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

preston "the twelve apostles Of the
Lamb" Is taken from the only place In
the world where Ii originated, Revela-
ton xxi, II.
10. In Nephi ri, %, the words. yea.
II IL the love of God which sheddeth
Itself abroad in the hearts OF the chill
dren Of men," are taken from Romans
V, 8.
II. In Nephl xii, II, And the angel
said unto me, These are made white in
the blood Of the Lamb" Is from Reve-
lations VII II.
H. In Nephi xiv. T. the repeated ex-
pressions, mother OF denominations and
mother OF harlots," are taken from
Revelations Nyii 0.
These IS quotations have been taken
from the first Il chapters Of l Nephi,
leaving eight chapters more In this book
and SO chapters in ii Nephi for other
quotations. / nave jotted down on the
lly-leaf OF my copy OF the Book OF Nor
mon "A different quotations from the
New Testament writer's by this alleged
prophet These quotations are largely
In the Sidney Rigdon- Nephl style OF
inaocuracy. Nephi is Just about as in
accurate IN quoting Scripture as In
quoting Shakespeare. Then a large per
cent of the language In the books of
parody, of the language of the Nov
Testament. have quoted nothing from
III Nephi, whose 80 chapters and GS
pages are largely IN the direct language
OF the New Testament three whole
chapters being quoted although the
New Testament was not written for 30
years afterward. ] have not quoted
from this book, for | understood Elder
Roberts to be referring to the first Two
books
The explanation Of Elder Roberts
that Neph had a vision Of Christ some
so years before. which made Christ real
to him. is 40 explanation of the fact
that there are eight quotations from
three New Testament writer's in Nephi
ii, thrty-frst chapter.
AS TO SHAKESPEARE.
.. Concerning Nephrs quotation
from Shakespeare Elder Roberts
thinks he has found way of escape for
Nephi from this fatal blunder. He cites
a passage from job from which he
thinks Nephi might have quoted, for he
says the Nephites had the jewish
Scriptures with them, including the
book of Job" But now observe that
this suggested escape for this ancient
prophet is out Of the Nephite frying
pan into the Lamanite fire. For Shakes
peare died In 1916, and the King james
English version OF the Bible was pub
llshed I'm 1911. Now 80 far as the argil-
ment against the ancient Nephl is con-
cerned, what difference does II make
whether he quoted from Shakespeare or
our English version OF Job, which Is the
one Elder Roberts alludes to- and which
Is the only one containing any resem-
blance either 60 the passage In Nephi or
I'm Shakespeare. The only way. there
fore. to lift Neph out of this fatal stu
alton Is for Elder Roberts to show that
he had In addition to the Jewish Scrip
lures, a copy of our English Bible with
him back there In the wilderness 600
II. c., or else a copy of Shakespeare
or else let Mr.. Roberts agree with me,
according to the evidence, that Mr.. Ne
phi was simply q very modern gentle.
man from New York or Pennsylvania,
having In his possession both the Bible
and shakespeare, and then the difficulty
Is solved.
SECOND PROPOSITION.
Now we come to the second proposl-
ton which Is, that the Book Of Mormon
is a divine revelation 10 the people of
the present time. A large part of what
has been said in proof of the spurious
character Of the books OF Nephi applies
TO the Book of Mormon as whole.
But there are overwhelming special DIFF
ficultIes In the way of accepting IL as
new and divine revelation, only three
or four of which can now briefly touch
upon
THE book claims that the plates,
from which II was translated by Joseph
Smith, were sealed up and hidden In the