Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1903-12-19

prophets In fact L Is but reasonable 70
suppose that II God gave them revela
Eons at all He would DO 50.
ONE QUESTION CONSIDERED.
There remains 10 be considered an
der ms head only ;his question, Is Il
.atai Objection 20 the BOOK OF Mot
mon because Joseph Smita, nnding tne
pIophetlC history OF tnr savior Ia the
Nepnlie record, translated Il In phtas4 =
oloBy here and there found IN the New
Testament; Or IN the language OF ac-
compnshed tact My contention Is
mat 4! cannot be considered latai
objection or even a serious difficulty,
especially when one considers upon
wnat sllght similarity the Unknown
selzes 20 make good has objection. For
example, where ne tres TO make 1t APP
pear that | was IN error Wnen saying
that the several Passages he had al
ready quoted pracucany exhausted the
instances OF New Testament phrase.
ology IN the writings OF Nepnl, he gives
US suCh cases as these.
Nephi-Lehi prophesied that these
plates OF brass should go forth unto all
nations, kndreds. tongues and people
VINO were OF his seed.
Revelatons-An angel should bring
forth the gospel to be preached TO eV.
cry nation and kindred and tongue and
people.
Nephi--For he is the same yesterday,
today and forever.
Hebrews-Jesus Christ, the same yes
terday today and forever.
Nephi-l was caught away in the
spirit OF the Lord
Acts-The spirit Of the Lord caught
Phillp that the eunuch saw him no
more,
In Nephi xiv. L." says the Unknown,
the repeated expression mother OF
denominations and mother OF harlots,
are aiken from Revelations. xvi s."
here quote Nephi, xiv, |; And 1t shall
come 10 pass that II the Genties shall
hearken unto the Lamb of God In that
day that he shall manifest himself unto
them IN word ana also In power, in very
deed unto the taking away of their
stumbling blocks" After reading II |
wondered where the Unknown found
in II his mother of denominations and
his mother Of harlots" OF course. the
gentleman may have given the wrong
reference, and | viii not press his err
rors too hard upon him, but how ride -
ulous to urge the rejection of the Book
of Mormon on so ilimsy an argument,
even II he should find somewhere else
MS mother Of abominations' or his
mother OF harlots,"
"A VITAL POINT"
Passing over some Intervening mat.
ter In order TO consider this whole
question OF translation together | next
refer to what the Unknown says under
the heading "a vital Point"
accounted for the imperfections of the
language OF the Book of Mormon on the
ground that while the translator OBJ
tanned his ideas from the Nephite rec
ord, ne was left to express that thought
In such language as he was master of,
and as he was uneducated thai language
was here and there faulty, and | ac-
counted for the existence of some pas
sages Of the Bible in the Book of Nor
mon by saying that where Joseph Smith
found in the Nephite records quotations
from Jewish Scriptures which the Ne
phltes had with them or when the
teachings of Messiah in their order fol-
lowed his teachings to be found in
the New Testament, Joseph Smith
adopted, when he could do SO consist
emily. the language of our English BIZ
BILE. This the Unknown considers is wi
tai, and he holds that these quotations
would not be found in this translation
OF the Nephite record II the Book OF
Mormon is honest in its claim of being
an ancient book He urges that II Jo-
seph Smith could thus incorporate these
quoted passages. then there Is nothing
TO hinder him putting into the Book of
Mormon, when II suited him. quota
tions from other English books from
Shakespeare. from books Of geography
and history, and the peculiar views OF
sidney Rigdon with which the book is
saturated, or his own Views; and this
he claims Is just what he did. Well, OF
course there Is nothing that would pre-
vent Joseph Smith from following n
course of this kind IL he was the UNI
mitigated imposter and scoundrel that
the Unknown tries to make him appear
to be, but that is just what Joseph
Smith was not, and hence his own hon
csty and integrity prevented his putting
in quotations from the Bible or any
other book except just what the facts
and statements in the Nephite records
justified him In adopting. And AS for
the views of Sidney Rigdon being In
corporated In 1t. that is impossible since
II Is a we'll established. incontrovertible.
historical fact that Sidney Rlgdon new
OF Mormon until six months after the
book had been published.
WHAT UNKNOWN THINKS.
The Unknown thinks run counter to
the statements Of Martin Harris and
David Whitmor AS to the manner In
which the Book Of Mormon was trans.
lated, az h. claims that IN their tcstl.
mony there Is nothing said about
Urim and Thummim, and nothing is
SAID about amy great mental and
spiritual effort on J0seph's part in OBJ
tanning the translation True, there Is
nothing IN the statement of Whltmer
and Harris quoted by the Unknown TO
that effect but there abounds In Tho
historical Incidents connected with the
coming forth Of tho book plenty of evil
dente that the translation was not me-
chHnical, and IN the very book Of David
Whltmcr quoted by tho Unknown II
r. stated that the prophet had TO be In
1t very exalted mental and spiritual
state OF mind before he could exercise