# Mormonism: Its Leaders and Designs/Chapter 9
### Chapter IX.

* Introduction
* The nature and purport of the book
* Contents
* Contradiction as to plates
* As to Urim and Thummim
* Hebrew language
* Jewish materials for writing
* Laban's plates
* Jewish genealogies
* The copies of the law
* History of the Jews
* Various Prophets of Bible and Book of Mormon
* Prediction
* Contradiction in Book of Mormon
* Lehi's compass or Liahona
* Natural history of America
* Importations of stock
* Elephants in America
* Astronomical anticipations of the Book of Mormon
* Contradictions between reputed authors of Book of Mormon
* Solomon's Temple in America
* Gifts of the Spirit before Christ
* Jared's barges, what they were and what they brought
* Precision of Book of Mormon Prophets
* Plagiarisms from the Scriptures
* Use of various terms not then known
* Inconsistency
* Prophetic apologies
* Conclusion.
Mormonism claims as its founder, Joseph Smith. The pretensions of the system depend on the founder. If Smith be an impostor, Mormonism must fall. To commence an analysis of the system, we must begin with the pretensions of the Prophet. It is not enough for some to believe him to be a liar. To say that one has a right to believe him false, is to say others have the right to believe him true. Belief is the effect produced by evidence on the mind. Grounds of belief must, therefore, be searched for in the evidence. It is important to determine how much evidence ought to convince. ​us. To believe without much proof is a sign of a weak mind. To be obstinately skeptical is a sign of ridiculous vanity. It is just as much to be avoided to say, "I am the standard for every thing," as to say "Every thing is my standard." The higher the pretensions, however, the stronger should be the evidence and the stricter the analysis. An amount of evidence that would justify belief in a trivial matter, would be wholly inadequate when offered to substantiate matters of vital moment.
The Book of Mormon claims our belief as being a revelation from God, inspired in its matter and translation. Is it true or is it false? This inquiry is important. O. Pratt, the ablest Mormon polemic writer, says, "The nature of the message in the Book of Mormon is such that, if true, none can be saved and reject it; and if false, none can be saved who receive it." Pretensions involving such important interests demand the very best of evidence. Happily for the world, it is not a question of events and persons between whom and us centuries have rolled their mists of prevarications, contradictions, and falsehoods. Young men remember its rise. Living witnesses are conversant with the whole of its history.
Professing to be a revelation from God, its evidences must be worthy of God; because God can do nothing unworthy himself. God, in the first place, would not send a book that would not commend itself and endure critical examination. God, in the second place, would not send it in a manner that would not sustain the most rigid scrutiny. God, in the third place, would not send it through a person whose character would not bear the most searching inquiry.
​The nature of the book, the circumstances attending its production, and the character of its producer are the subjects proposed for discussion in the three ensuing chapters.
The Internal Evidences of Book of Mormon.
I. What is the book?
1. It purports to contain a history of America from shortly after the destruction of the Tower of Babel, to the fifth century after Christ. It asserts that this continent was peopled by three different families.
First. The family of Jared who emigrated from the Tower of Babel, and whose descendants were entirely destroyed more than 600 years B.C.
Second. The family of Lehi, a Manassehite, who emigrated, about 600, B.C., from Jerusalem; the righteous part of whose descendants were destroyed 400, A.D., and the wicked part of whose descendants are now the American Indians.
Third. The "people of Zarahemla," Jews, who emigrated from Jerusalem about eleven years after Lehi, and the descendants of whom were destroyed by the wars or mingled among those of Lehi.
The history of the wanderings and wars of these several families was engraved by their Prophets on different plates; sometimes of gold, sometimes of brass, and sometimes of "ore" (as stated in the B. M.) These plates were religiously preserved until they all fell into the hands of Mormon, one of the descendants of Lehi, who made an abridgment of the whole, A.D. 384; when he buried the originals, together with certain other curiosities, in a hill; handed the abridgment to his son, Moroni, to which Moroni added an "abridgment of the his​tory of the people of Jared," and finally boxed them up and buried them in a hill in New York State, A.D. 400. It is asserted that they lay in this box till the 22d of September, 1827, when they were given by an angel to Joseph Smith, who "translated them by the gift and power of God." A portion of this translation constitutes the Book of Mormon.
2. In this book there are mentioned certain other plates and curiosities, and most of which, if the book be correct, must still be in the hill "Cumorah," between Palmyra and Manchester, N. Y. A list of these curiosities is subjoined, to aid us in further remarks; the pages of the Book of Mormon (3d European ed.) on which they are described, are also stated:
* Plates of Laban, B. M., pp. 9, 11, 144, 145.
* Brass genealogical plates of Lehi, B. M., p. 11.
* Brass plates of Lehi, afterward abridged by Nephi, B. M., pp. 3, 44, 62.
* Brass plates of Nephi, containing "more history part," B. M., pp. 16, 138.
* Brass plates of Nephi, containing "more ministry part," B. M., pp. 16, 144.
* Ore plates of Nephi, containing "mine own prophecies," B. M., p. 44.
* Plates of Zarabemla, containing "genealogy," B. M., p. 140.
* Plates of Mormon, containing abridgment of Nephi's "more ministry part," B. M., p. 141.
* Plates containing record from "Jacob to King Benjamin," B. M., p. 141.
* Plates containing record of Zeniff, B. M., p. 161. ​
* Plates (golden) of Ether, B. M., pp. 161, 189, 312, 516.
* Plates of Alma's "account of his afflictions," B: M., p. 196.
* Plates, Jared "brought across great deep," B. M., p. 530.
* Copies of "Scirptures," out of which sons of Mosiah "studied 14 years," B. M., pp. 255, 271.
* Many records "kept by people who went northward," B. M., pp. 394, 395.
* Twelve epistles from different prophets at various times, (B. M., in loci).
* The round ball, or "Compass of Lehi," B. M., pp. 33, 145, 314.
* The sword of Laban, B. M., pp. 8, 143, 145.
* The engraved stone of Coriantumr, B. M., p. 140.
* The sixteen stones that "God touched with his finger," B. M., p. 520.
* The two-stone interpreters of Mosiah, B. M., pp. 162, 204.
* The two-stone interpreters of Jared's brother, B. M., pp. 522, 523.
* A white stone, "Gazelem," B. M., p. 212.
* A brass breast-plate, found with Ether's plates (No. 11), B. M., p. 161.
Besides these, there were the plates containing Mormon's abridgment of the whole history (B. M., pp. 142, 443, 444, 507), and Moroni's "few plates," B. M., p. 507, the professed translation of which constitutes the present Book of Mormon. These plates, Smith says, were bound into a volume by three rings passing through the back edge.
​3. There is one oversighted contradiction that stares us in the face, about the plates themselves. On p. 507 we are told that Mormon buries all these curiosities, "except these few plates" (his abridgment of the history) which he gives to his son Moroni. On p. 509, we are told Moroni fills up his father's plates, and says, "I have no more room on the plates, and ore I have none, for I am alone." The plates of his father, the book with rings, are all full. He has no more plates nor ore to make any of; and yet, the matter of forty-seven closely-printed pages of pretended translation follows directly after. Where does Smith pretend to have got the originals of the forty-seven pages of printed translation? He only professed to find one set of ring-bound plates, Mormon's abridgment. They were not in that, for Moroni "filled them up;" he did not make any more plates, "for he had no ore, and was alone." Then where were the originals of this subsequent matter?
4. Another and a graver difficulty presents itself next. Mormon, it is said, buries all the curiosities, giving Moroni only "these few plates." Moroni fills "these few plates," and then buries them up. Joseph Smith says he found, with these plates, the two-stone interpreters of Jared's brother (No. 22 in list), the breast-plate (No. 24), and the sword of Laban (No. 18). How could these few plates, which Moroni pretends to have buried, be with these other curiosities, which Moroni did not have? They were buried apart, and yet they were found together!
5. Lehi professes to live at Jerusalem in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah. The scenes, characters, and habits ​must belong to this age. They must not belong to a period 500 years antecedent or posterior to this time. When any thing is definitely known of this period, for the Book of Mormon to directly contradict it, must be a proof of imposture. Nephi states, Book of Mormon, page 1, "I make a record in the language of my father, which consists of the learning of the Jews and the language of the Egyptians." The almost foolish reverence felt by the Jews for their Hebrew language is well known. They used to believe that it was given by God to Adam in the garden, and spoken by man before the languages were confounded. It was in Hebrew that God had talked with Abraham and spoke on Mount Sinai. The imagery of Job, the tenderness of David, the expressiveness of Solomon, the sublimity of Isaiah, were all in Hebrew. They thought that while it was an especial gift, it was almost an especial sign to them. It was the only language in which they could name God. In the days of Hezekiah the pure Hebrew of Moses to David began to decline. Till 784 B.C. was the "golden age" of Hebrew literature. After this time it became corrupted with its cognate dialects. These were Aramœan, Syriac, Chaldee, Phœnician, Samaritan, but not Egyptian. The Egyptians were hated by the Jews. Briton slaves felt not a fiercer hatred to the Latin tongue of their masters than the descendants of the Jewish bondsmen to the language of their Egyptian taskmasters. For a Jew to adopt so thoroughly the "language of the Egyptians," that a Jewish prophet should call the Egyptian the "language of his father," is contradictory to every thing that is known of the time and people. On page 2 we are told Lehi lived in "Jerusalem ​all his days." He was constantly talking to the Jews, his fellow-citizens of the holy city; mingling with them in their festivities, markets, synagogue, and houses; had learned to talk among them; had never left Jerusalem; continually read the prophecies, which were in Hebrew, and yet we are told that his language was the Egyptian. Nephi pretends that God gave revelations to Lehi, and although the Eternal had never used any thing but Hebrew, and was communicating to a Hebrew, yet we are informed that God talked in the "language of his father," which was the "language of the Egyptians." Is not this requiring the world to believe too much, and, therefore, a strong presumptive evidence of ignorant imposture?
6. The plates. We must remember that it is a Hebrew youth, who "has lived at Jerusalem all his days," until he leaves for "the wilderness." He had no other privileges than those enjoyed by others of his circumstances and time. He did as others did. His ideas could extend but very little further than others. The writing materials then in use, and it was then only very few who could use them, would be those such a youth would be familiar with. Now the Jews did not use plates of brass at that time. Their writing materials were
* Tablets smeared with wax.
* Linen rubbed with a kind of gum.
* Tanned leather and vellum.
* Parchment (invented by Attalus of Pergamos).
* Papyrus. (M. Stuart, O. Test. Can.)
All the writings of the Jews long anterior and subsequent to Zedekiah were in rolls. (Isa., xxxiv. 4; Jer., xxxvi. 25; ​Ezek., iii. 9, 10; Ps. xl. 7; Zech., v. 1, etc., etc.) These rolls were chiefly parchment and papyrus. The use of papyrus was as ancient as Hermes, 1500 B. C. Ancient monuments, in Mr. Abbott's collection, whose date are at least 1600 B. C., bear representations of the inkstand and stylus. On this papyrus, were not only the ancient writings of Egypt, but the early copies of the Pentateuch. The use of this material superseded the stones filled with lead (Job), Hesiod's leaden tables, Solon's wooden planks, the wax tablets, so clumsy and easily erased. This material rolled up could be bound with flax and sealed. Isa., xxix. 11; Dan., xii. 4; Rev., v. 1. (Vide Kitto, Watson, Calmet.) The Jews used this material. The Egyptians, whose language Nephi gives his father, used this material. Had Lehi or Nephi really lived then, they would have used this material. Contradiction and inconsistency are stamped on any other assertion. This is another strong proof of imposture.
7. From pages 7 to 11, Book of Mormon, there is an account of Nephi's return to Jerusalem to steal from his kinsman, Laban, some plates of brass, on which were engraven certain matters. He murdered him, cheated his servant, broke into his house, carried them off, took the servant prisoner, and returned to his father in the wilderness, thanking God for enabling him to accomplish so many notable things, so worthy of a prophet and so honorable to the Deity!
What were the contents of these plates? On p. 10, "Then he (Lehi) beheld that they did contain the five books of Moses, * * * and also a record of the Jews from the beginning even down to the commencement of the ​reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, and also the prophecies of the holy prophets, even down to the commencement of the reign of Zedekiah; and also many prophecies which have been spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah; * * * also a genealogy of his fathers, and of Laban, who was also a descendant of Joseph." To an uneducated youth like Joseph Smith, all this would not appear extravagant; but let us see in what position he has placed himself.
First. The genealogies were kept by public registrars, and were written in Hebrew on rolls of papyrus and parchment, not on plates, nor in the Egyptian language. They were very extensive, embracing all members of the family, and were sacredly preserved.—(Kitto.) This mass of names, embracing from Joseph, son of Jacob, down to Lehi, even though they had been, as pretended, engraved on brass plates, would have formed an immense volume and a great weight.
Second. They contained not only the genealogies, but the Pentateuch. A few years before this reputed time, in the reign of Josiah, king of Judah, "the book of the law" was lost. Not one copy was to be found. The few copies, and they were few, that had existed, had doubtless been destroyed by Manasseh. The nation was in the dark, directed only by tradition. Eighteen years of Josiah's reign had thus passed away. He had broken the idols, dispersed the idolaters, repaired the Temple, reinstated the high-priest; and Hilkiah went in to the holy of holies before the Lord. He "found the book of the law" hidden in the house of the Lord. He sent it to Josiah, and Saphan, the scribe, read it before the king; "who, when he had heard it, rent his clothes." (2 ​Chron., xxxiv. 19.) The only remaining copy was found; and so great had been the ignorance of its contents, that all Judea stood rebuked and cursed. Here, according to the Bible, a few years before, had all Judea lost the law, and Josiah, the good, who had been eighteen years on his throne, was so ignorant of it; and now Smith impudently makes God say that Laban's father had a copy of this very same law engraved on brass plates, and although side and side with their genealogy, and, therefore, all Jerusalem constantly seeing it, yet entirely ignorant of it! Is not this impudent imposture?
Third. These copies of the Scriptures, which Smith, soon after this period, makes very common indeed in America (Book of Mormon, pp. 249, 255, 271), were scarce at any time among the Jews. Jehoshaphat sent the Levites and priests, the depositaries of the Word, (not Joseph's but Aaron's descendants) with the "law of the Lord" to the people, and they had to carry it with them; it was not where they went (2 Chron., xvii. 7, 9). So scrupulous were the Jews in making copies of the Scriptures, that they would not only copy the letter, but imitate its faults and even size. This involved much labor, and the copies were therefore very few. To have told one of those old Levites, so punctilious and even superstitious, that some one had copied their law in the language of the Egyptians (idolaters and enemies) in the first place, and had it durably engraved on brass, when they were handling so delicately those papyrus rolls, he would have called it an infamous imposture. Every wise man will imitate the skepticism of that Levite.
Fourth. These plates contained, also, a "record of the Jews ​from the beginning till the reign of Zedekiah." By whom written and compiled? The four books of Kings and Chronicles were not compiled till Ezra, many years after Zedekiah. Who compiled these?
Fifth. These brass plates contained "all the prophecies of all the prophets from the beginning down to Zedekiah," together" with some of the prophecies of Jeremiah." Let us glance at the list. It embraces the whole Assyrian period: Joel, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Nahum, Jonah. All these lived in the golden age of Hebrew literature, and all anterior to Zedekiah; although Smith does not seem to have been aware of this, and only quotes or names Isaiah in his book. These, however, are only a part of the prophets who had written. Besides these, there is the Book of the Wars of the Lord, Num., xxi. 14; Jasher, Jos., x. 13; Statutes of Kingdom of Israel, 1 Sam., x. 25; Acts of Solomon, 1 Kings, xi. 41; Nathan and Gad, 1 Chron., xxix. 29; Ahijah and Iddo, 2 Chron., ix. 29; Shemaiah, Jehu, Sayings of the Seers, Isaiah's History of Uzziel, Life of Hezekiah, Life of Jehoshaphat, Lamentation over Josiah. Besides all these, which must have been on those wonderful plates, if the Book of Mormon be true, there are prophets mentioned and quoted in the book, about whom our Scriptures and Hebrew history are silent: Zenoch, Zenos and Ezias, Book of Mormon, pp. 411, 429, 455; besides all these there was "Jacob's Prophecy about Joseph's Coat," Book of Mormon, p. 336; Joseph's prophecies, "than which not many greater," Book of Mormon, p. 62. All this vast mass of matter, it is pretended, was on these singular brass plates: the Pentateuch, history, prophecies, and of course ​the Psalms, for was not David a prophet? Add to all this the genealogies of their families ever since Abraham! One man could never have carried it all. A narrative so full of absurdities and positive contradictions of all fact, can not come from God, and must therefore be an imposture.
8. Lehi prophesies, on p. 11, "These plates shall go forth to all nations—never grow dim, nor perish," "These plates" are not, as the Mormons often try to apply the passage, the plates on which the Book of Mormon was engraved, but the plates of Laban. The Mormons claim literal interpretations of Scripture. It was the plates that should never grow dim, the plates that should never perish, the plates to go forth to all nations. Where are they? It is pretended, Book of Mormon, p. 507, that Mormon bid them up, and there they are still. If Laban's plates were to be the ones to go to all nations, why dig up Mormon's plates? If they both are to go, why not send both? It is evident that in commencing the Book of Mormon, Smith was not quite settled as to the exact plot of the affair, and after Cowdery had once written it, it could not be erased.
9. Nephi's ball or compass, Book of Mormon, p. 33, can not endure the application of any rule of criticism. "He beheld on the ground a ball of curious workmanship, and it was of fine brass; and within the ball were two spindles, and the one pointed the way we should go in the wilderness." How they could look into a brass ball, how they were to know which one spindle was the one, and what was the use of the other, are questions that need some answer, before believing that God inspired so vague and meaningless a sentence. On ​p. 35, these spindles, inside this brass ball, did not work independently of its possessors, but " according to the faith and diligence and heed we did give unto them." It was only one spindle, before, that pointed. "And there was also written on them (not the ball, but on these fine spindles) a new writing, plain to be read, which did give us understanding concerning the ways of the Lord, and it was written and changed from time to time." Nephi builds a ship by himself in a few weeks (it took Noah and all his men 120 years to build his ark), launches it, takes this "compass" on board, and sails. His brethren, however, rebel against, and bind him. The miracle of his compass, the still greater miracle of building a ship, when he "had even to melt the ore he found in the rocks in order to make tools," every tree to cut down, and every plank to hew out, and yet he completes, launches, and fits it for sea—all by himself, and in a short time, do not convince them. When they bind him, the "compass did cease to work," p. 42. His frightened brethren "are driven backward three days;" then "they loosed me, and I took the compass, and it did work whither I desired it." Here is a jumbled mass of vague inconsistencies. If the compass "ceased to work," how could Nephi tell they were driven backward or forward, or sideward? As they had lost their way, how did Nephi know in which direction to "desire it to work?" One thing is painfully noticeable, Smith is very cautious not to give the slightest clew as to where they sailed from, how long they were reaching that point, in which direction it lay from Jerusalem. All the rivers and valleys he makes Lehi name with new names. The little that is written about it only ​serves to mislead the reader. It is not the plain honest narrative of an honest man; it certainly is not the luminous narrative of a God-inspired man. Telemachus' Mentor, building a ship on the island of Calypso, is rational, compared with this statement of Nephi's ship-building. His voyage across the island-dotted sea to America is a mystery of navigation. This vagueness, inconsistency, evident effort at being antique, is impossible in an honest narrator of facts, ridiculous in a prophet; but perfectly natural in an ignorant impostor.
10. "We found upon the land of promise (Central America) that there were beasts in the forest of every kind; the cow, and the ox, and the ass, and the horse," Book of Mormon, p. 44. This is a palpable falsehood, and eminently displays the impostor's hoof. "When horses were first brought to Mexico, by Hernando Cortez, they were objects of the greatest astonishment to the aborigines, who thought they lived on flesh as well as their riders, and brought flesh to feed them with. They thought that they devoured men in battle, and that their neighing was a demand for prey" (Herera, Dec. ii., lib. vi.) "They invented a new weapon, with which to catch and fight them" (Ib., Dec. v., lib. viii., quoted Robertson's History of America). This occurs in a country and among a people, where the Book of Mormon makes the horse a native. The first horse the Utah Indians ever possessed, they tied up till it died of starvation; they thought it need not eat. South American horses have all sprung from those introduced by the Spaniards. Cuba obtained her horses from Spain; Mexico got hers from Cuba. West American horses sprang from the Canadian, imported by the French. ​Eastern America from the importations of British stock (Youatt on the Horse, in loci). It may be objected the stock could not have increased so rapidly since that time, 1500; but the wild horses of the Ukraine and Tartary have all descended from a few that escaped from their masters at the siege of Azoph, 1657. "The first horses brought to America were imported by Columbus on his second voyage, 1493. The first horses landed in United States territory, were brought to Florida by Cabeça de Vaça, who imported forty-two head, 1527. De Soto, in 1539, imported a still larger number, etc., etc. (Report of Superintend. of Census, U. S. A., 1852.) And yet Smith makes the horse a native of America, which, Book of Mormon, p. 517, he makes imported in "air-tight, whale-like barges" from the plains of Shinar, after the destruction of the Tower of Babel! They found "cows and oxen." Cows and other domestic animals were all imported. Columbus, in 1493, brought a bull and several cows. In 1553, the Portuguese took cattle to Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. In 1611, Sir Thomas Gates imported 100 cows and some bulls. In 1624, E. Winslow brought 3 heifers and 1 bull, etc., etc. (Superintendent's Report, Census, 1852.) "They also found the ass." "Washington was the first man who imported the ass into America" (Ency. Americana, Art. Ass.) Since his time, the raising of mules has become quite a business in this country. To say that these animals were here, that they lived till the fifth Christian century, and then became so extinct as to leave no trace, and be remembered by no tradition, is requiring a miracle to sustain imposture. Smith has evidently overreached his knowledge of fact. This ​contradiction of well-known truths can not have been made by a prophet, and is, therefore, positive proof of imposture.
11. But Smith not only makes all these animals flourish "in large flocks," just subsequent to the destruction of Babel, but on page 533, he says, "The people had silks, and all manner of cattle and sheep and swine, and also elephants and cureloms and cumons." What these cureloms and cumonst mean it is now impossible to decide. The elephant is not a native of America and never was its inhabitant. Some bones, however, were discovered 150 miles below the junction of the Scioto with the Ohio river. Some imagined them to be a mastadon. Some of the teeth and a jaw were subsequently sent to Dr. Hunter, the great English comparative anatomist, who decided, "they belonged to a huge carnivorous animal, race extinct." (Phil. Trans., Lon., vol. lviii., p. 34.) "Similar bones were found at the mouths of several Siberian rivers." (Strahlenburg, p. 402.) This was the only case that ever suggested the shadow of a proof, but had elephants lived here so recently as pretended by the Book of Mormon, there must have been many proofs, as both the ancient and modern natural history of this continent is being thoroughly established and known. Sheep; "neither North nor South America can boast any aboriginal, primitive, domestic sheep; those which have received the name of 'natives' having been brought at early periods by the colonists." (American Shepherd, N. Y. Ag. So., 1854.) Swine are certainly not aboriginal to America. The earliest swine were imported by Del Soto, in 1539, who brought 13 sows. The Portuguese took swine to Newfoundland, 1553. In 1609 the English im​ported 600 swine and many sheep and fowls. So plentifully had the imported swine increased that, in 1627, the Indians fed on the hogs that roamed the woods, half wild. The Spaniards took swine to their settlements in southern America, where they also increased very rapidly. Does not such jumbling up of inconsistencies and contradictions not only demand the strongest possible evidence to substantiate, but become a positive proof of forgery and imposture?
12. "All things denote that there is a God, yea even the earth and all things thereon; yea and its motion; yea and also all the planets which move in their regular form." Book of Mormon, p. 293. Here is the gist of Paley's design argument anticipated. Not only the Egyptians but also the Greeks and all the world accepted Ptolemy's theory of the solar system. The earth was to them the stationary center, around which all the stars revolved. What the Jews knew of astronomy they had acquired from the nations around them. God revealed spiritual and not physical truths! He certainly did not reveal to them a treatise on astronomy. Their acceptance of the Ptolemaic theory is evidenced in all the astronomical allusions of Job, David, and Solomon. Believing all the stars to move, the word planet was neither needed nor used. Copernicus, when he discovered that some stars moved, while others were stationary, divided the heavenly bodies into planets (from Gr. planeo, I wander), the moving bodies, and the fixed stars. The Manassehite Alma, however, is far wiser than all the rest of the prophets. He overturns all the astronomical theories, and just as an illiterate itinerant might, to-day, use a weak version of Paley's ​argument. It is a question of probabilities. Is it the most probable that this Alma could have used such language, anticipated the discoveries of 2000 years' later date, excel all the other prophets, quote the circumstances as a well-known fact on which to base an argument, when every thing we know proves it not to have been known at all; or is it the most probable to believe it the ignorant forgery of an illiterate impostor? This, however, is a small thing. On page 421 there is an attempted refutation of the modern infidel argument about Joshua and the sun. Smith pretends that this argument was used by people who believed the same theory of astronomy as the ancients and therefore could not feel its pertinence and therefore could not have used it. "The earth goeth back and it appeareth unto man that the sun standeth still, yea, and behold this is so, for sure, it is the earth that moveth and not the sun." Here are all the prophets transcended; Ptolemy refuted; Copernicus and all his discoveries anticipated 2000 years before he was born. The only pity is, that this was not published, however, until 200 years after he was dead!
13. One great peculiarity of the Book of Mormon is the number of direct contradictions among its inspired men. We will quote a few examples. On page 3, it says Lehi left Jerusalem because "God directed him in a dream;" but on page 411, we are gravely told Lehi was "driven out by the people." On page 109, Nephi tells his brethren, "We are descendants of the Jews;" and on page 113, he says, "the Jews from whence I come;" yet on page 235, Amalek testifies that "Nephi and his brethren were of the tribe of Ma​nasseh." On page 517, we are assured that "the Lord led Jared and his brother out to America;" but on page 406, the reader is divinely instructed that it was "the Devil." All the world have considered America was a continent; all the writers in the Book of Mormon call it a continent; but the Lord is made to tell Jacob "it is an isle of the sea." (Book of Mormon, page 78.) "At the death of Christ," it is predicted that "darkness shall cover the face of the whole earth for three days." (Book of Mormon, page 428.) The New Testament says three hours; and the Roman records do not even notice that casualty. It is certain that darkness did not cover the earth for three days. Smith not only regulates the motions of the planets, but on pages 426 and 434 he makes a "new star." Not a brilliant conjunction of stars, but a bona fide new planet, for he makes it move too. Where is it now?
14. The Nephites build on America (Book of Mormon, page 65) "a temple like unto Solomon's ;" and this poor family had come to this land destitute a few years before. They "offer burnt offerings therein," page 145. They "ordain high priests," page 208; and priests, page 225. If the Bible. be true, there could be but one temple; but one holy of holies; but one high priest. The location for that temple was to be Jerusalem, the city of God. No high priest could be chosen out of the tribe of Levi and of the seed of Aaron. "The stranger that approaches thereto shall surely be put to death." Yet here it is asserted that Jews or Manassehites dared to break God's most holy law, administer God's most holy ceremonies, usurp the authority of God's most holy priesthood, ​and that the Lord blessed and sanctioned this violation of his word. They were not Levites; they were strangers; they did go into the holy of holies, and yet Jehovah falsified his own threat and favored the transgressors!
15. In the holy Scriptures, we are informed that the Saviour had to die in order that his disciples might obtain the gift of the Holy Ghost. "If I go not away, the Comforter can not come." "He, when he is come, shall bring all things to your remembrance, and show you things to come." John xiv. Smith makes the Nephites far more favored. On page 234, the reader is divinely informed, that "there had been made known unto them that which has been, which is, and which is to come; having been visited by the Spirit of God, having conversed with angels and spoken to by the voice of the Lord, and having the spirit of prophecy and the spirit of revelation, and also many gifts; the gift of speaking with tongues, and the gift of preaching, and the gift of the Holy Ghost, and the gift of translation;" and all this, Smith pretends, occurred more than three hundred years before Jesus Christ came. If we believe the New Testament is true, we must reject the Book of Mormon as an imposture.
16. Come we to a still more startling proof of imposture. From page 517 to 526 of the Book of Mormon is contained an account of how Jared, his brother, their families and friends were miraculously conducted to this continent from the plains of Shinar. They are commanded to gather "their herds and flocks, two of each kind, male and female," also "all kinds of animals after their kind, male and female," also "fowls of the air," likewise "swarms of bees;" beside these, ​they "did prepare a vessel, in which they did carry with them the fish of the waters," as well as "seeds of the earth of every kind." With this mass of material they cross the ocean, on which they are tossed about for "three hundred and forty and four days." (Book of Mormon, page 526.) How did they cross? Not only have they to take all these creatures, but they have to carry with them food for all of them for a year. Not only food, but fresh water for the same length of time, and some of the animals need so much. What means were adopted? They crossed in eight barges, which are thus described (page 519): "And they were small and they were light upon the water, even like unto the lightness of a fowl upon the water; and they were built after a manner that they were exceeding tight, even that they would hold water like unto a dish; and the bottom thereof was tight like unto a dish; and the sides thereof were tight like unto a dish; and the ends thereof were peaked; and the top thereof was tight like unto a dish; and the length thereof was the length of a tree: and the door thereof, when it was shut, was tight like unto a dish." "And Jared cried unto the Lord, we shall all perish, there is no light to steer by, and in them we can not breathe for there is no air." "And the Lord said, behold thou shalt make a hole in the top thereof and also in the bottom thereof; and when thou shalt suffer for air, thou shalt unstop the hole thereof and receive air. And if it be so that the water come in upon thee, ye shall stop the hole. thereof that ye may not perish in the flood." But the light difficulty needed another remedy. "And Jared did molten out of a rock, sixteen small stones, and they were white and ​clear, even as transparent glass." (N. B. Glass at the time of the deluge!) These stones he brought before the Lord, and "behold the Lord stretched forth his hand, and touched them one by one with his finger." He then placed them, one in each end of his eight barges, "and they shone in the darkness." While they were "as a whale in the sea, swallowed up in the depths of the sea, and the mountain waves should dash upon them." Eight canoes are formed of as many trees, hollowed out inside, peaked at the ends, having a shut down door. And now, Smith pretends, that "two of each kind of animals," "fowls of the air," "swarms of bees," "a large vessel containing fish of the waters," "all manner of seeds of the earth," "twenty-two grown persons and their sons and daughters" (page 526), all the food they would need for a year, and all the fresh water they would require, with vessels in which to carry it; all this vast amount of matter is snugly stowed away in eight canoes, "which were small and light like unto a fowl, and only the length of a tree!" It would be folly to attempt to apply figures either as to their capacity to receive, and much less to sustain these things. To attempt to palm such a statement on to man as a revelation from God, is the act of an impostor.
17. God, in the predictions of the Bible, has left a species of ambiguity. Pretended prophets take especial care to leave nothing vague in their predictions, when their prophecies do not profess to come to light till eighteen hundred years after the accomplishment of the event foretold. This is peculiarly the case in the Book of Mormon, about the coming of the Saviour into the world. The most minute incident of his ​life, from the first sign of his advent till his final ascension, as it is left us by the Evangelist, is definitely foretold. While, however, it predicts every thing of which we have any account, it is silent about those things of which we have no account! His mother should be a virgin, named Mary, who should conceive by the Holy Ghost, p. 227. The star in the east, p. 426. He should be born at Jerusalem, p. 227. Not at Jerusalem but at Nazareth, p. 20. His name should be Jesus Christ, pp. 76, 226. Lamb of God who taketh away the sins of the world, Redeemer, Maker of heaven and earth, coming to and rejected of his own, Only-begotten, full of grace and truth, High Priest, etc., pp. 17, 150, 235, 246, 223. His baptism by John and descent of Holy Ghost as a dove, p. 17, 110. Has twelve apostles, heals sick and casts out devils, pp. 29, 21. Is spitten on, smitten, scourged, p. 45. Crucified, p. 21. Three days in sepulchre and rises on third day, pp. 96, 150. Ascends into heaven, p. 180. His people in America calling themselves Christians one hundred years. before he came, p. 335. John's Apocalypse, p. 29. Is not this "fitting prophecy to the event?" If it were true, it would be most extraordinary that the Lord should thus singularly favor these Israelites with so much clearer views of his scheme of salvation, and, therefore, so signally neglect the Jews, when the Jews were "his own," and he declares that he had "cast the Israelites out from his sight."
18. From page 2 to page 428, pretending to embrace a period from 600 B. C. to A. D., I have counted no less than 298 direct quotations from the New Testament; some of them, paragraphs of verses; some of them, sentences from verses. ​Besides these, there are whole chapters of the Old and New Testament copied verbatim, and often not acknowledged. Below is the list:
* Isaiah, chs. 48 and 49 are from pages 46 and 50, B. M. (3d European edition).
* Isaiah, chs. 50 and 21 are from pages 68 and 71, B. M.
* Isaiah, chs. 2 and 14 are from pages 79 and 94, B. M.
* Isaiah, ch. 52 is from page 477, B. M.
* Isaiah, ch. 54 is from pages 480 and 481, B. M.
* Malachi, ch. 3 is from pages 482 and 483, B. M.
* Matthew, chs. 5, 6, and 7 are from pages 457 and 464, B. M.
* 1 Corinthians, ch. 13 is from page 550, B. M.
"In the Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament there have been counted 800,000 different readings, as to consonants alone. (M. Stuart, Old Tes. Can., p. 192.) How comes it then, with such a margin for slight differences, that all the above quotations are copied in the exact words of King James's translation? The style of thought and expression in the original of the Book of Mormon and these interpolations, are entirely different. From the nervous, luminous English of the Bible, Smith wallows in the fogs of his own barbarous twaddle. The slightest investigation will show that Smith copied them verbatim from the English translation of the Scriptures; will show him to be an impostor.
19. I might urge the utterance of ideas and the use of words which these ancient writers, if genuine, could not have known, as an argument against the authenticity of the book. Such as "Bible," not employed to express the idea of the united Scriptures, till Chrysostom, in the fifth century. Or ​"dissenters," a word of Latin origin, a language not then known, and the word not employed till Wickliff, and not generally till 1662, the great era of non-conformity. Or "church," which Smith puts into a Jew's mouth, 600 B.C. (B. M., p. 9), but which was not thus employed till after Christ's ascension. Or "martyr for Christ," or "cimeters." Another strong evidence of forgery may be found on page 513, "For do we not read, that God is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever, and that in him is neither variableness nor shadow of changing?" The first part of this sentence is to be found in Paul's epistle to the Hebrews, chapter xiii., ver. 8: "The same yesterday, to-day, and forever." The closing clause was written by James, i. 17: "Father of lights in whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning." The Nephites do not pretend to have these epistles; how, then, could "they read" what they did not have? Smith made a terrible oversight here.
20. When the prophets of the Scriptures had predictions to utter or events to narrate, conscious of their authority, they spoke without circumlocution or excuse. Many men are forced to concede their dignity who question their veracity. With these compare Smith's pseudo Prophets of the Book of Mormon; "Many shall say we have a Bible, and there can not be any more Bible." (p. 107.) "Neither am I mighty in writing like unto speaking." (p. 113.) "Condemn me not because of my imperfections, neither my father, because of his imperfections, neither them who have written before him, but rather give thanks unto God that he hath made manifest unto you our imperfections, that ye may learn to be more ​wise than we are." (Strange talk for an inspired Prophet!) "And if our plates had been sufficiently large we should have written in Hebrew, and if we could have written in Hebrew, behold ye would have no imperfection in our record." (515). Whatever imperfections we find, therefore, we must attribute to the records not having been written in Hebrew. They were not written in Hebrew, because their plates were not large enough. But they made their own plates; they had abundance of gold, as we are over and over informed. They might have made their plates, consequently, just as large as they pleased. It is impious to charge the omniscient God with such trifling puerilities.
The Book of Mormon consists of two parts. One is stolen, and the other original. Its copied part consists of plagiarisms, culled from the commonest books, collected without knowledge, and combined without skill. Its original part is a mass of contradictions, and miracles sublimed into absurdities. To attempt to palm the whole on human credulity, as a revelation from God, is folly and fraud.
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