The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1912-12-08
A SCHOLARLY INVESTIGATION,

Joseph Smith, Ji:. as Irenslator: an an
s. SpaIding. u. D.. Bishop Of Utah.
with, the Kind Assistance OF Capable
Salt Lake City.
This is work in which Bishop
Spalding shows his fine candor, his
magma animity, and the force of his rea-
sopipg to the greatest possible purpose
and effect He dedicates the work to
his many Mormon friends "who arc rs
honest seaxchers for the truth as he
hopes he ia himself " There is through
out the work the greatest degree of
view, and in certain respects the Nor
mon controvcrsialists are mentioned
favorably, as compared with their op'
poneuts.
Having laid out his groundwork
fair and firm he shows that the claims
OF Joseph Smith, ,Jr., As a translator
must be vindcated by results and by
good work in whatever he undertakes
10 translate. There is, Of course, no
means of comparing his work by the
test of any competent scholarship so
far as his alleged translation OF the
Rock of Mormon IS concerned; but
there is means for such a tess. and
= perfect one 1T is. in Joseph Smith s
alleged translation Of an Egyptian
papyrus claimed By Smith 20 be the
Book of Abraham. - That Smith s al
legged translation OF that Egyptian
papyrus was sheer nonsense has been
known very well to every one who has
even r. rudimeptary idea Of Egyptian
records There have been exposures OF
IL from time to time, but it has been
reserved for Bishop Spaldiug TO give
complete, absolute and unqualified
Huietus to The whole pretense OF Smith
being n translator, so far as this Book
Of Abraham is concerned
Bishop Spaldiug brings forward the
testimony Of DR.. A. H. Sayee, of Ok
ford, England, showing the impossible
ity Of considering the Smith transla-
lion seriously. DR.. W. VI. Flinders
Ietrie of London University, gives
complete exposition OF the whole mat
ter, aud says that 'sthere is not sin
Gle word that is true in these explana-
tiops'' made by Joseph Smith; and
that ''uone but the ignorant could be
imposed upon by such ludicrous
blundcrs.'' DR.. Petrie refers to two
Chicago, and DR.. Lytbgoe of New York.
Accordingly. Bishop Spalding asks for
their opinion, and Or. Breasted in 3
complete analysis of the whole matter
concludes that any connection of
Abraham with these plates is impossi-
hle: and that in place Of their being
unique as claimed by Smith, these SYM
bols were universal and common IN
Egypt: they were Of date far more re-
cent than Abraham, and that Joseph
mltb S translation OF them as part OF a
unique revelation through Abraham. is
purely imaginary, He very clearly dem
onstrates that Smith was ''totallv un.
acquainted with the significance OF
these documents, and absolutely ienor-
ant of the simplest facts of Egyptian
writing and civilization y
Or. Lythgoc was in Egypt, bur his
assistant curator at the Metropolitan
Museum OF Art al New York gives the
opinion that the Book ,of Abraham is
= pure fabrication, and he says that
" five minutes study in An Egyptian
gallery Of any museum should be
enough to convince any educated man
OF the clumsiness Of the imposture.P
DR.. Johu Peters of the University Of
Pennsylvania, in charge of the ex.
pcditop TO Babylonia. lSSS.1S95,
speaks of the Smith performances as
displaying ''an amusing ignorance,
and he continues: EEChaldcans and
Egyptians are hopelessly mixed to-
gether, although as dissimilar and re-
mote in language. religion and locality
as nrc today American and Chinese. In
addition 10 which the writer knows
nothing of either OF thcm''
Professor c. A. 3. Mercer, PHI. D., OF
the Western Theological Seminary,
Custodian of the IIibbnrd Collection of
Egyptian Reproductions, gives an
analysis of the plates in the Book Of
ABRAHAM and says of the Smith trans.
iation: "a criticism in his e3plaua-
lions could be made. but the explain.
atory notes to his fac-similes cannot
h., toll h. nb,l.
they seem To be undoubtedly the work
of pure imagination,
Two German Scholars, Drs. Never
and Won Bissing, give corresponding
opinions.
The Importance of this work of Bsh.
op Spalding's is likely to be overlooked
by those who see only the humor con.
taiDed In the exposure Of this impos-
ture; but the serious purpose and
sweeping effectiveness of the Bishops
work strike far deeper than any
thing merely amusing, for they 90 to
the root of the whole Smith pretcn-
sions and performances, since Smith s
alleged translation of the Book of
Mormon cannot possibly be any more
authoritatlycly viewed in n reasonab bic
aud logical way than his translation of
the Book of Abraham, here so com
plctelv shown TO be An imposure. a work
not OF scFnolarship or truth, but of I'M
aginable only; and since Smith $ pre-
tensions ss translator are alike As 20
both, bis work Of translation in both
must stand or fall together Viewed in
this light. and it is clear that it must
be so viewed, this exposure bv Bishop
SpaldiDg is the most forceful, the most
convincing. the most reasonable, the
most tolerant, and the most candid,
while at the same time tine most de-
structiyc. of any criticism that has ever
becu made Of the performance Of .Jo-
seph Smith and since ne figured chiefly
rs translator, as translator he must
he judged