.\n\n \"Behold I will send you Elijah, \"Behold, I will reveal unto\n the prophet, before the you the Priesthood by the hand\n coming of the great and terrible of Elijah, the prophet, before\n day of the Lord; the coming of the great and\n dreadful day of the Lord.\n\n \"And he shall turn the heart \"And he shall plant in the\n of the fathers to the children, hearts of the children the\n and the heart of the children promises made to the fathers,\n to their fathers, lest I come and and the hearts of the children\n smite the earth with a curse. shall turn to their fathers; if\n it were not so, the whole earth\n would be utterly wasted at his\n coming.\"\n\nAnd yet the prophet used the passage as it is found in Malachi, since\nit suited the prophet's purpose as it stood.\n\n38. The Rev. M. T. Lamb, author of the \"Golden Bible, or the Book of\nMormon. Is it from God,\" delivering a lecture in the town of Coalville,\nUtah, had the following experience: In the course of his remarks the\nreverend gentleman related how he had sat down to read the Book of\nMormon for the purpose of really ascertaining for himself if it were\ntrue or false. He related how he found on the very first page of the\nbook the statement that Lehi's family consisted of his wife Sariah,\nand his four sons, Laman, Lemuel, Sam and Nephi. \"Sam, Sam,\" said he,\n\"that sounds familiar! Sam, it occurs to me that I have heard that\nname somewhere before! Sam! Oh, yes, I remember, 'Sam' is the Yankee\nnickname for Samuel! Right then and there,\" said the speaker, \"I had\nmy doubts as to this book being a genuine, ancient record, since I\nfound a modern Yankee contraction of a proper name given as the name of\nan ancient personage!\" At the conclusion of his remarks the reverend\ngentleman gave opportunity for questions on the subject of his lecture.\nWhereupon, Elder W. W. Cluff of the \"Mormon\" faith, arose, and in the\ncourse of a good-natured and informal discussion he asked the Rev.\nMr. Lamb what he would think of a person who would sit down and begin\nan examination of the pentateuch--the books accredited to Moses, and\nthe most ancient of the Hebrew scriptures (except, perhaps, the book\nof Job), to ascertain its truth, and coming to the enumeration of the\nnames of the sons of Jacob finds one of them named \"Dan.\" \"Dan, Dan,\"\nsays this supposed investigator, \"Dan, why it seems to me that I have\nheard that name before! sounds familiar! Oh, I remember now, 'Dan'\nis the Yankee nickname for 'Daniel.' Therefore the writings of Moses\ncannot be genuine, because here is a Yankee nickname given as the\nname of a very ancient personage, therefore these alleged writings of\nMoses must be modern; hence, not what they have claimed to be, ancient\ninspired scriptures!\" It is needless to say that the Rev. M. T. Lamb\nhad nothing further to say on this point. The simple parallel was too\nmuch for him.\n\n39. Linn's \"Story of the Mormons,\" p. 96.\n\n40. \"Through nature to nature's God\" is another instance referred to\nby many anti-Mormon writers as being in the Book of Mormon (although\nthis writer has failed to find it), and is also in Pope's Essay on man.\n\"The God of nature suffers\" (First Nephi 19: 11-12), an expression used\nby the first Nephi, quoting the words of the prophet Zenos; this, be\nit remembered, several hundred years before Christ. This expression\nis accredited to Dionysius, the areopagite, supposed to be living at\nthe time of the Savior's death on the cross, and who, as he beheld the\nsun hide its face, and witnessed the bursting of the rocks and felt\nthe earth tremble, exclaimed: \"Either the God of Nature suffers or the\nuniverse is falling apart.\" And it is sneeringly urged that \"Nephi,\n2400 years ago, hears the saying of a pagan who lives 634 years after\nhim!\" (Campbell.)\n\n41. Job x: 20-21.\n\n42. Job xvi: 22.\n\n43. It must be remembered that Lehi's colony carried with them, in\ntheir journey to the western hemisphere, the Jewish scriptures extant\nup to 600 B. C., which scriptures doubtless included the book of Job;\nhence my remark that Lehi was doubtless familiar with Job's reflection\nconcerning death--of his going whence he would not return.\n\n44. I Nephi 22: 21. II Nephi 31: 5-10.\n\n45. Such, substantially, is a suggestion made by Mr. H. Chamberlain,\nEsq., whom I have quoted before in this chapter.\n\n46. In the course of a brief discussion of the Book of Mormon, carried\non through one of the leading journals of Salt Lake City, with an\n\"Unknown\" writer, the following rule of criticism, on the objection\ndiscussed in the text, was laid down:\n\n\"Any book which professes to have been written in ancient times and yet\nquotes from authors not born until centuries afterwards, is a spurious\nbook.\"\n\nTo which the writer made the following reply:\n\n\"This canon of criticism, however serviceable when applied to books\nin general, can in no sense be made to do service against the Book of\nMormon. When he formulated his canon of criticism, as throughout the\ndiscussion, the 'Unknown' failed to recognize the fact that, while\nthe Book of Mormon is an ancient book, it is largely a prophetic\nbook; and the strongest complaint that can be made against it along\nthe line of the 'Unknown's' criticism is that some of its prophecies\nare here and there translated in phraseology somewhat similar to that\nof writers living subsequent to the period in which it was written.\nIn explanation of this fact I have urged that the translator, Joseph\nSmith, being acquainted with the New Testament [and to a limited extent\nwith the popular phrases of some modern writers] and his diction being\ninfluenced by the phraseology of those writers, sometimes expressed the\nthoughts and predictions of the ancient writers in the New Testament\nphrases. So that the question at issue at this point of the discussion\nis, first, whether the ancient writers in the Book of Mormon could have\nbeen acquainted with the events, to them then future, found recorded in\nthe Book of Mormon, and is the theory reasonable that in translating\ntheir statement of these events Joseph Smith's diction would be\ninfluenced by the phraseology of the New Testament? In dealing with\nthe question of the New Testament phraseology in the Book of Mormon it\nis Joseph Smith that has to be dealt with, not Nephi [or other Book of\nMormon writers], the translator, not the original writers.\"\n\nThe whole controversy, consisting of four papers, will be found in the\nwriter's \"Defense of the Faith and the Saints.\" Vol. I. pp. 313-354.\n\n47. Isaiah chapter 48 is found in I. Nephi, chapter 20; Isaiah 49 in I.\nNephi 21; Isaiah 50 in II. Nephi, 7; Isaiah 51 in II. Nephi, 8; Isaiah\n53 in Mosiah 14; Isaiah 52:9, 10; in III. Nephi 18-20; Isaiah 54 in\nIII. Nephi 22.\n\n48. Driver's Introduction to the Literature of the Old\nTestament--Isaiah, p. 230.\n\n49. Driver's Introduction, pp. 336, 337.\n\n50. Ibid. p. 238.\n\n51. Ibid., p. 242.\n\n52. Jamieson-Faussett-Brown Commentary, Introduction to Isaiah.\n\n53. Antiquities of the Jews, Book XI., chapter I.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLVII.\n\nOBJECTIONS TO THE BOOK OF MORMON (Continued).\n\nIV.\n\n_Pre-Christian Era Knowledge of the Gospel_.\n\nAmong the early objections to the Book of Mormon, supposed to be\nunanswerable, was that based upon the fact that the Nephites hundreds\nof years before the birth of Christ had knowledge of him and the\nredemption he would bring to pass for man, and the means of grace\nthrough which salvation would be accomplished. In fact, that they had\nknowledge of the Christian institution. \"He,\" (Joseph Smith) \"represents\nthe Christian institution,\" says Alexander Campbell, \"as practiced\namong his Israelites before Christ was born! And his Jews are called\n'Christians' while keeping the law of Moses, the Holy Sabbath, and\nworship in their temple, at their altars, and by their High Priest!\"\n\nOf late, however, not so much importance has been attached to this\nobjection. It is becoming more and more recognized as a truth that the\ngospel of Christ was known from very ancient times, from before the\nfoundations of the world in fact. Jesus, in scripture, is known as the\n\"Lamb slain from before the foundations of the world,\" and certain ones\nare spoken of as having their names written in the \"Book of Life\" from\nthe foundation of the world. [1]\n\nPaul speaks of the hope of \"eternal life, which God that cannot lie,\npromised before the world began.\" [2] Men were not left in ignorance of\nthe plan of their redemption until the coming of the Messiah in the\nflesh, even in the old world. Our annals are imperfect on that head,\ndoubtless, but enough evidence exists even in the Jewish scriptures to\nindicate the existence of the knowledge of the fact of the Atonement\nand of the redemption of man through that means. Abel, the son of\nAdam, offered the firstlings of his flock as a sacrifice unto God. How\ncame he to make such an offering, except that behind the sacrifice,\nas behind similar offerings in subsequent ages, stood the fact of the\nChrist's Atonement? In such sacrifice, was figured forth the means of\nman's redemption--through a sacrifice, and that the sacrifice of the\nfirst-born. Paul also refers to the sacrifices and other things of the\nlaw of Moses as \"having a shadow of good things to come.\" [3] But where\nlearned Abel to offer sacrifices if not from his father, Adam? It is\nreasonably certain that Adam as well as Abel offered sacrifices, in\nlike manner and for the same intent. Paul bears unmistakable testimony\nto the fact that the gospel was preached unto Abraham; and also\nthat it was offered to Israel under Moses before \"the law of carnal\ncommandments\" was given. \"I would not that ye should be ignorant,\" he\nsays, \"how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed\nthrough the sea; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in\nthe sea; and did all eat the same spiritual meat; and did all drink\nthe same spiritual drink; for they drank of that spiritual Rock that\nfollowed them, and that Rock was Christ.\" [4]\n\nPaul's great controversy with the Christian Jews was in relation to the\nsuperiority of the gospel to the law of Moses. Many of the Christian\nJews, while accepting Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Messiah, still\nheld to the law with something like superstitious reverence, and could\nnot be persuaded that the gospel superseded the law, and was, in fact,\na fulfillment of all its types and symbols. This controversy culminated\nin Paul's now celebrated letter to the Galatians, wherein he says:\n\n Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the\n children of Abraham. And the scriptures, foreseeing that God would\n justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto\n Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. Now to\n Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He sayeth not And to\n seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.\n And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of\n God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years\n after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none\n effect. Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of\n transgression, till the seed should come to whom the promise was\n made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.\n Wherefore the law was our school-master to bring us unto Christ,\n that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come,\n we are no longer under a school-master. For ye are all the children\n of God by faith in Christ Jesus.\n\nAfter this testimony to the knowledge of the gospel existing among\nthe ancients, it is useless for modern critics of the Book of Mormon\nto complain of the knowledge of the Christian institution possessed\nby the Nephites, and the fact that the Book of Mormon proclaims the\nexistence of that knowledge. If it shall be said that the Nephites had\nclearer conceptions of it than the people inhabiting the old world,\nthat fact would arise not out of God's unwillingness to make known the\ngreat truth, but to the fact that the Nephites succeeded in living more\nnearly within his favor; and hence their clearer knowledge of the truth.\n\nIt should be remembered that prophecy is but history reversed. Known\nunto God are all his works and words from the beginning to the end; and\nat various times he has made known future events in the clearest manner\nto his prophets who, under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, have\nrecorded them. The Prophet Isaiah, 150 years before the birth of Cyrus,\nforetold his name; declared that he should subdue kingdoms, including\nBabylon, set free the people of God held in bondage there, and rebuild\nthe House of the Lord at Jerusalem. And all this as clearly as the\nhistorians could write it after the events themselves took place. To\nDaniel he revealed the rise, fall and succession of the leading empires\nand nations of the world, even to the time of the establishment of\nGod's Kingdom in power to hold universal sway in the latter days, an\nevent not yet fulfilled.\n\nIt is clearer even from the Hebrew scriptures that the Lord has\nbeen willing, and even anxious, that a knowledge of the Christian\ninstitution should be had among men from the beginning. To the prophets\nof Israel, in fact, nearly every important event in the life of the\nSavior was made known. They foretold that he would be born of a virgin;\nthat his name would signify \"God with us;\" that Bethlehem would be the\nplace of his birth; that he would sojourn in Egypt with his parents;\nthat he would reside in Nazareth, for \"He shall be called a Nazarene;\"\nthat a messenger would prepare the way before him; that he should\nride in triumph into Jerusalem upon a colt, the foal of an ass; that\nhe would be afflicted and despised; that he would be a man of sorrows\nand acquainted with grief; that he would be despised and rejected of\nmen; that men would turn their faces from him in his affliction; that\nhe would be esteemed as stricken and smitten of God; that he would be\nwounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities; that the\nchastisement of us men would be laid upon him, and by his stripes would\nbe healed; that upon him would God lay the iniquity of us all; that\nfor the transgressions of God's peoples would he be stricken; that he\nwould be oppressed and afflicted, yet open not his mouth; that as a\nsheep before her shearers is dumb, so would he be silent before his\njudges; that he would be betrayed for thirty pieces of silver; that men\nwould divide his raiment and cast lots for his vesture; that they would\ngive to him gall and vinegar to drink; that not a bone of him should\nbe broken; that he should be taken from prison and from judgment, and\nbe cut out of the land of the living; that he would make his grave\nwith the wicked and the rich in his death; but notwithstanding this\nhe should not see corruption (i. e., his body decay), and that on the\nthird day following his death he should rise triumphant from the grave.\nAll this and much more was foretold by the ancient Hebrew prophets\nconcerning the Messiah. This is prophetic history.\n\nIn like manner to the Nephites his prophetic history was made known,\nand is found in the Book of Mormon in some instances in greater\nplainness than in the Old Testament, because, for one thing--in\naddition to the suggestion made that the Nephites may have lived nearer\nto the Lord than other branches of the house of Israel--the Nephite\nscriptures have not passed through the hands of an Aristobulus, a Philo\nand other rabbis, who by interpretation or elimination have taken away\nsome of the plain and precious parts of the Jewish scriptures. Surely\nif the Lord revealed to the Jewish prophets these leading events in the\nhistory of the Savior ages before the Messiah's birth, it ought not to\nbe thought a strange thing if God imparted the same knowledge to the\nNephite prophets. Nor can the fact that he did so, and that in plainer\nterms than in the revelations to the Jews, be held as valid objections\nto the Book of Mormon.\n\nV.\n\n_The Unlawfulness of Establishing the Priesthood With Other Than the\nTribe of Levi_.\n\nSomewhat akin to the objections last considered is one based upon the\nclaim that it would be unlawful to establish a Priesthood other than\nthat founded by Moses, when he chose the tribe of Levi to officiate in\nholy ordinances. In order that this objection, however, may be stated\nin its full force I quote it as set forth by Alexander Campbell, not\neven omitting the unfortunate coarseness of his language which was so\nunworthy of his character, and which I assign to the spirit of those\ntimes when coarseness was so often mistaken for forcefulness.\n\n Smith, its real author [i. e., of the Book of Mormon], as ignorant\n and as impudent a knave as ever wrote a book, betrays the cloven\n foot in basing his whole book upon a false fact, or a pretended\n fact, which makes God a liar. It is this: with the Jews God made a\n covenant at Mount Sinai, and instituted a priesthood, he separated\n Levi, and covenanted to give him this office irrevocably while\n ever the temple stood, or till the Messiah came. \"Then,\" says God,\n \"Moses shall appoint Aaron and his sons and they shall wait on the\n priest's office, and the stranger (the person of another family)\n who cometh nigh shall be put to death.\" (Numbers iii: 10.) \"And\n the priests and sons of Levi shall come near; for them the Lord\n thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name\n of the Lord, and by their word shall every controversy and every\n stroke be tried.\" (Deut. xxi: 5). Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, with\n 250 men of renown, rebelled against a part of the institution of\n the Priesthood, and the Lord destroyed them in the presence of the\n whole congregation. This was to be a memorial that no stranger\n invade any part of the office of the Priesthood. (Numbers xvi: 40).\n Fourteen thousand and seven hundred of the people were destroyed by\n a plague for murmuring against the memorial.\n\n In the 18th chapter of Numbers the Levites are again given to Aaron\n and his sons, and of the priesthood confirmed to them with this\n threat--\"The stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.\"\n \"Even Jesus,\" says Paul, \"were he on earth, could not be a priest;\n for he was of a tribe concerning which Moses spake nothing of\n priesthood.\" (Heb. vii: 13). So irrevocable was the grant of the\n priesthood to Levi, and of the high priesthood to Aaron, that no\n stranger dare approach the altar of God which Moses established.\n Hence Jesus himself was excluded from officiating as priest on\n earth according to the law.\n\n This Joseph Smith overlooked in his impious fraud, and makes his\n hero, Lehi, spring from Joseph. And just as soon as his sons return\n from the roll of his lineage, ascertaining that he was of the\n tribe of Joseph, he and his sons acceptably \"offer sacrifices and\n burnt offerings to the Lord.\" (p. 15, first edition.) [5] Also it\n is repeated (p. 18)--Nephi became chief artificer, shipbuilder,\n and mariner; was scribe, prophet, priest, and king unto his own\n people, and \"consecrated Jacob and Joseph, the sons of his father,\n priests to God and teachers--almost 600 years before the fulness\n of the times of the Jewish economy was completed. (p. 72.) Nephi\n represents himself withal \"as under the law of Moses\" (p. 105).\n They built a new temple in the new world, and in 55 years after\n they leave Jerusalem, make a new priesthood which God approbates.\n A high priest is also consecrated and yet they are all the while\n \"teaching the law of Moses, and exhorting the people to keep it!\"\n (pp. 146, 209.) Thus God is represented as instituting, approbating\n and blessing a new priesthood from the tribe of Joseph, concerning\n which Moses gave no commandment concerning priesthood. Although God\n had promised in the law of Moses that if any man, not of the tribe\n and family of Levi and Aaron should approach the office of priest,\n he would surely die; he is represented by Smith as blessing,\n approbating, and sustaining another family in this appropriated\n office. The God of Abraham or Joseph Smith must, then, be a liar!\n And who will hesitate to pronounce him an imposter? This lie runs\n through his record for the first 600 years of his history.\n\nI have stated this objection, at length, because much importance has\nbeen attached to it and many have regarded it as unanswerable. I\nconsider its importance has been exaggerated, and the whole objection\nbased upon conceptions of the right and power of God and his freedom of\naction, as altogether too narrow and dogmatic.\n\nIt is to be observed, first of all, that the inhibitions against others\nbeing appointed to the priesthood that was given to Aaron and the\nLevites, are inhibitions against \"men\" assuming the right to institute\nany other order of priesthood in Israel, or to grant the rights of\nthis priesthood to any other tribe than that appointed by the Lord.\nBecause of these inhibitions against \"men\" presuming to change the\norder which God has established, to therefore assume that God, to meet\nother conditions--such as these, for instance in the establishment of\na branch of the house of Israel in the new world--the case of Lehi\nand his colony--that God cannot make such changes in the matter of\nestablishing a priesthood as seemeth him good, is preposterous.\n\nI think the argument of this point might be closed here, for surely no\none would be so unreasonable as to contend that the inhibitions which\nGod imposes upon men are to be made operative upon himself.\n\nIn the treatment of the objection preceding the one now under\nconsideration I pointed out the fact of the antiquity of the gospel,\nshowing that even unto Abraham the gospel had been preached, and that\nthe law of Moses, usually called the law of carnal commandments, had\nbeen \"added\" to the gospel because of the transgressions of Israel,\nfrom which fact it is evident that the gospel was administered in those\nancient, patriarchial times. It was a higher law than the law of Moses.\nIt was the everlasting covenant of God with man and the blood of Christ\nis spoken of as being the blood of that everlasting covenant. [6] There\nwas a priesthood that administered the ordinances of that gospel, and\nas the gospel was a higher law than the law of Moses, it is reasonable\nto conclude that the priesthood which administered in those ordinances\nwas a higher order of priesthood than that conferred upon Aaron and\nthe tribe of Levi, and undoubtedly the higher priesthood could, on\noccasion, administer in the ordinances of the inferior law. It was,\ndoubtless, this higher order of Priesthood that such characters as\nAbraham, Melchizedek, and other prophets in Israel held, and by which\nthey administered in sacred things. It was this order of priesthood\nthat was held by Lehi and Nephi, and which the latter conferred upon\nhis brothers, Jacob, and Joseph. [7] The former referring to his\npriesthood says, that he had been \"ordained after the manner of this\n(the Lord's) holy order,\" that being the way in which this higher\npriesthood, of which I am speaking, is designated throughout the Book\nof Mormon. [8] Called also a priesthood \"after the order of the Son of\nGod.\" It was this priesthood, therefore, that was conferred upon the\nNephites--not the Aaronic priesthood--and by which they officiated in\nsacred things; of things pertaining to the gospel as well as to the\nlaw given of Moses. The justification for administering in the things\nof the law by this priesthood consist in the fact that the superior\nauthority includes all the rights and powers of the inferior authority,\nand certainly possesses the power to do what the inferior authority\ncould do.\n\nIt may be claimed that the inconsistency of the Book of Mormon,\nrelative to this matter, consists in this: It claims that the Nephites\nwere living according to the law of Moses, and the law of Moses\nprovided that the house of Aaron and the tribe of Levi alone should\nexercise the priesthood; whereas, among the Nephites others than\nthe Levites held and exercised the priesthood; technically, that\ninconsistency exists, but it is a technicality and is capable of\nbearing no such weight of argument as Mr. Campbell puts upon it. In\nLehi's colony there was no representative of the tribe of Levi so far\nas known, and hence others had to be chosen to officiate before the\nLord in the priest's office.\n\nThat the Lord in making his covenant with the house of Aaron and the\ntribe of Levi concerning the priesthood reserved to himself the right\non occasion to appoint others to perform priestly functions, even in\nIsrael, in Palestine, is evident from the case of Gideon, the fifth\njudge in Israel after Moses. Gideon was of the tribe of Manasseh, [9]\nand when the Lord would deliver Israel from the oppression of the\nMidianites he sent his angel to this man, and though he was not of the\ntribe to whom the priesthood had been given by covenant, nevertheless,\nthe Lord commanded him to build an altar, and he did so, and called\nit Jehovah-shalom. He also threw down the altar of Baal and built an\naltar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings, all of which were\npriestly functions. [10] Shall these acts be denounced as a violation\nof the covenant of the Lord with Aaron and the tribe of Levi? Shall\nthe angel of the Lord, who commanded Gideon in these priestly things,\nbe declared a spirit of evil, a violator of God's covenant? Shall\nthe book of Judges be rejected as a spurious book, and unworthy of\nbeing accepted as part of the scriptures because it relates these\ncircumstances? In a word, shall we employ against it all the thunder\nof Mr. Campbell's criticism of the Book of Mormon? His criticism would\nbe just as effective against the book of Judges as it is against the\nBook of Mormon, but as a matter of fact it would amount to nothing in\neither case, since the action of Gideon, and also of Lehi and Nephi,\nwere of the Lord's appointing, and the Lord had certainly reserved to\nhimself the right to appoint men other than members of the tribe of\nLevi when occasion should require, though he had forbidden \"men\" to\nappoint priests other than from that tribe. This was to avoid confusion\nand the bringing into existence rival priesthoods among God's people,\nbut certainly when the Lord conferred a higher order of priesthood upon\nthe Nephites, under which they were to operate in the New World, there\nwas no infringement of the rights of the tribe of Levi. It was no more\na violation of the covenant the Lord made with the tribe of Levi, than\nit would be for the Lord to appoint an inhabitant of Mars to that order\nof priesthood and give him the right of administration in that distant\nworld.\n\nThe whole objection is captious, and manifests the weakness of the\nobjections urged against the Book of Mormon, since so great stress must\nneeds be laid upon this supposed contradiction of the Bible covenant.\n\nIn his objections to the Book of Mormon, in addition to those already\nnoted, Mr. Campbell also lays stress upon the departure of Lehi from\nJerusalem, and also the establishment of a temple and its service in\nthe New World, as a great violation of God's covenant with Israel. \"To\nrepresent God,\" he says, \"as inspiring a devout Jew [Lehi was not a\nJew, by the way, but of the tribe of Manasseh] and a prophet, such as\nLehi and Nephi are represented by Smith, with resolution to forsake\nJerusalem and God's own house, and to depart from the land which God\ngave to their fathers so long as they were obedient; and to guide by\nmiracle and bless by prodigies a good man in forsaking God's covenant\nand worship, is so monstrous an error that language fails to afford a\nname for it.\"\n\nOne can scarce refrain from characterizing this sort of criticism as\nnonsense. Nor does it represent the facts in the case. Lehi was not\nforsaking God's covenant nor worship; he was leaving Jerusalem by the\nLord's own commandment at a time when God's judgment was about to\nfall and shortly afterwards did fall upon the place, so that it was\nno great calamity that was happening to Lehi's righteous colony to be\ntaken from such a place and brought to the great American continents,\nagreeable to the covenants of the Lord with the house of Joseph,\nLehi's ancestor. [11] The establishment of a temple in the New World\nwas a necessity to this colony, but Mr. Campbell, together with all\nwho have followed him in this and similar objections, seem determined\nto so limit the power of God that they will not allow of him making\nprovisions to meet such occasions.\n\nVI.\n\n_Nephite Knowledge of the \"Call of the Gentiles.\"_\n\nMuch stress is laid by Mr Campbell and others upon what Paul says\nrespecting the \"call\" of the Gentiles to the grace of the gospel of\nChrist, \"which in other ages,\" says Paul, \"was not made know unto the\nsons of men as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets\nby the Spirit: that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the\nsame body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.\" [12]\n\nThe making this truth known to the world, according to Mr. Campbell's\nviews of Paul's declaration was reserved to Paul and his fellow\napostles of that dispensation. \"But Smith,\" remarks Mr. Campbell,\n\"makes his pious hero Nephi 600 years before the Messiah began to\npreach, disclose these secrets concerning the calling of the Gentiles,\nand blessings flowing through the Messiah to Jews and Gentiles, which\nPaul says was hid from ages and generations.\" [13]\n\nThis objection could be disposed of in several ways. First, it could\nbe held that when Paul, and the other apostles of the old world, spoke\nconcerning the development of the work of the Lord in that land, they\nwere limited by their knowledge of the world. They did not speak with\nreference to the people inhabiting the American continents who were\nunknown to them. For example, when Paul said:\n\n Be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which ye have heard,\n and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven;\n whereof I Paul am made a minister. [14]\n\nNo one for a moment thinks Paul had in mind the inhabitants of the\nwestern hemisphere when he said, \"the Gospel was preached to every\ncreature which is under heaven.\" He had reference to the world with\nwhich he was acquainted, as he knew the world.\n\nSecond, it could be held that the knowledge of this mystery revealed to\nthe Nephites by no means interfered with the purposes of God in keeping\nthat matter hidden from the Gentiles and the world. The fact made known\nto the Nephites never reached the Gentiles until after the publication\nof the Book of Mormon, in 1830, long ages after Paul had published the\nfact to the Gentile world. What was revealed to the Nephites in no way\ndetracted from the glory of Paul and the other apostles, making known\nthe mystery of God's grace to the Gentiles.\n\nThird. It could be held that Paul meant that himself and fellow\napostles knew in a different way that the Gentiles were to be fellow\nheirs with the house of Israel in the privileges of the gospel. Indeed,\nI think this must be the solution of the matter, for Mr. Campbell's\nversion of it would bring Paul and Isaiah into pronounced conflict\nwith each other, and prove that one or the other of them did not speak\nby the inspiration of God. That it was revealed to the ancients that\nthe Gentiles were to partake of the advantages of Christ's atonement,\nand have part in the salvation that is possible though it is evident\nfrom the following passages, which all allow makes direct reference to\nChrist and his mission.\n\n I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine\n hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the\n people, for a light of the Gentiles. [15]\n\nAgain:\n\n And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant\n to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of\n Israel; I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that\n thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth. [16]\n\nIn the light of these revelations, concerning the part the Gentiles\nwere to have in the salvation that comes through Christ, it can\nscarcely be said that this \"mystery,\" was not revealed in ages previous\nto the days of Paul; but it could be said, and this I contend is what\nPaul meant, that it was not as fully known in former ages that the\nGentiles were \"to be fellow heirs and of the same body, and partakers\nof his promise in Christ by the gospel.\" Before Paul's time it was only\nin prophecy that this was known; but after his day it was known both in\nprophecy and as accomplished fact.\n\nVII.\n\n_The Difficulty of the Three Days Darkness_.\n\nAn effort is sometimes made to bring the Book of Mormon into\ncontradiction with the New Testament in the matter of \"three days\ndarkness,\" connected with the death of Jesus. The objection was\nrecently stated in these terms:\n\n In Helaman xiv: 20-27, and in I. Nephi xix: 10, we read about three\n days of darkness which should cover \"all the earth,\" and the isles\n of the sea at the crucifixion of the Savior. Neither the Bible nor\n history speaks of three days of darkness on the eastern hemisphere,\n hence it did not cover \"all the earth\" as we understand it.\n\nThe objection as here stated, and the argument to be inferred from it,\nis: the Book of Mormon says that at the crucifixion of Messiah there\nwill be three days of darkness that will cover all the face of the\nearth and the isles of the sea. History and the Bible are silent about\nsuch an event; therefore, the Book of Mormon makes a false statement\nand must itself be untrue, and consequently uninspired, and is not at\nall what it claims to be, viz., a record of the ancient inhabitants of\nAmerica, and brought forth by the power of God for the enlightenment\nand instruction of the world.\n\nThis statement of the objection differs a little from the ordinary\nmanner in which the objection is made. Objectors usually try to make\nit appear that the Book of Mormon's statement that there were three\ndays darkness in the Western World during the time Messiah was in the\ntomb is in conflict with the New Testament's statement that there were\nthree hours darkness during the crucifixion; but the fact that the New\nTestament refers to an event that took place while Jesus hung upon the\ncross in Judea, and the Book of Mormon statement refers to an event\nthat took place after his crucifixion, while he was lying in the tomb,\nand in the western hemisphere, instead of at Jerusalem, it must be\napparent that there is no conflict between the two accounts.\n\nBut now to meet the objection as here presented. All that is necessary\nwill be to present just exactly what the Book of Mormon does say with\nreference to the three days of darkness:\n\n The God of our fathers * * * * yieldeth himself, according to the\n words of the angel, as a man into the hands of wicked men to be\n lifted up according to the words of Zenock, and to be crucified\n according to the words of Neum, and to be buried in a sepulchre,\n according to the words of Zenos, which he spake, concerning the\n three days of darkness which should be a sign given of his death,\n unto those who should inhabit the isles of the sea, more especially\n given unto those who are of the House of Israel. [17]\n\nThis is one of the passages referred to in the objection, but there\nis nothing here about the three days of darkness extending over \"the\nwhole face of the earth.\" It speaks of it as extending to the isles\nof the sea; i. e. to lands distant from Jerusalem beyond the seas--to\nthose more especially inhabited by the house of Israel. In passing, and\nmerely by the way, it may be interesting to call attention to the fact\nthat here are three Hebrew prophets referred to by Nephi--Zenock, Neum,\nand Zenos--each of whom had recorded an important prophecy respecting\nthe coming and mission of Christ; and had not the Jews eliminated the\nbooks of these prophets from their collection of scriptures, it could\nnot have then been said, as it is now said, that the Bible is silent\nrespecting these three days of darkness, which were to be a sign of the\nMessiah's death; for then they would have had the words of Zenos that\nthere was to be such a sign given in the isles of the sea, inhabited by\nthe house of Israel.\n\n Behold, as I said unto you concerning another sign, a sign of his\n death, behold in that day that he shall suffer death, the sun shall\n be darkened and refuse to give his light unto you, and also the\n moon, and the stars also; and there shall be no light upon the\n face of this land, even from the time that he shall suffer death,\n for the space of three days, to the time that he shall rise again\n from the dead. * * * And behold thus hath the angel * * said unto\n me, that these things should be, and that darkness shall cover the\n face of the whole earth for the space of three days. And the angel\n said unto me, that many shall see greater things than these, to the\n intent that they might believe that these signs and these wonders\n come to pass upon all the face of this land. (Helaman, 20:28.)\n\nThis is the other passage quoted, and in it is found the phrase, \"that\ndarkness shall cover the face of the whole earth for the space of three\ndays.\" But it should be remembered that this is preceded by a statement\nconcerning the three days darkness that limits this otherwise general\nstatement, namely, \"and there shall be no light upon the face of this\nland\"--meaning America--\"for the space of three days.\" This clearly\nlimits the particular sign under consideration to America and the\nadjacent islands of the sea, in other words, to the western hemisphere.\nMoreover, the phrase, \"that darkness shall cover the face of the whole\nearth,\" is followed as well as preceded by the limiting clause--\"these\nsigns and these wonders\"--namely, the three hours of tempest and of\nearthquake followed by the three days of darkness--\"shall come to pass\nupon all the face of this land\"--meaning of course, America.\n\nThen again, when the prophecy is left and you turn to the history\nof its fulfillment, the whole of the thrilling narrative is clearly\nconfined to the statement of events that occurred in the lands occupied\nby the Nephites--that is, to the western hemisphere. Yet in that\nnarrative is found the same form of expression as in the prophecy of\nSamuel, the Lamanite. While describing events that are clearly confined\nto Nephite lands, Mormon says: \"and thus the face of the whole earth\nbecame deformed because of the tempests and the thunderings and the\nlightnings. * * * And behold the rocks were rent in twain; they were\nbroken up upon all the face of the whole earth.\"--(III. Nephi, 8:\n17, 18). Now did the prophet really mean that the convulsions he was\ndescribing extended to Europe and Asia and Africa because he said \"the\nrocks were broken upon the face of the whole earth?\" No; you limit the\ngeneral expression here by the facts of the whole circumstance under\nconsideration, so that \"broken up upon the face of the whole earth,\"\nmeans upon the face of the whole earth so far as the Nephite lands are\nconcerned--that is the limitation of the general phrase.\n\nAs an example of this kind of interpretation, I introduce a passage or\ntwo from the Bible. Daniel, in giving the interpretation of the king of\nBabylon's dream, says:\n\n Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given\n thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the\n children of men dwell the beasts of the field and the fowls of the\n heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over\n them all. Thou art this head of gold.\n\nDoes this prophecy really mean \"wheresoever the children of men dwell,\"\nthere, too, was the rule and dominion of Nebuchadnezzar? Did he rule\nall of Europe and Africa? Did his dominion extend to the western\nhemisphere, for there the children of men dwelt as well as in Asia?\nIt is a matter of common information that Nebuchadnezzar's dominion\nwas not thus extended, but really was quite limited. What, then? Shall\nwe reject the prophecies of Daniel because a strict and technical\nconstruction of his language does not meet the facts?\n\nAgain he says, speaking of the political powers that would succeed\nBabylon:\n\n And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and\n another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the\n earth.\n\nThis third kingdom is generally agreed to have reference to the kingdom\nof Alexander; but did Alexander \"bear rule over all the earth?\" Did\nhe bear rule over the western hemisphere? No; nor did he know of its\nexistence. What, then, shall we do with this inspired prophet who\nsays he \"shall bear rule over all the earth?\" Shall we reject him and\nhis book? Or say that his statements do not agree with the facts?\nThat would be absurd. The particular phrase is limited by the general\ncircumstances under which the prophet was speaking. That is of course\ntaken by all who believe the book of Daniel, and it is a course amply\njustified by reason.\n\nAgain, it is recorded in Luke, speaking of the events which happened\nduring the crucifixion of the Savior:\n\n And it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness over all\n the earth until the ninth hour.\n\nDid this inspired writer really have in mind the whole round earth, or\nwas he speaking with reference to what happened right there in Judea\nwhere the main event occurred? Undoubtedly he had reference to what\nhad been stated to him by the eye witnesses of the scene, who merely\nrelated what appeared to them; namely, that a darkness settled down\nover the land, but they were not thinking of the face of the whole\nearth when they told the story to Luke, nor was he when he wrote his\nstatement of the event.\n\nOne other example:\n\n Be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard,\n and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven;\n whereof I Paul am made a minister. (Col. i: 23.)\n\nIs this statement of Paul's literally true? Had the gospel at that\ntime, or, for matter of that, has it at any time since then, been\npreached unto every creature under heaven? Certainly not. And when Paul\nwrote his letter to the Colossians there were millions of the children\nof men, as there are to this day, who never had heard of Messiah or\nthe gospel. Paul could only have meant by this over-statement of the\nmatter, that the gospel had been generally preached in the kingdoms and\nprovinces with which himself and the Colossians were acquainted; and\nno one thinks of rejecting Paul or his books because of such seeming\ninaccuracies. His use of such broad-sweeping phrases are interpreted\nin the light of reason, and limited by the well known circumstances\nunder which he wrote. It should be remembered in this connection,\nthat hyperbole is a habit of speech with oriental peoples, to whom\nthe Jews belonged; and indirectly, too, the Nephites are descendents\nof the same people, and have retained to a large extent the same\nhabits of expression; all of which should be taken into account in the\ninterpretation of the Nephite records as it always is in exegeses of\nthe Hebrew scriptures.\n\nV.\n\n_The Birth of Jesus \"at Jerusalem.\"_\n\nThe following prediction concerning the birth place of Jesus is found\nin the book of Alma.\n\n And behold he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem, which is the\n land of our forefathers.\n\nJesus, it is well known, was born at Bethlehem, Judea, between four\nand five miles south of Jerusalem, really a suburb of the larger city.\nNearly all objectors point to this prophecy as being in contradiction\nof the well attested historical fact of Christ's birth at Bethlehem.\nThe objection is seldom fairly stated. It is charged that the Book of\nMormon says that Jesus was born \"at Jerusalem,\" and Alexander Campbell\nquotes it as being \"in Jerusalem,\" and all omit the qualifying clause\n\"the land of our fathers,\" which clearly indicates that it is not the\n\"city\" which the Nephite historian gives, but the \"land\" in which Jesus\nwould be born.\n\nThis explanation of the supposed difficulty is further strengthened\nwhen it is remembered that it was a custom of the Nephites to name\nlarge districts of country--such as might correspond to provinces and\nprincipalities in other nations--after the chief city of the land:\n\n Now it was the custom of the people of Nephi, to call their lands,\n and their cities, and their villages, yea, even all their small\n villages, after the name of him who first possessed them; and thus\n it was with the land of Ammonihah. [18]\n\nAnd hence, too, came the practice of calling large districts of country\nafter the chief city therein. In this same book of Alma--as throughout\nthe Book of Mormon--we have the city named after the man who founded\nit, and the district of country named from the chief city, thus: \"The\nLand of Zarahemla,\" \"the land of Melek;\" \"the land of Ammonihah;\" \"the\nland of Gideon;\" \"the land of Lehi-Nephi, or the city of Lehi-Nephi;\"\nand so on ad infinitum. It became a habit of speech with them,\nespecially with reference to Jerusalem, whence their forefathers came,\nas witness the following few out of many such quotations that could be\ngiven:\n\n I shall give this people a name, that thereby they may be\n distinguished above all the people which the Lord God hath brought\n out of the land of Jerusalem. (Mosiah 1: 11.)\n\n That same God has brought our fathers out of the land of\n Jerusalem. (Mosiah 7: 20.)\n\n Why will he not show himself in this land, as well as in the land\n of Jerusalem? (Helaman 16: 19).\n\nHence when it is said that Jesus should be born \"at Jerusalem, which is\nthe land of our forefathers,\" the Nephite writer merely conformed to a\nhabit of speech, and meant the \"land\" of Jerusalem, not the \"city.\"\n\nVI.\n\n_The Settlement of Modern Controversies_.\n\n This prophet Smith * * * * wrote on the plates of Nephi, in his\n Book of Mormon, every error and almost every truth discussed\n in New York for the last ten years. He decides all the great\n controversies;--infant baptism, ordination, the trinity,\n regeneration, repentance, justification, the fall of man, the\n atonement, transubstantiation, fasting, penance, church government,\n religious experience, the call to the ministry and general\n resurrection, eternal punishment, who may baptize, and even the\n question of free masonry, republican government, and the rights of\n man. All these topics are repeatedly alluded to.\n\nThen in mockery:\n\n How much more benevolent and intelligent this American Apostle\n than the Holy Twelve and Paul to assist them! He prophesied of all\n these topics, and of the apostasy, and infallibly decides by his\n authority every question. How easy to prophecy of the past or of\n the present time!\n\nSuch the statement of Alexander Campbell in the criticism so often\nquoted in these pages. Some critics of the Book of Mormon have charged\nthat it contained nothing of importance on such matters; [19] nothing\nthat was really worth while considering, but if it considers this long\nlist of subjects enumerated by Mr. Campbell, the charge of not dealing\nwith questions of importance must surely be set aside. As a matter of\nfact, the Book of Mormon deals with at least the most of the subjects\nenumerated, not, however, as they were discussed in New York between\n1820 and 1830, but as they arose in the experience of the ancient\ninhabitants of America, or as the Nephite prophets moved upon by the\nHoly Spirit saw what would arise within the experience of the Gentiles\nwho would inhabit the land. The chief complaint against Mr. Campbell's\nobjection on these points consist in the spirit in which he makes it.\nFor example, the Book of Mormon says nothing of \"free masonry,\" but\nthroughout the work it does discuss the question of secret societies\nthat existed both among the Jaredites and Nephites, which societies\nwere factors in bringing about the overthrow of both these nations; and\nit contains also prophetic warning to the Gentiles against such secret\ncombinations.\n\nIf in the treatment of theological questions and difficulties\nenumerated by Mr. Campbell there appears in the Book of Mormon the\nsame difficulties that have agitated the eastern world, it must be\nremembered that the source of error is the same--the limitation of\nhuman knowledge, reason and judgment; the ever present inclination in\nman to follow after his own devices; and that the same tempter to evil\noperated in the western hemisphere as in the eastern hemisphere, and\nevidently has reproduced the same theological difficulties and led men\ninto the same errors.\n\nTake for example the matter of infant baptism, which Mr. Campbell says\nthe Book of Mormon settles, and indeed it does, by most emphatically\npointing out the error and wickedness of it when the doctrine is made\nto teach the salvation of one innocent child because it is baptized,\nand the eternal damnation of another innocent child because it was\nnot baptized; [20] but the Book of Mormon condemnation of that wicked\ndoctrine was not recorded in its pages because of any controversy\nexisting on the subject in New York, as Mr. Campbell pretends, but\nbecause the Nephite prophets were aroused against this doctrine by\nreason of their people running into the same error--the doctrine of\neternal damnation of unbaptized infants--which burdened the teachings\nof so called Christian Churches. The proof of this statement is in the\nfact that the native Americans at the time of the Spanish invasion\nof their country were practicing infant baptism. The fact is related\nby all the authorities, varying slightly in their description of it,\naccording as they get the tradition from this, that, or the other\nsection of the country. Perhaps, however, Sahagun's description is the\nmost minute and covers the subject more completely than any other of\nthe writers, and hence I give at length the passage on the subject as\nquoted by Prescott in his appendix to the \"Conquest of Mexico.\"\n\n When every thing necessary for the baptism had been made ready, all\n the relations of the child were assembled, and the midwife, who\n was the person that performed the rite of baptism, was summoned.\n At early dawn they met together in the court-yard of the house.\n When the sun had arisen, the midwife, taking the child in her arms,\n called for a little earthen vessel of water, while those about her\n placed the ornaments which had been prepared for the baptism in\n the midst of the court. To perform the rite of baptism, she placed\n herself with her face towards the west, and immediately began to\n go through certain ceremonies. * * * * After this she sprinkled\n water on the head of the infant, saying, \"O, my child! take and\n receive the water of the Lord of the world, which is our life, and\n is given for the increasing and renewing of our body. It is to wash\n and purify. I pray that these heavenly drops may enter into your\n body, and dwell there; that they may destroy and remove from you\n all the evil and sin which was given to you before the beginning\n of the world; since all of us are under its power, being all the\n children of Chalchivitlycue\" (the goddess of water), She then\n washed the body of the child with water, and spoke in this manner:\n \"whencesoever thou comest, thou that are hurtful to this child;\n leave him and depart from him, for he now liveth anew, and is\n born anew; now he is purified and cleansed afresh, and our mother\n Chalchivitycue again bringeth him into the world.\" Having thus\n prayed, the midwife took the child in both hands, and, lifting him\n towards heaven, said, \"O Lord, thou seest here thy creature, whom\n thou hast sent into this world, this place of sorrow, suffering,\n and penitence. Grant him, O Lord, thy gifts, and thine inspiration,\n for thou art the Great God, and with thee is the great goddess.\"\n Torches of pine were kept burning during the performance of these\n ceremonies. When these things were ended, they gave the child the\n name of some one of his ancestors, in the hope that he might shed\n a new lustre over it. The name was given by the same midwife, or\n priestess, who baptized him.\n\nThis is a perverted form of baptism preserved in the customs of the\nnative Americans. The Nephites, in the days of Mormon--and how much\nbefore that is not known--fell into this error of infant baptism and\nwere evidently teaching the damnation of those infants who did not\nreceive that ordinance. When young Moroni was called to the ministry,\nhis father, Mormon, charged him strictly against this error and\nsharply proclaimed against the iniquity of it. Yet it seems to have\npersisted in the customs of the native Americans until we see it in\nthe form represented by Sahagun, though of course it may have received\nmodifications--such for instance as being administered by women--since\nthe period with which the Book of Mormon closes.\n\nIt is in this manner that the Book of Mormon settles the question\nof infant baptism, not, as Mr. Campbell insinuates, viz., that the\nquestion of infant baptism being under discussion in western New York\nJoseph Smith inserted a decision on the controversy in the Book of\nMormon.\n\nFurther in relation to this matter of baptism in the Book of Mormon,\nit does settle the question of the manner of baptism through the\ninstructions which Jesus is represented as giving to the Nephites--and\nwas there a subject in relation to the gospel on which Christians\nneeded instructions more than upon this? And now Jesus to the Nephites:\n\n Verily I say unto you, that whoso repenteth of his sins through\n your words, and desireth to be baptized in my name, on this wise\n shall ye baptize them; behold, ye shall go down and stand in the\n water, and in my name ye shall baptize them. And now behold; these\n are the words which ye shall say, calling them by name, saying.\n \"Having authority given me of Jesus Christ, I baptize you in the\n name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.\"\n And then shall ye immerse them in the water and come forth again\n out of the water.\n\nThere can be no doubt as to the manner of Christian baptism after these\ninstructions from the Master, by those who accept the Book of Mormon\nas an authority. How much wrangling and idle disputation would have\nbeen saved the Christian world if something as definite as this had\nbeen found in the Christian annals of the eastern world! In passing,\nand in proof of the divinity of this ceremonial, I call attention to\nthe simplicity and yet comprehensiveness of it; to the directness of\nit. Place the simplicity and directness of this formula of baptism\nin contrast with Sahagun's description of baptism among the native\nAmericans, or contrast it with the same ceremony as practiced among\nthe paganized Christians of the old world, [21] and the simplicity and\ndignity of the ordinance as given by the Savior to the Nephites will\nnot only appear, but will strongly plead for its divine origin.\n\nI also call attention to the settlement of what Mr. Campbell calls\n\"transubstantiation,\" this is, to the Christian memorial known as the\nLord's supper, about which gathers some of the most vexed questions of\nChristian controversy. For the manner in which this simple memorial of\nChrist's atonement was changed to what was considered a magnificent\nspiritual, yet real sacrifice, the reader is referred to what is said\nin volume I of the New Witness, chapter v. Here I only wish to call\nattention to the simple beauty and comprehensiveness of the prayer\nwhich consecrated the emblems of the body and blood of Christ, found in\nthe Book of Mormon. Trusting to the presence of qualities of simplicity\nand appropriateness to establish the divine origin of said formula,\nwhich result, if accomplished by the citation, will tend also to prove\nthe general claims of the Book of Mormon.\n\nNow the prayer of consecration:\n\n O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son Jesus\n Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those\n who partake of it, that they may eat in remembrance of the body of\n thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that\n they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always\n remember him, and keep his commandments which he hath given them,\n that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.\n\n\"The manner of administering the wine. Behold, they took the cup, and\nsaid:\n\n O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee, in the name of thy Son\n Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this wine to the souls of all\n those who drink of it, that they may do it in remembrance of the\n blood of thy Son, which was shed for them, that they may witness\n unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they do always remember\n him, that they may have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.\n\nOf this formula I have already said what Archdeacon Paley has said of\nthe Lord's prayer, when appealing to its excellence as evidence of its\ndivine origin--\"For a succession of solemn thoughts, for fixing the\nattention on a few great points, for suitableness, for sufficiency,\nfor conciseness without obscurity, for the weight and real importance\nof its petitions, this prayer is without an equal.\" Its composition\nin excellence arises far above any performance that Joseph Smith\ncould be considered equal to, and, in a word, carries within itself\nthe evidence of a divine authorship. Such passages as these need no\nargument in support of their divine origin. We may trust entirely to\nthe self-evidence which breathes through every sentence. A Campbell's\nmockery against such passages amounts to nothing.\n\nVII.\n\n_The Book Contains Nothing New_.\n\nRelative to the objections urged against the Book of Mormon that it\nreveals nothing new, that it adds nothing to our Christian treasury of\nknowledge, in other words, the charge that it contains no revelation--I\nrefer for answer to all that, to what I have said concerning the\nknowledge which the Book of Mormon imparts on so many great and\nimportant subjects in chapters xxxix and xl.\n\nMoreover, objections based upon this plea that the Book of Mormon\nreveals no new moral or religious truth, is a position not well taken\nby Christians at least. It must be conceded that the things which\nChristians would be compelled to allow as the important things for men\nto know--the existence of God the Father; the relationship of Jesus\nChrist to him, and the latter's relationship to men in effecting their\nredemption; the means by which that redemption is achieved; the final\ncoming and universal reign of God's kingdom on earth, etc.,--all these\nimportant truths are repeated in Christ's ministry among the Nephites.\n\nWhen Messiah came to the new world he had the same announcement to make\nconcerning himself and his relations to the world, the same ethical\nand spiritual doctrines to teach; and as he had been accustomed to\nstate these doctrines in brief, aphoristic sentences while in Judea,\nit is not strange that the same things were given to the Nephites in\ntheir language much in the same form. In a word, he not only had the\nsame revelation to make to the inhabitants in the western hemisphere\nas to those in the eastern hemisphere, the same religion to teach, and\ntherefore, as I have already remarked, it is sameness of doctrine,\nidentity of construction, that should be looked for rather than\nsomething new in religion and ethics.\n\nI would also remind the Christian reader of the fact that this same\nalleged want of originality, this alleged lacking of that which is new,\nis charged against the Lord Jesus Christ both by infidels and Jews.\nThey demand to know what moral and religious truth Jesus taught the\nworld that was not already taught by Buddha and the Jewish Rabbis. Not\nonly is it claimed that Christ's moral truths were borrowed from more\nancient teachers, but that the principle events of his life, also, from\nhis birth of a virgin to his crucifixion and resurrection as a God,\nwere stolen from myths concerning old world heroes and teachers.\n\nOne writer devotes a volume to the subject in which he traces in\nthe heathen mythologies sixteen crucified Saviors; the traditions\nconcerning whom more or less bear some resemblance to chief events in\nthe life of Messiah.\n\nPerhaps one of the most elaborate and carefully prepared comparisons\nof the teachings of the Messiah as recorded in the New Testament, and\nthe Rabbis in the Talmud appear in \"The Open Court\" for October, 1903,\n(Vol. 17). Of the long parallel I can only give samples:\n\n New Testament. Talmud.\n \"More acceptable to the\n \"Blessed are the poor in spirit\". Lord than sacrifice is the humble\n spirit.\"\n\n \"Let this be thy short form\n \"Thy kingdom come. Thy of prayer: Thy will be done\n will be done on earth as it is in in heaven, and may peace of\n heaven.\" heart be the reward of them\n that reverence thee on earth.\"\n\n \"Lead us not into temptation, \"Lead me not into sin, even\n but deliver us from evil.\" from its temptations deliver\n thou me.\"\n\n \"For with what judgment ye \"Whoso judges his neighbor\n judge, ye shall be judged.\" charitably, shall himself be\n charitably judged.\"\n\n \"How wilt thou say to thy \"Do they say: Take the\n brother, let me pull out the splinter out of thine eye? He\n mote out of thine eye; and behold will answer: Remove the beam\n a beam is in thine own out of thine own eye.\"\n eye.\"\n\n \"All things whatsoever ye\n would that men should do to \"What is hateful unto thee,\n you, do you even so to them, that do not unto another. This\n for this is the Law and the is the whole Law, all the rest\n Prophets.\" is commentary.\"\n\n \"Freely ye have received, \"As freely as God has taught\n freely give.\" you, so freely shall ye teach.\"\n\n \"The Sabbath was made for \"The Sabbath has been delivered\n man, not man for the Sabbath.\" into your power, not\n you into the power of the Sabbath.\"\n\n \"It is enough for the disciple \"It is enough for the servant\n that he be as his master.\" that he be as his master.\"\n\nA parallel somewhat similar, though neither so closely identical nor\nso extended, can be drawn between the teachings of Buddha and Christ,\nwhich any one may verify for himself by consulting Max Muller's lecture\non _Dhammapada_, or The Path of Virtue. [22]\n\nTo a limited extent, also, a similar parallel might be drawn between\nthe teachings of Christ and Confucius, and even of other moral\nphilosophers. To illustrate what I mean, take the \"Golden Rule,\" for so\nlong, and even now, by a great many people, regarded as an exclusively\nChristian utterance, and you will find the substance of it in the\nutterance of many teachers before the time of Christ:\n\n 1. Golden Rule by Confucius, 500 B. C.\n\n \"Do unto another what you would have him do unto you, and do not to\n another what you would not have him do unto you. Thou needest this\n law alone. It is the foundation of all the rest.\"\n\n 2. Golden Rule by Aristotle, 385 B. C.\n\n \"We should conduct ourselves toward others as we would have them\n act toward us.\"\n\n 3. Golden Rule by Pittacus, 650 B. C.\n\n \"Do not to your neighbor what you would take ill from him.\"\n\n 4. Golden Rule by Thales, 464 B. C.\n\n \"Avoid doing what you would blame others for doing.\"\n\n 5. Golden Rule by Isocrates, 338 B. C.\n\n \"Act toward others as you desire them to act toward you.\"\n\n 6. Golden Rule by Aristippus, 365 B. C.\n\n \"Cherish reciprocal benevolence, which will make you as anxious for\n another's welfare as your own.\"\n\n 7. Golden Rule by Sextus, a Pithagorean, 406 B. C.\n\n \"What you wish your neighbors to be to you, such be also to them.\"\n\n 8. Golden Rule by Hillel, 50 B. C.\n\n \"Do not to others what you would not like others to do to you.\" [23]\n\nThough perhaps not properly belonging to my treatment of this objection\nto the Book of Mormon, I may say in passing--and to keep those who\nread these pages in the presence of the full truth--I may say that\nthe presence of ethical and religious truths, in what we call heathen\nmythology, is easily accounted for. The gospel was taught in very\nancient times, in fact from the beginning--a dispensation of it was\ngiven to Adam--and although men departed from it in large measure\nas a system of truth, still fragments of it were preserved in the\nmythologies of all people. So that as a matter of fact Christianity, as\ntaught by Jesus, derived nothing from heathen mythology, but heathen\nmythologies were made rich by fragmentary truths from the early\ndispensations of the gospel of Jesus Christ.\n\nVIII.\n\n_Modern Astronomy in the Book_.\n\nFrom a remark of the younger Alma's (first century B. C.), and from one\nof Mormon's (fourth century A. D.), it is evident that the Nephites had\nknowledge of the movement of the earth and of the planets. Alma, in his\nremark, appeals to the earth's motion, \"yea, and also of the planets\nwhich move in their regular form,\" as being evidence of the existence\nof the Creator. [24]\n\nMormon's remark comes in course of some reflections of his upon the\npower of God, when abridging the Book of Helaman, in which he says:\n\n Yea, and if he say unto the earth, move, it is moved; yea, if he\n say unto the earth, thou shalt go back, that it lengthen out the\n day for many hours, it is done; and thus according to his word, the\n earth goeth back, and it appeareth unto man that the sun standeth\n still; yea, and behold, this is so; for sure it is the earth that\n moveth, and not the sun. [25]\n\nBoth these passages are referred to by Lamb [26] as evidence of the Book\nof Mormon being modern, and the second passage he sarcastically refers\nto as \"a modern scientist attempting to explain Joshua's miracle;\" to\nwhich I might say: Why not an ancient Nephite's explanation of Joshua's\nmiracle, since the Nephites were acquainted with that same miracle,\nhaving with them the book of Joshua with other Hebrew scriptures?\nMoreover, the knowledge of the movement of the earth and of the planets\nis not modern knowledge. It is quite generally conceded that the\nancients had the knowledge of these facts, and that the discoveries\nby Copernicus, Kepler and others are but a revival or restoration of\nancient knowledge concerning the movement of the earth and planetary\nsystem. [27]\n\nThe Holy Inquisition in passing sentence on Galileo took ocassion\nto say something of the Copernican system, teaching which was the\nphilosopher's offense, and denounced it as \"that false Pythagorean\ndoctrine utterly contrary to the Holy Scriptures.\" (\"Intellectual\nDevelopment of Europe,\" Draper, Vol. II., p. 263).\n\nAgain: Because the inhabitants of the eastern hemisphere were fallen\ninto ignorance concerning the facts of astronomy, it does not\nnecessarily follow that the inhabitants of the western hemisphere were\nwithout correct knowledge on that subject. Indeed, the authorities on\nAmerican antiquities agree that the ancient native Americans were well\nadvanced in knowledge on that subject. Priest, for instance, has the\nfollowing passage on the subject:\n\n As it respects the scientific acquirements of the builders of the\n works in the west, now in ruins, [the mounds], Mr. Atwater, says,\n \"when thoroughly examined, have furnished matter of admiration to\n all intelligent persons who have attended to the subject. Nearly\n all the lines of ancient works found in the whole country, where\n the form of the ground admits of it, are right ones, pointing\n to the four cardinal points. Where there are mounds enclosed,\n the gateways are most frequently on the east side of the works,\n towards the rising sun. Where the situation admits of it, in their\n military works, the openings are generally towards one or more of\n the cardinal points. From which it is supposed they must have had\n some knowledge of astronomy, or their structures would not, it is\n imagined, have been thus arranged. From these circumstances also,\n we draw the conclusion that the first inhabitants of America,\n emigrated from Asia, at a period coeval with that of Babylon, for\n there it was that astronomical calculations were first made, 2,234\n years before Christ.\" [28]\n\n\"These things could never have so happened, with such invariable\nexactness, in almost all cases, without design. 'On the whole.' says\nAtwater, 'I am convinced from an attention to many hundreds of these\nworks, in every part of the west which I have visited, that their\nauthors had a knowledge of astronomy.'\"\n\nBaldwin has the following passage on what he regards as a telescopic\ndevice, discovered in an ancient mound:\n\n Mr. Schoolcraft gives this account of a discovery made in West\n Virginia: \"Antique tube: telescopic device. In the course of\n excavations made in 1842 in the eastern-most of the three mounds\n of the Elizabethtown group, several tubes of stone were disclosed,\n the precise object of which has been the subject of various\n opinions. The longest measured twelve inches, the shortest eight.\n Three of them were carved out of steatite, being skilfully cut and\n polished. The diameter of the tube externally was one inch and\n four tenths; the bore, eight tenths of an inch. This calibre was\n continued till within three eighths of an inch of the sight end,\n when it diminishes to two tenths of an inch. By placing the eye\n at the diminished end, the extraneous light is shut out from the\n pupil, and distant objects are more clearly discerned.' He points\n out that the carving and workmanship generally are very superior\n to Indian pipe carvings, and adds, if this article was a work of\n the Mound-Builders, 'intended for a telescopic tube, it is a most\n interesting relic.' An ancient Peruvian relic, found a few years\n since, shows the figure of a man wrought in silver, in the act of\n studying the heavens through such a tube. Similar tubes have been\n found among relics of the Mound-Builders in Ohio and elsewhere. In\n Mexico, Captain Dupaix saw sculptured on a peculiar stone structure\n the figure of a man making use of one. Astronomical devices were\n sculptured below the figure. This structure he supposed to have\n been used for observation of the stars.\" [29]\n\nLater, referring to the Dupaix Mexican observatory, Baldwin says:\n\n \"In this part of Mexico Captain Dupaix examined a peculiar ruin,\n of which he gave the following account: \"Near the road from the\n village of Tlalmanalco to that called Mecamecan, about three miles\n east of the latter, there is an isolated granite rock, which was\n artificially formed into a kind of pyramid with six hewn steps\n facing the east. The summit of this structure is a platform, or\n horizontal plane, well adapted to observation of the stars on\n every side of the hemisphere. It is almost demonstratable that\n this very ancient monument was exclusively devoted to astronomical\n observations, for on the south side of the rock are sculptured\n several hieroglyphical figures having relation to astronomy. The\n most striking figure in the group is that of a man in profile,\n standing erect, and directing his view to the rising stars in\n the sky. He holds to his eye a tube or optical instrument. Below\n his feet is a frieze divided into six compartments, with as many\n celestial signs carved on its surface.\" It has been already stated\n that finely-wrought \"telescopic tubes\" have been found among\n remains of the Mound-Builders. They were used, it seems, by the\n ancient people of Mexico and Central America, and they were known\n also in ancient Peru, where a silver figure of a man in the act of\n using such a tube has been discovered in one of the old tombs. [30]\n\nEven Prescott, who is inclined to be sceptical of the statements made\nconcerning astronomical instruments among the Aztecs, and ridicules\nDupaix's assertion of the existence of an astronomical observatory,\nnevertheless says:\n\n We know little further of the astronomical attainments of the\n Aztecs. That they were acquainted with the cause of eclipses is\n evident from the representation, on their maps, of the disk of the\n moon projecting on that of the sun. Whether they had arranged a\n system of constellations is uncertain; though, that they recognized\n some of the most obvious, as the Pleiades, for example, is evident\n from the fact that they regulated their festivals by them. [31]\n\nNadaillac, always conservative concerning the civilization and\nknowledge of the native Americans, on this point says:\n\n The various races which occupied Central America had some knowledge\n of astronomy. They were acquainted with divisions of time founded\n on the motion of the sun, and long before the conquest they\n possessed a regular system. [32]\n\nBancroft, on the same subject, remarks:\n\n Perhaps the strongest proof of the advanced civilization of the\n Nahuas was their method of computing time, which, for ingenuity and\n correctness, equaled, if it did not surpass, the systems adopted\n by contemporaneous European and Asiatic nations. The Nahuas were\n well acquainted with the movements of the sun and moon, and even of\n some of the planets, while celestial phenomena, such as eclipses,\n although attributed to unnatural causes, were nevertheless\n carefully observed and recorded. They had, moreover, an accurate\n system of dividing the day into fixed periods, corresponding\n somewhat to our hours; indeed, as the learned Sr. Leony Gama has\n shown, the Aztec calendar-stone which was found in the plaza of the\n city of Mexico, was used not only as a durable register, but also\n as a sundial. [33]\n\nIX.\n\n_The Geography of the Book_.\n\nIt is objected to the Book of Mormon that it lacks \"local coloring\" and\ndefiniteness in respect of its geography; and it is usually contrasted\nto its disadvantage with the Bible in this respect. \"I have not been\nable to find an edition of the Book of Mormon with maps in it,\" says\none objector, \"nor have I been able to find with perfect surety the\nlocation of the land in which Christ is supposed to have appeared to\nthe Nephites.\" [34]\n\n\"We find almost nothing,\" continues Dr. Paden, \"which would fit with\nthe tropical climate; in fact, the general description would better\ncoincide with Pennsylvania or New York.\" [35] \"The grandest mountains in\nthe world, and the highest table lands,\" says another objector, \"are\nas entirely ignored as is the general shape of the two continents and\nother physical facts. While the physical characteristics of Palestine\nare woven as a web into almost every page of Bible history, the\nBook of Mormon is unable to appeal to a single geographical fact in\nconfirmation of its pretended histories, except the general one that\nthere was a 'land south' and a 'land north.'\" [36]\n\nThis is an exaggerated statement of the supposed difficulty, and so\nalso is it an exaggerated statement concerning the geography of the\nBible. Suppose, for instance, you separate the Book of Isaiah from\nthe rest of the library of books comprising the Bible, and how much\nof a figure does geography cut in that book? The same may be said of\nthe book of Psalms, the book of Proverbs, and, separating the preface\nfrom it, the same could be said of the book of Deuteronomy. Mistakes\nin criticism of the Book of Mormon are continually made through\nentertaining the idea that the Book of Mormon in its structure is the\nsame as the Bible; that it is the translation of a people's original\nliterature, and that the books of Mosiah, Alma, Helaman, etc., are the\nbooks written by the men bearing those names. Whereas, what we have\nis but Mormon's abridgment of the writings of those men. The Book of\nMormon, in other words, save for the writings of Nephi and Jacob (149\npages), and seven other writers [37]--whose entries upon the small\nplates of Nephi make but about eight pages--is an abridged record\nthroughout. Historical events, doctrines, prophecies, not geographical\ndescriptions, the location of cities, the course of rivers, the\ngrandeur of mountains or the extent of valleys, will be the objective\nof Mormon's research through the larger Nephite records. I may say,\ntherefore, in answer to this criticism of the Book of Mormon, while by\nno means granting all that is claimed in respect of its geographical\ndefects--its imperfections in geography arise from the very nature\nof the book's construction. In such a work you do not look for\ngeographical knowledge.\n\nI may say also that as these pages go to press the question of Book\nof Mormon geography is more than ever recognized as an open one by\nstudents of the book. That is to say, it is a question if Mormon views\nhitherto entertained respecting Book of Mormon lands have not been a\nmisconception by reason of premises forced upon its students by the\ndeclaration of an alleged revelation. In a compendium of doctrinal\nsubjects, published by the late Elders Franklin D. Richards and James\nA. Little, the following item appears:\n\n _Lehi's Travels.--Revelation to Joseph the Seer:_ The course that\n Lehi and his company traveled from Jerusalem to the place of their\n destination: They traveled nearly a south, southeast direction\n until they came to the nineteenth degree of north latitude; then,\n nearly east of the Sea of Arabia, then sailed in a southeast\n direction, and landed on the continent of South America, in Chili,\n thirty degrees south latitude. [38]\n\nThe only reason so far discovered for regarding the above as a\nrevelation is that it is found written on a loose sheet of paper in the\nhand writing of Frederick G. Williams, for some years second Counselor\nin the First Presidency of the Church in the Kirtland period of its\nhistory; and follows the body of the revelation contained in Doctrine\nand Covenants, Section vii., relating to John the beloved disciple,\nremaining on earth, until the glorious coming of Jesus to reign with\nhis Saints. The hand-writing is certified to be that of Frederick G.\nWilliams, by his son, Ezra G. Williams, of Ogden; and endorsed on\nthe back of the sheet of paper containing the above passage and the\nrevelation pertaining to John. The indorsement is dated April the 11th,\n1864. The revelation pertaining to John has this introductory line:\n\"_A Revelation Concerning John, the Beloved Disciple_.\" But there is no\nheading to the passage relating to the passage about Lehi's travels.\nThe words \"Lehi's Travels;\" and the words \"Revelation to Joseph the\nSeer,\" are added by the publishers, justified as they supposed,\ndoubtless, by the fact that the paragraph is in the hand writing of\nFrederick G. Williams, Counselor to the Prophet, and on the same\npage with the body of an undoubted revelation, which was published\nrepeatedly as such in the life time of the Prophet, first in 1833, at\nIndependence, Missouri, in the \"Book of Commandments,\" and subsequently\nin every edition of the Doctrine and Covenants until now. But the one\nrelating to Lehi's travels was never published in the life-time of\nthe Prophet, and was published no where else until published in the\nRichards-Little's Compendium as noted above. Now, if no more evidence\ncan be found to establish this passage in Richards and Little's\nCompendium as a \"revelation to Joseph, the Seer,\" than the fact that it\nis found in the hand writing of Frederick G. Williams, and on the same\nsheet of paper with the body of the revelation about John, the beloved\ndisciple, the evidence of its being a \"revelation to Joseph, the Seer,\"\nrests on a very unsatisfactory basis.\n\nYet this alleged \"revelation\" has dominated all our thinking, and\ninfluenced all our conclusions upon the subject of Book of Mormon\ngeography. Whereas, if this is not a revelation, the physical\ndescription relative to the contour of the lands occupied by the\nJaredites and Nephites, that being principally that two large bodies\nof land were joined by a narrow neck of land--can be found between\nMexico and Yucatan with the isthmus of Tehuantepec between. If the\ninvestigation now going on shall result in relieving us of the\nnecessity of considering ourselves bound to uphold as a revelation the\npassage in Richards and Little's Compendium, here considered, many of\nour difficulties as to the geography of the Book of Mormon--if not all\nof them in fact, will have passed away. In that event much found in\nthis treatise of the Book of Mormon relative to the Nephites being in\nSouth America--written under the impression that the passage in the\nabove named Compendium was, as is there set forth, a revelation--will\nhave to be modified.\n\nAnd let me here say a word in relation to new discoveries in our\nknowledge of the Book of Mormon, and for matter of that in relation\nto all subjects connected with the work of the Lord in the earth. We\nneed not follow our researches in any spirit of fear and trembling. We\ndesire only to ascertain the truth; nothing but the truth will endure;\nand the ascertainment of the truth and the proclamation of the truth\nin any given case, or upon any subject, will do no harm to the work of\nthe Lord which is itself truth. Nor need we be surprised if now and\nthen we find our predecessors, many of whom bear honored names and\ndeserve our respect and gratitude for what they achieved in making\nclear the truth, as they conceived it to be--we need not be surprised\nif we sometimes find them mistaken in their conceptions and deductions;\njust as the generations who succeed us in unfolding in a larger way\nsome of the yet unlearned truths of the Gospel, will find that we have\nhad some misconceptions and made some wrong deductions in our day\nand time. The book of knowledge is never a sealed book. It is never\n\"completed and forever closed;\" rather it is an eternally open book,\nin which one may go on constantly discovering new truths and modifying\nour knowledge of old ones. The generation which preceded us did not\nexhaust by their knowledge all the truth, so that nothing was left for\nus in its unfolding; no, not even in respect of the Book of Mormon; any\nmore than we shall exhaust all discovery in relation to that book and\nleave nothing for the generation following us to develop. All which is\nsubmitted, especially to the membership of the Church, that they may\nbe prepared to find and receive new truths both in the Book of Mormon\nitself and about it; and that they may also rejoice in the fact that\nknowledge of truth is inexhaustible, and will forever go on developing.\n\nX.\n\n_Of the Objection that the Transcript of Characters Made from\nthe Nephite Plates by Joseph Smith, a Few Lines of which have been\nPreserved, Bear no Resemblance to the Hieroglyphics and Language\nCharacters Discovered in Central America on Stone Tablets, Maya Books\nand Mexican Picture Writing_.\n\nThis is an objection most vehemently urged by Rev. M. T. Lamb, author\nof \"The Golden Bible,\" already several times quoted in this division\nof my treatise. Mr. Lamb takes the three lines of characters of Joseph\nSmith's transcript, and confronts them with a _fac simile_ of Landa's\nMaya Alphabet, and also engravings from some of the stone tablets from\nPalenque and Copan, and then triumphantly invites comparison in the\nfollowing passages:\n\n We ask the candid reader carefully to examine these characters,\n and then look back again to page 261. Those [Joseph's transcript\n from the plates] are the characters Joseph Smith tells us were\n universally used in Central America 1,500 and 2,000 years\n ago--while the ruins, the engraved stones, the chiselled marble,\n tell us that these [Mr. Lamb's reproduction of Landau's Maya\n Alphabet] were the characters actually used in that locality, and\n at that time. Look at the two attentively--see if you can discover\n any likeness whatever between them. A woeful fatality, is it\n not? that there should not happen to be even one of Mr. Smith's\n characters that bears a family likeness, or the least particle\n of resemblance to the characters actually used by the ancient\n inhabitants of Central America! [39]\n\nCommenting again upon the characters of Joseph Smith's transcript, Mr.\nLamb says:\n\n The longer you look at them the more modern and familiar they will\n become until Professor Anthon's designation, a \"hoax\" will not seem\n at all surprising even to a candid Mormon. And if that word is not\n the proper one, this certainly must be acknowledged, that they are\n the most unfortunate specimen of ancient characters that have ever\n been exhibited; for they have a fearfully suspicious look, and\n it would take the clearest possible evidence to drive away that\n suspicion from any intelligent and unprejudiced mind. [40]\n\nThese are rather formidable conclusions to force upon us from a basis\nof comparison so narrow as that furnished by the three lines of Joseph\nSmith's transcript. This preserved scrap, published first in the\n\"Prophet,\" New York, December 21st, 1844 [41] of three lines, or even\nthat of seven lines preserved with the Whitmer Manuscript, are evidently\nnot all that were submitted to Professor Anthon [42] by Martin Harris.\nProfessor Anthon in describing the characters submitted to him as a\ntranscript from the plates, says:\n\n This paper in question was, in fact, a singular scroll. It\n consisted of all kinds of singular characters disposed in columns,\n and had evidently been prepared by some person who had before him\n at the time a book containing various alphabets, Greek and Hebrew\n letters, crosses and flourishes; Roman letters inverted or placed\n sideways were arranged and placed in perpendicular columns, and the\n whole ended in a rude delineation of a circle, divided into various\n compartments, arched with various strange marks, and evidently\n copied after the Mexican calendar by Humboldt, but copied in such a\n way as not to betray the source whence it was derived.\n\nNeither the three lined transcript, [43] nor the seven, meets this\ndescription of Anthon's though they may have constituted a part, and\ndoubtless were a part of what was submitted to Professors Anthon and\nMitchell. But neither of the two transcripts furnishes data for the\nconclusions of Mr. Lamb, since we have in them so few of the Nephite\ncharacters as a basis of comparison. But even from data so meagre as\nthat furnished by these transcripts, it is possible to show that Mr.\nLamb and others who have made like objection are too hasty in their\nconclusions. On a separate page, I give a photographic reproduction\nof the ancient Maya Alphabet as engraved by Dr. Augustus Le Plongeon,\nfrom the mural inscriptions of the Mayas, and the Egyptian Hieratic\nAlphabet according to Messrs. Champollion, Le Jeune and Bunsen. The\nwhole page is a photograph reproduction of a page from the preface of\nLe Plongeon's Work, \"Sacred Mysteries Among the Mayas and the Quiches,\"\npage xii.\n\n[Tables of characters captioned \"Ancient Maya Hieratic alphabet according\nto mural inscriptions.\" and \"Egyptian Hieratic alphabet according to Messrs.\nChampollion, Le Jeune and Bunsen.\"]\n\n[Image captioned _\"Transcript of Ancient Egyptian characters from\nRawlinson's History of Egypt_.]\n\n[Image captioned _Transcript from Nephite plates, by Joseph Smith_.]\n\nTwo things are to be observed with reference to these two alphabets:\nFirst, the strong resemblance between many of the American and Egyptian\ncharacters; second, the resemblance of some of the characters in\nthe transcript from the Nephite plates to some of the characters in\nboth the so-called Maya and the Egyptian Alphabet. And although the\nNephite characters are so few, and some allowance must be made for\nunskilfulness in making the transcriptions, yet there is to be seen a\nstrong family likeness between the characters of all three productions\nhere presented, Mr. Lamb and others to the contrary notwithstanding.\nAnd that family likeness between the Nephite characters and Egyptian\nwriting is made more impressive by the second page of _fac similies_\nherewith presented, consisting first of a photographic reproduction of\na transcript, of the three kinds of writing employed by the Egyptians\nin ancient times, from the work of George Rawlinson, compared with\nJoseph Smith's transcript of Nephite characters. The first line from\nRawlinson's work is the Hieroglyphic form of Egyptian writing, the\nsecond the Hieratic, the third the Demotic. [44]\n\nIt will be observed, as Mr. Rawlinson himself points out, that \"there\nis not much difference between the hieratic and the demotic.\" The\nformer is the earlier of the two. And now, notwithstanding the fact\nthat the Nephites wrote in characters that they called \"Reformed\nEgyptian\"--which I understand to mean, in altered or changed Egyptian\ncharacters yet, I submit, that when the transcript of Nephite\ncharacters made by Joseph Smith is compared with the transcript from\nthe works of Mr. Rawlinson, there is a strong family likeness very\ngratifying to believers in the Book of Mormon, and the force of\nMr. Lamb's objection on this head is destroyed by these submitted\nfacts, viz., the few Nephite characters preserved from Joseph Smith's\ntranscripts, disclose a strong family resemblance to the ancient forms\nof Egyptian writing, and even some similarities to the ancient Maya\nAlphabet published by Le Plongeon.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. I Peter i: 18-25. Rev. xiii: 8.\n\n2. Titus i: 1, 2.\n\n3. Heb. x: 1.\n\n4. I. Cor. x: 1-4.\n\n5. Mr. Campbell cites the first edition throughout.\n\n6. Heb. xiii: 20.\n\n7. II. Nephi v: 26. II. Nephi vi: 2.\n\n8. Alma v: 44. Alma xiii.\n\n9. Judges vi: 15.\n\n10. Judges vi.\n\n11. See this Vol. chapter xxxv.\n\n12. Ephesians iii: 5, 6.\n\n13. I. Nephi x; also book of Jacob, chapter v.\n\n14. Col. i: 2, 3.\n\n15. Isaiah xlii: 6, 7.\n\n16. Isaiah xlix: 6-9 et seq., specially verses 20-22. Paul himself\nquotes Isaiah xlix: 6; see Acts xiii: 47. Simeon in the temple quotes\nIsaiah; see Luke ii: 30, 32.\n\n17. I. Nephi xix: 10.\n\n18. Alma viii: 7.\n\n19. So Hyde: \"He [Joseph Smith, through the Book of Mormon] determines\nnone of the great questions pending in the world at large, but only\nthe minor difficulties that would have been likely to have reached a\nwestern village.\" Hyde's \"Mormonism,\" p. 281.\n\n20. Moroni viii.\n\n21. Following is Mosheim's description of baptism in the third century:\n\"Baptism was publicly administered twice a year, to such candidates\nas had gone through a long preparation and trial; and none were\npresent as spectators, but such as had been themselves baptized. *\n* * None were admitted to the sacred font until the exorcist, by a\nsolemn menacing formula, had declared them free from bondage to the\nprince of darkness and now servants of God. * * * The persons baptized\nreturned home, decorated with a crown and white robe; the first being\nindicative of their victory over the world and their lusts, the latter\nof their acquired innocence.\" (Mosheim's Institute, Century Three,\nchapter iv.) In describing baptism in the century previous--and the\nsame things accompanied it in the third and fourth--he tells how \"the\nbaptized were signed with the cross, anointed, commended to God by\nprayer and imposition of hands, and finally directed to taste some\nmilk and honey;\" also how \"Sponsors, or Godfathers, were employed for\nadults, and afterwards for children likewise.\" All of which mummeries\nwere additions to the sublimely beautiful and simple ordinance of the\nbaptism of the gospel.\n\n22. See Science of Religion, p. 193-300.\n\n23. \"The World's Sixteen Crucified Saviors.\" (Graves), pp. 303-4.\n\n24. Alma xxx: 44.\n\n25. Helaman xii: 13-15.\n\n26. \"Golden Bible,\" p. 336.\n\n27. \"In the sixth century before our era,\" remarks Andrew D. White\n(\"History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom,\" Vol.\nI, pp. 120, 121), \"Pythagoras, and after him Philolaus, had suggested\nthe movement of the earth and planets about a central fire; and,\nthree centuries later, Aristarchus had restated the main truth with\nstriking precision. Here comes in a proof that the antagonism between\ntheological and scientific methods is not confined to Christianity; for\nthis statement brought upon Aristarchus the charge of blasphemy, and\ndrew after it a cloud of prejudice which hid the truth for six hundred\nyears. Not until the fifth century of our era did it timidly appear\nin the thoughts of Martianus Capella; then it was again lost to sight\nfor a thousand years, until in the fifteenth century, distorted and\nimperfect, it appeared in the writings of Cardinal Nicholas de Cusa.\"\n\n28. \"American Antiquities\" (Priest), p. 272.\n\n29. \"Ancient America,\" (Baldwin), p. 42.\n\n30. \"Ancient America,\" (Baldwin), pp. 122, 123.\n\n31. \"Conquest of Mexico,\" (Prescott), Vol. I., p. 103.\n\n32. \"Pre-Historic America,\" (Nadaillac), p. 305.\n\n33. Bancroft's Works, Vol. II., p. 502.\n\n34. Dr. W. M. Paden, Pastor of the first Presbyterian Church, Salt Lake\nCity, Utah, in a Discourse against the Book of Mormon, March 21, 1904.\n\n35. Ibid.\n\n36. Golden Bible, pp. 308, 309.\n\n37. This work Vol. II., p. 138.\n\n38. Compendium, p. 289.\n\n39. \"The Golden Bible,\" p. 265. I quote from the 1887 edition, which I\nunderstand to be the revised and enlarged one. [45]\n\n40. Ibid., p. 260.\n\n41. \"The Prophet\" was a Mormon weekly periodical, published by S.\nBrannan from May, 1844, to May 24, 1845.\n\n42. A fac simile of which is given in Vol. II., p. 72.\n\n43. Volume II., this work p. 76. This is from his letter to E. D. Howe;\nin a second letter to Rev. Coit, Anthon gives a similar description.\n(Ibid., pp. 79, 78.)\n\n44. Boston 1882, two volumes. The photographed transcript will be found\nin Vol. I. of Rawlinson, p. 120.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XLVIII.\n\nOBJECTIONS TO THE BOOK OF MORMON (Continued).\n\nI.\n\n_Alleged Plagiarisms of Historical and Biblical Events_.\n\nIt is charged against the Book of Mormon that many of its historical\nincidents are mere plagiarisms of historical and Biblical events. I\nshall only be able to indicate a few of these charges, and point out\nthe means by which they may be fairly met. I call attention to the\nfact, in the first place, that some of the charges are absolutely\nfalse; that they are based on misquotations and misstated incidents.\nIn other cases the comparison is very much strained to get the result\nof likeness, and throughout the likelihood of similarity in human\nexperience is entirely overlooked.\n\nMr. John Hyde declares that Nephi's description of the rise of a great\nand abominable church immediately after the days of the Messiah on\nearth, together with his description of her pride, power, and cruelty,\nis a quotation from the book of Revelations, \"A description of the\nChurch of Rome;\" [1] the abduction of the daughters of the Lamanites\nby the Priests of King Noah; [2] the martyrdom of Alma's converts in\nthe land of Ammonihah; [3] and the slaughter of the converts of Ammon\namong the Lamanites, [4] are events \"borrowed from the history of Nero,\nCaligula, and Fox's book of Martyrs.\"\n\nIn Alma's conversion, he sees \"an imitation of Paul's miraculous\nconversion\" with this difference; that Paul was struck with blindness\nfor three days, and Alma is struck dumb for two days! [5] In the remarks\nof King Mosiah on the advantages of a government by the people as\nagainst the rule of absolute monarchs, our author sees the doctrine\nof \"Vox populi vox Dei,\" [6] although that idea nowhere occurs in the\npassage to which he gives reference, and in fact, in no passage of the\nBook of Mormon. These citations from the long list that our author\nmakes out will perhaps be sufficient from him. Those who wish to trace\nout this class of objections, as he makes them, may consult his work. [7]\n\nA more recent writer enters into the same line of argument in greater\ndetail. [8] His theory is that the author of the Book of Mormon set\nout to \"beat the Bible\" in the matter of wonderful things recorded.\nThus in the \"eight barges\" of the Jaredites he sees an attempt to\noutdo the Bible account of Noah's \"one ark.\" In a complete vision\ngranted to the brother of Jared of the pre-existent spirit-personage\nof the Messiah, he sees the partial view of the same personage granted\nto Moses outdone. In the fact that the Nephite prophet, Abinadi,\ninterpreted certain writings upon the wall of a temple, he sees an\nimitation of Daniel's exploit of reading the writing on the wall of\nBelshazzar's palace. In Ether's expressed doubt as to his own fate,\nwhether he would be granted the privilege of translation or be required\nto pass through the ordeal of death, he sees the counterpart of the\nstory of Elijah's ascent into heaven. In the retention of three of\nthe Nephite apostles on earth until Messiah shall come in his glory,\nhe sees the New Testament intimation and the early Christian notion\nthat the apostle John might be granted such a privilege--if such it\ncould be regarded--outdone. In the signs of Messiah's birth, granted\nto the Nephites--the night of continuous light and the appearance of\na new star in the heavens; as also in the signs of his crucifixion\nand burial--three hours of tempest and earthquake while the Son of\nMan was on the cross, and three days of darkness while he lay in the\ntomb [9]--our author sees again an effort to outdo the Bible signs\naccompanying Messiah's birth and death.\n\nIn the account given in III Nephi [10] of the multitude being permitted\nto come in personal contact with the Savior one by one, and touch the\nscars of the wounds he had received in crucifixion, Rev. Lamb sees an\neffort to outdo the New Testament story of Thomas thrusting his hands\nin the wounds of our Savior, that he might be convinced of the reality\nof his resurrection. Indeed, the Reverend gentleman makes very much of\nthis circumstance. He supposes the multitude granted this privilege\nnumbered 2,500; and allowing that five persons would pass the Savior\nevery minute, giving each one twelve seconds to thrust his hand into\nMessiah's side, and feel the print of the nails, would require \"eight\nhours and twenty minutes of time!\" [11] The Reverend Gentleman, however,\nneglected to give the matter due consideration. The number of the\nmultitude, 2,500, is given at the close of the first day's visit of\nMessiah to the Nephites; whereas, the circumstance of the people being\nallowed to personally come in contact with the Savior, is an event\nthat took place early in the day, almost immediately upon the Christ's\nappearance in fact, and when the \"multitude\" was much smaller than\nat the close of the day. Two circumstances lead to the belief that\nthe crowd was greatly augmented through the day. For instance, after\nsome considerable time had elapsed after his appearing, and after the\nmultitude had gone forth and felt the wounds in his hands and feet,\nJesus called for their sick and afflicted, that he might heal them. It\nis unreasonable to suppose that the blind and halt and sick were with\nthe \"multitude\" when Jesus first appeared, as the latter were a party\nstrolling about the temple viewing the changes wrought in the land by\nthe recent cataclysms, while the sick and maimed with their attendants\nwould doubtless be at their homes. Therefore, many of the people\ndeparted from the presence of Jesus to bring to him these afflicted\nones; and as they went on this errand of mercy they doubtless spread\nthe news of Christ's presence among them, with the result that the\npeople were gathered together throughout the day.\n\nAgain, after blessing their afflicted ones, the Lord Jesus caused\ntheir children to be gathered together, that he might bless them;\nwhich doubtless in many cases caused parents to hasten again to their\nhomes and ever as they went the news spread further and further of the\nMessiah's presence, until finally, at the close of the day's gathering,\n2,500 were found to be present. It by no means follows, however, that\nall this number thrust their hands into the wounds of Messiah; but only\nthe very much smaller number that was gathered about the temple in the\nland of Bountiful earlier in the day, when Messiah appeared to them.\n\nOur author sees in these things I have quoted and some others that\nhe details, plagiarisms of Bible events; and concludes that the Book\nof Mormon, instead of being what it claims to be, is largely but a\ncollection of Bible events distorted by Joseph Smith's inventions.\n\nIt places a Christian minister, believing as he does in the divinity\nof both the Old and New Testament, at a very great disadvantage to\nmake this kind of an argument. Suppose we were to apply it as a test\nof the New Testament? We could then say that the ascension of Jesus,\nrecorded in the Acts of the Apostles, is but an imitation of the\nglorious ascension of Elijah into heaven in the presence of a host of\nangels. [12] We could say that the special miracles wrought by the hands\nof Paul so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs\nand aprons to the afflicted, and \"the diseases departed from them and\nthe evil spirits went out of them,\" is but an imitation of what Elijah\ndid when he sent his staff by the hands of his servant, commanding him\nto lay it on the face of the dead child of his Shunammite friend to\nrestore him to life. [13]\n\n\"It might be said, also, that in the subsequent conduct of Elijah in\nrestoring this same child to life, we have the original of the New\nTestament story of Jarius's daughter. [14] In this same chapter of\nKings we have the following story of Elisha's miraculously feeding a\nmultitude:\n\n And there came a man from Baalshalisha, and brought the man of God\n bread of the firstfruits, twenty loaves of barley, and full ears\n of corn in the husk thereof. And he said, Give unto the people,\n that they may eat. And his servitor said, What, should I set this\n before an hundred men? He said again, Give the people, that they\n may eat: for thus saith the Lord, They shall eat, and shall leave\n thereof. So he set before them, and they did eat, and left thereof,\n according to the word of the Lord.\n\n\"Who can doubt,\" the Biblical sceptic might ask, \"but what this story\ninspired that of the Evangelists concerning the miraculous feeding of\nfive thousand people, in a desert place, from five loaves, and two\nfishes. [15] The excess of people mentioned in the New Testament--five\nthousand thus miraculously fed as against Elijah's one hundred--\"could\nbe pointed to as an effort of the New Testament writer to merely\n\"outdo\" in the marvelous the miracles of the Old Testament.\n\nAgain, it might be continued that the story of tenth Revelations, where\na little book is given to John the apostle to eat, one that should\nbe bitter in his belly, but in his mouth sweet as honey, is but a\nplagiarism of a very similar story told in Ezekiel where that prophet\nis commanded to eat the roll of the book, and it was in his mouth \"as\nthe honey for sweetness.\" [16]\n\nThus we might continue in drawing such parallels, but there would be\nneither profit nor argument in doing so. Such procedure is scarcely\nworthy the name of criticism. It reminds one of Shakespeare's Rosalind\nfinding the doggerel verses of the love-sick swain, Orlando, hanging\nupon the trees of the forest of Arden, and of Rosalind reading them--\n\n From the east to the western Ind,\n No Jewel is like Rosalind.\n All the pictures fairest lined,\n Are but black to Rosalind.\n Let no fair be kept in mind,\n But the fair of Rosalind.\n\nWhich doggerel the more sensible Touchstone, listening to--and\nimpatient at withal--finally breaks in upon the fair reader with:\n\n \"I'll rhyme you so eight years together, dinners and suppers and\n sleepin-hours excepted:--for a taste--\n\n If a hart do lack a hind,\n Let him seek out Rosalind.\n If the cat will after kind,\n So be sure will Rosalind.\n Winter garments must be lined,\n So must slendor Rosalind.\n They that reap must sheef and bind,\n Then to cart with Rosalind.\n Sweetest nut hath sourest rind,\n Such a nut is Rosalind.\n\nSo with like result one might run on with this kind of argument\nbased upon the Book of Mormon's alleged plagiarisms from the Hebrew\nscriptures.\n\nII.\n\n_The Absence of Book of Mormon Names Both of Place and Persons in\nNative American Language_.\n\nIt is objected to the Book of Mormon that there nowhere appears in\nnative American languages Book of Mormon names. \"During the one\nthousand years of their recorded history,\" says one, \"as given in\nthe Book of Mormon, the old familiar names of Lehi, Nephi, Laman,\nLemuel and others are constantly recurring; they held on to them with\nreverential pertinacity. If the Book of Mormon were a true record\nwe should find these names in abundance among various Indian races\nscattered over both continents.\" The absence of Book of Mormon names in\nthe native language, is held to be fatal testimony against the claims\nof the Book of Mormon by this writer. [17]\n\nOne recognizes here a real difficulty, and one for which it is quite\nhard to account. It must be remembered, however, that from the close of\nthe Nephite period, 420 A. D., to the coming of the Spaniards in the\nsixteenth century, we have a period of over one thousand years; and we\nhave the triumph also of the Lamanites over the Nephites bent on the\ndestruction of every vestige of Nephite traditions and institutions.\nMay it not be that they recognized as one of the means of achieving\nsuch destruction the abrogation of the old familiar names of things\nand persons? Besides there is the probable influx of other tribes and\npeoples into America in that one thousand years whose names may have\nlargely taken the place of Nephite and Lamanite names.\n\nI have already suggested that the name \"Nahuas\" and the adjective\nderived from it, \"Nahuatl,\" are probably variations of the names\n\"Nephi\" and \"Nephite,\" derived, it may be, together with the Bible\nnames \"Nepheg,\" \"Nephish,\" \"Nephishesim,\" and \"Naphtali\" from a common\nHebrew root. [18] Also, that the name \"Hohgates,\" by which names the\nseven mythical strangers were called who in ancient times settled at\nPoint St. George on the Pacific coast near San Francisco, is a survival\nof the Book of Mormon name \"Hagoth,\" who is prominent in the Book of\nMormon narrative as the man who first started maritime migrations from\nSouth America, northward along the Pacific coast of North America. [19]\n\nMr. Priest, the author of \"American Antiquities,\" declares that the\nword \"Amazon,\" the name of the chief river of South America, is an\nIndian word. [20] Early in the century in which Messiah was born, four\nof the sons of the Nephite king, Mosiah II, departed from Zarahemla on\na mission to the Lamanites. At that time the Lamanites occupied the\nlands formerly possessed by the Nephites, previous to the migration of\nthe more righteous part of that people to Zarahemla--the old \"land of\nNephi.\" This land, so far as can be determined, corresponds somewhat\nto the modern country of Ecuador and perhaps the northern part of\nPeru. [21] In this region, it will be remembered, the river Amazon takes\nits rise. The leader of the Nephite missionary expedition referred\nto was Ammon, doubtless the oldest son of King Mosiah II. [22] Such\nwere the achievements of this man; such his rank, and such his high\ncharacter that it is not difficult or unreasonable to believe that his\nname was given by the people to the principal stream of the land, and\nthat it has survived under the modern variation of the name Amazon.\n\nAgain, the word \"Andes,\" the name of the chief mountain range in South\nAmerica, is quite generally supposed, if not conceded by the best\nauthorities, to come from the native Peruvian word \"Anti,\" meaning\ncopper. [23]\n\nThe Peruvians, in order to cultivate some mountainous parts of their\ncountry, terraced the mountain sides, facing the same with stone. These\nterraces the Spaniards called \"Andenes,\" whence some suppose the name\n\"Andes.\" \"But the name,\" says Prescott, \"is older than the Conquest,\naccording to Varcilasso, who traces it to 'Anti,' the name of a\nprovince that lay east of Cuzco. 'Anta,' the word for copper, which was\nfound abundant in certain quarters of the country, may have suggested\nthe name of the province, if not immediately that of the mountains.\" [24]\n\nIn any event we have the words \"Anti\" and \"Anta\" established as native\nAmerican words, and the word \"Anti\" is of frequent use in the Book of\nMormon in a number of compound words, such as \"Anti-Nephi-Lehi,\" the\nname of a Lamanite king or chief about B. C. 83. [25] The same name was\ngiven to his people, that is, they were called \"Anti-Nephi-Lehi's,\" [26]\nand possibly it may have been given to the land they occupied. If so\nit accounts for the word \"Anti\" surviving as the name of a province,\naccording to Garcilasso, lying east of Cuzco.\n\nWe also have the word \"Antiomno,\" [27] the name of a Lamanite king;\n\"Antionah,\" the name of a chief; \"Antionum,\" both the name of a\nman, [28] and also the name of a city; [29] also the word \"Antiparah,\" a\nNephite city; [30] \"Antipas,\" the name of a mountain; [31] and \"Antipus,\"\nthe name of a Nephite military leader. [32]\n\nIt is true these words in the Book of Mormon, are written as simple\nwords, but they are susceptible of being regarded as compound words, as\nfollows: \"Anti-Omno,\" \"Anti-Pas,\" \"Anti-Parah,\" and so following. If\nthe Peruvian terraces derived their name from this native word \"Anti,\"\nthen when applied to Nephite lands Anti-Onum would doubtless mean the\nterraced lands of Onum, and Anti-Parah, the name of a city, would\ndoubtless be the terraced city of Parah, and so following.\n\nBut after all this is said it is still a matter of regret that more of\nthe Nephite names, both of men and countries, have not survived in the\nnative American languages. Still the field of knowledge of American\nantiquities has not yet been thoroughly explored, and when its buried\ncities and monuments shall be more thoroughly known all the evidences\nthat can be demanded along these lines will doubtless be produced.\n\nIII.\n\n_Nephi's Temple_.\n\nFirst Nephi gives the following account of building a temple in the New\nWorld:\n\n And I, Nephi, did build a temple; and I did construct it after\n the manner of the temple of Solomon, save it were not built of so\n many precious things; for they were not to be found upon the land;\n wherefore, it could not be built like unto Solomon's temple. But\n the manner of the construction was like unto the temple of Solomon;\n and the workmanship thereof was exceeding fine. [33]\n\nThis statement is unfairly dealt with by objectors. They generally\nrepresent it as saying that Nephi, in this description, holds out the\nidea that he duplicated Solomon's temple, excepting as to the richness\nof the materials employed in its construction. Then an elaborate\ndescription of the greatness and architectural grandeur of Solomon's\ntemple is given. Attention is also called to the fact that the Hebrew\nnation bent all their energies through seven years of activity in\nconstructing the temple of Solomon; that they were aided by surrounding\npeoples, notably by King Hiram and the Tyrians.\n\nAfter all this is explained then comes what is supposed to be an\ninsurmountable difficulty, namely: Lehi's colony that came from\nJerusalem to America was a very small one, consisting of two families\nonly, Lehi's and Ishmael's, and in addition the man Zoram, perhaps not\nexceeding a score of adult persons on their arrival in the promised\nland. Then after some time this colony is divided; the more righteous\nbranch following Nephi, and the wicked following his elder brothers\nLaman and Lemuel. So that it is safe to conclude that during the\nlifetime of the first Nephi the colony remained a very small one;\nand since this temple was built about thirty years after the colony\ndeparted from Jerusalem, the Nephite division of it could not have\nincluded more than one hundred adults. How, then, it is triumphantly\nasked, could this small colony duplicate Solomon's temple, renowned for\nits architectural beauty and greatness, and which required seven years\nfor the nation of the Hebrews to construct, assisted by surrounding\npeople and the great treasuries which David, in his reign, had\naccumulated for that sacred purpose?\n\nThe answer to the objection is to be found in a denial of the\nconstruction put upon Nephi's description of his temple. That\ndescription does not warrant the conclusion that Nephi's temple was a\nduplicate of Solomon's, except as to the \"manner of the construction,\"\nfrom which it is to be inferred that the general plan of the structure\nfollowed that of Solomon's, but it does not follow that it was anything\nlike Solomon's in the extent or largeness of it; but in the arrangement\nof its courts; its several divisions and subdivisions were built\n\"after the manner\" and for the purposes for which Solomon's temple was\nconstructed. So that the labored argument as to the inability of so\nsmall a colony as Lehi's duplicating Solomon's temple is merely so much\nwasted energy, since no one is bound to hold that in its dimensions\nand greatness the Nephite Temple equaled Solomon's temple. It was only\nlike unto Solomon's temple in its arrangement and uses, but doubtless\nby this colony was regarded as a very great achievement, as undoubtedly\nit was, and they would likely speak of it in the superlative degree of\nadmiration in describing it.\n\nIV.\n\n_The Difficulty of Iron and Steel Among the Nephites_.\n\nThe Book of Mormon repeatedly affirms the Nephite knowledge of the\nfusion of metals, and their knowledge and use of both iron and steel.\nAs many writers on American Antiquities deny the knowledge and use of\nthese metals by the ancient Americans, their alleged existence in the\nBook of Mormon is generally regarded as a capital objection to that\nrecord. Not all the influential writers, however, are on that side of\nthe question.\n\n \"There is no evidence,\" says Bancroft, \"that the use of iron was\n known except the extreme difficulty of clearing forests and carving\n stone with implements of stone and soft copper.\" [34]\n\nReferring to some of the stones in the ruins of Peruvian buildings,\nPrescott remarks:\n\n Many of these stones were of vast size; some of them being full\n thirty-eight feet long, by eighteen broad, and six feet thick. We\n are filled with astonishment when we consider that these enormous\n masses were hewn from their native bed and fashioned into shape by\n a people ignorant of the use of iron. [35]\n\nBut why could not the argument of Wilkinson be followed when confronted\nwith a similar problem respecting the ancient Egyptian works in stone?\nHe allowed that the achievements of that ancient people in quarrying\nand shaping huge blocks of stone to be an evidence of their knowledge\nand use of iron, but that its tendency to decomposition and oxidation\nprevented any specimens of it from being preserved. [36]\n\nLater, notwithstanding Prescott's disagreement with the argument, some\nof the best authorities sustained the conclusions of Wilkinson. George\nRawlinson, for instance, in his \"History of Ancient Egypt,\" says:\n\n In metals Egypt was deficient. * * * * Copper, iron, and lead do,\n however, exist in portions of the eastern desert, and one iron mine\n shows signs of having been anciently worked.\n\n\"Then,\" he remarks, \"the metal is found in form of specular and red\niron ore. Still, none of these metals seem to have been obtained by the\nEgyptians from their own land in any considerable quantity. In a foot\nnote he says this mine lies in the eastern desert between the Nile and\nRed Sea, at a place called Hammami.\" [37] Later, he says:\n\n It has been much questioned whether iron was employed at all by\n the Egyptians until the time of the Greek conquest. The weapons\n and implements and ornaments of iron which have been found in\n the ancient cities are so few, while those of bronze are so\n numerous, and the date of the few iron objects discovered is so\n uncertain that there is strong temptation to embrace the simple\n theory that iron was first introduced into Egypt by the Ptolemies.\n Difficulties, however, stand in the way of a complete adoption of\n this view. A fragment of a thin plate of iron was found by Col.\n Vyse imbedded in the masonry of the great pyramid. [38]\n\nContinuing, he says:\n\n Some iron implements and ornaments have been found in the tombs\n with nothing about them indicative of their belonging to the late\n period. The paucity of such instances is partially, if not wholly\n accounted for, by the rapid decay of iron in the nitrous earth\n of Egypt, or when oxidized by exposure to the air. It seems very\n improbable that the Hebrew and Canaanites should for centuries have\n been well acquainted with the use of iron, and their neighbors\n of Egypt, whose civilization was far more advanced, have been\n ignorant of it. On these grounds the most judicious of modern\n Egyptologists seem to hold, that while the use of iron by the\n Egyptians in Pharaonic times was at the best rare and occasional,\n it was not wholely unknown, though less appreciated than we should\n have expected. Iron spear-heads, iron cycles, iron gimlets, iron\n bracelets, iron keys, iron wire were occasionally made use of,\n but the Egyptians on the whole were contented with their bronze\n implements and weapons, which were more easily produced and which\n they found to answer every purpose. [39]\n\nMay it not be argued with equal reason, that the Lamanites, after the\nconquest of the Nephites, found themselves in the same condition, that\nis, it was easier for them to convert copper into such implements as\nthey desired than iron, until finally the use of iron was discontinued\nand the art of manufacturing it lost.\n\nBaldwin says of the Peruvians:\n\n Iron was unknown to them in the time of the Incas, although some\n maintain that they had it in the previous ages, to which belong the\n ruins of Lake Titicaca. Iron ore was and still is very abundant in\n Peru. It is impossible to conceive how the Peruvians were able to\n cut and work stone in such a masterly way, or to construct their\n great roads and aqueducts without the use of iron tools. Some\n of the languages of the country, and perhaps all, had names for\n iron; in official Peruvian it was called \"quillay,\" and in the old\n Chilian tongue \"panilic.\" \"It is remarkable,\" observes Molina, \"that\n iron, which has been thought unknown to the ancient Americans,\n has particular names in some of their tongues.\" It is not easy to\n understand why they had names for this metal, if they never at any\n time had knowledge of the metal itself. In the \"Mercurio Peruano,\"\n (tome i., p. 201, 1791), it is stated that, anciently, the Peruvian\n sovereigns, \"worked magnificent iron mines at Ancoriames, on the west\n shore of Lake Titicaca;\" but I can not give the evidence used in\n support of this statement. [40].\n\nDeRoo says:\n\n Iron seems to have been unknown in America at the time of the\n Spanish discovery, but the Mound-Builders' graveyards, afford proof\n that they not only knew it, but manufactured it into tools and\n implements. In the sepulchral mound at Marietta (Ohio) there was\n found in the year 1819 a little lump of iron ore that had almost\n the specific gravity of pure iron, and presented the appearance of\n being partially smelted, while in the mound at Circleville oxidized\n iron was unearthed in the shape of a plate. [41]\n\nReferring again to what was found in the mound at Marietta, he says:\n\n In June of 1819, upon opening a mound at Marietta, some very\n remarkable objects were discovered, consisting of three large\n circular copper bosses thickly overlaid with silver, and apparently\n intended as ornaments for a buckler or a sword-belt. On the reverse\n were two plates fastened by a copper rivet or nail, around which\n was a flaxen thread, while between the plates were two small pieces\n of leather. The copper showed much signs of decay; it was almost\n reduced to an oxide; but the silver, though much corroded, resumed\n its natural brilliancy on being burnished. In the same tumulus was\n also found a hollow silver plate six inches long and two broad,\n intended apparently as the upper part of a sword-scabbard. The\n scabbard itself seems to have perished in the course of time, as no\n other portion of it was found, with the exception of a few broken,\n rust-eaten pieces of a copper tube, which was likely intended for\n the reception of the point of the weapon. [42]\n\nJosiah Priest has the following passages on the subject of the\ndiscoveries of iron in the mounds of America:\n\n We have examined the blade of a sword found in Philadelphia, now\n in Peel's Museum, in New York, which was taken out of the ground\n something more than sixty feet below the surface. The blade is\n about twenty inches in length, is sharp on one edge, with a thick\n back, a little turned up at the point, with a shank drawn out\n three or four inches long, on which was doubtless, inserted in\n the handle, and clenched at the end. It is known that the swords\n of all ancient nations were very short, on which account, their\n wars on the field of battle, were but an immense number of single\n combats. [43]\n\nDescribing what was found in one of the mounds at Circleville, in Ohio,\nupon the authority of Mr. Atwater, who was present when the mound was\nopened, he says:\n\n The handle, either of a small sword, or a large knife, made of an\n elk's horn; around the end where the blade had been inserted, was\n a ferule of silver, which, though black, was not much injured by\n time; though the handle showed the hole where the blade had been\n inserted, yet no iron was found, but an oxide or rust remained,\n of similiar shape and size. The swords of the ancient nations of\n the old world, it is known, were very short. Charcoal, and wood\n ashes, on which these articles lay, were surrounded by several\n bricks, very well burnt. The skeleton appeared to have been burnt\n in a large and very hot fire. * * About twenty feet to the north of\n it (i. e. the skeleton) was another, with which was found a large\n mirror. * * * On this mirror was a plate of iron, which had become\n an oxide, but before it was disturbed by the spade, resembled a\n plate of cast iron. The mirror answered the purpose very well for\n which it was intended. [44]\n\n Iron was known to the antediluvians; it was also known to the\n ancients of the west. Copper ore is very abundant, in many places\n of the west; and, therefore, as they had a knowledge of it when\n they first came here they knew how to work it, and form it into\n tools and ornaments. This is the reason why so many articles\n of this metal are found in their works; and even if they had a\n knowledge of iron ore, and knew how to work it, all articles made\n of it must have become oxidized as appears from what few specimens\n have been found, while those of copper are more imperishable. [45]\n\nQuoting Mr. Atwater again, Priest says:\n\n There is a tradition (among the Indians) that Florida had once been\n inhabited by white people, who had the use of iron tools; their\n oldest Indians say, when children, they had often heard it spoken\n of by the old people of the tribe, that anciently, stumps of trees\n covered with earth, were frequently found, which had been cut\n down by edged tools. Whoever they were, or from whatever country\n they may have originated, the account, as given by Morse, the\n geographer, of the subterranean wall found in North Carolina, goes\n very far to show they had a knowledge of iron ore; and consequently\n knew how to work it, or they could not have had iron tools, as the\n Shawanese Indians relate. [46]\n\nAgain:\n\n On the river Gasconade, which empties into the Missouri, on the\n southern side, (about 70 miles west of St. Louis) are found the\n traces of ancient works, similar to those in North Carolina. In\n the saltpetre caves of that region, the Gasconade country, in\n particular, were discovered, when they were first visited, axes\n and hammers made of iron; which led to the belief that they had\n formerly worked those caves for the sake of the nitre. Dr. Beck,\n from whose Gazetteer of Missouri and Illinois, (p. 234), we have\n this account, remarks, however, that \"it is difficult to decide\n whether these tools were left there by the present race of Indians,\n or a more civilized race of people. * * * * This author considers\n the circumstance of finding those tools in the nitre caves, as\n furnishing a degree of evidence that the country of Gasconade river\n was formerly settled by a race of men who were acquainted with\n the use of iron, and exceeded the Indians in civilization and a\n knowledge of the arts. [47]\n\nIn the town of Pompey, Onondaga county, New York, in one of the mounds\nwhere Mr. Priest describes the finding of glass, he also says:\n\n In the same grave with the bottle was found an iron hatchet,\n edged with steel. The eye, or place for the helve, was round, and\n extended or projected out, like the ancient Swiss or German axe. *\n * * * In the same town, on lot No. 17, were found the remains of a\n blacksmith's forge; at this spot have been ploughed up crucibles,\n such as mineralogists use in refining metals.\n\n These axes are similar, and correspond in character with those\n found in the nitrous caves on the Gasconade river, which empties\n into the Missouri, as mentioned in Professor Beck's Gazatteer of\n that country. * * * * * Within the range of these works have been\n found pieces of cast iron, broken from some vessel of considerable\n thickness. These articles cannot well be ascribed to the era of the\n French war, as time enough since then till the region around about\n Onondaga was commenced to be cultivated, had not elapsed to give\n the growth of timber found on the spot, of the age above noticed;\n and, added to this, it is said that the Indians occupying that\n tract of country had no tradition of their authors. [48]\n\nAgain he states:\n\n Anv'ls of iron have been found in Pompey, (Onondaga county) in\n the same quarter of the country with the other discoveries, as\n above related; which we should naturally expect to find, or it\n might be inquired how could axes, and the iron works of wagons, be\n manufactured? [49]\n\nAs I have before remarked, it has been contended that the ancient\nAmericans knew nothing of the fusion of metals, but the presence\nof these materials for such purpose goes far towards dispelling\nthat opinion. It is true that Mr. Priest advances the opinion that\nthis forge and these crucibles found in New York, may have been of\nScandinavian origin; still that is but a conjecture, and here I wish to\nintroduce the testimony of Columbus, quoted by Nadaillac, who says:\n\n The Mayas knew nothing of iron; copper and gold were the only\n metals they used, and it is doubtful whether they understood\n smelting metals. Christopher Columbus is said, however, to have\n seen, off the coast Honduras, a boat laden with crucibles, filled\n with ingots of metal and hatchets made of copper which had been\n fetched from a distance. (\"Prehistoric America,\" p. 269).\n\nSpeaking again of discoveries in the ancient tumuli of America, Priest\nsays:\n\n A vast many instances of articles made of copper and sometimes\n plated with silver, have been met with on opening their works.\n Circular pieces of copper, intended either as medals or breast\n plates, have been found, several inches in diameter, very much\n injured by time. In several tumuli the remains of knives, and even\n of swords, in the form of rust, have been discovered. * * * * * But\n besides, there have been found very well manufactured swords and\n knives of iron, and possibly steel, says Mr. Atwater; from which\n we are to conclude that the primitive people of America, either\n discovered the use of iron themselves, as the Greeks did, * * * *\n or that they carried a knowledge of this ore with them at the time\n of their dispersion. [50]\n\nSpeaking of the discovery of a skeleton of a man in one of the mounds\nof Merrietta, Ohio, he says:\n\n Two or three pieces of a copper tube were also found with this\n body, filled with iron rust. The pieces from their appearance\n composed the lower end of the scabbard near the point of the sword,\n but no sign of the sword itself, except a streak of rust its whole\n length. [51]\n\nA. J. Connant, A. M., member of the St. Louis Academy of Science, and\nof the American Association for the Advancement of Science, published\nthe following, in 1879:\n\n From an interesting account of certain mounds in Utah, communicated\n by Mr. Amasa Potter to the Eureka Sentinel, of Nevada, as copied by\n The Western Review of Science and Industry, I make the following\n extracts: The mounds are situated on what is known as the Payson\n Farm, and are six in number, covering twenty acres of ground. They\n are from ten to eighteen feet in height, and from 500 to 1,000 feet\n in circumference. \"The explorations divulged no hidden treasure so\n far, but have proved to us that there once undoubtedly existed here\n a more enlightened race of human beings that that of the Indian who\n inhabited this country, and whose records have been traced back\n hundreds of years.\" While engaged in excavating one of the larger\n mounds, we discovered the feet of a large skeleton, and carefully\n removing the hardened earth in which it was embedded, we succeeded\n in unearthing a large skeleton without injury. The human framework\n measured six feet, six inches in length, and from appearances it\n was undoubtedly that of a male. In the right hand was a large\n iron or steel weapon, which had been buried with the body, but\n which crumbled to pieces on handling. Near the skeleton we also\n found pieces of cedar wood, cut in various fantastic shapes, and\n in a state of perfect preservation; the carving showing that the\n people of this unknown race were acquainted with the use of edged\n tools. [52]\n\nMr. Conant also refers with approval to several passages I have already\nquoted from Dr. Priest's works, and adds on his own account:\n\n There are certain facts which have been quoted from time to time,\n which fit into none of the popular theories concerning the state\n of the arts of the Mound-builders. It has been stated, and often\n repeated, that they had no knowledge of smelting or casting\n metals, yet the recent discoveries in Wisconsin of implements of\n copper cast in molds--as well as the moulds themselves, of various\n patterns, and wrought with much skill--prove that the age of\n metallurgical arts had dawned in that region at least.\n\n And again: what shall be said concerning the traces of iron\n implements which have been discovered from time to time in the\n mounds, but more frequently at great depths below the surface of\n the soil. Though accounts of such discoveries are generally from\n reliable sources, they have latterly received no attention, and\n always have been considered as so much perilous ware which no one\n cared to handle. [53]\n\nAfter referring to their stupendous works in stone, and their skill in\nthe fine arts, involving the most delicate carving, Mr. Conant remarks\nof the old American race who wrought them:\n\n And it is difficult to conceive how, without cutting implements\n equal, at least, to our own in hardness, such delicate and such\n stupendous works could have been executed. And to the question\n whether they possessed a knowledge of working iron, the wise\n man will hesitate long before he answers in the negative. It\n should be remembered, too, how quickly--unless under most\n favoring conditions--iron corrodes to dust and leaves scarcely a\n trace behind. The piles of the Swiss lake-dwellings, the cedar\n posts of the mounds, may endure for ages, while iron--so hard,\n and more precious than gold in the advancement of the world's\n civilization,--speedily melts away before the gentle dews and air\n of heaven. [54]\n\nThere is more to the same effect, but our limits will admit of no\nfurther quotations.\n\nV.\n\n_The Horse and Other Domestic Animals of the Book of Mormon_.\n\nIt has to be conceded that the weight of assertion on the part of\nwriters on American antiquities, is against the existence of the horse,\ncow, ass, goat, sheep, etc., in America within historical times, and\nbefore the advent of Europeans. There is no evidence developed so far\nthat satisfactorily proves that any of the native races of America,\nwild or civilized, had any knowledge of the horse and other domestic\nanimals named at the time of the discovery of America by the Europeans.\nThe Book of Mormon, however, repeatedly and most positively declares\nthat all these animals existed in great numbers. The first Nephi, for\ninstance, says:\n\n We did find upon the land of promise, as we journeyed in the\n wilderness, that there were beasts in the forest of every kind,\n both the cow and the ox, and the ass and the horse, and the goat\n and the wild goat, and all manner of wild animals, which were for\n the use of men. [55]\n\nThe same animals, with others, are enumerated as existing also in\nJaredite times, and in the reign of King Emer--the fifth of the\nJaredite line of kings--that people are said to have had--\n\n All manner of cattle, of oxen, and cows, and of sheep, and of\n swine, and of goats, and also many other kind of animals which\n were useful for the food of man; and they also had horses, and\n asses, and there were elephants and cureloms, and cummoms; all of\n which were useful unto man, and more especially the elephants, and\n cureloms, and cummoms. [56]\n\nIt is to be observed, curiously enough, that elephants are spoken of\nas being in use for domestic purposes in connection with the horse and\ncattle, etc., and it is rather a striking circumstance that the remains\nof these animals, together with those of man, have been unearthed in\nvarious parts of the American continent, though their existence is\naccredited to very ancient times--to ages long prior to either Nephite\nor Jaredite times. [57]\n\nIt is held, of course, by opponents of the Book of Mormon that this\napparent conflict between the book and the supposed facts, as they are\ndeclared to be by the writers on such subjects, constitutes a grave\nobjection to the claims of the Book of Mormon. And, indeed, in the\npresent state of our knowledge upon the subject, it has to be admitted\nthat it constitutes one of our most embarrassing difficulties. Still\nit should be remembered that there is a wide difference between a\ndifficulty for which one has not at hand an adequate explanation, and\none that would be fatal to the claims made for the Book of Mormon. The\nfact has to be admitted that the native Americans seemed to have had\nno knowledge of the horse at the time of the discovery of America, but\nthat does not necessarily carry with it the conclusion that he did not\nexist and was not used a thousand years before that time. His apparent\nextinction may be and is sarcastically referred to as \"a very strange\nthing,\" still, \"strange things\" do sometimes happen; and the extinction\nof species of animals is not an unknown thing in the history of our\nearth. Indeed our scientists are confronted by just such--nay, with\nthe identical \"strange occurrence;\" namely, the sudden and complete\ndisappearance of the horse from the American continents. First let me\nexplain that the result of recent long continued investigation upon the\nsubject leads our scientists to the conclusion that North America was\nthe original home of the horse--the place of his \"evolution.\" In the\nCentury Magazine, for November, 1904, is a very elaborate and very able\narticle on \"The Evolution of the Horse in America,\" really a study of\nthe \"Fossil Wonders of the West,\" by Henry Fairfield Osborn, Professor\nof Zoology in Columbia University, and Curator in the American Museum\nof Natural History. Speaking of the migration of the horse from America\nto Europe, he says:\n\n About the early or mid-Pliocene period there apparently occurred\n the long journey of the true American breed horses into Asia and\n Europe and over the newly made land-bridge of Panama or of the\n Antilles into South America. That the true Old World horse actually\n came from America is inferred because of the sudden appearance\n in the Upper Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills of northern India, in\n northern Italy, and in England, of five species of the true horse,\n of which no ancestors have been found in either Europe or Asia.\n Another strong argument for their American origin is found in\n the simultaneous appearance in the same countries of the camel,\n which we positively know to have been an exclusively American-bred\n animal. It is possible, however, that in unexplored portions\n of northern Asia the evolution of true horses may have been\n progressing. I am sanguine that traces of this great exodus and\n migration of the horses will be discovered in the rocks of northern\n Asia, and that this great problem in the history of the horse will\n be solved in favor of America.\n\nSpeaking further of the horse in America in very ancient times, our\nauthor says:\n\n The preglacial or earliest Plieistocene times in America, as in\n Europe were of temperate climate with increasing coldness. The\n country was covered from north to south with three noble species\n of elephants, namely, the northern mammoth, the Columbian mammoth,\n and the imperial mammoth or elephant of Texas; there were also\n large and small camels, and a variety of large ground-sloths which\n had recently made their way over the new land bridge from South\n America. The great number and variety of our preglacial horses\n speak for favorable conditions, and constitute an additional\n proof of the American-origin theory. In 1826 Mitchell aroused\n wide-spread interest by the discovery of the first true fossil\n horse of America, found near the Navesink Highlands of New Jersey.\n This was seventy-eight years ago; it antedated by a quarter of a\n century Leidy's discoveries in Nebraska. The wide geographical\n range, as well as the great variety in size and breed of the\n American preglacial horses, is indicated by the following facts.\n One animal (Equus complicatus), about the size of a small western\n broncho, originally found near Natchez, has been traced all\n over the Southern States from the isles of the Gulf of Mexico\n to South Carolina. A larger horse with very elaborate grinding\n teeth has been found in the Northeastern and Middle States. On\n the extreme western coasts of California and in Oregon occurs the\n large \"Pacific horse\" perhaps closest to the existing species of\n horse. In Nebraska we quarried a whole season, securing remains of\n hundreds of horses belonging to another species. In a portion of\n this quarry all the larger limb bones were found broken in two.\n This suggested to me the possibility that these larger bones, the\n only ones known to have contained marrow, had been broken by man,\n who was primitively a great marrow eater, but we searched in vain\n for any collateral evidence of this hypothesis. To my knowledge,\n no human remains have been found associated with those of the\n fossil horse in North America; but I confidently expect that such\n association will be discovered, as it has been in South America. By\n far the largest species of either wild or domesticated horse known\n has been determined by Mr. Gidley in Texas, and has appropriately\n been called the \"giant horse.\" The grinding teeth exceed those of\n the Percheron draft-horse by one third. At the other extreme is\n a diminutive horse, discovered both in Florida and in the valley\n of Mexico.* * * * * * A more welcome discovery could hardly be\n imagined, therefore, than that by our party, in 1899, on the\n eastern edge of the Llana Estacado of Texas. It was no less than a\n small herd of six or seven preglacial horses. * * * * * * This true\n American horse was certainly rather ungainly-looking, proportioned\n like the larger primitive horses of Europe, with long body, short\n limbs, sloping sides, and quarters like those of some of the\n zebras. Like the early cave-horses of Europe, it had a large head,\n convex forehead, stout limbs, spreading hoofs and splint-bones\n which represent the last of the lateral toes.\n\nThen, coming to the strange circumstance of the total \"elimination of\nthe horse from the American continents,\" the professor says:\n\n When we look back upon the enormous antiquity of our horse, upon\n the ceaseless trials of nature by which it was produced, and upon\n the splendid varities of breeds which roamed over the country in\n preglacial times, we cannot but regard the total elimination of\n this race as a calamity for the North American continent. * * * *\n There is no doubt that we supplied South America with the horses\n which under the peculiar conditions there began to separate into\n a number of distinct breeds. The extremely short-limbed Hippidium\n of the pampas of Argentina was contrasted with the more normal\n long-limbed horses found in various parts of South America. The\n horse also persisted in South America until the advent of man;\n during the Upper Pleistocene lake formations its remains are found\n associated with chipped stone implements, with pottery and fire\n refuse, proving that it was both hunted and eaten. The evidence,\n however, for the total extinction of the horse is as strong in\n South as it is in North America, and it is generally accepted that\n in 1530 Mendoza reintroduced the horse into the La Plata region,\n just as the Spaniards reintroduced it into our Southern States.\n The rapid spread of several breeds of horses in South America\n and of the mustangs in North America bespeak highly favorable\n conditions of life. Many of these horses have reverted to a very\n primitive condition, notably the striped yellow duns of Mexico.\n The increasing cold and the advancing ice sheet of the glacial\n period are commonly assigned as the cause of the extinction of\n American horses. The fact that most of our native fauna became\n extinct at the same time lends probability to this theory. But\n this does not explain the elimination which also occurred to the\n south in Central and South America, and for other reasons it seems\n to me that the temperature theory is not adequate to explain all\n the facts. The great herds of kiangs, or wild asses, and other\n breeds which subsist under the extreme conditions of the northern\n winters, as well as the survival of the horse through the glacial\n period in Europe, demonstrate the capacity of this family to endure\n cold. Another class of causes which should certainly be taken into\n consideration is the occurrence of a wide-spread epidemic among\n the quadrupeds, such as the rinderpest of Africa, or that which is\n spread by the tsetse-fly. In certain parts of South America the\n puma is an animal especially destructive to horses.\n\nMay not the last named class of causes be as confidently relied upon to\nexplain the apparent extinction of the horse in America since the close\nof the Nephite period, as to explain his extinction in the more ancient\npreglacial times?\n\nWhat is more embarrassing than the apparent absence of knowledge of the\nhorse by the natives at the time of the European discovery of America,\nis the absence of any positive and abundant evidence of the remains\nof the horse in the tumuli or other ruins of the land; and an absence\nalso of any drawing or other representation of the horse in the native\npicture writing or sculpture, while many other animals and birds and\nfish are frequently represented both in picture writing and sculpture.\n\nKitto notes the fact, however, that from the account of the burial of\nJacob, [58] and from the Song of Moses, [59] it is clear that horsemen\nwere a part of the Egyptian army, and yet there is but one solitary\nspecimen of a man on horseback amongst the infinite variety of\nsculptured representations of their manner and customs. [60]\n\nDaniel G. Brinton, one of the most competent writers upon the subject,\nsays:\n\n There is no doubt but that the horse existed on the continent\n contemporaneously with post-glacial man; and some palaeontologists\n are of opinion that the European and Asian horses were descendants\n of the American species; [61] but for some mysterious reason the\n genus became extinct in the New World many generations before its\n discovery. [62]\n\nMay it not be possible that a too great antiquity is claimed for most\nof the evidences of the existence of these animals in the western\nworld? The convictions of Nadaillac, concerning the non-existence of\nthe horse in America within historical times (and previous to the\nSpanish invasion), was well nigh shaken by some of the discoveries of\nCharnay. The latter, \"in the execution of a mission entrusted to him\nby the French government, superintended the excavation of some tumuli,\nmountains of rubbish probably, which had covered for many centuries\nthe relics of the ancient Toltecs\"--the native Americans who most\nresemble the Nephites, judging from their traditions. One dwelling,\nwhich Charnay unearthed, \"consisted of twenty-four rooms, two cisterns,\ntwelve corridors, and fifteen little staircases of extraordinary\narchitecture and thrilling interest.\"\n\n\"This is not all,\" continues Charnay. \"In the midst of fragments of\npottery of all kinds, from the coarsest used in building, such as\nbricks, tiles, water-pipes, to the most delicate for domestic use,\nI have picked up enamels, fragments of crockery and porcelain, and\nmore extraordinary still, the neck of a glass bottle iridescent like\nancient Roman glass.\"\n\n \"Amongst the debris,\" says Nadaillac, \"lays the bones of some\n gigantic ruminants (perhaps bisons?), the tibia of which were about\n one foot three inches long by four inches thick, the femur at the\n upper end about six inches by four inches. Admitting that there\n is no mistake, these facts are absolutely new, for previously it\n was considered that the early Americans did not know how to make\n either glass or porcelain, and that before the arrival of the\n Conquistadors (the Conquerors, the Spaniards) none of our domestic\n animals were known in America, but that of the oxen, horses, and\n sheep living there at the present day are all descended from\n ancestors imported from Europe.\"\n\n \"The excavations have also yielded some little chariots that\n Charnay thinks were the toys of children. Now, supposing these toys\n to have been a reproduction in miniature of objects used by men, we\n must conclude that the Toltecs employed carriages, and that their\n use was not only given up, but absolutely unknown on the arrival\n of Cortes. These discoveries, we can but repeat, greatly modify\n the conclusions hitherto accepted. But are these really original\n productions? May they not have been imported? This is after all\n doubtful, and new proofs are needed to establish certainly that\n the objects discovered really date from the pre-Columbian period\n before we can admit that in the eleventh century the Toltecs\n possessed domestic animals, that they knew how to make and fashion\n porcelain, glass, perhaps even iron, for Charnay also collected in\n his excavations several iron implements. [63]\n\nPriest, in his \"American Antiquities,\" speaks of \"a great number of\ntracks, as turkeys, bears, horses, and human beings, as perfect as they\ncould be made on snow or sand,\" found impressed in the surface of a\nsolid rock on a certain mountain in the State of Tennessee, situated a\nfew miles south of Braystown. He says, \"that these are the real tracks\nof the animals they represent, appears from the circumstance of this\nhorse's foot having slipped several inches, and recovered again; the\nfigures having all the same direction, like the trail of a company on a\njourney.\" [64] Referring later to this subject, he says:\n\n The horse, it is said, was not known in America till the Spaniards\n introduced it from Europe, after the time of its discovery by\n Columbus, which has multiplied prodigiously on the innumerable\n wilds and prairies of both South and North America; yet the track\n of a horse is found on a mountain of Tennessee, in a rock of the\n enchanted mountain, as before related, and shows that horses were\n known in America in the earliest ages after the flood. [65]\n\nThe question, then, for the present may be stated thus: The Book of\nMormon positively testifies to the existence, in America, of these\nanimals in both Jaredite and Nephite times. There have been discovered,\nby the researches of men, abundant evidences of the horse's existence\nin America, but they claim a very much greater antiquity for that\nexistence than Book of Mormon times. It must be admitted that the\nweight of evidence, though not all the evidence, as it stands at\npresent, is with those who make such claims; still it may be reasonably\nclaimed, as for instance in the evidence found by Charnay and referred\nto in the passage I have quoted from Nadaillac, that some of the\nevidence points to a more recent existence of the horse on the American\ncontinents. Very much more evidence may yet be hoped for on the subject\nas explorations shall become more perfect and more extensive.\n\nRelative to other domestic animals, Bancroft says, speaking of those in\nCentral America:\n\n Turkeys, ducks, geese, and other fowl were domesticated; and pigs,\n rabbits, and hares are mentioned as having been bred. Multitudes of\n bees were kept for their honey and wax, and hives are spoken o, by\n Las Casas without description. Gomera says the bees were small and\n the honey somewhat bitter. [66]\n\nIt has sometimes been questioned whether bees were found in America;\nand their supposed non-existence has sometimes been urged as an\nobjection to the Book of Mormon, which positively states that the\nJaredites brought with them to the northern continent \"deseret,\" which\nby interpretation is \"honey bee.\" [67]\n\nThe foregoing passage from Bancroft, and very much more evidence that\nmight be quoted, sets that question at rest.\n\nRelative to other domestic animals referred to, the cow, goat, sheep,\netc., is a subject much more easily disposed of, for the mountain\nsheep and great herds of buffaloes may be the domesticated animals of\nancients gone wild.\n\nVI.\n\n_The Barges of the Jaredite Colony_.\n\nThe story of the migration of the Jaredite colony from the coast of\nAsia to America in eight barges, driven across the seas by strong\nwinds, has been an incident ridiculed by nearly every writer against\nthe Book of Mormon from the beginning. Rev. Alexander Campbell\nespecially makes merry over it, and disgraces himself by the garbled\nand unfair manner in which he relates the story. [68] But it was\nreserved for Rev. M. T. Lamb to make the most of such objections as may\nbe urged against these barges. [69]\n\nOmitting all reference to his silly ridicule and \"smartness,\" in which\nhe but mimics the methods among infidel writers when dealing with the\nstory of \"Noah's deluge,\" the objection against the Jaredite migration\nand barges may be stated thus:\n\n1. The barges are too small and too few in number to carry Jared's\ncolony, the animals they are said to have taken with them, and the\nnecessary provisions.\n\n2. Each barge had an opening in the top of it for the admission of air\ninto the vessel, which could be closed at will in the event of there\nbeing danger of submersion. A similar opening made in the bottom of the\nbarge but capable of being kept closed--and when closed water tight--at\nthe will of the occupants--is regarded as unnecessary and ridiculous.\n\n3. The provisions made for lighting the interior of the barges by means\nof transparent stones made luminous by the touch of God's finger, is\nunusual and just subject for ridicule.\n\n4. The length of the voyage (344 days), being propelled by furious\nwinds, the eight barges keeping together till their arrival at the\npromised land--is all regarded as too wonderful for belief.\n\nLet us now consider these several objections one by one.\n\n1. The barges are inadequate to convey the colony to America. They are\nsaid to have been small and light on the water. But how small? The\nlength is described as \"the length of a tree.\" [70] But of what tree? A\ntree one hundred feet long, or one two hundred feet long, or longer?\nWho may tell? Small; but small in comparison of what? Perhaps small in\ncomparison of the ark, the traditions concerning which were well known\nto Jared and his brother, for they lived but a few generations removed\nfrom the time of its construction. The size of the ark is variously\ngiven because of the variations in the length of the cubit, by means of\nwhich its dimensions are described. The one usually accepted, however,\nomitting fractions of feet, is as follows: 525 feet in length; 87 feet\nin breadth; 52 feet in height. [71]\n\nIf this vessel was in the mind of the Jaredite who described the barges\nas \"small,\" and he meant they were small in comparison of the ark, they\ncould still be good-sized vessels, notwithstanding the descriptive term\n\"small;\" as they also could be good sized vessels notwithstanding the\nlength of them is described as the length of a tree, since they could\nbe, if some trees were in the mind of the writer, from one to three\nhundred feet in length. The breadth and depth of them is not given,\nbut doubtless those dimensions would be in good proportion of their\nlength, for their safety, and not at all as the width of a tree is to\nits length.\n\nAs to their being inadequate for the colony of Jared and the animals\nthey brought with them to the New World, it should be remarked, in the\nfirst place, that the colony of Jared was small. A number of years\nafter the arrival of the colony in America, the two principal families,\nthat of the Prophet Moriancumr and of Jared, are given as follows:\nThe former had of sons and daughters twenty-two, while the number of\nsons and daughters of the latter were twelve. How many of these sons\nand daughters were born after the colonies arrived in America is not\nknown, but the numbers are given in connection with the statement that\nthe brother of Jared--Moriancumr--was become old and was anxious to\nmake some provisions for the settled government of the people. The\n\"friends of Jared and his brother\" at the time of the departure of the\ncolony from Babel are set down as \"twenty-two souls,\" but how many\nwere born of these after the colony arrived in America is not known;\nbut certainly these figures make it clear that the colony of Jared was\nsmall.\n\nSecondly, it should be remarked that the number of animals the colony\nbrought with them in the barges may not be determined, but most likely\nthe number was few, and mainly for breeding purposes in the new home to\nwhich the people were being led.\n\nIn view of these reflections, the writer is of the opinion that the\ncandid reader will find no insuperable difficulties in the way of\naccepting the barges as adequate to the conveyance of the colony from\none land to another.\n\nI know there is no particular progress made in the matter of removing\none difficulty by pointing to another of like nature, especially such\ndifficulties as Mormon believers of the Bible, as well as sectarian\nbelievers of it, are equally under obligations to explain as best they\nmay. Still I think it proper to remark that sectarian ministers, who\nare confronted with the difficulties which infidels present concerning\nthe inadequacy of Noah's ark to house Noah and his family and all\nthe animals that they were to take into the ark with them, with the\nnecessary food supplies for the five months through which the flood\nprevailed, (the very lowest estimate of the time) cut a sorry figure\nwhen making mouths at Jared's barges.\n\n2. Relative to the openings in the top and bottom of the barges which\nhas been so fruitful a source of merriment for reverend opponents\nof the Book of Mormon, it is only necessary to say that the opening\nprovided for at the bottom of the barges was doubtless some merely\nemergency provision.\n\n3. There is nothing in the matter of the transparent stones made\nluminous by being touched by the finger of God that is too much for\na reasonable credulity in one who believes in God and his power. The\nstones, called Urim and Thummim, in the breast-plate of the Jewish High\nPriest were made luminous under the power of God, and through them in\nsome mysterious way the will of God was communicated to a prophet.\nIt is no more marvelous that God, at the solicitation of one prophet\nshould make transparent stones luminous, by touching them with his\nfinger, than that he should write his law upon the tablets of stone\nwith his own finger for another prophet; [72] or that he should make\na bush luminous, for that matter, or cause it to burn and yet not be\nconsumed. [73]\n\nEspecially is belief in the possibility of making these stones luminous\neasy since the recent discovery of radium by those eminent French\nchemists, M. and Mme. Curie. Radium is a substance procured from\npitchblende, which has not only the peculiar power of radiating light,\nbut which has the power also of imparting to certain other substances,\nfor a time at least, the same property. These eminent chemists were\nalso the first to isolate from other substances, another metal which\nthey called \"polonium,\" after Poland, the native country of Mme. Curie.\n\nSpeaking of this latter metal before the Chemical Congress at Berlin,\nin 1903, W. Markwald said of it:\n\n In a much higher degree even than radium it possesses the\n property of shining in the dark, and although it is known that\n actual particles infinitesimally small are being shot out from it\n continually--a fact which is proved by magnetic experiments--this\n strange substance does not seem to exhaust itself, nor to lose\n its luminous power with the passage of time. Here, therefore, is\n a hint, at least, of the future possibility of a constant and\n brilliant illuminant generated without heat or combustion.\n\nAn editorial writer of \"The Medical News,\" commenting on Professor\nMarkwald's paper, said:\n\n Professor Markwald's demonstrations at Berlin make it clear that\n polonium is capable of communicating its radiant energy to many\n other substances in a very marked way.\n\nIn the presence of this knowledge concerning the qualities of these\nnewly discovered metals, it is becoming for even supposedly hardheaded\nscientists to stop ridiculing the \"luminous stones\" of Jared's barges,\nwhile sectarian ministers, professing to believe in the omnipotence of\nGod. [Text unreadable] splendidly displayed according to accounts given\nin the Hebrew scriptures, never had any case against the \"luminous\nstones,\" and their ridicule from first to last has been unbecoming.\n\n4. The adequacy of the eight barges to carry the colony of Jared,\ntogether with the seeds and animals they brought with them to the\nNew World is established the moment it was proved that they may have\nbeen and doubtless were of considerable size; and by the same fact\nthe difficulty of the length of the voyage was overcome; while the\nmatter of keeping the barges together is a marvel of our opponent's own\ncreation.\n\nWhile it is true that no direct mention is made of any steering\napparatus, it does not follow from this silence that there was no means\nfor steering provided, [74] and an \"outlook\" from the opening in the\nupper side of the barge was not impossible. Indirectly, the matter\nof \"steering\" is mentioned as a factor in preparing the barges. For\nMoriancumr (the brother of Jared), the prophet leader, in praying that\nsome means of light might be provided, also said: \"O Lord, in them\nthere is no light, whither shall we [by which we shall?] steer?\"\n\nSome provision evidently had been made for steering the barges which\nneeded only the convenience of light to render it adequate.\n\nThese considerations dispose of the difficulties of the barges keeping\ntogether.\n\n_The Marvels of Liahona--\"Compass.\"_\n\nThis divine instrument, found by Lehi at his tent door, while still in\nthe wilderness of Arabia, and which he describes as a \"round ball of\ncurious workmanship\" of fine brass, within which were two spindles, of\nwhich Nephi says: \"and one pointed the way whither we should go into\nthe wilderness, and * * * I, Nephi, beheld the pointers which were in\nthe ball; that they did work according to the faith and diligence and\nheed which we did give unto them.\" [75]\n\nThis curious instrument in an incidental way is called a \"compass\"\nin several passages. [76] Whereupon, our opponents seek to bring the\nBook of Mormon in conflict with supposed historical facts by insisting\nthat the Book of Mormon speaks of the people being in possession of \"a\nmariner's compass, long before the invention of such an instrument!\" [77]\n\nThe director of the Nephites makes no pretentions to being a \"Mariner's\ncompass\" of man's invention, and surely the description given\nabove, supplemented as it is by a fuller description in the Book of\nAlma, where it is called \"Liahona,\" must dispel all thought of this\ninstrument being considered as an ordinary compass, such as is invented\nby men for navigating purposes; and which, as everybody knows, has\nbut this one quality, namely, its needle constantly points northward\nbecause of the magnetic pole force, and mariners knowing one direction\nmay ascertain others. The silliness of argument, which even supposedly\ngrave and reverend historians and essayists descend to on such a\npoint, is illustrated by an alleged incident with which Linn stoops to\nrender his pages luminous, by pretending to quote the manner in which\n\"Mormons in Utah\" are supposed to explain the alleged anachronism of\nthe \"compass.\" He says:\n\n The ease with which such an error could be explained is shown in an\n anecdote of a Utah Mormon, who, when told that the compass was not\n known in Bible times, responded by quoting Acts xxvii: 13, where\n Paul says: \"And from thence we fetched a compass!\"\n\nThat is, to quote the passage in full--\"From thence we fetched a\ncompass, and came to Rhegium.\"\n\nThis is merely the repetition of an old, silly story told against the\nMormons long before they arrived in Utah, and was invented by the Rev.\nHenry Caswell, author of \"The Prophet of the Nineteenth Century,\"\npublished in 1843. It is of that order of stuff as the tales about the\nProphet Joseph attempting to walk on the water, and his pretending to\nraise the simulated dead.\n\nThe antiquity of the compass really, of course, is of no importance in\nthis discussion, since it is not claimed that \"Liahona\" is a compass,\nbut an entirely different instrument, \"and the Lord prepared it;\"\nstill, in passing, it may be well to point out that those who have\nattempted to make capital out of this supposed anachronism have not\nstated the whole truth concerning the compass.\n\n \"The directive power of the magnet,\" says a respectable authority\n \"seems to have been unknown in Europe till late in the 12th\n century. It appears, however, on very good authority, that it was\n known in China, and throughout the east generally, at a very remote\n period. The Chinese annals indeed assign its discovery to the year\n 2634 B. C., when, they say, an instrument for indicating the sun\n was constructed by the emperor Hou-angti. At first, they would\n appear to have used it exclusively for guidance in traveling by\n land.\" [78]\n\nVII.\n\n_The Weight of the Plates_.\n\nAn objection is urged against the credibility of Joseph Smith's account\nof carrying the plates of the Book of Mormon home from the Hill\nCumorah. It is claimed that on account of their great weight it would\nbe impossible for him to carry them a distance of some two miles and\nrepel successfully the three assaults which he alleges were made upon\nhim enroute.\n\nHyde estimates that a mass of gold plates of the dimensions given, 7x8\ninches and 6 inches thick, would weigh 200 pounds. [79] Many others\nhave echoed this objection, and have adopted Hyde's data upon which it\nis founded. To increase the difficulties they also say, that \"besides\nthese plates he had, according to his third story, a breast-plate of\nbrass, Laban's sword, the crystal interpreters, the 'brass ball with\nspindles,' the director of Lehi. Yet he packs his horse load, keeps\nthese large and awkward shaped things completely concealed, and, at the\nsame time, beat off and outruns two empty-handed men a distance of two\nmiles! Statements must be probable, and, therefore, these ought to be\nrejected.\" [80]\n\nThis is a misrepresentation. The Prophet did not carry these \"awkward\nshaped things\" with him at the time he carried home the plates and\nrepelled the attacks of his assailants. He carried with him the plates\nonly on that occasion. The other articles, or as many of them as he\nhad--I have nowhere found in any narrative of Joseph Smith's, or one\nby any responsible person associated with him, that he took possession\nof the sword of Laban or Lehi's director--he carried home at other\ntimes. [81]\n\nIn passing, I call attention to the fact that nearly every\nobjection urged against the Book of Mormon has in it the element of\nmisrepresentation. If the main fact contended for in the foregoing\nobjection is true, namely, that the plates weighed 200 pounds, and\ntherefore were too heavy for Joseph Smith to carry two miles and at\nthe same time repel his assailants, why add the untruths of the rest\nof the statement? If the conclusion as to the weight be true, would\nnot that be difficulty enough to present? It may be a little apart\nfrom the main question here to call attention to this tendency of\nmisrepresentation in all the objections urged, yet the very strangeness\nof the circumstance tempts one to notice it, and it reveals the fact\nthat those who are making objections to the Book of Mormon are not\nquite certain of the strength of such objections as may be urged while\nrigidly adhering to the facts in the case.\n\nWithout accepting or rejecting the conclusions relative to the probable\nweight of the plates--for it is largely matter of speculation in any\ncase, and the conclusions urged may or may not be near the truth; and,\nmoreover, ground for the difficulty presented would exist if it could\nbe established that the plates weighed 90 or even 50 pounds, wo we will\nnot haggle about the number of pounds in weight--it is conceded that\nthe weight was considerable. In fact, I have already urged that it was\na matter which impressed itself upon the minds of the Eight Witnesses,\nwho incidentally say that they saw and \"hefted\" them. [82]\n\nReplying to this objection it is to be urged, first of all, that Joseph\nSmith was a strong, athletic young man; and aroused as he was under the\nstress of the excitement of the occasion, he would be wrought up to his\nhighest physical tension, and when so aroused the limits of what may be\ndone by men in the way of feats of strength and agility have not yet\nbeen found. Of course there is yet to be reckoned with the power which\nGod could, and which perhaps he did impart to the young Prophet. If\nthat be accepted as a factor in the event, the objection based on the\nweight of the plates is swept aside. It matters not, then, whether the\nweight be 50 or 200 pounds. The difficulty is as easily overcome in the\none case as in the other. But when a natural, ordinary source can be\nappealed to for explanation of such a circumstance as is before us, I\ndo not care to appeal to the supernatural, to the miraculous; and I am\nof opinion that when the unusual personal strength of Joseph Smith is\ntaken into account, and that the young man was aroused to his highest\nphysical tension by the excitement of the circumstances under which he\nwas acting, I think he could accomplish the things he claims to have\nperformed though the weight of the plates be conceded as considerable.\n\nIn conclusion, on this head, I call the attention of the many sectarian\n\"Reverends\" who make much of the apostate Hyde's objection, and use his\ndata for arriving at the weight of the plates, to the fact that it ill\nbecomes them to urge this objection, while they have to account to an\nunbelieving world for the marvelous feats of strength and endurance of\nmany Bible characters, and especially of Samson, for twenty years Judge\nof Israel. What of this man, bare handed, meeting a lion and overcoming\nhim? What of one lone man, with so poor a weapon as the jaw bone of an\nass, slaying a thousand men of a war-like people? What of his carrying\naway bodily, together with the posts and iron bar which fastened them,\nthe huge gates of the city of Gaza? And finally of his pulling down the\ngreat central pillars of the temple of Dagon, so that the temple fell,\nslaying himself and a host of the Philistines?\n\nIf these \"Reverend\" gentlemen shall say in reply to this that each of\nthese feats of strength and others accredited to Samson is in every\ncase preceded by the statement, \"the Spirit of the Lord began to move\nhim,\" or \"the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him;\" and that\nwhen at last he was caught weakly in the lap of the false Delilah,\nand in accounting for that weakness it is said, \"he wisted not that\nthe Lord was departed from him\"--in a word, if his strength is to be\naccounted for by referring its origin to the Spirit of God resting upon\nthe man, wayward though he was in some respects, that argument must\ncount as much in explaining Joseph Smith's feat of carrying the Nephite\nplates home and repelling his assailants as in accounting for Samson's\nexploits.\n\n_The Death of Shiz_.\n\nThe description given in the Book of Mormon of the death of Shiz, the\nJaredite leader who fought Coriantumr, \"the last of the Jaredites,\" is\nregarded as an objection to the Book of Mormon. The description follows:\n\n And it came to pass that when Coriantumr had leaned upon his sword,\n that he rested a little, he smote off the head of Shiz that Shiz\n raised upon his hands and fell; and after that he had struggled for\n breath, he died. [83]\n\nIt is claimed that this represents an impossible thing--a man with his\nhead stricken off rising upon his hands! And yet equally marvelous\nthings of this nature have occurred, and are matters of record.\n\nMr. G. W. Wightman, of the Seventeenth Lancers of the British Light\nBrigade, and a survivor of the wild charge at Balaclava, relates, in\nthe \"Electric Magazine\" for June, 1892, the incident of Captain Nolan's\ndeath during that charge. Captain Nolan was of the Fifteenth Hussars,\nand he met his fate, according to Wightman, as follows:\n\n We had ridden barely two hundred yards and were still at the\n \"trot,\" when poor Nolan's fate came to him. I did not see him\n cross Cardigan's front, but I did see the shell explode, of which\n a fragment struck him. From his raised sword-hand dropped the\n sword, but the arm remained erect. Kinglake writes that \"what had\n once been Nolan' maintained the strong military seat until the\n 'erect form dropped out of the saddle;' but this was not so. The\n sword-hand indeed remained upraised and rigid, but all other limbs\n so curled in on the contorted trunk as by a spasm, that we wondered\n how for the moment the huddled form kept the saddle.\"\n\nIt is quite as remarkable that a man stricken unto death by the\nfragment of a shell should continue erect in the saddle, with sword-arm\nupraised and rigid, while the other limbs so curled in on the contorted\ntrunk that those who saw him \"wondered how the huddled form kept the\nsaddle,\" as that a man as his head is stricken off should momentarily\nrise on his hands.\n\nMr. Wightman, in the same article, relates the still more remarkable\ncase of Sergeant Talbot's death:\n\n It was about this time that Sergeant Talbot had his head clean\n carried off by a round shot, yet for about thirty yards farther\n the headless body kept the saddle, the lance at the charge firmly\n gripped under the right arm. [84]\n\nAfter this well attested fact, and many others of a similar nature\nthat might be cited, it is not worth while being skeptical about Shiz\nconvulsively rising on his hands for a moment after his head was\nstricken off.\n\n_Concluding Reflections_.\n\nThe foregoing are not all the objections urged against the Book of\nMormon, but they are the chief ones and the only ones I consider worthy\nor necessary of notice here; and even some of these scarce pass muster\non the score of being worthy of consideration. I have already called\nattention to the tendency of misrepresentation in these objections;\nit is a characteristic of all objections that I have ever seen urged\nagainst the Book of Mormon. Why it is so I shall leave those to\nexplain who make the objections. The arguments made against the Book\nof Mormon, especially those made by professed ministers of the Gospel,\nare wonderfully similar in spirit to those made by skeptics against\nthe Hebrew scriptures, and in fact against all written revelation. The\nsame scoffing at miracles; if they differ from those of the Bible--and\nsometimes when this difference is one only of degree--then it is\nargued that they cannot be true, because of said differences; if the\nmiracles resemble those of the Bible--however remotely--then they are\nplagiarisms of the Bible, and are idle imitations unworthy of belief.\nThe same old complaint of skeptics is made against the inadequacy\nand imperfections of the language--the language is not that of an\nAll-Perfect Deity--it is unlike what might be expected of God, the\nhuman elements are all too apparent. And so one might continue through\nthe whole gamut of criticism against the Book of Mormon.\n\nSectarian divines who would complain bitterly of such arguments if\nused against the Bible, do not hesitate to employ them and couple\nwith them all the bitterness, ridicule, sarcasm, ribaldry, inuendo,\nand even misrepresentation that a certain class of skeptics have\nemployed against the Bible. I do not mention these things in the way of\ncomplaint; I only want to point to the fact of them, that the reader,\nwith me, may wonder at them and ask himself the question, why is this\nthe case?\n\nAnd now a final word as to these objections. Are all the objections\nto the Book of Mormon satisfactorily answered? Are all difficulties\nwhich they represent removed? Frankly, no; they are not. Every one\nmust feel that. But, on the other hand, do these objections that are\nnot entirely and satisfactorily answered constitute an insuperable\ndifficulty in the way of a rational faith in the Book of Mormon? My\nanswer is, they do not. Nor does incompleteness of evidence on any\nparticular point necessarily mean error as to the general result of\nthe evidence. But a little more time, a little more research, a little\nmore certain knowledge, which such research will bring forth, will\nundoubtedly result in the ascertainment of facts that will supply the\ndata necessary for a complete and satisfactory solution of all the\ndifficulties which objectors now emphasize, and on which they claim a\nverdict against the Book of Mormon.\n\nMeantime, do not our opponents recognize the fact that some\nresponsibility devolves upon them in the controversy? What of the\npositive evidences and arguments advanced in favor of the Book of\nMormon? Have we not a clear right to expect and demand a recognition of\nthese, or else a clear confutation of them? It is nugatory, as George\nStanley Faber successfully contended respecting infidel arguments\nagainst the Christian religion--it is nugatory to say that the\nevidences in favor of the Book of Mormon are weak and unsatisfactory,\nwhile yet no regular confutation or that evidence, and those arguments\nare brought forward. To state difficulties, paraphrasing Faber, [85]\nis one thing; to refute evidence and answer argument is another. The\nwork which we have the right to demand of our opponents is a work in\nwhich they shall go regularly through the treatise, say of Charles\nThompson, of Orson Pratt, or Parley P. Pratt, or George Reynolds, [86]\nand last, and perhaps least, the less worthy treatise of these\npages, taking argument after argument, necessarily showing its utter\ninconclusiveness, and the inconclusiveness of the whole cumulative\nevidence and argument, bringing out the triumphant conclusion that the\nevidences in support of the claims of the Book of Mormon are too weak\nand unsatisfactory to command reasonable assent.\n\nThis is what is incumbent upon the opponents of the Book of Mormon. The\nmere statement of difficulties is not sufficient; for be it remembered\nthat mere difficulties though unanswered, or even unanswerable, cannot\nset aside direct and positive evidence. \"A negative presumption,\" says\nJohn Fiske, \"is not created by the absence of proof in cases where,\nin the nature of things, proof is inaccessible,\" [87] as is the case\nin respect of some proof to meet objections urged against the Book of\nMormon. Again our author says: \"No amount of negative evidence can\noutweigh a single well-established item of positive evidence.\" [88] And\nagain: \"Negative evidence, as every one knows, is a very unsafe basis\nof argument. A single item of positive evidence will always outweigh\nany amount of negative evidence.\" [89] The positive evidence that stands\nfor the claims of the Book of Mormon become the difficulties that our\nopponents must overcome before they can hope to overthrow the claims\nmade for the Nephite record. Until this is done, I shall hold that the\nmass of evidence which it has been the effort of the writer through\nthese pages to set somewhat in order, is sufficient, both in quality\nand quantity, to fill the mind who pays attention to it with a rational\nfaith in the Book of Mormon--THE AMERICAN VOLUME OF SCRIPTURE.\n\nTHE END.\n\nFootnotes\n\n1. Nephi xiii: 14.\n\n2. Mosiah xx.\n\n3. Alma xiv.\n\n4. Alma xxiv.\n\n5. Mosiah xxvii: 18-23.\n\n6. Mosiah xxix.\n\n7. \"Mormonism\" (1857) pp. 280-282.\n\n8. \"The Golden Bible,\" Rev. M. T. Lamb, (1887), chapter v.\n\n9. Elsewhere on the subject of these signs given to the Nephites, I\nhave said: \"I think I see something very beautiful and appropriate\nin these marvelous signs. I think it is fitting that he who is\ndescribed in the four Gospels as well as in the fifth (III. Nephi,\nBook of Mormon) as the 'Light and Life of the world,' should have his\nentrance into earth life proclaimed by a night in which there should\nbe no darkness, and that a new star for a season should appear in the\nheavens, to be a witness to the people that 'the Life and Light' of\nmankind had indeed come into the world. And equally appropriate is it\nthat when he who is described as the 'Life and Light of the world'\nis laid low in death, the world should have the testimony of light\neclipsed. I see a beautiful appropriateness in these signs, and in them\nI see added pictures in the life and career of the Lord Jesus Christ.\"\n(\"The Fifth Gospel,\" a Discourse by the writer replying to criticisms\nof Dr. W. M. Paden on III. Nephi, Defense of the Faith and the Saints,\npp. 381-2.)\n\n10. III. Nephi xi.\n\n11. \"The Golden Bible,\" p. 162.\n\n12. Compare II. Kings ii: 7-13 and Acts i: 4-9.\n\n13. Compare Acts xix: 11, 12, Acts v: 15 with II. Kings iv: 29.\n\n14. Compare Matthew ix: 18-26 with II. Kings iv: 32-37.\n\n15. Matthew xiv: 15-21.\n\n16. Compare Rev. x: with Ezekiel ii and iii.\n\n17. See \"The Golden Bible,\" pp. 273-283.\n\n18. Chapter xxxvi this work.\n\n19. See Ibid, chapter xxxiv.\n\n20. \"American Antiquities,\" p. 355.\n\n21. Dictionary of Book of Mormon (Reynolds) p. 223, also Mos. xxviii.\n\n22. Mosiah xxvii: 34. I take it that the sons of the king are named in\nthe order of their ages and Ammon is named first.\n\n23. Century Dictionary, word Andes. The Encyclopaedia Britannica gives\nthe word \"Anti\" as the probable origin of the word \"Andes;\" also \"Anta\"\nor \"Tapir;\" and \"Antis\" the name of a tribe resident in the mountains\nof Peru.\n\n24. Conquest of Peru, Vol. I., p. 113, note.\n\n25. Alma xxiv: 3-5.\n\n26. Alma xxiii: 17.\n\n27. Alma xx: 4.\n\n28. Mormon vi: 14.\n\n29. Alma xxxi: 3.\n\n30. Alma 56: 4.\n\n31. Alma xxxvii: 7.\n\n32. Alma 56: 9.\n\n33. II. Nephi v: 16.\n\n34. \"Native Races,\" (Bancroft), Vol., IV, p. 779.\n\n35. \"Conquest of Peru,\" (Prescott), Vol. I., p. 37.\n\n36. The argument is briefly stated by Prescott, and he cites\nWilkinson's \"Ancient Egypt,\" Vol. III., pp. 246-254.\n\n37. \"History of Ancient Egypt,\" George Rawlinson, M. A., Vol. I., p. 97.\n\n38. In a note he cites the fact that the British museum possesses\nseveral specimens of Egyptian iron, but three of these seven or eight\nspecimens he declares to be of modern date. Vol. I., p. 519.\n\n39. \"History of Ancient Egypt,\" Vol. I, pp. 519, 520.\n\n40. \"Ancient America,\" (Baldwin), pp. 248, 249.\n\n41. \"History of America before Columbus,\" (DeRoo) Vol. I., p. 67.\n\n42. Ibid. p. 68, 69.\n\n43. \"American Antiquities,\" p. 141.\n\n44. Ibid. p. 185.\n\n45. Ibid. p. 225.\n\n46. Ibid. pp. 238, 239.\n\n47. \"American Antiquities,\" pp. 241, 242.\n\n48. \"American Antiquities,\" pp. 260, 261.\n\n49. Ibid. p. 263.\n\n50. Ibid. p. 265.\n\n51. Ibid. p. 269.\n\n52. \"Foot-prints of Vanished Races in the Mississippi Valley,\" pp. 67,\n68.\n\n53. Ibid. p. 108, 109.\n\n54. Ibid. pp. 109, 110.\n\n55. I. Nephi xviii: 25. The animals named in this passage are\nrepeatedly referred to in all parts of the Book of Mormon.\n\n56. Ether ix: 18, 19.\n\n57. Pre-Historic America, (Nadaillac), pp. 15-28.\n\n58. Gen. i: 9.\n\n59. Exod. xv: 1, and xiv: 26.\n\n60. \"Cyclopaedia of Biblical Literature,\" (Kitto), Vol. II., p. 973. He\nquotes Wilkinson as the authority for the above. Vol. I., p. 289.\n\n61. This opinion is defended by Max Schlosser in the \"Archiv fur\nAnthropologie,\" 1889, s. 132.\n\n62. \"The American Race,\" (Brinton), p. 51.\n\n63. \"Pre-Historic America,\" (Nadaillac), p. 357.\n\n64. \"American Antiquities,\" p. 157.\n\n65. Ibid. p. 263.\n\n66. \"Native Races,\" Vol. II., pp. 721-722.\n\n67. Ether ii:3.\n\n68. Following is Campbell's account of the barges: \"Moroni writes\nthe Book of Ether, containing an account of the people of Jared, who\nescaped from the building of the tower of Babel unconfounded in his\nlanguage. These people of Jared God marched before in a cloud, and\ndirected them through the wilderness, and instructed them to build\nbarges to cross the sea; and finally they built eight barges, air\ntight, and were commanded to make a hole in the top to admit air, and\none in the bottom to admit water;(!) and in them were put sixteen\nwindows of molten stone,(!) which when touched by the finger of Jesus,\nbecame as transparent as any glass, and gave them light under 'the\nmountain waves' and when above the water.(!) * * * * And the eight\nbarges after swimming 344 days, arrived on the coast of the land of\npromise!\"\n\n69. \"Golden Bible,\" (Lamb), p. 3.\n\n70. Ether 2: 17.\n\n71. Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, (Hackett's edition) Vol. III., p.\n2178.\n\n72. Exodus xxxi: 18.\n\n73. Ibid. iii: 2.\n\n74. I have usually found in personal controversies on this point, that\nour opponents depended upon the statement in the Book of Mormon to\nthe effect that these \"barges\" should be as a \"whale in the midst of\nthe sea.\" (Ether ii: 24). To which the answer is obvious; namely, it\ndoes not follow that they were to be like a \"tailless,\" that is to say\n\"redderless,\" whale.\n\n75. I. Nephi xvi, II. Nephi v: 12.\n\n76. I. Nephi xviii: 12-21.\n\n77. \"Story of the Mormons,\" (Linn) p. 97. This writer attributes the\npossession of the \"compass\" to the Jaredites. Whether it is the slip\nof a careless writer or an effort on his part to make the matter of\nthe \"compass\" in the Book of Mormon more ancient, is a question for\nhim or his friends to explain. Many other writers in their anxiety to\nfind anachronisms in the Book of Mormon refer to this \"compass.\" Lamb\nis positively dishonest in the matter, since he assumes the existence\nof two instruments. One he calls the \"Director,\" and applies to it\nthe description given above in the text, and the other he calls the\n\"Compass,\" though clearly this latter word is used in an incidental way\nin describing the \"Director.\" This is the only way he could create the\nlonged for anachronism, and hence he adopted it. This may secure his\nfame for ingenuity, but what of his honesty? (See \"The Golden Bible\"\nChapter III., Subdivisions \"C\" and \"D\").\n\n78. \"Universal Knowledge,\" (Chambers) p. 203.\n\n79. Following is the method by which he arrives at this conclusion:\n\"The plates of gold measure 7x8 inches, and six inches thick, and are\nfastened through the back edge with three rings. A box of tin, 10x14,\nand 3 inches deep, weighs about 125 lbs. gross. The box may weigh 10 lbs.,\nleaving the net weight of tin 115 lbs. Now 10x14x3: 115 :: 7x8x6 : 92 lbs.\nHad these gold plates been tin, they would have weighed about 90 lbs.\nBut the relative weight of tin and gold is as 19.25 to 7.58. So that\n7.58 : 19.25 :: 92 : 220.44. Hence, this mass of gold plates, as they\nwere not so compactly pressed as boxed tin, would have weighed nearly\n200 lbs.\" (Hyde's \"Mormonism,\" p. 244).\n\n80. Hyde's \"Mormonism,\" p. 244.\n\n81. See this Work, Vol. II, ch. iv.\n\n82. This Work, Vol. II, p. 281.\n\n83. Ether xv: 30-31.\n\n84. I am indebted to the kindness of the late Joseph Rich, son of\nthe late Apostle Charles C. Rich, for these two items. He was kind\nenough to mark the passages and send me the article from the \"Electric\nMagazine,\" June, 1892.\n\n85. \"Difficulties of Infidelity,\" Sec. I.\n\n86. It is a pleasure to note the work of this my brother, and fellow\nPresident in the First Council of the Seventies in this field of Book\nof Mormon labor. I feel myself much indebted to him because of his\ngreat achievements in this field of research.\n\nFirst, for his excellent Book of Mormon Chronological Table, published\nnow for many years in connection with the late Elder F. D. Richards'\n\"Compendium.\"\n\nSecond, for his \"Myth of the Manuscript Found.\"\n\nThird, for his \"Dictionary of the Book of Mormon.\"\n\nFourth, for a series of articles in the \"Contributor,\" (Vol. 5) on the\nHistory of the Book of Mormon.\n\nFifth, for a second series of articles in the \"Contributor\" (Vol. 17)\nunder the title \"Evidences of the Book of Mormon; Some External Proofs\nof its Divinity.\"\n\nSixth, and last, and greatest achievement of all, I thank him for his\n\"Complete Concordance of the Book of Mormon.\" The amount of patient,\npains-taking labor required for the production of this magnificent work\nwill never be known to the general reader. Only the close student of\nthe Nephite Scriptures will ever really appreciate it. What Cruden and\nYoung have done for Bible students, Elder Reynolds has more abundantly\ndone for Book of Mormon students. The Elders of the Church through all\ngenerations to come will, I am sure, feel deeply grateful to Elder\nReynolds for his great work which will stand as a monument to his\npains-taking habits of thorough application to a task; but what is\nbetter still, the work will stand as a monument of his love for the\nBook of Mormon.\n\n87. Studies in Religion, p. 78.\n\n88. Cosmic Philosophy, Vol. I., p. 81.\n\n89. Ibid. Vol. III., p. 60.1.","title":"New Witnesses for God (Volume 3 of 3)","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":180197}